Generation Z: Charlie Kirk’s Hope for America

American  Thinker 

On April 10, 2025, I went to my first political event. Having closely followed politics globally and nationally for nearly five years, I was more than a little excited to attend a Turning Point USA gathering where Charlie Kirk was set to speak. I was bouncing on my toes as my father, brother, and I approached the large crowd around the tent.

I remember debating heavily with myself whether I should go ask Charlie Kirk a question, because I never disagreed with him on anything. In the end, I decided I was content to listen to Charlie speak truth. But later, I lamented to my father that I had not asked a question that day. I also distinctly remember telling my dad that it was okay, that there would be other Turning Point events where I might meet Charlie Kirk. Maybe I would even work at Turning Point and meet him then.

Little did I know that we were exactly five months out from an assassination that would be a turning point in this nation and in the West at large.

On September 10, 2025, I was in shock. How could this man that I had seen only five months earlier, so full of life and energy, be gone? How could this voice that I had grown so familiar with Instagram videos and podcast episodes be forever silenced?

A part of me was in denial. There were two assassination attempts on President Trump and he had survived largely unscathed, so I told myself that Charlie certainly would as well.

His death didn’t feel real.

Being born in a post-9/11 world, I had never been through an event that was such a direct attack on this country. I had never been through an event where the exact place I was and what I was doing when it happened would be forever seared into my mind.

It wasn’t until the next day, September 11, 2025 -- twenty-four years after the terrorist attacks in New York City and the Pentagon -- that I truly began to realize the gravity of the current situation. As the shock wore off, I was left grieving the loss of a man who had brought so many members of my generation to the Republican Party, but more importantly, to Christ.

I had never cried so much over someone I had never met. It felt as though the very ideals that America had been built on had been murdered alongside Charlie.

In the morning hours of September 12, 2025, when the dew was still fresh on the ground, the Holy Spirit compelled me to do my daily devotions by my college campus’s flagpole. So, I grabbed my Bible and my prayer journal to sit on the cold cobblestones under the flags that had been lowered at half-mast in honor of Charlie Kirk. As other students walked by, I pored over the Scriptures, praying that God would repurpose this evil for His good, bringing about a revival in this country and in this world.

I read scriptures of hope, scriptures of comfort, scriptures that would give me strength in the coming days. But the one that stood out to me the most was 1 Thessalonians 2:13-14, where Paul writes to the church of Thessalonica about believers who have died:

“Brothers and sisters, we want you to know about people that have died so that you won’t mourn like the others who don’t have any hope. Since we believe that Jesus died and rose, so we also believe that God will bring with him those who have died in Jesus.”

That is the greatest comfort: Charlie is now with his Savior that he so dearly loved, and Christians have hope that Christ will one day return. But here on Earth, there is also hope.

For the longest time, my generation was scared to speak. Scared of the repercussions that it would lead to. We were told not to speak or not to offend; that we had to constantly walk on eggshells.

The repercussions have never been greater, but my generation is bolder than ever to speak out for truth, and that is because of Charlie Kirk. He gave us back our voices. We are no longer scared to speak, no longer scared to offend; we put on our shoes and crushed the very eggshells we tiptoed around.

On September 10, I felt as though I lost a dear friend. And I know many feel the same. That is because Charlie Kirk was a friend to all, always willing to have a debate, hear the other side out, lead them to truth.

Just like Charlie, my father has always told me that it is up to my generation to restore America to its founding principles such as the freedom of speech and faith in God. And we are doing just that! Notice the difference between 2020’s Summer of Violence following the death of George Floyd: the Left responded with looting, rioting and terrorism. But now in 2025, in response to the murder of Charlie Kirk, we do not raise our fists; we raise our voices in prayer. We do not gather to riot; we gather to comfort one another. We do not make Molotov cocktails, we open our Bibles, looking to Christ to lead us. I think that it is safe to say Charlie Kirk would be proud of how we have responded to his death.

We cannot let the death of Charlie Kirk also be the death of everything that he fought for. We must pick up the baton, bloody though it may be, and finish running his race, finish fighting his fight, and carry his battle to victory.

So now, I call upon the fellow members of my generation: Let us be the change. Let us be the hope. Let us fulfill Charlie’s hope in us.

Podcast thread for Sept 21

 

God is always with you, remember that.

The Great, Unrecognized Political Realignment

American  Thinker 

Political change mimics a supertanker in its inertia. 

Turning direction proceeds imperceptibly at first. Then advances sporadically, punctuated by specific accelerating events. 

Progress in the new direction proceeds over decades, interspersed by backsliding episodes. 

the operative political dynamic. 

The Left’s “strategy has consisted of using bullying and propaganda to convince 80% of the population that the views of 20% of the population are in the majority.” 

Mass gaslighting is ancient.  Regimes systematically manipulate reality, making individuals doubt their perceptions, memories, and sanity. 

Historical revisionism (e.g., the ) becomes necessary to support regime lies. 

America’s current gaslighting episode originated against McCarthyism, accelerating ever since. 

JFK’s assassination provided an exclamation point, requiring wholesale gaslighting.  A majority didn’t buy what their government was selling.  The 1964 Warren Report (requiring 27 volumes, over 18,000 pages, and one magic bullet) reinforced that perception.  By 1967, Woody Allen reported he was working on the report’s nonfiction version. 

The emperor goes naked until a child utters the truth. 

Gaslighting is often self-inflicted.  We allow ourselves to entertain lies and fantasies.  Con artists and magicians exploit this flaw.  Unindoctrinated children declare truths that adults are conditioned into fearing to express or refusing to believe.  Specific incidents jolt us awake, forcing acknowledgment of reality. 

JFK, 9/11, or Charlie Kirk provide examples. 

Gaslighters eventually hypnotize themselves. 

As Reynolds notes, “even [Romania’s communist dictator] Ceaușescu thought everyone loved him until shortly before he was stood in front of a wall and shot.” 

Heather Mac Donald’s examination of the intensive gaslighting targeting Charlie Kirk is must reading. 

Wholesale government gaslighting surrounding the Vietnam War generated substantial blowback. 

The New Left exploited popular discontent and accelerated radicalism’s long march through America’s institutions. 

The 1960s’ SDS, Weathermen, and Black Panthers evolved into today’s Democratic Socialists, Antifa, and BLM. 

Soviet funding of numerous NGOs subsidized American radicals.  GRU defector Stanislav Lunev revealed the USSR funded “just about every antiwar movement and organization in America and abroad” during Vietnam, spending over $1 billion.  The CCP and Qatar have replaced Soviet gaslighting subsidies. 

Nixon’s 1968 election by the Silent Majority, followed by his 1972 49-state landslide, repudiated Leftism, underscoring America’s underlying conservative complexion.  Conservative is an inaccurate adjective, whether applied to Nixon, Reagan, or MAGA.  The Center resides much further right than leftist gaslighters pretend.  MAGA is essentially centrist.   

Chronic gaslighting symptoms are endemic.  Depressed cynics, wedded to the past and afflicted with PTSD, can’t perceive supertanker turns. 

America experienced the Mother of All Gaslighting under Biden-Harris.  

Four possible outcomes could have followed: increased, consistent, or decreased gaslighting, or sanity.  Only two were possible, the first and last.  Once gaslighting begins, it must compound exponentially.  Lies require continuous amplification to maintain fictions.  Then they finally collapse.  A crisis typically initiates the reversal. 

Seeds of gaslighting’s demise are omnipresent.  The question is when, not if, the inflection point appears.  Sometimes it’s indistinct.  Sometimes it’s unequivocal. 

Israel allowed itself to drop its guard. Oct. 7 changed that. America ignored threats until Pearl Harbor or 9/11 jolted us awake.  Incremental deterioration is ignored until reality forces a reaction. 

Extreme gaslighting yields fatalities. 

Nazis, Soviets, and Maoists sacrificed over 100 million on a gaslit altar in the last century. 

Luigi Mangione’s murder of a healthcare executive didn’t move the needle. 

Charlie Kirk’s martyrdom did.   

An inflection point occurred, the antithesis to George Floyd.  

Now comes the backlash, investigations into gaslighting networks, and prosecutions. 

Barack Obama is forced into playing defense. 

Cancel Culture is flourishing. Except it’s leftists being cancelled.  

Colbert and Kimmel are canceled. 

Little Ceaușescus, convinced everybody loved them. 

America flipped the channel.  Nixon’s Silent Majority now rules. 

As Britain’s government collapses, Peak Gaslighting emerges. 

Citizens are resisting while their government amplifies its lies and internal delusions. 

A crowd of a million or two demanding reform is officially described as 110,000. 

Orwell’s 1984 explored gaslighting. 

Tyrants instinctively commandeer language. 

Orwell’s newspeak — intended to eliminate independent thought — is alive and well. 

“Fascist” became the Left’s utilitarian Swiss-Army-knife pejorative. 

Pronoun tyranny forced Jordan Peterson into a new career.  Stating truths is derided as hate speech.

Nigel Farage spent 20 years as a lonely voice in the wilderness of the European Union Parliament, mocking its president.  Farage was fined for accurately declaring his subject had “the charisma of a damp rag and the appearance of a low-grade bank clerk.” 

Undeterred, he doubled down, "The only people I'm going to apologize to are bank clerks the world over.  If I've offended them, then I'm very sorry indeed."

Political turnings require time.  The EU, born in the post-Soviet era, institutionalized Soviet-style centralization and Soviet-level gaslighting. 

Farage represented an anomalous nationalist.  With a child-like willingness to announce the EU’s underlying fictions, Farage eventually prevailed when Britons voted to Brexit. 

Nine years since, 26 years after arriving in Brussels, he’s likely Britain’s next prime minister. 

MAGA represents the latest installment of Nixon’s Silent Majority.  Reagan’s revolution and the Tea Party succeeded Nixon, paving the way for Trump 57 years after Nixon’s success. 

Democrats formed a political party in 1828 to support slavery.  Some 37 years later, they lost a civil war, eventually failing to gaslight the majority into accepting one race’s inferiority.

Some have noted the preponderance of government employees among the Left’s shrillest voices supporting violence. 

These include teachers and university officials. (Because of federal funding, student loans, and incentives, universities and NGOs are essentially government appendages, as are healthcare workers.)  These government employees include elected Democrats. 

Obama/Biden/Harris installed a freak show in the judiciary, military, and bureaucracy.  Dysfunctionality and deviancy became employment enhancements.  Voters notice such things. 

The political supertanker veered sharply toward the center since 2020. 

All 50 states shifted right in the 2024 election. 

Contrast reactions after the deaths of George Floyd and Charlie Kirk. 

We’ve gone from NFL teams taking a knee to eight of 13 games memorializing Kirk on the Sunday following his death. 

Baseball games spontaneously featured memorials. 

But crickets at the Emmys.  (Hollywood represents a lagging political indicator.) 

Congressional Democrats knelt for eight minutes and 46 seconds in 2020, yet won’t honor Kirk. 

Voters notice such things. 

Realignments occur when temporary political shifts endure across decades. 

Excepting Obama, Democrats’ popular vote share dropped precipitously since 1964. 

After Watergate, Jimmy Carter eked out a 50.1% 1976 victory.  His reelection attempt cratered at 41%. 

Bill Clinton’s 1992 victory came with 43% of the popular vote in a three-way race.  In 1996 he received 49.2%. 

Democrats averaged 42.9% across seven consecutive elections from 1968 to 1992.  

You read that correctly. 

Biden’s 51.3% in 2020 wasn’t credible, a participation trophy with an asterisk.  The election theft was epic, requiring gaslighting, riots, biowarfare, and lockdowns. 

Meanwhile, two former Democratic presidential candidates fled lunacy to seek asylum in Trump’s cabinet. 

The post-1964 realignment is 61 years old, a year from Social Security eligibility. 

Yet gaslighting convinced us Republicans can’t win. 

Only three presidents acquired 520 Electoral College votes: FDR (in 1936), Nixon, and Reagan. 

Trump shares Farage’s affliction: confronting gaslighting with obvious, indisputable truths.  Restoring the War Department’s name recognized reality: America must continuously prosecute evil.  Centrist voters somehow find such honesty appealing. 

Don’t Try to Tell Me American Leftists Are Different

Townhall 

“Children must be taught to hate their parents if they are not communists.”—Vladimir Lenin

“’Disown your dad, you little [bleep]!’ JD Vance says even his own young children are torched by vicious hate from leftists.”—Headline from “World Net Daily”, September 15, 2025

The seeds of modern Leftism were planted in the French Enlightenment of the 18th century (and perhaps even a little earlier), and sprouted in the French Revolution and the guillotine. The ideology gained momentum under German rationalism, Darwinism, and especially Marxism/Leninism, and bloomed fully in the 20 th century communist movements around the world, all of which proved to be horrible disasters for countless billions of people and the countries that fell to this hideous, godless philosophy. The numbers of innocent lives taken by the Soviet Union measures in the dozens of millions, and China’s Mao Zedong is considered, by most historians, as the greatest mass murderer in human history, topping even Joseph Stalin and Adolf Hitler, who, as one historian said, was an “inept bungler” when it came to killing people compared to Stalin. The Chinese Communists are still killing people in huge numbers. It’s what the Left does best; anybody who doesn’t submit to the “revolution” must be silenced—either by censorship, or in a gulag, or with a bullet. That’s the 20 th century, and now the 21 st century, history of Leftism.

The United States was the greatest force against Leftist tyranny and for world freedom in the past 100+ years, playing the major role in defeating despotism in two world wars, and then standing strong and winning the “Cold War” against communist repression. Eastern Europe is largely “free” today because America didn’t cave. The United States has, for 200+years, been a shining light, a beacon of liberty, opportunity, and democracy to the world, and untold millions wanted to come here, did come here, and, if they worked hard, they largely succeeded in the dreams they had. No country was, or is, perfect, but America represented, to so many people, what they wanted, and what their tyrannical governments refused to give them. The only vote some people had was with their feet, and as many as could used that vote and fled Leftist tyranny. There has never been a country like America, and perhaps never will be.

And yet...if there is a greater example in human history of people not learning anything from history, I don’t know what it is. Today, the entire Democratic Party is trying to morph America into the very thing that we spent countless billions of dollars to defeat, and

that so many great, wonderful American men and women gave their lives to keep from infesting our shores. The Leftism we fought so mightily to destroy is now, like a horrible cancer, spreading through America—rapidly, with determination, and often violently. Have we learned NOTHING from the past 100 years? Why in the world do so many Americans want to become the very thing we struggled so desperately to defeat?

Vladimir Lenin is winning in America, at least in the Democratic Party. His full quote was, “We must hate—hatred is the basis of communism. Children must be taught to hate their parents if they are not communists.” Someone tells JD Vance’s child to “disown” his father. That is exactly what Lenin said to do. And a multitude of comments by Leftists around the country after Charlie Kirk’s assassination indicate that, indeed, hatred and murder fill the hearts of too many Americans. Leftists. I’ve had Leftists try to tell me that “no, the Democratic Party is different.” Uh-uh. Don’t ever try to tell me that American Leftists are any different from the mass murdering thugs of the Soviet Union or Communist China. A snake is a snake is a snake—in Russia, China, or America. A Leftist is a Leftist is a Leftist. Wherever they are.

I find it interesting that Lenin said that “children must be TAUGHT to hate their parents.” People aren’t born full of hate, folks. People aren’t born adulterers, murderers, thieves, etc., nor are they born full of love, virtue, goodness, and righteousness. The actions produced by love—and hate—can be taught. And Lenin said to teach hate. And that is exactly what his followers do.

People are what they are taught to be. If we teach our children to be loving, kind, virtuous, compassionate, thoughtful, caring, good, and helpful to mankind, that is what they will grow up to be. “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when his is old he will not depart from it” (Proverbs 22:6). That is not an absolute, no proverb is, but it is a general truth. But the opposite is true, too. Train a child to hate, and that is what he will do. Lenin understood this very well: “Give me four years to teach the children and the seed I have sown will never be uprooted.” The Left knows that. And they took over our educational system, and still control it. And the seeds they have been sowing in America are now sprouting. They will be difficult to uproot.

The history of the barbarism and oppression of 20 th century Leftism is staring us in the face. Some of us still remember it. Some Americans alive today literally fought against it. Many Americans gave their lives to protect the freedoms our Founding Fathers bequeathed us. And now, the Democratic Party and its Leftist cohorts are trying to force upon us the very thing we fought so hard against. Evil never gives up, folks, and usually, eventually, attacks its greatest enemy.

The Democratic Party has totally surrendered to the atheistic Marxist/Leninist doctrine, with its hatred and violence. That’s what so many of them have been taught. And now we must fight it, to the death, in our own country.

🎭 𝐖𝟑𝐏 𝓓𝓐𝓘𝓛𝓨 𝓗𝓾𝓶𝓸𝓻, 𝓜𝓾𝓼𝓲𝓬, 𝓐𝓻𝓽, 𝓞𝓟𝓔𝓝 𝓣𝓗𝓡𝓔𝓐𝓓

 

Welcome to 

The 𝐖𝟑𝐏 𝓓𝓐𝓘𝓛𝓨 𝓗𝓾𝓶𝓸𝓻, 𝓜𝓾𝓼𝓲𝓬, 𝓐𝓻𝓽, 𝓞𝓟𝓔𝓝 𝓣𝓗𝓡𝓔𝓐𝓓 

Here’s a place to share cartoons, jokes, music, art, nature, 

man-made wonders, and whatever else you can think of. 

No politics or divisive posts on this thread. 

This feature will appear every day at 1pm mountain time. 

Feds to Michigan Gov. Whitmer: Hands Off the Line 5 Pipeline

Townhall 

The Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division and Civil Division last week filed a statement of interest in a case in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan between Enbridge Energy and the State of Michigan.

Since 2019, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Attorney General Dana Nessel have tried to shutter the 645-mile pipeline that carries 540,000 gallons of hydrocarbons daily across Lake Michigan's lakebed since 1953. The pipeline runs from Superior, Wisconsin, to Sarnia, Canada,

The pipeline supplies 65% of the propane demand in the Upper Peninsula and 55% of Michigan’s statewide propane needs, according to Enbridge. 

“The federal government already comprehensively regulates pipeline safety, but Michigan is trying to usurp the Department of Transportation’s statutory authority,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Adam Gustafson of ENRD. “President Trump has made clear that the United States will not tolerate state overreach that interferes with American energy dominance.”

In 2020, Michigan issued a notice terminating Enbridge’s easement for its Line 5 pipeline that traversed underground through the Straits of Mackinac between Lake Michigan and Lake Huron. Michigan issued the notice — which in effect is a safety standard — so it could shut down an international pipeline that provides significant energy to the United States.

The energy delivered through Line 5 fuels multiple Midwestern states, including Wisconsin, Ohio, and Illinois. 

Enbridge v. Whitmer - United States SOI by scott.mcclallen

The United States’ statement notes that the federal Pipeline Safety Act charges the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration with setting nationwide safety standards for interstate pipelines and related infrastructure. By imposing its own safety standards on an interstate and international pipeline, Michigan improperly encroached on PHMSA’s exclusive authority under the Pipeline Safety Act.

Additionally, the pipeline is subject to a to a 1877 treaty between Canada and the U.S. that prohibits Michigan from shuttering the pipeline. The statement highlights that shutting down this international pipeline interferes with the United States’ exclusive authority in foreign affairs.

Last year, Nessel announced a climate change lawsuit against Michigan’s oil companies. The lawsuit still hasn’t been filed over a year later but the DOJ has sued Michigan for planning to sue oil companies. 

Chief of Staff and Senior General Counsel John Adams of ENRD filed the motion.

For years, the state government and Enbridge have fought about whether the dispute should be heard in state or federal court. Michigan initially claimed government immunity from the Enbridge lawsuit, although the court tossed out that claim. 

Longtime Democrat Says Only Trump Can Unite the Country After Kirk’s Assassination

Townhall 

Former Democratic Senator Joe Manchin shocked viewers on Friday when he told Fox News that President Donald Trump is the only figure in American politics capable of bringing the country back together after the assassination of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk.

In a moment that defied partisan expectations, Manchin—who spent years positioning himself as a moderate voice in the Senate—delivered a clear message: in the wake of escalating political violence, only Trump has the influence and leadership to steer the nation toward unity.

“President Trump is the person who can basically bring us together,” Manchin said during the Fox News segment. “I’m praying that he’s able to say, ‘listen, enough’s enough. C’mon, we’re all Americans. We’ve gotta live in this world together and our country, and keep it the greatest country on earth.’”

Manchin’s comments come amid one of the most volatile political moments in recent history. The murder of Kirk, a 31-year-old conservative activist and prominent MAGA ally, has become a cultural flashpoint. Republicans have pointed to years of demonization from the left—branding Trump supporters as “fascists” and “Nazis”—as a dangerous escalation that created the conditions for political violence. Democrats, in turn, have tried to redirect the conversation, accusing Trump and his movement of sowing division and radicalizing followers.

But for Manchin, those partisan games miss the bigger picture.

“I’m really hoping. I believe in him,” Manchin said of Trump. “I believe he can do that, and with that being said, he’s able to calm down all this rhetoric right now. And for those who want to still spew it? That’s fine, it’s gonna show you being on the extreme.”

The former West Virginia senator’s praise for Trump is not as surprising as it might seem at first glance. Manchin represented a state that shifted heavily toward Trump during his presidency, and he repeatedly broke ranks with his party on issues like energy, immigration, and the Second Amendment. Since retiring from the Senate earlier this year, Manchin has increasingly distanced himself from the modern Democratic Party, openly criticizing its shift toward the far left.

Manchin’s remarks contrast sharply with the tone coming from prominent Democrats. Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), a key member of the far-left “Squad,” recently defended the use of the word “fascism” to describe Republicans, telling colleagues during a House hearing that “it’s not a bad word if it’s true.” That exchange sparked a fiery response from Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL), leading to a shouting match that forced a committee chair to intervene.

Even moments of silence have become flashpoints. After Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) led a prayer on the House floor following Kirk’s death, Democrats booed Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) as she attempted to read a public prayer aloud. “You caused this!” Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) shouted across the aisle, prompting Democrats to fire back, “Pass some gun laws!”

For Manchin, this toxic cycle is unsustainable—and it’s only getting worse. He argued that both sides must take responsibility for the political temperature in the country, but that it will take a figure like Trump—loved by the base and feared by the establishment—to break through the noise.

While the establishment left continues to insist Trump is the root of the nation’s division, Manchin’s comments suggest a growing number of Americans see him as the only one capable of reuniting it.

Trump Demands Venezuela Take Back Prisoners

Townhall 

President Donald Trump on Saturday called on Venezuela to immediately accept its prisoners from the US. The demand was the latest in a war on illegal immigration and drug trafficking. 

"We want Venezuela to immediately accept all of the prisoners, and people from mental institutions, which includes the Worst in the World Insane Asylums, that Venezuelan “Leadership” has forced into the United States of America. Thousands of people have been badly hurt, and even killed, by these “Monsters.” GET THEM THE HELL OUT OF OUR COUNTRY, RIGHT NOW, OR THE PRICE YOU PAY WILL BE INCALCULABLE!"

The White House confirmed the post on X. 

The Department of Homeland Security posted: 

“Americanism not globalism.”

Yesterday, Trump ordered Secretary of War Pete Hegseth to destroy a drug boat and posted the video online. 

Trump's administration is cracking down on illegal drug trafficking over the borders and inside the nation. 

Trump has signed executive orders targeting the flow of fentanyl across the northern and southern borders that has killed hundreds of thousands of people annually. In 2023, 105,007 people died of a drug overdose, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

Oftentimes, cartels cut drugs with fentanyl to make more money. But the drug is lethal even in small doses. So Trump is working with Canada and Mexico to reduce trafficked drugs. 

The Trump administration is rebranding the nation, from changing the name of the Secretary of Defense to the Secretary of War. 

Trump has sent troops to Washington D.C., and his administration has suggested sending troops to Detroit, Portland, and Baltimore to reduce violent crime. 

The Trump administration is deporting illegal aliens and kicking them off taxpayer-funded programs such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program that feeds about 42 million people annually, as well as other entitlement programs. 

The government has designated Mexico’s drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations, which opened new authorities for the United States to dismantle these groups using sanctions, expanded prosecution authorities, and other resources. The US has restricted visas against family members and close associates of drug traffickers. 

On Monday, the the US Department of State identified 24 countries as major drug transit or major illicit drug producing countries for fiscal year 2026: Afghanistan, The Bahamas, Belize, Bolivia, Burma, the People’s Republic of China, Colombia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, India, Jamaica, Laos, Mexico, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Panama, Peru, and Venezuela. 

Pentagon Limits Reporters' Ability to Leak Classified Information, and They Are Not Happy

RedState 

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth unveiled new rules Friday that will severely limit the ability of reporters to report from within the Pentagon outside established public affairs clearance channels. In the future, reporters will have limited access to the Pentagon without an official public affairs escort, they will have to display their press pass at all times, and, quelle horreur, "[p]ossessing confidential or unauthorized information, under the new rules, would be grounds for a journalist’s press pass to be revoked." This policy was foreshadowed back in May, when Secretary Hegseth imposed an array of press restrictions in the wake of some harmful leaks; see SecDef Hegseth Orders Pentagon to Put Press Corps on a Short Leash After Epidemic of Leaks.

Read the entire memo.

The ban on information covers not only classified national security information, or CNSI, but controlled unclassified information, or CUI. The latter category includes a mind-boggling array of categories.

As the Washington Post notes, 

The vast majority of the Pentagon’s information has some level of sensitivity. For example, even the initial planning efforts for June’s parade marking the Army’s 250th anniversary — including how many tanks the Army would drive past President Donald Trump’s review stand — was initially categorized as “CUI,” or for “Controlled Unclassified Information,” which would be barred from public access under the new rules.

Most annoying will be the restriction on where reporters can work. In the past, reporters could go nearly everywhere in the Pentagon.

“Up until now, the press could wander all around the Pentagon with no oversight,” Parnell explained in May. “Even outside of sensitive/classified areas. So moving forward, they’ll need an escort to access those areas. They still have access to the entire defense press office, the press secretary & my office, as well as much of the rest of the building. These are pragmatic changes to protect operational security & ultimately brings the Pentagon in line with other government buildings.”

The media, naturally, are focusing on alleged restrictions on the press:

• Washington Post: Pentagon demands journalists pledge not to obtain unauthorized material
• NPR: Defense Secretary Hegseth requires new 'pledge' for Pentagon reporters
• Politico: Pentagon to limit journalists’ access unless they agree not to publish certain information

This is sort of misleading, as the rules pretty obviously apply to information obtained in the Pentagon. If someone wants to leak information, they surely can publish it.

Those leaks are where the real impact will be felt, not in Americans knowing less about their government. By limiting areas open to journalists and requiring their press passes to be visible at all times, it will be difficult for disgruntled civilians or military personnel to have face-to-face meetings. Limiting press access to a few selected areas also means they can't roam the halls, picking up snatches of conversations, or seeing stuff on desks.

As Secretary Hegseth said: "The 'press' does not run the Pentagon — the people do. The press is no longer allowed to roam the halls of a secure facility. Wear a badge and follow the rules — or go home."

Notes of Caution – The Story of Telemachus

Conservative  Treehouse 

The Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement has gained in ranks mostly due to the pragmatic messenger who cuts through party lines, Donald Trump; but also, because the political left went too far into the world of social crazy.

For several years, traditional moderates and Democrats have been turning away from the messaging of the leftist party now controlled by radical Marxists and publicly declared socialists. Almost everything they created as a point of advocacy made their following spiral into an ever-diminishing circle.

Democrats are the party of censorship, gleefully cheering as conservative voices were deplatformed, demonetized, targeted by the social media system operators who controlled the public square, targeted by an aligned government and mainstream media, and evidenced in their full-throated demands around the COVID-19 madness and vaccine protocols.

Democrats cheered as government collaborated with tech donors to diminish their opposition, while simultaneously they affirmed some of the evilest enterprises around DEI, toxic advocacy for transgender and LGBTQ+ ideology, the mutilation of children and far worse.  Socially their policies became increasingly toxic and ridiculous.

As they descended this spiral, Democrats became increasingly dangerous – visibly so – and the outcome of their advocacy was not in alignment with anything resembling ‘domestic tranquility’. None of this is questioned by serious people who have watched the last 18 years unfold.  The leftist ideology is abusive in the extreme.

As the left pushed further and further into their created system of social madness, violence and evil enterprise, they lost support and MAGA Republicans were beneficiaries.

Despite our lack of control over the power centers, the MAGA tent expanded as the party of the individual not the collective; the party of freedom, free speech and, well, functionally common sense.  The toxic abusers held power, but culturally they were losing control.  MAGA represented the rebellion, and the rebel ranks gained even while, and perhaps because, we were being abused.

Then a 22-year-old radical leftist, fully indoctrinated within the 18-years of social Marxist advancement, shot the Christian representation of the MAGA rebellion, Charlie Kirk, in the neck – killing him in front of millions.

♦ Telemachus was a Christian monk from Asia who went to Rome and saw the gladiatorial games at the Colosseum. Telemachus watched the brutality of men slaughtering men, animals ripping the flesh and limbs from humans, while eighty thousand in the audience cheered. As a Christian, Telemachus was horrified.

Telemachus cried out, ‘In the Name of Christ, stop!’ Yet, his voice was lost in the roar within the great Colosseum. He descended the stairs, made his way to the edge of the arena, jumped down and stood between two Gladiators. ‘In the Name of Christ, stop!’, he declared. The crowd jeered, whistled and shouted down the much smaller monk, but Telemachus would not relent, ‘In the Name of Christ, stop!,’ he desperately kept repeating.

The angry jeers of the crowd turned violent, and they threw stones upon Telemachus; but the monk would only reply, ‘In the Name of Christ, stop!’.  The stoning continued to rain down upon the small Asian monk, until Telemachus was dead. His only recorded words were, ‘In the Name of Christ, stop!’… until he was dead.

Telemachus’ body was dragged away, the games continued, but the moment changed how many perceived the brutality that took place within the Colosseum.  The horrific injustice of the events forever changed how the blood lust within the venue was evaluated.  Thereafter, Emperor Honorius recognized Telemachus’ martyrdom, and the gladiator games ended. [SOURCE]

Right now, within our body politic, in the aftermath of Charlie Kirk’s murder, there are two aspects that need to be reviewed: the cultural impact, and the politics of it all.

♦ Culturally the battle is in full swing. Those who have been abused by decades of toxic enterprise have been triggered to action by the killing of Charlie.

The toxic leftists who cheered the Marxist and abusive social constructs are being confronted.  Their cheers in the aftermath of Charlies death are fueling a massive retribution from a righteously angered crowd.

The radical leftists are now being identified, isolated, ridiculed and marginalized.  The Alinsky tactics of the abusers are being turned against them by the abused.

Thousands have lost their jobs; high profile leftists like Jimmy Kimmel have suffered righteous backlash.  The toxic voices of the evildoers are now receiving consequences.

Evil killed Charlie, and Goodness is fighting back.

The American Christian culture has surged to the front of the battle lines, and has pierced the darkness.  However, there’s a danger in our victory, and that brings the politics of it into the discussion.

♦ Politically, if there is one skillset the abusers have in their arsenal, that can be predicted to a certainty, it’s their ability to turn their abuse into victimhood once confronted.  As righteous backlash continues surging, the abuser suddenly claims the mantle of ‘free speech.’

Do not underestimate the ability of Democrats to flip from abuser to proclaimed victim on the issue of ‘free speech’. The radical left, the Marxists, do not have the word hypocrite in their political dictionary; they are professional, narcissistic abusers.

The professional leftists dispatch their own history without a scintilla of reservation, if that’s the position they need to take in order to advance their agenda. They will not even entertain a request for review, as they shift into a strategic offensive. We are watching that unfold right now.

If MAGA is not careful, continued demands for the removal of leftist voices, will create a political outcome where Democrats will position as the party of tolerance and free speech. This is how they get out of the downward spiral they were in. This issue is partly how they will seek to regain their numerical position in advance of the 2026 midterms.

♦ The influence of Israel. Again, this is an issue that can not only divide the MAGA coalition, but it can play directly into the hands of the political UniParty.  I believe Charlie Kirk well understood this dynamic.

There are legitimate criticisms for the government of Israel that are well founded and well deserved. However, blaming Israel for every evil enterprise taking place within the U.S. body politic is not a good idea.

A substantive issue is not whether influential Israeli donors will stop funding grassroots conservatives, ie. MAGA voices, and the issue is not that Israeli donors will suddenly start giving Democrats money, fueling their own demise; the issue I believe Charlie Kirk was trying to navigate, is that influential Israeli donors will start funding traditional Republican opposition.

When Candace Owens, Tucker Carlson and similarly aligned voices begin aggressively pushing anti-Israel positions, regardless of their merit, the outcome is traditional Republican elements like Bush, McConnell, Rove, start smiling.

Remember, it was not Democrats who benefitted most from the destruction of the Tea Party in 2012, it was the Mitch McConnell, John McCain, and the Lindsey Graham professional wing of the GOP who benefitted.

When the voices of Candace, Tucker and Nick Fuentes begin carving away a big chunk of attention within the MAGA tent, it is the Ron DeSantis wing of the Republican base who benefits numerically and financially.

If we don’t want to see the Nikki Haley, Jeb Bush, Tim Scott, Ron DeSantis and Ted Cruz elements reemerge in out-scaled influence, then don’t fuel their bank accounts.  Amplifying anti-Jewish sentiments, Israel conspiracy theories, and various iterations of pushback against the aggressive Zionist movement, ends up with folks like Bill Ackman, Larry Ellison, David Ellison and Ken Griffin fueling an anti-MAGA option.  The professionally Republican club would like this outcome.

The MAGA tent needs to be very careful, thinking carefully about who benefits when the colosseum crowd begins throwing stones.  The first stone throwers, the seeders per se’, may have an entirely different agenda than the majority of the crowd.

Be careful.

When the govt (think FBI) doesn’t provide details of events, generally the first reaction is to think they are hiding something.  However, often the motive is to purposefully create a void where ‘conspiracies’ can thrive.  Establishing the seeds for narratives, often entails setting up the opportunity for your opposition to label themselves.  This how Machiavellian actors operate.

Be wise.

The Marxist (Democrat) leadership was NOT unhappy to see angered and emotional MAGA voices quickly set up a website where toxic leftist social media users were identified by name, identified by employment and targeted for financial retribution.   What is called “cancelling” a person can also be called “doxxing” a person, and in several states that activity is illegal.  What venue do you think a law firm like Perkins Coie would plan to launch their class action lawsuits from? Free representation for the hate-filled orcs, paid for by [fill_in_blank].

Be strategic.

When you see Instagram, Facebook and even Google, suddenly amplifying the voice of Nick Fuentes, ask yourself why would the platforms that formerly banned the guy for toxic hate-speech (current forever ban ongoing), suddenly adjust their algorithms and start promoting video segments of Nick Fuentes.  Does it make sense?

Ask questions.

Who attends these mysterious conservative “influencer” assemblies that we sometimes hear about.  Who is funding them. And if the gathering is for good, moral and honest reason, why do they get so defensive when asked who was in attendance.

Pray.

We must ground ourselves in prayer daily.  Really purposeful prayer.

Joshua 1: 7-9

7 “Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. 8 Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. 9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”