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Why Gen. Milley’s Ukraine war prediction missed by a mile – The U.S. military is famous for learning from mistakes and doing better next time. That is not happening. How far have we come since Iraq? We fumbled the ball in the Afghanistan withdrawal. Now, we’re struggling to keep up again. What happens next time, when it’s Taiwan being invaded by China or some other crisis? Here is what’s different. Over the Obama years, we have grown a different generation of senior of military officers who seem less prepared to deal with the hard realities of real wars and real military missions. This is not to question their patriotism or their professionalism. There is a question, however, as to whether they are up to the challenge of managing civil-military relations effectively, in advising and supporting a Congress and a president on how best to protect America’s interests. Heritage Expert: James Carafano
Lia Thomas Was Just the Beginning. Biden Administration Wants to Eliminate Women’s Sports – This year marks the 50th anniversary of the passage of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, the federal law prohibiting sex-based discrimination in any educational program that is federally funded either directly or indirectly. But in a painful twist of irony, that same rule is now on the chopping block, thanks to an impending change in Title IX’s interpretation and application that, according to published reports, will be coming soon from the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights. In addition to removing commonsense, due process protections for those accused of sexual assault on campus (the right to call witnesses or introduce evidence, for example), this new Title IX rule will unilaterally expand the prohibition against discrimination based on “sex” to include: “sex stereotypes, sex-related characteristics (including intersex traits), pregnancy or related conditions, sexual orientation, and gender identity.” Heritage Expert: Sarah Parshall Perry
Protecting Children and Families with Parents’ Bills of Rights – Polling finds that more Americans are dissatisfied than satisfied with elementary and secondary schools. In 2022, lawmakers recognized the need to protect parents and children from curricular and health decisions that school officials make—sometimes without even informing parents. Lawmakers around the country are considering parents’ bills of rights that affirm that parents are their children’s primary caregivers, prevent schools from compelling students to affirm ideas that violate the Civil Rights Act of 1964, require schools to receive parental permission before administering health services to children, and authorize parents to view the list of books and instructional materials for K–12 classrooms. Heritage Experts: Jonathan Butcher and Jay Richards
8 Varieties of Rancid Pork in Latest Spending Bill – The insane spending spree that Congress has gone on since the start of the pandemic is one of the central causes of today’s brutal inflation. While the Biden administration blames the war in Ukraine and “greedy” energy companies, the timing of the inflation spike is more closely linked to unnecessary stimulus bills passed after the 2020 election. Although legislators have many options for addressing the inflation crisis, they consistently choose to pour gasoline on the inflationary fire, often for nakedly political purposes. The latest item in the spending spree was March’s “omnibus” legislation to fund operations of the federal government. Legislators voted to hike spending by 6% overall, with even faster growth in nondefense areas. Heritage Expert: David Ditch
Is Joe Biden’s New U.S. Navy Budget Illegal? – Bipartisan concern over China’s increasingly belligerent posture led Congress to require the Navy to achieve a fleet of 355 warships as soon as practicable. Past shipbuilding plans would hit that mark by 2034. But President Biden’s budget request trashes those plans. It not only ignores the urgent need to increase U.S. warfighting capacity, but it also appears to dismiss the legal requirement to make progress toward the 355-ship goal. History proves we can fund the Navy the nation needs while growing the economy and taking care of our people. But it’s now up to Congress to reject the president’s unrealistic budget request and dedicate the resources necessary to the nation’s defense. Heritage Expert: Brent Sadler