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Is gender wokeism the new religion of the West? – When opinion can become dogma from which no whisper of dissent is permitted, free societies are in danger. We can already begin to see self-censorship among the young who encounter wokeism at earlier and earlier ages. With both public and private schools adopting the tenets of woke gender ideology in curriculum and policies parents, teachers and pupils have few places to turn. The answer is neither to bend the knee nor to seek escape. Now is the time to shore up the foundations of freedom of speech and religion while we can, before wokeism smashes them and the pluralistic societies which rest upon them into bits. We believe the law of both lands still provide the resources our pluralistic societies need. Heritage expert: Emilie Kao

California school districts approves $40M mandatory ‘ethnic studies’ course based on critical race theory –  Despite claims from the media that K-12 educators are not using Critical Race Theory’s discriminatory ideas, this California district uses the very words “Critical Race Theory” in this announcement about its ethnic studies program. Teaching children about their “ancestral legacies” may have value, but black and Hispanic 4th grade students score approximately 30 points below their white peers in reading in California—educators should be trying to give children the skills they need to succeed instead of chasing the woke political agenda. Heritage expert: Jonathan Butcher

Why Freedom Will Find A Way In Cuba – Rather than look for ways to prop-up the Cuban regime, the U.S. ought to pledge to hold them accountable for human rights abuses and criminal conduct in persecuting the people of Cuba. Washington should undertake a rigorous effort gather information and document these ongoing abuses. There is scant hope, however, that the Biden administration will lead a serious effort. Last year, Cuba was reelected to the UN Human Rights Council. The Biden administration’s response to this outrageous act was to rejoin the council, effectively sanctioning the right of repressive governments to dictate UN policy on human rights. Indeed, the U.S. representative to the UN is best known not as a proponent of human rights, but for condemning American democracy. The odds of the Biden administration leading an international human rights campaign against Havana are next to nothing. Perhaps, the greatest lesson of the current cry for freedom in Cuban is that the U.S. has a government that is the least interested in listening. Heritage expert: Jim Carafano

A free Cuba at last? – The present-day Cuban demonstrations are a logical outcome of Communist Cuba’s long-standing indifference to the life of the Cuban people. Consider these facts: From 1959 through the last 1990s, more than 100,000 Cubans were placed in forced labor camps and prisons, including the infamous Presidio on the Island of Pines. Between 15,000 and 17,000 people were shot, more than a few at the hand of Che Guevara. Fidel Castro justified his reign of terror with these words: “The revolution is all; everything else is nothing.” Communist Cuba often provided the ground troops for the Soviet Union’s strategy of inciting Third World revolution, especially in Africa. For example, Castro sent a force of 50,000 men to Angola. Communist Cuba brought the world to the brink of nuclear war in 1962 when it allowed the Soviets to build sites for offensive nuclear missiles aimed at major cities in the United States. Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev has said that Castro requested a Soviet nuclear attack on the U.S. At this possible tipping point in Cuba, what should be the U.S. response? President Biden has said he wants to restore America’s moral leadership around the globe. He has been given a golden opportunity to do so next week. Heritage expert: Lee Edwards

Senate Democrats announce budget deal to expand Medicare benefits – The latest proposal to add dental, vision and hearing coverage is testimony to the fundamental backwardness of a politically driven health care program, which depends on legislative or administrative action to add benefits or services. Since the 1960s private health insurance provided beneficiaries based on patient wants, needs or preferences, including prescription drug benefits. It was not until 2003, when President Bush signed the Medicare Modernization Act into law, after decades of political gridlock, that America's seniors secured access to drug benefits in the Medicare program, and they still do not have access to protection from the financial devastation of catastrophic illness. Future generation of retirees should not be forced to depend upon the whims of Congress to secure modernized medical benefits and services. Rather seniors should be empowered directly to pick and choose the health plans and benefits that they want, as they do today in Medicare Advantage, and traditional Medicare should be forced to compete directly with private health plans on a level playing field in a modernized system of retiree coverage based on consumer choice and competition. Heritage expert: Bob Moffit

House Appropriations approves Labor spending bill  – For nearly half a century, Congress has rightly restricted taxpayer dollars from funding abortions in the United States through the Hyde amendment. This important guardrail has saved more than 2.4 million lives and is broadly supported by the majority of Americans across the political spectrum. Eliminating the Hyde amendment in the FY 22 Labor-HHS funding bill is a deeply divisive move and Congress must reject this radical attempt to force Americans to pay for abortions. The L-HHS bill also repeals the Weldon amendment, an anti-discrimination measure that provides important conscience protections for health care entities who do not provide, pay for, or refer abortions. Beyond the Labor-HHS bill, House spending proposals have rescinded important Hyde-like protections across multiple federal spending bills to force Americans to pay for abortions in foreign countries, in federal employee health plans, prisons, and more. Congress must reject these attempts and uphold all longstanding, bipartisan protections across all federal spending measures. Heritage expert: Melanie Israel