Bob Just

A middle-schooler’s anti-bullying manifesto

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Not long ago I was visiting friends here in New York City and found out their seventh-grade son was something of a quiet hero at school. I hope many kids across America confront bullying the way Christopher did, but what makes this story different is that he later wrote about it. I was deeply touched by the simplicity of what he said and decided to publish it here. I thought of another friend, Paul Coughlin, who years ago started a group called “The Protectors.” Paul focuses on teaching kids to speak out against bullies. After all, a school’s real culture is what happens when the teachers’ backs are turned. And kids define that culture. What I’ve learned from Paul Coughlin over the years seemed fully realized in young Chris’ actions to protect a fellow student. I hope this seventh-grader’s story will inspire other children to speak up once their parents explain to them why it’s so important. It’s their school. It’s their conscience. It’s their life. Chris’ experience speaks for itself, and is the heart … Continue Reading

Liberalism’s ‘anti-science’ problem

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Millions of Americans born around the time of the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision are about to turn 40. They don’t realize what it was like to live before the Supreme Court ruling. Back then, most liberals had an open-minded view of abortion due mostly to a lack of medical knowledge. Early-term fetuses were thought to be hardly more than cellular formations, which doctors called “products of conception” or “blobs of tissue.” Lacking any real science on early fetal development, the main arguments against abortion tended to be religious. Things have changed. Now four decades later, anyone can own beautiful videos that show every stage of the gestation process. Thanks to state of the art 4D Ultrasound scans, scientifically accurate special effects and microscopy footage, we can witness the unborn child forming fingers and toes. We can learn how science knows its gender, when its heart starts to beat, when it smiles, when it feels pain and much, much more. Plus, we can watch it all happen from the comfort of our living rooms. I … Continue Reading

9/11 trial: If Flight 93 had hit the Capitol

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America is in great danger. With the decision to move the 9/11 trial to a New York courtroom, the Obama administration has made it clear that it does not understand the war being waged on the United States. The likelihood that politics swayed the decision only points more to the president’s deadly ignorance of the nature of this war. The 9/11 attack was not focused on the World Trade Center. It was a multi-pronged attack meant to cut America’s head off, hitting our financial strength in New York and our military strength at the Pentagon, while also hitting our political system. Flight 93 was headed to Washington with the likely target being the Capitol building, the very seat of our democracy. This was no “crime.” But for the true heroism of a few Americans (who knew an existential threat when they saw one), we may have lost our Capitol building, with all its glorious history and symbolism, not to mention the terrible loss of life. A few terrorists on an airliner could have extinguished a … Continue Reading