Drug abuse has long been a serious issue in the United States, with the so-called “War on Drugs” dating back to 1971 under President Nixon.
Despite decades of efforts to fight addiction, the problem remains widespread and deadly. More than 80,670 Americans died from drug overdoses in the 12 months ending November 2024. As new threats like fentanyl spread—enough was seized last year for 380 million lethal doses—it’s more urgent than ever for policymakers to act.
But where is the crisis worst? A new report from WalletHub ranks all 50 states and the District of Columbia across key metrics like drug use, overdoses, and access to treatment.
Chip Lupo, an analyst at WalletHub, explains: “Drug problems can start from multiple sources, like taking illegal substances with friends or getting hooked on a prescription that was originally given for a legitimate medical issue. As states fight drug addiction, they need to consider all angles and make sure they are not just addressing things from a law enforcement perspective but also providing the resources necessary to help people with addictions get clean.”
WalletHub’s analysts compared states using 20 metrics organized into three main categories: drug use and addiction, law enforcement, and drug health issues and rehab. These metrics included measures like the percentage of adults and teens who reported using illicit drugs, overdose death rates, opioid prescriptions, and availability of treatment facilities.
New Mexico tops the list with the biggest drug problem in America. The state has the highest percentage of teens using drugs, the most teens reporting marijuana use before age 13, and the third-highest rate of adult illicit drug use. New Mexico also struggles with high overdose deaths and ranks near the bottom in offering help to those with addiction.
West Virginia ranks second, with the highest overdose death rate in the country and one of the top college campus drug arrest rates. A lack of addiction treatment resources means many residents have nowhere to turn for help.
Nevada comes in third. Nearly 30% of students there report being offered or sold drugs at school. Nevada also ranks high for teens trying marijuana early and has too few treatment facilities to meet the need.
Other high-ranking states include Alaska, the District of Columbia, Oklahoma, Missouri, and Colorado. Each faces unique challenges, from high rates of opioid prescriptions to limited treatment options.
The report also highlights troubling data on teen drug use. New Mexico, Arizona, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and Alaska have the highest percentages of teenagers who admit using drugs in the past month. Meanwhile, states like Arkansas, Tennessee, and Texas report much lower teen drug use.
Students being offered drugs at school is a big concern, too. California, Nevada, Georgia, New Jersey, and Hawaii top the list for that category, while states like Connecticut and South Dakota report much lower numbers.
The crisis shows no sign of ending on its own. Experts recommend a mix of strategies to combat addiction, including making rehab more accessible and expanding education on the risks of drug use. The federal government and states alike must prioritize treatment alongside law enforcement to help communities recover.
In an energy conversation dominated by buzzwords and breakthroughs, it’s easy to overlook the quiet, proven solutions that are already delivering results. Exhibit A: wood pellets.
These compact cylinders aren’t flashy or trend on social media. For the uninitiated, they are carriers of renewable carbon and energy, sourced from responsibly managed forests; a real, scalable, domestic resource that delivers energy security, climate value, and rural jobs while sustaining and growing forests. Wood pellets are emerging as one of the smartest plays in America’s energy and climate portfolio.
The Math Works
Let’s be clear: climate solutions need to scale. We need terawatts of clean power, gigatons of carbon removal, and a replacement for fossil carbon in sectors where options are limited. Think steel mills, cargo ships, aviation fuel, and cement plants — industries that can’t rely on solar panels and wind turbines.
Enter forest biomass. Every year, America’s 360 million acres of privately-owned forests grow more wood than we harvest. Driven by strong markets for wood products, these forests are powerful carbon sinks that have been growing since the 1950s when regenerative forestry practices became the norm.
Responsible forest management, the kind that thins out fuel for wildfires, not only keeps forests healthy but also supplies feedstock for wood pellets. These pellets burn clean, emit fewer particulates than coal, are carbon-neutral, and have the potential to be carbon-negative when sourced sustainably. In other words, we’re turning forest byproducts into a strategic asset instead of a forest fire risk and ensuring more investment into our nation’s forests.
Valued at $1.75 billion, the U.S. led the world last year in wood pellet exports — heating homes and decarbonizing power grids from Cambridge to Copenhagen. That’s not just a climate win. It’s a geopolitical and economic one. Furthermore, there are ample opportunities to increase use domestically.
The Digital Surge: Data Centers Meet Biomass
Data centers are growing at breakneck pace. From streaming to AI, every click and query demands energy. These facilities already consume nearly 3% of global electricity, and that figure is climbing fast. In the U.S. alone, data center energy demand is expected to double by 2030.
While tech companies make pledges to run on “100% renewable,” achieving this goal is challenging. Intermittent renewables like wind and solar can’t always deliver the 24/7 baseload power data centers require. Wind and power are not the silver bullet many had hoped, because expensive batteries must be manufactured and installed to account for their lack of reliability. Meanwhile, wood pellets offer a firm, dispatchable, renewable fuel that can complement the grid and provide the consistent power backbone data infrastructure needs, without the carbon price tag of fossil fuels.
Speed is also a challenge. AI infrastructure is being developed on start-up timelines, but the grids meant to supply power are often hampered by multi-year planning cycles and limited capacity. Utilizing the existing biomass fleet or retrofitting coal-fired power stations to run on sustainable biomass bypasses these time-intensive and costly barriers. These sites are already grid-connected, often already have relevant permits, and crucially a coal-to-biomass conversion can be completed in under two years.
A Carbon-Negative Future? Biomass is the Feedstock
There’s another dimension to this story. Biomass isn’t just an energy source; it’s a carbon solution. Engineered carbon removal technologies like Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS) require a steady, sustainable feedstock to function at scale. That feedstock needs to be renewable, reliable, and available today. Wood pellets fit that bill.
When wood pellets are used in BECCS systems, they generate power and remove CO₂ from the atmosphere at the same time, locking it away underground or turning it into usable materials like concrete, fuels, or even long-lived bioplastics. That’s negative emissions. Not net zero. Below zero.
With private markets pouring billions into carbon removal innovation, the need for biogenic carbon is accelerating. Whether it’s carbon-negative electricity, sustainable aviation fuel or green hydrogen, they all have one thing in common: they start with a reliable renewable carbon stream. Wood pellets and woody biomass are poised to play a major role in supporting these emerging technologies.
Missing the Forest for the Trees
Despite all this, woody biomass, like all energy, eventually finds itself in the crosshairs. Critics claim it’s just “burning trees,” a false narrative that ignores both the science and the forests. Sustainable biomass doesn’t chop down protected, old-growth forests. It’s sourced from working forests, the type that are deliberately selected and sustainably managed to produce our dimensional lumber and furniture. Except biomass utilizes the lowest-value fiber that comes off these tracts.
As America’s pulp and paper industry has declined, shuttering dozens of mills and shedding thousands of jobs over the last decade, wood pellets have offered a new market for low-value wood. This fiber has little economic value and without a buyer will often rot, burn, or get landfilled. Using this wood isn’t deforestation, it’s responsible forest stewardship. In fact, without reliable markets like biomass, private landowners will sell and convert their forests for more lucrative returns like agriculture, golf courses, and residential developments.
Investing in Rural America
The benefits of the wood pellet industry go beyond carbon math. This is a sector that brings real jobs to rural America. It supports forest owners, loggers, truckers, and working forests. This is climate action with a hard hat, not a hashtag.
If we’re going to win the climate war, we have to include the states in America’s wood basket where trees grow, people work the land, and decarbonization isn’t an abstract ideal.
Wood pellets are real, scalable, renewable and a true American resource.
In a world increasingly distracted by hype, maybe it’s time we doubled down on solutions that deliver quietly, reliably, and sustainably. One of the smartest is hiding in plain sight — in our forests.
Trump To Deploy National Guard In Los Angeles As Anti-ICE Demonstrations Turn Violent
The Trump administration will deploy the National Guard to Los Angeles following several violent confrontations between Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and protesters, after ICE agents carried out multiple immigration sweeps throughout the county.
Border czar Tom Homan revealed the plans Saturday night in an interview on Fox News.
BREAKING – Border Czar Tom Homan has just confirmed that the National Guard will be deployed to Los Angeles tonight to reestablish order after Democrats seized control during violent anti-ICE riots. pic.twitter.com/fa2llnUPsP
— Right Angle News Network (@Rightanglenews) June 7, 2025
Earlier, the Deartment of Homeland Security accused Democratic leaders in California – including Governor Gavin Newsom (D) and Mayor Karen Bass (D) of contributing to the violence.
“The violent targeting of law enforcement in Los Angeles by lawless rioters is despicable and Mayor Bass and Governor Newsom must call for it to end,” DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement.
BREAKING: Protesters in Paramount, California have vandalized a U.S. Marshals Service bus during fiery demonstrations against immigration raids. pic.twitter.com/cK02O3CYIR
— AmericanPapaBear (@AmericaPapaBear) June 7, 2025
DHS Secretary Kristi Noem also chimed in, posting on X that protesters who use violence against officers will be prosecuted.
“You will not stop us or slow us down,” she posted on X.
President Trump also blamed ‘Newscum’ and Bass – saying in a Saturday night ‘Truth’ that if they can’t do their jobs, “then the Federal Government will step in and solve the problem.”
White House spox Karoline Leavitt echoed Trump’s comments, saying in a post on X: “President Trump will uphold law and order and continue to remove all dangerous illegal alien invaders from our country,” adding “The mob violence will be quelled, the criminals responsible will be brought to justice, and operations to arrest illegal aliens will continue unabated.“
Left-wing radicals waving foreign flags are viciously attacking ICE and Border Patrol agents and obstructing official law enforcement activities in Los Angeles.
Democrats refuse to condemn this despicable behavior but this will NOT be tolerated by the Trump Administration.… pic.twitter.com/JFzrVhOfjk
In recent days, violent mobs have attacked ICE Officers and Federal Law Enforcement Agents carrying out basic deportation operations in Los Angeles, California. These operations are essential to halting and reversing the invasion of illegal criminals into the United States. In the wake of this violence, California’s feckless Democrat leaders have completely abdicated their responsibility to protect their citizens. That is why President Trump has signed a Presidential Memorandum deploying 2,000 National Guardsmen to address the lawlessness that has been allowed to fester. The Trump Administration has a zero tolerance policy for criminal behavior and violence, especially when that violence is aimed at law enforcement officers trying to do their jobs. These criminals will be arrested and swiftly brought to justice. The Commander-in-Chief will ensure the laws of the United States are executed fully and completely.
Newsom responded – saying in a post on X: “The federal government is moving to take over the California National Guard and deploy 2,000 soldiers. That move is purposefully inflammatory and will only escalate tensions,” adding “This is the wrong mission and will erode public trust.”
The federal government is moving to take over the California National Guard and deploy 2,000 soldiers. That move is purposefully inflammatory and will only escalate tensions.
LA authorities are able to access law enforcement assistance at a moment’s notice. We are in close…
— Governor Gavin Newsom (@CAgovernor) June 8, 2025
The Oregon House of Representatives rejected a bill on June 5 that would have required Oregon schools to designate school sports teams by biological sex.
After Democrats blocked the bill, Oregon House Republicans sent an urgent letter to Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon of the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division, urging swift federal intervention and offering full cooperation with an ongoing Title IX investigation into Oregon’s education system.
House Bill 2037 would have allowed only females to participate in women’s school sports and enter women’s intimate spaces, such as bathrooms and locker rooms.
The bill failed along party lines despite hearing stories of more than a dozen young female athletes who were present for the vote, including high-jumpers Reese Eckard of Sherwood High School and Alexa Anderson of Tigard High School.
The action marks yet another flashpoint in the battle over transgender participation in athletics.
The legislative showdown followed a weekend in which male athletes identifying as transgender competed in the girls’ division at high school track meets in California, Washington, Maine, and Oregon, “displacing female competitors and confirming the systemic nature of the problem,” according to the Republican letter to Dhillon.
At the Oregon State Track and Field Championships at Hayward Field in Eugene on May 31, Eckard and Anderson, who had finished third and fourth in the high jump event, stepped down from the medal podium and turned their backs in protest of fifth-place finisher Liaa Rose.
Just two years earlier, Rose, who is a senior at Portland-based Ida B. Wells High School, finished in 11th place in the boys JV division.
“What happened last weekend at Hayward Field was heartbreaking,” wrote Oregon Republican Rep. Darin Harbick in a statement sent to The Epoch Times.
“A male athlete took a lane from a girl who trained all year for that moment. This isn’t just unfair—it’s wrong, and it’s exactly why we need federal oversight.”
By rejecting HB 2037, Republican Rep. Ed Diehl said, the Democrat majority chose ideology over fairness, common sense, and compliance with federal law.
“This bill was straightforward: protect female athletes and ensure a level playing field in school sports. Instead, the majority prioritized political agendas over equal opportunity for Oregon’s young athletes.”
Democrat Rep. Rob Nosse said during June 5’s legislative session that transgender athletes should be allowed to compete in youth sports and warned that such legislation could alienate trans athletes who would be denied the opportunity to use bathrooms that align with their gender identities.
“Mostly what I heard this morning was … just mean,” Nosse said.
Rep. Jules Walters, a Democrat, echoed her colleague, pointing out that many transgender people are on staff at the Capitol.
“When politicians speak callously on matters relating to identity, they’re speaking to their colleagues, their colleagues’ staff and their colleagues’ families,” Walters said.
“This chamber is not a vacuum.”
DOJ Zooming in on Oregon
The DOJ was already focused on Oregon.
Dhillon announced in a May 23 letter that the DOJ would launch a federal investigation into allegations of sex-based discrimination by the Oregon Department of Education (ODE) and the Oregon School Activities Association (OSAA), the governing body for Oregon high school sports.
“When males are allowed to compete with girls in female-only sport or events, the protections afforded to female athletes by Title IX are lost, and, quite simply, the law is broken,” Dhillon wrote in her letter to counsel at America First Policy Institute (AFPI).
The institute is a public policy organization headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, that has filed a Title IX discrimination complaint against OSAA and ODE.
Included with the Republican correspondence to Dhillon was an April 2024 letter from OSAA Executive Director Peter Weber acknowledging that the association’s “gender identity” policies were developed with ODE.
“ODE is set to receive about $1.5 billion in federal funds this biennium,” wrote Republican Rep. Boomer Wright in a statement shared with The Epoch Times.
“Those dollars must not support policies that violate civil rights law.”
The letter urged the DOJ to “carefully review how those funds intersect with policies that may be in violation of federal civil rights law.”
Also enclosed was a Feb. 11, 2025, letter from Oregon House Republicans to Weber requesting that OSAA immediately align its athletic policies with President Donald Trump’s executive order “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports”—a request that remains unanswered.
The executive order suggests that educational institutions that permit transgender athletes to compete in female sports could lose funding.
Although the DOJ letter does not draw any conclusions about the Oregon cases, it signals the beginning of a formal review that could have broader implications for school districts and athletic associations across the country.
If violations are found, the department could mandate changes to policy and enforcement or pursue legal action to ensure compliance.
Conservative Colombian Presidential Candidate Uribe Shot In The Head In Bogota Event
Conservative Colombian senator Miguel Uribe Turbay was shot in the head on Saturday in an apparent assassination attempt. There was no immediate confirmation from the authorities on the status of his condition.
Urgente 🇨🇴
Aquí está el momento del atentado al Dr Miguel Uribe
— Luis Aníbal Rincón Arguello. ® 🇨🇴 (@Rincon001A) June 7, 2025
The 39-year-old senator is a member of the opposition conservative Democratic Center party, founded by former Colombian President Alvaro Uribe. The two men are not related.
According to a party statement condemning the attack, the senator was hosting a campaign event in a public park in the Fontibon neighborhood in the capital on Saturday when “armed subjects shot him in the back.”
The party described the attack as serious, but did not disclose further details on his health.
Los zurdos HIJOS DE PUTA atentaron contra Miguel Uribe en Colombia, precandidato presidencial de derechas.
Los zurdos no son adversarios, son enemigos. Hasta que no entendamos eso, seguiremos viendo cómo atentan contra nuestra vida, cómo roban nuestra propiedad y cómo someten… pic.twitter.com/QsaKvI7JeG
Colombia’s presidency issued a statement saying the government “categorically and forcefully” rejected the violent attack, and called for a thorough investigation into the events that took place.
Uribe’s mother, the journalist Diana Turbay, was killed in 1991 during a rescue operation after she was kidnapped by Pablo Escobar’s Medellin cartel.
U.S. Auto Sales Mostly Steady In May As Incentive Spending Drops: Deutsche Bank
In a new report out last week Deutsche Bank analysts led by Edison Yu provided an update on the U.S. auto sector, noting that sales in May reached a seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR) of 15.7 million units.
This figure came in slightly below their estimate of approximately 15.9 million, a result they attributed to a natural moderation following the particularly strong auto buying seen in April. They also pointed out that there may have been some seasonal distortions at play, as the absolute number of vehicles sold in May—1.475 million—still came in higher than the 1.449 million reported in May 2024.
The analysts observed that Ford benefited from stronger-than-expected sales, driven by the continued success of its employee pricing strategy, which helped the company gain 160 basis points in market share. Toyota also performed well, picking up 130 basis points in market share.
Mid-month data suggested that average transaction prices (ATPs) for the industry would decline month-over-month to approximately $46,000, although prices remain up 1.8 percent compared to a year ago. Meanwhile, incentive spending was down 11.5 percent month-over-month, a signal that vehicle demand remains robust even as some price moderation occurs.
As for inventory levels, the Deutsche Bank team reported that they remained stable at 46 days’ supply exiting the month. This is unchanged from April and represents a modest two-day improvement compared to the previous year. Most of the Detroit 3 (D3) and Japanese 3 (J3) automakers saw relatively flat inventories on a month-over-month basis, suggesting that the overall supply environment remains balanced.
Recall, back in April, Deutsche Bank’s note painted a more cautionary picture, centered on the significant uncertainty facing automakers due to the imposition of tariffs.
Just a month and a half ago, the analysts highlighted that automakers were scrambling to adjust their pricing, incentives, and production strategies to cope with a 25% tariff on imported vehicles and parts—effective May 3. The bank warned that despite the possibility of a short-term suspension, investors should assume all imported vehicles were subject to the tariff regime.
The April commentary also described a patchwork of automaker responses: Tesla paused Model X and S sales to China, GM halted operations at its CAMI plant, while Mazda, Mitsubishi, and Subaru took varying measures like absorbing some price increases or stopping U.S. inventory shipments. Ford’s broad employee pricing discounts—cited again in the June note as driving its strong sales—were already seen as part of its tariff-mitigation strategy in April. The bank estimated Ford and GM could each see gross costs rise by over $10 billion, with EBIT hits in the range of $4–7 billion annually, highlighting the potential severity of the tariffs’ impact.
In both notes, Deutsche Bank remained cautious about the broader auto sector. In April, they expected that front-loaded consumer buying (ahead of price hikes) would bolster sales early in the year but that the second half would suffer as tariffs took effect, projecting 2025 U.S. sales at 15.4 million units—down from 16 million in 2024. Interestingly, the June update’s 15.7 million SAAR for May suggests a somewhat stronger-than-feared demand environment—at least in the near term—though the underlying uncertainties around trade policy likely remain.
In other words, the dust appears to be settling and the U.S. auto industry appears to have ridden out the storm and is normalizing somewhat…for now…
Israel has sold a record amount of debt in the US since its Gaza war erupted on October 7, 2023, according to a report by Bloomberg on Friday.
The government of Israel’s US-based bond broker, Israel Bonds, says it has sold $5bn worth of debt in the last twenty months. The level of bond issuance is more than double that raised by Israel Bonds, in similar time periods previously.
Israel’s war on Gaza started after the October 7, 2023 Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel killed around 1,200 people. Israel responded by pummeling the Gaza Strip and invading it. A reported more than 54,000 people, mainly women and children, have been killed in the Israeli attacks, and the population is facing “imminent famine”, the United Nations says.
Israel Bonds is affiliated with Israel’s finance ministry and sells bonds inside the US to both retail and institutional investors. The starting price for non-tradable retail Israeli bonds is as low as $36.
A five-year Israeli bond has a yield between 4.86 percent and 5.44 percent, according to the Bloomberg report.
Along with its war on Gaza, Israel fought a devastating war with Hezbollah in Lebanon and launched widespread strikes on Syria. In 2024, it engaged in two rounds of direct missile and drone attacks with Iran. Israel’s financing needs have soared as it looks to fund its military.
Local Israeli creditors, including deep-pocketed institutional ones, account for about 80 percent of the government’s lending overall. That leaves just twenty percent to come from international debt sales and what Israel Bonds sells in the US.
According to the group, local US governments at the state and county level are big buyers in places like New York, Texas, Ohio, and Illinois.
Palm Beach County in Florida became one of the world’s largest investors in Israeli Bonds in 2024, with about $700m of its $4.67bn portfolio invested there.
Israel has faced widespread criticism for its war on Gaza. The International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for alleged war crimes. Meanwhile, public opinion on Israel has turned sharply negative from France to Japan.
However, in March 2024, Israel saw strong demand for its debt among international investors. It sold $8bn in international bonds. Israel enjoys investment-grade ratings from major credit ratings agencies.
Texas Yanks Major Perk From Illegal Aliens – After Pioneering It 24 Years Ago
Twenty-four years after being the first in the nation to roll it out, a major perk for illegal aliens in Texas has vanished after the Trump administration filed a federal lawsuit to stop it and the Lone Star State’s attorney general quickly agreed with the White House stance. Specifically, illegals will no longer be charged the in-state rate for college tuition.
The end came quite suddenly. Within hours of the US Department of Justice filing a complaint in the Northern District of Texas, Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a motion asking Judge Reed O’Connor to rule in favor of the DOJ and declare in-state tuition for illegals unconstitutional. On the same day, O’Connor issued an order declaring that discounts favoring illegal aliens over non-Texan American citizens — in contradiction of federal law — violate the Constitution’s Supremacy Clause, and permanently blocking Texas from giving such discounts.
“Today, I entered a joint motion along with the Trump Administration opposing a law that unconstitutionally and unlawfully gave benefits to illegal aliens that were not available to American citizens. Ending this discriminatory and un-American provision is a major victory for Texas.”
In 2001, Texas became the first state to offer in-state tuition to illegals. Back then, Democrats had a slim majority in the state House, but the “Texas Dream Act” had bipartisan support, with only four of 181 legislators voting against it. Republicans bought into the idea that better-educated illegals would bolster the state’s labor force and its economy, and then-Governor Rick Perry gave full support — a stance he had to defend at a Republican debate during his failed 2012 presidential campaign. While this clip stops short, the audience answered with a mix of vigorous applause and hearty boos:
2011: Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry says on a national debate stage if you don’t support discounted tuition for illegal aliens, you don’t have a heart.
2025: President Donald Trump’s DOJ sues Texas for giving discounted tuition to illegal aliens.
Since then, more than 20 other states created their own such rules. The tide is now clearly turning. In February, Florida’s legislature eliminated a 10-year-old law granting in-state tuition to illegals who attended a Florida high school for three consecutive years before graduating. A bill that would have repealed the practice made it out of a Texas Senate committee earlier this year, but didn’t have enough strength to be brought to the full Senate vote. That’s all moot now.
For the 2024-25 academic year, in-state tuition discount saved a student attending Texas A&M University in College Station $27,894 a year, and the discount at the University of Texas at Austin was worth $33,220 a year, to take just two examples from the state’s sprawling higher education system.
“Under federal law, schools cannot provide benefits to illegal aliens that they do not provide to U.S. citizens,” said US Attorney General Pam Bondi in a statement. “The Justice Department will relentlessly fight to vindicate federal law and ensure that U.S. citizens are not treated like second-class citizens anywhere in the country.”
While the rules vary depending on the student’s exact circumstances and status under DACA, about 30 states provide some level of in-state-tuition access for illegals. According to the Higher Ed Immigration Portal, the most freewheeling states are California, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Utah, Vermont, Virginia and Washington.
FBI Director Kash Patel sat down with Joe Rogan in Austin, Texas, where he dropped a series of revelations about the Bureau’s ongoing investigation into Jeffrey Epstein, including a promise to release jail cell surveillance footage and newly uncovered evidence that could implicate Anthony Fauci.
Kash Patel didn’t waste any time. He opened with a stat that most Americans have probably never heard—and it was a big one.
During Trump’s first term, Patel was in charge of counterterrorism for the White House and National Security Council. In that role, he helped lead one of the administration’s most overlooked achievements.
“Hostages, we can talk about that forever too,” Patel said. “Counterterrorism was a big portfolio, I ran it for the White House and National Security Council in the first Trump administration.”
Then he dropped the number: “We brought home—people don’t know this—President Trump in his first term, brought home and rescued over 50 hostages and detainees from around the world.” He added, “That’s more than every president before him combined.”
Rogan looked stunned. “Wow,” he said.
Patel explained that hardly anyone knows these rescues even happened. The missions weren’t covered in the headlines, and the stories of families being reunited after dangerous operations in places like Africa and the Middle East were mostly ignored.
“Did you hear about the successes of reuniting families with lost loved ones from Africa or the Middle East?” he asked.
He then described how Trump personally signed off on high-risk missions—sending elite forces into hostile territory to bring people home. “These operations, that the president was courageous enough to green light to go into places like Afghanistan and do these hostage rescue ops, and use Seal Team Six and Delta,” he said.
Kash Patel didn’t waste time.
Sitting down with Joe Rogan, he opened with a jaw-dropping stat—one few Americans have ever heard.
During Trump’s first term, Patel ran counterterrorism operations for the White House and National Security Council.
From there, the conversation shifted to a very different kind of crisis—one playing out right here in the U.S. and claiming tens of thousands of lives: fentanyl.
Patel didn’t mince words about who’s behind it. “So where’s the root of the problem? The CCP,” he said, pointing directly at the Chinese Communist Party.
This part of the discussion took a darker turn.
Patel explained that while China isn’t producing the fentanyl itself, it’s playing a central role by supplying the raw chemical ingredients used to manufacture it. “The fentanyl precursors, the stuff you need to make fentanyl comes from mainland China. That’s it.”
He said there are hundreds of Chinese companies involved—mass-producing and exporting these precursors around the world. Most of them land in Mexico, where cartels convert the chemicals into fentanyl and smuggle it across the border.
“They’re like ‘we don’t make fentanyl.’ They’re right, they don’t,” Patel said. “They just give you all the ingredients for it and ship it to Mexico.”
In an attempt to polish their global image, Patel said the CCP announced a ban on one specific precursor. But it was a sleight of hand.
“To trick the world, they came out and said: ‘Hey, we’re going to not sell precursor X.’ The problem is, there’s 14 other precursors you can use to make fentanyl and they’re still shipping all of those.”
So while overdose deaths in America continue to soar, China manages to keep its fingerprints off the crisis—at least on paper.
From there, the conversation turned to an entirely different kind of crisis—one claiming tens of thousands of lives on American soil, fentanyl.
Patel didn’t hesitate to name the culprit: the Chinese Communist Party.
The next revelation sounded like it came straight out of a spy thriller.
When Patel arrived at the FBI, he discovered a secret data room hidden inside the Hoover Building—a room he claimed was deliberately concealed during James Comey’s time at the Bureau.
“Me as the Director of the FBI—when I first got to the Bureau, found a room that Comey and others hid from the world in the Hoover Building, full of documents and computer hard drives that no one had ever seen or heard of.”
Patel described a secure room, locked away and buried deep, with access so tightly controlled that even its existence was unknown to most.
“Locked the key and hid access, and just said, no one’s ever going to find this place.”
Rogan again: “Whaaaaaaat?!”
Patel continued, “Yeah, so my guys are going through that right now.”
Rogan asked: “What’s in there?”
Patel answred. “A lot of stuff.”
The next revelation sounded like something out of a spy novel.
When Patel arrived at the FBI, he uncovered a hidden data room buried inside the Hoover Building—a room, he said, that had been concealed during the James Comey era.
Next up was what Patel described as Biden’s border bloodbath.
It’s a crisis that many have brushed off as a result of poor management—but Patel said it’s far more deliberate than that.
Rogan asked the question outright: “Is this [open border] pure incompetence? Or is it malice?”
Patel didn’t hesitate. “No, it’s intentional.”
He explained that the Biden administration made a clear and conscious policy decision—one that opened the floodgates to millions of illegal entrants, fully aware of the consequences.
“When you’re going to let in, what is it, 9 million people? A lot of them are going to be criminals.”
For Patel, the results weren’t just predictable—they were inevitable.
Next on the docket was Biden’s border bloodbath.
Patel confirmed what many in the media have dismissed as a conspiracy theory.
Was the crisis at the southern border just incompetence, or something more calculated?
Eventually, the conversation turned to one of the most hotly debated topics of the last decade: Jeffrey Epstein.
Patel and Deputy Director Dan Bongino had recently made waves by stating unequivocally that Epstein died by suicide—an explanation many Americans still don’t accept.
The public has been demanding answers for years. Where are the files? Is there any footage? Were the powerful protected?
Rogan pushed Patel for clarity.
Patel promised transparency, but with a clear boundary. “We’re going to give you everything that we can and people have to remember, we’re not going to revictimize women,” he said. “We’re not going to put that shit back out there.”
Then came the question everyone was waiting for: “Is there video from the island?” Rogan asked.
Patel was direct. “Not of what you want… If I had it, I’d be the first guy to bring this case hard and fast.”
He emphasized that he and his team combed through every file they were legally allowed to access—and what they found didn’t support the popular narrative. “I got here 100 days ago. I can’t be held to account for 20 years of failures,” he said.
And if any damning evidence ever did exist, Patel admitted it’s entirely possible it was wiped out long ago.
Eventually, Epstein came up.
Patel and Deputy Director Dan Bongino had made headlines recently by saying definitively that Jeffrey Epstein died by suicide—something many Americans still question.
The public has long demanded answers: Where are the files? Is there any video?… pic.twitter.com/MRkpl2GxZW
But the most explosive moment of the interview came when Patel shifted his focus to Dr. Anthony Fauci.
This was the bombshell.
After years of stonewalling, vanishing records, and unanswered questions, a major breakthrough had finally arrived: Fauci’s COVID-era phones and hard drives—once thought to be missing—had been found.
“We just had a great breakthrough this week on Fauci,” Patel revealed.
The FBI had been investigating the origins of COVID, but a key problem remained: Fauci’s communications during the most pivotal months of the pandemic were nowhere to be found.
“And nobody had found it… till two days ago.”
Now, the original hard drives are in hand. And Patel made the mission clear: “Did that guy lie? Did he intentionally mislead the world and cause countless deaths?”
He stressed that this isn’t about politics—it’s about accountability. “The best evidence is always the people’s evidence,” he said.
“We’re going to exploit those hard drives… We’re not done. We’re on the case.”
If there’s evidence Fauci manipulated data, covered up dissent, or shaped the narrative to fit a political agenda, Patel believes it could be sitting right there on those devices.
And this time, he says, the truth won’t be buried.
But the most explosive moment of the interview came when Patel turned to Fauci.
This was a bombshell.
After years of delays, excuses, and missing records—his COVID-era phones and devices were finally found.
Before wrapping up, Patel shared one final surprise—and this time, it was good news.
According to the latest data, the U.S. is on track to hit its lowest murder rate in decades.
Rogan, clearly surprised, asked how that could be possible.
Patel credited a simple but effective shift in leadership: giving law enforcement the room and resources to do their jobs without political interference.
“Let good cops be cops,” he said. “I’m gonna let you, the agents, the police officers, the sheriffs, go out there and do the work you so badly want to do. And I’m gonna give you the resources you need to do it. And I’m gonna take away the politicization and weaponization… and that’s what we’ve done.”
Sometimes, real change doesn’t come from reinventing the system, but from removing the roadblocks and letting professionals do what they were trained to do.
Before wrapping, Patel offered one more surprise—but this time, it was good news.
According to current data, America is on track for its lowest murder rate in decades.
Iran Purchases Enough Fuel Materials From China For Up To 800 Ballistic Missiles
This week a report in The Wall Street Journal said Iran ordered large quantities of ammonium perchlorate—a key component for solid-fuel ballistic missiles—from China, despite the Islamic Republic’s ballistic missile program being under Western scrutiny amid ongoing sensitive nuclear negotiations with the US.
The material could be used to produce up to 800 missiles and was placed by Pishgaman Tejarat Rafi Novin Co. from Lion Commodities Holdings Ltd. in Hong Kong. The report indicated the parts are to arrive in the coming months.
The WSJ raises the likelihood that some or much of the material could be transferred to Iran-backed proxy groups in the Mideast region, foremost among them Yemen’s Houthi rebels, who have been launching repeat ballistic missile attacks directly on Israel, even threatening cities as far away as Tel Aviv.
The deal with the Chinese company was likely finalized before Trump’s offer to restart nuclear talks, which was kick-started in March.
China’s Foreign Ministry has rejected the allegations, or is at least saying China is not aware of the transfer.
“The Chinese side has always exercised strict control over dual-use items in accordance with China’s export control laws and regulations and its international obligations,” a spokesperson said.
Iran has been looking for ways to rebuild its so-called Axis of Resistance network of militias after Israel pummeled Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza and the Assad regime fell in Syria. U.S. and Israeli strikes on the Houthis damaged the group’s capabilities, though they still threaten Israel.
Iran recently transferred ballistic missiles to Shia militia groups in Iraq, who could target Israel and U.S. forces in the region they have previously attacked, the people confirmed. The missile transfers were previously reported by the Times of London.
It goes without saying that the fall of Assad’s Syria was a huge blow to the ‘Axis of Resistance’ which previously linked Iran, Iraq, and Hezbollah in Lebanon via crucial Syrian logistics.
Israel has meanwhile resumed its aerial attacks on southern Beirut suburbs, where Hezbollah is a dominant faction, while Lebanese civilians suffer…
The owner of two buildings destroyed by Israel last night in Beirut’s southern suburb said on television that the structures, which are quite old, were rented from the Maronite Church and that his family lives there.
Syria under the Jolani (Sharaa) regime will now be Sunni Islamist in orientation, and is already doing deals with Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Turkey. Iranian troops have been completely booted from Syria, and pro-Iranian militias in Western Iraq have been relatively quiet of late, also as the Pentagon has drawn down some key bases in northeast Syria (though the US occupation will remain for now).
