The people of Green Charter Township have thwarted the desires of both the State of Michigan and the Chinese government. The state has now shelved a plan to build a massive Chinese battery plant in the rural western Michigan township about an hour’s drive north of Grand Rapids. The Chinese Are Coming! When the project … Read more
By now, anyone who follows news about the ‘wokeness’ inherent in most public schools—and some private and even parochial schools as well—knows at least one story about some school promoting transsexuality. Usually, this involves a school official assisting a child to get “gender-affirming care” without parental knowledge or permission. A Changing, but Uncertain Picture As … Read more
During the seventies, most American Catholic bishops, priests and laypeople rapidly abandoned the traditional devotions and trappings that had sustained the Church for generations. Those who objected often felt like strangers in their own spiritual homes. Three recent studies indicate that this trend is finally coming to an end. FREE Book, Order Today: Return to … Read more
In the magnificent book Purgatory by Father F. X. Schouppe, S.J., the author relates a narrative first told a Father Nieremberg, who Father Schouppe records, passed away “in the odor of sanctity” in 1658. A Vision The narrative begins on the Feast of All Saints. While preparing her soul for Holy Mass, a pious young … Read more
Progressive public schools in the northeast, Midwest and West Coast are failing fast. Meanwhile, their Southern counterparts show significant achievement gains. Let that sink in for a moment. For generations—perhaps going back to the days just after the Civil War—Southern schools were generally considered the worst of the worst. A Remarkable Reversal A recent article … Read more
While perusing a recent copy of Education Week, I was pleasantly surprised. One article speculated that a once-nearly-universal building block of American Education, the spelling test, may be making a comeback. Newly Recognized Value The article is based upon a “meta-analysis” that compiles fifty-nine separate studies of students with learning disabilities (LD). One of the … Read more
Since World War II, New York City (NYC) residents have suffered from rent control. The very phrase implies that the city needs to intercede for tenants to ensure that unscrupulous landlords don’t charge too much for the properties they control. Although the system is Byzantine in its complexity, it remains popular. For years, getting a … Read more
Many historic parishes around the United States rejected the architectural embellishments that marked them as distinctively Catholic during the roughly thirty years after the Second Vatican Council. Many parishioners mourned as high altars, murals, windows and other features were carted away, covered over, or simply destroyed. Others silently wept as sacred decorations provided by the … Read more
China’s massive economic problems can be boiled down to two related issues: underpopulation and overproduction. Both are easy to trace to government policies and communist ideology. A Population Disaster A recent article in Fortune spelled out the population issues in stark and simple terms. FREE Book, Order Today: Return to Order: From a Frenzied Economy … Read more
For the last decade or more, high schools have pushed STEM—an acronym for science, technology, engineering and mathematics—as the key to success. Well-meaning teachers, counselors and administrators—frequently baffled by the computers on their own desks—confidently told students that developing STEM skills would guarantee future prosperity. Technology and Prosperity Above all else, the essential twenty-first-century skill … Read more
