"As individual responsibility for crimes and bad behaviors continues to be diluted and diminished in our society, we can expect a rise in antisocial behavior and crime".

 

Illegal Is Legal, Immoral Is Moral

The moral norm in American society has shifted, and not for the better.

E. Jeffrey Ludwig | May 24, 2026 www.americanthinker.com

The moral norm in American society has shifted during the years from 1910 to the present, but especially during the past 50 years.  The link between being a “good citizen” and a “moral person” has atrophied, and we find ourselves in a decline, where so-called “good citizens” are regularly engaged in behaviors that in earlier decades were considered immoral or illegal.  Bad behavior is now “not so bad,” and crimes are often believed to be merely “adjustment problems.”  This shift in cultural values and norms has divided the population to the point where the more moral people tend to be older and deem younger generations less than moral.

On this writer’s block, there are two houses that have LGBTQ flags on poles in their yards.  Another “gay” couple has the flag outside in June, the official month for “appreciation” of those relationships.  The flag announces for all to see the victory of Obergefell v. Hodges in 2015, where the SCOTUS legitimized homosexual “marriage” nationwide as constitutional.  The Court reached this decision even though plebiscites by 30 states had previously voted against attempting to redefine marriage — even including California, on two occasions.

A young man who lives on my block is in his twenties and conversed with me the other day while smoking a joint that was as big as a small blunt.  His eyes were glazed and his expression tired, which he attributed to the “joint.”  At the same time, he was sociable and even engaging as he related a recent video production where he had been employed.  For him, being high and having a conversation with a neighbor was a completely normal activity.  The thought that anyone might question his stability or goodness as a person would never cross his mind.

Prostitution has been largely decriminalized in New York City, in particular in the boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn.  In Queens, there are Human Trafficking Intervention Courts, which were established more than 20 years ago in 2004 to “[treat] women arrested for prostitution as victims rather than criminals.”  The fact that worship of Ashteroth in the Holy Bible, involving prostitution invading the premises of worship in the temples, was repudiated by God does not even come into play when evaluating our laws.

We also are contending with millions of foreign nationals who were admitted illegally during President Joe Biden’s administration, whom Democrats defend against being rounded up and deported.  This expulsion of illegals is an affirmation of our legal system, which has set up rules for legal entry into the USA.  The rules were approved by our legislative system, but now and for the four years of the previous administration, those laws are being denied and repudiated by one of our two major parties.  The Democrats are doing what they can to defund the offices of government responsible for rounding up those illegals.  They are encouraging illegal behavior yet do not believe that a stigma is attached to that intention.

They are sentimentalizing immigration laws as though our already generous laws were overly strict and against the pro-immigration traditions of the USA.  Illegal entry by “huddled masses yearning to breathe free” is being propagandized as being more “moral” than obedience to the legitimately passed laws.

Also, our society has gone from a country honoring Ben Franklin’s saying, “neither a borrower nor a lender be,” to a society that is itself deeply in debt to the tune of trillions of dollars.  We are drowning in a credit-based marketplace where not only the government, but individuals and families are deeply in debt.  There are many companies that exist to negotiate “deals” for those debtors to reduce their obligations.  It seems incredible for our debt-ridden society to think there were prisons for debtors in England as recently as the 19th century.  In today’s world, if someone is drowning in debt, he will surely justify himself with the thought “that does not make me a bad person.”

A pastor friend of mine invited my wife and me to a service celebrating the second anniversary of a church he had established in Brooklyn, N.Y.  As part of the service, the youth choir made up of teenagers came forward to sing.  I was amazed to see one of the singers.  He was a student in one of my high school social studies classes, who was absent (cutting!) most school days.

The following Monday, he showed up for class.  I told him I was in the congregation when he was singing at the event on Friday night, and I asked him, “Are you a Christian?”  He nodded.  And I asked him, “Why are you absent most days from this class?”  He said nothing and then took his seat toward the rear of the room.  He continued throughout the lesson talking and laughing with two or three of his friends.  This was standard behavior for small groups in all classes at that chaotic high school.

He continued being truant most days and failed the class.  His conscience as a Christian was dead to the fact that he was in defiance of his obligation to himself, his family, and society by this lack of cooperation.

About a year and a half later, I learned that he had had an argument with someone in front of his apartment house who he thought was trying to steal his bike.  The person he was arguing with killed him.  I remembered his hardworking mother crying at one parent-teacher meeting as she spoke with me, and saying through her tears, “I don’t want my son to end up spending years behind bars!”

As he was dying, he named the one who stabbed him and was praying constantly. 

We also see increasing numbers of cases in the news of innocent victims, like Iryna Zarutska in North Carolina.  She was on a commuter train going home from work when suddenly she was stabbed to death by a maniac.  He was a felon with dozens of convictions who had been set free because he was perceived by various courts, social workers, and citizens as one of the victims of our “system” and not merely as a “victimizer” or “criminal.”  He is one of many whose crimes are diminished by various psychological and sociological premises.  Because they were poor or neglected or a member of a displaced or rejected people group, their crimes are mitigated.

As individual responsibility for crimes and bad behaviors continues to be diluted and diminished in our society, we can expect a rise in antisocial behavior and crime.  My student prayed intensely as he was dying.  But prayers for mercy, forgiveness, and restoration should be intense before we ever get to the point of death.  We need to pray for a lively conscience, and that our sense of righteousness and responsibility will be reinvigorated and restored.  Otherwise, we as a society will continue to drown in our soporific, watered down values.

 

Some negative economic news about our southern border neighbor.

 

Growing slowly south of the border

The economic news out of Mexico is a problem for Mexico.

Silvio Canto, Jr. | May 24, 2026 www.americanthinker.com

A Mexican friend recently said something like this: “Why are we sending oil to Cuba when we have our economic problems?” My friend’s words made more sense today after reading this economic update:

Mexico’s economy shrank 0.6% in the ​first quarter from the previous three-month period, data from the ‌national statistics agency INEGI showed on Friday, compared with a 0.8% decline expected by economists in a Reuters poll.

Latin America’s second-largest economy pulled back ​after revised growth of 0.7% in the fourth quarter of ​2025.

“The weakness was broad-based across the major sectors, reinforcing ⁠the view that the slowdown reflects fading domestic momentum rather ​than an isolated shock,” said Andres Abadia, chief LatAm economist at​Pantheon Macroeconomics.

Primary activities, which include farming, fishing and mining, recorded the steepest decline with a fall of 1.7%, according to INEGI’s data.

The secondary sector, which ​includes manufacturing and construction, and tertiary activities, which cover services, ​were down 1% and 0.4% respectively.

In annual terms, the economy expanded 0.2% compared ‌to ⁠a year earlier, slightly above the 0.1% growth expected by economists.

It looks like an economic slowdown south of the border. And another friend who just got back from a business trip to Mexico told me that gasoline prices were also very high.

Add to the bad economic news the information that remittances are down. As you may know, money going from here to there is not just cash transfers. It translates into food on the table and the ability to pay for many essentials of life. Here is that report:

Remittances to Mexico from abroad declined by 4.6% in 2025, to a total of US $61.8 billion, marking the biggest fall since 2009, the Bank of Mexico (Banxico) reported on Tuesday.

Remittances contributed 3.4% of Mexico’s GDP in 2025, according to an analysis by Banco BASE’s director of economic analysis, Gabriela Siller.

3.4% of GDP is a large number, and it represents a much larger share of many family budgets, particularly in the country’s rural areas. The remittances have turned into a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it supports families. On the other hand, it makes them dependent on their families up here.

Last, but not least, the US-Canada-Mexico free trade agreement is up for review soon. Add to all this the security issues, and China using the agreement to enter the US and Canadian markets.

Stay tuned for Mexico growing below expectations.

 

The current Administration continues to set the nation's immigration policies on a proper foundation.

 

Trump admin says migrants in US on visas must return home to apply for green card

The department said the change includes international students and temporary workers, stating those who are in the U.S. on temporary visas are expected to only remain in the country for a set time.

By Misty Severi justthenews.com 5-22-26

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced a change Friday to the way that migrants in the United States on a visa can apply for a green card, directing those who are trying to obtain the green card to return home for the process.

The department said the change includes international students and temporary workers, stating those who are in the U.S. on temporary visas are expected to only remain in the country for a set time.

“From now on, an alien who is in the U.S. temporarily and wants a Green Card must return to their home country to apply, except in extraordinary circumstances,” USCIS spokesperson Zach Kahler said in a statement. “When aliens apply from their home country, it reduces the need to find and remove those who decide to slip into the shadows and remain in the U.S. illegally."

The new process instructs migrants to apply for a green card through consular services in their home country instead of trying to change their status while already in the U.S.

“Following the law allows the majority of these cases to be handled by the State Department at U.S. consular offices abroad and frees up limited USCIS resources to focus on processing other cases that fall under its purview, including visas for victims of violent crime and human trafficking, naturalization applications, and other priorities," Kahler said.

The department said there will be some exceptions to the change, which will be granted on a case-by-case basis, but did not indicate what those exceptions would be.

 

A post to proclaim the greatness of our Constitutional Republic!

 

What Really Makes America Great

Gregory Lyakhov patriotpost.us 5-23-26

The Founding Fathers designed the American government to slow the accumulation of power before it could become destructive.

Americans often disagree over what makes the United States exceptional. Some point to the Bill of Rights, the first 10 amendments, designed to protect individual freedom, civil liberties, and the citizen from government abuse. Others argue that America’s greatness stems from representative government, as citizens have the power to choose their leaders. Many others describe the United States as the land of opportunity, where hard work can still change the course of a person’s life.

Each of those answers contains part of the truth, but none reaches the core reason America became different from every other nation. Rights, elections, and opportunity matter deeply, but they all depend on something more fundamental: the structure of the American system itself.

The United States is not great merely because citizens vote. Dozens of nations hold elections. Some countries are, in certain ways, more directly democratic than America. Thankfully, the United States was never built as a pure democracy. America is a Constitutional Republic, where the people choose representatives, but those representatives remain limited by a written Constitution, separated powers, state authority, and judicial review.

The Founders understood that popular will alone could become dangerous if no structure restrained it. A majority can be wrong, emotional, temporary, or abusive. The American government was designed to slow the accumulation of power before it could become destructive.

The Bill of Rights is also essential, but even it does not capture the full genius of the American system. The original Constitution did not include those amendments. They were added after fierce debate, largely to address concerns that the new federal government might become too powerful.

That history does not make the Bill of Rights less important. It shows the deeper principle behind the entire American design: distrust of concentrated power. The Founders did not assume government would always be virtuous, but rather that government needed limits, boundaries, and competing centers of authority.

Opportunity follows from the same structure. America did not become the land of opportunity by accident. Opportunity grows when government protects property, allows enterprise, prevents one faction from controlling every institution, and leaves space for families, churches, businesses, communities, and individuals to build. Other nations may promise opportunity, but American opportunity has always been tied to a system that prevents government from controlling every path of life.

A very real indicator of American greatness is the structure of government: separation of powers, federalism, constitutional limits, and a permanent suspicion of centralized authority. Congress writes the laws. The president enforces them. The courts interpret the Constitution and decide whether the government has exceeded its authority. States retain power instead of surrendering every major decision to Washington. Local communities govern many aspects of life, bringing decision-making closer to the people affected by those decisions.

This system does not require a weak government. Limited government and powerless government are not the same. A branch of government should use the full authority the Constitution gives it. Congress should legislate, not surrender policymaking to agencies. The president should enforce the law, not pretend the executive branch has no role in shaping national direction.

The courts should protect the Constitution, not avoid hard questions because a decision creates controversy. State governments should govern boldly within their own authority, not wait for federal permission on every issue.

America works best when every branch reaches the full extent of its constitutional power while respecting the boundaries placed around it. The system fails when one branch abandons its role, when courts invent authority, when presidents ignore the law, when Congress delegates responsibility, or when states become administrative units of the federal government.

The structure only functions when each part carries out its duty.

America’s greatness does not come from republican government alone, rights alone, or opportunity alone. Those blessings exist because the American system was built on a deeper insight: power must be divided before freedom can survive. The Founders created a government strong enough to govern, but restrained enough to protect the people from the government itself.