From a traumatic break-up, Coheed’s frontman gained the inspiration to write a Platinum-selling breakthrough single

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt praised the “tremendous progress” being made on a Ukraine-Russia peace deal, noting that only “a few delicate, but not insurmountable, details” still need to be resolved.

The nationwide manhunt for a woman known as the “Slender Man” stabber has ended.

President Trump’s executive order sets in motion a process by which certain chapters or other subdivisions of the Muslim Brotherhood shall be considered for designation as Foreign Terrorist Organizations. The Muslim Brotherhood, founded in Egypt in 1928, has developed into a transnational network with chapters across the Middle East and beyond.  Relevant here, its chapters […] The post Trump Bans Some Chapters of Muslim Brotherhood, Leaves Out Turkey & Qatar appeared first on www.independentsentinel.com.

California stands at a crossroads. The state must choose: protect the farmers who feed America or surrender its fields to ideology and bureaucratic control. California’s allegiance to bureaucrats recently became clear with the release of the California Agricultural Land Equity Task Force’s draft report. The report, released this summer, calls for redistributing farmland based on race. Framed as “equity,” the plan would use state power to favor some Californians over others in determining who can buy, lease, or work farmland. What it really represents is an unprecedented intrusion into private property rights, race-based discrimination, and a direct threat to the foundation of the state’s agricultural economy. The Task Force says it wants to expand opportunities for minority farmers, but its recommendations rely on racial preferences rather than productivity, stewardship, or need. It proposes below-market leases, zoning changes favoring “priority producers,” and new easement rules that devalue land already owned and managed by families who have farmed it for generations. California would be picking winners and losers not by merit, but by race. The consequences would reach far beyond the Central Valley. California supports a $61-billion farm economy, producing more than 75% of America’s fruits and nuts. The plan is not only misguided but also likely unconstitutional. Federal courts have already rejected race-based agricultural programs, such as the 2021 post-COVID USDA loan forgiveness initiative for socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers, because they violated the Fourteenth Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause. The same flaw runs through these recommendations — characterizing individuals according to membership in race-based groups, and then prioritizing producers on that basis. By prioritizing one racial group over another without specific evidence of individualized harm, the state risks years of litigation and enormous taxpayer costs. It also opens itself to claims under the Fifth Amendment’s Takings Clause, since new zoning and easement-related rules could strip landowners of value without compensation. In the unlikely event this plan survived in court, it would still fail in practice. California’s farm base is already shrinking. Between 2017 and 2022, the state lost 7,387 farms — a 10.5% decline — amid water shortages, regulatory burdens, and soaring compliance costs that have risen as much as 1,400% for some growers over two decades. Instead of addressing those pressures, the Task Force proposes a race-based social experiment that would make them worse. When the government inserts ideology into the market, it distorts supply, raises costs, and destroys confidence. A previous big-government attempt to manage groundwater via the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act, passed in 2014 in Sacramento, shows how central planning can wreck entire regions: dry wells, empty fields, and an estimated $7 billion annual loss to the farm economy. If Sacramento cannot allocate water efficiently, it certainly cannot allocate land. The draft report also ignores what private landowners have already achieved. Two-thirds of endangered species habitat lies on private property, and voluntary conservation programs have produced measurable gains in soil health and biodiversity. Farmers have proven they can balance production with stewardship. Replacing them with politically selected “priority producers” does not guarantee California will be more sustainable, but it certainly guarantees division between Californians. Why does this plan sound familiar? It is eerily similar to the land redistribution system of South Africa. Under South Africa’s race-based land redistribution program, in effect since 1990, roughly three-quarters of redistributed farms failed, eroding food production and rural stability. California is poised to repeat that mistake under the same so-called moral language of restitution, with the same devastating results. Supporters of the Task Force’s draft report will say that historic discrimination requires present action. That argument ignores both the clear constitutional limits on government power and the truth that new discrimination cannot fix old wrongs. The Constitution guarantees equality, not “equity,” and efforts to impose equity always result in the advancement of one demographic at the expense of another. Every farmer, regardless of background, faces the same crushing weight of regulation, taxation, and uncertainty. Policies that divide them by race rather than unite them around shared economic survival will deepen inequality instead of curing it. The California Legislature must reject the recommendations made in this report and any similar proposals once finalized. Refusing the proposal would not deny opportunity; it would protect it. Lawmakers can support aspiring farmers of every background by cutting red tape, expanding credit access, improving water reliability, and safeguarding property rights. Those are fair, race-neutral tools that strengthen agriculture without tearing at its core. This policy, if accepted, would not just affect California but the entire country. California is the salad bowl of the world and the living ground that feeds families across the country. California’s agricultural lands sustain rural communities and anchor the state’s economy. The choice before Sacramento is simple but profound: protect the farmers who feed America, or surrender their fields to ideology and bureaucratic control. The future of California’s agricultural legacy depends on getting this choice right. * * * Kip Thomas serves as Vice Chair of Rural Policy at the America First Policy Institute and is a recognized leader in agricultural technology and policy. He previously served as a U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Agencies under President Donald J. Trump. Mike Garcia serves as Chairman of the America First California chapter. A former U.S. Congressman, Garcia represented California’s 27th District and served on the House Appropriations Committee, the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, and the Science, Space, and Technology Committee. T.J. Wilson serves as the Deputy Director of Rural Policy at the America First Policy Institute. He previously served in key staff and executive roles in the USDA’s Farm Production and Conservation Mission Area, the agency’s core division serving farmers and ranchers nationwide. The views expressed in this piece are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire. * * * Right now, DailyWire+ annual memberships are fifty percent off during our Black Friday sale. Join now at dailywire.com/blackfriday.

WASHINGTON—In a stunning show of executive authority, President Donald Trump today exercised the power granted to him under Article II, Section 2 of the United States Constitution “to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offenses against the United States.” The lucky duck was a turkey named Gobble. Unlike in previous years, those assembled in the Rose Garden on this drizzly Tuesday morning knew which bird would be spared right away: First Lady Melania Trump’s office asked Americans to choose which bird her husband would pardon, and he alone was present at Tuesday’s ceremony. Gathered on the dais were a who’s-who of the Trump Cabinet: Vice President JD Vance with his wife, Usha, and their children; Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Education Secretary Linda McMahon, FBI Director Kash Patel, and Attorney General Pam Bondi. “This is a big day, a pardon day for a very important beast,” Trump said, prompting a gobble from Gobble. “That’s a well-trained turkey. See how happy he is?” At one point during the event, Weather Report’s 1977 jazz fusion hit “Birdland” played over the Rose Garden speakers, a clever musical wink for those who caught the tune. Trump joked that when he first saw a picture of Gobble and runner-up Waddle, he wanted to “call them Chuck and Nancy,” a reference to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Trump jokes that he wanted to call today’s turkeys Chuck & Nancy?? “I shouldn’t say this. I was going to call them Chuck and Nancy, but then I realized I wouldn’t be pardoning them. I would never pardon those two people.” pic.twitter.com/LT49QgTnJU — Daily Wire (@realDailyWire) November 25, 2025 “But then I realized I wouldn’t pardon those two people. I would never pardon them, I don’t care what Melania would tell me.” Schumer and Pelosi weren’t the only Democrats to draw a presidential jab at the ceremony. Touting his administration’s success in cracking down on crime in Washington and Memphis, Trump called on Illinois Governor JB Pritzker to allow them to do the same in Chicago. “Governor Pritzker, if you’re listening, let’s get your act together,” Trump said before noting that he would not “talk about the fact that he’s a fat slob.” “I don’t mention it,” Trump said, adding that “I’d like to lose a few pounds.” “But I’m not gonna lose it on Thanksgiving, I’ll tell you that. Because I’m gonna have a turkey, but it’s not gonna be that one.” Trump also joked that all of President Joe Biden’s turkey pardons were null and void because his predecessor signed them with an autopen — but that he intervened to spare last year’s turkeys, Peach and Blossom, from the slaughterhouse. ?@POTUS declares last year’s presidential turkey pardons INVALID because Biden used an autopen.? Thankfully, he intervened and granted Peach and Blossom a valid pardon to kick off today’s ceremony. pic.twitter.com/BaxdOaLhIZ — Daily Wire (@realDailyWire) November 25, 2025 Waddle, who Trump joked was “missing in action,” also received a presidential pardon and will step up as the National Thanksgiving Turkey should Gobble be unable to discharge his duties. “Gobble, you’re pardoned!” the president said, evoking his famous television catch phrase. About an hour before the pardon, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt ushered Waddle into the briefing room to meet the White House press corps. Leavitt stood by with her son (wearing a “Mama’s Little Turkey” shirt) as an excited press pool shouted questions at Waddle. One journalist immediately asked if Waddle had a comment on Ukraine. The turkey had no comment. Waddle and Karoline Leavitt’s son, Niko (Photo by Heather Diehl/Getty Images) After departing the White House grounds today, Gobble and Waddle will return to their home state of North Carolina, where they will take up residence at NC State University alongside Chocolate and Chip, the turkeys Biden pardoned in 2022. Alex Davidson, Senior Director of Public Affairs at the National Turkey Federation, said that Gobble and Waddle will be “agricultural ambassadors for the rest of their lives.” Davidson also gave The Daily Wire the inside scoop on how the turkeys are selected. Every year, the National Turkey Federation’s rotating chairman designates a state from which the turkeys will hail — generally the chairman’s home state. The current chair, Butterball CEO Jay Jandrain, picked North Carolina, “the second largest turkey state in the country, after Minnesota,” Davidson says. This year’s presidential flock was raised by Travis and Amanda Pittman of Wayne County (“I like Wayne County,” Trump remarked when thanking the Pitmans, noting that he did well there in the last election). Davidson says that presidential turkeys are selected at a young age and raised just like any other bird, though they are given early exposure to lights and music to prepare them for the hustle and bustle of the national stage. As pardon day gets closer, the flock of around 50 birds is whittled down to two finalists. According to the National Turkey Federation, the winning turkeys are those that have the best “physical appearance and temperament,” proof that looks matter, even in Washington. Trump also touted the cost of turkey and other Thanksgiving foods. Turkey prices are down 16% from last year, according to a new report from the American Farm Bureau Federation. All told, the cost of an average Thanksgiving dinner is down 5% from 2024. It’s generally held that Abraham Lincoln performed the first turkey pardon when he spared a bird at the request of his son, Tad. But the turkey pardon really traces its roots back to 1947, when the National Turkey Federation sent a 47-pound bird to President Harry Truman, a peace offering after the group sparred with the White House over postwar poultry rationing. John F. Kennedy is said to have given the first presidential turkey pardon, remarking “we’ll just let this one grow.” But as with most good things in Washington, the pardon tradition really took shape under Ronald Reagan. After being grilled about pardons for those involved in the Iran-Contra scandal during a 1987 press conference with Charlie the Turkey, the Gipper quipped that, had he not been assured Charlie would head to a children’s farm, he “would have pardoned him.” Since 1989, turkeys have been pardoned in an official White House ceremony, a tradition begun by President George H.W. Bush. Today, the pardon is just a high point in a long series of events for the turkeys, who are brought to Washington a few days early to make the rounds with the media. Gobble and Waddle reportedly did 20 interviews on Monday, before turning in for a night at the Willard InterContinental Hotel. The hotel staff loves when the turkeys check in, Davidson says — and apparently the fowl are not that foul, as far as these things go. The National Turkey Federation prepares their swanky suite with layers of plastic and wood chips, and federation staffers clean up after the birds head up to Pennsylvania Avenue. “We leave it like we found it,” Davidson said.

Researchers at the University of Minnesota’s Institute of Child Development are facing criticism after launching a website claiming that America is suffering from a “Whiteness Pandemic.” The website, created by the institute’s Culture and Family Lab, is titled, “Whiteness Pandemic Resources for Parents, Educators, and other Caregivers,” and states: Racism is an epidemic that can also be considered a pandemic given its large cross-national proportion and spread (APA, 2020). However, there is another pandemic lurking behind and driving the racism pandemic – the Whiteness Pandemic. Whiteness refers to culture not biology: the centuries-old culture of Whiteness features colorblindness, passivity, and White fragility, which are all covert expressions of racism common in the United States. … At birth, young children growing up in White families begin to be socialized into the culture of Whiteness, making the family system one of the most powerful systems involved in systemic racism. It continues, “If you were born or raised in the United States, you have grown up in the Whiteness Pandemic.” The nonprofit group Parents Defending Education, which monitors political activism in schools, blasted the website as “far-left programming” reflective of a deeply entrenched diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) agenda. Rhyen Staley, the group’s research director, told Fox News that the project shows how pervasive DEI remains in taxpayer-funded institutions. Right now, DailyWire+ annual memberships are fifty percent off during our Black Friday sale. Join now at dailywire.com/blackfriday. The “Whiteness Pandemic” initiative is based on a 2021 study funded by the National Institute of Mental Health and written by lab director Dr. Gail Ferguson. The abstract for the paper, which won an award from the Society for General Psychology, reads, “Family socialization into the centuries-old culture of Whiteness—involving colorblindness, passivity, and fragility—perpetrates and perpetuates U.S. racism, reflecting an insidious Whiteness pandemic.” The study concluded that parents’ attitudes toward race correlated with their level of “racial identity development,” suggesting that silence on racial events like George Floyd’s death reflected lower progress in “antiracism.” Critics argue that the framing is both unscientific and overtly accusatory. The study surveyed a highly specific demographic: predominantly liberal, educated, upper-middle-class white mothers in Minnesota, raising serious questions about the generalizability of the conclusions. By defining an entire race’s culture as inherently problematic and framing all white people as contributors to systemic racism, the university is effectively assigning collective guilt based on skin color.

While U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent offered some praise for New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s campaign, he didn’t hold back on the policies the young mayor-elect plans to implement in the Big Apple.    Bessent, who was in the Oval Office last week during President Donald Trump’s meeting with Mamdani, noted that the ideas Mamdani championed have no record of success.  “I can tell you my impression of the mayor-elect is he’s a young man with a lot of old ideas that have never worked,” Bessent told CNBC on Tuesday. “Point to one example where policies like his have led to anything other than a decline.”  Bessent said on CNBC’s Squawk Box that he has respect for the campaign Mamdani ran. However, Bessent believes governing will test Mamdani in ways campaigning never did. “You’ve got to have some admiration for a candidate who ran a campaign the way he did. It was a great, great campaign,” The Treasury Secretary said. “But the practical everyday of keeping people safe, picking up the trash, making the subways run on time… we’ll see.”  Bessent commended Trump for being open-minded and inviting Mamdani into the Oval Office. “[Mamdani] is clearly the leader of the Democratic Party now,” the Treasury Secretary concluded.  Right now, DailyWire+ annual memberships are fifty percent off during our Black Friday sale. Join now at dailywire.com/blackfriday. Mamdani has become the face of the Democratic Party’s ascendant socialist wing, even as top party leaders keep him at arm’s length. Bessent pointed out that Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) never endorsed him and has not yet met with the socialist mayor-elect. Schumer has said he has a good relationship with the NYC mayor-elect and believes Mamdani’s issue with affordability is “being stressed by Democrats across the country.”  Bessent reiterated what he previously called the three main “drains” on affordability: “The three I’s: immigration, interest rates, and inflation.” According to Bessent, immigration pressures have eased as the Trump Administration has secured the border, interest rates have come down, and the administration is working to bring down inflation.  On Tuesday, he suggested a “fourth I” has emerged.  Bessent said the fourth drain on America’s affordability is “insanity on the Democratic side.” He pointed to last month’s government shutdown, triggered by a fight over extending Obamacare tax credits, and said that the country is now “on the eve” of another potential shutdown. Bessent said the last shutdown caused a “1.5% hit to GDP and $11 billion permanent hit.”