The UN once defended the oppressed. Now it defends the powerful.



I should be dead. Buried in an unmarked grave in Romania. But God had other plans.

As a young attorney living under Nicolae Ceaușescu’s brutal communist regime in the 1980s, I spent my life searching for truth in a regime of lies. I found it in the Bible — forbidden in my country. I answered the divine call to defend fellow Christians facing persecution in an ungodly land.

If the United Nations is to mean anything again, it must rediscover the courage that once gave refuge to dissidents like me.

For that “crime,” I was kidnapped, interrogated, beaten, and tortured. I spent months under house arrest and came within seconds of execution when a government assassin pointed a gun at me. I survived and fled to the United States as a political refugee.

The UN once stood for something

In his recent address to the 80th session of the U.N. General Assembly, President Donald Trump said the organization “has tremendous potential — but it’s not even close to living up to that potential.” He’s right.

When the United Nations was founded in 1945, its mission was noble: to promote peace, security, and human rights worldwide. It was meant to be a platform for honest dialogue, a beacon for humanitarian action, and a voice for the voiceless.

It once lived up to that promise. During the Cold War, the U.N. amplified the voices of dissidents behind the Iron Curtain and gave cover to lawyers like me defending Christians in communist courts. Its support for human rights cases in Romania helped expose Ceaușescu’s tyranny to the world.

That international pressure saved my life and countless others.

Bureaucracy replaced moral courage

Today’s U.N. bears little resemblance to that courageous institution. It has become paralyzed by bureaucracy and corrupted by politics. Instead of defending the oppressed, it often defends the powerful — or looks away altogether.

In Nigeria, Syria, and Yemen, millions suffer while the U.N. Security Council stalls over procedural votes. Permanent members protect their allies, veto resolutions, and block humanitarian intervention. Political calculations routinely outweigh moral imperatives.

When the institution created to prevent genocide can’t even condemn it, the crisis isn’t merely diplomatic — it’s spiritual.

Reform begins with courage

President Trump has proposed bold changes to restore the U.N.’s relevance. He called for adding permanent Security Council members — emerging powers such as India, Brazil, Japan, and Germany — to reflect modern realities and make the council more decisive.

He urged the U.N. to prioritize global security and counterterrorism while aligning its agenda with the legitimate interests of free nations. First lady Melania Trump, addressing the same assembly, launched Fostering the Future Together, a coalition promoting education, innovation, and children’s welfare.

These initiatives could help revive the U.N.’s moral voice and refocus it on its founding purpose: defending the oppressed and restraining the oppressors.

RELATED: Trump strongly defends Christianity at UN: ‘The most persecuted religion on the planet today’

Photo by seechung via Getty Images

Faith and courage still matter

My own survival came down to faith. When Ceaușescu sent an assassin to kill me, he pulled a gun and said, “You have ignored all of our warnings. I am here to kill you.”

In that moment of terror, I prayed: “Come quickly to help me, my Lord and my Savior.” Peace replaced panic. I began sharing the gospel.

That armed killer, confronted with God’s word, lowered his weapon, turned, and walked away. Today, he is a pastor — serving the same faith he once tried to destroy.

The lesson is simple: Hearts can change. Institutions can too. But it takes conviction.

If the United Nations is to mean anything again, it must rediscover the courage that once gave refuge to dissidents like me. It must speak for the enslaved, the persecuted, and the forgotten — not for dictators and bureaucrats.

God spared my life so I could keep fighting for truth. The U.N. was part of that story once. It can be again — if it remembers why it was born.

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Low utility middlemen in the Trump administration are feeling left out again, and so they’re back to anonymously moaning to the news media. This time they’re ragging on White House Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and his peacemaking efforts with Russia and Ukraine. Politico on Friday quoted several unnamed “U.S. and foreign officials and other people” […]

Why do bureaucrats and judges rule when ‘we the people' hold power? Levin’s ‘On Power’ reveals all



“Individual and human rights, liberty, and equality predate governments because they do not originate from governments.”

This is a line out of Mark Levin’s new book, “On Power” — a deep dive into the nature of power, its historical roots, and its impact on liberty and governance in America.

It’s also a reiteration of the most critical part of the Declaration of Independence: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”

“Those two sentences are so important,” says Levin.

He explains that this idea that “God is sovereign and God's children on earth are His sovereign children” is what distinguishes America – a “fusion of the Judeo-Christian value system” and “the Enlightenment” — from “Marxism and all the isms.” We the people get to decide how we’re governed.

If this is who America is, then why do we have bureaucrats and unelected judges calling so many of the shots?

“The bureaucracy has nothing to do with the consent of the governed,” Levin condemns, castigating the unelected judges and bureaucrats who continue to “devour the powers of the executive.”

This clash between America’s founding principles of individual liberty and the opposing ideology of centralized control by unaccountable powers is unsustainable, he argues.

“The basis for America’s founding and the ideology of the American Marxists are utterly incompatible,” he says, pointing to the “power struggle that exists today and has for 100 years or more” between worldviews about individual liberty and centralized control.

Levin’s “On Power” calls for reclaiming the consent of the governed, urging Americans to resist encroachments on their God-given rights by unaccountable powers, echoing the revolutionary spirit of the Declaration.

If you haven’t already, get your copy today.

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In 6 months, Donald Trump has done the impossible



President Donald Trump released a video highlighting his landmark accomplishments over the past six months — and the results speak for themselves. While the media fixates on negative polls and manufactured controversy, this period marks one of the most dramatic political turnarounds in recent memory. Now is the time to take stock of what conservatives have achieved — victories that once seemed unimaginable.

Reining in gender radicalism

Nowhere has the shift been more profound than in the fight against gender ideology. Just five years ago, opposing male athletes in women’s sports brought swift condemnation from corporate boards, activist groups, and political elites. Today, the momentum has flipped.

This is no time to coast. The next phase demands aggressive follow-through. Now it’s about willpower and execution.

Americans no longer feel compelled to nod along as ideologues insist that men can become women — or vice versa. This change didn’t happen because it polls well. It happened because we reclaimed a basic principle: truth.

The same country that once put a Supreme Court justice on the bench who couldn’t define “woman” now has a federal government unafraid to say, “That’s a chick.”

That shift marks a massive cultural victory. A few years ago, it felt impossible. Now, it reflects a growing national trend — a long-overdue return to reality in public life.

Securing the border

Border enforcement has taken a decisive turn. For years, Americans watched as federal officials failed to act, leaving the southern border wide open and allowing criminal networks to thrive. That era has ended.

Under President Trump, the government began doing what it should have done all along. Targeted enforcement raids have sent a clear signal: Illegal immigration won’t be ignored, and those here unlawfully face consequences. Self-deportation has increased. Illegal crossings have declined.

The policy works — and the message is unmistakable.

This marks more than just a policy shift. It’s a cultural and political turning point. Americans now recognize that a secure border isn’t just possible — it’s essential. National sovereignty is back on the table.

A resurgent economy

Trump’s economic agenda has delivered real results. When he returned to office, the nation was still stuck in the inertia of the post-COVID economy and the slow-growth legacy of the Obama-Biden years. That changed quickly.

Trump’s signature 2017 tax cuts, now made permanent, have sparked renewed business investment, job creation, and wage growth. These are the largest tax cuts in U.S. history — and they’re doing what they were designed to do: make American companies more competitive and American families more prosperous.

Meanwhile, the Trump administration has broken the regulatory chokehold that once blocked vital infrastructure and energy projects. Nuclear plants are coming back online. American energy is rising — without relying on foreign regimes.

This pro-growth agenda doesn’t just create jobs. It revitalizes the core of the American economy: workers, builders, producers, and risk-takers. By slashing taxes, limiting government overreach, and putting American interests first, the Trump administration has reignited prosperity — and buried the stagnation of the past.

Peace through strength

Trump has reshaped American foreign policy with bold, decisive leadership. For decades, presidents vowed to stop Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon. None followed through. Trump did.

He launched targeted strikes, enforced crippling sanctions, and shattered the illusion that diplomacy alone would stop Iran’s ambitions. Critics warned of escalation. But Trump understood what past leaders refused to admit: Weakness invites aggression. Strength deters it.

His response proved the U.S. will defend its national interest — no matter the cost.

RELATED: Justice at last? Obama intel chiefs face fallout from Russia hoax

Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images

Trump didn’t just contain Iran. He rewrote the rules of diplomacy in the Middle East. The Abraham Accords shattered decades of failed orthodoxy, establishing historic peace deals between Israel and its Arab neighbors. The foreign policy establishment said it couldn’t be done. Trump did it anyway.

He also forced NATO allies to pay their fair share — a long-overdue correction. For years, U.S. taxpayers carried the burden of Europe’s defense. Trump ended the freeloading and demanded real commitments.

Together, these achievements mark a dramatic departure from the weak, consensus-driven diplomacy of the Obama-Biden era. Trump hasn’t just restored credibility on the world stage. He’s proven that America leads best when it leads with resolve.

Just the beginning

These past six months have delivered a series of political and cultural victories many thought out of reach. A year ago, they seemed impossible. Today, they’re reality.

But this is no time to coast.

The next phase demands aggressive follow-through — especially on immigration. Trump must solidify the gains made on border security and ensure illegal immigration remains in retreat. The infrastructure exists. Now, it’s about willpower and execution.

Foreign policy also demands continued focus. The world remains volatile, and America needs a president who won’t hesitate to defend U.S. interests. Trump has shown he can meet that challenge. He must keep doing so — with clarity, strength, and resolve.

And then there’s spending. The left hasn’t let up. Democrats want more programs, more debt, more control. Trump’s tax cuts delivered real growth, but long-term stability means confronting the bloated federal bureaucracy and forcing Congress to spend less — not more.

The first half of 2025 brought a revolutionary shift. We reversed trends that once looked permanent. We reclaimed cultural and political ground that had been written off.

But none of it will last without vigilance. To secure lasting change, conservatives must stay engaged, focused, and relentless. The future won’t protect itself. We have to do it — now.

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Waste management, Italian-style



Did you know ancient Rome was "sustainable"?

Romans probably didn't use that exact buzzword, but apparently, they were recycling pioneers. When they weren't creating a mountain made out of garbage, that is.

In Italy, you don’t have one trash can in your house, you have five. Yes, five separate trash cans for the different kinds of trash you accumulate throughout your day.

As someone who's been to Italy recently, I can tell you that that legacy of recycling lives on. Frankly, it's a mixed bag.

If fact, the convoluted waste disposal system in that beautiful Mediterranean peninsula is the perfect embodiment of the current state of Europe.

Garbage in, garbage out

In America, you take your trash, and you throw it in the can underneath the kitchen sink. Then, when that bag is full, you take it out and throw it in the big can that you set out next to your driveway every week. It’s a simple system. Understandable and logical.

In Italy, you can’t just throw your trash — any trash! — in the bin next to the fridge.

No, in Italy you don’t have one trash can in your house, you have five. Yes, five separate trash cans for the different kinds of trash you accumulate throughout your day. You have one for carta (paper), one for umido (organic materials), one for plastica (plastic), one for vetro (glass), and one for barattoli (metals).

Of course, five different trash cans means five different trash days. Better not miss!

But the fun doesn't stop there: The days aren’t the same every week.

Trash talk

In some towns, they are in a state of continual change. Just when you've gotten used to Monday being umido day, they switch it up to vetro. Until they decide it should be plastica.

Not to worry. You can always print out a schedule from the local trash office. Just remember to dispose of it on carta day.

In Italy, managing your garbage is basically a part-time job.

And it’s not only the trash. There are a bunch of other systems and regulations that basically force you to waste time doing pedantic, pointless tasks, filling out some arbitrary paperwork that will be read by no one but you are legally required to file anyway, or going to the doctor to get a note verifying that you are healthy enough to go to the gym (yes, this is a real requirement to sign up for a gym membership in Italy).

All these reasons, and many more, are why they don’t get anything done there.

Come si dice 'start-up'?

I love Italy. It is, without a doubt, one of my favorite places to visit. But it’s just the truth that Italians don’t really get anything done these days. Their economy is in a perpetual state of struggle, no one has kids, and I am not even sure there is a word for entrepreneur or start-up in Italian.

This isn’t just speculation. A good friend in Italy has informed me that the official position of the government is to, more or less, discourage small business and further entrench the larger established corporations started more than half a century ago.

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Athanasios Gioumpasis/Getty Images

Europe today is basically a museum. It’s the most beautiful museum there is, but it’s a museum. It’s not because the people are actually incapable of doing anything. It’s not because Europe as an entity is inherently incapable of seizing its destiny. All our Western history and culture up to a certain point came from Europe. America sprouted from Europe.

But no one in Europe can do anything today because everyone there suffers under an obscene, time-wasting, Kafkaesque bureaucracy perfectly exemplified by the ludicrous trash system in Italy.

One big museum

Yes, of course, many there are content with this system. Quite a few really do believe that separating the trash into five bins is a normal part of life and a sign that a society cares for the environment, the future, the children, and Mother Earth ... or something like that.

You might be thinking that separating the trash doesn’t sound like that big of a deal. You might be of the opinion that I’m just a stick-in-the-mud, resisting something just because it’s new. You might imagine that it can’t really take that long. You may say, “So big deal, you just take a little longer with the garbage, you just plan ahead a little more.”

That might sound right if you are doing this whole separating business one time as a fluke, but when you apply this system to everyday life, over and over again, with no escape, it wears people down.

That’s one of the ways European over-regulation turns society into an ossified museum. It’s not just the fact that it is legally difficult to do many things that should not be legally difficult to do. It’s that the pointless inconveniences created by the over-regulation wear people down mentally. At scale, over time, the trash (and every other absurd system similar to the trash) takes a toll on people. The very spirit of a people becomes different.

Move slow and repair stuff

Many of the regulations in Europe are designed to protect something. Sometimes it’s the environment, sometimes it’s the traditional architecture, sometimes it’s the people. Those things are all fine. Most of us care about protecting those things to some degree.

But you can take protection too far, and if you protect too many things too much, society ends up feeling like a museum where you look but don’t touch. That’s kind of how it feels for many Europeans.

You know those speed bumps they put on residential roads so that you slow down? Imagine if those were everywhere, on every road. That’s kind of what all the overbearing regulations feel like. That’s the general kind of system at every level.

If “move fast and break things” is American, “move slow and sometimes repair stuff” is European. It’s good to repair stuff, it’s nice that Europe maintains much of its cultural inheritance. Perhaps, that’s its role in our era, one of a museum curator. And the Italian trash system and its demand that you fastidiously separate your waste is, in some strange way, related to that spirit.

But that’s not our role in America. That’s not our spirit. We aren’t a museum, we look and touch and change. We don’t have time to waste separating the trash. We have things to do, stuff to build, a future to seize. And the truth is, I’m not sure you can do any of those things if you spend all your time and energy separating your trash into five careful little bins.

Career feds act like they’re the ones running the country



It shouldn’t have to be said, but here we are: No, it is not normal for federal employees — whether career staff, political appointees, or otherwise — to defy the direction of the president of the United States.

It doesn’t matter which party is in power. It doesn’t matter if you disagree with the president on a certain policy. Short of a murderous dictatorship or truly Constitution-threatening administration (and regardless of what they say on Bluesky, this isn’t that), the powers of the executive branch are vested in a president. All federal employees work for the president and have a duty to the American people to see their will enacted through each new administration.

Those who are fearful of losing their coveted and protected government jobs are gnashing their teeth at the sight of real accountability.

You wouldn’t know it, however, watching the second Trump administration.

Amid the streamlining of the federal government, many federal employees have taken aim at Trump’s policies mandated by the American people. Some may actually be motivated by their understanding of the Constitution or their love of country. But given the years of malfeasance in the Beltway, few deserve the benefit of the doubt.

Most are federal employees looking to save their comfortable jobs and pampered skin. These employees are so entrenched that they believe they are entitled to their jobs on the taxpayers’ dime — with one recently going as far as to claim that the Trump administration shows “disrespect” to federal employees.

Entitlement runs deep

Their resistance goes beyond Trump-era deregulation. Many of these same employees continue to complain about returning to the office after COVID-era stay-at-home orders — something the private sector largely resumed years ago. They claim that going back to their federal workplace is an “arbitrary punishment.”

Worse, the corporate left-wing media is attempting to spin the lack of resources at these bloated offices on the Trump administration, as if the previous president hadn’t allowed wanton remote work.

At the center of this bureaucratic backlash is President Trump’s push to reinstate Schedule F — a policy that would reclassify certain federal employees to make them more accountable to the executive by placing them more directly under the president’s purview.

Naturally, the federal employees ringing alarm bells about this policy are the same ones who want to retain the litany of job protections not afforded to people in the private sector. Redesignating certain staff as Schedule F employees ensures that those working in the government aren’t phoning it in and collecting a paycheck for decades on end.

RELATED: When bureaucrats rule, even red states go woke

cmannphoto via iStock/Getty Images

This isn’t a new problem. Both Trump administrations have faced internal resistance from the civil service. But so did the Biden administration. Though Joe Biden didn’t see nearly as much resistance as Trump, the scenarios were just as egregious.

Arguably the most high-profile issue that spurred federal workers to buck Biden was Israel’s war against the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas after the deadly anti-Semitic attacks in Israel on October 7, 2023. Some federal employees didn’t just protest the Biden administration’s stance on Israel’s war outside the White House; they staged a walkout in support of the war-fighting Islamic terrorists who hate America. A U.S. airman even immolated himself in protest.

These instances underscore a significant problem facing the federal government: federal employees who believe themselves both above the policies of the presidents they serve and more knowledgeable than the American people who decide our leadership.

It doesn’t matter which party or president is in power — those who are fearful of losing their coveted and protected government jobs are gnashing their teeth at the sight of real accountability.

When bureaucrats act like they’re above democratic accountability, they not only weaken presidential authority, but they also jeopardize the nation’s credibility on the world stage. In doing so, they erode the trust Americans place in their government.

While it’s imperative that federal workers speak out in the face of actual constitutional danger from any administration that seeks to upend our nation, the actions undertaken by federal employees in the current and previous administrations severely run the risk of the American people viewing all federal workers as boys and girls who cry wolf.

Perhaps some of these individual revolts are emotional reactions to perceived injustices or policy blunders. It’s tempting to see a pattern in their occurrences and the media lionization of the malcontents. But wisdom says never to attribute to malice what you can to incompetence.

The BLT that broke my brain (and exposed a bigger problem)



When the system can’t make a sandwich, what else is it failing to do?

My wife had just come out of her 98th surgery. It was 10:30 p.m. She hadn’t eaten in nearly 24 hours — and all she wanted was a BLT.

Something simple. Familiar. A sandwich she’s ordered many times before from the patient menu when things ran on schedule.

But this time, the kitchen had closed.

She’d been NPO for nearly 24 hours. (That’s short for nil per os — Latin for “y’all don’t eat or drink nothin’.”)

No food. No coffee. No comfort. Just waiting around with dry lips and an empty stomach until anesthesia wears off and the all-clear is given.

So she turned to me and asked, “Can you go down to the grill and get me one?”

I went downstairs to the hospital’s after-hours grill — the one that stays open for staff and visitors — and asked the cook, “Hey, could I get a BLT?”

Fixing this begins by teaching people that they’re allowed to see the person in front of them.

Let me paint the picture for you.

There was a giant pan of cooked bacon right in front of me. Tomatoes. Lettuce. Bread. All present. All visible. All just sitting there.

But instead of a sandwich, I got a blank stare — followed by: “That’s not on our menu. We don’t have a way to charge for that.”

I even tried to explain: “I’ve got money. Please. Just make the sandwich and charge me whatever you want.”

Nothing. Just more blank stares and quiet helplessness — as if I had asked them to get Prince Harry back into the will.

That was the moment bureaucracy made me want to walk into the sea.

And I was in Colorado!

A little humanity, please

I wasn’t trying to be difficult. I wasn’t asking for seared ahi tuna with a drizzle of truffle oil. I was just trying to bring a woman — who had just survived her 98th surgery — the comfort of a bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwich at the end of a long, painful day.

They had the bacon.

They had the bread.

They had the hands.

But because there wasn’t a billing code for it, it could not be done.

I didn’t argue — much. I didn’t throw a fit. I just didn’t have it in me.

Sure, I could have ordered the bacon cheeseburger and said, “Hold the burger and cheese.”

RELATED: When the soul flatlines, call a ‘Code Grace’

LattaPictures via iStock/Getty Images

But I was tired — besmirched by 13 hours of hospital noise and fluorescent lights. I wasn’t thinking like a work-around guy. I was feeling like a husband who had just watched his wife survive another operation — and who just wanted to bring her comfort food before midnight.

The manager on duty saw me trying to explain — saw the look on my face, probably — and graciously had mercy on me.

No forms. No debate. Just a sandwich.

I left with a BLT, deep gratitude for that manager — and a sigh. One person made it right, but the system still made it harder than it should have been.

If we can’t make a sandwich for a post-op patient, what else aren’t we doing?

The bigger problem

That moment wasn’t just about a sandwich. It was a snapshot of the country we’re living in — where solutions exist, but systems won’t allow them.

  • You want to fix a clerical error with the IRS? Good luck.
  • You want to talk to a live representative? You might have better odds getting RFK Jr. to share an Uber with Anthony Fauci.

America was built by people who hated “we can’t” — and yet we now tolerate “that’s not how we do it.” And somehow, we’ve come to accept this as normal.

There’s something spiritually corrosive about a system that erases people to elevate process.

We see it everywhere — health care, government, schools, even churches.

But what if “good enough for government work” isn’t good enough any more?

Where reform begins

Systems don’t change just because we complain. They change when people remember how to care.

The problem isn’t just that the forms are too long (which they usually are).

It’s that no one feels responsible.

Of course, deflection of responsibility goes all the way back to the garden — where Adam and Eve tried to pass the blame instead of owning their failure.

Fixing this doesn’t begin with a new workflow diagram or a subcommittee hearing.

It begins by teaching people that they’re allowed to see the person in front of them. See the need. See the moment. See the opportunity.

When Jesus saw people, He didn’t ask if they had a referral or a code. He didn’t ask what department handled the lepers.

He stopped. He touched. He healed. He saw the person, not the system.

If we want to model that — whether we’re surgeons, pastors, nurses, cashiers, representatives, senators, or grill cooks — we start by doing the simplest, most human thing: We see the person in front of us. And we make the sandwich.

Even if it’s not on the menu.

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