An effort by members of Congress to stop Sharia law in the U.S. is gaining influence, according to a speech on the House floor from Republican Rep. Keith Self of Texas.

Self said that Sharia law is expanding in many states and that more and more members of Congress are joining the Sharia-Free America Caucus to oppose the movement.

‘Sharia has no place in America, do not Sharia our America, defend the West, ban Sharia!’

“Texas stands as ground zero in this fight, yet this is not just a Texas issue,” said Self in a clip that was posted to his social media account Tuesday.

“Sharia’s influence is advancing from Arizona to Minnesota, Alabama, Florida, and beyond. No state is immune. That’s why our caucus has surged to 60 members across 25 states, bolstered by strong Senate support from figures like Sen. Tuberville,” he added, referring to Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.).

“As I’ve said repeatedly, Sharia has no place in America. Do not Sharia our America. Defend the West. Ban Sharia!” Self concluded.

The caucus has already been designated an “anti-Muslim hate group” by the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

“Let’s be clear: ‘shariah’ simply means ‘path’ in Arabic,” claimed CAIR-Chicago Executive Director Ahmed Rehab in March.

“Every major faith tradition has its own form of religious law — or shariah — guiding personal and private communal practice,” he added. “Muslims follow Islamic shariah principles; Christians follow Christian shariah principles (canon law); Jews follow Jewish shariah principles (halakha). These systems govern personal aspects of religious life — such as diet, prayer, marriage, and burial rites — and are protected under the First Amendment.”

RELATED: Police reveal what Muslim man said after beheading co-worker in Oklahoma

Self disagreed.

“We have the members. We have the legislation. We have the strength to defend the West. Let’s get this done,” he wrote on social media.

“This absurdity designed to divide Americans by dumbing them down must stop,” added Rehab.

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House Democrats’ loss of 14 seats to Republicans in the 2020 election was apparently an eye-opening experience for then-Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger (D), who blamed the ease and effectiveness with which critics branded her party as a bunch of radical leftists.

“We need to not ever use the word ‘socialist’ or ‘socialism’ ever again,” Spanberger said on a post-action House Democratic Caucus phone call. “Because while people think it doesn’t matter, it does matter, and we lost good members because of that.”

Years after acknowledging the importance of concealing radical impulses from voters, the former undercover CIA officer who participated in the anti-Trump “resistance” after the 2016 election ran for governor of Virginia, campaigning in 2025 as an even-keeled and unifying pragmatist. The liberal media then forwarded that narrative.

‘She’s just a bot for the Democratic Party.’

It is now painfully obvious, however, that the supposed moderate who defeated former Lieutenant Governor Winsome Earle-Sears (R) in November in a landslide is — as the GOP of Virginia and others had warned — not as advertised.

A damning new Washington Post-Schar School poll revealed on Monday that Virginians, realizing only too late how Spanberger really operates, have largely soured on the Democratic governor. In fact, her approval rating is so low, it set a record in Post polling.

When asked how Spanberger is handling her job as governor, 47% of respondents signaled approval, 36% signaled disapproval, and 7% expressed no opinion. The Post noted that approval rating is 13 percentage points lower than the average for Spanberger’s predecessors going back to the 1990s.

Political analyst Larry Sabato told WJLA-TV, “A drop of that margin is stunning, and it should be greatly disturbing to the governor and the governor’s staff if it’s repeated in other surveys.”

There is no shortage of clues in the poll’s cross tabs as to why the people of the Old Dominion are less than enthused about their new governor.

When asked about the supposed moderate’s views, a plurality of respondents — 45% — said they were “too liberal.” Broken down by party affiliation, 91% of Republicans, 44% of independents, and 6% of Democrats said so. Nearly 10% of Virginians who voted for Spanberger were among those who rated her as “too liberal.”

For starters, Spanberger dropped the moderate mask in her approach to immigration.

Weeks after rescinding former Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s order requiring state law enforcement agencies to cooperate more fully with federal immigration authorities, Spanberger directed state police and other state agencies to terminate any such agreements with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Department of Homeland Security Deputy Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis grouped Spanberger with those “sanctuary politicians” who have “tried to slow ICE down and chosen to release criminals from their jails into our communities to perpetrate more crimes and create more victims.”

Virginians are already dealing with the fallout of Spanberger’s virtue-signaling.

The DHS noted on Monday that “so far in 2026, illegal aliens have allegedly committed 75% of all murders” in Fairfax County, Virginia.

The supposed moderate also committed all state agencies to rejoining the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, a regional cap-and-trade program covering power sector emissions that Youngkin — who completed his term with a 50% approval rating — removed Virginia from and dubbed a hidden tax on ratepayers.

While previously a critic of partisan gerrymandering schemes, Spanberger has come out in support of a proposed constitutional amendment that would all but ensure that 10 out of the state’s 11 congressional seats go to Democrats, thereby disenfranchising Republican voters in Virginia.

RELATED: Parents enraged over adult illegal alien allegedly molesting Virginia high school girls

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Although consistent on the issue of abortion — she routinely voted in Congress to deprive the unborn of protections and to advance abortion ideology — her continued activism as governor may read as “too liberal” for some residents.

In February, for instance, she signed a partisan constitutional amendment that, if approved by voters later this year, would codify the “right to reproductive freedom, including the ability to make and carry out decisions relating to one’s own prenatal care, childbirth, postpartum care, contraception, abortion care, miscarriage management, and fertility care.”

In addition to taking an extreme approach to so-called reproductive rights, Spanberger is expected to help her fellow Virginia Democrats in waging war on the Second Amendment. She did, after all, vow not to veto gun-grab laws as Youngkin had and express support for a ban on sales of so-called assault-style weapons.

Among the various gun-control bills awaiting her signature are bills that would:

Ban gun possession within 100 feet of locations used for election-related activities; Require a “handgun shooting” course as opposed to an NRA-affiliated safety course; Create a Class 1 misdemeanor for anyone who imports, sells, manufactures, purchases, or transfers a so-called assault firearm or magazines that hold over 15 rounds;Prohibit the carrying of loaded “assault firearms” in public spaces;Bar anyone convicted of a misdemeanor “hate crime” assault from possessing or carrying any firearm; andProhibit Americans younger than 21 from buying a handgun or “assault firearm.”

Spanberger faces an April 13 deadline to ratify these and other gun control bills.

Gregory Roddy, a self-identified independent voter from Fairfax County, told the Post that while always skeptical of Spanberger’s presentation as a bipartisan candidate, it was clear once she was elected that “she’s just a bot for the Democratic Party.”

Mason Necci, another independent voter, this time from rural Culpeper County, suggested that Spanberger is attempting “to make herself into a Democratic icon.”

“Virginia is already regretting electing a governor who stands for illegal immigrants over her constituents,” Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) wrote. “Spanberger’s alarming disapproval rating is telling. And she’s been in office a mere three months.”

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One of the suspects arrested in connection with the murder of a 15-year-old Missouri boy also has a federal immigration detainer request.

Prosecutors allege that Yefry Archaga and Praize King, both 18 years old, lured Miles Young into an ambush, where he was shot and killed while he begged for his life.

Young yelled out, ‘I just don’t wanna die,’ before the witness heard gunshots.

Young was declared dead on March 12 at Cox South Hospital in Springfield from a gunshot wound to the chest.

Investigators say Archaga and King led Young to believe he was going to have sex with a young woman when they picked him up that morning. Instead, they allegedly plotted to kill him.

“Defendant planned and set up a 15-year-old boy to be murdered,” arrest documents for Archaga read. “Defendant ambushed victim, chased victim on foot, and shot victim as victim was stating he wanted to live. Defendant ran from scene and reportedly fled from the State to avoid apprehension.”

Archaga allegedly used a Glock-style pistol and allegedly wore a ski mask during the attack. He was charged with first-degree murder and armed criminal action. Jail records show he also has an ICE hold placed on him.

A detainer request may mean Archaga is an illegal alien, though legal immigrants can also face an ICE detainer under certain conditions.

King was also charged with first-degree murder and armed criminal action.

Witnesses told police that the suspects plotted to kill the victim because they “blamed Miles for the death” of another victim in a separate homicide case from 2025, prosecutors said.

RELATED: Illegal aliens were released from county jail despite ICE detainer — and then allegedly shot young mom to death

One of the witnesses was viewing the incident through a FaceTime call, according to police. Young reportedly yelled out, “I just don’t wanna die,” before the witness heard gunshots.

The identity of a third suspect has not been released, which may mean the suspect is a juvenile.

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A Chinese researcher at the University of Michigan died on campus in March, shortly after federal agents allegedly questioned him.

UM has recently gained national attention after at least six of its Chinese researchers were charged in 2025 with attempting to smuggle biomaterial into the United States. U.S. Attorney Jerome Gorgon Jr. referred to the scandal as “a long and alarming pattern of criminal activities committed by Chinese Nationals under the cover of the University of Michigan.”

‘This is an active police investigation, and we have no further information to share regarding the circumstances surrounding his death.’

Danhao Wang, an assistant research scientist at UM’s College of Engineering, died after falling to his death.

Melissa Overton, the deputy chief of police for the university’s Division of Public Safety and Security, told the Michigan Daily that the incident was being investigated as “a possible act of self-harm.”

“On March 19, at approximately 11:00 p.m., officers from the University of Michigan Police Department responded to a report of a subject who fell inside the George G. Brown Building,” Overton told the news outlet. “A faculty research assistant was found after falling from an upper level and was later pronounced deceased.”

UM College of Engineering Dean Karen Thole acknowledged Wang’s death in a college-wide email early this month.

“Dr. Wang was a promising and brilliant young mind, whose research into wide bandgap III-nitride semiconductor materials and devices published in Nature stands as a landmark, uncovering for the first time the switching and charge compensation mechanisms of emerging ferroelectric nitrides,” Thole wrote. “His loss is felt deeply not only by those who knew him here at the University, but also everyone who understands his potential to have contributed to breakthroughs in science that would have positively impacted people around the world.”

RELATED: University of Michigan’s bio-smuggling scandal explodes: More Chinese scholars busted in alleged plot

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Thole noted that Wang’s death remains under investigation.

“This is an active police investigation, and we have no further information to share regarding the circumstances surrounding his death,” Thole continued. “In the age of AI and misinformation in unfortunate situations like these, incorrect information can spread quickly, and we must let the investigators complete their work and refrain from speculation until the facts are known and made available.”

RELATED: University of Michigan now under fire after Chinese scholars allegedly smuggle bio-weapon

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China Central Television asked Lin Jian, a spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, about a Chinese researcher who had taken his “own life a day after being subjected to hostile questioning by U.S. law enforcement personnel.”

“China is deeply saddened by the heartbreaking death and has protested to the U.S. China’s diplomatic missions swiftly got in touch with the researcher’s family and actively assisted them in handling relevant matters,” Jian stated. “For some time now, the U.S. has overstretched the concept of national security for political manipulation and groundlessly interrogated and harassed Chinese scholars and students.”

Jian called on the U.S. to conduct a “full investigation” into the incident and provide “a responsible explanation.” He also demanded the U.S. “stop any discriminatory law enforcement targeting Chinese scholars and students in the U.S., and stop imposing wrongful convictions.”

The Chinese Consulate in Chicago also reacted to the recent death, stating, “The incident occurred at a U.S. university within our consular jurisdiction, and we are deeply saddened by the heartbreaking death. Principal Officials of our Consulate General, acting under instructions from the Chinese Government, have protested multiple times to relevant departments of the U.S. government and the university concerned regarding this incident.”

Neither Jian nor the Chinese Consulate in Chicago named the researcher.

Blaze News reached out to the FBI to inquire whether the agency had questioned Wang.

“As a matter of a longstanding policy, the FBI neither confirms nor denies the existence of any investigation or investigative activity involving specific individuals,” FBI Detroit said in a statement provided to Blaze News.

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The artificial intelligence revolution is here, and it arrives charged with the capacity to fundamentally change society for better or worse.

America is currently leading the world in AI development. U.S. companies are building the most advanced models, attracting the most capital, and designing the infrastructure that will shape the next century. But there is one increasingly obvious constraint standing in the way: electricity accessibility.

The political consequences of rapid automation could be just as transformative as the technology itself.

Energy scarcity is only half the story. Even if we succeed in generating the power required to fuel the AI revolution, we must confront a deeper challenge. The same technology that promises medical breakthroughs and economic growth also carries profound societal and even existential risk.

If America wants to win the AI race, we will need to consider a massive expansion of energy production and an equally massive expansion of vigilance.

The energy bottleneck

Modern AI models are trained and deployed in massive data centers packed with tens of thousands of high-performance graphics processing units running continuously. Training a single frontier model can require weeks or months of nonstop computation, while everyday AI tools used by millions of people must process queries around the clock.

These facilities consume electricity at industrial scale, rivaling entire cities in their power demands. In fact, the hyperscale Stargate data center in Saline Township is projected to consume the same amount of electricity as 1.17 million homes.

The understanding of just how much energy is needed to power the AI revolution is still unfolding across the industry. Just a few years ago, Silicon Valley leaders were still thinking in megawatts.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, speaking on a podcast less than two years ago, said his company would build larger AI clusters “if we could get the energy to do it,” describing 50-to-100-megawatt facilities and speculating that 1-gigawatt data centers were probably inevitable someday.

Today, 1-gigawatt facilities are on the smaller end of planned AI infrastructure, with projects up to 5 gigawatts already in motion throughout the United States, including but not limited to the following:

Project Stargate data center in Abilene, Texas;EdgeCore data center campus in Louisa County, Virginia;Project Stargate site in Saline Township, Michigan;Amazon data center campus in New Carlisle, Indiana;Tract data center campus outside Richmond, Virginia; andHyperion data center campus in Richland Parish, Louisiana.

And this list barely scratches the surface. Dozens more large-scale facilities are planned or under construction across the country, and every single one of them will require enormous flows of reliable electricity to operate.

Elon Musk recently stated at Davos that “the limiting factor for AI deployment is, fundamentally, electrical power.” He warned that while AI chip production is increasing exponentially, electricity generation is not.

“Very soon, maybe even later this year,” Musk said, “we will be producing more chips than we can turn on.”

In Santa Clara, California, reports indicate newly built data centers may sit idle for years because the local grid cannot handle the load.

According to a report published by the global consulting group McKinsey & Company, U.S. demand for AI-ready data center capacity could grow from roughly 60 gigawatts today to 170 to 298 gigawatts by 2030.

The International Energy Agency reports that data centers consumed more than 4% of total U.S. electricity in 2024. This amounts to 183 terawatt-hours. IEA projections suggest this number could increase by 133% to 426 TWh by 2030.

To put that in perspective, 426 TWh is roughly equivalent to the annual electricity consumption of more than 40 million American homes.

The dilemma is obvious. If we do not have reliable energy, AI innovation will be compromised and could potentially migrate elsewhere. Worse, American households could find themselves competing with Big Tech for increasingly scarce power, driving up electricity costs for families and small businesses.

But energy is only the first layer of this story.

RELATED: States should work with AI, not against it

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The promise and the disruption

AI is not your typical technological advancement. It is a general-purpose intelligence system capable of transforming nearly every sector of society. In the coming years, AI could accelerate drug discovery, personalize medicine, supercharge logistics, automate research, and unlock new materials and engineering breakthroughs, just to name a few potential benefits. The economic upside is staggering.

Artificial intelligence is a powerful tool and a dangerous weapon. While promising efficiency and innovation, AI also threatens disruption on a historic scale. Job displacement could occur faster than previous technological revolutions. Entire professions, from legal research to software development, could be reshaped or automated.

If widespread job displacement occurs, there will inevitably be calls for sweeping government intervention. The political consequences of rapid automation could be just as transformative as the technology itself.

Exponential technological developments have changed political operations throughout history. As a recent example, social media algorithms have dominated political discourse over the past decade. Political polarization has subsequently skyrocketed as people on all sides of the aisle are trapped in online echo chambers and subjected to a panopticon of surveillance.

Artificial intelligence has the frightening capabilities of supercharging mass surveillance while baselessly boosting preconceived biases without an objective basis in truth.

There is certainly reason for concern about the potential bias and coercive nature of AI. In recent years, we have already witnessed how tech companies can shape narratives and suppress viewpoints on popular media platforms. Embedding ideological bias into AI systems would mean embedding that bias into education, finance, health care, and governance.

If AI becomes the invisible infrastructure of society, who writes its rules? Who determines its boundaries? And who holds it accountable?

Playing with probabilities

Beyond economic and cultural disruption lies an even deeper uncertainty.

We are introducing a form of intelligence that even its creators admit they do not fully understand. There are already documented cases of advanced AI systems behaving in deceptive or strategically manipulative ways. In controlled environments, some models have been observed lying to human evaluators, scheming to achieve assigned goals, or resisting shutdown instructions.

OpenAI’s stated ambition is to create artificial superintelligence — systems that surpass human capability across virtually every domain. There is no telling where this path may lead. Humanity has never had to grapple with the prospect of a man-made intelligence that is superior to our own.

And remarkably, some of the leading figures in the field openly discuss the possibility of catastrophic outcomes.

Elon Musk has suggested there is “only a 20% chance of annihilation.” Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei has estimated roughly a 25% chance that AI development goes “really, really badly.” Geoffrey Hinton, often referred to as the “godfather of AI,” has placed the odds of extinction-level consequences somewhere between 10 and 20% over the coming decades.

Those numbers still imply that positive outcomes are more likely than not. But when the downside is losing human civilization itself, percentages matter.

We are advancing a technology with transformative power while relying largely on overzealous corporate discretion to steer its trajectory. Humanity finds itself fiddling with the key to Pandora’s box, and we have no rational means of gauging what will happen if the box is opened.

RELATED: AI’s PR is in the toilet — for good reason

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Power and prudence

As stalwart advocates for smaller government, we hesitate to call for slamming the brakes on AI development, but it is important to have sober discernment moving forward. America is in a strategic competition with geopolitical rivals who would gladly dominate both this field and us if we retreat.

Reliable energy production is necessary to promote competition and American innovation. Yet it is arguably more important that society engages in serious dialogue surrounding this emerging technology. Government cannot, and should not, be the only voice in this conversation.

Independent institutions dedicated to transparency, accountability, and the defense of individual liberty need to rise and challenge the current trajectory.

Technological revolutions have always reshaped society. The difference this time is scale and speed. AI is a decision-making engine that may soon operate faster and more broadly than any human institution.

America can power the AI revolution. The real question is whether we can power it without surrendering control over our economy, institutions, and ultimately, our freedom.

The future may well belong to artificial intelligence. But whether that future advances prosperity or undermines humanity depends on the vigilance we exercise today.

​Ai, Artificial intelligence, Usa, Ai models, Data centers, Project stargate, Big tech, Ai regulation, Elon musk, Ai revolution, Opinion & analysis 

On Monday, the White House held its annual Easter Egg Roll — a family-friendly event hosted on the South Lawn, where children are invited to participate in activities like egg hunts, storytelling, live music, games, crafts, and photo opportunities with the president, the first lady, and the Easter Bunny.

In his speech, President Trump acknowledged the religious significance of the holiday, calling Easter “a very special day … where we celebrate Jesus”; praised the strong economy and military, including the recent Iran pilot rescue; thanked egg farmers for lowering prices and supplying the event; and boasted about the improved White House and country.

But his serious tone didn’t last long.

Away from the podium, the Easter spirit turned to delightful chaos as Trump unleashed some classic one-liners amid the egg rolls and bunny ears.

Here are his funniest moments.

1. Biden-autopen lecture at coloring time

While sitting and coloring with children, Trump launched into a tangent about Joe Biden and the autopen.

After holding up a picture he had signed, Trump told the kids coloring next to him: “[Joe Biden] was incapable of signing his name, so they followed him around with this big machine. You know what it was called? An autopen!”

“He’d take the paper, hand it to his guys, sign it with an autopen, and give it back. Not too good, right?” he added.

The kids’ confused stares made it peak Trump comedy.

RELATED: Probe into alleged autopen misuse to continue — but Biden unlikely to face charges, source says

2. eBay business advice for kids

While signing coloring pages the kids had been working on, Trump deadpanned: “I could sign autographs for you guys … and then tonight you could sell them for $25,000 on eBay!”

The quip was met with immediate requests for his signature.

3. ‘Best president’ compliment gets instant nod

At one point during the coloring activity, a little boy blurted out, “Donald Trump, you’re the best president ever.”

Without missing a beat, Trump casually replied, “Thank you, honey. I agree.”

RELATED: Trump reveals which world leader called Biden ‘mentally retarded’

4. Coach Trump takes the field

Right as the egg-rolling race was about to begin, President Trump suddenly became Coach Trump, sporting a whistle and a go-get-’em attitude.

“This is very athletic. Focus — total focus!” he told the kids before aggressively blowing the whistle.

In the end, the 2026 White House Easter Egg Roll proved once again that Donald Trump is at his best when the script ends. Whether he’s turning a coloring table into a Biden roast session, offering kids eBay business advice, agreeing he’s the best president, or coaching egg races like it’s the Super Bowl, his off-the-cuff energy can transform a wholesome family tradition into pure comedy gold.

​Trump, White house, Egg roll, Biden, Autopen, Politics 

The fact is, the global ruling class likes pedophilia.

Pedophilia is the aftershock of an earthquake that no one wants to name. That earthquake is the sexual revolution.

The purveyors of the sexual revolution use the best of modern scientific advertising and marketing knowledge to package their ideology.

Why can’t we seem to get to the bottom of the pedophilia problem?

I’m going to give you three factors that prevent us from stopping the pedophilia crisis.

Then I’m going to give you four very specific action steps you can take — steps that will help protect children from being harmed and help heal the children who have already been harmed.

Let’s look at these three contributing factors to the ongoing childhood sexual abuse crisis.

1. Ideas that groom

You’ve heard the term grooming, haven’t you?

Grooming is the preparation stage of sexual abuse. You could call it the pre-touch phase. Without ever committing a criminal act — without ever touching a victim — the grooming process prepares the child’s mind for submitting to a predator.

Children are not just being abused by billionaires on tropical islands. Epstein Island is just the tip of the pedophilia iceberg. Churches, public schools, and even the United Nations have been implicated in sex crimes against children. What I’m about to explain applies to all of these situations.

Let’s start with public schools.

According to educational researcher Carol Shakeshaft’s 2024 book, “Organizational Betrayal: How Schools Enable Sexual Misconduct and How to Stop It,” a staggering 17% of children in public schools suffer sexual misconduct by teachers, school administrators, and other personnel.

That’s a lot of kids being traumatized.

Now consider the United Nations. Not only do UN agencies promote “sexual rights” for minors, there have been repeated reports of peacekeeping troops sexually exploiting children in refugee camps. As author Jennifer Ells writes:

To cite only a few of many heinous incidents, a series of “food-for-sex” scandals erupted in the early 2000s when UN peacekeepers in Liberia were accused of selling food for sex to girls as young as 8. In Haiti, at least 134 UN peacekeepers from Sri Lanka were accused of sexually abusing children in a sex ring from 2004 to 2007. One boy reported having sex with more than 100 peacekeepers, averaging about four a day over the course of three years beginning when the boy was 15.

Ideas that groom are part of the problem in each of these cases.

One of the intellectual roots of this problem is Wilhelm Reich, the Austrian psychiatrist who wrote “The Sexual Revolution.” He promoted the idea that children are sexual beings from birth and need sexual expression for proper development.

Here is how that argument was framed in the section called “Sexual Abstinence During Puberty,” on page 106. “Abstinence is dangerous and absolutely deleterious to health. To recommend abstinence to youth means to set the stage for neurosis.”

Reich also held that teenagers needed to have their own private spaces where they could have sex without parental knowledge or interference. Check out the section called “Sexual Intercourse Among Adolescents,” starting on page 116.

You might think that was a long time ago, and it has nothing to do with us today. But you would be mistaken.

These ideas persist, often under different language. For example, within the United Nations, the concept of “reproductive health” has been defined as a right to a “satisfying and safe sex life,” along with the freedom to decide when and how often to engage in it.

That raises an obvious question: If a satisfying sex life is a right, who exactly is responsible for providing it?

At the same time, many schools in the United States teach children that sexual activity is natural for them, that they are entitled to it, and that their parents need not know about it.

Parents are beginning to push back.

These curricula present too much information too soon — information that normalizes sexual activity, even for very young kids: books that normalize sexual activity; information that may very well scramble the child’s normal developmental process.

We can also name many other examples of the sexualization of children in advertising, marketing, and entertainment media. The purveyors of the sexual revolution use the best of modern scientific advertising and marketing knowledge to package their ideology. It’s glamorous. It’s cool. It’s sexy. You’ll be popular. You’ll be one of the gang.

All of this contributes to the grooming atmosphere.

And what I mean by the grooming atmosphere is that you’re setting kids up for the creep who comes along — who doesn’t sound or look creepy, but who flatters them, who’s kind to them, who tells them how special they are.

So this is my first key takeaway: Ideas that groom children for sex are a major contributing factor to their vulnerability to predation.

2. Tribes before truth

The second contributing factor to the pedophilia crisis is something that makes it harder for justice to prevail. I call this tribes before truth.

Sexual misconduct generally takes place in secret. Sexual assault is generally underreported. Sexual crimes against children are even more likely to go unreported.

Kids can’t easily make police reports — especially against somebody they know, perhaps love, or depend upon. Victims can be crippled by shame. Little kids sometimes blame themselves in their own minds.

This is why reporting lag is a very real problem.

In our Ruth Institute study in 2018, we studied Catholic clergy sexual abuse. We found that, on average, victims first reported the crime 28 and a half years after it was committed.

So when somebody does come forward, the public doesn’t have complete information. We hear the complaint on one hand and the denials on the other. Understanding what really happened can be very difficult.

Law enforcement and the judicial system have the resources — and the responsibility — to discover the whole truth. But ordinary people like you and me almost always have an incomplete picture.

And in the face of incomplete information, here’s the pattern I’ve noticed.

If the alleged perpetrator is a member of what I consider to be my tribe, I believe he is innocent. I say: Don’t rush to judgment. Let the legal process take its course.

If that fails, people shift their attention to the victim:

They’re lying.Why didn’t they come forward sooner?They’re doing this for the money.They weren’t really victimized.They actually consented.This is a setup of a good man.

By contrast, if the alleged perpetrator is a member of what I consider to be the enemy tribe, I believe absolutely every word the victim says.

“Surely they wouldn’t make up something like that. I knew all along this guy was a creep.”

We tend to judge not on the facts, but on our relationship to the alleged perpetrator and victim.

My tribe is always innocent — therefore I harass and hound the victim.
The enemy is always guilty — therefore I support the victim.

Do you see the problem?

Actual victims need real support. Being called a liar is one of the most traumatizing aspects of being victimized and then finally coming forward.

Think about it from the victim’s perspective. A person pulls himself or herself together enough to make a complaint — and then has to run the gauntlet of public shaming and embarrassment.

Does that make it more likely people will come forward in a timely manner — or less likely?

I think you can figure that out.

So my second key takeaway is this: Our natural tendency to favor tribes over truth is a real problem.

We all have a natural instinct to favor our friends over our opponents. You can see this in general. But as soon as a real situation arises, we let our emotions run away with us.

At the very moment we most need to be objective, we are least likely to be.

3. It’s too ‘icky’ to face

This brings me to the third contributing factor.

Pedophilia is icky.

The sexual abuse of children is too nasty for any normal person to face. We would all prefer to be doing anything else rather than admit that this is going on in our society.

Rather than admit that someone you love and respect could be the perpetrator.

“I can’t believe it” often means “I don’t want to believe it.”

I trusted this person. I admired him. I supported him. I feel betrayed. I feel foolish.

Stop thinking about him. Stop thinking about yourself and your feelings. Start thinking about the child.

As John Manly, an attorney who has filed numerous lawsuits against public school teachers in California, puts it:

When this happens to a child, it’s emotional murder. They’re never the same.
Every person should have the right to pick and choose their first sexual experience. And when that’s stolen from them — whether in third grade or in high school — it has a profoundly damaging effect.

So here is my third and final takeaway: Our revulsion about even thinking about pedophilia hampers our ability to address it — to prosecute it and to prevent it.

RELATED: Wikipedia co-founder: Epstein, elite rings, and occult portals — what they don’t want you to know

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What you can do

If you’ve read this far, thank you. You’re the kind of person who wants to get something done.

I’ve given you three contributing factors. Now here are your marching orders — in reverse order.

1. Face your revulsion

Being disgusted by pedophilia is a wholesome and natural instinct. But that doesn’t mean you should avert your eyes. Look at that feeling objectively now, so you’ll have the courage to face it when someone you love needs you to.

2. Face the tribes-before-truth problem

Identify your own tendency to excuse some while rushing to judge others. Don’t let yourself off the hook. Most of us won’t have to make legal judgments — but your ability to face the truth will matter in what comes next.

3. Do your part to stop the ideas that groom

Here’s John Manly again:

“No one was mandated by law to go to Epstein Island. But you are required to send your children to school. Parents in many cases have no choice. And if you get the wrong teacher, that’s just too bad.”

Get your kids out of public schools. Make a stink at your local school board. Write letters to advertisers. Complain at your local library.

Once you start looking, you will see endless opportunities. The propaganda of the sexual revolution is everywhere. That means there are unlimited opportunities for you to do something constructive about this grooming atmosphere.

4. Reach out to victims

Anyone can do this.

If you know someone who has been sexually victimized, reach out. Ask how you can help. If you dismissed or shunned someone in the past, reach out and apologize.

It’s a matter of justice. It’s a matter of kindness. And it’s simple common sense.

Because honestly — do you really expect the most powerful people on earth to come clean if you and I won’t do our part?

Note: This article was adapted from the Ruth Institute’s video “The Real Causes of Pedophilia.” For more information on the Ruth Institute and its work, click here.

​Sexual revolution, The ruth institute, Pedophilia, Sex crimes, Grooming, Wilhelm reich, Jeffrey epstein, Theodore mccarrick, Dennis hastert, Culture, Counter revolution