Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth continues to take fire, but the commander-in-chief is standing by him. The Trump administration is taking steps to phase out eight synthetic food dyes and issuing warnings about a popular ingredient. And, Trump de-escalates – backing off tariffs and his attacks on the Fed – sending stocks surging. It’s Thursday, April 24, and this is the news you need to know to start your day. If you’d rather listen to your news, today’s edition of the Morning Wire podcast can be heard below:     Trump Stands By Embattled Defense Secretary As Recruitment Soars (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images) Topline: President Donald Trump is standing by embattled Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, as new data shows soaring military recruitment after years of decline. There’s no doubt Hegseth’s tenure at DOD has been tumultuous so far. First, there was what Democrats refer to as SignalGate, in which Hegseth and other cabinet members discussed war plans in an unsecured group chat that accidentally included a reporter. Then, last week, several senior advisors at the Pentagon were fired after an investigation found that they had been leaking sensitive information to the press.  This week, the negative media coverage continued after the New York Times reported Hegseth had shared details of airstrikes on Yemen in a separate Signal chat that included his wife and brother. Hegseth’s team says his wife is a trusted confidant and that his brother works at the Pentagon, but the story gave yet more fodder to those who want him relieved of his position.  “What a big surprise that a few leakers get fired and suddenly a bunch of hit pieces come out from the same media that peddled the Russia hoax…This is what the media does,” Hegseth said. “They take anonymous sources from disgruntled former employees and then they try to slash and burn people and ruin their reputations.” President Trump also continues to back Hegseth, routinely praising him in statements to the press. “Pete’s doing a great job. Everybody’s happy with him. We have the highest recruitment numbers they’ve had in 28 years…It’s just fake news, they bring up stories. It’s disgruntled employees. He was put there to get rid of a lot of bad people and that’s what he’s doing. You don’t always have friends when you do that.” Military recruitment numbers have spiked since Trump was elected and Hegseth was appointed. Six months into fiscal year 2025, every single branch is on pace to surpass its recruiting goals. The Navy is on track for its best year in two decades, the Air Force has seen a 20% increase compared to last year, and the Army’s biggest challenge is finding enough space for all its recruits. Last year, it had 55,000 enlistments — with six months to go, they’re already at 52,000! After years of falling short, it could double its target in 2025. According to Army Vice Chief of Staff James Mingus, “we’ve seen momentum unlike anything in a decade.”   RFK Jr. Moves To Phase Out Food Dyes (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images) Topline: HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. wants to phase out numerous artificial food dyes and colorings by the end of 2026. The Department of Health and Human Services is banning petroleum-based synthetic dyes: Red 3 and Red 40, Blue 1 and  2, Yellow 5 and 6, and Green 3. Those are very common in cereals, candy, baked goods, soft drinks, and other junk foods commonly consumed by children. HHS is implementing several steps to make this happen. First, it will work with food companies to establish a national standard and timeline for moving away from petrochemical-based dyes. HHS wants these phased out, at the latest, by the end of next year. The department will also revoke authorization for two synthetic food colorings – Citrus Red No. 2 and Orange B – that will happen even sooner – in the coming months. Red dye No. 3 was banned by the FDA at the end of the Biden administration, but the timeline for its phaseout is years away. Kennedy said he’s looking to speed up that ban.  HHS will also partner with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to conduct comprehensive research on how these dyes affect children’s health and development. Lastly, the department will authorize four new natural color additives within a matter of weeks, while speeding up the review and approval of other natural color additives.  “For the last 50 years, American children have increasingly been living in a toxic soup of synthetic chemicals,” FDA Commissioner Dr. Marty Makary said at a press conference with Kennedy on Tuesday. “The scientific community has conducted a number of studies raising concerns about the correlation between petroleum-based synthetic dyes and several health conditions, such as ADHD, obesity, diabetes, insulin resistance, cancer, GI issues – as I’ve seen in the hospital – and allergic reactions.”  Secretary Kennedy said that there are “shockingly few” studies on food additives and food dyes, specifically, and suggested that this is because of “conflicts of interest” suppressing the science. RFK also warned the public about the dangers of sugar. He said he’s not able to ban it, but wants parents to understand how harmful and addictive it is. He said it’s as “addictive as crack” and called it “poison.”   Economic Update: Trump De-escalates (Photo by Michael Nagle/Bloomberg via Getty Images) Topline: Stocks soared Wednesday after reports that President Trump said he has no intention of removing Fed Chair Jerome Powell.  In recent days, we’ve seen what appears to be a de-escalation from the Trump administration on many key planks of its economic policy – including reassurances that the trade war with China will be resolved soon and that Powell will not be fired. There’s been a lot of public negotiating going on from Trump and his team, including some mixed messaging over the last few weeks. “It was frankly, chaos to start,” EJ Antoni, an economist from the Heritage Foundation, told Morning Wire. “A lot of that is getting resolved – not all of it, but a lot of it… In terms of the de-escalation, I think what we’re looking for there is essentially agreements one by one just getting hammered out and eventually signed. It looks like trade deals, reducing tariff and non-tariff barriers…as those deals get done, as the details get ironed out, we can look for more free trade, not less. We can look for fairer trade – in other words, not only are American consumer markets still open to foreign producers, but finally foreign consumer markets will be open to our domestic producers.” Antoni also told us that while the Fed has used its influence over the economy for political advantage, sometimes against President Trump’s interests, removing him before the end of his term would have caused more unease about the future direction of the economy. “The market doesn’t really like Jerome Powell, but the idea of removing him creates a tremendous amount of uncertainty, and that’s the last thing markets need right now.”

According to the FBI, some Venezuelan government officials, in order to erode public safety in the United States, “likely facilitate” the migration of Tren de Aragua gang members to the United States. Tren de Aragua has been designated as a foreign terrorist organization by the Trump administration. The Venezuelan move to destabilize other countries also includes Chile, Ecuador, and Peru, Fox News Digital reported, adding, “The FBI assesses that in the next six to 18 months, Venezuelan government officials likely will attempt to leverage Tren de Aragua members in the United States as proxy actors to threaten, abduct and kill members of the Venezuelan diaspora in the United States who are vocal critics of [Venezuala President Nicolás] Maduro and his regime.” “These findings should shock Americans but not the law enforcement community,” an unnamed Trump administration official told Fox Digital. “They reflect the sentiments of numerous other intelligence assessments across multiple agencies. Nicholas Maduro is a Marxist dictator who hijacked a once-prosperous Venezuela and brought in nothing but total economic collapse and gang takeover. He crumbled Caracas, now overrun with drugs and violence, and wants to do the same across the United States by sending his most violent and dangerous criminals into our communities.” “The Trump administration will continue to use every authority in our power to make sure these TdA terrorists, who are some of the worst in the world, are kept out of our country,” the official continued. “The American people voted overwhelmingly to make America safe again, and that is exactly what we will do.” On April 18, the Associated Press reported, “A new U.S. intelligence assessment found no coordination between Tren de Aragua and the Venezuelan government, contradicting statements that Trump administration officials have made to justify their invocation of the Alien Enemies Act and deporting Venezuelan migrants, according to U.S. officials. The classified assessment from the National Intelligence Council, released this month, is more comprehensive and authoritative than an earlier intelligence product released Feb. 26 and reported last month by The New York Times.” Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Tulsi Gabbard reacted harshly, writing on X: The weaponization of intelligence to undermine the President’s agenda is an assault on democracy. Those behind this illegal leak of classified intelligence, twisted and manipulated to convey the exact opposite finding, will be held accountable under the full force of the law. Rooting out this politicization of intelligence is exactly what President Trump campaigned on and what Americans overwhelmingly voted for. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence fully supports the assessment that the foreign terrorist organization, Tren De Aragua, is acting with the support of the Maduro Regime, and thus subject to arrest, detention and removal as alien enemies of the United States. The weaponization of intelligence to undermine the President’s agenda is an assault on democracy. Those behind this illegal leak of classified intelligence, twisted and manipulated to convey the exact opposite finding, will be held accountable under the full force of the law.… — DNI Tulsi Gabbard (@DNIGabbard) April 21, 2025   An official from the office of DNI said the information Fox News Digital was reporting was “based on intelligence that the illegal leakers and propaganda media conveniently did not include because it gets in the way of their biased narrative and attempt to deceive the American people.”

In the deadliest attack on the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv since the summer of 2024, Russia launched a combined missile and drone offensive on Wednesday night, burying Ukrainians under rubble, killing nine people, and injuring more than 70 others. #UkraineRussiaWar️️ ? At least nine dead as Kyiv hit by massive missile and drone strike FOLLOW LATEST UPDATES https://t.co/LWhpqwRXoO pic.twitter.com/yHr3GIG5JP — The Independent (@Independent) April 24, 2025 “The search is continuing for people under rubble … Mobile telephones are heard ringing beneath rubble. The search will continue until it becomes clear that they have got everyone,” the State Emergency Service wrote on Telegram, Reuters reported. Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko, formerly the heavyweight boxing champion of the world, said that six children and a pregnant woman were injured in the attack. Kyiv is roughly 430 miles from the Polish border. On July 8, 2024, Russia launched a massive bombing assault on Ukraine in which Russian missiles hit the largest children’s hospital in the country, the Okhmatdyt hospital in Kyiv. On Wednesday, President Donald Trump criticized Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for not recognizing Crimea as part of Russia. After the Soviet Union dissolved in 1992, the Republic of Crimea was formed. In 2014, Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, who was pro-Russian, was removed after protests against him. Russian President Vladimir Putin invaded Crimea and annexed it, a move only recognized by North Korea and Sudan. In 2024, Dmitry Medvedev, deputy head of Russia’s Security Council, said bluntly, “Ukraine is Russia.” “Yesterday’s Russian maximalist demands for Ukraine to withdraw from its regions, combined with these brutal strikes, show that Russia, not Ukraine, is the obstacle to peace. Moscow, not Kyiv, is where pressure should be applied,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha wrote on X. Russia reportedly also attacked the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv on Wednesday night using drones and missiles. In January, Putin said that any peace settlement between Ukraine and Russia should “eliminate the root causes” of the war between Ukraine and Russia. In 2021, he wrote, “During the recent Direct Line, when I was asked about Russian-Ukrainian relations, I said that Russians and Ukrainians were one people – a single whole. These words were not driven by some short-term considerations or prompted by the current political context. It is what I have said on numerous occasions and what I firmly believe.” The Daily Wire’s Ben Shapiro traveled to war-torn Kyiv this week for an exclusive 60-minute face-to-face interview with Zelensky. Speaking in front of the Saint Sophia Cathedral, Shapiro questioned Zelensky on several topics, including his tense March meeting with President Trump, the substantial amount of American taxpayer money Ukraine is receiving, and prospects for peace with Russia. The interview will be released in two parts on the Ben Shapiro Show on Thursday and Friday.

Thursday is Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day, commemorating the reputed one and a half million Armenians murdered by the Turks in 1915 during World War I. The Turkish assault began with hundreds of Armenian intellectuals forcibly deported from the Turkish capital of Constantinople. The Muslim Young Turks intended to get rid of the Christian Armenians in Turkey. Massive atrocities, from forced death marches to placing women and children aboard ships and then deliberately sinking them, were carried out by Turkish government-backed forces. CNN reported: While the death toll is in dispute, photographs from the era document some mass killings. Some show Ottoman soldiers posing with severed heads, others with them standing amid skulls in the dirt. The victims are reported to have died in mass burnings and by drowning, torture, gas, poison, disease and starvation. Children were reported to have been loaded into boats, taken out to sea and thrown overboard. Rape, too, was frequently reported. The U.S. Congress has passed resolutions acknowledging the genocide, but no U.S. administration has, likely because of concerns about relations with Turkey. Instead, the murders have been referred to as “massacres” or “crimes against humanity.” In April 1981, soon after he was elected president, Ronald Reagan delivered a Proclamation on Days of Remembrance of Victims of the Holocaust. Speaking of the Holocaust in which the Nazis murdered six million Jews, he stated: When America and its allies liberated those haunting places of terror and sick destructiveness, the world came to a vivid and tragic understanding of the evil it faced in those years of the Second World War. Each of those names — Auschwitz, Buchenwald, Dachau, Treblinka and so many others — became synonymous with horror. The millions of deaths, the gas chambers, the inhuman crematoria, and the thousands of people who somehow survived with lifetime scars are all now part of the conscience of history. Forever must we remember just how precious is civilization, how important is liberty, and how heroic is the human spirit.  He then mentioned the “genocide of the Armenians before it, and the genocide of the Cambodians which followed it.”

On Wednesday, Jordan banned the Muslim Brotherhood from the country. On April 15, Jordanian security services acknowledged arresting 16 people accused of endangering national security related to weapons, explosives, and plans to build drones and train fighters. Jordanian Interior Minister Mazin Al Farrayeh said on Wednesday that “elements of the Muslim Brotherhood” had “worked in darkness to carry out activities that undermine stability and tamper with security and national unity.” The Muslim Brotherhood was founded in 1928 by a Muslim teacher in Egypt named Hassan al-Banna, who wrote, “It is in the nature of Islam to dominate, not to be dominated, to impose its law on all nations and to extend its power to the entire planet.”  Their 2010 Supreme Guide advised being “patient” because America “is heading towards its demise.” The Hamas charter states that it is a “wing of the Muslim Brotherhood.” Former Muslim Brotherhood Supreme Guide Mohommed Mahdi Akef praised Osama bin Laden in 2007, writing that he was “in all certainty, a mujahid (heroic  fighter), and I have no doubt in his sincerity in resisting the occupation, close to Allah on high.” For a more comprehensive report on the Muslim Brotherhood, see here. During President Donald Trump’s first term, the administration considered designating the group a terrorist organization. The George Washington University Program on Extremism has noted: Without exception, all European security services adopt a highly negative view of the Muslim Brotherhood on the Continent. All European security services which have publicly expressed views on the Muslim Brotherhood in Europe over the last twenty years have clearly and consistently stated that: 1. An extensive and sophisticated network linked to the Brotherhood operates covertly in Europe, both at the national and pan-European level (through its umbrella organization, FIOE/CEM, and spinoffs like FEMYSO); European-based Brotherhood-linked activists have created front organizations that allow them to operate within society and advance their agenda without being easily recognizable as being part of the Brotherhood.

Bobby’s Ranch is a commercial riding stable specializing in trail rides located in Westford, Massachusetts. Built on a dream in 1972 by Bob Haigh, who wanted to give his children something to do on summer vacation. He and his son built their first barn by hand. When he passed away in 2024, Bob Sr. had one final request: the cowboy wanted one last ride on his beloved horse Mariah. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Bobby’s Ranch (@bobbys_ranch) At 90, Bob Sr. had a long life. In his waning years, his favorite horse was Mariah. The name Mariah might be from the play “Oklahoma” and the song, “They Call the Wind Mariah.” The comparison to the wind seems appropriate with the family’s send-off message of “Ride like the wind.” To give the cowboy his last ride, the family had Bob cremated. They loaded his ashes into a cloth and attached it to the back of a saddle. They released Mariah to run free around the ranch when it was time. As she ran, the ashes scattered out behind her. Bob Sr. became a part of the land he had cared for over the past 50-plus years. There could be no finer resting place. The video, which was shared (and cried over) by so many, was recorded by his great-granddaughter, Lizzie. The family plans to keep operating Bobby’s Ranch. They’ve been there since building the first barn, and it’s grown quite a bit. Bob Sr. has left a legacy the family can be proud of. They will continue offering trail riding experiences, caring for their horses, adopting every stray animal in the vicinity, and maintaining retired horses at Hidden Acres Sanctuary. The cowboy got his last ride. All is right with the world. Please share and pass the tissues. You can find the source of this story’s featured image here. The post Cowboy “Rides” His Favorite Horse One Last Time After Passing Away appeared first on InspireMore.

'Not been fully transparent'

Author of The Dark Secrets of SHTF Survival and the online course SHTF Survival Boot Camp Another great and favorite topic in the survival community is a matter of best caliber and weapon for SHTF, and ammo with most stopping power. Stopping power means how quickly and with few bullets you can make a threat unable to attack you or anyone else. I tell you now, even for urban survival and the situation I have been through and speak about in my course, it is more important to discuss water filtering in urban SHTF scenarios than talking about stopping power. Do not get me wrong, I am perfectly aware that burst from the machine gun in the man standing in front of you will do much more damage (and probably will stop him forever) than shooting at him with a pistol. I have seen and been in lots of gunfights and in real life, shootings are not so simple that guy with bigger gun wins. It is about you The guy who was standing next to me pulls pistol (TT 7.62 mm) at an attacker who was starting to run away from us. I did not want to shoot at the guy because he was running away from us, and I thought he did not need to be shot, but my friend thought different. Anyway, he raised the pistol and fired 6 bullets at the guy. The guy was some 67 meters from him. And he missed him, all six bullets missed the guy, who ran away. The guy who was running away was moving away from us, but not in a straight line. He was moving diagonally so I guess that adds a little bit to why all bullets missed. But the man who was shooting from the pistol did next: He held the pistol with one hand Fired 6 shots in a very fast manner (recoil did its job and he did not spend to reacquire target) Screamed very loud while shooting I had (and still have) a lot of confidence in the TT pistol. It is a reliable and scary thing in good hands and can do a lot of damage. But point is that you are the man (or woman) who makes the shot and kills. So first you need to work on your skills. A .22 bullet to the head is worth more than .45 to the shoulder. Common sense. The weapon is something that in my opinion needs to be good and correct for you and your hand. There is no point in having some weapon just because it is good for someone else. Maybe it is completely wrong for you. Recoil, trigger pull, and general feel are just a few of many factors that determine what makes sense. Get a gun that enables you to hit your target even if people at the shooting range shoot a bigger caliber. We train for survival and not to show off. What you need to know about gunshot wounds Gunshot wounds are kinda strange because you never know what you can expect from it. When bullets enter the body it can make quite interesting stuff. I have seen people being hit from high caliber weapon and they even did not know they were hit, OK adrenaline works there too, but it is simply important whether the vital organs are damaged. Bullets can have very weird path once they enter the body, so even if entrance wound looks not so dangerous it still can shred organs in the body. You never know what it will be because there are many factors involved like weapon caliber, distance, angle… Bullets ricocheting from wall or ceiling above you still can kill you. Actually, small pieces of wall exploded from bullet hits can kill you if they hit the right spot. Generally speaking exit wound (if there is any) should look more “nasty” than entrance wound, but still, there were cases when in middle of the fight some folks did not know they had any wound at all until later they were carefully examined and entrance and exit wound were found. I treated a man once who had a gunshot wound in the forearm. Some 10 minutes after the battle people pointed at him and at the blood coming all along his arm and fingers. He had an entrance and exit wound, no bone damage, and still no pain. Adrenaline. Stopping power, penetration, etc. Remember the guy from the beginning of the post? Maybe if he had a knife or alternative weapon at that moment he would stop the other man with more success. And yes, I would always choose to have good and reliable pistol over a spear, but you get my point. I have seen guys who “stop” other guys with bullets from .22 CZ rifle in some very very cool (and scary) way and from quite some distance. They simply were good with that rifle. Shots in the head and chest have a better chance of “stopping” an attacker. A man can be also stopped with few shots in legs, but remember that he still can shoot you. Bullets in the stomach are bad things, but I have seen people firing back at their attacker with a rifle with their intestines hanging out Do not expect that man will be “blown away” with one shot in the chest, like in the movies. Even if you hit the attacker in heart, he still has a chance to shoot you. So in short, yes, bullets in the chest and head are good, but BULLETS, not A BULLET. Just be sure. Keep shooting until the threat is gone. There is nothing worse than stopping too early. Also important to consider is the meaning of the word “cover”. Remember that some things just cannot give you enough cover from gunfire. There is not much better than a big pile of compact dirt or concrete wall between you and man who shoots at you. Use common sense with taking cover, objects like a wooden door, bush, glass and similar are not cover, they are concealment. They can maybe HIDE you, but you still can be killed with bullets through it. Many times in my online course, I mentioned it that in SHTF you need lots of ammo, people shoot at whatever is suspicious. If you are hiding behind a wooden door, an attacker can shoot burst just through the door, to be sure. You are not covered. The will to kill When I wrote those 3 points about what the guy with TT gun did and why he did not hit the other man when he shot at him, there needs probably (but I will never know for sure) to be number 4 and that is “he did not actually want to kill the man”. Yes, even in life-threatening situations lots of people simply would choose not to kill, even if that means death for them. I believe it is something that some people simply can not do. They are not capable of that, to take some other person’s life. Maybe it seems to you that this is not connected with this topic of stopping power, but it is. So while choosing what weapon is good for you, you need to ask yourself “Am I capable of taking another man’s life?” Any hesitation can kill you when it matters, whatever caliber you have. The lesson here is, instead of researching “tactical” stuff online, learn about survival and go down to the shooting range. Find yourself a gun with a common round in your area. Find a gun that yo shoots well with. That is what makes sense. Forget all the endless debates about “stopping power” and “calibers.” The gun you know how to use best has the most stopping power. About Selco: Selco survived the Balkan war of the 90s in a city under siege, without electricity, running water, or food distribution.  In his online works, he gives an inside view of the reality of survival under the harshest conditions. He reviews what works and what doesn’t, tells you the hard lessons he learned, and shares how he prepares today. He never stopped learning about survival and preparedness since the war. Regardless of what happens, chances are you will never experience extreme situations as Selco did. But you have the chance to learn from him and how he faced death for months. Read more of Selco’s articles here. Buy his PDF books here. Buy his #1 New Release paperback, The Dark Secrets of Survival here. Take advantage of a deep and profound insight into his knowledge by signing up for his online course SHTF Survival Boot Camp. Learn the inside story of what it was really like when the SHTF with his online course One Year in Hell. Real survival is not romantic or idealistic. It is brutal, hard and unfair. Let Selco take you into that world. The post SELCO: The Myth of Stopping Power & What REALLY Stops Attackers appeared first on The Organic Prepper.

When Pope Francis spoke in St. Peter’s Square on Oct. 10, 2018, he was not talking about gangsters when he spoke about a “hit man.” He was talking about abortion. The pope started by citing the Fifth Commandment: “You shall not kill.” “One could say that all the evil carried out in the world can be summed up in this: contempt for life,” he said. “A contradictory approach even permits the termination of human life in the maternal womb, in the name of safeguarding other rights,” he said. “But how can an action that ends an innocent and defenseless life in its blossoming stage be therapeutic, civilized, or simply human?” “Is it right to hire a hit man in order to solve a problem? One cannot,” he said. “It is not right to ‘do away with’ a human being, however small, in order to solve a problem. “It is like hiring a hit man to solve a problem,” he said. Three years later, at an assembly of the Pontifical Academy for Life, he again likened abortion to hiring a hit man—and specifically called it murder. “In his presentation, Msgr. Paglia referred to something: but there is the throwing away of children that we do not want to welcome, with that abortion law that sends them back to their sender and kills them,” said the pope. “Today this has become a ‘normal’ thing, a habit that is very bad; it is truly murder. “In order to truly grasp this,” he said, “perhaps asking ourselves two questions may help: Is it right to eliminate, to end a human life to solve a problem? Is it right to hire a hit man to solve a problem? Abortion is this.” On Sept. 15, 2021, while on a flight, Pope Francis also told reporters that abortion is murder and like hiring a hit man. “Abortion is more than an issue. Abortion is murder,” he said, according to a Catholic News Agency transcript. “It’s a human life, period,” he said. “This human life must be respected. This principle is so clear. And to those who can’t understand it I would ask two questions: Is it right, is it fair, to kill a human life to solve a problem? Scientifically it is a human life. Second question: Is it right to hire a hit man to solve a problem?” This Jan. 1, Pope Francis delivered a homily that defended the unborn. “For this reason,” he said, “‘I ask for a firm commitment to respect for the dignity of human life from conception to natural death, so that each person may cherish his or her own life and all may look with hope to the future.'” When Pope Francis passed away on Monday, some Democrat leaders in Congress issued statements honoring his life—but not mentioning his passionate commitment to the right to life. Senate Democrat Whip Dick Durbin is a Catholic who voted against the Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act and for the Women’s Health Protection Act, which did not pass. This bill, according to its summary, would have prohibited “governmental restrictions on the provision of, and access to, abortion services.” In a statement on X, Durbin said: “We have lost the messenger, but we must hold fast to the message of Pope Francis to love and respect one another. In a world of hate and fear, Pope Francis’ message of peace and understanding is needed now more than ever.” He did not mention the pope’s defense of the unborn. Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is also a Catholic who voted against the Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act and for the Women’s Health Protection Act. She issued a statement of more than 270 words. “His Holiness Pope Francis personified our sacred responsibility in the Gospel of Matthew to honor the spark of divinity in the least of our brethren—championing the poor, the worker, the refugee, and the immigrant,” she said. Like Durbin, she did not mention the pope’s defense of the unborn. House Democrat Leader Hakeem Jeffries—who voted for the Women’s Health Protection Act—issued a statement of more than 170 words. He spoke of the pope’s defense of “the least” and “the vulnerable”— but not the unborn. “Pope Francis dedicated his time on Earth to uplifting the least, the lost, and the left behind,” said Jeffries. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, who chairs the Senate Democratic Steering and Policy Committee and voted for the Women’s Health Protection Act, issued a statement recalling when Pope Francis visited Congress a decade ago. “One moment in particular stood out to me from that day—as the Pope was getting ready to address thousands of people gathered on the Mall,” she said, “one of the security guards plucked a woman out with her baby, who Pope Francis blessed. He understood that faith exists in the moments big and small.” Klobuchar did not mention that Pope Francis would have defended that baby’s right to life from the moment of conception. In 2021, however, she suggested on “Meet the Press” that abortion should be legalized nationwide—as it would be with the Women’s Health Protection Act. “And I think the best way to do it is not a patchwork of state laws, but to codify Roe v. Wade, put it into law,” she said. That would be like giving hit men federal protection to commit murder. COPYRIGHT 2025 CREATORS.COM We publish a variety of perspectives. Nothing written here is to be construed as representing the views of The Daily Signal. The post What Democrat Leaders Did Not Say About Pope Francis appeared first on The Daily Signal.