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MORNING GLORY: Trump has restored the GOP as the party of defense and deterrence
As the fourth week of the battle with Iran opened, President Donald Trump announced a window of opportunity for negotiations. With whom no one outside of the president and his closest advisors knows. The president did not halt strikes on Iran, and Israel continued to pound its long list of military targets as well as the regime’s massive apparatus of repression while the U.S. focuses on degrading the military-industrial capacity of the mullahs. Iran is a country with shattered defenses and no ability to project targeted force. This was accomplished in three weeks. No wonder someone wants to negotiate even as others tell our left-wing media that Iran is winning.
Commentators have lots of takes, almost invariably driven by their support of, or hatred for, either the president, Prime Minister Netanyahu, Israel as a whole or some combination thereof.
No “takes” matter. The conflict will be judged twice: When major combat operations conclude and a year thereafter. There is an unquestionable level of success in “defanging” the regime while decapitating its senior leadership. While no civilian can know, we can guess chaos rages within the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (“IRGC”) as it both tries to survive and at the same time sees the command structure that remains jockeying among themselves for power in a post-war Iran.
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Among the crucial results achieved thus far is clarity about the Iranian regime. It can never be trusted by anyone within striking distance of its missile array. It has no boundaries on which countries it will attack and zero concern for civilians. Like its proxies in Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis, the IRGC will hide among the civilian population to save their skins. Their “battle plan” is simply to spray missiles far and wide and threaten the Strait of Hormuz. That’s it. That’s what they have left.
It’s not nothing. They may cause a global recession. They have certainly incentivized the construction of alternative delivery routes for oil and natural gas. Even if the Strait is opened via combat operations and warship escorts, if the Iranian regime remains in power, it will be a priority for the impacted sellers and buyers of Gulf energy to diversify delivery and supply.
But the regime has been conclusively proven to be frail on the offense, and thoroughly penetrated at every level. The Americans and Israelis know almost everything there is to know about the Iranian leadership, and they will have the same degree of knowledge about the C Team that is stood up if any regime survives at all. The powers that remain long ago lost the support of the Iranian citizenry and now the world knows it has almost zero striking power left and only one card — the ability to threaten the Strait.
A regime that murdered 35,000 of its own people for protesting its many failures is living on borrowed time. The president and the prime minister can escalate or accept a truce, can destroy the country’s power grid or simply pulverize the length of the Strait. Eventually, the near-collapse of the facade of power will be as complete as that of Hamas.
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In undertaking this mission, President Trump fully restored the American deterrent that was forfeited by President Biden’s collapse in Afghanistan. Trump demonstrated again the remarkable power of the American military and solidified the most important relationship with America’s most important and powerful ally — Israel.
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He has also exposed the hard truth — difficult for people who recall Margaret Thatcher, Francois Mitterrand and Helmut Kohl among others — of the sclerosis that has seized most of “old” Europe. The frontline states — Poland, Finland and Sweden, are the new cornerstones of “new Europe” and Ukraine may be counted on their rank. The old allies? We would be fools to trust in them to be of any help in a crisis with China. They are spent.
With all that clarity comes one more impossible-to-deny truth. With America involved in a battle with a terrorist regime, the Democrats repeatedly chose in vote after vote to keep the Department of Homeland Security shuttered and unfunded. It is a ridiculous and wildly irresponsible political stunt, of course, as the entire party has crumbled into a hot mess of extreme positions of the left on every issue. There is simply no trusting the Democrats to put aside partisanship even in a time of raging battle. Extraordinary and unprecedented, but undeniable and true.
The Pentagon has asked for $200 billion in additional funding to cover the conflict with Iran. I hope President Trump, Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader Thune resolve on a reconciliation process to provide that (and more if needed) as well as Department of Homeland Security funding for a few years and push it through as quickly as possible. If the GOP focuses on security at home and abroad, it will reclaim a chance to hold its own come November.
Voters may not care for this or that about President Trump and the GOP, but the spectacle of the Democrats risking America to make talking points for MS-NOW audiences should leave an enduring impression: The Republicans are the party of security at home and abroad. The Democrats couldn’t care less.
Hugh Hewitt is a Fox News contributor and host of “The Hugh Hewitt Show” heard weekday afternoons from 3 PM to 6 PM ET on the Salem Radio Network, and simulcast on Salem News Channel. Hugh drives Americans home on the East Coast and to lunch on the West Coast on over 400 affiliates nationwide, and on all the streaming platforms where SNC can be seen. He is a frequent guest on the Fox News Channel’s news roundtable, hosted by Bret Baier weekdays at 6pm ET. A son of Ohio and a graduate of Harvard College and the University of Michigan Law School, Hewitt has been a Professor of Law at Chapman University’s Fowler School of Law since 1996 where he teaches Constitutional Law. Hewitt launched his eponymous radio show from Los Angeles in 1990. Hewitt has frequently appeared on every major national news television network, hosted television shows for PBS and MSNBC, written for every major American paper, has authored a dozen books and moderated a score of Republican candidate debates, most recently the November 2023 Republican presidential debate in Miami and four Republican presidential debates in the 2015-16 cycle. Hewitt focuses his radio show and his column on the Constitution, national security, American politics and the Cleveland Browns and Guardians. Hewitt has interviewed tens of thousands of guests from Democrats Hillary Clinton and John Kerry to Republican Presidents George W. Bush and Donald Trump over his 40 years in broadcasting. This column previews the lead story that will drive his radio/ TV show today.
A federal judge appointed by former President Joe Biden in 2023 has ruled that Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. overreached in his December declaration that “sex-rejecting procedures” for children were “neither safe nor effective.”
U.S. District Judge Mustafa Kasubhai in Oregon ruled that RFK Jr. exceeded his authority and failed to follow required administrative procedures when HHS issued the declaration.
The ruling grants preliminary relief to health professionals who provide the treatments. The judge also denied the government’s motion to dismiss the case, which was brought by 20 blue states and Washington, D.C., that had legalized controversial “sex-rejecting” health services, including “puberty-suppressing hormones, cross-sex hormones, and surgical procedures.”
RFK Jr. used “comprehensive evidence review of “documented risks of significant harm, markedly weak evidence of benefit, unfavorable risk-benefit profiles, inadequate existing clinical guidelines, growing international consensus among countries conducting rigorous evidence reviews, and applicable medical ethics principles” to issue the declaration rejected by Kasubhai as an overreach.
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“Sex-rejecting procedures for children and adolescents are neither safe nor effective as a treatment modality for gender dysphoria, gender incongruence, or other related disorders in minors, and therefore, fail to meet professional recognized standards of health care,” the declaration read. “For the purposes of this declaration, ‘sex-rejecting procedures’ means pharmaceutical or surgical interventions, including puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgeries such as mastectomies, vaginoplasties, and other procedures, that attempt to align an individual’s physical appearance or body with an asserted identity that differs from the individual’s sex.”
The ruling prevents the federal government from immediately enforcing the declaration against hospitals and health professionals.
The lawsuit argued the declaration was unlawful and an attempt to override established medical standards without public notice or comment. The federal government said the general statement of policy was exempt from legal rule-making requirements.
The declaration was “the Secretary’s non-binding policy position on the safety and efficacy of certain pediatric and adolescent treatment modalities for gender dysphoria, gender incongruence, or other related conditions,” the government argued Feb. 10.
“Secretary Kennedy, just like anyone else, is entitled to articulate his opinion on the safety and efficacy of emerging and controversial medical practices. The Declaration summarizes Secretary Kennedy’s independent evaluation of the cited medical literature and expresses his opinion that certain treatment modalities are not safe and effective and fail to meet professionally recognized standards of health care.”
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Kasubhai’s ruling was at the end of a roughly six-hour hearing and will be followed by a written decision.
“There’s a theme of ‘Break it and see what others will do,’ and that’s not a system or method committed to the rule of law,” Kasubhai said. “That notion that ‘I will go forward, issue a declaration and see if we can get away with it,’ that is not a principle of governance that adheres to the overarching commitment to the democratic public that requires the rule of law to be regarded and respected and honored as sacred.”
New York Attorney General Letitia James, who led the case, said the ruling protects patients, families and providers from federal intimidation.
“So much of the conversation around transgender health care has lost sight of the real people harmed by the federal government’s attacks,” James wrote in a statement last week, praising the opinion. “Young people are losing access to life-saving treatment, families are being left in the dark, and medical providers are being threatened just for doing their jobs and following standards of care.
“Today’s win breaks through the noise and gives some needed clarity to patients, families, and providers. Health care services for transgender young people remain legal, and the federal government cannot intimidate or punish the providers who offer them.
“It is my duty and my privilege to stand with trans New Yorkers and their families. I will always fight for the LGBTQ+ community.”
The case was brought by Oregon, New York, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Rhode Island, Vermont, Wisconsin, Washington and Pennsylvania.
The ruling comes as President Donald Trump has sought to tag a 2024 presidential campaign vow to “protect children from transgender mutilation surgeries” to the 2026 SAVE America Act currently being debated in the Senate.
Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., formally introduced an amendment to attach the added Trump priorities to the election-integrity bill.
“I’ve worked closely with President Trump and the White House to introduce a substitute amendment that will save our elections, save women’s sports, and save our children from gender mutilation surgeries,” Schmitt wrote in a statement last week. “It’s time to get this done.”
Liberal CNN contributor Kara Swisher doubled down on her vow to leave her network if Paramount is successful with its bid to take over Warner Bros. Discovery.
Speaking Monday at Syracuse University’s Toner Prizes for Excellence in Political Reporting celebration, Swisher decried tech billionaires like Oracle founder Larry Ellison and his son, new Paramount owner David Ellison, buying media companies.
She turned to the event’s emcee, Scott MacFarlane, the former CBS News correspondent who announced earlier in the day that he had joined the far-left outlet MeidasTouch, telling him, “Good move.”
“You’ll love it out here. It’s much better,” Swisher told MacFarlane. “You don’t want to work for the Ellisons. I’ve spent a lot of time with Larry Ellison, and he’s a terrible person.”
Swisher was asked by Syracuse University’s Margaret Talev whether her comments from December were a “sure thing” or if she could ever find a way to stay with the network with David Ellison as her new boss.
“I don’t see how,” Swisher responded, adding that Paramount leaders have contacted her.
“It’s interesting because they’ve been calling me. They’ve been very nice. ‘Hey Kara, good show with Matt Belloni.’ They’re doing a lot of friendly friendly with me right now, which is like — too bad. It’s not going to work. It’s not going to happen for you, as I say,” Swisher said.
“I don’t think they’ll be good owners. I don’t,” she continued. “I think they’ve already shown several times, including editorial choices, which Scott knows a lot… that they have no interest in journalism. And I refuse to work for an organization that doesn’t respect journalists.”
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The liberal journalist went on to say she doesn’t “have to” stay at CNN since she founded her own media organization that’s been lucrative.
“So for me to stand up to say, ‘I’m not working for you hacks. I’m just not doing it. And it’s just not worth it to me’… I do a lot better direct to consumer kind of thing,” Swisher added.
Paramount did not respond to Fox News Digital‘s requests for comment. CNN declined comment.
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Liberals have expressed outrage over the prospects of the Ellisons, who have a cozy relationship with President Donald Trump, taking over CNN as a result of Paramount’s $111 billion bid to acquire the network’s parent company. The younger Ellison ruffled industry feathers when he appointed Bari Weiss as the editor-in-chief of CBS News and acquired her digital outlet The Free Press.
Wellness retreats featuring spa treatments and yoga classes have long attracted travelers.
But now a new trend is emerging: psychedelic retreats. These retreats are often structured travel experiences in which participants use psychedelic substances such as psilocybin (magic mushrooms), ayahuasca or other plant-based medicines.
Hadas Alterman, a psychedelic medicine attorney in Washington, D.C., told Fox News Digital she’s seen a rise in the popularity of these retreats.
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“This paradigm could signal that the hard line between ‘clinical intervention’ and all other uses — spiritual, personal growth, recreational — is giving way to a spectrum, where psychedelics serve people who aren’t in crisis but aren’t merely thrill-seeking either,” she said.
The retreats are usually led by facilitators, shamans or therapists. They take place in destinations in which certain substances are legal or culturally accepted.
“Legality varies wildly across the globe: Psilocybin truffles are sold in the Netherlands, ayahuasca is protected cultural heritage in Peru, and Jamaica has no restrictions on psilocybin,” said Alterman.
“Popular retreats operate in these permissive countries as well as in Oregon and Colorado, where supervised psilocybin use is now legal under state law,” she added.
Celebrities and athletes have hopped on the trend — with NFL star Aaron Rodgers even attending a few psychedelic retreats in South America and Costa Rica.
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Speaking at the Psychedelic Science 2023 Conference in Colorado, Rodgers, who has credited ayahuasca with helping him with his MVP Awards in 2020 and 2021, was enthusiastic about his experiences.
“We have the opportunity to change the conversation by dispelling these archaic myths about the dangers of them or the negative side effects or whatever might be and start to share the actual wisdom and truth about it,” said Rodgers, as the New York Post reported.
“I think that’s how we move this conversation forward … More people [need] to be out there [and] comfortable talking about their own journeys. Their spiritual journey, their medicine journey, their ceremonies. So we can bring this to people who need it,” he also said.
A report published in JAMA Psychiatry entitled, “Essentials of Informed Consent to Psychedelic Medicine,” relayed concern about the use of psychedelics.
“Psychedelics have unique properties that complicate the informed consent process. They often produce intense subjective experiences that are difficult to explain, predict or comprehend, especially for psychedelic-naive individuals,” the authors wrote in the 2024 report.
The report added that patients may not truly understand what they’re agreeing to when using psychedelics, and that there are seven risks involved.
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Researchers say the risks are “the possibility of short- and long-term perceptual disturbances, potential personality changes and altered metaphysical beliefs, the limited role of reassuring physical touch, the potential for patient abuse or coercion, the role and risks of data collection, relevant practitioner disclosures, and interactive patient education and comprehension assessment.”
The authors added, “These effects can include profound perceptual changes or hallucinations, mood disturbances, paranoia and an altered sense of self and reality.”
Tom Feegel, founder and CEO of Beond — an ibogaine treatment clinic network focused on addiction, PTSD, depression and anxiety, primarily in Mexico — told Fox News Digital that retreats have grown in popularity as people search for treatments that work for them.
“What’s emerging is a fully licensed and medically supervised approach to help the brain and body create lasting change — delivered by physicians and nurses in a way that feels both rigorous and deeply human,” he said.
“Mental health is now core to how people think about performance, relationships and longevity,” he said. “There’s a growing openness to approaches that don’t just maintain the status quo, but help people actually move forward. People no longer want to ‘numb’ or manage symptoms with medication — they want real, lasting change.”
San Francisco Bay area-based Feegel said demand is increasing for something that can “create meaningful, durable change, ranging from people who haven’t found satisfactory relief in conventional care to high-performing individuals and professionals focused on optimization.”
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Feegel said the wellness trend represents a shift “from managing symptoms to restoring function, resilience and a sense of possibility.”
Fox News Digital’s Ryan Morik contributed reporting.
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