Morning Brief 2023-01-17

BOTTOM OF HOUR 1
GUEST: Riley Moore
TOPIC: West Virginia has introduced legislation prohibiting the tracking of gun and ammo purchases via debit and credit card transactions.

TOP OF HOUR 2
GUEST: Michael Shellenberger
TOPIC: Shellenberger rips back the curtain hiding the World Economic Forum's cultish conference in Davos.

TOP OF HOUR 3
GUEST: Brad Meltzer
TOPIC: The assassination plot that would have changed the course of history.

 CB, RR, JB, SK, BM

Domestic News...

We need real stories of ESG hurting real people
Listeners and readers, this is not an ad. If you've been a victim of ESG, your story needs to be heard. This group is creating a database to help with this. This isn't an ad; it's a group looking to document real stories.

Report: Abortions In Texas Drop 99% Following Roe Reversal
Data from the Texas Health and Human Services Commission shows that only three abortions occurred in the state in August 2022, each of which was deemed “medically necessary.”

The 3rd Circuit Considers Whether Nonviolent Crimes Justify the Loss of Second Amendment Rights
Because of a misdemeanor welfare fraud conviction, Bryan Range is no longer allowed to own guns.

San Francisco Reparations Committee Proposes $5 Million Lump-Sum Payment, Debt Forgiveness To Qualified Black Residents
The report reads that African-Americans with less than the Area Median Income reflecting $97,000 would also receive supplements for at least 250 years.

Eight injured, one critically, in mass shooting at MLK Day event at Florida park
Four others, including a child, also suffered injuries as people fled from the gunshots, officials said.

Politics...

Democrats trust business more than Republicans for first time: Study
The Edelman Trust Barometer found that trust in business has fallen below 50% among Republicans for the first time at 48%. A clear majority of Democrats, 55%, now have trust in business.

No visitor logs exist for Biden's Wilmington home, site of classified doc discovery, WH counsel's office says
President Joe Biden has reportedly spent 163 days of his presidency at his home in Wilmington, Delaware, where the Secret Service claimed no visitor logs exist.

Update: Speculation of Hunter paying $50K/month for Joe's mansion incorrect
"This was for Hunter Biden’s application for an apartment in a hip Hollywood complex he was desperate to get into. Big-noting by falsely claiming to own dad’s house in DE. The rent may refer to the $50k rent he paid for his office at House of Sweden."

Biden Sings ‘Happy Birthday’ to MLK III’s Wife. It Doesn’t Go Well
Biden began to sing, but when it came time to say the name, things took a turn for the worse.

Biden Calls GOP ‘Fiscally Demented’
“You know, we’re gonna talk about big-spending Democrats again? Guess what? I reduced the deficit last year $350 billion. And this year? The federal deficit’s down $1 trillion-plus dollars. That’s a fact."

Joe Rogan floats theory that Biden document scandal is a ploy by Democrats to replace him
“If I had to guess — they’re trying to get rid of him. My guess would be they’re trying to get rid of him.”

Intel Veteran Knew Hunter Biden Laptop ‘Had To Be Real’ Before Signing Letter
“All of us figured that a significant portion of that content had to be real to make any Russian disinformation credible ...”

Sheila Jackson Lee Introduces Bill Criminalizing ‘Conspiracy to Commit White Supremacy,’ Criticism of Non-White People
Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee introduced a House bill criminalizing “conspiracy to commit white supremacy,” which includes criticism of non-white people that influences an individual to commit a hate crime.

Failed Political Candidate Paid For Shootings At Lawmakers’ Homes
A failed New Mexico political candidate allegedly paid men to shoot up the homes of other lawmakers after he lost his 2022 election bid, according to police.

Maryland Gov-Elect Says His Grandmother Voted For Him By Mail And Died 5 Days Before The Election
Democratic Maryland Gov.-elect Wes Moore said Monday on ABC’s “The View” that his grandmother voted for him via mail-in ballot but died five days before the election.

WEF...

World Economic Forum Lists ‘Misinformation’ As A Top Risk Threatening The World
“‘Misinformation and disinformation’ are, together, a potential accelerant to the erosion of social cohesion as well as a consequence” and can worsen growing polarization and disunity among societies, the report states.

Klaus Schwab opens WEF annual meeting with call to 'master the future'
"We couldn't meet at a more challenging time," he said, "we are confronted with so many crises simultaneously. What does it mean to master the future?"

Biden, Xi, Sunak, Macron stay away as leaders attend WEF
There are 56 participating finance ministers, 30 trade ministers, and 19 central bank heads.

Manchin, Sinema, and Coons meet with CEOs at private Davos luncheon
U.S. lawmakers quietly took part in a private ritzy lunch atop the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Monday featuring dozens of influential business leaders.

AP: As elites arrive in Davos, conspiracy theories thrive online
“The Great Reset” has become shorthand for what skeptics say is a reorganization of society, using global uncertainty as a guise to take away rights. Believers argue that measures including pandemic lockdowns and vaccine mandates are tools to consolidate power and undercut individual sovereignty.

Eco group slams Davos summit as global elites arrive in private jets to talk climate policy
Greenpeace slammed WEF attendees for traveling to Davos in "ultra-polluting, socially inequitable private jets."

Economy...

Central Bank Digital Currencies Are Coming — Whether Countries Are Ready or Not
The game-changing development could have a profound impact on the banking system. But few people still understand it.

The richest 1% of people amassed almost two-thirds of new wealth created since 2020
A total of $42 trillion in new wealth has been created since 2020, with $26 trillion, or 63%, of that being amassed by the top 1% of the ultra-rich, according to the report. The remaining 99% of the global population collected just $16 trillion of new wealth, Oxfam claims.

NY oil tycoon lost billions with Enron, FTX
A New York oil baron who lost billions in the collapse of Enron and who also invested tens of millions in Bernie Madoff’s Ponzi scheme has also taken a hit in the implosion of Sam Bankman-Fried’s cryptocurrency exchange FTX, according to a report.

Border...

Where Has Kamala Harris Been For Seven Months?
Harris has apparently disappeared from leading any public events on migration — dodging one of the responsibilities bestowed upon her by the president — for over seven months, a Daily Caller analysis found.

Eric Adams Pressures Gov. Kathy Hochul To Push Migrants Upstate
Less than a week after Hochul pointedly ignored the ongoing influx of migrants during her State of the State address, Adams told the Post that spreading them around could provide a shot in the arm to “struggling” cities upstate.

WAR News... 

Russia Reportedly Offers Citizenship To Foreigners Who Join War Against Ukraine
Foreigners waiting in line for Russian citizenship are being given a chance to cut to the front if they volunteer to join the country’s war against Ukraine.

COVID-19...

COVID-19 Vaccine Makers Pressured Twitter to Censor Activists
The social media pressure campaign was just a part of the pharmaceutical industry’s successful lobbying blitz to retain patents — and make record profits.

COVID vaccines may make BOTOX wear off faster, study suggests
Bad news for Instagram models and aging Hollywood celebrities — COVID vaccines may make Botox wear off quicker. An Israeli study claims that Botox injections used to minimize forehead and crow's feet lines "might be less effective after Covid-19 vaccination."

Celebrities Are Testing Positive for Covid After Gathering for Golden Globes
The Critics Choice Awards is now requiring all attendees to provide a negative COVID test in response to the positive number growing after the Globes.

Commie Update...

China’s population drops for the first time in decades
Mainland China’s population fell by 850,000 people in 2022 to 1.41 billion, the statistics bureau said. The country reported 9.56 million births and 10.41 million deaths for 2022.

Entertainment...

Richard Dreyfuss Gave Up Acting Because America Needed Saving: ‘People Don’t Understand What This Place Means’
Dreyfuss said he gave up his “blessed life” because his country needed saving, telling Glenn Beck that he was infuriated by the number of Americans who “don’t understand what this place means.”

‘Broke’ Lisa Marie Presley Died Owing Creditors $3.3 Million: Court Document
Presley had been spending more than $92,000 a month before her death and reportedly owed the IRS $1million after squandering her father's $100 million fortune.

Marie Osmond defends refusing her children an inheritance — to protect them from 'laziness and entitlement'
"Honestly, why would you enable your child to not try to be something? I don’t know anybody who becomes anything if they're just handed money," Osmond told the magazine.

Brendan Fraser gives tearful acceptance speech for those who feel like they’re ‘in a dark sea’
He shared his message for those who “just feel like you’re in a dark sea.”

Kevin Spacey thanks film museum for having ‘the balls’ to honor him with award
The 63-year-old was in Turin, Italy, to receive the award bestowed by the National Cinema Museum, teach a master class, and introduce a screening of "American Beauty."

Al Roker’s Tesla refuses to work properly, again
A source close to Roker told us the problem was a piece of cardboard blocking a sensor.

Media...

USA Today warns that using words like 'aloha' and 'hola' could be problematic
A piece posted by USA Today suggests that using words borrowed from other languages, such as "aloha," "hola," and "shalom," could potentially be problematic, depending on why and how they are used.

5 Times Media Ran Cover For Biden In Classified Documents Scandal
From the moment the first records were discovered at the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement in Washington, however, Biden’s allies in the legacy press corps jumped to give cover for the flagrant hypocrisy.

ABC News Refuses To Ask Adam Schiff About His Push For Big Tech Censorship
A journalist would have grilled Adam Schiff on his secret attempts to censor his enemies, but ABC’s Jonathan Karl is not a journalist.

MSNBC Guest Claims White Voters Accept ‘Inconveniences’ To Suppress Black Voters
"When you have voter suppression laws in a place like Ohio, you have, and we’ve seen this sociologically, that there’s a certain segment of white people in America who would rather have their own lives inconvenienced than run the risk of black people being on an equal plane.”

Europe...

Young sacrifice belief in God on altar of Satanism
Leaders of the religion claim its opportunities for people to engage in activism on issues such as gender and sexuality are appealing.

Africa...

Catholic priest burned to death, another shot in north Nigeria
A Nigerian gunman, with a history of targeting Catholic priests, has burned a priest to death and shot another.

Environment...

Meet the Green Energy Group Behind the Study That's Driving Calls To Ban Gas Stoves
Rocky Mountain Institute partnered with China to implement "economy-wide transformation" away from oil and gas.

Biden Admin’s Gas Stove Crusade Is Just A Preview Of What’s To Come
The war on gas stoves is part of the larger climate-inspired war on natural gas use in general. Natural gas is a fossil fuel, thus climate activists in and out of the administration want to end its residential use in favor of electrifying everything.

Scotland aims to cut car use by creating ’20-minute neighbourhoods’ in net zero push
Scotland is aiming to cut car journeys by 20 per cent by 2030.

Wyoming Moves To Ban Sales Of New Electric Vehicles By 2035
The resolution was introduced this past Friday and already has strong support from members of the Wyoming House of Representatives and Senate.

More whales turn up dead, raising concerns about threats posed by offshore wind farms
A seventh whale has turned up dead along the NY-NJ coastline inside a two-month window, prompting concerns about Democratic governments' coveted offshore wind energy projects and whether they have left behind environmental justice, biodiversity, and ocean "co-use" in their wake.

Greta Thunberg removed by German police from climate change protest at coal mine
Thunberg repeatedly refused to comply with police requests to vacate the site, giving the officers no choice but to forcibly remove her.

LGBTQIA2S+...

Video: Time to cancel Mr. Rogers
The misinformation and hatred must stop.

Nearly Half Of Patients Who Had Bottom Surgery Suffer ‘Surgical Site’ Bleeding Later
A majority of patients who had vaginoplasties presented several health concerns in visits after the operation, according to a study put out by the Women’s College Hospital.

Drag queen rallies militant leftists defending drag story time for kids at library
Militant leftists far outnumbered people protesting a drag story time event for kids Saturday in front of the Fall River Public Library in Massachusetts — and a drag queen was on hand to rally the woke troops.

Oregon Middle Schoolers Allowed To Skip Class To Watch Transgender Show
Students at Twality Middle School in the Tigard-Tualatin School District skipped class to watch “First Day,” a TV series about a 12-year-old boy who claims he's a girl.

Cambridge holds 'girlx' sports night for K-5th graders 'identifying with girlhood'
The flyer states that "girlx who play sports" are "more likely to get better grades," "have higher levels of confidence and self-esteem," and "develop critical skills necessary for success in the workplace."

Education...

Arizona Governor’s Plan To Undo Nation’s Largest School Choice Program Will Harm Students
Hobbs’ executive budget released Jan. 13 asked state legislators to reverse the state’s expansion of its school choice program, which currently allows all Arizona students in grades K-12 to receive taxpayer-funded vouchers if they choose to leave or are already outside the public education system.

Youngkin slams district for hiring $450K equity coach, withholding students' awards
Last month, Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, the highest-ranked high school in the nation, was accused of intentionally withholding notification of students' academic awards in the name of "equity."

Technology...

It’s Official: The 118th Congress Will Do Jack All To Stop Big Tech’s Abuses
Republicans have learned to talk like conservative populists, decrying the abuses of Big Business, but will they actually do anything about it?

TikTok Proposes $1.5 Billion Plan To U.S. Lawmakers Amid National Security Concerns
TikTok officials disclosed negotiation details with U.S. lawmakers in a $1.5 billion plan that would reportedly increase transparency and reorganize how it operates in the U.S. amid national security concerns about the Chinese-owned social media giant.

MIT video game gets players to confront white Midwestern woman aboard airplane over her simulated 'xenophobia'
Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers have developed a video game where players can virtually signal their virtue.

Science...

Chelsea Handler: ‘I Didn’t Know Until I Was 40’ That ‘The Sun And The Moon Were Not The Same Thing’
The grade-school-level revelation happened when the far-left 47-year-old comedian visited Africa with her sister.

New Paper Claims Evolutionary Biology Is ‘Ableist’
A biology paper misrepresented data used to support its claim that the field of evolutionary biology discriminates against disabled people, a Daily Wire analysis has found.

Jan 16, 2012 - Are we being ruled by high schoolers?... Why do Democrat politicians love Harvey Weinstein?... George Soros feels victimized by Glenn... David Barton on how George Washington would have handled situations today... Glenn thinks bacon guns are a good idea...

Trump's proposal explained: Ukraine's path to peace without NATO expansion

ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / Contributor | Getty Images

Strategic compromise, not absolute victory, often ensures lasting stability.

When has any country been asked to give up land it won in a war? Even if a nation is at fault, the punishment must be measured.

After World War I, Germany, the main aggressor, faced harsh penalties under the Treaty of Versailles. Germans resented the restrictions, and that resentment fueled the rise of Adolf Hitler, ultimately leading to World War II. History teaches that justice for transgressions must avoid creating conditions for future conflict.

Ukraine and Russia must choose to either continue the cycle of bloodshed or make difficult compromises in pursuit of survival and stability.

Russia and Ukraine now stand at a similar crossroads. They can cling to disputed land and prolong a devastating war, or they can make concessions that might secure a lasting peace. The stakes could not be higher: Tens of thousands die each month, and the choice between endless bloodshed and negotiated stability hinges on each side’s willingness to yield.

History offers a guide. In 1967, Israel faced annihilation. Surrounded by hostile armies, the nation fought back and seized large swaths of territory from Jordan, Egypt, and Syria. Yet Israel did not seek an empire. It held only the buffer zones needed for survival and returned most of the land. Security and peace, not conquest, drove its decisions.

Peace requires concessions

Secretary of State Marco Rubio says both Russia and Ukraine will need to “get something” from a peace deal. He’s right. Israel proved that survival outweighs pride. By giving up land in exchange for recognition and an end to hostilities, it stopped the cycle of war. Egypt and Israel have not fought in more than 50 years.

Russia and Ukraine now press opposing security demands. Moscow wants a buffer to block NATO. Kyiv, scarred by invasion, seeks NATO membership — a pledge that any attack would trigger collective defense by the United States and Europe.

President Donald Trump and his allies have floated a middle path: an Article 5-style guarantee without full NATO membership. Article 5, the core of NATO’s charter, declares that an attack on one is an attack on all. For Ukraine, such a pledge would act as a powerful deterrent. For Russia, it might be more palatable than NATO expansion to its border

Andrew Harnik / Staff | Getty Images

Peace requires concessions. The human cost is staggering: U.S. estimates indicate 20,000 Russian soldiers died in a single month — nearly half the total U.S. casualties in Vietnam — and the toll on Ukrainians is also severe. To stop this bloodshed, both sides need to recognize reality on the ground, make difficult choices, and anchor negotiations in security and peace rather than pride.

Peace or bloodshed?

Both Russia and Ukraine claim deep historical grievances. Ukraine arguably has a stronger claim of injustice. But the question is not whose parchment is older or whose deed is more valid. The question is whether either side is willing to trade some land for the lives of thousands of innocent people. True security, not historical vindication, must guide the path forward.

History shows that punitive measures or rigid insistence on territorial claims can perpetuate cycles of war. Germany’s punishment after World War I contributed directly to World War II. By contrast, Israel’s willingness to cede land for security and recognition created enduring peace. Ukraine and Russia now face the same choice: Continue the cycle of bloodshed or make difficult compromises in pursuit of survival and stability.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

The loneliness epidemic: Are machines replacing human connection?

NurPhoto / Contributor | Getty Images

Seniors, children, and the isolated increasingly rely on machines for conversation, risking real relationships and the emotional depth that only humans provide.

Jill Smola is 75 years old. She’s a retiree from Orlando, Florida, and she spent her life caring for the elderly. She played games, assembled puzzles, and offered company to those who otherwise would have sat alone.

Now, she sits alone herself. Her husband has died. She has a lung condition. She can’t drive. She can’t leave her home. Weeks can pass without human interaction.

Loneliness is an epidemic. And AI will not fix it. It will only dull the edges and make a diminished life tolerable.

But CBS News reports that she has a new companion. And she likes this companion more than her own daughter.

The companion? Artificial intelligence.

She spends five hours a day talking to her AI friend. They play games, do trivia, and just talk. She says she even prefers it to real people.

My first thought was simple: Stop this. We are losing our humanity.

But as I sat with the story, I realized something uncomfortable. Maybe we’ve already lost some of our humanity — not to AI, but to ourselves.

Outsourcing presence

How often do we know the right thing to do yet fail to act? We know we should visit the lonely. We know we should sit with someone in pain. We know what Jesus would do: Notice the forgotten, touch the untouchable, offer time and attention without outsourcing compassion.

Yet how often do we just … talk about it? On the radio, online, in lectures, in posts. We pontificate, and then we retreat.

I asked myself: What am I actually doing to close the distance between knowing and doing?

Human connection is messy. It’s inconvenient. It takes patience, humility, and endurance. AI doesn’t challenge you. It doesn’t interrupt your day. It doesn’t ask anything of you. Real people do. Real people make us confront our pride, our discomfort, our loneliness.

We’ve built an economy of convenience. We can have groceries delivered, movies streamed, answers instantly. But friendships — real relationships — are slow, inefficient, unpredictable. They happen in the blank spaces of life that we’ve been trained to ignore.

And now we’re replacing that inefficiency with machines.

AI provides comfort without challenge. It eliminates the risk of real intimacy. It’s an elegant coping mechanism for loneliness, but a poor substitute for life. If we’re not careful, the lonely won’t just be alone — they’ll be alone with an anesthetic, a shadow that never asks for anything, never interrupts, never makes them grow.

Reclaiming our humanity

We need to reclaim our humanity. Presence matters. Not theory. Not outrage. Action.

It starts small. Pull up a chair for someone who eats alone. Call a neighbor you haven’t spoken to in months. Visit a nursing home once a month — then once a week. Ask their names, hear their stories. Teach your children how to be present, to sit with someone in grief, without rushing to fix it.

Turn phones off at dinner. Make Sunday afternoons human time. Listen. Ask questions. Don’t post about it afterward. Make the act itself sacred.

Humility is central. We prefer machines because we can control them. Real people are inconvenient. They interrupt our narratives. They demand patience, forgiveness, and endurance. They make us confront ourselves.

A friend will challenge your self-image. A chatbot won’t.

Our homes are quieter. Our streets are emptier. Loneliness is an epidemic. And AI will not fix it. It will only dull the edges and make a diminished life tolerable.

Before we worry about how AI will reshape humanity, we must first practice humanity. It can start with 15 minutes a day of undivided attention, presence, and listening.

Change usually comes when pain finally wins. Let’s not wait for that. Let’s start now. Because real connection restores faster than any machine ever will.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

Exposed: The radical Left's bloody rampage against America

Spencer Platt / Staff | Getty Images

For years, the media warned of right-wing terror. But the bullets, bombs, and body bags are piling up on the left — with support from Democrat leaders and voters.

For decades, the media and federal agencies have warned Americans that the greatest threat to our homeland is the political right — gun-owning veterans, conservative Christians, anyone who ever voted for President Donald Trump. President Joe Biden once declared that white supremacy is “the single most dangerous terrorist threat” in the nation.

Since Trump’s re-election, the rhetoric has only escalated. Outlets like the Washington Post and the Guardian warned that his second term would trigger a wave of far-right violence.

As Democrats bleed working-class voters and lose control of their base, they’re not moderating. They’re radicalizing.

They were wrong.

The real domestic threat isn’t coming from MAGA grandmas or rifle-toting red-staters. It’s coming from the radical left — the anarchists, the Marxists, the pro-Palestinian militants, and the anti-American agitators who have declared war on law enforcement, elected officials, and civil society.

Willful blindness

On July 4, a group of black-clad terrorists ambushed an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in Alvarado, Texas. They hurled fireworks at the building, spray-painted graffiti, and then opened fire on responding law enforcement, shooting a local officer in the neck. Journalist Andy Ngo has linked the attackers to an Antifa cell in the Dallas area.

Authorities have so far charged 14 people in the plot and recovered AR-style rifles, body armor, Kevlar vests, helmets, tactical gloves, and radios. According to the Department of Justice, this was a “planned ambush with intent to kill.”

And it wasn’t an isolated incident. It’s part of a growing pattern of continuous violent left-wing incidents since December last year.

Monthly attacks

Most notably, in December 2024, 26-year-old Luigi Mangione allegedly gunned down UnitedHealth Group CEO Brian Thompson in Manhattan. Mangione reportedly left a manifesto raging against the American health care system and was glorified by some on social media as a kind of modern Robin Hood.

One Emerson College poll found that 41% of Americans between the ages of 18 and 29 said the murder was “acceptable” or “somewhat acceptable.”

The next month, a man carrying Molotov cocktails was arrested near the U.S. Capitol. He allegedly planned to assassinate Trump-appointed Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and House Speaker Mike Johnson.

In February, the “Tesla Takedown” attacks on Tesla vehicles and dealerships started picking up traction.

In March, a self-described “queer scientist” was arrested after allegedly firebombing the Republican Party headquarters in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Graffiti on the burned building read “ICE = KKK.”

In April, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro’s (D-Pa.) official residence was firebombed on Passover night. The suspect allegedly set the governor’s mansion on fire because of what Shapiro, who is Jewish, “wants to do to the Palestinian people.”

In May, two young Israeli embassy staffers were shot and killed outside the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C. Witnesses said the shooter shouted “Free Palestine” as he was being arrested. The suspect told police he acted “for Gaza” and was reportedly linked to the Party for Socialism and Liberation.

In June, an Egyptian national who had entered the U.S. illegally allegedly threw a firebomb at a peaceful pro-Israel rally in Boulder, Colorado. Eight people were hospitalized, and an 82-year-old Holocaust survivor later died from her injuries.

That same month, a pro-Palestinian rioter in New York was arrested for allegedly setting fire to 11 police vehicles. In Los Angeles, anti-ICE rioters smashed cars, set fires, and hurled rocks at law enforcement. House Democrats refused to condemn the violence.

Barbara Davidson / Contributor | Getty Images

In Portland, Oregon, rioters tried to burn down another ICE facility and assaulted police officers before being dispersed with tear gas. Graffiti left behind read: “Kill your masters.”

On July 7, a Michigan man opened fire on a Customs and Border Protection facility in McAllen, Texas, wounding two police officers and an agent. Border agents returned fire, killing the suspect.

Days later in California, ICE officers conducting a raid on an illegal cannabis farm in Ventura County were attacked by left-wing activists. One protester appeared to fire at federal agents.

This is not a series of isolated incidents. It’s a timeline of escalation. Political assassinations, firebombings, arson, ambushes — all carried out in the name of radical leftist ideology.

Democrats are radicalizing

This isn’t just the work of fringe agitators. It’s being enabled — and in many cases encouraged — by elected Democrats.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz routinely calls ICE “Trump’s modern-day Gestapo.” Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass attempted to block an ICE operation in her city. Boston Mayor Michelle Wu compared ICE agents to a neo-Nazi group. Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson referred to them as “secret police terrorizing our communities.”

Apparently, other Democratic lawmakers, according to Axios, are privately troubled by their own base. One unnamed House Democrat admitted that supporters were urging members to escalate further: “Some of them have suggested what we really need to do is be willing to get shot.” Others were demanding blood in the streets to get the media’s attention.

A study from Rutgers University and the National Contagion Research Institute found that 55% of Americans who identify as “left of center” believe that murdering Donald Trump would be at least “somewhat justified.”

As Democrats bleed working-class voters and lose control of their base, they’re not moderating. They’re radicalizing. They don’t want the chaos to stop. They want to harness it, normalize it, and weaponize it.

The truth is, this isn’t just about ICE. It’s not even about Trump. It’s about whether a republic can survive when one major party decides that our institutions no longer apply.

Truth still matters. Law and order still matter. And if the left refuses to defend them, then we must be the ones who do.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

America's comeback: Trump is crushing crime in the Capitol

Andrew Harnik / Staff | Getty Images

Trump’s DC crackdown is about more than controlling crime — it’s about restoring America’s strength and credibility on the world stage.

Donald Trump on Monday invoked Section 740 of the District of Columbia Home Rule Act, placing the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department under direct federal control and deploying the National Guard to restore law and order. This move is long overdue.

D.C.’s crime problem has been spiraling for years as local authorities and Democratic leadership have abandoned the nation’s capital to the consequences of their own failed policies. The city’s murder rate is about three times higher than that of Islamabad, Pakistan, and 18 times higher than that of communist-led Havana, Cuba.

When DC is in chaos, it sends a message to the world that America is weak.

Theft, assaults, and carjackings have transformed many of its streets into war zones. D.C. saw a 32% increase in homicides from 2022 to 2023, marking the highest number in two decades and surpassing both New York and Los Angeles. Even if crime rates dropped to 2019 levels, that wouldn’t be good enough.

Local leaders have downplayed the crisis, manipulating crime stats to preserve their image. Felony assault, for example, is no longer considered a “violent crime” in their crime stats. Same with carjacking. But the reality on the streets is different. People in D.C. are living in constant fear.

Trump isn’t waiting for the crime rate to improve on its own. He’s taking action.

Broken windows theory in action

Trump’s takeover of D.C. puts the “broken windows theory” into action — the idea that ignoring minor crimes invites bigger ones. When authorities look the other way on turnstile-jumping or graffiti, they signal that lawbreaking carries no real consequence.

Rudy Giuliani used this approach in the 1990s to clean up New York, cracking down on small offenses before they escalated. Trump is doing the same in the capital, drawing a hard line and declaring enough is enough. Letting crime fester in Washington tells the world that the seat of American power tolerates lawlessness.

What Trump is doing for D.C. isn’t just about law enforcement — it’s about national identity. When D.C. is in chaos, it sends a message to the world that America is weak. The capital city represents the soul of the country. If we can’t even keep our own capital safe, how can we expect anyone to take us seriously?

Bloomberg / Contributor | Getty Images

Reversing the decline

Anyone who has visited D.C. regularly over the past several years has witnessed its rapid decline. Homeless people bathe in the fountains outside Union Station. People are tripping out in Dupont Circle. The left’s negligence is a disgrace, enabling drug use and homelessness to explode on our capital’s streets while depriving these individuals of desperately needed care and help.

Restoring law and order to D.C. is not about politics or scoring points. It’s about doing what’s right for the people. It’s about protecting communities, taking the vulnerable off the streets, and sending the message to both law-abiding and law-breaking citizens alike that the rule of law matters.

D.C. should be a lesson to the rest of America. If we want to take our cities back, we need leadership willing to take bold action. Trump is showing how to do it.

Now, it’s time for other cities to step up and follow his lead. We can restore law and order. We can make our cities something to be proud of again.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.