In this special episode of Illinois Family Spotlight, IFI’s Jenna Smith sits down with Aynaz “Anni” Cyrus.

Aynaz “Anni” Cyrus is an Iranian-American investigative author and national security voice focused on the ideological and psychological strategies of Islamism and political Islam in the West.

Her latest work, The Architecture of Jihad, examines how movements, institutions, and state actors deploy religious doctrine, narrative warfare, and moral inversion to influence Western policy, culture, and security.… Continue Reading

Over the course of a single day this month, a pattern repeated itself across the West. Two Muslims murdered at least 15 people at a Hanukkah celebration in Sydney. Five Muslims were arrested for plotting an attack on a Christmas market in Germany. French authorities canceled a concert in Paris due to credible threats of an Islamist terror attack. Two Iowa National Guardsmen in Syria were murdered by an Islamist while we play footsie with an illegitimate regime.… Continue Reading

The U.S. government should leave the United Nations and restore American sovereignty as an urgent matter, explained U.S. Congressman Chip Roy (R-TX) in this far-reaching discussion with journalist Alex Newman at the Fredericksburg Tea Party’s Boots & BBQ fundraiser.

Rep. Roy is the chief sponsor of the DEFUND Act to “disengage entirely from the United Nations debacle.” He picked up the torch from lawmakers in previous congresses who also tried to get the U.S.… Continue Reading

Last week, I posted a comment on Facebook from Amichai Chikli, Israel’s minister of diaspora affairs, whereby he said there is a growing concern among Israeli leaders that people in the West don’t understand we are undergoing the same existential threat that his country is facing, but just in a much more subtle way.

“I think it is very important for Americans to understand,” he said, “that there is a plan by the Muslim Brotherhood [and its proxy organizations such as CAIR, the Council on American-Islamic Relations] to make America a Muslim state.” … Continue Reading

French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced this week that their countries would unilaterally recognize a Palestinian state.

The first problem with that is “Palestine” is a fictional place. There never was any such thing.

And diplomatic recognition of it no more changes this reality than if Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu were to decide to recognize the archipelago of Islamic banlieues on the outskirts of Paris as an independent nation.… Continue Reading

There is no conservative case to be made for Kamala Harris.

None.

Obviously, there are many conservatives, particularly Christian conservatives, who are not voting for Donald Trump based on conviction and principle. It’s a position that is, in my estimation, reasonable and legitimate. But all that reason and all that legitimacy immediately flies out the window when such an individual announces intent to cast a vote in favor of a spectacularly unfit, ideologically radical, and morally untethered political party fabrication like the candidacy of Kamala Harris.… Continue Reading

Are you confused by the calls from well-known evangelical leaders like John Piper to not vote for Donald Trump in November? Everyone but God makes mistakes, but I believe that to boycott Trump because he does not measure up to evangelical standards is a mistake with potentially catastrophic consequences.

If you witness a little child, without a floatation device, falling into a swimming pool you don’t need to wait for the Spirit to prompt you to go in after him!… Continue Reading

The Democratic National Convention convenes on today and runs through Thursday, Aug. 22.

“More than 15,000 members of the media will be in Chicago to cover the convention,” the convention website informs us. That is, they’re supposed to be there to cover it, not act as delegates. But it’ll work out the same way.

The media will help Democrats create a misleading portrait of the party to pump into America’s living rooms.… Continue Reading

Do you believe evil exists?

Over the past several months, as you read countless stories about college students aligning with the butchery of Hamas, did you think you were witnessing something blatantly wrong? Did you know in your heart that you were watching something beyond the pale, something that was just bad, something that was evil?

These past few days, as you’ve been bombarded by our nation’s celebration of the seventh deadly sin of “pride” and our denial of biology, our denial of genetics, our denial of science, and our denial of self-restraint.… Continue Reading

[Last] week’s news was dominated by the anti-Semitic protests taking place on college campuses across the nation. Columbia, Yale, Berkeley, Harvard. Over 120 American institutions have reported disruptions to the point that classes have been canceled and police have been called in to restore order.

So how did we get here? Who caused this mess? The answer is simple. All these childish antics and temper tantrums dominating the headlines can be traced back to one key source: the terrible ideas we have been teaching our children for the past 50 years. … Continue Reading

Did you ever think you would see the day when Jewish students on elite college campuses were afraid to attend classes?

Pro-Hamas mobs have taken over. They have built tent cities and made it clear that Jews and anyone supporting Israel is an enemy.

At Columbia University, Israel-born Shai Davidai, an assistant professor at the business school, was told that his keycard was deactivated after he spoke at a pro-Israel rally.… Continue Reading

On Sunday, April 21^st, Governor J.B. Pritzker appeared on CNN to discuss the 2024 Biden Presidential Campaign.

During his segment, Pritzker relayed a series of factually incorrect statements. For the sake of time, only three of these statements will be briefly discussed here.

Pritzker’s first claim was that adding Robert F. Kennedy to the presidential ballot would not affect Biden’s campaign. But a recent New York Times article noted,

Fears among Democrats are particularly acute this year, with polls suggesting that Mr.

According to Politico,

“In the weeks after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel, Rep. Jamaal Bowman not only publicly cast doubt on reports that Israeli women were raped, but also called those accusations ‘propaganda.’”

Jim Marter, Republican nominee for U.S. Congress in Illinois’ 14th District, called on Democrat opponent, Lauren Underwood to let her constituents know where she stands.… Continue Reading

The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), a bipartisan, pro-Israel political action lobbying committee, has been endorsing members of Congress for years in a bid to enact specific policies that create a strong, enduring and mutually beneficial relationship with Israel, America’s biggest ally and the only democracy in the Middle East.

AIPAC essentially raises millions of dollars by Jewish and Christian people and groups across the country, who want to see Israel protected.… Continue Reading

The Biden Administration’s intentional and flagrant disregard for national security has dramatically fostered and escalated an ongoing crisis at our southern border as record levels of illegal immigrants and deadly drugs pour into our nation. We also cannot overstate the egregious problem of human trafficking that has exploded in scope over the past few years.

Additionally, more than a few political pundits have expressed their grave concerns about the alarming number of military-age men streaming in through the southern U.S.… Continue Reading

National Public Radio is a sandbox for the Left. The “news” there is manufactured by leftists, for leftists. You can find it easily in the latest interviews about the Biden reelection campaign. The interviewers are clearly nervous that President Joe Biden’s messaging isn’t working. It’s not that Biden’s incompetent; it’s that voters are ignorant.

On the Jan. 9 “Morning Edition,” NPR host Michel Martin interviewed Democratic National Committee Chair Jaime Harrison and worried that the Biden focus on “saving democracy” from the “far right” threat of Trump wasn’t working.… Continue Reading

On Nov. 7, the U.S. House of Representatives (212 Republicans and 22 Democrats) voted to censure radical U.S. Representative Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) because she has “levied unbelievable falsehoods about our greatest ally, Israel, and the attack on October 7.”

One of those outrageous falsehoods was clinging to the false claim that Israel bombed the al-Ahli hospital in Gaza. But guess what? Our professional “fact-checkers” haven’t located that lie … or any other nutty utterance, like her laughable claim that “from the river to the sea” isn’t a Hamas slogan about the eradication of Israel, it’s an “aspirational call for freedom” and “peaceful coexistence.”… Continue Reading

One of the things I learned long ago is the principle of the vacuum. As it is in physics, so it is with human nature. Nothing will always be filled with something. Like a vortex in the ocean, a black hole in the cosmos, or the Hoover in your living room, so it is in the public square.

A vacuum simply can’t be resisted. Nothingness cannot sustain itself. Rest assured, a void will be filled.… Continue Reading

As if the pro-Palestinian rallies on university and college campuses are not alarming enough, we have other strong evidence that attests to the fact that support for Hamas Jihad against Israel among college students is higher than it is in the general population. For example, a 2023 poll by Harvard CAPS/Harris found that 48 percent of college-age students (18-24) said they support Hamas, while only 52 percent said they support Israel.… Continue Reading

Foreign policy is no different from domestic policy in that most programs our government wants to fund address problems that our previous policies caused. Hence, the cycle of government. When it comes to foreign aid, how about we first stop funding the problem before throwing endless funding at a solution — while continuing to fund the problem?

Nowhere is this cycle of insanity more evident than with Joe Biden’s massive Israel aid package (primarily consisting of Ukraine grift), while he handcuffs the Jewish state’s self-defense efforts and continues to fund its enemies, including the Iranian-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon.… Continue Reading

Last week, in this column, I argued, “What happens in Israel will not stay in Israel.” I went on to warn that “the next shoe to drop may be in Galveston rather than Gaza.”

Is this warning a bit over the top, or is there a reason to take it seriously?

Well, if Solomon was right when he said, “As a man thinketh, so he is,” let’s consider what the people who fancy themselves the moral conscience of America and the West actually think and say.… Continue Reading

The twisted narratives deployed by Hamas apologists to justify the most gruesome terrorist excesses of our time, aren’t based on mere misunderstandings and random distortions as much as on outright lies.

For instance, those who defend the indefensible, argue that Israeli “occupation” has left the oppressed denizens of the Gaza Strip with no alternative but murderous and indescribably brutal “protest.”

This contention never answers the obvious question as to how a nation can conceivably “occupy” a piece of real estate when none of its soldiers, police officers, bureaucrats or businessmen ever set foot on its premises.… Continue Reading

How did nearly every major college campus turn into the Third Reich overnight, with large gatherings of belligerent rally-goers chanting genocidal slogans against Jews? It didn’t happen overnight. Over a generation, we’ve imported the Muslim world to our college campuses. Not surprisingly, we also imported some of the slogans, chants, and values undergirding it.

Is this what we really need for our civilization?

The ubiquitous pro-Hamas rallies we’ve seen on nearly every major college campus over the past week are not the typical “end the occupation” rallies.… Continue Reading

Barely a week after the horrific October 7th Hamas terror attacks on Israel, we noticed CNN’s coverage starting to turn foul. We then noticed it on the PBS News Hour as well. Their coverage drifted away from the abhorrent murders, rapes and kidnappings committed by Islamic jihadists, to a more sympathetic tone for the people of Palestine and the terrorists that they unequivocally support. ABC, CBS, and NBC “news” programs quickly followed suit.… Continue Reading

The left is becoming unhinged and exposed.

During Hamas’ murderous invasion of Israel on Oct. 7, U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), and her group of America-hating congresswomen actually sided with Hamas.

U.S. Representative Rashid Tlaib (D-MI), called for Israel to end its “occupation of Palestine” and for the U.S. to stop aiding Israel.

U.S. Representative Ilhan Omar (D-MI) who has called Israel “evil,” said that Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant had called all Palestinians “human animals,” even though he was clearly referring only to the Hamas terrorists who had committed unspeakable atrocities.… Continue Reading

I understood and agreed with the criticism aimed at the Biden administration when it took half a day for the President of the United States to offer any kind of official statement condemning the coordinated, murderous invasion of Israeli neighborhoods, communities, businesses, and homes committed by Hamas terrorists. The deafening silence from the White House was unacceptable from every angle.

From a moral perspective, it was egregiously passive. For the leader of a progressive movement that prides itself on the silly pretension it champions both women and human rights, the sight of the unfolding horror demanded immediate, thunderous condemnation.… Continue Reading

In the age of government coverups and disinformation, like Anthony Fauci and his gain-of-function research at the Wuhan Lab, Hillary Clinton’s private server and emails, Hunter Biden’s laptop, and, and, and…the list of high-level cover-ups goes on and on. There is one that precedes them all, but most people have never even heard about it: the attack on the USS Liberty.

Recently, the USS Liberty Veterans Association observed the 56^th anniversary of the attack.… Continue Reading

Why are left-wing Democrats lying about Mary Miller?

Because she stands for your values!

U.S. Representative Mary Miller is serving her first term in Congress, representing Illinois’ 15th District in Washington, D.C. Her husband, Chris Miller, is a state representative who has served in the Illinois General Assembly since 2019. They are a hardworking Christian couple who have raised seven children, operate a family ranch and farm, and are well-respected leaders in their local church and community.… Continue Reading

Twitter did this after the President’s Executive Order calling for an end to politically motivated censorship on Twitter. And so the war is on. It is clear from Twitter’s leaving up Khamenei’s tweet calling for jihad violence that they’re not censoring Trump out of concern about violence, but because he is the largest voice dissenting from their agenda. Once he is silenced, it will be easy to silence everyone else. Who appointed Twitter’s Jack Dorsey, and Mark Zuckerberg, and the clowns at Google/YouTube and the Southern Poverty Law Center, as the guardians of acceptable opinion and permitted speech?… Continue Reading

It is unlikely to come as a surprise to anyone except the most blinkered Leftist ideologue that Ilhan Omar’s response to being banned from entering Israel, along with her fellow antisemitic Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib, was outstandingly disingenuous. But she knows, when she retails her outrageous falsehoods, that the establishment media will never call her on them or reveal the true depths of her alliance with jihadis and agitation against Israel.… Continue Reading

Written by Michael Medved

The bitter divisions in American life currently stem from politics as much as from differences in race, religion or economic status. Even tightly connected subgroups endure internal conflicts over President Donald Trump and his policies.

Jewish Americans, for instance, represent less than 2 percent of the national population but that community includes some of Trump’s harshest critics, as well as members of his staff and family, and some of his strongest supporters.… Continue Reading

Written by Michael Qazvini

U.S. Senators Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) hit the morning television circuit Thursday to unveil their new bill to defund the United Nations.

Standing shoulder to shoulder and smiling, the two national security-minded lawmakers appeared on MSNBC’s Morning Joe and Fox News’ Fox and Friends to detail a plan that would block taxpayer dollars from funding the corrupt international body.

In citing last month’s egregious anti-Israel UN Security Resolutions as a major source of dismay in the senate, they drew a clear ideological line in the sand between the Obama administration and Congress.… Continue Reading

Written by Jonah Goldberg

Dear Reader (including all the dudes in this coffee shop with man-buns),

As Michael Moore’s proctologist says at every appointment, “I’d really rather not do this today, but it’s my job.”

I’m in Dallas, killing myself to “finish” my book. I put “finish” in air quotes (while I put actual Finnish people in a pit in my basement, “It puts the herring in the basket or it gets the hose again”) not just because there’s so much left to do and so little time to do it in, but because even after I’m “done” my editor is going to walk around this enormous pile of paper staring at it like a farmer slowly circling a meteorite that landed in his wheat field, incapable of processing why it looks like a smoking, irradiated replica of Dom DeLouise in a sailor suit.… Continue Reading

Written by Michael F. Haverluck

Keith Ellison, the Muslim Congressman from Minnesota who was sworn into office with his hand on the Quran, is skirting around questions about his anti-Semitic past as he is being considered as the number one contender for the next Democratic National Committee (DNC) chairman.

When asked about the anti-Semitic rants from his past, Ellison refused to answer. He then went on to blame his support for anti-Semite Louis Farrakhan on “bad reporting” by the news media.… Continue Reading

Written by Billy Davis and Steve Jordahl

A variety of advocates for conservative causes are watching closely as the Republican Party completes a draft of its official party platform.

Platform committee members met Monday and Tuesday in Cleveland to finalize the party’s stance on immigration, military readiness, and other issues that will be put before convention delegates for a final vote.

Many of the debated topics were hot-button social issues, including abortion and traditional marriage.

“Emerging Republican platform goes far to the right,” a headline at the reliably liberal New York Times declared earlier this week.… Continue Reading

Written by Cliff Kincaid

Why is the FBI missing the extremists in our midst? Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that the organization consulted by the Department of Justice for information on extremists is in bed with them.

Evelyn Schlatter, the deputy director of research of the Intelligence Project at the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), was listed as a participant in the recent Left Forum conference, which featured an assortment of communists, 9/11 truthers, pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel activists, and other extremists.… Continue Reading

Written by James Lewis

Today’s self-proclaimed “liberals” would have no truck with the real John F. Kennedy, or LBJ, or Harry S. Truman, or Daniel Patrick Moynihan, or other patriotic liberals. If the phrase “patriotic liberal” has an odd clang today, you know exactly what I mean.

Barack Obama, for whatever talents he may possess, is not an American patriot. Try saying “The patriotic Obamas” and then try not to cringe. … Continue Reading

Written by Michael Medved

A big majority of Americans say Israel is justified in its response to Hamas, but a CNN/ORC poll shows revealing ideological differences in attitudes toward the Middle East.

Among Republicans, 73% stand with Israel, and among Independents that support remains strong at 56%. But among Democrats, only a minority – 45% – feels the Jewish state is justified in its military response in Gaza to stop rocket attacks and terror tunnels.

This attitude indicates that liberals have not only lost touch with public opinion but they’ve disconnected from reality.… Continue Reading