Is a recent ruling from the Supreme Court “a sign of good things to come” for parents? Corey DeAngelis, The Heritage Foundation’s new research fellow at the Center for Education Policy, believes so. On Monday, the Supreme Court temporarily prevented the state of California from blocking school policies that would require telling parents if their child is identifying as transgender in the classroom. “Parents in California should be very excited that the law that they have on the books to keep secrets from parents will no longer be in effect,” DeAngelis told Fox News Digital this week. “This precedent is surely a sign of good things to come. If there’s a lawsuit that arises in another state, you can be pretty sure that the Supreme Court is going to rule on the side of families.” The Supreme Court’s order against California came out of Mirabelli v. Bonta, a lawsuit brought by California parents and teachers who argued that preventing parents from being told about their child’s gender identity is a violation of their First and 14th Amendment rights. “The State argues that its policies advance a compelling interest in student safety and privacy,” the Supreme Court wrote in an unsigned order. “But those policies cut out the primary protectors of children’s best interests: their parents.” The court’s three liberal justices went against the parents and dissented. DeAngelis, author of “The Parent Revolution: Rescuing Your Kids from the Radicals Ruining Our Schools,” joined Heritage’s Center for Education Policy on Feb. 19. In his new role with Heritage, DeAngelis will concentrate on school choice, issues involving race and gender, and opposition to teacher unions. “It’s a tremendous honor to become a research fellow at The Heritage Foundation, recognized as the world’s leading conservative think tank,” DeAngelis said in the press release. “I am proud to join this powerhouse and lock arms with an education team stacked with the best talent in the education freedom movement,” he continued. “Together, we’ll advance policies that empower families and expand school choice across the nation.” A joint statement from Center for Education Policy acting Director Jonathan Butcher and Senior Research Fellow Will Skillman read, “Corey has produced high-quality research demonstrating the effectiveness of education choice and regularly exposes policymakers who choose private schools for their own families but deny such choices to others. Corey and the members of Heritage’s education policy staff have been working with the same goals in mind for years, and we are very pleased to add him to the team.”   DeAngelis is a regular on Fox News and holds a variety of positions in media at Americans for Fair Treatment, the American Institute for Economic Research, the Educational Freedom Institute, Real Truth Media, Reason Foundation, Cato Institute, Liberty Justice Center, Accuracy in Media, and American Culture Project. Madison Marino Doan, policy analyst at the Center for Education Policy, says, “He has a strong track record of advancing education freedom and defending parental rights, and we look forward to working alongside him to expand education choice and empower families in all 50 states.”   Find the full article from Fox News here. The post SCOTUS Order on California Law to ‘Keep Secrets From Parents’ a Positive Sign for Parental Rights, Heritage Scholar Says appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Though Democrats claim Republicans are “protecting the powerful“ by allegedly suppressing the release of the Epstein files, political contribution records show that Democrats have received tens of millions in campaign contributions from a major Epstein-files figure. That figure is none other than Microsoft founder Bill Gates. On Thursday, the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform asked Gates to testify over his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. At a recent staff town hall at the Gates Foundation, the Microsoft founder’s philanthropy, Gates admitted that he had an affair with two Russian women affiliated with Epstein, a Wall Street Journal report claimed based on a recording of the event. Gates, however, told the staff that while he had those affairs, the women were connected to Epstein only later. Gates reiterated, “I did nothing illicit. I saw nothing illicit,” in his interactions with Epstein. An Epstein email released by the Department of Justice in January claimed that Epstein and Gates discussed how Gates could secretly give antibiotics to his ex-wife, Melinda French Gates, after he allegedly contracted a sexually transmitted disease. “Your request that I provide you antibiotics that you can surreptitiously give to Melinda and the description of your penis,” the email reads, as NPR reported. In an episode of NPR’s “Wildcard” podcast in January, Gates’ ex-wife, who divorced him in 2021, did not deny the allegations. “It’s personally hard to think about the allegations against him because it brings back memories of some very, very painful times in my marriage,” she said. Recipients of Gates’ Money Over the last 20 years, Gates has donated millions through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and its partner nonprofit servicing group, Arabella Advisors, to major Democrat politicians and committees. Records show that former Vice President Kamala Harris, Rep. Sean Casten, D-Ill., and the Democratic National Committee were all recipients of donations from Gates-linked entities. According to Open Secrets, a platform that tracks political contributions, Gates’ philanthropic organization donated over $410,000 to “DNC Services Corp,” a registered affiliate of the DNC, in 2024. Fortune Magazine has also noted that Gates donated at least $50 million to Harris’ failed 2024 presidential bid. That same year, the foundation contributed at least $135,000 to Harris and roughly $50,000 to state Democrat parties such as Michigan, Washington, Arizona, and Wisconsin. Some of these states are where Gates owns thousands of acres of farmland. Gates’ foundation has also donated to the Georgia Federal Elections Committee in 2024. The foundation has also contributed to the state Democrat parties in Pennsylvania, Alaska, and Texas. Arabella Advisors In August 2025, the Gates Foundation announced that he would cease payments to Arabella Advisors, a “political consulting group” that has repeatedly donated to Democratic officials and committees. Arabella Advisors provided extensive consulting and other services to multiple left-leaning “dark money” nonprofits, which themselves sent money to activist groups that influenced the Biden administration. According to The New York Times, the Gates Foundation has allocated around $450 million in grants to Arabella and associated groups over the last 16 years. But in late 2025, the outlet noted that the foundation “would not make new investments with ‘Arabella-related entities,’” and that it “would not extend existing grants and would even try to ‘pursue early exits’ from a few long-term investments.” Arabella Advisors closed its doors last year, transferring its “fiscal sponsorship services” to a new entity, Sunflower Services. According to Open Secrets, the consulting group donated to several high-profile Democrat politicians in 2024, including former Montana Sen. Jon Tester and Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-Maine. The DNC, Tester, and Pingree did not respond to The Daily Signal’s request for comment. Casten declined. Gates’ Worry At the town hall, Gates said his impropriety could harm his philanthropic organizations, The Wall Street Journal reported. He described his actions as contradictory to the foundation’s “goals” and “values.” “It definitely is the opposite of the values of the foundation and the goals of the foundation,” he told the outlet. “And our work is very reputation-sensitive. I mean, people can choose to work with us or not work with us.” The post Epstein-Linked Billionaire Bankrolled Democratic Party, Records Show appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Europe’s political elites say democracy is under threat. Their solution? Put Brussels in charge of policing political speech. The European Union’s proposed European Democracy Shield is marketed as a tool to defend elections and counter foreign disinformation. In reality, it risks becoming something very different: a powerful censorship regime that will almost certainly be captured by Europe’s left-wing parties and the taxpayer-funded nongovernmental organizations that support them. If implemented as planned, the Democracy Shield will not defend democracy. It will defend the political establishment from voters who challenge it. The initiative is the latest expansion of Europe’s rapidly growing speech-regulation apparatus. At its center is a proposed European Centre for Democratic Resilience that would coordinate governments, NGOs, and technology companies to monitor what Brussels calls “information manipulation.” In practice, that means monitoring and responding to political speech online. This new body would sit atop an already sweeping regulatory structure that includes the Digital Services Act, the Artificial Intelligence Act, and new rules governing political advertising. Taken together, these laws give EU regulators unprecedented leverage over what Europeans can say—and see—online. Under these rules, social media platforms face enormous fines if they fail to remove content regulators deem illegal or harmful. Governments and EU-funded organizations can flag posts for removal. “Trusted flaggers”—groups approved by regulators—can fast-track censorship demands that force platforms to act quickly. The incentive structure is obvious: When leaving controversial content online risks massive penalties, companies will err on the side of censorship. But the biggest winners from this system will not be ordinary citizens. They will be the sprawling network of activist NGOs that already receive generous EU funding. Many of these groups openly promote progressive political causes—from climate activism to expansive migration policies to deeper European integration. Yet under EU rules they could be granted privileged status as “trusted flaggers,” giving them special authority to report and suppress speech online. This is not a neutral enforcement mechanism. It is a political ecosystem. Left-leaning governments, sympathetic regulators, and taxpayer-funded NGOs will be empowered to decide which ideas qualify as “disinformation” and which remain acceptable. Anyone who doubts how this will play out should look at recent political debates across Europe. Opposition to mass migration, criticism of EU institutions, or skepticism about climate policy are increasingly dismissed as “extremism” or “disinformation.” Under the Democracy Shield, those labels could carry real regulatory consequences. What Brussels calls fighting disinformation increasingly looks like policing dissent. Americans should not assume this is simply Europe’s problem. Because the EU regulates global technology companies, its policies frequently shape how those platforms operate worldwide. When Brussels pressures companies to remove certain types of speech in Europe, the effects rarely remain confined to Europe. In practice, European regulators could end up influencing what Americans see—or don’t see—online. That should concern anyone who values the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. The Democracy Shield could also create tensions in the transatlantic relationship. The United States has long treated political speech—even controversial speech—as a core democratic right. Europe is increasingly moving in the opposite direction toward government-managed “information spaces” where bureaucrats and activist groups decide what constitutes acceptable debate. If Brussels begins exporting those standards through regulation of global platforms, the result will be an inevitable clash with American constitutional principles. That is not the basis for a healthy transatlantic alliance. Democracy does not need a speech police. It needs open debate, political competition, and the freedom of citizens to challenge those in power. Europe’s leaders say the Democracy Shield will protect democratic institutions. But the greatest threat to democracy has never been too much speech. It has always been elites who believe they should control it. The post Europe’s ‘Democracy Shield’ Is a Threat to Transatlantic Free Speech appeared first on The Daily Signal.

As Operation Epic Fury continues against Iran, elected officials and national security experts gathered at The Heritage Foundation to discuss what needs to be done to ensure the American military is capable of defending the homeland. The Heritage Foundation event followed the release of the 2026 Index of U.S. Military Strength, an index that annually assessed the threat environment and the U.S. military’s ability to respond to it. “Our armed forces and the supporting institutions have been neglected for far too long and we in fact were dangerously incapable of meeting the range of threats which were growing,” Robert Greenway, director of the Allison Center for National Security at The Heritage Foundation, said at the Wednesday event. While the U.S. engages in a military operation against Iran, the long-term concern for Heritage scholars and lawmakers on Capitol Hill remains China. “We are currently set to run out of critical munitions in just a matter of weeks,” Sen. Jim Banks, R-Ind., the event’s keynote speaker, said in regard to a potential conflict with China. Banks also drew attention to military recruitment problems that plagued former President Joe Biden’s tenure. “Between 2021 and 2025, the [U.S] Army shrank by over 40,000 soldiers due to lack of new recruits,” Banks said.  Greenway also hosted a discussion with Reps. August Pfluger, R-Texas; Pat Harrigan, R-N.C.; and Matt Van Epps, R-Tenn., about what policymakers need to do to ensure the military remains strong.  Pfluger is also aware of the recruitment problems and the need to revitalize the importance of the military’s mission. “Every service academy in this country needs to be taught why our form of governance is the best in the world,” stated Pfluger. “[They] need to be taught why they love this flag, why we love the Constitution, why we stand up to protect and defend it,” he concluded. As for military readiness, Pfluger said, “we are on the mend and this president is putting the right effort into our military,” in the wake of the Biden administration. “[The president is] making sure that we can cut that bureaucratic red tape and provide for the necessary resources.”  Harrigan, a former U.S. Army Special Forces Green Beret, said Republicans’ efforts can save money and save lives. “We’ve become really, really good at producing the high-cost problems to our enemies’ low-cost solutions,” Harrigan said. He claimed this is a systemic issue that Congress is looking eagerly to fix. Van Epps praised the work Rep. Brian Babin, R-Texas, is doing as chairman of the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee. Babin, Van Epps said, is making a large push for improving the military’s technological capabilities. “Chairman Babin’s doing amazing work, there’s this connection here about accelerating the next generation of warfare in technology so that our research moves at the speed of the threat.”  The post Lawmakers Look to Ensure Military Is Prepared for Long-Term Threats appeared first on The Daily Signal.

When President Donald Trump signed an executive order prioritizing production of the pesticide glyphosate, conservative influencer Alex Clark received hundreds of messages from Make America Healthy Again advocates saying they would no longer vote Republican.  “I have received hundreds of DMs saying I’m either not voting in the midterms or I’m considering not voting because this was such a massive issue,” Clark told The Daily Signal.  Removing pesticides and chemicals from the food supply is a top issue for MAHA voters, and many became disillusioned after Trump’s executive order said that glyphosate producers should have “immunity” under the Defense Production Act. “Half of them are thinking they’re not even voting at all because they’re very unhappy about the pesticide issue,” Clark said. “Half are probably still willing to vote red.” “But as far as 2028 goes, that’s not in the bag at all,” Clark said. “And if anybody on the right is thinking that we have MAHA voters in the bag for 2028, they are sorely mistaken, and they are in for a rude awakening.”  According to Clark, the GOP is in a “situationship” with MAHA voters, and if the GOP doesn’t keep its promises to them, they will flock to Democrats who make MAHA promises.  Calley Means, a top advisor to Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., told The Daily Signal the Trump administration is already doing what it must to win over MAHA voters. “The concern about children’s health from voters is loudly heard in the Trump administration,” Means said in an interview, “and Secretary Kennedy is working throughout the government to drive solutions.” The Trump administration is working to ensure farmers can thrive while also working to reduce contaminants in food, according to Means. “The government has just committed over a billion dollars to driving innovation and research towards an agriculture system we all want, which is an agriculture system that continues innovating and reduces dependence on chemicals that produce negative health outputs,” Means said. “That’s what everybody wants, and the Trump administration is ensuring farmers have the tools they need right now, while putting innovation initiatives into overdrive to build a better future.” “It is a fact that 99% of corn is sprayed with glyphosate right now in the United States, and that chemical is needed for farmers right now, and it is also true that we were working and should innovate towards a better future, which Bobby Kennedy is doing,” Means continued. There have been historic successes in the first year, and much remains to be done, Means said. So far, the Trump administration has changed the childhood vaccine schedule, updated the food pyramid, worked to phase out petroleum dyes from food, and launched Operation Stork Speed to improve the quality of infant formula. But MAHA activists want more, and getting pesticides out of food is at the top of their priority list.  “We will be pushing every single day to deliver tangible benefits, to improve our food system, to make health care more affordable, to empower patients, to reduce overmedicalization, to improve mental health,” he said, “to accomplish the core agenda items that the MAHA voters have made clear are important.” Democrats, on the other hand, are offering MAHA voters nothing, according to Means. “There’s nothing happening from the Democrats,” he said. “The Democrats have not lifted one finger to reverse childhood chronic disease and all of the energy is on the Republican side, and this is worth continuing.” The Republican party can’t afford to lose MAHA voters, according to Jay Richards, MAHA advocate and vice president of social and domestic policy at the Heritage Foundation.  “It would be a disaster for Republicans if the MAHA vote was either lost or suppressed in the midterm elections, because the numbers are almost certainly sufficient to win or lose on the margins of almost any local or national election,” Richards told The Daily Signal. “I think that it’s one of the most energetic parts of the current Republican base, and it would be a self-inflicted wound if Republicans didn’t understand how important that is.”  A new poll, conducted by the Brownstone Institute and Health Freedom Defense Fund, showed that a supermajority of Americans support freedom for individuals to make their own medical decisions. At least 80% of those surveyed expressed support for the rights to refuse medical treatments and make personal health choices, and to protect doctors from censorship.  Richards said the addition of MAHA voters to the MAGA coalition is “one of the most important political realignments” of the last generation. “If the White House and Republicans are able to meet those and respect them, I think that contingent of voters will continue to support Republicans,” Richards said, “but I don’t think the Republican Party should treat them as a base that’s going to stick with them, no matter what.”  Most MAHA voters understand that an outright ban on glyphosate is not realistic and would harm farmers, but Richards said the Trump administration needs “a well thought out plan to make it easier for farmers and consumers to get affordable food without a large amount of glyphosate contaminant on it.” “If the White House and Republicans can thread that needle, I think even the frustration over the executive order could dissipate between now and the election,” Richards said.  MAHA Institute co-president Mark Gorton said voters who look at the whole of what Kennedy is doing are not going to drop their support of him because of the glyphosate order. “If you just look overall at the work that Secretary Kennedy and his team are doing, if people are paying attention,” Gorton told The Daily Signal, “they’re really working to profoundly change our health system and remove the corporate capture in a way we have not seen in generations or American history.”  Gorton, a registered Democrat who supports the president due to this MAHA policy, said Democrats oppose the MAHA agenda, even on common sense issues. “Democrats only seem to be leaning into the corporate capture by Big Pharma, spouting Big Pharma talking points on vaccines, and everything else,” he said. “Whatever President Trump And Secretary Kennedy do, the Democrats support the opposite, even on issues that where that’s idiotic, and so as much as the Republican party may not be delivering 100% for MAHA, I mean, the Democrats are determined to do worse.” To keep MAHA voters, the Republican Party needs to deliver on policy issues, said Gorton, a registered Democrat who lives in New York. Gorton has seen a lot of action on the executive level, but said Republicans in Congress need to step up their game.  “Congress is, to a reasonable extent, still bought by corporate interests, and you see that there are pushbacks on a lot of MAHA issues, and so it would be nice to see Congress really delivering and passing meaningful legislation on some of these fronts,” Gorton said.  MAHA voters have had a “prominent seat at the table during the Trump administration,” Means said. “The Trump administration has driven historic victories for those voters,” he said. The post The MAHA Vote Could Decide the Midterms. What Can Trump Do to Secure It? appeared first on The Daily Signal.