“Celebrate your country by seeing your country.”  With that message to Americans, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy kicked off a new national campaign Friday at Union Station in Washington, D.C.—one designed to remind Americans that the freedom to move has always been at the heart of the American story. As the nation celebrate its 250th birthday this year, the U.S. Department of Transportation unveiled “Freedom Moves You,” a sweeping initiative tied to the nationwide Freedom 250 celebration marking the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.  “Now more than ever, our nation needs to unite around the shared principles our founding fathers enshrined in 1776. America’s 250th birthday is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to bring people together, cherish our national heritage, and inspire the next generation of patriots,” Duffy said. “From artwork that inspires a national conversation about civics to helping families hit the road this spring, this department is committed to keeping the flame of liberty and independence alive for another 250 years.”  Airports, highways, train stations, bus stops, and transit networks will showcase ads like this one. (Erin Granzow for The Daily Signal) The initiative aims to inspire Americans to rediscover their country—not just through textbooks, but by experiencing it firsthand.  Transportation at the Foundation of Our History   From dirt roads traveled by the Founding Fathers to the interstate highways that now spread across the continent, America’s modes of transportation have carried the nation forward for nearly two-and-a-half centuries.  “Freedom moves you. Whether it’s planes, trains, or automobiles, we all move through transportation,” Duffy told hundreds of people gathered in Union Station’s Main Hall. “America’s story is a story of movement. From the earliest days of our republic, the ability to travel, trade, and explore helped define what freedom means in this country.”  ? ? WATCH @SecDuffy, @MonicaCrowley, and other transportation leaders LIVE from Union Station as USDOT unveils “FREEDOM MOVES YOU”- a nationwide campaign with @Freedom250 ?? ?? https://t.co/j866Ax9MPt— U.S. Department of Transportation (@USDOT) March 6, 2026 Joining Duffy at Union Station were Ambassador Monica Crowley, chief of protocol of the United States; Bud Denker, president of Penske Corp.; Anna Bager, president and CEO of Out of Home Advertising Association of America; and Eliot Hamlisch, executive vice president and chief commercial officer for Amtrak. They stood with other transportation leaders and partners helping bring the campaign to life.  “This campaign is freedom in motion,” Crowley said. “As Americans travel, it will remind us of our extraordinary, shared history and renew a sense of tremendous pride in our exceptional country during our big 250th birthday year.” What Is Freedom Moves You? Duffy credited The Heritage Foundation for its role in the campaign. Last year, Heritage began developing the creative concepts and ads that would eventually become the centerpiece of Department of Transportation initiative.  “I specifically want to give a shout out to The Heritage Foundation, who helped craft these images,” Duffy said. “They didn’t do this under contract. They didn’t ask for money. They said, ‘You know what? We want to help celebrate America’s birthday. We want to develop these images that are going to bring people’s minds back to civics.’”  Heritage is honored to have played a role in @SecDuffy’s @USDOT “Freedom Moves You” campaign celebrating America’s 250th birthday. Keep an eye out for these visuals in transportation stations and on buses, trains, and airplanes across the country between now and Independence Day. pic.twitter.com/JXxkRsGc5i— Heritage Foundation (@Heritage) March 6, 2026 Heritage donated the work to the department, which will now display them across American’s vast transportation system.   The campaign will feature Freedom 250 branding across America’s airports, bus stops, train stations, and highways. Americans will see them on Amtrak, FlixBus routes, Brightline high-speed rail lines, and multiple airlines. The goal is simple: meet Americans where they already are—on the move. National and local leaders joined Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy at Union Station in Washington, D.C. (Erin Granzow for The Daily Signal) Speakers at Friday’s event said the campaign is about far more than tourism. It’s about reconnecting Americans with the various places where the nation’s story took root—cities, small towns, and highways that together form the backbone of the American experience.  The Campaign’s Goal  At a time when civic knowledge remains alarmingly low—recent surveys show only about 30% of Americans can correctly identify the three branches of government—supporters hope the campaign might also spark renewed curiosity about the nation’s history and founding principles.  “Transportation has always been about more than roads and bridges,” Duffy said. “It’s about connecting people to opportunity, to one another, and to the history that defines us.”  The campaign is part of a broader national effort coordinated by the U.S. Semiquincentennial Commission, which is organizing events across the country to commemorate America’s 250th anniversary in 2026.   Federal agencies, state governments, private organizations, and local communities are expected to host events, festivals, and educational programs throughout 2026.  Love seeing the America 250 makeover at Union Station today! Congrats to @SecDuffy and the @USDOT team for celebrating our country’s history in style at some of the biggest transportation hubs. Made possible thanks to a generous gift from @Heritage. pic.twitter.com/PXGMV6e1lI— Rob Bluey (@RobertBluey) March 6, 2026 For the Department of Transportation, however, the message behind Freedom Moves You is ultimately a personal one.  America’s story, Duffy said, isn’t confined to museums or history books. It lives in the roads Americans drive, the railways that connect cities, and the landscapes that generations have traveled in pursuit of opportunity and liberty.  As the nation approaches this historic anniversary, the department hopes millions of Americans will take that message to heart—getting behind the wheel, boarding a train, or booking a flight to explore the country that has been in motion since 1776.  Because sometimes the best way to understand America is to travel through it.   The post A Nation on the Move: New Campaign Celebrates 250 Years of American Freedom  appeared first on The Daily Signal.

What if history wasn’t something you only read about—but something you could walk through?  What if the stories of Scripture rose from the page and surrounded you—etched into stone streets, carved into ancient ruins, whispered through the landscapes where God moved in history?  An exciting new venture, Sojourn, has officially launched as outreach of Good Comma Classroom, expanding its mission beyond writing instruction to an immersive, Gospel-centered travel program that deepens your understanding of the Good News.  Carrying the slogan “Learn the past. Lead the future.” Sojourn is the rebranding of the former Good Comma Classroom travel program. It organizes pilgrimages to biblical and historically significant sites, inviting students and adults alike to walk in the footsteps of the saints.   The name reflects its vision: a “sojourn” is not a vacation, but a purposeful journey—one marked by growth, formation, and thoughtful reflection. For many participants, it is genuinely life–changing.  In an interview with The Daily Signal, Sojourn’s founder and CEO, Michael Hamilton, described the heart behind the mission:  “Sojourn’s mission is to help people learn the past so that they can lead the future. What we do is take people to civilization’s greatest places to teach them civilization’s greatest principles.”  The story behind Sojourn is, in Hamilton’s words, “a two fish and five loaves kind of story”—a testament to God’s providence.  From Uncertainty Came a Mission  After graduating from Hillsdale College, Hamilton entered a season of vocational uncertainty that quickly turned into financial strain. Though he had been teaching theology, history, literature, and political science, he felt adrift. Out of that uncertainty, he launched Good Comma Editing.  The editing company set out to help leaders communicate what matters most with clarity and conviction. Often, Hamilton explained, their clients either operated explicitly within a Christian mission or were led by Christians seeking to articulate truth with precision.   Those shared beliefs were often enough to build trust. To date, Good Comma has edited nearly eight million words—roughly ten times the length of the Bible.  Yet despite the mission, the business struggled. Lacking formal business experience, Hamilton found the company faltering. Then, through God’s goodness, came unexpected requests.  “You used to live in Boston. You’re a theology, history, literature, poli-sci teacher. Could you plan a trip?” What began as a favor turned into another request—and then another. Slowly, the Good Comma Classroom’s travel program was born. That program has now become Sojourn.”  Traveling Back Through Time   While many Christian organizations offer faith-based travel, Hamilton believes Sojourn stands apart.  “There are so many Christian providers of trips,” he said. “To say we’re just another Christian provider isn’t distinctive enough. What we bring is a robust biblical lens layered with a well-read, deeply considered classical historical perspective. Together, that creates a complete cultural experience.”  Sojourn leads participants through places like Philippi—where Lydia was baptized, and Paul met the Philippian jailer—through Thessaloniki and Berea, and onward to Athens and Corinth. Standing in these places, participants often say the Scriptures become three-dimensional.  “They tell us it brings the Bible to life,” Hamilton explained. “Now they can see God’s redemptive, providential hand working through history.”  For Hamilton, the phrase “life-changing” is not a cliché—it is the goal.  He believes many people spend their lives contemplating abstract truths without ever seeing their reality in place and time. Sojourn seeks to make the abstract tangible—to connect eternal ideas to physical ground. It is, in a sense, the closest thing to time travel.  Why Sojourn Exists   People do not need travel to grasp great truths. But for many, it helps profoundly. Some assume history and theology are out of reach, reserved for scholars or certain personality types. Hamilton rejects that notion.  By standing face-to-face with history in civilization’s greatest places, he argues, people discover something deeper: that by virtue of being created in God’s image, they are capable of understanding the most important truths ever revealed.  That is why Sojourn exists. To learn the past and lead the future.  The post Sojourn Launches as New Branch of Good Comma Classroom  appeared first on The Daily Signal.

By Parisa Hafezi and Maayan Lubell DUBAI/JERUSALEM, March 8 (Reuters)—Iran on Sunday indicated it had chosen Ayatollah Ali Khamenei‘s son Mojtaba as his successor, after Israel struck fuel depots in Tehran overnight and the conflict widened after Bahrain said an Iranian attack had damaged one of its desalination plants. “The name of Khamenei will continue,” said Ayatollah Hosseinali Eshkevari, a member of the clerical council charged with electing a new leader, in a video published in Iranian media. “The vote has been cast and will be announced soon,” Eshkevari said, without providing further details. The council’s secretary, Hosseini Bushehri, would announce the successor to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei—who was killed earlier in the conflict—Ahmad Alamolhoda, another cleric, told state media. U.S. President Donald Trump said on Sunday Washington should have a say in the selection. “If he doesn’t get approval from us he’s not going to last long,” he told ABC News. Israel said it continued to target senior Iranian figures, including Abolqasem Babaian, the recently appointed head of the military office of the supreme leader, killed in a Saturday strike. Black Smoke Hangs Over Tehran As fighting escalated on day nine of the U.S.-Israeli campaign against Iran, thick black smoke hung over Tehran on Sunday, residents said, after strikes on oil storage facilities had lit up the night sky with plumes of orange flame. Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said the large-scale attack marked a “dangerous new phase” of the conflict and amounted to a war crime. “By targeting fuel depots, the aggressors are releasing hazardous materials and toxic substances into the air,” he wrote on X. Israeli military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani told reporters the depots were used to fuel Iran’s war effort, including producing or storing propellant for ballistic missiles. “They are a legal military target,” he said. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his government would press on with the assault and strike Iran’s rulers “without mercy”. “We have an organised plan with many surprises to destabilise the regime and enable change,” he said in a video statement. Trump told reporters on Air Force One that he was not seeking negotiations to end the conflict, which has driven up global energy prices, disrupted business and snarled air travel. “At some point, I don’t think there will be anybody left maybe to say, ‘We surrender’,” he said. Iranian Drones Strike Gulf States Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain reported Iranian drone attacks on Saturday and early Sunday, including a huge fire that engulfed a government office block in Kuwait. Kuwait’s interior ministry said two officers were killed, while the UAE said four migrant workers had died in Iranian attacks there so far. The UAE said air defence teams had knocked out 16 ballistic missiles and 113 drones fired towards the Gulf state on Sunday. One missile fell in the sea and four drones hit the country’s territories. Bahrain said on Sunday that an Iranian drone attack had caused “material damage” to a desalination plant, though water supplies were not disrupted. It was the first time an Arab country has said Iran targeted a desalination facility during the conflict. On Saturday, Iran accused the United States of striking a desalination plant on Qeshm Island, disrupting water supplies to 30 villages and calling it “a dangerous move with grave consequences.” In Saudi Arabia, two people were killed and 12 injured after a projectile hit a residential area in Al-Kharj city, the Civil Defence agency said. Riyadh has told Tehran that continued Iranian attacks on the kingdom and its energy sector could push Riyadh to retaliate, people familiar with the matter told Reuters. Lebanon has also been pulled into the conflict after the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah launched rockets and drones into Israel last week, with nearly 400 people killed by Israel over the past week, the health ministry said. Israel killed at least four people when it struck a hotel in central Beirut on Sunday, saying it had targeted Iranian commanders operating in the city—the first such strike on the heart of the Lebanese capital—amid heavy bombardment of the southern suburbs and the country’s south and east. New Supreme Leader Selected, Not Named Two Iranian sources told Reuters last week that Mojtaba Khamenei, who built influence inside Iran’s security forces and vast business networks under his father, remained the clear favourite. Choosing him would signal that hardliners remain firmly in charge. The U.S. and Israel have discussed sending special forces into Iran to secure its stockpile of highly enriched uranium at a later stage of the war, Axios reported, citing sources. Asked on Saturday about sending ground troops to secure nuclear sites, Trump said it was something they would only do if the Iranians were “so decimated that they wouldn’t be able to fight at the ground level.” The U.S.-Israeli attacks have killed at least 1,332 Iranian civilians and wounded thousands, according to Iran’s U.N. ambassador. Iranian attacks have killed 10 people in Israel. At least six U.S. service members have been killed, with Iran saying on Sunday it had struck U.S. bases in Kuwait. Israel said on Sunday that two of its soldiers were killed in southern Lebanon. (Reporting by Reuters bureaux; Writing by Crispian Balmer and Charlie Devereux; Editing by William Mallard, Alex Richardson and Ros Russell) The post Iran Indicates Khamenei’s Hardline Son Will Be Next Supreme Leader appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Kristi Noem is out as Homeland Security Secretary, to be replaced by Senator Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla. Noem’s tenure as the leader of the expansive Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has been characterized by numerous problems, ranging from personality clashes and communication breakdowns to policy disputes and operational failures. Arguably, Noem’s greatest success over the past year has been securing the southern border and ending the never-ending flow of illegal immigrants into the U.S., fulfilling a key campaign promise of President Donald Trump’s. An equally important campaign promise, however, was Trump’s pledge to remove the millions of illegal immigrants who were allowed to cross the Biden administration’s open borders from the U.S. interior. In this regard, Noem’s tenure has been a failure. To understand how DHS should proceed under new leadership, it is crucial to understand where Noem’s leadership was lacking. First and foremost, Noem has failed to deliver on the president’s deportation pledge. Headlines over the past year have warned that Trump and his immigration policy mastermind, White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy and Homeland Security Advisor Stephen Miller, have eyed setting daily arrest quotas for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, demanding thousands of illegal immigrants be apprehended day-in, day-out. Even if such quotas were to be set, Noem’s DHS has failed to meet them. According to a report from The Daily Caller, ICE only managed to actually deport—as in, complete the removal of, not just arrest and detain—fewer than 36,000 illegal immigrants between October 1 and the end of February, a period of five months, equating to roughly 7,200 completed deportations per month. Should that trend persist, the U.S. would have succeeded in deporting fewer than 87,000 illegal immigrants by the end of 2026 and, including the approximately 675,000 deportations supposedly conducted over the course of 2025, fewer than one million illegal immigrants by the end of Trump’s second term—a far cry from the millions of deportations the president promised. Under former President Joe Biden, anywhere from 10 to 12 million illegal immigrants were ushered into the U.S. If that damage is to be undone, the Trump administration will have to remove at least 2.5 million illegal immigrants per year. That means that deportation numbers need to be drastically increased to restore sovereignty and security to the American people. The needed increase in deportations must be accompanied by a shift in strategy. No doubt Noem attempted to deliver on the promised deportation program, but the strategy she employed clearly was not working. What was her strategy? In short, bravado. To her credit, Noem did lead from the front and was always ready to tour the southern border, accompany ICE agents on immigration raids, and put her polished cowgirl boots on the ground in “sanctuary” cities where riots and violence broke out—and there are plenty of pictures to prove it. But that’s part of the issue: Noem was far from camera-shy. She appeared in press conferences and on cable news interviews almost as frequently as recently-retired DHS Assistant Secretary for Public Relations Tricia McLaughlin. That’s what an assistant secretary for public relations is for, though, to make the rounds on news programs, talk radio shows, and podcasts to deliver the administration’s messaging. The secretary should be crafting strategy, orchestrating operations, and managing budgets and personnel, not looking for photo-ops and screen time. Noem also clearly brought her public profile to DHS, with ICE operations arresting headlines in addition to far too few illegal immigrants. Some of Noem’s public relations strategies were effective: ICE’s “worst of the worst” compilations, for example, showcased the dangers posed to everyday Americans by illegal immigration, highlighting murderers, child rapists, human traffickers, drug dealers, robbers, fraudsters, drunk drivers, and more ICE arrestees, and the very public push for mass arrests and deportations likely contributed to the reported two million self-deportations achieved during Trump’s first year back in office. However, Noem’s DHS was plagued by high-profile leaks within the first few months of the second Trump administration, with insiders divulging where and when ICE raids were scheduled to take place, which not only gave illegal immigrants a heads-up but also alerted protestors and rioters, who proved to be one of the stickiest wickets Noem had to deal with. Riots in major cities like Los Angeles and Portland were followed early this year by perhaps the most significant of Noem’s fumbles, a combination of poor control over personnel, abysmal communication, and unnecessarily bombastic P.R. tactics. Rampant fraud committed largely by Somali immigrants in Minnesota was the perfect prompt for Operation Metro Surge, a large-scale, high-profile ICE operation targeting “sanctuary” city Minneapolis. As was the case with previous ICE operations, Operation Metro Surge was met with protests and, in some cases, riots. Unlike the riots in Los Angeles, agitators in Minneapolis largely refrained from violence—no hurling cinder blocks through federal officers’ windshields or aiming fireworks at ICE agents—but insisted on impeding ICE operations. Renee Good took this approach early in January, using her car to block ICE agents. When confronted by agents, Good accelerated her vehicle, striking an ICE officer who it just so happens had been struck and dragged by an agitator’s vehicle last year. He fired his weapon, shooting and killing Good. As public scrutiny descended upon the incident, it became increasingly clear that Good had actually struck the agent with her vehicle, although debate still continued over whether or not the move was intentional. Just a few weeks later, Alex Pretti intervened when Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and U.S. Border Patrol (USBP) agents got rough with crowd control. As Pretti, who had interfered with DHS operations before and was reportedly known to agents for his antics, once again inserted himself into federal law enforcement operations, an agent pointed out that Pretti was armed. Two federal agents opened fire, shooting and killing Pretti. The dual incidents were a perfect opportunity for the Trump administration to flip the script and demonize “sanctuary” officials, like Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey (D) and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz (D), for using deceptive and divisive rhetoric to whip up an angry mob and send civilians into harm’s way. Good and Pretti could have been cast as victims of left-wing indoctrination, deluded by the likes of Frey and Walz into believing that they were heroic freedom fighters for defending third-world child rapists and coming to a predictable but nevertheless tragic end. Instead, Noem framed Good and Pretti as terrorists. True, intentionally running over federal agents with a car qualifies as an act of domestic terrorism, but it was never confirmed that Good intended to do so. She could have been hurriedly fleeing the armed agents and stepped on the gas earlier than she intended to or harder than she intended to, or perhaps she meant to brake. Who knows? Because she was killed, there was no chance of getting an answer from her, and so the smart thing to do would have been to mourn the loss of an American citizen, a mother of three, who was clearly radicalized by leftist bureaucrats. Shooting at federal agents would also fall within the bounds of domestic terrorism, but Pretti did not shoot. In fact, he did not even draw his firearm. It was foolish to bring a gun to a tense standoff with federal agents who had spent the past year being badgered, hounded, and demonized in the public square, but it was not an overt act of domestic terrorism. But Noem branded Good and Pretti as domestic terrorists, enemies of the state, before DHS had even launched an investigation into either incident. This was hasty, at best, and monumentally stupid at worst, further jeopardizing already-waning public support and needlessly squandering an opportunity to lay the blame at the feet of the real villains: “sanctuary” officials. Noem based her domestic terrorist claims on information she reportedly received from USBP agents on the ground, without verifying, without waiting for an investigation, and was quick to try to fault others—namely, USBP Commander-at-Large Gregory Bovino and Miller— or the communication breakdown. Noem again tried to shift blame when grilled in Congress this week for a $220 million ad campaign: she quickly said that the president signed off on it. This presents another of the issues with Noem’s leadership at DHS, what one Trump administration official characterized as “her constant feuding with the heads of other agencies, including CBP and ICE.” According to The Daily Caller, the agencies within DHS were largely fractured under Noem, with personality clashes and personnel mismanagement impeding the work of securing the border and running deportations. The outgoing Homeland Security Secretary reportedly clashed with Border Czar Tom Homan, an inveterate professional with decades of proven success in immigration enforcement, and White House officials, including Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, who Noem’s assistant, former Trump campaign strategist Corey Lewandowski, tried to oust from Trump’s 2024 campaign, which Wiles was managing. “It’s laughable that Kristi is trying to blame her own self-inflicted issues on someone else. The issues that led to Kristi’s replacement were a result of her own wrongdoings, not a lack of support from the White House,” one White House official said. Other insiders said that Noem’s removal from DHS was long overdue. “Anyone who’s close to the situation at all could see this coming,” one DHS insider said. “It wasn’t a matter of if, it was a matter of when,” said another. The Daily Signal reported that DHS officials were relieved at Noem’s departure and believe that new leadership will help unify the various divisions of DHS. “I think there was kind of a sense of relief, and I think optimism,” one official said. He added that new leadership will hopefully “bring a fresh perspective, fresh change, and get us back on track and not have so much drama and distractions that get in the way of the president’s agenda.” Another official said, “I think this is a great relief that, you know, maybe there’s a chance to have one unified team at DHS working on these really high-priority presidential missions.” Noem’s successful efforts to secure the southern border are not to be overlooked, but that job was done within the first few months of Trump’s second administration. Now, the time has come for DHS to be led by someone who will not only maintain border security but will return the agency to its mission and, crucially, follow through on the promised deportation agenda. The glitz and glam favored by Noem got in the way. A successful deportation campaign should be carried out quietly. DHS needs someone who will get the job done, not someone who will make a big show of getting the job done without actually getting the job done. Of course, there is still fallout to deal with from Noem’s stint at DHS. Congressional Democrats, who have been holding up DHS funding for weeks, now feel empowered and emboldened to make more demands of the Trump administration. Broad swaths of the public, especially in “sanctuary” jurisdictions, have been riled up and view ICE agents as the Gestapo and USBP as the Sturmabteilung. Disappointed Trump loyalists hunger for a high-profile success to win back their trust. The three principles guiding DHS moving forward ought to be discretion, transparency, and efficiency. ICE raids should not be high-profile. Codenames like “Operation Metro Surge” should be just that: codenames used internally, not movie marquee-sized monikers for public consumption. The folks running the DHS social media accounts are doing a great job articulating the necessity of immigration enforcement and encouraging the base, but videos of ICE operations and arrests need not be publicized. Instead of posting videos of arrests, foot chases, and the like, DHS should simply share big numbers; hopefully more than a few thousand deportations will be effected per month moving forward. Operations also need to be streamlined. Homan is a vocal proponent of “targeted operations,” which track down and arrest those in the country illegally who have been issued final orders of removal. Immigration courts need to be strengthened and the appeals process rapidly sped up, so that more and more orders of final removal may be issued. Under Section 240(b)(5) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), immigration judges can issue removal orders in absentia, without the illegal immigrant to be removed present. The courts need to avail themselves of this provision more liberally. Operations also must be expanded to target “got-aways,” those who evaded federal authorities when entering the country illegally and are thus significantly more difficult to track down and issue removal orders to. The new DHS leadership should also acknowledge that arrests and detentions are costly and time-consuming. While last year’s Big Beautiful Bill superpowered DHS and ICE, handing the immigration agencies billions of dollars in funding, auxiliary measures to compel deportations ought to also be considered. Those who employ illegal immigrants should be targeted; hiring illegal immigrants ought to be a costly and risky practice, not a quick way to increase profit margins. First and foremost, offering illegal immigrants jobs incentivizes illegal immigration; thus, disincentivizing the hiring of illegal immigrants disincentivizes illegal immigration, making the trek across the border or the overstaying of a temporary visa less and less appealing. Second, American jobs ought to go to Americans, not to foreigners who violated the nation’s laws and will work for a fraction of what Americans will. Third, hiring illegal immigrants is illegal and the treachery ought to be punished. Simple measures like this will likely increase self-deportations, augmenting interior enforcement numbers. Another issue that ought to be addressed is that of “sanctuary” jurisdictions. The new DHS leadership should attempt to broker deals with “sanctuary” jurisdictions to ensure that state and local law enforcements do their jobs, comply with federal law, and provide cover and crowd control for ICE agents conducting enforcement operations. DHS can leverage public pressure, the threat of messy operations, like the one in Minneapolis, and legal action to compel compliance. The Department of Justice (DOJ) will also play a role, particularly in the threat of legal action, and should identify friendly courts and judges to bring lawsuits before. High-profile concessions from “sanctuary” leaders would be a win for the base and could easily be followed by low-profile operations. Noem’s removal as DHS chief offers the incoming leadership many opportunities to learn from her mistakes, correct course, and carry out the agenda that the American people elected Trump to enact. The threat to American sovereignty, security, and identity has rarely been greater. The watchwords must be discretion, transparency, and efficiency. The nation depends upon it. We publish a variety of perspectives. Nothing written here is to be construed as representing the views of The Daily Signal. The post What’s Next for DHS? appeared first on The Daily Signal.

THE DAILY CALLER NEWS FOUNDATION—Secretary of Energy Chris Wright called the American conflict with Iran “a disruption” on the path to lower energy costs on “Fox News Sunday.” Tankers stopped transiting the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow waterway which separates the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman, after Iran launched missile and drone strikes in retaliation for those of the United States and Israel since just over a week earlier. Wright told “Fox News Sunday” host Shannon Bream an oil tanker had passed through the Strait of Hormuz without incident. “The plan is to get oil and natural gas and fertilizer and all the products from the Gulf flowing through the straits before too long, and I may break a little news here, but one large tanker has already gone through the straits with no issues at all,” Wright said. “So, as the general just described, we’re massively treating their ability to strike with missiles and drones, and that rate of attrition will increase in the coming days. So, we’ll be cautious, we’ll be careful, but energy will flow soon.” Oil prices climbed since President Donald Trump announced the United States military and Israel Defense Forces began operations in Iran in a video posted on Truth Social early Feb. 28. WTI Futures Crude Oil closed Friday at $90.90, up over $20 from the market’s Feb. 27 close, the day before the strikes, according to Investing.com. “All right, I want to get your take on something that Politico is reporting,” Bream said. “It says Energy Secretary Chris Wright and other advisers focused on energy policy are ‘getting screamed at to find some good news on bringing down prices,’ quote, ‘folks are scrambling for announcements and messaging to counter the narrative of these rising prices.’ Fact or fiction? What can you tell us on how this is playing inside the White House?” “Oh, it’s fiction. It’s right along the line. I’ve read about a dozen fiction pieces from Politico and other news things about just stuff totally made up, whole cloth. We’ve been planning and talking about this, you know, for quite some time,” Wright responded. “Energy markets are massively well supplied right now. In fact, the run up in prices. Nothing to do with any shortage of barrels of oil or natural gas. It’s just fear and perception, the unknown, that this could be some long drawn-out crisis, but it won’t be, as you heard from the general.” “Progress is going very fast,” Wright told Bream. “The world is abundantly supplied with energy thanks to President Trump’s energy dominance agenda. The United States is a net-exporter of oil, net exporter of natural gas. We’re in contact with our allies. This is a disruption on the way to a much better place to end a 47-year war against America.”Originally published by The Daily Caller News Foundation. The post ‘A Disruption on the Way to a Much Better Place’: Energy Secretary Dismisses ‘Fiction’ About Energy Shortages appeared first on The Daily Signal.