In the late 19th century, adventure and science fiction writer Jules Verne repeatedly praised Americans’ ingenuity, inventiveness, and strong work ethic. Both in the crafting of his characters and his descriptions of Americans generally, the French author exhibited a remarkable appreciation for this people’s attitudes and contributions to the world, sometimes to extremes. Take, for instance, From...
As the decay of America’s urban centers continues, Milwaukee, Wisconsin has experienced a nearly 200 percent increase in car thefts this year, prompting city council members to take action. But rather than calling for more police officers, or even the left’s preferred curative of social workers, to be hired, Alderman Khalif Rainey and Alderwoman Milele Coggs wrote...
Big Tech continues to infiltrate American media production as its woke corporate claws sink deeper into Hollywood, infecting beloved media franchises as they go. Amazon’s acquisition of MGM Holdings Inc. is the latest move in this process and is a change that will accelerate the decline of American culture. Surprisingly, Amazon’s looming presence poses a threat...
President Joe Biden’s $302 billion higher education plan seeks to usher in a new era of free community college for all Americans. This is on top of the more than $1 trillion the federal government spent on higher education, as of 2018. According to the left, completely funding two years of every American’s higher education via community...
The COVID-19 pandemic has changed a great deal about America and Americans. Most have acquiesced to anything and everything government bureaucrats asked for in the name of public safety. Masks have been donned, churches have been shuttered, and many of us stayed at home for months, working remotely. This last item may end up being...
In case you haven’t heard, billionaire power couple Bill and Melinda Gates are getting divorced. Mourning the end of the Gates’ marriage, The Washington Post proclaimed, “If Bill and Melinda Gates can’t make a marriage work, what hope is there for the rest of us?” Pshaw. If we leave our assessment of marriage to the elites, we...
There seems to be a new trend that when a new leftist government is elected it attempts to change or undermine its country’s court system to remove it as a barrier to consolidating power. During the U.S. election cycle, there was much talk of how an incoming Democratic administration might reshape the Supreme Court. Thus...
Former Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang continues to lead the way in multiple polls attempting to parse out a packed race for the New York City mayoralty. If elected, Yang will become the first Asian American mayor of New York City, and only the second minority of any description to hold the office, following David Dinkins. Yang’s...
For over a year now, governments across the world have introduced and enforced a series of arbitrary restrictions on their citizens and their businesses, but not without a certain degree of pushback. Some small businesses in Germany have found a creative way to maneuver around the diktats of Chancellor Angela Merkel and other governmental leaders. The...
Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer’s recent rejection of packing the Supreme Court is another welcome addition to the debate, muted in recent months, of whether additional seats should be added to America’s highest court in order to dilute the power of its conservative majority. It also appears to have jogged President Biden’s memory of the...
After months of praising the Chinese response to COVID-19 and trusting their data, the World Health Organization (WHO) has apparently finally found a bridge too far in their public relations game on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party. WHO’s Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and the governments of 14 countries let loose a series of...
Even as COVID-19 vaccines keep rolling out in the millions, the fearmongering of the American media continues unabated. A recent CNN article instructs parents on “What to do if you’re vaccinated but your kids aren’t.” While the Pfizer vaccine is authorized for people 16 and older, the other vaccines are only approved for those 18...
President Joe Biden and congressional Democrats have successfully passed the American Rescue Plan, with its $1,400 stimulus checks and its $1.9 trillion price tag. In total the federal government has now spent enough on COVID stimulus and relief to fund key moments in American history, such as world wars and moon landings, many times over....
Many thought that the government-imposed lockdowns of 2020 might result in a temporary reprieve of the United States’ falling birth rates. Unfortunately, it appears that this will not be the silver lining of COVID-19 after all. Economists Melissa Kearney and Philip Levine believe that there will be 300,000 “missing births” due to the pandemic, based on...
CNN’s recent criticism of the reopening of Texas and Mississippi has once again proven its journalists merely engage in partisan coverage. This time it is accompanied by the added demerit of not understanding the nuances of federalism in America’s governance. With Govs. Greg Abbott and Tate Reeves both deciding it is high time to re-open...
Most readers upon seeing the title of this article likely thought, “Well duh.” However, The New York Times opinion page apparently needs a reminder of this basic fact of metaphysics, as philosophy professor Crispin Sartwell argues that this idea is “a good candidate for the originating idea of Western thought. And a good candidate for the worst.” There is...
Apparently one major problem facing the mainstream media today is the lack of editorial and political cartoonists from diverse backgrounds. In the wake of the successful transition to a Biden-Harris presidency, The Washington Post recently interviewed a number of female and minority cartoonists to get their perspective on this pressing cultural issue. “Fewer than 30 staff newspaper jobs...
Two weeks to “slow the spread” proved to be a lie as state government stay-at-home orders stretched on and on, being taken away and reintroduced at the whims of governors rather than by acts of the various legislatures. Even when we were permitted out of our homes, they imposed rules on who we could visit,...
“The science is settled” is a phrase often used to shut down debate. But perhaps the phrase would be more accurate if it was recast as “the theology is settled,” especially in relation to climate change, in which environmentalists pursue an aggressive response to remedying the apocalyptic consequences facing the earth. The rationale behind using...
The Baseball Writers’ Association of America (BBWAA) continues to block Curt Schilling’s entry to the Hall of Fame, not because of his performance on the field, but because of his politics. What should have been a straight-forward decision finalized years ago was tarnished by sports journalists’ horror at Schilling’s bold proclamation of conservative views. Apparently...
With Inauguration Day behind us, ink spilled on politics is being diverted from Donald Trump and the transition of power to Joe Biden and the exercise of power. One such piece by Jeffrey D. Sachs over at CNN takes a rather disingenuous approach to this theme, calling a small government approach “reckless radicalism.” Rather than...
Jennifer Rubin’s Washington Post op-ed calling for Americans to put an end to our new post-truth society might have been laudable. Unfortunately for her, she fails to realize that her piece is a fine example of politically-biased, mainstream media spin-doctoring. Furthermore, Rubin’s piece demonstrates that when either side pretends that one party or one ideology...
Following Donald Trump’s concession of the 2020 presidential race, what the president does next after leaving the White House will quickly become a topic of interest. If Trump’s fallout with Fox News is actually as stark as reported, he may indeed soon start his own cable news channel to rival Fox’s empire. Speculation remains as to whether Trump would acquire...
Talk about a case of sore winners. Over at The New York Times opinion page, Neal K. Katyal and Sam Koppelman argue that a recent audio recording of President Donald Trump talking to Georgia’s secretary of state and asking him to overturn the state’s presidential election results should serve as grounds for new impeachment proceedings against the president. “But...
There is a lot of discussion of late regarding various methods for protesting against government-mandated COVID-19 lockdowns or the results of the 2020 presidential election. Everything from singing in grocery stores to concentrated letter-writing campaigns has been suggested here at Intellectual Takeout. Such brazen displays are allowed in the U.S. because it still has some...
If you thought you were sick of Zoom calls due to eye strain and the constant struggle to avoid talking over your coworkers, friends, or family members, you’ve escaped relatively unscathed. For many people, the frequent exposure to their own face while talking has driven them to some drastic measures. Plastic surgeons around the world...
One of the more interesting picks on Joe Biden’s team of health officials is California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, the nominee for Secretary of Health and Human Services. Becerra has little to no professional experience with health care or infectious diseases. A lawyer long-entrenched in politics and public administration, his background suggests the role of compliance officer enforcing...
When the COVID-19 pandemic began in March, most people never imagined the government-imposed restrictions would be as harsh and arbitrary as they have been, nor that the entire affair would drag on into the new year. Yet glimpses of hope are arriving this week, small pieces of good news we can joyfully carry throughout Advent...
That technology giants pull the strings in the 21st century is a fact that is becoming increasingly clear. It’s hard to imagine a world without social media and online shopping, and the billionaires made rich by these enterprises likely don’t want us to do so, either. Yet the consequences of this arrangement are becoming more visible....
While the results of the 2020 election aren’t yet certain, Joe Biden is proceeding with his transition and putting climate change and energy policy at the top of his agenda. Biden assured voters during the debates that he does not support Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s Green New Deal plan, which envisions drastically cutting fossil fuel production to reduce...
Those suffering from endless COVID shutdowns may find a spark of hope in the words of Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito. While the governors of Minnesota, Michigan, Oregon, and other states were preparing new restrictions during the pandemic, Alito gave a speech to The Federalist Society, calling such lockdowns “previously unimaginable restrictions on individual liberty.” I’m now going to say...
Washington Post columnist Paul Waldman somehow contorted the mixed, and yet unresolved, 2020 election results to simultaneously claim that mandates do not really exist, but that Joe Biden nonetheless has one. It is important to refute this spurious claim because Biden and Kamala Harris will use any excuse they can to push a laundry list of progressive legislation...