The new “Superman” movie isn’t an attack on President Donald Trump’s immigration policies, but it shows how alienated from America many liberals in Hollywood and politics now feel. Every kid used to know Superman fights for “truth, justice, and the American way.” That slogan has been around since the “Superman” radio show of the early 1940s and featured in the 1978 blockbuster starring Christopher Reeve that inaugurated the modern comic-book movie. James Gunn, director of the latest flick, has his own take: “‘Superman’ is the story of America. An immigrant that came from other places and populated the country, but for me it is mostly a story that says basic human kindness is a value and is something we have lost,” he told The Times of London. Conservatives feared this hinted Gunn would pit the hero from Krypton against Trump’s immigration crackdown. It turns out the bigger problem is the rest of what Gunn said: His Superman is a man from nowhere, whose creed is simple sentimentality not “the American way.” In Gunn’s film, America is nothing special—neither, for that matter, is Superman. This bland, demoralizing vision isn’t just the director’s, however; it’s rather typical on the left side of politics today. Gunn declared on Twitter during Trump’s first term: “We’re in a national crisis with an incompetent President forging a full-blown attack on facts and journalism in the style of Hitler and Putin.” Perhaps it’s good he directs comic-book movies when his politics are at such a stereotypical comic-book level: He might as well have likened Trump to Superman’s archenemy Lex Luthor. In the movie, he does. Luthor colludes with Russia—sorry, “Boravia”—and runs a social-media troll farm dedicated to smearing Superman, who gets sent to a super-Gitmo when the U.S. government authorizes Luthor to take the hero into custody. That’s about the extent of parallels between Luthor and Trump, or George W. Bush, however. Despite the villain’s constant references to Superman as an alien, immigration isn’t a theme of the movie. Indeed, assimilation is more of a theme than immigration is—but assimilation into what? Superman is sent as a child from the dying planet Krypton in a rocket that crashes in Kansas, where this ungodly powerful alien is brought up with good Midwestern values. That’s where his devotion to “the American way” comes from. Last year, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, as Kamala Harris’ running mate, demonstrated how hard it is for progressives to seem appealing to Midwesterners even when they’re from the region. The new movie portrays Superman’s adoptive parents, Jonathan and Martha Kent, as cornball stereotypes that would give a Hallmark movie a bad name. After Superman is disillusioned to learn his Kryptonian biological parents might not have had benign intentions toward earth, Pa Kent’s advice amounts to “be yourself,” no matter your family’s origins or beliefs. There’s nothing necessarily wrong with that—except this Superman has no self, and he’s no more a Kansan or an American than he is an invader from outer space. This Superman doesn’t utter a word about “the American way,” and when he confronts Luthor at the film’s climax, he insists what makes him human are his failings. Are failings really the main or only thing that make us human? The movie reflects several unconscious beliefs that many liberals nowadays hold: First, no one is extraordinary—Superman is just one of a crowd of superbeings in this film, and he’s not even the only “Superman”: there are three other iterations of the character on the screen, one of them a dog. Second, sentimentality takes the place of patriotism—Superman hasn’t assimilated to America, he’s assimilated to an unplaceable idea of niceness and self-affirmation. Third, and ironically, liberalism’s own ideals are doomed—the thing that distinguishes Superman from other superhumans in this crowded film is his refusal to kill; violence, if necessary, must not be lethal. Maybe this Superman wouldn’t defund the police, but he might take away their guns and certainly wouldn’t support the death penalty. Yet Superman gets humiliated at every turn for adhering to this code: Other heroes have to put down a Godzilla-scale monster terrorizing the city and the Boravian warlord Superman roughed up but left alive to start more wars; worst of all, Superman watches powerless as Luthor shoots a man in the head. Gunn’s defenders claim “Superman” isn’t a cynical film, but it is—it’s a mixture of cynicism and denial rather like what the Democratic Party has become. What viewers want in Superman is a hero who knows why he stands for America, who doesn’t kill not because he’s weak but because he’s so strong he never has to. President Trump made a joke with a serious point by putting his own face on the movie poster. He understands Superman better than James Gunn. 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 What Trump Knows About Superman appeared first on The Daily Signal.

A quiet but dangerous conflict is brewing within President Trump’s foreign policy team — a battle between the true red America First voices who made his first term successful and the same old neoconservative ideologues who have derailed U.S. diplomacy for decades.Heightened by the bombing of Iran, this clash made headlines again earlier this month. This time, it was over botched negotiations over the return of Americans currently held by the socialist Venezuelan government.Marco Rubio’s hatred of Latin American socialism is clear, but that shouldn’t come at a strategic cost to our country.Trump’s special envoy Richard Grenell, a realist to his core, was on the verge of brokering a deal that would have secured the release of imprisoned Americans in exchange for Chevron’s continued operations in Venezuela. It was classic Trump diplomacy: bold, transactional, results-oriented.But Secretary of State Marco Rubio intervened. The State Department made a much less attractive and watered-down proposal to repatriate 250 Venezuelan aliens in exchange for the American prisoners. The interests of the U.S. oil industry were completely ignored.Wires were crossed, and the talks collapsed.Two critical lessonsTwo lessons are evident: The first and most obvious is that Grenell is responsible for talks with Venezuela and that he is the only U.S. figure Venezuela trusts — a point that shouldn’t be undermined.The second is that Trump’s transactional diplomacy, represented by Grenell, works — when it’s allowed to. We’ve seen this with Steve Witkoff’s trips to the Middle East and the president’s own handling of NATO.The Venezuelan government wants to negotiate with Grenell and Grenell alone — and for good reason. He speaks the language of leverage, not lectures. As special envoy, he has built a diplomatic channel that has delivered in the past. In January, for example, Grenell secured the release of six Americans, a great achievement.RELATED: Biden did that? No, it’s Marco Rubio making gas prices skyrocket this time Photo by PEDRO MATTEY/AFP via Getty ImagesIn contrast, Venezuela all but refuses to communicate with Rubio. They see him as persona non grata. His methods, based on intervention and blunt force, are bound to fail.This is particularly true now that we live in a world where U.S. dominance is not guaranteed. And as the United States has isolated Venezuela, the Latin American nation has been pushed deeper into Beijing’s orbit.Oil exports to China, for example, have surged since Chevron’s license to operate was canceled in May. In turn, Venezuelan exports to the U.S. and its capitalist allies have cratered.The strategic costRubio’s hatred of Latin American socialism is clear, but that shouldn’t come at a strategic cost to our country. This isn’t a diplomatic blunder. It’s a threat to U.S. energy security and a betrayal of Trump’s promise to bring down prices at the pump.We want Venezuelan oil and gas to head to the U.S. Gulf Coast, not Beijing. We need to protect the Monroe Doctrine, which says that no outside power should have a foothold in the Western Hemisphere.The importance of energy security cannot be overstated. For an administration elected in large part on its promise to cut gas prices, it is a big mistake to turn our backs on Venezuela’s hydrocarbon reserves, the largest on earth.Doing so increases American dependence on Canadian oil — not a smart move as we fight a trade war with Prime Minister Mark Carney — and on suppliers in a volatile Middle East, where Iran still looms large.This is not to mention that the policy of isolation is damaging to Chevron, a champion of the American oil industry.Under its former special license, Chevron was pumping out nearly a quarter of a million barrels of oil per day. This went straight to thirsty refiners on the U.S. Gulf Coast, which depend on Venezuela’s unique heavy crude oil. That lifeline has been cut, and it’s American consumers who will pay the price.Grenell understood this and so wrapped Chevron’s status into his negotiations, a deal that put American interests first. Rubio, on the other hand, prioritized an ideological pursuit of regime change over American energy security.President Trump should intervene.He praised Grenell’s successful negotiations in January and should make clear that Venezuela policy is not for Rubio to decide. The goal is clear: Bring our citizens home, restart Chevron’s work, and reassert U.S. influence in our own hemisphere.Renew Grenell’s leverageGrenell, with renewed powers, should return the United States to a policy of strategic engagement. That’s what America First really looks like. That’s the approach to foreign policy promised to us in 2024. That’s the MAGA way.It’s time to put the neocons back in the box and go back to the bold, pragmatic diplomacy that made Trump’s first term — and will make his second — a victory for everyday Americans and a triumphant return to common sense.

President Trump's Alcatraz Proposal Is Exactly What We Need, and What San Francisco Deserves

Watch: Joy Reid Loses Her Race-Baiting Mind After Piers Morgan Points Out She's Always Race-Baiting

In something of a bombshell lawsuit, Apple is taking noted leaker Jon Prosser to court for sharing details about iOS 26 well before Apple officially introduced the software update at WWDC this past June. Over the past year, and as we’ve covered here on BGR, Prosser successfully managed to release information about a variety of iOS 26 features, including the Liquid Glass redesign, new icons, and revamped UI controls.  Apple leaks are seemingly a dime a dozen these days. Still, Apple clearly thought Prosser’s actions over the past few months crossed a line. Indeed, Apple’s complaint doesn’t just allege that Prosser released product details. It alleges that Prosser and his associate engaged in an elaborate plan to improperly gain access to a developmental iPhone. We’ll get to the complaint in just a second. But first, it’s worth highlighting the broad reasoning behind Apple's legal action. For starters, Apple is a company that famously values secrecy at a level that nearly borders on paranoia. As a result, Apple does everything in its power to prevent any and all details about new products from becoming public. The problem, though, is that Apple’s supply chain is vast and involves a myriad of companies and thousands upon thousands of employees with access to sensitive information. Consequently, preventing details about upcoming hardware and software is something of an impossibility. It’s why Tim Cook’s promise so many years ago about “doubling down on product secrecy” has seemingly gone unfulfilled.  Lawsuit details The complaint claims that Prosser was part of a “coordinated scheme to break into an Apple development iPhone.” Specifically, the complaint lays out that Prosser, along with a co-defendant named Michael Ramacciotti, worked together to access an unreleased iPhone that belonged to an Apple employee named Ethan Lipnik. Ramacciotti, who is friends with Lipnik, waited for a time when Lipnik would be gone for an extended period of time before picking up the device. The complaint reads in part: According to Mr. Ramacciotti’s message, while staying at Mr. Lipnik’s home, Mr Ramacciotti used location tracking to determine when Mr. Lipnik would be gone for an extended period, acquired his passcode, and broke into his Development iPhone, which Mr. Lipnik had failed to properly secure according to Apple’s policies. As he detailed in the audio message, Mr. Ramacciotti made a video call to Mr. Prosser and “showed iOS” on the Development iPhone. He demonstrated several features and applications, disclosing details of the unreleased iOS 19 operating system. During the video call, Prosser took screenshots and screen recordings of the new iOS. He then had renders created of updated features, presumably as part of an effort to cover his tracks and not reveal his source. It’s worth noting that all of this was done without Lipnik’s knowledge. Still, Lipnik was ultimately fired for not adhering to Apple’s strict privacy policies. Prosser was allegedly the mastermind behind the plan The complaint alleges that Prosser concocted the scheme after finding out that Ramacciotti needed money. Note, being the first to report Apple-related rumors is a lucrative business. And Prosser’s YouTube videos likely generate an impressive amount of ad revenue. At the time of this writing, Prosser's YouTube channel boasts more than 558,000 subscribers. The complaint goes on to state:  Because Mr. Prosser lacked access to Apple’s networks and systems, he enlisted Mr. Ramacciotti to help him access Apple’s confidential software designs. Mr. Prosser promised Mr. Ramacciotti compensation in the form of money or a future job opportunity for Mr. Ramacciotti in exchange for helping Mr. Prosser to access, obtain, and copy Apple confidential information. Mr. Ramacciotti was friends with Mr. Lipnik, an Apple software engineering employee to whom Apple had issued the Development iPhone to develop and test certain aspects of Apple’s unreleased operating systems. According to Mr. Lipnik, Mr. Ramacciotti often spent time at his home, sometimes staying for the weekend, and observing his patterns and security protocols for his devices. The lawsuit then goes on to state that Prosser told Ramacciotti to bypass the passcode on Lipnik's iPhone: At Mr. Prosser’s direction, Mr. Ramacciotti obtained Mr. Lipnik’s passcode, unlocked the Development iPhone, and shared details about iOS 19 with Mr. Prosser via FaceTime. According to Mr. Ramacciotti, he accessed confidential information on the Development iPhone while in Mr. Lipnik’s apartment. Once he was sure he was alone in Mr. Lipnik’s home, Mr. Ramacciotti used location tracking to determine when Mr. Lipnik would return so that he would know how much time he had to break into the device and copy Apple’s trade secrets. When he confirmed Mr. Lipnik was gone, Mr. Ramacciotti made a FaceTime call to Mr. Prosser. According to forensic evidence, Mr. Ramacciotti called Mr. Prosser before he unlocked the Development iPhone, indicating that Mr. Prosser was involved in the decision to improperly access Apple’s trade secrets. Mr. Ramacciotti then entered the stolen passcode, accessed, and disclosed iOS19 to Mr. Prosser.  Interestingly enough, Lipnik eventually found out about the leak after some friends recognized his apartment from Prosser’s video recording. It was at this point that Ramacciotti confided to Lipnik about the scheme and the compensation involved. Additionally, Lipnik did not immediately let his bosses at Apple know after he discovered the scheme. Prosser denies Apple's allegations Apple is suing Prosser for the misappropriation of trade secrets under the Defend Trade Secrets Act (DTSA). Apple specifically argues that the defendants violated the DTSA by leaking details regarding the new iOS camera, photos, and messaging apps.  The lawsuit doesn't specify the amount of incurred damages, but rather relays that it will figure it out at trial. Apple also said it plans to pursue punitive damages based on the defendants’ “willful and malicious misappropriation of trade secrets.” Suffice it to say, Apple will presumably be seeking a lot in damages to send a message to other leakers. Lastly, Prosser responded to the lawsuit on X late on Thursday, noting that the scheme Apple lays out in its complaint is not how things played out. "I did not 'plot' to access anyone’s phone," Prosser said. "I did not have any passwords. I was unaware of how the information was obtained." Prosser further adds that he has evidence to substantiate his claims. All told, it will be fascinating to see how this plays out. Historically speaking, Apple has sued leakers before, but they have traditionally been actual Apple employees. The last time I can recall Apple going after a non-Apple leaker was back in the early 2000's when the company sued the Think Secret blog, a lawsuit which ultimately led to the site's demise as part of a settlement agreement. The post Apple sues iPhone leaker for revealing iOS 26 secrets appeared first on BGR.

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