Grace Jin Drexel says she just wants her father back and is hopeful President Donald Trump might be able to help. “We believe that it will take a miracle, but we also believe that, as a Christian, crazier things have happened,” Drexel, 31, says. Pastor Ezra Jin was one of 27 leaders of Zion Church who were arrested by Chinese authorities during a crackdown on the Christian church last year. Several of the church leaders have been released, but 18 remain in Chinese prisons. Drexel last spoke to her father about a week before his arrest at his home in Beihai, a city in southeast China, last October. Drexel has two children of her own and a third on the way, and recalls her kids “jumping around” during that final call with their grandfather. “We don’t even know how he’s doing physically. We hear that his health is deteriorating,” Drexel says of her 56-year-old father. Pastor Ezra Jin (Courtesy of Drexel) Trump is scheduled to meet with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in April, and Drexel says she is “really hoping that he will mention some of these cases to Xi Jinping directly, because I think that would make a difference in how he is treated, and whether or not my father would be able to be released.” China’s Independent Church Jin founded Zion Church, one of China’s largest church networks, in 2007. He had served in China’s state-run church for a decade, ultimately becoming a pastor, but began to see the state-sanctioned institution as “a church in captivity, and … not a church that is glorifying to God.” Jin moved his family to the United States for a time to earn his doctorate from Fuller Seminary before returning to China and founding Zion Church. In 2018, the Chinese Communist Party officially shut down Zion Church, which was based in Beijing at the time, during what Jin describes as a “crackdown on Christians and religious freedom in general.” Despite the CCP formally closing the church, the congregation continued to meet and “instead of it dying, it grew,” Jin says. Zion Church became a form of a megachurch in China, the daughter explains, with 100 church plants across the nation and meetings taking place in person and online, but the Chinese government prohibited the pastor from leaving China. The church, which reaches about 10,000 people weekly according to Drexel, continues to meet even with its leaders in prison. While Zion Church was never approved by the government and has always been independent of the state, it has operated in the open. “They were not against the government,” Drexel says of Zion Church. “We didn’t have a political agenda. We just said we want the sacred to stay sacred, and we want the political to stay political.” Pastor Ezra Jin The daughter describes her father as “very warm” and “not a confrontational person at all, and that really showed in his church leadership as well.” “We were not confrontational with the government. He just wanted to spread the gospel to as many people as possible and did not want politics to be in the way of faith.” Pastor Ezra Jin (Courtesy of Drexel) Growing up, Drexel spent about half her childhood in China and half in the U.S., and now lives in Maryland. She has not visited her father since 2020 for fear she would be detained in China. Drexel has been talking to lawmakers in D.C. about her father’s imprisonment in advocacy of his release. Her goal is to see her father released and permitted to move to the U.S. “to join us as a family,” Drexel says, adding, “I just want my dad out.” The post Daughter Pleads for Father’s Release From Chinese Prison  appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Americans want to help people in need, but when government does that, about 500 billion taxpayer dollars get stolen. It’s how the system is designed, says the United Council on Welfare Fraud’s Andrew McClenahan in this new video. “You’re measuring success by the amount of money you put out.” Because of that, government agencies rarely check whether their handouts go to the right people. Minnesota is just the latest example. Government officials didn’t uncover that fraud—YouTuber Nick Shirley did. I say to McClenahan, “It’s weird that a kid did what government investigators couldn’t do.” “Articles back in 2018 talked about millions of dollars in suitcases being flown out of Minneapolis,” he replies. “But it took a 20-year-old with an iPhone to go in there and expose it on Twitter.” After Shirley publicized the fraud, the White House froze billions in welfare payments. Progressives didn’t like that. “What they are doing is creating confusion, chaos, trying to intimidate people,” complains Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn. “There is no reason for them to fully stop funding these programs. The only reason they’re doing that is for PR purposes.” Minnesota’s Gov. Tim Walz was hardly better. “This is on my watch. I am accountable,” he said. But he did nothing about the fraud.   During the pandemic, President Joe Biden said: “My message to those cheats out there is this: You can’t hide. We’re going to find you!” But they didn’t. Of the hundreds of billions stolen in 2024, the Department of Justice barely recovered $2.9 billion. Is there nothing we can do to stop fraud? “Sure, you can!” says McClenahan. “It takes less than a second to verify things with data connections these days.” But government rarely uses modern data connections. Elon Musk, when he ran the Department of Government Efficiency, complained that government records weren’t computerized. Many agencies doled money out without even saying what the money was for, or where it went! He calls government recordkeeping a “time warp.” “They’re relying on rules and regulations written for pen and paper,” says McClenahan. Poor recordkeeping makes fraud easier. Some people openly brag about it. During President Donald Trump’s first term, a rapper wrote a song about stealing benefits that Trump rushed out for pandemic relief: “I gotta shout-out to Donald Trump. I just might swipe me a lump sum.” That was in California. There’s lot of fraud there. The state gave phone subsidies to 94,000 accounts of dead people. “Everybody knows that the United States is the easiest game in town,” says McClenahan. Some stolen funds go to alleged terrorists. “We literally rang the dinner bell for the whole world, and they answered,” he says. “These are American programs,” I point out. “People in other countries aren’t eligible.” “But if you’re not checking to see where somebody lives, where they’re applying from, who they are, you’re not going to find them!” says McClenahan. In addition, many state politicians don’t try to find fraud. Handouts mostly come from the federal government, so local politicians reason: “People in other states pay, but my taxpayers collect! Why make a big effort to stop that?” Trump recently gave investigators more access to state data, so fraud could be better tracked. But some states don’t want to reveal that data. “They’re actively suing the government!” complains McClenahan. Whenever government gives handouts, it creates bad incentives. Before our government started welfare payments, Americans were steadily lifting themselves out of poverty. When welfare checks began, progress continued for several years but then stopped. Handouts have taught some people to stay dependent!  What should be done? McClenahan says to verify eligibility first. That way you prevent fraud before money goes out. And no one should get benefits without trying to work. “You’ve got to be looking for a job, volunteering or at least getting job training. The best welfare program is a job.” COPYRIGHT 2026 BY JFS PRODUCTIONS INC. We publish a variety of perspectives. Nothing written here is to be construed as representing the views of The Daily Signal.  The post Fraud Nation appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Under Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s New York City, 16 people experiencing homelessness froze to death in a single brutal winter weekend—found across Manhattan, Brooklyn, and the subway system. These tragedies occurred despite the mayor’s $100 million affordable housing campaign, which promised 200,000 new homes, and New York City spending roughly $3 billion in fiscal year 2025 on homelessness-related services.   The failures highlight a troubling reality: Government programs can provide aid, but they often fail to change lives.  Poverty, homelessness, broken families, and addiction have long plagued American communities. Policymakers have attempted to solve these problems through government intervention and social programs. These programs may provide temporary relief to families across the country, but the root of the problem remains neglected.    Because the programs are administered through bureaucratic systems, they tend to treat people as cases to be managed rather than individuals to be restored. Social programs can unintentionally erode personal accountability and often lack personal investment and support.   This is why religious communities succeed where social programs fail: Government aid manages needs while religion changes behavior. True change is not imposed—it is chosen. When people accept accountability for their decisions, they can alter the course of their lives.   Religion treats aid as part of a community, not as a handout. When a congregation offers support, it does so within a relationship that expects growth, contribution, and accountability.   Change Happens in Community   James, a single father of two from Ranger, Texas, was struggling to make ends meet while facing unemployment and the daily challenges of raising his children alone. Desperate for help, he turned to St. Rita’s Church for assistance, as Catholic Charities Fort Worth reports.  At Catholic Charities Fort Worth, James enrolled in a program designed to provide financial assistance and equip him with the tools and guidance needed to navigate his challenging circumstances.   Perhaps the most important part of the program was the support network it offered—especially Dina, his program navigator.  “Sometimes he would call me crying,” Dina said, “but I felt like those were breakthroughs for him because he had somebody to at least, you know, confide in and not judge him. I think it gave him confidence and courage to know that somebody was there with him, walking that path with him.”   Catholic social services demonstrate how religious communities pair material assistance with emotional support. In 2024, the network of Catholic Charities agencies across the country served more than 28 million meals and provided emergency housing services to nearly 295,000 people.   Pope Benedict XVI taught: “The State which would provide everything, absorbing everything into itself, would ultimately become a mere bureaucracy incapable of guaranteeing the very thing which the suffering person, every person needs: namely, loving personal concern.” He emphasizes that true help and lasting change are rooted in love.   Ironically, churches are both communal and individual. As members grow and encourage others, they themselves are transformed.   The Need for Accountability   Government aid is built on eligibility, not community. People often receive benefits without a clear expectation of change, which can contribute to cycles of dependency rather than progress.   Temporary Assistance for Needy Families was created to promote work and self-sufficiency, but over time, its reach and incentives have weakened. In the 1990s, this program replaced the traditional welfare system. Since then, the share of families in poverty receiving cash assistance has declined dramatically.   Today, only 20 out of every 100 families in poverty receive Temporary Assistance for Needy Families support. Although work participation requirements exist, the national average work participation rate in the program was just 37.4% in 2023.   Because benefits are tied to eligibility and compliance rather than personal growth, accountability becomes procedural instead of relational.   The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints demonstrates how combining material assistance with accountability can help individuals move out of hardship. In 2024, the church spent $1.45 billion on humanitarian aid and welfare programs. The church has stated that its welfare program “is not only a way to help members in temporarily difficult circumstances, but also stresses self-reliance as a way of life, including education, health, employment, family home production and storage, family finances, and spiritual strength.”   Accountability paired with practical skill-building helps individuals escape difficult situations rather than remain trapped in them.   The LDS Newsroom shared Charlene Cummings’ firsthand experience with the welfare program. Having faced childhood abuse and living with a diagnosed mental illness, Charlene recently moved from a group home into her own apartment.   She credits her independence to the care and guidance of her local church community. Church members helped her develop practical skills like budgeting, savings, and meal planning. When financial gaps arose, the Church provided food and financial support. “The Church has become the family I’ve never had; they’ve taught me things I’d never learned,” Charlene said.   This is due to the LDS church’s emphasis on self-reliance.  Some may argue that government programs are essential because they provide large-scale, legally mandated, and widely accessible support. Yes, social programs can offer meaningful assistance to many people. However, religious communities often deliver aid in ways that are more personal, relational, and adaptable than bureaucratic systems, particularly when it comes to fostering long-term change.   In essence, social programs primarily provide material needs. While this may offer temporary relief, it does not create a sustainable path toward long-term success. Religious communities, however, offer the essential combination of love, accountability, and material support that leads to genuine progress.  The post Religious Communities Succeed Where Social Programs Fail  appeared first on The Daily Signal.

The 2026 Winter Olympics are in full swing, but a chill isn’t the only thing in the Milan air. Love is in the air, too, as athlete romances steal the show. Breezy Johnson and Connor Watkins  Olympic gold medalist Breezy Johnson’s fiance, Connor Watkins, made her dreams come true when he proposed on Thursday at the finish line of Johnson’s super-G run   Johnson posted the news to social media saying, “It was everything I ever dreamed of. Kind of like Connor!” The engagement went viral, even soliciting the congratulations of Taylor Swift because the custom wooden box was engraved with Swift’s song lyrics. ?| Taylor Swift replied to Breezy Johnson’s Instagram post, where the engagement ring box featured Taylor Swift lyrics: “Honestly, who are we to fight the alchemy?” “Where's the trophy? He just comes running over to me" CONGRATULATIONS!!!” pic.twitter.com/VHmKY8vjRo— Taylor Swift Updates (@TSUpdating) February 12, 2026 Earlier in the games, Breezy delivered Team USA’s first Olympic gold medal in women’s downhill skiing since 2010. After winning the gold, Johnson told NBC, “There’s nothing better than doing well and having somebody to share it with.”  Watkins told The Atlantic he has been planning the proposal for over a year, knowing it was always Johnsons dream to get engaged at the Olympics.   Evan Bates and Madison Chock  This couple is melting heats as they take the ice for the red, white, and blue. Ice dancing duo Evan Bates and Madison Chock met as teenagers in Michigan and began performing together, but didn’t reveal their romance until 2017. The two were married in 2024.   The couple made their Olympic debut in 2014, returned in 2018, and won gold in 2022. Bates and Chock took home the silver medal in Milan this year after a controversial loss to a French duo. The pair’s results helped the USA take home the gold in the figure skating team event. "We're married, so we're gonna be fine. We're gonna go home, and we're gonna have a life." – Evan Bates "We've already won in so many ways." – Madison Chock pic.twitter.com/QLGX1hQLCg— Hadley Heath Manning (@HadleyHeath) February 12, 2026 Brett Gallant and Jocelyn Peterman  Brett Gallant and Jocelyn Peterman competed for Team Canada in mixed doubles curling. While they lost their event, they consider themselves winners because they still have each other. “It’s a sad hug at the end of the day, because you’re both going through that disappointment. But we’ll always have each other,” said Gallant walking off the ice.   Their romance started after becoming teammates. The two formed a team a decade ago when their sport was added to the winter Olympics. They are now married and have a two-year-old son, Luke.   Meet Jocelyn Peterman and Brett Gallant: Canada’s world-class curling duo and proud parents to little Luke. ? Between throws and family life, they’re a perfect team on and off the ice. Learn more about them ?? pic.twitter.com/SYBx7y0STK— Team Canada (@TeamCanada) February 3, 2026 Sean Hollander and Paige Jones  Sean Hollander, Team USA luger, and Paige Jones, a Team USA ski jumper, are also engaged. Their love has taken them around the world. The pair met in 2023 in Lake Placid, New York, and got engaged after summiting Vychodna Vysoka in Slovakia. They married in Canada in May 2025.   It is Hollanders’ second Olympics but Jones is competing for the first time. “I’m excited to watch her compete,” Hollander told Lake Placid News. “I’m kind of reliving that first games experience vicariously through her and her excitement.” Hunter Powell and Kaysha Love Hunter Powell and Kaysha Love are bobsledders for Team USA. Powell is competing in his first Olympics this year in Milan. That may be nerve-racking, but his fiancee Love, who is competing in her second games, will be by his side. Powell and Love are both former track and field athletes. In 2020, Love made the switch to bobsledding. In 2024 Powell decided to try bobsledding, and he’s made his way to the Olympics in just 2 years. The couple got engaged in 2025.   The post Love Is in the Air at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan appeared first on The Daily Signal.

In the service of the People of God, St. John Paul II was the Pope of the family. Throughout his life, he incessantly pointed out to the Church and to society the need to protect and promote the family as the vital cell of humanity. His pontificate has distinguished itself in its commitment to make people understand the nature and meaning of the family as a domestic Church, where spouses are called to form a community of persons, growing continually through daily fidelity to the marriage promise of total mutual self-giving. The magisterium of this great pontiff on family issues represents a sure point of reference for finding concrete solutions to the many difficulties and countless challenges that families have to face in our day.” For the Polish pope, the communion of the family was characterized not only by unity, but also by its indissolubility, and within this communion, one understands the nature and meaning of the family as the domestic Church. The family, therefore, realizing itself, that is, becoming an authentic community of persons united in God, is the revelation and specific realization of the community of the Church.” In the apostolic exhortation “Familiaris Consortio,” St. John Paul II highlighted the “social” task given to the family: “The family is the privileged environment where each person learns to give and receive love and it is a necessary good for peoples, an indispensable foundation for society and a great treasure of spouses throughout their lives.” In today’s world there are increasing attacks on the institution of the family. Modernity proposes a life without commitments, without fundamental principles and values derived from divine and natural law. A sign of this is the many divorces and cohabitations, and the consequent difficulties in raising children. Educating the younger generations to live the values is an enormous challenge today. Children—the future of society and of the whole world—learn in the family the first lessons of interpersonal coexistence, mutual respect and solidarity, which are the basis of peaceful coexistence between individuals, peoples, and entire nations. Alongside the religious dimension of the family, there is also a social dimension and today, unfortunately, we are witnessing the spread of distorted and very dangerous visions, fueled by relativistic ideologies, pervasively spread by the media. It is exactly because of this that here at The Heritage Foundation we worked hard on producing a new report arguing that American families are in crisis (declining birth and marriage rates, especially) and strengthening marriage and family formation should be a core focus of federal policy. The question that will determine the course of America’s future is: what happens to a nation when its citizens largely stop having children? The only way for America to thrive in the future is to rebuild the family and revive the institution of marriage. “The families of our time need to get back on track! They must follow Christ!” St. John Paul II used to say. In these words, we feel a strength and a conviction that cannot leave us indifferent and pushes us not to give up. Power will do everything to silence our voice, but we are certain that the commitment that we sow today in the hardened furrows of history will sprout and bear abundant fruit. The family, St. John Paul II repeated incessantly, is the “hope of humanity,” because in it, life is welcomed, from its conception to its natural end.It’s undeniable that the future of humanity passes through the family. It is therefore indispensable and urgent that every person of goodwill commit himself to saving and promoting the values and needs of the family.  Christians who fear of being labeled as enemies of humanity because they proclaim the truth, bow to diplomatic compromises with the world and distort the sacramental character of the Church. Saint Pope John Paul II wrote this beautiful prayer: Lord God, from You every family in Heaven and on earth takes its name. Father, You are love and life. Through Your Son, Jesus Christ, born of woman, and through the Holy Spirit, the fountain of divine charity, grant that every family on earth may become for each successive generation a true shrine of life and love. Grant that Your grace may guide the thoughts and actions of husbands and wives for the good of their families and of all the families in the world. Grant that the young may find in the family solid support for their human dignity and for their growth in truth and love. Grant that love, strengthened by the grace of the sacrament of marriage, may prove mightier than all the weaknesses and trials through which our families sometimes pass. Through the intercession of the Holy Family of Nazareth, grant that the Church may fruitfully carry out her worldwide mission in the family and through the family. We ask this of You, Who is life, truth and love with the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen. May we all come together today reciting this powerful prayer, remembering ultimately what family is all about: Forget About Me I Love You! The post Saint Pope John Paul II Gave Us Timeless Lessons About Family appeared first on The Daily Signal.