As we approach the holiest day of the year for the Catholic Church, tens of millions will prepare to celebrate the resurrection of Christ. Meanwhile, tens of thousands of Americans across the country are preparing to join the faith I have belonged to since birth. Converts to the faith have played a crucial role over the last two millennia, from St. Paul’s journey to Damascus, to St. Augustine’s departure from a life of debauchery that would make Hugh Hefner blush, to G.K. Chesterton, whose writings still speak to millions nearly a century later, to St. Elizabeth Seton, the first American-born saint. I firmly believe the Catholic Church is the greatest civil institution ever created. Since its founding, the Church has clothed the naked, educated the young, fed the hungry, tended to the sick, and through divine mercy provided the path to salvation for billions of people. During the darkest times in human history, the Catholic Church was the only institution that separated the West from barbarism. The very fabric of Western civilization is tied to the history of the Church. While it’s easy for me to wax poetic about a church I have repeatedly fallen in love with over the years — even with all of its shortcomings — other high-profile converts appear to be using their newfound membership in the Catholic faith as nothing more than a political prop. It is true, the vast majority of new converts join for all the right reasons. But a small, vocal cadre of political influencers are using their catholicism to build social media platforms, feigning purity as an E-girl or, even worse, promoting antisemitism. It is people doing the latter who pose the most credible threat to the integrity of all Catholics and create a widespread erroneous belief that Catholicism has an issue with Jews. Unlike many branches of Christianity, the Catholic Church does not demand that the faithful be committed Zionists to receive God’s blessing. Many prominent members of the Church have spoken out about the plight of civilians in Gaza. It seems recent converts to the faith understand those teachings but somehow forget that the Church also rejects any form of antisemitism, condemns hostility toward Jews, and upholds the enduring covenant with the Jewish people as God’s chosen people. They have already become cafeteria Catholics, picking and choosing which parts of the teachings they prefer. Holding nuanced opinions about sensitive subjects in the Middle East, like America’s relationship with Israel, can be a tough balancing act for anyone. For the Catholic, however, it is completely possible to be a critic of Middle Eastern affairs without being expressly antisemitic. And your new membership in the Catholic faith should not serve as your call to action against the State of Israel. Yet for some political influencers, their call to the faith doesn’t seem rooted in deep devotion or hope for eternal salvation. Rather, their main mission seems to be in “otherizing” of those who don’t fall into their particular bubble. Perhaps the gravest sin in all of this is using Christ and the Church as a political prop. Using a phrase like “Christ is King” — not to celebrate the sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross, the salvation of souls from hell, and His resurrection — but to otherize those of different faiths is no different than taking the Lord’s name in vain. The phrase “Christ is King” should not be followed by “Netanyahu should be on trial for war crimes.” For those just joining the Church, it is worth remembering that Catholics in this country were long treated as outsiders — feared, condemned, and accused of harboring foreign allegiances. Most cradle Catholics of the Ellis Island stock have a better understanding of that shared history. Those looking to use the Church as a platform to dictate foreign policy or dismiss the life of other faiths are no less cringe worthy than when priests from the Boomer generation host Climate Change events or demand that the United States change its immigration laws. It seems transparent that your membership in this church is one more platform, like a social media account where views and followers are all that matter, not devotion. These are uneasy times, but it’s in moments of darkness that we as Catholics should look to the saints who have come before us and truly offer our lives to Christ and build the church – not use it for self-advancement. * * * Ryan James Girdusky is an author, podcaster, political consultant, and writer whose work has been featured in the Washington Examiner, The American Conservative Magazine, The Week, Human Events, and The Daily Caller. He is the host of “It’s A Numbers Game with Ryan Girdusky” podcast. Follow him on X: @RyanGirdusky The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Less than a month before the 2024 presidential election, President Joe Biden’s administration brought together transgender activists, government officials, and major progressive philanthropists in what organizers dubbed a “speed dating” event. The event, called “Our Family Values: Building the Evidence Base for Child Well-Being,” took place just three weeks before Americans would vote to send Donald Trump back to the White House following a campaign that revolved largely around radical gender ideology. But even as the election seemed to break against them, the Biden White House was working to match leaders of “family acceptance” child welfare programs with major funders of the LGBTQ movement, records show. Biden officials viewed “family acceptance” of so-called gender identity as an important step in “preventing” LGBTQI+ children from entering foster care and wanted to further the impact of radical child welfare programs. The goal of the speed dating event was to expand child welfare programs that re-educate non-affirming parents to accept their child’s “LGBTQI+” identity, records show. “We know that family support around LGBTQI+ identity, as early as possible, is a key protective factor against … entry into the child welfare and juvenile justice systems for LGBTQI+ youth,” Julie Kruse, a contracted senior advisor for the LGBTQI+ Initiatives, wrote in an email describing the event. “These programs are critical to preventing LGBTQI+ youth homelessness and entry into foster care.” Angela Weeks, director of the National Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity & Expression Center, was instrumental in setting up the event. On October 13, she sent an email to participants explaining how the “Partnership Speed Matching” would work. “You will rotate between tables of philanthropic organizations and ACF leadership. They will be instructed to ask you and question they have of you during the 8-min discussion. When each rotation only has two minutes left, Marlene will give the 2-minute warning, which is the cue for you all to start discussing next steps/collaboration,” Weeks wrote in the email. “Try not to leave the table without a next step and a contact person. It will be the purveyor’s responsibility to follow-up.” At least 14 donors were invited to participate in the speed dating event, along with government officials who came from the Administration for Children and Families, the National Institutes of Health, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, records show. After the event, Kruse sent several follow-up emails indicating the meeting was successful and that donors were interested in funding the family acceptance programs. “Our great hope is that you made connections and identified resources at this event that will help you take actions to increase the availability of LGBTQI+ family support services, so that children can stay safely in their homes with families of origin and kin, preventing LGBTQI+ youth homelessness and entry into foster care,” wrote Kruse. Some transgender activists believe refusing to affirm a child’s gender confusion is a form of child abuse. During a webinar hosted by the Department of Health and Human Services in the fall of 2023, one activist called “transphobia” child abuse and suggested families should be prosecuted as abusers for refusing to call their gender confused child the opposite sex. “Biden promised to enforce LGBTQ ideology throughout government systems in his 2020 campaign platform, and no administration has done more damage to child welfare systems,” Laura Hanford, senior policy analyst at the Richard and Helen DeVos Center for Human Flourishing, told The Daily Wire. “He funneled millions of dollars to toxic ideological training programs promoting the lie that raising a gender-confused child as his or her sex is abusive, and forcing parents to ‘transition’ their gender-confused children or lose them to the state.” The organizers of the invitation-only October 16 event hoped to elevate “family acceptance programs” to the scientific standards of the Prevention Services Clearinghouse, a federal database of social services programming used by child welfare agencies across the country. “October 16 will focus on building the evidence base (e.g., research, analysis, evaluation) for family support programs that would make them eligible for the Family First Prevention Services, a significant source of federal funds for prevention programs that meet a certain evidence threshold,” Kruse wrote. The Family First Prevention Services Act, which became law in February 2018, diverted federal funds from supporting children in foster care to programs aimed at preventing children from entering state systems. The Prevention Services Clearinghouse was established in accordance with the law to provide a systematic process to rate and review the quality of evidence supporting prevention programs. The database lists available programming with a rating of  “well-supported, supported, promising, or does not currently meet criteria,” according to its website. States can receive federal reimbursement for using programs approved by the Prevention Services Clearinghouse. “The idea was that [the Clearinghouse] was going to give states a list of evidence-based programs that they could choose from and that they would be eligible to receive federal reimbursement if they used those programs,” Naomi Schaefer Riley, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, told The Daily Wire. “If they passed, if they got the Clearinghouse stamp of approval, then states could kind of pick these programs off of a kind of shelf and say, ‘We’re going to use this one and we’ll get federal reimbursement for it.’” The “speed dating” event was co-sponsored by the Administration for Children and Families, the Department of Health and Human Services, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Child Welfare League of America, the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption, the National Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity & Expression Center, the Trevor Project, and Think of Us, records show. Kruse personally invited Funders for LGBTQ Issues, a philanthropic organization that envisions a “world where all queer, trans, and gender non-conforming people are liberated, loved, valued, respected, and thriving,” to attend the meeting. The group gives approximately $200 million annually to LGBTQ issues, according to its website. A representative from the organization wrote it was unable to attend the October 2024 meeting but hoped they could “remain in touch to identify future ways we can partner together to advance our shared goals,” emails show. In response, Kruse set up a personal meeting between the Funders for LGBTQ Issues, the Administration for Children and Families, and Weeks. The Funders for LGBTQ Issues did not respond to The Daily Wire’s requests for comment. The National SOGIE Center is home to a group of activists working to transform social services nationwide through gender affirming programs, many of which are available on its website. Members of the group worked hand in hand with the Biden administration to inform its September 2023 regulation requiring foster care families to affirm a child’s gender confusion. Weeks had a working relationship with Kruse that was critical in organizing the “Our Family Values” event, records reveal. In July 2024, Kruse emailed Weeks and officials from the Administration for Children and Families, HHS, and NIH, to lay the groundwork for the event. The pair stayed in regular communication through November 2024, records show. The “Our Family Values” event was focused on three programs: Chosen Affirming Finding Family, Youth Acceptance Project, and AFFIRM Caregiver programs, which are all affiliated with the National Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity & Expression Center. The Chosen Affirming Finding Family program helps “LGBTQ+ young people” identify “chosen family” who can provide them support and “works with those people to help them understand the young person’s LGBTQ+ identity and the best ways to affirm and support them with their identity and transition into adulthood,” according to a SOGIE Center document. The Youth Acceptance Project is a program that re-educates parents of children who are “at risk” of entering the child welfare system due to “family stress” surrounding the child’s gender identity. “The YAP social workers/clinicians provide a trauma-informed, psycho-educational model while partnering with parents/caregivers; supporting them to process misinformation, resistance, fear, and grief that families often struggle with when they learn that their child is LGBTQ+,” a National Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity & Expression Center document reads. “The Youth Acceptance Project is designed to work both with families of children already in, or at risk of entering, the child welfare system due to family stress resulting from their child’s sexual orientation, gender identity or expression.” Finally, the Affirm Caregiver program is an educational intervention that enhances “affirmative parenting practices that promote the safety and wellbeing of LGBTQ+ youth,” according to a National Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity & Expression Center document. Parents across the country have had their children taken away by child welfare services for affirming their child’s sex. President Trump called for federal action to protect the rights of parents to affirm the true sex of a gender confused child in his recent State of the Union address. “Surely we can all agree no state can be allowed to rip children from their parents’ arms and transition them to a new gender against the parents’ will,” Trump said. “Who would believe that we’re even talking about it? We must ban it, and we must ban it immediately.” The Trump administration is taking action to stop the spread of child welfare family acceptance programs. The Clearinghouse website notes that the AFFIRM Youth, a sister program of AFFIRM Caregiver, was “removed from the working list of programs and services planned for systematic review,” in accordance with Executive Order 14151. The Administration for Children and Families at HHS has also alerted all 50 states that affirming “biological reality” does not constitute child abuse or neglect under federal laws. It has also encouraged states to clearly define the terms “abuse” and “neglect,” saying these definitions should clarify that affirming a child’s sex and “refusing to condone sex-rejecting interventions” does not constitute abuse. The Trump administration has since “rescinded a Biden-era rule that required prospective foster families to affirm support for a child’s gender transition or sexual orientation in order to receive federal funding,” Health and Human Services Press Secretary Emily G. Hilliard told The Daily Wire. “This requirement discouraged many faith-based families from participating in foster care at a time when the nation is experiencing a record year-over-year decline in foster families. By removing this barrier, ACF is expanding the pool of qualified caregivers and reinforcing its commitment to biological reality, parental rights, and equal access to the foster care system.” “The child welfare actions of the Trump and Biden administrations are diametrically opposed,” Hanford told The Daily Wire. “Biden’s programs embedded toxic gender ideology in child welfare systems, leading to gender-confused children being ripped from parents who simply affirmed the reality of their sex. Trump, in contrast, is taking major steps to protect such families from being ripped apart.” The Daily Wire reached out to the organizations named in public records as possible attendees of the October 16, 2024, event. A spokeswoman for Arnold Ventures confirmed it does not fund the family acceptance programs seeking funding at the October 16, 2024, event. The Annie E. Casey Foundation told The Daily Wire, “Due to our longstanding expertise in child welfare, over the years the Foundation has frequently been invited by the administrations of both parties to events on topics related to foster care and family well-being. As part of that ongoing engagement, a Foundation representative attended the signing of President Trump’s ‘Fostering the Future’ executive order in November 2025.” A representative from Blue Meridian Partners told The Daily Wire the invited representative did not attend the event and that it has not considered for funding or funded the organizations or programs discussed at the “Our Family Values” event. The Daily Wire requested a comment from the Pritzker Foster Care Initiative, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Child Welfare League of America, the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption, the National Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity & Expression Center, the Trevor Project, Think of Us, Angela Weeks, Julie Kruse, Family Builders (YAP program), Kinnect (CAFF program) and Affirmative Research for comment but did not receive a response.

Charlie Kirk’s closest advisor Andrew Kolvet says images of a private group-chat he gave to Joe Kent, the intelligence official who just resigned from the Trump administration, later ended up on the Candace Owens show. Kolvet, who remains the host of the Charlie Kirk Show, said on Monday that he handed over messages to Kent because he had believed Kent to be trustworthy and seeking the same thing he was: the truth about Kirk’s assassination. Kolvet said Kent urged him to make the messages public. He declined, but then they ended up in the public sphere anyway. WATCH: Here are the facts: Yes, I shared the screen grab with Joe Kent because I was told I could trust him and I wanted EVERY possible lead pursued. We’ve done this quietly behind the scenes with countless items. Yes he did suggest I make it public. I declined. A few weeks later the… https://t.co/Jx09MBIoPr pic.twitter.com/7FzZEEtsRe — Andrew Kolvet (@AndrewKolvet) March 23, 2026 “I do want to confirm what I can confirm, and that is that, yes, in the immediate aftermath, I did provide the group chat to Joe Kent,” said Kolvet. “We don’t throw around accusations recklessly here, we don’t. There’s a lot people who do that online, we don’t do that. We think that’s keeping in the spirit of Charlie’s spirit, and the way we choose to do things is we try and be responsible. So, yes, in a spirit of looking at every lead, turning over every stone, we wanted everybody that needed to know, to know anything that we knew. Not just—I mean, and by the way, we’ve been accused of not being interested in the truth—” Blake Neff, a co-host on the Charlie Kirk Show, interjected, “And just to remind people what this is referring to, this is after Charlie’s murder, there were text messages that, from a private group chat, that were made public and were used to, frankly, kick off the big conspiracy theory that we’ve run into over and over again, which is that Israel or the Jews had Charlie murdered. Which we do not believe.” Kolvet complained that he thought he “could trust Joe Kent,” but was proven wrong. “The actual fact of the matter is that behind the scenes, we have given everything we know to give, every single piece of information. This was one of them. I was told I could trust Joe Kent; I provided the screen grabs to Joe Kent, and I don’t know what happened to them at that point, okay? I just want to make that very clear,” Kolvet continued, adding that after some time had passed, Kent had suggested that he share the screen grabs publicly. Kolvet opted not to do so. “I didn’t want to be reckless with them in the public; there could be innocent people on that group chat that would then be harmed. So I declined,” he explained. “But then, fast forward another week or two, and they were made public. So that’s what I know, is that Joe suggested that they be made public, I declined, then they were made public. Can I 100% categorically say that he leaked them? No. But those are the facts. Maybe somebody on his team, maybe they got passed around, maybe somebody else leaked them. But that’s—those are the facts of the matter. And that’s what I know.” Kent is reportedly under investigation for leaking sensitive information while working as a top intelligence official in the Trump administration. President Donald Trump on Monday raised the possibility that he was a leaker in comments to The Daily Wire. “I hear they’re looking at him for leaking,” Trump said. “That’s possible.” Kolvet was pulled into the unfolding story when Rabbi Pesach Wolicki, on a recent podcast, said that Kent had leaked the screen grabs to Candace Owens — who used them to foment conspiracy theories tying Israel to Kirk’s murder in September 2025. In the screen grabs, texts attributed to Kirk read, “Just lost another huge Jewish donor. $2 million a year because we won’t cancel Tucker. I’m thinking of inviting Candace,” and “Jewish donors play into all the stereotypes. I cannot and will not be bullied like this. Leaving me no choice but to leave the pro Israel cause.” Tyler Robinson, the suspect facing trial for Kirk’s assassination, said in text messages obtained by police that he shot Kirk over his views on transgenderism.

“Reacher” star and outspoken Trump critic Alan Ritchson was allegedly caught on video getting into a fight with his neighbor. The video originally shared on TMZ shows a man identified as Ritchson punching another man, reported to be a neighbor, as two children perch on motorized vehicles nearby. The actor’s neighbor then spoke with the outlet to give his side of the story.  Ronnie Taylor said it all started on Saturday when he told Ritchson to slow down while driving his motorcycle, noting how he had been “revving and speeding through the neighborhood.” Taylor said he did not realize his neighbor was a Hollywood star when he confronted him. Taylor said he approached Ritchson the following day, Sunday, after the actor sped by twice and told him he needed to stop, which is what led to the physical fight that was caught on film. “It escalated quite quickly from there,” the Tennessee resident noted. “I did push [Ritchson] because he was coming towards me on his bike,” Taylor added. He said after pushing him a second time, Ritchson got off his bike and “kicked the crap” out of him.

Some travelers spent as many as nine hours waiting in line at the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport on Sunday, according to WSB-TV. On Monday, the report noted that wait times ranged from four hours down to less than an hour depending on the time of day, as Americans continue to grow frustrated with the high number of TSA callouts. Essential DHS workers, like TSA agents, are forced to work without a paycheck due to the Department of Homeland Security shutdown. “Due to TSA staffing constraints, ATL is continuing to see longer than normal wait times at security checkpoints,” the airport posted to X on Monday morning. “Travelers are encouraged to arrive at least 4 hours early. We appreciate your patience and thank our federal and airport partners for their continued dedication,” the post continued. According to Reuters, the Atlanta airport had a 41.5% callout rate for TSA agents, with other major airports having callout rates ranging from 20-40%. Hundreds of agents have quit their jobs entirely since the shutdown began in mid-February. “As the Democrats’ DHS shutdown continues, many TSA officers are facing extraordinary financial hardship—forcing them to call out of work and take on side jobs to support their families,” the Department of Homeland Security posted to X on Monday regarding the callout numbers. “Democrats are hurting Americans—and they don’t care.” Videos on social media also showed ICE agents deployed to assist TSA agents at the airport, along with other airports around the country, on Monday morning in hopes of speeding up the lines. Atlanta is considered the busiest airport in the entire country, as it is a hub for Delta Air Lines and is considered a major connection for travelers. Trump noted on Monday morning that ICE agents will not be wearing masks at the airport, as it’s become commonplace for the agents to do so during immigration operations, as proponents argue that it prevents doxing. “I am a BIG proponent of ICE wearing masks as they search for, and are forced to deal with, hardened criminals, many of whom were let into our Country by Sleepy Joe Biden and his wonderful ‘Border Czar,’ Kamala (she never even went to the Border!), through their absolutely INSANE Open Border Policy,” he posted to Truth Social. “I would greatly appreciate, however, NO MASKS, when helping our Country out of the Democrat caused MESS at the airports, etc. Thank you!” he added. It’s unclear when the shutdown will end, as Congress has yet to reach a deal to end the closure, which started because of disagreements over federal immigration enforcement policies.