Author: Karen Givens

The case against Aaron Spencer was dismissed after a judge found law enforcement misconduct so serious — including a lost dash camera memory card that might have shown the shooting — that the prosecution could not continue, even as the facts of the night and Spencer’s role in local politics remain in the spotlight. A Special Circuit Court judge in Arkansas threw out the second-degree murder charge against Aaron Spencer, saying law enforcement conduct surrounding key evidence was disqualifying. The missing dash camera memory card was central to the judge’s finding that the state could not meet basic due process…

Valentina’s story shows how a child’s life with Down syndrome can be full of meaning, and it challenges the idea that not being typical makes life less worth living. Families face real decisions when a diagnosis lands on the table, and what matters most are the people who will love that child. Choosing to welcome a child like Valentina changes routines, expectations, and sometimes plans, but it also opens a life you couldn’t have imagined without them. There are hard conversations that happen in hospital rooms and clinics, and there are quiet ones at kitchen tables late at night. Medical…

The House on Wednesday approved a 215-208 resolution that would require Congress to authorize continued military action against Iran, a vote carried by four Republican defectors alongside nearly every Democrat and now headed to the Senate with a likely presidential veto looming. The House vote was 215-208 and it would force the removal of U.S. Armed Forces from hostilities against Iran unless Congress explicitly authorizes military action. Reps. Thomas Massie, Brian Fitzpatrick, Tom Barrett, and Warren Davidson joined Democrats in backing the resolution, and Rep. Jared Golden of Maine broke from his earlier pattern to support this version. The measure…

Secretary of State Marco Rubio faced Congress to lay out a foreign policy agenda focused on the rising instability in the Middle East and the dangers posed by Iran, and he pushed back when members of the other party pursued trivial lines of questioning. Marco Rubio appeared before lawmakers to explain a Republican plan for a firmer U.S. posture on global threats, with Iran at the top of the list. He framed the discussion in terms of deterrence, protecting American forces, and supporting regional partners. The hearing shifted between serious strategic debate and partisan theater. Rubio did not shy from…

This piece looks at the political logic behind a strategy of clearing the field inside a party so a single figure can take on the opposition, and why many Republicans saw it as necessary for winning against Democrats. Conservatives who backed a forceful primary approach argued that internal contests were not personal vendettas but tactical moves to build a cohesive, results-oriented party. They viewed fractures with establishment Republicans as obstacles that would hand Democratic opponents easy wins. From that angle, a decisive primary system weeds out candidates who can’t stand up to left-wing narratives or deliver conservative policy. For many…

Dr. Mehmet Oz told reporters that CMS believes roughly 35 percent of Affordable Care Act enrollees “may not be legit,” a figure that could mean five to six million people are on the rolls without using coverage, and he tied the surge in enrollment to an agency decision to stop strict verification. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz laid out a sharp allegation at a White House briefing: a huge slice of ACA enrollment may be illegitimate. He put the estimate at roughly 35 percent, translating to an estimated five to six million people whose premiums…

International Playbook on Mass Migration Rolls Into Poland examines how coordinated migration strategies long used elsewhere are now targeting Poland, spotlighting legal pressure, NGO networks, and cross-border manipulation that threaten national sovereignty and social cohesion. “International Playbook on Mass Migration Rolls Into Poland” reads like a warning more than a headline. Conservative observers see familiar tactics moving east: legal and organizational playbooks that first reshaped Spain and Ireland are now in motion near Warsaw. The question is whether Poland, proud of its Catholic and nationalist identity, will defend its borders or yield to pressure. The tactics are not subtle. Activist…

This piece examines a federal court’s intervention in Alabama’s congressional map process and argues, from a Republican perspective, that such judicial moves disrupt state authority, election planning, and voter representation as the 2026 contests approach. ‘Here, the District Court interposed itself into Alabama’s ongoing efforts to conduct its imminent 2026 congressional elections under maps that its elected representatives selected.’ That sentence captures why conservatives view this as a serious separation of powers issue. When judges step in to reconfigure maps drawn by the people’s representatives, it looks less like impartial law and more like policy by judges. State legislatures, not…

Graham Platner still has an active Kik profile that includes a sexually suggestive photo and was created in 2016, even though his campaign says he deleted the app; that matters because Kik has a documented child-safety problem and has been tied to convictions in Maine. The revelation comes as reports say Platner sent explicit messages to multiple women while married, and his team has not explained why the account remains live. Voters and opponents are left asking basic, unresolved questions about judgment and transparency. A review found Platner’s Kik profile still online, showing a photo of his naked torso with…

A clear-eyed look at the fallout from a highly charged claim about indigenous school burial sites, examining how media narratives, political incentives, institutions, and communities responded in the five years that followed. Five years after Canadian liberals incited a moral panic about “mass graves” of indigenous schoolchildren, almost no one will admit it happened. That sentence still cuts through the fog because it captures how a narrative was built, amplified, and then quietly unwound without many public confessions. The claim reshaped conversations about history, accountability, and media responsibility across Canada and abroad. The first reaction was political, predictable and loud.…