Paul Random

The Absolute Awfulness of Ben & Jerry’s

Ben & Jerry’s, the Vermont-based ice cream company known for its eclectic flavors and liberal causes, is openly cheering for the death of its future customer base.

Earlier this month the company, which is owned by Unilever, hailed and feted abortion providers on a day set aside to champion the evil and wicked profession.

Over the years, Ben and Jerry’s has lobbied for a wide range of social issues and often by designating a new ice cream flavor so-named as to call ongoing attention to it. 

There’s been “Rainforest Crunch” to save the rainforest, “One Sweet Whirled” to bring attention to the ever-changing climate, and “Yes Pecan!” which played off of then candidate Barack Obama’s “Yes We Can!” campaign slogan. “Hubby Hubby,” “Apple-y Ever After” and “EngageMint Party” all applauded the legalization of same-sex “marriage” either here in the United States or abroad.

The company is yet to concoct an abortion-themed ice cream flavor, but on March 10th’s “National Abortion Provider Appreciation Day,” they went all out sharing their reasons for supporting the designation.

Ben & Jerry’s trotted out the usual debunked claims, such as pro-life laws jeopardizing the health of mothers. They conveniently ignored the fact that every abortion kills a child and jeopardizes the health and even life of the mother. 

The company also suggested another reason they support abortion is because “communities of color are disproportionately impacted.” They’re not wrong – but almost inconceivably claim it’s because pro-life laws are making it more difficult for black women to get healthcare due to “systemic racism.” 

Of course, what they fail to mention is that the most dangerous place in the world for a black baby is the womb. In short, abortion is killing the black community. In fact, of the more than 60 million babies aborted since Roe in 1973, over 20 million of those children have been black. That’s over a third of all abortions, even though just over 13% of the American population is black.

Ben and Jerry’s also defended their support of abortion because they claim abortion providers are being attacked and murdered. To buttress this claim, they cite statistics from over 50 years.

Tragically, rare violent or disruptive acts have occurred over the years. They’re never acceptable, and normal pro-life supporters never condone them. It hasn’t even been clear who was responsible for some of them.

The ice cream maker failed to mention that hundreds of pregnancy medical clinics and even churches have been firebombed and vandalized since the Supreme Court overturned Roe in June of 2022.

But has Unilever, which acquired Ben and Jerry’s back in 2000, finally had enough of the company’s radical social agenda?

Earlier this week in a Manhattan federal court lawsuit filing, the ice cream maker accused Unilever of suppressing their “social mission” and planning to fire Ben & Jerry CEO Dave Stever for his devotion to various liberal causes.

According to reports, Unilever has objected to Ben & Jerry’s support for Palestinian Hamas activist Mahmoud Khalil, and, among other concerns, its desire to criticize President Trump in advertisements.

When Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield sold their company to Unilever back in 2000 for $326 million, they negotiated an arrangement where the ice cream liberals would be allowed to continue their liberalism. It’s now up to the courts to decide who actually has the final authority in company advertising – but it’s the customers who will have the ultimate say when it comes to who buys and eats their ice cream.

Thankfully, those of us who love the sweet treat have plenty of other non-radical, non-abortion-cheering, non-smug, and unsanctimonious ice cream makers to choose from. 

Image from Shutterstock.

Raising Cane’s Founder: ‘God Made Me Good at Chicken Fingers to Help People’

Todd Graves, co-founder of the chicken tender Raising Cane’s restaurant empire, managed to convert a poor college grade into a multi-billion-dollar thriving business.

His secret?

“I believe God made me good at chicken fingers to help people,” he’s said. “I think God makes us all good at what we’re doing, ultimately, to help people.”

A devout Christian, Graves calls himself, “CEO, Fry Cook, and Cashier of Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers.”

As a student at Louisianna State University in the early 1990s, Graves and classmate Craig Silvey submitted a business plan in a class detailing their idea for a singularly focused chicken tender business. The professor wasn’t impressed, accused them of not doing enough research, and gave them a B- for the paper – the lowest in the class.

Only Graves had done the work.

“I’d basically written the Bible on a chicken finger restaurant,” he told Inc. “I even knew what our aprons would cost.”

Despite the negative feedback from his professor, Graves was determined to make the mere idea a reality. Banks didn’t seem to believe in the idea either. So after graduation, Todd took a job as a boilermaker at an oil refinery – and then headed to Alaska to fish for salmon. Both roles were tons of work and highly lucrative, allowing the budding entrepreneur to sock away money he’d use to open the chicken business.

Moving back to Louisiana, Todd and Craig opened the first “Raising Cane’s” just outside the entrance of LSU in Baton Rouge. He named the restaurant after his yellow Labrador Retriever, “Cane.”

Like many small business owners, Cane’s grew but struggled. Hurricane Katrina almost put the company under, both literally and figuratively. But they were able to bounce back and actually gained market share as other businesses remained closed. The COVID pandemic was another struggle – and opportunity for growth.

Looking back, Todd Graves credits his attitude of seeing his work as an opportunity to serve others for helping the company experience such growth.

In fact, Graves has established an entire department within the company called “Cane’s Love” as a means by which to express appreciation to their employees They send out over 4,000 thank you cards per week, have a generous benevolence fund for special needs, and provide tuition assistance.

Scripture has a lot to say about our work.

“Commit your work to the Lord, and your plans will be established” (Proverbs 16:3) urged Solomon. “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men,” wrote the apostle Paul (Col. 3:23).

Gallup has recently found that only 23% of the global workforce is what they term “engaged.” Most employees aren’t quitting or finding other employment – they’re simply just doing enough to get by and then go and collect their paycheck.

It might seem as though the God of the universe has more important things than to specially gift a guy on how best to prepare and sell chicken fingers. But it’s in the details of life, and using the hands and feet of His people, where the Lord often accomplishes His purposes.

Every Raising Cane’s employee receives a hard hat on their first anniversary. It’s a nod to Todd’s work as a boiler maker, the half of the hustle that helped him raise the dollars to launch the first store. The helmet also serves as a reminder that God’s work can sometimes be hard even as we help others.

Image credit: Todd Graves/Instagram

Stephen Miller, Civics Teacher

The American public is in a desperate need of a strong civics education.

According to the latest National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), also known as the Nation’s Report Card, only 22% of 8th grade students were deemed “proficient” in civics and just 13% in history.

This spells trouble for not only America today, but the future stability and sustainability of the nation going forward.

It was Abraham Lincoln who warned, “The philosophy of the schoolhouse in one generation will be the philosophy of the government in the next.”

But every now and again individuals emerge on the national stage who possess an ability to teach while they talk. 

Enter Stephen Miller, White House deputy chief of staff for policy and United States homeland security advisor. 

According to The New York Times, Stephen Miller is “one of the most powerful unelected people in America.”

Of late, media outlets have been using the “unelected” moniker a lot, presumably a reaction to individuals and perspectives they don’t appreciate. Questioned about Elon Musk’s “unelected” role in the newly formed Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), Miller assumed the role of teacher.

“Many people in this room who have used this talking point that Elon is not elected fail to understand how government works,” he said from the White House briefing room. 

He continued,

“A president is elected by the whole American people. He’s the only official in the entire government that is elected by the entire nation, right? Judges are appointed. Members of Congress are elected at the district or state level. The Constitution, Article II has a clause known as the Vesting Clause. And it says the executive power shall be vested in a president, singular. The whole will of democracy is imbued into the elected president. That president then appoints staff to then impose that democratic will onto the government.” 

Miller is correct that every administration and nearly the whole of government is populated by unelected citizens.

He went on to warn, “The threat to democracy, indeed the existential threat to democracy, is the unelected bureaucracy of lifetime-tenured civil servants who believe they answer to no one, who believe they can do whatever they want without consequence, who believe they can set their own agenda no matter what Americans vote for.”

Stephen Miller, who is 39 years of age, was born and raised in California. He’s said the former NRA CEO’s Wayne LaPierre’s book, Guns, Crime, and Freedom, helped him shape his conservative world view. He started in talk radio as a teenager and began appearing on Larry Elder’s show. He graduated from Duke University with a degree in political science.

Known for his aggressive commentary, edgy and maybe even impatient temperament, Miller first worked for Representative Michelle Bachmann and then Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions. He also worked in the first Trump administration. 

Earlier this week, Stephen Miller defended President Trump’s decision to deport Venezuelan gang members of Tren de Aragua, a foreign terrorist organization, under the Alien and Sedition Act of 1798. Here’s what he told CNN’s Kasie Hunt:

The president of the United States and his administration reserve all rights under the Constitution to conduct national security operations in defense of the United States. The Alien Enemies Act, which was passed into law by the founding generation of this country, men like John Adams, was written explicitly to give the president the authority to repel an alien invasion of the United States.

When the president is exercising his Article 2 powers to defend the country against an invasion or to repel a foreign terrorist that is unlawfully in the country, he’s exercising his core Article 2 powers as commander in chief.

Both President Trump and Stephen Miller’s interpretations of some of our founding principles are being challenged on various legal fronts – and right up to the United States Supreme Court. Time will tell how those play out, but for now American citizens who are following the news are receiving an almost daily civics lesson – and that is always a good thing.

Image from Getty.

NASA’s Butch Wilmore: ‘He is Working Out His Plan and His Purposes for His Glory’

After being marooned for nine months aboard the International Space Station, NASA’s Suni Williams and Barry “Butch” Wilmore are scheduled to splashdown off the Florida coast on Tuesday evening. 

The two astronauts are joined in the SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule by NASA’s Nick Hague and Aleksandr Gorbunov of Russia.

Butch Wilmore’s previous foray into space was as pilot aboard the Space Shuttle Atlantis in 2009. He’s a Navy veteran pilot with over 8,000 flight hours and 663 aircraft carrier landings. During Operation Desert Storm, Wilmore completed 21 combat missions.

Prior to beginning his descent to earth earlier this morning, Captain Wilmore, along with his fellow astronauts, were interview by CBS News reporter Mark Strassman. 

“What is your life lesson or takeaway from these nine months in space?” asked Strassman.

“My feeling on all of this goes back to my faith,” he said. “It’s bound in my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. He is working out His plan and His purposes for His glory throughout all of humanity and how that plays in our lives is significant and important.”

Many have empathized with the plights of both Captain Wilmore and Captain Williams. Williams is also a retired and decorated Navy pilot. Incidentally, Captain Williams holds the distinction of having run the first marathon in space back in 2017, completing the 26.2 miles on a treadmill in four hours and 24 minutes. She had been planning to run the Boston Marathon with friends. Instead, she ran the distance in space at the same time her running partners completed it in Beantown. 

When navigating outer space, timing is everything. Williams and Wilmore’s eight-day journey turned into a nine-month odyssey for a variety of reasons including helium leaks, thruster failures and scheduled spacewalks.  There have been other allegations and accusations.

Captain Wilmore and his wife, Deanna, have two daughters, Daryn and Logan. Sadly, Butch has missed the majority of Logan’s senior year in high school. 

Daryn, who is in college, has said, “It’s been hard if we’re completely honest.” She shared her frustration is “less the fact that he’s up there’ and ‘more the fact of why … There’s a lot of politics, there’s a lot of things that I’m not at liberty to say, and that I don’t know fully about. There’s been issues. There’s been negligence. And that’s the reason why this has just kept getting delayed. There’s just been issue after issue after issue.”

“It’s been trying at times,” acknowledged Captain Wilmore to The New York Times.

But talking with CBS yesterday, the weary astronaut was reflective and expressed confidence in God’s sovereignty. 

“However that [the delay] plays out, I am content because I understand that He’s at work in all things. Some things are for the good. Go to Hebrews chapter 11, some things look to us to be not so good. But it’s all working out for His good, for those that will believe, and that’s the answer.”

Nevertheless, Captain Wilmore has chosen to see the things out of his control as part of God’s perfect plan. 

For Christians, that’s always a helpful and faith-affirming perspective to hold and employ no matter our endeavor or ordeal.

Let’s continue praying for the returning astronauts and their families.

Image credit: X

Thomas Sowell Deserves the Presidential Medal of Freedom

At 94 years of age, the legendary economist Thomas Sowell may well be America’s greatest living intellect.

Born in North Carolina but raised in Harlem, Dr. Sowell is a Marine Corps veteran. He earned an undergraduate degree in economics from Harvard (1958), a masters from Columbia (1959), and a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in 1968.

For the last 45 years, he’s been at Stanford University’s Hoover Institute, where he’s currently the Rose and Milton Friedman Senior Fellow.

Dr. Sowell retired back in 2017 from writing a weekly column. But he was so prolific and tackled so many fundamental and foundational issues for so long that his decades of work serve as something of a conservative compendium even today.

The conservative group Advancing American Freedom agrees and has sent President Trump a letter suggesting he be awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Established in 1963 by President Kennedy, it’s the highest civilian award. Dr. Sowell would be a worthy recipient. Wrote the group:

“Dr. Sowell is one of America’s leading intellectuals, shaping how the nation thinks about global prosperity in economics, politics, and history,” the group wrote. “[Dr.] Sowell continues to work for economic liberty, equality before the law, and policy judged on its success or failure, not the intent of its proponents. His life reflects the American virtues of perseverance, hard work, and the pursuit of truth.”

They’re absolutely right. A master communicator, Dr. Sowell has served as a prominent voice for common sense economics, relaying truths that apply to not only business and government, but also life.

Dr. Sowell has not written or argued from a Christian platform, but believers have regularly considered his perspective to be a fine complement to our efforts navigating an often hostile and foolish culture.

Here are five pearls of his wisdom:

1. “Much of the social history of the Western world, over the past three decades, has been a history of replacing what worked with what sounded good..

The single sentence sums up the impetus for the cultural revolution that has destroyed individuals and families under the guise of supposed compassion.

2. “When you want to help people, you tell them the truth. When you want to help yourself, you tell them what they want to hear.”

The Bible is full of difficult truths.

3. “People who pride themselves on their ‘complexity’ and deride others for being ‘simplistic’ should realize that the truth is often not very complicated. What gets complex is evading the truth.”

There is a lot of “grey” in the world, and the Bible is silent on many issues. But for the Christian, there is no quibbling with the fact that Jesus is the way, the truth and the life (John 14:6).

4. “It is hard to imagine a more stupid or more dangerous way of making decisions than by putting those decisions in the hands of people who pay no price for being wrong.”

As Christians, we’re called to bear one another’s burdens, but as the apostle Paul wrote, “Let each one test his own work, and then his reason to boast will be in himself alone and not in his neighbor. For each will have to bear his own load” (Galatians 6:4-5).

5. “The big divide in this country is not between Democrats and Republicans, or women and men, but between talkers and doers.”

Wrote the apostle John, “Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth” (1 John 3:18).

Dr. Thomas Sowell is an intellectual giant who has performed an enormous public service. He’s exposed idiocy, foolishness, and corruption, challenged those in power, highlighted the good, educated generations, and helped Americans develop a thoughtful and wise worldview.

America owes a debt of gratitude to Dr. Thomas Sowell.

Image credit: Hoover Institute