WATCH: "It's about control"

Tonight, one of the most shocking stories I have ever seen, and I’ve seen a lot. I’ve seen all the George Soros stuff. The government is snatching a child right out of its mother’s arms. This happened in California. All of the stories tonight that you will hear will have a common theme, and that is control.

We are living in a dangerous, dangerous time, and your neighbors better wake up from their slumber before it’s too late. A lot has changed in the last four years, but even more has changed in the last 86,497 days. That’s how many days have passed since these immortal words were penned: “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” These were the things that were given to us by God.

America, because of these words and the document that contained these words, became the land of the free. We were a beacon. Before we grew arrogant, we were a beacon, and millions of people packed up their entire lives and traveled halfway across the world. Even when we were arrogant, we were still the best in the world.

People would put their families on rickety boats and come over in Chevys. They weren’t even boats. They wouldn’t even know if they would make it alive, but it was worth it. It was worth a shot. In some cases, families were so desperate, they split apart. The patriarch of the family would make the trek in hopes of succeeding and one day have the means to bring the rest of the family to America with him, and they would do it over and over again. One by one, they would come.

In my own family, my uncle Leo was the only one who the family could afford to send to America. It was just before World War II. His family knew what was coming, and he knew he had to come to America. And the rest may never have made it. They didn’t know what exactly was going to happen to their home country in World War II.

I just read a story just a couple of days ago about a Jewish family here in America that split because they didn’t even know what would happen to America. But they took their two children and sent one to Californian and one to Illinois, and they didn’t even know about it, just to have a chance. That’s what America was, a chance, a chance to survive, a chance to breathe the air that was free, a chance to break the chains that would bind people all around the world in darkness.

Here was a beacon, a chance to pursue their wildest dreams, to pursue happiness, whatever it looked like for them…and the chance to worship God as they understood him, not with one formula. No promises, no guarantees, no fancy home or a job, just a chance, and people came by the millions, because this was the only place you had a chance.

Everywhere else you were controlled, and man is not designed to be controlled. We’re individuals, each of us unique. It’s that crazy leftist word that I don’t think – it’s like they say in the Princess Bride, you keep using this word. I do not think it means what you think it means. Diversity, that’s what America was all about. People are still coming. The question is, is America still delivering on its promise? Are we still a free nation? I’m not really sure.

The German family who fled here to homeschool their kids because of religious persecution, they would say yes, it is. Eric Holder is trying to kick them, however, out of the country. So are we? Anna and Alex Nikolayev, that’s the story of the kid that we told you yesterday. They came here from Russia of all places wanting to be free. They’re probably wondering if they were better off back with Putin in Russia. They live in the socialist state of California.

What happened to them is one of the most shocking things I’ve ever seen, and I’ve seen it all. Several armed police officers in California, escorting a social worker from Child Protective Services, stormed into their house without a warrant and physically removed their infant baby right out of their mother’s arms. Anna was smart enough to set up a video camera just before they entered, and I’m glad she did, because the story is so incredible, I don’t think anyone would believe it if you hadn’t seen this.

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Officer: So I’m going to come in and grab your baby and don’t resists and don’t fight me, okay?

 

I’m going to grab your baby. Don’t resist and don’t fight me. Are you kidding me? That goes against nature. Remember the bear cub thing that we talked about a couple of days ago? You go into a cave, and you’re like, I just want to hug the little cub. Mommy is going to tear you apart. That’s nature’s law.

It’s amazing, especially considering just a few months earlier, this government that pretends to care about babies so much that they made it legal to kill that baby just as long as you kill it in the womb before you can see anything happening. But you’d have to pry that baby out of my cold, dead hands. But what would you do as a parent?

It’s easy to talk big. It’s easy to say that would never happen to me. I’d tell them a thing or two. Really? Would you? Would you? Don’t you think you’d feel a little helpless? Would you even know what to do? Can you imagine how frightened this couple was?

Who wouldn’t be intimidated when police officers barge into your home demanding custody of the baby, and you’re thinking wait a minute, they can’t really do this, can they? And when they say yes, and if you resist, it’s only going to make it worse. You may never get your child back. What do you do, America?

Can you believe that we are living in this country now when I have to ask you that question, and you actually have to seriously ponder it? That’s the sort of thing that you would expect in North Korea or China and Russia, not here in America. Now these are, by all accounts, loving parents who are just trying to get the best treatment possible for their five-month-old baby, Sammy. That’s it. The justification CPS used was severe neglect, and I want you to understand this scene, because I want you to see if you can find any neglect, let alone severe, any neglect in this scenario.

Baby Sammy was born in a hospital with a heart condition. He goes home. He starts to show flu-like symptoms. Mom and dad are concerned, so they take him to the hospital. Boy, that doesn’t sound like neglect, does it? Now, they’re sitting in the hospital, and a nurse comes in and starts to give the child medication. Mom says, wait, what are you giving to the baby? The nurse says, I don’t know. The doctor just told me to give it to him.

Now, what do you say as a parent? Stop. I don’t know what you’re giving my child. What are you giving my child? I want to see the doctor. That’s what I would say. Is that neglect, or is that concern? Well, the doctor comes in, recommends surgery, recommends you’ve got to do it right now. Well, the couple had already previously been told that if they would wait to have surgery, the baby would be bigger and would have a better chance of surviving. Now what would you do?

And you know what’s amazing – it’s not your decision. It’s theirs. Their confidence in the quality of the care is a little shaken, because the doctor disagrees with the other doctor they just saw, and the nurse was like, I don’t know. I just give the baby whatever the doctor says. So they say, you know what, we want a second opinion. They want to go to another hospital. They want to make sure that they do the right thing before they start cutting the chest open of their child.

So they go to another hospital to get a second opinion. The second doctor says you know what, your baby is hydrated, healthy, clears the baby to go home. You’re fine. Now, does this sound like anyone even at all neglecting their children? After they left, the first hospital calls CPS and sends officers over to hospital number two. The officers show up, and they say, “Where’s the baby?” The doctor writes it all out. The baby is fine. I sent the baby home. The officers are totally satisfied, and they leave.

But that’s not good enough for the state of California. Oh no, it’s not over. Twenty-four hours later, CPS shows up at their home with armed police, breaks into their home. They do not have a warrant, and they essentially kidnap the child. Now I’m going to give you tonight a positive update to the story, and we’re going to be talking to the parents in just a few minutes, but the damage has already been done.

How can this possibly happen in the land of the free and the home of the brave? A child snatched from their mother’s arms…can you imagine? I’m just imagining what my wife – what would you do? How does it happen? Well, it’s easy – Progressives. You see, they know better than you. They’re smarter than you. They know – what do you know, really?

And God is out of the picture, so they are in control. See, it used to be God, then you, then the government. That’s the way our founders set it up. God was up here. He gave rights to you, and you say, I’m going to loan some of these rights to the federal government so they can do the things that I don’t have time to do so I can pursue happiness. That’s the way it worked.

But now government is at the top, you are underneath government, and God doesn’t even figure into the picture anymore. And if God doesn’t issue you your rights, who does? Certainly you don’t. Who are you to issue rights? The government does, and if the government starts to issue rights, they can issue them. They can issue rights over here but not over here. They can take them back. They can trample them. They can change them, because their rights, not yours.

They can do anything they see fit, because they have occupied the space of God, and this is exactly what our founders knew. The children don’t belong to you. You might’ve birthed them, but anybody can do that. They belong to the community. If this sounds insane, well let me remind you of the MSNBC promo, not just somebody in a panel going, oh yeah, I misspoke. No, no, this was a scripted promo from NBC’s Melissa Harris-Perry.

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Melissa Harris-Perry: We have never invested as much in public education as we should have, because we’ve always had kind of a private notion of children. Your kid is yours and totally your responsibility. We haven’t had a very collective notion of these are our children, so part of it is we have to break through our kind of private idea that kids belong to their parents or kids belong to their families and recognize that kids belong to whole communities. Once it’s everybody’s responsibility and not just the household’s, then we start making better investments.

Sometimes I just fall to my knees and I ask God, how is it I can’t break through? How is that I can’t break through to the American people? How is it? How do we do it here? What is wrong with people? I’m the conspiracy theory? I’m the one pushing conspiracy? Are you watching the news?

Drop the private notion of your kid belongs to you. The collective controls them now. That’s insanity. Well, we’ll make better decisions when the collective is in control. Really? Do orphanages, are they better? Because those kids are controlled by the collective. All the Progressives think that they are going to be the one that finally solves it.

It’s the ageless socialist, communist riddle – how can we achieve this perfect utopia, collectivist society where it doesn’t end in starvation and, you know, people getting shot in the head? Well, it hasn’t happened yet, and it’s not going to, because it’s impossible. Man is designed to be free and chart their own course, not to be controlled. We are not designed to be lumped into groups or collectives. We can do that by choice, but we are designed as individuals. Look at your fingerprints – individuals.

We are completely and totally unique, and that’s diversity, the way it should be. And no one else in the history of the world is like you, but Progressives are trying to defy the laws of nature. Can I ask you this simple question: Can you imagine anyone having a greater love for your child than you? Besides your spouse, is there anyone? I think God, but that’s it. That’s it. No state, no group, no government, no social worker, nobody, no teacher, nobody can love my child more than I can love my child. That’s my child.

Yet, they keep trying to take me out of the picture and you out of the picture, because you parents, you just don’t know. We went to school for these things. Really? Parents now at a New York school are up in arms – but they’re all bigots, remember that – because they weren’t notified that students were forced to attend and participate in an anti-bullying presentation on homosexuality and gender identity.

Now, this is a program that they took 13- and 14-year-old female students, and they lined ’em all up. And they were forced to ask each other to make out and to pretend to be lovers. My 13-year-old daughter is going to be forced to stand in line and look another girl in the eye and say, “I want to be your lover”? What, are you insane?

The male students participated in a workshop which presented them with the idea that they should always have a condom in their pockets at all times. You never know when, you know, you’re going to need a condom. My 13-year-old son – thank you very much. They also got tips on how to identify – and I love this one – “a slut.”

So this is a seminar designed to create a bully-free environment, bully free, except for sluts. Well, I guess maybe sluts aren’t people. You can bully sluts, because they’re sluts, but just make sure you have a condom in your pocket when you do, because, you know, she’s a slut, you know what I mean? And you gotta have that condom, unless she’s a slut that likes to be slutty with other women, and then she should be in the other line.

What planet are we living on? Who thought this was a good idea? Some Progressive, over-educated numbskull, that’s who. We have the kind of government where bureaucrats are in charge, and parents have very little to say, either by design or by choice, because a lot of this is happening because a lot people are like, whatever. It’s just a school. It’s going to be fine. No it’s not.

The school superintendent shrugged off the criticism. I love this one. “[We] may require more notification to parents…” You might? You might require, really? Mom and dad, how are you feeling? Who has more control over your child right now, the school or you? Is your child with you more than the school?

Common Core is another control grab, federally mandated curriculum that forces every school to teach exactly the same way, homogenized, generic, zero chance of sparking any creativity in the children or in the teachers. They just jammed this one through the stimulus bill and bribed its way into most of the states, and parents have been left in the dark.

Now it’s finally being implemented in some states like New York, and the complaints are coming in. “Teachers, parents, and students complained that the tests were poorly designed, covered material that not been taught, and frustrated children to the point of tears.” Well, I hope the collective was there to hold them and wipe their little runny noses.

A professor at Columbia created a website for teachers and school administrators to share their feedback on Common Core. What did he find? Overwhelmingly negative, and these are the people who like Common Core. Let’s not forget, it teaches that Communism is everyone for everyone, and Capitalism is everybody out for themselves.

The masks are coming off, and we are seeing what Progressives are really all about, one word – control. Yesterday on radio, I played for you an admission from a gay activist. While I disagree with her, I actually have respect for her, because at least she’s being honest. This is Masha Gessen. Listen.

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Masha Gessen: I mean, I agree. It’s a no-brainer that we should have the right to marry, but I also think equally that it’s a no-brainer that the institution of marriage should not exist. Fighting for gay marriage generally involves lying about what we’re going to do with marriage when we get there. You know, because we lie that the institution of marriage is not going to change, and that is a lie. The institution of marriage is going to change, and it should change. And again, I don’t think it should exist. And I don’t like taking part in creating fictions about my life. That’s sort of not what I had in mind when I came out 30 years ago. You know, I have three kids who have five parents, more or less. And I don’t see why they shouldn’t have five parents legally. I don’t see why we should choose two of those parents and make them into a sanctioned couple.

The world’s getting awfully complex here. I’m having a hard time following, keeping up. I could have a conversation with this woman every day of the week, every day of the week. At least she’s honest. These are the things the conspiracy theorists tell you that are coming down the pike, but nobody will believe you. Why, because they’re lying to you. They’re lying to you.

The institution of marriage is absolutely under attack, and if that happens, everything you know – families, parents, churches, all of it – gone. I know some Conservatives in this audience will not like this, but if you want to get married, I don’t really care. You can get married. You want to get married to a bike or a tree or a Buzz Lightyear action figure, I don’t really care. I really don’t care. Whatever dude, whatever – leave me out of it.

If that’s what your conscience dictates, I will support your right to be married in your church, and you can have the church of the, you know, the holy blue carpet, and you worship the blue carpet. I don’t really care. I’m not going to tell you what you can do in your church. Don’t you dare tell me what I can do my church.

I believe marriage is between a man and a woman. The value of that pact does not come from a government sanctioning it. It comes from God. I make a pact, a contract between my wife and God. That’s it. What God has joined together, let no man tear apart. That’s it. I have homosexual friends. I have homosexual employees. I don’t have a problem with it – whatever – good people, good people. I don’t think – maybe they’re conniving, but I don’t think so. I don’t think most people have her opinion; that they want to destroy my marriage.

We have to fight for the right to be different, to follow our conscience. Why is government even in the marriage business? Why are they in the parent business? I don’t want them in my bedroom. I don’t want them at a yard sale. I don’t want them at my kids’ lemonade stand or my living room or my kitchen.

They shouldn’t be in my marriage business, but they’ve done it now. And now they’re picking and choosing winners and losers, not only in marriage, but in business, everything. It’s only about control. They are trying to control what relationships you are allowed and not allowed to engage in. Meanwhile, they are putting all the structure in so they can watch every relationship.

When government has that kind of control over decisions that should be made by you, we all lose, even the ones making the decision. They lose, too. When the collective conscience trumps individual conscience, we are in trouble, trouble like crowds of people cheering at the demise of traditional marriage.

I think of the letter that came from Ben Franklin to Thomas Payne when he says, I’m an atheist. God doesn’t exist. How dare you? That was Ben Franklin’s response, how dare you? You are reaping all of the benefits from these people who have been listening to God. You don’t have to agree with them. Look at the benefit of this society. And now you say it’s nothing. How dare you?

Get the state out of my bedroom. Get the state out of my classroom. Get the state out of my hospital room. Get out of my life. Eighty-six thousand, four hundred ninety-seven days later, I’ve got news for you, it’s still about freedom. It’s still about freedom; however, we are now entering the time when we’re not celebrating its acquisition. We are now defending it from extinction. And it’s amazing, because the same kind of powers that seek control today are the same powers that the founders fled from in the first place.

This Fourth of July, we’re going to be out in Salt Lake City, and we’re going to do Man in the Moon. It’s a whole three-day weekend, and I invite you to come. We’re going to change the way we celebrate Fourth of July because it has to be. We have to put things back in its rightful place.

And one of the things we’re doing, we’re singing some of the traditional songs or performing them for you, but we’re not singing any of the traditional versus, because I don’t think we hear ’em anymore. I don’t think we listen to the lyrics anymore. You know what, you want to solve the problem here, maybe we should just start singing different stanzas from the Star-Spangled Banner. Maybe that’ll make people see who we really are and where we came from.

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

MANAURE QUINTERO / Contributor | Getty Images

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

Tasos Katopodis / Stringer | Getty Images

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

Bloomberg / Contributor | Getty Images

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?

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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.