One judge. One ruling. The will of Texas voters overturned. The post When Judges Override the People appeared first on Frontpage Mag.

Keith Olbermann is disliked by everyone who knows him. There is a good reason for that—he is very nasty. Now that Lou Holtz is deceased and can’t defend himself, Olbermann has decided to trash his reputation. Lou Holtz was a legend, and Olbermann is the opposite. Captioning a post that included a 2020 video of […] The post Keith Olbermann Kicks People When They’re Dead appeared first on www.independentsentinel.com.

American counterterrorism experts are on high alert as they warn that sleeper cells could activate on U.S. soil in the wake of the joint U.S.-Israel strikes on Iran. As Iran launched a wave of counterstrikes, attacking countries in the Gulf region, analysts warn that the war may not be contained to the Middle East, as […] The post Fear of Terror Cells After Our Borders Were Wide Open for Four Years appeared first on www.independentsentinel.com.

Republican Senator Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma told reporters on Thursday that he called his wife and his dad after President Donald Trump asked him to take over at the Department of Homeland Security. Trump announced on Truth Social that Mullin would take over for Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem beginning on March 31, pending Mullin’s Senate confirmation. The Oklahoma senator told reporters on Capitol Hill that he received the call from Trump just minutes before Trump released his statement. Mullin described the opportunity as exciting and humbling, adding, “I had to call my dad because, I mean, it happened quick, so I had to call my wife and call my dad both. It’s just really humbling when you stop and think about it. A little kid from Westville, Oklahoma, gets to serve in the president’s Cabinet. That’s pretty neat.” Trump’s major Cabinet shakeup comes after Noem has faced criticism over the Homeland Security Department’s response to the shooting deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis. Noem was also grilled by lawmakers in a Senate hearing earlier this week and said that Trump approved questionable contracts for advertisements starring the DHS secretary worth over $200 million. The president said on Thursday that Noem will be reassigned to help lead a new security initiative that is set to be announced on Saturday. In his announcement, Trump said that Noem had served the administration “well and has had numerous and spectacular results (especially on the Border!).” The president added, “I thank Kristi for her service at ‘Homeland.'” Mullin, a close friend of Noem’s, told reporters that he hadn’t yet spoken to the ousted DHS secretary, but would soon. “Our families are very close, and this happened very quick, so we’re going to go have a conversation with her in just a second,” he said. Trump called Mullin a “warrior” and said the Oklahoman “will work tirelessly to Keep our Border Secure, Stop Migrant Crime, Murderers, and other Criminals from illegally entering our Country, End the Scourge of Illegal Drugs and, MAKE AMERICA SAFE AGAIN.” Mullin has served in the Senate since 2023 and was a member of the House for 10 years before that. He currently serves on the Senate Armed Services Committee; the Appropriations Committee; the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee; and the Indian Affairs Committee. Mullin is also a former wrestler and professional mixed martial arts fighter who posted a 5-0 career record in MMA.

Many people are asking questions about what happens to Iran after the ayatollahs are gone. It will almost certainly be better than what it was. The only way America would be worse off would be if the regime in Tehran were replaced by a regime run by even worse ayatollahs with even faster access to nuclear materials, ballistic missile development, and terror funding. President Trump said: I guess the worst case would be, we do this and then somebody takes over who’s as bad as the previous person, right? That could happen. We don’t want that to happen. It would probably be worse if you go through this and then, in five years, you realize you put somebody in who was no better. So we’d like to see somebody in there that’s going to bring it back for the people. The president is correct. And you could see from his rather dismissive smile that he does not think the “worst thing” is going to happen. There are a ton of people out there on the Left and the horseshoe Right ignoring the simple fact that the ayatollahs are the worst possible regime. These people yell about the evils of regime change, about the dangers of long-standing occupation with boots on the ground, etc. Let’s cover all of that right now. Let’s start with regime change. We keep hearing about how regime change is dangerous, a failure. Chuck Schumer, the Senate minority leader and pathological liar, said, Americans spent the last two decades fighting and dying in the Middle East. Parents watch their kids shipped off to foreign lands. So many lives lost, so many billions wasted, so much suffering and anguish that scarred an entire generation. Why is Donald Trump hellbent on making history repeat itself? Why is he plunging America headfirst into a war that Americans do not want, and which he cannot even explain?” Schumer is a wildly dishonest player. He’s been yelling about the ayatollahs for years, but then apparently quietly supporting the JCPOA, which was Obama’s attempt to ship pallets of cash to the ayatollahs and give them a ten-year runway to a nuclear bomb. But the truth is, he only cares enough to yell a little bit. And then he turns around, and he yells at anyone who actually wants to do something about the ayatollahs. But let’s talk about that term, regime change. Regime change implies a long-standing commitment in which the United States engages in serious nation-building efforts. Sometimes that works. Germany, Japan, and South Korea are prime examples. Sometimes it doesn’t work. Afghanistan would be the prime example. Iraq is actually a checkered example. We forget about Iraq and what happened afterward; Iraq is indeed a functioning but fragile quasi-democracy with a nominal GDP roughly 10 to 15 times larger than it was under Saddam Hussein. The current regime has real problems and is associated with a wide variety of sectarian groups, but it is certainly better than Saddam’s, even if most Americans believe that the cost wasn’t worth it. That’s a fair argument against the war in Iraq, but not against the principle of regime change overall. In Iran, we’re not really talking about regime change in the technical sense, because regime change refers, generally, to an American-overseen process of government building where we put hundreds of thousands of troops on the ground, and then ensure every step of the governmental transition. What we’re talking about with Iran is regime destruction or replacement, where we knock over the regime and let it fall, but we don’t actually participate in long-term nation-building. Sometimes that works, and sometimes it doesn’t, because it turns out that history is complicated. There are many examples of regime replacement or regime destruction. Some of those are failures. For example, in Libya, we provided air support to rebels to take out Muammar Gaddafi, which was a huge mistake that I opposed at the time. And then we let the country take its own course. That led to a massive migration crisis and an all-out civil war that continues to this day. Why was that a mistake? Because Gaddafi was actually contained, and the people rebelling against him were a checkered group of sundry terrorists and others. And then there’s Iran itself, where the Carter administration essentially withdrew support from the Shah of Iran, and we have been suffering with the consequences ever since. But there are more positive examples. In Chile, we created the pressure that led to the coup against the Marxist Salvador Allende, who was replaced by General Augusto Pinochet, who was an anti-communist and also a human rights abuser, but who began instituting capitalist mechanisms that eventually led to prosperity and, under American pressure, democratization. In fact, we are the ones who pressured Pinochet out of power. He thought about another military coup when he lost an election, and we said, we will not support anything remotely like that. You’re giving up power. Or, for example, Panama, where we deposed Manuel Noriega. We then installed the winner of the prior election, and things have worked out pretty well. And, of course, that’s pretty much what we just did in Venezuela, where we destroyed the top of the regime and then left a second person in place. And now that person, Delcy Rodriguez, is basically being squeezed until she squeaks. She put out a statement yesterday saying, I thank President Trump for the willingness of his government to work together on an agenda that strengthens binational cooperation for the benefit of the peoples of the United States and Venezuela. In other words, not all “regime change” is alike. It’s not always Iraq. And pretending that it is, is ignorant. There’s a reason why Venezuela was handled one way and why Iran is being handled in another. And it’s not necessarily because Venezuela is in the Western Hemisphere. It’s because Iran is run by a fundamentalist Islamist death cult. In order to truly understand how evil the ayatollahs are, let Patrick Bet David, who has some experience in this area, explain. He said of the original Ayatollah Khomeini: You guys want to know what Khomeini once said about what to do to women in prison? He once said female prisoners who are virgins must be raped before execution to prevent them from entering heaven. Isn’t he an amazing guy to say something like that? That’s the guy that died — when he died, I was in Iran, June 3, 89 — I was there when the guy died. They didn’t kill him. He died. This guy who was supposed to be a hero for them? “Female prisoners who are virgins must be raped before execution.” … No human being – You would never write that. You would never subscribe to that. Not all regime change is the same.

The vast majority of Americans support a federal law requiring age verification for app downloads or access to pornographic content online, according to a poll released on Thursday and shared with The Daily Wire. The poll, conducted by Cygnal last month, shows that 83% of likely voters support an age verification law for mobile app downloads, and 81% of likely voters support age verification for pornographic sites. House lawmakers met on Thursday to debate legislation aimed at protecting children from inappropriate online content by requiring Big Tech companies to verify that children cannot gain access to adult apps, websites, or social media platforms without their parents’ consent. Cygnal’s poll, which surveyed 1,048 likely 2026 election voters, showed broad approval for the law that also cut across party lines. Nearly 40% of those who responded to the poll described themselves as Republicans, while 35% of the respondents said they are Democrats, and 24% identified themselves as independents. Terry Schilling, the president of the conservative advocacy group American Principles Project, said the poll shows that parents are united in pushing back against Big Tech’s reluctance to set up age verification policies for their platforms. “Parents are fighting to protect their children, and their enemy isn’t just Big Porn but the Silicon Valley titans that profit from it. They have one advantage in an uphill fight: the American voter,” said Schilling. “A supermajority of Americans — from conservatives to independents and even many liberals — are united in their call to rein in Big Tech. For too long, parents have been alone in the fight against exploitive algorithms and apps. It’s time for Congress to step up and pass commonsense legislation that puts families first.” On Thursday, the House Energy and Commerce Committee debated the Kids Internet and Digital Safety Act and the APP Store Accountability Act. The Kids Internet and Digital Safety Act would require platforms to help prevent children from accessing potentially harmful content, while the APP Store Accountability Act would force app stores to set up parental consent requirements before a child downloads an app. “My App Store Accountability Act is simple: kids cannot consent and power belongs to parents, not Big Tech,” Republican Rep. John James of Michigan said earlier this week. “Just as how corner stores are held responsible for keeping adult & addictive materials from minors, my bill holds digital app stores to the same standard.” Half of the U.S. states already require age verification for pornography sites. The age verification laws have been enacted by mostly Republican-led states, while deep blue states have taken little to no action to ensure that users who enter pornographic websites are at least 18 years of age. After Louisiana became the first state to enact an age verification law, Pornhub’s traffic in the state dropped by around 80%, POLITICO reported. After other states, such as Missouri, Virginia, and Utah, followed Louisiana’s lead, Pornhub decided to completely stop operating its website in states that passed age verification laws. But protecting children from porn sites isn’t the only concern for  Americans. Social media giants — including Meta, YouTube, and Snapchat — have also faced recent scrutiny over how their platforms affect children. Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube are currently on trial in a bellwether social media addiction case before the California Superior Court in Los Angeles County. The case stems from a 20-year-old woman, referred to as K.G.M., who argues that social media platforms have knowingly designed their platforms to get children and young users addicted and that her mental health struggles began after she became addicted to social media. TikTok and Snapchat were also sued in the case, but settled with the plaintiff before the trial began. Last month, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg testified in the addiction case and argued that his company has “navigated this in a reasonable way.” In recent years, Meta has rolled out online safety features for children using Instagram. The platform’s “Teen Accounts” keep children’s accounts private, meaning other Instagram users cannot see posts from or contact a Teen Account unless the teenager accepts their follow requests. Instagram also censors content on Teen Accounts, so that children are not shown content that features fighting or cosmetic procedures. Other countries have recently pursued more severe restrictions on children’s access to social media. In December, Australia became the first country to ban children under 16 from creating accounts on many social media platforms. Malaysia has introduced a similar ban.