DAVID MARCUS: Can John Fetterman save the Democratic Party from itself?

Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman is the most anomalous politician in America today. Often willing to buck his fellow Democrats, he appears to be a one of a kind on Capitol Hill, even though his ideas are shared by the majority of Americans, including a lot of Democrats.

It is not entirely clear how Fetterman went from being a progressive, and failed, candidate for Senate in 2016 to winning in 2022 and becoming the moderate thorn in the side of the ever-left lurching Democrats. Some believe his medical issues changed him, but the answer might be far more simple.

In fact, it may not be so much that Fetterman moved away from his party, but that his party moved away from Fetterman.

One glaring example is Israel. Even five years ago, support for the Jewish state was as widespread among elected Democrats as E-Z Pass is on American highways. But today, the absurd and fabulist consensus in the party is that Israel has committed genocide.

JOHN FETTERMAN SLAMS ANTI-ISRAEL ‘ROT’ IN DEMOCRATIC PARTY, REJECTS AOC CLAIMS OF GAZA ‘GENOCIDE’

Fetterman, along with a few others like Rep. Ritchie Torres, D-N.Y., have fought back hard against these anti-Israeli narratives, even as nominally pro-Israel voices, like Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer have shamefully kept their heads down on the issue.

More recently, on the current shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security, Fetterman is once again sticking it to his own party leadership by insisting that the agency should be funded full stop, without any conditions.

He is the only Democrat in the upper chamber taking this sensible stand.

FETTERMAN’S FORMER PROGRESSIVE BACKER SAYS HE ‘SOLD US OUT,’ ESCALATES EFFORTS TO PRIMARY DEMOCRAT SENATOR

Fetterman is also pretty much the only Democrat who is willing to cheer the deaths of the brutal regime leaders in Iran as the rest of his party all but undermines the war effort with nonsensical attacks against Trump and War Secretary Pete Hegseth.

Meanwhile, when it comes to the communist mayor of New York City, Zohran Mamdani, one of the most popular figures in Democratic polling, Fetterman said of him last year, “Everything that I’ve read on him, I don’t really agree with virtually any of it, politically. That’s just where I’m at as a Democrat. He’s not even a Democrat, honestly.”

But here Fetterman appears to be wrong. In fact, Democrats lined up to support and endorse Madman Mamdani and his merry band of capitalism-hating DSA darlings, and it is Fetterman who is losing support among party voters.

FETTERMAN’S NEW BOOK DETAILS EXPLOSIVE FEUD WITH GOV JOSH SHAPIRO OVER PAROLE BOARD DISPUTE

But he isn’t losing support among all voters.

According to a recent Quinnipiac poll, a whopping 72% of Republican voters in the Keystone state approve of Fetterman, while a mere 22% of Democrats do, with independents split about 50/50.

This is the strange place where we have found ourselves, more Republican voters in Pennsylvania approve of Democratic Sen. Fetterman than Republican voters in Texas do of Republican Sen. John Cornyn.

JOHN FETTERMAN SIDES WITH GOP IN SENATE VOTE, SAYS DEMOCRATS ‘CROSSED A LINE’ PUTTING POLITICS OVER COUNTRY

This has all led to speculation that the hoodie-wearing maverick might switch parties and run for his seat as a Republican in 2028. But that is not the sense that I get from Fetterman’s words and actions.

Fetterman wants to save the Democratic Party, not to abandon it. 

The best way for Fetterman to achieve this goal is not by defending his Senate seat two years from now, but by running for president.

FETTERMAN OPPOSES SHUTDOWN EFFORTS AS DEMOCRATIC COLLEAGUES MOVE TO BLOCK ICE FUNDING BILL

Recently I have been polling some insiders I know on both sides of the aisle, asking if Fetterman really has a chance to win the presidency in 2028. The most usual answer has been, “yes,” with a smattering of “absolutelies.”

The logic here is that every other potential Democrat who could stand on a presidential primary debate stage is in lockstep favoring the loony leftist ideas that Fetterman stands athwart.

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Especially now that sports media celebrity Stephen A. Smith has announced he will not be running, owing to the financial hit he would take, Fetterman would be the only Democrat in the field offering a way back to centrist politics.

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The odds are firmly against Fetterman in his quixotic mission to restore sanity to America’s oldest political party, but then again, what were the odds of this guy ever being a senator in the first place?

All Americans should be glad to have this single senator who speaks plain sense regardless of party talking points, marching orders or the flickering winds of public opinion. Maybe it is naive to believe these qualities still matter to voters, but if so, then call me naive.

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I was a doctor caring for Alzheimer’s patients. At 57, I became one. Here’s what’s next

As an internal medicine doctor, I used to care for Alzheimer’s patients. Now, at just 60 years old, I am one. My diagnosis is not the future most people hope for — but there is finally a generation of Alzheimer’s treatments that work for many patients, and I am one of them.

Before my diagnosis, I was a busy, high-performing physician and a present husband and father. Over my career, I completed an internal medicine fellowship at Johns Hopkins, oversaw a medical practice and ran an academic clinic, where I taught residents and medical students. I coached my kids’ basketball teams and served as a deacon at my church.

I was someone who helped others, not someone who needed help myself. Then, three years ago, everything changed.

ALZHEIMER’S SCIENTISTS FIND KEY TO HALTING BRAIN DECLINE BEFORE SYMPTOMS

One afternoon, my supervisor called me into her office and fired me for fumbling tasks I used to handle with ease, asking emphatically, “What is wrong with you?!” Suddenly, I was out of a job, had no health insurance and still needed answers. What was wrong with me?

My family noticed my cognitive decline, too. I couldn’t keep up during a game night, put dishes back in the wrong place, lost track of my phone and repeated questions my wife had already answered.

I was only 57 — younger than most people associate with Alzheimer’s disease — but testing soon revealed the truth. A novel blood test measuring p-Tau217, a biomarker strongly associated with Alzheimer’s, came back abnormal. Further imaging confirmed what I feared most: I had Alzheimer’s disease.

As a doctor, I knew what this diagnosis usually meant. For years, our treatment tools were limited. We prescribed medications that tried to “juice up” the brain. But mostly, we watched patients’ slow demise until they struggled to speak and eventually became unable to swallow. Then we’d call in hospice. Alzheimer’s care was a slog that was hard on families. It was a long goodbye.

ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE COULD BE REVERSED BY RESTORING BRAIN BALANCE, STUDY SUGGESTS

But my wife, my superhero, wasn’t going to let me go without a fight. She knew I still had so much to offer my family, my community and my church.

My neurologist, Dr. Jeff Burns, who runs the University of Kansas Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center, suggested that I would be a candidate for a new monoclonal antibody treatment designed to clear abnormal plaques from the brain. I began regular infusions that have slowed my decline and improved my cognition.

I still have Alzheimer’s — but treatment has given me back the life I feared I was losing.

HIDDEN BRAIN CONDITION MAY QUADRUPLE DEMENTIA RISK IN OLDER ADULTS, STUDY SUGGESTS

Before treatment, I struggled to remember my cues while serving at the altar as a deacon; after the treatment took hold, I had a service where I was able to hit every mark once again.

I’m able to babysit my 2-year-old grandson, Frank, twice a week. I’ve been enlisted to teach medical students how to deliver bad news to patients, which I treat as a solemn duty.

I go on bike rides, which remind me of what it was like to be a kid. I spend precious time with my children and grandchildren. I take three-mile walks with my dog. I write.

CANCER MAY TRIGGER UNEXPECTED DEFENSE AGAINST ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE, RESEARCHERS SAY

You would think that a treatment capable of restoring someone’s life would be readily available to others like me. But our health care system is still built for late-stage Alzheimer’s, not early intervention. Too often, cognitive decline is dismissed as normal aging, or patients are referred to specialists with long wait times. By the time answers arrive, the window for effective treatment has closed.

What helped me may not work for everyone. But even if a breakthrough Alzheimer’s therapy were to emerge tomorrow that works in every case, the same structural failures would persist: People would still be diagnosed too late, priced out of testing and treatment, and blocked from timely care.

That must change.

LURKING DEMENTIA RISK EXPOSED BY BREAKTHROUGH TEST 25 YEARS BEFORE SYMPTOMS

Early Alzheimer’s detection should become routine in primary care, using modern tools like blood-based biomarkers to identify the disease early and validated cognitive assessments to detect meaningful changes. While some assessments can now be administered digitally outside specialty care, patients are still funneled to neurologists, creating six-month- to year-long delays that cost critical treatment time. These tests should be accessible and covered, not limited to academic centers or those who can afford to pay out of pocket.

My family noticed my cognitive decline, too. I couldn’t keep up during a game night, put dishes back in the wrong place, lost track of my phone and repeated questions my wife had already answered.

Once patients qualify for an FDA-approved therapy, insurance rules should not stand in the way. Ongoing administrative hurdles and repeated coverage denials disrupt care and force families into constant appeals.

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My wife, Cindy, has spent countless hours fighting insurers to maintain the treatment that has kept me alert, engaged and functioning. At times, those denials have forced me off treatment long enough to lose ground before we could begin again.

A current proposal sponsored by Rep. Young Kim, R-Calif., would extend Medicare coverage to people 65 and under who have been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. This legislation, called the BRIDGE Act, would ensure people in my situation don’t face the coverage denials and access interruptions that I did.

Primary care providers — often overworked and running behind — are equipped to spot cognitive decline and can administer cognitive assessments, make timely diagnoses and counsel patients on evidence-based lifestyle interventions such as regular physical activity, sleep optimization and social engagement. These interventions matter and can help slow cognitive decline for some patients.

Finally, caregivers must be recognized as essential partners in care. Cindy made it possible for me to get treatment, stay organized and keep living my life. Supporting families is one of the most effective ways to keep people with Alzheimer’s at home, engaged and connected.

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Alzheimer’s science has moved forward. Policy has not.

If we want today’s breakthroughs to improve lives for patients like me, families and future generations, we must build a system that finds the disease early and delivers care in time.

JONATHAN TURLEY: How Gov Shapiro became a squatter and got sued by his neighbors

The poet Robert Frost once said that “good fences make good neighbors.” He apparently never met Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, who is being sued by his neighbors for effectively squatting on their land and then seizing it to install a fence along his $830,500 private residence in suburban Philadelphia. The litigation is likely to put Shapiro in a much different light for many who think of him as a 2028 contender.

The irony of the case is crushing. Shapiro opposed Trump’s plan to build a wall along the southern border, declaring that he would sue before a dime of Pennsylvania money would go to pay for it. He apparently adopted a similar approach to his neighbors in Pennsylvania. The difference is that he built the wall, but without giving his neighbors a dime.

Shapiro has long wanted a 2,900-square-foot parcel of land located between the two homes in Abington, Montgomery County. The problem is that his neighbors like their land and want to keep it. They turned down multiple offers from Shapiro.

That is when the governor decided to build it anyway.

GIVE THE GOVERNMENT AN INCH AND THEY’LL SEIZE YOUR $200K HOME FOR A $2K DEBT

Jeremy and Simone Mock allege that Shapiro effectively became a squatter by using the state police to bar them from their own property and then building an eight-foot security fence.

After the Mocks sued, Shapiro countersued, claiming that the land was now his through “adverse possession.” He basically claimed that they abandoned the land despite their repeatedly trying to gain entry and repeatedly turning down his offers to buy it.

Welcome to the world of adverse possession. It is a doctrine dating back to 2000 B.C., and the Code of Hammurabi, allowing people to acquire title to land abandoned by owners over a long period of time. A really long time.

From the Romans to the British to the earliest days of the American Republic, adverse possession has been recognized as a valid means of acquiring title. It was particularly valuable in the early years of the United States, where people acquired or claimed vast tracts of land out West, only to leave them undeveloped and unoccupied. As settlers moved West, they often cultivated the land, built structures and lived openly for years before the original owners reclaimed it. Adverse possession was an efficient rule that allowed land to be put to productive use.

Under Pennsylvania law, you must prove actual, continuous, exclusive, visible, notorious, distinct and hostile possession of the land for 21 years. Shapiro clearly has the hostile part down, but the Mocks are claiming that he effectively used state police to bar them from their land and then claimed that they abandoned it.

Each side is portraying the other as dishonest and opportunistic.

In their complaint, the Mocks allege that the Shapiros made “previous acknowledgments that the Mock Property was owned by no one other than the Mocks.” They document that the Shapiros did not want to pay the asking price, so the Mocks offered to lease the land to them. The Shapiros allegedly agreed but then backed out.

MICHIGAN FAMILY SAYS COUNTY SEIZED HOME OVER TAX BILL THEY DIDN’T OWE — CASE NOW HEADS TO THE SUPREME COURT

The Mocks declare, “what followed was an outrageous abuse of power by the sitting Governor of Pennsylvania and its former Attorney General.” Shapiro declared the property was his.

The Mocks objected that they had been paying taxes to the state on the disputed property for nine years.

The Shapiros claim that from 2003 to 2025, they mowed the lawn, cleared leaves, and removed other debris from the land as if it were their own. Accordingly, they claim that the 21-year period has passed and with it the title to the land. They further allege that, after buying the property in April 2017, the Mocks did not claim the land or challenge the location of an existing fence. However, they did so in October 2025.

Shapiro maintains that the Mocks never even knew the property was theirs until he informed them of the results of a recent survey.

The fascinating element is the use of state troopers to keep the Mocks off their land. The complaint even shows a picture of two troopers, stating, “these members of the State Police are on the Mock Property. Behind the officers are the arborvitae that the Shapiros planted on the Mock Property without permission and over the Mocks’ express objections.”

With the required 21 years only barely passed, any period in which the Mocks were to contest the possession could unravel the adverse possession claim. In the meantime, few people are likely to be sympathetic with the Shapiros taking property from a neighbor. Adverse possession rarely sits well with people, but it is more palatable when the owner has been absent and dilatory.

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Here, the owners are very much present and vocal.

The optics are also worsened by the fact that the state has been struggling to address a squatting crisis where people occupy other people’s homes and then refuse to leave during years of litigation. Shapiro is accused of being a squatter with a state trooper contingent to back him up. It is not clear what would be worse for Shapiro — to lose or to win in taking his neighbor’s property without compensation.

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The dispute has already made its way into the political arena, where Shapiro is running for re-election. One of his opponents, Stacy Garrity, posted a Valentine’s Day message on social media with Shapiro’s face that said: “I love you more than I love my neighbor’s yard.”

The fact is that there are credible arguments on both sides of this dispute. For Shapiro, the question is whether he can afford to win.

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BROADCAST BIAS: Networks hide the ‘M’ word after Muslim terror attack

Journalists inside our broadcast networks have a sensitivity to any criticism of radical Islam, bred by their loathing of conservatives. The term “Islamophobia” is on their lips when anyone recalls anything from 9/11 to people chanting, “Death to America.” When a violent or potentially event unfolds, they’re hoping the assailant isn’t Muslim, as happened after an attempted terror attack this week.

When Muslim Army doctor Nidal Hasan shot up Fort Hood in 2009, killing 13, Newsweek’s Evan Thomas proclaimed on televised pundit roundtable: “I cringe that he’s a Muslim. I mean, because it inflames all the fears. I think he’s probably just a nut case. But with that label attached to him, it will get the right wing going.” NPR’s Nina Totenberg chimed in: “It really is tragic that he was a Muslim.”

That reflex certainly applied to the March 7 protests outside Gracie Mansion, where New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani lives. Two Muslim teenagers turned up at an anti-Islam protest with homemade bombs, and the broadcast networks were extremely reluctant to describe them with the “M word.”

On Saturday’s “World News Tonight,” on ABC, anchor Linsey Davis was brief, describing “two people arrested after a suspicious device went off during an anti-Muslim protest here in New York. The protests outside Gracie Mansion, the mayor’s residence, prompting counter-protesters to show up as well. Two were arrested for allegedly throwing what is believed to be a smoke bomb. No injuries reported.” Thrown by whom? The anchor didn’t specify. And it certainly didn’t turn out to be a “smoke bomb.” It was a potential mass casualty event.

CNN BOTCHES NEW YORK TERRORIST ATTACK COVERAGE, FORCED TO ISSUE MULTIPLE CORRECTIONS

On Sunday morning, ABC’s “Good Morning America” was even vaguer, with Gio Benitez reporting, “the FBI’s joint terrorism task force is now investigating suspicious devices thrown during a protest as possible acts of terrorism.” Here again, it’s a maddeningly passive phrasing of “devices thrown.” Thrown by whom?

Later in the show, ABC’s Janai Norman recounted: “Police say two suspicious devices were found. Jars filled with nuts, bolts and screws, and a hobby fuse. They say one protest of about twenty people was organized by far-right, anti-immigrant figure Jake Lang. About 125 people were part of the counter-protest.”

So, one side is “far-right” and “anti-immigrant,” and the other can’t be identified with an ideological or religious affiliation. That report was so vague you might think the Lang group threw the bombs.

SOCIAL MEDIA ERUPTS ON MAMDANI OVER REPORTS HIS WIFE LIKED PRO-OCTOBER 7TH POSTS: ‘THIS IS WHO THEY ARE’

NBC “Sunday Today” host Willie Geist at least seemed to get the targeting right: The “incendiary devices” had been thrown “towards a small group of anti-Islam protesters led by a right-wing influencer.”

On Sunday night’s “CBS Evening News,” anchor Jericka Duncan again meandered around it: “Tonight, the FBI is investigating two men after an explosive device with bolts and screws was thrown into a crowd. It happened in New York City on Saturday during a protest that turned violent outside the mayor’s official residence.” Who turned it violent?

CBS reporter Shanelle Kaul identified Mamdani as a Muslim, but not the assailants. They were just “two men,” she repeated.  Viewers could get a clue when the teens were identified as Emir Balat and Ibrahim Kayumi, but Kaul blamed the incident on the “anti-Islam demonstration led by Jake Lang … a pardoned U.S. Capitol insurrectionist who has frequently sought out political confrontations in the months after President Trump gave him clemency.” Lang served four years in prison after wielding a baseball bat on January 6.

SUSPECT IN NYC TERROR PROBE PLANNED ATTACK ‘BIGGER THAN THE BOSTON MARATHON BOMBING,’ PROSECUTORS SAY

On Monday morning, ABC’s Aaron Katersky again tagged right-wing extremists. The bombs were thrown “during the chaotic, dueling protests that were started by far-right provocateur Jake Lang under the banner, ‘Stop the Islamic takeover of New York City’ that Mamdani denounced as ‘rooted in bigotry and racism.’” Katersky then added the bomb plotters “told investigators they had watched ISIS propaganda videos and were there to defend Muslims.”

On Monday’s “Today” program on NBC, reporter Sam Brock relayed that “both men allegedly made pro-ISIS statements during their arrest,” but Brock tied the crowds to WABC’s “polarizing talk show host” Sid Rosenberg for calling Mamdani “a jihadist, before later apologizing.” So, it’s not “polarizing” or “bigoted” to favor ISIS and want Jews dead?

So, one side is “far-right” and “anti-immigrant,” and the other can’t be identified with an ideological or religious affiliation. 

It didn’t improve as the story unfolded. CNN had to pull down a ludicrously florid tweet on Monday about the bomb-plotters, that “Two Pennsylvania teenagers” could have come to New York “for a normal day enjoying the city’s abnormally warm weather.” This inspired a wave of satires.

On Tuesday night, CNN primetime host Abby Phillip — followed minutes later by commentator Ana Navarro — wrongly suggested the target of the bombs was Mayor Mamdani. CNN reporter Edward-Isaac Dovere also wrongly tweeted Mamdani was a target. So much for “Facts First” CNN.

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By Wednesday night, Phillip offered a rare on-air correction. On Wednesday’s “CBS Evening News,” anchor Tony Dokoupil offered a story on “two heroic New York City Police officers who were just steps away from a smoking improvised bomb on Saturday, an attempted terror attack, according to the FBI.” Jericka Duncan told the story of Aaron Edwards and Luis Navarro jumping into the breach to prevent a deadly bomb explosion.

Duncan explained, “Chief Edwards says the path to this moment started with the 9/11 attacks.” Edwards said, “I saw just police and first responders rushing to save people, and that inspired me to take the test.” But even in this cop-honoring story, the angle of Islamic radicalism just hung in the background. The “M-Word” didn’t emerge.

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These cringing journalists have long assumed that Americans (and especially conservatives) aren’t bright enough to think with nuance, that there are many innocent Muslim Americans who have no motivation toward or connection to terrorism. That’s why they have to skip over troubling facts.

That bias by omission extends to Mayor Mamdani’s record of extremist sentiments on Israel, and recent reports that Mamdani’s wife Rama Duwaji “liked” social-media posts celebrating the slaughter of innocent civilians by Hamas on October 7, 2023. The broadcast networks skipped that, endorsing the mayor’s spin that she’s a “private person.” These two are somehow not “far-left” or “bigoted” or extremist.

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DAVID MARCUS: Craven politics is the only excuse left for Dems refusing to fund DHS

When it comes to striking a deal to pay the people who keep us safe, congressional Democrats just won’t take yes for an answer.

Just a month ago, they were demanding that ICE pull out of Minnesota and that Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem be fired before they could vote to fund the agency. Now, with Noem gone and ICE pulling back from Minneapolis, Democrats would seem to have gotten what they wanted. So why are Senate Minority Chuck Schumer and his House counterpart Hakeem Jeffries continuing to punish their constituents through this lingering partial government shutdown?

In particular, how can refusing to pay the people who keep our airports safe be justified when we are at war with Iran, the largest state sponsor of terrorism in the world?

Sadly, though not surprisingly, the answer is pure politics.

DHS SHUTDOWN MAY DELAY US TERROR RESPONSE AMID IRAN CONFLICT, EXPERT WARNS

Make no mistake, the removal of Noem was a serious concession from President Donald Trump. This is, after all, the woman who spearheaded the almost total shutdown of the southern border, arguably, the president’s top achievement.

As to the aggressive ICE tactics used in Minneapolis, while they were generally unpopular, a strong number of voters in the MAGA base didn’t think they went far enough. So yes, Noem’s scalp was, in some ways, a peace offering.

You would think that Democratic leadership would be doing a choreographed end zone dance on the National Mall over this victory, but instead, they are still telling TSA agents, “Sorry, you can’t get paid yet, we like how things are trending.”

TWO SHOOTINGS INTENSIFY DHS STANDOFF AS GOP WARNS OF RISING TERROR THREATS

The only relatively serious demand that Democrats have left, and I’m stretching the term to its limit here, is to have agents unmasked. This can’t happen, because of documented incidents of doxxing, but offers have been made to use ID numbers.

In short, the only real obstacle that the Democrats can point to on the way to restoring funding is themselves.

As to why the Democrats are so intransigent in the face of growing calls to open up the government and more security lines at our airports, I regret to inform you that the answer is nothing but craven politics.

STEVE SCALISE RIPS DEMOCRATS FOR ‘PLAYING POLITICAL GAMES’ WITH DHS SHUTDOWN AMID IRAN THREAT

A year ago, Schumer made clear that his goal was to get Trump’s approval under 42% by the midterms. It’s almost there, and the reason why remains the shutdown of last year, which was a major success for Democrats.

On Oct. 1, when the shutdown started Trump’s approval was at 46%. By the end of the shutdown, it was down to 43%, and he had gone from a net of -6 to -12. With a few chutes and ladders along the way, that number has never recovered.

Meanwhile, Democrats netted governorships in New Jersey and Virginia, while installing a communist as mayor of New York City. So yes, Democrats and the far Left won the last shutdown, decisively.

TSA WORKERS BRACE FOR MISSED PAYCHECKS AS DEMOCRATS HOLD FIRM ON DHS FUNDING

The difference today, obviously, is that we are now at war, and have, in just the past week, seen no fewer than four suspected radical Muslim terror attacks in our nation, at least since the last time I checked.

Let’s go back to some basics for a moment. The agency whose funding is being held up here is quite literally called the “Department of Homeland Security.” It’s right there in the name. Not paying them is like playing in the Super Bowl and not funding your offensive line.

It seems pretty clear that congressional Democrats don’t care if a few Americans wind up dying in preventable terror attacks. After all, they know that most of the media will just blame Trump anyway.

COAST GUARD CAUGHT AS ‘COLLATERAL DAMAGE’ IN DEMOCRATS’ DHS SHUTDOWN AS CHINA, RUSSIA PRESS US WATERS

Democrats’ obstinance here should also be considered in regard to the other great debate in Congress, whether to break the Senate filibuster to pass the Save America Act, as Trump is demanding.

If Democrats won’t take the win on DHS, if they are willing to punish TSA agents and put the nation at risk to score political points there, then how can they be trusted partners in a filibuster process?

The filibuster assumes, and only works if, senators are acting in good faith. But Schumer and his radicals are not doing that. They are using it like sand thrown in the gears of government to sabotage any and all progress.

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For Trump’s part, what the White House needs to continue to point out is that Democrats got what they wanted and are still willing to harm the country in the hopes of a demoralized American electorate handing them power in November.

What Democrats are doing is despicable, dishonest and dishonorable. What’s even worse is that it just might be working.

LABOR SEC CHAVEZ-DEREMER: Our plan to rescind the Biden independent contractor rule

Since President Donald Trump took back the White House just over a year ago, the Department of Labor has followed his leadership with a singular vision: Put American workers first in everything we do. 

As a small business owner who has traveled the country on my 50-state listening tour, I can say confidently that our nation’s labor force is the envy of the world, and workers are thriving under the return of America First leadership. In this fast-changing global landscape, the Trump administration is committed to ensuring our workers have the tools and opportunities they need to compete and earn a good, honest living without unnecessary government intrusion.

In that spirit, the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division released a proposed rule that provides clarity to help workers and employers alike determine when a worker is properly classified as an independent contractor and when that worker is an employee owed rigorous protections under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). In proposing this rule, we celebrate the decisions of Americans who choose to test their entrepreneurial spirit — the same spirit on which our country was founded 250 years ago.

I HAD TO LEAVE CALIFORNIA TO SAVE MY BUSINESS. NOW THERE’S HOPE

The way Americans work is rapidly changing, and several states are responding by restricting opportunities for workers to choose independent work in the name of reducing worker misclassification. Eliminating worker misclassification is necessary to ensure workers receive what they are owed. But doing so in a way that severely restricts Americans’ freedom to work as they choose stifles ambition, betrays our foundational values as a nation and harms our economy.

The way Americans work is rapidly changing, and several states are responding by restricting opportunities for workers to choose independent work in the name of reducing worker misclassification. 

Under President Trump’s leadership, the Department of Labor is taking a better approach. By providing American workers and employers with clear guidance within the confines of longstanding legal precedent, my department balances the need to give independent workers and entrepreneurs the flexibility they want with our mandate to preserve the robust legal protections owed to true FLSA employees.

To that end, our proposed rule would rescind the Biden administration’s 2024 independent contractor rule, which made it harder to work as an independent contractor and led to more confusion than clarity. If left in place, the Biden rule would continue to produce unpredictable results that harm workers and employers alike.

To provide much-needed clarity and help employers comply with the FLSA, our proposed rule would:

1. Use the longstanding “economic reality” test adopted by federal courts to determine a worker’s proper classification.
2. Identify two “core” factors most useful in determining a worker’s classification: the nature and degree of control the worker has over the work and the worker’s opportunity for profit or loss.
3. Advise that three additional factors — skill, permanence, and whether the work is part of an integrated unit of production — have value in this analysis but are typically less useful in determining classification.
4. Clarify that the actual practice of a work arrangement — the on-the-ground reality between worker and employer — is more relevant than what is contractually or theoretically possible.
5. Provide eight concrete examples of how the factors would apply in real-world circumstances.

No matter the complexity or scope of the work arrangement — whether it involves a rideshare driver, an independent trucker or a freelance writer — the proposed rule will make it easier to define work roles with greater predictability. 

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By grounding this classification structure in longstanding legal principles and offering illustrative examples of real-world applications, the proposed rule will deliver tangible benefits for independent workers and employees alike. 

These changes will also empower employers by reducing the risk of FLSA misclassification violations, which hurt workers and employers who are playing by the rules.

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I encourage all interested parties to submit public comments to the department during the 60-day comment period, which is set to end April 28. 

With your help, and under President Trump’s leadership, the Department of Labor will continue to fight for American workers every day to ensure their rights and needs come first.

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DAVID MARCUS: The more America gives Mamdani, Khalil and the mad bombers, the more they hate us

Zohran Mamdani is the first Muslim mayor of New York City, activist Mahmoud Khalil is a graduate of two great American universities and the Pennsylvania alleged ISIS-inspired bomb throwers come from wealthy suburbs most people can only dream of, so why on Earth do these privileged people hate America so much?

Seriously, what has America done to Mamdani other than provide him with limitless opportunity? How can he and his supporters have such disdain for the capitalist culture and country that opened so many doors for them?

And Khalil is a man who was educated at the American University in Lebanon, and then at Columbia University, the alma mater of Alexander Hamilton. How does he express his gratitude? By leading riots in New York, calling for the end of Western civilization and threatening the safety of Jewish students, of course.

Speaking of Jews, we have learned that Mamdani’s wife, Rama Duwaji, who was seen in a photo this week serving Khalil a meal in Gracie Mansion, liked a tweet saying the brutal Hamas attack on Israel on 10/7 was a hoax.

20% OF NYC MAYOR-ELECT MAMDANI TRANSITION APPOINTEES HAVE ANTI-ZIONIST TIES: ADL

It’s interesting how often disdain for America and hatred of Jews are two sides of the same coin. Big Satan, little Satan and all that.

Hizzoner says that his wife is not a public figure and refuses to address the matter, but Rama sure seems like a public figure when she is posing for glossy magazine spreads.

Then we have the hapless alleged bomb tossers from tony Bucks County, Pennsylvania. The parents of one of them own a Popeye’s franchise. The kid is rich and has unlimited access to fried chicken, so what would make him and his buddy want to destroy America and establish a global Islamic caliphate?

THE US GOVERNMENT TARGETED ME FOR MY POLITICAL SPEECH. IT COULD HAPPEN TO YOU, TOO

This is where the conversation gets a little uncomfortable.

All week, we have been seeing images coming out of Gracie Mansion, home of Gotham’s mayor, of Mamdani and guests breaking their Ramadan fasts, shoes off, sitting on Persian carpets on the floor. It is all very much pushed in our faces.

Meanwhile, Mamdani seems to constantly appear at Islamic houses of worship and recently cheered the growth of Islam in the city, saying, “Mosques popping up all over New York. It’s beautiful. It’s a sign of our community growing stronger every day.”

ISRAEL ACCUSES MAMDANI OF POURING ‘ANTISEMITIC GASOLINE’ AFTER HE REVOKES ADAMS EXECUTIVE ORDERS

In 1960, when John F. Kennedy broke the ultimate religious barrier in Amercian politcs, he did so by basically saying, “You won’t even know I’m Catholic, because it has nothing to do with the job.” This is decidedly not the style of Mamdani, who has made himself a poster child of his faith.

Of course, the progressives who cheer on the rise of Islam in our cities understand the trap they are laying. Anyone who dares to question one of the most famous public buildings in New York turning into the set of “Sinbad the Sailor” is a bigot.

The problem is that when that public celebration of Ramadan includes Khalil, who would welcome the overthrow not just of Israel but of the United States, it isn’t just a holiday Hallmark card anymore, it’s a dangerous political statement.

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Furthermore, as we know from the allegiance to ISIS sworn by the alleged would-be bombers, Islam is not some small, marginalized faith group, it’s the world’s largest at 2 billion people. It runs more countries than any other religion on the planet.

This brings us back to our original question, why do Mamdani and Duwaji, and Khalil and the bombers want to tear down the nation that gave them so much opportunity?

Increasingly, it looks like they object to the fact that our American, capitalist system is not Muslim.

MAMDANI SPARKS VIRAL OUTRAGE OVER DINNER PHOTO WITH MAHMOUD KHALIL INSIDE GRACIE MANSION: ‘DISGRACEFUL’

This is why there are concerns about places like Cedar Riverside in Minneapolis, where the Muslim Somali community makes no effort to assimilate, but rather exists as its own quasi-Muslim, fraud-funded state.

This is why Texans are worried about plans to create Islamic communities in the state that exist all but independently from everything else.

It is not unreasonable for people to look at figures like newly minted multi-millionaire Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., who owe everything they have to this country and the enormous generosity of its people, and find the utter lack of gratitude absolutely galling.

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Everyone mentioned above, and frankly almost everyone in Mamdani’s Gen Z band of illiterate communists, comes from privilege and luxury that most of my neighbors in West Virginia will never know, even though they probably pay for some of it.

The American people are waking up, they have seen what has happened in the U.K. and Canada. To be a Muslim American is great, just like any other faith, but to be a Muslim who wishes to overthrow America and its culture is another matter, and increasingly, Mamdani and his coterie look an awful lot like the latter.

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Iran war jeopardizes Trump economic boom before key midterm elections

Will the Iran war turn President Donald Trump’s 1980s boom into a 1970s stagflation? Only if it drags out, which the president says he plans to avoid. But the enemy gets a vote too, as the saying goes, so what if it’s a long conflict?

As soon as Trump started bombing Iran, markets fell – especially growth stocks like AI. Silver plunged. Bonds fell. Even gold is now down nearly 3%, having replaced its initial war pop with an ominous flight to dollars you see in recessions.

Oil jumped 10% in two days, from $67 to $74 per barrel on the way to $86 as of writing.

Markets always react fast – and they can overreact. The question for the wider economy is how long the war disrupts Middle East oil exports.

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About 20% of global oil exports pass the narrow Strait of Hormuz that is next to Iran. Another 30% are in range of Iranian missiles in the Gulf of Oman and Red Sea.

The U.S. actually imports almost none of this – Middle East oil is just 2% of American oil consumption. But oil markets are global, so Middle East disruption drives prices up worldwide.

On the initial attack, ship traffic in the Strait of Hormuz plunged by 70%, according to MarineTraffic. By March 3, it ground to a “total halt,” according to Lloyd’s List.

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Trump then ordered the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation to provide political risk insurance and financial guarantees for maritime trade through the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz.

This will help by removing risk to shippers. But traffic is unlikely to fully recover until the campaign ends.

Trump is currently suggesting the war might take just four weeks. But the administration is also messaging the war will go “as long as it takes.”

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Promising a long war could be tactical, to demoralize the Iranian regime. But opinion polls show the American people have very little appetite for a long war.

A recent CBS poll found a war lasting fewer than eight weeks is +52 in the polls, while a war that lasts longer than that is -8. Polling would likely get worse if American casualties mount.

On the initial attack, ship traffic in the Strait of Hormuz plunged by 70%, according to MarineTraffic. By March 3, it ground to a “total halt,” according to Lloyd’s List.

In terms of the economy, there will only be real fallout if the war drags on. And that falls into three baskets: growth, jobs and inflation.

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Historically, every $10 rise in oil knocks about two-tenths of a percent off economic growth. That’s small in an economy that’s growing over 3%, according to the Fed’s GDPNow. It might lower annual wage growth by about $300, given the $19 oil has already risen.

Still, that goes on top of expensive oil to heat your home or gas your car. AAA says gasoline prices have already jumped nearly 20%, from $2.98 to $3.56. Between gasoline, transport costs and utilities, that might bump inflation another six-tenths of a percent – translating into another $500 in household costs.

Meanwhile, higher oil prices and slower growth both hit job creation – given the move we’ve already seen, they might drop job creation by 15,000 to 20,000 per month.

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So it’s painful. But it’s not a recession.

What would put us in recession is a long war. A recent study by Deutsche Bank looked at historic oil shocks, concluding you need a 50% to 100% sustained jump in oil to set off a recession.

This would imply oil prices between $100 and $150 that remained high.

Even then, according to Deutsche, oil only causes recession when the economy is already limping. For example, the 1970s is the poster child for an oil crash. But the U.S. economy was already stagflationary because of Washington’s so-called guns and butter policy of fighting Vietnam while building a trillion-dollar welfare state. This drove the “Nixon Shock,” which pre-dated the oil embargo by several years.

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In contrast, when the bombs started, the Fed’s GDPNow was at a healthy 3% on GDP growth and the most recent productivity was 4.9% – one of the highest since the Reagan boom.

This means $100 oil could knock us into the 1% area on growth. But it’s unlikely to spark a recession unless the Fed panics on oil inflation and hikes rates. Which could mow down enough jobs to tip us over the edge.

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For now, the biggest war impact is oil prices. But if the war keeps going, oil trickles down to growth, jobs, consumer spending and inflation that could set off a Fed hike doom loop.

If that happens, Trump could be throwing away his hard-won boom just in time for midterm elections that hand Congress to Democrats. They will take us on a two-year journey of paralysis, congressional hearings and repeated impeachments.

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STEVE MOORE: Five energy truths the media ignore as America’s oil boom blunts the Iran war’s impact

Given the energy disruptions in the Middle East since the start of the war with Iran and the topsy-turvy fluctuations in the price of crude oil ever since, here are five facts Americans should be aware of regarding the geopolitics of energy.

First, America is now producing more oil and gas than ever. Since 2022, we’ve produced more than any other nation, including Saudi Arabia. The best way to inoculate ourselves from foreign supply disruptions is to generate every barrel of oil we can here at home.

Second, the Green New Deal was and continues to be an energy belly flop. Even after spending $400 billion in taxpayer subsidies on wind and solar power, these remain fringe and non-scalable forms of energy. We get 80% of our power from fossil fuels. The same as it ever was.

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Third, the Middle East has always been an unreliable source of energy for the U.S. Since the 1970s, prices have spiked whenever there is turmoil in the region — which has occurred roughly once a decade.

Fourth, the U.S. is now a net exporter of oil and gas, with by far the largest increases in production. The U.S. is far less reliant on Middle East oil than it has been in decades.

The Department of Energy reports:

America leads the world in oil and natural gas production, producing at all-time highs.

• U.S. crude oil production reached record-high output in 2025, at more than 13.6 million barrels per day. • The U.S. is currently producing 24 million barrels per day of oil and liquid fuels — more than Russia and Saudi Arabia combined. • The U.S. is producing nearly as much natural gas as Russia, Iran and China combined, at 110 billion cubic feet per day.

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Fifth, higher oil prices drive overall inflation because oil is a primary input into everything we produce and consume — from housing to groceries to healthcare to technology. If we want to keep the inflation rate down, we need energy prices to be falling or at least stable.

What all of this means is that “Drill, baby, drill” is the best strategy for restoring a strong economy. This also underscores why “net-zero fossil fuels” was a fool’s errand.

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If Donald Trump is right that the Iranian oil supply-chain disruptions are temporary, the oil price will head back to the $40-to-$60 range almost assuredly, and the great 2026 economic boom will be right around the corner.

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MORNING GLORY: President Trump and the US are waging a righteous battle — and winning

The United States and Israel are winning this battle with the Islamic Republic of Iran — decisively. Our Gulf allies are standing strong. The cost has already been high, with seven U.S. service members dead and many wounded, some seriously. Soldiers of the Israeli Defense Forces have been killed and civilians in Israel and among the Gulf states murdered by the lashing out at every country in the region by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps.

But of course, some hard-left partisans hate the prospect of either President Donald Trump or the United States winning an important, indeed crucial battle.  That includes, shockingly, Catholic cardinals in the U.S. These cardinals are putting politics ahead of faith and demonstrating deep ignorance of national security affairs combined with indifference to the patriotism of their parishioners — many of whom with family on the front lines — who can be expected to at least stop giving to an anti-American church if not leave it.

For anyone who, out of ignorance, real or feigned, does not understand the nature of the regime atop the 91 million innocent people of Iran: These fanatics murdered 35,000 of their own people in two days and nights of terror in January in Tehran and across other cities in the vast country. 35,000!

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The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps numbers between 150,000 and 200,000 and their street thugs, the Basij, between four and five times that. So a million of Iran’s people cruelly repress the other 91.

The left in America refuses to come to grips with how evil the Iranian regime is and for how long it has been so. They seem to have forgotten the original hostage crisis, the murder of our Marines in Beirut in 1983, the destruction of the Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia in 1996 and countless other acts of assassination and mass terrorism since the regime seized power in 1979. They do not know that we know for a certainty that Iran murdered and maimed thousands of our troops in Iraq in the war that began there in 2003. Our political left is defeatist and in the grip of their appeasers and anti-Israel caucus. That left now includes at least three high-profile Catholic cardinals.

The Senate and House GOP should stand proudly behind President Trump and proclaim the Islamic Republic of Iran as the evil and malignant terrorist regime run by theocratic fanatics that it has been for 47 years; that the cause of destroying the regime’s ability to threaten the region and the world is just; and that President Trump, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, Secretary of State and National Security Advisor Marco Rubio, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Caine are conducting the war in remarkable fashion because the American military has no peer.

I hope House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune persuade the caucuses they lead to agree to bring forward a second reconciliation process to quickly resupply the military with the funds to replenish the ordinance expended and, indeed, to go further: To fully fund the next three years of spending necessary to the rapid build-out of the Golden Dome and the Golden Fleet, while also making sure the equal of any of our allies — Israel — has the funding and hardware we can provide to assist them on all of their fronts. The righteous battle with Iran and its proxies needs to be proclaimed and explained and cannot be done too often or too loudly.

MICHAEL OREN: IRAN HAS WAGED WAR ON AMERICA FOR 47 YEARS — TIME TO END IT

And, as a Roman Catholic, I hope some of our braver and certainly better informed cardinals stand up and address the brothers in red who have flown off the rails of national security reality.

Democrats who are defeatist, appeasers, antisemitic or simply deranged by their hatred of President Trump: You keep speaking up too. History will record your positions.

The region and the whole world is far better off already because of the crushing of Iran’s striking capability and will be immeasurably blessed by the collapse of this insidious regime.

What we have witnessed by the “Yosemite Sam” response of Iran to the attacks by the U.S. and Israel should have awakened even the least observant consumer of news to the nature of the regime. The mullahs ordered everything in their arsenal fired at all of their neighbors, none of whom other than the U.S. and Israel were involved in the conflict. In this respect, Iran acted as Hitler’s Germany did after Imperial Japan attacked the United States at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941: Germany unilaterally declared war on the United States four days after the “day that will live in infamy.”

While Iran has been in conflict with Israel and the United States since the Islamic Revolution culminated in the return of Ayatollah Khomeini to Iran on February 1, 1979, Iran was not at war with the Gulf States. That Iran attacked everyone it could hit should tell you why the regime was so dangerous. It is an unhinged and revolutionary power. It does not abide by anything remotely like the rules of civilized nation states. Its “threat” was not merely imminent, but ongoing and never ceasing. Its hideousness appeared unveiled on Oct. 7, 2023 in Israel when its puppet Hamas invaded Israel to kill, kidnap and maim. Iran could never be trusted with nuclear weaponry or the sort of forest of missiles it was aiming to assemble in order to blackmail the world into acquiescence to its nuclear ambitions.

President after president of both parties vowed that Iran would never be allowed to have a nuclear weapon. President Trump made good on that vow with the order to conduct Operation Midnight Hammer last June, which obliterated the ongoing enrichment and weaponization programs inside Iran.

74 RETIRED US GENERALS, ADMIRALS BACK IRAN STRIKES, WARN TEHRAN SEEKS TO ‘SPILL AMERICAN BLOOD’

At that point, Iran could have taken the off-ramp, recognized that the U.S. and Israel had reached the point at which no further provocation or prevarication would be tolerated. Indeed, President Trump made repeated efforts to offer terms to the ayatollahs.

They refused. They obfuscated, playing for time, and always refusing to negotiate as their missile arsenal accumulated. President Trump then did what every American president of both parties pledged to do: He stopped them. And he ordered the military to prevent the next attempt to rebuild.

Stunningly ignorant clerics and critics have damned the United States for breaching international law. Some have incredibly turned their backs not only on the growing, ongoing and imminent threats posed by the fanatics, but also on the mountain of corpses the IRGC piled up in the streets of Iran in January. Catholics: Stop giving money to those dioceses that are putting our troops at risk, and make no mistake, some cardinals are doing just that. They are the modern but left-wing versions of Father Coughlin of the 1930s. Their infamy will be as enduring as his.

Cardinal Cupich of Chicago joined Cardinal Robert McElroy of Washington, D.C., and Cardinal Joseph Tobin of Newark, New Jersey, in co-authoring an incoherent statement titled “Charting a Moral Vision of American Foreign Policy” that ignores the massive evils perpetrated by the IRGC this year and over the decades. Politicians shouldn’t advise priests on their religious doctrine and priests should not demonstrate their lack of knowledge about basic national security.

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The cardinals are not alone, however, as the upside-down view of this battle has a grip on the Democratic Party. For the first time in my life, the partisanship that marks elections now defines a conflict in which American servicemen and women are on the front lines. We can perhaps excuse clerics for their ignorance of the world. The Catholic bishops of America presumed to lecture Ronald Reagan in the 1980s with lengthy letters on war and peace as well as on economic growth, and conveniently forgot how wrong they were when the policies of Reagan and President George H.W. Bush brought down the Soviet Union and freed much of Eastern Europe and even Russia for a time.

But now the American left, both in elected office and in pulpits high and low, have wholly lost their way. To repeat: The Iranian regime murdered 35,000 of its own people two months ago. Its proxy, Hamas, invaded Israel and slaughtered 1,200 on Oct. 7 while starting a war that devastated Gaza. Two other of Iran’s proxies — Hezbollah and the Houthis — also attacked Israel in the months after Oct. 7, as did Iran. Where were the cardinals then? Hiding, of course.

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The collapse of moral clarity among American elites on the left is complete, and it has even made inroads on the fringes of the right. The Republican Party should boldly proclaim that, even after 250 years, our country still knows right from wrong and will defend the right.

President Trump is leading a winning campaign to rid the world of as malign an actor as there is. The region and the world will be so much better off if the president perseveres. Pray he does, because it is obvious that many who should be doing so lack the wisdom and/or the courage to do so.

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BRETT VELICOVICH: Iran built a drone terror machine — America just hacked it

As coordinated U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran continue, one thing is clear: this is not the kind of war we have spent decades planning for. There are no massed formations or carrier battle groups trading salvos. This conflict is being fought with swarms of relatively inexpensive, one-way drones. Adaptation and rapid innovation now determine how conflicts are fought.

Iran has spent years perfecting saturation warfare. The concept is straightforward: flood the sky with enough drones and missiles to exhaust the enemy’s interceptors, force impossible triage decisions and eventually break through. Iran has targeted hotels, tourist centers and locations without hardened counter-drone systems. Iran’s kamikaze drones, called Shaheds, are low, slow and persistent. They aren’t technically sophisticated, but they are difficult to stop in large numbers. This isn’t a failure of U.S. technology. It’s a logistics and economics problem that we need to solve and adapt to. And we’re already doing that.

For the first time, the U.S. has deployed the LUCAS system — a one-way attack drone modeled directly on Iran’s own Shahed design — in combat. The system was developed by reverse-engineering downed Iranian drone systems in Ukraine and rebuilding them with American guidance systems, hardened navigation and real-time targeting integration into our intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) networks. Then we sent them back to Iran to destroy their infrastructure.

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LUCAS was used in the opening strike, hitting Iranian drone manufacturing sites and other weapons infrastructure before advanced fighters followed. These drones aren’t just munitions; they’re nodes in a combat cloud, receiving real-time targeting updates and networked with intelligence assets in ways Iran’s drones cannot match.

While Iran is building volume, the U.S. is building systems. This distinction matters.

This operation has also marked the largest-scale deployment of AI models across the U.S. Department of War in history. From intelligence assessments to target identification to battle scenario simulation, AI has been part of the decision cycle at every level. This precision has been another point of delineation between the two sides. While Tehran responds with indiscriminate barrages hitting civilian areas, U.S. strikes are being driven by layered intelligence, refined targeting and a disciplined operational picture. That gap in approach is not only strategic but ethical.

This conflict with Iran will be decided by the side that adapts fastest, identifying problems and finding solutions on a compressed timeline.

But there are still areas where we’re adapting. The cost dynamics of this new approach remain unresolved. The U.S. has traditionally favored high-tech, expensive weapons systems requiring extensive training and planning. But when the adversary has more drones than you have interceptors, the math turns against you fast.

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Relying on high-cost interceptors to counter cheap, easy-to-produce drones is not a sustainable equation. The answer isn’t to outgun; it’s to intelligently adapt — and to do so quickly. Lower-cost, high-speed, combat-proven intercept platforms designed to counter one-way attack drones, including the Shahed-136, Geran-2 and other Group 3-class unmanned threats, are what this new battlefield demands.

That’s the lesson Ukraine has been teaching for years — and one this conflict is reinforcing in real time: no military in the world is adequately prepared to stop cheap, mass-produced one-way drones at scale. Not yet. The U.S. industrial base has the capacity to change that. The constraint is understanding the new reality and deciding to move on it.

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Iran spent years developing and proliferating the Shahed as a tool of destabilization, deploying it in Yemen, Iraq and Ukraine, and against American forces across the region. Now, a version of that same weapon has been turned against the factories that produce it.

As of today, the Islamic Republic is in unprecedented internal chaos. Leadership is scrambling, and the regime’s command-and-control picture is unclear even to those inside it. That uncertainty creates both opportunity and risk. Precision matters more — not less — in these moments.

This conflict will be decided by the side that adapts fastest, identifying problems and finding solutions on a compressed timeline. Though the U.S. drone industry isn’t where it needs to be, real-world, battle-tested deployment is how capability gaps get closed. What we learn here will shape doctrine, acquisition and industrial strategy for the next decade.

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America just delivered one of the most significant demonstrations of adaptive military capability in modern history. The question isn’t whether we can innovate — it’s whether we’re prepared to build the industrial and defensive infrastructure at the scale and speed this new era demands. 

The answer to that question isn’t decided on a battlefield. It’s decided here at home — where we invest and how seriously we take the threat. The conflict with Iran has made that choice unavoidable.

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SEN CYNTHIA LUMMIS: Don’t hand China the nuclear future — build it here at home

Wyoming has been powering this country for over a century. If you look at the Wyoming state flag, specifically the seal in the middle of the bison, there is a miner pictured to represent the priority we have long placed on powering the country. Most people think of coal, oil, natural gas and other mineral resources when they think about our state. But Wyoming is also leading the way when it comes to the nuclear energy industry.

The incredible demand for energy, both here at home and worldwide, driven by the artificial intelligence boom, is not slowing down anytime soon. This industry requires vast amounts of reliable baseload power, and the countries that can deliver it will control the next era of economic and technological leadership. 

For more than a decade, America’s electricity demand barely budged. That era is completely over. Demand jumped 3% in 2024 alone, and in the coming years, the EIA predicts we will need close to a trillion more kilowatt-hours than we use today. To put that in perspective, that’s roughly equivalent to powering every home in America twice. Wyoming has the uranium, the workforce and the next-generation technology to help meet that moment. 

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The Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s (NRC) approval last week of a construction permit for TerraPower’s Kemmerer Power Station, a sodium-cooled advanced nuclear reactor to be built in western Wyoming, is a big deal for our state. The approval of this permit is proof that when industry and government operate with focus, efficiency and integrity, America can build tomorrow’s technologies right here at home in a reasonable regulatory timeframe. The NRC, under President Trump’s leadership, has delivered on this approval ahead of its own timeline, demonstrating that America is serious about leading in this industry.

Wyoming sits atop the largest uranium deposits in the country. During the Cold War, Wyoming was one of the nation’s top uranium producers — a legacy that didn’t disappear, it’s been waiting for the right moment to return. With the right regulatory framework and private sector investment, that moment is now. Wyoming miners and energy workers have the experience and the tools to extract these resources responsibly, and to help safely expand nuclear power across the country.

This policy fight is larger than one single community or facility. It is about reclaiming America’s nuclear fuel supply chain from our adversaries and restoring next-generation nuclear energy production here at home. For decades, we made the costly mistake of purchasing uranium from Russia. I proudly led the successful congressional effort to ban that practice, and today President Trump, Interior Secretary Burgum and Energy Secretary Wright are working to rebuild America’s uranium and nuclear supply chain from the ground up. We cannot afford to depend on foreign powers for any resources fundamental to our energy security. 

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Both China and Russia have rapidly boosted nuclear energy production in the last 10 years and are aggressively working to export their own nuclear technology. Countries around the world are interested in embracing nuclear energy, and it is vital that Wyoming and the United States lead the way instead of surrendering that economic opportunity, technology and mining dominance to our competitors. China leads the world in nuclear reactor construction, with over 30 new plants underway. But they aren’t just building them for themselves. Beijing desperately wants to export their nuclear technology around the world, and tie other countries to Chinese designs and Chinese supply chains for decades to come.

Wyoming isn’t going to let that happen without a fight. The Kemmerer Power Station puts us at the front of this race. It will power our communities, put Wyoming workers to work, and show the rest of the world how next-generation nuclear energy actually gets done.

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Wyoming has always been, and will always be, an energy state. It’s what we do, it’s our expertise, and we are proud of it. As America’s energy and electricity needs grow, Wyoming must be the state to meet the demand and provide it at a price that American families and companies can afford. I believe that nuclear power will be a critical component of the baseload playbook for the future.

The Trump administration has worked extremely hard to ensure that our energy grid will continue to be secure and loaded. Wyoming is not just ready for the energy future; we are leading it.

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DAVID MARCUS: Sen Thune has no idea how mad the GOP base is at him

About 60% of Texas Republicans voted last Tuesday to end John Cornyn’s career in the Senate, but it wasn’t really Cornyn they were rejecting. It was the feckless, do-nothing GOP Senate leadership that makes “Waiting for Godot” look like a “Fast and Furious.”

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton wound up in a virtual tie with Cornyn, and headed to a runoff precisely because Republican voters, not just in Texas, but across the country, are incandescently angry at the GOP-controlled Senate’s inability to do, well, much of anything.

This righteous fury is why Paxton’s political play in the face of a runoff was so brilliant. He said that if the Senate would pass the Save America Act, and its voter ID provisions, he would drop out, saving President Donald Trump from having to swoop in with a decisive endorsement.

For Cornyn, and more importantly for Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., this occasioned a crisis, a much-needed one, in fact, as GOP voters stare across the desk at Senate leadership, like the Bobs in “Office Space,” asking, if they can’t pass a bill with massive public support, what would they say they do there?

DAVID MARCUS: KEN PAXTON DEVOURS JOHN CORNYN AS TEXAS GOP CRAVES A FIGHTER IN SENATE PRIMARY SHOWDOWN

Thune responded Monday to growing public calls to pass the Save America Act in the stupidest, most infuriating way possible, by asserting that voters aren’t really angry, and the furor is all just a campaign by paid influencers.

The fact that Thune has not apologized for this yet is incredible. It is as condescending to working-class voters as anything a politician has ever said.

Does Thune think that 60% of Republicans in Texas voting against the Senate status quo is a sign that they think he’s doing a great job?

HOUSE REPUBLICANS PUSH JOHNSON TO GO TO WAR WITH SENATE OVER SAVE ACT

It is not.

All across the country, Republican voters tell me that they are apoplectic about the Senate. Yes, they understand the arcane 60-vote filibuster stuff. They just don’t care. They want and need action from a body that refuses to act.

And it isn’t just Paxton who knows in his bones how vitally GOP voters need a win on the Save America Act, it is also Trump, who has shown a rare amount of patience with Thune’s ineptitude and incalcitrance. At least so far.

MORNING GLORY: TEXAS MIGHT BE THE KEY TO SAVING TRUMP’S SECOND TERM AGENDA

Even Cornyn has come around, if only in the face of his own potential political demise, penning a column in the New York Post calling for the filibuster to be abandoned and the act to be passed.

But Thune, with his long, sad face and low mournful voice like Eeyore the donkey, just keeps saying, “We don’t have the votes to break the filibuster.”

Ok, John, then how about this: Any Republican senator who refuses to vote to break the filibuster loses their committee assignments, gets no money from the party and is promised a primary.

GOP REACHES KEY 50-VOTE THRESHOLD FOR TRUMP-BACKED VOTER ID BILL AS SENATE FIGHT LOOMS

The most dangerous thing I heard from GOP voters in Texas, and I heard it from plenty, is that they are starting to think their vote just doesn’t matter, that nothing can change anyway. And right now, who would argue with them?

I don’t know who Thune surrounds himself with who told him that the anger I see everywhere from Republican voters is just a paid influencer campaign, but I would urge him to go talk to some actual voters instead of his K Street cronies.

It was an ominous sign that more Democrats than Republicans voted in last week’s deep-red Texas primary, but not a surprise, because the demoralized aren’t eager voters. And if the Save America Act dies on the vine, even fewer will feel compelled to cast a ballot.

HARDLINE CONSERVATIVES DOUBLE DOWN TO SAVE THE SAVE ACT

In the final moments of “Waiting for Godot,” Vladimir says, “Well? Shall we go?” To which Estragon replies, “Yes, let’s go.” And then the famous stage direction, (They do not move.).

There is no direct evidence to show that Samuel Beckett was inspired by Senate Republican leadership when he wrote this, but he could have been, because it is the same old scene, over and over.

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If nothing else, Thune needs to look GOP voters in the eye and say, directly, “We hear you. We know you are angry. We see it in the primary results and we will listen to what you want and try to do better.”

Right now, Thune and Senate Republicans are like the inattentive husband who doesn’t know the divorce papers have already been filed. It may not be too late to work it out with voters, but it’s getting pretty close.

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Trump delivered for tipped workers. Why do Democratic governors hate them?

It’s never easy working for tips. For eight years, from 2014 to 2022, I did just that. I was a server at a Maine hotel, taking orders at the restaurant and bringing customers their food. Some nights, I’d make $200 or even $300. Other nights, I’d make half that, or less. The pandemic was especially rough. We had no inside dining — just six outside tents, and a lot fewer diners. It was tough to pay bills for a couple of years.

I got married to a coworker I met on the job, and before leaving the dining room, we had two kids. I had to bring home the bacon, but it was hard to estimate how much I’d make in a given year. And every year, come April 15th, I had a choice to make. Would I report my tip income on my taxes? Or would I keep it off the books and keep more money in my pocket?

I always made the lawful choice. But it was tough. The Census Bureau estimates that about a third of tipped income went unreported between 2005 and 2018 — about $8 billion a year. I don’t support it, but I understand it. A lot of my coworkers were just starting their careers or had young families. They had a strong incentive to make a bad choice.

TREASURY DEPARTMENT REVEALS WHICH JOBS COULD SECURE A MAJOR TAX BREAK FROM TRUMP’S ‘BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL’

But this year is different. Thanks to the tax-cut bill that President Donald Trump signed last year, most tipped income up to $25,000 isn’t subject to federal taxes for the 2025 through 2028 filing years. There’s much less reason for tipped workers to hide a big part of their income from the government. It’s a win for working families and the rule of law. Not only do families legally keep more money in their pocket, but with higher reported incomes, it’s easier to qualify for the credit they need to buy a car or a first home.

But the job’s not done. States still have the power to levy taxes on tips, and just over half do. So long as the government is grabbing for this money, tipped workers still have a reason to hide much of their income. It would be better for everyone if all states followed President Trump’s lead.

Some have shown common sense. Seven states automatically follow federal policy, so when the federal taxes ended, theirs did, too. Several others have proactively changed their policies. Notably, the list includes Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who signed a no-tax-on-tips law in October. As a Democrat with likely hopes for higher office, her support of a tax cut is refreshing indeed.

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But other blue-state governors — including my own — show no signs of giving workers relief. Gov. Janet Mills has called on the Maine legislature to conform state law to most of what’s in the federal tax-cut law, but she excluded no taxes on tips. Fiscally, that makes little sense. Maine would lose an estimated $9.2 million in annual tax revenue, a drop in the bucket in a state that spends $14.5 billion a year.

Yet while the numbers are minor for state revenue, they’re major for tipped workers. Every dollar they pay to Augusta is a dollar they can’t spend on their families and futures. Continued taxation isn’t just politicians thumbing their noses at the Trump administration. They’re giving a middle finger to workers who want and need relief.

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Gov. Mills isn’t the only one sending that ugly signal. In January, Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs vetoed a bill to conform state policy with federal law. Bizarrely, she announced her veto flanked by signs that read “middle class tax cuts now.” Wisconsin Republicans sent a similar bill to Gov. Tony Evers shortly after the start of the year. He hasn’t indicated what he’ll do, but given his general opposition to state Republicans, a veto seems likely any day.

I wish more governors and state lawmakers — Republicans as well as Democrats — would see the light across the country. Ending taxes on tips won’t help me anymore, but it would help millions of workers dealing with the legacy of inflation and a consumer-spending slowdown. President Trump has done his part to deliver for tipped workers. Now state leaders should stop stiffing them.

The US government targeted me for my political speech. It could happen to you, too

Three years ago, I came to the United States as a graduate student with the intention of studying public and international affairs at Columbia University, with a focus on public service. Like many who come here from across the world, I had a vision of the United States as the land of the free, a place where freedom of speech was cherished and where I could study freely. I thought it was a place where I could stand up for what I believed in without fear of retaliation from the government.

On March 8, 2025, that vision shattered. Multiple plainclothes ICE agents in unmarked cars grabbed me, without a warrant, from the lobby of my apartment building in New York and threw me on a plane to a federal detention center in Louisiana. As a green card holder with a U.S. citizen wife — who was 8 months pregnant at the time — I couldn’t believe what was happening. I had been targeted by the government because of my lawful speech in support of Palestinian rights, for protesting the use of my tax dollars and tuition fees to support the Israeli occupation.

Throughout my 104 days in federal detention, during which I missed the birth of my first child, I considered myself a political prisoner. The government had deprived me of my liberty, not because I had broken any laws, but because it didn’t like what I had to say.

MAMDANI TELLS TRUMP ADMINISTRATION ANTI-ISRAEL ACTIVIST SHOULD ‘REMAIN IN NEW YORK CITY’ AMID DEPORTATION CASE

Once I challenged my detention and Secretary Rubio’s determination that my political views posed a foreign policy threat, the government scrambled to add new accusations. They alleged, baselessly, that I had committed fraud on my green card application. Claims invented not out of evidence, but out of retaliation. Recent evidence in federal court revealed that DHS itself acknowledged, a day before my arrest, that there were no issues with the information I provided on my green card application because everything was complete, true, and correct. Yet I was arrested anyway.

I was not alone. Other students and scholars with valid immigration status were similarly targeted for detention and deportation despite having committed no crime. They were pulled off streets by masked agents, targeted outside of their homes, and tricked into arrests during citizenship appointments. What happened to us is exactly what the First Amendment is designed to prevent: the government deciding which speech is acceptable and which is not. Once that protection is weakened, everyone is at risk.

The Supreme Court recognized eighty years ago that the First Amendment protects all of us in the United States — citizens and noncitizens alike — from government persecution for our beliefs. If we allow that boundary to be violated for noncitizens, or when the government claims a foreign policy concern, a precedent is created that can be used against all of us. Even citizens. Even people who disagree with me vehemently about Palestine.

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The government has argued that federal courts must let people sit in immigration detention for months or years before reviewing allegations of constitutional violations. They have argued that Pro-Palestine speech constitutes a foreign policy threat. They have argued that I deserve to be deported because they dislike my ideas. If they can do this to a lawful permanent resident with a U.S. citizen wife and newborn U.S. citizen child, there’s no telling who else they will come for.

The government isn’t allowed to control how we can speak and think. Attorneys representing me in my case, and others like me in similar cases, argued this point in court and secured our release from detention. But my case is still ongoing, and the executive branch’s immigration agency may soon order my deportation. So, I ask Americans directly: do you want to live in a country where you can be snatched off the street by plainclothes agents for your thoughts?

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In Assad’s Syria, where I grew up in a Palestinian refugee camp, that was routine. Since the beginning of 2025, the United States, a country whose Constitution protects freedom of speech, has seen an increase in these actions that I once associated with Assad: abductions by plainclothes officers without warrants, forced detention of people who express views the government doesn’t like, and the targeted silencing of dissent.

I will continue to use my platform to advocate for human rights in Palestine. But I ask each and every person reading this to use their voice to defend our First Amendment rights. The right to speak our minds, no matter who holds power, is the foundation of our democracy, and it is in peril. Whatever you may think of me or my views, that foundation belongs to all of us.

The next head of Homeland Security needs to do a lot more to live up to Trump’s promises

A change in leadership at the Department of Homeland Security is a good time to assess what should change and what shouldn’t when it comes to two of President Donald Trump’s top campaign promises: border security and mass deportations.

The Trump administration very quickly and successfully secured the border in its first year. Maintaining this is imperative to prevent additional national security, public safety and economic threats from entering the U.S.

With new DHS leadership, however, the administration can better pursue mass deportations. Limiting them to “the worst of the worst” results in only hundreds of thousands of deportations, when at least 20 million deportable aliens were residing in the U.S. at the start of Trump’s second term. In this Phase 2, the administration should open the aperture to significantly increase deportation numbers.

Candidate Trump promised the largest mass deportation effort in American history, not just the worst criminal aliens. America needs the administration to carry out that promise to restore the rule of law, relieve American taxpayers from unsustainable welfare, education, healthcare and other costs, and open college and job opportunities for American students, graduates and employees shut out by foreign students, cheaper labor and fraud.

NOEM DEPLOYS TO BOTH BORDERS, SAYS ICE WON’T BE DETERRED BY SANCTUARY OFFICIALS WHO ‘WANT TO CREATE CONFLICT’

Following the bombings in Iran, Americans now wonder whether Iranian and other terrorist sleeper cells, who faced no obstacles entering the country during President Joe Biden’s four years of open borders, may activate and carry out terrorism in the U.S.

It is important to note that known and suspected terrorists often do not have a criminal history. In fact, they are often chosen because of their “clean” background. So, DHS will need to use other tools to identify and locate national security threats, including worksite enforcement, scrutinizing immigration and other government benefit applications, as well as financial accounts.

These and other tools should likewise be used with respect to all deportable aliens to achieve the promised and necessary mass deportations. While self-deportation is a valuable tool, deportable aliens without rap sheets will not opt to leave on their own if they do not see a risk of DHS deporting them. So long as remaining in the U.S. illegally is low risk, high reward, deportable aliens will continue to stay here.

As such, DHS under new leadership should change that risk calculus to make continued stays high-risk, low-reward. To do so requires removing work authorization from deportable aliens and enforcing the law against unauthorized workers and their employers, as well as preventing remittances from such ill-gotten work leaving the country.

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Conducting mass deportations will draw more bogus claims from the left against ICE. During Trump’s second term, both DHS and the White House have consistently and effectively refuted the left’s false ICE allegations, which whither under scrutiny. It is important that DHS continue to shoot down such false claims with the critical facts the left intentionally omits.

But we also need much more transparency from DHS regarding ICE deportation numbers. ICE used to report such data monthly but has not done so since the Trump administration began in January 2025. Nor has DHS reported how many aliens have used the CBP Home app to self deport.

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To give the American public confidence that DHS is indeed conducting mass deportations, the department should regularly report the number of removals from the interior of the U.S. versus border turnbacks and maritime interdictions, as well as self-departures, including timely and untimely departures, and use of the CBP Home app.

The government, over the course of several administrations, has used different components and definitions to calculate removal numbers. It is important to understand this administration’s methodology to determine how well it is pursuing President Trump’s signature campaign promise and legacy-defining policy.

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BRUCE PEARL: When a team keeps losing, you make changes — look beyond the Palestinian Authority for peace

Anyone who has coached for a living knows you’re judged by results, not excuses. When the results aren’t there, the coach is out the door. Healthy governments work the same way. Political authorities exist to deliver outcomes. When they fail over time, consequences follow.

We are certainly seeing that play out in Iran, where tens of thousands of demonstrators took to the streets to protest their failed leadership and where they are today blessing and praising America and Israel for the military operation that may bring their freedom.

Unfortunately, no global expectation exists for the Palestinian Authority (PA) to deliver positive outcomes for their people. They continue to teach antisemitism in their classrooms and lionize terrorists while largely ignoring the needs of ordinary Palestinians, who have paid the price for decades.

PARENTS ARE FIGHTING BACK AGAINST THE SYSTEMIC ANTISEMITISM POISONING CLASSROOMS

Don’t take my word for it. Listen to Tawfik Tirawi, a former Palestinian intelligence chief who recently issued an open letter describing systemic corruption inside the Palestinian Authority.

Officials act with impunity. Land is seized under political protection. Elections haven’t been held in years. Mahmoud Abbas is now in the 20th year of a four-year presidential term and governs largely by decree.

Tirawi is not an opposition figure or a critic from outside. He is someone from inside the locker room, describing the internal failure of the team he once served.

The PA’s corruption involves violence, too. The U.S. State Department has reported that the Palestinian Authority paid more than $200 million in 2025 to terrorists [who killed or injured Israelis in attacks] and their families, despite earlier promises to end the pay-for-slay program. They simply shifted the money to a different account.

In sports, that’s called cheating. Yet Western governments still tolerate it, fearing pressure on Abbas will allow Hamas to take over, and that’s worse.

That logic gets it backward. When failure is tolerated, the worst outcome becomes reality. Gaza is the proof. Hamas won the 2006 elections by campaigning against corruption and promising action. And the result was a violent, terrorist mini-state that indoctrinated Gazans to hate Israel and Jews.

Now it’s happening in Judea and Samaria, also referred to by many as the West Bank. A 2024 poll by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research found Hamas far more popular than Fatah, the movement tied to the Palestinian Authority.

In recent years, I have had the opportunity to speak directly with Palestinian business and community leaders, and they are sick and tired of the PA’s corruption. If we want to avoid Hamas rule in Judea and Samaria, at least two changes are needed.

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First, abandon the failed gameplan. The two-state model entrenched a corrupt and unaccountable Palestinian Authority with little need for public legitimacy. Preserving it out of fear only sustains the conditions that empower radicals.

There is a viable alternative. A decentralized model of local governance — often called the eight-state or local-emirate approach — offers a more realistic path forward. It replaces a single failing center with multiple centers of responsibility.

Power would rest with municipal and tribal authorities that already command local loyalty. This limits systemic corruption and reduces the risk of state collapse. It also makes it harder for any single faction to seize everything at once.

In Hebron, the al-Jaabari family is already pursuing this approach with Israeli Minister of the Economy Nir Barkat. They are seeking to leave the PA, establish local autonomy and join the Abraham Accords.

This matters because Palestinian politics has long been shaped by the elimination of moderates. The result has been a recurring pattern in Palestinian Arab governance: corrupt strongmen on one side and violent theocrats on the other. Notably absent have been serious efforts to protect or empower local moderation, like the initiative in Hebron.

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That failure leads directly to the second required change. Palestinian education must be deradicalized. Independent reviews of Palestinian Authority textbooks and teacher guides show systematic incitement against Israel and Jews.

Violent “resistance” is celebrated. Israel is erased from maps. Hostility toward Jews appears across subjects, including math, science and grammar. These materials corrupt the next generation and undermine any hope for future coexistence between Jews and Arabs.

Under a decentralized eight-state framework, educational reform becomes possible and enforceable. Local governments that embrace pluralism gain aid and regional partners, while those that choose militancy cut themselves off from the international community and Arab states unwilling to relive Gaza’s failure.

As former U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman has pointed out, human flourishing in Judea and Samaria depends less on abstract statehood than on local autonomy and economic integration.

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These two reforms — empowering local governance and educational deradicalization — offer a way out of dead-end thinking. 

In sports, if you’re losing, you change the strategy and the personnel. That is what is required in Judea and Samaria.

REPS FINE, SELF, HARRIS, Enough is enough: We’ll block the Senate until the SAVE Act passes

Wednesday marks one month since House Republicans took a bold stand for the soul of our democracy by passing the SAVE America Act.

This common-sense legislation requires proof of citizenship to vote and a voter ID — basic measures any American can support. Yet, in the marble halls of the Senate, Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., is playing games, refusing to even bring the bill to the floor for debate.

Enough is enough. It’s time for House Republicans to draw a line in the sand: We are prepared to vote no on any Senate legislation until the upper chamber stops dragging its feet and passes the SAVE America Act.

THE HITCHHIKER’S GUIDE TO THE ‘TALKING FILIBUSTER’ AND THE SAVE ACT

Let’s be crystal clear about what’s at stake. In an era when our elections are under constant threat from fraud, illegal votes and shadowy influences, the SAVE America Act isn’t just policy — it’s a lifeline for the republic.

Requiring proof of citizenship ensures that only American voices shape America’s future. Voter ID? That’s not controversial; it’s essential.

We’ve seen the chaos in states without these safeguards — ballots cast by noncitizens, dead voters mysteriously rising from the grave and harvesting of questionable mail-in ballots with the power to tip the scales in favor of the radical left. The American people know this.

SCHUMER, DEMS’ GOAL IS TO ‘TIE PEOPLE DOWN’ SO THEY CAN’T CAMPAIGN, THUNE SAYS

A whopping 71% of all Americans support these election integrity reforms. That’s not just conservatives; that’s independents, moderates and even some Democrats.

In an era when our elections are under constant threat from fraud, illegal votes and shadowy influences, the SAVE America Act isn’t just policy — it’s a lifeline for the republic.

While Americans demand real action to secure our elections, Senate Republicans are twiddling their thumbs on feel-good fluff that would make a circus clown blush. In the past month alone, they’ve found time to pass a resolution celebrating a Mardi Gras dog parade in the Senate. The Republican majority can and must do better.

Just last week, the House passed Thune’s Tribal Trust Land Homeownership Act — dozens of House conservatives voted no because it’s outrageous that we’re fast-tracking niche bills while election integrity reforms sit stalled in the Senate. If they can’t muster the spine for real issues, why reward their inaction?

DAVID MARCUS: PASSING THE SAVE AMERICA ACT TO SAVE CORNYN IS A FAIR DEAL

Over the weekend, President Donald Trump laid it out simply: He won’t sign any legislation crossing his desk until the SAVE America Act is passed. President Trump understands what the elites in Washington often forget — that our elections are the bedrock of freedom. Without secure voting, everything else crumbles: our economy, our borders, our very way of life. 

Radical progressive Democrats and their media allies howl about “voter suppression” and “Jim Crow 2.0,” but that’s just code for wanting open doors to fraud. They fear the SAVE America Act because it levels the playing field, ensuring every legal vote counts and every illegal one does not.

MIKE LEE CALLS SCHUMER’S ‘JIM CROW 2.0’ ATTACK ON VOTER ID BILL ‘PARANOID FANTASY’

House Republicans, we’ve got the power — and the duty — to force the Senate’s hand. The bottom line is this: We’re prepared to vote no on bills emerging from the Senate until they prioritize the SAVE America Act. No more dog parade resolutions. No more niche legislation. Nothing moves until election integrity does. This isn’t brinkmanship; it’s principle.

We’ve seen what happens when we compromise with the swamp — endless giveaways to special interests while the American worker gets shafted.  By holding firm, we’re not just protecting votes; we’re honoring the millions who showed up in 2024 to reclaim our country from the Biden-Harris nightmare.

Critics may scream that our strategy is “obstructionism,” but let’s call it what it is: Thune and his crew are the real blockers, slow-walking a wildly popular bill while chasing side quests.

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Force the showdown — put Democrats on the Senate floor in a full “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington” moment, making them own their stance: “Yes, we want noncitizens voting in our elections.”

Democrats can only talk for so long before the question inevitably comes down to a simple majority vote, and the SAVE America Act will be on its way to President Trump’s desk.

This is the American people’s fight. They’ve endured stolen opportunities, inflated prices and open borders under Democratic rule. The SAVE America Act is our chance to lock in conservative wins for good.

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House Republicans, it’s time to lead since our colleagues in the Senate won’t. Block the fluff, pass the SAVE America Act and make elections secure again.

The clock is ticking, Sen. Thune. Your move.

Trump ends Biden’s drug price nightmare — Americans get real relief with TrumpRx

As a physician and a mother, I have seen firsthand how Washington’s decisions ripple into the exam room and around the kitchen table. At a time when healthcare debates often divide, it is worth recognizing leaders who safeguard freedom while tackling real health needs. The Trump administration is doing exactly that: protecting access, preserving choice and confronting public-health challenges while trusting families and their physicians to decide what is best.

President Donald Trump is proving that when Washington listens to everyday Americans and acts with urgency, real change is possible. For too long, the crushing cost of prescription drugs has forced families to make an impossible choice between filling a prescription and paying their bills.

Lowering drug prices has been a cornerstone of his presidency, and he has taken meaningful steps to deliver by expanding generics and biosimilars, implementing historic price transparency rules, capping insulin costs for seniors, advancing TrumpRX to increase competition and direct access, and pursuing a “Most Favored Nation” policy, so Americans are no longer paying more for medications than patients in other developed countries.

These policies represent an important shift toward putting patients, not middlemen, first. It’s a strong and necessary start, but sustaining this momentum by increasing competition and expanding access will be critical to finally bringing lasting relief to Americans.

HOW TO USE TRUMPRX TO FIND CHEAPER CASH PRICES ON MEDICATIONS

This is not the first time Trump has revolutionized healthcare access. He set the tone during his first term with Operation Warp Speed, a milestone in American biomedical history, after COVID-19 paralyzed the world six years ago this month. By pairing private‑sector innovation with decisive federal coordination, it accelerated effective vaccine development and distribution; proving speed and rigor can coexist when government clears paths instead of creating bottlenecks. Just as important, it expanded options for patients and families, reinforcing a simple principle: access first, always.

What followed, however, is where public trust began to erode. Not because of Operation Warp Speed, but because its success was taken over by bureaucratic overreach. I watched in real time as public trust in health institutions collapsed, common sense was dismissed, legitimate debate was shut down and universal COVID vaccine mandates were imposed. Patients did not turn away from the vaccine recommendations because of the science; they turned away because of coercion despite evolving science and varying risk levels.

When personal autonomy gave way to mandates, they undermined confidence in both institutions and vaccines themselves. The result wasn’t the product of Trump’s leadership and scientific progress; it was the consequence of power being prioritized over personal choice.

DAVID MARCUS: RFK JR IS RIGHT, NOBODY KNOWS HOW MANY AMERICANS DIED OF COVID

Today, this administration is again pursuing strong public‑health outcomes without treating Americans as bystanders. Trust should be built where it matters most: in the home and in the doctor’s office. Parents want choice. Doctors want access. Parents overwhelmingly trust their own physicians. Doctors who know a child’s history and needs should remain the most trusted voices and, increasingly, America’s health agencies are speaking that same language.

The recent shift in tone from top health leaders is significant and worth recognizing. Acting Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Jay Bhattacharya is urging Americans to get the measles vaccine as cases rise and the U.S. risks losing its hard-won elimination status. He called the decision “deeply personal” while making clear that “measles is preventable and vaccination remains the most effective way to protect yourself and those around you.”

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Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Mehmet Oz echoed that in February: “There will never be a barrier to Americans getting access to the measles vaccine. It is part of the core schedule.” This is what responsible public health communication looks like: honest, direct, and rooted in science, without coercion.

President Donald Trump is proving that when Washington listens to everyday Americans and acts with urgency, real change is possible.

The challenge now is sustaining this posture. Keeping vaccines available, affordable and accessible is not a concession to one side of the political debate, it’s broadly popular across the spectrum and conservatives are no exception. Skepticism of mandates and top-down health edicts does not translate into a desire to see vaccines become harder to get or more expensive to access. Americans want the freedom to make their own choices alongside their doctors and that freedom is only meaningful when access is guaranteed.

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At the same time, the message must be clear: removing mandates does not mean vaccines are no longer recommended, or they have somehow been deemed unsafe. Vaccines remain one of the most effective tools in modern medicine. When vaccination rates fall, history and modern-day show that preventable disease and mortality rise.

Trump understands this, and his agencies need to hold the line: speak honestly about what the science says, respect personal decision-making and ensure that no American faces a barrier to a vaccine they want. That’s a winning posture politically — and more importantly, it’s the right thing to do.

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DAVID MARCUS: Madman Mamdani’s predictable, disgraceful performance after Gotham terror

mam

You have to hand it to New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani: as an anti-American cartoon villain, he really knows how to stay in character. After Saturday’s ISIS-inspired terror attack outside his home in Manhattan, what we have is an almost comical example.

No sooner had the alleged homegrown Pennsylvania Islamic bomb throwers literally thrown their bombs, than Zany Zohran released a statement to blame — wait for it — the very anti-Muslim protesters the terrorists were trying to kill.

After decrying the White supremacists, who actually did protest peacefully, Hizzoner wrote: “What followed was even more disturbing. Violence at a protest is never acceptable. The attempt to use an explosive device and hurt others is not only criminal, it is reprehensible and the antithesis of who we are.”

SUSPECT IN NYC TERROR PROBE PLANNED ATTACK ‘BIGGER THAN THE BOSTON MARATHON BOMBING,’ PROSECUTORS SAY

See what happened here? The anti-Muslim contingent gets specifically called out — even arguably made to look guilty of the bombing — but the men who allegedly tried to kill police officers and others have their evil Muslim supremacist ideology utterly ignored, as if it isn’t even real.

Even the Mamdani-loving New York Times ran the headline, “Mamdani Chooses His Words Carefully After Alleged Terror Attack.”

Ya think?

As more reports emerge, it is becoming even clearer that this violence was perpetrated because the alleged terrorists objected to the Prophet Muhammad being insulted — and it seems like something that must be confronted head-on.

SOCIAL MEDIA ERUPTS ON MAMDANI OVER REPORTS HIS WIFE LIKED PRO-OCTOBER 7TH POSTS: ‘THIS IS WHO THEY ARE’

It’s amazing. These lunatics allegedly screamed “Allahu Akbar,” just like the shooter in Austin, Texas, on March 1, who wore a “Property of Allah” hoodie and a T-shirt with an image resembling the Iranian flag. Yet progressives like Mamdani still puzzle over what their actual motives could be.

Multiple biplanes could spell out “This Is Islamic Terrorism” in skywriting, and these useful idiots would stroke their beards and say, “We may never know…”

As if downplaying the attempted murder of police officers and citizens just outside his home wasn’t bad enough, Mamdani took bad taste to an even greater level the following night by hosting Mahmoud Khalil — an America-hating, college-campus chaos agent — at Gracie Mansion for dinner.

NYC MAYOR MAMDANI’S WIFE LIKED POSTS CELEBRATING OCT 7 TERROR ATTACKS BUT GETS SOFT TREATMENT FROM THE PRESS

Cozy photos emerged of New York City’s first lady, Rama Duwaji — who, by the way, we just learned “liked” a slew of anti-Semitic posts following the Oct. 7 attack on Israel — serving a smiling Khalil. It resembled a Norman Rockwell painting of Jew-hatred.

You might recall that the Trump administration attempted to deport Khalil for sowing discord and running a series of illegal protests that crippled not just Columbia University, where he studied, but much of the city.

Why would New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani fete this fetid, anti-American and, frankly, ungrateful foreign provocateur the day after an alleged Islamic terror attack?

MAMDANI’S WIFE LIKED SOCIAL MEDIA POSTS ‘CHEERING ON’ HAMAS’ OCT 7 MASSACRE OF ISRAELIS: REPORT

To mock you. Because he can.

In the Norman Rockwell painting, you see Khalil and Duwaji laughing. Make no mistake: they are laughing at you — at every American who thinks they can stop the political takeover they are plotting.

In a normal world, it would have been NYPD Chief Aaron Edwards being celebrated at Gracie Mansion after he leapt into action, hurdling the barrier like a real-life, muscle-car-driving, 1970s gritty cop-show hero.

This is the very image of running into danger to save others, of selfless sacrifice. If Zany Zohran would rather host people who hate America than brave police officers, then I hope the Trump administration will consider honoring him and his fellow officers at the White House.

Mamdani has shown his true colors this week. Dozens of deaths at the hands of alleged ISIS-inspired terrorists were narrowly averted, and his response was not just to deflect blame but to then honor a man who supports that very terrorism.

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If Mamdani and other prominent Muslim leaders cannot or will not firmly call out Islamic terrorism directly, then we need to have some very close conversations about what being an American is and what our country stands for.

Meanwhile, New York City better buckle up. It always has a target on its back from Islamic terrorists, but now, perhaps for the first time, it has a mayor who openly and passionately sides with the overall goals of those terrorists.

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I mean, this guy can’t even decide whether “Globalize the Intifada” — a specific call to kill Jews — is problematic.

Only in New York, kids.

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From Nashville to Chicago’s South Side, fatherlessness haunts America

On my long walk across America, I took a weekend detour and found myself in Music City, Nashville. Tennessee is my home state, and I’ve always loved coming to Nashville. The neon lights of Broadway, the music pouring out from bars, voices rising spontaneously in song and, of course, those stumbling with too much whiskey in them. 

Yet, for some reason, as I talked to folks I met — from musicians and churchgoers to families and the young — I could sense a certain tension and uncertainty in their voices about the present and the future. Nashville is at a moral crossroads.

The markers of faith are everywhere in Nashville. I passed by countless churches, the crosses standing tall in the sky. Many artists sing of redemption and finding grace. There is still the local, traditional culture that has fueled Nashville for so long. But there is a change, a shift of sorts, happening — the pressure that comes from the larger national culture, influenced by nontraditional and postmodern forces.

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You can hear it in the songs: pop crossovers, party anthems that glorify hookup culture and its excesses, lyrics that chase trends over timeless truths. When I hear, “It’s just a room key / You ain’t gotta lie to me / Can’t you just use me like I’m using you,” it leaves sadness and emptiness in its wake.

I know the consequences of fatherlessness all too well, and that’s why I’ve been walking across America to raise funds for a community center designed to promote family values: education, jobs, courtship, marriage, child-rearing and responsible finances.

I’m not trying to be old-fashioned. Believe me, I’ve heard worse come out of O-Block in Chicago, which is home to drill rap and my church. I get the same feeling of emptiness and soullessness from both pieces of music. Maybe it’s because I’ve seen the consequences for those who live a hookup-culture lifestyle, which never ends well and usually results in an unwanted baby or two. And they then come knocking on my door seeking salvation through Jesus Christ.

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On one of the corners, I fell into conversation with a local songwriter who had recognized me from Fox. He told me the industry is about “what sells.” It has always been that way, but it is more entrenched now due to corporate executives who chase money and clicks over art. 

The songwriter’s friend, a local pastor, said the same thing was happening to families. He told me how his kids, as well as the kids from his church, were being bombarded with ideological messages about their skin color, their gender identity and even about their parents. He felt that their education was being compromised.

Both men were in their mid-20s, and what surprised me was that they had both grown up without fathers. Yep, those warnings we heard about 30 or so years ago are now realities before my eyes. The Black community has long dealt with fatherlessness and has borne that stigma for decades. But it is no secret that fatherlessness has been rising across all races and ethnicities at alarming rates.

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On the South Side of Chicago, far too many kids grow up without dads to guide them and without strong models of manhood rooted in responsibility and faith. The streets fill the void with gangs, revenge and music that glorifies all the wrong things in life — lyrics that I can’t even print here. 

I know the consequences of fatherlessness all too well, and that’s why I’ve been walking across America to raise funds for a community center designed to promote family values: education, jobs, courtship, marriage, child-rearing and responsible finances.

But when you peel back the layers, you will easily see that the causes of fatherlessness are the same everywhere: the breakdown of values and faith. Instant gratification before discipline. 

In Nashville, the decline may be subtler than on the South Side, but there is the same emptiness where purpose should be, the same moral confusion instead of clarity and the same lostness of soul instead of the vivacity of life.

This isn’t just Nashville or Chicago. America is at a crossroads. There are still many Americans living the principled life, as I’ve mentioned in other Rooftop Revelations, but there is still an underbelly, and this problem of fatherlessness isn’t going away anytime soon.

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The good news? Redemption is possible. Those two young men I met — the songwriter and the pastor — found Christ and rebuilt their damaged families on the shared values of God, family and opportunity. 

Nashville can reclaim its soul by doubling down on its faith heritage, letting songs of truth rise above the noise. Chicago can rise by rebuilding fathers, restoring merit and inviting God’s presence back into broken places. And America? We can turn the tide one step, one prayer, one restored life at a time.

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MIKE PENCE: Trump and our incredible military are ending 47 years of Iranian terror

From its inception in 1979, the Islamic Republic of Iran has long engaged in open hostility and violence toward the United States and Israel and has been a malign source of chaos and disorder across the Arab world. 

On Feb. 28, America said “enough is enough.” With the daylight launch of Operation Epic Fury, our country initiated hostilities against the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism, but America did not start this war. After 47 years of terrorism and bloodshed, the armed forces of the United States and our ally Israel have combined overwhelming military force to end it.

As Operation Epic Fury unfolds, there is much credit to go around. But first, President Donald Trump should be commended for taking decisive action to end decades of violence against American soldiers, our bases in the region and our cherished ally Israel. His willingness to strike at precisely the moment when the ayatollah and some 40 senior Iranian officials and commanders were assembled and most vulnerable was a master stroke.

And the president’s willingness to ignore the growing voices of isolationism echoing from the fringes of Republican ranks, unleashing the most powerful military in the world, not just in this time, but last year in Operation Midnight Hammer, striking a devastating blow to Iran’s nuclear program, was deeply admirable.

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Of course, the most credit goes to the men and women of America’s armed forces serving at this very hour in harm’s way. From the outset of hostilities, American service members deployed in Operation Epic Fury have performed with the utmost courage and professionalism. They deserve the admiration of every American and should remain daily in our prayers.

Thanks to coordinated efforts of the American, Israeli and Gulf nations’ militaries, the Iranian military has already been seriously degraded, its leadership scattered or killed and its ability to project force both inside and outside the region neutered. Today, the Iranian navy sits at the bottom of the ocean, air superiority has been established over the skies of Iran and their capacity to launch missiles and wreak mayhem across the Middle East has been dramatically diminished.

While partisans on the progressive left and the isolationist right have been quick to question the president’s decision to launch Operation Epic Fury, I believe that two historic objectives are finally within reach as a result of the courage of our military and our commander in chief’s decisive leadership.

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First, the punishing air campaign against the security infrastructure and ballistic missiles of the Iranian regime could well put regime change within reach. Within days or weeks, the Iranian regime may be incapable of projecting force even against its own people, thereby allowing the long-suffering Iranian people the chance to rise up and retake their freedom, making America, Israel and the world more secure.

Second, Operation Epic Fury has the potential to reestablish the deterrence squandered by President Joe Biden’s disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan. Weakness arouses evil. It’s no secret that America’s weakness on the world stage under the Biden administration set the stage for Russian President Vladimir Putin’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine and for Hamas’s brutal attack on Israel on October 7th, financed and approved by the mullahs in Tehran.

With nearly flawless execution of Operation Epic Fury, our armed forces have sent a deafening message of America’s military might echoing across the Arab World and in the halls of power in Moscow and Beijing. As Putin continues to wage his merciless war against Ukraine and China’s President Xi Jinping and the People’s Liberation Army continue to menace Taiwan, the overwhelming force displayed by the combined forces of the United States could well give them pause concerning plans for future military aggression.

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America’s objective is not conquest; it never has been. It is the safety and security of the American people, our allies and a region that has endured decades of violence at the hands of the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism.

Across the Arab world, there has been a growing recognition that the mullahs are not merely wayward brothers, but foes and a serious threat that must be addressed. A free and liberated Iran creates an opportunity to restore balance across the region and strengthen cooperation among nations that share an interest in peace and prosperity, not sowing regional anarchy. The Abraham Accords may have just been the beginning of a new era of peace and cooperation across the Arab world. 

Today, the Iranian navy sits at the bottom of the ocean, air superiority has been established over the skies of Iran and their capacity to launch missiles and wreak mayhem across the Middle East has been dramatically diminished.

America is at war and history teaches that such moments require resolve. After the liberation of Kuwait in 1991, the United States chose not to finish the job and confront an Iraqi regime that had thrust the region into chaos. Within a decade, American forces returned.

Today, the United States is taking action to cut out the heart of terrorism in the Middle East. With the courage of our armed forces and sustained leadership from Washington, Tel Aviv and our growing list of regional allies, the ability of the Iranian regime to threaten its neighbors and oppress its people can be permanently degraded if not destroyed. But America must see this fight through.

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To end the threat of the Iranian regime and restore America’s credibility as the arsenal of democracy and the leader of the free world, America must finish this fight once and for all.

None of this will come without sacrifice and Operation Epic Fury has already claimed the last full measure of devotion from seven brave Americans. As a parent and in-law of active duty service members, we know the pride but not the heartache of the families of our heroic fallen. Every American should carry these precious families in our prayers and assure them that their loved one’s names will be enshrined in the hearts of a grateful nation forever.

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For 47 years, the tyrants of Iran have waged a campaign of terror against the United States, Israel and the aspirations of the Iranian people. Bringing that era to a close will not only strengthen American security but will also open the door to a future in which the people of Iran are finally free to reclaim the promise of their proud and ancient nation from the grip of tyranny. 

And that would be a victory not only for America, but for the cause of liberty itself.

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JONATHAN TURLEY: Sanders’ wealth tax dangles checks while torching the Constitution

“Enough is enough.” With those words, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders launched a push to impose a 5% annual wealth tax on America’s billionaires. With Rep. Ro Khanna, the legislation, “Make Billionaires Pay Their Fair Share Act,” echoes the growing “eat-the-rich” mantra on the left — seeking to replicate a disastrous push in California that has led to an exodus from that state and an estimated loss of $2 trillion in taxable assets.

It is also flagrantly unconstitutional.

Under the plan, Congress would target 938 billionaires to tap them for $4.4 trillion. That money would then be redistributed as a $3,000 direct payment to every man, woman and child in a household making $150,000 or less — $12,000 for a family of four.

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The timing of the move is telling. Not only is it calculated before the midterm elections, in which the Democrats hope to retake power, but it follows the push by California Democrats and unions to impose a similar wealth tax in that state.

The practical problem is that the wealthy, like their wealth, are mobile. As a result, many are fleeing California. So now Khanna is joining with the nation’s leading Democratic Socialists to ensure there is nowhere to hide in the United States. For billionaires in California, they could be double-tapped for 10% of their wealth.

It has long been the dream of the far left. Years ago, Warren delighted Democratic voters in her run for the presidency by telling the rich she was coming after “your Rembrandts, your stock portfolio, your diamonds and your yachts.” In one debate, she dramatically rubbed her hands together after saying she would take some of the wealth of fellow candidate John Delaney, a self-made millionaire.

In my new book, Rage and the Republic: The Unfinished Story of the American RevolutionI discuss the growing threat of “economic factionalism” as politicians fuel rage against the wealthy based on the false premise that they are not “paying their fair share.” While there are good-faith arguments for adjusting tax burdens to address budget demands, the top 1% pays more taxes than the bottom 90% combined.

There is little reason to believe that a wealth tax targeting billionaires will not, if upheld, be later extended to lower tax brackets, starting with multimillionaires. That is the signature of economic factionalism, which feeds an insatiable appetite for greater wealth seizure.

The Sanders-Khanna plan is notable in its express commitment to direct wealth redistribution. It also explains why the left has made the packing of the Supreme Court a priority. As Harvard professor Michael Klarman explained years ago, the radical agenda to change the system to guarantee Republicans “will never win another election” requires control of the Supreme Court to uphold such measures.

The problem is that the Constitution bars the implementation of such a federal wealth tax. When the 16th Amendment was ratified, it allowed for federal income taxes, and only income taxes: “The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several States, and without regard to any census or enumeration.”

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The effort to expand federal taxation beyond income taxes will require either a constitutional amendment or an enabling, packed Court.

Nevertheless, these politicians will continue to dangle wealth distribution before voters. They will demonize figures like Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk for their wealth while ignoring that these same figures are wealth and job creators, driving our economic growth. Instead, Sanders declared that “Billionaires cannot have it all.”

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The irony of Rep. Khanna turning on his own constituents in Silicon Valley underscores the appeal of wealth-redistribution campaigns. He is turning the very heart of his state’s economic growth as state deficits and out-of-state migration increase.

For Sanders, the legislation is a key moment to advance his long-standing socialist agenda. He declared the beginning of the end of “unprecedented income and wealth inequality” in the United States through such redistribution. The stated objective of erasing wealth inequality highlights how this is just the start and the end of wealth taxation.

As discussed in Rage and the Republic, none of this is new. Countries like France previously targeted the wealthy, triggering an exodus of taxpayers and their businesses from the country. It had to reverse its policy as the economy collapsed.

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Of course, many young people have no memory of such failures in the 20th Century. Instead, they are drawn to the very same soundbites used in France and Great Britain before disastrous experiments with socialism. With no experience with socialist economies, figures like socialist mayor Zohran Mamdani can entice voters to “the warmth of collectivism.”

There are legitimate concerns over the glaring and growing wealth gap in the United States. However, a wealth tax is neither a constitutional nor a practical way of addressing the problem.

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LIZ PEEK: Iran war could become the achievement that ensures Trump’s legacy

Democrats and their media enablers are doing everything possible to turn the American people against the war in Iran. They deny the rationale for attacking Tehran, they pretend that President Barack Obama’s nuke deal was anything but appeasement of a bloodthirsty anti-U.S. regime, and they have alarmed Americans that we face a devastating “energy crisis” because of President Donald Trump’s “war of choice.”

None of it is true.

Over the weekend, Democrat Virginia Sen. Mark Warner said on Fox News that Trump had failed to make the case that Iran posed an “imminent threat” to the U.S., implying that he saw no such threat. He also said Trump had picked “the wrong time” to carry out the mission.

The Virginia senator made those remarks the very same week that a Pakistani assassin paid by the mullahs in Tehran was convicted of attempting to murder Trump. Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, who hired the would-be killer, had apparently targeted not only Trump, but other U.S. officials, including former President Joe Biden and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley. For those potential victims, Iran posed an imminent threat. 

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It isn’t the first time the mullahs have sent spies to the U.S. to arrange the murder of Trump and others, like former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Thankfully, those attempts have been foiled. Were we supposed to simply wait until Tehran took down a leading U.S. politician before hitting back? These were not rogue agents; they were hired by Iranian officials, making the country a legitimate target. 

Warner expressed concern about Iran’s store of ballistic missiles, which he contended would be difficult to eradicate. Does the senator imagine those weapons would be easier to eliminate as the stockpiles grew? Would it be safer to wait until Tehran developed intercontinental missiles which could strike the U.S.?

As Iran has fomented terror and attacks against the U.S. and Israel over the past 47 years, taking Americans hostage, arranging the murder of hundreds of G.I.s, what would have been the perfect time to fight back? For Democrats, including Biden and Obama, that time would never come.

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They prefer appeasement or, worse, imagine that a bloodthirsty regime that is content to slaughter its own citizens and routinely chants “Death to America” is only kidding. Obama and Biden seemed to believe that, given the proper incentives, Iran would forsake its terror mission and become a neutral partner. That’s like imagining a rattlesnake could become cuddly, if only fed enough Puppy Chow.

Obama, acting on his naïveté in 2015, famously oversaw the creation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), a multi-nation agreement that was supposed to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon. Few saw the pact as a serious deterrent, given the loose verification requirements and permissions to continue enriching uranium for “peaceful” purposes. (For a major oil producer!)

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke to Congress at the time, urging members to reject the agreement, noting that as part of the deal the U.S. and others would lift sanctions and funnel funds to Iran, which would go to building a nuclear stockpile and spreading terror. 

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Trump extricated the U.S. from the JCPOA in 2018. At the time, former Minnesota Republican Sen. Norm Coleman correctly summed up the deal, writing it “gave Iran a clear path to a nuclear weapon in 2025; no inspection of military sites and free rein for its nefarious deeds in the region — with over $100 billion to pay for it all!”  

Some Democrats continue to assert, like former Obama national security aide Ben Rhodes, that there was no need to confront Iran, because the JCPOA prevented the mullahs from building a nuclear weapon. This is straight-up baloney. Even the U.N. atomic watchdog, the IAEA, charged with ensuring Iran’s compliance with the JCPOA, finally admitted last year what everyone suspected — that Iran had cheated for years and not met the deal’s requirements. 

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, who hired the would-be killer, had apparently targeted not only Trump, but other U.S. officials, including former President Joe Biden and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley. 

That body passed a resolution declaring that Iran was “not complying with its obligations regarding nuclear non-proliferation.” The IAEA said they could not guarantee that Iran’s program was “exclusively peaceful” and confessed that Tehran had hidden evidence of its enrichment program. 

In addition to arguing the merits of the war with Iran, Democrats are screaming that the conflict is bringing on an “energy crisis.” That is false. While tankers are piling up at the Strait of Hormuz, the world is enduring a temporary oil price surge. 

Iran’s blockage of the strait has caused Iraq, Kuwait and Qatar to shut in some production, since they have no place to store the oil. Given the supremacy of U.S. and allied airpower, it is unlikely this situation will endure. Once tankers start to pass through the Strait, oil prices will quickly plummet.

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Democrats’ opposition and criticism are falling flat. A new Rasmussen poll shows a majority of the country supports the attack on Iran. Democrats are hopeful that Trump’s “war of choice,” will hang like an albatross around GOP necks as we approach the midterm elections this fall. What will prove them wrong? Success, and common sense. 

Warner and many of his colleagues deny the solemn intonations of former presidents, including Obama and Biden, that Iran could not be permitted to acquire a nuclear weapon. Americans understand there was realistically only one way to stop them, and Trump had the guts to take that path.

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Democrats are afraid that the U.S. will win this war, that Iran will be forced to repudiate its reign of terror, and that President Trump’s legacy will include a remarkable transformation of the world’s most troublesome region — which began with the Abraham Accords during his first term. Imagine a prosperous, growing Middle East; imagine Gaza being rebuilt without the oppression of its people by Iran-backed Hamas.

Americans should cheer for success, for the Iranian people, for the world and for the U.S.

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