A Silver Lining to the Orchestrated LA Riots

posted by Jeff Davidson at Townhall 

If you listen to Mayor Karen Bass, if it wasn’t for Donald Trump, everything would be hunky-dory in LA. Sorry, Ms. Mayor. The rest of the nation does not agree with you. 

As you watch scenes showing the riots as depicted on CNN or the big three TV networks, you have to wonder. What are they not showing? Clearly, the fake stream media selectively films and broadcasts as standard policy. If someone strikes a police officer, drops bricks from an overpass, smashes government building windows, or commits other acts of violence, you can bet it won't be shown on CNN.

Well-Coordinated

Who in their right mind would enter the fray other than hardcore Leftist, illegals, communists, and Antifa types? How can they participate on weekdays for most of the day, and then into the night? Don't any of these people have jobs? Don't they have to rise early the next morning?

The most active people on the streets do have jobs – temporary jobs – as highly paid protesters. They remain in the streets for long hours, and especially after sundown, because they can collect thousands of dollars in doing so.

The signs that they exhibit are distributed to them at a checkpoint. Such signage is produced long before the actual riots, which are far from spontaneous. They are funded by agencies via your tax dollars from the Biden Administration, by American Leftist billionaires and by those who seek to harm our society, such as the Chinese Communist Party, and various socialist and Marxist groups. These provocateurs have long known how easy it is to fool much of the American populace by orchestrating such events and having the likes of CNN selectively film them.

A New Sheriff in Town

Peaceful protests, it must be noted, are not the same as non-violent protests. If a group marches in the center of a street without a parade permit, blocks traffic on a highway, hinders passage along a sidewalk, or stops people from entering a building, such a protest might be non-violent but not peaceful. Likewise, gathering in groups larger than permitted by authorities, traversing beyond law-enforcement posted barriers, or marching past curfew is no longer a peaceful protest.

Could there be a silver lining to what's occurring in Los Angeles and which will soon emerge in other cities? Yes. Unlike the Biden Administration, which gave violent protesters a free pass, helped to spring them from jail within 24 to 48 hours, and publicly praised lawbreakers (eg, Vice President Kamala Harris), the situation is now different.

Today, we have real leaders in place, starting with Donald Trump, Pam Bondi as attorney general, Kash Patel as the director of the FBI, Christy Noem as Secretary of Homeland Security, and Tom Homan as the Border Czar, among many others.

Rabble rousers, paid to provoke law enforcement, are arrested and plasticuffed. Anyone who forsakes the parameters of peaceful protesting is subject to arrest.

A Snowball Effect

Hundreds of people have already been taken into custody. As each of them is processed, their names go into an FBI database, the National Data Exchange, and can be linked to their past activities. As more protesters/rioters in LA and elsewhere are taken into custody, a huge file accumulates of those who seek to wreak havoc on our streets. As an increasing number of agitators are incarcerated, tried, and hopefully convicted, the effectiveness of their sponsors -- those who paid them to protest -- will diminish. At the same time, light will be shed on these sponsors.

Constitutional scholars say that paid protesters have a right to peaceful assembly but not to engage in transgression, intimidation, or violence. One doesn't necessarily have to throw bricks. Suppose you disrupt traffic, hinder others from moving about, congregate too close to a public building, or disobey a direct order from law enforcement. In that case, all this and more are grounds for being detained and handcuffed.

Those who throw heavy objects, obviously, openly clash with police, damage property, commit arson, or encourage others to commit acts of violence are breaking the law. Such individuals need to be taken off the streets and prosecuted.

Round'em Up

The number of those who actually protest in the streets is a small percentage of those on the Left. If you subtract the paid protesters, the actual, heartfelt protesters rate is even smaller.

By rounding up the lawbreaking and violent participants, we can inexorably diminish the effectiveness of those who seek to turn our cities into ashes.

You Started It

 Alan Joseph Bauer | Jun 15, 2025  |  Townhall

The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Townhall.com.

AP Photo/Jae C. Hong

Because many in the US allowed Palestinians to demand “their” land back, Mexicans are pulling the same stunt in LA.

During the many days of riots and looting in Los Angeles, a new theme has emerged. I saw one illegal alien who looked like the Mexican version of the Michelin Man. It almost required two cameras to film him. He chirped that where he was standing was actually Mexico. This idea would at least explain the Mexican flags. It’s unusual for rioters to hold the flag of the country they want to avoid while they burn the flag of the country where they want to stay. But the big guy cleared everything up: this was not California, USA; it was downtown Mexico. Apparently, he needs a history lesson, but it will not help.

The Mexican-American War was a complex undertaking, and one can read up for details. In the end, the US was victorious, and a treaty was signed. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, signed in 1848, gave the US Texas, California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, Colorado, most of New Mexico, and parts of several other states. The US paid Mexico, which became an independent country in 1821, $15 million and covered another $3.25 million in debt owed to US citizens. Until this past week, everyone seemed to accept the war's outcome and the treaty's terms. Mexico was famously offered these lands back by Germany if it would attack the US during World War 1 (the Zimmerman Telegram). The land given over to the US after the war was about one-third of all of Mexico’s territory.

So that should be the end of it. There was a war, the US effectively won, and the final outcome was a massive addition of real estate to the United States, with the payment in cash to the Mexican government. Doesn’t our tire salesman know this history? Of course, he does, more or less. But he doesn’t accept it. And why? Because of Israel.

Until the modern state of Israel, the law of nations was that whoever won a war got the land they took. For 80 years, the Japanese have, in vain, tried to get Russia to cough up the land that the Red Army took at the tail end of World War 2. No other country is pushing Russia to part with Sakhalin Island and other territories because the Russians took it fair and square. If you wanted a piece of land or it back, you had to make war and win. That was pretty much accepted until Israel came on the scene. When Israel made its stunning victories in the Six Day War, the map makers did not rush out to print new maps with Israel stretching from the Sinai to the Golan Heights. No. There was a brand new, Israel-only law of war: where Israel is concerned, even in defensive wars, she has to give back the land she took. Israel gave back Sinai for a cold peace with Egypt. The Sinai had great diving, oil, strategic bases, and most importantly, the border with Gaza, to prevent weapons from getting there. Israel gave up Gaza only to have many Jews killed by the Gazans left there. Israel, until now, has been expected to give up the West Bank and East Jerusalem, including the holy sites. While the Trump administration recognized Israeli sovereignty over the Golan, another administration could change that policy. Whenever Israel won, it was told that the land was not hers and she had to give it back. That was a major disaster for Israel—and now for the West.

Recommended

Did You See What Was Featured Prominently As Jamie Raskin Spoke at 'No Kings Day' Rally?Rebecca Downs

Based on the Israeli precedent, who cares if some musty old treaty is sitting in the Smithsonian Museum? We are going back to pre-1846, when all of the southern US, including California, belonged to Mexico. Why should treaties and war outcomes limit us? We don’t like those outcomes, so yes, Los Angeles is now Mexico again. The president of Mexico’s senate even held up a map showing the US southwest as once again Mexican. It all fits the pattern of these brainless “land acknowledgments” that are so popular that even King Charles said that the Canadian Parliament in Ottawa is sitting on Algonquin land. The King or his prime minister did not really offer to give it back; that’s the next step. Once you buy into a place that is not yours, you have already set yourself up to give up the property either by lawfare or guilt. Maybe Spain will trump Mexico and remind the world that it owned California until 1821, a period longer than Mexico or the US.

For a long time, someone in Jerusalem had a big banner outside his place. It had the image of an American Indian on it and stated, “Once you [the US] give your land back, we [Israel] will give back ours.” The US landmass is a combination of purchases and war outcomes. Nobody, until recently, thought to question the integrity of the US or the existence of the country as 50 states. But our Michelin amigo says otherwise. “LA is Mexico!” he thunders because he hasn't bought the war and treaty from so long ago. It was once Mexico, and it will always be Mexico. If this reasoning continues, don’t expect American Indians to sit on their hands—they, too, will demand certain chunks of the US be returned to them, as occurred in Oklahoma. The US should get back to a winners-keepers model, including for Israel. One might claim that wars of conquest, such as those of Vladimir Putin, are amenable to retroactive rebalancing. But just as the US took Japanese conquered lands and held them for quite some time after World War 2, Israel should be allowed to keep all land, including Gaza, taken in defensive wars.

The West questioned Israel’s right to land taken with blood and treasure in defensive actions. Now, the illegal aliens are questioning if they are illegal or the Americans residing in old Mexico are the real law-breakers.

https://townhall.com/columnists/alanjosephbauer/2025/06/15/you-started-it-n2658738

And we Know, On the Fringe, and more- June 15

 

As Leftists Riot, Trump Should Look To Washington And The Whisky Rebellion For Inspiration.

work.

posted by Vince Coyner at American Thinker 

While Donald Trump famously does not drink, alcohol has always played a role in American life, usually ancillary but occasionally central. He could take a lesson from an early instance where it played a central role and how it was handled by our greatest president.

During and after the Revolutionary War, America’s economy was a wreck as the prices of products it exported—fish, lumber, tobacco, and cotton—collapsed with the removal of the British market. It’s estimated that between 1774 and 1790, the economy .

The country ended the war heavily in debt. The federal government owed $54 million, and the states together owed an additional $21 million. During the war, both tried to print their way out of their difficulties. It didn’t 

Even after the war, under the Articles of Confederation, there was no relief as the federal government was weak, and the states saw themselves as competitors in many economic matters.

In 1787, the Founding Fathers met in Philadelphia and hammered out the Constitution that we still use today. It created a stronger central government, but one that still had difficulties with finances. And that’s where the alcohol comes in.

In 1791, Congress passed the “Whiskey Tax,” which was an attempt to raise funds to pay off the debt run up during and after the war. This per-gallon excise tax was levied on domestic whiskey, a product many farmers, particularly western farmers, produced from their excess grain.

The western farmers were unhappy because most were small producers and, unlike the large eastern producers, they couldn’t use efficiencies of size to minimize the impact, which made their offerings relatively less competitive. At the same time, the tax had to be paid in specie (gold and silver coins), something that was rare in the entire nation and particularly so in the west. Finally, due to the lack of a viable currency, many workers in the west took whiskey as their pay, which was now taxed!

All this combined to create a storm we call the Whiskey Rebellion. By 1794, tempers were flaring in the west, and outbreaks of violence began, involving a few thousand people across the west.

Finally, that July when 500 armed men set a western Pennsylvania tax collector’s home fire, George Washington decided it was time to act. He sent negotiators to see if they could negotiate a solution. But he didn’t dither to see whether negotiations would work. Simultaneously, he requested militia from the states and then personally led the 13,000-strong army to face the troublemakers. T

The negotiations failed, but with the prospect of facing an overwhelming force led by the Commander in Chief, the “rebels” faded away before Washington even arrived. There was no confrontation, and when all was said and done, four rebels died, and there were two casualties among civilians.

Some of the leaders were roused from their beds in the middle of the night, marched barefoot through the mud and the rain, and held in animal pens on their way back to Philadelphia. Then, “The captured rebels were paraded down Broad Street being ‘humiliated, bedraggled, [and] half-starved...” Eventually, 150 men were arrested, 20 were tried, and two were convicted and sentenced to death, but given that one was charged with simple battery and the other with theft, Washington eventually pardoned both.

The newly formed federal government had shown that it had both the means and the will to enforce federal law and hold those responsible accountable. Washington’s focus on assuring a robust response on issues involving a clearly defined federal power set a precedent that survives to this day. In principle, that is. In practice, at least as it comes to immigration, not so much.

Donald Trump should look to the precedent that George Washington set and act accordingly. Washington utilized state militias to quell the violence. He not only had the people directly involved in the violence arrested, but he also had others who facilitated it arrested as well. Although Washington did not have to use his 13,000 troops in actual combat, the fact that he had them and demonstrated his willingness to use them was sufficient to end the insurrection.

Trump should do exactly the same thing. When local authorities won’t or can’t stop the violence, Trump should immediately deploy the National Guard. In addition, he should put rioters on notice that the soldiers are not there to exchange pleasantries. For this he could and should use the words of Sheriff Wayne Ivey of Brevard County, Florida: “If you throw a brick, firebomb or point a gun at one of our deputies, we will be notifying your family where to collect your remains at, because we will kill you, graveyard dead.” Trump should be unambiguously clear that violence towards law enforcement, citizens, and property will not be tolerated.

At the same time, like Washington, Trump should identify the people who are behind the violence. The people paying for the signs. The people paying anarchists to go out and riot. The people paying for bricks and rocks to be conveniently located near hot spots. The people paying for the masks and other riot gear.

Most of those identified won’t actually be individuals. As DataRepublican (small r) has demonstrated, American taxpayers are inadvertently funding much of this via NGOs facilitated by Democrats and the rest of the swamp. These leftist, Communist, anti-American organizations are, under the guise of “charity,” fueling a real insurrection and invasion of the United States.

And Trump should be ruthless. These people, particularly the people behind the scenes, are far more dangerous to America than any external enemy. They have academia, the media, and half the ruling class on their side. This is where the rubber hits the road. They should spend decades in prison and emerge penniless, with whatever assets they have seized to pay for the damage they inflicted on the country. 

Instead of dialing things back as he quizzically just announced, Trump needs to turbocharge his response and let it be known that the federal government will not tolerate a violent insurrection. Washington harnessed an army of 13,000 to demonstrate his intent to restore order when the population was under 4 million. With 350 million, I’m sure Trump can find the men to demonstrate his point.

He should be prepared for a Kent State-like episode, or many of them, and be prepared to stand his ground. The reality is, if he does not quell this, we will have another Summer of Love like 2020 with its consequent aftermath.

And what is that aftermath? A bloodbath. Take the murders in the three years following the BLM rioting of 2014. After declining for a decade, in three years, murders would climb 26% nationwide, resulting in at least 8,000 more murders than would have otherwise been seen. Then, after the “Summer of Love” in 2020, the year ended up with a 32% jump in murders in a single year, adding another 5,000 murders than would have been expected. That’s a lot more blood than Kent State.

So, Donald Trump’s job as president is not to placate the leftist, anti-American communists and anarchists who seek to abet this invasion, sow discor,d and delegitimize, destabilize, and ultimately derail his presidency. But this is not about Donald Trump. It’s about America and the American citizens who voted to take back their country. It is they to whom he needs to answer, not those who oppose him simply because he seeks to make America America again.

Fathers Day

  I didn't realize that this topic might be difficult since I wrote my Dad's Obituary and scattered his ashes on a fishing trip at his favorite spot in 1997 so I will wear my feelings on my sleeve and write this from the heart. They were hillbillies in the woods of Tennessee and Kentucky and Mama (my Grandma) threw all 12 of the kids into a car during the dust bowl depression and came to California and told her old man that if he wanted his family he could follow. 

Dad joined the Navy at 15 to go fight in the Pacific. he was a signalman on a Destroyer, in combat got blown up a couple of times, and returned to fight some more. He suffered all his life from some of those injuries and they might be what eventually contributed to his death and Dad was 67 when he passed.

I guess you might say my relationship with Dad was tenuous at best at times but that isn't unusual. Was pretty dysfunctional household in my childhood but that seemed to be the norm for us boomers. There was a number of years I ignored him and didn't want anything to do with him and at my age now I regret. What I regret the most was not learning even more from him about construction as he could build anything and knew everything about carpentry. There are many structures and additions still there in Southern California that were built by his hands 

 I had a great relationship with my stepdad, and he was more of a dad in some respects than my real dad but mom and him didn't hook up until their 60's and lived into their 90's and they had moved to Northern California. 

I did get the privilege of cleaning up Dad's wreckage in his last years and was the only one out of all my siblings to be able to help him put his affairs in order but with that was able to spend time and have some healing. I have outlived all my siblings and whole family on both sides and am all that's left

At this stage of life I love my Dad (s) and both of them were believers and in spite of the struggles and demons, I believe I will reunite with them in eternity because of what Christ did on the cross. I being sober for 34 years, one day at a time and by the grace of God, did not perpetuate many of the same struggles onto my family.

I have a great relationship with my kids, grandkids and great grandkids but unfortunately all live far away and I will only get to physically see one. I am looking forward to a day of video calls as I frown down on the gift stuff. 

This is a gift from last year...

I could probably write a book but shared just a glimpse and attempted to keep this simple to be able to hear all of your stories. I can only imagine there are many different experiences with many of you that visit this site so please share your story.

If you have any critique of my thoughts, you are welcome to write your own Fathers Day thoughts right here in the blog...

Written by 💩DooDy💩 Reposted last years since I couldn't improve on words from the heart.

Sorry this is late as I didn't think of it till I got back in right now...

De Tocqueville on Human 'Rights'

posted by Mark Lewis at Townhall 

“It's not an endlessly expanding list of rights — the 'right' to education, the 'right' to health care, the 'right' to food and housing. That's not freedom, that's dependency. Those aren't rights, those are the rations of slavery — hay and a barn for human cattle.” (Alexis de Tocqueville)

Alexis De Tocqueville, the French philosopher who visited America in the 1830s, recognized the great truth almost 200 years ago. Despite what the Democrats and the Left say, people do not have a “right” to education, health care, housing, etc. A person can only have a “right” to those things if they have a “right” to somebody else’s money, i.e., somebody else pays for it. And nobody has a “right” to another person’s property.

But the Left has demagogued the issue, and many people believe it. Joe Biden opened America’s borders to the world, and countless millions came to get their free food, health care, housing, etc., all paid for courtesy of the American taxpayer. People on welfare are “entitled” to these things, Democrats say; the government provides them. That’s good for politicians who can sell “rights” to literally buy votes.

However, as De Tocqueville pointed out, being dependent upon the government is not freedom but slavery. A cow depends on its owner for its sustenance; that isn’t freedom, not that the cow cares. And a lot of humans don’t either.  It is amazing how many people prefer slavery to freedom. Well, slavery is comfortable; let somebody else take care of you. Freedom involves risks; you have to take care of yourself. Too many people are too lazy to do that, and politicians can feed off that. And call it “rights.”

I say “dependence upon government is slavery,” and in one major sense, that is not true. Undoubtedly, some people cannot take care of themselves and need assistance; there is no question about this. The disagreement is over the best way to do it and whether it is a true function of government. More on that momentarily. Charity is a necessary part of our responsibilities to God and man, and we should all be merciful people and help those who truly need it. That is undebatable, and inhumane if we don’t do it.

But that doesn’t make receiving “charity” a human right.”

However, back to “dependence upon government” as slavery. Many of the people on government welfare—probably most—are not “slaves”; slavery is involuntary, and these people could work if they wanted to and take care of themselves. They simply choose not to because they prefer dependence. Thus, they aren’t really “slaves” of the government; they are just too lazy to do what is necessary to provide for themselves. But the Left has demagogued that these people are the “needy poor” and have a “right” to the property and money of others. And most Americans have bought it.  

Another case in point is the illegal aliens who are currently in America. I confess that I can’t help but feel sorry for SOME of them who have come to America’s shores—not all of them, but some. Many have come for impure motives—as gang members to bring drugs, or to get “free” benefits from the American people through government. Such people have no right to be in our country and should be immediately deported.  

But there are, no doubt, many of them, like many immigrants in the past, who are truly seeking a better life, and I do not begrudge them that wish.  We need to be a merciful people. Now, I believe they should do it legally if they want to move to our country. When they are allowed here, they need to take care of themselves and not burden honest, tax-paying citizens to support them; they have no “right” to food, health care, education, etc., paid for by hard-working Americans, many of whom are struggling to make ends meet themselves. “Charity is no part of the legislative duty of government,” James Madison said. If you read the apostle Paul’s short discussion of the purpose of government in Romans 13:1-7, he is in full agreement with our Founders on the purpose of government (protection of property, punishment of evil doers); there is nothing in Paul’s words that tell us government should forcefully (through taxation) take money from one person who has earned it and give it to somebody who hasn’t. That isn’t charity, that’s theft. Redistribution of income is what thieves do, and they do it by force. There is certainly a purpose for taxation, and we should willingly pay for the government's services. But forced charity is a contradiction of terms. The illegals in America, regardless of any purity of motive some may have for coming to the country, have no right to the monies of American citizens.

Yet again, many of them have fled from oppressive governments (governments they sometimes helped elect), and we should feel empathy for them. Most of us are the blessed ones who were born in America. We should be thankful for that mercy. But that doesn’t mean we should help people break our laws. That sets a very bad precedent. Nor does it mean these people—or even other American citizens—have a “right” to the property (money, etc.) of others. We all have certain God-given rights—life, liberty, our own property, the pursuit of happiness—and to force others to pay for our “rights” is to take away from others one of the basic rights of humanity—the right to the bread one has earned by their own labor. There is no right to steal from others.

But if we continue to let the Left control the education system and propagandize our people, we WILL lose our freedoms. We’ll all become wards of the government, which is exactly what the Left—and the government—wants. Alexis De Tocqueville was exactly right.

🎭 𝐖𝟑𝐏 𝓓𝓐𝓘𝓛𝓨 𝓗𝓾𝓶𝓸𝓻, 𝓜𝓾𝓼𝓲𝓬, 𝓐𝓻𝓽, 𝓞𝓟𝓔𝓝 𝓣𝓗𝓡𝓔𝓐𝓓

 

Welcome to 

The 𝐖𝟑𝐏 𝓓𝓐𝓘𝓛𝓨 𝓗𝓾𝓶𝓸𝓻, 𝓜𝓾𝓼𝓲𝓬, 𝓐𝓻𝓽, 𝓞𝓟𝓔𝓝 𝓣𝓗𝓡𝓔𝓐𝓓 

Here’s a place to share cartoons, jokes, music, art, nature, 

man-made wonders, and whatever else you can think of. 

No politics or divisive posts on this thread. 

This feature will appear every day at 1pm mountain time. 

Stepdads Have A Unique Opportunity To Teach True Love

Great stepfathers know, to truly love someone, you must care for the things they care about. Loving a mother means wholeheartedly loving her children.

by Beth Brelje at The Federalist

By God’s design, every child has two parents. But in our imperfect world, many women find themselves alone, and not by choice. For some, their partner just left. For others, their partner died. For me, it was domestic violence — if I had stayed any longer, I would be dead.  

Part of the struggle as a single mother is the stigma.

Mean people act like a single mom is a loser or a floozy. Single moms often fall outside social circles — not free like a single person with no children and not connected like couples. For those with no family support, it can be lonely and exhausting, trying to make the bills and be everywhere at once so the children can have a decent childhood.

Children of single mothers know their experience is different from their peers. They must fend for themselves more often, grow up a bit quicker, and develop resilience, because there is no other choice.

The truth is, life is easier when there are two parents in the home. The world needs more men willing to be stepfathers.

But the stepdad role is not for every man. It takes added sensitivity to understand, whether entering a family with the father totally out of the picture, or one with shared custody and an involved father, either way, this is a family with wounds that need healing. It means navigating relationships not just with mom, but with the kids, their dad, and grandparents, without hurting anyone.

Stepfathers — the good ones — intuitively know that when you truly love someone, you care about the things — and people — they care about. To love a single mother, you must wholeheartedly love her children too.

Here is how.

Marry their mother. Children need stability that living together on a trial basis cannot provide. Commit to being a family.

Provide financially as if they are your own. Be prepared to pay for food, haircuts, summer camp, the band uniform, a few bucks for pizza with friends, and to co-sign the college loans. Pay without inflicting guilt. Childhood is not forever. Make it a good one.

Engage in their life but make room for their dad. If the scout pinewood derby is coming up, let their dad have the first opportunity to help make the car. But if they can’t or won’t, step in to help. Make your home a place where kids feel safe talking about their father and never speak badly about him.

Do the mundane things. Drive the kids places. Pick them up, drop them off, cook dinner, tell lame dad jokes, listen to them, guide them, meet their needs.

Lead with faith. Pray with the family, bring them to church, show them the powerful healing that God offers.

Parenting is a thankless job, and that is more so for stepfathers who don’t get a lot of credit on Father’s Day.

The wonderful man who completed my family got that credit a few years ago from our daughter’s dad.

After she announced she was getting married, her dad immediately called her stepdad and asked if he would join him in walking her down the aisle. Stepdad agreed, but only halfway. He asked her dad to start walking because stepdad was not there in the beginning of her life. He joined them halfway down the aisle and kept them steady for the rest of the journey. At the reception, there were two father-daughter dances, honoring what each man brought to her life. 

Let’s hear it this Father’s Day for stepfathers, who accept children as their very own from the beginning, so there is never any question about how genuine their love is. Let’s hear it for the men who vow to be a dad to children who really need to see what a good dad looks like.

Thank you for making our broken families whole.

Critical Condition ... Health in Black America

Black Americans are nearly twice as likely to have high blood pressure, diabetes, and heart disease than White Americans, and their life expectancy is about five years shorter. Why? 

In this special feature-length documentary, Oscar-nominated filmmaker Stanley Nelson investigates the dramatic health disparities in the US, even as scientists confirm that there are no meaningful genetic differences between races. 

From the deep history of pseudoscientific beliefs about race that still permeate modern medicine, to the latest research on how experiencing discrimination can directly damage the body’s DNA and biology, Critical Condition reveals the factors behind the health crisis facing Black Americans.

https://pbsinternational.org/title/critical-condition-health-in-black-america

Kids Don’t Just Need A Father Figure. They Need A Dad

America’s children need both fathers and dads in their lives to grow up strong and healthy.

by Robert Busek at The Federalist

A few weeks ago, after a rare torrential rainstorm, my 16-year-old son and I pulled out a ladder to check one of the gutters on our house for a blockage. After setting up the ladder, my son, whose courage has always outstripped his caution — much to his mother’s chagrin — scampered up, cleared the blockage of leaves and other debris, and came back down. It all took less than 60 seconds.

A normal man would have thanked his son, helped to put away the ladder, and moved on with his day. Not me. Instead, I felt compelled to slowly climb the ladder and see the insides of the gutter for myself. I did this not because I distrusted my son’s efforts, but because I had to prove that, at 51, I could still keep up with him and that my role in managing basic household tasks was still viable.

Feeling this compulsion, I think, is the key difference between being a father and being a dad. America’s children need both in their lives if they are to grow up strong and healthy.

The Father Is the Source of Order and Discipline

Traditionally speaking, the father represents authority and stability. His efforts outside the home, whether in the fields or in the office, provide shelter, food, and clothing to his family. In return for this labor, he is granted authority over the family, especially when it comes to disciplining children, as is evident from the instant fear when the mother utters the dreaded phrase, “You wait until your father gets home!”

Some cultures took this authority to extremes. In ancient Rome, the paterfamilias,“father of the family,” had absolute power over every family member under him, to the point that he could sell his own children into slavery (though no more than three times, according to the Twelve Tables). He could even execute his own children if he believed they had dishonored the family name, as Lucius Junius Brutus, the founder of the Roman Republic, did to two of his sons who had conspired to return the last king of Rome to power.

The Bible adds a spiritual dimension to a father’s authority. In Luke 2:51, the 12-year-old Jesus, the incarnation of God Himself, humbly subjects himself to the just power of his earthly father Joseph, demonstrating the ultimate example of the fourth commandment.

Fathers ultimately model God’s authority on earth; while they stand against the evils in the world, they also teach their children to kneel before our Father in heaven.

The Dad Is the Teacher and Companion

The dad is the necessary complement to this remote figure of authority. While the father commands that chores be done, the dad shows his child how to do them well and with joy. The father brings home the food for dinner, but the dad teaches his kids how to grill the perfect burger and initiates them into the mysteries of the “five-second rule.”

It’s the dad who will let his daughter braid his hair and then will try (sometimes unsuccessfully) to keep up with his son during an evening bike ride. A dad who came of age with Pac-Man and Street Fighter II will happily embarrass himself trying to play modern video games with his kids. 

When it comes to building and fixing, the dad will share his tools, even if they get misplaced, as well as his knowledge, even if that knowledge came five minutes ago from YouTube. When misfortune strikes (as it often does during such projects), it will be the dad who takes the sting out of it with a well-timed pun. (They’re not called “dad jokes” for nothing.)

Kids Need the Powerful Combination of Father and Dad

America is currently suffering the effects of lacking both fathers and dads, due in no small part to decades of feminist rhetoric degrading men because of their “toxic masculinity.” The data, however, doesn’t lie: The close correlations between juvenile crime, child poverty, and lack of fatherly authority in the household (especially in the African-American community) have become a cliché.

The lack of dads is harder to quantify, but these gentler aspects of male parenting are vital to the health of children. Though not an official diagnosis, “daddy issues” are regarded as a major cause of multiple psychological issues, especially among young women. 

If the feminization of men (and therefore fathers and dads) continues unchecked, we can expect to see the patterns of mental health crisis established in Gen Z continue into future generations. Restoring the father’s authority and combining it with the dad’s love will resolve the crisis by ensuring that our sons understand true masculinity and our daughters understand how men should treat them.

This Sunday, if you happen to have a parent who is both a father and a dad, make sure to tell him you appreciate him. If you struggle with balancing the two (and I think most of us do at least a little), recommit to doing so: Climb that ladder that you have no business climbing, and have a good laugh over it later.

You Knew Iran Was Going to Target US Forces in Iraq

Matt Vespa reporting for Townhall 

You knew this was going to happen. It's now routine after an Israeli airstrike on Iran: the United States, along with several other nations, conducts numerous operations to defend Israel. No, we're not deploying ground forces, but we are shooting down Iranian drones. Our assistance paints a target on the backs of American forces in the region. And Tehran reprotedyl tried to take their shot this weekend. Al-Asad Airbase in Iraq was targeted by three Iranian drones (via Fox 5 San Diego):

Three drones were launched toward a base housing U.S. forces in Iraq following Israel’s strikes on Iran, a U.S. military official and a second U.S. official said Saturday. 

Both spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly. 

The drones were shot down, the officials said. No group claimed responsibility for the attack on Ain al-Asad air base in western Iraq. 

A network of powerful Iran-backed militias in Iraq has remained mostly quiet amid the escalating Israel-Iran conflict. In the past, the militias had periodically attacked U.S. bases in Iraq and Syria in retaliation for Washington’s support for Israel in its war against the Iran-allied Hamas militant group in Gaza. 

We can expect more attacks of this nature to continue. However, Iran’s war-making capabilities have been severely curtailed, as the core of the nation’s political and military leadership has been killed in a series of devastating Israeli airstrikes that began last Thursday. 

Putin Calls President Trump to Say 'Happy Birthday' and Talk About Iran

Ward Clark reporting for RedState 

I didn't have "Tsar Vladimir I calls President Trump to say 'Happy Birthday'" on my bingo card for today, and I'll bet nobody else did, either. But that's what happened, sure as cowflops. But there was a more serious conversation on the table as well; the two leaders spoke about Iran and Israel, as President Trump described on his TruthSocial platform.

The president wrote:

President Putin called this morning to very nicely wish me a Happy Birthday, but to more importantly, talk about Iran, a country he knows very well. We talked at length. Much less time was spent talking about Russia/Ukraine, but that will be for next week. He is doing the planned prisoner swaps - large numbers of prisoners are being exchanged, immediately, from both sides. The call lasted approximately 1 hour. He feels, as do I, this war in Israel-Iran should end, to which I explained, his war should also end.

Now, what might come of all this?

It's something of an understatement to note that Iran is a country that Putin "knows very well." Much of Iran's post-Shah military hardware comes from the Soviet Union, later Russia. The Soviets, and now the Russians, seem to be prone to a "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" modus operandi, without bothering them too much over the fact that one can no longer befriend a regime like Iran than any other venomous reptile.

And, if all this about the prisoner exchange is accurate, and Tsar Vladimir I follows through, then there's some movement in ending the Russo-Ukraine war; agreeing to a prisoner swap isn't exactly Putin ordering the Russian army to throw down their weapons and give the Ukrainians all big bear hugs, but at least it's a step in the right direction - and may be an indication that Putin is under some pressure to wrap this thing up, already.

But as for Iran, well, that's another story.

Russia may have a little more influence over Iran than the United States, but it's probably not all that much more. Given the chance, Iran would turn and bite Russia just as soon as an opportunity presents itself; the mullahs have long memories, and no doubt remember that their co-religionists in the old Soviet days were treated pretty roughly. From the deportation of Muslim Tatars in 1944 to the deportation and repression of the Chechens, the Ingush, the Balkars, and the Karachays, there was a great loss of life.

But his telling the American president that he thinks the Iran-Israel war should end, and doing anything to facilitate such an end... well, there's a big, big gap between the two.

As the saying goes, talk, talk is better than war, war. But for Russia and Iran, talk is too often just that, and is also too often used as a way to gain a little time, to turn the situation to their advantage, or to prepare another attack. And, honestly, Iran can't be trusted any farther than a six-year-old can throw a grand piano. I'm pretty sure Tsar Vladimir I knows this. I sure hope President Trump knows it as well.