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From imminent threat to no threat: Why the Iran narrative suddenly changed
American Thinker, Approved, Commentary, National

From imminent threat to no threat: Why the Iran narrative suddenly changed

By Brian C. Joondeph | Commentary, American Thinker Not long ago, Iran was described as an imminent threat. Now we are told it wasn’t a threat at all. What changed? Not the facts. The politics. That shift is playing out in real time as the narrative around the Iran war evolves. A recent Rasmussen Reports poll found that a majority of likely U.S. voters believe the conflict has been successful so far. Under normal circumstances, that would invite a sober reassessment. Instead, it has produced something closer to denial. From the beginning, critics warned that confronting Iran would spark chaos across the Middle East, destabilize global markets, and drag the United States into another endless quagmire. Many insisted there was no urgent threat requiring acti...
Two obituaries, two standards: How media framing shapes the legacy of controversial figures
American Thinker, Approved, Commentary, National

Two obituaries, two standards: How media framing shapes the legacy of controversial figures

By Brian C. Joondeph | Commentary, American Thinker How corporate media soften tyrants abroad while sharpening labels at home. Death is supposed to clarify a life, not distort it. Obituaries are meant to record history, not rewrite it. But in today’s corporate media, even death cannot escape ideological spin. Consider the recent coverage of Ayatollah Ali Khameini, Iran’s Supreme Leader for more than three decades.  In the Washington Post, readers were introduced to a man with a “bushy white beard and easy smile,” an “avuncular figure” fond of Persian poetry and Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables. Some acquaintances described him as a “closet moderate.” A closet moderate? That description might surprise the regime’s political prisoners — ...
Blizzard of contradictions: Colorado headlines spark climate credibility questions
American Thinker, Approved, Commentary, State

Blizzard of contradictions: Colorado headlines spark climate credibility questions

By Brian C. Joondeph | Commentary, American Thinker Open the Denver Post and you might experience intellectual whiplash. In one article, readers are warned that Colorado ski resorts face an uncertain future due to climate change, with “less reliable powder days” threatening the industry. Resorts must invest in snowmaking, diversify revenue streams, and brace for a warming planet. Right beside it? A forecast of more than two feet of snow for Colorado’s mountain peaks. Two feet. Screenshot The Denver Post February 16, 2026 // fair use Apparently, the climate crisis is now capable of producing both the imminent demise of snow and an old-fashioned Rocky Mountain blizzard. Sometimes on the same page. This is not satire. It’s modern ...
When medals matter more than flags: Inside the rise of Olympic nationality swaps
American Thinker, Approved, Commentary, National

When medals matter more than flags: Inside the rise of Olympic nationality swaps

By Brian C. Joondeph | Commentary, American Thinker The Winter Olympics have wrapped up, reportedly drawing their highest ratings since Sochi in 2014. I didn't watch. Between niche “sports” invented to fill broadcast hours and athletes apologizing for the country they represent, the Games increasingly feel less like national competition and more like a global spectacle. But the larger issue isn’t ski mountaineering or media melodrama. It’s nationality itself. Twelve years ago, during the Sochi Olympics, I wrote about what I called “nationality fluidity” - athletes competing for countries far removed from where they were born or trained. American-born siblings skating for Japan. An Italian competing for Germany. A Vermont native skatin...
Nurses, heal thyself: A growing strain of TDS in hospitals
American Thinker, Approved, Commentary, National

Nurses, heal thyself: A growing strain of TDS in hospitals

By Brian C. Joondeph, M.D. | Commentary, American Thinker A failure of medical ethics that seems to be spreading. Physician, heal thyself!” Jesus said to those gathered in the synagogue at Nazareth. The admonition was aimed at hypocrisy and moral blindness — a warning that those who presume authority must first examine their own conduct. Today, someone needs to repeat those words to health care professionals who have allowed Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS) to corrode their ethics and professionalism. That warning applies just as much to nursing as it does to medicine. Nursing emerged as a modern profession in the mid-19th century under the leadership of Florence Nightingale. In 1893, the Nightingale Pledge codified the profession’s moral...
What the polls say about immigration that corporate media won’t acknowledge
American Thinker, Approved, National

What the polls say about immigration that corporate media won’t acknowledge

By Brian C. Joondeph | Commentary, American Thinker If one relied solely on corporate media coverage, one might conclude that President Trump’s immigration enforcement efforts are wildly unpopular, resisted by an outraged public, and politically suicidal for Republicans.  Night after night, TV viewers see images of angry protesters, breathless commentary about “authoritarian crackdowns,” the familiar ‘Trump is Hitler/Nazi/fascist’ trope, and sympathetic portrayals of activists blocking Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The media narrative is clear: Americans are revolting against deportations. But polling tells a very different story. A recent Rasmussen Reports survey shows that nearly two-thirds of Americans support President Trump’s eff...
Stop the bleeding: Fraud, tariffs and the reality of a $1.8 trillion deficit
American Thinker, Approved, Commentary, National

Stop the bleeding: Fraud, tariffs and the reality of a $1.8 trillion deficit

By Brian C. Joondeph | Commentary, American Thinker The U.S. federal government finished Fiscal Year 2025 with about $7 trillion in outlays and just over $5 trillion in revenues, leaving a deficit of roughly $1.8 trillion -- a gap that adds to the exploding national debt and threatens economic stability.  Under current trajectories, deficits are projected to remain near this scale for the foreseeable future, absent dramatic policy changes. What if, as some argue, the solution is staring us in the face: eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse across government programs and pair that with stronger tariff revenues?  Could that alone balance the budget without cutting core programs or raising taxes? Is this wishful thinking or a real possibility? There...
Is a transhuman future taking shape while we look the other way?
American Thinker, Approved, Commentary, National

Is a transhuman future taking shape while we look the other way?

By Brian C. Joondeph | Commentary, American Thinker Evolutionary biologist Bret Weinstein recently warned about a danger that few in politics or tech are willing to face. On The Joe Rogan Experience, he described artificial intelligence (AI) as acting more like a living system than just a traditional tool. Speaking about the rapid evolution of AI, Weinstein argued that it might now be crossing a threshold where it functions less like a tool and more like a living system -- something that grows in complexity, evolves, adapts, and ultimately starts to influence the humans who created it. AI is truly complex, not just complicated, so new and unpredictable behaviors will emerge. It may be a new branch on the tree of life, as Weinstein suggests, without the physical limits that usua...
The Trump engine fires on all cylinders while Congress idles
American Thinker, Approved, Commentary, National

The Trump engine fires on all cylinders while Congress idles

By Brian C. Joondeph | Commentary, American Thinker President Donald Trump has been back in office for almost a year -- roughly 315 days -- and has governed with the urgency of a turnaround CEO. He hit the ground running, signing executive orders immediately after inauguration and maintaining a pace unmatched in modern politics. But what becomes of all this action? Executive orders can be reversed the moment a new president arrives unless Congress codifies them into law. That’s the key difference between temporary executive action and lasting legislative reform. According to Ballotpedia, “As of November 25, 2025, President Donald Trump had signed 217 executive orders, 54 memoranda, and 110 proclamations in his second presidential term, which began on January 20, 2025.” Yet...
Joy Reid discovers the Y in XY stands for “Yikes!” when she envisions locker-room reality
American Thinker, Approved, Commentary, National

Joy Reid discovers the Y in XY stands for “Yikes!” when she envisions locker-room reality

By Brian C. Joondeph | Commentary, American Thinker Joy Reid, the fired MSNBC commentator who swung from defining women as ‘a social construct’ and invoking Nazi Germany when anyone challenged transgender orthodoxy, now says she would “freak out” if she found a man in a women’s locker room. https://twitter.com/TheFive/status/1991506817138999298?s=20 A belated moment of honesty, it seems, yet it only underscores how privileged it is to hold ideological positions until they actually affect you. That’s the essence of one of the left’s modern pastimes – virtue signaling. Nothing reveals the hollowness of progressive politics faster than the moment when theory collides with biology. In a clip shared widely on X/Twitter, Reid admitted that yes, if she walked into the ...

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