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Nothing confuses a sports fan’s heart like finding out his favorite TV character supports the other team. Or worse — when it turns that out a lecturing, woke celebrity is on the same side.

For the big game in Santa Clara, California, on Sunday, two big names have already been tapped for the start of the event.

‘I have officially declared Super Bowl Sunday as “New England Patriots Appreciation Day.”‘

Singer Jon Bon Jovi was called on to introduce the New England Patriots before the game. He has supported the team since his favorite coaches went from the New York Giants to New England in the 1990s, according to Yahoo. Meanwhile, actor Chris Pratt (“Guardians of the Galaxy,” “Jurassic World”) will introduce the Seattle Seahawks. Pratt grew up a Seahawks fan after moving to Seattle around the age of 6.

Here is where the rest of the singers, actors, and politicians stand so that fans know exactly who to embrace and who to disavow.

New England Patriots

It should come as no surprise that Boston natives Ben Affleck and Matt Damon are huge Patriots fans, but Mark Wahlberg is too. “Marky” Mark has not only voiced his support for the team but appeared in an episode of HBO’s “Entourage” alongside legendary quarterback Tom Brady in 2009.

Celebrity reporter Maria Menounos is well known for wearing Patriots outfits over the years and has even appeared in photos with the team’s ownership group.

Noted superhero actor Chris Evans reportedly loves the Patriots, while Aerosmith singer Steven Tyler and iconic English musician Elton John round off the celebrity list, per CBS Sports.

RELATED: Olympic boxer Imane Khelif admits to having male genes, but sends message to Trump: ‘I’m not trans’

Photo by Jane Gershovich/Getty Images

On the politics side, Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey (D) is cheering for the Pats, obviously, but so is Maine Governor Janet Mills (D).

“I have officially declared Super Bowl Sunday as ‘New England Patriots Appreciation Day’ throughout the State of Maine. Go Pats!” Mills wrote on X.

Democrat Rhode Island Governor Dan McKee has shown plenty of support for the Patriots over the years, while White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, from New Hampshire, recently declared her support for the Patriots too.

Seattle Seahawks

According to Yahoo! Sports, actors Rainn Wilson (“The Office”) and Will Ferrell (“Old School,” “Anchorman”) are big Seahawks fans. Wilson was born in Seattle, while Ferrell has dropped in on Seahawks team meetings.

On the musical side, “Baby Got Back” rapper Sir Mix-a-Lot is an avid Seahawks fan, while rapper Macklemore could also be considered a die-hard.

USA Today listed singer Ariana Grande as a fan, too; she sang the national anthem in Seattle in 2014.

All-time “Jeopardy!” champion turned host Ken Jennings also flies a Seahawks flag, claiming that being a fan of the team “made me a better person.”

“Walking Dead” fan favorite Jeffrey Dean Morgan has shown that his true colors include fluorescent green, vehemently supporting the team over the years. Morgan was born in Seattle.

FEATURED: Olympic ski jumpers may be injecting their penises with acid to jump farther

Photo by Samir Hussein/WireImage

Washington Governor Bob Ferguson (D) is a shoe-in for Seahawks support, but few may expect that some Virginia politicians are sneaking around supporting the Seahawks at the same time.

State senator and former NFL player Aaron Rouse and Virginia Speaker of the House Don Scott, both Democrats, admitted to rooting for the Seahawks on Sunday.

Local reporter Tyler Englander seemingly caught the politicians by surprise on Friday morning and acquired both their predictions.

Interestingly enough, Rouse never played for the Seahawks. He was born in Norfolk, Virginia, played college ball at Virginia Tech, and was a pro player for the Green Bay Packers and New York Giants.

For those wondering who President Trump has sided with, he recently told reporters, “I can’t say that. But they are really two good teams.”

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​Fearless, Celebrities, Athletes, Super bowl, Football, Fans, Super bowl lx, New england, Seattle, Sports 

When HBO debuted “Euphoria” in 2019, it was hyped as the ne plus ultra of the ever-popular “the shocking and terrible things kids these days are up to” genre.

Accurate or not, viewers responded. By the time season two of “Euphoria” ended three years ago, it was HBO’s second-most-watched show since 2004, right behind “Game of Thrones.”

Hey there, kids! Here are all the worst things you can do. We’ve made a list. And then we built a TV show around it!

And last month, the trailer for season three — which debuts in April — got 100 million views in two days.

I had been wondering what all the fuss is about. In my day, we had “Less Than Zero,” “Kids,” and “River’s Edge.” Teenagers in those movies gave each other AIDS, prostituted themselves for drugs, shoplifted, and even murdered out of boredom.

Did “Euphoria” really try to out-extreme that?

Even if it did, I suspected that “Euphoria” might be the last gasp of the “terrible teens trauma” genre,” as real-life teenagers are apparently moving in the opposite direction.

Gen Z is taking drugs less, is having sex less, and is generally less licentious than previous generations. It appears that the classic forms of teenage defiance and debauchery have become so routine and overdone that the kids have rebelled against the rebellion.

Into the void

With this in mind, I began the first season of “Euphoria.” I can’t say I was impressed. “Euphoria” was not good. But it was shocking.

What I thought was going to be a glimpse into the lives of contemporary teenagers was instead a pornographic recovery story in which the main character — a teenage trans substance abuser — never manages to get clean and sober.

But that’s not the notable part. The notable part is the porn.

Take the early scene where a 50-ish pervert dad matches with the trans teen on a dating app and meets him in a dark, filthy hotel room. The teen shows up, the adult says creepy things to him, and then … well, you get to see it all in graphic detail, from multiple angles.

Is that a glimpse into the lives of contemporary teens? Or is it an assault on the senses, a forced introduction — for me, anyway — into a disturbingly specific genre of smut?

The whole show is like that. Scene after scene of activities, characters, and conversations you really, really, really don’t want to see.

I kept waiting for the appearance of a single semi-sympathetic character in the show. Someone I cared about even a tiny bit. There were no such characters.

Another thing I really didn’t want to see: an overweight, not-so-bright 16-year-old girl, setting up a pay website where she can take half-naked videos of her butt in order to extract money from creepy old men.

One of her first customers is a pathetic fat guy who wants to be humiliated. She mocks him as he squeals like a pig. Nothing is left to the imagination, as if the show wants to debase the viewer as well.

Gen Z to the rescue

This, I assume, is why current teenagers are rebelling against the ritualized degeneracy of our times.

Because this idea that it’s fun and exciting to be a prostitute/drug addict/rapist/psychopath has been crammed down their throats by the creepy, perverted “entertainment” industry for as long as they’ve been alive. And they’re sick of it. And I don’t blame them.

“Euphoria” was one of the most gruesome things I’ve ever seen. Ultimately, it is just an episodic catalogue of every soul-destroying activity a teenager might indulge in.

Hey there, kids! Here are all the worst things you can do. We’ve made a list. And then we built a TV show around it!

That list would include: OnlyFans. Sexual abuse. Psychopaths beating people half to death. Drug dealers. Extortion. All manner of rape. Psych ward imprisonment. Guys with face tattoos force-feeding fentanyl to teenage girls from the edge of their knives.

The show did give me new sympathy for today’s young women, subjected as they are to certain crude digital courtship rituals. Never before have I been induced to look at so many male members, in all their depressing variety.

RELATED: Why does Hollywood have to make everything gay?

John Shearer/Theo Wargo/Rosediana Ciaravolo/Getty Images

All things considered

But enough about my opinions of “Euphoria.” What did that bastion of propriety and moral certitude National Public Radio think? Let’s start with the headline of an article from 2022: “HBO’s ‘Euphoria’ is more than a parent’s worst nightmare. It’s a creative triumph.”

I would be curious in what way it is “a creative triumph.” It’s badly written. None of the characters seems remotely human. It uses all the cinematic techniques of a bad horror film.

NPR continues: “Creator/executive producer Sam Levinson has built a storytelling style that transcends the titillation of its surface-level story, finding new ways to stitch together the tales of characters seemingly trapped in a web of tragedies and missteps.”

The storytelling is perfunctory. The characters are paper-thin. And as usual, the most evil people on earth are white male high school athletes.

More from NPR: “That daring, creative vision only deepens now, as the show’s long-delayed second season takes flight on HBO.”

The only thing that deepens when you watch “Euphoria” is your gag reflex.

And finally:

That “Euphoria” somehow manages to make you keep caring about often-unlikeable folks on such brutal and dark journeys, is a testament to the uniquely creative voice distilled in each episode. It is thrilling, daring, disquieting and compelling — a triumph at a time when truly unique storytelling remains unsettlingly rare.

Wait, wait, don’t tell me

It’s amazing that we’ve reached a point in our society where NPR is promoting and advocating for what once would have been universally understood as the sexual exploitation of minors.

That’s really what “Euphoria” is. It even tells on itself during a scene in which a 10-year-old boy sneaks into his father’s office and watches a video from his father’s porn collection.

We get a shot from behind the boy, so that we’re effectively invited to watch the video with him.

In this way, we get to participate in the destruction of the child’s innocence. Which, I guess, is the whole point of this show.

NPR’s praise and support for this television show are utterly damning. Thank God NPR has been defunded. Now put them all in jail for being part of this wicked demoralization project. “Euphoria” is an assault on our senses, our morals, and the innocence of our children.

​Culture, Entertainment, Euphoria, Hbo, Movies, Exploitation, Blake’s progress 

On Sept. 30, 2023, shots rang out after a football game in Georgia, WSB-TV reported.

Emmanuel Dorsey — just 14 years old — was killed outside the Griffin-Spalding game, the station said.

‘Jurors are just fed up.’

The suspect was 17-year-old Kaomarion Kendrick.

Arrest warrants stated that Kendrick had a gun with him at the game, WXIA-TV reported, adding that when the game was over, a fight broke out between “two rival cliques.”

During that fight, officers said Kendrick pulled out the gun, after which Dorsey and others fled, WXIA said, adding that warrants indicate Dorsey was shot in the neck and face.

The documents also note that while both teens were not gang members, the two groups they were hanging around were rival gangs, WXIA noted.

RELATED: ‘Hellhounds coming for you’: Loved ones of grandmother murdered in carjacking blast her ‘demon’ teen killer at his sentencing

Kaomarion KendrickImage source: Spalding County (Ga.) Sheriff’s Office

WSB said Kendrick spent eight days on the run before being captured in Henry County.

Officials said at the time of his arrest that Kendrick was armed with a Glock handgun modified with a full-auto switch, WXIA said.

WSB reported that a Spalding County jury last week convicted Kendrick of a long list of charges, including felony murder and three counts of violation of the RICO Act.

With that, Kendrick was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole — followed by another 85 years, WSB said.

RELATED: Teen Islam convert, an ISIS backer, carried out deadly stabbing after kid mocked his faith: Police

A WAGA-TV video report about Kendrick’s sentence indicated that prosecutors depicted him as a “stone-cold killer,” “unrepentant,” and “unremorseful, even at trial.”

David Studdard, acting district attorney, told WAGA that “jurors are just fed up” with the deadly violence and “hear this over and over and over, and they’ve just had it with this kind of thing.”

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Fake constitutionalism is increasingly becoming a problem in America. There is a marked tendency among public officials, political commentators, and media figures to invoke bogus constitutional principles or bogus interpretations of genuine constitutional principles. They do this mainly to shift blame to their political opponents or to shield the otherwise unacceptable behavior of their political allies.

Fake constitutionalism undermines constitutional government by spreading misconceptions about what our Constitution means.

The First Amendment certainly protects a reporter’s right to publish information. But it does not protect unlawful activity in pursuit of information.

Regrettably the First Amendment has become one of the most fruitful areas in which fake constitutionalism thrives. It is now commonplace for Americans — even constitutional lawyers — to make inflated claims about the protections afforded by the First Amendment, extending its scope far beyond the safeguards America’s founders had in mind when they debated and wrote this essential provision of our Constitution.

The most recent case in point is the misplaced outrage over the supposed violations of the First Amendment involved in the arrest of Don Lemon.

Lemon, formerly of CNN, was taken into custody on Jan. 30 for his part in disrupting a service at Cities Church in St. Paul, Minnesota. Lemon accompanied and filmed protesters who stormed the service to express their disapproval of Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations in Minneapolis. (An elder of the church is reportedly an ICE agent.) The Department of Justice has charged a number of the disruptors, including Lemon, with violating the FACE Act and conspiracy to deprive others of their civil rights — in this case, their right to gather and worship God in peace in their own church.

In his statement to the media, Lemon’s lawyer, Abbe Lowell, characterized his client’s arrest and the filing of federal charges against Lemon as an “unprecedented attack on the First Amendment.”

“Don has been a journalist for 30 years,” Lowell continued, “and his constitutionally protected work in Minneapolis was no different than what he has always done. The First Amendment exists to protect journalists whose role it is to shine light on the truth and hold those in power accountable.” Arguments to this effect have also been made by countless journalists and commentators incensed by the idea that a journalist might be held to account for his unlawful behavior.

Contrary to Lowell, the First Amendment does not afford any protection to journalism as an activity or to journalists as a class. Instead it protects certain more narrowly defined activities, namely speech and publication. This is evident from the language the framers of the amendment chose to express their meaning: “Congress shall make no law … abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press.”

RELATED: Unsealed indictment against Don Lemon cites his own comments on livestream from ‘takeover’ at church

Photo by Arturo Holmes/Getty Images

The scope of the First Amendment’s protection is also indicated by the early controversies over its meaning, most notably the debates over the Sedition Act of 1798. Celebrated American statesmen and jurists like Thomas Jefferson and James Madison condemned the act, while others of equal stature, such as Alexander Hamilton and Supreme Court Justice James Iredell, defended it.

The argument concerned the extent to which the government could punish certain kinds of publications. No one at the time, however, suggested that the First Amendment protected otherwise unlawful acts done in the pursuit of publishing information.

The narrow — and reasonable — original understanding of the First Amendment is also evident in the works of the great early American legal commentators such as Justice Joseph Story. In his celebrated “Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States,” Story wrote:

It is plain … that the language of [the First Amendment] imports no more, than that every man shall have a right to speak, write, and print his opinions upon any subject whatever, without any prior restraint, so always, that he does not injure any other person in his rights, person, or property, or reputation; and so always, that he does not thereby disturb the public peace.

As Story’s remarks make clear, even the right to speak and publish is limited by certain principles necessary to a just public order and the protection of other essential rights. Even more to the present purpose is Story’s argument that the First Amendment protects only the right to speak and publish — that is, rights that belong to every man, not just to journalists.

Rejecting this traditional understanding of the First Amendment and accepting the Abbe Lowell version would lead to ridiculous and unacceptable consequences. It would mean that professional journalists must be treated as a privileged class and must be allowed to break the law in the pursuit of a story.

But practically nobody thinks this should be the case, and it is certainly not how the law operates in its ordinary course.

If a reporter is speeding at 100 miles per hour through a town to get to the scene of an important story, he will be stopped by the police and charged with violating the speed limit and reckless driving. If this reporter were to cause an accident and kill someone, he would be charged with negligent homicide or manslaughter — and the fact that he committed the crime in connection with his desire to engage in activities that the First Amendment protects would be totally irrelevant to his defense.

The First Amendment certainly protects a reporter’s right to publish information. It does not, however, protect unlawful activity undertaken in pursuit of information, which is often protected by principles of privacy and ownership recognized in law.

Lemon and the protesters are guilty of the same misconduct, and the First Amendment is of no help to either.

It is undoubtedly a news event when a potential candidate for public office meets with advisers at his home to decide whether to launch a campaign. But this would not give someone like Don Lemon the right to barge into the home over the objections of those who live there and “cover” the event. He would be guilty of trespassing or home invasion and liable to legal punishment.

This example points to the inadequacy of the arguments made by those who have condemned the disruption of the church service but claimed that Lemon, as a journalist, should not be among those charged.

Such defenders seem to think that the other disruptors did something unlawful but that Lemon was merely there to report on the event. But his relevant actions were the same as those of the others involved. They came into the church uninvited during a service at which the worshipers had been peacefully conducting their own business — and in fact exercising a constitutional right clearly stated in the First Amendment. This disruption, of which Lemon was a part, prevented the congregants from carrying on the activities they had a right to pursue.

Charging the other protesters but not Lemon would treat him as a member of a privileged class that has a right to break the law.

This would introduce an unacceptable incoherence into our constitutional law. To the extent that the protesters wanted to make a political point, they also held views protected by the First Amendment. They erred, however, in choosing an unlawful method by which to make their complaints heard — just as Lemon erred in the method by which he tried to get his story.

Lemon and the protesters are guilty of the same misconduct, and the First Amendment is of no help to either.

Suppose a case in which the legal and constitutional issues are the same, but the actors’ political identities are different. Suppose, for example, a chapter of the Ku Klux Klan, outraged by federal civil rights enforcement, decides to disrupt the service at a predominantly African-American church, of which a federal civil rights lawyer is a member.

Suppose further that the Klan brings along a sympathetic reporter and storms the church, shouting insults, while the reporter films the whole shameful episode. Would any decent American think this action was a legitimate form of First Amendment-protected “protest”? Or that the reporter who tagged along should be immune to the charges that would properly be filed against the other participants?

Of course not.

RELATED: When worship is interrupted, neutrality is no longer an option

Photo by Stephen Maturen/Getty Images

Recall further Justice Story’s observation that the First Amendment’s protection of the right to speak and publish belongs to “every man.” This is a key principle affirmed by the Supreme Court in modern times. The great liberal Justice William Brennan, on more than one occasion, remarked that the First Amendment protects all Americans equally, not just the members of the professional, credentialed press. A blogger or a concerned citizen who circulates a newsletter has all the same First Amendment rights as someone who works for the New York Times or CNN.

This point is essential to further clarifying the unacceptable consequences that would result if we accepted the First Amendment defense of Don Lemon’s role in the Minnesota church disruption.

Because the amendment protects all Americans, and not only professional journalists, defending Lemon’s conduct as an activity protected by the First Amendment would mean that everybody could break the law and then claim to be engaged in “reporting.” Any concerned citizen with a recording device or a pad of paper could walk into a neighbor’s home, a local church, or, for that matter, the offices of CNN and then claim First Amendment immunity for disrupting the lives of other Americans pursuing legitimate activities.

No sensible person would embrace such a chaotic standard, which is certainly not required by the First Amendment.

Justice Story observed in his account of the First Amendment that “the exercise of a right is essentially different from an abuse of it. The one is no legitimate inference from the other.”

Story continued, “Common sense here promulgates the broad doctrine: so exercise your freedom, as not to infringe the rights of others, or the public peace and safety.” This is the way the founders thought about the rights they enshrined in the Constitution, and it is the only way to think about them that is consistent with a decent public order in which the rights of all are safe.

Editor’s note: A version of this article appeared originally at the American Mind.

​Don lemon, First amendment, Cities church, Constitution, Journalism, Face act, Opinion & analysis, Reporting, Freedom of speech, Free exercise, Religion, Leftism, Arrested 

Christians are being told by anti-ICE pastors like Ben Cremer that putting America first is unbiblical, that enforcing borders violates Scripture, and that letting Christian beliefs inform public policy is “Christian nationalism.”

And according to BlazeTV host Allie Beth Stuckey, none of that is true.

“We hear a lot from people like Ben Cremer that putting your country first is wrong, or allowing your Christian conservative views to inform how you vote, that that’s wrong,” Stuckey explains.

And eight months ago, Cremer posted, “Myth #1: Immigrants are a drain on our country.”

“What I’m most interested in is not that he’s saying that that’s a myth, but his response to that,” she comments, before reading Cremer’s response.

“The Bible never defines a person’s worth by their economic output. In fact, it warns us not to favor the rich over the poor (James 2:1-7). God’s kingdom is built not on cost-benefit analysis but on belovedness. The call to welcome the stranger (Leviticus 19:34, Deuteronomy 10:19) is rooted in who God is — not in what the stranger can offer us,” Cremer wrote.

“He is conflating the kingdom of God with America. … We’re not talking about God’s kingdom. We’re talking about the United States. So, actually, in him saying that Christian nationalists are trying to enforce some theocracy by allowing the law to be informed by what we believe, he is actually the one that is conflating our spiritual obligation to the poor in the spiritual kingdom of heaven with America here today,” Stuckey responds.

Stuckey also points out that the government was instituted by God, pointing to Romans 13:2-4, which explains that “rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad,” and that the authority figure is “God’s servant for your good.”

“It was his idea. Law and law enforcement were God’s idea. Now, this right here is why it is so important to elect politicians that define good and evil how God defines them,” Stuckey says.

Cremer has also written in a post on his Instagram that “Christian Nationalism looks like hearing God say ‘I will pour out my spirit on all people’ in Acts 2 where all nations, languages, and tribes were present then protesting by saying ‘America first!’”

“There’s an irony in this accusation. Progressives, as I noted earlier, consistently conflate America and the church, which is the very thing they accuse Christian nationalists of doing,” Stuckey says.

“The truth is, hot take, we do not see the importance of ethnic diversity within nations or local churches anywhere in Scripture,” she continues. “Nowhere.”

Want more from Allie Beth Stuckey?

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

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The Pentagon’s recent decision to downgrade China as America’s primary threat arrives at a strange moment. As officials refine their rhetoric in Washington, Chinese operatives continue to map the nation’s nervous system: power grids, water plants, phone networks, hospitals, and railways.

It’s a sustained and serious threat, and it receives far less attention than it should.

Over the past decade, Chinese hackers have siphoned off personal data from tens of millions of Americans. Medical files, financial records, home addresses — all collected, catalogued, and stored. That alone should have forced a national reckoning. Instead, it passed through the news cycle and was quickly forgotten.

Attribution takes months, while damage compounds each day.

Yet data theft is only the tip of the iceberg. The deeper issue is placement. These intrusions bypass the marketplace for secrets to exploit their military application, learning how our systems work and where they fail. Which switches feed electricity to entire cities. Which valves deliver clean water to millions of homes. Which servers keep emergency rooms alive. Which signals move trains and manage traffic. China has built a strategic database that confers massive leverage.

And lest we think only our machines and infrastructure are at risk, there’s also a biological dimension, one that could eclipse every national security threat since Pearl Harbor. Chinese-linked research laboratories operating on American soil pose a risk that few have fully assessed. Cyberattacks leave traces. Biological threats move differently. A lab accident or deliberate release could devastate crops, overwhelm health care facilities, and unleash panic long before a cause is identified. For those who think this is exaggerated, 2025 alone saw multiple cases of Chinese nationals caught attempting to bring dangerous biological materials into America.

Disease can be even harder to trace, track, and cordon off than viruses online. A fungus in Iowa cornfields looks like blight. A respiratory illness appears to be a bad flu season. Ambiguity chews up precious time. Attribution takes months, while damage compounds each day. Farmers lose harvests without knowing they are under attack. Hospitals overflow with what only seems natural. Supply chains creak. Prices rise. And the central question — was this intentional? — remains an unsolved puzzle, delaying or paralyzing any coordinated response.

RELATED: Another secret Chinese biolab found on US soil?

Aaron Hawkins/Getty Images

This is a conflict without uniforms or airstrikes. No invasions, nor any other moment when peace visibly becomes war, give us the tipoff. In its place, a steady erosion, deniable and extremely effective.

The timing could hardly be worse. America is more divided than it has been in generations. The left despises the right, and the right returns the favor. Such division is fertile ground for hostile actors. Disorder takes hold where common ground has disappeared.

In a divided country, mixed messaging carries real risks. Yet America’s approach to China has become strangely contradictory. Officials warn allies about the risks of economic dependence on Beijing. Those warnings are sensible; strategic reliance carries costs. But downgrading China’s threat at home while cautioning others abroad creates confusion. Are the warnings sincere or symbolic? This is a vital question that requires a clear, concrete answer. Without it, fatalism and a false sense of security quickly set in.

America may no longer rank China as its top threat, but the country’s Communist Party would gladly see its chief rival brought to its knees. And in the modern age, that doesn’t require armies. A blackout can plunge millions into darkness without a single soldier crossing a border. A telecommunications failure can paralyze emergency services. A poisoned water system can force evacuations and put tens of thousands of lives at risk. A hospital network crash can replace treatment with trauma. A pathogen released in farm country can wipe out an entire season’s yield, kill livestock, and leave farmers on the edge of ruin.

Each episode chips away at government capacity without crossing the line that would trigger traditional retaliation.

To be clear, a steady stream of individually minor incidents have already accumulated, testing the edges, building the dataset. The Colonial Pipeline ransomware attack in 2021 showed how a single breach could ignite fuel shortages and consumer panic. Now imagine disruptions across several sectors at once. Not criminal mischief, but coordinated pressure from a sophisticated state actor with cyber reach and biological presence inside American borders.

The answer is neither despair nor denial but preparation. America must develop critical infrastructure through sustained investment, tighter cooperation between public and private sectors, a trained workforce, and systems designed to absorb shocks. It must also establish firm oversight of biological research, especially when foreign entities are involved, and build early-warning networks for agricultural and health threats.

It’s a question of priorities. Civilian life shouldn’t be our weakest link. Power grids, water systems, hospitals, food supply, and transportation deserve the same strategic focus as aircraft carriers and missile shields. Infrastructure security, including biosecurity, shouldn’t be a political football or a budget afterthought. It should be the base that supports everything else.

The issue isn’t whether China poses a serious threat. The answer couldn’t be clearer. The issue is whether America will act before vague vulnerabilities become lurid disasters. There is still time to secure essential systems and reduce exposure across all domains. But the clock is ticking, and Beijing is plotting. America remains a superpower. It still stands tall, but China is working toward a moment when only one giant casts a shadow.

​Tech 

No matter how innocent a video game may seem, there’s usually some political agenda hidden for your kids to find — and Minecraft is no different.

“Minecraft just announced ‘Lessons in Good Trouble’ … DLC downloadable content for Black History Month,” BlazeTV host Sara Gonzales explains. “And so they said that they wanted to inspire their young players to change the world.”

In a post on X, the company wrote, “Want to change the world IRL? Start in Minecraft. In the free Good Trouble DLC, explore global civil rights movements, meet change-makers, and learn how to stand up, speak out, and build a better world.”

“You just don’t have to inject politics. Like, I’m not asking for my player to wear a MAGA hat. I’m just saying, like, can we just have one escape for our kids that is not taken over by left-wing indoctrinators? Can we just have one outlet?” Gonzales asks.

In the trailer for the game, Minecraft shows players walking with civil rights leaders like Rosa Parks and holding up protest signs.

The Good Trouble game has eight lessons that include India’s independence movement, U.S. civil rights, women’s suffrage, Black Lives Matter, South Africa and apartheid, working toward quality education for girls, understanding the identity of Martin Luther King Jr., and a lesson called “The I in Identity.”

“The I in Identity” includes key terms like race, ethnicity, gender, and social construct.

“Remember they said it’s free actually. They knew no one’s going to pay for this s**t, it’s not actually something we care to make money off of. We’re just trying to indoctrinate them,” Gonzales says.

And it’s not just Minecraft.

“Roblox is terrible. Don’t let your kids on it … they’re doing it within the game … they are now having virtual anti-ICE protests in Roblox,” Gonzales says, pointing out that last summer, Roblox was heavily pushing protests where the protesters were carrying Mexican flags.

“You can’t teach your kid patriotism anymore. You got to teach them how to riot in the streets,” she adds.

Want more from Sara Gonzales?

To enjoy more of Sara’s no-holds-barred takes on news and culture, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

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A California-based, unmarried Chinese couple is under scrutiny for allegedly running a massive surrogacy fraud operation that deceived potentially dozens of American women and placed 21 young children in questionable circumstances.

Guojun Xuan, 65, and his partner, Silvia Zhang, 38, were arrested on suspicion of child abuse in May, then released on bond pending further investigation, NBC News reported. Their brief arrests were sparked by hospital staff’s reports of child abuse after their 2-month-old son sustained traumatic head injuries.

‘What you did — and what you continue to do by staying silent — is foul, reckless, and cruel.’

Video evidence obtained by the Arcadia Police Department allegedly revealed that the children in Xuan and Zhang’s care “were subjected to physical and emotional abuse” by nannies, abuse that authorities suspected the couple knew “was occurring and let … happen.” The footage allegedly showed a 56-year-old nanny violently shaking and striking the 2-month-old child.

Authorities found 15 children in Xuan and Zhang’s nine-bedroom home and another six children staying with the couple’s friends. The 21 children, who ranged from 2 months to 13 years old, were placed and remain in foster care.

It is unclear how many children were born through surrogacy. The couple is believed to have one child together naturally, and Xuan is believed to be the biological father of a 13-year-old daughter.

Surrogate mothers claimed they were told the couple had either no children or only one child and were seeking surrogates after failed in vitro fertilization attempts. They also alleged that they were not made aware that Xuan and Zhang controlled the surrogacy agency representing them.

RELATED: The sad truth behind Meghan Trainor’s surrogacy story

Guojun Xuan and Silvia Zhang’s home. Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

Surrogates told the Wall Street Journal in August that they had been in contact with federal agents, who informed them they were investigating whether the couple was selling children.

“We never sell our babies,” Zhang told the WSJ. “We take care of them very well.”

Several surrogate mothers are fighting for custody of the children they carried for the couple. Xuan and Zhang have filed lawsuits against at least two surrogates who ended contact with them before giving birth last fall, claiming a breach of contract.

Kayla Elliott, a surrogate mother, told NBC News in July that she was led to believe she was helping a couple struggling to conceive and was unaware that they had many other children. Elliott is fighting to obtain custody of the child, telling NewsNation that she suspects “there’s some type of trafficking going on.”

Tronderrica James, 30, another surrogate, filed a lawsuit against the couple, arguing that they gave misleading and false information about their intentions.

James stated that she was contacted by an individual named Jasmine in 2023, who described the couple as “longing for their miracle baby,” according to court documents. Jasmine allegedly claimed the couple could not speak with James directly because of “a language barrier.”

In an email to Xuan and Zhang, James wrote, “You gambled with my life. You gambled with the life of a child. You misled me, misrepresented your role, and may have broken multiple state and federal laws in the process — and you still haven’t had the decency to provide a single truthful explanation.”

“What you did — and what you continue to do by staying silent — is foul, reckless, and cruel,” James stated.

Xuan and Zhang reportedly remain under investigation. No criminal charges have been filed.

In the past six months, the couple has had another five babies born to surrogate mothers, the New York Post reported.

RELATED: ’50 high-quality sons’: Chinese men are siring US citizen ‘mega-families’ via surrogacy: Report

Photo by CHRISTOPHE ARCHAMBAULT/AFP via Getty Images

Xuan and Zhang have denied any wrongdoing, claiming that they just wanted to have a large family.

The Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office told Blaze News that the matter remains under review by the Arcadia Police Department.

The FBI declined comment.

Xuan, Zhang, James, and the Arcadia Police Department did not respond to a request for comment.

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​News, Chinese nationals, California, Arcadia police department, Los angeles district attorney’s office, Los angeles district attorney, Guojun xuan, Silvia zhang, Surrogacy, Surrogacy fraud, Child abuse, Child endangerment, Politics 

Last week, Democrats flipped a formerly red county blue in a special election in Texas Senate District 9, which covers part of Fort Worth and the neighboring suburbs of Keller and North Richland Hills. Taylor Rehmet, a young machinist with no political experience, beat Republican Leigh Wambsganss by more than 14 points.

Political commentator Bill King flagged the scale of the shift. He noted that Republican Kelly Hancock won the seat by 20 points in 2022 and that Donald Trump beat Kamala Harris in the district by 17 points in 2024. A loss like this should worry Republicans heading into the midterms later this year.

In Texas and other red states, Republicans need to meet voters where they live.

So, what happened?

Some Republicans blame turnout. They argue the county hasn’t turned left; Democrats simply showed up and Republicans stayed home. On that theory, the result reflects motivation, not the district’s real preferences.

That explanation doesn’t hold.

A Republican candidate has the same opportunity to motivate voters as a Democrat. In a district with a large conservative majority, the Republican should enjoy a built-in advantage. She needs only a fraction of her base to turn out. The Democrat needs near-perfect performance from his side.

King also argues the result fits a broader trend. He says the numbers match polling over the last year and signal growing negativity toward Texas’ Republican leadership. Low turnout didn’t create the result so much as reveal it.

Rehmet’s win still doesn’t guarantee Democrats will take over Texas. But it does show a tactic that keeps working: Democrats run as generic moderates, keep the party label in the background, and dare Republicans to make the race about cultural signaling instead of daily life.

As writer Bill Scher noted in Washington Monthly, Rehmet didn’t “wrap himself in a Democratic flag.” Much like his counterparts in Virginia and New Jersey, he leaned on military service and blue-collar credibility. That presentation persuaded enough voters.

RELATED: This is what happens when a state elects a ‘moderate’ Democrat

Kendall Warner/The Virginian-Pilot/Tribune News Service via Getty Images

That strategy works in the short term. It doesn’t last.

If and when he’s seated, Rehmet will vote as a Democrat. He will support open borders, softer law enforcement, higher spending, expanded abortion access, and the full suite of progressive social priorities. At best, he will block conservative reforms. At worst, he will push the same policies that Texans have seen wreck other places.

Voters in Tarrant County will learn the hard way what “affordability” talk usually delivers under Democratic rule: higher taxes, fewer opportunities, rising crime, and sanctimonious lectures about “reproductive rights,” all while public services strain under the load.

So, what does this election signal?

More Democrats will copy the Rehmet template. They will present themselves as normal, moderate, and practical. They will try to bait Republicans into fighting on secondary culture-war terrain instead of hammering a concrete agenda on costs, housing, and public safety. Wambsganss fell into that trap.

RELATED: Democrats are running as Bush-era Republicans — and winning

Photo by Reginald Mathalone/NurPhoto via Getty Images

In Texas and other red states, Republicans need to meet voters where they live. Prices keep climbing, and housing tops the list. I live in this part of the state and see the pressure every day.

Massive in-migration from other states (particularly California and Illinois), along with continued inflows from abroad (especially from South Asia), has driven up prices and changed the character of communities fast. Many newcomers are decent people. The economic effect still hits hard: higher rents, higher home prices, heavier traffic, and more strain on schools, roads, and emergency services. Property taxes keep rising to cover it.

Republicans should say that plainly, then offer an agenda that meets the moment. They should outline feasible steps to lower costs, expand housing supply where it makes sense, reduce regulatory friction, and protect public safety.

They should also draw the contrast without flailing: Democratic governance has turned too many prosperous places into expensive, dysfunctional messes. Texans don’t need to import that model.

Voters in red states also need to stop falling for the same performance. Democrats haven’t changed. They’ve changed the packaging.

They will do to the Lone Star State what they did to the Golden State. They will do to Dallas-Forth Worth what their allies have done to New York City. Texans should treat this moment as a warning, not a fluke: Stay alert, see through the ruse, and vote like it matters — because it does.

​Texas, Texas senate district 9, Texas senate, Gop, Democrats, Tarrant county, Taylor rehmet, Affordability, Opinion & analysis, 2026 midterms, Republicans, Donald trump 

Police are trying to determine how a mother of four children was found dismembered in the basement of a public housing building after she went out for a night on the town.

Michelle Montgomery, 39, left her home in Brooklyn on Saturday to have fun with her friends, according to Anthony Echevarria, who is described as her life partner and father of the youngest of the four children.

‘We will get justice. … I promise that.’

Montgomery’s sister said she got a strange call from the woman at about 10 p.m. that evening. She said she heard music in the background, but the call cut off after only one second. She wasn’t sure if her sister had intended to call her.

About an hour later, Montgomery posted a video on TikTok of herself dancing with two people at a local restaurant.

The next morning at about 9:30 a.m., a janitor at the Boriqunen Public Houses in Bushwick discovered her remains in the trash disposal area. WABC-TV reported that New York City Housing Authority workers found a trash bag that was suspiciously heavy in the basement.

When they looked inside, they found human remains in pieces.

Neighbors who lived in the building said they were shocked, and one reported hearing the workers screaming after making the discovery.

A medical examiner has not yet released the cause of death for Montgomery.

Echevarria told WABC that the family is devastated by the loss and the manner in which the woman’s remains were found.

“I wasn’t believing it at first. It was hard. I mean, I broke down because I couldn’t, I still can’t believe it. Still,” he said.

“So extreme. Like, I don’t even know how she ended up over there in a building, nevertheless in a (expletive) garbage bag. Mad extreme,” he continued.

RELATED: California couple ran over man until he was pinned under truck wheel, then pepper-sprayed him, police say

A close friend of Montgomery’s looked at the last video she posted and said she didn’t recognize the people Montgomery was dancing with.

Echevarria said she had been an exceptional mother to their children and had provided for their every need.

“We will get justice,” he added. “I promise that.”

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​Michelle montgomery, Anthony echevarria, Brooklyn mom dismembered, Nyc basement murder, Crime 

Until Saturday night, Texas Senate District 9 had been represented by a Republican for over 30 years. In 2022, Kelly Hancock won the seat by 20 points. Last November, Donald Trump beat Kamala Harris in the district by 17 points. So when Hancock stepped down to accept the appointment as controller, Republicans had little reason to think the seat would be in jeopardy.

But on Saturday, Democrat Taylor Rehmet trounced his Republican opponent by over 14 points — a 31-point swing since the 2024 election. The results have sent shock waves through the Texas Republican establishment.

For the last two decades, Republican leaders have governed the state to satisfy their base — pandering to the issues important to those voters and ignoring what most Texans wanted.

Some Republican pundits have discounted the results because it was a special election with a very low turnout. It is certainly true that the turnout in Saturday’s election was much lower than last November (15% versus 64%). But the results are consistent with polling over the last year, signaling that Texans have been turning increasingly negative on the Republican leadership of the state.

Over the last year, the University of Texas Polling Project has conducted seven polls asking voters whether they approved or disapproved of the job various state leaders were doing. Trump and all statewide Republican leaders began the year with positive approval ratings. By the end of the year, all were in negative territory. The average move downward was 24 points.

The crosstabs in the polls show that the groups who have turned most negative are independents, Latinos, and young people. Of course, there is considerable overlap between these because Latinos and young people eschew both parties at higher rates than other groups. Nonetheless, the moves within these groups in 2025 were breathtaking.

Even more startling is that Trump’s approval rating with Republicans dropped by 17 points (from 88% to 71%) — and this was before the debacle that has played out in Minnesota or his threat to invade Greenland. One political operative I spoke with, who closely followed the Tarrant County race, estimated that 15%-20% of Republicans voted for the Democrat candidate.

RELATED: Conservatives can’t barbecue their way through national collapse

Blaze Media Illustration

I think the poll’s questions on what issues Texas voters are most concerned about are telling. The issues garnering the most response were “political corruption/leadership” (18%), inflation (16%), and the economy (14%). Another 67% said they were very concerned about the cost of health care. Two-thirds of Texans believe that Trump’s tariffs are leading to higher prices. Texans also disapprove of state leaders’ handling of abortion (-17), regulation of marijuana/THC (-20), and public education (-23).

Let me tell you what was not on the list at all: the danger that Sharia law would take over the state.

For the last two decades, Republican leaders have governed the state to satisfy their base — pandering to the issues important to those voters and ignoring what most Texans wanted. That was largely because independents, even though they frequently disagreed with the positions state leaders were taking, found Democrat candidates even farther outside their comfort zone.

But the Tarrant County results and the polling trends over the last year suggest Republican leaders may have gone so far that independents now view Democrats as the lesser of the two evils.

Editor’s note: This article was originally published by RealClearPolitics and made available via RealClearWire.

​Texas, Texas senate district 9, Texas senate, Gop, Democrats, Taylor rehmet, Tarrant county, Cost of living, Affordability, Tariffs, Opinion & analysis, Blue wave, 2026 midterms, Donald trump 

America is navigating a moment of intense polarization. Widespread civil unrest over federal immigration enforcement, deepening distrust in institutions, and a sharp surge in gold prices have much of the nation steeped in economic and institutional anxiety.

Many Americans are fretfully asking the question: What’s next for our country?

News outlets, influencers, and podcasters are all answering that inquiry differently using various metrics, opinions, and filters, but Glenn Beck’s prediction comes from none other than history itself.

And when he holds the current state of the nation up against historical patterns, he sees it all — the good, the bad, and the ugly.

“If we were an early warning system, there would be some lights on the panel that are flashing today. Some would be red, some would be yellow, and some would actually be green,” he says.

On this episode of “The Glenn Beck Program,” Glenn delivers an honest reading of America’s dashboard and predicts what comes next.

Red lights

1: “Loss of nuance”

This light is “blinking really hard,” Glenn warns.

He points to the dialogue surrounding the death of Alex Pretti — the 37-year-old U.S. citizen fatally shot by federal agents on January 24 in Minneapolis during an anti-ICE protest — as the best current example of America’s lack of nuanced conversations.

“A healthy society can hold two ideas at the same time. An unstable society cannot do that,” Glenn says. “And right now, we’re losing the ability to say somebody can be really guilty and a bad guy and mistreated; law enforcement can be necessary, needed, doing their job, and fallible; protests can be legitimate and infiltrated by insurrectionists.”

“Those things are all true, but America can’t see that anymore,” he laments. “When everything collapses into all good or all evil, there is no moral clarity anymore.”

2: “Faction over truth”

Truth, Glenn contends, is “meant to be argued about, wrestled with, thought about,” but in America today, truth has become about which team you’re on.

“Facts no longer persuade. All they do now is signal allegiance,” he says, calling it “a late-stage indicator” of America’s path to collapse.

“Once truth bends to faction, power then replaces persuasion every time in every civilization in all of history.”

3: “Organized disorder”

Glenn differentiates “organized disorder” — the coordinated, professionally funded, strategically disruptive actions that go beyond peaceful expression — from constitutionally protected protests.

“You have a right to protest the law. … You have a right to go protest the people who make the law to get them to change the law. You have a right to go and stand peacefully and protest the cops, if that’s what you want, or ICE,” he explains, “but you do not have the right to engage and disrupt the law.”

But unfortunately, that’s exactly what’s happening in Minneapolis right now. Many demonstrations involve breaking the law and physically engaging with law enforcement. And the scariest part is that these kinds of protests are rarely grassroots. They’re professionally organized and well-funded thanks to deep-pocketed donors who aim to collapse the country from within.

“When unrest becomes coordinated, when it becomes professionally funded, strategically disruptive, and shielded by moral confusion, … that’s no longer a spontaneous civic expression,” Glenn explains.

What we’re seeing on the streets of Minneapolis is intentional “internal destabilization,” and it’s a flashing red light that America is catapulting toward its demise.

Yellow lights

1: “Currency confidence”

Glenn calls the skyrocketing price of gold a yellow light because it’s “serious” but “not fatal at this point.”

“The way gold is rising — it’s not a collapse announcement. It is a stress gauge,” he says, noting that gold has recently been “trading at as high as $5,600 an ounce.”

Gold reflects “trust or the lack of it,” and the fact that people are buying it up, even at exorbitant amounts, indicates their uncertainty in certain “promises.”

“What promises are those?” Glenn asks. “Promises of, we’re a stable society; we are not going to spend ourself into oblivion; that our government and our Congress gets it, and they’re going to stop spending so much and borrowing so much.”

The people buying up gold right now “know things are beginning to get really dicey. It’s a yellow light, and it is trending hotter every day,” he warns.

2: “Debt saturation”

“Debt isn’t immoral, but debt that can’t be discussed honestly and paid back is immoral — and it’s dangerous,” Glenn says.

This is the predicament America finds itself in. We’re no longer asking, “How are we going to pay this bill?” but instead, “Who bears the burden of this bill?”

“That’s when debt becomes corrosive and deadly,” Glenn cautions. “And we’re not Rome yet, but this gauge is rising.”

3: “Institutional distrust”

“Skepticism,” Glenn argues, is good and necessary. The five rights listed in the First Amendment — freedom of speech, religion, assembly, the press, and petition — are proof that “skepticism is our first amendment.”

Distrust, however, is “paralyzing,” he declares. “When people believe the courts are illegitimate, … if they believe elections are meaningless, law enforcement is either sacred and can make no mistakes or evil and can do no good, the system loses its elasticity.”

This light, he warns, is “getting deeper yellow.”

Green lights

1: “We’re still arguing about right and wrong.”

Glenn celebrates that public debates are still normal.

“Collapsing societies stop arguing about morality. They argue only about power, and we’re still arguing about justice and what it means — limits, rights, responsibility,” he says. “That’s not decay. That’s conscience. It’s still alive.”

2: “The Constitution still exists, and it’s still being cited.”

It’s a very good sign that the majority is still cognizant of and concerned about upholding the Constitution.

“It’s getting a little sketchy,” Glenn acknowledges, “but we’re still arguing it, and that tells you something powerful: People still believe rules matter, even when they break them.”

For now, this light is “green, but it’s fragile.”

3: Warnings are still being issued on both sides.

In a nation on the verge of collapse, the warnings go silent.

“I’m able to get on the air and speak to you about these warnings. MSNBC is able to get on the air and speak to you about what they see as warning signs,” Glenn celebrates.

Before its historic collapse, Rome “silenced its warnings,” he recalls. “We are today still able to have them on the air legally — both sides.”

“That alone means this system is not finished.”

For those who look at the red and yellow lights and see inevitable ruination, Glenn has an encouraging message: “Red lights do not mean doom. They mean choice. … Civilizations don’t collapse because warnings exist; they collapse because warnings are mocked, politicized, or ignored. So the question is not, ‘Are we Rome?’ The question is, “Will we do what Rome didn’t do and respond to the warning signs while the lights are still on?”’

To hear more of Glenn’s analysis, watch the video above.

Want more from Glenn Beck?

To enjoy more of Glenn’s masterful storytelling, thought-provoking analysis, and uncanny ability to make sense of the chaos, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

​The glenn beck program, Glenn beck, Blazetv, Blaze media, Minneapolis, Gold prices, National collapse, Civil unrest, Civil war 

Former Chief of Defence Staff Gen. Wayne Eyre (Ret.) suggested Monday that Canada can only be a truly sovereign nation if it possesses nuclear weapons.

The declaration might ordinarily be dismissed as the reckless words of a retired soldier nostalgic for the day-to-day military operations he once commanded. But Eyre was the highest-ranking member of the Canadian armed forces, a position roughly equivalent to chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in the United States.

The suggestion that Canada should pursue nuclear weapons amounts to a massive repudiation of its defense relationship with the United States, its closest ally.

Eyre made the comments at a conference hosted by the Conference of Defense Associations Institute, an organization largely run by former generals and admirals that lobbies the government for increased defense procurement spending.

“I would argue that we will never have true strategic independence absent our own nuclear deterrent,” he told the event, according to the Globe and Mail. Minister of National Defense David McGuinty was quick to reiterate the Canadian government’s long-standing commitment to nuclear non-proliferation, emphasizing that Canada should remain a purely conventional power operating within the nuclear capabilities of NATO and NORAD.

Nuclear ‘options’

But Eyre appears to be operating from his own defense doctrine.

“Here in Canada, let’s keep our options open,” he said.

“We’ve got a good nuclear enterprise here,” he added. “If conditions change, we’ve got the civilian infrastructure. We’ve got the scientists.”

Eyre’s remarks have not drawn any response from the U.S. military or from War Secretary Pete Hegseth. But the suggestion that Canada should pursue nuclear weapons amounts to a massive repudiation of its defense relationship with the United States, its closest ally.

Although Canada contributed scientists and researchers to the Manhattan Project that produced the first atomic bomb, it did not develop its own nuclear arsenal during the Cold War, choosing instead to remain under the American nuclear umbrella.

While Eyre’s cavalier attitude toward nuclear weapons may evoke comparisons to the right-wing hawks lampooned in Stanley Kubrick’s “Dr. Strangelove,” Eyre was, in practice, a viscerally woke military leader. He was appointed by former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and appeared to draw inspiration from Trudeau’s ideological priorities.

RELATED: FREE ALBERTA! Nod from US energizes Canada sovereignty movement

Win McNamee/Getty Images

Dressing down

Under Eyre’s leadership, the CAF strictly adhered to DEI policies that produced some of the most liberal dress and deportment standards of any modern military. Mandatory haircuts were eliminated. Both men and women were permitted to grow their hair to any length, dye it any color, and wear nail polish. Uniform requirements were loosened to the point that the “dress of the day” could effectively be whatever a service member chose.

Public backlash followed. So many objections were posted to the CDS’ X account that Eyre shut down the comments section entirely.

“In recent months, we observed a concerning increase in malicious and misinformative engagements that proved detrimental to the Canadian Armed Forces’ ethics, values, and communication objectives,” National Defence spokesperson Andrée-Anne Poulin explained in an email. “Considering this, we made the decision back in January to close the comments section on the CDS X account.”

Bombs away

What many Canadians may not realize is that three Canadian military bases hosted nuclear weapons owned by the United States Air Force between roughly 1965 and 1984. Air Force wings at Comox, B.C., and Bagotville, Que., had access to American Genie missiles that could be loaded onto CF-101 Voodoo fighter jets operated by the CAF.

Yet unlike today’s tendency among politicians such as British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron to speak about war with Russia as though it would not risk catastrophic nuclear consequences, Cold War-era military and political leadership largely agreed on one essential point: A nuclear conflict would be unwinnable for all sides and therefore had to remain unthinkable.

​Canada, Culture, Nuclear weapons, Dr. strangelove, General wayne eyre, Woke, Wokeness, Letter from canada 

A Dallas nonprofit organization is under fire after a local news investigation found evidence that they were taking money while failing to provide the meals they promised to students.

The board of the Hunger Busters organization called for the resignation of CEO Latame Phillips after KTVT-TV reports documented that many schools hadn’t even heard of the group.

‘I look at the kids that we serve, and they remind me of myself.’

Hunger Busters has been in operation for 25 years in West Dallas and said its mission was to provide meals for “food-insecure” students in the Dallas Independent School District.

The organization has had many notable figures on its board and ran numerous charity events to raise money for the cause. The trouble appeared to begin in 2023 when Phillips became the CEO after starting as a delivery driver at the nonprofit.

He said at the time that they fed about 3,500 students on a daily basis.

“I look at the kids that we serve, and they remind me of myself,” Phillips claimed.

In 2024, he applied for a grant through the Tyler Street Foundation to buy a van for the nonprofit. The foundation president said the organization was thrilled to help, when it was bombarded with another request claiming the nonprofit needed emergency funds to purchase the property it operated from.

The foundation gave Hunger Busters $116,200 to make both purchases.

When they took a photo with the new van, the foundation president got suspicious.

“There was just a magnetic sign stuck on it that said ‘Tyler Street Foundation supports Hunger Busters.’ We really began to be curious. There was just something about that day that seemed off,” Vivian Skinner said.

She said they found out the van was a rental and the group had provided fake documentation. Then they found that Hunger Busters had not purchased the property either.

The Tyler Street Foundation has filed a lawsuit against Hunger Busters.

The investigative team found that there was little to no activity at the group’s property related to the mission and that none of the schools it served had received any food for a year. Some of the schools reported their last delivery to have been longer than a year ago.

RELATED: $500 million in SNAP funds is reportedly spent on fast food because of state program

Phillips denied the allegations and said the organization had changed its mission to support “churches, community-based organizations, and partner nonprofits,” but refused to provide names of those organizations.

The board has since said that it has “unanimously approved an independent forensic accounting investigation” and plans on “restructuring the organization to strengthen financial oversight, operation, and internal controls.”

The organization’s website has been shut down, as well as its Instagram and Facebook accounts.

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​Hunger busters scam, Hunger busters lawsuit, Non profit scams, Latame phillips, Politics 

Former President Bill Clinton excoriated Republicans’ demands to have him and Hillary Clinton testify about Jeffrey Epstein and called for a public hearing instead.

Clinton wrote in an angry screed on social media Wednesday that Republican Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer of Kentucky asked them to appear at a closed-door hearing.

‘Who benefits from this arrangement? It’s not Epstein’s victims, who deserve justice. Not the public, who deserve the truth.’

“I have called for the full release of the Epstein files. I have provided a sworn statement of what I know. And just this week, I’ve agreed to appear in person before the committee. But it’s still not enough for Republicans on the House Oversight Committee,” Clinton wrote.

The Clintons agreed to testify after Congress found them both in contempt for refusing to produce documents related to the billionaire pedophile.

“Now, Chairman Comer says he wants cameras, but only behind closed doors. Who benefits from this arrangement? It’s not Epstein’s victims, who deserve justice. Not the public, who deserve the truth. It serves only partisan interests. This is not fact-finding, it’s pure politics,” he added.

“I will not sit idly as they use me as a prop in a closed-door kangaroo court by a Republican Party running scared,” Clinton concluded. “If they want answers, let’s stop the games & do this the right way: in a public hearing, where the American people can see for themselves what this is really about.”

Hillary Clinton made a similar statement on Thursday.

“For six months, we engaged Republicans on the Oversight Committee in good faith. We told them what we know, under oath. They ignored all of it. They moved the goalposts and turned accountability into an exercise in distraction,” she wrote.

RELATED: ‘Completely false’: Bill Gates fires back after Russian prostitute-STD accusation released in Epstein files

“You love to talk about transparency. There’s nothing more transparent than a public hearing, cameras on. We will be there,” she added.

While the feud between the Clintons and Republicans escalated, millions of pages from the Epstein files were released by the government at the end of January, including thousands of images and video recordings.

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​Bill and hillary clinton, Jeffrey epstein testimony, Epstein public hearing, Clintons vs comer, Politics 

While BlazeTV host Sara Gonzales wonders whether or not steps will be taken to address the alleged widespread Somali fraud, one congressman is taking action to stop future abuse.

“While we are talking about whether or not Somalians who committed unprecedented amounts of fraud will ever actually be held accountable, there is a warrior in Congress taking action to prevent more of it from happening,” Gonzales says on “Sara Gonzales Unfiltered.”

That warrior is Rep. Brandon Gill (R-Texas), who is introducing legislation that would set a 25-year moratorium on Somalis migrating to the United States.

“He has been warning for a while about number one, the fact that they refuse to assimilate, which like, you cannot have a cohesive country when you are importing a bunch of immigrants from a third-world country who refuse to assimilate to your first-world values,” Gonzales explains.

“That can’t happen. You can’t have that. That’s not a country that you want, because that’s not a country that functions … he’s also been warning about the abuse of our welfare benefits because as it turns out, you guys are going to be shocked to hear this,” she continues.

“As it turns out, when you import people from the third world who have absolutely no marketable skills, no education. … They don’t know how to do anything that pays good money or contributes to our economy. All they do is siphon out more of your taxpayer dollars by way of welfare benefits,” she adds.

And in a recent House Oversight Hearing on the Minnesota fraud, Gill brought this concern up.

“Does large-scale Somali immigration make Minnesota stronger or weaker?” Gill asked Democrats’ witness Brendan Ballou, former special counsel at the DOJ.

“Certainly stronger,” Ballou replied.

“Certainly stronger,” Gill repeated, before asking, “Do you know what percentage of Somali-headed households in Minnesota are on food stamps?”

“No,” Ballou replied.

“54%,” Gill explained. “Do you know what that number is for native Minnesota-headed households?”

When Ballou tried to deflect without answering, Gill cut him off and said, “It’s 7%.”

Gill went down the list, telling Ballou that the amount of Somali-headed households on Medicaid is 73%, while native Minnesota households were 18% — and even more concerning, the amount of Somali-headed households on welfare in general is 81%.

“Somalians are contributing nothing to our society except fraud and abuse and siphoning off your taxpayer dollars,” Gonzales comments. “And I don’t recall voting to bring a bunch of third worlders into my country to use my tax dollars to go out there and create fake day cares and siphon in the millions.”

“I didn’t actually vote for that. I don’t think you did either,” she continues, asking, “So why should we continue to allow this?”

Want more from Sara Gonzales?

To enjoy more of Sara’s no-holds-barred takes on news and culture, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

​Blaze media, Blaze news, Blaze online, Blaze originals, Blaze podcast network, Blaze podcasts, Blazetv, Camera phone, Congressman brandon gil, Free, Minnesota, Minnesota fraud, Sara gonzales, Sara gonzales unfiltered, Sharing, Somalian fraud, Somalians, The blaze, Upload, Video, Video phone, Youtube.com 

Mariah Carey and a tribute to disco are hardly controversial.

For the 2026 Winter Games, the Olympics kept political messaging to a minimum, save for a couple of small segments.

‘Harmony between beauty and creativity.’

The games, which are taking place in Milan and Cortina, Italy, held two parades for the opening ceremonies. Athletes came from the mountains, where they will compete in Cortina, down to the town square to celebrate, while fans packed the San Siro Olympic Stadium in Milan to watch the ceremonial performances.

The ceremony opened with a montage video featuring skiers, a woman making a bowl of pasta, cappuccinos, families on a mountain, Italian sports cars, and more.

According to NBC’s commentary team, the ceremony that followed was meant to represent “harmony between beauty and creativity.”

This featured dancers dressed as angels performing a lot of interpretive movements, which was a recurring theme throughout the near-hour-long event. There were mascots serving as an ode to Italian composers, giant paint tubes, and even a segment dedicated to disco dancing.

After Mariah Carey sang in Italian, a few of the more contentious elements of the ceremony appeared.

First, a very diverse cast of fans arrived at the stadium on a train before Armani-clad models in Italian colors delivered the Italian flag to the podium. Then, an “all-female honor guard,” which NBC noted was the first of its kind for the Olympics, raised the flag.

RELATED: Baphomet, drag queens, and the Olympics’ satanic symbolism

Photo by Matthias Hangst/Getty Images

What seemingly caused the most disagreement was the Olympic committee using giant rings to represent harmony between dueling ideals, which then turned into the Olympic rings. Fans pointed out on X that this was similar to London‘s use of the rings in 2012.

“Bit of a London copy of 2012,” one viewer wrote.

“Copying the [Brits] I see! Nothing will top 2012 opening and closing ceremonies,” another person reacted.

Overall, the general lack of divisive messaging in the ceremony was appreciated by viewers, with one applauding the organizers. “Italy. No woke garbage.”

The 2024 Paris Olympics’ opening ceremony sparked worldwide controversy, however, particularly with Christians. The ceremony mocked the Bible’s Last Supper with a “drag queen Last Supper,” replacing Jesus and his apostles with a cast of disturbing characters, including an obese woman in the place of Jesus.

A nearly nude male, painted blue, appeared as Dionysus, the god of winemaking, vegetation, fertility, and ecstasy.

The strange events were also coupled with a drag queen carrying the Olympic torch before the games started.

RELATED: Russell Brand explores what was revealed by the Olympics’ symbolic attack on Christianity

Photo by Andreas Rentz/Getty Images

In 2026, rapper Snoop Dogg, who is a part of the NBC Olympics crew, wore a special Italian Olympic chain. This is noteworthy because in 2024, the musician was accused of wearing a chain that some alleged was a representation of Baphomet. Baphomet is a pagan god adopted as a symbol for the Satanic Temple.

Snoop rejected the idea, saying he had it made because “somebody told me I was the GOAT, so I wanted to make me a goat chain.”

This time around, Snoop focused on celebrating the Jamaican bobsled team, which is drawing comparisons to the 1993 film “Cool Runnings.”

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A 16-year-old girl said in a video interview that that she fought the adult male with a MAGA hat at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement protest in Texas earlier this week, calling him “old” and “racist” while excusing fellow teen brawlers.

“I didn’t think it was going to escalate this far,” Alissa, a student at Moe & Gene Johnson High School in Buda, told KEYE-TV. “I didn’t think that he was going to be capable to even think to hit a minor. I didn’t think he was actually going to get out of his vehicle. So in the moment I reacted.”

‘I’m not gonna let, like, [an] old man, a racist man, like, say something to a minor.’

Alissa told the station she saw another female juvenile kick the man’s truck amid a verbal argument between them Monday afternoon.

“She kicks the truck. She just kicks the truck one time, and that’s it,” Alissa added to KEYE. “That’s the moment that he got mad. He reached for his door. He decides to get off the vehicle and starts to come straight to the girl and starts to attack her.”

She also told the station that “he should have known better. He’s an adult. He could have just easily let the girl hit the car, park to the side, call the police, and call it a day. He decided to get out of the car and do what he did.”

Alissa added to KEYE that cellphone video another student recorded shows the moment she intervened.

“He kind of got on top of her and started to hit the girl. In that moment, I reacted. I went and I pulled the guy off, and that’s when I hit him,” she recalled to the station. “Everybody comes and attacks him, and it escalates from there.”

Alissa in her interview with KEYE excused the actions of her fellow teens.

RELATED: Video: All-out brawl erupts between adult male with MAGA hat and more than a dozen apparent HS students at ICE protest

“It’s teenagers,” she argued to the station. “How was he not going to expect teenagers to act like teenagers? Like, if they have the moment to attack a guy, and they’re doing a protest … like, obviously those kids are gonna take the time out of their day to come defend the girls.”

Alissa added to KEYE, “Like, it’s a girl. Like, he should have known better, like, not to put his hands on girls, first of all, and he should have known that it’s a minor; he should have known that these are kids doing a protest.”

She also told the station, “I’m not gonna let, like, [an] old man, a racist man, like, say something to a minor.” The reporter interviewing Alissa didn’t ask her to clarify why she called the man a racist.

Alissa’s father told KEYE he was furious when Alissa told him the man grabbed her by her hair.

RELATED: Cops drop new detail about what led to all-out brawl between adult male with MAGA hat, apparent HS students at ICE protest

“I was really, really mad,” Jose Loredo told the station. “We are grown-ups, you know; we’re not little kids. And him hitting girls, females, you’re not supposed to do that. He could have just left. No reason to pull over and get off his car.”

Buda Police said 45-year-old Chad Michael Watts of Kyle was charged Tuesday with two counts of assault causing bodily injury, which are Class A misdemeanors.

Hays County Jail records indicate Watts was booked into jail Tuesday and released Wednesday on two surety bonds of $2,500 each. Police told KEYE in a separate story that Watts has no previous record of violent offenses.

While police determined that Watts was the primary aggressor, Officer Matt Schima with the Buda Police Department told KEYE in a video interview that police also are looking into possible charges against the juveniles involved in the brawl and that “we want to be thorough in this investigation to make sure that everybody is held accountable that needs to be held accountable.”

KEYE claimed that it had attempted to reach out to Watts for comment but those attempts were unsuccessful.

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A congressional committee has demanded documents related to the suspicious increase in the net worth reported by Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota.

Republicans have publicly aired suspicions of financial malfeasance after financial reporting showed Omar’s net worth exploded from about $51,000 to millions.

‘There is no way such wealth could have been accumulated, legally, while being paid the salary of a politician.’

On Friday, Republican Rep. James Comer of Kentucky posted a letter requesting information from a company partially owned by Omar’s husband, Timothy Mynett.

“There are serious public concerns about how your businesses increased so dramatically in value only a year after reporting very limited assets,” wrote Comer, who is the chairman of the House Oversight Committee.

In May 2025, Omar filed a required congressional financial disclosure that indicated two companies tied to her husband had risen in valuation by at least $5.9 million. The disclosures require only ranges of valuations to be reported, so exact sums are not public.

“There is no way such wealth could have been accumulated, legally, while being paid the salary of a politician,” President Donald Trump said at the time.

Omar said that various investigations into her finances found no discrepancies and added that the valuations did not reflect her husband’s share of the companies.

The letter demanded financial records from a winery and a venture capital management firm, including audited financial statements as well as filings and communications with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

RELATED: Questions linger after man sprays liquid onto Rep. Ilhan Omar during speech on impeachment — hazmat identifies liquid

“I’m demanding financial information from companies linked to Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar’s husband,” Comer wrote on social media. “His companies reportedly went from $51K to $30 MILLION in one year — with zero investor information. So we want to know: Who’s funding this? And who’s buying access?”

The letter set a deadline of Feb. 19 for the documents to be delivered to the committee.

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On January 30, the U.S. Department of Justice dropped over 3 million pages of Epstein-related documents, as mandated by the Epstein Files Transparency Act, signed into law by President Trump in November 2025. This massive data dump includes roughly 2,000 videos and 180,000 images.

These revelations seem to confirm what independent voices like Glenn Beck and Matt Kibbe have warned about for years: a shadowy cabal of insiders wield tremendous power to shape how we think.

As the dust settles around this 2026 bombshell, it’s the perfect time to revisit BlazeTV’s docuseries “The Coverup” — Matt Kibbe’s deep dive into a similar web of corruption: the COVID-19 pandemic.

Months before this latest Epstein file dump, Glenn Beck sat down with Kibbe to dissect the insidious links between COVID mandates, Russiagate hoaxes, and censorship to pinpoint the very same shadowy forces now spotlighted in the Epstein files.

“The same people and the same machine that weaponized the Russiagate story and covered up the Hunter Biden laptop story are the same people in the [COVID-19] apparatus,” Kibbe told Glenn.

With the Epstein files shining new light on long-hidden networks of power and influence, now is the time to watch BlazeTV’s “The Coverup” series. Go to faucicoverup.com to access the full series.

Want more from Glenn Beck?

To enjoy more of Glenn’s masterful storytelling, thought-provoking analysis, and uncanny ability to make sense of the chaos, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

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