The practice of manufacturing collisions between the Vatican and President of the United States, has continued with Pope Leo XIV because he is new in the job. And President Donald Trump, of course, always provides copy. Take an unknown and mix in the very well-known, and a thousand columns are launched.

The best commentary on this situation actually came from Vice President JD Vance more than a year ago.

“It’s very hard to fit a 2,000-year-old institution into the politics of 2025,” Vice President Vance told me in March of last year. He added, “I try not to do that.”

Reporters ought to be taking heed to that as they cover the pope and the president: Tell us what these principals said or posted if done specifically with the other party named. Don’t overlay prior points of view. That’s as silly as playing mind-reader.

A suggestion: Whenever you hear or read a reporter asserting what a public figure “thinks” or “feels,” change your feed or at least turn on your misinformation shield.

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Too many parents have faced the dilemma of how to help a child struggling with gender confusion. They’re often told anything short of affirming a new gender identity risks psychological harm—even suicide.

New, comprehensive research from Finland contradicts that claim. It finds that mental illness isn’t caused by resisting transition. Rather, children who believe they were ‘born in the wrong body” are more likely to have underlying mental health issues.

What’s more, those struggles don’t ease after efforts to “transition”: in fact, they intensify. Rates of mental illness rose from around 10 to 60 percent in boys seeking to become girls, and from roughly 20 to 55 percent among girls transitioning to boys.

We’re not helping vulnerable children by denying reality. The transgender experiment has come at a steep cost, and it needs to end. Now.

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Congressman Eric Swalwell suspended his campaign for governor of California. Then, the very next day, he abruptly resigned from Congress.

This followed a cascade of accusations involving sexual assault, misconduct, and unwanted, inappropriate messages.

Clearly, the Democratic establishment wanted Swalwell out. The entire episode unfolded in a matter of days.

But what’s most striking is that, by all accounts, people in political circles knew about Swalwell’s behavior for quite some time. Political insiders, journalists and left-wing influencers admitted this much on X. It was, apparently, an open secret.

And yet, no powerful Democrats acted until Swalwell’s candidacy became a liability in the governor’s race. Then, suddenly, his candidacy was done. And then he was gone from the House.

All in a matter of days.

What a complete failure of moral, professional, and ethical responsibility — all the way around.

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In recent days we’ve watched the NASA Artemis II mission that successfully sent four astronauts around the dark side of the moon. Human beings have now traveled a greater distance from the earth than ever before in history. Period. We’re talking about a distance greater by thousands of miles.

As we watched the mission unfold, it was interesting to note the language coming from the astronauts—language filled with wonder that at least implies a creator.

And then we saw the photographs—new, high-quality images of earth in our own time. It had been more than 50 years since the first photographs.

I don’t know how a person can look these images and think, “What an interesting cosmic accident.” Of course, we know: There are many scientists absolutely determined to believe it so, consistent with a naturalistic understanding of the entire universe.

But here’s the thing worth highlighting: It is very difficult to look at these images and say, “What a beautiful accident.”

The entire picture points to a creator. It points to God. Remember that.

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The Iranians had one reasonable chance to negotiate an end to the war. Donald Trump sent J.D. Vance, reportedly a skeptic of military action, to Islamabad to lead the American delegation. The Pakistan government urged the Iranians to take this seriously. Instead, the IRGC junta refused to negotiate at all on the main points of the conflict, especially their pursuit of nuclear weapons and claims of sovereign control of the Strait of Hormuz.

Then: Trump ordered a blockade of all Iranian shipping through the Strait—a move that will cost Iran’s regime $450 million dollars a day in lost sales and eliminate their only reliable method of resupply during the war. The Iranians threatened to escalate, but Trump has his own escalation options too.

As military analyst Sascha Bruchmann told a German news program, the Battle of Hormuz is a game of chicken, and “it is dangerous to play a game of chicken against Donald Trump.”

That’s the lesson the world ought to be learning. It’s a lesson we need to see through to the end in Iran.

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The Iranians had one reasonable chance to negotiate an end to the war. Donald Trump sent J.D. Vance, reportedly a skeptic of military action, to Islamabad to lead the American delegation. The Pakistan government urged the Iranians to take this seriously. Instead, the IRGC junta refused to negotiate at all on the main points of the conflict, especially their pursuit of nuclear weapons and claims of sovereign control of the Strait of Hormuz.

Then: Trump ordered a blockade of all Iranian shipping through the Strait—a move that will cost Iran’s regime $450 million dollars a day in lost sales and eliminate their only reliable method of resupply during the war. The Iranians threatened to escalate, but Trump has his own escalation options too.

As military analyst Sascha Bruchmann told a German news program, the Battle of Hormuz is a game of chicken, and “it is dangerous to play a game of chicken against Donald Trump.”

That’s the lesson the world ought to be learning. It’s a lesson we need to see through to the end in Iran.

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The ceasefire in Iran will be a big win for President Trump if the Strait opens and stays open—and we’ll know over the course of the two weeks whether or not that happens.

If it does: The world’s oil supply will surge a bit and the remnants of the Iranian regime will have a chance to inventory the destruction that has rained down on their forces for five weeks.

If the Strait doesn’t reopen—or the attacks on Israel or our Gulf allies don’t cease—another round of the third Gulf war will soon commence.

President Trump issued his ultimatum. His never-evolving critics denounced his language though it got through to whomever is running the bunkers in Iran.

The war is far from over, but long conflicts never resolve in a month, and this one is 47 years old.

Fundamental things are afoot in the Middle East, most of them very good indeed.

Freedom for the long-suffering Iranian people and stability in the Middle East has never been closer since 1979..

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President Trump has done what seven presidents before him would not: he demolished the leading state sponsor of terrorism’s leadership, military, and nuclear abilities. For this, alone, the Nobel Peace Prize seems not quite enough.

We shall see if the temporary cease-fire holds; perhaps it is a moment of calibration that may require further military action, as President Trump has shown his mettle in doing with Iran before. And for those who have chosen to ignore or forget Iran’s 47-year war against the United States and the West—slaughtering and maiming untold thousands of Americans and other innocents, including assassination plots against the President—if Iran fully breaks this ceasefire, they will teach the world again who they are and what they do.

Meanwhile, critics blame Donald Trump for his rhetoric—of course having said nothing about the routine calls of genocide from Iran’s leadership or, for that matter, hundreds of thousands who take to the streets shouting, “From the river to the sea.”

This is a moment to thank President Trump, not condemn him.

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