Since dropping out of the Democratic primaries and launching a third-party campaign bankrolled by Big Tech and Hollywood, environmentalist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has grown a substantial following, particularly among disaffected swing voters.

Newly elected House Speaker Mike Johnson has posted on his congressional website what he calls “The 7 Core Principles of Conservatism.” “In 2018,” the website explains, “Speaker Johnson drafted this summary of the central beliefs of American conservatives to help anchor the work of the House Republican Conference in the timeless principles that made our nation the freest, strongest and most prosperous in human history.” One of the principles on Johnson’s list is: “Fiscal Responsibility.” “Because government has refused to live within its means, America is facing an unprecedented debt and spending crisis,” Johnson said in his explanation of this principle. “Federal debt now exceeds $33.5 trillion, and our current fiscal path is unsustainable and dangerous, jeopardizing our nation’s economic growth, stability and the security of future generations.

For a week now, the world has watched a high-stakes, emotionally draining and dangerous game being played out in Gaza. What began as a mediated fourday “truce” and swap of 50 Israeli civilians held hostage by Hamas in exchange for 150 convicted Palestinian-Arab terrorists has been dragged out much further.

I arrived at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor on Nov. 16 to deliver a speech on Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza. The talk’s blunt title, selected by the local Young Americans for Freedom chapter, reflected my own unambiguous approach to the conflict: “Israel’s Righteous Fight Against Jihadism.”

Last week, writers Francesca Block and Suzy Weiss co-authored an article in The Free Press describing the phenomenon of Western women converting to Islam. On the same day, Teri Christoph published a piece on RedState in which she remarks on how many of the recent displays of antisemitism (ripping down posters of kidnapped children; calling for the elimination of Jews at protests; denying accounts of the horrific sexual abuse, torture and death inflicted upon Israeli women and girls during Hamas’ Oct.

I am a strong advocate of America First. Indeed, I believe the citizens of every country should put their country first. The case for doing so is not difficult to make. Just as people should put their family’s well-being first, they should put their country’s well-being first. Just as we would regard parents who put the well-being of others’ families before -- or even on par with -- the well-being of their own family as defective parents, we should regard people who place other countries’ wellbeing before that of their own country as defective citizens.

The pro-Hamas protests keep expanding across our college and university campuses. Those who claim to support the cause of the Arab population living in Gaza and the West Bank feel perfectly comfortable ratcheting up the antisemitic rhetoric, using threats and even resorting to violence.

In a now-infamous recent podcast recording on the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, former President Barack Obama lectured: “You have to admit that nobody’s hands are clean, that all of us are complicit to some degree.”

When President Barack Obama named retiring Republican Rep. Ray LaHood of Illinois to serve as his administration’s secretary of transportation, LaHood brought with him a vision for changing the way Americans moved from one place to another. It would start with empowering the government to monitor how many miles they drove.

The Rock Church Cemetery Association would like to thank Pack 100 of Lampasas Scouts, parents and Scout leaders who placed U.S. flags at American veterans’ graves on Nov. 4 prior to Veterans Day on Nov. 11, and participated in a brief ceremony honoring those veterans for their service. Scouts present: Easton Jones, Ann Frost, Jagger Vaillancourt.