In the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, more than 22 million Americans lost their jobs, effectively reversing several years of economic growth. This would mark the beginning of a “two-track recovery” that is increasingly divided between those whose livelihoods remained safe and secure and those whose industries or enterprises have been thoroughly upended. As governments moved to shut down key sectors of the economy last spring – promoting a series of strange dichotomies about “essential” vs. “non-essential” work –...

Joe Biden frequently says that he “seeks not to divide, but unify” Americans. But his announcement that he would like California Attorney General Xavier Becerra to lead the Department of Health and Human Services undercuts that sentiment. Xavier Becerra has repeatedly demonstrated how unsuitable he is for the job of overseeing Americans’ healthcare. He has said the disastrous Affordable Care Act is a good start, but not a sufficient government intervention into healthcare. He has shown himself hostile to religious...

Hanukkah, the Jewish Festival of Lights, runs from the evening of Thursday, December 10 until Friday, December 18, 2020. Here is what you need to know. What is the history of Hanukkah? Hanukkah is the Hebrew word for “dedication,” and the holiday celebrates the rededication of the Jerusalem Temple after pagan desecration. The Syrian ruler Antiochus IV Epiphanes captured the Second Temple in Jerusalem in 168 B.C. and dedicated it to the worship of Zeus. To add insult to injury,...

Joe Biden’s choices to serve in his potential Cabinet show the deep and unmistakable influence of labor unions. So does his promise to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour, a pivotal part of organized labor’s agenda that disproportionately shuts young, poor, and minority workers out of the workforce. The good news is the minimum wage has e practically irrelevant to U.S. workers. The Wall Street Journal noted last August that “a tiny share of Americans, just 0.28% of...

First, a truism: Checks and balances are at the foundation of our national government. Second, a cliché: The U.S. is increasingly polarized. Combining these two, mentators have been eager to forecast the end of checks and balances in a time of political jockeying. But they misunderstand the very aim of checks and balances. For instance, according to one op-ed in the New York Times, “Democratic institutions function only when power is exercised with restraint. When parties abandon the spirit of...

The Electoral College met on Monday to cast the decisive votes in the 2020 presidential election. This year’s vote was not without controversy, a reality that has engulfed the constitutionally mandated election system since its founding. To further undermine the institution, this year Colorado voted to join the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, an end-run around the Electoral College that includes a total of 15 states and the District of Columbia. Should the quadrennial rite of electors selecting our president...

China’s Communist government has given the world another example of how socialism is patible with Christianity, literally chapter and verse. A Chinese textbook teaches students that Jesus Christ stoned a woman to death while admitting that He is a sinner. China’s besieged Christian population says the government has twisted the Gospel in an effort to convince young people to obey edicts handed down by the Chinese Communist Party. The offending passage appears in a textbook intended to teach law and...

In his 2013 book, What to Expect When No One’s Expecting, Jonathan V. Last warned of the ing demographic disaster,” pointing to America’s recent dip below replacement-level fertility. Today, the rate of decline still shows little sign of slowing, driven by plex “constellation of factors” that range from genuine blessings, to “problems of plenty,” to idols of choice and convenience. No matter how we parse the patchwork of potential causes, Last concludes that “there is something about modernity itself that...

President-elect Joe Biden is expected to support federal paid leave benefits for employees. Whether such an agenda can go through with a Republican Senate is questionable. That is unless, Democrats get the help from some misguided conservatives, who have been pushing their own version of paid leave under the illusion that the government could somehow get involved in this area of our lives without growing the size and scope of government. Let’s review what’s at stake here, since the arguments...

Chinese Communist authorities have levied new charges against Jimmy Lai, which could result the outspoken Catholic dissident spending the rest of his life in prison. On Friday, authorities formally charged the Hong Kong media tycoon with violating its restrictive“national security law.” “After in-depth investigation by National Security Department of Hong Kong Police, a 73-year-old man was charged with an additional offense of ‘collusion with a foreign country or with external elements to endanger national security,’” Hong Kong police announced via...