DAVID MARCUS: Secure border brings plummeting overdose deaths, but don’t expect Trump to get credit

These days, it seems like the hardest thing to come across in the United States of America is something that all of us can celebrate as unambiguous good news. Well, you would think the steady and substantial decrease in drug overdoses over the past two years would fit the bill..

The only problem for the legacy news media is how to tell this happy story without giving any credit to President Donald Trump.

In 2022, under the disastrous Biden administration, opioid overdose deaths peaked at a shocking 110,000. In 2025 under Trump, that number was an estimated 73,000. It is true that the decline began during Biden’s final year in office, once the people actually running the country acknowledged that border security was an election-year issue. But last year’s number was down 21% from Biden’s last year in office.

A drop of 37,000 this year from the 2022 annual peak is truly a miracle. For perspective, 58,220 American lives were lost in the Vietnam War. Trust me, to the extent you hear this good news at all, it will be framed as a trend begun by Grandpa Joe.

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That’s like giving a serial arsonist credit for stubbing out one lit cigarette.

Much of Biden’s final year in office is reminiscent of Bill Cosby’s joke about kindly grandparents who were brutal to their own kids, “You are looking at an old person trying to get into heaven,” he quipped. In Biden’s case, just replace heaven with getting reelected.

Whatever the motivation, we should be happy and grateful that the previous administration oversaw tens of thousands of fewer tragic overdose deaths, even if it took them a while, and we should be overjoyed that, under Trump, that number is diving even lower.

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Frankly, there are approximately as many supposed explanations for this drop in overdoses as there are experts to proffer them. Some credit new regulations around fentanyl in China, others the widespread availability of anti-overdose drugs like Naloxone, still others credit treatment programs.

What you hear less about are the major interdiction efforts by the Trump administration. In one week-long operational surge in September of last year, the Drug Enforcement Agency seized 200 pounds of fentanyl powder from the Jalisco New Generation drug cartel, more than enough to kill everyone in most American states.

Add to this the fact that for the first time, maybe ever, the U.S. has a southern border that doesn’t resemble a spaghetti strainer leaking drugs and the illegal immigrants who trade in them.

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The Trump administration has brought inflation under control, and overseen an increase in real wages that may well be walking many at-risk Americans off of the bridge of despair and into purposeful lives.

One also ought not whistle past the upswing in church attendance, especially among the young, when accounting for lowered overdose deaths. Religion has often been called “the opiate of the masses,” a phrase borrowed from Karl Marx, for a reason. Well, it certainly beats real opioid addiction.

All of these positive trends under Trump, added up, have created a situation where some doctors say they have gone from seeing 10 to 12 overdoses a day to only one or two.

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Whether it is through his secure border, his attacks on Venezuelan drug-running boats or even his trade negotiations with China, Trump has prioritized stemming the flow of deadly drugs into our nation, and it’s working.

Politics, especially these days, can seem like a game show. Who is putting points on the board? What do the polls say? Where are the prediction markets?

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But politics is much more than that, and because of Trump’s sound policies, tens of thousands of Americans enjoyed the holidays with their families, who otherwise would have been represented by a mournful empty chair.

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The inability, or the unwillingness, of the legacy news media to celebrate any accomplishment by Trump, even one as unalloyed as saving lives from overdoses, remains the greatest and most obvious stain on its crumbling credibility.

If the administration can keep this trend going, if fewer and fewer of our brothers and sisters succumb to the slow death of opioids, then whether Trump gets the credit or not, it will be a cause for great joy. Actually, it already is.

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DR MARC SIEGEL: America, beware of false weight loss gods

Oprah Winfrey is on a tour promoting her new book, “Enough: Your Weight and What It’s Like to Be Free.” In 2023, she reportedly had one of her famous “aha” moments, this time realizing her road to personal freedom involved GLP-1 agonist drugs.

She stopped seeing obesity as a personal failure and began viewing GLP-1s as a way to “quiet the noise” that comes with constantly wanting to eat. In her telling, she was suddenly free.

Don’t get me wrong, I believe Oprah’s “aha moments” are real, and I also see the great value of GLP-1 drugs, especially in a society where nearly 70% of the population is either overweight or obese. 

I also like the way these drugs work, decreasing hunger signals in the brain and delaying gastric emptying, which have added benefits that may include reducing the desire for alcohol, improving insulin efficiency and decreasing inflammation in the body. They lower blood pressure, reduce cholesterol levels and improve cardiac function, which is one of the reasons so many cardiologists are taking them. 

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But they are also false gods. They are powerful tools for physicians and their patients, but they do not take the place of treating your body like a temple and honoring it by exercising more, sleeping better and eating healthier foods. The place to start is not with GLP-1 drugs. They are not medical miracles all by themselves.

They are also part of a larger problem where people rush to shots and pills for solutions without fully examining the underlying cause. Of course, as a practicing internist, it is important to me that I help you get your weight down by whatever safe means necessary because of the strong association between obesity and the risk of heart disease, diabetes, stroke, high blood pressure and several kinds of cancer, including breast, colon, liver, and pancreatic cancer. 

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GLP-1 drugs are not miracle workers. They are simply effective tools in a trained doctor’s arsenal to fight obesity.

Worshiping them can lead to dependence that is difficult to break, and when they are stopped, patients (including Oprah) often find themselves regaining the weight.

Holding these drugs out as the only effective solution also opens the door for charlatans to use them to proselytize many into taking ripoffs and cheap alternatives sold through online pharmacies that may be medically dangerous.

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It is a more fundamental approach to look at the food we eat and to embrace the MAHA — “Make America Healthy Again” — movement’s emphasis on whole foods, with a declared war on ultra-processed food.

God didn’t put us on the planet to pollute our bodies with chemical dyes or synthetic flavors or sweeteners that draw us into a world of unhealthy addiction.

Replacing an addiction to unhealthy foods with a dependence on GLP-1 drugs is not the only viable long-term solution.

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Keep in mind that losing weight can also be associated with your faith, seeing your body as sacred, aligning spiritual discipline with healthy eating and exercise and seeking comfort in God rather than in food.

In fact, there are many prayers throughout the Bible that may help us down the road to treating obesity. Here is one of my favorites:

“Your Word says my body is Your temple, and I am responsible for stewarding this gift. I choose today to make right choices regarding the foods I eat. I will not eat more than my body needs, and I will not fill my mouth with foods that are unhealthy, such as excessive sugar and carbohydrates. I refuse to live a life of gluttony and instead clothe myself in self-control and healthy living, so I may serve You well.” 

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Can the hunger “noise” that Oprah speaks of be quieted by the GLP-1 weight loss drugs? The answer is yes. These drugs are miracles of modern science. But the way to a thinner future can also be found through a healing hymn, prayer and spiritual healing that may provide the path to a more permanent solution than any injection alone.

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PAUL ‘TRIPLE H’ LEVESQUE: I went from 130 pounds to a world champ. We all must get fit

At 14, I was about six feet tall, pimple-faced and 130 pounds soaking wet. I remember because that was the year I joined a gym. It was on Daniel Webster Highway, not far from my house in Nashua, N.H., and my mother said she’d drive me as long as I kept up my grades.  

I’ll never forget the sounds that greeted me as I walked through the door: the clank of the weights, plates being loaded onto the machines, the grunts that came with each rep. I remember thinking: powerful stuff is happening here. In fact, it was more than that. It was transformative. I couldn’t do a single pull-up when I started. Fortunately, some of the older guys encouraged me, giving me tips on everything from technique to nutrition. Suddenly, I was hooked. The gym helped me think of myself in a different way. It allowed me envision what I wanted to be. For me, working out illuminated a destination.  

Now I’m not suggesting that you become a WWE Superstar or even an athlete. You do you. Just understand that a fitness regimen — doesn’t have to be clanking weights in a gym — will help you get there. And I’m imploring you, and your kids, to start right now. It will make you all better, sharper, healthier.  

TRUMP SIGNS EXECUTIVE ORDER TO REESTABLISH PRESIDENTIAL FITNESS TEST

This year will mark the 70th anniversary of the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness and Nutrition, founded by President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Now, President Donald Trump is revitalizing the council and reviving a core tenet, the Presidential Fitness Test. We will work with schools and communities across the country to encourage Americans of every generation to be healthier, stronger and more active in their daily lives.

Here’s the deal: our health has dramatically declined over the past few decades. Americans are increasingly sedentary and lacking nutritious diets. Our children, in particular, are facing a crisis. Rates of chronic disease and poor nutrition are through the roof. Childhood diabetes is increasing at an alarming rate. One in five American kids are obese — a 270% increase from 50 years ago — and obese children are five times more likely to remain overweight in adulthood.  

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Bottom line: We’re allowing our kids to eat super-sized portions of ultra-processed food, and spend too much time on their butts, looking at screens. Kids don’t play outside anymore. Schools rarely instill the lifestyle practices to live healthy lives — exercise, proper nutrition and the inclination to challenge oneself. 

We can’t continue this way. 

It’s why those of us at the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness, and Nutrition are so committed to reversing this calamity and revolutionizing Americans’ health and fitness, especially for the next generation.

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It’s vital to take care of ourselves physically. But it’s even more crucial to set an example. Kids don’t just listen, they observe. The good news is, it’s not that complicated. You don’t have to spend hours pumping iron or start training for a marathon. 

Just a daily 15-minute walk significantly reduces one’s risk of early mortality. So, get outside, move, begin pushing yourself. Start small, progress gradually — as long as you keep showing up. Remember: It’s not just about you. It’s about your kids.   

Physical fitness is a lot more than being strong, fast, or playing varsity sports. Actually, I’m not writing this for those who already think of themselves as athletes so much as those who don’t. I’d tell them the same thing I told my own daughters when they said something was hard.

The reward is on the other side of difficult.  

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It doesn’t matter if you can’t do a single pullup, pushup or sit-up. It matters if you try. If you keep trying, you will. Working out will give you discipline. Discipline will give you confidence. It will open up a door to the possible. That’s what this is really about. 

A physical fitness regimen changes you as a person. It changes the trajectory of your life. So, I’m asking, on behalf of the president: are you ready? 

GREGG JARRETT: Trump has authority to send troops to Minneapolis to stop attacks on ICE

If President Donald Trump decides to invoke the Insurrection Act to deploy the military into Minneapolis to halt anti-ICE violence, the state’s elected leaders have only themselves to blame.   

Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey purposely lit a fuse on the powder keg of unrest immediately after last week’s tragic shooting of a motorist in a confrontation with federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).  

Without waiting for the facts to emerge, Frey called the claim of self-defense “bulls—” and shouted for ICE to get the f–k out of Minneapolis.” As demonstrations devolved into bedlam and violence, Frey blamed federal agents. That’s like blaming a bank for enticing the robber.  

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Not to be outdone, Walz tossed high-octane gasoline on the blaze.  

Having previously denounced ICE as a “modern-day Gestapo,” the governor praised protesters while accusing ICE of imagined “atrocities” and “organized brutality.” It was music to the ears of activists who screamed, “Nazis!” and “fascists!” in the agents’ faces. 

Fiery remarks tend to ignite fires.  

So, inevitably, more ugly clashes erupted on the streets as crowds raged. An American flag was burned. Rioters and organized groups alike harassed and obstructed ICE. Some used their SUVs to block agents. Others conspired to “de-arrest” suspects. Never mind that interfering with federal law enforcement constitutes crimes.  

It escalated after a second shooting when a federal officer was ambushed and beaten as he tried to effectuate a legitimate arrest. Agitators hurled rocks, bottles and fireworks at ICE agents. Federal vehicles were vandalized and looted.  

One demolished car was defaced with graffiti that read, “Hang Kristi Noem,” the Homeland Security Secretary. The angry mob also spray-painted the words, “The only good agent is a dead one.”     

As bedlam reigned, local police did little or nothing to stem the chaos. That should come as no surprise in this notorious sanctuary city where the fanciful rights and privileges of illegal migrants supersede the rights of law-abiding citizens.      

Deputy U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche warned, “The Minnesota insurrection is a direct result of a failed governor and a terrible mayor encouraging violence against law enforcement. It’s disgusting.” Blanche’s use of the word “insurrection” was both correct and deliberate. 

It is broadly defined as a violent uprising or revolt against government authority. 

As the violence swelled, President Trump threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act if Minnesota’s leaders refused to protect federal officers and ensure public safety. He has the legal right and power to do so.  

This would mean flooding the city with military forces instead of federalizing the National Guard, as he has done elsewhere to suppress civil disorder arising from the enforcement of immigration laws. 

As I explained in two earlier columns, the Insurrection Act has been utilized numerous times in American history by previous presidents. In 1957, President Dwight Eisenhower sent U.S. troops to Little Rock, Arkansas, to enforce federal civil rights laws in the face of a hostile governor and mob violence.  

President John F. Kennedy did the same thing in both Mississippi and Alabama. President George H. W. Bush dispatched troops to Los Angeles in 1992 to bring rioting under control where local authorities failed or refused. In all, fifteen Presidents have employed the Insurrection Act dating all the way back to Thomas Jefferson.

Uninformed critics erroneously assert that Trump is barred from acting by the Posse Comitatus Act, which prohibits the use of federal troops for policing on domestic soil. This is a frivolous argument since the Insurrection Act is a well-established exception to Posse Comitatus. 

In the recent legal kerfuffle over National Guard troops, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh emphasized “the president’s long-asserted Article II authority to use the U.S. military (as distinct from the National Guard) to protect federal personnel and property and thereby ensure the execution of federal law.”  

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That is precisely what Trump would do in Minneapolis — protect ICE agents and their federal property from the ongoing violence while enforcing immigration and deportation laws. But, he also has the authority to quell the general rioting, as Bush did.  

When and whether to invoke the Act is an exclusive power of the president. However, it does not mean that exerting it is the most prudent or wise decision. In its Friday editorial, The Wall Street Journal counseled against it.  

The Journal argues that “events in Minnesota are so far nowhere near the standard for riots and destruction that would justify such a move.” Moreover, calling in federal troops “could incite more protests.” Finally, it is an election year, which presents its own calculus.   

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These are fair points and are surely part of President Trump’s deliberations.  

Having the power to act can be tempting. But wisdom is also found in restraint.  

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BROADCAST BIAS: How the media relentlessly frames ICE and Trump as villains

For more than 70 years, there has been at least one evening news program airing on a broadcast network in America. These shows, all of which air at the same time in the evening, are often referred to as the “nightly news,” but in the age of 24/7 news coverage, they would be better labeled as the ultra-liberal “nightly narrative” from ABC, CBS, NBC and PBS.

The second week of negative network-news coverage of “tensions” over ICE activities in the Twin Cities underline how narratives are built and can be repeated for days and weeks.

1. Trump’s political opponents are not identified as Democrats. George Stephanopoulos led off “Good Morning America” on Tuesday: “Fighting back. Minnesota and Illinois are taking Homeland Security to court over the surge in immigration officers. Minnesota calls it a federal invasion of the Twin Cities days after a mother of three was shot and killed by ICE agents. Illinois accuses the Trump administration of creating a climate of fear.” 

It’s not Gov. Tim Walz or Gov. J.B. Pritzker fighting Trump, Democrats vs. Republicans. It’s just two states versus Trump.

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On screen, ABC played a hot soundbite from Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey with an unspoken “D” on screen, but reporter Faith Abubey repeated the Stephanopoulos phrasing: “Minnesota accusing DHS of engaging in unconstitutional stops and arrests, brandishing weapons and dragging people out of schools and hospitals.” It implies an entire state’s population is staunchly opposing Trump and ICE. Abubey also cited the “Hennepin County Attorney” would be probing the ICE agent who shot Renee Good, without stating that official is an elected Democrat.

Over on CBS, morning co-host Gayle King — the one who vacations with the Obamas and has donated tens of thousands to Democrats — shared this framing: “We’re going to begin with the latest pushback to President Trump’s anti-immigration tactics. It’s a new lawsuit filed by the state of Minnesota and the Twin Cities. Now, officials there allege that ICE agents have invaded the area, wreaking havoc, they say, and violating residents’ constitutional rights.”

This is exactly how these networks covered elected Democrats, from Letitia James to Fani Willis prosecuting Trump. They weren’t elected Democrats, they were just prosecutors, with nonpartisanship falsely implied.

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2. Anti-ICE protesters aren’t identified as ideological. On the Tuesday “Today” show, NBC co-host Craig Melvin summarized: “More outrage in Minneapolis. Protesters clashing with federal immigration agents again. Minnesota officials suing the Trump administration over the growing deployment of federal officers.” Seconds later, Melvin repeated: “We begin with the growing tensions in Minneapolis, after yet another heated clash between protesters and federal agents, and now city and state officials are suing the Trump administration over the deployment of federal officers there.”

3. Leftist protesters are almost always peaceful. Network reporters heavily underlined the force used by ICE agents — people dragged out of their cars and taken into custody — but weren’t emphasizing violence against agents by protesters or illegal immigrants. On Thursday morning, after three illegal aliens beat a man with a broom handle and a shovel, and he shot one in self-defense, the violence was emphasized on one side.

CBS morning co-host Nate Burleson announced the narrative on Thursday: “We begin in Minnesota where there’s another shooting involving ICE. This time, the man was shot in the leg. The shooting prompted a new round of protests last night and federal agents once again used controversial tactics against the demonstrators.”

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So it’s not a “controversial tactic” for illegal aliens to brutalize an ICE agent.

On Thursday night’s “PBS News Hour,” anchor Amna Nawaz began: “Protesters clashed with ICE agents in Minneapolis again today after a man was shot and wounded when he allegedly assaulted federal officers.” The words “shovel” and “broom handle” never emerged on PBS, and the assault had been “allegedly” committed.

The AP dispatch PBS posted online at least mentioned the weapons used. “A federal officer shot a man in the leg in Minneapolis after being attacked with a shovel and broom handle while trying to make an arrest Wednesday, officials said.”

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PBS briefly touched on violence, as something condemned by the police (if not by journalists): “The city’s police chief said yesterday went too far when protesters hurled rocks and fireworks at law enforcement.”

On Thursday night’s badly titled NPR newscast “All Things Considered,” correspondent Jasmine Garsd, who routinely reports from a place of wokeness, couldn’t consider an ICE agent’s perspective. She mentioned the Department of Homeland Security issued a statement that an agent had been attacked with a shovel and a broom handle, but the protesters sounded like the real victims.

“The Trump administration is calling protesters professional agitators and insurrectionists,” Garsd lamented. “I met a lot of families there, older adults, different ethnicities. It was a very mixed group. I spoke to a nurse who said she’s afraid of ICE retaliation for protesting. She wanted to only be referred to by her first name, Karen. And she asked me, ‘Is it normal how scared I am right now?’”

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4. Some facts can never be established as facts. On Thursday morning, CBS reporter Lana Zak was still casting doubt that the ICE agent was struck by Renee Good’s SUV: “As for Jonathan Ross, the agent who shot and killed Renee Good, the DHS has said he was also acting in self-defense. They said yesterday that he suffered internal bleeding. We still don’t know the extent really of those injuries and, from the video, it is not clear whether or not the car made contact with him and — and how forceful it may have been.”

This is like arguing that CBS still cannot confirm that Dan Rather used phony National Guard documents in trying to ruin George W. Bush. Facts aren’t stubborn things with these people. They’re always malleable to whatever their current political objectives are.

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DAVID MARCUS: Gen X knows the only force that can defeat violent leftist protest culture

At 250 years old, there isn’t much that the United States of America hasn’t gone through, and this includes periods of intense political protest and violence, the last of which ended roughly in the late 1970s. The ‘80s and ’90s were not completely protest-free, but they were not protest-driven.

Most of Generation X, the young would-be protesters of the time, saw little purpose to it because, by and large, we liked America. We thought it was doing good in the world, and it also just seemed like a lot of effort.

By 1999, a chair would fly through a window in Seattle during the World Trade Organization protests. In 2011, Wall Street would be “occupied,” and in 2020, many American cities were ablaze, ostensibly over the death of George Floyd.

Protest culture was back, with a vengeance.

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Today, as the battle of Minneapolis rages, not just rhetorically but in physical confrontation, we mourn the death of Renee Good, while we still reel from the assassination of Charlie Kirk. It feels like our nation is back in the deadly maelstrom of 1960s and ’70s violent protest.

So what was it, back at the end of the 1970s that brought America out of the nosedive of near constant political protest and violence? Looking at the record of events, one answer stands out more than any other: Patriotism.

There is some symmetry here, for in 1976 the U.S. celebrated its bicentennial, and just as will be happening this year for the semiquincentennial (fine, we’ll just call it 250th), there were vast patriotic celebrations across the land.

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Heading into the bicentennial, America was still suffering from the failures of Vietnam and the disgrace of Watergate, not so different from our own relationship to the wars of Iraq and Afghanistan, not to mention the scandal of Joe Biden’s absentee presidency.

Something began to change in 1976. It marked the beginning of an anti-American fever breaking, and there was a man to lead this movement, a man named Ronald Reagan, whose presidency, in his own words, would bring back “morning in America.”

For those old enough to remember it, the 1980s were a time of shocking new patriotism. We listened to “Born in the USA” (hilariously missing Bruce Springsteen’s intended point) and watched Rocky Balboa knock out Soviet Ivan Drago and the whole nation cheered our Olympians like sprinter Carl Lewis and gymnast Mary Lou Retton. All of it was quite sincere.

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As for protests in the 1980s and ’90s, exceptions such as anti-apartheid sit-ins and the 1992 LA riots, proved the rule, Gen X teens and young adults mocked their boomer parents’ tales of anti-government agitating glory days and had no intention of repeating them.

At the end of the day, in those final two decades of the 2nd millennium AD, there wasn’t a whole lot for Americans to protest. We had won the Cold War and were the world’s only superpower. For all the world, it looked like if we could fix the Y2K computer glitch, we’d be good as gold.

So, how on Earth did the first two decades of the 21st century bring us squarely back to a place of violent protest clashes and political murder? Once again, the central theme here is patriotism, but this time, its swift diminution.

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By the 2000s, political correctness, soon to metastasize into wokeness, had already changed our education system into one that always first and foremost finds a way to blame America and the West for all the woes of the world.

Our history was no longer taught as the imperfect tale of a nation making great strides toward equality of opportunity, but rather as a fixed power structure, always propping up mediocre White men, always suppressing magical minorities.

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Our television shows would begin to tell us that America really isn’t the greatest nation on Earth, that it’s a lie and, in fact, we are an ignorant bully which needs to cede more power (while still paying for everything, of course).

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It is ugly rhetoric that has brought us to an ugly place.

Over the next three years, with the 250th birthday of the nation, the hosting of the World Cup and the Olympics, and further possible foreign policy victories under President Trump around the globe, we can see a chance for patriotism to rise again, just as it did at the dawn of the 1980s.

A Gallup poll last year showed that only 36% of Democrats are extremely or very proud to be American, with Republicans at a staggering 92%, and independents, as usual, stuck in the middle at 53%.

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There is likely no form of measure more predictive of who one will vote for and whether one will protest than if one is proud of the country. In many ways, it is the central divide that explains so much of the mayhem of violence we see today.

Patriotism is the answer. Patriotism is what our nation so badly needs, and the good news is that all of us can exhibit and celebrate it every day.

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MIKE DAVIS: What is happening in Minnesota is why we have the Insurrection Act

Minnesota reeks of corruption and incompetence. Gov. Tim Walz presided over a fraud catastrophe that prosecutors say could top $9 billion, authorized tampons in boys’ bathrooms and bungled virtually every aspect of governance. Now, he outdoes himself by claiming Minnesota stands “at war” with the federal government and portraying federal law enforcement as an occupying force. Radical leftists riot once again in Minneapolis’ streets, assault ICE officers, and openly flout the law. Enough is enough. President Trump must invoke the Insurrection Act of 1807 and restore order.

Sanctuary states and cities cripple federal law enforcement. Leftist leaders refuse to assist the federal government in enforcing immigration law, including the outrageous refusal to honor federal detainers for illegal immigrants arrested for other crimes. When state jails release illegal immigrants, officials fail to notify ICE. Agents must track fugitives on the streets instead of making safe arrests inside jails, exposing themselves and the public to unnecessary danger. Sanctuary policies shield murderers, pedophiles, drug dealers, and armed robbers from deportation.

The latest outrage surrounds the fatal shooting of Renee Good, a radical anti-ICE agitator who called herself a “legal observer.” That label grants no immunity. Good blocked roads and boxed in ICE vehicles, which is illegal obstruction. When an ICE Agent ordered Good out of her SUV, she drove off and struck another agent, who sustained internal injuries and fired at Good to protect his life and the lives of others. An SUV weighing thousands of pounds obviously constitutes a deadly weapon. A mother behind the wheel can inflict the same harm as any large man with a firearm.

Leftists maliciously call the ICE agent a murderer. They lie. Only Good’s partner, Becca, could face felony-murder criminal liability if a jury finds Renee’s death resulted from Becca’s felonious misconduct. Becca urged her to “Drive, baby, drive!” A jury could find she conspired to obstruct ICE, instigating the attack that forced her partner’s lethal restraint. Becca must face the full weight of the law.

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Renee Good’s death unleashed predictable leftist chaos. Walz, ever the agitator, mused about using the Minnesota National Guard against the federal government and repeatedly described the state as “at war” with the U.S. government. Anti-ICE radicals looted federal vehicles, stole sensitive documents, and doxxed ICE agents online. They terrorize law enforcement with impunity–and Walz’ complicity.

Minnesota openly defies the Supremacy Clause, which makes federal law supreme. Immigration enforcement remains an exclusive federal responsibility, yet blue states filed absurd and frivolous Tenth Amendment lawsuits seeking to expel ICE. No court precedent supports their claim. If their theory held, segregationist states during Jim Crow could have barred federal civil-rights enforcement. Red states cooperate fully with ICE, while Minnesota wallows in chaos.

Minnesota’s lawlessness has gone unchecked. Walz, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, and other leftist officials refuse to act and even encourage left-wing law breaking. Police watch rioters loot an ICE vehicle and attack federal officers without intervention.

SECRETARY NOEM SAYS GOV WALZ REJECTED DHS HELP AS PROTESTS GRIP MINNEAPOLIS

Because Walz and Frey caused open-season on federal immigration officials doing their jobs by enforcing federal immigration laws, Trump can and should federalize the Minnesota National Guard and deploy active-duty military members under the Insurrection Act. Indeed, this is textbook insurrection. History provides precedent. In 1992, President George H.W. Bush invoked the Insurrection Act to quell riots in Los Angeles following the Rodney King verdict. Minnesota faces at least an equally dire threat, as radical thugs target federal officers enforcing federal laws. If Walz and Frey have their way, their Somali warlord, pirate, and fraudster political allies will replicate Black Hawk Down in Minneapolis instead of Mogadishu.

Trump previously deployed the National Guard to restore order in Chicago, Los Angeles and Portland, Ore.. Despite the immediate drop in crime and the resulting lives saved, the Supreme Court blinked, misinterpreted the law, and limited the president’s authority under ordinary statutes. Justice Kavanaugh noted that the Supreme Court did not address the Insurrection Act. ICE agents now face imminent danger. Trump cannot reduce enforcement. Doing so would surrender to domestic terrorists. He must wield the Insurrection Act decisively. Lawsuits will follow, but the rule of law demands immediate action.

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Invocation alone cannot stop this threat. Federal prosecutors must hold these Minnesota insurrectionists accountable. Walz, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison and Hennepin County Soros prosecutor Mary Moriarty refuse to enforce the law. Federal grand juries must indict them for insurrection, seditious conspiracy, harboring illegal aliens, assault on federal officers, obstruction of justice, conspiracy, and many other serious federal felonies. Walz must face investigation for the Somali daycare fraud scandal, which allegedly amounted to at least $9 billion of taxpayer funds allegedly funneled to Somali warlords and other terrorists while state whistleblowers faced threats. This pattern of lawlessness has persisted for decades.

Minnesota’s leaders habitually defy the law, undermine federal authority, and endanger citizens. Trump, as the commander-in-chief and chief executive officer, holds both the constitutional and statutory authority to act. He should invoke the Insurrection Act, federalize the Minnesota National Guard, deploy active-duty military forces, and prosecute these Minnesota insurrectionists. These actions fulfill the government’s primary duty, which is to preserve order, uphold the law, and protect American lives.

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A ‘tear down the wall’ moment in Iran will damage both the Islamic Republic — and China

Having already demonstrated a willingness to use American military might in the B-2 strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities last year that brought the 12-Day War to an end, President Donald Trump is robustly supporting the brave Iranian people now entering their third week of protests against the theocratic regime that has oppressed them for so long.

President Trump’s response to the Iranian protests couldn’t be more different from President Obama’s to the 2009 Green Revolution. Just days after Obama gave a speech in Cairo called “A New Beginning” in which he offered an outstretched hand to the mullahs in the hopes of diplomatic engagement, Iranian people inconveniently flooded into the streets to protest an obviously fraudulent election. It took the regime days to muster an effective response.

Even after unarmed protesters were shot in the streets, Obama opted for strategic silence, despite the fact that the Islamic Republic had been an implacable foe of America for some 30 years at that point. As his future Secretary of State John Kerry gushed in The New York Times, Obama’s reticence would prevent the mullahs from blaming the protests on America, while leaving the door open for the so-called Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action that Kerry would negotiate.

TRUMP ENVOY REPORTEDLY MEETS WITH EXILED IRANIAN PRINCE AS REGIME FACES PROTESTS

Obama’s silence turned out to be great for the Iranian regime, which would spend the coming years bilking his administration into that disastrous nuclear deal that meant hundreds of billions of dollars for Tehran but disaster for the Iranian people. Forgotten while the regime attacked them with impunity, the protests dwindled to nothing.

Eighteen years later, President Trump seems determined not to repeat this unfortunate failure. While he, too, offered Tehran the opportunity for diplomacy on their nuclear program, when they refused to negotiate in good faith, he ordered the B-2 bombing strike. After the combined might of Israel and the U.S. in the 12-Day War revealed the regime to be paper tigers, the Iranian people have started to come back to life.

As Tehran has failed to provide basic services such as food, water and fuel — not to mention a stable currency or a functioning economy — they were emboldened to take to the streets and stay there with numbers and tenacity that dwarf 2009.

Also, and importantly, the Iranian people know that China, the regime’s main patron, did nothing to assist them during the war—and aren’t bailing them out now.

EXILED IRANIAN CROWN PRINCE APPEALS TO TRUMP AS IRAN PROTESTS MARK ‘DEFINING’ MOMENT

In March 2021, at the beginning of President Joe Biden’s term, China and Iran signed a strategic partnership ushering in 25 years of economic and security cooperation. Since then, the PRC has preyed on Iran, pumping it for natural resources and military support for their other vassal, Russia. Theoretically at least, they have bolstered the regime’s defenses in return.

But when Israel and America attacked, those defenses were worthless and China took no action — something the Trump administration noted as well, suggesting there’s an opportunity to reduce Beijing’s influence in the Middle East and its access to inexpensive Iranian energy imports.

A more sinister Chinese export to Iran is the so-called National Information Network (NIN), derisively nicknamed by Iranians the “halal internet.” Bolstered after the 2019 protests, this PRC-designed tool of information control is the mechanism through which the regime has been able to shut down the internet across Iran for almost a week. Given the cost to their already-teetering economy, they cannot go on this way indefinitely, but for the time being it has been an effective way to stifle communication in and out of Iran.

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If emergency communications systems can be preserved or replaced with a satellite-based system, targeted kinetic and cyberattacks on NIN infrastructure could be an effective way to materially support the protesters, as well as strike a blow against the Chinese-designed apparatus that has been used to oppress them.

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President Trump’s robust statements about the protests, and warning of reprisals for attacks against them, are being criticized as giving the regime the opportunity to blame America for the uprising while creating a rally-around-the-flag effect that will bolster support for the mullahs. But just as some of Ronald Reagan’s own staff worried that the phrase “tear down this wall” was too provocative, these critics are simply too timid or craven to take the appropriate actions to follow up on the rhetoric.

The reality is that the Islamic Republic has blamed America for all their problems since 1979, regardless of what we did or didn’t do. President Trump has stopped giving the mullahs a veto over our actions, and, thanks to him, the Iranian people may soon be in the position to tear down the walls that have encircled them for so long.

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Trump knows good real estate — and he knows Greenland’s value to national security

“The United States needs Greenland for the purpose of National Security. It is vital for the Golden Dome that we are building,” President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social on Wednesday.

Trump is right. Grab a globe and look down from the North Pole, or check out this official Pentagon map. You will see that Greenland is pivotal to the Arctic front. Greenland’s eastern coast guards the Greenland-Iceland-United Kingdom or GIUK. This is the entry gate to the Atlantic for Russian President Vladimir Putin’s nuclear-armed submarines. Greenland hosts important early warning radar sites because its field of view covers so much of the bomber and missile flight routes from Russia and China. No Greenland, no Golden Dome missile shield.

That’s why Trump lit a bonfire under Denmark and NATO to spur much-needed progress to counter aggressive moves by Russia and China.

Trump does have an eye for prime real estate. And the fastest, easiest solution would be for the U.S. to take over. There’s a good business case for buying Greenland. Especially if you throw in the critical minerals mining there. And Trump has run the numbers. Back in 2019, he estimated the carrying costs of Greenland at about $770 million per year.

BIPARTISAN LAWMAKERS PROPOSE BILL TO BLOCK MILITARY ACTION AGAINST NATO MEMBERS AMID THREATS TO TAKE GREENLAND

No, there probably won’t be an invasion. The one sure way for Greenland to lose its home rule sovereignty is to get too close to China. In 2017, Greenland’s prime minister flew to Beijing and asked China to bankroll new airports, according to The Wall Street Journal. Denmark stopped the deal. If anything like that happens again, Greenland will be flying a U.S. flag.

Officially, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte is not about to get in between Trump and Greenland. “I never, ever comment when there are discussions within the Alliance,” Rutte told Danish business executive and Member of the European Parliament Christine Bosse after a speech Jan. 13.

Behind the scenes, NATO and Denmark will step up. Rutte grasps the importance of the High North and so do NATO militaries. Rutte, on January 13, praised Denmark’s investment in ice-breakers, Boeing P-8 surveillance planes for anti-submarine warfare and enhanced missile defenses.

TRUMP SAYS US IS MAKING MOVES TO ACQUIRE GREENLAND ‘WHETHER THEY LIKE IT OR NOT’

So for Trump, Greenland will probably turn out to be a bit like that house on your block you covet, but can’t actually purchase. But he’s going to keep the pressure on. Here’s why.

Protecting America

Greenland is the center of U.S. defenses against Russian or Chinese nuclear missile attacks. At Pituffik Space Base they have a runway, a seaport and a lot of radar and gigantic satellite dishes. U.S. Space Force Guardians operate the early-warning radar system to spot intercontinental ballistic missile threats and sea-launched missiles coming out of Russia, China or anywhere else. The squadrons also provide tracking and command and control for U.S. satellites and all other objects up in space, such as China’s 1,300 satellites. America would be blind without this surveillance.

EUROPEAN ALLIES WORKING ON PLAN IF US ACTS ON ACQUIRING GREENLAND: REPORT

China Wildcard

China sent three icebreakers to the Arctic in 2024 and last summer a “research submarine” ventured under the Arctic ice cap. In 2025, China, for the first time, sent a container ship from China to Britain via the “Polar Silk Road.” The design for China’s newest Type 096 nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine appears to have a stronger hull for operating amidst ice. Put Chinese submarines in the Arctic and U.S. military bases, data centers and more are suddenly in range. The U.S. will do whatever it takes to halt that threat.

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Denmark is a Capable Ally 

Denmark comes through when it matters. Denmark deployed aircraft and special forces to Afghanistan and their soldiers fought in Helmand province. Denmark’s air force already flies U.S.-made F-35 stealth fighters and put in an order for 16 more back in October. Speaking of space, the Danes bravely waded into the regulatory mess that is the new European Union Space Act, offering a more balanced plan to treat American commercial space companies fairly as they build out low Earth orbit constellations. Keep in mind, Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen faces tough elections in October, so resolving a dust-up over Greenland could be a feather in her cap.

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NATO Will Step Up 

NATO is not breaking up over this. The world situation is too dangerous. Putin launched another nuclear-capable Oreshnik missile at Ukraine on Jan. 10. Besides, NATO partners are well aware of the High North problem. “Britain is stepping up on Arctic security,” said Britain’s Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper in a Jan. 14 press release. Britain has been training with Norwegian commandos for decades and wrapped up Operation Tarrassis in October, exercising with 9 other NATO nations across the Baltic Sea and Arctic. As Cooper said: “Coming together as an alliance allows us to unify and tackle this emerging threat.”

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Minnesota’s welfare fraud disaster exposes a national system designed to fail

The welfare fraud in Minnesota seems to be a never-ending story. We’re learning that scammers bilked multiple programs intended to help low-income families, including Medicaid, food aid, housing assistance and childcare programs. Based on what’s been uncovered so far, the people who perpetrated those schemes may have stolen upwards of $9 billion. 

Yet, while Minnesota’s welfare fraud is particularly brazen and systemic, it is not unique to that state. That is because the basic design of most U.S. welfare programs makes them highly susceptible to fraud. 

For example, for years, Medicaid has been on the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) list of federal programs at “high-risk” for fraud, waste and abuse. GAO finds the program has insufficient federal oversight. In 2024, it estimates, there were more than $31 billion in erroneous Medicaid payments. 

That is particularly concerning because Medicaid is the largest means-tested government welfare program, costing federal and state taxpayers around $900 billion annually. Unsurprisingly, Medicaid was also the source of most of the money stolen in Minnesota.

MINNESOTA HOUSE SPEAKER WARNS AMERICANS WILL BE ‘SHOCKED’ BY SCOPE OF FRAUD CRISIS

In short, the Minnesota scandals are the bitter fruit of deeply rooted problems in a system badly in need of reform. 

The biggest design flaw is that most of the funding for welfare programs come from the federal coffers, but the federal government has largely delegated to states responsibility for administering and policing those programs. Yet, federal oversight of fraud prevention in welfare programs is often lacking, and because states are spending mostly federal dollars, they lack strong incentives to ensure funds are spent properly. 

Case in point: the federal Child Care and Development Fund — which financed Minnesota’s now-infamous “Quality Learing Center” — has also received scrutiny for poor federal oversight. A 2016 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Inspector General’s report on that program explained that states are required to submit fraud protection plans to HHS.

MINNEAPOLIS MAYOR JACOB FREY ADMITS FRAUD CRISIS IS REAL, SAYS ‘EVERYBODY COULD HAVE DONE MORE’ TO PREVENT IT

Those plans include things like reviewing attendance records at childcare centers, conducting staff reviews and performing on-site visits. But the report noted that HHS had not established a process to ensure that states carry out their fraud protection plans. Obviously, a plan that isn’t implemented is useless. 

Another major problem is that funding for most welfare programs is calculated and allocated not according to performance measures, but on the number of people served. That gives service providers an incentive to “pad the rolls,” and it also disincentivizes state government officials from monitoring those providers too closely, since tighter controls could reduce the flow of federal funds to the state. 

That leads to yet another, related flaw in the current system. Many welfare programs provide grant funding to third parties to deliver services. The intended beneficiaries of those services have no say in how the funds are spent. That makes those programs vulnerable to large-scale abuse, like occurred in Minnesota.

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A third-party service provider — either for-profit or nonprofit — can pull in a lot of government dollars by artificially inflating participant rolls or by claiming to provide services they haven’t truly provided. 

In short, the Minnesota scandals are the bitter fruit of deeply rooted problems in a system badly in need of reform. 

In contrast, programs that deal directly with the intended recipients and give them a say in how funds are spent — such as through account- or voucher-type mechanisms — are less prone to massive fraud schemes. For instance, a family given a voucher or account to pay for childcare has a natural incentive to get value for the money.

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The silver lining of the recent crisis is that it has brought attention to fraud in the welfare system. Now is an opportunity to tackle this problem. Agencies should increase federal oversight of states to ensure that fraud prevention occurs. Congress should also reform welfare programs so that states are required to provide a greater portion of welfare funding, giving states more incentive to see programs are protected against abuse. 

Policymakers and the public are outraged by what happened in Minnesota. Unfortunately, we’re likely to see more of it unless policymakers address the deeper flaws of the welfare system. 

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MARTIN GURRI: Let’s look at all the global benefits Trump reaped by grabbing Maduro

A certain class of analysts was purported to be scandalized by the American night raid on Venezuela that snatched away strongman Nicolás Maduro and his wife.

China has been given a green light to invade Taiwan. Russia is finally free to trespass on… I don’t know, maybe Ukraine?

Even by today’s declining standards, that line of analysis is pathetically shallow.

PRESIDENT TRUMP SAYS THERE WON’T BE A ‘SECOND WAVE OF ATTACKS’ AGAINST VENEZUELA DUE TO THEIR ‘COOPERATION’

Neither Xi Jinping nor Vladimir Putin look to the U.S. for permission. The opposite is closer to the truth: They wish to make trouble and undermine the hegemonic power.

Russia assaulted Ukraine and China conducted naval exercises in Taiwanese territorial waters, all without filling out the White House’s “Permission to Invade” form.

What will be the lesson, for Xi and Putin, of the Great Venezuela Raid?

I would think it’s this: that Trump will run enormous risks to protect American interests.

TALARICO, AUCHINCLOSS: TRUMP’S BLOOD FOR OIL STRATEGY IS AS RECKLESS AS IT IS ILLEGAL

I leave it to the intelligent reader to reflect on whether this will encourage or discourage rash adventures.

Trump has no wish to carve the world like an apple into spheres of influence, in which China, Russia and the U.S. can plunder smaller nations at will.

His meddling in conflicts in Africa and Asia is proof of that — and anyone who has observed Trump for longer than half a minute will know he doesn’t set boundaries on his actions.

In reality, Trump’s style in geopolitical gamesmanship is without precedent, at least in my experience.

TRUMP SIGNALS LONG ROAD AHEAD IN VENEZUELA IN HIS BOLDEST INTERVENTIONIST MOVE YET

In any given theater, he looks for the tactical strike that will utterly alter the strategic landscape to our country’s advantage.

What will be the lesson, for Xi and Putin, of the Great Venezuela Raid? I would think it’s this: that Trump will run enormous risks to protect American interests.

After allowing the Israelis to plow and seed the field in Iran, Trump harvested a strategic victory by dropping bunker-busting bombs on the regime’s nuclear facilities. From that moment, events in the Middle East tilted in our direction — and the negative consequences for Iran continue to multiply as I write this.

In the same manner, the extraction of Maduro from his Venezuelan fortress has had a domino effect favorable to the U.S., not just in Latin America but around the world.

Let me count the ways.

IN VENEZUELA ITSELF

Here the dice are still rolling, and the final effects of the raid won’t be known for months, possibly years. Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio chose to retain the Maduro people in power over the Venezuelan democratic opposition — a gamble on stability against the possibility of chaos and violence.

It could backfire, but the signs so far look encouraging.

The new Venezuelan president, Delcy Rodriguez, who happened to be Maduro’s vice president, has been sweet-talking the Trump administration. She may have played a part in the overthrow of her former boss.

LIZ PEEK: TRUMP IS PUTTING AMERICA FIRST BY BACKING IRAN INTO A CORNER

American officials are in Caracas, setting up shop. The Cubans, Russians and Chinese would seem to be out in the cold. Political prisoners are being released.

Most importantly, from a strategic perspective, the Venezuelan oil industry is about to be resurrected with help from U.S. companies — and Venezuelan oil will soon flood global markets.

CUBA

Its once-vaunted military and intelligence personnel protected Maduro. In a humiliating blow to the country’s prestige, they were wiped out without much of a fight.

Cuba imports all of its energy but lacks the foreign currency to keep the lights burning. Venezuelan oil, offered on a bartered basis, made up 60% of fuel imports.

That’s now gone with the wind. Whatever still functions in the Cuban economy is about to disintegrate into darkness and silence.

President Trump said that the post-Castro regime is “ready to fall.” He also threatened, in his inimitable all-caps fashion, “THERE WILL BE NO MORE OIL OR MONEY GOING TO CUBA – ZERO!”

Nothing is certain.

But if the Cuban military, who already run the country, believe that their equipment will grind to a stop within weeks, they may decide to do away with their Communist Party intermediaries and cut a deal with Yankee imperialism.

LATIN AMERICA

The region was already trending rightwards — Maduro’s fall will only accelerate this tendency. Conservative governments applauded American intervention, something unheard-of in Latin America.

Radical leftist governments, on the other hand, are in a panic.

Colombian President Gustavo Petro, once a leader of the Marxist M-19 guerrillas, made worried noises about his own fate. He got a reassuring call from the president and will visit the White House in February.

LAWMAKER WHO FLED COMMUNISM DRAFTS SPECIAL RESOLUTION HONORING TRUMP AFTER MADURO OUSTER

Nicaraguan dictator Daniel Ortega, normally addicted to repression, decided to release political prisoners in imitation of Delcy Rodriguez.

He also canceled an anniversary celebration — just in case the U.S. military were looking to pick off more unfriendly Latin American presidents.

CHINA

One condition Trump placed on Rodriguez is that Venezuela end its alliance with China and Russia. Eager to survive, Rodriguez appears willing to do so.

If that is the case, Maduro’s departure will represent a strategic disaster for Xi — the loss not only of its most useful ally in the region but of access to 800,000 barrels of cheap oil per day, along with the total loss of what has been called China’s “$100 billion gamble” on Venezuela.

In addition, Maduro’s lair was ringed with Chinese military technology, including air defense systems. They were neutralized with remarkable ease.

When Xi calculates the cost of invading Taiwan, he must now add the fact that the Chinese mainland itself appears vulnerable to attack from the air.

IRAN

Venezuela had become a playground for Iran and its terrorist proxies like Hezbollah. No more.

As the Islamic regime battles to survive a fierce street revolt, Trump has condemned the slaughter of civilians and told protesters “help is on the way.”

The fate of Nicolás Maduro thus weighs heavily on the ayatollahs’ minds.

The anti-regime protesters also see the parallel with Venezuela and have cheered the president on. Video can be found of a young man, somewhere in Iran, solemnly changing a street sign to “President Trump Street.”

EUROPE

Venezuela demonstrated — once again — the absolute irrelevance of the Old World in times of crisis.

European governments couldn’t help or hinder the U.S., before or after the attack. They merely muttered from the sidelines.

Mostly they complained about U.S. violation of international law — but then overcame their scruples long enough to inquire about the payment of Venezuelan debt to European energy companies.

WAS TRUMP’S MADURO OPERATION ILLEGAL? WHAT INTERNATIONAL LAW HAS TO SAY

In 10 years of repetitive squabbles, the Europeans have yet to figure out how to live in Donald Trump’s world. They have yet to admit that their static “rules-based order” has been swept away by a tempest of change of which Trump is simply the avatar, not the cause.

It would be unfortunate if Europe’s limpness in the geopolitical arena emboldened the president to swallow Greenland whole.

RUSSIA

On this country will fall the most complex set of consequences.

Even more than China, Russia enjoyed a formal “strategic partnership” with Maduro, explicitly aimed at the U.S.

Venezuela purchased billions of dollars’ worth of Russian military equipment, aircraft and weaponry. Russia propped up Maduro on the world stage and endorsed his blatantly manipulated elections.

SOCIALISM COST ME MY COUNTRY. TRUMP ARRESTING MADURO MIGHT HELP US GET IT BACK

Putin and Maduro stood shoulder to shoulder in Moscow as recently as May 2025.

All of that ended literally overnight. Yet, curiously, the Russians reacted to the fiasco by saying little and doing nothing.

What’s going on?

There is, with Russia, a bigger picture to consider.

The country is stuck deep in the bog of the Ukraine war and has limited room to maneuver elsewhere. Western sanctions have driven Putin to a position of complete dependence on China.

The strategic intent of Trump and his people, I believe, is to sever that link.

They want Russia to be a competitor rather than a satellite of China. That would explain the sustained effort to broker the end to a war that otherwise has distracted and diminished an antagonistic power.

Because Russia is a major exporter of oil and natural gas, its economy rises and falls with the global price of those commodities.

Trump has clearly seized on this. He has hardened the sanctions on the purchase of Russian fuel, even as he works overtime to bring down the cost of energy.

The ouster of Maduro evidently plays into this scheme. The president expects to unleash a gusher of Venezuelan oil on the markets.

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It’s his usual trick — a tactical blow that generates enough strategic leverage to nudge Russia into peace with Ukraine.

In this case, it hasn’t happened yet.

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Possibly, it never will — Putin, after all, represents the Russian bear, whereas Maduro resembled a noisier but far less dangerous denizen of the tropical canopy. Frustrating American presidents is a habit the Russian leader has refined over the decades.

But it is a sign of the strange moment we are living through — and, it may be, of Trump’s skill at converting tactics into strategic outcomes — that we can imagine a raid on a Caribbean dictator helping to end a bloody war in Eastern Europe’s heart of darkness.

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SEC SCOTT BESSENT: How to stop fraud in Minnesota—and across the country

Over the last several years, criminals have exploited the culture of “Minnesota nice” to steal billions of dollars in taxpayer funds in one of the most egregious frauds in our nation’s history. Under Democratic Gov. Tim Walz, these fraudsters—many of whom are not even American citizens—lined their pockets with money that was initially intended to feed hungry children, house disabled seniors, and provide services for young students with special needs.

Last week, I traveled with my team to Minneapolis to meet in person with the investigators, prosecutors, legislators, and community members on the front lines of combating this crime. Their frustration was palpable. There, we learned more about a transnational money laundering scheme that festered under President Joe Biden and the state’s political leadership. The scandal was unprecedented in its scope and scale. But so is President Trump’s plan to fix it by attacking fraud at the source—both in Minnesota and across the country.

At the president’s direction, the Treasury Department is examining the transfer of funds allegedly sent from the affected parts of Minnesota to other countries, including Somalia. These funds are often sent through money services businesses, which provide financial services outside the banking system. This money could have potentially been diverted to terrorist organizations, such as Al-Shabaab. Treasury has a long history of following the money to financially suffocate bad actors, like the mafia and Mexican drug cartels. Now we are doing the same to shut down Somali fraud rings.

TREASURY SECRETARY BESSENT VOWS TO LEAVE ‘NO STONE UNTURNED’ IN MINNESOTA FRAUD PROBE

As part of this effort, Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) and the IRS are investigating financial institutions that may have played a role in abetting rampant fraud. Specifically, we are evaluating whether these institutions have complied with their legal obligations under the Bank Secrecy Act and Treasury’s regulations, which are designed to detect money laundering and safeguard the U.S. financial system from abuse.

Treasury is also taking steps to disrupt criminal networks from within. The fraud rings in Minnesota have many tentacles. But we will expose them all by offering incentives for whistleblowers who are willing to cooperate with law enforcement and identify perpetrators.

BESSENT BLAMES WALZ AS TREASURY PROBES WHETHER MINNESOTA FRAUD FUNDS REACHED TERROR GROUP AL-SHABAB

Beyond pinpointing the source of the fraud, it is critical that we prevent more taxpayer dollars from leaving the country for improper purposes. That’s why FinCEN has issued a Geographic Targeting Order for Hennepin and Ramsey Counties in Minnesota, which will require banks and money transmitters to report additional information about funds transferred outside of the United States valued at $3,000 or more. 

Treasury has also trained Minnesota law enforcement to utilize the data they gather from these reports to prevent this scandal from happening again. This will put a microscope on fraudulent businesses, advance prosecutions and assist in the recovery of funds laundered internationally.

BESSENT SAYS MINNESOTA FRAUD RECOVERY COULD HELP FUND TRUMP’S $1.5T DEFENSE PLAN

If individuals are on welfare, they should not be in a financial position to send money overseas. And yet thousands still do. This means that American taxpayers are effectively supplementing the incomes of overseas individuals. 

This must stop. 

To assess the prevalence of this practice, Treasury’s Geographic Targeting Order requires financial institutions wiring money abroad from Hennepin and Ramsey Counties to check a box to indicate if the funds are from any federal, state, or local government benefit program.

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Sadly, Minnesota does not have a monopoly on this sort of fraud. Similar misconduct is almost certainly happening in many other states, especially states like California, New York, and Illinois, which impose lax controls on the use of government benefit funds. In fact, our own Government Accountability Office estimates that the government may lose more than $500 billion each year to fraud. This is a staggering figure larger than the GDP of most countries. It represents up to 10% of federal tax revenues each year and approximately 1% to 2% of GDP.

Eliminating this fraud entirely would do more than any other federal measure to alleviate the burden on taxpayers and reduce the deficit. That is why President Donald Trump has created a new division within the Department of Justice with the sole purpose of prosecuting fraud nationally. 

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The president wants to scale the model we have established in Minnesota to root out waste, fraud, and abuse in every corner of the country. Extraordinary crime requires an extraordinary response—and President Trump has provided that by launching the largest anti-fraud campaign of the 21st century.

Under previous administrations, criminals managed to turn government benefits into a multibillion-dollar business enterprise, systematically bilking taxpayers of their hard-earned money. But that ends now. President Trump has launched an all-of-government effort to recover stolen funds and prosecute tax thieves. He will give no quarter to fraudulent criminals—in Minnesota or anywhere else in the country.

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My father gave his life for Iran — today’s protesters are living his dream

I was in my mother’s womb when the Islamic Revolution of 1979 shattered my family’s homeland, forcing us into exile. Like so many Iranians, my country was stolen from me before I could even take my first breath. But my connection to Iran is not just a matter of heritage; it is written in blood. My father, Gen. Gholam Ali Oveissi, the former commander in chief of the Imperial Army, was a patriot who loved his people and died defending them against the tyranny of Ayatollah Khomeini. In 1984, he was assassinated in Paris for his loyalty to the Shah and his refusal to bow to the new regime.

For decades, families like mine have carried the weight of displacement and loss, watching from afar as a nation that was once on a trajectory toward becoming a global superpower was hijacked by mismanagement and ideological rule. But today, the tide is turning. After 47 years of oppression, corruption and fiscal incompetence, the people of Iran — driven by a courageous younger generation — have had enough.

This uprising is about more than just the collapse of an economy, though the financial devastation is undeniable. The Iranian rial has plummeted to historic lows, and inflation now exceeds 40%. Food prices have skyrocketed by more than 70% in a single year, leaving more than a third of the population below the poverty line. While the regime diverts billions of dollars to fund terror groups like Hamas and Hezbollah, the Iranian people suffer from negative GDP growth and crumbling infrastructure. 

IRAN PROTESTS SPARK REGIME SURVIVAL QUESTION AS EXILED DISSIDENT SAYS IT FEELS LIKE A ‘REVOLUTION’

Unemployment has destroyed the hope of an entire generation, and the regime’s response has been to pillage natural resources, selling them at a discount to China and Russia while the people face water shortages and total systemic neglect. 

However, the protests rocking Iran are not merely cries of hunger; they are cries for identity. The youth of Iran has reached an inflection point, realizing what the Pahlavi era truly represented: a time when Iran was a center of stability and prosperity in the region. 

TRUMP TOLD IRAN HAS HALTED KILLINGS AMID MOUNTING PROTEST PRESSURE

They are not chanting religious slogans. Instead, they are chanting for Western values — freedom, prosperity and an end to oppression. They are rediscovering a pride in their Persian heritage, which dates back to 550 B.C. When asked where they are from, they proudly answer, “I am Persian,” rejecting the identity imposed on them by the Islamic Republic.

At the heart of this movement is a longing for the return of the Pahlavi vision. Reza Pahlavi has emerged organically as the voice of these disenfranchised people. He is not a leader positioned by foreign actors; he is the name the people are chanting for in the streets. They remember — or have learned of — an era when women were treated with respect and reciprocity, when Jews, Christians and Muslims lived in peace, and when the leadership invested in the future of its students. 

Reza Pahlavi supports a nationally elected referendum for a constitutional monarchy, modeled after the United Kingdom, which would preserve our national identity while ensuring democratic governance.

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Crucially, the Iranian people look to the United States as a beacon of hope. Contrary to the regime’s propaganda, the majority of Iranians love, admire, and support America. They are particularly grateful to President Donald Trump, whose bold leadership has provided a roadmap for confronting tyranny. 

His actions in Venezuela — specifically the pressure placed on the illegitimate Maduro regime — have given fuel to the protesters in Iran. President Trump’s willingness to hold rogue leaders accountable offers hope that the United States will not stand idly by while the Iranian regime slaughters its own citizens.

The role of the West is vital in this struggle. Media coverage from outlets like Fox News has been essential in breaking the silence, but more Western media must shine a light on this revolution. Technology has also become a lifeline; acts like Elon Musk’s provision of Starlink have been critical in bypassing censorship. The symbolic return of the original Sun and Lion flag on social media, promoted by figures like Musk, sends a powerful message that the spirit and glory of our rich culture is rising again.

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I am eternally grateful to the United States for providing my family with political asylum and allowing me to become a citizen of the greatest country in the world. But as an Iranian American, I know that a free Iran could be one of America’s most important allies and a stabilizing force in the Middle East. Iran was once a close partner of Israel — and could be again.

The coming days are critical. The regime will likely respond with the same violence that killed my father and hundreds of thousands of others. The United States must make it clear that mass killings will not be tolerated and must hold this government accountable for its human rights abuses. The people of Iran are ready to reclaim their future. The question is whether the free world will stand with them.

SEN RICHARD BLUMENTHAL: Crypto is a gamble our financial system doesn’t need

The Senate Banking Committee will hold a meeting Thursday to mark up crypto legislation that further fulfills many of President Donald Trump’s promises to his crypto billionaire friends. In racing to finish the crypto industry’s wish list before midterms, Congress should remember what happened the last time crypto impacted legacy banking. We’ve seen this movie before — and taxpayers paid for the tickets.

Last September, as ranking member of the Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, I released a 292-page report documenting how three major American banks received dubious audits indicating they were sound — just before their catastrophic failures cost bank customers millions.

Our investigation gave us a unique window into how crypto can quickly move from innovation to contagion. Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank and First Republic Bank raked in profits when venture capital and crypto boomed, but they all learned that tech money comes fast but leaves even faster — threatening the stability of banking and leaving taxpayers and investors on the hook for losses. These bank failures provide a chilling warning for anyone backing the crypto lobby’s efforts to further cement the unsavory world of crypto into the American economy.

MALICIOUS MAC EXTENSIONS STEAL CRYPTO WALLETS AND PASSWORDS

Silicon Valley Bank collapsed following the failure of the trading firm FTX, the downturn in the Bitcoin market and the shuttering of crypto-focused Silvergate Bank. In early 2023, as their bets unraveled, crypto industry insiders pushed for bailouts — fueling panic that accelerated bank runs. The resulting turmoil threatened major technology companies and millions of depositors, ultimately requiring federal intervention to the tune of $340 billion to quell fear of contagion. Even then, more than $54 billion in stocks and bonds became worthless when the banks collapsed, including $700 million that one pension fund lost in a single day. Unless Congress acts to put some guardrails on the recently passed GENIUS Act, it will only be a matter of time before the industry is clamoring for bailouts again.

The historic speed of deposit flight at these banks demonstrated how modern finance is getting faster and more reckless, especially with the introduction of crypto firms into the banking system. Technology made banking faster, and it made failure faster too. More crypto in the banking system supercharges the systemic risk of financial instability. Signature Bank is a clear example: it collapsed after their substantial crypto-related deposits flooded out of the bank in the months after the collapse of FTX. The complexity and opacity of crypto markets also undermines traditional oversight. Signature Bank’s auditors failed to grasp the risks and repeatedly assured the public everything was fine year after year. But opacity isn’t a bug of crypto — it’s the business model.

Now, the crypto industry has spent millions trying to lobby Congress and the Trump administration to forget the past and allow them to take over banking and write their own investment rules. Crypto is encouraging American consumers to abandon traditional bank accounts in favor of “digital dollars” called stablecoins. The industry is even trying to replace savings accounts through offering “yield” on tokens — the crypto equivalent of interest. While this new form of digital currency may sound appealing, stablecoins lack basic safeguards that protected the depositors at Silicon Valley Bank when it failed in 2023.

The collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and the ensuing turmoil should have been a lesson: keep crypto far from our financial system. Silicon Valley Bank’s collapse wasn’t the fault of a few bad managers or reckless reports from a single auditor. The cozy audits these banks received for years lays bare a fundamental principle of finance — recklessness thrives when profits are private and losses are public.

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Even now, crypto markets are in turmoil. Since the GENIUS Act passed last summer, half a dozen major stablecoins have “de-pegged,” de-linking from the currency they claim to have a 1:1 relation to, wiping out hundreds of millions of dollars for anyone holding the tokens. But this is just a small beginning. The current market for stablecoins is approximately $300 billion. The CEO of Coinbase recently projected that it could quadruple by 2030. Considering what crypto volatility did to regional banks in 2023 after the collapse of FTX, what threats could it pose when millions of Americans’ life savings and more banks are dependent on crypto?

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My investigation revealed Signature Bank’s auditors joking with each other as the bank collapsed. They thought its management was foolish because they relied on crypto to boost their numbers and “look cool … and wonder why they’re crumbling as the floor drops out.” That casual cynicism captures the deeper failure exposed by the 2023 bank collapses: when crypto-driven risk is profitable, those charged with policing it will look away.

As the Senate Banking Committee prepares to mark up a crypto market structure bill, Congress should remember that the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank was not an accident — it was a preview. That failure exposed how crypto-linked deposits, digital-speed bank runs and opaque markets can overwhelm regulators before risks are visible. Yet the legislation now under consideration would push more of that volatility deeper into the financial system under the guise of innovation and clarity. If lawmakers fail to confront the lessons of 2023, they will be locking in the same frailties that forced taxpayers to step in once before — and will inevitably be asked to do so again.

California billionaires flee state’s wealth tax in the most-predictable result ever

It’s a political earthquake. The wealthiest Californians are fleeing the state and taking their capital, resources and companies with them.  

The SEIU United Healthcare Workers West, a statewide union of service employees in California, introduced a ballot measure called the Billionaire Tax Act, to implement a one-time 5% tax on the net worth over $1 billion on any California resident. The tax is on total net worth, not income, and would snag rich people who have the bulk of their wealth in stock or property. 

The idea has yet to be voted on, and supporters of the measure will need nearly a million signatures by late June to get it on the ballot for November 2026.  

But wealthy Californians are already running for the door because the language in the draft of the measure sets the tax retroactively to January 1, 2026, and they know they can’t rely on their fellow Californians to vote down the absurd proposal.

JAMES WOODS WARNS NEWSOM’S PRESIDENTIAL APPEAL WON’T LAST LONG AMID ‘ATROCIOUS’ CALIFORNIA FAILURES

Suzanne Jimenez, a chief of staff for SEIU-UHW who introduced the measure, calls it “a very minor tax.” 

Larry Page and Sergey Brin, co-founders of Google, are the latest to bail on California. Garry Tan, president and CEO of Y Combinator and self-described “San Francisco Democrat” explained on X that the wealth tax wouldn’t actually end up being “5%” of a billionaire’s net worth.  

“Larry and Sergey can’t stay in California since the wealth tax as written would confiscate 50% of their Alphabet shares. Each own ~3% of Alphabet’s stock, worth about $120 billion each at today’s ~$4 trillion market cap. But because their shares have 10x voting power, the SEIU-UHW California billionaire tax would treat them as owning 30% of Alphabet (3% × 10 = 30%). That means each founder’s taxable wealth would be $1.2 trillion. A 5% wealth tax on $1.2 trillion = $60 billion tax bill, each. That’s 50% of their actual Alphabet holdings—wiped out by a ‘5%’ tax.”

GOLF LEGEND PHIL MICKELSON LAMENTS CALIFORNIA GAS PRICES, PRAISES GOV CANDIDATE SUPPORTING OFFSHORE DRILLING

This language isn’t an accident. Asset seizure is the ultimate plan of the socialists writing these proposals. Wealth isn’t to be permitted in the socialist utopia and must be redistributed.  

Chamath Palihapitiya, a tech billionaire and one of the hosts of the “All-In” podcast, hasn’t left yet but is weighing his options. Palihapitiya puts the number of billionaire wealth that has left California in just the last month “in excess of $700B.” He explains that the amount of wealth the proposal hoped to tax has already significantly decreased. 

“That means the $2T of California wealth they expected to tax is now down to $1.3T and falling quickly. I would not be surprised if 2026 ended with less than $1T of billionaire wealth in California and decades and hundreds of lawsuits. A complete and total unforced error. Where was the Governor? Where are our leaders??” 

That’s a good question, and billionaires who specifically supported Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom and the rest of the Democratic political apparatus in California should be demanding an answer.

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Palihapitiya is hoping the measure is voted down and California will work to “entice those folks to come back” or, he warns, “the California budget will be massively upside down.” But why would they return? Billionaires are human and moving their entire lives, often uprooting their kids and moving them to new schools, isn’t so simple to undo. And anyway, a measure like this could be introduced again at any time and, in fact, Assemblymember Alex Lee, D-San José, has for years pushed a similar wealth tax, albeit at only a modest 1.5% confiscation rate.  

But wealthy Californians are already running for the door because the language in the draft of the measure sets the tax retroactively to January 1, 2026, and they know they can’t rely on their fellow Californians to vote down the absurd proposal.

When the billionaires don’t return, because they’ve set up their lives elsewhere and realized a whole world exists outside California, the politicians will have to make up the shortfall elsewhere. Non-billionaires are paying attention. Jesse Tinsley, CEO and founder of several companies including Mainstreet.com, announced on Sunday, Jan. 11, “Add me to the list…headed to Florida.” Tinsley, who openly supported President Donald Trump in the last presidential election, isn’t a billionaire, but he sees the writing on the wall. If all the billionaires bail to avoid the potential tax, the class of wealthy below them will be targeted next.

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Those who supported the terrible politicians and backward policies that led to this moment should have to stay and deal with the consequences of what they’ve done. Reid Hoffman, a co-founder of LinkedIn and a billionaire famous for supporting Democrats, is about to become the living embodiment of the internet joke, “I never thought leopards would eat MY face, sobs woman who voted for the Leopards Eating People’s Faces Party.” Hoffman considered leaving the United States after Trump was elected in 2024 so he can’t exactly bolt for a red state to help protect his assets from the very people he helped elect.  

Bad ideas have consequences and California has played a game of chicken with the far left, and it looks like the far left is winning. As the billionaire exodus continues, those exiting should internalize what went wrong in their home state and aim not to repeat it in their new locale. California has become synonymous with failure. Leave that failure at home. 

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TALARICO, AUCHINCLOSS: Trump’s blood for oil strategy is as reckless as it is illegal

The president is pitching blood for oil in Venezuela. It’s a dangerous mission, a corrupt deal and a lawless precedent. Congress must stop this recklessness before it costs the lives of American troops.  

One of us is a congressman who commanded Marines in jungle training in Latin America. The other is a state representative and candidate for the U.S. Senate out of Texas, the biggest oil producer in the country. We’re both members of Majority Democrats, a group of elected leaders dedicated to rebuilding trust with the exhausted majority of Americans. Whether seen from the perspective of the military or the Texas middle class, we agree: Republicans in Congress are failing to provide a check and balance on warmongering. 

The president’s strikes against Venezuela have left in place the gangsters running the country, but put them on notice that their oil is now his. To take it, President Donald Trump has made clear that he wants U.S. oil majors to start rebuilding Venezuela’s derelict energy infrastructure. That’s expensive and hazardous. 

Chevron and the rest will want serious support from the U.S. government. For starters, their personnel and assets require security. Pro-Chavismo Venezuelan forces, leftist Colombian terrorists and transnational criminal organizations are all threats. This is why the president refused to rule out American boots on the ground. He may need troops to serve as armed guards for oil extraction.

MARCO RUBIO EMERGES AS KEY TRUMP POWER PLAYER AFTER VENEZUELA OPERATION

The enemies awaiting Americans deployed to Venezuela have spent their whole lives traversing its jungles and rivers. The U.S. military, by contrast, has trained two generations in patrolling and close-air-support that presumes long line of sight, not dense canopy. Jungle warfare would be a new and nasty mission. 

Make no mistake: our Marines, soldiers and sailors would complete that mission. They are the finest fighting force in the world. But they would be fighting for oil money for the rich – not for democracy, drug interdiction or a better future for Venezuelans. Hit by raids, cut off from fire support, infected by malaria — all in the service of crony capitalism. 

Last year, Trump promised oil executives “a great deal” if they donated $1 billion to his campaign. He is now offering them 300 billion barrels of oil. It won’t make gas any cheaper for Americans this decade. Projections for 500,000 extra daily barrels would not make a price dent in a market where 100+ million barrels are sold daily. It also won’t bring jobs to Texas, where Chevron just laid off 200 workers in Midland.

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Chevron executives and other administration allies, though, stand to gain power and wealth from controlling the world’s largest oil reserve. As with tariffs, AI and his tax cuts for the wealthy, the president is once again pursuing policies that further consolidate wealth and power. 

He’s also, once again, breaking the law. The attacks on Venezuela are illegal. The president claims he is only using the military to support law enforcement in executing an indictment. Hard to take that claim seriously from a man who had U.S. soldiers on their knees to roll out a red carpet for the war criminal Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska.

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Apart from its risibility, though, the claim is bogus. Absent an imminent threat to the homeland, the president needs congressional authorization to use military force. There is no threat from Venezuela too pressing or existential to deliberate upon in Congress. If the president were concerned about drugs (He’s not.), he could get tough on Chinese fentanyl exports (He hasn’t.).  

Neither party should accept the precedent that a commander-in-chief can bomb cities and capture foreign leaders without so much as a phone call to Congress. It’s a recipe for more military adventurism, more blood and treasure sunk by poor planning. Indeed, the president is already jawboning about Cuba, Greenland and Colombia. Republicans in Congress must stop acting like sheep. Neither our military nor our economy would benefit from open-ended deployment to Venezuela. 

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Socialism cost me my country. Trump arresting Maduro might help us get it back

I never thought I’d see the man who destroyed my family’s life in handcuffs. But that’s exactly what happened when American forces recently captured Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro and his wife. “Trump is doing it!” my mother told me through tears over the phone. I never heard her happier. I was in shock. I stared at my phone, scrolling through videos and breaking news on X — my mother was right.

When I was growing up in Venezuela, I suffered alongside my parents who were forced to close our cosmetics business thanks to socialist government price controls. My parents made sacrifices and didn’t eat so I could.

Those experiences inspired me to become a college campus activist in Venezuela against Maduro’s regime. I spoke out and promoted the truth about capitalism and liberty. I was soon expelled from school, labeled a terrorist and threatened with prison time.

TRUMP SIGNALS LONG ROAD AHEAD IN VENEZUELA IN HIS BOLDEST INTERVENTIONIST MOVE YET

My cousin had already been jailed for his activism, and my family did not want the same for me. So we fled seeking political asylum in America.

It saved my life. America gave me a future of freedom and opportunity. And now, thanks to President Donald Trump, I have witnessed a measure of justice I never imagined possible. 

My family and friends still in Venezuela are overjoyed. Perhaps there are no people more grateful for America’s president right now than Venezuelans. 

Even though many of my friends and family in Venezuela are celebrating, they must do so quietly. Maduro has fallen, but his regime remains in power. Those who celebrate in the streets or post online still risk punishment and prison. This is not a happy ending for Venezuela, but a new beginning.

MIKE PENCE: VENEZUELA HAS A CHANCE FOR FREEDOM, THANKS TO TRUMP AND OUR ARMED FORCES

What happens now is uncertain, and many wonder whether Venezuela will become another Iraq or Afghanistan.

But Venezuela is not a tribal country defined by sectarian violence. It is a Western nation with a long democratic tradition prior to Hugo Chávez, a shared language and a deeply Christian culture — more than 90% identify as such. This is not a country divided over whether tyranny is acceptable — it is a country that has been held hostage by force.

María Corina Machado — the Nobel Peace Prize winner and leader of the democratic opposition — has not yet assumed power. That’s because Machado has the support of the Venezuelan people, but not control of the military. Venezuela’s armed outfits are now, and have been for some time, a vast criminal enterprise loyal to cartels. That’s why President Trump, rather than pretending the regime collapsed overnight, is establishing a process — what Secretary of State Marco Rubio described as stabilization, recovery and transition.

WHITE HOUSE SAYS US WILL SHAPE VENEZUELA’S FUTURE AS TRUMP EMBRACES ‘AMERICAN DOMINANCE’

Do Venezuelans trust current leader Delcy Rodríguez, Maduro’s vice president? No. She helped build the machinery of repression that terrorized the country. But she understands something Maduro did not: Trump is deadly serious.

Maduro challenged Trump. He is now sitting in a New York jail cell. The regime has never been weaker.

If Rodríguez is cooperating — as the Trump administration suggests — it may already be creating fractures within the regime. Figures like Diosdado Cabello and Vladimir Padrino López built their power on violence, not compromise. That internal tension matters.

RUBIO LAYS OUT THREE-PHASE PLAN FOR VENEZUELA AFTER MADURO: ‘NOT JUST WINGING IT’

This moment is fragile. Multiple outcomes are possible — internal splits, renewed repression, cooperation or a negotiated transition. But one thing is undeniable: Venezuela — and the world — are better off with Nicolás Maduro behind bars. 

Maduro was not a president — his elections were scams. He was a fugitive who was indicted by the U.S. Department of Justice in 2020 for narco-terrorism. Venezuela’s alliances with bad actors like China, Russia, Cuba and Iran continue to wreak havoc on America, and the world. But now, a major player is finally behind bars. 

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Yet, too many in America are actually condemning the capture of a socialist dictator. Protesters outside the detention center demand Maduro’s release. They ironically praise his regime, apparently without realizing they would never be able to protest in Maduro’s Venezuela without being arrested.

Still others absurdly suggest Maduro is a conservative Christian leader.

The same Maduro used Venezuela’s so-called “Anti-Hate Speech Law” to persecute Catholics who dared criticize his regime. He publicly insulted clergy, calling priests “devils in cassocks,” and even ordered investigations against them.

Venezuela’s Catholic shepherds remained undeterred and repeatedly condemned Maduro’s Marxist socialism. They have warned it “threatens freedom and the rights of persons and associations and has led to oppression and ruin in every country where it has been tried.”

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Freedom is an exception, not the norm. And America is unique in its commitment to liberty. Venezuela didn’t become a dictatorship overnight. It happened gradually with promises of fairness, more government control sold as compassion and the suppression of dissent. By the time people realized what they had lost, it was already too late.

I fled socialism to survive. And I urge Americans to avoid learning these lessons the hard way. Because I understand how easy it is to lose freedom — and how rare it is to get it back.

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Lobsters to tequila: Cargo theft is eating America’s lunch and driving up food prices

As families across the country were preparing to celebrate Christmas, criminals were busy playing the Grinch. On Christmas Eve, a $400,000 shipment of live lobsters headed to Costco warehouses in Illinois and Minnesota vanished after pickup in Massachusetts. Posing as a legitimate trucking company, thieves disabled the truck’s GPS and disappeared with the load, a calculated act of cargo theft now under investigation by the FBI.

As brazen as it sounds, this was no one-off heist. Thieves recently made off with two truckloads carrying 24,000 bottles of Guy Fieri and Sammy Hagar’s Santo Tequila — worth more than $1 million — using fake carrier identities, spoofed emails and manipulated tracking systems to divert the freight. These high-profile heists are symptoms of a nationwide epidemic driven by organized theft groups that exploit digital platforms, stolen identities and fraudulent credentials to hijack the U.S. supply chain. Cargo theft now costs the trucking industry $6.6 billion annually, or more than $18 million each day. Those losses translate into higher insurance premiums, costly security investments and operational disruptions. With nearly three-quarters of stolen freight never recovered, consumers ultimately pay the price at the checkout line.

As they have for decades, bandits still stalk tractor trailers and strike when they are stopped at a rest area or even a traffic light. But strategic theft targeting trucking — which often involves elaborate techniques like fictitious pickup and identity fraud — has surged by 1,500% since 2022. The rapid digitization of the supply chain has opened up cyber vulnerabilities that organized theft groups exploit to steal freight remotely. 

AMERICAN TRUCKING INDUSTRY URGES LAWMAKERS TO ACT AS ONLINE CARGO THEFT SURGES

According to the transportation security firm CargoNet, food and beverages accounted for the greatest share of thefts in 2024, with dramatic spikes in meat and beverage loads during 2025. Criminals prefer these items because they are easy to resell and hard to trace. A broken seal can condemn an entire load and perishable goods rarely trigger rapid law-enforcement action.

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The fallout extends beyond higher prices. Retailers across the country have announced store closures, with executives citing persistent theft as a contributing factor. When stores shut their doors, communities can lose access to groceries, pharmacies and essential services, deepening food deserts and economic strain. And with grocery prices top of mind for voters this election year, lawmakers must confront this problem head-on.

That’s why we’re encouraged the House Judiciary Committee advanced the Combating Organized Retail Crime Act (CORCA), which would finally give law enforcement the tools to investigate and prosecute organized cargo theft, improve reporting and strengthen public-private partnerships. With no clear federal jurisdiction, real-time data sharing or coordination, law enforcement is currently fighting these criminals with one hand tied behind its back. CORCA would change all of that.

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But a committee vote isn’t enough. CORCA must now pass the full House and Senate and be signed into law so consumers, truck drivers and American businesses are better protected at a time when grocery prices are already stretching household budgets.

If Congress fails to act, the next headline will not just be about missing lobsters or stolen tequila. It will be about higher prices and growing insecurity for American families. Let’s make sure this is the moment lawmakers stepped up to defend our supply chain, our businesses and the American consumer.

Why Holocaust remembrance matters as history is rewritten and antisemitism surges

In the small Polish town of Gniewoszów, the traces of Jewish life had been so thoroughly erased that even the tombstones from the destroyed cemetery were stolen and cut into millstones and pavers. In a sense, this is not so different from what is happening today, when facts are being warped and history reshaped into a means to advance political ideologies of the present. As International Holocaust Remembrance Day approaches, none of us can sit idly by and let this happen.

When we arrived in Gniewoszów in 2014 — Anita to rededicate the Jewish cemetery where members of her family had once been buried, and Yoav to create a cinematic record — we did not anticipate that what began as a modest act of remembrance would become a decade-long quest to uncover a story of loss, silence, complicity and the urgent need to confront uncomfortable truths.

MORNING GLORY: THE RETURN OF ANTISEMITISM SHOULD SHOCK AND APPALL AMERICANS

So uncomfortable, in fact, that the office of Poland’s president is calling for the removal of our film from Polish television and streaming services.

While many Holocaust films focus on Nazi atrocities, our film, “Among Neighbors,” shifts the lens to the Polish people and what occurred after the war, when some Jewish survivors returned home only to face violence — and even death — at the hands of their former neighbors. It is a reckoning with a chapter too often omitted from the narrative, events that reveal the heights of human compassion and the depths of cruelty.

The town’s oldest residents, now in the twilight of their lives, break decades of silence, sharing secrets they have carried for a lifetime. Their poignant stories are brought to life with hand-drawn animated sequences, enriched by artful touches of magical realism. 

The heart of our story lies with two individuals: Yaacov Goldstein, one of the last living Holocaust survivors born in Gniewoszów, and Pelagia Radecka, an 85-year-old Polish woman who bravely shares her searing eyewitness testimony. 

And it took courage because the obstacles to truth-telling are formidable. 

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In 2018, Poland’s government passed a law against speech that blames Poland for any part in the Holocaust, a move that threatened to silence precisely the kind of testimonies our film preserves. The chilling effect of such legislation is felt not only in Poland, but wherever historical revisionism and antisemitism take root.

This story matters now because the forces that seek to rewrite history are not confined to one country or era. Violent antisemitism is on the rise in our country, too, including arson attacks from a Jewish student center in San Francisco to the Pennsylvania governor’s mansion. Social media influencers proudly declare they are on “Team Hitler,” and famous athletes claim Jews “own every damn thing,” parroting the notorious forgery “Protocols of the Elders of Zion.” Young people are too easily swayed by such voices, setting us on a very dangerous path. 

Throughout history, the welfare of Jewish communities has served as a barometer for a society’s health. When anti-Jewish sentiment proliferates, it erodes progress and contributes to cultural collapse. 

The list is endless of once-powerful realms who turned on their Jewish citizens, from Ancient Egypt, Greece, Rome, Arab empires, the Ottoman Empire, Spain and the Polish Kingdoms — not to mention Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. They now exist only in history books and in the fantasies of terrorists and wannabe authoritarians.

Our film is a call to action: to resist the temptation to sanitize the past, to honor the complexity of human experience, and to recognize that the choices we make, as individuals and as societies, echo far beyond our own lifetimes.

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In making “Among Neighbors,” we sought to bring the past to life and ensure that the stories of the Jews who lived and died in Poland were not lost to history. In so doing, we came to challenge viewers to confront the uncomfortable realities that shape our world today. 

As attempts to rewrite history in favor of a more politically convenient narrative gain momentum, “Among Neighbors” offers a powerful counterpoint. True patriotism lies in facing the past honestly, no matter how painful the truth may be.

This is why we are screening the film at theaters, film festivals, community centers and schools across the U.S. and internationally. No attempt to silence this crucial chapter of human history — in Poland or elsewhere — will stop us. Indeed, such efforts only make more people interested in our film.

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As the last witnesses fade, the responsibility to face history honestly falls to all of us. Remembrance is our inheritance. Let us not squander it.

An illegal immigrant killed my daughter — leftists march for Renee, not for Katie

As I read and watched the coverage coming out of Minneapolis about the tragic shooting of a woman allegedly attempting to run over a federal agent with her vehicle, two things immediately came to me. 

First, how demonstrators were being stoked, inflamed and used by politicians for self-serving purposes. Second — and far more personal — where was the outrage when my innocent 20-year-old daughter, Katie Abraham, was killed by an illegal alien shielded and protected by Illinois’ sanctuary policies? 

Katie’s killer was Julio Cucul-Bol. He was using an alias. He is currently being treated for an incurable communicable infectious disease, according to court transcripts. Yet when my daughter was violently killed, there were no viral videos, no breathless media panels, no emotional press conferences and no candlelight vigils amplified by politicians and pundits. 

Where were the stories about how the car Katie was riding in — stopped at a red light — was struck from behind at nearly 80 miles per hour by a drunk-driving illegal alien?

KRISTI NOEM FIRES BACK AT DEMS AMID IMPEACHMENT THREAT OVER FATAL MINNEAPOLIS ICE SHOOTING

Where was the outrage over how first responders had to pry the vehicle open like a tuna can to pull my daughter’s lifeless body from the wreckage? 

It also struck me how the same media figures, politicians and commentators now expressing outrage over the Minneapolis shooting have had nothing to say about Katie. Nothing. 

But these politicians had this to say about the ICE shooting:

CHAD WOLF, COOPER SMITH: MAYOR FREY, ICE IS NOT ‘SOWING CHAOS.’ YOU ARE. PLEASE RESIGN

New York City Democrat Mayor Zohran Mamdani: “We know when ICE agents attack immigrants, they attack every single one of us across this country.” 

Chicago Democrat Mayor Brandon Johnson: “We stand in solidarity with the people of Minneapolis and with all of those across the country whose lives have been torn apart due to reckless actions by Trump’s lawless, racist force.” 

Los Angeles Democrat Mayor Karen Bass: “It happened because of the brutal and racist policies of the Trump administration that unleashed these agents.”

CROCKETT WARNS OF NATIONWIDE PROTESTS OVER ICE SHOOTING: ‘STATE-SANCTIONED EXECUTION’

The hypocrisy is impossible to ignore. 

The night before the June 12, 2025, congressional hearings on sanctuary policies, my wife and I happened to be eating dinner at the same restaurant as Minnesota Democrat Gov. Tim Walz. I approached him, and we had a polite conversation. Walz offered his condolences for Katie’s death, which I appreciated. 

But the following day — while testifying in support of sanctuary policies — Walz did not say a single word about my daughter. Not one acknowledgment that Katie was violently killed by an illegal alien protected by the very policies he was championing.

BROADCAST BIAS: NETWORKS DEMONIZE ICE AS ‘TRUMP’S GESTAPO,’ DOWNPLAY ATTACKS ON THEM

Instead, after the Jan. 7 shooting, he declared “that the Trump administration’s dangerous, sensationalized operations are a threat to our public safety.” 

At those same hearings, Illinois Democrat Gov. JB Pritzker and New York Democrat Gov. Kathy Hochul also appeared. Yet my own governor, Pritzker, has offered Katie nothing but indifference, silence and disrespect. In my view, that is not compassion or humanity. It is entitlement — an aloof billionaire insulated from the consequences of his policies, exempt from the harm they cause, just like the illegal aliens he protects. 

As we approach the one-year anniversary of Katie’s death on Jan. 19, 2025, sanctuary policies continue to cause death and destruction. And our political leaders continue to double down.

AN ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT KILLED MY DAUGHTER. KATIE AND ILLINOIS ARE BOTH GETTING JUSTICE

It also struck me how the same media figures, politicians and commentators now expressing outrage over the Minneapolis shooting have had nothing to say about Katie. Nothing. 

Katie’s death was not a random act of fate. It was the predictable outcome of policy decisions made by Illinois leaders who chose ideology over accountability. 

States like Illinois and Minnesota have effectively nullified federal immigration law through sanctuary statutes that refuse to cooperate with federal law enforcement — even when authorities possess credible information about an individual’s identity, background, or risk to public safety. These policies did not just fail my daughter and the other victims that night. They failed every citizen. And they failed even the people they recklessly import for political gain. 

This is not immigration policy. This is not compassion. This is cruelty. 

Sanctuary policies are often defended as “humane,” but compassion without structure is neglect. A system that invites people in while refusing to vet them, guide them, or hold them accountable does not uplift the vulnerable — it abandons them. 

This is not sympathetic governance. It is systemic irresponsibility. 

By refusing to cooperate with federal authorities, Illinois removed every guardrail that might have prevented tragedy. No meaningful background checks. No identity confirmation. No monitoring. No intervention — until it was too late.

EXPERT WARNS PAINTING SLAIN ANTI-ICE ACTIVIST AS ‘GEORGE FLOYD 2.0’ WILL FAIL

Katie paid with her life. 

And while my family grieves, Illinois leaders refuse to pause, audit or reassess these policies. There is no serious effort to implement even basic safeguards such as identity verification, health screening, language services or lawful employment pathways — measures that would protect both residents and newcomers. 

At those same hearings, Illinois Democrat Gov. JB Pritzker and New York Democrat Gov. Kathy Hochul also appeared. Yet my own governor, Pritzker, has offered Katie nothing but indifference, silence and disrespect. 

Instead, officials hide behind slogans and accuse critics of lacking compassion. Their hyperbolic language inflames tensions rather than easing them. But that chaos is the point — it creates distraction, deflection and political cover for failed policy. I would also argue that it inflamed activists like Renee Nicole Good, the 37-year-old who was shot dead by an ICE officer. Her death is now being used as canon fodder against ICE, DHS and the Trump administration.

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Where is the humanity in all of this?  

Policies must be judged by outcomes, not intentions. When a system repeatedly produces preventable death, injury, fraud and disorder, it is broken. 

Illinois and other sanctuary states can — and must — do better. We need policies that are both lawful and humane. Policies that enforce the law while providing real structure, oversight and accountability. Policies that protect communities without dehumanizing anyone.

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Sacrificing people like Katie is not moral leadership. It is failure. 

If our leaders are unwilling to confront the consequences of their decisions, they should step aside. And if they refuse, citizens must demand better leadership at the ballot box.

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We deserve safety.  We deserve accountability. And we deserve leaders who value human life over political rhetoric. 

Sanctuary states have failed us all. They must do better. 

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‘Zohranomics’: NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s socialist math doesn’t add up

Democratic Socialist New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is focusing on affordability. But his “free stuff” policy agenda would flunk an introductory economics midterm.

For example: free bus rides will increase demand and cause overcrowding as service deteriorates. Can you envision New Yorkers queuing up like Londoners? Ditto free childcare, with risk of fraud. Ditto rent freezes, which are not likely to spur a rent-relieving housing supply surge.

Does Mamdani really think public employees will work the same long, intense hours at city-owned grocery stores that private-sector owners do to earn a living while building their generational wealth? Or that it’s a good idea to shutter natural gas plants supplying 500 megawatts of reliable energy, which New York’s Independent System Operator extended beyond their planned retirement in mid-2025 lest the city suffer blackouts. At much lower renewables grid loads than Mamdani wants, Germany had to import dirty coal to keep from going dark.

TOP MAMDANI APPOINTEE FACES HEAT AMID PROMISE TO MAKE NYC MORE AFFORDABLE: ‘EMBODIMENT OF INFLATION’

Remarkably, however, these attempts to revoke the laws of economics aren’t even his worst ideas.

Still more dangerous for New York — and the nation, if the anti-progress “progressive” left continues making political inroads — is Mamdani’s deep hostility to capitalism and capitalists. What an oddity for the mayor of the capital of global finance. Nothing could be a greater threat to prosperity, especially the aspirations for upward mobility of the very groups that helped elect Mamdani.

The most fundamental force for prosperity is the drive of people to improve their lives and their children’s lives. For two and a half centuries, it’s been well understood why competitive capitalism and free market incentives — not socialism, not what Mamdani calls “the warmth of collectivism” — are the surest route to affluence.

In “The Wealth of Nations,” Adam Smith observed, “It is not to the beneficence of the baker, butcher and brewer that we owe our daily dinner, but rather their regard to their own self-interest.” When President George H.W. Bush put me in charge of our assistance programs after the fall of the Berlin Wall, East Germans described the collectivist sapping of incentives more tartly: “They pretend to pay us, and we pretend to work.” No wonder their cousins in West Germany enjoyed such dramatically higher living standards.

SOCIALIST MAYOR MAMDANI INAUGURATED ALONGSIDE BERNIE SANDERS AND AOC ON NEW YEAR’S DAY

“I don’t think we should have billionaires,” Mamdani has declared. For the political left, “billionaire” has become an epithet, dripping with disdain. But most of us still admire the talented inventors and entrepreneurs who create the products and processes that expand our opportunities and improve our well-being. Yes, there is disruption along the way, and our safety net systems need to better mitigate the harms. But when was the last time you heard the pioneering builder of Tesla and SpaceX referred to in mainstream media as this generation’s greatest entrepreneur, rather than contemptuously as “billionaire Elon Musk?”

For New Yorkers, already straining under the city’s exorbitant taxes (with far from exemplary public services to show for them), Mamdani proposes both a wealth tax on the very rich and the highest corporate tax in the nation. Time will tell if he gets the necessary approvals from Albany. But the likely consequences would include an exodus of successful businesses, their well-paying jobs and highly taxed people, plus the jobs of many more who provide them with services. If you doubt it, look at high-tax, fiscally mismanaged, overregulated California hemorrhaging private sector jobs.

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More fundamentally, it is not possible to tax the rich without also taxing those trying to become rich. “Aye, there’s the rub,” as Hamlet might say. Mamdani and his consiglieres Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez want us to emulate democratic socialist Sweden and Denmark. But the lessons that should be heeded are startlingly different from their misleading vision.

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Both nations abolished their wealth taxes because they were difficult to administer and raised little revenue, thanks to the disincentive to grow and locate wealth in the countries. Top income-tax rates for New Yorkers, combined with the federal levy, are comparable to Sweden and Denmark — but with a huge difference. The Swedes and Danes add a regressive 25% value-added tax (akin to a national retail sales tax) to finance their more-bloated welfare states. The result: U.S. after-tax per capita GDP is 50% higherthan Sweden’s and Denmark’s (there are other differences, both positive and negative, but the high tax and welfare state disincentives are a big part of the story). Trading lower incomes for higher taxes to pay for free stuff is a poor bargain destined to worsen over time.

Mamdani pledges: “We will prove that there is no problem too big for government to solve and no concern too small for it to care about.” He also promises “honest” budgeting. When the revenue raised is not sufficient to pay for the spending splurge, the higher taxes will have to include the broad middle class. Emulating democratic socialist Sweden and Denmark can only mean big increases in the city’s sales tax, which would hit lower income and younger New Yorkers especially hard. What a “warmth of collectivism” con job.

Fairfax County library defends displaying Pride book in children’s section after criticism

The Fairfax County Public Library is defending its decision to display a controversial children’s Pride-themed book in its collections.

On Monday, the LibsOfTikTok X account posted a photo of the book, “Grandad’s Pride,” by author Harry Woodgate, about a child, “Milly,” and her granddad spearheading a Pride parade for their town. 

The images shared by LibsOfTikTok show illustrations depicting sexually explicit Pride parade scenes, including men wearing bondage-style gear kissing.

TRUMP TARGETS VIRGINIA SCHOOLS OVER ALLEGATIONS OF STAFF-ARRANGED STUDENT ABORTIONS WITHOUT PARENTAL CONSENT

The post reads, “INBOX: Fairfax County Regional Library (@fairfaxlibrary) in VA is displaying a book called ‘Grandad’s Pride’ on the CHILDREN’S section. This book contains images of s*xually explicit Pride Parades, which feature men in bondage gear making out. Your tax dollars are being spent to groom and indoctrinate your children.”

The book’s Amazon listing states it is intended for children ages 3 and up, with a grade level of preschool.

“When your Gramps and I were younger, we went to lots of Pride parades. We marched and sang and danced and made lots of new friends along the way,” one page of the book reads.

‘NONSENSE’: EARLE-SEARS BLASTS FAIRFAX TRANSGENDER BATHROOM RULES IN FIERY CAMPAIGN STOP

“Can we go to Pride,” she asks. “We could go in your camper van!”

“Oh, my partying days are over,” the grandfather responds. “I’m far too old, and the city is far too busy.”

But the child persists, and the pair decide to organize their own Pride parade in their village.

VIRGINIA SCHOOL BOARD BANS EMPLOYEES FROM FORCING STUDENTS, TEACHERS TO USE PREFERRED PRONOUNS

“Grandad is older, but surely he has plenty of partying in him yet,” the book reads. “‘Why don’t we celebrate Pride here instead?’ I ask.”

The book continues, “Grandad needs some persuading, but the next morning we suggest my idea in the village. Soon, it’s decided,” the book reads, and the town works to put on their own Pride parade.

One illustration in the book shows a child holding a sign that reads, “trans kids are magic.”

In a statement to Fox News Digital, the Fairfax County Public Library cited its “Board of Trustees Official Policy Manual,” specifically Policy S, “Regarding the Recommendations about Current and Potential Library Materials.” 

The portion reads, “Fairfax County Public Library’s varied collection is available to all and represents a diversity of subjects and viewpoints. The library upholds the right of the individual to secure these resources, even though the content may be controversial, unorthodox, or unacceptable to some. The choice of library materials is an individual matter. Parents/guardians have the right to guide the reading, viewing, and listening of their children, but must recognize these rights in other parents/guardians.” 

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Why would a city mayor defend a dictator while his own streets continue to burn?

As I continue my walk across America from Atlanta into Alabama, I’ve met countless everyday heroes — hardworking parents, devoted friends, and faithful community builders — who pour their lives into lifting up neighbors and restoring hope in forgotten neighborhoods. Their quiet sacrifices rarely make headlines, but they produce real, lasting change. That is why I’ve been deeply dismayed by leaders back home in Chicago and across the nation who seem far more eager to defend Nicolás Maduro, a brutal dictator whose regime has tortured, starved, and crushed its own people — rather than confront the rampant violence, poverty, and failing schools devastating far too many American communities.

After President Donald Trump’s decisive action to remove Maduro, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson chose not to stand for justice or human rights. Instead, he condemned the move as an “illegal regime change abroad” and claimed it was “solely about oil and power.” He even linked it to the “dehumanization of migrants from Venezuela” by the “far right.” He has since doubled down through multiple posts on X — as if defending a tyrant who has driven millions to flee their homeland is somehow compassionate.

As I press on with this walk, my faith reminds me that God calls us to justice and truth, not to prop up tyrants or play politics with people’s lives.

Why would a city mayor, with no international authority, insert himself into global affairs like this? I understand that local governance may not feel revolutionary enough. But supporting Maduro’s government — with its documented record of torture and extrajudicial killings — isn’t solidarity. It’s siding with evil.

WALKING ACROSS AMERICA SHOWED ME WHY FAITH AND FREE THOUGHT CAN STILL WIN

Johnson isn’t the only one. Leftist mayors like New York’s Zohran Mamdani and Los Angeles’ Karen Bass reflect a troubling pattern, aligning with anti-American narratives that prioritize ideological posturing over real suffering and crises within their own cities.

These mayors were elected to fix potholes, improve schools, and reduce crime — yet they spend invaluable time and energy condemning Trump while effectively giving dictators carte blanche. Do they not care about the people in their own backyards? Or are they advancing some international agenda that undermines the American Dream right here at home?

This distraction is painfully evident in Chicago, where our streets are plagued with violence and our children are trapped in underperforming schools. Yet, the Chicago Teachers Union jumped into the fray. On X, they promoted an “emergency protest” against what it called “U.S. aggression against Venezuela,” calling to “STOP THE BOMBINGS” and framing the situation as imperialist war.

Their X post urged people to join them at Chicago’s Federal Plaza. The post was co-sponsored by groups like the Anti-War Committee and the Party for Socialism and Liberation. Why is a teachers’ union, which should be focused on raising literacy rates and preparing kids for success, rallying for a regime that has crushed its own people’s freedoms? And why are taxpayers footing the bill?

It gets worse. I recently saw a Freedom Foundation post stating that the CTU took a trip to Venezuela to “visit with government officials and teachers and tour communes.” I don’t even know what “tour communes” are, but what is the CTU doing in Venezuela and, again, why on the taxpayer’s dime?

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This is not about peace. This is about ideology. When politics becomes a false religion, it breeds rage and division, and it pulls us away from the faith and merit that build strong communities.

My walk is about reclaiming that foundation. Everywhere I go, I talk to Americans who believe in earning success through hard work, not handouts or excuses. Restoring merit means teaching trades, fostering entrepreneurship, and instilling values that lift people out of poverty — like the work being done at Project H.O.O.D. back in Chicago’s South Side. Restoring merit means believing in America.

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At this point, we must be brutally honest. These mayors are not here to help us. Where’s their progress? It isn’t there. They don’t believe in America. They don’t believe in us, the Americans. The reality is that “We the People” have to lead. It’s on us. We have to be the change. We have to step outside our doors and talk to our neighbors and take steps to help, however small they may be.

As I press on with this walk, my faith reminds me that God calls us to justice and truth, not to prop up tyrants or play politics with people’s lives. The American Dream isn’t about siding with dictators. It’s about creating opportunity for all, earned through merit and perseverance. It’s about believing in America.

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JONATHAN TURLEY: ‘Say Her Name’ becomes radical rallying cry for Democrats’ mob rule

“Say her name.” From Portland to Philadelphia, the mantra is being used by politicians to fuel anger over the shooting of Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis. While many of us have noted that the shooting appears to fall within Supreme Court guidelines for the justified use of lethal force, there is an effort to make Good the personification of a so-called “resistance movement.”

Across the country, Democrats are holding “I am Spartacus” moments, resembling a low-budget casting call for B-grade actors — chest-pounding calls for everything from defunding ICE to the arrest of law enforcement officers. Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) was widely ridiculed for his own such moment years ago. Yet he discovered that while most people found his self-aggrandizement cringeworthy, others longed for such displays.

From Portland to Philadelphia, Democratic leaders are engaging in performative press conferences, attempting to outdo one another by declaring the shooting of Renee Good “murder” or announcing a “war” with the federal government over the enforcement of immigration policies.

CROWD-FOR-HIRE BOSS REJECTS MINNEAPOLIS UNREST AS ILLEGAL CHAOS

The tone was set almost immediately after the shooting by Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, who not only declared the officer a murderer but dismissed claims of self-defense as “bulls—” and told ICE to “get the f— out” of the city.

When many of us denounced his conduct, Frey mocked critics, apologizing if his profanity had “offended their Disney princess ears.”

Frey appeared to trigger a race to the bottom. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and others rushed to the nearest camera to condemn the officer and fuel the rage. Democratic politicians seemed to compete over who could escalate rhetoric fastest, adding profanity or threats. Rep. Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.), facing a serious primary challenge from a Mamdani-endorsed socialist, has fought to out-rage the competition.

CHAD WOLF, COOPER SMITH: MAYOR FREY, ICE IS NOT ‘SOWING CHAOS.’ YOU ARE. PLEASE RESIGN

Goldman not only called for the arrest of the officer, but also moved to strip all ICE officers of immunity. Goldman, of course, enjoys immunity as a member of Congress and, as an heir to the Levi Strauss fortune, can afford any litigation. Yet he wants to strip protections from law enforcement officers who put their lives on the line every day. Apparently, no price is too high to help Goldman secure a third term.

In Portland, Mayor Keith Wilson and Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek expressed outrage over ICE being in the city after a shooting. It did not seem to matter that those wounded were two suspected Tren de Aragua gang associates, allegedly shot after trying to run over ICE officers.

Portland Police Chief Bob Day later confirmed that Luis David Nico Moncada and Yorlenys Betzabeth Zambrano-Contreras are Venezuelan criminal illegal aliens with ties to TdA. He admitted the Portland Police Department hesitated to disclose the suspected gang connection because it feared accusations of the “historic injustice of victim blaming” by law enforcement.

JONATHAN TURLEY SLAMS MINNEAPOLIS MAYOR’S ‘RECKLESS’ RESPONSE TO ICE SHOOTING

He then became emotional, saying, “It saddens me that we even have to qualify these remarks because I understand — or at least have attempted to understand — your voices, your concern, your fear, your anger.”

In Philadelphia, District Attorney Larry Krasner and Sheriff Rochelle Bilal took the performative press conference to a new — and absurd — level.

Krasner, who has been known for sensational but unfulfilled pledges, told ICE to stay out of the city and portrayed its conduct as criminal, adding, “You will be arrested. You will stand trial. You will be convicted.”

DAVID MARCUS: IMPEDING FEDERAL LAW ENFORCEMENT IS NOT PROTEST, IT’S JUST CRIME

Sheriff Bilal then went full Spartacus, delivering an embarrassing performance more befitting an Antifa activist than a law enforcement official. She called ICE officers “fake, wannabe” law enforcement and claimed they were violating both “legal law” and “moral law.”

Bilal pandered to the mob, warning the federal government that “you don’t want this smoke, because we will bring it to you.” She added that “the criminal in the White House would not be able to keep” ICE agents from going to jail.

‘HACKS’ STAR HANNAH EINBINDER SAYS ‘NONE OF US ARE SAFE’ AFTER ICE SHOOTING, CALLS TO ABOLISH AGENCY

These are leaders openly playing to the mob. In my forthcoming book, “Rage and the Republic: The Unfinished Story of the American Revolution,” I examine how elected officials often enlist mobs to advance political agendas — only to be consumed by the unrest they unleash. This surrender to a “mobocracy” was among the dangers the Framers sought to prevent through safeguards against majoritarian tyranny.

The problem with these “I am Spartacus” moments is that they require an actual Spartacus. Instead, we get violence without a cause.

We also get the same political actors who have trafficked in rage for generations.

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In Minneapolis, a Black Lives Matter leader appeared to advocate violence as a tool for change, suggesting that the prosecution of officers in the George Floyd case occurred only because protesters burned part of the city in 2020. She urged demonstrators to ignore pleas to “not set [the city] on fire.”

In the movie, Caesar is asked whether he, too, had “left us for … the mob.” Caesar replies, “I’ve left no one, least of all Rome. This much I’ve learned … Rome is the mob.”

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These politicians are attempting to harness mob power and direct it at their political opponents. One Antifa activist urged people to “show up with guns and end this,” adding that “this is what the Founding Fathers gave us the Second Amendment for.”

What we are witnessing is not the American Revolution but a march toward the French Revolution. If history is any guide, these “new Jacobins” will discover they are no more immune to rage than their opponents, as today’s revolutionaries become tomorrow’s reactionaries.

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Trump has three strike options that would aid the protesters and devastate Iran

No one is better than President Donald Trump at putting maximum pressure on Iran. As protests against the repressive, murderous regime continue, Trump is talking about military options as another means of adding to the dilemmas for Iran’s government. “Locked and loaded,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Jan. 2, as the protests by the Iranian people ramped up.  

The U.S. military always has a list of target options when it comes to Iran. Operation Midnight Hammer took out just a specific set of nuclear enrichment and weapons design facilities in order to obliterate Iran’s ability to race to a bomb. But the B-2 strike of June 22, 2025, did not go after Iran’s underground sites hiding missiles, launchers and fuel production.  

One act by Iran would bring on strikes for sure: Trump on Sunday said he would “hit them at levels that they’ve never been hit before” if American forces are targeted. This is an important red line. Remember Iran struck out at U.S. forces at Al Udeid Air Base in Doha, Qatar, back on June 23, 2025 and previously hit U.S. forces at Al Asad Air Base in Iraq on Jan. 8, 2020. 

Here are three potential options that may be considered by President Trump.

IRAN’S NUCLEAR CAPABILITIES CRUSHED, BUT REGIME’S DESIRE FOR THE BOMB MAY PERSIST

1. Missile production 

Iran is still building ballistic missiles and importing solid rocket fuel precursors such as sodium perchlorate from China. The CIA’s map shows more than two dozen above- and below-ground sites across Iran linked to testing, development, production and storage of missiles. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu let it be known in late December that Iran was trying to rebuild its missile stocks and air defenses. He probably shared more details during his visit with Trump at Mar-a-Lago on Dec. 30. Iran expended hundreds of missiles in strikes on Israel in 2024-25 and wants to get back the ability to target Israel with big salvos. That would be bad.  

2. Space launch facilities

IRAN NUCLEAR PROGRAM SET BACK 2 YEARS AFTER US STRIKES: PENTAGON

Iran has over 30 satellites in orbit and Russia just launched three more for them in December. That’s the last thing we need; rogue Iranian satellites. Worse, Iran’s space launch rockets are easy to repurpose as attack missiles. Iran popped an undeclared ballistic missile out of their Iman Khomenei spaceport back in September. That’s in violation of U.N. sanctions, by the way. It wouldn’t surprise me if their new launch facility under construction at Chabahar is also on the watch list.  

3. Drone factories 

Iran’s infamous drones used to hit Ukraine are made by Shahed Aviation Industries, run in part by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps. Don’t forget that the IRGC is also a big business operation. The IRGC funds terrorism, so their drone business is a legitimate military target. Too bad the drone factory Iran set up in Russia won’t be on this list.  

Any options briefed to the president will come with extensive evaluation of ways to prevent collateral damage or inadvertent civilian deaths. The aim, after all, is pressure on the regime.

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All this is easy work for Central Command. U.S. F-15E fighters led strikes on ISIS targets in Syria on Saturday, and additional Air Force F-35s, F-16s and B-2 and B-1 bombers could augment the packages alongside U.S. Navy destroyers and submarines with Tomahawk Land Attack Cruise Missiles (TLAMs).  

What about world reaction? France, Germany and Great Britain are already on record condemning Iran’s dubious space launch activities. Missiles from Iran can reach Southern Europe. Hence, the activation in 2023 of the Aegis Ashore radar system in Poland and Romania designed to track missiles launched out of Iran.

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As a corollary to the White House Briefing, the president will be informed of the defensive posture of U.S. forces in the Middle East. Tipped by U.S. Space Forces, U.S. Navy destroyers used the Standard Missile SM-3 to kill several Iranian missiles in 2024 and will be ready to do so again.  

No doubt most Americans would love to see the end of Ayatollah Khamenei’s tyranny. Until that day comes, Trump’s prudent course may be to make sure Iran’s military capabilities are broken into a million pieces.  

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