From March 29 to April 5 this year, most of the Christian world enters into the holiest days of their calendar year. These are the days that commemorate the final days of the life of Jesus. Investigating what is remembered and celebrated can be both practically impactful and spiritually inspiring. On Palm Sunday, Jesus entered into Jerusalem riding on a donkey. This was a specific and calculated choice evoking the Old Testament prophecies from Zechariah. The prophet tells Israel that “your king is coming to you, a just savior is he, Humble, and riding on a donkey” (Zechariah 9:9). The miracle worker and famous preacher enters Jerusalem during Passover, the busiest time of year for the ancient city. He chooses a donkey (the symbol for peace) rather than the horse (known as the animal of strength for military leaders). The crowds welcome him, but they will be the very crowd that rejects and deserts him on the day of his trial. Palm Sunday reminds humanity that we can too often be noncommittal about our faith. Our commitment to prayer and holiness often wavers when we hear what the crowds are saying. Our faith often collapses the moment we must face sacrifice and ostracization. We blend into the masses rather than stand out and defend our faith. Four days later, on Holy Thursday, Jesus celebrates his last meal with his disciples. But before doing so, he left them a sign that they are directed to follow. He got on his hands and knees and washed the feet of the disciples (John 13). The God of the universe placed himself in the lowest position to showcase that love is sacrificial. Then he took bread and wine, said the blessing, and told his disciples that the bread was his body and the wine was his blood. Before he was arrested, beaten, and killed, Jesus laid down his life. His mission was coming to its culmination. In order to remain with us always, he left the gift of the Eucharist: his body, blood, soul, and divinity. When Jesus said that the bread and wine become his body and blood—they truly change. We take Jesus at his word. He was not speaking poetically. Through Christ’s power, handed down to the priest through the generations, the bread and wine become his body and blood. The proposal of the Catholic Church is that Jesus waits for us in the Eucharist. In every tabernacle across the globe, he desires to meet us and hear from us. The challenge is to make time for him rather than ignore him as the disciples did on his final day before his crucifixion. We must be firm in our hope that the resurrection has the last say over any pain and suffering. Following the Last Supper, Jesus leads his disciples to the Garden of Gethsemane. Here sweating blood as he considers his forthcoming pain (Luke 22:39-46). There he is arrested and brought to several Jewish leaders before he lands in front of Pilate on Good Friday. Once he is convicted of a capital crime and sentenced to death by crucifixion, he is brought to be scourged. Prisoners would have been stripped completely naked and chained by their wrists to a post or wall. Two strong soldiers would alternate blows as they whipped him with a flagrum, a torture device similar to and more severe than a “cat of nine tails.” This was a whip with straps that had objects tied to the end of each strap. At the end of each strap would have been a piece of glass, rock, bone, or metal object. The intention of the soldier was to hit the prisoner so hard that one of these sharp objects would dig into the flesh of the man. Then the soldier would pull back the whip, literally ripping out tendons and muscles from his face down to his feet. Recent medical analysis reports that the incisions Jesus would have endured during the scourging would have needed roughly two thousand stitches to repair. For this reason, many sources report that prisoners would often died during the scourging, not even making it to crucifixion. Now a cross beam weighing between 150-300 pounds is placed on Jesus’ shoulders, and he carries it a half-mile to his place of death. Along the way, he is continually mocked and whipped. Soldiers held Jesus down as they nailed 6-to-9-inch nails through his hands and feet. Then the cross would have been lifted about ten feet high in the air for all to see and mock. Ultimately, Jesus dies after hanging on the cross for nearly three hours. He would have died of asphyxiation or suffocation as he could no longer lift his beaten body up to breathe. It is the tremendous suffering of Jesus that stands out among these holiest of days. Despite being humiliated, deserted, rejected, mocked, and brutally beaten he remains calm and forgives his enemies. He loved us to the end. For this reason, the crosses that adorn homes, churches, and necklaces serve as reminders of the love that our God has for us. They are invitations to keep God at the center of our lives and become mirrors to His love in our homes and communities. If we do that, then this week will make us into reflections of the heart of God. I can’t think of a time when we need that more. We publish a variety of perspectives. Nothing written here is to be construed as representing the views of The Daily Signal. The post The First Holy Week appeared first on The Daily Signal.

To repeat what Americans have heard a lot recently, our Social Security system is in very bad shape. Per the most recent report, in 2025, of the Social Security and Medicare board of trustees, Social Security is capable of paying out the entirety of promised benefits through 2033. After that, there is only the capability of paying out 77% of promised benefits. That’s seven years from now. Anyone who got a letter from their investment fund or insurance program that said, “We’re sorry, but in another seven years we won’t be able to pay out what was promised,” would immediately be on the phone to their lawyer, Why does this very bad news about Social Security not seem to trouble Americans? One reason is that we have no control. It’s not yours despite the fact that you paid for it. You would immediately be on the phone to your agent or your lawyer if your insurance company declared bankruptcy because it’s yours. You own it. Have you ever called Social Security or the IRS to ask a question? You will sit on the phone for hours, and in the end, most likely you won’t connect. Try it and you will understand what hopeless means. On Aug. 14, 2010, President Barack Obama addressed the nation to note the 75th anniversary of the signing of Social Security into law. It was already clear then that the system was shaky. But Obama assured the nation he will “safeguard” Social Security’s “promise to America’s seniors.” He assured Americans that he would never allow a reform enabling Americans to take ownership of their funds, “tying your benefits to the whims of Wall Street traders and the ups and downs of the stock market.” When Obama made that statement in 2010, the S&P 500 stock index stood at 1079. Today, it stands at 6506. The average return of the S&P 500 from 1957 through December 2025 was 11.5% per year. From November 2007 to January 2009, the stock market, measured by the S&P, dropped over 46%. This was the biggest decline since the 1929 crash. Two Cato Institute analysts checked what would have happened to a couple who invested what they would have paid in Social Security taxes over a 45-year working life and then retired right after the huge market decline in 2009. The answer was that even after the crash, they would have earned an average of 6.75% per year and would have had a sufficient accumulation to payout 75% more than they would have gotten from Social Security. Needless to say, if they had retired before the crash, they would have had much more. But even so, the magic of compound interest over 40-plus years well overcomes a short-term disaster. Stock returns reflect the earnings of corporations, and the earnings of corporations reflect the growth of the U.S. economy. Let’s use some simple logic here. Anyone who is negative about the long-term returns on stocks is negative about the long-term growth of the U.S. economy. And anyone that’s negative about the long-term growth of the U.S. economy should understand that there will be few economic resources for the government to tax. What we keep hearing from politicians is about “saving Social Security.” I’m not interested in saving systems. I am interested in saving people. The only way the existing Social Security system can be “saved” is by taking a bad deal and making it worse. Raising taxes or cutting benefits. Or, for sure what we can expect from the progressives is to turn the system into another welfare program by disproportionately raising taxes on higher income earners. The country is ready for a major overall that will free Americans from the government plantation and allow them to reap the benefits of freedom and ownership.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 Time to Leave the Social Security Plantation appeared first on The Daily Signal.

A 16-year-old girl allegedly confessed to shooting and killing her mother and her mother’s boyfriend following multiple fights with her mother regarding the girl’s transgender identity and “misgendering,” according to court records obtained by The Daily Signal. A police video, also obtained by The Daily Signal, shows her discussing the misgendering dispute. Julia Grace Egler has pleaded not guilty to two counts of first-degree premeditated murder for the deaths of her 38-year-old mother, Kelley McCollom, and McCollom’s boyfriend, 22-year-old Matthew Szejnrok, on July 7, 2024. While Egler initially claimed that someone else broke into the residence where she lived with McCollom and Szejnrok, she later “confessed to killing” the victims, according to a probable cause affidavit. “She admitted that she had broken into [McCollom’s] bedroom while she was gone and obtained a revolver and ammunition,” the affidavit reads. “She waited in the kitchen area of the residence for them to arrive home, with a gun in her hand and the knife in her right pants pocket. When they walked through the front door, she told them ‘Welcome home’. Moments later, [Egler] shot her mother several times, then shot Matthew several times, as he pleaded with her to stop.” “[Egler] advised that she had reached her boiling point with her mother following many disagreements in the previous weeks,” the affidavit reads. “[Egler] was not happy with the fact that [McCollom] was not very accepting of her gender transition (pronouns he/him), and she also did not like that [McCollom] was dating [Szejnrok] who was 22-years-old.” The Palm Bay Police Department provided video footage of Egler’s interview with police on July 7, 2024. Julia Egler Probable CauseDownload The Transgender Dispute In the video, the defendant told police that she and her mother frequently fought over issues such as “me being trans.” Egler identified as male and went by the name Jasper. “She’d be like, ‘You’re not a real boy’ and … you know, the whole spiel of transphobic stuff,” Egler said. (Transgender activists condemn people who disagree with transgender ideology as “transphobic” to suggest that critics have an irrational fear of people who identify as transgender.) Egler acknowledged her mother’s attempts to compromise, “to meet me in the middle.” McCollom would refer to Egler as “child,” instead of daughter. “Is she misgendering you?” the detective asked. “Yeah,” Egler responded. The detective asked if McCollom was “intentionally calling you ‘she,’ or not using the appropriate pronouns, or not referring to you as Jasper and referring to you as Julia.” The suspect nodded, and added that her mother mentioned that Egler still has a female anatomy. “All that bulls—, kind of shoving it in my face,” the suspect responded. “Obviously, that’s kind of painful. I already beat myself up about it enough, I don’t need you doing it, too.” When asked at what age she decided to transition, Egler said, “I’ve never really seen myself as a woman.” She said she pushed her gender identity “away for a long time until I couldn’t anymore.” When the detective asked if Egler suppressed her feelings while trying to conform to society’s norms, she said, “more trying to fit into my mom’s conforms [sic].” Egler said her mother denied transgender idoleogy, stating, “No, it’s not real, even if you get the surgeries, it’s not real.” Egler pleaded not guilty to the two murder charges, and her public defender, Michael Pirolo, told The Daily Signal that her trial has been scheduled for Nov. 2. Other Transgender Shooters Egler’s alleged crime arguably fits a growing trend of violent crimes committed by people who identify as transgender or who support transgender ideology. In February, Jesse Van Rootselaar, an 18-year-old man who identified as a woman, shot and killed eight in British Columbia, Canada. Tyler Robinson, 22, who faces murder charges in the September killing of Charlie Kirk, reportedly lived with a boyfriend who identifies as transgender and allegedly told his boyfriend he shot Kirk on his behalf. Robin Westman, a 23-year-old male identifying as a female, shot and killed two children at Annunciation Church in Minneapolis in August. Mia Bailey, a 30-year-old man who identifies as female, shot and killed his parents in June 2024. Audrey Elizabeth Hale, a 28-year-old woman who identified as male, shot and killed six on March 27, 2023, at a Presbyterian school in Nashville, Tennessee. The man who tried to assassinate Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh in June 2022 identifies as a woman. On May 7, 2019, Maya “Alec” McKinney, a 16-year-old woman who identifies as male, and her 19-year-old fellow student, Devon Erickson, shot and killed one and injured eight at a school in Highlands Ranch, Colorado. In June 2024, a judge sentenced Alexia Willie, a man who identifies as a woman, after he confessed to threatening to rape girls in girls’ restrooms, carry out mass shootings at schools, and bomb churches. The post Teen Girl Allegedly Confessed to Killing Mother, Mother’s Boyfriend, After ‘Misgendering’ Dispute appeared first on The Daily Signal.

When I first moved to California, the Golden State was like an oasis, with red-golden sunsets, wide-open spaces, lush greenery, opal blue waters, and grocery stores selling fruit I’d never even heard of. Back then, California felt like its own country, one where hard work could build a real life of joy and endless possibility. Today, just a few decades later, many smart, capable people I know are quietly packing up for Texas, Colorado, Florida, or Georgia. U-Haul has more outbound rentals than almost any other state. Few who leave seem to regret it. For most, it seems, the California Dream is over. However, I disagree. Despite all the mismanagement at the top, California is abundant in talent, resources, and good people fighting daily to make the Golden State a little bit better. Rather than make a purely abstract or political argument to prove this, I want to share a few moments that communicate what the dream was like, how it’s fading, and how to rejuvenate it. The superintendent of my first small-town California apartment, George, was the perfect example of a real Californian. A good man, he was handy with a wrench and quick with a joke and a smile. By the time I knew him, George was dealing with a lot of health problems that came with aging. One day, he was on the bathroom floor under a leaky sink in my apartment. Wincing from the pain his bad back caused, he looked up and said, “Arjun, if I wanted, I could just stay home and collect disability—it’d pay more than this job. I wouldn’t have to work … ” Then his voice dropped, full of pain: “but then I couldn’t live with myself.” He was a man with a work ethic. He chose self-respect over easier money, even as the system dangled a check in front of his face. It was heartbreaking. California still has many people like George. Men and women working hard because it matters, not because the math always adds up. But when rent eats half your paycheck, gas is $4.60 per gallon (and that’s before the Iran conflict started), and electric bills are through the roof, that ethic gets tested. And yet amongst the gloom, people can surprise you. Last week, I was interviewing candidates for a role in the Bay Area. As has become standard, I asked each candidate, “Hybrid or remote?” After months of everyone saying, “Remote, please,” I asked a man from the rural American South the same question. I was already typing “remote” in my notes. His face lit up with a big smile, and he answered, “I’d love to relocate to California. I love California.” I froze. It was the first time in years someone outside the state had said that to me. Yet the jobs are still here—Silicon Valley, Los Angeles, San Diego. People make it work because the opportunities are real. The dream isn’t dead; it’s just uneven. Some see barriers where others see abundance. I could wax eloquent about all the problems caused in this state by mismanagement in Sacramento—homelessness, quality of life issues, education, and a lot more—but the point is not to rehash what everyone already knows—it’s to give a true-to-life feel of what most don’t know about this great state. To people from sea to shining sea of this great country who want to write California off, I urge you: don’t give up on it just yet. California is full of people trying to make this place better. There are people fighting every day on school boards, city councils, town halls, and elsewhere, arguing for clean and safe streets, good schooling, better jobs, reasonable taxes, and good middle-class housing. This Golden State is a behemoth of resources, talent, and smarts. But more importantly it is a place blessed with many genuinely good people. Listen out for stories of real Californians—the roundtables feverishly looking for solutions, the George choosing pride over a check, the rare outsider who still wants in. The fundamentals are strong: innovation, hard work, the natural bounty that drew me across an ocean. I still believe in California. Rejuvenating this place won’t be easy, but the California dream is dormant, not dead. Fixing this state must begin with seeing the grind, honoring dignity, and Californians fixing what’s in front of them. We can win the California Dream back, one honest conversation at a time. We publish a variety of perspectives. Nothing written here is to be construed as representing the views of The Daily Signal. The post Resurrecting the California Dream appeared first on The Daily Signal.

We get the government we choose to elect, hence the government we deserve. Voting for ever-higher punitive taxes on the rich is arguably a form of civic suicide. Consider that a wealthy New Yorker can get a raise of almost 40% just by moving. That’s right. If moving eliminates a 14.8% top state and local tax rate, our top-tier taxpayer gets a 36% raise, not a 14.8% raise, by leaving. It’s doubtful if any of our city and state leaders have done this math, but it’s shocking. New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani wants to take the top rate up another 2%, if not by the state then by the city, which would mean that our rich neighbor can get a 42% raise. Here’s how the math works. A rich New Yorker pays a maximum state and city income tax of 14.8%, on top of a maximum federal tax of 37%. But there are hidden taxes. Uncapped Medicare and Medicaid taxes push the marginal federal tax to 39.4%. If the income is earned on investments, the Net Investment Income Tax (NIIT, another gift from Obamacare) adds another 3.8%, pushing the top federal tax above 43%. So, top-tier New York taxpayers may soon pay a marginal tax of 43% to the IRS and 17% to the city and state of New York. The combined 60% marginal tax rates mean they have the privilege of keeping 40 cents of each new dollar they earn. A move to one of the nine states with no income tax allows our taxpayer to keep 57% of every additional dollar of income, instead of 40%. Do the math. That’s a 42% raise. Forget the argument about “paying their fair share.” “Fair” is an entirely subjective term. Your fair share of someone else’s money might be seen as a ripoff by them, especially if the money is spent less wisely than we might spend our own money. If you are rich and believe you’ve earned your money, will you consider leaving a state for a permanent 40% raise? Of course. This is hardly a phenomenon unique to New York. California’s headline top rate of 13.3% becomes 14% with the phase-out of deductions. A Silicon Valley billionaire can keep 43% of each new dollar of income. Moving to Dallas, Miami, or Anchorage for the adventuresome boosts this to 57%, a raise of almost 33%. This doesn’t even count the “please leave now” impetus of a “one-time only” 5% wealth tax on billionaires. Never mind that the fine print on the wealth tax initiative turns a 5% tax into a 50% expropriation for billionaires like the founders of Google, because their 30% voting share at Google, not their 3% equity ownership, is used to determine the tax. People have called the United States “50 laboratories of democracy.” A state or a city is welcome to impose whatever taxes, regulations, or laws are allowed by its own bylaws or the national Constitution. And citizens are welcome to choose whichever states have taxes, regulations, and laws that they feel best align with their values and beliefs. Nor is it unique to our various states, with their diverse tax regimes. Taxes drove the Rolling Stones to their own “Exile on Main Street,” relocating to France of all places to escape England’s 90% top tax rate (where a tiny drop to 85% would provide a 50% pay raise). Even Switzerland has divergent tax rates, ranging from 22% in Zug to roughly 40% in Berne, Geneva, and Vaud. Where do the billionaires tend to live? Zug. Milton Friedman has been credited with the observation that the only thing more mobile than the wealthy is their capital. It is the rich who largely fund government spending, whether that spending is at the federal, state, or local level, and whether that spending is wise or foolish. Instead of a politics of envy, perhaps we should try a politics of gratitude. This article was originally published by RealClearPolitics and made available via RealClearWire. We publish a variety of perspectives. Nothing written here is to be construed as representing the views of The Daily Signal. The post The Assisted Suicide of Lofty State and Local Taxes appeared first on The Daily Signal.