DAILY CALLER NEWS FOUNDATION—Border Patrol Commander-at-Large Greg Bovino sparred Sunday with CNN’s Dana Bash over whether the armed man his subordinates shot and killed Saturday in Minneapolis was the “suspect” or “victim” in the situation. Border Patrol agents fatally shot Alex Pretti, 37, whom the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) alleged was prepared to “massacre law enforcement” with his firearm. Pretti’s parents and left-wing groups, on the other hand, maintained he was assisting a woman and not pointing his gun at officers at the time. During Bovino’s Sunday appearance on “State of the Union with Jake Tapper and Dana Bash,” Bash pressed the senior Border Patrol official over his assertion Pretti assaulted a federal agent, sparking a contentious exchange. “Where did he assault the federal officer in any of the video that you have seen?” Bash asked Bovino. “Because it looked to us from every angle, sir, that he was approached by them when he was helping another individual who was pushed down. What evidence do you have that he was assaulting any law enforcement?” “Dana, we don’t need a suspect’s help in an active law enforcement scene. We don’t need his help. We didn’t ask his help,” the Border Patrol commander-at-large responded, referring to Pretti. “When you say ‘suspect,’ what is he suspected of?” the CNN host interjected. “That’s an active law enforcement scene,” Bovino said. “He knew that was an active law enforcement scene, especially when the officers approached him and it was very evident he did not need to be where he was.” In a statement shared Saturday with the Daily Caller News Foundation, DHS claimed “law enforcement officers were conducting a targeted operation in Minneapolis against an illegal alien wanted for violent assault” when the man later identified as Pretti “approached US Border Patrol officers with a 9 mm semi-automatic handgun.” Bash continued to suggest Pretti was helping an individual “pushed down” by officers. “So, when somebody is pushed down and a person’s instinct is to help that person, when somebody is pushed down by law enforcement, you’re saying that you just stand back and let law enforcement do what they’re doing? Is that really human nature?” the host pressed Bovino. “You know, Dana, every situation is different. What our officers are faced with here in Minneapolis are chaotic, very difficult and violent situations in which individuals—and this suspect is not the only one to bring a loaded weapon to a riot. The situations are chaotic and ever-changing. Follow directions for law enforcement. Don’t inject yourself knowingly beforehand into a law enforcement situation,” the Border Patrol commander replied. “With respect, it feels as though in some ways you’re blaming the victim here,” Bash replied, referring to Pretti. “The victims are the Border Patrol agents,” Bovino said. “I’m not blaming the Border Patrol agents. The victim[s] are the Border Patrol agents. The suspect put himself in that situation. The victims are the Border Patrol agents there.” Bash then presented Bovino with a screenshot of video footage from the incident. “You can see a screenshot of an agent in a green jacket approach Pretti, and then he appeared to take a gun away,” Bash said, describing the image. “When the agent took the gun away, which seems as though it was Pretti’s gun, that happened before Pretti was shot. Why was an unarmed man shot multiple times by law enforcement, by your Border Patrol agents?” “Dana, you don’t know he was unarmed. I don’t know he was unarmed,” he responded. “That’s freeze-frame adjudication of a crime scene via a photo. That’s why we have investigators. That’s why we have an investigation that is going to answer those questions. How many shots were fired? Who fired shots? Where was the guns? Where were the guns located? All those questions are going to be answered in the investigation.” “Us, we’re not going to adjudicate that here on TV in one freeze-frame there,” he emphasized after Bash tried to interrupt him. Originally published by The Daily Caller News Foundation. The post Border Patrol Commander, CNN Host Clash Over Minneapolis Shooting appeared first on The Daily Signal.

DAILY CALLER NEWS FOUNDATION—Hours after Border Patrol fatally shot an armed man Saturday in Minneapolis, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said he and other Democrats will not back a legislative package including a bill funding the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), potentially risking a partial government shutdown. The Senate has until Jan. 30 to pass a six-bill package funding multiple federal government agencies which, as presently being considered by the upper chamber, includes the DHS bill. If a total of 60 senators do not support the package by the deadline, the country will face a partial government shutdown—less than four months removed from a record 43-day standoff which Schumer and the vast majority of his caucus consistently voted to prolong. “What’s happening in Minnesota is appalling—and unacceptable in any American city,” Schumer wrote in an X post late Saturday. “Democrats sought common sense reforms in the [DHS] spending bill, but because of Republicans’ refusal to stand up to President [Donald] Trump, the DHS bill is woefully inadequate to rein in the abuses of ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement].” “I will vote no. Senate Democrats will not provide the votes to proceed to the appropriations bill if the DHS funding bill is included,” the minority leader added. Since Republicans hold only 53 seats in the Senate, they will need the support of at least a handful of Democrats to reach the 60-vote threshold to break the upper chamber’s filibuster. Republicans also need every senator regardless of party to agree to accelerate the spending package in order for it to pass by the Jan. 30 deadline, Politico reported. Border Patrol agents Saturday morning shot and killed Alex Pretti, 37. Pretti, at the time, was armed with a semi-automatic handgun while federal officers were “conducting a targeted operation” in the city, DHS told the Daily Caller News Foundation. Pretti’s death came just 17 days after an ICE officer, also a 37-year-old American citizen, fatally shot Renee Good, whom DHS claimed “weaponized her vehicle” in “an act of domestic terrorism.” In an earlier Saturday afternoon X post, Schumer expressed support for removing ICE agents from Minnesota, a position echoed by a number of elected Democrats in the state, including Rep. Ilhan Omar. The DHS funding bill narrowly passed in the House on Thursday with only seven moderate Democrats — all representing Republican-leaning or swing districts—voting in favor. Conversely, one Republican, Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie voted against the bill. Massie is a fiscal hawk facing a Trump-backed primary challenger. Even before Schumer vowed he and his caucus will vote no on the six-bill package including the DHS bill, analysts pointed to the increasing likelihood of a partial shutdown due to Democrats’ current attitudes toward immigration enforcement. “This ICE situation is a nightmare for the Senate. Cannot see a scenario in which Senate Dems can vote for this 6-bill package which includes DHS funding,” Punchbowl News founder Jake Sherman wrote in a Saturday afternoon post to X. “Govt shuts down Friday. First Senate procedural vote likely not until Wednesday, giving them limited room to maneuver. House on recess. Any changes to the bill would require the House. Shutdown a real possibility at this point.” In addition to funding ICE and Border Patrol, the DHS bill included in the spending package will also allocate $2.2 billion to the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), a controversial DHS agency created under the first Trump administration which many conservatives subsequently blasted for censoring speech about election integrity and COVID-19 origins. Originally published by The Daily Caller News Foundation. The post Another Schumer Shutdown? Top Dem Vows Senate Dems Won’t Support DHS Funding Bill appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Federal judges in Minnesota have rejected the Justice Department’s charges against some of the anti-ICE agitators who invaded a church during service earlier this month, and others have released multiple defendants, even as the Justice Department has appealed some of these decisions. After the Justice Department filed charges against eight agitators for depriving churchgoers of their rights to exercise their religion under the First Amendment, Magistrate Judge Douglas L. Micko declined to issue arrest warrants for five of the defendants, and struck down charges against the others. The Justice Department appealed the denial of the arrest warrants, a move that Patrick Schlitz, chief judge of the U.S. District Court of Minnesota, said is unprecedented, at least in the courts under the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit. The Justice Department claimed that the agitators would likely disrupt a church service again, and many of the leaders have stood by their decision to disrupt the service. Here are five things to know about the cases. 1. The Church Invasion Between 30 and 40 anti-ICE agitators interrupted a Sunday service at Cities Church, a non-denominational Christian church in St. Paul, and shouted, “Justice for Renee Good!” as they surrounded members of the congregation.  Videos of the incident show the pastor and others repeatedly asking the agitators to leave, and the agitators chanting, “Who shut this down? We shut this down!” This is not peaceful protest. This is an invasion of a sacred space. Anti-ICE agitators disrupted Cities Church in the middle of service. Warning: the agitators on the Left are serious. The man who posted this video bragged about doing this—comparing it to Jesus flipping over… pic.twitter.com/BeeIdubpwM— Tyler O'Neil (@Tyler2ONeil) January 19, 2026 According to the charging document, a member of the congregation said worshippers were “terrorized, our children were weeping.” One woman broke her arm. Agitators blocked about 50 members of the congregation from exiting, making it “nearly impossible for parishioners to get out and leave.” The document also mentions that agitators prevented congregants from getting to their children, and one of the agitators reportedly told young children, “Do you know your parents are Nazis, they’re going to burn in hell?” ?HORRIFYING NEW DETAILSThe invasion of Cities Church was even worse than we thought. Agitators blocked stairs so "parents were unable to get to their children" at Sunday School.?One told a kid, "Do you know your parents are Nazis, they're going to burn in hell?"?1/7 pic.twitter.com/DUNPRdECGa— Tyler O'Neil (@Tyler2ONeil) January 25, 2026 2. The Defendants On Thursday, Attorney General Pam Bondi announced that law enforcement had arrested Nekima Levy Armstrong, Chauntyll Louisa Allen, and William Kelly, who posted videos of the invasion online under the handle “DaWoke Farmer.” Yet Magistrate Judge Micko rejected arrest warrants for the other five defendants. While the published version of the charging document redacts the defendants’ names, clues in the document suggest that Lemon and Jamael Lundy each face charges. The charging document quotes an exchange between Lemon and Cities Church Lead Pastor Jonathan Parnell. The pastor tells the former CNN host: “It’s shameful to interrupt a public gathering of Christians in worship.” The document also notes that one defendant “identified himself as a current candidate for Minnesota State Senate, District 65.” Lundy, the intergovernmental affairs director for the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office, is running to represent that district in the Minnesota Senate, and he appeared in videos with the organizers before the church invasion. 3. Church Invader Charges The Justice Department brought two charges against the church invaders: deprivation of rights under the Ku Klux Klan Act and violation of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances or FACE Act. The Klan Act criminalizes depriving people of their civil rights, such as the free exercise of religion, while the FACE Act protects access to churches. Judge Micko approved the warrants for Armstrong, Allen, and Kelly, but he struck the FACE Act charges, writing, “No probable cause.” Micko denied the arrest warrants for the five other invaders. Lemon’s attorney, Abbe Lowell, praised the magistrate judge’s decision. “The magistrate’s reported actions confirm the nature of Don’s First Amendment protected work this weekend in Minnesota as a reporter,” Lowell told Fox News Digital.  Screenshot 4. The Appeal Patrick Schiltz, chief judge of the U.S. District Court of Minnesota, explained in a letter how the Justice Department went about appealing Micko’s decisions. “It is important to emphasize that what the U.S. Attorney requested is unheard of in our district or, as best I can tell, any other district in the Eighth Circuit,” Colloton wrote. If the prosecutor does not like a magistrate judge’s decision, he or she can either improve the filing and present it to the same magistrate judge, or present its case to a grand jury to seek an indictment. Colloton said he would not make a decision until conferring with his colleagues at a bench meeting, but the meeting got postponed. He plans to make a decision after a lunch meeting on Tuesday. Schiltz noted that the U.S. attorney’s office stated that “there are plans to disrupt Cities Church again on Sunday.” He said that the government “does not explain why the arrests of five more people—one of whom is a journalist and the other his producer—would make Cities Church any safer, especially because that would still leave ‘dozens’ of those who invaded the church on Sunday free to do it again.” 5. Church Invaders Released The Sherburne County Jail, which had held the defendants, released them Friday after District Judge Laura Provinzino rejected the government’s appeal. Prosecutors claimed that Armstrong and Allen posed flight risks and requested that the court hold them or require them to post $10,000 cash bail. Judges often grant pretrial detention in cases where defendants are accused of violent or other serious crimes or pose a flight risk. Harmeet Dhillon, assistant attorney general for civil rights at the Justice Department, pledged to aggressively pursue these cases. “We’re going to pursue this to the ends of the earth,” Dhillon told Megyn Kelly about the cases, particularly the charges against Lemon, the former CNN host. ? IT'S OFFICIAL: Assistant AG Harmeet Dhillon is AGGRESSIVELY pursuing charges against Don Lemon for storming the Minnesota churchGood, do NOT let radical judges protect him!DHILLON: "When I first saw the video that Don Lemon himself put out about his conduct that day, it… pic.twitter.com/ubrrCcKfvO— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) January 25, 2026 Cities Church’s attorneys have suggested that they are considering civil cases against the church invaders. The post 5 Things to Know About the Minneapolis Church Invasion Case appeared first on The Daily Signal.

The most fertile soil for collectivism is isolation. During his inaugural address, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said, “We will replace the frigidity of rugged individualism with the warmth of collectivism.” Many people have skewered the second part of that statement—and rightfully so. For those who’ve endured it, the warmth of collectivism feels like hell on earth. In the last century, communist regimes slaughtered more than 150 million people. Hundreds of millions more have suffered through scarcity and oppression. Collectivist regimes struggle to keep the lights on and produce enough toilet paper. So much for warmth. But the first part of Mamdani’s statement deserves scrutiny as well. Merriam-Webster defines rugged individualism as “emphasizing personal liberty and independence, self-reliance, resourcefulness, self-direction of the individual, and free competition in enterprise.” Even if they wouldn’t use the term, this encapsulates the general beliefs of most Republicans and conservatives. Mamdani implied that those of us who believe in these things suffer from a lack of human attachment. He implied we freeze others out, ignoring their needs. Presumably, he thinks this is done to pad our bank accounts. As a supporter of rugged individualism, Mamdani’s caricature is utterly foreign to me. I’m a husband and father of seven children. Life is full of bustle, not seclusion. There are music lessons, sports, speech classes, and church. My wife and I essentially run an unlicensed restaurant, laundromat, and taxi service. There are a lot of wonderful things about having a big family, but it’s not exactly a financial bonanza. While the number of children I have is an outlier, my experience isn’t. Republicans aged 25-64 are 15 percentage points more likely to be married than their Democratic peers. Republicans are 11 percentage points more likely than Democrats to be in a “very happy” marriage. In 2024, Gallup found a significant partisan marriage gap remained even after adjusting for demographic factors. Conservatives who are childless and under 50 are more than three times as likely as liberals to say they definitely want children. Unsurprisingly, red states have significantly more babies than blue states. The popular perception is that growing older makes people more conservative. That may be true, but strong evidence suggests that getting married and having children play a major role. It’s the collectivists in the Democrat Party who desperately need people to remain as individuals. A 2024 Pew report found that 72% of never-married women lean Democrat. But among married women, it’s just 45%. Half of married women lean Republican. A significant increase in marriage rates would be an existential threat to the modern Democrat Party. Perhaps you can see the paradox. Adherents to rugged individualism are more likely to form familial units and have children. Here’s why. Conservatives use personal liberty—not to isolate—but to create and join communities. The most fundamental is marriage, which has major benefits. As Brad Wilcox notes in his book “Get Married,” married couples are happier and better off financially than singles. Strong marriages are good for society, too, because children do best when raised by their married parents. There’s a long tradition of Americans freely joining together for other purposes, too. Alexis de Tocqueville remarked on our country’s many associations in his classic 1835 book “Democracy in America.” “Americans of all ages, all conditions, all minds constantly unite,” he wrote. “Not only do they have commercial and industrial associations in which all take part, but they also have a thousand other kinds: religious, moral, grave, futile, very general and very particular, immense and very small.” Don’t buy into Mamdani’s false dichotomy between individualism and collectivism. The voluntary associations formed by free individuals are far preferable to the coercion of communists. 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. The post ‘Rugged Individualism’ Leads to Community appeared first on The Daily Signal.

National School Choice Week highlights the education options available to students across the United States. In Florida, we celebrate the historic action to implement the largest school choice program in the nation’s history. Nearly half of all students in Florida are learning in a school choice setting, whether in private schools, charter schools, or home education. At a time when too many states remain trapped in the same education options they have always had, Florida chose a different path. We refuse to accept stagnation as inevitable and have rejected a one-size-fits-all education model. Under Gov. Ron DeSantis, Florida has built the most expansive, parent-driven education ecosystem in the nation. In 2023, DeSantis signed legislation delivering universal school choice options for all families, ending the era in which ZIP codes and standardized models dictate a child’s future. Families are now free to choose from high-quality public schools, public charter schools, magnet programs, career and technical pathways, homeschooling, and the strongest scholarship program in the country for students to attend private schools. Florida empowers every family and every child to achieve their educational goals through a robust array of school choice programs. In 2026 alone, over 530,000 students are on scholarships to attend a school of their choice, and more than 400,000 students are enrolled in charter schools across Florida. That is the highest number of students attending charter schools in the nearly 30 years they have been operating in the Sunshine State. Opponents of school choice often falsely claim that expanding educational options for families weakens accountability and harms public schools. The goal of school choice should not be to prop up any one particular type of school, but rather the focus should always be what is best for the individual student. Florida’s success unequivocally proves the tired old talking points of failed teachers unions have become relics of a bygone era in which students suffered at the hands of unaccountable special interests. As school choice options have grown, outcomes have improved in every education space. Our approach has produced measurable results and national recognition. U.S. News & World Report has ranked Florida No. 1 in the nation for education in two out of the three past years. These rankings are based on the overall quality of each state’s education system from pre-K through higher education. In addition to being recognized as a national leader in education, Florida’s public schools have also seen remarkable improvements, which have been driven by expanded school choice. Just last year, 71% of Florida schools earned an A or B grade, up from 64% the year before, and the percentage of A schools grew from 38% in 2024 to 44% in 2025. Charter schools are also thriving with 77% earning an A or B. Florida’s progress monitoring results from the 2024-25 school year showed a 21-point gain in English Language Arts and a 44-point gain in mathematics. To put that into perspective, that is nearly 115,000 more Florida students on grade level in ELA and 100,000 more in math compared to the past few years. Florida’s public schools also set a record-breaking graduation rate of 92.2% for the 2024-25 school year, an increase of 2.5 percentage points over the prior year and 4.9 percentage points since the 2021-22 school year. These rankings and improved data are proof that Florida’s policies are working for students and families. All schools improve when parents have options. School choice has also fueled innovation. Schools across Florida are expanding classical education models, strengthening STEM and workforce pathways, and delivering specialized supports for students with unique needs. Rather than forcing children into one-size-fits-all systems, Florida has built an education system designed to adapt to every child. National School Choice Week is a powerful reminder that educational freedom expands opportunity. In Florida, that belief drives policy, and our students are stronger because of it. As states across the nation look for solutions, Florida stands as a clear blueprint: put students first and empower parents to choose the educational path that best fits their family. Success will follow. We publish a variety of perspectives. Nothing written here is to be construed as representing the views of The Daily Signal. The post Florida Takes the Lead on School Choice. Here’s Why Other States Should Follow. appeared first on The Daily Signal.