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"Be my Mommy!" the banner in the CVS window read, part of a display of surplus Baby Emma dolls. It was the fifth day of Christmas, and I noticed during Mass -- shortly before I went to the drugstore to pick up prescriptions -- that one of the petitions during the service was for those struggling to have a happy, peaceful Christmas. We prayed for the sick, the grieving, the lonely. We didn't pray for the orphans, though, I thought during Mass. I did, in my heart, but seeing the Baby Emma display reminded me to do so again. Over...

Here are a few signposts for pursuing a good life and finding peace. "By three methods we may learn wisdom: first, by reflection, which is noblest; second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest." That's commonly attributed to Confucius, whose wisdom I'm imitating. An awful lot of what I know has come from the harsh lash of experience, even when my own thoughts sufficiently counseled me to avoid the pitfalls lying directly ahead. Reflection, I've found, is most gratifying, but some of us will insist on exploring the jagged roads of hostile experience, if...

Does America seem to be more divided today than any other point in time since the Civil War? It would seem so, and it is by design. Over the years politicians have lost sight of the fact that they are civil servants and not rulers. Clearly there is an issue when those who hold office want for nothing and that makes them feel superior to their fellow citizens. In turn, those in office view the citizenry not as constituents to serve, but as a means to an end. We are here to cast our votes for them to ensure they...

You sometimes see newspaper headlines to the effect that, say, a “50 megawatt solar power plant” is being constructed. But you shouldn’t count on getting anything remotely approaching 50 megawatts of power from such an installation. Energy expert Isaac Orr explains: Data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) show that production from solar panels plummets in the winter. The graph below shows the percentage of electricity generated by solar panels in Minnesota compared to their potential output. This percentage is called a capacity factor in electricity-industry lingo. ... Isaac’s analysis applies specifically to Minnesota, but bear in mind that...

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**SNIP** “I’m ecstatic about the Presidential Center’s location in Woodlawn, especially since Obama was our first African American president,” said Woodlawn homeowner John Odom in an interview with The Maroon during the town hall. “I just hope he doesn’t unintentionally displace his own African American community and cause an influx of Gold Coast residents. 63rd Street was once a thriving, safe African American community, and I would like to see the Obama library bring back some of that.” Patricia Tatum, a longtime Woodlawn homeowner and former nurse at UChicago Medicine, suspects that rising property taxes and pressure from land developers...

Source: Townhall Media/Julio RosasI want to add a few notes to my Christmas weekend column on the Census Bureau's July 2021 state population estimates and what stories they tell about growth and decline in the first 15 months of the coronavirus pandemic. THE IMMIGRATION BUST The big news is about immigration. In the years from 2010 to 2019, the Census Bureau recorded an increase in "international migration" -- immigration, in layman's language -- of 873,000. For the 15 months from April 2020 to July 2021, the corresponding number is only 257,000 -- down 71% from the average of the years...

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot was slammed on Twitter after she and her wife, Amy Eshleman, posted a video wishing a 'joyous Kwanzaa' ... The backlash comes as Lightfoot is accused of ignoring the city's surge in violent crimes, including a 25-year high murder rate, with 767 homicides in the city so far this year. Last week, she begged Attorney General Merrick Garland to send ATF agents to the city for six months to help get illegal guns off the street after she slashed the police budget ... Twitter users were quick slam Lightfoot, saying the the principles of Kwanzaa -...

"'Hope' is the thing with feathers / That perches in the soul," wrote Emily Dickinson. "And sore must be the storm / That could abash the little Bird / That kept so many warm." Staring ahead on New Year's Eve, at what appear to be the coming storms of 2022, this once-hopeful country is going to have to fall back on its reserves. What storms? Suddenly, the omicron variant of the coronavirus is sweeping the nation, shutting schools, shops, restaurants and bars that were only lately reopened. In this last week of 2021, new infections twice set records. Is a...

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From Fox News: "Gov. Ralph Northam, D-Va., and Democratic Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney announced Thursday that state and city governments had reached an agreement to transfer the ownership of the city's recently removed Confederate monuments to the Black History Museum. The museum intends to partner with The Valentine and other cultural institutions in Richmond to "determine the proper future use of each piece in the collection," according to a Thursday press release from the City of Richmond. The museum will also receive the empty pedestals on which the statues stood."

Our nation’s capital, Washington, D.C., is joining fellow cities NYC, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Boston in mandating vaccine requirements for indoor spaces. Come January 15th, the District of Columbia will adopt this draconian measure—one that will ultimately drive a deeper wedge between Washingtonians. Lest The District’s policy makers forget: this effort won’t mitigate the spread of the omicron variant. But they’ll proceed with it anyway. Who will be adversely impacted by this new policy? Sadly, the city’s black residents—who comprise 46 percent of the population— will be disproportionately targeted. Fox News reporter Houston Keene noted just 39 percent of its...

The series of measures will reduce annual personal income tax by 110 billion yuan (US$17.3 billion), according to China’s State Council Preferential taxes on year-end bonuses will stay in place until the end of 2023, while lower taxation on equity incentives will continue through next year The Chinese economy still needs policy support and tax cuts are an important stimulus, Jiao Ruijin China will extend some personal income tax breaks, with certain measures to benefit high earners more, as the government seeks to encourage household spending as part of efforts to stimulate economic growth. Preferential taxes on year-end bonuses will...

In George Orwell’s Animal Farm, the famous allegorical novella about Stalin’s Soviet Union, two pigs begin a revolution by announcing that “All animals are equal.” However, as they become increasingly powerful and start perceiving enemies around them, that slogan changes to the now-famous, “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.” When it comes to equality before the law, events in federal courts in D.C. and Portland establish that violent leftist animals are way more equal than the conservative animals arrested for events on January 6. Beginning after George Floyd died while in police custody (apparently...

Alaska GOP Gov. Mike Dunleavy on Thursday accepted former President Donald Trump's endorsement, which Trump had vowed to rescind if Dunleavy endorses Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska. "Please tell the President thank you for the endorsement. With regard to the other issue, please tell the President he has nothing to worry about," Dunleavy said in a statement referring to Murkowski and put out by Trump. Trump made Murkowski a top target in next year's midterm elections after the senator voted to convict him in his impeachment trial earlier this year. "This is why Mike Dunleavy of Alaska has been,...

Germany will pull the plug on three of its last six nuclear power stations on Friday, another step towards completing its withdrawal from nuclear power as it turns its focus to renewables. The government decided to speed up its phasing out of nuclear power following Japan's Fukushima reactor meltdown in 2011 when an earthquake and tsunami destroyed the coastal plant in the world's worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl 25 years earlier. The reactors of Brokdorf, Grohnde and Gundremmingen C, run by utilities E.ON and RWE, will be shut down on Friday after three-and-a-half decades in operation. The last three nuclear...

A new climate panic is gripping the far-Left profiteers of doom. Those few of Them who are climate scientists have made fame and fortune by telling us the world is toast unless the once-free West (though responsible for only a fifth of the world’s sins of emission) commits economic hara-kiri. The cost of placating climate Communism is already in the quadrillions. However, They are becoming aware that Their official climate narrative is rooted in a grave error of physics – an error so elementary that it can be described here. At a vital point in Their calculation of how much...

Authorities in Illinois are searching for an "armed and dangerous" man after a police officer was shot and killed and another was wounded during a call Wednesday. The officers responded to a Comfort Inn at about 9:40 p.m. "for reported dogs barking in an unattended vehicle which was parked in the parking lot," Bradley Police Chief Donald W. Barber said Thursday morning in a statement. Officers found the room where the owner of the vehicle was staying and "initiated conversation," according to the statement. During the conversation, one of the people in the room attacked the officers, and shot both...

Leading up to the Christmas holidays, we were treated to incessant Christmas songs, one of which is Winter Wonderland. This year, instead of Santa Claus handing out presents in a winter wonderland, we had Dr Anthony Fauci handing out threats of another year of bah and humbug. The above song lyrics can be modified this year in honor of Dr Fauci, “He’ll say, are you vaxxed? We’ll say no man. So you can stay at home all alone.” Dr Fauci said just that, telling Americans to disinvite unvaccinated family and friends from gathering, instead staying home, all to avoid the...

Initially, the restrictions had allowed one person per household to venture out once every two days to buy food and other basic supplies. But the rules were tightened on Monday - banning residents from leaving at all except to get tested for Covid-19. In past days, people have taken to the Weibo social media platform to call for help with getting food and other essentials. Many said they hadn't received their government supplies yet. "I heard other districts are gradually getting supplies, but I didn't get anything. My compound bans us from going out. I ordered some groceries online four...