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** Daily Newsletter: JANUARY 14, 2026
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** In today’s newsletter:
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DANIEL STRAND: The Banality of Minnesota Fraud ([link removed])

STEPHEN M. BARR: True Humans ([link removed])

GEORGE WEIGEL: The Evangelist in Stanley Prison ([link removed])
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** The Banality of Minnesota Fraud ([link removed])
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** DANIEL STRAND
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It seems that Minnesota has been home to billions of dollars in fraud. Minnesota-raised Daniel Strand considers the features that may have made the state vulnerable to exploitation. Minnesota has historically been a high-trust state with a large welfare apparatus. That, plus an ideological vulnerability to race-grifters, allowed a quotidian, banal evil to take root.

For further reading: How are institutions corrupted? Mark Regnerus tells the tale of how ideologues ran roughshod over research universities in “The Dirty Science ([link removed]) ” (March 2025).
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** True Humans ([link removed])
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** STEPHEN M. BARR
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From the February issue: It’s a rare essay that can be counted as having the final say on a topic. Stephen Barr, who has long woven threads between science and religion in the pages of First Things, contributes a definitive essay on the relationship between the Catholic Church and evolution.

Barr, a physicist, articulates the robust—and as he demonstrates, historically and theologically coherent—position that there has never been a direct conflict between the Church and evolution. The Origin of Species was never on the index of banned books.

“[T]he universal magisterium of the Church said nothing about evolution until 1950, more than ninety years after Darwin published his Origin of Species. Part of the reason for this caution, no doubt, was that Church authorities were keenly aware that science had long since vindicated heliocentrism and they had no desire to repeat past mistakes. Moreover, discoveries in geology and paleontology in the preceding century had shown that both the planet and the life upon it were of much greater antiquity than a literal reading of Genesis would suggest. This had a strong impact, since it was an accepted principle in the Catholic Church, at least since St. Augustine, that Scripture should not be read in a way contrary to what is known with certainty from reason and experience.”
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** The Evangelist in Stanley Prison ([link removed])
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** GEORGE WEIGEL
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Columnist George Weigel writes about the prison witness of Jimmy Lai, a Catholic democracy activist who has spent years in solitary confinement. The Hong Kong-based Lai has kept up his spirits and provided hope to others through his faith. The story’s image is a drawing of the Virgin Mary that Lai drew in prison.

For further reading: David P. Goldman, one of the great China commentators, wrote about Hong Kong’s perilous situation in 2019 (“China’s Sovereignty Tripwire in Hong Kong ([link removed]) ”). Since then, things have not improved.

Upcoming Events
* February 1, 2026: Second Annual Neuhaus Lecture at the New College of Florida: “Recovering the University’s Soul” ft. Bishop Robert Barron | Sarasota, FL. Register here ([link removed])

* February 3, 2026: Second Annual Angelicum Aquinas Lecture: “A Conversation with the Theologian of the Papal Household” ft. Fr. Wojciech Giertych, O.P. | New York, NY. Register here ([link removed]) .

* March 5, 2026: Annual D.C. Lecture: “Our Crisis is Metaphysical” ft. Mary Harrington | Washington, D.C. Details coming soon.

Until next time,


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JACOB AKEY
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Associate Editor
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