Jennifer Welch recently unleashed a tirade against Christian homeschooling families, calling homeschooling “trickle-down stupidity” and a “fundamental crazy Christian problem” and calling parents with traditional values “the worst, worst, worst.” She even dismissed the decision to homeschool as selfish.

Welch isn’t an education researcher or a homeschooling expert. She’s a progressive podcaster whose “I’ve Had It” podcast has built a large audience by channeling liberal anger at conservatives into viral commentary. Her latest target just happened to be Christian homeschool families. But her latest broadside is still worth answering, if only to correct the caricature she presented of millions of families who have chosen a different path.

Welch’s comments reveal a deeper, increasingly common assumption: the belief that educational institutions are better equipped than parents to shape children.

As a serious Christian who was homeschooled from kindergarten through 12th grade and intends to homeschool my own two children, I couldn’t disagree more. In fact, Welch’s contempt for families like mine is a reminder of exactly why I will never hand my children over to what have become taxpayer-funded ideological institutions.

The irony is hard to miss. At a time of collapsing birth rates, declining academic achievement, and a culture struggling to pass on its moral inheritance, America needs more strong families willing to invest their time, resources, and lives in raising the next generation.

Yet instead of encouraging those families, Welch chooses to mock them.

Here are three reasons Welch couldn’t be more wrong about families like mine.

1. Homeschoolers outperform their peers in nearly every measure

Study after study has found that homeschoolers outperform their peers across a wide range of academic measures. The facts simply don’t support Welch’s dismissive caricature of homeschooling or her claim that it produces “trickle-down stupidity.” Homeschooled students consistently perform well in standardized testing, reading, language arts, math, science, and social studies. Research has also found that homeschooled adults tend to be highly engaged in their communities and successful in higher education and professional life.

Interestingly enough, there were at least 16 U.S. presidents who received part or all of their education at home through their parents or tutors, which was a more common practice in early America.

Public schooling, by comparison, is a relatively recent invention — and one that is increasingly failing America’s students. If we’re going to question an educational model, perhaps we should begin with the one producing declining test scores and growing dissatisfaction.

If Welch believes homeschooling produces “trickle-down stupidity,” she’s overlooking a remarkable list of accomplished homeschool graduates. In addition to presidents, homeschooling has helped produce notable entrepreneurs, athletes, military leaders, and scholars for generations. More recently, figures such as Tim Tebow, Charlie Kirk, Serena Williams, Simone Biles, and Bethany Hamilton demonstrate that an education at home is hardly a barrier to excellence.

RELATED: Education without ‘schooling’: Why a godly home is the best place for children to learn and thrive

Heritage Art/Getty Images

2. Homeschooling puts our children’s needs before our own

Welch calls homeschooling “child abuse” and “selfish,” then goes on to admit she cannot imagine spending that much time with her own children: “For me personally, it was that I would have gotten up on my hands and knees and strapped them to my back and crawled to get them to school every day just to get them where I wasn’t.”

It’s difficult to square those remarks with the claim that homeschooling parents are the selfish ones.

Parents who educate their children at home invest thousands of dollars in curriculum, books, and educational resources while often sacrificing an entire income so one parent can teach full-time. They willingly make those financial and personal sacrifices because they believe giving their children a strong education, solid character, and a biblical worldview is worth far more than the cost.

This is exactly why, long before we ever started dating, my husband and I had each independently decided that homeschooling would be non-negotiable for our future family. If we couldn’t agree on homeschooling or Christian school for our children, it would have been a deal-breaker. That’s how deeply we care about raising children who love God, love their country, think critically, and become exceptionally well educated.

That isn’t selfish. It’s putting our children’s needs ahead of our own.

3. Parents — not the government — should raise children

Welch’s comments reveal a deeper, increasingly common assumption: the belief that educational institutions are better equipped than parents to shape children. But our children don’t belong to the state, to cultural elites, or to government institutions. Parents bear the primary responsibility for raising them. That isn’t simply a Christian conviction; it’s one of the foundations of a free society.

The Bible commands parents to teach their children diligently, pass on the faith, and train them in wisdom and truth, especially in a culture that has lost its bearings. Homeschooling is one way families can faithfully live out those convictions. As the late preacher Voddie Baucham famously warned, “If we continue to send our children to Caesar for their education, we need to stop being surprised when they come home as Romans.”

Whenever people ask why my husband and I plan to homeschool our children, the conversation almost inevitably ends with the same question: “How will they socialize?” — as though homeschoolers spend their childhood hidden away from society.

My own experience was exactly the opposite. I interacted with people of all ages and walks of life through church, sports, music lessons, homeschool co-ops, volunteer opportunities, and countless experiences outside the walls of a traditional classroom.

I still remember living and working in Washington, D.C., and watching people’s jaws drop when I told them I had been homeschooled.

“But you’re so normal?”

Exactly.

Homeschooling isn’t about hiding children from the world. It’s about preparing them to enter it with strong convictions, intellectual curiosity, and a sense of purpose.

Jennifer Welch is free to mock families like mine. We’ll keep raising our children according to our convictions — and we’ll let the results speak for themselves.

​Biblical worldview, Charlie kirk, Christian school, Serena williams, Simone biles, Tim tebow, Traditional values, Homeschooling, Education, Christian living, Indoctrination, Faith 

For decades, Hollywood fed us a steady diet of tracksuit-wearing Gambino soldiers whining about their mothers and cartoonishly tattooed cartel enforcers threatening to dissolve people in vats of premium tequila.

But those legacy brands are officially losing market share to a heavily armed, highly aggressive corporate competitor that weaponizes car horns to deafen the opposition. International syndicate networks tied directly to India are systematically restructuring the geography of global street violence, proving that globalization works beautifully for extortion rackets too.

By establishing these isolated, closed-off cultural zones, these factions maintain a fierce allegiance to old-world tribal hierarchies.

Playing ‘Hard Ball’

California serves as the primary battleground for a ruthless wave of Indian organized crime tearing through the state. These syndicates use major metropolitan hubs as operations bases for massive drug trafficking corridors and organized intimidation schemes. Federal agents recently dismantled a major cell during Operation Hard Ball, arresting 11 Indian operatives across targeted raids in Los Angeles and Sacramento.

Investigators seized massive stockpiles of high-grade narcotics, automatic weapons, and cash, exposing a highly sophisticated network built for domination rather than minor street theft. This aggressive expansion shows exactly how foreign syndicates import overseas violence directly into the heart of American suburban communities. India is best known for bowel-blasting street food and a population of drivers apparently trained exclusively in demolition derbies. The American public would do well to update its perspective — fast. That goes for the rest of the West too, because this brand of trouble spans continents.

The expansion strategy mimics that of a tech startup, rapidly scaling operations across Europe and the Great White North. Take Portugal, for instance. The historic streets of Lisbon and the sunny coastal regions of the Algarve are currently experiencing an influx of Punjab-themed turf wars. Rival Indian syndicates are actively fighting over localized human smuggling routes and synthetic drug distribution rights, turning once-peaceful European plazas into active combat zones.

RELATED: A Memphis mom was fired for telling the truth about crime; now she’s fighting back

Sen. Marsha Blackburn/Austin Johnson/Getty Images

Canada war zone

Meanwhile, Canada has become something of a war zone. In the suburban sprawl of Surrey, British Columbia, and the Greater Toronto Area, daylight drive-by shootings are now a standard feature. These are high-volume tactical ambushes executed on public streets with automatic weapons.

Organized crime expert Martin Purbrick notes that the massive Indian diaspora across the United Kingdom, Canada, and the United States provides the perfect camouflage for foreign syndicates. Because these criminal networks integrate effortlessly into pre-existing social and cultural enclaves, they remain entirely invisible to outside law enforcement.

This insulating effect is particularly troubling in the United States, where a massive influx of Indian nationals flood the country utilizing heavily abused H-1B visa programs, fraudulent tech certifications, and rubber-stamped degrees from fake universities to set up illicit cash-heavy operations under the guise of legitimate business.

For those who argue that these people are simply desperate migrants seeking a better life, I would argue that if an individual is entirely comfortable breaking federal immigration laws and committing systemic document fraud just to enter the country, there is absolutely no reason to believe he will suddenly develop a moral conscience and stop breaking the law once he is safely inside.

Clannish communities

And once inside, the immediate consequences are clear. In Texas, suburban stretches outside Dallas and Houston have been completely overrun by waves of rapid migration. The sudden demographic shift is sobering because it features a total lack of assimilation. Instead of adopting local Texan culture, these highly clannish Indian communities stubbornly lock themselves into insular, self-governing pockets that refuse any meaningful integration with the broader American population.

This refusal to assimilate allows them to import third-world values directly into respectable neighborhoods from a nation where female genital mutilation, forced child marriages, and primitive honor killings are routine societal practices. By establishing these isolated, closed-off cultural zones, these factions maintain a fierce allegiance to old-world tribal hierarchies. This absolute rejection of Western legal and social standards provides a protected operational base for crime syndicates, allowing them to enforce their own brutal brand of street justice entirely outside the reach of American law.

Normalized savagery

When a syndicate recruits enforcers raised in an environment where killing your own sibling is considered a legitimate way to preserve family reputation, putting a bullet in someone’s head to settle a drug debt becomes second nature. This normalized savagery feeds directly into the operational tactics used on streets in America and beyond.

Modern law enforcement agencies are forced to adapt to a criminal structure that operates like a multinational corporation rather than a traditional street corner crew. The hierarchy relies on distinct, siloed departments handling recruitment, international money laundering, transport logistics, and tactical intimidation. The primary advantage these syndicates maintain is their ability to exploit the immigrant communities they embed themselves within. Victims of extortion may refuse to contact authorities due to targeted threats directed at their relatives back in the homeland.

With over 3 million Indian nationals now residing in America, the scale of this blind spot is staggering. While the multiculturalist consensus assumes the vast majority are law-abiding, it is past time to acknowledge the harsh reality. A significant and growing number are not, having entered the country through illicit, fraudulent, or entirely illegal means. It is precisely this undercurrent of lawlessness that provides the perfect, impenetrable human shield, enabling foreign thugs to operate with total impunity on American soil.

​India, Immigration, Culture, Organized crime, Canada, Crime 

Latino voters overwhelmingly support requiring government-issued photo ID to vote.

A Poll conducted by Pew Research Center confirmed that 82% of Latino voters in the United States approve such a requirement. The SAVE Act would codify the popular supermajority opinion on voter identification into law, but while the House has passed it multiple times, it has stalled in the Senate.

As citizens, Latinos want to protect the democratic republic that has blessed their lives so richly.

It should be no surprise that Latino voters support the key feature of the SAVE Act.

First, immigrant voters highly value their citizenship and the right to vote that it conveys to them. It takes at least seven years of legal presence in the U.S. to become a citizen, and those who have gone through that process value what they learned and who they became in the process.

They are proud and patriotic and zealous to preserve the system they have adopted and mastered. They do not take their rights as citizens lightly, and they do not want noncitizens to vote. Second, immigrant voters highly value the rule of law, which they recognize as the main thing that makes the United States what it is — the best place in the world to work and build a prosperous and free life.

While writing my book, “The New Pilgrims: How Immigrants are Renewing America’s Faith and Values,” I interviewed many immigrants who specifically explained that they moved to America for the purpose of coming under the rule of law. They understand that no justice, no equal protection under law, is possible without it.

They can also articulate how lawlessness and cheating undermine prosperity in their home countries. They understand that the land of the free and home of the brave persists because of America’s deep cultural commitment to obeying the law. They understand how illegal voting would undermine the very thing they value most about life in America.

Third, Latino immigrants, whether they are here legally or illegally, do not want noncitizens to vote in our elections. While the vast majority of illegal immigrants in America lead disciplined lives characterized by arduous labor, careful observance of the law, and moral practices such as church attendance, Latino immigrants recognize that there is a criminal element among many new immigrants that they do not want to empower in the United States.

Many of the most vulnerable illegal immigrants fled to the United States to get away from such people in their countries of origin. They do not want to risk arrest, imprisonment, or deportation by voting illegally, and they certainly do not want the criminal element to do so.

Hispanic immigrants in the United States who have become citizens have a terrific record of success in building the American dream of prosperity and freedom.

RELATED: Where is the outrage over our stolen birthright?

Douglas Rissing/Getty Images

Many current U.S. government officials and members of Congress illustrate spectacular success stories of immigrants and children of immigrants from Latin America: Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio), and Maria Elvira Salazar (R-Fla.), not to mention Sonia Sotomayor, Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Luz Rivas (D-Calif.), and many others on both sides of the aisle.

Stories from industry, business, education, the military, the clergy, and every institution and profession in our society offer a literally never-ending story of Latino success in America. The system works beautifully for those who pay the price to become citizens and raise their children to love our country.

As citizens, Latinos want to protect the democratic republic that has blessed their lives so richly.

Latino voters are not a monolith. They voted for the Republican and Democrat presidential candidates in nearly equal numbers in 2024. In future elections, they will vote for the candidates that best represent their values and support them in Congress.

It’s time for both Democrat and Republican senators to represent the overwhelming Latino opinion and vote to pass the SAVE Act now, while there is still time to rescue America’s political integrity.

Editor’s note: This article was originally published by RealClearPolitics and made available via RealClearWire.

​2028 election, American dream, Congress, Immigration, Legal immigrants, Opinion & analysis, Pew research center, Rule of law, Save act, Voter fraud 

On July 4, the $450 million Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library opened its doors to the public — a public that, according to a letter in a library exhibit, Roosevelt felt was similar to cattle.

In the letter written to Charles Davenport at Cold Spring Harbor in his own hand, he explained that “society has no business permitting degenerates to reproduce their kind.”

Roosevelt wrote in the letter, “We have to refuse to apply human beings the same elementary knowledge every farmer applies to his own stock. And that’s madness.”

“The farmers who let all the increase come from the worst stock would be threatened as fit inmates for an asylum,” he added.

Roosevelt also wrote that the “inescapable duty of the good citizen of the right type is to leave his blood behind him in the world.”

“We have no business permitting the perpetuation of a citizen of the wrong type,” he said.

Like most progressives, Glenn points out that Roosevelt made it clear that he believed in “categories.”

“This fight is about categories,” he says. “It’s about, you know, the collective and not the individual in his own hand to the director of the Carnegie-funded scientific institute. This was not the fringe. This is the cutting edge. This is the settled science that you must pay attention to of the time.”

“Theodore Roosevelt believed in the science and in the expert and in the government strong enough and clever enough to act upon what the experts knew. That’s progressivism all in one letter,” he explains.

“Now, was he great with the national parks? Yeah, he was great on national parks. Was he great on the individual and the man in the arena? Yeah, he was brave. He was funny. He read a book every day. A book every day. He took a bullet in Milwaukee and finished the speech. He set aside 230 million acres. That’s not the argument,” he continues.

“The argument is what he thought the American government was for,” he adds.

Glenn explains that Roosevelt also believed that “property is subject to the community’s right to regulate its use” and that government officials were the “stewards of the public welfare” rather than “servants of the law.”

“In a speech he called a ‘Charter for Democracy,’ he proposed when a court strikes down a progressive statute, the people should be able to vote to overturn the court. Former president of the United States in 1912 proposing a popular recall of judicial decisions. That’s not constitutional. That’s not how it works,” Glenn says.

“Theodore Roosevelt is exactly what we’re seeing. He’s just dressed up in prettier clothes. He’s not a despicable man where Woodrow Wilson is just a despicable man,” he says, adding, “And I don’t think he actually saw what was coming.”

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​National parks, Presidential library, Progressivism, Theodore roosevelt, Woodrow wilson, The glenn beck program 

A couple of months have gone by since the last major security threat to plague Apple’s ecosystem, so we’re due for another round. This time, a fatal flaw has been identified for a very specific group of iPhone models, and unlike most bugs we cover here on Blaze Media, this one costs real money to fix. Here’s everything you need to know.

The flaw

The fatal flaw in question is a BootROM exploit known as usbliter8. For curious minds, BootROM is the on-device component that’s required to boot up a device, or turn it on from a power-off state.

It can’t be resolved by downloading a future iOS update.

This system relies on a “chain of trust” to validate a device’s hardware and software every time the phone boots up to ensure that all components are secure and uncompromised on a cybersecurity level. If BootROM is compromised in any way, hackers can install unauthorized code, downgrade your phone to a less secure version of iOS, and potentially leverage other exploits to access data.

Luckily, not all iPhones are at risk. The usbliter8 exploit specifically affects Apple devices with A12 and A13 chips under the hood. Drilling down deeper, these iPhone models are in danger along with several Apple Watches. Check the list to see if your phone is included:

iPhone XRiPhone XiPhone XS MaxiPhone 11iPhone 11 ProiPhone 11 Pro MaxiPhone SE (second generation)Apple Watch Series 4Apple Watch Series 5Apple Watch SE (first generation)

If you’re not sure which iPhone you have, open the Settings app, tap on General, then About, and find the model of your phone under Model Name.

Screenshots by Zach Laidlaw

The problem

What makes this flaw so tricky is that it takes place on the hardware level. Unlike software-related bugs that can be patched with a quick update directly from Apple, usbliter8 is attached to the chip inside your smartphone.

That means it can’t be resolved by downloading a future iOS update. The problem will remain on your handset for what’s left of its life.

The solution

So how do you fix a flaw that can’t be repaired with new software?

There’s only one solution, and you probably won’t like it.

RELATED: Dems launch new push to control more of what you do in your car

SergeyBitos/Getty Images

You have to upgrade your iPhone to a new model outside of the affected devices. In other words, if your phone is on the threat list, you need to replace your vulnerable device with an iPhone 12 from 2020 or newer.

The bright side

For many iPhone owners with these older models, this may be a hard pill to swallow. New phones are expensive, and they’re only growing less affordable, thanks to the RAM shortages brought on by AI.

So let’s say you can’t or don’t want to upgrade to a new iPhone to fix the problem. Should you be worried about someone hacking into your device?

By all accounts, the risk of an usbliter8 actually happening in a real-life situation is slim. In order to carry out an attack, the hacker would need physical access to your device, and he would have to be able to put the phone into Device Firmware Upgrade mode. As long as you keep your phone on your person or in a bag at all times, you’re probably safe.

Bonus tip: Never plug your phone directly into a public charging cable you might find at a restaurant, airport, rest stop, hospital, or a college campus. Sometimes these cables are tampered with or comprised in a way that exposes your device to bad actors. If you must charge your phone in public, bring your own cable and charging brick that plugs directly into a wall outlet.

That said, in the event that your phone is stolen or accessed via usbliter8, there isn’t much that can stop a hacker from breaking in. The hacker doesn’t need your password to access DFU mode and install malicious code. However, usbliter8 can’t break into encrypted data on an iPhone on its own, so always use a complex password and biometric authentication, such as FaceID or TouchID. Those are your best defenses.

​Iphone, Security, Hackers, Ios, Tech 

The U.S. Department of Homeland security said a video it posted on X Thursday shows Canadian “illegal alien” — Kaitlyn Tracey — slapping a teenager.

The DHS added that the “maple leaf menace” — who was arrested after the alleged assault in Point Pleasant Beach, New Jersey, earlier this month and then placed in the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement — “has no business being in our country.”

‘Our message is clear: If you come into our country illegally and break our laws, we will find you, we will arrest you, and we will deport you.’

The video the DHS posted shows a red-haired female with tattoos and wearing a black baseball hat appearing to twice slap another female on a boardwalk and then walking away with a male.

Police said: “The female suspect began yelling at the female juvenile over patriotic-colored sweatpants with political wording. The female suspect was then seen on video striking the juvenile female, once to the body and once to the face, with an open hand. The female suspect then left the scene without being identified.”

While the victim of the alleged assault seen on the video was wearing shorts, she does appear to be wearing a tank top with the numbers “250” on the front — presumably in regard to America’s 250th anniversary celebrated on July 4. The incident occurred July 3.

The following video contains a partial clip of the alleged slaps:

RELATED: Canadian female, 33, accused of slapping teen girl wearing pro-Trump clothing on NJ boardwalk. Now suspect is in ICE custody.

Police department detectives conducted an investigation, and police said they identified Tracey on July 6 as the suspect in connection with the incident.

Tracey was charged with simple assault, endangering the welfare of a child, harassment, and obstruction, police said, adding that Tracey early on Monday was taken into custody without incident, processed, and transported to Ocean County Jail.

Blaze News on Wednesday morning checked ICE records, which show Tracey is in ICE custody at its Delaney Hall Detention Facility in Newark, N.J. The DHS told Blaze News that is where Tracey “will remain pending her immigration proceedings.”

“She entered the United States on April 14, 2024, on a visa set to expire on September 6, 2024,” the DHS added to Blaze News. “In violation of our nation’s laws, she overstayed her visa and failed to depart.”

“Under President Trump and Secretary Mullin, ICE is targeting the worst of the worst. Nearly 70% of ICE arrests are of illegal aliens charged or convicted of a crime in the U.S.,” the DHS added to Blaze News. “Our message is clear: If you come into our country illegally and break our laws, we will find you, we will arrest you, and we will deport you.”

Fox News said a man identifying himself on social media as Tracey’s husband, Matthew Geroni, disputed the allegations in an interview with NJ.com and said the incident was “blown out of proportion.”

Fox News added that Geroni told NJ.com: “A person like Kate does not belong in any facility. My wife has never been in trouble in her entire life. She’s never had any kind of situation like this. This one little situation that was really a nothingburger when it happened has been blown so out of control by conservatives online that it has caused my wife to be put in a detention center.”

More from Fox News:

Geroni also posted several emotional videos to social media after Tracey’s arrest, saying he was trying to find an immigration attorney and pleading for help.

“I need help. I don’t know what to do,” he said in one video. “I need an immigration lawyer. … I need my wife.”

Geroni also said he created a GoFundMe campaign to help pay for Tracey’s legal defense and immigration costs before it was removed from the platform. Before it was taken down, the fundraiser said it had been organized by friends to help cover Tracey’s legal expenses and immigration-related costs.

In another video, Geroni claimed the campaign was removed after what he described as a coordinated mass reporting campaign by a “Facebook group of MAGA supporters.”

But Fox News said a GoFundMe spokesperson disputed Geroni’s claim and noted that the fundraiser was removed for violating the platform’s policies.

“GoFundMe’s terms of service prohibit fundraisers for the legal defense of violent crimes,” the spokesperson said, according to the news network. “Consistent with this long-standing policy, the fundraiser was removed from the platform and fully refunded.”

Fox News said Francis R. Hodgson, Tracey’s attorney, declined to comment; court records show Tracey is scheduled to appear in Ocean County Superior Court on Aug. 4.

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​Crime, Canada, New jersey, Department of homeland security, Immigration and customs enforcement, Politics 

Major League Baseball was determined to wrap this year’s All-Star Game in red, white, and blue. But according to BlazeTV host Jason Whitlock, it felt less like a celebration of America and more like a carefully scripted PR campaign.

“They tried way too hard to have this great patriotic moment last night,” Whitlock says, pointing out that instead, it “came off as fake and gay.”

“They want you to fake it, and they want you to be as fake as they are. And so they had players standing on the field holding cards and pretending to interact with kids and holding sparklers, and Patti LaBelle sang one of the worst national anthems in the history of All-Star games,” he explains.

“America has slid off the rails, and you’re just trying to put a happy face on this, you’re trying to reconnect people to Americana and some sort of pride satisfaction with America, but it can’t be done. It can’t be faked. It can’t be manufactured. And that’s what it was last night,” he continues.

Whitlock also notes that the MLB “just spent the last month on its knees kissing the LGBTQ’s rear end and stuffing Pride Night down our throat.”

“It’s going to take real work, not nostalgic moments with players holding sparklers in between innings, celebrating the 250th birthday of America in a fake way,” he says.

“Patriotism is real and organic, and it’s about shared values and people that take pride, real pride … in their country,” he continues, “And Major League Baseball doesn’t do that. Professional sports don’t do that. Professional sports for the last decade have been a tool to denigrate America.”

“And you don’t just get to, ‘Well, we’re going to stop doing that and pivot, and now we’re patriotic again.’ No, no, no, no. The only way you get to do that is when you repent for what you’ve been doing for the last decade and a half, two decades,” he adds.

He recalls the MLB’s promotion of DEI, racial idolatry, Black Lives Matter slogans — and “Pride.”

Whitlock explains that the MLB participates in not the Christian culture of the country, but in being a “safe space” for “sexual perversion.”

“That’s why they can’t now turn around and say, ‘Hey, we’re about, you remember all that nostalgic stuff in the ’80s and ’90s. We’re about that. We’re about family.’ No, you’re not. You’re about the mirage. You’re about same-sex marriage. You’re not about what made America great,” he says.

“The whole thing was fake,” he says, adding, “I’m going to keep it 1,000% real.”

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​Fearless with jason whitlock, Mlb, Pride month, Fearless 

One of the most influential military strategists of the 20th century, U.S. Air Force Col. John Boyd, developed a decision-making process known as the OODA loop: observe, orient, decide, act.

His model emphasized a simple but powerful principle: Move quickly, but only after understanding the strategic environment.

Nations that lead biotechnology will enjoy not only economic advantages but also strategic leverage during future global crises. China understands this.

The most important step is often “orient.” It requires leaders to look beyond the immediate problem, understand the broader consequences of their actions, and anticipate unintended outcomes. When leaders skip that step, they may solve today’s problem while creating a much larger one tomorrow.

President Donald Trump’s recent effort to reduce prescription drug prices illustrates that challenge.

One of the administration’s most significant health care initiatives is the adoption of a most-favored-nation pricing model. Under this policy, the United States would tie the prices of certain prescription drugs to the lower prices paid by selected foreign countries.

The objective is understandable. Americans often pay substantially more for prescription medicines than patients in Europe or Canada. Reducing those costs would help millions of families.

But sound public policy requires looking beyond immediate savings.

Economists have long recognized that government-imposed price controls often reduce investment and supply over time. In the early 1970s, President Richard Nixon imposed broad wage and price controls in an effort to combat inflation.

Instead, the country experienced stagflation — the painful combination of high inflation and slow economic growth. Energy price controls contributed to gasoline shortages by reducing incentives for increased production. Rent-control policies in cities such as New York have similarly discouraged new housing construction, contributing to housing shortages.

Pharmaceuticals operate under similar economic realities.

Developing a single breakthrough drug often requires more than a decade of research, thousands of unsuccessful experiments, and billions of dollars in investment. The profits from successful medicines finance the research that produces tomorrow’s cures.

If government policies significantly reduce those returns, companies are unlikely to stop producing today’s medicines. More likely, they will reduce research and development spending, slowing the pace of innovation.

RELATED: Big Pharma’s miracle drugs have a nasty side effect

Bagira22/Getty Images

That slowdown would be both an economic and national security concern.

Biotechnology has become one of the world’s most strategically important industries. It influences health care, agriculture, artificial intelligence, military medicine, pandemic preparedness, and protection against biological threats.

Nations that lead biotechnology will enjoy not only economic advantages but also strategic leverage during future global crises.

China understands this.

Just as Beijing has invested aggressively in artificial intelligence, critical minerals, semiconductors, and advanced manufacturing, it has identified biotechnology as a strategic national priority.

Between 2016 and 2021, the market capitalization of Chinese biotechnology companies grew to approximately $300 billion, while the Chinese government invested heavily in research centers, biotechnology hubs, and advanced scientific education.

The numbers tell an even more compelling story.

According to the National Security Commission on Emerging Biotechnology, China completed more than 7,100 clinical drug trials in 2024, compared with roughly 6,000 in the United States. China’s share of global clinical trials has grown from approximately 1% in 2009 to nearly 30% today, while America’s share has declined.

Chinese scientists now produce roughly 60% of the world’s most-cited biotechnology research papers, and China accounts for 22% of international pharmaceutical and medical technology patents — an increase of nearly 380% over the past decade.

China also graduates approximately twice as many STEM students as the United States each year.

These statistics show that China views biotechnology as a critical component of future economic and military power. The United States, by contrast, risks treating one of its greatest strategic advantages primarily as a domestic pricing issue.

That should concern every American.

The COVID-19 pandemic exposed the vulnerabilities created by dependence on foreign supply chains for medicines and medical equipment. Imagine a future pandemic — or a deliberate biological attack — in which America depends not merely on foreign manufacturing but also on foreign research, patents, advanced therapies, and biotechnology innovation.

The leverage China now enjoys through its dominance of critical minerals could become far greater if it also dominates the technologies needed to develop vaccines, precision medicine, or defenses against biological weapons.

None of this means prescription drug prices should remain high. Americans deserve affordable medicines.

The challenge is finding policies that lower costs without discouraging the innovation that has made the United States the global leader in biomedical research.

Trump’s leadership style has often been characterized by speed — moving rapidly to implement broad policy changes and challenge long-standing assumptions.

Speed can be an advantage in business, where quick decisions often create competitive advantages. But governing a nation is fundamentally different from managing a corporation. Public policy affects industries, scientific leadership, national security, and future generations.

Decisions that appear successful in the short term can produce unintended strategic consequences years later.

Boyd understood this better than most. The goal was never simply to act quickly. It was to understand the entire battlefield before deciding how to act.

America should pursue reforms that make prescription drugs more affordable. But before adopting policies that could reduce investment in biotechnology, policymakers should pause long enough to complete Boyd’s “orient” step.

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In an era of growing strategic competition with China, protecting America’s leadership in biotechnology may prove as important to national security as maintaining superiority in the air, at sea, in space, or in cyberspace.

Sometimes the most dangerous consequences of a decision are not the ones we see today.

They are the ones we fail to anticipate tomorrow.

​Drug prices, Donald trump, China, Prescription medications, Big pharma, Stem students, Biotechnology, Covid, Opinion & analysis