The driverless car is here! Finally. Google has harnessed artificial intelligence to create a self-driving car it calls Waymo‚ standing for “Way Forward in Mobility.” Regulators in San Francisco and Phoenix legalized Waymo cars because the robo-cars drive better than people do. They’ve already driven millions of miles on public roads without any fatalities. Not one. No injuries either. Waymo achieves that with sensors attached to the top and sides of the cars. The sensors constantly shoot out lasers that bounce back‚ telling the car precisely where other objects are. The magic of the driverless vehicle is the artificial intelligence behind the sensors. That allows the cars to operate like a human nervous system. Sensors and radar are the eyes and ears. The brain is algorithms trained by billions of simulated trips. The more the robo-cars drive‚ the more they learn‚ and the smarter and safer they get. The big automotive safety problem is people‚ not robo-cars. It’s people who kill nearly 43‚000 Americans every year. Drunk drivers kill 13‚000 people. Six thousand of us die because we fall asleep while driving.Waymo cars have accidents‚ too‚ but almost all happen because of human error: a human driver hits the Waymo. Another robo-car‚ Cruise‚ owned by GM‚ is almost as safe‚ but Cruise cars have gotten into bigger accidents. California regulators then said they pose an “unreasonable risk to public safety‚” and suspended their permit to drive. But California limited the ban to Cruise cars’ autonomous mode‚ meaning Cruise can still operate so long as they have a human in the front seat‚ as backup. I’m surprised that the regulators have been so reasonable. Often‚ after accidents‚ bureaucrats simply ban new ideas. California regulators have exercised unusual restraint. Five hundred Waymo cars still operate freely in large sections of San Francisco and Phoenix. They are wise to allow this because self-driving cars increase safety. Still‚ there will be problems. First responders in San Francisco told my executive producer‚ Maxim Lott‚ “[Waymo cars] freeze in front of us. It’s a 15- to 30-minute fix waiting for a technician. That’s time we don’t have when a building is on fire.” Driverless car companies say they’re making adjustments to let first responders move the cars in an emergency “We’ve heard that‚ too‚” the fire chief told Lott. “It hasn’t happened.” The media hype other risks. Quoting a magazine headline‚ Lott asks Alex Roy‚ former executive at Argo AI‚ “What if a hacker gets into Waymo and hacks 1‚000 robo-taxis‚ ordering them off the road?” “These what-ifs don’t make much sense‚” replies Roy. “For every technology that’s ever arrived‚ there was a ‘what if.’ The ‘what ifs’ played out. … Solutions arrived and everybody moved on.” Still‚ many Americans object to robo-cars. Unions complain that they will take away taxi driver jobs‚ delivery jobs‚ and especially truck-driving jobs. They are right‚ but in the long run‚ that will actually be good for most workers. I’ll make that argument in a future column. Meanwhile‚ some anti-car activists in San Francisco are vandalizing robo-cars. But most people who try them like them. “It’s one of the few things you can do today that makes you feel like people must have felt 100 years ago‚” says Roy. “First time they saw a light bulb‚ first time they saw a plane.” Fully driverless cars are here‚ and they’re a very good thing. More places should allow them. The bigger threat‚ as usual‚ is overregulation. Delaying self-driving cars would cost thousands of American lives. COPYRIGHT 2023 BY JFS PRODUCTIONS INC. The Daily Signal publishes a variety of perspectives. Nothing written here is to be construed as representing the views of The Heritage Foundation.  Have an opinion about this article? To sound off‚ please email letters@DailySignal.com‚ and we’ll consider publishing your edited remarks in our regular “We Hear You” feature. Remember to include the URL or headline of the article plus your name and town and/or state. The post Enjoy the Ride appeared first on The Daily Signal.

I still remember that fateful day in spring 2005. I was a junior at Liberty University desperately seeking to land a summer internship as part of my graduation requirements. I naively believed that being a religion major would make it easy for me to find a local church to extend an internship to me. It proved to be rather difficult—until my Google search landed on The Father’s House‚ a nondenominational church in Norcross‚ Georgia. I had no previous affiliation with the church‚ but my desire to graduate outweighed my fear of rejection. I picked up the phone and called. What happened next would positively change my life forever. On the other end of the call was the Rev. Dean Nelson. I explained my situation‚ and he graciously entertained my request. Little did I know that he was looking for an intern that summer while I was looking for an internship. After numerous conversations and a visit to the church during spring break‚ he offered me the opportunity to intern for him.  This began a relationship that lasted until Dean died Saturday of stomach cancer at age 55. As an obituary in The Christian Post notes‚ at the time of Dean’s death he was chairman of both the Frederick Douglass Foundation and the Douglass Leadership Institute‚ as well as vice president of government relations for Human Coalition‚ a network of pro-life pregnancy centers. His is a loss that profoundly affects me. I have lost a father‚ mentor‚ and friend. I owe a great debt of gratitude to Dean Nelson. Growing up in a single-parent home without a dad‚ I never knew how a godly husband and father served his family. That is‚ until Dean allowed me to live with his family—free of charge—for over two years. He showed the love‚ discipline‚ and servanthood I always longed for‚ and he and his wife Julia are why my wife and I homeschool our kids today. >;>;>; Related: Frederick Douglass Statue Toppling Is About ‘Creating Chaos’ Dean and Julia provided premarital counseling for Cathy and me; Dean officiated at our wedding. More importantly‚ Dean Nelson has been a constant in my life. He was always there to provide wisdom and loving encouragement. Like many other young black Christians in the nation’s capital‚ I owe my success to Dean. Not only that‚ but his contributions to the pro-life movement among black Americans are legendary. When I think of Dean‚ I think of his humility. He always—and I mean always—used his platform so that others could succeed‚ even to his detriment sometimes. He was ambitious but not selfish; his love for God’s kingdom drove him. He was faithful with everything that God entrusted to him. Although his time on this side of Heaven is over‚ his impact and legacy will live on in everyone who longs to see righteousness and justice prevail in our culture. Jesus said‚ “The meek shall inherit the earth.” Nelson undoubtedly will be in that number. I will miss him ferociously‚ and these words don’t do his life justice. The 55 years of his life were a resounding testimony to God’s goodness and faithfulness. I know Dean Nelson has received the reward of his faith and the declaration from our Lord that we all long to hear‚ as recorded in Matt. 25:21 (ESV): “Well done‚ good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.”   The Daily Signal publishes a variety of perspectives. Nothing written here is to be construed as representing the views of The Heritage Foundation. Have an opinion about this article? To sound off‚ please email letters@DailySignal.com and we’ll consider publishing your edited remarks in our regular “We Hear You” feature. Remember to include the URL or headline of the article plus your name and town and/or state. The post Well Done‚ Dean Nelson appeared first on The Daily Signal.

FIRST ON THE DAILY SIGNAL—More and more Army soldiers are reenlisting after being discharged for refusing the COVID-19 vaccine‚ according to information shared exclusively with The Daily Signal. The increase comes after Congress repealed the Pentagon’s vaccine mandate and conservative lawmakers applied pressure to Defense Department leaders to be more welcoming of 8‚400 service members who were “fired” for their refusal to get the COVID-19 shot. As of October‚ only 19 soldiers had returned to the Army. That number grew to 57 this month. Even though the number tripled over the past two months‚ it represents just 3% of the 1‚903 soldiers who were kicked out of the Army under its vaccine mandate. “I’m glad that we were able to remove the COVID-19 vaccine mandate last Congress‚ but there is more work to do‚” said Sen. Ted Cruz‚ R-Texas‚ who in January introduced what he calls the AMERICANS Act to ensure service members would be welcomed back if they chose to reenlist. >;>;>; BIDEN’S COVID-19 VAX MANDATES SPAWN LINGERING BAD RESULTS In February‚ Army Secretary Christine Wormuth announced the Army’s plans for complying with Congress’ repeal of the vaccine mandate. Since then‚ however‚ the Army has struggled to reenlist soldiers who were forced to leave when they didn’t get the shot. The vaccine-related dismissals‚ combined with recruiting woes‚ have led to staffing concerns in the military. Three branches—the Army‚ Air Force‚ and Navy—missed their recruiting targets for 2023. The Army recruited 55‚000 but its goal was 65‚000‚ so it fell short by 10‚000 active-duty soldiers. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin implemented the military’s COVID-19 vaccine requirement in August 2021 (read his memo below). It prompted backlash not only from within the military itself but also from members of Congress. While some service members rejected the vaccine because of their sincerely held religious beliefs‚ others worried about the vaccine’s safety and how it was developed and quickly approved. The Heritage Foundation’s National Independent Panel on Military Service and Readiness‚ chaired by Rep. Mike Waltz‚ R-Fla.‚ issued a report in March citing the COVID-19 vaccine mandate as an impediment to recruitment and retention. (The Daily Signal is Heritage’s news outlet.) As a result of changing conditions on the ground‚ the COVID-19 vaccine mandate became more detrimental than beneficial to military readiness. Every servicemember separated from service or formally restricted from operations is also not deployable‚ which reduces overall readiness. The cumulative effect of the vaccine mandate has equated to entire divisions no longer available for deployment. The panel faulted military leaders for not reconsidering the vaccine mandate as conditions changed and for letting politics contribute to their decisions. This led to “a diminished amount of trust between leaders and subordinates.” That’s one of the reasons Cruz introduced the AMERICANS Act—to ensure service members would be welcomed back if they chose to reenlist. Rep. Dan Bishop‚ R-N.C.‚ introduced a companion bill in the House. >;>;>; DEFENSE DEPARTMENT ‘DRASTICALLY SHIFTED OFF COURSE‚’ REP. MIKE WALTZ SAYS “The COVID vaccine mandate is gone‚ and our military is undermanned at a critical time‚” Cruz said in a written statement to The Daily Signal. “We should be welcoming unvaccinated servicemen and women who want to come back into our armed forces with open arms.” Cruz’s legislation‚ which has 20 cosponsors in the Senate‚ would credit service members for their involuntary separation in retirement pay‚ restore their rank‚ compensate them for lost pay and benefits due to their demotion‚ adjust their “general” discharge to “honorable‚” along with other measures. (Read the full text of the bill.) “This shouldn’t be controversial‚” Cruz said. “The military is struggling with recruitment‚ yet it kicked out over 8‚400 service members over Biden’s vaccine mandate. We must right this wrong. I will continue to fight until we deliver justice for wrongfully dismissed service members.” >;>;>; WITHIN RANKS‚ TRUST IN MILITARY DECLINES AMID POLITICIZATION OF NATIONAL DEFENSE Of the 57 soldiers who returned to the Army‚ 53 are on active duty and four with the Army Reserve. “Our military continues to feel the effects of the Biden administration’s reckless‚ misguided‚ and now-prohibited vaccine mandates‚” Cruz told The Daily Signal. “The AMERICANS Act would correct the wrongs done to unvaccinated service members who were discharged for exercising their conscience.” MEMORANDUM-FOR-MANDATORY-CORONAVIRUS-DISEASE-2019-VACCINATION-OF-DEPARTMENT-OF-DEFENSE-SERVICE-MEMBERSDownload The post Soldiers Slowly Return to Army After Discharges Over COVID Vaccine Mandate appeared first on The Daily Signal.

FIRST ON THE DAILY SIGNAL—A Missouri school district is providing elementary-school teachers with coloring pages‚ asking children as young as kindergartners to choose their pronouns and draw the corresponding hair and clothing.  Webster Groves School District Director of Diversity‚ Equity and Inclusion Shane Williamson emailed administrators a resource list of “Gender Identity and Expression Activities” in October 2022 in honor of LGBT History Awareness Month‚ according to public documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act and shared with The Daily Signal. “I believe it would be good to start our own resource sheet that provides ideas and activities that can help affirm and support our elementary students around the topic of gender identity and expression‚” Williamson said in the email. Williamson started the list and allowed others to add more activity resources. She did not respond to The Daily Signal’s request for comment.  The list includes two “Playing with Pronouns” coloring pages from the Gender Wheel website for kindergarten through fifth grade and links to Welcoming Schools resources on gender-expansive classrooms and Advocates for Youth’s K-12 sexuality curriculum. The “My Personal Style” coloring page asks children to draw themselves in the “style that feels the most like you.” The page features a gender-neutral child in the middle surrounded by both boy and girl options for clothing‚ hairstyles and jewelry. A line for children as young as age 5 to fill in their preferred pronouns is found below the picture.  The other “Playing the Pronouns” coloring page includes a maze with a child of uncertain sex at one end and a text bubble saying‚ “Help Dylan find their baseball hat” at the other end‚ with “their” in lieu of either “his” or “her.” “The Gender Wheel reminds us that we must see gender and bodies in a nonlinear continuum‚ and not in isolation‚” according to the Gender Wheel website‚ which makes the claim that gender stereotypes have no basis in nature.  Jay Greene‚ a senior education fellow at The Heritage Foundation’s Center for Education Policy‚ told The Daily Signal the coloring pages used by the St. Louis-area school district is inappropriate for young children. (The Daily Signal is the news outlet of The Heritage Foundation.) “Asking kindergartners in a Missouri public school to reimagine their gender identity and list their pronouns is simply not age-appropriate and almost certainly inconsistent with the priorities of families in that community‚” Greene said. “Even if we think certain topics can lead to productive discussions‚ not all topics are appropriate for all ages of children.”  The Welcoming Schools lesson plans‚ which the Webster Groves resource list designates as age appropriate for kindergarten through eighth grade‚ aim at “creating classrooms and schools that are free of gender stereotypes and gender norms that limit all children‚” according to its website.  The “Lesson Plans to Create Gender Expansive Classrooms and Support Transgender and Nonbinary Students‚” produced by the far-left Human Rights Campaign‚ include LGBTQ children’s book downloads‚ such as “I Am Jazz‚” the story of transgender-identifying biological male Jazz Jennings; “Julian Is a Mermaid‚” the story of a boy who wants to dress like a female mermaid; “Jacob’s New Dress‚” about a boy who wears a dress to school; and “They‚ She‚ He‚ Easy as ABC‚” a child’s guide to “inclusive pronouns.”  “A key focus of our program is to provide comprehensive resources for educators to teach about transgender and nonbinary people and to affirm all students’ identities across the gender spectrum‚” the Welcoming Schools website says.  Other book recommendations for children kindergarten age and older include “Born Ready: The True Story of a Boy Named Penelope”; “They‚ She‚ He‚ Me‚ Free to Be!”; and “Introducing Teddy: A Gentle Story About Friendship and Gender.”  A winter-related lesson available for download about a “Gender Snowperson” for third through fifth grades asks children to draw their gender identity‚ sexual orientation‚ gender expression‚ and so-called sex assigned at birth.  Children learn about nonbinary butterflies in another lesson designated as appropriate for kindergarten to second grade classrooms.  “Introducing students to animals that are nonbinary‚ as opposed to the ‘female and male’ gender binary‚ helps them to understand that there are many genders and that nature displays great diversity‚” the lesson plan says. Martin Bennet‚ secretary and treasurer of the St. Louis County Family Association‚ which submitted the FOIA request‚ said the Webster Groves lessons are indicative of what’s happening in public schools in Missouri and elsewhere.  “The inappropriate lessons that are occurring in public education‚ along with the continual slide in academic performance‚ is why the Missouri Legislature and Gov. [Mike] Parson must make school choice a reality for parents in Missouri‚” Bennet told The Daily Signal. K-12 lesson plans from Advocates for Youth feature elementary lessons on “Thinking Outside the (Gender) Box‚” different kinds of families‚ gender roles‚ and understanding that “there are some body parts that mostly just girls have and some parts that mostly just boys have.” A lesson on pregnancy lists abortion as a pregnancy option. Teachers are to show the students a video on options‚ then say‚ “Let’s take a closer look at these three options and identify what a person should consider with each option. For example‚ with the option of abortion‚ a person should consider if abortion is available in their local area or would require them to travel.” Optional homework outlined in the lesson plan undermines crisis pregnancy centers‚ more commonly referred to as pregnancy resource centers or pregnancy help centers. “Research the phrase Crisis Pregnancy Center‚ which are centers that aim to block a pregnant person’s access to a safe abortion‚” the lesson plan says. “Identify three key facts about crisis pregnancy centers that set them apart from health care centers.”  Advocates for Youth’s use of “pregnant person” implies that pregnancy is not exclusive to women.  Abortion is defined as “when a pregnant person decides to end the pregnancy by accessing a safe medical procedure or medication to remove the pregnancy from the person’s uterus.” Webster Groves School District did not respond to The Daily Signal’s request for comment.  Have an opinion about this article? To sound off‚ please email letters@DailySignal.com‚ and we’ll consider publishing your edited remarks in our regular “We Hear You” feature. Remember to include the URL or headline of the article plus your name and town and/or state. The post EXCLUSIVE: Missouri School District Offers Coloring Pages on Preferred Pronouns‚ Gender Expression to Kindergartners appeared first on The Daily Signal.

New York Jumps on the Reparations Bandwagon

I'm Not Saying It's Aliens...But It Might Be the Chinese

The Rebellious 'Act of Love' Defense

Having clearly not received the memo that the time just prior to and after Christmas is usually reserved for near-endless travel and weather segments‚ Wednesday’s CBS Mornings led off with over seven and a half minutes on the Colorado Supreme Court kicking former President Trump off its 2024 primary ballot and featured former Obama official-turned-supposedly-objective CBS News election law contributor David Becker reveling in the move. Co-host‚ Democratic donor‚ and Obama family friend Gayle King opened the first of two segments by boasting of the “stunning decision” that Trump was “not eligible to be on that state’s Republican primary ballot and is in fact disqualified from being president again.” That last part‚ of course‚ is false.     Tossing to White House correspondent Ed O’Keefe‚ King proclaimed that “[w]hen saw the breaking news banner on my TV‚ I swear to you I thought I was reading it wrong” as “[t]his was very stunning for a lot of people.” O’Keefe corrected King’s falsehood before moving on with the basics of what the arguments were from those who brought the case and how all seven of the state Supreme Court justices were appointed by Democratic governors.  That said‚ he never mentioned the far-left nature of those bringing the case who believe Trump’s ineligible to run for President. Before appearing live‚ Becker appeared in soundbites for O’Keefe‚ calling the ruling “unexpected” and “unprecedented” though it “kickstart[s] the process by which the United States Supreme Court is likely to rule‚ and their ruling absolutely will have some impact on whether or not Donald Trump‚ if he gains the Republican nomination is eligible to appear on the general election ballot.” Appearing live a few minutes later with chief Washington correspondent Major Garrett (who co-wrote a book with him)‚ Becker boasted that while it’s “stunning‚” the case shouldn’t be dismissed as he excitedly told of there being a “legal basis for this” since “[t]he 14th Amendment exists for a reason‚ and...says that someone who is an officer of the United States‚ and who was taken an oath and who then engages in insurrection can’t hold office” even though cases in other states had all been “dismissed”. Becker continued (click “expand”): VLADIMIR DUTHIERS: The Supreme Court will likely rule on this. Is this a shortcut way to get the Supreme Court to rule on whether or not Donald Trump did in fact insight an insurrection? BECKER: I don’t know if the Supreme Court of Colorado intended it as a shortcut‚ but that is how it is going to play out‚ and that is actually probably a good thing. It’s important for a lot of people in the United States to know whether or not Donald Trump is a qualified candidate for the presidency. It is important to the Republican Party. They need to know if they have a qualified nominee. It’s important to election officials who are printing ballots with candidates’ names on them. And it’s of course important to the voters who ultimately have to decide who they’re going to vote for‚ who they can vote for. So‚ it’s good that the Supreme Court is going to take this up and hopefully rule on it quickly. Garrett said he couldn’t see the courts removing Trump from being eligible for the general election‚ but Becker made sure to leave the door open and keep the hopes up for his friends on the left: “I think‚ you know‚ it’s hard to predict exactly what the Supreme Court will rule.” For his part‚ Garrett jabbed Republicans for putting the courts in this position and not dealing with Trump themselves (click “expand”): KING: Major‚ do you think this ruling will impact Donald Trump’s campaign? It was interesting‚ he made no mention of the ruling yesterday on the campaign trail. GARRETT: He doesn’t have to‚ Gayle. He knows that this will create tremendous press attention. He knows‚ and this was predictable and it happened‚ all the Republicans challenging him for the party’s nomination rally‚ if not to his defense‚ but to say something that they believe is a common sensical proposition in this country‚ that courts shouldn’t decide who’s on the ballot‚ but that’s not really the question. The question is‚ what does the Constitution say about your qualifications if you were president of the United States‚ and were an active if not active participant‚ a non-benign actor in an attack on the Capitol to prevent the peaceful transfer of power? That’s the question the court was asked. The court didn’t jump into this. The court was asked a central constitutional question‚ only asked in our entire history because of the actions of former President Trump. That’s a moral question that will be adjudicated politically by the Republican Party. And‚ for the moment‚ it will give Trump not only a lot of press attention‚ which he benefits from‚ but a rallying effect within the party itself. Long term‚ though‚ I’m not so sure it will be a net positive. ABC’s Good Morning America and NBC’s Today seemed like they got the message that it’d behoove them to pump the brakes. On ABC‚ fill-in co-host Whit Johnson noted “Trump is no doubt vowing to fight this” “bombshell ruling” and congressional correspondent Rachel Scott noting this would almost certainly go to the Supreme Court.  In another sign ABC has doubts‚ Scott made sure to pivot to rehashing Trump’s recent comments about illegal immigrants “poisoning the blood of America”. NBC co-host Hoda Kotb called it “a court decision” that “has a lot of people talking” while co-host Savannah Guthrie quipped Colorado was “courting controversy”. Guthrie and senior Capitol Hill correspondent Garrett Haake both pointed out this effort has failed in other states. Haake said the “political backlash” was “instant” with both Trump allies and opponents in the GOP saying the decision was bunk. “[L]egal efforts over the same issues have failed across the country‚ including lawsuits dismissed in Minnesota and New Hampshire and a Michigan appeals court rejecting challenges...this month‚” Haake added. Talking after Haake’s report‚ Guthrie and senior legal correspondent Laura Jarrett (who’s the daughter of Obama confidante Valerie Jarrett) doubled down with Jarrett calling it a “great law school exam” question‚ but a “disaster” in real-life for judges. To see the relevant CBS transcript from December 20‚ click here. 

Leftist fact-checkers target media outlets like The Babylon Bee to give social media platforms an excuse for censorship‚ the company’s CEO‚ Seth Dillon‚ told independent journalist Tucker Carlson.  Dillon broke down how fact-checks from outlets such as Snopes and USA Today lead to platforms such as Facebook censoring content‚ during a Dec. 18 interview with Carlson. Dillon told Carlson that‚ “Fact-checking is one of the methods that is employed by the lovers of censorship to guard the narrative not the truth‚” before explaining how social media platforms justify their censorship by pointing to fact-checkers. When Carlson referred to fact-checkers as the “triggers that set into motion the censorship apparatus at the social media companies‚” Dillon agreed. Echoing Carlson’s point‚ Dillon stated that Big Tech companies and fact-checkers exonerate themselves from scrutiny by pointing to each other: “The fact-checkers are the way of [the social media companies] getting out of the way and saying‚ ‘Well‚ we’re not the ones determining‚ we’re not the arbiters of truth‚’” Dillon said. Adding to that point‚ Dillon drew attention to Facebook. “Facebook could go‚ could punt to Snopes or whoever else‚ USA Today‚ whoever’s doing the fact-checking and say‚ ‘We’re not censoring you. We’re not removing your content based on arbitrary rules. We have third party fact-checkers. They’re objective and they’re the ones deciding what’s true and what’s false and what can stay and what goes.’” The satirist preceded to blow up that narrative‚ addressing a Babylon Bee article‚ “Ninth Circuit Court Overturns Death Of Ruth Bader Ginsburg‚” which was ludicrously fact-checked by USA Today. Dillon said‚ “But the USA Today fact-check on Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death that was funded by grants from Facebook‚ so Facebook paid USA Today to write that bit.”  The USA Today article‚ which reviewed whether the Ninth Circuit succeeded in raising former Supreme Court Justice Ginsburg from the dead‚ acknowledged Facebook at the end of the article: “Our fact-check work is supported in part by a grant from Facebook.” Dillon repeatedly ripped these fact-checkers over the course of the interview‚ accusing them of getting “the facts wrong on purpose” and being “super selective about what they fact-check.” Earlier in the interview‚ Dillon said his team had threatened to sue Snopes for deliberately misinforming people. Disturbingly‚ Dillon laid out the consequences of being targeted by a fact-checker: “ [Snopes] were literally maligning us and suggesting that we were misinforming people on purpose and then Facebook was saying that they were going to demonetize and deplatform us because we were fact-checked by Snopes–saying you can’t spread fake news on our platform.” Dillon said that his website had been fact-checked dozens of times and that Snopes had fact-checked the Babylon Bee at least twenty times.  Dillon also summed up the fact-checkers antipathy towards the Babylon Bee by saying that according to leftists‚ “the reason our jokes aren’t funny is because they aren’t riding on the back of truth; they aren’t carrying a message of truth; they’re pushing a narrative; they’re based on a narrative‚ so the joke isn’t funny because its rooted in a lie.”  In other words‚ the implied truths present in Babylon Bee articles‚ for example‚ the leftist bias of the Ninth Circuit implied by the Ginsburg article‚ contradict the narrative that the fact-checkers wish to push. Many of these fact-checkers‚ including USA Today and Snopes‚ became signatories of the code of principles of the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN)‚ a creation of the Poynter Institute. Leftist billionaire George Soros gave $493‚000 to the Poynter Institute from 2016-2019‚ almost of which was earmarked for the IFCN.  Conservatives are under attack! Contact Facebook headquarters at (650) 308-7300 and demand that Big Tech be held to account to mirror the First Amendment and provide an equal footing for conservatives. If you have been censored‚ contact us using CensorTrack’s contact form‚ and help us hold Big Tech accountable.

Why is Donald Trump so resilient? As 2023 draws to a close‚ the ex-president is on track to win the Republican nomination and beat Joe Biden next November. If the election were today‚ Trump would get his second term. Yet he’s charged with crimes that run a gamut from election interference to mishandling classified information. He’s under gag orders and lost a $5 million civil suit this year. Why don’t voters care -- or if they do‚ why are they rewarding Trump not punishing him? A hint can be found in the work of a great historian who died last week‚ J.G.A. Pocock. No one would call Pocock -- who was raised in New Zealand‚ educated in Britain and taught for decades in the United States -- a conservative (although‚ significantly‚ he supported Brexit). As an historian‚ however‚ he rediscovered an alternative to liberalism. That alternative was a kind of “republican” politics that lost out in 18th-century Britain but‚ across the Atlantic‚ led to the American Revolution. In the decades before American independence‚ critics of the ruling clique in Parliament began calling themselves the “country party.” They termed their opponents the “court party‚” a label that evoked the same feelings as “elite” or “establishment” today. The country party conceived of “corruption” as self-dealing by political insiders‚ who enriched themselves at the expense of ordinary citizens‚ awarding themselves economic privileges. Thomas Jefferson and John Adams were both admirers of the leading exponent of country-party ideology‚ a colorful 18th-century British statesman named Henry St. John‚ Viscount Bolingbroke. While Trump is often accused by the American establishment of being disloyal to the U.S. or soft on Russia‚ Bolingbroke really did intrigue with Britain’s superpower enemy France in hopes of overthrowing George I and restoring the Stuart line to the throne. Bolingbroke was a noted libertine as well; if “Access Hollywood” had existed back then‚ it’s easy to imagine Bolingbroke getting in trouble for saying the kinds of things that Trump has said‚ only the viscount might have said them in Latin. But it wasn’t his reputation for hanky-panky or treason that impressed Jefferson and Adams. They thought Bolingbroke was right about the British constitution being subverted by insider corruption and that saving freedom would require a leader above party -- what Bolingbroke called a “patriot king‚” an executive who was “anti-establishment‚” as we’d say. This is one reason our Founding Fathers were strongly opposed to the idea of political parties‚ even if‚ ironically‚ Jefferson and Adams would both become party leaders. The country party was supposed to be a non-party‚ while the court party consisted of all the insiders‚ whether they called themselves Whigs or Tories‚ or now Democrats or Republicans. The court party saw the country party as demagogic‚ disloyal‚ disorderly -- a breeding ground for conspiracy theories and lawbreaking. Partly because of Bolingbroke’s disgrace -- including posthumous publications that attacked Christianity -- country-party consciousness faded in Britain. But not in America. Country-party attitudes have been a recurrent feature of our politics in the 250 years since the Boston Tea Party. In 2010‚ at the height of another self-described Tea Party‚ the political scientist Angelo Codevilla wrote an essay‚ which then became a book‚ called “The Ruling Class.” He described the Obama-era Tea Party as a new manifestation of the country party‚ stirred to life by the bailouts that rescued financial insiders during the Great Recession. Codevilla died two years ago‚ but another patriot scholar‚ George Mason University’s F.H. Buckley‚ continues to develop the idea of a modern country party. Buckley says (SET ITAL)legal(END ITAL) corruption is what incites the country party against the court party. Bill and Hillary Clinton‚ Barack Obama‚ and the Biden family all amassed millions through political connections -- not their government salaries. The court party thinks Trump personifies corruption‚ but unlike the Clintons‚ Obamas and Bidens‚ Trump and his family appear financially worse off as a result of political involvement. Yet Trump’s character‚ like Bolingbroke’s‚ isn’t really what matters for the country party. What’s important is their ability to express the feelings of the “country” -- the people who didn’t enjoy the favor of the king and prime minister in Bolingbroke’s time and who get dismissed as deplorables by the corporate elite‚ educational establishment‚ mainstream media and permanent administrative state today. Even Bolingbroke’s disdain for revealed religion finds an analogue in Trump’s impiety toward political correctness and the secular clerisy that enforces it. Court-country is a more fundamental divide than conservative-liberal or Republican-Democrat‚ and it’s the source of Trump’s strength. He’s resilient because Americans‚ from the Boston Tea Party onwards‚ have always preferred breaking the law to living under broken laws‚ and the charges against Trump are irrelevant to the struggles of ordinary people against a self-dealing yet self-righteous elite. Aristocracy is the problem‚ and Americans will fight it with any weapon at hand -- including Donald Trump. Daniel McCarthy is the editor of Modern Age: A Conservative Review. To read more by Daniel McCarthy‚ visit www.creators.com