President Trump’s decisive actions unleashed the American military to make America safer —  greatly reducing the risk of random acts of terror against Americans, our interests, and our allies. For the foreseeable future.

Iran is now years away from ever — if ever — having a nuclear bomb. Iran is now years away from being able to threaten neighbors with an invasion — and virtually incapable of protecting its military, energy, or way of life. If the United States were to so decide, Iran could be left with little to no electricity, running water or oil to use as fuel — to sell for its way of life or military. And the Iranian government and oligarchs are being decimated to the point where it will be impractical and almost impossible to continue to be the world’s leading funder, trainer, and provocateur of terrorism.

Those are undeniable facts — even if you watch MSNow or read the New York Times.

We are just over two weeks into this military campaign and the stated goals are largely being achieved. The American military has performed with bravery, dedication and with extreme effectiveness.

If the President were to suspend further attacks now, America, Israel, the Middle East, and much of the world would be safer and less vulnerable for years to come.

Yet, there are additional longer-term objectives to achieve: having genuine oversight in place so Iran does not try to re-start its nuclear program, ensuring that oil may travel safely and timely, protecting Iran’s neighbors, and replacing the leadership so that Iran does not butcher its citizens — for not being devout Muslims, for being homosexuals, or for being a female who dares to dress “improperly” or attend college. 

Yet that goal does not require America to establish a Thomas Jefferson-inspired democratic republic. Rather, the leadership — whatever it may look like — that takes over the new Iran should be focused on Iranians — not Westerners — respect basic human rights and focus on rebuilding Iran of the 21st — not 12th  — century. America’s focus should be on Iran’s behavior, not its process or constitution.

This is now attainable.

To not recognize these as admirable — if not essential — goals, and to not recognize that they are exponentially more attainable today than they were in February is to live in a world of delusion and denial.

Yet, there are those who disagree — to varying degrees and for varying reasons.

If you are someone who is genuinely an isolationist, or a loyal supporter of President Trump who is disappointed he launched this campaign as you see it as deviating from his platform, I respect your perspective. And respectfully disagree.

This operation is not a battle of choice. The reality is that since 1979 and up through the very recent past, Iran has directly attacked America and used its proxy terrorists to attack Americans, our interests and allies. And their passion to acquire and threaten to use nuclear weapons is matched only by their fervor for Islam. Unlike battles of the distant past, the United States cannot simply sit back with an isolationist-attitude of only fighting if we are fighting back or if an enemy attacks the territory of the US. 

We saw the butchery of Iran’s proxies as recently as October 7, 2023, as well as the intelligence revealing that even after “Midnight Hammer” in June 2025, Iran was already trying to reconstruct its nuclear weaponry. Iranians confirmed this in the negotiations earlier this year!

Isolation doesn’t work with terrorists. 

Nor does appeasement. We learned from the Obama/Biden and Biden/Harris administrations that bribery and closing our eyes doesn’t work either. Allowing Iran to have “safe” nuclear materials revealed that Iran’s objective was not electricity, but nuclear bombs. Bribing the Ayatollah, the mullahs and their oligarchs — recall the pallets of cash! — whether we call it compensation or buying peace was an abject failure.

The bribery proved foolish — and deadly wrong. As appeasement always does when dealing with butchers.

Respectfully, our military attacks are not (merely) payback for 1979 — though that’s an understandable rationale.

It’s for Hezbollah’s attacks in Beirut, Hezbollah-al Hejaz in Saudi Arabia, Shia militias in Iraq, countless car bombs and suicide missions across the Middle East, and October 7, 2023.

And, yes, two attempts to assassinate the President — plus numerous attempts to kill our diplomats.

To fellow Americans who are isolationists: it’s no longer possible in a world of terror attacks and cyber warfare.

To those Americans who see themselves as part of a MAGA movement opposed to unnecessary, never-ending wars: this is not like Korea, Vietnam, or even Afghanistan. This is like Grenada, like Venezuela.

President Trump never promised to never get into battle. He pledged that he would make sure that America had the best-trained, best-equipped military on Earth. The goal: peace through strength. But if anyone dared to threaten us, he would not hesitate to use it. And he would use overwhelming force. Achieve our goals and leave. Ground troops are a last resort. Local allies must help us. And we leave after mission-accomplished — nation-building is not our task.

He promised to “make America great again.” We cannot be great if we are not safe.

Securing the border. Removing illegal immigrant criminals. Making us energy independent. Reviving American manufacturing — especially for technology, weaponry, and medicine. Removing a narco-terrorist in our hemisphere. Eliminating the leadership and capabilities of the world’s leading sponsor of terror. Making sure that the communist threat 90 miles from America is removed.

He is making America safer for us, our children and grandchildren. Promise made. Promise kept.

Guy Ciarrocchi writes for Broad + Liberty and RealClear Pennsylvania.A Senior Fellow with the Commonwealth Foundation, follow Guy at @PaSuburbsGuy.

I’ve received a few letters from readers over the past few weeks asking me why I keep writing about antisemitism. One was a simple question, with no negative intent. The others run the gamut between “stop carrying water for the Jews” to “anti-Zionism isn’t Jew hatred so stop it” to “you’re a two-note moron: abortion and the Jews.”

That’s not surprising, and I don’t take it as an insult since it means that people are doing what I always hope they’ll do: read my opinions. But I have to admit, I’d love to write about something else, like the Philadelphia Flower Show, or my hatred of daylight saving time, or the Oscars.

But like Michael Corleone in that horrific third installment of “The Godfather,” just when I think I’m out of it, they pull me back in.

This time it was primarily the wife of New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani who did the heavy lifting, or pulling, as it were. Rama Duwaji, who identifies as an artist and is Syrian-American, has been exposed as a Jew-hater of the highest order, having liked dozens of posts that celebrated the mass murder perpetrated by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023.

Duwaji, who has been featured on a number of magazine covers since her move to Gracie Mansion, has had a relatively undistinguished professional career, which is probably why her husband called her a “private citizen.” She is so private, hardly anyone outside of New York knows who she is.

But the Gaza Groupies, the sick cheerleaders of a death cult, know her well. She has thrown emotional support to their cause, celebrating the rape and murder of women and children with a flick of her New York finger.

I criticized her on X in a post that got almost 20,000 likes, so it wasn’t an entirely bad week. She is, as Maya Angelou said, telling us who she is, and millions of us believe her. And her hubby is quite wrong to give her a pass on her Jew hatred. She may be an insignificant artiste-wannabe, but no “private” citizen gets to live rent free at the public’s expense. With Mrs. Mamdani in residence, it should be called Disgracie Mansion.

And of course, she refuses to apologize.

Another woman who refuses to say she’s sorry is Megyn Kelly. Many readers would be shocked at my comparing Catholic “conservative” podcaster Megyn with Rama Dujawi. It’s true there are significant differences. The former Fox News superstar is arguably intelligent whereas Zohran’s little strudel doesn’t give off smart vibes. Megyn is accomplished, has several degrees and doesn’t mistake crayon posters for art. But they have this in common: They both refuse to apologize for their despicable treatment of the country’s Jewish population.

Rama is the more obvious one, as noted above, joyously celebrating the 21st century Holocaust of October 7th. There is no mistaking her political and moral views on the topic.

Megyn, because she’s smarter, is more subtle. She does not openly spout antisemitic rhetoric and has a paper trail of saying the right things about her Jewish friends (most of them now former) in the pod sphere. But she refuses to condemn raging Jew-haters like Candace Owens and Tucker Carlson, cozies up to people who platform antisemites like Piers Morgan and mocks the very legitimate concerns of more authentic commentators like Ben Shapiro and her once ride-or-die Dave Rubin. Even Sean Hannity, who is no one’s idea of a liberal, and some of her erstwhile podcast guests like Bethany Mandel have jumped off of the Kelly express, wondering what happened to her.

And when people point it out, begging her to come to her senses she doubles down by saying she’d rather die than condemn Candace, the woman who has compared Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Satan.

Rama and Megyn are opposite sides of the same coin. Mrs. Mamdani represents the absolute worst of the pro-Hamas left, trying to cloak their embrace of terrorism and hatred of Jews behind a facade of human rights. Rama cares deeply about Gazan babies who are victims of their parents’ tragic political choices but has no concern for murdered Israeli toddlers whose only crime was being born Jewish.

Megyn is the much prettier but equally lethal face of right-wing antisemitism, a philosophy that hides its bigotry behind what it pretends is legitimate criticism of Israel or America First isolationism.

This country should shun both of them, and the movements they represent.

This column was originally published in the Delco Times.

Christine Flowers can be reached at cflowers1961@gmail.com.

Before citizen Donald Trump decided to run for President, he was perceived as a good guy: rich, funny, and down to earth. Yeah, he was known to have an outsized ego. Sure, he seemed to care a great deal about his image. But it’s obvious his presence in New York City was significant and helpful to a metropolis making a comeback; it did.

Television casting directors and Hollywood producers featured him, playing himself, in Prince of LA and Home Alone 2. Additionally, for fourteen seasons he was the star of the TV show “The Apprentice”. This signifies people across America were watching in large numbers and returned to the tube on a weekly basis. They marveled at his smarts in fixing Wollman Skating Rink early and under budget after years of failed attempts by the government bureaucrats of New York City. He was invited for television interviews by Oprah Winfrey, Jay Leno, and Conan O’Brian among others. 

As a first-time candidate, he was sneered at as an outsider from the moment he descended the “Golden Staircase” in the Trump Tower. A few months later, he appeared on the Republican debate stage without fear or false respect for the status quo or his political competitors. 

They shouldn’t have been caught unprepared. After all, he was a known commodity for decades. He created and curated his image over thirty-five years, as a very public figure. Long-term politicians are, generally, skillful at the art of diplomacy and diversion; they are generally less effective standing up to people who are confrontational and candid. He even went on Jimmy Fallon’s late-night show, less than two months before being elected President, and let him tug at his hair on national television; a perfect blend of humor and self-deprecation. No wonder so many in politics wanted him to disappear.

Trump’s victory in 2016 stunned the political world, embarrassed the pollsters, upset the huge anti-Trump press, and thwarted the passing of the progressive baton from Barack Obama to Hillary Clinton. The Trumpster may have emerged victorious from that election, but his win raised the ire and stiffened the backs of “The Establishment”, of both parties. His substantial rout of Kamala Harris in 2024 dramatically unsettled those who initiated and supported attempts to sue, bankrupt, and imprison their strong opponent.

At present there are three core groups of anti-Trumpers: 

Washington D.C. insiders detest Donald Trump because he continues to stand up to them, break existing codes, and meet his stated objectives. After all, if he was failing, the main visible tactic they’d exhibit would be mockery not revulsion. That’s what they did to impact opinions about Gerald Ford and both George Bush’s, father and son. Trump introduced the mantra of “America First”. This means he’s above pleasing weak-kneed politicians in the Republican party and being pliant with Democrats. He has a customer-focused perspective honed from decades of being a thoughtful executive, marketer and showman. 

Like any skillful leader, he is guided by what he perceives will yield the most beneficial impact for his “customers” (read voters). He understands the importance of succession planning and has appointed a cabinet of people whose average age is significantly lower than that of his predecessors. These loyalists will gain experience, visibility, and professional skills at a relatively young age. They are becoming known to the public and will be well prepared to carry on the Trump Tradition in the future. 

From the moment he announced his candidacy the media giants have reported on Trump with a bias comparable to how Abraham Lincoln was viewed, by those who published within Confederate States, during the Civil War. According to the Media Research Center, in the second term 92 percent of articles provided negative coverage of ‘47 during his first one-hundred days. The same report revealed 59 percent  of articles covering Joe Biden were positive during his term as president. 

Trump has always been fearless about engaging with the press. No president, or any world politician, has exceeded his model of, so clearly, specifying his goals and communicating with the public. Only leaders with high confidence levels, clear ideals, and a willingness to speak candidly act in this manner. Most hide behind tradition, position, and the curtain of secrecy. 

Trump was able to sever the DEI culture in government, business, educational institutions, and the military with one swift stroke. Although discriminatory behavior was deeply established within these institutions, the ability to eviscerate the practice revealed the roots could not withstand the pressure of objectivity. The American voter seems to prefer quality outcomes over the bias of “equity” based apportionment. 

Illegal immigration issues, males in female sports, transgender lobbyists preferences, voter ID, and deportation of violent criminals appear to be items that drive the Liberal Left into the streets. They protest the invisible threat of “No Kings” while attempting to persuade the public that low end of 80/20 issues will serve them better. Rather than probe themselves and accept reality the protesters have increased their frequency, loudness, and violence against reasonableness and common sense. To the TV viewer, it’s not a good look.

Since 1976, virtually all Republican candidates for President had temperaments that communicated they were reluctant warriors. The Democrats have, generally, been more willing to take the side of the aggressor. That seems right if we consider the comparisons between those who wish to maintain a traditionalist bent and those who are more interested in dramatically challenging “the system”. The uniqueness of Donald Trump as Republican, candidate, and President is that he is a change agent with deep respect for our governmental system. He relishes challenging the biases of “Progressives”. He is willing to meet his opposition in the arena and work inside the rules, but he’s no pushover. 

Donald Trump is a serious guy, twice elected to a very serious position. He’s an American leader, not a European man. He’s a capitalist, not a socialist or communist. He’s President of the United States and. increasingly, the “leader of the free world”. 

It’s no wonder those with a Leftist dream detest the priorities, personality, patriotism, and decisions of Donald Trump. He’s the main obstacle blocking the path to their utopian destination. 

Stew Bolno is a chronological peer of Donald Trump. He’s been a student, college professor, and consultant on leadership during his 50-year career. He’s followed politics longer than that time. His recent book is “Leadership Lessons And You: From A to Z – featuring Donald Trump” and he’s written scores of essays about him since he descended the Trump Tower staircase. Read more at LeadershipLessonsAndYou.com.

Meanwhile, schools remained closed the longest. Those with the least risk — children and younger healthy people — suffered the greatest consequences. There was no rhyme nor reason, and certainly no “science” behind these ludicrous decisions.

Looking back, I realize the letter is naive, but in 2020 I still had faith in my Democratic elected officials. By that summer, my naivety was gone, replaced with a deep cynicism of our local and state government. 

When I wrote the letter, I foolishly believed Democrats cared about minorities and low-income communities. However, those elected officials — all of whom I voted for — turned their backs on those who needed them the most and subsequently called me a racist for wanting to help them. 

In that moment, I knew I would never view politics through the same lens again. And true to my word in that first letter, I have not voted for a single Democrat since 2019 and will not likely do so ever again.

Six years later, every prediction I made in that letter has come true, and in most instances the consequences are much direr. Our children, particularly our most vulnerable, have experienced academic decline, increased child abuse and domestic violence, chronic school absenteeism, and a mental health crisis the likes of which we have never seen before.

This is why it is imperative to remind ourselves of the harm done to our children and communities based on the direction of the Democratic party and its proxies, groups like the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and local school superintendents and board directors who were not honest or transparent with their constituents.

While AFT, the country’s largest teachers’ union, and other groups now deny that they worked diligently to keep schools closed, the record shows otherwise. Despite their attempts to rewrite history, the majority of Democrats were in lockstep with the unions and either actively supported the extended school closures or remained silent while children fell further behind and suffered the gravest consequences.

In Pennsylvania, here is what we have to show for the “two weeks to flatten the curve” mantra.

Based on last year’s Pennsylvania state testing results, only 41.7 percent of students are proficient in math, and only 48.5 percent are proficient in English Language Arts. The chart below shows small gains between 2015 and 2019 in English Language Arts; yet following the shutdown of schools, the scores demonstrate a significant decline. Current proficiency levels and nowhere near the results pre-lockdowns.

Math scores, while not quite as dramatic as reading and writing, show a similar trend with current levels still below pre-shutdown results. Additionally, the math proficiency rates were already incredibly low prior to the shutdowns.

Even more striking is the impact on low income and some minority students. Black, Hispanic, and economically disadvantaged students’ scores are consequential — all are significantly below the statewide average, which it and of itself, is already quite low. Our most vulnerable children suffered the most as a result of the school closures, and it almost seems insurmountable to get them caught up.

Not quite sixteen percent of black students are proficient in math and just over 24 percent are proficient in reading and writing. These numbers are staggering, and while the lockdowns are not fully to blame, there is a strong connection.

In addition to decreased proficiency, more students are now chronically absent than prior to the extended school closures. The state defines chronically absent as students who miss more than ten percent of enrolled school days across the academic year, totaling eighteen days or more in a 180-day school year. Before the governor shuttered schools, only fifteen percent of students statewide were considered chronically absent, and now that number is 21 percent, despite a minimal increase from the 2021-2022 school year.

In addition to the declining proficiency and increased absenteeism, students are struggling with complex mental health issues. The most recent Pennsylvania Youth Survey from 2023 indicates that 37.3 percent of sixth to twelfth graders felt sad or depressed most days in the past twelve months, and 16.1 percent seriously considered suicide.

Our children spend hours “doom scrolling” on their phones, less time interacting in-person with their friends, and minimal time playing outside. Much of this behavior is related to the extended school closures when children and adolescents were locked away alone in their rooms to navigate the most disruptive, frightening experience of their short lives.

Then we forced them to wear masks to school where they could not see their friends’ or teachers’ faces, further stunting their social and cognitive development. We shamed them into wearing those non-scientific muzzles, telling them they might kill their grandma if they didn’t.

This is why I read my letter to Governor Wolf every year on the anniversary of the worst decision in Commonwealth history. We must never forget the impact of that decision and those elected and non-elected officials who supported it. We owe it to our children.

Beth Ann Rosica resides in West Chester, has a Ph.D. in Education, and has dedicated her career to advocating on behalf of at-risk children and families. She covers education issues for Broad + Liberty. Contact her at barosica@broadandliberty.com.

Progressive authoritarianism was very strong at Philadelphia’s University of the Arts before the school closed its doors permanently in 2024. For several years prior to the closure, the school had been trying to remove tenured professor and renowned critic Camille Paglia, who had been teaching at UArts since 1989.

The controversy surrounding Paglia came to a head in 2019 when she delivered a lecture on sexual issues and western art. Leftist students wanted to ban the lecture or require Paglia to host a talk-back with students afterwards. When Paglia refused, the lefties set off a fire alarm, in effect canceling most of the lecture and forcing the evacuation of the building. 

By 2019, Paglia was already skating on thin ice at UArts. The lefties hated it when she stated:

“If civilization had been left in female hands, we would still be living in grass huts.”

“There is no female Mozart because there is no female Jack the Ripper.”

David Bernstein in his 2004 book, You Can’t Say That, describes how leftist activists begin the vivisection of their victim with social-media callouts, after which they strongarm authority figures [university administrators] to impose an outcome — censorship — in their favor.” 

While UArts’ persecution of Camille Paglia may be a thing of the past, things aren’t so good at the University of Pennsylvania.  

Penn law professor Amy Wax sued the university in January 2025, alleging the university violated her tenure rights in October 2024 when it suspended her from teaching for one year with half pay following an investigation into public statements she made about minority groups that many deemed racist.

“If you ask six different people what a racist is, you get six different answers,” Wax told one interviewer recently. She added that universities have gone astray because they’ve been captured by a far-left ideology. “This is not an education,” she says, “it’s a one-sided tilted education. It doesn’t allow certain ideas to be expressed or discussed.” 

But you’re not allowed to say these things when you work for a major university, where only left-wing views matter. While universities like Penn tolerate pro-Palestinian student protests and disruptions of Jewish groups under the guise of academic freedom, that same liberty is not extended to conservatives. 

Throughout the years Wax has steadfastly defended her right to hold unpopular opinions about race and referred to herself as a "casualty in the culture wars.”

UPenn, however, would like nothing better than to send Wax packing. 

In 2022, Penn was all over the news when Wax was castigated by Penn faculty and students for seeming to discriminate or promoting “hate” against Asians. The controversy was nothing new to Wax, a veteran of many bumpy collisions with Penn going back to 2006 when the faculty of Penn Law rebuked her for her stand against same-sex marriage. But that was nothing compared to the brouhaha resulting from her comments that the United States is better off with less Asian immigration. 

These comments were aired during a Dec. 20 interview with Brown University professor Glenn Loury on his web show. Wax criticized Asian immigration to the United States, warning of the “danger of the dominance of an Asian elite in this country.”

Wax, who is Jewish, said: “If you go into medical schools, you’ll see that Indians, South Asians are now rising stars. In medicine, they’re sort of the new Jews, I guess, but these diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives are poisoning the scientific establishment and the medical establishment now.”

She also stated that Asians tend “to conform to whatever the dominant ethos is,” and since “wokeness is now the luxury belief of the upper class [in institutions and academia], this is what Asians now feel they have to ape.” She also said that the immigration of “Asian elites” to the United States is a problem because they tend to support the Democratic Party.

Whether you agree with Wax on the Asian question or not, her right to hold such beliefs and still be permitted to teach at Penn is one of the principles of academic freedom.  

But with the dominance of wokeness in Academe, after Wax’s comments to Loury went viral, there were calls for her immediate removal despite her tenured status. These calls came from faculty and lefty student activists who have been monitoring Wax since 2006. So great was the backlash this time that Philadelphia City Council condemned Wax and called for UPenn to put its foot down — i.e., fire her. A bipartisan letter signed by sixteen out of seventeen City Council members and then-Mayor Jim Kenney was sent to Penn president Amy Gutmann.  

The Daily Pennsylvanian, UPenn’s newspaper, went ballistic, stating that Wax’s latest comments amount to a “cumulation and increasing promotion of white supremacy.” 

Wax was also vilified on the city’s local news stations. Indeed, the ‘breaking news’ aspect of these reports placed her Asian comments alongside reports on the Russia-Ukraine situation. 

Surprisingly however, the Academic Freedom Alliance addressed a letter to Gutmann arguing that Wax should not face formal consequences for her comments. 

The chair of AFA’s Academic Committee, Princeton University professor Keith Whittington, was quoted as saying that he found it “disturbing” that Penn responded to pressure from students but especially by lawmakers by invoking a formal sanctions process against Wax.

There were also calls for the Dean of the Law School, Theodore Ruger, to discipline her. That discipline came in the form of her removal by Ruger from teaching first-year curriculum courses. Ruger was quoted as saying that Wax spoke “disparagingly and inaccurately.” 

The incident put Wax on the Progressive Left watch list even though she was speaking about her personal experience at Penn and not surmising what happens — or would happen — at other law schools. In 2019, she earned the triple tiara-label of racist-xenophobe and all-around hater when she co-authored an op-ed of some 800 words arguing for a U.S. immigration policy favoring people from Western countries over non-Western countries. And in yet another video with Loury, Wax explained how that op-ed was printed in her Philadelphia hometown “little newspaper” [the Philadelphia Inquirer], a coy putdown of the Inky’s high-minded opinion of itself as the newspaper of record in Philadelphia. The op-ed, “On Bourgeois Values,” posited that all cultures are not created equal and that some are superior to others. 

“I noted that global migrants flock to European countries. They don’t risk their lives in rickety boats to go to Venezuela or Zimbabwe,” Wax wrote. sounding much like Ann Coulter in her immigration classic, “Adios America.”  

Wax has labeled the curriculum at Penn Law and other law schools as having been “propagandized” by diversity, equity, and inclusion supervisors which she says has ruined her own students’ knowledge of legal concepts over the years. 

“I have seen my students change over even ten to fifteen to 20 to 30 years… They have become these cowed, benighted sheeples. It’s just unbelievable. So not only are they thoroughly intimidated as they should be, but they are ignorant.”

Thom Nickels is Broad + Liberty’s Editor at Large for Arts and Culture and the 2005 recipient of the AIA Lewis Mumford Award for Architectural Journalism. He writes for City Journal, New York, and Frontpage Magazine. Thom Nickels is the author of fifteen books, including “Literary Philadelphia” and ”From Mother Divine to the Corner Swami: Religious Cults in Philadelphia.” His latest work, “Ileana of Romania: Princess, Exile and Mother Superior,” will be published in May 2026.

But whether Pennsylvania students ever see those scholarships depends on one decision: whether Gov. Josh Shapiro chooses to allow the state to participate.

Last year, Congress created a new tax credit to expand educational opportunities across the country. Under the Educational Choice for Children Act, people can receive a federal tax credit of up to $1,700 when they donate to approved scholarship organizations.

These organizations then provide scholarships to families that can help cover education costs such as tuition, tutoring, special-needs services, and school supplies for students in public, charter, or private schools.

For taxpayers who want to support education in a meaningful way, this approach is simple and effective. For parents searching for the learning environment that best fits their child’s needs, it could make a life-changing difference.

But Pennsylvania families will only benefit if the governor opts the state into the program before it begins in 2027.

More than two dozen states — led by governors from both parties — have already chosen to participate. They understand that giving families more education options is a good thing.

For parents, school choice is not about politics. It is about finding a learning environment where their child can succeed. Some students do well in large public schools. Others thrive in smaller schools, faith-based schools, career programs, or flexible cyber schools. Public schools remain a cornerstone of our communities — but they do not have to be the only option.

Pennsylvania families already understand this. Today, more than a quarter-million students attend schools outside traditional public systems, as parents look for options that better meet their children’s needs.

The demand is real, and it continues to grow.

Research from other states also shows that giving families more choices can help public schools improve as well.

In Florida, a scholarship program has been in place for about fifteen years. When families received scholarships they could use at different schools, education funding began to follow the student. Schools then had to work harder to attract and keep families.

That competition pushed schools to improve. Researchers found that this approach helped raise public school student achievement more than eleven times as effectively as simply increasing school spending.

This lesson matters for Pennsylvania — especially for families in Philadelphia.

Over the past decade, the state has added billions of dollars in new funding for public education, while local property taxes that support schools have continued to rise.

But student results have not improved the way families were promised.

Across Pennsylvania, only about half of students meet grade-level standards in reading, and just over four in ten meet the standard in math.

In Philadelphia, the numbers are even more concerning. Only about one-third of students meet reading standards, and about one in four meet math standards.

These numbers show that spending more money alone has not solved the problem.

What many parents want now is more opportunities and the ability to choose the school that works best for their child.

Pennsylvania already has programs that help make that possible. The Educational Improvement Tax Credit (EITC) and Opportunity Scholarship Tax Credit (OSTC) programs have helped thousands of families afford better education options.

But these programs fill up every year. Scholarship groups are forced to turn away families because funding runs out.

The new federal tax credit could expand those opportunities and help more families find the right school for their child.

It would also do this without creating a new government program. Instead, it encourages private donations to local scholarship organizations that already serve families in our communities.

If Pennsylvania opts in, it will send a clear message: we trust parents to make decisions about their children’s education.

If we do not participate, we could walk away from as much as $1 billion in scholarship funding that could help thousands of Pennsylvania families.

Gov. Shapiro has often spoken about expanding opportunity and helping working families. No child’s future should be limited by a one-size-fits-all education system that is not delivering the outcomes our students deserve. 

By opting Pennsylvania into this scholarship program, the governor can put his words into action and make sure our students are not left behind while other states move forward.

The choice should be simple.

When it comes to a child’s education, more opportunity should never be controversial.

Rep. Martina White, a former financial advisor and lifelong resident of Northeast Philadelphia, was first elected on March 24, 2015, in a special election to fill an open seat in the 170th District. She became the first new Republican elected in Philadelphia in 25 years and currently serves as the Chair of the House Republican Caucus.

Even in a small group of readers, seventh grader Nyla couldn’t keep up. I watched her as she constantly looked around the room, as if she was trying to piece together what others already seemed to know, how they knew what to say, and what the words on the page meant. New to our school and district, testing showed that she was reading at a third grade level. So it wasn’t long before team conversations began amongst her teachers and me — our school’s reading specialist — not just about Nyla’s reading struggles, but across all subject areas. She was drowning in academic expectations.

Eventually, our talk turned to the question no one wanted to ask out loud: “How had Nyla made it this far with little to no support to help her overcome her challenges?” 

Because of my own initiative and professional development, I have the training and tools to help Nyla begin closing her reading gaps. However, not all secondary educators have the same level of knowledge as I do, nor the financial freedom to receive the training, certifications, or degrees necessary. 

According to the Nation’s Report Card, in 2024, 69 percent of Pennsylvania’s eighth graders were reading below grade level. Pennsylvania Standards of School Assessments results tell a similar story: over half of 8th graders are not meeting grade-level standards. If Pennsylvania ensured all K-12 students received evidence-based instruction in how the English language works––delivered by educators trained to provide it—far fewer students would experience what Nyla is facing now.

Two years ago, Pennsylvania took an important step forward with Act 135, which strengthens science-of-reading instruction in kindergarten through third grade. But literacy challenges do not disappear after 3rd grade, and neither should our commitment to addressing them.

To begin, state legislators must expand funding for evidence-based professional development for secondary educators, such as using explicit, data-driven teaching strategies, understanding how spelling works, and supporting comprehension of grade-level vocabulary across subject areas. For too long, we have assumed that by the fourth grade, students shift from learning to read to reading to learn. Yet, year after year, multiple students similar to Nyla sit in my classroom struggling to keep the pace and retain the information being taught.

Through professional learning at the Neuhaus Education Center, which I sought out and funded myself, I learned how to provide structured, multisensory instruction in advanced phonics and multisyllabic word reading. Instead of asking Nyla to simply reread a passage she couldn’t decode, I was able to break words into syllable types, explicitly teach morphology, and guide her through word-building routines that made the structure of English visible and predictable. For the first time, she began to approach unfamiliar words with a strategy rather than avoidance. 

State law must also mandate universal reading screeners beyond the third grade. Reading difficulties don’t disappear after this grade level — the data simply stops being collected. Universal screening allows districts to identify gaps early, especially for students who transfer between districts with limited academic records. It enables timely intervention, appropriate course placement, and the confidence students need before they reach crisis points.

In my district, students are screened for reading difficulties from kindergarten through 8th grade and placed in courses aligned to their needs. The data showed Nyla had significant deficits in word recognition, particularly vowel-r patterns, unpredictable vowel teams, and multisyllabic words. She read only 88 words per minute, compared to her peers’ average of 104 words per minute. This meant that when she encountered words like confusion or character, she often guessed rather than sounding them out, losing meaning before finishing the sentence. Her slow rate made it difficult to keep up with grade-level texts, leaving her exhausted and discouraged before comprehension could even begin. 

Today, thanks to our team approach from her early days at our school, Nyla is showing measurable growth in the very areas where she once struggled most. She approaches unfamiliar words with strategy rather than avoidance, and her confidence is beginning to match her effort. She is currently reading at a fourth-grade level. She still has a long way to go, but her progress proves what is possible when students are identified early and taught by educators equipped with the right tools.

If we act now, more students like Nyla won’t have to wait until seventh grade to be given the code to their own future.

Michelle Sherman is a reading specialist at Mechanicsburg Middle School in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, and 2025-2026 Teach Plus Pennsylvania Policy Fellow.

I’ve been critical of Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner here. But in the interest of fairness, after I interviewed two prominent critics of the progressive and activist DA, we at Philly Daily offered a Q&A of Krasner in which we allowed him to fully state his views on crime in Philadelphia without our editing or critical commentary. 

And although I remain critical of Krasner, in fairness I’d like to also commend his office’s participation in the huge takedown of violent criminal gangs in Philadelphia. 

For too long, violent gang members have made life in some of Philadelphia’s neighborhoods a living hell. Like the old Wild West, these gangs face off and fire guns at each other on the streets and often hit innocent bystanders rather than their gangland rivals. (I’ve joked that I’d like to open a school to teach gangbangers how to properly aim and shoot and not turn their guns sideways like they do in the movies). 

I’m glad that the city and the federal government worked together to take some of these violent hoodlums off the board. 

On February 25th, the District Attorney’s Office announced that their Gun Violence Task Force (GVTF), along with the Philadelphia Police Department’s Shooting Investigations Group (SIG), the Philadelphia FBI’s field office, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, the charging of more than a dozen defendants belonging to multiple West, South and Southwest Philadelphia street groups involved in several shootings in their neighborhoods and elsewhere in the city. 

“The shooting spree occurred between September 21, 2022, and May 18th, 2024, and resulted in five homicides and 35 total shooting victims, the youngest victim being five years old,” the DA’s office stated. “The 33rd Philadelphia County Investigating Grand Jury (IGJ) has determined that Mark Johnson, Kasim Brown, Salahuddin Carter, Jymir Burbage, Jerwayne Haywood, Anthony Woodson, Ronnie Vincent-Quan, Herman Stigall, Markees Muhammad, Quamere Hall, Stephen Weddington, Hassan Stafford, Hamzah Curry, Paul Beckwith, Nasir Wells, Hasin Muse, and Tatiana Edwards are implicated in the shooting homicides of four victims, the non-fatal shootings of five survivors, and eleven other shooting incidents. Two other individuals are not being named at this time as part of ongoing investigations.”

The DA’s announcement stated that the Investigating Grand Jury also determined that nine of the defendants are connected to the street group known as the “Young Bag Chasers,” or “YBC,” six are associated with the street group “Campers Campers Klapperz,” or “CCK,” and two are connected to the street group “Parkside Killers,” or “PSK.”

The list of charges includes:

“Ballistic evidence was recovered from various crime scenes and analyzed. The analysis was compared to fired cartridge casings (FCCs) to determine whether the FCCs were fired from the same firearm, and what specific firearm that was. Surveillance video of the shooting incidents were also recovered from businesses, residential properties, city cameras as well as police vehicles equipped with video recording equipment.

“The IGJ alleged that Defendants Salahuddin Carter and Jymir Burbage were involved in a double non-fatal shooting on September 22, 2022, where an eight-year-old was struck by a stray bullet while playing on the front steps in the area of 1500 Block of North 13th Street. Officers responded to the scene at approximately 8:50 P.M. where they found the victim with a graze wound to the side of the victim’s head. The victim was taken to Temple Hospital where a second shooting victim with a gunshot wound to the leg arrived shortly thereafter. The second victim had been the passenger in a vehicle when the vehicle was shot on 13th Street. The driver of the vehicle ultimately crashed the car on the way to the hospital.”

The IGJ also alleges that Defendants Stephen Weddington and Jymir Burbage were involved in a homicide of a victim on December 7, 2023. After the homicide, the “Young Bag Chasers,” or “YBC” relentlessly mocked the victim and the victim’s workplace.

“The DAO remains deeply committed to working with all of our partners to secure justice for victims and co-survivors of violent crime,” said District Attorney Larry Krasner. “Our message to other groups who are engaged in violence: we will use every legal tool, resource and enforcement strategy to hold you accountable and seek an appropriately lengthy jail time for the harm you cause to residents of Philadelphia.”

“I’d like to thank ADA Marianne Aguilar, ADA Anna Walters and members of the Philadelphia Police Department’s Shooting Investigation’s Group for their diligent investigation into a sprawling shooting spree that captured and injured the lives of too many in West, Southwest, and South Philadelphia,” said Assistant District Attorney William Fritze, Chief of the DAO’s Gun Violence Task Force. “This work is a testament to the integral use of witness statements and digital evidence processed through the DAO’s GVTF Forensics Lab.”

Captain James Kearney of the Philadelphia Police Department’s Shooting Investigations Groups also weighed in, “The collaboration between the Philadelphia Police Department’s Shooting Investigations Group and the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office’s Gun Violence Task Force allows for successful outcomes like the one today. It’s because of the collaboration with our Law Enforcement Partners that our city can sleep safer tonight.”

Paul Davis’s Crime Beat column appears here each week. He is also a contributor to Broad + Liberty and Counterterrorism magazine. He can be reached at pauldavisoncrime.com. 

Philadelphia has experienced a remarkable decline in murders over the past few years, one that looks to be continuing into 2026. There’s much there to celebrate, but we should assign credit where it is due – which is not the District Attorney’s office.

We come to criticize Larry Krasner, not to praise him.

Krasner’s purposes in office seem to be running against the goals of keeping Philadelphians safe by putting criminals in jail. Nowhere is this more true than in the District Attorney’s focus on exonerations through his Conviction Integrity Unit (CIU). 

Since Krasner took office in 2018, about 50 people have been exonerated in Philadelphia, many after having spent many long years in prison. To the extent these people were actually innocent, this is undeniably good, though the details of each case can lead reasonable people to disagree about the justice of this case or that.

The vast majority of these exonerations involve vacating old convictions based on recanted witness testimony, coerced confessions, Brady violations, or unreliable eyewitness identifications.  But it is noteworthy that they have not involved identifying and prosecuting the actual perpetrator of those crimes.

The District Attorney's Office's own press release on the Keith Graves exoneration states that "in all matters where an innocent person is exonerated, the CIU and the DAO evaluate whether the true perpetrator can be identified and prosecuted." The language is merely aspirational — it would be nice, but it’s not the main goal of the program. 

It is not bad that the DA’s office wants to get innocent people out of jail; that’s traditionally the job of defense attorneys, but being willing to help in clear-cut cases of false conviction shows integrity. However, the main job of the DA and his employees is to prosecute. Yet their search for the real killers in these old cases seems about as thorough as O.J. Simpson’s was.

Look at some of the exonerations:

In one 1996 murder case, John Miller was convicted and then exonerated. Key witness David Williams later confessed multiple times to being the real shooter and even apologized to Miller's mother. There is no indication Williams was prosecuted.

When Keith Graves was exonerated in 2024, post-conviction information pointed to James Lewis as the real perpetrator. There is no public record of Lewis being charged. 

The list goes on.

Because Krasner’s exonerations are usually based on alleged police or prosecutorial misconduct, rather than on new evidence, they cause more than their share of controversy. In Krasner's very first exoneration, Judge Anne Marie Coyle found the office unfairly accused the two original prosecutors of misconduct, called the accusations “maliciously intended,” and fined his office $120,000 for bad-faith obstruction. Krasner's own former chief of homicide, Anthony Voci, admitted he didn't believe the original prosecutor committed egregious misconduct — despite signing off on that claim in court documents.

It also smacks of a political agenda taking precedence over the normal legal process. As one of Krasner’s predecessors, Seth Williams, wrote in these pages back in 2022, the work of prosecutors “should not be sullied as an excuse to release a prisoner in order to fulfill some ideological agenda.” By working so diligently for the opposite side of the case, Krasner and his office risk short-circuiting the adversarial system on which the American justice system depends.

It all adds up to a lot of problems balanced against a few good outcomes. The public record suggests Krasner's CIU has been very effective at vacating convictions but there's remarkably little evidence of the office actually solving the underlying crimes. If the exonerated people didn't do it, who did? If only there were some public officials charged with finding that out.

The recent Blizzard of ‘26 packed a punch in Philadelphia and across the Delaware Valley. Aside from school closures and runs on milk and eggs, among the lasting impacts will be a blow to our already crumbling infrastructure. A consequence of endless snowplow routes, salt spread on our highways, and temperatures constantly fluctuating above and below freezing are more potholes and bridges in further disrepair.

That’s why I was glad to see Governor Josh Shapiro make a point to prioritize investments in infrastructure in his recently announced state budget proposal. But as important as it is to fix our roads and bridges, I want to be certain this new fund is also investing in what are arguably our most important infrastructure assets – the water treatment plants and distribution pipelines that provide us with safe and reliable drinking water. These are assets that sustain life and economic prosperity yet are too often neglected.  

Dubbed the new Pennsylvania Program for Critical Infrastructure Investment, this $1 billion initiative is designed to spur massive economic growth and strengthen communities throughout our state by supporting large infrastructure projects. 

I applaud Governor Shapiro for moving forward with this program. Our communities are only as strong as the infrastructure that supports them, whether it’s roads and bridges or airports and municipal buildings. Through this effort, the Governor continues to demonstrate his administration’s commitment to strengthening that foundation.

However, I do urge Governor Shapiro and leaders across the state to prioritize our water and sewer systems.

When the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) released its 2025 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure, our nation’s drinking water infrastructure received a C-, and the nation’s wastewater infrastructure received a D+. Hardly a glowing report card!

Our water infrastructure is aging, and across the country, systems are struggling to adequately serve communities that rely on them. We’re all too familiar with the tragic consequences of neglected water systems in places like Flint, Michigan, and Jackson, Mississippi, where water crises resulted in serious public health concerns. This reality is unacceptable, and we have seen firsthand the dire results of aging, underdeveloped water infrastructure right here in Pennsylvania. 

In the most recent ASCE Report Card for Pennsylvania specifically, drinking water received a D grade, and wastewater received a D-, both below the national average. 

In private wells across Pennsylvania, we’ve traced frighteningly high levels of PFAS, dangerous forever chemicals, in drinking water. Other Pennsylvania residents have seen extensive damage to their property due to aging wells and pipes that, are at times, left in disrepair in homes and communities for generations. 

Fortunately, in recent years, Governor Shapiro, legislators in Harrisburg, and public and private utilities have come together to support our state’s water infrastructure. 

Investments in water infrastructure through PENNVEST have had transformative impacts in communities statewide. 

In the Administration’s first PENNVEST announcement of 2026, significant investments are being made, to name just a few: 

These are unquestionable successes and a strong start to 2026, but if the current condition of wastewater and water infrastructure tells us anything, we know that the stakes remain high, as too many systems are vulnerable to failure. We cannot slow the momentum. It is critical that Governor Shapiro and state leaders continue investing in water and wastewater infrastructure to improve the quality of life today and support resilience in Pennsylvania communities for the next generation. A new $1 billion pot of infrastructure dollars would be a good place to start. 

Subodha Kumar is a distinguished professor at Temple University’s Fox School of Business.

A high school teacher I know informed me that the school where he works has a principal with far-left views. While that in itself is not surprising, this particular woman apparently wants all the teachers at the school to adopt her political beliefs. 

My friend confessed that he was “being marginalized by the principal of the school.” 

“I'm pretty sure it is politically related, i.e. she thinks I am not onboard with her far-left views,” he added. “I can't prove it but it seems the most likely reason.  But like many on the far left, they say they believe in diversity but in practice they don't accept any deviance from leftist orthodoxy.”

He went on to say that his public high school is making a huge deal out of Ramadan. “But of course no mention is ever made of Lent. At the peak of the pro-Palestine rallies, the principal allowed students to leave school carrying Palestinian flags to protest downtown. Lately, the same principal has been allowing students to leave school early to protest ICE.”  

Novelist Lionel Shiver, whose latest novel, “A Better Life,” details the bitter consequences of a progressive New York woman who invites a migrant to live with her family, told Douglas Murray in an interview, “We need a CATASTROPHE' to save the West from illegal migration and woke culture.” That might very well be true, since woke culture is a luxury culture that will be the first go given a planetary disaster.  

In the meantime, what will happen to Philadelphia if every city public school is indoctrinating its students in leftist ideology?

That ideologically crazy principal my teacher friend talks about should be fired. But how can that happen when so many high schools in the city are doing the same thing?

Edison High School is one example. This month, 6ABC reported that students at that Hunting Park school were allowed to leave class to attend an ICE protest. In January 2026, a similar situation occurred at Girard College.

We might also ask why these schools are going out of their way to promote Islam. These schools go out of their way to create designated prayer spaces and fasting rooms for Muslim students. Why? Imagine if a group of Catholic students wanted a space to pray the rosary. Do you think a leftist high school principal would honor such a request? 

To date there are two official Muslim holidays in Philly public schools, Eid-al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha. The latter holiday was added later. Is a third addition on the way?  

And yet there’s something strangely attractive about a religion that makes its adherents stand out. Unfolding a colorful prayer mat in a parking lot at sunset and kneeling down among parked cars is not only great theater, it provides an ad hoc advertisement for the religion itself.

The behavior of most Christians and Jews in the public square is mostly invisible, whereas Muslims aren’t afraid to show their faith in places that might– by any definition — be deemed queer or “inappropriate”: shopping malls, the hallways of hospitals, the cereal aisle in a grocery store or parking lots.

Unlike Dearborn, Michigan, where the Arab Muslim majority population stands at 55 percent of the city’s 110,000 residents, Philadelphia’s homegrown Muslim population has not caused it to be called “Muslim Town” and the “Mecca of the West.” The overwhelming majority of Muslims in Philadelphia are not Middle Eastern but black Muslims. Ironically, black Muslims continue to be disparaged by Middle Eastern Muslims as wannabe or “fake” Muslims. (If you doubt my word on this, just talk to a so-called “real” Muslim from the Middle East). 

Philadelphia, as it becomes an increasingly black majority city, will in time have many more Muslims than it does in 2026. Someday, in fact, the city may rival Dearborn, only in Philadelphia’s case the Muslim growth will be homegrown. 

My teacher friend also had this to say:

“We [in the public schools] cannot say Easter but over the school loudspeaker they have no problem announcing the ‘Holy month of Ramadan.’ Students are allowed to leave class to pray. A special area is set aside for that to happen. I wonder what would happen if Protestants asked for a Bible prayer group! Why don’t the church / state rules — the separation of church and state — apply to Muslims? It’s also a shame that so few children in Philadelphia identify as Christian. Their parents should demand equal time.”  

The situation is far worse in Britain, where freedom of expression is heavily restricted and Christianity is approaching extinction. 

I recently read a 2024 Action News report about a family that enrolled their 12-year-old daughter in a Philadelphia Catholic school before their conversion to Islam. Initially the family knew of the school’s prohibition against the wearing of head coverings. Later, however, during the month of Ramadan, the daughter went to school in a head covering but was told by officials at St. Francis de Sales Catholic school in Southwest Philadelphia that she could not wear her khimar, given that it was against the rules as outlined in the school’s handbook which is distributed to all families at the beginning of the school year. 

The family staged a protest but eventually transferred their daughter to another school when the Catholic school would not give in.

Thom Nickels is Broad + Liberty’s Editor at Large for Arts and Culture and the 2005 recipient of the AIA Lewis Mumford Award for Architectural Journalism. He writes for City Journal, New York, and Frontpage Magazine. Thom Nickels is the author of fifteen books, including “Literary Philadelphia” and ”From Mother Divine to the Corner Swami: Religious Cults in Philadelphia.” His latest work, “Ileana of Romania: Princess, Exile and Mother Superior,” will be published in May 2026.

“If” is a very short, but very important and useful word. It enables us to ask questions that need to be asked. Right now it can be very useful in helping us to evaluate President Trump and Israel’s attack against Iran. 

A great many on the left are condemning Trump’s military action. As I write this, the number of those on the right who are expressing approval seems to be a greater number. How those numbers will change in the future remains to be seen. Much, of course, depends on what happens next.

Here is where the “if” questions are useful. If, at some point in the future, the situation in the Middle East is better than it was before Trump’s attack, and can be attributed to the attack, then he will likely be given a favorable rating. If, on the other hand, things do not improve, get worse, or a seemingly endless war goes on, he will likely be condemned. Only the passage of time will enlighten us as to the result.

I submit that even if the situation doesn’t improve, or even if it gets worse, it may be of great value. I say that because the attack may prevent an even worse situation from ultimately occurring if no attack had occurred. That is something that we can never know for sure, but about which we can speculate if we ask some “if” questions. Allow me to explain.

Hitler began his ascent to power in 1933, and began German rearmament almost immediately after taking control. Rearmament was in violation of the Treaty of Versailles. By 1935 Hitler made rearmament official and announced conscription. His views about Jews and the need for territorial expansion were well known. 

Historians can probably tell us about when, in Hitler’s rise to power in Germany, Hitler and his rearmament of Germany could have been stopped, and World War II and all the atrocities of the Nazi regime prevented. We now know what not stopping Hitler cost the world. Six million Jews were systematically murdered, and an even greater number of non-Jews were slaughtered. Poland, Russia, England and other European nations suffered terrible destruction. By the end of the war even Germany had suffered immense destruction. All that could have been prevented if England and France had not chosen “peace for our time.” 

The desire for peace rather than confronting Hitler early on allowed him to get more and more as time moved forward. It was on September 30, 1938 that British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain landed back in England after a meeting with Hitler. He spoke to the spectators at the airport:

“The settlement of the Czechoslovak problem which has now been achieved is, in my view, only the prelude to a larger settlement in which all Europe may find peace. This morning I had another talk with the German Chancellor, Herr Hitler, and here is a paper which bears his name upon it as well as mine. Some of you perhaps have already heard what it contains, but I would just like to read it to you. " ... We regard the agreement signed last night and the Anglo-German Naval Agreement as symbolic of the desire of our two peoples never to go to war with one another again.”

Later that day, he stood outside 10 Downing Street, and read again from the document and concluded: 

My good friends, this is the second time in our history that there has come back from Germany to Downing Street peace with honour.

I believe it is peace for our time...

We thank you from the bottom of our hearts. Now I recommend you go home and sleep quietly in your beds.

So let me ask an “if” question. What would the reaction of the world, and the US opposition party have been if the US President, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, had ordered and achieved the assassination of Adolf Hitler at some crucial time in the 1930s? He probably would have been subjected to the same vilification that is now being heaped upon Trump for his attack on Iran.

We would not, then, have been able to say that FDR prevented all that ultimately occurred. We would not have been able to know then what actually happened. Now we do know. As the war in Europe was ending and Allied forces discovered the concentration camps, they could hardly believe what they were seeing. The dead and the dying was so horrific that even today many deny that it really happened. If Hitler and his rearmed Germany had been stopped early on, we would not know what his death had achieved.

We know that Iran was seeking nuclear weapons and the means to deliver them wherever they desired. We know that Iran was supplying Hamas and Hezbollah with arms. The mullahs openly shouted “Death to America” and “Death to Israel.” We know from 9/11 and 10/7 what fanatical terrorists are willing to do. We know that Iran supports terrorists. We do not know when and what Iran might do in the future if not stopped.

We will never know what Iran would have actually done in the future if Israel and Trump had not acted. “Peace for our time” does not mean peace forever. Israel and Trump may well have made peace in the future more likely.

Howard Lurie is Emeritus Professor of Law, Charles Widger School of Law, Villanova University 

The call came on a Friday evening around 11 into the emergency room at Saint Francis Hospital in Connecticut’s capital, Hartford. 

We were on a grim watch. 

Gunfire was common on the streets of this city of 130,000 in the early 1990s. Often, the attacks were drive-by shootings by gang members firing wildly from the open windows of cars careening along city streets. Rival gang members were shot as were the innocent, including children, cut down in what the Hartford Courant reported were 58 homicides in 1994.

The killings were happening despite Connecticut having some of the toughest gun laws in the country. Laws destined to become tighter years later after the massacre of 26, including 20 children, at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown.

Reporting for a CBS television station in Hartford, I approached management at Saint Francis to allow me and my photographer into their ER to tell the story of gun violence through an ER doctor fighting to keep victims alive. Seeing the value of the approach, they said yes.

The late-night call was an alert for an incoming shooting victim shot point-blank in the head by an attacker standing close by. Within minutes, the doors to the ER burst open by a stretcher, pushed by ambulance staff, with a young man sprawled on top, his head wrapped in white stained by darkening, spreading blood. Rushed into treatment, the young ER doctor who had signed off on our visit and greeted us warmly earlier in the evening, fought to save yet another life only to see the victim quickly slip away. 

Angered by the persistent gun violence in the capital of what was then the nation’s wealthiest state, the ER doctor asked if we wanted to see what a bullet fired at close range would do to the human skull. Placing his hands behind the victim’s head, he raised it to reveal the large section of the skull torn away by the force of the blast. 

That searing experience stuck with me as I continued to report in Southern New England and later moved to Philadelphia where the flow of illegal firearms and the resulting homicides are major concerns. 

My introduction to Philadelphia gun violence came with the so-called Lex Street murders three days after Christmas in 2000 in which ten people were shot, killing seven of them. Investigators reported the victims were forced to lay facedown on the floor before the gunfire. According to the New York Times, the killing pushed murders in Philadelphia to 317 that year, a sharp increase from the year before.

The gun debate in Philadelphia has long centered around the city’s inability to set its own gun laws. That power is reserved for the state legislature where a majority of members have been unwilling to enact stricter laws despite the pleas of mayors who’ve continually trekked to Harrisburg to make their case. The opposition, many Republicans and politically active gun rights groups, argue Philadelphia has failed to enforce the gun laws already on the books and often heaped blame on the city’s progressive District Attorney, Larry Kranser. 

Krasner’s response, in frequent press conferences in his offices near City Hall, was to point to arrests made in gun and gang cases by calling the head of his gun task force to the podium to offer details. He frequently complained about low bail amounts set by the courts putting suspects back on the street awaiting trial and able to offend again.

For their part, Philadelphia Police were pulling six thousand firearms off the streets yearly while raising concerns about how quickly new weapons would replace them. In 2021, homicides spiked in Philadelphia at 562 while dramatically falling off to 222 last year. 

Covering street crime is a gritty, solemn affair, far from the bloodless debate over gun laws. To arrive at a shooting scene was to find a pool of blood, even human tissue, drying in the sun on the street where victims fell. Scattered nearby, blue, blood-stained rubber gloves tossed by the responding EMTs hustling the wounded to the hospital. Yellow police tape was stretched across the street barring the curious from chalk circles on the pavement marking bullet casings from the gunplay. 

It was mid-afternoon on a late September day in 2022 when the gunfire erupted outside Roxborough High School in Philadelphia. Fourteen-year-old Nicholas Elizalde and four others were set upon by gun-toting attackers lying in wait after a football scrimmage in a case of mistaken identity. I was working with a photographer a few miles away on the story ironically of a break in at a gun shop. We raced to the school to find the murder scene blocked by police cars with investigators swarming and bullet casings everywhere.

Police eventually arrested the shooters who were convicted and sent to prison, but the lasting memory came from Nicholas’s mother, Meredith. She said she was waiting to pick up her only child after practice when she heard the crack of the weapons and ran to him. Holding Nicholas in her arms she said, “I felt him pass. I felt him leave.”

Jeff Cole was an investigative, politics and policy reporter at Fox 29 in Philadelphia for 25 years. He is a two-time winner of the Weiss Award for Investigative Reporting, as well as the recipient of a series of Edward R. Murrow Awards and Associated Press Awards and four New England Emmy Awards for his investigative reporting.

After a contentious Congressional hearing, President Trump’s announcement of a forced departure of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem came because of questionable ethics practices, and not the political firestorm following the controversial ICE surge in Minneapolis.  This underscores how fragile public trust becomes when agencies that spend taxpayer dollars lack strong, independent oversight. Her ouster, triggered only after the bruising congressional hearing, is a reminder that when watchdogs fail to act early, accountability arrives late and in the most political way possible.

As a compliance professional and former member of the Inspector General community, I have to note that while House and Senate panels dragged Noem’s stewardship of the Department of Homeland Security into the spotlight, grilling her over management, spending, and efforts to pressure internal watchdogs, this should have been prevented or mitigated internally (and quietly) before becoming a political scandal used against the Trump administration. Senators in both parties had already signaled alarm, with some calling her tenure “a disaster” and threatening to hold up nominations until she answered their questions. The hearings became a public audit in real time, surfacing concerns that should have been identified quietly and sooner by institutional checks inside DHS itself.

Once those hearings aired, the political fallout was swift. President Donald Trump announced on social media that he was removing Noem and planned to nominate Oklahoma Sen. Markwayne Mullin as her replacement, jettisoning her as the face of his hard-line immigration and security agenda. He simultaneously moved her to a new envoy role, underscoring that the change was less about a coherent reform plan at DHS and more about containing a scandal that had become a liability.

The Office of Inspector General (OIG) exists precisely to keep such controversies from festering into televised showdowns and emergency shake-ups. 

Inspectors general are supposed to operate independently of agency leadership, rooting out waste, fraud and abuse before they metastasize into crises. Yet in DHS’s case, recent correspondence revealed department leadership pressing the inspector general’s office for a list of ongoing investigations and invoking a little-used statute that allows the secretary to terminate certain probes. This pressure is against the OIG independence best practices outlined in the Association of Inspectors’ General “Green Book” for management, and is normally met with a public report.

Sen. Tammy Duckworth warned that the communication looked like an implied threat aimed at discouraging scrutiny of “sensitive or controversial matters,” including those that might touch the secretary or close aides. When an agency’s top lawyer is reminding its watchdog that the secretary can shut down inquiries, it becomes harder for that watchdog to freely flag questionable spending or management decisions. That environment helps explain why issues that should have been documented, reported and corrected internally instead spilled out under the glare of partisan cameras.

Noem’s rise and fall at DHS also highlights a deeper structural problem: key posts in agencies that control vast budgets often go to political loyalists, not subject-matter professionals. Her nomination surprised many precisely because she had neither DHS experience nor a law enforcement background, even though the department houses some of the country’s most powerful enforcement and intelligence components. Her selection owed much to the backing of influential Trump advisers and immigration hawks, who saw her as a reliable partner in a White House–driven border strategy.

That dynamic is hardly unique to DHS. Cabinet secretaries, state agency chiefs and big‑city department heads are frequently chosen for their political alignment, fundraising prowess, or personal relationships rather than proven track records running complex institutions. The result is a recurring pattern: leaders arrive with strong partisan credentials but limited operational experience, then lean heavily on political staff while navigating multibillion‑dollar portfolios with inadequate internal challenge.

For DHS, this pattern is particularly striking. The department oversees entities such as Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Customs and Border Protection, the Secret Service and a dedicated intelligence office, yet the position of homeland security secretary has consistently gone to political figures, lawyers, administrators or former governors—not career law enforcement officers. Noem fit that mold: a former governor and member of Congress whose experience in disaster management and cybersecurity was cited by supporters, but who lacked front‑line enforcement credentials. 

That history raises a sharper question as DHS lurches from one controversy to another: should an agency with such sweeping arrest, surveillance and security powers be led, at least once, by someone who has actually carried a badge and gun? Critics argue that a secretary with deep operational grounding might be better positioned to respect investigative independence, recognize red flags in spending and resist efforts to muzzle internal watchdogs.

Think about it in a local lens: Has there ever been a school superintendent who has never taught or administered a school? Has a surgeon general ever not been a physician? Can you be a judge without first being a lawyer?

Exactly.

With politicians making appointments, we have to ask if their appointees at any level (to include state and local authorities) are hiring people because of the strength of their resumes, not their political affiliations.  

Noem’s removal may calm the immediate political storm, but it does little to fix the accountability gaps that allowed it to build in the first place. Independent inspectors general need explicit protection from subtle and overt pressure, including attempts by agency leadership to track or terminate active investigations. Legislatures at every level can bolster that independence by tightening limits on political interference and requiring regular public reporting on high‑risk spending and management issues.

Equally important, presidents, governors and mayors could treat public‑funded agencies less as instruments of partisan agendas and more as institutions that require credible, experienced, and accountable stewardship. Noem’s tenure at DHS shows what happens when those safeguards fail: oversight arrives only after the cameras are rolling, and taxpayers are left to wonder who, if anyone, was watching before everything went wrong.

Based in Philadelphia, A. Benjamin Mannes is a consultant and subject matter expert in security and criminal justice reform based on his own experiences on both sides of the criminal justice system. He is a corporate compliance executive who has served as a federal and municipal law enforcement officer, and as the former Director, Office of Investigations with the American Board of Internal Medicine. @PublicSafetySME

Their narrative? 

“This is Israel’s war. This is not the United States’ war,” said Carlson. “No one should have to die for a foreign nation,” said Kelly. 

Owens’ topped off her rant with a shopworn, false, and actually anti-Semitic accusation that Israel was behind 9/11. 

They are not alone in trying to turn the mash in the Mideast into a fight between Israel and Iran in which the U.S. (or the West) has no vested interest.

Since it’s hard to believe people with their platforms could be so ignorant, I conclude they are lying.

Why are they lying?

Politics? Audience share? Anti-Semitism? Who knows?

Before looking at proof that Iran hates and targets the United States, let’s agree the mullahs hate the Jewish state even more, and have repeatedly and sincerely threatened to extinguish the Jewish state. Israel takes the threats seriously. It should.

Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu would like nothing better than to see the Islamist terrorist-led state blown to oblivion. He has made no secret of that.

He would do it alone, if he could, but he can’t. So he wants U.S. help, and cover.

That’s what happened last year when the two nations cooperated in a massive air attack that crippled Iran’s nuclear facilities. 

But it is farce to believe that Israel “forced” the U.S.’ hand.

Or that Netanyahu “demanded” that President Donald J. Trump go to war against Iran.

Trump doesn’t take orders from Netanyahu — he gives them.

He flashes red lights, and green lights. The United States is Israel’s most powerful and important ally. It is also Israel’s most important source of arms, and support at the U.N. It is Israel’s closest friend.

A big brother, if you will. A big brother who does not take orders from a  little brother.

Or, in Iranian terms, the Great Satan (the U.S.) and the Little Satan (Israel). Even the mullahs recognize who’s the top dog.

Those Satanic terms have been used since 1979 when the Islamofascists took over the nation and launched massive Friday services marked by the twin chants of “Death to Israel!” and “Death to America!”

The mullahs took hostage the staff of the U.S. embassy for 666 days.

From that moment on, Iran has been a sworn enemy of the United States.

Does anyone not know that?

And from that moment on, the ayatollahs have done everything in their power to hurt the United States, and Americans. Their evil often has been carried out by  a world-wide network of terrorist groups attacking the U.S. and Western targets.

Even as he campaigned for President in 2015, Trump condemned the Iranian regime, as he did even before he was a candidate. That’s why, as President, he tore up the Barack Obama-brokered treaty with Iran. Acting on his own.

To alleviate the willful ignorance of the Carlsons, Kellys, and Owens’, here is a timeline of Iranian attacks, compiled in part by the non-partisan think tank Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, founded after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.

April 1983

A suicide car bombing kills 63 people, including 17 Americans, at the U.S. Embassy in Beirut. The Iran-backed terrorist group Islamic Jihad, a precursor and early branch of Hezbollah, claims responsibility.

October 1983

Operatives of the Iran-backed Hezbollah drive a truck bomb at a Marine compound in Beirut, killing 220 U.S. Marines and 21 other service personnel.

December 1983

Hezbollah operatives drive an explosives-filled dump truck through the gates of the U.S. Embassy in Kuwait City. No Americans are harmed.

March 1984

Terrorists kidnap CIA station chief William Buckley in Beirut, subsequently torturing and ultimately killing him in 1985. Islamic Jihad claims responsibility.

December 1984

Hezbollah terrorists hijack Kuwait Airways Flight 221 on its way from Kuwait to Pakistan and divert it to Tehran, killing two American officials from the U.S. Agency for International Development.

June 1985

Hezbollah terrorists hijack TWA Flight 847 en route from Athens to Rome and kill a U.S. Navy diver.

July 1989

Hezbollah operatives kill U.S. Marine Corps Col. William Higgins after kidnapping him the previous year while on a United Nations peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon.

April 1995

An explosives-laden van crashes into a bus near Kfar Darom in the Gaza Strip, killing one American and seven Israelis. Palestinian Islamic Jihad claims responsibility.

August 1995

A Hamas suicide bomber blows up a bus in the Ramat Eshkol neighborhood of Jerusalem, killing an American and three other passengers and wounding more than 100.

February 1996

A Hamas suicide bomber blows up a Jerusalem bus, killing three Americans and wounding three other Americans. A total of 26 people died in the attack.

March 1996

A suicide bomber blows up the Dizengoff shopping center in Tel Aviv, wounding two Americans. Twenty people die and 75 others are injured in the attack. Both Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad claim responsibility.

May 1996

Gunmen kill an American-Israeli dual citizen in the community of Beit El in the West Bank. Another U.S. citizen and three Israelis are wounded. No group claims responsibility, but Israel suspects Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

June 1996

A truck carrying 5,000 pounds of explosives blows up the Khobar Towers, a U.S. Air Force housing complex in the Saudi Arabian town of Khobar. Nineteen Americans die and some 500 people are injured. The Iran-backed Hezbollah Al Hijaz, a terrorist group in Saudi Arabia, is deemed responsible.

September 1997

Three Hamas suicide bombers blow themselves up at the Ben Yehuda shopping mall in Jerusalem, killing a U.S.-Israeli dual citizen and wounding seven other American citizens. Four other people die and nearly 200 are wounded in the attack.

August 1998

With the assistance of Hezbollah, al Qaeda suicide bombers almost simultaneously blow up the U.S. Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, killing 224 people, including 12 Americans, and wounding thousands. According to the 9/11 Commission Report, al Qaeda developed “the tactical expertise for such attacks months earlier, when some of its operatives — top military committee members and several operatives who were involved with the Kenya cell among them — were sent to Hezbollah training camps in Lebanon.”

August 2001

A Hamas suicide bomber blows up the Sbarro pizzeria in Jerusalem, killing a U.S.-Israeli dual citizen and two other Americans. A total of 15 people die in the attack.

January 2002

Gunmen affiliated with the Iran-backed al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigade kill a U.S.-Israel dual citizen and wound another individual in the West Bank community of Beit Sahur.

July 2002

A bomb planted by a Hamas terrorist kills five Americans at Jerusalem’s Hebrew University, killing five American students, including an American-Israeli dual citizen and an American-French dual citizen. A total of nine people died in the attack.

June 2003

An American citizen, along with 16 other people, died when a Hamas terrorist blows himself up on a bus in Jerusalem.

October 2003

Terrorists from the Iran-backed Popular Resistance Committees kill three U.S. diplomatic personnel in a bombing in Gaza.

2003-2011

Iranian-backed militias kill at least 603 U.S. troops in Iraq, according to the Pentagon. Iranian training and material support for Iraqi militias during the surge greatly increased the difficulty of U.S. forces to combat the insurgency and included some of the deadliest weapons used against American troops, including explosively formed penetrators (EFPs) and improvised explosive devices (IEDs).

August 2003

A Hamas suicide bomber blows up a bus in Jerusalem, killing five Americans and wounding one other American. A total of 24 people died in the attack.

August 2006

Hezbollah fighters kill American citizen Michael Levin, a soldier in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), during the Second Lebanon War. He is the only American to die in the conflict.

January 2007

Twelve men affiliated with the Quds Force of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) disguised themselves as U.S. soldiers, entered the Provincial Joint Coordination Center in the Iraqi city of Karbala, kill five U.S. soldiers, and wound another three. In 2019, the U.S. State Department issued a $15 million bounty for information on an IRGC Quds Force commander who planned the attack and other “assassinations of coalition forces in Iraq.”

July 2014

Hamas terrorists kill two Americans serving in the IDF during fighting between the terrorist group and Israel in Gaza as part of Operation Protective Edge.

October 2015

Hamas terrorists kill an American citizen and his wife, residents of the West Bank community of Neria, in their car in a drive-by shooting.

December 2019

Rockets fired by Kataib Hezbollah, an Iran-backed militia, kill an American security contractor and wound several U.S. service members and Iraqi personnel at the K1 military base in the Iraqi city of Kirkuk.

January 2020

A direct Iranian ballistic missile attack against the Ain al-Asad airbase in Iraq causes more than 100 U.S. troops to suffer traumatic brain injuries.

March 2020

The family of former FBI agent Robert Levinson, who disappeared in Iran in 2007, announces that he likely died in an Iranian prison at an unknown date.

September 2020

U.S. intelligence reports indicate that Iran is weighing a plot to assassinate U.S. Ambassador to South Africa Lana Marks.

February 2021

A rocket fired by an Iran-backed militia at coalition forces in the Iraqi city of Erbil wounds a U.S. service member and four U.S. civilian contractors.

July 2021

Iranian-backed militias conduct at least three rocket and drone attacks against U.S. forces in 24 hours in Iraq and Syria, wounding two U.S. service members.

September 2022

An Iranian rocket attack kills an American citizen in Iraqi Kurdistan.

November 2022

A captain in Iran’s IRGC orchestrates the killing of an American citizen living in Baghdad who worked at an English language institute.

March 2023

An Iranian drone kills an American contractor and wounds five service members and another contractor when it strikes a coalition base near the Syrian city of Hasakah.

October 7, 2023

Hamas kills at least 48 Americans and kidnaps at least 12 Americans in a massacre of 1,200 people in southern Israel.

December 2023

A drone attack conducted by an Iranian-backed Iraqi militia against U.S. forces in Erbil wounds three American soldiers, including one critically injured with shrapnel.

January 2024

A drone launched by Kataib Hezbollah kills three U.S. soldiers at a U.S. military base in Jordan and wounded more than 40 other service members.

October 2024

Iran executes German-Iranian national and U.S. permanent resident Jamshid Sharmahd on fraudulent terrorism charges.

November 2024

A report released by the Foundation for Defense of Democracies indicates that Iran and its proxies have conducted more than 180 attacks against U.S. forces in the Middle East between October 17, 2023, and November 19, 2024, resulting in more than 180 wounded and three killed U.S. service members.

November 2024

The U.S. Department of Justice announces charges against an Iranian national and two American accomplices for plotting to assassinate President Trump.

March 2025

A U.S. jury convicts two agents of Iran for plotting to assassinate Iranian-American journalist Masih Alinejad in New York in 2022.

June 2025

At least three U.S. bases in Syria and two U.S. bases in Iraq are attacked with missiles or drones, likely by Iranian-backed militias.

Any questions about this being the United States’ war?

Stu Bykofsky was a columnist at the Philadelphia Daily News and the Philadelphia Inquirer until July 2019. He also served as a copy editor and features writer. You can find more of his work at stubykofsky.com.

Americans can be fickle, in life and in politics. We want to be in shape, but we don’t want to exercise. We want dogs as pets, but we don’t want to clean up the stuff. 

Voters sometimes ask for things, yet complain even when they get what they wanted. They don’t want any “mess.” Some cringe when change makes others uncomfortable.

But confronting and fixing things is messy and uncomfortable. Some problems require courage, and even confrontation.

Don’t wish for something if you don’t have the stomach to see it through. 

If we can’t agree on anything else, we should all agree that President Trump is the “sausage-making” king. Telling him that something is hard, has never been done before or might make friends uncomfortable may be a good way to get him to do it. 

Take the legacy media. For decades, Republicans have grumbled at cocktail parties, meetings, and in their homes about media bias. From taxes to welfare, education to the military, police to spending, legacy media seems to defend our opponents and bash us. They misrepresent data, take things out of context, exaggerate (or underestimate) impacts and have a bias that’s so obvious to us. It was not only the stories that they ignored, but also those they chose to highlight.  And digital media and 24-hour news only makes it worse.

Trump comes along and confronts reporters, calls out biased questions in real time — and labeled them “fake news.” Some establishment Republicans clutched their pearls and spit out their Chardonnay. 

Take NATO. For years, many recognized that Americans supplied the overwhelming amount of troops, weapons and dollars. Way too much of our treasure, and best and brightest. (Recall, NATO exists to stop communism and socialism, and preserve our way of life…ahem.)

Trump comes along and tells the Germans, French, etc., to “pony up.” We’re tired of bearing so much of the burden — tired of hearing about their free museums, ten-cent trolleys and free college, while kids from Coatesville stand guard in Germany with weapons built in Beaver Falls, paid for by folks from South Philly. Again, many longstanding Republicans heard this and“tsk’d” at the kitchen table while reading the New York Times. “That’s so impolite!”

Illegal immigration may be the shining example. For years, many have complained about the number of illegal immigrants — especially those committing violent crimes. Those who had no business-sponsor, no host-family waiting for them. It only compounded when the Biden/Harris administration went to court to block Texas and Arizona from securing the southern border, and then literally tore down parts of Trump’s border fence. Perhaps 20 million poured over — many enabled by agencies being funded with our tax dollars!

They broke the law, and are breaking our safety net, schools, and hospitals. Plus, they’re taking advantage of those on legal immigration lists to get admitted through the process. 

If nothing else, we can all agree that Trump pledged that he’d secure the border and deport those who came in illegally, especially those who broke the law or who would do us harm.

Trump secured the border and then the Border Patrol (CBP), FBI and, yes, ICE began to remove them — often in raids. Democrats yelled in Congress, cursed on MSNBC and sued in courts to try to stop Trump. They even worked overtime to get the Orwellian-named  “Maryland Man” (Kilmar Abrego Garcia) back to Maryland. (A gang member with a criminal record in El Salvador, who had a protection-from-abuse order against him to keep him from again beating his wife.)

But as the raids continued, things got messy. (In part due to some Democratic officials and activists refusing to cooperate, even taking steps to make it “messy.”) Some didn't like the images of actual people being deported, or law enforcement faced with two bad decisions — keeping the children with their illegal (often criminal) parents or “separating” them. 

Then, the hand-wringing, the head-shaking, the sighs among some Republicans, and former Republicans. It’s messy. Confrontational. It’s upsetting.

Well, what did everyone think would happen when the federal officials went after the murderers, rapists, drug dealers, and child-traffickers who came here illegally? Did you think they’d give up voluntarily?

And for the majority “non-violent” who gave fake documents, lied about seeking asylum, or pretended to be caring for a child (not their child) and those who “merely” snuck in, how else do we get them to leave? (Recall, we did offer free airfare and a check.)

For decades, large segments of legacy media have fought, ignored and vilified Republicans, and conservative policies at every turn. And no one dared do anything about it. For decades, leaders from both parties allowed our “allies” to shift more of NATO’s burden to us — while they grew their welfare state (and didn't secure their borders). For years, our border was left wide open — literally. We are spending billions, endangering towns, and risking the lives of too many Americans — like Laken Riley.

From colleges to the UN, from left-wing judges playing roulette with our lives to the teachers’ union, American institutions, many of our allies, and parts of our own government were doing things that weakened our families, our communities and our nation.

Finally, it’s being addressed. Many cheer. Yet, some finally got what they wished for and recoil. 

Are you actually angry at President Trump, or yourself?

Guy Ciarrocchi writes for Broad + Liberty and RealClear Pennsylvania. A Senior Fellow with the Commonwealth Foundation, follow Guy at @PaSuburbsGuy.

This was 20 years after the Shah had been deposed and the Ayatollah Khomeini and his thugs had kidnapped Americans at our consulate in Tehran.

This was sixteen years after Khomeini and his thugs had financed the bombing of the U.S. Marines barracks in Beirut, killing almost 300 of our young men.

This was, and remains, the same regime that killed dissenters, women who simply wanted to be able to walk in the sunshine without the heavy black cloth of erasure on their heads, and men who believed that a republic based on religion instead of reason was an abomination.

This man, whose name I no longer remember but whose voice still sounds in my ear, was a member of the Bah’ai faith, which was one of the many groups being persecuted under the Islamic Republic.

It was considered an “apostate” faith, traitorous to Islam since it was an offshoot of the religion.

My client and his family had suffered horror after horror, including having to watch his father’s own body rot in their front yard because the regime denied burials to members of the religion.

As someone who wept at the gravesite of her own mother, after a beautiful and respectful ceremony with Catholic rites, I cannot imagine the pain that this poor man suffered watching the desecration of a person he’d adored.

And this was only the smallest of the inhumanities that were done to him. He filed for asylum, and today, the man, his wife, and his daughters are living happily in the U.S. as citizens.

This was my limited contact with the Islamic Republic of Iran, a regime so brutal that even its Arab neighbors saw it as an enemy.

Iran has waged actual wars against its despised enemy, Iraq, and proxy wars through the terror groups that it funded: Hezbollah, Hamas and Al Qaeda.

There is no question that Iran is at the center of what we once called the “Axis of Evil.”

And it has been a threat to the United States for decades. To hear some people on what is now called the “woke right” criticizing our intervention this past week as “Israel’s War” is both an example of ignorance and bigotry.

The ignorance comes from the fact that at least as many Americans have been victims of this regime as Israelis. The bigotry is an example of what I have been decrying these last weeks in my columns: Jew hatred.

I am using that term instead of “antisemitism” because many of those on the “woke right” have been telling us that Arabs are also Semites and, therefore, the word is incorrect.

That is a smokescreen for the actual bigotry of the intention, but I’ll play along. Calling this “Israel’s War” is Jew hatred, and I don’t care how many conservatives become apoplectic.

Some things are so obvious that they cannot be reasoned away by sober arguments about “forever wars” and isolationism.

It is true that one of the principles of MAGA is America First, which is why I refuse to claim that label. I voted for Donald Trump two times, enthusiastically at first because I believed that he would help us overturn Roe with his judicial picks — mission accomplished! — and holding my nose the second time because I could not stomach a Biden presidency.

The devastation in Afghanistan vindicated my choice.

This time, I did not vote for him, but instead wrote in the name of Marco Rubio, a man who represents my vision of the GOP.

Ironically, Trump did me a huge favor by making him secretary of state, a role that he has played with great effectiveness, and engagement in the international community.

My larger point is this: Even if MAGA is in favor of the interests of America foremost and exclusively, annihilating a regime that has kept Iran in its stranglehold for many years was an act of patriotism toward the hostages in Tehran, the murdered Marines in Beirut, and all of the other U.S. victims of terror around the world.

This is, indeed, America First.

That’s why I have no time or stomach for people like Megyn Kelly, who found fame and fortune following the blowing winds and figuring out which hurricane to follow.

She is a chameleon whom I never trusted and who has changed colors more times than a disco glitter ball on the set of “Saturday Night Fever.”

She is in good company with a man colloquially known as Tucker Qatar-lson, whose loyalties are not only suspect, they are obvious, faux Catholic kook Candace Owens, conspiracy quack Glenn Greenwald and others who are either guided by animus towards Israel, or a desire to placate the Arab world.

Little do they know that the Arab world, including Saudi Arabia, has different ideas about what is in its own welfare.

I strongly support our actions in Iran. The process might be flawed, and there are issues about how it is managed, but the motivation was justified.

My old client, the hostages in Tehran, and the souls of those Marines would surely agree.

This article originally appeared in the Delco Times.

Christine Flowers can be reached at cflowers1961@gmail.com.

When Dave McCormick was sworn in as U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania, expectations were high. Pennsylvania is not just any state: it’s the keystone of American politics, a bellwether for national trends, and a hub of economic and cultural influence. In his first year, Senator McCormick didn’t just meet those expectations; he exceeded them. 

An Ambassador for Pennsylvania 

From day one, McCormick embraced his role as Pennsylvania’s ambassador to the nation and the world. He understood that our state’s strength lies in its people and their capacity for innovation—and he made sure others understood it too.

A defining moment came when he hosted the first Pennsylvania Energy and Innovation Summit at Carnegie Mellon University, drawing leaders from across the globe and industries, including the highest levels of the public and private sectors.  

This wasn’t just a conference. It was part of a broader, intentional effort to sell Pennsylvania as the best place in the country to invest, build, and grow. McCormick brought global investors to Pennsylvania, made the case for why projects belong here, and worked directly with state and local leaders to help companies move from interest to action. 

With bipartisan participation including Governor Josh Shapiro, Senator John Fetterman, President Donald Trump, and his cabinet — as well as CEOs from the world’s leading companies — the summit sparked over $92 billion in investment in the state’s energy and tech sectors. 

The event also helped set in motion a larger economic story that is now transforming Pennsylvania’s future. Together with major commitments like U.S. Steel’s ongoing investment, Amazon Web Services’ $20 billion data center expansion, Hanwha’s $5 billion investment in Philadelphia, Westinghouse’s plan to build up to ten new nuclear reactors, and Eli Lilly’s historic investment in the Lehigh Valley, the Summit became a catalyst for historic investments in Pennsylvania.  

Bipartisanship in Action 

In an era of political polarization, McCormick has shown that progress is possible when leaders put people over party. His partnership with Senator Fetterman is a testament to that principle. Together, they’ve demonstrated that cooperation isn’t a sign of weakness, but strength. Whether on economic development, infrastructure, or energy policy, McCormick has proven that bipartisan collaboration can deliver real results for Pennsylvanians. 

A Senator for Every Corner of the Commonwealth 

McCormick has demonstrated his commitment through constant engagement. He’s been everywhere – touring main streets in small towns and big cities alike. His office has earned a reputation for responsiveness, tackling constituent concerns with urgency and care. McCormick has made it clear: every Pennsylvanian matters. 

Delivering Tangible Results 

Leadership is measured by outcomes, and McCormick’s first year is full of them. As just one example, he worked with the President’s administration and Congressman Scott Perry to secure a critical tariff waiver for cocoa beans, protecting Pennsylvania’s confectionery industry and the jobs it supports. 

Other key accomplishments include: 

• Infrastructure Investment: Supporting targeted upgrades to roads, bridges, and transit systems that keep Pennsylvania competitive — including accelerating federal approvals for critical bridge repairs, securing funding to modernize freight corridors, and supporting rural road improvements that connect communities to jobs.

• Energy Leadership: Advancing policies that leverage Pennsylvania’s natural gas, nuclear, and emerging hydrogen resources — including investment incentives for grid modernization, expanded permitting, and research partnerships to develop next-generation technologies.

• Agricultural Support: Fighting for programs that strengthen family farms — including conservation grants, dairy and livestock assistance and rural broadband investments.

• National Security and Jobs: Promoting defense-related industries that create high-paying jobs — including procurement initiatives, federal contracts for advanced manufacturers and workforce training tied to defense and cybersecurity employers.

A Vision for the Future 

Senatorial terms last six years, but McCormick has shown us what’s possible in just one. In his first annual letter to Pennsylvanians, he outlined a transformational strategy focused on scaling investment, rebuilding industrial strength, expanding energy capacity, and positioning Pennsylvania to compete and win in emerging technologies. 

Reflecting on Senator McCormick’s first year in office, I’m encouraged not just by the progress made, but by the foundation now in place to positively transform Pennsylvania’s economy for the long term. 

Luke Bernstein is the President and CEO of the Pennsylvania Chamber of Business & Industry.

From William Penn to George Washington to Benjamin Franklin, words from Philadelphians have shaped our city even before the exuberant celebrations that accompanied the signing of our Declaration of our Independence in July of 1776 at the Pennsylvania State House. Now, Philadelphians can be a part of the next chapter of our city’s history.

The City of Philadelphia announced that it is accepting open submissions for a short quote to place on one side of the approximately 15-foot sculpture honoring Harriet Tubman from now until March 1st. The winner’s quote will be displayed on the new Tubman Statue which will be located on the north side of City Hall.

Nearly one hundred and seventy five years ago, when Harriet Tubman first set foot in Philadelphia in 1849 after following the Underground Railroad from Maryland and crossing into Pennsylvania, she found her own freedom in a city full of dozens of immigrants who had arrived at the metropolis snugly situated in between the Delaware and the Schuylkill Rivers from all corners of the globe looking for a new beginning of their own. 

While staying in our city, Tubman would stay at both the row home of William Still and also the historic Johnson House — which was a Germantown stop on the Underground Railroad. She even met with Lucretia Mott, who leased the land right outside of Philadelphia for Camp William Penn — the first training ground in the country for over 9,000 African American troops in the Union Army. Tubman would visit the camp in 1865.

During the American Civil War, Tubman was also able to provide assistance to the Federal Army. She was present in South Carolina for the Second Battle of Fort Wagner with the 54th Massachusetts Regiment. In the 1850s, she also assisted John Brown in both preparation and recruitment for an assault on Harper’s Ferry that took place in 1859. In all, she assisted more than sixty-five slaves find freedom during more than ten total operations.

The artwork by Sculptor Alvin Pettit will reside outside of City Hall and is planned to be unveiled in the Fall of 2026.

A sculptor from the state of North Carolina named Wesley Wofford was originally contracted for half a million dollars for the creation of a monument to Tubman in Philadelphia. Arguments were made that the contract for designing the statue should be an open call, allowing “A Higher Power: The Call of a Freedom Fighter” by Pettit to be selected as the winner.

Vinnie Bagwell, Pettit, Richard Blake (who withdrew due to another engagement), Basil Watson and Tanda Francis were the five semi-finalists to create the tribute statue. The new statue will reside for all to see in the northeast corner of the current Philadelphia City Hall. Among its inscriptions will be the winning submission, as well as two quotes on the other side of the statue of the American hero.

Michael Thomas Leibrandt lives and works in Abington, Pennsylvania.

When Robert Prevost became Pope Leo XIV, I had high hopes for his pontificate. He was American, a Villanova (known as a party vibe school) graduate, and as a priest he worked with the poor in Peru. I was hoping as pope he would clear up a lot of the ambiguous teachings of his predecessor, Pope Francis, who said a lot of weird things like “God wills a diversity of religions,” and, “All religions are a path to God.” 

If all religions are a path to God, then there’s no reason to become Catholic. Why bother even to be Christian? Francis’s statement seemed to contradict Christ’s contention that there’s no way to the Father except through Him. Christ left no wiggle room here, but Francis left quite a lot. Since both statements cannot be true, the question becomes: should believers follow Francis or Christ? 

Pope Francis confused many people with the things he said. (Os Justi Press just published an 845-page critique of Francis’ papacy entitled, “The Disastrous Pontificate,” by Dominic J. Grigio.) 

I attend an Orthodox Church — its liturgy is traditional and beautiful with no stylized innovations like secular-sounding hymns and altar girls — but because I grew up Catholic, I have a deep interest in Catholicism. Both Churches hail from apostolic times: the Orthodox Church was the Catholic Church of the East, the (Roman) Catholic Church the Church of the West. In 1054, there was a mutual divorce: both Churches excommunicated one another although those excommunications were lifted in 1965 by Pope Paul VI and Patriarch Athenagoras I of Constantinople. 

Since Leo became pope, I have watched his governing style with some trepidation and disappointment. He has stated that sacramental marriage is only between a man and woman, yet he appoints wildly liberal pro-LGBT bishops to positions of great power. The men he promotes are not talking about welcoming LGBT people into the Church (everyone has always been welcome), but in many cases their agenda is to change the catechism to “welcome” and bless sex in whatever form outside of marriage.  

Pope Francis championed what he called the Synodal Church, which is a new, updated form of Catholicism, a so-called “listening” Church where the laity is consulted when it comes to legitimate Catholic practices and teaching. An example of this is the German Catholic Church, the inventors of the Synodal Way, where bishops have approved sacramental gay marriage, female deacons, female priests, and divorce and remarriage. The German Church stands ready to implement all these changes with or without the approval of Pope Leo.

Will Pope Leo act? 

Leo’s record in this area has been very weak. He often approves the censure of traditional and conservative priests and bishops while promoting progressive renegade clergy who advocate things the Church has always condemned.   

Why?

I know Pope Leo has many American fans. People like his smile. He takes babies in his arms and kisses them. He likes pizza. He wears American baseball caps. He tries to be cool and easy. Anti-Trumpers like the way he defends illegal migrants and digs at the president’s immigration policies. Many of Leo’s statements have a superficial, banal appeal (except when he says the far right is the greatest threat to humanity.) Take away his white papal cassock, and he could easily be a liberal Democrat from California. It’s very clear that one of his main goals is to be loved and admired by the world.  

Sadly, Leo has only offered lip service to Catholic traditionalists. In fact, he’s done nothing so far to safeguard the status of the Fraternity of Saint Pius X, a Catholic group that does not preach heresy like those rascally Germans bishops.  

Recently, the New York Times published a cover story on the attraction of young people to Orthodox Christianity. The article detailed the preponderance of young men — usually Protestants but many unaffiliated agnostic types — joining Orthodox parishes because they likened the Church to a kind of “muscular Christianity” with values that oppose those celebrated in secular culture. The Times stressed the attraction of young men — not women — to both Orthodoxy and Catholicism. 

Months ago, I asked an Orthodox Christian nun and Mother Superior about this phenomenon. I wanted to know why young women were being left out of the equation, and she told me she felt it was because of what the culture has done to young women. The culture, as in the false promises of feminism, have left many women in a sorry state.

“Years ago it was different,” this nun told me. “Women’s monasteries were overflowing with recruits; today, men’s monasteries are overflowing with monks while the women’s side is practically empty.” 

While feminism has moved young women away from Christianity, it has also incorporated itself into many churches. 

Lucas Miles, author of the book, “The Christian Left: How Liberal Thought Has Hijacked the Church,” writes how critical race theory and liberation theology are being pushed in many Christian denominations. 

“We're seeing things like critical race theory and liberation theology very strongly pushed, and it's becoming more and more concerning. The Gospel is not something that's legalistic, and it's important that we not fall into fundamentalism, either. But if we begin to downgrade Scripture to something other than the Word of God, Christianity begins to erode,” he writes. 

The Christian Left, Miles writes, “is good at hijacking terminology in order to ooze their way into being recognized” as Christian. One way they do this is by increasingly pushing for “a ‘Christian Universalism’ that says all paths lead to Christ.”

Which brings us right back to Pope Francis and Pope Leo and the new Synodal Catholic Church that champions “a diversity of religions,” where Catholicism is just another denomination among many, with nothing special to offer. 

Thom Nickels is Broad + Liberty’s Editor at Large for Arts and Culture and the 2005 recipient of the AIA Lewis Mumford Award for Architectural Journalism. He writes for City Journal, New York, and Frontpage Magazine. Thom Nickels is the author of fifteen books, including “Literary Philadelphia” and ”From Mother Divine to the Corner Swami: Religious Cults in Philadelphia.” His latest work, “Ileana of Romania: Princess, Exile and Mother Superior,” will be published in May 2026.