Republicans are working to provide Americans with the affordable energy they need by undoing the harm done by former President Joe Biden’s disastrous anti-energy polices, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) explained at a press event Tuesday. Scalise recalled how domestic energy production had been handcuffed by the Biden Administration: “You heard Chairman Guthrie and Congressman Begich talk about this great energy agenda that we're continuing to deliver on. Of course, in the Working Families Tax Cut, we had a lot of provisions in that bill, in fact, Congressman Begich himself brought forward to open up areas in Alaska. I walked the Alaskan pipeline in section 1002 of the North Slope, and to see all of the ability to produce energy in America that had been shut down under Joe Biden.  “We couldn't even produce the energy we know we have here in America because of stupid policies by the Biden Administration. And we've been reversing that. Many of those provisions that Congressman Begich campaigned on, he already delivered on in the Working Families Tax Cut. But there's more to do.” Over the next week, House Republicans will introduce legislation to ensure America’s energy independence, Scalise said: “We're bringing some of those bills to the floor this week. You're going to see the Department of Interior, probably this week, hopefully in the next two weeks, roll out their five-year leasing plan for the Gulf of America again, something that President Biden shut down that drove investment to foreign countries. “We saw billions of dollars of energy investment moving to foreign countries because Biden shut down America. Well, America's open up for business again, and that means more jobs here in America.” The legislation will result in lower prices for more than energy products, Scalise explained: “But really importantly for families, lower energy costs and energy costs affect everything that we do. When you go to the grocery store, lower energy costs mean lower food costs for families. And so we're going to keep delivering on that agenda. Obviously, this week, it's going to be a very aggressive schedule, and we're going to continue to move bills in the future.”

Those who depend on Elitist Media network news for information may have never heard of the scandal currently roiling the House Democratic caucus, involving efforts to impose accountability after a shady succession scandal. And this was made possible, in part, due to the networks’ overload on Jeffrey Epstein slop coverage. Per CBS News: The House on Tuesday passed a rare rebuke of U.S. Rep. Chuy García, D-IL, for quietly clearing the 2026 Democratic primary field so his own chief of staff would be the only Democrat on the ballot in next year's midterm elections. A group of 23 Democrats joined almost all Republicans to back the "disapproval" resolution on Tuesday by a 238-186 vote, with 10 members not voting, and four voting present. In a statement subsequent to the vote, García’s office said: Congressman García made a deeply personal decision based on his health, his wife’s worsening condition and his responsibility to the grandchildren he is raising after the death of his daughter. He followed every rule and every filing requirement laid out by the State of Illinois.  At a moment like this, he hopes his colleagues, especially those who speak about family values, can show the same compassion and respect that any family would want during a health crisis. Congressman García remains committed to finishing his term with dignity and continuing his lifelong fight for working families. One can hold two simultaneous thoughts in their head, to wit: that no one can begrudge Rep. García for making a hard decision under horrific circumstances while praying the best for him and his family at this painful time. On the other hand: the way that the succession went down, with García appearing to run (effectively freezing out a potential field) while his chief of staff quietly gathered signatures (and had them verified) along with all the other requirements of a congressional candidacy, looks VERY shady. Some might even call this an anti-democratic transition. Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp-Perez (D-WA) took a lot of heat for going against the party line and presenting the resolution on the House floor. And it may well be worth contrasting the coverage she draws from the Elitist Media versus, say, Marjorie Taylor Greene. There are (D)ifferences at play,, you see. And yet, and unlike the aforementioned MTG, none of this made it to the broadcast network evening news. It’s not like the networks are unaware. ABC and NBC ran related online items, in addition to the CBS item cited above. They just don’t want to run something that might distract from their 800+ minutes of Epstein slop. Univision and Telemundo’s exclusions of this story are even more shocking. Rep. García is often sought out for quotes on immigration and other matters and isn’t hard to get a hold of. These networks were also in on the “defending democracy” narratives of the last five years, so it’s amazing to see them not denounce a blatant attempt to subvert the democratic process, which is what happens when one wants to install a successor as opposed to stepping aside in a timely manner so the democratic process can play itself out. Given the frequency with which these sorts of things happen in their viewers’ countries of origin, it is astounding that Univision and Telemundo aren’t all over the shady Chuy García succession. Then again, that might cut into the usual immigration coverage. Let this serve as your periodic reminder that what we have is an anti-media, feeding you salacious and/or outrageous slop while suppressing items that are actually newsworthy.  

On CNN's State Of The Union, host Dana Bash featured a lengthy interview with Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA). Many issues were discussed, including her feud with President Trump over the Epstein Files, which seems to be at the center of the bad blood between the two. Bash also brought up some of MTG's social media posts, which led her to follow-up with questions on right wing anti-Semitism, some aimed at the Congresswoman herself BASH:  I do want to ask you about something you posted just yesterday on X. You questioned who and what country is putting so much pressure on Trump to keep the Epstein files hidden. And you included a picture about donations from pro-Israel lobbying group at AIPAC. What are you trying to say there? GREENE: Well, I think it's the question that many Americans are asking.... And we saw Jeffrey Epstein with ties to Ehud Barak. We saw him making business deals with them, also business deals that involved the Israeli government, and seems to have led into their intel agencies. And I think the right question is to ask is, was Jeffrey Epstein working for Israel?... BASH: I just want to be clear. Are you saying Israel is pushing the President of the United States to cover up the Epstein files? And what evidence do you have that that is the case? GREENE: ...No, I simply just asked out loud, is there a foreign government? It could be any foreign government... BASH: Well, you had AIPAC up there. It was pretty clear which government you were talking about. Greene says it could be any other foreign government, but she chose Israel, and Israel alone to go after in that post, and in today's climate, that unfortunately translates to "Jews" in so many quarters. Murtaza Hussein of the anti-Israel Drop Site News connected Epstein and Israel: "There’s been a lot of justifiable focus on Epstein’s very grave crimes.. but one critical aspect of the story that’s not been covered is Epstein’s own relationships to foreign governments, the U.S. government and particularly foreign intelligence agencies..."  Agencies, with an "S." Bash continued:  BASH: ..But there is some concern, a lot of concern among Republicans about the rise of anti-Semitic, hard right figures in your movement, especially after Tucker Carlson hosted white nationalist Nick Fuentes on his podcast, didn't question Fuentes about his vile language or views. You did speak at a conference hosted by Fuentes back in 2022. You were criticized, and you said then that you didn't know about his views.. She then played a clip of Fuentes claiming that he and Greene were friends, something she denied to Bash: "I did speak at his conference back in 2022. However, I don't know Nick Fuentes....That was the first time I had met him....I watched the full interview with Tucker. And and I admire him for interviewing many people..." Bash then interrupted. BASH: .. I hear what you're saying about free speech. I mean, count me as guilty as a proponent of free speech. There's free speech and then there is hate speech. And this is a man, invited on a really prominent conservative show who said even during that interview, he had a problem with, quote, 'organized Jewry', and he wasn't challenged on it. In the past, he has denied the Holocaust, called Adolf Hitler effing cool.. GREENE: Well, Dana, again, I told you ..that I'm committed to ending the toxic politics. And I think I don't want to have anything to do with it...You should have Nick Fuentes on your show, and you could ask him questions about that. I myself am not anti-Semitic. I have never criticized the Jewish people or said anything about them in particular. I am critical of the government of the government of Israel.. This was one of those rare examples of both guest and host handling their respective roles in a professional and civil way.  

On Saturday's The Weekend: Primetime, MS NOW host Ayman Mohyeldin derided police actions to protect the ICE facility outside Chicago as "the worst of America" as the show gave a forum to a liberal clergyman to excoriate ICE's treatment of illegal aliens. And MS NOW contributor Eddie Glaude went on to compare arresting illegal aliens to capturing fugitive slaves in the 1850s. Reverend Michael Woolf of the Lake Street Church of Evanston was given much of the segment to discuss his recent experience of being arrested by police officers outside the ICE facility in Broadview, Illinois, as he and other protesters tried to move too close to the facility. Woolf wrote a book titled Sanctuary and Subjectivity hailed for better "understanding the ways that white religious liberals can interrogate their whiteness." He repeatedly made provocative accusations against immigration enforcement agents during his ramblings, accusing them of "kidnapping," of running a "concentration camp," or of being part of "tyranny." He asserted: We know what's happening at that facility is pretty much tantamount to torture. It's denial of food, it's unsanitary conditions, and the people who are detained there are detained without any spiritual care whatsoever. So we were there to raise our voices as moral actors and sort of say that we want the folks there to be released, we want the facility to be closed down, and, of course, we want to be able to pray with our neighbors who have been kidnapped from our communities. A bit later, he recalled: I always try to talk to police officers. I try to remind them they have a choice -- that they are protecting what amounts to a concentration camp behind them and they're allowing it to happen. But they have a choice on how they're going to operate with that. Asking a followup question, co-host Ayman Mohyeldin posed that the leftist protesters were the "best" and ICE was the "worst": So, Professor, when you kind of look at this moment, you have both the best and worst of America represented, right? You have people who are standing up for what they believe is right -- trying to convince people to take the moral -- the correct moral action, but, at the same time, you're seeing, as the reverend was saying, the use of violence which is sometimes a deliberate tactic by the state to invoke a certain imagery that the state has a monopoly on power -- absolute use of power -- and can do so against even holy men in our society. Later on, after Reverend Woolf repeated his accusation of "kidnapping" by immigration agents, Glaude made his slavery comparison: WOOLF: We are facing an intense crisis of morality, and it demands people of conscience to be able to say something about it when you have folks coming into communities and kidnapping our neighbors, when you have people who are -- operate with absolute impunity, when you have an authoritarianism that is on the rise, and when you're dealing with tyranny, it's an emergency. And it demands people in all aspects of society and I think faith leaders, too. EDDIE GLAUDE, MSNBC CONTRIBUTOR: Just think about this historic moment. The Fugitive Slave Act, 1850 -- people, slave catchers coming into communities, snatching people, and people have to make a choice. This is not new. This is not. Transcript follows: MS NOW's The Weekend: Primetime November 16, 2025 8:18 p.m. Eastern REVEREND MICHAEL WOOLF, LAKE STREET CHURCH OF EVANSTON: We know what's happening at that facility is pretty much tantamount to torture. It's denial of food, it's unsanitary conditions, and the people who are detained there are detained without any spiritual care whatsoever. So we were there to raise our voices as moral actors and sort of say that we want the folks there to be released, we want the facility to be closed down, and, of course, we want to be able to pray with our neighbors who have been kidnapped from our communities. And so a bunch of faith leaders and I -- we went out into the streets to make those demands known, and we were immediately met with violence which, unfortunately -- as you were talking about -- is an occurrence that's been happening rather often down at Broadview. CATHERINE RAMPELL: It looked -- it looked from the video like you were pointed out by some law enforcement officer and then dragged out. How did they identify you? Why do you think they came after you? WOOLF I'm loud and I'm tall and I -- I -- RAMPELL: Wearing a collar? WOOLF: And wearing a collar, and I'm happy to say exactly what I think, and when I'm talking to police officers -- I always try to talk to police officers. I try to remind them they have a choice -- that they are protecting what amounts to a concentration camp behind them and they're allowing it to happen. But they have a choice on how they're going to operate with that. And I always talk to them, and I always talk about that choice. I was also telling them that we're peaceably assembled, and we absolutely intend to do absolutely no harm. And so eventually there was a lull in the action, and one of the commanders pointed at me and he said, "He's going." And so indeed I was going at that point, and there's really nothing you can do when that happens. ELISE JORDAN: How did the officers respond when you tried to minister to them in that way? WOOLF: You know, I've seen and sometimes made some police officers cry before when you talk about the children who are abducted. Police officers are human beings. I don't agree with some of the tactics that are used at Broadview. I don't agree with them protecting ICE or protecting this facility, but they're human beings. They are capable of conversion and change, and that is really important to note. So, yeah, there's been police officers who have cried when they're being preached to or when they're being talked to. They're moral actors, too. They have choices to make, and I think it's really important to know that. AYMAN MOHYELDIN: So, Professor, when you kind of look at this moment, you have both the best and worst of America represented, right? You have people who are standing up for what they believe is right -- trying to convince people to take the moral -- the correct moral action, but, at the same time, you're seeing, as the reverend was saying, the use of violence which is sometimes a deliberate tactic by the state to invoke a certain imagery that the state has a monopoly on power -- absolute use of power -- and can do so against even holy men in our society. (...) WOOLF: We are facing an intense crisis of morality, and it demands people of conscience to be able to say something about it when you have folks coming into communities and kidnapping our neighbors, when you have people who are -- operate with absolute impunity, when you have an authoritarianism that is on the rise, and when you're dealing with tyranny, it's an emergency. And it demands people in all aspects of society and I think faith leaders, too. EDDIE GLAUDE, MSNBC CONTRIBUTOR: Just think about this historic moment. The Fugitive Slave Act, 1850 -- people, slave catchers coming into communities, snatching people, and people have to make a choice. This is not new. This is not.

Per new polling reported by Gallup, religion is no longer important to most Americans. In response to the question “Is religion an important part of your daily life?” 49% said yes. Ten years ago, in 2015, 66% responded affirmatively. Gallup notes that this 17-point drop “ranks among the largest Gallup has recorded in any country over any 10-year period since 2007.” This departure from religion has partisan characteristics. In 2001, per Gallup, 11% of Democrats and 7% of Republicans said they have no religion. In 2023, this difference widened to 33% of Democrats and 12% of Republicans saying they have no religion. What are the practical implications? Two major social institutions derive authority from religion. One is marriage. We refer to marriage as “holy matrimony.” Another is private property. The eighth commandment says, “Thou shalt not steal.” Regarding marriage, again from Gallup, among 30- to 50-year-olds, in 1981, there was little difference between Democrats and Republicans: 82% of Democrats and 84% of Republicans were married. By 2024, the spread increased to 18 points: 67% of Republicans and 49% of Democrats were married. A reasonable proxy for attitudes about private property is attitudes towards socialism. Socialism disregards the sanctity of private property. A socialist government can take what is Peter’s and redistribute it to Paul. In 2025, 66% of Democrats and 14% of Republicans said they have a “positive” view of socialism. How is this playing out, and how will this play out, regarding day-to-day realities in our country? Let’s consider the unabashed socialist who was just elected mayor of New York City. Among the giveaways he has promised is a freeze on rents. A group of property owners in New York City has filed a lawsuit in federal court challenging the constitutionality of government-imposed rent control. Their claim is that rent control preventing an owner from profitably managing his property violates the Constitution’s “takings” clause. The Constitution’s Fifth Amendment says, “No person shall....be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of the law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.” Let’s hope this case finds its way to the Supreme Court. Private property is a core institution of our free nation under God. Let’s also consider those New Yorkers howling about the cost of living in New York City, that their new mayor wants to make happy at the expense of others. Last year, the New York Post reported on a study done by law firm Schmidt and Clark, noting “One in three adults in New York have never been married...17.4% more than the national average.” The study reported on all of New York state, but it’s reasonable to assume that the statistics in New York City are above the state average. Among women in New York, per the study, 36.3% have never married, the highest in the nation. Among men, 41.1% have never married, the second-highest in the nation. The economic penalty of living alone in New York City is the highest in the nation, per real estate platforms StreetEasy and Zillow. They call this the “singles tax”. Per these firms, as reported by CNN, in New York City, “singles pay an average of $20,100 more to live alone.” The siren song of the welfare state culture is the problem does not lie with individual behavior, but getting others to foot the bill. New York City is but a microcosm of our whole nation. The Economic Innovation Group reports that transfer payments -- funds received by one set of citizens that are transferred from other citizens -- total now “almost 18% of total personal income in the United States, up from 8% in 1970.” We are drowning more and more in debt. The answer is the return of individual responsibility and the institutions that enable it. All this is informed by religion, which we must again strengthen. Star Parker is founder of the Center for Urban Renewal and Education. Her recent book, “What Is the CURE for America?” is available now. To find out more about Star Parker and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.