A North Carolina school board is refusing to protect female students in bathrooms and locker rooms, despite months of concerns from students and parents.
Trista Ruck, a junior at Cox Mill High School in Cabarrus County, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzjg93kJAVc&amp;list=PLC9l3bAWkCyitTzhInQ1jR99Dz1eiIJLi&amp;index=10">addressed</a> the Cabarrus County School Board in December of 2025 and asked them to create a policy defending female-only spaces at the school. At Ruck’s school, a male student identifying as a woman is on the football and basketball cheer team and uses women’s locker rooms and restrooms.
“Many of my peers and I feel uncomfortable using facilities designed for women and women alone, as he has different reproductive parts than we do,” Ruck said.
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MASSIVE SCANDAL UNFOLDING IN <a href="https://twitter.com/CabCoSchools?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@CabCoSchools</a>
The school is allowing MALES to invade the girls’ restrooms. Girls are reportedly terrified to go to the bathroom and are holding themselves in to avoid males in their private space.
Students are begging the administration for help,… <a href="https://t.co/BAwkHNFvCv">pic.twitter.com/BAwkHNFvCv</a>
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) <a href="https://twitter.com/libsoftiktok/status/2047788322693517520?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 24, 2026</a></blockquote>
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Ruck said both parents and students had discussed the problem with Cox Mill administration and the athletic director, only to be “blatantly ignored.” The school’s only response was to make special accommodations for the female students instead of for the trans-identifying student, Ruck said.
One of Ruck’s friends, who is on one of the school’s sports teams, said she noticed the male student watching her and other female students changing while in the locker room, according to Ruck.
“She stated that this made her feel extremely uncomfortable and that she did not feel safe or respected in that environment,” Ruck told the board.
The student was told to take the problems to the principal, who said it was “too political to address, and that any action might be interpreted the wrong way,” according to Ruck.
“Our school is supposed to make every student safe, but we get ostracized when we discuss this with adults who are supposed to ensure the safety and comfortability at school,” Ruck said. “Personally, I try to avoid the restrooms at all costs, but I do use these facilities at times when I really have to. I, as well as others, do not feel comfortable when an individual of the opposite gender is allowed and authorized to use our facilities.”
In addition to safety concerns over males in female spaces, avoiding using the restroom can cause health problems, including chronic pain and urinary tract infections, <a href="https://www.cuimc.columbia.edu/news/your-urinary-health-what-you-should-know">according</a> to Columbia University Irving Medical Center. Holding in urine repeatedly for long periods of time can also make it difficult to fully empty one’s bladder and can cause pelvic floor dysfunction.
Cabarrus County voted for President Donald Trump in 2024, <a href="https://er.ncsbe.gov/?election_dt=11/05/2024&amp;county_id=13&amp;office=ALL&amp;contest=0">according</a> to election data, but despite repeated concerns, the board has refused to institute any countywide policies protecting women’s bathrooms and locker rooms.
Alexis Hughes, the founder of You Heard Her, an advocacy for female students in Cabarrus County, slammed the board for ignoring Ruck and other students at its most recent <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BO17lgPdAQ">meeting</a> on April 13, 2026.
“This is not about hate or judging any any child, and this is not about asking the board to take a position on personal beliefs or ideology,” Hughes said. “What you are responsible for is ensuring students are safe, that their privacy is protected, and that policies are clear and consistently applied.”
Hughes referenced Ruck’s comments and criticized the board for not addressing the problem.
“She came to you all for help. You heard her. You did nothing. Shame,” Hughes said. “There is nothing political about a child that feels unsafe when they are changing clothes. That is a basic expectation of privacy, and it is all of your responsibility.”
Multiple speakers at the April meeting slammed the board for not taking action to protect female students. At the end of public comment, the board carried on with usual business without addressing any of the speakers’ concerns.
“This comes down to three things: safety, privacy, and respect for every student,” Hughes told the board. “Transgender students deserve protection, but policy has to protect all students. And right now, the absence of policy is failing every single student in our district.”

Principal Tells Girls To ‘Go Somewhere Else’ If They’re Uncomfortable With Boys In Their Bathrooms

LGBTQ

North Carolina

Social Issues

Transgender

U.S.

A pregnant woman on TikTok posted a video of herself playing music next to her stomach so her unborn son would turn out gay.
The video, posted to X by independent journalist Cam Higby, shows user Katie Frank playing ABBA’s “Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)” with the caption: “POV you’re pregnant with a boy and gotta make sure he turns out a little gay.”
“No toxic masculinity allowed in this house,” the caption said.
“This is DISGUSTING,” Higby said in his post.
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A mother posted on TikTok that she’s playing “gay” music next to her baby bump hoping that it will make her son gay.
The entire comment section is FLOODED with to-be mothers and mothers sharing techniques they used or are using to make their own kids gay.
This is DISGUSTING. <a href="https://t.co/HqpybMv469">pic.twitter.com/HqpybMv469</a>
— Cam Higby 🇺🇸 (@camhigby) <a href="https://twitter.com/camhigby/status/2047704691992043876?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 24, 2026</a></blockquote>
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The video has 4.3 million views on TikTok and more than 950,000 likes.
The comments of the video, which Higby also posted, were filled with moms talking about wanting their sons to be gay.
“My son is four and exclusively listens to sabrina carpenter [sic]… hopes are VERY high,” one comment, which has more than 97,000 likes, said.
Another comment with more than 150,000 likes was from a mother celebrating her son wanting to go to theater camp.
“My son just officially came out a few months ago,” yet another comment said.
“I can confirm this worked for me,” a third commenter said. “Manifesting for you.”
“My son LOVES the new lady Gaga song. He’s on 1 1/2 but I have high hopes,” another stated.
Other comments were from self-described gay users thanking moms in the comments for being supportive.
“Didn’t start my transition until just recently because I never [sic] given the space to explore who I was as a child,” one commenter said. “Seeing the moms in the comment section who let their kids be who they are without judgement gives me a bit of hope.”
Another wrote, “As a gay man this comment section is making me tear up, thank you for being so loving and accepting Moms!”
The only negative comment from the woman&#8217;s video was one user who wrote, “Hope yall get better soon.”
Conservatives, on the other hand, shredded the video in Higby’s comments.
“But they say gay people are ‘marginalized and oppressed’…so they want their kids to be oppressed???” conservative commentator Riley Gaines posted.
“Not sure who needs to hear this, but this is child abuse,” conservative actor Kevin Sorbo wrote on X.
Others said listening to ABBA music was the wrong strategy.
“I grew up listening to air supply and ABBA, this technique doesn’t work,” Andrew Gruel posted in response to the video.

Pregnant

Pregnant Woman On TikTok Blasts Music To Make Her Son Gay

Social Media

TikTok

Outrage erupted this week after a gay Grammy Award-winning singer appeared to mock his baby who cried out for his mom in a viral video.
A <a href="https://www.instagram.com/reel/DXFxEo1key5/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading">video posted Wednesday</a> by country singer Shane McAnally shows a baby being asked if he wants his “dada” or “papa” before he begins crying after being told “there is no mama.” McAnally, who has won four Grammy Awards, has previously made fun of his baby for being “homophobic.”
“Hey, hey.  Who do you want? Dada or Papa?” McAnally’s baby is asked in the video before he appears to reply “mama&#8221; as the men laugh.
“No, Mama, do you want Dada or Pop?” the baby is asked again. “Who do you want? Dada or Pop?”
The baby again appears to ask for his mother before the man says, “There is no mama. I&#8217;m so sorry.&#8221; After the baby starts crying, the two men laugh at the reaction as they tell him he has &#8220;two choices,&#8221; but no mother. The video was captioned “who’s gonna tell him?” with the hashtags “comedy” and “standup.”
The video quickly racked up tens of thousands of views after it was posted to X and hundreds of comments on Instagram with many criticizing the men for laughing at the baby’s desire for his mom.
“The most horrifying video I&#8217;ve ever seen in my life,” said Daily Wire host Michael Knowles.
“This video ignites disgust and anger on a primal level. If you don’t feel it, you’re broken. This baby just wants Mommy,” <a href="https://x.com/robbystarbuck/status/2044951048352133273">said</a> conservative commentator Robby Starbuck. “The gleeful way these guys respond to the sad baby is just evil. I’ve seen this cry before, and the sweet embrace of Mom as she runs in. Babies need their Mom!”
Another post from December 2025 pinned to McAnally’s Instagram features a video with the baby making a weird face when he is told he has “two dads.” The post is captioned “6 week old homophobic baby.”
“This is not the first time Tony winning musician Shane McAnally has made a joke out of his son&#8217;s instinctive desire for his mother, rather than two fathers,” said Concerned Women for America. “Children deserve better than this.”

Baby’s Instinctive Reaction Goes Viral But Reaction From Gay Dads Sparks Outrage

Celebrities

Children

LGBT

WASHINGTON—In an explosive report released on Tuesday, the Trump administration revealed the lengths to which the Justice Department went under President Joe Biden&#8217;s watch to target religious Americans who opposed abortion.
The Trump Justice Department’s Weaponization Working Group reviewed over 700,000 internal records, The Daily Wire has learned, which they distilled into an 800-page report. The document, which details the Biden administration&#8217;s weaponization of federal law to target peaceful pro-life activists, also outlines how the Trump administration plans to correct the previous administration&#8217;s wrongs.
“This Department will not tolerate a two-tiered system of justice,” Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a statement on Tuesday morning. “No Department should conduct selective prosecution based on beliefs. The weaponization that happened under the Biden administration will not happen again, as we restore integrity to our prosecutorial system.”
At the center of the Biden administration&#8217;s efforts is the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, a law meant to protect access to pro-abortion and pro-life facilities alike. The Biden administration infamously used the FACE Act to prosecute and imprison peaceful pro-life protesters. And Tuesday&#8217;s report found that &#8220;Biden DOJ senior leadership&#8221; and members of the Reproductive Health Care Providers Task Force &#8220;provided extensive support to abortion clinics&#8221; and &#8220;ignored and downplayed vandalism and attacks against pregnancy resource centers or houses of worship.&#8221;
The DOJ report describes how the Biden-era &#8220;Reproductive Health Care Providers Task Force&#8221; was in constant contact with pro-abortion groups and the clinics they represented while disregarding pro-life groups. As The Daily Wire&#8217;s Leif Le Mahieu <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/how-biden-partnered-with-abortion-activists-to-track-and-imprison-pro-lifers?topStoryPosition=undefined&amp;author=Leif+Le+Mahieu&amp;category=Original&amp;elementPosition=0&amp;row=1&amp;rowHeadline=Top+Stories&amp;rowType=Top+Stories&amp;title=How+Biden+Partnered+With+Abortion+Activists+To+Track+And+Imprison+Pro-Lifers">reported</a>, one Justice Department official often texted an abortion activist and worked to track the travel plans of Christian pro-life activists who had not been charged with any crimes. The emails also show how pro-abortion groups provided dossiers to the Biden DOJ with pictures and information — which was later used by the FBI to make arrests.
Meanwhile, the Task Force attorneys didn&#8217;t communicate with any pro-life pregnancy centers until September 2022 — months after the <a href="https://catholicvote.org/pregnancy-center-attack-tracker/">massive spike in violence against pregnancy centers</a> related to the leak of the draft Supreme Court opinion indicating Roe v. Wade would soon be overturned. Vandals would firebomb, attack, vandalize, or spray-paint the buildings with messages like &#8220;If abortions aren&#8217;t safe, then neither are you.&#8221;
When the Biden Justice Department did address the attacks on pregnancy centers, they merely identified possible contacts &#8220;via a quick Google search and directed Task Force leadership to schedule meetings.&#8221;
&#8220;The Task Force then had several meetings with the pro-life groups identified through that initial outreach and periodically sent them press releases,&#8221; the report states. &#8220;However, internally, CRT attorneys questioned whether to provide pregnancy resource centers with the same resources as abortion clinics, questioning whether these facilities fall under the FACE Act’s scope.&#8221;
Biden DOJ prosecutors were also engaging in inappropriate conduct, the report found. The prosecutors &#8220;knowingly withheld evidence that defense counsel requested to prepare an affirmative defense&#8221; and lied about not having that information available.
For example, in United States v. Gallagher, the defense counsel asked for historical data on FACE Act prosecutions, but the DOJ Task Force Director declined that data, saying he didn&#8217;t keep those records and that the DOJ wouldn&#8217;t provide them.
&#8220;Notably,&#8221; the report says, &#8220;he had this information readily available and decided not to share it with the defendants, despite sharing substantially identical information with NAF.&#8221;
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Video of the FBI&#8217;s arrest of Paul Vaughn of Centerville, Tennessee. DOJ charged him with “conspiracy against rights secured by the FACE Act, and committing FACE Act violations&#8221; for blocking the entrance to an abortion clinic. Paul tells me the footage was taken by his wife. <a href="https://t.co/KSDvLRSrlF">pic.twitter.com/KSDvLRSrlF</a>
— Mary Margaret Olohan (@MaryMargOlohan) <a href="https://twitter.com/MaryMargOlohan/status/1578464777147326464?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 7, 2022</a></blockquote>
The Biden prosecutors also tried to screen jurors based on their religious beliefs, according to the report: in United States v. Zastrow in the Eastern District of Michigan, assistant United States attorneys allegedly tried to screen jurors based on whether they were conservative or religious &#8220;while not inquiring about liberal counterviews.&#8221;
&#8220;They referred to Christian pro-life views as &#8216;culty&#8217; and lambasted the defendants’ beliefs in the courtroom,&#8221; the report said.
Notably, those assistant United States attorneys complained that they “ended up with a very Catholic magistrate on duty this week and he was very particular about the bond conditions and not infringing on [defendants’] First Amendment rights.”
The report specifically points to the case of Mark Houck, a Catholic father of a large family whose son was attacked by an abortion clinic worker. The Biden DOJ tried to use the FACE Act to prosecute Houck, but lost the case.
In Houck&#8217;s case, &#8220;prosecutors considered and declined a request for the defendant to self-surrender.&#8221; Apparently determined to make an example of Houck, the DOJ sent &#8220;16 FBI agents&#8221; to arrest him in front of his crying children.
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Photos from the morning the FBI arrested Mark Houck in front of his children. <a href="https://t.co/NbLq5bnDQa">pic.twitter.com/NbLq5bnDQa</a>
— Mary Margaret Olohan (@MaryMargOlohan) <a href="https://twitter.com/MaryMargOlohan/status/1577324450902675457?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 4, 2022</a></blockquote>
&#8220;When faced with public backlash about the aggressive arrest, the Task Force Director attempted to blame the FBI, rather than address the Biden DOJ’s lack of initial guidance to law enforcement,&#8221; the report states. &#8220;The jury ultimately found Houck not guilty, and DOJ settled a civil claim to compensate for the Biden DOJ’s misconduct.&#8221;
Trump&#8217;s Justice Department argues that the Biden DOJ pursued more severe charges, as well as &#8220;significantly harsher sentences,&#8221; for the peaceful pro-life defendants than the violent pro-abortion defendants, requesting an average sentence of 26.8 months for pro-life defendants compared to the 12.3 months for pro-abortion ones.
&#8220;The Biden DOJ pursued significantly higher sentences (near the top range of sentencing guidelines) for pro-life defendants, while pursuing more lenient sentences against the handful of pro-abortion defendants that it charged,&#8221; the report reads. &#8220;Pro-life defendants were ultimately sentenced to an average of 14 months, while pro-abortion defendants were sentenced to an average of 3 months.&#8221;
Meanwhile, as the National Abortion Federation cozied up to the Biden Justice Department, that same department &#8220;sought to provide funding to pro-abortion groups,&#8221; according to the report.
Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta, who was director of the Reproductive Health Care Provider Task Force, served as a reference for the National Abortion Federation&#8217;s application for a &#8220;large, private grant.&#8221;
&#8220;We found no record of ethics approval for a DOJ attorney to take an interest in the financial outcome of a party having business before the Biden DOJ,&#8221; the report says. &#8220;Indeed, it is doubtful that the Biden DOJ could validly give any such ethical clearance for this conflict of interest.&#8221;
The Trump administration says it is determined to rectify the actions of the Biden Justice Department. Tuesday&#8217;s report highlights Trump&#8217;s &#8220;full and unconditional pardons&#8221; of the many pro-life Christians who were targeted in these Biden-era prosecutions.
The Trump Justice Department also dismissed, with prejudice, three Biden-era civil lawsuits against &#8220;non-violent pro-life demonstrators and issued a directive that, moving forward, DOJ prosecutors may only bring FACE Act civil actions and prosecutions in extraordinary circumstances or in cases presenting significant aggravating factors.&#8221;

Democrats laughing

Explosive Report Reveals The Biden Administration’s Disdain For Religious Pro-Life Activists

Abortion

Biden Administration

Department of Justice

Donald Trump

Joe Biden

Politics

Pro-Life Movement

The University of Southern California is backtracking on a policy intended to exclude men from using parts of an on-campus gym under a student-government-led program designed to make female and &#8220;non-binary&#8221; students feel more comfortable.
On April 6, the Student Assembly for Gender Empowerment (SAGE) launched a &#8220;new inclusive workout space&#8221; where &#8220;women and non-binary students can exercise with a sense of ease,&#8221; <a href="https://dailytrojan.com/2026/04/07/lyon-gym/">the Daily Trojan reported</a>.
SAGE says it is &#8220;responsible for <a href="https://engage.usc.edu/sage/home/">advocating feminist issues</a> on campus&#8221; and describes itself as a programming assembly &#8220;committed to uplifting all voices oppressed by the patriarchy,&#8221; according to the <a href="https://www.instagram.com/sageusc/">group&#8217;s Instagram page</a>.
The program, held on Mondays and Wednesdays from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m., is offered in partnership with the Lyon Recreation Center, an 80,000-square-foot facility serving as &#8220;the main hub for USC Recreational Sports department operations,&#8221; <a href="https://recsports.usc.edu/rec-facilities-page/main-facilities/lyon/">according to the university</a>.
The group is using the Robinson Room — a &#8220;<a href="https://recsports.usc.edu/rec-facilities-page/main-facilities/lyon/">studio-style area</a>&#8221; used for various workout activities, including dance, Pilates, and yoga — as a safe haven from &#8220;male-dominated fitness spaces.&#8221;
Jana Alnajjar, a USC sophomore and SAGE’s advocacy liaison, said the idea came from hearing women and &#8220;non-binary&#8221; students &#8220;experience a common sense of discomfort in the gym.&#8221;
“I’ve heard from multiple women and non-binary students’ perspectives who want to be involved within different workout spaces, but don’t really feel comfortable being at the gym,” Alnajjar told the Daily Trojan. “Whether that means they’re getting approached regularly or people look them up and down. Over time, that discomfort leads them to stop trying to go to the gym altogether.”
Alnajjar added that the approval process involved “a lot of back and forth” because the room is supposed to support women and &#8220;non-binary&#8221; student groups, but remain open to all under university policy.
“This program is sponsored by USC’s undergraduate student government and is open to all students consistent with university policy,” USC said in a statement to The Daily Wire.
On Wednesday, SAGE appeared to backtrack on the program&#8217;s intended exclusion of males, saying &#8220;inclusion is a foundational value of this initiative.&#8221;
&#8220;SAGE hosts a small workout space weekly to foster access and confidence in fitness settings, including but not limited to women and non-binary students,&#8221; <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/DW5gq3TFGPQ/?img_index=2">the group said in an Instagram post</a>. &#8220;We believe that every student deserves to feel comfortable and confident in fitness spaces, and we are proud to play a part in cultivating that environment at USC.&#8221;
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the Campus of the University of Southern California

College Students Try To Ban Men To Protect ‘Non-Binary’ Gym-Goers In The Name Of Inclusivity

Education

University of Southern California

Blue America is best for families. For years, America’s elites have insisted that <a href="https://academic.oup.com/book/32782">blue states</a> — with their higher incomes, better-<a href="https://academic.oup.com/book/32782">educated residents</a>, and expansive public services — are the best places to raise a family. Progressive policies such as paid family leave, childcare subsidies, and gender-neutral bathroom mandates, we were told, would draw parents in droves. Such policies prove “that one major party cares about children and families, and <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/07/30/jd-vance-childless-cat-ladies/?itid=lk_inline_manual_27">the other does not</a>,” according to <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/07/30/jd-vance-childless-cat-ladies/?itid=lk_inline_manual_27">liberal journalist</a> Catherine Rampell. 
But the data tell a different tale. Across the country, families are packing up and leaving blue states for red states. They are also more likely to have children in red states to begin with. 
The <a href="https://familystructureindex.org/">2026 Family Structure Index</a>, just released by the Center for Christian Virtue and the Institute for Family Studies, tracks family health across all 50 states. It focuses on three measures: marriage rates, fertility rates, and the share of children raised by married parents. These factors shape everything from child poverty to the health of the American Dream. 
What it reveals is a growing divide in where families are choosing to live — and where they are choosing to start a family.
Call it the Great American Family Sort.
Married couples with children are increasingly moving to red and purple states. From 2019 to 2024, 840,000 married families with children moved from blue states to red ones, while 470,000 moved in the opposite direction — a net gain of 370,000 such families for red states. 
Red states also enjoy higher fertility rates, all of which helps explain why red states have <a href="https://ifstudies.org/blog/the-lefts-family-problem-marriage-and-kids-cratering-among-liberal-young-adults">seen</a> a 7.3% increase in their child population since 2000, while blue states have seen a 7.1% decline. That shift is another indicator that Red America is proving more hospitable to family life.
In other words, <a href="https://ifstudies.org/blog/the-blue-state-family-exodus-families-are-migrating-to-red-and-purple-states">blue states</a> long seen as the best places to raise children by liberal elites — states like California, Massachusetts, and New York — are steadily losing them.
Why? Start with what families actually need: jobs, homes, and safe neighborhoods. On each of these fronts, many red states are delivering. Over the past decade, states like Texas, Florida, and South Carolina have seen strong job growth, especially in sectors that support middle-class life. When young adults can find steady, well-paying work, they are more likely to marry and start families.
Housing is just as critical. Affordable single-family homes provide the space and stability families <a href="https://ifstudies.org/report-brief/homes-for-young-families-a-pro-family-housing-agenda">want</a>. Yet in many blue states, especially on the coasts, restrictive zoning and high costs have pushed homeownership out of reach for young families. In much of red America, that dream remains attainable.
Taxes also shape family <a href="https://taxfoundation.org/data/all/state/americans-moving-to-states/">migration</a>. Lower tax burdens in many red states leave families with more room in their budgets, whether for childcare, a good private school, or saving for the future.
<div id="attachment_1073407" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1073407" class="size-large wp-image-1073407" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/GettyImages-1329602381-864x576.jpg" alt="San Francisco, CA, USA - August 17, 2020. Image of a moving truck parked in San Francisco's Nob Hill neighborhood." width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/GettyImages-1329602381-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/GettyImages-1329602381-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/GettyImages-1329602381-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/GettyImages-1329602381-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/GettyImages-1329602381-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/GettyImages-1329602381-1800x1200.jpg 1800w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/GettyImages-1329602381-1200x800.jpg 1200w" sizes=" (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />James Rice. Getty Images.</div>
Safety matters as well. Parents want to raise children in communities where they feel <a href="https://ifstudies.org/report-brief/homes-for-young-families-a-pro-family-housing-agenda">secure</a>. States and cities that keep crime and public disorder low have a clear advantage in attracting and retaining families, even as many blue states are “plagued by homelessness, crime and dysfunction,” all of which are turnoffs to families, as even the liberal columnist Nick Kristof has <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/15/opinion/progressives-california-portland.html">admitted</a>.
Still, economics alone does not explain what is happening. Family culture also matters. In many red states, there remains a stronger expectation around marriage and family formation, often stemming from deeply held religious beliefs. Social norms shaped by churches, civic life, and local leadership still influence how people live. Faith remains a powerful driver of American family life.
The <a href="https://familystructureindex.org/">Family Structure Index</a> underscores this point. Frequent religious attendance accounts for 57% of the variance in fertility rates across states. States with high religious attendance, such as Utah and Mississippi, have far higher birth rates than states like Vermont or Massachusetts, where churchgoing is rare.
None of this suggests that red states have solved every problem. Marriage and fertility are down nationwide, and no region is immune. But the trend is clear: families seem more likely to thrive in some states rather than others. That should tell policymakers something important. If states want to attract and keep families, the formula is straightforward: make housing attainable, foster job growth, keep communities safe, and support a culture that encourages marriage and child-rearing. 
The deeper lesson is harder to accept. For too long, liberal elites have assumed that higher incomes and more government spending automatically lead to better outcomes for families. The evidence suggests otherwise. Public safety, good jobs, affordable homes, and culture matter just as much, if not more.
The Great American Family Sort is more than a demographic shift. It is a signal. Families are making their priorities clear through where they choose to live and have children. The question is whether the rest of the country is paying attention.
* * *
Aaron Baer is president of the Center for Christian Virtue. 
Brad Wilcox is Distinguished University Professor of Sociology at the University of Virginia and senior fellow at the Institute for Family Studies.

Asheville and Johnson City exit sign on highway in Tennessee on interstate 81 road

Turns Out Families Are Voting With Their Feet And Headed In One Direction

Blue States

Conservatives

Crime

Democrats

family

Florida

Homelessness

Jobs

Opinion

Red States

Tennessee

Texas

It was the Sunday after Charlie Kirk was assassinated last fall. Professional soccer player Elizabeth Eddy was at church with her now-husband. The two attend church regularly, so while it wasn’t Kirk’s assassination that got them in the church pews, it was that tragedy that became the subject of the preacher’s sermon that day.
The preacher told the congregation that the attack on Kirk was an attack on free speech. It was that sermon that nudged Eddy, after 10 years in the National Women’s Soccer League, to speak up about a part of women’s soccer that she saw being jeopardized by the lie that men can compete as women—so in her final season, she spoke up.
“It&#8217;s like, this is way bigger than my playing career,” Eddy told The Daily Wire. “This is like, changing the landscape of women&#8217;s soccer at the professional level, which sets a precedent for all other women&#8217;s sports in America.”
Eddy announced her retirement from the NWSL on Tuesday knowing she gave her all to the league as a player both on and off the pitch.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
After months of consideration and prayer, I have a special announcement to make. 😊 <a href="https://t.co/03ii9LyfTi">pic.twitter.com/03ii9LyfTi</a>
— Elizabeth Eddy (@elizabetheddy2) <a href="https://twitter.com/elizabetheddy2/status/2036553794373210317?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 24, 2026</a></blockquote>
It’s ironic that the toughest test of her career would end up happening outside the lines, and in the headlines. After penning a piece in the New York Post on protecting women’s spaces, and even suggesting creating new spaces for trans-identifying players, Eddy was labeled a “racist” and “transphobe” by her Angel FC teammates.
These teammates weren’t just players on the roster; they were Eddy’s friends—close friends, actually, already invited to Eddy’s upcoming wedding. After Eddy stood for biological truth, they didn’t attend.
“It was like, pretty personal, and one of them even helped my fiancé plan our engagement,” Eddy said. “It was really tough, but like, at the end of the day, I need to answer to God, not to my peers or my success level on earth or whoever else I might want to please.”
“Although I&#8217;m hurt, I&#8217;m holding out hope that one day we can have reconciliation.”
The pushback was painful, but Eddy has no regrets about her statements on women&#8217;s sports. As she looks to her post-soccer chapter, she plans to continue advocating for women to have opportunities to play in a protected category.
“I&#8217;d love to have like a bunch of kids, a bunch of boys and girls, and I want the girls to have a chance to compete and play versus having an uneven playing field from the get-go because they&#8217;re a girl,” Eddy said. “I was like, if I have any ability to affect that, I will happily spend time and effort to do that because again, people have paved the way for all of us girls in America. For example, Title IX and now that is kind of under question. I was recently in D.C. at the Supreme Court on the steps doing the part of this rally and speaking about Title IX, and that’s where I realized how fragile the current policies are and how important it is to actually engage in how to shape the policies for the future.”
In addition to her advocacy for women, Eddy is continuing to compete—trading her shin guards for surfboards. The Newport Beach, California, native grew up hitting the waves and, now that her schedule allows, she’s excited to pursue a solo sport that she says is a different kind of challenge, channeling her “competitive energy” into a “flowy state” on the water.
“I just got back actually three weeks ago from my first pro-surfing contest. It was in Barbados and it was for the World Surf League. Although I got out in the first round, I was like, this is like the coolest thing ever,” Eddy said.
She’s excited to still be a professional athlete who is actively in the fight for women’s sports. She was a utility player on the soccer pitch, meaning she could play multiple positions. Now she’ll have multiple career obligations, which include public speaking, plus a full surfing schedule. The chaos, she says, will be worth the extra work because Eddy firmly believes the more female athletes stand up for their sports, the quicker their category will be protected.
“I was completely delegitimized by how my soccer team responded and the league,” Eddy said. “So then it&#8217;s like, when the next person speaks up, they probably won&#8217;t get as delegitimized, and then a few more might speak up and it will snowball. We&#8217;re moving in a really good direction, and the more people that speak up and the sooner they do it, the better it is for all of our daughters in the future.”
It was Eddy&#8217;s faith that gave her the courage to speak out in the first place, and it’s still her faith that guides her decision-making as the veteran soccer player boldly takes on her next chapter.
“God is not changing,” Eddy said. “He&#8217;s faithful yesterday, he’s faithful today, and faithful tomorrow.&#8221;

Credit: Elizabeth Eddy/ Sean M. Haffey via Getty Images

How Charlie Kirk Inspired A Pro Soccer Player To Speak Out For Women In Final Season

Elizabeth Eddy

Sports

Transgender Athletes

Women's Soccer

Women's sports

In 2001, Joseph Edgar Foreman, better known as Afroman, burst onto the scene with the now classic song “Because I Got High,” the title track to his second album. Though he’d been honing his craft since middle school, that song introduced him to the masses. Since that time, he’s released 17 more albums, though “Because I Got High” remains his most famous. 
His most infamous album, however, is 2022’s “Lemon Pound Cake,” which was a direct salvo against the police officers who raided his home on suspicion of drug trafficking and kidnapping, two crimes which he did not commit. That didn’t stop officers from seizing $5,000 in cash — $400 of which was never returned — and causing $20,000 in damages to his home. Afroman, whose first song was a <a href="https://yourtahoeguide.com/2023/01/afroman-when-rap-comedy-meet/">diss track</a>, wasn’t inclined to stay quiet about that injustice. 
Instead, he turned <a href="https://x.com/CountDankulaTV/status/2034623015346987494">the saga</a> into the 2022 album. On it, he called the officers out by name. He used footage of them from his CCTV cameras for the videos. He implied that their wives were cheating on them, one with him. He called one fat and said he was eying the lemon pound cake on his counter during the raid. He was relentless, which is unsurprising given he <a href="https://yourtahoeguide.com/2023/01/afroman-when-rap-comedy-meet/">once said</a>, “A skunk has its spray. If you mess with me, I rap about your ass. It works. It’s funny.” The officers, though, were not amused, hitting the entertainer with a defamation suit in 2023. 
Afroman, though, remained undeterred and on March 19, 2026, he was <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/the-afroman-legal-saga-is-the-most-interesting-thing-on-the-internet-today?topStoryPosition=undefined&amp;author=Lynden+Blake&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=3&amp;row=1&amp;rowHeadline=Top+Stories&amp;rowType=Top+Stories&amp;title=The+Afroman+Legal+Saga+Is+The+Most+Interesting+Thing+On+The+Internet+Today">found innocent of all charges</a>, saying, “We did it America. We did it, freedom of speech.” He forgot to add freedom from unlawful search and seizure. For a man who rose to prominence by rapping about how getting high was sapping his motivation, this unlikely hero proved doggedly fierce when it came to fighting for truth, justice, and the American way. 
As a nation, we should be thankful for Afroman. Most would not go to the lengths, would not risk the financial implications of failure, would not go scorched earth over $20,400 and a ruined day. But not Afroman. He still believes in the Constitution, in freedom of speech, and in the importance of good and trustworthy police to the community. 
Moreover, he <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5cR-WiGKZtg">rampaged</a> with style. For the final day in court, he wore a suit and tie with an American flag pattern. He <a href="https://x.com/CountDankulaTV/status/2034623015346987494">afromaxxed</a>. His only witness was the ex-wife of an officer whom Afroman claimed to have slept with prior to the divorce. When the officer was asked if he knew for sure that Afroman was not having relations with his wife, the officer responded, “I don’t know,” thereby undermining his own defamation suit. 
<div id="attachment_1063119" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1063119" class="size-large wp-image-1063119" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/GettyImages-1176036605-864x576.jpg" alt="LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - SEPTEMBER 20: Afroman attends the 2019 Daytime Beauty Awards at The Taglyan Complex on September 20, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Paul Archuleta/FilmMagic )" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/GettyImages-1176036605-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/GettyImages-1176036605-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/GettyImages-1176036605-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/GettyImages-1176036605.jpg 1024w" sizes=" (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />Paul Archuleta/FilmMagic/Getty Images</div>
In short, Afroman tapped into the rugged pioneer spirit that helped build this nation and showed that, even in 2026, great men can still achieve great things if they put their minds to it. Lesser men would have folded, afraid of the millions in damages the officers were suing for. They would have worried about the risks of tangling with local law enforcement. They would have sucked up the $20,400 they lost and moved on with their lives. And for many, that’s okay.
We can’t all risk everything to fight injustice. Not everyone has the sort of career and flexibility that affords us the opportunity to stand up for basic rights and dignity. As such, we need heroes out there fighting for us. But not all heroes wear capes. Some wear <a href="https://local12.com/resources/media2/16x9/1920/1320/center/90/df93163e-1d50-46e9-803a-1f2eaf88fcbb-CH12AFROMANINTERVIEW_frame_7352.jpeg">fur coats</a> over their American flag suit.
Thank you, Afroman, for your service, for your tenacity, for your humor, for your style, and for taking a stand for all of us. Though your troubles may have been related to the fact that you sometimes get high, you didn’t sit on the couch eating cookies and complaining about &#8220;the man.&#8221; Instead, you took the sage advice of another entertainer and hero, one Ric Flair, and said, “To be the man, you gotta beat the man.” 
Afroman, you beat the man and, in the process, you not only won, but we as a nation also won. Your victory is our victory. Your fight is an inspiration for anyone facing injustice, whether young or old. May your success inspire us all to be as resilient when faced with the specter of a boot pounding down on our cake, forever.
* * *
Rich Cromwell is a writer living in Northwest Arkansas. He produces the <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/47LCsh6lIWl7w1hJk7yhQc">Cookin’ Up a Story</a> podcast. You can also follow him on X: @rcromwell4
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Saturday Night Live – Season 48

Afroman’s Victory Is America’s Victory

Afroman

Food

Music

Police

Rebecca Bendheim, the author of a YA book for teen readers, posted on social media about deliberately designing the cover art to hide the book’s theme from parents while simultaneously advertising it to children.
“When Penguin [Random House] asked me what I wanted for my cover, I said I wanted it to be gay enough for queer kids and teens to clock it, but for homophobic parents to just think it’s a friendship story,” the author and middle school teacher bragged on Instagram.
The book in question is called “When You’re Brave Enough” and has a publication date of April 7, 2026. According to the <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/774613/when-youre-brave-enough-by-rebecca-bendheim/">publisher</a>, it is recommended for children ages 10 &#8211; 14.
“So I said, no holding hands, make my character look gay…” She went on to point out the subtle details she and the cover artist agreed on, including flowers growing between the pair to represent a crush that’s “growing.”
“So what do you think? Would you guess this was a queer book?” Bendheim asked her followers.
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In a follow-up video, the author shows her book cover to random people on the street to see if they can guess what it’s about.
“Shoutout to the people who answered and to librarians who help kids and teens find subtle queer books if they need them,” she <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/DVuH_7CDZfj/">wrote</a> in the caption. “I’m a firm believer that positive representation saves lives!! Would you be able to tell?”
Her <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/good-morning-america-book-pick-for-teens-features-rape-threesomes-necrophilia">comments</a> come just after another YA book, “Sibylline” by Melissa de la Cruz, made headlines for including graphic sex scenes of necrophilia, threesomes, and rape. “Sibylline” is being promoted as a &#8220;Good Morning America&#8221; Book Club selection in their Young Adult category.
This has been a hot topic in the publishing community recently. There was a discussion about the importance of “representation” and a lot of hand-wringing over so-called book bans during a SXSW EDU panel on March 11. The panel was called, “Beyond Bans: Defending LGBTQ+ Stories and Literary Freedom.”
“The worst thing we could possibly do is let that fear stop us from continuing to make art,” author Casey McQuiston <a href="https://people.com/lgbtq-authors-targeted-by-book-bans-exclusive-11925852">said</a> at the time, per People. “And not only to make art, but to go out into public libraries to visit, to go out into schools.”
McQuiston’s author page describes her as a “bestselling author of queer romantic comedies.” The most famous of these, “Red, White, &amp; Royal Blue,” is for adults, but she also wrote the YA romantic mystery, “I Kissed Shara Wheeler.”

Book with bookmark and rainbow ribbon of LGBT pride.

Author Proudly Says She Made Book Cover Gay Enough For Kids But Invisible To Parents

Books

Children's Books

Entertainment

When one thinks of Whole Foods, one might think of its selection of cheeses and organic yet processed offerings. Perhaps one thinks of the pizza and all-natural deodorants and lotions. Maybe one thinks of the patchouli that struggles to mask the aroma that comes with all-natural deodorants. (If so, you’re <a href="https://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/grocery/search?k=patchouli">out of luck</a>, though parent company Amazon <a href="https://www.amazon.com/s?k=patchouli&amp;crid=3K7552CU37UUZ&amp;sprefix=patchouli%2Caps%2C236&amp;ref=nb_sb_noss_1">has you covered</a>.) 
What you most likely do not think of, though, is jail. This is a mistake for, unlike patchouli, when it comes to being detained, Whole Foods is <a href="https://www.curbed.com/article/whole-foods-theft-shoplifting-wealthy-new-yorkers.html">there for you</a>. 
When talking about Walmart or Target, theft is a given. If your local supercenter switches back and forth from self-checkout to human checkers, theft — or shrink, as it’s known in the retail world — is the real reason. It’s just so easy to bag a few items that didn’t get scanned.
Shrink is one of the prices of doing business. Its presence is factored into budgets, both in expected amount and the cost of hiring people to thwart it. General employees are instructed to ignore it thanks to America’s surplus of lawyers. Instead, as is done in Whole Foods, you deploy specialists to combat the problem. 
This isn’t new. Back in the mid ‘90s, when I worked at Hastings Books, Music, and Video, which for the younger readers was one of the various places people could go to buy books and music and rent videos before streaming was a thing, we knew our most prolific shoplifters. We could never catch them in the act, though, so they were free to steal with impunity. We didn’t have a Mike, as the Fort Greene Whole Foods does, but we had a Toni. Toni, a former state trooper, never caught them either. It didn’t help that they were certain traveling people who only came through periodically.
There were also teenagers who couldn’t afford the latest from Wu-Tang Clan. They were sporadic and small potatoes, though, unlike those who preferred to steal CDs that they would later sell back to us a few months later when they swung back through the area. Most importantly, all of them knew they were stealing. There was no rationalization.
For those who end up in Whole Foods jail, it’s all rationalization. It’s not that they can’t necessarily afford “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlqB8jARITw">Bonestorm</a>,” it’s that, like punching someone in the dark, they view shoplifting as a victimless crime. This isn’t exactly shocking coming from a collective that thinks Bernie Sanders is correct about <a href="https://freebeacon.com/politics/thinkprogress-attacks-sanders-for-changing-rhetoric-on-millionaires-after-he-becomes-one/">millionaires — make that billionaires</a>, doesn’t understand that assets aren’t necessarily walking around money, and just really needs a sushi tray before therapy. 
The therapist, presumably, does not get stiffed, though this piece in <a href="https://www.curbed.com/article/whole-foods-theft-shoplifting-wealthy-new-yorkers.html">Curbed</a> on Whole Foods jail doesn’t specify. (Journalism is dead.):
<blockquote>For years, she had thought of the California rolls, brownies, and protein shakes she stole as a kind of artist’s subsidy while she got her own practice off the ground. But on this particular day, her luck had run out. Astrid was late for therapy and hadn’t eaten, so she stopped in for a quick lunch. As usual, she began her meal in-store, moving toward the door with confidence, while ripping open a sushi tray. Soy-sauce packet between her teeth, one foot out the door, she felt a hand on her arm.</blockquote>
As with all the people mentioned in the piece, Astrid is a pseudonym. Her story is amazing. California rolls, brownies, and protein shakes are not exactly sustenance foods. She could have stolen bananas, which I am not condoning, even as some extoll <a href="https://x.com/jarvis_best/status/2032115230428577809">the benefits of shoplifting</a>, which are super healthy and also low cost, but no, Astrid had to go elite. This also gets to the other problems with this attitude.
First, shrink is really <a href="https://x.com/KelseyTuoc/status/2031855465626476651">detrimental to business</a>. In the early days of Walmart, founder Sam Walton gathered a group of store associates around him early one morning. He had a coffee can with $1 in pennies in it. He starts taking pennies out for overhead, utilities, merchandise, payroll, and the other obvious costs of doing business. When he was done with those, only four pennies remained. He then took two of those, explaining that those two cents represented shrink, meaning that despite starting with a dollar, profits only equaled two cents.
Walmart famously operates on razor-thin profit margins, usually in the 2-3% range, though. What about Whole Foods? Surely hippie Walmart is pulling <a href="https://finance.yahoo.com/news/apple-aapl-net-profit-margin-021910677.html?guccounter=1&amp;guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&amp;guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAISnplhmtBjdDa40Y2mOHblKTAuhqObCSV4ECnIsB-TqrZz-KPPz5N_-oqrQl61gnqA0SfK787vzWrLnfc2KS_jnv-WQ0DVsKNWhXIF_X1PQDVzzCaaxnzJE_y1PCIVidLFanX4fAjJQz6FR21OTPNURAqIoy-yXr3ngGRNqhTxd">Apple-esque numbers</a>, right? Wrong! Whole Foods is operating on … razor-thin profit margins comparable to Walmart. Stealing eye cream, sushi trays, tuna rolls, soft French cheeses, steaks, and the like means the company has to pass its increased costs onto paying customers. In other words, if you see something, say something.
The other, and to my mind larger, problem with hipster heists is there is a much better solution, especially for those who are presumably concerned about food waste, climate change, and inequality: dumpster diving.
And look, I get it, dumpster diving isn’t as sexy as committing crime, but it is victimless. You don’t even have to call it dumpster diving. Just become a <a href="https://freegan.info/">freegan</a> and really lean into “strategies for sustainable living beyond capitalism.” Commit, people! It may even provide your life with enough meaning to get you out of therapy.
Will you have to learn to live with bread that’s maybe a little stale, not that I’ve ever had a prototypical freegan give me such a loaf, or strawberries that are a little mushy. Toast the bread. Enjoy fruit when it’s at its sweetest. Wonder why you didn’t go dumpster diving with and learn from your anti-capitalist acquaintance who’s now building a <a href="https://www.vastspace.com/">private for-profit space station</a>.
You can start tonight. And it won’t even require you to give up Whole Foods, though I’d steer clear of the sushi if I were you. The cover of darkness may be required to become a successful freegan, but if you fly too close to the sashimi, you’re going to feel that punch to your stomach.
* * *
Rich Cromwell is a writer living in Northwest Arkansas. He produces the <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/47LCsh6lIWl7w1hJk7yhQc">Cookin&#8217; Up a Story</a> podcast. You can also follow him on X: @rcromwell4
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Whole lotta trouble

Whole Foods Has Its Own ‘Jail’ For Shoplifters — Just Ask The Sushi Thief

shoplifting

Walmart

Whole Foods

For years, the radical Left has treated America’s civilian universities as laboratories for anti-American indoctrination — peddling &#8220;whiteness studies,&#8221; seminars on gender-based genocide, and even the celebration of Hamas. On Thursday, War Secretary Pete Hegseth made it clear that toxic &#8220;woke&#8221; rot ends at the doors of the Department of War.
Hegseth delivered a blistering ultimatum to the military’s educational bureaucracy, directing the Undersecretary of War for Personnel and Readiness to establish an immediate task force. Hegseth announced a 90-day &#8220;scorched earth&#8221; assessment of the nation’s senior service colleges, including the Army War College and National Defense University. The mission? To &#8220;rip out&#8221; the DEI playbook and return the focus to what actually matters: lethality, meritocracy, and winning wars.
“Seminars on genocide through the analytic of gender. Hmm, sounds interesting,” Hegseth mused. “So-called ‘whiteness studies.’ Courses that celebrate the history of Hamas, where a professor calls Islamist militants and their attacks ‘astounding’ and ‘incredible.’ Graduate studies that focus on the abolition of law enforcement. Classes on leadership that are just recycled garbage from the old DEI, diversity, equity, and inclusion playbook: These are examples of classes that our leaders in our civilian colleges and universities too often celebrate.”
“The truth is, they help cultivate a radical hate America agenda, and we can&#8217;t afford that same toxic ideology in America&#8217;s War Department,” he declared. “It degrades our readiness. It&#8217;s a risk to our forces. And it undermines our mission of peace through strength.”
He continued:
<blockquote>
At the Department of War, we have a duty to ensure that our professional military education develops real leaders, warfighters who dominate into the future. We&#8217;re committed to making our own senior service colleges maintain the highest of standards, that those places align with President Trump&#8217;s commitment to the American people, that our military will remain the strongest in history.
That&#8217;s why I&#8217;m directing the Undersecretary of War for Personnel and Readiness to establish a task force effective immediately. The mission of that task force is to evaluate our senior service colleges, where we educate our own. Think places like the Army War College, or National Defense University, the Naval War College, Marine Corps University, or the Air War College, where our senior officers go to continue their education.
We&#8217;re going to ensure that the professors, administrators, and curriculum of those institutions are focused on national security, strategy, history, and overall excellence, confirm that high standards and meritocracy are forefront, and make sure that what we&#8217;ve seen in our civilian institutions never surface in our military education institutions.
Trust me, I&#8217;ve heard the stories. I know some of our own senior service colleges, some of those that I just listed, have similar courses and similar ideologies. We need to rip ‘em out, and we&#8217;re going to.
This task force will have 90 days to assess whether our senior service colleges — the list I just provided — are actually effective. They&#8217;re going to identify any deficiencies and make sure they&#8217;re focused on core national security issues.
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Professional Military Education should produce warfighters and leaders—not wokesters.
That’s why we are establishing a Task Force to evaluate our Senior Service Colleges and ensure the focus is where it belongs.
No distractions. Just warfighting. <a href="https://t.co/zQhUA2bk9I">pic.twitter.com/zQhUA2bk9I</a>
&mdash; Secretary of War Pete Hegseth (@SecWar) <a href="https://twitter.com/SecWar/status/2032271118665396517?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 13, 2026</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The move is a sharp course correction from the Lloyd Austin era under the Biden administration, where the Pentagon became a playground for Critical Race Theory and gender-neutral linguistics. In 2021, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/watch-cotton-reveals-military-whistleblower-complaints-on-woke-training-bidens-secdef-insists-diversity-equity-and-inclusion-is-important-to-this-military?utm_source=chatgpt.com">exposed</a> hundreds of whistleblower complaints from service members forced into &#8220;privilege walks&#8221; and told that the U.S. military was a &#8220;fundamentally racist&#8221; institution. In 2022, academics even <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/marines-receive-woke-report-which-says-to-stop-calling-drill-instructors-sir-maam?utm_source=chatgpt.com">pressured</a> the Marines to drop &#8220;sir&#8221; and &#8220;ma&#8217;am&#8221; to avoid &#8220;misgendering.&#8221;
Hegseth’s directive signals a total rejection of those priorities. By targeting the curriculum and the administrators of senior service colleges, the War Department — a name restored to emphasize the military’s true purpose — is shifting back to the warrior ethos. Hegseth emphasized that if the military is pulling officers out of civilian universities because they have become too &#8220;woke,&#8221; the military’s own institutions must be beyond reproach.
The Secretary’s mandate is clear: the task force will evaluate whether these schools are effectively producing critical thinkers grounded in the principles of the Founding Fathers. No more &#8220;white fragility&#8221; readings; no more &#8220;abolition of law enforcement&#8221; studies. As Hegseth noted, the focus is now on ensuring those rising to the highest ranks are prepared to dominate the battlefield.
Under the new leadership, the era of treating diversity and inclusion as a &#8220;warfighting imperative&#8221; is over.

US-IRAN-ISRAEL-WAR

‘RIP ‘EM OUT’: Hegseth Declares War On Wokeness In Military Schools, Launches 90-Day Review

Department of War

Pete Hegseth

Wokeness

The following is an edited transcript excerpt from <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ep-1929-iran-the-least-popular-war-ever-launched?elementPosition=0&amp;row=0&amp;rowHeadline=Recent+Episodes&amp;rowType=Horizontal+Show+Episodes+Carousel">The Michael Knowles Show</a>.
* * *
Self-help guru Tim Ferriss, one of the biggest names in the modern “optimize your life” universe, has apparently just arrived at a conclusion I’ve been yelling about for years: self-help is very, very bad for you. Self-help is self-harm.
Now, I have to admit something up front: I don’t know much about Tim Ferriss. I’ve heard the name before. But I avoid all self-help. It should be clear to you by now that I don’t like self-help literature. It smells like a scam from 100 miles away.
I want to improve myself, yes. I want to improve. But the self-help stuff? No. 
When I was a teenager, I read a little bit of it like &#8220;The 48 Laws of Power&#8221; by Robert Greene. Or the really famous one by Dale Carnegie, &#8220;How to Win Friends and Influence People.&#8221; That’s the classic of the self-help category.
And, as I remember it, all it boils down to this: be nice to people and remember their names. 
That’s it. I just saved you ten bucks on Amazon. 
And I guess that’s good advice.
But a lot of the self-help stuff is pretty noxious. I’ve thought this for years. And apparently Tim Ferriss agrees — at least partially.
<h3>Ferriss’ “Road To Damascus” Moment</h3>
Ferriss seems to have had a Road to Damascus moment — not necessarily with a religious conversion, but with a recognition that what he’s been doing might be wrong.
According to an article in <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/03/09/tim-ferriss-self-help-may-be-harming-people/">The Telegraph</a> titled, “The self-help guru who decided he might be doing more harm than good,” Ferriss is confronting his most profound insight yet in his latest blog post, “The Self-Help Trap.” The piece is about 3,000 words. It’s got all the usual &#8220;optimization&#8221; language — optimizing is one of the words they all use.
Ferriss, now 48, asks whether his own industry might, with some important caveats, be making desperate people worse rather than better.
And then he says, quote:
<blockquote>“The older I get, the more I think that self-help can be a trap. Sometimes the cure is worse than the disease. I say this after around 20 years of writing self-help, and a lifetime of consuming it &#8230; What if self-help itself is actually creating or amplifying unhappiness?”</blockquote>
Ferriss says modern self-help contains a &#8220;built-in flaw: to continually improve yourself, you must continually locate the ways you are broken.&#8221;
He gets so close. I love so much of what he’s saying — and then he totally misses the point. The point just goes right over his head. But he gets very close, and so I give him credit for the introspection.
Some people are reading this cynically: is he just doing a new kind of self-help? Has Self-help ruined your life? Read my new book: &#8220;Ten Easy Steps to Get Over Self-Help,&#8221; by Tim Ferriss! 
No. That&#8217;s not what he&#8217;s doing here. I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt. I think maybe he’s being sincere. He’s in the middle of his life’s journey, and he’s had this realization.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ep-1929-iran-the-least-popular-war-ever-launched?elementPosition=0&amp;row=0&amp;rowHeadline=Recent+Episodes&amp;rowType=Horizontal+Show+Episodes+Carousel"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-large wp-image-1054531" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/MK-watch-now-1-1024x171.jpg" alt="DailyWire+" width="1024" height="171" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/MK-watch-now-1-1024x171.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/MK-watch-now-1-300x50.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/MK-watch-now-1-768x128.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/MK-watch-now-1-1536x256.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/MK-watch-now-1.jpg 1800w" sizes=" (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a>
<h3>Self-Help Is A Trap And You Can See It In The People Who Buy It</h3>
Ferriss says, “I think self-help can be a trap.” That’s true.
The people who are most obsessed with self-help, in my experience, are the most messed up, depressed people.
And you might say, well, yeah — they’re messed up. They’re trying to get help.
Well, it ain’t working.
It’s like your friend or relative who’s been going to the therapist — usually just means drug dealer, but, you know, the psychiatrist — for 30 years. They never get any better. And maybe they get more dope, but they don’t ever get any better. 
And you say, hey, have you thought about trying something different?
And they say, oh, I couldn’t, I’m so messed up—could you imagine if I lost my psychiatrist?
Hold on. Maybe you’re going that backwards. Maybe your psychiatrist is actually not helping but even compounding the problem.
I think that’s what happens with self-help, but not for the reason Tim Ferriss gives.
<h3>The Problem Isn’t “Finding What’s Broken.” It’s Denying What’s Broken.</h3>
Ferriss says self-help has this in-built flaw: to continually improve yourself, you must continually look at the ways you are broken.
That’s not the problem.
You know what else impels you to continually reflect on the ways in which you’re broken? Christianity does that, when you examine your conscience, and especially when you go and confess your sins to a priest. You have to sit down and think of the number and kind of all the ways that you are broken.
The problem with self-help is that it doesn’t do that.
The whole premise of self-help, actually, is a denial of the fundamental ways in which we are broken, because self-help, at its root, I think, denies original sin.
The whole point is that you really can help yourself. And not just help yourself a little bit. You can save yourself. You can optimize your life.
And ultimately you can’t.
You can exercise. You can work-out. You can practice certain habits of virtue. But ultimately, you can’t save yourself.
This is what the Church formally declared when it condemned the heresy of Pelagius. The problem with self-help is it misses out on the best way you can help yourself, which is looking to Someone beyond yourself.
Not looking to Tim Ferriss. Not looking to Dale Carnegie. Not looking to whatever other guru is trending on the internet this week. But looking to Someone who is greater than you — who is so far beyond humanity and yet mysteriously takes on humanity, and so understands us intimately. Not only who created us, but who has lived as one of us — who is like us in all respects, except sin.
That’s what it’s about.
<h3>A Christian Offshoot With All The Fun Parts And None Of The Obligations</h3>
Just as liberalism is a perversion — it’s kind of a spin-off of Christianity that tries to keep all the fun parts of Christianity without any of the obligations and the duties and the limits — this is the same thing with self-help.
The self-help literature I’ve read, some of it, it spins out of Christianity, and it takes away all the limits and all the essential stuff. It takes away the parts that acknowledge that not only are you broken, but you’re so broken that there is essentially nothing you can do without grace.
So, if you want to read some self-help literature, a good writer on this would be Saint Thomas Aquinas, who points out that without grace, every human being will fall into mortal sin. And even if you’re in a state of grace, you’ll still fall into venial sin.
That’s how broken we are.
<h3>The Ferriss Moment We Should All Root For</h3>
Ferriss is close. He’s very close.
We’ve got to help Tim Ferriss be great.
Wouldn’t it be great if one of the big proponents of self-help actually turned people on to real help?
Because the trap isn’t noticing your flaws. The trap is believing you can fix the deepest ones alone — believing that the answer is always inside you, always one more habit, one more hack, one more optimization away.
And that’s not liberation.
That’s just a nicer-looking cage.

OMR Festival 2024 In Hamburg

Tim Ferriss Says Self-Help Is A Trap. He’s Right — But For The Wrong Reason.

Christianity

Michael Knowles

Psychology

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