Earlier this morning from New York City, First Lady Melania Trump rang the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange, officially starting the day’s trading.  The moment was in celebration of her new biographical film “Melania” which opens in theaters this Friday. Prior to the opening bell, First Lady Melania Trump outlined to the […]

The post First Lady Melania Trump Introduces Her New Biographical Film During Opening of New York Stock Exchange – Full Video appeared first on The Last Refuge.

These are the times that try men’s souls.

Thomas Paine

It is a phrase many Americans recognize, often quoted without fully recalling its origin or urgency. Those words were written by Thomas Paine during the most dangerous period of the American Revolution, when independence was far from certain and loyalty to the British Crown remained widespread.

In December 1776, the Continental Army was retreating, morale was collapsing, and enlistments were expiring. The cause appeared close to failure. It was at this moment that Paine published the first installment of The American Crisis. Its opening line was not intended as poetry. It was a blunt assessment of reality, followed by a call to perseverance when defeat seemed more likely than victory. The essays were distributed widely and read aloud to soldiers and civilians alike, helping to steady a fragile movement when resolve was at its lowest point.

Thomas Paine was not a general, nor was he a statesman or landowner. He was an immigrant, born in 1737 in Thetford, England, the son of a working tradesman. When he arrived in America in 1774, he carried little money, no political connections, and no guarantee of success. What he did bring was a sharp mind, a moral clarity about liberty, and an uncommon ability to communicate complex political ideas in language ordinary people could understand.

When Common Sense and The American Crisis were published, Paine did not write for elites, philosophers, or established power brokers. He wrote for farmers, craftsmen, merchants, laborers, and soldiers. His prose was plain, deliberate, and uncompromising. He rejected the ornamental language common to political writing of the time and replaced it with arguments designed to persuade working people that self-government was not only possible, but necessary.

That historical fact raises an important question. Why should modern Americans care about documents written for the American colonies nearly 250 years ago? What practical value do they hold for current and future generations?

One of the most enduring messages from Common Sense, particularly relevant to Idahoans today, is Paine’s insistence that political power must always remain accountable to the people it governs. He rejected the idea that authority should be obeyed simply because it exists or because it has always existed. In Paine’s view, legitimacy flows upward from the consent of the governed, not downward from institutions, traditions, or titles. Elections matter, but they are only one expression of that consent, not the entirety of it.

Applied locally, this principle has direct consequences. Decisions about schools, land use, taxation, public safety, and regulation should never be treated as distant abstractions or inevitable outcomes. Paine would have warned that when citizens assume “someone else is handling it,” authority quietly drifts away from public oversight.

Common Sense reminds modern communities that liberty is not sustained by slogans or inherited systems. It requires daily responsibility, attention to detail, and a willingness to question whether decisions truly serve the public good.

Paine understood that freedom demanded endurance, sacrifice, and informed conviction. He warned that tyranny advances not only through force, but through apathy and fear, when citizens grow passive and disengaged.

During the Revolution, his essays reinforced the understanding that the struggle was not merely a military campaign, but a defense of principle. That lesson remains relevant. In North Idaho, in Kootenai County, our state, and across the country, civic engagement cannot be treated as optional or occasional.

Local governance is shaped not in distant capitals, but by those who show up, stay informed, and insist on accountability. Do we recognize that disengagement at the local level as a quiet surrender?

Another reason Thomas Paine matters today is that he never encouraged blind loyalty. In later writings, including Rights of Man, he argued that rights are inherent, not granted by governments or inherited through titles.

Governments exist to protect those rights, and when they fail to do so, they lose moral legitimacy. I believe that this was a radical assertion in his time, and it remains uncomfortable in ours.

It is reasonable to argue, and my opinion, that this philosophy is largely absent from modern education. Students are often taught the outcomes of the American Revolution without engaging the ideas that made it possible. When history is reduced to dates, battles, and names, its purpose is diminished. Paine did not simply record events. He provided the intellectual framework of the founding era. He explained why liberty mattered, why self-government was worth defending, and why citizens themselves bear responsibility for preserving both.

It is my opinion that the core lessons from Paine’s writings remain clear. Government must remain subordinate to the people. Liberty requires constant vigilance, especially during periods of uncertainty. Rights are inherent, yet fragile. An informed and engaged citizenry is not optional. It is the foundation of a free society.

Remembering Thomas Paine should not be an exercise in nostalgia.  His writings should remind Idahoans, and all Americans, that freedom was never guaranteed, never effortless, and never permanent without participation.

Note: The writings of Thomas Paine are widely available in print, digital, and audio formats through major booksellers, including Amazon.

President Donald Trump’s Department of Education found that California violated federal parental rights law by pressuring schools to hide children’s so-called transgender identity from their parents.

A U.S. Department of Education investigation found that the California Department of Education violated the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, known as FERPA.

The state’s policies “have created state directed pressure for schools to violate FERPA by concealing student records about a child’s so called gender transition from a child’s parents,” an official for the U.S. Education Department said.

“During our investigation, we uncovered a systemic problem of schools maintaining secret records, such as gender support plans, and other records of the like, and claiming that they are not part of a student’s cumulative record, which is accessible to parents under FERPA.”

At least 300 students in California were put on “Gender Support Plans,” a document that establishes steps to hide a child’s new gender identity from his or her parents.

“Children do not belong to the state. They belong to their parents,” the official said. “Parents must know about the most sensitive information pertaining to their child’s health and well being.”

The agency said it had notified California’s education department of the findings, and that it is required to comply.

“If a student is contemplating life-altering changes, the least a school can do is notify their parent or guardian,” Secretary Linda McMahon said on X. “California will be held accountable.”

The post Trump Finds California Illegally Hid Gender Identity from Parents appeared first on The Daily Signal.

The Nextorch ND30B delivers strobe light and sound in a reusable, non-explosive form factor. It’s a practical training tool, signaling device, and deterrent option.

The post NEXTORCH ND30B Civilian Electronic Distraction Device appeared first on The Truth About Guns.

Many in the world of pro-football are calling for the names and votes of the members of the media who snubbed Bill Belichick to be exposed.

The post NFL World Calling for Hall of Fame Voters to be ‘Exposed’ After Belichick Snub appeared first on Breitbart.

Now over a year into the new congressional term and moving toward the midterms, the Republican-controlled U.S. Congress has been racking up one major victory after another. Don't believe it? Just look at the facts.

At a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on Wednesday, Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., told Secretary of State Marco Rubio that “innocent people” are being “torture[d] and deport[ed]” because of President Donald Trump’s use of the War Time Alien Enemies Act.

Duckworth asked Rubio if he would “encourage” the president to “rescind” the invocation of a presidential authority from 1798 to deport or detain citizens of enemy nations, which the president summoned to fight criminal Tren De Aragua gang members.

Rubio, however, was quick to defend the administrations use of the act to deport criminal gang members.

“These groups have waged war on the United States,” Rubio said. “Tren De Aragua is not just a criminal gang presence in our streets, they are a criminal gang directly responsible for narco-trafficking.”

During his response, Rubio suggested that Duckworth was confusing the military operation against former Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and the use of the War Time Alien Enemies Act against criminal drug gangs such as Tren de Aragua.

The senator, however, raised her voice and asked a similar question.

“Again, I want to ask you, the vast majority of the men that were rounded up and deported for torture under this law had no criminal record whatsoever,” she stated. “Will you advise the president to rescind his invocation of the War Time Alien Enemies Act?”

“Of course not,” Rubio responded. “I mean, these are people that are threats to the national security of the United States.”

The senator interrupted the secretary once more, and implied that the United States is engaged in an unauthorized war because it is taking action against drug cartels.

“So you’re saying that we are at war?” the senator interrupted.

Rubio responded that United States has not declared war, but that the narco-traffickers are “waging war against us, and they’re enemy combatants as a result of it.”

“And the fact of the matter is that we are confronting these irregular groups,” Rubio said.

Duckworth proceeded to claim that the War Time Alien Enemies Act is being used to “torture” people, to which Rubio responded as being a baseless claim from the senator.

“Who did we torture?” Rubio questioned. “We haven’t tortured anybody. We’ve arrested people who are members of gangs.”

Rubio then told the senator she is asking him a question that does not belong in the hearing, since it falls “in the realm of the Department of Justice.”

“I’m here to discuss foreign policy from the Department of State,” Rubio said. “You’re asking me a question about the justification of a law that is best directed to the Department of Justice.”

The post Duckworth Claims Trump Admin Is Torturing and Deporting ‘Innocent People’ in Heated Exchange with Rubio appeared first on The Daily Signal.

China’s state-run Global Times on Wednesday was delighted by the tiff between Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, urging Carney to prove his mettle by doubling down on the anti-American comments that Bessent claimed he had retracted.

The post China Eggs On Canadian PM Mark Carney Trashing U.S. appeared first on Breitbart.