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...

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,...

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...

When the world faced a incurable pandemic, Big Pharma delivered. Moderna has joined Pfizer in successfully creating a COVID-19 vaccine with breathtaking speed, only to encounter the glacial pace of the government’s “expedited” approval process. Moderna actually developed a cure that is 95% effective, mRNA-1273, in just two days this January as part of the Trump administration’s Operation Warp Speed. At a time when few people – reportedly even members of the research team – had heard of the novel...

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 –...

Sex and the Unreal City. Anthony Esolen Ignatius Press. 2020. 209 pages. What is the primary problem in society? An embrace of unreality, answers Anthony Esolen in his latest book, Sex and the Unreal City. In Esolen’s view, our culture has moved beyond promoting immorality to fully adopting unrealities as foundational “truths.” Esolen uses cutting wit to highlight how society is built upon false premises and promotes departure from reality. He says that someone ignoring the nature of reality is...

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...

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...

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...

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...