Ken Hutcherson: "Jesus before blackness" in wake of Zimmerman trial

Today on radio, Glenn was joined by Pastor Ken Hutcherson to discuss the aftermath of the George Zimmerman trial, specifically the increasing division along skin color. Hutcherson said that much of this division has emerged because the black community has been living in the mindset of victimhood, and he told Glenn the only solutions were going to come from God.

"In the black community, we have a real bad case of victimhood. We consider ourselves victims. So if you're a victim, it's very difficult to think that you are wrong. It's everybody else's fault. And so in the Trayvon/Zimmerman issue, it's very difficult for them to accept the fact that, you know, Trayvon could have done something wrong in this whole incident and that is because they put their blackness before they put everything, including Christ, including the Holy Spirit, including truth and including the Holy Spirit. Because if you put your blackness in front of the Holy Spirit, you can't get through it," Hutcherson told Glenn.

Hutch said that people need to pray that God breaks through and wakes people up, noting that it will take more than politicians and even more than pastors bring about change.

"First thing a person should do who believes in God, who believes in Christ, who believes that God is the way, we just start praying for them because God's got to come through.  We give the truth as we pray for them and we pray for the Holy Spirit to break through.  Politics is not going to break through.  Politician is not going to break through.  Pastors are not going to break through because most of the pastors are evangelicals, are just afraid of their sheep more than leading them.  You heard me say that.  Pastor's not going to do it, churches are not going to do it.  It is God through the Holy Spirit that's going to do it, and I am one who believes this the power of the Holy Spirit can turn this country around when we get unified because God will bless unity.  He always has and he always will.  And that is the only hope for America today," Hutch said.

He also told Glenn that Jesus has to come first in people's lives or things will never change and America will will continue down the same path it's headed now.

"I mean, the biggest problem we got, Glenn, is like I said in my article is that anytime you put your blackness in front of Jesus or you put your whiteness in front of Jesus, you put your political views in front of Jesus, you put your patriotism in front of Jesus, it's a bad deal.  It doesn't work.  And until black people learn to put Jesus in front of their blackness, they will never be the great people that God expects them to be.  Never."

Read Hutcherson's comments on race and faith in the wake of the George Zimmerman trial at TheBlaze.

Full Transcript of the interview is below:

GLENN: Warning: What you're about to hear will be controversial because it is the truth, and that is the only thing that is shocking in our society on how somebody really, truly feels or what the truth really is. Pastor Ken Hutcherson from the Antioch Bible Church in Seattle, Washington is with us. I warn you, he is not one to mince words, and he'll tell you exactly how he feels because he has stage 4 cancer and so he would rather go out telling the truth and spending his time doing something worthwhile than wasting it playing politically incorrect games.

Ken, how are you, sir?

HUTCHERSON: Hey, how are you guys doing this morning?

GLENN: Well, you know, I'm really actually really frustrated. First of all, you have an article that is out on TheBlaze now and the Christian Post. You speak frankly to blacks about Trayvon Martin. So this is actually a highlight of the Trayvon Martin case as somebody who is actually telling the truth. You want to recap some of this before we start our conversation?

HUTCHERSON: That's up to you. I was, just want to let you guys know I really appreciate you calling a brother so early. You know this is Seattle out here.

GLENN: Yeah.

HUTCHERSON: And you guys are always calling the brother early, man. You know, I have to get up, I'm standing here right now, Glenn, in my ‑‑ with a towel wrapped around me. Want me to tweet you something?

GLENN: (Laughing.) Ooh, that was disturbing.

HUTCHERSON: (Laughing.)

GLENN: So Pastor, let's start with, you said James Manning, who's a guy I don't usually agree with ‑‑

HUTCHERSON: We don't. Neither one of us.

GLENN: Yeah. And you say he hit it on the head when he said black people have a difficult time accepting truth simply because they're black. Explain.

HUTCHERSON: Yes. The biggest problem that we have here in America, bruh, is we have allowed in the African‑American community and, you know, I like to just consider black. I don't hear white Americans, you know, Hispanic Americans, everybody putting subtitles on who we are. We are Americans. But in the black community, we have a real bad case of victimhood. We consider ourselves victims. So if you're a victim, it's very difficult to think that you are wrong. It's everybody else's fault. And so in the Trayvon/Zimmerman issue, it's very difficult for them to accept the fact that, you know, Trayvon could have done something wrong in this whole incident and that is because they put their blackness before they put everything, including Christ, including the Holy Spirit, including truth and including the Holy Spirit. Because if you put your blackness in front of the Holy Spirit, you can't get through it.

GLENN: So here is the real question: How do we solve this? Because ‑‑

HUTCHERSON: By telling the truth.

GLENN: But is anybody listening to the truth anymore?

HUTCHERSON: Evidently. It made it to an article. You saw it. You liked it. Blaze printed it up. There's people calling me all kinds of names and telling me I'm a traitor. They called me, you know, the Oreo. As a matter of fact, man, an Oreo with some milk is not bad.

STU: (Laughing.)

GLENN: But where does this get us, Ken? I mean ‑‑

HUTCHERSON: It gets us in trouble, but it also gets us heard. It gets us to make people start thinking, Glenn, and that's the most important thing in the world about someone who's got a closed mind.

I tweeted this morning people that's lived by the flesh can only influence other people living by the flesh negatively. It is those who have lived by the spirit that can produce a positive and uplifting message. So Christians, get on your job and start doing what God called us to do. I don't care about fearfulness. I'm not fearful about anything. God is ‑‑ he walked the valley of the shadow of death, I walked with no evil, for my Lord and savior and the baddest one in the valley.

GLENN: Do you ever fear death? When you found out you had cancer, did you fear death?

HUTCHERSON: That was the first ‑‑ that was the last thing I needed to break this whole concept of not fearing anything, to be like Christ. Once I got cancer, brother, I go, oh, man, the world's in trouble.

GLENN: Because you were kind of like that, you know, when you were ‑‑ I mean, you were a racist when you were a teenager.

HUTCHERSON: Oh, yes. Glenn, you would never ‑‑ people can't even comprehend how I felt about whites. Like a smile on your face ‑‑ you know my motto was if you can't beat them, use them.

GLENN: What does that mean?

HUTCHERSON: That simply means, you smile, pat them on the back, kill them and beat them up when you can. Ain't no one can catch ya. I didn't believe in that joining stuff. I believe that I was superior as a black person, superior mind, superior capabilities physically. God proved it over and over again. I didn't know it was God using me to get me ready for this fight, but it was ‑‑ I hated white people. I didn't just dislike them. I hated them.

GLENN: So you were changed because God showed you what love meant.

HUTCHERSON: Oh, Glenn, when you look Jesus in the eye and you allow your heart to know how much he loves you and what he did for you, how he died on the cross for you. I even have people in my own neighborhood, I have family members talk about dying, but you know, we get in a fight and they will run off and leave you. I had two brothers that we was coming from ‑‑ two black brothers talking about, coming from the game during our junior high year, bro, after our homecoming celebration and we got surrounded by about 20, 30 white guys walking home. You know what my two black brothers did? They ran and left me. Ran off and left me. Man, I was fighting like a crazy pent‑up panther to get out of that crowd. But Jesus would never run off and leave me. And he said to me, I love you. I died for you. I rose again for you, I love you so much.

GLENN: Ken, now here's ‑‑

HUTCHERSON: And I also died for white people. So who are you to think you have the right to hate anybody.

GLENN: Here's the problem. I don't know what mindset you were in at the time, but we have a ‑‑ we will a whole nation of people that are being told by very big authorities you ‑‑ and it's almost now universally accepted that you are being held back by this group of people, they're in your way, and no matter ‑‑ no matter how many cities are destroyed, no matter how many children are made illiterate, no matter how many families are destroyed, this, this lie continues to grow and seemingly gain strength, and you have a ‑‑ I'm not just talking about black people. I'm talking about white people too.

HUTCHERSON: Oh, yeah.

GLENN: You have people who are just willing to take it because it's easier that way. How do you get people to do things that are hard?

HUTCHERSON: Number one ‑‑

GLENN: You're asking people to change ‑‑

HUTCHERSON: Number one ‑‑

GLENN: ‑‑ and stop taking stuff.

HUTCHERSON: Yeah. Number one: We've got to pray for them, Glenn. Prayer breaks things ‑‑ I was supposed to have been dead 5 1/2 years ago. Prayer's kept me alive through all this, right? Now, if prayer can do that, there's nothing I said I don't think prayer can accomplish. First thing a person should do who believes in God, who believes in Christ, who believes that God is the way, we just start praying for them because God's got to come through. We give the truth as we pray for them and we pray for the Holy Spirit to break through. Politics is not going to break through. Politician is not going to break through. Pastors are not going to break through because most of the pastors are evangelicals, are just afraid of their sheep more than leading them. You heard me say that. Pastor's not going to do it, churches are not going to do it. It is God through the Holy Spirit that's going to do it, and I am one who believes this the power of the Holy Spirit can turn this country around when we get unified because God will bless unity. He always has and he always will. And that is the only hope for America today.

GLENN: Do you believe that we are ‑‑ you know, I said right before you came on that I'm beginning to believe that a reset is coming and is necessary. Do you believe we are at the point of reset, or do you think that we walk away, we walk away, you know, by the skin of our teeth just saying, whew, that was a close one"?

HUTCHERSON: Oh, no, no, no. There's no way in the world we're going to walk away by the skin of our teeth, brother. If God don't do something to break is up, he's going to have to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah.

GLENN: Well, that's a happy note. Back to you standing in your kitchen with your ‑‑

HUTCHERSON: Say what I, Glenn, it's not good to have silence on radio, you know.

GLENN: I know. Sometimes, sometimes it is. Sometimes people need to ‑‑ sometimes people need to hear the silence and ‑‑

HUTCHERSON: Right. It's no way in the world, Glenn, he's not going to reset us, man, to save this nation. It's going to have to happen. I mean, just look at scripture. Look at prophecy. Every prophecy in the Bible has come through and will come through that has not come forth yet. You can put your money on the bank on that, bruh, and God's going to do something here to America. But we also have to remember that America's not mentioned in front of is I.

GLENN: Okay. Thank you for that too. You know, I was in church yesterday and I ‑‑

HUTCHERSON: That's a good place to be.

GLENN: I know. And I thought ‑‑ I wrote down on the, you know, the little thing that they pass out. What do you call them?

HUTCHERSON: Bulletin?

GLENN: Yeah, the bulletin. And I wrote on there, we all used to think that we were alike and that we all wanted America to succeed and we all believed in America.

HUTCHERSON: Mmm‑hmmm.

GLENN: We found out that not to be true.

HUTCHERSON: Mmm‑hmmm.

GLENN: We all now believe that most people are alike; they just want to be left alone and let live. I don't think that's true either.

I think evil is on the rampage in our nation.

HUTCHERSON: You know why evil's on the rampage, Glenn? Because righteousness is feared. Silent and fearful. See, the only way ‑‑ what was the statement said? The only way evil is to promote itself and grow is good people stay silent?

GLENN: Well, here's what ‑‑ and let me ask you this: Here's why that has happened. I mean, it is ‑‑ it takes everything in me now to say black as opposed to African‑American because it has been drilled into us and drilled into us and drilled into us. And even when I say black as opposed to African‑American, even though I fully believe that African‑American is wrong and everything else, there's still part of me that goes, well, I don't want to make anybody ‑‑ I mean, most Americans, the reason why political correctness has succeeded is because most Americans, they're not politically correct. They just ‑‑ you know, if that makes somebody feel better, fine. I'll do that. And I just don't want to cause any trouble. That's the way most Americans are.

HUTCHERSON: Most Americans didn't change history, bro. There's only a few that can do that. And that's the reason I like to work with you: I think we want to change history and make the future better. But don't you worry about calling people black, brother. Let me tell you, black people come through a metamorphosis of names. We've had so many names, we don't know what we ought to call ourselves.

GLENN: Hutch ‑‑

HUTCHERSON: The NAACP still don't know what to call each other.

PAT: What do you identify with, Hutch? Do you identify with ‑‑

GLENN: No. Black.

PAT: Because I don't think I've ever heard you refer to yourself as African‑American.

GLENN: No. He's just black.

PAT: Yeah.

HUTCHERSON: Yeah, man.

PAT: And I've heard others say that as well, that they've never been to Africa. Why would you call yourself African‑American?

HUTCHERSON: I tell you the only true African‑American I've ever seen is Rabbi Lapin.

PAT: Yes.

GLENN: Yeah. Well, you know, you talk about, you know, African‑American and black, and we've made this culture to where you can feel comfortable calling yourself black but if you're white, you immediately feel uncomfortable and being made to feel uncomfortable for calling you anything but African‑American. And then you have the N‑word, which I think is a despicable word, especially ‑‑ I mean, you know, I didn't need to talk to you to know how horrible that is, but I have to tell ya, after sitting down and talking to somebody like you who went through living in the South in the Fifties and the Sixties, I'll tell you, Hutch, it's an experience that, a guy who grew up in the Seattle ‑‑ in the Pacific Northwest, I didn't grow up around any of that. I didn't recognize any of that. And to hear it is stunning and is so unbelievably shameful and yet, people like Al Sharpton, I've talked to him about it. Why don't you stand up against that? Why don't you ever stand up against that? "Well, I do." No, you don't.

HUTCHERSON: But that don't make money, Glenn.

GLENN: What did you say?

HUTCHERSON: That don't make money for him.

PAT: Isn't that the truth.

STU: To be fair, he did march on that against rappers using that word and in, in fact ‑‑

HUTCHERSON: Oh, good.

PAT: And you joined him, did you?

GLENN: I did join him.

PAT: Yeah.

GLENN: Because I ‑‑

HUTCHERSON: I really appreciate him marching against rappers.

STU: Fair point.

GLENN: Go ahead, Hutch.

HUTCHERSON: I mean, the biggest problem we got, Glenn, is like I said in my article is that anytime you put your blackness in front of Jesus or you put your whiteness in front of Jesus, you put your political views in front of Jesus, you put your patriotism in front of Jesus, it's a bad deal. It doesn't work. And until black people learn to put Jesus in front of their blackness, they will never be the great people that God expects them to be. Never.

GLENN: Well, that's not happening. I mean, you know, black people ‑‑

HUTCHERSON: I'm going to help it happen.

GLENN: You look at the values of the average black family and they're very conservative. Very conservative.

HUTCHERSON: Very. Very.

GLENN: And you don't see any of that in the way we vote or the way people speak or anything. It just doesn't happen. It happens in church, but it doesn't happen any place else.

HUTCHERSON: Have you seen the movie Lincoln?

GLENN: Yes.

HUTCHERSON: Brother, that movie, to have Argo beat that out? You know that's Hollywood. I don't have the slightest idea how Argo beat Lincoln out for the award. I'm going to tell you something, man: Every black person in the world should be made to sit down and watch that movie and see how Democrats was the one that stood against freeing the slaves. They ought to sit down and read some black history in America, which, history isn't taught at all in America anymore, to find out just who the Jim Crow laws and the separate but equal people who pushed that mess. We are stupid as a people ‑‑

PAT: And then see who it was that ‑‑

HUTCHERSON: ‑‑ when it comes to knowing who to support.

PAT: And then find out who it was that opposed the Civil Rights Movement in the Fifties and Sixties, again, Democrats.

GLENN: Not just Democrats. It was London B. Johnson.

PAT: Yeah.

GLENN: It was Johnson.

PAT: Al Gore's dad.

GLENN: Yeah. Al Gore's dad is Lyndon B. Johnson's?

PAT: No. Just an addendum to it.

GLENN: Yeah, okay. Thank you very much.

PAT: In addition to Lyndon B. Johnson.

GLENN: A very confusing conversation.

Hutch, we love you, man. I'll talk to you later.

HUTCHERSON: I'll see you this afternoon, right?

GLENN: Thank you ‑‑ yes, sir. We'll see you at TV tonight. Thank you.

HUTCHERSON: Bye.

GLENN: Pastor Ken Hutcherson, former NFL player, former racist, and a guy who has very little time left and has the truth, knows what it is. Will America listen?

URGENT: FIVE steps to CONTROL AI before it's too late!

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By now, many of us are familiar with AI and its potential benefits and threats. However, unless you're a tech tycoon, it can feel like you have little influence over the future of artificial intelligence.

For years, Glenn has warned about the dangers of rapidly developing AI technologies that have taken the world by storm.

He acknowledges their significant benefits but emphasizes the need to establish proper boundaries and ethics now, while we still have control. But since most people aren’t Silicon Valley tech leaders making the decisions, how can they help keep AI in check?

Recently, Glenn interviewed Tristan Harris, a tech ethicist deeply concerned about the potential harm of unchecked AI, to discuss its societal implications. Harris highlighted a concerning new piece of legislation proposed by Texas Senator Ted Cruz. This legislation proposes a state-level moratorium on AI regulation, meaning only the federal government could regulate AI. Harris noted that there’s currently no Federal plan for regulating AI. Until the federal government establishes a plan, tech companies would have nearly free rein with their AI. And we all know how slowly the federal government moves.

This is where you come in. Tristan Harris shared with Glenn the top five actions you should urge your representatives to take regarding AI, including opposing the moratorium until a concrete plan is in place. Now is your chance to influence the future of AI. Contact your senator and congressman today and share these five crucial steps they must take to keep AI in check:

Ban engagement-optimized AI companions for kids

Create legislation that will prevent AI from being designed to maximize addiction, sexualization, flattery, and attachment disorders, and to protect young people’s mental health and ability to form real-life friendships.

Establish basic liability laws

Companies need to be held accountable when their products cause real-world harm.

Pass increased whistleblower protections

Protect concerned technologists working inside the AI labs from facing untenable pressures and threats that prevent them from warning the public when the AI rollout is unsafe or crosses dangerous red lines.

Prevent AI from having legal rights

Enact laws so AIs don’t have protected speech or have their own bank accounts, making sure our legal system works for human interests over AI interests.

Oppose the state moratorium on AI 

Call your congressman or Senator Cruz’s office, and demand they oppose the state moratorium on AI without a plan for how we will set guardrails for this technology.

Glenn: Only Trump dared to deliver on decades of empty promises

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The Islamic regime has been killing Americans since 1979. Now Trump’s response proves we’re no longer playing defense — we’re finally hitting back.

The United States has taken direct military action against Iran’s nuclear program. Whatever you think of the strike, it’s over. It’s happened. And now, we have to predict what happens next. I want to help you understand the gravity of this situation: what happened, what it means, and what might come next. To that end, we need to begin with a little history.

Since 1979, Iran has been at war with us — even if we refused to call it that.

We are either on the verge of a remarkable strategic victory or a devastating global escalation. Time will tell.

It began with the hostage crisis, when 66 Americans were seized and 52 were held for over a year by the radical Islamic regime. Four years later, 17 more Americans were murdered in the U.S. Embassy bombing in Beirut, followed by 241 Marines in the Beirut barracks bombing.

Then came the Khobar Towers bombing in 1996, which killed 19 more U.S. airmen. Iran had its fingerprints all over it.

In Iraq and Afghanistan, Iranian-backed proxies killed hundreds of American soldiers. From 2001 to 2020 in Afghanistan and 2003 to 2011 in Iraq, Iran supplied IEDs and tactical support.

The Iranians have plotted assassinations and kidnappings on U.S. soil — in 2011, 2021, and again in 2024 — and yet we’ve never really responded.

The precedent for U.S. retaliation has always been present, but no president has chosen to pull the trigger until this past weekend. President Donald Trump struck decisively. And what our military pulled off this weekend was nothing short of extraordinary.

Operation Midnight Hammer

The strike was reportedly called Operation Midnight Hammer. It involved as many as 175 U.S. aircraft, including 12 B-2 stealth bombers — out of just 19 in our entire arsenal. Those bombers are among the most complex machines in the world, and they were kept mission-ready by some of the finest mechanics on the planet.

USAF / Handout | Getty Images

To throw off Iranian radar and intelligence, some bombers flew west toward Guam — classic misdirection. The rest flew east, toward the real targets.

As the B-2s approached Iranian airspace, U.S. submarines launched dozens of Tomahawk missiles at Iran’s fortified nuclear facilities. Minutes later, the bombers dropped 14 MOPs — massive ordnance penetrators — each designed to drill deep into the earth and destroy underground bunkers. These bombs are the size of an F-16 and cost millions of dollars apiece. They are so accurate, I’ve been told they can hit the top of a soda can from 15,000 feet.

They were built for this mission — and we’ve been rehearsing this run for 15 years.

If the satellite imagery is accurate — and if what my sources tell me is true — the targeted nuclear sites were utterly destroyed. We’ll likely rely on the Israelis to confirm that on the ground.

This was a master class in strategy, execution, and deterrence. And it proved that only the United States could carry out a strike like this. I am very proud of our military, what we are capable of doing, and what we can accomplish.

What comes next

We don’t yet know how Iran will respond, but many of the possibilities are troubling. The Iranians could target U.S. forces across the Middle East. On Monday, Tehran launched 20 missiles at U.S. bases in Qatar, Syria, and Kuwait, to no effect. God forbid, they could also unleash Hezbollah or other terrorist proxies to strike here at home — and they just might.

Iran has also threatened to shut down the Strait of Hormuz — the artery through which nearly a fifth of the world’s oil flows. On Sunday, Iran’s parliament voted to begin the process. If the Supreme Council and the ayatollah give the go-ahead, we could see oil prices spike to $150 or even $200 a barrel.

That would be catastrophic.

The 2008 financial collapse was pushed over the edge when oil hit $130. Western economies — including ours — simply cannot sustain oil above $120 for long. If this conflict escalates and the Strait is closed, the global economy could unravel.

The strike also raises questions about regime stability. Will it spark an uprising, or will the Islamic regime respond with a brutal crackdown on dissidents?

Early signs aren’t hopeful. Reports suggest hundreds of arrests over the weekend and at least one dissident executed on charges of spying for Israel. The regime’s infamous morality police, the Gasht-e Ershad, are back on the streets. Every phone, every vehicle — monitored. The U.S. embassy in Qatar issued a shelter-in-place warning for Americans.

Russia and China both condemned the strike. On Monday, a senior Iranian official flew to Moscow to meet with Vladimir Putin. That meeting should alarm anyone paying attention. Their alliance continues to deepen — and that’s a serious concern.

Now we pray

We are either on the verge of a remarkable strategic victory or a devastating global escalation. Time will tell. But either way, President Trump didn’t start this. He inherited it — and he took decisive action.

The difference is, he did what they all said they would do. He didn’t send pallets of cash in the dead of night. He didn’t sign another failed treaty.

He acted. Now, we pray. For peace, for wisdom, and for the strength to meet whatever comes next.


This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

Globalize the Intifada? Why Mamdani’s plan spells DOOM for America

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If New Yorkers hand City Hall to Zohran Mamdani, they’re not voting for change. They’re opening the door to an alliance of socialism, Islamism, and chaos.

It only took 25 years for New York City to go from the resilient, flag-waving pride following the 9/11 attacks to a political fever dream. To quote Michael Malice, “I'm old enough to remember when New Yorkers endured 9/11 instead of voting for it.”

Malice is talking about Zohran Mamdani, a Democratic Socialist assemblyman from Queens now eyeing the mayor’s office. Mamdani, a 33-year-old state representative emerging from relative political obscurity, is now receiving substantial funding for his mayoral campaign from the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

CAIR has a long and concerning history, including being born out of the Muslim Brotherhood and named an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation terror funding case. Why would the group have dropped $100,000 into a PAC backing Mamdani’s campaign?

Mamdani blends political Islam with Marxist economics — two ideologies that have left tens of millions dead in the 20th century alone.

Perhaps CAIR has a vested interest in Mamdani’s call to “globalize the intifada.” That’s not a call for peaceful protest. Intifada refers to historic uprisings of Muslims against what they call the “Israeli occupation of Palestine.” Suicide bombings and street violence are part of the playbook. So when Mamdani says he wants to “globalize” that, who exactly is the enemy in this global scenario? Because it sure sounds like he's saying America is the new Israel, and anyone who supports Western democracy is the new Zionist.

Mamdani tried to clean up his language by citing the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, which once used “intifada” in an Arabic-language article to describe the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. So now he’s comparing Palestinians to Jewish victims of the Nazis? If that doesn’t twist your stomach into knots, you’re not paying attention.

If you’re “globalizing” an intifada, and positioning Israel — and now America — as the Nazis, that’s not a cry for human rights. That’s a call for chaos and violence.

Rising Islamism

But hey, this is New York. Faculty members at Columbia University — where Mamdani’s own father once worked — signed a letter defending students who supported Hamas after October 7. They also contributed to Mamdani’s mayoral campaign. And his father? He blamed Ronald Reagan and the religious right for inspiring Islamic terrorism, as if the roots of 9/11 grew in Washington, not the caves of Tora Bora.

Bloomberg / Contributor | Getty Images

This isn’t about Islam as a faith. We should distinguish between Islam and Islamism. Islam is a religion followed peacefully by millions. Islamism is something entirely different — an ideology that seeks to merge mosque and state, impose Sharia law, and destroy secular liberal democracies from within. Islamism isn’t about prayer and fasting. It’s about power.

Criticizing Islamism is not Islamophobia. It is not an attack on peaceful Muslims. In fact, Muslims are often its first victims.

Islamism is misogynistic, theocratic, violent, and supremacist. It’s hostile to free speech, religious pluralism, gay rights, secularism — even to moderate Muslims. Yet somehow, the progressive left — the same left that claims to fight for feminism, LGBTQ rights, and free expression — finds itself defending candidates like Mamdani. You can’t make this stuff up.

Blending the worst ideologies

And if that weren’t enough, Mamdani also identifies as a Democratic Socialist. He blends political Islam with Marxist economics — two ideologies that have left tens of millions dead in the 20th century alone. But don’t worry, New York. I’m sure this time socialism will totally work. Just like it always didn’t.

If you’re a business owner, a parent, a person who’s saved anything, or just someone who values sanity: Get out. I’m serious. If Mamdani becomes mayor, as seems likely, then New York City will become a case study in what happens when you marry ideological extremism with political power. And it won’t be pretty.

This is about more than one mayoral race. It’s about the future of Western liberalism. It’s about drawing a bright line between faith and fanaticism, between healthy pluralism and authoritarian dogma.

Call out radicalism

We must call out political Islam the same way we call out white nationalism or any other supremacist ideology. When someone chants “globalize the intifada,” that should send a chill down your spine — whether you’re Jewish, Christian, Muslim, atheist, or anything in between.

The left may try to shame you into silence with words like “Islamophobia,” but the record is worn out. The grooves are shallow. The American people see what’s happening. And we’re not buying it.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

Could China OWN our National Parks?

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The left’s idea of stewardship involves bulldozing bison and barring access. Lee’s vision puts conservation back in the hands of the people.

The media wants you to believe that Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) is trying to bulldoze Yellowstone and turn national parks into strip malls — that he’s calling for a reckless fire sale of America’s natural beauty to line developers’ pockets. That narrative is dishonest. It’s fearmongering, and, by the way, it’s wrong.

Here’s what’s really happening.

Private stewardship works. It’s local. It’s accountable. It’s incentivized.

The federal government currently owns 640 million acres of land — nearly 28% of all land in the United States. To put that into perspective, that’s more territory than France, Germany, Poland, and the United Kingdom combined.

Most of this land is west of the Mississippi River. That’s not a coincidence. In the American West, federal ownership isn’t just a bureaucratic technicality — it’s a stranglehold. States are suffocated. Locals are treated as tenants. Opportunities are choked off.

Meanwhile, people living east of the Mississippi — in places like Kentucky, Georgia, or Pennsylvania — might not even realize how little land their own states truly control. But the same policies that are plaguing the West could come for them next.

Lee isn’t proposing to auction off Yellowstone or pave over Yosemite. He’s talking about 3 million acres — that’s less than half of 1% of the federal estate. And this land isn’t your family’s favorite hiking trail. It’s remote, hard to access, and often mismanaged.

Failed management

Why was it mismanaged in the first place? Because the federal government is a terrible landlord.

Consider Yellowstone again. It’s home to the last remaining herd of genetically pure American bison — animals that haven’t been crossbred with cattle. Ranchers, myself included, would love the chance to help restore these majestic creatures on private land. But the federal government won’t allow it.

So what do they do when the herd gets too big?

They kill them. Bulldoze them into mass graves. That’s not conservation. That’s bureaucratic malpractice.

And don’t even get me started on bald eagles — majestic symbols of American freedom and a federally protected endangered species, now regularly slaughtered by wind turbines. I have pictures of piles of dead bald eagles. Where’s the outrage?

Biden’s federal land-grab

Some argue that states can’t afford to manage this land themselves. But if the states can’t afford it, how can Washington? We’re $35 trillion in debt. Entitlements are strained, infrastructure is crumbling, and the Bureau of Land Management, Forest Service, and National Park Service are billions of dollars behind in basic maintenance. Roads, firebreaks, and trails are falling apart.

The Biden administration quietly embraced something called the “30 by 30” initiative, a plan to lock up 30% of all U.S. land and water under federal “conservation” by 2030. The real goal is 50% by 2050.

That entails half of the country being taken away from you, controlled not by the people who live there but by technocrats in D.C.

You think that won’t affect your ability to hunt, fish, graze cattle, or cut timber? Think again. It won’t be conservatives who stop you from building a cabin, raising cattle, or teaching your grandkids how to shoot a rifle. It’ll be the same radical environmentalists who treat land as sacred — unless it’s your truck, your deer stand, or your back yard.

Land as collateral

Moreover, the U.S. Treasury is considering putting federally owned land on the national balance sheet, listing your parks, forests, and hunting grounds as collateral.

What happens if America defaults on its debt?

David McNew / Stringer | Getty Images

Do you think our creditors won’t come calling? Imagine explaining to your kids that the lake you used to fish in is now under foreign ownership, that the forest you hunted in belongs to China.

This is not hypothetical. This is the logical conclusion of treating land like a piggy bank.

The American way

There’s a better way — and it’s the American way.

Let the people who live near the land steward it. Let ranchers, farmers, sportsmen, and local conservationists do what they’ve done for generations.

Did you know that 75% of America’s wetlands are on private land? Or that the most successful wildlife recoveries — whitetail deer, ducks, wild turkeys — didn’t come from Washington but from partnerships between private landowners and groups like Ducks Unlimited?

Private stewardship works. It’s local. It’s accountable. It’s incentivized. When you break it, you fix it. When you profit from the land, you protect it.

This is not about selling out. It’s about buying in — to freedom, to responsibility, to the principle of constitutional self-governance.

So when you hear the pundits cry foul over 3 million acres of federal land, remember: We don’t need Washington to protect our land. We need Washington to get out of the way.

Because this isn’t just about land. It’s about liberty. And once liberty is lost, it doesn’t come back easily.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.