Do birth control pills make women all think the same?



Could hormonal birth control be turning women into NPCs?

That’s “non-player characters,” by the way. You may remember the meme, which reached the height of its popularity a few years ago and has largely disappeared now.

Only now, many decades after it was unleashed on the world, are we starting to understand hormonal contraception’s effects more fully.

The NPC is a person who lacks any kind of unique identity. Who they are is completely determined by their social circumstances and by the values and information fed to them by a narrow range of approved sources: the government, scientists and “experts,” the mainstream media, Hollywood and Netflix, handpicked celebrities and influencers.

The NPC exercises no independent judgment, no free-thinking of their own. They simply do as they’re told, and they get very angry if you don’t do the same.

The NPC is represented by a special Wojak — a cartoon person — with grey skin and generic facial features: pindot eyes, a semi-triangle nose, and a horizontal line for a mouth.

During the pandemic, for example, the NPC meme was used to mock everyone who chose to “trust the science” unquestioningly. It was also widely used in Donald Trump’s first presidency to describe devotees of the mainstream media who repeated its various platitudes and mantras ad infinitum — “orange man bad,” “diversity is our strength,” and so on.

That sync-ing feeling

A new study suggests that hormonal birth control reduces the “functional individuality” of women’s brains, making them more alike with one another. Making women NPCs, in other words.

Researchers analyzed the brain activity of 26 users by means of MRI scans. They looked in particular at something called “functional connectome fingerprinting,” a method of identifying patterns of brain connectivity that are distinct to each person.

They found that while each woman’s brain patterns remained identifiable, the overall distinctiveness of those patterns was reduced by hormonal birth control.

In basic terms, there was a general “dampening” or “normalizing” effect on the brain as a whole.

The changes affected certain networks more than others, though: networks involved in executive function, muscle control, perception and attention, and the so-called “default mode network,” which is active during various kinds of introspection, including daydreaming, thinking about oneself and others, remembering the past, and planning for the future.

The default-mode network is central to the creation of an “inner self” and a coherent “internal narrative.”

In other words, a distinct identity.

RELATED: Time for RFK Jr. to expose the dark truth about the pill

Rattankun Thongbun via iStock/Getty Images

Mood for thought

In truth, I might have been exaggerating just a little bit when I said birth control could be turning women into NPCs. Yes, we’ve seen changes in particular regions of the brain that are associated with particular functions, but the researchers didn’t investigate the actual effects of these changes — I’ve simply inferred what they might be.

The researchers did note evidence that the changes were associated with increases in negative moods, which many of the participants recorded, but we can’t say much more than that, at least not yet.

What we need is more research. This might look at direct evidence of the effects of hormonal birth control on female behavior, preferences, and character: things like individual decision-making processes and personality traits like conformity.

Brainsplaining

There are plenty of studies that already do that kind of thing with hormones, especially testosterone. Some have shown that a dose of testosterone will make a man more likely to stand up for himself and defend a minority opinion, even in the face of disapproval from the majority. Studies have also shown that testosterone makes men more comfortable with inequality and hierarchy, which is usually couched as an “antisocial effect,” but when you remember that virtually every society in history has been hierarchical, except our own — at least in principle — that doesn’t really make much sense.

Still, we have every reason to be concerned about the effects of hormonal birth control on women’s brains and their behavior. As the study notes, more than 150 million women worldwide use hormonal birth control, and if it is changing the way their brains work, that obviously could mean significant effects in the aggregate, with the potential to touch more or less every aspect of life, from personal relationships to politics.

Retrograde research

Of course, this is a controversial stance to take, even as evidence mounts. The drug makers don’t want to lose money if women stop taking hormonal birth control, and the champions of “liberation” don’t want women to stop either. The entire sexual revolution was kickstarted by the pill, and “equality” as we understand it is predicated on women having total conscious control over their bodies.

Anybody who says women shouldn’t take hormonal birth control, or just that they should think carefully before they do, is immediately denounced as retrograde, sexist, or, as we’ve seen with recent viral social-media trends, a purveyor of dangerous “medical misinformation.” And that includes women who’ve been on hormonal birth control themselves and quit, and female medical professionals like Dr. Sarah Hill, the author of the very well-reasoned and evidenced book, “This Is Your Brain on Birth Control.”

My new book, “The Last Men: Liberalism and the Death of Masculinity,” is a call to get serious about the effects of hormones on politics. Deadly serious. Testosterone, in particular, is rapidly disappearing, in large part because we’ve created a world that’s reliant on thousands of chemicals and substances that mimic the “female” hormone estrogen. We had created that world long before we even knew what many of those chemicals are, let alone what they do to us.

The same is true of hormonal contraception. Only now, many decades after it was unleashed on the world, are we starting to understand its effects more fully, having built a world that is reliant upon it to function.

Our hormonal interventions remain clumsy and short-sighted. In truth, we’ve not come all that far from the first bright spark who decided to lop off a bull’s testicles to bring it under control. In that first brutal act, endocrinology — the science of hormones — was born, a science still very much in its infancy.

Flock Safety: Is any driver safe from its AI-powered surveillance?



Buckle up, America — because if you’re driving anywhere in this country, you’re already under surveillance.

I’m not talking about speed traps or red-light cameras. I’m talking about Flock Safety cameras, those sleek, solar-powered, AI-driven spies perched on poles in your neighborhood, outside your kid’s school, at the grocery store, and along every major road.

The Institute for Justice has filed a federal lawsuit arguing that Flock effectively builds detailed, warrantless movement profiles of ordinary people.

These cameras are not just reading your license plate. They’re building a digital DNA profile of your vehicle — make, model, color, dents, bumper stickers, roof racks, even temporary tags — and logging where you’ve been, when, and with whom you’ve traveled.

And guess who has 24/7 access? Your local police, HOAs, apartment complexes, and private businesses — all without a warrant, without your consent, and often without you even knowing they exist.

Worse than you think

I’ve been warning drivers for decades about government overreach, from cashless tolls to black-box data recorders. But Flock Safety? This is next-level.

Founded in 2017 in Atlanta, Flock has exploded into a $3.5 billion surveillance empire with over 900 employees and a single goal: blanket every city in America with cameras. As of 2024, it has already deployed 40,000 to 60,000 units across 42 states in more than 5,000 communities. That’s not a pilot program. That’s a national tracking grid.

Here’s how it works — and why it should terrify every freedom-loving American.

Pure surveillance tools

Flock’s Falcon and Sparrow cameras don’t enforce speed or traffic laws. They’re pure surveillance tools.

Mounted on utility poles, traffic signals, or private property, they use automated license plate recognition (ALPR) and Vehicle Fingerprint™ technology to capture high-resolution images of your vehicle’s rear, including the license plate with state, number, and expiration, plus the make, model, year, color, and unique identifiers like dents, decals, roof racks, spare tires, even paper plates. They record the time, date, and GPS location, using infrared imaging for 24/7 operation, even at 100 mph from 75 feet away.

The data is uploaded instantly via cellular networks to Flock’s cloud servers, stored for 30 days, and accessible through a web portal by any approved user. That includes police departments across state lines through Flock’s TALON investigative platform. Drive from Georgia to New York, and every Flock camera you pass logs your journey. No warrant needed in most states.

RELATED: Why states are quietly moving to restrict how much you drive

F8 Imaging/Getty Images

Staggering scale

The scale is staggering. Milwaukee has 219 cameras with 100 more planned. Riverside County, California, uses 309 cameras to scan 27.5 million vehicles monthly. Norfolk, Virginia, has over 170 units. Raleigh, North Carolina, has 25 and counting.

Nationwide, Flock claims it logs over one billion vehicle scans per month. These cameras cost $2,500 per year per unit, are solar-powered with no wiring required, and can be installed in hours. HOAs love them, schools want them, police can’t get enough, and new units go up daily, often without public notice or approval.

Flock CEO Garrett Langley loves to brag about Flock's crime-stopping potential. But what he doesn't mention is that you’re tracked whether you’re a criminal or not.

No opting out

There’s no true opt-out for the public — every passing car is still scanned and logged — but some neighborhoods and agencies use Flock's SafeList feature to avoid nuisance alerts. SafeList doesn’t exempt anyone from being recorded. It simply tells the system not to flag certain familiar plates (residents, staff, permitted vehicles) as suspicious. The camera still captures the vehicle, stores the image, and makes it searchable; it just won’t trigger an alert for those approved plates.

Flock cameras can photograph more than a license plate — sometimes the interior of a car, passengers, or bumper stickers — but this varies by angle and lighting, and the system is not designed to gather facial images.

Privacy nightmare

This is a privacy nightmare. The ACLU and Electronic Frontier Foundation call it mass surveillance. A small-town cop in Ohio can search your plate and see everywhere you’ve driven in Florida. Rogue officers have abused ALPR before, stalking exes, journalists, activists. Data breaches? Flock says its cloud is secure, but we’ve heard that before.

A 2024 Norfolk, Virginia, ruling initially held that Flock’s system amounted to a Fourth Amendment search requiring a warrant. But that decision was later reversed on appeal. Meanwhile, the Institute for Justice has filed a federal lawsuit arguing that Flock effectively builds detailed, warrantless movement profiles of ordinary people. If that case succeeds, it would be a true game-changer.

Yes, finding a kidnapped child or stolen car is good. But at what cost? This creates a chilling effect: Will you avoid a protest, a church, a gun shop, a clinic, knowing you’re being logged? This isn’t safety. This is control.

Fighting back

So what can you do right now? Start by finding the cameras — contact your police, city council, or HOA and ask where the Flock cameras are and who has access.

Demand transparency: Push for public hearings, warrant requirements, data deletion after 24 hours, and no sharing outside your jurisdiction. Support the fighters like the ACLU, EFF, and Institute for Justice. Spot the cameras yourself — look for black poles with tilted solar panels and a small camera box.

It's time to post your opinions on X, call your reps, show up at meetings — let's stop the surveillance.

Flock’s CEO dreams of a camera in every U.S. city. But liberty isn’t free, and it shouldn’t come with a tracking device.

Drop your thoughts below — I read every comment. Share this information with every driver you know. Because if we don’t fight now, soon there’ll be nowhere left to hide.

Giving Tuesday: 6 charities where your money makes a big difference



Today is Giving Tuesday — a day to think of those less fortunate, but also a reminder that charities want your money just as much as any for-profit brand, and many use the same polished tactics to get it.

The day itself is a sales pitch: created in 2012 as a feel-good counterweight to Black Friday and Cyber Monday, but quickly dominated by big nonprofits with big marketing budgets. As philanthropy-sector insider Dave Moss writes, it was launched not by beneficiaries but by “representatives of corporate America, the public relations sphere, and/or enormous, already well-funded nonprofits.”

Just a reminder that sometimes it's the scrappiest, more 'unfashionable' charities where your money will go the farthest.

The Wounded Warrior Project has mastered the Giving Tuesday playbook with emotional storytelling. But a 2016 CBS News investigation revealed millions spent on lavish staff conferences and travel, with a Senate review later finding that the charity had inflated its program-spending numbers by counting fundraising and PR as “veteran programs.”

The ASPCA is another case where glossy branding masks inefficiency. Despite its huge Giving Tuesday paw print, watchdogs say only a small share of its massive fundraising reaches animals in need, despite what its infamously maudlin ads suggest. Very little is granted to local SPCAs — which many donors assume they’re supporting — while the national group spends tens of millions on advertising and pays its CEO close to a million dollars a year.

RELATED: 'Gimme' shelter: ASPCA, Humane Society live large on your donations, warns watchdog

Michael Stewart/WireImage/Getty Images

Which is not to say you shouldn't participate in Giving Tuesday. Just a reminder that sometimes it's the scrappiest, more “unfashionable” charities where your money will go the farthest.

Here are six organizations doing the slow, unglamorous work of helping real American families, veterans, and workers.

1. The Ruth Institute

Mission: Promote and defend the traditional family; educate the public on marriage, sexual integrity, and the fallout of the sexual revolution.

The Ruth Institute isn’t shy about its worldview — or its conviction that a healthy society starts at home. If you want your donation to go toward shaping the cultural weather upstream of politics, this is the place.

Donate: https://ruthinstitute.org/donate/

2. Gary Sinise Foundation

Mission: Support America’s wounded veterans, Gold Star families, and first responders.

More than 30 years after playing wounded Vietnam vet Lieutenant Dan in "Forrest Gump," Gary Sinise has quietly built one of the most trusted veterans’ charities in the country. Its work is extremely practical: specially adapted smart homes for wounded vets, emergency financial assistance, mental health support, community-building, and mobility programs. Few organizations deliver more hands-on, life-changing help.

Donate: https://www.garysinisefoundation.org/donate/

3. Farmer Veteran Coalition

Mission: Help veterans transition into careers in agriculture.

A perfect marriage of two underserved groups: rural America and former service members. FVC provides grants, training, equipment, and mentorship to vets who want to build careers in farming. It strengthens both individual livelihoods and America’s food supply.

Donate: https://farmvetco.org/donate/

4. Foundation for Rural Service

Mission: Strengthen the economic and social fabric of rural communities.

Millions of rural Americans get left out of every national conversation — and often out of basic services. FRS funds scholarships, rural broadband expansion, small-town revitalization, and educational programs.

Donate: https://www.frs.org/donate

5. Volunteers of America

Mission: Provide housing, addiction recovery, senior care, job training, and emergency services to vulnerable Americans.

One of the oldest faith-driven aid groups in America, VOA does the thankless work: shelters, recovery programs, support for disabled vets, senior care, and services for people re-entering society after incarceration. If you want your donation to translate quickly into beds, meals, care, and services, VOA is reliable.

Donate: https://www.voa.org/donate

6. mikeroweWORKS Foundation

Mission: Close the skills gap by supporting vocational training and America’s trades.

Mike Rowe has spent years reminding America that welders, electricians, plumbers, mechanics, and carpenters don’t just keep civilization running — they are civilization. His foundation’s Work Ethic Scholarship Program helps people pay for trade school, buy tools, and get certified. A great way to invest directly in rebuilding the country’s working-class backbone.

Donate: https://mikeroweworks.org/donate/

Life hack: Look into the eyes of a newborn baby



Recently I’ve been thinking about the fact that we can’t predict anything.

Yeah, we can predict the weather this afternoon, kind of — though the meteorologists seem to mess up about 50% of the time. Sure, we can be fairly certain that an asteroid from outer space isn’t going to come careening toward Earth, smashing our house to 1,000 pieces while we sleep, I guess. I’m not too worried about that one.

Many babies are born with grey or light blue eyes; it’s only over time that they morph into the color they will be for the rest of their lives.

But the reality is, life is more unpredictable than it is predictable.

Plan check

That’s the truth, and it’s hard for us, I think. We want to know what tomorrow will bring. We want to plan, and we want to make sure we are prepared for whatever is coming. We want to build civilization, and in some pretty key ways, building civilization requires planning.

Civilization itself is a form of predictability, or an attempt to increase predictability. Running water, reliable medical care, stores stocked with meat and eggs, traffic lights that are coordinated in a complex system so as to ensure drivers don’t crash into one another other, and electricity that doesn’t go out every other day. These things are predicable things, and life is better — much better — because of them.

But we can’t predict everything.

Answers and questions

Last week, my wife gave birth to our third child and our second daughter. We didn’t find out the sex ahead of time. We always wait to be surprised, and it was a surprise. Finally we had an answer to the most pressing question on our minds: Is it a boy or a girl? But there are so many more questions, and I have no idea what the answers will be.

Holding her in my arms, looking down into her little eyes, I wonder what color they will be. Many babies (of European descent) are born with grey or light blue eyes; it’s only over time that they morph into the color they will be for the rest of their lives. Our son has brown eyes; our other daughter has blue eyes. What will she have? I have no idea.

I look at her little hands and perfectly soft cheeks, and I wonder who she will be. I have no inkling. Not a single clue. She might be anyone. Her personality could be anything. Is there a seed of it already in her? There must be, but I don’t know it. I don’t know her yet.

There, in my arms, is this little person who might become anyone and anything. I have no idea what she will find funny, how she will be difficult, what she will be interested in, who she will marry, where she will live, how many children she will have, and 100,000 other things that make up a person. I don’t know any of it, and I have no way to predict any of it. All I can do is hold her, care for her, and try to steer her along the way.

A newborn baby is a metaphor for life.

RELATED: Birth is the only ‘gender reveal’ you need

Underwood Archives/Getty Images

Predictably unpredictable

When I look back at my life, there is no way I could have predicted any of it. No way I could have told my 28-year-old self where I would be today, what I would do for work, who I would be a father to, where I would live, and how I would feel. I just couldn’t have.

If I go back even further than that, it gets even more obvious. Eighteen-year-old me thought life was going to be one way, and it turned out not at all that way. Some stuff turned out harder, but most turned out better. Nevertheless, however it turned out, I couldn’t have predicted any of it.

The same, of course, goes for all the various social, cultural, and technological developments marching through our society today. I don’t think anyone in 2005 could have accurately predicted AI in 2025. I doubt anyone in 1995 could have predicted the cultural or political debates we are having in 2025. No one could have predicted the years-long ordeal known as COVID.

Serenity now!

Accepting the chaos and unpredictability of life doesn’t mean giving up on any kind of planning or attempt at establishing order. Those things are good; they are a part of civilization after all, remember? Coming face-to-face with the reality of life as something unpredictable means accepting the things we cannot change. It means internalizing Reinhold Niebuhr’s famous Serenity Prayer.

While it may be hard at first for us to accept the unpredictability of it all, it’s more than OK once we make it through the process of reckoning with the uncontrollable. It feels like looking out at the vast horizon and seeing endless possibilities. Like rolling the windows down, setting your arm on the edge of the door, and pressing the gas. Like letting go and letting it all happen. Like looking into the eyes of a newborn baby, knowing that for her, life has only just begun.

Like something beautiful.

Would you buy a car from Amazon?



Amazon cars?

Amazon changed the way America buys books, clothes, electronics, and groceries. Now it is moving on the auto industry — and if you think this is just another “online shopping feature,” you’re missing the real story.

States that are friendly to corporate expansion will see no problem granting Amazon a dealer license — especially if Amazon frames it as 'consumer choice.'

The retail behemoth isn’t dipping a toe into car sales. It is positioning itself to become the central hub for buying new and used vehicles, and the consequences for automakers, dealers, independent media, and referral sites could be massive.

This isn’t a future concept. It is already happening.

First Hyundai, now Ford

Amazon’s initial partnership with Hyundai was framed as a new, streamlined shopping experience. The pitch sounded harmless enough: browse Hyundai vehicles on Amazon, apply for financing online, complete most of the paperwork digitally, then head to a participating dealer to pick up your car. Simple, familiar, and built into the platform millions of people already use every day.

The original Hyundai-Amazon announcement described the partnership as “a first-of-its-kind digital shopping destination” that makes buying or leasing “easier than ever.” It taps directly into Amazon’s strongest asset — consumer trust.

But Hyundai was only the beginning.

Ford is now joining Amazon Autos with its certified pre-owned inventory. Behind the scenes, Amazon is simultaneously negotiating with CarMax, Carvana, AutoNation, and some of the largest dealer groups in the country. This isn’t a test run. It’s the early build of a national automotive marketplace — one that Amazon plans to control.

Referral sites in retreat?

For years, companies like Cars.com, CarGurus, TrueCar, Edmunds, and Cox Automotive have dominated the referral business. Their entire model revolves around sending shoppers to dealers and collecting millions in referral fees — often the largest part of their revenue.

Amazon is about to pull the rug out from under them. This could put their business model and future in jeopardy.

If car shoppers can browse inventory, arrange financing, compare models, complete paperwork, and reserve vehicles on Amazon, why would they bother with referral sites that offer a fraction of the convenience?

Amazon has a proven track record: Once it enters a sector, it tends to dominate it. It did it to bookstores. It did it to electronics retailers. It did it to big-box chains. And now it’s setting its sights on automotive commerce.

If Amazon becomes the go-to destination for car-buying, referral-based businesses won’t just take a hit — they could be wiped out entirely.

Licensed dealership

The long-term play is even more ambitious.

Amazon’s next strategic step is to secure dealer franchises and licenses — state by state, brand by brand. With enough lobbying power (and Amazon has plenty), it could position itself not just as a marketplace but as a licensed dealer for multiple brands across numerous states.

At that point, Amazon wouldn’t just connect you with a dealership. It would be the dealership.

And it’s not far-fetched. Amazon already has the infrastructure, logistics, consumer reach, and political influence to take this step. States that are friendly to corporate expansion will see no problem granting Amazon a dealer license — especially if Amazon frames it as “consumer choice."

Once Amazon becomes a licensed dealer for even one or two brands, the floodgates open.

Global ambitions

Make no mistake: Amazon is positioning itself not just as an American car retailer, but as a global auto marketplace.

Imagine a future where you search for a vehicle the same way you search for appliances or running shoes — across multiple brands, with real-time comparisons, financing, protection plans, verified seller ratings, and home delivery.

For Amazon, becoming the global hub for car shopping isn’t just appealing — it’s a potential trillion-dollar expansion.

Automakers, especially those with weaker dealer networks, may see this as an opportunity. But others will find themselves pressured into joining Amazon’s ecosystem simply because they can’t afford not to.

Collateral damage: Independent media

There’s another consequence many aren’t talking about: the impact on independent automotive media.

A large share of industry publications rely on advertising, sponsorships, affiliate links, and referral revenue from dealers and OEMs. Amazon’s dominance would compress or eliminate those revenue streams — especially for outlets that depend on SEO-driven traffic or links sending shoppers to dealer websites.

If Amazon becomes the central platform for car buying, reviews, ratings, and consumer research will inevitably shift to Amazon’s ecosystem — just as they have for home goods, tech products, and household essentials.

The result? Independent voices may struggle to survive.

This is not theoretical. This is the pattern Amazon has repeated in every industry it enters.

At first glance, more convenience sounds great for shoppers. And in many ways, Amazon’s entrance will make car-buying easier.

But there are real questions about:

  • Competition: What happens when Amazon dictates the marketplace?
  • Pricing leverage: Will dealers be forced into Amazon’s system to survive?
  • Data control: Amazon would have unprecedented access to sensitive buyer information.
  • Dependence: When everything flows through one platform, innovation suffers.

Automotive choice in the U.S. has always relied on competition. Amazon’s expansion risks shifting that power to a single company.

RELATED: Amazon wants Warner Bros. so it can rule your screen

Photo by Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images

Own the funnel

Amazon isn’t simply adding cars to its website. It is setting the foundation to become the dominant force in automotive retail.

Hyundai was the first step. Ford is the next. They are selling used and certified pre-owned inventory. The question is when, not if, more brands will follow.

And when they do, the entire structure of the auto industry — from referral sites to dealer groups to independent media — will feel the effects.

This is one of the most significant shifts in automotive commerce in decades. And while many consumers may appreciate the convenience, the long-term consequences deserve serious attention.

Amazon wants to be the new place to buy cars. It plans to own the entire funnel — from discovery to financing to purchase. And if history tells us anything, once Amazon commits to owning a category, it tends to get what it wants.

This story is still unfolding. And it is far bigger than most people realize.

3 Thanksgiving leftover sandwich recipes that even non-cooks — like me — can try



As this story's headline indicates, I'm not much of a cook.

I can do meatloaf in a pinch and can manage some roasted veggies — and I've even been known to create some of the best baked spicy chicken wings this side of ... well, this side of my street. Maybe.

'Let's get to cookin'!'

That said, this Thanksgiving Day, do you have plans for all those leftovers that have predictably piled up after dinner is done? All of that turkey, stuffing, and, of course, cranberry sauce?

Sure, there are plenty of exotic recipes for leftovers out there that require a bit of effort — as well as ingredients that may not be so easy to procure if you don't already have them on hand (especially amid crowded Black Friday shopping conditions). And who wants to exert even more effort after hours and hours of prep time and cooking time on this holiday?

Certainly not me — and I'm not even the one doing the Thanksgiving cooking. Ease and speed and comfort are the kings in this kitchen.

In an effort to help y'all think ahead, how about a trio of post-holiday sandwich ideas that can win the day and pare down the piles of food left in your fridge?

Thanksgiving leftover sliders

This entertaining fellow — his YouTube handle is @morehowtobbqright — presents on video what appears to be an easy recipe for sliders that even I'd be game to try. (He also calls them "samiches," so you know they're gonna be good.)

Our chef tells us, "Let's get to cookin'!" and then shows us how.

Looks like you need a pack of King's Hawaiian Savory Butter Rolls — but hey, maybe you can repurpose leftover dinner rolls from your T-Day feast too. He says you then place all the bottom roll halves on foil, pile up a bunch of American cheese slices, followed by leftover turkey pieces, then your leftover stuffing, then your leftover cranberry sauce — followed by, you guessed it, more of those American cheese slices — and then you pop the top halves of the rolls on top to crown your creation.

Our chef also instructs us to melt some butter and brush it on the top of the "samiches," after which you wrap 'em all in foil and then bake them on a tray for 30 minutes at 350 degrees. Then you uncover the sliders and bake them for 15 more minutes to brown the tops.

Thanksgiving leftover quesadillas

Believe it or not, even easier than the sliders.

Our chef — her YouTube handle is @MealsWithMaria — shows us in a less-than-30-second video how simple these quesadillas are to create.

Just warm some butter in a skillet over medium heat and add a tortilla. Then add leftover mashed potatoes, leftover sweet potatoes, shredded Monterey Jack cheese, and chunks of leftover turkey. Then you fry it all up until the cheese is melted and the tortilla is crispy.

Finally, for the last minute of heat, you add some leftover cranberry sauce on top and fold over the tortilla. She suggests slicing it in half and, if you want, dipping it in leftover gravy.

Thanksgiving leftover deluxe grilled cheese sandwiches

OK, now for the "deluxe" portion of our program.

Our YouTube guide — his handle is @Chef_Tyler — presents a snazzy grilled cheese sandwich recipe in his brief video. First, he suggests toasting your leftover bread in an oiled pan before assembling the stuff in the middle. (It also looks like he's slicing part of a leftover hard-crusted loaf. This is already a mighty big cut above the grilled cheese I typically make.)

He then tells us to mix our leftover cranberries with mayo — to prevent things from getting soggy — and then spread the mixture on the toasted bread. (Oh, got any herbs on hand? They're good for that cranberry-mayo spread too.)

Then you put your cheese on top of the spread — he recommends slices of aged cheddar or gouda, but anything will do. Then the leftover turkey chunks. The drier the better, believe it or not. (And don't forget to heat the turkey in the pan before putting it on top of the cheese, as Chef Tyler says that will help the cheese melt faster.)

It appears you cook the sandwich on both sides until the crust is golden brown — natch — and then dip it in leftover gravy if you want.

Happy Thanksgiving — and the days after — one and all!

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Turkey-hater's delight: 6 historic Thanksgiving substitutes



This Thanksgiving, consider the poor turkey. Is there any animal we consume with less gusto?

It has become something of annual tradition to denigrate the day's traditional fare. Nearly 35% of Americans claim turkey is their least favorite part of the feast, according to one recent survey.

This vintage Better Homes and Gardens recipe is a bit of a cheat, as it does use turkey — although not in any form you're likely to recognize

The internet just stokes the hatred. Every year the same tiresome "contrarian" opinions: "Stop pretending you like turkey. It's no good on Thanksgiving, or any other day."

Even celebrity chefs can't resist punching down. "Turkey is wildly overrated," says restaurateur David Chang.

"The only reason to cook the turkey is to get the gravy, and then you can just give the turkey away."

We must admit that turkey-haters have a point. Yes, turkey meat can be dry and flavorless (although brining is a dependable way to avoid that). And yes, the tradition of eating turkey — and most Thanksgiving foods — was essentially created by advertising in the early 20th century. (College freshman home for fall break voice: "It's all a scam by Big Cranberry!")

While we're content to stick with the standard flightless fowl, there were plenty of other contenders in the great battle for the Thanksgiving table. As a service, we provide the following recipes for anyone wanting to change it up.

1. Roast eel (1621)

Among the meats served at the first Thanksgiving in Plymouth would surely have been this vital freshwater food source. The 1622 promotional pamphlet for the Plymouth colony "Mourt's Relation" describes how the Wampanoag native Tisquantum (better known as Squanto) taught the Pilgrims to catch the slippery, succulent treats.

Tisquantum went at noon to fish for Eels, at night he came home with as many as he could well lift in one hand, which our people were glad of, they were fat & sweet, he trod them out with his feet, and so caught them with his hands, without any other Instrument.

Here's how they might have prepared it:

Ingredients

  • 2 lbs cleaned freshwater eel
  • Salt, splash of vinegar
  • Sage or bay, butter

Instructions

  1. Soak eel 30 minutes in salt water and vinegar.
  2. Dry; rub with salt and herbs.
  3. Split a roasting stick down the middle, coil eel around stick.
  4. Roast over open fire 20-25 min.
  5. Baste with butter.

2. Roast swan (17th-18th centuries)

Long a favorite of European royals (peasants were forbidden to hunt them), swan was plentiful in the New World and was most likely one of the waterfowl consumed at the first Thanksgiving.

Here's a recipe from Hannah Woolley’s "The Queen-like Closet," (1670) a cookbook that later colonists would have had in their kitchens:

To bake a Swan.
Scald it and take out the bones, and parboil it, then season it very well with Pepper, Salt and Ginger, then lard it, and put it in a deep Coffin of Rye Paste with store of Butter, close it and bake it very well, and when it is baked, fill up the Vent-hole with melted Butter, and so keep it; serve it in as you do the Beef-Pie.

For something more elaborate, here's a preparation from the late 14th century cookbook “Le Menagier de Paris”:

Pluck like a chicken or goose, scald, or boil; spit, skewer in four places, and roast with all its feet and beak, and leave the head unplucked; and eat with yellow pepper.

Item, if you wish, it may be gilded.

Item, when you kill it, you should split its head down to the shoulders.

Item, sometimes they are skinned and reclothed.

RECLOTHED SWAN in its skin with all the feathers. Take it and split it between the shoulders, and cut it along the stomach: then take off the skin from the neck cut at the shoulders, holding the body by the feet; then put it on the spit, and skewer it and gild it. And when it is cooked, it must be reclothed in its skin, and let the neck be nice and straight or flat; and let it be eaten with yellow pepper.

3. Passenger pigeon pie (1700s)

Though extinct for more than a century, passenger pigeons were once as abundant as the kind you see fouling statues in urban parks. While we wouldn't recommend eating those birds, Cornish game hen or squab make a decent substitute.

Mock-passenger pigeon pie:

Ingredients

  • 2 Cornish game hens (substitute for extinct passenger pigeons)
  • 1 onion, quartered
  • 2 tbsp butter
  • 2 tbsp flour
  • 1-1½ cups chicken or turkey stock
  • Salt and pepper, to taste
  • 1 tsp dried thyme
  • Double pie crust (bottom + top crust)

Instructions

1. Prepare the meat

  1. Simmer game hens with the onion until fully cooked and tender.
  2. Remove hens; pick the meat from the bones.
  3. Place shredded meat in a bowl.

2. Make the gravy

  1. Melt butter in a pan.
  2. Add flour and cook until lightly browned.
  3. Stir in stock to form a smooth gravy.
  4. Season with salt, pepper, and thyme.
  5. Simmer until slightly thickened.

3. Assemble the pie

  1. Line a pie dish with bottom crust.
  2. Add shredded meat.
  3. Pour warm gravy over the meat.
  4. Cover with top crust and seal edges.
  5. Cut a small vent in the center.

4. Bake

Outdoor Dutch oven method (historical):

  • Preheat Dutch oven with coals above and below.
  • Elevate pie pan inside the Dutch oven on metal hooks or a trivet.
  • Bake ~10-20 minutes, checking frequently to avoid burning.

Modern oven method:

  • Bake at 375°F for 35-45 minutes, until crust is golden.

5. Serve. Let cool slightly before slicing.

4. Sautéed calf's brains with mushrooms, sour cream, and dill

In 1904, railroad heir George Vanderbilt and his wife, Edith, hosted a lavish Thanksgiving at their Asheville estate, Biltmore. Turkey was on the menu — but so were calf's brains. Here's one preparation that guarantees a delicate, custardy mouthfeel:

Ingredients

  • 1 lb brains (veal, pork, or lamb)
  • Water for soaking
  • Salt (for poaching water)
  • 2 tbsp butter
  • 1 cup sliced white mushrooms
  • 2-3 tbsp sour cream
  • 1-2 tbsp fresh dill, minced
  • Toasted bread, for serving

Instructions

1. Prep the brains

  1. Soak brains overnight in cold water to remove blood pockets.
  2. Drain.
  3. Poach gently in salted water (bare simmer) for 10-15 minutes until firm.
  4. Cool slightly, then peel off the thin outer membrane.
  5. Cut brains into bite-size pieces.

2. Cook the mushrooms

  1. In a skillet, melt butter over medium heat.
  2. Add mushrooms and sauté until they release their juices and the butter turns lightly browned and nutty.

3. Add the brains

  1. Add chopped brains to the skillet.
  2. Toss gently with the mushrooms and browned butter for 1-2 minutes.

4. Finish the sauce

  1. Remove skillet from heat.
  2. Stir in sour cream to form a loose sauce.
  3. Add minced dill.
  4. Adjust salt if needed.

5. Serve. Spoon the mixture over warm toast. Serve immediately.

5. Celery au naturel (late 1800s-early 1900s)

Now the most unwanted vegetable on the crudite platter, this Bloody Mary garnish was a highly coveted status symbol of the Gilded Age (it was hard to grow). Everyone will want the recipe.

Ingredients

  • 1 bunch crisp celery
  • Cold water
  • Ice cubes (optional)
  • Salt (for serving, optional)

Instructions

1. Trim the celery

  1. Cut off the root end.
  2. Remove tough outer stalks if desired.
  3. Trim leafy tops to a neat fan.

2. Refresh the stalks

  1. Place celery in a bowl of cold water (add ice for extra crispness).
  2. Chill 15-30 minutes.

3. Present with appropriate ceremony

  1. Stand stalks upright in a tall glass, vase, or celery jar.
  2. Arrange so the tops flare elegantly.

4. Serve. Place the celery in the center of the table. Offer a pinch dish of salt on the side.

Note: In the late 19th century, this was considered a showpiece delicacy. Your guests are encouraged to admire its beauty before eating it exactly as it is.

6. Turkey lime molded salad (1969)

This vintage Better Homes and Gardens recipe is a bit of a cheat, as it does use turkey — although not in any form you're likely to recognize.

Ingredients

  • 2 packages (3 oz each) lime-flavored gelatin
  • ¼ tsp salt
  • 2 cups boiling water
  • ½ cup cold water
  • 1 (7 oz) bottle ginger ale
  • 2 cups diced cooked turkey
  • 1 cup sour cream
  • ¼ tsp ground ginger
  • 1 (16 oz) can pears, drained and diced
  • 6½-cup gelatin mold

Instructions

1. Make the gelatin base

  • Dissolve lime gelatin and salt in 2 cups boiling water.
  • Add ginger ale and ½ cup cold water.
  • Chill until partially set.

2. Prepare the turkey layer

  • Fold diced turkey into the partially set gelatin.
  • Pour into a 6½-cup mold.
  • Chill until almost firm.

3. Prepare the sour cream-pear layer

  • Beat sour cream, ground ginger, and ½–1 cup of the remaining unset gelatin until smooth.
  • Chill until partially set.
  • Fold in diced pears.

4. Add second layer

  • Spoon the pear-sour cream mixture over the firm turkey layer.
  • Chill until completely set.

5. Unmold and serve

  • Dip mold briefly in warm water.
  • Invert onto a serving platter.
  • Lift mold carefully to reveal two layers.

JD Vance to Canada: Stop blaming Trump for your decline



Vice President JD Vance did something remarkable last week: He described Canada more honestly than most of its own political leaders.

In a short series of posts on X, Vance captured the two anxieties that now define Canadian life — mass immigration and a refusal to take responsibility for national decline.

The deeper problem is leadership that seems consistently more focused on the fortunes of global capital than the welfare of Canadians.

“While I'm sure the causes are complicated,” he wrote, “no nation has leaned more into ‘diversity is our strength, we don't need a melting pot we have a salad bowl’ immigration insanity than Canada. It has the highest foreign-born share of the population in the entire G7 and its living standards have stagnated.”

Vance continued, “And with all due respect to my Canadian friends, whose politics focus obsessively on the United States: your stagnating living standards have nothing to do with Donald Trump or whatever bogeyman the CBC tells you to blame. The fault lies with your leadership, elected by you.”

Truth hurts

Those comments struck a nerve because they describe a reality that Canadians live with every day. Immigration levels have soared to historic highs. Canada’s population is closing in on 40 million, with roughly 23% foreign-born in the 2021 census — and likely much higher today, given the recent revelation that 42% of babies born in 2025 will have foreign-born mothers. For years, political and media elites insisted that this was a sign of national strength. Ordinary people can now see the strain everywhere: stagnant wages, collapsing services, unaffordable housing, and infrastructure buckling under the load.

Vance’s second point was equally accurate. Canadian politicians — especially Liberal ones — have long relied on Trump as a universal scapegoat. No matter the problem, the reflexive response has been to point south and blame “American extremism” for Canada’s failures. It was a convenient distraction from the consequences of their own policies.

Man with no plan

Prime Minister Mark Carney was a master of this blame-shifting. Before entering politics, he spent years burnishing his reputation as a global technocrat. Yet when he ran for prime minister, he adopted an almost paranoid tone toward the United States, claiming in one speech: “President Trump is trying to break us so that America can own us. … We need a plan to deal with this new reality.” His “plan,” as it turned out, was simply to win power — and once in office, Carney abandoned the rhetoric even as he continued neglecting basic economic and security interests.

Nowhere has that neglect been clearer than in defense procurement. Ottawa is reportedly considering scrapping the F-35 fighter jet program in favor of Sweden’s Gripen — an aircraft incompatible with the F-35s flown by every branch of the U.S. military and central to NORAD’s interoperability. As U.S. Ambassador Pete Hoekstra has warned repeatedly, such a move would be sheer folly, undermining both North American defense and Canada’s most vital alliance.

The deeper problem is leadership that seems consistently more focused on the fortunes of global capital than the welfare of Canadians. Brookfield Asset Management — the firm Carney chaired before deciding to seek the leadership of the Liberal Party of Canada and replacing Justin Trudeau as prime minister — recently surfaced in headlines for its involvement in an $80 billion agreement with the Trump administration to produce nuclear reactors. That deal may be good business, but it has only reinforced public suspicion that Carney’s loyalties were formed long before he stepped into elected office.

RELATED: Is this the end of Canada?

Dave Chan/Getty Images

Soft authoritarianism

Meanwhile, Canada’s once-vaunted bureaucracy is looking increasingly ideological, unaccountable, and hostile to the people it purports to serve. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency’s ongoing occupation of a family farm — and its insistence on slaughtering hundreds of healthy ostriches despite nearly a year without symptoms of avian flu — has alarmed Canadians across the political spectrum. It is the kind of aggressive, unrestrained government action that would have been unthinkable a generation ago.

All of this is unfolding as the Liberal government pursues sweeping censorship and surveillance legislation, from online speech controls to broad new powers for federal regulators. The United Kingdom has already slid into a soft authoritarianism that polices “offensive” speech through arrests and intimidation. Canada appears determined to follow the same path.

This is what Vance was speaking to: a country drifting into economic stagnation, cultural fragmentation, bureaucratic overreach, and political corruption. A country that no longer seems capable of telling itself the truth about what is happening. A country that responds to national crises not with reform, but with scapegoats — whether Donald Trump, American conservatives, or anyone who challenges the official narrative.

Canada is not yet lost. But it is undeniably breaking, and the political class shows little interest in repairing it.

As Vance noted, the ultimate responsibility lies with Canadians themselves. They elected the leadership that brought the country to this point. Whether Canada recovers will depend on whether they are willing to demand something better.

My mother was evil; here's how I help others face their own abusive childhoods



Almost every coaching client I serve says something like this:

“What am I supposed to think about my mother? I don’t want to think of her as a bad person, but would a good person treat her children the way our mother treated me and my brothers and sisters?”

These good shards of her personality could never coalesce into a normal-range person. But I have an idea of who that woman could have been.

Who are these clients, and what am I doing with them that we’d be talking about this?

If I were a licensed mental health “professional,” you’d call what I do counseling. Since I’m not a licensed professional, I call it personal coaching and consulting. As a man who was raised by a mother deranged with borderline and narcissistic personality disorders and who became a self-destructive alcoholic for much of his life, I offer peer support and advice from someone who lived it.

Accepting reality

Let’s return to the question we opened with. No, a good person would not abuse her children the way the parents of my clients treated them. That’s the answer that many people don’t want to hear. But accepting the ugly reality of an abusive parent is a minimum requirement for getting past the psychological damage this inflicts on children who later become damaged adults.

For many people who grew up this way, accepting reality is necessary but not sufficient. They don’t know what to do with the memories of the good times, the apparent kindnesses they remember from otherwise frightening parents. I’m going to come back to this below with some stories about how I’ve turned this over in my mind as I’ve tried to grapple with who my abusive mother really was.

How did the parents of my clients treat them? Many of my clients had parents who threatened or attempted suicide in order to extract care and pity from their children. Some of my clients were nearly killed by their fathers. (Yes, I mean that the fathers consciously, knowingly tried to kill them; strangulation is the usual method.) Some were pimped out as prostitutes by their mothers.

Not everyone had such a florid experience, but nearly everyone I serve was raised by a parent who could not be trusted. My clients were abused as children. Actually abused, not “TikTok” abused. They don’t ruminate on how being denied an ice cream cone at age 8 ruined their lives. Instead they’re people who suffered under cold, capricious, and sometimes sadistic parents. And decades later, these adults who never did anything to deserve what they got still feel it is their fault their mother didn’t love them.

A moral problem

As I’ve written about before, we are living in an age characterized by what are known as Cluster B personality disorders. These are better thought of as character disorders, in the vein of psychologist George K. Simon. He’s one of the few practicing and writing psychologists who recognize that people who are intensely narcissistic, exploitative, manipulative, dishonest, and cruel are not suffering from a medical problem. They are suffering from a moral and spiritual problem. A personality disorder is not an organic brain problem. It is not a “disability.” It is not diabetes. It is the state of having an immoral and warped personal character.

My goal with clients is to give them a kind of conversation that will allow them to see, and to accept, the reality of their parents’ derangement. If you grew up in a normal, loving family, you may have a hard time accepting that I’m telling you the truth about what kinds of people these parents were to their kids. There is a taboo against acknowledging that some mothers (it’s not symmetrical; people have no problem believing this of fathers) do not love their children and try to annihilate them.

To hell with the taboo. Reality doesn’t conform to what we prefer to feel.

RELATED: We need to start trusting our primal survival instincts again

Stefano Bianchetti/Getty Images

Emotional balance sheet

Grown children from abusive homes usually don’t know, or can’t accept, that their parents were bad people. Many of my clients hesitate to use the word “abuse,” even a moment after a client tells me a story about how her mother hit on her teenaged boyfriend and then slapped the daughter, accusing her of being a slut. Genuinely abused children spend decades denying the truth and working overtime to rehabilitate the image of a grossly destructive father or mother. It is only when alcoholism, depression, or a string of failed relationships drive them to despair that they’re ready to take steps toward telling the truth.

When a person crosses the threshold and accepts that her mother or father was not a good person, did not “do their best,” and did not really love their children, she’s made enormous progress. This is the first and most important goal in recovering equanimity. But it’s not enough for many of us. What are we to do with the good memories? How are we to see our mother when we remember the times she imparted skills and wisdom to us? How do those affect the emotional balance sheet’s bottom line?

I’m going to concede something but with an important proviso: Yes, it’s generally true that no person is all good or all bad. But here’s the proviso: The kind of parents we’re talking about are not “a normal mix of good and bad.” We’re talking about parents who are, to a close approximation, 95% “bad” and only 5% “good.”

The arithmetic on that is straightforward. Five percent achievement will not get you a passing grade on a test, and it does not give these adults a passing moral grade for parenthood.

Glimpses of good

Still what about the good times? I’ve thought about this for years. I’ve talked about it with my (non-woke, conservative, old-school) therapist for years, and it’s been on my mind lately.

Back in the late '80s, my mother and I were watching TV, and something came up about women’s place in society, how to have a career and a family at the same time. We’ve all heard these topics discussed for decades; it was one of those times when something “truthful-ish” leaked out in my mother’s conversation.

My mother was a deranged woman with borderline and narcissistic personality disorders. She was abusive and horrible. I use the past tense even though she’s still alive because I permanently removed her from my life 10 years ago.

But there were times when a real person glimmered through. Sometimes you could see and hear the intelligent, insightful woman she could have been if her good qualities hadn’t been subsumed by her moral and psychiatric derangement.

The mother she wanted to be

This conversation in the '80s was one of those times. I remember it so well because it’s one of my memory’s best examples of the woman I hoped she truly was — the woman who could have been the good mother that deep down I think she wanted to be but could not.

We were listening to the TV discussion. I don’t remember the specifics, just that it was filled with the usual pat feminist answers that contradicted each other and demanded a world of circumstances for women that was never realistic. Having cake and eating it too, that sort of thing.

My mother reflected on all that, and she had this to say:

“It’s impossible for you to understand how strong the biological drive to have children is for women. We like to pretend it isn’t real and say it’s not real, but it is. A woman can feel the pull, and it’s overwhelming. I wanted to be a mother and have children since I was a little girl. It’s all I wanted to be.”

Living with the contradiction

This was true but only sometimes. My mother had borderline personality disorder, and such people have extreme and often opposing desires that conflict with each other. Their problem is that they don’t know how to integrate these conflicts, or how to live with the conflict and ambiguity. So instead of acknowledging the conflict, they pretend it’s not there. The next day, for example, my mother could rail at the top of her lungs about how women were enslaved, how they had a right to be “more than just mothers.”

A contradiction, yes, but an understandable one. My mother would have been better off if she’d found some way to live with the conflicts that most women feel, especially in a society that treats the status of women and mothers in such a, well, borderline way. My mother may have been crazy globally, but she was not “crazy” to react badly to these contradictory messages.

She also said this:

“Young women are making a mistake waiting so long to have children. You just don’t have the energy at 30 or 35 that you have when you’re 20. It’s not the same. Women were built to have children, and we were built to have them as young women. Today’s mothers are going to have problems they’re not counting on because they waited so long.”

She was right. Even my mother, a florid Cluster B personality case, could see the truth in traditional wisdom. Even she, a screeching feminist liberal, could admit that men and women were built differently and that women had biological drives to bear children.

Unanswered questions

My mother and I had many conversations like that over the years. Long talks where honesty crept in, even if it was gone the next day. I remember them so well because they showed the woman she could have been, they showed the best of her intellect and perception.

I miss them. I do know, of course, that there wasn’t a stable version of my mother just waiting to blossom. These good shards of her personality could never coalesce into a normal-range person. But I have an idea of who that woman could have been.

So it goes with many of my clients. A son remembers his intensely selfish and punitive father who sometimes imparted helpful wisdom. A daughter remembers a mother who once took real joy watching her daughter graduate from college, even though the week before, mom overdosed on pills in a sick bid for attention.

Who are these people? We may never know. This is not how I want to end this essay. I don’t like unanswered questions and puzzles that can’t be solved. Nevertheless here they are.

Jehovah's Witnesses: Worshipping with the most hated denomination



After attending a somewhat run-of-the-mill novus ordo Mass with only a few redeeming qualities, my husband and I decided to visit another church in Nevada that is possibly one of the most hated and misunderstood Christian denominations — even with the Latter-day Saints and Seventh-day Adventists.

It was both his and my first time attending a Jehovah’s Witness church.

'I personally don’t want to go to heaven, but want to remain on Earth when we’re resurrected. I want to live among the animals and trees and plants and not rule over others.'

We walked 40-some minutes to the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses and were greeted warmly, even though we were two minutes late and the congregation had already begun singing the first hymn. The setting might have been bland, but I felt I had achieved a bucket-list goal.

For years I’d tried to visit a Kingdom Hall. The Jehovah's Witnesses were one of the last churches to reopen nationwide after COVID, offering online meetings for nearly two and a half years, until summer of 2022. Even after that, many remained closed for another year, and a large portion still host hybrid Zoom/in-person gatherings for the immune-compromised.

Kingdom Hall

To many, the inside of the meeting hall would appear no different from a conservative Protestant church. Most women wore skirts or business suits; the men were in full suits. The carpet was gray, the walls plain, decorated with a few pictures of flowers. There were no windows.

Rows of theater chairs faced a pulpit. Though the Jehovah's Witnesses do not have ordained ministers, any baptized man may teach from Scripture. On the day we visited, a guest speaker from Idaho — tailored suit, bright red tie — delivered a sermon much like any Protestant pastor’s, citing extensive Bible verses to support his points. There was no American flag, unsurprising given JW pacifism. Jehovah's Witnesses do not vote, and while they don’t forbid self-defense, they register as conscientious objectors during drafts. They believe that those who live by the sword will die by the sword (Matthew 26:52).

RELATED: Church-hopping: Confessions of an itinerant worshipper

Keturah Hickman

The sermon

The message, titled “Is There in Fact a True Religion from God’s Standpoint?” began with statistics: 85% of the world identifies as religious, 31% Christian, across 45,000 denominations — with a new one forming every 2.2 days. “But how does Jehovah want to be worshipped?” he asked.

He read from Mark 7:6-7 and James 1:26, then cited Solomon: True religion is to fear God and keep His commandments (Ecclesiastes 12:13). More verses followed — Isaiah 48:17-18, Micah 6:8, Matthew 7:16 — arguing that true belief and conduct must fit like a well-tailored suit, not mismatched pieces.

He condemned most Christian denominations for justifying slavery so that men might Christianize pagan souls for the kingdom of God. He pointed out that the Jehovah’s Witnesses never supported such horrid beliefs. (He failed to mention that slavery was already abolished by the time they came along.) He warned against fatalism, ancestor worship, and faith in human institutions. “If a religion permits or promotes practices the Bible condemns, it is not true,” he said, citing Colossians 3:10, John 8:32, James 3:17-18, and others.

“Truth is found in the word of God,” he concluded. “When we love the word, we are peaceable.”

The sermon ended with the JW hymn “My Father, My God and Friend (Hebrews 6:10)."

All along the Watchtower

After the hymn, an elder read from "The Watchtower," the denomination’s monthly study magazine. Before the group was called Jehovah’s Witnesses, it was the Watch Tower Society, founded by Charles Taze Russell in 1881.

The article that day was “Jehovah Heals the Brokenhearted” (Psalm 147:3). The elder read each paragraph aloud, then passed the microphone for congregants — men and women, in person or on Zoom — to share reflections.

Here are some highlights.

  • Satan wants us to wallow in our feelings. Jehovah wants us to defy Satan and serve Him. When we do that, He sees us and is moved to help us.
  • Jehovah doesn’t keep track of our sins, but only of the good we do.
  • Jehovah does not put a time limit on our prayers as if it were a therapy session. We can pray to Him for as long as we like, and He’ll keep listening.
  • The Son’s sacrifice forgives our past sins so we can move ahead into the future.
  • We can comfort each other by being gentle and genuine.
  • We are not to blame for how others hurt us.

It was repetitive but sincere — an hour-long group meditation on comfort and resilience.

The service ended with another hymn. There was no tithe, and communion is held only once a year for those who believe they are among the 144,000 destined for heaven.

The congregants

Afterward, several congregants welcomed us. One woman, Linda, about 70, explained that she had converted from Protestantism before marrying.

“There aren’t many differences between us and other churches,” she said, “except that we don’t teach what other places teach.”

“Such as?”

“We teach that Jehovah is Almighty God and that Jesus is His son and our Messiah. And we don’t believe in hellfire,” she said. “You can’t really find that idea in the Bible.”

I asked her if that meant that she believes everyone goes to heaven or if they just die.

She said, “The Bible says 144,000 go to heaven to be kings and priests to be the government of the kingdom of heaven that will come to Earth. I personally don’t want to go to heaven, but want to remain on Earth when we’re resurrected. I want to live among the animals and trees and plants and not rule over others.”

Linda gave me a small Bible — I gladly accepted it because it was lightweight and would fit perfectly into my backpack, and until now I had only been able to carry a New Testament. She explained to me that the Jehovah's Witnesses didn’t approve of many of Scofield’s notes in the KJV and that their version had more accurate cross-references. I love having various versions of the Bible to read through, so there was no complaint from me!

She invited us to join her husband and friends at a cafe for a late lunch. And so we went with about 20 other congregants. I sat by a woman just a little older than I. Ozzy had been raised in the Jehovah's Witnesses and had spent much of her youth as a traveling nanny. She told me that nearly six years ago she had married a Grace Baptist Church man and had a daughter with him. They eventually divorced. “I’m just grateful my daughter is learning about God in both homes she’s raised in," she said.

Although Ozzy did not speak ill of her ex-husband, it was clear that she thought her expression of faith was more valid than his. So I asked her what was different between the two theologies, in her opinion.

“That’s a good question," Ozzy said. "Not much."

Then she added:

Except how we define the Trinity — you know, you can’t find that word in the Bible. I’ve searched every translation of the Bible, so I know. We both believe in the concept, though JW is more literal and bases their definition on how the Bible describes it. We believe that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are three separate entities united by a common will. Grace Bible Church is more Catholic when they talk about the Trinity.

After a day with them, I found them sincere and Bible-focused, hardly cult-like. They loved God, quoted Scripture freely, and treated us with warmth — even when I somewhat aggressively asked about one of their more infamous beliefs.

“I have heard that your church does not allow people to get blood transfusions and that this has caused many people to die.”

"Yes, we believe blood is sacred and not to be spilled in war nor ingested for any reason," Linda responded. "But blood can be divided into four components, and it is okay to receive any of those minor fractions.

"Most people don’t even need blood transfusions as much as they used to," she added, noting that "scientists have discovered that there are healthier ways to fill a low blood count with supplements and iron.”

Are the Witnesses a cult?

I’m not sure what makes a group a cult any more. Some say it’s when people follow a man rather than the Bible — but the Jehovah's Witnesses have no central figure. They encourage personal Bible study.

Interestingly, 65% of members are converts — adults who join by conviction, not birth. While many leave, those who stay do so deliberately. Angry ex-members exist in every religion, and that alone doesn’t define a cult.

Much of JW doctrine is nothing your average Protestant would quarrel with: anti-abortion but pro-birth-control, personal responsibility for family size, and no institutional oversight (beyond guidance from JW Broadcasting in New York). There’s also no enforcement mechanism for rules on blood transfusions or holidays.

There are 8.6 million Jehovah’s Witnesses worldwide, compared to 15.7 million Jews, 17 million Mormons, and 22 million Seventh-day Adventists. Many Protestants single out the denomination's rejection of transfusions, but the Jehovah's Witnesses are neither faith healers nor anti-medicine. They are pacifists but politically moderate and scientifically literate.

Charles Taze Russell

Jehovah's Witnesses founder Charles Taze Russell was raised Presbyterian. At age 13 he left his church to embark upon a kind of quest for the truth, for a time backsliding into unbelief.

Known for writing Bible verse on fences as a way to evangelize, he founded a group called the Bible Student Movement in 1879. Much like Mormons, the Two by Twos, and the Jim Roberts Group, his group grew by sending out pairs of men to preach the word of God directly from the Bible.

Despite Russell's zeal, his life was riddled with scandal. He divorced his wife after she demanded a larger editorial influence on "The Watch Tower." He sued for libel often, occasionally winning — one time the jury mockingly ruled in his favor but gave him only one dollar, and so he filed an appeal and received $15,000.

After wrongly predicting the end of the world numerous times, Russell died in 1931. The group split apart. Approximately a quarter of the members remained faithful to Russell’s successors and began calling themselves Jehovah’s Witnesses.

Their use of the name “Jehovah” also irritates critics, though it appears in the King James Bible (Exodus 6:3; Psalm 83:18; Isaiah 12:2; 26:4).

Their rejection of the Nicene Trinity remains the sharpest point of division — a doctrine codified by the Catholic Church and later adopted by nearly all of Protestantism. It’s an irony of history: Protestants who define themselves against Rome still use Rome’s creed as the boundary of belief. Disagreement with that doctrine, however, does not make a faith a cult.

The trend to schism

One striking point from the sermon stayed with me: Every 2.2 days a new denomination is created.

Until the 16th century, Christianity had only a handful of branches. Now there are 45,000. The JW speaker said it is because everyone seeks truth; I think it’s because we’ve forgotten love.

As Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 13: “If I have all faith so as to move mountains but do not have love, I am nothing.”

What merit is truth without love? God does not honor self-righteous division. This, perhaps, was Martin Luther’s and Henry VIII’s greatest sin — their pride tore Christ’s body into pieces.

Protestants readily maintain friendly regard for Judaism, which does not accept Christ’s divinity, while showing far less tolerance for groups such as Jehovah’s Witnesses, Mormons, or Adventists — who profess Jesus as Lord and Redeemer.

For this reason, I urge believers: Visit all churches. Seek unity where possible. Not to follow fads, but to love the whole body of Christ — even the Jehovah’s Witnesses.