Americans know Iran is our enemy. It’s time establishment politicians agreed

For more than four decades, the Iranian regime has operated as the world’s most dangerous state sponsor of terrorism, funding proxy militias, targeting U.S. forces and destabilizing entire regions. Yet establishment Washington has long treated Tehran as a diplomatic puzzle waiting to be solved rather than a hostile regime executing a deliberate strategy — one that openly chants “Death to America.”

That disconnect is glaring in a new Fox News poll that confirms what history has already shown: 61% of Americans say Iran poses a real national security threat to the United States. The remarkable part is not the poll result, but how long Washington’s foreign policy establishment has taken to catch up with what voters already understand.

Americans have watched Iran fund Hezbollah, Hamas and other terrorist groups across the Middle East. Iranian-backed militias have launched hundreds of attacks on U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria, killing and injuring hundreds of American service members. Tehran has consistently threatened the Strait of Hormuz, a choke point carrying almost 20% of the world’s oil supply. The pattern is glaring from Lebanon to Yemen that Iran wages proxy warfare and sponsors terrorism that directly threatens U.S. interests and global stability.

After more than 40 years of the same behavior, voters are hawkish on Iran — not out of ideology, but experience. Tehran funds terrorism, targets U.S. forces and threatens global energy markets. The conclusion is simple: this regime responds to strength, not further diplomatic engagement.

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However, much of Washington still approaches Iran as a negotiating partner. For decades the strategy has been the same: diplomatic frameworks, sanctions relief and meetings to moderate Tehran’s behavior, even pallets of cash. However, a regime built on proxy warfare and regional destabilization is unlikely to abandon that strategy through negotiations alone. That reality helps explain why the United States is confronting the same Iranian threat today that it faced 40 years ago.

The historical record undermines the diplomatic theory. As negotiations dragged on, Iran expanded its proxy networks and led 160 attacks on U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria, just from October 2023 to February 2024. While policymakers debated strategy in Washington and Europe, Tehran continued building missiles and expanding militias to pressure the United States and its allies.

This is why the Fox News poll is more than a snapshot of voter sentiment. It exposes a deeper divide in American foreign policy, thinking it is not Republican versus Democrat, but voters versus the foreign policy establishment. Americans have formed their own conclusions after decades of watching Iran use intimidation, violence and proxy militant groups to destabilize entire regions.

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The regime has repeatedly tested American resolve through asymmetric threats designed to create pressure without triggering full-scale war. This consistent pattern makes clear that Iran’s strategy is confrontation, not regular geopolitical rivalry. That reality explains why public opinion is significantly hawkish rather than supportive of more negotiations. For many Americans, the lesson of the past 40+ years is straightforward: Iran responds far less to engagement than it does to credible deterrence.

Deterrence, in this context, is about credibility. History shows aggressors are far less likely to escalate when they believe aggression will bring immediate and severe consequences. For decades, Iran has operated in the gray zone — using proxy militias, cyber operations and maritime disruption to pressure the United States while avoiding direct confrontation. That strategy has worked, allowing Tehran to expand missile capabilities and its terror network while America’s responses appeared inconsistent.

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Washington’s foreign policy establishment often overlooks that voters want results rather than another cycle of policy debates built on theory. That disconnect is becoming increasingly difficult to sustain because foreign policy must eventually align with the public’s understanding of national security threats.

The gap in perspective is now producing an equally glaring political divide. When voters believe that policymakers are unwilling to confront direct threats to Americans, trust in leadership erodes. National security debates look detached from reality while Americans face the consequences from attacks on U.S. forces, rising energy costs, and proxy conflicts spreading across the Middle East.

However, much of Washington still approaches Iran as a negotiating partner. For decades the strategy has been the same: diplomatic frameworks, sanctions relief and meetings to moderate Tehran’s behavior, even pallets of cash. 

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While the American response has often been inconsistent, Iran has maintained a clear geopolitical strategy: funding terrorist networks, arming proxy militias, threatening strategic shipping routes and exploiting regional instability to expand its influence.

After decades of terrorism, proxy warfare and regional destabilization, Americans no longer see Iran as a diplomatic puzzle waiting for another round of ineffective negotiations. They see a strategic threat that requires credible deterrence. The poll confirms that voters have already reached that conclusion. The real question now is whether Washington’s foreign policy establishment is willing to acknowledge the same reality.

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Overturning an outlandish Supreme Court ruling is the only way to fix education

Tennessee lawmakers have taken a bold stand against the misuse of taxpayer dollars in public education. On March 10, House Bill 793 advanced out of a full committee with a 15-9 vote, divided mostly along party lines, with Republicans in favor and all seven Democrats opposed. The proposal is scheduled to be heard on the House floor on March 16.

The measure now requires public and charter school officials to verify students’ immigration status at enrollment and report the aggregate results to the state. The proposal originally empowered school officials to deny enrollment to students who could not prove lawful presence in the United States or to charge their families tuition. That provision remains in the Senate’s version – which already passed that chamber 19 to 13 – but opponents to the measure later stripped it out of the House proposal. 

This proposal represents the bare minimum in addressing a long-standing injustice, yet it falls far short of what is truly needed. Requiring verification and reporting data sheds light on the number of illegal immigrants in public schools, but it does nothing to stop the flow of taxpayer dollars subsidizing their education.

In Tennessee, as in many states, per-student allocations drive budgets, meaning districts gain financially from admitting more students, regardless of immigration status. Lawmakers must go further by prohibiting public schools from using any tax dollars to educate those unlawfully present. Such a ban would redirect resources exclusively to lawful residents and citizens, allowing per-student funding to surge for eligible children without necessitating tax increases.

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The relief would extend beyond school budgets. Property taxes, which predominantly finance public education systems, exert constant upward pressure on homeowners. By excluding illegal immigrants from taxpayer-funded schooling, state policymakers could alleviate this strain, stabilizing or even reducing property tax rates while enhancing educational quality for legal enrollees.

At the heart of this issue lies the 1982 Supreme Court decision in Plyler v. Doe, which compels state officials to provide free public education to children of illegal immigrants. That ruling, decided 5-4 by a less conservative court than today, imposes an unwarranted federal obligation on states to divert scarce resources toward entitlements for those without legal status.

Education policy, particularly the allocation of limited funds, belongs in the hands of state legislatures, not dictated by unelected judges. States possess the sovereign right to prioritize their citizens and legal residents, especially when federal immigration enforcement failed spectacularly under the previous presidential administration.

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Today’s Supreme Court has an opportunity to rectify this overreach. Conservatives in Tennessee and elsewhere should welcome legal challenges to HB 793, particularly from teachers’ unions eager to preserve the status quo. These unions profit doubly from illegal immigrant enrollment: first, through inflated per-student funding tied to higher headcounts, and second, via supplemental allocations for English as a Second Language (ESL) programs.

Union leaders would likely hesitate to escalate a fight to the Supreme Court, recognizing the risk. A victory for Tennessee could dismantle Plyler nationwide, inspiring a cascade of similar reforms. The precedent would empower legislatures to reclaim control over education spending, removing the incentives that exacerbate illegal immigration. Rather than fearing litigation, policymakers should provoke it, confident that the current court would affirm states’ authority to manage their own affairs.

Public sentiment aligns firmly against the current policy. Phi Delta Kappa International/Gallup poll found that 55% of Americans oppose using taxpayer dollars to educate children of illegal immigrants, with 81% of Republicans agreeing.

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These numbers reflect a commonsense view: American taxpayers should not shoulder the costs of federal border failures. Education represents a significant investment in the nation’s future, and diluting that investment by extending it to those outside the legal framework undermines equity for citizens.

Momentum builds beyond Tennessee. Since early 2025, legislators in Oklahoma, Texas, Idaho, Indiana and New Jersey have pursued measures to contest Plyler v. Doe, ranging from data collection on immigration status to outright tuition requirements. These initiatives signal a growing recognition that unchecked illegal immigration burdens public systems, from schools to hospitals.

Education policy, particularly the allocation of limited funds, belongs in the hands of state legislatures, not dictated by unelected judges.

In Texas, where Plyler originated, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott has long advocated revisiting the decision, citing the unsustainable fiscal strain on local districts. Oklahoma’s proposals mandate proof of status for enrollment, while Idaho and Indiana saw bills advance through committees before stalling. Even in blue-leaning New Jersey, lawmakers introduced the “PLYLER Act” to impose tuition on undocumented students.

TENNESSEE DEMOCRAT PROPOSES NEW BILL LIMITING ICE FROM SCHOOL CAMPUSES STATEWIDE

Critics of these efforts often invoke compassion, arguing that denying education harms innocent children. Yet the real harm stems from policies that encourage illegal entry by promising free services, perpetuating a cycle of dependency and straining resources meant for legal residents.

States like Tennessee invest billions in education to foster opportunity, but that promise erodes when funds are spread thinner to accommodate those who bypassed the system. Overturning Plyler would restore fairness, allowing states to focus on their own communities without apology.

The fiscal implications demand attention. Nationwide, educating illegal immigrant students costs billions annually, with estimates varying by state but consistently revealing a disproportionate load on taxpayers.

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The influx strains classrooms, necessitates more ESL teachers and inflates administrative costs. By contrast, excluding these students from taxpayer funding would free up resources for class size reductions, teacher salary increases and program enhancements for lawful enrollees. Property owners, weary of annual tax hikes to cover expanding enrollments, would finally see relief.

Plyler exacerbates illegal immigration by mandating education as an entitlement, regardless of status. The Supreme Court could end this mandate, returning power to the states where it belongs.

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Tennessee’s HB 793, though imperfect, ignites a necessary debate. Lawmakers should strengthen it by banning tax-funded education for illegal immigrants outright, then defend it vigorously in court. The proposal would not only safeguard taxpayer dollars but also deter future illegal entries by removing a key pull factor.

Americans have waited too long for relief from policies that prioritize outsiders over citizens. The time has come for the Supreme Court to overturn Plyler v. Doe and let states chart their own course.

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Veteran ’60 Minutes’ reporter says the network ‘crumbled’ under Trump’s pressure

A veteran “60 Minutes” journalist slammed the previous owners of his parent network, CBS, for settling an election interference lawsuit with President Donald Trump.

“Our previous owners at CBS faced political pressure and crumbled‚” Scott Pelley said, according to The Guardian’s Jeremy Barr, referencing the fallout over the legal dispute between Trump and CBS. Pelley was introducing former “60 Minutes” executive producer Bill Owens at the National Press Foundation Annual Journalism Awards Dinner last week. 

Pelley was referencing former CBS parent company, Paramount Global, before it was merged with Skydance Media, run by David Ellison, the son of billionaire Oracle founder and Trump ally Larry Ellison.

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In the days leading up to the 2024 presidential election, CBS News aired its “60 Minutes” interview featuring then-Vice President Kamala Harris. Critics at the time noticed that an answer she gave to a question about Israel that first aired in a preview clip on “Face the Nation,” which was mocked by conservatives for her “word salad” comments, appeared to have been swapped with a different answer that aired during the primetime election special the next evening.

Trump accused the network of election interference and filed a $20 billion lawsuit against the company. 

After months of contentious mediation, Paramount and CBS settled Trump’s lawsuit for a sum expected to be north of $30 million, including $16 million upfront for Trump’s presidential library.

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Barr also posted on X that veteran “60 Minutes” journalist Lesley Stahl claimed she would have followed former executive producer of the show Bill Owens in resigning during the company’s contentious legal battle with Trump. 

“We would have followed him off the cliff, but he urged us not to,” Stahl reportedly said. 

Owens, who told his colleagues in April of last year that corporate overreach impacted his ability to maintain an independent newsroom. 

When he resigned, he told his colleagues in a memo, “over the past months, it has become clear that I would not be allowed to run the show as I have always run it, to make independent decisions based on what was right for 60 Minutes, right for the audience.” 

CRONKITE-ERA PRODUCER EXITS CBS NEWS IN DRAMATIC FASHION AFTER 46 YEARS AT NETWORK

A representative from CBS did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

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DAVID MARCUS: In an age of broken institutions, the filibuster is one relic we can’t afford

The filibuster, which is in essence a 60-vote threshold to pass legislation in the U.S. Senate, is a well-intentioned instrument meant to protect the rights of states, markets and individuals from excessive federal law. But it must now be abandoned.

Under the filibuster, the Senate can only act when a piece of legislation is overwhelmingly popular, and in the current case of the Save America Act, which has widespread public support, not even then.

When the Senate abdicates this power, the power doesn’t disappear, rather it is vested in non-governmental institutions that we are meant to trust are working in the interest of the country and its people.

So, for example, without the Save America Act’s limits on mail-in ballots, non-government entities, like Mark Zuckererg and Meta back in 2020, are free to influence elections by offering mail-in ballot assistance, but only in their politically approved areas.

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In an age in which we had trusted institutions of education, homeless outreach or monitoring of elections, this might be fine, even admirable. But we do not live in such an age. In our age, far-left progressives have captured almost every institution the Senate willingly hands its power over to.

In the 1720s, England had almost no government-run prisons. Instead, wardensips were purchased, and the warden would profit from prisoner fees.

In 1729, an architect named Robert Castell was thrown into debtors’ prison, but could not pay the warden’s fee. He was put in a room with a man who had smallpox, contracted the disease and died.

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Outrage ensued, and even Sir Robert Walpole, arguably England’s first prime minister who far favored indirect management to direct government control of institutions, began to see the need for state-run prisons.

Was the flawed, non-governmental prison system of Georgian England really so different from our own federal government handing millions of dollars to fraudulent daycare centers in Minneapolis or no-show hospice care sites in LA?

Even short of fraud, our leading institutions have had incredible negative impacts in areas like the trans movement, where basically every single one of them agreed that children should be subjected to surgery and hormones to change their gender.

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It was not until executive orders, state legislatures and the courts stood up to trans madness that the fever began to cool, and now, hospitals are quietly removing those “services.”

It was the government, by and of the people, that put in check the shadow government of far-left institutions that nobody ever voted for.

Castell was not the first person to be abused or to die in the very old private English prison system, so why did his case suddenly cause so much furor and eventual change?

REPUBLICANS, TRUMP RUN INTO SENATE ROADBLOCK ON VOTER ID BILL

Well, about 25 years earlier, something had arrived on the scene in London called a newspaper. Suddenly, not just the literate Londoner, but the man who heard the news read aloud at the coffeehouse or tavern, had an immediate window into corruption.

Likewise, 25 years ago, we saw the rise of online news, and suddenly the gatekeepers could no longer hide the evils of the institutions on whose boards they often sat.

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Suddenly stories of voter fraud, or detransitioning, or absurd DEI lessons in our schools could not be covered up. The rot at the core of our institutions was laid bare for all to see, just as the cruelty of England’s prisons were 300 years ago.

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

Today, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., faces a choice similar to Walpole’s in the 18th century. He would much prefer to keep the federal government out of the lives of Americans, but the institutions that do operate in their lives are broken and corrupt.

While it is the House of Representatives, not the Senate, that is meant to be the vehicle of popular will in our system, that Senate is not meant to be a perpetual roadblock to the will of the people’s house even in the face of massive popular support.

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Sadly, that is what the filibuster has become today, an excuse for our legislators to do nothing as non-government institutions continue to firm their grip on American society.

There might have once been a time when the filibuster made sense, but now is not that time. Now is the time for the people’s government to take back power from our broken, far-left institutions.

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AI comes with a hefty charge. Are you the one who gets stuck with the bill?

For the past two years, Americans have been told the artificial intelligence revolution will change everything, including how we work, how we invest, how we learn and how businesses operate.

But there’s one place where AI could quietly show up that almost nobody is talking about.

Your electric bill.

And if the current trajectory continues, the AI boom could become one of the biggest hidden drivers of higher energy costs for American households in 100 years.

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The dirty secret of AI: It eats lots of electricity

Artificial intelligence doesn’t live in the cloud.

It lives in massive data centers that are football-field-sized buildings filled with servers running nonstop calculations.

Training a single large AI model can consume millions of kilowatt hours of electricity. Once deployed, those models still require enormous computing power every time someone asks a question, generates an image or runs automation.

According to the International Energy Agency, global data center electricity consumption could more than double by 2030 as AI adoption explodes.

In the United States alone, some projections suggest data centers could consume up to 9-10% of the country’s electricity within the next decade. Just five years ago, that number was closer to 2-3%.

That’s a staggering shift in the power grid which you may not have even realized today.

Why this matters to your wallet

Electricity isn’t like streaming services. When demand rises dramatically, utilities must build new infrastructure.

That means:

• New power plants
• New transmission lines
• New grid upgrades

Artificial intelligence doesn’t live in the cloud. It lives in massive data centers that are football-field-sized buildings filled with servers running nonstop calculations.

And guess who typically pays for those investments?

SCOOP: TRUMP BRINGS BIG TECH TO WHITE HOUSE TO CURB POWER COSTS AMID AI BOOM

Ratepayers. In simple words: you.

The Electric Power Research Institute has warned that AI-driven data center growth could add tens of gigawatts of new electricity demand across the United States. To put that into perspective, a single large AI data center campus can consume as much power as a medium-sized city.

The tech gold rush for electricity

Major tech companies are now scrambling to lock down power.

Companies like Microsoft, Amazon and Google are investing billions in data center expansion.

Some are even exploring small nuclear reactors and dedicated power plants just to fuel AI infrastructure.

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That should tell you something.

When trillion-dollar companies start worrying about electricity supply, it means the demand surge is very real.

The hidden grid stress

America’s power grid wasn’t designed for an AI arms race.

Utilities are already dealing with rising demand from:

• Electric vehicles
• Electrified homes and appliances
• Population growth
• Manufacturing reshoring

Now add AI supercomputers running 24 hours a day.

Some regions are already feeling the pressure. Utilities in states like Virginia, Texas and Georgia with major data center hubs have warned that new projects could significantly increase electricity demand over the next decade.

And guess who typically pays for those investments? Ratepayers. In simple words: you.

Could your electric bill really double?

Let’s be clear: AI alone probably won’t double your electric bill overnight.

But the risk isn’t imaginary. Someone is going to have to pay for the energy.  

If utilities must rapidly expand capacity and upgrade infrastructure, those costs historically get passed along to customers through higher rates and new surcharges.

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And energy inflation has already been a problem.

Over the past five years, residential electricity prices in the U.S. have risen significantly, according to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Add the AI electricity surge, and the upward pressure could continue where in the next 10 years, you could have double the electric bill you have today.

The next silent inflation nobody is talking about

Washington debates inflation constantly about the big three of groceries, gas and housing.

But electricity is quietly becoming one of the most important cost pressures in the modern economy.

Almost everything in the digital economy runs on electricity:

TRUMP BRINGS BIG TECH EXECUTIVES TO WHITE HOUSE TO CURB POWER COSTS FOR AMERICAN HOUSEHOLDS AMID AI BOOM

• AI
• Cloud computing
• Crypto mining
• Electric vehicles
• Data centers

Electricity is becoming the new oil of the digital age.

Companies like Microsoft, Amazon and Google are investing billions in data center expansion. Some are even exploring small nuclear reactors and dedicated power plants just to fuel AI infrastructure.

What Americans should be watching

As the AI boom accelerates, keep an eye on three things:

1. Utility rate increases Many states allow utilities to raise rates when infrastructure costs rise.

2. Data center construction Communities across America are competing for massive AI server farms.

3. Energy policy: How the country expands energy generation, including nuclear, natural gas and renewable, could determine whether supply keeps up with demand.

Will benefits to all Americans outweigh the cost of AI?

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Artificial intelligence will transform the economy in ways we’re only beginning to understand. But like every technological revolution, it comes with real-world costs.

The question isn’t whether AI will reshape industries.

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It’s whether Americans are prepared for the possibility that the next tech boom could show up not just on their phones or computers but as a huge added expense on their monthly power bill.

And that’s a reality policymakers, utilities and consumers need to start thinking about when the price could double down the road.

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I reluctantly went to my first Grateful Dead show — and discovered one of Earth’s great religions

“Remember the Sabbath Day, to keep it holy.”

The Fourth Commandment suddenly came to mind recently as I happened upon Larissa Phillips’ Free Press article about the Grateful Dead. It is all about following the Dead and how the whole thing was like a giant, mobile, joyous church.

I concur.

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Standing among thousands of fellow Deadheads, especially at the goosebump-inducing peak of a transcendent Jerry Garcia guitar solo, I would look around the mesmerized crowd and think, “If this isn’t a religion, what is?” A religion without a phony, overrated, massively disappointing “God,” and with real, talented, flesh-and-blood musicians to worship: Who could ask for anything more?

Eric Clapton, Jerry Garcia, Elton John and Carlos Santana are my four musical gods. Broadly speaking, those of us who hop on planes and fly across the country or over oceans to see music belong to what I call the First Church of Song.

Seeing and following the Grateful Dead was part of this faith. I was fortunate enough to catch the Dead for in-town shows in the New York City area and Los Angeles. I rode in cars to see individual venues in Foxboro, Massachusetts; Oakland and Ventura, California; Oxford Speedway, Maine; and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. I flew to see them in Buffalo and Chicago (twice).

GRATEFUL DEAD’S JERRY GARCIA WAS INTIMIDATED BY GUITAR LEGEND MICHAEL BLOOMFIELD: BOOK

And then there were the “follows” — journeys to multiple cities and locations: The Meadowlands, New Jersey, to Washington, D.C. (with an intermittent stop at the Garden State Arts Center, where the Neville Brothers opened for Jimmy Buffett) and the best follow of all: Berlin to Frankfurt to Paris. Following the Dead across Europe in 1990 was among the highlights of my life.

I am eternally grateful to my old junior-high-school friends John Adams, Gill Ilanit and Chris Wessling, who dragged me to my first Dead show — fittingly enough — on Good Friday 1987. The bones, skulls and skeletons abundant in Grateful Dead iconography led me to conclude, with staggering inaccuracy, that this involved some sort of satanic death metal. I envisioned something like Black Sabbath, but even more diabolical.

I strongly resisted my friends’ invitations, but they persisted. Finally, to stop their nagging, I made them a deal: “OK. I will see your Grateful Dead. Just this once. And after that, I do not want to hear another word about them!”

“OK. OK. OK,” they agreed, likely giggling behind my back at the worm-adorned hook that was about to snag my upper lip.

So off we went to the now-defunct Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre on a sunny Southern California afternoon. We spent hours in a vast parking lot, thoroughly entertained, as our fellow young Americans in tie-dyed outfits played hacky sack, flung Frisbees and danced with their dogs to bootleg concert tapes. The faithful revered these like the Dead Sea Scrolls.

In her Free Press article headlined “Who Needs God When There’s the Grateful Dead?” Phillips perfectly captured the historical moment when this colorful afternoon among the Deadheads unfolded:

“I imagine if you were deeply invested, it would’ve been hard to watch the Dead go mainstream, after so many years of being a sort of secret society. In 1987, they produced their first Top 10 song, and things went crazy from there. MTV began playing the ‘Touch of Grey’ video. I saw frat-boy types wearing tie-dyes, and preppy kids from my suburban high school started going to shows.”

Yup — preppy kids, like many of my friends at Palisades High School in suburban Los Angeles. (We were college students and recent graduates by then.) I was the preppiest among my crew that April 17, but I was not — by far — the only guy out there in Top-Siders.

About this time, Jerry Garcia responded to his band’s finally entering Billboard’s Top 10 club: “I am appalled.”

Back in Irvine, the all-encompassing parking-lot festivities felt like the entire attraction. In fact, it was just the overture. Already sated, my friends reminded me that we were there to see a concert.

As dusk approached, we finally headed in for the Dead show. Rather than harmonies from hell, I heard the delightful sounds of what I call “psychedelic country rock.” The music was fun, upbeat, happy and beautiful.

It also was familiar. I remember hearing “Estimated Prophet” and asking, “Oh, a Grateful Dead song?” Also on the set list: “Truckin’.” I said, “I know this one. I’ve heard it on the radio. The Dead do this?”

Other tunes were brand-new to me. “Deal” was a raucous first-set closer that I immediately embraced and still cherish. “Friend of the Devil” and “Samson and Delilah” became instant favorites.

GRATEFUL DEAD’S ‘HELL IN A BUCKET’ DUCK GOT DRUNK ON SET, PAL POINTS TO WHO LIKELY MAKE IT HAPPEN

The recently departed Bob Weir was a standout on rhythm guitar and vocals. I instantly fell in love with the keyboard wizardry and raspy voice of the late Brent Mydland. The late Phil Lesh quietly kept things together on bass. Not one drummer but two — Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann, both still alive — kept the percussion popping.

And then, of course, there was the first among equals, the late lead guitarist Jerry Garcia. Although he was just 44 at that time, decades of less-than-pristine living made him look about 80. He was our rock ’n’ roll grandpa, and we were his grandchildren. His croaky voice, soaring leads and peaking crescendos fueled pure, unfiltered ecstasy. With Persian rugs on stage among the wooden guitars and gear, the scene felt like Jerry’s living room. He was playing. And even among some 16,000 fellow fans, the place could not have felt cozier or more intimate.

At the end of the show, Gill asked me, “What did you think?”

I laughed and replied, “Why didn’t you bring me sooner?”

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“I remember dragging you to that show, then catching you twirling around in the parking lot!” John Adams later recalled. “Hilarious. Hooked for life.”

That was my maiden voyage with the Grateful Dead.

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I returned for 70 more shows.

If this isn’t a religion, what is?

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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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Give the government an inch and they’ll seize your $200k home for a $2k debt

Local governments have a nasty habit of taking everything you’ve got and leaving you dry. That’s how Isabella County, Mich., treated the Pung family, whose case was heard on Wednesday, March 11, by the United States Supreme Court. The county foreclosed on the Pung family home for a tax debt of only $2,000. The kicker? Both the state’s Tax Tribunal and its Court of Appeals ruled that the Pungs didn’t even owe that tax in the first place. The response from the local tax assessor: “I don’t care.” The county took title to the Pungs’ home and auctioned it off for a fraction of its full value.

The Pungs’ lawsuit doesn’t focus on whether the tax was actually owed. Instead, the case addresses what the county must do after it takes someone’s entire house over a paltry 2,000 bucks. The home itself was worth about $200,000 — 100 times the amount of the tax debt. But the county hawked the property at a fire-sale auction for just $76,000, deducted the $2,000 debt, and returned the excess $74,000 to the Pungs. That means that about $118,000 of the Pungs’ equity was just wiped out.

Well — not quite. The auction purchaser quickly flipped the property for the $195,000 it was actually worth. For those keeping score: The government gets its $2,000, some private investor gets windfall profits, and the Pungs get shafted.

At oral argument, several justices expressed incredulity about the fairness of taking an entire home over such a trivial debt. But this is not the first time Michigan counties have taken the whole farm over small potatoes.

JACKSON-KAVANAUGH TENSIONS SURFACE IN CANDID EXCHANGE OVER SUPREME COURT ‘SHADOW DOCKET’

For example, Wayne County took a home owned by Erica Perez after she accidentally underpaid her 2014 property taxes by $144. Other than that one minor oversight, the Perez family had paid their taxes in full every year from when they purchased the property in 2013 until the county foreclosed on it in 2017. They even tried to pay their 2018 taxes, only to be told they no longer owned the home. They hadn’t realized that, because the government sent notice to the wrong address. The county then sold the property for $110,000 and kept every penny. The Perezes were left with nothing.

Oakland County took Uri Rafaeli’s rental property after a slight miscalculation resulted in his underpayment of $8.41. That is not a misprint: his home was seized over a debt of eight dollars and 41 cents. That’s less than the price of a Chipotle burrito.

When Rafaeli’s case reached the Michigan Supreme Court in 2019, Justice Richard Bernstein could hardly believe his ears: “You have a situation where people owed eight dollars, and they lost their house. How is that equitable?”

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

In another case, Sixth Circuit Judge Raymond Kethledge put an even finer point on it: “In some legal precincts, that sort of behavior is called theft.”

Rafaeli’s case was a landmark in Michigan. The state Supreme Court ruled, as a matter of state law, that the government’s confiscation of surplus equity after a tax sale violates the Takings Clause of the Michigan Constitution. Like its federal counterpart, that provision guarantees that the government cannot take property without paying just compensation.

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It would take nearly four more years before federal law would catch up. In the 2023 decision in Tyler v. Hennepin County, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that, as in Michigan, so it is everywhere: when the government takes more property than it is owed, it has to pay back the surplus — just like in every other debt collection context (imagine if the bank repossessed your car over eight bucks). 

But in Tyler, the court did not consider what exactly must be paid back. The Constitution requires “just compensation,” which usually means the fair market value of the property at the time it was taken. But some courts have measured the value of the property by whatever the government manages to get from selling it, even if the sale price is far below the property’s actual value. That’s the question at issue in the Pung case.

Oakland County took Uri Rafaeli’s rental property after a slight miscalculation resulted in his underpayment of $8.41. 

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The government has a legitimate interest in levying taxes. And when taxes go unpaid, it has several tools available to collect. But there is simply no reason why property owners should lose the equity in their homes over a small, simple mistake. As the Supreme Court said in Tyler, taxpayers must render unto Caesar that which is Caesar’s — but no more.

The Constitution is ill-served by any rule that lets the government off the hook for reimbursing the full value of the property they’ve taken. And any regime that permits windfall profits to governments or investors creates a perverse incentive for tax collectors to maximize their bounty at the expense of homeowners. Again and again, local governments have proven that if you give them an inch, they’ll take your home.

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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VICTORY GARDEN: Cut grocery bills and healthcare costs with one simple backyard habit

Walk through any grocery store in America right now, and you’ll see the same thing in every aisle. People staring at prices like they’re reading a foreign language.

A box of cereal at $8. A bag of chips for $6. Eggs and ground beef feel like luxuries. A simple couple of bags of groceries easily top $150. Washington politicians argue about inflation, supply chains and corporate profits. But there’s one obvious solution nobody seems to talk about anymore.

What if Americans had a mandate to grow their own food again?

BROOKE ROLLINS: YOUR THANKSGIVING DINNER COSTS LESS AND THAT’S A REASON TO GIVE THANKS

That’s not a radical idea. It’s actually how this country operated for most of its history.

Today, many middle and high school students graduate without knowing the most basic food skills, including how to plant a tomato, grow lettuce, compost soil or understand how long it actually takes food to grow.

We teach calculus, Shakespeare and trigonometry. All valuable subjects, but they won’t lower grocery prices. But somehow we’ve decided that food literacy and survival — meaning the ability to grow and understand food is simply neglected.

In an era of rising grocery prices that won’t go backwards no matter who is in the White House, that’s a huge mistake for America.

A single tomato plant can produce 20 to 30 pounds of tomatoes in one season. Don’t like tomatoes? Too bad. A modest backyard garden can generate hundreds of dollars of vegetables each year, including tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, lettuce, herbs and squash. There are systems today that can be used in apartments and townhomes that don’t have land to grow lettuce, herbs and more.

Multiply that across millions of American households, and you suddenly start reducing pressure on the grocery system itself. But the real benefit goes far beyond cheaper tomatoes.

Teaching kids how to grow food teaches them something our current education system struggles to deliver by explaining real-world economics. When a student plants seeds, tends soil, waters plants and waits weeks for the harvest, they learn lessons that no textbook can replicate.

SEC BROOKE ROLLINS: TRUMP BRINGS WHOLE MILK BACK TO SCHOOLS, UNDOING OBAMA’S WAR ON REAL FOOD

They learn to live off the land.

They learn effort equals reward.

They learn that food has value because it takes time and work to produce.

They also learn something else that’s increasingly rare in modern America. It’s where food actually comes from.

Ask a group of kids where carrots come from, and you’ll hear answers like “Publix” or “the grocery store.”

That disconnect from agriculture would have baffled earlier generations of Americans.

RICK PERRY: WHERE’S THE BEEF? TRUMP KNOWS AND HE’S TRYING TO MAKE IT AFFORDABLE

During World War II, Americans created what were known as Victory Gardens. More than 20 million households planted gardens in backyards, empty lots and community spaces. At one point, those gardens produced roughly 40% of the vegetables consumed in the United States. Let that sink in for a moment.

Nearly half of the country’s vegetables came from everyday citizens growing food themselves.

It wasn’t just patriotic. It was practical.

Today, we’re far more dependent on complex supply chains that stretch across continents. Fertilizer prices, transportation costs, labor shortages and global conflicts all ripple through the grocery store.

But a tomato plant in your backyard doesn’t care about global shipping routes.

That’s why every middle and high school in America should include a simple but powerful program: food literacy and school gardens.

It doesn’t require acres of farmland. Many schools already have unused green space. Raised beds, small gardens and seasonal planting programs could teach students:

• How soil works • How seeds grow • Seasonal food cycles • Composting and sustainability • Water conservation • Basic food preservation

The harvest could even go back into school cafeterias or local food banks.

AMERICA’S SMALLEST CATTLE HERD IN 70 YEARS MEANS REBUILDING WILL TAKE YEARS AND BEEF PRICES COULD STAY HIGH

And here’s where the idea becomes even more powerful.

Americans wouldn’t just save money. They would become healthier instead of getting addicted to processed foods.

Fresh vegetables grown in gardens are often more nutrient-rich than produce that travels thousands of miles through a national distribution chain. When families have easy access to fresh tomatoes, lettuce, cucumbers and herbs, they naturally eat more whole foods and fewer ultra-processed ones.

And that matters because America’s healthcare crisis is increasingly tied to diet.

According to the CDC, roughly 6 in 10 Americans live with at least one chronic disease such as heart disease, diabetes or obesity. Many of these conditions are heavily influenced by diet and lifestyle.

Healthcare costs tied to chronic disease now run into trillions of dollars annually.

Think about this connective tissue. If more Americans eat fresh food and fewer processed foods, long-term medical costs fall.

Gardening also encourages something else the country desperately needs, which is physical activity. Digging soil, planting beds, watering plants and maintaining a garden gets people outside and moving instead of sitting indoors. Heck, I made a ton as a kid raking leaves and now all people want to do is blow them.

In other words, growing food improves both sides of the family budget:

PRESIDENT TRUMP IS TAKING IMPORTANT, STRATEGIC STEPS TO PROTECT AMERICAN CONSUMERS

Lower grocery bills. Lower medical bills. That’s a powerful one-two punch solution for American households. The biggest benefit might be something less measurable.

It restores a sense of independence.

Americans are used to solving problems with bigger government programs, more subsidies or more regulations. Sometimes the solution is simpler.

Give people knowledge and tools.

A generation that knows how to grow food is a generation that is less vulnerable to price shocks, supply disruptions and inflation. You may not be able to grow everything you eat. But even producing a portion of your food creates resilience.

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And maybe, just maybe it teaches the next generation something deeper about self-reliance, responsibility and the value of hard work.

Because the cheapest vegetables you’ll ever buy…are the ones you grow yourself.

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I served with my dog Dasty in Afghanistan. Dogs are man’s best friend on the battlefield

America is celebrating its 250th anniversary this year, a milestone made possible by the service members who have answered the call of duty since 1776. But the story of our country — and how we got here — is incomplete without including the contributions of the four-legged heroes who have served alongside our brave men and women in uniform. 

These dogs deserve an extra treat and belly rub this Canine Veterans Day (March 13) — especially my Dutch Shepherd, Dasty.

Courageous canines have fought alongside U.S. troops since the Revolutionary War, helping guard munitions stockpiles and serving as battlefield messengers. Fast-forward more than 150 years, and the K-9 Corps was officially formed during World War II, with roughly 1,600 working dogs now serving in our armed forces.

Whether as bomb sniffers, trackers or assault support units, the American soldier has no better ally than man’s best friend. My four-legged sidekick is part of this patriotic legacy.

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Our story began in 2018 when I was paired with Dasty — 3 years old at the time — at Fort Huachuca out west. Although we initially worked alongside the base police department, we were soon sent to Missouri for explosive detection training, a 60-day course that taught us to work as a team to uncover deadly weapons. From there, we deployed to Afghanistan. 

Dasty and I shared a modest tent at Forward Operating Base Dahlke in the Logar Province, where twin-sized mattresses awaited both of us. My canine partner provided a huge morale boost on base and, as you can imagine, was quite popular among the service members. Other soldiers frequented our tent just to spend time with Dasty — petting sessions that I can assure you he enjoyed just as much as they did. 

Beyond bringing comfort to soldiers far from home, Dasty also saved lives. He located enemy IEDs and weapons, which too often prove deadly to American service members, and performed admirably in combat situations. While under enemy contact, Dasty stayed calm and focused.

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After the deployment ended, we returned to the states and were stationed at a military base in Northern Virginia, where Dasty’s important work continued. We participated in multiple Secret Service missions for both Presidents Joe Biden and Donald Trump, and we also helped train other military canine teams. It was gratifying to see others form such strong bonds with their dogs — a type of relationship that I had come to treasure in my own life.

Finally, in 2022, I said goodbye to the Army to pursue a new career in Wisconsin and spend more time with my family. While I was looking forward to the next phase of my life, the change meant I had to part ways with Dasty, who would remain in the military — a heartbreaking separation that I hoped would not last forever. Thankfully, we had one final chapter.

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When it was time for Dasty to retire two years later, I contacted the American Humane Society — which my wife had heard about — to see if they could help reunite us. The organization stepped up in a big way by flying Dasty from Arlington, Va., to my home in Green Bay, Wisc., and pledging to cover any future veterinary bills. The financial support proved invaluable just a few months ago when the nonprofit paid for a spinal surgery that restored Dasty’s ability to walk. 

U.S. military dogs are paws-on-the-ground all around the world — helping safeguard American lives and advance strategic national security interests as we mark 250 years of independence. Dasty is one of these loyal and patriotic heroes who deserves recognition. Now, finally off duty, he can fetch some well-earned rest — and a chew toy. 

Trump’s Operation Epic Fury proves Reagan-style peace through strength is back

In just a few days, Operation Epic Fury has eliminated Iran’s leadership, degraded its capacity to terrorize the West, and — for the moment — united the Middle East and most of the world around a vital American interest.

It’s still early, of course. But so far, President Donald Trump has achieved a strategic masterstroke. He has done so by reviving America’s oldest, simplest and best national security policy: peace through strength.

Yet Washington Democrats are blasting the president for ordering the attacks at all. They still cling, bitterly, to President Barack Obama’s delusion of pacifying the ayatollahs through diplomacy and appeasement, not only lifting sanctions but literally delivering pallets of cash to one of America’s most dangerous enemies. On the other side of the aisle, some principled MAGA conservatives are understandably wary of another forever war in the Middle East.

TRUMP’S STRIKE ON IRAN DEALS A MAJOR BLOW TO PUTIN’S WAR MACHINE IN UKRAINE

But both critiques misapprehend this mission, this commander in chief, and his national security strategy.

First, the president’s Go order Friday morning was not a rejection of diplomacy. It was an acknowledgment that diplomacy with Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was impossible. Eight American presidents have tried to deal with Iran since the 1979 revolution. After 47 years of theft, murder and terror, even Donald Trump was forced to acknowledge there was no deal there for America to make.

Diplomacy that isn’t ultimately backstopped by force isn’t diplomacy. It’s weakness — the kind that invites rather than prevents wars.

Once Trump decided to act, he ensured our troops would work hand-in-glove with the region’s most lethal military and best intelligence, courtesy of our friends in Israel.

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

Second, Donald Trump is neither a Messianic crusader nor a naive nation-builder. He has been president for five years, and the closest thing to a “forever war” he has ever started was his boycott of the White House Correspondents Dinner – and even that is coming to an end. Trump has been a peaceable president and, indeed, a peacemaker. His military interventions have been uniformly swift, decisive and effective.

Peace through strength is most associated with Ronald Reagan’s approach during the Cold War. But its principles can be seen in the foreign policies — however diverse in application — of Richard Nixon, Franklin and Theodore Roosevelt, and the Founding generation.

George Washington said, “To be prepared for war is one of the most effective means of preserving peace.” So is applying overwhelming force to quickly resolve discrete, urgent national threats diplomacy cannot. Trump has hewn closer to both rules than any president in a generation.

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As the Heritage Foundation documents in our new 2026 Index of Military Strength, President Trump has built his administration, our armed forces, and his global strategy around the defense of America’s vital interests. Remnants of his predecessors’ globalism and politicization still rattle around the federal budget and nat-sec bureaucracy. But Trump is reforming our military more rapidly and comprehensively than most experts give him credit for.

It’s not luck.

Trump’s pragmatic peace-through-strength approach protects himself, our troops, and our nation from potential quagmires. Even as spirits are running high this week, Trump speaks humbly about the narrow, modest goals of the Iran war: decapitate and defang the regime and then hand the country over to the Iranian people.

GREGG JARRETT: DEMOCRAT WAR POWERS VOTE WAS AN UNCONSTITUTIONAL WAY TO HALT IRAN STRIKES

No chest-thumping about a New World Order. No cringy, “Islam means peace” pandering. No “cakewalk” hubris. Just a straightforward settling of accounts with the beating heart of global terrorism and the oil-rich co-conspirator in Russian and Chinese mischief.

In a just world, Epic Fury would put an end to the GOP Establishment’s habit of smearing the America First Right as “isolationist.” Conservative critics of Bush-era adventurism were never any such thing. That is why most of us are cheering Trump’s leadership in Iran today.

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A targeted, overwhelming military response to decades of violent aggression and years of diplomatic stonewalling is what peace through strength looks like. So do President Trump and War Secretary Pete Hegseth’s reforms of the Pentagon budget. So do Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s frank, but friendly speeches, at the last two Munich Security Conferences.

Operation Epic Fury, like President Trump’s prior interventions in Iran and Venezuela, do not contradict his peace-brokering in Russia, Ukraine and elsewhere. They are all applications of peace through strength, the only American foreign policy that has ever really worked.

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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.

‘THE PEOPLE’S QUR’AN’: MAMDANI ANNOUNCES NYC QUR’AN EXHIBIT WITH BOOK BELONGING TO REVOLUTIONARY ACTIVIST

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.

SCHUMER ONCE BLOCKED TRUMP’S MOVE TO FILL THE NATION’S OIL RESERVES, NOW HE WANTS THEM OPENED

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.

THE WAR HITS HOME: WHY FINANCIAL PAIN AND ECONOMIC UNCERTAINTY THREATEN TRUMP’S DRIVE TO TOPPLE IRAN’S REGIME

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.”

EX-NAVY SEAL WARNS WITHDRAWING FROM IRAN NOW WOULD HAND ‘VICTORY’ TO REGIME

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.

TED CRUZ SHUTS DOWN EXTENDED IRAN WAR TALK, SAYS IT’S ‘NOT IRAQ’ AMID OIL PRICE SPIKE

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.

TANKERS TO RESUME NORMAL MOVEMENT IN MIDDLE EAST IN ‘A FEW WEEKS’ AT WORST, ENERGY SEC SAYS, ENDING OIL SURGE

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!

HEGSETH BLASTS BRITS, SAYS IRAN’S CHAOTIC RETALIATION HAS DRIVEN ITS OWN ALLIES ‘INTO THE AMERICAN ORBIT’

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.

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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.

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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?

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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?

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.