Three “women” are accused in the torture death of 7-year-old Ohio boy — but authorities said two of the suspects are male who co-parented the victim with his mother.

Cincinnati police said the Mercy Rookwood emergency department called Thursday after a woman claimed that someone was trying to kill her and her boy.

‘We saw injuries that would indicate physical beatings, blunt force injuries from a striking device on the face, torso, back, upper and lower extremities …’

“We have somebody that came in and kind of just dropped herself on the floor. She’s barefoot. She thinks that her partner’s trying to kill her, that they took her son,” the worker said in the call to police.

“She’s saying that he’s hiding him up in the attic. She is sitting on the floor, rocking back and forth and barefoot,” the worker added.

Hours later officers were called to a home on Madison Road in Oakley over a “suspicious death.”

They found William Evans-Ellis bound and wrapped with duct tape in a closet. Police arrested two males who had been co-parenting with the victim’s mother, who also was arrested.

Cincinnati police detective Kyle Smith said in court that the case is “one of the most disturbing examples of child abuse” he’d ever seen.

“From what we could see, we saw injuries that would indicate physical beatings, blunt force injuries from a striking device on the face, torso, back, upper and lower extremities. Impact injuries to the back of the head,” Smith said.

“We believe that there was, for lack of a better term, some water torture involved,” he added. “We believe the victim was choked under water, held under water for a long period of time. There was some burn torture involved, and the victim was found duct taped in positions that immobilized him.”

The boy also was revealed to have been “mentally handicapped.”

An attorney for 38-year-old Kaitlin Evans — the boy’s biological mother — admitted that she had not done enough to save her child but denied that she had killed him. Evans accused one of the two other suspects of killing the boy.

The attorney for 23-year-old Nessa Keaney said he tried to administer “treatment” to the boy and claimed Keaney was the “least culpable” for the boy’s death.

A detective testified that the third suspect, 33-year-old Kirby Rankin, admitted to his part in the abuse and had implicated Keaney and Evans as “active participants” in the abuse of the boy.

The victim’s biological father also spoke in court.

“Willie was my life, and I trusted you to care for him. They kept him from me for the past nine months over lies,” the father said.

A WXIX-TV news video described the suspects only as “people,” and other outlets described them as women — but Keaney’s arrest record lists him as a male, and Rankin also is listed as a male, while Evans is listed as a female.

RELATED: Florida woman brutally beat man to death with a hammer — and left a note saying ‘PEDO Touches Children’

Hamilton County Municipal Court Judge Rodney Harris set each suspect’s bond at $1.1 million — $1 million for murder and $100,000 for child endangering, WXIX said, adding that all three pleaded not guilty and are expected back in court later this month.

Officials apparently missed a chance to save the boy months prior to his death, when Rankin attacked a woman in a parking lot amid a driving dispute. The woman suffered fractured teeth, a concussion, a neck injury, and a torn meniscus — and asked police to charge Rankin with a felony. He was charged only with a misdemeanor and aggravated menacing.

“I asked to go to [the] grand jury. They refused. I kept being told because she was hit one time it wasn’t a felony, which is absolutely absurd,” Lance Bunnell, the husband of the victim and a retired law enforcement captain, said.

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​Child abuse, Child torture, Ohio, Transgender, Murder, Crime 

The depth behind the policies endorsed by the co-chair of the Democratic Socialist Party of America was revealed to be incredibly shallow.

Megan Romer was interviewed by David Remnick on “The New Yorker Radio Hour” about DSA policy positions, when he simply asked her what it meant to tax “the hell” out of millionaires.

‘So again, it’s democracy, right? And we have to look at what we need to spend and what we need. We don’t want to depend on the existence of millionaires, because that means people are still getting exploited.’

Romer said she was more concerned about billionaires before circling back about millionaires.

“I think most billionaires got their wealth because they exploited the working class in some very significant way usually,” Romer said.

“But we do believe in taxing the hell out of millionaires, yeah, absolutely,” she laughed.

“What does ‘taxing the hell out of them’ mean?” Remnick asked simply.

“Yeah. You know, again, I don’t have, like, a solid,” she laughed again.

“But shouldn’t you?” Remnick interrupted.

“Umm, that’s a good question,” she replied.

“If you’re the co-chair of the DSA, shouldn’t you be more specific than just taxing the hell out of something? What exactly do you mean?” he asked.

“So again, it’s democracy, right? And we have to look at what we need to spend and what we need. We don’t want to depend on the existence of millionaires, because that means people are still getting exploited,” she responded.

“So yeah, we need to look at what we need to pay for in the interim, what sort of tax base we need for that to happen, and then build from there,” she added.

While video of the exchange was widely circulated on social media, the entire interview can be viewed on the YouTube channel for the New Yorker.

RELATED: Democratic Socialists of America seek to RADICALLY upend the federal gov’t in reported platform update

The DSA is surging after a recent spree of primary victories against establishment candidates of the Democratic Party, leading to concerns that the extremist fringe is taking over.

Some Democrats responded by rejecting the extremist policies and forming a small group dedicated to defeating the communist fringe of the party.

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​Democratic socialists of america, Socialism, Communism, Democratic party, Politics 

Almost 30 years later, the murder of Tupac Shakur will go to trial for the first time.

The gang leader allegedly responsible, according to the prosecution, will only have himself to blame if he goes behind bars.

‘I’m innocent. I ain’t killed nobody, never did ever kill nobody.’

Smoking gun

Postmortem records, documentaries, and conspiracy theories have surrounded the death of Shakur for decades, and the same goes for his rival, rapper Christopher Wallace, aka the Notorious BIG.

The rivalry between the West Coast and East Coast rappers and their entourages hit a boiling point on September 7, 1996, in Las Vegas following a Mike Tyson boxing match.

The two sides had already employed gangs for protection, with Shakur and Death Row Records protected by Mob Piru, a Los Angeles gang affiliated with the Bloods. Producer and longtime suspect Marion “Suge” Knight was already affiliated with the group. Wallace’s side, Bad Boy Records and Sean “Puff Daddy” Combs, had allegedly hired the South Side Compton Crips as their bodyguards.

It was then, prosecutors say, that Duane “Keffe D” Davis was the leader of those Crips who ordered the killing of Shakur on Sept. 7 and provided the gun to kill him in a drive-by shooting, the Guardian reported.

Reports from the trial, starting Monday, say that the cold case was revived only after Davis’ memoirs were published in 2019. In the book, Davis said he was in the front seat of the Cadillac from which Shakur was shot and allegedly handed the pistol used to someone in the back seat. The book reportedly does not say who opened fire, but everyone else who was in the car that night has since died.

RELATED: HULK HYPOCRITE: $35 million man Ruffalo stumps for socialism

Steve Marcus-Pool/Getty Images

‘I ain’t killed nobody’

The story goes that Shakur and Knight attacked Davis’ nephew, another member of the Crips named Orlando “Baby Lane” Anderson. The fight was allegedly a retaliation for an assault on an employee of Death Row Records.

Prosecutors say Davis was out for revenge after the scuffle, but the 63-year-old said he did not commit the murder and said there was no evidence against him.

“I’m innocent. I ain’t killed nobody, never did ever kill nobody,” Davis told ABC News in 2025.

Davis argued to the outlet that he should be out living a normal life instead of facing the allegations.

“I’m supposed to be out there enjoying my twilight,” he said. “At one of my f**king grandson’s football games and basketball games. Enjoying life with my kids.”

Saying he left the gang life long ago, Davis stated that he was not even in Nevada at the time of the shooting but in Los Angeles, which is over four hours away by car.

RELATED: Diddy’s Big Circus

Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic/Getty Images

Hype or homicide?

“They don’t have no evidence against me. They can’t even put me in Las Vegas,” Davis asserted.

Davis faces life in prison without parole if he is convicted, but despite his apparent admission in his memoirs of being involved in the murder, he has since claimed that the information in the book is not accurate.

“I just gave him details of my life,” Davis said about the author, claiming he never read the memoirs. “And he went and did his little investigation and wrote the book on his own.”

Davis claimed the book’s details were inflated to generate book sales.

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​Tupac shakur, Notorious big, Suge knight, Diddy, Entertainment 

Newly released texts from Dr. Anthony Fauci showed that he and other health officials knew about a miscarriage risk to the coronavirus vaccine, but told the public it was safe.

The texts were released by Republican Senators Rand Paul of Kentucky and Ron Johnson of Wisconsin as part of the investigation by the Senate Homeland Security Committee.

‘It’s really one of those things that’s kind of not a close call. It really is pretty clear that pregnant women should get vaccinated.’

The exchange showed Fauci referring to the miscarriage risk in texts to Surgeon General Vivek Murthy and Dr. Rochelle Walensky, who was the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention at the time.

“I asked around a bit more and another issue came up that you need to be aware of,” he wrote. “Since many people have significant cytokines storm and fever after the 2nd dose, this theoretically could be associated with miscarriage in the 1st trimester.”

It was sent Jan. 25, 2021.

Days later, he said the Food and Drug Administration had “found thus far, and we have to be careful, but thus far no red flags about that, about pregnant women,” during a livestream with the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Months after that, Fauci made similar comments to “What to Expect” creator Heidi Murkoff.

“[I]f you look at the literally — literally — tens and tens and tens of thousands of women who have been followed by the CDC who were vaccinated when they were pregnant, there’s no indication whatsoever that there’s any increase of any adverse issues in a pregnant woman who was vaccinated compared to a pregnant woman who wasn’t vaccinated,” said Fauci.

“It’s really one of those things that’s kind of not a close call. It really is pretty clear that pregnant women should get vaccinated.”

Johnson posted the message on his social media account.

“While I’ve been conducting oversight for years, now that we have the documents and Fauci’s government-issued phone, my investigation has only just begun,” he said.

“Pregnant women were told it was safe! How many women lost babies due to Dr. Fauci’s lies?” responded Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier.

RELATED: Former Fauci adviser INDICTED for allegedly hiding emails about the origins of COVID

“Americans were told to shut up, trust the experts, and get the shot or risk their jobs and livelihoods,” replied Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas.

“Meanwhile, behind closed doors, Fauci, Walensky, and Murthy were discussing the very uncertainties Americans were attacked for raising: missing pregnancy data, pregnant women excluded from the trials, a WHO statement citing lack of data, and even a theoretical concern about miscarriage after the second dose,” he added.

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​Centers for disease control, Coronavirus vaccine, Dr anthony fauci, Miscarriage, Politics 

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese vehemently denied the suggestion he made a crude remark about a female foreign leader’s “melons.”

Albanese made the comments — and hand gestures — during his appearance on the “Bush Deep” podcast with Australian comedian Nikki Osborne. He also said during the show that he would “shag” singer and actress Kylie Minogue.

‘The comments were beneath the office of prime minister.’

Osborne asked him about gifts from foreign leaders when he told a story involving Sanae Takaichi, the female prime minister of Japan

“Here’s something I got recently here that was pretty strange but ended up being quite good was a melon. The Japanese prime minister brought a melon here!” said Albanese.

“How did he get that through customs?” Osbourne asked.

“She — it’s a royal melon,” he answered.

“Oh, she smuggled — it was a she? Did she smuggle it?” the podcaster asked, while making a gesture as if referring to pregnancy.

“I dunno,” he said, smirking.

“Oh, I’m expecting!” Osbourne joked.

“Got a couple of melons!” said Albanese while gesturing with his hands at his chest.

“She brought two?” she laughed.

“She brought two! As you do!” he replied.

“She just came in looking like Pamela Anderson!” the podcaster joked.

“She brought two!” he replied. “And they’re beautiful!”

Video of the interaction can be viewed on social media.

Takaichi had been visiting Australia to improve diplomatic relations as China threatens to expand its influence in the South China Sea.

Albanese’s political critics pounced on the incident, lambasted him, and demanded that he apologize for the joke.

“The comments were beneath the office of prime minister,” said Liberal leader Angus Taylor on Monday. “They were insulting, and the prime minister should make a personal apology. He’s done it through a statement. I mean, the hypocrisy of Labor and the prime minister on this topic knows no bounds, no bounds whatsoever.”

Opposition leader Ted O’Brien, after meeting with Japanese officials, said “the prime minister’s words were inappropriate and a national embarrassment.”

RELATED: France recalls ambassadors from the US and Australia after calling Indo-Pacific pact a ‘stab in the back’

What’s more, Shingo Yamagami — a former Japanese ambassador to Australia — rebuked Albanese for his words.

Yamagami wrote, “Prime Minister, please enjoy Japan’s sweet and juicy melons without thinking about a women’s anatomy” before adding that “however lighthearted it was intended to be, the recent joke delivered by PM Anthony Albanese at the expense of Japanese PM Sanae Takaichi is how he might be remembered by Japanese who most value the friendship with Australia.”

Yamagami added that “what dismayed some was that Takaichi has recently been subject to derogatory remarks about her body and gender” and that “the last thing she expected was to be so casually mocked by the trusted leader of Japan’s special strategic partner.”

Albanese previously apologized for his comment about shagging Minogue.

Takaichi is considered a very conservative leader who supports the legacy of the late Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

The melons in question are a special kind called Shizuoka-grown Crown Melons, which are grown so that only one fruit can be harvested from each plant. They are very expensive and are exported to Canada from Japan.

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​Australia, Chinese communist party, Japan, Sexism, Melons, Politics 

When Turning Point USA spokesman Andrew Kolvet shared a college student’s complaint that basic purchases have become prohibitively expensive — he also began a war on social media.

“One of our TPUSA college students gave me his take on affordability:

‘A burrito shouldn’t cost $20.’

Yeah, a lot of this is a hangover from Covid and Biden-era inflation, but the lived experience is the same: It just feels like basic things cost too much,” Kolvet wrote in a post on X.

The post went viral, and people all over the country chimed in with their opinions on the affordability crisis.

However, BlazeTV host Pat Gray isn’t buying it.

“There’s a big problem with affordability now because somebody paid 20 bucks for a burrito, and now the world’s out of control,” Gray says on “Pat Gray Unleashed.”

“All of a sudden, burritos are the most important thing in American society and their affordability. And they should never cost $20, ever. Nothing should cost 20 bucks,” he adds.

“It is surprising going through fast-food restaurant drive-throughs lately when you get the bill,” Jeff Fisher argues.

“Sure. But that’s, I mean, that’s been the case for a while. Don’t go out to eat then,” Gray says. “Buy the ingredients at the store. Go home and make your own burrito.”

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​Burrito, Pat gray, Turning point usa, Affordability crisis, Inflation, Groceries, Blazetv show 

A Kentucky middle school teacher is accused of grooming and having an improper relationship with a student, according to authorities.

Graves County Sheriff’s Office announced that 25-year-old Sadie M. Flores of Mayfield was arrested around 3:30 p.m. Friday.

‘We take any allegation involving the safety of a child or the professional conduct of an employee extremely seriously and will continue to cooperate fully with law enforcement and the appropriate authorities.’

Flores was charged with grooming a minor — a Class D felony.

Kentucky’s grooming a minor law was enacted July 15.

The law states that a person is guilty of grooming a minor when the offender is 18 years or older and engages in grooming behavior directed at a minor who is under 14 years old with the “intent to entice, coerce, solicit, or induce the minor to engage in sexual conduct with the person or another person.”

In addition, the law states that a person is guilty of grooming a minor when the offender is in a position of authority or special trust and engages in grooming behavior directed at a minor who is under 18 years old with the intent to entice, coerce, solicit, or induce the minor to engage in sexual conduct with the person or another person — or develop an intimate or secretive relationship with the minor.

Flores was booked at the Graves County Restricted Custody Center, according to jail records. Police said Flores later was transferred to an out-of-county detention center.

Flores — a teacher at Graves County Middle School — was “having an improper relationship with a minor student of the district,” according to the Graves County Sheriff’s Office.

“District administration was made aware of an allegation involving a teacher at Graves County Middle School,” stated Matt Madding, superintendent of Graves County Schools.

The Graves County School District Office “immediately reported it to the Graves County Sheriff’s Office for an investigation.”

The statement read, “Sheriff’s detectives’ investigation included the seizure of electronic records, interviews, and other related investigative measures.”

Police said detectives interviewed Flores and then arrested her.

RELATED: Video allegedly shows female HS teacher wearing ‘Jesus Loves You’ shirt while having sex with student: Warrants

Madding said, “Because this is an ongoing legal and personnel matter, we are limited in the information we can publicly share.”

Madding noted that the “safety and well-being of our students is our highest priority.”

“We take any allegation involving the safety of a child or the professional conduct of an employee extremely seriously and will continue to cooperate fully with law enforcement and the appropriate authorities,” Madding said.

Graves County Sheriff Jon Hayden said the investigation is ongoing.

Authorities have not released further details regarding the alleged relationship, the alleged victim’s age, or the possibility of additional charges, Fox News reported.

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​Teacher arrested, Teacher student sex scandal, Grooming, Child sex crimes, Kentucky, Middle school, Crime 

Democratic socialist Francesca Hong’s rise is about more than one candidate — it’s a warning sign that ideas once confined to the political fringe are gaining influence across the country.

“If you don’t live in Wisconsin, you may not be interested, but you should be interested, because this is something that’s spreading across the nation. We have the same types of people running for office in Texas, and you probably have them in your state, so you’ve got to pay attention,” “Relatable” host Ron Simmons explains.

Hong, Simmons notes, has been “endorsed by the Democratic Socialists of America as a member of the Wisconsin Socialist Caucus.”

“That tells you something. If there’s enough people in there to have a caucus, meaning there’s enough of her other fellow state reps that they form their own caucus, that’s a little scary,” he says.

And according to a Marquette University poll, she leads the primary with 38% support among Democrat voters, with her closest competitor being former Lieutenant Governor Mandela Barnes, who only has 16%.

“So I would say the chances of this lady winning the Democrat primary are pretty good. She has expressed some pretty radical views, including the criticism of traditional holidays such as Thanksgiving and support for anti-racism policies that most of us would argue are actually racial themselves,” he says.

However, even some Democrats are weary of her past comments, including CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins.

Collins pressed the socialist on her controversial Thanksgiving opinion, asking, “Do you still believe that Thanksgiving should be canceled?”

Hong responded, “Thanksgiving is also a time that’s incredibly painful for many people in our communities. And so I think there, I wanted to make sure that people understood that there are multiple views, but views can evolve, and the position that I’m running for right now, and I think my background as a chef will actually help me become a better governor that’s able to bring more people to the table.”

“So I’ve never known anybody that’s traumatized by Thanksgiving,” Simmons comments. “… And this lady is Korean … why would she be traumatized by Thanksgiving?”

Hong also lamented on a podcast that her son is half-white, which gives him a “proximity to whiteness.”

“He’s an American male. And the fact that he’s half-Korean or whatever, half-non-Korean, what she calls ‘half-white,’ he’s an American male. That’s what he is,” Simmons says.

“And that’s what we should think about him as being,” he adds.

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​Caucus, Democratic socialist, Francesca hong, Kaitlan collins, Mandela barnes, Marquette university, Poll, Primary, Texas, Thanksgiving, Wisconsin, Relatable with allie beth stuckey, Blazetv show 

A Green Bay election official accused of bungling ballot distribution sent herself packing on Friday.

Celestine Jeffreys resigned August 7 after allegedly issuing 152 duplicate absentee ballots to registered voters in April 2026 amid a subsequent Wisconsin Elections Commission investigation into her conduct. Jeffreys was the Green Bay official who helped facilitate Mark Zuckerberg-backed 2020 election grants routed through the Center for Tech and Civic Life, according to RealClear Investigations.

‘A clerk who does not believe the law prohibits issuing duplicate ballots cannot be trusted to prevent it from happening again.’

According to reporting by Spectrum News 1, Jeffreys was placed on administrative leave by the City of Green Bay on July 9 after the Wisconsin Elections Commission unanimously voted to open an investigation into the absentee ballot incident.

Brown County Republican Party board member Theresa Sipes filed a complaint against Jeffreys in April, alleging the duplication violated state law. The duplicates created “a substantial risk of confusion, double voting and increasing the opportunity for and possibility of fraud,” according to the filing.

The Wisconsin Republican Party backed Sipes’ filing.

The City of Green Bay defended Jeffreys, arguing that the discrepancy was an accident.

“Wisconsin law prohibits election fraud, not the inadvertent issuance of multiple ballots,” Green Bay stated in its response, obtained by Fox 11. “The statute does not impose liability for inadvertent duplication in issuance, rather, it establishes the elector’s right to receive a ballot.”

RELATED: Spanberger’s plot to let 66,000 felons vote just in time for the midterms is complete

JASON REDMOND/AFP/Getty Images

Sipes’ lawyer Nicholas Boerke rejected the city’s defense.

“A clerk who does not believe the law prohibits issuing duplicate ballots cannot be trusted to prevent it from happening again,” Boerke argued in a supplemental letter to the WEC. He went on to say that the “fundamental misunderstanding of ballot issuance law displayed in the response makes future violations inevitable absent commission action.”

The WEC saw enough merit in Boerke’s arguments to open an investigation.

“The commission authorizes an investigation into the City of Green Bay clerk to determine if the clerk or any employee or contractor of the City of Green Bay failed to comply with Wisconsin law or otherwise abuse their discretion in the preparation and mailing of absentee ballot mailers,” Wisconsin Elections Commission Chair Don Millis told Spectrum News 1.

Her resignation follows a years-long string of controversies, beginning with her tenure as Mayor Eric Genrich’s chief of staff.

“Is he working with you? As far as I’m concerned I am taking all of my cues from CTCL and work with those you recommend,” Jeffreys wrote in an email to the Center for Tech and Civic Life, according to RealClearInvestigations.

After Jeffreys’ email and in conjunction with CTCL, Green Bay hired Democrat operative Michael Spitzer-Rubenstein to oversee its 2020 election operations. Spitzer-Rubenstein eventually drove out then-City Clerk Kris Teske after demanding unprecedented access to voter databases.

The WEC reviewed the incident and found no impropriety. Wisconsin voters banned private election assistance via constitutional amendment in 2024.

Jeffreys previously courted controversy in 2023 when she allowed third parties to return absentee ballots on behalf of others. In 2024, the clerk failed to deactivate voter registrations in violation of state law in instances where Election Day materials were returned as undeliverable.

The Green Bay Mayor’s Office directed Blaze News to its August 7 press release when reached for comment.

“The City of Green Bay and Celestine Jeffreys are jointly announcing that Ms. Jeffreys has made the decision to step down from her role as City Clerk. We wish her the best in her future endeavors,” the press release states. “This will be the City’s only statement on the matter.”

Jeffreys, the Brown County Republican Party, the Wisconsin Elections Commission, and the Center for Tech and Civic Life did not respond to requests for comment. A spokesperson for Mark Zuckerberg declined to comment.

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​Mark zuckerberg, Donald trump, Absentee ballots, Wisconsin, Politics, Election-fraud 

The Democratic Socialists of America are no longer hiding the ball.

In July, the organization published a manifesto calling on the United States to “establish public ownership of the largest corporations and essential industries to ensure democratic control and accountability to the people.”

Public ownership does not give power to the people. It gives power to the government — and asks the people to trust that government never to abuse it.

That is not a proposal for higher taxes, tighter regulation, or a larger welfare state. It is a demand to replace private ownership of America’s largest companies with government ownership.

The language is designed to sound appealing. Why should a handful of billionaires control enormous corporations while everyone else gets left behind? Why shouldn’t “the people” own those companies instead?

No more greedy executives collecting fortunes while workers earn far less. No need to nationalize every business — only the “essential” industries deemed too important to operate for profit or remain in private hands.

It sounds reasonable. It sounds as though power would finally be taken from wealthy corporations and returned to society.

But that is nearly how Fidel Castro sold communism to the Cuban people.

History shows that “ownership by the people” usually means control by the government. The public does not acquire power. Politicians and bureaucrats do.

Castro did not introduce himself as a communist promising state control over every part of Cuba’s economy. He said he was fighting corruption, inequality, and concentrated wealth. Private property and capitalism became the villains. The solution was to place the country’s most important industries under the control of “the people.”

The rhetoric sounded fair and humane. Wealthy owners would lose power, and ordinary Cubans would gain it.

The first part happened. The second did not.

RELATED: From helping hand to five-finger discount

Lindsey Nicholson/UCG/Universal Images Group/Getty Images

Power was taken from private owners, but it never reached ordinary Cubans. It accumulated in the hands of the state. Today, Cubans live under political repression, chronic scarcity, and widespread poverty.

“Nothing belongs to you. It all belongs to the government,” Rosa Garcia, a survivor of Castro’s Cuba, recalled in an interview with Young Americans Against Socialism.

Garcia watched the transformation firsthand. She remembers Castro assuring Cubans that his revolution was not communist. Many believed him. Some hung signs on their doors reading, “This house is yours, Fidel.”

As government control expanded, private property rights disappeared. So did the ability to obtain goods, build wealth, or make basic economic choices without permission from the state.

When Garcia’s family later applied to leave Cuba, government officials came to their home and inventoried everything they owned to ensure they took nothing with them. Utensils, clothing, and household possessions all belonged to the government.

That is the reality behind the dreamy language of collective ownership. What supposedly belongs to everyone is controlled by the people who run the state.

Public ownership also carries enormous economic costs.

Private property gives people a reason to create, invest, innovate, and serve customers. Every smartphone, laptop, lifesaving medicine, digital platform, and other product we rely on exists because someone had the freedom to take a risk and the opportunity to profit from success.

Before Castro’s revolution, Cuba ranked among Latin America’s more prosperous countries. Today, it is one of the region’s poorest, with nearly 90% of its population living in severe poverty.

Take away private ownership, and you do more than redistribute wealth. You weaken the incentive to build businesses, develop technology, create jobs, and produce the prosperity those activities generate.

Supporters of democratic socialism will reasonably object that modern America is not revolutionary Cuba. The United States has stronger institutions, a different political culture, and constitutional protections Cuba did not preserve. Public ownership of one enterprise does not automatically produce a one-party communist state.

That distinction does not eliminate the underlying danger.

Nationalization begins with the easiest targets: highly profitable companies, billionaires accused of earning too much, and industries politicians label too important to remain privately owned.

RELATED: Who wants to eat a trillionaire?

Leon Neal/Getty Images

Once society accepts the principle that government may replace private ownership whenever politicians decide an owner is too rich or a company is too important, no clear limiting principle remains.

Why stop with the largest corporations?

Every industry placed under public ownership gives government officials more authority to decide how resources are used, which services are available, and who receives them.

Cuba’s history shows how quickly control of a few “key industries” can become a broad assault on private property. America would be foolish to assume the same principle could be embraced here without the same temptation to expand it.

Public ownership does not give power to the people. It gives power to the government — and asks the people to trust that government never to abuse it.

​Democratic socialists of america, Socialism, Taxes, Capitalism, Fidel castro, Cuba, America, Democrats, Public ownership, Rosa garcia, Communist, Propoganda, Opinion & analysis