While the city of Minneapolis reels in the aftermath of the tragic Catholic school shooting on Wednesday morning — during which two children were killed and nearly 20 were wounded — Mayor Jacob Frey took a moment to remind people that they should be careful not to attack the “trans community” upon learning that the shooter identified as transgender. “I have heard about a whole lot of HATE being directed at our trans community,” he warned during a press conference on Wednesday. WATCH: Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey races to defend the “trans community” after a trans-identifying man killed children in a Catholic school. pic.twitter.com/qPKMaeYa9a — Daily Wire (@realDailyWire) August 27, 2025 “Anybody who is using this as an — using this as an opportunity to villainize our trans community or any other community out there, has lost their sense of common humanity,” he said. We should not be operating out of a place of hate for anyone. We should be operating from a place of love for our kids. Kids died today. This needs to be about them. This needs to be wrapping our arms around these families with every bit of love that we can possibly show.” “Just like the Nashville shooting, we’ll be at ‘trans people are the real victims of this’ before Friday,” Red State’s Bonchie posted. Just like the Nashville shooting, we’ll be at “trans people are the real victims of this” before Friday. https://t.co/2vjsAQtUGU — Bonchie (@bonchieredstate) August 27, 2025 “OK, but numerous politicians are currently using this as an opportunity to villainize tens of millions of law-abiding gun owners and argue for more unconstitutional gun bans,” another posted. Frey himself did so on Wednesday, scolding those who were offering “thoughts and prayers” for the families who had been affected by the tragedy. OK, but numerous politicians are currently using this as an opportunity to villainize tens of millions of law-abiding gun owners and argue for more unconstitutional gun bans. https://t.co/QxpkXC4t6U — Kostas Moros (@MorosKostas) August 27, 2025 “No, Mr. Mayor. Anybody who is more concerned about the ‘trans community’ after this tragedy than the Catholic community that just lost two little kids to this monster, has lost their sense of common humanity,” Charlie Kirk added. No, Mr. Mayor. Anybody who is more concerned about the “trans community” after this tragedy than the Catholic community that just lost two little kids to this monster, has lost their sense of common humanity. https://t.co/2ZQDsr4xrZ — Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) August 27, 2025 “Minneapolis Mayor Frey says he is deeply concerned that the trans community will be vilified after this shooting. What he really means is that he, and Democrats, don’t want it mentioned,” David Marcus said. Minneapolis Mayor Frey says he is deeply concerned that the trans community will be vilified after this shooting. What he really means is that he, and Democrats, don’t want it mentioned. — David Marcus (@BlueBoxDave) August 27, 2025

In a viral video from Dundee, Scotland, three schoolgirls stand on a hilltop. One clutches a knife and a hatchet, brandishing them toward an advancing man. Another shields a third girl in a pink sweatshirt, her voice breaking as she cries: “Don’t touch my sister, she’s twelve!” It is a moment that distills civilizational decline. In that scream lies the sound of failure — the burden of defense shifted from the strong to the small, from institutions to children. Collapse rarely announces itself with flames and rubble; more often, it creeps in through abdication. The state’s first response was not to confront the predator, but to charge the girl for holding a weapon to defend herself and her sister. Credit: @Basil_TGMD/X.com. UK Child Defends Self. This is the inversion of justice that defines too much of Western life today: The fear of offending a racial and religious minority outweighs the fear of harming innocent civilians, including and especially young girls and women. “Tolerance” is stretched to excuse the intolerable, and girls are left to bear the costs of the public class’s cowardice. The impulse to confront evil has been hollowed out, replaced by the reflex to punish those who resist it or even name it. The forthcoming “Women and the West” report, which I authored for Independent Women, reckons with this reality. It documents how Western societies practice what scholars call “suicidal empathy” — the refusal to confront illiberal practices, even when they imperil women. It is why British authorities ignored grooming gangs that preyed on thousands of girls, because the men were Pakistani Muslims and the girls were largely white. It is why Sweden, once among the safest nations on earth, now faces epidemic levels of sexual violence. Why a Dundee schoolgirl is treated as a criminal while her desperate cry — “She’s twelve!” — is brushed aside. But the tragedy extends beyond abandoned girls. It is also about men stripped of their civilizational role as protectors. Where were the men in Dundee? Where were the men in Rottingham and in the other cities across the UK while their daughters were being raped? We know the legal system bears the brunt of the blame: Those who act are punished. In the UK, even those who speak out about what happens risk jail. America knows this story too: Daniel Penny, a Marine veteran, intervened on a New York subway to restrain a violent man threatening passengers. For protecting strangers, he was not honored but indicted. The message on both sides of the Atlantic is too often: step forward, risk prison; stay silent, stay safe. But safety purchased by silence comes at the cost of culture itself. A society that criminalizes protectors breeds passive men and terrified women. Ultimately Americans rallied around Daniel Penny. Our commitment to free speech and to the sacred concept of the right to self-defense trumped our tendency for suicidal empathy. Will the UK rally around this brave girl in Scotland?  The fate of women has always been the measure of a civilization’s strength. Where law is upheld and courage honored, women thrive. Where cowardice reigns and defenders are vilified, women and girls suffer first and most. From Kabul to Cologne to Dundee, the pattern holds. End of Summer Sale – Get 40% off New DailyWire+ Annual Memberships True liberalism never meant limitless tolerance. It meant ordered liberty: borders that protect sovereignty, cultures bound by shared norms, and institutions willing to enforce justice without apology. Instead, in the name of inclusivity, we deny reality, manipulate statistics, silence dissent, and prosecute children while excusing the predators who terrify them. A frightened girl’s cry — “She’s twelve!” — is not just a viral clip. It is a warning. We have reached a point where the natural defenders of civilization — its men — are absent or penalized, and where its most vulnerable — its girls — are forced to take up arms in their stead. Strength sustains freedom. Freedom safeguards women. If the West cannot recover the will to defend its daughters and honor its sons who rise to protect, then our undoing will not come by invasion from without but surrender from within. * * * Meaghan Mobbs, PhD, is the Director of the Center for American Safety and Security at Independent Women. She is the President of the R.T. Weatherman Foundation, a private operating foundation, providing humanitarian support in Ukraine. She is a presidential appointee to the Board of Visitors at the United States Military Academy at West Point and a gubernatorial appointee to Board of Visitors at the Virginia Military Academy. The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced on Wednesday that he was putting an end to a program that had for nearly ten years allowed Chinese coders access to Department of Defense cloud systems. Hegseth shared a video in which he described the “Digital Escorts” program — implemented under former President Barack Obama — under which Microsoft employed Chinese coders to “support sensitive DOD cloud systems” under the supervision of American contractors. WATCH: The use of Chinese Nationals to service Department of Defense cloud environments is over. pic.twitter.com/jZdcHwKho2 — Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth (@SecDef) August 27, 2025 “Last month the Department of Defense was made aware of an Obama-Biden era legacy program called Digital Escorts,” Hegseth began. “For nearly a decade, Microsoft has used Chinese coders, remotely supervised by U.S. contractors, to support sensitive DOD cloud systems. The program was designed to comply with contracting rules but it exposed the department to unacceptable risk.” “I mean, if you’re thinking ‘America First,’ and common sense, this doesn’t pass either of those tests,” Hegseth continued. “So I initiated an immediate review of this vulnerability and I want to report our initial findings.” Hegseth went on to explain that his review had determined that any benefits were not worth the potential risk of allowing Chinese nationals to have that kind of access to sensitive information, especially information pertaining to Defense Department. “The use of Chinese Nationals to service Department of Defense cloud environments? It’s over,” he declared. “We’ve issued a formal letter of concern to Microsoft documenting this breach of trust, and we’re requiring a third party audit of Microsoft’s Digital Escort program — including the code and the submissions by Chinese nationals.” Hegseth also announced a separate investigation into the program and into all of the Chinese nationals who had been part of it: “Did they put anything in the code that we didn’t know about? We’re going to find out.” “It blows my mind that I’m even saying these things, it’s such common sense,” Hegseth said as he once again reiterated his intent to remove all Chinese employees from access to DOD information. “We expect vendors doing business with the Department of Defense to put U.S. national security ahead of profit maximization … This never should have happened in the first place.”

Arkansas Republican Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders is rolling out workplace reforms for state employees, including implementing a new Infant at Work policy and ceasing future remote work, The Daily Wire has exclusively learned. The new policy for parents of newborn babies is part of her Arkansas Forward initiative and will allow parents to bring their infants, from four weeks to six months old, into the workplace with supervisor approval. The program was initially piloted in the Governor’s Office and the Department of Human Services, but will now be expanded statewide. Sanders says it gives working families greater flexibility during a child’s earliest months of life. “As a working mom, I know how important a child’s earliest months are for bonding and education,” Sanders said in a letter that was sent to state employees. “Working moms and dads are a critical component of our workforce, and I want to make sure we provide additional options for families to have flexibility and not have to choose between staying home with their infant or returning to work.” In addition to the expanded Infant at Work program, Sanders announced another policy change. Starting October 1, Arkansas will end the regular use of remote work in state agencies plus will extend office hours to 8:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m., encourage in-person meetings over virtual ones, and implement standardized flexible and alternative schedules. “State employees serve our citizens best when they collaborate in person,” the governor wrote in the letter. Sanders described these changes as part of a broader effort to leave behind “inefficient policies” that had become standard during the pandemic.  “Five years ago, COVID-19 changed workplaces in Arkansas and around the world. But the pandemic is in the rearview mirror,” she wrote in the letter. “It’s time to leave the inefficient policies implemented five years ago in the past, too.” The Arkansas Forward program has identified at least $300 million in cost savings while raising salaries for two-thirds of state employees to bring them closer in line with the private sector, Sanders shared. With these new reforms, the governor wrote, the state is attempting to create a more efficient government that doesn’t force families to choose between work and parenthood. “We all entered public service because we care about the people of this state. I know all of you work hard to deliver for our citizens – but that doesn’t mean we can’t look for ways to improve our best practices. With these new policies, we’ll be able to build the responsive, efficient government our people want and deserve,” the letter from Sanders concluded. 

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey lashed out at those who called for “thoughts and prayers” after Wednesday morning’s tragic shooting, complaining that it wasn’t enough and suggesting that people offering prayers for those impacted were unwilling to work toward concrete solutions. Frey, a Democrat, spoke at a press conference on Wednesday as details of the horrific event were still being made public. At least two children were killed and nearly 20 were injured at Annunciation Catholic School. WATCH: Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey: “Don’t just say this is about thoughts and prayers right now: these kids were literally praying.” pic.twitter.com/o1yOdUKBqO — The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) August 27, 2025 “Don’t just say this is about thoughts and prayers right now, these kids were literally praying. It was the first week of school, they were in a church,” Frey said. “These are kids that should be learning with their friends. They should be playing on the playground. They should be able to go to school or church in peace without the fear or risk of violence.” The implication, of course, was that something should be done about the guns — but as Emily Jashinsky pointed out, many who are not in favor of more gun control have proposed solutions to protect schools. Democrats like Frey, who typically favor gun control, have not been interested in those solutions. “Almost no one ever ‘just’ says the reaction should be about thoughts and prayers — even the conservative Christians with whom Frey disagrees on gun control believe in policy solutions of their own. (Arming teachers, tighter security, etc.) He just doesn’t like those solutions, which is fine,” she posted. “But it’s really time to retire this cheap hit on people of faith, especially in cases where they’re actually the direct targets of an attack,” she added. “Those little kids don’t believe the prayers they were saying today shield them from earthly tragedy or excuse them from doing good works. Frey can make his point about guns just as well without this tired jab.” Almost no one ever “just” says the reaction should be about thoughts and prayers — even the conservative Christians with whom Frey disagrees on gun control believe in policy solutions of their own. (Arming teachers, tighter security, etc.) He just doesn’t like those solutions,… https://t.co/wzO0wwU4IE — Emily Jashinsky (@emilyjashinsky) August 27, 2025