Nora Kenney Faith in the Age of AI Ross Douthat’s book offers modern readers reason to believe.

https://www.city-journal.org/article/believe-why-everyone-should-be-religious-ross-douthat-review

Believe: Why Everyone Should Be Religious, by Ross Douthat (Zondervan, 240 pp., $26.99)

Religious belief can feel like the last refuge from pervasive technology. When New York Times columnist Ross Douthat called our society “decadent” in 2020, the threat of such technologies seemed comparatively distant. Innovation appeared stagnant, and our most pressing crises were updated versions of age-old conflicts—battles over “identity,” a scolding progressive moralism, and a plague.

Just five years later, the landscape has shifted. Drone warfare, cyborg defense experiments, and ChatGPT are among the signs of rapid technological acceleration. These developments make religious faith feel more urgent—not as a reactionary impulse, but as a steadying force. “Can religion save us from artificial intelligence?” asked a 2023 Los Angeles Times piece. Perhaps—but that religion would need to be something solid and enduring, not “moralistic therapeutic deism,” tribal wokeism on the left, or neo-paganism on the right.

Enter Douthat’s Believe: Why Everyone Should Be Religious. His new book doesn’t frame itself as a response to technological advances, but in the wake of his The Decadent Society and developments since, it’s easy to read it that way.

Ned Ryun’s “Must See” Documentary: American Leviathan—The Birth of the Administrative State and Progressive Authoritarianism Ned Ryun’s American Leviathan warns that the unelected Administrative State threatens America’s constitutional republic, urging populist unity to dismantle its power. By Thaddeus G. McCotter

https://amgreatness.com/2025/03/22/ned-ryuns-must-see-documentary-american-leviathan-the-birth-of-the-administrative-state-and-progressive-authoritarianism/

ore than merely a companion piece to his bestselling book of the same name, Ned Ryun’s documentary film, American Leviathan: The Birth of the Administrative State and Progressive Authoritarianism, further explores and explains the perils the proponents and practitioners of the unelected, unaccountable federal bureaucracy pose for our constitutional republic.

A project of American Majority and Iron Light, which was directed by Jason Rink and edited by Keith Wahrer, American Leviathan commences with Mr. Ryun as our narrator, and we are subsequently led through the labyrinthine Leviathan with the able assistance of both intellectual and political defenders of our freedom, who describe the origins and aims of the Administrative State (as well as its subgroup of intelligence and police power-wielding entities known colloquially as the “Deep State.”)

These devotees of “first principles” and “permanent things” include elected officials, such as U.S. Senators Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), Jim Banks (R-Ind.), and Rick Scott (R-Fla.); and U.S. Representative Chip Roy (R-Tex.). Further, the documentary also interviews intellectual luminaries from academia, MAGA-aligned “think tanks,” and practical policy shops: Mark Corallo, Steve Cortes, Rachel Bovard, Wade Miller, Mike Davis, Bradley Watson, Elle Prunell, and Jeff Clark.

The impetus for Mr. Ryun’s documentary is succinctly put by Mr. Bradley Watson: “‘Our Democracy’ has become synonymous with an embrace of the Administrative State. Anything the Administrative State is doing, anything the Deep State is doing is identified by the left with ‘Our Democracy.’ And, in fact, it is the enemy of our constitutional republic.”

He is correct.

Trump’s War on Woke: Columbia and Big Law Fall in Line Columbia and corporate elites cave to Trump’s crackdown on woke institutions, as his administration enforces fiscal discipline and accountability—with years left to escalate. By Roger Kimball

https://amgreatness.com/2025/03/23/trumps-war-on-woke-columbia-and-big-law-fall-in-line/

The parade of capitulations to Donald Trump’s instauration of America has been breathtaking. on to the phase of grumbling, then abject acquiescence. Here are a couple of notable examples from the last several days.

Columbia University, one conspicuous home of Intifada wannabes, was dinged some $400 million in government contracts because it had conspicuously failed to follow laws prohibiting discrimination. As Secretary of Education Linda McMahon explained, since the October 7, 2023, slaughter by Hamas of some 1,200 Israelis in Gaza, “Jewish students have faced relentless violence, intimidation, and anti-Semitic harassment on their campuses—only to be ignored by those who are supposed to protect them.”

At first, Columbia officials attempted to mount some moderately high, if decrepit, horses to insist on their defiance. But just a few days ago, the administration completely caved, basically acceding in substance to all nine of Trump’s demands. The university agreed to ban masks and allow campus police officers to arrest unruly students. It also agreed to appoint a senior university official to oversee the Department of Middle East, South Asian, and African Studies as well as the Center for Palestine Studies. The university objected to the term “receivership” to describe this outcome. But as The Wall Street Journal noted, “the changes align with what usually happens in a receivership.”

Although The Wall Street Journal is not usually thought of as a comic publication, that column did contain one inadvertently hilarious sentence. The column noted that educational institutions across the country are watching what is happening at Columbia “with alarm.” They should be alarmed, for the same reason that John Donne advised readers not to ask for whom the bell tolls. Then came the funny bit. “Their primary concern,” the Journal intoned, was that “without freedom to follow their intellectual curiosity, the discoveries and innovations that fuel the U.S.’s economy will decline or even grind to a halt.”

Set the phenomenon of “intellectual curiosity” on one side of a chart. Then write down “Columbia’s Departments of Middle East and Palestine Studies.” What connects the two? It’s a baffling problem that no one has yet been able to answer.

But it is probably not as baffling as the suggestion that what goes on in those politicized, anti-Semitic redoubts has ever issued in “discoveries and innovations that fuel the U.S.’s economy” or that, absent such putative “discoveries and innovations,” said the economy would “decline or even grind to a halt.”

That would be like saying that Columbia’s “Women’s and Gender Studies” Department featured “intellectual curiosity,” as distinct from politicized grievance-mongering, or that any verbiage emitted from those hothouse quarters ever issued in “discoveries and innovations that fuel the U.S.’s economy.”

Media Rallies Against Deportation of Student Who Urged Taking “Cue” from Hamas “My hatred of the US empire knows no bound” Daniel Greenfield

https://www.frontpagemag.com/media-rallies-against-deportation-student-who-urged-taking-cue-from-hamas/

Momodou Taal had a simple plan. Come to America on a student visa to destroy it from within.

In one post, he wrote, “The end of the US empire in our lifetime in sha Allah.” Months later, he celebrated receiving his student visa, writing, “Student Visa issued. We going to America baby! Alhamdulillah!” Shortly thereafter, he tweeted, “My hatred of the US empire knows no bound. Wallahi.”

“When the enemy is US imperialism, then absolutely anyone the US calls an enemy is my friend,” he posted in July. “My hatred for US imperialism and the global system it reproduces knows no bounds,” he wrote one month prior. “At this point; any movement, nation, people who are working to decrease the impact and effects of US imperialism on the world has my support.”

Any sane country would never have let the likes of Momodou Taal inside. But we let him in and welcomed him in every possible way as he chanted support for Islamic terrorism.

While leading an anti-Israel campus demonstration last year, Taal called on his fellow student protesters to take their “cue from the armed resistance in Palestine.”

That is to say Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other Jihadist groups.

Taal made a similar statement hours after the October 7 attacks, writing, “The dialect demands: That wherever you have oppression, you will find those who [are] fighting against it. Glory to the resistance!”

The EU Must Stop Undermining Efforts to Save Itself by Majid Rafizadeh

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/21485/eu-undermining-iran-efforts

It is high time for Europe — while posing as the pinnacle of virtue — to stop hiding behind US and Israeli actions. The EU needs to cut off trade, impose severe sanctions, and isolate Iran completely. Anything less is complicity.

Even as Iran deepens its military alliance with Russia by supplying drones and missiles that are used to create scorched earth in Ukraine’s cities, the EU has refused to sever its financial connections to Tehran. Iranian-made Shahed drones have devastated Ukrainian infrastructure, yet European businesses are still trading with the very country producing them. This is not just hypocrisy — it is an active betrayal of Europe’s own security interests.

The EU would do well to take the following steps immediately: Sever all economic ties with Iran. No more trade, no more investment, no more financial engagement. Every euro that flows into Iran is a euro that strengthens a regime that threatens European, as well as global, stability. Impose the harshest possible sanctions. Target Iran’s energy sector, its financial institutions, and its military industries. The EU needs to make it clear that Iran’s actions will face an unbearable economic cost. Trigger the snapback sanctions.

If European leaders are too weak to act themselves, at least support those who are preventing Iran from becoming a nuclear power, devouring the region and “revolutionizing” the West. The EU needs to openly declare its backing of any Israeli military operation against Iran’s nuclear facilities.

The European Union has spent years enriching Iran by choosing economic gain over security, morality, and strategic interests.

While the Iranian regime continues to fuel war, repression and terrorism, the EU has clung to its trade partnerships and business deals, while refusing to take meaningful action against a regime that actively threatens the continent’s stability as well as that of the globe.

The EU is not being naive — it is making a calculated choice to prioritize money over principles, over the safety of its own citizens, and over the security of its allies. This really needs to end. Iran is supplying weapons that kill Ukrainians, is on the brink of acquiring nuclear weapons and has been taking Europeans hostage with no consequences. The EU nevertheless continues to do business with Iran. The EU provides the regime with the economic resources it needs to expand its influence and finance its nuclear program, military operations and terror proxies.

Judge Fines Pam Bondi for Wearing a Cross – Then Tries to Cancel It, Forgetting She Knows the Constitution Better Than He Knows His Own Job! By Medeea Greere

https://amg-news.com/incredible-judge-fines-pam-bondi-for-wearing-a-cross-then-tries-to-cancel-it-forgetting-she-knows-the-constitution-better-than-he-knows-his-own-job/

A judge tried to fine Pam Bondi for wearing a cross in court. Big mistake. She destroyed him with the Constitution, live in court. Now he’s under investigation — and the nation is watching what happens when tyrants get checked in real time.

Pam Bondi walked into the courtroom like she had thousands of times before. Calm. Prepared. Respected. But on this day, it wasn’t her case files or arguments that sparked tension — it was the cross around her neck.

A simple silver emblem of her faith became, in the eyes of Judge Martin Prescott, an “affront to courtroom neutrality.”

Within minutes, the judge halted proceedings and made an announcement that stunned the room:

“Ms. Bondi, you are in violation of decorum. You will be fined if the cross remains visible.”

A fine. For a symbol of faith. In a U.S. courtroom.

Liz Peek: Trump learned from Biden’s mistakes: Never underestimate Saudi Arabia

https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/5205602-trump-biden-saudi-arabia-oil

When it comes to energy, President Trump is playing chess, not checkers. Former President Joe Biden wasn’t even playing tic-tac-toe.

Consider: Why are U.S. officials traveling to Saudi Arabia to negotiate peace between Ukraine and Russia? Why not more traditional diplomatic venues like Geneva or Vienna?   

Because Trump knows that Saudi Arabia is critical to lowering oil prices and pressuring Russia to come to the bargaining table. He also knows that Mohammed bin Salman, the Saudi crown prince, craves acceptance as a global leader and that hosting these high-level meetings helps him achieve that end.

Biden had spurned bin Salman, promising in 2019 to make him “a pariah.” Trump won’t be making that mistake.

Gasoline prices are down 11 percent from a year ago, providing welcome relief to Americans worried about inflation and a boost for the Trump White House. Trump campaigned on lowering energy prices; nothing could be more important to the success of this administration. Biden’s approval ratings were clobbered when gasoline prices breached $5 per gallon in 2022; for Trump, the stakes are equally high.  

Gasoline prices are lower because crude oil is hovering around $67 per barrel, down from $84 a year ago. Why the drop? There are numerous factors, but the most important is that OPEC+, for the first time since 2022, has agreed to expand output in April. Between next month and September 2026, OPEC-plus has agreed to reverse its prior 2.2 million barrel per day cuts; unless demand strengthens unexpectedly, or there is a major disruption of production in the Middle East, the bump in output should keep prices steady, and below the $78 level posted on Inauguration Day. 

For that, you can thank Trump and his outreach to bin Salman. 

Israeli Defense Minister to Hamas: Hand Over All the Hostages or Lose Land Permanently The terror group faces a stark choice. P. David Hornik

https://pdavidhornik.substack.com/subscribe?utm_source=email&utm_campaign=email-subscribe&r=8t06w&next=

Today, Friday, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz stated:

If the Hamas terror organization continues to refuse to release the hostages, I instructed the IDF to capture additional areas, evacuate the population, and expand the security zone around Gaza for the protection of Israeli communities and IDF soldiers, through a permanent hold of the area by Israel.

As long as Hamas continues its refusal, it will lose more and more land that will be added to Israel.

Katz added that Israel would use “all military and civilian pressure, including evacuation of the Gaza population south[ward] and implementing US President Trump’s voluntary migration plan for Gaza residents.”

Katz also

affirmed Israel’s commitment to the US hostage deal proposal put forward by President Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff. The plan calls for the release of all hostages—both living and deceased—in two phases, separated by a temporary ceasefire. “We are fully committed to this proposal, which does not compromise Israel’s security interests,” Katz said.

This is a dramatic declaration that is now making headlines on Israeli sites.

I would feel more comfortable if it were Katz’s boss, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, rather than Katz, making such a statement—clearly and publicly. The defense minister may be the second most powerful person in Israel, but a statement of this weight should come from the person at the helm. When it doesn’t, it creates a misgiving that Katz may be freelancing.

As it became clear that Hamas was merely stalling in the negotiations and using the time to rebuild and reorganize its forces, possibly build new tunnels, set up rocket launchers, and even plan new cross-border attacks, early Tuesday morning Israel launched heavy airstrikes against the Hamas leadership and terror infrastructure. Since then Israel has continued the military pressure, and by Thursday four separate IDF forces were operating in different parts of Gaza.

John Roberts Is Responsible for the High Court’s Self-Delegitimization Josh Hammer

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2025/03/21/john_roberts_is_responsible_for_the_high_courts_self-delegitimization_152535.html

At his 2005 Senate confirmation hearing to be chief justice of the United States Supreme Court, John Roberts famously invoked America’s national pastime in describing his view of the judicial role in our constitutional order: “Judges are like umpires. Umpires don’t make the rules, they apply them. The role of an umpire and a judge is critical. They make sure everybody plays by the rules, but it is a limited role. Nobody ever went to a ball game to see the umpire.”

If only!

Unfortunately, Roberts’ actual career on the high court has been one extensive repudiation of his lofty “umpire” proclamation. In exalting above all other concerns his personal conception of the institutional integrity of the Supreme Court, and by extension the entire judiciary, Roberts has ironically done more than anyone else to delegitimize the courts. His recent wildly out-of-line criticism of President Donald Trump’s call for impeachment of a rogue lower-court judge is just the latest example. For the court’s own sake, in these politically tense times, Roberts must change course immediately.

Roberts first showed his hand in the landmark 2012 Obamacare case, National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius. As was initially reported by CBS News’s Jan Crawford in the immediate aftermath of the decision and subsequently reported in later years by other court watchers such as CNN’s Joan Biskupic, Roberts initially intended to rule against the constitutionality of the health care law’s individual mandate — its most controversial feature.

But at some point during the court’s deliberations, Roberts changed his mind. He decided that he could throw a bone to the court’s conservative bloc by ruling against the mandate on Commerce Clause grounds, which the law’s drafters and the Obama administration alike had cited as its constitutional basis. But Roberts threw an even larger bone to the court’s liberal bloc, unilaterally opting to rewrite the statute so as to construe the mandate as a “tax” — which then-President Barack Obama himself had repeatedly told a skeptical public that it was not. Obama’s signature domestic achievement was thus upheld.

UNRWA still operating in Israel despite laws barring agency By David Isaac

https://www.jns.org/unrwa-still-operating-in-israel-despite-laws-barring-agency/

Israel’s UNRWA ban went into effect on Jan. 30 but has been only partially implemented. That worries activists and Knesset members involved in the effort to shutter the terrorism-linked U.N. agency.

To help ensure the law is applied, Likud MK Dan Illouz, who sponsored one of the two bills to bar UNRWA (full name the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East), formed the Knesset Lobby for Closing UNRWA. It held its first meeting on Feb. 20.

“We know and have experience that very often laws that are enacted in the Knesset are not necessarily applied,” Illouz told JNS.

Possible threats to the laws’ implementation aired at the lobby’s meeting included High Court interference and attempts by Israeli businesses enjoying commercial ties with UNRWA to sabotage the law.

The two bills, passed into law on Oct. 28, merged four separate private bills. “They were all put together and translated into two historic laws that are meant to put an end to UNRWA’s effective presence in any area controlled by Israel,” Illouz said.

The first law prohibits UNRWA from “operating any representative office, providing any service, or carrying out any activity, directly or indirectly, in the sovereign territory of the State of Israel.”

The second law prohibits any Israeli authority or public servant from dealing with UNRWA. “A government authority, including other bodies and individuals performing public duties according to law, shall not have any contact with UNRWA or anyone acting on its behalf,” the legislation states.