“I follow with sorrow the news of attacks that continue to strike numerous Ukrainian cities, including Kyiv. These assaults cause deaths and injuries, among them children, and inflict serious damage on civilian infrastructure, leaving families homeless as the cold sets in. I assure my closeness to the people so harshly tested. We must not grow accustomed to war and destruction! Let us Pray Together for a just and lasting peace in war-torn Ukraine.”
– Pope Leo XIV
“While I applaud the Pope criticizing the attacks, I encourage him to state clearly who is at fault for bombing cities and the killing of children. It is RUSSIA and PUTIN. Putin needs to feel the scorn the world has for his barbarity.”
– Congressman Don Bacon
“Any ‘peace’ agreement between Ukraine and Russia which weakens Ukraine’s ability to defend itself is in fact a surrender agreement which guarantees that in the next few years Putin will overrun all of Ukraine. Ukrainian courage and patriotism should not be betrayed by Americans growing tired of stopping evil. A Putin victory will be a stepping stone to a much much more dangerous world.”
– Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich
Trump’s Ukrainian Peace Plan Should Be Easy: Tell Russia to get out of Ukraine and respect their neighbors’ borders.
If Russia refuses to leave, join Europe and provide Ukraine with the support they need to defeat Russia and push the Russians out of Ukraine.
The ONLY threat to Russia is its own imperialistic dreams of conquering its neighbors.
Straightforward and simple… not necessarily easy, but in line with America’s previous commitment when we signed the Bucharest Agreement.
All Russia and the United States have to do is keep their word.
Scared, Shocked & Outraged: The idea that a group of Democrats, including several elected officials, openly called on our U.S. troops to ignore orders from the President, any President, who is the Commander in Chief of the military is extremely dangerous.
I’m shocked that Democrats would engage in such dangerous games. I’m outraged at the disrespect for our country, constitution, and the rule of law.
The Democrats’ gamesmanship is outright scary… shockingly hard to believe?!?
Yes, they are playing word games… saying some “illegal orders”… NONE of which have ever been given, NONE of which are currently being considered, and NONE of which any of the Democrats can point out as an example are designed to encourage sedition.
Policy disagreements are decided at the ballot box in America.
Broadly encouraging U.S. military personnel to ignore presidential orders is dangerous and irresponsible. Doing that without identifying a single order they deem illegal—and without any effort to explain why—promotes insubordination and winks at mutiny. They are encouraging problems… similar to “mostly peaceful demonstrations” that burn down cities or open borders that flood America with illegal immigrants vs patriotic immigration.
Democrats are encouraging rebellion inside the military. If they claim Trump gave an unlawful order, cite the statute — or admit you’re playing with fire. It is irresponsible.
Service members should think twice before following the advice or “counsel” from Democrat Congressional leaders who are nothing more than political activists who say, “Don’t follow unlawful orders,” yet provide ZERO examples or attributions of such orders and are inciting you to defy legal authority at the highest levels of military chain of command which will only result in YOU and fellow service members to be disciplined, injured, or worse.
Sedition, insubordination, and failure to obey lawful orders are SERIOUS offenses that are subject to court-martial.
I don’t know what else to say… you have SITTING MEMBERS of the United States Congress who conspired together to orchestrate a video message to members of the United States military… encouraging them to DEFY the president’s lawful orders. The sanctity of our military rests on the chain of command, and if that chain of command is broken, it can lead to people getting KlLLED. These three members of Congress knew EXACTLY what they were doing.
This may go down as one of the worst and most dangerous political stunts in America’s history.
America’s Young Liberals: Only in America can a kid wear $150 shoes, sip an $8 coffee, and post from a $1,200 phone about being oppressed and claiming capitalism has failed them.
We need to take a closer look at how our kids are getting educated and brainwashed. When so many schools fail to teach the basics of reading, writing, math, and history… how do we expect to compete in an ever more integrated world?
There is rot that needs to be dealt with.
Why the West Betrayed Ukraine: It’s frustrating; no Western leader has even the slightest idea of how catastrophically Ukraine has suffered for its honesty when it gave up all its nuclear and other strategic weapons at the West’s request.
None of the so-called security guarantors stood by Ukraine.
The United States and many NATO countries signed the Bucharest Agreement… not to mention Russia… and the world abandoned Ukraine when a war criminal attacked Ukraine.
IF the United States’ commitment is nuanced and European countries slow walks defending their neighbors, the world will be less safe, and the world’s madmen will have witnessed they have “room” to take advantage of the West.
Read more below and follow me on X & GETTR – @sanuzis
–Saul Anuzis
This Russia-Ukraine ‘peace deal’ makes zero sense on ANY front
Yuck: The draft “peace” plan Russian officials have hashed out with envoys from President Donald Trump administration is barely more than a complete Ukrainian surrender.
“Ukraine will receive reliable security guarantees,” it says. From who?
Not Washington: Trump’s been crystal clear that US forces won’t get drawn into this war.
And no one in Europe has the ability to offer reliable guarantees: Most nations barely have armies at all.
Meanwhile, the draft imposes all manner of specific losses on Kyiv: Give up its claims to Russian-occupied Crimea and other areas, including parts of the Donbas that the Kremlin hasn’t seized; agree to Russian control of now-occupied in Kherson and Zaporizhzhia; let Moscow claim half the electricity from the Zaporizhzhya nuclear-power complex; shrink its army by more than half and on and on.
The draft says both sides get “full amnesty for their actions during the war,” when all the atrocities have been Russian; every humanitarian post-war provision is conditioned on future negotiations.
We get why bloody Vladimir Putin wants all this, but how can this amount to a plan for lasting peace when not four years ago he simply set out to conquer the whole country on the absurd pretext of ousting its “Nazi” leadership, and when he’s ruthlessly slaughtered civilians by the tens of thousands simply because Ukraine fought back?
We shouldn’t reward Russia with a ‘peace’ that leaves Ukraine carved up and helpless
Despite President Trump’s calls for the fighting to stop, Russia this week again stepped up its war against Ukraine.
On Wednesday, Russian forces fired X-101 cruise missiles at sites in Western Ukraine.
This is far away from the East of the country where most of the fighting has been taking place since the full-scale Russian invasion of February 2022.
The targets for Wednesday’s strikes included not just energy infrastructure sites, but residential buildings in the city of Ternopil.
Not least apartment tower-blocks where dozens of residents were killed and wounded.
But at the same time as Russia ramps up its aggression, it is the Ukrainians who are being pressured to sign a peace deal.
Democrats Urge Military To Disobey Orders From Trump Admin, Trigger Accusations Of Insurrection
A group of six Democrats, comprised of two senators and four members of the House, released an incendiary video in which they called for members of the military and intelligence community to disobey orders they receive from the Trump administration.
Sens. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) and Mark Kelly (D-AZ), along with Reps. Chris Deluzio (D-PA), Chrissy Houlahan (D-PA), Maggie Goodlander (D-NH), and Jason Crow (D-CO), all former members of the military, encouraged military members to “refuse illegal orders.”
“The administration is pitting our uniformed military and intelligence community professionals against American citizens,” they claimed. “Like us, you all swore an oath to protect and defend the Constitution, right now.”
The Democrats accused the Trump administration of violating the Constitution, continuing, “The threats to our Constitution aren’t just coming from abroad, but from right here at home.”
Vance warns GOP needs to give voters something to ‘believe in’ without Trump on ballot
Vice President JD Vance said the GOP’s bruising November losses were a blunt warning that the party must give President Donald Trump’s working-class coalition a reason to show up without Trump driving turnout.
During a Thursday morning fireside chat with Breitbart‘s Matt Boyle, Vance conceded that modern-day Republican voters who support Trump’s MAGA movement are “a fundamentally new phenomenon in American politics,” distinct from the Republican Party of earlier eras, such as those of former Presidents Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush.
This new coalition is far more likely to buck traditional Republican orthodoxy and has led to a new and sometimes uneasy alliance in the GOP.
“There is an effort to try to wrest control of the Republican Party away from the voters and away from the coalition that really delivered the big victory in 2024,” Vance told Boyle. “I think it’s a huge mistake.”
Trump-aligned voters generally show up for the president when he is running for office. However, they failed to back the Republican gubernatorial candidates in New Jersey and Virginia this month.
Forget Joe Rogan. The Next Big Podcast Bro Is in the Senate.
Three times a week, late in the evening, a middle-aged man pulls a microphone out of a Pelican briefcase, unscrews a bottle of Bai flavored antioxidant water and opens a window into the future of American politics.
He’s a podcaster, of course, but an unlikely one. It’s Sen. Ted Cruz, the Texas Republican best known as a leader of his party’s pre-Donald Trump hard-right and the runner-up behind Trump for the 2016 GOP nomination.
And perhaps even more shocking is that his show, “Verdict with Ted Cruz,” is the most popular podcast by far of any sitting politician in the United States. He’s not exactly Joe Rogan or a Kelce brother. But with up to two million downloads a month and syndicated across iHeart radio, the podcast puts him on solid ground in his side hustle and well ahead of potential 2028 competitors; in July, he had almost three and half times as many downloads as Gavin Newsom, who has the second most popular podcast among elected officials.
At a moment when influencers increasingly have parasocial relationships with their fanbases and when the traditional media landscape is only growing more fractured, the podcast gives Cruz a much bigger platform than the average politician — and a potential head start for a future presidential run.
The Trump Era Is One of GOP Decline
President Donald Trump has dominated the Republican Party for a decade, and in many ways, it has been good for the GOP and conservatism.
Republicans won two of the three presidential elections (after losing two straight and four of six). Republicans control Congress, and for the first time in forever, the Supreme Court has a conservative majority. It even struck down Roe v. Wade.
Trump’s policy accomplishments are also real. Taxes are lower, especially for the middle class. Illegal immigration was controlled for four years, and it’s getting under control again. And for the first time since the Cold War ended, we are avoiding senseless wars of choice.
But just as Trump’s policy record is mixed (increased spending, federal support for in vitro fertilization, oodles of corporate welfare), so is the Trump-era political record. If you step back from the current political balance in Washington, D.C., you see a troubling trend, highlighted by the recent blowouts in New Jersey and Virginia:
Republicans, in the Trump era, are mostly losing.
Democrats’ Embrace Of Violent Rhetoric Will Mark Congressional Midterms
The violent rhetoric isn’t isolated, it’s becoming a feature of Democratic primaries as the party take a harder turn left.
On Sept. 12, Rep. Eugene Vindman joined fellow Virginia congressional Democrats in condemning political violence. Said condemnation came two days after an assassin murdered conservative icon Charlie Kirk while he was speaking at a free speech event in Utah.
“The rise in political violence … is disturbing and unacceptable,” Vindman and the Democrat delegation said. “We are unified in our condemnation of these attacks. It is critical to the safety of all Americans and the health of our democracy that we are able to approach our political differences with respect and without resorting to violence.”
Less than a month later, though, Vindman was standing by his man — leftist Virginia attorney general candidate Jay Jones. Jones’ campaign hit a speed bump after his 2022 texts fantasizing about putting “two bullets in the head” of a former Virginia Republican House speaker and wishing gun violence on his children came to light. Vindman couldn’t bring himself to condemn Jones’ violent rhetoric. In fact he re-endorsed him.
52 Catholic school students in Nigeria kidnapped by gunmen in latest attack: report
The abductions at St Mary’s School mark latest in series of attacks targeting Christian institutions
Gunmen in Nigeria kidnapped several students and staff from a Catholic school early Friday, marking the latest attack on a Christian institution.
Nigerian news outlet Arise TV said 52 children were abducted from St. Mary’s School. The Catholic institution is in Agwara local government’s Papiri community, according to The Associated Press, which cited Abubakar Usman, the secretary to the Niger state government. The outlet added that Usman did not specify how many children were kidnapped in the attack.
The Niger State Police Command said military and security forces were deployed to the area where the attack took place in the early hours of Friday, the AP reported. Additionally, the Niger State Police Command said St. Mary’s educates students ages 12–17.
A security staffer was “badly shot” in the attack, according to the AP which cited a statement issued by the Catholic Diocese of Kontagora.
Fatal Flaw: Ex-CIA Analyst Says Trump’s ‘Peace Plan’ Will Backfire, Poison US-Ukraine Ties
In an interview with Kyiv Post, Paul Goble, former State Department special adviser and CIA analyst, warns that “the proposed settlement is not a settlement” and could shatter US-Ukraine relations.
The leak of the Trump administration’s latest framework for a Ukraine settlement has detonated in Washington and Kyiv like a political explosive device. But according to veteran intelligence analyst Paul Goble, the proposal is fundamentally unworkable.
The former State Department special adviser and CIA analyst says the circulated documents – which he characterizes as “one-sided” concessions to Moscow – rest on a fatal miscalculation: the belief that stopping the fighting equals solving the conflict.
In an interview with Kyiv Post on Thursday, Goble offered a blistering critique, arguing the initiative looks less like a serious attempt at a durable peace and more like a political performance by President Donald Trump designed to showcase deference to his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.
How The Declaration Of Independence Gave America Life, Liberty, And Happiness
With The Making of the American Mind, Hillsdale’s Matthew Spalding has written a much needed and highly accessible intellectual history of the Declaration of Independence.
America is on the verge of celebrating its semiquincentennial, and, thanks to the White House’s task force for the 250th birthday, all indications point to a thrilling, year-long party. There will be a “National Garden of American Heroes,” a “Great American State Fair” of nationwide events, and a televised “Patriot Games” competition for high school athletes. Yet, such a decidedly patriotic celebration of our nation was by no means inevitable.
Only six years ago, The New York Times published its infamous 1619 Project, which reframed the founding of our nation not around the Declaration of Independence but the original importation of African slaves to the fledgling American colonies. Former Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris called the 1619 Project a “masterpiece” and a “powerful and necessary reckoning of our history.” The nation was soon awash in anti-founding narratives propagated by pseudo-intellectuals who, through various educational initiatives, have sought to impart their unique brand of cynical hatred to the next generations of Americans.
Thanks to a variety of political and academic efforts, much of this anti-American propaganda has been stymied. One of the unsung heroes in this important project is Dr. Matthew Spalding, a Hillsdale College scholar of the founding who was also the executive director of the President’s Advisory 1776 Commission, which produced “The 1776 Report.” His new book, The Making of the American Mind: The Story of Our Declaration of Independence, is an excellent reminder of why we have much to celebrate in 2026.
Final Thoughts
