REAL PROGRESS IN FIXING SSA: Biden era Social Security Administration Commissioner Peter O’Malley said that agency was “on the brink of collapse,” and a recent Inspector-General report pointed to dozens of unimplemented reforms that if implemented would save an estimated $4.9 billion.

The truth about SSA provides a much more encouraging portrait of the state of management of the federal agency that runs the biggest entitlement program in America, as I report today on The Washington Stand.

In fact, SSA under Commissioner Frank Bisignano is moving quickly to act on the dozens of outstanding recommendations, even as great progress is being made in shortening wait times for customers calling the agency and eliminating backlogged disability applications.

MSM IGNORED GABBARD’S ISLAMIZATION WARNING: But others, led by a group of House Republicans, acted and continue doing so today. How deep is the problem today? Rep. Brandon Gill, one of that group, cites demands for Muslim calls to prayer in rural North Texas.

NOTHING TOO LUDICROUS FOR MSM ON IRAN: Brian Stelter, CNN’s Media Analyst, doesn’t have a clue about U.S. presidential decision-making or military planning, as is clear from his declaration that “Trump clearly has no plan or intention to explain to the American people why we went to war with Iran and what happens next and what victory looks like.”

Richard Pollock points to that Stelter demand and multiple others like it in the Mainstream Media as evidence that that these folks know nothing about what they are talking about and he reminds them that there was a reason FDR did not disclose to the media anything about the D-Day plan prior to that memorable day.

HOW THE ALAMO SAVED AMERICA: It was 190 years ago today that the 182 men of the Alamo finally succumbed after 13 days battling and delaying dictator Santa Ana’s Mexican Army of 5,000. Those 13 days gave Texas Gen. Sam Houston time to rally the troops who would inflict a humiliating defeat of Santa Ana at the Battle of San Jacinto.

But, as Rod Martin explains in a column that every American ought to read, it was not just the Texas Republic that the Alamo made possible. Had Santa Ana crushed the Texas rebellion, he could well have conquered New Orleans and thus strangled the American economy.

Even without taking New Orleans, it’s reasonable to envision him being in a position to make trade on the Mississippi exorbitantly expensive, which would also have inflicted tremendous damage to the emerging American economy.

There are even more serious consequences that would have accrued to the U.S. had the Texas rebellion been defeated. Martin memorably lays it all out.

WHY ADAMS AND JEFFERSON WOULD APPROVE TRUMP’S IRAN ACTION: John Adams was America’s second President and the head of the Federalist Party. Thomas Jefferson was our third Chief Executive and the chief author of the Declaration of Independence (with a lot of help from Adams). But Jefferson was also leader of the Democratic-Republican Party that was founded in opposition to Adams’ Federalists.

But despite their vast differences on so many other issues, Adams and Jefferson pursued virtually identical courses of action when the time came for American military power to be exercised overseas. Both did so without asking Congress for a declaration of war.

Rod Martin explains why this fact is so hugely important today as President Donald Trump directs the U.S. military’s joint destruction of Iran’s radical Islamic Republic terrorism machine. A good many folks on the Right should especially read and think about Martin’s analysis because they could very well otherwise end up playing the useful idiot role for the Left in coming days.

SHARIA-FREE AMERICA CAUCUS GROWS: Three more House GOPers have joined the newly organized Sharia-Free America Caucus whose purpose is to stop, reverse and forever defeat the forces seeking the Islamization of this country.

SPIRITUAL SIDE OF AI/ADDICTION ISSUE: Consider the implications if algorithmic-induced addiction is as deeply serious a problem as is depicted in current litigation, and it can be combined with Artificial Intelligence:

“Artificial intelligence dramatically lowers the cost of deception while algorithmic platforms dramatically amplify its reach. Together they form a compounding loop: manipulation becomes cheaper, distribution becomes frictionless, and correction becomes nearly impossible. A lie crosses a continent before the truth has tied its shoes — and now the lie is written, targeted, and delivered by software that never sleeps,” writes Col. (Ret) Bob Maginnis in The Washington Stand.

But there are even more aspects of this dilemma:

“In my book ‘The New AI Cold War,’ I argue that the defining contest of this century is not merely geopolitical — it is civilizational. The conflict pits liberty-centered systems grounded in human dignity against authoritarian systems that weaponize information and treat citizens as programmable inputs.

“China’s social credit infrastructure and Russia’s disinformation apparatus are the most visible expressions of this model. But the temptation to centralize control through technology is not exclusive to tyrants. Free societies face a parallel seduction: the idol of efficiency, dressed in the language of innovation.”

This is an important piece that merits serious and thoughtful reading.

TIME TO SHUTTER NASA? Well, spend a few minutes comparing the records of NASA on its Artemis II project with that of the private sector-based Space X. And for those who recall the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster, the recurring problems with liquid hydrogen and leaking seals raise multiple red flags.

The Issues & Insights crew observes:

“And what has been happening elsewhere while NASA has been fumbling around with leak-prone, decades-old rocket technology and failure-prone heat shields? Private companies are leaving it in the dust.

“Just since April 2023, SpaceX has launched 11 test flights of its cutting-edge Starship – the most powerful rocket ever built. The first stage is powered by 33 Raptor engines that have been redesigned twice in the past decade. And, unlike the old Artemis rocket, it will all be reusable. SpaceX even managed to catch the 20-story booster in a pair of ‘chopsticks.’

“When NASA last went to the moon in 1972, it was using cutting-edge technology developed at breakneck speed in the midst of the Cold War. Today, it looks like a dinosaur ready for the boneyard.”

NO, ISRAEL IS NOT PERSECUTING CHRISTIANS: There seems to be no end to the lies that pop-up concerning the Jewish state and every aspect of its existence, including how it treats the many Christians who live in the Holy Land. Richard Pollock addresses the transparently ridiculous claim that Israel mistreats Christians within its borders.

SHARIA-FREE AMERICA: That’s the goal of the newest caucus on Capitol Hill. Launched by two Texas Republicans, Rep. Keith Self and Rep. Chip Roy, in December, the Sharia-Free America Caucus already has 40 members.

SOMETHIN’ AIN’T RIGHT IN TEXAS: Irving, Texas, former home of the Dallas Cowboys and to this day still the home of the University of Dallas, a superb, orthodox and conservative Catholic liberal arts university, today has two Sharia courts operating??? I spent three and a half great years at UD in Irving and I suspect there weren’t three people in the whole city who had ever heard of a Sharia court. Check out this post on X.

LA COUNTY MENTAL HEALTH DEPT: Filed claims totaling in excess of $8 billion with Medicaid between 2018 and 2024, according to an unprecedented deep-dive data analysis by Open the Books.

ULTIMATE ENGINEERING: That’s the title of a new book out this week by Brit Stuart Burgess that makes a tremendously compelling case for the proposition that the human body is chock full of illustrations of a level of engineering expertise and knowledge that far exceeds the capabilities of evolutionary natural selection.

If you’ve ever been told your wrist, knee or ankle are examples of bad design, this book will demonstrate why from the perspective of one of the world’d top-flight biomechanical engineers that claim is the opposite of the reality. Here’s my review for The Washington Stand.

WHERE ARE AMERICA’S JEWISH LEADERS? That may seem like an odd question to ask in this country, which has for so long welcomed and been blessed by courageous, freedom-loving men and women of the Jewish faith who love America and sought to protect and build it.

But my friend and former newsroom co-conspirator Richard Pollock — who made the long journey from 60s Lefty buddy of the Chicago 7 to a hugely successful journalism career and ultimately commonsense conservatism — looks around today and here’s what he sees:

“Today’s vicious antisemites are constantly in the streets. Yes, they act fiercely and thrive on intimidation. They are loud, impertinent, pushy and in your face. Muslims and political progressives have joined in an alliance to denounce Jews and Israel.

“They own the streets. They act with impunity. They physically assault Jews. They hide their faces behind Palestinian Keffiyehs and masks. We see their hideous work as they paint their dirty, antisemitic slogans to deface Jewish homes, synagogues, college campuses and Jewish institutions.”

Where are today’s Jewish leaders fighting back against this swelling wave of anti-semitism, Pollock asks?

ONE ENCOURAGING SIGN on this issue is the forthcoming “Why Israel Matters to America” forums on Capitol Hill for congressional staff and others who may be interested. Details here on HillFaith.

THE FULL MIFEPRISTONE TIMELINE: The FDA approved the chemical abortion drug in 2000 with four crucially important requirements, including being used only within the first seven weeks of a pregnancy, dispensed only by a qualified prescriber (with means to react promptly in case of an incomplete abortion or severe bleeding), patients had to have followup visits within 14 days, and all adverse events were to be reported.

Boy, have things changed since that initial FDA approval and the Sept. 12, 2001, death of Brenda Vise due to complications from a botched Mifepristone-induced abortion. The Family Research Council (FRC) went back and researched it all in depth to now provide this revealing timeline.

YOU SAY YOU WANT A (TAX) REVOLUTION: Well, Democratic Socialists like Mamdani, Sanders and AOC, if you were to confiscate 100 percent of the wealth of the five richest men in America, you could fund the federal government for two months, according to a National Taxpayers Union (NTU) analysis.

The same study found taxing the top one percent of all taxpayers at a 100 percent rate would fund Uncle Sam for four months. As Lady Thatcher famously said, “the problem with socialism is that sooner or later you run out of other people’s money.”

BACKSTORY OF THAT JOBS REPORT: Yes, it’s encouraging that 172,000 new jobs were added in the economy in January, but Issues & Insights points to another equally important datapoint in the report that is hopefully even more indicative of future trends.

HOW TO SAFEGUARD WORSHIP PLACES: Violence against Christian churches and Jewish synagogues is on the rise in this country, but there are effective steps officials can and should take to reverse the tide. Richard Pollock has the scoop in an interview with holy places security expert Stephen Bryen.

DON’T LEAVE JUST YET, NANCY: Mark Alexander at Patriot Post has a suitable retirement gift for the former Speaker of the House and with Joe Biden no longer controlling the Justice Department, Pelosi just might find herself opening an official envelope containing the gift.

DON’T FAIRFAX THE REST OF VIRGINIA: A Virginia Commonwealth University professor warns the state’s Democrats that they are headed down a seriously wrong path on the redistricting issue. The X post is from the Fairfax GOP, but Professor Alex Keena is not a Republican activist.

When I lived in Northern Virginia during the Reagan/Bush 1 era, you often saw bumper stickers in surrounding counties warning “Don’t Fairfax _____ County.” Now the whole state is being Fairfaxed.

DID ANCIENT CHINESE ASTRONOMERS KNOW OF JESUS? Yes, that’s an unexpected question, but the answer is yes, they did indeed, though not by the same name known in the West, according to a Catholic research and advocacy group.

The evidence comes from close readings in the archives of the pre-polytheistic era dynasties of Chinese history when the Far Eastern giant followed a monotheistic religion very much analogous to what we today call Christianity. I’m cautiously fascinated. What do you think?

ACADEMIC ‘FREEDOM’ ON LEFT CAMPUS: Powerline’s John Hinderaker points to a special ed teacher in a California school who lost her job after expressing support for the deportation of illegal aliens. And asks the next logical questions:

“How did we get to this pass? And what is the path forward? Honestly, I think it is hard to see how those of us who support the rule of law can continue to share a country with those who do not–a group that now numbers close to half of our population. What possible basis for a common citizenship is there, between us and them? I don’t think there is one.”

DATA SAYS GOING TO CHURCH KEY TO MARITAL BLISS: In fact, according to the joint analysis of the Institute for Family Studies and UVA and the Wheatley Institute at BYU, men are 3x as likely to be happily married if they regularly attend worship services with their wives and kids. So, if healthy families are the key building block for civilization …

NO ‘GET-OUT-JAIL-FREE’ CARD FOR LEMON: Just Facts points to three Supreme Court cases, all decided years before President Donald Trump was in the Oval Office the first time, that strongly suggest former CNN host Don Lemon is headed for big-time trouble.

HAD ENOUGH COLD, SNOW AND ICE? What if you, like the Wood Frog and Japanese Macaques, had to live with it most or all of your life? Check out the amazing ways such creatures are adapted to living in the Earth’s fridge.