Authored by Troy Myers via The Epoch Times,

A deputy inspector general revealed in a Jan. 14 Senate hearing that tens of thousands of Afghan refugees could not provide key identification when entering the United States through a Biden-era parole program.

Additionally, lawmakers revealed that more than 50 individuals in the United States with confirmed or suspected terrorist ties were allowed into the country under the same program. The joint hearing was held with the Senate Border Security and Immigration and Crime and Counterterrorism subcommittees, which spiraled into arguments between Republican and Democratic lawmakers over whether vetting or counterterrorism is to blame.

Under Operation Allies Welcome, a 2021 initiative under President Joe Biden to resettle Afghans in the wake of what was widely called a botched U.S. military withdrawal from the Middle Eastern country, roughly 76,000 evacuees were let into the United States. The operation was meant to help Afghan allies who helped American forces and faced a serious threat from the Taliban because of that employment.

“There was missing information from the [Operation Allies Welcome] population, including first, last names, and date of birth,” Deputy Inspector General Craig Adelman for the office of audits in Homeland Security said.

“There was about 11,000 to 12,000 that did not know their date of birth.”

Although Afghan refugees were asked to provide identification, Adelman testified that about 36,000 could not provide any form of it.

When asked if the Department of Homeland Security systematically interviewed or conducted mental health screenings of evacuees before they were allowed into the United States, Adelman simply replied “no” and “not that I’m aware of.”

The hearing was called “Biden’s Afghan Parolee Program – A Trojan Horse with Flawed Vetting and Deadly Consequences.”

Democrats said this title was misleading and demonized thousands of Afghan individuals.

Republicans said the hearing was appropriately named, and above all else, the safety of Americans should be prioritized over refugee programs. This wasn’t taken into consideration during Operation Allies Welcome, the GOP senators said.

“We have no idea of their potential terrorist connections, and in many cases, we now have no idea where they are or what they’re doing, who they’re connected with, or what they’re capable of,” Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) said.

One report shows the total number of refugees reached a much higher amount at more than 200,000 Afghan nationals through the Biden administration’s policies, according to the Center for Immigration Studies.

“Contrary to popular narratives, most Afghans admitted during and after the evacuation had nothing to do with the U.S. government or any of its contractors,” senior researcher Nayla Rush said in her report. “They were not U.S. ‘allies,’ nor were they ‘persecuted’ individuals in need of refugee resettlement.”

Another senior researcher with the Center for Immigration Studies, Simon Hankinson, testified Wednesday that he has no doubt there are hundreds of Afghan nationals who should be deported.

In December 2025, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard said at least 2,000 Afghan refugees in the United States have terrorism ties.

One of the Afghan men who entered the United States through Operation Allies Welcome is the suspect accused of the November 2025 shooting of two National Guard members in Washington, killing one and seriously injuring the other. The FBI called the attack an act of terrorism.

“How did this murderer come to be let in the United States in the first place?” Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) said. “How do we know that there are no other such Afghan nationals in the United States who might carry out another similar attack?”

Democratic lawmakers on Wednesday argued the Afghan refugees were in fact vetted multiple times, and the shooting of the National Guard members was due to a failure of counterterrorism, not because of a failure of vetting.

Sen. Alejandor Padilla (D-Calif.) pleaded in the hearing that “we not condemn the many for the inexcusable act of one person.”

Multiple witnesses at the hearing, including another deputy inspector general with the Defense Department and one with the State Department, testified that vetting did occur, but their offices found flaws and inadequate practices.

Republican lawmakers said Americans’ safety should still take precedent over letting thousands of Afghan refugees into the United States with insufficient vetting.

Cornyn put this question to the witnesses at the hearing, asking three of them if they disagree that an absolute non-negotiable requirement of any visa or parole program should be the safety and security of the American people. None of the witnesses spoke up.

Authored by Jeffrey Tucker via The Epoch Times,

The revolutionary fervor in Iran today has deep political roots and invites every theory concerning outside influences that have a deep stake in the kind of regime that rules this country. But amidst all the speculation about what’s really happening here, there is an overwhelming factor rarely mentioned.

Iran has experienced the sort of inflation that brings down whole governments. This is why so many among the merchant class have joined the revolutionary movements.

For many years, the regime had pursued an inflationary monetary policy that devastated the value of the currency, the rial. Over a 10-year period, worsening in the last two years, the currency has experienced 3,500 percent inflation. Crucial in this country’s financial structures is the value of the currency on international exchanges. It is now one of the worst, making business nearly impossible and banking highly volatile.

The tipping point has been identified by the Wall Street Journal:

“Late last year, Ayandeh Bank, run by regime cronies and saddled with nearly $5 billion in losses on a pile of bad loans, went bust. The government folded the carcass into a state bank and printed a massive amount of money to try to paper over all the red ink. That buried the problem but didn’t solve it.”

“After decades of engineering workarounds and using shadowy flows of cash to keep the country’s battered economy functioning,” the analysis continues, “Tehran had reached a dead end, with no tools to address a deepening economic crisis or meet the needs of an increasingly desperate population. Hundreds of merchants, who don’t typically join the country’s mass protests, took to the streets of Tehran to demand relief.”

This is a familiar story. Money printing can create the appearance of temporary prosperity. Once it begins to fall apart, there are only two choices: retrenchment and recession or making more loans to continue the illusion.

Iran’s banking system backing vast projects of fake opulence had become wildly overextended. At some point, the house of cards collapsed and the currency along with it.

This is the essential pre-history to grasp in order to understand why people hit the streets and have been unwilling to be intimidated by shows of force. In these cases, even executions do not work to restore order. Indeed, this only creates martyrs that fuel more boldness and revolutionary fervor.

There is nothing unusual historically about this. In an inflation that wrecks peoples’ livelihoods, people find every problem with the regime that rules them even if they put up with its features in the past. In Iran, the blame falls squarely on the heads of the Islamic fundamentalists but it could have been otherwise even under a wholly secular regime. It’s the inflation and financial collapse that is the trigger.

The recent inflationary bout in the United States was mild by historical standards but you could feel the anger in the population rise. A major reason for the defeat of the party in power traced to the loss of purchasing power. Inflation works like a tax but a deeply surreptitious one. It steals your money’s value by increasing the quantity of money in circulation beyond which is supported by existing rates of economic growth.

The previous bout in U.S. history was in 1979–1980 and it too led to the equivalent of a revolution. Jimmy Carter was a decent man and a hard-working president who governed in a moderate way. But none of this mattered once inflation hit double digits and started wiping out the value of savings and saved capital. It felt like a pillaging. Carter was blamed even though it was the supposed independent central bank that was really at fault.

Inflation is the force behind many political revolutions. The story of the Russian Revolution of 1917 is not usually about the money but inflation played a big role. The ruling monarchy had used money printing as the means by which it paid for its involvement in the Great War. This hit the population hard even as regular people were being drafted into the army and killed in a foreign war.

It was this wicked combination of inflation and conscription in an unpopular war that destabilized the Czar’s rule and led to the Bolshevik Revolution. It was not the case that the population had suddenly and strangely converted to the teachings of Karl Marx. Russian culture is centered on three points: religion, family, and ownership. Marxism attacked all three, that which the people loved more than anything else. Inflation is such a powerful force that it even leads people into their own worst political hell.

Going back in time, inflation was the key to the destabilization that led to the French Revolution and the murder of the king and the overthrow of the monarchy. People today tell stories of royal opulence but the reason those stories resonated had to do with high inflation that people experienced in their own lives. They wondered why they were getting poor while the monarchy was getting richer. They sensed that the regime had become rapacious and they were correct.

The French Revolution began in high ideals but collapsed into a bloody mess of political execution and chaos. Even to this day, the country has not quite recovered.

Then there is the most famous case of all: the devastation of the Weimar inflation (1921–23) that destroyed the German currency and certainly ushered in the rise of Hitler and Nazi party rule. When the money fails, totalitarianism often rises. This is a lesson of history.

Everywhere you look today you see the hidden hand of inflation behind political revolutions. In Venezuela, inflation hit 800 percent in 2016, 4,000 percent in 2017, and 130,000 to 2,000,000 percent in 2018. This is one of the one of the worst hyperinflation episodes ever recorded. The cycle was a familiar one: public fury, regime crackdown, and eventual upheaval, this one assisted by the United States who flat-out arrested the leader of the country without a great deal of resentment by the public.

Any political leadership that presides over inflation is playing with fire that can end up burning down the entire house. Commentators most often look at the failure of governance and the rationale behind the regime to explain revolutions, the French Revolution being the most obvious case. But once you understand the underlying economic dynamic, all becomes clear. The key to maintaining the rule of law, longevity in leadership, and regime stability is sound money, zero inflation, a money on which people can depend, and a banking system that serves the public rather than collaborates with industrial elites.

This is why the Founders put a line in the U.S. Constitution about the kinds of money states could issue: only gold and silver. How did they know? Because of the experience of hyperinflation during the War of Independence. The phrase “not worth a Continental” comes from a time when the currency was utterly wrecked. The new country was born with a fear of what inflation could do.

“It is worthy of observation,” wrote Thomas Paine, “that every case of failure in finances, since the system of paper began, has produced a revolution in governments, either total or partial.”

Paine was correct. The slogans of a regime are largely beside the point.

If they cannot manage the money well and allow the logic of high leverage to take its course, it risks being overthrown, always and everywhere.

The children running Gavin Newsom’s X account might be legitimately brain dead, as evidenced by their latest attempt to ‘own’ conservative influencer Benny Johnson. 

On Tuesday, Johnson took to the streets of Los Angeles, posting from an ARCO station that “The average price of gas in America is $2.82 per gallon.”

“There are 19 states where you can find gas under $2,” he continued, adding “Here in Los Angeles, it’s over $4 and you get to step over homeless people while you fill up.“

The average price of gas in America is $2.82 per gallon.

There are 19 states where you can find gas under $2.

Here in Los Angeles, it’s over $4 and you get to step over homeless people while you fill up.

Californians are being ripped off.

This is theft. pic.twitter.com/CdisvOX73I

— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) January 14, 2026

Newsom’s team pounced into action – posting a map showing gas prices above $4/gallon all over the place.

“Benny could have SAVED $1 PER GALLON driving down the road instead of picking notoriously overpriced Chevron” they replied, adding “all this guy does is mislead.” 

Benny could have SAVED $1 PER GALLON driving down the road instead of picking notoriously overpriced Chevron — all this guy does is mislead.

Just see the map here (right down the road) https://t.co/I9cKF1Z4cO pic.twitter.com/jY3Mf3cKDb

— Governor Newsom Press Office (@GovPressOffice) January 14, 2026

Except, Newsom’s team is the one doing the misleading. For starters, Johnson was at an ARCO, not a Chevron. 

Needless to say, the self-own was epic…

Bro is flexing $4 gas and you didn’t even get the gas station right

— ALX 🇺🇸 (@alx) January 15, 2026

Hey morons his video is at an ARCO station not Chevron but congrats on proving yet again why you’re the dumbest office in America

— Ian Miller (@ianmSC) January 15, 2026

pic.twitter.com/UIPWLUs4XY

— Baron Von Grimm (@baronvongrimm) January 14, 2026

Bragging about $4.00-$5.00 gas when the national average is $2.84 is peak Newsom. pic.twitter.com/zTOhD1Yn4T

— John Seravalli (@John_Seravalli1) January 15, 2026

Hey guys, I just broke Gavin’s brain.

Check out this self-own:

Gavin, your post shows Cali gas is DOUBLE the national average.

And this is NOT the gas station I was at. I was at an Arco on Ash Ave. You just PROVED gas is expensive everywhere!

+ you ratio’d yourself.

Owned 🤣 https://t.co/4mjss4YwIT

— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) January 15, 2026

Keep it up guys, you’re doing great!!

Gavin Newsom’s white comms guy using “sing kumbaya” to talk down to a black
woman sure is a look.

Incredible. pic.twitter.com/jYnmEUZKlx

— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) August 21, 2025

Via The Cradle

Several Muslim-majority states are in talks with Pakistan to acquire the JF-17 fighter jet, co-produced with China, as they scramble to upgrade their air forces amid shifting regional security dynamics.

According to multiple reports from Reuters, Pakistan is in talks or has reached preliminary arrangements with Libya, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Azerbaijan, and Bangladesh over fighter jets, drones, and related defense systems, with negotiations at varying stages.

Retired Pakistan Air Force air marshal Aamir Masood told Reuters that a preliminary $4 billion agreement had been reached with the Libyan National Army for an unspecified number of JF-17s and other trainer aircraft produced by Pakistan Aeronautical Complex.

Masood also said a separate $1.5 billion package was “effectively” finalized with Sudan’s government for light-attack aircraft, surveillance systems, suicide drones, and “possibly” JF-17s, claiming it could give Khartoum an edge over the UAE-backed Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

He added that Islamabad is discussing a $4 billion arms deal with Saudi Arabia. In September, the two nations signed a mutual defense pact “soon after Israeli warplanes bombed Hamas negotiators in Qatar.” 

Pakistan has also floated an “arms-for-debt” component of around $2 billion, Masood said, while warning signs of regional rivalries loom over Sudan, where backers diverge.

During a flash war with India last year, Islamabad showcased the battlefield performance of Chinese-made aircraft.

The battle involved more than 100 fighter jets, with Pakistan claiming it shot down five Indian aircraft, including three French-made Rafales. At the same time, US officials later confirmed that at least two Indian jets were lost, before a US-brokered ceasefire took hold.

The battle was described by analyst Pepe Escobar as “the largest and most high-tech air battle of the young 21st century,” arguing that the clash produced no real winners and ultimately served the interests of outside powers rather than either side.

Islamabad’s defence diplomacy is driving new interest in the JF-17 fighter jet following Pakistan-India clashes.

So what is the JF-17 Thunder, what can it do, and why are so many countries showing interest? https://t.co/3XTrlJgtZX pic.twitter.com/SUMPxR8KrJ

— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) January 10, 2026

According to an earlier report by Reuters, two Pakistani sources said “Pakistan and Saudi Arabia are in talks to convert about $2 billion of Saudi loans into a JF-17 fighter jet deal,” and one added, “The jets were the primary option among others under discussion.”

Efforts by the Trump administration to push more Venezuelan oil onto the global market, with the goal of lowering prices, are creating concern in West Texas, where producers say cheaper oil threatens drilling, jobs and local business activity, according to a new report from the Wall Street Journal.

Oil prices have fallen since last spring, recently dipping below $60 a barrel — a level at which many operators can keep pumping but often avoid starting new wells. President Trump believes exerting greater control over Venezuela’s oil industry could drive prices down to $50 a barrel, The Wall Street Journal has reported. At the same time, tariffs have raised costs for materials such as chemicals and steel tubing, according to Midland oil executives.

In the Permian Basin, the heart of U.S. fracking, drilling activity has slowed. “We’re definitely not drilling right now,” said Taylor Sell, chief executive of Element Petroleum.

The number of active rigs in the region is down 14% over the past year, according to Enverus. Companies have delayed new wells, cut staff and reduced worker hours. Kyle Patterson, engineering manager at Buckeye, said the company laid off about 10% of its workforce. “You can’t just sit around and wait for the market to come back,” he said.

The Journal writes that local industry leaders worry that prolonged low prices will increase U.S. dependence on imports. “It has really cast a shadow over the Permian,” said Ben Shepperd, president of the Permian Basin Petroleum Association.

Some producers say they oppose relying on Venezuelan oil. “We are on a gold mine; we can produce enough oil to supply ourselves,” said Bubba Dobson, a Midland-based business representative who has seen his pay decline as drilling demand weakens.

The slowdown is affecting the wider economy. Hotel occupancy in the region fell 5.6% between November 2024 and November 2025, according to CoStar. As drilling activity declines, spending at local businesses has softened.

Veteran producer Paul Kenworthy said low prices have forced him to pause some projects, adding, “This is a boom-and-bust business.”

While some residents support the administration’s broader policies, frustration is growing among business owners. “We thought he was going to help the economy here in West Texas,” said restaurant co-owner Nemecio Torres, whose revenue dropped about 30% last year.

Others say the downturn may deepen. “It’ll be a year until we really start feeling the pain,” said Pat Dennis, who sells oilfield tools.

In Odessa, where oil paychecks once dominated local commerce, store manager Ruby Ramirez said business has slowed sharply. “It’s an oil-field town,” she said. “The oil field’s not the oil field anymore.”

Authored by Monica Showalter via American Thinker,

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey launched a lawsuit against the Trump administration for its faithful enforcement of U.S. immigration law, whining loudly that his city was being unfairly targeted because it was run by Democrats while other cities had higher numbers of illegal aliens. He was scored for it, of course, and just found new way to embarrass his city.

According to the Washington Examiner’s editorial page:

During his press conference announcing a suit brought by Minneapolis against the Department of Homeland Security, Mayor Jacob Frey questioned why thousands of immigration enforcement personnel, including agents from both Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol, have been sent to his jurisdiction. 

If the goal was immigration enforcement, if the goal were simply to look for people that are undocumented, Minneapolis and St. Paul would not be the place where you would go,” Frey reasoned. “There are countless more people that are undocumented in Florida and Texas and Utah. Why are they in these much smaller cities in the middle of the Midwest?”

“The answer is very clear,” Frey continued, answering his own question, “It is politics. Florida and Texas and Utah are Republican states. The reason that Minnesota and Minneapolis are being targeted is because you’ve got a Democratic governor, a Democratic attorney general, and you got Democratic mayors.”

MINNEAPOLIS MAYOR JACOB FREY suggests ICE actions in his city aren’t about stopping murder and crime:

“We are willing to work with people when it’s about murder and when it’s about crime, but the truth is that this ain’t about that.”

“Why is the largest scale immigration… pic.twitter.com/Ko91Cn1uJH

— Fox News (@FoxNews) January 14, 2026

He seemed to think that was a bad thing.

But based on this plaintive howl, he seemed to think his state was paying some kind of price for federal immigration enforcement, instead of seeing a valuable service performed, which is what the feds are paid to do, as if his state wasn’t benefiting from it.

The Examiner pointed out that actually, Frey let the cat out of the bag about the real Democrat agenda, which was amnesty for every illegal once Democrats regain power, and every amnestied illegal a new Democrat voter. So Frey was actually admitting that his voter base was being taken away.

The Examiner also pointed out that the problem was completely preventable, in that Minnesota was a sanctuary state, meaning federal officials had to surge the area to round up illegals, which came in all varieties, while red states with illegals cooperated with federal authorities and got their enforcement done without riots and screaming.

The biggest embarrassment he exposed his city to was the embarrassing reality that these red states were creating jobs that were drawing illegals to work. Minnesota, on the other hand was not creating many jobs, yet it was still drawing large numbers of illegals.  Other than government jobs, Minnesota is creating very few real jobs (11,300 in fiscal 2024), signaling that illegals come there for the generous welfare benefits and fraud opportunities. They’re not coming for the jobs.

That’s an entirely different migrant he’s attracting, the welfare sponges who never get off welfare, some of whom use their state cash to finance terrorism abroad. U.S. taxpayers pick up the tab, but only Frey and his fellow Democrats get any benefit.

Small wonder, then, that Secretary of State Marco Rubio and President Trump announced this week a freeze on visas from countries where disproportionate numbers of migrants come to collect welfare. 

Every one of these welfare recipients, when eventually given citizenship, votes Democrat. What they don’t do is get off welfare. 

Frey, though, has now come crying that the gig is up on his welfare magnet model. Now he will have to try to create non-government jobs. He doesn’t have anything else going for his state based on its economic picture.

By Julianne Geiger of OilPrice.com,

Coterra Energy is kicking the tires on what would be one of the biggest U.S. shale mergers in years, holding talks about a possible combination with Devon Energy, according to people familiar with the matter. Nothing is signed, nothing is guaranteed, but the market liked the idea enough to send shares of Coterra Energy sharply higher on the day.

The deal would be a classic all-stock shale mashup: two midsize operators with large footprints in the Permian Basin trying to bulk up as oil prices sit stubbornly around $60 a barrel.

Coterra carries a market value of roughly $20 billion, while Devon is closer to $24 billion.  

A tie-up of this size would put it firmly into megadeal territory by shale standards.

This is a Permian land grab, plain and simple.

Putting neighboring Delaware Basin acreage under one roof makes drilling cheaper and operations cleaner.

The timing matters.

After a quiet year for dealmaking, consolidation is starting to reappear as bigger players move past recent acquisitions and smaller independents look for ways to keep up.

A Devon-Coterra tie-up would immediately put the combined company among the Permian’s top-tier producers.

Devon has also been dealing with softer crude prices and the lingering question of how much Venezuelan oil might eventually re-enter the market. That kind of uncertainty rewards operators that are efficient, conservative with capital, and financially flexible. In that environment, scale matters.

For now, talks are ongoing and could still fall apart.

But even floating the idea sends a clear message: in a choppier oil market, size, simplicity, and execution are back in fashion.

NeoCon Senator Lindsey Graham wants to “go bigger” on Iran and is so disappointed that President Trump hasn’t bombed it yet that he appears barely able to speak, with the color draining from his face.

Journalist Ryan Grim comments on the below video clip of Graham responding to the lack of action by the US, “His life force is being drained in front of us by the lack of bombing.” When this armchair general is deeply disappointed and shattered by American non-action abroad, it without doubt means something good for America. 

If you want to know what I think about recent developments in Iran, watch this clip: pic.twitter.com/T9lwN8RwEE

— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) January 15, 2026

Dear Lindsey, the adults in the room took over, now go cry outside…

The Wall Street Journal reports that “President Trump was advised that a large-scale strike against Iran was unlikely to make the government fall and could spark a wider conflict, U.S. officials said, and for now will monitor how Tehran handles protesters before deciding on the scope of a potential attack.”

By that moment of the briefing, Iran’s streets had already gone largely silent, with Iranian security services firmly in control, and Tehran leadership vowing not to hold any executions. In short the demonstrations, riots, and crackdown had ceased.

Continues the WSJ, “The U.S. would need more military firepower in the Middle East both to launch a large-scale strike, protect American forces in the region and allies like Israel should Iran retaliate, the advisers told Trump, the officials said.”

Still, it seems the world was very close to the US launching yet another war more “precision strikes” against a nation we are not actually at war with (still a possibility though!). Per the WSJ:

Trump, without making a final decision on which action he would take, asked for military assets to be in place should he order a big attack, the officials said.

“The president and his team have communicated to the Iranian regime that if the killing continues, there will be grave consequences,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Thursday. “Only President Trump knows what he’s going to do and a very, very small team of advisors are read into his thinking,” Leavitt said.

But again, Lindsey’s pain is America’s gain.

Here he is Thursday talking to reporters (in the above clip): “Should it be bigger or smaller? I’m in the camp of bigger. Time will tell.” He then asserted that “the regime’s days are numbered.”

When in doubt… sanction higher, the D.C. blob mantra says…

The U.S. on Thursday imposed sanctions on five Iranian officials it accused of being behind the crackdown on protests and said it was tracking Iranian leaders’ funds being wired to international banks, as President Donald Trump keeps the pressure on Tehran.

The U.S. Treasury Department in a statement said it imposed sanctions on the Secretary of the Supreme Council for National Security as well as Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and law enforcement forces commanders, accusing them of being architects of the crackdown.

What might happen in the next major Iranian protest go-around? The Islamic Republic’s severe economic woes, and with yet more US sanctions being unleashed on Tehran, won’t be getting better anytime soon.

Authored by Armstrong Williams via The Epoch Times,

Let’s dispense with the convenient fiction: Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is not the primary threat to our communities. The real danger lies in the growing normalization of disorder, intimidation and lawlessness—often wrapped in the language of “justice” but driven by something far less noble.

What we are witnessing is not spontaneous civic unrest. It is a sustained strategy of division, enabled by progressive activism untethered from accountability and amplified by legacy and social media ecosystems that reward outrage over truth.

This is not how a nation is conquered by force. This is how it is hollowed out from within.

Over the past several years, protests have increasingly crossed the line from expression to coercion—blocking streets, vandalizing property, intimidating citizens, and provoking confrontations with law enforcement. Too often, progressive leaders and activists refuse to draw a firm line between protest and chaos. Silence becomes endorsement. Justification becomes fuel. The result is a culture where disruption is valorized, and restraint is treated as complicity.

When rare and tragic mistakes occur in law enforcement, they are not treated as moments for sober examination or reform. They are instantly weaponized. Context is stripped away. Facts are subordinated to narrative. Grief is transformed into political leverage. The objective is not justice but rather ignition sparking unrest, delegitimizing institutions, and exhausting public trust.

Here is an inconvenient truth: It remains exceedingly rare for law enforcement officers to fire their weapons in the line of duty. The overwhelming majority—well over 90 percent—never discharge a firearm at all. Most encounters are resolved through deescalation, judgment, and professionalism under immense pressure. That reality rarely survives the media cycle.

Legacy media outlets, once entrusted with informing the public, too often act as accelerants rather than moderators. Complex incidents are flattened into morality plays. Headlines are written to inflame rather than inform. Progressive narratives are echoed uncritically, while inconvenient facts are buried below the fold or ignored entirely. The result is a distorted public understanding that erodes confidence in law enforcement and emboldens those who seek confrontation.

Social media makes it worse. Algorithms do not reward nuance; they reward rage. Viral clips divorced from context travel faster than corrections ever could. Activists understand this and exploit it, baiting confrontations designed to produce images that inflame rather than illuminate. The platforms profit. The country pays the price.

We saw this pattern clearly on Ivy League campuses, where protests metastasized into intimidation and disorder. Administrators hesitated. Media outlets romanticized the unrest. Progressive leaders excused it. Only after chaos became undeniable did order return—at significant cost to institutional credibility. The lesson should have been obvious. Instead, it was ignored.

Today, those same forces have seized on immigration enforcement as their next flashpoint. The deployment of ICE agents under President Donald Trump has become a new rallying cry—not because it represents an unprecedented threat but because it offers another opportunity to provoke confrontation and amplify grievance. This is not about policy disagreement. It is about power: who controls the narrative, who dictates the terms of public debate, and who benefits when enforcement collapses under pressure.

That said, responsibility does not rest on one side alone.

Trump, for all his emphasis on law and order, bears a duty to temper his rhetoric. Words matter, especially from the highest office in the land. Enforcement must be firm, but it must also be wise. Precision, not provocation, strengthens institutions. A tone that encourages restraint, judgment, and professionalism does more to uphold the rule of law than bombast ever could.

Likewise, law enforcement leadership must continue emphasizing deescalation as the standard, not the exception. Officers already do this every day, often without recognition. In those vanishingly rare moments when lethal force is used, the expectation must be clarity, accountability, and transparency—not political scapegoating or reflexive condemnation.

The progressive movement, however, must confront its own complicity.

A philosophy that treats enforcement itself as oppression, that excuses disorder as activism, and that relies on media distortion to advance its aims is not reformist—it is corrosive. A society cannot function when laws are optional, authority is demonized, and chaos is reframed as conscience.

History is unforgiving to nations that mistake outrage for virtue and division for progress. Democracies do not collapse because laws are enforced. They collapse when enforcement is delegitimized, institutions are undermined, and truth becomes subordinate to narrative.

If we are serious about justice, reform, and social cohesion, then restraint must apply to everyone—activists, media, political leaders, and law enforcement alike. Anything less is not resistance. It is surrender to chaos.

And chaos, once normalized, never confines itself to the causes that first unleashed it.

The allure of becoming a YouTube superstar often conjures images of endless wealth and effortless luxury. Yet for Jimmy Donaldson, better known as MrBeast, the reality is more nuanced – and far less liquid.

In a recent interview with The Wall Street Journal, Donaldson addressed the frequent media portrayal of him as a billionaire, clarifying the distinction between headline-grabbing net worth and actual cash on hand.

“It’s funny talking about my personal finances because no one ever believes anything I say, because they’re like, ‘You’re a billionaire,’” Donaldson said. “I’m like, that’s net worth.”

“I actually … I have negative money right now. I’m borrowing money. That’s how little money I have,” he continued. “Technically, everyone watching this video has more money than me in their bank account if you subtract the equity value of my company, which doesn’t buy me McDonald’s in the morning, or whatever.”

Last June, Donaldson revealed he had asked his mother for financial help to cover costs related to his upcoming wedding to Thea Booysen, then 28. The couple has described plans for an intimate ceremony, far removed from the extravagance one might associate with a global media figure.

Forbes pegged his annual earnings at $85 million as of June 2025, while Fortune reported in September 2025 that his holding company, Beast Industries—which he owns a little more than half of—carried a $5 billion valuation. The conglomerate encompasses his YouTube operations, the Feastables chocolate brand, Lunchly snacks, and other ventures, with Donaldson’s personal net worth frequently cited around $2.6 billion on paper, according to the New York Post.

Yet Donaldson’s ventures have not been without its headaches.

The most prominent example is his virtual restaurant brand, MrBeast Burger, launched in 2020 through a partnership with Virtual Dining Concepts (VDC). The ghost-kitchen concept initially exploded, expanding to thousands of locations and generating substantial revenue via delivery apps. The momentum stalled amid persistent customer complaints about quality. Reviewers often described the burgers as “disgusting,” “inedible,” undercooked, or arriving in subpar condition, the Daily Mail reported.

In 2023, Donaldson sued VDC, seeking to end the partnership and alleging breach of contract, inadequate quality control, unpaid royalties, and irreparable harm from the inferior product – despite periods when the brand reportedly pulled in over $100 million. VDC countersued for up to $100 million, accusing Donaldson of breaching obligations, publicly disparaging the brand (including now-deleted social-media posts calling it a “bad deal”), and interfering with operations. Both parties claimed the other prioritized scale or personal interests over quality and mutual fairness. The legal dispute remains unresolved.

Tom Lee Is All In

Donaldson’s cash crunch comes amid news that Donaldson’s Beast Industries is about to receive a $200 million investment from Tom Lee’s Bitmine Immersion Technologies, the world’s leading ETH treasury company. Lee’s investment will back a media property which boasts over 450 million subscribers and attracts over 5 billion monthly views. The deal closes on or around Jan. 19, CNBC reports. 

“It’s our view that ethereum, which is a smart contract platform, is the future of finance, where digitalization of not only dollars but stocks and equities [are] going to take place,” Lee told “Squawk Box” Thursday. “Over time, that really blurs what is a service versus what’s digital money, and that’s where a collaboration and investment into Beast Industries makes sense.”

TOM LEE + MR. BEAST

– Bitmine is investing $200M into Beast Industries
– Ethereum is the core platform
– Focus on digital items and financial services
– Targeting Gen Z and Gen Alpha at massive scale pic.twitter.com/xvpVkEWdE6

— Tom Lee Tracker (Not actually Tom) (@TomLeeTracker) January 15, 2026