By Selwyn Duke
Image created with Grok AI.
“There’s no such thing as bad publicity except your own obituary,” quipped Irish writer and activist Brendan Behan. Yet the no-bad-publicity notion certainly isn’t true for politicians, who must win not only fame but elections. Hence an old pattern: Republicans would be condemned by a monolithic mainstream media.
They’d then fold like a cheap camera and apologize for their “trespass” — whether it reflected turpitude or Truth.
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By Selwyn Duke
Politics wonks have long known that our modern (im)migration regime helps Democrats gain power. The reason is simple: 85-90 percent of our (im)migrants hail from the Third World. And upon naturalization, a majority of that portion of them vote Democratic. Yet there’s another type of migration, one that, say some observers, may deep-six the Democrats’ near-term political fortunes.
That is, American citizens have been fleeing “blue” (liberal) states like 40 going north.
In fact, five “liberal bastion” states alone have seen a net loss of 13 million residents in recent decades. The trend reflects why economic activity has been migrating southward in recent times — and ensures that this shift will continue. This greater economic power is attended by greater political power, too, as higher populations mean more electoral clout. The end result is, if the analyses are correct, that Democratic states will become relatively poorer and politically impotent.
(more…)By Selwyn Duke
From the Charlie Kirk assassination to the Minneapolis Catholic Church shooting and beyond, Americans today are taken aback by how mindlessly violent society has become. Many, of course, seek to identify the causes, too, with the Democrats blaming guns and the Republicans mental illness. And both these claims do capture headlines. But what if the main cause is something so “non-sexy” — so, excuse my tongue, philosophical — that few care to even discuss it?
In the 19th century, very odd philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche famously proclaimed that “God is dead.” And though an atheist himself, he warned that this secularization “is already beginning to cast its first shadows over Europe.” Nietzsche, often wrong but no dummy, realized atheism could breed nihilism and that this, in turn, could create societal upheaval.
Fast-forward to 2025, and we hear that the FBI has a new criminal category: “Nihilistic Violent Extremist.” What’s more, some writers are finally picking up on the nihilism-violence connection. It’s about time, too.
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By Selwyn Duke
“You cut that out now,” said a man dressed as a woman to commentator Ben Shapiro in 2015, “or you’ll go home in an ambulance.” I think I know how Shapiro felt, too. Years ago, one of that man’s co-ideologists wrote in an internet comment that he wants my “head on a platter.” (I really don’t think my head is the most tender part of me, but, hey, there’s no accounting for taste.)
And what “trespass” invited this hostility?
Shapiro and I editorialized against the “transgender” agenda, using logic, reason, and valid scientific understanding.
This is the same “trespass,” mind you, that got activist Charlie Kirk killed on September 10.
And it also is killing our country.
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By Selwyn Duke
“No woman should be authorized to stay at home to raise her children. Women should not have that choice, precisely because if there is such a choice, too many women will make that one.” So said feminist “philosopher” Simone de Beauvoir in a 1975 interview. Today, two generations later, this spirit lives on, too — only, with a 2025 spin. The message is now, you see, that if you tout history’s default, stay-at-home motherhood, you’re basically a “fascist.”
In fact, if you’re encouraging this maternal norm, as President Donald Trump does, you’re much like the Nazis! “So avoid that, ladies,” is the message. “Be a good cog in the machinery and stake out your space in an office cubicle.”
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By Selwyn Duke
There is a simple, immutable, inescapable, irrefutable rule of life, one we ignore at our own peril. It is this: If you don’t control the culture, the culture will control you.
The Charlie Kirk assassination has saddened and shocked millions; it has also inspired reality checks. “How did we get to this point in America?” many are asking. “And, how can we right the national ship?” One commentator has his prescription:
It’s “time to cancel the Left,” he writes.
Yet there is another, more accurate way of putting this. That is, it’s time to actually start fighting the culture war in the only way culture wars are won. This is by ensuring that your side, and not another, enacts our social laws.
In the wake of yesterday’s horrible tragedy, the assassination of commentator Charlie Kirk, many are reacting with shock, others shockingly. As millions offer sympathy and prayers, others spew venom because they dislike the views Kirk held. And the murder and malevolent responses have inspired troubled observers to ask, once again: What’s wrong with 21st-century America?
Why are we so polarized?
One columnist, who shared mutual friends with Kirk and is “sickened” by his killing, believes she knows.
“Charlie had the courage to tell the truth,” she writes.
By Selwyn Duke
During a recent Senate nomination hearing, Senator Tim Kaine (D-Va.) claimed that our rights do not come from God — but from government. He further asserted that believing in Creator-bestowed rights, as our Founders did, places you in league with Iran’s tyrannical mullahs.
Perhaps just as outrageous, though, is that too many liberals aren’t disturbed by Kaine’s comments. Instead, they get much more upset about a different kind of expression, a good example of which was provided by House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) in 2023.
“I believe that Scripture, the Bible, is very clear that God is the one that raises up those in authority,” he stated, “for this specific moment and this time.”
By Selwyn Duke
We don’t know if they fancy they can walk on water. But almost half of all Americans, including a striking number of Christians, don’t believe they’re sinners. It’s a revelation that has implications not just for the church, but for civilization generally.
Image created using Grok AI.
By Selwyn Duke
With the Washington, D.C., murder rate having dropped 70-plus percent since the Trump administration deployed the National Guard to patrol the city’s streets, numerous black lives have been saved. And while most Democratic politicians, other leftists, and establishment media aren’t impressed with this, many black D.C. residents are applauding. Why wouldn’t they? For they are, as one commentator puts it, “living the Singapore life.”
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