Re: The Left

“[Transgender ideology] is a cult based on a social contagion targeting the emotionally vulnerable with techniques and psychological tools that actively foster depressive mental patterns. It is a cult that makes a public suicide pact. They destroy their bodies in the pursuit of becoming the opposite gender. They change their names and pronouns and claim that if you use their given name — the one their parents gave them at birth — you are ‘deadnaming’ them. These are all people who are mentally ill and have found affirmation with one another in their misery. They believe that if all their demands on society are met, they will finally be happy and free. This is not the case because what gender dysphoric people believe is a lie that is so patently fragile, it can be brought down by the simplest of questions. For example, ‘What is a woman?’ It is no coincidence that according to the NIH National Library of Medicine, ‘Data indicate that 82% of transgender individuals have considered killing themselves and 40% have attempted suicide, with suicidality highest among transgender youth.’” —Emmy Griffin

“One horrible irony is that some of those who subscribe to the ‘words are violence’ school of thought are so offended by the mere existence of opposing viewpoints that they feel justified — with alarming frequency — in resorting to actual violence. … I want to be clear that the only person I am holding responsible for the killings at the Covenant School in Nashville is the woman who pulled the trigger. But her rampage appears to have been fueled by a sordid combination of mental illness and manufactured hysteria. Mental illness needs to be treated. The manufactured hysteria needs to stop.” —Laura Hollis

“In our sick society, the targeted victims became the political victimizers.” —Victor Davis Hanson

For the Record

“The Armalite 15, or AR-15, is not a military weapon that was ported to civilian use. It is a civilian rifle that later the military modified for itself. To say it is a military weapon is to repeat a talking point but reject a truth.” —Erick Erickson

“One hundred seventy-five children have died since the massacre at Columbine, Colorado, a school shooting that happened during the assault weapons ban. In 2021, 465 children died on the streets of just nine American cities. You should really pay attention to this. In one year in just nine cities, more children died from street shootings than all school shootings in the last 24 years.” —Erick Erickson

Observations

“Americans check their phones an average of 344 times per day or about once every four minutes. When you factor in sleep time it’s more like at least once every three minutes. In total, people spend about three hours a day staring at their phone on average. On a yearly basis, this means the average American is staring at their phone for 44 full days a year (again, this is without even factoring in sleep time, so call it 60 or 70 days a year). Seventy-one percent of people look at their phones within 10 minutes of waking up, and 74% say they can’t leave their phone at home without feeling uneasy. It’s hard to look at these numbers and call it anything but an addiction. Given the long list of problems in America today, people are not talking enough about this device addiction.” —Neil Patel

“Teacher-union types like to argue that parental rights bills are tantamount to telling a doctor how to operate on a patient. A more apt analogy is to say that Democrats want to force patients to undergo elective surgeries performed by untrained quacks. … For the most part, ‘book ban’ is just a euphemism for progressive administrators and teachers losing some of their power over your kids. While parents are compelled to live with the devastating professional failures of a teacher-union-dominated monopoly that struggles to teach basic math, reading, writing and science, there is no reason for them to accept political indoctrination, as well.” —David Harsanyi

Village Academies

“The question that came to my mind is: Who is my child? Every single child in Georgia. Every single one. Without exception. Not just my own. Not just the ones that I gave birth to.” —Georgia State Rep. Anne Allen Westbrook

Non Compos Mentis

“Avoid references to a transgender person being born a boy or girl.” —AP style guide

World’s Smallest Violin

“When President Biden and I spoke before Congress passed the Inflation Reduction Act last summer, we agreed that the bill was designed to pay down our national debt and shore up America’s energy security. … Yet instead of implementing the law as intended, unelected ideologues, bureaucrats and appointees seem determined to violate and subvert the law to advance a partisan agenda that ignores both energy and fiscal security.” —Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV)