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One year ago, almost to the day, I used this column as a “post-wedding dispatch” to offer some (very) preliminary thoughts on marriage. The column was published five days after my wedding. Now, almost exactly one year later, I am using this column as a “post-birth dispatch” to offer some (very) preliminary thoughts on another milestone life event: fatherhood. Indeed, this column is published seven days after my wife gave birth to our first child, a beautiful baby girl. There is really nothing that can prepare someone for first-time parenthood. And while the burden of caring for a newborn is clearly heavily weighted toward the mother, one could argue that the immediate postpartum period is even more of an adjustment for the father; the new mother is frequently sleep deprived, yes, but—unlike the father—she also just experienced nine months of frequent body changes, hormonal fluctuations, physical discomforts and other limitations. The husband experienced none of that; one day it was just him and his wife, and the next day, he had an angelic—but also fussy!—little one that forever changed his life. Talk about an adjustment. But whatever costs, sleepless nights and other inconveniences it may entail, there can of course be no doubt that fatherhood is unequivocally worth it. Perhaps I thought my wedding day was the happiest day of my life, but I can now confidently say that the happiest day of my life thus far was the day of my daughter’s birth. I have never been more euphoric in my entire life. And since we left the hospital, the number of times my eyes have welled up simply by looking at our girl is too high to count. The fun guessing games never stop, either. Who does she look like? Whose personality will she have? And so forth. I have dedicated my professional career to the battle of ideas—to being but one cog in the fight to preserve our great nation and our Western civilization. But really, is there anything more enriching and fulfilling than this? Being a parent contextualizes everything else we do in life. Other than serving God Himself—which itself includes the “be fruitful and multiply” injunction of Genesis 1:28—here is no greater end to which human beings are called. I had long surmised that, but holding my daughter in the hospital for the first time confirmed it. In the Jewish tradition, one of most famous Talmudic tractates, Pirkei Avot (“Ethics of the Fathers”), opens by emphasizing the imperative of intergenerational transmission to sustaining one’s way of life: “Moses received the Torah from Sinai and gave it over to Joshua. Joshua gave it over to the Elders, the Elders to the Prophets, and the Prophets gave it over to the Men of the Great Assembly.” If you believe in the truth of your religion, the righteousness of your nation, and the superiority of your civilization, then there can be nothing greater than contributing to their very perpetuation. It is a biological fact that a mother will always be present at the time of a child’s birth. Our societal challenge is maximizing the number of fathers who will also be present. According to recent data, the cumulative percentage of out-of-wedlock births in America is roughly 40%. That number has, tragically, more than doubled since 1980. The reason is not exactly a mystery. As I wrote in my “post-wedding dispatch” column one year ago: “The very essence of the marital relationship—the fusing of two into one, the subordinating of the individual to the couple, learning to approach life’s challenges not as ‘me’ but as ‘us’—is anathema to the ‘newer’ ways of thinking.” Realistically, there is only so much that policymakers can do to get more young people to marry and get more married couples to have babies. Expanding child tax credits and other family-friendly policies can help; lawmakers would do well to consider the ways that Hungary, for instance, structures its entire tax code to reward marriage and parenthood. But ultimately, the problem of declining marriage rates and birthrates is downstream of a broader spiritual and religious crisis—a crisis of meaning and confidence. When young people are happy, satiated and optimistic about the future, they marry and procreate; when they are sad, depressed and pessimistic about the future, they don’t. The question thus becomes one of the oldest in all of human existence: how to make men happy and fulfilled. We might begin by considering the timeless wisdom of the Book of Psalms, which begins: “Happy is the man who has not followed the counsel of the wicked, or taken the path of sinners.” Indeed. But for the time being, happy am I for being a father—for being able hold my little angel. God is good. We publish a variety of perspectives. Nothing written here is to be construed as representing the views of The Daily Signal. COPYRIGHT 2024 CREATORS.COM The post Thoughts on Fatherhood: A Post-Birth Dispatch appeared first on The Daily Signal.

The drugs really were working for Aerosmith on 1976’s classic Rocks album

Two people have died and three others were injured after a freight train collided with a tractor trailer and derailed. 

Grieving family members arrived at Dover Air Force Base to meet the bodies of their loved ones killed at Abbey Gate, Kabul, Afghanistan. Multiple military families reported being forced to wait for hours on the tarmac at Dover Air Force Base while Joe Biden napped on Air Force One. This was during the transfer ceremony […] The post Biden Slept While Parents of Murdered Soldiers Waited for 3 Hours appeared first on www.independentsentinel.com.

Rock and roll has always been a genre where numbers speak volumes, from marking milestones to capturing emotions and weaving intricate stories. In this article, we explore 10 exceptional songs that use numbers in their titles to elevate their impact and meaning. Each entry reveals how numerical references can transform a song into a timeless anthem, blending rhythm, lyrics, and artistry in ways that resonate with listeners across generations. From high-energy rock tracks to introspective ballads, these songs demonstrate the versatility of numbers in musical storytelling. Stevie Nicks’ “Edge of Seventeen” showcases her signature poetic mystique and a mesmerizing riff, The post 10 Best Songs That Feature Numbers In The Title appeared first on ClassicRockHistory.com.

One year ago, almost to the day, I used this column as a “post-wedding dispatch” to offer some (very) preliminary thoughts on marriage. The column was published five days after my wedding. Now, almost exactly one year later, I am using this column as a “post-birth dispatch” to offer some (very) preliminary thoughts on another milestone life event: fatherhood. Indeed, this column is published seven days after my wife gave birth to our first child, a beautiful baby girl. There is really nothing that can prepare someone for first-time parenthood. And while the burden of caring for a newborn is clearly heavily weighted toward the mother, one could argue that the immediate postpartum period is even more of an adjustment for the father; the new mother is frequently sleep deprived, yes, but—unlike the father—she also just experienced nine months of frequent body changes, hormonal fluctuations, physical discomforts and other limitations. The husband experienced none of that; one day it was just him and his wife, and the next day, he had an angelic—but also fussy!—little one that forever changed his life. Talk about an adjustment. But whatever costs, sleepless nights and other inconveniences it may entail, there can of course be no doubt that fatherhood is unequivocally worth it. Perhaps I thought my wedding day was the happiest day of my life, but I can now confidently say that the happiest day of my life thus far was the day of my daughter’s birth. I have never been more euphoric in my entire life. And since we left the hospital, the number of times my eyes have welled up simply by looking at our girl is too high to count. The fun guessing games never stop, either. Who does she look like? Whose personality will she have? And so forth. I have dedicated my professional career to the battle of ideas—to being but one cog in the fight to preserve our great nation and our Western civilization. But really, is there anything more enriching and fulfilling than this? Being a parent contextualizes everything else we do in life. Other than serving God Himself—which itself includes the “be fruitful and multiply” injunction of Genesis 1:28—here is no greater end to which human beings are called. I had long surmised that, but holding my daughter in the hospital for the first time confirmed it. In the Jewish tradition, one of most famous Talmudic tractates, Pirkei Avot (“Ethics of the Fathers”), opens by emphasizing the imperative of intergenerational transmission to sustaining one’s way of life: “Moses received the Torah from Sinai and gave it over to Joshua. Joshua gave it over to the Elders, the Elders to the Prophets, and the Prophets gave it over to the Men of the Great Assembly.” If you believe in the truth of your religion, the righteousness of your nation, and the superiority of your civilization, then there can be nothing greater than contributing to their very perpetuation. It is a biological fact that a mother will always be present at the time of a child’s birth. Our societal challenge is maximizing the number of fathers who will also be present. According to recent data, the cumulative percentage of out-of-wedlock births in America is roughly 40%. That number has, tragically, more than doubled since 1980. The reason is not exactly a mystery. As I wrote in my “post-wedding dispatch” column one year ago: “The very essence of the marital relationship—the fusing of two into one, the subordinating of the individual to the couple, learning to approach life’s challenges not as ‘me’ but as ‘us’—is anathema to the ‘newer’ ways of thinking.” Realistically, there is only so much that policymakers can do to get more young people to marry and get more married couples to have babies. Expanding child tax credits and other family-friendly policies can help; lawmakers would do well to consider the ways that Hungary, for instance, structures its entire tax code to reward marriage and parenthood. But ultimately, the problem of declining marriage rates and birthrates is downstream of a broader spiritual and religious crisis—a crisis of meaning and confidence. When young people are happy, satiated and optimistic about the future, they marry and procreate; when they are sad, depressed and pessimistic about the future, they don’t. The question thus becomes one of the oldest in all of human existence: how to make men happy and fulfilled. We might begin by considering the timeless wisdom of the Book of Psalms, which begins: “Happy is the man who has not followed the counsel of the wicked, or taken the path of sinners.” Indeed. But for the time being, happy am I for being a father—for being able hold my little angel. God is good. We publish a variety of perspectives. Nothing written here is to be construed as representing the views of The Daily Signal. COPYRIGHT 2024 CREATORS.COM The post Thoughts on Fatherhood: A Post-Birth Dispatch appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Almost 20 professors at George Mason University’s Antonin Scalia Law School sent a letter urging the school’s president to crack down on pro-Hamas, anti-Israel activity in the student body. Three GMU students of Middle Eastern origin have had recent run-ins with the police over weapons and pro-terror materials, The Daily Signal previously reported. Two of the students are Palestinian American sisters and leaders in the school’s chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine, one of the main organizers of the protests, riots, and encampments at George Mason, Columbia, and other universities over the past year. A raid of their home uncovered guns, ammunition, and antisemitic and anti-American “hate” material. Another George Mason University student, an Egyptian national named Abdullah Ezzeldin Taha Mohamed Hassan, was arrested in December for “distribution of information relating to explosives, destructive devices, and weapons of mass destruction in furtherance of the commission of a federal crime of violence” to an FBI informant, according to the charging papers. The 16 professors sent GMU’s president, Gregory Washington, an emailed letter calling him to show “at least as much concern for antisemitic rhetoric, intimidation, and violence on and off campus as you have about other public issues.” “It would be very nice and indeed useful right now to be able to tell colleagues, friends, and reporters who are inquiring that the university administration has done everything it could to disassociate itself from those who have been fomenting antisemitic, pro-terrorist sentiment on campus,” the message says, “but we both know that would be false.” The professors say that GMU’s administration can no longer treat “overt pro-terrorist organizing at GMU as solely a matter of freedom of speech” when three students have been implicated in potential domestic terrorism. The professors ask the president to denounce masked pro-terrorist demonstrations on campus and enforce a no-mask policy on campus, per Virginia law. “You consistently declined to do the former, and the latter was only done in a desultory manner, and only upon the insistence of the state’s attorney general,” the letter says. Washington responded to the professors saying GMU has been “far from silent on this issue” and has “taken a very different tact in addressing it than many of our peers.” “We have spoken out and condemned the Oct 7 attack twice. We have spoken out against antisemitism directly in our communications as well,” he said, offering a link to his Nov. 2, 2023 letter. “We have also engaged our faculty publicly to help educate students on this matter and both Jewish and Muslim faculty have responded with programs addressing the conflict.” Regarding Virginia law prohibiting masks on campus, Washington said George Mason has reached out both to the “Commonwealth’s Attorney and to Attorney General Miyares for guidance.” “Initially, we have been told by the Commonwealth’s Attorney that offenses will be treated as only secondary offenses, and thus not something that police would be warranted to cite individuals for unless they were also being cited for a primary offense,” he told the professors. “Our request for clarification went to the Attorney General, and we still await his response.” Following The Daily Signal’s report about the potential terrorist activity on GMU’s campus, president Washington also emailed the university community to say the the arrest seemed to have no connection to the two Palestinian American sisters whose home was searched in November. “The recent developments have caused the university to take additional appropriate measures to maintain the safety of the university community,” he said in an email obtained by The Daily Signal. GMU did not respond to The Daily Signal‘s request for comment. The post EXCLUSIVE: George Mason Professors Demand End to Pro-Hamas Activity appeared first on The Daily Signal.