This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
PALM BEACH, Florida – Is the Democratic Party suffering from dementia, or was this intentional?
The party is celebrating Easter this year by honoring recent Democratic presidents, with a glaring exception: the most recent commander in chief in the person of Joe Biden.
The party's official X account on Sunday posted a "Happy Easter!" message, featuring family-holiday photos of John F. Kennedy, Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama.
Reaction to the omission was curious.
"Why'd you leave out the most recent Democrat president?" asked one X user.
Meanwhile, as WorldNetDaily reported, President Donald Trump shredded Biden in his own Easter greeting.
"Sleepy Joe Biden purposefully allowed Millions of CRIMINALS to enter our Country, totally unvetted and unchecked, through an Open Borders Policy that will go down in history as the single most calamitous act ever perpetrated upon America," Trump posted on Truth Social.
"He was, by far, our WORST and most Incompetent President, a man who had absolutely no idea what he was doing — But to him, and to the person that ran and manipulated the Auto Pen (perhaps our REAL President!), and to all of the people who CHEATED in the 2020 Presidential Election in order to get this highly destructive Moron Elected, I wish you, with great love, sincerity, and affection, a very Happy Easter!!!"
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
Though the COVID-19 pandemic brought widespread resistance to the Biden-era military's vaccine mandate, COVID isn't the only mandated shot being resisted by some service members for religious reasons.
Army Sergeant Dan McGriff (a pseudonym) spoke to WorldNetDaily on the condition of anonymity, anticipating reprisals. He emphasized that his views do not reflect those of the Department of Defense or the Department of the Army.
In the summer of 2021, during the thick of the pandemic, the non-commissioned officer "saw the writing on the wall," suspecting a COVID-19 shot mandate was on the way for military service members. So, in August 2021, he was not surprised to see the rollout of former Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin's now-rescinded mandate.
After conferring with his wife, he made the decision to seek exemption, not only from the COVID-19 shot, but for all future vaccines as well.
"Some people were getting responses back within 30 to 90 days at most, but mine took about six months, going all the way up to the Army surgeon general to be denied or accepted," McGriff told WND. "And in March 2022, I received my initial denial."
While the decision could be appealed, the Army sergeant said there was no guidance available. "I sent my appeal within seven days, and from that moment on, I was a ghost." He explained that even though he had approved orders for a new duty station, he was not allowed to move because he was "unvaccinated."
During this period, he was also barred from attending schools or training that could have advanced his career.
\With a large family to care for, McGriff grew increasingly worried about his future, knowing he could be separated from military service for refusing the shot. In September 2021, his fears were compounded as his appeal was denied. Subsequently, he received a General Officer Memorandum of Reprimand, or GOMOR, a permanent stain on his record for so-called misconduct.
McGriff spent the next several months fighting for his career, to no avail. And on the brink of administrative separation near the end of 2022, he said the former Defense secretary suddenly rescinded the mandate on Jan. 10, 2023. "After turning in all but one uniform, my career was saved about 30 days prior to facing an administrative separation board," he recalled.
Unfortunately, his fight against being compelled to receive vaccines was far from over. As he told WND, "When my religious accommodation (RA) appeal was denied [in September 2021], the Secretary of the Army emailed a memo stating that I was denied and I could not request a blanket RA for all vaccines and had to do them case by case, or individually, even though they all went against my religious beliefs."
"With that, I exercised my rights to request not to take the flu shot" in October 2022, McGriff said. At a time when he was finally unflagged for separation, had the GOMAR removed from his permanent file, and was allowed to transfer to a new duty station, he said, "My previous duty station somehow lost my RA request for the flu vaccine."
Then in December 2023, he added, "I submitted a new one." Strangely, in January 2024, this new religious accommodation request had also been lost.
Today, Sgt. McGriff finds himself seeking a religious accommodation for the flu vaccine for a third time. There is an Army regulation in place stating he does not have to take the vaccine while waiting for approval. And though he considers it a blessing to have avoided the shot in recent years, he said, "There have been loose threats of denying leave requests for not having it."
Are the circumstances surrounding his objection to the flu vaccine a coincidence, or have they been deliberate? Either way, he feels that "when it comes to Christians, our religious freedoms are being trampled on while wearing the uniform."
In McGriff's opinion, "All vaccines should be optional and not mandated." However, as it stands today, if a service member is not up to date on immunizations, that service member is not considered deployable.
"Do our religious rights count for anything?" he asked WND.
Apart from his religious objection to vaccines, he also pointed out that "with mRNA vaccines being the future, things are going to get very scary very fast." After all, mRNA COVID-19 shots have been widely associated with a well-documented risk of serious side effects, including but not limited to cardiac issues and cancer.
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
The legal team at the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty, during the Joe Biden administration, took on the United States Department of Agriculture for programs that were race-based, and ended up injuring those of the wrong race.
But the problems were not eradicated, and the legal team now is confirming that Wisconsin dairy farmer Adam Faust is telling the feds to fix the rest, or be sued again.
The issue is that the programs violate both the U.S. Constitution and President Donald Trump's executive orders from earlier this year.
They are similar to the fight handled by WILL under Biden.
"If not corrected within 60 days, a federal lawsuit will be filed on Mr. Faust's behalf against the Trump administration," the legal team's report said.
Deputy counsel Dan Lennington explained, "The Trump administration has taken some commendable steps to root out race discrimination in many agencies, but we have a long way to go. Millions of farmers face economic uncertainty, from unpredictable weather to rising input costs, all of which are far beyond their control, only then to be punished economically because of their race. It's immoral, unconstitutional, and it's time for it to stop once and for all. The clock is ticking, and we won't hesitate to take the Trump administration to court to protect farmers from race discrimination."
The team's client, Faust, said, "USDA offers important resources for dairy farmers, including margin coverage, loan guarantees, and grants. But it is outrageous that some farmers get a better deal based on race. I am hopeful the Trump administration will change course and fix these discriminatory programs."
Faust runs a dairy in Chilton, Wis., and like millions of other American farmers, is a white male.
He successfully sued the Biden administration for race discrimination in the Farmer Loan Forgiveness Program, in which a federal court held that granting loan forgiveness only to "socially disadvantaged farmers" was, in fact, unconstitutional race discrimination.
Congress eventually repealed that scheme.
But the USDA still is "running over two dozen race-based programs that unconstitutionally discriminate against farmers and ranchers every day," WILL said.
Among those is the discriminatory Dairy Margin Coverage Administrative Fee.
That "offers financial assistance when the margin between the milk price and the average feed cost falls below a coverage level chosen by the producer. All 'socially disadvantaged farmers' are exempt from the fee. USDA regulations define this phrase to include only the following racial groups: American Indians or Alaskan Natives, Asians or Asian Americans, Blacks or African Americans, Native Hawaiians or other Pacific Islanders, Hispanics, and women," WILL said.
Others include the Loan Guarantee Program and the Environmental Quality Incentive Program.
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
Many in America's government, along with those in the highly profitable pharmaceutical industry, insisted at the time, and some even insist, that COVID-19 was a natural variation of a bat virus that came out of a Wuhan, China, "wet market" and infected people.
Ultimately, millions of people around the world died, and trillions of dollars were lost economically. Even now, the side effects of the often-injurious mRNA shots are harming people, with consequences such as heart failure.
The government at that time, as President Donald Trump's first term was ending and Joe Biden was taking over White House operations, claimed that only the new shots could be used, that other medications like hydroxychloroquine, which was proven effective against COVID, should not be allowed.
One of the results was billions of dollars going to the makers of the new shots.
But now the White House has exploded the COVID myths pushed by officials and authorities with a new report.
It states bluntly that:
"The virus possesses a biological characteristic that is not found in nature. Data shows that all COVID-19 cases stem from a single introduction into humans. This runs contrary to previous pandemics, where there were multiple spillover events. Wuhan is home to China's foremost SARS research lab, which has a history of conducting gain-of-function research (gene altering and organism supercharging) at inadequate biosafety levels. Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) researchers were sick with COVID-like symptoms in the fall of 2019, months before COVID-19 was discovered at the wet market. By nearly all measures of science, if there were evidence of a natural origin, it would have already surfaced. But it hasn't."
Further, much of the so-called "science" that was used to justify the theory that it came from a wet market, rather than the much more likely leak from the Wuhan lab, came from a report, "The Proximal Origin of SARS-CoV-2," a document the White House charges "was used repeatedly by public health officials and the media to discredit the lab leak theory."
It actually was "prompted" by Anthony Fauci, now retired from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
The report confirms, "A lab-related incident involving gain-of-function research is the most likely origin of COVID-19. Current government mechanisms for overseeing this dangerous gain-of-function research are incomplete, severely convoluted, and lack global applicability."
Further pointing to the lab, the report said, "EcoHealth — under the leadership of Dr. Peter Daszak — used U.S. taxpayer dollars to facilitate dangerous gain-of-function research in Wuhan, China. After the Select Subcommittee released evidence of EcoHealth violating the terms of its National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) commenced official debarment proceedings and suspended all funding to EcoHealth. New evidence also shows that the Department of Justice (DOJ) has opened an investigation into EcoHealth's pandemic-era activities."
It's also because of failures by the National Institutes of Health, "NIH's procedures for funding and overseeing potentially dangerous research are deficient, unreliable, and pose a serious threat to both public health and national security. Further, NIH fostered an environment that promoted evading federal record-keeping laws…"
The information has taken years to surface because of multiple layers of "obstruction," the report charges.
"The Biden Administration's HHS engaged in a multi-year campaign of delay, confusion, and non-responsiveness in an attempt to obstruct the Select Subcommittee's investigation and hide evidence that could incriminate or embarrass senior public health officials. It appears that HHS even intentionally under-resourced its component that responds to legislative oversight requests," the White House page charges.
Also, "Daszak obstructed the Select Subcommittee's investigation by providing publicly available information, instructing his staff to reduce the scope and pace of productions, and doctoring documents before releasing them to the public. Further, Dr. Daszak provided false statements to Congress."
That agenda was aided by David Morens, a senior adviser to Fauci, who, the statement charges, "deliberately obstructed the Select Subcommittee's investigation, likely lied to Congress on multiple occasions, unlawfully deleted federal COVID-19 records, and shared nonpublic information about NIH grant processes with EcoHealth President Dr. Peter Daszak."
The details provided by the White House were sourced from the "House Oversight Committee website, a Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic of the Committee on Oversight and Accountability in the U.S. House of Representatives."
It continued with blame for others, including the World Health Organization, which is charged with its "abject failure" to respond, "because it caved to pressure from the Chinese Communist Party and placed China's political interests ahead of its international duties. Further, the WHO's newest effort to solve the problems exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic — via a 'Pandemic Treaty' — may harm the United States."
That infamous "social distancing" requirement to keep six feet apart? It "sort of just appeared," according to Fauci's closed-door testimony, and was based on no science at all, but still was used to "shut down schools and small businesses across the country."
Also, "There was no conclusive evidence that masks effectively protected Americans from COVID-19. Public health officials flip-flopped on the efficacy of masks without providing Americans scientific data, causing a massive uptick in public distrust."
And there were those lockdowns, which not only "forced millions of Americans to forgo crucial elements of a healthy and financially sound life," but also "caused immeasurable harm to … the mental and physical health of Americans."
Case in point was New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo's orders that forced nursing homes to accept seniors who had tested positive for COVID-19, and who were put in populations where the virus could be spread.
That was, the report confirms, "medical malpractice."
"Evidence shows that Mr. Cuomo and his administration worked to cover up the tragic aftermath of their policy decisions in an apparent effort to shield themselves from accountability."
Oddly, Fauci, whose net worth grew by millions of dollars during the pandemic, was given a presidential pardon by Joe Biden before his term in the White House ended. It was "for any offenses" that he "may have committed" against the United States.
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
A new poll shows that even in leftist California, the ideology that promotes allowing boys who say they are girls to compete on girls' athletic teams is a losing cause.
"Most Californians support requiring transgender athletes to compete on teams matching the sex they were assigned at birth," according to the polling.
"Solid majorities of adults (65%) and likely voters (64%) support requiring that transgender athletes compete on teams that match the sex they were assigned at birth, not the gender they identify with. An overwhelming majority of public school parents (71%) support such a requirement."
That result is part of an assessment by the Public Policy Institute of California.
According to a report from Fox News, "California Gov. Gavin Newsom admitted trans athletes competing in girls' sports is 'deeply unfair' during an episode of his podcast last month but defended allowing it out of empathy for the transgender population."
Officials in the state are trying to defy President Donald Trump's executive order, "Keeping Men Out of Women's Sports."
The California Interscholastic Federation confirmed it will follow "state law," letting boys in girls' competitions if they say they are girls.
U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon has warned Newsom to comply, after his state claimed to be a "sanctuary" for transgender minors.
"Allowing participation in sex-separated activities based on 'gender identity' places schools at risk of Title IX violations and loss of federal funding. As Governor, you have to inform California school districts of this risk," McMahon has warned.
"As Secretary of Education, I am officially asking you to inform this Department whether you will remind schools in California to comply with federal law by protecting sex-separated spaces and activities. I am also officially asking you to publicly assure parents that California teachers will not facilitate the fantasy of 'gender transitions' for their children."
Another result found that only 45% of respondents think the state's K-12 system is "generally going in the right direction today," and half of Californians say the system is in need of "major changes."
"Forty-five percent of Californians think that the state's K–12 public education system is headed in the right direction," said Mark Baldassare, of PPIC. "Half of adults believe that major changes are needed in the state's K–12 system and that the quality of education in the state's K–12 public schools has gotten worse in the past few years."
The new statewide survey also found, "Around half of adults (49%) and likely voters (52%) say that the quality of education in the state's K–12 public schools has gotten worse over the past few years, while 41% of public school parents say this. Ten percent of adults, 9 percent of likely voters, and 18 percent of public school parents say public schools have improved in the past few years."
Only half of adults and 51% of likely voters approve of the way Gov. Gavin Newsom, a far-left activist who has promoted illegal aliens and other radical agendas, has managed the public education system.
"Similar shares approve of how the California Legislature (48% adults, 48% likely voters) and State Superintendent of Public Instruction Thurmond (47% adults, 47% likely voters) are handling K–12 education. More than half of public school parents approve of the way Newsom (58%), the state legislature (56%), and Thurmond (59%) are handling K–12 education."
It also revealed 71% of adults oppose President Donald Trump's plan to end the U.S. Department of Education and turn its responsibilities mostly over to state and local officials.
"This includes strong majorities across regions (80% San Francisco Bay Area, 72% Los Angeles, 70% Orange/San Diego, 66% Central Valley, 66% Inland Empire). Partisans are sharply divided, with Democrats (91%) and independents (72%) far more likely than Republicans (31%) to oppose closing the department," the survey said.
Parents also have significant concerns about enforcing the nation's laws against illegal immigration in schools.
"Asked how concerned they are about the impact of increased federal immigration enforcement efforts on undocumented students in local public schools and their families, solid majorities of adults (66%), likely voters (64%), and public school parents (74%) are very or somewhat concerned," the survey said.
The findings are based on responses from 1,591 California adult residents. The sampling error is ±3.1 percent at the 95 percent confidence level for the total unweighted sample and ±3.6 percent for the 1,094 likely voters.
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
WATCH: President recognizes Christianity's biggest holiday
President Donald Trump has recognized Christianity's biggest holiday, Resurrection Day, celebrated on Easter Sunday.
He said, "It will always be In God We Trust. We will never change that … with God's help, we can overcome every challenge, triumph over every evil, and restore the spirit of faith in the United States."
A report in the Washington Examiner said Trump spoke at the White House Easter Dinner, reflecting on the biblical account of Jesus' death and resurrection.
He acknowledged a "whole new spirit" in America as his administration has begun standing up for persecuted Christians around the world.
He's not only set up the White House Faith Force but also ordered a task force at the Department of Justice to end "radical indoctrination" in schools, ideologies that often conflict with parents' faith values.
The report said he also pointed out, at the beginning of his administration, "God created two genders, male and female," sending the LGBT activists who held so much influence in the White House when Joe Biden was in attendance into a rage.
"So there's so much to celebrate this Easter. This is really, I hope, going to be one of the great[est] Easters ever because we have something going that I don't think this country has seen in a hundred years. And as we gather with family and friends, we'll not forget the true source of our joy and our strength. America has put our trust in God. It will always be 'In God We Trust.' We will never change that. You know, there's a movement to change it — it will not happen."
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
DHS documents also show gang affiliation, accusations of domestic abuse
Democrats have chosen to fight President Donald Trump to have returned to the United States an illegal alien who was deported to a prison in El Salvador.
The El Salvadoran president has confirmed the inmate is not being released or returned to the U.S., so that end of the arguments appear to be nearing a conclusion.
But the details about the inmate still are being revealed.
A report from the Daily Caller, for example, explains that Department of Homeland Security documents show that Kilmar Abrego Garcia, an alleged member of MS-13, a terror organization, was stopped in 2022 on suspicion of human trafficking.
It was during a traffic stop by a Tennessee Highway Patrol officer that Garcia "was found to be transporting eight passengers across the country," according to sources for the Tennessee Star.
"He allegedly did not have a valid driver's license and was suspected of trafficking the passengers but was let go at the request of the Federal Bureau of Investigation," the report confirmed.
The traffic stop was triggered by "speeding" and the driver's difficulty maintaining a lane.
Garcia's ID was a temporary license from Maryland that is given to non-citizens.
He explained at the time he was driving the eight people from Texas to Maryland, the report said, and none of the passengers had any luggage. They all provided the same home address, Garcia's, the report said.
Garcia was given a warning.
Further in Garcia's background is the fact that DHS confirms he is on the "Threat Screen Center's Transnational Organized Crime Watchlist."
And the Department of Justice told the Daily Caller Garcia is identified as a member of MS-13.
He was subject to deportation when the Trump administration sent him to El Salvador, but the only glitch appears to have been a removal restriction he was not supposed to be sent to that country.
Further, reports confirm he had been the subject of complaints by his wife of domestic abuse.
The Daily Caller News Foundation said Jennifer Vasquez Sura sought a domestic violence restraining order against him in 2021.
Sura now is publicly advocating for his return.
DHS, in a statement, said, "Kilmar Abrego Garcia had a history of violence and was not the upstanding 'Maryland Man' the media has portrayed him as. According to court filings, Garcia's wife sought a domestic violence restraining order against him, claiming he punched, scratched, and ripped off her shirt, among other harm."
The facts that are being revealed are making it harder for Democrats to continue identifying Garcia as a "family man."
The Daily Caller News Foundation reported the DHS documents show, "Officers found Abrego Garcia loitering in a Home Depot parking lot on March 28, 2019, wearing 'a Chicago Bulls hat and a hoodie with rolls of money covering the eyes, ears and mouth of the presidents on the separate denominations,' the initial Prince George's County Police Department Gang Field Interview Sheet states. 'Wearing the Chicago Bulls hat represents that they are a member in good standing with the MS-13,' the document states. 'Officers contacted a past proven and reliable source of information, who advised Kilmar Armando ABREGO-GARCIA is an active member of MS-13 with the Westerns clique."
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
New technologies will 'make more with less, and drive us further into the endless frontier'
The Gateway Pundit reassured readers they had "read that right" in response to a report that Michael Kratsios, the tech chief for the White House, had stated, "Our technologies permit us to manipulate time and space."
"We are capable of so much more," he said, according to a White House posting. The nation's tech, he said, "leave distance annihilated, cause things to grow, and improve productivity. As Vice President Vance said in a recent speech, the tradition of American innovation has been one of increasing the capacities of America's workers, of extending human ability so that more people can do more, and, more meaningful work. But unrestricted immigration, and reliance on cheap labor both domestically and offshore, has been a substitute for improving productivity with technology.
"It is the choices of individuals that will make the new American Golden Age possible: the choice of individuals to master the sclerosis of the state, and the choice of individuals to craft new technologies and give themselves to scientific discoveries that will bend time and space, make more with less, and drive us further into the endless frontier."
The "cryptic" statement about manipulating time and space, however, was left with no elaboration.
But the report noted that was "no surprise given the likely classified nature of such tech."
The remark followed only by days President Donald Trump's own comment about America's capabilities, when he said, "We have weaponry that nobody has any idea what it is. And it is the most powerful in the world … not even close."
He, too, didn't provide specifics.
Kratsios, at the Endless Frontiers Retreat in Austin, Texas, noted America's accomplishments, the Atomic Age, the Space Race, the internet, and more.
"Today we fight to restore that inheritance. As the failure of the Biden administration's 'small yard, high fence' approach makes clear, it is not enough to seek to protect America's technological lead. We also have a duty to promote American technological leadership."
He said the nation now is losing ground on nuclear power, life expectancy, passenger planes and trains and "our cars do not fly."
"Stagnation was a choice," he said. "We have weighed down our builders and innovators. The well-intentioned regulatory regime of the 1970s became an ever-tightening ratchet, first hampering America's ability to become a net-energy exporter and then making it harder and harder to build. We seem to have lost focus and vision, to have lowered our sights and let systems and structures and bureaucracies muddle us along."
But that's not required.
"We can build in new ways that let us do more with less, or we can borrow from the future. We have chosen to borrow from the future again and again. Our choice as a civilization is technology or debt. And we have chosen debt. Today we choose a better way."
He said going forward America must make "smart" choices, must make the "right" choices, and then the "easy" choice "to adopt the incredible products and tools made by American builders and to enable their export abroad."
"Whether in AI, quantum, biotech, or next-generation semiconductors, in partnership with the private sector and academia, it is the duty of government to enable scientists to create new theories and empower engineers to put them into practice. Prizes, advance market commitments, and other novel funding mechanisms, like fast and flexible grants, can multiply the impact of government-funded research. At a time defined by the desire to build in America again, we have to throw off the burden of bad regulations that weigh down our innovators, and use federal resources to test, to deploy, and to mature emerging technologies."
He said the current rules must be evaluated for what they prohibit, and what they cost.
"Our innovators make incredible breakthroughs, but consumers, government included, require products that meet their needs, not just the wide-open country of frontier technology. Our industrial might, unleashed at home, and our technical achievements from AI to aerospace, successfully commercialized, can also be powerful instruments of diplomacy abroad and key components of our international alliances."
The Gateway Pundit noted, "This kind of talk isn't without precedent. Since its inception in 1958, DARPA—the Pentagon's secretive research arm—has been quietly developing breakthrough technologies decades ahead of their time. From stealth aircraft and GPS to early internet infrastructure, DARPA's track record shows that by the time the public hears about these programs, they're already old news in classified circles. It's not a stretch to believe that far more advanced systems, possibly even those capable of 'bending time and space,' are already deep in the pipeline."
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
'The choices before Khamenei are no longer between good and bad – or even bad and worse. They are between disaster and catastrophe'
The second round of negotiations between Iran and Western powers is unfolding amid escalating internal tensions within the Islamic Republic. At the heart of this internal strife is a clan known as the "hard core of the regime," which is no longer merely at odds with rival political factions, but seems at times openly defying Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei himself. This comes after Khamenei expressed tacit support for the talks and the Iranian negotiating team in a recent speech.
This "hard core" comprises elements of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, or IRGC, plainclothes security forces and key branches of the intelligence apparatus. Though numerically in the minority, they represent the foundation of the Islamic Republic's power structure. These forces are responsible for widespread repression in the streets and for orchestrating acts of violence and executions within the country's prison system.
From its inception, the Iranian regime has based its identity on rigid religious dogma with roots in medieval theology. It has projected this identity outward through slogans like "Death to America" and "Death to Israel," while simultaneously enforcing brutal repression at home. The IRGC was created to serve this dual mission: exporting terrorism abroad and quelling dissent domestically.
Leveraging this ideological hostility, the regime succeeded in consolidating a loyal base of repressive forces internally, while building a network of proxy militias across the region. Yet now, the very regime that once dubbed the United States "the Great Satan" and "enemy of the revolution" finds itself seated across from its former nemesis – negotiating and shaking hands.
Two diverging paths before the regime
Today, the Iranian regime faces a stark binary choice:
Engage in negotiations with the United States and Western allies, which would require abandoning its nuclear program, halting support for proxy forces and stepping back from military interference in the region.
Or, refuse to yield, risking airstrikes on nuclear sites, the full reimposition of maximum sanctions and a scenario comparable to the dismantling of Hezbollah's military infrastructure.
Reports from political circles in Tehran suggest that senior IRGC commanders, along with high-ranking officials – including newly elected president Masoud Pezeshkian – have warned Khamenei that the second path, which entails escalating international pressure and military confrontation, could lead to the inevitable collapse of the Islamic Republic.
It is worth recalling that on March 2, at the onset of Ramadan, Khamenei addressed a gathering of current and former IRGC and government officials, declaring that negotiations with the United States were "neither wise" "nor honorable," and "not rational."
The ideological origins of the regime's hard core
According to an investigative report by the semi-official Etemaad website, the "hard core" of the regime – also called the "ideological-security circle" – consists of factions that define their legitimacy through unwavering allegiance to the revolution's founding ideology: implementing sharia law, rejecting Western engagement and sustaining permanent hostility toward the United States.
This faction emerged in the 1990s and has since remained ideologically rigid. For its members, any compromise – whether on hijab enforcement, foreign policy or diplomatic relations with the West – is viewed as a direct existential threat to the regime.
Historically, their relationship with Khamenei has been one of mutual reinforcement. He saw them as the regime's shield against internal dissent – "the force that paralyzes opposition from within" – and in return, they defined their mission as the "unconditional defense of the Supreme Leader."
Reformists vs. the hard core?
If negotiations proceed, it is expected that so-called moderate and reformist factions will gain momentum, while the hard core will lose influence. "Reformists" oppose measures such as strict hijab enforcement in public that could ignite new waves of civil unrest. They view such policies as accelerants to regime collapse. Still, despite their reformist rhetoric, these groups have largely remained silent amid the rising tide of executions, failing to issue clear condemnations or take meaningful action.
The crumbling pillar of power
Should the regime proceed with an agreement that includes halting its nuclear and missile programs, it will likely weaken the foundational power base that has supported it for decades.
This would empower the so-called reformists or moderates, who believe that negotiating with the United States is not just permissible but essential for the regime's survival. However, these factions appear blind to a critical truth: Any serious engagement with the West will, inevitably, lead to demands for political openness and reform.
And this would come at a perilous moment. In the most recent presidential election, only about 8% of eligible voters participated, many under pressure and amid an atmosphere of intimidation. Such a lack of public legitimacy could become the final accelerant in the regime's collapse.
Can Khamenei really be unaware?
Is it possible that Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei is unaware of these dangers? It is difficult to believe so. Indeed, Khamenei is acutely aware of the consequences of nuclear compromise and the decline of the regime's hardline base. During the second term of President Hassan Rouhani, from 2016 to 2020, Khamenei directly obstructed progress in the nuclear talks. Not only did he halt negotiations, but he later defended that move with pride. Today, he seems to lack the same power and authority.
Disaster or catastrophe?
The choices before Khamenei are no longer between good and bad – or even bad and worse.
They are between disaster and catastrophe.
Because none of the available options guarantee his survival.
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
Exclusive excerpt from Eric Metaxas' bestselling book warning of haunting similarities between today's American church and the German church of the 1930s
Note from WND News Center Editor-in-Chief David Kupelian: When I first read "Letter to the American Church" by Eric Metaxas, I immediately purchased three additional copies and gave them all away to various pastors and church elders I knew. The author, having become an expert on Nazi Germany by virtue of researching and writing the No. 1 New York Times bestselling biography, "Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy," was convicted by the realization that today's Christian church in America bears a chilling resemblance that of Germany during the 1930s.
In a nutshell, in the face of ever-increasing evil slowly increasing all around them as Hitler and Nazism steadily rose, the vast majority of German churches and pastors chose to do nothing to oppose what they saw, choosing instead to "stay in their lane," to worship and preach the Gospel, to avoid "politics" in favor of evangelism, to keep themselves "unstained" by the messy "worldly" affairs of government and culture.
The clear lens of history proves how catastrophic was this attitude of most German churches of that time. Yet today's American churches and pastors are, with a few notable exceptions, following in the German churches' disastrous footsteps. To sound a loud and clarion warning to today's American church, Metaxas wrote "Letter to the American Church," the introduction to which is reprinted here with the author's permission.
Metaxas' other books, all bestsellers, have included "Is Atheism Dead?," "Martin Luther," "Amazing Grace," and most recently, "Religionless Christianity: God's Answer to Evil." He is the host of "Socrates in the City" and the nationally syndicated "Eric Metaxas Radio Show."
Regarding "Letter to the American Church," Erwin W. Lutzer, pastor emeritus of the famed Moody Church in Chicago, had this to say: "This book is like a bucket of cold water thrown into the face of a sleeping church."
I have written this book because I am convinced the American Church is at an impossibly – and almost unbearably – important inflection point. The parallels to where the German Church was in the 1930s are unavoidable and grim. So the only question – and what concerns us in this slim volume – is whether we might understand those parallels, and thereby avoid the fatal mistakes the German Church made during that time, and their superlatively catastrophic results. If we do not, I am convinced we will reap a whirlwind greater even than the one they did.
The German Church of the 1930s was silent in the face of evil; but can there be any question whether the American Church of our own time is guilty of the same silence? Because of this, I am compelled to speak out, and to say what – only by God's grace – I might say to make plain where we find ourselves at this moment, at our own unavoidably crucial crossroads in history.
It is for good or for ill that America plays an inescapably central role in the world. If you have not read Alexis de Tocqueville on this subject, you likely nonetheless understand that the extent to which that central role has been used for good and for God's purposes has had everything to do with our churches, or with the American Church, as we may call her. So if America is in any way exceptional, it has nothing to do with the blood that runs through American veins and everything to do with the blood shed for us on Calvary, and the extent to which we have acknowledged this. America has led the world in making religious liberty paramount, knowing that it is only with a deep regard for it that we may speak of liberty at all. It was this that made Tocqueville marvel most: that while in other nations – and especially in his own nation of France – the Church was adamantly opposed to the idea of political liberty, in America it was the churches that helped encourage, create, and sustain a culture of liberty.
Because of the outsized role America plays in the world today, the importance of whether we learn the lesson of what happened to the German Church ninety years ago cannot be overstated. Though it may be a gruesome thing to consider, the monstrous evil that befell the civilized world precisely because of the German Church's failure is likely a mere foretaste of what will befall the world if the American Church fails in a similar way at this hour.
And at present we are indeed failing.
We should underscore the idea that the centrality of our nation in the world does not mean that we are intrinsically exceptional, but rather that God has sovereignly chosen us to hold the torch of liberty for all the world, and that the Church is central to our doing this. So the idea that He has charged us with this most solemn duty should make us tremble. Nonetheless, we must carry out that duty in a way that is the opposite of prideful and that is meant to be an invitation to all beyond our shores. If we should aspire – in the words of Jesus as quoted by John Winthrop – to be a "shining city on a hill," the idea is that we should exist and shine for the sake of others and not for ourselves alone. President Abraham Lincoln said that we in America were God's "almost chosen people," and acknowledged that this placed upon us an almost unbearable burden. It is certain from the Scriptures and from our experience over the centuries that apart from God we can do nothing. So if God has chosen us for some task, we must do all we can to shoulder that task, and must know more than anything that unless we lean on Him and acknowledge Him in all our ways, we are guaranteed to fail.
We must also remind ourselves that when God chooses anyone – whether the nation of Israel or a single person – to perform any role or any task, it is never something to be celebrated, as though the one chosen has won a contest. Quite to the contrary: It is a grave and fearsome responsibility. So if the Lord has chosen America and the American Church to stand against the evils and deceptions of this present darkness, we had better be sure we understand what is required of us, and had better make sure we do all that is possible to fulfill our charge.
Throughout this book I will touch on some of the issues we are facing, but let us here say that it is something almost unprecedented: the emergence of ideas and forces that ultimately are at war with God Himself. It's easy to see this with regard to Germany in the 1930s, when we think of the death camps and the murder of so many millions, but we need to understand that in the beginning they had no idea where it was leading, and had no idea they were facing nothing less than the forces of anti-Christ. We are now facing those same forces in different guises. But the extent of it is even worse than it was ninety years ago, because those forces do not have an agenda that is hyper-nationalistic, as in Germany, but that is actually anti-nationalistic – which is to say that it is globalist.
These ideas seem to have emerged lately, but they have been growing quietly in our midst and we have not taken them seriously enough. Many have been fooled into thinking them essentially harmless.
We are today like the proverbial frog in the saucepan, simmering along and never realizing that unless we see our situation and leap out now, we are very soon to be cooked and beyond all leaping. The ideas and forces we face have an atheistic Marxist ideology in common, although it never declares itself as such. It knows that doing this would wake many people up who are still asleep, and that would ruin everything.
But what we must dare to see is that these many ideas share a bitter taproot that leads all the way down to Hell. Critical Race Theory – which is atheistic and Marxist – and radical transgender and pro-abortion ideologies are all inescapably anti-God and anti-human. So they are dedicatedly at war with the ideas of family and marriage, and with the idea of America as a force for good – as a force for spreading the Gospel and Gospel values throughout the world. These ideas have over many decades infiltrated our own culture in such a way that they touch everything, and part of what makes them so wicked is that they smilingly pretend to share the biblical values that champion the underdog against the oppressor. As Stalin and Hitler and Mao would butcher millions in the name of fighting for "the people," so these forces do the same and are angling to do much, much more of the same – if we will allow them the time to strengthen themselves, if we do not fight with all our might and main against them right now.
One of the principal ways in which they have gained strength is in persuading so many in the American Church that to fight them is to abandon the "Gospel" for pure culture warring or for politics. This is not just nonsense, but is a supremely deceptive and satanic lie, designed only to silence those who would genuinely speak for truth.
So those who behave as though there is really nothing to worry about, who seem to think – as such prominent pastors as Andy Stanley and others do – that we ought to assiduously avoid fighting these threats and be "apolitical" are tragically mistaken, are burying their heads in the sand and exhorting others to do the same. Or to put it another way, they are in their churches singing more and more loudly to drown out the cries of those in the boxcars heading to their gruesome deaths. Sing with us, they say, and don't worry about all of those other issues out there. They don't concern us. Our job is to focus on God, and to pretend that we can do so without fighting for those He loves, whose lives and futures are being destroyed.
So to restate our situation, this is not a task or duty we in the American Church have asked for. Nonetheless, just as the German Church had a painfully important task and did not rise to that occasion to perform it, so we have a painfully important task, whether we have asked for it or not. God calls us to do something, but the choice whether we do it is entirely ours. Because we are made in God's image, we are perfectly free, and therefore cannot be compelled to do what is right. It is a chilling prospect, especially in light of the failure of the German Church.
If anyone would feel that believing God has chosen the American Church for such a vital role somehow smacks of an egotistical nationalism, they have already bought into the Marxist and globalist lie that America is nothing special – or is probably a force for evil at this point. In any case, they miss the point and have only leapt away from one ditch to fall headlong into another. It is a fact that God in His sovereignty chose the German Church to stand against the evils of its day, but it shrank from acknowledging this and from standing. Germany has been living with the deep shame over it unto this day. So for the American Church to say that God has not chosen us is as bad as saying He must choose us because we deserve to be chosen. Both stances are equally guilty of the sin of pride. It is far easier to ignore God's call than to acknowledge it and rise to fulfill it, but it is more difficult and painful than anything to live with the results of ignoring God's call. Let the reader understand.