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U.S. Stocks Close Up After SCOTUS Tariff Ruling Causes Wild Day For Markets

U.S. Stocks Close Up After SCOTUS Tariff Ruling Causes Wild Day For Markets
Sarayut Thaneerat/GettyImages

The United States Stock Market ended the day in the green after a volatile session driven by tariff news. The Supreme Court released its ruling at 10am, prompting the NASDAQ,the Dow Jones Industrial Average, and the S&P 500 to rally after earlier declines based on weaker-than-expected fourth-quarter GDP data. After the initial rally, all three major indices retreated by midday before climbing again around 12:30pm, ultimately closing in the green for the day and the week. 

President Donald Trump hosted a midday press conference, where he noted that the Supreme Court’s ruling removes uncertainty surrounding tariffs. “The bottom line is that the word certainty is now in the equation,” Trump said.

Under the sweeping tariffs Trump issued using the International Emergency Economist Powers Act (IEEPA), the administration asserted that it had broad authority to impose duties with little notice, Trump could essentially issue a new tariff via Truth Social post. With his powers revoked, he will have to implement tariffs through Section 232s. Imposing tariffs through Section 232s is a much more bureaucratic process than under IEEPA.

To start the process, the Commerce Department will open a 90-270 day investigation on a product or class of imports. Once the investigation concludes, the Commerce Department will deliver the findings to the President and the President can then impose tariffs. The extended timeline provides companies with advance notice before duties are placed on imports, adding predictability for impacted companies. 

“The Supreme Court’s announcement regarding tariffs provides much-needed certainty for U.S. businesses and manufactures, enabling global supply chains to operate without ambiguity,” the National Retail Federation said after the ruling. “Clear and consistent trade policy is essential for economic growth, creating jobs and opportunities for American families. 

The retail sector was one of the strongest-performing sectors with certainty priced in around tariffs.  Amazon, Home Depot, Walmart, Target, and Five Below popped on the news. 

The next question for these retailers will be if refunds are issued levies they may have already paid. The Supreme Court did not issue a ruling on refunds so the decision will be litigated in lower courts.

WATCH: Liberal ‘Priestess’ Gives Viral Sermon On Abortion

WATCH: Liberal ‘Priestess’ Gives Viral Sermon On Abortion
Credit: OilLondonTV/X.com

The following is an edited transcript excerpt from The Michael Knowles Show.

* * *

A woman who presents herself as a “priestess” — a role that does not exist in Christianity — just went viral. This priestess puts on a collar and a stole and pretends to be a priest. And to make the whole presentation even more satanic, she includes the Planned Parenthood logo on the priestly stole.

Here is her defense of the Left’s highest sacrament, abortion:

Credit: @_BuzzBrief_X.com & @OilLondonTV/X.com

In the abortion imaginary, all people of faith are against abortion. This imaginary has colonized our minds, traumatizing many people with its toxic theology and shaping a culture of stigma and shame that has silenced millions of women and people who have had abortions, erasing their voices, their stories, and their witness from the public sphere. As a child of God, I can certainly appreciate the lyrical beauty of this text, as well as the descriptions in Jeremiah and Job of their certain knowledge that God was with them in the womb. I too feel that I am known by God in these ways. As a woman who has borne two children, I can affirm that I felt something sacred happening in my gestating body during those pregnancies. I can also attest that I felt God’s presence with me as I made the decision to end two pregnancies, and I felt no guilt, no shame, no sin.

Okay, this is horrifying. 

But you have to give this murderous woman, this truly sacrilegious heretic, some credit for honesty. She is openly acknowledging something that most pro-abortion Christians will not: something sacred was going on in my womb when that baby was being knit there. 

She goes on to basically say, Jeremiah and Job describe being knit in the womb. And yeah, that’s all real. I totally grant that. And I felt it. I personally know it’s real — but I chose to kill my kids and I felt that that was cool too.

So, of course, the difference between real Christianity and a lot of pagan cults is that Christianity is a definitive religion. Our Lord is a real person who lives in real time and space and picks real people to build his Church with and upon, like Saint Peter, to whom he gave the keys to the kingdom of heaven and the power to bind and to loose. It is a religion that has real, visible authority in the world throughout history.

During that history, our Lord says, I will send the helper, I will send the Holy Spirit to you, and I will be with you always, even until the end of the age, because our Lord is the bridegroom and the Church is the bride. It is a real, definitive religion.

We can definitively say Christianity outlaws abortion.

We can definitively say Christianity has a real view of marriage, and it doesn’t change.

We can really say all of that.

And this woman kind of admits that, which is why you have to give her points for honesty. She says there was a divine thing happening when babies were being created in her womb. But she killed them anyway because her autonomy trumped even the spark of the divine. In other words, her autonomy trumps even God himself.

WATCH: The Michael Knowles Show on DailyWire+

And it’s nuts when you hear it that way from a forthright liberal woman. But that is the premise of liberalism today — nothing is more important than my autonomy. I will make of myself the highest god.

We saw this in the Biden administration. Joe Biden believed he could be a liberal and a Christian, he was happy to do it. He called himself the most devout Catholic in the world. However, when his liberalism conflicted with his Christianity, he always chose liberalism.

And this is what liberalism tells us to do. We can believe a wide number of things. We can engage in a wide number of behaviors. We can even join many political parties. But the highest good is my autonomy. I’m really number one. I will make a god of myself. It’s a fulfillment of what the serpent promises to our first ancestors in the garden: “You will be like gods.”

You don’t have to listen to him.

And that’s what this woman is saying. It’s all the more shocking because she admits: Jeremiah and Job talk about the divine spark in the womb. I felt it too — and I killed them.

Press them on that.

Press the Democrats and the liberals on that: If you’re a Christian, what happens when Christianity contradicts your liberalism? Which side do you pick?

Trump Seeks Tougher Work Permit Rules For Illegals With Asylum Claims

Trump Seeks Tougher Work Permit Rules For Illegals With Asylum Claims
(Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)

The Trump administration is proposing new regulations that would make it more difficult for illegal immigrants to receive work permits.

Under the Biden administration, as millions of illegal immigrants poured across the southern border, they were afforded the opportunity to receive work permits rapidly before even receiving immigration status. The new proposed rule would make it more difficult for illegal border crossers whose asylum claims have no standing to obtain work permits.

“For too long, a fraudulent asylum claim has been an easy path to working in the United States, overwhelming our immigration system with meritless applications,” a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said.

“We are proposing an overhaul of the asylum system to enforce the rules and reduce the backlog we inherited from the prior administration. Aliens are not entitled to work while we process their asylum applications. The Trump administration is strengthening the vetting of asylum applicants and restoring integrity to the asylum and work authorization processes,” the spokesperson added.

The plan would include a pause on the issuance of work permits for asylum seekers until they’re able to process applications within 180 days, according to the Friday notice.

It could take between 14 and 173 years to reach that benchmark, according to Reuters.

Once the rule is imposed, new illegal border crossers will be ineligible for work permits, according to the plan. Illegal immigrants who notify federal immigration authorities within 48 hours of crossing the border for fear of returning to their home country based on “persecution or torture” will be exempt from the rule.

“USCIS [United States Citizenship and Immigration Services] expects this rule to support another downward trend in the long term, but USCIS also expects that, upon implementation of this rule, new EAD [Employment Authorization Document] applications for pending asylum applicants would be paused for an extended period, possibly many years,” the notice read.

United States Citizenship and Immigration Services currently has more than 1.4 million pending asylum claims on its plate, the agency said.

Work permits for asylum applicants are not considered “an entitlement,” according to the Department of Homeland Security, which “believes that this rule is key to disincentivizing aliens from using asylum primarily as a path to seek employment authorization in the United States and to ensuring more timely processing of asylum applications.”

The Trump administration will accept public comment for 60 days before attempting to move forward with the plan.

Some illegal immigrants who previously received work permits used them to obtain commercial driver’s licenses. While behind the wheel of heavy trucks, some of them caused fatal accidents.

Chinese illegal immigrant Yisong Huang, 54, is accused of killing a 31-year-old truck driver and injuring several others in Tennessee on Dec. 9 while he was distracted by a video on his phone as he drove a tour bus.

Huang crossed the border illegally in 2023 and was swiftly released into the country. He was later granted a work permit and Social Security card.

On Wednesday, an Indian illegal immigrant, Singh Sukhdeep, behind the wheel of a semi-truck allegedly caused an accident that killed 64-year-old Terry Schultz in Hendricks County, Indiana.

Singh crossed the border illegally in 2018 and was released into the country because he was a minor at the time, federal law enforcement sources told The Daily Wire.

The illegal immigrant had a valid work permit at the time of the crash. The Indian national also had an Indiana commercial driver’s license, according to Fox News.

Alysa Liu’s Father Escaped China. She Just Won Olympic Gold For The United States.

Alysa Liu’s Father Escaped China. She Just Won Olympic Gold For The United States.
(Photo by Ulrik Pedersen/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Team USA women’s figure skater Alysa Liu defied the odds to become the first American woman to win Olympic gold in twenty years. As the California native took to the Olympic podium before the entire world, her breathtaking comeback was also paved by her father’s patriotic story of grit and heroism against seemingly greater odds. 

After ranking third in the women’s short program on Tuesday, Liu — cool, calm, and collected as usual — showed up to the rink smiling, waving to the crowd, and ready to skate. She performed her routine to Donna Summer’s “MacArthur Park Suite” with the infectious energy that is a trademark of the 20-year-old. After the near-perfect skate earned her a career-best 226.79 points, she was placed in first with just two skaters left — Japan’s three-time World Champion Kaori Sakamoto and Ami Nakai.

When both skaters just slightly missed the mark —Sakamoto scored 224.90 points and Ami five points behind her — Liu officially captured the gold medal and a much-needed win for Team USA.

What separates Liu from the rest of her team — and brings extra sweetness to her win — is the fact that she actually walked away from the sport for more than two years.

When Liu was thirteen, she became the youngest national champion, only to win again the following year. The teen prodigy dominated the sport, fueling hope for her family to become the next Michelle Kwan. In 2019, she even became the first American female to complete a quadruple jump in an international competition. But all that changed after the 2022 Beijing Olympics, when at age 16, Liu announced in an Instagram post that she was retiring from the sport, “… i feel so satisfied with how my skating career has gone. now that i’m finally done with my goals in skating i’m going to be moving on with my life.” 

In hopes of living a “normal” life, Liu used her freedom from the ice to hang out with friends, visit Nepal, hike to Everest Base Camp, and go on road trips. That was, until a skiing trip with her family ignited an old spark — and the desire to compete again.

Liu emerged from the two-year break in 2024, punctuating her comeback with a first-place win at the World Championships the following year. It is almost unheard of to return to the sport after so much time away. But Liu proved she was just that good.

Liu isn’t just a talented athlete. She carries with her the precious roots of what it means to be American, and having to fight for it.

Arthur Liu, her father, was born and raised in China. He was a university student during the infamous 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, where student-led protests and demonstrations turned deadly, and hundreds, if not thousands, were arrested, killed, or went missing in the brutal government crackdown. Liu said he was “outraged” by the massacre and went on to organize more protests. After learning he was on the government’s “most wanted” list, he worried future imprisonment was inevitable. At age 25, he fled from China to Hong Kong and eventually made his way to America.

Three months before his daughter was supposed to represent the United States in the Beijing Olympics, a man who claimed to be a U.S. Official called Liu, asking for passport information. “I felt something fishy was going on,” he told the Associated Press at the time. “I’m not going to let them stop her from going and I’ll do whatever I can to make sure she’s safe and I’m willing to make sacrifices so she can enjoy the moment. I’m not going to let them win — to stop me — to silence me from expressing my opinions anywhere.”

Prosecutors alleged that the family was a target of a Chinese spying operation, and that the man was hired to perform surveillance on them.

But foreign harassment didn’t stop the teenager, and Liu still made her Olympic debut that year — just with heightened security from the State Department.

True to her light-hearted nature, Liu called the experience “a little bit freaky and exciting,” and wondered what her life would look like as a movie. “They got to make me look like a super cool hero or something. I can’t just be the kid that got spied on and did nothing about it.”

“I would just have the main focus be my dad’s story, because his story is so cool … everything that only happened because of what he did, so, I feel like we got to start with the roots.”

SCOTUS Knocks Down Trump’s Tariffs

SCOTUS Knocks Down Trump’s Tariffs
Mandel NGAN / AFP via Getty Images

The Supreme Court has struck down the Liberation Day tariffs.

In a 6-3 decision, the Supreme Court basically struck down the 10% baseline tariff on all trading partners. It struck down what Trump called reciprocal tariffs on dozens of countries. They weren’t actually reciprocal tariffs because those countries were not actually charging us those tariffs. We were just charging them higher tariffs on the basis of trade deficits. Drug trafficking tariffs on Canada, Mexico, and China are gone. And the 145% effective rate on most Chinese goods is gone as well. 

The Supreme Court says that the president does not have the unilateral authority or ability to simply impose broad-scale tariffs. 

The reason I originally said these tariffs were unconstitutional is because Article I “powers of the purse,” belong to Congress. That includes the power to tariff. Article I of the Constitution specifically names the powers of the purse. It says that the Constitution includes the authority to tax, borrow money, regulate commerce, coin money, establish post offices, declare war, and raise armed forces. That is what is in the tax, spend, and commerce powers of Congress.

Now the questions are, what can be delegated? What can’t be delegated? And what has been delegated? 

So obviously, in certain specified contexts, Congress has delegated specific tariff authority to the president. But at any point, did Congress just say to the president, you can tariff anybody for any reason, interminably at any rate, that you want?

And the answer, says the Supreme Court, is no.

I agree with the decision, legally.

DailyWire+

The question under consideration here was whether the president of the United States has the unilateral authority under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), which is the power cited by the president of the United States, to levy tariffs on the entire world at once. That is the question at issue. 

The IEEPA text at issue states: 

At the times and to the extent specified in section 1701 of this title, the President may, under such regulations as he may prescribe, by means of instructions, licenses, or otherwise investigate, regulate, or prohibit any transactions in foreign exchange, transfers of credit or payments between, by, through, or to any banking institution, to the extent that such transfers or payments involve any interest of any foreign country or a national thereof, the importing or exporting of currency or securities, by any person, or with respect to any property, subject to the jurisdiction of the United States.

What the majority found is that IEEPA does not include broad-scale, unilateral, gigantic tariff power where the president cannot simply wake up one morning, print out a gigantic poster board, and say there is now a 45% tariff on the Solomon Islands that was not delegated in the IEEPA. 

That decision is correct, although I find it somewhat ironic that Justice Roberts claimed that Obamacare was not a tax for purposes of finding it constitutional, but finds that tariffs are in fact a form of tax for purposes of finding them unconstitutional, as promoted by the president. 

There are two arguments made by the majority opinion. One, the IEEPA does not actually authorize tariff power to the president in the way that the president has done. 

This doesn’t mean the president doesn’t have alternative tariff power. There are other ways the president can impose tariffs if he wants to.

The second argument is that Congress never delegated this power to the president. If they had, it would be clear, and not some mystery. They would say, “All tariff power belongs to the president.”

They wouldn’t hide it in the text. That is what’s called the major questions doctrine. It’s part of the non-delegation doctrine. The non-delegation doctrine says that unless Congress has delegated a power that it holds to the executive branch, then the executive branch can’t exercise that power. And there are certain powers that Congress cannot actually just delegate to the executive branch, because those are core powers of Congress.

This is why you can’t just have Congress become a vestigial organ. It was never supposed to be this way.

If the president actually had the inherent power under his foreign policy powers to just impose tariffs, he wouldn’t need some sort of emergency declaration. The fact that they use the emergency declaration means this is not predominantly a foreign policy question.

I urge conservatives to think about this very strongly: If the president of the United States can simply declare a national emergency and then tariff the entire planet, what can’t the federal government do on the basis of an emergency? Many statutes authorize specific delegations of temporary authority under emergency circumstances. If that is broadened out to include things such as tariffing the whole planet, imagine Democrats saying, “Until all countries stop producing oil-powered vehicles, we are tariffing everyone at 70%.” They could do that based on the way the administration is currently interpreting the statute.

If it becomes clear that the Trump administration will let go of this issue, I think you will see the markets begin to climb. There are a lot of businesses in the United States that rely on foreign imports as inputs in their products, and they’ve been holding off on hiring; they’ve been holding off on development because they don’t know what’s coming down the pike.

I am still a constitutional conservative who likes the balance of powers, the checks and balances, who still remembers when the legislature was not a vestigial organ of government, and would like that to remain the case.

For conservatives, I understand: People love President Trump. I support President Trump as a general rule.

With that said, powers delegated to the executive branch do not flow back to the legislative branch very often. You’re not going to like those limits when they are applied to a president of a party to which you do not belong.

I’m finding it kind of ironic today, looking at all the Democrats who are celebrating this as a big victory. They wouldn’t be celebrating this if they understood it’s going to apply when a Democrat is in charge.

No one has expanded executive power in my lifetime like Barack Obama. And Joe Biden expanded it even further.

The notion that Democrats are not in love with executive power is insane to me.

It’s one of the reasons I don’t like the Democratic Party, because they keep wanting to expand the executive power at the cost of the checks and balances established by the Founders.

Illegal Alien Convicted Of Sex Crime Against Teen Entered U.S. Under Biden

Illegal Alien Convicted Of Sex Crime Against Teen Entered U.S. Under Biden
Credit: DHS; Biden: Photo by Scott Eisen/Getty Images.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested a 28-year-old illegal alien woman convicted of sex crimes against a teenage boy on Thursday, the Department of Homeland Security told The Daily Wire.

ICE agents nabbed Michelle Rodriguez-Berrio, an illegal alien from Colombia, convicted in Utah for sexual contact with a 16- or 17-year-old boy. Rodriguez-Berrio was let into the country under former President Joe Biden in 2022, a DHS spokesman told The Daily Wire.

“In February 2022, this sexual predator alien illegally entered the U.S. and was encountered by Border Patrol. She was released into the U.S. by the Biden administration,” the spokesman said. “On January 26, 2026, Rodriguez was convicted by the Salt Lake City County District Court for the offense of Unlawful Sexual Conduct with a 16- or 17-year-old. Thanks to ICE, she is now off American streets and will remain in custody pending removal.”

Rodriguez-Berrio was one of the “worst of the worst” illegal alien offenders detained by ICE agents on Thursday. Others highlighted by DHS to The Daily Wire included:

-Rene Lopez-Balbuena, an illegal alien from Mexico convicted of endangering the welfare of a child and sexual assault of a child in Monmouth County, New Jersey.

-Luis Elias-Santos, an illegal alien from Mexico convicted of second-degree statutory rape in Boone County, Missouri.

-Jeovanny Porras-Rodriguez, an illegal alien from Mexico convicted of trafficking in meth in Buncombe County, North Carolina.

-Leonardo Garcia-Meza, an illegal alien from Mexico, convicted of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon in Collin County, Texas.

Elias-Santos/Porras-Rodriguez: DHS.

“Even while facing doxing, threats, harassment and a more than 1,300% increase in assaults against them, ICE continues to go after criminal illegal aliens, including pedophiles, violent sex criminals and drug traffickers,” Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told The Daily Wire. “Nearly 70% of all ICE arrests are of illegal aliens convicted or charged of a crime in the U.S. If you break the law, you will face the consequences. Criminal illegal aliens are not welcome in the U.S.”

Millions of illegal aliens were released into the United States during the Biden administration, many of whom went on to commit crimes, including Jose Antonio Ibarra, the Venezuelan national who murdered 22-year-old nursing student Laken Riley.

Liberal County Took On Religious Parents — Now They’re Paying For It

Liberal County Took On Religious Parents — Now They’re Paying For It
Credit: Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images.

A liberal Maryland county will shell out $1.5 million to a group of religious parents who sued the school board over a policy that blocked parents from opting their children out of instruction on books pushing transgender ideology.  

In addition to paying damages, the board of education for Montgomery County must inform parents whenever there will be instruction related to family life and human sexuality. The settlement comes after a group of parents from various religious backgrounds won a major victory at the Supreme Court that struck down the county’s opt-out policies as unconstitutional. 

The settlement was announced on Friday by Becket, a non-profit law firm focused on litigation issues related to religious liberty. It was approved by Judge Deborah Boardman in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland. 

“Public schools nationwide are on notice: running roughshod over parental rights and religious freedom isn’t just illegal — it’s costly,” said Eric Baxter, senior counsel at Becket and lead attorney for the parents. “This settlement enforces the Supreme Court’s ruling and ensures parents, not government bureaucrats, have the final say in how their children are raised.” 

Montgomery County is a heavily Democratic area that borders Washington, D.C. 

In June 2025, the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in favor of the parents against the county, with Justice Samuel Alito writing the majority opinion. 

“A government burdens the religious exercise of parents when it requires them to submit their children to instruction that poses ‘a very real threat of undermining’ the religious beliefs and practices that the parents wish to instill,” Alito wrote.

The legal battle first began in March 2023, when the school board said that it would no longer let parents opt out of books pushing transgender and queer ideology. In response, a group of Christian, Muslim, and Jewish parents challenged the county in Mahmoud v. Taylor.

“It took tremendous courage for these parents to stand up to the School Board and take their case all the way to the Supreme Court,” Baxter said. “Their victory reshaped the law and ensured that generations of religious parents will be able to guide their children’s upbringing according to their faith.”

Chris Persak, a Catholic father whose children attend Montgomery County schools, previously told The Daily Wire it was his faith that helped him stay calm throughout the whole legal process. 

“We said prayers of the Holy Spirit, and just felt this unbelievable calmness as we’re walking in,” he said. “Even with the protesters, even with members of the leadership of Montgomery County, who were protesting against us live that day.”

SHOCKER: Company That Sells ‘Plant-Based Meat’ Is In A Stock Freefall

SHOCKER: Company That Sells ‘Plant-Based Meat’ Is In A Stock Freefall
Illustrated by The Daily Wire

NOTE: Jeremy’s Razors pays to write these articles to spotlight wins because other brands won’t.

The market has spoken, most Americans still want meat — real meat, like steaks, burgers, and tenderloins, not the plant-based alternatives sold by companies such as Beyond Meat.

Beyond Meat, which launched in the United States 2012, had a promising start. with its stock reaching nearly $150 per share as recently as 2021. But since then, Beyond Meat’s stock price has gone beyond terrible.

So what exactly does Beyond Meat sell? Any type of meat you could want, except none of it is actually meat. Its burgers are a mixture of vegan ingredients, including pea protein, rice protein, and potato starch.

And Beyond Meat sells “steak” too — only it’s made from wheat gluten, canola oil, faba bean protein, among some other ingredients. The market has spoken, and it decided against a processed echo of America’s beloved beef.

Beyond Meat might be good for people who want some unorthodox substitute for burgers, but most Americans want the real thing. Remember when powerful leftists like Bill Gates assured us that it would be good for the world if we stopped eating real meat and transitioned to consuming lab-grown alternatives? Or when globalist NGOs argued that eating bugs is totally normal and would save the planet? Well, if they can’t take the hint — freedom-loving Americans aren’t going to give up their juicy steak.

***

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‘Never Forgotten’: Trump Delivers $10M To Community Still Haunted By Toxic Disaster

‘Never Forgotten’: Trump Delivers $10M To Community Still Haunted By Toxic Disaster
REBECCA DROKE/AFP via Getty Images

President Donald Trump announced on Thursday night that his administration would provide $10 million in economic assistance to the East Palestine, Ohio, community as it continues to recover from the disastrous train derailment and chemical spill in 2023.

Trump vowed to “never” forget about the Americans affected by the derailment and blasted former President Joe Biden, saying he “betrayed” the residents of East Palestine. Trump’s move on Thursday came just after the third anniversary of the disaster, which forced some residents of the small Ohio community to leave their homes for months after toxic chemicals leaked into the ground and air.

“To the Great People of East Palestine, Ohio, who were disgracefully betrayed and forgotten about by Crooked Joe Biden — ‘TRUMP’ has never forgotten about you, and never will!” he wrote on Truth Social. “In addition to our Administration’s Longterm Health Study for the benefit of the residents, we are providing $10 Million Dollars through the Economic Development Administration to help the Community continue its Economic Recovery from the disastrous train derailment.”

The Economic Development Administration, which is part of the Commerce Department, focuses on investing in communities throughout the United States to “establish a foundation for long-term job growth and build durable regional economies.” The Daily Wire reached out to the Economic Development Administration for more information on Trump’s plan to pump $10 million into East Palestine’s local economy.

Trump added on Thursday, “We want to see East Palestine grow, flourish, and be able to take advantage of our now BOOMING Economy. It was horrible what was allowed to happen there, and we are with you for the LONG HAUL.”

The February 3, 2023, derailment spilled toxic and combustible chemicals, such as vinyl chloride, into the ground and water, and authorities conducted a controlled burn of the train cars carrying vinyl chloride to prevent a potentially massive explosion. The controlled burn released more chemicals into the air, and authorities in East Palestine and the surrounding areas advised residents to remain indoors.

The train disaster exacerbated an already growing economic problem in East Palestine, which was struggling to retain businesses amid a declining population. East Palestine’s population shrank from over 5,500 in the 1970s to around 4,700 at the 2020 census.

“There are a lot of businesses who have left our town, and we are in need of financial recovery and economic recovery,” Chris Page, the president of the East Palestine Community Improvement Corporation, said earlier this month.

Trump visited East Palestine shortly after the train derailment in February 2023, handing out water bottles and talking with citizens who were concerned about the future of their community. Trump’s visit to the small Ohio village drew a sharp contrast with then-President Joe Biden, who did not visit East Palestine until a year after the disaster.

“In too many cases, your goodness and perseverance were met with indifference and betrayal,” Trump said at the time.

Along with the health and economic consequences of the disaster, some East Palestine residents also alleged in a lawsuit filed last year that the toxic chemical spill and burn-off led to the deaths of seven people, including a 1-week-old infant.

The wrongful death lawsuit, which was filed against the Norfolk Southern railroad company, claims that contractors hired by the railroad company did not effectively clean up the toxic chemical waste and also alleges that the Environmental Protection Agency and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention failed to properly warn residents about the health risks.

Norfolk Southern previously settled a class-action lawsuit with many East Palestine residents for a total of $600 million. In that settlement, residents within a 2-mile radius of the derailment received up to $70,000 for property damage and up to $25,000 for personal injuries. The plaintiffs in the wrongful death lawsuit, however, did not sign onto the class-action case that was settled.

Hollywood Heads South: Music City’s Faith-Based Film Boom

Hollywood Heads South: Music City’s Faith-Based Film Boom
Jake Giles Netter/copyright 2026 Lionsgate

Lights! Camera! How-dee!

The city of Los Angeles is losing film and TV productions at an alarming rate. That opens up new opportunities for cities to prove that La La Land can hunker down just about anywhere.

Take Nashville, for instance. Other non-L.A. destinations have made their mark as production hubs — think Atlanta, Georgia, and Toronto. Now, it may be Nashville’s turn in the spotlight.

The Tennessee locale is known as a country music Mecca. More recently, it’s welcomed a growing group of filmmakers who clamor for its talented locals, rich cultural history and, yes, a lower price tag than the City of Angels.

Think “9-1-1: Nashville,” Showtime’s “George & Tammy,” Nicole Kidman’s “Holland” and the upcoming “Scarpetta” (Prime Video), Netflix’s “Ruth & Boaz,” and a film opening Feb. 20, “I Can Only Imagine 2.”

Ryan Murphy Television. User Error Productions. 20Th Television.

Nashville 911. Ryan Murphy Television. User Error Productions. 20th Television.

The sequel to the sleeper 2018 hit revisits how MercyMe became a Christian music sensation, and the struggles lead singer Bart Millard (John Michael Finley) had following his breakthrough hit.

Co-director Andrew Erwin, a pioneer in the faith-based film space, tells The Daily Wire why he tackled the sequel.

“It’s the movie that you didn’t know you needed,” he says. The first film appeared to wrap Bart Millard’s story up, but the singer and his fellow musician Tim Timmons — played by Milo Ventimiglia in the film — suffered subsequent tragedies that made a follow-up film make sense.

Photo by Jake Giles Netter/Lionsgate/Jake Giles Netter/Lionsgate - copyright 2026 Lionsgate

Jake Giles Netter/copyright 2026 Lionsgate

And Nashville has proven to be particularly welcoming to Christian artists. That wasn’t the case back in Los Angeles, Erwin said.

“There’s a group of us that started doing faith stories 15, 20 years ago, and we were all struggling to get our feet under us,” Erwin says. “We could literally end any dinner party in L.A. by saying we were faith film guys. They would instantly get a fake phone call and walk out of the meeting.”

Entertainment culture started to swing in their spiritual direction.

“Something has shifted in the past 10 years, particularly in the last five … there has been an appetite for hope. Stories of faith were considered cheesy. Now, they’re counter-culture, rebellious. It’s kind of punk rock.”

NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE - FEBRUARY 12: Andrew Erwin attends the "I Can Only Imagine 2" Nashville Premiere at The Fisher Center for the Performing Arts on February 12, 2026 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Jason Kempin/Getty Images)

Jason Kempin/Getty Images

What better place than Music City to sing from their storytelling hymnals?

“There’s been a real freedom here,” says Erwin, who even bumps into fellow filmmakers at church. “You don’t have to apologize for us being able to do things that we believe.”

“For whatever reason, a group of actors and writers and directors and producers are all finding (Nashville),” he continues. “I can’t give a reason why … we just feel like we’re supposed to be here.”

“I Can Only Imagine 2” filmed exclusively in Nashville, save a critical sequence shot at Colorado’s Red Rocks Amphitheater. The veteran filmmaker was initially hesitant to lean so heavily on Nashville, but the film’s team assuaged those fears.

“We had been worried if the crews were strong enough … it was the best crew I ever had … the most cheerful, the most team-oriented, the least amount of divas, blue collar, everything you aspire to,” he says.

He still wants the state to beef up its incentive programs to grow that crew base and keep it steadily employed.

Nashville has an Oscar-winning benefactor on its side: Kidman is eager to make movies closer to her Tennessee home

Photo by Courtesy of Prime/Courtesy of Prime - copyright Amazon Content Services LLC

Courtesy of Prime/Courtesy of Prime – copyright Amazon Content Services LLC

Plus, newer studio space is helping smooth this transition. Recent Nashville-area additions include Vu Studios in West Nashville, Worldwide Stages in Spring Hill, and Skyway Studios.

Erick Goss, CEO of the Christian streaming platform Minno, says Nashville has a cultural advantage.

“People recognize there’s a real creative community here in Nashville [already] with Christian and country music, a real appreciation of the arts,” says Goss, who established his kid-focused company in the city seven years ago.

“It’s not like institutions have moved here, but talent has moved here,” Goss says. “It’s different than Seattle or L.A. There’s a real sense of pride and civic nature here … people love what Nashville stands for and want to be a part of it.”

Some pieces of the Hollywood-like puzzle are still missing, he says.

“There are really world-class storytellers here in Nashville. They don’t necessarily have access to capital in the way they need,” he says.

Goss brings a wealth of experience to Minno, including time spent at Amazon and in the U.S. Military. He praises Nashville as having the “highest caliber” of talent he’s seen. What’s missing? Major tech companies that can complement the city’s blossoming production.

NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE - FEBRUARY 13: (L-R) Tim Timmons, Milo Ventimiglia, Bart Millard, John Michael Finley and Trace Adkins attend Lionsgate's "I Can Only Imagine 2" Night at The Grand Ole Opry on February 13, 2026 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Terry Wyatt/Getty Images for Lionsgate)

Terry Wyatt/Getty Images for Lionsgate

“What company will aggregate and bring that talent together?” he asks. “We need more talented operators coming into the systems, creating companies that execute really well,” he says, noting that Erwin’s “I Can Only Imagine 2” arrives courtesy of his partnership with Lionsgate, an established film studio.

The key to creating the next L.A.-style production hub is simple, Goss says.

“Get the best projects, the best people, and the best money together. That’s happening. We’re beginning to see these things coalesce [in Nashville],” he says.

Erwin says it helps to believe in both the city and a Higher Power.

“There’s an emboldening that happens when you realize you’re not alone. I can really stay true to the stories I’ve felt called to tell and not have to apologize for it because there are a lot of others who believe what I believe,” Erwin says. “It’s been amazing to see people of faith just find Nashville.”

Tariffs Overturned: What Happens To The $200 Billion Already Collected?

Tariffs Overturned: What Happens To The $200 Billion Already Collected?
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

The Supreme Court delivered a long-awaited decision on Friday, striking down President Trump’s sweeping International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) tariffs. But while the court ruled on the legality of the tariffs themselves, it did not address whether the United States must refund more than $200 billion in revenue already collected.

“The court’s decision is likely to generate other serious practical consequences in the near term. One issue will be refunds,” dissenting Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote. “Refunds of billions of dollars would have significant consequences for the U.S. Treasury.”

Ruling only on the narrow legal question before them, the court did not establish a framework for refunds. Such a framework will likely be established by lower courts, particularly the United States Court of International Trade, which ruled against Trump’s tariff decision.

In response to the Supreme Court decision, President Trump said, “They take months and months to write an opinion, and they don’t even discuss that point. We’ve taken in hundreds of billions of dollars … wouldn’t you think they’d put one sentence in there saying keep the money or don’t keep the money?”

If refunds are ultimately required, the United States Treasury would be tasked with reimbursing importers for the levies they incurred — a process Kavanaugh deemed a “mess,” as refunds could be required to be issued to foreign nations, consumers, and manufacturers depending on court outcomes.

The president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, Maya MacGuineas, said that with the federal deficit in mind, the ruling was very bad news: “With today’s Supreme Court ruling affirming the illegality of President Trump’s emergency tariffs, the country will now be about $2 trillion deeper in the hole. With the national debt already the size of the entire U.S. economy and interest on the debt costing more than $1 trillion this year, this is very bad news. Congress should work quickly to fill that hole.”

She added, “We are in a dismal fiscal situation, and it just got worse.”

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the $200 billion in tariff revenue could be used to shrink the $2 trillion deficit and pay down the $36 trillion debt.

Beyond budgetary concerns, the ruling could impact Trump’s broader use of tariffs as a foreign policy tool during negotiations. In February, he threatened to impose tariffs on countries that do business with Iran, citing the country’s repression of protesters, support for proxy terrorist groups, and continued pursuit of nuclear capabilities. In May, the president warned China that tariffs would increase if the country continued not to ship rare earth minerals to the United States — materials used in products ranging from household appliances and automobiles to semiconductors for artificial intelligence chips.

In addition to bringing back jobs and supply chains to the United States, Trump argues he needs tariffs to address a national security concern: the hollowing out of the manufacturing base. In an executive order signed on Liberation Day, Trump explained that the inability to scale advanced manufacturing undermines “critical supply chains; and rendered our defense-industrial base dependent on foreign adversaries.”

At a White House press conference on Friday, the president confirmed he will continue issuing tariffs under authorities granted to him through Section 232, rather than relying on the broader emergency powers provided under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA).

Love, Leftism, And The Tar Pit Of Physical Reality

Love, Leftism, And The Tar Pit Of Physical Reality
AleksandarNakic. Getty Images.

When I ponder the deeper aspects of love and intimacy, I sometimes like to consult the wisdom of our left-wing thought leaders, in the same way I sometimes like to stick a pencil in my ear to see if I can make it come out the other side of my head, then slam the ball-peen of a hammer down on my kneecap with full force before finally jamming a lit stick of dynamite between my buttocks and blowing my own ass off.

For far too long, stodgy conservative influencers like Matt Walsh and God have defined human love as that relationship in which a man and a woman come to realize that the jigsaw complementarity of male and female bodies has become a fleshly symbol of the harmonic convergence of their individual souls, so that they seek to come together through the sacrament of an indissoluble lifelong marriage, in which she submits to the authority of a member of that gender with some semblance of a capacity for reason, while he includes within the circle of his own happiness the happiness of a member of that gender that can never be made happy or if they can it just costs an absolute fortune.

But unlike the sluggish thought of conservatives, the wisdom of leftism never allows itself to become mired in the stagnant tar pit of moral and physical reality. Leftism is progressive, like emphysema or one of those horrible degenerative diseases that you don’t even want to think about because it’s so much like leftism, it makes you wonder how a good God could ever allow such a thing to exist. No. Leftists have now moved beyond restrictive, outdated categories like the essential nature of the human condition, and they’ve discovered all kinds of new wrinkles to human love that past generations never even conceived of without getting arrested.

For instance, through the brilliant writings of leftist academics who have dedicated their lives to the selfless work of saying ridiculous crap that only some idiot like a journalist could possibly fall for, we now know that your gender is not determined by what gender you are. That wouldn’t be fair. You didn’t ask to be born. And if you did ask to be born, you sure didn’t ask to be born with every cell of your body evolved over slow millennia to either create and nurture the next generation, or to drag your ass to work so the next generation and their mother don’t starve to death while they’re home playing Candy Land or whatever the hell they do all day when you’re slaving away to keep them in onesies with maybe a few bucks left over for a date night at the Olive Garden so you don’t go out of your freaking mind.

NOW, leftists tell us, you can change your gender by simply lopping off the relevant body parts, then bullying all the sane people into pretending that did the trick, until the gnawing suspicion that everyone is lying to you causes you to spray a crowded room with gunfire before blowing your head off.

And for those people who aren’t into meaningless self-mutilation — for some reason — leftists are also able to assist you in intimacy by recommending some fruitless sexual fetish that is sure to improve your love life if your love life currently consists of lowering baskets of lotion into an oubliette.

As an example, there’s a new movie out called “Pillion” which charts the sado-masochistic affair between two gay bikers. The Wall Street Journal calls it a “classic rom-com with warm and fuzzy feelings.” The Washington Post calls it a “surprisingly sweet BDSM romance.” And the New York Times hasn’t reviewed it yet, because their reviewer is still in the theater watching it over and over again. 

Now, don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against defining love as a man submitting to wearing a dog collar for another man, any more than I’m against defining dinner as repeatedly smacking a sirloin steak into your forehead. I just wish our leftist cultural overlords would occasionally heap such praise on a movie about, say, a wife submitting to the authority of a husband who makes her happiness his own. But they can’t. Because no one ever makes that movie.

* * *

This excerpt is taken from the opening satirical monologue of “The Andrew Klavan Show.”

Andrew Klavan is the host of “The Andrew Klavan Show” at The Daily Wire. Klavan is the bestselling author of numerous books, including the Cameron Winter Mystery series. The fifth installment, After That, The Dark, is NOW AVAILABLE. Follow him on X: @andrewklavan.

The views expressed in this satirical piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

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