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For a brief window this coming week, Passover and Holy Week, the sacred observances of Jews and Christians, respectively, will overlap. Jews around the world will gather this Wednesday and Thursday evenings for the Seder, which recounts the Exodus from Egypt and God’s redemptive hand in history. And after Good Friday and Holy Saturday on Sunday, April 5, Christians will celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ and the promise of eternal salvation. Two biblical traditions, distinct but from the same Abrahamic family tree, will thus find themselves marking holy seasons at the same time. In this fraught moment, this calendar convergence feels like quite a bit more than mere serendipity. It is a visceral reminder of the shared moral and theological inheritance that undergirds Judaism and Christianity—the common foundation that has molded and shaped what we know today as Western civilization. At their core, both holidays tell a story of redemption. For Jews, Passover is the story of a people delivered from bondage, divine justice meted out against tyranny, and covenantal purpose eventually forged after national liberation. Likewise for Christians, Easter is a story of redemption—of sin confronted and overcome, of sacrifice and renewal, of life triumphing over death. The theological particulars certainly differ, and Judaism’s heavier emphasis on particularism contrasts with Christianity’s universalist orientation, but the underlying message is still strikingly similar: Hope springs eternal. Equally central to both traditions, and both springtime holidays, is the idea of repentance. In Judaism, the concept of “teshuvah”—returning to God through repentance and righteous action—is a cornerstone of religious life. Jewish tradition teaches that in addition to the fall High Holiday season’s well-known focus on repentance, the springtime season of Passover is also a perfect occasion to atone and confidently step closer to God. Christianity, of course, also places repentance at the heart of spiritual renewal, calling believers to turn away from sin and toward charity and grace. The searing imagery of Christ’s crucifixion is ensconced in the West’s collective memory, perhaps more than anything else, for its emphasis on atonement for mankind’s sins. These shared values—redemption, repentance, moral accountability—help constitute the bedrock of Western civilization today. Zooming out from the overarching themes of this season’s calendrical overlap, consider some of the West’s other defining principles: the rule of law, the dignity of the individual, the sanctity of life, the pursuit of justice. The fingerprints of the ecumenical biblical inheritance are ubiquitous. This is our common inheritance. This is who we are. And yet, at this very moment when the alignment of Passover and Easter should prompt reflection on that shared inheritance, bad-faith actors on the home front are seeking to tear Jews and Christians apart at the seams. The timing of this subversion could not possibly be worse. The West finds itself under unprecedented strain. The threats are multifaceted and very real. There is the challenge of Islamism—a totalitarian political ideology, historically beyond America’s borders but increasingly also found within, which seeks not peaceful coexistence but dominance. There is the rot of woke neo-Marxism, which rejects objective truth, undermines meritocracy, and seeks to replace individual responsibility with collective grievance and a debilitating victimhood culture. And there is the ever-insidious force of globalism, which threatens to erode national sovereignty, dilute cultural identity, and promote homogenized technocratic governance over the democratic accountability that only the nation-state can provide. Against these challenges, Jews and Christians must not stand apart. We simply cannot afford to. The symbolic overlap of Passover and Easter this year should serve as a moment of reflection that, despite real theological differences, we are bound together by an overwhelming common inheritance and an inescapable common destiny. This does not mean erasing distinctions. But it does mean acknowledging that we are allies in a broader civilizational struggle. It means recognizing the values we share are far more significant, at this juncture in history, than the doctrines that divide us. Loud provocateurs notwithstanding, the Judeo-Christian tradition has long been a powerful unifying force in the United States—a framework that transcends religious lines. Now is the time to build on that foundation. As families gather around the Seder table and for Easter services, there is an opportunity to reflect not only on the past but also on the future. What kind of civilization do we want to preserve and leave to our children? What values, customs and ways of life are worth defending? And who will stand together in that defense? The story of the West is, in many ways, a shared story. It is a story rooted in the belief that man is made in God’s image, redemption is possible, repentance is necessary, and human beings are called to something higher. It’s up to us, ultimately, to take that message seriously—and to lock arms and stand shoulder to shoulder like never before to preserve our inheritance for many more generations to come. COPYRIGHT 2026 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 Jews and Christians: United We Stand, Divided We Fall appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Planning an outdoor wedding always comes with risks. Even in places known for beautiful weather, Mother Nature sometimes plays tricks, and things don’t go as expected. Kayla Jane Sellas and Dante Sells couldn’t wait for their January beach wedding in Puerto Rico. They planned for months and with no detail forgotten, their wedding date arrived. Then the skies opened, and rain began to pour. “We began the ceremony, and as soon as I was standing there with Dante, all I could think about is how lucky we were,” Kayla told People. “The rain continued to come down during our ceremony, and we had expected that the plans for the rest of the wedding would be different than anticipated.” View this post on Instagram A post shared by Kayla Janes Sellas (@kaylajanes) The Wedding Ceremony Took a Beautifully Unexpected Turn Kayle, Dante, and their guests ran for shelter as the rain poured during their wedding ceremony. As 80 of their closest friends and family surrounded them, something incredible happened. “As we read our vows to each other, I began to see slivers of sunlight emerging from the dark clouds,” Kayla said. “Soon, we were having our first kiss as husband and wife, and we walked out to see the most beautiful double rainbow in the sky!” Their photographer captured photos of the couple under the double rainbow that will truly take your breath away. This may not have been the day Kayla and Dante expected, but what they got was truly beautiful. “We were elated when we saw the rainbow! The timing of it all was just so perfect. It felt like a movie! We had just promised our lives to one another, and on top of that, we got to experience this gorgeous double rainbow,” Kayla said. We think this means good luck for the couple whose wedding ceremony wasn’t ruined, just changed in the prettiest way possible. This story’s featured image can be found here.

'This hasty and fundamentally flawed decision, tainted by improper considerations, represents an extreme departure from basic principles of reasonableness, freedom of worship, and respect for the Status Quo'

For a brief window this coming week, Passover and Holy Week, the sacred observances of Jews and Christians, respectively, will overlap. Jews around the world will gather this Wednesday and Thursday evenings for the Seder, which recounts the Exodus from Egypt and God’s redemptive hand in history. And after Good Friday and Holy Saturday on Sunday, April 5, Christians will celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ and the promise of eternal salvation. Two biblical traditions, distinct but from the same Abrahamic family tree, will thus find themselves marking holy seasons at the same time. In this fraught moment, this calendar convergence feels like quite a bit more than mere serendipity. It is a visceral reminder of the shared moral and theological inheritance that undergirds Judaism and Christianity—the common foundation that has molded and shaped what we know today as Western civilization. At their core, both holidays tell a story of redemption. For Jews, Passover is the story of a people delivered from bondage, divine justice meted out against tyranny, and covenantal purpose eventually forged after national liberation. Likewise for Christians, Easter is a story of redemption—of sin confronted and overcome, of sacrifice and renewal, of life triumphing over death. The theological particulars certainly differ, and Judaism’s heavier emphasis on particularism contrasts with Christianity’s universalist orientation, but the underlying message is still strikingly similar: Hope springs eternal. Equally central to both traditions, and both springtime holidays, is the idea of repentance. In Judaism, the concept of “teshuvah”—returning to God through repentance and righteous action—is a cornerstone of religious life. Jewish tradition teaches that in addition to the fall High Holiday season’s well-known focus on repentance, the springtime season of Passover is also a perfect occasion to atone and confidently step closer to God. Christianity, of course, also places repentance at the heart of spiritual renewal, calling believers to turn away from sin and toward charity and grace. The searing imagery of Christ’s crucifixion is ensconced in the West’s collective memory, perhaps more than anything else, for its emphasis on atonement for mankind’s sins. These shared values—redemption, repentance, moral accountability—help constitute the bedrock of Western civilization today. Zooming out from the overarching themes of this season’s calendrical overlap, consider some of the West’s other defining principles: the rule of law, the dignity of the individual, the sanctity of life, the pursuit of justice. The fingerprints of the ecumenical biblical inheritance are ubiquitous. This is our common inheritance. This is who we are. And yet, at this very moment when the alignment of Passover and Easter should prompt reflection on that shared inheritance, bad-faith actors on the home front are seeking to tear Jews and Christians apart at the seams. The timing of this subversion could not possibly be worse. The West finds itself under unprecedented strain. The threats are multifaceted and very real. There is the challenge of Islamism—a totalitarian political ideology, historically beyond America’s borders but increasingly also found within, which seeks not peaceful coexistence but dominance. There is the rot of woke neo-Marxism, which rejects objective truth, undermines meritocracy, and seeks to replace individual responsibility with collective grievance and a debilitating victimhood culture. And there is the ever-insidious force of globalism, which threatens to erode national sovereignty, dilute cultural identity, and promote homogenized technocratic governance over the democratic accountability that only the nation-state can provide. Against these challenges, Jews and Christians must not stand apart. We simply cannot afford to. The symbolic overlap of Passover and Easter this year should serve as a moment of reflection that, despite real theological differences, we are bound together by an overwhelming common inheritance and an inescapable common destiny. This does not mean erasing distinctions. But it does mean acknowledging that we are allies in a broader civilizational struggle. It means recognizing the values we share are far more significant, at this juncture in history, than the doctrines that divide us. Loud provocateurs notwithstanding, the Judeo-Christian tradition has long been a powerful unifying force in the United States—a framework that transcends religious lines. Now is the time to build on that foundation. As families gather around the Seder table and for Easter services, there is an opportunity to reflect not only on the past but also on the future. What kind of civilization do we want to preserve and leave to our children? What values, customs and ways of life are worth defending? And who will stand together in that defense? The story of the West is, in many ways, a shared story. It is a story rooted in the belief that man is made in God’s image, redemption is possible, repentance is necessary, and human beings are called to something higher. It’s up to us, ultimately, to take that message seriously—and to lock arms and stand shoulder to shoulder like never before to preserve our inheritance for many more generations to come. COPYRIGHT 2026 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 Jews and Christians: United We Stand, Divided We Fall appeared first on The Daily Signal.

If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net. Hong Kong has criminalized refusing to hand over your phone password. As of March 23, 2026, anyone in the territory, residents, visitors, or people waiting for a connecting flight at Hong Kong International Airport, can be compelled by police to unlock their personal electronic devices during national security investigations. Refusing to comply could lead to up to one year’s imprisonment and a fine of up to 100,000 Hong Kong dollars ($12,768), while providing false or misleading information could bring up to three years’ imprisonment and a fine of up to 500,000 Hong Kong dollars ($63,840). The amendments to the implementation rules of Beijing’s 2020 national security law were gazetted on Monday and took effect immediately, using powers to bypass Hong Kong’s legislature. The new offense empowered police to require a person under investigation to provide any password or decryption method for electronic equipment, or to offer “any reasonable and necessary information or assistance.” That last phrase doesn’t define “reasonable” or “necessary.” It just requires you to help the state access your data, on the state’s terms. The obligation extends well beyond suspects. It applies even if the individual has a “duty of confidentiality or any other restriction on the disclosure of information,” which means that doctors and lawyers may be forced to give up confidential patient and client data. Professional privilege vanishes the moment the national security label gets attached. The US Consulate General in Hong Kong issued a security alert on March 26 in unusually direct language. “It is now a criminal offense to refuse to give the Hong Kong police the passwords or decryption assistance to access all personal electronic devices, including cellphones and laptops,” it stated. “This legal change applies to everyone, including US citizens, in Hong Kong, arriving or just transiting Hong Kong International Airport.” You don’t have to leave the airport. Simply routing a flight through the city puts your device and everything on it within reach of the Hong Kong police. The amendments also grant authorities power to seize items deemed to have “seditious intention,” regardless of whether any person has been arrested for a national security offence. And police, with approval from the Secretary for Security, can now order the removal of electronic messages deemed likely to constitute or incite national security crimes, directing publishers, platform operators, and hosting services to comply within a specified timeframe. Secretary for Security Chris Tang Ping-keung told lawmakers that the changes were procedural, not substantive. “These amendments have only improved some procedures and how we work; there are absolutely no newly added powers,” Tang said. This is a remarkable claim about rules that, for the first time, make it a standalone criminal offense to refuse to unlock a phone. A government spokesperson added that “Law-abiding persons will not contravene the law inadvertently. The Amendment Rules will not affect the lives of the general public and the normal operation of institutions and organisations.” That promise is worth exactly as much as the government’s definition of “national security,” which, since 2020, has been broad enough to cover protest organizing, candlelight vigils, and newspaper publishing. If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net. The post Hong Kong Criminalizes Refusal to Unlock Phones for Police appeared first on Reclaim The Net.

If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net. Four companies that collectively control how most Americans buy and sell things received warning letters this week from FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson, threatening enforcement action if they deny customers access to financial services based on political or religious beliefs. The targets are Visa, Mastercard, PayPal, and Stripe. As an example, we obtained a copy of the letter sent to Visa for you here. The letters didn’t name a single specific violation, and they didn’t need to. The track record is already public. PayPal has frozen accounts of several political commentators. Stripe cut off payment processing for President Trump’s campaign website after January 6, 2021. Both companies have spent years making unilateral decisions about who deserves access to the financial system, hiding behind vague terms of service that give compliance teams almost unlimited discretion. “Full participation in commerce and public life necessarily requires that law-abiding individuals can access, and freely participate in, our financial system,” Chairman Ferguson wrote. “It is inconsistent with American values to deny law-abiding individuals the ability to run their legitimate businesses and feed their families because they attracted the ire of rogue American officials, overzealous activists, or, more worryingly, foreign governments seeking to control public discourse,” he continued. “That is why President Trump’s August 7, 2025, Executive Order on debanking makes clear that it is unacceptable to debank law-abiding citizens due to ‘political affiliations, religious beliefs, or lawful business activities.’” Ferguson’s letters lean on Section 5 of the FTC Act, which prohibits “unfair or deceptive acts or practices.” The logic is that if your terms promise equal access and you cut someone off for their politics, that’s deceptive. “As an American citizen, I abhor and condemn any efforts to debank or otherwise deny law-abiding consumers access,” Ferguson wrote, citing Trump’s August 2025 executive order on debanking. He told Visa and Mastercard they’re responsible not just for their own conduct but for member banks on their networks. “Equally concerning is the conduct of payments providers and payment networks that turn a blind eye when their financial institution members debank consumers for these reasons,” he wrote. PayPal declined to comment. Visa and Mastercard didn’t respond. Only Stripe pushed back: “At Stripe, we do not restrict access to our services based on political viewpoints or affiliation.” Ferguson’s letters describe payment services as “essential for Americans’ participation in everyday commerce, and, directly or indirectly, for the exercise of core rights and freedoms.” It treats access to payment infrastructure not as a privilege companies can revoke at will, but as something closer to a necessity. The real question is whether letters become action. The FTC opened no investigations and announced no penalties. If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net. The post FTC Warns Visa, Mastercard, PayPal, Stripe Over Political Debanking appeared first on Reclaim The Net.

Piligrims On the Journey: Palm Sunday Reflection