Why Do We Celebrate National Day of Prayer?

The liberty principle for this Freedom Friday is to worship the God of this land, even Jesus Christ. Today is the 75^th National Day of Prayer – which President Ronald Reagan signed into law in 1988. 

Today Congress celebrated in the U.S. Capitol in celebration of America’s 250 years of liberty as well as “all that God has blessed her with.” Speaker of the House Mike Johnson and Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Scott Turner opened the celebration, according to Virginia Grace McKinnon at The Daily Signal.

“Our Founders did their best to set up our nation in accordance with his guidelines and principles. And my friends, that is why God has blessed America for 250 years,” Johnson told the crowd gathered in Statuary Hall. “He is the one that has endowed us with our inalienable rights, among those of the rights of life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness.”

The theme of this year’s National Day of Prayer comes from 1 Chronicles 16:24, “Declare His glory among the nations, His marvelous works among all the people.”

“The theme of this year’s National Day of Prayer is not rhetorical,” Johnson continued. “God calls us to be faithful and to proclaim his good deeds and on this anniversary, particularly, we have a great opportunity.”

“We should use the entire year as a teachable moment to pass along to the next generation of Americans, who we are, what we’re about, and why we are in this great country,” Johnson suggested.

The speaker offered a prayer over the crowd: “Let’s also pray that we may have the strength, just as our founders did, to hand the faith and freedom on to the next generation that follows us, a generation that cherishes liberty and proclaims proudly what is right and good and true.”

HUD Secretary Scott Turner [is]a former NFL player [who] also served as an associate pastor at Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano, Texas. He shared the glory of God through his own personal testimony.

“I still remember being a little boy sitting and feeling and sensing the presence of God Almighty. Jeremiah 29:11 says, ‘He knows the plans that He has for us, plans to prosper us and not to harm us, plans to give us hope and a future.’”

“I know that that same Providence has washed over the United States of America for the past 250 years,” the secretary said.

“Look at how many storms God has led us over the last two and a half centuries,” he continued. “We survived and thrived despite all these trials, because of the grace of our sovereign God and the same sovereign God that our founding fathers believed in.”

“No people can be bound to acknowledge and adore the invisible hand which conducts the affairs of men more than the people of the United States,” he said, referencing George Washington’s inaugural address. “Every step by which they have advanced to the character of an independent nation seems to have been distinguished by some token of providential agents.”

Who Won the Redistricting Fight in Indiana?

Last December, the Indiana Senate refused to redistrict the state, so President Donald Trump went to war with them and endorsed their opponents. According to Virginia Grace McKinnon at The Daily Signal, “Six of the seven candidates Trump endorsed against incumbent state senators won by a landslide.” 

“Indiana is Trump country, and it showed again last night,” Rep. Marlin Stutzman, R-Ind., who won his primary for reelection to the U.S House, told The Daily Signal Wednesday morning.

“We tried to tell these state senators that were opposing redistricting that this was not a fight they should be fighting,” Stutzman continued. “It’s not a biblical issue, it’s not a moral issue, it’s a partisan issue, and they paid the price last night, and it wouldn’t have needed to happen.”

Newly elected Trump-endorsed candidates who defeated their anti-redistricting opponents include James “Jay” Starkey, Dr. Brian Schmutzler, Michelle Davis, Tracey Powell, Trevor De Vries, and Blake Fiechter. Paula Copenhaver, another Trump-endorsed candidate, is still waiting to see if she defeated her anti-redistricting opponent. Incumbent Greg Goode was the only candidate to beat his Trump-endorsed opponent.

This election received millions in campaign funding, something a state Senate race rarely, if ever, has seen. Sen. Jim Banks, R-Ind.; Turning Point Action; Scott Presler; and even Trump’s political arm, MAGA Inc., and its director, James Blair, were involved in the get-out-the-vote effort in the state.

Banks went as far as to pour in $3 million from his 501(c)(4) organization, Hoosier Leadership for America, to support Trump-endorsed primary challengers….

“President Trump showed us how to fight back, and that’s what needs to happen,” Stutzman said. “We need to be utilizing every opportunity that we have to be sure that Republicans are at least competing. We’re too nice sometimes to the Democrats, and they just take advantage of us every time,” he continued. “Every Republican state that has this opportunity, we need to do it so we have a balanced opportunity in the fall elections.”

Redistricting has been a fight for both parties for years; neither can agree on when it started or which side is responsible. The one thing they can now agree on is that they are going to pounce on the opportunity….

 

 

Should Iran Be Allowed to Normalize Control of the Strait of Hormuz?

President Donald Trump told Congress that hostilities in Iran are over. Then Iran started attacking its neighbors like UAE and blocking the Strait of Hormuz. Iran is running out of time because their oil-holding facilities are full, and they cannot get their ships out of their ports.

The United States is also running out of time. Approximately 50 percent of Americans support the war efforts in Iran, including most of the Democrats in Congress and a few Republicans like Lisa Murkowski. However, things may be changing soon.

In her article published in The Daily Signal, Elizabeth Troutman Mitchell discussed Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s call for “other countries to join the United States in taking action against Iran’s blockage of the Strait of Hormuz. 

“Iran cannot be allowed to normalize this control of the strait,” he said. “It’s completely unlawful, illegal. It’s outrageous, and every country in the world should be joining us in condemning it and doing something about it, but the United States has stepped up.”

Rubio briefed the press on Iran Tuesday in the place of White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, who is on maternity leave. He addressed President Donald Trump’s announcement that the United States will come to the aid of ships stuck in the Strait of Hormuz due to security concerns.

Trump named the operation “Project Freedom.”

“Right now, you have a country who is unlawfully, criminally and illegally taking possession of an international waterway and blowing up commercial vessels and putting mines in the water.”

Rubio said: “I don’t know how people don’t appreciate how outrageous this is, how unacceptable it is that any country would fire and try to sink commercial vessels or put mines in the water.”

Iran has placed an unknown number of mines in the Strait of Hormuz, the waterway through which 20% of the world’s crude oil passes.

Rubio said the U.S. is appealing to the United Nations.

“All we’re asking to do is to condemn it, to call on Iran to stop blowing ships, to remove these mines and to allow humanitarian relief to come through, because there’s humanitarian aid that’s trapped,” he said. “That’s it, it is a very modest request.”

Someone needs to stop Iran from this criminal activity, Rubio said. “And that’s why the United States military is guiding stranded commercial ships safely through the strait and is working to restore freedom of navigation and putting an end to these efforts to blow to hod the global economy hostage.”

After Project Freedom began Monday morning regional time, two U.S. merchant ships have already safely passed through the strait, Rubio said.

“They’re now safely along the way,” he said.

Who Is Rudy Giuliani?

My VIP for this week is “America’s Mayor” Rudy Giuliani. The “81-year-old former New York City mayor is in critical condition in a Florida hospital,” according to Blaze News. 

Giuliani was the mayor who solved the crime problem in New York City and made the Big Apple safe to visit again. He was also the mayor on September 11, 2001, when terrorists struck the Twin Towers.

Giuliani’s spokesman Ted Goodman wrote on X, “Giuliani is currently in the hospital where he remains in critical but stable condition. Mayor Giuliani is a fighter who has faced every challenge in his life with unwavering strength, and he’s fighting with that same level of strength as we speak.” Goodman also asked for “prayers for America’s Mayor Rudy Giuliani.”

In his article published at The Daily Signal, Al Perrotta reported that Giuliani “is on the mend.” He wrote that “America’s Mayor” “is recovering from pneumonia” and “remains hospitalized in critical but stable condition.” 

Giuliani, 81, came to global prominence in 2001 as he led New York’s recovery from the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center towers, which his spokesperson said led to him developing restrictive airway disease.

“This condition adds complications to any respiratory illness, and the virus quickly overwhelmed his body, requiring mechanical ventilation to maintain adequate oxygen and stabilize his condition,” spokesperson Ted Goodman said in a post on X.

He added that Giuliani was now breathing on his own.

Perrotta also reported that the former mayor of New York City is now a resident of West Palm Beach, Florida, where he is hospitalized at Good Samaritan Medical Center.

What Speech Is Protected?

The topic of discussion for this Constitution Monday concerns the First Amendment’s guarantee of free speech. Recently, Jimmy Kimmel thought he was being funny by discussing how Melania Trump glowed like a soon-to-be widow. She confronted him and called for him to lose his job.

It was “reckless political speech,” according to Ben Shapiro in his article published at The Daily Signal. 

Americans love arguing about free speech. We invoke the First Amendment as a kind of political force field: You can say whatever you want, whenever you want, without consequence.

But the First Amendment only restricts government action. It does not guarantee you a career, a platform or immunity from backlash. The real question is not whether certain speech is legal but rather what kind of speech deserves social consequences – and what kind doesn’t.

And if we’re talking about reckless political speech, we should talk about Jimmy Kimmel. Years ago, he abandoned comedy in favor of applause lines, tearful monologues, and the occasional performance of empathy. He’s an unfunny late-night scold who treats half the country as a punchline.

As annoying as that is, being unfunny is not a crime. The bigger issue is when media figures cross the line from tastelessness into rhetoric that creates a permission structure for violence. To understand the difference, it helps to break political speech into three categories.

First: illegal speech.

Yes, illegal political speech exists in America. A classic example: “I want to kill the president.” That’s not merely commentary. It is an actionable, direct threat.

There is also incitement. Under the Supreme Court’s Brandenburg standard, speech qualifies as incitement only if it is intended to and likely to produce imminent lawless action.

“Someone should do something about the president” is protected, though irresponsible, speech. “Go kill the president” crosses into territory the law can punish. It’s speech but also an attempt to trigger violence.

Second: typical inflammatory rhetoric

American politics is filled with heated language. “Fight like hell.” “We’re going to war with the other party.” That sort of rhetoric can be ugly and excessive, but it is also normal.

We’ve seen how absurd it becomes when people try to treat that as literal incitement. After Gabby Giffords was short, some on the left blamed Sarah Palin because a campaign graphic had “targeted” certain districts.

That was ridiculous. Using combative imagery is not the same as directing violence.

Third: the permission structure for violence

A permission structure for violence is created when people repeatedly portray political opponents as monsters.

This is how you create the mental environment where unstable people conclude that violence is justified. If the president is a traitor, rapist, pedophile, and mastermind behind a corrupt system, then how else could he be stopped?

This kind of rhetoric leads directly to chaos.

It is also the kind of rhetoric Kimmel has trafficked in for years.

Recently, Kimmel tastelessly joked that Melania Trump had “the glow of an expectant widow.” It was disgusting, and she has every right to be furious. But it wasn’t a call to violence. It was a cheap, ugly joke suggesting she secretly wants her husband dead.

Kimmel later claimed he rejects violent rhetoric, then immediately pivoted to blaming Donald Trump for rhetoric that supposedly inspires violence. It was the standard modern play: Insult someone, then wrap yourself in moral superiority.

But when it comes to rhetoric that encourages violence, it isn’t the widow joke that should be the focus; it’s the conspiracism.

Kimmel has repeatedly called Trump a pedophile, suggested he is connected to Jeffrey Epstein and involved in a coverup, called him a rapist and accused him of protecting pedophiles, coming after voting rights, enriching billionaires while harming the poor, and manipulating the system to evade accountability.

That is not “normal political speech.” It is speech that turns a political opponent into a movie villain – a figure so corrupt and monstrous that extreme actions begin to feel righteous.

This kind of conspiratorial framing has a track record. It fuels ugly episodes of modern political violence: a steady stream of baseless accusations designed to convince audiences that the other side is not merely wrong but evil.

If someone eventually acts on that belief, we shouldn’t pretend it came out of nowhere.

So should Kimmel be fired?

Firing him for the Melania joke would be punishing the wrong offense. A tasteless, bad joke is not the central issue.

The central issue is rhetoric that treats political opponents as criminals without proof, assigns monstrous motives without evidence, and creates a cultural climate where violence feels justified.

If America wants to lower the temperature, scrutiny should be directed at conspiratorial storytelling that teaches people to hate.

 

What Does It Mean to Become Holy?

My Come Follow Me studies for this week took me to Exodus 35-40; Leviticus 1: 4: 16: 19 in a lesson titled “Holiness to the Lord.” The following information introduced the lesson.

Leaving Egypt—as important as that was—didn’t fully accomplish God’s purposes for the children of Israel. Even a comfortable life in the promised land wasn’t God’s ultimate goal for them. These were only steps toward what God really wanted for His people: “Ye shall be holy: for I the Lord your God am holy” (Leviticus 19:2). How did God plan to make His people holy after they had lived in captivity for generations? He commanded them to create a place of holiness in the wilderness—a tabernacle. He gave them covenants and laws to guide their actions and change their hearts. And He commanded them to make animal sacrifices to teach them about atonement for their sins. All of this was meant to point their minds, hearts, and lives toward the Savior. He is the true path to holiness, for the Israelites and for us. We have all spent some time in the captivity of sin, and we are all invited to leave sin behind and follow Jesus Christ, who has promised, “I am able to make you holy” (Doctrine and Covenants 60:7).

The scripture block includes the following principles: (1) The Lord wants me to become holy (Exodus 35-40; Leviticus 19); (2) The Lord asks me to make my offerings with a willing heart (Exodus 35:4-35; 36:1-7); (3) Temple ordinances were given anciently (Exodus 40:12-14); (4) Because of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, I can be forgiven (Leviticus 1:1-9; 4; 16). This essay will discuss Principle 2 making sacrifices willingly.

In the first year after leaving Egypt, the relationship of the children of Israel with Jehovah could be described as inconsistent. However, Exodus 35:4-35 and 36:1-7 show that the Israelites willingly donated personal materials to build the tabernacle. We will look at Exodus 35:4-10 to see the commandment of God and Exodus 36:1-7 to see the results.

4 And Moses spake unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, saying, This is the thing which the Lord commanded, saying,

5 Take ye from among you an offering unto the Lord: whosoever is of a willing heart, let him bring it, an offering of the Lord; gold, and silver, and brass,

6 And blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen, and goats’ hair,

7 And rams’ skins dyed red, and badgers’ skins, and shittim wood,

8 And oil for the light, and spices for anointing oil, and for the sweet incense,

9 And onyx stones, and stones to be set for the ephod, and for the breastplate.

10 And every wise hearted among you shall come, and make all that the Lord hath commanded;

[Exodus 35:11-35 lists all the work that God commanded.]

 1 Then wrought Bezaleel and Aholiab, and every wise hearted man, in whom                                            the Lord put wisdom and understanding to know how to work all manner of work for the                         service of the sanctuary, according to all that the Lord had commanded.

2 And Moses called Bezaleel and Aholiab, and every wise hearted man, in whose heart the Lord had put wisdom, even every one whose heart stirred him up to come unto the work to do it:

3 And they received of Moses all the offering, which the children of Israel had brought for the work of the service of the sanctuary, to make it withal. And they brought yet unto him free offerings every morning.

4 And all the wise men, that wrought all the work of the sanctuary, came every man from his work which they made;

5 ¶ And they spake unto Moses, saying, The people bring much more than enough for the service of the work, which the Lord commanded to make.

6 And Moses gave commandment, and they caused it to be proclaimed throughout the camp, saying, Let neither man nor woman make any more work for the offering of the sanctuary. So the people were restrained from bringing.

7 For the stuff they had was sufficient for all the work to make it, and too much.

The Israelites showed an acceptable way to respond to commandments from God. They willingly brought materials, so much that they were told to stop. What can we learn from the Israelites that could help us to better serve the Lord?

God may not ask us for precious metals, linens, or wood for a tabernacle, but He will ask us to make sacrifices. He asks young men to give two years of their lives and young women to give eighteen months of their lives to missionary service. He also asks couples to sacrifice time with their grandchildren to serve as senior missionaries, mission presidents, and temple presidents. What is the Lord asking you to sacrifice to help you to become holy?

 

What Questions Should Be Asked about a Child’s School Day?

Asking questions can strengthen families, and strong families strengthen their communities, states, and nations. A valuable time to ask excellent quality questions is when a child returns from school.

In her article, Amy Morin suggests that asking thoughtful questions can “spark meaningful conversations.” Morin is a psychotherapist, clinical social worker, instructor at Northeastern University, and author of several books. 

According to Morin, there are “seven questions that lead to productive conversations while also helping kids grow mentally stronger.”

1. ‘What was the best part of your day?’

This question encourages kids to scan their brains for positives. For children who dislike school or tend to focus on what went wrong, answering this question helps them build optimism and gratitude – which are both protective factors for mental health.

Frame the question with your own experience, saying, “The best part of my day was going for a walk during my lunch break. What about you?” Your child might share a highlight, like “I played kickball at recess.”

2. ‘What’s a mistake you learned from today?’

This one normalizes errors and celebrates healthy risk-taking. Talking openly about mistakes reduces shame and helps kids see them as opportunities for growth.

Ask with a tone of curiosity, not judgment: “Did anything happen today that you’d do differently next time?” This might prompt them to say, “I forgot my library book so I’m going to pack it tonight so I don’t forget.”

3. ‘Who were you proud of today?’

It works because it turns their attention to others and cultivates empathy. You will also gain insight into your child’s relationships and what they value.

Make the question more specific by asking, for example, “Did you see anyone try really hard at something today?” Your child may talk about a friend who was brave or might give themselves a pat on the back and say, “My friend forgot her snack so I shared mine.”

4. ‘What’s one thing that would have made today better?’

This question helps kids identify feelings like frustration and disappointment without dwelling on those experiences. It naturally opens the door to problem-solving and planning.

You can ask in a fun way, such as, “if you had a magic wand to change one thing about today, what would it be?” This can lead to creative ideas, like, “I wish there was more time for my art project so maybe I’ll bring it home to finish it.”

5. ‘Who did you help today?’

You can empower kids to engage in prosocial behavior with questions like this. When you ask regularly, kids begin to look for opportunities to be helpful and acts of kindness become second nature.

Ask about small acts of contribution: “How were you a helper today?” They might remember something simple, like, “I helped the teacher pass out papers.”

6. ‘What was the most interesting thing you learned today?’

It emphasizes curiosity over academic performance. Showing interest in the learning process itself fuels lifelong learning.

Encourage kids to talk about what they learned aside from just their subjects. They may share a fun fact, like, “I learned that my teacher knows how to play the violin.” Show interest and ask follow-up questions to keep the conversation going.

7. ‘What’s something new you’d like to try?’

This nudges kids to look outside their comfort zone and encourages them to be courageous. They don’t have to be good at something in order to try something new – it’s a learning experience. If your child hesitates to try new things, encourage an experiment by asking, “Is there a club or activity you’re curious about just trying once?” They may be more likely to explore if they know they don’t have to stick with it forever.

 

How Will US End the Iran War?

As we approach the end of 60 days of the war in Iran, we continue to hear from the Left that President Donald Trump has failed because the United States is losing the war. According to Victor Davis Hanson, this is “completely nonempirical” and “antithetical to the evidence.” 

Iran has big problems. It “is losing about $500 million in input per day” and “running out of storage space in a week or two for its daily output of oil.” At that “point they either have to stop pumping or they’re going to have – if they don’t stop pumping – their wells will collapse.” They will be forced to either “stop pumping” or “build, as fast as they can, storage facilities, which will be known to us and we can take out.”

Hanson believes that Iran is “at the brink economically” with “no military ability.” In fact, the “course of the war, how it ends, is entirely in the hands of the United States” depending on whether we “want an unconditional surrender and you want to pay an extra price – maybe another month or two – with economic strangulation” or we “want to use air power to take out bridges.” America can choose how to do it.

What I’m getting at is it’s not a military problem like Afghanistan and Helmand Province, or the Marines having to go into Fallujah in Iraq. It’s entirely a political problem. It’s not a military problem. The military problem has been solved. It’s just a question of how much political price does President Donald Trump – or risk, I should say – want to take to get an unconditional surrender and the removal of the regime.

He doesn’t need to do that. That was not one of his prewar agendas. The prewar agenda was to neutralize the nuclear proliferation of Iran, the missile and drone force, to attrite its military so it was not capable of conducting war, to stop the subsidies to its terrorist proxies, and to make sure it no longer attacked Americans and our allies as it has for 47 years. These have mostly been met – not quite, but mostly.

After explaining that the United States is winning the war in Iran and that Iran has nearly reached the end of its options, Hanson then proceeded to share the strategic ripple effects of the war.

·       United Arab Emirates announced that it would leave OPEC, formed in 1973 with the purpose of driving “up the price of oil” – “by not pumping what they could pump.” Oman and possibly Saudi Arabia may join UAE in leaving OPEC.

In OPEC, “each individual country has a quota” – maybe “70% to 80% of what they could pump if they were not in the cartel.” This is a disadvantage to them because “the United States is pumping right now – maximum.” Both Russia and Venezuela could “be pumping at maximum very soon.”

UAE could be pumping “2 million barrels” with Saudi Arabia pumping “another 20%.” Hanson says that the “long-range strategic value of the Straits of Hormuz are going to decline because all the Middle East countries will take “advantage of these high prices” and “swarm to get out.”

“But once they get out and pump more oil – and they’re immediately capable of pumping more oil – the price will drop, and the Straits of Hormuz will not be so important” – not good for Iran, whether or not they still have “oil wells in two or three weeks.”

·       “The other thing to remember is China” – which “hasn’t come out well.” All during the Biden administration, China “threatened to go into Taiwan.”

The military actions in Venezuela and Iran have shown that “the United States can pretty much do what it wants militarily, and China will be somewhat deterred.”

China’s control of Venezuela and Iran are no longer what they were. Therefore, the discounted oil is no longer available to them, and they are no longer selling arms to Iran to give to their proxies (Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis) nor spreading “their influence in Latin America” (think Panama Canal). With a broke Iran, the starving people will not stand for sending millions of dollars – “$50-$60 million a month” – of money and equipment for wars against Israel and the United States.

With the price of oil plunging, “Russia will be a big loser in this.”

The demonstration of air power by the United States was evident to Russia, China, and Iran – as well as the rest of the world. Russia is “running out of people and money” and may “try to get out of the war,” taking “as much territory as they can along the existing battlefield today – maybe call it a DMZ.”

Hanson also claimed that “Europe was a big, big, big loser.” The European nations were paying more of their share of NATO and even call Trump “Daddy.” “Trump assumed they were normal allies.” Even so, he did not want to share his plans for Iran with “the U.S. Left and the Congress, or the Europeans” because he thought they would end any surprise element.

But more importantly, he felt that the Spanish, the Italians, the British, the French – all of them – would just say, “No comment,” or “This is a United States effort. We support our NATO ally,” and then call him up and say “Donald, we’re not going to talk about it but use our airspace, use our NATO bases you pay for most of them. And this is what we’re gonna do but we’re gonna do it under the radar.”

No. Instead, they pandered to their Islamic constituencies, their left-wing constituencies. In Spain, even in Italy with Meloni, they said: No bombers in Sicily. No planes in Spain. Can’t fly over France. Can’t use Diego Garcia unless it’s for defensive purposes…. Europe came off really badly – really badly.

And then they made it worse when they said they were going to patrol the strait and then they realized the Strait might be kinetic, and they would have to use some force if we were to turn it over to them and they don’t have that force. So, it’s all talk, talk, talk, and it’s based on envy and anger at the United States.

And it’s a very dangerous game they’re playing because at some point the United States says: We love you. Europe’s a great place. You’ve got problems – just settle them yourself….

So, go ahead, do what you want, but count us out.

Hanson’s final point was the “American Left kept saying the war was lost – the war was lost – the war was lost. Donald Trump blew it.”

Don’t count him out. We have six months before the midterms. The price of oil could crash. A lot of the things Donald Trump put into practice – with the big, beautiful bill, deregulation, tax cuts, enormous amount of foreign investment – all of that has plenty of time to kick in in August or July and have a stronger economy than we do now, with cheap oil.

More importantly, he can say that in his regime, his realm, his tenure, he neutralized the threat from Venezuela. It’s not spreading communism throughout South America – Latin America, and he neutralized the Middle East in a way that all seven prior presidents had dreamed and had never done.

 

 

What Should America Do About Political Violence?

Everyone has their own opinion about the attempted assassination of President Donald Trump. Some individuals/sites claim that the assassination attempt was “staged.” Mehek Cooke, Senior National Security and Legal Analyst at The Daily Signal, said that the attempted assassination “should be treated as a clear, intentional act of political violence and a warning sign of a broader national security crisis.” 

In an appearance Monday on NewsNation’s “Katie Pavlich Tonight,” Cooke addressed the legal consequences facing the suspect, identified as Cole Tomas Allen, 31, who is now charged with multiple offenses, including attempting to assassinate the president – a crime that carries a potential life sentence. She said prosecutors will focus heavily on intent, which she argued is already evident in the case.

“This is almost like a mosaic,” Cooke said, explaining that investigators will examine travel records, weapons purchases, and the fact that the suspect discharged his weapon multiple times while attempting to enter the ballroom at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, where Trump and administration officials were presiding. “This wasn’t an accident. This wasn’t a fluke. And then he left a manifesto. All of this ties into intent.”

Cooke said the case should be a “slam dunk” for prosecutors and argued that anyone who had advance knowledge of the attack should also face legal consequences. She expressed confidence in U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro, saying the American people expect full accountability and transparency.

Beyond the courtroom, Cooke warned that the attack cannot be dismissed as an isolated incident. She said increasingly aggressive political rhetoric – now echoed not just by fringe figures but by prominent Democrat leaders – has created a dangerous environment.

“It doesn’t surprise me that you have podcasters and influencers doing the same,” Cooke said of the rhetoric, pointing to what she described as a strategy to exploit societal weakness.

Cooke specifically criticized Democrat leaders for doubling down on rhetoric portraying Trump as an existential threat, while simultaneously continuing normal political and media engagement around him.

“If he’s a Nazi, if he’s a fascist, if he’s all these terrible things, then why are these reporters showing up?” Cooke asked. “It just goes to show they are lying to the American people.”

She also emphasized that Trump faces heightened threats not only domestically but from foreign adversaries, including Iran, and said federal agencies must reassess security failures and follow through on promised reforms.

“We were promised that they would not happen again,” Cooke said. “The American people deserve to know that those changes are.”

Cooke concluded by urging Americans and conservative leaders to continue speaking clearly and forcefully. “We have a moral obligation, Katie, to continue to speak the truth,” she said.

 

 

What Is Causing Leftist Violence in America?

With the third assassination attempt of President Donald Trump, many Americans wonder why there is so much leftist political violence. In addition to Trump, other members of the Trump administration have also faced violent threats, and Charlie Kirk, a prominent Trump supporter, was assassinated last year. Even though the Right has its problems, the violence traces back to the ideological foundation of the Left, according to Tyler O’Neil at The Daily Signal.

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas explained it well when he contrasted the vision of Progressivism with the principles of the Declaration of Independence earlier this month.

“Progressivism was the first mainstream American political movement –with the possible  exception of the pro-slavery reactionaries on the eve of the Civil War – to openly oppose the principles of the Declaration,” Thomas said. “Progressives strove to undo the Declaration’s commitment to equality and natural rights, both of which they denied were self-evident.”

Under Progressivism, “liberty no longer preceded the government as a gift from God but was to be enjoyed at the grace of the government.”

Thomas noted that President Woodrow “Wilson and the progressives candidly admitted that they took it form Otto von ‘Bismarck’s Germany, whose state-centric society they admired.

Progressives like Wilson argued that America need to leave behind the principles of the founding and catch up with the more advanced and sophisticated system of relatively unimpeded state power.”

This arguable opened Pandora’s box. Totalitarian governments in Germany, Russia, Cambodia, and China utilized state power to remake society, causing the deaths of millions. In the U.S., Wilson re-segregated the federal workforce and launched sterilization programs.

Immanentizing the Eschaton

Of course, the Left has rejected Wilson’s racist vision but preserved the overall worldview. The Marxist theory that capitalism constitutes a form of oppression expanded in the 1960s to a social vision, in which the “oppressed” classes – racial minorities, LGBTQ+ people, women, and others – must rise up and overthrow the current system.

The Left has weaponized a culture of grievance to paint its opponents as oppressors. The Southern Poverty Law Center [SPLC] – which just made news last week because the Justice Department accused it of lying to donors by secretly funding members of the KKK – maintains a “hate map” that plots mainstream conservative and Christian nonprofits alongside Klan chapters. This map demonizes conservatives as agents of “the infrastructure upholding white supremacy.” Such a claim only makes sense if you follow critical race theory, which starts with the assumption that America is systemically racist and urges people to deconstruct our colorblind laws to find a hidden “white supremacy.”

This demonization is bad enough, but the Left also maintains that it is the government’s job to achieve near-perfect, effectively bringing the kingdom of God to earth. That’s why they misquote Martin Luther King Jr. on the ‘arc of the moral universe.”

King said, “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” He grounded this statement in his faith in God, citing Isaiah 40.

Today, however, leftists say they need to “bend the arc.” President Joe Biden said his party had “a giant opportunity to bend the arc of the moral universe toward justice.”

President Barack Obama praised civil rights marchers as people who did “their part” to “bend the arc of the moral universe toward justice.”

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries recently said that Americans have a “responsibility to “bend the arc of the moral universe toward justice.”

That’s not what King meant, however. King meant that, because God is the ultimate author of morality and the universe, his justice will ultimately prevail.

It is vain hubris to believe that we ourselves can alter the moral structure of the universe. That’s the grandiose language of a tyrant who considers himself “king of the universe,” unbound by “the laws of nature and of nature’s God.”

If you legitimately believe that the morality of the universe is up to you, and you legitimately believe that your political opponents are hateful on the level of the KKK, is it any wonder you might take the law into your own hands?

 

 

Who Are the Secret Service Agents Protecting Trump?

My VIPs for this week are Secret Service agents in general and those protecting President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance, and others at the White House Correspondents Association dinner on Saturday evening. Live footage shows the agents doing their jobs. 

In an article published at Blaze.com, Rebeka Zeljko shared the following information in a developing story about chaos at the dinner. 

Chaos erupted at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner after President Donald Trump was rushed offstage by the Secret Service Saturday following possible gunfire.

Live footage showed Secret Service swiftly evacuating Trump, the first lady, and Vice President JD Vance after a loud noise rang out during the dinner. According to multiple reports, Secret Service spotted a suspected gunman attempting to get through security who has since been taken offsite.

“Law Enforcement has requested that we leave the premises, consistent with protocol, which we will do, immediately,” Trump said in a Truth Social post. “I will be giving a press conference in 30 minutes from the White House Press Briefing Room. The First Lady, plus the Vice President, and all Cabinet members, are in perfect condition. We will be speaking to you in a half an hour. I have spoken with all the representatives in charge of the event, and we will be rescheduling within 30 days.”

For those who are counting, this is the third time that a crazed person has attempted to kill President Trump. This time the guy was so crazy that he was going to kill as many people as possible. Since he shot a Secret Service agent – an agent who was wearing a bullet-proof vest and is healthy, the man who shall remain nameless on this blog will face federal charges.

The shooter is lucky to be alive but, if convicted, will most likely be in federal prison for the rest of his life. The shooter who shot Trump in Pennsylvania is dead, and the would-be shooter in Florida received a sentence of life in prison. 

What Did Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas Say?

The topic of discussion for this Constitution Monday is how to celebrate America’s 250^th birthday anniversary. Star Parker believes that learning about the Declaration of Independence is a good way to start the celebration. In her article published in The Daily Signal, she shared some material from a speech delivered by Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas recently at the Civitas Institute at the University of Texas, Austin. 

The force of Thomas’ words does not just result from his deep understanding of what the United States is about, and how the Declaration of Independence defines it.

The force flows from Thomas’ personal reality. He has lived what the declaration is about. His words are not just the product of thought and study, but of Thomas’ entire life experience.

Thomas grew up poor in America’s Jim Crow South.

But he says, “Despite the multiplicity of laws and customs that wreaked a bigotry, it was universally believed among those blacks with whom I lived and who had very little or no formal education, that in God’s eyes and under our Constitution, we were equal.”

“When you lived in a segregated world with palpable discrimination and the governments nearest to you enforced laws and customs that promoted unequal treatment, it was obvious that your rights or your dignity did not come from those governments, but rather from God,” he continued….

Thomas’ life, career, and education were trial by fire.

By the time he became chairman of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the country had already been captured by progressivism, particularly on matters of race.

His principled adherence to the eternal God-given truths of the declaration, and refusal to fold to the progressive agenda – which he calls the “then-prevailing orthodoxy on race” – was a lonely battle, which left him under constant attack.

It was then he realized that carrying out the agenda was more than knowing the principles, but having the courage to fight, and even, if necessary, die for them.

Thomas notes that the principles stated in the opening of the declaration – “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by the Creator with certain unalienable rights” – could have gotten nowhere without the last paragraph of the declaration.

There the signers conclude “We mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred Honor.”

“What changed the world,” per Thomas, “was not the words, but the commitment and spirit of the people willing to labor, sacrifice, and even give their lives” for what Lincoln called at Gettysburg “the last full measure of devotion.”

Thomas asks, “Do any of us have what it took for our young soldiers to storm Normandy Beach, to fight at Guadalcanal, to later fight at Chosin Reservoir?”

He discusses the emergence of progressivism, which challenged the core principles of the Declaration. As Thomas notes, its pedigree is not American but was born in 19^th century Germany of Otto von Bismark.

It’s a worldview that rejects the notion that God-given truths govern our lives, but rather politics and government so-called experts.

It’s deeply ironic and unfortunate that the civil rights movement – a movement about human freedom, a movement about moving black people out from the distortions of political control, and to our regime of freedom defined by our declaration’s principles – itself saw progressivism as the answer to problems of race.

We are in a great struggle today for the future of our country.

The movement toward progressivism has delivered to us a new time with massive government, deficits, debts, and bankrupt entitlement programs. The assault of progressivism on the God-given principles of the [D]eclaration of Independence has also taken a great toll on our culture, with the traditional family and our birth of children in dangerous decline.

To restore the vitality of our nation, we for sure today need a “new birth of freedom.”

A good start for all is to listen to Thomas’ message. 

 

Did the Children of Israel Keep Their Covenant with God?

My Come Follow Me studies for this week took me to Exodus 19-20; 24; 31-34 in a lesson titled “All That the Lord Hath Spoken We Will Do.” The following information introduced the lesson. 

Although the children of Israel had murmured and wavered in the past, when Moses read the law at the foot of Mount Sinai, they made this covenant: “All that the Lord hath said will we do, and be obedient” (Exodus 24:7). God then called Moses onto the mountain, telling him to build a tabernacle so “that I may dwell among them” (Exodus 25:8).

But while Moses was at the top of the mountain learning how the Israelites could have God’s presence among them, the Israelites were at the bottom of the mountain making a golden idol to worship instead. Soon after promising to “have no other gods,” they “turned aside quickly” from their promise (Exodus 20:3; 32:8; see also Exodus 24:3). It was a surprising turn, but we know from experience that faith and commitment can sometimes be overcome by impatience, fear, or doubt. As we seek the Lord’s presence in our lives, it is encouraging to know the Lord did not give up on ancient Israel and He will not give up on us and the people we love—for He is “merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth” (Exodus 34:6).

Some of the principles taught in this scripture block are: (1) The Lord’s covenant people are a treasure to Him (Exodus 19:3-6); (2) Sacred experiences require preparation (Exodus 19:10-11, 17); (3) Obedience to God’s commandments brings blessings (Exodus 20:1-17); (4) Making covenants shows my willingness to obey God’s law (Exodus 24:1-11); (5) Sin is turning away from God; repentance is turning toward Him and away from evil (Exodus 32-34); (6) The Sabbath is a sign (Exodus 31:13-16), and (7) What was the difference between the two sets of stone tables Moses made? (Exodus 34:1-4). All the principles deserve some discussion, but this essay will discuss only principle #3 about obedience to commandments brings blessings.

While the Israelites were gathered at the base of Mount Sinai, they heard the voice of God give the Ten Commandments (see Deuteronomy 4:12-13). We know that these are not God’s only commandments because there are many other commandments in the scriptures. However, this discussion will concentrate only upon the Ten Commandments, which are as follows.

1 And God spake all these words, saying,

2 I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

4 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:

5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;

6 And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.

7 Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.

8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.

9 Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:

10 But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:

11 For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.

12 ¶ Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.

13 Thou shalt not kill.

14 Thou shalt not commit adultery.

15 Thou shalt not steal.

16 Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.

17 Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour’s. (Emphasis added.)

The first observation is about a division among the Ten Commandments. The first four commandments have to do with our relationship with God. The last six commandments have to do with our relationships with other people. The Ten Commandments are an enlargement on the two great commandments taught in Matthew 22:36-40.

36 Master, which is the great commandment in the law?

37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.

38 This is the first and great commandment.

39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. (Emphasis added.)

If you choose to learn more about the Ten Commandments and how they can bless your life, I suggest that you study them. You might make a simple table as you ponder the significance of the Ten Commandments in your life.

Commandment	In other words, what does God want me to do	Blessings that come from living this commandment

 You could consider the following questions as you study:

·       How does keeping these ten commandments help you keep the two great commandments that Jesus gave in Matthew 22:34-40?

·       What are things that you may be tempted to put before God? What blessings have you seen from putting God first?

·       How would you respond to someone who says the Ten Commandments were given a long time ago and do not apply today? What examples from your life would you share as part of your response?

·       How has the Lord fulfilled the promise in Exodus 20:6 in your life?

Why Should Economics Be Required to Graduate from High School?

Families who understand economics will be stronger. Therefore, it is good for high schools to require their students to acquire “a basic knowledge of economics.” With such knowledge students can strengthen their parental family as well as their chosen family and then strengthen their community, their state, and their nation.

Jamie Wagner, PhD, is a Professor and Teaching Fellow with the Foundation for Teaching Economics (FTE), a nonprofit educational organization that promotes experiential learning and the economic way of thinking. He believes that April – National Financial Literacy Month -- is a suitable time to consider the study of economics to the curriculum. 

Across the country, states are starting to mandate that students take a personal finance course to graduate high school, often in place of economics courses. In 2022, only 23 states required students to take a financial literacy class in order to graduate; by 2026, that number had rocketed to 39 states.

Meanwhile, only 22 states now mandate the same for economics classes, a number that seems to decline each year.

Some argue that financial literacy is a more practical subject than economics. With limited classroom time available, who doesn’t support teaching the life skills of budgeting, borrowing, and investing?

While the goal is admirable, the method is not. Positioning financial literacy as something separate from – or even more important than – economics misunderstands what financial literacy actually is and sets up students for failure.

Financial literacy is not a standalone subject; it is actually applied economics.

While economics has a bade reputation for being complicated and irrelevant, at its heart, economics is simply the study of choices. This means that economics is the basis for all decisions we make in our lives: financial, civic, and even personal.

Every decision we face – whether to rent or buy a home, when to pay down debt or invest, whether to accept a job offer – requires the analytical tools that economics provides, such as opportunity cost, marginal thinking, time value of money, incentive structures, risk, and return. Teaching financial literacy stripped of economics leaves students with little more than a collection of rules, lacking the reasoning to apply them.

Research on financial education has consistently found that only teaching students “rules” produces modest, short-lived behavioral change. Students learn the rule and pass the assessment, but within months, the knowledge has faded. This is because it was never anchored to a conceptual framework, like economics.

Practically, you can’t teach about the stock market and how stock prices change without using the idea of markets and prices. Or, why home, auto, and other loan rates change without understanding the role the Federal Reserve plays in maintaining stable prices and employment. Students won’t be able to make spending and saving decisions absent an understanding of the costs and benefits of these choices….

The most effective programs integrate economic reasoning as the connective tissue that makes financial concepts coherent and transferable. Teaching how interest rates work is financial literacy. Teaching why central banks adjust them, how those decisions flow through to mortgage markets, and how a household should respond is economics and financial literacy working together.

Sound financial decision-making necessitates a capacity for reasoned judgment under uncertainty, built on a foundation of economic principles. Students deserve that foundation, and we can’t provide it by treating financial literacy as a standalone subject. If students are ever to make sense of the rapidly changing world around them, they need the economic way of thinking as a grounding.

Wagner believes that keeping “basic economics in the classroom,” it will strengthen both the students’ and the nation’s economic future.

 

What Should Be Done with Trump?

The liberty principle for this Freedom Friday is that sometimes war is necessary to bring about peace and prosperity. Hitler and his armies killed millions of Jews before World War II stopped them, and he is just one example of one person seeking more power by taking it from other people.

If Iran were close to having nuclear power and missiles powerful enough to reach the United States, no one doubts that they would use that power and those missiles to render “Death to America,” as they so often shout.

Up until the present conflict, American presidents have just shrugged their shoulders and tried to appease the power-hungry Iranians – and thus kicked the can down the road. Iran probably thought that Donald Trump would continue the same way. Even some Americans thought that he would. Keith Koffler at The Daily Signal says that no one should be surprised with what Trump says and does.

One of the most stunning and yet tediously repetitive features of America’s Donald Trump Experience is the expectation that President Donald Trump is going to become someone else. People across the political spectrum seem permanently immune to the realization that the country has elected a man who says and does extraordinarily shocking things. With metronomic consistency, they exclaim, “Can you believe what he said? He’s just completely nuts! Where’s my 25^th Amendment?”

And then, everyone recovers, reverts to their prevailing view of Trump, and buckles up for the next outrage, which lands with no less unjustifiable surprise.

But it seems Trump may have gone just a bit too far, even for conservatives, with his most recent aggravations of the natural order. Their odiousness, along with the alleged rancid smell of the Iran war, is causing a slow slinking away from a president they perceive as gone stinky.

[Koffler named several “odious” words and actions: (1) the AI image of himself as Jesus healing the sick, (2) Trump saying Pope Leo XIV is “WEAK on Crime” and “terrible for Foreign Policy” before telling him to “get his act together, and (3) Trump saying “a whole civilization might die tonight” rather than “threatening to bomb Iran.”]

None of this is great. People have a right to be offended. But they should consider a few things before withdrawing support for Trump.

Conservatives during the presidential primaries in 2016 ceded some of the moral high ground they felt they always held by choosing Trump, a great but imperfect man.

They had a choice closer to moral perfection in Jeb Bush, but they concluded, correctly, that these harrowing times demanded something else. America’s self-destruction seemed too near for a conventional candidate. It was time to get a little rude and go on offense.

We got what we asked for. Over the course of two terms, Trump has altered the course of U.S history, diverting and even reversing leftist agendas that seemed hopelessly unstoppable.

·       He revamped the Supreme Court, resulting in myriad decisions favorable to conservatives, most prominently the demolition of Roe v. Wade, something long thought a lost cause.

·       He completely plugged up the massive hole in the border – which presupposes that there still was a border – ending the ceaseless waves of illegal immigration into the U.S. that threatened to swamp our culture with something else.

·       He changed the entire conversation on “diversity, equity, and inclusion,” polite terms for dropping our Judeo-Christian culture into the Memory Hole and replacing it with a Marxian, totalitarian dictatorship commanding obedience to dissolute collectivism and relativism. In high schools, college, and the workplace, woke equity is now on the defensive.

·       He defeated the Islamic State caliphate, and he dawned a new age of Arab-Israeli cooperation with the unprecedented Abraham Accords.

·       He withdrew from the Paris climate accords and refocused the country back toward fossil fuels, ensuring Americans’ pockets wouldn’t be picked by European internationalists while China cheerfully burned through its coal.

These are pivotal realignments that eclipse ephemeral measures such as a point added or subtracted to gross domestic products or an increase or decrease in the crime rate, as important as those things are.

I would personally add ending—or at least vastly delaying – Iran’s nuclear ambitions to the list, but that’s exactly what some conservatives don’t agree with. And that’s the point. It’s a disagreement. An argument. Not grounds for divorce….

To repeat, we got what we asked for: Trump.

Let’s also remember that much of the outrage Trump mobilizes is pure Madison Avenue, designed preponderantly for effect, manufactured in the vast PR-generating region of his frontal lobe. He’s selling – propaganda for friends, deception for enemies.

Unlike many other presidents, he’s arm to actual human beings whom he has no political use for. He says hello to the janitor. His exaggerations and insults can be unpleasant and outrageous, but there’s a humanity and even an honesty within them.

He does things I don’t like. But he’s prevented many worse things I don’t like.

Trump is a towering figure who will be written about for centuries. Sometimes that indecorous tower – excessively embroidered with Trump gold – reflects sunlight. Sometimes it casts very dark shadows. It sways a bit with the wind, but in the end, it has stood for conservative values more resolutely than any of the smaller edifices, easier on the eye and ear.

We conservatives made our bargain with Trump long ago. Let’s own it.