Here is the Heritage Take on the top issues today.Please reply to this email to arrange an interview.
What Caused Last Year’s Spike in Violent Crime? <[link removed]> – Understanding the cause of last year’s surge in violence is particularly important for saving lives in the
future, especially in disadvantaged communities as the overwhelming loss of lives from last year’s shootings occurred in black and brown communities. For instance, in Chicago, 94 percent of the homicide victims were black or Latino; in Philadelphia, 81 percent were black men or boys; and in New York City, 90 percent were black or brown. Protecting black and brown lives, therefore, will require major cities to rethink how they use officers during troubling times. Heritage expert: Zack
Smith <[link removed]>
Parents Are A Vital Part Of Kids’ Civic Education <[link removed]> – Flourishing communities start with strong civic life, and strong civics
start in our families. That’s why parents matter. Children benefit when empowered parents drive better civics education and pursue community-level solutions that educate all ages about the art and science of self-government, the benefits of individual liberty, and the value of civic and personal responsibility. If parents are to assume
responsibility for their children’s civics education, it is critical that they have the necessary tools to evaluate their schools’ curricula and to personally instruct their children in basic concepts of freedom, virtue, self-government and the fundamental rights and obligations that accompany citizenship. Parents need not do this alone. National and local organizations, political leaders, and teachers are helping increase the understanding and appreciation for American values among our youth. But primary responsibility still resides with parents. Heritage expert: Angela Sailor <[link removed]>
How Will Biden Counter China’s Fiery Message to U.S. <[link removed]> – As seen on Newsmax, Dean Cheng discussed his latest Xi Jinping's threats to the U.S. as the CCP marks 100 years ruling China: Xi’s speech needs to be seen as part of an ongoing messaging campaign that China will no longer play a subordinate role. We are in a tight competition with them in terms of AI, quantum computing, and other areas where China is a peer, but in some areas, China may actually be ahead. The question is, do Americans get that? When looking at the NBA, the political Left, and those promoting critical race theory, one has to wonder whether Americans think this nation is worth defending from the Chinese. Heritage expert: Dean
Cheng <[link removed]>
Two-parent households are on the rise <[link removed]> – This is positive news. It's important to keep in mind that it's positive news in the background of a broader, ongoing social disaster in these metrics. Non-marital childbearing remains at a near record level. Barely half of U.S. children are raised in a steady, two-parent home. Despite these setbacks, this reminds us that family formation is a key aspect of achieving human wellbeing, achieving success, and other good things. Heritage expert: Robert Rector <[link removed]>
US Response to Cyberattacks? It Must Be More Than Just Biden’s ‘Off Limits’ List <[link removed]> – The facts remains that cyberattacks are increasingly affecting everyday Americans and that
Biden’s approach to cyber diplomacy is on shaky ground. The U.S. must grapple with a mixed-use offensive and diplomatic framework to tackle nation-state and state-backed cyberattacks and espionage campaigns. We should be telling the Russian, Chinese, Iranian, and North Korean governments that there will be no tolerance for state-backed cyberattacks and that willful ignorance of cyber actions against the United States will be cause for significant response. In doing so, we should coordinate with allied partners around the globe—who face the same onslaught of those attacks—to join us in these efforts. Heritage expert: Dustin
Carmack <[link removed]>
I Could Lose Everything After ‘Devastating’ End to 8-Year Court Battle Over Same-Sex Wedding, Florist
Says <[link removed]> – When the Supreme Court announced July 2 that it had declined to take up florist Barronelle Stutzman’s case,
it left her on the losing side of an eight-year court battle. In 2013, one of Stutzman’s longtime customers asked her to design floral arrangements for his same-sex wedding. She told him that because of her religious beliefs, she could not design an arrangement for the wedding, but she referred him to several other florists. A few weeks later, she learned she was being sued. The Washington state “attorney general, without any complaint from Rob [Ingersoll] and Curt [Freed], sued me personally and corporately, and the ACLU got ahold of Rob and Curt and also sued me personally and corporately,” Stutzman told The Daily Signal. Virginia Allen spoke to Barronelle Stutzman on the path forward for her case. Heritage expert: Virginia
Allen <[link removed]>
Paying Lip Service to Liberty While Imposing Radical Gender Ideology <[link removed]> – Defending women’s sports is only part of the solution. Even where female students are protected from unfair competition and the invasion of privacy, speech still may be compelled by local school policies. At least five states have introduced legislation to protect teachers and students from curriculum that includes divisive critical race theory. States should consider similar policies prohibiting the requirement of any curriculum or school policy that treats radical gender ideology as orthodoxy. For elected leaders such as Brenda Sheridan in Loudoun County, supporting woke policies that impose gender ideology as orthodoxy renders vocal support for “differing opinions” no more than
lip service. We need leaders who will stand up for free speech in public schools. Heritage expert: Jared Eckert <[link removed]>
The Supreme Court gets it right on Section
2 <[link removed]> – The majority has it right when it comes to how Section 2 should be applied in these types of cases. It will remain an effective tool to stop actual racial discrimination in the voting context, but it will not be what critics of this decision would like – a partisan tool that can be used to stop public-policy decisions with which they disagree on how individuals register and vote in a particular state. Heritage expert: Zack
Smith <[link removed]>
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