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The death of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who ruled Iran with brutality for nearly four decades, has thrown the Persian Gulf country into a historic moment of uncertainty — and possibility. His welcome passing shattered the familiar, oppressive order and forces a question Iran can no longer postpone: What comes next?

That question arises as Iran sits at the center of a deeper shift that may prove historic and generational. Much remains uncertain: how change will unfold, how long it will take, and what form it will assume. One principle, however, should guide every serious observer: Lasting change in Iran must come from within, driven by Iranians themselves and their organized resistance. Anything imposed from abroad or engineered through outside force will fail.

Iran’s destiny will be shaped by Iranians: by students, workers, professionals, and above all by women who refuse to accept a future defined by repression.

For more than four decades, Iran’s clerical establishment has displayed many vulnerabilities. One stands out as both defining and revealing: institutionalized misogyny. This is not merely a social failing. It is a governing doctrine.

That doctrine has become the regime’s weakness.

Women have been among the primary victims of Iran’s repression. They have also become the most dynamic force challenging it. Across the country, women no longer merely participate in dissent. They drive it. In city after city, they confront the regime’s most repressive forces. In many instances, they do not just join protests; they lead them.

One striking feature of this movement is its intergenerational character. Observers rightly note the youth of Iran’s protesters. But mothers march alongside daughters, and that image captures something profound about Iran’s national awakening: The demand for freedom is no longer confined to one age group or social class. It has become a shared national aspiration.

In moments of historic transformation, leaders emerge whose lives embody a movement’s aims. In Iran’s struggle, one such figure is Maryam Rajavi, president-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran. For nearly half a century, she has been engaged in Iran’s fight for freedom. Her commitment is personal. She lost one sister to the Shah’s secret police, SAVAK, and another under the rule of the ayatollahs while she was pregnant. Such losses would silence many. For her, they hardened resolve.

Rajavi’s significance lies not only in her story but in her vision. Over decades, she has helped cultivate a generation of women within Iran’s resistance — women who now occupy leadership roles, organize networks, and sustain activism under extreme repression. Tens of thousands of women affiliated with her movement have died in the struggle for freedom. That sacrifice, measured in lives rather than slogans, lends credibility to the movement she represents.

This is not symbolic inclusion. It is a structural transformation. Women at every level of opposition challenge the regime’s core assumption that power must remain exclusively male.

At the center of Rajavi’s platform is a 10-point plan outlining a democratic future for Iran. At its heart sits a principle the current regime finds intolerable: gender equality. In that vision, equality is not a concession. It is a foundation — essential to political legitimacy, economic progress, and justice. Women’s rights are not a peripheral demand; they are a declaration that a future Iran must break with decades of repression.

RELATED: Iran’s freedom fighters put America’s No Kings clowns to shame

Photo by Thierry Monasse/Getty Images

Sometimes a single image conveys what volumes of analysis cannot. Few signals would announce a new era more clearly than the emergence of a modern-minded Muslim woman as a central leader of democratic change. That would mark more than a political transition. It would signal renewal — a break with tyranny and a declaration that Iran’s future belongs to all its citizens.

History offers countless examples of societies that seemed immovable until, suddenly, they were not. Authoritarian systems often look strongest just before they weaken and most permanent just before they dissolve. The forces now stirring within Iran — especially the courage and leadership of its women — suggest the country has entered such a moment.

The lesson for the world is straightforward. Iran’s destiny will not be shaped by foreign intervention or external engineering — and it will not be served by fake leaders like Reza Pahlavi, who rely on social media and bots for relevance. Iran’s destiny will be shaped by Iranians: by students, workers, professionals, and above all by women who refuse to accept a future defined by repression.

Their struggle is not only national. It reflects a universal truth: The desire for freedom, once awakened, cannot be permanently suppressed.

The direction of Iran’s transformation is becoming clearer. And if history is any guide, when that transformation reaches its turning point, it will bear a defining hallmark: It will have been led, inspired, and sustained by women.

​Iran, Maryam rajavi, Trump, Democracy, Iranians, National council of resistance of iran, Secret police, Opinion & analysis, Freedom, Regime change, Ayatollah ali khamenei 

Voters in North Carolina took to the polls Tuesday to select their primary candidates in several races, including a high-stakes U.S. Senate race. After Republican Senator Thom Tillis announced his retirement last June, over a dozen candidates threw their hats in the ring — six Republicans and six Democrats.

Polls opened at 6:30 a.m. Tuesday for voters to select their primary candidates for Tillis’ open Senate seat, as well as 14 U.S. House of Representatives seats.

Trump said Whatley is ‘fantastic at everything he does’ in an endorsement message.

Trump-endorsed Michael Whatley won the Republican primary election decisively Tuesday night after delayed polling results were released. Whatley pulled in over 234,000, or 63.8%, of the votes, as of 9:00 p.m. ET, according to WFAA.

Former North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper was considered the favorite on the Democratic ballot. As expected, Cooper won the Democratic nomination handily, according to WFAA.

RELATED: Tuesday’s must-watch primaries: The races that will determine if America First takes over in 2026

Former North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper (D)Photographer: Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Whatley celebrated the victory on social media shortly after the race was called: “Thank you North Carolina! I’m honored to be the Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate in North Carolina. Republicans are united. Now the real fight begins. This November, North Carolina voters will have a choice: Safer Communities, Secure Borders, More Jobs and Lower Costs or Roy Cooper’s failed record. Let’s win.”

In a statement obtained by Blaze News, Senate Leadership Fund Executive Director Alex Latcham congratulated Whatley: “SLF congratulates future U.S. Senator Michael Whatley on his primary victory tonight, where he once again proved that he is the leader who can build winning coalitions and ensure North Carolina remains red this November.”

“Meanwhile, Roy Cooper’s failed leadership left families without homes after Hurricane Helene, raised prices across the board, and prioritized far-left ideologies over North Carolina values,” Latcham went on. “Voters know that Roy Cooper cannot be trusted to represent them in Washington, and Senate Leadership Fund will firmly fight to ensure Michael Whatley is elected this November.”

Trump said Whatley is “fantastic at everything he does” in an endorsement message posted to Truth Social last month. With Trump’s blessing, Whatley also served as the chair of the Republican National Committee from March 2024 to August 2025.

Other candidates who appeared on the GOP ballot include Michele Morrow, Don Brown, Richard Dansie, Thomas Johnson, and Elizabeth Anne Temple. Additionally, Margot Dupre’s name reportedly appeared on the ballot, but she was disqualified for not having eligible voter registration in the state, according to WRAL.

Other Democrat candidates include Daryl Farrow, Justin E. Dues, Robert Colon, Marcus W. Williams, and Orrick Quick.

Originally scheduled to close at 7:30 p.m. local time, the poll closing time was pushed back by one hour at a precinct in Halifax County due to an issue that delayed the site’s opening, WBTV reported.

The precinct that experienced the issues was Halifax County’s Littleton precinct. The voting location was Littleton United Methodist Church, according to the North Carolina State Board of Elections’ press release regarding the decision.

“With more than 2,600 polling sites statewide, it is not unusual for minor issues to occur at polling sites that result in brief disruptions of voting. The State Board routinely meets to discuss the extension of hours when the need arises on Election Day,” the Board said in the statement.

As a result, no primary results were reported until 8:30 p.m. ET.

North Carolina is considered by many to be a key battleground state that could serve as a potential indicator for the fate of the remainder of Trump’s second term.

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​Politics, North carolina, Battleground, Thom tillis, Senate race, Primary election, Michael whatley, Republicans, Democrats, Roy cooper, Trump, President trump, North carolina state board of elections 

An influencer on TikTok was ordered by a jury to pay millions to a professor she defamed by blaming her for the heinous 2022 murders of four University of Idaho students.

TikTok tarot reader Ashley Guillard from Texas got millions of views for posting videos wherein she falsely claimed University of Idaho assistant history professor Rebecca Scofield was romantically involved with one of the female students killed.

‘You were making [dozens] of videos about me, someone you never met, you never talked to — someone you had no connection to.’

Guillard also said Scofield had ordered the murders.

Scofield said in a lawsuit filed in 2022 that she had never met any of the students and that the accusations had hurt her career and caused her mental anguish.

On Friday, a jury agreed and unanimously ordered the influencer to pay $10 million in damages. Of that, $7.5 million was portioned as punitive damages, while the rest was compensatory.

Guillard represented herself during the trial and related how she left her husband and got interested in tarot and numerology before teaching herself through YouTube videos how to read the cards. She also claimed that she had honed her psychic abilities by testing her predictions on reality television shows.

Scofield testified that the elaborate videos delved into her personal and professional life and felt “utterly terrifying” to her.

She also was able to confront Guillard when she was cross-examined by the defendant.

“You spoke lies into a camera about me and my husband,” Scofield said to Guillard. “You were making [dozens] of videos about me, someone you never met, you never talked to — someone you had no connection to. I don’t know how anyone could not feel threatened by that level of interest from someone they had never met.”

RELATED: Professor sues TikTok tarot card reader and crime sleuth who accused her of ordering murder of 4 Idaho students over romantic entanglement

Guillard tried to defend her claims against Scofield during the court case, but the jury remained unpersuaded. She previously said she was eager to present her evidence to the court.

“I am actually gleaming with excitement,” she said at the time. “I’m going to immediately start planning because I cannot wait to present my ideas in court regarding Rebecca Scofield and her role in the murder of the four University of Idaho students.”

Police arrested Bryan Kohberger on Dec. 30, 2022, and charged him with the murders after allegedly finding his DNA on the weapon. In July 2025, Kohberger pleaded guilty in order to avoid the death penalty.

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​Tiktok influencer defamation, Influencer pays $10 million, Idaho college students murder, Ashley guillard tiktok, Crime 

A year-long investigation into prostitution led to raids at the home and adult bookstores allegedly owned by one man, according to Dallas police sources.

Department of Justice agents along with Dallas Police officers raided multiple locations on Feb. 13 related to the Paris Adult Book Store as well as a home in Plano.

‘It’s a big deal if the IRS is involved. They might shut it down for good.’

The identify of the owner has not yet been released.

A day prior to the raids, the City of Dallas shut down Pandora’s Men’s Club Dallas over accusations of promotion of prostitution and narcotics sales by workers. WFAA-TV said it was unclear if that action was related to the raids.

Sources told WFAA that the owner faced prostitution, trafficking, and money laundering charges.

Plano Police officers as well as Internal Revenue Service agents were also involved in the raids.

“You name it, they over there!” remarked Roy King, a resident who witnessed the raids and spoke to WFAA. “I ain’t never seen nothing like this in my whole entire life!”

Other business owners in the area said the street is known as “the Blade,” but while they told WFAA that lots of “ugly” activity happened there, they did not want to speak publicly about it.

Dallas Councilwoman Gay Donnell Willis said she was “happy to see this effort to combat illegal activity in a high crime corridor” in a post on social media.

The Dallas Police Dept. released a brief statement with few details.

“The activity is part of an ongoing, multi-agency effort focused on public safety and the disruption of criminal activity within the community. Due to the nature of the investigation, no additional details are available currently,” the DPD said.

RELATED: 14-year-old girls that went missing from sleepover were forced into prostitution by men they met online, police say

Bianca Davis, the CEO of a nonprofit that helps trafficked girls and women, said the networks are getting more sophisticated every day.

“We can come up with 400 signs of what to look for, and someone will show up with the 401st sign. It is just ever-changing,” she said.

She expects that an investigation will lead to cellphone and computer communications that can uncover the extent of the criminal network.

“It’s a big deal if the IRS is involved. They might shut it down for good,” said local business owner Eddie Radoncic to KXAS-TV.

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As the Department of Health and Human Services dives into the chronic disease epidemic in America, BlazeTV host Sara Gonzales is calling on officials to investigate something else as well: “the phenomenon that is liberal white women and why they are so mentally unstable.”

“I don’t get it. I want to get it. It is destroying the country,” Gonzales says, before playing a clip of a “scholar” who studies the “far right.”

“You already know she’s terrible and insufferable just from that basic point, but she decided to flee America. That’s probably partially because of the TDS,” she adds.

“This is day one as a refugee in Canada. We made it across the border yesterday afternoon, and we’re in an Airbnb now. I don’t have a home. Some people can choose to leave, and some people are forced to leave, and I am one of the ones that have been forced to leave,” the woman said in a TikTok video she’s recording of herself.

“I think a lot about, like, Jews in Nazi Germany, and for a long time I was like, why didn’t they get out? You know, like, the signs were so clear, and things were so bad for so long. Why didn’t they get out?” The woman continued.

“That is the most horribly offensive thing I have ever heard in my entire life. I mean, the way that they call us all Nazis, obviously, but to say that, I mean, they’re constantly bastardizing the term Nazi, Nazi Germany,” Gonzales comments, disgusted.

“But she found out that the grass isn’t always greener on the other side,” she continues, before playing more of the self-described “refugee” woman’s TikTok.

“The situation in Canada is absolutely dire. For Americans who don’t know, the housing crisis here is worse than in the United States. I lived in L.A. for six years, and I have not faced rent as bad as here. And in Canada, I think it’s actually the cost-of-living crisis is worse here,” the woman said into the camera.

“Especially when you are shut out of the health care system, when you can’t access any of the resources that Canadians have access to. And that’s understandable, you know, I’m not a citizen of the country, but it is making the financial situation dire because we can’t work, because there are two adults, a cat and a dog,” the woman continued.

“Her brain is broken,” Gonzales comments.

“I would just ask HHS: You could do the coolest thing and save the country if you just figured out how to reverse TDS. It’s causing major problems,” she continues. “Then again, we’re probably lucky that she’s gone. So maybe not. Maybe just leave her there.”

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​Camera phone, Free, Sharing, Upload, Video, Video phone, Youtube.com, Sara gonzales unfiltered, Sara gonzales, The blaze, Blazetv, Blaze news, Blaze podcasts, Blaze podcast network, Blaze media, Blaze online, Blaze originals, Canada, Liberal woman, Trump derangement syndrome, President trump, Donald trump 

A father was charged with murder after his teen son was accused of fatally shooting four in a Georgia high school in 2024 — and on Tuesday a jury returned a verdict in the case against the dad.

The jury found Colin Gray guilty of all charges in the deadly shooting his son is accused of carrying out at Apalachee High School in Winder, which is northeast of Atlanta, the Associated Press reported.

Colt Gray — who was 14 at the time of the shooting — pleaded not guilty to 55 counts, including murder, the AP said.

The outlet said Gray “now joins a growing number” of parents being held responsible after their children have been accused in shootings.

More from the AP:

Colin Gray was found guilty of second-degree murder in the deaths of two 14-year-old students, Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo. Georgia law defines second-degree murder as causing the death of a child by committing the crime of cruelty to children. Gray was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in the killings of teachers Richard Aspinwall, 39, and Cristina Irimie, 53.

Another teacher and eight other students were wounded. Gray was also convicted of multiple counts of reckless conduct and cruelty to children.

RELATED: 4 killed, 9 injured in shooting at Georgia high school, officials say

Gray will be sentenced at a later date, the AP said, adding that second-degree murder is punishable by at least 10 but no more than 30 years in prison; involuntary manslaughter carries a penalty of one to 10 years in prison.

“We talk a lot about rights in our country,” Barrow County District Attorney Brad Smith told the outlet after the verdict. “But God gave us a duty to protect our children, and I hope that we remember that, as parents, as community members, to protect our children because that is our God-given duty.”

The teen’s mother, Marcee Gray, wasn’t charged, the AP said.

She testified that she urged her estranged husband to lock all guns inside his truck so their son Colt couldn’t access them, the outlet noted. She and Colin Gray were separated in the months leading up to the Sept. 4, 2024, shooting, the AP reported, and Colt lived mostly with his father during that time.

Prosecutors said Colin Gray gave Colt the gun he’s accused of using in the school shooting as a Christmas gift and allowed him access to it along with ammunition despite the boy’s deteriorating mental health, the outlet reported, adding that they said Colin Gray had “sufficient warning that Colt Gray would harm and endanger” others.

Colt Gray — who was 14 at the time of the shooting — pleaded not guilty to 55 counts, including murder, the AP said, adding that his judge set a status hearing for mid-March.

More from the AP:

Investigators said Colt Gray carefully planned the shooting at the school attended by 1,900 students.

He boarded the school bus with a semiautomatic, assault-style rifle in his book bag, the barrel sticking out and wrapped in poster board, investigators said. He left his second-period class and emerged from a bathroom with the gun and then shot people in a classroom and hallways, investigators said.

Colin Gray knew his son was obsessed with school shooters, even having a shrine in his bedroom to Nikolas Cruz, the shooter in the 2018 massacre at Florida’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, prosecutors said.

“It wasn’t like one parent missed one warning,” Smith told reporters, according to the outlet. “This was multiple warnings over a lengthy period of time and, like we said, you just had to do one thing — take that rifle away, and this would have been prevented.”

The AP said Jennifer and James Crumbley — the first U.S. parents held criminally responsible for a mass school shooting committed by a child — are serving 10-year prison terms for involuntary manslaughter after their son Ethan killed four students and wounded others in Michigan in 2021.

The outlet added that Colin Gray was the first such parent to be charged in Georgia.

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​Guns, Gun rights, Georgia, Deadly high school shooting, Involuntary manslaughter charges, Murder charges, Father and son, Apalachee high school, Colt gray, Colin gray, Crime 

Pop singer Kesha expressed her outrage after her song was used by the White House in a social media video promoting the military attacks in Iran.

The video posted by the White House account is titled “Lethality” and features U.S. warplanes firing missiles at tankers as Kesha’s song “Blow” from 2011 plays.

‘This show of blatant disregard for human life and quite frankly this attack on all of our nervous systems is the opposite of what I stand for.’

The 30-second video was posted to TikTok, where it garnered almost two million views.

Kesha, whose full name is Kesha Rose Sebert, excoriated the administration for the unauthorized use of her song.

“It’s come to my attention that The White House has used one of my songs on TikTok to incite violence and threaten war,” she said in a post on social media.

“Trying to make light of war is disgusting and inhumane. I absolutely do NOT approve of my music being used to promote violence of any kind. Love always trumps hate,” she added. “Please love yourself and each other in times like this. This show of blatant disregard for human life and quite frankly this attack on all of our nervous systems is the opposite of what I stand for.”

She went on to reference an accusation from Democrat Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland about President Donald Trump allegedly covering up his presence in the Epstein files.

RELATED: Sabrina Carpenter condemns White House’s ‘evil’ use of song — they respond with ridicule

Photo by Tim Mosenfelder/Getty Images

“Also, don’t let this distract us from the fact that criminal predator Donald Trump appears in the Files over a million times,” she wrote.

She added, “Stop using my music, perverts,” in a second post.

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​Kesha vs trump, Kesha vs white house, Viral tiktok trump video, Celebrities hate trump, Politics 

CNN’s latest documentary on so-called “Christian nationalism” appears to attempt to redefine those who celebrate that America was founded on Christian beliefs as extremists — becoming a vague political weapon rather than a clear ideology.

“We hear all the time: The danger is Christian nationalism, but the definition of Christian nationalism is so fluid,” BlazeTV host Allie Beth Stuckey comments on “Relatable.”

“I’m not even sure how I would personally define it, but if you break down the words, nationalism just means that you want to put the interests of your country first. It’s not automatically synonymous with Nazism or fascism, but I do believe that we actually have the Christian responsibility to put the needs and the well-being of our citizens first,” she explains.

“God created nations. Nations are like families,” Stuckey says, pointing out that “you don’t hate your neighbors just because you lock your doors and you live inside a house.”

“You just love your family. And God has created these circles of affection and circles of priority for us for our good, especially for the good of children again. But I think that’s true of Zimbabwe, as well of China. Everyone should put their country first,” she continues.

“So that’s how I would define nationalism … in comparison to globalism,” she says, explaining that the end result of globalism is a global government where the needs of everyone across the globe are prioritized equally.

“Absolutely impossible chaos. I’m anti-chaos,” Stuckey says.

“And then Christian, of course, we know what Christian is. A belief in the gospel of Jesus Christ. And so you believe in the gospel of Jesus Christ. You believe in putting your country first. You believe as Christians that your Christian worldview should impact all you think about policy and politics,” she explains.

Stuckey also explains that what CNN is trying to do is attempt to define “Christian nationalism” as something it is not.

“The CNN anchor behind the project, her name is Pamela Brown. She interviewed Douglas Wilson. Doug Wilson is an Idaho pastor in Moscow, Idaho. He identifies as a Christian nationalist, and she said, quote, ‘The response to that report was overwhelming and highlighted the need to better understand this movement working to redefine America as a Christian nation,’” Stuckey says.

“So you can already kind of see the bias in their language there, as if America doesn’t have a Christian foundation, which of course it does,” she adds, pointing out that while Brown is worried about a Christian’s belief system, the secular belief system many Americans follow is even more widespread.

“They’re bringing the fullness of their belief system into the voting booth, into their PTA meetings, into the city council, into their classrooms, into every public sphere that they occupy,” she says.

“And Christian conservatives, and Christian conservatives alone, are told, ‘You can’t do that,’” she adds.

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The U.S. Department of Justice and two Washington, D.C., federal judges failed to follow statute and legal precedent by keeping pipe-bomb suspect Brian Cole Jr. behind bars since Dec. 4, an “unjust deprivation of liberty” that can only be corrected by his immediate release, defense lawyers argued to a federal appeals court.

Defense attorney J. Alex Little filed an interlocutory appeal after U.S. Magistrate Judge Matthew Sharbaugh and U.S. District Judge Amir Ali denied Cole release pending trial on charges that he placed two pipe bombs on Capitol Hill on Jan. 5, 2021.

‘At that moment, by operation of statute, the government’s right to hold Cole in custody expired.’

In a 72-page appeal memo and 350-page appendix filed with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, Little said the judges violated his client’s rights by failing to hold a required preliminary hearing and then largely ignoring defense evidence that Cole poses no danger to the public.

Federal prosecutors, he wrote, obtained an invalid indictment from the District of Columbia Superior Court on Dec. 29 because they had no intention of presenting evidence at an adversarial preliminary hearing. The federal indictment handed up on Jan. 6 compounded the errors, Little contended, and contained one criminal count with an expired statute of limitations.

FBI agents and technicians search the 2017 Nissan Sentra belonging to Jan. 6 pipe-bomb suspect Brian Cole Jr. outside his Woodbridge, Virginia, home on Dec. 4, 2025. Photo by Andrew Leyden/Getty Images

“The government — apparently unaware of, or indifferent to, its obligations under [18 U.S. Code] § 3060 and facing the reality that no federal grand jury would be available — raced instead to a D.C. Superior Court grand jury as an end-around to avoid a probable cause hearing,” Little wrote. “Cole objected and requested immediate release.”

Under federal law, criminal defendants must either be charged by grand jury indictment or be given a preliminary hearing within 14 days of their first appearance in court. At a preliminary hearing, defense attorneys are allowed to cross-examine witnesses and challenge government evidence. Cole was arrested Dec. 4 and first appeared in federal court in Washington, D.C., on Dec. 5.

On December 3, the DOJ filed a criminal complaint charging Cole with two counts: transporting an explosive device in interstate commerce with intent to kill, injure, or intimidate, and malicious attempted destruction by means of explosive materials.

No required preliminary hearing

Cole’s attorneys agreed to delay his detention hearing until Dec. 30, but Little said that did not substitute for the mandatory preliminary hearing. The Dec. 29 Superior Court indictment is not a valid substitute for a federal grand jury indictment, Little wrote.

“A Superior Court indictment is not a placeholder, and a subsequent federal indictment cannot reach back in time to satisfy a condition that was not met when it was due,” Little wrote. “This Court should reverse and order Cole’s release.”

Judge Ali held that Cole likely waived the preliminary hearing by not moving to schedule the hearing, according to Little, but said the responsibility was the magistrate’s alone.

RELATED: Brian Cole Jr.’s location just the latest snag in the DOJ’s evolving Jan. 6 pipe-bomb narrative

A federal grand jury charged Brian Cole Jr. with two explosives-related charges, alleging he planted pipe bombs on Capitol Hill on Jan. 5, 2021. FBI, Prince William County photos

“The hearing date is the court’s to set,” Little wrote. “The court has no discretion to omit it. And the defendant bears no responsibility for the court’s compliance with its own mandatory obligation.”

“Even assuming Cole’s right to a preliminary hearing had not been forfeited — and it had not — the government’s attempt to satisfy § 3060(e) through a D.C. Superior Court grand jury indictment was legally invalid,” Little said.

The statutory reference to “an indictment” refers to a federal indictment, Little added.

‘Congress prescribed mandatory discharge as the consequence for the government’s failure.’

“The Superior Court return was not one. The government did not seek the Superior Court indictment because it was the right vehicle,” he wrote. “It sought it because no federal grand jury was available, and it had no intention of presenting evidence at a preliminary hearing.”

The D.C. Superior Court “does not have jurisdiction over federal criminal offenses,” Little wrote. “Congress vested ‘original jurisdiction, exclusive of the courts of the States,’ in the federal district courts ‘of all offenses against the laws of the United States.’”

Magistrate Judge Sharbaugh on Jan. 2 ruled that Cole should remain behind bars until trial. The defense moved to revoke that order, which District Judge Ali refused to do in a ruling on Jan. 16. The defense filed for reconsideration of that decision. On Jan. 29, Judge Ali affirmed the decision to jail Cole until trial, ruling that no release conditions could guarantee the safety of the public.

Little contends that those decisions just compounded a judicial error.

Officials from the FBI’s Evidence Response Team and the Special Operations Branch walk toward the home of Jan. 6 pipe-bomb suspect Brian Cole Jr. in Woodbridge, Virginia, Dec. 4, 2025. Photo by Andrew Leyden/Getty Images

“On December 30, 2025, no valid federal indictment had intervened, no preliminary hearing had been held, and no lawful extraordinary circumstances finding had extended the deadline,” Little wrote. “At that moment, by operation of statute, the government’s right to hold Cole in custody expired.

“Congress prescribed mandatory discharge as the consequence for the government’s failure to comply with the preliminary hearing statute,” he said. “That consequence should be imposed now.”

Short shrift for evidence?

Little said Judge Ali erred by not giving more than a passing glance at defense evidence offered after Judge Sharbaugh’s ruling.

The defense offered evidence refuting the DOJ’s claim that Cole erased his cell phone to destroy evidence in the case and argued that there is no evidence Cole is a danger to the community.

Cole began “wiping” or doing a factory reset on his cell phone in mid-2022. Prosecutors said he wiped the device some 943 times, right up until his arrest. A defense psychologist submitted an affidavit that such behavior is common among those suffering from obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Maryland neuropsychologist David O. Black, who said he diagnosed Cole with autism spectrum disorder, level 1, and obsessive-compulsive disorder, told the court, “Repetitive behavior of this nature is consistent with behavior that is often seen in obsessive-compulsive disorder.”

‘The government cannot have it both ways.’

“Between January 2021 and now, the government cannot point to a single threatening act, a single violent communication, a single extremist affiliation, or a single acquisition of explosive materials,” Little wrote. “It does not claim Cole threatened anyone. It does not claim he posted anything alarming online; indeed, it concedes it found no such posts.”

Little again undermined the DOJ’s argument that Cole spent nearly five years evading the FBI’s massive pipe-bomb investigation.

RELATED: Prosecution of Brian J. Cole Jr. for Jan. 6 pipe bombs raises more questions than it answers

Police block off the road leading to the home of pipe-bomb suspect Brian J. Cole Jr. in Woodbridge, Va., on Dec.4, 2025.Photo by Andrew Leyden/Getty Images

“The government cannot have it both ways,” Little wrote. “Either Cole was a meticulous concealer who carefully covered his tracks for nearly five years, or he was someone who left Home Depot receipts from November 2020 in his vehicle until December 2025, stored pipe components in a closet and his car with their original purchase receipts, and purchased every component using his own credit and debit cards under his own name.”

Cole’s defense team has volunteered that Cole be placed on strict court supervision that includes home detention with GPS monitoring. Cole’s grandmother, Loretta Donnette, volunteered to be responsible for Cole and ensure that he complies with all court release conditions. Her husband, a retired federal law enforcement officer with the Government Services Administration, would be home at all times, she told the court.

“Cole has no criminal history, strong community ties, and a family — including a retired law enforcement officer — prepared to ensure his compliance,” Little said. “Pretrial detention under these circumstances is not ‘the carefully limited exception’ the Constitution requires. It is an unjustified deprivation of liberty that this Court should end.”

The DOJ originally had until March 9 to respond to the defense’s appeal memorandum, but on Monday the Court of Appeals issued an order suspending the appeals calendar for the case. It’s not clear how that will impact timing of a decision from the court.

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​January 6 

A Minneapolis county attorney said her office is investigating 17 incidents involving federal agents, including Border Patrol Chief Gregory Bovino, for possible criminal charges.

Bovino headed the immigration enforcement mission in Minnesota dubbed Operation Metro Surge but left the area after the deaths of anti-ICE protesters Renee Good and Alex Pretti in January.

‘We will investigate and pursue charging where appropriate, and we’ll seek collaboration with local law enforcement wherever and whenever needed.’

On Monday, the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office said it was investigating the incidents and opened an online portal to collect tips from the public about “potentially unlawful behavior” committed by agents of Operation Metro Surge.

“Our [Transparency and Accountability Project] team is actively investigating 17 incidents that have been brought to our attention by the community, including Gregory Kent Bovino’s actions near Mueller Park on January 21,” reads a statement from Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty.

Moriarty was likely referring to an incident captured on video where Bovino tossed a canister of chemical irritants at protesters after giving them a warning to disperse. A photographer also captured an officer apparently directly spraying an irritant into a protester’s face after he was pinned to the ground on the same day.

“We will investigate and pursue charging where appropriate, and we’ll seek collaboration with local law enforcement wherever and whenever needed,” she added.

The statement said that portals created for the cases involving Pretti and Good had been closed after collecting public information.

“Make no mistake, we are not afraid of any legal fight,” Moriarty added. “But we will do this ethically, responsibly, and vigorously. TAP is fundamental to our efforts to ensure the transparency and accountability that our community deserves. This is just the beginning.”

A request for comment from the Department of Homeland Security was not immediately returned.

RELATED: Sex toys, other objects allegedly thrown at cops at Minneapolis ICE facility, prompting dozens of arrests — but not by DHS

After Bovino left, the administration sent border czar Tom Homan to oversee the operation in Minneapolis. He has since withdrawn the federal officers and ended the operation after citing its successes.

Afterward, Bovino released a video message to federal officers expressing his gratitude and support.

“I’m very proud of what you, the mean green machine, are doing in Minneapolis right now, just like you’ve done it across the United States over these past tough nine months,” he said in front of Mount Rushmore in late January.

“I also want you to know that I’ve got your back, now and always — I love you, I support you, and I salute you,” he added.

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​Border patrol chief gregory bovino, Hennepin county attorney mary moriarty, Dems investigating ice, Operation metro surge, Politics 

President Donald Trump vehemently denied that he was pushed into joining the military operation against Iran by Israel.

The joint Israeli-U.S. strikes on Iran have entered a fourth day and are likely to continue for some time as Iran retaliates with missile strikes against its neighbors in the Middle East.

‘Israel was ready, and we were ready. And we’ve had a very, very powerful impact because virtually everything they have has been knocked out now.’

Opponents of the strikes have lobbed the accusation that the Israelis pushed Trump into joining their military action. At the White House on Tuesday, he rebuffed the suggestion that Israel, and specifically Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, was to blame.

“Did Israel force your hand to launch these strikes against Iran? Did Netanyahu pull the United States into this war?” a reporter asked.

“No. I might have forced their hand,” Trump said.

“You see, we were having negotiations with these lunatics. And it was my opinion that they were going to attack first. They were going to attack if we didn’t do it. They were going to attack first — I felt strongly about that. And we have great negotiators, great people, people that do this very successfully and have done it all their lives, very successful,” he explained.

“Based on the way the negotiation was going, I think they were going to attack first. And I didn’t want that to happen,” he added. “So, if anything, I might have forced Israel’s hand. But Israel was ready, and we were ready. And we’ve had a very, very powerful impact because virtually everything they have has been knocked out now.”

The president also offered what he thought might be the “worst-case scenario” in Iran.

“I guess the worst case would be, we do this, and then somebody takes over who is as bad as the previous person, right,” the president said. “That could happen. We don’t want that to happen. That would probably be the worst: You go through this, and then in five years you realize you put somebody in who was no better.”

RELATED: ‘American-made retribution’: US ‘suicide drones’ deployed against Iran are based on tech from Iranian drones used in Ukraine

The president was hosting German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who said his country supports the effort to remove the regime in Iran.

“As I said in Germany the last two days, we are supporting the United States and Israel to get rid of this terrible terrorist regime, and we are looking forward to [the] day after,” Merz said. “And we have to talk about the strategy, what is following after this regime is away.”

The strikes on Iran have led directly to the death of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was also reportedly killed, though an aide told Turkish news outlet Anadolu Agency about Ahmadinejad on Sunday: “I am in touch with him. All is good.”

The remaining regime has responded by striking at nearby Middle East states hosting U.S. military bases and assets.

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​Did netanyahu push trump into war, Us-israeli strike on iran, Trump and netanyahu, Iran retaliation, Politics 

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem testified on Tuesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee that the Biden administration paid child traffickers to sponsor unaccompanied minors.

Moments after Noem was sworn in to testify, a masked protester against immigration enforcement interrupted the hearing by shouting for the abolition of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The hearing was interrupted a second time by another protester, who yelled out claims that ICE had killed Americans, shouting, “Black lives matter!”

‘We’re not going to stop until we find every single one.’

During Noem’s opening statement, she accused Democrats of holding the DHS hostage by leading a government shutdown of the agency, which she called “reckless” and “unnecessary.”

“As a result, critical national security missions, including border security, immigration enforcement, aviation security, disaster response, cybersecurity, and the protection of critical infrastructure, are all being strained. Our ability to provide for a safe and successful World Cup is being hindered as well,” Noem explained.

She noted that over 100,000 DHS employees are “again being asked to work without pay for the third time in just five months.”

RELATED: Tom Homan says Trump administration has located 23,000 of the 300,000 migrant children lost under Biden administration

Photo by HERIKA MARTINEZ/AFP via Getty Images

Noem explained that during the Biden administration’s open-border crisis, unaccompanied minors were “lost” and “not tracked.”

She said that it has been “challenging” because the Department of Health and Human Services, under the Biden administration’s leadership, paid sponsors to host the unaccompanied minors.

“And those sponsors, many times, we found instances where they trafficked these children themselves,” Noem continued. “So under that administration, we not only had children that were in this country as a part of a program, the government was paying individuals that were knowingly trafficking them and abusing them.”

She declared that under the Trump administration, these practices have ended, and federal law enforcement agents have found many of these children and attempted to reunite them with their families.

Noem reported that the current administration has located 145,000 of the 450,000 children whom the previous White House was not tracking.

“We’re not going to stop until we find every single one,” Noem declared.

RELATED: ICE exposes Biden’s biggest border failure: Kids handed to sex abusers and criminals

Photo by HERIKA MARTINEZ/AFP via Getty Images

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) addressed the rise in child abuse material online, noting that in 2023, there were an estimated 104 million images and videos of suspected child sexual abuse reported in the United States.

“With all of these images of kids online, I was shocked to learn recently that hundreds of thousands of children in these images are unidentified,” Hawley told Noem. “The Interpol database alone, 90,000 kids are completely unidentified. In the U.K.’s database, it’s over 200,000.”

“Would it be helpful to you if Congress said, ‘You know what, we’re going to create more analysts, more child abuse expert positions, more forensic analysts, and more prosecutors to give to you to look at these images, figure out who these kids are, and go after their abusers?’” Hawley asked.

“Yes, it’d be incredibly helpful,” Noem responded, adding that providing more resources to Homeland Security Investigations would allow the agency to “free more kids from that life of victimhood.”

Hawley pledged to introduce legislation to provide the DHS with additional funding to rescue children from trafficking.

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​News, Kristi noem, Josh hawley, Senate judiciary committee, Biden administration, Biden admin, Trump admin, Trump administration, Joe biden, Department of homeland security, Dhs, Homeland security investigations, Hsi, Immigration and customs enforcement, Ice, Politics 

For nearly half a century, every U.S. president has drawn a firm red line against Iran — only to watch the regime cross it time and again.

Now, following President Donald Trump’s decisive military strike last weekend that targeted hundreds of sites and eliminated key figures in Iran’s top leadership, Glenn Beck sits down with former Navy SEAL and bestselling author Jack Carr to unpack what this pivotal moment truly means for the region and beyond.

When he first heard the news that the U.S. and Israel had launched a joint military attack on Iran, Carr’s initial reaction was one of “sadness.”

“It made me sad because diplomacy had failed,” he says, arguing that Trump’s maximum-pressure campaign against Iran was doomed to fail because acquiescence to any of the three non-negotiables — no nuclear weapons, no ballistic missiles, and no supporting terrorist proxies — would make the Iranian regime look “weak,” something it cannot suffer if it wants to stay in power.

“Any covert action we’d attempted over the last year or in previous administrations over the past decades, that has failed also, and now we’re in a full-scale military engagement with Iran,” he laments.

Glenn agrees wholeheartedly: “Jimmy Carter said, ‘This can’t stand.’ … Ronald Reagan said, ‘They got to stop.’ … H.W. Bush, ‘It’s got to stop. They got to get to the negotiating table.’ Clinton said that, W. Bush said that, Obama said that, Trump said that in the first term, Biden said that.”

“I mean, at some point you’re like, this is insane. We’ve tried giving them billions of dollars; we’ve tried holding money back; we’ve tried carrots and sticks, and nothing works,” he continues, calling Trump “the first one to say, ‘I’m not kicking the can down to the next president. It’s over.’”

“Some of [those former presidents] actually helped Iran get either more powerful or gave them more options when it came to building up these different weapons programs, to crushing any popular uprising or protests. So I’m not surprised that we got to this point,” Carr says.

“When people declare war on you and tell you that they want to destroy you, you probably don’t want that person to have a nuclear weapon or to have options that can lead to your demise,” he adds.

But Glenn thinks this military operation against Iran is “much bigger” than preventing the terrorist regime from obtaining a nuclear weapon.

“This is about Trump redesigning the entire world and going after CRINK,” he says, arguing that Trump is aiming to “take the I” out of CRINK, “which hurts oil for China, hurts money through the oil for Russia,” and weakens Iran’s supply of drones to Russia.

“To look at this just as Iran, I think you’ll never understand why we did this. Do you believe that’s true, or am I wrong?” he asks.

“You’re absolutely right,” Carr says.

He explains that Trump’s military strike on Iran disrupts China’s crucial economic and technological lifeline to the regime. China buys huge amounts of discounted Iranian oil to evade U.S. sanctions and has committed $400 billion over 25 years to Iran — including selling advanced surveillance technology that helps the Iranian government monitor and suppress its own people.

By weakening or breaking this support, the U.S. not only destabilizes Iran’s regime but also frees up American attention and resources to address bigger long-term threats — confronting China over Taiwan (the island China claims as its own) and the tiny but vital computer chips known as semiconductors (the essential “brains” powering phones, computers, cars, AI systems, and military equipment), most of which are produced in Taiwan — while also handling threats from Russia.

“So you’re exactly right. This is not just about Iran,” he says.

To hear more of the conversation, watch the video above.

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​The glenn beck program, Glenn beck, Jack carr, Blazetv, Blaze media, China, Crink, Russia, Iran, Strikes on iran 

A “despicable” homicide suspect was caught on bodycam video pointing a gun at a Florida deputy and pulling the trigger, the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office said Monday.

Authorities said the Feb. 20 incident took place in Port Charlotte, which is about an hour southeast of Sarasota.

‘Let me be clear: This individual is lucky to be alive today.’

Deputies got word that two suspects from a Sarasota County burglary were driving through their jurisdiction in a rental car, officials said.

After observing a traffic violation, deputies stopped the car and made contact with the occupants, officials said.

The driver was identified as 41-year-old Amy Lee; the passenger refused to provide his identification, officials said.

At first, neither Lee nor the passenger complied with deputy commands to exit the vehicle, but officials said they soon obeyed when they were told they would be arrested for obstruction.

Officials learned that Lee was arrested last year on multiple felony charges and that her co-defendant in those cases was 55-year-old Brian Hewson. He turned out to be the passenger in the rental vehicle, and he also had multiple warrants for his arrest, officials said.

Hewson “immediately resisted” when deputies tried placing him under arrest, and a deputy drew his agency-issued taser while shouting a warning, officials said.

But Hewson pulled a concealed firearm, pointed it directly at the deputy, and pulled the trigger, officials said.

However, there was no round in the chamber of the loaded gun, officials said, and it didn’t fire.

With that, the deputy discharged additional taser probes — yet Hewson still tried to re-rack the gun, officials said.

“Thankfully, due to the neuromuscular incapacitation, Hewson was unable to maintain control of the gun, and it was secured by deputies,” officials said.

RELATED: Florida felon named Blackie accused of pointing gun at vehicle in fit of road rage

Officials said Hewson was arrested for multiple warrants — including one for homicide in Pennsylvania, one for failure to appear in Pennsylvania, and charges in Lee County related to trafficking stolen property.

He also was charged with aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer for intentionally pointing a firearm at a CCSO deputy, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, possession of a controlled substance (1.1 grams of fentanyl found in the vehicle), resisting with violence, and possession of drug paraphernalia, officials said.

He was being held at the Charlotte County Jail without bond, officials said.

RELATED: Knifed for ‘being a Christian’? Suspect allegedly stabs man and his dog after asking about victim’s religion

Brian Hewson. Image source: Charlotte County (Fla.) Sheriff’s Office

“Let me be clear: This individual is lucky to be alive today,” Sheriff Bill Prummell said, adding that “I want to be sure it is understood that my deputies are trained to eliminate a lethal threat with deadly force. They deserve to go home to their families after their shift. This despicable human tried to take one of my deputies out instead of being a man and accepting accountability for his own decisions. Now he will face the justice he has tried to dodge for so long … and I hope he spends the rest of his days behind bars.”

The sheriff’s office added in its Facebook post about the incident that “as a point of clarification: We see a few people questioning why our deputy went taser instead of lethal. The answer to that is that he already had the taser in hand before the firearm was seen. Had our deputy attempted to switch from taser to firearm, he likely would have already been shot. The reaction, in the moment, is to use the taser that was already drawn and aimed to incapacitate the suspect. As you can see in the video, this happened VERY quickly.”

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​Crime thwarted, Florida, Homicide suspect, Charlotte county sheriff’s office, Deputy, Taser, Bodycam video, Port charlotte, Pennsylvania, Warrants, Crime 

As Operation Epic Fury enters its fourth day of attacks against Iran, Mike Huckabee, the United States ambassador to Israel, gave a message to Americans stranded in Israel, which is now enduring airstrikes from Iran.

On Tuesday morning, Huckabee released a video that was just under four minutes long with instructions for Americans on what to do amid the ongoing attacks.

‘The US embassy is not in a position at this time to evacuate or directly assist Americans in departing Israel.’

Huckabee gave an outline of the “fairly limited” options for Americans seeking to leave Israel.

“What we are recommending to all of our American citizens, including our own embassy staff, is follow the directions of Home Front Command, which are right now to shelter in place and to be close to a shelter at all times,” Huckabee said. “Follow the alerts. If you hear the siren, make sure you take cover. That’s the best thing you can do.”

RELATED: US service member death toll continues to rise amid Operation Epic Fury

Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images

The Home Front Command is an arm of the Israel Defense Forces responsible for search-and-rescue missions in Israel and around the world, according to the HCF website.

Huckabee stressed that all Americans in Israel and the surrounding area should sign up for the State Department’s STEP program, which communicates necessary updates to U.S. citizens.

The ambassador to Israel added one other option, though there are obvious risks and uncertainties involved with it as well: “In addition, the Israeli Ministry of Tourism is providing bus service from several locations — Herzliya, Tel Aviv, Haifa, and Jerusalem — to go to Taba, just across the border in Egypt, and from there, flights could be available from the Taba airport, though there are limited flights. But also ground transportation would be able to be obtained in Taba to go on to Cairo, where the airport is operating normally and efficiently.”

Ground transportation from Tel Aviv to Taba takes an estimated four hours of travel. It takes between six and 10 hours by bus from Taba to Cairo.

The U.S. embassy for Jerusalem echoed Huckabee’s instructions about finding an escape route while saying what Americans in the Middle East never wish to hear during an armed conflict in the region: “The U.S. embassy is not in a position at this time to evacuate or directly assist Americans in departing Israel.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio released a similar message on Monday night encouraging Americans to sign up for the STEP program for up-to-date situation notifications. Rubio also announced that the State Department, immediately after Operation Epic Fury commenced, “activated a 24/7 task force, surging personnel and resources necessary to help provide American citizens with up-to-the-minute safety and security information.”

The State Department issued a “worldwide caution” warning on February 28.

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​Politics, Mike huckabee, Israel, United states, Iran, Middle east, Operation epic fury, Idf, Home front command, State department, Secretary of state, Marco rubio, Step program, Israel defense forces, Egypt, Cairo, Taba 

The Israeli military has carried out a strike on Iran’s Supreme Council during a meeting to select a new supreme leader, an Israeli official claims.

A senior Israeli official told Fox News that the attack happened on Tuesday “while they were counting the votes for the appointment of the supreme leader.” The strike reportedly took place in Tehran, where the regime’s remaining senior officials were gathered to determine who would replace the late Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who died in a strike over the weekend.

Israeli analysts estimate more than 1,000 enemy combatants have been killed inside Iran since the campaign began.

The bombing is one of the most direct blows yet against Iran’s political command structure as part of the joint U.S. and Israeli campaign now entering its fourth day. Since the launch of the coordinated operations targeting Iranian leadership and infrastructure, more than 40 of Iran’s top leaders, including Khamenei, have reportedly been killed, fracturing the regime’s chain of command.

Israeli analysts estimate more than 1,000 enemy combatants have been killed inside Iran since the campaign began.

RELATED: Iranian state TV hijacked with Trump, Netanyahu message urging citizens to ‘seize control’

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has framed the broader operation as necessary to dismantle Iran’s ballistic missile and nuclear capabilities, arguing the regime’s long-term objective threatens not only Israel but the West.

Vice President JD Vance says that the administration’s objective remains limited: Prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon and ensure it cannot rebuild that capability.

“There’s just no way that Donald Trump is going to allow this country to get into a multi-year conflict, with no clear end in sight and no clear objective,” Vance said, according to Fox News. “He’s defined that objective as Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon and has to commit long-term to never trying to rebuild the nuclear capability.”

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​Politics, Israel, Bombs, Missiles, Iran 

Oil and gas prices spiked globally amid the escalating conflict in the Middle East. Americans aren’t immune, having to shell out significantly more at the pump.

Since Saturday morning, the U.S. and Israel have executed multiple waves of military strikes against Iran. The Shiite nation has, in turn, launched a series of attacks on American installations, personnel, and allies in the region.

‘We’ll likely see both of those rolling over $3/$4 respectively quite soon.’

Violence has spread to Bahrain, Cyprus, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. Fighting is also heating up in southern Lebanon, where Israel has endeavored to seize more “strategic positions.”

Related attacks and threats of attacks have slowed and in some cases halted regional energy production and transportation, choking global supply.

Aramco ceased operations at Saudi Arabia’s biggest oil refinery on Monday following a nearby drone attack. Sources told Reuters that, as of Tuesday, the Saudi oil giant was working on rerouting some of its crude exports to the Red Sea to bypass the Strait of Hormuz, where several ships have been attacked in recent days.

Roughly one-fifth of the world’s oil normally transits the Strait of Hormuz, a stretch of water between Oman and Iran that links the Persian Gulf with the Gulf of Oman. Shipping through the strait has, however, virtually stopped amid Iranian threats and attacks on vessels attempting to pass.

Ebrahim Jabari, a senior official with the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, reportedly stated on Monday that “the strait (of Hormuz) is closed. If anyone tries to pass, the heroes of the Revolutionary Guards and the regular navy will set those ships ablaze.”

RELATED: Netanyahu denies forcing US into war after mixed messages from Rubio, Johnson

Nikolas Kokovlis/NurPhoto via Getty Images

Citing a shortage of tankers, overloaded export terminals, and navigation disruptions resultant of the “closure of the Strait of Hormuz,” Iraqi authorities have announced major production reductions, reported OilPrice.com.

Following military attacks on two of its facilities, the world’s largest liquid natural gas producer, Qatar’s state-run QatarEnergy, also announced on Monday that it was halting LNG production, then revealed on Tuesday it was arresting the production of downstream products including urea, polymers, methanol, and aluminum.

In the wake of QatarEnergy’s initial announcement on Monday, benchmark British and Dutch wholesale gas prices reportedly spiked by nearly 50%, while benchmark Asian LNG prices shot up 39%.

As of Tuesday, Brent crude oil prices were reportedly climbing toward $84 a barrel — the highest level since July 2024.

JP Morgan analysts indicated a day earlier that “if vessel passage through the SoH [Strait of Hormuz] is restricted for 3 to 4 weeks,” Brent oil prices could exceed $100 per barrel, reported Yahoo! Finance.

Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at the price-tracking service GasBuddy, noted on Tuesday morning, “The most commonly encountered gas price today in the US is $2.99/gal, while the most common diesel price is $3.99/gal. We’ll likely see both of those rolling over $3/$4 respectively quite soon.”

“Based on the numbers at this moment (3/3/26, 945am ET), the average price of gasoline would likely climb to about $3.30-$3.35/gal in time,” added De Haan. “Any further changes in markets will change this, but if everything held still, that’s where we’d likely be. Diesel closer to $4.25-$4.45.”

The analyst indicated that the 12-cent rise is the “largest since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine boosted prices 15.0c/gal on 3/4/22.”

When asked about spiking oil prices on Monday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters, “We knew that going in would be a factor. And so we have a program in place that will begin to be implemented by [Energy] Secretary [Chris] Wright, Secretary [Scott] Bessent.”

“We talked about it last night, again, about this program. We talked this morning,” continued Rubio. “And starting tomorrow, you will see us rolling out those phases to try to mitigate against that.”

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​Foreign entanglements, War, Oil, Gas, Energy, Iran, Arab, Emirates, Strait of hormuz, Cars, Affordability, Politics 

A company recently revealed its human-brain-cell-driven chatbot that it has taught to play video games.

However, even though the program runs on real human cells, it is still hallucinating answers.

‘It could be more able to use biological intelligence in a meaningful way.’

The company, Cortical Labs, shared a video recently that showed its brain-cell-operated large language model responding in real time to a user prompt. Return reported on the company last year for using brain cells grown on a silicon “chip” for an organic computer. The tech is referred to as synthetic biological intelligence, and the company now appears to have a room full of such computers.

“This is a whole new paradigm to how … the syntax of the LLM can be more like us,” a company rep said in the video.

Boasting about his brain-powered chatbot, the voiceover added, “It could be more able to use biological intelligence in a meaningful way to select the next token and to create better responses.”

This example immediately failed, though. When the user asked the program, “Tell me where you want to visit on vacation,” the bot cited a place that does not exist.

“The Great Barrinchi Cove in the Maldives,” it stated, before also suggesting “Tuscany, Italy, for its rolling hills, stunning views.”

Despite the complex technology, these types of “hallucinations” are common with AI chatbots and are a somewhat typical occurrence for any frequent chatbot user.

RELATED: Dystopia: World’s first ‘biological computer’ uses human brain cells that are ‘raised in a simulation’

In 2022, Cortical Labs said it had successfully taught 800,000 living brain cells to learn how to play the game Pong. The cells were linked to a computer to gradually learn to sense the position of the game’s ball and control the virtual paddle.

“If we allow these cells to know the outcome of their actions, will they actually be able to change in some sort of goal-directed way?” Chief Scientific Officer Brett Kagan asked at the time.

Since then, and after a bevy of requests, the company has advanced its model to play a more complex game: Doom.

The crude shooter game represents a 21-year jump in technological understanding for the program, given that Doom came out in 1993 and Pong in 1972.

RELATED: Trump fired Anthropic for being ‘leftwing nut jobs,’ but the company’s AI is conquering the internet

The recent demo also showed an incomplete answer provided by the chatbot when asked to explain the meaning of life.

It answered, “The meaning of life is a philosophical question that has been pondered by thinkers and scholars across various cultures and religions for centuries.”

It went on, “It explores the fundamental question of what purpose or ultimate meaning lies in human existence.”

“Different interpretations may vary widely,” it added before ending abruptly.

Cortical Labs has made its research publicly available, letting the viewer decide if the company is indeed creating science “for the greater good,” as it has stated.

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​Return, Ai, Chatbot, Human ai, Brain cells, Human brain, Gaming, Doom, Tech 

The SAVE America Act is a common-sense bill that would ensure American citizens would decide American elections by requiring voter ID and getting rid of mail-in ballots — which BlazeTV host Liz Wheeler could not be more on board with.

“It’s basically just elementary voter ID. This should have been passed weeks ago. Why hasn’t it been?” BlazeTV host Liz Wheeler asks, before introducing the vice president of programs at the Conservative Policy Institute, Rachel Bovard.

“She knows what’s going on and who is to blame and what needs to happen to get the SAVE Act passed,” Wheeler says.

“It has passed out of the House — twice, actually. So what we’re dealing with: You have the SAVE Act, and then you have the SAVE America Act. And that is where we are now focusing, is the SAVE America Act,” Bovard explains.

“We had to do a second vehicle, because the SAVE Act passed out of the House in April. It went over to the Senate, where it was then referred to the Senate Rules Committee. And Mitch McConnell is the chair of the Senate Rules Committee and doesn’t like this bill,” she says.

“I don’t know why. Inexplicably. He’s never spoken on it. He doesn’t like it,” she adds.

That’s when House and Senate conservatives, working together on the issue, tweaked the bill to reintroduce it as the SAVE America Act.

“They sent it over to the Senate, and they did something very strategic this time around. They packaged it in such a way, in what we call a message. So they sent it over to the Senate as a message. Meaning, normally, to get on a bill in the Senate, you have to overcome a filibuster. When you have a message, it’s privileged. You don’t. So you can get onto the bill, bypassing the filibuster altogether,” Bovard tells Wheeler.

“And the second thing that was so brilliant about what they did was when it comes over as a message, it doesn’t get referred to committee. It sits at the desk, where it is just now waiting for Majority Leader John Thune to call it up. Now, will it be subject to a filibuster then? I assume it will,” she says, pointing out that there are two ways to break a filibuster.

“The one everyone’s very familiar with is invoking cloture, which is 60 votes. But the other way is through physical exhaustion, which is the old-fashioned way, which is making senators stand and speak until they physically cannot do so any longer and then putting the question,” she continues.

“So instead of having to break through 60 votes, you break through physical exhaustion, and then in both cases, once you’ve broken the filibuster, the bill passes a simple majority,” she says. “So that is where things stand right now.”

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Former President Bill Clinton testified under oath that President Donald Trump never indicated any improper involvement with Jeffrey Epstein, according to video released Monday by the House Oversight Committee.

In a 4.5-hour deposition Friday in Chappaqua, New York, as part of the committee’s Epstein probe, Clinton went out of his way to defend Trump. Despite no “follow-up question” compelling him to do so, Clinton interrupted the proceedings to note that he did not want to “leave the impression” that Trump ever mentioned to him any involvement “in anything improper with regard to Epstein.”

Clinton then recalled a conversation with Trump from around 2002 or 2003 at a charity golf tournament at “his golf course” when Trump mentioned his past association with Epstein.

‘I saw nothing, and I did nothing wrong.’

Clinton said Trump told him about Epstein: “You know, we had some great times together over the years, but we fell out all because of a real estate deal.”

“The president never … said anything to me to make me think he was involved with anything improper with regards to Epstein either, he just didn’t,” Clinton stated.

He later emphasized, “I have no information that he did anything wrong.”

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Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

About his own associations with Epstein, Clinton declared in his opening statement: “I saw nothing, and I did nothing wrong.” He emphasized he had “no idea of the crimes Epstein was committing” and saw no signs of abuse.

The committee released videos of both Bill Clinton’s and Hillary Clinton’s depositions on Monday.

Republicans highlighted Clinton’s comments on Trump, with Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) calling it an exoneration. Democrats have pushed for Trump to testify as well.

Neither the Clintons nor Trump have been formally accused of wrongdoing in Epstein’s crimes.

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