While we were celebrating freedom, North Korea reminded us of the dangers that American liberty has had to overcome. The U.S. military confirmed that the Stalinist regime tested a far more advanced ICBM late Monday.

North Korea’s Stalinist dictator Kim Jong-un bragged about the test, saying, “I guess [the Americans] are not too happy with the gift package we sent them for the occasion of their Independence Day.”

According to various reports, this latest test marked a major advance for North Korea. Officials said they have never seen this missile before, which suggests that North Korea has a massive, underground weapons complex.

The North Korean ICBM traveled 600 miles on a “lofted trajectory,” but analysts say it could travel just over 4,000 miles on a normal trajectory. That means Alaska is well within striking distance. And notice that North Korea’s missile tests are always in the direction of the United States.

An emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council has been called to discuss this provocation from North Korea. I am not holding my breath for any breakthroughs.

Under multiple U.S. presidents, it has been America’s policy that North Korea not be permitted to develop weapons systems that could threaten the continental United States. The main strategy employed by previous administrations to enforce this policy — economic sanctions — has failed. The result is that the North Koreans have accelerated their progress.

President Trump has no good options, and big media cannot wait to blame him for whatever happens.

The Washington Post website features a top story with this headline: “Trump Has Never Had A Plan For Dealing With North Korea.” And what exactly was Barack Obama’s brilliant plan? He had eight years to deal with North Korea. Trump has been in office for five months.

If a military solution is pursued, it is very likely that both North and South Korea will suffer high casualties. While many leftists insist that is unacceptable, the question remains: What will we do if Kim starts blackmailing his neighbors and us?

By the way, the threat is far greater than just one rogue regime in Asia. There is tremendous military cooperation between North Korea and Iran.

One weapons expert recently said, “In the past, we would see things in North Korea and they would show up in Iran. In some recent years, we’ve seen some small things appear in Iran first and then show up in North Korea.”

Unfortunately, whatever technological advances Pyongyang just achieved, Tehran just achieved them too.

Media Hypocrisy

The Left has no sense of humor. On Sunday, President Trump tweeted a hilarious video someone created that showed him body slamming “CNN.” It was taken from footage of a wrestling event Trump participated in ten years ago. (Watch it here.)

Evidently, many snowflake commentators and journalists were triggered by the video, which they denounced as a call to violence against journalists. The hypocrisy is thick.

Many of these commentators and so-called journalists had little or nothing to say about a Donald Trump look-a-like being assassinated nightly in a New York City play. That was “art.”

These same commentators who are suggesting that Trump’s video could lead to violence have been unconcerned about actual violence committed by the Left, which has been increasing for years.

They excused violence committed by Black Lives Matter activists. Attacks against conservatives by Antifa thugs have gotten a pass from the media.

To top it off, a CNN reporter said he had discovered the identity of the individual who created the video but would not publish his name because he had apologized extensively and promised not “to repeat this ugly behavior on social media again.” But then the network added this veiled threat: “CNN reserves the right to publish his identity should any of that change.”

So a multi-billion dollar corporation is publicly extorting a private citizen over a joke.

Once again we are seeing just how little respect the “tyrants of tolerance” have for the First Amendment. And we’re supposed to believe that Donald Trump is the threat to our liberty.

Fighting to Win

Washington Post foreign affairs correspondent David Ignatius alarmed viewers on MSNBC Monday morning. Ignatius told viewers about his recent trip to Syria, where he observed the fight against ISIS and the Assad regime. He prefaced his remarks by warning the liberal audience, “I’m going to say something that in some ways is sympathetic to Trump.”

Oh, the horror!

Ignatius recounted that among pro-Western Syrian fighters, Trump is very popular. “As I traveled across Syria, meeting with Syrian fighters who were trying to take down the regime of Bashar al Assad, every time the name ‘President Trump’ was mentioned, there were cheers from the audience,” Ignatius said.

“One Syrian Kurdish commander used a vulgar term — in Spanish it would be cojones — to describe what President Trump has got and why they like him… There are some people who say this image of strength that he’s projecting is something that they like,” he added.

Ignatius explained that President Trump had delegated real decision-making authority to battlefield commanders and the results were paying off with aggressive action and decisive wins. In contrast, Ignatius said that the Obama administration was paralyzed by indecision.

The War on Cops Continues

Our condolences and prayers go out to the family of Miosotis Familia, the New York City police officer who was assassinated in her patrol car just after midnight yesterday. As a Red Cross worker, a nurse, a police officer and the mother of three, Familia was devoted to serving others.

Everybody understands that police officers chasing criminals face enormous risks. But increasingly, officers are being hunted.

Thugs are getting up in the morning looking for cops to gun down. Their actions reflect the fact that there are calls on the extreme Left and among radical Islamists groups for the assassination of law enforcement personnel.