Author: Mandy Matthews

Young attendees at AmericaFest repeatedly raised affordability, immigration, and the sanctity of life as the leading concerns driving their engagement and votes. The mood at AmericaFest showed a generation frustrated with rising costs and looking for practical solutions that restore economic opportunity. Young people described day-to-day pressures from housing, tuition, and basic household expenses that squeeze their budgets. That pressure pushes voters toward policies promising relief and responsibility. Affordability dominated conversations because it’s immediate and measurable in people’s lives, not an abstract talking point. Attendees talked about rent hikes, grocery bills, and student debt as obstacles to starting families and…

A Clayton County resident who moved from the Bahamas 30 years ago admitted during a Dec. 9 State Election Board (SEB) hearing that she has voted multiple times, raising questions about noncitizen voting and election oversight. Melanie Pickett, a Bahamian native and Clayton County resident, told state officials at the Dec. 9 State Election Board (SEB) hearing that she has cast ballots on more than one occasion since arriving in Georgia. The disclosure landed in a highly charged environment where Republicans have been demanding tighter election integrity measures. It also put a spotlight on local registration and verification practices that…

Quick summary: I will explain the Mercosur-EU trade push, report Lula’s timing, note local protests, highlight economic and political concerns from a Republican perspective, and outline the likely hurdles before any January signing. Brazil is once again in the spotlight as leaders push to finalize a major trade pact. “Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said on Saturday he hopes the massive free-trade deal between South American bloc Mercosur and the European Union will be signed in January.” That timetable sounds bold given the political and procedural challenges ahead. The proposed pact would touch billions in goods and services…

Newly released documents contain photos that show former President Bill Clinton in a hot tub, a swimming pool and seated near a young woman aboard Jeffrey Epstein’s private jet, placing the former president back into the spotlight as questions about elite connections and accountability resurface. The documents made public this month include images that place Bill Clinton in close proximity to Jeffrey Epstein, the convicted sex offender whose social circle drew scrutiny for years. In the pictures, Clinton appears in a hot tub, by a swimming pool and sitting near a young woman on Epstein’s private plane, and those plain…

America once packed a train to celebrate its story, and now the same idea faces modern legal roadblocks as planners try to mark the 250th anniversary. During America’s bicentennial, seven million Americans visited John Wayne’s ‘Freedom Train’ exhibit to celebrate America, but for America’s 250th, legal hurdles threaten to stop the Freedom Train in its tracks. That memory of mass civic enthusiasm shows what a shared national moment can look like when logistics and goodwill line up. Today, organizers say the landscape is far more complicated. The challenges are bureaucratic, legal, and cultural all at once. Permitting rules, liability concerns,…

The role of military chaplains has always been to provide spiritual steadiness, moral guidance, and a sense of purpose to service members facing intense stress and danger. Chaplains serve as a unique bridge between faith and the military mission, offering rituals, prayers, and pastoral care that many troops find steadying in crisis. Their presence can shape how a unit handles fear, loss, and moral uncertainty without replacing medical or psychological support. This piece looks at what chaplains bring to units and how that contribution interacts with pluralism and secular options. On deployment, soldiers face questions that go beyond tactics: meaning,…

Salem Radio Network announced Alex Marlow and Scott Jennings will take over the influential noon to 3 p.m. ET slot once held by Charlie Kirk, beginning January 5, as Kirk’s show shifts into a podcast format and Turning Point continues producing content in other forms. The conservative radio landscape is shifting after the tragic assassination of Charlie Kirk on September 10, and Salem moved quickly to name two recognizable voices to the high-profile midday block. This slot has long been a linchpin for conservative talk, previously occupied by figures with national reach. Salem’s decision aims to maintain momentum and keep…

The Department of Health and Human Services says it will move against states, hospitals, and companies that promote what it calls “gender transition” care for minors, outlining a set of accountability steps and signaling heightened scrutiny from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The announcement arrived Thursday morning and landed as a clear warning to providers and state programs that serve Medicaid and Medicare populations. HHS framed the actions as necessary to protect young patients while CMS staff described plans to use federal leverage to review practices and coverage. The administration emphasized enforcement tools already available to the agency.…

Newly declassified FBI and DOJ documents reveal a tangled investigation into the Uranium One sale, stalled leadership decisions, and lingering questions about the Clinton Foundation’s financial ties during a sensitive national security review. The released records expose internal fights and leadership delays that slowed down a probe into whether donations to the Clinton Foundation affected the sale of 20% of America’s uranium production capacity to Rosatom, a Russian state-owned company. Those tensions inside the FBI and DOJ paint a picture of investigators pushing while higher-ups hesitated. The Uranium One transaction unfolded during the Obama administration’s push for a reset with…

A loose, abstract idea of American identity leaves the country untethered and weakens the shared sense of citizenship that holds a republic together. A disembodied notion of American identity means that America is really nothing at all, and no one is really an American. That sentence cuts to the heart of a problem conservatives see when identity becomes an empty concept, detached from law, history, and civic duty. When identity loses its content it becomes a slogan, not a framework for responsible citizenship. The result is a nation where attachment is optional and accountability is rare. American identity should be…