How Will You Commemorate Memorial Day?

Families, communities, states, and nations are stronger when individuals commemorate Memorial Day. It is commemorated by visiting cemeteries, memorials, participating in parades, and gathering with family members. It is a federal holiday that unofficially marks the first day of summer.

According to this site, Memorial Day was established to celebrate and honor the men and women who lost their lives during combat while serving in the United States military. Once held on May 30 every year, since 1971 it has been held on the last Monday of May annually. 

Memorial Day is a federal holiday that celebrates and honors the men and women who died while serving in the U.S. military. Observed every year on the last Monday of May, Memorial Day was originally called Decoration Day in a nod to the tradition of placing flowers, or other decorative displays at gravesites.

The origins of Memorial Day date back to the Civil War, which claimed the lives of some 620,000 soldiers. In the aftermath, devastated communities sought to honor its dead. The commemoration caught on across the nation, eventually expanding to honor fallen soldiers from all wars, but it wasn’t until 1971 that Memorial Day became a federal holiday….

Whereas Memorial Day commemorates deceased U.S. soldiers, Veterans Day honors all former members of the military with an emphasis on living veterans. [Armed Forces Day honors all men and women currently serving in the military.] ….

The Civil War, which ended in the spring of 1865, claimed more lives than any conflict in U.S. history and required the establishment of the country’s first national cemeteries. By the late 1860s, Americans in various towns and cities had begun holding springtime tributes to these countless fallen soldiers, decorating their graves with flowers and reciting prayers.

It is unclear exactly where this tradition originated; numerous different communities might have independently initiated the memorial gatherings. Some records show that a group of formerly enslaved people in Charleston, South Carolina, organized one of the earliest Memorial Day commemorations less than a month after the Confederacy surrendered in 1865. A year earlier, three women in Pennsylvania had decorated soldiers’ graves in their town.

Nevertheless, in 1966, the federal government declared Waterloo, New York, the official birthplace of Memorial Day. Waterloo – which first celebrated the day on May 5, 1866 – was chosen because it hosted an annual, community-wide event, during which businesses closed and residents decorated the graves of soldiers with flowers and flags.

 

Which Is Best, Regular Time or Daylight Savings Time?

The liberty principle for this Freedom Friday concerns time and the effects of daylight savings time. The time may come when we will no longer need to change our clocks twice each year. “Spring forward, fall back” may no longer be necessary. Moving to daylight saving time may have been an innovative idea at one time, but it may no longer be one.

According to Jennifer Galardi at The Daily Signal, few people enjoy the biannual shift in time. Most of us enjoy having longer daylight hours in the evening, but other people do not like to get up in the dark mornings. Her article contains other interesting tidbits previously unknown to me. 

It is this lack of consensus, as well as significant pushback from health experts, that has stalled the Sunshine Protection Act (HR 139) in the House Energy and commerce Committee since the beginning of 2025. The broader effort to pass similar versions of the bill has been ongoing since 2018.

Now, it looks as if the sun will rise again on an amendment to make DST permanent for all states, and without much notice.

The House Committee on Energy and Commerce late Tuesday night announced a markup meeting for Thursday, May 21, at 10 a.m. On the agenda was a proposal to fold the language of the Sunshine Protection Act into the Motor Vehicle Modernization Act (HR 7389).

This latest attempt would mandate permanent daylight saving time in all states that don’t self-exempt before its effective date, and it would prevent self-exemption after its effective date. The debate is not whether to stop changing the clocks every March and November. Most people, including members of Congress and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, despise the biannual switch. It’s which “version” of time to keep.

The issue doesn’t fall along traditional party lines. It’s not a Right or Left issue. It’s more of a “north vs. south” battle.

Both aforementioned politicians who want to “lock the clock” on daylight saving time are from states below the Mason-Dixon line, as are many of the supporters of the act. States such as Florida, South Carolina, and Alabama feel the warmth of the sun for more time every day in the winter months.

Although the disparity is flipped in the summer because of the Earth’s tilt, Northern states would really bear the brunt of permanent daylight savings time in winter, with the sun not rising in winter until 9 a.m. in some locations. That’s brutal for school-aged kids and anyone who does not have the luxury of sleeping in until the sun rises, and many Northern state legislatures, including Massachusetts, New York, and Alaska [news to me], oppose the change.

This is not merely a geographic issue – it is a fundamental tradeoff between public health and commercial interests.

Congress expanded daylight saving time in two phases: first in 1986, when it moved the start from late April to early April, and again in the Energy Policy Act of 2005, which shifted the schedule in 2007 to run from the second Sunday in March through the first Sunday in November.

These decisions were not based on human health, grassroots demand, or even policy to save energy, as some claim. They were made as concessions to the candy and golf industries.

Both major extensions of daylight-saving time were driven by targeted lobbying. In the mid-1980s, a coalition of commercial interests – retail and Chamber of Commerce groups, outdoor recreation industries, and tourism businesses – pushed Congress to extend DST beginning earlier in April to make more money during the evening hours.

The 2005 expansion was heavily backed by the golf industry as well as retail and outdoor recreation groups. The National Confectioner’s Association also supported pushing the DST calendar past Halloween because its members stood to benefit from an extra hour of trick-or-treating – and candy consumption.

Politicians like Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., claim that it is “better for our physical and mental health” to have more sunshine in the later hours. This is consistently proven false by medical experts. In fact, the data points to the exact opposite.

Misalignment of clocks from the sun’s natural position in the sky has been estimated to decrease sleep duration by an average of 19 minutes every night throughout the duration of the DST observation, per a 2019 study. Such misalignment has been found to decrease productivity and earnings up to 4.5% per a 2015 study. Even worse, this misalignment has also been observed to increase fatal vehicular accidents significantly, by 21.8%, resulting in an average loss of $1.8 billion annually, per a 2022 study.

According to a position statement from the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, permanent standard time should replace daylight savings time due to “evidence [that] supports the distinct benefits of standard time for health and safety, while also underscoring the potential harms that result from seasonal time changes to and from daylight savings time.”

Despite the testimony of experts, many in Congress have unabashedly claimed it is great for communities’ bottom line with “more business” to “boost the economy.” However, one study shows that worker productivity decreases during the transition to daylight saving time. Plus, the MAHA movement has made clear that sacrificing Americans’ health to boost consumption (particularly candy!) and line industry pockets is not a tradeoff politicians should make…..

The push to standardize what is not standard – or healthy – is a mistake, particularly for certain geographic areas that will suffer the most. Public policy should reflect the natural order – not manipulate it for profit.

Did you learn something new about time and time changes? I did. Before reading this article, I thought that permanent Daylight Savings Time would be great. Now, I lean toward full-time natural time.

 

What Does the Trump-IRS Settlement Mean?

No one can complain about President Donald Trump being unable to multi-task. While he oversees the situation in Iran, visits China, and indicts Raol Castro, he also delivers the commencement address at the United States Coast Guard Academy and agrees to withdraw the $10 billion lawsuit that he filed against the IRS for leaking his private tax documents.

Lauren Irwin reported on the settlement in her article published at the Deseret News. As part of the agreement, the Department of Justice has agreed to give “President Donald Trump, his family and his businesses immunity from ever being investigated by the Internal Revenue Service over past tax issues.” This does not say anything about current and future tax issues, but past tax issues cannot be investigated. 

This agreement is “part of a deal the DOJ made when creating a$1.8 billion fund to compensate people or organizations who were prosecuted by past administrations for what the Trump administration says were political purposes.

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, who was grilled by lawmakers on Capitol Hill on Tuesday, would not rule out the possibility that people who participated in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol will be considered for payouts from the new fund, per The Associated Press.

The news about the IRS not being able to prosecute the Trump family and organization was quietly added to the press release and was first reported by Politico.

On Monday, it was revealed that Trump would be moving to withdraw a $10 billion lawsuit he had filed against the IRS over a leak of his old tax returns.

The suit was filed earlier this year, but as part of the nine-page settlement agreement Monday, the administration announced the creation of the billion-dollar fund to compensate allies who they say were mistreated by the Biden administration.

A one-page settlement agreement was expanded Tuesday and is an unprecedented step that the administration has taken, benefiting the president and his family directly by saying the IRS is “forever barred and precluded” from pursuing investigations into Trump, “related or affiliated individuals,” trusts and businesses related to the president and their past tax information.

The document was signed by Blanche, who made no mention of the addition when he testified before the Senate on Tuesday.

Trump filed the lawsuit against the IRS in his personal capacity and not on behalf of the federal government. His lawyers moved in April to ask the judge to pause the case while they worked to reach a settlement.

The DOJ said that Trump will receive a formal apology from the IRS over the leak of his tax records but no monetary payment of damages.

DOJ spokesperson Natalie Baldassarre said in a statement to the Deseret News that it is customary for both sides of a case to have executed waivers “of a variety of claims that were or could have been brought.”

“There would be little point in settling several significant claims if either party could simply turn around and seek to initiative more adverse claims that could have been pursued previously,” she said.

Democrats hope to block ‘weaponization’ fund.

House Judiciary Democrats said on Monday they had filed a motion to block the $1.8 billion fund and asked a judge to step in and stop the administration from “engaging in collusive lawsuits.”

On Tuesday, the group of Democrats called the IRS’s exception for Trump a “super-pardon,” and said it was a “total free ride.”

Ranking members Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., and Rep. Richard Neal, D-Mass., said they were demanding Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Blanche and the IRS CEO “preserve records and provide answers” about the fund and the agreement given to the Trump family. The Democrats say that a president has never pursued corruption “this brazenly or on such a colossal scale.”

Two law enforcement officers who protected the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, filed a lawsuit suing the Trump administration to block the implementation of the fund. Harry Dunn, a former member of the U.S. Capitol Police, and Daniel Hodges, a current member of the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Police Department, say the new fund goes against the Constitution.

The officers argued the fund would fuel violent groups.

However, Trump, speaking to reporters Wednesday, said the people who would benefit from the fund were “destroyed” and went to jail, their families were ruined and they “committed suicide.”

“The Obama administration started it and the Biden administration, was horrible in terms of what they’ve done to people is incredible,” he said. “And we’re reimbursing those people for their legal fees and for their costs and for anybody involved.”

 

 

Do You Want to Learn More about the American Founding?

With 2026 being the 250^th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, it is good for Americans to learn more about this historic national document. Dr. Matthew Brogdon, senior director and Miller Family Chair in the Center for Constitutional Studies at Utah Valley University, shared his opinion about the importance of the Declaration. 

The so-called Olive Branch Petition, published a year earlier as a last-ditch effort to make the colonists’ case to the crown, had been copied out in manuscript on parchment and signed by the delegates. That hand-delivered document, a personal appeal to the king – who refused to read it – can be seen today at the British National Archives.

By contrast, Congress hired a Philadelphia printer, John Dunlap, to print 200 copies of the Declaration of Independence as broadsides meant for wide public distribution. Copies were sent to each colony’s legislature and to George Washington’s Continental Army, then camped out in Manhattan awaiting a British invasion. Three copies still reside in the British National Archives, but not because Congress bothered to send them. They were collected by British officers in North America and sent to the ministry in London.

The “engrossed” – or signed – copy of the Declaration of Independence on display at the U.S National Archives actually came later, almost as an afterthought, and remained rolled up among documents possessed by federal officials for decades. No one outside that small circle of bureaucrats would have seen the engrossed copy until five decades later, when William Stone produced a copperplate engraving at the behest of the State Department, allowing the handwritten text to be readily copied and distributed.

Charles Thomason, the secretary of the Congress in 1776, even pasted a copy of the Dunlap broadside into the official journal, as if emphasizing that the declaration is a public document for dissemination, not a missive from North American subjects to the crown.

The declaration rapidly proliferated through the ordinary operation of a free press, as colonial printers churned out innumerable copies in newspapers and broadsides. Their counterparts in England and Europe followed, and by the fall of 1776, the entire reading public of Europe had encountered the declaration’s immortal words.

In America then – and in modern times – the Declaration of Independence sits at the center of civic life. It sets a high bar for good government. Our national squabbles and scrums are routinely about whether we as a people and our governments live up to that standard.

In the midst of our national crisis over slavery, and while he himself was cut off from the blessings of American citizenship by the color line, the great orator Frederick Douglass urged his audience to hold fast to the Declaration of Independence as the “ring-bolt to the chain of your nation’s destiny…. The principles contained in that instrument are saving principles. Stand by those principles, be true to them on all occasions, in all places, against all foes, and at whatever cost.”

While Americans spend a great deal of time arguing over the principles of equality, representative government, and the God-given rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, we spend precious little time in our educational system learning about them.

These saving principles of our national freedom – the “ringbolt,” as Douglass termed them – did not appear out of thin air. They were and are the hard-won result of long experimentation and serious thinking. They are the fruit of Western civilization in all its complexity, building on biblical religious traditions, classical civic republicanism, natural rights political philosophy and the English legal tradition that gave us the blessings of the common law. Few Americans receive a civic and humane education sufficient to appreciate and savor this constitutional and intellectual inheritance. Indeed, few universities possess a faculty eager to teach it.

As we celebrate the semi-quincentennial of American independence, the time is ripe to recover our love of the intellectual and political tradition that bequeathed us the American Founding. And not just for those fortunate enough to find their way into a classroom where that tradition is being faithfully taught. Like the Declaration, which was sent out into the world for everyone to read, Utah Valley University’s Center for constitutional Studies is offering free master classes to anyone who wants to learn more about the Declaration and the ideas that gave birth to the American experiment in self-government.

Each class, taught by professors from UVU, BYU and the University of Oxford, will introduce viewers to the key ideas and history that animate the fundamental document of American independence….

You can find information about the Declaration classes at this site. 

Who Is Spencer Pratt?

My VIP for this week is Spencer Pratt, Republican campaigning for mayor of Los Angeles. As Brooke Brandtjen, “It is rare that mayoral campaigns receive national attention, but Spencer Pratt’s bid for mayor of Los Angeles is an exception.” 

Since his initial campaign announcement in January, Pratt has been gaining momentum and is now polling in second place behind incumbent Mayor Karen Bass (D). His campaign has primarily focused on restoring the city to its former glory, particularly in the wake of the damage from the horrific Palisades fires of 2025.

If politicians want to connect with voters, especially the next generation of voters, they will have to become good communicators online.

Two weeks ago, he uploaded his now-viral campaign ad featuring the hit song “Not Like Us,” showing the untouched properties of Mayor Bass and City Councilwoman Nithya Raman. The video then showcases the charred ruins where Pratt’s home previously stood, along with the trailer he now resides in.

Whatever the fate of Pratt’s campaign, he has hit on a messaging strategy that right-wing candidates would do well to emulate going forward if they want to be successful in the digital age.

Conservatives have had trouble breaking out of their image as out-of-touch intellectuals. Pratt’s message has more emotional impact. And his language is assertive. In the past, Republican leaders like George W. Bush, Mitt Romney, and Mike Pence had a cultural reputation for being passive. Pratt’s add makes him look like something out of the “John Wick” action series.

What Can You Do Against the SPLC?

The topic of discussion for this Constitution Monday is the importance of an honest, law-abiding justice system that holds every individual and organization to the same standards. In particular, the topic is how to hold the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) accountable. Tyler O’Neil explained the following in excerpts from an update of his 2020 book, What You Can Do to Hold the Southern Poverty Law Center Accountable. He explains the history of SPLC, why the organization faces criminal charges, and what you and I can do against SPLC. 

Back in 2019, the SPLC smeared conservative Christian groups as “anti-LGBT hate groups,” [its education arm] Teaching Tolerance was spreading critical race theory and transgender ideology, and the SPLC was trying to convince donor-advised funds to blacklist “hate groups.”

In the intervening years, however, things only got worse….

In 2023, the SPLC released its “hat map” for 2022, and it included 702 “antigovernment extremist groups.” Prominent among these “antigovernment extremists” was the “anti-student inclusion movement.” The “hate map” featured no fewer than 230 chapters of Moms for Liberty, along with the policy group Parents Defending Education.

The next year, the SPLC added groups led by medical professionals, such as Do No Harm and the Society for Evidence-Based Gender Medicine, to the “hate map,” branding them “anti-LGBTQ hate groups” because they oppose experimental transgender “medicine” to make men appear female and vice versa. The SPLC even branded Gays Against Groomers – a group of lesbian, gay, and bisexual people who oppose the sexualization of children and transgender ideology – an “anti-LGBTQ hate group,” suggesting that their key target of hate is … themselves.

The following year, the center added Turning Point USA, the largest conservative grassroots youth organization in the country, to the map, stating that its “primary strategy is sowing and exploiting fear that white Christian supremacy is under attack.” The SPLC also added PragerU, a conservative group that makes You Tube videos to educate the public, to the map….

Despite the SPLC’s many scandals, President Joe Biden’s administration welcomed this morally bankrupt smear factory with open arms….

Documents showed that R.G. Cravens, manager of research and analysis at the SPLC’s Intelligence Project, spoke at a conference for Justice Department prosecutors on Nov. 7, 2023. A program for the event noted that Cravens would focus on “the anti-LGBTQ movement” and “help investigators and prosecutors identify potential evidence and motivations for bias crime.”

Under President Donald Trump, the FBI has officially distanced itself from the SPLC. FBI Director Kash Patel told The Daily Signal that the SPLC’s “disgraceful record makes them unfit for any FBI partnership. Even so, Democrats’ defenses of the SPLC suggest that it may return to federal influence should another Democrat follow President Trump in the White House in 2029….

Why, exactly, does the SPLC face criminal charges?

Before acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and FBI Director Kash Patel announced the criminal charges on April 21, 2026, the SPLC put out its own statement. The SPLC announced that it faced a criminal investigation for what it described as the use of “paid confidential informants to gather credible intelligence on extremely violent groups.”

SPLC Interim CEO Bryan Fair said the informants were “necessary” to protect the SPLC from “countless credible threats.” He added that while the SPLC fed information to law enforcement, it did not “share our use of informants broadly with anyone.” He said the group no longer works with paid informants, even though they previously “saved lives.”

The indictment claims, however, that the SPLC was funding the very “hate” it claimed it exists to destroy. The indictment refers to the payees as “field sources” or “Fs.”

The list incudes F-37, “a member of the online leadership chat group that planned the 2017 ‘Unite the Right’ event in Charlottesville, Virginia and attended the event at the direction of the SPLC.” The indictment states that this field source “made racist postings under the supervision of the SPLC and helped coordinate transportation to the event for several attendees.” Between 2015 and 2023, the SPLC allegedly paid this field source more than $270,000.

The SPLC does not face charges merely for paying members of white nationalist groups, but for defrauding donors, lying to banks, and conspiring to cover up the activity….

The indictment confirms my suspicions that the SPLC had not just been exaggerating “hate” by smearing conservatives, but also by supporting racist extremists. It also underlines the key warning of “Making Hate Pay”: that the SPLC has become a corrupt smear factory. If the SPLC lied to banks, as the indictment suggests, it will be very difficult for the center to weasel its way out of a guilty verdict….

What You Can Do Against SPLC

If you work at a company that works with [the software company] Benevity, please consider asking your employer to opt out of using the SPLC “hate map” filter.

If you notice Learning for Justice materials in your school, please speak up.

If you worked for a company that the SPLC and its allies bullied into blacklisting “hate groups,” and are willing to speak on record or anonymously, I’d love to hear from you.

If you hear someone considering giving to the SPLC, please let them know how corrupt this smear factory is.

The Trump administration and conservatives increasingly know the truth about the SPLC – we need to make it so obvious that Democrats and the Left cannot ignore it.

  

Why Does God Give Us Moral Agency or the Power to Choose?

My Come Follow Me studies for this week took me to the book of Deuteronomy (Deuteronomy 6-8; 15; 18; 29-30; 34) to Moses’ repeating what the Lord told the Israelites forty years earlier. The title of this lesson is “Beware Lest Thou Forget the Lord,” and the following information introduced the lesson. 

Moses’ earthly ministry began on a mountain, when God spoke to him from a burning bush (see Exodus 3:1-10). It also ended on a mountain, more than 40 years later, when God gave him a glimpse of the promised land from the top of Mount Nebo (see Deuteronomy 34:1-4). Moses had spent his life preparing the children of Israel to enter that promised land, and the book of Deuteronomy records his final instructions, reminders, exhortations, and pleadings with the Israelites. Reading his words makes it clear that the real object of Moses’s ministry – the preparation the people needed – wasn’t about wilderness survival, conquering enemies, or building a nation. It was about learning to love God, obey Him, and remain loyal to Him. That’s the preparation we all need to enter the promised land of eternal life. So although Moses never set foot in the “land flowing with milk and honey” (Exodus 3:8), because of his faith and faithfulness, he did enter the promised land that God has prepared for all those who follow Him.

Some principles taught in this scripture block are (1) “Love the Lord thy God with all thine heart” (Deuteronomy 6:4-7; 8:2-5, 11-17; 29:18-20; 30:6-10, 14-20); (2) “Beware lest thou forget the Lord” (Deuteronomy 6:4-12, 20-25); (3) Helping people in need involves generous hands and willing hearts (Deuteronomy 15:1-15); (4) Moses was “like unto” Jesus Christ (Deuteronomy 18:15-19); (5) The Lord invites me to choose between good and evil (Deuteronomy 29:9; 30:15-20).

This essay will discuss principle #5 about using our agency to choose between good and evil. We will begin by looking at those scripture verses.

Deuteronomy 29:9

9 Keep therefore the words of this covenant, and do them, that ye may prosper in all that ye do.

Deuteronomy 30:15-20

15 ¶ See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil;

16 In that I command thee this day to love the Lord thy God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgments, that thou mayest live and multiply: and the Lord thy God shall bless thee in the land whither thou goest to possess it.

17 But if thine heart turn away, so that thou wilt not hear, but shalt be drawn away, and worship other gods, and serve them;

18 I denounce unto you this day, that ye shall surely perish, and that ye shall not prolong your days upon the land, whither thou passest over Jordan to go to possess it.

19 I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:

20 That thou mayest love the Lord thy God, and that thou mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him: for he is thy life, and the length of thy days: that thou mayest dwell in the land which the Lord sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.

These verses tell us that we will be blessed and “prosper in all that ye do” if we (1) keep the covenants that we make with God, (2) love the Lord, (3) walk in His ways, (4) keep His commandments, statutes, and judgments, (5) obey His voice, and (6) cleave unto Him.

Now we will compare the last words of Moses to the final teachings of Lehi to his family in

2 Nephi 2:26-29; 4:4.

2 Nephi 2:26-29

26 And the Messiah cometh in the fulness of time, that he may redeem the children of men from the fall. And because that they are redeemed from the fall they have become free forever, knowing good from evil; to act for themselves and not to be acted upon, save it be by the punishment of the law at the great and last day, according to the commandments which God hath given.

27 Wherefore, men are free according to the flesh; and all things are given them which are expedient unto man. And they are free to choose liberty and eternal life, through the great Mediator of all men, or to choose captivity and death, according to the captivity and power of the devil; for he seeketh that all men might be miserable like unto himself.

28 And now, my sons, I would that ye should look to the great Mediator, and hearken unto his great commandments; and be faithful unto his words, and choose eternal life, according to the will of his Holy Spirit;

29 And not choose eternal death, according to the will of the flesh and the evil which is therein, which giveth the spirit of the devil power to captivate, to bring you down to hell, that he may reign over you in his own kingdom.

2 Nephi 4:4

4 For the Lord God hath said that: Inasmuch as ye shall keep my commandments ye shall prosper in the land; and inasmuch as ye will not keep my commandments ye shall be cut off from my presence.

These verses tell us that we have freedom to choose good or evil because of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. We can choose good or evil -- captivity and death or liberty and eternal life – because God gave us agency. He gave us the power to choose while we lived with Him in the premortal world, and He allowed us to take agency with us when we came to earth.

Lehi also taught his family that Satan (the devil) would have power to tempt us, but we have power over him if we choose righteousness. Like Moses, Lehi tells us that we will “prosper in the land” IF we keep God’s commandments.

God wants us to use our moral agency to choose righteousness because we love God. It is not enough to say and do the “correct” things. God wants us to desire to do the correct things and choose to do them because we love Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.

 

Are Men to Blame for Low Marriage Rates?

Families, communities, states, and nations are stronger when parents prepare their children for marriage. Yet, marriage rates continue to fall. Liberals and progressives claim that men are to blame for the low rates of marriage, but marriage experts Maria Baer and Brad Wilcox do not agree.

It’s all men’s fault.

It’s a popular catchphrase in liberal circles generally, but especially in conversations about marriage. Whenever we at the Institute for Family Studies or the Wheatley Institute publish new research about falling marriage rates (or declining dating trends), progressive thinkers seem to instinctively rush to the defense of women, as if we’re casting all blame on them….

Believe me, we get it. We have heard from plenty of liberal and conservative young women that too many men aren’t measuring up. But pinning all the blame on working-class men leaves elite liberals free to avoid facing their own responsibility for the present cultural moment they’ve helped shape.

Consider, for example, the gutting of the Boy Scouts, one of the few institutions in America dedicated to turning boys into virtuous young men. After being pressed by left-leaning elites for decades to go coed, the organization said in 2017 that it would begin admitting girls. It filed for bankruptcy three years later.

Since the 1960s, masculinity itself has been viewed with increased skepticism, maligned in the mainstream media and the ivory tower, while in the real world, its virtues – including strength, initiative and chivalry – were still expected and demanded in the workplace and yes, even in dating….

Men and women build culture together, and the liberal thinkers and writers who place the blame for falling marriage rates squarely at the feet of today’s men ought to reckon with the norms and trends – many of which they’ve expressly had a hand in – that have brought us to this moment where too many men don’t seem marriageable. (It’s worth noting that many young men tend to agree with this assessment: our recent study found that nearly half – 46% -- of young American men ages 18-23 say they think of themselves as “a failure.”)

It is true that many more men are “failing to launch” today than in prior generations. Women now outnumber men in higher education by a ratio of almost 3 to 2. Fewer young men are working, and a rising number are stoned on the sofa. Fully 1 in 5 are living with their parents. For a young woman hoping to marry, these trends shrink the pool of available and attractive partners.

And yet progressive educators, politicians and journalists have presided over the collapse of boys’ performance in schools, a left-wing monoculture on college campuses that discourages young men from engaging in the classroom, a COVID-19 response that robbed boys of countless opportunities to develop their social skills, and the push for legalization of marijuana. They have also done their level best to demean and devalue masculinity. So, yes, some of our young men ought to be doing better, but our culture also ought to create better norms and institutions so that more young men can thrive.

Take today’s social norms around sex. It’s fascinating to note, for example, that many of the women Anna Louie Sussman references in her New York Times piece about the death of marriageable men are mothers, all lamenting not having found a spouse. Yet there is no examination of why women are agreeing to sex with men who are so utterly – by their own expressed standards – not marriage material.

The answer is norms. Marrying young – in your 20s – is no longer aspirational, let alone normal. Waiting until marriage for sex is stranger still. In many circles, particularly among the progressive elite, a more traditional sexual ethic is actively mocked.

So while it may be true that many young women still say they hope to marry and become mothers, they don’t want to marry young and few forgo sex until marriage. Yet those two habits, were they once again normalized on a cultural scale, would not only increase women’s odds of marrying but would almost certainly improve the quality of their dating pool. Men are more likely to commit and embrace mature adulthood when that is what society expects them to do.

We can lament that truth – men should grow up and commit anyway – but we must reckon with it. Men are much less likely to level up and embrace committed love when they have ready access to low-cost or no-cost sex, including internet pornography….

The social science bears it out. Thirty years ago, Nobel laureate George Akerlof studied the sexual and marriage habits of young men and women in the wake of the sexual revolution. He concluded that as out-of-wedlock births rose in that era (despite predictions that they’d fall), so-called “shotgun weddings” almost completely disappeared. In the name of sexual “liberation” (for men and women alike), we destigmatized nonmarital childbearing and deadbeat fatherhood – and, predictably, ended up with far more deadbeat dads and children born outside of wedlock. It turns out “sexual activity without commitment was increasingly expected in premarital relationships,” Akerlof wrote.

Today, we see that another form of cheap sex, internet pornography, also seems to be undermining committed love, as well as marriage. Young men (22-35) who are frequent porn users are about twice as likely to say that they avoid committing in dating relationships and 7 in 10 agree that they date in order to have sex, according to the National Dating Landscape Survey. Another study found that “heavy Internet usage generally, and use of pornography specifically” was tied to lower odds of marriage.

We have given men abundant access to precisely this kind of cheap virtual and real sex. We also have – both explicitly in pop culture, and implicitly in our laws and customs – told women that expecting commitment from men before having sex is “needy” and anti-feminist, and that to co-accept responsibility for sexual decisions is victimization. And then we’ve continued to expect commitment and maturation from men. It’s a strange world that asks men to grow up and embrace commitment while telling them sex requires no commitment at all, let alone marriage.

This inconsistency has created a tornado of cascading social ills, including generations of single mothers, kids without a dad at home and too many men who can’t seem to find a reason to grow up. As Akerlof himself noted, men are more likely to “settle down when they get married: if they fail to get married, they fail to settle down.”

The breakdown of norms, ideals and institutions – including sexual ones – that usher boys into manhood has created a large minority of young men who seem unworthy of, or uninterested in, real love, not to mention marriage. But if love and marriage is the pathway to the good life (spoiler: it is for most of us) then it’s in everyone’s interest – men and women alike – to create a healthier culture. We need a less cynical view of dating and marriage, including young marriage, among women. We should stop allowing vice (drug use, online gambling, overreliance on government assistance) to proliferate. And by creating new social sexual norms, or returning to old ones, we should encourage men to step up, communicating that we expect more from them than easy sex and suppressed masculinity.

We should expect men to embrace real love and marriage – and equip them to be worthy of both as good men. Then there would be no need for the male blame game.

 

What Is the New Candidate Law in Georgia?

The liberty principle for this Freedom Friday concerns the value that all candidates for office must receive equal treatment. The State of Georgia is upholding that value even though Democrats are upset about it. Joseph MacKinnon at The Blaze wrote the following about Georgia. 

Democrats are enraged over the prospect of DA candidates having to do more than brandish their party affiliation to win over voters.

Fani Willis, the Democrat district attorney in Fulton County who tried and failed to throw President Donald Trump in prison, has found a new reason to rage publicly, level groundless accusation of racism, and masquerade as a victim of opposing forces.

To the chagrin of those Democrat officials and other race hustlers who demanded its veto, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) ratified legislation on Tuesday requiring nonpartisan elections for certain offices in the Peach State’s five most populous counties – Fulton, DeKalb, Gwinnett, Cobb, and Clayton – effective Jan. 1, 2028.

It’s supposedly ‘racist’ because the five district attorneys … are black female Democrats. Candidates running to become or remain county governing authorities, tax commissioners, superior court clerks, and solicitor-generals must run in nonpartisan elections. County sheriffs are exempt.

Under the law, district attorney candidates will no longer “be nominated by a political party or by a petition as a candidate of a political body or as an independent candidate.” They will also forgo a nonpartisan primary, competing only in the general election.

What Is Purpose of Trump’s Trip to China?

President Donald Trump, numerous members of his cabinet, and approximately thirty top businessmen traveled to China for historic talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. Discussions about business are a big part of this trip, but “the Iran war is casting a shadow over the meeting,” according to Mehek Cooke, Senior National Security and Legal Analyst at The Daily Signal. 

China wants the world to believe it is a force for peace, open shipping lanes, stable energy markets, lower oil prices, and a responsible global power. But the truth is much uglier, and Beijing is helping to bankroll the very regime threatening the world’s most important energy choke point, the Strait of Hormuz. Trump is openly forcing China’s hypocrisy into view. It is now a test of Beijing’s role in sustaining the instability it publicly opposes. He arrives in China with leverage over a contradiction that Xi has tried to hide.

The test is critical as Iran stalls during peace talks. Trump called Iran’s most recent proposal “totally unacceptable” because it was not a peace offer; it was a list of demands to end the blockade, lift sanctions, and preserve Tehran’s leverage over the Strait of Hormuz. Once again, we are watching a weakened regime try to bluff from a position of strength. The U.S.-Iran ceasefire is on life support, and the message is clear from Trump: If Beijing wants calmer energy markets and protected shipping lanes, it must stop underwriting a regime that threatens both. Beijing has spent years playing both sides. It wants uninterrupted access to Gulf energy, freedom of navigation, and all the economic benefits of regional order. At the same time, it treats Iran as a useful anti-American partner by helping Tehran evade U.S. sanctions, sustain its destabilizing activity across the Middle East, and, in return, secure deeply discounted Iranian oil.

While the China-Iran relationship is not a formal alliance, an official document is not required to see what the United States already knows. China is Iran’s largest trading partner and the primary purchaser of Iranian oil, accounting for roughly 90% of Iran’s exported crude and providing Tehran with billions in revenue.

China’s relationship with Tehran directly conflicts with America’s mission to restore global stability. It continues to benefit economically while the U.S. absorbs the security costs. Trump is changing that equation.

This moment is unique because Trump is directly turning Tehran into a China problem. If freedom of navigation is not restored and the Strait of Hormuz remains unstable, Beijing can no longer hide behind slogans about peace while bankrolling the regime, putting the global economy risk. China may not care about America’s interest in restoring order, but it cares about its own growth, energy security, and economic stability.

For years, Beijing enjoyed a free ride in the Middle East. The United States absorbed the terror, security, and military shocks, while China collected the economic benefits and expanded its regional influence. Trump is ending that arrangement and calculates that China will bend, given that its security is on the line. Historically, China acts when its own energy security and commercial stability are threatened. In 2008, when piracy endangered Chinese petroleum imports from the Middle East and trade routes to Europe and North Africa, Beijing deployed naval escort missions to protect shipping. The Strait of Hormuz now presents the same test on a far larger scale.

Trump’s visit to China today is also a call to policymakers in Washington to recognize that the Iran war is a broader power struggle with Beijing and not an isolated Middle East conflict. Every move China makes, from China-based entities supplying drones and missiles and satellite imagery that enabled Iranian strikes, to U.S. intelligence showing Beijing was preparing to transfer a new air-defense system during the conflict, shows the clear fight.

            If Beijing wants the benefits of stability, it must stop financing Tehran. It can either use its                    leverage over Iran to help force peace, or it will face a Trump pressure campaign that no longer             lets China profit from chaos at America’s expense. 

What Is Causing Antisemitism to Increase?

Democrats, antisemites, and other Left-wing groups have often demonized Israel and Jews. However, the antisemitism has increased in recent years. Victor Davis Hanson recently discussed this topic in a podcast, and a transcript was published at The Daily Signal. 

We’ve seen these campus protests on American universities where they have these signs, “From the river to the sea.” That’s an eliminationist slogan that Israel would be wiped off the map from the Jordan River all the way into the Mediterranean Sea and, I guess, dumped into it.

And, of course, we’ve had antisemitic incidents of students chasing Jewish students into a library and trapping them there, roughing them up on campus. Demonstrations where they get quite violent, and they’re overtly and proudly antisemitic.

And the point is, what’s behind all this? Why in America now? Because after all, there are more Jewish citizens, or at least roughly comparable, in the United States than there are in Israel, which has about 2.5 or 2 million Arabs and a number or Christians as well.

So why in the so-called bastion of Jewishness in the West, here in the United States, which has avoided the antisemitism of Europe and the Middle East, why is it starting to come out now? What’s behind this? And from people that you wouldn’t expect it from.

Well, the first is DEI. Diversity, equity, and inclusion divided the nation into a 70/30 binary. It was dreamed up by [Barack] Obama because he felt he didn’t have enough traction with the old binary of 12% blacks being victimized, which was true, they were, by the 88% whites, when, due to immigration, the country was no longer 90% white.

So, he bundled a new group and said it doesn’t matter how wealthy you are, it doesn’t matter what your class is. If you’re not white, you are a victimized, oppressed person with legitimate grievances.

What that did is it allowed people exemptions, so you didn’t question somebody’s performance on the job or how somebody was hired if it was race-based, because that would be insulting or racist.

But it also did another thing. It meant that people could express themselves in racist, biased fashion. But if they were from that protected binary, you couldn’t say anything.

Now, that had been true of the black community, unfortunately, for a long time. I can’t think of a major black leader other than Martin Luther King that didn’t voice antisemitic tropes….

The second is demography. There had traditionally been about, oh, 6% to 7% of the population was Jewish and maybe 1% was Muslim, and that has radically changed now – mostly through immigration – and the Muslim birth rate in the United States is about 2.6, and all other ethnic groups, white, black, it’s about 1.7. And that population is about 5 million, and it’s projected to increase to a number higher than the Jewish population.

But you can see the trends already.

And then you have to factor in that it’s very hard for a Muslim to be secular, agnostic, atheistic, Christian. But in the case of Jews, they’re more and more being secularized or intermarrying much more, and their support of Israel is not contingent on their being Jewish.

More importantly, we’re getting billions of dollars. The UAE, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia are among the top five donors to universities in America, and they have founded Middle East studies programs, and those are not Middle East studies programs. They’re indoctrination centers for the entire student body.

So, demography means that people feel that in states like Michigan, the future will be you have to say something critical of Israel….

The third is the Democratic Party is not democratic anymore. As I’ve said before, it has a Jacobin agenda, a French revolutionary party agenda. It’s not just that they want to tear down statues and rename buildings and change the foundational date to 1619. Those were all Jacobin trademarks.

But they have a holistic socialist agenda: open borders, illegal immigration mainstream, mass amnesties, no-case bail, critical legal theory, DEI, and massive cuts in defense, raising taxes, and more entitlements. And of course, in the Green New Deal.

But embedded in that agenda is anti-Israelism and indifference to antisemitism.

I say embedded because that’s a non-negotiable agenda. If you want to be nominated for an office in the Democratic Party, you can’t come out for pipelines or more drilling…. You can’t say we need tougher criminal prosecutions. You can’t say, “I love the wall. It’s a good idea.” You can’t say anything.

And by that same reasoning, you cannot say you support wholeheartedly Israel.

Anybody who does so in the Democratic Party, like John Fetterman, the senior senator from Pennsylvania, becomes persona non grata in his own party.

Finally, there is a sense that the institutions in the United States that bequeath laurels and mainstreaming and adulation, they’re all left-wing. All the book reviews, the major venues are left-wing. The major media is left-wing.

And a lot of people feel that they’ve been in the wilderness. They’ve been pelted with this left-wing hailstorm, and at some point they get tired, and they want to come out of the storm.

And so, we’ve seen people … who have flipped over, and now they receive adulation. [The Left likes them once they start denigrating conservatives, Jews, Israel, etc.] …

The final irony, the so-called bigot, Donald Trump, the so-called racist, Donald Trump, he has admitted he’s probably going to be the last president that wholeheartedly supports Israel. For now, he is the last dam holding back this deluge.

[Emphasis added.]

 

 

 

What Are Your Sibling Relationships Like?

My VIPs for this week are siblings in general and my siblings in particular. My parents have twelve children, and I am the eighth child – four boys and eight girls. My siblings range from fifteen years older than me to nine years younger. We were good friends as children and youth, and we are still good friends. I love each of my siblings.

Five of my siblings have passed to the next life, so I look forward to the time when we can be together again. As a mother, one of my dearest hopes is that my children will be good friends and will be great support to each other.

One thing that I noticed in my family of origin as well as my family of choice is that two children can grow up in the same house with the same parents and have the same opportunities. Yet, each child will see each experience through their own set of lenses.

While talking with my siblings about different things that happened in our younger years, I am amazed at how they saw events because I saw them in completely diverse ways. It is good to be able to discuss happy as well as difficult experiences with someone who loves us unconditionally.

In her article published at msn.com, Kelsey Borresen shared thirty-five conversation-starting questions that can help to strengthen the bond between siblings. Here are five of those questions.

1. What would you change, if anything, about our experience growing up?
2. What do you admire most about Mom and/or Dad?

3. In what ways did Mom or Dad let you down?

4. What’s something you wish you could have told me when we were kids? Why didn’t you tell me then?

5. How could I have been a better sibling to you when we were growing up?

You can find Borresen’s other questions at this site. 

How Patriotic Are You?

The topic of discussion for this Constitution Monday concerns patriotism. July 4, 2026, marks 250 years since the signing of the Declaration of Independence. It is the 250^th anniversary of the birth of America. Americans should be celebrating and wearing their red, white, and blue clothing. Yet, polls say that patriotism is declining.

In her article published at the Deseret News, Lauren Irwin shared results of a new Deseret News and the Hinckley Institute of Politics’ surveys of Utahns and voters nationwide, conducted by Morning Consult. Results show that “there are very real partisan, gender and age differences around feelings of patriotism.” 

The survey found that Utahns are more likely than the general American public to say that they are either somewhat or very patriotic, with 75% of Utah respondents choosing those options. Nationally, that number is 69%. [It should be 100%!]

Still, experts say that number is low. Matthew Wilson, an associate professor at Southern Methodist University, said it’s an “unfortunate development” that’s happened relatively recently.

[Republicans More Likely to Say They Are Patriotic Than Democrats]

The finding also found that Republicans are more likely to say they’re patriotic than independent voters or Democrats.

In Utah, 90% of Republican voters ay they’re patriotic and nationally it’s 82%. In Utah, just 49% of Democrats – the lowest of any group in the survey data – say they’re patriotic. That number jumps at the national level to 61% of Democrats.

“Traditionally, we assumed that patriotism, love of and pride in the country, was a constant that cut across party lines, that Republicans and Democrats might have different visions of what America should be and how the country should move forward, but that they were united and consistent in their love for and pride in the country,” Wilson said. “And unfortunately, that is less true than it used to be.”

Wilson noted that when Republicans accuse Democrats of being less patriotic, the data show that they’re “not wrong.” But, patriotism is not solely related to who controls Washington, he argued.

The MAGA and patriotism pipeline

President Donald Trump has not only embraced patriotism in his campaigns and administrations, but has tried to portray patriotism and love of America as “largely synonymous with support for Donald Trump and the MAGA movement,” Wilson said.

To that extent, Trump has seen more support among male voters, which Wilson notes could be why more men in Utah and nationwide say they are patriotic than women. To the extent that women tend to be skeptical or not approve of Trump’s messaging, it “may bleed over” into skepticism about American patriotism generally.

The survey found that among men, 81% in Utah and 75% nationally say they are either somewhat or very patriotic. This drops among women to 70% in Utah and 64% nationally. Hinckley Institute Director Jason Perry noted that the partisan gap, in addition to gender and age differences, shows that “people’s relationship with national identity” is being shaped more by politics than it used to be. He said it was “striking” that the same patterns continued to show up across multiple surveys.

The age gap

The survey found that in both Utah and nationwide, the younger generations are less likely to say they’re patriotic.

In Utah, among respondents ages 18-34, 57% say they are very or somewhat patriotic. Nationally, it’s nearly equal at 56%.

For people ages 35-44, those saying they’re patriotic jumps to 71% in Utah and 61% nationally. For those 45-64, in Utah, 86% say they’re patriotic and 67% of the general population says the same. The oldest generation was the most likely to say they are somewhat or very patriotic with 92% of Utahns and 86% nationwide.

Wilson noted that the decline in patriotism seen among younger generations could be attributed to multiple things. Younger people are more likely to be “disillusioned” with the extreme political polarization they have been raised in, but changes in the country’s education system have also likely impacted the way younger Americans view their country – and their love or disdain for it….

Latter-day Saints’ unique relationship with patriotism

Wilson highlighted the unique relationship between patriotism and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The survey found that 88% of Utah Latter-day Saints considered themselves patriotic.

Leaders in the church teach that America’s founding documents are divinely inspired, including the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution.

The spiritual significance of Independence Day

Church President Joseph Smith in 1839 said that Constitution is a “glorious standard” and was “founded in the wisdom of God.” He said that the love of liberty inspired him and civil and religious liberty were “diffused into my soul by my grandfathers.”

Utah Gov. Spencer Cox has spoken about how his faith informs his public service. He said the country needs to look beyond politics to solve the nation’s problems and believes there needs to be a “religious revival.”

Wilson said that for members of the church, the founding of America was not just historical, but theological. Church leaders and the Book of Mormon teach that God would raise up a free nation where his church could be restored. It’s why religious freedom and patriotism are core tenets of the faith, he said.

“There’s a kind of core LDS belief in the divinely guided nature of the American founding and so patriotism is kind of woven, in some ways, into Mormon religious DNA,” he said. “More than any other religion, it is completely interwoven with American patriotism.”

Perry agreed. Utahns are more likely than the rest of the country to say they’re patriotic and faith plays an “important role” in that.

“It speaks to Utah’s strong traditions of service, volunteerism, and community life,” Perry said.

Patriotic acts past and present

The survey asked individuals about how they have expressed patriotism, including by voting, standing for the national anthem, saying the Pledge of Allegiance, flying an American flag, protesting and more…..

Perry argued that an “encouraging” finding from the data shows that Americans still broadly agree on what patriotic behavior is.

“Voting, military service, and civic participation continue to receive strong support across political lines,” he said. “Even when people disagree about the meaning of patriotism, there is still considerable agreement around the civic values behind it.”

 

Is there a fix to falling levels of patriotism?

Wilson highlighted how over the last several decades, Americans have changed the way they identify with political parties. The polarization seen in the nation today is part of a phenomenon that is fueling the decline of patriotism.

“There are partisan gaps opening up in almost everything,” he said. “This deep division between people on the left and people on the right shows up in things from what television shows they watch, what cars they buy, what fast food or coffee places they patronize and it has shown up in whether and how they express their affection for and pride in the country.

Wilson said he thinks the decline in Americans who say they are patriotic is a “symptom of broader social polarization.”

So, is there anything that can be done? Wilson said there’s not an easy or quick fix.

“I do think that some correction of the highly critical America narratives that have pervaded education, that’s a part of restoring this balance, but a general decrease in social and political polarization would help as well….

 

Are You Rebelling against the Lord?

My Come Follow Me studies for this week took me to Numbers 11-14; 20-24; 27 in a lesson titled “Rebel Not Ye against the Lord, Neither Fear.” The lesson was introduced by the following information. 

Even on foot, it wouldn’t take 40 years to travel from the wilderness of Sinai to the promised land in Canaan. But that’s how long the children of Israel needed – not to cover the geographical distance but to cover the spiritual distance: the distance between who they were and who they could become as God’s covenant people.

The book of Numbers describes some of what happened during those 40 years, including lessons the children of Israel needed to learn before entering the promised land. They learned about being faithful to the Lord’s servants (see Numbers 12). They learned about trusting the Lord’s power, even when the future seems hopeless (see Numbers 13-14). And they learned that being faithless brings spiritual harm, but they could repent and look to the Savior for healing (see Numbers 21:4-9).

We’re all like the Israelites in some ways. We know what it’s like to be in a spiritual wilderness, and the lessons they learned can help us prepare to enter our promised land: eternal life with our Heavenly Father.

Some principles taught in this scripture block are: (1) Revelation is available to everyone, but God guides His Church through His prophet (Numbers 11:11-17, 24-29; 12); (2) “Moses was very meek” (Numbers 12:3); (3) With faith in the Lord, I can have hope for the future (Numbers 13-14; (4) If I look to Jesus Christ in faith, He can heal me spiritually (Numbers 21:4-9), and

(5) I can follow God’s will, even if others try to persuade me not to (Numbers 22-24).

This essay will discuss principle #3, faith in Jesus Christ can lead to hope for the future. As you read Numbers 13-14, I hope that you try to put yourself in the place of the Israelites. This is a good principle for all scripture study, trying to put oneself into the situation of the people in the story. We will study some relevant verses as follows.

Numbers 13 tells us that Moses sent twelve spies – one man from each of the twelve tribes – to search the land of Canaan. Ten of the twelve men brought an evil report and told Moses only of the strengthen of the inhabitants. Their report caused the children of Israel to fear. The ten men were not allowed to enter the promised land. Two of the twelve – Joshua and Caleb – brought good reports, were praised by the Lord, and became leaders of the people.

Numbers 14:3

3 And wherefore hath the Lord brought us unto this land, to fall by the sword, that our wives and our children should be a prey? were it not better for us to return into Egypt?

Why do you think that they wanted to “return to Egypt”? They were afraid that they would die by the sword – something that did not concern them while living in Egypt. They were slaves, but they had a certain amount of security as well as plenty of food to eat. They did not remember all the miracles performed in Egypt as well as the way that the Lord provided food and water for them to eat and drink.

Numbers 14:24

24 But my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and hath followed me fully, him will I bring into the land whereinto he went; and his seed shall possess it.

How would you describe the other “spirit” Caleb had? What impresses you about the faith of Caleb and Joshua, and how might you apply their examples to situations you face? Joshua and Caleb had similar experiences to those of the other ten spies. They also saw similar sights. However, they had faith that the Lord would bless them and help them to conquer the inhabitants of the land.

We each face an enemy and/or evil. If we have faith in the Lord and His power, we know that we will not fail. We know that if the Lord is on our side, no evil or power can overcome us.

Have You Expressed Love and Appreciation to Your Mother Recently?

Families are stronger when individuals recognize the good done by mothers, and strong families strengthen communities, states, and nations. In a luncheon for mothers in a celebration of Mother’s Day held in the Rose Garden at the White on Friday, President Donald Trump said, “I want to thank every single mother here this afternoon and across our nation for your work every single day. America’s moms are raising, really, raising the future of our country. In her article published in the Deseret News, Emily Walker reported that “Angel” and “Gold Star” moms were present at the luncheon. 

“Angel” moms are women who have lost children at the hands of people who entered the country illegally.

Trump addressed these women, saying, “Among those with us this afternoon are a number of the angel moms who saw their precious children stolen from them by the open border policies of the radical left,” then adding, “I call them stupid borders, not opened.”

After thanking the angel moms for coming, Trump said, “The angel moms have not been treated properly, but this president treats you properly. I can’t speak for others, but this one treats you properly.”

Trump then addressed “Gold Star” moms, women whose children were killed while serving in the U.S. military. “These mothers raised up children, so selfless, and so devoted that they volunteered to wear the uniform of our nation, and laid down their lives for all of us,” he said. Trump spoke to several mothers specifically, including Janice Chance, who lost her son Jesse Melton during his service as a Marine captain. “Janice, I want to say, America is a strong and free nation today because of people like your great son, and we want to thank you for being here,” he said. He also complimented her hat.

“This Mother’s Day, we’re thinking of all of those incredible moms, and we’re doing everything in our power to support them, and millions of other mothers all across America,” Trump said. He listed actions by his administration that he said support American families and mothers, including the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which expanded the child tax credit and school choice opportunities.

He specifically mentioned Trump Accounts, which gives every American born between Jan. 1, 2025, and Dec. 31, 2028, $1,000 from the U.S. Treasury.

Other initiatives mentioned include lowering the price of IVF and cutting drug prices.

Trump ended his address by expressing gratitude to Gold Star and Angel moms, both in attendance and throughout the nation.

“For those mothers that lost their child, many of whom are with us today, the Angel moms and others, Gold Star moms, we love you especially. We love you  maybe even the most,” he said.

Just as President Trump thanked the Gold Star and Angel moms and expressed gratitude for them, we should all thank our own mothers for their love, sacrifices, and teachings. Some of our moms are no longer living, but we can still express gratitude to them and to God for their mothering efforts.