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For decades, we have been told that we may not be able to end abortion, but we can reduce it. Political reality requires patience. Incremental laws, strategic compromises, and careful coalition-building will, over time, bend the curve downward.

Fewer abortions this year than last. Fewer still the next. This is what we’ve been told, but the numbers are not bending in the right direction.

The same movement that insists on the humanity of the unborn defends strategies that refuse to treat that humanity as legally binding.

In 2020, the United States saw roughly 930,000 abortions. By 2024, annual abortions had surpassed 1 million again. Monthly averages have continued to rise, moving from roughly 88,000 per month in 2023 to nearly 100,000 per month by 2025 — estimated at over 1.1 million abortions a year.

This is not the trajectory we were promised.

Even in a post-Dobbs world — after decades of work, millions of dollars, and countless political victories — abortion remains not only legal in much of the country, but increasingly accessible.

According to the standard used to justify compromise, the results of our efforts have been thoroughly unimpressive.

If compromise is justified because it reduces abortion, what happens when it does not? If the entire framework rests on pragmatic outcomes, then those outcomes must be honestly measured. If they fail, the justification collapses with them.

The central question, though, was never whether compromise works. The central question is whether compromise is obedience.

Scripture is not silent on this. “To him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin” (James 4:17). That statement assumes that what is right is already understood — and then confronts the refusal to act on it.

That is where the abortion debate now stands.

RELATED: At its core, the abortion debate is very simple

Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

For decades, the pro-life movement has argued — rightly — that the unborn child is fully human. Not partially or potentially human. Not a life that becomes valuable later. A human being, made in the image of God, from the moment of conception.

And yet, that premise is not applied in law.

Equal justice is withheld. Justice is knowingly delayed. Entire classes of human beings are acknowledged in rhetoric and denied in practice — through heartbeat bills, 20-week bans, and fetal pain bills.

The same movement that insists on the humanity of the unborn defends strategies that refuse to treat that humanity as legally binding.

To know that a child is fully human and yet defend a legal framework that allows that child to be killed is not a lesser evil. It is a greater evil — because it is compounded.

Scripture goes further. When knowledge increases, so does accountability. When leaders teach truth, they are bound to it. And when they fail to act on what they teach, they do not merely err — they invite judgment.

We have been told to evaluate abortion policy on outcomes alone. But Scripture does not separate outcomes from obedience. It ties them together. God does not bless disobedience because it is politically strategic.

When disobedience is institutionalized — when it becomes the operating principle of a movement — the results should not surprise us.

RELATED: The collapse of conservatism nobody wants to admit

Blaze Media Illustration

Abortion does not decrease under compromise because compromise is not a neutral tool. It is a moral decision. It trains a culture to tolerate the very evil it claims to oppose. It teaches legislators to delay what they confess is urgent. It forms a people who say that the unborn are fully human, while structuring their laws as though they are not.

This is why the numbers do not tell the story we were promised. Not because the strategy was insufficiently refined, but because it was fundamentally misaligned. The issue is not that we have failed to compromise enough. It is that we have compromised at all.

God does not require political feasibility. He requires obedience.

Obedience does not ask how much injustice can be tolerated while we make progress. It asks what justice demands — and then establishes it.

Until that shift is made, the pattern will remain. More laws, more campaigns, more assurances of progress — and the same or worse results. Not because we lack the power to change it, but because we refuse to apply what we already know to be true. Until we do what is right, we should not expect the numbers to change — because God does not bless disobedience. He judges it.

That is why we must fight to establish equal justice under the law for our preborn neighbors — not by regulating abortion, but by abolishing it.

​Abortion, Roe v wade, Dobbs v. jackson, Pro life, Scripture, Obedience, Republicans, Political compromise, Opinion & analysis 

The approval of a $6 billion data center in a Missouri city led voters to kick out four members of the city council who were running for re-election.

The four incumbents lost by a wide margin to their challengers, and the council was unable to meet Wednesday evening because of a lack of quorum.

‘This data center fight has struck this community to the core and really, honestly ignited a community-driven effort here.’

The council approved of the data center project on March 30 by a vote of 6 to 2, and three of the incumbents who lost their elections had voted in favor of the data center.

“I think when the people in leadership are not listening, it shows that democracy is a solution to them ignoring their constituents,” said Gabe Cotton, a voter opposed to the data center, to KTVI-TV.

Opponents accused city officials of violating transparency laws before approving the plan by CRG Clayco to build on a 360-acre property near Highway 67.

“This data center fight has struck this community to the core and really, honestly ignited a community-driven effort here,” said Dan Moore, one of the candidates who defeated an incumbent in the election. “People are awake now, and we’re not going to let this continue on anymore.”

Festus City Administrator Greg Camp argued that the data center would bring new opportunities for the city from increased tax revenue.

“It’s unlike anything that any of these, certainly the city, or any of those institutions, have ever seen before,” Camp said.

The results of the election must be certified before they are official.

Supporters of the data centers say that critics are exaggerating their detrimental effects and argue that they’re critical for the U.S. to stay in the artificial intelligence race.

RELATED: ‘We are totally unprepared’: Bernie Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez propose law to shut down future AI data centers

“Banning data center construction is absurd and completely unacceptable. We need commonsense rules that protect consumers from rising energy bills, but stopping progress altogether — and losing to China — is the wrong approach,” said Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.) on social media Thursday.

“Americans shouldn’t see their energy or water bills go up, but we also can’t afford to lose the computer race to China. We’re in a new Cold War, and sidelining data center development risks ceding our technological edge,” he continued.

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​Festus missouri, Data center vote, City council voted out, Data center opposition, Politics 

Four Texas teens kidnapped a high school student and tortured him after a dispute over a girl, police records say.

The Houston Chronicle identified the suspects — all 17-year-olds — as Jose Rojas-Alvarado, Oscar Armando Santiago-Martinez, Angel Lemus-Perez, and Carlos Roberto Oliva-Villeda.

The affidavit said the suspects threatened to kill the alleged victim and harm his family and friends if he contacted the police about the reported encounter.

Court records show that all four suspects have been charged with aggravated kidnapping with a deadly weapon and engaging in organized criminal activity — both first-degree felonies.

Citing an arrest warrant, KVUE-TV reported that the alleged victim departed Del Valle High School with three of the four suspects and went to a nearby gas station on Feb. 19.

The alleged victim told police that the suspects — whom he had been friendly with for approximately two years — invited him to go and get food, the affidavit said.

However, the affidavit also said the suspects drove past the restaurant and instead drove the alleged victim to Rojas-Alvarado’s home, where the student said he had previously visited.

The alleged victim told investigators that he and the suspects were in the garage of the home talking for about an hour and a half before they instructed him to sit in a chair in the middle of the room, where he had his hands and legs restrained with duct tape, according to the affidavit.

“Two of the suspects left, with Rojas-Alvarado returning with a gun,” KVUE reported. “He then allegedly pressed the gun to the victim’s head and told him not to move as the other suspects began restraining him in the chair with duct tape.”

The affidavit said the suspects took turns hitting the alleged victim with aluminum baseball bats, belts, and a walking cane while Rojas-Alvarado held him at gunpoint.

Police said the alleged victim told them that Lemus-Perez heated a box cutter with a lighter and pressed it against his chest, while Rojas-Alvarado forced him to drink from a bottle of clear alcohol.

The alleged victim informed investigators that Rojas-Alvarado threatened to cut off his toe with the box cutter if he didn’t drink the alcohol from the bottle, according to the affidavit.

The affidavit said Rojas-Alvarado grabbed a chainsaw and a machete while the suspects threatened to cut off his body parts. However, the alleged victim said Rojas-Alvarado was unsuccessful in starting the chainsaw.

RELATED: Woman thought she was buying a puppy — instead she’s lured into an ambush, shot, set on fire in likely revenge killing: Cops

The purported victim said Rojas-Alvarado told him he was being beaten and tortured for talking to his girlfriend, the affidavit revealed. The alleged victim said Rojas-Alvarado ordered him to stay away from his girlfriend.

The affidavit said the suspects threatened to kill the alleged victim and harm his family and friends if he contacted the police about the reported encounter.

The alleged victim told investigators that Rojas-Alvarado deleted his and the other suspects’ contact information from the teen’s phone, according to the affidavit.

The affidavit said the suspects cut the alleged victim loose from the chair and then dropped him off at an unknown location.

KVUE reported that police obtained a search warrant and discovered evidence at the residence of Rojas-Alvarado that corroborated the alleged victim’s claims.

According to KVUE, police noticed contusions and redness on the alleged victim’s thigh consistent with blunt force trauma, as well as irregular marks on his chest, back, and abdomen.

During follow-up interviews with detectives, Santiago-Martinez, Lemus-Perez, and Oliva-Villeda admitted to planning the alleged attack a week prior and then coordinating and carrying out the purported confrontation, KVUE stated.

KVUE reported that Santiago-Martinez and Oliva-Villeda confessed to threatening, beating, and holding a toy gun to the head of the alleged victim.

The four suspects were arrested.

The Del Valle Independent School District provided the following statement to KEYE-TV:

Del Valle ISD is aware of the reports of an off-campus incident that resulted in the arrests of former DVISD students. The incident is being actively investigated by the Travis County Sheriff’s Office. The district does not have further information at this time. The safety of our students and staff is our top priority, and we will continue to monitor this incident. We will always communicate with the school community when there are impacts to the school environment.

J’Kaideon Mitchell, a student at Del Valle High School, told KEYE, “I thought it was insane, especially at our school. It’s just crazy how strong that person would have to be to report it and just stay alive, honestly.”

The investigation is ongoing.

The Travis County Sheriff’s Office did not immediately respond to Blaze News‘ request for comment.

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​Texas, Kidnapping, Torture, Teens, Assault, Crime 

Hollywood actor George Clooney criticized President Donald Trump for threatening to destroy Iran, and the White House fired back with a humorous response on social media.

The actor and director was speaking to about 3,000 high school students in Italy on Wednesday when he said the president’s threat would constitute a war crime if he followed through on it.

‘You can still support the conservative point of view, but there must be a line of decency, and we must not cross it.’

“Some say Donald Trump is fine. But if anyone says he wants to end a civilization, that’s a war crime,” Clooney said. “You can still support the conservative point of view, but there must be a line of decency, and we must not cross it.”

The president posted the message on his Truth Social account on the day of a deadline he had set for Iran to stop blocking ship traffic across the Strait of Hormuz.

“A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again. I don’t want that to happen, but it probably will,” he posted on Tuesday morning.

“47 years of extortion, corruption, and death, will finally end. God Bless the Great People of Iran!” he added.

Many other critics called for the president to be removed from office via the 25th Amendment for the threat to end a civilization. That evening, however, the president announced that a ceasefire had been reached with Iran after they both agreed generally to pause the conflict for two weeks.

Assistant to the President and White House Director of Communications Steven Cheung fired back at Clooney in a post on the X platform.

“The only person committing war crimes is George Clooney for his awful movies and terrible acting ability,” he posted.

Oil prices dropped after the announcement of the ceasefire, but the agreement appeared to be on shaky ground after Iran accused Israel and the U.S. of violating the terms only a day later.

RELATED: Weeks after hosting ritzy fundraiser for Biden, George Clooney calls for his replacement: ‘It’s devastating to say it’

Clooney went on to express his concerns about the U.S. possibly leaving NATO.

“I’m worried about NATO,” the actor said. “It has ensured that Europe, but also the rest of the world, has been safe. Dismantling an institution like this worries me. Aside from many mistakes, I believe the U.S. [with NATO] has also done many extraordinary things that have stood the test of time.”

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​George clooney vs trump, Trump war crimes, Civilization end threat, Iran us israel ceasefire, Politics 

It’s been nearly five years since the Walt Disney Company leaned into the corporate vogue of diversity, equity, and inclusion across its theme parks.

Now, some parkgoers think they’re hearing something different — something familiar.

‘The sound of the trip starting for real.’

DEI dream

Back in 2021, Disney confirmed to Newsweek that it would phase out the classic greeting, “Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls,” from announcements at Magic Kingdom. In its place came a more neutral line: “Good evening, dreamers of all ages,” part of a broader push to make park language more “inclusive.”

At the time, the change was treated as small but symbolic — another piece of Disney’s effort to align itself with the cultural priorities of the moment.

Now, a clip circulating on X suggests the company may be quietly loosening its grip on that approach. In the video, a monorail announcement clearly addresses riders as “ladies and gentlemen” while instructing them to hold the handrail — a phrase that, until recently, had been scrubbed from official park language.

Old times

No announcement has been made. No policy has been reversed, at least publicly.

But at a place like Disney, where every word is scripted and nothing is accidental, even a small change can signal something larger.

For longtime visitors, it’s not really about the phrasing itself. It’s about what it represents: a return to tradition — or at least a pause in the steady rewriting of it.

RELATED: Lindsey Graham spotted holding bubble wand at Disney World during shutdown

No place for ‘ladies’

Various Disney-centric sites have stated that the removal of “ladies and gentleman” from park experiences was actually a bigger blow than it seemed. Inside the Magic called it the most recognized part of the vital experience that leads Disney fans into the theme park.

Disney Dining called the phrase “the sound of the trip starting for real,” noting its specific cadence made it memorable to park goers.

That Park Place reported that it took just a year for Disney to start treating gendered language like a bygone era, with progressive ideology becoming part of Disney’s internal training philosophy. The outlet cited diversity and inclusion manager Vivian Ware, who reportedly said cast members were being taught to avoid saying “ladies and gentlemen” and “boys and girls.”

Instead, the outlet stated, they were taught to say, “Hello, everyone,” or, “Hello, friends.”

The language shift wasn’t the only obvious change to standards at Disney, either.

RELATED: BOX OFFICE KRYPTONITE: ‘Supergirl’ star flames fans ahead of premiere

Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel/Tribune News Service/Getty Images

Mixed-up mouse

In 2023, Disney partnered with a man who claimed to be “gender fluid” in order to promote a Minnie Mouse-themed clothing set that included a red dress, yellow pumps, and red hair bow.

Earlier that year, an employee at Disneyland, who appeared to be a man in a dress, was seen greeting little girls at the salon and dress shop called the “Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique.”

Align reached out to Disney Parks to ask when the gendered language was brought back into the attractions and the reasoning behind the policy change, but did not receive a reply.

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​Align, Woke, Disney, Theme parks, Dei, Diversity, Gender, Gender activism, Disney world, Entertainment 

While many are happy that the Trump administration was able to rescue two military members from the conflict in Iran, at least one MS Now host is furious at some words used about that rescue.

Lawrence O’Donnell complained in a monologue on his show that War Secretary Pete Hegseth used the phrase, “We leave no man behind,” while praising the military operation.

‘That is, of course, the old-school version of the idea, back when only men flew American military planes.’

O’Donnell cited President Donald Trump, who explained that 155 aircraft and hundreds of military personnel were included in the operation to rescue a colonel who had ejected from an F-15 fighter jet.

“Donald Trump had said the Iranians couldn’t possibly do that. Donald Trump said they had no air defenses in Iran, and they humiliated Donald Trump by proving him wrong — by shooting down his planes, shooting down two of his planes,” O’Donnell said.

“The pilot of that plane was rescued within hours of the shoot-down. The still-unnamed, seriously injured colonel had to hide for 48 hours before the rescue team could find him and save him without losing any other military personnel in that very risky mission,” he added.

“They did lose two rescue planes worth $100 million each that they had to leave behind in Iran and destroy as they were leaving,” O’Donnell said. “And today at the White House, that brilliant rescue was described by the secretary of defense … as a long-standing American military rule of never leaving anyone behind.”

He aired the video of Hegseth saying, “We leave no man behind,” to reporters.

“That is, of course, the old-school version of the idea, back when only men flew American military planes,” O’Donnell continued. “General Dan Kaine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, put it this way: ‘We leave no one behind.’ The general knows, unlike Pete Hegseth, that that could have been a woman they were trying to rescue, and it might be a woman the next time.”

He went on to accuse Hegseth of ignoring the history of thousands of military members, including the late John McCain, who were left behind in previous American conflicts.

RELATED: Dem Rep. Katie Porter says increasing abortions would help Americans deal with inflation

O’Donnell also claimed that Trump had gone “insane” and that he was not a Christian “in any real sense.” He also said the president should be removed from the Oval Office under the 25th Amendment.

The liberal host was ridiculed by many online, not the least of which was the Republican National Committee.

“Btw what is a woman, @Lawrence?” the RNC responded.

Video of O’Donnell’s breathless rant is available for review on the MS Now YouTube channel.

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​We leave no man behind, Lawrence odonnell vs hegseth, Hegseth sexist, Sec of war pete hegseth, Politics 

A knife-wielding male was caught on surveillance video issuing death threats — he was heard twice saying, “I’ll kill you in the name of Allah” — to another man in the driveway of an Ohio home in the middle of the night last weekend.

Anthony Tyrone Jessie Long, 23, was arrested and charged with aggravated menacing and aggravated trespassing after Warren County Sheriff’s deputies were called to a Franklin Township home just before 1:30 a.m. Sunday for a reported suspicious person, WXIX-TV reported, citing sheriff’s office records.

‘Hey bud, you knocking on the door?’

A woman told dispatchers that a male was walking around the front of the property and knocking on the door while holding a knife and threatening to kill her husband “in the name of Allah” before chasing after the couple’s daughter, who had just arrived in the driveway, the station said.

“We knew our daughter would just get out of the car and come right in,” the woman told WXIX in the aftermath, adding that “we were too afraid that the guy was going to do something to her.”

Surveillance video shows the suspect at first kneeling and bowing his head on the driveway. Soon the dad approaches the suspicious person and asks him, “Hey, bud, you knocking on the door?”

With that, the male walks toward the dad and twice tells him, “I’ll kill you in the name of Allah.”

The dad then retreats toward the house and yells for his daughter to drive away.

RELATED: Machete-wielding male takes hostage at bank he robs, threatens killings, DA says. It comes to deadly end when cops catch him.

The daughter was able to get away, WXIX reported, and the suspicious person fled in a car.

When deputies got to the scene, the victims showed them surveillance video of the incident, the station said.

About 15 minutes later, Clearcreek Police were dispatched to a traffic stop near Bunnell Hill and State Route 122; a caller claimed they were being followed by a driver — and that the driver tried to ram the caller’s car, WXIX said.

With that, the person who called 911 led the driver to a Clearcreek Police station where officers detained the driver, identified as Long, as the driver matched the description of the suspicious person wanted for threatening the Franklin Township family, the station noted.

Deputies returned to the Franklin Township residence, and the family showed them video of the suspicious person with a knife — and the knife matched the one found in Long’s possession, WXIX said.

Long was taken to the Warren County Jail, and jail records on Thursday afternoon indicate he’s still behind bars. The station said Long is being held on a $1,500 cash-only bond for the Clearcreek incident as well as a $75,000 bond for the Franklin Township incident; his next court date is April 23.

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​Ohio, Franklin township, Knife, Arrest, Death threats, Warren county jail, Clearcreek, I’ll kill you in the name of allah, Crime 

The Canadian federal government under former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau legalized medically assisted suicide nationwide in 2016.

As critics predicted, the state-facilitated suicide program — referred to as medical assistance in dying — was grossly liberalized in a short of period of time, maximizing both the number of accepted rationales and the number of those killed.

The province of Alberta appears keen to rein in Canada’s sick experiment and protect its would-be victims, especially ahead of the Carney government’s planned MAID eligibility expansion next year.

Background

In its first year, MAID offed 1,108 Canadians. That number tripled the following year, and by 2021, the number of Canadians killed by their government had climbed to over 10,000 in a single year.

‘MAID should not be a substitute for robust health care.’

The Canadian government revealed in its latest MAID report that a total of 16,499 people were euthanized under the program in 2024, accounting for over 5% of all deaths in Canada that year. Of those euthanized, at least 4.4% nationally were not terminally ill. In Alberta, the number was 4.6%.

By the end of 2024, the number of Canadians who have died through MAID crested 76,000.

Originally, MAID applicants had to be 18 or older and suffering from a “grievous and irremediable medical condition” causing “enduring physical or psychological suffering that is intolerable” to them.

Within years, the country’s eugenicist-founded health care system had given the green light to effectively execute those struggling with anxiety, autism, depression, economic hardship, PTSD, and other survivable issues.

RELATED: Canada’s conservative challenger Pierre Poilievre wins big on Joe Rogan’s podcast

Mininyx Doodle/Getty Images

Persons suffering solely from a mental illness will be eligible for MAID beginning March 17, 2027.

Alberta takes action

Alberta Attorney General Mickey Amery, who is also the justice minister of the ruling United Conservative government, introduced legislation last month — the Safeguards for Last Resort Termination of Life Act — that would “increase oversight, introduce necessary safeguards, and provide greater clarity around eligibility requirements for medical assistance in dying … in the province.”

The bill would, among other things, prohibit MAID in Alberta for: persons under 18; persons whose sole underlying medical condition is a mental illness; individuals lacking the capacity to make their own health care decisions; and advance requests.

It would also prohibit euthanasia for individuals whose natural death is not reasonably foreseeable; restrict the display of MAID propaganda; empower health practitioners and institutions to refuse participation in the euthanasia regime; and bar Alberta health professionals from referring individuals for MAID eligibility assessments outside the province.

The legislation would also introduce penalties for doctors and nurses who violate the proposed provincial rules.

“Canada has the fastest growing death rates in the world when it comes to MAID. Far from being an option of last resort, MAID is now the fifth leading cause of death in Canada,” Amery told the Alberta Legislature last week. “The country is currently projected to reach its 100,000th death by MAID in June, becoming the first nation in the modern era to measure its total assisted deaths in the six figures, more than the totals of any other jurisdiction with some form of legal, doctor-assisted death.”

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said in a statement, “Those struggling with severe mental health challenges need treatment, compassion and support, not a path to end their life at what may be their lowest moment. In Alberta, a patient whose sole underlying condition is mental illness will not be eligible for MAID.”

‘The state refusing to fund and provide a killing service is the baseline.’

Rebecca Vachon, health program director for the Canadian think tank Cardus, said in a statement, “We support the adoption of these enhanced protections for Albertans and urge all legislators to work collaboratively to implement them.”

While the Catholic Bishops of Alberta underscored that “the Church teaches that ‘euthanasia and assisted suicide are always the wrong choice,'” they similarly characterized the bill as an important step in the right direction, stating, “A just society is one that protects the vulnerable, upholds the dignity of every person, and chooses to accompany them in times of illness and dying. The Alberta government is taking some significant steps that respect these necessary values.”

Gabrielle Peters, a disabled writer and co-founder of Disability Filibuster, recently noted in a piece for the Macdonald-Laurier Institute,

The state refusing to fund and provide a killing service is the baseline we build from. Without that, there is simply no foundation. If disability — and only disability — makes one killable, then why would a state build the infrastructure, policies, and programs necessary to support disabled life? Particularly when one is an expense and the other represents considerable cost-saving?

Some euthanasia advocates have joined state media in framing the life-affirming legislation in negative terms.

The Canadian Civil Liberties Association, for instance, suggested that the legislation “would significantly restrict access to medical assistance in dying … and undermine constitutionally protected rights.”

Michael Trew, Alberta’s former chief addiction and mental health officer, recently wrote that the bill “amounts to taking away choice from many who are fully competent” and that “this loss of choice INCREASES pain and suffering.”

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​Canada, Alberta, Euthanasia, Suicide, Maid, Conservative, Life, Pro-life, Leftism, Socialism, Socialized medicine, Health, Healthcare, Death, Politics 

The Republican lieutenant governor of Texas says his party is going to have a tough time in the midterm elections unless Republicans stop bickering among themselves.

Dan Patrick was speaking about the expensive battle between two Republicans for one of the state’s seats in the U.S. Senate, according to the Texas Tribune.

‘We’re going to have a tough time holding the Texas House.’

Patrick said that whoever loses the runoff election on May 26 between incumbent Sen. John Cornyn and Attorney General Ken Paxton must endorse the winner or risk losing the seat — and possibly turn over control of the Senate to Democrats.

And if the candidates continue criticizing each other, they’ll even imperil Republican control of the state House as well, he added.

“Get over it and come together as one,” said Patrick. “We’re going to have a tough time holding the Texas House.”

President Donald Trump had already weighed in on the issue in March when he said on social media that he would eventually make an endorsement in the race and that the other candidate must drop out for the good of the party. So far, he has not publicly endorsed either Cornyn or Paxton.

A loss of Republican control of the U.S. House would deeply jeopardize Trump’s ability to continue passing his agenda in the latter end of his second term. It may even lead to another impeachment.

Patrick admitted that the Texas Senate, where he officially presides, is in safe hands, but added that Cornyn and Paxton must help keep the Texas House in Republican control.

Texas House Speaker Dustin Burrows appeared to respond to Patrick on social media.

“We will not lose the Texas House,” Burrows said. “We will fight to retain every Republican seat. I look forward to the fall campaign where we get to talk about Texas’ prosperity under Republican leadership; and, I trust the voters of Texas to continue to vote for conservative government up and down the ballot!”

Texas House Democratic Campaign Chair Rep. Christina Morales took the opportunity to swipe at Patrick and the GOP.

“Dan Patrick is telling Republicans they’re in trouble in November, and for once, he’s telling the truth,” said Morales.

RELATED: Trump to intervene in Texas’ Senate race, anoint his preferred candidate

“Dan Patrick and Texas Republicans have spent years pleasing Trump, catering to corporations, and rewarding their wealthy donors while Texas families can’t afford groceries, can’t trust the power grid, and can’t access basic healthcare,” she added in part. “Their voucher scam is defunding our neighborhood schools. Our communities are being torn apart by Trump’s ICE raids that Republicans refuse to stand up against.”

Republicans got a boost in their effort to keep the U.S. House in their control on Tuesday when a Trump-endorsed candidate won a special election to fill the Georgia seat vacated by Marjorie Taylor Greene. While Democrats did not win the long-shot election, they seem to have made some inroads in the state.

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​Cornyn vs paxton, Dan patrick warning to republicans, Dem control of senate, Republican in-fighting, Politics 

A California man pleaded guilty on Monday to stealing millions of dollars in taxpayer funds through his participation in a prescription drug fraud scheme, the Department of Justice reported.

Paul Richard Randall, a 66-year-old man from Orange County, has admitted to submitting nearly $270 million in fraudulent claims to Medi-Cal, California’s version of the federal Medicaid program, from May 2022 to April 2023.

‘This guilty plea should send a message that this administration — consistent with the president’s war on fraud — will not turn a blind eye while criminals fleece taxpayers.’

As part of his plea agreement, Randall confessed that he and his alleged accomplices took advantage of Medi-Cal by exploiting a policy change. The government program suspended the requirement for health care providers to obtain prior authorization before delivering services and medications for reimbursement while transitioning its prescription drug program to a new payment system.

Randall billed Medi-Cal millions of dollars each month for dispensing high-reimbursement, non-contracted, generic drugs through a pharmacy, including some pain medications. One such medication was Folite tablets, a vitamin available over the counter.

The DOJ contended that of the $270 million billed, Medi-Cal paid more than $178 million for 19 drugs that were either medically unnecessary, not provided to the patients, or both.

The funds provided by Medi-Cal were laundered to a third party to pay kickbacks to Randall and his alleged co-schemers.

RELATED: Vance’s task force shutters 221 hospices in ‘fraud king’ Gavin Newsom’s California

Leon Neal/Getty Images

Randall has been in federal custody since June 2025 and pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud. He faces up to 30 years in prison. His sentencing hearing is scheduled for August 3.

One of Randall’s accomplices, Kyrollos Mekail, a 37-year-old from Moreno Valley, pleaded guilty in August 2024 to two counts of health care fraud. Mekail is awaiting sentencing.

A second alleged co-conspirator is charged with two counts of health care fraud.

RELATED: The Medicaid fraud problem is not going away

J. David Ake/Getty Images

“This defendant used a public health program as his personal piggy bank,” First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said of Randall. “This guilty plea should send a message that this administration — consistent with the president’s war on fraud — will not turn a blind eye while criminals fleece taxpayers.”

“Thanks to the leadership of President Donald Trump, the Department, working closely with the Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, is supercharging efforts to take down every fraudster and bring them to justice,” acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said.

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​News, Fraud, Waste fraud abuse, Waste fraud and abuse, Kyrollos mekail, California, Medi-cal, Medicaid, Paul richard randall, Bill essayli, Todd blanche, Health care fraud, Healthcare fraud, Politics 

Anthropic is sending out a warning that its artificial intelligence model is sophisticated enough to undo decades of research.

The company operates Claude, the AI chatbot that has been ripped off and turned into a free, public model, and is hoping to get together with a consortium of tech companies to button up the security measures ahead of its release.

‘It has found vulnerabilities, and in some cases crafted exploits.’

Anthropic’s Mythos model of Claude AI will only be available to 40 select companies to be used for the power of good, the company claims.

It represents “the starting point for what we think will be an industry change point, or reckoning, with what needs to happen now,” said Logan Graham, head of Anthropic’s vulnerability testing team.

The company fears that its new AI model is so good at finding cracks in cybersecurity that it must only be shared with companies it deems capable and responsible enough to prepare for possible attacks when Mythos goes public.

“This model is good at finding vulnerabilities that would be well understood and findable by security researchers,” Graham said. “At the same time, it has found vulnerabilities, and in some cases crafted exploits, sophisticated enough that they were both missed by literally decades of security researchers, as well as all the automated tools designed to find them.”

RELATED: How to power the AI race without losing control

Samyukta Lakshmi/Bloomberg/Getty Images

Anthropic will reportedly commit up to $100 million in credits for the project, meaning the amount of money it would typically charge for such a volume of its chatbot’s usage.

Labeled Project Glasswing, the initiative to shore up cybersecurity will grant Mythos access to handpicked companies chosen largely from Big Tech like Amazon, Apple, Google, and Microsoft. The group is rounded out by internet infrastructure and cybersecurity giants like Broadcom, Cisco, CrowdStrike, Nvidia, and Palo Alto Networks, along with financial titan JPMorgan Chase and key open-source nonprofit the Linux Foundation.

This is not the first time an AI company has warned its product is too dangerous for the public, and looking back, readers can gauge whether or not Claude may be as dangerous as its creators purport it to be.

In 2019, OpenAI sent out a warning ahead of its release of GPT-2, claiming that its capabilities — now vastly eclipsed by later models — could be used to mass-produce propaganda or misleading text.

As Wired reported at the time, OpenAI said GPT-2 was too risky to be released to the general public.

RELATED: Claude, Anthropic’s AI assistant, slammed by Elon Musk for anti-white responses to simple prompts

Claude has been in the news for alleged missteps, leaks, and accidental postings throughout the past year, and while it may not be a household name yet, it has raced its way through the tech sector as a go-to for “agentic” work building software, apps, and even companies.

In addition to its model being open-sourced and used by the general public for free, the company has been noted for “accidental” postings of its own code.

Anthropic “accidentally uploaded a file to a public repository that’s just meant to help developers understand how to use their product” and “exposed some of the source code of Claude,” reporter Aaron Holmes explained recently.

Proprietary information was further leaked in another alleged accidental posting, this time through a blog draft that revealed “internal source code.”

The company seems poised for consistent marketing battles, both willing and unwilling, from its high-stakes lawsuit against the federal government labeling it a supply chain risk to the blowback it has received from putting a woman closely linked to the cultish Effective Altruism movement in charge of its AI’s “Constitution.”

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A gun-toting Ohio man was arrested Saturday after he opened fire multiple times at a car full of juveniles after a “ding-dong ditch” prank on his Green Township residence, WXIX-TV reported, citing court records.

Police said they discovered shell casings and a semiautomatic pistol with a green laser at the home of 33-year-old Yarvis Godfrey in the 5000 block of Starvue Drive, the station said, citing an affidavit.

‘He doesn’t deserve what’s happening to him. He’s not a criminal at all. And I’m concerned for him and his family.’

WXIX said no one was hurt, but court records indicate that a bullet struck the vehicle the teens were in as they took off.

Godfrey is charged with felonious assault, improperly discharging a firearm at or into a habitation or school safety zone, and two counts of discharge of a firearm on or near prohibited premises, the station said.

Four juveniles told police they went to the home to “ding-dong ditch” it and banged on the front door before running back to their vehicle, WXIX said, citing the affidavit.

A neighbor of Godfrey’s said in a WXIX news video that “he’s got footprints on his door … I guess they were kicking it.”

The station said the teens drove to a nearby cul-de-sac, turned around, drove back up the street, and passed the home in question.

The teens told police they saw a man with a gun near the street, and all four described the gun as having a green light or laser, WXIX reported, citing court records.

The station said the suspect fired multiple shots, and the juveniles fled to another cul-de-sac.

The suspect, later identified as Godfrey, followed them to confront them when police arrived, WXIX said, citing the affidavit.

RELATED: ‘Ding-dong ditch’ goes sideways yet again as teen gets shot amid popular prank, officials say

Officers said they found a bullet hole in the trunk of the juveniles’ black Kia Rio, a second bullet hole in the siding of a nearby home, and a third bullet hole in the siding of another home, the station noted, citing court records.

Police said they also found a .45 caliber shell casing on the road in front of the home, WXIX reported.

Officers executed a search warrant on the home and said they found a .45 caliber black semiautomatic pistol with a green laser, the station said, citing the affidavit.

“Responding with a .45 caliber weapon is completely disproportionate,” Hamilton County prosecutors said in court Monday, WLWT-TV reported; prosecutors also requested a no-firearms order to be added to Godfrey’s bond.

Godfrey’s bond was set at $80,000 on all the charges, WLWT noted, adding that the judge granted the no-firearms order. Godfrey reportedly also is to have no contact with the juveniles.

During Godfrey’s arraignment, his attorney said Godfrey doesn’t know who the juveniles are, WLWT said, adding that prosecutors allege the group knows one of Godfrey’s children who lives in the home.

RELATED: ‘Ding-dong ditch’ prank ends with homeowner firing multiple rounds at car — and juvenile passenger getting shot, cops say

Police said Godfrey was taken to the Hamilton County Justice Center, but he didn’t turn up in a Thursday-morning check of the facility’s inmate roster.

Police said all juveniles involved were charged with disorderly conduct.

The same neighbor who spoke in the WXIX news video said of Godfrey, “He’s a really good man, and I hate to see what’s happening to him. He doesn’t deserve what’s happening to him. He’s not a criminal at all. And I’m concerned for him and his family. “

The neighbor added that Godfrey “was very angry. I think it had happened before. I think this was like the second time. … ‘I’m tired of them doing this to me’ is what he said.”

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​Arrest, Ding dong ditch, Felony assault, Green township, Hamilton county justice center, Juveniles, Ohio, Shooting, Homeowner arrested, Homeowner opens fire, Crime 

Outrage spread online earlier this week after reports emerged that Iryna Zarutska’s suspected murderer was ruled incompetent to stand trial. Amid the outrage, however, a glimmer of good news came out for those invested in seeking justice in the high-profile case from August 2025.

Blaze News reported Wednesday that Decarlos Dejuan Brown Jr., the suspect in Iryna Zarutska’s senseless stabbing on the subway system in Charlotte, North Carolina, was deemed incompetent to stand trial. This news caused many to speculate that the suspect may escape punishment on a technicality.

‘How many more innocent people must we sacrifice for the sake of coddling and babying the absolute scum of the Earth?’

Many online commentators and even a foreign leader reacted to an X post from the New York Post on the development.

“The purpose of a system is what it does,” White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller said.

RELATED: Homeless schizophrenic man accused of stabbing Iryna Zarutska to death is ‘incapable to proceed’ to trial

Peter Zay/Anadolu/Getty Images

“If you’re competent enough to target a woman and murder her, you’re competent enough to stand trial, be found guilty, and receive the death penalty,” BlazeTV’s Allie Beth Stuckey responded.

The Daily Wire’s Matt Walsh’s response summed up the outrage:

The whole idea of “incompetent to stand trial” is f**king nonsense. If you’re too “incompetent” to understand that you shouldn’t butcher an innocent woman on the train, you should die. Period. Arrest, convict, execute. You are not fit to be a part of human society. How many more innocent people must we sacrifice for the sake of coddling and babying the absolute scum of the Earth? Our ancestors had it right. They would have had this guy hanging from the gallows an hour after conviction. The old system of justice was light years better than this insane bulls**t we’re dealing with now.

El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele, who has cleaned up his country from crime quite effectively in recent months, said, “Impeach the corrupt judges.”

CEO of NXR Studios and Pastor Joel Webbon weighed in as well: “No one is too incompetent for the death penalty. All you have to do is sit there. He’ll do fine.”

While the outrage surrounding the murder case continues, the report from the New York Post’s headline did not mention separate federal charges against Brown that are unaffected by the findings of the state case. The Post did, however, mention this fact in the report.

The Western District of North Carolina U.S. Attorney’s Office made this key detail abundantly clear in its response to the Post on social media: “DeCarlos Brown is in federal custody on a federal indictment. The state proceedings, including any competency finding in those proceedings, are completely separate.”

Brown faces a federal charge of one count of committing an act causing death on a mass transportation system. If convicted, he could still face life in prison or even the death penalty.

“Crimes like this … affect everyone who relies on mass transportation to get to and from work and go about their daily lives,” U.S. Attorney Russ Ferguson said in September, “and federal charges are necessary to protect the public and ensure confidence in our transportation systems.”

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​Politics, Us attorney, Iryna zarutska, Decarlos brown, Allie beth stuckey, Joel webbon, Matt walsh, Nayib bukele, El salvador, Western district of north carolina, North carolina, Blazetv 

President Donald Trump continues to bash NATO after meeting behind closed doors with Secretary-General Mark Rutte, further signaling that the alliance could be crumbling.

Trump has long been critical of NATO, claiming that allies routinely fail to pull their own weight. This sentiment has reached a fever pitch since NATO allies have refused to aid the United States during the war with Iran. As a result, Trump told these allies to fend for themselves during the energy crisis, and he has not backed down.

‘This was a very frank, very open discussion.’

Trump has openly floated the idea of withdrawing from the alliance altogether after having a “frank and open” discussion with Rutte in the White House on Wednesday.

“He is clearly disappointed with many NATO allies,” Rutte told CNN following the meeting. “And I can see his point.”

RELATED: ‘Delayed courage’: Trump tells allies to fend for themselves amid oil crisis

Mandel NGAN/AFP/Getty Images

“Clearly, this was a very frank, very open discussion,” Rutte added. “But also a discussion between two good friends.”

While Rutte kept his cards close to his chest, Trump took to Truth Social to tell the world exactly what he thinks of the alliance.

“NATO WASN’T THERE WHEN WE NEEDED THEM, AND THEY WON’T BE THERE IF WE NEED THEM AGAIN. REMEMBER GREENLAND, THAT BIG, POORLY RUN, PIECE OF ICE!!!” Trump said in a Truth Social post after the meeting.

“None of these people, including our own, very disappointing, NATO, understood anything unless they have pressure placed upon them!!!” Trump said in another Truth Social post.

Although Trump has continued to signal his strong disapproval of the alliance, no formal decision has been made about withdrawing from NATO.

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For years, Washington insiders from both parties talked a big game about lowering health care costs. Yet somehow, the bills kept rising, families kept struggling, and the real power players in the system kept getting a free pass. Not anymore.

The Trump administration’s Department of Justice is finally taking aim at one of the biggest and most overlooked drivers of high health care costs: anticompetitive contracting by dominant hospital systems.

Hospitals are businesses first and foremost — and like any business, they’re out to maximize profits.

The recent lawsuits against giants like New York Presbyterian and Ohio Health are a clear signal that the era of unchecked hospital power is coming to an end.

Let’s be honest about what’s been happening. In city after city, hospital markets have quietly consolidated until competition barely exists. When nearly all metro areas have highly concentrated hospital systems, those systems use their leverage to lock in contracts that guarantee them top-tier placement in insurance networks while blocking efforts to guide patients toward more affordable care.

These so-called “anti-steering” provisions might sound technical, but their impact is simple: higher prices and fewer choices for American families.

When insurers and employers cannot design plans that reward lower-cost, high-quality providers, patients are forced into more expensive options whether they realize it or not. Workers pay more in premiums. Businesses face higher costs. Taxpayers pick up the tab through government programs.

What makes the Trump DOJ’s actions so important is that they are willing to challenge institutions that have long been treated as untouchable. Hospitals often enjoy a halo effect in their communities, and many do lifesaving work. But that does not give them the right to use their market dominance to shut out competition and inflate prices.

Hospitals are businesses first and foremost — and like any business, they’re out to maximize profits.

By going after these restrictive contracts, the administration is restoring something that has been missing from health care for far too long: real competition. When plans have the flexibility to exclude overpriced systems or steer patients toward better-value options, the entire market starts to work the way it is supposed to.

We already have evidence this works. Plans that avoid the most expensive hospital systems can significantly reduce costs — without negatively impacting the quality of the care being delivered — and even modest steering can deliver meaningful savings. In a system as large as American health care, those savings translate into billions of dollars and real relief for families.

Predictably, the corporate hospital industry is pushing back, claiming these lawsuits are misguided. But that is what you hear whenever someone finally challenges entrenched interests. The same voices that benefited from the status quo are now being asked to compete on a level playing field, and they do not like it.

RELATED: Tax-exempt hospitals are not putting their patients first

David M. Levitt/Bloomberg/Getty Images

Instead of protecting powerful institutions, the Trump administration is standing up for patients, workers, and employers who have been footing the bill for far too long. It is a reminder that markets only work when competition is protected, and that means enforcing the rules when they are violated.

For decades, Americans have been told that health care costs are just too complicated to fix. But sometimes the problem is simpler than the experts admit. When a few dominant players can write the rules, everyone else loses. President Trump and the Department of Justice are finally rewriting that script.

Draining the swamp is not just about Washington politics. It is about rooting out the hidden arrangements and insider advantages that drive up costs across our economy, including in health care.

By taking on anticompetitive hospital contracting, the Trump administration is proving that no industry is above scrutiny.

That is a win for competition, a win for affordability, and most importantly, a win for the American people.

​Trump, Healthcare costs, Hospitals, Hospital systems, Monopolies, Insurance, Insurance costs, Doj, Opinion & analysis 

The 2026 National Defense Authorization Act ratified by President Donald Trump in December is overhauling the draft registration process.

Under the new law, “every male citizen of the United States, and every other male person residing in the United States, between the ages of 18 and 26” will be registered for the draft automatically. The previous policy required young men to self-register within 30 days of their 18th birthday.

‘Undocumented immigrants are by definition not giving data.’

Craig Brown, the acting director of the Selective Service System since 2021, noted in a report earlier this year that automatic registration was among the top three transformational initiatives that his agency — which is tasked with registering men and maintaining a system that “rapidly provides manpower in a fair and just manner” — would pursue over the next five years.

Sure enough, the SSS submitted a proposed rule change to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs on March 30 titled “Automatic Registration.”

Per the SSS, “This statutory change transfers responsibility for registration from individual men to SSS through integration with federal data sources.”

The SSS strategic plan notes that implementation will be executed in alignment with Trump’s Executive Order 14243, which directed federal agency heads to ensure that federal officials “have full and prompt access to all unclassified agency records, data, software systems, and information technology systems — or their equivalents if providing access to an equivalent dataset does not delay access — for purposes of pursuing administration priorities related to the identification and elimination of waste, fraud, and abuse.”

It’s presently unclear whether automation with improved inter-agency data-sharing and the Department of Homeland Security’s boosted alien registration efforts will address the suspected under-registration of draft-eligible parolees, illegal aliens, legal permanent residents, and asylum-seekers.

RELATED: ‘Terrible betrayal’: Republican’s ‘compassionate’ immigration bill sparks intraparty clash

Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images

The Oversight Project raised concerns last year about possible widespread criminal noncompliance by inadmissible aliens — concerns fueled in part by the absence of a surge in registrations during the Biden administration, according to data provided by the SSS to Congress.

These concerns were further fueled by documents hinting at an awareness behind the scenes at the SSS that the agency was failing to capture data on potential illegal alien registrants.

For instance, in an April 28, 2023, email obtained by the Oversight Project, SSS acting Director Brown noted that “undocumented immigrants are by definition not giving data. We get info on every male trying to legit stay in the country.”

Mike Howell, president of the Oversight Project, told Blaze News, “I have no idea how they plan on automatically registering so-called undocumented immigrants into the Selective Service. Given the fact that the DOJ seems not to care about charging the hordes of military-aged male illegal aliens who came in during the Biden administration with failure to register, which could put them in jail for up to five years, I doubt that it’s been considered in much detail or is even on the radar.”

Blaze News has reached out to the SSS for comment.

According to an SSS report to Congress, the registration rate for eligible men in 2024 was 81%. The report suggested that automating the process might help bolster registration rates.

Failure to register for the draft is punishable by a fine of up to $250,000 and/or five years in prison. An individual who “knowingly counsels, aids, or abets” another person not to comply with the requirement can be slapped with the same penalties.

Failure to register could also jeopardize immigrants’ U.S. citizenship, preclude offenders from receiving state-funded financial aid and job training, and cause ineligibility for various federal employment opportunities.

Editor’s note: Mike Howell is a contributor to Blaze News.

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Growing up, Republicans treated deportations like a topic that required careful handling. Under presidents such as George W. Bush, the language was softened, the messaging was restrained, and the emphasis was placed on policy rather than persuasion. The assumption was that if the argument was sound, the public would eventually come around to it.

That assumption turned out to be wrong.

The goal is not to explain policy in a traditional sense, but to normalize it through repetition, familiarity, and shareability.

Consider the sympathetic yet stern immigration pivots Republicans such as former Texas Governor Rick Perry had during the 2012 GOP primary. Back then, the media and liberal pundits painted Perry as hardcore and extremely right-wing. Compared to Republicans in office now, however, he would be considered passive and extremely soft on the issue.

The assumption that the independent and flip-voter public would buy in to the GOP stance was not because the policy case for enforcement lacked merit, but because the conversation was happening somewhere else entirely.

Opinions were not being decided based on press briefings or white papers. They were being shaped on TV screens, social media feeds, comment sections, and viral content ecosystems where tone and format mattered as much as the substance.

Jeremy Knauff, founder of the PR firm Spartan Media, puts it this way:

Public relations plays a far larger role in policy than most people realize. It’s not enough just to educate the public any more — today, lawmakers need to engage in a more direct effort to influence public perception. The government has always done this to some degree, but the left has been significantly more active and effective in this regard. But now we’re starting to see a measurable shift from the right.

What we are seeing now from the Department of Homeland Security’s social media team represents a break from that old model. Simply put, they’re playing to win.

The kids want memes

The DHS, along with the White House and ICE, has been using memes, viral audio, and internet-native content to promote deportation policy and immigration enforcement. This includes Christmas-themed deportation memes, TikTok-style videos set to trending music, and stylized content designed to travel well beyond traditional government channels.

Keep in mind that Millennials (roughly ages 27-42) spend an average of nearly three hours per day, or approximately 17 to 20+ hours per week, on social media.

These aren’t your father’s government employees figuring these things out on the fly, looking sloppy and rushed. The content they’re putting out isn’t just quality; it is the type of content you would see on the feeds of the most viral social media content creators. They’re in the major leagues of viral political content.

One viral video posted by the DHS, captioned ‘Gotta Catch ‘Em All,’ showed ICE agents blowing in doors and handcuffing and leading away undocumented immigrants to the theme song from the “Pokemon” cartoon. It certainly tugged on Millennial heartstrings, because that clip alone has been viewed 75.5 million times.

The backlash has been as immediate and intense as you would expect. Critics say this approach is dehumanizing, that it trivializes serious issues, and that it reflects a level of insensitivity that should not be associated with government communications.

CNN has gone so far as to claim that “underlining” DHS recruitment posters “are undertones that historians and experts in political communication say are alarmingly nationalist — and fraught with appeals to a specifically White [sic] and Christian national identity.”

Supporters see it as effective and long overdue after years of what they view as overly cautious messaging from the right.

RELATED: The case against ‘principled conservatism’

Erhui1979/Getty Images

Focusing only on whether the memes are appropriate misses the larger point. What is happening here is not primarily about humor or tone; it is about control over how the issue is framed and where the framing takes place.

Knauff says, “The people who are criticizing this approach are only doing so because they can see that it’s effective. And their complaints are disingenuous because it’s the exact same thing they’ve been doing for decades.”

The cool kids in control

For the better part of the last decade, conservatives did not lose the immigration argument on substance. They lost it on distribution. They had policies and data on their side, but they failed to communicate those ideas in the environments where younger voters and low-information audiences were actually forming opinions.

Put plainly, they were boring and unwilling to defend their position with the same passion as liberals.

The polling makes the gap impossible to ignore. Multiple 2026 surveys show that younger Americans are far less supportive of Trump’s immigration policies than older voters, especially Boomers who largely consume cable news.

A February PBS/NPR/Marist poll found that just 18% of voters under 30 approved of the administration’s approach to deportations, while 69% disapproved. A CBS/YouGov survey in mid-January similarly found that 60% of respondents under 30 believed Trump was doing “too much” to deport illegal aliens.

This issue isn’t cut and dry. Trump was delivered a mandate in 2024, but now that optics are changing, the question is whether to keep the foot on the pedal or not.

The picture is clear though: Younger voters are not instinctively aligned with the administration’s immigration agenda, even if they support individual enforcement measures in isolation. So what to do? Keep the memes coming.

The current strategy appears to be an attempt to close that gap by meeting the audience where it already is. Instead of trying to pull younger users into formal policy discussions, the DHS is embedding its messaging inside the formats the youth consume on a daily basis.

The goal is not to explain policy in a traditional sense, but to normalize it through repetition, familiarity, and shareability.

Propaganda? Only call it that if it’s boring.

RELATED: Why I support ICE as the son of an immigrant

Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

It’s all about virality

What we’re seeing represents a significant shift in how the government communicates. In the past, agencies relied on press releases, official statements, and media intermediaries to convey their message carefully and cautiously. Now, the message is being delivered directly to the public in the same formats used by influencers, creators, and online communities.

The distinction between political communication and internet culture is becoming increasingly blurred.

There are clear risks to this approach. When complex policies are reduced to highly shareable clips, the conversation can quickly become polarized.

At the same time, the old model was not getting the job done. Staffers with communications degrees did not win over younger audiences, did not reshape cultural perception, and did not prevent immigration from becoming one of the most emotionally charged issues in our society today.

Backtracking to a more restrained style of messaging would not solve anything. It would only surrender the digital battlefield once again.

What makes this moment notable is not just the content itself, but what it signals about the future of political communication. The DHS is operating less like a government agency and more like a savvy political campaign, prioritizing reach, engagement, and narrative control over neutrality.

Weapons of meme destruction

The DHS’ use of memes is an indication that the rules of engagement have shifted. Political power is no longer exercised solely through policy decisions or legislative victories, but through the ability to shape perception at scale.

Republicans spent years trying to win arguments in spaces that fewer and fewer people were paying attention to. Now, they appear to be adapting to the environment as it actually exists. Whether that approach proves sustainable or backfires politically remains to be seen.

Knauff explains it like this:

I believe this strategy will not only continue to be effective, but also become more effective as time goes on. Right now, it’s novel and exciting, but as the new car smell wears off, the impact will remain — if we have the discipline to stick with the mission. Public relations requires time to create the desired outcome. It’s not something you can rush. The left had decades to slowly leverage this strategy, so the right needs to be just as patient in their execution.

If the GOP maintains its majority in Congress, Republicans might joke about how the memes saved them. If they lose, expect the old guard to say the memes were too mean.

What is clear is that the next phase of political communications will not be conveyed primarily through speeches, press conferences, or media panels. It will be fought through content and the side that understands that reality will have a decisive advantage.

May the side with the best memes win.

​Dhs, Ice, Trump, Trump administration, Public relations, Memes, Social media, Deportations, Illegal immigrants, Mass deportations, Border security, Border patrol, Opinion & analysis 

A disgraced former lawmaker in Massachusetts is still hoping that taxpayers will help keep him comfortable in his retirement years, despite his criminal convictions.

In February 2021, Democratic ex-state Rep. David Nangle, who represented the Lowell area for two decades and even sat as vice chair of the House Ethics Committee for a time, pled guilty to nearly two dozen charges related to stealing money from his campaign for personal expenses, defrauding banks, and failing to report income to the IRS.

It was ‘only because he had been a member of the House of Representatives at the relevant time that he was in a position to illegally withdraw funds from his campaign account.’

According to the Boston Globe, Nangle stole $70,000 from his campaign and defrauded banks of over $300,000 in ill-begotten loans. Nangle has admitted that he has a gambling addiction, but prosecutors claimed that in addition to blowing money at the casino, he also spent money on luxury items and other personal expenses.

Nangle was sentenced to 15 months but served only about five months of that sentence behind bars.

The scandal also cost him his political career. Nangle was successfully primaried in September 2020 after 22 years in the seat.

After his conviction, the Massachusetts State Retirement Board decided to revoke the state pension he had accrued during his time in office, valued at over $800,000. A district court judge later upheld that decision.

RELATED: 38-year-old Democrat found dead, wrapped in ‘blankets and black garbage bags’ — and now all eyes are on her husband

Barry Chin/The Boston Globe/Getty Images

Nangle filed an appeal in Suffolk County Superior Court last week, requesting a review of “a judgment entered by the Lowell District Court, which affirmed the Defendant State Board of Retirement’s forfeiture of David M. Nangle’s vested state retirement allowance.”

Nangle has argued that his crimes were in “no way” related to his work in public office and that the stolen money did not involve “governmental funds or property,” the Globe said.

The retirement board and Lowell District Court Judge Pacinco DeCapua don’t seem to be buying it. According to the Globe, DeCapua even noted it was “only because he had been a member of the House of Representatives at the relevant time that he was in a position to illegally withdraw funds from his campaign account.”

Nangle, 65, has also claimed that he will be “destitute” without the pension, but the Globe, citing DeCapua’s ruling in January, reported that Nangle was working three jobs, collecting $6,000 a month for just one of them.

DeCapua, who acknowledged Nangle’s “road of redemption” regarding addiction, nonetheless determined that his actions “dishonored his title as a State Representative.”

Paul Craney of the Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance seems to agree. He told Blaze News in a statement: “A bank robber doesn’t get to keep his steal after he is convicted, and a state lawmaker shouldn’t be able to keep their pension after being convicted of fraud. If it were allowed, every bad impulse would be acted upon by our legislature.”

Nangle’s attorney did not respond to a request for comment from Blaze News.

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Overnight star entrepreneur Paul Conyngham is scaling his company based around his experiences mixing LLM medicine, analysis, established treatments, and private laboratory services to bring tailored treatments, such as he brought to his dog Rosie, to a wider, human audience. The Rosie saga has gone viral and birthed a business, and LLM companies are thrilled. Will any of it work?

Last week’s viral story of Rosie the dog, whose ambitious owner leveraged LLMs (among many other things) to create a custom-tailored mRNA vaccine continues to instruct, maybe edify, but surely divide.

The medical and health care industries are among the most deeply corrupt.

Enter the human version of the AI self-medicating story: GitHub founder and billionaire Sid Sijbrandij was diagnosed several years ago with osteosarcoma. Sid pursued standard treatments, but they weren’t enough to halt the cancer’s progress. So Sid countered with a truly impressive, even inspiring, quotient of agency — throwing himself into gathering his own medical team, deploying AI where possible, maximizing every diagnostic test he could find, and open-sourcing his records.

With this approach, Sijbrandij says he was able to advance something workable in terms of a treatment protocol. His cancer is in remission, and he’s talking about the process on X and his website.

First the good news

The stories have remarkable parallels. Both involve successful, wealthy tech entrepreneurs. Both involve cancer, and both offer hope. The timing of both is curious.

There are a few very hard — even uncomfortable and offensive — but necessary questions to ask with respect to media reality. Boomer elites hope to keep the all-important economic and financial line going comfortably up as they exit into retirement en masse. How much of the self-guided vaccine push, and the rosy vision behind it, is real?

At the end of 2024, Sijbrandij transitioned from CEO to executive chair of GitLab, saying, “I want more time to focus on my cancer treatment and health.”

RELATED: A man used Grok to save his dog. Is intellectual property about to die?

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Paul Conyngham details in a long essay posted to X exactly what the chatbots did to help. Also detailed are the various other cost-prohibitive treatments he leveraged to save his dog. Conyngham admits he was putting in an extra hundred hours of work per week on complex paperwork. This is time most people don’t have to spare, obviously. He does not mention the costs, but in America at this point few have any cash after paying the monthly nut. In Paul’s essay, we read “what the chat bots did NOT do”:

They did not collect samples. They did not isolate or sequence the DNA. They did not physically manufacture the vaccine. They did not administer it. Many brilliant scientists were required — including Professor Pall Thordarson at the UNSW mRNA Institute who manufactured the vaccine, Professor Rachel Allavena & Dr. José Granados at the University of Queensland who administered it, and Professor Martin Smith who provided expert guidance on the bioinformatics throughout.

Enter the dissenting opinions and scam artists.

Peeling away the hype

Never one to leave credit, cash, or free and mistaken public goodwill lying on the table, Sam Altman weighed in last week. “The coolest meeting I had this week,” he posted, “was with Paul, who used ChatGPT and other LLMs to create an mRNA vaccine protocol to save his dog Rosie. It is amazing story.”

At about the same time, just after the euphoria dissipated and Altman chimed in, a series of critical posts took swings at the general, and admittedly largely dilettante, story.

Patrick Heizer, a working biomedical engineer, called Sid Sijbrandij’s approach and presentation of the evidence in his self-management of osteosarcoma “extremely impressive.” However, he also estimated that Sid spent “tens of millions” to make it happen.

In Heizer’s learned opinion, the era of personalized, AI medical utopia is not here. With respect to the evidence presented in the story of Rosie the dog, Heizer was dismissive — citing a general lack of risk protocol and evidence for what did and didn’t work.

Another biochem Ph.D./founder figure on X, Egan Peltan, echoed Heizer’s doubts regarding the Conyngham/Rosie story. “There’s no evidence his process (beyond FDA approved doggie α-PD-1) had any impact on disease progression. The most parsimonious explanation is a partial response to α-PD-1.”

In our previous examination of this heartwarming tale, I suggested that the era of AI medicine poses certain glimmers of hope with respect to the future of decentralized — and, potentially, more affordable and effective — medical treatments.

But this sunny future must first punch through a systemically corrupt and increasingly inept system — with medical “errors” leading causes of death, pharmaceutical regulatory capture well entrenched, overall care suffering long-term degradation, and institutional scams outstripping even the power of the federal courts to fight.

Will we arrive at a two-tiered privilege scenario where regular Americans are once again supplying their data to be used merely for the benefit of those at the top, who can afford to leverage the panoply of treatment options? We’ve gotten far too accustomed to being left out in the cold, and the medical and health care industries are among the most deeply corrupt.

​Tech 

A 37-year-old woman has been arrested for child cruelty after allegedly leaving six young siblings to fend for themselves, according to Georgia police.

Douglasville police said they found the kids, who ranged in age from 1 to 10 years old, unsupervised at the home on James D. Simpson Avenue on March 29.

‘I thought everything was OK, but I just know she’s never home, she’s never there, and it’s just sad.’

The oldest child told police they were forced to eat cockroaches and ants. Police believed they were left alone for about 12 hours.

Arrest warrants state that police found the home to be lacking “adequate food or suitable living conditions,” and they reported a “strong, foul odor consistent with unsanitary living conditions.”

Sherry Diane Magby was arrested on Thursday and charged with six counts of child cruelty in the second degree. She was taken into custody at the Douglas County Jail.

Police have not disclosed the woman’s relationship to the children.

One of the children died, but police did not release information about the circumstances of the child’s death.

WXIA-TV said court records indicated that Magby had been previously arrested for allegedly cutting her son by throwing a pocketknife at him. She faced a child cruelty charge in that incident as well.

Neighbors in the area told WXIA that they had expressed concern about the lack of supervision over the children.

RELATED: Baby found abandoned in front of stranger’s home — before 4 of her family members are discovered dead

“I thought everything was OK, but I just know she’s never home, she’s never there, and it’s just sad, sad,” said one neighbor, who didn’t want to be identified.

“One time, I told my husband we might need to do a welfare check because he came home like 12 o’clock one night, and the kids was outside playing. She wasn’t there,” another neighbor said to WAGA-TV.

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​Child dies after abandonment, Douglasville children abandoned, Sherry diane magby arrested, Six charges of child cruelty, Crime