I want him to focus on the war.

'Assassinations and accelerating the collapse are possible'

'dangerous'

News The X-Files The Lone Gunmen Creators Explain the Show’s Cancellation and the Characters’ Controversial Deaths Vince Gilligan and Frank Spotnitz talk about regrets, bad timing, and The Lone Gunmen’s bizarre 9/11 connections By Matthew Byrd | Published on March 5, 2026 Photo: 20th Century Fox Comment 0 Share New Share Photo: 20th Century Fox In an extensive interview with the Television Academy, The Lone Gunmen co-creators Vince Gilligan and Frank Spotnitz discussed the short-lived X-Files spin-off that is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year. And while many fans know that the show’s low ratings ultimately contributed to its demise, the pair explain that the situation was dire even before the final numbers came in. “We knew we were in trouble fairly early on,” Spotnitz recalls. “We were really trying to persuade the studio to spend money to support the show. We did get them to spend money on newspaper ads for the last few episodes to try and help the ratings, but to no avail. They were as supportive of the show as they could be, actually.” Unfortunately, those efforts weren’t enough to combat a series of factors that hastened the series’ downfall. “I also think, looking back on it, it was season eight of The X-Files — we had already hit our peak, and we were already on the way down in terms of the mania for The X-Files,” Spotnitz suggests. “If we had done it in season four or five [during The X-Files‘ run], we might have had a different reception. 9/11, in my view, really killed The X-Files. The mood of the country was no longer government conspiracy and all that.” Partially attributing the show’s downfall to 9/11 may seem dramatic, but The Lone Gunmen always had a bizarre relationship to that event. Its pilot episode (released in March 2001) involved a conspiracy to fly a commercial plane into the World Trade Center. That is a hell of a coincidence, to say the least, and the frightening timing of that plotline was not lost on The Lone Gunmen team. “It was my very first thought when I saw what happened that morning,” Spotnitz explains. “I thought, ‘Oh, my God, did they watch our show? Did they get this idea from us?’” Of course, the details behind the planning of the attack eventually showed that The Lone Gunmen series had nothing to do with it. And while Gilligan agrees that the cultural shakeups caused by 9/11 contributed to the show’s downfall in some ways, he attributes its sudden downfall more to bad timing in general. “Another big part of it was Friday night versus Sunday. That used to mean something,” Gilligan explains. “Timing is another word for luck, as far as I’m concerned. I always say if Breaking Bad had been six months earlier, or six months later, it wouldn’t have lasted more than a season. And if Lone Gunmen had been a year earlier, it could have been a big hit.” As Gilligan alludes to, The Lone Gunmen debuted on a Sunday night to huge ratings before being moved to a Friday night timeslot. Along with the confusion that shift caused, the pair soon realized that Friday night was going to be a death spot for almost any series. But The Lone Gunmen themselves weren’t quite done yet. They were actually brought back in a season nine X-Files episode called “Jump the Shark.” The Lone Gunmen were killed off in that episode, which some attributed to Fox’s hatred of the characters and their desire to be rid of them. However, Spotnitz says there was more to that animosity than people realize. “There’s a story I’ve never told, but I feel like I can tell it now that it’s been 25 years and Fox has been sold to Disney,” Spotnitz says regarding the death of The Lone Gunmen. “The deal that [The Lone Gunmen actors] Tom and Dean and Bruce made — Fox screwed up. They paid them way more money than they meant to pay them… Fox did not want to bring them back. They really tried to stop us; they were so mad. In their mind, they’d overpaid them for The Lone Gunmen. They were absolutely against it. And we just said, ‘We’re doing it, so you’ll have nothing to broadcast if we force their hand.'” And while the pair got to say goodbye to The Lone Gunmen (minus some hallucinogen-fuelled appearances in the X-Files revival), the nature of the character’s deaths (they sacrifice themselves to contain a virus) was certainly a more shocking conclusion than some had anticipated given their usually lighter and more comedic nature. Even Gilligan has wrestled with whether they made the right decision. “For years, that was not my favorite moment,” Gilligan says. “But, it was a very dramatic ending, for sure. They got to be heroes.” Spotnitz, meanwhile, believes that they made a specific mistake that he wishes they could take back. “I do regret that that episode didn’t end with a laugh — it just ends with sadness,” Spotnitz reveals. “That was a mistake. If you’re going to do that, then you’ve got to bring back the joy that the characters represented, and we didn’t.” Still, Gilligan hopes that if the time wasn’t right for The Lone Gunmen back then that people will still find a way to watch the show now. “We were lucky to get 13 [episodes]. Nowadays, it’d be six,” Gilligan says. “I just couldn’t be more proud of it. It’s just timely 25 years later… I’d love for people to [read] this and say, ‘What show are they talking about?’ And then look it up online and buy it. We put out DVDs.” [end-mark] ” The post <i>The Lone Gunmen</i> Creators Explain the Show’s Cancellation and the Characters’ Controversial Deaths appeared first on Reactor.

Oklahoma Republican Sen. Markwayne Mullin said he was “humbled” to be President Donald Trump’s nominee as the next Homeland Security secretary, replacing Kristi Noem. “Humbling,” Mullin told press when asked of his first reaction to his nomination. “I had to call my dad … because it happened quick. I had to call my wife,” Mullin said, adding, “It’s just, you know, pretty humbling when you start thinking about it: a little kid from Westville, Oklahoma gets to serve in the president’s cabinet. That’s pretty neat.” When Mullin is confirmed, he says his priority will be to enforce the laws Congress has passed. “My focus is to keep the homeland secure. That’s going to be my focus, and we’re super excited about this opportunity,” he told press. Mullin was a member of the House for 10 years before becoming a senator in January 2023. “I am grateful to President Trump for nominating me to lead the U.S. Department of Homeland Security,” Mullin wrote on X. “I look forward to earning the support of my colleagues in the Senate and carrying out President Trump’s mission alongside the department’s many capable agencies and the thousands of patriots who keep us safe every day.” As a kid from Westville, it has been the greatest honor and privilege to serve the people of Oklahoma for the past thirteen years in both the House and Senate. I am grateful to President Trump for nominating me to lead the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. I look forward to…— Markwayne Mullin (@SenMullin) March 5, 2026 Mullin will oversee the 260,000 employees and 22 components of the agency, taking over for Noem, who has served as Trump’s Homeland Security secretary since January 2025. Noem will now serve as “Special Envoy for The Shield of the Americas, our new Security Initiative in the Western Hemisphere we are announcing on Saturday in Doral, Florida,” Trump announced Thursday. “I thank Kristi for her service at ‘Homeland.’” Noem thanked Trump in a post on X for appointing her to the new position, adding that she looks forward to working with Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio “to dismantle cartels that have poured drugs into our nation and killed our children and grandchildren.” Trump’s announcement follows a report from National Review’s Audrey Fahlberg that Trump was “furious” with Noem following her testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday. During the hearing, Noem said Trump had approved a $220 million ad campaign featuring her that encouraged illegal aliens to self-deport. Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., pressed Noem on the ads while she was under oath, asking: “The president approved ahead of time you spending $220 million running TV ads across the country in which you are featured prominently?” “Yes,” Noem answered. While Noem said Trump knew about the ads, the president later told Reuters he “never knew anything about it.” Noem’s departure comes as DHS is currently in a partial shutdown while Congress continues to debate its funding. Senate Democrats have demanded changes to Immigration and Customs Enforcement policies as a condition of funding. Democrats continued their holdout on Thursday as a bill to fund DHS failed to receive the necessary 60 votes to end debate. The post ‘HUMBLING’: Markwayne Mullin Reacts to Being Appointed Next DHS Secretary   appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Editor’s note: This is a lightly edited transcript of today’s video from Daily Signal Senior Contributor Victor Davis Hanson. Subscribe to our YouTube channel to see more of his videos. Hello, this is Victor Davis Hanson for The Daily Signal. We’ve seen Donald Trump’s punitive action, preemptive actions, in his first term and now in his second as well. And there’s a general pattern here, a Trump way of war, we could call it. One thing that’s central to all of his action is they’re geostrategic. Pressuring the Panamanians to divorce themselves from China. Making sure the Venezuelan oil does not go to Russia or China by changing the government and kidnapping, capturing, Maduro. Things like that suggest that the current Iranian operation has targeted China, but it’s a major supplier of Chinese oil. China’s one of the biggest, if not the biggest supplier of consumer goods, material goods to Iran. It supplies weaponry to Iran, and Iran has become a client more of China now than Russia. And it may be lost to China as Venezuela was, and maybe Panama was. You’re starting to see a pattern. These are wars of reckoning. People say, “Well, why are we attacking Iran?” and Trump’s way of reasoning, he’s settling up old scores. Panama was getting away with murder through a previous administration, maybe including his own, by stationing or allowing the Chinese to have strategic locations on the Panama Canal. It was time to say no more. [Nicolas] Maduro was getting away with literally murder. Sending drugs, working with the cartels into the United States, sending hardened criminals into the United States as well, illegal aliens. And it was time to say, “You’re not going to cause a Castroite Latin American Communist Revolution. We’re going to stop it.” And it was past time in Trump’s way of thinking. All of these wars are in that way. Same thing with Iran. They have killed more Americans, as we all have been told, than any other terrorist clique or operation. Going back even before the Iran-Iraq war, before our incursions in the Gulf War. At the very beginning that government was birthed on the idea of taking American hostages and then subsequently blowing up our embassy, blowing up Marine barracks, involvement in Khobar Towers, using proxies like Hezbollah to hijack planes, assassinate Americans. It was time, in other words, to even up the score. These take place during negotiations. Notice that Trump was negotiating with Iranians during the summer hit on their nuclear facilities. He was negotiating with them in this current war. He was negotiating with the Venezuelans, and that is his characteristic. He’s saying to these different entities, “I want a peaceful solution.” And even if he didn’t want a peaceful solution, the idea that he is negotiating lessens the criticism that they are preemptive, or preventative, optional wars. In other words, he can say, “Well, I wanted to make peace, but the negotiations broke down.” Notice their top-down attacks. They go after [Qasem] Soleimani in the first term, or [Abu Bakr al-] Baghdadi, or they go after Maduro or they go after [Ali] Khamenei. The idea is, everybody in the world should be on notice. That the people themselves are not culpable. They are Shanghai coerced by these terrible leaders. And I, Donald Trump, will get rid of the leaders and start with the top rather than the bottom or the people. And that’s a very successful strategy. Of course, there’s no nation building. Donald Trump ran against the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. The MAGA base says, “We don’t want forever—optional—wars, especially in the Middle East.” So there is no pretense that there’s going to be a gender studies program on Iran, or there’s going to be George Floyd murals, or there’s going to be a Pride flag over the U.S. Embassy in Iran. There’s no cultural imperialism. No desire to say we were going to make democracies all over the Middle East. We’re not going to do that, and therefore, we’re not going to have boots on the ground. We’re not going to have ground troops unless emergencies. There’s a weird exit strategy too, that Donald Trump has in all of these. He determines when the war starts and when it ends. I don’t know if he’s going to be successful in all these cases, but he takes out the Iranian nuclear facilities, and everybody says we’re going to be in an endless tit-for-tat struggle now in the summer of 2025. And what happens? He allows Iran a performative art hit on American base in Qatar, and then he says, I want to make Iran great again. And that’s the end of it. After the death of Soleimani, the same thing. Already, prematurely, perhaps, he’s already talking about negotiations with Iran. And what that does is it sort of dampens the criticism of him. Just as he went to war in the midst of negotiations, he doesn’t say, “Well, negotiations will not work.” Maybe they will. And we can end this, but the war will start and end when he sees as favorable terms to the United States. An eighth aspect of the Trump way of war: There’s no effort to go to the United Nations. No United Nations, no International Criminal Court, no EU consultation. NATO, we consult with them in matters European, but nobody talked about NATO. The idea is that there’s very little trust that these platforms that are multilateral have the wherewithal or the ability or the desire to take prompt, decisive action. And they will only clog up the process if you consult them, and you hinge your decision making on a foreign entity. Nine, there are showcases for U.S. arms. Have you noticed that? Everybody’s talking about the greatest, biggest, strongest warship in the history of civilization, the Gerald R. Ford. New Ford-class carrier, 105,000 tons of displacement, $13 billion, maybe 4,500-manned warship. Very impressive. We’re talking about our new kamikaze, one-way drones that we haven’t seen before. You’ve seen the maps that the Pentagon has released that have been replicated by the news outlets. They show Iran in the middle. And then there’s American assets all the way in the Indian Ocean. They’re in the Red Sea, they’re in the Mediterranean Sea, they’re in the Gulf of Oman, they’re in the Straits of Hormuz, they’re in the Persian Gulf. And they’re all focused, fixated on Iran. It’s surrounded. And they want that to be known that only the United States has this type of weaponry and this reach and these resources. And finally, there’s no, I don’t know how to put it, but he’s not hiding U.S. self-interest. Of course, he talks about it’ll be much better for the greater Middle East, but we wouldn’t have gone to war if it hadn’t been for U.S. interest. And what is U.S. interest? We’re sick and tired of the Iranians attacking our allies, but more importantly, as the biggest killer of Americans. We don’t want them to hijack planes anymore. We don’t want them to stage assassination attempts in New York or in Washington against either dissidents or foreign entities like the Saudi ambassador. We don’t like them to capture hostages and torture them. We don’t like them sending lethal arms to kill Americans as they did during the Iraq war. We don’t want them to kidnap people in foreign countries or in Iran and hold them as hostages. We’re just sick of it. And it’s in our interest, in Trump’s way of war, to end it. Will all of this work? I don’t know. It’s very hard to say, “I’m going to decide when a war starts and I’m going to decide when a war ends and we’re not going to have ground troops, and we’re going to go across the world and settle scores.” And yet, as we’ve seen before, the Trump way of war worked to get Soleimani, the Gen. Qasem Soleimani, the architect of the Iranian terror state. Mr. Al-Baghdadi, who was taken out and ISIS was bombed, proverbially, into rubble. A clear end. A clear beginning, a clear end. The Wagner group. What were we going to do with them. This was a Russian entity. We killed more of them than any moment in the Cold War. I think 200 Russians were killed by Americans, and it followed the same script that I just outlined. We saw the same script during the first Iranian incursion in summer, and now we’re seeing it again. It’s a very strange idea. War doesn’t change because human nature is immutable. So we know the rules of war, but the actual practice of it, that is not the struggle between humans and political entities to use the force of arms to persuade someone of your own political, cultural, religious material agenda. That’s immutable. But how you do it. What are the tactics? What are the strategy? What are the weaponry? Have change, and no one has changed them more than Donald Trump. We publish a variety of perspectives. Nothing written here is to be construed as representing the views of The Daily Signal. The post Victor Davis Hanson: The ‘Trump Way of War’ Is About Settling Scores and Deterring America’s Enemies appeared first on The Daily Signal.

It's a Crime What the Left Is Doing to the West

The Department of Homeland Security has fired back at a Minnesota prosecutor who announced an investigation into federal agents' actions in Minnesota.The office of Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said Monday it was investigating Border Patrol Chief Gregory Bovino and other federal agents and opening an online portal for the public to send in tips about their "potentially unlawful behavior."'Politicians are laying blame at the feet of law enforcement instead of looking in the mirror.'A DHS spokesperson responded to the investigation in a statement via email to Blaze News."This does nothing to make Minnesota safer. Enforcing federal immigration laws is a clear federal responsibility under Article I, Article II, and the Supremacy Clause," the DHS spokesperson said."What these States are trying to do is unlawful, and they know it. Federal officials acting in the course of their duties are immune from liability under state law," the spokesperson continued. "Politicians are laying blame at the feet of law enforcement instead of looking in the mirror at how they have fueled the hatred and violent attacks we are seeing against federal law enforcement officers."The spokesperson went on to cite increased violence against federal officers, including a 1,300% increase in assaults, a 3,200% increase in vehicular attacks, and an 8,000% increase in death threats."We are calling on Democrats, like Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty, to stop spreading this garbage," the spokesperson concluded.Moriarty's investigation likely includes video captured of Bovino tossing a canister of irritant at protesters and a photograph of an agent spraying irritant directly into the face of a protester pinned to the ground.RELATED: Sex toys, other objects allegedly thrown at cops at Minneapolis ICE facility, prompting dozens of arrests — but not by DHS "Our [Transparency and Accountability Project] team is actively investigating 17 incidents that have been brought to our attention by the community, including Gregory Kent Bovino's actions," reads the statement from Moriarty.Bovino had been praised by many for his aggressive tactics, but he left Operation Metro Surge in Minneapolis after the deaths of anti-ICE protesters Renee Good and Alex Pretti. Border czar Tom Homan was placed in charge of the operation, and he removed all federal agents after reaching an agreement with state and local leaders.Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

On the same day that Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-Texas) admitted to having an affair with a former staffer who tragically committed suicide by self-immolation, the U.S. House of Representatives sidelined a bill that would potentially have brought transparency to matters of sexual misconduct among members of Congress. On Wednesday, the House voted "yea" on a motion to refer a subpoena sponsored by Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) to the House Ethics Committee.'I think it is DISGUSTING how Congress protects its own corruption. No wonder the American people hate us.'The bill, which passed 357-65 in favor of referring the resolution to the Ethics Committee, directs the committee to "preserve and publicly release records of the Committee's review of violations or alleged violations of clause 9 (as it pertains to acts of sexual harassment) and clause 18 of rule XXIII of the Rules of the House of Representatives." Though she sponsored the bill, Mace appears to be upset by the vote to refer the subpoena to the House Ethics Committee because its leadership has made clear that it does not intend to move forward with the disclosure.Ethics Chair Michael Guest (R-Miss.) and ranking member Mark DeSaulnier (D-Calif.) said in a joint statement: “Victims may be re-traumatized by public disclosures of interim work product, excerpts of interview transcripts, and certain exhibits. And witnesses, who often only speak to the Committee confidentially or on condition of future anonymity, could fear retaliation if their cooperation is made public.”Mace took to X shortly after the resolution was sent to committee to condemn the outcome of the vote."Our resolution to expose predators in Congress was killed. Your government is more concerned with protecting predators than protecting women. The establishment watches out for itself," Mace wrote. "Remember this when they ask for your trust. This is what corruption looks like."RELATED: 'I made a mistake': Tony Gonzales admits to affair with staffer who set herself on fire Photographer: Adam Gray/Bloomberg via Getty ImagesRep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) signaled her support for the subpoena and said she was disgusted by the move to send the subpoena to the Ethics Committee, which she said is where "stuff" goes to "die.""I think it is DISGUSTING how Congress protects its own corruption. No wonder the American people hate us," Rep. Anna Paulina Luna said on X.Mace made another post with all of the names of her colleagues who voted in favor of sending the subpoena to the committee. She then admonished them: "Shame on every single one of you who voted to protect predators in Congress over the women they prey on."Though her first resolution was unsuccessful, Politico reported that Mace did have some success in forcing another vote, this time to subpoena the Office of Congressional Workplace Rights for records about sexual harassment awards and settlements under the Congressional Accountability Act.Mace was able to successfully force that vote after reaching an agreement with Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.) to limit the range of the subpoena to only members of Congress, as well as another small caveat, according to Politico. Mace celebrated the win on X and made a promise to the American people: "After the full House voted to keep covering up Ethics Committee records of Members of Congress who engaged in sexual harassment records [sic], the Oversight Committee passed our motion to subpoena the taxpayer-funded settlement SLUSH FUND used to silence victims. Every Member of Congress who used your money to silence victims they harassed will be exposed, and we look forward to reviewing the records from the Office of Congressional Workplace Rights. We will make sure YOU, the people, know their names."Calls for disclosure of the so-called slush fund have been going on for years. In late 2024, then-Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) and Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) called for the release of the payouts and the names associated with them. The "slush fund" was estimated to be over $17 million at the time. Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Clown Take of the Day: Jemele Hill Says Nebraska Has No Stake in Border Security-Reality Check Incoming