This is Carol Platt Liebau for Townhall.com. 

We’ve got yet another horrible idea emanating from California.

A new speeding ticket regime is launching in the once Golden State. Its towns can issue fines — based on the income level of the driver.

A new law allows California cities to set up speed cameras. But it also makes lower-income drivers eligible to have speeding fines dramatically reduced.

The last provision gives the game away. Not surprisingly, it’s rolling out first in San Francisco. Handing out different punishments for different people who commit the same infraction, based on nothing but their income level, may appeal to California leftists. It’s certainly “equity” in action.

But it’s also a violation of the American principle of equal justice under law. Let’s hope imposing different fines for different people is just another bad trend from California that becomes as obsolete as juice cleanses, pet rocks and streaking.

 

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There’s encouraging news from the Supreme Court. Last week, it vacated a temporary restraining order entered by a district court judge in Massachusetts. The order had required the Department of Education to continue paying grants cancelled by the Trump administration.

The Supreme Court sided with the Trump administration on a 5-4 vote. Notably, Chief Justice Roberts joined the Court’s liberals.

Even so, this result is good news. It signals the Supreme Court is likely to be mindful of taxpayers when DOGE cases come before it. If the Supreme Court allowed judges to second guess spending and staffing decisions the executive branch makes for federal agencies, then unelected and unaccountable federal judges — not the president — would become the effective rulers of our government’s executive branch.

This case shows the Supreme Court is serious about safeguarding the Constitution’s separation of powers.

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In last week’s election, the liberal candidate—Susan Crawford—won the contest for Wisconsin’s seat on the Supreme Court. That’s a very big story, and from a conservative perspective, a very sad story, demonstrating the politicization of law in this country.
 
But the bigger issue here has to do with turn-out. It turns out that the Left is more motivated to turn out the vote in off-year elections—or, put differently, conservatives are less likely to show up to vote in off-year elections.
 
It’s clear that when President Trump’s name is on the ballot, conservatives show up, Republicans show up, swing voters show up, all that was reflected in Election Day back in 2024.
 
But when you don’t have a presidential candidate—or when you don’t have Donald Trump’s name on the ballot—the turnout is not the same. That’s a huge problem, because you cannot have a comprehensive advance in terms of policy if voters don’t show up to crucial elections just because those elections are not presidential. 

Every vote—every election matters. 

We forget that, to our peril.

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If President Trump wants to secure a national security legacy that will never be other than history-changing, the time to do so is fast approaching.

President Trump has drawn a 'red line' for Iran, the question is whether or not he'll now enforce it.

The Institute for the Study of War recently published a summary of the moment:
"Senior Iranian officials are continuing to threaten nuclear weaponization, likely to try to deter a potential US or Israeli strike on Iranian nuclear facilities amid new US threats to strike these facilities…."

At least a half-dozen B-2 bombers, along with tankers and cargo aircraft, have deployed to the island of Diego Garcia in recent weeks. It's about 2,400 miles from Iran's southern coast. The B-2s can reach everywhere in Iran, and they carry the heaviest ordinance.

Trump knows what a disaster it will be if Iran gets nukes.

On the edge of enormous events, American media seems almost oblivious to the highest-of-stakes showdown unfolding before our eyes. But they are unfolding … and rapidly.

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In an important reform, President Trump has signed an executive order ending collective bargaining at most federal agencies.

Here’s why it matters. When government workers can bargain collectively, they become a powerful special interest — with priorities for pay, working conditions, and job security that are often contrary to the taxpayers supporting them. Private sector unions know they can bankrupt their employer if their demands become too extreme, but there’s no such limit on government unions. They just demand tax increases — and throw their considerable political support to the party that will demand them.

There’s even a practice called “release time.” Government employees spend their time working for the union, but receive taxpayer funded salary and benefits.

There’s a reason President Franklin Roosevelt opposed government unions. They’re part of a system rife with abuse. Congress should end government union collective bargaining through legislation.

 

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Could it be true that parents don’t have a legal right to know about their child’s trans identity?

That’s what a new law in California claims … and it could cost the state billions of dollars.

We’re talking about California Assembly Bill 1955, signed back in July by California’s Governor Gavin Newsom.

NBC writes in a report—and I’m going to quote from it—“If the three-month-old law were to be found in violation of federal rules … the state of California could lose up to $7.9 billion.”

Wow! Even for California, $7.9 billion just might be something of a wake-up call.

There’s a line in this article that caught my attention. Parents need to hear this. The article tells us, “State superintendent of public instruction, Tony Thurmond, said, educators are trying to protect students who do not want their sexual orientation outed even to their parents.”

So: School authorities believe themselves to be in a superior position to parents?

As far as I’m concerned, that’s the most important and clearly troubling sentence in the entire report.

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NPR—National Public Radio—is helmed by Katherine Maher who testified last week before the DOGE Subcommittee of the U.S. House Oversight Committee.

It did not go well for her. Not just because she’s CEO of a left-wing outlet. It didn’t go well for her because she had spent years on X … with some very outrageous takes that were exposed.

The bottom line is this: NPR is hard left. Not center-left. Not left-leaning. Hard left. And that is an objective assessment. I don’t think you could find 10% of its staff that support President Trump. I don’t think you could find 5%. Let’s just be candid: It’s an ideological machine that has a mission to make America think like its staff does—leftist.

NPR is simply radio with funding from the government and enthusiasts. Bravo to the enthusiasts. That’s what the First Amendment is all about. But it is time to end the federal subsidy. Forever. For good.

It is long past time to end the ruse of "listener supported" NPR. It is "taxpayer supported" NPR, and that has got to end.

Now.

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There’s a realignment in American politics. That’s great news – Republicans are welcoming new people into their party, as last year’s presidential elections showed.

But even the best developments have their downsides. We’re seeing one of them now—in this week’s special election congressional race in Florida and the Supreme Court election in Wisconsin. The Florida race is closer than it should be—and the Wisconsin contest is a nail-biter.

Republicans once had the edge in off-year elections. But with the new voter realignment President Trump has spearheaded, that’s no longer the case. The Democratic Party is no longer the party of “low propensity” voters—that is, the people who tend to vote in presidential years, but not in off years. Now that’s the Republican Party.

If the GOP intends to succeed, it must find a way to mobilize its new voters in every election. Conservatives in Wisconsin and Florida need to get out the vote!

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This is Albert Mohler for Townhall.com.

Will western civilization survive?

Well, not if we refuse to deport our sworn enemies.

For several decades now, the academic left has seen Western Civilization as the oppressive past that must give way to the utopian future. The United States and Israel are painted at the center of the left’s bullseye. All this burst onto the headlines when Hamas carried out its murderous terror attack upon Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.

This brings us to Mahmoud Khalil, who at the time of the demonstrations was a graduate student and leader of the pro-Palestinian protests. The Trump administration moved to deport Khalil on the basis of his actions.

Now: He’s become a test case for whether or not America has the courage to defend itself and our own values.

Western Civilization has enemies, and plenty of them are found on our elite college campuses. Our civilization will either defend itself or surrender. Any civilization that encourages its enemies to populate its elite institutions is just announcing its surrender and it will deserve its defeat.

I’m Albert Mohler.

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What is the congressional GOP waiting for?

President Trump needs to remind his friends on the Hill that time is slipping away. Nothing is certain in American politics – especially majority, and the tidal charts of federal elections have proven pretty reliable over the years …  according to those tidal charts, the GOP should get “thumped” in the November 2026.

In order to avoid that “thumping,” Republicans would do well to pay attention to the remarks of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell last week … In a word, I’d describe his projections on the economy as “meh”: 1.7% GDP growth in 2025.

And Republicans in 2026 can’t afford “meh.”

President Trump should summon the leaders of his party in Congress to the Teddy Roosevelt Room and get the budget and reconciliation package done now.

Yeah, it’s hard work—but it’s nothing like farming or a multi-use land development project. And it certainly pales in comparison to what the party would face if, indeed, Republicans get a “thumping” next year.

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