A convicted serial rapist in California who was originally sentenced to 124 years in prison has been released after serving approximately 20 years behind bars. Many are outraged that the serial rapist, who also is the great-grandson of legendary cosmetics mogul Max Factor, was released from prison after being convicted of drugging and sexually assaulting multiple women.

NBC News reported that 62-year-old Andrew Luster was released from prison on parole on Oct. 11 “after serving his full sentence as required by law,” according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

‘By drugging his victims into a coma-like state, Andrew Luster played Russian roulette with the lives of his victims so he could abuse their comatose bodies.’

The Ventura County Star reported that Luster is registered as a sex offender on California’s Megan’s Law website, with a Glendora address — and he will have to register as a sex offender for life and will be on supervised parole for the next three years.

The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said in a statement released on Sunday that “this is not an early release.”

“According to voter-approved propositions, determinate-sentenced incarcerated individuals may reduce their carceral time due to the earning of worktime and good conduct credits,” the CDCR continued. “In this case, Andrew Luster received 977 days of pre-sentence credit and was eligible for credit-earning opportunities while incarcerated.”

Luster was first arrested in July 2000 after a college student accused him of raping her at his home, according to court documents obtained by People magazine.

People magazine said investigators discovered a video of Luster drugging and raping the victim as well as two other women while executing a search warrant at his home.

More from People:

His trial began in late 2002, and two weeks in, he was able to convince the judge to lift the conditions of his parole so that he could visit his lawyer in Los Angeles over the holidays. Luster — who claims he knew little about this plan and that it was orchestrated by one of his lawyers — soon found himself hiding out in Mexico after paying someone to sneak him over the border.

In June 2003, Luster was heading out for a taco when he was apprehended by popular bounty hunter Duane “Dog” Chapman in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, the Guardian reported, adding that that witnesses told police that Chapman’s crew “had used an aerosol spray and handcuffs to subdue the rapist, bundled him into one of their two vans, and drove off.”

RELATED: Ex-University of Kentucky cheerleader who admitted killing her newborn baby learns fate — judge delivers brutal reality check

The Los Angeles Times previously reported that Luster was convicted on 86 counts of rape and drug charges after a jury viewed videotapes he made of himself engaging in sexual acts with three women rendered unconscious by GHB — or gamma-hydroxybutyrate, a “date-rape” drug.

Fox News reported that Luster’s 124-year prison sentence was thrown out in March 2013, and he was resentenced to 50 years behind bars because the original judge reportedly made a legal error.

J. David Nick, who represented Luster during his efforts to overturn the sentence, said in an interview that the original judge improperly stacked prison terms without making the findings required under California law, according to Fox News.

Ventura County District Attorney Erik Nasarenko said in 2024 that releasing Luster would be a “grave injustice to the survivors and a threat to public safety,” KCAL-TV reported.

According to Nasarenko, Luster “preyed upon young women, primarily in college bars” between 1996 and 2000 while he was in his early 30s, drugging his victims with GHB.

“Luster engaged in sadistic sexual abuse of their comatose bodies,” Nasarenko stated in 2024. “In two of the attacks, Luster recorded his rape and sexual abuse of the victims.”

Ventura County Senior Deputy District Attorney Anthony Wold condemned the possibility of Luster’s release in a 2025 statement:

By drugging his victims into a coma-like state, Andrew Luster played Russian roulette with the lives of his victims so he could abuse their comatose bodies. Even now, he attempts to rewrite the history of his heinous crimes to falsely mitigate his culpability to gain early release. He remains a highly dangerous sexual predator. We continue to maintain he should serve his full sentence. He’s earned it.

However, the Ventura County District Attorney’s Office said Luster was scheduled to be released from prison no later than Oct. 31, 2026.

KCAL reported that Luster is living in Glendora, which has drawn outrage from city leaders.

“The city of Glendora is beyond disappointed,” Mayor David Fredendall stated. “We are outraged.”

Fredendall blamed Luster’s early release on Proposition 57, a California ballot measure voters approved in 2016 that expanded parole eligibility and sentence-reduction credits for eligible offenders.

“When California voters approved Proposition 57 in 2016, they were assured by Governor Jerry Brown and his administration that dangerous offenders would remain behind bars,” Fredendall continued. “His campaign went so far as to promise that sex offenders would be ‘absolutely ineligible for parole under Prop 57.'”

The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation stated that Proposition 57 was “overwhelmingly approved by voters in the November 2016 election to enhance public safety, to stop the revolving door of crime by emphasizing rehabilitation, and to prevent federal courts from releasing prisoners.”

The CDCR said Prop 57 also “establishes a parole consideration process for determinately sentenced and indeterminately sentenced people convicted of nonviolent crimes, as defined by California Penal Code, who have served the full term for their primary criminal offense and who demonstrate they no longer pose a current, unreasonable risk to the public.”

According to the CDCR, Proposition 57 “gives incarcerated people the opportunity to earn additional credits for good behavior and participation in rehabilitative, educational, and career training programs so they are better prepared to succeed and less likely to commit new crimes on the outside.”

Meanwhile, Fredendall added, “The State may argue that this was not technically an early release. It can point to sentencing credits, legal calculations, and administrative requirements. However, those technical explanations do not address the larger concern: how an individual originally sentenced to 124 years in prison for heinous crimes is able to walk out of a secured facility after only 20 years.”

Fredendall continued, “The people of Glendora should not have to worry about their safety because of a decision by the State that allows an individual with a history of rape and violence to now live in close proximity to schools, parks, playgrounds, churches, and community centers.”

“The victims deserve better. The people of Glendora deserve better. California must do better,” the mayor demanded.

The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation did not immediately provide more details to Fox News regarding Luster’s release date, an explanation of the sentencing calculations, and details about his parole supervision.

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​Serial rapist, California, Sex offender, Crime 

The internet isn’t safe. That’s the warning going around the world today, as two newly discovered vulnerabilities instantaneously made the majority of websites susceptible to targeted attacks. This isn’t a problem that impacts one site or service. It’s a global phenomenon, and you should be prepared for what happens next.

On October 20, the discovery was leaked online of two PHP vulnerabilities, dubbed CVE-2026-109618 and CVE-2026-109619. Together, they’re called php2shell. Although the original source is unknown, security experts at Huntress and watchTowr confirmed the leak’s authenticity.

Hackers could commandeer a PHP-powered website, steal sensitive user data, and deploy ransomware to extort money from the owners of the targeted site.

PHP, which stands for Hypertext Preprocessor, is an openly available scripting language that developers use to build websites and apps. It drives the server side of online experiences, so while you never see PHP firsthand, it is the reason you can access many different websites and use online services.

Given its open-source nature, PHP is a hugely popular tool that powers approximately 69%–79% of sites on the web. These include tech giants like Microsoft, financial services like American Express, telecom companies like Verizon, and many more.

Needless to say, a vulnerability of this scale has the power to completely take down the internet and serve users’ personal data to hackers on a platter.

Both CVE-2026-109618 and CVE-2026-109619 are remote code execution vulnerabilities, which means a hacker anywhere in the world can send malicious commands to a targeted server to gain control without needing a password or login information, essentially taking over with no security to get in the way. With that level of access, hackers could commandeer a PHP-powered website, steal sensitive user data, and deploy ransomware to extort money from the owners of the targeted site.

To be safe, the NSA Cybersecurity team issued a warning today for any sites that rely on PHP. The NSA wrote on X:

Effective Immediately, all organizations using PHP for their systems are advised to be prepared for an update addressing two critical vulnerabilities. PHP is widely used for web applications. These vulnerabilities often provide a direct path to the server’s file system or database. If an immediate update is not feasible, it is recommended that organizations take the system offline until it can be fully mitigated. NSA will follow up shortly with more specific guidance.

What you should do as a user

Now that you know these vulnerabilities exist, you might wonder how you can keep yourself and your data safe.

The good and bad news is that there’s nothing you should or can do. This issue directly involves websites and web developers. You — and the rest of us — are mere bystanders.

More good news: You can continue to log in to the same websites and access your data as you would before php2shell was discovered, assuming the web developer hasn’t taken its servers offline as a safety precaution. Just make sure you go directly to the website on your device or open the service through the official app on your phone. Do not click on any secondary links in messages or emails to access these platforms.

Now the bad news: php2shell is a server-side vulnerability, so if a hacker targets a website that contains your personal data, he can potentially steal your information without ever needing your username or password. Now, that doesn’t mean this will happen. Many website owners are taking precautions to protect user data, including limiting features and temporarily taking their servers offline. That means some websites you visit may be down until the security patch is implemented.

RELATED: The latest cybercrime turns security systems against you — and there’s no good defense

Robert Wicher/Getty Images

The fix is in

According to the National Cyber Security Centre in the U.K., the vulnerabilities affect PHP version 5 and up — that covers websites built or maintained from 2004 to 2026. The only fix is a security patch that was released early on October 21. Web developers are urged to update their websites immediately to PHP version 8.5.12, 8.4.27, 8.3.36, or 8.2.35, depending on their sites’ current PHP iteration. Other versions of PHP are considered outdated and potentially dangerous, with no alternative work-arounds for php2shell.

As a user, there’s nothing you need to do to prepare for the PHP patch rollout. Just keep in mind that many of your favorite websites will undergo a serious system update over the next several days to several weeks. That means that some of the features on your favorite websites — or even the sites themselves — could temporarily go down, even if they weren’t previously taken offline after php2shell was found. Please be patient while the developers resolve this critical issue.

That’s it. Now it’s a waiting game until the patches are officially live.

More cyber threats in the news

The php2shell vulnerability is just one of three cybersecurity threats that have emerged in the last several days.

eMudhra, a cybersecurity company based in India, generated cryptographic keys in April 2025 with reduced security, making them easy for anyone to guess. Because eMudhra is a trusted certificate authority by Big Tech, the flaw left internet traffic vulnerable to man-in-the-middle attacks. This made it possible for bad actors to create fake trusted security certificates, impersonate real website domains, and intercept sensitive data. Google, Apple, Microsoft, and Mozilla have since blocked the certificates from their web browsers, and eMudhra’s stock price took a 20% dive following the discovery.

PingCAP, a California company that builds enterprise database software, was hacked. The attacker reportedly used stolen login credentials to access PingCAP’s systems to steal data and source code. PingCAP has since revoked access to the affected accounts and is continuing to investigate the issue to ensure that it doesn’t happen again.

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​Security, Cybersecurity, Vulnerabilities, Tech 

Vice President JD Vance was unequivocal in his condemnation of the Republicans who have criticized fellow Republican Vivek Ramaswamy for a controversial ad against his Democrat opponent in the Ohio governor’s race.

The ad features the mother of Democrat Amy Acton calling Acton a liar and telling Ohioans not to vote for her. Ramaswamy later acknowledged that his campaign was behind it.

‘Politics is a tough business, and my message to my fellow elected Republicans is if you actually believe in the things you say you believe in, stop whining about an advertisement and go win the race.’

Acton’s campaign called the ad “repulsive” and characterized Acton’s mother as “abusive” and Ramaswamy as “a scam artist.” Acton has made her rise from an allegedly dysfunctional and abusive childhood a signature part of her campaign.

While some Republicans have also criticized Ramaswamy for the ad, the vice president set the ad itself aside and went after the Republican critics instead.

“Well, I’ll be honest with you; whether the ad was appropriate or not is not really my concern. What is my concern is who is going to govern the next generation of American government; who is going to win the Senate race in the state of Ohio; who is going win the governor’s race in the state of Ohio,” said Vance at the Cincinnati FBI field office in Sycamore Township on Wednesday.

“And I gotta be honest that when I see Republicans, people in my party, reacting so strongly, especially elected officials, look, have the opinion you want to have on that ad. If you think it was too tough, say it was too tough. If you think it wasn’t tough enough, say that,” he added.

“But I have to admit that I’m a little bit disgusted when I see Republicans across the country who are whining more about that advertisement than they are about what the congressional Democrats and other Democrats want to do to the United States of America,” Vance said.

He then noted that Democrats have also attacked Republicans viciously and used ads featuring members of their families without compunction.

“People have called Vivek Ramaswamy a murderer in some of the advertisements ran against him,” Vance said.

“How many times have we seen advertisements using his family members, estranged family members, to go after the president of the United States?”

RELATED: ‘Shut the f*** up’: Vivek tells off Van Jones for saying he’s ‘dangerous’ and a ‘demagogue’

“Politics is a tough business, and my message to my fellow elected Republicans is if you actually believe in the things you say you believe in, stop whining about an advertisement and go win the race in 13 days,” he concluded.

Vance went on to campaign with Ramaswamy in Cincinnati.

Acton is ahead of Ramaswamy in the average of polling compiled at the Blaze Poll Watch below:

Ohio governor polls 2026: Acton vs. Ramaswamy

Ohio Governor polls 2026: Acton vs. Ramaswamypollwatch.theblaze.com

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​Amy acton, Jd vance, Senate race, Vivek ramaswamy, Politics 

France opened its doors to immigrants who initially rejected their culture but now have quite literally set fire to it.

“It turns out that if you mass import a culture that refuses to assimilate and actually hates Western civilization instead of embracing it, eventually once they’ve outnumbered you, they turn on you,” BlazeTV host Sara Gonzales says.

These immigrants, she says, are “simply coming to leech off the empathetic Westerner” while “targeting the things that represent your rich history and your architecture and your culture.”

“The way in which these acts are carried out is done just to humiliate you, the native born,” she continues. “That is what liberal immigration does.”

And a post shared by Alice Cordier only drives home Gonzales’ point.

“I went to witness the riots in Paris. I’m going to tell you the truth: It was only young people from African immigrant backgrounds who came to attack our police officers and firefighters, loot our shops, and destroy everything,” she wrote.

“An elderly French couple in their 80s was robbed and left in their underwear on the street. The steeple of a 150-year-old church was completely burned down. This is not a social revolt for better education. It’s a taste of an ethnic war that took place today,” she added.

“African-Muslim immigrants to be clear,” Gonzales says, pointing out that “this is what the left wants for us here.”

“It’s what they were working toward before Donald Trump was elected to fix it. Elected the second time,” she continues.

“But the question is, when it comes to this liberal immigration policy and the end result of that, can we put the genie back in the bottle?” she asks. “Because you have places like Michigan and Minnesota, are they too far gone? We have way too many Muslims in positions of power in this country.”

“We have 18 Muslim judges, 11 Muslim mayors, 98 Muslim city council members, 63 Muslim board members, 46 Muslim state House and assembly members and 4 Muslims in the House of Representatives,” she explains.

“Obviously, we will have at least one more in the Senate if Abdul El-Sayed actually gets elected in Michigan,” she adds, pointing out that gaining institutional power is part of the “long game for them.”

“They’ve not been bashful about the fact that they are trying to get a stronghold in all of the institutions in our country,” she says, before playing a clip of one Muslim speaking at the MAS annual convention last year.

“Once we have internal unity, we now need institutional strength. Not just cheap protests, but actual strength. Think tanks, lobbying groups, every mechanism available to us, social media, legal advocacy, political literacy. We cannot outsource our narrative to journalists that don’t care about us,” he said to the crowd.

“We need our own outlets, our own media, our own lobbying. That has to come from within institutional strength,” he added.

“It makes you wonder,” Gonzales comments, “are they here to uphold the American way of life or not?”

Want more from Sara Gonzales?

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​France, Immigrants, Muslims, Paris, Riots, Sara gonzales, Blazetv show 

Playing an apostle on “The Chosen” apparently comes with important opinions about who best represents Jesus in American politics.

Actor Jordan Walker Ross, who portrays Little James on the hit series, is throwing his support behind Texas Senate candidate James Talarico, arguing that the Democrat’s policies better reflect Christ’s teachings.

But BlazeTV host Pat Gray isn’t even close to being convinced.

“As a lifelong Texan, I’ve seen my state’s elected officials claim to be followers of Jesus’ teachings. However, their policies and actions have rarely aligned with those beliefs. Jesus taught his followers to take care of children, the sick, the homeless, and the immigrants,” Ross said in a post on Instagram.

“Right, His followers,” Gray comments. “He didn’t tell the government to do that. How is it that you don’t get that? If in fact you are a follower of Jesus, how is it that you think that the government is supposed to take care of that?”

“James Talarico has given me more hope for my state’s future than I’ve ever felt. Having played an apostle on TV for the last eight years, I have gotten to re-enact and hear many of Jesus’ sermons and teachings, up close and personal,” the post continued.

“And James Talarico’s policy proposals are far more in line with those teachings than his opponent or predecessors,” he added.

Ross went on to claim that Talarico’s “track record shows that he is capable of seeing things through.”

“What track record?” Gray asks. “Are you serious? This is really disappointing.”

“So this guy, who says that God is nonbinary, Jesus is a radical feminist, and he’s a Christian who hates Christianity. That guy is your guy for the U.S. Senate in Texas,” he adds.

However, one recent campaign ad might be enough to fight off Little James’ vocal support.

“As a mom of five, there is nothing more important than my children. Every mom in Texas should be worried about James Talarico. James Talarico supports parents being charged with child abuse if they do not support transitioning their children,” Texas mom Miriam said in an ad.

“Let that sink in for a minute. Putting parents in jail if they do not support surgically transitioning their children. If you care about your children, do not vote for James Talarico,” she added.

“Good,” Gray comments.

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​James talarico, Texas senate, Little james, The chosen, Blazetv show 

Earlier this year, Google teased a new universal shopping cart that leveraged the power of Gemini to track deals on products you find on the internet and assemble them into one easy place to buy online. After months of waiting, the feature is finally rolling out to users in the United States. Here’s why you may or may not want to use it.

Approximately 87% of Americans buy products online, according to Statista. If you shop at multiple stores, though, it can be hard to juggle different accounts or keep track of price changes on the items you want. To help, Google has a new shopping tool that can watch out for price changes for you.

Google openly admits to collecting user data throughout many of its apps, including Google Shopping.

Universal Cart combines the shopping experience found in Google Shopping, Google Search, AI Mode, and Gemini into one unified system. That means any product you add from one of these disparate Google services will now show up in the same cart for checkout.

According to Google, Universal Cart tracks more than 60 billion products across the web, scanning for price changes so that it can send you notifications when items go on sale. This will be especially useful for tracking deals as we head into Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and Christmas.

Universal Cart can even analyze your credit cards saved in Google Wallet and determine if they include perks that can be used to get even better discounts on the items on your list.

While tracking deals and simplifying purchases across the Google Shopping ecosystem is the main appeal, what Google really wants you to do is to choose Universal Cart instead of navigating to each individual site to buy products. So far, it has partnered with Nike, Sephora, Target, Ulta Beauty, Walmart, Wayfair, and some undisclosed merchants on Shopify.

RELATED: Google’s data-devouring AI wants everyone’s personal information

solar22/Getty Images

This next part won’t come as a surprise, but Google openly admits to collecting user data throughout many of its apps, including Google Shopping. Sure, the Universal Cart seems like an easy solution to buying products from multiple supported stores at the same time, but it also feeds your buying habits directly to Google.

When you make purchases through Universal Cart, Google analyzes the data and monetizes it. The company may use your purchases to improve its products and to customize the ads you see online to your specific interests. So don’t be surprised if you start to see more advertisements for the products in your cart or from the online stores you visit.

For some, the trade-off for more ads may be worth the convenience of a centralized shopping cart where you throw everything into the same place and buy with a click. For others, Google’s watchful eye may be intrusive enough to drive you away. Regardless, it’s important to know exactly what Universal Cart will do with your data if you choose to trust it.

That said, if you’re a Google user and you want more personalized ads and results, you can set your shopping preferences manually. To adjust these settings, go to your Personalized Recommendations settings and select “Likes & Preferences,” followed by “Shopping preferences.” On this page, you can choose whom you like to shop for (a man, a woman, a child, or pets) and set your shopping interests to include apparel, skin care, tech gadgets, and more.

I tried to test Universal Cart myself, but it wasn’t available on my account yet. If you don’t have Universal Cart either, it will be rolling out to you before the holiday shopping season. For those who do have Universal Cart already, you can start to track and add items now. However, based on what we know about Google’s data collection habits, you may wish to just go to your favorite merchants’ websites — or even walk into a good old-fashioned brick-and-mortar store — instead.

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​Google, Gemini, Artificial intelligence, Tech 

Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) resurfaced with a tearful fundraising plea after days out of the public eye.

Though she posted messages to social media, the Somali refugee had not been seen in public since federal agents raided her D.C. home on Oct. 12. With questions about her location swirling, Omar cut a campaign promo on TikTok while riding around what appears to be Minneapolis.

‘It’s going to be a very expensive and challenging time.’

In the one-minute video posted Tuesday, Omar thanks “everyone who sent $5, $10, $20,” and accuses the Trump administration of “trying to intimidate me and so many people.”

“We know that they’re running scared,” Omar says with tears in her eyes. “We’re not going to be intimidated. We’re not going to be silenced. We’re not going to be scared.”

As the video ends, Omar reiterates her appeal for financial support.

“Thank you so much again, and please continue to support us,” Omar says. “It is going to be a very expensive and challenging time.”

The clip ends with an “Ilhan for Congress” logo.

RELATED: Fraud, fraud, and more fraud: How Maine became a Somali scammer’s paradise

Brandon Bell/Getty Images

Eleven on the River, a condominium tower on the Minneapolis riverfront, appears to stand in the background as Omar cruises around what may be Minneapolis’ Cedar-Riverside area.

That district hosts both the Somali Community Outreach and Consultancy as well as the Confederation of Somali Community in Minnesota. Omar served as the confederation’s director from at least 2013 to 2017.

Omar is scheduled to appear in Minneapolis with Hasan Piker on Monday.

Homeland Security Investigations agents searched Omar’s D.C.-area residence under a warrant signed by a federal judge, according to U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro. Officers seized her phone, the AP reported, and potentially also confiscated her personal passport.

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin claimed in September that Omar married her brother to help him secure legal status in the U.S. Days later, border czar Tom Homan confirmed that Omar was the subject of an HSI criminal probe and said she could be denaturalized and deported if fraud is proven.

President Donald Trump went further.

“She could also go to jail,” he said Tuesday.

Omar has not yet been charged. Her office called the raid an abuse of power aimed at the president’s political enemies and said she has done nothing wrong.

Her attorneys claim there is no legitimate basis to suggest she violated any citizenship law. Investigators, however, may be reviewing Omar’s naturalization paperwork.

In response to Omar’s attorneys’ letter accusing HSI of violating the terms of the search warrant, the DOJ told Blaze News: “That letter is riddled with false allegations and inaccuracies. Our attorneys and law enforcement partners complied with all court orders and legal obligations, as they always do.”

Critics have alleged for years that Omar married her brother to game the immigration system. She has denied it, but investigators are reportedly in possession of DNA evidence that may verify the claim.

Pirro said her office is also investigating allegations of financial misconduct. Omar amended a 2024 financial disclosure form in April, citing an accounting error.

The allegations against Omar and her brother may have previously driven her to violate state campaign finance laws.

The Minnesota Campaign Finance Board found in 2019 that Omar violated state rules by routing $1,500 through her lawyer to an accounting firm to pull tax returns rebutting claims she wed her brother. She was ordered to repay $3,469.23 and pay a $500 civil penalty.

Afterward, Omar promised to comply with the findings of the board and stated: “I’m glad this process is complete and that the Campaign Finance Board has come to a resolution on this matter.”

It’s far from Omar’s only suspect financial maneuver.

Her campaign previously paid about $2.92 million to E Street Group, a consulting firm co-owned by her husband Tim Mynett. The FEC voted 6-0 in 2021 to find no reason to believe the payments converted campaign funds to personal use.

Omar’s office and the HSI did not respond to requests for comment.

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​Homeland security investigations, Ilhan omar, Minneapolis, Tiktok, Politics 

Since generative artificial intelligence arrived in 2022, analysts have warned that the AI bubble is real and that it could burst at any time. Now, we finally have proof that the end may be closer than we think, thanks to tangible data that is hard to refute.

The early days of generative AI were rife with hype and optimism, with a laundry list of promises from everyone involved, from investors to developers and all in between. Goldman Sachs said AI could boost the global GDP by 7%. Others claimed it would automate repetitive work at businesses to make employees more efficient. AI was even positioned as a lifesaving tool that will find the cure to deadly diseases, including cancer.

‘They’re losing hundreds of millions of dollars. This is most of the AI industry.’

IBM even warned, “Because of the wide-ranging applications and complexity of generative AI, many media reports might lead readers to believe that the technology is an almost magical cure-all.”

It isn’t. Or at least, it hasn’t yet. That is clear in the way that the AI developers still haven’t achieved artificial general intelligence, stopped AI hallucinations, or found reliable ways to sell AI to society, aside from having it do mundane tasks that are easier to do manually, like booking a flight or making a dinner reservation.

In fact, many of the Big AI CEOs and AI proponents are still making the same promises today — that AI will revolutionize the world — eventually. All they need is more money, more time, and more data to feed into the AI machine.

Still, the early promises were too tempting. Investors hopped aboard, dumping nearly $1 trillion globally into research and development, data center infrastructure, and snagging top talent for the frontier AI platforms to continue their work. But after years of AI giants like OpenAI and Anthropic failing to turn a profit, the AI bubble looks poised to burst at last.

RELATED: The AI bubble is about to pop. Here’s how to prepare yourself.

Charles Taylor/Getty Images

In a recent podcast, the CEO of EZPR, Ed Zitron, said he saw the financial books of a major private AI company firsthand. While he didn’t divulge the name of the company in question, he issued a dire warning: “They’re losing hundreds of millions of dollars. Hundreds of millions,” he repeated for emphasis. “This is most of the AI industry.”

In Zitron’s estimation, the AI boom is fueled primarily by hype. “This is not something that’s being substantiated by revenues or returns,” he continued.

“People are starting to realize that the math does not work.”

A company called CoreWeave was hit particularly hard by AI’s poor financial performance. Unless you are deeply entrenched in the AI world, you have probably never heard of the company, but CoreWeave is a U.S.-based “neocloud” service provider. Essentially, it rents Nvidia GPUs to artificial intelligence companies and other businesses.

Unfortunately for CoreWeave, a perfect storm of $50 billion in debt, rising interest costs, and concerns over the company’s lack of profitability led to a massive drop in its stock price. CoreWeave is currently down 55% from its 52-week high. All of this makes it harder for CoreWeave to borrow more funds without a huge interest rate attached.

“CoreWeave is arguably one of the best-capitalized, best-connected, best-funded neoclouds out there,” according to Zitron. “Which means anyone raising data center debt right now is both in the toilet and being flushed at the same time.” It’s bad news, both for CoreWeave and smaller neocloud providers trying to stay afloat.

“Even if you think AI is the most important thing ever, there is a point at which this debt is unsustainable against the potential return.”

Anthropic, the maker of Claude, is also under fire after its IPO prospectus document leaked in late September. The numbers were dire, showing that the company spent $42 billion last year and only brought in $4.6 billion in revenue.

As costs continue to go up and AI providers continue to lose money, the AI industry inches closer to a total collapse. It doesn’t matter that the AI models are getting smarter and that those models can be used to build interesting things. At the end of the day, the AI platforms aren’t turning a profit, and that makes it harder to borrow more money to sustain themselves.

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​Ai bubble, Ai models, Artificial intelligence, Debt, Generative ai, Tech 

Jaime West, an Indiana Democrat running for the Fayette County Council, went viral online over a bizarre Oct. 9 candidate interview on LocalTV3.

Not only did West sloppily express loathing for Republicans and call for them to be fired in a county where President Donald Trump received 77.5% of the vote in 2024; she issued an apparent threat to her political opponents, stating, “We have guns too.”

‘It’s trebled in the last 30 seconds.’

Following widespread speculation that West was a few cards shy of a full deck or had at least been intoxicated, the Democrat appeared on “Piers Morgan Uncensored” on Monday and confirmed the latter was the case.

When asked by the British host whether she’d had a drink before her viral performance, West said, “I had a Coors Light. I had a beer.”

Morgan, apparently unconvinced, asked, “One beer or —?”

Upon reflection, West said, “Maybe a couple,” then noted that she had been nervous at the time about “going in a room full of Republicans.”

RELATED: ‘We have guns too’: Democrat plumbs new depths in INSANE interview

Still not buying West’s answer, Morgan said, “Jaime, here’s your chance to be completely honest and transparent. How many beers did you have?”

“All right,” said the Democrat, who is the registered owner of Queen Bee’s Cleaning. “Three.”

“It’s trebled in the last 30 seconds,” responded Morgan. “So do you accept you may have been a little intoxicated?”

“Not that intoxicated,” she replied. “But I do know what I’m talking about.”

The Democrat then claimed that she was completely sober for the interview underway.

Ben Ferguson, the co-host of “Verdict with Ted Cruz” who partook in the panel discussion with Morgan and West, later questioned the size of the Coors Lights that the Democrat had thrown back.

During the segment, Morgan afforded West an opportunity to rephrase or recant the provocative statements she gave in her candidate interview — including her suggestion that elements of MAGA are racist and dumb. Not only did West decline the offer, she doubled down on her previous statements.

West said, “No. I say it all the time. I’m not friends with them [Republicans]. I don’t like them. They voted for all of this that’s happening and to our country. We have a constitutional crisis!”

Ferguson, who laughed throughout the exchange, chimed in and claimed he is “now a huge advocate for candidates drinking before debates because then we might actually find out what they believe in.”

In a comment to IndyStar, West said, “Given that Republicans have held control of the state for over 20 years, it is frustrating to see so many Hoosiers continue to vote against their own interests and harbor hostility toward Democrats.”

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​Indiana, Jaime west, Midterm election, Piers morgan, Politics, Alcohol 

The sheriff of Webster Parish, Louisiana, said a 911 call reported a domestic disturbance in a vehicle traveling at a high rate of speed on U.S. Highway 80 just before 5:30 a.m. Sunday.

The vehicle reportedly crashed when 44-year-old Billy McFarland allegedly jumped the female driver, officials said, adding that McFarland fled the scene before a nearby deputy arrived.

‘The homeowner apparently feared for his life and for the lives of others who were inside the residence.’

McFarland reportedly went to a residence on U.S. Highway 80 west of Minden, where he vandalized two vehicles, breaking the rear window of one and the windshield of another, officials said, adding that he then began banging on the door of the residence.

When he received no response, McFarland reportedly moved to the rear of the residence, where he climbed atop an air conditioning unit and used a pocketknife to cut through a window screen and enter the residence, officials said.

“We learned he had the knife in his hand when he came through the window,” Sheriff Jason Parker said. “The homeowner apparently feared for his life and for the lives of others who were inside the residence.”

With that, the homeowner shot and killed McFarland, officials said, adding that McFarland, of Marrero, was shot multiple times.

“We do not anticipate any charges, but we will continue to investigate and forward the results to the district attorney for review,” Parker added.

Parker said McFarland’s body has been sent to Little Rock, Arkansas, for an autopsy to determine a possible cause for the actions which led to his death, officials said.

Sheriff’s investigators also learned that McFarland had an extensive criminal history in his home area, including felonies, Parker said.

RELATED: Male allegedly breaks into Texas home in middle of night — and learns right quick why that’s a foolish idea

More than a hundred comments hit the sheriff’s office Facebook post about the incident, and they were squarely behind the homeowner. The following are but a few of them.

“What would have happened had the homeowner not had a gun?” one commenter wondered. “That’s so scary to think of.””He shouldn’t be charged. Y’all know if someone breaks into your house, they aren’t up to any good, and we have the right to defend ourselves and our homes from intruders,” another user stated. “Let him be.””And he shouldn’t be charged!!” another commenter declared. “And I pray that he doesn’t have any bad thoughts of what he did. He was protecting himself and his family.””Don’t be entering anyone’s house not welcomed, and it won’t come to this — but if you cross that line,” another user wrote. “Don’t try that in a small town.”

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​Louisiana, Home invasion, Fatal shooting, Homeowner shoots intruder, 2nd amendment, Self-defense, Guns, Gun rights, Crime 

Arizona is adding a new national park, bringing the state’s total to four.

On Tuesday, President Donald Trump signed a bill into law designating the creation of Chiricahua National Park, a small park in Southeastern Arizona with some stunning views.

‘This new designation will shine a national spotlight on one of Arizona’s hidden gems.’

Previously protected as Chiricahua National Monument since 1924, the new park continues the protection of the rhyolite rock spires formed by an ancient volcanic eruption 27 million years ago.

A National Park Service press release noted visitors will be able to continue to enjoy hiking, camping, scenic drives, and viewing the rich biodiversity in the new park.

“Chiricahua’s towering rock spires, rich Apache heritage, and remarkable biodiversity make it one of America’s most extraordinary landscapes,” Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum said in the press release. “This new designation will shine a national spotlight on one of Arizona’s hidden gems, creating opportunities to welcome more visitors, strengthen local economies, and share this incredible landscape with more Americans.”

In addition to the rhyolite rock spires, the park is home to balanced rocks and the historical Faraway Ranch homestead. It is also one of a shrinking number of places to see the uninhibited night sky.

RELATED: Astronomers detect unprecedented radio signal — it’s coming from a gigantic planet

National Park Service on X

“Chiricahua has been part of the National Park System for more than a century, and this new designation marks an exciting chapter in its history,” said Jessica Bowron, the comptroller exercising the delegated authority of the director of the National Park Service. “While its name is changing, our commitment remains the same: protecting this remarkable landscape and its cultural heritage while providing opportunities for visitors to experience and enjoy it for generations to come.”

Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), perhaps best known for his role in the infamous “seditious six” video posted last year, introduced the bill in 2021. The bill passed the House in March and passed the Senate in September.

Sen. Kelly celebrated the passage of the bill on Tuesday.

“Today is a historic day for Arizona. Making Chiricahua a national park has been a priority of mine since I first came to the Senate, so I’m thrilled this day has finally arrived,” said Sen. Kelly.

“A bipartisan effort from the start, this is a win for the communities in southeastern Arizona and for everyone who worked to protect this extraordinary place so our kids and our grandkids can enjoy it.”

Chiricahua, also known as the “Wonderland of Rocks,” will be the 64th national park in the United States.

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​Arizona, Law, Seditious six, Senate, Camping, Mark kelly, Politics, Donald trump 

Immigration and Customs Enforcement was roped into a murder investigation in California after a woman went missing a few weeks ago and was later found dead.

On October 4, a cousin of Jasmine Gill reported that she had gone missing, according to the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office. The last time Jasmine was seen was on September 30 at her home in Sacramento.

The charred remains discovered in El Dorado County on October 1 were determined to be Jasmine Gill.

Jasmine’s husband, Gurinder Gill, told investigators that ICE had nabbed Jasmine when she went out to get the mail, the sheriff’s office said. However, ICE confirmed to the sheriff’s office and to Blaze News that no immigration enforcement had been conducted at that residence.

Additionally, investigators began to find “several inconsistencies in Gurinder’s statements about his wife’s disappearance,” the sheriff’s office continued. Officials also learned that the couple were in the midst of a contentious divorce and custody battle.

RELATED: College football player stabbed to death allegedly by illegal alien who was given deportation pass TWICE, sources say

Husband accused of killing wife after claiming ICE agents detained her

Meanwhile, their worst fears about the missing woman were confirmed when charred remains discovered in El Dorado County, California, on October 1 were determined to be Jasmine Gill.

Gurinder Gill, 28, was arrested on murder charges last Wednesday and booked into the Sacramento County jail, where he remains. Jail records state that he is “ineligible for bail.”

Court records note that Gill had an arraignment hearing on Friday, but do not say whether he entered a plea or retained counsel. He is scheduled to appear in court again on December 7, according to SFGate.

The Sacramento County public defender’s office told Blaze News Wednesday morning that the defendant’s name was not in its files.

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​California, Immigration and customs enforcement, Murder, Crime, Politics 

Pollsters routinely miss the mark, but some pollsters aren’t even trying to hit the target.

Just months after a polling outfit that gave Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass (D) a false sense of momentum was exposed as a fraud — or as they put it, a “short-term social experiment” — another pollster has been outed as a phony.

‘Don’t fall for it.’

On Tuesday, the election forecasting website FiftyPlusOne confronted Wedgewood Polls — which claimed on its now-deleted website to be “a nonpartisan, online-panel survey research firm covering competitive U.S. House, Senate, and gubernatorial races nationwide” — with evidence that it had been fabricating data.

The fake pollster immediately dropped the mask, first issuing a statement on social media claiming that it was “an experimental project to demonstrate the vulnerabilities, lack of oversight, and overall low barrier to entry in the modern political polling industry,” then reportedly replying to FiftyPlusOne researchers’ request for comment with “f**k you.”

In its public statement, the fake pollster admitted that there was “no real data behind the vast majority of our releases” and boasted that “our fabricated numbers were given instant credibility across national media platforms — including being cited on air and in reporting by outlets such as MS NOW.”

RELATED: Iowa poll SHOCK: Pollster admits how it skewed key race results toward Democrats when GOP really leads

In its coverage earlier this month, MS NOW featured a Wedgewood Poll showing Democrat Jocelyn Benson with a 10-point lead over Republican John James in the Michigan gubernatorial race, reported Mediaite. Blaze News’ Poll Watch currently has Benson with a lead of 6.7 points.

“The ease with which unverified figures were absorbed into mainstream political narratives highlights a systemic breakdown in media vetting and data aggregation,” said the fake pollster, which claimed that only one of its many surveys was legitimate.

Wedgewood Polls has been turning out bogus data for months — data that have been shared by numerous publications and poll aggregators, including Decision Desk HQ, the Economist, FiftyPlusOne, Poliwave, the New York Times, 270toWin, and VoteHub.

VoteHub, for instance, included data from Wedgewood Polls in a weekly polling rundown on July 29 showing Abdul El-Sayed leading Haley Stevens in the Michigan Democratic Senate primary 46%-39%. The false polling data about Stevens evidently prickled Neera Tanden, the former director of the Biden White House Domestic Policy Council, who expressed disappointment on Tuesday that “a lot of smart people fell for the op.”

The New York Times acknowledged on Wednesday that its poll tracker “included 15 polls released by Wedgewood between June and October, some of which included multiple races.”

Decision Desk HQ included at least 17 of Wedgewood’s phony polls on its race-level polling lists and averages.

While Decision Desk HQ claimed that removing the polls has “not changed the projected seat totals or chamber control probabilities in the Senate or House,” the removal has for other outlets proven consequential.

When the Economist removed Wedgewood’s polls from its model, their results shifted in “a handful of races.” For example, “Democrats’ win probability in the Mississippi Senate race fell from 7.1% to 5.5%,” said the Economist.

BlazeTV host Steve Deace wrote, “Keep this in mind regarding the Wedgewood fake polling scam. Way back in June, Wedgewood missed the winner of the Louisiana Republican Senate primary by 18 points. 18. points. And yet months later, elite corporate media kept promoting their fake polls anyway.”

Republican Rep. Julia Letlow beat state Treasurer John Fleming 56.9% to 43.1% in the Louisiana Senate primary runoff in June. Wedgewood released a poll on June 25 showing Fleming leading Letlow 51%-47%.

Republican Rep. Abe Hamadeh (Ariz.) said of the revelation about the fake pollster, “Everything is fake! Smile and touch grass — enjoy reality and enjoy the show!”

Heritage Foundation president Kevin Roberts noted, “This is the second left-wing polling psy-op exposed during this election cycle. There is a coordinated effort to demoralize conservative voters and keep them away from the polls. Don’t fall for it. Your ballot is the only poll that ultimately matters. Go vote.”

Mallory McMorrow, the Michigan state senator who ran for U.S. Senate and unofficially withdrew from the Aug. 4 Democratic primary after trailing in distant third place to El-Sayed and Stevens, attributes some of the blame for the death of her campaign on a fake Wedgewood poll. She claimed Tuesday night that the late June poll showing her with only 9% adversely impacted donations and volunteer morale and prompted calls for her to drop out of the race.

“Sure, a point was proven. Polling is broken,” wrote McMorrow. “But tens of thousands of people poured their hearts, time, energy, hard-earned money into something they believed in — for a year-and-a-half, and it was treated like a game. Our volunteers gave their all. And then some. I felt like I had let so many of them down.”

“If this teaches us anything — DON’T GET COMPLACENT AND DON’T TRUST THE POLLS,” added McMorrow.

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​Poll, Fraud, Mallory mcmorrow, Abdul el-sayed, Midterm election, New york times, Politics