Commentary Culture Investigations

It was a message received.
Years ago, I was a devout reader of books on the power of positive thinking.
I consumed the works of a posse of books on the importance of possibility thinking from noted in-the-day positive thinkers. With names like the Rev. Dr. Norman Vincent Peale, the Rev. Robert Schuller, Tony Robbins, and Dr. W. Clement Stone. And others.
On one memorable occasion, when I was a young Reagan White House staffer, I was in a White House reception that featured, among others, Clement Stone. Stone, a highly successful businessman and philanthropist, had by then authored several books on positive thinking. Among them were The Success System That Never Fails, Believe and Achieve: 17 Principles of Success, and Success Through a Positive Mental Attitude.
So there was my younger self looking across the State Dining Room of the White House, and who do I see but no less than Dr. W. Clement Stone himself. In the flesh.
The temptation to say hello and introduce myself to the man whose books on positive thinking I had so avidly consumed was too much to resist. So over I went, and patiently waited until Dr. Stone was free for a moment of the crowd of admirers who had surrounded him. When my moment came, I politely introduced myself and told him how much I admired him and how deeply I had read his books.
Dr. Stone nodded his head. Then he asked what was the most important thing I should have learned from reading his books. I froze. Not sure. And then?
And then, without missing a beat, right there in a White House reception, he suddenly yelled at the very top of his lungs: “ACTION!!!!!”
Suffice it to say, everything and everyone in the room stopped. All the other guests stared. I was speechless. With that, Stone looked at me quietly and said, “And don’t ever forget that.”
Here we are all these years later, and safe to say, I have never forgotten Clement Stone’s sage advice.
This anecdote comes to mind as Americans and the world are watching President Trump deal with the radicals of Iran. And here, as but a sample, is this Fox News headline of the moment: “Trump says Iran ‘no longer a threat,’ US will keep hitting country ‘very hard’ in next phase.”
The subheadline reads:
President Donald Trump told Americans in a primetime address Wednesday that Iran is no longer “the bully of the Middle East.” The president outlined the next phase of the war, saying U.S. forces will strike Iran “very hard” over the next two to three weeks and bring the country “back to the Stone Ages.”
In other words?
When it comes to dealing with Iran, what Trump is promising is the wisdom of Clement Stone:
“ACTION!”
And action is exactly what Trump is about.
If there is any lesson for a president of the United States, it is that to execute whatever policy is foremost on their agenda, they need to take action. Words are not enough.
Most particularly does this apply to dealing in foreign and national security policy. Alas, America has many adversaries and outright enemies out there in the world. And without fail, they are watching and taking the measure of whoever is the leader of the most powerful nation on the planet.
It has always been so. A serious reading of American history and there are countless examples. But one example?
In the aftermath of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, any Japanese thoughts that America could be bullied were more than effectively answered a mere four months later.
On April 18, 1942, American fighter planes, led by General Jimmy Doolittle, suddenly appeared over Tokyo. Doolittle was carrying out a vow by President Franklin Roosevelt to bomb the Japanese capital to raise the morale of Americans after the attack on Pearl Harbor. History records that the attack, which in fact caught the Japanese by surprise, did indeed lift American morale. And the war in the Pacific went on from there, ending after President Harry Truman ordered the dropping of not one but two atomic bombs over Japan in 1945.
In short, in both the case of the initial Tokyo bombing in 1942 and the final, nuclear bombings in 1945, FDR and Truman took action. And in doing so, eventually won the war.
Decades later, when President Ronald Reagan talked about having an American foreign policy that exemplified “peace through strength” – a policy Reagan pushed with the introduction of the Strategic Defense Initiative (or “Star Wars” as Reagan critics of his military build-up dubbed it), the policy of a serious military build-up wound up eventually wound up winning and ending the Cold War. Without, as Reagan said, firing a shot.
Now, here America finds itself (again!) facing down Iran, a state led by Islamic radicals determined to turn the world into a subset of Islamic radicalism.
To which President Trump, all too aware of the objectives of the Iranian radical mullahs for global supremacy, is saying no.
Addressing the nation this week on his refusal to allow Iran a nuclear arsenal, a refusal that more than takes into account the repeated Iranian attempts over the last 47 years to subject the entire globe to its control, Trump has made it clear: Not on his watch.
In short, the president has taken action.
And he isn’t backing down.
READ MORE from Jeffrey Lord:
Netanyahu Applauds Trump on Iran
The Rising Star of Pennsylvania’s Stacy Garrity
The Price of Gas and the November Elections

“We’re taking a historic step forward to balance an unfair system,” said Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson as he signed the “Millionaires’ Tax” into law on Monday.
The new law imposed a 9.9 percent tax on income over $1 million. The governor’s official press release stated, “The bill does not apply to income under $1 million.” However, Washington also included a “marriage penalty” in the legislation. According to the bill, “[I]n the case of spouses or state registered domestic partners, their combined standard deduction is $1,000,000, regardless of whether they file joint or separate returns.”  
While blue states expand income taxes, red states pursue the opposite approach. At a recent Daily Caller live forum, tax reform leaders Grover Norquist and Stephen Moore outlined a conservative strategy to shift red states from flat income taxes toward complete elimination of income tax, in order to form a southern “freedom zone.” (RELATED: Y’all Street Is Eating Wall Street’s Lunch)
Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform, pointed to a map of state tax systems to highlight the spread of flat-rate taxation. He explained, “There are now 16 flat-rate, single-rate states. There used to be eight. In the last five years, we’ve added eight.” He then highlighted five states on automatic paths to zero income tax. “That’s Oklahoma, Mississippi, South Carolina … Kentucky, [and] West Virginia,” he said. (RELATED: Go South, Young Man, Go South)
Norquist framed the red-state approach as effective and politically durable: “So the red states are moving to single-rate taxes, difficult to raise, easy to cut because everybody benefits at once, and on to zero.” He suggested sustained success could eventually support national policy reform once “half the senators will be from states that have a single-rate tax.”
Economist Stephen Moore took Norquist’s idea further. Noting that roughly 12 southern states already have low or no income taxes, he said, “What we need to do is create a freedom zone in America, which would be the South, where every southern state has no income tax.” He argued this zone should include universal school choice and right-to-work laws “so the dollars chase the kids, not those teacher unions.” 
The forum reflects growing momentum to cut income taxes in southern states. Mississippi enacted the “Build Up Mississippi Act” in March 2025, a law that reduces the state income tax rate to 3 percent by 2030 with the goal of gradually decreasing to zero percent. Meanwhile, South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster signed a bill this week that established an automatic phased slowdown toward zero income tax.
As red states work to eliminate income tax, Stephen Moore warned that blue states “either have to change or die.”
READ MORE from Dylan Kresak:
Georgia Woman Who Said ‘I Want Her to Die’ Gets $1 Bail in Newborn Death Case
UK Lawmakers Make ‘Unutterably Grim’ Move to Decriminalize Abortion
Oregon Predator Principal Sentenced in Child Pornography Case, Said ‘Good Riddance’ to Charlie Kirk

Much overlooked in Hezbollah’s current war against Israel is Hezbollah’s war against the Christians of Lebanon. In 1932, the population of Lebanon was 53 percent Christian, while today that number is estimated at 34 percent. (RELATED: The New Israel–Hezbollah War)
There have been numerous instances this past March alone that show the extent to which Hezbollah is infiltrating the Christian parts of Lebanon. Just days ago, Hezbollah took control of the Christian village of Qawzah in southern Lebanon. Using its Christian population as human shields, the terror group used the village as a base to launch rockets, missiles, and anti-tank fire at Israel. The IDF has maintained that Hezbollah has done this with other Christian villages in Lebanon as well.
In fact, days before the incident at Qawzah, the IDF uncovered a Hezbollah tunnel underneath a church in the southern Lebanese town of Khiam. Hezbollah also took over a church and retrofitted it as a terrorist base. In another incident in March, Hezbollah terrorists entered another Christian village in southern Lebanon, prompting the IDF to fire on and eliminate the terrorist cell. The IDF also eliminated a Hezbollah terrorist in a car via drone strike in the Christian-majority city of Zahle. 
Additionally, in March, Hezbollah media spread rumors that the IDF was stationed inside Saint George’s Church in the Christian village of Debel, possibly as a pretext to shell the church (which Hezbollah reportedly did). In response, the village’s leaders posted a video to social media on the steps of that church denying the presence of any Jews or Israeli army in the church, and that therefore a Hezbollah attack on them is not justified. Residents of Debel have reportedly reached out to Hezbollah media to deny the accusation of IDF presence. 
The above are only the most recent examples of Hezbollah’s infiltration into Christian communities. In December 2024, the IDF killed Hezbollah terrorists operating near a church in southern Lebanon. In November 2024, the Christian community was successful in killing one Hezbollah terrorist and expelling the rest after the group tried to set up shop in the Christian village of Qlayya. In October 2024, Hezbollah moved some of its military infrastructure near Christian villages and churches east of Beirut. In September 2024, reports surfaced that Hezbollah was storing rockets in churches in southern Lebanon. In July 2024, Hezbollah draped an Islamist banner over the Christian St. George hospital.
Shortly after Hezbollah waged war (again) on Israel on Oct. 8, 2023, Hezbollah hid in the Christian village of Rmeish and stored rockets there, despite Christian villagers and their priest making brave efforts opposing Hezbollah’s encroachment. Hezbollah had placed a missile launcher on the roof of the Baptist church in Marjiyoun, southern Lebanon, back in 2006. (Similarly, Hezbollah has fired rockets into Israel from mosques in the past.)
Treating churches as fair game for military operations is not alien to Hezbollah and its adjacent organizations. Earlier this month, fellow Iranian proxy Kataib Hezbollah struck a Chaldean Catholic church in Ankawa, Iraq via drone. In December 2023, Hezbollah struck a Catholic church in Iqrit, northern Israel, via missile. 
Hezbollah has vocalized disdain for Christians. Hashem Safieddine, briefly Hezbollah’s chief in 2024 before Israel eliminated him, stated that demography will eventually prohibit Christians from securing the presidency of Lebanon, a post given to the Christian population in Lebanon’s constitution.
And Hezbollah has likely killed several Christian political leaders in Lebanon. While Christian Lebanese Forces member Pascal Suleiman’s abduction and killing in April 2024 was attributed to Syrian gang members, many suspect that Hezbollah was at least somewhat involved. Suleiman’s last words were allegedly “I have children, don’t kill me.” Suspicions of Hezbollah involvement in Suleiman’s demise were especially warranted when, in response to the murder, Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah quizzically accused the Lebanese Christian parties of being “sowers of discord” and trying to instigate a civil war. 
Additionally, Hezbollah’s Unit 121, the same unit responsible for the assassination of Lebanon’s former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, abducted and murdered Christian Lebanese forces member Elias al-Hasrouni in August 2023, according to the IDF. Both Suleiman’s and al-Hasrouni’s abductions and murders follow a similar modus operandi to that of Lokman Slim’s fate, a prominent Shiite critic of Hezbollah who was abducted and assassinated in February 2021. Mere minutes after Slim’s death was confirmed, Hassan Nasrallah’s son Jawad Nasrallah tweeted: “The loss of some people is in fact an unplanned gain #notsorry.” Jawad subsequently deleted his tweet and claimed he was not referencing Slim. 
While Hezbollah has targeted Christian villages, churches, and politicians, there still remain beacons of hope as several Christian Lebanese leaders are outspoken critics of Hezbollah. Dr. Richard Kouyoumjian, the head of foreign relations for the Christian Lebanese Forces, recently chastised both the government and Hezbollah for not enforcing an August 2025 decision to disarm the terrorist group. Charles Jarbour of the Christian Lebanese Forces stated that Israel is targeting Hezbollah, not Lebanon, and that UNIFIL forces were “co-conspirators” with Hezbollah, commenting that they must have known Hezbollah was building military infrastructure in southern Lebanon.
Christian Lebanese Forces official Ibrahim El Sakr has called on the Lebanese government to “grab the Iranian ambassador by the ear,” and interrogate him, and offer Israel a “land for peace” deal similar to Egypt’s Anwar Sadat. Lebanese Syriac Party leader Ibraham Mrad stated that Christians in Lebanon have a right to self-determination, and argued that Lebanon should be partitioned into Christian, Sunni, Shiite, and Druze states. Mrad had also stated that peace with Israel will bring Lebanon peace, a good economy, and a normal life. 
While Hezbollah continues its war against Christians, hopefully, brave Christian leaders can join with Israel to further weaken Hezbollah in Lebanon and forge a durable Lebanon-Israel peace.
READ MORE from Steve Postal:
Will Iran Strike the US Homeland?
Iran Is Asking for a Continued Military Campaign
US and Israel Continue to Degrade the Islamic Republic
Image licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International.