by Sonja van den Ende, Strategic Culture: These days, we hear a great deal of rhetoric and propaganda from the European Union (EU) and the European Commission (EC). But upon closer inspection, it is the “puppets”—those who supposedly pull the strings—who seem incapable of making sound decisions. These puppets are often the politicians at the […]

Warning: headbanging to these songs could result in serious injury

Matt Gaetz speaks with Andrew Kolvet, the official spokesman for Turning Point USA

On the Spot: Mary Beth Norton JamesHoare Tue, 09/16/2025 - 09:00

I’ve seen so many people say they don’t understand why Charlie Kirk’s murder hit them so hard. They can’t explain it. Maybe my perspective as a recovering California liberal who now mourns his memory can help.I attended my first Turning Point USA event in 2022, right around the time I committed myself to Christ. I was a fish out of water.For context: In late 2021, CBS News fired me from my job at its San Diego affiliate for resisting the COVID shot. That deserves its own chapter someday, but the short version is this: I no longer knew where I belonged.I had spent years climbing the small-markets-big-dreams world of local TV news, always chasing the hope of one day reporting for a major left-leaning outlet. My laptop carried a feminist bumper sticker my mom gave me. That was my identity.But everything shifted when I saw the crimes against humanity news agencies committed during the COVID years. It was like someone ripped off my rose-colored glasses and stomped them into the ground.My husband — then my boyfriend — and I fled to a quiet island in Florida, home mostly to retirees. I reported independently on Rumble, without a political identity. The “inclusive” Democrats had exiled me. And plenty of Republicans revealed themselves as spineless accomplices to the lies.If 2020 didn’t wake you up to evil, let 2025 be the year that finally does.On my channel I interviewed fellow truth-seekers, many of whom had been censored into silence elsewhere. Then I noticed something: A number of those same people were scheduled to speak at an event about an hour from me.So I applied for a press pass and was accepted. It was the Turning Point USA Student Action Summit in downtown Tampa, July 2022.I barely knew who Charlie Kirk was. That’s no disrespect. I had lived too long inside an ideological echo chamber. Back in college in California, I remember hearing about TPUSA and assuming it was a gun club that met for target practice. I had no idea.My husband asked me, “Why are you going to this? You could interview these people over Zoom.” I told him I felt isolated and needed to see that I wasn’t alone. It was refreshing to witness what Charlie had built — to look around and see young people who shared my concerns about the world or at least were curious.Thousands packed the convention center. I don’t know the exact number, but I know what I saw: a full hall of people. At the time, our online communities were censored and deleted almost daily. We had to meet in person. And there they were — young, unmasked, unafraid.As press, I’ve always felt comfortable covering events. That comes naturally after years on the job. But this was different. I wasn’t sure I “fit in,” almost in the high-school sense. What I discovered was a community where I could question the lunacy of those times without being shunned.The building itself was massive, the air conditioning blasting to fight the summer humidity. Lines stretched all day for the headliner: President Trump. I hadn’t seen him in person since his visit to South Dakota in 2018. At the time, I told friends and family that I thought he was a buffoon.Back in Florida in 2022, the energy inside that building felt less like a political rally and more like a concert I might have danced at in my 20s — electric, charged, alive. The speakers, staff, and volunteers knew how to connect with young people without condescension.I remember Karoline Leavitt’s debut as a congressional candidate. She was young, but her off-the-cuff remarks blew me away. At a time when the modern Democratic Party punished dissent and silenced questions, Charlie created a space where people felt at home. We had been locked down, socially distanced, and starved for connection. He gave it back.RELATED: The ‘normie conquest’: Millions just joined the right overnight Photo by Eric Thayer/Getty ImagesAt first, I assumed most of the crowd were lifelong conservatives — country-club Republicans with Ronald Reagan portraits on their bedroom walls. I was wrong. Again and again, I met people with stories just like mine: raised in progressive circles, until COVID shattered their illusions. Wash, rinse, repeat. The same pattern everywhere.That’s what TPUSA became to me — speakers, roundtables, booths — but more than that, a community. I’ll never forget Charlie walking right past me as I fumbled with my phone tripod, too respectful to interrupt as he hurried to his next commitment.Since then, I’ve interviewed and built relationships with members of his team. We even share mutual friends. Charlie’s pastor introduced my husband and me to his son-in-law, who later counseled and married us in 2023, quoting Corinthians as the Santa Ana winds carried our vows before family and friends.I never spoke to Charlie. I still don’t know exactly where I “fit in” or if TPUSA defines that. What I do know is this: God called me to be a journalist — to report fearlessly and to love people with the grace He’s shown me. And now, I wish I had stopped to shake Charlie’s hand and thank him for giving the so-called silent majority a space to breathe.Fast-forward to September 10, 2025. I was at a train station in Connecticut when my phone lit up with the horrible news. Charlie Kirk was gone. An assassin’s bullet had taken him. I closed my eyes and prayed. When I opened them, I saw his name and face glowing on the iPhone screens of strangers around me.For me, the grief quickly gave way to something else — a reality check. A line had been crossed.The satanists want us dead. Some radical leftists want us silenced. Maybe you think that sounds dramatic. But scroll through their posts. Read the bile. You’ll lose your appetite.Over the last five years, I’ve paid a price for my changing beliefs. Maybe you can relate. I’ve been quietly dropped from parties without explanation. Longtime “friends” unfollowed me out of fear they’d lose opportunities if they stayed connected. People I knew in real life viciously targeted me online. Immediate family members met me with insults instead of hugs — one even blocked me altogether.No stranger, no random keyboard warrior, ever treated me with as much hatred as those close to me. Not even close. I’ve received threats to my safety. And yet, Jesus — and the people He placed in my life — carried me through in ways I can hardly describe. Some relationships even deepened through mutual respect. But Charlie bore a cost none of us can fully imagine. He put his grassroots efforts on stage for the world to see. The consequences he accepted ultimately claimed his life.I knew refusing the COVID shot, loving God, flying an American flag instead of a Pride or Ukraine flag, and voting on principles rather than celebrity endorsements would make some people dislike me. I expected a few would even hate me. I prayed others might come around. I was naïve.Now I know some people don’t just hate us. They want us dead. And they no longer bother to hide it. Read that again: A nauseating number of people openly wish death on us. Scroll social media and you’ll see it — teachers, military members, nurses, even mental health workers. For me, it’s my own town’s pharmacist.Unfortunately, assassinations and assassination attempts against presidents have marked American history. Deranged people have always sought to kill presidents. But Charlie Kirk wasn’t president. He wasn’t even old enough to run. He never held office.He was 31 years old. He was a Christian. He was a conservative.In 2025, that alone was enough for a death sentence — and for neighbors to mock and celebrate his murder online.RELATED: ‘Demon-possessed’: Why spiritual darkness is behind recent killings The Hell. Found in the Collection of Battistero di San Giovanni, Firenze.Photo by Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty ImagesThat’s the gut punch. Some knew this already, but I still carried a sliver of rose-colored hope until it was ripped away last week.The satanists want us dead. Some radical leftists want us silenced. Maybe you think that sounds dramatic. But scroll through their posts. Read the bile. You’ll lose your appetite.These people, consumed by rage and virtue-signaling darkness, write declarations of violence like a virus eating away at their souls. Not all will pull the trigger. But plenty of the people you pass at the pharmacy, the school drop-off, or the grocery store openly posted that killing us would be a service to the world. One less Trump supporter. One less Bible-thumper. One more enemy erased.That’s what mass Trump derangement syndrome looks like. That’s what a godless society produces.Now you understand why Charlie’s murder hit you harder than you can explain. If 2020 didn’t wake you up to evil, let 2025 be the year that finally does.And if you’re one of the people who think fellow Americans deserve to be brutally murdered — whether you boasted about it online or just let it rot inside you — seek help. Immediately. Humbly. Turn it over to God. He can heal you.May God save us from the depravity we’ve unleashed. May He bless Charlie Kirk’s grieving family. And may we take up the charge together. Charlie’s voice has been silenced. It’s up to us to be his angels.

Over the weekend, dozens — maybe hundreds — of people were fired for celebrating the political assassination of Charlie Kirk and many companies warned employees not to be next. The right applauded these firings, but it’s worth remembering that the same people once condemned “cancel culture” when the left went after vaccine skeptics and gender critics. Is there really a difference here? Most of the posts that cost people their jobs were grotesque celebrations of Kirk’s murder. It feels proportionate to fire, say, a school police officer who openly cheers political violence. But what about an accountant? A cheerleading coach? A comic book writer? Honestly, we should all stop to think about this. The First Amendment draws a clear line: it protects speech, even offensive, hateful, or cruel speech. What it does not protect is actual violence or true threats of violence. Celebrating an assassination is disgusting, but unless someone is urging more killings, it remains protected speech. Some of these posts were urging more killings though. And here’s the wrinkle: the First Amendment only protects you from government punishment. It doesn’t stop an employer from firing you because they find your speech offensive, damaging, or simply uncomfortable. A school district, a corporation, or a small business can decide you’re no longer a good representative — even if what you said is legally protected. But maybe this is less about “cancel culture” and more about a revival of professional norms: a reminder that what you say in public reflects back on your workplace. Still, the social punishments can be severe. In one case, a woman gloated over Kirk’s death, and the online mob turned on her husband’s business. His company’s website was taken down, reviews tanked, and even other businesses with similar names were collateral damage. Innocent people became casualties of outrage. As the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression put it: “Charlie Kirk’s assassination was an attack on free speech and open discourse… But it is precisely for that reason why we must not respond to mockery of Kirk’s assassination by canceling everyone who offends us: because that too creates a society where people are afraid to express themselves.” And look, I don’t want to see anyone gloat over this horrific death but I also don’t want anarchists lurking in the silence and a destruction of our First Amendment rights. The post Cancel culture or consequence culture? appeared first on Redacted.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu signed off on a major settlement expansion in the West Bank, declaring flatly that “there will never be a Palestinian state.” The plan, long frozen under international pressure, has now been green-lit. The timing is deliberate: Israel may as well take the hit for both Gaza and the West Bank at once — while the U.S. looks the other way. The expansion calls for thousands of new housing units and infrastructure in the sensitive E1 corridor near Ma’ale Adumim. That corridor is strategically critical: by building there, Israel bisects the West Bank and cuts Palestinians off from East Jerusalem — a death blow to any two-state solution. According to rights groups, as many as 7,000 Palestinians stand to be displaced by this construction. The move follows Israel’s ongoing full military occupation of Gaza and signals an intent to consolidate permanent control over all Palestinian territories. Reactions are mounting. Palestinian officials say this proves Israel never intended to allow Palestinian sovereignty. The EU and UN are expected to issue condemnations. Not so the United States. Secretary of State Marco Rubio spent the weekend making a pilgrimage to the Western Wall and posting overtures about America’s steadfast support for Israel. The Biden administration was at least “troubled” by the West Bank settlement expansion. The Trump administration: Full approval. The post Netanyahu Buries the Two-State Solution appeared first on Redacted.

Over 100,000 people showed up to the Unite the Kingdom rally in London over the weekend. Some estimate that the number was far larger. The rally was organized to oppose immigration, call for stronger border controls, and promote free speech and national unity. It was mostly peaceful but police say that there were dozens of police officers harmed and at least 25 arrests. Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the country “will not stand for assaults on police officers doing their job or for people feeling intimidated on our streets because of their background or the colour of their skin. Britain is a nation proudly built on tolerance, diversity and respect. Our flag represents our diverse country and we will never surrender it to those that use it as a symbol of violence, fear and division.” Some say that the violence stemmed from police directing the crowds into counter-protests where Antifa protestors were chanting “Charlie’s in a box,” to celebrate the murder of conservative Charlie Kirk. Put in perspective, 25 arrests is a remarkably low figure for a crowd this large. By comparison, there were nearly 900 arrests at a Palestine Action protest just weeks ago and almost 500 at last month’s Notting Hill Carnival — neither of which drew anywhere near 100,000 people. The Prime Minister did not take to X to condemn those events. Yet the government leans on labels like “far-right” and “violence” to sidestep the substance of what was on display: a potent populist movement demanding to be heard. The post Unite the Kingdom Draws Massive Crowd, Government Dismisses as ‘Far-Right’ appeared first on Redacted.

Milk is back and so is the “Got Milk” campaign from the 90s because people are realizing the fake milk is not only gross, it’s also bad for you and not better for the environment than cow milk. According to The Wall Street Journal, “The dairy industry in California has faced years of challenges including a trend toward plant milk, the momentum seems to be shifting. Dairy milk sales in the U.S. declined 0.3% by volume over the 52 weeks that ended Aug. 10 and grew 4.6% in dollar terms, according to market research firm Circana.” Meanwhile, plant-based milks are losing market share, which the WSJ attributes to “rising prices of products in the category and consumers’ desire for “clean” ingredient labels.” Plant milks are anything but clean. They’re a science project full of seed oils, stabilizers, and chemicals — with a higher carb load and thus a bigger glycemic spike than dairy milk. “U.S. plant milk sales declined 6.1% by volume in the year ended Aug. 10 and 3.5% in dollar terms, according to Circana. The sector has been flattening and declining since hitting a dollar sales high in 2022.” It’s the same story across vegan products more broadly: the hype peaked in 2022 and reality is catching up. The Got Milk campaign revival is starting in California with 12,000 residents taking milk mustache photos in mobile studios across the state. I’ll admit, I have nostalgia for the campaign, though I always found the photos a little gross — food humor just isn’t my thing. My favorite was the Golden Lab who couldn’t swallow the peanut butter. The post Got Milk? appeared first on Redacted.

We’re back to bombing Venezuela. Even though, as this man so astutely says, most of us aren’t really in the mood. President Trump said on Monday that “U.S. Military Forces conducted a SECOND Kinetic Strike against positively identified, extraordinarily violent drug trafficking cartels and narcoterrorists in the SOUTHCOM area of responsibility. The Strike occurred while these confirmed narcoterrorists from Venezuela were in International Waters transporting illegal narcotics (A DEADLY WEAPON POISONING AMERICANS!) headed to the U.S.” The public was not given proof that these were drug dealers. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro called the first bombing on September 2 a “heinous crime.” He called it “a military attack on civilians who were not at war and were not militarily threatening any country” and claimed that the United States was trying to goad Venezuela into a “major war.” President Maduro says that the U.S. is after “regime change for oil” and not a drug war. That is what Redacted’s frequent military expert Colonel Douglas MacGregor think so too. The post Back to Bombing Venezuela: U.S. Claims Drug War, Maduro Says Oil War appeared first on Redacted.