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This September marks the 50th anniversary of the Hyde Amendment’s first passage in the House of Representatives — the annual appropriations rider that bars federal funding of elective abortion.

No one should be surprised that Democrats would mark the moment by extending Affordable Care Act subsidies that help enable backdoor abortion funding in blue states. What did surprise pro-lifers was President Donald Trump’s recent declaration that Republicans “have to be a little flexible on Hyde.”

Human lives aren’t negotiable. Neither is the Hyde Amendment.

“We’re all big fans of everything, but you have to have flexibility,” Trump told House Republicans in Washington on Jan. 6. He urged them to “work something” out on health care, a line that seemed to suggest Hyde could become a bargaining chip.

For millions of GOP voters, it cannot.

Just one year ago, the president aligned himself with them. On his fourth day in office, he signed an executive order declaring that “consistent with the Hyde Amendment,” it is the policy of the United States “to end the forced use of Federal taxpayer dollars to fund or promote elective abortion.”

The same president helped overturn Roe v. Wade, restored the Mexico City policy ending funding for overseas abortions, and declared himself the “most pro-life president” in history.

If his position has changed, Americans have the right to know.

The Hyde Amendment is estimated to have saved more than 2.6 million lives over the past five decades. It forbids the use of federal tax dollars for abortions except in cases of rape, incest, or a life-threatening medical emergency.

Yet the abortion lobby found a work-around. Twenty state Medicaid programs cover elective abortions using state funds, and millions of enrollees in those plans receive federal subsidies to help pay their premiums.

In plain terms, federal tax dollars indirectly support abortion in blue states, regardless of Hyde. It’s the same moral and fiscal problem that drove Congress to defund Planned Parenthood in Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act spending package last July. Why cut off one pipeline while leaving another one wide open?

The Jan. 1 expiration of Biden-era enhancements to Obamacare subsidies offered Republicans a chance to close this loophole.

RELATED: ‘Fraud … for abortion’? Vance announces probe into Planned Parenthood’s $88M taxpayer-funded loans at March for Life

Photo by Kyle Mazza/Anadolu via Getty Images

House Republicans, to their credit, tried. In December, they passed H.R. 6703, which would explicitly block federal dollars from helping pay for a Medicaid plan that covers elective abortion. The Congressional Budget Office projects that the bill would lower Obamacare premiums by 11% on average through 2035 — nearly double the estimated reduction in the Democrats’ plan — and shrink the national deficit by $35.6 billion.

Then 17 Republicans defected.

On Jan. 8, they voted with Democrats to force a “clean” three-year extension of Obamacare subsidies with no language protecting taxpayers from subsidizing abortion.

Now the bill moves to the Senate, where negotiations reportedly continue on a bipartisan package. Thankfully, contrary to Trump’s calls for “flexibility,” Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) has signaled that Hyde will remain non-negotiable in any deal.

“We want to ensure that, if we do anything, it’s done in a way that reforms these programs and … ensures that those dollars aren’t being used to go against the practice that’s been in place for the last 50 years around here, when it comes to taxpayer dollars being used to finance abortions,” Thune told reporters on Jan. 6.

The president — and any Republicans tempted to treat Hyde as disposable — should follow Thune’s lead. Trump may have a gift for “the art of the deal,” but the values at the center of the Republican coalition are not bargaining chips.

The GOP has long cast itself as a party of abolitionists, freedom fighters, and defenders of the vulnerable unborn. It should not compromise those claims for short-term political convenience — and become what it says it opposes.

Respectfully, Mr. President, human lives aren’t negotiable. Neither is the Hyde Amendment.

​Opinion & analysis, Abortion, Hyde amendment, Obamacare, Affordable care act, Subsidies, John thune, Donald trump, The art of the deal, Compromise, Pro-life 

Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell of California says employees of Immigration and Customs Enforcement should be “unhirable” in his state in order to oppose deportation efforts.

Swalwell made the comments while being interviewed on CNN, but his comments were posted to social media, where they were widely circulated.

‘If you’re going to work for fascists, forget about working in this state. … So we’re not weak, we have to go on offense.’

“I don’t think anybody likes or wants what ICE is doing right now. We were told the most violent individuals would be deported,” said Swalwell.

“Again, a child, U.S. citizen, battling stage-four cancer, deported,” he added. “Once you shoot a mom in the face three times who has stuffies in her glove compartment and Cheerios, not a weapon, not a knife, you shot her in the face three times, and you claim that you were justified? Forget it! No one asked for this, and ICE as it exists today needs to be completely dismantled.”

Swalwell was referring to the lethal shooting of Renee Good in Minneapolis, but he conveniently failed to include that she had made her vehicle into a weapon when she swerved into an ICE agent.

The other incident he cited was that of a child with kidney cancer who was sent to Honduras when his two parents, both described as “mothers,” were deported. A lawsuit claims the government did not give his parents the option to let the boy stay in the U.S., but the Department of Homeland Security denies the allegation.

Swalwell went on to say that he would ruin ICE agents’ employment opportunities if he were elected governor.

“As governor, I would use the powers of the office. If you’re going to wear a mask as an ICE agent in our state, I will take away your driver’s license. If you work for ICE, you will be unhirable in the state,” Swalwell added.

“If you’re going to work for fascists, forget about working in this state,” he added. “So we are not weak. We have to go on offense. Otherwise the most vulnerable in our communities are on defense, and I urge every governor to start protecting their people in their state that way.”

RELATED: Ocasio-Cortez gets crushed online for her comments about ICE — by outraged liberals

CNN anchor Kasie Hunt pushed back on Swalwell’s claim about “fascist” ICE agents. “Do you think every ICE agent on the streets is a fascist?” she asked, eyebrows briefly furrowed.

In response, Swalwell doubled down, claiming that working for ICE is a “choice.” “No one’s forcing you to do that,” he added.

Swalwell’s announcement to seek the governor’s office in California has been mocked and ridiculed by Republicans. A November 2025 poll showed that only 24% of Californians had a favorable view of the candidate, 23% had an unfavorable view of him, and a majority of 53% were unsure or had not even heard of him.

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​Rep. eric swalwell (d-calif.), Fascist ice workers, Swalwell for governor, Abolish ice, Politics 

Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas took off on a cross-country flight Tuesday bound for the Sunshine State ahead of a bitter snowstorm expected to ravage the nation’s capital.

Washington, D.C., residents are hunkering down for a bitter winter storm this weekend, clearing shelves in grocery aisles and general stores. Meanwhile, Cruz was spotted on a flight bound for Laguna Beach, California, mirroring a similar trip he took in 2021, when Texas endured a devastating winter storm and power outage.

‘You need to start preparing for an intense winter storm.’

“Meteorologists use the Waffle House Index to measure disasters,” one meteorologist quipped. “Texans use the Ted Cruz Index: If he’s on a plane, expect crippling ice, snow or cold.”

Notably, the Senate was out of session this week, and a spokesperson for Cruz maintained that he was on a “pre-planned work travel that was scheduled weeks in advance.”

“He will be back in Texas before the storm is projected to hit.”

RELATED: Glenn Beck’s 2026 DOOMSDAY prediction has ALREADY begun

Photo by Celal Gunes/Anadolu via Getty Images

With an eye on weather forecasts, DMV locals are stocking up on household essentials, prepping at levels not seen since the COVID-19 pandemic. Photos circulating on social media under the hashtag “snowmaggedon” show long lines and grocery shelves cleared of produce and non-perishables while hardware stores report snow essentials like shovels and even sleds flying off the shelves.

Ahead of the brutal forecast, dozens of states have declared a state of emergency, and officials are urging Americans to prep for the winter storm set to bring ice, sleet, snow, and sub-zero wind chills all over the Northeast and Southern Plains.

Southern states like Texas are at the highest risk of record-breaking low temperatures, but any of the affected areas may have to endure days of sub-zero temperatures if their power goes out.

RELATED: Do not pass the plow: The danger of declaring a golden age without repentance

Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Stocking up on batteries, food, water, winter clothing, and blankets, as well as refueling cars, is recommended. Also make sure carbon monoxide alarms are functioning, and never run a gas generator inside a home or garage. Officials are also advising those affected to avoid traveling and to monitor any weather developments over the coming days.

“You need to start preparing for an intense winter storm right now,” Matt Van Swol of North Carolina said in a post on X. “I did not [heed] the warnings of many people before Hurricane Helene and we were caught totally unprepared. Do not make the same mistakes I did. Please start preparing for extreme cold and no power for at least a few days, right now.”

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​Winter storm, Ted cruz, California, Northeast, Covid pandemic, Doomsday preppers, Snowpocalypse, Grocery stores, Grocery aisles, Meteorologist, Prepper, Weather, Southern plains 

When BlazeTV host Sara Gonzales decided to knock on the door of a home that she believes to be committing H-1B fraud, she wasn’t sure what she was going to find. And what she stumbled upon was strange, to say the least.

“The Indian scammers, news alert, they didn’t like it so much,” Gonzales jokes.

In a video of the confrontation, Gonzales is standing on the doorstep asking where the H-1B workers who are working for the company — whose address happens to be a residential home — are, while an Indian man, who appears to be the homeowner, steps outside and threatens to call the cops.

This company is called Qubitz Tech Systems LLC, which has 13 H-1B visas approved.

“Somebody is knocking on my door and then they are like threatening me,” the man said into his phone after dialing 911.

“I’m not threatening you, sir,” Gonzales responded.

And Gonzales is confident that this is just the tip of the iceberg with how much fraud there is going on in America.

This also isn’t the only company that appears to be committing H-1B fraud. 3BEES Technologies is another Texas company Gonzales looked into, which had 27 H-1B visas approved between 2022 and 2025.

When Gonzales went to the address listed for this particular company, she found an empty, under-construction office space with no signs of life.

“We exposed how many people, as it turns out, are creating phony companies, shell companies, so that they can import thousands upon thousands of workers into our country and then come here and suck up all of our resources,” Gonzales says.

“This problem doesn’t exist in a vacuum,” Gonzales says. “There are probably an insane amount of companies who are pulling this off. They’re going completely undetected by the government. Which, my question to the government is, where is USCIS on this matter?”

“If little old me can just go on the government website and pull these addresses and match them up and see if it looks legit, why isn’t the government doing that?” she asks.

“Look around you, look around your communities,” she says, adding, “tell me that this isn’t a much larger issue that’s happening intentionally by using loopholes and gaps in our visa system.”

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.

​Upload, Camera phone, Sharing, Video phone, Free, Video, Youtube.com, Sara gonzales, The blaze, Blazetv, Blaze news, Blaze podcasts, Blaze podcast network, Blaze media, Blaze online, Blaze originals, Blaze original, H-1b fraud, H-1b visas, Immigration, Immigration scams, Immigration crisis, Sara gonzales unfiltered 

Vice President JD Vance attended the 2026 March for Life in Washington, D.C., on Friday, during which he announced that the Trump administration had launched an investigation into Planned Parenthood affiliates.

The crowd began to chant “JD” as Vance stepped onto the stage. He recalled that his first speech as vice president was at last year’s March for Life.

‘You should not be able to commit fraud and use taxpayer money for abortion.’

“Some of you may remember that in my remarks last year, I told you all, one of the things I most wanted in the United States of America was more families and more babies. So, let the record show, you have a vice president who practices what he preaches,” Vance said, referring to the recent announcement that he and second lady Usha Vance are expecting their fourth child.

Vance credited Trump for selecting Supreme Court justices who delivered “the most important Supreme Court decision in my lifetime,” Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.

Vance argued that Trump “shattered a 50-year culture of disposability … that treated human life as expendable the moment that it became inconvenient.”

“He empowered our nation and our movement to build a culture of life from the grassroots up. … Our vision is simple: We want life to thrive in the United States of America,” the vice president continued.

“We’re not trying to argue to the Supreme Court anymore. We are trying to argue to our fellow citizens that we must build up that culture of life,” he added.

RELATED: Nash Keen’s life proves the unborn deserve the law’s protection

Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

Vance pledged that pro-life supporters have an ally in the Trump administration.

The vice president announced that the administration on Thursday launched a fraud investigation into Planned Parenthood affiliates for “millions of dollars” in Paycheck Protection Program loans that were “unlawfully received and unlawfully forgiven by the Biden administration.”

“You should not be able to commit fraud and use taxpayer money for abortion,” Vance remarked.

He also mentioned a “historic” expansion of the Mexico City Policy to block international organizations that promote or perform abortion abroad from receiving taxpayer money.

Ahead of Vance’s speech, the March for Life played recorded remarks from President Donald Trump.

“For 53 years, students, families, patriots, and believers have come to Washington from every corner of the country to defend the infinite worth and God-given dignity of every human life,” Trump told attendees. “Six years ago, I was proud to be the first president in history to attend this march in person. Since then, we have made unprecedented strides to protect innocent life and support the institution of the family like never before — there’s never been anything like it.”

“Under the Trump administration, we’re strongly defending religious liberty. We’re bringing back faith in America. We’re bringing back God,” Trump added.

RELATED: ‘Federal dollars should not pay for abortion, period’: Sen. Cassidy doubles down on Hyde, abortion pill restrictions

Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

A Thursday press release from the Small Business Administration stated that the agency is reviewing more than $88 million in PPP loans provided to Planned Parenthood affiliates. The agency noted that it sent letters to 38 Planned Parenthood organizations requiring documentation proving their eligibility to receive the relief funds.

Melanie Newman, Planned Parenthood’s chief external affairs officer, issued a statement responding to the SBA’s action.

“Planned Parenthood member organizations follow the law — and previous investigations prove it,” Newman stated. “These latest politically motivated intimidation tactics are about the Trump administration finding every possible avenue to shut down Planned Parenthood health centers and make it harder for people to get high-quality health care from their trusted Planned Parenthood provider. That’s it.”

“And that’s what the Trump administration and its allies are focusing on today: shutting down Planned Parenthood health centers. Meanwhile, all across the country, people can’t afford to see a doctor; the hospitals they rely on are closing; even basic groceries are too expensive,” Newman said. “That’s what the Small Business Administration should be working on: making people’s lives better. Instead, they’re hellbent on making them worse.”

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​News, Jd vance, Vance, Trump administration, Trump admin, Donald trump, Trump, March for life, Washington dc, Dc, Pro-life, Abortion, Planned parenthood, Culture of life, Politics 

While video game player demographics are split almost down the middle — 53% male and 47% female — the gap is vastly wider when it comes to esports. Men dominate the category, taking up 95% of the available spots in game tournaments, while women only account for 5%. So what happens when a skilled male player gets paired with a less experienced group of girl gamers with a $12,000 grand prize on the line? Naturally, they kick him off the team in the name of misogyny.

What happened?

On January 18, 2026, streamer Kingsman265 went live on his channel as he met up with several other players in preparation for a Marvel Rivals tournament with a prize pool of $40,000, with $12,000 going to the winning team to be split among four players. As a rank 1 player himself, Kingsman265 had his eyes set on the prize money, which he planned to use to pay his college tuition, and he actually had a solid shot at winning it. However, during a practice match before the tournament, he quickly realized that his teammates were more interested in feminist politics than in winning.

Proof that he knew what he was doing, his warnings were positioned as insults.

The rest of the team was composed of three female players named Cece, Zazzastack, and Luciyasa. Kingsman265 quickly suggested a change to the team’s character lineup, recommending that they run a triple support setup to give their team the best shot at victory. The pushback was immediate, as the female players rejected his warnings, opting to play with characters they were familiar with instead of using a loadout that was more effective, especially in a tournament setting.

Things went downhill from there. Tensions rose at several points throughout the video, with Cece telling him to shut up after he pleaded his case for a triple support setup, even after he explained that they would lose without it. Another teammate told him to “shut the f**k up” after they lost a practice match, a moment that vindicated Kingsman265, as it displayed the team’s vulnerabilities in real time. Then Cece ended with “this is f**king getting annoying” as Kingsman265 continued to urge the team to change their strategy, to no avail.

The team went their separate ways to play ranked games apart for the night. Shortly after, Kingsman265 learned that he was kicked out of the tournament entirely by the organizer, BasimZB, for his allegedly “toxic” behavior. Basim later admitted that he made the wrong decision based on “misinformation” from Cece and her team.

Kingsman265 was ultimately relegated to the sidelines for the Marvel Rivals tournament, leaving him behind to watch his team get knocked out in the first round, proving that his instincts around their character lineup were correct.

The fallout

As the male gamer in this situation, Kingsman265 was made to look like the bad guy. He was unceremoniously kicked out of the tournament due to his “toxicity” in ganging up on three girl gamers as he tried to spur them to victory. Instead of recognition that his skills, knowledge, and ranking were proof that he knew what he was doing, his warnings were positioned as insults.

RELATED: 25 years later, the gaming console that caused so much chaos is still No. 1

Photo By Eduardo Parra/Europa Press via Getty Images

It wasn’t until Kingsman265 posted his video of the practice match, along with a conversation between Cece and himself dubbed the Cece Files, that the truth came to light. Not only did Cece and her team want Kingsman265 to be banned from the tournament, but they conspired to remove him, claiming that “there are plenty of people in line who are just as good. Kingsman, like everybody else, is replaceable.”

The aftermath was swift, with the internet quickly turning on the female team in favor of Kingsman265. Despite telling anyone who saw the video not to harass Cece and company, the message exchange between them shows that the internet has no tolerance for liars. She begged Kingsman265 to take down the video — or, at the very least, cut out the incriminating parts that made her and the team look guilty — but he refused, noting that it was a legitimate video. Cece lost several sponsorship deals and partnerships for her behavior.

All’s well that ends well

The whole debacle cost Kingsman265 his shot at a $3,000 grand prize to help pay off his college debt, but what came next was even sweeter. Once he was exonerated of any wrongdoing, Kingsman265 saw a huge boost to his channel, netting 139,000 followers on Twitch (and counting), 10,000 paying subscribers, and instant acceptance into the Twitch Partner Program, which will allow him to earn money for streaming online. As an added bonus, he received more than $3,000 in donations from supporters, surpassing the amount he would have earned from winning the Marvel Rivals tournament, and Marvel Rivals developer NetEase even sent him credits to buy skins for his character.

The good guy won in the end, leaving the all-girls team with a major loss in the tournament, loss in internet clout, and loss in their streaming careers. All of it could have been avoided if they had not made Kingsman265 out to be the toxic misogynist that he wasn’t, but if that had happened, his own gaming career wouldn’t be rocketing through the stratosphere at this very moment.

What happens online lives forever — the lies that are told and the truth that comes through in 4K — and the consequences are unavoidable. This is why it is always important to keep your receipts when tension erupts on the internet. You never know when you’ll have to defend yourself against cheats and liars who think they control the narrative.

​Tech, Culture 

The Australian Open has become about politics instead of tennis, thanks to one reporter’s questions.

As men and women have won matches at the tournament in Melbourne, Australia, a male reporter has consistently popped up to ask players about their feelings about current U.S. politics.

‘We are very diverse, we are a home of immigrants.’

“I’ve been asking a lot of the American players just how it feels to play under the American flag right now. And I’m curious how you feel,” the man asked No.4-ranked Amanda Anisimova on Wednesday, with noted vocal fry.

Anisimova was praised for shutting the questions down, but it turns out the same reporter has asked the same divisive question to at least four other American tennis players.

The Women’s Tennis Association’s No.6-ranked Jessica Pegula faced almost the same question on Wednesday, though more specifically about living in Florida.

Pegula’s answer likely won’t please nationalists as much as Anisimova’s did.

“Personally Florida’s been, I think, OK. I think Florida, there’s a big melting pot of different people from all over, in Florida,” the 31-year-old went on. “So I feel like especially me being in South Florida, near Miami, I mean, there’s people of all over the country that come to move to Florida, and there’s a lot of international people that are there. I don’t know if that’s maybe why you kind of get a lot of different cultural differences in a good way honestly.”

RELATED: ‘I don’t think that’s relevant’: American tennis star shuts down reporters fishing for anti-Trump answers

The reporter, who is alleged by several outlets such as Breitbart and Yahoo to likely be the Athletic’s Owen Lewis, has not publicly confirmed he has asked the questions despite sharing that he has been in Australia covering the event.

Next up was men’s No.9-ranked Taylor Fritz from California, who on Thursday had just completed a second-round win. Fritz buried his head in his hands as he answered the question, albeit reluctantly.

“Not sure what we’re, like, specifically talking about, but there is a lot going on in the U.S., and I don’t know, I feel like whatever I say here is going to get put in a headline, and it’s going to get taken out of context,” he groaned. “So I’d really rather not do something that’s going to cause a big distraction for me in the middle of the tournament.”

On Thursday, No.9-ranked female Madison Keys from Illinois faced the reporter. Her reaction was much more progressive than her compatriots, saying, “I’m not a fan of divisiveness, and I think the beauty of the U.S. is we are a mixing pot.”

“We are very diverse, we are a home of immigrants. And I hope that we can get back to those values,” she added.

RELATED: ‘It’s not fair’: No. 1 women’s tennis player states obvious truth about transgender athletes in women’s sports

No.3-ranked woman and Florida native Coco Gauff took it a step further by bringing race politics into the mix with her response.

Gauff initially said she feels “a bit fatigued talking about it.”

She then claimed, “It is hard, also I think, being a black woman in this country and having to experience things, even online.”

She argued that “marginalized communities” are being affected, and the only thing she can do is “donate and speak out.”

Gauff then cited the fact that she posted a Martin Luther King Jr. video online recently and said, “We must keep moving forward,” as an example of her activism.

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​Tennis, Trump, Australia, Americans, Woke, Journalist, Politics 

Everyone who lived in Dallas five years ago remembers the record-setting snowstorm in February 2021, and with a forecast that suggests similar weather coming up this weekend, many people aren’t taking any chances.

The storm in 2021 shut down the city for nearly a week, thanks to the roads icing over and limited equipment to respond to a weather event of that magnitude. Power outages shook the state, and disastrous accidents were caused by ice on the highways.

These factors, among others, led to shortages at the grocery stores, a fact many people have now recalled as they look at the upcoming forecast.

I found myself on a quest to find fruit, primarily apples and bananas, for smoothies on what could likely be one of the busiest days for area grocery stores this year. Here are some of the photos I took, which reminded me not so much of February 2021 as of March 2020, the beginning of the pandemic — yes, including carts full of toilet paper.

These photos were taken at an Aldi and a Walmart in Irving, Texas, on the evening of January 22, 2026.

Aldi

The shelf usually stocked with bread was almost entirely bare at AldiCooper Williamson

The bagel shelf, opposite the larger bread shelf, was similarly picked clean. Cooper Williamson

Before Aldi, I got most of my other groceries at Sam’s Club, which was packed but largely well stocked — except for the shopping carts. There were no shopping carts in the reserves at the entrance; they were all being used or in the parking lot.

As I waited in line for a slice of pizza before I began my shopping, I watched helplessly as a man snuck up and grabbed the cart that I had parked near the cafe. Back to the parking lot for another one.

The meat aisle was nearly empty.Cooper Williamson

Luckily, I had done most of my shopping at Sam’s Club and didn’t need any sandwich materials. Aldi was nearly clean out of all of them.

RELATED: Here’s what SHOCKED liberals the most when they tried to panic-buy guns in California

The bacon, butter, and yogurt sections.Cooper Williamson

But Sam’s wasn’t immune to the panic-buying hive mind that had overtaken all of Dallas. I was at Aldi because Sam’s too had been raided of all of its apples and bananas.

The best the stores had to offer at this point were some of the worst relatives of these coveted fruits.

There was not a single case of bottled water left in the store. Cooper Williamson

From a distance, I thought I had found the key ingredient for my smoothies after much searching. However, to my disappointment, what I thought were bananas turned out to be plantains — and there were no bananas in the store whatsoever.

No bananas to be found in the grocery store; only some ripe plantains. Cooper Williamson

Despite my failure to find bananas at Aldi, I had come too far and would not be denied. I ventured to Walmart, which proved to be even more chaotic than Aldi.

Walmart

Forced to park all the way in the back of the parking lot due to the crowds, I didn’t know what to expect as I walked into Walmart. Walking in, however, I quickly surmised that it would be similar to, if not worse than, Aldi. I ended up looking around the aisles to see what people were grabbing at the highest rate. Here are some of the Dallas snowstorm preppers’ favorites.

The poultry section was cleaned out. Cooper Williamson

Several varieties of milk were missing. Cooper Williamson

Like Aldi, the usually full aisle of bottled water packages was barren. Cooper Williamson

Americans love their vegetable oil. Cooper Williamson

Finally, I circled back to the produce section. At first, I was worried that I wouldn’t find any bananas when I saw entire shelves that looked like they had been raided hours before.

Crates of assorted fruits, some entirely empty. Cooper Williamson

The vegetable display showed which vegetables Americans would be willing to part with for a week or so. Cooper Williamson

However, in the midst of the empty shelves sat a display of bananas. Even this display, though stocked, was missing half of its capacity.

Caught up in the exciting moment of discovery, I forgot to get a photo of them, though I gladly spent the 86 cents for a bunch and readily made my way home after a long five hours of shopping.

The panic consensus

As I sit here writing this article on the morning of January 23, sipping on a green smoothie (bananas, apples, and all), I wonder whether this is the new reality. I wonder whether every time the forecast warns of a snowstorm, Southern states like Texas will overreact like the last few times we have gotten a storm forecast.

I complained earlier that it took me most of an evening to get all of my shopping done. While it’s true that I am a picky eater and not a very efficient shopper, it is astounding that it took going to four stores (yes, I also went to the Kroger near the Aldi to get romaine and apples for the smoothie) over the course of five hours to find a bunch of bananas.

In bad weather, it is true that the roads are only as safe as the people driving the cars. Growing up in Colorado, a place that gets a lot more snow, I always found it strange that Texas can’t handle a few inches of snow. And I also don’t remember people panic-buying food and water like they were preparing for a hurricane before the pandemic.

Perhaps this is just another reminder that the preppers aren’t as crazy as people make them out to be. I certainly don’t want to repeat my quest to the grocery store on the eve of the next cold front moving through Dallas.

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​News, Walmart, Aldi, Covid, Grocery stores, Storm prep, Grocery, Winter storm, January 2021, March 2020, Lifestyle, Freezing texas 

China’s aggression in the Indo-Pacific no longer comes in bursts. It has become dangerous and systematic for America.

A recent long-range patrol by Chinese forces, conducted alongside Russia, prompted Japan to scramble fighter jets. It marked the latest in a string of incidents after months of heightened Chinese military activity around the Senkaku Islands.

If Washington and Tokyo keep strengthening this partnership, they can make the Indo-Pacific more difficult for Beijing to bully and far more stable for everyone who depends on it.

These shows of force don’t happen by accident. China uses them to normalize military pressure, probe red lines, and test the unity of U.S.-led alliances.

This latest episode also made one thing clear, at least: The Trump administration is watching closely.

In a visible show of solidarity with Tokyo, U.S. strategic bombers joined Japanese fighter aircraft for high-profile drills. Days earlier, Chinese military aircraft conducted takeoffs and landings inside Japan’s air defense identification zone and shadowed Japanese aircraft with their radar off near Okinawa. Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s State Department expressed concern and reaffirmed its commitment to a “strong and more united” U.S.-Japan alliance.

Washington increasingly recognizes what Tokyo has understood for years: China’s behavior doesn’t just destabilize the region. It challenges the security order that has kept the Indo-Pacific from tipping into open conflict.

That reality puts a premium on reliable partnerships. No partnership matters more than the U.S.-Japan alliance.

Nowhere does that matter more than Taiwan. China’s large-scale military exercises, dubbed Justice Mission 2025, have pushed tensions in the Taiwan Strait to the highest levels in decades. Beijing aims to intimidate Taipei, warn off “external interference,” and alter the status quo through pressure rather than persuasion.

The Trump administration’s National Security Strategy arrived in that environment. While headlines still focus on Europe and the Middle East, the document makes the administration’s priorities clear: The Indo-Pacific remains central to U.S. strategy.

The NSS describes the Indo-Pacific as a critical economic hub that accounts for nearly half of global GDP. It commits the United States to a “free and open” Indo-Pacific by securing sea lanes and upholding international law.

RELATED: Inside China’s plan to beat the US at big tech forever

MF3d via iStock/Getty Images

That framework didn’t start in Washington. Japan first advanced the concept of a free and open Indo-Pacific, and the region later adopted it through partnerships such as the Quad — the informal grouping of the United States, Japan, India, and Australia.

Rather than announcing a new direction, the NSS reinforces a familiar one: Alliances form the core of deterring China. Unlike the Trump playbook in Ukraine, the administration treats alliances as the bedrock of Indo-Pacific security against Beijing’s expanding military reach.

Japan sits at the heart of that network.

China pressures Japan across its waters and airspace, making Tokyo a frontline state. Japan also serves as the United States’ indispensable partner in the region, with basing, interoperability, and shared strategy that no other ally can match at the same scale. Under new conservative leadership, Japan has begun acting with urgency.

Japan’s defense minister, Shinjiro Koizumi, has emphasized that urgency, warning that the country now faces its most severe security environment since World War II. Japan has deepened coordination with the U.S. and other like-minded partners while strengthening its military capabilities by accelerating security reforms and easing restrictions on defense equipment transfers.

Japan has also moved up its plan to raise defense spending to 2% of GDP — from 2027 to now. That headline matters less than where the money goes.

Tokyo has prioritized capabilities suited for a long-term, high-risk environment: unmanned aerial vehicles, expanded surveillance platforms, and submarines equipped with vertical-launch missile systems.

RELATED: Hypersonic missiles are the new arms race. Can America catch up?

Photo by GREG BAKER/AFP via Getty Images

Japan’s objective looks straightforward. It aims to become a more capable military partner that complements U.S. forces rather than relying on them by default. That shift aligns with President Trump’s demand that allies reduce dependence on American power by strengthening their own defense industries and readiness.

The U.S.-Japan alliance has also moved beyond drills and declarations toward defense-industrial cooperation. Expanded maintenance and repair coordination, along with eased export controls, have begun laying the groundwork for a durable security partnership.

This collaboration marks a shift from rhetoric to endurance. Aligning strategy with industrial capacity won’t eliminate risk. It will raise the cost of Chinese coercion and reduce the chances that Beijing miscalculates.

Koizumi has stressed that 80 years after World War II, the U.S.-Japan alliance still embodies reconciliation and remains the best instrument to deter China’s rising aggression.

If Washington and Tokyo keep strengthening this partnership — in capability, production, and resolve — they can make the Indo-Pacific more difficult for Beijing to bully and far more stable for everyone who depends on it.

​Opinion & analysis, China, U.s.-japan alliance, Pacific, Islands, Tariffs, Deterrence, Globalism, Strategy, Gdp, Imperialism 

​Culture, Humor, Quick draw, Politics, Culture war, Death, Family, Social security 

When Justine Damond was shot by a Somalian police officer in Minneapolis, there were no riots or protests in her name.

Damond, a white woman, had called the police for help, but when they showed up, she was shot instead. The Somalian officer who fired his weapon claimed to have been spooked.

“For these people — for Black Lives Matter, for these left-wing agitators — it’s never about the victims. It’s not really about violence or injustice. It’s about the system. It’s about the belief that these activists have that America and its institutions are oppressive and unjust,” BlazeTV host Allie Beth Stuckey comments on “Relatable.”

“And anyone who upholds these institutions, like the church — especially the Protestant church in America, who is still overwhelmingly conservative — is seen as an enemy,” she says, explaining that this was the entire reason former CNN anchor Don Lemon alongside Black Lives Matter activists stormed a church in protest of the ICE shooting of Renee Good.

“This demonstration … was not about Renee Good, or even the Somalians, or even any of the illegal aliens there. These were just — the exposing of the Somalian fraud, the killing of Renee Good — they were the trigger incidents used by these activists to justify terrorizing Christians and conservatives and anyone who stands in their way,” Stuckey explains.

“2020 wasn’t about George Floyd. 2026 is not about Renee Good. Understand this. It is about intentionally sowing chaos to ultimately weaken America and Western civilization. That is what George Soros and all of his funded initiatives and groups want to do,” she says.

Stuckey points out that the protest at Cities Church was livestreamed by Black Lives Matter — a group that received $90 million from the Soros-backed Tides Foundation just a few years ago.

And according to the New York Post, the Invisible Twin Cities group, which received $7.8 million from George Soros Open Society Foundations between 2018 and 2023, is behind the anti-ICE protests in Minneapolis.

“They’re not good people,” Stuckey says. “So you have to think: Why would they fund anti-ICE protests? It’s because they hate America. America stands in the way of what they want to do.”

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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Republican lawmakers, the Arizona Police Association, and the Trump administration castigated Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes (D) this week over her suggestion that it may be reasonable to shoot masked U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.

Mayes made no secret of her contempt for ICE in her interview with KPNX-TV’s Brahm Resnik, suggesting, for instance, that ICE officers are engaged in “thuggish, brutish behavior” and causing chaos, confusion, and anxiety in Minneapolis.

‘How do you know they are a peace officer?’

“It’s a combustible situation, let’s be clear about that,” said Mayes. “It’s a combustible situation being caused by ICE right now, wearing masks.”

After noting that she was “outraged and sickened” to see ICE agents outside her building and claiming that “real cops don’t wear masks,” the Democrat — who is seeking re-election — made a point of stressing that Arizona is a “stand your ground state.”

“We also have a lot of guns in Arizona,” she said with a smile.

“You know, it’s kind of a recipe for disaster because you have these masked federal officers with very little identification, sometimes no identification, wearing plain clothes and masks, and we have a stand your ground law that says that if you reasonably believe that your life is in danger and you are in your house or your car or on your property, that you can defend yourself with lethal force.”

Resnik pumped the brakes and said, “I want to be careful with that and understand what you are saying because you know how that could be interpreted.”

RELATED: Anti-ICE radical who took credit for the invasion of Minnesota church ARRESTED by feds

(Photo by Mostafa Bassim/Anadolu via Getty Image

“But it’s the fact,” said Mayes.

While Mayes clarified that you still cannot gun down peace officers in the Grand Canyon State and that she was not giving anyone license to start doing so, she appeared to give would-be killers an excuse, stating, “How do you know they’re a peace officer?”

“If there’s a situation where somebody pulls out their gun because they know Arizona is a stand your ground state, then it becomes ‘did they reasonably know that they were a peace officer?'” said Arizona’s top law enforcement officer.

When Resnik once more pressed her for clarification that she was not “telling folks you have license if you are threatened,” Mayes said, “Well,” and smirked.

“No,” she continued, “but again, if you’re being attacked by someone who is not identified as a peace officer, how do you know?”

Republican Arizona Rep. David Schweikert noted, “Let’s not pretend this was some careful legal seminar.”

“This was the attorney general of Arizona freelancing a scenario where bullets start flying and then shrugging it off as ‘just the law.’ That is reckless on its face,” wrote Schweikert. “If your job is to enforce the law, you do not go on TV and hand out a permission structure for violence, then act surprised when people hear it as a green light. Words matter. Especially when they come from the state’s top lawyer.”

Arizona Senate President Warren Petersen (R), who is running for state attorney general, noted, “Mayes should be fully aware of her dangerous rhetoric — and how people will construe, apply, and execute her comments. Mayes’ comments were reckless, dangerous, and disqualifying.”

The Arizona Police Association also condemned Mayes’ remarks, emphasizing that “words from elected officials matter.”

APA Executive Director Joe Clure stated that the Democrat’s framing was “deeply troubling and dangerous” especially as “law enforcement officers at every level including state, local, and federal agencies do not always wear traditional uniforms” — including members of Mayes’ own investigative teams.

“This does not diminish their legal authority or status as law enforcement,” said Clure. “Publicly speculating about how someone might legally justify shooting an ICE agent sends a dangerous and irresponsible message, particularly in an already tense and polarized environment.”

Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told the New York Post, “This is [a] direct threat calling for violence against our law enforcement officers — this kind of rhetoric is going to get someone killed.”

Blaze News has reached out the Justice Department for comment.

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​Us immigration and customs enforcement, Ice, Arizona, Kris mayes, Attorney general, Murder, Subversion, Insurrection, Ice agents, Dhs, Politics 

I had been living in New York for several years, writing young adult novels. But I wanted to move to Los Angeles. I needed a change of scenery, and I wanted to try screenwriting.

A friend connected me to a guy who had spent several years in L.A. pursuing film and TV writing. I called the guy and told him my plan.

The hair dye felt like it was burning my scalp. After I rinsed it out, my whole head glowed. Did it make me look younger? I guess it did. But it also made me look like a clown.

He said: “How old are you?”

I said 49.

He said, “That’s too old. You can’t be 50 in Hollywood. You’ll need to lie about your age.”

Then he asked me if I had gray hair. I said I did. He said I would need to dye it.

I said, “But George Clooney has gray hair. Doesn’t it look distinguished?”

He said I would definitely want to dye it. “Everyone dyes their hair in L.A. Get a good hairdresser.”

*******

He continued relating his experiences. He listed the dangers of Hollywood. They steal your ideas. They lie. They pretend to be your friend. I would need a good lawyer, and a manager, and an agent.

Most of this I already knew. But the “you can’t be 50 in Hollywood” part: I hadn’t heard that before.

Reelin’ In the Years

After we hung up, I thought about the age problem. I had already “adjusted” my age once while I was writing young adult novels.

I did this after attending a book festival, where I saw that all the other young adult authors were generally in their 20s and 30s. I was at least a decade older than most of them.

So I shaved five years off my Facebook age. Just in case anybody looked. And then I did the same thing when I filled out the publicity questionnaires for my publisher.

But the age problem got worse when I arrived in L.A. The first screenwriter I met with was 24 and looked like he was in high school. When I got home from that meeting, I went on Facebook and shaved three more years off my birthday.

When I did this, a little notice popped up, informing me that this would be the last time I would be allowed to change my birthday on Facebook.

So now, I was 41 according to Facebook, 44 according to my New York publisher, and 49 according to my driver’s license and the IRS.

This was a lot to keep track of. It made for some awkward moments on first dates.

Gray matters

It didn’t take long to realize that in Hollywood — where lying is considered “self-care” — what people really judged you on was your looks.

So then I considered my appearance. My hair was pretty gray. Should I try dyeing it?

I went to Ralphs and bought a box of Clairol Nice’n Easy hair dye. I went for espresso brown, which seemed closest to my original hair color.

I set up shop in my bathroom. I put on the gloves and followed the instructions on the box, mixing the chemicals and smearing them onto my head. It was a messy business.

The hair dye felt like it was burning my scalp. After I rinsed it out, my whole head glowed. Did it make me look younger? I guess it did. But it also made me look like a clown.

*******

I flew back to New York soon after, and a female friend immediately noticed the change. She said: “It’s true what they say; you look 10 years younger!”

That was nice to hear. But I was alarmed that she noticed it instantly. From 50 feet away.

Another friend didn’t believe me when I told her it was dyed. She had to look closer and touch it until she saw that I was telling the truth.

I was still trying to get used to it myself. Every time I saw my reflection, I startled myself. Who’s that guy with the dye job?

RELATED: The left wants to ‘reclaim’ the American flag; did they run out of lighter fluid?

Blake Nelson

Pro tips

Back in L.A., I spotted a sign in a hair salon near my apartment: “Dye and Haircut $80.” Maybe this was the solution: getting your hair dyed by a professional.

I would like to say this was a luxurious, pampering experience. It was not. The hairdresser roughed me up pretty good. And then I had to sit there for 40 minutes, in sight of people walking by the window, with a giant plastic covering over me and my thinning hair wrapped in tin foil.

And then, after all that, it looked no different from the Clairol dye job I had given myself for $9.99!

*******

Still, I stuck with it, re-dyeing it every six weeks — like it said on the box — for most of a year.

During this time, I kept a watchful eye out for other men with dyed hair. I was definitely not alone. At the beach, you would see aging “surfer dads” with dyed blonde hair and a skateboard under their arms. It wasn’t a terrible look. As long as you wore Vans and board shorts.

And of course, men who were on TV or acted in movies always dyed their hair. I’d see these men everywhere. Or I’d see guests on late-night talk shows who looked like they had just had it done an hour before. Their hair had that blurry, fresh-dye glow.

I became skilled at spotting dye jobs on either sex. I hadn’t realized how many women dyed their hair: basically all of them, after about 30.

The good news was that nobody thought less of a man for dyeing his hair. This was Los Angeles. Dyeing your hair meant you had a job.

All is vanity

This wasn’t the case on the East Coast. New York City was the land of the silver fox. Being a well-dressed, gray-haired, 50-year-old male was highly desirable. It meant you were rich!

In fact, it was in New York that a couple of female friends intervened and informed me that the hair-dye thing wasn’t working. I looked better being gray.

After that, my vanity took over, and when I returned to L.A., I shaved my head and released myself back into middle age.

Once I let myself go gray again, another Los Angeles acquaintance told me she thought I looked much better. She said the dye job made me look untrustworthy, like a used-car salesman.

*******

So that was a relief. But the real relief didn’t come until many years later, when I retired from writing and went back home to Portland and returned to total normalcy.

In retirement, I didn’t have to be young; I didn’t have to be cool. I could just be an old, gray-haired person like everybody else.

Though on Facebook — thanks to its birthday-changing restrictions — I remain a slightly younger and livelier version of myself.

​Hollywood, Lifestyle, Culture, Screenwriting, Writing, Aging, Blake’s progress 

A Chicago female recently was arrested in connection with an alleged string of beatings that took place after she allegedly failed to appear in court for an earlier battery case, CWB Chicago reported.

Records show that 37-year-old Diamond Miller failed to appear in court on a pending misdemeanor battery charge on Dec. 2, the outlet said, adding that court records show that Judge Peter Gonzalez ordered the court clerk to send Miller a postcard reminding her of her court dates rather than issuing a warrant.

Miller allegedly struck the woman in the face with a broken beer bottle, the outlet said, adding that the woman began bleeding immediately and suffered cuts to her face and a deep cut to her bottom lip.

Later that month, Miller allegedly went on a physical attack spree.

Prosecutors said that while she was “in AWOL status” from the pending misdemeanor battery case, Miller allegedly attacked three people within minutes near Pulaski Road and Cermak Road around noon on Dec. 21, CWB Chicago reported.

The first attack occurred on a southbound CTA #53 Pulaski bus after a 33-year-old man asked Miller to quiet down so he could hear his wife during a phone call, the outlet said, citing prosecutors during a detention petition.

Miller approached the man and struck him in the face “with great force,” causing him to experience “pain and dizziness,” CWB Chicago said, citing the filing. The bus driver stopped at Pulaski and Cermak and called police and EMS, the outlet noted.

RELATED: NYC subway rider pays brutal price after asking fellow passenger to stop talking loudly on cell phone

Diamond Miller. Image source: Chicago Police Department

Prosecutors said Miller exited the bus and walked to a nearby bus shelter, the outlet reported.

At 12:17 p.m., a second victim and her friend approached the shelter, where Miller was acting erratically and telling them to give her space, the outlet said, citing prosecutors. The victim and her friend walked away — but Miller allegedly followed them, CWB Chicago said. The victim told police that while she stood on the sidewalk with her back turned, Miller approached from behind and struck her in the face with a white plastic bag that contained a hard object that felt like ice, the outlet said, adding that the victim called 911.

Miller returned to the bus shelter minutes later, when a 54-year-old woman — the third victim — and her 74-year-old mother approached while switching bus lines, CWB Chicago said, citing prosecutors. The detention filing said Miller yelled at them and accused them of following her, according to the outlet. The daughter helped her mother — who uses a walker — away from the shelter, but Miller allegedly followed them and continued yelling, CWB Chicago said.

The daughter saw a CTA bus idling on the corner and asked the driver if her mother could board and wait until the next bus arrived, but the driver declined, the outlet said, citing the filing. As the woman and her mother walked away, Miller allegedly struck the woman in the face with a broken beer bottle, the outlet said, adding that the woman began bleeding immediately and suffered cuts to her face and a deep cut to her bottom lip.

The second victim saw the attack on the third victim and recorded part of it with her phone, the outlet said, citing prosecutors.

The first victim — the man from the bus — was taken to St. Anthony Hospital for treatment of minor injuries, CWB Chicago said, adding that prosecutors said the third victim received five stitches.

Police said they arrested Miller at 12:50 p.m. the same day and charged her with three felony counts of aggravated battery and one misdemeanor count of aggravated assault of a person older than 60.

Judge Robert Kuzas detained Miller, CWB Chicago said.

Records indicate Miller was booked into Cook County Jail on Dec. 24, and she has no bond. Her next court date is Feb. 19, jail records say.

CWB Chicago said Miller spent three days in jail in connection with four retail theft cases in October. A fifth retail theft case was dropped in November, the outlet said, even though Miller didn’t appear in court. However, records indicate the store’s representative didn’t show up for court, either, the outlet noted. A separate misdemeanor battery case was dropped in August, CWB Chicago added.

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​Physical attacks, Unprovoked attacks, Chicago, Arrest, Jailed, Aggravated assault charges, Aggravated battery, Police, Cook county jail, Crime 

Liberals will often claim Christians are not acting in line with their religion when they support strict immigration laws — but that claim could not be further from the truth.

“Remember Romans 13, that the government was instituted by God to reward those who do good and to punish those who do evil. Those who think that it is immoral or it is unjust to deport people who are here illegally have no problem locking their own doors, having their own walls, dead-bolting their own fences,” BlazeTV host Allie Beth Stuckey says on “Relatable.”

“And the truth is, nations are like families. The government is supposed to put the interest in the well-being and the safety of our people first. Just because you lock your door and you don’t let any stranger come into your home doesn’t mean that you hate your neighbors,” she says.

“It doesn’t make you bigoted. It means that you love your children. If you allowed people that you don’t know, that you haven’t vetted into your home to sleep in your kid’s bed and to eat your kid’s food, you wouldn’t be a good neighbor, you would be a bad parent,” she continues.

And the same could be said for our government.

“If they were not sending ICE into these cities to deport illegal aliens who are not only here illegally, that would be enough to deport someone, by the way. Every government has that right and responsibility to maintain that sovereignty that we just talked about but also to deport the worst people in the world. We’re talking about people who raped a child. And you want to impede that justice,” Stuckey says.

“That is the God-given and righteous responsibility of any government. And Christians should be for that because we serve a God of peace, not a God of disorder. We understand that disorder and chaos are curses for a nation. And that God is a God of order who placed us in a garden, not a jungle,” she continues.

“Tough immigration policy is good,” she says, adding, “It would have been good for Laken Riley … it would have been good for all of those children who were raped or assaulted or kidnapped or harmed. The people who were killed, the people who have died because an illegal alien was driving under the influence. If we had tough immigration policy, those people would be alive.”

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In the tumultuous wake of Renee Good’s death, a video from Minnesota’s Becker High School is going viral on social media.

The footage captures social studies teacher Dr. Heather Abrahamson heatedly arguing with a student about the fatal shooting of Good — the 37-year-old anti-ICE protester who struck ICE agent Jonathan Ross with her vehicle while deliberately impeding an immigration enforcement operation in Minneapolis on January 7.

On a recent episode of “Sara Gonzales Unfiltered,” Sara played the footage and discussed the radical politicization of our teachers’ unions and the leftist indoctrination of our youth with Teacher Freedom Alliance CEO Ryan Walters.

In the clip, Abrahamson insists that Officer Ross should have de-escalated the situation.

“Your job as a police officer is to de-escalate,” she spat, gesturing dramatically at the dissenting student, who fired back, “He had a split second.”

“Watch the video! He was not in danger,” Abrahamson retorted, ignoring the fact that footage from the incident captures Ross being propelled backward as Good’s vehicle makes contact with him and numerous reports that Ross suffered internal bleeding following the incident.

“Just because you’re yelling doesn’t mean you’re winning an argument,” the student said, refusing to bend.

“Just because you’re alive doesn’t mean you are intelligent,” Abrahamson clapped back.

The recording of this chaotic encounter, distributed by Libs of TikTok, has amassed nearly 4 million views on X and sparked intense debate over political indoctrination in classrooms.

“This is a very pervasive issue,” Sara says, displaying the following memo recently distributed by the National Education Association arguing for increased anti-ICE activism.

This kind of left-wing activism poisoning America’s classrooms, Walters says, is “a coordinated effort from the teachers’ unions.”

“‘Tell your students that the police are the enemy, that ICE is the enemy’ — and this is exactly what they’re pushing into our schools,” he says. “It’s not a one-off. It’s not, well, you know, here’s some crazy left-wing socialist teacher. No, this is the teachers’ unions utilizing their foot soldiers to … undermine this country through the classrooms.”

Sara brings up a recent Fox News article that exposed the NEA — the largest teachers’ union in the United States and the largest labor union overall in the country — for funneling millions in union funds during the 2024 fiscal year to various far-left and social justice-oriented groups and ballot initiatives.

“In a lot of these places, the teachers don’t have a choice. They have to join the union. They have to pay the fees,” Sara says. “I mean, it’s adding insult to injury that you’re essentially stealing from someone because they want to have the occupation as a teacher and then you’re using it to fund [left-wing] causes.”

Walters says that it’s paramount that we stop them.

“We have to defund them. Every teacher, you should opt out. Go to optouttoday.com. Get out of the union. Quit paying union fees to destroy this country. … And every state should be passing legislation to rail back on the union’s power. There shouldn’t be teachers’ unions,” he says.

“What you have in the teachers’ union is this huge apparatus of power. They have a ton of money. They have a ton of resources. They are embedded in the Democrat Party. They are one of their biggest funders,” he continues.

Walters warns that if we fail to defeat teachers’ unions, the consequences are potentially massive: “They’re going to gear up all this before the congressional elections, just like they did for Kamala Harris when over $400 million went from the teachers’ union to her presidential campaign. Same thing’s going to happen in this election cycle.”

But the money is just the weapon — the real war is in our classrooms.

Teachers’ unions, Walters says, have been instrumental in brainwashing younger generations into becoming America-hating, die-hard Democrats.

“We didn’t just wake up one day … [with] millions of kids that sit here and think we’re an evil, racist country. They think cops are bad guys. That didn’t just happen. It happened because of a coordinated attack,” he says.

The viral video of Dr. Abrahamson insulting a student’s intelligence because he refused to condemn an ICE agent he believes acted in self-defense is merely one thread in a vast tapestry of proof.

“We’ve got to turn this around 180 degrees in the other direction and go back to a patriotic education, love of country, love of American values. We’ve got to get back to that,” Walters urges.

To hear more of the conversation and see the viral video, watch the episode above.

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​Sara gonzales, Sara gonzales unfiltered, Ryan walters, Ryan walters oklahoma, Woke teachers, Progressivism, Woke education, Blazetv, Blaze media, Ice, Anti ice, Indoctrination in schools, Viral video, Renee good, Ice protests 

Virginia’s new Democrat governor was inaugurated just six days ago, but already the safely ensconced Democrat legislature has a plan: more than 1,000 bills to supplement the administration’s already aggressive agenda of executive orders.

Gov. Abigail Spanberger campaigned as a pragmatist — a moderate former CIA agent fighting for an “Affordable Virginia” and giving the increasingly blue state a reprieve from President Donald Trump and her own predecessor, Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin.

It’s a brave new world out there, folks. And ‘moderation’ is coming for the rest of this country, as soon the voters get in line.

Spanberger sold voters “moderation.” Her party intends to legislate like it never heard the word.

The new blue majority have been in power in this once-red state for less than two weeks, and already they’ve reminded Americans their view of “pragmatism” is discarding the notion as soon as they assume power. Taken as a whole, their agenda provides provided a blueprint for exactly what other purple-state voters can expect under any unified Democrat government — and why it’s so dangerous.

Virginia’s executive and legislative branches have already unveiled plans to decriminalize heinous crimes, protect and pay for illegal aliens, end investigations into massive fraud against taxpayers, empower radical and failing public school bureaucrats, raise taxes across the board, meddle in private lives and businesses in the name of climate change, restrict firearms, obscure shady elections, and make housing more affordable — for government employees.

That may sound like your typical partisan attack, worth glossing over in our ever-shriller news-smothered lives. But every proposal below is either an authentic executive order or a true piece of legislation introduced in the Virginia House or Senate for consideration in the coming days and months.

Lawless by design

Democrats want softer sentencing rules. House Bill 244 would weaken guidelines that judges use to sentence convicted criminals, giving even more discretion to Democrat judges already inclined toward leniency for robbers.

That’s child’s play next to HB 863, a 28-page bill to reduce mandatory minimum sentences on a whole host of crimes, including rape, possessing or distributing child pornography, repeat violent crime, and attacking law enforcement officers.

House Bill 1070 goes farther, restricting how prosecutors can refer to a suspect’s prior convictions during the phase when the judge or jury decides guilt.

After conviction, Senate Bill 21 would shift juvenile crime oversight toward the Virginia Department of Health and Human Services, sidelining the Department of Juvenile Justice and reframing ultraviolent juvenile crime as a “health” crisis.

Then comes the cultural haze. The governor’s allies want Virginia to host 350 marijuana shops within four years, while preventing local communities from saying “no thanks” and allowing stores to operate within 1,000 feet of schools and churches. SB 62 would even retroactively reduce sentences for some marijuana-related crimes, including transportation and distribution.

Democrats do have a taste for toughness — when it targets the wrong people. House Bill 7 would bar law enforcement agents from wearing masks, inviting activists to identify and harass them at home. Senate Bill 137 would criminalize coming within eight feet of someone who stands within 40 feet of an abortion clinic.

RELATED: ‘Place your left hand on the Quran’: Foreign-born lieutenant governor does not swear in on Bible

Selcuk Acar/Anadolu via Getty Images

Benefits for illegal aliens

Not everyone will be upset about the new laws, of course. Illegal immigrants have reason to celebrate, starting with the new governor’s immediate move to declare Virginia a sanctuary state and end an order compelling local cooperation with federal law enforcement.

House Bill 650 would block arrests at courthouses and bar federal agents from showing up there for that purpose. House Bill 912 would expand access to Virginia’s K-12 public schools for illegal aliens, funded by taxpayers. House Bill 553 would require language programming for inmates — a bill sponsored for Virginia Rep. Jessica Anderson, who gained a little local notoriety for TikToking herself peeing in public.

Virginia employers who make a pretty penny employing illegal labor need not worry either — unless they don’t pay illegal aliens enough. HB 675 wouldn’t hold them accountable for undercutting American workers but will be sure to fine them if they try to skirt minimum-wage laws.

Those aliens would be suckers to work for low wages when they could open a day care, though. No joke. That same pee video rep’s HB 1369 would protect fraudsters taking federal money, barring the state from “determin[ing], verify[ing], or otherwise requir[ing] proof of eligibility … for such public benefits.”

Don’t everyone rush to start a nonprofit at once, though. There’s plenty to go around. HB 259 would send more money toward starting at-home child-care programs.

Call it the Minnesota dream, imported to the Old Dominion.

Public schools: Parents and kids last

Virginia’s public schools already struggle with basics. Democrats want them to absorb more bureaucracy and more ideology.

House Bill 614 mandates history and social science instruction through the lens of “marginalized” identities. It includes traditional categories such as black Americans, women, immigrants, and the disabled. It also explicitly requires emphasis on “lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer” experiences — plus whatever additional categories “the Board deems appropriate, in order to affirm such communities.”

Some might not want all that for their kids, so HB 359 makes it more difficult to homeschool or use any state benefits to attend private school.

And no matter where you send your kids, you’ll be paying for public school breakfast, which HB 96 mandates for all students through high school.

If you’re good at something, never do it for free, so HB 382 will give school board chairmen a nice raise.

Meanwhile, HB 355 would impose mandatory mental health screenings for students. It does not impose them on the lunatics who run the system.

Taxes on everything

Virginia Democrats inherited a nearly $3 billion budget surplus. They plan to raise taxes anyway — not just on billionaires, but on nearly everyone.

There’s no limit on what you can tax when you go for goods, labor, and now the services of that labor. House Bill 978 taxes services: gym memberships, laundry and dry cleaning, pet-sitting, repairs, mechanics, landscaping, storage, deliveries, travel services, décor services, and digital services. If what you’ve read so far makes you anxious, I’m sorry to say that therapy makes the list too.

But if it gives you a heart attack and you’re already on Obamacare, HB 405 would help cover the skyrocketing costs of that Democrat boondoggle. And there are real costs to health insurance. HB 1182 would require your Virginia insurance plan to cover condoms.

Then come new taxes on hotels (HB 524), events (HB 550), deliveries (HB 900), heavy car use and highway use (HB 1179), and landscaping tools (HB 557). House Bill 881 would ban gas-powered leaf blowers. Welcome to California East.

Blowing your brains out will cost you more, thanks to HB 919’s increased taxes on guns and ammunition.

HB 334 would add more local sales taxes. HB 378 targets investment taxes. HB 188 hikes taxes 74% for those making $1 million or more.

The new slush funds

What else are we going to pay for with all this free money? Saving the planet, for one. You might have thought global warming doom-whispering hasn’t been in since Al Gore checked out, but in Virginia it’s back, baby.

HB 324 would establish a new slush fund for electric vehicle infrastructure. And if you’re doing any business with local public schools, HB 1340 lets you take a little off the top to buy yourself a new Tesla.

HB 1230 sets aside $100 million for “sustainable aviation fuel,” whatever that means. HB 920 expands offshore wind subsidies fivefold — but not necessarily for white male-owned energy firms. HB 61 mandates preferential treatment for women- and minority-owned businesses in state contracting, even if costs rise.

Cities and localities can get in on the game too. In fact, they’re required. House Bill 256 would mandate that localities submit “environmental justice strategies.”

Own some land? HB 1091 treats solar panels as “agriculture.” If you’re an actual farmer, though, watch out: HB 950 elevates environmental enforcement so high that it removes the need for a warrant before flying camera drones over private property.

So much for self-defense

Of course, the rich men down in Richmond can’t have you shooting those drones down, so access to firearms is about to be severely restricted in a state once celebrated for sportsmanship and self-defense alike.

Want to shoot on private land? Better buy more, son. HB 926 would restrict shooting unless you own at least five acres.

It’s a noisy sport, after all. But HB 207 would add a $500 tax for suppressors.

Some weapons are scarier than others, so HB 217 bans “assault weapons.”

And HB 969 would establish the Virginia Gun Violence Prevention Center — another bureaucracy that will not stop criminals but will surely harass lawful owners.

RELATED: Trump’s agenda faces a midterm kill switch in 2026

Jim Watson/Getty Images

Housing relief — for bureaucrats

Democrats did think about affordability. They just defined the beneficiaries carefully.

House Bill 1130 would steer “surplus” city buildings toward housing for government employees, while House Bill 164 removes a $25,000 cap on grants for government employees buying homes, opening the door to far larger taxpayer-funded assistance for the big American purchase.

But that’s not all. During government shutdowns, federal employees whose votes have made so many Democrat dreams come true would get extra time to pay their taxes, thanks to HB 915. The state is deeply determined to show its thanks to those loyal voters especially. HB 494 grants special treatment in state hiring to federal employees laid off under the Trump administration.

Entrenching the machine

If you’ve made it this far, you might be thinking “Well, by golly, I’ll vote these bastards out in two years’ time.” But hold on, old buddy. Democrats have bills for that, too.

HB 82 allows absentee ballots to arrive and be counted three days after Election Day is “over.” HB 773 would provide a week to “cure” incorrect ballots, while HB Bill 1244 would allow for “emergency absentee ballots” to be made available shortly before elections.

Other innovations include ranked-choice voting (HB 630), voting by internet (HB 493), and a total ban on Virginians challenging suspected fraud at a polling place (HB 640).

You won’t have to raise any money from local citizens and businesses to run, thanks to HB 162, which would let candidates raid the taxpayer for their campaign costs. They might not even need to really live in the commonwealth after HB 835 hides their addresses from even irritating reporter FOIA requests.

To make sure everything runs above board, Senate Bill 52 would block cleanup of voter rolls in the three months before an election. And since we live in the future now, HB 968 bans hand-counting ballots.

Virginia’s new leadership campaigned on “Affordable Virginia.” To get there, somehow, SB 22 mandates racial bias training for nurses, HB 858 would rename Columbus Day as “Indigenous Peoples Day,” HB 994 allows localities to install as many speeding and crosswalk cameras as they want, and HB 415 makes the long-neglected pawpaw the official state fruit.

It’s a brave new world out there, folks. And “moderation” is coming for the rest of this country, as soon the voters get in line.

​Politics, Virginia, Spanberger 

Since Roe v. Wade was overturned nearly four years ago, countless pro-life organizations have pushed new regulations on abortion. Many of those same groups have rushed to declare victory, claiming that conservative states are now “abortion-free.”

But when pro-life organizations declare any state “abortion-free,” they celebrate a victory that does not exist — and drastically overstate the impact of pro-life laws.

The preborn babies murdered under the cover of our laws deserve more than semantic victories. They deserve equal protection.

These claims don’t just mislead. They undermine the cause these organizations claim to champion.

Exaggerating victories

The claim that some states are “abortion-free” isn’t rare. It has become standard messaging.

Students for Life published a map three years ago declaring that 14 states are now “abortion-free.” Frank Pavone, who leads Priests for Life, has made the same claim about Mississippi. National Right to Life called Kentucky “abortion-free” as recently as last summer. LifeNews has become notorious for amplifying inflated or misleading abortion claims from pro-life groups at the state level.

These declarations suggest abortion has been eliminated in these states. The reality says otherwise.

Pro-life leaders do not make clear that in every state labeled “abortion-free,” abortions remain legal for women who want to kill their preborn babies.

Many conservative states shut down abortion clinics and imposed penalties on providers. At the same time, those states wrote explicit exemptions into law protecting women from prosecution for willfully obtaining abortions.

That wasn’t a mistake. Pro-life organizations crafted and promoted that policy.

Self-induced abortions

Legal immunity for women who murder their preborn babies created a massive loophole. It also opened the door to a surge in self-induced abortions.

Women in “abortion-free” states can order abortion pills online from telehealth providers operating under shield laws in blue states or from overseas providers.

In many cases, it remains perfectly legal to order these pills, possess them, and use them at home. The scale of this practice — even in conservative states — is staggering.

Consider Kentucky, which National Right to Life called “abortion-free.”

In Kentucky, more than 2,800 women in 2024 received mail-order abortion pills through telehealth providers alone, according to data from the Society of Family Planning.

That does not include the more than 4,300 Kentucky women who traveled to other states for abortions in 2024, according to the Guttmacher Institute. It also does not capture self-induced abortions outside the formal medical system.

Kentucky is not an outlier.

RELATED: How a pro-life law in Kentucky lets mothers get away with murder

Carl Lokko via iStock/Getty Images

When all available data is considered, the 14 conservative states that have banned or mostly banned abortion — the same states pro-life groups often call “abortion-free” — saw at least 250,000 preborn babies murdered in 2024.

That number represents a sharp increase from the 181,000 abortions recorded in those states in 2019.

In other words, pro-life laws have not created states with fewer abortions. They have created states where abortion has shifted away from clinics and toward self-induced abortions at home — abortions that remain legal for the mother who commits them.

How can abortion increase while pro-life organizations claim success? Because many have misrepresented what they mean by “abortion-free.”

When these groups say “abortion-free,” they mean abortion clinics have closed. They do not mean abortions have stopped. It’s like calling a city “crime-free” because the district attorney refuses to prosecute criminals. The semantics conceal the reality.

Opposing abolition

Even more troubling, major pro-life organizations often oppose the bills that would actually abolish abortion.

When lawmakers introduce equal protection bills — proposals that would make abortion illegal for everyone, including pregnant mothers — pro-life organizations often mobilize against them.

This has happened dozens of times across the country. The reasoning stays consistent: Pro-life groups insist women are victims of abortion and should not face legal consequences, even when they deliberately order abortion pills and self-induce abortions at home.

When pro-life groups oppose equal protection bills and then claim their states are “abortion-free,” they don’t merely exaggerate. They sabotage.

Everyday anti-abortion Americans hear “abortion-free” and assume the fight is over. Activism slows. Political pressure fades. Donations and support shift elsewhere. Meanwhile organizations that should be pressing for equal protection instead suppress the only laws that would actually end abortion.

In the meantime, abortion continues unabated — simply moved from clinics to living rooms.

The pro-life establishment has redefined victory to fit what it has achieved, not what it claims to seek. It has declared victory over a substitute target — abortion clinics — while the killing of preborn children continues through abortion pills and interstate travel.

RELATED: Why the pro-life movement fails without a Christian worldview

wildpixel via iStock/Getty Images

Demanding honesty

Americans who oppose abortion deserve honesty from the organizations claiming to represent them.

If abortion can still be performed legally in a state through mail-order pills, that state is not “abortion-free.” If abortion numbers rise rather than fall, victory has not arrived. If pro-life groups oppose laws that would make abortion illegal for everyone, they owe the public an explanation.

Abolishing abortion requires equal protection under the law: making the killing of any human being illegal for everyone, without exception or compromise.

Until major pro-life organizations support that principle, their claims of creating “abortion-free” states remain not just premature but dishonest.

The preborn babies murdered under the cover of our laws deserve more than semantic victories. They deserve equal protection — and Americans who oppose abortion deserve leaders honest enough to admit when that goal remains unmet.

​Opinion & analysis, Abortion, Roe v. wade, Dobbs v. jackson women’s health organization, Abortion pills, Mifepristone abortion pill, Supreme court, Abortion-free states, Students for life, Lifenews, Frank pavone, Priests for life, Kentucky, Society of family planning 

The Trump administration indicated in its National Security Strategy that “after years of neglect, the United States will reassert and enforce the Monroe Doctrine to restore American preeminence in the Western Hemisphere.”

Making abundantly clear to all that this was not empty rhetoric, the U.S. kicked off 2026 by militarily deposing Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro.

Maduro was the first leftist dictator removed from power this year, but he may not be the last.

Sources familiar with the matter told the Wall Street Journal that now with a blueprint for surgical governmental restructures in the region, the Trump administration is searching for well-placed insiders in Cuba who could help oust the island nation’s communist regime by the end of the year.

‘I strongly suggest they make a deal, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE.’

That strategy appears, after all, to have worked in Caracas, Venezuela, where an asset within Maduro’s inner circle furnished American intelligence personnel with critical information about the leftist leader’s habits, travels, and whereabouts, according to administration officials.

It’s unclear if that asset was Maduro’s vice president, now acting President Delcy Rodríguez, whom four sources familiar with the discussions told the Guardian signaled a willingness to cooperate with the Trump administration ahead of the military extraction.

RELATED: The truth behind Trump’s Venezuela plan: It’s not about Maduro at all

Photo by Horacio Villalobos#Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images

One U.S. official told the Journal that in recent meetings with Cuban exiles and civic groups, Trump administration officials have brainstormed possible individuals within the current Cuban regime who have an appetite for change and might want to make a deal.

The sense is that the time is ripe for a shakeup in the Stalinist island nation in light of its economic instability and loss of a key ally in Caracas.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants, said earlier this month, “I think Cuba is going to be something we’ll end up talking about, because Cuba is a failing nation right now, a very badly failing nation, and we want to help the people.”

“If I lived in Havana, and I was in the government, I’d be concerned,” added Rubio.

Cuba — which has suffered rolling blackouts in recent months and years — has long relied on Venezuela for subsidized oil, which has made up around 70% of its total oil imports.

In the wake of Maduro’s removal, Pavel Vidal, a former Cuban central bank economist who teaches at Javeriana University, told NBC News, “If oil supply were to cease entirely, the Cuban economy would grind to a halt.”

Senior U.S. officials told the Journal that the U.S. plans to further undermine the Cuban regime by restricting its access to Venezuelan oil.

“Cuba lived, for many years, on large amounts of OIL and MONEY from Venezuela,” Trump noted in a Truth Social post on Jan. 11. “THERE WILL BE NO MORE OIL OR MONEY GOING TO CUBA — ZERO! I strongly suggest they make a deal, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE.”

The State Department said in a statement that it is in America’s national security interests for Cuba “to be competently run by a democratic government and to refuse to host our adversaries’ military and intelligence services.”

Rubio made a point of noting last week that the Cuban regime was “illegitimate.”

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​Cuba, Communist, Havanna, Donald trump, Hegemony, Monroe doctrine, Donroe, Marco rubio, Regime change, Intervention, Politics 

Imagine what the Republican Party would have looked like had President Trump been endorsing conservative reformers down-ballot rather than milquetoast RINOs backed by special interests for five consecutive cycles.

In 2016, President Trump stormed the corporatist castle of the country-club GOP. But over the next five election cycles, he pulled up the rope ladder behind him. He left the reinforcements outside the gates, which crushed his ability to deliver on his promises in his first term. It also allowed generic Republicans to ride his brand while drifting away from his original America First message.

Conservatives understand that competition improves a product. When Trump protects incumbents from primary pressure, he guarantees that the party never improves.

Now he is making the same mistake in his second term by backing status-quo, corporatist Republicans in key races.

2026 is do or die

The opening months of 2026 should be the Super Bowl of primaries for the right. Vulnerable establishment Republicans and open seats sit on the board across solid red states — for Senate and governor.

Even if Republicans struggle in swing states, Trump could still lock in a generation of red-state power by backing grassroots conservatives in open seats and insurgents challenging weak incumbents.

Instead, he keeps yanking the rug out from under his own base.

Louisiana bait and switch

Over the weekend, the president endorsed Rep. Julia Letlow (R-La.) for U.S. Senate in Louisiana. Until now, Trump has refused to back conservatives against incumbents — except when he endorsed against Freedom Caucus Chairman Rep. Bob Good of Virginia in 2024.

So yes, Trump finally moved against Sen. Bill Cassidy, a pro-COVID-vaccine liberal wasting a conservative seat. But he waited until more conservative candidates — state Treasurer John Fleming, state Sen. Blake Miguez, and state Rep. Julie Emerson — softened Cassidy up. Then Trump picked a challenger who matches Cassidy’s worldview in a prettier package.

Letlow sides with Cassidy on government-run health care and the COVID vaccines. She also voted against penalizing FDA officials for unlawfully expanding access to mifepristone. Trump carried Louisiana by 22 points and won 57 of 64 parishes. He could have used his clout to elect a conservative stalwart like Miguez. Instead, he chose another version of the same problem.

RELATED: Voters won’t buy ‘freedom in Iran’ while Minneapolis goes lawless

Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

Governors matter now

If Democrats regain Washington, governors become the last real barrier against federal abuse. Red-state governors will matter more than ever, especially if Democrats install a weaponized Gavin Newsom-style agenda at the national level.

After Ron DeSantis turned Florida from swing state into the red-state model, Republicans should be building an entire bench of governors who make even DeSantis look tame. But Trump’s endorsement habits keep locking in mediocrity. In Florida, he is backing Byron Donalds — a favorite of the legislative RINOs who fought DeSantis for years.

Fourteen governorships are up in states Republicans should win even in a rough year: Alabama, Alaska, Florida, Iowa, Idaho, Kansas, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, and Wyoming. Trump hasn’t made one bold, movement-building endorsement as he did with DeSantis in 2018. Instead, he has already pre-emptively endorsed Idaho Gov. Brad Little for a third term and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott for a fourth.

Texas betrayal rewarded

Trump has started interfering even in state legislative races. In Texas, Republicans cut a deal with Democrats and installed Dustin Burrows as speaker against the will of most of the party. Burrows rewarded them by handing committees to Democrats and killing conservative priorities.

When conservatives moved to defeat the traitors, Trump carpet-bombed the effort by endorsing Burrows and his lieutenants for re-election.

Conservatives understand that competition improves a product. Trump keeps canceling that competition. When he protects incumbents from primary pressure, he guarantees that the party never improves.

​Trump, 2026 midterms, Rino, Rino republicans, Trump endorsement, 2026 primaries, Byron donalds, Julia letlow, Opinion & analysis, Republicans, Congress, Red state governors