Politics

By Virginia Allen, The Daily Signal - After 738 days in Hamas captivity, the final 20 living hostages crossed the border from Gaza back into Israel. Images of fathers, mothers, wives, brothers, and sisters embracing their loved ones after two years of separation flooded social media... Bar Kupershtein, 23, cried as he embraced his mother. He was working at the Nova Music Festival on Oct. 7, 2023 when Hamas launched its terrorist attack on Israel killing 1,200 and taking another 251, including Kupershtein, hostage.

By Tessa Gervasini, Catholic News Agency - President Donald Trump renewed the focus of Columbus Day to be celebrated on the second Monday of October, reclaiming the explorer’s “extraordinary legacy of faith, courage, perseverance, and virtue,” according to the president’s proclamation... Since 1971, the second Monday in October has been federally recognized as Columbus Day to commemorate Columbus’ discovery of the Americas in 1492, celebrate Italian-American heritage, and acknowledge the 1891 lynchings of 11 Italian Americans. In 2021, former President Joe Biden issued the first presidential proclamation of Indigenous Peoples’ Day to be observed on the same day, following backlash toward Columbus.

By Kristen Ziccarelli and Joshua Treviño, The Federalsit - If we are to properly set the conditions for a civilizational rebirth, we must accept that realistic rhetoric is the statecraft needed for renewal... Last week, President Donald Trump announced that Israel and Hamas had signed off on the first phase of his Gaza peace plan — one of the most significant diplomatic breakthroughs in the Middle East in years. For our nation and the world, this was a moment of rare convergence, of both clarity and action.