The abortion issue won’t go away, as so many politicians wish it would. It persists because the discussion and debate are about our very existence. What is life? The Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization in 2022 overturned Roe v. Wade, which has defined the abortion landscape in the United States since 1973. That landscape defined a right to abortion protected by the U.S. Constitution. Dobbs reversed this, concluding that the Constitution contains no such right, directing that the issue be “returned back to the people and their elected representatives.” In the wake of this, each state has taken initiative to define its own abortion regime. But can that really work? It didn’t work in the first great issue that tore apart our nation: slavery. Are all men equal in the eyes of God? If yes, then aren’t all equal in the eyes of our government? Slavery accepted the inferiority of some. We ultimately fought and rejected the premise that equality of all in the eyes of our Creator could be different from state to state. And so is the case with abortion. Our Declaration of Independence states that we give the government responsibility to protect our God-given right to life. How can this understanding be different from state to state? Understanding of life and its nature and sanctity defines the core fabric of our country. It is a national value. We’re now dealing with this issue in an abortion-inducing drug called mifepristone. When the drug first became available there was a requirement that it only be dispensed in a personal visit to a physician. This was relaxed temporarily in 2021 under COVID-19 and then made permanent in 2023 during the Biden administration. But can we really allow anyone to go online and order a drug that destroys an unborn child, no different than going online to order a book or a pair of shoes? We need a doctor to prescribe something as basic as an antibiotic. Given the current reality in the country in which some states ban abortion and some states permit it, how do we deal with those living in a state in which abortion is illegal ordering mifepristone online from a provider in a state where abortion is legal? Stories now abound regarding women’s integrity being undermined by those wanting her to abort against her wishes, e.g., a boyfriend wanting his girlfriend to abort against her wishes who furtively slips her the drug. There are also wide-ranging opinions about how safe the drug is. The state of Louisiana sued the Food and Drug Administration last year, claiming legal availability of mifepristone through the mail undermined the abortion ban in their state. Last week, Louisiana achieved a ruling in its favor in the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans. Now the manufacturers of the drug have petitioned the Supreme Court, challenging the circuit court decision, and Justice Samuel Alito has put a temporary hold on it while the court considers the request. The technical issues of why the ban on dispensing the drug online, without a doctor visit, should be upheld—undermining bans on abortion in various states, exposure of women to someone surreptitiously causing her to take the drug against her wishes, safety of the drug—are all relevant. But most relevant is the most core issue of what sanctity of life means to our nation. The social problems that abound in our nation today reflect the culture of Roe v. Wade, which put the choice of life on a plane with planning one’s next vacation. Sex without love. Relationships without commitment. Childbearing without marriage. Bringing children without responsibility for them. We now have an aging nation with marriage, family and children disappearing. In other words, as the sanctity of life has been comprised, our future has been compromised. Our present and our future are what is at stake. Nothing less. COPYRIGHT 2026 CREATORS.COM We publish a variety of perspectives. Nothing written here is to be construed as representing the views of The Daily Signal.

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas wrote a concurring opinion, joined by Justice Neil Gorsuch, in the recent case that restricted the use of race in designing a Louisiana congressional district. Thomas wrote: “This Court should never have interpreted [Section)] 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 to effectively give racial groups ‘an entitlement to roughly proportional representation.’ … By doing so, the Court led legislatures and courts to ‘systematically divid[e] the country into electoral districts along racial lines.’ … ‘Blacks (we)re drawn into ‘black districts’ and given ‘black representatives’; Hispanics [we]re drawn into Hispanic districts and given ‘Hispanic representatives’; and so on. That interpretation rendered [Section] 2 ‘repugnant to any nation that strives for the ideal of a color-blind Constitution.’ … Today’s decision should largely put an end to this ‘disastrous misadventure’ in voting-rights jurisprudence.” Critics argue the ruling is not colorblind in effect because race-neutral districting can dilute minority voting power. But this assumes a) non-black and non-Hispanic voters would not vote for black or Hispanic candidates; and b) the interests of black and Hispanic voters can only be pursued by black and Hispanic members of Congress. For Democrats, the effect of this ruling could be politically catastrophic. A report from Fair Fight Action and Black Voters Matter Fund said: “Combined with Republicans’ mid-decade gerrymandering, a ruling gutting Section 2 could help secure an additional 27 safe Republican U.S. House seats when compared to the 2024 House maps—at least 19 directly tied to the loss of Section 2.” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said: “Instead of protecting the ability for American citizens to freely cast their ballot, Republican extremists have embraced voter suppression and racial gerrymandering to desperately cling to power. The corrupt conservative majority on the Supreme Court appointed by Donald Trump has taken a blowtorch to the Voting Rights Act. Why? The extremists need to cheat to win.” It is not clear how removing race as a criterion in constructing congressional districts amounts to “cheating.” Nor is it clear how this majority of justices, nominated by Republican presidents, renders the court “corrupt.” As for “Republican extremists embracing voter suppression,” Jeffries presumably means voter ID laws. But polls show a large majority of blacks support voter ID by percentages close to those of whites. Georgia, in 2021, enacted voter ID and voter-integrity laws called by President Joe Biden “worse than Jim Crow—it’s Jim Eagle.” But the percentage of blacks who voted exceeded the black voting percentages of most pre-2021 Georgia elections. Let’s turn to Jeffries’ accusation about Republicans’ supposed use of “racial gerrymandering.” In 2017, Politico wrote: “Former [Obama] Attorney General Eric Holder on Thursday officially launched the National Democratic Redistricting Committee … as the center of Democratic rebuilding in the era of President-elect Donald Trump and as Democrats’ main hope to roll back Republican gains in state legislatures and prepare for redistricting in 2021. The end goal: House majorities in Congresses elected after 2020.” To that end, Eric Holder supported race-conscious redistricting efforts designed to increase black electoral influence. About a district in Alabama in 2024, for example, the Associated Press wrote: “The National Democratic Redistricting Committee, which Holder chairs, supported the legal battle that led to the district being redrawn into a competitive seat where Black voters have the opportunity to influence the outcome.” Finally, about voters voting based on race, there are four black Republican members of the U.S. House, none of whom represent a majority-black district. Even Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., a harsh critic of the court ruling and a co-founder of the Congressional Black Caucus, represents a district that is only about 20% black. Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., who is white, succeeded Rep. Harold Ford Jr., who is black, in representing a majority-black district. And a recent Gallup poll finds Trump’s approval rating among blacks at 16%, up from 12% in his first term. Contrary to what many Democrat politicians say and how they act, this is not their grandfather’s America. But many Democrat politicians do not want a colorblind society. They want a color-coordinated one—as long as they oversee the coordination. My advice to Democrats after this ruling is simple: calm down. The days of poll taxes, literacy tests and grandfather clauses are long over. As Thomas Sowell says, “When people get used to preferential treatment, equal treatment seems like discrimination.” COPYRIGHT 2026 CREATORS.COM We publish a variety of perspectives. Nothing written here is to be construed as representing the views of The Daily Signal.

Fraud in government programs is often treated like an urban legend—something that happens in faraway blue cities run by corrupt political machines. But the truth is more unsettling: Some of the most brazen theft of taxpayer money is happening in places governed by Republicans, right under their noses. Consider Ohio. At one address in Columbus, investigators found 94 different companies registered in the same building. The windows were covered. The offices appeared empty. Yet, according to The Daily Wire investigative team led by Luke Rosiak, that single address has billed taxpayers more than $66 million. This is not a minor accounting error. It is not mere “waste.” It is a system being exploited. Rosiak’s reporting exposes an ecosystem of “Medicaid millionaires“: not the poor recipients of benefits but the companies and middlemen who profit off them. Under the guise of “home health care,” Ohio pays people to visit Medicaid beneficiaries’ homes to perform “homemaking” services—cooking, cleaning, and chores—tasks that don’t require medical training and often don’t receive meaningful oversight. Ohio spent roughly $1 billion on home health care in 2024. The incentives are obvious: If government is handing out checks for loosely defined services, the people best positioned to get rich are not the disabled or elderly. It’s the billing operations. The pattern is almost comical in its boldness: Cover the windows, hang a sheet of paper with a generic company name ending in “Home Health LLC,” and if someone asks questions, claim the employees “stepped out.” Why cover the windows? Because there is nothing inside. Dig into the companies and you find unpaid taxes, shady ownership structures, and a bizarre number of LLCs registered in unrelated industries. The deeper you look, the clearer it becomes that government is not equipped to monitor who it is writing million-dollar checks to. The business model is disturbingly simple. A 40-year-old man becomes an “employee” of a Medicaid-billing firm and gets paid to “care for” his 65-year-old mother. But the only patient is Mom, and the only person who could confirm whether services are being provided is Mom herself. If she doesn’t want to rat out her son—or if she’s receiving a kickback—the state has no practical way to verify anything. When Rosiak questioned one operator about what his company did, he was met with threats. The man reportedly dismissed the inquiry and then pivoted to the modern all-purpose defense: “I’m going to tell everybody you guys are racist.” And there it is—the magic trick. Steal millions. Exploit the system. Then accuse anyone investigating you of bigotry. Unlike food stamps and other capped welfare programs, this Medicaid service has no meaningful ceiling. It expands as far as doctors are willing to sign forms. One doctor willing to approve enough paperwork can bankrupt a state. For decades, the public couldn’t see this because Medicaid billing data was a black box. That changed in February, when the Department of Justice quietly released new data. In one case, a landlord whose buildings housed hundreds of Medicaid companies billed the federal government $250 million. Now the question is whether leaders will act. Ohio has Republican leadership, and nationally, President Donald Trump has made waste, fraud, and abuse a central theme of his administration. That focus matters because this problem won’t be solved with speeches or “task forces.” It requires audits, subpoenas, prosecutions, and real accountability. If government programs are going to exist, the bare minimum requirement is that they serve the people they claim to serve. Right now, Medicaid is serving scammers—and taxpayers are footing the bill. COPYRIGHT 2026 CREATORS.COM We publish a variety of perspectives. Nothing written here is to be construed as representing the views of The Daily Signal.

FIRST ON THE DAILY SIGNAL — With U.S. Sen. Jon Husted officially the Republican nominee against former Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown, Americans for Prosperity Action is ramping up efforts for this special election in Ohio. After endorsing him in March, the group is doing an ad campaign for Husted. With the new $750,000 ad buy, AFPA has now spent $1.25 million in Ohio. The ads, which will run until May 31, will reach around 1.7 million Ohioans and play across connected TV, YouTube, and Meta. “With the economy at a crossroads, Ohio families are feeling the pressure,” the ad states. AFP says the ad aims to highlight Husted’s role in having “passed the largest tax cut in American history,” in addition to slashing regulations. It concludes with, “The Ohio way, not Washington’s, that’s Jon Husted.” During an exclusive interview with The Daily Signal last September, Husted claimed he is the “Ohio guy” and Brown is the “DC guy.” Another ad criticizes Brown and his record for having “repeatedly backed extreme progressive policies that drove up prices.” Policies cited include higher taxes and spending and job-killing regulations. Notably, the ad features an image of Brown with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. “Sherrod Brown puts his party’s extreme agenda over Ohio families, putting Washington politics first, and hurting Ohio. We just can’t afford Sherrod Brown,” it warns. According to Donovan O’Neil, AFPA senior advisor, the group wants to “hyper-target their message to voters,” chiefly on the issue of affordability. “[Husted] has a record of getting things done and being focused on the issues that Ohioans care about,” O’Neil told The Daily Signal. “He’s part of the solution to the decades of D.C. dysfunction that Sherrod Brown has been a part of his entire career.” He added he’s clear-eyed about the uphill battle candidates face with a Republican president in office. “The reality is, voters will want to know what individual candidates seeking their vote are going to do to address the affordability challenges that they’re facing, and I think we can win on that,” O’Neil said. Ohio has long been a bellwether state, which means voters can expect both parties to allocate resources there in mid-October ahead of the election. The latest ad campaign follows an April 30 memo from AFPA Senior Advisor Emily Seidel and Executive Director Nathan Nascimento, in which the pair stressed affordability and warned that Republicans could lose the Senate if they don’t focus on the right issues. “As it stands today, our view is that the Republican Senate majority is at risk. But there is still time. The window to act is now,” the memo stressed.

A two-month undercover Drug Enforcement Administration investigation exposed what federal authorities say is a Sinaloa Cartel–linked drug trafficking operation funneling fentanyl and methamphetamine into Los Angeles through MacArthur Park. On Wednesday, federal and local law enforcement officers raided the South Los Angeles park as part of “Operation Free MacArthur Park,” arresting 18 individuals, executing multiple search warrants, and seizing roughly 40 pounds of fentanyl with an estimated value of $8 million to $10 million. In contrast to the park’s description by the Los Angeles Conservancy as a “vibrant place of music, art, and community,” locals know Macarthur Park as a place filled with brazen drug use and homeless encampments. First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli shared with Fox News his plan for the area.  “This park has been overtaken by gang members—by drug dealers, drug users. It’s zombieland, and we’re taking it back. So today we’re executing 25 arrest warrants, eight federal search warrants, and we’re hitting the businesses along Alvarado here that are used to stash the drugs.”  Footage shared by Fox News showed federal agents moving in on businesses Wednesday morning. NEW: 300 federal and local agents swarmed MacArthur Park after officials say MS-13 and 18th Street gang members helped fuel a fentanyl operation tied to $10 million in drug use.@MattFinnFNC breaks down the scene on the ground: people passed out in the park, 25 charged so far,… pic.twitter.com/8yppXFSVPU— Fox News (@FoxNews) May 7, 2026 In a press release, the department said they’re dedicated to ending these cartel-fueled crimes.  “This is a criminal organization operating in our country, and we are not going to stand for it anymore today. So, they have been put on notice. MacArthur Park belongs to the people of Los Angeles again,” said Anthony Chrysanthis, a special agent in charge with the Drug Enforcement Administration. The same day, while at the Los Angeles mayoral debate, incumbent Mayor Karen Bass was asked by moderators to comment on the raids. After years of doing nothing about the open air drug markets and fentanyl zombies in MacArthur Park, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass attempts to take credit for this afternoon’s federal raid. pic.twitter.com/zTKfneNU0X— Kevin Dalton (@TheKevinDalton) May 7, 2026 Republican Spencer Pratt, one of Bass’ two opponents in the race for mayor, criticized both Bass and City Councilmember Nithya Raman for the problems in the park. “Raman and Bass are so bad, MacArthur Park was raided by the Feds YESTERDAY and it’s already occupied again today,” Pratt shared on X. Raman and Bass are so bad, MacArthur Park was raided by the Feds YESTERDAY and it’s already occupied again today. Hey Nithya, what do you think will happen when one of your “street medical team” volunteers goes up to these upstanding citizens with a clipboard and asks them if… pic.twitter.com/jFIrhE50dy— Spencer Pratt (@spencerpratt) May 7, 2026