America’s 250th year is one of disagreement, not celebration

February 10, 2026

As the United States of America approaches its 250th birthday, we see a country sharply divided, perhaps more so than ever.

The political Right is attempting to take the unique and wonderful design and work to restore it to its original form. The political Left is desperately trying to subvert those actions and turn the country instead into what it prefers: a pure democracy.

But democracies are not what you may think. On that subject, the late commentator Walter Williams said, “The Founders knew that a democracy would lead to some kind of tyranny.”

Founder John Adams offered: “"Democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a Democracy yet, that did not commit suicide." 

It is relevant to note that neither the Declaration of Independence nor the U.S. Constitution even mention “democracy.” Instead, the founders envisioned a representative republic — a “Republican Form of Government” — a system that was designed to avoid the “tyranny of the majority,” a huge negative feature of democracies.

They favored a republic — a representative government, or government by the people — over a pure democracy, as James Madison wrote in Federalist No. 10.

Yet, the Democrats, both those in and not in the U.S. Congress, have the bad habit of referring to “our democracy” as if it is one. Or maybe it’s just a preference they want to push.

The closest the country comes to “democracy” is when it is described as a "democratic republic" or a "representative democracy," phrases which flirt with the term “democracy, but recognize that it is not one. 

The Left is actively working as swiftly as possible to “fundamentally transform the United States of America,” as per Barack Obama. 

It tries to pass and sometimes does pass laws and takes actions that weaken the system, while opposing those that maintain or strengthen it.

The Left appoints judges and justices that will not honor the original intent of the Constitution and federal and state laws, and will “interpret” them in ways never imagined when they were created.

It wants to enlarge the U.S. Supreme Court and pack it with liberal justices who will make law from the bench by mis-interpreting the Constitution and laws in ways that help them in their subversive efforts.

Their presidents, governors and mayors support the election of and make appointments of attorneys general and prosecutors who have a soft-on-crime attitude that values criminals more than law-abiding citizens.

The Left often criticizes its political opponents for doing things it has done in the past, as if they never imagined such things before.

Victor Davis Hanson, a military historian, and conservative political commentator who writes and does video commentaries for The Daily Caller, offered this view in one of those videos of what the Left is doing, relative to recent incidents in Minnesota.

“I want to talk very quickly today about what is going on in Minnesota. What I’m really disturbed about is the utter hypocrisy that we’re seeing with this street insurrectionary movement. 

“They have canonized Renee Good and Alex Pretti for resisting ICE officers, and they were tragically shot and they’ve become martyrs. Why did the Left tell us that it was perfectly okay for somebody to go to a demonstration with a military-grade, semi-automatic weapon with extra clips and just stick it in his waistband, visible [to] anybody, and then get into a brawl with law enforcement officers? 

“At the same time, tell us if anybody had a concealed weapon anywhere on January 6, they needed to be put in jail? All of our most prominent liberals are saying the state of Minnesota has a right to do what? Attack federal officers? 

“I thought the Left didn’t like state’s rights. I thought they said that this was insurrectionary.”

For the second time in a very short period of time, Congressional Democrats have tried to jam through favored concepts by stuffing them into government funding bills, the purpose of which is to prevent a government shutdown. It is a common practice to put controversial items in an important bill that has great support or, in this case, has great importance. But while it is not a good thing, even though it is a common practice in other legislation, it should not be allowed in government funding emergency legislation. It has a strong resemblance to blackmail.

In the latest of these attempts, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-NY, has said that there are three demands necessary to get Democrats’ support for 

a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) funding bill that must pass by Feb. 13 to avoid a partial government shutdown.

While these may be good ideas, and one of them has already been put into effect, this is not the way to get them implemented. A truly good idea will likely get adequate support, without threatening a government shutdown.

Give the Left credit: they are adamant and working continuously to change the country into one ruled by those with socialist/communist ideals, not the ideals of personal freedom that our Founders believed in so earnestly. But the Democrats hard work will bring freedom-ending change to America, if they are successful.

Violent “protests” are illegal, and often lead to tragedies

February 3, 2026

As the original report of an event that will have strong interest among contrasting groups is released, people start reacting. Some react quite conservatively, mentioning only what has been broadcast or published. Others add information that is only partly true, or what they believe is true, even though it was not part of the initial news item, and hasn’t been confirmed.  And still others deliberately make up things that suits their narrative.

All sides use these devices to strengthen their particular position in these hotly debated events about who was right and who was wrong. Along the way, new information often comes along, that can affect how people react.

A new piece of information has appeared regarding Renee Good and Alex Pretti, both of whom were shot and killed by ICE personnel in Minnesota last month as they participated in illegal protests/riots that interfered with the federal agents doing their job to remove illegal aliens with criminal backgrounds or charges.

The two incidents that occurred weeks apart were handled as separate and unrelated events. However, new information purports to show a connection between these two individuals from many years ago.

According to the report, Good and Pretti, both 37 years-old, were classmates from 2006-2010 at the University of Minnesota, and knew each other as members of a club. It says that police discovered the connection when they accessed Pretti’s encrypted phone data, showing that both he and Good belonged to a group chat called “Kingfield Signal ICE watch group.”

Signal group chats are used by anti-ICE activists in Minneapolis and elsewhere to track, identify and impede federal law enforcement officers, according to FBI Director Kash Patel.

"We immediately opened up that investigation because that sort of Signal chat being coordinated with individuals, not just locally in Minnesota, but maybe even around the country — if that leads to a break in the federal statute or a violation of some law, then we are going to arrest people," Patel said. "You cannot create a scenario that illegally entraps and puts law enforcement in harm's way," he added.

That Pretti was a member of the Kingfield Signal ICE watch group, was confirmed by Jeanne Massey, who coordinates rapid response for that and other groups. Good’s involvement, however, has not been confirmed. But the idea that the two knew each other for many years prior to the recent events adds to the discourse, making both Good and Pretti look somewhat worse.

Both Good and Pretti were voluntarily participating in interference with ICE’s legal activities to arrest and deport illegal aliens, focusing on the “worst of the worst.” Some 70 percent of those captured so far have been charged with or convicted of crimes, either in the U.S., their home country, or perhaps some combination.

Good and her spouse, Becca Good, were present at an ICE enforcement activity, and both had made critical remarks to agents. When she blocked a street with her vehicle, refused to exit the vehicle when ordered, and then drove at an ICE agent, she was shot.

Pretti had been involved in interfering with ICE several days before the day he died, damaging an ICE vehicle and being injured as he resisted arrest. On the day of his death, he was with a mob interfering with ICE, carrying a pistol and resisting arrest with no ID. While he did have a concealed carry permit, carrying a weapon while physically and illegally interfering with law enforcement activity was not very smart.

The U.S. Constitution protects Americans expressing their thoughts and feelings about things in public gatherings. But that protection has limits: The public gatherings must be peaceful, including things like carrying signs and chanting or singing. They must not involve violence or interference with lawful activities of law enforcement, such as blocking them, physically attacking them, getting in their faces or touching them or their equipment.

The activities of both Good and Pretti, and hundreds of others, violated the Constitution’s protection of peaceful behavior, opening up the possibility of their being arrested. This behavior cannot be ignored, let alone encouraged. 

Why Americans choose to defend illegal aliens and their crimes, and try to prevent their deportation is a fair question. There is much more sympathy for cases like those of Good and Pretti than for the much larger number of Americans killed or injured by illegal aliens.

Obviously, being in the country illegally is a crime, at least a misdemeanor, and in cases where illegals have been deported and have returned, is a felony. And crimes must be dealt with for the safety of the American people.

The tragic deaths of Good, Pretti and any others that may have died, or may die in the future can easily be avoided.

If blue governors and mayors would turn over those illegals to the federal government in their states and cities, there would be less need, or perhaps no need, for ICE to move into these areas.

And if those who dislike the efforts of federal law enforcement to remove the criminal element and the others here illegally would protest peacefully, or not protest legal actions at all, these deaths, injuries, and arrests would not occur.

Democrats will make Virginia much like California and Minnesota

January 27, 2026

Democrats in the General Assembly wasted no time in getting to work ending the Commonwealth’s movement toward sensible governance in the preceding four years, and heading in the direction of California and Minnesota.

Newly elected Governor Abigail Spanberger also wasted no time discarding the phony badge she wore saying she was a “moderate” candidate.

From the Americans for Tax Reform website: “Under unified Democrat control, Virginia is poised to become a tax-hiking outlier in a region full of states that are phasing out their income taxes. Immediately upon seizing control of government, Virginia Democrats introduced the following bills that seek to impose an array of new and higher taxes:

“HB 378 – Imposes a 3.8 percent net investment income tax on individuals, trusts, and estates beginning in taxable year 2027. If enacted, HB 378 would raise VA’s top marginal income tax rate on portfolio and passive income to 9.55percent.

“HB 900 – Authorizes sales tax hikes in various transportation districts, imposes a new tax on each and every retail delivery in Northern Virginia (Amazon, Uber Eats, FedEx, UPS, etc.), similar to the one imposed in Minnesota by Gov. Tim Walz (D). 

“HB 919 – Imposes a firearm and ammunition tax equal to 11 percent of the gross receipts from the retail sale of any firearm or ammunition by a dealer in firearms, firearms manufacturer, or ammunition vendor, as such terms are defined in the bill. 

“HB 978 – Extends the retail sales and use tax to dry cleaning, landscaping, and other previously exempt services.”

Some suggest that Virginia’s tax rate could rise from 5.75 percent to 13.8 percent, the highest in the nation.

And then there is House Bill 863 which moves down the path toward soft-on-crime government. The bill contains language that would effectively eliminate minimum sentencing requirements for such crimes as manslaughter, rape, possession and distribution of child pornography, and assaulting a law enforcement officer. Democrats are said to also seek to remove the mandatory five-day minimum sentence for certain first-time DUI offenses.

Along that same line of mis-thinking, Spanberger took the oath of office and a couple of breaths, and then signed 10 executive actions. One of those was to fulfill a campaign promise to rescind the executive order of her predecessor, former Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin, which required Virginia law enforcement to cooperate with federal immigration officials.

So, the new governor wants Virginia to become another Minnesota?

Defending this foolish decision, Spanberger commented that "State and local law enforcement should not be required to divert their limited resources to enforce federal, civil immigration laws – it is the responsibility of federal law enforcement," and that "Virginia state and local law enforcement officers must be able to focus on their core responsibilities: investigating crime and community policing."

There is also a move that would require government contracts under $100,000 to be awarded to minority-owned and women-owned businesses. It instructs the executive branch of Virginia’s government to base the awarding of at least 42 percent of its contracts on DEI criteria, rather than to whatever businesses appear to be the most qualified or best suited. It also requires allocating a certain portion of those contracts to certified DEI businesses.

Spanberger also announced Virginia would rejoin the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) – a move she said would lower costs.

"For me, this is about cost savings. RGGI generated hundreds of millions of dollars for Virginia — dollars that went directly to flood mitigation, energy efficiency programs, and lowering bills for families who need help most," Spanberger said. "Withdrawing from RGGI did not lower energy costs. In fact, the opposite happened — it just took money out of Virginia's pocket. It is time to fix that mistake." 

Republican State Senator Glen Sturtevant said, however, that the RGGI is a 501(c)(3) carbon tax entity that taxes member states through citizen’s electric bills, meaning electric bills will increase. He said further that by withdrawing from RGGI, Youngkin saved Virginians between $500 million and $1 billion.

There is also a bill to regulate gas-powered leaf blowers and other electric landscaping equipment. These machines are quite noisy. But, they are also quite efficient.

However, the most troubling topics deal with voting. There is a bill to end hand counting of ballots that can be read by a scanner. Scanners, of course, can be controlled online. 

And there is talk of proposing a constitutional redistricting amendment. Attempting to justify this, Spanberger said during a joint session of the Virginia General Assembly that "Virginia's proposed redistricting amendment is a response to what we're seeing in other states that have taken extreme measures to undermine democratic norms." 

However, critics claim this move would give Democrats a 10-1 advantage in voting districts, since their goal is keeping control.  Many districts vote Republican, although the large eastern districts near D.C. and Richmond vote Democrat.

Spanberger’s new-found love of redistricting is wholly partisan. Back in 2019 she commented that “Gerrymandering is detrimental to our democracy and it weakens the individual voices that form our electorates. Opposing gerrymandering should be a bipartisan priority.”

And, Spanberger’s often mentioned plan for improved “affordability” is just words, not actions.

Virginia will join California and Minnesota, and the people will suffer.

Last year saw many positive things happen in our country

January 20, 2026

Well, the first year of President Donald Trump’s second term has now been completed. Yes, the United States of America still has problems. It always has had, and it always will have. But some improvements have been recorded.

Let’s be clear, Trump is not perfect; he has his problems. But the same is true of Joe Biden, Chuck Schumer, Nancy Pelosi, Kamala Harris, Adam Schiff, Elizabeth Warren, Maxine Waters, Hakeem Jeffries, Hillary Clinton, Jasmine Crockett, Eric Swalwell, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar and every other human being.

But Trump may be the most heavily criticized POTUS ever, or at least he is in recent memory. 

It truly appears that some people oppose what Trump does because of how much they dislike him, irrespective of what he is doing that may be is good for the country.

Michigan Republican Congresswoman Lisa McClain gave an example of just how wild and crazy the dislike of Trump is, saying, “President Trump could have the cure for cancer and the Democrats would still be upset."

But despite the fog that interferes with how some folks view things, the economy has some positive aspects, and some other factors will likely improve as time passes. The following information was provided by WhiteHouse.gov.

Egg prices are down 84 percent; gas is less than $3.00 per gallon for the first time in four years; the federal deficit is down 40 percent, the lowest since 2019; we have global contracts of $170 billion, which is 14 times as much as in the Biden administration.

Michael & Susan Dell donated $6.25 billion to fund Trump Accounts for 25 million children; Black Friday showed a record-breaking $11.8 billion in online spending; we have $12 billion in aid for American farmers; the trade deficit fell to $52.8 billion, down 35 percent, year-over-year; Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent projects 3 percent GDP growth this year, despite the shutdown.

Eli Lilly will build a $6.5 billion Texas plant; tariffs will bring Volvo XC60 production to the US.

On the foreign policy front, there has also been some positive movement. According to the U.S. State Department, “Under the first year of President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s leadership, the State Department has implemented a bold America First foreign policy focused on making America safer, stronger, and more prosperous.

“Since January, the State Department has helped stop the flow of deadly drugs into the United States, created American jobs by advancing commercial interests abroad, secured additional defense investments from our allies, streamlined foreign assistance programs, and ushered in a new era of peace through strength, all while slashing waste and reorganizing the agency to ensure that our government serves the American people as efficiently and as effectively as possible.”

The State Department has also done some house-cleaning. It “secured cost savings of $270,860,693 via 659 descoped contracts and 533 contracts that were terminated or not renewed, as reflected in the Federal Procurement Data System. The Department trimmed travel budgets, spending $100 million less on travel than last year.”

The Cato Institute reports that the number of federal employees has dropped from about 3,000,000 at the beginning of 2025 to less than 2,750,000, a reduction of approximately 250,000 as of early December. Fewer federal employees require less tax money for their salaries, lowering federal spending a bit.

One of the areas drawing the most anti-Trump opposition is the effort to remove illegal aliens from the country, focusing primarily on those with criminal records or criminal charges. Illegal entry is a misdemeanor, and illegal reentry is a felony.

Numbers from December show that more than 2.5 million illegal aliens have left the U.S. because of the administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration, including an estimated 1.9 million self-deportations and more than 622,000 deportations, as reported on the DHS website.

Last year, between Jan. 20 and Dec. 11, about 595,000 illegal aliens had been arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The Department of Homeland Security reported that 70 percent, or approximately 416,000 illegals, had "criminal convictions or pending criminal charges" in the United States.

While so many Democrats/leftists/progressives condemn the actions of ICE to remove illegal and often criminal aliens from blue cities and states, the number of that group who have expressed sorrow or horror because of the many Americans who have been murdered or otherwise attack by illegal aliens remains quite small.

 The Americans for Legal Immigration PAC (ALIPAC) posted a list of hundreds of Americans who were murdered by illegal aliens, or were died from actions such as vehicle wrecks.

In comments prior to the list of those killed, ALIPAC noted the following: “We did not include our thousands of documented cases of illegals raping, robbing, assaulting, and harming Americans in other ways to focus this section on those who lost their lives due to our government's failure to protect our states and citizens from invaders.”

The Trump administration has a long way to go to get things where Trump wants them to be, and where the 77 million Americans who voted for him want them to be. But many of these items take time to evolve, and things are moving in the right direction.

Violent protests quite frequently produce terrible results

January 13, 2026

The chaos that developed last year in opposition to the efforts of the Trump administration to remove illegal aliens from the country, especially the dangerous ones, has recently increased substantially. A woman who recently had been obstructing ICE agents in Minneapolis, Minnesota was shot and killed, and in another incident, two illegal aliens were shot by ICE agents when they resisted them.

It is perplexing that so many Americans vigorously oppose the removal of people who are in the country illegally, many of whom are murderers, rapists, drug/child/female traffickers, etc.

And, whatever natural dislike for this action one may have, this anti-law enforcement attitude has been intensified by the actions and vile messages of many prominent Democrats. Some serve in Congress, others are state governors, city or town mayors, political candidates, or celebrities.

The Babylon Bee, a mostly satirical and humorous website, posted an article about this. This situation is not funny. Particularly when people — either protesters or law enforcement personnel — are injured or killed. However, part of the article is not funny, and actually describes how some on the political left view this situation.

“Following recent ICE-related shootings, Democrat leaders stepped forward to remind the nation that everything would be much safer if law enforcement would just stop enforcing the law.

“According to Democrat lawmakers, the recent spate of violence and rioting could all have been avoided if law enforcement agents had just avoided conflict and sought peaceful resolutions by not preventing criminals from continuing to break the law.”

In their effort to end the valid removal of persons in the country illegally — a crime — protesters have well exceeded the U.S. Constitution’s protection of the people “peaceably to assemble,” leaving behind the idea of peaceful assembly. These protests are more appropriately labeled “riots.” They focus on interfering with law enforcement personnel, and often physical contact with them is part of trying to stop them from carrying out their duties.

There have been other such activities in our past, like those of the late 60s and early 70s brought on by the Vietnam War, and other things. Those gatherings started as peaceful protests but degenerated into riots with violence. However, these events started with inappropriate and illegal behavior.

In addition to the physical efforts to prevent law enforcement personnel from doing their job, these supporters of illegal aliens are threatening the agents, physically attacking them, doxing and vilifying them, and threatening their families, forcing them to wear masks.

As law enforcement tries to remove illegal aliens from the country to make it safer, these radical people are making things less safe and secure in an effort to stop them.

The woman who died was 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good. Those who support blocking efforts to deport illegal aliens described her as a terrified mother and poet who was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Evidence suggests that description is inaccurate.

She was driving with her wife — her lesbian partner, identified as Becca Good — in the Minneapolis neighborhood where the active ICE operation was being conducted. She stopped her SUV diagonally across the road, deliberately blocking traffic. 

In a video, ICE agents are shown approaching Good’s SUV and issuing lawful orders for her to exit the car. She remained in the driver’s seat.

The video shows that her expression was not one of fear, but one resembling defiance. At the same time, Becca Good taunted the officers from behind the vehicle, saying, “You want to come at us? I say go get yourself some lunch, big boy.”

The officer who ultimately fired the fatal shot was wearing a video camera. The video shows Good backing the SUV up a little bit. She briefly made direct eye contact with the agent, who was then standing in front of the SUV, and then gunned the engine, and moved forward. Shots were then fired.

There have been opinions offered that the agent is alive and not seriously injured because of how he reacted. He was in danger and acted to protect himself, they say.

Renee and Becca Good, and others, were there specifically to interfer with ICE agents who were doing their job. They were there to create confrontation with law enforcement. And that is exactly what happened.

Becca Good, near the SUV where her spouse died, blamed herself for her having been killed. Speaking to a bystander who came to see what the commotion was, she replied, “I made her come down here, it’s my fault,” she said. “They just shot my wife.”

Most people do not want to see law enforcement personnel or protesters be injured or die. It is sad that Renee Good died. 

However, it is not difficult to prevent things like this from happening. If people want to protest what law enforcement is doing, they should do that peacefully, like carrying signs or chanting. But do not be involved in illegally interfering with law enforcement personnel performing their legal duties.

This woman’s tragic death and the injury to the ICE agent should be a lesson and a warning to those who may want to criminally interfere with law enforcement in the future.

Every New Year offers many opportunities for improvement

January 6, 2026

As we begin 2026, the 250th year of our country’s existence, and we look at the current state of affairs, we realize how far the country has moved away from our original values and traditions. Many wonder if the country can possibly move back to the traditions and values that made it great. And will it? 

Quite a few troubling things have happened in recent years. One of the most recent is the election of Zohran Mamdani as the Mayor of New York City. He identifies as a Shia Muslim and a democratic socialist. And he took the oath of office on the Islamic Quran when he was sworn in early on January 1, not on the Bible, as is customary.

He is not the first Muslim to serve in public office, of course, but is the first one to serve as New York’s mayor. He ran on and was elected on a radical, non-traditional platform of socialist/communist concepts. Yet he had wide support in the election, showing that lots of New Yorkers are fully behind his heavy socialist/communist beliefs and intentions, which run contrary to the traditions of America.

We have seen this attitude of moving away from traditions creep into education, resulting in many students graduating from high school underprepared for college or life in general. School systems and teachers improperly made changes in curricula and grading standards, and that has produced students with lower abilities, and non-traditional, and often inaccurate, beliefs.

The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) in 2025 showed some of the worst scores ever. As reported in Newsmax magazine, some of those results are: 

* High school seniors reading comprehension is the worst since the early 1990s.

*More high school seniors were deficient in math and reading than in any previous NAEP assessment.

* High School seniors recorded their lowest scores ever.

* Only one in three U.S. high school seniors is adequately prepared for college math.

Perhaps as a result of these less well-prepared graduating seniors, many colleges and universities dropped using SAT or ACT scores for undergraduate admissions. Because so many students’ scores were below the acceptable level, admission requirements had to be eased, or students would not be admitted. Students were then admitted based on elements other than their academic abilities and learning level, such as the much loved, but dangerously foolish DEI concept — diversity, equity and inclusion.

Speaking to the change in the educational culture over recent years, Brian Mueller, president of Grand Canyon University in Phoenix, Arizona, noted that “It’s very dangerous when we have 20- and 21-year-olds in our country who don’t understand 20th-century Western civilization and its history.”

And, there is a generation gap where younger generations have different ideas about such things as work ethic, moral values, the respect they show others, political views, religious beliefs, free speech, and marriage and having children.

Where crime is concerned, people’s attitudes towards dealing with criminals is somewhat troublesome. A poll in 2025 asking about the best way to fight crime showed that only 25 percent of respondents thought tougher sentencing was the most effective way to reduce crime. More mental health and addiction services were preferred by 28 percent, 22 percent liked a greater police presence as the best approach, and 16 percent thought more community programs were best. Harsh punishment for serious crimes is a better support for law and order.

The high number of violent crimes — such as murder, rape, and assault — committed by persons previously convicted of crimes, but given light sentences, or no sentences, ought to be a wake-up call to the soft-on-crime prosecutors and judges in office, of which there are far too many. Hopefully, it will be.

During the Biden administration the Justice Department indicted Venezuelan “President” Maduro and his wife for crimes against America, offered a huge reward for his capture, but nothing happened. Last weekend, the Trump administration sent military and law enforcement personnel there and arrested the Maduros after those crimes continued in Trump’s first year of office, despite warnings and actions to stop the drug boats smuggling drugs into the U.S. 

Venezuelans in Venezuela, America and all over the world, are thrilled and celebrating that the man who ruined their country and their lives has been arrested. But American leftists are outraged, either not knowing or not caring that similar actions have been legally and constitutionally taken by former presidents Biden, Obama, Clinton and both George Bushes.

There are some signs of returning to the better days. In higher education, for example, civics and traditional American values are showing up, again. Harvard, Brown and Princeton universities are tightening up acceptance requirements. 

Law professor Jonathon Turley commented that those changes to lower standards was an “ill-conceived and poorly supported movement to achieve greater equity and diversity by eliminating standardized testing in higher education.” “In other words, test scores remain the best indicator for continued performance in college,” Turley added.

If our country is to remain strong and the leader of the world in individual freedom and sensible, productive ways of doing things, we must restore the traditional values that built the nation and successfully sustained it for more than 200 years.

As 2025 ends, we should be thrilled that it isn’t like 2024

December 30, 2025

President Donald Trump’s critics are complaining that the world is ending because not everything he campaigned on has been completed. And his popularity is suffering.

But the facts say otherwise: inflation is down significantly, the markets are up, GDP is growing, borders are far more secure, and trade is booming.

Another of the good things that Trump worked on was to end or reduce conflicts between countries. And agreements have been achieved between Israel and Gaza; Israel and Iran; the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda; Armenia and Azerbaijan; India and Pakistan; Thailand and Cambodia; and Egypt and Ethiopia.

Trump has had a varying degree of involvement with resolving these conflicts, being more involved in some than with others. But he has done quite a lot to broker peace among nations in conflict. And, he has been credited for his role by nearly all of these nations.

Crime analyst Jeff Asher has said the United States is on track for the largest one-year drop in murders ever recorded. He cited year-over-year data from the Real Time Crime index showing that the murder rate has decreased nationally from 2024 to 2025 by almost 20 percent.

The growth rate of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the fourth quarter of calendar year 2024 was just slightly higher than recessionary levels, a pitiful 2.4 percent. However, U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis tells us that by the third quarter of 2025 — the last complete quarter — the rate was 4.2 percent. This shows that the economic policies of the Trump administration have increased the growth rate of GDP by 79 percent over the last year of the pathetic Biden administration. 

This was accomplished in less than a full year, and the Trump team calls this an historic economic achievement.

The Washington Examiner reported that since Trump took office about 595,000 illegal aliens have been arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) between Jan. 20 and Dec. 11, according to the Department of Homeland Security.

According to ICE, 70 percent, or approximately 416,000 illegals, had "criminal convictions or pending criminal charges" in the United States. This supports Trump’s promise to focus on getting the "worst of the worst.”

ICE officials also noted that even those without criminal records in the U.S. can still pose threats to public safety, saying that many are wanted for violent crimes in other countries, or are tied to gangs, terrorism and serious crimes.

And, illegal border crossings are at the lowest level ever recorded, according to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem.

“In President Trump’s first year back in office, more than 2.5 million illegal aliens have left the U.S. because of the Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration, including an estimated 1.9 million self-deportations and more than 622,000 deportations,” as reported on the DHS website.

As deportations — both voluntary and by government — continue, and border security virtually stops illegal entry, the country is much safer. Murders, rapes, drug and child trafficking and other crimes caused by illegal aliens are much less common now.

Gas prices in 2024 were averaging around $3 per gallon for regular. Today, that per gallon average price is $2.85, but some much lower prices are available. Prices are as low as $2.25 in some places.

It should be recognized that reducing prices is much more difficult and takes longer than raising prices. Prices can be raised at any time, and for no reason at all. Lowering prices, however, depends on other factors, such as the price of components used in producing products, transportation costs, and economic conditions, and can take a fairly long time.

Some good things have happened in 2025.

And now for something completely different.

One of the bright spots for many people is following the comments of Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana. He has a way with words that is certainly entertaining.

Some examples:

“For my first eight years I lived in a small, overpriced one-bedroom apartment. … I would describe the design aesthetic as ‘early Salvation Army.’” 

“Either way, I have to dodge reporters, who are like stray dogs — once you feed them, you can’t get rid of them. … Reporters are also like hyenas. They hunt in packs.”

“This amendment is all Henry and no Kissinger.”

“But it’s undeniable that many Americans believe that the brain is an amazing organ — it starts working in the mother’s womb and doesn’t stop until you get elected to Congress.”

“For as long as I can remember, one thing has been true about me: I have the right to remain silent, but not the ability.”

“Welfare, I believe, was meant to be a bridge, not a parking lot.”

“Most nights, when I come home to my little Capitol Hill apartment, I’ve got two wheels down and my axle dragging.”

“Put another way, you don’t have to be crazy to serve in the Senate; they will happily train you.”

“I observed to a reporter one time that you can lead a person to Congress but you can’t make him think.”

“Maybe it’s because we both understand that you can’t make everyone happy unless you are alcohol.”

Happy New Year!