Have you ever had a teacher whose enthusiasm for their subject piqued your interest more than the subject itself? I had a biology professor in college who would talk in a low almost-whisper most of the time, but when she got excited about mitochondria or cellular respiration or the stages of mitosis, her voice would rise into a loud, high-pitched shriek. While her exuberance didn't make me fall in love with cellular biology, it did capture my attention and provide some chuckle-worthy entertainment while I was learning.For people who don't have a natural inclination toward certain subjects, a passionate teacher can make all the difference. That's one reason a video of Texas A&M University (TAMU) physicist Dr. Tatiana Erukhimova explaining how atmospheric pressure works is so delightful.Dr. Erukhimova has been teaching at TAMU for more than 20 years and is the co-author of an undergraduate textbook, "Atmospheric Thermodynamics: Elementary Physics and Chemistry." She is an award-winning educator, and when you see her physics demonstrations shared on TAMU Physics & Astronomy's YouTube channel, it's not hard to see why.When most of us think of atmospheric pressure, we think about the weather. But Erukhimova demonstrates how atmospheric pressure can give a newspaper the power to break a ruler. (Sort of—the person actually breaks the ruler, but the newspaper is the key to enabling it to happen.) This demonstration would be cool on its own, but Erukhimova's energy is what truly makes the lesson. Watch and enjoy:(I may or may not be adding "Did I impress you? NO!" to my regular sayings.) "Dr. Tatiana" has many similar videos, all of which have the same passion and enthusiasm. Watch her delight in making balloons shrink in liquid nitrogen and then come back to life. And watch how she describes the "confidence and courage" you need to do a tablecloth inertia demonstration: So much fun. Three cheers for teachers who make learning fun simply by enthusiastically sharing their wonder at how things work. And if you want to see more from Dr. Erukhimova, check out her TEDx talk on Physics as a Street Art: This article originally appeared two years ago.

No one would argue that the United States of America has felt…not so united lately. And the results of the 2024 election, distressing headlines about seemingly never-ending political divide, the very real possibility of hard won human rights being snatched away…it all adds to feelings of disillusionment. Not only in the ethos of the American Dream. But of humanity itself. And yet, its times like these when it becomes more important than ever to seek out moments that suggest otherwise. Those real life acts of compassion, kindness, respect and generosity that help us believe, as a wise 13 fifteen year old once said, that “people are really good at heart.” This is one of those stories. In a video captured by a ring doorbell camera (the modern day gadget that gives us glimpses into the soul of humanity on the regular) we see an older white woman approaching her Muslim neighbor. In case you’re anxious—this is not going to turn into a Karen moment. Rather, the woman lets her neighbor know that she is going to a Muslim funeral, and is a bit daunted by wearing a headscarf to the ceremony. So she asks for instructions as to how to put it on appropriately. A truly lovely interaction ensues, where the Muslim neighbor not only gives the woman a demonstration and encourages her to practice wrapping the scarf in real time, but lets the woman keep the item. The conversation ends with the neighbor telling the woman “you look beautiful.” No animosity. No politics. No battle of beliefs. Just two women of different walks of life connecting through kindness. Watch: See on Instagram It’s no wonder why this video has been going viral on multiple social media platforms. It’s giving people things to appreciate about a wide range of topics. Check out some of the lovely comments below: “Awww. And honestly, her generation don’t think to pull up a tutorial on YouTube, their instinct is to ask somebody that they know. This so genuine and wholesome ❤️” “As a Muslim, I just knewwwwwwww and expected that she would say keep it. Palestinians are the same with keffiyehs and the hospitality is engrained in both the religion and culture.” “Being open to being educated about one another is what starts beautiful relationships and understanding. We are all human just trying to make it through this life, on different paths but really, end up in the same place at the end ?”“I wish more people would realize this. All the time on the internet and social media [and] they aren’t seeing real world. Just a small ugly portion that of course is going to be posted on the net to get views. Like Yelp, far more people are likely to post a negative review than to post a positive review imo. Also kindness starts in your communities. It can't happen at a global level without first starting at a small local level.” “That is the most wholesome interaction I’ve seen between two people, that is beautiful.” “More of this please.” Lots of folks chimed in to say that this was the perfect example of what it truly means to be an American. “This is the America that I was raised up believing. I was taught in school that America was a melting pot and that we all come together to make this country great. I just don't know how we got to where we are today.” “This is the “melting pot” in full effect. THIS is what makes America beautiful. Learning & *embracing* (key word here) each other’s differences.” “THIS IS AMERICA. This is when America is great.” Of course, it’s not like this everywhere. But these moments do happen more often than the news or the internet would have us believe. Times are tough right now—but there is always goodness to be found. And searching for it is just one small way we fight to create a better world.

Tom Brady — ever heard of him? The multi-time Super Bowl winner, NFL MVP, and pretty much the most decorated NFL athlete of all time retired from on-field play before last season. But he's been keeping himself pretty dang busy in retirement with a broadcasting gig, becoming part-owner of the Las Vegas Raiders, and of course, being a dad to his three kids.Tom Brady recently spoke at a Fortune Global Forum event about his leadership style and how business executives could learn from his self-made success. His thoughts on leading as a father were much more interesting. And in his opinion? Some parents are too quick to coddle these days.“Think of today’s world, how we screw these kids up,” Tom said. “Every time they mess up, we send them to an easier place to succeed.” - YouTube www.youtube.com What he means is that we might steer them away from goals that are too lofty or likely to lead to disappointment. He thinks parents are too quick to discourage their kids from 'reaching for the stars' in order to save them from heartbreak, especially when they're uber-talented.His parents sure didn't, and look how it worked out for him!“The blessing my parents gave me was when I was that long shot as a kid who was a backup quarterback on a freshman team? They never said, ‘Man, don't do that. It's gonna be too hard. Let's do something different. Let's think about another backup plan.’ They kind of said, ‘You know what? Go for it. Whatever you want to be, go for it.’ And that's probably my parenting style," he said.What do experts think? Is Tom Brady right? Are parents today too "soft"?"I think some are and it's not a bad thing," says Dr. Cynthia Edwards-Hawver, a licensed psychologist. It's a matter of more and more parents shifting their priorities, she says."Parents today are more likely to prioritize emotional intelligence, mental health, and individuality in their kids, which can be mistaken for 'softness.'" Photo by Cian Leach on Unsplash We're all so much more aware of mental health concerns than we were a few decades ago. Efforts to protect longterm mental well-being in kids can sometimes be perceived as coddling.But let's be real: Not every kid will grow up to be the Tom Brady of their field. Pushing hard to achieve your dreams is a good thing, but it's easy to push too far and sacrifice your mental and physical health. And there aren't always seven Super Bowl rings and hundreds of millions of dollars waiting for you on the other end.Kids today also face more pressure than ever to achieve, in part due to social media. But they're also being pressured to specialize at ridiculously early ages (in sports, academics, etc.) or risk "falling behind" despite research showing there's no need to do so.Times have changed since Tom Brady was the backup QB at Michigan! It's OK for parents to be mindful of that balancing act and of modern concerns young people face.Of course, there is some truth to Tom Brady's criticism. Protecting your kids from failure and heartbreak isn't doing them any favors, instead it robs them of a chance to learn accountability, independence, and resilience."There’s a fine line between encouragement and pressure. Make sure your child knows that their worth isn’t tied to their achievements," Edwards-Hawver says.I don't know about the business advice, but Tom did close with some good words of encouragement for all the parents out there.“The parents in the room know that being a parent is probably the hardest job all of us have and we screw up a lot and I've screwed up a lot as a parent,” he said. “So I don't want to seem like I'm some expert in parenting because I'm certainly not that.”"I try to just be dependable and consistent for them and honestly, whatever our kids choose as we know to do whatever they want to do in life, we gotta support.”He added that one of his sons wants to play pro basketball, but Tom didn't know if he'd ever develop the vertical leap to do it. Regardless, he always ensures his son that it'll happen one day if he keeps working — even though he can't really promise that for sure."I want him to know that his dad's got his back."Now that's a winning mindset.

A TikTok video posted by @carrerasfam is going viral, with over 300,000 views, because so many millennial parents can relate. In the video, a husband politely but firmly tells his “practically retired” baby boomer dad that he’s not taking his 3 young kids on a 400-mile drive to their house for the holidays.Carerras Fam is a popular TikTok page about “all things postpartum and mamahood.” The husband opens the conversation with his dad by explaining all the inconveniences of taking 3 young kids on a long road trip. “I know you want us to drive down for the holidays, but it's kinda ridiculous that you want me to pack my 3 kids with their portable beds with my clothes, their clothes, the formula, everything that goes on with raising 3 kids and having them feel comfortable. Drive down for over four hours just so that we could spend some time in your house?” the husband says. @carrerasfam Sorry it’s just so much work. But you’re welcome to visit us #millennial #millennials #parents #parenting #parentsontiktok #boomers #millennials It’s obviously inconvenient for the couple to pack up their kids and drive 4 hours, but it’s also unsafe because the house is not baby-proof. "I'm gonna have to run around, make sure that they don't break any of your stuff, and which you will take care of them,” the husband continues using sarcastic air quotes.The dad brings up another great point: His parents are in good health, so why don’t they drive to their house? “You could visit. You don't have little kids,” the dad continues. “You don't have anything going on. "Why is it that every time I have to make the effort for you, yet you can't do the most basic thing for me?”It’s clear from the phone call the dad understands that traveling with the kids and staying in a house that isn’t correctly set up for young kids will make the holiday a struggle. Instead of making memories, they’ll most likely be running around bent over trying to save their kids from breaking something or hanging out at Target buying electrical socket plugs and a bottle brush because they left theirs at home.The video struck a chord with many millennial parents.“First holiday with a kid… parents are confused why I won’t drive 9 hours with a 3mnth old for Christmas,” too_many_catz writes. “The ‘not baby proofed’ part hit my soullllllll. It’s so stressful having to chase your kids around and ask to close doors, move pictures, block stairs, etc. And nobody takes you seriously!" OhHeyItsIndy added.It’s also expensive for young families to travel. “Add to it they want us to spend money on gas, airfare, etc. when we live paycheck to paycheck and rent while they own homes and live comfortably off a pension,” another user wrote. This one hit hard: “They always act like you're asking the world of them, yet they will willingly go on any other vacation that they choose,” Mackenzie Byrne wrote. TX Travel Chick may have hit the nail on the head with her explanation for why boomer parents expect their children to road trip it to their house for the holidays. “Because we are used to following their orders!!! REVOLT,” she wrote.Ultimately, it would be interesting to learn why boomer parents want to inconvenience their kids when it would be much easier for them to take a trip to see them, especially if they can afford a hotel. One wonders if they are being entitled or if they’ve forgotten how hard it is to travel with young kids.

By now most people are used to seeing the haka performed at sporting events or in celebration of life events. But the dance isn't just a dance of celebration, it's a dance that started as a war dance so it can be used in ways that are less jovial in nature. Maori members of the New Zealand parliament recently used the haka to protest a bill that would require the reinterpretation of a treaty between Britain and the Maori people from 1840.The Treaty of Waitangi is 184-years-old and was originally signed between the British Crown and 500 Maori Chiefs. Maori people are indigenous to New Zealand and the treaty was to determine how the country should be governed. But the reinterpretation would restrict how the treaty can be interpreted just as Maori people continue to gain more rights in their native country.The bill was introduced by the conservative, ACT New Zealand party, who are making a case than non-Indigenous people are missing out on opportunities due to policies designed to uplift Maori people, according to Reuters. There have been protests by the Maori since it was announced that the bill would be heard in parliament but the protest on the floor took some members by surprise. Read World Cup GIF by World Rugby Giphy In a powerful display of disagreement with the new bill one of the Te Pati Maori MPs stood and started the haka call that rang through parliament. As the haka started she ripped a copy of the bill in two while other Te Pati Maori MPs and people observing began to participate in the dance. The form of protest seemed to fluster the man presiding over the meeting, causing parliament to be suspended briefly from the disruption. It doesn't look likely that the bill will pass as it doesn't have enough support outside of the initial readings. The protest caught the attention of social media and has since gone viral with over 188.9 million views and more than 14.5 million likes on the Whakaata Maori TikTok page. @whakaatamaori Parliament suspended as Māori MPs perform haka joined by public gallery. @Te Ao with Moana @Te Ao Māori News @TUKU ♬ original sound - Whakaata Māori Overwhelmingly people support the Maori MPs protest method on the parliament floor with one person saying, "This is what standing together looks like. I always get goosebumps when I come across a Haka. It’s so much passion in them.""For people saying it was too much since 2023 the goverment in charge of new Zealand has been getting rid of things that are important to the Maori people such as their health authority also school language programs but the most recent one that has cause an out cry and protest from the Maori people is one of the government members wants to redefine the interpretation of the Treaty of Waitangi also known as Te Tiriti o Waitangi I'm not from New Zealand I don't want to speak over Maori voices but have seen videos from Maori people talking about it however I wanted add context for this," someone writes in a multipart comment thread."Now that's how you make a statement! The fact the house was suspended, means it was heard," another shares."This protest gives my body chills.. powerful demonstration. these are the rally cries of all our ancestors," someone else chimes in.The Maori people currently only make up 20 percent of the population of New Zealand and have been the subject of oppression and discrimination. While the Maori people enjoy more rights and privileges than previous generations, the gains were hard fought, relying on the Treaty of Waitangi as a guide. This bill would essentially strip the Maori people of the full equality they're after and the haka protest was a strong stance against backsliding into a not so distant history.

Elitism cost Democrats the presidency; now, they’re doubling down on it. The last four years saw a steady progression of Democrats’ elitist separation from America’s mainstream. This separation accelerated markedly during Kamala Harris’s campaign. Now acting out their tantrums over their stunning defeat, Democrats are becoming yet more elitist. Despite styling himself “Lunch Bucket Joe,” Biden’s administration was liberally laced with so-called “progressivism” — the very name proclaiming its conscious separation from the mainstream. Immediately, the country’s southern border was thrown open. DEI initiatives proliferated across federal agencies. An inane foreign policy of appeasement was fueled by elitist naivete that our adversaries now liked us and wanted to be like us. Uncontrolled spending flowed into programs of no interest to average Americans, even as that spending helped fuel the inflation that mercilessly plagued them. When progressive policies resulted in retrogression for average Americans, the administration insolently denied it. The economy was good, inflation was cured — and they waved macro statistics in the face of millions of micro problems. Crime wasn’t up, but down — and again there were the statistics (until they were changed). You were a racist if you didn’t kowtow to DEI’s racism. The border wasn’t open; when it became clear that it was, then it wasn’t their fault that it was — it was somehow Trump’s. When our adversaries’ aggression ran amuck, these were coincidences. And when the administration acknowledged inflation, they used it as cover for hundreds of billions in extremist environmental spending under the guise of the Inflation Reduction Act. In supreme irony, when the elite’s policies turned Biden into a sure-loser, they turned on Biden. Having replaced Biden with Harris, Democrats’ elitism became even more pronounced. Where Biden enabled elitism, Harris embodied it. Her entire nomination by acclamation and then coronation was an exercise in separation from the common herd. Harris was sequestered from the rabble — no primaries, no media, no scrutiny, no pressing when she avoided questions, and no follow-up when she made gibberish statements. The Harris campaign too exuded elitism. When average Americans complained about inflation, she had a letter signed by hundreds of economists to refute them. Despite Harris’s claims of a middle-class upbringing, her campaign only rolled in first-class and A-lists. Hers was a $1 billion campaign; with more money rolling in than she could reasonably spend, she spent unreasonably. Celebrities like Oprah were paid to attend her rallies. The top headlining performers were enlisted — Springsteen, Beyonce, and Taylor Swift. The sports world was no exception, and LeBron joined her team. The late-night comedians fell in too, even giving her a last-minute political windfall of a cameo appearance on Saturday Night Live. Then on Nov. 5, America audaciously did to the elite, what the elite had done to Biden just months earlier. And the Democrats’ response? No humility, no mea culpa, no reexamination. Instead, a doubling down on the elitism that undid them. What Americans felt Democrats thought of them, they now know. Democrats’ elitist outrage over Harris’s defeat has been a collective, “How dare you?” to the American majority who voted against her. America must now understand that Biden’s use of “garbage” to describe them was no accident; it was candor. The same goes for Hillary Clinton’s “deplorables” before that, and Obama’s psychoanalysis of their psychosis over God and guns before both. Rather than admitting that they made a mistake, Democrat elitists are telling America’s majority that it was mistaken. The guilt rests on, take your pick — Black men, White women, Hispanics, and every crosstab of White men (young, old, rich, poor). In short, the guilt is everyone’s but elitist Democrats. Rather than ascribing fault to themselves, elitist Democrats have prescribed comfort sessions in colleges and high schools for consolation. Their governors in New Jersey, Illinois, and California have described their intended resistance to a Trump administration not yet in office. The common thread running through today’s anti-Trump outrage is elitism. That these chic Che’s of the far-left and far-away-pensive-look are better, know better, and feel more than the majority of average Americans. During Biden’s administration, Democrat elitists were limousine liberals, making a pretense of assimilation, they got out of the limo. During Harris’s campaign, they simply stayed in the limo — time was short, after all. Now in their Trump outrage, their limo is driving over the average American who rejected them. The elite are big “D” Democrats, not little “d” democrats. They are Democrat in party, not in reality. They despise the “demos” — the average people. Wanting nothing to do with them, they ignore them except every fourth year when they demand their vote — and even more, their fealty. Having dared withhold it, the average American is now seeing that hell hath no fury like an elite scorned. J.T. Young is the author of the new book, Unprecedented Assault: How Big Government Unleashed America’s Socialist Left, from RealClear Publishing and has over three decades’ experience working in Congress, the Department of Treasury, and OMB, and representing a Fortune 20 company. READ MORE from J.T. Young: What the ‘Garbage Controversy’ Says About Democrats Americans’ Justified Media Mistrust Democrats’ Economic Elitism The post Democrats Double Down on Elitism appeared first on The American Spectator | USA News and Politics.

Kamala Harris campaigned like she was running for the presidency of Planned Parenthood, not the United States, with abortion central to her campaign. She promoted a draconian future should Donald Trump be reelected. And it worked. At least for a large demographic of white, educated, single women. Trump’s election quickly filled social media with unraveling women, including a plan of action for women to not have children, learn to camp, and divorce husbands who voted for Trump. Others are calling for women to withhold sex and shave their heads in protest. Most conservatives avoid outwardly courting the women’s vote because it can be fraught with baggage and drama. But there are easy steps we can take to start winning the women’s vote now so future elections don’t hinge on the unhinged. 1. Identify the Indoctrination On The View, host Sunny Hostin blamed “uneducated white women” for Kamala’s loss. The week before the election, billionaire Mark Cuban, also on The View, said, “Donald Trump, you never see him around strong, intelligent women. Ever. It’s just that simple. They’re intimidating to him…” Their messaging is clear — smart women don’t vote Republican. The elite class has long held the lever on what women think. The behavior of leftist women isn’t innate but the result of decades of indoctrination. What started with the fashion industry and what women should wear expanded widely into telling women what they should think. And women followed. Most women consider themselves to be free thinkers, but free thinkers don’t usually think like everyone else. The intellectual lockstep cultivated by elites is breathtaking when you consider how women have come to believe, like no other group of women in all of history, that their own children are the enemy and an obstacle to their happiness. The elite have driven home the belief that abortion is the means through which women are free and without it life is a kind of drudgery and slavery. Conservatives must recognize just how widespread the fashion of ideas has spread and restore a much more compelling, healthy, and attractive understanding of womanhood into the dialogue. 2. Engage the Culture Decades ago, the Left looked to sway the culture to win the war of ideas. Conservatives stuck with argumentation and policy to make their points. Today, the Left owns Hollywood, TV, book publishing, and the fashion industry. Even today, after decades of living with this stark divide in approaches, few conservatives understand the power of culture. There are very few forays into culture, largely because conservative donors want hard metrics for their investments, but cultural influencing is difficult to quantify. Meanwhile, the Left, who is bereft of meaty arguments (when was the last time you saw a debate about abortion?), is dependent solely upon culture. They do it well because it is all they have. But it has paid off in spades for them. Celebrity endorsements work on women because women get their ideas from celebrities 365 days a year. They trust them to help with everything from what to wear, to how to exercise, and where to vacation. When elections roll around, celebrities are naturally the people to whom women will listen. Conservatives can help balance this by investing in magazines and media focused on women and lifestyle — particularly related to food, fashion, health, home, exercise, and travel. Women have very few role models of what it looks like to be a good woman because we have been inundated with women who are narcissistic, callous, vile, self-absorbed, cutthroat, and power-hungry. There are very few public women that we can look to and say, “She is a good woman.” Women don’t even know what a good woman is anymore. Engaging the culture can offer an off-ramp. 3. Recognize That Feminism Isn’t Helping One of the long-standing conservative beliefs rolled out each election cycle is that we ought not to touch feminism — if we fight feminism, we won’t win any elections. But at this stage, particularly after seeing the women’s vote in this election and the many Dobbs-era pro-life defeats, one begins to wonder if this is wisdom or just fear. There isn’t clear evidence that avoiding the feminist ideology is working. Since the early 1800s, the women’s movement has sold an ideal of independence and liberty. From its earliest days, women were taken in by the promise of what life could be like if they could just be people, without being a wife or mother. The problem is that women are well-suited to the life of wife and mother. This lie that women would be happier if they just existed outside of close and tight relationships has not served women well. Every happiness metric shows that women are less happy now than they were before the arrival of feminism’s second wave, with huge increases in depression, suicide, substance abuse, loneliness, and sexually transmitted diseases. Continuing to ignore feminism’s bad fruits does not help us win elections. Moreover, it also pushes women into deeper brokenness and unhappiness instead of into lives of purpose, rich relationships, and genuine fulfillment. 4. The Crazy Cat Ladies Are Telling Us Something Crazy cat ladies had their moment in this election cycle. Despite all the rhetoric about independence, women are made to mother. The crazy cat lady is that woman who is pouring her mothering into a pet. This is why there are now more pets in homes than children, with our four-legged friends being called fur babies while women are pet parents or dog moms. Plants are now also on the parenting spectrum. A local flower shop had a sign at its door that read: “Support Plant Parenthood.” Meanwhile, the fur parents just spent $700 million on Halloween costumes for their fur babies. (READ MORE: The Gospel of Discontent: How Feminism Shattered Our Understanding of Motherhood) Pets and plants are taking the emotional place meant for children. But this isn’t the only vacuum created when children aren’t born. The U.S. now faces the lowest birth rate ever, creating a birth dearth that has far-reaching negative effects on future economies and civilizational sustainability. 5. Don’t Wait for 2027 to Start Thinking About the Women’s Vote One of the myths conservatives believe is that the women’s issue is too big to fix. “It will always be this way,” is what most think, largely because it has been this way for as long as any of us can remember. But the winds are beginning to shift. The extremes have become too extreme, the anger unsustainable, and the suspension of belief untenable. We can move the needle with women, but it won’t happen overnight. It is very hard to convince someone on a dime that everything they have believed their whole life is based on empty lies. Starting early also gives new talking points a long runway to help ideas stick. There is hope that the women’s vote can shift, particularly the youth vote: a remarkable 40 percent of women under 30 voted to elect Trump. There is no reason conservatives can’t make inroads with the women’s vote starting now. As the next electoral frontier, women need help to understand that the seeds sown by feminism will always come up weeds. And despite the shiny appeal of a life of radical independence, true happiness isn’t found in what you have or do but in who you love and who loves you. READ MORE from Carrie Gress: Think the First Wave Is a Model for Women? Think Again. The Gospel of Discontent: How Feminism Shattered Our Understanding of Motherhood The Women’s Vote and Feminism’s Triumph The post 5 Ways to Right the Women’s Vote appeared first on The American Spectator | USA News and Politics.

Most progressives seem to be doubling down on their claims that misogynistic, racist, fascist-like Donald Trump will doom the nation. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortes (AOC) claimed, “We are about to enter a period of fascism and authoritarianism.” For MSNBC’s Joy Reid, Harris lost because white women were unwilling to vote for a black woman: “This will be the second opportunity that White women in this country have had to change the way that they interact with the patriarchy.” She continued, “If people aren’t receptive to it, and if people vote more party line, or more on race than on gender, and on protecting their gender, there’s really not much more that you can do.” What AOC, Reid, and most other progressives ignore in their post-election assessments is why so many Latinos voted for Trump, including a majority of Latino men. The data shows that among black voters, the leakage to Trump was modest, and Harris still obtained 84 percent of the black vote. What this misses was the decline in black voter turnout.  This decline in turnout was most apparent in Philadelphia. There, Harris obtained 47,000 fewer votes than Biden did in 2020, while Trump’s vote total increased by less than 10,000. Similarly in Detroit, Harris’s shortfall was 60,000, while Trump only gained 24,000. The Wall Street Journal reported that in the 524 counties with the highest share of black residents, total votes fell by 3.8 percent. More generally, in counties that Biden won in 2020, total votes declined by more than 4 percent — while those won by Trump increased by almost 4 percent. Nationally, the black share of the total vote in 2024 was only 11 percent, down from 13 percent four years ago. As a result, much of the leakage of black voters was due to their decision to not vote at all rather than vote for Trump. For progressives, like Barack Obama, it was chalked up to the misogyny of black men who were unwilling to vote for a black woman. The decline in black voting is a repeat of the 2022 elections. In an earlier article, I noted: In NYC, 90 percent of black voters selected Hochul. However, voter turnout plummeted. This decline was most dramatic in the Bronx, the poorest and most nonwhite borough, where it declined from 36% to 24% while it remained the same outside New York City. In Philadelphia, Milwaukee, and Detroit, turnout fell 10 percent to 12 percent beneath 2018 levels while turnout increased in the rest of Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan. Bernie Sanders highlighted this working-class rejection: “[It]should come as no great surprise that a Democratic Party which has abandoned working class people would find that the working class has abandoned them.” He continued, “First, it was the white working class, and now it is Latino and Black workers as well. While the Democratic leadership defends the status quo, the American people are angry and want change. And they’re right.” The problem for Democrats is that giving any priority to working-class initiatives would undermine the identity politics that energizes the party’s base. As a result, white professionals who provided the backbone of Sanders’s 2016 and 2020 presidential runs, now ignore his views. For these white professionals, black and Latino men voted for Trump, not because of anti-working-class policies, but because of their misogynist attitudes and the misinformation they absorbed. This rejection of working-class priorities was most evident in the last New York City mayoral election. The educated, white professional class backed Maya Wiley, who campaigned on defunding the police. She received less than one-fifth of the black vote — with the eventual winner Eric Adams receiving more than three-fifths. It demonstrated they had little regard for stemming the high crime rate in black neighborhoods where residents overwhelmingly rejected any cuts in policing.  Sanders’s stance was also present after the 2020 election. As a New York Times reporter put it, “Conor Lamb, who survived a Republican challenge in Pennsylvania, says Democrats were given a message on Election Day: Backlash to progressive policies risks killing their House majority.” Unfortunately, the congressional progressive caucus did not heed Lamb’s advice. Nor did they take seriously the evidence provided over the last year by political scientist and commentator, Ruy Texeira, that Democrat policy priorities were not viewed positively by a large share of working-class Americans.  My fear is that the Democrat party will remain captive of the progressive left, unwilling to sacrifice its identity politics agenda. Indeed, this was the tone of Kamala Harris’s concession speech. At no point did she even suggest that Democrats should listen more to American working people or learn from mistakes made. Instead, she only urged continued resistance. I fear that centrist Democrats are too few to steer the party away from its current priorities and only a defeat in the 2026 midterm elections would force it to seriously rethink its positions. Robert Cherry is an American Enterprise Institute affiliate and author of a forthcoming book, Arab Citizens of Israel: How Far Have They Come? READ MORE from Robert Cherry: Supporting the Hamas Fantasy of Israel’s Destruction Would a Harris Presidency Help Blacks? How Best To Fulfill King’s Aspirations The post Progressives Don’t Want to Learn From Their Mistakes appeared first on The American Spectator | USA News and Politics.

by Mike LaChance, The Gateway Pundit: Eric Trump recently appeared on the Sean Hannity show on FOX News and suggested that the media has lost all of its credibility. He points to the obviously slanted coverage of the 2924 campaign, where the majority of news stories about his father Donald Trump were negative while stories […]

by Geoffrey Grinder, Now The End Begins: Ukraine has the resources and expertise to indigenously produce a large quantity of nuclear weapons at short notice if it was forced to do so, a briefing document meant for top government figures allegedly says, a report states. Today, Biden administration Secretary of State Antony Blinken talked, bragged actually, […]