This piece is part of MI x DW, a collaboration that brings Daily Wire readers exclusive commentary and research from the Manhattan Institute’s world-class team of scholars.
***
American 13-year-olds read no better than teenagers in 1971.
That is the conclusion of the latest <a href="https://www.nagb.gov/news-and-events/news-releases/2026/ltt-results-released-061026.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP)</a> long-term trend exam, the only national test the federal government has administered in the same form for more than half a century. After decades of reform efforts, new technologies, and a more-than-doubling of inflation-adjusted spending per student, our students are no better off.
Many will blame COVID-19. That was the dominant explanation when the last round of long-term trend results was released in 2022 and 2023. NAEP even saw fit to put it in the title: <a href="https://www.nationsreportcard.gov/highlights/ltt/2022/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">&#8220;Reading and mathematics scores decline during the COVID-19 pandemic.&#8221;</a>
But that is the wrong takeaway. The decline didn&#8217;t begin with the pandemic. It began around 2012. Reading and math scores for 13-year-olds fell significantly between 2012 and 2020, and the 2020 test was finished before the pandemic shut down a single school. COVID accelerated the decline, but did not cause it.
The most important finding is not that average scores fell, but who fell.
For years, national averages hid a widening divide. The strongest students held their ground, while the weakest fell further behind. Among 13-year-olds, the gap between the highest and lowest quarter of students exceeds 50 points across both reading and math. That gap had been widening well before the pandemic.
The lowest-income 13-year-olds, the ones for whom reading is the best way out of poverty, still read below their 2012 level, 24 points behind their wealthier peers. Math is no better: they&#8217;ve fallen 16 points since 2012 and sit 31 points behind their peers. Neither subject improved between 2023 and 2025.
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This began back in 2012, when the <a href="https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/blog/2012/02/09/everything-you-need-know-waivers-flexibility-and-reforming-no-child-left-behind/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Obama administration began allowing states</a> to opt out of <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/107th-congress/house-bill/1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">No Child Left Behind.</a> The law was unpopular and not perfect, but it forced schools to report results separately for poor, black, and Hispanic students. And it made schools face consequences — including replacing staff, removing the principal, or having the state take over the school — when any group fell behind. The waivers ultimately removed those consequences for 40 states, though the reporting remained. <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/senate-bill/1177" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Congress then made</a> the retreat from accountability permanent in 2015, with broad support from both parties.
No national assessment can prove that No Child Left Behind caused the gains of the 2000s or that its rollback caused the declines that followed. But the timing is hard to ignore. The largest gains came when schools were required to report results for their poorest students and be held accountable for them. The decline set in after that requirement was lifted, and the students it was meant to protect are the ones still furthest from recovery.
Washington&#8217;s answer wasn&#8217;t to restore accountability. It was just to spend.
Congress spent <a href="https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-24-106913" target="_blank" rel="noopener">$190 billion</a> to help schools recover from the pandemic, more than the federal government has ever spent on K-12 schools at once. The deadline to spend it <a href="https://www.wsj.com/opinion/naep-scores-2024-education-covid-lockdowns-tests-schools-67dfbcac" target="_blank" rel="noopener">passed in 2024</a>. For 9-year-olds, the money did bring progress, but those students are only back to where they were before the pandemic. For 13-year-olds, the money bought nothing. Their scores are exactly where they were two years ago.
Lately, the blame game has shifted to screens. American Federation of Teachers President <a href="https://www.aft.org/press-release/devices-down-eyes-hands-weingarten-calls-screen-bans-ai-limits-active-learning-major" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Randi Weingarten</a> recently pointed to devices as a major reason students are behind academically. She has a point. The share of 13-year-olds who read for fun almost every day has fallen by half since 2012, from 27% to 14%, and has remained at that level since 2023.
But screens cannot fully explain these results. Every state faces the same digital culture. Students everywhere carry the same distractions in their pockets. Yet some states keep outperforming the rest.
Smartphones and Chromebooks made teaching harder, but they didn&#8217;t make it impossible.
The more persuasive explanation is that schools became less focused on ensuring that their weakest students learned to read and do math. For one decade, Washington <a href="https://manhattan.institute/article/the-nations-report-card-is-out-heres-what-the-results-tell-us-about-americas-schools" target="_blank" rel="noopener">required schools to answer for their weakest students.</a> That decade coincided with some of the largest achievement gains ever recorded, especially among disadvantaged students. As <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/03/improving-education-outcomes-by-empowering-parents-states-and-communities/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">education moves to the states</a>, the few exceptions to national declines are the states that measure every student, publish the results, and ensure accountability.
Washington didn&#8217;t lose track of its lowest performers. It just signed more than 40 waivers excusing itself from looking. This week, we learned what over a decade of not looking costs.
***
Jennifer Weber is a fellow for K-12 Education Policy at the Manhattan Institute.

Woman lifting large book cover

Teenage Literacy Is As Bad As It Was In The 1970s. What’s Going On?

COVID

Department of Education

Literacy

Smartphones

Testing

WASHINGTON— Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard plans to release findings from a number of high-profile investigations before she departs her role as President Donald Trump&#8217;s spy chief, The Daily Wire has learned.
Gabbard announced Friday that she will resign, sharing that her husband is battling “an extremely rare form of bone cancer&#8221; and that she must &#8220;step away from public service to be by his side and fully support him through this battle.” She will remain in her position until June 30, an intelligence official confirmed to The Daily Wire.
Before departing, Gabbard intends to release findings tied to investigations into Havana Syndrome, formally known as Anomalous Health Incidents (AHIs), the COVID-19 pandemic, the weaponization of the federal government, the 2020 presidential election, and more, according to the official. These findings will likely be released in weekly installments over the next month.
Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence Aaron Lukas will serve as Acting Director of National Intelligence following her departure, President Donald Trump announced on Friday.
“Unfortunately, after having done a great job, Tulsi Gabbard will be leaving the Administration on June 30th,&#8221; he shared. &#8220;Her wonderful husband, Abraham, has been recently diagnosed with a rare form of bone cancer, and she, rightfully, wants to be with him, bringing him back to good health as they currently fight a tough battle together.&#8221;
&#8220;I have no doubt he will soon be better than ever,&#8221; Trump added. &#8220;Tulsi has done an incredible job, and we will miss her.&#8221;
Gabbard served 15 months in her role as Director of National Intelligence, working to transform the intelligence community and restore public trust through reforms, many declassifications, aggressive transparency, revoking <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/tulsi-yanks-security-clearances-of-37-intel-officials-over-russiagate-abused-the-public-trust">security clearances of intel officials</a> who &#8220;abused public trust,&#8221; ditching DEI programs, and targeting foreign terrorist organizations.
A second intelligence official told The Daily Wire that Gabbard oversaw the declassification of more than 500,000 pages of previously withheld government records as of May 2026. Her &#8220;ODNI 2.0&#8221; restructuring initiative also reduced agency bloat by more than 40%, saving taxpayers an estimated $700 million per year.
Her <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/exclusive-tulsi-gabbard-rfk-assassination-files">declassifications included</a> records tied to the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, and Martin Luther King Jr., along with files related to Amelia Earhart&#8217;s disappearance and Biden administration documents outlining the federal government&#8217;s &#8220;Strategic Implementation Plan for Countering Domestic Terrorism.&#8221;
She has also aggressively worked to highlight the truths behind the &#8220;Russia Hoax&#8221; and how President Barack Obama&#8217;s administration weaponized intelligence to undermine Trump&#8217;s 2016 election victory.
Earlier this year, Gabbard&#8217;s office announced that she had completed the largest intelligence community-wide &#8220;technology and cybersecurity modernization and investment effort&#8221; in American history.
“Over the past year, we have taken meaningful steps to begin fulfilling that responsibility through the largest IC-wide technology investment and modernization effort in history,&#8221; Gabbard said at the time. &#8220;President Trump&#8217;s Intelligence Community is moving faster and more decisively on cybersecurity modernization and investments in IT than ever before, delivering stronger defenses, greater efficiency, and real cost savings for the American people.&#8221;
The Trump administration could face an uphill battle to get another Director of National Intelligence confirmed, given that the current bickering between the president and Senate Republicans has been escalated by Trump&#8217;s endorsements against Sens. John Cornyn (R-TX) and Bill Cassidy (R-LA).
In the interim, Gabbard says she is focused on ensuring a smooth transition at ODNI.
“I am fully committed to ensuring a smooth and thorough transition over the coming weeks so that you and your team experience no disruption in leadership or momentum,” she wrote in her letter to Trump.
&#8220;It has been a profound honor to serve the American people as DNI.&#8221;
WATCH:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="YouTube video player" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/NHypOY5gxGM?si=HJqNTAq-g5tXc2Jx" width="560" height="315" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>

Gabbard Drops Mention Of Iran Uranium Enrichment In Testimony

Here’s What Tulsi Gabbard Plans To Reveal Before Leaving Office

2020 Election

Havana Syndrome

Tulsi Gabbard

A Chinese computer hacker who stole research from the United States on COVID has been arrested, FBI Director Kash Patel has announced.
Patel said in a social media post early Tuesday morning that 34-year-old Chinese national Xu Zewei had been extradited to the United States to face charges for stealing research from American scientists and participating in a hacking campaign targeting thousands of United States organizations.
“The FBI and our great partners have arrested Xu Zewei — a PRC national and state-sponsored hacker — allegedly responsible for a massive cyber intrusion campaign in 2020 and 2021 stealing COVID-19 research from American institutions,” Patel posted on X.
“During 2020 and 2021, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Xu and his co-conspirators allegedly targeted and hacked U.S. based universities, immunologists, and virologists conducting COVID-19 research &#8211; including key treatment and vaccines — accessing email accounts and more,” Patel added.
One example of the COVID hacking occurred before the United States and most of the rest of the world conducted shutdowns. Reports from American officials have concluded that COVID likely escaped from a Chinese lab.
Xu confirmed on February 19, 2020, to a Chinese intelligence officer that he had compromised the network of a research university in Texas, according to the indictment. On February 22, 2020, he was directed “to target and access specific email accounts (mailboxes) belonging to virologists and immunologists engaged in COVID-19 research for the university,” according to the Justice Department.
Other targets of the hacking scheme included another university in Texas, a university in North Carolina, and a law firm with offices in Washington, D.C.
Xu was arrested in Milan, Italy, on April 27, according to court documents, years after a bench warrant was first issued for him on November 2, 2023. Patel thanked Italian law enforcement for helping to locate and extradite Xu.
Patel said that Xu was also a contractor for the Hafnium cyber espionage group directed by Chinese officials that has “compromised nearly 13,000” American organizations.
“This case is a historic win for our cybersecurity efforts under President Trump, bringing bad actors who target American infrastructure to justice no matter where they try to hide,” Patel said.
The Justice Department alleges that Xu was directed to conduct the hacking by China’s Ministry of State Security’s Shanghai State Security Bureau.
Dan Cogdell, a lawyer representing Xu, told The Daily Wire that his team was still preparing their case.
&#8220;My team was only recently hired to represent Xu, so of necessity I don&#8217;t have a lot of information to share at this point. Xu entered a plea of ‘Not Guilty’ to all charges and we will return to Magistrate Bennett’s Ct on Thursday for the bond hearing,&#8221; he told The Daily Wire. &#8220;Until that time, we will prepare in earnest to try and obtain a bond on our client’s behalf.&#8221;
He added that he wouldn&#8217;t elaborate more on what their defense strategy would be.
&#8220;In terms of the defense of the charges themselves, I tend not to share what our defenses are to the media-or anyone else. I’m no Nick Saban-but as far as I know, he never told the press what his game plans were for an upcoming football game. I think I will follow that lead here,&#8221; he said. 
Xu faces decades in prison after being charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and two counts of wire fraud, conspiracy to cause damage to and obtain information by unauthorized access to protected computers, two counts of obtaining information by unauthorized access to protected computers, two counts of intentional damage to a protected computer, and aggravated identity theft.
The Justice Department said that Zhang Yu, another Chinese national suspected of aiding in the hacking scheme, remains at large. A detention hearing for Xu is set for April 30.

MixCollage-28-Apr-2026-07-11-AM-3970

He Hacked America At Its Weakest Moment, And Now He’s Finally Facing The Consequences

China

Chinese Communist Party

Crime

Cybercrime

hacking

Italy

kash patel

U.S.

The following excerpt is taken from the new book “<a href="https://www.amazon.com/End-Road-Inside-War-Truckers/dp/1967613028/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1UP8KDOSWY3ES&amp;dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.QbLM4aRWWFaQiN9zyl11ZY2PbjV1hUeagK4cN_PVCCd3mXA_rXwetJvwK97ol4vt73RgMO-QWLZpNXWzgUZEvDVXcEIzJqyWNXFaP-izNdKFUTEistDHjnCfiXC6DAWJDN1QCVneawl8UCxe4awRI-r2RW0h52NG9rPsKvZTrCZ4m1UUaEEYUoG_y-kNjEekn6f7Zr1u29uF8C1T0oSVEkfFaOm658FFCzE4_zDOgUk.870LMXCqRYp6NNb2NIi8x2PTYsuyEBaOoPXE7ssEBno&amp;dib_tag=se&amp;keywords=end+of+the+road+gord&amp;qid=1776374636&amp;sprefix=end+of+the+road+gord+%2Caps%2C273&amp;sr=8-1">End of the Road: Inside the War on Truckers,</a>” by Gord Magill. (Creed &amp; Culture Books, 2026)
* * *
On Saturday, January 29, 2022, thousands of trucks and other vehicles from across the country entered the city of Ottawa. I was there to welcome the Western Canada convoy with a group of friends on an overpass above Highway 417, about half an hour west of the city. The truckers were animated by righteous frustration, yet I saw thousands of people full of love for one another, smiles, outbursts of hugs, and national flags attached to hockey sticks. There was even a sense of relief: it was as if a nation exhaled and exulted, “Finally, the cavalry is here to save us from our captors.” There are no words to adequately describe the feeling of everyone I interacted with on that overpass and also later when we went into Ottawa to join the party on Wellington Street.
<div id="attachment_1079819" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1079819" class="size-large wp-image-1079819" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/GettyImages-1238067992-864x576.jpg" alt="Demonstrators gather as rows of trucks sit parked on Wellington Street during a protest near Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, on Saturday, Jan. 29, 2022. A convoy of truckers and others who oppose vaccine mandates began rolling into Ottawa on Friday, putting Canada's capital city on edge amid warnings from police that they dont know how large the protests will get. Photographer: David Kawai/Bloomberg via Getty Images" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/GettyImages-1238067992-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/GettyImages-1238067992-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/GettyImages-1238067992-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/GettyImages-1238067992.jpg 1024w" sizes=" (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />David Kawai/Bloomberg via Getty Images</div>
People outside Canada could tell that the cause of the Freedom Convoy was just. When I went back to America after that weekend in Ottawa, as the Convoy settled in for what would be a three-week-long winter encampment, I was amazed to find my American neighbors cheering us on in solidarity. I delivered propane and hauled logs in the weeks after I came home, and I had never seen so many Canadian flags flying in the United States. It was unbelievable.
People I met while working or otherwise traveling, upon finding out that I was a native Canadian and a trucker, would exclaim, “Good for you guys; someone had to stand up to this nonsense,” or “Man, I thought Canadians were p*ssies, but those truckers have made me change my mind about you guys.” At the time, I had been living in America for six years, and almost no one had ever said anything about where I was from. For a hot minute, I was a minor celebrity simply for being from Canada.
<div id="attachment_1079895" style="width: 778px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1079895" class="size-large wp-image-1079895" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/Gord-convoy-768x576.jpg" alt="Gord Magill at Freedom Convoy." width="768" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/Gord-convoy-768x576.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/Gord-convoy-300x225.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/Gord-convoy-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/Gord-convoy.jpg 2048w" sizes=" (max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px" />Gord Magill at Freedom Convoy.</div>
Up north, however, things were not looking good for my colleagues in the protracted standoff between the truckers and a government whose officials refused to speak with them. In total, thirteen Convoys had arrived in Ottawa, and numerous protests were held at other sites across the country, most famously at Coutts, Alberta, and on the Ambassador Bridge, which connects the Canadian city of Windsor with Detroit and is the busiest of all border crossings between Canada and the U.S. Although everything was more or less peaceful—despite the outright lies and fabrications of the Canadian media about the truckers’ behavior in Ottawa—the two border-protest sites gained the attention of very powerful people outside Canada whose interests were not at risk from the hockey games, bouncy castles, and techno parties taking place in the streets of Ottawa.
<div id="attachment_1079473" style="width: 394px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/End-Road-Inside-War-Truckers/dp/1967613028/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1UP8KDOSWY3ES&amp;dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.QbLM4aRWWFaQiN9zyl11ZY2PbjV1hUeagK4cN_PVCCd3mXA_rXwetJvwK97ol4vt73RgMO-QWLZpNXWzgUZEvDVXcEIzJqyWNXFaP-izNdKFUTEistDHjnCfiXC6DAWJDN1QCVneawl8UCxe4awRI-r2RW0h52NG9rPsKvZTrCZ4m1UUaEEYUoG_y-kNjEekn6f7Zr1u29uF8C1T0oSVEkfFaOm658FFCzE4_zDOgUk.870LMXCqRYp6NNb2NIi8x2PTYsuyEBaOoPXE7ssEBno&amp;dib_tag=se&amp;keywords=end+of+the+road+gord&amp;qid=1776374636&amp;sprefix=end+of+the+road+gord+%2Caps%2C273&amp;sr=8-1"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1079473" class="size-large wp-image-1079473" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/End-of-the-Road-Jacket-Cover-384x576.jpeg" alt="Cover credit: Creed &amp; Culture" width="384" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/End-of-the-Road-Jacket-Cover-384x576.jpeg 384w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/End-of-the-Road-Jacket-Cover-200x300.jpeg 200w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/End-of-the-Road-Jacket-Cover-768x1152.jpeg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/End-of-the-Road-Jacket-Cover.jpeg 1000w" sizes=" (max-width: 384px) 100vw, 384px" /></a>Cover credit: Creed &amp; Culture</div>
In Coutts, Tony Olienick had found an atmosphere similar to that which presided in Ottawa. People were peacefully assembling and saying no to the mandates that were ruining their lives. He met and spoke with Americans who had come to the Sweetgrass, Montana, side of the border and to bask in solidarity and common cause with the protesting truckers. Tony also volunteered as a sort of security detail for the protest site. It should be noted that although the government and media were claiming that the protesters had shut down the border, the crossing itself remained open for all but three days during the three weeks of the Coutts protest. Other, nearby border crossings remained open the whole time and were available for trucks to use, although with more limited hours than the normal 24/7 customs services available at Coutts. 
<div id="attachment_1079903" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1079903" class="size-large wp-image-1079903" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/Gord-convoy-II-1024x576.jpg" alt="Gord Magill personal archive" width="1024" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/Gord-convoy-II-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/Gord-convoy-II-300x169.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/Gord-convoy-II-768x432.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/Gord-convoy-II.jpg 1536w" sizes=" (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />Gord Magill personal archive</div>
The perception that Coutts was closed, along with the growing protest at the Ambassador Bridge in Ontario, which forced most truck traffic to cross at the Bluewater Bridge between Sarnia and Port Huron, was useful for those who were antagonistic to the aims of the Convoy. Wild and unsubstantiated claims about the cost to the economy were thrown around, mostly based on guesstimates made by business associations. Were there delays at those other crossings from diverted traffic? Obviously, and they were sometimes substantial. Did the protests cause delays in shipments and disruptions to the fragile nature of just-in-time delivery schedules for automakers? Of course. Yet not one of those who complained about the supposed costs of the Convoy ever compared these guesstimated costs to the costs to the entire world from the madness of the COVID regime, which lasted the better part of three years, not three weeks, and was solely the responsibility of government, not of citizens who wanted their lives back.
<div id="attachment_1079811" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1079811" class="size-large wp-image-1079811" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/GettyImages-1238303996-864x576.jpg" alt="TOPSHOT - Supporters of the Truckers Convoy against the Covid-19 vaccine mandate block traffic in the Canada bound lanes of the Ambassador Bridge border crossing, in Windsor, Ontario on February 8, 2022. - The protestors have blocked traffic in the Canada bound lanes since Monday evening. Approximately $323 million worth of goods cross the Windsor-Detroit border each day at the Ambassador Bridge making it North Americas busiest international border crossing. (Photo by Geoff Robins / AFP) (Photo by GEOFF ROBINS/AFP via Getty Images)" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/GettyImages-1238303996-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/GettyImages-1238303996-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/GettyImages-1238303996-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/GettyImages-1238303996.jpg 1024w" sizes=" (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />GEOFF ROBINS/AFP via Getty Images</div>
The whining of the automotive industry, one of the most powerful corporate interest groups in America, got the attention of the Biden Administration. Brian Deese, director of the National Economic Council, got the ear of Trudeau’s Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland, who set up a call between Trudeau and Biden on February 11, 2022. It is believed that this phone call set the wheels in motion for the ultimate crackdown on the Convoy.
Biden’s White House put out a statement about the call with Trudeau, and it is worth a read:
<blockquote>Today President Biden spoke with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada to discuss the ongoing blockade of key bridges and crossings between the United States and Canada, including Detroit/Windsor, Sweetwater/Coutts, and Pembina/Emerson. The two leaders agreed that the actions of the individuals who are obstructing travel and commerce between our two countries are having significant direct impacts on citizens’ lives and livelihoods. The President expressed his concern that U.S. companies and workers are experiencing serious effects, including slowdowns in production, shortened work hours, and plant closures. The Prime Minister promised quick action in enforcing the law, and the President thanked him for the steps he and other Canadian authorities are taking to restore the open passage of bridges to the United States. (Bold mine)</blockquote>
Significant direct impacts on citizens’ lives and livelihoods. Oh, like the long nightmare of the COVID regime?
The Coutts border crossing was only ever fully closed for three days, and two other border crossings were available to use. There are no automotive plants in that part of the prairie on either side of the border, and the only road closure that took place anywhere near Coutts was of Alberta Provincial Highway 4 at Milk River, a few miles north of Coutts; it was closed by the RCMP, not the protesters. In any case, the protest at Coutts was about to become the centerpiece of Trudeau’s rationale for the invocation of the Emergencies Act, whose outrageous violations of basic liberties included throwing an innocent trucker in jail, where he remains three-and-a-half years later at the time of this writing.
<div id="attachment_1079823" style="width: 886px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1079823" class="size-large wp-image-1079823" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/GettyImages-1238618687-876x576.jpg" alt="A line of police push protesters back on February 19, 2022 in Ottawa, Canada. - Police in Canada deployed to dislodge the final truckers and protesters from downtown Ottawa, aimed at bringing an end to three weeks of demonstrations over Covid-19 health rules. Ottawa police, who pledged the operation would push ahead &quot;until residents and citizens have their city back,&quot; were still working to clear the capital's streets. (Photo by Dave Chan / AFP) (Photo by DAVE CHAN/AFP via Getty Images)" width="876" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/GettyImages-1238618687-876x576.jpg 876w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/GettyImages-1238618687-300x197.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/GettyImages-1238618687-768x505.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/GettyImages-1238618687.jpg 1024w" sizes=" (max-width: 876px) 100vw, 876px" />DAVE CHAN/AFP via Getty Images</div>
By this time, the Freedom Convoy protest sites were crawling with undercover officers, or UCOs, who poked around looking for any hint of illegal activity or actionable intelligence that could be used against the protesters. Meanwhile, the federal government was waging a media smear campaign later found to have been planned by the staff of Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino. This campaign failed to dent the widespread support the Convoy had in Canada and around the world: almost everyone except the most hopelessly naïve saw right through a staged Nazi flag photo and the usual tiresome accusations of white nationalism and racism. Anyone who went to a Freedom Convoy site to avail themselves of reality unmediated by state propaganda was surrounded by solidarity, happiness, and a genuine outpouring of love. Trudeau was losing the PR battle. He needed scapegoats. He searched for a pretext for invoking the Emergencies Act, something he had been considering since the early days of the protest but couldn’t pull off because those damn truckers were so well behaved. Allegations from UCOs at Coutts would give Trudeau everything he needed.
* * *
Originally hailing from Hamilton, Ontario, Gord Magill has spent most of his life behind the wheel. From spinning along the ice roads of Canada’s Northwest Territories, to hauling logs down volcanos in New Zealand, to steering Road Trains across the outback of Western Australia, to running freight along the interstates of America, Gord has spent over twenty-five years trucking all over the world. His writing about the industry has appeared in Newsweek, the American Conservative, and American Affairs, among other outlets. Magill lives in Ithaca, New York.
The excerpt from “<a href="https://www.amazon.com/End-Road-Inside-War-Truckers/dp/1967613028/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1UP8KDOSWY3ES&amp;dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.QbLM4aRWWFaQiN9zyl11ZY2PbjV1hUeagK4cN_PVCCd3mXA_rXwetJvwK97ol4vt73RgMO-QWLZpNXWzgUZEvDVXcEIzJqyWNXFaP-izNdKFUTEistDHjnCfiXC6DAWJDN1QCVneawl8UCxe4awRI-r2RW0h52NG9rPsKvZTrCZ4m1UUaEEYUoG_y-kNjEekn6f7Zr1u29uF8C1T0oSVEkfFaOm658FFCzE4_zDOgUk.870LMXCqRYp6NNb2NIi8x2PTYsuyEBaOoPXE7ssEBno&amp;dib_tag=se&amp;keywords=end+of+the+road+gord&amp;qid=1776374636&amp;sprefix=end+of+the+road+gord+%2Caps%2C273&amp;sr=8-1">End of the Road: Inside the War on Truckers</a>” by Gord Magill is published by permission of Creed &amp; Culture Books. Copyright 2026 Gord Magill. Chapter 13: The Truckers Strike Back.

TOPSHOT-CANADA-HEALTH-VIRUS-PROTEST

I Was There For The Freedom Convoy — And The Crackdown That Followed

End Of The Road: Inside The War On Truckers

Books

Canada

Joe Biden

Justin Trudeau

Trucker Convoy

Truckers

It is easy to forget the dystopian excesses of the Covid era: business closures, shuttered schools, and mask and vaccine mandates. A new development in Missouri v. Biden, a Covid-era lawsuit, serves as an important reminder of how precarious our basic freedoms become in the face of a perceived disaster. For the past four years, a coalition of state attorneys general, courageous scientists, and First Amendment advocates waged a counterattack against the federal government’s efforts to strong-arm social media companies into silencing those espousing views contrary to the government-approved narrative. 
Last week, the plaintiffs and the federal defendants submitted a consent decree to the court for approval. The <a href="https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.lawd.189520/gov.uscourts.lawd.189520.477.1.pdf">proposed consent decree</a> is both a real win for free speech and a blueprint for further protections necessary to safeguard our First Amendment rights.
That need is underscored by another recent free speech victory by <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/state-dept-reaches-censorship-settlement-with-daily-wire?author=Luke+Rosiak&amp;category=undefined&amp;elementPosition=7&amp;row=3&amp;rowHeadline=Latest+News&amp;rowType=Vertical+Carousel&amp;title=Daily+Wire+Wins+Landmark+Free+Speech+Victory+In+Censorship+Lawsuit+Against+State+Department">The Daily Wire</a>, in which the State Department agreed to stop supporting efforts that targeted protected speech by American media outlets. That settlement also imposed ongoing compliance oversight, helping ensure the government cannot quietly return to the same tactics.
The core allegation in Missouri v. Biden was that senior officials across multiple federal agencies had engaged in an unprecedented campaign to coerce and pressure major social media platforms into censoring lawful speech. The plaintiffs argued that the Biden administration had effectively outsourced government censorship to private companies, leaning on platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube to suppress content related to Covid origins and treatments, the Hunter Biden laptop story, and election integrity.
<div id="attachment_869089" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-869089" class="size-large wp-image-869089" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/GettyImages-1915020320-864x576.jpg" alt="WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 10: Hunter Biden, son of U.S. President Joe Biden, departs a House Oversight Committee meeting at Capitol Hill on January 10, 2024 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Kent Nishimura/Getty Images)" width="864" height="576" />Photo by Kent Nishimura/Getty Images</div>
For example, Rob Flaherty, the director of digital media in the Biden Administration, tried to coerce Meta into suppressing posts critical of the Covid vaccine on Facebook, accusing Meta of driving “vaccine hesitancy.” Flaherty even demanded that Meta explain what it would do to suppress anti-vaccine content on WhatsApp, a private messaging application. Flaherty made clear he was not speaking just for himself, but rather for, “the highest — and I mean the highest — levels of the White House.&#8221;
The case bounced between trial and appellate courts, including a stop at the Supreme Court, as judges evaluated the nuances of the thorny, at times novel, claims at issue in the case. With the change in presidential administrations, however, the federal government no longer was the adversary, though it was still the nominal defendant. 
On his first day back in office, President Trump signed an Executive Order entitled, “Restoring Freedom of Speech and Ending Federal Censorship,” which condemned the types of censorship the plaintiffs in Missouri v. Biden had filed suit regarding. With a sympathetic administration in office, the plaintiffs were able to negotiate a consent decree rather than spend many more years embroiled in litigation.
The consent decree is focused on preventing the type of coercion, known as jawboning, that the federal government had used to do indirectly during Covid what it could not do directly: prevent Americans from speaking out in public about the major issues of the day. The parties agreed that the government would no longer take actions designed to bully social media companies into removing or suppressing content containing free speech. The consent decree further prohibits the government from directing or vetoing social media companies’ content moderation policies.
A critical limit in the consent decree, however, exposes the clear need for the government to take protective measures outside the confines of the Missouri v. Biden lawsuit. For technical legal reasons related to standing and jurisdiction, the consent decree is focused on the parties to the case. Rather than enjoin the federal government as a whole, the consent decree binds the Surgeon General, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), which engaged in some of the most blatant jawboning efforts during the Covid period. The consent decree further protects only the plaintiffs in the case, that is, the states and individuals who sued the government. (In a bit of poetic justice, two of the plaintiffs, Jay Bhattacharya and Martin Kulldorff, withdrew from the case after accepting senior posts in the Trump administration.)
The Missouri v. Biden plaintiffs are not the only litigants who have prevailed in challenges to Biden-era free speech violations. As The Daily Wire <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/state-dept-reaches-censorship-settlement-with-daily-wire">reported</a>, this week, a federal judge issued a consent decree in a challenge to the Biden-era State Department’s practice of partnering with outside organizations to label various outlets — including this one and the Federalist — as disinformation. The State Department agreed that it would no longer engage in efforts to suppress, censor, demonetize, or downgrade the constitutionally protected speech of Americans and domestic news outlets. 
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/state-dept-reaches-censorship-settlement-with-daily-wire?author=Luke+Rosiak&amp;category=undefined&amp;elementPosition=7&amp;row=3&amp;rowHeadline=Latest+News&amp;rowType=Vertical+Carousel&amp;title=Daily+Wire+Wins+Landmark+Free+Speech+Victory+In+Censorship+Lawsuit+Against+State+Department"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-full wp-image-1070109 aligncenter" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/dw_vs._state_dept_16x9_720.png" alt="" width="720" height="405" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/dw_vs._state_dept_16x9_720.png 720w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/dw_vs._state_dept_16x9_720-300x169.png 300w" sizes=" (max-width: 720px) 100vw, 720px" /></a>
While these consent decrees are real victories for the plaintiffs who had the courage to take on the federal government in court, they will not stop a future administration from engaging in similar tactics that we saw during Covid, in the wake of the 2020 election, and throughout the Biden Administration. Americans as a whole deserve the robust protections the Missouri v. Biden plaintiffs earned in that litigation. 
Congressional action of any sort is admittedly a difficult feat. But there are few bedrock principles more important than those embodied in the First Amendment. If Congress wants to protect Americans’ free speech rights, the proposed consent decree in Missouri v. Biden is a useful roadmap. All federal agencies and officials, not just the select handful named in the proposed consent decree, should be prohibited from trying to control speech by telling social media companies what content is and is not allowed. And all Americans should be able to speak on social media with the assurance that the government cannot tell social media platforms to silence them.
The plaintiffs in Missouri v. Biden and their attorneys should be praised for bringing a landmark lawsuit in the face of tremendous government overreach and achieving a real victory in the process. Congress should follow suit by extending those protections to everyone else.
* * *
Jesse Franklin-Murdock is the Miles Visiting Fellow at the Center for American Liberty, and he is a partner at Sweigart Murdock, LLP in San Francisco, where he specializes in First Amendment and defamation law, political law, and civil rights.

TOPSHOT-US-POLITICS-BIDEN-ARRIVAL

After Daily Wire Legal Win, Americans Shouldn’t Wonder Who’s Silencing Them Online

Biden Administration

Censorship

Daily Wire

Donald Trump

Hunter Biden

Opinion

Social Media Censorship

The Federalist

When President Trump nominated Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. for HHS Secretary in late 2024, some <a href="https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/5099888-advancing-american-freedom-opposes-kennedy/">Beltway Republicans</a> tried to tank his nomination. For conservatives, these critics’ strongest argument was that Kennedy was for decades a liberal Democrat who supported abortion on demand.
I’m a pro-life conservative. So why did I, along with millions of others like me, support Kennedy’s nomination and tell skeptical pro-life critics to give him the benefit of the doubt?
For me, the story starts with the COVID lockdowns in 2020. I spent the better part of that year co-authoring <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Price-Panic-Tyranny-Pandemic-Catastrophe/dp/1684511410/ref=sr_1_1">the first book</a> to make the case that locking down the population would do far more harm than good. COVID was the greatest test of wisdom and courage in a generation. Most public officials, from both parties, failed the test. Kennedy aced it.
The raspy-voiced lawyer helped millions of Americans see the dangers of a “biomedical security state” that blurred the binary mental map of free versus communist countries that had served us well during the Cold War. That framework was of limited value for fighting this new, domestic threat to our civil and medical freedom: a corporatist state.
Post-Covid, millions of Americans realized our problem was not just Big Government or Big Business. The problem is, in effect, a cartel that blurs the lines of public and private — one often enabled by a corporate media too dependent on ad revenue to speak truth to the real power.
The lockdowns and draconian vaccine mandates taught another lesson: past partisan ties do not guarantee good future results. For many of us, resisting the COVID-inspired assaults on our liberty was a better credential than party affiliation.
This is one of several reasons millions of conservative voters began to warm to Kennedy, even if they planned to vote for Donald Trump in the general election. And that latent support for Kennedy <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/polls-show-americans-conflicted-on-robert-f-kennedy-jr-and-his-health-stances">exploded</a> after he announced his support for Donald Trump on August 23, 2024.
This was no mere marriage of convenience. It was the first sign of a political realignment. No doubt many staunch progressives <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2024/08/23/as-rfk-jr-exits-a-look-at-who-supported-him-in-the-2024-presidential-race/">abandoned Kennedy</a> when he endorsed Donald Trump. But many independents and disgruntled Democrats stayed. A new MAGA-MAHA coalition was born.
What made Kennedy’s endorsement of Trump truly historic was the topic he chose to elevate — one of deep concern to tens of millions of American families across the political spectrum but mostly missing from our two major party platforms: the staggering rise of chronic diseases among American children.
As HHS secretary, Kennedy has made the fight against childhood chronic disease his lodestar. And despite constant efforts by critics to paint him as extreme, almost everyone is now taking chronic disease seriously.
But what about the year-old charge that Kennedy would be a cheerleader for abortion? It was wrong. As HHS Secretary, he lacks the power to stop all abortions or close every Planned Parenthood clinic. Kennedy must also work within the constraints of the president who nominated him. But within Kennedy’s remit, his actions have been encouraging.
Last September, for instance, he announced a new FDA review of the safety and approval process of the abortion pill mifepristone. Abortion advocates <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/US/health-secretary-rfk-jr-launches-review-abortion-pill/story?id=125908299">are not pleased</a>. After all, in a Post-Roe world, <a href="https://www.guttmacher.org/2024/03/medication-abortion-accounted-63-all-us-abortions-2023-increase-53-2020">most abortions are chemical</a>, not surgical.
In late January, <a href="https://www.hhs.gov/press-room/conscience-dlc.html">he beefed up federal conscience safeguards</a> for healthcare workers. This protects providers from being forced to participate in abortions or other procedures. This includes new policy guidance and investigations into violations.
Most dramatically, <a href="https://www.hhs.gov/press-room/wtas-hhs-bars-research-using-human-fetal-tissue-from-elective-abortions.html">he has just barred</a> HHS-funded research from using human fetal tissue from elective abortions. Pro-life Americans have asked for this ban for decades. The practice continued even during the tenure of NIH director Francis Collins, an evangelical Christian, who <a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2018/12/18/anti-abortion-groups-francis-collins-nih-1068724">explicitly defended</a> it.
Like Nixon visiting China, I hope Kennedy will do more to defend pre-born human life. It’s not a vain hope. During one telling interview last year, Kennedy denounced a CDC publication that listed “abortion” as one of the top 10 health achievements of the 20th century.
The press “fact-checked” the comment, since <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/pdf/wk/mm4812.pdf">the document</a> he likely had in mind listed “family planning” rather than “abortion.” (Pro-life advocates recognize the family planning as a euphemism for abortion.) But most missed the crucial “tell”: Kennedy recoiled from the notion that abortion could be cited as a health care achievement.
For pro-life conservatives, supporting Kennedy’s nomination posed some risk. One year in, however, my choice to support Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. is an easy one.
* * *
Jay W. Richards, PhD, is Vice President for Social and Domestic Policy at The Heritage Foundation.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

FDA Unveils New Framework To Speed Ultra-Rare Drug Approvals

I’m a Conservative. Here’s Why I Support Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

Department of Health and Human Services

Heritage Foundation

MAHA

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Trump Administration

Senator Ed Markey appears to be blocking a bill that would extend the statute of limitations for prosecuting fraud in COVID-era government programs, seemingly siding with fraudsters and against the United States government.
The House of Representatives <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/4495" target="_blank" rel="noopener">passed</a> the &#8220;SBA Fraud Enforcement Extension Act&#8221; in July by voice vote, signaling overwhelming bipartisan support. The <a href="https://docs.house.gov/meetings/SM/SM00/20250722/118539/BILLS-119HR4495ih.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">two-page bill</a> simply gives more time for prosecutors to charge people who swindled two COVID bailouts, the Restaurant Revitalization Fund and the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant.
The programs were so fraud-ridden, and the dollar amounts so great, that investigators and prosecutors have a large backlog. Congress already added another five years to the prosecution window for the biggest COVID programs, the Paycheck Protection Program and unemployment bailouts.
But Markey, the top Democrat on the Senate panel overseeing the Small Business Administration, which took the lead on the pandemic recovery, appears to be using his position to block passage in the upper chamber. The Senate Small Business Committee, which is chaired by Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA), <a href="https://www.sbc.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/2025/7/ranking-member-markey-votes-out-legislation-emphasizes-need-for-tariff-relief-for-small-businesses" target="_blank" rel="noopener">approved the bill</a> in July. But it has <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/senate-bill/1199?q=%7B%22search%22%3A%22s1199%22%7D&amp;s=1&amp;r=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">not been</a> brought to the floor for passage.
&#8220;Senate Democrats are blocking my commonsense bill to extend the statute of limitations for COVID crimes, meaning criminals like those recently exposed in Minnesota will get away with it simply because the clock will run out,” Ernst told The Daily Wire. &#8220;It should be a no-brainer to side with taxpayers instead of fraudsters.&#8221;
The apparent blockage raises the question of whether Democrats have become the party of fraud, siding with the likes of the notorious Somali fraudsters who cost the government billions but vote for Democrats as a bloc.
The Biden administration doled out COVID billions using a &#8220;pay and chase&#8221; philosophy, meaning they erred on the side of getting money out the door, with the justification that they would claw back wrongly paid payments later. But the schemes were so numerous that they are still being uncovered, so not extending the statute of limitations amounts to simply paying scammers and not chasing at all.
John Hart, a former Senate aide who now leads the spending watchdog group Open The Books, said under Senate procedure that if a bill passes a committee and has the support of the top Republican and Democrat on that committee, it is fast-tracked for passage by the full chamber. &#8220;If the committee’s ranking member, Sen. Markey, would give the go-ahead, it could be passed by unanimous consent. That process helps uncontroversial bills succeed without extensive Senate procedures,&#8221; he told The Daily Wire.
The restaurant program cost $29 billion, and the inspector general found that recipients representing 12% of that did not even file the required paperwork. The shuttered venue program, which bailed out concert halls, cost $15 billion, more than half a billion dollars of which was identified by SBA as <a href="https://www.sba.gov/document/report-25-21-sbas-oversight-shuttered-venue-operators-grant-recipients" target="_blank" rel="noopener">potentially improper</a>. Both programs ran out of money, meaning fraudsters likely stole slots from more deserving businesses.
A spokesman for Markey — who has represented Massachusetts in Congress since 1976 — did not return a request for comment on what, if any, objection he has to the bill.
<div id="attachment_1027513" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1027513" class="size-full wp-image-1027513" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/01/GettyImages-2214429130.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="683" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/01/GettyImages-2214429130.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/01/GettyImages-2214429130-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/01/GettyImages-2214429130-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/01/GettyImages-2214429130-768x512.jpg 768w" sizes=" (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />Ed Markey, at right (Photo by Mel Musto/Getty Images)</div>
Hart said it&#8217;s hard to see a legitimate gripe.
&#8220;This issue ought to be unanimous. It could be on President Trump’s desk today. What, exactly, is controversial about prosecuting cases of fraud? Every dollar spent this way is unavailable for Americans who truly need it,&#8221; he said.
Reducing fraud in all government programs used to be an area of bipartisan agreement, with members of the minority party joining the majority in wonky policy discussions. After all, stopping fraud means liberals would have more money for other programs, or Republicans could use the savings to lower taxes.
If the Democrats have moved from the party of big government to the pro-fraud party, one contributing factor could be identity politics. The Biden administration drew the ire of the SBA inspector general by deciding <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/sba-wont-even-try-to-collect-on-ppp-loans-that-are-supposed-to-be-paid-back-citing-equity" target="_blank" rel="noopener">not to even attempt to collect</a> PPP loan repayment from businesses that were not eligible to have their loans forgiven, citing &#8220;equity&#8221; as justification.
In the state of Georgia alone, two state legislators, both of them black Democrats, have been accused of <a href="https://georgiarecorder.com/briefs/a-second-georgia-house-democrat-is-accused-of-unemployment-fraud/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">stealing</a> from COVID bailout funds. In Virginia, a former state legislator, an Arab Democrat, was <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2025/11/11/covid-relief-fraud-ibraheem-samirah/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">convicted</a> of taking fake PPP loans.
The case of an African-born <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/usaid-contracting-officer-charged-with-pandemic-bailout-fraud" target="_blank" rel="noopener">USAID employee</a> who stole PPP loans raises the question of whether the Biden administration even attempted to stop fraud. He got money on the basis that his purported company did not make as much money in 2020 as it did in 2019 due to the pandemic. But state records and federal tax returns would have shown that the company didn&#8217;t even exist.
Markey, as the top Democrat on the committee overseeing perhaps the most-defrauded government spending spree in history, is the poster child for the notion that Democrats may now simply be apathetic, or even in denial, about fraud — even as fraud in places like Minnesota reaches such heights that it could make Great Society-style programs impossible.
Last month, Hart, along with this reporter, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/daily-wires-luke-rosiak-will-testify-before-the-senate-on-massive-federal-dei-scheme" target="_blank" rel="noopener">testified</a> before the Senate Small Business Committee about reducing fraud. Most Democrats on the committee didn&#8217;t bother to attend, and those who did — led by Markey — made no attempt to find ways to reduce fraud, instead suggesting that the programs at issue were not enough billions to care about, or using their time on anti-Trump tirades about topics outside of the committee&#8217;s jurisdiction.
Ernst was surprised, saying, &#8220;Individuals who used Barbie dolls as their photo identification were approved for SBA loans. This is totally unacceptable. &#8230; [Markey] said the largest amount of waste, fraud, and abuse is not in the Small Business Administration programs. &#8230; This is, however, the Small Business Committee. &#8230; Are my Democrat colleagues saying we should be ignoring billions of dollars of waste, fraud, and abuse?&#8221;

.S. Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA)

This Democrat Is Singlehandedly Blocking The Prosecution Of COVID Fraudsters

Ed Markey

Fraud

Joni Ernst

Politics

Small Business Administration

A new childhood vaccination schedule under Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. could look a lot more like Denmark&#8217;s schedule — meaning more parental control, fewer overall shots, and nixing very early doses.
Kennedy has made it clear that he wants to overhaul how vaccines are recommended — and mandated — in the United States. So far, the secretary has handpicked a new Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) panel and green-lighted changes to the Hep B and COVID vaccines.
But more changes are coming. New reports indicate that HHS wants to recommend fewer vaccines and instead encourage parents to speak to their doctors about certain shots. Denmark&#8217;s vaccine schedule is reportedly the model HHS wants to align with more closely.
In Denmark, children receive far fewer vaccines than children in the U.S. For example, the Scandinavian nation does not recommend vaccinating children against the flu, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), hepatitis A and B, or chickenpox, among other viruses, as <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2025/12/19/childhood-vaccine-schedule-denmark-revisions">highlighted</a> by The Washington Post. Compared to the U.S., Denmark recommends eight fewer vaccines against infectious diseases.
Also, in Denmark, children are recommended to get vaccinations later than in the U.S. Denmark waits until a baby is 3 months old before vaccinations, recommending zero at birth. A fully vaccinated 12-month-old child in Denmark will have received 18 vaccine doses for six diseases, <a href="https://cyvaccine.com/article/does-demnark-practice-same-vaccination-schedule-as-the-us" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to Cyvaccine, while a 12-month-old in the U.S. will have received 43 vaccine doses for 16 diseases.
Denmark also offers parents more control over their child&#8217;s vaccinations. Recommendations are voluntary in the Scandinavian country, and not mandated for school entry, unlike in the U.S. Kennedy reportedly wants to mirror Denmark in this respect, too.
Former U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb said such a change would put liability back on vaccine manufacturers, which is something HHS, under Kennedy, seems inclined to do.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
🚨 Dr. Scott Gottlieb Worries That Moving the U.S. to the Denmark Vaccine Schedule Could Make Vaccine Makers Liable Again
“If they move away from recommending these vaccines and move them to a different configuration on the CDC schedule called shared clinical decision making,… <a href="https://t.co/xIrDSYKrXA">pic.twitter.com/xIrDSYKrXA</a>
— Chief Nerd (@TheChiefNerd) <a href="https://twitter.com/TheChiefNerd/status/2003095686921716054?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 22, 2025</a></blockquote>
Rumors of the shifts peaked after President Donald Trump signed a presidential memorandum earlier this month directing HHS to &#8220;FAST TRACK&#8221; a comprehensive evaluation of vaccine schedules. Trump directed the department to change the vaccine schedule so it more closely mirrors other developed nations, while using the &#8220;Gold Standard of Science and COMMON SENSE!”
“The American Childhood Vaccine Schedule long required 72 ‘jabs,’ for perfectly healthy babies, far more than any other Country in the World, and far more than is necessary,” Trump said in a Truth Social post. “In fact, it is ridiculous! Many parents and scientists have been questioning the efficacy of this ‘schedule,’ as have I!”
&#8220;I have just signed a Presidential Memorandum directing the Department of Health and Human Services to ‘FAST TRACK’ a comprehensive evaluation of Vaccine Schedules from other Countries around the World, and better align the U.S. Vaccine Schedule, so it is finally rooted in the Gold Standard of Science and COMMON SENSE!&#8221; he continued.
“I am fully confident Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., and the CDC, will get this done, quickly and correctly, for our Nation’s Children,” Trump added. “Thank you for your attention to this matter. MAHA!”
<div id="attachment_1010839" style="width: 938px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1010839" class="wp-image-1010839 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/Screenshot-2025-12-06-at-10.10.19-AM-928x576.png" alt="" width="928" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/Screenshot-2025-12-06-at-10.10.19-AM-928x576.png 928w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/Screenshot-2025-12-06-at-10.10.19-AM-300x186.png 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/Screenshot-2025-12-06-at-10.10.19-AM-768x477.png 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/Screenshot-2025-12-06-at-10.10.19-AM-1536x953.png 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/Screenshot-2025-12-06-at-10.10.19-AM.png 1576w" sizes=" (max-width: 928px) 100vw, 928px" />Truth Social</div>
As for more, HHS says any reports about the vaccine schedule shake-up are merely speculation. “Unless you hear it from HHS directly, this is pure speculation,&#8221; HHS spokesman Andrew Nixon <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2025/12/19/childhood-vaccine-schedule-denmark-revisions">said</a>.
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-admin-to-cut-funding-from-all-hospitals-that-perform-trans-procedures-on-kids">Trump Admin To Strip All Federal Funding From Hospitals That Perform Trans Procedures On Kids</a>

Newborn Receiving Vaccination at Hospital with Medical Professional in Brightly Lit Setting

RFK Wants To Shake Up Childhood Vaccines To Mirror Denmark. Here’s What That Could Mean For Parents

RFK Shaking Up Childhood Vax Schedule. Here’s What Could Come Next

Denmark

Vaccines

President Donald Trump has spent this year unwrapping an economy handed to him by former President Joe Biden. Inside the box: inflation and sticker shock.
From when Biden took office in January 2021 through the end of December 2024, consumer prices rose <a href="https://finance.yahoo.com/news/the-final-accounting-on-bidenflation-212613508.html?guccounter=1&amp;guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&amp;guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAIfT9OGeVAKKbHJR4Tc3o4i4IUGV_jwsWj6OEQ8pCpV9PPLtJmCmTCXD4cqtQ1RwqCeiHtlpYZfcCj9KieR8wHDmrBZ3JmV40xfO9AUcSvmmtUin-czVIwgJGFLU1WUxtldZKbbACfYT06DHFrn6jaTYSiXXdyPTtPvvGasDDKHL">21.2</a>%. Even as inflation cools under President Trump, Americans are still living with the higher prices locked in during Biden’s term in office.
With the exception of George Washington, every president’s tenure runs the risk of being defined by the lingering effects of their predecessor’s policies. That reality has put the Trump White House on the defensive. Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt has repeatedly pushed back against the notion that today’s economy belongs to Trump alone.
She’s <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/those-were-two-utter-lies-white-house-press-briefing-turns-contentious-over-affordability">described</a> Democrats as “the greatest con artists in history,” who are “trying to claim ownership of an issue that they created.” On offense, the press secretary says that by economic measures, things are actually looking up.
“Every economic metric does in fact show that the economy is getting better and brighter than where it was under the previous administration,” Leavitt said. Shortly after that statement, November inflation came in at 2.7% and GDP growth surged to 4.3% — far exceeding expectations.
While the economic playing field is never fully level, Joe Biden and Donald Trump occupy a rare position as the only presidents in modern U.S. history to both inherit the monetary effects of the other.
President Joe Biden received an average inflation of 1.9% and an economy primed with two stimulus packages from President Trump.
In March of 2020, Trump signed the CARES Act into law, a $2.2 trillion stimulus package that acted as a lifeline to shut-down businesses all over the country. The package was passed unanimously in the Senate and 388 to 5 in the House of Representatives — notably, the five representatives who voted against the bill were Republicans who were concerned about the cost and impacts to the federal deficit.
In December of 2020, Trump signed a second relief package totaling $900 billion, which included another round of direct payments. Six Republican senators voted against the bill; no Democrats opposed it. The House passed the measure 359-53. The 53 who voted against the bill <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/republicans-democrats-voted-against-stimulus-why-1556574?utm_source=chatgpt.com">included</a> 50 Republicans who broke with party leadership. The legislation was a compromise, with Republicans pushing for limited total spending, and Democrats demanding larger checks and extended unemployment benefits.
One year later, Joe Biden signed the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan into law, more than double the size of Trump’s final stimulus package. The bill sent $1,400 checks to Americans in a bustling economy. Not a single Republican voted to pass the legislation.
Economists later echoed the concern that all three of the stimulus packages inflated the economy. “Both Trump and Biden contributed to the fiscal stimulus that fed into the inflation,” <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Business/republicans-rnc-blame-biden-inflation-economists-misleading/story?id=112022864">said</a> George Selgin, senior fellow at the Cato Institute.
Biden had average inflation during his term of 4.9% while Trump had average inflation of 1.9%. Trump’s inflation reached a high of 2.5% during his first term while Biden’s reached a high of 9.1% in June 2022.
Economist Peter Morici was blunt in his <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Business/republicans-rnc-blame-biden-inflation-economists-misleading/story?id=112022864">assessment</a> of where blame should be issued.
“It was irresponsible to do stimulus when the economy was well on its way to recovery. Blame is falling where it’s due. Biden does bear responsibility for the endurance of COVID inflation.”
As inflation finally began to cool, credit shifted elsewhere. Many point to former Senator Joe Manchin for blocking additional spending that could have further fueled price increases. Left-wing MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough <a href="https://townhall.com/tipsheet/spencerbrown/2022/06/14/scarborough-says-you-can-just-thank-joe-manchin-inflation-isnt-worse-n2608707?utm_source=chatgpt.com">remarked</a>, “You can just thank Joe Manchin if you&#8217;re glad that interest rates aren’t even higher,” referring to the interest rate hikes the Federal Reserve had to implement in an attempt to tame inflation.
Billionaire entrepreneur and investor Sam Zell <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/billionaire-praises-manchin-saving-us-catastrophic-biden-bill-1716160?utm_source=chatgpt.com">agreed</a>, saying, “Unfortunately, we only had one senator who stepped up to the line when, in fact, everyone should have stepped up and recognized this was a disastrous policy.”
Others issued credit to Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. Republican Senator John Kennedy said, “It seems to me that you and some of … your colleagues deserve some credit for that. … I’m not saying things are perfect, but I never imagined that our landing could be this soft.”
The “soft landing” has continued into Trump’s second term with an average of 2.7% inflation so far. But lower inflation does not mean lower prices — and now, voters are left paying the bill. As Americans continue to confront elevated sticker prices, Republicans will be forced to defend seats in an economy still shaped by stimulus spending many warned against.

Biden-Inflation copy

Biden’s Only Gift For Trump Was The Inflation Crisis

Economy

Inflation

A Stanford Medicine research team has confirmed that mRNA-based COVID vaccines can cause inflammation of the heart muscle, known as myocarditis, which can be fatal.
The study, recently <a href="https://med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2025/12/myocarditis-vaccine-covid.html">published</a> in the journal &#8220;Science Translational Medicine,&#8221; concludes that these mRNA vaccines can trigger certain immune cells to produce inflammatory proteins, specifically CXCL10 and IFN-gamma, which can cause heart issues.
“It’s not a heart attack in the traditional sense,” Dr. Joseph Wu, a senior author of the study and the director of the Stanford Cardiovascular Institute, explained. “There’s no blockage of blood vessels as found in most common heart attacks. When symptoms are mild and the inflammation hasn’t caused structural damage to the heart, we just observe these patients to make sure they recover.”
Some patients, though, can suffer severe complications, including death, Wu said.
The researcher confirmed that COVID itself &#8220;can cause myocarditis,&#8221; and &#8220;to a lesser extent, so can the mRNA vaccines.&#8221;
For reasons still unknown, the vaccines are tied to a heightened risk in males under the age of 30, particularly those who receive multiple doses, the study found.
&#8220;Vaccine-associated myocarditis occurs in about one in every 140,000 vaccines after a first dose and rises to one in 32,000 after a second dose,&#8221; Stanford Medicine News Center <a href="https://med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2025/12/myocarditis-vaccine-covid.html">said</a>. &#8220;For reasons that aren’t clear, incidence peaks among male vaccines age 30 or below, at one in 16,750 vaccines.&#8221;
Recently, U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) vaccine chief Dr. Vinay Prasad proposed in an internal memo an overhaul to how vaccines are evaluated and approved, basically initiating tougher standards.
<a class="c-link c-link--focus-visible c-link--underline" href="https://get.dailywire.com/subscribe/plus/?utm_medium=website&amp;utm_source=editorial&amp;utm_campaign=christmas&amp;utm_content=christmassale25" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-stringify-link="https://get.dailywire.com/subscribe/plus/?utm_medium=website&amp;utm_source=editorial&amp;utm_campaign=christmas&amp;utm_content=christmassale25" data-sk="tooltip_parent">Christmas Sale – Get 40% off New DailyWire+ Annual Memberships</a>
This would reportedly include full randomized clinical trials even for updated or routine vaccines, like the flu shot. The changes would allow for an evaluation of real-world protection, not just antibody levels, as well as rates of side effects, and more information on risk-benefit analysis. 
Notably, the memo cited at least 10 children who died “after and because of” receiving COVID vaccines as the apparent driving force behind the tougher vaccine standards.
The medical establishment quickly revolted over the proposed standards. For example, twelve former FDA officials denounced the memo in an editorial, claiming it casts doubt on vaccine safety. They also said the new standards “reject long-standing science” and will slow innovation. 
In response to the backlash from the establishment, Health and Human Services (HHS) press secretary Emily Hilliard told The Daily Wire that the American people “deserve evidence-based science,” and said Dr. Prasad’s email “lays out a philosophical framework that points us toward that higher standard.”
Hilliard also said HHS will “soon release documents laying out that framework” as well as data confirming how the COVID-19 vaccine resulted in children’s deaths that &#8220;previous leadership failed to properly investigate.”
The FDA is also currently <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2025/12/09/vaccine-covid-coronavirus-safety-fda/">investigating</a> adult deaths connected to the COVID vaccines.
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/maha-supporter-destroys-famed-doctor-attacking-rfk-jr-in-under-2-minutes?author=Amanda+Prestigiacomo&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=5&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=MAHA+Supporter+Destroys+Famed+Doctor+Attacking+RFK+Jr.+In+Under+2+Minutes">MAHA Supporter Destroys Famed Doctor Attacking RFK Jr. In Under 2 Minutes</a>

C3E7E190-C1F9-4BA8-98D4-18E81D97EBC2_1_201_a

Stanford Researchers Confirm COVID Vax Can Cause Fatal Myocarditis

COVID-19 Vaccine

Health

Pandemic

Trump Tells Pregnant Women To Avoid Tylenol Over Autism Fear

NIH Chief Jay Bhattacharya On DEI, Tylenol, And The Basis Of Truth In Science

Health Care

interview

Isabel Brown

Jay Bhattacharya

Science

Tylenol

Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner&#8217;s daughter, Violet Affleck, addressed the United Nations on Tuesday to express her ongoing concerns over COVID-19.
The 19-year-old Yale freshman wore a KN95 mask as she fretted over what she described as the devastating and enduring effects of COVID-19, while complaining that the world had moved on.
&#8220;We are told by leaders across the board that we are the future,&#8221; Affleck said. &#8220;But when it comes to the ongoing pandemic, our present is being stolen right in front of our eyes.&#8221; 
The teen was panicked over people who no longer take precautions against the spread of the virus, lamenting &#8220;the relentless beat of back to normal, ignoring, downplaying, and concealing both the prevalence of airborne transmission and the threat of long COVID.&#8221;
&#8220;Young people lacked both real choice in the matter and information about what was being chosen for us,&#8221; Affleck said, per <a href="https://people.com/violet-affleck-ben-affleck-and-jennifer-garners-daughter-speaks-about-the-impacts-of-covid-in-united-nations-address-our-present-is-being-stolen-11816006">People</a>.
&#8220;Here&#8217;s what we know about SARS-CoV-2,&#8221; she went on. &#8220;It is airborne, floating and lingering in the air, one infection can result in disabling damage to almost every cell in the body from the brain and heart to the nerves and blood vessels.&#8221;
&#8220;Every subsequent infection increases the risk of long movement and places people who already have it in greater danger.&#8221;
Affleck also said she’s &#8220;terrified&#8221; for children who &#8220;will not know a world without debilitating pain and exhaustion, who cannot trust their bodies to play, explore, and imagine&#8221; after contracting the virus.
&#8220;I am furious on their behalf,&#8221; she said. &#8220;It is a neglect of the highest order to look children in the eyes and say, &#8216;We knew how to protect you and we didn&#8217;t do it. We have access to a technology to prevent airborne disease, something that millions of our ancestors and millions of people around the world today would kill for, and we refuse to use it.'&#8221;
&#8220;And I shudder to think of where we will be in another five years of unmitigated infection and reinfection,&#8221; Affleck said.
The daughter of two movie stars equated COVID-19 harm reduction methods to bans on smoking.
&#8220;Many of you fought the long and hard battle against indoor smoking. My only memory of that era, at almost 20 years old, is being confused as a child about the no smoking signs on planes. &#8216;Who would do that? That&#8217;s gross,'&#8221; she told the U.N.
&#8220;My hope for this event and my belief in this community pressed on the belief that we can and we must do that again,&#8221; Affleck added. &#8220;We can recognize filtered air as a human right, as intuitively as we do filtered water.&#8221;
&#8220;We can create clean air infrastructure that is so ubiquitous and so obviously necessary, so that tomorrow&#8217;s children don&#8217;t even know why we need it.&#8221;
The college freshman has spoken out about her concerns over COVID-19 before, addressing an L.A. County Board of Supervisors meeting to express her frustration with a mask ban.
Reactions on social media were mostly negative, with most commenters saying Affleck was overreacting.
“There is a pandemic of unbelievably stupid people,” one person <a href="https://x.com/BoFrenchTX/status/1970825466278752405">wrote</a>.
“Let&#8217;s give a platform and seek life advice from famous actors and their children, living in a fantasy world, detached from everyday realities, crafting personas for a living rather than grounded wisdom. Makes sense doesn&#8217;t it?” another person <a href="https://x.com/punishertime321/status/1970914067754992074">replied</a>.
“The only thing better than insufferable Hollywood stars telling everyone how to act, is their insufferable children doing the same,” echoed a third <a href="https://x.com/Skeptique/status/1970827963441782823">commenter</a>.

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