Free Republic

I've heard many versions of this story, but I’ll go with the one reportedly told by Dr. Abraham Twerski, a renowned psychiatrist and Orthodox rabbi. (I’ve trimmed and paraphrased it a bit.) The bearded Twerski goes to the airport in his Hasidic garb — the hat, the long coat, the buttoned white shirt. Another Jew, this one modernly dressed, is annoyed by Twerski and unloads on him: “What’s wrong with you? Must you insist on parading around in that medieval get-up as if it were Purim? Don’t you realize how ridiculous you look? You bring nothing but scorn and embarrassment...

For Americans, the first couple, or even the second couple, for that matter, offers a lens through which we work out our own complex feelings about the institution of marriage and the role of women. In their first hundred days, President Trump and Vice President Pence have given us the ultimate contrast: a couple who don’t live together and a couple who stay unusually — perhaps unnervingly — close.   The Trump and Pence marriages represent the jumble sale that is Republican values in 2017, from the thrice-married big-city philanderer with a habit of viewing women as ornaments to the...

Washington will swallow your soul if you let it. It’s a place where many moral compasses go to die. So maybe it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the Vice President of the United States is ridiculed when it’s reported that he’s spent his time in office choosing to live his life differently from the D.C. status quo. Since a Washington Post profile of Karen Pence, the vice president’s wife, appeared last week, critics have obsessed over a single line, which reported that, as of 2002, the vice president doesn’t dine alone with women other than his wife. At the...

“I don’t work with women. If they’re attractive, I’m too tempted. And if they’re not attractive, what’s the point?” A male partner at a law firm casually made this pronouncement one day at lunch, hardly looking up from his plate. Everyone laughed and went back to eating — in the rough-and-tumble world of DC law, it wasn’t even the most obnoxious thing said that day. But this is no laughing matter for the women whose career opportunities are impeded by men who cavalierly dismiss half of the labor force and insist that they’ve behaved honorably by doing so. This issue...

March 31, 2017 (TheBridgehead) -- Media figures, pundits, and commentators spend a decent portion of their time these days enthusiastically advocating for all sorts of new sexual lifestyles—their championing of gay marriage has quickly moved on to discussions surrounding the benefits of polyamory, the consensus they insist exists on transgenderism, and the rising trend of “open marriages.” So its hard to imagine what would shock these veteran bedroom journalists, who cut their teeth on reporting on Pride Parades, orgies, and unique marital arrangements. But it turns out that they have finally found something that has stunned them to their...

One more reason we should not be allowing the left to decide how marriages work in this culture If you don’t know anything at all about Christian ethics or faith-related teachings on marriage - and judging from the Twitterverse and fans of the Huffington Post, they don’t - you might find it strange that Mike Pence restrains his behavior in certain ways out of respect for his wife. Now, if you were a serious person, or even just a curious one, you might want to learn more about why he does these things. He’s had a pretty darn successful marriage,...

You have seen, I take it, that our vice president has outed himself as a cultural criminal of the first order by revealing that, like some conservative Christian men, he doesn’t put himself in situations where he could be tempted to compromise his marital vows, or be plausibly accused of same. He never eats alone with another woman, or goes to events where alcohol is served unless his wife is with him. This is pretty quaintly conservative, admittedly, and not something I would do. But I can’t fault the guy, especially given the life politicians have to live. If I...

RUSH: I mentioned just in passing right before the end of a segment that the Twitter storm erupted last night when it was learned the details of the marriage of Mike Pence and his wife, Karen. Leftists are appalled that Pence does not eat in public with women without his wife along. They’re outraged at this. You should have seen the Twitter storm. He does not attend events with alcohol without her at his side. Now, let me ask a question. If some leftists had a very, very open marriage — well, let’s look at the Obamas. Do you know...

[snip] Gov. Mike Pence is campaigning out west for Donald Trump, but the loss of a family pet has his heart in the Hoosier state. “Heavy hearts today,” Pence tweeted Wednesday. “Our beagle of 13 years passed away quietly last night. Rest in Peace, Maverick. We will miss you.”