Cross-Examination

• The conservative family model is a winner: Who knew that conservatism, in addition to being a far more effective and sustainable governing philosophy than progressivism, is also good for young people’s mental health? It’s true, according to a new study from Gallup and the Institute for Family Studies. As the study’s author, Jonathan Rothwell, writes: “After a decade of surging adolescent mental health problems and suicide, the nation’s leading public health authorities have declared an emergency. Unfortunately, the solutions proposed by organizations like the CDC and the American Academy of Pediatrics … do not meet the challenge and ignore what are likely to be the most important causes. Adolescent biology hasn’t changed.” Rothwell continues: “The findings are clear. The most important factor in the mental health of adolescent children is the quality of the relationship with their caregivers. This, in turn, is strongly related to parenting practices — with the best results coming from warm, responsive, and rule-bound, disciplined parenting.” As David Bass summarizes in The Carolina Journal, “In contrast, liberal parents are more likely to have a permissive parenting style and ‘are the least likely to successfully discipline their children.’” The Big Takeaway? “Conservative parents enjoy higher quality relationships with their children, characterized by fewer arguments, more warmth, and a stronger bond, according to both parent and child reporting.”

• Big Porn groomers: The undercover journalism outfit Sound Investigations recently released secretly recorded videos of conversations with two employees of Aylo, the parent company that runs multiple online pornography sites including Pornhub. In the videos, the employees claim that the company seeks to “convert” children and straight men to homosexuality and transgenderism. They say Pornhub can help children who are “still figuring out [their] sexuality, maybe even [their] gender,” and that it does so by steering them toward such content on the website. One of the employees, a senior script writer at Aylo, explained: “The thing is, like, when you write for [Aylo-run website and studio] Sean Cody, which is primarily gay-targeted, when you write for TransAngels, which is trans-female-presenting-targeted, you also try to see how much you can take of that and bring it to mainstream, vanilla content. Because, like, Brazzers and Reality Kings [both Aylo-owned production companies] is predominantly for ‘straight’ men but you try to, like, push the envelope as much as you can.” Meanwhile, 10 different human-trafficking lawsuits have been raised against Aylo.

• California mandates gender-neutral toys: Beginning January 1, any store in California of 500 employees or more that sells toys will be required to include a gender-neutral toy section. Clearly, the Golden State’s leftist government is really focused on tackling society’s biggest problems. If stores such as Walmart fail to include gender-neutral toy sections in their toy departments, they will face a $250 fine for the first-time offense and $500 fines for any subsequent violations. That’s an insignificant amount of money, but the reason this ridiculous law exists is all thanks to state lawmakers bowing to the Rainbow Mafia and its constant demand for special rights and that the rest of society be forced to recognize these special rights. Hence California’s effort to fight the “patriarchy” and the age-old social normative practice of marketing toys based on gender.

• Holocaust denial grows among the young: John Adams once said that our Constitution was suitable “only for a moral and religious people.” He might’ve added “a historically literate people,” but perhaps that went without saying. Today, however, an alarmingly large share of young people are deeply misinformed about one of the most consequential events of the 20th century: the Nazis’ systematized effort to eradicate the Jews of Europe. According to an Economist/YouGov poll, 20% of Americans aged 18 to 29 agreed with the statement, “The Holocaust is a myth,” while 30% neither agreed nor disagreed with that statement. Most troubling of all is that only 43% of that age group strongly disagreed, even though the Holocaust is one of the most thoroughly documented events in recorded history. Here, it’s worth noting that a key communication strategy of the world’s Jew-haters is to deny the historical fact of the Holocaust. They do this to undercut one of the most compelling reasons for having a Jewish nation. The most compelling reason, of course, is a matter of ancient history.

• SHOCKER: The Air Force is desperate for pilots: From the law of unintended consequences comes this unsettling news about our woke military, which under Commander-in-Chief Joe Biden has consistently failed to meet its recruiting numbers. The Air Force says it will offer up to $600,000 in bonuses over the next 12 years in an effort to address a pilot shortage. As Fox Business reports, “The bonuses range from $15,0000 to $50,000 per year for contracts ranging from three to 12 years of additional service, the Air Force said in a Nov. 30 press release.” Not surprisingly, that press release doesn’t dwell on our military’s well-documented unreadiness, nor does it mention our recruiting shortfall or the obvious reason for the bonuses — only that the bonus program “builds upon the previous years’ offers to deliberately shape and retain experienced rated officers to meet Air Force retention, training, and mission readiness requirements to maintain the lethality of the force.” Good luck with that.

• More trends for Trump: As his Republican challengers vie for the favor of the Republican electorate in an increasingly toxic debate environment, Donald Trump continues to sit back and observe the goings-on. And in doing so, he puts himself above the fray. The fruits of this strategy are becoming increasingly apparent: He now leads Joe Biden for the first time ever in the latest Wall Street Journal poll, 47-43. Polls have become increasingly unreliable in recent cycles, but the trend toward Trump and away from Biden since 2020 is unmistakable. For comparison, that same poll had Trump trailing Biden 52-42 just before the 2020 election. In addition, Trump picked up the endorsement of former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. As National Review reports: “McCarthy also said he’d be willing to serve in a second-term Trump cabinet in ‘the right position’ and if he’s ‘the best person for the job.’ He continued, ‘I worked with President Trump on a lot of policies. We work together to win the majority, but we also have a relationship where we’re very honest with one another.’”

• Christmas tree inflation: One of the most popular expressions for celebrating the Christmas holiday season is purchasing, setting up, and decorating the family Christmas tree. Yet thanks to Bidenflation, that event has gotten costlier for American families. According to the National Christmas Tree Association and the American Christmas Tree Association (ACTA), trees are 10% more expensive than last year, with the average between $80 and $100. And before you’re tempted to run out and purchase an artificial tree, the price on those fake evergreens is even worse. “According to our 2023 survey,” observed Jami Warner, ACTA executive director, “52 percent of artificial Christmas tree owners purchased their tree for under $200, and 27 percent paid $200 to $400.” To add perspective on Bidenflation’s impact on the holidays, the calculation of the cost of 12 days of Christmas has set a new annual record, totaling $46,729.86, up 2.7% over last year. The fun of calculating the cost of the gifts from the popular song began back in 1984, when the total cost came in at $20,023.57. Despite inflation, the Christmas spirit remains strong. The vast majority of Americans are still committed to celebrating, and 94% of those surveyed said they still plan on buying at least one Christmas tree for their homes this year.

• American Spirit from a 103-year-old vet: WWII veteran Sam Avolicino recently celebrated his 103rd birthday. Asked what explains his long life, Avolicino credits his “wonderful wife.” He said, “The greatest thing in my life is that I was able to be married for 72 years with my same wife.” Born in southern Italy, Avolicino immigrated to the U.S. with his parents when he was just three months old. He grew up in Oakland, California, and has lived in the Bay Area his entire life. He volunteered for the Army Air Force when the war started and became a drill instructor training the troops because he “could lead a yell.” He explained, “Every day we had training and we had drills, and I taught them some yells and some songs and things like that.” He eventually made it to France “one day before the war was over.” He was soon “reassigned to special services and my CEO assigned me to the Nuremberg Opera House to entertain the troops while we waited to be shipped home.” While running the opera house, he welcomed the likes of Bob Hope and Mickey Rooney to entertain the troops. Avolicino’s advice to younger generations is to invest in faith and family. “I recommend all children pick up on God, start to believe in the hereafter, and go to church. Pray every night. God’s been the most important person in my life. Respect your parents and listen to your parents. Don’t let outside influences get to you, which is very difficult today.”

Headlines

• UPenn president resigns after furious backlash to her anti-Semitism testimony to Congress (Independent) | Over 500 Harvard faculty members support university president in letter to board after anti-Semitism hearing (Fox News) | Embattled Harvard president now under fire for alleged plagiarism (Daily Wire)

• SNL gets blowback for vile skit focusing on GOP lawmaker instead of college presidents’ testimony (Fox News)

• CAIR director says he was “happy” on October 7, Israel “does not have right to self-defense” (Fox News) | White House quietly scrubs CAIR from anti-Semitism strategy (RNC)

• Dem senators, ministers bash OPEC letter rattling COP28 summit (Axios)

• EPA shielding how groups spent Biden’s cash bonanza for environmental justice (Washington Times)

• Five thousand illegal immigrants being released daily into the U.S. (Washington Examiner)

• Texas police arrest illegal immigrant in teen cheerleader’s murder (Blaze Media)

• Suspected Los Angeles serial killer got $700K settlement from Santa Monica before shooting spree (Fox News)

• Sheila Jackson Lee loses Houston mayor’s race to tough-on-crime state senator (Politico)

• Argentina’s President Javier Milei immediately cuts number of government ministries in half after taking oath of office (Not the Bee)

• Hamas terrorists lose contact with Gaza leaders, surrender to IDF (Jerusalem Post)

• Satire: Ousted UPenn President Liz Magill lands new gig at Hamas Institute of Technology (Babylon Bee)

For more editors’ choice headlines, click here.