MEDICARE PART A BANKRUPTCY IN 2026: Congress and Presidents have been warned over and over and over. Robert Moffit of the Heritage Foundation explains how the coming insolvency will affect everybody, not just seniors.

WITHOUT COPS, NOBODY GETS TO WORK: Except criminals, of course. It’s an important point that rarely gets made, as J. Warner Wallace reminds us. Lots of folks who happen to be Members of Congress ought to think about this, too.

WHICH INSTITUTION WILL PIVOT NEXT? When Bethany Christian Services caved to the Cancel Culture’s pressure to allow gay couples to adopt children without parents, it marked a hugely significant pivot by a major player in America’s culture wars, according to Southern Baptist Theological Seminary President Al Mohler, Jr:

“Bethany’s surrender exemplifies the growing cultural pressures from the LGBTQ community and the looming threat of the Equality Act. The moral revolution is now firmly established in the Democratic majorities in Congress and in the White House, where President Biden is proudly leading the charge for what are presented as LGBTQ rights, but would actually mean a near total restructuring of society. The consequence is a legislative agenda designed to coerce Americans into the celebration of the LGBTQ agenda.”

Four more years of this will not end well.

ABOUT THOSE INCREASING LGBT NUMBERS FROM GALLUP: Focus on the Family’s data meister, Glenn Stanton, writing in The Federalist, gets behind the numbers and turns up some interesting facts that cast a different light on the matter:

“Gallup’s report backs up this fact, showing that young adults today are more than three times more likely to report ‘being LGBT’ than even Gen Xers are. Gen Xers are certainly not so traditional that they would be reticent to admit any alternative sexual practices to pollsters or their peers.

“It is simply becoming increasingly fashionable to be seen as sexually experimental today, evidenced in the fact that 55 percent of those who told Gallup they were “LGBT” said they were bisexual. Most of those are coupled with opposite-sex partners when they do have a romantic partner.

“Queer advocates and their media partisans regularly tell us that ‘being LGBT’ is a normal, natural thing. But the data is beyond dispute that young people are far more likely to identify as being LGBT than are all other age groups. Also, that identity is often at odds with their actual sexual behavior, as evidenced by the fact that women who openly identify as lesbian tend to have stunningly high unwanted pregnancy and abortion rates.”

PELOSI’S ‘SUBWAY TO NOWHERE’ KILLED IN SENATE: Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth McDonough throws out Pelosi’s $140 million earmark to extend San Francisco’s subway to Silicon Valley. If she keeps this honesty up, expect a flood of “news” stories about McDonough being a secret Republican, a Trump puppet or Mitch McConnell’s love child. Or something.

THREE REASONS WE AREN’T ALL RACISTS: Colson Center’s Ryan Bomberger points to three huge flaws in the Critical Race Theory that is the foundation of the Left’s critique of America.

FORMER NYT REPORTER SAYS BAQUET PRESSURED HIM TO RESIGN: Donald McNeil is a Pulitzer-nominated former New York Times reporter who became a victim of Cancel Culture last year after being accused of using the N-word.

His account in Medium of the events of the day he first learned of the Daily Beast story that prompted his departure from the Grey Lady includes this poignant passage: “From the very beginning, I misread the situation. I was blasé about the Beast email. The Times was in full freakout message-control mode.”

I suspect such naivete in a veteran journalist about the true nature of Cancel Culture and the character of the players involved is typical of its victims, but McNeil’s account is especially worth reading because of the detail and candor he provides. The manner in which one can be defenseless against baseless charges ought to shock us all.

30 YEARS OF SOBRIETY AND GRACE: And on a personal note, so many blessings have come to me in these three decades, including becoming part of this Instapundit community that is one of Blogdom’s most original and positive contributions to America’s public policy debates. I so enjoy enjoy reading and engaging with Instapundit readers of all stripes.

A NEW CPAC FOR A NEW ERA: The Federalist’ David Marcus was in Florida for the 2021 edition of the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) and came away with a number of interesting observations, including this one:

“I would not be terribly surprised if CPAC moves permanently to Florida. It speaks to a GOP and a conservative movement that its moving away from big city establishmentarianism and reliance on suburban white voters to a more national party. It sees its future in smaller and more diverse communities. The increase of diversity has been remarkable at CPAC these four years. Anyone who thinks this is a blip and not a trend really isn’t paying attention.”

I am and I think Marcus is exactly right.

BIDEN LIED, PEOPLE DIED: Issues & Insights says the Biden total for his first two months in the Oval Office exceeds 100,000 fatalities. Sorry, Joe, but it works both ways.

BIDEN STATE DEPT. NOMINEE DEFENDS CHINA SPY TOOL: Does Victoria Nuland not know that China’s Confucius Institutes on multiple U.S. campuses are used by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to buy allies and public defenders in this country’s debate about how to respond to the Asian giant? Right, and let’s talk about the great deal I have for you on that bridge I own in Brooklyn.

WHO’S WHO OF THE LEFT’S 2020 ELECTION CONSPIRACY: Capital Research Center (CRC) has a comprehensive listing, rich with details and definitely worth keeping for future reference.

BEST LINE AT CPAC: South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem – “Covid didn’t crush the American economy. Government crushed the American economy.”

TRIFECTAS OFTEN ARE GOOD. NOT THIS ONE: It’s the Biden $1.9 trillion Covid Christmas Tree that mostly has little to nothing to do with battling the disease, and everything to do with rewarding supporters and growing the government on which they depend,

FIREBOMB A COP CAR, GET A PLEA DEAL: Apparently, that’s how it works for radical lefty lawyers in New York City these days, reports Washington Free Beacon’s Kevin Daley.

DO AMERICAN PASTORS HAVE THE COURAGE OF THIS CANADIAN MAN OF THE CLOTH? My latest column in the Culture precincts at PJ Media.

QUEEN ESTHER WAS QUITE A CODE WRITER, TOO: Just ask the modern-day Persians in Iran who had to deal with the Stuxnet computer bug that hobbled their nuclear arms development for years. The Lid’s Jeff Dunetz explains how she did it, 2,000 years ago to give rise to the Jewish holiday of Purim, and more recently for what was no holiday at all for Tehran.

FACEBOOK MORE RESPONSIBLE FOR JAN 6 THAN PARLER: Rachel Bovard dug into the flood of Mainstream Media (MSM) reporting accusing Parler of being the social media of choice for organizers of the January 6 Capitol riot. Here’s what she found:

“Of the 223 charging documents, 73 reference posts on Facebook as evidence, 24 reference posts YouTube, 20 single out Instagram posts (owned by Facebook), and only eight highlight posts on Parler.

“Was Parler involved? Yes. Was the platform the virtual Bat Cave of Incitement and Violence that Apple, Google, Amazon, and thoroughly un-critical press reporting made it out to be? Hardly. If any single platform can be fingered as the favorite of the rioters, it appears to be Facebook.”

Bovard has more, much more and, boy, is it damaging to the MSM and Big Tech.

IT’S ONLY RACIST WHEN YOU DO IT: Tori Richards of the Washington Examiner pulls the lid off a government employee training program in San Diego so intrinsically racist that, were the colors reversed, it would warm the heart of the KKK:

“The Health & Human Services Agency required employees to spend six hours watching the online racism course, a training participant told the Washington Examiner. Critical Race Theory classes taught participants ‘Racism is a WHITE’ problem, and, ‘Only white people can be racist.’ The title of the course is ‘Power and Privilege.’

“’This training is lumping people into groups, and it has not explained how some (minority) individuals have succeeded in this systemically racist country — like Barack Obama, NBA/NFL players who make millions, Dr. Ben Carson, Oprah, and Whoopi Goldberg, to name a few,’ the employee said. The Washington Examiner is not identifying the employee, who asked to remain anonymous over fears of retaliation.”

Expect many more stories like this across the country in the days ahead. And oh yes, you will be helping to pay for it with your federal tax dollars.

PELOSI PREACHES ANTI-GERRYMANDERING, THEN POURS BUCKS INTO GERRYMANDERING: The Washington Free Beacon’s Joe Schofstall — Right Media’s best money-in-politics reporter — notes that Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi condemned gerrymandering congressional districts in 2019, then her PAC handed $300,000 to the pro-gerrymandering outfit of former Attorney General Eric Holder.

IS ‘AVERAGE’ OVER? HIGHLY RECOMMENDED: Hudson Institute’s Walter Russell Mead sits down Tuesday with George Mason University economist Tyler Cowan to talk about “the information revolution and the middle class.” I’ll be logging in for this one.

ECONOMIC REFORMS AREN’T ENOUGH, AMERICA NEEDS POETRY, TOO: Writing for Law & Liberty, Micah Mattix, literary editor of the American Conservative, points to Rod Dreher’s excellent “Live Not By Lies” as well as Christopher Lasch’s classic Revolt of the Elites, Flannery O’Connor’s “Wise Blood, “and even Robert Penn Warren of the Southern Agrarians as a line of American analysts making the point that, just as the individual life devoted entirely to acquiring more things is eventually empty, so, too, is a nation of individuals who view the pursuit of happiness as consisting entirely of material goods and security.

It’s a point worth pondering, though I would argue that poetry, understood in the classical sense, is not the end in itself, but a worthy waypoint. See also Glenn’s post below pointing to Brent Hamachek’s explanation that those who believe in economic freedom are now the dissidents in the Land of the (Once) Free.

STUDIES FIND GOING TO CHURCH IS KEY TO BEING HAPPIER, HEALTHIER: Marriage and Religion Research Institute (MARRI) points to three recent studies, including from Turkey, that conclude regular attendance is associated with being healthier and happier. HillFaith thinks that’s policy news congressional aides should know about.

It’s not the only factor, of course, but odds are it’s the one that is most often ignored in contemporary social science, as well as by Covid policymakers like California’s Gavin Newsom, New York’s Andrew Cuomo and Nevada’s Steve Sisolak. Dr. Patrick Fagan, formerly of the Heritage Foundation and Family Research Council, is the founder and president of MARRI.

‘GOD’S CRIME SCENE’ ZOOMINAR RETURNS: HillFaith’s first offering of the 8-session, once-a-week-for-an-hour course by Cold-Case Christianity’s J. Warner Wallace and led by yours truly has three sessions left, and people are still trying to enroll. So starting March 30, we’re doing it again. It’s free, it will challenge your thinking and it’s great fellowship, too.

UPDATE: Well, that was quick! All 12 available slots are filled for the course beginning on March 30. There will be a third round of it, most likely beginning in late May, so if you are interested, send your info and get on the waiting list now.

HERE’S FEDERALISM IN ACTION: HT to Thom McKee and The Daily Gouge: