By Joan Swirsky A long time ago, in 2006, my son Seth wrote an article ––Why I left the Left–– for RealClearPolitics.com. When President George W. Bush’s “brain” Karl Rove read it, OMG he invited Seth to lunch at the White House! That was many years after I personally left the Left, but I couldn’t […] The post Why I Also Left the Left appeared first on www.independentsentinel.com.

Tucker Carlson spoke at the Doha Forum and in a conversation with the Qatar Prime Minister, he said he has not taken any money from Qatar to do their bidding. He also told Qatar’s Prime Minister Al Thani that he was buying a place in Qatar because he likes the city. As an American, he […] The post Tucker Is Buying Property in Doha, Qatar appeared first on www.independentsentinel.com.

Virtually everyone in the United States has been targeted for some kind of scam. A tiny share of these attempts succeed, but the losses still run into the billions.

I’ve watched two American cities make opposite choices about the same problem. As a young man, I worked in Memphis: first as a traveling salesman, then as a law student, and finally as an attorney at a Memphis law firm. As an associate lawyer, I dreamed of escaping the daily grind by writing a great American novel. A fellow named John Grisham beat me to it, writing a book called “The Firm,” which was loosely based on my then-Memphis law firm, Baker Donelson. I guess that is why, many years later, I’m still a practicing attorney and John Grisham has written 55 published books. Although I reside in Springfield, I’ve spent considerable time in Chicago over the past 10 years. While Chicago is bigger than Memphis, the two cities are similar in that I love them both and both are high crime cities. Based on 2024 numbers, Chicago has led the U.S. in total murders for 13 years. Memphis ranked second in homicides per capita among large cities.  I happen to know what it means to be on the wrong end of urban violence. I was held up at gunpoint in Memphis. That experience taught me something that no policy paper ever could: When you’re facing a criminal with a weapon, political debates about federal jurisdiction become meaningless. What matters is whether your city is doing everything possible to keep people safe. To that end: Memphis said yes to federal help. Chicago said no. The results tell you everything you need to know about what happens when politics overrides public safety. Memphis Chose Cooperation In Memphis, the numbers speak louder than any political speech. When the city partnered with federal law enforcement through the Memphis Safe Task Force, murders dropped 48%, sexual assaults fell 49%, and robberies decreased 61% in just 56 days. Overall crime hit a 25-year low. Murder reached a six-year low. Sexual assault dropped to a 20-year low. A Memphis resident at a Grizzlies game said what statistics can’t: “It is so peaceful … we’re just enjoying life and it just feels so free.” Chicago Chose Politics  Chicago took a different path. Mayor Brandon Johnson stated that the city “does not intend to apply for any federal grants that require the city to comply with President Trump’s political aims.” The cost of that decision? A Chicago nonprofit lost $3.7 million in federal funding for violence prevention. Programs that could have saved lives disappeared because of political positioning. Meanwhile, only 6% of major crimes result in arrests in Chicago. Less than 20% of murders get solved. For non-fatal shootings, the clearance rate drops to 5%. The False Frame Some frame this as a battle between local control and federal overreach. That’s inaccurate. Memphis didn’t surrender authority. The city multiplied its resources. Federal agents brought additional manpower, expertise, and the ability to prosecute cases in federal court where sentences carry more weight. Mayor Paul Young said efforts were “guided by one purpose: to uplift our community.” The partnership worked because it focused on outcomes, not ideology. The real question is: Do you want leaders to prioritize safety or political statements? Politics Has a Body Count Do you want leaders to prioritize safety or political statements? I’ve seen both approaches. The difference isn’t subtle. In Memphis, people feel safer walking their streets. Crime data confirms what residents experience daily. Chicago rejected the offer of federal help, and encouraged a rebellion against enforcement of federal immigration law. In the past month, we saw another deadly teen takeover of downtown Chicago, career criminals terrorizing Chicago Transit Authority riders, school children beating up a mom with her child, and more gang violence. You can debate federal policy all you want. But when your city faces a crime crisis, the question becomes simple: Will you accept help or grandstand while people suffer? Memphis answered that question. So did Chicago. The results speak for themselves. Originally published by RealClearPolitics. We publish a variety of perspectives. Nothing written here is to be construed as representing the views of The Daily Signal. The post Two Cities, Two Crime Strategies: What I Learned Living in Both appeared first on The Daily Signal.

With the first year of the second Trump administration coming to a close, Present Donald Trump has articulated a new national security strategy that will "build upon" his substantial achievements thus far. On Friday, the Trump administration published a document that lays out the National Security Strategy to put America first going forward. 'In everything we do, we are putting America First.'The 33-page document highlights President Trump's successes and frames his time in office as a correction of failed policies from past administrations and conventional wisdom. RELATED: University of Minnesota faces backlash over project that seeks to cure the 'Whiteness Pandemic' Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty ImagesLooking to the future, the document asks a simple question: what should the United States want? It goes on to highlight the core tenets of what the Trump administration will work to achieve, including the "survival and safety" of U.S. citizens, control over our borders and freedom from "destructive propaganda and influence operations," a strong military, economy, energy grid, and a "robust industrial base." The document goes into more detail and lists other wants of the country, but it also issues a reimagining of "soft power" entails: "'Soft power' that serves America's true national interest is effective only if we believe in our country's inherent greatness and decency."In our dealings with the world, the strategy reiterates its desire to control the Western Hemisphere without foreign incursions and to have unimpeded strategic access in the hemisphere, thus asserting a "Trump Corollary" to the Monroe Doctrine.In addition, the strategy highlights the desire to avoid "forever wars," maintain primacy in the tech sector, and to restore a Europe, it says, that is in danger of "civilizational erasure" thanks to institutions which have "undermined political liberty and sovereignty." "We want Europe to remain European, to regain its civilizational self-confidence, and to abandon its failed focus on regulatory suffocation." The strategy also highlighted that Europe's principal alliance with the United States, NATO, is not guaranteed perpetually if the character of the nations change through rampant immigration from the third-world. The document says it is "plausible" that certain NATO countries will be "non-European" in the next few decades, which could mean that they will view the United States and themselves differently than those who signed the charter. Crucially, President Trump writes: "In everything we do, we are putting America first. ... In the years ahead, we will continue to develop every dimension of our national strength--and we will make America safer, richer, freer, greater, and more powerful than ever before." Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Comedian Joe Rogan praised Christianity as a faith that really "works," calling biblical scripture "fascinating" during a recent interview.Rogan also touched on what he thinks the resurrection of Jesus Christ would look like, a viewpoint that was met with criticism by host Jesse Michels.'You don't think that He could return as artificial intelligence?'On an episode of "American Alchemy," Rogan cited the Bible when he spoke about how easily knowledge could become mysterious, conflated, or unbelievable when passed down through generations."We'll tell everybody about the internet. We'll tell everybody about airplanes. We'll tell everybody about SpaceX; as much as you can remember, you'll tell people, but you won't know how it's done. You won't know what it is. And I think that's how you get to, like, the Adam and Eve story," he said.After adding that he believes biblical stories are "recounting real truth," the podcaster brought up a question he had clearly been pondering for a while: "Who's Jesus?"Rogan prefaced that many will disagree with his perspective, but then asked about the possibility that Jesus could be resurrected, in a sense, through artificial intelligence."Jesus is born out of a virgin mother. What's more virgin than a computer?" Rogan began. "So if you're going to get the most brilliant, loving, powerful person that gives us advice and can show us how to live to be in sync with God. Who better than artificial intelligence to do that? If Jesus does return, even if Jesus was a physical person in the past, you don't think that He could return as artificial intelligence?"The host, however, did not accept Rogan's theory.RELATED: Joe Rogan, Christian? The podcaster opens up about his ongoing exploration of faith First, though, Rogan clarified, indicting that he doesn't believe artificial intelligence would actually be Jesus but instead that it would serve as the return of Jesus in terms of affect and capability."Artificial intelligence could absolutely return as Jesus. Not just return as Jesus, but return as Jesus with all the powers of Jesus," Rogan said. "Like all the magic tricks, all the ability to bring people back from the dead, walk on water, levitation, water into wine."In response, Michels said Rogan's description sounded like an unwanted "dystopian" future.Still Rogan argued that the prerequisite for a Jesus-like being could come about due to the human need to improve."It's only dystopian if you think that we're a perfect organism that can't be improved upon. And that's not the case," he rebutted. "That's clearly not the case based on our actions, based on society as a whole, based on the overall state of the world. It's not. We certainly can be improved upon."While the host accepted that perhaps humans could improve morally and ethically, he said that attempts at improving by means of a computer "seems destructive."RELATED: Joe Rogan says we’re at ‘step 7’ on the road to civil war. Is he right? Glenn Beck answers Photo by AFP PHOTO/AFP via Getty Images The conversation flowed smoothly into Rogan's love of Christian scripture, with the 58-year-old saying how joyful his experience has been at his new church."The scripture, to me, is what's interesting; it's fascinating," he said. "Christianity, at least, is the only thing I have experience with. It works. The people that are Christians, that go to this church that I go to, that I meet, that are Christian, they are the nicest f**king people you will ever meet."Rogan gave examples about the polite society he has found himself immersed in, hilariously citing the church parking lot as an example."Everybody lets you go in front of them. There's no one honking in the church parking lot. It works," he said.What Rogan hammered home throughout the conversation was that he finds real truth in what he has read in the Bible. Still he isn't sold on having predictions provided for him about the future; but he is certainly open to it. He described biblical stories positively as an "ancient relaying" of real history and events. But about the book of Revelation, Rogan said of his pastor, "There's no way that guy telling you that knows that. ... He's just a person. He's a person like you or me that is like deeply involved in the scripture."Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Per Scott Rasmussen, Voters Hold Blended Opinions of Socialism and Capitalism

Tammy Duckworth Accuses Pete Hegseth of Murder & War Crimes… Then Admits She Hasn’t Reviewed Any Evidence

WD-40 is a versatile product that can be used for several applications, but is it safe to use on your electronics? Here's what you need to know.