This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

Environmental agendas? Traditionally Democrat. Immigrant advocates? Usually Democrats. Promoting labor causes? Also Democrats.

Until now, when the party's absolute hatred for all things President Donald Trump, and his Department of Government Efficiency chief Elon Musk, has prompted members to abandon their long-held ideals.

Now, according to constitutional expert Jonathan Turley, the Shapiro professor of public interest law at George Washington University, "Democrats have shown that very self-destructive quality of rage in adopting anti-immigrant, anti-free speech, anti-labor, and even anti-environmental positions to get at Donald Trump or his supporters."

He was referencing the exploding political violence of the left, especially that which has targeted Musk and his companies – even innocent owners of Tesla vehicles.

"What is most striking, however, is how Democrats have torched their core beliefs to pursue a scorched Earth campaign against Musk," he said.

The Democrats now are at risk, he said, of becoming "the very thing that they despise in others."

In fact, they are "jettisoning their most cherished values to strike out at those they hate."

He said the real issue is that those "rage addicts" "like it; they need it."

Even their advocacy for funding from billionaires, like George Soros, becomes a failing when another billionaire, Elon Musk, does it, because he's been supporting Republicans.

This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

Elite reporters who have the privilege of attending White House news briefings actually considered an old-fashioned "sit-in" to try to keep their privileged seats amid a revolution in reporting.

For decades, writers for networks, legacy wire services, newspapers, and the like have had privileged seats in the White House briefing room, specifically the front couple of rows have been reserved for them.

However, there's now a revolution in reporting. Many people read X for their updates, and fewer and fewer are turning on the television for a news broadcast or opening up a newspaper.

The latest confirmation of the changes is that the White House announced it would take over making the seat assignments for White House briefings, a privilege that for years had been gifted to the leftist White House Correspondents Association, a private organization of writers that essentially managed that briefing room for themselves.

This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

Elon Musk, the owner of Tesla, X, and SpaceX, has been working with President Donald Trump in the administration's Department of Government Efficiency for months now, hunting down and eliminating government waste, fraud, corruption, and even criminal activity in its spending.

Not surprisingly, he's accumulated a few enemies along the way to cutting thousands of government jobs, hundreds of millions in wacky grant programs, and billions in spending.

He's taken it in stride, repeatedly going to social media to discuss the savings for American taxpayers, along with the atrocities they had been getting federal money. He's tackled issues such as illegal aliens being given Social Security numbers, and the benefits – and even voting privileges – they obtain because of that.

So it was perhaps with a hopeful attitude that some publications such as Politico reported Wednesday that Musk soon was to leave DOGE.

This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich recently has been critical of district judges across the nation "shaping national policy" by asserting that they have control over certain Executive Branch responsibilities, issuing nationwide injunctions, and more.

During a recent interview with "Kudlow" he warned that this is a pivotal moment in history as, "You cannot have individual, random district judges who get up in the morning and say, 'I think I'll play president tonight, today. And some of their rulings are crazy."

But it's getting worse, to the point he believes America now is living through a potential "judicial coup d'etat."

"There is clearly a potential constitutional crisis involving the Judicial Branch's effort to fully override the Legislative and Executive branches," he said in testimony to Congress.

He pointed out that 15 lower court judges "effectively seized control of various Executive Branch duties" during just the first six weeks of President Donald Trump's second term.

"This is potentially a judicial coup d'etat," he confirmed. "It clearly violates the Constitution and more than 200 years of American history."

This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

Calley Means, one of HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s advisers in the effort to MAHA, Make America Healthy Again, went into the lion's den Wednesday and shamed health care and pharma lobbyists sitting in the room as he responded to a question at a Politico "Health Care Summit."

Politico White House correspondent Dasha Burns asked Means about recent "massive cuts" to the number of employees at the Department of Health and Human Services.

"Fundamentally, what [Kennedy] has done is taken over a department that has utterly failed," Means said, pointing out that the federal health agencies have done nothing but preside over a disproportionately sick nation and "an abject devastation of American health."

Challenging lobbyists in the audience who laughed at his assertions, Means asked the media and others in the room to consider having some "humility" about the fact voters put Kennedy and Trump into office, "the two most popular political figures in America, by far."

Turning to Burns, Means stated, "It is insane for you to insinuate that the thing standing between us and better health is more government bureaucrats."

This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

The justices on the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday heard arguments in a case that would allow states to defund Planned Parenthood, the nation's largest abortion corporation.

It now gets an estimated $700 million in taxpayer money each year, which has prompted a variety of protests over the possibility that taxes are being used for abortion, or to support the company's structure that promotes abortion.

Oral arguments were heard in Medina v. Planned Parenthood South Atlantic and concerns a decision by Gov. Henry McMaster, of South Carolina, to disqualify abortion providers from state Medicaid reimbursement programs.

It's significant because a ruling on behalf of the state could open the door for other states to make the same move.

The Washington Examiner reported that the issue wasn't clearly decided from comments made by the justices, as the leftists on the court clearly were advocating for Planned Parenthood, while others were harder to read.

"The future of state Medicaid funding for Planned Parenthood remains uncertain following an intense oral argument session before the Supreme Court on Wednesday," the report said.

Planned Parenthood South Atlantic and one woman, Julie Edwards, sued over the governor's order, claiming the federal Medicaid statute guarantees access to "any qualified and willing provider."

But the state has explained it retains the authority to determine what counts as "qualified."

Much of the argument was over whether patients have a legal standing to sue because they are not allowed to pick one "provider" when a multitude of others are available.

This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
Being used to 'surveil American citizens and harass Chinese citizens who have fled the Communist regime'

China's Communist regime has established secret police stations inside the United States and they are being used to "surveil American citizens and harass Chinese citizens who have fled the Communist regime."

And a couple of American lawmakers are working on a new plan that would put them out of business.

It is in a report at the Federalist that the threat to America is profiled.

And also the work of U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., on the Expel Illegal Chinese Police Act introduced just weeks ago, along with the companion House effort by Rep. Ashley Hinson, R-Iowa.

"No foreign government has the right to operate secret police stations on American soil. The Chinese Communist Party's actions undermine international norms and human rights by circumventing legal extradition processes and engaging in intimidation tactics. This legislation sends a clear message: the United States will never tolerate illegal operations that violate our sovereignty and intimidate individuals living within our borders," Cotton explained.

Hinson added, "The Chinese Communist Party should have never been able to operate police stations in the U.S. to surveil American citizens and harass Chinese citizens who have fled the Communist regime. … Senator Tom Cotton and I are working to end these illegal intimidation tactics that undermine U.S. sovereignty and finally hold the Chinese Communist Party accountable for such egregious violations."

The bill would authorize actions that would target those running the police stations with "financial sanctions, visa restrictions, and asset freezes."

The report explains the Chinese regime's strategies already have created issues.

One Chinese citizen, Quanzhong An, already has been handed 20 months in prison for "acting on behalf of the Chinese government to intimidate individuals living in the U.S., the report said.

"This case highlights the urgent need for strong measures to protect individual freedoms and uphold national sovereignty against the covert policing tactics employed by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)," the report explained.

In the past, the Federalist confirmed, Chinese Communists even have sent "undercover police" to foreign nations "to forcibly repatriate individuals labeled as 'criminals' by any means necessary."

Part of the pressure schemes included subjecting the individuals' relatives, still back in China, "to harassment, jail, torture and other mistreatment."

"In countries like Vietnam and Australia, Chinese agents have simply abducted their prey," the report said.

The police stations, estimated to number 100 around the world, including in the U.S., ostensibly are for various "services" for Chinese individuals.

"Their actual purpose is far more insidious: to monitor, intimidate, and silence overseas Chinese individuals, while aiding China's efforts to capture alleged fugitives globally," the report said.

There already have been prosecutions in the U.S. of individuals for helping the illegal policing activities, and their suspects' defense was that they "believed they were assisting a company or an individual in collecting debts, unaware that the Chinese government was involved."

And the Department of Justice has indicted 40 Chinese officers and members of the Cyberspace Administration of China for their actions.

"These cases demonstrate the lengths the PRC government will go to silence and harass U.S. persons who exercise their fundamental rights to speak out against PRC oppression. … These actions violate our laws and are an affront to our democratic values and basic human rights," the DOJ confirmed.
The report pointedly notes during Joe Biden's tenure in the White House, he "never demanded that China stop its illegal policing on U.S. soil."

This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

'Any spark could trigger a full-scale uprising – and these resistance networks are prepared to channel protest into full-scale revolution'

Although "Nowruz," the Iranian New Year that began on the first day of spring, March 21, supposedly marks a moment of renewal and reflection, this year it marks something far more consequential: the unraveling of the brutal theocratic Tehran regime's decades-long strategy for survival.

In his New Year's address, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei drew a telling parallel between the year 1403 in the Iranian calendar (2024-2025) and the year 1981 (1360), stating:

"The year 1403 was full of turmoil … like the challenges we faced in 1360 (1981) – difficult and painful time for us."

In 1981, facing mass protests and the fragility of its newly established rule, the new regime of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini responded with brute force – opening fire on peaceful demonstrators and executing thousands of political prisoners. That year marked a turning point that allowed the Islamic Republic to violently consolidate power, even though – just hours after newly elected U.S. President Ronald Reagan gave his inaugural address on Jan. 21, 1981– Iran released the 53 American hostages it had held captive for 444 days.

So in his reference to 1981, Iran's current leader, Khamenei, is signaling his regime's deep anxiety that history may soon repeat itself – but with a different outcome.

3-pillar strategy in ruins

Following the Iran-Iraq War of 1980, the Iranian regime anchored its long-term survival strategy on the creation of three deterrent pillars:

* A sophisticated ballistic missile program

* A network of proxy forces across the region

* A covert nuclear weapons program

To build these pillars, the regime siphoned the nation's wealth – impoverishing over 80% of the population. The nuclear program alone is estimated to have cost Iran more than $2 trillion.

Yet, by the end of the Iranian Year 1403 (March 2025), two of the three pillars have crumbled:
Proxy forces including Hezbollah, Hamas and the Houthis have been pushed to the sidelines. Financial support is faltering while battlefield relevance has sharply declined. And missile capability has been exposed as ineffective. In response to Israeli strikes, Iran's highly publicized "Sadegh-1" and "Sadegh-2" missiles failed to demonstrate real destructive power.

This leaves only one leg standing: Iran's nuclear program – and the world is no longer willing to tolerate it.

A hard deadline

Today, both the United States – under President Donald Trump's leadership – and Europe are united in demanding that Iran abandon its nuclear ambitions with enforceable guarantees. Trump's two-month ultimatum is about to expire. By July, the "snapback" mechanism under the U.N. framework may automatically be reactivated, reinstating global sanctions on Iran.

So Tehran faces a critical choice: Abandon its nuclear program and negotiate, or brace for targeted airstrikes.

And while President Trump has said he does not seek war, any military operation to dismantle Iran's nuclear infrastructure – much of which lies buried deep underground – would not be short, clean or easy. If it begins, it could continue all the way to the edge of regime collapse.

This is why both Tehran and the international community prefer a diplomatic solution – including indirect talks. Iran seeks negotiations, not to reform, but to buy time while using Europe as a political buffer, as it did in the 2015 nuclear deal.

The real threat comes from within

But beyond all this foreign pressure, the regime faces an even greater threat from within.

With a collapsing economy and widespread poverty, Iran is a powder keg. The fall of Bashar al-Assad in Syria has eliminated Tehran's so-called "strategic depth," and the true battlefield has shifted to within Iran.

Thousands of resistance units affiliated with the National Council of Resistance of Iran, or NCRI, are active across the country. These groups are not foreign-funded or exiled movements. They are embedded in local neighborhoods and cities, drawn from within Iranian society itself.

Despite an intense climate of surveillance, they successfully carried out 33 operations in Tehran and 22 other cities, setting fire to IRGC centers and symbols of the clerical regime during the Fire Festival Campaign.

Any spark could trigger a full-scale uprising – and these resistance networks are prepared to channel protest into full-scale revolution.

The high number of executions in the Iranian year 1403 (2023-2024) – with over 1,150 recorded cases – reflects a desperate attempt by the regime to instill fear in society. However, these acts of repression have not silenced the public; on the contrary, they have further fueled the growth of the resistance. Under such conditions, many analysts are now speaking of the regime as being at a "tipping point." In other words, the transition to a secular republic with human rights is no longer a dream; it has become an attainable goal. The year "1403" was the year the regime found itself surrounded, and now all eyes are on "1404" – that is, 2025 – a year that could mark a historic turning point for Iran.

What Tehran wants in return

Tehran is now maneuvering for survival. Its demands in any negotiation are twofold:

1. Partial relief from sanctions to stabilize its crumbling economy.

2. Political cover from the West to marginalize the NCRI and other opposition groups that pose the only real threat to its rule.

But there is a catch.

To repair its economy and prevent unrest, Tehran must allow a degree of reform: easing repression, curbing mass arrests and creating conditions that allow for investment. In doing so, the regime would necessarily open limited political space – which, in turn, risks unleashing pent-up dissent and igniting the very uprising it fears most.

The regime is trapped. What it needs to do to survive economically will accelerate its political demise.

Forty-five years of repression cannot be buried under layers of censorship and bullets forever. If the lid of control is loosened, even slightly, the voices of millions will rise. The opposition is organized. The international community is alert. The people are ready.

The endgame

The Tehran regime has learned from the experience of Iran's last Shah before the revolution, and therefore absolutely refuses to allow any political openness or path for internal reform. On the other hand, like Libya's Muammar Gaddafi, it is not willing to give up its nuclear project, which is tied directly to the regime's survival. As such, backing down from the nuclear program would be like drinking a poisoned chalice. This is basically how Ayatollah Khomeini described accepting the ceasefire in the Iran-Iraq War … as "drinking poison."

However, at that time, Khomeini was able to preserve his rule by massacring 30,000 political prisoners and terrorizing Iranian society – preventing it from holding him accountable for six years of a fruitless war that caused one million deaths and injuries and cost hundreds of billions of dollars.

But such a genocide is beyond Khamenei's current capacity – and Iranian society will not allow it to happen.

So Iran's Year 1403 (2024-2025) has not been a repeat of 1981.

Instead, it has been the beginning of the end.

This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
Dancing burning cyber trucks spotted at anti-Musk demonstration

Making the rounds on social media is video highlighting a new costume worn by some protests of Tesla and its founder, Elon Musk.

The footage shows people dancing in burning cyber truck costumes, made mostly of cardboard, apparently honoring the "virtue" of those who have set Tesla vehicles on fire across the nation in recent weeks.

Verbiage accompanying the video notes, "This Is The Reason Why Nobody Will Ever Take The Democrat Party Serious Again."

This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
'To engage in conduct that advises anyone to defy court orders and kidnap their child would be contrary to our biblical, Christian, and professional ethics'

A legal fight has involved nine years in the courts. And 25 depositions. And 186,000 documents. And 6,800 pages of transcripts.

And the conclusion from a federal judge is that Liberty Counsel, a prominent legal team that routinely works on a multitude of civil and religious rights issues, had no involvement in a lesbian's fight over custody of a child.

Judge William K. Sessions III ruled that Liberty Counsel did not "engage in, aid, or abet any conspiracy" over a situation that developed when one woman, Lisa Miller, left the lesbian lifestyle choice, and took with her her child.

The other half of the duo, Janet Jenkins, sued over custody of the child and Miller was represented for a time by Liberty Counsel.

Then, however, things took a strange turn, resulting in Jenkins' lawsuit, to which she, years later, added Liberty Counsel, demanding the stunning sum of $200 billion in damages.

Liberty Counsel chairman Mat Staver explained, "Liberty Counsel never did anything wrong and this ruling is a complete and total exoneration. To engage in conduct that advises anyone to defy court orders and kidnap their child would be contrary to our biblical, Christian, and professional ethics. This frivolous lawsuit by the Southern Poverty Law Center was pure lawfare designed to destroy Liberty Counsel. The truth has prevailed."

The unusual circumstances developed during a time when leftists still were assembling their program for same-sex marriage, a status later granted in a questionable ruling, by the U.S. Supreme Court.

At the time, before the Supreme Court ruled, Miller and Jenkins entered into a "civil union" in Vermont. Then Miller dissolved that civil union, but the courts awarded Jenkins rights to a then 2-year-old girl as a "legal parent" and gave her visitation.

Miller complied for a time, but then the child reported abuse.

The Liberty Counsel involvement happened when Miller dissolved her union to Jenkins and moved to Virginia, where the fight put the laws of Virginia, which did not recognize civil unions, against the laws of Vermont, which did.

"The Vermont court eventually ordered visitation rights to Jenkins. Miller complied until Isabella complained of abuse," Liberty Counsel explained.

However, while legal cases were under way in two states, Miller "suddenly fled with Isabella to Nicaragua. When Liberty Counsel became aware, it informed the court and sought to withdraw from the case," the report said.

The legal team explained it was a "complete and total victory" in the civil case that "falsely alleged Liberty Counsel advised a former client to flee … ."

Lawyer Rena Lindevaldsen had been added to the lawsuit by Jenkins at the same time Liberty Counsel was added, and the ruling from the judge exonerated her, too.

Further, Sessions noted the lawsuit also was barred by the statute of limitations.
Other people eventually were identified as having helped Miller flee with her daughter, and they were indicted.