The Trump administration can claim many historic victories but none greater than securing the southern border. This wasn’t just the fulfillment of Trump’s signature campaign promise — it was a demonstration that “law and order” means nothing without real enforcement.Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has become the face of that message. She appears in a series of high-profile ad campaigns — aired nationwide and internationally — warning illegal immigrants to self-deport or face permanent removal. The ads sparked predictable outrage, but the message remains clear: The days of catch-and-release are over.After four long and chaotic years, this country is once again speaking up for our sovereignty, our citizens, and our way of life.But the ads aren’t brazen — they’re brilliant.Democrats have slammed the ads as a waste of money or a form of political advertising. But the truth is, they hate the ads because of how powerful they are.These ads reflect a basic truth: DHS has a duty to enforce federal immigration law. Campaigns like these aren't new. The Biden administration ran its own digital push in 2022 under Customs and Border Protection, urging migrants to “Say No to the Coyote.”But the results now speak louder than any slogan. Trump and Noem haven’t just increased removals or tightened border security — they’ve changed the calculus entirely. Fewer migrants are even attempting to enter the country. That’s the power of clear, consistent messaging.Biden told the world illegal entry wouldn’t carry consequences. Trump has made it clear those days are done.As Todd Bensman of the Center for Immigration Studies once noted, the power of presidential messaging became undeniable in 2016. Compare the “Trump effect” to the “Clinton effect”: In November 2016, border agents logged more than 63,000 apprehensions. By March 2017 — just two months into Trump’s first term — that number dropped to just over 12,000.By the end of that term, Trump had slashed both legal and illegal immigration by a staggering 92%. The world took notice.It’s happening again. After four catastrophic years of Joe Biden, Trump’s return to the Oval Office has triggered a collapse in border crossings. Overall encounters have dropped 93% since he took office. In Panama’s Darien Gap — one of the most notorious corridors for illegal migration — crossings have plunged by 99%.The message is getting through: America’s borders are no longer open.Law and order depends, first and foremost, on clarity. It’s one thing to enforce the law, but it’s another thing to make sure everyone knows that you’re enforcing the law. The only way someone can play by the rules is if he knows what the rules are and what the penalties are for breaking those rules.Why do we write down our laws? Any healthy human society already knows that things like murder, theft, and fraud are wrong. That law is written in our hearts. We write down laws and penalties so that everyone knows exactly what the rules are for living together and what happens otherwise. Advertising the information is the entire point of putting it down on paper in the first place.RELATED: ‘Self-deport’ flights begin as some illegal migrants take advantage of Trump's tempting offer Photo by J. David Ake/Getty ImagesIf our laws are to be truly just, they must be stated clearly and enforced faithfully. This is the entire point of having a written set of laws, so that everyone knows the rules of the game and the penalties for breaking them.Laws don’t enforce themselves. Without consequences, they’re just suggestions.Kristi Noem understood that early. She was the first governor to deploy National Guard troops to the southern border in support of Texas during Biden’s open-border disaster. In one meeting with Border Patrol agents, she heard it straight: “There are no consequences right now. Without consequences, there is no enforcement, and there is no law.”That’s changed.Under Trump and Noem, consequences are back. And the whole world knows it.We are no longer seeing mobs of illegal aliens rushing the border wearing Biden campaign T-shirts, expecting to receive free, taxpayer-funded handouts that candidate Biden promised them on the campaign trail. Instead, the corporate left-wing media is forced to churn out pearl-clutching sob stories about how illegal aliens are choosing to self-deport or how businesses that depend on immigrant traffic through the Darien Gap have collapsed due to the decline in immigration.The famous chart from Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) proves that President Trump accomplished in just 100 days what it took him four years to do last time. And he’s just getting started. These results are not just a function of enforcement. They are a result of messaging.When America speaks, the world indeed listens. Now, after four long and chaotic years, this country is once again speaking up for our sovereignty, our citizens, and our way of life.

A bombshell report from the New York Times accused the federal government of working with data processing company Palantir to develop a database of Americans' private information.The idea has been criticized as a way for the government to compile sensitive data against naysayers, detractors, or immigrants who could get the boot over their politics. Another interpretation is that the government is simply sharing data between agencies to make processes more efficient, like streamlining tax data or locating illegal immigrants.'Palantir never collects data to unlawfully surveil Americans.'In March, President Trump signed an executive order "ensuring Federal Agencies share critical data, consistent with applicable privacy protections."By April, the New York Times was warning that this compilation of data could mean the government would have hands on civilian information like alimony payments, IP addresses, or student loan defaults, all in the same place.A lot of the data listed would come as no surprise to the average person, given that his Social Security number or criminal history is already firmly in the government's purview. However, the issue rises with the company Palantir — founded by Trump-supporting mega-donor Peter Thiel — gaining access to all this data and compiling it through government contracts.As Newsweek reported, Trump may have allegedly tapped Palantir to create a database of Americans' private information.RELATED: CNBC host tries to get Palantir CEO to side against Rubio, Musk on European speech — but gets a surprise response Palantir co-founder Peter Thiel speaks at the Cambridge Union on May 08, 2024, in Cambridge, England. Photo by Nordin Catic/Getty ImagesPalantir was founded in 2003 by Thiel and Alex Karp, but did not go public until 2020. Karp has publicly boasted about stopping the "far right" in Europe through Palantir's software and the company's work with COVID-19 vaccine distribution. That work is just one of many integrations with the federal government pointed out by the New York Times in a subsequent investigation.For example, Palantir engineers have worked with the IRS since April to organize data on taxpayers, according to two unnamed government officials.According to Wired, Palantir also has a $30 million deal to help Immigration and Customs Enforcement to implement software to achieve "near-real-time" tracking on illegal immigrants.The Social Security Administration and Department of Education are also using Palantir's data integration and analysis tool called Foundry, according to Yahoo.Palantir's response to this firestorm of accusations from left-wing outlets started with directing the Times to a blog post from 2020. Titled "Palantir Is Not a Data Company," the blog states that the company is not a data broker or seller."Unlike many tech companies, our business model is not based on the monetization of personal data," the tech company wrote. "We do not collect, store, or sell personal data. We don't use personal data to train proprietary AI or machine learning models to share or resell to other customers."On June 3, five days after the report accused Palantir of undermining Americans' trust, the tech company took to its X page to accuse the New York Times of publishing "blatantly untrue" content.Echoing its years-old blog post, Palantir said it "never collects data to unlawfully surveil Americans, and our Foundry platform employs granular security protections. If the facts were on its side, the New York Times would not have needed to twist the truth."RELATED: Oculus creator fires back at 'politically obsessive journalists' as hit-piece culture dies — (@) "The Times seeks the facts and the truth," the outlet replied. "Our article is based on excellent, factual reporting, including conversations with Palantir employees and federal officials who have knowledge of Palantir's business before the U.S. government."Palantir's Bill Rivers then went on the attack the next day and accused the New York Times itself of collecting and selling data."Palantir doesn't collect data on Americans but The New York Times does," he wrote. "If you compare third party tracking on NYT vs Palantir websites, NYT makes 38 third-party requests. Palantir makes NONE. They bash Palantir for data privacy but sell and track customer data THEMSELVES."Blaze News asked the New York Times about its data collection and whether or not the outlet sells user data to third parties.Spokesman Charlie Stadtlander said the outlet's reporting on Palantir is based on "a pursuit of facts and truth about a company with large amounts of contracts with the U.S. government, paid for by American taxpayers.""Our reporting is driven by transparency, accountability, and insight for our readers to better understand the forces at play between the government and a large tech company," Stadtlander continued. "Conflating run-of-the-mill corporate policies with the truths expertly uncovered in this reporting seems to be an attempt at deflection and distraction."Stadtlander did not address any collection or sale of user data.Palantir has a point, though, even if it is a misdirection. News websites are havens of data collection, and the farther east you go, the more prevalent it seems to be.A 2018 study from Nieman Lab found that European news outlets are rampant with third-party cookies tracking user data. U.K. and Spanish outlets were by far the worst offenders, followed by French, Polish, Finnish, and German news companies.Websites in just seven European countries averaged 81 third-party cookies per page. Other popular websites (non-news) had just 12 on average.In the battle of data, the left wing does appear to be winning the Pokemon-style game of collecting it all.Google, Facebook, and Adobe were ranked as the top three companies collecting data in 2021, according to pCloud.In 2022, Clario did a deep dive into which apps are tracking user data, including location and contact info. Apple Messages, Snapchat, Instagram, Apple Photos, Safari, and of course Google Maps all ask users for this data.At the same time Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter (pre-Elon Musk), and Tinder were all using face recognition and environment recognition while seeking access to contacts and images. Of those, only Tinder was not taking in voice data/recognition.These are not exactly right-wing companies.'... playing it safe is the most dangerous thing an administration like Trump’s could do.'Return's James Poulos explained that from a tech angle, the federal government is, and has been, in dire need of more security for its data.“It’s been a rough century for civil libertarians, whose dreams of a Wild West web have been dashed at every turn," Poulos said. "Almost always the justification has been the hardest one to challenge: national security."Poulos says that America is so vulnerable to a systemic attack by China that there is not much of an alternative other than to quickly secure its data all at once.He added, "The ancients were well aware that in tough times people would often have to accept regimes of a type and severity that fell below normal hopes and expectations. Here we are again. There's plenty of blame to go around, but with a hand this bad, playing it safe is the most dangerous thing an administration like Trump’s could do."While it will continue to be difficult to discern whether any political aisle is trustworthy with your data, it seems clear that while the left wing is busy pointing out right-wing intrusions — as it should — it may also be acting in self-service, introducing a welcomed distraction from its own data mining.There does exist a third possibility, however: that President Trump is taking a calculated risk by allowing certain actors to secure sensitive information rather than have it fall into the hands of a hostile nation.Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Monday Morning Meme Madness

The Blame for Every Single Second of LA Chaos Can Be Laid Directly at the Feet of Biden, Newsom & Co.

Alaska Man Monday - Bars and Bears

Amid reporting on the public feud between Elon Musk and President Donald Trump and their haggling over the "Big, Beautiful Bill" that Musk says spends too much taxpayer money, Newsmax looks at the accomplishments claimed by DOGE and how activists on the left sought to...

Iran will soon hand a counter-proposal for a nuclear deal to the United States via Oman, Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said on Monday, in response to a U.S. offer that Tehran deems "unacceptable."

The row between Elon Musk, the world's richest man, and President Donald Trump was triggered by stress on both sides and Elon made a mistake by publicly challenging Trump, Musk's father told Russian media in Moscow.

Southern California Edison's internal wildfire forecasts underestimated the potential size of the Eaton Canyon fire in Los Angeles by a factor of ten in the days leading up to a deadly conflagration in January, according to documents reviewed by Reuters.

President Donald Trump's new ban on travel to the U.S. by citizens from 12 mainly African and Middle Eastern countries took effect Monday amid rising tension over the president's escalating campaign of immigration enforcement.