I was in the delivery room for my eighth child when I found out Paul Ehrlich died.

Ehrlich’s 1968 book “The Population Bomb” did not come from concern for the environment. It grew out of a basic contempt for his fellow man. He viewed people not as the foundation of society but as a destructive force consuming resources. His warnings about overpopulation and climate issues were not about protecting nature. They were about controlling and reducing the number of people.

Ehrlich prided himself on the hundreds of millions of babies who were never born because of his ideas. That is his legacy.

This line of thinking was not original. Ehrlich drew directly from Thomas Malthus, the 18th-century writer who argued that population increases faster than food production, leading inevitably to catastrophe. Malthus provided the intellectual justification for elites of his era to look down on the poor and the growing families among them.

Ehrlich updated the same argument with modern statistics, computer models, and environmental language. He took it farther. Ehrlich functioned as a modern version of the Albigensians, the medieval sect condemned by the Catholic Church for teaching that physical matter and the body were inherently corrupt. Those believers discouraged marriage and childbirth, seeing procreation as trapping more souls in an evil material world. The ultimate good preached by the Albigensians was for followers to starve themselves to death to show their commitment to not consuming resources.

Ehrlich repackaged these ideas in pseudoscientific terms: Stop having children, or you will destroy the planet. The message stayed the same — human life and babies are the problem.

His specific forecasts failed, one after another. He predicted that hundreds of millions of people would die of starvation in the 1970s and ’80s. That did not happen.

He wrote that India faced unavoidable mass famine and societal breakdown. Instead, new agricultural techniques dramatically increased food production there and across Asia.

In a famous 1980 wager with economist Julian Simon, Ehrlich claimed prices of key raw materials would surge due to scarcity over the next 10 years. The prices fell, and he lost the bet.

Ehrlich had an easy time settling his $10,000 bet with Simon. He mailed the check shortly after receiving both the MacArthur “Genius” Grant and the “ecologist’s version of the Nobel” for his ingeniously wrong ecology — twin prizes that netted him $485,000 (about $1.15 million today).

Despite this best-selling record of error, Ehrlich’s outlook and recommended policies gained influence among those who consider themselves the educated, evidence-based class. University departments, international organizations, and media outlets adopted his assumptions.

RELATED: NYT is getting crushed online for downplaying infamous ‘population bomb’ false alarm

Gene Arias/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank

When he wasn’t barnstorming lecture halls demanding that parents be taxed at higher rates than selfish adults, he was making multiple appearances on “The Tonight Show,” where he warned that “there’s a finite pie. The more mice you have nibbling at it, the smaller every mouse’s share.” Johnny Carson nodded along, no doubt contemplating the alimony he had paid out over the course of four marriages.

Our elites were not simply mistaken about the facts. They embraced Ehrlich’s ideas because they already held contempt for the people they aimed to direct. Large families in middle America, working parents, and growing populations in developing nations represent something they want to limit — too many independent voices, too many demands on resources, too much resistance to top-down planning.

This shared attitude explains why policies inspired by Ehrlich persisted, from China’s one-child policy to aggressive carbon pricing that burdens ordinary households and education that frames having children as environmentally irresponsible.

The goal was never just saving the planet. It was managing populations that elites view as excessive and unruly.

It may no longer be in vogue in communist China, which is now scrambling to recover from the disaster of crushing birth rates through forced abortion and sterilization, but progressives throughout the Democratic Party and Europe are still wildly enthusiastic about suppressing new life in the name of “freedom.”

Maybe the closest Ehrlich ever came to being correct is when he predicted that Britain would no longer exist as a viable nation by the year 2000. That will not happen for another year or two under Keir Starmer’s leadership. The U.K., it turns out, won’t be undone by climate catastrophe or mass starvation, but by its embrace of Paul Ehrlich’s worldview. In 2023, England and Wales aborted nearly 300,000 babies. Live births dipped below 600,000.

Ehrlich is gone, but the impulse he represented continues in policy circles and institutions that treat the human population itself as the central threat. Families across the country continue to reject that message. They are choosing to raise children and invest in the future without apology.

Ehrlich prided himself on the hundreds of millions of babies who were never born because of his ideas. That is his legacy. It had to be, because, as he boasted throughout his lifetime, he got a vasectomy in 1963 after the birth of his first child.

Paul Ehrlich lived 93 years. His family tree spanning four generations is less crowded than the recovery room I’m in right now.

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Officials in a Georgia city have locked Immigration and Customs Enforcement out of accessing the local water supply for the agency’s planned mega-detention facility.

ICE’s plans to open a detention center in Social Circle, Georgia, first became public in December, when the Washington Post reported that the Trump administration aims to overhaul the immigration detention system by renovating seven large-scale warehouses to hold 5,000 to 10,000 people each.

‘The lock is there until ICE indicates how water and sewer will be served without exceeding our limited infrastructure capacity.’

The warehouses will reportedly be located in major logistics hubs: Virginia, Texas, Louisiana, Arizona, Georgia, and Missouri. ICE would also establish other smaller warehouses capable of holding 1,500 people each.

According to the Post, ICE plans to establish a feeder system in which individuals would be booked into smaller processing sites and then funneled into one of the seven larger detention facilities for holding while they await deportation. This new system reportedly aims to speed up deportations.

The Post’s article revealed that one of those mega-centers would be located in Social Circle, a plan which city officials have called “infeasible,” citing limitations on local water and sewer infrastructure.

“The mayor and city council of the City of Social Circle unequivocally does not support an ICE detention facility in the city or the surrounding areas,” the city said in a December statement.

Later reports revealed that the DHS is planning eight large detention centers, not seven.

RELATED: Exclusive: DHS dispels legacy media’s claims about family detention center

Photo by Elijah Nouvelage/Getty Images

Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) and Social Circle Mayor David Keener released a joint statement in January insisting that the detention facility is “not right for Social Circle, and the City of Social Circle does not support it.”

“We are urging the administration to abandon this plan, which risks overwhelming the city’s resources and more than tripling its population,” the joint statement reads.

Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) joined local leaders in opposing the planned facility.

“Folks in Social Circle voted for this president overwhelmingly,” Warnock stated March 3. “But here’s what they didn’t vote for — they didn’t vote for a 10,000-person detention center that will triple the size of their town, to place a massive detention center next to an elementary school. They didn’t vote for potential ‘boil water’ advisories or sewer overflows because this administration has overstrained their city’s resources. They didn’t vote for their voices to be unheard and trampled by their own federal government.”

In early February, Social Circle confirmed that ICE had purchased a facility within the city and that local officials had met with the Department of Homeland Security to discuss the plan.

The city claimed the DHS plans to “fully implement” its new detention center model, which involves transitioning from private operations to government-owned facilities, by the end of the fiscal year.

“DHS plans to implement a ‘Hub and Spoke Model,’ in which four smaller processing facilities will feed into the larger detention facilities,” the city said. “The proposed facility in Social Circle is identified as one of eight ‘mega centers’ that will be located across the nation. Overall, ICE intends to reduce its number of facilities from approximately 300 to 34 nationwide. The facility in Social Circle is expected to house anywhere from 7,500 to 10,000 detainees and will be constructed using a modular design so that capacity can be scaled up or down as needed.”

The city stated that the facility will employ roughly 2,000 to 2,500 staff members and include holding areas, gyms, recreational spaces, court facilities, intake areas, cafeterias, laundry facilities, health services, and a gun range.

Social Circle estimated that ICE will begin intake at the detention center between mid-May and June.

RELATED: ACLU’s Alligator Alcatraz lawsuit CRUSHED: Trump judge smacks down liberal bid to close facility meant for illegal aliens

Photographer: Elijah Nouvelage/Bloomberg via Getty Images

DHS reportedly committed that the facility will have “no adverse effect on the community and surrounding properties”; however, city officials are not convinced, claiming that concerns about its water and sewage capacity have not been addressed to their satisfaction.

“Documents provided by DHS indicate this detention facility alone would have a sewage demand of 1,001,683 gallons per day. The city’s current wastewater system processes 660,000 gallons a day and is already operating at capacity. It cannot accommodate an increase in usage of this magnitude,” the city stated.

While Social Circle plans to build a sewer treatment plant that would initially increase its capacity by 1.5 million gallons per day, construction has not yet begun, and it is projected to take one year to 18 months to complete.

As a result, city officials have opted to cut off water and sewer services to ICE’s facility by locking the water meter serving the warehouse.

“The lock is there until ICE indicates how water and sewer will be served without exceeding our limited infrastructure capacity,” Social Circle said Monday.

Blaze News requested comment from the city regarding whether it or any other local or state government entity was required to review or approve the sale of the warehouse to ICE.

“The federal government acted unilaterally to acquire the property. Nobody from the city was consulted prior to purchase,” City Manager Eric Taylor replied.

Walton County told Blaze News that it “had no correspondence or communication with the federal government, the Department of Homeland Security, or any private contractors regarding the detention center’s establishment.”

“The facility in question is located within the city limits of Social Circle. Consequently, all planning, zoning, and land use matters fall under the exclusive jurisdiction of the City of Social Circle,” the county stated. “There was no requirement for Walton County to review, approve, or sign off on the purchase of the warehouse. As this is a private property transaction within city limits, the county was not a party to the sale or any associated federal agreements.”

Georgia Republican Gov. Brian Kemp’s office stated, “As this is a federal project the state has no involvement in, I would have to refer you to the Department of Homeland Security for more information.”

DHS did not respond to a request for comment.

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​News, Immigration and customs enforcement, Ice, Department of homeland security, Dhs, Social circle georgia, Georgia, Ice facility, Ice detention center, Immigration crisis, Illegal immigration crisis, Immigration, Illegal immigration, Politics 

Storm season is here, and depending on where you live, you may have already seen some early strong thunderstorms, mild flooding, and even intense tornadoes. The best way to know what’s coming next is to track your local forecast with your smartphone. These are a few of our favorite free weather apps you need for iPhone and Android.

A few of our favorite weather apps

There are tons of weather apps on the App Store and Google Play, but they’re not all created equal: They offer varying types of information, their user interfaces are wildly different, and most importantly, they pull weather data from different sources, potentially leaving forecasts open to holes and inaccuracies. If you only use one weather app or tune into the same weather report on TV, you might have an incomplete picture of your local weather.

Having access to the best weather apps is only half the battle when a severe outbreak rolls through.

As the de facto “weather guy” in my own family, I use a combination of all of these to understand weather conditions as they unfold. The options below are all available for free with ads. If you want to remove the ads or unlock even more features, most of these offer recurring subscriptions. For the sake of accessibility, though, we’re only dealing with the free versions today.

The Weather Channel app

The Weather Channel app is one of the earliest apps on the App Store, launching just several months after Apple opened its digital storefront to developers back in 2008. Although the Weather Channel has gone through several major redesigns, it remains one of the most accurate and reliable weather apps available. It’s especially good at predicting daily and weekly forecasts. The live radar is easy to read as storms move through. The severe outlook map layer is a handy way to see if your region is at risk of severe weather. Lastly, real-time precipitation notifications with lightning alerts let you know exactly when rain is about to start, whether it’s just a light shower or something much more severe.

Screenshots by Zach Laidlaw / The Weather Channel

AccuWeather app

AccuWeather is another weather solution that’s been around for ages. Getting its start all the way back in 1962, its service is trusted by local TV and radio stations from coast to coast. As for the app, the hourly precipitation estimator, Minutecast, is a great way to know if any rain is expected within the next hour, making it easier to shore up outdoor plans. The radar filters are especially useful, with multiple views to display live radar, temperature, and cloud cover. My personal favorite feature, though, is the government-issued event map, which shows distinct colored zones for watches and warnings, just like on TV.

Screenshots by Zach Laidlaw / AccuWeather

Weather Underground app

Although not as much of a household name as the first two, Weather Underground has spent the last 30 years building its reputation as a hyper-local weather forecasting service. The app wraps all the usual weather metrics into a beautiful modern design. The reason I keep it in my collection, though, is for the map data, more specifically storm tracks. Unlike some other apps that lock storm tracks behind a paywall, Weather Underground offers it for free. Once enabled, storm tracks lets you see granular radar-indicated information about every storm, including the path of each storm cell, its intensity markers, and overall threat level (tornado impact, hail risk, damaging wind, and more). These tracks can make the difference between knowing if a tornado is aimed for your home or expected to miss.

Screenshots by Zach Laidlaw / Weather Underground

Native weather apps

If all else fails, your phone comes with a built-in weather-tracking option that will get the job done.

Users of iPhones get instant access to Apple Weather. While Apple used to rely heavily on the Weather Channel for its data, its acquisition of hyper-local weather phenom Dark Sky back in 2020 gave Apple the first-party edge it needed to make its weather app essential. It includes granular hourly rain alerts, severe weather notifications, and Apple News integration that displays weather-related stories from local stations and mainstream outlets.

RELATED: New hack poses biggest iPhone threat in 19 years: What you can do

Xaume Olleros/Bloomberg via Getty Images

The big place where Apple Weather falls short, in my opinion, is the lackluster radar that only highlights minimal precipitation, and that’s about it. I’ve also encountered some inaccuracies with incorrect rain alerts, but your experience may vary. Overall, Apple Weather offers a good baseline for tracking conditions in your area.

Screenshots by Zach Laidlaw / Apple Weather

Samsung Galaxy phones come with Samsung Weather. The app offers a clean look at hourly forecasts, air quality, and other typical weather metrics. At its core, though, the app is just a wrapper for the Weather Channel, which powers Samsung Weather’s entire data portfolio. In fact, if you click on any of the data points in the app for more information, you’ll be redirected to a web app for the Weather Channel, which is, unfortunately, not nearly as good as the main Weather Channel app. If you own a Samsung phone, you may as well just download the former for a better experience.

Screenshots by Zach Laidlaw / Samsung Weather

Google Pixel users get exclusive access to Pixel Weather. Powered by Gemini Nano, Pixel Weather is an AI-first weather app that offers generated weather reports that summarize expected weather conditions, weather insights that let you know what kind of weather event is coming your way, plus daily forecasts, air quality, and a radar that is slightly more useful than the one in Apple Weather. While the look and feel of Pixel Weather is modern on the surface, its overall accuracy — at least regarding the snow estimates of the recent Midwest and East Coast blizzards — has been called into question.

Screenshots by Zach Laidlaw / Pixel Weather

Stay safe with emergency alerts

Having access to the best weather apps is only half the battle when a severe outbreak rolls through. You also need a lifeline to let you know when bad weather is on the way. Luckily, all major smartphones support government-issued alerts to tell you when to take cover. Check your settings now to make sure you’re all set up when the next major storm strikes:

iPhone: Open the Settings app and tap “Notifications.” At the very bottom of the page, check “Emergency Alerts” and “Public Safety Alerts.”Samsung Galaxy: Open the Settings app. Tap on “Notifications,” followed by “Advanced settings,” and then “Wireless emergency alerts.” From here, make sure “Extreme threats” and “Severe threats” are toggled on.Google Pixel: Open the Settings app. Select “Notifications” and then “Wireless emergency alerts.” On this page, toggle the switches for “Allow Alerts,” “Extreme threats,” and “Severe threats.”

Screenshots by Zach Laidlaw / Apple iPhone, Samsung Galaxy, Google Pixel

Severe weather can develop fast as we shift into spring, but you don’t have to live life in the dark. All it takes is a few apps and alerts to get all the information needed to keep you and your loved ones safe.

​Weather, Apps, Storms 

BlazeTV host Allie Beth Stuckey is sounding off on what she sees as a deeply unsettling turn in high fashion, criticizing Paris Fashion Week for embracing what she describes as “demonic” and grotesque aesthetics over beauty.

“The theme is clearly to be demonic. And I don’t know what kind of statement they’re trying to make, if it’s some kind of critique of society or if they are just the demonic people themselves, but pretty scary. Obviously, not about beauty,” Stuckey says.

And those who attend the shows and praise the designers aren’t much better.

“I think that they’re all thinking about being seen, and how the world is interpreting them, and what kind of statement they’re making, and what kind of opportunity or attention this is going to get them,” Stuckey says, mocking, “‘Do people think I’m edgy finally? Oh, I bet I’m going to be the strangest, most bizarre, most, you know, edgiest person there.’”

“I think they’re all thinking about themselves. I don’t think that they are there to enjoy the art or to enjoy the spectacle. I think they are there to be the art and to be the spectacle,” she adds.

Designer Kei Ninomiya’s collection was described as “gloom” made “tangible” by Vogue Runway. The collection featured gothic horror elements of bondage and morbid animal sculptures.

“Because all of us are like, ‘How can I get my hands on some gloom?’” Stuckey comments.

“The soundtrack for the collection was labeled ‘the aural equivalent of a nervous breakdown,’” she says. “Again, I have always wanted my nervous breakdowns to become an aura that I could just kind of swim through.”

The brand Enfants Riches Déprimés, whose French name translates to ‘Depressed Rich Kids,’ also made an appearance.

“His show featured a model chained to a statue of a man’s head. … The brand’s inspiration comes from fellow child elites the designer met in rehab as a young man,” Stuckey explains.

The designer, Henri Alexander Levy, is quoted as once saying, “If you were going to kill yourself, wouldn’t you want to do it with a $7,000 cashmere noose?”

“I think people underestimate how many people in Hollywood, the fashion world, movie industry, are truly just disturbed people who are working out their trauma and demonic possession through entertainment and fashion,” Stuckey says.

Another brand, Matières Fécales — which is French for “Fecal Matter” — claims that its collection is a critique of “wealth, power, corruption, and inequality.”

“Somehow, I just don’t feel like that’s what it’s accomplishing,” Stuckey says.

“There is something just very dark about the glorification of the demonic that we see among a lot of people in Hollywood and in the music industry,” she adds.

Want more from Allie Beth Stuckey?

To enjoy more of Allie’s upbeat and in-depth coverage of culture, news, and theology from a Christian, conservative perspective, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

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Cesar Chavez has been lauded by Mexican-Americans as an iconic labor leader who fought for farmworkers’ rights in the 1960s, but his legacy may be marred by growing allegations of “profoundly shocking” behavior.

Several celebrations of Cesar Chavez Day, which is observed March 31, have been canceled across the country by the United Farm Workers, an organization Chavez co-founded.

‘These allegations have been profoundly shocking. We need some time to get this right, including to ensure robust, trauma-informed services are available to those who may need it.’

The union said in a letter Tuesday that the claims against Chavez were “incompatible” with the organization’s values.

“Some of the reports are family issues, and not our story to tell or our place to comment on,” the group said. “Far more troubling are allegations involving abuse of young women or minors. Allegations that very young women or girls may have been victimized are crushing. We have not received any direct reports, and we do not have any firsthand knowledge of these allegations.”

The Los Angeles Times reported that Cesar Chavez events were canceled in Tucson, Houston, Corpus Christi, San Antonio, and San Bernardino.

The union went on to say that canceling the events could “provide space for people who may have been victimized to find support and to share their stories if that is what they choose.”

The Times reported that it was unclear when the allegations might be made public.

“These allegations have been profoundly shocking. We need some time to get this right, including to ensure robust, trauma-informed services are available to those who may need it,” the UFW said.

RELATED: Jill Biden mocked for comparing Hispanics to tacos at ‘Latinx Incluxion’ conference: ‘Previously unimaginable level of cringe’

The Cesar Chavez Foundation also released a statement referring to the allegations, saying it had “become aware of disturbing allegations that Cesar Chavez engaged in inappropriate sexual behavior with women and minors during his time as President of the United Farm Workers of America.”

A spokesperson for labor leader Dolores Huerta said she was not commenting on the issue after she pulled out of a march in Corpus Christi.

A legal expert told the Times that the allegations may lead to legal trouble for the group.

Some on the left have argued against the glorification of Chavez over his opposition to illegal immigration because of its effect on union wages.

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To say the conservative movement has come off the rails would comically understate the damage. Wild accusations bounce from show to show. Members of Congress pick petty fights on social media. President Trump even waded into internet drama while another war rages in the Persian Gulf.

Plenty of commentators blame podcasts for this new disorder, and the new ecosystem gives them no shortage of bad behavior to cite. But that diagnosis misses the deeper cause. Establishment conservatives treated their audiences the same way the legacy press did: as a resource to be managed, manipulated, and occasionally milked. A movement that spent decades being lied to will not be stitched back together by scolding the people who finally stopped listening.

Conservative audiences will not return to reality through scolding. They will return through honesty.

After Democrats lost in 2024 to a resurgent Donald Trump, they went hunting for culprits. They blamed a new breed of podcasters who cracked the information monopoly progressives had grown used to enjoying. Talk radio always bothered the left, but it remained a kind of cultural ghetto for older conservatives. Podcasts like Joe Rogan’s reached a younger, largely male audience that rarely participated in politics at all. Democrats screamed about “disinformation,” warned about the danger of free speech, then launched research projects designed to replicate what they claimed to hate.

The right cheered the upheaval. Establishment conservatives, however, never fully grasped what the shift meant for them. The left’s control of mainstream media gave it a weapon of enormous magnitude, but Fox News and talk radio served a parallel purpose on the right: discipline the acceptable narrative, keep Republican voters inside a manageable story, and punish those who stepped too far outside it.

Institutional conservatives also abused that power. They sold narratives that served donors, careers, and comfortable assumptions. They treated their base as a captive audience. This behavior helped fuel the Trumpian revolution in the first place. Trump did not rise only as a battering ram against progressive media. He rose as a middle finger to a conservative establishment that had earned the people’s contempt.

That plan worked, then kept working in ways many people did not anticipate. The democratization of information that destroyed the progressive narrative machine has now turned its solvent on the conservative one. Populism behaves like universal acid. It rarely dissolves only the targets you prefer.

Conservative gatekeepers now display the same panicked reflexes the left showed: warnings about “dangerous rhetoric,” demands for deplatforming, and pleas for “responsible” voices to regain control. These instincts never belonged to one ideology. They belong to institutions that sense their monopoly slipping away.

RELATED: America First can’t survive an Iran quagmire

Blaze Media Illustration

Podcast distribution changes the game. Commentators once required the reach of major networks and the production value that came with large teams. Now anyone with a microphone, a ring light, and an internet connection can reach millions.

It turns out that younger audiences value relatability and long-form conversation more than professional polish. Even established names found the freedom of the podcast more attractive than a coveted cable slot.

The low barrier of entry produces obvious downsides. Wild speculation spreads faster than corrections. Personal feuds drive engagement more reliably than careful analysis. The audience rewards charisma and intensity, not always judgment. The result looks ridiculous at times. This week, the president inserted himself into a juvenile online dispute while U.S. forces struck Iran, a perfect example of how unserious the culture can become when attention becomes the currency and everyone fights for a share of it.

But all the moralizing in the world will not restore the old order. Mainstream conservatives cannot lecture podcast audiences about “responsible broadcasting” after years of manipulating their own viewers. The level of mistrust runs too deep.

Censorship will fail too. Shaming and platform policing did not rebuild credibility for Democrats. It will not rebuild Republicans’ credibility.

RELATED: The SAVE Act is the hill voters will die on

Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

This is the part conservative leadership does not want to hear. The path out requires admitting that the problem did not begin with podcasts. The problem began with institutions that treated truth as a tool. Restoring coherence demands that conservative leaders stop trying to reassert narrative control and start rebuilding trust. That means fewer games, fewer insinuations, fewer anonymous smears, and more willingness to say, “We were wrong,” and explain why.

Conservative audiences will not return to reality through scolding. They will return through honesty. That will require a different posture from conservative leaders: less control, more candor; fewer moral lectures, more receipts; fewer slogans, more clarity about what can be done and what cannot. The movement will stumble until it learns that discipline beats drama.

So expect things to get worse before they get better. Conservative media spent years breaking trust. The bill has come due. And now the only way out is through.

​Podcasts, Joe rogan, Right wing, Republican voters, Donald trump, Populism, Censorship, Opinion & analysis, Conservative movement, Elections, Media, Popular opinion, Disinformation, The left