THE SEISMIC SHIFT YOU HAVEN’T HEARD ABOUT: No, it’s not the move of young male voters to the Trump/Republican column, important as that certainly is in the political calculations of the days ahead.

But politics is downstream from culture and culture is downstream from you know what, and that’s where the most important — and totally unexpected — shift in the tectonic plate underlying the American experience is happening. Read all about it in my latest PJMedia column.

WHERE WERE SENATE DEMS WHEN CDC ISSUED THESE LIES? Yesterday’s Senate Finance Committee hearing in which Democrat after Democrat raised bogus issue after bogus issue should be understood in the context of the sorry performance of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in the Department of Health and Human Services, headed by Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Over and over again, in response to ridiculous Democratic claims that assumed the CDC could do no wrong, Kennedy retorted by pointing out Senator X said nothing for years as the nation became sicker and sicker.

Now Just Facts’ documents the reality that “the CDC issued reams of unscientific pronouncements that killed and harmed multitudes of people during the Covid-19 pandemic.” THIS IS A MUST-READ.

WHY DO BAD THINGS HAPPEN TO GOOD PEOPLE? It’s a classic question, but maybe, as suggested by the latest issue of the Colson Center’s “What Would You Say?” video on HillFaith, the issue may be less complicated than we think.

TALK ABOUT COOKIN’ THE BOOKS: Officially, the U.S. National Debt is more than $37 trillion. But, as I report today at The Washington Stand, experts at Truth-in-Accounting (TIA), the Economic Policy Innovation Center (EPIC) and elsewhere point out, the actual debt is $158 Trillion. That’s because the federal government exempts itself from the same accounting rules it imposes on private and corporate businesses.

Let’s say you are the government and you just bought a new vehicle for $50,000 (including the interest on the loan). The monthly payment is $500. As things presently stand, your balance sheet only show a debt obligation of $500.

If you had $50K in hand, you could have slapped those bills on the table and driven away debt free. But the fact is you incurred an unfunded obligation you must repay at the rate of $500 per month for a total of $50,000.

That’s how the feds account for hundreds of trillions of dollars of unfunded obligations under Social Security, federal pensions, Medicare, loan guarantees and a host of other programs. And that’s why any time you see a politician in either party wringing their hands about that terrible $37 Trillion National Debt, ask them what they are doing about the other $121 Trillion.

WHEN HATE CALLS ITSELF ‘THE PEOPLE’S CONFERENCE FOR PALESTINE:’ If you were in the vicinity of Huntington Place Detroit this past weekend, you were at Ground Zero in America for radical Leftist and Islamists making common cause to destroy Israel and America, according to Richard Pollock.

During the three-day hatefest, Rep. Rashida Talib (D-Mich.) provided yet more evidence, as if any more was needed, for why the House of Representatives should refuse to seat her. As Pollock reports:

“She defiantly told cheering Palestinian activists, ‘We aren’t going anywhere. We’re just getting started. I want to say to all of them, look at this room, mother-f—–s – we aren’t going anywhere!’

“Talib routinely denounced many of America’s political institutions, including the U.S. Congress where she serves, saying they were objectively evil. ‘The political situation that I have to work in, that we are surrounded by, was built on slavery, genocide, rape and oppression.’

“Channelling the rhetoric of the 1970’s she urged the activists to seek the ‘power in the streets,’ telling the adoring crowd, ‘the power that we will have in the streets and pushing these institutions is going to work!’”

Stay tuned because it’s also becoming clear that the New Left of the 1960s and 1970s never really changed or went away; they just changed their costumes.

CRIME FACTS NEWSOM MISSED: Issues & Insights (I&) dug into the crime data for America’s major urban areas and found some facts that ought to be on the front page of the New York Times, Washington Post and throughout the Mainstream Media:

• Of the 20 cities with the highest homicide rates in the country, 14 are located in blue or purple states.
• Just one of the remaining six currently has a Republican mayor – Dallas’ Eric Johnson – and he was twice elected as a Democrat, and switched to become a Republican in his second term.
• The remaining five cities, despite being in red states, have been under Democratic control for years, if not decades.

There’s more, much more, in this much-needed fact-based corrective to pretty much everything being claimed about crime by the like of California Gov. Gavin Newsom, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and the Democratic leadership on Capitol Hill.

DON’T GIVE UP TOO SOON: That’s the bottomline advice of David Tennent, a remarkable young former Capitol Hill aide and aspiring entrepreneur who heeded the Lord’s guidance even in the darkest pit of the COVID closure of Congress.

Three years later, Tennent’s CNCT, a digital platform that breaks down social and political isolation among congressional aides, is a great success, demonstrating that following God’s plan for your life and embracing the free market culture of opportunity and innovation is an amazing combination.

Happy Labor Day to my fellow Instapunditeers!

WHEN IDENTITY BECOMES IDOLATRY: The lesson at the darkest center of the Minneapolis school shooting.

READ A GOOD, FREE BOOK LATELY? No, this is not a pitch from me for you to buy my latest new book. You won’t find my name as the author on any book these day because, while I can flip pages for hours in a good one, writing books has never been my passion.

But for others, like Josh McDowell, writing great books that are bought and read by millions is among his greatest of passions. This is nowhere so well-illustrated as by his classic of Christian Apologetics, “More Than A Carpenter.” More than 15 million copies of MTAC have been printed and sold since the first edition hit the bookstands in 1977,

Over at HillFaith, I have for several years had a standing offer of a free copy of MTAC to anybody willing to share their name, snail mail address and email address. More than 500 folks, including a bunch of Instapundit readers, have taken me up on the offer.

Periodically, I receive thoughts and/or thank yous from folks who have asked for and received a copy of MTAC. Tom Colson did so recently and I so appreciated his comments that I asked him for reprint permission, which he gladly granted. It’s a useful reminder of a great offer of a wonderful book. Check it out here.

AND GUESS WHAT THE ‘PALESTINIANS’ ARE DOING THIS WEEKEND IN DETROIT: A bunch of radical far-Left political activists are meeting, again, this Labor Day weekend in Detroit to plot new deceit and destruction about and of Israel in the U.S., according to award-winning journalist Richard Pollock.

One key to understanding where and why these folks are headed for the coming months is found in understanding the influence of Saul Alinksky, the mind-master of Barack Obama and thousands more New Left radicals in America. Pollock knows these plays backwards and forwards, having been among Alinksky’s American followers for years before his own ideological rebirth:

“This is the model for the pro-Palestinian protesters. It is to intimidate, instill public fear, and for the authorities, to be regarded as the enemy. At all of the previous pro-Palestinian college encampments, only radical students were permitted to enter and they exuded intimidation. They barred Jewish students from entering the encampments or engaging their fellow students in open dialogue who were inside the Palestinian strongholds.

“Across the country’s campuses, radical Palestinian activists disrupted classes, attacked students who wore Jewish symbols, hunted down Jewish students, occupied buildings, painted Swastikas in student dormitories, and in some cases, beat security guards who tried to help.

“The ‘fear factor’ was one of their best weapons. And I suspect, they intend to use it again this fall. I think we can expect that we’ll soon see the ‘next phase’ of Palestinian ‘resistance. Get ready.”

Cauz it ain’t gonna be pretty!

NO, THE PALESTINIANS ARE THE COLONIZERS: Among the many endlessly repeated lies from the Left about Israel, Gaza, Hamas and the Palestinians is the one that claims Israel is the illegitimate foreign conqueror and colonizer of lands the Palestinians historically own. The truth, as Rod Martin explains this morning on Substack, is the exact opposite. Once that fact is recognized, all the rest of the lies fall into place.

THOUSANDS OF DOUBLE-DIPPING BUREAUCRATS? Oh surely not! Oh surely yes, declares Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), chairman of the Senate DOGE Caucus, in a new report that points to multiple agencies where, cumulatively, literally thousands of federal workers are still drawing paychecks and Pandemic-related unemployment checks.

But wait! There’s more!! Thousands more federal workers, according to the report, are using their insider access to steal millions of tax dollars that are paid to fake contractors, suppliers, beneficiaries, etc. et.

“Why are government employee unions fighting so hard, all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, to block [DOGE] from accessing the information necessary to stop fraud and abuse? The answer is obvious. The deep state doesn’t want those meddling whiz kids at DOGE exposing the Washington corruption that’s been hiding in plain sight for way too long. Unscrupulous bureaucrats have been ripping off public assistance programs intended to help the needy, disabled, hungry, out-of-work folks, veterans, small businesses, and even children who lost a parent,” the report contends.

Unfortunately, there is yet more to this expose, which you can read all about in The Washington Stand this morning.

TWO MODEST PROPOSALS FOR THE NATION’S CAPITAL: Can you imagine an end to the Traffic Hell that is commuting to and from the District of Columbia and thereabouts? How about a massive infusion of Real World America values into the federal bureaucracy? I’ve got just what you’re looking for in my latest Substack column.

WHAT NEWSOM HATES, LOVES: Issues & Insights surveys the man’s record and concludes that what California’s governor hates is Californians and absolutely, totally, completely worships is being in the spotlight.

ERIK HAS A QUESTION: How do you get non-material consciousness when all you have to work with is material? Regardless if you are an atheist or a theist, it’s the kind of question that will make you think hard about what you think and why you think it.

NOTE TO COMMENTERS: Folks, I really appreciate the civility and depth of analysis exhibited in so many of your comments to the post. Thank you!

FEDERAL JUDGE RECOMMENDS BUDDHISM TO TEXAS SOLONS OVER 10 COMMANDMENTS: U.S. District Court Judge Fred Biery issued a preliminary injunction preventing Texas officials from implementing a new law requiring the 10 Commandments to be displayed in public schools.

But don’t accuse Biery of being anti-religion! No, he won’t let the state display the laws God gave Moses on tablets of stone, but he’s just fine with three alternatives, including this one: “Multiple versions of lessons of behavior from many cultures melded into the American motto of ‘E pluribus unum,’ a concept currently in decline. For example, the Five Moral Precepts of Buddhism: Abstain from killing, stealing, engaging in sexual misconduct, lying and intoxicants …”

Biery’s other two alternatives are worth perusing as well, which you can do here, via The Washington Stand.

UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN GETS THE MESSAGE: All it took for the fabled Madison-based center for left-wing campus activism to fold was a letter from the First Liberty Institute reminding University of Wisconsin officials that the First Amendment’s guarantees of religious freedom of practice and expression are not optional mandates. The letter is a superb presentation of both the law requiring religious accommodations and the rank hypocrisy of college administrators on the issue.

YOU UP FOR ‘GOBLINOID’ SHOES? The Washington Stand’s S.A. McCarthy clearly is not, nor is he for what he calls “hideous sneaker-dress shoe hybrids,” so you can imagine how he views Ukrainian chief Zelensky’s lack of sartorial elegance. It’s not merely that dressing like a slob has become acceptable; doing so, McCarthy argues, is evidence of how we’ve lost sight of order, justice and dignity.

NO WONDER NPR IS BEING DEFUNDED: Three key Hill Democrats are silent after their claim was discredited that DOGE appointees are “embedding” into the federal career civil service. Also silent are two NPR reporters whose artful use of language didn’t quite conceal a serious factual deficit.

VIOLENT DC CRIME IS THE SYMPTOM, NOT THE CAUSE: Even with the widely-ballyhooed reduction in crime in the District of Columbia since 2023, the violent crime rate remains so high that the nation’s capital is a seriously dangerous place for residents and tourists alike, according to Family Research Council (FRC) President Tony Perkins, himself a former police officer.

“Even after the recent drop, D.C. residents still face a one in 19 probability of being a crime victim each year. That’s 5.3 percent — double the 2.5 percent risk in Chicago. By any objective measure, our nation’s capital remains one of the riskiest cities in America.

“President Trump’s move was neither arbitrary nor unnecessary. But here’s the reality: taking control of a police department that city leaders have pressured to coddle criminals rather than enforce the law may address the symptoms — but it won’t cure the underlying disease,” Perkins writes in The Washington Stand.

The underlying disease is the destruction of the traditional, father-headed family. More than half of D.C.’s children grow up in single-parent households and it’s virtually always the father who isn’t there, at double the national average. Social Science research has for decades documented the terrible impact on children and American society of absent fathers.

HILL AIDES ON BOTH SIDES BACK FOOD REFORMS: Multiple recent surveys find strong bipartisan support among congressional aides for food reforms. RFK Jr. has certainly tapped into a previously unheralded vein of political support.

OPM INTRODUCES SEN. WARREN TO THE FACTS: Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), joined by Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.), ripped the Trump administration for “embedding” legions of DOGE political appointees into the career civil service. Their complaints were carried in a 10-page, single-spaced letter to U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) Director Scott Kupor.

There is a process for political appointees to “career-in,” but it can be time-consuming and laborious, so few are those who pursue it. But Warren, et. al. cite multiple media reports that make it sound as if legions of Elon Musk robots are burrowing into the bureaucracy, including an NPR story with two specific names.

But according to an OPM spokesman responding to The Washington Stand, neither of the two former DOGErs is on the career civil service payroll. And, according to Kupor, there simply aren’t any such embedders: “No DOGE-affiliated individuals have ‘unlawfully burrowed’ into career roles. We welcome oversight grounded in facts.”

88% OF COLLEGE STUDENTS SELF-CENSOR NON-LIBERAL VIEWS: A new survey of more than 1,400 students at Northwestern and University of Michigan finds a pervasive culture of self-censorship that silences non-progressive views and is “driven by fear of social ostracism and academic penalty.”

The Washington Stand’s Sarah Holliday dug deeper into the survey results and found not even a sliver of a silver lining:

“According to the research, 78 percent self-censor on gender identity, 77 percent on politics, and 68 percent on family values. Alarmingly, 80 percent admit to submitting classwork that misrepresents their beliefs to align with professors’ expectations — a practice so ingrained it’s become ‘second nature’ for many.

“And unfortunately, this ‘fragmentation doesn’t end at the classroom door.’ Seventy-three percent of respondents confessed they don’t even trust having ‘conversations about these values with close friends. Nearly half said they routinely conceal beliefs in intimate relationships for fear of ideological fallout.’ The authors described this as ‘identity regulation at scale, and it is being institutionalized.’”

MUST READ – HOW AID GROUPS FUND TERRORISTS: Richard Pollock digs into the latest report from the Special Inspector-General for Afghanistan Reconstruction — remember them? — who documents how Hamas in Gaza and the Taliban in Afghanistan.

This report provides the fact-based counterpoint to every left-wing objection to the DOGE-led fundamental re-evaluation and re-structuring of all U.S. foreign aid programs, especially those run by USAID.

“The report focused on the Taliban. But it also shows how Islamic terror groups and hostile governments throughout the Middle East and Africa have no intention of aiding their poor or their children. They use the aid system to finance their wars and repression,” Pollock writes.

AMERICANS SEPARATED: First Amendment Freedom of Speech is poised to gain a win if a federal issues a Consent Decree agreement among the IRS, the National Religious Broadcasters (NRB) and a couple of Texas churches.

Under the UC, the tax agency would no longer enforce the Johnson Amendment against the churches. Not familiar with LBJ’s amendment? Americans United for Separation of Church and State (AU) certainly is and AU is asking the federal district court in Tyler, Texas, to allow it to intervene against the CD. This one could get really interesting.