The West’s Moral Vacuum

American Thinker 

We can watch our values erode under bureaucratic rule, or we can reclaim what matters; the future is ours to shape. Do we really need to witness yet again how absurd we’ve become? Apparently so, as we still haven’t met the challenge.

Have you read about the gang rape victim in Spain who opted for state-sponsored suicide in her grief? I’ll save you the trouble of reading the horrific details. The short version is that immigrants raped Noelia Castillo Ramos. She couldn’t deal with the psychological trauma, jumped off a five-story building, survived, and was no longer able to walk. She requested state-sanctioned euthanasia in 2021. Finally, after multiple legal appeals, she was granted her wish just last month, only to decide at the last moment not to go through with it. Wait, it gets worse:

A 25-year-old woman in Spain was euthanized Thursday after authorities allegedly denied her written request to postpone her death for six months so she could reconsider, the family's lawyer claimed. The request, submitted ahead of the scheduled assisted suicide, was allegedly not accepted by the administration, which determined that she had expressed “only doubts,” a rationale that carried no legal standing in the decision-making process, according to her father’s lawyer, Polonia Castellanos.

Process should never trump a human life. Unfortunately, that is not the way the state thinks in what is supposedly an enlightened society. Enlightend? No. It amounts to state-sanctioned murder, too much like ‘Home Centers’ in the movie Soylent Green.

The fact that Noelia lived in Spain makes this no less tragic or relatable, as we have seen state-sponsored euthanasia or assisted suicide spreading like wildfire all over, including Canada and the United States, often for non-life-threatening or straight-up “I don’t like my life” reasons. Like so many cases right here in America, Noelia’s attackers were never charged. Stories like this are all too common today.

The absurdity of what our society and government values, incentivizes, protects, and punishes is driving some to suicide, while others mentally check out in large numbers each year, all to benefit the state that requires your dependence, subservience, and likes you to be in a perpetual state of anxiety, the better to solidify its control over us.

Plugged into the news 24/7, it’s not difficult to become inured, even hardened, exposed to one horrific story after another. Reports that should genuinely shock our conscience slough off us too easily. The list of truly astonishing violent crimes committed, the lack of consequences, and the reality that society continually whiffs out instead of standing up and demanding action is shocking and depressing, leading to a huge number of people tuning out and no longer seriously participating in finding solutions.

Whether we are discussing social mores and their consequences, as in the above, or out-and-out criminal activity, as we will see below, the net effect leaves us circling the drain. We’d better find our footing quickly to arrest our decline. Too many stories like Gen-Z workers napping and crying at lunch, lamenting having to work for a living... It’s so stressful! Really?

Our entire society needs a reboot! Our values, our expectations, and, most importantly, our lack of self-reliance are spreading like a cancer that will inevitably bring about our demise if not reversed. We must understand that what’s happening, visible to anyone who looks, is no accident. It is part of a plan we see rolling out everywhere, championed by Democrats and their anti-American supporters. Disbelieve me at your peril.

Government at all levels has a vested interest in your passivity and in your viewing everything transpiring as hopelessly difficult for any individual to intervene and make a difference. Witness all those people recording crimes with their cell phones—citizen reporters or just an audience?

With lawmakers unwilling to write tough laws, even sensible laws, and then actually follow through with taking the worst offenders off the street, be they illegal immigrants with dozens of charges or convictions against them, or homegrown criminals who see our criminal justice system as a revolving door, the system is failing us. By itself, that’s bad enough, but the net effect of allowing criminals to set the agenda for all of us is intolerable, yet need not be so.

Sensible people want a different path than exists today that delivers traditional small-town American values, peace, and prosperity through the government they have elected, but which has visibly turned on them, favoring progressive policies, protecting itself, all while growing faster and paying itself better than the private sector.

The government and too many citizens tolerate evil within our society

We, the people, could stop it at any time we want. The big question is why we endure policies and actions that are not only wrong and a threat to our society’s stability, but also will inevitably lead to our undoing. Too many of us think the problems and issues we face are too big to solve. Issues like:

• Immigration
• Government accountability
• Homlessness
• Drugs
• America’s position in the world
• Education
• Healthcare
• Affordability

The commonality that connects them all is that they aren’t unsolvable. Despite that, they’re also a feature, not a flaw, of how our government works today. There are many of our so-called leaders in positions of power who either don’t address issues or take a short-sighted view that favors temporary power and control over finding solutions. It’s also how too many politicians become rich while ostensibly serving the public.

You may ask why, and you would be right to do so. It’s essential to understand how large government has become at all levels and the vast sums of money that no one can account for. As I write this, in Newark, NJ, the trivial (for government) sum of $287 million is missing, and unsurprisingly, nobody seems to know what happened to this COVID-19 relief money! Multiply this by hundreds of similar scandals, and two things become apparent:

• We’re talking about vast quantities of money. So much money that it begins to lose relevance in the minds of many who see the numbers as abstract and unrelatable
• No one, especially in senior positions of power, will be held accountable. Prosecutions and convictions are too rare, and often it’s the underlings, not those who set the conditions for the crime, who face juries.

Certainly, by now, it is evident that we are on our own; no one is coming to save us, not the government, not some group, nor God himself. The job of saving our culture, our society, and our country belongs to you and me. Every one of us must make it our highest priority to say, “It stops here.” I’ll stand in the way of the destroyers. Organizing ten million people to flood the streets demanding the heads of some of these evil people would be a good start.

If enough of us make that decision to confront evil, we will prevail. Believe it!

God Bless America!

Podcast thread for April 5th ✝️

 

hope you all had a peaceful day.

Allahu Akbar, Europe!

Townhall 

Europe is lost as a Christian continent, and its demise is self-inflicted.

It is no coincidence that European countries are refusing to aid the US in the present fight against Iran. From not sending ships to open up the Straits of Hormuz to refusal of use of NATO bases on their lands to not even allowing planes bringing weapons to Israel to compete with local birds for the airspace, the Europeans are making it clear that “this is not their war”. That, in spite of most of their oil coming from the region. Even King Charles is not giving an Easter speech this year. What happened to Europe? Let’s look at the five steps of its present demise.

Step One: Believe that Lefty Tripe that All People are the Same. I will say from the get-go that all people are equal before God and none is inherently better than another. God made them all and each one has his own private account with the Creator. What I mean here is that one of the fundamental leftist tenets is that all cultures are good and can be mixed like a salad. The reality is quite otherwise. When Angela Merkel and her colleagues in the European leadership class began bringing in millions of unvetted Muslim immigrants, it was assumed that anyone who puts on a shirt and pants in the morning can get along with everybody else. Because Europeans gave up on their religion, history, and culture, they assumed that the masses coming to their shores were also low-key about their religion and lifestyles. This failure to realize that not all cultures can live together successfully was the first fatal flaw in the decline of Europe. Egypt, Lebanon and many other countries were not Muslim majority in the past but they sure are today. Islam started in Arabia and today is dominant in dozens of countries.

Let’s imagine that I apply for a job and during the interview I am told that workers are expected to come in on Saturdays now and then to work. I explain that as an orthodox Jew I can’t do that. So there are a couple options at this point. I can abandon my religious obligations and take the job. The company can hire me and hope for the best, or finally the most likely outcome is that we shake hands and part company.

Step 2: Losing One’s Values. Let’s continue with my job search. I get the job and I don’t come in at all on Saturdays. Other workers become resentful: why does he get to enjoy his weekends but we don’t? I don’t stop there. I demand that the company cafeteria become kosher. The new kosher offerings are less tasty than their predecessors, but hey I’m happy and the management advertises that it is looking out for minorities.

Once Europe took in huge numbers of Muslim immigrants who were neither asked to become European nor wanted to do the same, the locals had to bend to the lives of the newcomers. The most famous case involves the sexual abuse and worse of tens of thousands of white British girls throughout the country. Nobody wanted to be called a racist for arresting primarily Pakistani Muslim men. The press euphemistically called them “Asian men”, to make one believe that Chinese and Japanese men were running around attacking British schoolgirls. The police knew and either looked the other way or participated in the program. Politicians knew as did social services. It was chalked up as being “part of their culture” and no big deal. Obviously, the girls and their families did not think so. Even today, the Labor government will not initiate a full investigation of the crimes because they were participants.

Once the Europeans decided that the foreigners’ feelings and customs outweighed the locals’ way of life, then the road to destruction was fully paved. One sees over and over again in various European countries locals who desperately try to keep large numbers of generally Muslim men from moving into some local hotel. They are terrified for their daughters as well as their way of life. And they are right.

Step 3: Muslims First. We are witnessing in real time this phase of the descent. Lilly-white European leaders will not participate in defanging the country most recognized as being the source of much of the world’s terror. Even though they depend on oil from the Straits of Hormuz, they will not move themselves to either participate or aid the US in its total destruction of Mullah Central. “Oh, those Americans are flying with those icky Israelis. We had better lay low.” Macron and Starmer are petrified of full-blown riots should they openly support the fight against Iran. This state of affairs would not have existed ten years ago. They may have stayed out for other reasons, like being sissies. But now they can’t ignore the Muslim masses in their countries and must kowtow to their future masters.

Stage 4: Taking Over. London has been run for several years by Sadiq Khan. He has poo-pooed knife violence which wouldn’t you know it somehow is generally associated with Muslim perpetrators. As in Dearborn, Michigan, the growing Muslim majority will take the helm of local councils and later the Parliament. There will be no revolution, no violent uprising. Rather, it will be massive growth of the incoming Muslim population—paid for by the locals—compared to anemic growth of the citizens. They will take over towns and civic institutions. At that point, it is only a matter of time before they will have their own majorities in critical political bodies like the Parliament. None of this would matter if the folks involved took upon themselves to be good citizens and subjects of the king. But many have made it clear that their ONLY allegiance is to Sharia Law and have no respect for the local laws, customs or people. I saw during the June war such people enjoying missile hits in Tel Aviv. Like Ilhan Omar, their allegiance is not to the country in which they live but to their religion and possibly to the country that they left.

Step 5: The End of Christian Europe. When England and other countries have Muslim prime ministers, their allegiance will not be to king and crown, but rather to Sharia. One can see it with New York’s new mayor, who does not hide his allegiance to the centrality of Islamic law. When England becomes a part of a larger new caliphate, will the US really want its Trident D5 missiles on British nuclear subs? Will there be any point in still being a part of NATO? For Israelis, Europe will join Iran and more recently Turkey as countries that must be avoided. The Europeans don’t believe that such a set of events will occur or consider talking about the same as a form of racism. To paraphrase Arnold in Commando, “They’ll kill them [the leaders] last.”

And don’t think that the AfD or Marine LePen or Tommy Robinson will come to the rescue. I admire their love of country and their tireless efforts to save their peoples. But even if they can somehow get elected, the police, military, courts, and EU institutions will make any effort to stop boats and eject people impossible. Germany wants to throw out 80% of the Syrians who have come during the past few years. The visitors scoffed: we’re not going anywhere. We hate your country but soon it will be ours. Short of full-fledged revolution against the institutions and the invaders, Europe has no way to go back to the way we always knew it. Kiss England, France, Belgium, Germany, Norway and Holland goodbye. They were quaint. They were lovely. And then they were gone.

Impeach The B*****d Liberal Judges

Townhall 

It takes a lot to really get me pissed off, but when I get there, the expletives flow. That happened Tuesday night, as two court rulings pissed me right off before I sat down to record my podcast for the next day. I generally try not to swear, though sometimes something slips out – the difference between radio and the internet is slipping an f-bomb past the goalie every once in a while, online. This time, I’d had it. I’d had it with liberal federal judges inserting themselves into the legislative role and overruling the actions of the duly elected President. And one thing became perfectly clear to me: If Republicans can’t impeach a couple of these rogue robed radicals, there’s no point in holding onto the majority or the country.

I realize the Senate will never vote to convict a liberal judge, no matter how incompetent or how much they abuse their power. These Democrat piles of post-digested food do not care about abuses of power if the power is abused in a way they support; it’s just how they roll. But to not try, to just let it slide like all of the other times before, effectively cedes control of the country to people who’ve been elected to nothing. If we do that, is there really anything worth celebrating on July 4th?

Yes, almost 250 years is a pretty good run, but it should be better. Our Founding Fathers created a system of government that has the potential to be close to eternal, but is being destroyed from within like a log cabin infested with termites.

You can live with cancer, but you must destroy it before it destroys you – it has to be wiped out completely. This is what the left is: a cancer.

One federal judge (guess which party) ruled the Trump administration couldn’t end funding to NPR and PBS. Why? Why not? What’s the consequence for a judge being an a*s and making a bad ruling? Nothing, except maybe being invited to be a high-paying guest lecturer at some Ivy League hive of anti-Americanism.

Yes, President Trump did sign an order ending funding to NPR and PBS, but Congress also cut the funding through the rescission process, so there is literally no leg for this judge to stand on. No one this partisan or stupid (maybe both) should remain on the federal bench. Democrats, naturally, would never vote to convict one of their own, but the humiliation of impeachment and the evidence brought out at trial should be used to stain U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss’ name for the rest of his existence.

The same goes for U.S. District Court Judge Allison Burroughs, who ordered the Trump administration to reinstate almost 900,000 illegal aliens’ status because, according to the worthless Burroughs, when the President ended Joe Biden’s easy pass CPB One app, it was “not in accordance with law.”

The “law” was created by Biden through executive action, not an act of Congress. Another example of illegal aliens being favored over the rule of law and Americans. The Trump administration should ignore this ruling and immediately appeal to the Supreme Court to smack down the lower courts.

Judge Burroughs should be removed. Since that won’t happen, thanks to Democrats, the country needs John Roberts, the Chief Justice of the United States, to act. 

John Roberts can restore some sanity and trust to the federal courts by accepting these direct appeals – fast-tracking them through the usual process – and smacking them down with language that shows exactly how inappropriate they were, both embarrassing the judges and providing fodder for impeachment.

Again, Democrats will never vote to convict one of their own, no matter how blatant their abuses are. But the impeachment – aided by a ruling from the Supreme Court – would slap a scarlet “H” for hack on the chest of these activists in robes and stand as a warning to others that there will be a cost for abuse. That cost can be reputational and it can be financial, as they’d have to defend themselves in a Senate trial (provided Republicans took the Constitutionally proscribed process seriously).

These judges are unaccountable and unhinged – there is no consequence for releasing murderers and rapists on the state level, nor are there any for purposefully imposing their political will and ignoring the laws on a federal level.

Impeachment was not meant to be a punishment for political hackery, but only because our Founding Fathers could not fathom the modern left’s contempt for the Constitution and our country in general. They couldn’t imagine a federal government doing all that ours now does and tries to do because they pretty unambiguously wrote the Constitution in a way to prevent it from happening.

But Democrats have shifted our founding principles from ideals to be upheld to annoyances to be ignored. That has to be reversed, and impeachment of a few activist judges is just the way to do it…before it’s too late.

Republicans need to act now, and they need to act decisively on this and on clarifying what the plain language of the 14th Amendment means on birthright citizenship as not applying to offspring of those in the country illegally or on vacation, just to nip that in the bud, too.

Otherwise, what’s the point in having a majority?

Rebirth, redemption, and renewal for a depraved new world?

Rebirth, redemption, and renewal for a depraved new world?

Reflections on a fallen world.

Eric Utter for American Thinker

In such a time as this … it is sometimes difficult to see a future greater than our past.

To wit: a newly published paper, written by two “scholars” and published by the University of Chicago Press, argues that girls under 18 should be forced to abort their babies even if they and their family want to carry them to term.

The scholarly authors argue that having an abortion would be in these girl’s “best interest,” no matter what -- and that doctors should abort the baby even if that requires the “sedation or physical restraint” of the mother.

There are no words.

Fraud is virtually everywhere. Endemic. Systemic. The examples are legion. It seems the vast majority of “do-gooders” are anything but, in it only for themselves, and that those that take to the streets to denounce capitalism are particularly lustful for lucre.

Yet, governments and world bodies alike spend other people’s money on self-evidently destructive ideas, policies, programs, and entities. Ideas, policies, programs, and entities that are self-evidently destructive to them. So the U.N. spends billions of dollars effectively funding Islamist terrorists who kidnap its employees. And the U.S., directly or indirectly, is still funding the Taliban, hard as that is to believe.

Air Canada’s CEO was forced to resign after issuing a heartfelt statement of condolence to the families of victims of the tarmac collision between an Air Canada passenger jet and a LaGuardia Airport fire truck. Why? Because he made the statement almost entirely in English, even though a minority of Canadians speak French. This might seem to be a minor issue, but it isn’t, as it is sadly indicative of the rampant, visceral, threatening mindset of the DEI-addled woke un-intelligentsia.  

So-called “progressives” take to the streets to violently lament the death of George Floyd, a drug-addicted life-long criminal, but demand that a mural of a senselessly and heinously slain petite female immigrant from Ukrainebe taken down.

Make it make sense.

Indeed, a significant percentage of our populace takes to the streets to cheer on illegal aliens who have committed child molestation, rape, and murder, while harassing those who would remove these thugs from their neighborhoods.

Remarkable.

Today’s teachers are sexually harassing students at an unprecedented rate, when they aren’t encouraging them to “change genders,” or to leave class and protest Trump and ICE.

The NBA’s Chicago Bulls recently cut Jaden Ivey, ostensibly for "conduct detrimental to the team."

What was that egregious conduct? Did he hit a teammate or sleep with one’s wife? Was he caught selling drugs? Gambling and throwing games? No. He called the NBA’s ubiquitous celebration of Pride Month "unrighteousness,” and refused to recant his Christian beliefs. (The NBA, like most sports leagues, does allow its players to state their deeply held Muslim beliefs without fear of reprisal. In fact, criticism of those players and beliefs will instantaneously lead to dire accusations of “Islamophobia.”)

In a similar vein, Canadian MPs recently passed a bill that will allow the criminalization of religious expression and belief when quoting parts of the Bible about homosexuality and gender. “Male and female He created them?” Scratch that unless you want a visit from the Mounties.

We abort our kids, engage in medically assisting our seniors and the unwell in dying, and encourage our offspring to seek procedures that will render them sterile. We then import vast armies of people who have no intention of assimilating -- who, in fact, try to assimilate us to their barbarity and Sharia law.

And there is shockingly little pushback to any of this. It is as if we are intent on writing ourselves out of our own story. We have “Queers for Palestine.” The handmaids want to be Muslim. The rich call for socialism/Marxism/communism. It is increasingly hard to believe we are living in such a time as this.

In such a time as this … we need a moral and spiritual rebirth more than ever. During this holiest of weeks (dare I say that?) let’s vow to do what we can to make this so.

We should beg for forgiveness and fall to our knees.

And thank the Lord for the opportunities we have had and the unalienable rights granted us by our Creator.

He is risen.

Can we?

Image: Pexels // Pexels Content License

🎭 𝐖𝟑𝐏 𝓓𝓐𝓘𝓛𝓨 𝓗𝓾𝓶𝓸𝓻, 𝓜𝓾𝓼𝓲𝓬, 𝓐𝓻𝓽, 𝓞𝓟𝓔𝓝 𝓣𝓗𝓡𝓔𝓐𝓓

 

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The 𝐖𝟑𝐏 𝓓𝓐𝓘𝓛𝓨 𝓗𝓾𝓶𝓸𝓻, 𝓜𝓾𝓼𝓲𝓬, 𝓐𝓻𝓽, 𝓞𝓟𝓔𝓝 𝓣𝓗𝓡𝓔𝓐𝓓 

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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. 

Exceptional Sky News Global Energy Report Highlights Dependency Risk for Entire British Commonwealth

Conservative Treehouse 

You would have to read dozens of energy industry reports to get the information provided here in this exceptionally well-done news segment.

Sky News economics and data editor Ed Conway presents a fantastic look at how the issue with the Strait of Hormuz has impacted the global distribution of energy, oil, LNG and Kerosene (jet fuel), with particular emphasis on the vulnerabilities of the “modern industrialized western nations.”

Conway never points the finger to the “net zero” carbon goals of Europe, the U.K and Australia. However, he shows the outcome of their dependence on production and refining by other non-participating nations. The timelines clearly show, as the Green Energy policies were pushed the vulnerability inherent within any supply shock begins to get worse. This is a very well-presented data-driven analysis that is worth watching.

The last two-minutes also shred the claims by EU and British leadership, and highlights how Europe and the U.K are now dependent on the United States to meet their energy needs. WATCH:

Director Discarded by Library Board After She Refused to Move Almost 200 LGBTQ-Plus Books From Kids' Area

RedState 

The director of a Tennessee county library district has been fired after refusing to remove nearly 200 of what she described in a letter as "'LGBTQ-plus themed/teen books" from the children's area of the branches she was hired to supervise. 

She's been... discarded, so to speak:

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (WKRN) — A dispute over more than 190 books in the children’s section of the Rutherford County library system ended with the firing of library director Luanne James following a board vote Monday night.

The decision came after a tense public meeting, where board members clashed over whether the titles should be moved to the adult section. At the center of the debate was the director’s refusal to relocate the books, a stance that drew both support and criticism from the community and officials.

Supporters argued the decision should remain in the hands of trained library professionals and warned against restricting access to materials. Others on the board maintained the issue was about oversight and determining what is appropriate for younger readers.

By the end of the meeting, James was let go from her job. The report by WKRN (linked above) added that the fate of the books is still undecided.

In case you're interested, here's the letter I mentioned near the top. As these kinds of pseudo-freedom lovers who just want to save the children (and did I mention, freedom) tend to do, it's little more than a caustic screed about allegedly fighting censorship. Buckle up!

I am disappointed that I lost my job as director of the county library system. I lost it for doing exactly what librarians are supposed to do, protect the rights of all community members to access books and information. 

I was instructed by the Rutherford County library board to relocate well over 100 books, including LGBTQ plus themed/teen books. I refused to do so because I believe such action constitutes censorship, violates the first amendment and goes against my duty to uphold intellectual freedom through American Library Association guidelines.

Public libraries are community forums, serving the entire community, not just those who share the loudest voice or the most restricted views. Librarians should not be used as a filter for political agendas. 

I stood up for the right to read —standing for the citizens of Rutherford County. I believe my firing is an unlawful act of viewpoint discrimination. This action hurts library patrons, not just the librarian.

I’ve worked throughout my professional career to gain the knowledge, experience and trust to become a library director. This trust compels me to fight for the freedom of this community to read freely. This includes the right of young people to access books and ideas, and to resist an order to essentially hide the books. 

She closed the rant by saying she's "exploring all legal options to challenge this retaliatory termination," and that she thinks the board removing her is "illegal." Her hope, she said, was that her activism at the library "encourage[s] others to stand against the targeting of our public institutions."

This is how they think on the Left. They are the virtuous victims here. The fact is that no one is targeting libraries or any other public institution from the Conservative side; if anyone is, it's them..

No, protecting the next generation from the normalization of mental illness by shelving LGBTQ-plus materials where only adults can access them is not censorship or anti-freedom. The parent is a child's first and best teacher; a mom or dad needs to be the one to decide what is appropriate, anyway, not people like this librarian with an obviously slanted political agenda.

Victory Over Death

Victory Over Death

Easter is a revolutionary act.

Mark Tapson for 

Frontpage Magazine

As Easter dawns this weekend, Christians across the globe will gather to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ — a singular event that overthrew the dominion of death and offered instead the hope of salvation. It is the beating heart of a faith that has shaped the moral and cultural architecture of the West for two millennia.

The spiritual significance of Easter is its radical claim that Christ’s resurrection is the ultimate victory over our sin and mortality. This is not a mere metaphor or myth but an historical and metaphysical reality. The empty tomb testifies to a God who personally entered human suffering, conquered it, and continues to offer redemption to a fallen world. In our nihilistic age, when many replace real meaning with political activism and an idolization of the self, Easter’s message proclaims that our lives have purpose, that our sacrifices are not in vain, and that love triumphs over despair. It is a reorientation of the soul toward eternity.

Culturally, Easter has been a cornerstone of Western civilization, its themes of renewal and redemption woven into our art, literature, and moral imagination. From Dante’s Divine Comedy to Bach’s St. Matthew Passion, the resurrection infuses us with humility but has also inspired our highest aspirations. It has fueled the creation of hospitals, the abolition of slavery, the rise of charity, and the concept of inalienable human rights—ideas rooted in the revelation that every soul is made in God’s image, that all lives matter.

Yet, in our time, Easter’s message is threatened by enemies increasingly hostile to it. Christians are tested in a crucible of unprecedented persecution globally. Addressing diplomats and international officials gathered for a “Standing with Persecuted Christians: Defending the Faith and Christian Values” event at the United Nations in Geneva on March 3, Vatican representative Archbishop Ettore Balestrero said the scale of persecution of Christians was stark and ongoing, and required urgent attention from governments and international institutions responsible for protecting fundamental rights.

The numbers are staggering. “Almost 400 million Christians worldwide face persecution or violence, making them the most persecuted religious community in the world,” he said, noting that “one in seven Christians is affected.” Nearly 5,000 Christians were martyred in 2025 alone – roughly 13 deaths every day. The Open Doors organization notes that that number has already been surpassed so far in 2026. In Nigeria, Boko Haram and Fulani militants slaughter Christian villagers with impunity, their churches reduced to ash. In China, the Communist Party demolishes crosses and jails pastors, replacing the Gospel with state-sanctioned propaganda. In the Middle East, ancient Christian communities—descendants of the faith’s earliest witnesses—are being erased by jihadist violence and systemic discrimination.

This persecution is ideological as well as corporeal. In the West, cultural Marxists have waged a relentless and largely successful campaign to secularize the public square, purging Christian symbols and values from cultural institutions. The neo-Marxist aim is a society unmoored from transcendence, in which the State, not God, defines morality. The Left understands that to remake society, it must dismantle its spiritual foundations. By marginalizing Christianity, they aim to sever the West from this moral compass, leaving it adrift in a sea of relativism.

This secularizing zeal has birthed a culture of grievance and division, in which identity politics intentionally negates the universal brotherhood that Easter affirms. The result is a civilization in decline: spiritually hollow, culturally fragmented, and increasingly authoritarian. Schools, once grounded in Judeo-Christian ethics, now inculcate ideologies that promote moral relativism over the True, the Good, and the Beautiful. Universities, media, and even many churches have embraced a progressive orthodoxy that recasts Christian virtues as relics of oppression and intolerance. The rise of cancel culture, the suppression of free speech, and the weaponization of institutions against dissenters are symptoms of a society that has rejected Easter’s call to truth and grace.

Easter, with its humble yet glorious affirmation of divine authority, is an affront to the Left’s worldly designs. It reminds us that no earthly power can command our ultimate allegiance. The resurrection is both a personal promise and a cosmic one, a hope that has sustained the West through its darkest hours — Roman persecution, barbarian invasions, world wars. It is a rallying cry for those of us who refuse to submit to the spirit of our decadent age. It calls Christians to stand firm with the courage of conviction.

This means defending the faith in the public square. It means rebuilding cultural institutions — schools, churches, families — that reflect the values of truth, beauty, and sacrifice. It means bearing witness to the Gospel in a world that despises it, knowing that the God who raised Christ from the dead can also raise a civilization from its ashes.

Easter assures us that no persecution, no ideology, no earthly power can extinguish the truth. This is not blind optimism; history is replete with examples of Christianity’s resilience, from the early martyrs to the medieval monks who nurtured civilization for a thousand years after the collapse of Rome, to the dissidents who defied communist tyranny with the cross. Today’s persecuted, from Nigerian villagers to Chinese house churches, embody this same indomitable spirit. Their witness shames the complacency of the comfortable West.

This weekend, as churches fill with hymns of triumph, let us remember what is at stake. Historically, spiritually, and civilizationally, Easter is a revolutionary act. It declares that death is not the end, that evil will not have the last word, and that a broken world can be made whole. In a time of chaos and re-paganizing decay, this is the message the West desperately needs. The question is whether we will have the courage to carry it. Will we return to the faith that birthed our greatness, or will we surrender to a secular dystopia where power, not principle, reigns?

The tomb is empty. Christ is risen. And the future belongs to those who dare to believe it.

'Margaritagate' Sen. Van Hollen Embarrassed by DHS Again As He's Busted Over Latest Whopper

RedState 

This guy, Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), is really something. He’ll do seemingly anything to defame the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) as they try to rid the nation of all the criminal illegal aliens that Democrats let in under the Biden administration.

Remember the “Maryland Man” controversy, when Van Hollen tried to make an alleged gangbanging illegal alien, Kilmar Abrego Garcia, into a hero for our times? He even flew to El Salvador in April of 2025 to visit Garcia in El Salvador, where he’d been mistakenly deported, to have margaritas. (The senator says he did not drink them, but they were very clearly on the table when the men met.)

Abrego Garcia is currently not incarcerated but faces federal human smuggling charges in Tennessee. What a sweetheart.

Van Hollen has found a new hero to glom on to, however: Ever Alvarenga, a harmless asylum seeker who was ruthlessly treated by ICE and now lies in a hospital with grievous injuries. Van Hollen posted to social media about the tragedy:

Ever Alvarenga, an asylum seeker, was driving to work Thursday morning when he was rear-ended by an ICE vehicle. He is still in the hospital after suffering significant injuries to his head, chest, back, & hands.

After the accident, he was detained & ICE now refuses to allow his attorneys to meet with him privately, a clear denial of the due process rights afforded to all under our Constitution.

ICE tactics are endangering our communities & violating the Constitution.

He included a photo of Alvarenga wearing a neck brace in a hospital bed. His face and hands are bloodied and bruised.

Here's a screenshot:

What a horrific story! Man, these ICE agents are just violent thugs trying to hassle innocent people.

Oh, wait — that’s not what happened at all, according to DHS. Fox News reporter Bill Melugin responded directly to Van Hollen’s tweet and told the real story:

The full post:

BREAKING: DHS tells @FoxNews that this “asylum seeker” is actually a Honduran illegal alien who has had a final deportation order since 2018, & when ICE targeted him in Baltimore, he fled in his vehicle at high speeds, slammed on his brakes and caused a multi car pileup, then he bailed out and ran away on foot before being chased down and arrested. DHS says two ICE agents were hospitalized as a result of the crash, and they are accusing Sen. Van Hollen (D-MD) of misrepresenting what happened here.

Oh. That certainly sounds different than what Van Hollen alleged, doesn't it?

The Democrats will do anything to demonize federal law enforcement — even when the facts don’t support their narratives. Chris Van Hollen would rather get woke points from leftists than do anything to protect his own citizens.

UN Agencies Stonewalling U.S. Probe As Links to Hamas Surface in Scrutiny of Aid Programs

RedState 

United Nations agencies have refused to provide key personnel records to U.S. investigators in an ongoing probe into potential Hamas ties inside U.S.-funded aid programs.

A report sent to Congress this week by the USAID inspector general’s office says multiple UN agencies failed to fully respond to requests for employee data tied to the programs. The requests sought names, basic identifying information, and employment history for people working on U.S.-funded awards, records investigators say are necessary to determine whether individuals with known affiliations were able to move between organizations without detection.

Some agencies offered only partial responses, while others did not respond at all, according to the report.

“None of the responding UN recipients provided the requested information pertaining to their personnel,” the report states

The requests were part of ‘Operation Stop the Carousel,’ a USAID Office of Inspector General (OIG) investigation into how individuals tied to terrorist groups moved between aid organizations receiving U.S. funding in Gaza. Investigators are examining whether those individuals were able to move across multiple organizations without being flagged when oversight relied on internal screening instead of outside verification.

The investigation expanded after earlier findings identified individuals believed to have been affiliated with Hamas, some of whom were referred for potential suspension or debarment from U.S.-funded programs.

“USAID policies exempted UN organizations from the vetting process that the Agency required of NGOs and contractors,” the report states. 

Investigators say that structure leaves the U.S. government dependent on the United Nations to screen the personnel working on taxpayer-funded programs, including those operating inside Gaza-based aid distribution networks, limiting the government’s ability to independently verify who is participating in those programs and whether prior concerns about terrorist affiliations were identified or addressed, as federal officials continue reviewing how U.S. aid is distributed in Gaza.

That leaves U.S. officials dependent on the same system now under investigation to catch potential terrorist ties.

Under existing UN rules, membership in Hamas alone does not automatically disqualify an applicant from working on U.S.-funded programs, a gap investigators say complicates efforts to prevent individuals tied to designated terrorist organizations from participating in aid operations.

“Vulnerabilities…limit the assurance that terrorist-affiliated staff have not been onboarded,” investigators wrote.

Access to personnel records would allow investigators to determine whether people working on aid programs had previously been flagged for ties to Hamas or other groups, and to bar future participation where warranted, particularly in cases where individuals may have shifted between organizations performing similar work.

Federal officials have indicated that individuals identified through the investigation could be referred for suspension or debarment. At the same time, organizations that provided material support could face further legal scrutiny under U.S. law. The OIG has also warned that failure to comply with information requests could result in referrals to Congress and other federal authorities.

The probe is now moving forward without the records investigators say they need, leaving unanswered how many individuals tied to terrorist groups may have already passed through U.S.-funded aid programs as the investigation continues.