From kneeling to Spanish anthems: How the NFL lost Middle America at halftime

After the chaotic early 2020s, when the NFL led the way by leaning into woke nonsense like kneeling for the national anthem or introducing “Lift Every Voice” as a separate anthem for Black Americans, there’s been a lack of trust between the average football fan and the Super Bowl halftime production. The sense is, “What are they going to try this time?”

The NFL responded with an all-Spanish halftime show and effectively challenged Americans to have a problem with it. What are viewers going to do — not watch?

But many didn’t.

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Turning Point’s “All-American Halftime Show” was announced a few months ago to contrast with what many expected would be a politicized halftime show by Bad Bunny, an artist whose songs are exclusively in Spanish and who has made political statements in the past, including “Ice Out” at the Grammy Awards and “F— Trump” during the Black Lives Matter protests.

The New York Times puts the number of concurrent viewers of the alternative show at 6.1 million, while Turning Point says its total viewership was around 9 million. The show aired on streaming platforms like YouTube and Rumble. That number may be a fraction of the “official” halftime show, but the Super Bowl halftime show is one of the most expensive productions in entertainment, often running more than $10 million, and the artists, who are not paid, perform for the exposure.

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To lose anywhere from 6 million to 9 million viewers is not a win for the official show. That Turning Point was able to compete at all, with stars like Gabby Barrett and Kid Rock, is a testament to how much Americans are craving a normal show — one with performers who don’t hate them, don’t attack law enforcement and don’t despise the president they just re-elected.

There was some irony in the show, such as when Ricky Martin joined Bad Bunny on stage for the song “Lo Que Pasó en Hawái,” which translates to “What happened to Hawaii.” What happened to Hawaii is that an influx of people moved in unchecked, and the local population was displaced, with some forced to leave their homes. 

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The lyrics could easily be applied to concerns many Americans have about unchecked, massive, illegal immigration during the Joe Biden presidency:

“Quieren al barrio mío y que tus hijos se vayan (They want my neighborhood and want your children to leave) / No, no suelte’ la bandera ni olvide’ el lelolai (No, don’t let go of the flag or forget the lelolai) / Que no quiero que hagan contigo lo que le pasó a Hawái (I don’t want them to do to you what happened to Hawaii).”

Before the show, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell called Bad Bunny “one of the great artists in the world,” saying the performer “understood the platform he was on” and that the platform is used “to unite people and bring them together through creativity and talent.”

He didn’t.

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His only spoken phrase in English — still the primary language of most Americans — was “God bless America,” followed by a list of countries in Central and South America. The point, of course, was that America — the United States of America — is not special and not something worth celebrating.

That’s the problem with choosing someone like Bad Bunny for the Super Bowl halftime show. His music is fine on a beach, a few beers in, playing in the background. But the halftime show is supposed to be something else. As Goodell said, it’s supposed to unite.

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We’re in a new moment as Americans — a “vibe shift” following the re-election of Donald Trump — where we know we have something worth preserving and celebrating. 

Bad Bunny doesn’t get that, and it showed.

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I’ve done thousands of fracking jobs — here’s the truth the activists won’t tell

In 1643, Evangelista Torricelli used a tube of mercury to first measure pressure. In 1897, German mechanical engineer Rudolf Diesel invented the diesel engine with financial help from the Krupp family, financiers of the Third Reich. Four thousand years ago, the Egyptians invented the pump. Collectively, the above are the bedrock of fracking.

In 1949, Haliburton performed the first frack job ever. In 1865, E.A. Roberts received a patent for loading a torpedo with nitroglycerin and dropping it into shallow Pennsylvania wells. 

Fracking is science, but not a dark one. To date, there have been about 2,000,000 frack jobs in the U.S. My company alone has done thousands of them without incident. Yet, the public has been slow to catch on, or is suspicious, or distrusting. That is mostly a byproduct of the culture wars and the rich deceiving the poor, but more on that below.

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By process, rock mechanics determine the pressure needed to fracture an oil and gas formation. Completions engineers use that data to calculate fracture pressure and propagation, the amount of frac slurry required, and at what rate it should be pumped. A frack company then mobilizes on-site alongside a wireline company. Wireliners isolate the wellbore a few hundred feet at a time into “stages,” shooting 20 or 30 holes through the casing and then pull off. The frac fleet starts in with a mix of water, sand and chemicals that they pump down the vertical section of the wellbore, a mile or two deep, and then out into the horizontal section for another two, three, or four miles. Most shales are pumped at 3,800 gallons per minute against surface pressures of 10,000+/- psi.

Pumping continues for a few hours, creating a web of permeability that will allow oil and gas to flow back to the wellbore. The process is repeated, often more than 50 times for a single well. Why it works so well is that even though the oil and gas formation may be only 50 feet thick vertically, turning the bit horizontally exposes the same formation for two, three or four miles. That’s a multiple of 210 to 420, an astonishing difference. Furthermore, it was a revolutionary one that is credited to a Houston wildcatter named George Mitchel, the son of Greek immigrants, who spent his own millions proving you could couple horizontal well drilling with high-rate fracking to unlock hydrocarbons in the source rock — shales (where oil and gas are formed) — instead of from the sandstones and carbonate trap rocks where oil and gas accumulate.

By the job’s end, millions of pounds of silica sand are pumped, which no one much cares about, but the millions of gallons of water pumped are a flashpoint. It might sound like an unquantifiable number, that is, until you compare it to golf. The watering of U.S. golf courses uses more water than all of North America’s fracking, and little of it is recycled. Consider too, that golf produces no energy. Nor does it save the planet, though that’s debatable.

Another flashpoint is the chemicals used in a frac job. Polyacrylamides reduce friction and are toxic in large concentrations, but are also used in cosmetics, moisturizers, shampoo and sunscreens, where they are also toxic in large concentrations. Guar, another commonly used friction reducer and viscosifier, is made from edible bean extract. Clay stabilizers like choline chlorides are cheap and not toxic in the quantities run. The biocides run are similar to household bleach and the chlorine used in pool water. Acid is used in small quantities that become benign with activation. The truth is that there just isn’t much toxicity left to frac chemicals anymore. If you think otherwise, watch Chris Wright drink a glass of frac fluid. Chris is the current U.S. Energy secretary and remains alive to this day.

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Fracking does not “destabilize” the earth, as I recently heard, nor will it contaminate the earth’s fresh water supply. I’ve never seen an intrusion into an aquifer. Ever. The wastewater scare is also fading away as other companies, like my own, recycle their wastewater into frac water. Electric frack fleets are displacing diesel fleets in an effort to combat emissions. Frackers and their customers were self-starters on all of this. No legislation mandated it.

Irrationally, though, fracking remains a maligned and misunderstood business. Ridiculously politicized, yet fracking is the apex building block of U.S. energy. Three-quarters of all U.S. production is from fracked wells. That’s nine plus million barrels out of 13. If you canceled the nine, as is the wish of the Park Foundation (which funded misleading anti-frack documentaries), the Heinz Endowments, and the Schmidt Family Foundation, we’d be living in a dog-eat-dog world of energy competition. Their goals would be an absolutely suicidal concept, killing one thing that works — always — is cheap, and is not changing the planet in any meaningful way, in favor of something that works intermittently, cannot be scaled to meet the need, is expensive and has its own climate issues.

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Per climate scientist Bjorn Lomborg, to go entirely electric, three months of battery backup would be needed. Currently, the U.S. has the equivalent of 10 minutes! The cost to get to three months would be roughly one-third of the U.S. GDP ($10 trillion yearly). The environmental result would be a hellscape of smelting, acid rain and deforestation. But surely these wealthy foundations and their enthroned trustees and beneficiaries thought through this, didn’t they?

Then suddenly we have AI with its power-hungry data centers, and Silicon Valley’s turn to natural gas. Therein lies a little break for fracking. The realization that it is essential to life on earth. 

JASON CHAFFETZ: 2028 election will be a referendum on our AI-dominated future

Neither party has put a stake in the ground on the issue that will drive the next presidential election cycle. Artificial intelligence is expected to transform the global economy at a dizzying pace, radically reordering nearly every industry and bringing with it unprecedented disruptions in the labor market.

Nobody is prepared to address what could be the biggest issue of 2028. In a recent earnings call, xAI founder Elon Musk described an exciting era of abundance in which AI and robotics take over labor and Americans enjoy what he calls “universal high income.” But that vision raises more questions than it answers.

Where do people go when entire industries shrink? How do we fulfill our need for meaningful work? Who decides how to distribute this “universal high income?” What is the role of higher education? How much government would we need?

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As America approaches its 250th anniversary this summer, we celebrate principles of individual liberty, free markets and limited government that have propelled our prosperity for more than two centuries. Are those principles compatible with Musk’s vision of a post-labor economy featuring universal income distribution? 

We have to come to terms with where this AI revolution could take us. In the world of politics, which tends to follow where the winds are blowing, what are the principles that remain timeless? Who do we trust to steer us in these uncertain waters?

Economic incentives are about to shift dramatically. Will free-market Republicans be tempted to become protectionists? Will big government progressives have to embrace deregulation and nuclear energy to protect threatened industries?

I expect every other issue to take a backseat to the looming questions that affect young and old, rich and poor. Traditional political alignments may be turned on their heads. This is too important for us to get it wrong. We can’t just respond reflexively. 

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AI may offer Americans a generational opportunity to double down on the foundational principles that historically drove our prosperity. But we can expect strong headwinds pushing us toward revisiting the collectivist experiments that have consistently failed in the past.

The rules are changing. You used to be able to protect your likeness, your works. We had patents, trademarks, boundaries. But now with deepfakes, generative AI and apps that will undress anyone at the touch of a button, we need to come together to establish a better framework of boundaries.

Both parties need to come up with a vision to steer AI toward empowerment, foster independence and amplify human potential rather than erode it. Historical precedents suggest technological advances, though disruptive, ultimately create more opportunities than they destroy.

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I’m hopeful that AI will create new roles we cannot yet fully imagine, perhaps allowing workers to focus on strategic and creative roles that machines can’t replicate. AI doesn’t have to be the end of work. It can be the beginning of better work.

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Economic incentives are about to shift dramatically. Will free-market Republicans be tempted to become protectionists? Will big government progressives have to embrace deregulation and nuclear energy to protect threatened industries?

But in the process of getting from here to there, we face challenges that will test our resolve and the foundational principles that sustain our past success. AI threatens to create the perfect opportunity for globalists to build the central-planned economy they’ve always wanted.

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America is very good at harnessing innovation to foster independence. If we approach this the right way, AI may empower us to innovate — to build a future where every American contributes on their own terms. We know that government doesn’t create jobs. Entrepreneurs do.

The key is not to resist, but to embrace AI as a tool that enhances independence — freeing us for meaningful pursuits like family, community and invention. We can build a future where every American contributes on their terms. For 250 years, these principles have stood the test of time. Instead of resisting progress we need to be directing it to more productive use.

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How Jeff Bezos ruined The Washington Post and why he should sell it

The first time I spoke to Jeff Bezos, he had founded Amazon as an online bookstore and made himself available to all kinds of journalists — a “political genius,” said The New York Times Magazine, a “brilliant, charming, hyper, and misleadingly goofy mastermind.” In 1999, having blown past the naysayers who scoffed at the strange notion of online retailing, the 35-year-old businessman was named Time’s Person of the Year.

Nearly a decade-and-a-half later, as one of the world’s richest men, Bezos spent $250 million of his personal fortune to buy the Washington Post from Katharine Graham’s family.

And now he should fold his cards and sell it.

It’s a different era for the industry and a very different Bezos, one who is comfortable slashing a third of the paper’s staff.

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Having initially declared that “the duty of the paper is to the readers, not the owners,” Bezos, whose Blue Origin company has federal contracts, is actively trying to repair his once-strained relationship with President Donald Trump. Amazon donated $1 million to Trump’s inauguration.

While management has made more than its share of mistakes, I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that Bezos has destroyed what was once one of America’s great newspapers.

I bring my personal history to the table. I spent 29 years at the Post, working for Bob Woodward’s investigative SWAT team, as Justice Department reporter, as New York bureau chief, and eventually as media reporter and columnist.

In the 1980s and ’90s, when newspapers really mattered, the Post, while lacking the resources of The New York Times, delivered scoops with an all-star team, from politics (David Broder and Dan Balz) to sports (Tony Kornheiser, Michael Wilbon and Tom Boswell) to the metro desk (Woodward and Bernstein). And there was the freewheeling Style section of Sally Quinn and many other narrative writers.

This was the paper of Watergate, helping to drive Richard Nixon from office, after defying his administration in running the Pentagon Papers, documenting the lies of the Vietnam War. It was the newspaper of the legendary Ben Bradlee, whose retirement I covered after being secretly briefed. Despite occasional blunders (such as Janet Cooke’s fraud), it was glamorized in two movies (Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman in “All the President’s Men,” Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks in “The Post”), inspiring legions of young graduates to go into journalism.

When Bezos fired 300 journalists the other day, he completed the wave of destruction that had already left the Post a shell of its former self. Those dismissed included such remaining stars as Lizzie Johnson, who said she was “devastated” as she reported from the Ukraine war zone without heat or running water. And Marty Weil, a sardonic night-shift guy who has been at the paper for 60 years. And Sarah Ellison, an elegant writer who came from Vanity Fair. And this wrecking ball followed several earlier rounds of layoffs. 

Bezos doesn’t care. I just think he’s bored with the property he once believed would bring him instant credibility. He’s more interested in his rocket company. The Post is a blip on his global radar.

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I’m not in the camp that says Bezos should subsidize the paper forever just because he’s uber-rich. With the paper losing $100 million last year, he’s entitled to look for a path to profitability. But Bezos is getting absolutely hammered by the media. 

“We’re witnessing a murder,” wrote Ashley Parker, now with the Atlantic.

Liberal commentator Charlie Sykes offered this headline: “Gutless Billionaire Guts the Post.”

Former executive editor Marty Baron, who previously ran the prize-winning Boston Globe, declared: “Bezos’ sickening efforts to curry favor with President Trump have left an especially ugly stain of their own. This is a case study in near-instant, self-inflicted brand destruction.”

Onetime Metro editor David Maraniss, a mentor to so many at the paper, said: “He bought the Post thinking that it would give him some gravitas and grace that he couldn’t get from just billions of dollars, and then the world changed. Now I don’t think he gives a flying f—.”

In fairness, many newspapers have struggled with the collapse of their business model, as classifieds and advertising migrated online, and people could get breaking news from their phones or watches. Some converted to websites; the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette is closing in May. 

More than a quarter of American newspapers have folded in the past two decades. Back in 1981, the Washington Star, where I worked, was shuttered as afternoon papers became obsolete.

But the Post is a classic case study of failure to adapt to the digital age. Katharine Graham was skeptical when she summoned me to explain this emerging universe.

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In the Bezos era, the crashing waves of cutbacks meant asking readers to keep paying for a product that grew increasingly diminished over time, with its star players defecting to other major outlets. 

At first, Bezos took a hands-off approach, seemingly in sync with the newsroom culture. During Trump’s first term, he coined the slogan “Democracy Dies in Darkness.” But there was a drastic shift in 2024.

When the editorial board drafted an endorsement of Kamala Harris, Bezos killed it, which, as the owner, he has every right to do. Had he decided on a non-endorsement earlier, few would have cared. But Bezos wielded the ax a week before the election, and the furor was deafening. As the Post itself reported, more than 250,000 people canceled their subscriptions.

Four months later, Bezos decreed that the editorial pages would focus every day on promoting “personal liberties” and “free markets,” banning any attempt to offer opposing views. Opinion Editor David Shipley, whose section had won two Pulitzers, resigned, and other editors and columnists cut ties with the Post.  

Meanwhile, the mogul socialized with the Trumps at Mar-a-Lago, and sat behind the president at his second inauguration.

Bezos himself, as everyone knows, is now quite the jet-setter. He found himself in the middle of a tabloid scandal when the National Enquirer published lewd texts between Bezos and his girlfriend, Lauren Sanchez, as news of his divorce was breaking. The Enquirer also published pictures of his genitals, which he slammed as an attempt at blackmail. Bezos proposed to Sanchez on his 417-foot yacht, and they were married last spring in Venice, an extravaganza attended by the likes of Oprah Winfrey, Leonardo DiCaprio, Gayle King, Tom Brady and Kim Kardashian. The price tag for the multiday celebrations was somewhere between $20 million and $50 million.

For Bezos, this was basically spare change. Peter Baker, a Post alumnus who is now chief White House correspondent at the Times and an MS NOW analyst, reports that Bezos’ net worth is up $224 billion since buying the Washington paper.

So why does Bezos need the headache? He should unload this distressed asset to someone who would have a fresh shot at resuscitating The Washington Post from its near-death experience–though in all candor, it’s probably too late.

A day after abolishing the Post’s sports section, CEO Will Lewis – who blew off the staff call explaining the layoffs – was walking the red carpet at the NFL Honors in San Francisco, an event leading up to the Super Bowl. Those who had lost their jobs, and their colleagues, were furious.

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Even worse, he wouldn’t allow the Post to write about the sweeping layoffs. Seriously. His terse farewell note thanked only Bezos.

Back in the day, there would have been a half-dozen stories in the Post about the journalistic earthquake in its midst. But that was a long time ago.

No, Rep Crockett, driving an 80,000-pound truck is not the same as driving a rental car

As someone who has spent decades training professional truck drivers, I take highway safety very seriously. America’s economy depends on a national freight network that moves goods through every state, across every major highway corridor, and into every community. When safety standards for commercial drivers are weakened anywhere, the consequences ripple across the entire country, putting motorists, supply chains and professional drivers at risk.

That’s why I was deeply troubled by recent remarks from Democratic Texas Rep. Jasmine Crockett during a House Judiciary Committee hearing, suggesting that English language proficiency is not necessary to safely operate a commercial motor vehicle. She equated it to the same practice as someone driving a rental car in a foreign country where they might not speak the language. Her assertion is misguided, dangerous and dismissive of the professionalism of America’s truck drivers.

Operating an 80,000-pound commercial vehicle is not remotely comparable to driving a passenger vehicle. A commercial driver is not simply following turn-by-turn directions from point A to point B. They are navigating complex highway systems, responding to emergency situations, complying with law enforcement instructions, interpreting roadside signage, understanding weather alerts, and coordinating with dispatchers, first responders and inspectors — often under intense pressure. English language proficiency is fundamental to every one of those responsibilities.

Across the United States, commercial trucks move agricultural products from rural communities, consumer goods through major interstate corridors and critical supplies to ports, factories, hospitals and distribution centers. From coast to coast, our economy relies on professional drivers to keep freight moving safely and efficiently. That makes strong, consistent safety standards not a regional concern, but a national imperative.

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Federal law has long required commercial drivers to demonstrate English language proficiency for good reason. A commercial driver’s license is not a checkmark on a piece of paper — it is a promise to the public. It tells every motorist sharing the road that the person behind the wheel of that truck has been properly trained, evaluated and held to consistent safety standards. Weakening or downplaying those requirements undermines trust in the Commercial Driver’s License (CDL) itself.

This debate cannot be divorced from a broader reality confronting the trucking industry. Across the country, regulators are uncovering bad actors who cut corners on training, falsify records, or exploit loopholes to push unqualified drivers onto public roads. These so-called “CDL mills” don’t just endanger safety — they devalue the hard work of legitimate drivers and reputable training schools that do things the right way.

As a training professional and chairman of the Commercial Vehicle Training Association (CVTA), I see the difference every day between real, rigorous instruction and sham operations that promise “fast” or “guaranteed” licenses. True commercial driver training takes time. It involves classroom instruction, hands-on skills development, supervised behind-the-wheel training, and clear communication between instructors and students. None of that works without a shared language.

To be clear, this is not about exclusion. Trucking has always been a pathway to opportunity for people from diverse backgrounds. CVTA supports expanding the workforce — but growth must never come at the expense of safety. Lowering standards does not solve labor shortages; it creates more crashes, more fatalities, more scrutiny and, ultimately, fewer good jobs.

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Our drivers — professional men and women who earn their living the right way — deserve better than to have their work trivialized. Suggesting that language proficiency doesn’t matter insults the professionalism of drivers who take pride in mastering a demanding craft and meeting high expectations every single day.

The solution is not new laws or political talking points. The solution is consistent, nationwide enforcement of existing safety requirements. Regulators must fully enforce entry-level driver training rules, conduct meaningful audits and shut down fraudulent operators wherever they exist. Every state should continue partnering with federal agencies to ensure every CDL on the road represents real training, real accountability and real competence.

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When you see a truck in the next lane, you should be confident that the driver can read the signs, understand emergency instructions, and respond correctly in a crisis. That confidence begins with maintaining — and enforcing — standards that put safety first.

We owe that to our drivers and the traveling public.

What Usha Vance’s pregnancy news tells us about men and women in America

Second lady Usha Vance’s announcement of baby number four was delightful and refreshing news. Having four children in the U.S. is not the norm these days. Across the U.S., women are having fewer children, or none at all. As a parent myself, I hope Vance’s news will encourage more women to do the same.

A woman’s decision to have children is often seen as a personal lifestyle choice. However, this decision also affects the nation: without enough births to maintain its population, a country struggles to sustain its economy, communities and culture.

We do not have to look far to see where this leads. The Free Press recently reported that Britain is facing a full-blown demographic crisis. Deaths are now poised to outnumber births. Many educated, prosperous and financially stable women say their decision not to have children is deliberate. One woman in The Free Press story noted, “It’s not that I don’t have reasons. It’s that I have too many. If you knocked one down, I’d just give you 10 more.”

The United States is experiencing a sustained decline in birth rate, which has lasted for over a decade and now puts the rate well below replacement level. This trend mirrors challenges seen elsewhere.

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The reasons women give for avoiding motherhood are real: children and childcare are expensive; many careers demand total availability during a woman’s prime fertility years. Often, the culture treats motherhood as a professional liability rather than a benefit to society.

But there is another factor few are willing to say out loud — one that affects women long before they ever consider having children. Increasingly, women are not delaying motherhood because they do not want families: they are having trouble finding men who are ready to build one.

Modern dating is broken, and pornography has played a devastating role. Millions of men now habitually consume pornography. Barna Group data from 2024 found that 78% of U.S. men (ages 13–65) consume pornography “to some extent.” But this is not harmless entertainment. Many studies have shown that heavy pornography consumption distorts expectations, damages emotional intimacy, reduces motivation and undermines real-world relationships.

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Pornography can lead men to have distorted views of sex and women. A culture that normalizes constant sexual consumption trains men to expect gratification without sacrifice. Pornography promises connection but delivers isolation.

A lonely society, cut off from marriage, family, and genuine intimacy, does not reproduce itself. A culture that floods men with pornography should not be surprised when fewer of them step up as husbands and fathers. When men are trained to consume rather than commit, women ultimately pay the price, but so does the larger society.

Marriage does not collapse because women suddenly lose interest in family. It collapses when men stop pursuing commitment. Growing numbers of men are living disconnected lives, often alone, often online. Indeed, men are also being sold a lie that they have to have an enormous amount of money saved before they can commit to marriage and children.

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Women are not often rejecting motherhood out of selfishness or ambition. They are responding rationally to a dating culture where emotional maturity, fidelity and long-term responsibility are increasingly rare.

America needs strong men who are willing to reject pornography and focus on leaving a legacy by building families. At the same time, women should resist the message that motherhood must be delayed until everything is “perfect.” That day will never arrive. And the reality is that fertility does not wait.

Often, the culture treats motherhood as a professional liability rather than a benefit to society.

Yes, economics matter. But economics alone cannot explain what is happening. Even countries with generous family benefits, paid leave, and subsidized childcare remain well below replacement fertility rates. When marriage weakens and meaning erodes, no amount of government spending can persuade people to build families.

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Career success matters — education matters. But neither was ever meant to replace family, meaning, or legacy. A culture that treats children as optional accessories eventually runs out of people. That decline shows up in labor shortages, strained entitlement systems, and a shrinking pool of future caregivers, workers and citizens.

What is missing is a shared belief that marriage, motherhood and fatherhood are still good and worth protecting.

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Each generation before us faced uncertainty, whether in the form of war, depression, or upheaval, and yet still chose to build families. They believed the future was worth the investment. A society that stops believing stops having children.

America now stands at a crossroads: we can rebuild a culture that honors marriage, supports motherhood, and calls men to responsibility, or we can manage decline and pretend it is progress. Children are not the problem: they are the point. Second Lady Vance models that well.

America can’t duck and cover from Washington’s nuclear waste disposal failure

Nuclear energy is hot and everyone wants a piece of the action. President Donald Trump has announced his vision to quadruple America’s nuclear capacity by 2050, and 33 countries signed a declaration to triple nuclear capacity over the same period.

Not only are governments clamoring for new nuclear power, but private companies are moving full steam ahead. Tech companies are working to restart shuttered plants and to extend the lives and power levels of existing ones. America’s largest, oldest and most successful companies are moving towards new nuclear energy.

But a 90,000-ton pot of nuclear waste lies at the end of this rainbow and poses problems not for safety but for a significant nuclear energy expansion. First, the federal government collected fees for nuclear waste disposal but did not dispose of the waste. Second, because Uncle Sam was assigned responsibility, companies had no incentive to develop disposal solutions.

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It is not a safety issue. Nuclear waste, or more accurately, spent nuclear fuel is safely stored on site at nuclear power plants in secure pools and in dry casks and takes little space. All U.S. spent fuel ever produced would fit on a single football field stacked 10 yards high, and a few more reactors would add little to the mound.

However, the Nuclear Waste Policy Act gave the federal government responsibility for disposing of nuclear waste, and it gave Washington until 1998 to start doing its job. To pay, the Energy Department collected fees predominantly from electricity ratepayers totaling over $65 billion, including accrued interest. The Department spent $11.5 billion, and the remaining funds held in the Nuclear Waste Fund total over $50 billion.

But the Energy Department has provided no service for these funds, collecting virtually no spent fuel, pouring over $10 billion down a hole in Yucca Mountain, a proposed disposal site, without finalizing the system. Nuclear companies left holding waste and paying for storage, sued Washington for not meeting its contractual obligation — and won. Now taxpayers are liable for $44.5 billion, the cost of the Energy Department’s failure, according to an audit conducted for DOE’s Office of Inspector General.

This liability is paid not from the Energy Department’s budget, but from the government’s Judgment Fund, set up to pay for court judgments against the federal government. Under current policy, waste is produced, nothing happens to it and taxpayers pay to make everyone financially whole. This decimates any incentive for a real solution.

TRUMP’S ENERGY PRICE PROMISE IS COMING DUE. HE HAS THE POWER TO SOLVE THE CRISIS

Washington should never have been made responsible for waste management. Even if the system worked perfectly, bureaucrats would have chosen a compulsory waste solution. This rigidity would have undermined incentives for the private sector to innovate by finding more economical ways to manage waste; reactors that produce more efficient waste streams; or value from spent fuel. Today’s firms have pioneered such technologies, but if there is no demand for waste management services, the value of these technologies cannot be captured or even measured.

President Trump’s executive order Reinvigorating The Nuclear Industrial Base may break this stalemate. In compliance with the order, the Energy Department has issued a request for information from states “interested in hosting potential Nuclear Lifecycle Innovation Campuses.” These campuses would house nuclear energy hubs that would include all aspects of the nuclear fuel cycle, including spent fuel management.

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Three reasons for optimism and innovation exist. First, the request asks states to self-identify as interested hosts — in contrast to the current broken system, which used political processes to identify the host state. Second, the request requires private sector leadership, imperative for any successful plan. Finally, although the request provides substantial detail on desired commercial activities, these are only guidelines and the Department is open to other proposals. This leaves a lot of room for innovative thinking on how to solve the problem.

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It is not only government seeking solutions. Former Nuclear Regulatory Chair Allison MacFarlane and former acting director of the Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management, Lake Barrett recently issued a new nonpartisan report, “The Path Forward for Nuclear Waste in the U.S.,” laying out a strategy for moving nuclear waste policy forward. Full disclosure: I was a contributor.

The report suggests plans to realign responsibilities for nuclear waste management, ensuring that the money collected for nuclear waste disposal gets spent on its intended purpose. The report provides flexibility to meet today’s and tomorrow’s growing disposal needs by holding the federal government responsible for its current obligations and allowing for new systems. Lastly, the report recognizes the need for permanent geologic storage but also allows for other technologies and approaches.

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For the first time in decades, Washington is signaling that it may untangle the policy failures that have paralyzed nuclear waste management. The Path Forward report outlines a workable strategy, but success now depends on states and private firms stepping up where the federal government has fallen short. 

If we want abundant clean energy and a thriving nuclear industry, we must replace bureaucratic stagnation with competition, innovation, and genuine accountability.

Why Bad Bunny’s polarizing Super Bowl halftime show felt like a slap at America

Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl halftime show is officially behind us. Mercifully. What began with hype and outrage, and then more outrage, ended with a show most charitably described as polarizing and confusing for those who were not already Bad Bunny fans. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell promised that Bad Bunny would use the show to unite the world “in a really creative and fun way.” It turns out that he was right. Most of the country, with the exception of some Democrats like California Gov. Gavin Newsom, was united in its revulsion over a show that was narrowly tailored to a niche audience despite being billed as inclusive and respectful of America.

The pre-show hype around Bad Bunny’s invitation to perform at this year’s Super Bowl began with his “SNL” demand that viewers “learn Spanish.” He walked the dig back at the pre-Super Bowl press conference, but the sentiment ended up being true.

Then there was the online rumor that Bad Bunny would wear a dress during his halftime performance and honor Hispanic LGBTQ+ figures. That turned out to be a hoax.

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You’ve got to hand it to Bad Bunny and his marketing team. In the weeks leading up to the Super Bowl, they made sure to captivate people’s attention, whether positive or not.

The Super Bowl halftime show was a condensed version of the show he put on during his Puerto Rico residency. As America watched, Bad Bunny began with a walk through a sugar cane field. He passed by several scenes typical of Puerto Rico as he opened with “Tití Me Preguntó (“Auntie Asked Me”),” such as a coconut water stand and a domino table. As he arrived at a house, viewers were treated to a mashup of several of his other hits before transitioning to a homage to ’90s and ’00s reggaeton and the blink-and-you’ll-miss-it depiction of two dudes grinding.

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Had any of the show been in English, we would’ve heard a mostly positive message from Bad Bunny: “My name is Benito Martinez Ocasio. And if I’m here today at Super Bowl LX, it’s because I never, never stopped believing in myself. You should also believe in yourself. You’re worth more than you think. Believe me.”

We then proceeded to the highlight of the show: Lady Gaga joining the salsa band in a version of “Die With a Smile” on a stage built to resemble the El Morro fortress in Old San Juan — the one moment where perhaps a majority of those present at Levi Stadium could sing along.

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But wait, there’s more. This segues into Bad Bunny’s “Baile Inolvidable (Unforgettable Dance),” “Nueva Yol (New York),” and a symbolic handover of his Grammy.

Up until this point, there wasn’t anything in the show that could be perceived as overtly anti-American. That changed when Ricky Martin began singing the chorus of “Lo Que Le Pasó a Hawaii (What Happened to Hawaii),” which translates to:

“They want to take the rivers and the beaches away from me They want to take my neighborhood and for Grandma to go away No, don’t let go of the flag and don’t forget the le lo lai (song) I don’t want them to do with you what happened to Hawaii.”

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“What happened to Hawaii” is that it was admitted into the Union as its 50th state. Bad Bunny, who sings under the auspices of a record label founded by a former Venezuelan intelligence officer, would prefer that Puerto Rico separate from the United States in order to become an independent country — an option that only 12% of the island’s voters chose in 2024. The record shows that Bad Bunny also endorsed the pro-independence, Chávez- and Castro-sympathizing candidate for governor of Puerto Rico.

The Grammy-winning artist’s halftime show ended with a depiction of power outages, the titular “Debí Tirar Más Fotos, and his Grammy quote, “The only thing more powerful than hate is love,” flashing on the big screen.

Bad Bunny walked off the field with a flag-bearing entourage in tow. His shout of “God Bless America!” really meant “América,” as in the Americas, not the United States. A grand finale that was stilted, confusing, and subtly but passively aggressively anti-American.

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This begs the question: Why even invite Bad Bunny to do the show in the first place? Could the NFL make a business argument to bring him in as the halftime performer? Yes. As the league expands into Latin America and other markets, Bad Bunny makes sense. They both share Mexico as their biggest overseas market, for example. It was a no-brainer.

On the other hand, this was a clear vetting failure. The halftime show was carefully constructed to mainstream two similarly toxic ideas to viewers in the United States: first, the idea of Puerto Rico as a separate nation from the United States. Second, the idea of Latino identity as a nation within a nation, a permanent immigrant status separate from the American mainstream.

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Far from uniting the world “in a really creative and fun way,” Bad Bunny delivered a highly divisive show that put identity politics front and center. The final product fell far short of Goodell’s hype, leaving a sour taste in the mouths of millions of viewers.

One shudders to think what the league might have in mind for next year if they insist on forsaking their core audience in pursuit of global expansion.

DAVID MARCUS: In rural Virginia, mixed signals for Trump and the GOP

LEXINGTON, Va. – President Donald Trump’s poll numbers are a bit all over the place these days. The averages have him about seven points underwater, while some surveys show him down as much as 19. And then, one poll, the most accurate of 2024, has him up one point at 50%.

Likewise, large majorities of Americans say in polls that they want all illegal immigrants deported, but large majorities also say that the Trump administration is going too far in executing this policy. 

So, what do the American people actually want?

I traveled to Lexington, Virginia, to get a feel for what the reality is on the ground, below these shaky and inconsistent poll numbers, and what I found was good news and bad news for both parties and a midterm that is still wide open.

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Brian, from nearby Lynchburg, was visiting town with his wife Erin. A chef in his early 50s and a former Republican, he finds Trump’s coarseness, and what he would call his racism, such as the recent social media post featuring the Obamas as monkeys, to be a dealbreaker.

Brian was very interesting because, while he knew he could not tolerate Trump, he was also quite forthright about the negative tradeoffs in voting for Democrats. When I asked him, as a business owner, about Virginia’s new governor, Abigail Spanberger, his response was telling.

“I voted for her,” Brian told me. “Part of me wishes I hadn’t had to, but I did, given the alternative.”

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The alternative here seemed to be Trump, not former Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, Spanberger’s actual opponent, and something that any Republican thinking of running by distancing themselves from Trump should consider. It probably won’t work anyway.

I pressed a bit on Spanberger, asking Brian if the wave of new taxes she supports worries him.

“Absolutely it worries me,” he said. “I’m a fiscal conservative. I have to balance my budget, and the government should too. But if the alternative is racism, then I have to reject that.”

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Never mind that Earle-Sears is African American. Brian was the perfect example of why Democrats focus so much on race and racial issues. For some voters, alleged racism on the president’s part will trump even their own policy beliefs and preferences and taint the party he rules.

This phenomenon can also look like fool’s gold to pollsters who see a voter with some conservative leanings who should be obtainable. But some, like Brian, just flat-out will never support Trump or the GOP so long as Trump leads it.

As Brian bluntly put it, “If it’s men in women’s sports or racism, I have to go with men in women’s sports.”

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But it wasn’t all bad news for Trump in rural Virginia. Alice, who is in her 40s and works in real estate, thinks the Trump economic measures are starting to pay off.

“I can just feel it,” she told me. “Gas prices are low, more stuff is on sale at the grocery. That’s what we voted for.”

When I asked about Trump’s gruff manner, the one that bothered Brian so much, she just said, “If you aren’t used to it by now, you’re not getting used to it.”

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Others, like Peter, in his 70s and retired, are feeling a real political fatigue. Apathy is the wrong word, but perhaps frustration fits.

“Today, it’s like who you vote for is your whole identity,” he said. “But I can’t fall out of a tree every time Donald Trump opens his mouth.”

On Friday afternoon, a small protest of mostly older White people was gathered on a street corner in pretty-as-a-picture Lexington. Annette, the leader and spokesperson, was handing out cookies. Unlike their peers in Minneapolis, they were happy to talk with the press.

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“This is what we feared all along,” one man holding the Virginia state flag with its motto, Sic Semper Tyrannis, told me of the Trump administration’s handling of Minneapolis. “It’s why we have been out here protesting for a year.”

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Generally speaking, the huge shifts that pollsters are so ardently looking for appear to exist more in the world of numbers than that of flesh and blood, where it continues to be very rare to meet anyone who has changed their mind politically in the age of Trump.

No, the fear for Republicans today is not that Trump or the party are bleeding support. It’s that the Democrats on the ground seem far more motivated to stop Trump than the Republican voters are to reward slow and steady progress.

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Importantly, there does not appear to be anything that Trump could do, any position he could soften, be it on immigration enforcement, tariffs or his own rhetoric, that will sway the third of voters who just detest the man. But both Trump and the party have proven they can win without them.

From now until the midterm, we will be in the field with our ear on the ground, listening to the things that voters never tell the pollsters. And if Lexington is any indication, this is still anybody’s ballgame.

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Whispering death: Army’s new M1E3 Abrams tank is a hybrid-drive silent killer

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has his “Arsenal of Freedom Tour” in full swing, visiting the nuclear submarine production floor at Newport News, Virginia, and Blue Origin’s space launch at Cape Canaveral, Florida. His goal: restore American industrial prowess and secure freedom for generations to come.

You’ll never guess which program is moving fastest of all: it’s the Army’s new M1E3 Abrams tank.

Get this: the M1E3 Abrams is five years ahead of schedule. Yes, five years. And it’s a hybrid.

While Golden Dome missile defense, the battleship design and other programs are on the drawing board, the Army has accelerated the M1E3 Abrams to wartime pace.

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Credit Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George and Secretary of the Army Dan Driscoll. It’s part of their push to accelerate top programs like the MV-75 air assault tilt-rotor plane. In the case of the tank, the Army had been studying upgrades and watching the Ukraine war. George and his science advisor Dr. Alex Miller were told they would not see the tank until 2032. “We said no,” Miller recalled.

The result: the M1E3 prototype rolled out at the Detroit Auto Show in January. The first platoon of the M1E3 will be ready for testing by soldiers in 2028.

As seen in Detroit, the new M1E3 is a sleek change from earlier Abrams models. Gone is the top turret position. Now the three-man crew side by side in the hull where armor is strongest. External cameras, sensors, heat-detecting thermal sights and laser-range finders feed into gaming-inspired cockpit displays. Their remote? It’s not for changing channels. An M1E3 tank crew can remotely fire a Javelin anti-tank missile with a 2.5-mile range and a range of other weapons, including loitering munitions.

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Here are five killer attributes of the M1E3 Abrams.

• Formula One Cockpit. The M1E3 tank has a driver interface that “looks like an Xbox controller,” said George. Just as important, the tank uses a modular, “plug-and-play” open systems software backbone. Soldiers can plug in new apps and upgrade it at a point in the vehicle software where all the things that make the vehicle run are protected.
• Quiet mode. It’s a hybrid. No, the Army isn’t going eco-friendly. The M1E3 will have a Caterpillar diesel engine and a SAPA transmission that allows it to switch into electric mode. The hybrid electric drive is all about silent stalking. Iraqis facing the Abrams in 1991 called it Whispering Death, but the new Abrams takes the silent mode into a new realm when the tank is running on electric. Add in heat signature reduction and electronic jammers. The new Abrams takes silent lethality to a new level.

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• Active Protection. Shoot at an Abrams and “active protection” will detect, target and obliterate you. This is the Army’s term for a system that can sort out a whole range of incoming threats, from recoilless rifles to anti-tank guided missiles, rockets, tank rounds and rocket-propelled grenades. And of course, drones. The best part is the detection system nails the location of the enemy shooter so the Abrams crew can destroy it.
• Reactive Armor. Already an Abrams standard, tiles fitted on the tank hull prevent penetration by RPGs and deflect blast downward or outwards, depending on the tactical situation. The Army really doesn’t like to talk about this secretive system, but guarantee you, the M1E3 will improve on it.

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• Great Guns.  With lessons drawn from the Ukraine battlefield, a .30-mm chain gun replaces both the .50-caliber and the loader’s gun. The .30-mm can hit light-armor vehicles like the Russian BMP. It can also chew up drones. Remember, remote control permits the crew to fire without popping the hatch.

By the way, this is a tank on a diet. Older Abrams models weigh close to 80 tons. Expect the M1E3 to weigh in at about 60 tons, after shedding top turret armor. Lighter weight yields about 40% greater fuel efficiency. It also allows the M1E3 tank to access 30% more bridge crossings in Poland and other NATO Eastern front-line countries facing Russia.

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Why a new tank? To deter Russia. The Ukraine war could stop tomorrow, and Putin’s Russia would still be a long-term threat. Russia has lost over 3,000 tanks in Ukraine but can still produce 1,500 tanks per year, according to Gen. Christopher Cavoli, former NATO supreme allied commander.

In the end, it is the tank that deters the taking of territory. Just ask the soldiers of the 3rd Battalion, 66th Armored Regiment, 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, who wrapped up an armored live-fire exercise in Poland during Operation Winter Falcon last month. Polish and U.S. forces fired their M1A2 Abrams tanks side by side. “We train to be ready for anything that might happen in the future… you’ve [got to] do that in the place you may have to defend,” said U.S. Army Col. Matthew Kelley, commander, 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team.

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From 4 wins to Super Bowl contender — the secret behind the Patriots’ epic turnaround

The New England Patriots are going to the Super Bowl for a record 12th time. But this time is unlike any previous trip.

Last season the Patriots won only four games. This season they won 17 games and are the AFC Champions. It is one of the greatest turnarounds in NFL history.

I’ve written and spoken about comebacks and turnarounds. I wrote a book “Turn Your Setbacks Into Comebacks” sharing the components of a comeback and the steps to a turnaround.

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But before you can drop setback mentality, exit survival mode, have forward focus or regain your momentum, something must happen first.

A turnaround or comeback will only happen if you change. You must be willing to do things differently from what you’ve done up to that point. A turnaround pivots on decisive change.

This is exactly what the Patriots did. They made massive changes to their team, and the result is a wildly successful season with an opportunity to become NFL champions. And be the first NFL team to win seven Super Bowls.

Anyone who wants a turnaround in their life must be willing to change too.

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The first thing that must change is your mind. And you change your mind through knowledge. A change of mind happens when you receive new information and gain new knowledge. Part of that knowledge comes through defeat and failure.

The Patriots knew they had to make wholesale changes after losing 13 games last season. Their change started at the top by hiring a new head coach Mike Vrabel. He had played for the Patriots and won three Super Bowls. He previously was the coach of the Tennessee Titans. He hired Josh McDaniels as offensive coordinator. McDaniels had coached for the Patriots twice before and won Super Bowls with them.

McDaniels developed quarterback Drake Maye from a rookie to an MVP candidate in just his second season. Maye’s progress meant the Patriots had an All-Pro at the most important position in football.

The Patriots made changes in their roster too. They signed wide receiver Stefon Diggs, who leads the team in receptions and yardage. They signed linebacker Robert Spillane, who leads the team in tackles. They signed edge rusher Harold Landry, who leads the team in sacks. And they signed defensive tackle Milton Williams, who impacts the whole defense.

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They drafted key players as well. The Pats picked Will Campbell to be their new left tackle and Jared Wilson their new left guard. They drafted running back TreVeyon Henderson, who scored 10 touchdowns this season. The Patriots’ opening day roster included 30 new players, most in the NFL. All these changes helped turn around the Patriots’ season.

A turnaround or comeback will only happen if you change. You must be willing to do things differently from what you’ve done up to that point. A turnaround pivots on decisive change.

You can have an incredible comeback if you change your mind. It happens because you know more, you are wiser and you have insights that will lead to a turnaround.

After a change of mind, there must be a change of heart. A change of heart is the result of a new attitude; you decide that your attitude is going to change. You determine that you are going to view life from a positive perspective.

Some people never have the comeback they should because they refuse to change their attitude. A negative attitude will never lead to a positive comeback.

Resistance to change is mostly fear of the unknown. The way you overcome fear is with belief. You believe that the change can happen, that it can be done. This is what coach Vrabel stressed to his team, “You have to believe things sometimes before you can see them.”

You must open yourself up to new possibilities, new opportunities and new experiences. But if your attitude doesn’t change, and you don’t have a change of heart, it won’t happen.

Vrabel helped his team to believe more by introducing the Four H’s, where players shared personal insights into their history, heroes, heartbreaks and hopes. He went first, and the entire team bonded over a newfound attitude of belief.

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There is a final change that must happen. You must change your future. And you change your future through commitment. You choose to be committed to your turnaround. Everybody wants a turnaround; every NFL team wants to be a conference champion. The Patriots won because they committed to coach Vrabel’s two non-negotiables — effort and finish.

You have a comeback when you commit to change.

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Not when you want to change, not when you think you should change, not when you talk about changing, but when you commit to change.

Commitments drive success more than goals. Successful people are simply ordinary people who make commitments others are unwilling to make. I’ve seen it repeatedly in my life and leadership. And the NFL has witnessed it with the Patriots’ remarkable turnaround.

If you gain new knowledge, believe you will have a comeback and stay committed to the process — you can experience a powerful turnaround too.

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DAVID MARCUS: Only Hegseth can save storied Virginia Military Institute from woke state lawmakers

The last time that Virginia Military Institute was nearly destroyed was when Union troops set it ablaze during the Civil War. Today, a new threat to this storied college is coming from within the Old Dominion itself in the form of woke Democrat politicians.

Measures before the Virginia Legislature, in response to allegations of systemic racism at the institution, could not only strip the oldest state-run military college in the nation of its independence, but also cut off funding it needs to exist.

Last week, the Department of War, under Secretary Pete Hegseth, took to social media to back up VMI, writing that “the stability of this proven leadership pipeline is a matter of direct national security interest” and that the department “reserves the right to take extraordinary measures to protect the integrity of VMI.”

Having spent some time this week in Lexington, Virginia, the mountainous home of VMI, it is clear that not only is the college a national treasure, it is very much a local one as well.

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“VMI is the beating heart of Lexington,” Melinda, an educator who has lived in the town for decades, told me. “I can’t imagine the place without it.”

I met John, who graduated from VMI in the early 2000s and who said of the supposed racism and sexism, “The people who hate VMI just hate VMI because they think it represents the Confederacy.” He insisted that allegations are overblown because every cadet lives by the same code of conduct.

Even a group of anti-President Donald Trump protesters I ran into on a chilly Friday afternoon had little but glowing things to say about VMI.

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“We were disappointed by the firing of the superintendent,” Annette told me, referring to Maj. Gen. Cedric Wins, the first black head of the school, who was fired last year. “But we all love VMI.”

So, if basically everyone in Lexington thinks VMI is great, and if it has provided America with great military leadership, from Gen. George S. Patton to Gen. George C. Marshall, why is it on the chopping block?

Because of the insatiable appetite for destruction of wokism.

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VMI is integrally connected to the history of the Confederacy. Its most famous instructor was Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson, whose preserved horse one can visit at the college museum. But over the course of the 20th century, the school came to terms with this, often bending over backwards to do so.

Take for example the historical marker for Benjamin West Clinedinst’s epic painting “Charge of the New Market Cadets.”

“Although ‘Charge of the New Market Cadets’ was completed during a time in American history when ‘lost cause’ ideology was pervasive in Virginia, today the painting serves the VMI community not as a commemoration of a Confederate victory or veneration of the Confederacy,” it says.

That is what political correctness looked like, sheepishly apologizing for your own culture when nobody asked you to. But wokeness is different. Wokeness cannot tolerate the existence of ties to the evil past.

Even my hotel, which for nearly a century stood as the Robert E. Lee, has a new name. The only reference to Lee left is a plaque indicating the elevator is an original Otis car installed in 1926.

The erasure of history lurks around every corner and is now coming for VMI.

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The Union army chief of artillery who shelled and destroyed much of VMI in 1864, over his personal objection, was a Delaware man named Henry A. Du Pont, who, in 1914, as a U.S. senator, passed legislation to reimburse the school for the damage he had wrought.

These are the kinds of stories that echo around the halls of the Institute, tales of imperfect men of an imperfect nation, working toward greater perfection. If you quiet yourself on the campus on a cold, crisp winter day, you can hear them.

Last week, the VMI Class of 2001 penned an open letter to Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger, published in Lexington’s News Gazette. Two things are notable about this class: It was the first class to include women, and it graduated into war.

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“We integrated women into the Corps when the nation doubted it could be done,” the letter said. “We produced citizen soldiers of every race and background who trained, served, and bled together. We did not prove this through symbolism. We proved it in Fallujah, Kandahar, the Korengal, and in military funerals across the Commonwealth.”

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With Democrats in clear control of the political power in Virginia, the threat to VMI’s funding and future is very real, which is why it is so vital that Hegseth and the Department of War make clear that they are a backstop to keep this special place running.

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A nation and a people are its history, and few institutions hold so much of it as VMI. A town and a community are its institutions, the places that are old and storied, and in Lexington, that is VMI.

Long may Virginia Military Institute and its traditions endure.

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JONATHAN TURLEY: Grandstanding Newsom will stop at nothing to ride the rails to glory in 2028

In the dystopian novel “1984,”  George Orwell wrote, “The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.” 

The true meaning of that line was never more clear than watching the truly bizarre photo op of Democrat California Gov. Gavin Newsom heralding the success of the greatest boondoggle in history: his high-speed train to nowhere. 

Without laying a single yard of track after burning $12 billion, Newsom showed a diesel freight train on a conventional track to create the appearance of a working railroad.

I have been writing about this boondoggle for years. Newsom promised years ago that the project would be transformative. It was, but not as he promised.

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Voters approved a $9.95 billion bond issue in 2008 after absurdly low estimates of the projected cost. Influential figures and companies stood to make a fortune, and the key was to secure a “buy-in” worth billions, so that it would become increasingly difficult to abandon the project as overruns and delays sent costs soaring.

Now the official estimate of future ridership has dropped by 25%, and it demands billions more to complete a project delayed by decades. Remember that this entire project was meant to create a rail line of only 171 miles. It is projected to exceed $128 billion and could ultimately cost a billion dollars per mile. There are still uncompleted environmental assessments and challenging rail lines through the mountains.

There is still no train and not a yard of track almost 20 years later.

The state’s inspector general, Benjamin Belnap, issued a scathing report on the first phase of the still uncompleted project.  That is only the stretch from Merced to Bakersfield which was supposed to be completed by 2033. 

Belnap wrote, “With a smaller remaining schedule envelope and the potential for significant uncertainty and risk during subsequent phases of the project, staying within the 2033 schedule envelope is unlikely. In fact, uncertainty about some parts of the project has increased as the authority has recently made decisions that deviated from the procurement and funding strategies that were part of its plans for staying on schedule.”

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Rather than deliver on the promise of high-speed rail from Los Angeles to San Francisco, the Merced-Bakersfield line would now cost $35.3 billion, exceeding the 2008 projection for a complete system.

Merced and Bakersfield have a combined population of just 500,000 for the most expensive rail project in the state’s history.

However, Newsom still wants to be president, even as citizens are fleeing his state in record numbers. The “train to nowhere” is a problem. Even The New York Times is writing editorials on whether Newsom will be the next mistake of the Democratic Party.

NEWSOM PUSHES CLIMATE RECORD ABROAD AS CALIFORNIANS SHOULDER AMERICA’S HIGHEST GAS COSTS

Newsom’s response is to arrange for gushing columns like Maya Singer’s embarrassing piece in Vogue: “Let’s get this out of the way: He is embarrassingly handsome, his hair seasoned with silver, at ease with his own eminence as he delivers his final State of the State address.

“Newsom’s lanky frame was folded onto a sofa a bit too low-slung for him. This made him lean back — away from me. Or it could be that his body language had nothing to do with ergonomics and is a function of Newsom’s quality of being at once gregarious and aloof.”

BIDEN’S GREEN ENERGY FIASCO, NOT TRUMP’S REFORMS, IS JACKING UP YOUR ELECTRIC BILL

It is the type of teenybopper heartthrob coverage that Newsom is counting on from the media. It is not the billions burned on a non-existent railway but his glorious hair and “eminence.”

However, others beyond Vogue readers may be interested in his actual record. Hence, the need to release this absurd photo op that would make a propagandist blush.

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“All of the hard work behind us. Now we’re going to see the fruits of that. We’re going to start seeing precisely what you see here. Real tracks, real progress.”

Merced and Bakersfield have a combined population of just 500,000 for the most expensive rail project in the state’s history.

It is like paying for a meal at a restaurant and the chef charging you ten times what was on the menu, not producing the meal for hours and then showing you a picture of a different dish as a sign of his progress.

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The difference is that Newsom has taken almost two decades to deliver and cut the original dish to a fraction of its original size while increasing the price exponentially.

Californians are now captives on a train to nowhere. The state must continue to burn billions because too much is invested economically and politically. They must ride the train with Gavin Newsom to the very end.

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PRISHA MOSLEY: Doctors took my body apart for gender ‘care.’ Now they admit it was wrong

This week, two of the most influential medical associations in the country quietly admitted what detransitioners have been saying for years: The American Medical Association and the American Society of Plastic Surgeons both acknowledged that gender surgeries on minors should not be considered standard medical practice. The ASPS said surgery is not recommended “until a patient is at least 19 years old.” To me, these policy reversals amount to a confession—one that arrived years too late, after childhoods like mine were permanently altered in the name of “care.”

Childhood is precious. It is precious because children are innocent, and because they don’t yet understand the dangers and deception of the world. We choose our words carefully in front of children and avoid certain subjects that may be confusing or too graphic for them to comprehend. We make sure they’re in bed by a decent hour and that they eat their vegetables so they can grow up big and strong. We send them off to play with toys like Mr. Potato Head, to use their imagination and experience the kind of innocent fun that childhood is meant to hold.

Unfortunately, over the past 15 years, we have turned children into Mr. Potato Heads instead. I would know, because I was one of those children.

MAJOR MEDICAL ORGANIZATION URGES DELAYING YOUTH GENDER SURGERIES

When I was a teenager, I was introduced to transgender ideology, which led me into a series of irreversible decisions that I still live with today. Doctors and activists told me my body was made up of interchangeable parts, easily removed or added on. That lie cost me healthy parts of my body I can never get back. And the worst part is that I believed it—because that’s what my doctors told me.

Predatory activists and doctors enable delusional beliefs that children develop from video games, online communities on social media, and movies, and then trick young patients into signing up for losses they cannot possibly comprehend.

Let that sink in.

THE MEDICAL SYSTEM PUSHED TRANSGENDER SURGERY ON KIDS — NOW IT’S FACING LEGAL JUSTICE

For years, I was told that what I was experiencing wasn’t distress or trauma, but an identity issue. The solution, I was assured, wasn’t patience, counseling, or time to grow into a young woman. It was hormones, surgery, and the promise that if I altered my body enough, my mind would finally fall into place.

Doctors and activists told me my body was made up of interchangeable parts, easily removed or added on. That lie cost me healthy parts of my body I can never get back. And the worst part is that I believed it—because that’s what my doctors told me.

This is how thousands of young people today are taught to see their bodies: as customizable avatars—something separate from who they are, something malleable, something disposable.

What no one dared to explain to me was that a body is a vessel. My mind and body are not separate entities negotiating with each other. Instead, they are one integrated system, designed to support one another through every stage of the human experience. You cannot cut, suppress, or chemically alter a healthy body without consequences, no matter how alluring the promise of a fix may sound.

CHILDREN’S NATIONAL HOSPITAL IN DC TO END GENDER TRANSITION MEDICAL INTERVENTIONS

My doctors, rather than healing me, removed perfectly healthy bodily functions in pursuit of fraudulent mental health goals. Cosmetic alterations cannot cure psychological suffering. Yet I was told—explicitly and implicitly—that removing healthy body parts would bring peace. I believed my doctors. I had no idea I would later regret these changes because detransition and regret were never discussed.

Regret is often downplayed. Johanna Olson-Kennedy, a prominent pediatrician and advocate of medical interventions for gender-confused children, said girls who have undergone mastectomies but want breasts later in life can “go and get them!” That statement alone reveals the depth of the deception. Natural breasts are not interchangeable with silicone implants, which lack natural sensation and cannot breastfeed. Olson-Kennedy is misleading young women and girls in service of an ideology.

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The industry wants patients to believe that nothing is truly lost. But tell that to me now: after giving birth to a beautiful baby and wanting more children, I have to live knowing that I cannot breastfeed because of my double mastectomy or feel the sensation of my baby’s skin on my chest. Doctors also fail to adequately warn patients about vaginal atrophy—or deterioration of the pelvis, uterus, and hips. They somehow do not see it as a problem when normal functioning body parts are lost, and see more silicone and surgery as the solution.

Activist doctors hide the consequences of their practices while continuing to sell false hope to new victims.

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Now, the tide is turning. Also, this week, detransitioner Fox Varian won a landmark case, receiving a $2 million verdict after she sued her psychologist and surgeon for misleading her and her parents into believing that removal of her healthy breasts was necessary to save her life. Experts testified that surgery does not, in fact, prevent suicide. I share Fox Varian’s pain, having lived through a strikingly similar story—lied to and manipulated at a young age.

Real compassion tells children the truth: that their bodies are not broken, not up for trade, and not interchangeable parts on a plastic toy. If we truly want to protect children, we must stop treating them like experiments and start honoring the reality that childhood is not something you get back once it’s been taken apart.

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MIKE DAVIS: 2 assassination plots, 2 judges and 2 brands of justice

This is a tale of two federal judges — one Trump appointee and one Biden appointee—who separately sentenced two men for their attempted assassinations of a former (and future) president of the United States and a current Supreme Court justice. The Trump judge correctly followed the facts and the law, sentencing the would-be President Trump assassin to life; the Biden judge dangerously followed her political and ideological agenda, sentencing the would-be Justice Kavanaugh assassin — because he now pretends he’s a woman — to less than one-third of the recommended sentence.

On Sept. 15, 2024, Ryan Wesley Routh took his position in a sniper’s nest at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida.  He chambered a round into his SKS rifle, which, as a convicted felon, he had no legal right to possess. He then aimed at President Trump and his entourage. By the grace of God, a Secret Service agent saw the rifle barrel poking through the bushes and saved Trump’s life from his second assassination attempt in just two months. On Tuesday, South Florida U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon sent Routh to rot in a cage for the rest of his miserable life. Cannon understood the gravity of the moment and passed the test.

A few months ago, radical leftist Biden-appointed Judge Deborah Boardman, sitting in Maryland, failed a similar test — and failed miserably. Nicholas Roske, a pet store employee, was very angry after the leak of the draft Supreme Court opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. Roske learned the Court was poised to return abortion to its proper place for debate: the states. So Roske decided he wanted to assassinate three justices to change the Court’s outcome. Roske posted about his barbaric desires on social media, yet the Biden Justice Department failed to pursue him.

Shortly after the draft leak, Roske flew across the country from his home in California to Maryland, where Justice Kavanaugh, his wife Ashley and their two young daughters lived. Roske had procured Kavanaugh’s address and planned to carry out his sick goal of altering American legal history. He brought two unloaded guns so as to be able to transport them on the plane. He also brought zip ties, a knife, lockpicking tools and boots with soles specially altered so that he could move stealthily about the Kavanaugh residence. He took a cab to his target’s home and got out, assassination kit in tow. Then, his plan hit a snag. Because of threats as a result of the shameful Dobbs leak, a larger number of law enforcement officers were protecting Justice Kavanaugh’s home. Roske could not complete his evil mission, so he quickly strategized.

Roske called his sister and then 911. He told the dispatcher of his plan and claimed that he was suicidal. Police quickly arrived and arrested him. The case was a slam dunk in light of Roske’s confession, assassination kit, and gruesome trail of social media posts. The Trump Justice Department recommended a sentence of 30 years in prison.  Judge Boardman, however, had a different plan. She focused on Roske’s claim that he identified as a female named Sophie. Boardman whined during the sentencing that Roske’s time would be harder because he would have to serve it at a men’s prison. Unbelievably, even for Democrat judicial standards, Boardman handed down a sentence of merely eight years to someone who had attempted to kill a Supreme Court justice. Several defendants received far harsher sentences for their conduct in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot. Former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters shockingly received nine years for a nonviolent election offense where no votes had been altered; no attempt had even been made to alter votes. Even Trump would-be assassin Routh’s lawyer requested of Cannon a 27-year sentence for his monstrous client in Florida. Despicably, Boardman’s deranged transgender fanaticism allowed Roske to skate with a mere eight-year sentence.

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Just imagine if Roske had succeeded. No Supreme Court justice ever has been assassinated; the only prior attempt occurred in the nineteenth century. President Joe Biden would have taken full advantage of Roske’s act of domestic terrorism, appointing a hardcore leftist to replace Kavanaugh with the eager help of the Democrat-controlled Senate.  Roe would have survived, and Roske would have gotten his wish. Boardman’s sickening sentence sends a crystal-clear message that terrorism will not be treated harshly if the terrorist has a story that tugs at a leftist judge’s heartstrings — or worse.

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Those suffering from Trump Derangement Syndrome likely do not care because their hatred is all-consuming, but every rational American should understand the gravity of Routh’s act. Cannon plainly did, as she sent Routh to rot in a cage for the rest of his pathetic life. Boardman just as plainly did not grasp the gravity of the moment. She allowed her radical ideology to contaminate her judgment. She had a chance to send a message to the country that attempting to murder Supreme Court justices will not be tolerated. Instead, she did the opposite. Boardman is a disgrace who should be impeached. Cannon deserves strong consideration for elevation to a court of appeals and, perhaps, to become Justice Cannon one day.

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BROADCAST BIAS: ‘Public’ media furious Washington Post cut back on anti-Trump crusade

The broadcast outlets that were most upset about The Washington Post announcing they were cutting 300 jobs were NPR and PBS. It makes sense, since the journalists at these outlets have no intention of trying to make money. They expect people to hand them endless millions so they can make the kind of “news”/commentary that attempts to change the world in their ideological direction.

They have internalized the trauma of President Donald Trump and the Republicans taking away an annual half-billion dollars in taxpayer subsidies.

On the Saturday before the layoffs, NPR media reporter David Folkenflik explained the view from Post staffers: “They’re saying that readers of The Washington Post deserve sophisticated, contextualized reporting that requires a sophisticated, contextualized reporting team.” These are buzzwords for liberal bias, the same way Dan Rather always told people CBS gave you “context and perspective.”

Weekend anchor Scott Simon asked Folkenflik: “The Washington Post — it’s a paper woven into U.S. history. Has it really come to this?” The media reporter naturally thought of taking down President Richard Nixon, as liberals do: “Well, obviously, you think of Watergate and the Pentagon Papers and other historic moments, but they’re also doing things at the moment. They are holding power to account.”

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This being NPR, no one was going to consider conservatives suggesting that pandering to the left-wing base of the Democrat Party might not be a stellar business strategy. One of the amusingly tone-deaf moments before the Post job cuts came when staffers were hoping to enlist actors Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks to lobby the paper’s owner Jeff Bezos. They had starred in the 2017 movie “The Post,” which glamorized the paper’s war on Nixon.

When liberal journalists blather about “holding power to account,” they really should ask if outlets like the Post energetically worked to hold the Biden administration to account. The Post wasn’t going to win a Pulitzer Prize for exposing Hunter Biden. Instead, in 2022, the Post won a prize for its reporting on the January 6 riot. Even the prize system is all about holding only one party accountable.  

Instead, we remember Post front-page articles like this Eli Saslow banger weeks after Barack Obama won in 2008. Obama “was photographed looking like the paradigm of a new kind of presidential fitness, one geared less toward preventing heart attacks than winning swimsuit competitions. The sun glinted off chiseled pectorals sculpted during four weightlifting sessions each week, and a body toned by regular treadmill runs and basketball games.” You could make a movie out of this, but it might be NC-17.

WASHINGTON POST REELING FROM BUYOUT EXODUS AS BOSSES HOPE TO TURN THE PAGE AT EMBATTLED PAPER

When the Post announced the job cuts, CBS anchor Jessi Mitchell summarized on its early-morning newscast: “Outrage sparked online after the announcement, calling out the publication’s billionaire owner, Jeff Bezos, for the decision.”

On NPR, Folkenflik recalled that Bezos used to be a role model (for lefties). He “was seen as a savior, a champion of tough and intense journalism, has not interfered with the newsroom, but he’s apparently had enough.”

Now, he argued, “You’ve seen both Marty Baron and Marcus Brauchli — two distinguished former executive editors of The Washington Post — just in the last hour or two share information with me, saying basically there seems to be no strategy. The Washington Post, its readers and the country deserve better.”

Baron is a poster boy for crusading liberal journalism. He was glamorized for The Boston Globe’s war on the Catholic Church in the 2015 movie “Spotlight.” Now he’s starred in several PBS segments lamenting Bezos. On “Amanpour & Co.” on January 23, he suggested Bezos was far too “tepid” toward Trump and no longer lives up to the Post’s drama-queen motto, “Democracy Dies in Darkness.”

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After the cuts were announced, “PBS News Hour” interviewed Baron for seven minutes, and he said the cuts did “enormous damage” to the paper. Baron uncorked the entire leftist critique. Bezos drove away the leftist subscribers by killing the paper’s endorsement of Kamala Harris in 2024, and then Bezos appeared on stage at Trump’s inauguration. He bought rights to Trump’s reality show “The Apprentice” for Amazon Prime and bankrolled a big documentary on Trump’s wife and First Lady, “Melania.”

When the Post announced the job cuts, CBS anchor Jessi Mitchell summarized on its early-morning newscast: “Outrage sparked online after the announcement, calling out the publication’s billionaire owner, Jeff Bezos, for the decision.”

Baron was so upset he added the Post bosses were “completely changing the opinion pages so that essentially they have no columnists who are really left of center. And they’re very deferential to Trump. And I think they lack a moral core.” This would come as a surprise to their Trump-haters like Max Boot, David Ignatius, Kathleen Parker and Fareed Zakaria, to name a few.

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New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof (last seen running for office as a Democrat in his native Oregon), tweeted out the NPR/PBS mindset: “Jeff Bezos, who could keep the Wash Post a pillar of American democracy with the change dug out from his limousine seats, sets an example of surrender to authoritarianism for every other business person and institution in America.”

Everything is very black and white for these journalists. You are either raging against the Trump machine or you are collaborating with their imaginary Hitler. Their hurt feelings at Bezos feel like a tsunami of moral superiority and entitlement.

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Benghazi arrest delivers long-overdue justice and reminds America who failed our fallen

After 13 years of pursuit, one of the terrorists who allegedly murdered four Americans in Benghazi has arrived on U.S. soil to face justice.

Zubayr al-Bakoush was flown to Joint Base Andrews early Friday morning following an FBI overseas operation. Attorney General Pam Bondi, FBI Director Kash Patel and U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro announced that he faces eight federal counts, including murder, terrorism and arson for his alleged role in the Sept. 11, 2012, attack that killed Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens, State Department officer Sean Smith and CIA contractors Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty.

“For 13 hours, Americans waited for help that never came,” Pirro said, referring to personnel defending the nearby CIA annex under sustained attack. “Today, American justice has arrived.”

BENGHAZI TERROR SUSPECT EXTRADITED TO FACE US CHARGES

The families of the fallen deserved this moment. But Benghazi was always about more than catching terrorists. It exposed fundamental leadership failures and an administration that prioritized narrative control over accountability.

Security failures nobody owned

The State Department’s own Accountability Review Board delivered a devastating verdict in December 2012. The board found “systemic failures and leadership and management deficiencies” that resulted in “grossly inadequate” security in Benghazi. While the board did not assign criminal liability, it made clear that leadership failures in Washington materially contributed to the tragedy.

Despite extensive intelligence warnings about deteriorating security and al Qaeda’s expanding operations, State Department officials in Washington repeatedly denied requests for additional security from personnel on the ground. The CIA, by contrast, increased security at its Benghazi facilities.

This is what American resolve looks like when clarity replaces spin and persistence replaces defensiveness.

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Four State Department officials were cited for their failures by the Accountability Review Board. They were placed on administrative leave with pay, then returned to government service in other roles rather than being dismissed. Two eventually retired voluntarily. More than a year after the attack, no official had been fired, demoted or otherwise held personally accountable for decisions that left Americans vulnerable.

The YouTube video that wasn’t

In the days following the assault, senior Obama administration officials blamed a spontaneous protest sparked by an anti-Islam video. That explanation collapsed under scrutiny. Intelligence agencies understood almost immediately that this was a coordinated terrorist attack by extremist militias, including the designated terror group Ansar al-Sharia.

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When Hillary Clinton appeared before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in January 2013, Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., pressed her on why evacuees who could confirm there was no protest were not immediately contacted. Clinton’s response became infamous.

“What difference, at this point, does it make?” she said.

To critics, her remark symbolized an administration more focused on managing political fallout than confronting hard truths about security and responsibility.

Those five words crystallized critics’ view that the administration prioritized public messaging in the weeks preceding a national election over candor. Clinton later said, “I take responsibility,” yet she simultaneously distanced herself from operational security decisions, and no disciplinary action followed. President Obama took no steps to remove her from office.

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Congress launched multiple investigations. The House Select Committee on Benghazi, after two years and $7 million, found bureaucratic failures and ignored security warnings but no definitive evidence of personal wrongdoing by Clinton.

That contrast between evasion then and resolve now explains why this arrest matters.

Why this arrest matters

The capture of al-Bakoush sends an unmistakable message: America does not forget its fallen, and justice will be pursued regardless of time or politics. 

As Pirro emphasized, “There are more of them out there. Time will not stop us from going after these predators, no matter how long it takes.”

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This is what American resolve looks like when clarity replaces spin and persistence replaces defensiveness. The terrorists who attacked Americans that September night made a calculation that they could kill with impunity. Friday’s arrest proves that calculation wrong.

Benghazi remains a painful chapter marked by loss and leadership failures. But this arrest demonstrates something essential. When America commits to justice, we finish what we start. The families who waited more than a decade understand the difference that makes. It also sends a message to adversaries worldwide that America’s commitment to justice — and to its people — does not expire.

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The sun is stronger than our electric grid — and we are defenseless against it

Imagine being a telegraph operator in September 1859. You’re sitting at your station, using cutting-edge technology to tap out messages hundreds and thousands of miles away. Suddenly, brilliant auroras light up the night sky from the tropics to the poles.

Then chaos.

Sparks shower from your equipment, shocking you with a jolt strong enough to knock you out of your chair, while igniting your telegraph message papers. You later find out that some of your fellow operators could still send messages even after disconnecting their batteries — not knowing that the telegraph wires were being energized by massive currents induced in the wires by the most powerful geomagnetic storm in recorded history.

WALL STREET UTILITY TAKEOVERS MAY MEAN HIGHER BILLS AHEAD

That storm, triggered by a colossal solar flare observed by British astronomer Richard Carrington, unleashed a coronal mass ejection (CME) that slammed into Earth’s magnetic field. Such a massive solar storm is known as a Carrington Event.

A telegraph operator in 1859 could only wonder at today’s technology — technology that is far more vulnerable to the sun than was the case then.

The sun has an 11-year cycle, and this year is the peak of the cycle. On Feb. 1, giant sunspot AR4366 — a behemoth that grew rapidly from nothing to nearly half the size of the monster behind the Carrington Event — unleashed an X8-class solar flare, the strongest of Solar Cycle 25 so far.

In the preceding 24 hours, this unstable region hurled 23 M-class and four X-class flares earthward. Extreme ultraviolet radiation from the X8 blast ionized the upper atmosphere, blacking out shortwave radio communications across the South Pacific for hours.

SNOWSTORM COULD’VE SPARKED GRID CATASTROPHE IF BIDEN CLIMATE POLICIES WEREN’T REVERSED: ENERGY DEPT

More concerning is the potential CME. The explosion ejected dense plasma that could be Earth-directed. If it arrives with sufficient force, it will compress Earth’s magnetosphere and induce powerful geomagnetically induced currents (GICs) — in other words, electrify the Earth’s surface. GICs, in turn, can impart a current to the high-voltage transmission lines that form the backbone of our electric grid. And that can be a problem.

Modern society is infinitely more dependent on electricity than in the telegraph era. A Carrington-level event today wouldn’t just spark a few fires in telegraph offices. It would risk melting or destroying hundreds of massive high-voltage transformers, triggering widespread blackouts that could last months or years. Supply chains would collapse, water systems would fail, fuel pumps would go dark, communications would vanish and refrigeration would cease. Estimates of economic damage range from $600 billion to $2.6 trillion in the United States alone, with untold loss of life from lack of heat, medicine and emergency services.

Yet despite clear warnings, America’s grid remains dangerously vulnerable.

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In my 2023 report for the Texas Public Policy Foundation, Texas Defense, I detailed how both natural geomagnetic disturbances (GMDs) and man-made electromagnetic pulse (EMP) attacks pose existential risks to the grid.

A severe event could damage or destroy effectively irreplaceable extra-high-voltage (EHV) transformers, leading to prolonged outages across the state and beyond.

But there is good news: Proven, cost-effective hardware solutions exist today. Neutral Blocking Devices equipped with capacitors, installed in the grounded neutral of high-voltage transformers, can prevent catastrophic damage. These devices block the quasi-direct current (quasi-DC) GICs induced by solar storms or the E3 component of an EMP blast, while allowing normal 60 Hz AC power to flow unimpeded. These devices buffer harmful ground currents, preventing overheating, destructive harmonics, voltage collapse and eventual meltdown.

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As a bonus, these devices also mitigate lower-level GICs that currently shave years off transformer life and cost industry billions annually in reactive power losses.

Costs for these devices have fallen dramatically as technology has matured. A nationwide deployment protecting the most vulnerable 6,000 transformers would require a one-time investment of roughly $4 billion — a fraction of the trillions at risk.

Yet utilities and transmission companies remain reluctant, wary of passing even modest costs to ratepayers. Regulators, meanwhile, have dragged their feet, relying on standards derived from studies that dramatically underestimate the threat.

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Many of these vulnerability assessments trace back to European research conducted more than 30 years ago, during an unusually calm solar period. Those models assumed lower GIC intensities and failed to account for today’s more interconnected, higher-voltage grid — or the far more active sun we’re experiencing now in Cycle 25.

Compounding the problem is the fact that most large power transformers are no longer made in America. The majority come from China, South Korea, and Germany, with typical delivery lead times stretching to four years or more under normal conditions. If dozens or hundreds are destroyed in a severe solar storm, replacement could take a decade or longer — time we wouldn’t have in a prolonged blackout.

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With sunspot AR4366 still crackling and more explosions likely in the coming days, the warning couldn’t be clearer. Congress and state legislatures must act swiftly to mandate or incentivize installation of neutral blocking devices. Utilities must prioritize grid resilience over short-term rate concerns. And regulators must update standards to reflect real-world risks, not Pollyannaish assumptions from a sleepy sun.

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The Carrington Event literally shocked telegraph operators. A repeat could shock an entire civilization into the pre-industrial age.

We have the technology to prevent it. We should act on it.

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From the Olympic Village to Little League fields, sports still hold America together

Divisions are intensifying across the nation, with a recent poll finding that over half of Americans fear the U.S. is on a path toward civil war and two-thirds believe that American democracy is under serious threat. More than ever, both politicians and everyday Americans need a reminder that we are still one country, and that competition without guardrails quickly becomes something else entirely.

While not erasing complicated geopolitical realities, the upcoming Winter Olympics from Feb. 6 to Feb. 22 in Milan, Italy, can be a reminder of the power of unity. Sports can offer a counterweight to divisions at home and abroad. Rather than a distraction from politics, they can be an example of how to do it better. On the world stage and in our own communities, athletic participation shows us the value in finding common ground.

As we watch the world’s great athletes gather in Milan, we should carry the Olympic spirit beyond our television screens and into our Little League fields, school gyms, community leagues and even our most contentious civic spaces. Our legislators should carry that spirit into the halls of Congress and their state capitols. We should apply its lessons of rivalry without hatred and national pride without resentment to how we live alongside one another at home.

The Olympics began in ancient Greece over 2,000 years ago as an opportunity for the citizens of Greek city-states to come together, display their athletic prowess and trade truly violent conflict — ubiquitous at the time — for rules-based sport. Rulers instituted the “Olympic Truce,” ensuring safe participation for the duration of the games.

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The first modern Olympic Games took place in 1896 in Athens, Greece, mirroring the spirit of unity, cultural exchange and excellence exemplified by their historical predecessor. Beginning in the 1990s, the United Nations General Assembly even revived the tradition of the Olympic Truce, adopting a resolution before each Summer and Winter games that calls on member nations to suspend hostilities during the Olympic period.

The Games do not deny conflict, of course, but they show how it can be bound. And they reveal how sports can be a diplomatic language when politics fail.

A recent example comes from the 2018 Winter Olympics, when North Korean and South Korean athletes competed together on the same women’s ice hockey team and marched under the same Korean Peninsula flag in the opening ceremonies, amidst ongoing political tensions between the two nations.

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Sports serve diplomatic ends by bringing countries together and facilitating conversations. Such meetings don’t resolve disputes head on, but they lower threat perception between rivals and reopen channels of communication. They show us how common ground can be found even with people very different from ourselves.

North Koreans and South Koreans have vast cultural differences, but they also share a history, language and a desire for dignity for their people. Teamwork on the ice briefly brought these shared interests into focus.

Viewers can likewise find common ground with their fellow countrymen from watching athletes of all different backgrounds compete together. It’s natural to feel patriotic watching your country’s great athletes walk together, compete and raise the national flag in victory. Global sporting events show how a shared national pride can flourish and rise above prejudice or divisions.

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Competing fiercely while respecting rules is consistent with American constitutional values. The principles we can learn in sports — discipline, respect for our adversaries, fair play, restraint in victory and defeat — carry over in other elements of our lives. These same habits make elections hard-fought but respectable, with the most rough-and-tumble matches ending in a handshake.

While a sports event with the global scale of the Olympics or World Cup only takes place every few years, what happens among nations during the Games reflects what is already happening — quietly — in American communities every weekend. At Little League baseball and softball fields and Friday night high school football games, church leagues and rec centers, our children learn how to compete without hating their opponents, how to follow rules even when emotions run high and how, by working as teams, we can achieve more than by ourselves.

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The Games do not deny conflict, of course, but they show how it can be bound. And they reveal how sports can be a diplomatic language when politics fail.

Just as the Olympic village is a microcosm of the globe, a 12-and-under girls basketball team is a microcosm of a local community. Different backgrounds, different beliefs, different family stories, all bound together by love of the sport and shared rules and goals.

Sports create civic habits that are so needed in our civility-starved world: restraint, respect, discipline and team-focused cooperation. Whether in our small towns or on the world’s stage, shared athletic rituals sustain our nation and remind us that all Americans play for the same team, under the same flag.

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In times of great division, our leaders need reminders that another way is possible. Polarization is not inevitable. Civility can wane, but it can also flourish.

It’s important that we protect the global institutions that allow us to compete without hostility and participate in the local ones that do the same thing. The next time you watch a global sporting event or participate in a local one, remember that the spirit on display is not reserved for the world’s greatest athletes. It’s a model for how free people, at every level of society, can live, compete and still recognize one another as fellow citizens.

SEN JOHN KENNEDY: Democrats’ defund-the-police plan failed, but here they go again

As I’ve watched the protests in Minneapolis, it seems obvious to me that America is at risk of falling face-first into another disastrous anti-law enforcement crisis.

Here’s a cold dish of truth: There are some people in this world who enjoy hurting other people and taking other people’s stuff. These people aren’t sick. They’re not confused. They’re not mixed up. It’s not that their mothers or fathers didn’t love them enough. They’re just antisocial. I don’t know why God made some people that way. If I get to Heaven, I’m going to ask.

Every society deals with these people differently, but in America, we’ve chosen to hire brave men and women to enforce our laws by confronting antisocial people when they commit crimes. We rarely hear about these courageous officers and the millions of positive interactions they have each day. We only hear about the handful of cops who — by negligence or by choice — harm other people while enforcing the law.

The defund the police movement seized upon a few bad examples of law enforcement to sell the lie that cops are worse than criminals. These activists believed that our country would be better off if we fired all police officers and replaced them with social workers.

TRUMP’S IMMIGRATION CRACKDOWN IN THE SPOTLIGHT AHEAD OF MIDTERMS AS FATAL MN SHOOTINGS IGNITE BACKLASH

Prior to the death of George Floyd, the defund the police movement was a fringe idea that was only popular among Marxist academics and soy-latte drinking, NPR-tote bag carrying Karens. Fair-minded Americans knew it would be insane to replace cops with social workers. Murderers, thieves, drug dealers and carjackers don’t need hugs; they need jail cells.

But the Karen wing of the Democratic Party saw Floyd’s death as an opportunity to promote the defund-the-police movement. This presented Democratic officials, including Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, with a choice. Door #1: They could ignore the Karens and restore law and order. Door #2: They could defund, disparage and demoralize every officer in the state to appease the Karens.

Walz, Frey and many others chose Door #2. They let rioters seek revenge on law enforcement, stood by as police precincts burned and sat in silence as activists defamed the countless good cops who kept their cities safe.

TRUMP ALLY TELLS GOVERNMENT TO ‘WAKE UP’ AFTER DEADLY FEDERAL AGENT SHOOTINGS IN MINNEAPOLIS

These decisions created one of the worst crime waves in American history. Commercial burglaries increased by 43%, carjackings increased by 93% and murders rose by 44% in the wake of the George Floyd riots.

The defund the police project backfired faster than anyone could have imagined, and Democratic mayors scrambled to undo the damage. But maintaining a strong police force is not a light switch you can flick on and off as the woke mob demands. After years of demoralizing police officers and denigrating them as bigots, racists, and murderers, a lot of cops didn’t want their jobs back.

Nationwide, police departments are still operating with an average of 6% fewer officers than they did in 2020. In Minneapolis, the police force is still 36% smaller than it was before Mr. Floyd’s death, despite a prolonged effort to hire more officers.

TRUMP WARNS MINNEAPOLIS MAYOR HE’S ‘PLAYING WITH FIRE’ AFTER IMMIGRATION ENFORCEMENT CONVERSATION

If anyone can recognize the deep-dish stupidity of the defund-the-police movement, it should be Walz and Frey. But today, it looks like they are ready to lead their Democratic friends down the same anti-law-enforcement path — with a slight twist.

Instead of arguing that cops are a bigger problem than criminals, Walz and Frey have joined the Karen wing of the Democratic Party to say that enforcing immigration laws is racist and vetting migrants is a form of White supremacy. Once again, these activists see the chaos in Minneapolis as an opportunity to use the George Floyd playbook to get Congress to defund ICE and the Border Patrol.

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Prior to the death of George Floyd, the defund the police movement was a fringe idea that was only popular among Marxist academics and soy-latte drinking, NPR-tote bag carrying Karens.

But rioters do not get to dictate which laws the federal government enforces, which illegal immigrants it deports, or which types of fraud it investigates. The federal government, empowered by voters, has the right to make those decisions under the Supremacy Clause of the United States Constitution, and it is illegal for states to obstruct legitimate federal law enforcement.

I understand that Walz, Frey and their Democratic colleagues must follow their hearts. I’m just asking them to take their brains with them.

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It was weapons-grade stupid to defund the police in 2020. It is just as dumb to defund ICE today. From terrorists entering the country to cartels smuggling people and drugs into our communities, President Joe Biden’s open border policies were a disaster for the security and prosperity of the United States. President Trump may have made it look easy to secure the border, but it wasn’t. ICE and Border Patrol worked hard from day one to restore order at the border.

No one wants to see violence in our streets, but we have got to learn the lessons of 2020 and recognize that good law enforcement is the solution, not the problem.    

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Why Melania’s hit documentary terrifies critics who desperately wanted her to fail

The film “Melania,” a documentary about first lady Melania Trump, made nearly $8 million on its opening weekend, making it the highest-grossing documentary in a decade. It’s a huge win for the first lady and a crushing defeat for those rooting against her.

The director of “Melania,” Brett Ratner, has previously helmed Hollywood blockbusters such as “Rush Hour” and “X-Men: The Last Stand.” The fact that Ratner is already an established brand in Hollywood is noteworthy. During the first Trump term, it would have been unlikely that a Hollywood director would take a chance on a documentary about Melania Trump. Ratner still took a risk making the film, because Hollywood is traditionally in lockstep on politics and quick to cut off anyone who steps outside the line. It’s easier to make a film like this in 2026 than it was in 2017, but only marginally so.

The film is a soft-focus look at Melania Trump’s life as first lady, offering a glossy, feel-good glance into what people normally don’t get to see inside the private first lady’s life. Still, it wouldn’t have mattered what was in the film — the media would have hated it anyway.

OLDER WOMEN DRIVE ‘MELANIA’ DOCUMENTARY TO BOX OFFICE SUCCESS WITH $7M OPENING WEEKEND

The reviews in the mainstream press aren’t so much scathing as personal. Variety called the film a “cheeseball infomercial of staggering inertia,” while The Guardian noted it was “dispiriting, deadly and unrevealing” and “unredeemable.”

In the film, it’s true we see Melania in her beautiful outfits and flawless makeup, but we also see her as the woman behind the man.

In one scene in the film, Melania advises the president to include the word “unifier” in his inaugural speech. On Jan. 20, as he said the words, “My proudest legacy will be that of a peacemaker and unifier. That’s what I want to be: a peacemaker and a unifier,” the president turned around to look at his wife. Of course, Melania wants her husband to be both a peacemaker and a unifier. She is rooting for him to succeed because it helps us all. A vicious media refuses to concede that she may want what is best for the country.

The film portrays a marriage where the first lady cares about her husband, worrying about his security on Inauguration Day and expressing relief when festivities are moved indoors. This portrayal flies in the face of the frequent commentary claiming the marriage is in name only. Why would the first lady care about her husband’s safety if she’s only in the union for glory or money? The New York Times counted how many days Melania has spent in the White House during this term, and Trump biographer Michael Wolff has claimed, without evidence, that they are separated. This film answers those accusations and rumors directly, in Melania’s own words.

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In a 2018 interview with ABC, Melania was asked about her marriage and said, “I know people like to speculate and media like to speculate about our marriage. It’s not always pleasant, of course. But I know what is right and what is wrong and what is true or not true.”

She does, and she shows it in this film.

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On the review site Rotten Tomatoes, the film “Melania” is setting another kind of record: the largest discrepancy between the scores of film reviewers and filmgoers in the site’s history. It makes sense, since most of the reviewers went into the film with a rating in mind, whether or not they actually enjoyed the movie. The people who spent their money to go watch their first lady on the screen were going to be more honest, even if some were swayed by their enthusiasm for their president.

The media has three more years of the Trump administration and Melania Trump. They can stop having outbursts about the first lady and give her a fair hearing — something more than half the country would commend. Or they can continue to descend into irrelevance, as everyone knows even their panning of a film will be political. The choice is theirs.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM KAROL MARKOWICZ

I infiltrated radical groups 40 years ago. Leftists are desperate for martyrs

It appears that agitators are trying to spark confrontations with federal law enforcement that could lead to protesters being harmed, even killed, to spark outrage and support for their cause.

It’s a sick story. It sounds outrageous. But it’s true, and everything old is new again.

I saw it 40 years ago and testified about it to Congress. Today we are seeing again: Inserting American citizens into flash points as part of a political strategy to get people shot for the purpose of inflaming the public against a president and his policies.

The recent deaths of two Minneapolis protesters reminded me of what I had learned as a 24-year-old in the mid-1980s while infiltrating radical groups – much as people in their 20s are doing today.

JOURNALIST ATTACKED DURING MINNEAPOLIS BLOCKADE SAYS ANTI-ICE AGITATORS TRIED TO ‘DETER’ THE TRUTH

Revolutionaries and insurgents create or exploit flash points in anticipation of getting some of their followers killed. Journalist Cam Higby has reported on this in Minneapolis. They need martyrs to spark or fuel public anger.

Facing professionally organized provocations and stressors, it was inevitable that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Border Patrol agents would plunge into circumstances that domestic extremists had created to provoke media outrage.

Revolutionaries call it “armed propaganda.”

DAVID MARCUS: ANTI-ICE AGITATORS ADOPT PALESTINIAN TACTICS, INCLUDING MARTYRDOM

After Portland, Ore., activist Benjamin Linder was killed in Nicaragua by U.S.-backed resistance fighters, or contras, against the Soviet-backed Sandinista regime in 1987, the House Subcommittee on Western Hemisphere Affairs held a hearing.

Linder was armed with an AK-47 at the time of his death. Sympathizers portrayed him as a peaceful humanitarian worker. I was called as a witness.

“For two years,” I testified, a group called Witness for Peace (WfP) had “anticipated the killing of an American citizen by the contras so that they could use his death for political propaganda. They wanted someone like Benjamin Linder to die.”

FOX NEWS DIGITAL ANALYSIS: HOW MINNEAPOLIS AGITATOR NETWORKS USE INSURGENCY TACTICS TO HINDER ICE

That was hard to say, not only because it sounded so outrageous, but because I was sitting with Linder’s parents in the congressional hearing room.

The Linders were lifetime radicals from Portland. They supported North Vietnam and the Vietcong against American troops. The mother was the local leader of a group that collaborated with Soviet active measures operations against the United States. They raised their son Benjamin to place himself in mortal danger.

Facing professionally organized provocations and stressors, it was inevitable that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Border Patrol agents would plunge into circumstances that domestic extremists had created to provoke media outrage.

My impression was that they seemed less like grieving parents and more like mourners of a fallen comrade.

ANTI-ICE AGITATORS ARRESTED OUTSIDE MINNESOTA HOTEL AS POLICE DECLARE UNLAWFUL ASSEMBLY: ‘NO LONGER PEACEFUL’

As college students and afterward, my friends and I had infiltrated and exposed groups across the country that supported the Central American communists. I also worked with the Nicaraguan resistance fighters against the Sandinistas.

At the hearing, I gave my eyewitness account, plus secondary reports, about how American militant leaders wanted U.S.-backed forces to kill some of their do-gooder allies.

Revolutionary insurgencies require martyrs to outrage and inspire.

DEPUTY AG DETAILS ‘MASSIVE UNDERGROUND FRAUD NETWORK’ ALLEGEDLY BEHIND MINNEAPOLIS ANTI-ICE PUSH

“It is obvious that Witness for Peace leaders are aware of the military role they are playing in Central America,” I testified.

“On one of my trips with the Nicaraguan Democratic Force (FDN) resistance in 1985, I asked several commanders and fighters if the presence of Americans was having any effect on their ability to fight the Sandinista army,” I said in my testimony. “The answer was positive: The FDN fighters were afraid of hurting any Americans working with the Sandinistas for fear of a backlash of public opinion in the United States.”

At a 1995 Witness for Peace meeting in Boulder, Colo., I learned that the group was planning to expand operations to El Salvador, only to abort three days later when its guerrilla friends murdered four off-duty U.S. Marines and two other Americans.

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I testified that in a later New York meeting, we heard “that some of the group’s leaders privately expressed hope that some of their activists in Nicaragua would get shot by the resistance. If a Witness for Peace activist was killed, they reasoned, American public opinion would turn against the contras.”

The Boston Globe quoted another WfP activist, a lawyer from Bangor, Maine, as saying that “Some of us have got to die” at the hands of U.S.-backed forces. “If some of us die, we bring the cause home to our countrymen in a very personal way,” he said. “If that’s what it will take, that’s what it will take.”

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With Linder’s death, I told Congress, the American radicals “finally had a martyr. They got their televised interviews. They have their congressional hearing. They got their wish.”

Which brings us back to Minneapolis today. America must face the fact that organizers are out there to enrage, demoralize and manipulate us all. They don’t care about the human fallout.

DR MARC SIEGEL: How AA, faith and science align with Trump’s fight against addiction

I applaud President Donald Trump’s Jan. 29 executive order known as the Great American Recovery Initiative, but I think it should be renamed the Bill W. and Dr. Bob Initiative, after the founders of Alcoholics Anonymous. Both men suffered from severe alcoholism until a fateful day in December 1934, when Bill Wilson experienced a spiritual awakening — described as a blinding white light — after demanding that God show Himself. Bill also described the sensation of standing on a mountain with the wind of the Spirit blowing through him, and he instantly felt liberated, his obsession with alcohol gone.

This conversion experience formed the basis for Bill W.’s spiritual transformation and recovery from alcoholism, and it led to the core 12-step program of Alcoholics Anonymous, which Bill W. co-founded in June 1935 with Dr. Robert Smith. Dr. Bob also suffered from severe alcoholism, and Bill W. helped him quit. By that June, Dr. Bob had taken his final drink. Together with Sister Ignatia, Dr. Bob helped transfer his freedom from alcohol to others, providing medical care and physical guidance to thousands of alcoholics in Akron, Ohio, and around the country.

The reason I believe President Trump’s initiative could be called the Bill W. and Dr. Bob Initiative is because, like AA, it recognizes the importance of community, health and faith. These elements must be central tenets of the plan for it to be successful. The White House announcement states its goal is “to coordinate a national response to the disease of addiction across government, health care, faith communities and the private sector in order to save lives, restore families, strengthen our communities and build the Great American Recovery.”

DAVID MARCUS: SECURE BORDER BRINGS PLUMMETING OVERDOSE DEATHS, BUT DON’T EXPECT TRUMP TO GET CREDIT

Trump’s initiative was soon followed this week by the HHS $100 million Safety Through Recovery, Engagement and Evidence-based Treatment and Supports (STREETS) program, which will focus on addiction, mental health, homelessness and crisis intervention. 

This is a much-needed program and I was glad to see it spearheaded by HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., himself a recovered heroin addict, along with his cousin, former Rep. Patrick Kennedy, a recovering alcoholic whom I have interviewed and found to be a powerful and convincing voice for recovery.

The reason I believe President Trump’s initiative could be called the Bill W. and Dr. Bob Initiative is because, like AA, it recognizes the importance of community, health and faith. 

Keep in mind that denial is a key part of the problem for most addicts, and deep faith, along with role modeling, is a critical way to overcome that denial. As the White House pointed out in its fact sheet, “48.4 million Americans, or 16.8% of our nation’s population, suffer from addiction, yet very few who need treatment receive it or believe they need it.”

DOCTOR REVEALS WHAT 30 DAYS WITHOUT ALCOHOL DOES TO THE BRAIN AND BODY AMID DRY JANUARY

During President Trump’s first term, in 2019, when he declared the opioid crisis a public health emergency, he also acknowledged that his brother Fred had “a very, very, very tough life” before succumbing to alcoholism and heart disease. Trump said the same to me when I interviewed him at the White House in July 2020, and I could see how deeply the loss affected him personally.

Trump’s heart is clearly in the right place when it comes to the current initiative — and he is not alone. The announcement of the new federal plan to combat drug and alcohol addiction included Kathryn Burgum, a former alcoholic and the wife of Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, as well as United State Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff, who told the story of his son dying from a drug overdose during the event.

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Raising awareness is a lofty goal, along with acknowledging just how hard addictions are to break. The role of faith and the church must be emphasized, but so too must the scientific tools that enable miraculous recoveries — from buprenorphine, a partial opioid agonist, to naltrexone, an opioid antagonist that blocks both euphoria and craving. GLP-1 agonists are also showing promise in decreasing cravings for alcohol and drugs and reducing alcohol consumption, in part by delaying gastric emptying. Medically assisted therapy for opioids — specifically methadone, naltrexone and buprenorphine — has been shown to reduce opioid-related deaths by more than 50%.

As I wrote in my new book, “The Miracles Among Us,” so-called soft miracles arise from an intricate combination of science and faith.

All these tools must be paid for, and the federal government should help make them more available. Indeed, every primary care physician like me should have the unrestricted ability to prescribe these lifesaving medications, and every major church and synagogue should have a federally subsidized recovery program for drug and alcohol addiction.

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Addiction destroys not just individuals, but entire families and communities. Recovery from addiction is a multi-pronged process involving faith, access to quality health care and committed leaders who can relate to the problem. 

Ninety years after Bill W. and Dr. Bob started us down the path toward beating addiction, their caring, spiritual approach is more important than ever.

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America is the sole superpower again. Here’s how Trump surprised the world

There’s one superpower that dominates the planet again, and it’s the United States.

In just one year in office, President Donald Trump has catapulted the U.S. from a country that seemed on the brink of inevitable decline, into the American colossus that’s put the other great powers — especially China and Russia — in the shade, and now determines the tempo and direction of world events.

What happened in Davos should set aside any doubts. In 24 hours, President Trump turned worldwide panic about possible U.S. military intervention in Greenland into worldwide relief with a framework for peacefully securing the giant island for generations to come.

We were the world’s “sole superpower” twice in the 20th century, right after World War II and again after the Cold War. Now, thanks to Donald Trump and his administration, it’s happening again in the 21st century. It’s important to understand why and how, and what it means for the future.

THE DONROE DOCTRINE: TRUMP IS REWRITING POWER POLITICS TO PUT AMERICA FIRST

There are three components that make a dominant world power: military strength, economic strength and bold leadership.

Military power: By taking out the Iranian nuclear program and by snatching the Venezuelan dictator in the middle of the night — both without losing a single American — Donald Trump demonstrated that we have a military with an unparalleled global reach and effectiveness. Meanwhile, Russia is bogged down in a World War I-style stalemate in Ukraine, while the last time China’s army fought a real war was in 1979 against Vietnam — a war China lost.

Economic strength: This year will mark the start of an economic boom triggered by the Trump tax cuts and deregulation, that may see the U.S. economy grow by 5% or more (China will be lucky to hit above 4.5%). Trillions of direct foreign investment dollars and a revived American industrial landscape means we will have an economy geared toward making things again, not just spending money. At the same time, Trump’s use of tariffs has redirected the flow of world trade to America’s advantage and China’s disadvantage, as we leverage our power as the world’s biggest and best customer to get other nations to play fair in the trade game.

MORNING GLORY: PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP HAS BECOME THE ‘PUNISHER-IN-CHIEF’

The global management company Teneo’s annual CEO and Investor Outlook Survey shows that 73% of global CEOs expect the global economy to improve in 2026, in large part because of the coming U.S. boom. 

Bold leadership: Just a year ago, America was still feeling the disastrous effects of an enfeebled president who surrendered world leadership to China, Russia and Iran. Joe Biden and his team had all but crippled the American economy with rampant inflation and declining productivity, while their obsession with “climate change” came at the expense of one of the country’s most important economic assets, our oil and natural gas industry.

Along comes Donald Trump, and suddenly what seemed like problematic areas of the U.S. economy — AI, cryptocurrency, oil and natural gas production, manufacturing — leap into the forefront of administration policy for making America great again. Instead of weakness and impotence on the world stage, the United States has retaken the lead, from ending the fighting in Gaza and reshaping the future of the Middle East, to starting to push interlopers like China, Russia and Iran out of the Western Hemisphere — whether it’s Venezuela or Greenland or the Panama Canal.

TRUMP HAS SET THE STAGE FOR AN AMERICAN COMEBACK AFTER BIDEN’S DISMAL ECONOMY

Most importantly, for the first time in a very long time — perhaps not since Ronald Reagan was president, — we have a president who is unapologetic about flexing American power and influence around the globe, and who sees world leadership not as a temporary transition phase, but as America’s birthright on its 250th anniversary.

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Leadership doesn’t mean being globocop. It does mean acknowledging moments like the one last month, when Venezuela’s Maria Machado handed over her Nobel Peace Prize to Donald Trump, in gratitude for supporting the democratic resistance in her country.

The moment tells us that, under President Trump, America has re-assumed the moral leadership, as well as military, economic and technological leadership, of the planet.

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These “sole superpower” moments can speed by. The first after World War II faded with the rise of the Soviet Union, and died in the jungles of Vietnam. The second, after the Cold War, was dissipated in military spending cuts and an orgy of “peace dividend” spending, which facilitated the advance of Communist China. Russia and especially China remain formidable adversaries — and nuclear-armed ones. Trump and his administration need to take full advantage of America’s current sole superpower status before some unforeseen event, or failure of judgment or nerve, triggers its demise.

In the meantime, enjoy being the dominant power on the planet. It’s a great way to start America’s next 250 years.

The medical system pushed transgender surgery on kids — now it’s facing legal justice

Two million dollars.

That’s how much money a 22-year-old woman just won in a New York lawsuit against her doctors. She sued them for medical malpractice after they cut off her breasts when she was 16. They told her she could become a boy, even though that’s biologically impossible. Now she has won the first-ever lawsuit against doctors who try to give sex changes to kids.

That brave young woman isn’t alone.

I’m 21 years old, and I’m also suing the medical system that gave me sex-change treatments starting at age 13. There are so many other young people like us. We were lied to by doctors, nurses and therapists when we were vulnerable and confused children. They did irreversible harm to our bodies and minds, making a mockery of the medical profession. They should absolutely be held accountable for sacrificing us in service to radical transgender ideology.

HHS GOLD STANDARD STUDY FLIPS ‘GENDER AFFIRMING CARE’ ON ITS HEAD AS DEMS KEEP PUSHING TRANS ISSUES AT SCOTUS

The woman in New York has a heartbreaking story. She accused a psychologist and surgeon of pressuring her to get a sex-change surgery when she was a teenager. While her mother was opposed to the surgery, she felt like she had no choice but to allow it. That checks out: Doctors tell parents all the time that without a sex change, their child is going to commit suicide. How can a parent argue with that?

But “fixing” someone with a sex-change surgery is what actually breaks them. The New York woman found that out the hard way. She’s now a detransitioner, and she’ll be dealing with the effects of those doctors’ actions for the rest of her life. In that $2 million settlement, the jury awarded her $1.6 million for her pain and suffering — and $400,000 for future medical expenses. She’s probably never going to stop needing physical and mental health care because of what was done to her.

I WAS TOLD I WAS A BOY. SUPREME COURT MUST DESTROY LIES THAT HARM WOMEN LIKE ME

The exact same thing happened to me. In my pre-teen years, I became deeply confused about my gender because of the influence of social media and video games. But instead of helping me accept that I’m a girl, therapists and doctors told me I was a boy.

CALIFORNIA AG SUES HOSPITAL THAT ENDED GENDER TRANSITION TREATMENT FOR MINORS TO COMPLY WITH TRUMP POLICIES

They gave me puberty blockers at age 13, stopping my body from developing naturally. They gave me cross-sex hormones not long after that, altering my brain as well as my body. At 16, they cut off my breasts, too. Years later, I still have bandages on my chest.

My doctors told me everything was reversible. But as soon as I realized the mistake I made, I also realized they had lied. There’s no real going back — not completely, and not ever. Like the young woman in New York, I was misled by the doctors my parents and I trusted. Just like her, I need medical help until the day I die. But the doctors who did this to me wouldn’t even talk to me, much less try to help me regain my life as a girl.

Doctors should know better. They’re dealing with kids whose minds and bodies are still developing. They’re dealing with kids going through the awkward years of adolescence. The best medical path is obviously to wait and watch. Wait to let kids develop naturally. Watch that development with the help of real mental health care, especially therapy that helps kids come to grips with who they really are.

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Instead, these doctors are rushing kids down the irreversible and dangerous path of sex changes. Do No Harm has found that nearly 14,000 kids have received sex changes in recent years, although the real number is almost certainly far higher. What’s been done to them is the definition of medical malpractice. The doctors who perpetrated this injustice should absolutely pay for the lives they’ve destroyed.

For that matter, every doctor who’s even remotely involved in providing sex changes should stop — immediately. People like me are coming for them. They pressured us and hurt us in profound ways. We demand justice. The $2 million that New York woman just won is a start. But this won’t end until the medical profession atones for its actions and stops giving sex changes to children once and for all.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM CHLOE COLE