Al Perrotta is off today.

I know better than to put too much trust in rumors. On the other hand, the past few years have taught me to expect and prepare for the worst. On February 1, 2020, I “declared” the year over and did a year-in-review, because so many awful things had already happened — mainly in the Australian brush fire that claimed the lives of billions of innocent animals. Trump’s State of the Union had just been a triumph, and he looked sure to hammer the Democrats in the upcoming election. And nobody worried too much about a new virus over in China — except Nancy Pelosi, who was urging San Franciscans to go eat in Chinatown, and calling travel restrictions from infected countries “racist.”

If you’d told me that toasted wallabies would be the least of our problems that year, I wouldn’t have believed you. And I would have been wrong.

So when I heard the rumor that Donald Trump was seriously considering Nikki Haley as his vice-presidential candidate, I was ready to believe it. Because it was the worst news I could think of — apart from all the news that has recently emerged from the Vatican. I prepared myself mentally to vote for some third-party candidate, convinced as I am that Haley combines all the worst qualities of the Democrats (pro-trans, pro-Deep State, pro-choice) with the worst of the Swamp GOP (stupid, pointless wars).

But for once (this is sadly the only time) I might have been too pessimistic. My newspaper of record, Revolver News, reports:

Last week, a wild rumor started swirling, causing quite a stir. Where it came from is unclear; it could’ve been Team DeSantis or the Biden regime, but some “sources” alleged that President Trump was eyeing Nikki Haley, the unpopular “birdbrained” warmonger, for Vice President. This set off alarms for the America First crowd, as Haley is the globalist establishment’s answer to Hillary Clinton—not someone they want anywhere near the White House. Many in the MAGA camp, who are fully aware of Haley’s unpopularity among Trump supporters, came out and dismissed the rumor as a political ploy to undermine Trump’s support. And now, with Trump’s latest post on Truth, it’s looking more and more like an orchestrated “attack job” with little to no truth behind the Haley VP rumors.

Revolver cites a Truth Social post by Trump himself, tweeted by Jack Posobiec:

All those people who said Trump was about to pick Nikki Haley were just as flat wrong as they were about when they said DeSantis could beat Trump

Maybe you guys should just quit politics pic.twitter.com/IgwzuqSCMy

— Jack Poso 🇺🇸 (@JackPosobiec) December 27, 2023

That takes a load off my mind. At least we won’t face a choice between the Former Joe Biden and the prospect of World War III.

Your Kids Are Ours Now. Shut Your Mouth

The New York Post reports:

A Maryland court ruled this week that parents cannot opt their children out of lessons featuring inclusive LGBTQ+ books on religious grounds, stating that families do not have a “fundamental right” to disrupt public education in the name of their faith.

In the lawsuit, Tamer Mahmoud et al. v. McKnight et al., filed in May, three families from Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) sought to reinstate a district policy that would allow them to remove their children from lessons featuring inclusive books because they “contradict their sincerely held religious beliefs about marriage, human sexuality, and gender,” the decision viewed by The Post explained.

Judge Deborah L. Boardman, however, denied the parents’ request for a preliminary injunction for when school starts on Aug. 28, stating that they failed to establish that their due process right to shape their children’s education in line with their religious practices was a “fundamental right,” the document continued.

In other words, once you send your kids to a public school, your rights over them are essentially terminated. They belong to the State now.

Funny, that’s precisely what opponents of secular public education (such as America’s Catholic bishops, and Protestant fundamentalists) have been saying for more than 100 years. Read the Becket Fund’s briefs and supporting literature on behalf of the parents. And find some alternative to public schools if you value your children’s immortal souls.

How Public Schools Infect Kids With Gender Dysphoria

Not quite convinced? The Gateway Pundit reports on a powerful new film exposing how schools are trying to plant the transgender delusion in the malleable minds of children.

A new film explores how mental illness and cultural Marxism have wrought havoc on America’s children and their families.

“Art Club,” produced and directed by former Colorado state legislator Kevin Lundberg, documents one family’s horrific experience with “public school indoctrination and the transgender social contagion.”

The one-hour-and-twenty-minute film features a lengthy interview with parents Jon and Erin Lee. And it has a powerful message.

“My number one advice to parents is get your kids out of public schools. They’re not safe,” Erin Lee said.

Check out the film itself here:

Along The Stream

Don’t miss Tom Gilson’s thoughtful comparison of Progressive Christians’ abandonment of the Faith with … Herod’s Slaughter of the Innocents in Bethlehem.

Later today, read David Marshall on the surprising conversion to Christ of heroic ex-Muslim and longtime atheist Ayaan Hirsi Ali.

John Zmirak is a senior editor at The Stream and author or co-author of ten books, including The Politically Incorrect Guide to Immigration and The Politically Incorrect Guide to Catholicism. He is co-author with Jason Jones of “God, Guns, & the Government.”