Timothy Snyder’s “On Tyranny” has become a pocket-size gospel for progressives in the age of Trump — a secular catechism of 20 rules to resist looming fascism. It’s pitched not just as a historical analysis but as an urgent survival guide, borrowed from the dark lessons of the 20th century. The message is clear: Authoritarianism is always just one election away, and Donald Trump is its orange-faced harbinger.

Such moral urgency unmoored from historical context tends to collapse into political theater, however. “On Tyranny” is not a serious book. It is an emotive pamphlet that relies less on the actual historical complexities of rising tyranny than on the reader’s willingness to conflate MAGA hats with brownshirts.

Snyder believes a tyrant is always the populist outsider, never the insider who manages democratic decline in a suit and tie.

Such historical flattening is the first and most obvious flaw in Snyder’s argument. He leans heavily on the atrocities of Nazi Germany and Stalinist Russia to suggest that Trump’s rise follows the same trajectory. But this is not serious analysis — it’s emotional manipulation. It’s one thing to warn against patterns; it’s another to flatten every populist movement into a prequel to genocide.

Snyder, a Yale historian, surely knows better. But “On Tyranny” depends on your feeling like you're living in 1933 — whether or not such historical parallels are actually true. And they’re not.

A democratic mandate

Snyder warns against the rise of a single leader claiming to represent the will of the people and establishing a one-party state — equating the 2016 Republican sweep of the White House and both chambers of Congress to Hitler’s consolidation of the Third Reich. Such a comparison isn’t just blatantly false; it’s a cruel dismissal of the democratic will of the people for merely voting in Republican candidates.

Surely Snyder didn’t accuse Barack Obama of fascist one-party rule when he and the Democrats swept the White House and Congress in 2008. Such electoral outcomes aren’t a harbinger of fascism. No, no! That was a mandate from the American people, democratically spoken, demanding change from the status quo. Voters sent that message loud and clear in 2008 — as well as in 2016 and 2024.

Snyder’s false equivalency counts on fear rather than critical thinking — any semblance of which would entice Democrats to pause for a moment of self-reflection and listen to what the American people are saying through the electoral process. But Snyder’s one-sided alarmism silences the electoral voice — merely because it rallied behind Trump.

Civic theater

Snyder’s advice to citizens reads like a secular sermon: “Defend institutions.” “Stand out.” “Be calm when the unthinkable arrives.” On the surface, it sounds noble — defiant, even. But strip away the aesthetic of resistance, and what’s left is a deeply superficial understanding of civic virtue.

What exactly are we defending when we’re told to “support the press” or “protect truth”? In practice, Snyder’s rules amount to an uncritical loyalty to legacy institutions that have forfeited public trust — media outlets that gaslight, bureaucracies that bloat, and experts who contradict themselves while silencing dismissive voices.

Snyder dismisses the possibility that institutions can rot from within, that the loudest defenders of “truth” are often its gravest opponents. Instead, he offers something simpler: the feeling of resistance while catering to the institutional elites.

The real culprits

The irony of “On Tyranny” is that the tactics Snyder warns against — censorship, moral panic, political conformity — have not come from MAGA rallies but from the very institutions Snyder holds up as guardians of democracy. It wasn’t Trump who quashed dissenting speech on COVID-19 or colluded with social media companies to throttle viewpoints that didn’t conform with the government’s narrative. It was the political elite and their complicit peddlers in the mainstream media and social media companies.

Unfortunately for Snyder’s brand, tyranny doesn’t always wear a red hat. Sometimes it comes in the name of “safety,” or “science,” or “social justice.” Sometimes it cancels you over a social media post, not because you’re dangerous, but because you’re not sufficiently obedient.

If Snyder were genuinely concerned with authoritarianism in all its forms, he might have warned against this progressive impulse to control thought and punish deviation. Instead, he gives it cover — because the real threat, in his mind, is always the populist outsider, never the insider who manages democratic decline in a suit and tie.

Less performance, more courage

Snyder is right about one thing: democracies don’t die overnight. But they do die when fear replaces thought, when virtue becomes branding, and when citizens outsource their moral judgment to bureaucracies and mainstream news.

“On Tyranny” offers the illusion of courage but none of the substance. It is performance art disguised as resistance. To preserve freedom, we should defend institutions and champion truth. But that requires holding corrupt actors in such institutions accountable, whether it be within the federal government or legacy media. That was the democratic mandate communicated loud and clear in 2024, and if Snyder were genuinely concerned about defending democracy, he would listen.

Dictator, thief, puppet: Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s 3 strikes revealed

The mountain of lies about Ukraine is beginning to crumble under the weight of the truth. The media-crafted façade of Ukraine as a beacon of democracy — and Volodymyr Zelenskyy as the Winston Churchill of our time — is disintegrating. February’s disgraceful Oval Office meeting between President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance, and the Ukrainian dictator revealed Zelenskyy’s true character.

After Trump made it clear that Ukraine would never join NATO, Zelenskyy responded with open defiance, vowing NATO membership would happen anyway. His message was clear: The war must go on — regardless of the cost to his people. From the beginning, NATO expansion into Ukraine has been the root provocation behind Russia’s so-called "special military operation."

The United States and NATO have waged a proxy war against Russia and for globalism.

This week, Zelenskyy removed any lingering doubt about his intent. He outright rejected President Trump’s peace proposal, effectively sabotaging any meaningful negotiation.

An illegitimate president

Retired Col. Douglas Macgregor recognized Zelenskyy’s role as a puppet early in the war — stunning mainstream media. He sees Zelenskyy as the “globalist enemy within” — undermining any chance for peace. To achieve the most direct path to peace, Macgregor has urged Trump to immediately stop all military and financial aid to Ukraine, dump Zelenskyy, and pull out all American personnel — in or out of uniform.

Zelenskyy’s term expired last May, but he canceled presidential elections to remain in power. Donald Trump has called out Zelenskyy as a “dictator without elections” — and that’s not even the half of it.

Zelenskyy has shut down all nongovernment-controlled media, banned opposition parties, jailed dissidents, and reportedly had critics kidnapped, tortured, or killed. He’s ordered thugs to snatch thousands of men off the streets and shove them into the trenches. He’s outlawed the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, jailing its priests. Meanwhile, his government and military remain riddled with neo-Nazis — a fact the media refuses to address.

Zelenskyy also uses Ukrainian lawfare to lock up members of his own party when they speak out against his corruption.

Dissent silenced

Oleksandr Dubinsky was elected to the Ukrainian Parliament as a member of Zelenskyy’s Servant of the People Party. He is the only MP to speak out against the criminal regime. Dubinsky states, “I’m currently fighting a politically motivated case, filed by Zelensky's [sic] regime, to silence my criticism of his corruption, as well as the corruption of Soros-backed NGOs and the Bidens' connections to Burisma.” In November 2023, Dubinsky was arrested, charged with treason, and thrown into prison, where he remains awaiting trial. From his prison cell, Dubinsky has called for Zelenskyy’s impeachment and announced his intention to run for president — assuming elections are ever allowed again.

In a Kyiv courtroom in February, Dubinsky exposed the SBU, Zelenskyy’s secret police, for their brutal arrest, imprisonment, torture, and murder of American independent journalist Gonzalo Lira — whose only crime was criticizing both the Zelenskyy and Biden regimes.

In a remarkable prison interview, Norwegian scholar Glenn Diesen spoke with Dubinsky — who knows Zelenskyy well. In 2019, both men were allies when Zelenskyy ran as a peace candidate promising normalized relations with Russia. But Dubinsky broke ranks once Zelenskyy aligned with globalist interests, collaborated with the neo-Nazis, and embraced full-on corruption and criminality.

Dubinsky provides a deep insight into Zelenskyy’s motives and exactly who is pulling his strings. “Zelenskyy is the product of the efforts of globalist and liberal elites who saw the war in Ukraine as a tool to consolidate their own power,” Dubinsky said. “Ukraine has become the last stronghold of globalism and Zelenskyy is its figurehead.”

This war has never been about Ukraine. The United States and NATO have waged a proxy war against Russia and for globalism. The ultimate objective of the international globalists — and American neoconservatives — is to destroy and break up Russia. Dubinsky contends there is “no goal of securing Ukraine’s victory. The only objective is to prolong the war.” And their immediate goal? To “undermine President Trump’s peace initiatives.”

Thirty years ago, George Soros conjured up the sinister strategy of sacrificing European Slavs to fight a proxy war with Russia. “The combination of manpower from Eastern Europe with the technical capabilities of NATO,” he wrote, “reduce the risk of body bags for NATO countries.” In Ukraine, the globalists found Zelenskyy, who, for 30 pieces of silver, has obliged, filling NATO body bags with his countrymen.

Before entering politics, Zelenskyy’s day job was as a comedic television actor. Dubinsky, well-versed in Zelenskyy’s theatrics, noted that his Oval Office appearance in February — including his costume choice — was “a deliberate performance designed to sabotage negotiations.” Mission accomplished.

A neocon’s dream

The globalists and neocons set a trap. Trump walked into it — and now, he must walk back out.

I still believe Trump sincerely wants to disengage from Ukraine and bring peace. But if he allows American military and financial support of the Zelenskyy dictatorship to continue, any peace will be impossible. Since his inauguration, the president has talked about peace in Ukraine but has maintained the Biden status quo. That’s not going to cut it now.

Trump won because he was the peace candidate with a revolutionary anti-war, anti-globalist pledge: “There must ... be a complete commitment to dismantling the entire globalist neocon establishment that is perpetually dragging us into endless wars.” This was a bombshell. But as the initial shock of Trump’s victory has worn off and the commitment to dismantle the neocon establishment has not been acted upon, the “globalist neocon establishment” has regrouped and is back on the attack.

In Europe, Zelenskyy and his globalist masters in the European Union and NATO openly defy Trump, calling for a prolonged war and NATO membership for Ukraine. Here at home, neoconservatives at all levels of the military-industrial-congressional complex — and their mainstream media — openly undermine him.

In April, Gen. Christopher Cavoli, commander of U.S. European Command and NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander Europe, testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee to report on the status of the war. In a profoundly dishonest presentation, Cavoli made a case for prolonging the war and avoiding a negotiated settlement.

Cavoli’s remarks were an inspiration to Zelenskyy and a slap in the face to Trump. The fact that he could defy and insult his commander in chief with total impunity reveals just how deeply entrenched the neocon power structure remains.

Dictator, thief, and globalist puppet

To save Ukraine — and his presidency — Trump must break free from the neocons and globalists once and for all and stop all aid to Ukraine.

People are beginning to understand who Zelenskyy really is. My previous essays made clear that he is a dictator and a thief. Now, we know that he is also a globalist puppet sabotaging peace in Ukraine. Three strikes, and you’re out.

The next American revolution is happening — will you be part of it?

These are remarks adapted from the closing keynote at the Heritage Foundation’s Annual Leadership Conference, which took place earlier in April in Naples, Florida.

Conservatives have been given a generational opportunity — a once-in-a-lifetime chance to shift our country’s trajectory back toward people and values that Washington has for too long left behind. The five values that Ronald Reagan espoused when he won the Republican Party’s presidential nomination in 1980 are “family, work, neighborhood, peace, and freedom.” More than any time since Reagan, those values are making a comeback. “Rejoice in hope,” St. Paul tells us in his letter to the Romans. How could we not?

This is our moment to truly shape America’s future.

But this should be our rallying cry, not a victory lap.

Because the left’s counter-fight is coming, and our response will determine whether last November was the high-water mark of the new conservative movement or simply the first triumph in America’s greatest comeback — whether we squander this moment in history, or whether we seize it.

Conservatives have the opportunity, the mandate, and the plans to rise to the occasion. The only question is whether, in these turbulent days, we have the vision to put those plans into action and the grit to see them through despite doubts and adversity.

Mandates from the past

When I think about how the conservative movement should respond to this moment, I look for lessons from our past. And lately, I’ve found myself thinking a lot about one of my heroes from the founding era: Patrick Henry.

Two hundred and fifty years ago last month, Henry stood up at St. John’s Church in Richmond, Virginia, and delivered one of the great speeches in American history. Everyone remembers its most famous line: “Give me liberty or give me death.” That one always hits home.

But another sequence in that speech resonates even more specifically with us now. Henry’s speech was not just a call to revolution. In his mind, the colonies had already passed that point. “The war is actually begun,” he said, whether Americans realized it or not. He was calling for the courage to see it through — to push past fear in the face of a powerful adversary.

“They tell us, sir, that we are weak,” Henry said, “unable to cope with so formidable an adversary. But when shall we be stronger?”

The question still resonates: When shall we be stronger?

Six months from now, when the left throws everything it has in Virginia and New Jersey, or 18 months from now, when we head into the midterms, shall we gather strength while sitting on our hands? Will we stand by as our president weathers a hurricane of criticism? Shall we watch quietly as our majorities in Congress sidestep the most critical issues facing our country? Will we pass by the working families who wait for Washington to deliver them from a woke culture, a weaponized government, and a rigged economy?

Of course not. We have worked too long and too hard to squander this opportunity. Now is the moment conservatives can enact permanent policy change, not just half-a-loaf compromises: rebuild our economy, our military, and our local communities to answer the challenges of the coming generation.

This is our moment — not just to win elections or temporary 51-49 majorities — but to truly shape the future. This is our generation’s shot to secure a new birth of freedom. To write a new chapter in the American story — one that begins with courage and ends with victory.

The left is regrouping

But as extraordinary as this moment is, it will be just as fleeting. If we do not seize it now, it will slip through our fingers and won’t come back for a long time. And what comes next would be worse than anything we have yet endured.

The left hasn’t changed. Leftists may rewrite their talking points, but the writing on their hearts is the same. They’re still elitists who disdain the Constitution, globalists who scorn national sovereignty, and woke theocrats who reject religious liberty, parental rights, moral truth, and scientific fact.

They are already regrouping, re-funding, and reasserting their power. Their victory in the Wisconsin Supreme Court race was not a fluke. They still control the media and elite institutions, and they are going to weaponize both for as long as they can.

That is why conservatives cannot sit back. We must stay in the fight — and open new fronts in it.

Will we rise up?

Two hundred and fifty years later, Americans still face Patrick Henry’s question: When shall we be stronger?

At the Heritage Foundation, we have an answer.

We’ll be stronger every time we stand on principle — and for America and Americans. When we act with the urgency and courage this moment demands, when we realize the future is ours to win or to squander, when we understand that neither the left, China, media, nor any other adversary can defeat us, our only downfall is our own timidity and complacency.

Just consider: What do we think the other side wants us to be doing right now? What do Planned Parenthood, the teachers’ unions, George Soros, Hillary Clinton, Kamala Harris, and MSNBC want us to do right now?

Nothing. They want us complacent, fat, and happy — just like good establishment Republicans. They want us to think the last six months are all we need and all we can hope for. They want us basking in the success of 2024, eating popcorn, and watching Fox News while they storm the field.

Well, I’m sorry to disappoint them.

The Heritage Foundation is not sitting this one out. Donald Trump and JD Vance are not sitting this fight out. And I know you won’t either.

We can’t. The moment is too important. The stakes are too high. Last November’s historic victory was only the beginning. The next chapter in America’s history is ours to write. Whether we fight or not will be our generation’s story — what our children and grandchildren learn about us.

A time to act

I can’t help but think that if Patrick Henry were alive today, he would look at President Trump and his entire administration and be convinced that the American dream is still possible to revitalize. And that dream isn’t just about an idea, as noble as that idea is. It’s about a real place — where you were born and are likely to be buried. It’s a place our children and grandchildren and generations after us — God willing — will be born and buried.

This providential moment we’ve been given to save this republic and revitalize America gives honor to all those who came before us — wherever they were from — who, in their last moments, were as grateful as you and I are to call ourselves Americans.

Canadian feds to sieze iconic 'Big Red' as Freedom Convoy persecution rolls on

On Friday, Saskatchewan truck driver Chris Barber took to X and posted a photo of "Big Red," his 2003 Kenworth W900Lr. With it, he included a reminder of Canada's upcoming federal election April 28.

"This is my livelihood, the breadwinner that has kept my family fed for years, and the crown seeks to destroy my life and future because we took a stand against tyranny. Government overreach at its finest. Our Canada under #Liberal rule!!!!! Vote smart #Canada"

The Convoy was the largest peaceful protest in Canadian history, and these proceedings now hold the title of longest mischief trial in the history of the nation.

As one of the faces of 2022's Freedom Convoy, the largest and most effective populist uprising in recent history, Barber has been subject to three years of vicious lawfare from the Liberal-controlled Canadian government.

And now that same government wants to take "Big Red," which has become a symbol of the Convoy.

The truck stops here

On Thursday, April 3, a ruling came down in an Ottawa courtroom against Barber and another prominent Convoy protester, Tamara Lich, a grandmother and musician from Alberta.

Ontario Court Justice Heather Perkins-McVey gave her final judgments on a number of charges stemming from the three-week protest in February 2022, where Barber, Lich, and thousands of others exercised their once-cherished rights to freedom of expression, hurting no one and causing no property damage as they demanded to meet Prime Minister Justin Trudeau or his underlings and negotiate an end to Trudeau’s punishing COVID regime.

Perkins-McVey acknowledged the peaceful nature of the protest in her ruling, despite presiding over 45 days of government testimony spread across 20 months in a Kafka-esque show trial where the government argued over the minutiae of TikTok videos and the meaning of slogans such as “Hold the Line!”

Court-sanctioned 'mischief'

This entire situation has been one for the record books. The Convoy was the largest peaceful protest in Canadian history, and these proceedings now hold the title of longest mischief trial in the history of the nation.

Prosecutors failed to convince Perkins-McVey of most of their cases against Lich and Barber, who were found not guilty of intimidation, along with other fraudulent and spurious charges.

Lich and Barber were, however, found guilty of mischief, and Barber additionally was found guilty of disobeying a court order regarding the honking of truckers’ air horns, which became a rallying cry of the protest and an instant online meme. Barber had made a video telling his followers to honk their horns in defiance of the order if, and only if, their trucks were approached by a large group of police officers. This context didn’t move Perkins-McVey.

The problem with mischief, as a criminal charge in Canada, is that it is a “property” crime, and a conviction can land you in prison for a maximum of 10 years.

What was the property here? The public property of the streets of Ottawa.

Hamas exception

In a very peculiar part of the ruling, McVey asserts that the public’s enjoyment of the use of city streets took precedence over the Convoy’s right to protest. It ought be noted that since the tragic events in Israel in October 2023, supporters of Hamas have protested every single week, unencumbered by the government, nor have they been accused of interrupting the enjoyment of those streets.

At the conclusion of the ruling, Justice Perkins-McVey sought to issue sentencing the following day, but on the objection of the prosecutors, a later date was set to … set another date.

Prosecutors wanted time to assemble more victim impact statements, as if three years of hearing from Ottawa’s bureaucrats about the delusions of phantom honking wasn’t enough to assemble them all. Maybe they needed to hear about the honking again, just one more time. In case anyone forgot.

'Red' notice

On April 16, we found out the punishment that the crown seeks against Lich and Barber is two years in a federal clink, and, in a request that is clearly vindictive and requires an essay of its own to unpack, the crown is seeking to seize “Big Red.”

Barber’s rig had become a symbol of the Freedom Convoy, featured in thousands of pictures, videos, and memes, as it led the Western Canadian Convoy to Ottawa. Barber has owned and operated that truck since 2003 and put 3.4 million kilometers (roughly 2.1 million miles) on it, mostly hauling heavy agricultural equipment across his home province of Saskatchewan and picking up new equipment from factories in America for his customers.

In the 22 years Barber has owned and operated that truck, he has raised his children in it over trips too many to count, and when his dog Buddy was approaching the end of his life, the poor old dog was put down while lying on the passenger seat: Buddy's favorite place to be.

With the mischief conviction, Barber may not be allowed back into the United States to serve his customers, a pretty major blow to his business — and punishment enough, in a way.

A new low

What justice is served in this move by the Canadian government? In all the hundreds of prosecutions of other Convoy protesters, many of which remain ongoing, never has the government sought to seize anyone’s property.

Perhaps authorities did enough of that during the protest itself, when they froze hundreds of people’s bank accounts and locked them out of economic life altogether, something that likewise happened to Barber. The actions of the banks were so comprehensive that drivers working for Barber’s small company were calling him when the bank freezings started, to tell him the fuel cards for their trucks no longer worked.

It seems like the government is trying to send a message to every Canadian that dissent will not be tolerated at all and that if you defy the government diktat, the authorities will crush you, your family, and your very own business.

Barack Obama famously dismissed the efforts of American business owners with his comment, “You didn’t build that.” It seems that the Canadian government, under the Liberal Party of the very recently departed Justin Trudeau, is building on Obama’s attitude.

He built that

It doesn't matter that Chris Barber did build something. Never mind the time and blood and sweat and sacrifice he put into his successful small trucking company. Our leaders can come and take it all away with the swipe of a pen.

Truly and terribly evil — and unbecoming a once supposedly free country.

Lawyers for Barber have filed for a stay of proceedings. It’s a pretty long shot, but if granted, this gross abuse of state power and capricious message-sending will be stopped.

Meanwhile, in a TikTok video thanking his supporters, Barber paid tribute to "Big Red:"

I bought this truck brand-new in 2003, November 26 to be exact, and I've got 3.4 million kilometers on this truck as of today. I have raised my children in this truck. I have trucked all over North America with this bad boy. It is a piece of me. It even has the little foot marks from where Jonathan as a toddler used to kick the dash with his little winter boots in the car seat.

Click here to watch the message in its entirety.

A version of this article previously appeared on the Autonomous Truck(er)s Substack.

Land of the free? Parents ARRESTED after refusing to vaccinate 9-month-old baby

America may be sold as the land of the free, but after the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families ripped five children from their parents' arms for allegedly refusing to vaccinate their 9-month-old baby — the word “free” seems to mean very little.

The parents, Israel Rivera and Ruth Encarnacion, were then arrested for “familial kidnapping” last month when they took their children and fled to Texas to escape the DCF.

This all began when the family’s pediatrician filed a 51A “neglect” report when the parents declined vaccination for their baby boy on religious grounds — despite the fact that Massachusetts does allow religious exemptions for childhood vaccination, and the pediatrician reported the baby boy as healthy.

“In Massachusetts, you are legally, as a parent, allowed to decline vaccines. There’s no mandate that can force you to vaccinate your child. You have a right to a religious exemption,” Liz Wheeler of “The Liz Wheeler Show” comments.

The Department of Children and Families then left a notice on the family’s front door of their apartment demanding to be let into the home in order to inspect the living situation. The parents refused, and frightened, hid.

The police came back the next day, and the family was so scared that they left and fled to Texas.

“They believed they would have more freedom to exercise their religious beliefs because though Massachusetts told them they had a right to a religious exemption to the vaccine mandate for children, that wasn’t what was happening,” Wheeler explains.

When a family member reported the family missing, the DCF filed a care and protection petition, which is an emergency order to take custody of the children away from the parents and give that custody to the state.

The judge granted the order without any due process of law.

Police then hunted down the parents in Texas, arrested them, and charged them with kidnapping their own children. The penalty, if found guilty, would be a $1,000 fine and a year in prison.

“Now, if this sounds egregious to you, it’s because this is beyond egregious,” Wheeler says.

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Trump tears down the woke iron curtain

The return of Donald Trump to the White House has not just shifted the political landscape; it has delivered a cataclysmic blow to the woke iron curtain that suffocated free thought and meritocracy across America. This ideological fortress, erected by the apostles of progressive extremism, has crumbled under the relentless assault of Trump’s bold leadership, exposing the lunacy of woke culture that had brainwashed too many.

For years, we’ve been force-fed a diet of equality of outcome over opportunity, in which schools indoctrinated rather than educated, in which workplaces became battlegrounds of identity politics rather than arenas of productivity. This was not just misguided; it was an affront to the very principles upon which America was built.

Trump’s comeback has not just dismantled this woke iron curtain — it has sparked a cultural revolution.

Trump's executive orders are a fusillade of legal cruise missiles, each one precision-targeted at the heart of this cultural cancer. His re-election was a resounding “no” to the woke narrative, a rejection by an America sick to death of being told how to think, what to say, and how to apologize for existing.

The electorate, fed up with being shamed for heritage, gender, or success, voted for a return to sanity: economic strength, national pride, and the liberty to speak without the sword of cancellation hanging over their heads.

Trump’s immediate actions have been nothing short of revolutionary. By obliterating diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, he’s not just cutting fat — he's excising a tumor that was eating away at the merit-based core of our institutions.

The military, previously distracted by social experiments, is now refocused on its singular purpose: combat readiness. No more will our soldiers be subjected to the absurdity of gender-neutral training or racial sensitivity sessions. They’ll train to win wars, not woke points.

In education, Trump’s administration is purging the curriculum of the poisonous ideologies that turned learning into ideological conformity. The message is clear: Education will once again be about knowledge, not indoctrination.

The most courageous act by Trump so far is his executive order protecting children from chemical and surgical mutilation. This decree not only strips federal funding from medical procedures aimed at altering the sex of minors but also stands as a moral bulwark against the mutilation, sterilization, and irreversible harm to impressionable children. It challenges the so-called “affirming care” narrative by prioritizing the long-term health and well-being of our youth over the radical and shortsighted agendas of activists. This order is a clarion call to protect the innocence and future of our children from the perils of an ideology that would sacrifice their physical integrity on the altar of political correctness.

Hollywood’s flops and corporate backpedaling on woke policies are not accidents; they’re the market's reaction to an America that has spoken. The American public has had enough of being lectured to by celebrities and CEOs who've lost touch with reality.

This historical moment is about rejecting the tyranny of forced conformity in the name of an equality that seeks to level everyone down rather than lift everyone up on merit. It's about restoring the American dream, where success is not dictated by one’s skin color, gender, or pronoun preference but by hard work and talent.

Trump’s comeback has not just dismantled this woke iron curtain — it has sparked a cultural revolution, a reclamation of American identity from the clutches of those who would see it redefined to suit their narrow, divisive agenda.

We are witnessing the rebirth of a nation where diversity of thought is not just tolerated but celebrated, where merit trumps mediocrity, and where America can again proudly stand as a beacon of freedom, not as a petri dish for social experiments.

The fall of the woke iron curtain thanks to Trump's leadership is not just a victory; it's a declaration of independence from the tyranny of wokeism. This is America's moment to reclaim its soul, its strength, and its sanity.

China and Iran wage war on faith, culture, and free expression

Freedom of religion and expression forms the foundation of human dignity, yet authoritarian regimes continue to suppress these fundamental rights. Two of the world’s most oppressive governments, China’s Chinese Communist Party and Iran’s Islamic Republic, follow the same playbook — silencing anyone who challenges their ideological control. The persecution of Shen Yun and the Bahá’í community serves as chilling proof of this shared agenda.

Shen Yun, a globally acclaimed performing arts group, is dedicated to reviving traditional Chinese culture through music and dance. To most, this mission seems harmless — maybe even admirable. But not to the CCP. For the regime, Shen Yun represents defiance. The group celebrates China’s rich spiritual and cultural heritage, aspects the CCP has spent decades trying to erase. Worse still, Shen Yun dares to expose the CCP’s human rights abuses on the world stage.

We cannot allow regimes like China and Iran to decide who gets to exist, which cultures can flourish, and which beliefs are acceptable.

In response, the CCP has waged an aggressive campaign against the group. It spreads propaganda to discredit Shen Yun, sabotages performances worldwide, and launches relentless cyberattacks. Yet, despite lacking government funding or major corporate sponsorships, Shen Yun has defied all odds. It has become an underdog success story, standing strong against one of the most powerful regimes in the world.

This story resonates deeply with me because I have experienced firsthand what it means to live under a regime that fears freedom of thought. I was born into a Bahá’í family in Iran, where the Islamic Republic has waged a decades-long campaign of persecution against the Bahá’ís, the country’s largest non-Muslim religious minority. For the “crime” of practicing their faith, Bahá’ís have been imprisoned, tortured, executed, and systematically denied education and employment.

When I was 11, my family fled Iran, leaving behind our home, community, and everything familiar. We were not activists or threats to the state — we were ordinary people whose only “offense” was believing differently.

That persecution continues today. Just recently, Iranian authorities arrested 13 Bahá’ís, charging them with “proselytizing,” a vague and unfounded accusation the regime routinely uses to justify brutal crackdowns. The message from the government is clear: There is no room for diversity and no tolerance for beliefs that challenge its imposed ideology.

The hypocrisy of these regimes is staggering. The CCP has interned over one million Uyghur Muslims in concentration camps, subjecting them to forced labor, sterilization, and “re-education.” Yet its close ally, the Islamic Republic of Iran — which claims to defend Muslims worldwide — remains silent. This refusal to condemn China’s abuses exposes Iran’s duplicity, proving that its priority is not protecting Islam but consolidating power.

What unites the CCP and the Islamic Republic is their shared fear of cultural and spiritual diversity. Authoritarian regimes thrive on control — of minds, beliefs, and narratives. They target groups like Shen Yun and the Bahá’ís because these groups represent what tyrants fear most: the resilience of the human spirit.

Shen Yun’s performances celebrate the beauty and depth of Chinese civilization, a deeply spiritual heritage the CCP has spent decades trying to erase in its pursuit of ideological conformity. Likewise, the Bahá’í Faith, with its emphasis on unity and justice, challenges the Islamic Republic’s relentless suppression of any belief that could undermine its authority. In both cases, these regimes see cultural and spiritual expression as direct threats to their absolute control.

The stakes in these battles extend far beyond China and Iran. Freedom of religion and expression are universal values, and any erosion of these rights anywhere threatens them everywhere. When authoritarian regimes suppress dissent without consequence, they embolden others to do the same.

I do not write this as an outsider with abstract concerns. My life was uprooted by tyranny. I still remember the fear of living under a regime that hated my family for our beliefs. I will never forget the strength it took to flee that oppression and rebuild a life in freedom.

We cannot allow regimes like China and Iran to decide who gets to exist, which cultures can flourish, and which beliefs are acceptable. Their playbook relies on fear and control, but history has shown that these tactics ultimately fail in the face of courage and solidarity.

Joseph Brodsky: The Soviet poet who loved America — and distrusted 'equality'

“Illness and death are, perhaps, the only things that a tyrant has in common with his subjects. In this sense alone a nation profits from being run by an old man.”

Those words, penned by Joseph Brodsky in 1986, drip with irony.

'To be governed by nobodies,' Brodsky wrote, 'is a far more ubiquitous form of tyranny, since nobodies look like everybody.'

Brodsky, the exiled Russian poet, knew tyranny firsthand. Born under Stalin, shaped under Khrushchev, and later expelled under Brezhnev, he lived through the mechanical cruelty of the Soviet regime. It was a world where dissent wasn’t just suppressed — it was criminalized.

Dropping out

From his earliest years, Brodsky rebelled against the omnipresent symbols of state control. He hated Lenin, tired of seeing his face staring down at him from banners and posters. At 15, he dropped out of school and drifted through a series of odd jobs, including a stint sewing corpses in a coroner's office. This was no teenage rebellion; it was a rejection of a system that demanded total submission.

His poetry, initially apolitical, became his quiet form of resistance. But tyranny has no tolerance for neutrality.

By 24, Brodsky was branded a “malicious social parasite.” A state-run newspaper dismissed his work as “pornographic and anti-Soviet.” Arrest followed. In 1964, he stood trial in a courtroom packed with secret police. The judge mocked him as a “pseudo-poet in velveteen trousers.”

Sentenced to five years of hard labor, Brodsky found himself shoveling manure and breaking rocks in subzero conditions on a northern Russian farm. He served 20 months of this sentence before being released, battered but unbroken.

Returning to Leningrad, he moved into a cramped communal apartment with his parents, their portion a mere 100 square feet. Two blocks away, a young Vladimir Putin grew up in similar conditions, breathing the same stifling air of state control.

In 1972, Soviet authorities raided Brodsky’s apartment and declared him a “non-person.” They exiled him, shoving him onto a plane bound for Vienna. He would never return to Russia.

Go west

Joseph Brodsky found refuge in America, a land he embraced with gratitude and affection. Over the next two decades, he rose to prominence, winning the Nobel Prize for literature in 1987 and serving as the U.S. poet laureate in 1991. His essays and poems grappled with the themes of tyranny and individuality, dissecting power with the precision of a scalpel.

“Tyranny,” he once said, “will make an entire population into readers of poetry.” It was a statement both bleak and hopeful, suggesting that oppression might, at least, awaken the human spirit.

In “To a Tyrant,” Brodsky described a figure both sinister and mundane: an aging dictator, limp-wristed and stoop-shouldered, sipping coffee while fantasizing about raising the dead to bow before him. Tyrants, Brodsky believed, are inherently boring — driven by fear and self-preservation rather than imagination or vision.

But he also recognized the peculiar efficiency of tyranny. At first, it brings order, security, and stability. People embrace it not because they love oppression but because they crave simplicity. Tyranny structures life for you, sparing you the chaos of democracy’s competing voices and the burden of choice.

Yet this order comes at a cost. Tyranny stifles individuality, replacing it with sameness. Over time, even the illusion of participation disappears. Public discourse fades into whispered compliance. Isolation sets in — not just for the people but for the tyrant himself.

In Brodsky’s view, this isolation is the true engine of tyranny. Cut off from genuine human connection, the tyrant grows paranoid, mistaking his fears for reality. Meanwhile, the people, silenced and divided, begin to accept oppression as normal. Suspicion flourishes. Fear of public disgrace or private reprisal keeps everyone in line.

Our better instincts

Tyranny, Brodsky argued, doesn’t always announce itself with violence. More often, it appeals to our better instincts — offering safety, stability, and refuge. It presents itself as an escape from politics, promising a world free of conflict and division.

But this is the great lie. Politics, for all its messiness, is the expression of freedom. It’s where individuality meets community, where ideas collide and evolve. Tyranny erases this complexity, replacing dialogue with directives, choices with commands.

Brodsky saw this dynamic play out in the Soviet Union, but it’s a lesson that transcends time and place. The tyrants of today may not wear military uniforms or deliver fiery speeches. They may look like the rest of us, blending in with the crowd. But their goal is the same: to depersonalize the individual, to turn citizens into subjects.

Brodsky warned that modern tyranny often comes dressed in the language of equality and progress. It replaces the spirit of individualism with the anonymity of the collective. “To be governed by nobodies,” he wrote, “is a far more ubiquitous form of tyranny, since nobodies look like everybody.”

This insight is chilling in its simplicity. Tyranny doesn’t require a single charismatic leader. It can thrive in the hands of a party, a bureaucracy, or even a culture that prioritizes conformity over creativity.

The antidote

For Brodsky, the antidote to tyranny was individualism. But he acknowledged that true individuality is hard work. It requires self-awareness, courage, and a willingness to stand apart from the crowd.

Plato observed that a good ruler is one who can govern himself — a stark contrast to the tyrant, who can control others but not his own impulses. This inability to govern oneself is, perhaps, the defining trait of tyranny. It substitutes violence for power, mistaking brute force for true authority.

And yet, as Brodsky knew, tyranny is always temporary. It collapses under the weight of its own contradictions, unable to sustain the illusion of order indefinitely. When it falls, it’s replaced — not always by something better, but by something new.

The question, then, is not whether tyranny will end but what will come after it. Will we rebuild a society rooted in individuality and mutual respect? Or will we succumb to the same patterns, allowing fear and convenience to guide us back into the arms of another tyrant?

In his lifetime, Joseph Brodsky never stopped asking these questions. He saw tyranny not just as a political problem but as a spiritual one. For him, the fight against oppression began with the soul — with the recognition that freedom is both a right and a responsibility.

“The Last Judgment is the Last Judgment,” he once wrote, “but a human being who spent his life in Russia has to be, without any hesitation, placed into Paradise.”

Blaze News original: Let us never forget how COVID lockdown lunacy, tyranny, and hypocrisy harmed all of us

Earlier this month, Blaze News took a deep dive into the left's reprehensible behavior toward fellow Americans who refused COVID jabs.

Now we're looking at the immense harm that COVID lockdown lunacy, tyranny, and hypocrisy brought upon us all.

'We will crash your party. You will pay a big fine. And we will name & shame you until EVERYONE gets this message into their heads.'

One of the curious parallels within numerous lockdown scenarios in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic was the number of officials, particularly governors, who used the phrases "save lives" and "saving lives" to explain why everybody had to stay home. It's uncanny — as if they were parroting a script. We've bolded such utterances in the forthcoming vignettes.

Then there was the hypocrisy of such elected officials who ignored their own edicts while enforcing them for the rest of us. Such as the Democrat governor who told people to "stay home except for essential activities" — and then was spotted at a wine bar without a mask. Or the Democrat Chicago official caught violating lockdown rules at his restaurant. Or the Democrat mayor of Austin, Texas, who apologized after sending a "stay home" message — from his Mexico vacation spot. Or San Francisco's then-Democrat mayor who said more severe COVID-19 restrictions were on the way after she was caught dining at a fancy restaurant. Or then-mayor of Philadelphia Jim Kenney — as far left as they come — getting called out after he was seen dining inside a Maryland restaurant while eateries in his own city "suffer" from his ban on indoor dining.

Can we go on? You bet we can.

Among the most egregious instances of political leaders' COVID lockdown hypocrisy occurred when then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was busted using a shuttered salon for services despite a lockdown in San Francisco. The far-left politician actually claimed she was "set up" by the salon, and that she was owed an apology rather than the other way around. In the same neck of the woods, photos emerged of far-left California Gov. Gavin Newsom dining unmasked with a large party at a ritzy Napa restaurant. And who can forget when then-Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot got a haircut after banning barbers and salons from opening during the early months of the pandemic. She defended the move by telling critics, "I'm the public face of this city." Then Lightfoot broke her own rules again — and again.

In the meantime, churches and business shut their doors — and many never reopened. Not being able to go outside and being prevented from earning a living and getting cut off from human interaction led to dire consequences. Young people seriously considered suicide. Some carried out the act. Parents' resources were stretched to the limit when their children no longer could attend school in person.

In the end, numerous experts gave lockdowns a failing grade. Johns Hopkins researchers concluded that lockdowns had "little to no effect" on COVID-19 deaths but "imposed enormous economic and social costs." A Stanford medical school professor declared that COVID-19 lockdowns were the "biggest public health mistake we've ever made." Then-U.S. Attorney General William Barr said COVID-19 lockdowns were the "greatest intrusion on civil liberties in American history" besides slavery.

All that said, get ready for more "fun" — and take a look back at some of the worst behavior by those in power against everyday people amid COVID-19 lockdowns.

Never forget.

Michigan suspends license of elderly barber who vowed to keep his shop open until 'Jesus comes.' He was operating in defiance of left-wing Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's COVID lockdown edict.

Michigan state regulators suspended the license of 77-year-old barber Karl Manke in May 2020 after he reopened his Owosso shop in defiance of Democrat Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's stay-at-home orders. Manke had previously vowed to keep his business open until "Jesus comes," his attorney said the state's actions were out of "pure retribution," and it became a national story.

The elderly barber attracted a lot of defenders. Michigan militia members promised to guard him from arrest, and a Shiawassee County Circuit Court judge refused to sign a temporary restraining order against him without first holding a hearing.

When state regulators suspended Manke's license, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel argued that "it is paramount that we take action to protect the public and do our part to help save lives." Nessel later ripped Manke as "not a hero to me" and "not a patriot."

But Manke was undeterred. He told demonstrators on the steps of the state Capitol during "Operation Haircut" — a protest he inspired that featured barbers and stylists giving free haircuts in defiance of Whitmer's social distancing requirements — that the governor's lockdown was akin to Nazis tricking Jews to get into "cattle cars" during Holocaust.

Whitmer also was undeterred. In October 2020 she actually told Chuck Todd on "Meet the Press" that "if you're tired of lockdowns, or you're tired of wearing masks, or you wish you were in church this morning or watching college football or your kids were in-person instruction, it is time for change in this country, and that's why we've got to elect Joe Biden."

The day after Whitmer's campaign stop with Todd, criminal charges against Manke for reopening his barber shop were dropped. By March 2023, Whitmer admitted that her lockdown measures didn't "make a lot of sense" and that "maybe that was a little more than what we needed to do."

New Jersey orders — cough, cough — tulip farm to cease drive-thru tours because it violates left-wing Governor Phil Murphy's COVID executive orders

In April 2020, Dalton Farms in Swedesboro said in a Facebook post that "we were ordered to cease all operations by an Assistant Prosecutor from the State of New Jersey."

At issue was Dalton Farms' popular tulip tours at its 99-acre property, the Cherry Hill Courier-Post reported, adding that the Gloucester County Prosecutor's Office ordered the shutdown because the tours violated Democrat New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy's coronavirus executive orders.

Murphy defended his lockdown policy: "The fact of the matter is this is about saving lives, and we're going to do what we can to save lives."

A week prior to the tulip farm kibosh, Murphy told Fox News' Tucker Carlson that he "wasn't thinking of the Bill of Rights" when he issued an executive order banning gatherings of more than 10 people to stem the tide of COVID-19 — including religious services — which resulted in multiple arrests.

"We are really damned unhappy" about disobedient residents "and we're going to take action," Murphy declared earlier in April 2020, according to the Atlantic City Press. He added to the paper there are "too many people not paying attention" to his order and "we've about had it."

To wit:

Also in April 2020, a woman who organized an anti-lockdown protest outside the New Jersey State House in Trenton was charged with violating Murphy's stay-at-home orders.
Police busted attendees of a bonfire party on the banks of the Pennsauken Creek in Cinnaminson in April 2020 for defying Murphy.
Cops shut down a "corona party" in Rumson in April 2020 featuring 30 middle-aged folks assembled on the front lawn of a house — and spilling into the street — listening to a pair of guitarists perform songs by famed British rock band Pink Floyd.
In late March 2020, police arrested a man for hosting a "corona party" with 47 guests in his 550-square foot apartment in Ewing. "NO CORONA PARTIES. They're illegal, dangerous, and stupid," Murphy declared. "We will crash your party. You will pay a big fine. And we will name & shame you until EVERYONE gets this message into their heads."
Earlier in March 2020, two state residents were arrested for hosting gatherings of over 50 people in defiance of Murphy's executive order. One of the gatherings was a pop-up wedding held at a resident's home.
Brian Brindisi — owner of Lakeside Diner in Lacey Township — in August 2020 told the Asbury Park Press there's no way authorities will stop him from providing indoor service at his establishment despite Murphy's executive orders. "There's only two ways they're going to get me out of here ... in handcuffs or a body bag," Brindisi said, according to the paper.

Oh, and in November 2020, a pair of women cursed out Murphy — who just extended his executive order for COVID-19 restrictions — while he was dining with his family outside a restaurant.

Church members get $500 tickets for sitting in their vehicles with windows closed in church parking lot during radio broadcast of service

In April 2020, members of Temple Baptist Church in Greenville, Mississippi, stayed in their vehicles with the windows rolled up in the church parking lot to listen to Pastor Arthur Scott's sermon on the radio.

They figured that counted as abiding by coronavirus social distancing guidelines — but one couple said police issued them a pair of $500 tickets for not leaving the parking lot. Yes, there's video of police laying down the law.

Democrat Mayor of Greenville Errick Simmons issued an executive order that all church buildings are to be closed for both in-person and drive-in services — and that the Temple Baptist parking lot service was in direct defiance of that order, the Delta Democrat-Times reported.

"It's all about trying to save lives," the mayor added to the paper. "If people continue to gather, it's going to spread."

Patrol boats actually chase ocean paddleboarder — then sheriff's deputies arrest him for defying left-wing California Gov. Gavin Newsom's stay-at-home order

A Malibu paddleboarder was chased down April 2, 2020 — among the earliest days of COVID lockdowns all over America — by patrol boats and arrested for defying California Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom's stay-at-home order. You can view the rather over-the-top video here of the chase and arrest.

By October 2022 — well over two years later — Newsom was still saying that "throughout the pandemic, we’ve been guided by the science and data – moving quickly and strategically to save lives."

Police issue citation, fine woman who was just 'going on a drive' amid coronavirus stay-at-home order

Pennsylvania State Police cited a woman in March 2020 for going on a leisurely drive amid the coronavirus outbreak. According to Pennlive, 19-year-old Anita Shaffer went for a drive just to get out of her house. On her way back, a pair of troopers stopped Shaffer.

During the stop — which the troopers initiated over a faulty taillight and dark window tint — Shaffer told the troopers she was just "going for a drive." The officers responded by writing her a ticket fining her more than $200 for violating Pennsylvania's stay-at-home order.

Then-Gov. Tom Wolf, a Democrat, said in May 2020 that “our actions, our collective decisions to stay at home and avoid social contact – we know that all of that saved lives."

Far-left New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio rules 'no swimming' at beaches for Memorial Day — and anyone caught will ‘be taken right out of the water’

"If you want to walk on the beach, fine," New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said during a May 18, 2020 news conference regarding the upcoming Memorial Day weekend. "But no swimming, no lifeguards, no parties, no barbecues, no sports." He also warned, "Anyone tries to get in the water, they'll be taken right out of the water."

It wasn't immediately clear why swimming, among all beach activities, drew the ire of de Blasio. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there is no evidence that COVID-19 can be spread to people through bodies of water. Though the mayor did add that swimming is dangerous because lifeguards won't be around.

During a March 2020 news conference on COVID-19, de Blasio said, "Our job is now to focus on what we need to do to save lives."

Dallas salon owner sentenced to 7 days in jail, hit with thousands in fines for refusing to close amid COVID-19 — but she gets the last laugh

Shelley Luther, owner of Salon a la Mode, reopened her business on April 30, 2020, in violation of Texas' statewide lockdown of nonessential businesses during the early days of COVID-19. She argued that she was behind on her mortgage and that the government has no right to prohibit citizens from working to provide for their families. In the end she was sentenced to seven days in jail and fined thousands of dollars.

But things soon began to turn in Luther's favor in early May: A GoFundMe page for her received nearly $500,000 in donations after her jailing. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and Gov. Greg Abbott called for her release. Within days Luther was set free.

Soon after her release, Luther entered politics. After initial defeats, Luther — a Republican — won the Texas state House seat for District 62 in November 2024.

California city dumps 37 tons of sand into skate park to prevent kids from skating during coronavirus lockdown

The city of San Clemente, California, filled a skate park — at taxpayer expense — with 37 tons of sand in April 2020 to prevent kids from skating amid the coronavirus lockdown.

"Some kids are very blessed and come from great homes, but on the flip side there are kids who don't come from good homes and there are some skaters who might fall into that category," said Stephanie Aguilar, president of the San Clemente SkatePark Coalition, in a follow-up interview with Blaze News. "For those kids, the skatepark was an outlet."

Cops arrest Idaho mother of 2 for taking her kids to a park that was closed over COVID lockdowns

— (@)

Police in Meridian, Idaho, arrested a mother of two in April 2020 after she violated the city's ban against using playground equipment at a local park amid the COVID outbreak. The arrest was caught on cellphone video. Sara Brady was charged with one count of misdemeanor trespassing.

Blaze Media co-founder Glenn Beck interviewed Brady on his radio program, and she posed the following question: "How can someone like me be considered a criminal because I just wanted to take my kids to the park?"

Interestingly, while Republican Gov. Brad Little issued a stay-at-home order in March 2020, listed among "essential activities" — i.e., permitted — was "outdoor activities." However, gatherings of more than 10 people were not allowed.

New Mexico's Democrat governor fines churches $10,000 each after videos of Christmas Eve services go viral; governor's spokesperson implies pastors are 'pro-virus'

New Mexico's Democrat Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham fined two churches $10,000 each in December 2020 for violating the state's social distancing requirements, and her communications director released a statement accompanying the fine implying that the pastors involved were "pro-virus."

Legacy Church and Cavalry Church — described as "megachurches" by KOAT-TV — both attracted attention after they posted videos on their respective social media sites showing hundreds of attendees gathered singing Christmas carols during Christmas Eve services. Those videos garnered significant attention on social media and ultimately led to news stories from local media outlets, which seems to have prompted the governor's actions.

In November 2020, Grishman stated in regard to her latest COVID stay-at-home order that "I want to save lives."

Sheriff's deputies get ridiculously testy with mother in her yard for letting her daughter 'play at other people's home' amid coronavirus lockdown

A pair of sheriff's deputies in Wisconsin got testy after they showed up outside a woman's home in the spring of 2020 and began lecturing her about the coronavirus — and for your entertainment, the rather unbelievable verbal sparring was all captured on cellphone video.

"Are you aware that we're in a stay-at-home order right now?" the first deputy asked the woman, addressing her as "Amy."

"Yeah, obviously," the woman responded, clearly astounded by the elementary question.

"By the government of Wisconsin?" he continued.

"Yes, I am aware," she replied.

"OK, you're aware of that? So I don't need to explain that to you?" he persisted.

"No, you don't need to explain that to me," she replied before the deputy cut her off and added, "OK, because I can if you need me to."

Soon she forced him to end his bullying Q&A by inquiring why he was with another deputy — neither or whom were wearing masks or gloves — in her driveway that was adorned with children's chalk drawings.

He replied, "'Cause your daughter is going to play at other people's home, and you're allowing it to happen."

The deputy's vocal tone soon got quite ornery as he informed the mother that she can either acknowledge that she's been warned or continue arguing. Smartly she said she'd acknowledge the warning.

"OK," the deputy replied angrily. "Stop having your kid go by other people's home!"

The other deputy asked the mother for her last name for their records, after which Amy wondered why that piece of information was necessary — and the first officer blurted out, "Because you're violating a state order."

But the mom wouldn't budge — and wasn't willing even to disclose her middle initial to the inquiring deputy. "Are we done here?" she asked.

"No, we're not," the second deputy shot back. "Your middle initial and last name."

After the first deputy appeared to extract the necessary information over his radio, the second deputy actually told the mom "that'll be documented, too, that you were uncooperative."

Democrat Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers said in an April 2020 news release about COVID-19 restrictions that "Safer at Home is saving lives."

New Jersey gym owners arrested for defying left-wing Gov. Phil Murphy's lockdown order

The owners of embattled Atilis Gym in Bellmawr, New Jersey, were arrested on the morning of July 27, 2020, for opening in defiance of Democrat Gov. Phil Murphy's lockdown order. You can view video of the arrest here.

The arrests came after a Superior Court judge ruled that the governor had the authority to shut the gym down and that co-owners Ian Smith, 33, and Frank Trumbetti, 51, were in contempt of court for attempting to keep it open. Smith and Trumbetti were charged with one count of fourth-degree contempt, one count of obstruction, and one count of Violation of a Disaster Control Act, according to NJ.com.

The gym made headlines in May after the owners refused to shut down after Murphy's executive order called on all "nonessential" businesses in the state — including gyms — to close. Things heated up fast, particularly when five cops arrested one person outside the gym. But the owners refused to back down — and just a week after their July arrests, Smith and Trumbetti literally kicked down the government-installed barriers on their gym's doors to reopen again.

Things were far from over, though. Bellmawr's all-Democrat borough council revoked the gym's license. By December 2020 Smith said he'd received $1.2 million in fines, and ripped the "petty tyrant" governor. The following month Smith was sentenced to one year of probation for defying Murphy's lockdown orders. Finally, a New Jersey court in 2024 dismissed with prejudice all the municipal charges against Smith.

Los Angeles County mercilessly mocked for telling residents they can snitch on businesses that don't fall in line with coronavirus stay-at-home orders

On May 14, 2020, Los Angeles County issued the following post on X: "We know that businesses are working hard to adhere to the #SaferAtHome orders, but if you need to report a business for non-compliance, please call 888-700-9995 Monday-Friday (8 am-5 pm)."

Here's a sampling of the mocking comments that followed:

"I'd like to report @CountyofLA for violation of the Constitution..."
"OK Karen!"
"#LosAngeles where illegal aliens have sanctuary but legal businesses have punishment."
"Businesses are working hard to survive and be safe, but not as hard as you're working to turn us into East Germany."
"1984 was a warning, not a textbook."

By September 2020, the county health department decreed that trick-or-treating was unsafe and would be illegal for Halloween — along with all carnivals, festivals, and parties with "non-household members." In a guidance document published by KABC-TV, the health department added that "gatherings or parties with non-household members are not permitted even if they are conducted outdoors."

Oregon's leftist governor tells residents to call cops on neighbors who violate her new COVID lockdown edicts

The week after Oregon's far-left Democratic governor Kate Brown declared strict new COVID-19 lockdown orders in November 2020, she then called on state residents to rat out their neighbors who might violate her new edict that limited social gatherings.

Besides limiting faith-based organizations to 25 people indoors and 50 people outdoors, Brown also banned groups of more than six people gathering together in private homes.

As for snitching on neighbors, Brown said in an interview that it's "no different than what happens if there's a party down the street, and it's keeping everyone awake. What do neighbors do? They call law enforcement because it's too noisy. This is just like that. It's like a violation of a noise ordinance."

Brown also said people should understand that her new commands were "about saving lives."

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot threatens anyone who disobeys coronavirus lockdown: 'We will arrest you, and we will take you to jail'

— (@)

In early May 2020, then-Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot threatened to issue citations and even arrest anyone who violated coronavirus stay-at-home orders.

"We will shut you down, we will cite you, and if we need to, we will arrest you, and we will take you to jail," Lightfoot said. "Don't make us treat you like a criminal, but if you act like a criminal, and you violate the law, and you refuse to do what is necessary to save lives in this city in the middle of a pandemic we will take you to jail, period."

The far-left mayor added, "If you host a party, promote a party, or go to a party, we are not playing games. We mean business, and we will shut this down one way or another. The time for educating people into compliance is over. Don't be stupid. We're watching you, and we're going to take decisive action."

Then-Police Superintendent David Brown said, "We have given enough warning. We're getting to the point where we're trying to save lives and if our message is not resonating with people who are promoting parties, or coming out to parties, we have to take that next level of enforcement to make sure that we save lives."

Lightfoot and Chicago police also encouraged residents to anonymously submit tips about anybody breaking the lockdown rules, including throwing house parties.

Speaking of overreach, the commissioner of Chicago's Department of Public Health in early August 2020 trumpeted that officials would use social media postings as evidence to issue fines against visitors violating the city's quarantine order.

Left-wing Los Angeles mayor orders utilities shut off for TikTok influencer's mansion due to lockdown-defying parties

In August 2020, then-Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti ordered utilities cut off at a mansion where large parties were being held in defiance of social distancing guidelines. The New York Times reported that the mansion belongs to TikTok stars Bryce Hall, Noah Beck, and Blake Gray.

Garcetti previously said that the city would consider shutting off the utilities for nonessential businesses that were found defying the coronavirus lockdown orders.

Critics of the Democratic mayor noted that he had been photographed without a mask with a crowd of Black Lives Matter protesters — despite stating in an April 2020 briefing that staying at home, along with other COVID restrictions, "is the way we will save lives."

Cops drag away woman holding 'We Are Free' sign while she sits on beach: 'This is a power trip. This has nothing to do with the virus.'

A woman holding a "We Are Free" sign while sitting on the sand in Miami Beach in May 2020 was dragged away by police who arrested and charged her with violating an emergency order, trespassing, and resisting an officer without violence. Kimberly Falkenstine, 33, was protesting coronavirus-related beach closures and refused to leave after officers confronted her, WTVJ-TV reported.

The entire event was captured on video by a man speaking to Falkenstine as she walked to the beach with her sign. Approaching the beach's entrance, she marveled at the "ridiculous" number of officers patrolling the otherwise empty beach: "This is a power trip. This has nothing to do with the virus."

Other demonstrators at a South Beach park on the same day demanded that local officials reopen beaches.

Teachers' union leader says 'white supremacy' fuels coronavirus reopening efforts — and concerns over lockdown suicides are 'white privilege'

The leader of a teachers' union in Washington state faced criticism in January 2021 after he said that coronavirus reopening efforts were fueled by "white supremacy" — and concerns over lockdown suicides were "white privilege."

"We must not ignore the culture of white supremacy and white privilege. We have seen it in the 'free to breathe,' reopen everything, rodeos and rallies that received county commissioner support. The same county commissioner directs our health," Scott Wilson, president of the Pasco Association of Educators, said at a school board meeting, according to the Tri-City Herald.

"No one wants remote learning, but it is the right thing to do. We know the equity concerns, virus transmission is high, heading higher, with so many ignoring and avoiding measures to stop the spread, remote learning is the right decision," he added.

'Super-Spreader Task Force' detains over 900, arrests and fines nearly 100 revelers during New Year's Eve raids

A "Super-Spreader Task Force" — courtesy of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department — cracked down on 2020 New Year's Eve parties, resulting in hundreds being detained, arrested, and fined.

The coronavirus lockdown enforcers crashed five large NYE parties in Los Angeles, Malibu, Hawthorne, and Pomona. The "illegal" celebrations were held in speakeasy locations such as upscale homes, vacant warehouses, a DoubleTree hotel, and shuttered businesses.

One frustrated New Year's Eve reveler told KTTV-TV, "We're tired of closing this s**t down, my people have lost businesses and all that s**t, and we really just wanted some fresh air, man, that's what's going on we wanted some fresh air, they come out with the tanks and all, man, s**t is crazy."

A month prior, then-Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti told his constituents to expect more COVID-19 lockdowns, going so far as to say, "It's time to cancel everything."

Judges order ankle monitors for those exposed to COVID who refuse to stay home — even if they haven't tested positive

Judges ordered at least four people in Louisville, Kentucky, to wear ankle bracelets for repeatedly refusing to isolate themselves after being in contact with coronavirus patients. CNN reported in early April 2020 that two of the people fitted with the monitors haven't tested positive for the coronavirus.

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