We heard a lot about democracy during the election season. The left circulated the narrative that Trump would be the end of democracy while the right called him the savior who would rescue it from the undemocratic Biden regime.

Mark Levin, however, says we need to be reminded of something: “[Our Founding Fathers] didn’t support democracy; they supported republicanism.”

“Democracy means factions can take over or a majority can be tyrannical,” he says, adding that our Founders saw this in other countries and “didn’t want anything to do with it.”

“They wanted republicanism; they wanted checks in power,” he explains.

That’s why they enshrined certain principles in our Constitution.

That way, “you can’t have people vote away your rights,” says Levin. If “90% of them don’t think you should have the right to bear arms, that’s too damn bad.”

The fact that our forefathers foresaw the inevitable issues with a true democracy and created our brilliant system proves that “they were geniuses.”

Their installation of the Electoral College was equally brilliant.

Even though we see people like Tim Walz advocating for the demolition of it, Levin knows the truth: It’s for our nation’s protection.

“You choose a president not through a direct election” but rather via an “Electoral College. Why?” asks Levin. “One person is the head of an entire branch; we can’t just leave it up to a popular vote” because then “the cities will choose the president.”

“In order to have a union and in order to make sure every aspect of the society was represented, they came up with this brilliant Electoral College,” he explains.

Because of this brilliant system of balance, “California doesn’t get to drown out Montana, Wyoming, [or] Idaho.”

“If you had a national popular vote, that’s what [California] would do,” says Levin.

A system in which “the president [is] chosen by the people through the Electoral College but not chosen by the legislature” was “unheard of” at the time. So was the idea of “staggered terms” and a “bicameral congress.”

“So the accumulation of power, the centralization of government is limited,” Levin explains.

To hear more of his explanation on the brilliant and effective system of government designed by our forefathers, watch the clip above.

Want more from Mark Levin?

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​Levin tv, Mark levin, Blaze media, Republic vs democracy, Democracy, Democratic republic, America, Constitution, Founding fathers, Blazetv, Electoral college, Electoral college challenge, Levintv 

All those ignorant Trump voters worried about the price of food? Let them eat cake, says Madonna.

The Material Girl observed Donald Trump’s re-election by stuffing her face with a special celebratory confection — one bearing the slogan “F*** Trump.”

Academia is the new home for anti-Semitism, meaning young people are going into massive debt for the chance to hate an entire group of people.

A true blow to both MAGA Nation and The PatriarchyTM. How will Trump 2.0 survive?

In Madonna’s defense, she’s come a long way since 2017. That year found her dreaming of blowing up the White House.

Colbert’s cooked

Late-night TV isn’t handling Trump’s re-election quite as well.

Jimmy Kimmel fought back tears on the night following Trump’s landslide victory. John Oliver couldn’t muster the energy to make us laugh … or even try.

Now Stephen Colbert jokes (or confesses?). He’s stress-eating in reaction to the MAGA sequel.

“Over the weekend, what I like to do when I’m feeling stressed out, I cook.”

Wonder if he’s got a recipe for crow.

Glen Powell needs mom’s ‘Mission’ permission

One of the biggest new stars in Hollywood follows a tried-and-true formula for success. Listen to your mother.

Could Glen Powell, who broke out with “Top Gun: Maverick” and anchored the summer hit “Twisters,” replace Tom Cruise in the “Mission: Impossible” franchise?

Not so fast. First of all, no one has confirmed that news.

Secondly, Mama Powell is putting her foot down.

“My mom would never let me do that.” Powell said of the stunt-laden franchise. It’s the “worst gig in town; everybody knows that.”

Mom might have a change of heart if the assignment comes with Cruise-sized hazard pay.

Who’s sorry now?

Adam Carolla has a firm policy when it comes to jokes: no apologies. Ever.

That’s helped him build a sturdy career outside the Hollywood ecosystem. Now he can say whatever he wishes without a cancel culture care in the world.

He’s got company.

Tony Hinchcliffe, the comic who roasted Puerto Rico at President Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally, isn’t sorry either.

The media desperately hoped Hinchcliffe’s “garbage” gag would turn Latinos against Trump.

It didn’t. Just ask the new governor of Puerto Rico, a Republican named Jenniffer Gonzalez.

Tony shared some warm thoughts about both Puerto Rico and its citizens following the election. Then he broke out his Carolla-approved philosophy.

“I apologize to absolutely nobody — not to the Puerto Ricans, not to the whites, not to the blacks, not to the Palestinians, not to the Jews, and not to my own mother, who I made fun of during the set. Nobody clipped that.”

He wasn’t done.

“To the mainstream media and to everybody trying to slander me online, that’s what I do. I go hard and that’s never going to change.”

Dwayne Johnson’s on-set ‘streaming’

OK, who’s gonna tell Dwayne Johnson he can’t use urine bottles on a movie set?

The former Rock is trying to explain a 2024 exposé that said he showed up late to the set of “Red One” … a lot. The superstar’s tardiness set the studio back millions, according to TheWrap.com.

Johnson is denying elements of that story, including the price tag for his tardiness. He does admit to a less substantial part of the narrative. Yes, he does pee in bottles on movie sets to save time.

It’s certainly not the kind of press a movie star craves. The bigger issue in play? “Red One,” an action Christmas comedy co-starring Chris Evans, cost a reported $250 million. The film’s projected box office this weekend? As low as $30 million. That’s hardly a trickle.

B.S. in Beyoncé

Universities have had a terrible, no-good 2024. Academia is the new home for anti-Semitism, meaning young people are going into massive debt for the chance to hate an entire group of people.

There is good news, though, at least on one college front.

Yale University is promising a new course titled “Beyoncé Makes History: Black Radical Tradition, Culture, Theory & Politics Through Music.” Graduates may not be able to make a dime from that knowledge, but they won’t have to hear, “from the river to the sea” chants as much as their peers.

​Entertainment, Celebrities, Gossip, Culture, Beyonce, Trump, Colbert, Kimmel, Toto recall 

Americans are tired of being told their intellect is limited by race or sex — especially women. Like other groups, women have long been taken for granted by the Democratic Party, as if pro-choice talking points alone are enough to secure their blind loyalty to the rest of the party’s platform.

“The View” co-host Sunny Hostin certainly thinks this is the case, calling Trump’s victory a “a referendum of cultural resentment” merely because Americans overwhelmingly refused the policy platform of “a mixed-race woman married to a Jewish guy.”

No, women didn’t vote for Trump because they are ‘so severe upon their own sex.’

The Sunny Hostins of the Democratic establishment refuse to engage in serious self-reflection that could explain the surge of women and other traditionally Democratic groups voting Republican in this election. Are women simply suffering from a mass self-hatred that enticed them to vote for Donald Trump? Or have Democrats made a critical mistake in assuming that abortion is the only issue women care about politically?

Kamala Harris bet on winning the women’s vote by making reproductive rights the center of her campaign. This strategy isn’t new — Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and other Democrats have used it before. However, this approach has arguably become one of the Democrats’ gravest miscalculations, and Harris paid the price.

Over the past four years, women have faced the same economic pressures as men — buying groceries, filling gas tanks, and dealing with higher interest rates. Men aren’t the only ones who care about the economy, and no matter how often politicians chant, “My body, my choice,” it can’t drown out the financial strain of Bidenomics. Women, like men, wanted economic solutions and found them with Trump. For them, Kamala Harris and “my body, my choice” were not nearly enough.

Women’s bodies seem to matter to Democrats only when it comes to abortion. After the COVID pandemic, women have led the push for greater medical autonomy, nutritional transparency, and broader access to holistic, cycle-based health care. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. promised to address these issues by holding Big Pharma and Big Food accountable, and women rallied around him in droves. But instead of supporting RFK Jr. and the women’s issues he represented, the Democratic Party labeled him an “anti-vax conspiracy theorist,” dismissing both him and the women he galvanized. Is it any wonder they followed Kennedy across the aisle to Trump?

Democrats also seem indifferent to women’s health care standards beyond abortion access. Women are continually overprescribed birth control as a blanket treatment for almost any ailment, wreaking havoc on their bodies. When outlets like Evie magazine highlighted how Big Pharma profits from pumping women full of synthetic estrogens, the Washington Post labeled the writers “conspiracy theorists.” But don’t worry — if birth control fails, Democrats will ensure you still have access to abortion.

Yet the “my body, my choice” mantra doesn’t seem to apply to women’s sports, bathrooms, or sororities. Kamala Harris might have played Beyoncé’s “Girls Run the World” at her rallies, but when her party cheers for an Algerian man beating elite female athletes or celebrates Lia Thomas while dismissing Riley Gaines as a “right-wing extremist,” the pretense of “women’s empowerment” becomes hard to believe.

Women are also tired of being told by the “woke elite” that they’re “fatphobic” if they don’t laud Lizzo as a health and beauty icon while Adele and Rebel Wilson are criticized for promoting “unhealthy” beauty standards through their weight loss. According to MSNBC, fitness is a sign of “right-wing extremism,” so it’s supposedly better to sit on the couch and pop birth control.

When Democrats celebrate being an overweight, unhealthy, androgynous “menstruating person” over a mom who works out, wears dresses, and drinks raw milk, they risk alienating a significant portion of their base.

The Democrats assume women have an obligatory, blind allegiance requiring them to support any woman running for office regardless of her policies. Such an assumption that a woman’s political capacities are limited to a candidate’s sex is not only an insult to women’s intelligence — it’s frankly anti-feminist.

In response to Sunny Hostin: No, women didn’t vote for Trump because they are “so severe upon their own sex.” Like birth control, your party prescribed “my body, my choice” as a cure-all for any political ailment afflicting women over the past four years of Biden and Harris’ policy failures. Trump’s platform actually listened to women. You took them for granted.

​2024 presidential election, Donald trump, Kamala harris, Women, Abortion rights, Abortion, Transgender athletes, Lia thomas, Riley gaines, Democratic party, Sonny hostin, The view, Opinion & analysis 

As devastating as the images were coming out of Western North Carolina in the wake of Hurricane Helene in late September, sadly, it is all too easy for those of us personally unaffected by the storm to move on with our lives. Emotions were high leading up to the election, and now supporters of President-elect Donald Trump have focused much of their attention on the prospects of his second term.

Not so for those in North Carolina. Though voter turnout was still remarkably high in North Carolina, exceeding turnout in 2020 by more than 100,000 votes and exceeding 2016 numbers by more than 1 million, much of the western part of the state, normally protected from the storms that batter the coast with some regularity, remains wiped out from flooding.

Not content to carry on with the holiday season while their compatriots across the state still suffer, some Christians in an eastern region of North Carolina have made preparations to provide supplies, Bibles, and a hearty Thanksgiving meal to those in need.

To learn more about what has been dubbed Operation Thanksgiving Blessings, Blaze News spoke with the man behind the plans, David Burke, who in turn prefers to give all the credit to someone else.

“No way in the world would all this stuff ever have happened if it wasn’t for God,” he said, adding with a laugh, “I’m not that smart.”

Operation Thanksgiving Blessings

Blaze News spoke with Burke on multiple occasions and can verify that he is, indeed, that smart. By trade a project manager for a metal fabrication company, Burke has also been known to dabble in some cooking competitions.

“I was ranked as high as #3 in the state of North Carolina for whole-hog BBQ competition with the Roth Carolina Pork Council,” he noted proudly in a message to Blaze News.

After attending church one Sunday morning in early October, just a week or so after Hurricane Helene ravaged his state, Burke sensed that he had to do more for the victims than pray or write a check.

“The Sunday school lesson was on home community service, of all things,” he said. “I’m 59 years old. Never once have I had a Sunday school lesson on community service until about three weeks ago, four weeks ago.”

David Burke, speaking to children at a church that donated 100 Bibles for Operation Thanksgiving Blessings. Photo used with permission.

After a series of coincidences, putting Burke in touch with people living hours away, he finally figured out what he was going to do: arrange to cook a Thanksgiving dinner for those living in an area that has thus far received little help from the government.

Citing Newland, North Carolina, Mayor Derek Roberts, who claimed his daughter received just $300 from FEMA after losing her entire house to the flooding, Burke claimed that government assistance has been almost nonexistent in some cases and that the people of Western North Carolina have more or less had to fend for themselves.

“I knew right then that’s where we needed to go,” Burke told Blaze News.

Burke lives near Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina, a rural area about 100 miles northeast of Raleigh and more than 260 miles east — about a six-hour drive — from Elk Park, the area he intended to feed. The distance and the scope of his plans meant that Burke needed help.

As so many people do these days, Burke turned to social media, creating a Facebook page as a landing site for those interested in getting involved. And, as it were, the floodgates opened.

Famed turkey company Butterball donated 100 turkeys weighing about 24 pounds each. Glover Construction is providing enough ingredients to make 300 gallons of Brunswick stew, a local staple that Burke described as “a thick vegetable soup.” Even an area prison with a farm on its grounds reportedly offered 180 dozen eggs — more than 2,100 total — for the effort.

Restaurants such as Napoli Pizza and Italian Restaurant in Murfreesboro chipped in by holding fundraisers. By pooling all proceeds from the fundraiser — including tips — Napoli’s alone collected $4,000 for Operation Thanksgiving Blessings.

Napoli’s owner, Mari Rizo, told Blaze News she was thrilled with the success of the fundraiser.

“At Napoli’s Pizza and Italian Restaurant, we’ve always believed in the power of community. When we heard about the devastating impact of the hurricane on families in Western North Carolina, we felt compelled to help. Our team wanted to do something meaningful to give back, especially with Thanksgiving approaching,” Rizo said in a statement to Blaze News.

“To the families in Western North Carolina who are facing difficult times, we want you to know that we are thinking of you. We hope that this gesture helps to bring some comfort and joy to your holiday. Our hearts are with you, and we will continue to do everything we can to support you through this difficult time.”

Photo of Napoli’s fundraiser. Used with permission.

The Seaboard Lions Club, of which Burke is a member, has also collected monetary and supply donations and stored them on the organization’s 20-acre site.

“Everybody knows somebody, and in our world, the more people you know … [the] better off you are,” Burke said of the growing network of donors and volunteers involved with Operation Thanksgiving Blessings.

Burke told Blaze News that his initial goal was to cook and serve about 5,000 total meals on Thanksgiving Day, but that goal expanded after he spoke with a woman who had a similar idea about feeding others living near Fletcher, North Carolina — about 90 miles away from Elk Park — on the Saturday after Thanksgiving.

“We got another 40 turkeys donated and another 20 hams, and so what we’re gonna do is we’re gonna cook all that food for those 500 as well on Thanksgiving Day, and we’ll pack it in bulk and send it to her. And then all she’ll have to do is warm it back up and serve 500 people on Saturday as well,” Burke explained.

As generous as a home-cooked Thanksgiving meal is, the food represents just a tiny fraction of the goods and services Operation Thanksgiving Blessings will offer those in Western North Carolina.

Burke and his team have loaded 53-foot trailers with other supplies as well, including clothes for the winter, heaters, blankets, baby supplies, gloves, hats, personal hygiene items, paper products, and cleaning supplies. ORBIS Corporation even donated 750 plastic bins for storage, a necessity for folks who lost not only all their possessions but a place in which to keep them.

“ORBIS is honored to support this incredible cause and support the people of Western North Carolina in their time of need,” the company told Blaze News.

Photo of supplies. Used with permission.

The details

The crew from the Roanoke Rapids area has already begun packing up trailers and trucks, ready to haul everything out to the western part of the state just a day or so before Thanksgiving.

On Thanksgiving Day, they will set up shop at Cranberry Middle School at 6051 N. U.S. Hwy 19E in Elk Park, North Carolina. Folks can begin arriving at 11 a.m. and sit down and enjoy their meal or pick one up and take it to go.

Screenshot of flyer featured on OTB Facebook page. Used with permission.

Burke told Blaze News that his group has all the supplies and donations it can handle. He suggested that anyone still interested in making a monetary donation mail a check to the Seaboard Lions Club at P.O. Box 76, Seaboard, North Carolina, 27876. Sending it to David Burke’s attention and including “OTB” on the memo line of the check will help earmark it for Operation Thanksgiving Blessings.

Burke emphasized to Blaze News that “every red penny” the Lions Club receives will be distributed to people living in and around Elk Park. Ever committed to transparency, Burke even offered to have Blaze News share his private phone number in this article, an offer that we politely declined.

“I don’t want people to sit around and wonder what we’re doing,” he explained. “I want them to see exactly what’s going on and see God at work.”

Feeding bellies and souls

Burke, a devout Christian, takes the biblical call to love and serve others seriously, and he is happy to use his talents as a project manager and as a chef to give those who have lost all their material possessions a Thanksgiving meal they will never forget.

However, he believes that evangelizing them for Christ is even more important.

“We’re looking for that one person out there that doesn’t believe, doesn’t think God is real,” he told Blaze News, “and it is our hope that we can change his mind or her mind.”

“By showing them that people care and that God has been working this whole time to make all this come together, maybe, just maybe, we’ll save that one,” he continued.

Burke is hardly the only Christian involved in Operation Thanksgiving Blessings. In fact, he has teamed up with members of churches across the state to identify and reach people in need.

For instance, Burke connected with a pastor from his hometown of Murfreesboro but now living in Boone, North Carolina, who began collecting supplies sent via Amazon from all over the country. Burke also made contact with the student body president of Appalachian State University, who once attended Sunday school taught by Burke and his wife.

“I called and talked to her, and I told her … ‘Go out there, and you tell these people that you’re gonna come bring some help to them at Thanksgiving. … And I’ll be standing right behind you,'” he recalled to Blaze News. “I said, ‘You’ve been on mission trips with me before. You know exactly what I want to get done. So let’s see if we can make it happen.'”

Burke acknowledged to Blaze News that some people, especially those who lost their homes, pets, and even loved ones in Hurricane Helene might struggle to believe in a loving, all-powerful God. But he added that faith in the face of doubt is still the answer.

“Why did God let this happen? I can’t answer that question, but it’s all within His plan,” he explained. “His plan has meaning. He doesn’t make any mistakes, and so all we have to do is we have to have the faith.”

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​Western north carolina, Hurricane helene, Thanksgiving, Christians, Operation thanksgiving blessings, Fema, Politics, Abide, T3 

Donald Trump won the election, but that isn’t the only win Americans are seeing.

“This was really not an election of Trump versus Kamala, it was really an election on reality and how many people had woken up to something roughly real that they were getting versus the endless lies of the mainstream media,” Dave Rubin of “The Rubin Report” explains.

“I mean, CNN is now talking about the podcasters and the online streamers and everything else. MSNBC is now for sale via Comcast. CNN, it’s now being reported, is about to axe a bunch of their top talent,” he adds.

Megyn Kelly is in full agreement, noting that unlike Kamala, who relied on the mainstream media, Trump utilized the podcast circuit to get his message out to voters.

“The young people do not watch cable news at all. Older people, senior citizens watch cable news,” Kelly says, adding that because of the memes, commentary, and fact checking on social-media, “mainstream anchors could not get away with the lies they were telling.”

“The Tim Walz stolen valor stuff, that exploded online. We all really had a massive role in shaping the narrative in a way that would have been unthinkable even four years ago,” she says, “It’s a totally new game now.”

When Kelly worked at Fox News, she recalls the media company refusing to entertain actress Jenny McCarthy’s claims that the childhood vaccine schedule was way over-the-top — and now it’s the same thing with trans ideology and pronouns.

“I remember Fox News being like, ‘Oh, hell no, we are not even going there,’ and now today the same thing is happening with the trans stuff. Fox News uses quote ‘preferred pronouns.’ That’s a news corp. policy. They say ‘he’ when it should be ‘she,’” Kelly explains.

“You could never have the frank and honest discussions that we have on our shows about race, race essentialism, the election denialism stuff, the COVID truths,” she continues. “I only would really put it together later that a lot of that is driven by just the agenda of the owners and the people at the top, and a lot of it is driven by the advertisers.”

“I mean, RFK Jr. is not wrong when he points out what a huge advertiser Pfizer is all over television,” she adds.

Want more from Dave Rubin?

To enjoy more honest conversations, free speech, and big ideas with Dave Rubin, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

​Video phone, Free, Video, Sharing, Camera phone, Upload, Youtube.com, The rubin report, Dave rubin, Megyn kelly, The blaze, Blazetv, Blaze news, Blaze podcasts, Blaze podcast network, Blaze media, Mainstream media, Donald trump, Rfk jr, Donald trump victory 

If you came to my house, you would see a myriad of crystals. They’re perched atop shelves, tucked into bookcases, and nestled among potted plants. I have tattoos of moons, suns, and stars on my arms.

I know what you’re thinking: You must be into New Age?

What begins as innocent curiosity, a desire for meaning and connection, or just a simple wow, that’s beautiful can set people on a path of consorting with the demonic.

Actually, no.

And I have a follow-up question: When did matters of geology and astronomy become emblems of the occult?

When did we agree that any part of God’s creation belonged to groups that, whether they know it or not, fraternize with the demonic?

I look around and wonder if any Christians are as nettled about this as I am. We already silently surrendered to the hijacking of the rainbow. Are we going to allow another group to lay claim to more aspects of nature that should point us back to God?

That’s not to say that we can stop New Agers, occultists, witches, or anyone for that matter from abusing God’s good creation — we can’t. If they want to infuse stones with dark magic and deduce faulty ideas from the skies, so be it.

But the Christian recoiling from anything involving crystals, astronomical bodies, or other elements of nature is a fundamentally flawed response.

A disclaimer

It’s unwise to purchase crystals or any trinket, no matter how innocuous it appears, from New Age shops and companies. There are telltale signs we should look for: tarot cards, books on modern witchcraft and spellwork, smudge sticks, incense, and anything claiming to “cleanse the energy” in the room.

Some of this merchandise is cursed intentionally. A pretty rock isn’t the only thing you’ll be bringing home with you.

New Age ideas found in books and games beckon the naive down paths of evil masked as “spiritual awakenings” and guides to connecting to the universe and other energy sources, all of which are demonic.

At bare minimum, purchasing products from New Age shops funds groups that practice and champion the dark arts. For the same reasons, Christians should avoid reading horoscopes or purchasing anything in that vein.

Why it matters

Isn’t it interesting that many of the things we associate with occultism and New Ageism, which is just a gateway drug to the occult, are not only part of nature but specifically the most ethereal parts of nature?

Ice tundras, scorching deserts, and mosquito-ridden swamplands do not embody the dark arts. But prismatic crystals, radiant celestial bodies, and deep, mysterious forests — things that are so striking they seem to exude the supernatural, because they do — these specifically we associate with witchcraft.

This is no accident.

Satan uses beauty — the very trait that defined him before his fall — to attract and ensnare. The most sublime elements of nature can be a kind of bait that draws people in. Anyone with an affinity for nature or metaphysics is especially at risk.

That’s why it’s common to see bohemians, naturalists, hippies, and the like gravitate toward the New Age. However, what begins as innocent curiosity, a desire for meaning and connection, or just a simple wow, that’s beautiful can set people on a path of consorting with the demonic. And before they know it, the jaws of dark magic are closing around them.

Further, nature isn’t just the game board on which the story of humanity plays out. Certainly there’s a practical side to oceans, mountains, and the moon, but these elements were also designed to reflect the nature of their Creator, who spoke them into existence, and elicit worship from the spectator.

When I consider your heavens,

the work of your fingers,

the moon and the stars,

which you have set in place,

what is mankind that you are mindful of them,

human beings that you care for them? —Psalm 8:3-4

These words from King David capture a divine purpose of the natural world. He gazes at the sky, bears witness to God’s creativity, His beauty, and His love for mankind, and he responds in worship.

Stealing wonder

But Satan hates the worship of God. It’s fitting that he would steal and pervert the elements of nature likely to stir up that feeling of awestruck wonder: If this exists, there must be a higher power out there. Which, of course, is the point. The complexity and beauty of nature shout the name of the One who created it.

Occultism does indeed lead to a higher power, but not the highest power. Not the power that heals, redeems, and saves but the power that confuses, corrupts, and destroys.

Under Satan’s sinister influence, glittering stones hidden among clay and rock become untapped sources of power instead of reminders of God’s creativity and whimsy. Constellations become pathways to phony insight and introspection instead of evidence of God’s artistry and brilliant design for navigation. The moon becomes an object of worship instead of a great stabilizer in God’s spoken cosmos. The deep woods become a gathering place for witches instead of singers of God’s glory (1 Chronicles 16:33, Psalm 96:12).

Shouldn’t Christians have something to say about this?

Everywhere I see warnings to stay away from New Age ideas and paraphernalia. And that’s good. People need to be educated about this pitfall.

However, I see nothing regarding the flip side of that pitfall — the erroneous belief that certain elements of nature now belong to the occult. They don’t. They were stolen and repurposed for evil, and I, for one, want them back.

Taking back beauty

On the darkest night when no moon can be seen, I know it’s still there in the exact same place it’s always been. I know that as it waxes and wanes, it’s not really changing its form. This is what I mean when I say that God infuses nature with elements of Himself.

Though from my fixed, finite perspective, He may appear to change with the coming and going of seasons, the moon reminds me that God is constant always — fully present, fully perfect, fully God.

And when I look at crystals — their erratic yet somehow ordered structure — I can’t help but think about how the same God who parted seas, sent a great fish to swallow Jonah, and designed both the songbird and the anglerfish is the same logical, pragmatic God who gave Moses the Ten Commandments and invented mathematics. Beautiful, strange, mysterious, and evocative are both crystals and their Creator.

I’m also reminded of the New Jerusalem promised in Revelation 21 — a redeemed and holy city of pure gold surrounded by a wall made of layered stones, some of which are crystals.

“The foundations of the city walls were decorated with every kind of precious stone. The first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, the fifth onyx, the sixth ruby, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth turquoise, the eleventh jacinth, and the twelfth amethyst” (Revelation 21:19-20).

Crystals and precious stones are quite literally reminders of God’s promise to create a new heaven and earth where toil, sickness, pain, and sin are forever defeated, but now that the occult has invented “crystal healing,” they’re off-limits to the very people who will inherit God’s redeemed Jerusalem? Now that moon rituals and dating parameters based on your “sign” exist, suddenly it’s taboo for Christians to marvel at certain elements of God’s creation?

I reject that.

I’m embracing my affinity for crystals, moons, and stars even if it means giving the “wrong impression.”

Ask me if I use my crystals for healing, and I’ll say, No, but let me tell you what will heal you. Ask me about my identity as a Libra, and I’ll tell you to Whom my identity is attached. Ask me about the sun and moon tattooed on my left arm, and I’ll point you to the Psalms.

I think it’s high time we stop retreating every time a new group sticks its flag in our territory.

​New age, Crystals, Constellations, Stars, Astronomy, Abide, Faith, Religion, Hailee boyd, Satan, Lifestyle 

Does character still matter in our politicians? Yes, it does, but not in the same way it did in the past.

“Character is on the ballot.” This is a common refrain from pundits and voters alike during any election season. But is that still true today? For many evangelicals and conservatives, the answer is “yes” — just not with the same weight it held in the past.

‘Who will support policies that reflect the character we want to see in our society?’

Since Donald Trump entered the mainstream political scene in 2015, evangelical Christians and conservatives have faced growing criticism. Observers note our opposition to Bill Clinton in the late 1990s after his sex scandal and then point to our support for Trump, a man with his own flaws and controversies. They ask, “What gives?” Are we hypocrites seeking only power? Is it a matter of having “our guy” in office while condemning “the other guy”?

I don’t think so. There’s more to it.

My co-host on “The Bully Pulpit” podcast, Eric Teetsel, has a theory about what’s changed. In the 1990s, the political landscape was different. Back then, the gap between Republican and Democratic policies was not as stark as it is today. On key issues like abortion, Democrats insisted it should be “safe, legal, and rare.” Both parties supported border security. Foreign policy views were more aligned than divided. The differences were there, but they weren’t chasms.

In this environment, character often served as the tiebreaker. Without a deep policy divide, integrity, honesty, and moral standing carried considerable weight in determining which candidate better represented the country’s values. For evangelicals, and voters in general, character was a critical factor because it provided insight into a candidate’s potential for leadership in a relatively aligned political field. Small scandals could derail campaigns because, in a landscape of similar policy positions, they served as differentiators. Think about Howard Dean’s 2004 campaign-ending scream; it seemed unbecoming for a presidential candidate. That standard feels almost unthinkable today.

The ground has shifted dramatically since then.

Today, we are faced with deeply contrasting policy platforms. The issues are no longer primarily debates over taxes or spending; they have become ideological battlegrounds. We’re at odds over fundamental moral questions that shape the future of society — marriage, gender ideology, religious freedom, unrestricted abortion, censorship, national security, and more.

The differences between parties aren’t incremental; they’re categorical.

In this polarized environment, the personal character of candidates no longer stands out as much. Moral shortcomings and scandals are now common across the political spectrum, leaving us without any truly “ideal” candidates. With candidates often leveling out on character flaws, policy has emerged as the clear differentiator.

To be clear, we still want leaders with strong character. But when both parties present candidates with moral failings, we must prioritize other factors. For many, the question has become, “Who will support policies that reflect the character we want to see in our society?”

This shift is not about justifying sin or minimizing integrity; it’s about the stakes in today’s political landscape.

Policies reflect values that will shape the future, determine rights and freedoms, and frame the moral fabric of the nation.

When policies differ as dramatically as they do now, the battle lines are clearer. For example, many evangelicals supported Donald Trump not out of blindness to his flaws but because his policies align more closely with their convictions than those of the opposing platform. The same logic applies to future candidates who may not be flawless role models but who will champion policies that align with our values and safeguard freedoms.

So is this hypocrisy? I don’t believe so. It’s a recalibration in light of the changed world around us.

People often throw around accusations of hypocrisy without accounting for how the political landscape has evolved. This isn’t about excusing moral failures; it’s about weighing them differently in an era when the stakes are impossibly high. Evangelicals aren’t saying that personal integrity in a leader is unimportant. But we have come to a place where the character of a candidate’s policies often speaks more to the future of the nation than does personal perfection.

Policies reflect a form of collective character. They determine the moral and ethical direction of society. While we still want leaders who can set a positive example, the truth is we can no longer afford to focus solely on personal lives.

Today, policies reflect values that will shape the future, determine rights and freedoms, and frame the moral fabric of the nation.

So does character matter? Absolutely. But in today’s climate, the character that matters most is embedded in the policies our leaders support. That’s not hypocrisy; it’s an adaptation to a political landscape where our values face unprecedented challenges. In this environment, we must weigh the complete character of a candidate — both his personal life and the values his policies will bring to the country.

For evangelicals, voting isn’t just about picking a person; it’s about choosing policies that align with biblical truths and protecting the foundations that allow the gospel to flourish.

Today, the character of policy speaks louder than the individual character of a candidate. That’s a choice we’re making for the sake of our children, our communities, and our faith.

​Christians, Christianity, Donald trump, Character, Faith 

Ironies abound in Donald Trump’s election victory.

It’s the people who truly believe he will end democracy or is literally Hitler who did the most to help him win through their total ideological commitment to open borders. They would rather see American democracy destroyed than merely enforce our existing immigration laws.

And it’s those who most enthusiastically tore down all the old Christian moral superstructure of America, the guardrails that would have barred the way to the Oval Office for someone like Trump, who are most horrified by his wins.

Donald Trump is truly the president for post-Christian America.

I noted that the decline of Christianity in America has gone through three phases or worlds: a positive world (1964-1994) in which it was declining but still seen positively by society; a neutral world (1994-2014) in which it was no longer seen positively but not yet seen negatively; and a negative world (2014-present) in which for the first time in the 400-year history of America, official, elite culture now views Christianity negatively or at least skeptically. And its moral system has been rejected.

When I tell this story about Christianity in America, people tend to think about what that means for American Christians. But it has profound implications for American society as a whole.

Donald Trump is only a plausible president in a negative world.

Trump had talked about running for president since at least 1988, but he never did it. The fake 2012 Reform Party bid doesn’t count. He knew that whatever his fame, America would not elect someone like him. In a country where Sen. Gary Hart had to drop out of the presidential race because he allegedly had an affair, Trump’s stormy personal life in that era would have disqualified him.

Another example of why Trump could not have gotten elected: He had owned gambling casinos. Back the 1980s, if you wanted to gamble, you had two choices. You could go to your local mob bookie, or you could go to Las Vegas or Atlantic City and bet at a casino that was probably mob-controlled. Gambling was a seedy business, publicly perceived as deeply tied to the Mafia. This was a major plot element in the “Godfather” movies. While Trump may never have been involved with the mob himself, the idea of America electing a casino owner was unthinkable.

Today, gambling is legal, pervasive, and socially approved. The major sports leagues are actually partners in the gambling industry. Clean-cut, all-American types like Peyton Manning and Eli Manning signed up to be gambling pitchmen, apparently without hurting their brands. Trump’s casino ownership is no big deal today.

Trump also benefited from the final decay of WASP norms in America. His gaudy consumption style, braggadocio, and love of celebrity are an affront to WASP values. But in a country that fetes Cardi B’s “WAP” and other such music, in which drug use is now mostly legal and approved of, tattoos are very common, becoming a social media star is one of the top career ambitions of young people, and consumption of expensive products and experiences is now a core element of the lifestyle of the American elite, how can Trump’s behaviors be critiqued? It’s hard to complain that he’s crude when we live in a crude society and people like it that way — except when it comes to him. In fact, compared to the rest of the country, Trump is a retro model of rectitude in not drinking or doing drugs, having a relentless work ethic, wearing suits, etc.

If we were still the America that elected George H.W. Bush or even George W. Bush, Donald Trump would not have won this election. In fact, there’s a good chance he wouldn’t even have run in the first place.

But in 2015, he saw that something had changed in the country, that there was now a viable path for someone like him to make it to the White House. He came down that escalator, and the rest is history.

Donald Trump is an example of what’s changed with the advent of the negative world in America.

The fallout will be pervasive. We see it in how everything you used to have to go to the Mafia for is now legal and approved at some level: drugs, gambling, loan sharking (payday loan stores), and, coming soon, prostitution (“sex work”). Maybe that’s one reason you don’t hear as much about the American Mafia these days. There’s not as much for them to do as there used to be. If Michael Corleone were real and alive today, he actually would be able to go legit.

Donald Trump’s presidencies are two of the first signs of the social implication of a negative world, post-Christian America. They’re unlikely to be the last.

This essay was originally published on Aaron Renn’s Substack.

​Donald trump, Negative world, Post-christian, Christianity, Faith 

People often ask how a former Bernie Sanders supporter like me could back Donald Trump. For me, it came down to one key issue: the Democrats’ abandonment of the working class. Sanders himself recently said it’s no wonder working Americans are leaving a party that no longer serves them.

The presidential election underscored this shift, as Trump saw record turnout among black and Latino voters. Yet instead of asking why, the left resorted to lazy stereotypes. MSNBC and other networks labeled black men “misogynists” and Latinos “racists” simply for voting Republican. These dismissive labels only deepen the disconnect. Rather than recognizing the cracks in their base, Democrats brush off real concerns, assuming they’ll regain minority support in a few years without changing their tone or agenda.

It’s no surprise that Americans turned out in record numbers for Trump, drawn to his focus on real issues and his willingness to engage with them directly.

The truth is simple: The Democrats lost because they stopped listening to everyday Americans.

Over time, they shifted focus to appeasing radical supporters and coastal elites. Instead of tackling economic issues like jobs and inflation, Democrats centered their platform on identity politics and social issues that resonate mainly with urban and affluent progressives. This approach alienates Americans grappling with real-world issues — concerns Democrats used to prioritize but now dismiss as outdated or irrelevant.

This election cycle highlighted that disconnect. Democratic elites like Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, and their Hollywood allies spent more time lecturing Americans on how they should think and vote than addressing their daily struggles. For voters barely getting by, these lectures felt out of touch and tone-deaf.

Democrats focused almost exclusively on women’s issues, especially abortion, neglecting the bread-and-butter topics most Americans care about: job security, rising costs, and public safety. Men — and the average voter — were left feeling sidelined by a party that once claimed to represent them. The Democrats’ relentless single-issue focus underscored a shift from uniting Americans to dividing them by identity.

Meanwhile, Trump and GOP leaders like JD Vance took a different approach. While Harris skipped major bipartisan events like the Al Smith Dinner, Trump showed up where it mattered — flipping burgers at a McDonald’s in Pennsylvania, while Vance poured beers at a Wisconsin pub. These weren’t just photo ops; they were genuine efforts to connect with everyday Americans, listen to their concerns, and emphasize shared values. By showing up, Trump and his team reminded voters that they’re willing to meet people where they are — a concept Democrats seem to have forgotten.

Trump didn’t stop there. Recognizing Americans’ desire for unity over division, his campaign built a coalition that crossed traditional party lines. He assembled a bipartisan “Avengers” task force, featuring figures like Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Tulsi Gabbard, and even Elon Musk. This team focused on issues that unite Americans — economic security, public safety, and national sovereignty. It was a sharp contrast to the Democrats’ divisive identity politics, and it resonated with voters tired of being labeled as “the problem” or forced to align on every single issue.

Harris’ campaign, in contrast, spent nearly three times as much as Trump’s, burning through close to $1 billion, only to underperform Biden’s 2020 numbers and end $20 million in debt. Harris simply didn’t connect with voters. Her race-driven messaging left many feeling overlooked and undervalued. Instead of addressing real concerns, her campaign focused on topics that, while important to some, missed the mark for a large slice of the voting population. It’s no surprise that Americans turned out in record numbers for Trump, drawn to his focus on real issues and his willingness to engage with them directly.

The Democrats’ refusal to listen or adapt led to a massive red wave, as voters from diverse backgrounds chose a path that aligns with their lived realities. Trump’s approach resonated because it addressed the everyday struggles Americans face.

People are tired of empty promises and tone-deaf lectures from leaders who seem out of touch. They want leaders who speak to their concerns about jobs, safety, and economic opportunity — leaders who prioritize practical solutions over ideological rigidity. While Democrats continue to alienate voters by talking down to them and dismissing dissent, Republicans are building a coalition that listens to and values Americans across all walks of life.

The facts of this election reveal that the Democratic Party’s focus on ideological purity has cost Democrats their connection to the everyday American. Working-class families, once the backbone of the Democratic base, are tired of empty promises and divisive rhetoric. They’re rejecting a narrative that labels them “racists” or “misogynists” simply for voting in their own best interests. Instead, they’re joining a movement that prioritizes their voices, addresses their concerns, and puts America first.

Trump’s win isn’t just a victory for one candidate; it’s a triumph for Americans who want their voices heard. It sends a message to Washington that people are finished with being dismissed and sidelined. They have chosen leaders who stand up for real issues and who are unafraid to challenge a political establishment that, for too long, has forgotten whom it serves.

​2024 presidential election, Donald trump, Donald trump victory, Working class, Middle class, Latino voters, Black voters, Identity politics, Bernie sanders, Opinion & analysis 

Twelve years ago, my mother had a manic breakdown. She was found in Molokai, Hawaii, after disappearing for several days. The fugue state — in which she turned into a nightmare version of herself, eyes afire, flagellating her loved ones with a stream of deranged insults and delusions — lasted about six months until someone finally got her on lithium.

As she returned to herself, I pressured her to get a dog. She lived alone, so it would help her get a grip on reality. She said she liked whippets, so I found a local breeder. I wanted to name him Knut after Knut Hamsun, but she decided on Eliot after T.S.

I lost many jobs, many friends, many family members, all of whom called me problematic crazy fringe incel bigot weirdo resentful loser failure. But I just couldn’t let it go. I couldn’t not see the lie.

When the fugue began, I was finishing law school. When it ended, I’d taken the bar and moved to Los Angeles. I’d already experienced my parents’ terrible divorce as an only child at 17, but this year, 27, was the toughest and most isolating of my life. The safety net had ripped open, and I’d fallen through. Everything was most definitely not going to be okay.

After hitting the ground and dusting yourself off, making sure you aren’t dead, there is a sense of relief. “That happened.” There on the ground, you see the world as most people on earth do, all victims of abandonment or neglect or abuse or poverty or other societal failure, just not the upper middle-class American suburban milieu I’d been comfortably incubated within.

And when you hit the earth, you suddenly want to tell the truth. You don’t want to “win” any more. You want to help other people figure this thing out.

I was always edgy, but a good boy politically. In fact, I thought if myself as edgy for a good cause, that cause being “equality.” I’d dutifully campaigned for Obama, and my diverse group of friends had tearfully celebrated when he won in 2008.

But now it was 2012, and I worked for a gay Hollywood agent with six other young men, all of whom were gay. The time came to vote for Obama again, but this time, I just couldn’t bring myself to do it. It felt phony, a little numb spot where my righteousness had once curled.

What the hell did this guy know about anything? He certainly wasn’t talking to me. I told my co-workers this, and they were deeply offended. Didn’t I understand their rights were at stake? I already didn’t fit in, but this made it terminal. I was out within three months.

And thus began a decade of professional, personal, and familial torment as I slowly came out of the closet as a political bad boy, just as much to myself as to the world. I was, and still am, a liberal — it’s not possible to completely erase my deracinated bohemian upbringing. But it became increasingly clear to me that the good guys were in fact a mask covering a barely perceptible leviathan pulsing under the surface, rapidly reaching its tentacles across the earth.

As Eliot grew and my mother healed, I lost many jobs, many friends, many family members, all of whom called me problematic crazy fringe incel bigot weirdo resentful loser failure. But I just couldn’t let it go. I couldn’t not see the lie.

In L.A., I became a lone Trump supporter. I had zero MAGA friends, zero contacts to celebrate with when he won, maybe only one or two even in 2020 to lament the loss. On Tuesday, I celebrated with 100 friends, all culture kids and almost all recent converts who, like me, just couldn’t bring themselves to lie any more.

The thing we share in common? A breaking. Some loss, failure, death — the cozy cloak of a bourgeois upbringing ripped off, however fleetingly. All men used to be broken by war. Now far fewer are. But everyone in that room had gotten a glimpse. Tuesday: a decade of pain vindicated in a single night.

Wednesday morning after the all-nighter, I drove down to San Diego to put Eliot to sleep. He had a tennis ball-sized sarcoma dangling off his arm and typical whippet heart issues. It was time. Two guys came to the house and did it — it took 20 minutes. A decade transcended in a few quiet moments.

Mom is doing better now, but she still hates my politics.

This essay originally appeared on the Carousel.

​Election 2024, Donald trump, Dogs, Pets, Family, Lifestyle, Culture, Los angeles, Maga, Isaac simpson, Essay 

Donald Trump’s landslide victory has inevitably resulted in a debate surrounding gender — and Jason Whitlock of “Fearless” is calling it what it really is.

“It’s a battle of the sexes. There are beta men who have jumped on the other side, but this has all been a program, and they program little kids. That’s why you see all these young people, they’ve been so immersed in this brainwashing process,” Whitlock explains.

“Kids’ minds are impressionable, and why all these young people are melting down, they’ve been fed a steady diet of Disney movies, of Disney princesses, a steady diet indoctrinating them into ‘you don’t need a man,’” he continues.

While older Disney films like “Snow White” and “Sleeping Beauty” required that a man come and save the princesses, the films that have followed, like “Mulan,” show the woman saving herself.

“They save themselves now, the men are evil and incompetent, and they’re generally stories about the princess saving herself, saving humanity, start sending little kids that message over and over and over, ‘You don’t need a man, you can save yourself,’” Whitlock explains.

But as Whitlock notes, it’s not just the kid’s movies. Movies like “The Woman King” and “Wakanda,” which feature characters like the female Black Panther, have only added fuel to the gender war fire.

“And you wonder why these black women are delusional,” Whitlock says. “The government came in and offered these black women a check, a welfare check, and now they got entertainment on a 24/7 loop that tells these black women, ‘Wakanda forever,’ and you can save the planet and over in Africa a bunch of women warriors wiped out the colonizers.”

“Donald Trump represents toxic masculinity, and there’s a group of women and their emasculated allies who think, ‘Oh, the world would be so much better if we just had less masculinity and more femininity,’” he adds.

Want more from Jason Whitlock?

To enjoy more fearless conversations at the crossroads of culture, faith, sports, and comedy with Jason Whitlock, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

​Video phone, Camera phone, Video, Free, Upload, Sharing, Youtube.com, Fearless with jason whitlock, Jason whitlock, Fearless, The blaze, Blazetv, Blaze news, Blaze podcasts, Blaze podcast network, Blaze media, Donald trump, Feminism, Disney princess syndrome, Disney, Gender wars, Gender ideology, Leftism, Leftist freakout 

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released the 2023 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System survey results, an annual assessment of various health-related behaviors among U.S. adults. Tobacco control advocates have reason to celebrate: The adult smoking rate has reached record lows, and in some states, young adult smoking rates are nearly nonexistent.

According to the BRFSS, only 12.1% of adults across all 50 states and Washington, D.C., smoked in 2023, down from 14% in 2022. This drop represents a decrease from 36.4 million smokers in 2022 to 31.7 million in 2023, a reduction of approximately 4.7 million. The decline among young adults aged 18 to 24 is even more notable: Only 5.6% smoked in 2023, marking a 23.5% decrease from 2022 and a dramatic 76.5% decline over the past decade.

Inaction and sporadic enforcement by federal agencies have contributed to widespread misperceptions about products that are less harmful than traditional cigarettes.

While tobacco control advocates credit these historic lows to policies like taxes and smoking bans, the rise in e-cigarette use also appears correlated with the reduction in smoking rates. From 2016 to 2023, vaping among young adults rose by 90%, while their smoking rates fell by 63.8%. Interestingly, young adult vaping rates have also started to decline, dropping 23.5% from 20.9% in 2022 to 18.9% in 2023.

In some states, such as Utah and New York, young adult smoking rates are exceptionally low, at 2.6% and 3.4%, respectively. Even Oklahoma, which has the highest young adult smoking rate at 9.1%, is still significantly lower than the national adult average of 12.1%.

These trends extend to youth smoking and vaping statistics. According to the CDC’s National Youth Tobacco Survey, only 1.6% of U.S. middle and high school students reported current cigarette use in 2023. Youth vaping has also declined significantly, with only 5.9% of U.S. youth vaping this year — a 70.5% drop from 2019, when 20% were vaping. In just five years, America went from one in five youth using e-cigarettes to one in 20.

Despite these positive trends, many tobacco control advocates continue to push for strict policies and high taxes, while the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has been slow to process authorizations for newer tobacco harm-reduction products. This has contributed to public misunderstandings about the relative risks of these products compared to traditional cigarettes.

Numerous organizations, including the American Lung Association, Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, and the Truth Initiative, recognize the significant declines in youth vaping but remain concerned about the frequency of use among current users, particularly criticizing flavored tobacco and vapor products.

The ALA describes vaping as “a serious public health concern,” while CTFK emphasizes that youth e-cigarette use “remains a serious public health problem” and calls for an end to this “crisis” by urging federal agencies like the FDA and the U.S. Department of Justice to intensify their efforts to eliminate all illegal e-cigarettes from the market. Similarly, the Truth Initiative asserts that “youth nicotine addiction remains a serious public health concern.”

All these groups criticize flavored products, despite adults using these flavors in innovative tobacco harm-reduction products to remain smoke-free. These groups also focus their efforts on newer oral nicotine pouches, even though less than 2% of youth report using such products.

These groups are not alone. The inaction and sporadic enforcement by federal agencies have contributed to widespread misperceptions about products that are less harmful than traditional cigarettes.

Since 2015, the FDA has issued only 56 marketing orders for newer tobacco products introduced in the United States after February 2007. Despite authorizing more than 16,000 other tobacco products since 2012, the FDA has approved marketing for only 34 e-cigarette products. In contrast, in 2023, the agency issued more than 660 orders for combustible cigarettes, despite declining smoking rates among American adults. This disparity likely contributes to public confusion about the relative health benefits of e-cigarettes.

Policymakers and tobacco control groups should recognize and celebrate the historic reductions in cigarette use among both adults and youth. This is a significant public health achievement that may be driven by the availability of tobacco harm-reduction products, such as e-cigarettes and oral nicotine pouches.

Instead of resisting these market trends and products that have been associated with significant declines in smoking rates, these groups should advocate enhanced access to these alternatives to help end the use of combustible cigarettes once and for all.

​Vaping, E-cigarettes, Cigarettes, Tobacco, Nicotine, Cdc, Fda, Health, Opinion & analysis