Vandalizing Teslas, Democrats Demand ‘Due Process’ for Illegal Immigrant, the ‘Francis Effect’ That Wasn’t

Democrats are sticklers for the rule of law and due process. That is, on specific issues: prosecuting Donald Trump; defending illegal immigrant terrorists. On other matters, though, they are far looser and more forgiving: like election integrity and Tesla vandalism.

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Six felonies? No problem: A Minnesota government employee vandalized six Teslas, causing $21,000 in damages. But Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty, backed by George Soros-funded groups, decided not to press charges. This judge has a history of refusing to prosecute serious crimes, including a murder case reassigned to Keith Ellison. She is part of a pattern of Soros-backed prosecutors prioritizing progressive policies over law enforcement.

The broader wave of anti-Tesla vandalism is a mark of the insane thinking of the left. They are livid at Tesla owner Elon Musk for his efforts to eliminate federal waste, fraud and abuse through the Department of Government Efficiency. So livid, in fact, that they view him as a Nazi. Just yesterday it seems, driving a Tesla meant you were helping combat the civilizational threat of global warming. But today, you must destroy Tesla to combat the even bigger civilizational threat of … trimming bureaucratic bloat.

Our feature story this morning, from our latest print issue, tries to unpack this bizarre trend: “The Idiocy of the Tesla Attacks.”

Meanwhile, Democrats demand “due process” for an illegal immigrant: Four more Democrat U.S. representatives traveled to El Salvador yesterday to push for the release of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was deported by the Trump administration. The White House says Abrego Garcia is an MS-13 gang member. Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele has refused to release him. It’s not a great look for the Democratic Party, which is already hemorrhaging public support: spending taxpayer money on these trips abroad to demand greater legal representation and due process for an illegal immigrant than for U.S. citizens.

At every turn, people are using the law not as a standard for justice but as a political weapon. As the Prophet Isaiah prophesied, “[J]udgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off: for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter.”

The “Francis effect” that wasn’t: When Francis became pope in 2013, progressive Catholics hoped he would liberalize church doctrine and make it more inclusive, attracting both disaffected members and newcomers. It didn’t happen. So argues Rod Dreher in “Could the Pope’s Death Mean the Demise of Liberal Catholicism?” published yesterday in the European Conservative.

U.S. Vice President JD Vance, with whom the pope met the day before he died, is a recent Catholic convert and a critic of the pope’s liberal stance on issues like mass migration. His conversion to Catholicism was influenced by his admiration for conservative Catholic intellectuals who followed traditional theological teachings. Vance reflects a broader trend: Conservative Catholicism appears to be gaining ground, signaling a possible decline in liberal influence within the church. Dreher says Pope Francis’s death may mark a turning point away from the church’s liberal past toward a more conservative future. This is exactly what we would expect based on biblical prophecy, as Gerald Flurry wrote in “A New Era Requires a New Pope.”

Donald Trump will attend the pope’s funeral—despite the pope being an outspoken, fierce critic of his.

Churches are too political, Germany’s new Bundestag president says: Julia Klöckner stirred a debate over the weekend accusing churches of being too political. Instead of preaching about the big questions of life and death, they weigh in on issues like the speed limit. Such topics are divisive (to many Germans, the autobahn’s lack of a speed limit is as holy as the churches themselves), and plenty of people are already devoted to those topics, she said.

Some accused Klöckner of seeking to muzzle the churches. The usually areligious Green party especially criticized her, likely because it fears losing churches’ support for climate activism and gender ideologies.

Around the same time, former German Defense Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg posted a podcast with left-wing icon Gregor Gysi titled “For What Do We Still Need the Churches?” The topic seems to be on everyone’s mind, and with the papal election around the corner, it is sure to gain still more prominence.

Bible prophecy reveals that the Roman Catholic Church is about to drastically return to its former strength and weigh in on matters much weightier than a speed limit or gender ideology. In fact, it reveals the influence of the Catholic Church is about to drastically transform the European landscape.

Trump reportedly still seeking a deal with Russia: Late Sunday, President Trump posted on Truth Social that he wants a deal by the end of the week—even after the failed ceasefire in the Ukraine war over the weekend. Media reports have since indicated that his administration is exploring significant concessions to Russia to expedite a peace deal.

1. The administration is reportedly willing to formally acknowledge Russia’s control over Crimea, which Russia illegally annexed in 2014 following a military invasion. Crimea remains internationally recognized as part of Ukraine; this move would mark a significant shift in U.S. policy.
2. The administration is said to be open to blocking Ukraine from NATO membership. Kyiv sees NATO as essential for long-term security against Russian aggression, but Vladimir Putin views NATO’s eastward expansion as a security threat.

These are huge concessions to Russia. It’s not hard to imagine Putin finding a way to satisfy President Trump enough to extract them from the U.S. The damage this would do to America’s relationship with Europe is hard to calculate.

The Ukraine testing ground: The European Commission intends to spend €20 billion in Ukraine’s defense sector over the next year, our In Brief reports. And Europe is eager to learn from the experience it gains on the battlefield.

China tested a nonnuclear hydrogen bomb, Peter van Halteren reports. This new class of high-energy weapon could transform future battlefields.

Pot, meet kettle: China has condemned the U.S. of “unilateral bullying,” correspondent Cliff Lilangan reports. The trade war continues to escalate.

About-face? Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) confirms that Khaled Khaled and Abu Ali Yasser, two important leaders based in Syria, were just arrested by the new Syrian government. For years, Damascus was PIJ’s headquarters. Its overall leader Ziyad Nakhalah was based there until President Bashar Assad’s fall late last year.

PIJ is a militant group that previously commanded thousands of troops in Gaza. It participated in Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, massacre on Israel and kidnapped Israeli hostages; it is still fighting Israel. Like Hamas, PIJ is a proxy of Iran.

Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the group that ousted Assad and now governs Syria, has Islamist roots and used to be connected to al Qaeda. Many analysts worry HTS’s success will turn Syria into a Sunni Islamist state that will attack Israel. Yet the fact that the new government is targeting Israel’s current Sunni Islamist enemies suggests the government may be reforming.

But regardless what surface-level actions the new government takes, nobody should be fooled. The Bible prophesies that Syria will form an important part of an alliance meant to DESTROY Israel. Chapter 4 of Gerald Flurry’s free booklet The King of the South explains why.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. really hates junk food: The Epoch Times has a feature on the efforts of the new U.S. and Health and Human Services secretary. Kennedy is highlighting how many processed foods are high in calories but lack nutrients, contributing to obesity and malnutrition. He notes that 74 percent of children are unfit for military service due to health issues, and nearly 70 percent of American adults are overweight or obese. As part of the “Make America Healthy Again” initiative, Kennedy is pushing to reform nutrition policies, including urging states to ban the use of food stamp funds for high-sugar, low-nutrient foods like soda. He advocates aligning medical and public health choices and is working to build collaboration among federal, state and local levels.

It is heartening to see this urgent issue receiving such attention after decades of neglect. Americans’ health is suffering and worsening. But the moneyed interests in these fields are so vast and powerful, and the appeal to people’s basest cravings so strong, it is difficult to see even this effort having a substantial impact.

Nevertheless, the truths that are being exposed should be a prod to individual improvement, rejecting foodless foods and giving our bodies what they need to thrive. Read our article “The Junk-Food Hangover.”

Cocaine use is spreading rapidly in Germany, the head of the German Criminal Police Office says. The nation is seeing “a flood of cocaine,” Holger Münch told Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland yesterday. “It is triggered by the fact that the market in North America is saturated and people are concentrating more on Europe. Cocaine is spreading very strongly in Germany.” Adding to the problem, Germany partially legalized cannabis consumption last year.

Drugs often bring out the worst in people. They open one’s mind to the evil influences of this world (Ephesians 6:12). A similar spike in drug consumption preceded World War II.

Lest we forget: The Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany (or the Claims Conference) published a report today titled “Vanishing Witnesses: An Urgent Analysis of the Declining Population of Holocaust Survivors.” The report, an analysis of the demographics of Holocaust survivors, estimates that the current population of Holocaust survivors will be halved within the next six years. It reads:

This year marks 80 years after the Holocaust. The vast majority of those still alive who bear witness to the unimaginable persecution were children when they were freed from concentration camps and ghettos, came out of hiding and survived after fleeing. Those children are now the last generation of Holocaust survivors, about 98 percent of whom are 80 years old and older.

With the passing of another generation comes the risk of forgetting the lessons it taught. As human civilization gets more and more distant from the atrocities of the Holocaust and World War II, there is a real risk of repeating the mistakes that led to those atrocities. I highly recommend you listen to our executive editor Stephen Flurry’s Trumpet Daily episode last Friday about this crucial subject.