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We will all pay for the Democrats’ antitrust crusade that killed Spirit Airlines

Mon, 11 May 2026 07:00:32 -0400

Summer is almost here and many Americans are worried they won’t be able to take a vacation. The cost of airfare alone is up a whopping 18% over the same time in 2025.

Flying to the beach or Disney World has become unaffordable for many middle-class families and the future looks bleak. Spirit Airlines, a major budget air carrier, canceled all flights and announced on May 2 that it's going out of business, leaving fliers stranded with fewer low-cost options.

Spirit’s demise is the direct fault of the Biden administration, which killed a business deal that would have saved the airline. They were cheered on by key Democrats who need to be held accountable for their economic malpractice.

In 2022, Spirit and JetBlue announced they planned to merge into a new airline. The carrier would have combined the best of both businesses, leveraging JetBlue’s global scale in service of Spirit’s low prices.

DUFFY BLAMES BIDEN-BUTTIGIEG TEAM FOR SPIRIT AIRLINES COLLAPSE AFTER BLOCKED MERGER

Not only that, the deal would have created a budget competitor to the so-called Big Four — Delta, Southwest, American and United — driving down prices across the airline industry. Advantage: mom and pop flier.

More competition almost always equates to lower prices. Yet the Biden administration would spend the next two years harassing JetBlue and Spirit, blocking their merger because they decided the resulting company would be too big.

It takes a lot of nerve for a $7 trillion federal government to complain about a $3.8 billion business agreement, but then this was increasingly the norm in Washington. Helmed by left-wing radical Lina Khan at the Federal Trade Commission and then-Attorney General Merrick Garland and then-Assistant Attorney General for the Antitrust Division Jonathan Kanter at the Department of Justice, the feds’ standard for antitrust enforcement was shifting from "is this bad for the consumer?" to "are we in a mood this morning?"

TRUMP CAN REIN IN BIDEN’S OUT-OF-CONTROL ANTITRUST OPERATION

At one point, Khan and Biden had 40% of the companies on the S&P market cap under investigation. It was this arbitrary anti-business mentality that ultimately killed the Spirit-JetBlue merger. The Biden team convinced a liberal judge to rule against the deal and that was that.

After the ruling, Garland boasted that the merger "would have caused tens of millions of travelers to face higher fares and fewer choices." Reads a bit differently now that Spirit Airlines is dead, doesn’t it?

It wasn’t just Garland. Pete Buttigieg, who served as Biden’s secretary of Transportation, bragged about joining the harassment campaign against Spirit and JetBlue, saying he was "supporting the DOJ’s lawsuit" as well as "using our own authorities."

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Democratic state attorneys general also fought the merger tooth and nail, with Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser going so far as to call the successful challenge of the JetBlue/Spirit merger a one of the "guideposts on the road" for state enforcers to follow in the future.

And, of course, Democrat Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren tweeted that Biden’s lackeys "were right to stand up for consumers and fight against runaway airline consolidation."

In fact, it was the merger that was anti-consolidation by creating a new challenger to the Big Four. It was the merger that was pro-consumer by spurring competition and lowering airfares.

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And it was the merger that would have kept Spirit Airlines alive, saving 17,000 jobs.

Only eight months after the JetBlue-Spirit deal was blocked, Spirit announced it was filing for bankruptcy. It would do so again less than a year later.

Now, not only is Spirit gone, JetBlue could be next. The company has been struggling financially since the merger was blocked, with one estimate placing JetBlue’s odds of filing for bankruptcy this year at "greater than 75 percent."

As for summer vacationers, data from Cirium Analytics estimates that Spirit’s budget pricing helped lower airfares by 14%. Meaning the cost of flying is about to surge, again.

Such bedlam at the airport lies at the doorstep of Democrats, who see government bureaucrats as an enlightened caste able to better manage the lives of businesses and consumers. To them, antitrust is just another tool to be wielded by these benevolent overseers.

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The Spirit fiasco shows how wrong they are. What Buttigieg, Garland and Khan really gave us was less competition, fewer options for consumers, higher prices, fewer jobs and more economic power concentrated in established companies.

Hopefully, the Trump administration uses this moment to institute a course correction.

The White House should use this moment in time to have a heart to heart with the lawyers and bureaucrats inside the Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission, instructing them to only interfere in future mergers that pose clear demonstrable harms to consumers and the competitive marketplace.

It came too late to save Spirit, but the time is now to consign Democrat economics to the dustbin of history. Spirit Airlines — to say nothing of hard-working American families — deserved better.

Federal regulations are about to wreck the industry that gave me everything

Mon, 11 May 2026 05:00:40 -0400

In 1980, I was a Navy veteran sleeping in a 20-year-old car, scraping together $700 to start a hair care company with a stylist named Paul Mitchell. We believed the American Dream was still open for business. Forty-six years later, that same dream is what a federal rule is about to close down for the next generation.

The Department of Education has proposed an earnings premium metric under the gainful employment rule that will judge career programs by one rigid number: whether vocational graduates, four years after completion, earn more than the typical full-time worker aged 25–34 in the same state without a college degree. Programs that fail the test in two out of three years lose access to federal student aid. According to the Department’s own data, more than 92% of beauty and barber programs nationwide would fail.

This is not a minor regulatory tweak. It is a death sentence for thousands of cosmetology, barber, esthetician and nail schools across America. Without Title IV aid, most students — many of them single mothers, veterans, first-generation Americans and working-class kids — simply cannot afford the training and education required for state licensure. Schools will close. The pipeline of new licensed professionals will collapse. And at the exact moment we are being told skilled trades and human-centered careers are the future in an AI-driven economy, we are threatening to defund an industry built on human connection, creativity and hands-on expertise.

The beauty industry is a $100 billion economic engine that employs 1.3 million Americans. It is one of the few sectors where someone can earn a marketable credential in under a year, walk into a shop or salon and build a business. Our professionals are overwhelmingly women who rely on flexible, part-time schedules to raise families while generating income. Many earn the majority of their money through tips and clientele-building — income that grows substantially after the first few years but is invisible in the Department’s early-career snapshot.

THE AI REVOLUTION THREATENS OFFICE JOBS, BUT REVIVES DEMAND FOR SKILLED TRADES

By ignoring these realities — part-time work, tips, self-employment and the female-dominated nature of the field — the rule systematically understates the true value of beauty education. It compares new licensees to full-time workers with only a high-school diploma, many of whom have already been in the workforce for a decade. The result is a false narrative that beauty programs don’t deliver, when in reality, they deliver exactly what millions of Americans need: flexible, entrepreneurial, in-person careers that cannot be automated.

The economic fallout will be swift and widespread. School closures mean fewer licensed professionals entering the workforce at a time when demand is growing. Salons, spas and barbershops will face chronic staffing shortages. Rural communities and small towns — already struggling with service gaps — will see "beauty deserts" where basic grooming and wellness services disappear. Consumers will lose access to safe, licensed care. Small business owners who rely on barbers and stylists will watch revenues fall. The ripple effects will hit product manufacturers, distributors, real estate and local tax bases.

This is not just about beauty and barber schools. It is about stripping opportunity from the very people the American economy claims to champion. The single mother who sees beauty as her path to independence. The veteran looking for a stable second career. The young entrepreneur who dreams of owning her own salon. These are the people who built this $100 billion industry — and the people who will lose the most if it is starved of new talent and fair access to education.

THE ‘ONE BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL’ URGENTLY NEEDS A MAKEOVER TO USHER IN TRUMP’S GOLDEN AGE

Congress understood this when it passed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. The law deliberately limits this earnings framework to undergraduate degree programs and graduate certificates. Undergraduate certificate programs like cosmetology and barbering were intentionally left out. The department should follow the law, not rewrite it.

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Secretary Linda McMahon has the power — and the lived experience — to fix this. She knows what it means to build a business from the ground up. She should direct the department to exclude undergraduate non-degree and certificate programs in licensed trades from the earnings premium test, consistent with statutory intent. This single change would protect opportunity, preserve workforce pipelines and safeguard a vital sector of our economy.

The comment period closes May 20. Now is the time for all of us who love this industry — school owners, professionals, salon owners, manufacturers and the millions of Americans we serve — to speak up and protect it for the next generation.

Beauty and barbering are not fallback careers. They are pathways to independence, entrepreneurship, creativity and human connection. They change lives every single day behind the chair.

We built this industry with our hands. We will fight for its future.

Iran’s cyberwar targets ordinary Americans. We need to dismantle the hacker network

Mon, 11 May 2026 05:00:10 -0400

In the first hours after American and Israeli airstrikes hit Iran on Feb. 28, while most of the world was watching missile tracks across the Middle East, something quieter was happening on the blockchain. Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) operatives moved tens of millions out of their crypto wallets in the first hours, scaling to hundreds of millions in the days that followed.

RAKIA, a cyber intelligence firm that develops data analysis platforms used by governments and security agencies, had its analysts track the surge in real time, and Fox News Digital detailed the findings as they unfolded. The funds eventually landed in wallets used by the Houthis, Hezbollah and personal safe havens for regime insiders.

It was a tell. The same regime that spent years building a $3 billion crypto operation to fund its proxies was, in the opening hours of a war, using that infrastructure to evacuate its war chest. The two months since have brought the second act: the IRGC turning that infrastructure outward, against Americans and our allies.

Iran’s hackers are not sophisticated. Every major Iranian operation against Americans this year has run on the same cheap fuel: stolen passwords, harvested by commodity malware, basic widely available hacking software, sold for a few dollars on dark web marketplaces America already has the tools to dismantle.

IRAN MOVES HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS IN CRYPTO DURING NATIONWIDE INTERNET BLACKOUT, REPORT REVEALS

President Donald Trump’s strikes on Feb. 28 proved this regime responds to pressure. Extending that posture into cyberspace, going after the credential supply chain the way America already goes after ransomware infrastructure, is how to shut the door on these breaches before they get any closer to home.

At the end of March, Iran-linked hackers reportedly breached FBI Director Kash Patel’s personal email and posted years-old photos and documents online. The pro-Iranian group Handala, which the Justice Department has formally linked to Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security, announced that the head of America’s premier law enforcement agency was now "among the list of successfully hacked victims."

Patel was not the only target. On March 11, the same group crippled Stryker, one of America's largest medical device makers, wiping more than 200,000 devices across 79 countries and disrupting care for the 150 million patients it serves a year.

IRAN-LINKED HACKERS TARGET US MEDICAL TECH COMPANY

On March 18, Iranian hackers defaced the website of Yeshiva World News, one of the most-read Orthodox Jewish news sites in America, replacing its homepage with images of the Iranian supreme leader. The Justice Department has documented Handala using its infrastructure to send death threats to Jewish journalists and Iranian dissidents living in America, and to solicit Mexican cartel "partners" to carry out violence on its behalf.

None of these attacks required sophisticated malware. They required one thing: a stolen password. The Stryker wipeout traces back to a single administrator credential almost certainly harvested by everyday commodity malware called an infostealer and sold for a few dollars on a Russian-language forum. The Patel breach, the Yeshiva World News defacement, the broader pattern, all of it runs on the same supply chain.

That supply chain is not in Tehran. It is in dark web marketplaces operating largely in plain sight, where infostealer operators sell millions of stolen American credentials a month to anyone with a wallet address. Iranian intelligence is one buyer in those markets. It is also a vendor, running campaigns from Iranian IP addresses against Western users to feed the same markets. Same operators. Same infrastructure. Different targets.

AMERICA COULD BE HIT WITH 'HIGH-IMPACT' CYBERATTACK TARGETING ENERGY GRID, FMR WH TECH CHIEF SAYS

The escalation has not stayed in America’s lane. On May 4, the same Handala group that breached Patel and Stryker claimed it had penetrated the strategic Emirati port of Fujairah, stealing 430,000 documents including maps of the port's oil pipelines, and handing those maps to IRGC missile units, which then struck the port minutes later.

The strike itself was confirmed by Bloomberg and Reuters. The cyber-enabled-targeting claim is unverified, but the operational model Handala is advertising, cyber reconnaissance feeding kinetic targeting, is precisely the integrated doctrine RAKIA analysts have observed across this campaign. Either it happened, or Iran wants its adversaries to believe it can. Both are strategic threats.

The UAE is one node in a wider pattern. Their top cybersecurity official disclosed the country is now absorbing between 500,000 and 700,000 cyberattack attempts per day, with a clear jump after Feb. 28. The supply chain that feeds American breaches feeds these operations too.

IRAN’S NUCLEAR GAMBLE LEAVES AMERICA ONE CHOICE — AND IT CAN'T BE A DEAL

The administration has every existing tool in play. Treasury sanctions wallets. The FBI seizes Handala’s websites and indicts the operators. The State Department offers $10 million rewards. Each addresses the symptom, not the source. None touches the credential supply chain that makes every one of these attacks possible. The next move is going upstream. This is no longer a foreign policy problem. It is a supply chain problem, and it has a supply chain solution.

Infostealer marketplaces should be treated the way America treats ransomware infrastructure: as legitimate military and intelligence targets. The Pentagon’s Cyber Command has the authority and capability to take dark web credential markets offline, and has used those authorities against ransomware operators with real effect. There is no defensible reason to treat the marketplace selling Iran the keys to American hospitals as a lower priority than the one selling Russia the keys to American pipelines.

1.7 BILLION PASSWORDS LEAKED ON DARK WEB AND WHY YOURS IS AT RISK

The federal government can also mandate real-time stealer log monitoring for every federal agency, defense contractor and operator of critical infrastructure. When the Stryker administrator’s credentials surfaced on a dark web market, somebody should have known within minutes.

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And any future deal with Iran must put crypto sanctions compliance on equal footing with the nuclear file. An agreement that ignores the financial pipelines funding Hezbollah, the Houthis and IRGC operations is an agreement that funds the next war.

Some will say going on offense against credential markets is too aggressive. The status quo is more aggressive, against Americans, against allies and against anyone in range of an IRGC missile guided by stolen data. Stryker patients felt it. Patel felt it. Yeshiva World News readers felt it. The UAE is feeling it now. Defense alone has failed.

The credentials are mapped. The marketplaces are visible. The operators leave fingerprints. The window to act is open.

It will not stay open forever.

Six different ways that prove the wealthy pay a lot more than their ‘fair share’

Mon, 11 May 2026 05:00:08 -0400

If you listen to politicians like Vermont Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders and New York Democrat Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, there’s a constant drumbeat. The rich don’t pay their "fair share." and we don’t need any "oligarchs." These are powerful soundbites. They are also among the most intellectually lazy phrases in modern economics.

Because here’s the real question no one answers: what exactly is "fair?"

Let’s start with the facts which many people don’t like to discuss and not feelings.

According to data from the Internal Revenue Service and the Tax Foundation, the top 1% of earners already pay roughly 40% or more of all federal income taxes. The top 10%? Closer to 70%. Meanwhile, nearly half of Americans pay little to no federal income tax each year.

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So, when someone says the wealthy don’t pay enough, what they’re really saying is: It’s fair that lots of people pay zero and that they want the rich to pay even more than that share.

But here’s where the conversation gets completely detached from reality, because federal income tax is just the starting line, not the finish line, when we talk about overall taxation.

Let’s walk through what "rich" Americans actually pay in taxes.

DOGE REVEALS WHAT YOU GET FOR THE HALF MILLION YOU'LL PAY IN TAXES OVER YOUR LIFETIME

This is the headline number everyone debates. Top earners face marginal rates up to 37%, before you even layer in surtaxes.

Live in high-tax states like California or New York, and you can add another 10%–14% on top of that federal number. Suddenly, you’re pushing toward a combined rate that rivals some European countries.

Congratulations, you’re writing a check every year just to keep it. In states like New Jersey or Texas, property taxes can easily hit $10,000 to $30,000+ annually for higher-value homes. We are talking 1% to 2% of your home value beyond some states that have personal property taxes.

STEVE FORBES: DON'T CRUSH HOMEOWNERS TO PAY FOR NYC'S OUT-OF-CONTROL BUDGET

Every time you spend, you’re taxed again. In places like Tennessee or Washington, combined sales taxes approach 10%. That’s post-income-tax money being taxed all over again. This sparks the great debate of a fair tax or having a VAT tax or what some will call a consumption tax.

Invest wisely? You’ll pay for that as well. Federal capital gains rates, plus the Net Investment Income Tax, can push you over 23.8%, before state taxes take another bite. This is after you tax after-tax money, invest it well, and then pay tax again. This also affects business owners who build their business for years and pay tax on distributable income all along the way only to potentially be taxed at the highest marginal tax rate when they sell the business that created jobs for people for decades.

Build wealth over a lifetime? The government may take another bite out of the apple when you pass it on to your heirs. While this doesn’t affect as many people, it can be significant for wealthy families.

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Now let’s pause and ask the captain obvious question: At what point is it enough?

Is "fair" when the top 1% pays 50% of all taxes? 60%? 80%? Does any politician who makes these outlandish statements have a real number? No. The reason? You can’t get blood from a stone from people who don’t pay at all right now.

We’re already operating in a system where such a small percentage of Americans fund the majority of government spending.

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Here’s what makes this debate even more frustrating, and that is, "fair share" is never defined. It’s a moving target. The more you pay, the more you’re told you should pay.

That’s not tax policy, that’s the modern politics of today.

And let’s be clear that this isn’t about defending billionaires. It’s about defending math, incentives, and, most importantly, capitalism.

AMERICA'S $39 TRILLION DEBT BOMB COULD BE MORE PAINFUL THAN YOU THINK

When you continually raise the burden on the most productive individuals and business owners, you don’t just "tax the rich." You change the behavior of the very people who create the system. They create the jobs. They create the innovation. They create the future of America. You discourage investment. You slow hiring. You reduce risk-taking, which are the very things that drive our GDP.

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America clearly needs more revenue as the time ticks toward $40 trillion of debt. It also has a significant spending problem.

Before we demand more from taxpayers, maybe we should demand more accountability from Washington.

Until someone can clearly define what "fair share" actually means in real dollars, real percentages, and real outcomes, it remains exactly what it is today.

A soundbite and a slogan. And those two things don’t balance our budget.

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DIRECTOR KASH PATEL: We brought the FBI out of the past and into the AI age

Mon, 11 May 2026 03:50:28 -0400

When I was first sworn in as ninth director of the FBI, one of my top priorities was to modernize the bureau with new, cutting-edge technology that would allow us to better serve and protect the American people. When I arrived, the FBI was running on archaic patchwork systems without AI, effectively putting a 2025 car battery into a vehicle from 1985. Our infrastructure was a Commodore 64 when it needed to be a supercomputer. No more Band-Aids on gunshot wounds. Wholesale change was necessary.

In the past year, I’m incredibly proud of the progress we’ve made under President Trump’s leadership. We have rebuilt and revamped the FBI’s infrastructure across the enterprise, helping the bureau achieve record-breaking results in crushing violent crime and defending the homeland, while providing historic transparency.

Artificial intelligence is a huge part of that overhaul. When then-Deputy Director Dan Bongino and I arrived here at headquarters, AI had almost zero role at the FBI. That had to change, so we got to work. We immediately led the way by setting up an AI working group to evaluate how we could accelerate modernization, getting input from field leaders on the ground in your communities. We appointed a chief AI officer and established an AI Review Board to streamline our efforts. We created an AI Champions Program to identify advocates across the bureau. Maybe most importantly, we created direct partnerships with private-sector industry leaders to rebuild our infrastructure and bring in AI on a broad scale.

FBI DIRECTOR KASH PATEL SAYS BUREAU RAMPING UP AI TO COUNTER DOMESTIC, GLOBAL THREATS

AI is central to what we do. It is helping us identify victims of child exploitation, arrest and convict predators, and more. Last year alone, this FBI identified and located 6,300 missing kids, a 30% increase, and arrested 2,000 abusers, a 20% increase — largely thanks to these improvements. In a recent FBI Richmond case, the FBI’s Child Exploitation Operational Unit used facial recognition tools to save 8- and 12-year-old children from a would-be abuser, who will now spend 50 years in prison.

This FBI now uses new AI tools to generate call transcriptions, provide concise synopses and even help correlate contacts with other received complaints. When someone calls into NTOC — the National Threat Operations Center, our 911 center — AI tools generate a transcript of the call, draft an effective summary of the threat and immediately scan our database for comparisons to other open threat lines. Every tip also receives a lead value to surface the highest threat-related calls for Threat Intake Examiners. This specific threat intake process helped the FBI quickly act and stop an attacker plotting a mass shooting at a North Carolina preschool.

Fingerprint matching is one of the most common methods the FBI uses to identify individuals. Some adversaries try to manipulate their prints to obscure their identities by burning, cutting or biting their fingertips to remove ridge detail and make it difficult or impossible to make a match. Because fingerprint matching is an automated process, altered fingerprints were being missed. CJIS — the Criminal Justice Information Services Division, our data hub — integrated an AI-enabled, real-time altered fingerprint detection capability. In 2025, this new solution detected 34 altered fingerprint identities, ultimately leading to the positive identification and arrest of wanted persons, drug traffickers and fraudsters.

We’re also using AI to facilitate rapid translations of large volumes of text, audio and video, and to triage terabytes of data. In the aftermath of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on Israel, the FBI had more than 75 terabytes of data to review, with more information coming in every day, including more than 75 search warrant returns. For perspective, a single search warrant return can contain 180,000 messages. It would take six or seven analysts working seven days a week for four or five weeks to review a single search warrant return. The FBI routinely has thousands of audio files and texts to review over the course of a single case. Our current models translate with roughly 80% accuracy, so our linguists can home in on the 20% that requires a human touch.

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We are not replacing humans; we’re supplementing them, sharpening their focus and expediting the pace of our investigations. Collecting data to sit in storage is like keeping Babe Ruth on the bench permanently.

We’re identifying and arresting more fraudsters, scammers and drug traffickers who try to hide their identities, thanks to AI. Through cooperative research and development agreements with the private sector, the FBI is advancing our deepfake detection systems in support of these investigations.

Equally important, AI is helping this FBI be more accountable to the taxpayer by applying it to business operations across the bureau and getting maximum value out of your money. With the help of our Enterprise AI assistant, this FBI cut $300 million in spending and identified more than $1.2 billion in contract ceiling savings.

These are just a few of the ways artificial intelligence has allowed this FBI to meet the mission. Under the Trump administration’s leadership, this FBI is now a faster, more efficient and more accountable crime-fighting machine thanks to the implementation of modern technology. This FBI has desperately needed these transformational changes, but prior leadership refused to spend the time and resources, kneecapping our abilities. That changed immediately under my leadership and will continue.

The new FBI — the greatest law enforcement agency on Earth — is now providing our team the tools they need to execute the dangerous mission we ask them to perform every day: safeguarding America. And thanks to the brave personnel using those tools, America is safer than we’ve been in decades.

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JONATHAN TURLEY: Angry Left plots to purge Virginia's high court

Sun, 10 May 2026 15:24:20 -0400

After the Virginia Supreme Court rejected the results of the recent Democratic effort to effectively wipe out Republican representation in the state, Democratic pundits and activists have latched onto a proposal by Michigan State law professor Quinn Yeargain to gut the court by forcing the retirement of the current justices, appointing liberal activists, and then reversing the opinion. It is extremely telling that some are pushing the raw muscle play to retake power in Washington, particularly in light of the calls to pack the United States Supreme Court once the party is back in control.

Professor Yeargain declared on Substack that there is "a simple – and lawful – solution: Send the entire court into early retirement." Under this plan, Virginia Democrats would adopt an absurdly low age for retirement in a gut-and-pack scheme: Yeargain suggested that they could set "the mandatory retirement of justices and judges after they reach a prescribed age, beyond which they shall not serve, regardless of the term to which elected or appointed."

The current retirement age is 73.

Yeargain dismisses that number as "arbitrary" and says that the Democrats need only to "Make it 54 for Supreme Court justices – the age of the youngest justice, Stephen McCullough, who joined the majority opinion – and make it take effect immediately."

MORNING GLORY: END THE FILIBUSTER, PACK THE COURT, KISS THE CONSTITUTION GOODBYE

The fact that such an abusive plan is described as "simple" captured the logic of an age of rage. I recently wrote a column in which I warned that "the reversal of fortunes for the party could lead to an even more dangerous agenda" with Democrats pushing for packing the Supreme Court.

In the unlikely chance that this could pass the General Assembly (I am assuming that there remain some things that certain Democratic members just will not do), it would be difficult to engineer before the midterm elections, given the likely challenges. However, it is the inclination of some to try such measures that is chilling.

I noted that Virginia showed how "an independent court can unravel the best-laid plans." Various politicians and professors have advocated radical changes to the political system to ensure the party retains power indefinitely. They acknowledge, however, that the court could likely declare these moves as unconstitutional unless they first take control through a packing scheme.

OUTSPENT BUT NOT OUTGUNNED, REPUBLICANS AIM TO SINK DEMOCRATS' 'POWER GRAB' REDISTRICTING PUSH

The new proposal for the gut-and-pack scheme is even more cynical and brutal. Ironically, the Virginia Supreme Court declared the redistricting effort by the Democrats as not only unconstitutional but "wholly unprecedented in Virginia’s history."

It characterized the state’s position as "a story of the tail wagging the dog that has no tail."

The response of Yeargain and Democratic activists is now to suggest just shooting the dog and adopting a type of politically modified puppy bred to serve.

SOCIAL MEDIA ERUPTS AFTER DEMOCRATS 'BURNED $64M' ON FAILED VIRGINIA GERRYMANDER

Such radical proposals are being rationalized with open disinformation. Pundits regularly fail to mention that the Democrats previously gerrymandered states such as Illinois, Massachusetts and New York while claiming the right to win by any means necessary.

Others just deny reality. Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., lashed out at the Virginia Supreme Court and demanded to know why they waited so long to rule on whether there were fundamental flaws in the Democratic plan.

Kaine either never read the opinion or sought to mislead voters. The opinion has an entire section on the timing, noting that it was the Democrats and the commonwealth that demanded that the court wait to rule on the merits until after the election. After "successfully" seeking that delay, they are now accusing the court of something untoward in doing what they demanded.

SPANBERGER DENIES ‘DEAL’ WITH SWING-DISTRICT DEMOCRAT AS GERRYMANDERING CLAIMS ABOUND STATEWIDE

Notably, the gut-and-pack scheme sets aside any pretense of principle. The Democrats would simply adopt a ridiculously low retirement age for the sole purpose of populating the court with reliable and robotic justices. The fact that an academic and various pundits would expressly float such an idea is another chilling reminder of the growing radicalization on the left.

These are the "new Jacobins" discussed in my book "Rage and the Republic," figures echoing the radical concepts or means used in France before what became known as "The Terror." "By any means" has become a rallying cry on the left.

Law professors Ryan Doerfler of Harvard and Samuel Moyn of Yale have called for the nation to "reclaim America from constitutionalism." Last December, they published a column titled "It’s Time to Accept that the U.S. Supreme Court is Illegitimate and Must be Replaced."

SPANBERGER-BACKED REDISTRICTING VOTE CULMINATES DEM ‘POWER GRAB’ IN KEY SWING STATE, SAYS REPORT

Democratic strategists know that the public will not approve of such measures.

Democratic strategist James Carville stated matter-of-factly, "They’re going to recommend that the number of Supreme Court justices go from nine to 13. That’s going to happen, people." He added recently, "Don’t run on it. Don’t talk about it. Just do it."

What is striking about the Virginia proposal is that it is being pushed so openly and unapologetically. Democrats realize that they have alienated half of Virginia already. Republicans and independents are not likely to forget that every major Democrat in their state, including Gov. Abigail Spanberger, sought to erase their very political existence. It is not partisan, it is personal.

In destroying bridges to cross-over voters in the purple state, what is left is raw political brutality. You must dump-and-pump in seeking radical measures to grab power. In the process, no court or institution is sacred in the cause of social and political change.

It is all part of the Nike School of Constitutional Law: Just do it.

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DAVID MARCUS: New York Times announces the end of the climate change hoax

Sun, 10 May 2026 11:59:01 -0400

For almost the entirety of the half century I have lived on Earth, I have had experts, teachers, politicians and activists hectoring me about how climate change is going to destroy the planet. But this week, in The New York Times, of all places, is evidence that climate alarmism is finally cooling down.

"Democrats Do Not Have To Campaign On Climate Change Anymore," blared the headline, this week, as author Matt Huber argues that voters are rather turned off by the subject. I would like to suggest that this is because it is the single most expensive lie in human history.

In elementary school, I endured warnings of a coming ice age, then by high school it was global warming that was minutes away from ending humanity. By the time I was an adult, the warming having failed, surprisingly, to occur, we settled on "climate change," as the vague name for the inevitable apocalypse.

In 2018, as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., was coming into prominence, she told us that we had a mere 12 years to fix the climate problem or we would all die. In that time, untold trillions of dollars have been spent by the government, along with basically every business in the country, to hold the weather at bay, even though every prediction the alarmists have made has fallen flat.

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Miami, my friends, is not underwater.

It's not just the expense of climate alarmism, it's what it has kept us from doing, as well. How much would a gallon of gas cost today had we been drilling for oil instead of pretending the "emergency" meant we all had to switch to electric cars by next Tuesday?

With precious few exceptions, every single thing in our lives has been made much more expensive by the cult of climate and its constant lamentations about the end of days. Entire generations of our youth have been terrorized, just as their parents were by nuclear bomb drills, into thinking they may be the last human beings to ever live.

UK OFFICIALS RECOMMEND YOGA AND 'CLIMATE CAFÉS' TO COMBAT 'ECO-ANXIETY'

We have all seen the reports of young adults who say they don’t want to have kids because they expect the world to end. It's ridiculous. Travel sports might be a plausible reason to avoid having children, but climate change is not.

Now, finally, after 50 years of hysteria, The New York Times, the very Grey Lady with her hair on fire over climate change this whole time, tells us it's not such a big deal after all?

Even Greta Thunberg, whose entire existence, it seemed, was predicated upon berating us for destroying the planet, has moved on to radical Islam, and traded in her Birkenstocks for a keffeyah.

20 YEARS LATER, AL GORE AND HIS DIRECTOR DEFEND THEIR CONTROVERSIAL CLIMATE MOVIE 'AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH'

Say what you will, but as an apocalyptic hoax, climate alarmism has had an absolutely historic run. Overpopulation nonsense had a few years in the 60s, but nothing compared to the decades of pure insanity that we have lived through thanks to Al Gore's unhinged predictions.

Everyone wants to be a good steward of Mother Nature. Littering is bad and all that, but performative nonsense like paper straws that melt in your cocktail or cars that shut themselves off every 10 seconds are meaningless gestures.

Expensive meaningless gestures.

PROTECTING AMERICA’S OUTDOORS IS PATRIOTIC — BUT RADICAL ACTIVISM GETS IN THE WAY

The climate debate has always hinged to some degree on whether our greatest love should be for nature writ large, or for humanity, because we know that cheap energy is the doorway out of poverty, but also poison to the climate alarmists.

This battle became religious for the secular Left, with taxes instead of tithing and environmentalist slogans instead of prayers. It wasn’t just a scientific issue, but a moral one. If you failed to join in the hysteria, then you were a bad person.

Nothing about American climate policy or attitudes towards it have ever made any sense. We tighten our belts and pay through the nose to keep our emissions low while the rest of the world basically fires huge carbon dioxide cannons up into the sky.

For once, I agree with The New York Times. It is time for this madness to end. We do not need to saddle our children with the emotional and economic damage of make-believe climate disasters.

Americans are smart enough to know that, whatever the looney Left might tell them, the end is not nigh.

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The CIA moms defending America deserve our gratitude this Mother's Day

Sun, 10 May 2026 10:00:45 -0400

Ten years ago on Mother's Day, I was serving as a CIA station chief in a South Asian war zone. Many of us were married with kids, some of them quite young. We often commiserated over being apart from the families we loved and found some solace in being deployed together behind enemy lines on a sacred mission to protect our country from terrorist threats. What little downtime we had was usually filled with stories of our children back home, which our spouses dutifully relayed to us. But that never made up for missing our children's milestones, celebrating holidays together, or watching them compete on the sports field.

A number of the female officers serving in our station had children too young to understand their moms' careers or what exactly they were doing overseas. All they knew was that Mom was far away from home and would return occasionally for short visits over the course of her tour of duty. Even one year apart seemed like an eternity since it was such a large percentage of the years they had lived on this earth.

Mother's Day is supposed to be the day when dads and children honor moms and motherhood with a celebratory family meal, flowers and homemade greeting cards.

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When Mom is deployed overseas with the CIA, the best the family could hope for might be an occasional FaceTime conversation if the internet happened to be up and running. The CIA's work is secret, so rarely do children know where Mom really works. They might have been told she is doing business for an international company or working for some other government agency. Certainly, Mom would never tell them anything about her spy job, such as how she had spent her day holding a high-threat meeting fully kitted out with a Glock, M4 and body armor to meet a source with access to a terrorist group.

Or how she debriefed a source with access to intelligence on an Al Qaeda network seeking to do us harm.

Or how she spent the morning reviewing trauma first aid procedures and practicing marksmanship before driving across the country to meet with host-government counterterrorism officials.

Or how she had to brief the CIA director and the White House in a secure video teleconference call late into the night.

THE QUIET WAR: HOW TERROR HAS EVOLVED SINCE SEPT 11

Until they were teenagers, our sons never really had any understanding of what it meant that their mom, my late wife, Kim, was a CIA disguise technician who cloaked up CIA officers so they could recruit spies and steal secrets without being spotted by the opposition. All they knew was that Mom made the best homemade pancakes and waffles; snuggled them before they went to bed; comforted them when they were sad; healed them when they were sick; gave them copious amounts of Easter candy and Christmas presents; and planned the coolest birthday parties. Perhaps the only clue to Kim's clandestine work was in the exquisite Halloween costumes she created for our sons, who collected heaps of candy from our duly impressed neighbors.

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But celebrating Mother's Day while Mom is deployed overseas can also be especially transformative for children, who perhaps not in the moment but over time come to appreciate their mother's patriotism, sacrifice, bravery and contribution to our national security.

The late Charles Krauthammer poignantly highlighted the necessity of a robust, forward-deployed U.S. presence to detect and preempt overseas threats before they are visited upon our shores. Sept. 11 demonstrated how terrorists plotting from ungoverned space, especially in the South Asian region where I had the honor of serving my last overseas assignment, could reach our homeland despite the geographic separation that once gave us a unique measure of security.

Mom is an undercover CIA officer on the front lines in defense of our grateful nation. Now that's what being a role-model parent juggling work and family is all about.

So on this Mother's Day, let's all spend a few moments in appreciation for the moms who are separated from their families while serving a righteous U.S. government mission overseas, even if we do not have the requisite security clearance to know exactly what that mission might involve or how dangerous it is. And let's all pray for every mom's safe return home, where her family awaits her with open arms and tears of joy.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM DAN HOFFMAN

PRISHA MOSELY: As a detransitioner and mom, I know what gender ideology stole from me

Sun, 10 May 2026 09:00:58 -0400

My name is Prisha Mosley. I’m a detransitioner, an advocate and, now, a mother.

When I was a teenager, I believed that I was a boy trapped in a girl’s body.

I found this idea online. For me, it was the blogging platform Tumblr. Today, it’s TikTok, Instagram and other platforms, whose algorithms promote inappropriate content to vulnerable children. The platforms may be different, but the social contagion is the same. I was a young, struggling, questioning teen. I was extremely open about my mental health and self-esteem issues on these platforms, and before I knew it, the wrong people were eager to convince me exactly what was wrong — namely, that I was born in the wrong body — and how I could supposedly fix myself.

The apparent "fix"? To start identifying as my "true self" and medicalizing myself down that path.

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The trans community felt like a place where I finally made sense. It was full of people who, like me, felt out of place in their own lives. People who told me I wasn’t broken or confused — just misunderstood. I really trusted them. I trusted the trans activists who said that my suffering was due to my innate transness. And above all else, I trusted the doctors and therapists who told me that transition was the only way forward.

That misplaced trust cost me more than I could have ever imagined.

I spent years on high-dose testosterone. I underwent a double mastectomy. These interventions were presented to me as necessary and caused permanent damage before I was even old enough to grasp what permanence meant.

And now, as a mother, I understand that loss differently.

Motherhood changes you. It changes how you weigh the cost of decisions. It sharpens your sense of what matters and what doesn’t. It forces you to think beyond yourself and to consider not just who you are, but what you are able to give.

There are so many moments now, mostly while holding my child, when the weight of those decisions feels heavier than it ever did before. Among those things is what was taken from me physically: It affects my future, my health and my ability to fully show up as the mother I want to be.

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For example, my scarred chest where my breasts once were is numb. Something I think about often is that laying my baby on my chest and lighting my chest on fire would feel the exact same way to me: like nothing. If not for the doctors and therapists who pushed me down the path of medical transition when I was most vulnerable, I would be able to feel my sweet baby’s head on my chest.

Worse than the numbness was the searing pain of complications from the mastectomy that manifested years later after I gave birth. My surgeon left pieces of my breast tissue behind, which caused my milk to come in. But due to the nature of the surgery and the grafting of my nipples, the milk was trapped in my chest. I was unable to breastfeed my newborn baby. That excruciating experience, emotionally and physically, changed how I view pain and grief.

I regret that I was not protected. I regret that there was no sane doctor or adult who might have stopped to think that this was not the best path forward — after all, my parents were misled by the doctors and therapists just as I was. I regret that the professionals I trusted treated my confusion and, ultimately, my deep-seated trauma as something to affirm instead of something to work through and understand.

But above all, I am lamenting that thousands of other kids right now are being told that their trauma and discomfort can be fixed by destroying their perfect bodies — and pressured by doctors and therapists to do so.

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I once was that kid. I know exactly how it starts. It begins with them seeking outlets to decompress. They get sucked in and finally feel at ease. They feel celebrated by an individual or group — finally feeling accepted after being hungry for it for so long. Eventually, they will end up at the same clinics and doctors’ offices I did, and get a brief rush of dopamine. But for a lot of detransitioners like me, it fades over time.

When I began speaking out about my experience, I lost the support of the trans community almost as quickly as I gained it. The same people who once supported me unconditionally turned on me. I was harassed, threatened and even doxxed for telling the truth about what had happened to me.

For a community supposedly built on love and acceptance, they have an awfully hard time loving and accepting those who may have had negative experiences or downright manipulative ones while transitioning. I have received no love or acceptance from them since the time I saw that my "trans identity" was hurting me. I have had to find support elsewhere.

This Mother’s Day, I am grateful for my children. I am continuously grateful for the perspective that motherhood has given me. But that gratitude coexists with a reality I cannot ignore. No mother should have to look back and realize that almost every single health outcome during her pregnancy and postpartum was because of decisions she was misled into making. No mother should have to lay her baby on a flat, numb chest. And even more so, no mother should have to look at her kids going down the same path I did and realize that they’re being exploited.

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Our kids are growing up displayed online. Here’s how moms can anchor them in faith

Sun, 10 May 2026 08:00:27 -0400

Our kids are growing up in a world where everything can be seen, shared, praised, and criticized. Image is everything. When I was younger, I never could have imagined a world where life is on display like it is today. There used to be a quietness growing up, space to figure things out with a few close friends.

That way of life is gone.

Raising kids today often feels like an impossible task. They are growing up in a world where their every move, choice, or flaw can make them fodder for social media. Many moms I talk with feel a heavy burden to help their kids build an identity that can sustain attacks.

And as a parent, that responsibility can feel overwhelming.

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Matt and I have been married for 25 years. We dealt with our own share of scrutiny and public opinion throughout his career in professional baseball. We grew together, rooted in our faith, and learned to navigate the often harsh world of sports commentary.

But now, our two oldest boys, Jackson and Ethan, are on those same fields, playing in those same stadiums. They have the eyes of the fans, and what feels like the world, on them constantly.

When they have a bad day, it feels like everybody has an opinion about their worth. Scrutiny comes with the territory, as my boys are professional athletes. But as moms, we aren’t called to make their lives easier; we’re called to prepare them for the difficult seasons.

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Consider Mary’s example as a mother. Talk about raising a child who would be publicly watched, misunderstood, and criticized. From the very beginning, her story didn’t fit neatly into people’s expectations. And as Jesus grew, the tension only increased. People questioned Him. Misunderstood Him. Eventually, they rejected Him.

Mary couldn’t shield Jesus from public criticism. She couldn’t control how people responded to Him. She couldn’t stop the hard parts of His story. And Mary had a front-row seat to all of it. But she stayed rooted. She stayed present. She was joyful. She trusted God with the boy who became a man right before her eyes. And that feels familiar.

Because we don’t raise strong, grounded kids by removing pressure. We raise them by helping them learn how to stand in it.

And maybe, in a world that watches everything, the most powerful thing we can do as parents is this: Create a home where our kids know they are seen for who they are — not for how they perform. A place where they don’t have to earn love. Where they can bring both their wins and their struggles. Where they know that when the noise of the world gets loud, they still have a place that is steady.

Drawing from scripture, Mary’s life and my own experience, I’d like to offer a few specific principles to help moms raise resilient, faithful kids in today’s world.

Lead with grace, even when you need to correct your kids

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In Genesis, Adam and Eve are afraid. They’re ashamed. And they know they will face consequences for their sin. But God doesn’t start by sending them away. He meets them in the garden and, in their shame, speaks to them in love.

One way we’ve modeled this in our home is by eliminating timeouts. We couldn’t expect our children to understand God’s patient love for them if we modeled it by sending them to a corner when they disobeyed or didn't listen. We lead with grace, even when correction is necessary — maybe even more so when correction is necessary.

The freedom of forgiveness is one of the most important things we gain as children of God. We can’t share it with our kids until we understand grace, forgiveness, and God’s mercy as true every day for ourselves and let them shape our lives. I didn’t do it right all the time, of course. But I didn’t have to. I was able to ask God for forgiveness. I was also able to talk to my kids about forgiveness and model it.

Perfection has never been a requirement in our home, and I’d encourage you not to make it one in yours. You have to show your kids that they won’t be right all the time and that they can and should ask for forgiveness. Lead them where you want them to go.

Use your home and your life to train your kids up, and trust the Lord to handle the rest

Consider Proverbs 21:31: "The horse is made ready for the day of battle, but victory rests with the Lord."

Preparing a war horse is a long process built on grueling, intentional, consistent training required to make the animal battle-ready. Parenting is different in many ways, of course, but it demands the same kind of intentionality. It happens quietly, in the home, in the ordinary moments.

Every mom I meet feels a deep responsibility to raise her kids to live firmly in their identity as children of God. It’s easy to focus on that responsibility and overlook the second half of this verse. We prepare the horse, and we release the outcome. We do the work, and we surrender the results.

That's a lesson worth learning for ourselves and passing on to our kids. They are called to show up, work hard, be prepared, and recognize that true victory belongs to the Lord. Train your kids.

But don’t train them thinking you’re going to determine their lives, or protect them from hardship.

Show them excellence – in others, in faith, in themselves

I wanted my kids to see great things and see great men. We wanted them around people who showed them how to lead, be a friend, and work hard. So they traveled with us and spent time with honorable, godly men who coached and played with their dad. We’ve encouraged them to follow the example of athletes like Adam Wainwright, Jaime Garcia, and others connected through Sports Spectrum who have navigated this career with faith and integrity, modeling how to live out their faith in the public arena — while also building relationships with men of faith who understand the high-pressure environment they’re in.

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As moms, we have the privilege of showing our kids where to look and how to see. Always call out awesomeness. Make sure your kids are around people who live admirable lives. Point out what others are doing well. After all, more is caught than taught. When they see greatness, they’ll want to emulate it.

No matter what advice you get, though, nothing can change the fact that motherhood is hard. The emotional difficulty for many women around Mother’s Day is often even harder.

But we as mothers have the chance to leave a powerful legacy. That starts in our hearts and in our homes and in the unseen grace that pours out from God through us to the people we love.

So let God work through you. Let God make you His hands and feet. Let God bring peace, security and resilience to your children, whoever they may be, through your life.

My father is a pastor, imprisoned in China. President Trump, please save him

Sun, 10 May 2026 07:00:06 -0400

When President Donald Trump sits down with Chinese President Xi Jinping in the coming weeks, the world will be watching for deals on trade, Taiwan and global security. I will be watching for something much more personal: whether my father will finally be able to come home.

My father, Pastor Ezra Jin Mingri, is the founder of Zion Church in China. The church had humble beginnings – it began in 2007 with just 20 people. But my father’s passion and faith helped the church grow, which made it a target of the Chinese authorities.

Over the years, dozens of church staff members have been detained or harassed by the Chinese authorities. In 2018, the church was officially banned and all church property confiscated after church leadership refused government demands to install surveillance cameras to monitor its congregation.

Trusting in God’s sovereignty while at the same time not wanting to bring further pressure on the congregation, my father shifted the church to a hybrid model, giving online sermons and building a network of satellite locations throughout the country. Within just a few years, Zion Church was reaching 10,000 people in 40 cities, making it one of China’s largest "house churches."

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Last October, my father and nearly 30 other Zion Church pastors and members were detained in what has been called "the most extensive crackdown against the faith in decades" Eighteen of them, including my father, remain detained, facing charges of "illegally utilizing information networks" – that is, sharing biblical teachings online.

The detained church leaders have no contact with the outside world, except for their lawyers, and even that may not last – Chinese authorities are doing everything they can do to force the lawyers off the case. Lead defense lawyer Zhang Kai, who was representing my father, had his law license revoked in January, and six other lawyers working on the case have been given six-month suspensions. The others have been harassed, intimidated and threatened.

Of particular concern, my father has health issues that are likely not being adequately treated. He has severe type 2 diabetes that has, in the past, required hospitalization. He needs ongoing, specialized medical care. But China has a documented history of denying political prisoners necessary medical care; in fact, when my father was initially detained, my grandmother tried to bring him his prescribed diabetes medication but was turned away.

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My father is no criminal. Rather, he is a person of faith who has embodied compassion, kindness and caring for the needy – values drawn from both Christian teachings and Chinese culture. In 2008, house churches, including Zion Church, were often the first to provide aid to those suffering after the earthquake in Sichuan. Zion Church ministers to broken marriages and depressed children and provides food to the poor. Until its space was confiscated in 2018, the church also hosted blood drives each year.

Although my father and my family have suffered greatly, this case is not just about the suffering of one person or one family. It poses a direct challenge to American values. This country traces its origins to individuals fleeing religious persecution. Freedom of religion is central to who we are; it is enshrined in the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and was recently acknowledged in the Trump administration’s National Security Strategy.

In just a few weeks, Trump will rededicate this country as "One n ation under God." But the Chinese Community Party’s escalating attack on China’s Christian community – as well as its persecution of Muslims, Tibetan and Chinese Buddhists, Taoists and others – is a direct challenge to this oldest and most sacred American value.

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Recognizing this, Ambassador Sam Brownback has described China’s crackdown on the Christian community a "national security imperative" because, in his words, "if the world’s largest authoritarian state can eradicate religious freedom without consequences, it undermines the authority of America’s founding values and global leadership." We cannot let this challenge go unanswered.

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Through repeated acts of transnational repression, Chinese authorities have even sought to punish my family here in the United States for speaking about my father’s detention. Soon after we began speaking publicly, my mother received a threatening phone call from someone impersonating a U.S. federal agent, who tried to pressure her to return to China under false pretenses.

Later, the tires on her car were slashed in the middle of the night. I have personally been surveilled while attending meetings in Washington, D.C., and my husband has been the target of Chinese state-backed hacking attempts.

Xi has said that he hopes that 2026 will be a year in which China and the U.S. "advance toward mutual respect, peaceful coexistence, and win-win cooperation." But that is impossible while China imprisons the relatives of U.S. citizens for practicing their faith, attacks the religious freedom that America was founded on and extends its repression into our borders to silence dissent.

In about two months, I will give birth to my third child. My other two children have never met their grandfather in person because Chinese authorities have restricted my father from leaving China under an exit ban since 2018. It is my fervent prayer that my father will be here in June to hold the newest member of our family. Please, President Trump, stand up for my father, stand up for religious freedom and stand for American values – bring my father home.

DAVID MARCUS: Virginia Democrats step on a $70M rake and now they're crying

Sat, 09 May 2026 10:56:48 -0400

Democrats nationwide are furious that the Virginia Supreme Court did its job this week and struck down the results of the Old Dominion’s blatantly illegal redistricting referendum, denying the party the 10-to-1 gerrymandered map it thought it had won.

But for all the outraged sturm und drang and cries of racism, the Left is offering no coherent legal argument as to why the decision was wrong. Instead, they are offering what sounds like a lot of slam poetry.

Take the reaction of Rep. Jaime Raskin, D-Md., to the decision: "Today, in an outrageous outburst of right-wing judicial activism…the Virginia Supreme Court has struck down the will of the voters. But democracy won’t end with right-wingers in black robes."

I think now is when we are supposed to snap our fingers and say, "Far out, man."

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As to the actual legal efforts, they are so lax and lazy that the official appeal filed by Virginia Solicitor General’s office after the decision misspelled both the words, "Senator," opting for "Sentator," and better yet, "Virginia," appears as "Virgnia,"

They are not, I’m afraid, sending their best.

The crux of the case came down to timing, with the court ruling that Democrats rushed the referendum and did not allow a required intervening election between proposing a constitutional amendment and the voters deciding on it. Notably, Democrats don’t even deny that this is precisely what they did.

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In retrospect, even with the narrow 4-3 decision, it now looks astonishing that Democrats spent $70 million and the lion’s share of new Democrat Gov. Abigail Spanberger's political capital on a campaign that won them the battle but lost them the war.

This disaster was avoidable for Democrats. Republicans even offered them an offramp prior to the vote, asking this same Supreme Court to rule before votes and money were potentially wasted. But the Democrats were desperate to proceed.

Now, some on the Left are gnashing their teeth, demanding to know why the court let the election happen, even though they were the ones who begged for it.

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It is clear now, that Democrats, fresh off of big off-year election wins, thought they would win the referendum by a big enough margin that the court would be all but shamed into respecting the result. Had "Yes," won by the 12 points that Spanberger won by last year, that might have happened.

In fact, it is the very closeness of the eventual result, in which ‘Yes,’ edged ‘No,’ 51-49, that proves the Supreme Court was not just defending the law, but the voters as well.

In the final month of the election, as voters became more aware of what the redistricting actually did, that it gave bright blue Northern Virginia control of almost every seat, the polls tightened from what looked like an easy "Yes" win to a coin toss.

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Of course, the whole point of the law requiring that amendments get an intervening election before being put to the voters is there to ensure that those voters have enough time and information to fully understand what they are voting on.

That was always going to be a problem for Democrats in this effort. It's why they never showed a picture of their new Frankenstein map, or mentioned that it gave 90% of the state’s seats to Democrats, even though 45% of the population is Republican.

They needed to slam this thing through as fast as possible, with as little discussion as possible by screaming bloody murder about racism, Jim Crow, and Texas gerrymandering, even though the people being disenfranchised in Virginia, or Virgnia, if you prefer, were mainly working class Whites.

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The whole thrust of the $70 million "Yes" campaign was, "This is an emergency, Republicans are destroying democracy, we have to break the rules, but don’t worry it's just temporary."

Thankfully, the Virginia Supreme Court settled this matter on the basis of the law, not on the imaginary emergency of Donald Trump presiding in the Oval Office.

Democrats can complain all they want about the court’s decision being political. There is no evidence of that and fair courts cut both ways, as President Trump found out when the U.S. Supreme Court axed his tariffs, and many expect a further rebuke in the upcoming birthright citizenship decision.

Democrats are desperate to frame this as four unelected judges overturning the will of the people. Nothing could be further from the truth, because what they actually found, rightfully, was the people were given neither the time, nor the information needed to exercise that will under the law.

The Virginia Supreme Court didn’t just uphold the law in regard to constitutional amendments, it proved why those very laws are so vital. And there is not a single thing that the Democrats, who rolled the dice and lost, can do about it.

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'The Sheep Detectives' Review: Hugh Jackman leads all-star cast in delightful whodunit for the whole family

Sat, 09 May 2026 09:00:57 -0400

You won't be counting sheep during "The Sheep Detectives."

Adapted from the 2005 Leonie Swann novel "Three Bags Full: A Sheep Detective Story," the film follows a flock of sheep belonging to secluded shepherd George Hardy (Hugh Jackman), who reads them murder mysteries before bedtime, not realizing that the sheep have been able to understand everything he's been saying.

Unfortunately for George, he becomes the victim of his murder mystery, and his sheep hope to crack the case.

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There's Lily (voiced by Julia Louis-Dreyfus), the intelligent sheep the rest of the flock look up to, especially since she's so good at solving the mysteries George reads them. Also among the flock are the clear-headed Mopple (Chris O'Dowd), the stoic Sebastian (Bryan Cranston), the gossipy Cloud (Regina Hall), the elder Sir Ritchfield (Patrick Stewart) and the ram-bunctious twins Reggie and Ronnie (Brett Goldstein).

But who would want to kill George? Well, he apparently ruffled plenty of feathers in the rural English town of Denbrook, like the rival shepherd Caleb Merrow (Tosin Cole), the butcher Ham Gilyard (Conleth Hill), the innkeeper Beth Pennock (Hong Chau) and his estranged daughter Rebecca (Molly Gordon), all who have motives for wanting George dead.

Also joining the cast are Emma Thompson as George's attorney Lydia Harbottle, Nicholas Galitzine as the nosy junior reporter Elliot Matthews and Nicholas Braun as the bumbling Officer Tim Derry, who the sheep have to shepherd into solving the mystery.

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What caught me off guard was the film's emotional core — touching on subjects like coping with grief and having a sense of belonging. "The Sheep Detectives" feels like something from bygone era where movies were pure and good-nature, striking a resemblance to the 90s classic "Babe." It's funny, cute and has a lot of heart — truly a film the whole family can enjoy.

It's obvious that the all-star ensemble, both human and non-human alike, had a lot of fun making this movie. The cast was led by director Kyle Balda, who has an extensive background as an animator but most recently directed the "Minions" films and "Despicable Me 3." Emmy-winner Craig Mazin, who recently wrote HBO's "Chernobyl" and "The Last of Us," makes his first big-screen comedy since 2013's "The Hangover Part III."

‘LEE CRONIN’S THE MUMMY' REVIEW: A GRUESOME REIMAGINING OF CLASSIC HOLLYWOOD MONSTER

Good quality family films are not easy to come by these days, which is why "The Sheep Detectives" deserves to be seen. The cast is great and not only does the writing bring the laughs, it also tugs at the heartstrings. Charming and delightful, "The Sheep Detectives" is a film worth flocking to.

"The Sheep Detectives" is rated PG for thematic material, some violent content and brief language.. Running time: 1 hour, 49 minutes. In theaters now.

Our school stood by biology on the basketball court and this blue state backed down

Sat, 09 May 2026 09:00:29 -0400

I never thought I’d be in court for simply adhering to my Christian and commonsense belief that boys and girls are different. And I bet the Vermont Principals Association (VPA) never thought it’d have to cough up more than half a million dollars to settle a lawsuit with those of us who hold that view.

I coach the girls’ basketball team at Mid-Vermont Christian School (MVCS), a small K-12 academy of about 100 students in Quechee, Vt. My daughter is a junior and plays guard on the team. It’s the kind of school where everybody knows everybody, and we’re united by our common faith and commitment to biblical truth. We’re few in number but competitive; a few years ago, we tied for the state championship in our division.

Three years ago, we were in the running again when we learned that, during the playoffs, we were scheduled to play a school that was allowing a male athlete to play on its girls’ team. After some discussion among our school’s administrators, board members and parents, MVCS elected to forfeit the game and withdraw from the tournament rather than lend tacit approval to the idea that sex is changeable.

While so many of us understand that gender identity is something some teens struggle with and how difficult that must be, it’s a tenet of the religious faith of the parents, students and staff at MVCS that God immutably created us as two sexes, with clear differences between those sexes. An undeniable extension of those differences is that boys tend to be stronger and faster (and play rougher) than girls. Scripture informs us that one cannot just reject the identity God gave us.

VERMONT PAYS $566K IN DAMAGES TO CHRISTIAN SCHOOL IT BANNED FROM ALL SPORTS COMPETITIONS FOR YEARS

That makes the participation of a male in a girls’ basketball game a dubious proposition. It not only suggests that one’s sex can change by say-so but also raises questions of fairness and safety for the girls.

Still, we didn’t feel it was our place to demand that the other team withdraw. We felt the concerns, felt a responsibility for our own players, and felt that — by playing — we risked our girls getting hurt and our school lending approval to an ideology that contradicts our religious beliefs. So, we chose to step aside, losing our competitive opportunity but affirming our principles.

We quietly issued a statement to that effect. Upon reading it, the VPA kicked us out of the league. After 28 years of participating, we were suddenly blacklisted from all state-sponsored athletics. But Vermont officials took it even further than that.

VERMONT CHRISTIAN SCHOOL REINSTATED AFTER BEING BANNED OVER TRANSGENDER ATHLETE CONTROVERSY

They also excluded Mid-Vermont Christian School and its students from participating in all co-ed academic competitions — the Geo-Bee, the Science and Math Fair, and the Debate and Forensics League. That effectively cut our students out of all state extracurricular activities — all because the families and staff at our school believe biological differences between boys and girls are important and given by God, putting us in line with what the great majority of Americans believe.

What’s more, in decrying our right to think and live by our religious principles, the VPA not only denied our First Amendment rights, it acted with impermissible hostility to our religious views — something the U.S. Supreme Court has said is always unconstitutional.

Thankfully, our students and their families understood what was at stake and respected the position our administrators took. With the help of Alliance Defending Freedom, we filed a federal lawsuit challenging state officials’ decision to exclude our school from those opportunities.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE FOX NEWS OPINION

In September of last year, we notched a big "W" when the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit ruled that Vermont must allow us back into the state’s athletic association. It was a sweet victory for our girls as our team reached the state semifinals our first year back in the league.

Now, we’ve successfully settled the sports side of our case with the VPA. For my daughter and the other girls on her team, this came down to more than just the discomfort with competing against a male body; it was a breach of their constitutionally protected freedoms and their Christian beliefs on sex.

Our case is not over, however. Vermont officials have barred our Christian school and its students from participating in the state’s tuition program and other public benefit programs, so our attorneys are continuing to litigate those issues. I’m confident they’ll reach a favorable outcome on that front, too.

Vermont is slowly realizing there is a price to pay for violating the constitutional rights of Christian schools and families.

BROADCAST BIAS: Networks furious that courts ended racial gerrymandering

Sat, 09 May 2026 08:00:40 -0400

The Supreme Court’s decision to reject racial gerrymandering brought out the worst excesses on the broadcast networks. An ABC reporter stood in front of the White House on April 29 and claimed the decision was in line with President Donald Trump’s "eager" efforts to "put additional restrictions on voting writ large" and "taking steps to really undermine confidence in the voting system ahead of the midterms."

These networks have a disturbing tendency to equate "democracy" and "civil rights" with whatever helps Democrats. Both parties this year have been aggressively pushing redistricting, but the media hasn’t displayed a nonpartisan reformist approach, urging a less political redistricting approach. Instead, they clothe all the Democrat arguments in favorable terms.

Red states in the South moving to change district lines before the midterms is certainly disadvantageous to Democrats, which is countered by their media advantage in how it’s presented. "PBS News Hour" anchor Amna Nawaz summarized on Tuesday: "The Supreme Court ruling against drawing congressional maps to protect black or other minority voters has sparked a new wave in the ongoing redistricting war."

Over the years, both parties have supported majority-minority districts to put Democrats together and ensure Black Democrats can win perennially without any serious competition. PBS and others call that "protecting black voters." They suggest Blacks don’t have voting rights unless they can elect Black representatives.

MEDIA OUTRAGE OVER SUPREME COURT’S VOTING RIGHTS ACT DECISION COLLIDES WITH REALITY

So, what happens when a majority-Black district elects a White guy (Tennessee Democrat Rep. Steve Cohen in Memphis) or an Indian-American guy (Michigan Democrat Rep. Shri Thanedar in Detroit)? Every American citizen over 18 years of age who isn't a felon has voting rights. That was true yesterday and today. But our media always slants every issue into the distorted Democrat version of reality.

Consider the typical labeling bias. "Conservative" judges and politicians are opposed by "civil rights" activists (not leftists).

On "CBS Mornings" on Thursday, May 7, reporter Ed O’Keefe suggested it was a "Republican power grab" to redistrict "Montgomery, Alabama, the birthplace of the modern civil rights movement." Co-host Gayle King set the breakfast table this way: "Last week's decision makes it much harder for states to create districts favoring minority candidates." What CBS should say is "districts favoring minority Democrats."

BROADCAST BIAS: NPR, PBS BOSSES DEFEND OUTLANDISH SPIN, ABC, NBC, CBS HAVE A CRAZY REACTION

Another TV trick is what we call the "covert liberal activist," presented as an average Joe or Jane. According to CBS’s chyron in the O’Keefe story, Rachel Turner was simply an "Alabama Voter," and she was shown lamenting the Supreme Court: "I just felt like I have been hit by a ton of bricks. So, many people gave their actual lives in order to exercise their fundamental right to vote."

In real life, Turner is actually a member of the Alabama Resistors' chapter of Indivisible, a progressive activist group that organizes the "No Kings" protests against Trump. She was featured under that title on a local CBS News report in January protesting ICE enforcement activities: "We have to be persistent if we respond to violence with peace, then eventually we will overcome the troubles that are holding us down today."

On Thursday night, O’Keefe was back on CBS to lament the Republican state legislature in Tennessee "broke up a majority Black district," but didn’t note that the district’s Democrat congressman is white, or that a black Republican woman has run against him. O’Keefe relayed: "Tennessee Democrats could do little more than protest the move, and they did that standing in a line, shouting at Republicans as they voted overwhelmingly to drop the state's one Democratic congressional seat."

VIRGINIA DEMOCRATS RIPPED BY WASHINGTON POST FOR 'POWER GRAB' GERRYMANDERING EFFORT

On NBC, anchor Tom Llamas briefly noted: "We're back now with the intense fight over the redistricting in Tennessee. Democratic lawmakers protesting after Republicans in the state legislature passed a new congressional map in the wake of that landmark Supreme Court decision."

Neither CBS nor NBC bothered to include the sordid note that state Rep. Justin Pearson – a hero on the broadcast networks in a previous legislative fight over gun rights – screamed at state troopers trying to clear out protesters from the chamber: "Move the f--- back! Boy!" and "What the f--- is wrong with you? You stupid motherf----r!" Pearson put out a statement claiming the Republicans committed "a political lynching."

CLICK HERE FOR MORE FOX NEWS OPINION

On Friday, the Virginia Supreme Court struck down a Democrat gerrymandering ballot initiative that passed with only 51.7% of the vote, despite a massive spending advantage. On their streaming channels, the networks hyped the "voter-approved" part. NBC’s Zinhle Essamuah said, "they struck down something that was voter-approved, a Democratic congressional redistricting plan. The Trump administration counting this as a win."

CBS anchor Reed Cowan echoed: "the Virginia Supreme Court just struck down a voter-approved Democratic congressional redistricting plan in that state." Reporter Katrina Kaufman claimed, "this is a significant decision because the Democrats will lose four seats in districts in Virginia." That’s terrible math. It means the Republicans won’t lose four seats they currently have.

On that ridiculous hub of everyday misinformation they call "The View," host Whoopi Goldberg claimed absolutely nothing has changed in the South over the last 60 years: "We put the Voting Rights Act together because there was an issue, because they were keeping people from voting! They were literally shooting people! They were running them down with dogs to keep them from voting! OK? Let's start with that. So, when they say that problem is gone, it's not gone, because you're still doing it! You're still doing it!"

It’s this stubborn resistance to facts – that we are no longer in an era of rigid segregation and systemic racism, that there can never be a turning point on race – that underlines what’s wrong with the "news" we get from the broadcast networks.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM TIM GRAHAM

American women have been lied to about motherhood, and it’s time to fix it

Sat, 09 May 2026 07:00:34 -0400

Our culture has sold women one of the greatest lies of all time: Abortion is the best and only option. Rather than empowering women to become mothers, our society has convinced her that an abortion is a "quick and easy fix" to her problems. But in reality, abortion robs women of one of the greatest joys that we celebrate on Mother’s Day.

As a mom to three young boys, my heart breaks for the woman struggling to make ends meet. It breaks for the woman who feels the mounting pressure to support her children alone. But most of all, my heart breaks for the woman who walked into Planned Parenthood thinking an abortion would be part of the solution to her problems.

Human Coalition and Planned Parenthood see the same abortion-seeking woman, and less than one in four of those moms express confidence in her decision to abort. In fact, the majority would prefer to parent if their circumstances were different.

THE MESSAGE ABOUT MOTHERHOOD THE MEDIA DESPERATELY WANTS YOU TO MISS

Read that again: most women walking into abortion facilities aren't certain they want an abortion. They're overwhelmed and believe they are out of options. The typical abortion-seeking woman likely knows the value of motherhood because she already has other children. In her current pregnancy, what she needs isn't an abortion; it's a solution to the barriers that keep her from seeing the path toward life for her baby. When we remove barriers, we show women that motherhood is possible.

Housing Instability

One of the main factors in a mother's life decision is her housing circumstances. Take "Maria" for example. She had just lost everything when she found out she was pregnant. Evicted from her apartment and without a stable home, Maria was forced to send her teenage son to live with her mom in another state. During the early weeks of her pregnancy, she bounced around from motels to her car and even emergency shelters. The father of her baby was not involved, which left her to shoulder the responsibility of providing for her and her baby alone.

In a 2023 study, the pro-abortion Guttmacher Institute reported that three-quarters of abortion clients were living with incomes that were 200% below the federal poverty line. Behind these numbers are real moms like Maria who face overcrowded living conditions, eviction, and frequent moves, which are an added stress. Maria’s story highlights the underlying need for these moms. They deserve to know about the organizations that will stand in the gap and help them find housing solutions that bring stability to the family unit. But too often, they only know about Planned Parenthood.

Childcare & Employment Challenges

Adding to their housing worries is a mother’s employment status. For single moms, flexibility can go a long way.

A 2026 Stanford-led study found that the number of children a woman has in a given period (realized fertility) was 14% higher when both partners worked from home at least one day per week compared to couples where neither did. Researchers estimate remote work could account for roughly 8.1% of U.S. births — approximately 291,000 babies per year. The takeaway? When mothers have flexibility over where and when they work, they're more likely to have children, and more of them.

I can speak to this personally. Because I work with flexible hours, I'm the one dropping my boys off at school in the morning and picking them up in the afternoon. I'm present. And beyond workplace flexibility, my family has been blessed by something deeper: community. A young woman from our church comes over to care for my boys twice a week, and homeschooled girls in our parish serve as mothers' helpers to fill in gaps during the day. My mother-in-law lives nearby and steps in when we need her. None of that required a government subsidy. It required a village. The kind that used to be the norm in American life, and that we should be actively rebuilding.

My heart goes out to every mother struggling to find stable, reliable care for her children. I empathize deeply with moms who feel torn between being present for their children and keeping the lights on. That tension is real. And it deserves real solutions, not a culture that hands her an abortion referral and calls it compassion.

Gaps in Healthcare Access

BRIDGING THE PRENATAL CARE GAP: THE GLOBAL EFFORT HELPING MOMS START HEALTHY

Most importantly, every mother deserves compassionate, life-affirming care.

Among the most vulnerable women in our nation are those living in rural areas with limited access to healthcare. Women who live in rural areas are reported to have higher rates of pregnancy-related complications, compared to U.S. averages.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE FOX NEWS OPINION

Luckily, pro-life organizations are making inroads to serve more of these moms. In our digital age, we can quickly connect with moms and deliver the care they deserve.

When a woman calls Human Coalition, she is immediately connected to a nurse who provides care and guidance in a moment of panic and uncertainty. It’s through these calls that women can ask questions, voice concerns, and feel encouraged through her pregnancy journey.

Abortion-seeking women have been sold a lie for decades. They’ve been told that a procedure or pill will make life easier and improve her circumstances. The truth is that abortion inflicts deep pain (mentally, physically and emotionally) while failing to address the very circumstances that make women feel like abortion is the only option.

If we are going to empower women to choose life, it starts with meeting women where they are and walking alongside them as they take on one of the most important titles of all: Mom.

JONATHAN TURLEY: Defending free speech means defending even this guy

Sat, 09 May 2026 06:28:49 -0400

I am having a tough week. I was recently compelled to write a column expressing skepticism about the prosecution of former FBI Director James Comey for shell art posted on social media, despite being one of his longest and most vocal critics.

Now, I find myself having to write a column in defense of former Northwestern University President Morton Schapiro, who was just dumped as the commencement speaker for Georgetown Law School. I have criticized Schapiro for years as a major force in destroying the intellectual diversity in higher education. The problem with believing in free speech is that you have to believe in free speech even for those whose speech you abhor. The irony in both cases is crushing. Comey, who targeted President Donald Trump in a baseless Russian collusion investigation manufactured by the Clinton campaign, is now complaining about lawfare against him.

Schapiro is even less compelling as a victim in a cancel campaign. While Northwestern president, Schapiro pandered to the left and showed little support for free speech on campus. Schapiro denounced what he called "absolute" free speech positions and endorsed speech sanctions, including treating speech as a form of assault.

Under Schapiro, a wide array of speech was deemed "microaggressive" or intolerable in the interests of harmony and inclusion. He did little to quell the viewpoint intolerance at Northwestern and the virtual purging of faculty ranks of conservative or Republican faculty.

Now the mob has come for Schapiro.

GEORGETOWN LAW STUDENTS SUCCEED IN GETTING PRO-ISRAEL COMMENCEMENT SPEAKER TO DROP OUT

He was selected to speak at the law school commencement and immediately triggered an outcry. A Jewish academic, Schapiro is viewed as pro-Israel. He was immediately labeled a "Zionist" and an offensive choice by students and faculty.

A petition called on the administration to remove Schapiro, stating "Schapiro is not a lawyer, has no connection to Georgetown, and holds controversial, Zionist, and harmful opinions."

Of course, past commencement speakers such as Henry Louis Gates Jr. were also non-lawyers with no connection to Georgetown, but there were no protests. That was just last year.

HARVARD'S LEFT-LEANING HISTORY OF COMMENCEMENT SPEAKERS AMID DEBATE ABOUT LACK OF VIEWPOINT DIVERSITY

Every year, commencements remain a virtual lock for liberal and Democratic speakers. After eliminating most conservative faculty members from departments, universities have made commencements the final lessons of ideological indoctrination for students.

This year’s speakers include figures ranging from Nancy Pelosi (Notre Dame de Namur University) to Jamie Raskin (American University and Goucher College) to candidates like James Talarico (Paul Quinn College). There is no subtlety in their selection or their messages. As expected, Pelosi slammed the GOP and Trump while Talarico gave effectively a stump speech on fighting the billionaires.

Schapiro fits within the narrow ideological bandwidth of permissible liberal speakers with one notable complication: he supports Israel.

ANTISEMITIC ‘VENOM’ INFECTING CAMPUSES GETS WORSE AS UNIVERSITIES PLAY ‘ROPE-A-DOPE’ WITH TRUMP ADMIN: EXPERT

Accordingly, Schapiro was unceremoniously dumped and replaced with a Georgetown law professor who has opposed investigations into antisemitism on campuses.

For his part, Schapiro wrote campus leaders: "I have presided over 28 commencements as a president and dean, and those ceremonies are about celebrating the graduates and their supporters. I was looking forward to giving a talk about humility and gratitude, but I don’t want my presence to distract from the day’s festivities. I wish the law school graduates the best of luck in the days ahead."

It was a gracious and mature response to an adolescent and irrational campaign.

MY UNIVERSITY FIRED ME OVER MY VIEWS. NOW IT’S PAYING THE PRICE

It was, regrettably, the product of the very same cringing-concession policies I previously criticized Schapiro for enabling at Northwestern.

During his tenure, the university abandoned academic integrity and control to student mobs. One example that I previously discussed involved a Sociology class taught by Professor Beth Redbird that examined "inequality in American society with an emphasis on race, class and gender." Redbird invited both an undocumented person and a spokesperson for the Immigration and Customs Enforcement. It was precisely the type of balanced discussion that we once valued in higher education, exposing students to vastly different views to allow them to consider the underlying social and political realities.

Various student groups organized protests to stop their fellow students from hearing from the ICE representative. They were greatly assisted by the university itself. As protesters screamed "F--- ICE" outside of the hall, the Dean of Students appeared and told these students that they would be allowed into the class if they promised not to disrupt it. The university simply asked them to stop screaming profanities and told Redbird that they promised to sit quietly in her class.

I'M A CONSERVATIVE STUDENT AND THE NO. 1 QUESTION I GET IS: 'HOW DO I SURVIVE LEFTIST PROFESSORS?'

Of course, they immediately stopped the class, the ICE official had to be removed, and Redbird was forced to cancel her class. What was most unnerving was not just the passivity of Northwestern (which took no action against the students) but also the sense of entitlement at the university that prevented others from speaking.

Sophomore April Navarro rejected the notion that faculty should be allowed to invite such speakers to their classrooms for a "good, nice conversation with ICE." She added, "We’re not interested in having those types of conversations … We’re not engaging in those kinds of things; it legitimizes ICE’s violence, it makes Northwestern complicit in this."

Now, it is Schapiro himself being canceled.

In my book Rage and the Republic, I write about how academic and political figures are ignoring history as they pander to radical groups. Democratic leaders like Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries believe that they can ride a rage wave back into power. What they ignore is how these revolutions ultimately "devour their own." Today’s revolutionaries become tomorrow’s reactionaries.

Schapiro is only the latest victim of viewpoint intolerance in higher education. Of course, his detractors can quote Schapiro himself in dismissing objections as reducing free speech to mere "slogans or free speech at all costs." It appears that he is now one of the prohibitive costs to be avoided in our academic echo chamber.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM JONATHAN TURLEY

BRET BAIER: Why Americans still believe our best days are ahead, even in divided times

Fri, 08 May 2026 15:38:40 -0400

When my new book, "The Case for America," was launched this month, the first thing I wanted to do was hear from my listeners and readers about how they would make the case. So, I published an invitation on my website asking people to record short videos, and I’ve been playing some of them on air during "Special Report."

I’ve been happy with the diverse contributions from across the country. The optimism and pride are like a tonic in a time often characterized by disagreement. Here are the voices of our fellow Americans making the case. I hope you are as inspired by them as I have been.

In the book, I write about the immigrant success story that continues to stand as proof of our special nature. Charlie C. is an example of the immigrant success story.

"I believe the U.S. is unique because it's a place where immigrants can rise from the lower middle class to the top 3% in just one generation," Charlie said, describing his own experience.

BRET BAIER: AHEAD OF 250TH, AMERICA HAS WITNESSED TRIUMPH OF RESILIENCE OVER DESPAIR

"My family moved here when I was 10, and we started in suburban Philadelphia with very humble means. McDonald's was a luxury. My English was very limited, but through hard work, I went on to attend an Ivy League school and earn a Ph.D.

"Now I'm one of the top engineers at a Fortune 500 company, surrounded by 18,000 colleagues. I'm grateful for a wife of 24 years and three wonderful kids. I believe my achievements would not be possible anywhere else, as this country is the only one founded on a belief in life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness for all."

Well said.

Gus F. also weighed in on the immigrant experience, saying that, as a proud Latino and Native American, his case for America is personal.

"This country is not perfect. No nation is," he acknowledged.

"But America is still a place where history, struggle, sacrifice, faith, family and freedom come together to create a future bigger than the past. Both my people know hardship. We also know resilience. We know what it means to be overlooked, underestimated and still rise. That's why I believe in America, not because she has never fallen short, but because she gives us the right, the voice and the opportunity to make her better."

The theme of opportunity is a mainstay of the people’s cases for America.

"For 250 years, the men and women who have served this country have helped build it from the ground up in every industry and in every generation," Lisa D., a retired veteran, said. "This is not coincidence. That is American character. America has always had a secret weapon. They are the visionaries, the entrepreneurs, the innovators, the risk-takers, the ones who never stopped dreaming."

ENES KANTER FREEDOM: I CAME HERE FOR MY BASKETBALL DREAM. I STAY FOR FREEDOM AND THE AMERICAN DREAM

Manufacturing opportunity was a theme that resonated. Brian H. weighed in as the proud owner and president of WIC Industries in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

"We make the ADA switches that you push when you walk into some of the most beautiful buildings in the world, including the White House, the U.S. Capitol and the Washington Monument," he said.

Brian mentioned that his company had made the largest capital investment in its history as a result of the 2025 tax bill (the One Big Beautiful Bill).

"We have always been a manufacturer in the U.S. We will continue to make things here," he promised. The strength of our manufacturing sector has always been a defining characteristic of America.

But as Anthony L. pointed out, it’s not just our rich material resources that make us strong. It’s our character.

"America's future depends on certain nonmaterial social resources — trust, honor and love," he said. "Trust is a boundary condition and requires boundaries. Honor differentiates us from one another and is the basis of individual dignity.

"Love draws and holds us together. We will always prosper as a nation if we cherish these social goods in our law and our politics."

Some of our great founders, including Thomas Jefferson, John Adams and Benjamin Franklin, often spoke and wrote about those very themes.

IF YOU WANT TO HELP AMERICA, START SERVING

Michael R. also talked about the moral underpinnings of a great society.

"I think William Penn once wrote, ‘Those people who will not be governed by God will be ruled by tyrants,’" he said. "And I think he was speaking about people who can't govern themselves morally. I also think he was speaking about strong societies, that they have not always been rooted in institutions, but in people who have goodness, common sense and humility, and care for others.

"We don't have to agree fully to move forward, but we do need a shared commitment to good, to service to one another. The challenges we face today are not the end of our 250-year history, but they are an opportunity to rebuild from the inside out. The question probably is not what's happening around us, but who we choose to be as individuals."

Many people pointed proudly to service as a meaningful part of their American experience and what makes America strong.

Shannon told me, "I was born and raised in a family that is so grateful, full of service members who have served this country and helped make freedom accessible for everyone. People come from all over the world because they know what we have is a great thing going. Here, as a woman, as a person of faith, I couldn't be more grateful to be an American citizen. We have so much opportunity, so much freedom, and I never take it for granted."

Shannon offered her congratulations to all of us who get to call America home.

LET'S TEACH OUR KIDS WHY AMERICA IS WORTH FIGHTING FOR

A number of people expressed hope in the next generation and talked about how that opportunity is being passed on to them.

Thomas said, "My case for America is simply that I grew up in a small area of Kentucky in a trailer park. My daughter is now working on her second master's degree. This one is at Georgetown, the first one at George Washington University.

"She lives in D.C. She was a major in the Army. Her husband works in the Pentagon. They've got a young grandson growing up in D.C. There's a lot of great people out there, in finance, technology, business, doing great things for America, and a lot of great patriots out there. So, keep the education coming and keep the fight."

CLICK HERE FOR MORE FOX NEWS OPINION

Christine also made the case for the youth.

"I'm very hopeful for our United States of America," she said. "My husband and I, married for 40 years, have two kids who both, as adults, ended up a lot more liberal than we are, but knowing them makes my heart happy because they are both kind, caring, competent, hardworking individuals, and I know, left in their hands and the hands of their friends, our nation is going to be just fine."

As the father of two sons, the oldest graduating high school this year, I share Thomas and Christine’s optimism about the emerging generation who will make the most of our opportunities.

Jerry, a member of that younger generation, weighed in with inspiring words.

"I'm making my case for America because I'm proud to call it home. While we all have different lifestyles and opinions from coast to coast, what makes us great is how we unite under our values during tough times," Jerry said.

"I'm thankful for a country where your background doesn't define your potential, and where freedom of speech and religion are guaranteed. From the Great Depression to liberation efforts in world wars, America has been resilient and generous. We wouldn't have this amazing, free country without the sacrifice of our veterans. That is my case for the greatest country."

Finally, I couldn’t resist Jon L.’s appeal to this golfer’s heart. He made the case for America in terms any golfer would appreciate.

"America's best days are ahead. We're just teeing up for the back nine. This nation's always had a talent for the long game, and right now we're positioned for a birdie run," Jon L. said.

"Sure, we've had some lies in the rough where we needed a solid recovery shot, but the fairway ahead looks open. We've got the skill, the grit and the course knowledge to make a championship round. The greens are within reach. We just need to stay focused and trust our swing. America ain't done playing yet."

Thanks, Jon, and thank you to everyone who has participated. If you haven’t made your personal case for America yet, I encourage you to go on the website and share your thoughts. I’ll continue to share them as we celebrate America’s 250th anniversary.

Editor's note: Bret Baier's new book, "The Case for America: An Argument on Behalf of Our Nation," was published May 5, 2026, in celebration of the nation’s 250th anniversary.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE FROM BRET BAIER

DAVID MARCUS: Top 10 gifts for the Antifa wine mom in your life

Fri, 08 May 2026 11:59:51 -0400

Mother’s Day is almost upon us again, leaving sons and daughters everywhere wondering what the perfect gift for mom might be, and in these tense political times, more and more Americans are shopping for their leftist Antifa wine mom.

Antifa wine moms are sprouting up everywhere, with their disdainful expressions, chasing down federal agents in their minivans and trying to prevent the arrest of criminal illegal aliens. Frankly, they aren’t easy to shop for.

So, if you or someone you love has an Antifa wine mom in their lives, here are 10 gift ideas that can help her overthrow the government on her special day.

ANTI-ICE 'DIGITAL MINUTEMEN' USE MILITARY-GRADE SURVEILLANCE TACTICS AGAINST FEDS

Help mom stay one step ahead of the fuzz this year with the latest models of police scanners that will keep her in the know and hot on the trail of rogue federal agents. With a portable scanner she can take in the van, mom will never be far from the action, and always in a position to make trouble.

This year, mom can warn illegal immigrants and her community of the presence of ICE officers in style, with her own 24k gold whistle. Whether she is protecting a sex trafficker, drug dealer or gang member, mom will be the envy of Antifa every time she interferes with law enforcement.

'WHITE SAVIORS'' USE OF WHISTLES CAUSES BITTER INTERNAL RIFT INSIDE ANTI-ICE MOVEMENT

Sometimes practical gifts can be the most meaningful, and mom will be thinking of you the next time she spends 12 hours seated in the minivan tracking down sinister agents of the state. There are no bathroom breaks when you are fighting fascism, so a bag of Depends goes a long way in the battle against tyranny.

'SQUAD' MEMBER MOURNS 'EMPTY' THANKSGIVING SEATS DUE TO 'LOVED ONES ABDUCTED & DEPORTED,' 'MASS INCARCERATION'

Getting mom her own refugee is really a win-win in every sense of the word. First of all, mom will be living up to your family’s yard sign by welcoming a poor, struggling migrant into your household. But it gets better, because mom’s refugee will be happy to do chores, like cooking and cleaning, while she is out all day and night saving America.

You can’t be a wine mom without wine, and what better vintage to celebrate her day with than a bottle of vino from the winery owned by Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn. This is a bit of a tricky gift, since the winery recently went out of business, for reasons that aren’t important. But that just means any bottle you can score for mom is an even more special collectors' item.

REP ILHAN OMAR'S DAUGHTER STRIKES HARD-CORE COMMUNIST POSE AS MOM BATTLES CLAIMS SHE IS RICH

Won’t mom’s friends be jealous when they see her decked out in her fashion-forward kaffiyeh signed by none other than communist heartthrob Hasan Piker? Supplies are limited, and it's a bit pricey, but mom deserves it just as much as America deserved 9/11, right?

5 HIGH-TECH MOTHER'S DAY GIFTS THAT SHOW YOU REALLY CARE

You’ll sleep safe and sound knowing that mom is protected from the prying eyes of the FBI with a VPN subscription guarding her Discord channels and Reddit boards. She will think of you, knowing all of her seditious online communications are safe and sound.

Mom’s favorite revolutionaries from the hit 2025 movie will all but step through the screen in this visual feast of White guilt and inane violence. Perfect for movie night at the commune or anytime.

DAVID MARCUS: HASAN PIKER, USEFUL IDIOT FASHIONISTAS WANT TO MAKE AMERICA INTO COMMIE CUBA

Is mom frustrated everytime she cooks a meal for the collective only to discover that it includes ingredients from Israel or Jewish cultural influences? Now, mom can ban Zionism not just from her politics but from her kitchen with revolutionary recipes that will keep the comrades coming back for more.

For those looking to splurge, why not whisk mom down to sunny Cuba, where she can stay in a five-star Havana hotel and post videos about how much the Cuban people love being destitute.

Antifa wine moms are just like any other mom, except they focus their maternal instincts on poor illegal immigrant criminals and fraudsters. So on one day every year, we say thank you, and do our part to help mom tear down the evil that is the racist, colonialist, God-awful United States of America.

From our autonomous tent city to yours, Happy Mother's Day.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM DAVID MARCUS

STEVE FORBES: The left’s latest bad idea would punish bargain hunters

Fri, 08 May 2026 10:00:50 -0400

Some bad ideas refuse to stay buried, no matter how often the facts prove them wrong. The efforts of the far-left in trying to revive the 1930s‑era Robinson‑Patman Act (RPA), and its companion antitrust theories, is one of them.

This misbegotten relic of the Great Depression placed restrictions on wholesalers from charging lower prices for retailers who bought in large volumes. Big chain stores like the now-defunct A&P were accused of undercutting mom-and-pop grocers by demanding lower wholesale prices. Populist politicians painted these chains as monopolists squeezing out the little guy. The inconvenient fact that these savings were passed on to consumers at lower retail prices was ignored.

Congress back then mistook efficiency for exploitation, treating competition as something sinister rather than a win for the consumer. Prices rose, consumers lost, and small stores didn’t miraculously return to profitability. Courts and federal agencies eventually narrowed the law’s reach, allowing market efficiency to prevail once again.

MARYLAND MOVES TO BAN SURVEILLANCE PRICING IN GROCERY STORES

Yet nearly 90 years after this ludicrous law was enacted, elements of the far-left are arguing that its concept of punishing pricing differences charged by wholesalers between large and small retailers should be resurrected. Their theory holds that "price discrimination" by big buyers makes markets unfair and harms Main Street. They cry that government oversight is necessary to restore their notions of balance.

Of course, the preposterous economics behind this thinking don’t add up. In "Stop Making Sense: Reviving the Robinson Patman Act and the Economics of Intermediate Price Discrimination," Brent Skorup methodically dismantles the justifications for reviving the RPA. His core message: price differences aren’t proof of unfairness. They’re the mechanism that keeps competition alive and prices low.

Reviving this Depression-era theory today makes even less sense. Our economy runs on customization and dynamic pricing, from airline tickets to online retailers adjusting to market conditions by the minute. Skorup shows that intermediate price discrimination isn’t a bug of capitalism; it’s a feature of vibrant markets.

When buyers with different volumes or logistics costs get different price offers, that’s not injustice — it’s arithmetic. If Walmart innovates supply chain efficiencies or Amazon handles distribution more efficiently or Costco buys and sells in bigger lots, consumers win with lower shelf prices. Manufacturers willingly offer volume discounts because they sell more overall through those efficient, high-volume outlets. Penalizing that efficiency doesn’t protect competition; it punishes it. It’s like forcing every shopper to pay the same price for an airline seat or hotel room regardless of timing or demand — economically absurd in a world built on choice.

SOCIALIST MAMDANI'S SUPERMARKET PLAN WOULD BE 'BULLET TO THE HEART' OF BLUE-COLLAR AMERICA, LAWMAKER WARNS

Every customer of discounters like Walmart and Costco knows the virtue of purchasing items in bulk.

This push to resurrect the RPA and its companion antitrust litigation theories fits a broader ideological campaign from the left to use antitrust law as a social-engineering tool. A prime pusher of this type of power grabbing has been Lina Khan, who headed the FTC under Joe Biden; her fellow travelers include the likes of the current neo-communist mayor of New York City, Zohran Mamdani.

For more than 40 years — under both parties and across the courts — the economic consensus held that antitrust should focus solely on consumer welfare. If prices fall and output rises, markets work. Today’s left wants to junk that principle for a pre-modern view more obsessed with shielding competitors rather than protecting competition.

In Skorup’s analysis, bureaucrats would gain huge discretion to deem pricing differences "reasonable" or not. That uncertainty chills investment, discourages innovation, and turns pricing into a political decision. Businesses would cater to activist regulators and trial lawyers instead of customers. That’s not fairness — it’s favoritism by red tape. It’s a form of tyranny that erodes our basic freedoms, which is just what the far-left lusts for.

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Free market advocates need to push back. The RPA is a fossil from a time when Washington believed it could dictate the right price for everything. Four decades of evidence confirms that competition — not regulation — drives efficiency and choice. When government kills price discrimination, it kills the competition that shields consumers from gouging.

Even without federal action, state RPA copycats and courtroom trial lawyers are testing these theories that threaten to distort markets nationwide through regulatory uncertainty and litigation.

Policymakers who read the Skorup report will see that the supposed harms of price discrimination are mostly theoretical, while the benefits — lower prices, greater choice, stronger competition — are real. Healthy markets need freedom to set prices, reward innovation, and reflect true costs. Reviving the Robinson‑Patman Act would drag us back to a command-and-control model of retailing that failed once and would fail again.

The marketplace doesn’t need a New Deal‑era referee blowing the whistle on deals that save consumers money. It needs leaders who understand that "fairness" means open competition and voluntary exchange. Since the 1930s, real-world experience has consigned the idea behind the RPA into the junkyard of history. Keep it there!

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM STEVE FORBES

MAKARY, DIAMANTAS: Parents worried about baby formula safety just got the news they needed

Fri, 08 May 2026 07:00:13 -0400

When it comes to infant formula, the safety of every bottle is non-negotiable. That’s why the U.S. Food and Drug Administration just completed the most comprehensive and rigorous testing of infant formula for chemical contaminants in our nation’s history.

We analyzed more than 300 products and generated over 130,000 data points, screening for the contaminants that parents are most concerned about: heavy metals, such as lead, mercury, cadmium and arsenic; pesticides, including glyphosate and glufosinate; per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, known as PFAS; and phthalates.

The results are clear — and a relief. The U.S. infant formula supply is safe, with the overwhelming majority of products showing undetectable or extremely low levels of these substances. While breast milk is widely recognized as the gold standard, millions of parents and caregivers depend on formula. For these families, the results from our testing are reassuring.

Here’s a sample of the results: No pesticides were detected in 99% of samples, and 1% had fewer than 0.25 parts per billion. For the heavy metals we tested, all samples were well below Environmental Protection Agency requirements for drinking water. PFAS and plasticizers had similarly reassuring results.

FOOD SAFETY IN FOCUS AT RFK JR. MEETING AS MAHA INFLUENCERS URGE SAFEGUARDING OF AMERICA

Despite these positive results, there is more work to be done for Operation Stork Speed — our mission to enhance the safety and nutrition of infant formula — to be a success.

Supply chain failures, bureaucratic sluggishness and outdated regulatory standards continue to strain the trust families place in the food system. Under President Donald Trump, we’re prioritizing babies over bureaucracy, so families can have confidence in what they feed their children.

Our "Babies First" approach rests on three essential pillars: safety, availability and quality.

MOMS CALL ON GOVERNMENT TO REFORM THE FOOD INDUSTRY: 'POISON IS NOT PARTISAN'

To ensure the safety of infant formula, we will continue to use every available tool to drive contaminant levels as low as possible. This work does not end with a single round of testing. The FDA will continue to monitor infant formula products, expand our data collection, and apply the latest scientific tools to ensure standards remain as strong tomorrow as they are today, including through the establishment of action levels. We will test new products as they enter the market, ensure accountability, and share our findings openly with the public.

To promote availability and prevent shortages, we will remove unnecessary regulatory barriers and work with industry to monitor potential supply chain disruptions so that safe, high-quality products can reach store shelves without delay. We’ve also asked Congress to modernize the FDA’s authorities so we can better establish limits for contaminants and address microbiological risks.

As part of this project, we are committed to delivering a greater variety of infant formula product options for the American people to meet demand for products with more natural ingredients and without certain ingredients, such as added sugars, corn syrup and seed oils.

BROOKE ROLLINS, ROBERT KENNEDY JR: NEW DIETARY PLAN RECOMMENDS REAL FOOD FOR ALL AMERICANS

We are not simply reacting to past challenges. To enhance formula quality for the future, we are modernizing the framework of pediatric nutrition. As part of this effort, we have launched a joint effort with the National Institutes of Health to study how dietary exposures in infancy influence health outcomes across a lifetime. We are also using modern scientific tools to anticipate future innovations and risks and protect the next generation.

Before we came into office, the last comprehensive review of formula nutrients occurred in 1998. That gap is unacceptable — especially in a country that leads the world in scientific innovation. As science evolves, our regulatory framework must evolve with it.

The Trump administration believes that a strong nation begins with its smallest citizens. That’s why we don’t see Operation Stork Speed as just a mission to regulate certain products. It’s a commitment to protect American families and America’s future, grounded in transparency, strength and action.

When it comes to infant formula, the safety of every bottle is non-negotiable. We are committed to putting babies first today and every day.

Kyle Diamantas, J.D. is Deputy FDA Commissioner for Food.

DR MARC SIEGEL: Hantavirus cruise outbreak is alarming, but fear is spreading faster than facts

Fri, 08 May 2026 06:00:59 -0400

Fear is generally far more virulent than the virus that causes it. This is the case with the current hantavirus outbreak unless something about the virus itself has changed, which is very unlikely.

As far as we know, the only thing that this hantavirus has in common with the SARS-CoV-2 virus that sparked the COVID pandemic is that both are single-stranded RNA viruses and both sparked outbreaks on cruise ships. Of course, the current hantavirus outbreak on the MV Hondius is sparking memories of the Diamond Princess, which departed from Japan in late January 2020 for a cruise of the Western Pacific. The cruise ended up being quarantined off Japan for two weeks, after 712 of the 3,711 people on board became infected with the new COVID-19 virus.

But that’s where the similarity ends. On the MV Hondius, which left from Argentina, where the Andes strain of hantavirus is found, eight patients have become infected, and three have died, in part because the Andes strain can cause highly dangerous and deadly hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, or HPS. Unfortunately, the Andes strain can lead to HPS, and, given the close confines of a cruise ship, the vessel is an optimal environment for the spread of contagions.

HANTAVIRUS IN THE US: WHERE THE RARE, SOMETIMES DEADLY DISEASE HAS BEEN FOUND

One question that needs to be answered urgently is: Who or what carried the virus onto the ship? Was it an infected rodent or an infected person? If the story is true, as has been reported, that the Dutch couple got infected before they boarded the ship during a bird-watching trip through Argentina, Chile and Uruguay, where they likely became infected from rodent droppings, urine or saliva, then the eight cases that occurred are all due to human-to-human transmission, which is much less common than rodent-to-human spread. This at least raises the question whether the virus itself could have changed, as does the case of the flight attendant who appears to have acquired hantavirus from an elderly Dutch passenger who later died of it.

But it is far, far more likely that nothing about the virus itself has changed. The Andes strain can spread from one human to another, though with great difficulty. A study from Chile showed only 1% spread among household contacts and 17% among sexual contacts.

HANTAVIRUS DEATHS ON CRUISE SHIP HIGHLIGHT DANGERS OF RODENT-BORNE DISEASE

A more recent study from Argentina also showed extremely limited person-to-person spread. "From November 2018 through February 2019, person-to-person transmission of Andes virus (ANDV) hantavirus pulmonary syndrome occurred in Chubut Province, Argentina, and resulted in 34 confirmed infections and 11 deaths."

Fortunately, there are only 15 to 50 cases of hantavirus in the U.S. yearly and 150 to 300 cases in all of the Americas. The most common strain is the Sin Nombre strain, which does not pass from human to human. There are 10,000 to 100,000 cases in Europe and Asia every year, but they have all involved strains that don’t support human-to-human spread. Hantavirus remains essentially a rodent virus.

WHAT IS HANTAVIRUS, THE CAUSE OF GENE HACKMAN’S WIFE’S DEATH?

Here are three things you need to know about hantavirus in order to protect yourself from the fear and myths that are circulating.

While it is true that human-to-human spread is possible, it requires extremely close contact, most often sexual contact, and has only been shown to occur with the Andes strain.

This is extremely unlikely. This virus spreads mainly among rodents. The numbers are consistent from year to year. There are very few cases in the Americas, and the chance of this increasing is very low without a major mutation.

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False. Not only is this virus very rare in the U.S. and very difficult to contract unless you come in direct contact with infected mouse or rat droppings, saliva or urine — as the wife of actor Gene Hackman did before dying of HPS — but, in addition, the deadly HPS manifestation — which has a fatality rate of about 40% — is much less common in U.S. cases than the more typical diarrhea, muscle aches and high fever.

Authorities in South Africa and Europe must trace contacts of any passengers who got off the hantavirus-infected ship, but at the same time, the risk to the general population remains extremely low.

It is also prudent for public health officials to quarantine all the MV Hondius passengers and crew members, around 150 people, now with cabin isolation and strict disinfection protocols and upon arrival in the Canary Islands, since the incubation period can be up to eight weeks.

Virologists must also examine the genetic structure of the current Andes hantavirus that is circulating. Above all, it makes sense to counter the spread of fear with facts. Of course, a crucial part of this is for virologists to examine the structure of the Andes hantavirus that infected these passengers.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM DR. MARC SIEGEL

What Rubio’s rise as the internet’s 'fixer' tells us about today’s politics

Fri, 08 May 2026 05:00:58 -0400

"If you want something done, ask a busy person," is a famous phrase attributed to polymath Founding Father Benjamin Franklin as well as comedy icon Lucille Ball. But if you want the living embodiment of that credo today, search no further than Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

Most of the time, politicians are widely lampooned for being all talk but no action. We have seen many politicians at all levels of government do very little, or worse, do their jobs so poorly that the results have been destructive to our country.

However, Rubio has flipped the script on that notion. In fact, he has become a meme not for inaction, but rather for being effective at not only one job, but various other roles that have been granted to him alongside his secretary of State position.

There may not be anything on the internet as wholesome today as Rubio becoming a meme for being good at his jobs.

RUBIO’S TRUMP ADMIN JUGGLING ACT GROWS AS MEME-WORTHY ROLE LIST BECOMES REALITY

At one point mid-last year, Rubio held four positions simultaneously, bringing attention to his hardworking nature and effective outcomes. As the go-to man for not only his secretary of State duties, but also acting national security advisor, as well as interim roles as acting administrator of USAID prior to its wind-down and acting archivist of the United States, it seems like any time there’s a role to fill, Rubio’s name comes up, because he embodies a busy and effective politician who can get the job done.

Rubio’s effectiveness has become the source of an endearing memeing across social media. Whenever there is a job to fill, whether it is a CEO vacancy, an open position on a major sports team or even the ruler of another nation, X (formerly Twitter), Facebook and other social platforms are filled with mock-ups of Rubio in the role.

Giving the internet even more fodder, Rubio went viral again after a recent video shared by Trump Deputy Chief of Staff Dan Scavino showed him acting as the DJ and spinning tunes at a family wedding, prompting funny comments, including those labeling Rubio as the "Secretary of Everything."

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Another recent post by X user and filmmaker @charliebcurran includes a video trailer captioned "Marco Rubio finding out he has to run Spirit Airlines now too," with a satirical short showing Rubio trying to save the now defunct airline, complete with hijinks ensuing.

The internet may be laughing, but they are doing so with Rubio as a savior figure, positioning that should serve him well should he choose to make a presidential run in 2028.

Politicians are often known for scandals, bad policy, gaslighting, and for being full of hot air. It’s refreshing and quite remarkable for a politician to be known as the guy you want to turn to when you need to get the job done.

We deserve more Rubios among our representation. In the meantime, we will look forward to seeing what real or fictional job Marco Rubio gets to hold next.

Seattle’s socialist mayor doesn’t plan on limiting her attacks to the rich

Fri, 08 May 2026 05:00:35 -0400

Seattle’s new socialist mayor, with the help of Washington state Democrats, are running the wealthy out of town and they’re laughing about it. Not because they’ll miss the tax revenue generated by the wealthy, but because the wealthy aren’t the only targets.

Earlier in May, Mayor Katie Wilson appeared at a Seattle University event and was asked whether she believed progressive taxes were an "easy" solution to the region's fiscal problems. The question comes on the heels of Washington Democrats passing the state’s first-ever income tax, naively described as merely a "millionaire’s tax.".

"I think the claims that millionaires are going to leave our state are like super overblown," she told the cheering crowd with a laugh. "And the ones that leave, like, bye."

SOCIALIST MAYOR’S BLUNT 1-WORD MESSAGE TO FLEEING MILLIONAIRES SPARKS OUTRAGE: ‘WE'RE DOOMED’

A sitting mayor of a major American city just waved goodbye to the taxpayers her city depends on, and the room thought it was funny.

Seattle's new mayor, a self-described democratic socialist, is already doing her level best to prove every critic right about what happens when you hand a major American city to the ideological left.

Wilson ran on the kind of platform that left-wing media usually describes as "ambitious" — government-run grocery stores, progressive taxation, and open contempt for the business community. Now she's governing accordingly. And her latest performance should tell you everything you need to know about the people currently running Pacific Northwest cities into the ground.

WASHINGTON STATE DEMOCRATS ACCIDENTALLY EMAIL THEIR ‘RADICAL’ TAX PLAN TO ENTIRE SENATE

Washington state just passed one of the most aggressive tax hikes in its history. Democrat Gov. Bob Ferguson signed the so-called "Millionaires Tax" into law on March 30 — a 9.9% levy on household income exceeding $1 million, effective 2028.

The tax is almost certainly unconstitutional — and was designed that way on purpose. Washington's state constitution has prohibited a progressive income tax since 1933, when the state Supreme Court ruled in Culliton v. Chase that income is property, and property must be taxed uniformly and cannot exceed 1%.

But nearly 1,000 pages of public records obtained by The Center Square reveal the whole scheme: Senate Majority Leader Jamie Pedersen, the bill's sponsor, wrote in an August email that, "I would like to force the Washington Supreme Court to reconsider its caselaw that considers income to be property." He then sent a draft of the bill to Solicitor General Noah Purcell asking for "thoughts and comments about what will give us the best shot to have Culliton overruled."

WASHINGTON BUSINESS OWNERS FEAR SOCIALIST ‘MILLIONAIRES TAX’ IS DRIVING BUSINESSES OUT — AND THEY’RE NEXT

Attorney General’s Office Senior Counsel Chuck Zalesky was even more direct, writing that "the overall legislative goals, it seems to me, are to have our Supreme Court overturn Culliton v. Chase."

A recently leaked Zoom meeting shows a Democrat lawmaker seeming to admit what conservatives have been screaming about: the intent is to extend the income tax to all Washingtonians. Perhaps this is why she dismisses concerns about the wealthy leaving the city or state. The intent isn’t to rely on them for funding; it’s to hit all of us.

Nevertheless, the income tax is on top of a capital gains tax already on the books, a Business and Occupation tax that hits gross revenue whether you're profitable or not, and Seattle's nation-leading combined sales tax rate of 10.35%. Seattle recently implemented a 5% payroll tax on employer compensation exceeding $1 million per employee annually as part of a so-called "Social Housing" tax, and already has a payroll tax.

WHY STARBUCKS PICKED NASHVILLE OVER SEATTLE FOR EXPANSION, ACCORDING TO LOCAL BUSINESS REPORTER

The ink wasn't dry before the departures started. Starbucks founder Howard Schultz announced he's moving to Florida. Amazon's Jeff Bezos already left for Florida back in 2023 after the capital gains tax kicked in. And Starbucks — the company that Wilson literally picketed and urged a boycott of after winning her election — announced it will invest $100 million and bring 2,000 new jobs to Nashville, Tennessee. Seattle could lose up to $750 million in tax revenue as a result.

That's the company Wilson said you "should not" be buying from. Now it's enriching Tennessee instead of Washington. Not bad for 100 days on the job.

She told the audience, "Being a progressive doesn't necessarily mean that we keep layering on spending, and we never stop doing things." Fine. But her actions say otherwise. She joined picket lines against Seattle's most iconic employer. She cheered a state income tax that's going to court. She waved "bye" to the millionaires whose tax dollars fund the very city services she claims to care about.

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What makes Wilson genuinely dangerous isn't just the local damage she'll do to Seattle — a city that's been in slow-motion collapse for years under progressive mismanagement, which I write about extensively in my book "What’s Killing America: Inside the Radical Left’s Tragic Destruction of Our Cities." It's that she's been compared favorably to Zohran Mamdani, New York City's new socialist mayor, as if this is a model worth replicating. These two are being celebrated as the future of urban governance.

Here's the thing about waving "bye" to millionaires: the roads they funded don't fix themselves. The shelters and social programs Wilson's coalition demands don't run on good intentions. The city budget doesn't balance on smug applause lines at a college forum. But maybe Wilson knows that. Maybe that's the whole point?

Because when the millionaires are gone and the budget holes get bigger, the tax man doesn't disappear — he just moves down the income ladder. That leaked Zoom call was a preview. The "millionaire's tax" was always a foot in the door. The next bracket is yours.

Starbucks figured out Washington wasn't serious about keeping them. It took its 2,000 jobs and $100 million to Nashville. Seattle's mayor thought that was funny. Seattle residents might want to think about whether they can truly afford to laugh along with her.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM JASON RANTZ

Round one of Iran fight went to the US military. But ending things is much harder

Fri, 08 May 2026 05:00:16 -0400

On May 1, President Donald Trump sent letters to congressional leaders declaring that hostilities with Iran "have terminated." The statement was legally timed. The ceasefire imposed on April 7 has held — no exchange of fire between U.S. and Iranian forces since that date. Trump’s letter cited that record to sidestep the War Powers Resolution’s 60-day clock, which would have required congressional authorization or withdrawal of forces by May 1 — Day 62 of the conflict.

The legal argument is thin. The constitutional argument is weaker. But the deeper problem is strategic: declaring the war "terminated" and ending it are not the same thing.

As of this writing, the U.S. Navy is blockading Iranian ports. Project Freedom — Trump’s initiative to guide hundreds of stranded commercial vessels out of the Strait of Hormuz — launched Monday, May 4, with guided-missile destroyers, more than one hundred land- and sea-based aircraft, and 15,000 service members.

Iran’s military launched drones and small boats at U.S. ships on the first day of the mission. The IRGC declared that any vessel transiting the strait must coordinate with Tehran first. A nation at peace does not deploy 15,000 troops to force merchant ships through a contested waterway.

TRUMP AIMS TO RESET WAR POWERS CLOCK WITH CONTROVERSIAL BID TO BYPASS CONGRESS

This is not the end of a war. It is the beginning of a more dangerous phase.

Trump told reporters May 1 he would not seek congressional authorization because "nobody’s ever asked for it before." History doesn’t support that. The letter itself is the tell — it concedes "the threat posed by Iran to the United States and our armed forces remains significant." The administration declared victory and warned of danger in the same paragraph.

WHY TRUMP’S WAR SPEECH FAILED: DECLARING VICTORY BUT STILL BOMBING IRAN BACK TO THE ‘STONE AGES’

Wars end when the political objective is secured. That is the standard Clausewitz set, and it is the standard I applied throughout this conflict — from the night Operation Epic Fury began on February 28 to last week’s legal maneuver. As I argued at the one-month mark, the administration still had no coherent political end state. Nothing since has changed that assessment.

There is no ambiguity about what U.S. forces accomplished. Iran’s navy was gutted, its air defenses wrecked, its missile production disrupted. American men and women executed with precision and discipline under fire. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the U.S.-Israeli campaign had struck more than 15,000 targets across Iran since the war began.

Military success does not automatically produce strategic success. That lesson is written in blood from Vietnam to Afghanistan. I have made this argument repeatedly in these pages. The campaign’s tactical success does not resolve what comes next.

HEGSETH DECLARES 'DECISIVE MILITARY VICTORY' OVER IRAN

Iran’s regime is intact and its leadership survived.

Its nuclear capability was set back — not eliminated. Before strikes began, Iran held roughly 440 kilograms of uranium enriched to 60% — short of the 90% purity required for weapons-grade, but sufficient starting stock for an estimated ten devices if further enriched.

ROBERT MAGINNIS: DON’T BE MISLED—IRAN ISN’T DAYS AWAY FROM A NUCLEAR BOMB

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) lost all verification access on February 28 and cannot confirm the current location or status of that stockpile. Fordow, the hardened underground enrichment facility, appears to have sustained damage but was not destroyed.

The distinction is critical: enriched uranium is not a weapon. A deliverable device requires warhead design, miniaturization and delivery system integration — capabilities whose status no inspector can now verify.

Iran’s grip on the Strait of Hormuz—the transit point for 20% of the world’s crude oil — is very real, and the regime has not relinquished control. It demands that vessels coordinate with the IRGC and pay tolls.

INSIDE IRAN’S MILITARY: MISSILES, MILITIAS AND A FORCE BUILT FOR SURVIVAL

On Monday, May 4, Iranian forces reportedly harassed U.S. naval assets and targeted a tanker affiliated with the UAE’s state oil company in what the Emirates called "acts of piracy." A regime extorting international shipping from waters it does not legally own is not a defeated adversary. It is a regime recalibrating for the next phase.

Project Freedom is necessary. Hundreds of commercial vessels are stranded in the Gulf, many running low on food, fuel and water. The International Maritime Organization estimates up to 20,000 seafarers are aboard those ships.

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

The operation tells you where Washington stands: the U.S. is deploying the equivalent of a small war to reopen a waterway that should never have been closed.

The first phase was kinetic — airstrikes, naval engagements, destroyed targets. The second is strategic — a contest over energy control, economic pressure, political endurance and time, measured in who outlasts whom.

FINISH THE JOB: WHY A HALF WAR WITH IRAN IS THE MOST DANGEROUS OUTCOME

Iran’s strategy is simple: survive. Tehran doesn’t need to defeat the United States — only to outlast Washington’s will. As I argued in April, if the regime endures, Iran wins. It signals that by testing maritime boundaries, resisting concessions and threatening escalation — not from strength, but from patience.

This conflict does not end in the Strait of Hormuz. China purchases approximately 90% of Iran's oil exports and holds economic leverage over Tehran that Washington does not. As Trump prepares for talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping, that leverage becomes inseparable from broader great-power competition. Beijing can use it to stabilize the situation — or exploit American fatigue to deepen it. Washington should press hard now, before an open-ended ceasefire hardens into permanent ambiguity.

TRUMP DELAYS XI MEETING AS IRAN CONFLICT LETS US STRONG-ARM CHINA’S OIL SUPPLY

Washington's domestic calendar only sharpens the problem. With midterm elections less than six months away and slim Republican majorities in Congress, the administration faces mounting pressure at home. Gas prices have climbed from $2.98 a gallon before the war to $4.53 a gallon, with analysts warning of $5 a gallon if the strait does not reopen. Americans are watching those numbers. So are members of Congress who voted for no authorization and may be asked to defend that record in November.

LIZ PEEK: DO DEMOCRATS HATE PRESIDENT TRUMP MORE THEN THEY LOVE AMERICA?

There will be pressure to declare success and move on. That would be a mistake. We imposed real costs on Iran and demonstrated military dominance. But the core problem — a revolutionary regime with nuclear ambitions and a stranglehold on global energy chokepoints — was checked, not changed.

The nuclear question — enrichment levels, stockpile location, and weaponization progress — remains open and unverifiable. Declaring those hostilities "terminated" does not make them so.

WINNING THE BATTLES, LOSING THE WAR? AMERICA MUST DEFINE THE ENDGAME IN IRAN

The Iran conflict has not concluded. It has evolved. Converting military success into lasting strategic gain requires three things Washington has not yet done.

First: a verifiable nuclear settlement — not a pause on enrichment but a monitored accounting of Iran’s stockpile and a permanent answer on weaponization. A ceasefire that leaves 440 kilograms of enriched uranium behind closed IAEA doors is not a strategic victory. It is a delayed crisis.

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Second: real pressure on China. Beijing absorbs Iranian oil and extends the regime’s endurance. Every barrel China buys is leverage Washington surrenders.

Third: a defined end state in political terms, not kinetic metrics. What condition must Iran meet? Our men and women in uniform deserve an answer. So does the country.

Project Freedom’s first day told us everything about the second phase: Iran fired on our ships, denied the transit happened, and demanded the world route its commerce through IRGC checkpoints. The harder fight has already begun. This time, we need a plan to finish it.

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