As a distinguished dabbler in thoughtcrime, I listened to Pastor Doug Wilson's Blog and Mablog podcast this week (a crime in circles concerned about "winsomeness," I know).

Like the rebellious scallywag that I am, I listened, and this is what I heard:

There are ministry leaders out there (that I know of) who used to be ministering in squish-world, but have red-pilled hard, and are situated in the middle of a large network of men who have not yet had that radicalization happen to them, but who could be brought along. And perhaps they could be brought along for two cents. These situated men are biding their time, waiting for the right moment to hoist the Jolly Roger. Give them a minute.

Pastor Doug was talking about banding together with people who have capitulated in the past but have come to their senses and want to join the fight.

Our fight. The fight for everything good on God's green earth.

Not The Bee was born as the silly little brother of The Babylon Bee to report news that's too crazy for satire. As it so happens, there's plenty of that to go around these days! We've never been a major player in the media establishment, but we've seen a dramatic shift around us as traditionally conservative media, like Christianity Today and Fox News, has shifted leftward at about a million miles an hour with other Western institutions that have been ideologically captured by the Left. Not The Bee is now part of a vanishingly small collection of outlets that are not only conservative in the culture war, but grounded in Christ and the reality that He is Lord.

So... what do we do with that?

Well, on one hand, we continue reporting stories that seem like Bee stories but actually aren't. Today, I wrote a story about media outlets replacing the word "woman" with "seahorse dad" in an effort to uphold the transgender cult, and who doesn't love comedy like that in the morning?

On the other hand, we recognize that we have a voice that has attracted people who are looking for authoritative takes in a world filled with clowns and clapping seals.

Most of the red-pilled abandoned the MSM years ago, but as you watch right-wing outlets go crazy as well, you're wondering if there isn't anyplace out there that's still grounded in reality.

Our argument here is that Christ is that reality, and while we hold fast to Him, we won't lose the plot like David French and Russell Moore.

But what about those who don't share all of our beliefs? Is there a place in this movement for those who [gulp] don't believe in five-point Calvinism?? Where do they share their voices? These Joabs and other Mighty Men may not share all our convictions and vision, but they are still fighting against the Woke Monster. Do they go to liberal Fox? Do they go to MAGA-land? Do they work exclusively in the Church? Do they join with the neo-cons who want to elect a Uniparty president who will bump up Raytheon stock with a few new wars? Do they go to outlets that have become the racist, antisemitic tropes the Left accuses them of?

It's not easy sharing your thoughts with conviction these days.

Not even on the Right.

During this election season, we have been criticized as being shills for DeSantis, hateful of DeSantis, biased for Vivek, lovers of Trump, haters of Trump - pretty much anything you can imagine.

Unfortunately, there are many in right-wing land who love to take advantage of blood in the water to gain power and destroy enemies. Just because someone is a Republican doesn't mean they aren't prone to human nature, and I have seen a lot of that fallen nature coming from the Right lately.

We need places where merry bands of happy warriors can come together and listen to opinions without the squawks of the commentariat saying we're being shills or attempting to silence companies like ours by threatening them with legal action for thoughtcrime. At the same time, we need places where there is discernment and grounding. We don't want to end up on one end like David French, arguing the Christian conservative case for atheist liberalism, or on the other end like some of the conservative commentators who are spending their time these days railing against the Jews.

And so, Not The Bee Takes was born.

Takes is an opinion section of our news site where the red-pilled can gather as a band of Merry and Mighty Men, offering a platform for some of the most important voices of our time.

This will be separate from our regular news coverage on the main page - a place for names with far greater prestige than my own to publish their voices. Perhaps you are one of those voices. Contact us if so. We will give you a place to share your convictions as a rallying point for the troops.

It is our hope and prayer that this space draws in those men and women on the edges: The ones who have looked at the past few years and begun to wonder at the corruption of it all, who think maybe there is something rotten in Denmark, who are starting to wonder if the elites really do want them to "own nothing and be happy." We're in the great adventure of our lifetimes folks, and there's a lot of good people to recruit out there who don't quite understand the story they've stumbled into.

As Sam Gamgee might say:

Folk seem to have been just landed in them, usually - their paths were laid that way, as you put it. But I expect they had lots of chances, like us, of turning back, only they didn't. And if they had, we shouldn't know, because they'd have been forgotten. We hear about those as just went on - and not all to a good end, mind you...

They are the type of people who might be brought into the fight, and as Pastor Doug said, "perhaps they could be brought along for two cents."

Not The Bee Takes is here to help that happen. ✊

P.S. Now check out our latest video 👇