DAVID MARCUS: Sorry Omar Fateh, we’re not doing Somali-run no-go zones in Minnesota

In a chilling series of social media posts on Saturday night, Minnesota state senator and former Minneapolis mayoral candidate Omar Fateh pledged to make the Cedar Riverside neighborhood of his city a “no-go zone for white supremacists.”

“No-go zone” is a term popularized in Europe that refers to Muslim-majority neighborhoods where it is not safe for White people to go.

The X posts began with Fateh and two other men standing before the iconic Cedar Riverside towers with the message, “Cedar Strong. White Supremacists aren’t welcome here. We protect our own.”

A bit shocked by the sentiment, I quote-posted the senator to remind him Americans can enter any neighborhood they want to, writing, “You don’t decide who is and isn’t welcome anywhere. We don’t allow ‘no-go zones.’”

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To this, Fateh doubled down, responding, “This is a No-Go zone for white supremacists,” adding an angry emoji for emphasis.

The first and obvious question here is, what does Fateh mean by “white supremacist.” But before we get to that, let’s be clear, if somebody wants to don full Nazi regalia and walk up and down the sidewalk in Little Mogadishu, Minnesota, while doing the John Cleese funny Hitler walk, they can.

This is a free country and one of our most cherished freedoms is expression. It is long established not just legally, but socially in America, that as abhorrent as Nazis are, they still have rights.

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But let’s not be naive. Omar Fateh is not talking about the Ku Klux Klan or even the Proud Boys here. He is almost certainly talking about anyone who supports President Donald Trump and the operations of Immigration and Customs Enforcement in the Twin Cities.

Fateh and his Democratic colleagues in Minnesota, such as Gov. Tim Walz, Mayor Jacob Frey and Rep. Ilhan Omar, have painted the fully legal ICE actions in the Land of 10,000 Lakes as racism, again and again and again.

Many of these same so-called leaders have hurled accusations of racism against journalists like Nick Shirley, who have exposed a largely Somali fraud scandal that federal prosecutors say took more than $9 billion away from needy children and senior citizens. One can perhaps understand why Fateh would want a No-Nick-Shirley-Zone to protect the corrupt among his constituents.

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On Saturday afternoon in Minneapolis, pro-Trump counter protesters were physically assaulted as they tried to make their voices heard. One man was threatened with violence if he didn’t take off his American flag sweatshirt, in frigid temperatures.

In America.

This is abject madness, bordering on total chaos, and what is Fateh’s response? To pour fuel on the fire by promising similar treatment to any pro-ICE person who dares enter his Somali-run no-go zone.

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Does anyone doubt for even half a second that a MAGA hat, or at this point, even an American flag itself, would be considered “White supremacy” by Fateh and his ilk?

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What percentage of Americans do Fateh and his buddies think are White supremacists? Millions? And if so, by what authority have they simply decided those people aren’t allowed in this neighborhood? 

Who is going to enforce this no-go zone? Will it have its own militia? A small Somali standing army in the Midwest? This is craziness.

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Everybody, but especially Democrats, need to be crystal clear in saying to Fateh that European-style no-go zones will not be tolerated in America. We long ago did away with shameful “sunset towns” where Black people could not venture after dark. We will not allow Fateh to bring that horrid practice back.

This is just further evidence that leadership of the Somali community in Minnesota has no interest in assimilation. They want a semi-autonomous area that they control. Not only is that not how America works, it also harms the futures of those they represent.

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Fateh and Omar would have their constituents believe that the broader rules of America, including our democratically enacted immigration laws, simply do not apply to them. It’s a recipe for disaster.

Americans are not going to be told that there are neighborhoods in their own nation which they may not enter. That might fly in Cologne or Copenhagen, but not in the United States. Omar Fateh needs to figure this out before he gets more people hurt or killed.

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The Panama Canal proves one lesson America needs now: never quit

I grew up in Windsor Locks, Connecticut. Our town’s name described what made us unique — we had locks on the Connecticut River. Ever since I was a kid, I understood how locks worked, and I always wanted to see the ones that changed the world.

Recently, I had that opportunity when I transited the Panama Canal. To see the locks operate just as they have for more than 110 years was thrilling. Traveling the almost 50-mile journey from the Pacific to the Atlantic was an experience I’ll never forget.

The construction of the Canal was the largest and most expensive project ever undertaken at that point in human history. Nothing so massive, elaborate or systematic had ever been attempted before. The financial cost, combined with the human toll of more than 25,000 lives lost, was comparable to a war.

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Such a monumental achievement could never have happened without determination, perseverance, persistence and grit. The result changed the world and the global economy forever. The Canal cut the distance from the Atlantic to the Pacific by 8,000 miles, resulting in three fewer weeks of travel time.

Today, ships carrying as many as 11,000 containers transit through the Canal. Cars, appliances and an array of other goods make their way across the world thanks to the more than one million ships that use the Panama Canal each year.

But the journey to a mid-continental canal was a long one, filled with crushed dreams, financial ruin, enormous adversity — and ultimate triumph. The French were the first to attempt building the Canal. Ferdinand de Lesseps had built the Suez Canal and was certain he could build the Panama Canal too. The French created a private company to do it. They sold shares in multiple rounds of investment. Huge sums of money were raised and spent.

After almost a decade of work, they quit and accepted defeat. Ferdinand de Lesseps insisted on a sea-level canal instead of one with locks, even though the two oceans have different sea levels, with tides rising 20 feet on the Pacific side but only three feet on the Atlantic. That decision was the single greatest factor in the project’s failure.

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More than 20,000 workers died, most from yellow fever and malaria. He would later admit that Panama was 10 times more difficult than Suez. Most unfortunate were the more than 800,000 French men and women who had invested in the project. The savings of entire families were gone. People lost everything. It was the largest and most significant financial collapse on record — a historic failure.

A decade later, America chose to build the Panama Canal. President Theodore Roosevelt asked the United States Senate to choose either Panama or Nicaragua for the canal. Even though a Nicaragua canal would be 135 miles longer, require more locks, and be more expensive to operate, it was the favorite. But after 14 days of debate, Panama won by a mere eight votes.

America would pursue the seemingly impossible task of building the Panama Canal. It would require cutting through a jungle filled with ferocious animals, snakes and tarantulas — and carving through the sheer rock of the Continental Divide.

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Roosevelt tapped John Wallace as chief engineer. He lasted only a year, overwhelmed by the monumental task, a brutal climate and the fear of yellow fever and malaria. John Stevens took over and proposed a lake-and-lock plan.

The Panama Canal is not a simple passageway. It uses three locks to lift ships up to travel through the man-made Gatun Lake, then three more locks to lower them back down to another canal. Stevens also tasked chief Army physician William Gorgas with successfully eradicating yellow fever. But Stevens resigned three years later with no explanation.

Colonel George Goethals took over and finished the job. He brought a military mindset to the work, but the demanding conditions remained. The rainy season lasts eight months in Panama, with 120 inches of annual rainfall, resulting in flooding and mudslides.

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Heat and humidity were oppressive. At the bottom of Culebra Cut, the midday temperature was seldom less than 100 degrees — and often reached 120 to 130 degrees. On a typical day, more than 300 rock drills were in use, along with steam shovels and dynamite blasts. The noise was deafening and could be heard for miles.

Though yellow fever and malaria were eradicated, death was omnipresent. Men were struck by flying rocks, crushed by machines, or blown to bits by dynamite. More than 5,000 men died during the American construction. It was an incredible test of human endurance.

But on August 15, 1914, the Canal opened for business — miraculously under budget and six months ahead of schedule. It was the culmination of a dream and more than 20 years of phenomenal effort and perseverance.

This new year, you can see the impossible become possible in your own life — if you practice the same persistence and determination. As the English preacher Charles Spurgeon once said, “By persistence the snail reached the ark.”

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This could be the year you stick with it — no more quitting or giving up. No more excuses for why it can’t be done or is simply too difficult. The Canal went from a dream to reality through grit and determination, through consistent progress in a singular direction.

Maybe you are disappointed with the pace of your progress or the rate of your accomplishments. You may wish you were further along than you are. It takes time for the work to be done in our lives. It often takes longer than we expect. We can get frustrated at the slow pace of growth and wish for more.

But if you have perseverance and endurance, you can see your dream become reality. You may lack money, ability or resources, but a million dollars’ worth of determination will get it done.

There may be setbacks this year. Illness strikes. Loss hits. Relationships end. Time and again, in the building of the Canal, there were setbacks that required restructuring. You, too, must regroup and continue your journey. Despite the failures, you must choose to persevere through disappointment and pain.

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You can hang on far longer than you think. You may believe you can’t do it anymore. It’s hard. It’s challenging. But so was building the Canal — and they overcame. You can too. Sometimes the toughest moment comes right before the breakthrough.

The Christian missionary Hudson Taylor said it best: “First it is impossible, then it is difficult, then it is done.”

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Is heaven real? Science may reveal where God’s eternal kingdom exists

When our son was 4 years old, he asked my wife and me: “Can you drive to heaven?” Out of the mouth of babes, right?

It’s a question only a child would ask, but it raises a very adult question: Where exactly is the heaven described in the Bible?

As a scientist, I understand the importance of definitions. According to the Bible, the lowest level of heaven is Earth’s atmosphere. The mid-level heaven is outer space. The highest-level heaven is what we’re talking about: It’s where God dwells.

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As for heaven’s location, the Bible contains many verses that describe us as looking “up” at God in heaven, and God as looking “down” at us on Earth.

Imagine boarding a nuclear-powered rocket and traveling straight “up” into deep space. Will you ever reach a point far enough “up” into space that you finally reach heaven?

Before you laugh off the idea, consider this.

In 1929, American attorney-turned-amateur astronomer Edwin Hubble discovered that galaxies are rushing away from one another like so much shrapnel from a bomb. Hubble also discovered there’s a definite pattern to how galaxies are rushing away from each other, namely: The farther “up” in space a galaxy is located — the farther away it is from Earth — the faster it’s moving away from Earth and everything else. It’s called Hubble’s Law.

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But, here’s where it gets really interesting.

Theoretically, a galaxy that’s 273 billion trillion (273,000,000,000,000,000,000,000) miles away from Earth would move at 186,000 miles per second, which is the speed of light. That distance, way “up” there in space, is called the Cosmic Horizon.

That means you and I can never reach the Cosmic Horizon — not even aboard the most souped-up, nuclear-powered rocket imaginable — because, as Einstein explained in his theory of special relativity, only light and certain other non-material phenomena can travel at the speed of light.

So, then, where is heaven located, exactly? It’s entirely possible heaven is located on the other side of the Cosmic Horizon. Here’s why.

One: According to modern cosmology, an entire universe exists beyond the Cosmic Horizon. But it’s permanently hidden from us because we can never reach, let alone cross over, the Cosmic Horizon.

Two: Our best astronomical observations — and Einstein’s theories of special and general relativity — indicate that time stops at the Cosmic Horizon. At that special distance, way “up” there in deep, deep, deep space, there is no past, present or future. There’s only timelessness.

Three: Unlike time, however, space does exist at and beyond the Cosmic Horizon. Which means the hidden universe beyond the Cosmic Horizon is habitable, albeit only by light and light-like entities.

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Four: According to modern cosmology, the Cosmic Horizon is lined with the very oldest celestial objects in the observable universe. That means whatever exists beyond the Cosmic Horizon predates these oldest objects… predates the so-called big bang… predates the beginning of the observable universe.

All these modern scientific realities, and others, are why it’s entirely reasonable to speculate that:

1. Heaven is, indeed, located “up” there — way above our heads and way beyond the visible, starlit universe — just as the Bible indicates.

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2. Heaven is inaccessible to us mortals while we’re alive, just as the Bible indicates.

3. Heaven is inhabited by nonmaterial, timeless beings, just as the Bible indicates.

4. Heaven is the dwelling place of the One who predates the universe — the One who created the universe — just as the Bible indicates.

Pins, platitudes and silence: Hollywood’s hollow response to Renee Good

There is a lot happening internationally. The United States has taken control of Venezuela, is closely monitoring Iran and has even floated ideas about Greenland. But domestically, inside our own communities and cities, there is a far bigger and more immediate story. That story is what happened to Renee Good in Minneapolis.

If we’re marking time through award season, the shooting of Renee Good happened three days after the Critics Choice Awards and three days before the Golden Globes. It set off a national firestorm. It dominated headlines, consumed social media and demanded attention from everyone from the president to local officials across the country. It became a turning point for ICE and the national conversation around immigration enforcement. More importantly, it was a moment of genuine unrest and grief.

And it also gave celebrities time.

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Time to ingest what each side believed about the shooting. Time to calibrate their reactions. And time to plan. Plan for what, you may ask? What they were going to say.

There is no better display of the cultural pulse than an awards show. In 2022, the Oscars were marked by Ukraine ribbons. Other years have featured refugee pins. We’ve seen dueling red carpet statements for Gaza and Israel. So when I settled in to watch the Golden Globes this year, I fully expected to see pins.

What I didn’t expect was how vague those messages would be, or how few people would actually wear them.

The pins on display this year were meant to reflect the moment around Renee Good and ICE, but many of them required interpretation. One said “BE GOOD,” a play on Renee’s last name, but one that would likely confuse the average viewer. Be good to whom? To law enforcement? To immigrants? To the Trump administration? To the president? To the public? The message lacked clarity.

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Another pin said “ICE OUT.” It was small and muted, without the visual clarity we’ve seen from past movements like the yellow ribbon for Israel or the Palestinian flag pins. And frankly, the slang phrase “ice me out,” popularized in music, already carries a cultural meaning far removed from immigration enforcement.

Some could argue that this is nitpicking. Historically, actors have used pins as conversation starters, explaining them on the red carpet. Often, the message is reinforced during interviews and expanded into a real, if imperfect, conversation.

And in fairness, some did exactly that. Mark Ruffalo delivered a passionate red carpet speech, appearing visibly emotional. That is expected from Ruffalo, who has long occupied one of the most consistently politically active spaces in Hollywood. Jean Smart, who would later win for “Hacks,” said on the carpet that she was speaking as a citizen, acknowledging how people often get annoyed when actors speak out. But when she won, she noted in her acceptance speech that she had already said her piece on the carpet.

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Which brings us to the speeches themselves.

If you had taken someone from the height of the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests and placed them in the Golden Globes of 2026, they would never believe the country was in turmoil over the shooting of a woman by a police officer. Political references in acceptance speeches were sparse, if present at all. This was especially striking given that one of the night’s most celebrated films centers on democracy and resistance to a police state.

That silence stood in sharp contrast to recent years. At the 2023 Oscars, “Everything Everywhere All at Once” dominated the night. Ke Huy Quan spoke about being a refugee and his journey to that stage. Just weeks earlier, Tennessee had banned drag shows, and when Daniel Kwan accepted Best Director, he plainly stated that “drag is a threat to nobody.”

To be clear, I don’t personally mind an awards show where speeches aren’t 10 minutes long and centered on the social justice issue of the week. I watch award shows for the films, the performances and the fashion. Sometimes, it’s nice to forget everything else for a couple of hours.

But many people rely on these moments. TikTok was filled with frustration about how little was said, how muted the messaging felt and how much further it could have gone. Some pointed out that there was no mention of Iran, while others noted how Gaza had seemed to fall to the wayside. There was real disappointment across corners of the internet that the weight of so many current political moments barely hovered over the ceremony at all.

And that’s the reality of celebrity activism. It is often just that, a moment.

If you want activism that lasts beyond a news cycle, it requires sacrifice. Marlon Brando famously declined his Oscar, sending a Native American woman in his place to read his statement. I wasn’t alive when that happened, and I still know it as cultural lore. It mattered because it cost him something. Pins do not.

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We also need to stop outsourcing moral leadership to celebrities. In 2024, Vice President Kamala Harris had virtually every major celebrity stop by her rallies. You could attend a political event and also hear Lady Gaga and Katy Perry, or catch a rare glimpse of Beyoncé. The assumption was that star power would turn out votes. Instead, it energized those who already needed no convincing.

As the Golden Globes ended and attendees changed into their second or third outfits for the after-parties, the pins disappeared. Without cameras, microphones or red carpets, there was no need for messaging.

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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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JONATHAN TURLEY: Clintons dare House to hold them in criminal contempt. Will it work?

Woody Allen famously said, “80% of success in life is just showing up.” When it comes to Bill and Hillary Clinton and possible congressional contempt, it may be 100%. The two politicians have decided to defy lawful subpoenas issued by the House. For the House Oversight Committee, now is also the time for contempt proceedings.

Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., and the House Oversight Committee are investigating the Jeffrey Epstein controversy and have subpoenaed the Clintons to testify. Neither has been accused of criminal conduct. 

The Clintons failed to appear and, instead, issued a chest-thumping letter of defiance, declaring:

“Every person has to decide when they have seen or had enough and are ready to fight for this country, its principles and its people, no matter the consequences. For us, now is that time.”

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The committee is likely to agree that “now is that time” and the consequences are the start of contempt proceedings.

On Aug. 5, 2025, the committee approved the subpoenas. Former President Clinton’s deposition was initially set for Oct. 14, 2025. It was then moved to Dec. 17, 2025.

In December, Comer postponed the depositions for a second time to allow the Clintons to attend a funeral. However, he said that their counsel, David Kendall, then declined to offer any alternative dates.

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The vote to issue the subpoena was taken on an unusual bipartisan basis for the often divided committee. Even Democratic members, such as Rep. Ro Khanna, of California, said the Clintons must comply.

There was a time when subpoenas were viewed as more than discretionary matters. Counsel has insisted that the testimony is unnecessary and a distraction. However, that is not a ground that any court would view as justification for knowingly and repeatedly ignoring a lawfully issued subpoena.

The position of the Clintons seems a repeat of the defiance of Hunter Biden, who chose to hold a press conference outside of Congress rather than appear inside for his deposition. He was accompanied by Democratic members like Eric Swalwell, of California.

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At one time, Democrats were aghast at those who might defy congressional subpoenas.

President Joe Biden maintained that defying subpoenas cannot be tolerated. When subpoenas were issued to Republicans during the House’s January 6 investigation, Biden declared: “I hope that the committee goes after them and holds them accountable criminally.”

Two Trump associates — Steven Bannon and Peter Navarro — refused to appear in the House and were quickly held in contempt by a majority of the House, including Swalwell.

I wrote at the time that these individuals were also undeniably in contempt of Congress. 

Now, however, such defiance is viewed as righteous and somehow excusable by figures such as Rep. Dan Goldman, D-N.Y., who has routinely chosen political over institutional interests. 

The defiance could result in a criminal referral for the couple, prosecutions that would mirror those under the Biden administration.

In 2021, Hillary Clinton mocked Bannon’s indictment for contempt of Congress by saying that she planned for a “restful” weekend as he prepared for possible conviction.

It is an ironic moment. The Clintons are adopting the Bannon strategy that led to his conviction.

At the time of Bannon’s charge, I noted that all he had to do was appear and invoke his Fifth Amendment right to remain silent. The committee would then have had to issue an immunity grant to compel any testimony. The worst thing that you could do is not appear.

That is precisely what the Clintons just did.

In reality, I expect that neither Clinton is losing any sleep over the prospect of a criminal charge. They have spent their career dodging such prosecutions. Of course, this is a Republican-controlled House and a Republican administration. 

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What is most striking is the lack of any effort to come up with a cognizable defense. The Clintons simply chose open defiance. For those who have denounced a two-tier justice system, there is nothing more entitled and privileged than this letter. Such rules do not apply to the Clintons, who feel that they have the license to decide when they will appear. 

They are wrong and, like Bannon, left themselves no viable legal defense. They are simply asserting a type of de facto Clinton immunity that could leave even a sympathetic federal district court judge with no real alternative to trial. Kendall is an experienced lawyer, and perhaps he will reveal a legal defense that escapes me. For the moment, I am baffled by the legal strategy. Indeed, I see no intelligible legal strategy at all in effectively saying, “We simply do not feel like it.”

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They seem to be repeating the same pitch that Bill Clinton gave in the Lewinsky matter: “I ask you to turn away from the spectacle of the past seven months, to repair the fabric of our national discourse, and to return our attention to all the challenges and all the promise of the next American century.”

Despite a federal judge finding that Clinton lied under oath, it worked. The problem is that a defendant like Clinton can always argue in a perjury case that “it depends on what the meaning of the word ‘is’ is.” In this case, it does not depend on what the meaning of the word “testify” is. Whatever the meaning, showing up is a critical element. It is hard to argue that you are not in contempt when you make your contempt for the committee your defense. 

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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.  

PROTESTERS CLASH WITH FEDERAL OFFICERS AFTER ANOTHER ICE SHOOTING IN MINNEAPOLIS

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.”

MINNEAPOLIS MAYOR WHO TOLD ICE TO ‘GET THE F— OUT’ NOW CALLS FOR PEACE AFTER ANOTHER SHOOTING INCIDENT

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.”

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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. 

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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.

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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?

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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:

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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.”

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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.

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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.

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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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