Keir Starmer is out as prime minister of the United Kingdom, but the country is still locked in a crisis of diminishing freedoms over oppressive censorship, invasion of digital privacy, and an Islamic takeover that quite literally threatens the safety of white British women. Continuing its descent into an authoritarian hellscape, new rules for YouTube and its vast network of content creators aim to promote approved mainstream media while relegating independent voices to the darkest corners of the platform where few can find them.

The rise of alternative TV

Television has changed drastically since the smartphone revolution. Where families once gathered around set-top boxes to watch live news broadcasts, TV shows, and movies, now a majority of consumed content comes from other mediums and platforms.

There’s still time to speak up.

According to Advanced Television, live TV only accounted for 45% of all viewed content in the U.K. in 2025. In second place, livestreaming services and video on demand, largely accessed through smartphones and smart TV apps, made up 38% of viewed content. The final 17% was unaccounted for in the report.

YouTube especially poses a threat to U.K. Public Service Media. Out of all users who watch on Google’s video platform, TV was the most used device over smartphones and tablets, signaling that viewers who turn on their televisions are actively opening YouTube for entertainment and information instead of local networks. The competition is so stiff that YouTube is tied with the BBC as the most-watched channel in the U.K., while ITV, SKY, and Channel 4 all sit well below.

This is a big problem for a government that wants to use television to “shape attitudes to social issues” for its citizens.

New YouTube rules

With YouTube beating out Public Service Media for attention, established channels like the BBC have begun to put their content directly on YouTube in hopes that viewers will watch it. The “problem” is that no one can force users to consume BBC shows over independent networks and creators. This is where the U.K.’s new rules come in.

In a green paper proposed by Ian Murray, minister for creative industries, media, and arts, PSM would receive algorithmic preferential treatment on third-party platforms compared to other content. Not only does Murray want mainstream outlets like the BBC available on YouTube, but he wants all third-party platforms to “work together to ensure PSM content is prominent and on fair commercial terms.” More bluntly, he’s asking for YouTube to promote approved mainstream media while down-ranking independent and alternative media. Even worse, he believes “the government should consider underpinning this with legislation” to ensure mainstream media is always more prevalent.

Why YouTube is a problem for the UK government

YouTube threatens the U.K. government on several key fronts:

Public Service Media is a dying medium. By the U.K. government’s own admission, 74% of viewers ages 16-24 and 69% ages 25-34 watch streaming services. On top of that, 28% of viewers ages 4-15 watch YouTube, making it the most-watched platform for children. The more often viewers choose independent media, the less likely they are to receive mainstream viewpoints that shape personal thoughts, beliefs, and philosophies.

RELATED: The EU forced through full scans of email and messages. Now it’s coming for encrypted texts too.

SEBASTIEN BOZON/AFP/Getty Images

PSM is easier to influence than YouTube. Although the U.K. government can’t dictate the editorial coverage of channels like the BBC and ITV, it can use each network’s charter agreement to influence their funding and tighten regulations if the government disapproves of their coverage. YouTube, on the other hand, has no such charter to access public airwaves.

The U.K. government wants users to consume approved messages. In a brazen admission, Murray remarks in the green paper that “people who watch news on PSM providers are more likely to be politically active, well-informed, and trusting of institutions.” In other words, viewers who watch approved content are implored to adhere to the political information espoused by PSM and encouraged to support institutions that largely lean left.

What happens next?

On the bright side, Murray’s proposal isn’t a law yet. This green paper must be evaluated by Parliament before it becomes official. That means there’s still time to speak up.

YouTube has already taken a stance against the new U.K. rules, stating, “YouTube has always operated on the principle that every creator gets a fair shot. But new U.K. proposals could change that — requiring us to put some channels above others. This could severely limit your channel’s ability to grow. #KeepYouTubeYours.”

As for viewers in the U.K., they can submit their responses — either for or against the proposal — to the U.K. government via an online form or email.

​Tech, Youtube, Ian murray, Keir starmer 

Comedian and co-host of BlazeTV’s “Stu and Dave Do America” Dave Landau dropped by Monday’s rendition of “Kill Tony,” and it wasn’t an episode for the easily offended.

Landau bolstered the hit stand-up comedy show, which featured a plethora of hysterical jokes that took no prisoners.

‘You don’t want to use your A material.’

Amateur hour

Landau dropped into the Comedy Mothership in Austin, Texas, for a night that was never short on jokes about autism and liberalism.

This included jokes from autistic comedians and comedians with autistic kids. However, some of Landau’s biggest laughs came from poking fun at the amateur comics who have just 60 seconds to impress the panel of comics. The panel included Landau, comedian Brian Moses, as well as hosts Tony Hinchcliffe and Brian Redban.

The panel was truly astonished by a 59-year-old rookie comedian’s outdated jokes, which included a Ross Perot/”Indecent Proposal” joke, references from 1992 and 1993. When the comedian said he wasn’t sure if he should have used that joke, Landau hilariously remarked, “Yeah, you don’t want to use your A material your first time.”

RELATED: Another $30 billion could leave California as state stands in the way of a massive corporate merger

Yes, slur

For the duration of the show, racial jokes were flying in every direction, including from a homeless comedian from Montenegro who crudely referred to himself as a Montenegrin combined with a slur for a black person.

The man said he didn’t have a work permit, so he wasn’t working, and he didn’t want to cheat the system. This prompted Landau, who said he had been saying racial slurs “in my head all night,” to ask the homeless comedian for a favor.

“Tell that to every Mexican here,” Landau asked.

RELATED: Pop star Olivia Rodrigo hosts all-female music fest to fund Planned Parenthood; ‘I am so ecstatic’

Comic-kaze

When comedian Dedrick Flynn took the stage, the panel couldn’t help but make impressions of Japanese prisoners when Flynn recalled the time he spent in a Far East prison.

This prompted Landau and Hinchcliffe to wonder how scared his Japanese cellmates must have been of the American. When Flynn explained that his prison experience helped him befriend the Japanese inmates by showing them how to write letters to the judge, Landau brutally joked about the irony of Flynn teaching them to “read and write.”

Landau is currently on tour, with upcoming stops in Springfield, Missouri, and Albuquerque.

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​Stand-up comedy, News, Kill tony, Dave landau, Tony hinchcliffe, Entertainment 

President Donald Trump announced on Monday that he will be addressing the nation at 9 p.m. ET on Thursday.

A pair of White House officials told MS NOW that in his speech, the president — who will be joined by CIA Director John Ratcliffe, FBI Director Kash Patel, acting Director of National Intelligence Bill Pulte, and Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin — will detail a foreign nation’s plans to interfere in the 2020 election.

‘These analysts appeared reluctant to have their analysis on China brought forward because they tended to disagree with the [Trump] administration’s policies.’

It is presently unclear which nation the president plans to name.

However, the publication of new evidence of foreign interference would further undermine the assessments rushed out by the Biden administration following the geriatric Democrat’s inauguration in January 2021.

The Biden DOJ and DHS issued a joint report in March 2021 stating that there were several incidents where Russian, Chinese, and Iranian government-affiliated actors “materially impacted the security of networks associated with or pertaining to U.S. political organizations, candidates, and campaigns during 2020 federal elections.”

The report claimed, however, that the DOJ, FBI, and DHS had “no evidence that any foreign government-affiliated actor prevented voting, changed votes, or disrupted the ability to tally votes or to transmit election results in a timely manner; altered any technical aspect of the voting process; or otherwise compromised the integrity of voter registration information of any ballots cast during 2020 federal elections.”

The National Intelligence Council also dropped a report in March 2021 casting doubt on foreign interference in the 2020 election, stating, “We have no indications that any foreign actor attempted to alter any technical aspect of the voting process in the 2020 elections, including voter registration, casting ballots, vote tabulation, or reporting results.”

The intelligence community report said that:

state-linked Russian actors sought to denigrate Biden’s candidacy, support Trump, and undermine confidence in the electoral process;Iran “carried out a multi-pronged covert influence campaign intended to undercut former President Trump’s re-election prospects”; andadditional foreign actors, including Hezbollah and Cuba, “took some steps to attempt to influence the election.”

The intelligence community’s report downplayed the possibility of attempted interference efforts by China — an assessment that did not age well.

RELATED: JD Vance says Democratic mayor responded ‘aggressively’ to 2020 election fraud probe

Alex Wong/Getty Images

Last year, the FBI uncovered intelligence from August 2020 detailing an alleged Chinese communist plot to rig the 2020 mail-in vote for Biden.

According to an Intelligence Information Report from the FBI’s Albany Field Office in September 2020 that Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) claimed was promptly recalled and suppressed by the bureau, a collaborative source obtained information about the alleged plot from a sub-source, “who claimed they obtained the information from unidentified PRC government officials.”

The alleged plot involved the Chinese regime’s production and export of fraudulent U.S. driver’s licenses to Chinese sympathizers in the homeland “in order to create tens of thousands of fraudulent mail-in votes for U.S. presidential candidate Joe Biden.”

Patel claimed last year that the allegations had been “substantiated.”

U.S. Customs and Border Protection announced on July 27, 2020, that between Jan. 1 and June 30 of that election year, CBP officers at the International Mail Facility at Chicago O’Hare International Airport had seized 1,513 shipments containing fraudulent documents, including 19,888 counterfeit U.S. driver’s licenses.

The CBP noted at the time that “the majority of these shipments were arriving from China and Hong Kong” and were mostly intended for college-age students across various states.

The decision to suppress the intelligence report may have been driven by politics.

The intelligence community’s then-analytic ombudsman Barry Zulauf indicated in a Jan. 6, 2021, report on a number of election security intelligence issues that “China analysts appeared hesitant to assess Chinese actions as undue influence or interference. These analysts appeared reluctant to have their analysis on China brought forward because they tended to disagree with the [Trump] administration’s policies, saying in effect, ‘I don’t want our intelligence used to support those policies.'”

In addition to possible evidence of a nationwide foreign interference plot, the Trump administration has apparently found evidence that voting machines still have significant vulnerabilities that could be exploited.

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence report detailing these findings has been delayed for months, with some White House officials fearing it could undermine voter confidence, reported Reuters.

Blaze News has reached out to the White House for comment.

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​2020 election, Donald trump, Foreign interference, Fraud, Joe biden, Rigged, Stop the steal, Voter fraud, Politics, Kash patel, Markwayne mullin 

Every time tensions flare somewhere in the world, gasoline prices seem to jump overnight. Drivers expect it. The news blames geopolitics, oil traders blame uncertainty, and politicians blame each other. But here’s the question almost nobody is asking: If computers can raise prices within hours, why do they suddenly become so patient when it’s time to lower them?

Americans have lived with this frustration for decades. The price of crude oil climbs, and gas stations respond almost immediately. Crude oil falls sharply, and suddenly we’re told to be patient. Refiners need time. Distributors need time. Retailers need time. Somehow, that urgency only seems to work in one direction.

Regulators have already gone after algorithmic pricing in apartment rentals, and they’re looking at hotel rooms, airline tickets, and online retail.

Now a new California lawsuit and a federal push to investigate gasoline pricing suggest there may be another piece of the story that deserves far more attention. It isn’t simply about oil markets anymore. It’s about artificial intelligence, algorithms, and whether software designed to maximize profits is quietly changing how fuel prices are set across America.

If that sounds like something out of a science fiction movie, think again.

Kalibrating the market?

Kalibrate is a real pricing platform. The company markets its software as an advanced pricing solution that analyzes competitor prices, wholesale costs, local demand, traffic patterns, and countless other variables before recommending the “optimal” price at the pump. By the company’s own marketing, it serves many of America’s largest fuel retailers and convenience store chains. Retailers use it because it promises to increase profit margins while staying competitive.

There is nothing inherently illegal about any of this. Every major industry now runs on data analytics.

The concern begins when pricing software stops simply reacting to the market and starts shaping it.

On June 22, three California drivers filed a federal class-action lawsuit in Sacramento — and they didn’t just sue the software company. They sued the gas stations. Kalibrate is the lead defendant, but so are Marathon, BP, Circle K, 7-Eleven, Speedway, Walmart, Sam’s Club, and Albertsons. According to the complaint, Marathon alone runs more than 1,000 ARCO stations in California and has been letting Kalibrate set prices at them since 2020. Circle K, plaintiffs claim, has more than 400 stations on the software. Albertsons, they allege, has been using it since at least 2009.

The complaint alleges that Kalibrate allowed competing retailers to share competitively sensitive information and receive pricing recommendations that discouraged aggressive competition. It describes a “restoration” feature that plaintiffs say lets nearly all the stations in a market raise prices at the same time.

It also quotes Kalibrate’s marketing, which according to the complaint tells operators that even in the face of “falling oil prices … it’s critical to avoid a race to the bottom,” and warns that cutting your price to win customers “could be making a change that triggers a downward spiral.” The plaintiffs call the platform the “central nervous system for a conspiracy to extinguish retail price competition among gas stations.”

Price pumping

What does that cost you? Research cited in the complaint found that stations switching to this kind of software raise prices by about 6 cents a gallon on average — and by as much as 30 cents where most of the stations in an area are running it. Plaintiffs point to a real-world example too: They allege that when one California Albertsons turned Kalibrate on, its pump price climbed 3 to 4 cents within days. That sounds small. It isn’t. By the complaint’s math, a single penny on the statewide average drains $134 million a year from California drivers’ wallets.

Kalibrate says it disagrees with the allegations, calls its technology lawful, and intends to defend itself. The retail chains have not yet answered the complaint. No court has ruled on any of it.

But what happens when thousands of competing businesses begin relying on the same algorithm to determine prices?

Price fixing has been illegal in California for more than a century, and the plaintiffs are suing under that old law. What’s new is a statute that took effect on January 1 — AB 325, the Preventing Algorithmic Collusion Act — which says plainly that you cannot escape a price-fixing charge by routing the conspiracy through software. Using pricing software is still perfectly legal, but using it to coordinate with your competitors is not.

AB 325 makes it unlawful to use or distribute a “common pricing algorithm” — software that uses competitor data to recommend, align, or stabilize prices — as part of an agreement to restrain trade. Whatever you think of Sacramento, it closed that loophole first, and this case is the first real test of it.

The A-word

Washington is applying pressure of its own — though it is worth being precise about what kind.

On July 3, the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission sent every state attorney general a letter urging them to investigate whether antitrust violations or price gouging are keeping gas prices artificially high. “Recent volatility in crude oil prices does not suspend either the antitrust laws or state consumer protection laws,” they wrote, “and it does not authorize companies to manipulate retail prices or collude with their competitors.” The letter followed President Trump’s complaint, posted to Truth Social on June 23, that falling crude prices weren’t reaching drivers.

But read that letter closely and you’ll notice something. It never mentions algorithms. Not once. The federal government is going after gas prices with the same tools it has always used, while the argument about the software is being made by three drivers and their lawyers in a Sacramento courtroom. Nobody in Washington has said the word yet. And whether any of these investigations turns up illegal conduct remains to be seen.

Anyone who has driven for more than a few years knows the pattern. Prices spike within days of a geopolitical event, then drift down at a painfully slow pace. Economists even have a name for it: the “rockets and feathers” effect, and they have studied it for decades. Researchers point to several reasons, including inventory replacement costs, consumer behavior, and local competition. None of those explanations necessarily involve illegal activity.

RELATED: License plate cameras will soon track phones, wearables, infotainment, and even your pets

Rick Kern/Getty Images

Dirty work

But artificial intelligence introduces an entirely new variable.

Unlike traditional pricing models, today’s software can monitor competitors continuously, process enormous amounts of market data instantly, and recommend price changes faster than any human pricing manager ever could. If dozens or even hundreds of competing retailers rely on similar recommendations generated from comparable market data, the practical result may be less price competition — without anyone ever picking up the phone to coordinate prices.

That possibility isn’t unique to gasoline.

Regulators have already gone after algorithmic pricing in apartment rentals, and they’re looking at hotel rooms, airline tickets, and online retail. The Justice Department sued RealPage over the software landlords used to set rents and settled the case last November. The concern in every case is the same: that algorithms may accomplish indirectly what competitors have long been prohibited from doing directly.

It’s worth being precise about what that settlement did and didn’t say. RealPage paid no penalty, and the government made no finding that it broke the law. What the DOJ objected to was the use of nonpublic information from competing landlords — not the software itself. Using an algorithm to price your product isn’t illegal. Feeding it your competitors’ private numbers is where the trouble starts. That distinction is going to decide the gas station case too.

Technology moves faster than regulation.

Thin margins

This debate also exposes another misconception. When Americans get angry about gas prices, they aim that anger at the oil companies. In reality, what you pay at the pump includes crude oil costs, refining expenses, transportation, taxes, distribution, and retail pricing. Gas stations generally operate on thin per-gallon margins — the National Association of Convenience Stores puts the net at roughly a dime a gallon once credit card fees and operating costs come out — while state taxes and regulatory costs can dramatically affect what you pay locally, particularly in a state like California.

If gasoline prices are rising because of global supply disruptions, consumers may not like it, but they can understand it. Markets move. Wars affect energy. Hurricanes interrupt refining.

But if pricing software is reducing competition by encouraging retailers to move together instead of competing aggressively for customers, consumers deserve answers.

Artificial intelligence is quietly becoming the invisible middleman in countless financial decisions Americans make every day — insurance rates, airline tickets, hotel rooms, online prices, and now what you pay every time you pull up to the pump.

Most consumers never know an algorithm was involved; they simply assume that’s what the market decided.

Algorithms don’t care whether you’re commuting to work, driving your kids to school, or trying to keep your small business afloat. They don’t understand household budgets or family vacations. They optimize. That’s what they were built to do.

The question was never whether artificial intelligence can set prices more efficiently. It’s whether we’ve quietly allowed machines to redefine what competition means.

Because if software can determine the price of something as essential as gasoline today, what will it be deciding tomorrow?

​California law, License plate cameras, Price gouging, Retailers, Artificial intelligence, Ai, Gas prices, Price fixing, Kalibrate, Automotive 

Abortion is on the ballot this November in a growing number of states.

On Monday, Idaho joined three other states that will have an abortion question on their ballots — though there is a big difference between some of them.

‘This is going to have a profound impact on Idaho.’

Idaho’s initiative, pushed by the group Idahoans United for Women & Families, would roll back Idaho’s blanket ban on abortion that went into effect after the Dobbs decision.

Idahoans will vote for or against a measure enforcing the “right to abortion before fetus viability.”

Fetal viability is usually considered to be around the 21-week mark of the pregnancy, though some discretion is also given to the doctor as well.

David Ripley, the CEO of Idaho Chooses Life, told the Associated Press that he is preparing to campaign against the measure.

RELATED: Pop star Olivia Rodrigo hosts all-female music fest to fund Planned Parenthood; ‘I am so ecstatic’

Jay L Clendenin/Getty Images

“This is going to have a profound impact on Idaho,” Ripley said, “and will basically invalidate virtually every pro-life law that the legislature has enacted over the last 30 to 40 years.”

Idaho joins Missouri, Nevada, and Virginia in deciding on the future of abortion in their respective states, though legally they are often on very different sides of the issue and could swing further depending on the results of the vote in November.

Missouri, for example, is holding a referendum on an amendment to the state’s Constitution that went into effect at the end of 2024. The law, known as The Right to Reproductive Freedom Initiative, allows access to abortion up to the point of fetal viability. This is the same benchmark at which Idaho’s initiative is aiming.

Missouri’s initiative, however, will challenge this relatively new law and, if successful, would ban abortion except in limited cases like medical emergency, fetal anomaly, rape, or incest. The initiative also limits abortions in these categories to 12 weeks into the pregnancy.

Also worth noting is that Missouri’s initiative takes aim at so-called gender-affirming care, effectively banning gender transition surgeries and cross-sex hormones for minors.

Nevada’s initiative has been years in the making. Nevada law requires the same ballot question to be voted on in two successive general elections to pass.

In 2024, State Question Number 6, which would establish “an individual’s fundamental right to abortion” up to the point of fetal viability (with limited exceptions), passed and was placed on the ballot for the general election in 2026.

Virginia’s ballot question, arguably the most extreme pro-abortion position of the four, will ask about protecting “reproductive freedom,” shielding abortionists from punitive action, and allowing “for restrictions on access to abortion during the third trimester of pregnancy.”

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​Abortion bans, Idaho, Missouri, Nevada, Virginia, Politics 

After a few new serious accusations were hurled at Graham Platner last week, the Maine Senate candidate has officially dropped out of the race.

But his farewell message was full of accusations as well.

“I just want you to think about what you would do as a regular person in a position where a much larger world, large forces were working against you personally to accuse you of the worst thing that a person could do. And it was not remotely true,” Platner said.

“I learned about this through press inquiries with no time to truly respond, no time for investigations before a corporate media system and the political establishment got to act as judge, jury, and executioner,” he continued.

“Accusations are supposed to be the beginning of things, not the end,” he added.

Platner also claimed that the reason for the allegations was to get him off the ballot.

“It’s not the false allegations though that have brought us to where we are. It’s the fact that they are being used by the political establishment to put structural pressure on us,” he said.

“Some good news,” BlazeTV host Pat Gray comments.

“Of course, though, none of it was his fault. No. He ranted for 11 minutes in the ‘I quit’ video, and he blamed everybody but himself, the corporate media, the political establishment, and even his support for Medicare for all,” he continues.

“That’s what happened to him. Just people ganged up on him, and he’s just the victim. Good guy, just a good guy,” he says.

Want more from Pat Gray?

To enjoy more of Pat’s biting analysis and signature wit as he restores common sense to a senseless world, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

​Accusations, Farewell message, Graham platner, Maine senate, Pat gray, Pat gray unleashed 

Weeks of unexplained nausea and vomiting led doctors to a startling discovery inside a 63-year-old woman’s stomach — and an even stranger treatment.

A month of terrible nausea and vomiting led the woman to the emergency room, where the condition initially baffled doctors

‘… the administration of 3 liters [0.8 gallons] of cola, either orally or through a nasogastric tube.’

Burning pains

The woman complained of a decreased appetite but had been taking an unnamed GLP-1 drug — the same class as Ozempic — due to her history with type 2 diabetes and obesity.

The woman had reportedly lost 40 pounds, but weight loss started to accelerate as she endured burning pains in her upper abdomen and torso, along with her back.

According to a report by Live Science based off a case in the New England Journal of Medicine, doctors noted that acid reflux medications didn’t work, and there was no sign of obstruction in her bowels.

They did notice, however, that her stomach was stretched due to a “semisolid material,” so they had the woman take a CT scan. Doctors reportedly confirmed the mass and said it was a result of the weight loss drug.

RELATED: Coca-Cola agrees to use real cane sugar in its soda, Trump says

Pop medicine

The culprit was what’s known as a gastric bezoar, described by the National Institutes of Health as an accumulation of indigestible masses in the stomach.

Doctors felt that since the semaglutide and GLP-1 drugs typically cause a delayed emptying of the stomach, they took the woman off her medication and admitted her for care.

Next came the bizarre, unorthodox, but apparently appropriate prescription: soda.

“Existing evidence, largely from case series and anecdotal experiences, supports the administration of 3 liters [0.8 gallons] of cola, either orally or through a nasogastric tube, within a 12-hour window,” doctors noted.

That’s about a bottle-and-a-half of the standard large size of soda, prescribed to dissolve the mass of undigested material in the woman’s stomach. However, doctors reportedly stated that “it is not well understood whether acidity, carbonation, or another mechanism accounts for dissolution of the bezoar.”

RELATED: Big Pharma’s miracle drugs have a nasty side effect

Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images

Diet right

There were caveats in the prescription though; the woman had diabetes and didn’t like carbonated beverages. Therefore, she was given diet cola and asked to drink half the prescribed amount, 1.5 liters.

The patient noticed a change on the second day of soda treatment, described as a “tugging” sensation in her abdomen, followed by relief of her discomfort.

An endoscopic exam soon revealed that the mass was no longer stuck in the senior’s stomach. She soon resumed a typical diet while still in the hospital, and she was eventually discharged without any symptoms.

She was prescribed acid reflux medication for daily use but stopped taking the semaglutide.

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​News, Diet soda, Glp-1, Weight loss, Diabeties, Lifestyle 

A former middle school art teacher in Texas has been accused of grooming and having inappropriate relationships with multiple students, according to authorities.

The Irving Police Department confirmed to KDFW-TV that 28-year-old Haley Krista Radabaugh was arrested in May, charged with child grooming.

‘I’ll tell you what. You send me a photo of you, and I’ll send you one of me.’

Police said Radabaugh was arrested a second time on July 3. She was charged with an improper relationship between an educator and a student.

Radabaugh was booked into the Denton County Jail and released July 4 after posting bond for the latest charge.

Texas Scorecard reported that Radabaugh was out of jail on bond when she was arrested on the second charge.

The charge of improper relationship between an educator and a student is a second-degree felony punishable by two to 20 years in prison, according to Texas Scorecard.

Radabaugh had been an art teacher at Barbara Bush Middle School in the Carrollton-Farmers Branch Independent School District.

KXAS-TV previously obtained the arrest warrant noting that multiple students at Barbara Bush Middle School told school officials in May that Radabaugh was having inappropriate relationships with minors.

The arrest warrant said students informed a school resource officer that Radabaugh “was known to be having inappropriate sexual conversations with at least three middle school students and providing drugs to students.”

KXAS reported that a 14-year-old boy told school officials that Radabaugh sent him sexually suggestive messages on Instagram; the station said Radabaugh wrote to the student, “There was a kid I crushed on hard before you.”

“I’ll tell you what. You send me a photo of you, and I’ll send you one of me,” Radabaugh said, according to KXAS.

The arrest warrant said Radabaugh also sent “a photo of what appears to be herself getting out of the shower,” which is described as being framed “mid-chest up” and appears to show her entire face.

Radabaugh called the boy “babe” and signed off the messages with “flirtatious kiss emojis,” according to the arrest warrant.

According to the arrest warrant, the alleged victim “described himself as being disgusted and losing sleep after the defendant messaged him.”

RELATED: ‘You stripped me of my innocence’: Ex-teacher accused of sexually abusing teen in classroom indicted on new child sex charges

The Carrollton-Farmers Branch Independent School District told KDFW it could not share any information regarding the case because Radabaugh is a former employee, and there is an active police investigation.

A spokeswoman for the school district said, “While we are limited on what we can disclose, we are deeply distressed and disheartened by these incidents.”

Radabaugh is not listed on the staff directory for Barbara Bush Middle School.

The Irving Police Department informed KDFW that it would not release any additional details about the case because the alleged victims are juveniles, and it is an active investigation.

Citing online records, Texas Scorecard reported that the Carrollton-Farmers Branch ISD employed Radabaugh since the 2022-23 school year, and that she has held a Texas teaching certificate since 2021. The outlet noted that the Texas Education Agency is reviewing her teaching certification.

Texas Scorecard also reported that Radabaugh is the fourth Carrollton-Farmers Branch ISD teacher to be charged with sex crimes this year.

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​Bad teacher, Teacher arrested, Teacher student sex scandal, Teacher sex scandal, Child sex crimes, Grooming, Crime, Texas 

Russian intelligence operatives have been quietly working out of Tokyo for years, using Japan as a channel to buy weapons components, dodge Western sanctions, and ship the material home to supply Russia’s war in Ukraine, according to a New York Times investigation.

The stakes are staggering: Roughly 90% of Russian missiles and drones contain Japanese components, according to Ukrainian government estimates.

‘We have a sense of crisis about this situation.’

The investigation identifies a Russian military intelligence unit called the “20th Directorate” as the network behind the effort. Its Tokyo station is reportedly run out of an office for Russian state airline Aeroflot near the headquarters of Japan’s National Police Agency.

The alleged operative in charge, Maksim Filchenkov, is a veteran Russian intelligence officer using a cover job at Aeroflot — a tactic Russian spies have used since the Soviet era.

Tokyo’s response has been limited, despite its public support for Ukraine. “We have a sense of crisis about this situation,” said Akihisa Shiozaki, a lawmaker in Japan’s governing party.

Japan has not had a dedicated foreign intelligence agency in more than 80 years, as post-WWII restrictions left the work scattered across the police, military, and foreign ministry. Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, a noted Trump ally, is now racing to centralize it under one command to also counter China, which researchers say has built fake news sites disguised as Japanese-language outlets to spread pro-Beijing disinformation.

The U.S. and Australia have quietly advised Tokyo on the build-out, the Times reported, citing Japanese and other officials. So has Germany, itself in the middle of its own historic military rebuild and drawing on its foreign intelligence service’s decades of experience countering Russian intelligence in Europe.

RELATED: Bombshell report claims China is transforming old jets for new war

Samuel Boivin/NurPhoto/Getty Images

President Trump has repeatedly accused U.S. allies of not spending enough on their own defense and questioned whether America should defend smaller nations — pushing Japan to build its own intelligence capability rather than lean on Washington. Even so, U.S. officials have quietly offered input on Japan’s cyberdefense, industrial espionage, and screening of foreign investments and agents, according to the Times.

The State Department and Office of the Director of National Intelligence did not respond to a request for comment from Blaze News.

According to the Times, Japan’s government wouldn’t confirm the talks directly, saying only that it “maintains close cooperation with counterparts in relevant countries on a regular basis.”

Opposition lawmakers warn the new agency risks reviving Imperial Japan’s wartime secret police, the Tokko, and eroding privacy rights.

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​China, Japan, Prime minister, Russia, Ukraine war, Western sanctions, Politics 

Conor McGregor is many things, but boring has never been one of them. The wild years between his major bouts dissolved into a blur of court dates, shattered bus windows, and enough marching powder to send a bull elephant into cardiac orbit.

He lived like a man trying to out-party Hunter S. Thompson while trying to convince the world he was still an elite athlete. He posted midnight sparring videos from triple-decker superyachts. He littered social media with unhinged, deleted voice notes. Even so, millions of loyal fans believed that he had the capacity to regain his crown.

Joe Rogan provided live commentary, and his excitement was infectious. He confessed to wanting to believe the former champion could still produce magic.

Cold snap

The first real sign that the legend possessed limits came on July 10, 2021, at UFC 264. McGregor’s tibia snapped against Dustin Poirier with the crack of a dry branch, forcing the Dubliner into a prolonged competitive exile. He traded the daily grind of the gym for titanium rod rehabilitation sessions. That injury became the permanent line between the fighter he actually was and the myth he tried to preserve. The subsequent years became a parade of recovery updates and constant promises of a return.

A return did materialize, though it was destined to be short-lived. Saturday — five years on from that shin-splintering night in Las Vegas — McGregor made his return to the Octagon at UFC 329 inside the T-Mobile Arena.

His opponent was fellow MMA veteran Max Holloway, a man who had spent McGregor’s entire hiatus fighting the absolute best featherweights and lightweights on the planet. The arena held a rather eclectic crowd featuring Mike Tyson, Tucker Carlson, and Vince Vaughn, all paying thousands of dollars to witness what was marketed as the greatest resurrection since Lazarus.

Flicker of hope

The opening bars of the Notorious B.I.G.’s “Hypnotize” echoed through the arena. It was the perfect entrance music for the self-styled “Notorious” McGregor. Joe Rogan provided live commentary, and his excitement was infectious. He confessed to wanting to believe the former champion could still produce magic.

The Irish faithful, both in the stands and back home, shared that exact wish, desperately embracing the possibility of the greatest comeback in sporting history. We needed the Mac to conquer the improbable and completely rewrite the laws of the impossible.

But once the fight began, the delusion evaporated in just over 60 seconds. McGregor threw a heavy, wild kick, landed awkwardly on his right leg, and immediately lost his footing. Seconds later, he attempted a follow-up kick, only to wince in agony. The months of promotional hype and international press tours dissolved in an instant.

When the referee stepped in to call a halt to the misery, McGregor sat with his head buried in his hands. Bypassing the microphone entirely, he exited the cage in what felt like a permanent vanishing act.

RELATED: The sad decline of Conor McGregor

JORGE GUERRERO/AFP/Getty Images

Off the cliff

McGregor recently celebrated his 38th birthday. He’s still a young man, but in the 155- to 170-pound divisions of mixed martial arts, 38 is a chronological cliff, where human reaction time slows just enough for elite 20-something killers to take your head off. History tracks a brutal, unbroken pattern of legend after legend refusing to accept this biological reality. The American B.J. Penn pushed past his prime into his late 30s, only to suffer a horrific seven-fight skid, looking slower and more vulnerable with every appearance.

The sport functions as a meat grinder with a marketing department. Tony Ferguson marched straight into his 40s on an agonizing eight-fight losing streak, transforming from the most feared lightweight on earth into a visual cautionary tale for the entire roster. The Brazilian superstar Anderson Silva lingered long enough to go 1-6 at the end of his UFC run, absorbing unneeded damage from athletes who used his name to build their own brands. The sport does not accommodate aging heroes.

Hit the showers

The financial machine will survive the loss of its favorite cash cow. McGregor completely transformed the UFC’s economic reality during his meteoric rise. He turned a niche combat sport into a multibillion-dollar mainstream industry through an unprecedented marketing capability that no fighter before or since has replicated.

In his competitive prime, his ability to predict the exact round of a knockout matched his technical precision inside the cage, forcing even his harshest critics to respect his execution and refer to him as Mystic Mac. He made the sport immensely profitable for the executives, generating hundreds of millions of dollars while single-handedly inventing the concept of the MMA “money fight.”

The knee injury at UFC 329 closes the door on any future athletic success inside the Octagon. There is no training regimen, experimental therapy, or medical procedure that can restore the fast-twitch reflexes and structural durability required to beat elite, hungry fighters. He leaves the sport as an incredibly wealthy promotional executive and a guaranteed Hall of Famer, but his time as a functional, successful competitor in the UFC has reached its absolute end.

​Conor mcgregor, Joe rogan, Max holloway, Mixed martial arts, Octagon, Tucker carlson, Ufc 264, Vince vaughn, Fight night 

Bigotry on the right is apparently in such short supply that leftists feel the continued need to fake it.

That appears to have been the case at San Jose State University where multiple buildings and public spaces on campus were vandalized over the past two years with graffiti that the school said contained “anti-Semitic, Islamophobic, racial and/or discriminatory slurs, as well as threats of violence against these groups and the entire campus community.”

‘These incidents have caused real harm.’

The Justice Department announced on Monday that 30-year-old Ziheng “Tony” Fang, a leftist graduate student at SJSU, was arrested on a federal charge of false information and hoaxes.

According to the complaint, Fang has a history of criticizing immigration enforcement and the MAGA movement on social media as well as of expressing support for immigrants and pro-Palestinian views, reported the Times of Israel.

The leftist not only showed an LGBT rainbow flag in his Threads profile but characterized himself on TikTok as “100% woke,” on Snapchat as an “activist,” and on Facebook as a “social justice activist,” according to the complaint.

The San Jose State University Police Department began receiving reports in October 2024 of racist graffiti that featured swastikas and racist commentary.

“In many instances, these messages included threats specifying a particular date that an attack was allegedly intended to take place and/or weapons and methods that would be used such as bombs, knives, and shooting,” said the Justice Department.

RELATED: Activists MELT DOWN over burning cross found in park — Asian man claiming he did it says it was an anti-Trump protest

Eric Thayer/Los Angeles Times/Getty Images

One message that was discovered on Nov. 5, 2025, stated, “!WARNING! MASS BOMB NEXT WEEK!” along with “THIS IS A WHITE NATION”; “KILL ALL MUSLIMS + CHINKS”; “MAGA 2028”; and “KILL ZOHRAN.”

Investigators found Fang’s fingerprints on the paper on which these remarks were written, claimed the DOJ.

The DOJ said that another message that was discovered in a bathroom said, “Kill all Jews, Muslims, Chinks, and Mexicans.”

When speaking out against the incidents in March, Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) claimed that additional hateful messages included “SJSU, Sorry, But for Allah 3/11 Will Be 9/11”; “Goal 5 Jews Min”; and “Make Osama Proud.”

According to the federal complaint, Fang was caught in surveillance footage entering and exiting restroom areas where the messages were discovered shortly thereafter, and allegedly accessed buildings in the days up to the discovery of the threatening messages in 16 of the 18 instances where key card access is required.

The graffiti — which appeared in numerous locations, including MacQuarrie Hall, the MLK Library, and in student housing, and kept appearing as recently as May 14, 2026 — not only prompted a police investigation and the campus DEI committee to host a “Campus Climate Forum” but resulted in additional bias training for staff and student leaders; the development of new programming from the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion; multiple university investigations; expanded surveillance; and additional police patrols on campus.

Citing the complaint, the DOJ noted that owing to the date-specific nature of the threats in some of the messages, some SJSU professors canceled their classes on the days on which attacks were supposedly going to take place.

The university and the SJSU Police Department announced on May 21 that following an investigation aided by the FBI, they had nabbed a suspect believed to be responsible for the various “hate-speech” incidents across campus.

SJSU President Cynthia Teniente-Matson thanked university police and others who helped with the investigation and said of the months-long graffiti campaign, “These incidents have caused real harm across our campus.”

The suspect, Fang, was banned from campus and slapped with state charges of felony vandalism and felony publish threats.

Fang, whose race was listed as “Chinese” in the SJSU Police Department booking record, is currently in federal custody.

While the federal complaint charges Fang only in connection with the Nov. 5 message, the accompanying affidavit pins him as the suspect behind dozens of additional messages on campus, reported Mercury News.

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​San jose state university, Chinese, Woke, California, Hoax, Hate crime, Politics 

Growing up in a military family, I learned what veterans’ advocacy looked like long before I understood the term.

My father served as general counsel for the California Department of Veterans Affairs. His work was not glamorous, and it rarely attracted public attention. It happened across conference tables, in legal offices, and through countless conversations with veterans trying to navigate an often overwhelming benefits system. He devoted years to helping people who had sacrificed for our country.

This should not be about a T-shirt that ignites a political firestorm on X. It should be about modern solutions that deliver victories for those who have already fought for us.

Watching him, I came to understand that advocacy is not measured by volume. It is measured by results.

California is home to the nation’s largest veteran population, and the cases my father handled reminded me that behind every dispute, delay, or bureaucratic error was a veteran who had fulfilled an obligation to this country.

Those veterans were not looking for political theater. They wanted someone who understood the system and was willing to fight on their behalf.

The most effective advocacy often happens out of sight. It requires drafting legislation that improves access to care, building coalitions around meaningful reforms, providing legal assistance to veterans who cannot afford it, and working with elected officials to remove unnecessary barriers to benefits.

These efforts rarely make headlines. They improve lives.

That is why some developments in the veterans’ advocacy world are so discouraging.

The recent controversy surrounding the Veterans of Foreign Wars’ “Honor the Contract” campaign illustrates how easily attention can shift away from veterans themselves. The campaign’s T-shirt depicted veterans facing a firing squad — an inflammatory image meant to make a political point about how Washington serves veterans.

Whatever message the organization hoped to communicate was lost in the controversy that followed.

House Veterans’ Affairs Committee Chairman Mike Bost (R-Ill.) was right to express concern that this kind of messaging lowers the standard of public discourse.

Veterans’ organizations should be among the country’s most respected civic institutions. They represent Americans who answered the nation’s call to serve, often at extraordinary personal cost.

RELATED: America First means taking care of our own, not another war

Stringer/Anadolu/Getty Images

That moral authority should be used to persuade and educate, not to contribute to the outrage politics already poisoning our national conversation.

The VFW’s campaign suggests a troubling disconnect from what veterans need out of Washington.

Healthy debate is essential for good government. Veterans’ organizations have every right to advocate forcefully for or against legislation. But there is a difference between forceful advocacy and deliberately provocative messaging.

One advances the conversation. The other distracts from it.

The backlog of veterans’ claims has dropped below 70,000 for the first time since 2020. That is progress. But tens of thousands of veterans are still waiting for answers.

They deserve more than symbolic fights and social media firestorms.

This should not be about a T-shirt that ignites a political firestorm on X. It should be about modern solutions that deliver victories for those who have already fought for us.

My father never chased headlines or put politics ahead of people. He spent long hours doing meticulous legal work with the quiet determination to solve problems many veterans could not solve alone.

That example has stayed with me because it reflects the highest ideals of public service.

Veterans’ organizations have accomplished extraordinary things throughout American history by operating according to those same standards. They should strive to uphold them and elevate public discourse rather than mirror its worst tendencies.

The men and women who fought for our country already answered the call to serve. Those who advocate on their behalf should return the favor by delivering results and staying focused on the work that helps veterans most.

​Department of veterans affairs, California, Mike bost, Veterans, Vfw, Veterans advocacy, Veterans of foreign wars, Honor the contract, Americans, Opinion & analysis 

A California restaurant sparked a heated debate after instituting a policy to charge parents who fail to control their unruly children.

Chez Xue is a Chinese restaurant in Foster City — approximately 20 miles south of San Francisco.

‘We are a casual restaurant, but we’re not a Chuck E. Cheese.’

Chez Xue has a policy that warns parents that they may be asked to leave the restaurant if their children are disobedient. The restaurant also cautioned that it will “hold parents financially liable for all damage caused by their children to restaurant property.”

Chez Xue said on the restaurant’s website: “Please control your children.”

“Chez Xue is a family-friendly restaurant,” the site said. “However, we are not a playground.”

“Please ensure children REMAIN SEATED at all times and be respectful of fellow guests and the dining environment,” the restaurant stated.

The notice declared, “Running around, shouting, making noise with utensils, etc. WILL NOT BE TOLERATED!”

“Guests not respecting this policy may be asked to leave,” the Chez Xue restaurant said.

The eatery warned, “We will hold parents financially liable for all damage caused by their children to restaurant property.”

The Los Angeles Times reported that the policy was instituted about a year ago when the restaurant’s owner, You You Xue, caught a customer changing a baby’s diaper on the top of a dining booth in the middle of the restaurant. After that incident, Xue knew he had to do something.

Xue, who does not have kids, got fed up with children “fooling around and basically trashing the place” while parents allowed their kids to be disorderly.

“We are a casual restaurant, but we’re not a Chuck E. Cheese,” Xue told the Los Angeles Times.

The policy recently went viral after a patron posted screenshots of the restaurant’s menu on the X social media platform.

The menu provided examples of “recent damages” caused by children at the restaurant.

In April 2025, parents were charged $327.03 because their child shattered a credit card machine when the kid picked it up and dropped it on the ground.

In December 2025, a kid used a utensil to carve drawings into a tabletop, and the parents were charged $109.38.

The restaurant charged a parent $5.47 after a child broke a teacup in January 2026.

RELATED: New California program demands proof of gayness for $633M in contracts — but a far darker reality lies beneath the hypocrisy

The internet was staunchly divided over the establishment’s policy.

One netizen wrote on X, “If your kids are smashing credit card machines and carving things into furniture, they don’t belong in restaurants. End of conversation.”

Someone else said, “On the one hand, yes, absolutely, please raise respectful kids. In support! On the other hand, kids will be kids, and ~$500/yr in damages feels like a reasonable cost of doing business as a family-friendly restaurant.”

Commenters were vocal on the restaurant’s Instagram page about the policy.

One person wrote, “BRAVO on your policy fining families for disruptive children.”

Another one said, “This is incredibly discouraging for people with children who have disabilities.”

Someone proclaimed, “GREAT POLICY!”

Users on the restaurant review website Yelp were divided on the new policy.

A commenter stated, “Coming on here because I am so happy that the owner is standing up to parents and making them be accountable for their parenting. This is a practice that needs to be serviced everywhere. We have all seen too many examples of parents not watching or caring what their children do! Kudos to you.”

Another person said, “Not a family restaurant! If you want to live in a kidless world, I guess this spot is for you. Don’t forget you were a kid once and I am sure your parents brought you to restaurants before.”

Someone added, “I hope more restaurants implement policies like this. The world and restaurant scene would be a much better place!”

Xue told the New York Post, “My staff, my servers were being forced to parent children on behalf of other parents. That’s not their job.”

Xue added, “Parenting has become so relaxed, and I know if I acted some ways these children are acting, I would have gotten my a** beat.”

“We don’t blame the kids — I’m very proud of the fact that this is an unpretentious restaurant where people can come with their whole families,” Xue explained. “It’s to remind this very small group of parents who are not doing their jobs: Please do your job so we can do ours.”

Xue noted that he takes no pleasure in having to confront parents who are not disciplining their kids.

“I don’t want to be put in that position,” Xue told the Los Angeles Times. “It’s so awkward to go up to a parent and say something so obvious.”

Xue told the Los Angeles Times that the general reaction to the policy has been overwhelmingly positive.

Xue revealed that the number of incidents “has fallen considerably to basically zero” since introducing the policy.

Xue stated, “We said the quiet part out loud. We said something that a lot of people are thinking, and we’ve come forward and spoken on behalf of other restaurants and on behalf of customers who have had a meal ruined by a loud child.”

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​News, San francisco, California, Parenting, Family, Politics, Restaurant