A Medal of Freedom for Charlie Kirk

Posthumously given to his wife Erika on what would have been Charlie’s 32^nd Birthday. Catherine Salgado for PJ Media: To honor Kirk’s historic legacy on his birthday, President Donald Trump granted Kirk the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Trump praised the “extraordinary champion,” the “visionary and one of the greatest figures of his generation,” the “martyr” for liberty, Charlie Kirk. Now, Trump said, Kirk “rests in Heaven,” and instead of celebrating his 32nd birthday on earth, he is watching from Paradise as “his name [is] forever” entered “into the eternal roster of true American heroes.” How appropriate for Charlie to receive a medal specifically honoring freedom, since, as Mrs. Erika Kirk reminded the audience, Charlie was wearing a shirt that said “Freedom” when he died, because he “wasn’t content to simply admire freedom, he wanted to multiply it.” The president flew back from his Middle East press conference so he could hold the Presidential Medal of Freedom ceremony on Charlie’s birthday. Trump praised Kirk as “unstoppable, indomitable, irreplaceable,” vowing to carry on Charlie’s mission. The president condemned the “horrible, heinous, demonic act of murder…. it’s my privilege to posthumously award Charles James Kirk our nation’s highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom” (PJ Media). Dmitri Bolt of Townhall: [Erika] shared that she had always struggled to find the perfect birthday gift for Charlie, but that the Medal of Freedom awarded by President Trump was “the best” he could have gotten (Townhall).

Trump Finding Alternative Revenue to Keep the Military Paid, SNAP Benefits Flowing, and to Pay Federal Law Enforcement During Shutdown

The Democrats’ strategy in budget fights has always been to hold Americans hostage by stopping the flow of money to programs they like in order to increase funding for programs they don’t. Trump, knowing this, has prepared for a long shutdown in a novel way. Punchbowl: The White House is girding for a long shutdown and has found several new funding streams for critical programs, according to top Trump administration officials. — The Office of Management and Budget is “working on ways” to get paychecks to federal law-enforcement officers, according to an administration official. This is similar to what Trump ordered over the weekend for 1.3 million active duty military service members. — The Trump administration will ensure the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children — known as WIC — can continue to operate for the foreseeable future, a White House official said. The administration says it will use hundreds of millions of dollars in Section 32 tariff revenue. This is a vital nutrition program that serves more than six million participants per month, including 40%-plus of U.S. infants. (Punchbowl) Ed Morrissey succinctly characterizes the strategy: Constitutionally suspect? Maybe. Strategically brilliant? Certainly. Democrats have put themselves in a historically bad spot by choosing to reject a clean continuing resolution offered each day by Republicans anyway. The track record for government shutdowns has been grimmer than a roulette wheel on a dodgy casino on a secondary highway. The house, or more accurately the White House, always wins. Presidents control the designation of essential services and the use of funds when Congress refuses to budget, which is why Democrats — who know this better than the GOP, usually — have never opted for a shutdown as a bargaining tactic (Hot Air).

Trump Adamant on Hamas: They Will Disarm. “Do you understand me?”

The direct quote from the president: “Hamas will disarm, and if they don’t, we will disarm them, and It will happen quickly and perhaps violently, but they will disarm. Do you understand me?” (X). All who have been watching Hamas closely over the years have reason to be concerned—but none more so than Israelis. Danny Zakin: The coming stage will be the toughest of all. Trump’s plan mandates, in at least two of its points, the disarmament of the Strip. The first point states: Gaza will be a demilitarized, terror-free zone that does not pose a threat to its neighbors. Point 13 says all military, terrorist and offensive infrastructure, including tunnels and weapons-manufacturing facilities, will be destroyed and not rebuilt. There will be a process of demilitarizing Gaza under the supervision of independent inspectors, which will include the removal of weapons through an agreed dismantling process. This involves not only the handing over of weapons but also the demolition of terrorist tunnels and the cessation of any actions that have hostile military significance against Israel. At the same time, a civilian and security mechanism is supposed to be created to assume control of the Strip, but there’s the chicken-and-egg dilemma: most potential participants will not commit forces to areas under Hamas control while it remains armed and dangerous. So who will disarm Hamas? There is no clear answer to that question (Israel Hayom).

Israeli Hostage Thanks Trump, Says His Captors Were a Teacher, a Doctor and a Professor

Speaking of demonic, released hostage Tal Shoham shared his thoughts with the Times of Israel regarding his time in captivity and about his release. He of course thanked Trump, but also revealed just who his captors were. Jeff Charles: Most of those who watched over the hostages were “not soldiers,” according to Shoham. He noted that one of his guards “was a first-grade teacher, another was a lecturer at a university, and another was a doctor.” He characterized them as “normal people becoming terrorists.” Hamas-controlled schools in the Gaza Strip have been known for indoctrinating children into extremist views on Israel and the Jewish people. Their curriculum differs from what the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank teaches its children in that it glorifies jihad and romanticizes terrorism. (Townhall) In the coming days, we will be hearing more about the torture endured by the survivors. Times of Israel: Shoham spoke at length of his captivity saying that he was “intentionally starved … for sadistic psychological warfare” receiving between 200 and 300 calories a day to share with fellow hostages Guy and Evyatar David — also set to be released on Monday — first, “to make us suffer,” and second “to pressure Israeli society.” He went on to say that his Hamas captors boasted about stealing humanitarian aid. “I saw with my own eyes that they stole boxes and boxes and boxes of humanitarian aid from Egypt, from Turkey, from the Emirates, but they didn’t agree to give us any of this food in the tunnels,” he said. But after the February release of Eli Sharabi, Or Levy and Ohad Ben Ami, all of whom were severely malnourished, his captors began giving “much, much more food,” he said, adding that it was dangerous because they were suffering from malnutrition. “It could have killed us” (Times of Israel).

Christiane Amanpour Made to Eat Her Claim That Hamas Treated Hostages Like Kings

Christiane Amanpour took to the airwaves to tell everyone that Hamas treated its hostages better than most Gazans, and was forced to eat her words by CNN’s higher-ups. Her humiliating apology: Earlier live on air, I spoke about what a day of real joy this is, for Israeli families whose loved ones are finally being returned from two years of horrific Hamas captivity, and for civilians in Gaza, who have finally had a reprieve from two years of brutal, deadly war. I noted that for the hostages who are finally home, it will take a long time for them to recover mentally and physically.  But I regret also saying that they may have been treated better than many Gazans because Hamas used these hostages as pawns and bargaining chips. It was insensitive and wrong.  From speaking to many former hostages and their families, like everyone I’ve been horrified at what Hamas has subjected them to over two long years. They’ve told me their stories of barely being able to breathe in the tunnels, not being allowed to cry, being starved and made to dig their own graves – and of course today, some of the hostages are coming back in body bags. (X) There are many reports that Amanpour was forced to make this statement, and one has to wonder how, if she knew better, she could have accidentally implied that the hostages were treated well. 

Letitia James Has Been Hiding a Fugitive in Her Mortgage Fraud Home

Well, well, well, what do we have here? Some enterprising reporters looked into the current residents of Letitia James’ Virginia house—you know, the one she claimed on mortgage documents would be her permanent residence—and found interesting tenants. New York Post: Indicted New York State Attorney General Letitia James has housed her “fugitive” relative in her Virginia house for five years, according to reports. The under-fire prosecutor’s grandniece, Nakia Thompson, has been living with her three children in James’ three-bedroom property in Norfolk since 2020. It has now been revealed that Thompson is officially listed as an “absconder” who is wanted by authorities in Forsyth County, North Carolina, for failing to finish her probation, court documents seen by the Daily Mail reveal. (New York Post) The New York Times had described the niece as “needing tranquility,” which one supposes is true for a fugitive from the law. David Strom of Hot Air pointed out the irony of James, who charged Donald Trump with mortgage fraud, being caught committing multiple crimes: Glass houses and all that. And it turns out that all you see through Tish James’ glass walls is quite ugly. (Hot Air)

J.B. Pritzker Vows to Prosecute ICE Officers

Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker is vying to be the Democrats’ most radical candidate for president, although he will have stiff competition. In an interview with Fox 32 in Chicago, Pritzker mused about prosecuting ICE officers should he become president. Pritzker:  The tables will turn someday. These people should recognize that maybe they’re not gonna get prosecuted today, although we’re looking at doing that. But they may get prosecuted after the Trump administration for the things that they did, because the statute of limitations won’t have run. You know, we had, uh, the immigration services, the, you know, ICE and CBP doing their jobs before the Trump administration, but they were doing it. Within the law now they’re acting like a bunch of thugs and taking away people’s free speech rights. They’re taking away people’s rights, you know, by not identifying themselves. They’re coming in with masks on, they’re coming in with unidentified, uh, vehicles. Uh, these are all things that need to be taken up again by an inspector general or somebody investigating at the federal level because they have immunity at the state level. But we’re looking at how we might, uh, be able to hold them responsible despite the fact of federal immunity (X).

Hamburg Votes for Economic Suicide

Few people understand the scale of Germany’s industrial collapse. Industrial output has been falling since 2018, and the rush to Net Zero has been devastating to a once-thriving European powerhouse. Hamburg, a key industrial city, just held a referendum to reach Net Zero by 2040, and the resolution passed. Beege Welborn: All the Greenies and cultists in an already uber-Lefty area flooded out to vote to deindustrialize one of the last remaining industrial cities standing in the country. …According to the Statistics Office North, 303,936 Hamburg residents voted in favor of the “Future Decision,” corresponding to 53.2 percent. 46.8 percent, or 267,495 people, voted against. Voter turnout was 43.6 percent. It’s gonna be so much fun for residents who didn’t vote, lemme tell you. …A report commissioned by the city by the Hamburg Institute and the Öko-Institut concluded that Hamburg can become climate-neutral by 2040 – but only with drastic measures . For example, all gas and oil boilers in residential and non-residential buildings would have to be replaced by 2040 – while simultaneously shutting down the entire gas grid. In residential construction, renovations would have to be significantly accelerated, and the installation of heating systems powered by renewable energy, such as heat pumps, would have to be promoted more vigorously now. …In terms of traffic, a 30 km/h speed limit would have to be introduced throughout the city, and car traffic would have to be significantly reduced. Furthermore, environmental zones would have to be established in the port. For industry, natural gas and fuels such as petroleum coke and refinery gas would have to be completely replaced with hydrogen and e-fuels (Hot Air).

The Ceasefire Crowd Revealed: They Were Ok With War—as Long as Israel Lost

The entire war that Hamas started has been a morally clarifying set of events. Yes: Depressingly so, but still clarifying. The ceasefire is no exception. Eli Lake: For the “ceasefire now” crowd, the end of the fighting has been a bit of a drag. Irish actress and star of Disney’s Andor, Denise Gough, summed up the disappointment over the weekend at a demonstration in London. “A ceasefire isn’t liberation,” she said. “A ceasefire isn’t free Palestine. And also, it feels it was made without any Palestinian voices. I would love to be as celebratory as the Palestinian people are themselves in Gaza. And I believe that they must be encouraged and allowed to celebrate, of course, but I don’t think it’s a time for us to celebrate.” …. Those protesters are clearly disappointed that the war they falsely claimed was a genocide is ending. Only a few months ago, this crowd set the agenda for the public discourse about the war in Gaza. Their pressure was so great that the leaders of France, the United Kingdom, and Canada all formally recognized a Palestinian state last month at the United Nations. Now that the war is over, their palpable disappointment reveals that they were never against the war at all. They just wanted the jihadists who started it to win (Free Press).

Trans Identification Plummeting

Transgender identification always was a social contagion, and as the “cool” factor has waned, so has trans identification among children. UnHerd: Data from my new Centre for Heterodox Social Science report, “The Decline of Trans and Queer Identity among Young Americans”, shows that since 2023 both trans and queer identification have dropped sharply within Generation Z. The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), which conducts a large annual survey of US undergraduates, polled over 60,000 students in 2025. My analysis of the raw data shows that in that year, just 3.6% of respondents identified as a gender other than male or female. By comparison, the figure was 5.2% in 2024 and 6.8% in both 2022 and 2023. In other words, the share of trans-identified students has effectively halved in just two years. This trend is especially marked in elite institutions. Andover Phillips Academy in suburban Boston surveys over three-quarters of its students annually. In 2023, 9.2% identified as neither male nor female. This year, that number has crashed to just 3%. A similar story emerges at Brown University: 5% of students identified as non-binary in 2022 and 2023, but by 2025 that share had dropped to 2.6% (UnHerd). Elon Musk: The awful illusion has finally been shattered, with increasing repercussions for the modern-day Mengeles who mutilated children…. Great credit to  @jk_rowling  for her stalwart fight against this incredibly destructive mind virus (Musk). In the few years during which this trend peaked, hundreds of thousands of children were permanently harmed by adults who profited from the trend, and they are still doing so. Demonic.