The numbers are in: Israel is a happy place. Despite constantly facing vicious enemies and enduring a year and a half of sustained fighting and funerals, Israel ranks in the top 10 countries with the highest levels of happiness, according to the newly released 2025 World Happiness Report. At No. 8, Israel contrasts sharply with other war-torn countries that are quite reasonably miserable: Ukraine sits at 111, and Lebanon, which opened a second front against Israel in October 2023, is third from the bottom, at 145. Even advanced Western nations such as Great Britain and the United States, in 23rd and 24th place, respectively, have a glee gap with Israel. How come?

An illuminating if perhaps counterintuitive datapoint is that, since Oct. 7, 2023, Israelis have rushed ahead with making babies. Baby booms often occur postwar, not in the middle of one. But Israelis have continued to affirm life even while mourning more than 1,700 dead. At almost three babies per woman, Israel already has the leading birth rate among member countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)—a forum of 37 democracies with market-based economies—and in the final months of 2024, it witnessed an estimated 10 percent increase in births.

Another remarkable statistic explains Israeli optimism. On April 12, 96 percent of Israeli Jews will participate in the oldest ongoing ritual in the Western world: the Passover Seder, celebrating the exodus from Egypt three millennia ago. Few democracies, if any, match these participation rates. While 88 percent of Americans enjoy turkey on Thanksgiving, the ritual surrounding that meal is less elaborate and usually much shorter. Seders are often hours long, ritualized re-creations of the flight from Egypt, a reflection of how Jews live inside their history—and with their history. Prayers, songs, food, and other rituals invite Jews to see themselves as having been personally redeemed.

Most optimists are mission-driven. Feeling a sense of belonging, they progress confidently toward worthy goals. And as the best-selling British historian Paul Johnson, who wrote histories of the Jews, Christianity, and the American people, observed, “No people has ever insisted more firmly than the Jews that history has a purpose and humanity a destiny.” Despite searing political divisions, Israelis remain united culturally. Cherishing family, community, country, and history shapes their faith in the future.

In democracies, meanwhile, happiness tends to evoke notions of peace, serenity, and the search for one’s personal bliss. Rather than singing their national anthem proudly, aspiring Western universalists dream of the paradise of John Lennon’s “Imagine,” where there is no heaven, no hell, and no countries. We have “nothing to kill or die for, and no religion too.” Everybody is just “livin’ for today … aha aaa.”

Alas, living in the moment often strips those moments of meaning. Fewer people choose to become parents in this happy, peppy, borderless, self-indulgent utopia. The American birth rate in 2023 was the lowest in 40 years at 1.7 births per woman. The average birth rate of OECD countries has plummeted to 1.5 since 1960, when a more traditional, religious, and patriotic West had a birth rate of 3.3. Today’s runners-up to Israel’s birthrate of 2.9 in the OECD are Mexico and France, at 1.8. Although ultra-Orthodox and Arab women boost Israel’s rate, secular Jewish women average a chart-topping two children per woman.

Whereas optimism was always synonymous with America, today an epidemic of despair afflicts young Americans especially, and the West more broadly. According to a Financial Times analysis of 2023-2024 Gallup data, American youth are some of the most pessimistic among OECD countries. In 2023, the demographer Karen Guzzo explained that the great American baby bust can be attributed to “economic strains, work instability, political polarization, student loans, access to health care, climate change, and global conflicts.”

Moreover, too many young Americans appear to have lost pride in their nation and its story, even though it’s one of world history’s greatest epics—a story of pioneers and immigrants coming together to launch a civilizational enterprise fueled by life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. These young Americans have been subject to a campaign of demoralization, whether by woke schoolteachers or the board of the American Historical Association, who have promoted what could be dubbed as “historicide”—killing their own history—and have emphasized America’s “systemic” sins rather than the good that America has been responsible for.

In contrast, Israelis feel they are part of Israel’s story and the Jewish story, that of a proud people trying to do better in the world while also bettering it. After repeatedly overcoming oppression, they’ve returned to their homeland to live freely—and happily. Israeli schools repeatedly assign students shorashim, “roots,” projects. These family-tree explorations, even in high school, usually culminate in evenings celebrating parents’ or grandparents’ differing ethnic origins, cuisines, and Zionist journeys, propelling everyone forward together.

With so much to live for, Israelis know what they are willing to die for, too. On the eve of battle, many soldiers write goodbye letters to be read in case they die. Having buried more than 1,000 soldiers since Oct. 7, Israelis have cherished these messages by fallen soldiers affirming their motivation to fight and their willingness to sacrifice everything for this country that imbued them, as individuals, with a particular identity—past, present, and future.

To be sure, wars usually inspire patriotism. But, remarkably, Israel’s mourning rituals honor each soldier as a critical link in the Jews’ old-new chain. Most funerals are massive and hours long. Fellow citizens often line the streets for miles as the bereaved parents leave their home to endure the worst moments of their lives. Shivas—seven days of mourning—are so crowded, most mourners host comforters in tents, featuring fridges overstocked with donated food and drinks. Within days, the family announces some living monument reflecting their loved one’s values or continuing their life mission. The community then kicks in with its own acts honoring the fallen warriors: supporting a new school in the desert for youth at risk, a hip-hop album of the soldier’s songs, a national competition in a beloved sport, and so on. Creating a constructive culture of memory, not a nihilistic death cult, Israelis integrate the life that was ended prematurely into an eternal story going back millennia that Israel’s reestablishment reinvigorated in 1948.

Quotations from the letters of soldiers killed in action adorn bumper stickers throughout Israel. It is true that having cruel enemies, and being able to recognize the threat they pose, provides moral clarity. But the heartbreaking letters go further. The soldiers, including reservists, who volunteered for combat duty, affirm their mission to defend Israel and the world against Hamas, Hezbollah, and the terrorist scourge. A 35-year-old father of four, Master Sgt. (res.) Elkana Vizel, wrote in a letter retrieved with his body, “We are writing the most meaningful moments in the history of our people and the whole world … Keep choosing life all the time—a life of love, hope, purity and optimism.” Sgt. Maj. (res.) Ben Zussman, 22, a Jerusalemite neighbor, wrote a letter while rushing toward Gaza, which friends passed to his parents after he was killed fighting there. “I’m happy and grateful for the privilege I have to defend our beautiful country and Am Yisrael [the Jewish people],” he wrote. “Even if something happens to me, I don’t allow you to sink into sorrow,” he demanded, insisting that his mother make her special cookies and that the mourning week flow with meat along with “beers, sweet drinks, nuts, tea.” “I had the privilege to fulfill my dream and my mission.”

In the Gulag, prisoners with robust identities, national and/or religious, were the strongest partners in the daily struggle against Soviet jailers. Those connected to communities awaiting them back home felt accountable and saw their actions as part of a historical chain.

Israel’s historical optimism proves that identity is built through shared stories and values, not political agendas and competing grievances. When nurtured thoughtfully, group identity doesn’t compromise our freedom; it enhances our journey, filling our free, prosperous lives with the sounds of others, inspired by the ideas of our ancestors.

The West needs good tribalism: A healthy commitment to community, connectedness, and history anchors us. It motivates us to defend ourselves when necessary, while inspiring us always to build a better world. That’s the essence of most Israelis’ Zionism, which many just call patriotism. And that’s the essence of the Passover seder message, too.

Natan Sharansky & Gil Troy, Tablet Magazine

Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) that the Democratic Party lacked a vision for the future.

Host Kristen Welker said, “Let’s talk about what you have called your oligarchy, and Alexandria Ocasio Cortez have been criss-crossing the country warning of an oligarchy. Senator you told the New York Times, ‘One of the aspects of this is to get people to get engaged in the political process and run as independents outside of the Democratic Party.’ As someone who twice ran in the Democratic presidential primary are you trying to strengthen the Democratic Party or Senator, are you trying to start a third party?”

Sanders said, we’re not trying to strengthen a third party. We are trying to strengthen the American democracy. Right now it’s extremely low. We are living, Kristen, in the richest country in the history of the world and yet you have one person, Mr. Musk, who owns more wealth than the bottom 53% of American households. That is insane. That is oligarchy on steroids. Meanwhile, we have 60% of our workers living paycheck to paycheck. We have the highest rate of childhood poverty of almost any major nation on earth and we have over 20% of seniors in America living on $15,000 a year or less. What the American people are saying is that they want, and what our tour was about is to say that they want an economy that works for all of us, and not just for Musk and other billionaires.”

He continued, “What Democrats lack right now is a vision for the future. How are we going to provide a decent standard of living for a younger generation where everything being equal will be poorer than their parents? How do we repair a broken heath care system? How do we deal with the corrupt campaign finance system that allows billionaires to control both political parties? Those are some of the issues that need to be discussed and we are going out around the country right now asking people, working people, run for office. You want to run as a Democrat? Great. You want to run as an Independent? That’s great, but you’ve got to get involved in the political process because right now the two-party system is failing the working class of this country.”

Follow Pam Key on X @pamkeyNEN

Afton Brown had recently moved back to her hometown after living out of state for several months when she met a young man with whom she had an instant attraction. When Brown discovered she was pregnant after just a few months of dating, she was uncertain where to turn.

Brown told Live Action News, “I talked to my boyfriend about it, but neither of us knew what to do or how to handle it. We were both in shock. I was just 23 years old at the time.”

She turned to a family member who had been supportive of her romance for advice. To her dismay, the relative berated her, accusing Brown of getting pregnant on purpose and telling her to ‘take care of it.’

“She was very angry and controlling towards me,” Brown said. “I couldn’t believe she would act in this manner.”

Brown called another family member who told her that an abortion would be the best solution and offered to take her to the abortion facility. “It all happened very quickly; I had no time to think about it,” Brown said. “It was very hard for me. I remember being sedated and crying. I was so distraught that my family member had to help me out of the facility afterward.”

A childhood friend was waiting for Brown outside after her abortion. That day, Brown noted, changed both of their lives forever.

“I was so traumatized that I had a hard time walking, my legs were so weak,” Brown said. “I took off work the next day and I told no one about my secret. I would keep that part of my life hidden for 15 years.”

After she returned to work, she tried to close the door to that chapter of her life and move on as best as she could. She was never in contact with her boyfriend again after the abortion and eventually started dating a man with whom she would eventually marry and build a family.

Years later, she started volunteering for a local pregnancy support center. Brown said, “It was sometime down the road that I told the director of the center that I had an abortion. I didn’t think about healing, though I did begin to open to small groups of people.”

Pro-life speaker nudges Brown toward post-abortive healing journey

In 2022, at the pregnancy support center’s annual banquet, speaker and evangelist David Williams told his experience of living a sexually immoral lifestyle and being complicit in two abortions.

“He talked about his anger issues as a result and that really resonated with me,” Brown said. “He said it didn’t occur to him that he needed healing. Hearing that, it was as if a light went off and I realized that I needed to get healing.”

Over the past years, Brown directed her pent-up anger against her family as a means of coping with deeply buried pain. Now, it was time to deal with that anger. She sought help from “Surrendering the Secret,” a ministry designed to help women and men heal from the grief of abortion through resources, training and connection.

Brown said, “I was encouraged to write a song or poem to the child I had lost from abortion. So, I wrote the song, ‘I Didn’t Know,’ and when I sang it to a group of ladies at the center, we all cried together.”

She recorded the song on an album and the following year, sang at the annual pregnancy support center’s banquet. She later recorded a powerful video, recently launched on YouTube, that walks though the journey of “Surrendering the Secret” and ends with her having a conversation with her daughter:

The launching of a ministry

“I entered the video into the 2025 Christian Worldview Film Festival and brought home a trophy for first place,” Brown said. “I felt God was taking me into ministry using my story for others’ benefit.”

She just produced a documentary entitled, “Beyond the Ultrasound” which focuses on her local pregnancy support center and its services to women dealing with unexpected pregnancies. Brown said, “I felt there was too much misinformation on social media regarding pregnancy support centers. So, I interviewed our director and showed behind-the-scenes videos about the many programs they offered.”

To create a safe space for men and women hurt by abortion to come together and heal, Brown launched a social media ministry she named Living UnderNeath Abortion (“LUNA”) which provides resources on Instagram and Facebook channels.

“It’s a gathering place where people can share their stories and feel the grace and love of the Father and to promote a culture of life,” Brown said. “We lift each other up and offer support to those who have experienced the horrors wrought by abortion.”

While Brown felt pressured to have her abortion, she holds only herself responsible for her choice.

“I learned to be a people pleaser at the church I attended that was more like a cult environment than Christian-based,” said Brown. “I always kept feeling I had to do better, and as such, I was easily manipulated. But I know that abortion is never the answer no matter how bad one’s situation is. There are many people who can help.”

She advises women facing unplanned pregnancies to slow down and carefully consider their options.

“Get counseling from someone who isn’t going to benefit from your abortion,” Brown said. “I have not yet met a single woman who regretted giving birth to their child — even those who placed their babies for adoption — but I have met many women who have suffered greatly from the pain of abortion.”

Lisa Bast, Live Action News

The son of a top CIA official was killed last year fighting on behalf of Russia against Ukraine, according to an investigation by independent Russia media that was reported this week.

On April 4, 2024, Michael Alexander Gloss, 21, was killed while serving in the Russian military by artillery after rushing to the aid of a comrade. Gloss had enlisted in hopes of obtaining a passport and Russian citizenship. His mother, Juliane Gallina, was named the deputy director for digital innovation at the CIA only two months prior in February. The CIA later confirmed the death first reported by iStories.

Michael’s father, Larry Gloss, told the New York Post that his son suffered from mental illness and developed a fixation on environmental issues, hoping to bring clean water to the people of Russia.

One of the manifestations of his mental illness was grandiosity,” Larry Gloss, an Iraq War veteran, told the outlet. “He always cared about the environment. He always wanted to take care of those disadvantaged, less able.

“In Michael’s thinking, which I now conclude largely as a function of some text exchange he’s had with comrades before his demise, he thought the best way of realizing his dreams of water purification would be as a citizen of Russia. And the quickest way to get there, the quickest way to Russian citizenship would be through serving.”

Michael Gloss grew up in a middle-class Virginia neighborhood and played football and lacrosse for his local high school. At some point, he became disenchanted with United States over its support of Israel, according to the investigation.

In college, he became fixated with gender equality and environmental issues, eventually joining Rainbow Family, a left-wing protest group. He traveled to Hatay, Turkey, in 2023 to aid with earthquake recovery in the region and eventually made his way to Russia, where he joined the military.

On social media the younger Gloss posted pictures of Palestinian and Russian flags, describing himself as “a supporter of the multipolar world.”

“I ran away from home. traveled the world. I hate fascism. I love my homeland,” he wrote.

One acquaintance told iStories that Michael Gloss became enraged at U.S. foreign policy over the past two years.

He was usually watching videos about Palestine and was so angry at America,” the person told the outlet. “He started thinking about going to Russia. He wanted to war with the USA. But I think he was very influenced by the conspiracy theory videos.”

In an interview with The Washington Post, the elder Gloss said his son had always been anti-establishment but that news of his involvement Russia-Ukraine war came as a shock.

“If you knew our son, he was the ultimate antiestablishment, anti-authority young man the minute he came into the world.”

When reached for comment, the CIA’s responded in an official statement read: “CIA considers Michael’s passing to be a private family matter — and not a national security issue. The entire CIA family is heartbroken for their loss.”

James Morley III ✉

James Morley III is a writer with more than two decades of experience in entertainment, travel, technology, and science and nature. 

Enough fawning over the Pope. HE WAS A RABID COMMUNIST TOTALITARIAN ENVIROFASCIST. He was not special.

*******

Leftism — socialism, Communism, fascism disguised as New Age sweetness — is for morally and intellectually gullible people. They believe the media, because the media anchors are pretty, dress nicely and have that little nod when they talk to the cameras. Without the media, leftism would not exist. Democrat voters who absorb the media fallacies swallow the narrative of socialism for all (except rich, connected Democrats). They swallow the narrative that the sky is falling, and that unless all stoves and cars are electric by 2030 (except for the stoves and cars of rich Democrats), we are all going to die. They swallowed the narrative of COVID, “peaceful” protesters and the Biden economic boom (i.e., the start of hyperinflation). They buy it all because they are gullible, naive, and the sort of people who always have a chip on their shoulders about something, and think that leftists (as opposed to people who think, not just feel) are the ones who “get it.” Leftism is stupid and toxic. When they finally go all the way (as they nearly did under puppet Biden), and as they hope to do in the upcoming midterms and the coronation of someone like Gavin or AOC in 2029, it’s not going to be funny or annoying anymore.

*******

According to the news media, the economy is collapsing. For one reason (they claim): Trump tariffs. I don’t see evidence of a collapse. I see a little improvement, since Biden left office, with lower gas prices and maybe a bit of inflation reduction. Yet I also read that every country but China buckled to Trump’s tariff strategy. As a result, we have lower tariffs or no tariffs. Only China held out; and now they are starting to cave. China has no choice. Without the ability to trade with America, China collapses. America can fend for itself without a totalitarian Communist regime that treats its citizens like slaves. Shame on America for ever doing business with Communist China’s regime in the first place. Let China become a free market, and let America become MORE of a free market, without the regulations, taxes and welfare state. THEN free trade will triumph. But only then. Unless you have free countries, THERE IS NO FREE TRADE.

Follow Dr. Hurd on Facebook. Search under “Michael Hurd” (Charleston SC). Get up-to-the-minute postings, recommended articles and links, and engage in back-and-forth discussion with Dr. Hurd on topics of interest. Also follow Dr. Hurd on X at @MichaelJHurd1, drmichaelhurd on Instagram, @DrHurd on TruthSocial. Dr. Hurd is also now a Newsmax Insider!

Amid surging gold prices, Shanghai has introduced its first “gold recycling ATM“, drawing significant public interest, particularly from older residents seeking to cash in on the jewelry they’ve held for generations.

Located in Shanghai’s Global Harbor shopping mall, the new machine saw long queues of customers, with appointments booked through the upcoming May holiday. Social media posts circulating online showed that the machine provides a fast, transparent process: users deposit their gold items, which are then weighed, melted and assayed.

For instance, a 40-gram gold necklace was appraised at 785 yuan ($108) per gram, resulting in a payout of over 36,000 yuan ($4,900) within 30 minutes, correspondents from local news publication

Operated by Shenzhen-based jeweller Kinghood Group, the ATM — which is built into the company’s Smart Gold Store concept — is designed to take gold items of over 3 grams with a purity of at least 50%.

The recycling process includes identity verification, melting at temperatures exceeding 1,000°C, and a second assay to determine purity. A service fee of 18 yuan ($2.50) per gram is deducted before funds are transferred to the user’s bank account.

International recognition Kinghood has been a trailblazer in China’s gold industry since 2019, debuting the first generation of its Smart Gold Stores with a unique “gold ATM terminal” that integrates purchasing, customization and recycling services into a single platform.

Last year, the company unveiled the first global version of the Smart Gold Store, featuring advanced hardware, including high-precision electronic scales compatible with major global measurement units and a universal detector with an accuracy of 0.01%.

According to Kinghood, the system supports mobile phone registration in more than 200 countries, multi-currency payments in at least half of them, and real-time price docking with the international gold trading markets. It can be customized to diverse regulatory, measurement and language requirements worldwide.

Since its launch, the Smart Gold Store has swiftly gained industry recognition by winning the Manufacturing Innovation Award at the 2024 JWA Sustainability Awards, organized by Informa Markets Jewellery.

Kinghood has said it plans to continue to iterate the international Smart Gold Store, developing universal payment interfaces and local gold price interfaces to quickly adapt to various countries and regions.

Xie Chengcheng, operations manager for Kinghood’s Shanghai region, confirmed to Chinatimes.net the group’s plans to expand, aiming to deploy over 100 gold ATM machines across Shanghai, with installations already in cities like Beijing, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Hong Kong.

Kinghood began rolling out the Smart Gold Stores last year as part of its strategy to expand its traditional retail business. By September, the group had installed machines in 40 cities across the country, all located in convenient spots, such as banks, supermarkets and retail shops.

However, the ATM’s introduction has disrupted traditional gold-buying practices. Local “gold scalpers” and small-scale buyers reported a decline in business, citing the ATM’s efficiency and transparency as key factors. Some expressed concerns over reduced cash flow and the inability to match the ATM’s service speed.

“Our store’s gold buyback price is 715 yuan per gram, and the selling price for AU999 gold jewelry is 850 yuan per gram. Since we have our own gold mining rights, both our selling and buyback prices are slightly lower than other branded stores. That said, customer traffic is still relatively quiet at the moment,” a sales representative from China Gold told reporters at the mall.

“We’re doing a bit better compared to others, but gold shops without direct mining sources are seeing even weaker business,” the sales rep added.

Increased public interest On April 16, when the Shanghai ATM first launched, gold prices were soaring to new heights, offering an opportunity for long-time gold holders to liquidate their assets at unprecedented prices.….

Mining.com, Staff Writer

A massive explosion and fire at a port in southern Iran has killed four people, authorities said Saturday.

Babak Mahmoudi, the head of the country’s rescue organization, made the announcement on state television.

At least 516 others have been injured in the blast at the Shahid Rajaei port just outside of Bandar Abbas, a major facility for container shipments for the Islamic Republic that handles some 80 million tons (72.5 million metric tons) of goods a year.

Social media videos showed black billowing smoke after the blast. Others showed glass blown out of buildings kilometers (miles) away from the epicenter of the explosion. State media footage showed the injured crowding into at least one hospital, with ambulances arriving as medics rushed one person by on a stretcher.

Authorities offered no cause for the explosion hours later, though videos suggested whatever ignited at the port was highly combustible.

Industrial accidents happen in Iran, particularly at its aging oil facilities that struggle for access to parts under international sanctions. But Iranian state TV specifically ruled out any energy infrastructure as causing or being damaged in the blast.

Mehrdad Hasanzadeh, a provincial disaster management official, told Iranian state TV that first responders were trying to reach the area while others were attempting to evacuate the site.

Hasanzadeh said the blast came from containers at Shahid Rajaei port in the city, without elaborating. State TV also reported there had been a building collapse caused by the explosion, though there were no immediate other details offered.

The Interior Ministry also said it launched an investigation into the incident.

Shahid Rajaei port in Hormozgan province is some 1,050 kilometers (650 miles) southeast of Iran’s capital, Tehran, on the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which 20% of all oil traded passes. In 2020, a suspected Israeli cyberattack targeted the port. It came after Israel said it thwarted a cyberattack targeting its water infrastructure, which it attributed to Iran.

The blast happened as Iran and the United States met Saturday in Oman for the third round of negotiations over Tehran’s rapidly advancing nuclear program.

Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission./Newsmax World

It’s very simple: Democrats help violent criminals because Democrats ARE violent criminals.

Arrest the ridiculous Wisconsin judge? Absolutely! Democrats (and their RINO enablers doing it all for money) are fascist, Communist totalitarians. So far as I am concerned, all Democrats in power should be arrested and given a choice between deportation and life in prison. The worst offenders, like the Obamas, Bidens and Fauci should be tried for treason and given the death penalty. No messing around. It may sound to you like a dictatorship, but it’s actually a protection from dictatorship. These traitors are openly at war with the Constitution. They are openly at war with your freedom, your prosperity, your physical safety, your children, your religious and intellectual freedom–all that you value. They openly support hyperinflation, fraud, censorship, wealth and gun confiscation. All these things are against the letter and spirit of our Bill of Rights. If you think I am wrong or “too extreme,” I can only say in reply that while you may BELIEVE you really cherish your life and your freedom — you really don’t. Enough is enough. At some point, we must stop merely fighting this war to save America and its freedom; we must WIN it.

White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller:

Democrats “spent the last 8 years stripping Americans of due process to jail them for protected political activity” and for “illegally spying on the Trump Campaign,” Miller said in a post on X.

Democrats used the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the spy agencies “to pursue political enemies” and to launch “a coup” against President Donald Trump, Miller added.

Agreed. Arresting every single Democrat who held positions during the Biden and Obama regimes, along with every judge they appointed to obliterate our individual rights, is the only way to restore due process. The screams of these latter day Stalins and Hitlers about “rule of law” are absurd, ironic and insulting. They have no credibility, no integrity and no claim to anything.

“Judge” Dugan: Mask her up and ship her to El Salvador. Let her be the darling of the thug terrorist gangs she loves to pretend to her fellow NPR-listening cohorts that she champions. Or maybe send her to the arms of Hamas. Leftists in power love and enable our enemies; so let them be together. Make an example of her, and of what we do to people who try to destroy America by illegally and unethically using the force of government to empower violent criminals to destroy our lives.

Good job, Kash Patel, and let’s not stop with her.

Michael J. Hurd, Daily Dose of Reason

President Donald Trump on Saturday was among more than 50 heads of state and other dignitaries attending the funeral of Pope Francis, where he paid his respects to the Roman Catholic leader who pointedly disagreed with him on a variety of issues.

Trump also met briefly with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy before the service, both the White House and Zelenskyy’s office confirmed. White House communications director Steven Cheung said they “met privately today and had a very productive discussion.”

Trump arrived at the Vatican with his wife, first lady Melania Trump, and was seated in the front row, not far from French President Emmanuel Macron, for the outdoor service.

Trump told reporters Friday as he flew to Rome that he was going to the funeral “out of respect” for the pontiff, who died Monday after suffering a stroke at the age of 88.

Francis sharply disagreed with Trump’s approach on issues including immigration, the treatment of migrants and climate change. The Argentine pontiff and the American president sparred early in their relationship over immigration. In 2016, Francis, alluding to then-candidate Trump and his campaign slogan of “Build the wall,” called anyone who builds a wall to keep out migrants ” not Christian.” Trump said the comment was “disgraceful.”

But after Francis’ death, the Republican president praised him as a “good man” who “worked hard” and “loved the world.” Trump also directed U.S. flags be flown at half-staff in Francis’ honor.

Trump had said on a couple of occasions before leaving Washington that he would have “a lot” of meetings with counterparts on the sidelines of the funeral. But he seemed to back away from that as he flew to Rome.

“Frankly, it’s a little disrespectful to have meetings when you’re at the funeral of a Pope,” the president told reporters accompanying him aboard Air Force One. Nonetheless, Trump said: “I’ll be talking to people. I’ll be seeing a lot of people.”

The leaders of France, the United Kingdom, Spain, Hungary, and Argentina are among those expected to attend.

One person Trump did not expect to interact with is former President Joe Biden, who planned to attend the funeral with his wife, Jill. Trump said he was not aware his Democrat predecessor would be at the funeral. Asked if they would meet, Trump said: “It’s not high on my list. It’s really not.”

The Pope’s funeral will not be one of those occasions that bring together the current and former U.S. presidents. Former Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush are not attending, their offices said. A spokesperson for former President Bill Clinton did not respond to an inquiry about his plans.

Trump did not elaborate when asked if he would just be meeting leaders in passing or holding more in-depth talks. He suggested he might have meetings at Villa Taverna, the U.S. ambassador’s residence, where he spent the night.

“It’s a little tough because we don’t have much time,” Trump said, noting his late arrival in Rome. He was scheduled to head back to the United States immediately after the funeral.

“I think that we’re going to try and see a couple of people that are important in what we’re doing,” said Trump, who is trying to broker a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine and negotiate trade agreements with multiple countries.

He posted on Truth Social shortly after arriving in Rome that Ukraine and Russia should meet for “very high level talks” on ending the bloody three-year war sparked by Russia’s invasion. His envoy, Steve Witkoff, met with Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier Friday, and Trump said both sides were “very close to a deal.”

Zelenskyy arrived in Rome on Saturday to attend the funeral, joining first lady Olena Zelenska. Putin is not attending.

Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission./Newsmax

Investigative journalist Michael Shellenberger says that the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the CIA and the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) helped orchestrate President Trump’s 2019 impeachment.

In an interview on Fox News, Shellenberger recounted how the impeachment case was brought about based on the word of a CIA analyst, left over from the Obama administration, who claimed to have heard from White House staff that Trump had pressured Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, in a phone call, to investigate Joe and Hunter Biden.

Shellenberger said that a memo written by that analyst, which served as the basis for Trump’s impeachment, relied heavily on a report done by the OCCRP organization, was funded by USAID using taxpayer dollars.

According to Shellenberger, the OCCRP, which was created as an extension of the State Department and USAID, received tens of millions of dollars in funding which were used to attempt regime change abroad and here at home.

Shellenberger described the OCCRP’s efforts, saying, “It was a kind of public facing part you know, regime change operation like CIA, but not covert, more overt — They were doing this sort of thing abroad, creating a predicate essentially for Trump’s impeachment.”

OCCRP has claimed to have journalistic independence, yet does not operate like a normal investigative journalism organization in that it’s goals appear to include interfering in foreign political matters, including elections, aimed at regime change according to Shellenberger.

If Shellenberger is connecting the dots correctly, it would help to explain why the Democrats are so desperate to protect USAID from further fiscal scrutiny and accountability at the hands of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) team members.

If a major organ of the U.S. government was using taxpayer money to try to make the case that a sitting president should be impeached, that would be highly illegal and possibly treasonous.

American Greatness Staff