President Trump stands by War Secretary Pete Hegseth and the drug boat strikes as the Cabinet convenes once again, the administration threatens to withhold tax dollars over illegal commercial driver’s licenses, and a New Jersey probe into a pro-life pregnancy center winds up in the Supreme Court. It’s Wednesday, December 3, 2025, and this is the news you need to know to start your day. Today’s edition of the Morning Wire podcast can be heard below, and the video version can be seen on The Daily Wire: Trump Backs Hegseth In Cabinet Meeting Topline: President Trump gathered his cabinet Tuesday and defended Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, vowing to continue his strikes against narco-terrorists. All eyes on Hegseth: The War secretary has come under fire for allegedly ordering airstrikes targeting survivors of a drug smuggling boat that had been destroyed by an initial strike. The White House has rallied around Hegseth, reiterating that these suspected cartel members have been designated as terrorists, and are essentially enemy combatants of the United States. On Tuesday, Hegseth struck a defiant tone, vowing to continue the strikes. The original reporting on the alleged illegal strike story is now facing a flood of scrutiny. The New York Times published a story this week refuting the main allegation against Hegseth — that he specifically ordered a second strike to kill survivors. The Times cited five anonymous U.S. officials who each said separately that Hegseth did order a strike to kill the drug smugglers, but “his order was not a response to surveillance footage showing that at least two people on the boat survived the first blast,” and he did not address what should be done if there were survivors. Latest on National Guard Shooting: In one of the cabinet meeting’s more somber moments, Attorney General Pam Bondi honored the life of slain National Guardsman Sarah Beckstrom and offered an update on Andrew Wolfe, the guardsmen fighting for his life in the hospital. “I was there where when the surgeons came in and [his parents] wanted you to know this — he’s a miracle, and if everyone in this country can continue to pray for that family. He’s got a long road ahead of him, but he is a miracle,” said Bondi. The alleged shooter, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, appeared virtually in court on Tuesday from a hospital bed, where he was formally charged with murder and a slew of other crimes. Lakanwal pleaded not guilty to all charges. He’ll be held without bond throughout the trial. Bondi said the Justice Department intends to seek the death penalty. 50% off DailyWire+ annual memberships will not return for another year, so don’t miss this deal! Join now at DailyWire.com/cyberweek. Minnesota’s Illegal License Loophole Topline: Minnesota is facing federal pressure after an audit found widespread improper licensing of foreign drivers, underscoring broader immigration-oversight issues. The Trump administration has presented some pretty jaw-dropping findings and is now taking action. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced that the federal government will withhold more than $30 million in highway funding from Minnesota. The state can avoid the penalty if Democratic Governor Tim Walz revokes a large number of commercial driver’s licenses that were issued illegally to drivers whose immigration or residency status did not comply with federal law. Duffy gave Walz 30 days to fix it, or the funding would be withheld. What Walz thinks: Officials in the Walz administration say they are reviewing this letter from the Department of Transportation, and claim that they take “safety” on their roads “seriously.”  Step back: Commercial drivers licenses for illegals or people with improper status have been a focus for months now, due to some devastating crashes that have killed Americans. The Daily Wire’s Jennie Taer reported that a newlywed couple was tragically killed in a collision allegedly caused by an illegal immigrant truck driver with a California license. The Indian national involved in the crash has been charged with criminally negligent homicide and reckless endangerment.  The Department of Transportation has found that California authorities have issued some 17,000 non-domiciled Commercial Driver’s Licenses to foreign drivers. The Trump administration is similarly threatening to withhold tens of millions of federal dollars from California. A number of other states, including red states, are being scrutinized over this issue, too. SCOTUS Case On Pro-Life Targeting Topline: The Supreme Court heard arguments Tuesday on a case involving a state allegedly “intimidating” and “harassing” a pregnancy center for not conducting abortions. The case, First Choice Women’s Resource Centers, Inc. v. Platkin, could set precedent on states’ ability to similarly target pregnancy centers and pro-life organizations. Erin Hawley, general counsel at Alliance Defending Freedom and one of the attorneys representing First Choice, spoke to Morning Wire about the case. (The following interview has been edited for clarity.) Morning Wire: This case stems from New Jersey’s Democrat Attorney General Matt Platkin creating a “strike force” that targeted pregnancy resource centers. He issued a statewide “consumer alert” against them — and then specifically issued a subpoena to First Choice that was extremely intrusive, including asking for donor information. We’ve just heard oral arguments before the Supreme Court. By the line of questioning from the justices, do you have a sense how they appear to be leaning?  Hawley: I’ll have to paraphrase an old boss of mine. After arguing, he would say, I would rather be on our side than their side. And I think that’s definitely true after this oral argument. If you think about some of the questions the justices were asking, Justice Barrett, for example, pointed out the hostility that New Jersey has shown toward pregnancy care centers. Justice Kagan took a really practical view of the case. She’s not one that you would maybe expect to be ideologically aligned with First Choice, and yet she made the common sense point, if I receive a subpoena that demands donor names, I don’t want my name and address and phone number out there. And so she was saying that this is going to chill the First Amendment rights of recipients in sort of a common sense way. It seemed like a majority or certainly several members of the court were really understanding the effect that subpoena had both on First Choice Women’s Resource Center, as well as its donors. Morning Wire: That seems pretty promising for First Choice. Were there any particularly surprising moments to you in the arguments — anything you weren’t anticipating?  Hawley: One kind of highlight of the oral argument was the fact that we had hoped to sort of highlight, but that’s the fact that the New Jersey attorney general has never said that he received a single complaint against First Choice by anyone. Justice Thomas really leaned into that and asked the New Jersey attorney, why did you investigate First Choice? Did you receive a complaint? Like, did anyone tell you that they didn’t like them? And the New Jersey attorney general had to answer no. They had received no complaints about First Choice.

The Trump administration on Tuesday took action against six blue states that it says have failed to comply with requests to produce their voter rolls.  The Justice Department announced suits against Delaware, Maryland, New Mexico, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington for not producing statewide registration lists. Without these lists, the Justice Department said that they cannot certify that the states are maintaining an accurate count of eligible voters.  “Accurate voter rolls are the cornerstone of fair and free elections, and too many states have fallen into a pattern of noncompliance with basic voter roll maintenance,” said Attorney General Pam Bondi. “The Department of Justice will continue filing proactive election integrity litigation until states comply with basic election safeguards.” The suits come amid a push from Republicans nationwide to crackdown on non-citizen voting and maintain clean voter registration lists. The lawsuits say that the states are not acting in accordance with the National Voter Registration Act and the Help America Vote Act, which compel states to maintain accurate voter lists. The attorney general is empowered to enforce those laws and has a right to access the lists under the Civil Rights Act of 1960, the suits say. “States that continue to defy federal voting laws interfere with our mission of ensuring that Americans have accurate voter lists as they go to the polls, that every vote counts equally, and that all voters have confidence in election results. At this Department of Justice, we will not stand for this open defiance of federal civil rights laws,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon. The lawsuit against Rhode Island says that on September 16 Rhode Island sent a letter to the Justice Department refusing a September 8 request for voter roll information. The letter said that the states “objects to providing” the requested information, according to the suit. This requested information includes driver license information and the last four digits of Social Security numbers used to register for voting.  50% off DailyWire+ annual memberships will not return for another year, so don’t miss this deal! Join now at DailyWire.com/cyberweek. Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha claimed the suit was an example of Trump weaponizing the Justice Department.  “We stand with and will defend the secretary, and win, because lawsuits concerning lawful conduct are largely unsuccessful,” he said. “But I’m not surprised that this administration is confused about what it means to behave lawfully.” In September, the Justice Department announced suits against Michigan, California, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, Minnesota, and New York over the same issue.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio laid out the crisis at America’s southern border and the growing danger emanating from Venezuela during a candid exchange with Fox News host Sean Hannity on Tuesday night. Rubio blasted Venezuelan socialist President Nicolás Maduro’s regime, calling it a failing dictatorship that is funneling chaos toward the United States. The secretary of State said that Maduro “suckered Joe Biden,” but added, “They’re not going to sucker Donald Trump.” Rubio noted that more than eight million Venezuelans have fled the country, overwhelming neighbors and adding to the migrant flow reaching America’s doorstep. But he stressed that the conversation can’t stop at humanitarian collapse. The sharper danger, he argued, is the Iranian foothold inside Venezuela, a reality the media rarely touches. He explained that Iran’s IRGC — and even Hezbollah — have entrenched themselves in South America, with Venezuela serving as one of their “anchor” sanctuaries. Rubio also discussed the unavoidable limits of vetting migrants with a level of sobriety absent from most political rhetoric. “You can only vet information that exists,” he said. “So it is possible that in many cases, there are things about these people that you just don’t know, and no matter how much you vet them, you just don’t have certain information.” 50% off DailyWire+ annual memberships will not return for another year, so don’t miss this deal! Join now at DailyWire.com/cyberweek. Rubio explained that in many corners of the world — especially countries overrun by terrorists or lacking functioning institutions — documentation is nonexistent or impossible to verify. He warned that someone with no extremist record could be pulled into ideology once inside the United States, particularly if they struggle to assimilate or are vulnerable to propaganda in their native language. The Afghan national who allegedly shot two National Guardsmen in Washington, D.C., last week — killing one and wounding the other — was “radicalized” through connections he maintained in Afghanistan after coming to the United States, according to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. “The bottom line is there is no effective way to allow hundreds of thousands of people to enter any country in the world and not face consequences,” Rubio added. Turning back to Venezuela, Rubio said the Biden administration made a major mistake by believing that Maduro could be negotiated into good behavior. “The Biden administration made a deal with Maduro. No one talks about this,” Rubio told Hannity. “He made a deal with Maduro. Here was the deal: Maduro asked that his nephews – convicted drug traffickers – be released from U.S. prisons. He asked that his chief money launderer, his money man, his bag man, be released from U.S. custody before he stood trial. In exchange he promised to hold free and fair elections. He got the nephews back, the drug dealers. He got the bag man back. And he never did the free and fair elections.”

If the races were reversed, Bethany MaGee would be as well-known as George Floyd. MaGee, 26, was recently riding on the L train in Chicago. As she was sitting there, police believe Lawrence Reed, 50, came up behind her and dumped gasoline on her. Despite her attempt to flee, Reed set her on fire. She rolled on the ground in a vain attempt to put out the flames. When the train arrived at the station, she left the car while still being burned alive. Two good Samaritans came to her aid, putting out the fire. She survived but suffered severe burns. She faces a long and daunting recovery. Somehow, this crime gets even more outrageous. Reed had already been arrested 72 times. Yes, you read that correctly. Since 2016, he has been arrested more than 20 times. He previously pleaded guilty to nine felonies. Just three months before this attack, Reed was in custody. At an August hearing, Assistant State’s Attorney Jerrilyn Gumila urged Cook County Judge Teresa Molina-Gonzalez to keep Reed behind bars. Gumila laid out how, three days before the hearing, Reed had knocked a social worker unconscious. Electronic monitoring “could not protect the victim or the community from another vicious, random, and spontaneous attack,” the prosecutor said. “I understand your position, but I can’t keep everybody in jail because the State’s Attorney wants me to,” Molina-Gonzalez said. She released Reed with electronic monitoring. It didn’t stop him from allegedly setting MaGee on fire. This should be a major national story for at least three reasons. First, the details of the crime are shocking and appalling. The victim is even an attractive young woman, which the propaganda press usually craves. Second, there’s a major scandal here. Police had a career criminal in custody. A judge let him go, despite a prosecutor’s warning that he was a danger. Third, President Donald Trump has been sparring with Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson over the city’s safety. In October, Trump even sent the National Guard to Chicago. A search of The New York Times website for “Bethany MaGee,” however, yielded zero results, as of this writing. The Washington Post didn’t have any either. Days after it occurred, NBC Nightly News finally mentioned it, but used the attack to take a swipe at Trump. They’re silent because this crime doesn’t fit the Left’s narrative. It wants you to believe that the criminal justice system is systemically racist against African Americans. What matters is someone’s group identity, not individual actions. White Americans have special privilege. This one case shows how laughable those claims are. Reed wasn’t jailed for being black. He was coddled by the justice system despite dozens of arrests. Critical race theory proponents lump people into groups based on their skin tone. They claim that black people are the victims, while white people are the oppressors. Yes, their worldview requires believing that the woman who was set on fire was the oppressor. It’s easier to ignore this story than explain that absurdity. MaGee’s skin color didn’t give her any special advantages on that train car. It didn’t protect Ukrainian immigrant Iryna Zarutska when Decarlos Brown Jr. allegedly stabbed her, either. She didn’t have much privilege when most of her fellow passengers ignored her as she bled to death. America’s criminal justice system has a systemic problem, but it isn’t white supremacy. It’s the judges and prosecutors who protect criminals, instead of the public. 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 When a Crime Burns Up the Narrative appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Pretty Soon, Every Gen Z'er Will Be 'Disabled'

A new meta-analysis has looked at the evidence, and it’s promising.

Searching for "molecular postcodes" could detect new or recurring cancers before they're even visible on a scan.

We have built a world overflowing with noise, convenience, and endless choice, yet something essential has slipped out of reach. You can sense it in the restless mood of the country, the anxiety among young people who cannot explain why they feel empty, in the angry confusion that dominates our politics.We have more wealth than any nation in history, but the heart of the culture feels strangely malnourished. Before we can debate debt, or elections, we must confront the reality that we created a world of things, but not a world of purpose.You cannot survive a crisis you refuse to name, and you cannot rebuild a world whose foundations you no longer understand.What we are living through is not just economic or political dysfunction. It is the vacuum that appears when a civilization mistakes abundance for meaning.Modern life is stuffed with everything except what the human soul actually needs. We built systems to make life faster, easier, more efficient — and then wondered why those systems cannot teach our children who they are, why they matter, or what is worth living for.We tell the next generation to chase success, influence, and wealth, turning childhood into branding. We ask kids what they want to do, not who they want to be. We build a world wired for dopamine rather than dignity, and then we wonder why so many people feel unmoored.When everything is curated, optimized, and delivered at the push of a button, the question “what is my life for?” gets lost in the static.The crisis beneath the headlinesIt is not just the young who feel this crisis. Every part of our society is straining under the weight of meaninglessness.Look at the debt cycle — the mathematical fate no civilization has ever escaped once it crosses a threshold that we seem to have already blown by. While ordinary families feel the pressure, our leaders respond with distraction, with denial, or by rewriting the very history that could have warned us.You cannot survive a crisis you refuse to name, and you cannot rebuild a world whose foundations you no longer understand.We have entered a cultural moment where the noise is so loud that it drowns out the simplest truths. We are living in a country that no longer knows how to hear itself think.So people go searching. Some drift toward the false promise of socialism, some toward the empty thrill of rebellion. Some simply check out. When a culture forgets what gives life meaning, it becomes vulnerable to every ideology that offers a quick answer.The quiet return of meaningAnd yet, quietly, something else is happening. Beneath the frustration and cynicism, many Americans are recognizing that meaning does not come from what we own, but from what we honor. It does not rise from success, but from virtue. It does not emerge from noise, but from the small, sacred things that modern life has pushed to the margins — the home, the table, the duty you fulfill, the person you help when no one is watching.The danger is assuming that this rediscovery happens on its own. It does not.Reorientation requires intention. It requires rebuilding the habits and virtues that once held us together. It requires telling the truth about our history instead of rewriting it to fit today’s narratives. And it requires acknowledging what has been erased: that meaning is inseparable from God’s presence in a nation’s life.RELATED: A nation without trust is a nation on borrowed time Denis Novikov via iStock/Getty ImagesWhere renewal beginsWe have built a world without stillness, and then we wondered why no one can hear the questions that matter. Those questions remain, whether we acknowledge them or not. They do not disappear just because we drown them in entertainment or noise. They wait for us, and the longer we ignore them, the more disoriented we become.Meaning is still available. It is found in rebuilding the smallest, most human spaces — the places that cannot be digitized, globalized, or automated. The home. The family. The community.These are the daily virtues that do not trend on social media but that hold a civilization upright. If we want to repair this country, we begin there, exactly where every durable civilization has always begun: one virtue at a time, one tradition at a time, one generation at a time.Want more from Glenn Beck? Get Glenn’s FREE email newsletter with his latest insights, top stories, show prep, and more delivered to your inbox.

The Old State Saloon in Eagle, Idaho, achieved national prominence last year when it launched what it deemed "Heterosexual Awesomeness Month."The punch line? The plucky watering hole chose June for its 30 days of celebrating all things straight — which, of course, immediately ignited fuses dangling from left-wing noggins given that June has long been Pride Month and all.'WE ARE PLANNING A HUGE PROTEST THIS WEEKEND AT UR POS SALOON! GOD DOESN'T LIKE UGLY AND Y'ALL GOING STRAIGHT TO HELL!'Well, the Old State Saloon once again is managing to poke at the left — this time offering free beer for a month to all those who help Immigration and Customs Enforcement capture and deport illegal immigrants.The bar's Saturday X post reads, "ALERT: Anyone who helps ICE identify and ultimately deport an illegal from Idaho gets FREE BEER FOR ONE MONTH at Old State Saloon!"On the same day, the Department of Homeland Security reposted the saloon’s offer with a humorous GIF underscoring how floored the agency is with the promotion helping its cause — and the repost has received a whopping 3.7 million views. The Old State Saloon replied, "Let's go! Deport them all!"Part of the deal, however, is that those who want to claim the month-long sudsy prize must "send a detailed email with any evidence, photos, videos, summary of events, dates, and times" to deportations@oldstatesaloon.com.One person asked the bar, "Hold up! Is there a limit per month? Limit on months?" Old State replied, "2/day for one month" and "at our discretion, may award multiple months to one person if multiple illegals are deported."RELATED: 'Heterosexual Awesomeness Month' under way at Idaho saloon — and minds are exploding across the fruited plain Photographer: Yuvraj Khanna/Bloomberg via Getty ImagesThe bar on Sunday announced its "first big winner" of the free beer offer: Ryan Spoon, vice chair of the Ada County Republican Central Committee in Idaho. Spoon told Newsweek he "had a free Moon Dog Amber Ale" and "a great chat with the owner, Mark Fitzpatrick, whom I also consider a friend."More from the magazine:Spoon previously made headlines when he publicly called for immigration raids on state Representative Stephanie Mickelsen's farm, alleging the employment of undocumented workers. Days later, immigration agents visited Mickelsen Farms, leading to the arrest of one employee.With all the attention the bar's offer of free beer is generating, it should come as no surprise that a wave of left-wing backlash has been quickly growing.But the Old State Saloon isn't backing down from any of it — in fact, the bar is reposting on its X page the nasty feedback it has been receiving. The missives range from what clearly are fake one-star reviews — aimed at lowering the bar's average customer scores — to some interestingly worded threats.One of them read: "I hope you get swatted like all the sad little MAGAT bitches who think they're doing something right. You're not, you racist piece of s**t. I'll be dancing a jig in a week when your busted-up s**thole is closed forever. Maybe I'll stop by first [to] see if a cleansing fire might be the ticket.""U RACIST ASSHOLES!" another message read. "WE ARE PLANNING A HUGE PROTEST THIS WEEKEND AT UR POS SALOON! GOD DOESN'T LIKE UGLY AND Y'ALL GOING STRAIGHT TO HELL! BITCHES."Old State offered the following reply: "You better hurry up because according to all your criminal friends, Old State Saloon will be burned down by then! Let's be real: You aren't going to do anything. But you sounded pretty tough for a minute there."What's more, on the day after the launch of the free beer campaign, Old State actually took things to another level, noting that the month of December is now "Merry Snitchmas" and a collection of new specials is on tap: "Manly American Mondays — all American citizen males who support ICE get one free beer! Ladies’ 'I’m Telling' Tuesdays — BOGO for American woman willing to tell ICE about any illegals, to get them deported. Wednesday: American heterosexual couples get 10% off their entire bill. Get married and make American babies, if at all possible!"Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Like a Narco-Terrorist Drug Boat: NY Times Blows WAPO's Hegseth Narrative Out of the Water