Pope Leo XIV did something no pontiff before him has ever done: he devoted his first encyclical entirely to artificial intelligence. Released on May 25 - deliberately signed on the 135th anniversary of Pope Leo XIII's Rerum Novarum - Magnifica Humanitas ("Magnificent Humanity") may prove the most consequential Christian statement yet on the technological revolution reshaping civilization.

In a recent Congressional hearing, a current CIA employee exposed just how extensive the government&rsquo;s COVID-19 cover-up was. The Washington Stand&rsquo;s Mark Tapscott joins host Casey Harper to break down the hearing and examine the growing questions surrounding the CIA&rsquo;s role. If COVID-19 was truly a natural accident, why were intelligence documents reportedly changed? Is the CIA monitoring its own employees? And how much did Dr. Fauci know about the origins of the virus? All of this and more on today&rsquo;s episode.

In a recent Congressional hearing, a current CIA employee exposed just how extensive the government's COVID-19 cover-up was. The Washington Stand's Mark Tapscott joins host Casey Harper to break down the hearing and examine the growing questions surrounding the CIA's role. If COVID-19 was truly a natural accident, why were intelligence documents reportedly changed? Is the CIA monitoring its own employees? And how much did Dr. Fauci know about the origins of the virus? All of this and more on today's episode.

Host Casey Harper is joined by professor and author, Carl Trueman, and The Washington Stand&rsquo;s Jared Bridges to talk about how modern culture has changed the way people see human life and what it means to be made in the image of God. Using ideas from his new book, Trueman explains the definition of desecration and how society has become more disconnected, or &ldquo;disenchanted,&rdquo; which in turn has morphed our understanding of the image of God. They also discuss the rise of secular culture, the impact AI has had on human agency, and why Christians need to move from a culture that tears down what is sacred to one that restores it.
Resources
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Desecration-Man-Rejection-Degrades-Humanity/dp/0593713850">The Desecration of Man: How the Rejection of God Degrades Our Humanity</a>&nbsp;by Carl Trueman</li>
</ul>

Host Casey Harper is joined by professor and author, Carl Trueman, and The Washington Stand's Jared Bridges to talk about how modern culture has changed the way people see human life and what it means to be made in the image of God. Using ideas from his new book, Trueman explains the definition of desecration and how society has become more disconnected, or "disenchanted," which in turn has morphed our understanding of the image of God. They also discuss the rise of secular culture, the impact AI has had on human agency, and why Christians need to move from a culture that tears down what is sacred to one that restores it.

Host Casey Harper&nbsp; is joined by Luke Niforatos from Smart Approaches to Marijuana&nbsp;to unpack the growing normalization of marijuana in America. They explore how harmful marijuana actually is, why the Trump Administration has been more open to it, and what&rsquo;s actually happened in states that have legalized it. Luke pushes back on claims about medical marijuana, talks about its effects on memory and young men, and exposes the false claims that health professionals and studies are pushing.
Resources
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li><a href="https://learnaboutsam.org/">Smart Approaches to Marijuana</a>&nbsp;</li>
</ul>

Host Casey Harper  is joined by Luke Niforatos from Smart Approaches to Marijuana to unpack the growing normalization of marijuana in America. They explore how harmful marijuana actually is, why the Trump Administration has been more open to it, and what's actually happened in states that have legalized it. Luke pushes back on claims about medical marijuana, talks about its effects on memory and young men, and exposes the false claims that health professionals and studies are pushing.

Host Casey Harper is joined by Daily Signal's Tyler O'Neil and Family Research Council's Chris Gacek to examine the recent controversy surrounding the Southern Poverty Law Center. Recently indicted by the DOJ for a myriad of financial wrongs, the three break down the evidence cited in these allegations and discuss the potential legal and financial implications for the SPLC. They also highlight actual circumstances and facts that show the SPLC, while publicly claiming to oppose hate groups, has been funding individuals connected to extremist movements for years.

Host Casey Harper is joined by Daily Signal's Tyler O'Neil and Family Research Council's Chris Gacek to examine the recent controversy surrounding the Southern Poverty Law Center. Recently indicted by the DOJ for a myriad of financial wrongs, the three break down the evidence cited in these allegations and discuss the potential legal and financial implications for the SPLC. They also highlight actual circumstances and facts that show the SPLC, while publicly claiming to oppose hate groups, has been funding individuals connected to extremist movements for years.

Bolivia is in flames. Terrorism has seized control of La Paz - the capital - and is spreading to other urban areas. Roadblocks, violence against the police, and the illegal occupation of public spaces have become the norm. The key players - as has been common throughout Bolivia's recent history - are the major trade unions. Leading the current wave of unrest are the miners.
Just a few months ago, the administration of Rodrigo Paz assumed the presidency of Bolivia. Upon taking office in November 2025, he brought an end to nearly two decades of hegemony by the Movement Toward Socialism (MAS) - a party led by the coca-growers' union leader Evo Morales, who had served multiple terms in the Palacio Quemado (Burnt Palace).
Indeed, the unrest in La Paz erupted just hours after the Bolivian judiciary declared Morales a fugitive. Although he faces grave charges - including child trafficking, a matter extensively documented by both the national and international press - he refused to appear in court earlier this month.
Today, he remains holed up in the Cochabamba Tropics, a rural region where he relies on coca-growing laborers to serve as his Praetorian Guard, shielding him from the police forces attempting to apprehend him. To add a further layer of drama to the situation, Morales is revered as a hero in this region, where his guards pose with sharpened stakes and makeshift tin shields in front of palisade fortifications that resemble something out of a medieval caricature.
Faced with the possibility of a full-scale rebellion, the region remains on high alert.
Organizations such as the Ibero-American Congress for Life and Family (CIVF) have circulated a statement warning of "various strategies aimed at destabilizing the newly elected government of Bolivia." In the text - addressed to conservative politicians and activists across the Ibero-sphere, and to which I gained access for this article - the CIVF calls for the defense of the Paz administration, which it characterizes as a "democratic change, endorsed by the popular vote, standing in contrast to the disaster of the pro-socialist governments led by the MAS."
The situation on the ground is described as a blockade of the access routes to the capital, "strangling it and fostering an atmosphere of social and political tension aimed at undermining the government," all under the guise of demands for wage increases and the cancellation of measures involving the privatization of assets or services within the South American nation.
According to the CIVF, the financial ruin in which Bolivia finds itself following the MAS era - a crisis that has plunged the country into an economic depression - necessitates extraordinary measures. The organization further notes that "the issue of drug trafficking - acting as a destabilizing factor of grave proportions - cannot be excluded from this analysis."
U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau highlighted this very aspect during his remarks at the Conference of the Americas forum: "This is a coup financed by that perverse alliance between politics and organized crime that exists throughout the region."
He went on to categorically label the unrest as "an ongoing coup d'état."
A spokesperson for the Bolivian government also emphasized that criminal groups are behind the protests. "These dark forces seek to destabilize our democracy," he stated, asserting that the plot was "conceived, financed, and orchestrated" in the Cochabamba region - a political and trade-union stronghold for Morales, and an area where the cultivation of the coca leaf (the raw material for cocaine) constitutes a major economic activity.
"Bolivia will not remain held hostage by politicians from the Chapare region who, in league with drug traffickers, seek to seize power by force," he added.
The protests are now spilling beyond Bolivia's borders - at least in the diplomatic sphere. Diplomatic relations between Colombia and Bolivia have reached a new flashpoint: the Colombian Ambassador to La Paz, Elizabeth García, was expelled after it was deemed that President Gustavo Petro had unduly interfered in Bolivia's internal affairs. 
Fernando Aramayo, Bolivia's Foreign Minister, confirmed the decision, citing "the Colombian leader's repeated public statements regarding the political situation." The official also took issue with the support that, according to him, Petro has extended to political factions that the Bolivian government deems destabilizing - such as Evo Morales, the country's former president.
Petro, for his part, expelled the Bolivian ambassador in an act of "reciprocity."
Fortunately for democratic forces in the West, the Monroe Doctrine remains alive and well. Secretary of State Marco Rubio affirmed that the United States stands behind the legitimate government of Paz, declaring: "We will not allow criminals and drug traffickers to overthrow democratically elected leaders in our hemisphere."

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Tuesday that negotiating a deal with Iran could "take a few days," quashing hopes for an imminent end to the conflict after U.S. forces conducted what Washington called defensive strikes in southern Iran.

A surprising fault line has opened inside the conservative movement - not over taxes, foreign policy, or immigration, but over artificial intelligence. Last week, more than 60 self-described America First leaders, prominently including Steve Bannon and Humans First Chairwoman Amy Kremer, delivered an open letter to the White House urging mandatory government vetting of the most powerful AI systems before their public release. Signed by more than 30 pastors alongside political operatives, it demands what Bannon told Axios plainly: "We must have mandatory testing and government approval."

Only days after U.S. President Donald Trump left a Beijing summit with CCP Chairman Xi Jinping, where religious freedom and jailed religious leaders were discussed, authorities in eastern China demolished a prominent church, razing the building with large excavators last week. Yazhong Church (also referred to as Yayang Church), an unregistered Protestant church in Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province - a region known as "China's Jerusalem" - has been under siege since late last year.

Memorial Day is more than just the cap on a three-day weekend, more than just a summer day of grilling steaks and burgers and hot dogs, more than just a day of fun in the sun with family and friends. Memorial Day is set aside every year to honor those who gave their lives for this great nation. One way to honor America's slain, unsung heroes, of course, is to appreciate the peace and security that they gave their lives to protect, but an even more meaningful way to honor their memory and their sacrifice is to follow in their footsteps and make our own sacrifices for the country that they loved enough to die for.

President Donald Trump still holds tremendous sway over the Republican Party, as Tuesday night primary elections in Alabama, Georgia, and Kentucky demonstrated. In Republican races, Trump-backed candidates either won their primaries or advanced to run-off elections, in some cases ousting longtime incumbents with a national profile. Here are the top takeaways.

News Writer / Reporter

Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Public Affairs Director Liz Lyons didn't wait for whistleblower James Erdman to deliver his bombshell "COVID cover-up" testimony before the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee (SHSGAC) on May 13 before issuing an extraordinarily unusual and blistering condemnation of the panel.

Congressional scrutiny into the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) continued Wednesday with a hearing of the full House Judiciary Committee focused on "The Southern Poverty Law Center: Manufacturing Hate." The SPLC faced initial scrutiny in December from the Subcommittee on the Constitution and Limited Government, but the hearing before the full committee came weeks after the U.S. Department of Justice indicted the SPLC for fraud, related to its paying $3 million to the leaders of white supremacist organizations.

Senior Writer, The Washington Stand

More than 1.7 million Californians have fled the state since 2020, but 14 counties show population gains during the same period, according to a new analysis published by the Pacific Research Institute (PRI), a Pasadena-based nonprofit government watchdog.

You'd think after a while that Democrats would get tired of schlepping around the Southern Poverty Law Center's (SPLC) baggage. But after a decade and a half of blockbuster scandals, the party isn't going to let the latest - an 11-count indictment from a federal grand jury - come between their cozy relationship with the hate machine. Not even when that machine is paying the very extremists it claimed to expose. 

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