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America Just Lost One Of Its Greatest Defenders

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Today’s college students probably don’t remember, but when the iPhone first rolled out in 2007, some technology analysts thought it would fail. “There is no likelihood that Apple can be successful in a business this competitive,” wrote a <a href="https://www.marketwatch.com/story/apple-should-pull-the-plug-on-the-iphone">MarketWatch</a> columnist. Microsoft CEO <a href="https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2007/04/ballmer-says-iphone-has-no-chance-to-gain-significant-market-share/">Steve Ballmer</a> was even more emphatic: “There&#8217;s no chance that the iPhone is going to get any significant market share. No chance.” 
Well, they were wrong, in more ways than one. The iPhone not only became the most popular smartphone in the world, but also helped accelerate the digital transformation of society. The iPhone, and the slew of competitors that followed it, undeniably changed the way we communicate, consume media, and interact with each other. As a new <a href="https://www.nber.org/papers/w35310">research paper</a> suggests, it also changed the nature and method of how we form relationships and families as well. 
Observers and commentators have been speculating that smartphones have been affecting marriage and fertility decisions for over a decade now. The argument goes something like this: How can the phones not have had an impact? Staying at home to binge-watch a show has <a href="https://ptbwrites.substack.com/p/hello-netflix-my-old-friend">gotten easier</a> and more enjoyable than when the alternative was reading a novel or schlepping down to the bar. Finding an image or video for sexual gratification has gotten easier than when the nearest X-rated movie was kept behind the counter at the video store. Every airport terminal, cocktail reception, or subway ride — places where we used to mix, mingle, and maybe even meet-cute — is relatively more boring compared to the feeds, podcasts, and videos burning a hole in your pocket. 
In other words, it’s less about the devices themselves than the entertainment and communications alternatives they enable. That’s been the supposition, and now those of us who said smartphones and digital media have changed something fundamental about youth and young adulthood in the 21st century have new empirical grounding for this belief. 
The strength of the new working paper comes from another oft-forgotten detail about the iPhone’s rollout: For the first few years after Apple introduced the new device, you could only get it on the AT&amp;T network. By comparing counties that had AT&amp;T mobile broadband access in the time the iPhone was being rolled out to those that didn’t, researchers Caitlin Myers and Ezekiel Hooper of Middlebury College were able to estimate what increasing iPhone access did to birth rates. 
Taken at face value, their results suggest a meaningful, measurable impact of smartphone access on birth rates. In particular, they find particularly large impacts on young women in their teens and early 20s who lived in areas that were early adopters of AT&amp;T broadband coverage (birth rates among older women were more steady.) If their point estimates are correct, this difference could explain as much as one-third of the decline in fertility over the past two decades. As Myers and Hooper sum up, “the iPhone, and the smartphone era it inaugurated, materially accelerated the post-2007 U.S. fertility decline.” 
None of this is to say that this paper can be taken as gospel. The rollout of 3G broadband service, for example, could be correlated in an unseen way with characteristics that were driving down fertility. (Imagine if the urban neighborhoods that were more likely to be selected for 3G access were also more likely to have young women who were disproportionately likely to turn against motherhood after the Great Recession.) The iPhones in 2007 were far less addictive and immersive than the modern-day versions, with users more likely to be checking e-mail and painstakingly logging into MySpace than getting notifications of new likes and comments. The introduction of the iPhone also coincided with a year of tremendous economic tumult and the near-collapse of the global financial system. 
The researchers try to account for these differences as best they can, by re-weighting the data to account for differences in observable characteristics, but differences that can’t be identified by reviewers (such as cultural norms, local attitudes toward marriage, and other intangibles) could still be causing the paper to look stronger than it is.
Then again, no one research paper will ever be the definitive last word. And what this new work does is give us more evidence (as if more was needed) that the digital revolution is upending the way we interact as humans, something Pope Leo XIV’s new <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/an-encyclical-for-the-ages-ai-universities-and-builders-of-humanity">encyclical </a>Magnifica Humanitas explicitly addresses. The specific technology itself is almost immaterial; if Steve Ballmer had been right, and the iPhone had flopped, the introduction of social media, short-form video, and always-on communication, information, pornography, and entertainment on whatever device would have still had an impact on our dating and mating culture. 
At this point, anyone who is arguing that phones didn’t change societal scripts in a meaningful way has the burden of proof. We can feel it in small ways, even if we don’t like it — like Ben Lichtenstein, a 24-year-old interviewed by <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2026/03/31/magazine/quit-smartphone-addiction-social-media.html">New York Times</a> magazine earlier this year. “I’ve noticed that I can’t so much as wait for the elevator without scrolling through TikTok,” he said. “It’s the best distraction. It makes the time pass. But more and more, I’m like: Why do we want the time to pass?” 
We need to try to build tools, habits, and norms that reclaim not just the time in the elevator lobby, but the institutions, rituals, and phone-free meet-ups that used to help couples hit it off. If we don&#8217;t address the impact of digital tech on our family formation decisions, the consequences could be dire.
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Patrick T. Brown (@<a href="http://www.twitter.com/ptbwrites">PTBwrites</a>) is a fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, where he writes on pro-family policy and publishes the Substack newsletter <a href="https://ptbwrites.substack.com/">Family Matters</a>.

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The Family Formation Crisis May Have Started With A Trade Most Americans Gladly Accepted

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The funny thing about the new “Masters of the Universe” movie is that nearly everyone seemed determined to misunderstand it before it premiered.
The trailer features a <a href="https://ew.com/he-man-pronouns-in-masters-of-the-universe-trailer-spark-conservative-outrage-11891874">shot</a> of the main character, Adam, at his desk behind a nameplate that says “He/Him.” Of course half the internet panicked while the other half preened, and almost everyone walked straight into the bit. Conservatives saw the clip and assumed another childhood franchise had been stuffed into a DEI binder. Leftists were happy to claim another cultural trophy. Both missed the joke.
Apart from being a nostalgia filled blast, the new “He-Man” movie works because it understands something Hollywood usually treats like a thought crime: Evil is not defeated by a group therapy session. The movie isn’t an endorsement of that worldview, but a mockery of it.
The live-action “Masters of the Universe,” released theatrically June 5, stars Nicholas Galitzine as Prince Adam/He-Man, Jared Leto as Skeletor, and Idris Elba as Duncan/Man-At-Arms. Amazon’s own description frames the story around Adam saving “his family and his world” from Skeletor’s rule. That matters because the film’s central jest is not just cultural; it’s moral.
Beneath the explosive, nostalgia-fueled spectacle, “Masters of the Universe” is a thinly veiled satire of the modern corporate grievance complex. It pokes fun at HR culture, it mocks the blue hair brigade, and it skewers the childish postmodern fantasy that every conflict is just a misunderstanding waiting to be resolved by therapy speak.
Skeletor is not waiting for someone to validate his trauma and invite him into a restorative justice circle. He does not care about your shared emotional space. Skeletor is a genocidal maniac.
This is the key to the whole movie. Its moral universe is not complicated in the lazy, modern way so many blockbusters now pretend to be complicated. It makes clear that evil exists, evil chooses evil, and evil sometimes loves being evil. And when evil refuses to stop, refuses to negotiate, and keeps coming for your home and your family, the moral response is not weakness dressed up as compassion. The moral response is courage.
This is where the film becomes more than a joke at the expense of corporate wokeness. It becomes the defense of something older, deeper, and much more important: strength ordered toward the protection of the innocent.
Elba’s Man-At-Arms drives this point home as he trains a young Adam. The lesson is not that masculinity means cruelty, nor that a man should go looking for violence. The lesson is that a man has a duty to stand between danger and the people he loves.
That is what He-Man represents. He fights because there are things worth defending. He protects because protection is one of the foundational duties of manhood. And that, more than anything, is what makes the movie feel almost radical in the current cultural moment.
For years, audiences have been told that traditional heroism is suspect. Fathers are fools, warriors are dangerous, courage is primitive, protection is patronizing, moral clarity is simplistic. Every villain needs a grievance dissertation, and every hero needs to learn that the real battle was inside himself all along. “Masters of the Universe” does not play that game.
But the movie is not merely a rebuke to the woke Left. It’s also a rebuke to the woke Right, or the New Right, whatever we’re calling them now. I mean the perpetually online, performative “Right” that mistakes reflexive isolationism for wisdom, “swagger” for strength, and cynicism for seriousness.
The Left’s error is obvious: It thinks evil can be managed by language, empathy, and institutions that specialize in avoiding reality. But the woke Right has developed its own mirror-image error. It sees real evil abroad, in Iran or in the imperial ambitions of Russia&#8217;s Vladimir Putin, and responds with a shrug masquerading as prudence. It looks at tyrants who have already told the world what they want and insists that the truly sophisticated move is to pretend they don’t mean it. That is not prudence. Prudence begins by seeing reality as it is.
Iran is not a misunderstood actor seeking emotional validation from the international community. Nor is Putin’s war against Ukraine an unfortunate misunderstanding caused by insufficient empathy. Iran is the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism, and the Ukrainian conflict is an imperial war waged by a man who wants territory, control, and submission.
This is what evil looks like in practice. It doesn’t always announce itself with a skull for a face and a horned staff. Sometimes it arrives in a suit, gives speeches about historical destiny, bombs apartment buildings, demands territory, and calls the whole thing peace.
But whether in Eternia or the real world, the moral principle is the same: When a regime has built its identity around revolutionary domination, terrorism, and the pursuit of weapons that would alter the balance of civilization, you don’t defeat that regime by pretending that your refusal to act is a moral strategy.
And here the woke Right makes the same mistake as the woke Left, with different branding. The woke Left says, “Surely we can defeat evil with empathy and feelings.” The woke Right says, “Surely evil will stop if we simply declare it none of our business.” Both positions are fantasies, and they both allow evil to continue while the people who should know better congratulate themselves for being &#8220;above the fight.&#8221;
That doesn’t mean America should rush blindly into every conflict. It doesn’t mean every foreign crisis requires American troops. And it doesn’t mean every enemy is best answered with bombs. Prudence, strategy, cost, and national interest all matter.
A strong country, like a strong man, does not fight because it enjoys fighting. It fights when fighting is necessary. It arms allies when allies are standing between civilization and conquest. It deters enemies before deterrence becomes war. It understands that weakness invites aggression and that the time for talking eventually ends when the other side uses every negotiation as a pause between attacks.
In this way, He-Man’s line lands heavy during his final battle with Skeletor: “The time for talking is over.”
This is not a rejection of reason. It’s the recognition that reason has already been rejected by the other side. It’s the realization that mercy cannot mean surrender to tyranny. And that seriousness is exactly what so much of the online commentary missed.
“Masters” also offers a clean break from the fake masculinity peddled by <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/andrew-tate">Andrew Tate</a> and his imitators. Tate-style masculinity is not strength. It sells young men the idea that being a man means becoming unaccountable and unburdened by anyone else’s needs.
It’s also not a coincidence that Tate was recently glazing Russia and Putin. Fake masculinity is often drawn to fake strength. It sees a strongman and mistakes him for a strong man.
He-Man understands that his strength is not ordered toward conquest. It’s ordered toward protection. His masculinity is not chest-thumping or cruelty. It’s duty. It is love strong enough to become dangerous when the people he loves are threatened. That is the part Hollywood keeps missing. And it is the part the online woke Right too often misses as well.
A man who refuses to protect his family is not enlightened. A country that refuses to recognize evil until it arrives at the doorstep is not wise. It’s asleep.
The appeal of “Masters” and of He-Man is not complicated. Audiences are tired of heroes who need to be deconstructed before they are allowed to be heroic. Sometimes the good guy should simply be good. Sometimes the bad guy should simply be stopped. Sometimes the lesson really is that a man protects his family, defends his home, and refuses to let evil win.
He-Man wins because he understands the truth our culture keeps trying to forget: When evil will not stop, good men must make it stop.
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Justin Siegel is the executive producer of The Ben Shapiro Show.

Nicholas Galitzine stars as ‘Adam’ in MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE.

The New He-Man Movie Exposes A Dangerous Lie The Left And Right Both Believe

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This article is part of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/upstream" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Upstream</a>, The Daily Wire’s new home for culture and lifestyle. Real human insight and human stories — from our featured writers to you.
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Millionaire tech entrepreneur Bryan Johnson wants to live forever. But after spending <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/magazines/panache/has-bryan-johnsons-anti-aging-experiment-backfired-biohacker-spending-2-million-a-year-admits-to-a-costly-misstep/articleshow/120036487.cms?from=mdr">$2 million</a> a year “future-proofing” his body, the 48-year-old has finally tapped into an actual reason for living. 
“Guys … I have a girlfriend,” Johnson posted to <a href="https://x.com/bryan_johnson/status/1995953490930401334?s=20">X</a>. 
In 2025, he announced he had been dating his <a href="https://blueprint.bryanjohnson.com/?tw_source=google&amp;tw_adid=783567070527&amp;tw_campaign=23258069197&amp;tw_kwdid=kwd-2173918292587&amp;gad_source=1&amp;gad_campaignid=23258069197&amp;gbraid=0AAAAAqWPWN7UVLekpWbLbeWKBwa34GvIk&amp;gclid=Cj0KCQjw0JnRBhDJARIsALobnXblHYRqCy5xJ2UFO7-bs9em1IaWMr4o5DHdYNCJRJm7raCUVpl_TRoaAl4HEALw_wcB">Blueprint</a> health protocol co-founder, 30-year-old <a href="https://people.com/millionaire-entrepreneur-who-wants-to-live-forever-announces-hes-been-dating-30-year-old-cofounder-for-3-years-11863011">Kate Tolo</a>, for three years. But it wasn’t until this month that he flew to Australia to meet Kate’s parents for the first time. 
“International travel causes aging,” <a href="https://x.com/bryan_johnson/status/2059388262872203763">he noted</a> from the plane. “But I really love her so it’s worth the cost.”
Behind every man attempting to live forever, there’s a strong woman organizing his <a href="https://youtu.be/kf9e1o7rUeo?t=23">54 daily supplements</a>, plugging in his red light therapy laser helmet, and holding his stuff during his therapeutic plasma exchange appointments. But a temporary deviation from his <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/Cn2PJY6sb25/">1,977 vegan calories</a> per day allowed him a glimpse at an existence beyond vitalitycore.
“I ate everything [Kate’s mother] prepared, including meat, bread, and pasta, and embraced the discomfort of being an introvert in a week-long marathon social interaction,” <a href="https://x.com/bryan_johnson/status/2062711998656418008/photo/1">Johnson</a> shared. “It was laughter and teasing all around … It feels nice to be part of the family.”
Johnson also posted a photo of himself cowering under a UV umbrella on a sunny day as Kate’s dad cracked macadamia nuts from their tree, and he lamented the “<a href="https://x.com/bryan_johnson/status/2062932515728633942">spike in food noise</a>” while traveling thanks to off-kilter hormones from jet lag. But while the painfully on-brand longevity enthusiast routinely takes incoming fire from haters in the comments, many related to Johnson’s desire just to be accepted by Kate’s family.
“A pale immortal trading their immortality for the love of a human is actually a very important trope to me,” an <a href="https://x.com/a22kay/status/2062978256102715762">X user</a> wrote.
<a href="https://x.com/amalnotclooney/status/2063404235656396834?s=20">Someone else</a> gleefully shared, “Lol why does this man who I loathed have me screaming and kicking my feet?”
“Some things are worth dying for,” commented <a href="https://x.com/hritikkgandhi/status/2063278124620464440?s=20">another</a>. 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
I met Kate’s parents.
It was a nail bitter.
We landed after 24 hours of travel and immediately went to her mum’s house where the family congregated… her mum, dad, auntie, three cousins, sister, brother-in-law, a 3-wk old newborn, brother, and soon-to-be sister-in-law. There… <a href="https://t.co/uA00aRGl7J">https://t.co/uA00aRGl7J</a> <a href="https://t.co/78KBHBqorV">pic.twitter.com/78KBHBqorV</a>
— Bryan Johnson (@bryan_johnson) <a href="https://x.com/bryan_johnson/status/2062711998656418008?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 5, 2026</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.x.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
It wasn’t a total surprise that Kate’s Bosnian-born parents were slow to warm up to her mogul boyfriend. Just a month before the trip, <a href="https://x.com/bryan_johnson/status/2049688286126559372">Johnson wrote</a> about Kate’s “top 1%” vaginal microbiome swab test with a not-safe-for-work announcement about the couple&#8217;s recent activities. Mom and Dad’s dream.
Considering that he’s said “<a href="https://youtu.be/kf9e1o7rUeo?t=66">I really want to have multiple lifetimes</a>,” it’s putting it extraordinarily lightly to say Johnson sets a high bar. Since selling his company Braintree Venmo to PayPal for <a href="https://fortune.com/2023/07/14/bryan-johnson-spending-2-million-young-forever/">$800 million</a>, the 48-year-old has been raking it in, acting as his own guinea pig to shill gateway goods for his branded longevity protocol. Apparently, all it takes is $40 “<a href="https://blueprint.bryanjohnson.com/collections/daily-health-longevity/products/extra-virgin-olive-oil">Snake Oil</a>” extra virgin olive oil, $60 <a href="https://blueprint.bryanjohnson.com/collections/hair-and-skin-care/products/facial-serum">facial serum</a>, and a $40 <a href="https://blueprint.bryanjohnson.com/collections/nutritional-support/products/nutty-pudding-fruit-and-nut-mix">blueberry nut mix</a> and you’ll be on your way toward sitting in front of a sunlamp every morning stimulating your “<a href="https://blueprint.bryanjohnson.com/blogs/news/morning-routine?srsltid=AfmBOoqP249QZlzw-5iq79YrfDAaspoVdcdTYpRidfvZJoaUMQ0xh2qn">body clock</a>” for your health.
I watched Johnson’s 2025 Netflix documentary, “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kf9e1o7rUeo">Don’t Die: The Man Who Wants To Live Forever,</a>” without blinking. My basic Amazon omega-3-6-9, magnesium, and creatine routine felt like Flintstones Vitamins next to Johnson’s aspirational regimen. Can anyone keep up with this guy?
We all have our types. But I could never imagine even being distant roommates with someone so focused on manicuring his body hair like a mint-condition Ken doll. Earlier in his life, Johnson was <a href="https://x.com/bryan_johnson/status/1995953490930401334">married for 13 years</a> to a woman with whom he shares his son, <a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/style/story/dont-die-tech-mogul-bryan-johnson-penis-measuring-contest-son?srsltid=AfmBOoqkaDxeYcjZTtsZC6Y-wPbSaNasMyisV1JvPQhVdlpq2mos9x28">Talmage Johnson</a>. But by age 44, Johnson says he was beginning to come to terms with living out the rest of his lifetimes (yes, plural) solo. 
Then he met Kate, who witnessed the unvarnished ins and outs of life with BJo (she may have even styled the <a href="https://x.com/bryan_johnson/status/1624869645613412353">French braid</a> he wears to keep his mane out of his <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/C-v1g-kyM6_/">rejuvenated eyes</a>) and said, Sign me up for more of this. They say there’s a pot for every kettle. 
On some level, we’re probably all just looking for someone whose weirdness is compatible with our own. Luckily for humanity, <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2024/02/08/for-valentines-day-facts-about-marriage-and-dating-in-the-us/">most of us</a> meet our match.
Even for fans of ultra life-maxxing, the love quotient has a real impact on longevity. Research proves that those of us with close relationships experience a <a href="https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2910600/">50% greater overall rate</a> of survival than those with “meh” personal connections, with one study suggesting that we should all “take social relationships as seriously as other risk factors that affect mortality” such as smoking, alcohol, and inactivity. 
On the flip side, the <a href="https://www.gse.harvard.edu/ideas/usable-knowledge/24/10/what-causing-our-epidemic-loneliness-and-how-can-we-fix-it">devastating surge in loneliness</a> and social isolation has been shown to lead to <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-023-01617-6">earlier death</a> from all causes.  
If you’ve got the money, you can pay for <a href="https://www.mygenefood.com/blog/bryan-johnsons-gene-therapy-is-it-worth-it/">$25,000 gene therapy</a> at a specialized clinic in Honduras as Bryan Johnson did. But while the procedure may have helped him maintain muscle mass and quell a little of his alleged inflammation, he can’t spoon with his own six-pack abs at night under the covers. 
According to an <a href="https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2017/04/over-nearly-80-years-harvard-study-has-been-showing-how-to-live-a-healthy-and-happy-life/">80-year-long study</a> (the rough equivalent of two of Bryan Johnson’s current lives), happy, fulfilling relationships — not genes, IQ, or social class — might be the greatest predictors of longevity.
“Playing the longest game ever with Bryan Johnson: Don’t Die …” <a href="https://x.com/_katetolo/status/1876003595398914070?s=20">wrote Kate</a>, summing up their serendipitous meeting of the minds when she emailed him as a fan of his work. Even though she originally wanted to get into fashion, their life’s passions aligned.
“Kate was luminescent … butterflies fluttered in my stomach,” <a href="https://x.com/bryan_johnson/status/1995953490930401334?s=20">Johnson wrote</a> of first falling for his co-founder. “It wasn’t how she looked but how her mind worked: original, eccentric, entirely her own. She was art.”
“Life sinks or sails based upon the quality of our most intimate relationships,” he said.
Sounds like a well-matched pair doing a little love-gevity research as they sail into the sunset.

The Man Spending Millions To Live Forever Discovered Something Money Can’t Buy

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This article is part of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/upstream" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Upstream</a>, The Daily Wire’s new home for culture and lifestyle. Real human insight and human stories — from our featured writers to you.
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Much has been <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/hollywoods-worst-nightmare-is-already-here">written</a> about how great the new independent horror movie &#8220;Obsession&#8221; is. With a budget of just $750,000, <a href="https://deadline.com/2026/06/box-office-obsession-record-1236949178/">it’s already earned</a> $224 million. The success is entirely deserved; it’s a phenomenal film. Yet, the most important thing about it is not what it shows, but what it says.
&#8220;Obsession&#8221; resonates because it combines two deeply human tropes. The first is this: A character gets the thing he&#8217;s been striving after for so long, and it doesn’t satisfy him the way he thought it would. Be careful what you wish for, the grass is always greener on the other side, and all that. The second is unrequited love. The pain of falling for someone who doesn’t like you back is something that most people experience. There’s a reason why it’s been fodder for so many stories and so much art.
If there’s a moral to &#8220;Obsession,&#8221; it’s this: When you have feelings for someone who isn’t willing to give you a shot, the best place for them isn’t with you.
The film follows “Bear” (Michael Johnston), a 20-something man who’s shy and deeply in love with his coworker and friend, Nikki (Inde Navarrette). Unable to admit his feelings for her and ask her on a date, he goes to a crystal shop and buys a “One Wish Willow,” which advertises that it will grant one wish upon being broken. When Bear does so and wishes that Nikki would love him more than anything in the world, her demeanor immediately changes. The love of Bear’s life finally loves him back, and everything is great — until what’s actually happened becomes apparent: This Nikki isn’t quite who Bear thinks she is.
Many have suggested that Bear is the villain of the story. That goes too far. Bear did what so many of us do: He inadvertently meddled with another person’s feelings without regard for how it would affect her and was completely unprepared for the consequences. Yet he did so by doing what so many of us have also done: by hoping against hope that our special someone really does like us back.
He reacted to Nikki’s seeming about-face how you’d expect a shy guy who had the girl of his dreams throwing herself into his arms would act: shock, confusion, and stopping her advances to see if she’s okay. Only when she seems to indicate that she really does want him does he relent. While we, the audience, know that there’s this magic spell that’s been put on her, the characters of &#8220;Obsession&#8221; seem to inhabit the same sort of world as ours and treat magic the same way we would. So it’s understandable, at least at first, that Bear doesn’t quite comprehend or accept that what he’s dealing with is something other than sudden-onset true love.
If Bear has moral fault, it’s not so much for the willow itself but for the reasoning he displays. There is a deliberate shot of him looking at the toy immediately after Nikki’s behavior changes. It’s clear that he has a growing suspicion that something is very wrong, but he’s so taken by the situation that he doesn’t examine it too closely until it becomes unignorable. This is somewhat defensible at first, but Bear eventually does become fully culpable for his choices.
<div id="attachment_1108483" style="width: 417px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1108483" class=" wp-image-1108483" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/06/obsession-OBS_FP_00039_R_rgb-300x169.jpg" alt="" width="407" height="229" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/06/obsession-OBS_FP_00039_R_rgb-300x169.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/06/obsession-OBS_FP_00039_R_rgb-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/06/obsession-OBS_FP_00039_R_rgb-768x432.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/06/obsession-OBS_FP_00039_R_rgb.jpg 1200w" sizes=" (max-width: 407px) 100vw, 407px" />Courtesy of Focus Features</div>
This is exemplified when Bear asks pseudo-Nikki if her dad really does have cancer. This was the story she told to get him to stay with her the night he made the wish and is therefore foundational to their entire relationship. After her “no, no, no, I thought we were having a nice date” reaction <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWVznyWUS-E">that’s gone viral on social media</a>, pseudo-Nikki says, “What does it matter?” Tellingly, Bear agrees. That’s the question that’s at the heart of &#8220;Obsession.&#8221; It matters because it’s the truth. The truth about whether Nikki really does like Bear matters, but Bear seems not to want to question his seeming good fortune.
If there’s one point where Bear slides into the wrong, it’s when he has a conversation with the “real” Nikki, who’s briefly able to slip out. She begs him to kill her, and it’s apparent she’s suffering a lot.
Bear doesn’t kill her, and there are good reasons for that. There still might be a way to break the spell, and also because, as far as the world would see, he would just be murdering his devoted, if slightly odd, girlfriend while she slept. No, what’s bad is not what Bear does, but what he says. Specifically, he asks, “What&#8217;s so bad about being with me?” 
It’s at this moment that many might wonder why Bear is making this about himself. Nikki is the one suffering here, and Bear caused it. At the same time, it’s a very human thing to wonder. I wish I could say I had never uttered any variation of Bear’s question before. Nikki’s response, the real Nikki’s response, is the perfect counter: “I’ve never been with you.”
It’s not that loving Bear would have been bad, it’s that Nikki didn’t love him. Loving Bear was simply not compatible with Nikki, so what’s happened instead is that Nikki has been possessed by this demon who is obsessed with Bear.
What makes the tragedy worse is that Bear had other options: He seemed to have real chemistry with another character, Sarah. But by pursuing Nikki, he foreclosed what would have probably been a good relationship.
When pseudo-Nikki tells Bear that everything is all his fault, she’s not wrong. His fundamental moral flaw is passivity. Had he just told her how he felt early on, he would have gotten the “no” he didn’t want but definitely needed, and none of this would have happened. But he was scared. That’s a very human feeling: There’s a reason why <a href="https://www.mystateline.com/news/national/almost-half-of-young-men-have-never-approached-a-woman-romantically-study/">45% of young men have never</a> asked out a woman in person before. Candidly, I saw a lot of my younger self in Bear.
Funny enough, the film taught me something in real time. As I was sitting down in the theater, I noticed that just about everyone else was sitting in twos. Even in the pitch darkness, I felt very conspicuous. Great, I thought. Everyone here has their person, and I don’t. Why didn’t I have someone who loved me who was by my side?
But I, too, was indulging in the misunderstanding that I would see enacted on screen. When pseudo-Nikki breaks the willow to make Bear obsessed with her in the finale, she knows very well what she’s doing. It shows that while she’s obsessed with him, she doesn’t actually love him. Or rather, she has the same superficial understanding of what love means that many of us do, in a more intentional, malicious way.
Love isn’t just wanting affection from someone. It’s wanting the best for them. And pseudo-Nikki doesn’t want what’s best for Bear. In fact, when she realizes that he doesn’t feel about her the same way she feels about him, she’s perfectly willing to use the willow on him. She’s fine with making him suffer in order to get the validation that she thinks she needs from him. You could call that a lot of things, but it’s not love.
While Bear did the same thing earlier, he did it with the same sort of misunderstanding that a lot of us do. It came from loneliness and wishful thinking and from not really understanding the consequences of what he was asking. As a sort of vague yearning, wanting somebody to love you is human and earnest and largely harmless. However, what the film shows us is that if you’ve ever wanted your unreciprocated crush to love you back, no you don’t — because this is what it would look like.
Love is not something you can manufacture, and if it were, the consequences would be horrifying. Bear would have really benefited from hearing the old saying, &#8220;if you love something, set it free.&#8221;
***
Stephan Kapustka is a writer at the American Spectator. Follow him on X <a href="https://x.com/SteveKapustka" target="_blank" rel="noopener">@SteveKapustka</a>.

obsession-OBS_FP_00073_R_rgb

The Dating Advice Hidden Inside The Year’s Biggest Horror Surprise

Dating

Horror Movies

Relationships

This article is part of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/upstream" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Upstream</a>, The Daily Wire’s new home for culture and lifestyle. Real human insight and human stories — from our featured writers to you.
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Hollywood celebrities&#8217; frozen faces are damaging their performances.
Fans are in an <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/the-ancient-lesson-christopher-nolan-may-have-completely-stripped-out-of-the-odyssey">uproar</a> over Christopher Nolan’s new movie &#8220;The Odyssey,&#8221; but this time it&#8217;s not about the casting; it&#8217;s about a skilled actress’ inability to emote after what appears to be cosmetic surgery. After seeing the trailer, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/DYAKVjtm1qI/?hl=en&amp;img_index=1">a critic compared</a> Anne Hathaway’s performance as Penelope in the movie to another role of hers years ago, concluding: “Having Botox is like a disability for actors.”
In &#8220;The Odyssey&#8221; trailer, Hathaway&#8217;s character is clearly meant to appear distressed. But her face is remarkably smooth; it lacks the creases and lines Hathaway showed while crying in the 2010 movie &#8220;Love &amp; Other Drugs.&#8221;
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Sixteen years ago, you couldn&#8217;t mistake her emotions. But if you take away the sound in &#8220;The Odyssey&#8221;<a href="https://youtu.be/f_bKjZeJBBI?t=120"> trailer</a>, it becomes difficult to understand what feeling Hathaway is trying to express. Instead of obvious hopelessness and grief, Hathaway&#8217;s character might be angry or accusing instead.
This is happening all the time now. New York dermatologist Dr David Colbert got <a href="https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/celebrity/articles/face-doesn-t-move-hollywood-110004318.html">chewed out</a> a few years ago by a director who was shooting a scene with a high-profile actor. The director scolded Colbert, who has treated famous actors such as Sienna Miller, for plumping the actor’s face “with so much filler it wouldn’t move.”
<a href="https://www.dazeddigital.com/beauty/article/65946/1/is-botox-ruining-cinema-nicole-kidman-the-substance-babygirl">In a Dazed article</a>, culture editor Halima Jibril wonders, &#8220;Is Botox ruining cinema?&#8221; From Arianna Grande in &#8220;Wicked&#8221; to Kristen Bell in &#8220;Nobody Wants This,&#8221; actresses are failing to emote. &#8220;An actor’s main job is to convey to the audience the emotions, thoughts and feelings the character is experiencing and tweakments block the face from producing the expressions and micro-expressions which help portray these,&#8221; Jibril writes.
The article also calls out Lindsey Lohan in &#8220;Irish Wish,&#8221; sharing a TikTok that shows Lohan crying — or at least trying to — but her face is so stiff that it feels rather laughable instead of moving. 
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<section><a title="@hlevin" href="https://www.tiktok.com/@hlevin?refer=embed" target="_blank" rel="noopener">@hlevin</a> Lindsay Lohan botox Irish Wish movie <a title="irishwish" href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/irishwish?refer=embed" target="_blank" rel="noopener">#irishwish</a> <a title="lindsaylohan" href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/lindsaylohan?refer=embed" target="_blank" rel="noopener">#lindsaylohan</a> <a title="♬ original sound - Yarden Kushnir" href="https://www.tiktok.com/music/original-sound-7346865675496868609?refer=embed" target="_blank" rel="noopener">♬ original sound &#8211; Yarden Kushnir</a></section>
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A viral clip from &#8220;<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/hollywoods-most-sinful-show-ends-with-a-moral">Euphoria</a>&#8221; illustrates how desensitized we have become to cosmetic surgeries’ influence on acting. Fans pointed to Sydney Sweeney, noticing the difference between her and another actress’s performance. The clip highlights how Sweeney, who has said under a lie detector test that she has <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVYXM7qIM2s">never had</a> any work done, can actually convey emotion. One viewer <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/entertainment/sydney-sweeney-euphoria-botox-scene-season-three-11891747">commented</a>, “with sydney’s acting you can literally see that cassie doesn’t care in her facial expressions but the other lady’s face doesn’t move at all like if you watched without sound you wouldn’t know she was mad.”
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the difference here is striking. actresses without botox are quickly becoming an endangered species <a href="https://t.co/6HZrjGNXdh">pic.twitter.com/6HZrjGNXdh</a>
— mary morgan (@maryarchived) <a href="https://x.com/maryarchived/status/2048883479081869438?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 27, 2026</a></blockquote>
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The difference between the two actresses is shocking: complete human emotion versus an expressionless face with only an angry tone to convey frustration. True, Sweeney’s face has lines and wrinkles, but the audience can actually feel her emotion.
Facial treatments to achieve Hollywood&#8217;s brand of beauty are destroying the actors’ skills. Even slight expressions in the forehead, eyes, lips, cheeks, and brows allow the audience to feel what the actor expresses. By stifling these abilities, Botox and other treatments make actors&#8217; performances less moving. Unfortunately, <a href="https://www.buzzfeed.com/kristenharris1/celebs-pressured-to-get-cosmetic-surgery">not all of these actors want these cosmetic surgeries</a>; some are ironically forced into them for the sake of their careers.
Hollywood’s immovable faces reveal its fear of “ugly.” Actors and actresses seem to believe that if their faces make one exaggerated or unattractive expression, audiences will despise them. They fear failing to meet today&#8217;s unachievable standards by maintaining a face that makes expressions that require wrinkles and lines. Even characters who are meant to be ugly — or at least not show-stopping — are played by actors with “perfect” modern features, such as <a href="https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20240925-wuthering-heights-hollywoods-worst-casting-decisions">Margo Robbie</a> in &#8220;<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/hollywood-promised-a-love-story-what-it-delivered-was-something-else">Wuthering Heights</a>.&#8221;
These actors may have perfect aesthetics, with features designed based on what is most attractive by today’s standards. But there is something lost through the procedures. These cosmetic surgeries, through removing the full range of facial expressions, strip away movies’ essential ability to connect with audiences and characters&#8217; ability to move them. If actors continue to prioritize “perfect beauty” over real faces, they will sacrifice the rawness and realism necessary for a good story.
Botox, fillers, and other cosmetic surgeries have had a dramatic effect on cinema. It&#8217;s as if Hollywood wanted to distance itself further from its viewers by making its characters not only stiff-faced but disconnected from the average audience. Movies are supposed to present stories designed to inspire and stir the viewer; the best films call people to a higher standard and morality. But how can a film be expected to move an audience if its characters can&#8217;t connect with people on a basic human level?
Julie Andrews&#8217;s Oscar-nominated role in the 1965 film &#8220;The Sound of Music&#8221; exemplifies how true emotions should look on screen. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9v85Bc1fR0">When Andrews&#8217; character</a>, Maria, argues with Captain von Trapp, you can see the creases between her brows. Mute the sound, and the subtle differentiations in her expressions become pronounced: concern becomes frustration, which then turns into exasperation and pleading, and finally into hurt.
The best actors&#8217; emotions are etched into every wrinkle and line on their faces; that is how emotion touches us. Good performances show us how Hollywood is terrified of the truth: people are imperfect. We do not possess flawless, un-aging faces; we grow old, wrinkle, and decay. And that makes great cinema.

GettyImages-2274062054

Why Hollywood’s Beauty Obsession Is Ruining Great Acting

Botox

euphoria

Plastic Surgery

Sydney Sweeney

This article is part of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/upstream" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Upstream</a>, The Daily Wire’s new home for culture and lifestyle. Real human insight and human stories — from our featured writers to you.
***
When I was 15, I drove with my mother down the road to claim my inheritance. 
School was almost out in May 2021, and it was time for my first summer job. I had filled out an application online for the nearest <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/chick-fil-a-ranked-americas-favorite-restaurant-for-8th-consecutive-year">Chick-Fil-A</a>. As a Christian homeschooler, it was both my obligation and right to find employment at this storied institution.
Despite no prior work experience and the pressures of a lingering pandemic, Chick-fil-A hired me on the spot.
Last summer, while home from college, I applied to work at a different local Chick-fil-A. I was four years older, had months of experience at the other Chick-fil-A, and a year as a shift lead at a juice and smoothie shop. I didn’t even get an interview.
There is plenty of discussion about how hard it is for Gen Zers to find employment after college, but for many my age, the struggles can start much sooner. 
According to <a href="https://www.challengergray.com/blog/challenger-predicts-summer-jobs-for-teens-will-fall-to-lowest-pace-on-record/">recent predictions from Challenger, Gray &amp; Christmas</a>, this summer will likely see the lowest levels of teen employment since the Bureau of Labor Statistics started tracking it. Last summer was the previous record low, with 801,000 teen jobs added. This summer, Challenger predicts employers will add only 790,000 teen jobs in the summer months.
This is a far different environment for teen workers compared to the late 1970s, when <a href="https://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2017/article/teen-labor-force-participation-before-and-after-the-great-recession.htm">almost 60% of those aged 16 to 19 had a job or were seeking one</a>. According to Challenger, in April of this year, it was just 33.8%.
Alicia Modestino, an associate professor at Northeastern University in the School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs, <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/after-a-decades-long-decline-in-teen-employment-gen-z-is-reversing-the-trend">identified three changes to the labor market</a> that led to a decline in teen employment from its 1970s high. 
First, many jobs that were previously performed by teens are now automated or outsourced. Think self-checkout lanes and <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/native-born-american-labor-participation-slumps-as-immigrant-labor-numbers-jump">migrant workers</a> mowing lawns. 
Second, as states have regulated teen employment more, employers have gotten pickier. Teens are now less appealing to employers than other demographics because of hour restrictions, work permits, and more. Especially as older generations push off retirement and compete for the same part-time jobs teens once dominated, there’s now a more experienced labor pool to consider.
Finally, many middle- and upper-class teens are prioritizing college résumé-boosting activities that don’t involve work: <a href="https://1819news.com/culture/grace-plath-make-volunteering-great-again">volunteering</a>, traveling, and academics.
Gen Z may learn that finding a job is not quite as easy as it used to be. As the labor market shifts, the kind of jobs teens used to work may not be as available. But I strongly believe that for those who want to make money, work is out there.
Last summer, after Chick-Fil-A said no, I applied to several other places. When it seemed no one would hire me, I ended up working for a man I knew from church. He had been my family group leader on a mission trip the previous summer and we had hit it off. 
This is key for Gen Zers trying to find jobs: You never know when being kind or friendly will make an impression. Acting virtuously ought to be done for its own sake, but it will naturally result in benefits. Integrity matters because it is a virtue done expecting no reward and when you think no one is looking. However, that does not mean no one ever is.
Similarly, personal connection always trumps virtual connection. No matter the number of LinkedIn connections you may have, a handful of good personal connections are much more likely to turn into lasting friendships and job opportunities. 
The man I worked for owned his own landscaping company, mostly focused on mowing lawns, but he also did sprinkler installations. While his crews were out mowing, he did an installation a week to bring in extra income. 
My job wasn’t appealing. I dug trenches where the PVC pipe would go, and then once my boss laid the pipe, I would cover it up and pack the dirt down. Simple and exhausting. In the Texas heat, I learned the difference between a 95 and a 98-degree day. 
Hard work is not something to fear. <a href="https://newguardpress.com/manual-labor-still-matters-in-a-digital-age/">Working with one’s hands is good</a>; it teaches humility and dependence. You earn a healthy respect for the effort it takes to perform essential manual tasks.
Aside from being friendly, focusing on intentional personal connections, and being unafraid of hard work, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/gen-z-signing-up-uber-gopuff-gig-apps-summer-jobs-2026-5?utm_source=copy-link&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_content=topbar">Gen Z must continue to look to the gig economy</a>. 
As an example, one summer I did nothing else for work but make Adirondack chairs out of whiskey barrels. I would buy empty, used barrels on Facebook Marketplace, and then my dad would help me craft them and stain them. We would sell the finished chairs back on Facebook Marketplace with great margins. While not something I would pursue as a career, it was a gig that taught me some woodworking skills and made some money. 
The gig economy may be a trap for Gen Z college graduates or <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/35923259-841c-40aa-b182-68b73dd4c89d?syn-25a6b1a6=1">a sign of the failed success pipeline</a>, but it’s a smart way for teens to seek extra cash through temporary employment.
Facing such a brutal job market, many in my generation are prone to blame the system that set them up for failure. Sometimes older generations lambast us with charges of laziness, seeing the system-blaming as nothing more than cope. While there is indeed much outside Gen Z’s control that has left us scrambling, and many (though not all) of the bad work ethic accusations are unjust, the correct solution is not anger but action. 
The best way to prove the strength of one’s work ethic and to begin to make money as a teen is to search for a job. If the data is to be believed, they can be found. Virtuous and friendly employees are always in demand. The gig economy, especially for young people seeking temporary employment, welcomes the resourceful and thrifty.  
When hard times come, outrage is one response. But the noble and productive choice is to do something, to persevere until a job is found. Not only would this flip the narrative of laziness, but it is also the path that is most likely to lead to work.
The young people of today will be the leaders of tomorrow. Working as a teen gives you valuable experience, teaches life lessons, and sets you up well for a full-time job after high school. Despite the struggles and competing interests, working as a teen cultivates a skill set hard to get anywhere else.
***
Cooper Cobbs (<a href="https://x.com/CobbsCooper">@CobbsCooper</a>) is a 2026 Chesterton media fellow at New Guard Press. A rising junior at Patrick Henry College, he is the incoming student body president and will be the editor-in-chief of PHC’s student newspaper, the Herald, this fall.

Boy Mowing Lawn

The Summer Job Is Disappearing. Here’s What Gen Z Needs To Learn Fast

Jobs

summer

Teenagers

This article is part of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/introducing-upstream-a-lifestyle-and-culture-section-of-the-daily-wire" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Upstream,</a> The Daily Wire’s new home for culture and lifestyle. Real human insight and human stories — from our featured writers to you.
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Luxe inclusive it-brand Selkie — known for the “<a href="https://www.shondaland.com/shondaland-series/bridgerton/selkie-founder-kimberley-gordon-on-joining-the-bridgerton-world">Bridgerton</a>”-esque “<a href="https://www.teenvogue.com/story/selkie-tiktok-famous-puff-dress-inclusive-fashion">puff dress</a>” it popularized on TikTok — is taking major heat from its fanbase. The label’s new patriotic capsule didn’t land with fashion-hungry feminists who are taking a hard pass on reclaiming their own American story. 
Despite giving “sexy Colonial woman,” not even starry-blue corsets or flouncy red-and-white striped skirts could convince Selkie devotees that a $799 petticoat meant they’d be fighting the patriarchy. Even worse for the woman-owned, LGBT-friendly brand, the announcement dropped on Instagram in tandem with the arrival of “Pride Month.” The comment section promptly frothed with rage. 
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“Could have been a Pride collection. Instead it’s… this,” a she/her licensed <a href="https://www.instagram.com/glitterdivine/">trauma therapist</a> posted. “Releasing literally nothing would have been better.”
Fronted by U.K.-born WILDFOX  co-founder <a href="https://selkiecollection.com/pages/about-selkie">Kimberley Gordon</a>, who spent much of her life in Santa Barbara, California, Selkie attempted to sell the concept with a <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/DZFrG0AFLLj/?img_index=1">rallying message</a>. 
“America has been in the background of our lives and stories … At a time when women’s rights are threatened, immigrant women are torn from their communities, guns are rampant in our schools and [sic] violence against women, minorities and the LGBTQ communities … We refuse to surrender the symbols of this country to those who would use them against us … What’s your American story?”
Instead of sharing heartwarming anecdotes, followers went for the jugular. “If I saw someone wearing this collection, I would think them an unsafe person to be around,” <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/DZFrG0AFLLj/?img_index=1">someone</a> posted. Others called the line “colonial chic” and tone-deaf, with one person suggesting, “If someone wears any of this I would immediately assume they’re MAGA.”
This post followed a vintage carousel of 1900s women advocating for equality. Instead of seeing the user-dubbed “<a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/DZB5WXglJLo/?img_index=16">Suffragette Core</a>” as retail motivation, one former fan posted, “WTF. Just bought my first Selkie dress last month now I won’t EVER buy from you again.”
A subsequent post promoting <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/DZIja_fmaaM/?img_index=5">queer American flag chic</a> did nothing to tame the outrage. “I dunno if now is the right time to be celebrating America when everything has collapsed into a facist [sic] oligarchy and we have literal concentration camps everywhere,” a <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/DZFrG0AFLLj/?img_index=1">critic</a> warned, seemingly oblivious to this comments suppressive efforts.
As the internet’s No. 1 <a href="https://time.com/5675803/america-flag-threat/">triggering motif</a>, the <a href="https://www.usa.gov/flag">American flag</a> boasts three representative colors for the nation: red for valor and bravery, white to signify purity and innocence, and blue to symbolize vigilance, perseverance, and justice. “<a href="https://www.ushistory.org/documents/pledge.htm">One nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all</a>,” the Pledge of Allegiance goes. The “for all” part still stands, even if <a href="https://yellowhammernews.com/rep-dale-strong-proposes-law-to-bring-back-patriotism-in-american-schools-receives-support-from-dozen-alabama-school-districts/">no one</a> says it anymore.
Launched after Kimberley Gordon was pushed out of the WILDFOX brand she founded and grew over a decade, Selkie was meant to empower female expression through sumptuous style. As <a href="https://fashionista.com/2022/02/viral-fashion-trend-product-business">Gordon described</a> it, “I had this dream of this dress … like a piece of bubblegum. I wanted to make my first ever princess-y dress that was like a dessert — like a confection come to life for your body.”
The brand gets its name from the <a href="https://www.wildernessireland.com/blog/irish-myths-legends-selkies/">mythological mermaid</a> creature found in <a href="https://www.wildernessireland.com/blog/irish-myths-legends-selkies/">Scottish and Irish</a> folklore. Half seal and half human, the enchanting selkie is vulnerable to a restrictive life on land if its aquatic “seal” skin is lost or stolen. Selkie (the brand) aimed to protect its wearer’s soul.  
Breaking from the industry norms of her previous label, Gordon demanded inclusive XXS to 6X sizing for women of all types. Runway shows featured models rolling down the catwalk in <a href="https://youtu.be/WPAcfa2_Yb4?t=237">wheelchairs</a> and being carried by <a href="https://www.youtube.com/shorts/d6opd_FXZUE?t=20&amp;feature=share">strapping men</a> like “Anne of Green Gables” romantasy. 
Many of the cupcake-like gowns have rightly been described as <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/DXYdsZvFUuD/?img_index=1">wearable paintings</a>. After debuting in <a href="https://www.teenvogue.com/story/selkie-tiktok-famous-puff-dress-inclusive-fashion">2018</a>, the line found a home with national retailers like Revolve, Anthropologie, Free People, and Bloomingdale’s and earned the celebrity set’s stamp of approval. 
But even a deeply diverse bench of multicolored <a href="https://www.youtube.com/shorts/iYnspppTLtc">muses</a> with voluminous curves, splotchy freckles, kinky hair, vitiligo, and full beards couldn’t satisfy the gluttonous fantasies of the solipsistic masses. If we’re naval gazing, it’s certainly not at a star-spangled belly button ring. 
<a href="https://thehill.com/opinion/campaign/4709465-liberals-have-lost-their-patriotism/">Progressives</a> shall not abide American patriotism, even if it’s upcycled similarly t o the way Amber Rose rebranded “<a href="https://time.com/4961144/amber-rose-slut-walk-essay/">sl*t</a>,” Lizzo reclaimed “<a href="https://www.ndtv.com/entertainment/lizzo-says-her-album-bitch-is-about-reclaiming-who-i-am-after-years-of-criticism-11597246">b*tch</a>,” and <a href="https://www.glamour.com/story/when-did-we-all-get-so-comfortable-saying-the-c-word">K-Pop stans campified the c-word</a> on social media. Nothing can shift the “stars and stripes = bad” fallout from what some perceive as a full-fledged <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelposner/2023/07/26/liberal-activists-in-the-us-need-to-reclaim-the-american-flag/">co-opt</a> by a certain administration of our country’s national emblem.    
On a <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/BrandyMelville/comments/1h9fpmd/comment/m1107rt/?utm_source=share&amp;utm_medium=web3x&amp;utm_name=web3xcss&amp;utm_term=1&amp;utm_content=share_button">Reddit</a> post asking if those outside the U.S. would ever wear America’s patriotic finest — specifically, a Brandy Melville sweater stitched with a standard American flag — one person summed up an outsider’s view of “Americore” as fashion: 
“I think it is weird if you are an American haha, it gives patriotism. But if you are a foreigner (like me who lives in a third world country where everyone&#8217;s dream is being American) it goes with the ‘lana del rey americana’ aesthetic of the 2010s.” 
Selkie appears to have pivoted toward a fundraising effort for its new collection, promising to dedicate <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/DZNXsiAFOIq/?igsh=MW9tMjI2NzFjOXd0bA%3D%3D">100% net profit</a> ($40,000 minimum) to the Immigrant Legal Resource Center and UN Women. 
“As a white woman, the idea that we get to decide this symbol can simply be reclaimed feels deeply uncomfortable to me,” plus-size model <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/DZNXsiAFOIq/?igsh=MW9tMjI2NzFjOXd0bA%3D%3D">Tess Holliday</a> commented. Others piled on. 
But Kimberly Gordon remains unapologetic.
“This collection is, in part, about the pressure to conform under public scrutiny and the way online outrage can sometimes shut down meaningful dialogue,” she responded. “To apologize simply because there is criticism would undermine the very conversation the work is intended to spark.”
Gordon maintains her right to creative liberty over her vision of modern Americana. 
“It was the symbol of the world I was moving to from the UK, it was the symbol of my new life and friends and the kindness of my California peers. It’s a pattern I&#8217;ve played with my whole career in fashion,” <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/DZIja_fmaaM/?img_index=5">Gordon wrote</a> of the U.S. flag. “The thing about choices is that I have them, these collections are my American story.”
In light of the brutal blowback this creative brand got for suggesting that a series of dresses might inspire a little patriotic spirit, one thing remains true. A cheeky Victorian heirloom pinafore may not be for everyone, but the American flag sure is.

Woke Fashion Brand Discovers Its Fans Can’t Handle The American Flag

Fashion

kimberley gordon

selkie

This article is part of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/introducing-upstream-a-lifestyle-and-culture-section-of-the-daily-wire" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Upstream,</a> The Daily Wire’s new home for culture and lifestyle. Real human insight and human stories — from our featured writers to you.
***
Nothing felt amiss, but the more I spoke, the more I sounded like I might take a few detours on the drive home for animal specimens to examine at a later date. No offense to RFK Jr., of course. The scratching got heavier, my voice weaker, the pitch uneven. Not worrying too much about it, I flossed and brushed, washed my face, applied lotion, and went to bed. I was unbothered, moisturized, happy, in my lane, focused, flourishing. 
Then the morning came, and it became obvious that the rasp was the beginning of something more than a spot-on celebrity impersonation. Worse still, it was the deadliest of illnesses, the dreaded man cold, a condition for which there is no cure except for death. Or at least there was no cure save death until now. 
After depositing the one non-driving child at school, I went through my contacts and sent a text to the owner of a local IV clinic, one of those trendy places offering NAD+, hangover cures, and super mega doses of vitamin C. I asked about the vitamin C option, the “Not Today Sickness,” and received a reply that it was the clinic&#8217;s most popular offering. She asked what time I wanted to come in, booked it, and sent me the barrage of consent forms that lawyers have deemed necessary for our continuing survival. 
I was skeptical, but not so skeptical as to fail to give it a try. Some weeks can be lost to illness. This was not such a week. I needed to get back on my feet. As a friend told me bluntly, “they work,” my expectations rose, even as the owner had told me she wasn’t sure it would help with my voice. 
To say this place is bougie is to undersell it. There are roughly 25 of these wellness centers in my area — a region of about 650,000 — and at none of them does one merely lie on a table and take one&#8217;s drip. No, one reclines into a plush massage chair while the phlebotomist/host/attendant brings water and the optional eye massagers. (Naturally, I said yes.) Then one settles in for the better part of an hour as the fortified solution drips slowly into the bloodstream.
Once the bag finished emptying itself into me, shortly after I finished my second pass through the full-body massage, the phlebotomist/host/attendant removed the needle and told me to go whenever I felt ready. Not being bothered by needles, I was ready then, for I had found a vitamin and nutrient-dense smoothie just a half mile away during the final few minutes of my therapy. 
To say this smoothie was the most disgusting concoction I have ever ingested would be a stretch, but to say it was the most disgusting thing I’ve ever forced myself to finish solely because I’d paid for it would be accurate. If one were to try to make a smoothie as bland and chalky as this one was, one would be hard-pressed to do worse. To make a smoothie that contains maple syrup, banana, peanut butter, coconut milk, and cocoa taste bad is almost impressive. It is a feat to take inputs so sweet and reduce them into something resembling the daily rations offered to the inhabitants of a sci-fi dystopia where everyone engages in absolute hedonism … until they are killed and turned into smoothies. 
The IV, on the other hand, was vigilantly coursing through my veins. My voice remained a mess. I was still sick, but my energy was returning. Though not yet wholly unbothered, I was much less bothered than I had been that morning. As I’m a little bougie myself, wearing eye massagers while receiving new age care was very much in my lane. I’d slept and showered, so I was also rested and moisturized. I still wasn’t flourishing, though. 
But when I awoke the next morning? I was starting to feel it. My voice was returning. My white blood cells, freshly fed and on the march, were making tremendous headway. I was on my way back, baby. 
After one more sleep, the cold was almost an afterthought. There was still some coughing, but the productive kind, my body expelling the excess phlegm that had accumulated during the battle. I was prepared for my day, ready to take the youngest to school and to plan for the evening’s work.
The treatment was cheap, though it certainly seemed expensive. But such places do not accept insurance. As such, the costs are transparent. Nonetheless, when one is accustomed to paying an exorbitant amount every month in exchange for doc visits that cost “only” $35, dropping a few hundred seems excessive. Trust me, though, it’s never just $35. Wellness clinics for humans are more akin to veterinarians’ offices than those of general practitioners. We’re simply more expensive to maintain than Fido, particularly given that Fido objects to extras like massage chairs. 
The friend who told me the treatments work later shared that he gets one monthly, and it has greatly improved his overall wellness. I most certainly will follow his lead here and make receiving a bag of enhanced saline part of my routine. Maybe it’s mental. Maybe it’s medical. Maybe it’s both. Whatever the case, when it comes to reviving yourself when you’re in tough — but not dire — straits, the secret to your recovery is in the bag, though I’d include the eye massagers just to be safe. Without them, you’d not only look ridiculous, but your return to flourishing might even be delayed. 
***
Rich Cromwell is a writer living in Northwest Arkansas. He produces the <a href="https://cookinupastory.buzzsprout.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Cookin’ Up a Story</a> podcast. Follow him on X <a href="https://x.com/rcromwell4" target="_blank" rel="noopener">@rcromwell4</a>.

Gemini_Generated_Image_ybieigybieigybie

How A Bougie IV Clinic Actually Cured My ‘Man Cold’

Health

This article is part of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/upstream" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Upstream</a>, The Daily Wire’s new home for culture and lifestyle. Real human insight and human stories — from our featured writers to you.
***
The great virtue of summer is that it reminds us not all pleasures must be serious to be worthwhile. This is as true of the wines we drink as it is of anything else. Nobody sitting on a dock or a deck in 90-degree heat wants a drink that tastes of leather, dried fruit, or anything resembling solemnity. Summer, and the celebrations that come with it, demand something brisk, cold, and cheerful — a style of wine that works on a patio, at a barbecue, by a lake, or in the backyard while somebody burns a bun and insists it is merely “charred.” Which brings us, naturally, to rosé.
Rosé has always mystified wine novices. What exactly is it? It evidently isn’t red wine, but its blushing color also precludes it from the white wine camp. Where does it come from? How is it made? What are we supposed to do with it? And can it be paired with food, or is it just a decorative prop for people in linen and loafers?
Rosé is often treated as the swing voter of the wine world: too centrist to commit, neither properly red nor properly white. It has also suffered from the cultural reputation of athleisure wear — too casual for formal respect, and yet somehow everywhere. And for a man, it can take profound confidence to order a glass of rosé on a date. But rosé is actually excellent precisely because of these ambiguities. It comes in a range of styles, from featherweight and delicate to deeper and more robust, and it can pair with far more than people think. Its problem is not that it lacks character; it is that most people have only met one version of it.
Broadly speaking, there are four ways to make this mystical pink nectar. The most famous style comes from Provence in southern France, where rosé is usually made by gently pressing (called direct press) red grapes and allowing only very brief contact with the skins. Grenache is the star grape here, valued for its ability to thrive in the heat of the Mediterranean. Oddly enough, despite being a warm-climate grape, Grenache has relatively thin skins — a rare eccentricity in the wine world where hot-weather grapes are usually built like linebackers. That quirk helps make Provence rosé so distinctive: pale in color, high in acidity, and delicate in flavor, with notes of red berries, flowers, and perfume. This is the classic, pink patio rosé, available in bulk from such producers as Whispering Angel and ideal alongside grilled seafood, salads, and vegetables, or anything else light enough not to bulldoze the wine.
If that style feels a little too elegant, restrained, and faintly smug — effectively too French — then northern Spain offers a sturdier alternative. In Navarra, rosé is often made by short maceration, which means the crushed grapes spend more time in contact with their skins before the juice is drawn off. The longer the contact, the deeper the colour and the more flavor is extracted. Navarra is also home to plenty of Garnacha, which is simply Spain’s name for Grenache, because the wine world enjoys having multiple names for the same thing whenever possible. These rosés tend to be darker, fuller, and more assertive, with pronounced strawberry and raspberry fruit, but still enough acidity to stay fresh in the heat. They are excellent with pizza, lighter pastas, and even barbecued proteins like chicken.
A third method, less familiar to casual drinkers, is the saignée method — French for “bleeding.” It should not surprise us that the culture that gave us the guillotine also came up with such a dramatic winemaking term. The method traces back to winemakers who wanted to concentrate their red wines. By bleeding off some of the pale juice early, they increased the skin-to-juice ratio in the remaining tank, thereby intensifying the red wine. At some point, presumably after a long lunch and several glasses of something strong, somebody realized the bled-off juice was rather tasty in its own right and decided to bottle it. The result is a darker, weightier rosé that can sometimes feel like a halfway house between traditional pale rosé and a light red. Tavel, in France’s southern Rhône Valley, is the classic example.
And finally, there is the method most people assume is how all rosé is made: by blending red and white wine together. In still wine, this is generally frowned upon, as it usually produces a less refined result, lacking the nuance of skin contact and often pairing red tannin awkwardly with delicate white wine. In Champagne, however, it is perfectly acceptable and indeed traditional. There, a little red Pinot Noir can be blended into a white base wine, often made from chardonnay, to produce rosé Champagne. For a far better bargain, you can also find this sparkling rosé method replicated worldwide and sold for a fraction of the price wherever it is not labeled “Champagne.”
Still, if “rosé all day” is not your mantra, summer drinking does not begin and end with pink wine. There are plenty of other bottles that perform beautifully in warm weather.
One of the most underrated is biologically aged sherry, especially Fino and Manzanilla. These bone-dry fortified wines from southern Spain are aged under a layer of yeast called flor, which protects the wine from oxygen and gives it its distinct flavor: saline, almondy, savoury, and briskly refreshing. Sherry has a branding problem because the word still makes many people think of something sickly sweet, dusty, and forgotten in a cupboard or corner of their elderly grandmother’s refrigerator (these are cream sherries and are an entirely different style). But a chilled glass of Fino or Manzanilla with olives, salted almonds, or seafood on a hot afternoon is one of the great pleasures of life.
Then there is Albariño from Rías Baixas in Spain’s cooler and damper northwest. This is one of my favourite summer whites. It is aromatic, high in acidity, and often carrying flavors of citrus, peach, and a faint saline note redolent of its maritime roots on the Atlantic. It is crisp and flavourful without being heavy, and agreeable enough to win over most people who claim they “don’t really like white wine,” which is usually a symptom of having been served bad chardonnay at a relative’s wedding.
And if your idea of summer wine is decidedly not pink or white, consider Lambrusco, the sparkling red wine of northern Italy. Served chilled, it is fresh, fizzy, juicy, and a source of immense joy at the table. Some versions have a touch of residual sugar, others are fully dry, but the best examples combine bright berry fruit, lively acidity, and enough sparkle to make them dangerously easy to drink. It is surprisingly well suited to burgers, sausages, cured meats, and all the salty, smoky foods that contrast with its spry expression.
Summer wine is less a strict category than a broad style for a specific time and place. You want freshness, energy, and sufficient acidity to feel at ease in the sultry heat. Rosé happens to excel at that, but it is hardly alone. Whether your penchants lie with Provençal pinks, Spanish whites, salty sherries, or fizzy Italian reds, the season offers no shortage of good options.
***
Harry Khachatrian (<a href="https://x.com/harry1t6">@Harry1T6</a>) is a film critic for the Washington Examiner. He is a software engineer, holds a master’s degree from the University of Toronto, and writes about wine at <a href="https://www.betweenbottles.com/">BetweenBottles.com</a>.

GettyImages-523445070

The Wine Myth Keeping Men From The Perfect Summer Drink

Alcohol

Weekend Plans is our exclusive lifestyle feature where we highlight the real off-duty routines of the most exciting people in culture. 
This weekend, evolutionary behavioral scientist and savage satirist <a href="https://www.gadsaad.com/">Gad Saad</a> lends his time to The Daily Wire to discuss his New York Times bestseller “<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Suicidal-Empathy-Dying-Be-Kind/dp/0063446537">Suicidal Empathy: Dying to Be Kind</a>” and dish the details on the best barbecue, the comic genius behind a happy marriage, setting the tone with &#8217;70s soul, and why this Lebanese Canadian is America&#8217;s “ultimate family man.”
***
If the concept of “suicidal empathy” sounds familiar, you can thank Gad Saad. A frequent guest of “<a href="http://jrepodcast.com/guest/gad-saad/">The Joe Rogan Experience</a>,” <a href="https://www.prageru.com/presenters/gad-saad?gc_id=23574368327&amp;h_ga_id=&amp;h_ad_id=&amp;h_keyword_id=&amp;h_keyword=&amp;h_placement=&amp;gad_source=1&amp;gad_campaignid=23569095981&amp;gbraid=0AAAAADviHxF_xebQoWC3mxpobAmxlsjUQ&amp;gclid=Cj0KCQjwof_QBhCgARIsADaMzOezao9xFCYHLrrtgv55CMJRkmUCYlSztz6gkETU30u88dRt0gK3yVUaAo98EALw_wcB">PragerU</a> collaborator, and wearer of the occasional purple <a href="https://youtu.be/f39nBhLZEiU?t=296">wig to prove a point</a>, the man known as “<a href="https://jewishjournal.com/culture/arts/books/388547/the-gadfather-makes-an-offer-he-hopes-you-cant-refuse/">The Gadfather</a>” coined the term to describe compassion gone wild as he skillfully unpacked the personality trait that became society’s greatest threat. 
In tandem with Gad’s dizzyingly intellectual research on thought pathogens, he finds the sweet spot between academia and meme culture. My hard copy is now decorated with roughly 100 colorful page markers and dog-eared corners. I laughed out loud at “Geese for Foie Gras” as a mirror for civilizational seppuku and the mention of an actual university research grant to &#8220;decolonize light.” 
Gad brilliantly translates scholarly theories into phraseology anyone can understand. But you don’t have to be a genius to appreciate the professor’s <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r06A7A_vfKA&amp;t=155s">profound joy</a>, either. 
His story began in Lebanon. Gad&#8217;s family fled in 1975 at the start of the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/Lebanese-Civil-War">15-year civil war</a>, finding a new home in Montreal, Canada. Most recently, Gad secured an EB-1A green card, reserved for those of “<a href="https://montrealgazette.com/news/gad-saad-joe-rogan-leaving-montreal-united-states/">extraordinary ability</a>,” to relocate his wife and children to the U.S. The idea that the Saad gang might one day become American citizens appears to be running unopposed. 
When I ask Gad what he hopes readers take away from his work, he confirms empathy’s virtue, in moderation. “Adaptive empathy, meaning well-calibrated empathy rooted in an evolutionarily rational calculus, is a noble and laudable virtue,” he says. “We are a social species that has evolved the capacity for empathy. But suicidal empathy, consisting of its hyperactive firing, in the wrong situations and toward the wrong targets, will destroy our civilization if it continues to go unchecked.” 
I quickly flip to my favorite page … there it is: “Be kind as a default value,” Gad writes. But when needed, he says, “Activate your inner honey badger in defending truth.”  
A morning coffee walk-and-talk
“My public life can be intense, hectic, and quite stressful,” Gad confirms. He presently works as a scholar at the University of Mississippi, hosts “<a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-saad-truth-with-dr-saad/id1516343565">The Saad Truth with Dr. Saad</a>” podcast, and makes regular public appearances. Outspoken about his views, he’s vulnerable to antisemitic attacks and <a href="https://aristotlefoundation.org/book-reviews/the-road-to-hell-is-being-paved-with-suicidal-empathy/">death threats</a>. “My private life is the antithesis of that, namely, it is calm and serene. I need the protective sanctuary of my private life to be able to tackle all the stimuli that I face in the public arena.”
He’s dialed in a routine that makes getting out of bed totally worth it. “I wake up usually between 7:00 to 7:30 a.m.,” he explains. A steward of sunrises, he enjoys his first taste of caffeine with his number one lady. “On a typical day, I head off to the local café with my wife for our morning coffee cup. I then work on my laptop for three to four hours until I return home for lunch.” During outdoorsier seasons, this affords him the opportunity to get his steps, if he were ever in need of counting them. “If the weather is clement, my wife and I will walk to the café, 30 to 35 minutes each way.” 
The family man’s guide to quality time
I’m amazed that Gad ever has any free time. But he assures me he gets the most enjoyment from hanging out with his favorite people.
“I love to spend time with my wife and children,” Gad says. Maybe the fact that they rarely appear on his social media further clarifies how deeply they are cherished. “I am the ultimate family man.” 
As for the Saads’ favorite activities, the only requirement is that everyone get in on the fun. “We are always together as a family unit. We love to go to restaurants together, but our most frequent outing is to head off to a café to chat. We have wonderful conversations spanning countless topics.” When they’re craving connection with a refreshing change of scenery, they set out to explore the world. They&#8217;ve recently traveled to Portugal, Bermuda, and Israel.
On the chance that Gad finds himself with solo downtime, he nurtures a few passions he’s had since he was a kid. “I love to exercise, to play soccer, and to read and collect books,” he says. He’d beat anyone in a juggling contest (I have <a href="https://www.youtube.com/shorts/YiGqoLilyHE">receipts</a>).  
The secret to wedded bliss
Even casual followers of Gad know he’s totally in love with his wife. I wasn’t going to miss the chance to uncover why they act like flirty friends who can’t wait to share each other’s company. 
“The choice of a spouse is arguably the decision that will impart the greatest amount of happiness or misery in your life,” he says. “The secret to my happy marriage is that my wife is truly my best friend.” It’s obvious in the way they laugh with each other, decades into their relationship. “We love to spend time together. We have open lines of communication. We never go to bed angry at one another. We are respectful of one another.”
They’ve also nailed down who takes the reins in the kitchen. “My wife is an exceptional cook,” Gad says. “As such, she does all the cooking, and I do a lot of eating!” Reporting that he looks forward to anytime she grills up a juicy ribeye, he adds, “I convinced her to start a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYX0etLWQEi-cpyrpgkOWFg">cooking channel</a>, but then she decided that she did not enjoy being in the limelight even though I never filmed her face.” 
The couple’s easy chemistry might also be attributed to Gad’s congenial vibe. “I am always joking around,” he says. “They say that women love funny men; well, I count myself as a very funny guy so presumably this makes my wife happy.”
Mind fuel from a prominent thought leader
I’m curious about which book from Gad’s massive library might currently live on his nightstand. “A biography on Konrad Lorenz, the pioneer of the field of ethology and co-winner of the 1973 Nobel Prize,” he notes of his page-turner du jour.
Gad’s curious nature inspires him to pursue all sorts of interests. “I am a huge fan of the Philly Sound, a genre of soul music from the 1960s and 1970s. On any given day, you are likely to find me listening to The Stylistics and The Delfonics.” He even developed a friendship with Russell Thompkins Jr., the original lead singer of The Stylistics, who then appeared on <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aorkR10oP_s&amp;t=7s">Gad’s show</a>. 
Doling out a little out-of-office guidance to the greater wisdom-seeking collective, Gad taps into his 60-something years of experience. “Life is short and every moment is infinitely precious,” he says. “Do not waste time on silly matters and pursuits.”  
One last thing. “Three additional pieces of advice,&#8221; he says. &#8220;Read, read, and read.”

Punch 5-5 – Fly Me to the Moon-1-1

Weekend Plans with Gad Saad

gad saad

suicidal empathy

weekend plans

This article is part of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/upstream" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Upstream</a>, The Daily Wire’s new home for culture and lifestyle. Real human insight and human stories — from our featured writers to you.
***
When I clicked open an email from the Free Library of Philadelphia earlier this week, I figured one of two things had happened. Either I’d suddenly time-traveled back seven years, or I was hallucinating. Because isn’t <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/the-year-the-dei-tide-turned">DEI falling out of fashion</a> lately?
There’s proof that it is. But clearly not at libraries. This was the image the Free Library chose to advertise its summer reading program:
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The Free Library of Philadelphia is having a normal one. <a href="https://t.co/J0PXrABHUB">pic.twitter.com/J0PXrABHUB</a>
— Amanda Harding (@iamdeeda) <a href="https://x.com/iamdeeda/status/2062528997775351941?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 4, 2026</a></blockquote>
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It honestly gets funnier the longer you look at it. Every progressive group is subtly represented in a program that, ultimately, is aimed at children. 
The accompanying <a href="https://libwww.freelibrary.org/assets/pdf/programs/summerreading/activity-tracker/SUM26-activity-tracker.pdf">activity tracker</a> is full of ultra-woke suggested titles, including “Homebody” by Theo Parish, described as “a hopeful story of coming home to your nonbinary identity,” and “Into the Streets: A Young Person’s Visual History of Protest in the United States” by Marke Bieschke. 
Ubiquitous drag queen story hours nationwide, among other affronts to common decency, have already shown that public libraries were successfully hijacked by the radical Left years ago. But it’s still jarring to encounter something as benign as summer reading programs gone totally off the rails. 
The launch of these über-progressive summer reading initiatives comes at the same time Usha Vance, the second lady of the United States, is rolling out her summer reading challenge. The contrast is striking.
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Calling all readers: My Summer Reading Challenge is back! Visit <a href="https://t.co/KqGhZTJjUu">https://t.co/KqGhZTJjUu</a> TODAY to download your reading log and get started. Your next summer adventure is just one page away! <a href="https://t.co/isrw3QZ9FS">pic.twitter.com/isrw3QZ9FS</a>
— Second Lady Usha Vance (@SLOTUS) <a href="https://x.com/SLOTUS/status/2061422344229286168?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 1, 2026</a></blockquote>
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Predictably, this launch has been mostly ignored by mainstream media. But ABC did <a href="https://abcnews.com/US/usha-vance-unveils-2nd-annual-summer-reading-challenge/story?id=133469716">interview</a> the second lady to discuss the program.
“Last year it was an idea that we had really at the last minute as we were thinking about ways to enhance childhood literacy and get kids reading over the summer and sort of stave off some of the summer learning loss that traditionally happens every year,&#8221; Vance told the outlet. &#8220;So we did a little pilot program and it was a success beyond what we had hoped.”
“This year we&#8217;re having a big rollout all over the country,” she continued, mentioning partnerships with schools, libraries, and other institutions nationwide. (One of those is probably not the Free Library of Philadelphia, based on the type of content it&#8217;s promoting.)
Instead of recommending books about protests, gender fluidity, and whether rivers have feelings, Vance said the premise of the White House’s summer reading program is easy for parents to follow.
“Our summer reading challenge is really simple. All kids have to do is pick up 12 books, anything that they like,&#8221; the second lady told ABC. &#8220;If a kid likes reading about squirrels, as one did last year, read 12 books about squirrels. If a kid loves history, read books about history.&#8221;
&#8220;So you read those books, write them down on a log and send them to whitehouse.gov/read and we&#8217;ll receive them, send a certificate,” Vance added.
This basic and effective summer reading program doesn’t push an agenda. Instead, kids are encouraged to explore topics they care about and read books that correspond with their interests. Meanwhile, libraries nationwide are pushing progressive garbage to kids via summer reading programs. 
On the San Francisco Public Library’s list of <a href="https://sfpl.bibliocommons.com/v2/list/display/378227437/3014497577">22 recommended books</a> for grades 3 to 5, the only white character featured in the cover art is a girl learning the art of witchcraft. The Chicago Public Library <a href="https://chipublib.bibliocommons.com/v2/list/display/200049033/3014416370">suggests</a> a children&#8217;s version of Michelle Obama’s memoir, “Becoming.” 
And then there’s the Phoenix Public Library, whose <a href="https://www.phoenixpubliclibrary.org/browse/staff-picks/kids/summer-reading-lists/6th-to-8th-grade">list</a> of books for children in grades 6 through 8 includes “We’re in This Together” by activist Linda Sarsour, who is best known for co-organizing the Women’s March. 
“Sarsour shares the memories that shaped her into the activist she is today, and how these pivotal moments in her life led her to being an organizer in one of the largest single-day protests in US history,&#8221; the <a href="https://discover.phoenixpubliclibrary.org/search/card?recordId=6929133">description</a> reads. &#8220;From the Brooklyn bodega her father owned to the streets of Washington, DC, Linda&#8217;s story as a daughter of Palestinian immigrants is a moving portrayal of what it means to find your voice in your youth and use it for the good of others as an adult.”
Encouraging children to read in the summer is great. Subtly interspersing ultra-woke titles into their &#8220;to be read&#8221; piles is diabolical. This summer, it would be wise for parents to take a good, long look at their local library before signing up for any summer reading challenges. 
As for the Free Library of Philadelphia: 2019 called, and they want their performative activism back.

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