Lies cause great pain

We say the truth lives here, but what does that even mean?  Where does the truth really live?  That’s all that matters is truth.  When all is said and done, everything, everything that is outside of truth will be swept away, and everything that is truth will stand.  That’s it.

So when you see all the news and all the lies, I know it’s hard, but we really shouldn’t get even angry, because the lies are great teachers, and it won’t last.  Today, this morning, I got up, and I read the story on TheBlaze about the jobs numbers.  Just before the 2012 election, they now say oh, it looks like those were fabricated.  Really?

Unemployment dipped below 8%.  All indicators for the economy pointed to bad news, and I remember we talked about it – that’s not true.  That’s not possible.  How did that happen?  There are some other things you know to know about when it comes to truth.  Last night in a phone conference, the president said 100 million Americans had signed up at Healthcare.gov in the first month.  Listen.

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President Obama:  In the first month alone, we’ve seen more than 100 million Americans already successfully enroll in the new insurance plans.

Okay, not true, and it wouldn’t have been like 100,000 people.  The actual number is 26,000.  Where did that number come from?  The press isn’t too upset.  The just say he flubbed.  Did he?  So far, there’s no effort by the White House to correct the so-called mistake, so he can just say it, and everybody just says oh well, he just flubbed.

Last month there was another flub.  The president read a letter from a 48-year-old single mom, and he held her up as an ObamaCare success story but apparently not so much.  She’s saying that she received a letter of her own.  It was from the state exchange, notifying her that her tax credit was reduced.  A few days later, another letter came, said her tax credit was completely taken away, so now she can’t afford health care and health insurance at all.

Predictably over the coming weeks, the spin masters are going to try to find ways to explain things away or get you to lose, you know, attention, whatever.  I want you to remember one thing.  It’s really straightforward, and it’s not just to you and me but a lot of people.  They’re beginning to realize they’re not being told the truth.  But I’d like to change that.

It’s not that you haven’t been told the truth.  You are being lied to.  And I want you to ask your friends and neighbors if we use the same ethics in parenting as we do in politics, would everybody be okay?  I mean, you catch your kid lying.  Would it be okay for somebody to say, “Oh, did you just make a little flub?  Oh, you don’t need to correct that.  Did you just misspeak?”

I have never, ever asked my kids if they have misspoken.  “Did you misspeak?  Was that a misspeak?  Was that a flub?”  I always say, “Did you lie to me?  Did you lie to your mother?”  Why?  Because we know that lying is wrong.  Why is it wrong?  We teach our kids you have to own up to whatever it is you did.  Don’t ever lie.  Why?  Because it makes a difference.  Why?  Because lying makes everything 100 times worse, and you have no trust in the family.  You have no trust of everybody if you start to lie.

That’s why we put such an emphasis on truth, because we know lying leads to another lie and another lie, and it all causes pain, pain to the person on the receiving end and ultimately sooner or later even greater pain to the one dishing out the lies and everyone along the line.  But what defeats lie?  Truth, the truth sets you free.  It’s the most powerful weapon you have.  Empower the truth.

Play your cards face up on the table, and you’ll be able to stand with courage.  Keep things hidden, and you will cower in constant fear of being exposed.  How many of us don’t actually believe, you know, we can do anything great because we believe the lie that maybe this is as good as it gets, maybe that’s the best I can do?  It’s a lie.  It’s a lie.  Lies hold us hostage.  Lies keep us enslaved.  Lies tear us apart.

We have been lied to about almost everything by both sides.  America, you don’t even know who you are.  I didn’t.  I didn’t.  I wrote this book, Miracles and Massacres, and when I say I, it’s the collective I.  I picked all the stories.  I found the stories with my team, and then we wrote it together, because it’s 12 stories.

We spent a lot of time researching these 12 stories to make sure that it’s all right, and you will see that it has the, you know, it has all that you need here, all of the footnotes and everything else so you can see where we got it because miracles and massacres, that’s what this country is, miracles and massacres.

You have to know the worst of our country and the best.  What can you possibly learn from the worst of America?  How is it possibly relevant to today?  Well, if I said what day did Pearl Harbor happen, you’d say December 7, 1941, a date which would live in infamy.  Great, that’s a speech, but tell me about the ramifications of Pearl Harbor and how does the war with Japan relate to any news happening today?  I’ll show you.

I want to tell you about a 25-year-old daughter of a Japanese American immigrant.  She had set sail for her homeland of Japan.  She was born here, but she was going to go see a sick relative.  Well, then December 7, 1941 happened, and now she was trapped there, because the war happened, and we’re not going to bring in people from Japan, especially while we’re putting people up in internment camps.  We’re not going to bring this, you know, 20-something back into the United States.

She was steadfast in her patriotism.  She loved the country.  She declared at one point, “A tiger doesn’t change its stripes.”  Now, who did she declare that to?  The Japanese government, because the Japanese government told her she had to renounce her American citizenship, and she said a tiger does not change its stripes.

Well, she took a typing job.  She was actually friendly with the American POWs, and she had access to them.  And it came out later that she had smuggled food and medicine to the POWs.  She eventually found work as a typist to make ends meet while she was on the outs, and she ended up at a place called Radio Tokyo.

She was first recruited by Australian POW Major Charles Cousins, and he said you should be a host.  It wasn’t a huge role.  There were 20 minutes here and there.  The Japanese had wanted her to broadcast American propaganda and use the POWs to do it to demoralize American troops, but she said no, she wouldn’t do it.

She actually devised a plan of sending messages to our troops to help our troops.  The Japanese didn’t catch her.  Her stage name was Ann, and it was just short for announcer, but everybody knows her by the nickname Tokyo Rose, Tokyo Rose.  That’s what she use on the air, and after the war ended, she was anxious to come back home.  She was really excited to not only come back home but to tell the story.

A reporter reached out to her, promising her $2,000 for an interview to tell her story.  Well, she wanted to go home.  Two thousand dollars, she didn’t have the money to go home, and that was it.  It was her ticket home.  So she agreed to the interview because after all, she’s an American citizen.  She told her story.  She said the POWs and me, we didn’t go along with the Japanese propaganda plan.  She was proud of it.  She left the interview thinking this is going to be great, but when the story publication was released, she realized she had been lied to.

It was titled “Traitor’s Pay:  Tokyo Rose got 100 Yen a Month…$6.60.”  As soon as that happened, there was a knock on her door from three officers and a master sergeant from the Army Counterintelligence Corps.  She was under arrest.  She was deemed a traitor to her country.  A traitor?  There was evidence.  The POWs knew, right?

It didn’t stop anybody.  The prosecution plowed forward.  It was the most expensive trial in the United States history up until that time, and why was it so expensive?  Because they had to bribe people and get them to shut up.  She was sentenced to ten years in prison.  She served six years of a ten-year sentence before the witnesses, the POWs, began to admit they were lying during the trial, and this was wrong.

But the damage was already done.  You know Tokyo Rose.  Tokyo Rose was a traitor, right?  You know that.  We all know that.  While she was in prison and torn away from her family, her mother died in a Japanese internment camp.  She had her country stolen from her, both her homeland and her home of America, both of them.  She wasn’t wanted in any place, and it all started with a lie and furthered by lies on top of lies.

How did she possibly go to prison?  Why?  Why did they do that to her?  Well, because the press thought it was a good story.  It was a great story.  Everybody knows Tokyo Rose.  We’re going to get that story, and they already had it written before they ever met her.  And the administration needed good headlines.  There was an election, so putting her behind bars, getting the real bad Tokyo Rose, that worked.

The two groups separately or together, I’m not really sure, they just decided it’s okay to destroy somebody’s life because they knew the truth anyway, and the truth, you know, doesn’t really matter.  The ends justify the means.  So why did I put that story in this book, and how is that relevant to today?  Well, let me show you.  If you know history, you know that it repeats itself.

Do you remember the unemployment story right before the election, just talked about it with Jack Welch?  This is what happened.  Jack Welch, when he saw those numbers, he tweeted this.  He said, “Unbelievable jobs numbers…these Chicago guys will do anything…can’t debate so change numbers.”  He explained his position in an interview.  Listen.

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Jack Welch:  Chris, these numbers are all a series of assumptions, tons of assumptions, and it just seems somewhat coincidental that the month before the election, the numbers go 1/10 of a point below where they were when the president started, although I don’t see anything in the economy that says these surges are true.

As it turns out, they weren’t.  People dog piled.  People in the press, they called him a crazy old man, an unemployment rate truther, an insane crabby lesbian, and then they labeled him finally Conspiracy Jack.  So you know, Jack Welch is one of the most respected men, one of the most respected businessman in American history.  But not anymore.

Just like Tokyo Rose, where does Tokyo Rose go?  Where did Jack Welch go to get his reputation back?  Where does he go?  You see, the media, those people in power, the administration and the media, feel it’s okay.  You can destroy a man’s reputation because it serves a purpose just like Tokyo Rose.

Maybe years from now Jack Welch will be long dead, and nobody will really remember who he was.  And maybe a president of the day will recognize him and say hey, you know, he was right about that, but don’t hold your breath.  It wasn’t until 1976 that Gerald Ford recognized Tokyo Rose and pardoned her, but everybody still thinks of Tokyo Rose as a traitor.

This, this is her microphone that was used to help the Americans and to warn them.  This was taken by somebody who tried to burn Radio Tokyo down.  See, there were five Tokyo Roses, but the one that went to prison was on our side.  History tells a truth.

Today is the 150th anniversary of the Gettysburg Address.  President couldn’t show up, and when he did, Ken Burns is now saying that he specifically asked him to drop the “under God” out from the address.  Maybe he did.  Maybe he didn’t.  I don’t know.  I would’ve never accused him of lying, but I don’t know what the truth is anymore.

Lincoln spoke these words.  This is the Gettysburg Address, spoke these words on these two pieces of paper.  This is a very old copy, by the way, obviously not the real Gettysburg Address.  But he spoke these words.  That’s it.  At a time when America was at its breaking point, America literally hung in the balance, they didn’t know what was true.

He united the country by reaffirming America’s virtues and her commitment to the idea that all men are created equal, that we now here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation under God shall have a new birth of freedom, and that governments of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth.  Lincoln spoke the truth.

Today, we’re lied to.  He died because of that truth.  This is a piece of his bed sheet, and you can see the faded bloodstains here as they took the bed sheet and actually pushed it into his skull trying to stop the bleeding.  People die for the truth, so why don’t we value the truth anymore?  Why don’t people just give you the truth?  Why don’t you say the truth no matter how ugly or scary it is?

Because people are afraid or they don’t have the spine to deal with the problem.  They don’t have the spine to tell their kids you can’t sing.  They don’t know what to do, and so they kick the can down the road.  And some people do it because they can get what they want.  I’ll get free healthcare, doesn’t matter.  We’ll have a nice jobs report.  It doesn’t matter and crush Jack Welch.

Progressives lie because they are taught the ends justify the means.  Hey, ObamaCare is going to be great.  We’ve been trying to get it the right way.  We’ve been trying to convince people.  We can’t convince people.  It’s okay to lie.  You’re going to have to pass it to see what’s in it.  And people are stupid enough to buy it.

Prosecuting Tokyo Rose, it will make America feel good.  It doesn’t matter.  Okay, it’s one person, but it will make the collective feel good.  If we just lie on this one jobs report, we’ll get reelected, and we’ll be able to help people.  The ends justify the means.  This is the book that teaches this.  This is the book that the president taught when he was in college.  They say he was a constitutional scholar, my hat.  He taught this.

This is Saul Alinsky.  This is a copy that was signed by Saul Alinsky.  This is a copy I want to show you right here, the dedication page.  By the way, there’s a reason people don’t use fountain pens anymore, as you can see right here, although it has been freaking people out as I’ve been saying that that’s the sheet from Lincoln all day.

But here he says, “Lest we forget at least an over-the-shoulder acknowledgment to the very first radical, from all our legends, mythology, and history (and who is to know where mythology leaves off and history begins – or which is which), the first radical known to man who rebelled against the establishment and did it so effectively that he at least won his own kingdom – Lucifer.”

I’m sorry, Lucifer is the father of all lies, so if you know that, and you’re still doing this, I know who your father is.  The truth shall set you free, and you know, that’s not actually what was said.  I mean, that’s part of it, but that’s not the entire phrase, the truth shall set you free.  That’s only part of it.

The first part of that line is you will know the truth.  You will know the truth, and everybody does.  Everybody does.  You just have to stop and think about it.  You will know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.  When that was first uttered, the guys standing around the guy who said that said we’re are not slaves.  We came from Abraham, and we were freed by Moses.  What are you even talking about?

Anybody who lies, cheats, steals, tell this to your children.  I know you already do.  Anyone who hurts someone else is a slave.  We already fought to set men free, died to set men free.  One died to make men holy.  Only the truth works.  Only goodness prevails.  In the end, it does.  Jesus said I just do what I’ve seen my father do, and that’s how you will know me.  And I know you because I know who your father is.  I know you’re only doing what you’ve seen your father do.

It is the choice between good and evil, and it all starts with the simple truth.  It all starts with just doing the right thing.  So the job numbers came out, and they sucked, oh well, that’s the way it is.  There was the lie, the job numbers is down, and then they had to pile another one on, and they destroyed a man.

Don’t be a part of that at all, ever, ever, ever, ever.  Let the chips fall where they may.  The right path is here.  Choose the right path.  The time to choose it is now.  And only the truth leads to freedom.

EXCLUSIVE: Tech Ethicist reveals 5 ways to control AI NOW

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By now, many of us are familiar with AI and its potential benefits and threats. However, unless you're a tech tycoon, it can feel like you have little influence over the future of artificial intelligence.

For years, Glenn has warned about the dangers of rapidly developing AI technologies that have taken the world by storm.

He acknowledges their significant benefits but emphasizes the need to establish proper boundaries and ethics now, while we still have control. But since most people aren’t Silicon Valley tech leaders making the decisions, how can they help keep AI in check?

Recently, Glenn interviewed Tristan Harris, a tech ethicist deeply concerned about the potential harm of unchecked AI, to discuss its societal implications. Harris highlighted a concerning new piece of legislation proposed by Texas Senator Ted Cruz. This legislation proposes a state-level moratorium on AI regulation, meaning only the federal government could regulate AI. Harris noted that there’s currently no Federal plan for regulating AI. Until the federal government establishes a plan, tech companies would have nearly free rein with their AI. And we all know how slowly the federal government moves.

This is where you come in. Tristan Harris shared with Glenn the top five actions you should urge your representatives to take regarding AI, including opposing the moratorium until a concrete plan is in place. Now is your chance to influence the future of AI. Contact your senator and congressman today and share these five crucial steps they must take to keep AI in check:

Ban engagement-optimized AI companions for kids

Create legislation that will prevent AI from being designed to maximize addiction, sexualization, flattery, and attachment disorders, and to protect young people’s mental health and ability to form real-life friendships.

Establish basic liability laws

Companies need to be held accountable when their products cause real-world harm.

Pass increased whistleblower protections

Protect concerned technologists working inside the AI labs from facing untenable pressures and threats that prevent them from warning the public when the AI rollout is unsafe or crosses dangerous red lines.

Prevent AI from having legal rights

Enact laws so AIs don’t have protected speech or have their own bank accounts, making sure our legal system works for human interests over AI interests.

Oppose the state moratorium on AI 

Call your congressman or Senator Cruz’s office, and demand they oppose the state moratorium on AI without a plan for how we will set guardrails for this technology.

Glenn: Only Trump dared to deliver on decades of empty promises

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The Islamic regime has been killing Americans since 1979. Now Trump’s response proves we’re no longer playing defense — we’re finally hitting back.

The United States has taken direct military action against Iran’s nuclear program. Whatever you think of the strike, it’s over. It’s happened. And now, we have to predict what happens next. I want to help you understand the gravity of this situation: what happened, what it means, and what might come next. To that end, we need to begin with a little history.

Since 1979, Iran has been at war with us — even if we refused to call it that.

We are either on the verge of a remarkable strategic victory or a devastating global escalation. Time will tell.

It began with the hostage crisis, when 66 Americans were seized and 52 were held for over a year by the radical Islamic regime. Four years later, 17 more Americans were murdered in the U.S. Embassy bombing in Beirut, followed by 241 Marines in the Beirut barracks bombing.

Then came the Khobar Towers bombing in 1996, which killed 19 more U.S. airmen. Iran had its fingerprints all over it.

In Iraq and Afghanistan, Iranian-backed proxies killed hundreds of American soldiers. From 2001 to 2020 in Afghanistan and 2003 to 2011 in Iraq, Iran supplied IEDs and tactical support.

The Iranians have plotted assassinations and kidnappings on U.S. soil — in 2011, 2021, and again in 2024 — and yet we’ve never really responded.

The precedent for U.S. retaliation has always been present, but no president has chosen to pull the trigger until this past weekend. President Donald Trump struck decisively. And what our military pulled off this weekend was nothing short of extraordinary.

Operation Midnight Hammer

The strike was reportedly called Operation Midnight Hammer. It involved as many as 175 U.S. aircraft, including 12 B-2 stealth bombers — out of just 19 in our entire arsenal. Those bombers are among the most complex machines in the world, and they were kept mission-ready by some of the finest mechanics on the planet.

USAF / Handout | Getty Images

To throw off Iranian radar and intelligence, some bombers flew west toward Guam — classic misdirection. The rest flew east, toward the real targets.

As the B-2s approached Iranian airspace, U.S. submarines launched dozens of Tomahawk missiles at Iran’s fortified nuclear facilities. Minutes later, the bombers dropped 14 MOPs — massive ordnance penetrators — each designed to drill deep into the earth and destroy underground bunkers. These bombs are the size of an F-16 and cost millions of dollars apiece. They are so accurate, I’ve been told they can hit the top of a soda can from 15,000 feet.

They were built for this mission — and we’ve been rehearsing this run for 15 years.

If the satellite imagery is accurate — and if what my sources tell me is true — the targeted nuclear sites were utterly destroyed. We’ll likely rely on the Israelis to confirm that on the ground.

This was a master class in strategy, execution, and deterrence. And it proved that only the United States could carry out a strike like this. I am very proud of our military, what we are capable of doing, and what we can accomplish.

What comes next

We don’t yet know how Iran will respond, but many of the possibilities are troubling. The Iranians could target U.S. forces across the Middle East. On Monday, Tehran launched 20 missiles at U.S. bases in Qatar, Syria, and Kuwait, to no effect. God forbid, they could also unleash Hezbollah or other terrorist proxies to strike here at home — and they just might.

Iran has also threatened to shut down the Strait of Hormuz — the artery through which nearly a fifth of the world’s oil flows. On Sunday, Iran’s parliament voted to begin the process. If the Supreme Council and the ayatollah give the go-ahead, we could see oil prices spike to $150 or even $200 a barrel.

That would be catastrophic.

The 2008 financial collapse was pushed over the edge when oil hit $130. Western economies — including ours — simply cannot sustain oil above $120 for long. If this conflict escalates and the Strait is closed, the global economy could unravel.

The strike also raises questions about regime stability. Will it spark an uprising, or will the Islamic regime respond with a brutal crackdown on dissidents?

Early signs aren’t hopeful. Reports suggest hundreds of arrests over the weekend and at least one dissident executed on charges of spying for Israel. The regime’s infamous morality police, the Gasht-e Ershad, are back on the streets. Every phone, every vehicle — monitored. The U.S. embassy in Qatar issued a shelter-in-place warning for Americans.

Russia and China both condemned the strike. On Monday, a senior Iranian official flew to Moscow to meet with Vladimir Putin. That meeting should alarm anyone paying attention. Their alliance continues to deepen — and that’s a serious concern.

Now we pray

We are either on the verge of a remarkable strategic victory or a devastating global escalation. Time will tell. But either way, President Trump didn’t start this. He inherited it — and he took decisive action.

The difference is, he did what they all said they would do. He didn’t send pallets of cash in the dead of night. He didn’t sign another failed treaty.

He acted. Now, we pray. For peace, for wisdom, and for the strength to meet whatever comes next.


This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

Globalize the Intifada? Why Mamdani’s plan spells DOOM for America

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If New Yorkers hand City Hall to Zohran Mamdani, they’re not voting for change. They’re opening the door to an alliance of socialism, Islamism, and chaos.

It only took 25 years for New York City to go from the resilient, flag-waving pride following the 9/11 attacks to a political fever dream. To quote Michael Malice, “I'm old enough to remember when New Yorkers endured 9/11 instead of voting for it.”

Malice is talking about Zohran Mamdani, a Democratic Socialist assemblyman from Queens now eyeing the mayor’s office. Mamdani, a 33-year-old state representative emerging from relative political obscurity, is now receiving substantial funding for his mayoral campaign from the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

CAIR has a long and concerning history, including being born out of the Muslim Brotherhood and named an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation terror funding case. Why would the group have dropped $100,000 into a PAC backing Mamdani’s campaign?

Mamdani blends political Islam with Marxist economics — two ideologies that have left tens of millions dead in the 20th century alone.

Perhaps CAIR has a vested interest in Mamdani’s call to “globalize the intifada.” That’s not a call for peaceful protest. Intifada refers to historic uprisings of Muslims against what they call the “Israeli occupation of Palestine.” Suicide bombings and street violence are part of the playbook. So when Mamdani says he wants to “globalize” that, who exactly is the enemy in this global scenario? Because it sure sounds like he's saying America is the new Israel, and anyone who supports Western democracy is the new Zionist.

Mamdani tried to clean up his language by citing the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, which once used “intifada” in an Arabic-language article to describe the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. So now he’s comparing Palestinians to Jewish victims of the Nazis? If that doesn’t twist your stomach into knots, you’re not paying attention.

If you’re “globalizing” an intifada, and positioning Israel — and now America — as the Nazis, that’s not a cry for human rights. That’s a call for chaos and violence.

Rising Islamism

But hey, this is New York. Faculty members at Columbia University — where Mamdani’s own father once worked — signed a letter defending students who supported Hamas after October 7. They also contributed to Mamdani’s mayoral campaign. And his father? He blamed Ronald Reagan and the religious right for inspiring Islamic terrorism, as if the roots of 9/11 grew in Washington, not the caves of Tora Bora.

Bloomberg / Contributor | Getty Images

This isn’t about Islam as a faith. We should distinguish between Islam and Islamism. Islam is a religion followed peacefully by millions. Islamism is something entirely different — an ideology that seeks to merge mosque and state, impose Sharia law, and destroy secular liberal democracies from within. Islamism isn’t about prayer and fasting. It’s about power.

Criticizing Islamism is not Islamophobia. It is not an attack on peaceful Muslims. In fact, Muslims are often its first victims.

Islamism is misogynistic, theocratic, violent, and supremacist. It’s hostile to free speech, religious pluralism, gay rights, secularism — even to moderate Muslims. Yet somehow, the progressive left — the same left that claims to fight for feminism, LGBTQ rights, and free expression — finds itself defending candidates like Mamdani. You can’t make this stuff up.

Blending the worst ideologies

And if that weren’t enough, Mamdani also identifies as a Democratic Socialist. He blends political Islam with Marxist economics — two ideologies that have left tens of millions dead in the 20th century alone. But don’t worry, New York. I’m sure this time socialism will totally work. Just like it always didn’t.

If you’re a business owner, a parent, a person who’s saved anything, or just someone who values sanity: Get out. I’m serious. If Mamdani becomes mayor, as seems likely, then New York City will become a case study in what happens when you marry ideological extremism with political power. And it won’t be pretty.

This is about more than one mayoral race. It’s about the future of Western liberalism. It’s about drawing a bright line between faith and fanaticism, between healthy pluralism and authoritarian dogma.

Call out radicalism

We must call out political Islam the same way we call out white nationalism or any other supremacist ideology. When someone chants “globalize the intifada,” that should send a chill down your spine — whether you’re Jewish, Christian, Muslim, atheist, or anything in between.

The left may try to shame you into silence with words like “Islamophobia,” but the record is worn out. The grooves are shallow. The American people see what’s happening. And we’re not buying it.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

Could China OWN our National Parks?

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The left’s idea of stewardship involves bulldozing bison and barring access. Lee’s vision puts conservation back in the hands of the people.

The media wants you to believe that Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) is trying to bulldoze Yellowstone and turn national parks into strip malls — that he’s calling for a reckless fire sale of America’s natural beauty to line developers’ pockets. That narrative is dishonest. It’s fearmongering, and, by the way, it’s wrong.

Here’s what’s really happening.

Private stewardship works. It’s local. It’s accountable. It’s incentivized.

The federal government currently owns 640 million acres of land — nearly 28% of all land in the United States. To put that into perspective, that’s more territory than France, Germany, Poland, and the United Kingdom combined.

Most of this land is west of the Mississippi River. That’s not a coincidence. In the American West, federal ownership isn’t just a bureaucratic technicality — it’s a stranglehold. States are suffocated. Locals are treated as tenants. Opportunities are choked off.

Meanwhile, people living east of the Mississippi — in places like Kentucky, Georgia, or Pennsylvania — might not even realize how little land their own states truly control. But the same policies that are plaguing the West could come for them next.

Lee isn’t proposing to auction off Yellowstone or pave over Yosemite. He’s talking about 3 million acres — that’s less than half of 1% of the federal estate. And this land isn’t your family’s favorite hiking trail. It’s remote, hard to access, and often mismanaged.

Failed management

Why was it mismanaged in the first place? Because the federal government is a terrible landlord.

Consider Yellowstone again. It’s home to the last remaining herd of genetically pure American bison — animals that haven’t been crossbred with cattle. Ranchers, myself included, would love the chance to help restore these majestic creatures on private land. But the federal government won’t allow it.

So what do they do when the herd gets too big?

They kill them. Bulldoze them into mass graves. That’s not conservation. That’s bureaucratic malpractice.

And don’t even get me started on bald eagles — majestic symbols of American freedom and a federally protected endangered species, now regularly slaughtered by wind turbines. I have pictures of piles of dead bald eagles. Where’s the outrage?

Biden’s federal land-grab

Some argue that states can’t afford to manage this land themselves. But if the states can’t afford it, how can Washington? We’re $35 trillion in debt. Entitlements are strained, infrastructure is crumbling, and the Bureau of Land Management, Forest Service, and National Park Service are billions of dollars behind in basic maintenance. Roads, firebreaks, and trails are falling apart.

The Biden administration quietly embraced something called the “30 by 30” initiative, a plan to lock up 30% of all U.S. land and water under federal “conservation” by 2030. The real goal is 50% by 2050.

That entails half of the country being taken away from you, controlled not by the people who live there but by technocrats in D.C.

You think that won’t affect your ability to hunt, fish, graze cattle, or cut timber? Think again. It won’t be conservatives who stop you from building a cabin, raising cattle, or teaching your grandkids how to shoot a rifle. It’ll be the same radical environmentalists who treat land as sacred — unless it’s your truck, your deer stand, or your back yard.

Land as collateral

Moreover, the U.S. Treasury is considering putting federally owned land on the national balance sheet, listing your parks, forests, and hunting grounds as collateral.

What happens if America defaults on its debt?

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Do you think our creditors won’t come calling? Imagine explaining to your kids that the lake you used to fish in is now under foreign ownership, that the forest you hunted in belongs to China.

This is not hypothetical. This is the logical conclusion of treating land like a piggy bank.

The American way

There’s a better way — and it’s the American way.

Let the people who live near the land steward it. Let ranchers, farmers, sportsmen, and local conservationists do what they’ve done for generations.

Did you know that 75% of America’s wetlands are on private land? Or that the most successful wildlife recoveries — whitetail deer, ducks, wild turkeys — didn’t come from Washington but from partnerships between private landowners and groups like Ducks Unlimited?

Private stewardship works. It’s local. It’s accountable. It’s incentivized. When you break it, you fix it. When you profit from the land, you protect it.

This is not about selling out. It’s about buying in — to freedom, to responsibility, to the principle of constitutional self-governance.

So when you hear the pundits cry foul over 3 million acres of federal land, remember: We don’t need Washington to protect our land. We need Washington to get out of the way.

Because this isn’t just about land. It’s about liberty. And once liberty is lost, it doesn’t come back easily.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.