Christian Pastor John MacArthur, a well-known preacher and speaker who fought against California’s COVID mandates, died Monday at the age of 86.
MacArthur, who was the pastor of Sun Valley&#8217;s Grace Community Church for 56 years, was hospitalized last week after contracting pneumonia. His media ministry, Grace to You, confirmed his death on Monday night. 
“Our hearts are heavy, yet rejoicing, as we share the news that our beloved pastor and teacher John MacArthur has entered into the presence of the Savior,” Grace to You posted. “This evening, his faith became sight. He faithfully endured until his race was run.”
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Our hearts are heavy, yet rejoicing, as we share the news that our beloved pastor and teacher John MacArthur has entered into the presence of the Savior. This evening, his faith became sight. He faithfully endured until his race was run.
2 Timothy 4:1-8 <a href="https://t.co/5JplmC0Dvp">pic.twitter.com/5JplmC0Dvp</a>
&mdash; Grace to You (@gracetoyou) <a href="https://twitter.com/gracetoyou/status/1944937107937464752?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 15, 2025</a></blockquote>
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MacArthur pastored Grace Community since 1969 and saw weekly attendance rise to around 7,000. Throughout his lengthy ministry, he authored nearly 400 books, including the bestselling “The Gospel According to Jesus.” His Grace to You ministry broadcasts sermons in English across every continent and in Spanish in Europe and Latin America. 
Already a well-known pastor among Christians, MacArthur and his church garnered national attention during the COVID lockdowns. 
After initially complying with COVID restrictions imposed by Los Angeles County and California, MacArthur and Grace Community reopened in defiance of local rules. That prompted a legal battle, which ended with the county and state <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/l-a-county-to-pay-400000-to-john-macarthurs-grace-community-church" target="_blank" rel="noopener">each paying</a> the church $400,000 after the Supreme Court ruled that California was targeting churches. 
“We know that there is no circumstance that can cause the church to close,” MacArthur said in a letter at the time. “The church is not only a building but is the bride of Christ and exists to proclaim the truth.”
MacArthur was a harsh critic of California Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/reprehensible-act-of-gross-blasphemy-renowned-california-pastor-writes-open-letter-to-gavin-newsom-after-abortion-billboards-quote-jesus?author=Zach+Jewell&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=%E2%80%98Reprehensible+Act+Of+Gross+Blasphemy%E2%80%99%3A+Renowned+California+Pastor+Writes+Open+Letter+To+Gavin+Newsom+After+Abortion+Billboards+Quote+Jesus">slamming</a> him for his advocacy of pro-abortion policies.
MacArthur appeared multiple times on the &#8220;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-ofKxfYqGw">Ben Shapiro Show Sunday Special</a>,&#8221; where they discussed Christianity and the state of religion in America. During his most recent <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fr95oTGqnVQ">appearance</a>, Shapiro asked MacArthur how he might convince a skeptic of Christianity to start attending church. MacArthur replied by saying he would recommend that people read the Bible. 
“Read the Bible. Just read the Bible. It has the ring of truth. It defends itself,” he said. “It’s like a lion. You don’t defend it. You don’t defend the lion. You open the cage and let it out. It’ll be okay. And the scripture is like that. But it’s like that even morally, there’s something in the heart of people that resonates with biblical morality.”
MacArthur is survived by his wife of 61 years, Patricia, four children, and 15 grandchildren.

Grace Community Church in Sun Valley

Pastor John MacArthur, Defender Of Religious Liberty During COVID Lockdowns, Dies At 86

California

Christianity

COVID-19

Gavin Newsom

John MacArthur

Lockdowns

Dr. Jay Bhattacharya was confirmed Tuesday night by the Senate in a party-line vote to lead the National Institutes of Health.
The Senate voted 53-47 to confirm Bhattacharya with all Republicans supporting his nomination and every Democrat voting against confirming the Stanford School of Medicine medical professor. Bhattacharya has promised to bring more accountability to the NIH, which oversees tens of billions of dollars in federal grant dollars. 
“The mission of the NIH is to address the health needs the American people have and to expand life expectancy of the American people. And we have not achieved that. It’s flatlined,” Bhattacharya <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/jay-bhattacharya-promises-to-bring-accountability-to-nih-after-covid-failure" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> during his confirmation hearing earlier this month before the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee.
Bhattacharya widely rose to prominence during the COVID pandemic, when he was a sharp critic of the government-imposed lockdowns and was one of the first to express concerns about the safety and efficacy of vaccine mandates. During COVID, he was an advisor to Florida, aiding Governor Ron DeSantis in the reopening of the Sunshine State. 
“Science should be an engine for freedom. Knowledge and freedom … it shouldn’t be pushing mandates for vaccines like the COVID vaccines,” Bhattacharya said during his confirmation hearing. “The role of the scientist should not be to say that you can’t send your kid to school for two years.”
In his nomination announcement, President Donald Trump <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-nominates-dr-jay-bhattacharya-to-lead-nih" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> that Bhattacharya would work alongside Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to “Make America Healthy Again” and “restore the NIH to a Gold Standard of Medical Research as they examine the underlying causes of, and solutions to, America’s biggest Health challenges, including our Crisis of Chronic Illness and Disease.”
Bhattacharya also promised during his confirmation hearing that he would support experiments that take different approaches to an issue, saying that much of the established scientific community has failed to provide satisfactory answers. 
On Tuesday, the Senate <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-names-marty-makary-to-lead-food-and-drug-administration" target="_blank" rel="noopener">also voted</a> 56-44 to confirm Dr. Marty Makary to head up the Food and Drug Administration. Democrat Senators Dick Durbin (IL), Maggie Hassan (NH), and Jeanne Shaheen (NH) joined Republicans in voting for Makary. 
When he nominated Makary, Trump said that he would work with RFK Jr. to “properly evaluate harmful chemicals poisoning our Nation’s food supply and drugs and biologics being given to our Nation’s youth, so that we can finally address the Childhood Chronic Disease Epidemic.”

NIH Director Nominee Jayanta Bhattacharya

Senate Confirms COVID Lockdown Opponent Dr. Jay Bhattacharya To Lead NIH

Donald Trump

Jay Bhattacharya

Science

Senate

Stanford University

Trump Administration

Dr. Jay Bhattacharya promised on Wednesday to bring sunlight to the National Institutes of Health if confirmed as the agency’s director. 
Speaking before the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, Bhattacharya rebuked the NIH for its behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic, which he said did great damage to trust in scientists and academic institutions. Bhattacharya, an outspoken critic of the COVID lockdowns, was one of the first to express concerns about the safety and efficacy of vaccine mandates. 
A professor at the Stanford School of Medicine, Bhattacharya promised to bring greater transparency to the American people about the NIH&#8217;s research, which he said had failed in its fundamental mission.
&#8220;The mission of the NIH is to address the health needs the American people have and to expand life expectancy of the American people. And we have not achieved that. It&#8217;s flatlined,&#8221; he said.
This failure, paired with a massive loss in &#8220;trust in the public health establishment&#8221; during COVID, made clear the need for the NIH to reestablish trust with the American people, Bhattacharya said. 
Bhattacharya rose to prominence for his opposition to COVID lockdowns and later his concerns that COVID vaccines posed some health risks, specifically for young men. 
&#8220;Science should be an engine for freedom. Knowledge and freedom &#8230; it shouldn&#8217;t be pushing mandates for vaccines like the COVID vaccines,&#8221; he said. &#8220;The role of the scientist should not be to say that you can&#8217;t send your kid to school for two years.&#8221;
Reflecting on his experience during the COVID pandemic, Bhattacharya said that he was &#8220;tremendously proud&#8221; to advise Florida&#8217;s response to the pandemic, which sent kids back to schools way earlier than California with little to no negative impact.
Bhattacharya condemned the censorship that was pushed by the Biden administration against critics of the vaccine mandates at the time. He said during the pandemic there was a problem of &#8220;censorship and restriction&#8221; of science&#8221; and that the &#8220;root problem was that people who had alternative ideas were suppressed.&#8221;
Bhattacharya said that he himself was the victim of pressure campaigns by the Biden administration and that the Freedom of Information Act requests he filed during the pandemic were returned fully redacted.
&#8220;You can&#8217;t have trust unless you are transparent,&#8221; Bhattacharya said, saying that that Americans should be able to &#8220;see all of the activities of the NIH openly.&#8221;
Other topics discussed during the hearing included proposed cuts to NIH funding of universities and research institutions, as well as vaccines and autism. Moderate Senator Susan Collins (R-ME) pushed Bhattacharya to disavow Trump&#8217;s cap on funding for indirect funding, which he said he would evaluate if confirmed.
Bhattacharya would help allocate tens of billions of dollars in funding if confirmed by the Senate.

NIH Director Nominee Jayanta Bhattacharya Testifies In Senate Hearing

Jay Bhattacharya Promises To Bring Accountability To NIH After COVID Failure

bill Cassidy

COVID-19 Vaccine

Pandemic

spending

Dr. Phil McGraw slammed the leftist co-hosts of ABC&#8217;s &#8220;The View&#8221; this week during an intense discussion about the impacts of COVID lockdowns on school children.
McGraw said that the mental health of children largely began declining in 2008 with the advent of smartphones and social media.
&#8220;In like &#8217;08, &#8217;09, smartphones came in and kids stopped living their lives and started watching people live their lives,&#8221; he said. &#8220;So we saw the biggest spike and the highest levels of depression, anxiety, loneliness, and suicidality since records have ever been kept. And it&#8217;s just continued on and on and on.&#8221;
&#8220;And then COVID hits 10 years later and the same agencies that knew that are the agencies that shut down the schools for 2 years,&#8221; he continued. &#8220;Who does that? Who takes away the support system for these children? Who takes it away and shuts it down? By the way, when they shut it up they stopped the mandated reporters from being able to see children that were being abused and sexually molested and, in fact, sent them home and abandoned them to their abusers with no way to watch.  And referrals dropped 50-60%.&#8221;
Co-host Sunny Hostin snapped back, “There was also a pandemic going on and they were trying to save their lives.”
Co-host Whoopi Goldberg agreed, claiming that the government was &#8220;trying to save kids&#8217; lives&#8221;. “We know a lot of folks who died during this,&#8221; she said. &#8220;People weren’t laying around eating bonbons —”
McGraw fired back, noting that school aged children were not dying from the pandemic.
&#8220;Well, you know what? We’re lucky,&#8221; Goldberg claimed. &#8220;Maybe we’re lucky they didn’t, because they kept them out of the places that they could be safe because no one wanted to believe we had an issue.&#8221;
Co-host Ana Navarro asked McGraw: “Are you saying no school children died of COVID?”
“I’m saying it was the safest group,” McGraw responded. “They were the less vulnerable group, and they suffered and will suffer more from the mismanagement of COVID than they will from the exposure to COVID, and that’s not an opinion, that’s a fact.”
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
🚨This is INSANE:
Dr. Phil correctly pointed out how school closures severely hurt children’s mental health, and the ladies of The View are *still* defending the decision to close schools four years later, despite all of the public evidence showing how harmful and unnecessary… <a href="https://t.co/6YihTl5eH7">pic.twitter.com/6YihTl5eH7</a>
&mdash; Nicki Neily (@nickineily) <a href="https://twitter.com/nickineily/status/1762199120293335548?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 26, 2024</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Today – Season 66

Dr. Phil Torches ‘The View’ Co-Hosts Over Impact Of COVID Lockdowns On Kids: ‘That’s A Fact’

COVID

Dr. Phil McGraw

School Lockdowns

The View

Now that school lockdowns are over, schools are wondering — where are the students?
School absences have spiked since the pandemic. Now, over three years after lockdowns began, many students are simply not showing up for class.
Nearly 10% of K-12 students were missing from school on an average day during the 2022-2023 school year, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/05/briefing/covid-school-absence.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to preliminary state data reported by The New York Times.
About a quarter of students were chronically absent, meaning they missed 10% or more of school days — about three and a half weeks. Before COVID, only <a href="https://www.lex18.com/news/millions-of-kids-are-missing-weeks-of-school-as-attendance-tanks-across-the-us" target="_blank" rel="noopener">about 15%</a> of students were chronically absent. About 6.5 million more students became chronically absent across 40 states and Washington, D.C., according to <a href="https://osf.io/bfg3p/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">absenteeism data</a> from Thomas Dee, a Stanford economist.
Black, Latino, and low-income students were more likely to be absent. Notably in some cases, absenteeism has spiked more in some blue areas where schools were on lockdown for longer during the pandemic, according to Dee&#8217;s data as well as remote schooling enrollment <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/05/briefing/covid-school-absence.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">data</a> from Thomas Kane, a Harvard economist.
In New Mexico, Alaska, and Arizona, where school lockdowns were longer, absenteeism rates rose by more than 20 percentage points between 2019 and 2022. California and Oregon, both of which had prolonged school lockdowns, both saw their absenteeism rates rise more than 15 percentage points between those years. Washington, D.C, which also had prolonged lockdowns, had elevated levels of absenteeism as well.
Meanwhile, states like Arkansas, Nebraska, Tennessee, and West Virginia, which went back to in-person learning more quickly, all saw absenteeism rise by below 10 percentage points.
Some analysts <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/05/briefing/covid-school-absence.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">say</a> one factor could be that thanks to school lockdowns, attendance now feels more optional.
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“For almost two years, we told families that school can look different and that schoolwork could be accomplished in times outside of the traditional 8-to-3 day,” <a href="https://www.lex18.com/news/millions-of-kids-are-missing-weeks-of-school-as-attendance-tanks-across-the-us" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> Elmer Roldan, who runs a school dropout prevention group in Los Angeles.
“Families got used to that,” he said.
Another issue is parents keeping their anxious children home from school, a decision psychologists say is understandably tempting for parents but can cause more anxiety down the road.
&#8220;The most fundamental thing for adults to understand is that avoidance feeds anxiety,&#8221; Lisa Damour, a psychologist and the author of “The Emotional Lives of Teenagers,” <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/05/briefing/covid-school-absence.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told</a> The New York Times.
“When any of us are fearful, our instinct is to avoid. But the problem with giving in to that anxiety is that avoidance is highly reinforcing,” she said.
Meanwhile, students are still battling significant learning loss caused by months of remote schooling. The average math and reading test scores for 13-year-olds <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/u-s-reading-and-math-scores-for-13-year-olds-declined-to-lowest-level-in-decades-report" target="_blank" rel="noopener">plummeted</a> to the lowest levels in decades, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) officials <a href="https://www.nationsreportcard.gov/highlights/ltt/2023/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> in June.
In some cases, students may actually be doing worse than before COVID.
Last month, a study <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/kids-progressing-even-slower-in-reading-math-now-than-before-pandemic-new-study-shows" target="_blank" rel="noopener">showed</a> that fourth through eighth-grade students made even slower progress in reading and math last year than before the pandemic, dashing hopes that kids would learn faster to make up for learning loss during COVID. At the same time, college students who were in high school during remote learning are <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/many-college-students-stuck-at-9th-grade-math-level-professors-blame-pandemic" target="_blank" rel="noopener">arriving</a> on campus unprepared. Many are struggling with basic math and have had to go back and learn the basics.
Some families also opted to pull their children out of public school for good, opting instead for charter, private, and parish schools or homeschooling. Public school enrollment numbers dropped precipitously after the pandemic began. Public schools lost 1.4 million students between fall 2019 and fall 2020, the National Center for Education Statistics <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator/cga/public-school-enrollment" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>.
Meanwhile, homeschooling rose by 30% between the school year that began in 2019 and the one that began in 2021, a study from the Urban Institute <a href="https://www.christianpost.com/news/homeschool-enrollment-rose-30-in-2021-2022-study.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">showed</a>.

Hollywood High School Students And Teachers Prepare For Coming School Year

Schools See Spike In Student Absences Even Though Lockdowns Are Over

Schools See Spike In Student Absences, Even Though Lockdowns Are Over

Children

Education

Public Schools

U.S.

A liberal college town announced that it would pay $300,000 to a group of Christians in Idaho who were arrested for holding an outdoor church service without wearing masks during the pandemic.
The city of Moscow, Idaho — home to the University of Idaho — <a href="https://www.idahostatejournal.com/news/local/idaho-city-announces-300k-payment-to-people-who-were-arrested-during-religious-gathering/article_9c06f542-2736-11ee-bcdc-cf88632217a8.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announced</a> the settlement in the churchgoers&#8217; civil lawsuit last week.
Three churchgoers with Christ Church sued the city after they were arrested in September 2020 at an outdoor &#8220;psalm sing&#8221; with their church outside Moscow City Hall. The singing protest lasted about 20 minutes. Gabriel Rench and Sean and Rachel Bohnet filed the suit in March 2021, alleging that their First and Fourth Amendments rights were violated.
Footage of the arrests went viral on social media and showed police officers taking Rench&#8217;s hymnal away from him before handcuffing him and taking him and the two other people to the county jail. The three were detained at the jail for several hours.
Then-president Donald Trump <a href="https://religionnews.com/2020/10/07/hymn-singers-arrested-idaho-trump-tweet-democrats-doug-wilson-christ-church/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">condemned</a> the arrests at the time, tweeting that Democrats want to shut churches down &#8220;permanently.&#8221;
The three were charged with violating the city&#8217;s public health emergency ordinance, but a judge dismissed the city&#8217;s case against them.
A federal judge later denied the city&#8217;s request to dismiss the lawsuit from the three people arrested, noting that the city&#8217;s pandemic ordinance had an exception for activities protected by the Idaho and U.S. constitutions, such as religious services. The judge said the three never should have been arrested in the first place.
&#8220;Somehow, every single City official involved overlooked the exclusionary language [of constitutionally protected behavior] in the Ordinance,&#8221; the judge wrote.
Rench was a candidate for Latah County Commission when he was arrested.
&#8220;It&#8217;s actually the city of Moscow that was defying the law,&#8221; Rench said, according to Fox News. &#8220;I was obeying the law. The political system doesn&#8217;t want to give away their power, and they think if they admit they&#8217;re wrong, they look at that as like they&#8217;re losing their political power.&#8221;
He said he believes the government has started to target Christians more.
&#8220;I think it&#8217;s no secret that portions of our government and political groups are now starting to target Christians in a way that has never really happened in America or Canada,&#8221; Rench told Fox News.
&#8220;I&#8217;m in a conservative state, but I live in a liberal town, and the liberals had no problem arresting me for practicing my religious rights and my Constitutional rights,&#8221; he said.
Christ Church is a congregation of about 1,000 people and part of the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches.
The city said its liability insurance provider &#8220;determined that a financial settlement in the case was the best course of action to dispose of the suit and avoid a protracted litigation proceeding.&#8221;
Under the terms of the settlement agreement, the liability insurance provider &#8220;will pay a total settlement amount of $300,000 and all claims against the City and the named City employees will be dismissed with prejudice along with a release of all liability,&#8221; the city <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/us/christians-arrested-maskless-outdoor-church-service-get-payout-liberal-college-town" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> in a press release.
The city also said the settlement &#8220;provides closure of a matter related to the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic and the City’s efforts to protect the public during an exceptionally trying time.&#8221;

TOPSHOT-FRANCE-HEALTH-VIRUS-CHINA

Christians Arrested For Maskless Outdoor Church Service To Get $300,000 From Liberal College Town

Health

Religion

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki Holds News Briefing At White House

Here Are The COVID Authoritarians Who Will Soon Walk The Halls Of America’s Elite Universities

Here Are The COVID Authoritarians Who Will Soon Walk The Halls Of America's Elite Universities

Anthony Fauci

Georgetown University

Harvard

Jacinda Ardern

Lori Lightfoot

New Zealand

Readers Pass

The share of the American <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/jobs" target="_blank" rel="noopener">workforce</a> composed of foreign-born workers rose to record levels last year, a phenomenon which comes as <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/immigration" target="_blank" rel="noopener">immigration</a> surges in the wake of worldwide <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/lockdowns" target="_blank" rel="noopener">lockdowns</a> and as the nation’s <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/economy" target="_blank" rel="noopener">economy</a> grapples with <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/labor-shortage" target="_blank" rel="noopener">labor shortages</a>.
Workers born in other nations comprised 18.1% of the workforce in 2022, according to <a href="https://www.bls.gov/news.release/forbrn.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">data</a> released last week by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, marking an increase from 17.4% in 2021. Hispanics account for nearly half of the foreign-born labor force, while Asians account for one-quarter of the foreign-born labor force. Average weekly earnings for foreign-born workers were $945 last year, while weekly earnings for their native-born counterparts were $1,087.
Native-born workers were more likely than foreign-born workers to hold positions in management, professional, and sales occupations, while the latter were more likely to work in service, natural resources, construction, logistics, and maintenance. Labor force participation among native-born males was 66.0% compared to 77.4% for foreign-born men.
The heightened level of foreign-born workers as a share of the overall workforce occurs as the United States and other nations reverse public health mandates that slowed immigration and temporary residency. One <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2022/12/01/after-declining-early-in-the-covid-19-outbreak-immigrant-naturalizations-in-the-u-s-are-rising-again/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">analysis</a> from Pew Research Center found that there has been a rise in “the number of immigrants receiving green cards as new lawful permanent residents, as well as a partial rebound in arrivals by foreign students, tourists, and other lawful temporary migrants.”
Illegal immigration has meanwhile <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/biden-heads-to-beach-after-shattering-all-time-record-with-83000-illegal-aliens-storming-border-in-1-week" target="_blank" rel="noopener">soared</a> to record levels over the past two years: as many as 5.5 million migrants have crossed into the United States under the Biden administration, according to <a href="https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/fair-analysis-5-5-million-illegal-aliens-have-crossed-our-borders-since-biden-took-officehow-is-secretary-mayorkas-still-employed-301658734.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">data</a> from the Federation for American Immigration Reform. Critics of immigration policies forwarded by the White House have asserted that lackluster emphasis on securing the border and increased resources for migrants who enter the country have worsened the crisis.
Several cities and at least one state <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/leading-republicans-decry-biden-border-crisis-as-title-42-ends" target="_blank" rel="noopener">declared</a> emergencies this month as officials prepare for the conclusion of Title 42, a statute which permitted authorities to quickly turn away migrants at the southern border on public health grounds. Large groups of illegal immigrants have been recorded amassing at the border and seeking to enter the country between ports of entry.
The labor market over the past three years has widely been considered a bright spot in an otherwise dismal economic landscape marked by record inflation and persistent supply chain bottlenecks. Low labor force participation across the economy, on the other hand, has <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/americans-continue-to-opt-out-of-the-workforce" target="_blank" rel="noopener">worsened</a> both trends as businesses raise wages to fill their payrolls and attract or retain more workers. Excess retirements amid the lockdown-induced recession have been <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/federal-reserve-chair-jerome-powell-discusses-future-slowdown-of-rate-hikes" target="_blank" rel="noopener">identified</a> as a factor contributing to decreased labor force participation.
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There were 30.0 million foreign-born workers in the United States as of last month, according to <a href="https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/LNU02073395" target="_blank" rel="noopener">data</a> from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, eclipsing the 27.7 million workers counted in the month before the lockdowns and significantly surpassing 22.0 million workers three years ago. There were meanwhile 131.1 million native-born workers last month, according to more <a href="https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/LNU02073413" target="_blank" rel="noopener">data</a>, a figure which remains below levels recorded before the recession.
Foreign-born workers composed some 15.0% of the workforce in 2005, according to more <a href="https://www.bls.gov/news.release/archives/forbrn_04142006.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">data</a> from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Restaurant

Foreign-Born Workers Now Make Up Nearly One-Fifth Of American Workforce

Foreign-Born Adults Now Make Up Almost One-Fifth Of American Workforce

Economy

Immigration

Jobs

Unemployment

Membership in the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/southern-baptists" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Southern Baptist Convention</a> witnessed the largest single-year decline in at least a century as the nation reels from the aftermath of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/lockdowns" target="_blank" rel="noopener">lockdown</a> mandates and pastors become concerned about the denomination’s theologically <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/woke" target="_blank" rel="noopener">liberal</a> drift.
The nation’s largest Protestant denomination saw a decline from 13.7 million members in 2021 to 13.2 million members in 2022, a decrease of more than 3% which continues the trajectory seen over the last three years, according to <a href="https://research.lifeway.com/2023/05/09/southern-baptists-decline-in-membership-grow-in-attendance-baptisms/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">data</a> released by Lifeway Research, a provider of church business services for the Southern Baptist Convention.
“Much of the downward movement we are seeing in membership reflects people who stopped participating in an individual congregation years ago and the record keeping is finally catching up,” Lifeway Research Executive Director Scott McConnell said in a statement. “Membership totals for a congregation immediately reflect additions as well as subtractions due to death or someone removing themselves from membership. But many congregations are slow to remove others who no longer are participating.”
Even as the number of baptisms and the amount of giving increased from the previous year, the Southern Baptist Convention is now composed of 416 fewer churches between 2021 and 2022. Unlike other more centralized denominations, the Southern Baptist Convention is a voluntary association of autonomous churches which fund seminaries, missionary efforts, and publications as they <a href="https://bfm.sbc.net/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">adhere</a> to the Baptist Faith and Message statement of doctrinal convictions.
Lockdowns contributed to a broader decline of religiosity in the United States as many congregants never <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/wheat-and-chaff-a-three-year-post-mortem-on-evangelical-church-attendance" target="_blank" rel="noopener">returned</a> to traditional worship services. Church attendance has fallen to 85% of pre-lockdown levels in Protestant denominations even after nearly every church in the country resumed normal operations, according to another <a href="https://research.lifeway.com/2022/11/08/churches-are-open-but-still-recovering-from-pandemic-attendance-losses/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">study</a> from Lifeway Research.
Those who continued to profess Christianity became increasingly theologically liberal in their beliefs: a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/from-the-inspiration-of-scripture-to-gender-identity-evangelicalism-sees-a-massive-leftward-shift" target="_blank" rel="noopener">survey</a> from Ligonier Ministries found that the share of self-identified evangelicals who believe “gender identity is a matter of choice” rose from 22% to 37% between 2020 and 2022, while the share who believe “the Bible’s condemnation of homosexual behavior doesn’t apply today” more than doubled from 11% to 28% over the same time horizon.
Record decline in Southern Baptist Convention membership occurs as hundreds of pastors throughout the country notice the liberal direction of the denomination. The trend is perhaps most palpable at the institutional level: Southern Baptist Convention President Bart Barber and other leaders have faced <a href="https://americanreformer.org/2023/04/mr-smith-goes-to-the-convention/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">criticism</a> for neglecting to rebuke the dozens of churches which have <a href="https://gk2611.p3cdn1.secureserver.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Churches-with-Female-Pastors-from-churches.sbc_.net_-2.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">installed</a> female pastors, a practice denounced in the Baptist Faith and Message.
Officials at the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, the denomination’s public policy arm, meanwhile <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/southern-baptist-ethics-arm-doubles-down-on-support-for-tennessee-red-flag-law-despite-pushback" target="_blank" rel="noopener">endorsed</a> a red flag law in Tennessee months after they <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/pro-life-lobbying-groups-issue-letter-against-charging-women-with-crimes-for-seeking-abortions" target="_blank" rel="noopener">opposed</a> a bill in Louisiana that would have criminalized abortion for all parties involved, even though Southern Baptists passed a <a href="https://www.sbc.net/resource-library/resolutions/on-abolishing-abortion/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">resolution</a> affirming that “the murder of preborn children is a crime against humanity that must be punished equally under the law” the previous summer. Former Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission President Russell Moore said three years ago that ministers should <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/how-the-federal-government-used-evangelical-leaders-to-spread-covid-propaganda-to-churches" target="_blank" rel="noopener">persuade</a> church members to accept vaccination and wear face masks.
The Daily Wire reviewed several emails from concerned former Southern Baptist Convention pastors sent to Mike Law, a minister at Arlington Baptist Church in Virginia, who had contacted thousands of pastors to garner support for his <a href="https://sbcamendment.org/home-2/why-now/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">efforts</a> to address the female pastor phenomenon. Many of the churches represented by the pastors have left the denomination in recent months.
“You can take our church off your mailing list,” one pastor replied. “We do not support the socialist movement that has infiltrated the convention and are no longer a member.”
“Our congregation is no longer in the SBC because of their liberal stances on this and their support in fighting an abolition bill in Louisiana,” another minister said. “I pray along with you that the SBC leadership would be convicted by your efforts and the many churches like us who are stepping away,” added a third pastor.
“We truly appreciate your efforts to uphold the Bible. I’m just letting you know that our church voted to leave the SBC this past summer,” commented a fourth. “We felt that this issue was just one that should have been addressed in 2022. There were other issues, so we chose to become non-denominational and break from the SBC.”
Controversy over the ordination of women in the Southern Baptist Convention emerged last year as Rick Warren, the founding pastor of Saddleback Church in California, selected a husband and wife team to replace him at the megachurch after his retirement, drawing rebukes from veteran conservative ministers. The congregation was <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/southern-baptists-disfellowship-saddleback-church-over-female-pastor" target="_blank" rel="noopener">disfellowshipped</a> from the denomination earlier this year, a move which Warren will be permitted to appeal next month.

Church Steeple

SBC Sees Largest One-Year Membership Decline In A Century, Churches Leave Due To Liberal Drift

SBC Witnesses Largest Single-Year Membership Decline In A Century, Pastors Grow Concerned Over Liberal Drift

Southern Baptists

Wokeness

The <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/air-travel" target="_blank" rel="noopener">airline</a> industry in the United States will see a worsening pilot <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/jobs" target="_blank" rel="noopener">shortage</a> in the coming years as airmen retire and insufficient numbers of trainees are available to replace them, experts told members of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee on Wednesday.
Commercial pilots were encouraged by their employers to retire as worldwide <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/lockdowns" target="_blank" rel="noopener">lockdowns</a> and public health mandates caused demand for air travel to plummet in the spring of 2020, worsening a previous trend toward a lack of available pilots. Elevated <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/inflation" target="_blank" rel="noopener">prices</a> for airline tickets and a rapid return in travel demand are now prompting lawmakers to consider the problem.
Regional Airline Association CEO Faye Malarkey Black <a href="https://docs.house.gov/meetings/PW/PW05/20230419/115681/HHRG-118-PW05-Wstate-BlackF-20230419.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told</a> members of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee that the airline sector expects another “tsunami of pilot retirements” in the coming years. More than 50% of current commercial pilots will be forced to retire within the next 15 years because of Federal Aviation Administration rules mandating that pilots exit their positions once they reach 65 years of age, while only 8% of pilots are below 30 years of age because of the high cost of flight education.
One <a href="https://www.oliverwyman.com/our-expertise/insights/2021/mar/after-covid-19-aviation-faces-a-pilot-shortage.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">analysis</a> from consulting group Oliver Wyman predicts that there will exist a shortage of 60,000 pilots by the end of the decade. United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby said in an earnings <a href="https://seekingalpha.com/article/4570709-united-airlines-holdings-inc-ual-q4-2022-earnings-call-transcript" target="_blank" rel="noopener">call</a> earlier this year that the firm, which will hire 8,000 pilots this year alongside Delta, Southwest, and American, believes that “pilots are and will remain a significant constraint on capacity.”
House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Sam Graves (R-MO), a general aviation pilot, said in his <a href="https://transportation.house.gov/calendar/eventsingle.aspx?EventID=406262" target="_blank" rel="noopener">opening remarks</a> that “pilot training has remained static over the years.” He added that another current rule from the Federal Aviation Administration requiring pilots to have completed 1,500 hours of flight experience before flying a commercial airliner should be reconsidered because “the number of flight hours you have are not a reflection of what kind of pilot you are,” as evidenced by a study from the agency.
“In our system, pilots with around 250 hours, typically very structured hours, come out of flight school and are left to bridge the gap to 1,500 hours,” Graves said. “Only a few of those hours have any kind of requirements associated with them, and even then, they can almost all be logged on sunny, clear days. I’m not convinced that taking kids out of flight school and telling them to tow banners, train students, or bore holes in the sky while racking up debt produces the best pilots.”
FlightSafety International CEO Brad Thress <a href="https://docs.house.gov/meetings/PW/PW05/20230419/115681/HHRG-118-PW05-Wstate-ThressB-20230419.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told</a> lawmakers that simulators can provide pilots with experience while saving costs and offering a wider array of flight scenarios. “Allowing credit for simulator training for each rating on the ladder to becoming a professional pilot would make high-quality simulator experience an implicit part of the development of commercial pilots,” he contended. “Increasing the maximum amount of credit for simulator training to a larger portion of a pilot’s flight experience would have a significant positive impact on the safety of our industry.”
Pilot shortages and elevated fuel expenses have contributed to rising airfare in the United States: ticket prices have increased nearly 18% year-over-year, according to <a href="https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/CUSR0000SETG01" target="_blank" rel="noopener">data</a> from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
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Proposals from Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) would <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/lawmakers-introduce-bill-with-key-reform-to-stop-flight-cancellations" target="_blank" rel="noopener">increase</a> the commercial pilot retirement age from 65 to 67 to ease staffing pressures, a move which Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg opposes. “The answer is not to keep the Baby Boomer generation in the cockpit indefinitely,” he <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/buttigieg-slams-airlines-for-flight-cancellations-but-rejects-key-reform" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> last summer. “The answer is to make sure we have as many and as good pilots ready to take their place, to have a stronger pipeline.”

United

A ‘Tsunami’ Of Commercial Pilot Retirements Is Coming, Experts Warn Congress

A 'Tsunami' Of Commercial Pilot Retirements Is Coming

Air Travel

Inflation

Millions of people left major cities in the United States between 2020 and 2022, years dominated by government <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/lockdowns" target="_blank" rel="noopener">lockdown</a> policies and elevated <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/crime" target="_blank" rel="noopener">crime</a> rates, according to an <a href="https://eig.org/2022-county-population-trends/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">analysis</a> released last week by the Economic Innovation Group.
Domestic outmigration from large urban counties reached 1.2 million residents in 2021 and 861,000 residents in 2022, implying that more than two million people moved from large cities in recent years. The trend contributed to a population surge in the suburbs and exurbs, which saw 486,000 and 822,000 new residents, respectively, between 2020 and 2022.
Increased rates of immigration from outside of the United States, however, added 507,000 residents to large cities in 2022, an increase from 186,000 residents in 2021 as worldwide travel restrictions eased. “Though large urban counties have not yet rebounded from large population outflows experienced in 2020 and 2021, they did nearly halt overall population loss in 2022, buoyed by more normal rates of international migration,” the analysts summarized.
Individuals who took advantage of remote work policies appear to have accelerated the domestic migration phenomena even as constrained housing markets likely slowed the trends.
“We find work-from-home related fundamentals remained important drivers of population shifts in 2022 but less than they were in 2021. One reason may be that the shift to remote work early in the pandemic was a one-time shock and this led to a one-time, temporary change in migration patterns, which are now converging towards normal,” the analysts said. “Alternatively, remote work may have an impact on migration patterns that will take a longer time to unfold. In this case, the weaker relationship with work-from-home fundamentals may be due to housing supply becoming a more binding constraint to work-from-home-driven population shifts.”
Lockdown mandates caused low labor force participation and supply chain bottlenecks, worsening already lackluster levels of new construction for residential real estate. Median home sale prices increased from $322,600 in the second quarter of 2020 to $467,700 in the fourth quarter of 2022, according to <a href="https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/MSPUS" target="_blank" rel="noopener">data</a> from the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Data released by the Census Bureau at the end of last month <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/here-are-the-fastest-growing-and-fastest-shrinking-counties-in-america" target="_blank" rel="noopener">demonstrate</a> that counties home to major cities in California, Illinois, and New York witnessed the nation’s most stark numeric population decline last year, while those home to major cities in Arizona, Texas, and Florida saw the largest numeric population growth. Los Angeles County, California, lost more residents than any other county in the United States as the population fell by 91,000 between July 2021 and July 2022. Cook County, Illinois, whose county seat is Chicago, saw its population decrease by 68,000 over the same time horizon.
Population trends correspond with the cities and states which enforced aggressive lockdown mandates. California Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom only <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/gov-newsom-officially-ends-covid-state-of-emergency-after-three-years" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reversed</a> the state of emergency established amid the spread of COVID as late as February 2023, while Chicago Democratic Mayor Lori Lightfoot <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/chicago-mayor-lori-lightfoots-heavy-hand-vaccine-free-your-time-is-up" target="_blank" rel="noopener">informed</a> unvaccinated residents as late as December 2021 that their “time is up” and said her health mandates were “inconvenient by design.”
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Elevated violent crime and property crime rates in American cities have contributed to an exodus of businesses and residents. The phenomenon has continued into 2023: Walmart announced this week that the firm would <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/walmart-closes-four-stores-in-chicago-amid-elevated-crime-rates" target="_blank" rel="noopener">shutter</a> four stores in Chicago, while Whole Foods unveiled the forthcoming <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/san-franciscos-flagship-whole-foods-closes-after-only-one-year-due-to-high-crime-report" target="_blank" rel="noopener">closure</a> of the organic grocer’s flagship location in San Francisco.

Oakland, California

Two Million People Bolted From America’s Major Cities Since The Lockdowns

Millions Of People Bolted From America's Large Cities Between 2020 And 2022

Census Bureau

Crime

General

Population

Residents of <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/california" target="_blank" rel="noopener">California</a> witnessed the lowest personal income growth in the nation last year as the state recovered from aggressive <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/lockdowns" target="_blank" rel="noopener">lockdowns</a> and an exodus of citizens and <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/business" target="_blank" rel="noopener">businesses</a>.
California saw net earnings, defined as income from a place of work minus welfare, increase 5.0% between 2021 and 2022 compared to the national average of 8.0%, according to <a href="https://www.bea.gov/sites/default/files/2023-03/stgdppi4q22-a2022.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">data</a> released last week by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Other states that severely trailed the national average included Maryland, which saw a 5.5% increase, and New Hampshire, which saw a 6.0% increase.
Net earnings meanwhile saw a 12.5% increase in Idaho, an 11.5% increase in Texas, a 10.8% increase in Nevada, and a 10.7% increase in both Florida and Arkansas.
The earnings data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis largely corresponds with patterns established over the past three years related to the lockdown regimes enacted by state and local officials: while states in the northeastern and western United States continued to shutter businesses well after COVID started to spread through the nation, states in the southern and midwestern United States reversed their mandates far more quickly.
Texas, Arizona, Idaho, and Utah, all of which boasted some of the strongest net earnings increases in the nation last year, were also among the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/four-red-states-recover-all-pre-recession-jobs-as-many-blue-states-are-still-lagging-behind" target="_blank" rel="noopener">first</a> to see full labor market recovery following COVID and the lockdown-induced recession. Statewide increases in gross domestic product, which were highest in Idaho at 4.9%, followed a similar pattern as western and northeastern states fell behind their counterparts.
The Hoover Institution, a conservative think tank at Stanford University, found in a <a href="https://www.hoover.org/research/california-business-exits-soared-2021-and-there-no-end-sight" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report</a> that businesses departed from California twice as fast in 2021 compared to the rate in 2020 and 2019, as well as three times as fast as the rate in 2018. Texas is the most popular state for relocations, while prominent California employers such as Apple, Wells Fargo, and Disney opted to build new office spaces in Texas and Florida.
“California state and local economic policies have raised business costs to levels that are so high businesses are choosing to leave behind the many economic benefits of being in California and move to states with better business climates featuring much less regulation, much lower taxes, and lower living costs,” the Hoover Institution noted. “Our head count of headquarters departures is almost certainly far too low, since most business relocations are not reported by the media, and relatively few relocations require filing state compliance reports that would trigger documentation of the exit.”
With an effective tax rate of 13.5%, California is among the most heavily taxed states in the country, according to an <a href="https://taxfoundation.org/publications/state-local-tax-burden-rankings/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">analysis</a> from the Tax Foundation. The state has more severe business tax burdens than all but two other states, according to another <a href="https://taxfoundation.org/2023-state-business-tax-climate-index/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">analysis</a> from the organization.
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Population trends correspond with the economic climates of lockdown states. California <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/california-lost-more-residents-than-any-other-state-in-2022-u-s-census-bureau" target="_blank" rel="noopener">lost</a> more residents than any other state last year, marking the third consecutive year in which the state’s population decreased. Counties in California, Illinois, and New York, especially those with major cities, also <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/here-are-the-fastest-growing-and-fastest-shrinking-counties-in-america" target="_blank" rel="noopener">saw</a> the largest numeric population declines.
California Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom only <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/gov-newsom-officially-ends-covid-state-of-emergency-after-three-years" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reversed</a> the state of emergency established amid the spread of COVID two months ago. Beyond their effects on businesses, critics of the aggressive lockdowns in California noted their impact on churches, schools, and other institutions.

California Gov. Newsom And West Coast Leaders Sign Climate Agreement

California Saw Worst Personal Income Growth In The Nation Last Year

California Sees Worst Personal Income Growth In The Nation

Business

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