Republican Rep. Julia Letlow of Louisiana officially launched her campaign to oust Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) just days after securing an endorsement from President Donald Trump.

Trump came out in support of Letlow on Saturday, calling her a “Big Star” who would embrace the MAGA agenda. Although Republican operatives like the National Republican Senatorial Committee customarily endorse the incumbent, Cassidy’s controversial votes may have cost him the support of the president.

‘I am confident I will win.’

“I’m honored to have President Trump’s endorsement and trust,” Letlow said in a post on X. “My mission is clear: to ensure the nation our children inherit is safer and stronger.”

“This United States Senate seat belongs to the people of Louisiana, because we deserve conservative leadership that will not waver.”

RELATED: ‘Federal dollars should not pay for abortion, period’: Sen. Cassidy doubles down on Hyde, abortion pill restrictions

Shawn Thew/EPA/Bloomberg via Getty Images

While the race is shaping up to be a contested Republican primary, the NRSC is letting the chips fall where they may.

The Senate Republicans’ campaign arm is holding off from spending money on Cassidy, whom the NRSC endorsed, because “Louisiana will be won by a Republican regardless” and because the group doesn’t want to oppose the president, according to a source familiar with the NRSC’s decision-making.

RELATED: GOP senator warns Republicans will lose future elections if party continues to ‘idolize’ Trump

Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images

Notably, Cassidy was one of the few Republicans who voted to go forward with Trump’s second impeachment trial in 2021, later voting to convict the president. Despite this, Cassidy remains confident about his race.

“I’m proudly running for re-election as a principled conservative who gets things done for the people of Louisiana,” Cassidy said after Trump endorsed Letlow. “If Congresswoman Letlow decides to run I am confident I will win.”

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Over the weekend, the Patriarchs and Heads of the Churches in Jerusalem released a statement reaffirming their authority in the land of Israel against proponents of Christian Zionism and other “damaging ideologies.”

The statement, published on Saturday, reaffirmed Christian leaders’ devotion to the Christian flock in the Holy Land. It condemned ideologies like Christian Zionism, which “mislead the public, sow confusion, and harm the unity of our flock.”

‘You don’t have to support the nation-state of Israel, but if you do, you can do so without adhering to the relatively novel theology of Christian Zionism.’

Christian Zionism is the belief in the continuity between the Israel of the Bible and the modern state of Israel.

The church leaders condemned the “political actors” who have been “welcomed at official levels both locally and internationally.” They described these dealings as “interference in the internal life of the church.”

RELATED: Hoosiers QB Fernando Mendoza gives ‘all the glory to God’ ahead of national championship

Photo by Mostafa Alkharouf/Anadolu via Getty Images

The letter continued, “These undertakings have found favor among certain political actors in Israel and beyond who seek to push a political agenda which may harm the Christian presence in the Holy Land and the wider Middle East.”

As a result, the Patriarchs and Heads of Churches in Jerusalem “reiterate that they alone represent the Churches and their flock in matters pertaining to Christian religious, communal, and pastoral life in the Holy Land.”

On Monday, the Daily Wire’s Michael Knowles explained his position on Christian Zionism in response to the Patriarchs’ statement.

Knowles, an outspoken Roman Catholic, explained that the joint statement issued by the Christian leaders over the weekend is essentially a reiteration of church teaching, such as a statement from 1985 from the Vatican.

The Vatican invites Christians to understand the Jews’ religious attachment to the land of Israel “without however making their own any particular religious interpretation of this relationship.”

Knowles signaled his wholehearted agreement with the next passage of the Vatican’s notes, which he said “underscores the point”: “The existence of the State of Israel and its political options should be envisaged not in a perspective which is in itself religious, but in their reference to the common principles of international law.”

Knowles said that this line of thinking is “why I would not call myself a Zionist, or a Christian Zionist.”

He continued, “It’s not because I don’t like the Jews, and it’s not because I don’t even support the state of Israel. As I think I’ve made clear, I am broadly supportive of the nation-state of Israel. But I am broadly supportive of it not because I believe in the principles of Zionism, which makes certain historical claims and religious claims that I just don’t think are true.”

Knowles also said that he doesn’t think that just because a people lived on a plot of land many years ago, it entitles them to the land today. “If that were the case, we would have to turn Mount Rushmore over to the Lakota Sioux. I don’t believe any of that.”

He finally clarified that most of his support for the nation-state of Israel is negative — that is, he doesn’t like the alternatives, referring to other nations in the region like Iran and other Muslim groups. “The current options in the Holy Land are not great.”

Staking his position clearly near the end of the clip, Knowles said, “You don’t have to support the nation-state of Israel, but if you do, you can do so without adhering to the relatively novel theology of Christian Zionism.”

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A 12-year-old boy struck a woman in her face with a screwdriver in a robbery over the weekend, Seattle police said.

Just before 7 p.m. Saturday, officers responded to a robbery near 23rd Avenue South and South Jackson Street and found an injured 43-year-old woman, police said.

‘Are they going to release him again so he can kill someone next time? Just curious.’

Police determined that a juvenile suspect wearing a “hot pink ski mask” had just robbed the woman at the Amazon Fresh store, police said.

The suspect “attacked the victim, hitting her multiple times in the face with his hands,” police said, after which he struck the woman in the face with a screwdriver.

The suspect rifled through the victim’s handbag in a parking garage — and then returned to the victim and assaulted her again before running off, police said.

While police located the suspect, he fled from them on foot, police said.

RELATED: 3 males — ages 8, 11, 12 — steal car, crash into house; driver, 11, says he learned how to steal cars from YouTube: Cops

However police recognized the suspect based on previous interactions — as well as his age and unique clothing description — and went to his family’s house and got a search warrant for his arrest, police said.

Officers took the suspect into custody without incident and recovered the screwdriver, police said.

The suspect was booked into juvenile detention at the Judge Patricia H. Clark Children & Family Justice Center.

Commenters under KCPQ’s video report about the incident were livid:

“Some woke judge will let him go and say we need [to] utilize restorative justice,” one commenter said. “It is a joke. Zero accountability in Seattle.””Arrest the parents, too, or whoever the guardian is!” another user insisted.”Are they going to release him again so he can kill someone next time?” another commenter wondered. “Just curious.””Where did a 12yo even get the idea of armed robbery in his head?” another user asked.”Charge that little demon as an adult,” another commenter suggested.

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Radicals participating in a so-called “ICE Out Action” stormed a Christian church on Sunday in Saint Paul, Minnesota.

The interlopers — ex-CNN talking head Don Lemon and a motley crew of leftists hailing largely from Nekima Levy Armstrong’s Racial Justice Network, Black Lives Matter Minnesota, and BLM Twin Cities — not only lashed out at a pastor over his apparent role at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement but intimidated parishioners, drowned out sound of worship with their propaganda, and pressured the prayerful to condemn ICE.

The Justice Department has indicated that criminal charges for possible Freedom of Access to Clinics Entrances Act and KKK Act violations are imminent. Despite the clear language of the relevant statutes, some Democrats have defended the mob action, indicating that churches are viable targets for further desecration.

‘When they find out that someone that’s supposed to be speaking for the community in church is found out to be in ICE … they have the right to go in there.’

When asked whether the DOJ has a case against the anti-ICE radicals who disrupted Minnesota Christians’ lawful exercise of religious freedom in a place of worship, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison (D) told CNN’s Erin Burnett on Monday, “Under this DOJ, wrongdoing has nothing to do with whether they’re going to focus or investigate you. So I wish in a normal time I would say no; I’d say this is First Amendment activity.”

After she suggested that “the optics of going into a place of worship are not necessarily great,” Burnett asked the Muslim Minnesota AG whether he was frustrated “that it happened this way.”

RELATED: ‘You are on notice!’ Don Lemon backs anti-ICE radicals who stormed Saint Paul church — but DOJ vows reckoning

Nekima Levy Armstrong, the radical who led the intrusion into the church. Photo by Stephen Maturen/Getty Images.

Ellison avoided answering the question, suggesting he was instead frustrated by the number of ICE agents operating in his crime-ridden jurisdiction and the possibility that troops might be deployed to Minnesota.

Rep. Adelita Grijalva (Ariz.), a co-sponsor of a resolution to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and a recent participant in an anti-ICE operation, is another Democrat who evidently figures churches are fair game for intimidation campaigns.

On a CNN appearance Monday, Grijalva justified the mob action, suggesting that the supposedly ICE-affiliated pastor “now knows what it’s like to have his daily life and privacy interrupted. This is a daily occurrence in our immigrant communities — being followed, being kidnapped, us out of our schools, churches, and hospitals.”

The Democrat congresswoman underscored that she did not think it was a step too far for “protesters” to go into churches, noting, “I think that when they find out that someone that’s supposed to be speaking for the community in church is found out to be in ICE, like a federal agent that is running ICE in their communities, they have the right to go in there.”

“Churches have always been an open door,” continued Grijalva. “And from my understanding in the videos that I saw, those protesters were not violent in any way.”

‘No cause — political or otherwise — justifies the desecration of a sacred space.’

Numerous Christian leaders and organizations evidently see things differently and have advocated for legal consequences in response to the intrusion.

Pastor Paul Chappell, president of the West Coast Baptist College, stated, “We condemn the actions of Don Lemon and the group of activists who stormed Cities Church today in St. Paul, Minnesota, in clear violation of the FACE Act. Christians everywhere should demand that the Department of Justice arrest those who participated. We must protect religious liberty in this country.”

“This group trespassed on private property and willfully obstructed Christian worship,” said Kevin Ezell, president of the North American Mission Board. “No cause — political or otherwise — justifies the desecration of a sacred space or the intimidation and trauma inflicted on families gathered peacefully in the house of God.”

Ezell added, “What occurred was not protest; it was lawless harassment.”

Albert Mohler, the president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, called the mob action not only a “desecration” but an “unspeakably evil intrusion.”

Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon stressed on Sunday that houses of worship are not public forums for the protests of radicals but spaces “protected from exactly such acts by federal criminal and civil laws.”

“We don’t want to prejudge, but I think it is fair to say that I saw multiple federal criminal incidents yesterday, and there will be charges,” Dhillon told Blaze Media co-founder Glenn Beck. “It’s only a question of when we can get a judge to sign off on arrest warrants and exactly what the charges would be.”

“We will not let this happen to another church in the United States. It is un-American, unacceptable, and there is a zero-tolerance policy for it at this DOJ,” added Dhillon.

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​Keith ellison, Adelita grijalva, Minnesota, Minneapolis, St. paul, Cities church, Church, Black lives matter, Racial justice network, Nekima levy armstrong, Face act, Kkk act, Christian, Bigotry, Anti-ice, Ice, Immigration, Customs, Enforcement, Dhillon, Politics 

Despite an appalling violent crime problem in Chicago, Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker has signed a bill protecting convicts, making it easier for them to get past hiring filters and find jobs in Illinois.

On Saturday, Pritzker signed the Clean Slate Act, which will enable officials to seal non-violent criminal records for over 1.7 million people in Illinois, Fox 32 Chicago reported.

Just last month, Gov. Pritzker fortified the state’s sanctuary laws.

The new law will require eligible records to be sealed by 2029.

The law applies only to non-violent convictions and dismissed or reversed charges and arrests. More serious crimes, such as sexual violence, DUI, or any crimes that require sex offender registration, are not eligible for automatic sealing.

While this particular law excludes violent felonies, it comes at a time when violent incidents on Chicago trains are making national headlines.

Moreover Pritzker has a long history of siding with suspected law-breakers over victims. In 2023, cashless bail became the law of the state, thanks to the SAFE-T Act he signed previously. Just last month, he fortified the state’s sanctuary laws, prohibiting federal immigration agents from conducting operations near courthouses, hospitals, university campuses, and day-care centers.

RELATED: Chicago Bears may leave city over rift with Democrat leadership

John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images

The Clean Slate Act is celebrated by the Democrats as a jobs initiative, since many businesses use background checks to filter out candidates with prior convictions. Once the records are sealed, that traditional filter will be less robust, allowing potential former convicts to remain in the running.

“There is no reasonable public safety justification for making it hard for returning citizens to get a job or housing or an education,” Pritzker said, according to Fox 32. “It’s a policy guided by punishment rather than rehabilitation.”

The Clean Slate Initiative lists Pennsylvania, Utah, New Jersey, Connecticut, Michigan, Delaware, Virginia, California, Oklahoma, Colorado, Minnesota, and New York as states that have passed legislation that meets their criteria for Clean Slate laws. Washington, D.C., is also listed.

The criteria include automation of record sealing, including arrest and misdemeanor records. The Clean Slate Initiative also includes a “strong recommendation for laws to include eligibility of at least one felony record.”

Sheena Meade, CEO of the Clean Slate Initiative, stated: “Our coalition partners — including Live Free Illinois, the Illinois Coalition to End Permanent Punishments, the Workers Center for Racial Justice, Impact for Equity, and Code for America — and bill sponsors Rep. Jehan Gordon-Booth and Sen. Elgie Sims have shown the resolve, persistence, and heart needed to drive real change.”

The new law will take effect June 1.

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On January 12, the Wall Street Journal published an exclusive report claiming that President Trump is less than thrilled with Attorney General Pam Bondi.

According to the article, he has complained privately to aides repeatedly in recent weeks, describing Bondi as “weak” and “ineffective” at enforcing his agenda, specifically when it comes to the Epstein files, prosecuting people like former FBI Director James Comey and New York AG Letitia James, and pursuing the shadow figures who orchestrated Biden’s phony 2020 presidential victory.

This is music to many conservatives’ ears. From their perspective, MAGA has waited a year in vain for the heads of D.C.’s slimiest swamp creatures to roll, as was a campaign promise. To discover that Trump himself is perhaps also displeased with the DOJ’s lack of prosecutions is encouraging.

However the report is coming from a mainstream outlet, so a healthy degree of skepticism is necessary, says BlazeTV host Liz Wheeler.

Regardless she feels that the contents of the Wall Street Journal’s report are “very realistic” and “very plausible.”

“It seems like a summary of what you and I have experienced throughout the year,” she says.

According to the article, President Trump told the Wall Street Journal, “Pam is doing an excellent job. She’s been my friend for many years. Tremendous progress is being made against radical left lunatics who are good at only one thing: cheating in elections and the crimes they commit.”

“All right, so how do we analyze this article?” asks Liz. “Is this true? Is President Trump finally growing tired of Attorney General Pam Bondi?”

While she acknowledges that “it is true that Pam Bondi has been loyal to President Trump for many years, and that makes the situation perhaps personally a little more awkward,” the reality is President Trump has to decide “whether Pam Bondi is an effective attorney general, not whether she’s a loyal friend.”

And the facts don’t lie.

As early as February 2025, it was clear to Liz that Bondi “does not tell the truth to the American people” after she gave Liz and other conservative influencers those “infamous white Epstein binders” that contained no new information on the convicted child sex trafficker.

Bondi’s ineffectiveness has “become more obvious as the summer passed and the fall passed and the new year passed,” says Liz.

“Tulsi Gabbard handed Attorney General Pam Bondi on a silver platter a case against John Brennan and the Obama cronies that fabricated the intelligence community assessment to claim that Russia helped President Trump defeat Hillary Clinton … and what accountability have they faced?” she asks.

“Trump’s administration controls the Department of Justice. We should be seeing indictment after indictment after indictment. And yet what have we seen? We’ve seen nothing.”

To hear more of Liz’s commentary, watch the video above.

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