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Extraterrestrial life boils down to three possibilities: pure myth, flesh-and-blood invaders from the stars, or spiritual entities slipping through cosmic rifts to toy with our souls.

There’s a growing body of belief in the latter — that UFOs and aliens are actually demonic entities masquerading as extraterrestrials in order to deceive humanity.

Presbyterian minister and “Cultish” contributor Colin Samul, who was an occult practitioner before his conversion to Christianity in 2005, falls into this body of belief. “My conclusion, and the conclusion of even a lot of secular researchers like Jacques Vallée, is that what we’re dealing with is not interplanetary but … interdimensional — that is, it’s coming from another realm into this realm,” he told Steve Deace in a fascinating interview about the undeniable connection between ufology and occultism.

“The spirit world that we see in scripture that interpenetrates with this realm fits exactly with what we observe in the [UFO/alien] phenomenon,” he said.

But long before he was a Christian and knew scripture well enough to make this claim, it was already clear to Samul that aliens and UFOs were spiritual in nature. As someone who was deep into New Age rituals, Eastern mysticism, and psychedelic experimentation, Samul could see firsthand that “the UFO subject is tightly bound to the New Age and the occult.”

“I mean, you cannot separate them,” he told Deace.

After his Christian conversion, Samul “put a plug” in his interest in all things extraterrestrial and focused exclusively on growing in his newfound faith. But 20 years and a seminary degree later, the topic re-emerged unexpectedly. In 2017, the New York Times published a bombshell front-page article titled “Glowing Auras and ‘Black Money’: The Pentagon’s Mysterious U.F.O. Program.” It revealed a secret Pentagon initiative (AATIP) that studied UFOs/UAPs for a decade — complete with leaked Navy videos of bizarre aerial encounters.

This mainstream coverage marked a pivotal modern watershed, elevating ufology to national security legitimacy for the first time in decades.

Samul, an ordained minister who used to practice contacting extraterrestrial beings, knew that he was exactly the kind of person who might speak into this national surge in interest in the otherworldly. He dove headfirst into UFO research and related communities but with Christian theology as his guiding light. He described it as being “an embedded reporter from a Christian perspective.”

A few years later, Samul found himself hosting and producing “Cultish’s” 10-part Alien Revelations series on UFOs, disclosure, and spiritual connections — a program Deace says is “an outstanding, must-listen-to” series.

In it, Samul argues that aliens and UFOs are really just “a pathway of initiation into the occult that uses this pop-level meme of space invaders to get people’s attention.” But it never stops at the belief that extraterrestrial life exists. The inevitable next question is: What can these otherworldly beings teach us? And that is precisely what occultism is at its core — the search for hidden knowledge via contacting unearthly realms.

While leading experts in the field of ufology often frame this pursuit of alien knowledge in scientific terms, their rhetoric almost always takes a turn toward the spiritual.

In Deace’s words, it “starts off very Star Trekian” but “ends up very occultic,” as the sciencey vernacular of whistleblowers and spokespeople eventually gives way to more ethereal terms, like “higher consciousness” and “summoning.”

The reason for this, says Samul, is because ufology at its core has “always been” about supernaturalism. That’s why the majority of UFO eyewitness accounts have religious undertones to them, with people reporting “conscious connections,” feeling like they were “one” with a craft, or experiencing “divine” energy emanating from a UFO. Further, people who claim to have been abducted by UFOs often return with alleged “psychic abilities,” believing they can telepathically receive messages from their abductors.

But the connection between ufology and occultism gets even weirder. Aleister Crowley — arguably the most famous occultist in modern history, a man who nicknamed himself “the Great Beast 666” and is widely dubbed “the wickedest man in the world” for his rituals of sex, drugs, and blood sacrifice — claimed to have contact with otherworldly beings. Once, he sketched a picture of one of these beings. Crowley’s drawing portrayed an entity named “Lam” as a bald, gray-skinned being with a large, elongated head, small slit eyes, no mouth, and a vaguely fetal form — eerily resembling modern “gray alien” tropes.

Perhaps even more disturbing is the fact that Jack Parsons — Crowley’s devoted protégé and disciple — went on to become a rocket scientist who channeled his occult obsessions into pioneering solid rocket fuel and co-founding NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab.

Deace puts it in simple terms: “One of the most important advents of engineering in modern human history came from a disciple acolyte of arguably the most infamous occultist satanist in Western history.”

In 1947, Parsons and his fellow Crowley-pupil L. Ron Hubbard, who would go on to found the Church of Scientology, performed a months-long occult experiment called the Babalon Working. Through a series of sex magic rituals, the sinister duo claimed to “birth” the incarnate Thelemic goddess Babalon, who they believed was Marjorie Cameron — an occult artist and actress. When she returned home from the Babalon Working, where she was dubbed “the Scarlet Woman” — the human embodiment of the goddess Babalon – Cameron claimed a UFO was hovering over her house.

1947 also happens to be the same year the modern UFO era kicked off. Kenneth Arnold’s “flying saucer” sighting unleashed a frenzy of reports — over 800 in the U.S. alone — capped by the infamous Roswell crash.

Occult filmmaker Kenneth Anger, who worked with Cameron, claimed that Parsons and Hubbard’s Babalon Working “pierced the veil” of the cosmos, allowing UFOs to enter Earth’s realm. Even the Collins Elite — a secretive U.S. government group — viewed the uptick in UFOs as fallout from Parsons’ and Hubbard’s occult practices.

In other words, says Deace, the theory is that UFOs and aliens are “the culmination of several different fronts of occultic activity” that created “a successful ritual that … opened a door to some form of interdimensional portal.”

To hear more on this theory, watch the full interview above.

Want more from Steve Deace?

To enjoy more of Steve’s take on national politics, Christian worldview, and principled conservatism with a snarky twist, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

​Steve deace, Steve deace show, Blazetv, Blaze media, Extraterrestrial life, Aliens, Ufos, Uaps, Space aliens, Colin samul, Demons, Angels, Spiritual warfare, Christianity 

Every November, America pauses to thank its veterans. As Thanksgiving approaches — and as we mark Veterans and Military Families Month — it’s worth remembering that real gratitude does not begin in ceremonies. It begins in living rooms, workplaces, and communities willing to listen.

When I returned from Iraq, I believed my mission was complete. I had led soldiers through chaos during the invasion of Baghdad and made it home alive. What I didn’t expect was the second battle: reintegration. Purpose felt less defined. Connection felt harder to find. The uniform came off, but the transition demanded its own kind of discipline.

Service doesn’t end on the battlefield. It continues in the boardroom, the classroom, the town hall — and at the dinner table.

Like many veterans, I learned that coming home isn’t an ending. It’s a transfer of duty.

Service that spans generations

That duty is carried not just by veterans but by the families who stand behind them. A spouse manages a household while absorbing the worry that never quite fades. A child learns resilience from absence. A parent hopes each phone call means his son or daughter is one day closer to coming home — and able to stay.

My son is now a second lieutenant in the Army. Watching him begin his own journey reminds me that service does not stop at the edge of a battlefield. It moves through generations. Families carry it alongside us.

The meaning of gratitude

Thanksgiving offers a natural moment to reflect on gratitude — not the polite version, but the kind that demands something from us.

It demands employers who recognize leadership potential behind a résumé gap.

It demands communities willing to listen before advising.

It demands fellow veterans who know that strength includes accepting help, not just offering it.

Most of all, it demands that Americans see military families not as supporting characters but as central figures in the story of national resilience.

RELATED: Thankful for a capitalist Thanksgiving

skynesher via iStock/Getty Images

What we owe the next generation

The wars of the last two decades lasted longer than anyone expected. Their consequences will last even longer. We owe it to the next generation — including my son’s — to show that a nation’s strength is not measured only by how it deploys its forces, but by how it welcomes them back.

As we close Veterans and Military Families Month and gather around Thanksgiving tables, we can honor veterans in a simple but meaningful way: not by assuming we understand their experience, but by inviting them to share it. Not by thanking them once a year, but by offering them roles in which their judgment, discipline, and experience make a difference.

Service doesn’t end on the battlefield. It continues in the boardroom, the classroom, the town hall — and at the dinner table.

​Opinion & analysis, Thanksgiving, Military families, War, Veterans, Duty, Gratitude, Children, Spouses 

The suspect in custody after the shooting of two National Guard troops near the White House is an Afghan national who entered into the U.S. only four years ago, according to a CBS News report.

A massive law enforcement response followed the shooting in Washington, D.C. Initially the troops were reported as having died from their injuries, but the FBI later said they were hospitalized in critical condition.

‘The animal that shot the two National Guardsmen, with both being critically wounded, and now in two separate hospitals, is also severely wounded, but regardless, will pay a very steep price.’

Multiple law enforcement sources said the suspect was identified as 29-year-old Rahmanullah Lakanwal, according to CBS. He also reportedly entered the U.S. on a Biden administration program called Operation Allies Welcome after the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Law enforcement sources told NBC News that he used a handgun in the attack.

Reporter Julio Rosas also confirmed the details.

A White House correspondent for NTD News said she and her cameraman witnessed the incident just before 2:15 p.m.

“National Guard shot near the White House. … I was in an Uber to work, with my cameraman, and heard multiple shots fired as we passed Farragut West,” Mari Otsu wrote on social media.

“A member of the National Guard fell while others rushed onto the scene,” she added, with a video included. “Area still on lockdown and Secret Service being deployed.”

President Donald Trump issued a statement about the incident from his Truth Social account.

“The animal that shot the two National Guardsmen, with both being critically wounded, and now in two separate hospitals, is also severely wounded, but regardless, will pay a very steep price,” he wrote. “God bless our Great National Guard, and all of our Military and Law Enforcement.”

RELATED: MS NOW reporter gets obliterated for unbelievable comment about shooting of National Guard

Photo by Drew ANGERER / AFP via Getty Images

Dept. of War Sec. Pete Hegseth said that 500 additional National Guard troops were going to be sent to D.C. in light of the shooting.

“This will only stiffen our resolve to ensure that we make Washington, D.C., safe and beautiful. The drop in crime has been historic. The increase in safety and security has been historic,” Hegseth said to reporters in the Dominican Republic.

“But if criminals want to conduct things like this, violence against America’s best, we will never back down,” he added. “President Trump will never back down. That’s why the American people elected him.”

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​National guard shooting, Suspect in dc shooting, Rahmanullah lakanwal, Dc troop shooting, Politics 

Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) said an FBI official threatened to open a criminal investigation on one of his staff over his persistent investigation and questioning on the Jan. 6 pipe bombs.

An FBI official threatened to open a criminal investigation on one of Massie’s staff “if we didn’t straighten up [and] play ball,” Massie told Blaze News investigative reporter Steve Baker in an interview broadcast on Matt Kibbe’s “Free the People” podcast and posted to X.

‘Even he understood that was not a good look. Probably illegal.’

“I’m going to say this here on camera because it’s important. … He said … ‘We’re going to investigate one of your staff for fraud,’” Massie quoted the unnamed FBI official as saying. “And he told another one of my staff this: ‘If you guys don’t straighten up, you know, if you want to play hardball, if this is how you want to play it’ or something like that, ‘this member of your staff is going to get criminally investigated for fraud’ — a very specific threat.”

Massie declined to identify the official he says levied the threat, but said he did complain about it to FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino.

“I told Bongino, I said, ‘One of your guys is threatening my guys with an FBI investigation if we don’t do what you want.’ And he [Bongino] said, ‘I’ll take care of that.’ ’Cause even he understood that was not a good look. Probably illegal.”

Massie said he later received a “non-apology” text from the official that said, “‘I’m sorry if I hurt your feelings.’”

“He didn’t apologize. He was unrepentant, let’s say, really.”

Massie has been the most aggressive member of Congress investigating the pipe bombs found behind the Capitol Hill Club at 12:43 p.m. on Jan. 6 and under a park bench on the southwest side of the Democratic National Committee building 22 minutes later. In the same interview with Baker, Massie also disclosed that recent Blaze News reporting has caused him to be “99% certain” that some U.S. Capitol Police officials had a role in the planting of the pipe bombs found on Capitol Hill on Jan. 6, 2021.

“I went from 90% certain that some Capitol Police were involved in the Jan. 6 pipe bomb to 95% certain, and now I’m at 99% certain after this new story that you put out this week,” Massie told Baker.

“I’m doing this on probability. The probability may even be higher than that.”

His comments reflect Blaze News’ recent reporting on a former Capitol Police officer who was an apparent forensic match to the bomb suspect, follow-up reporting on the manner in which the second device was discovered by plainclothes Capitol Police officers, and the stonewalling the congressman charges that he faced from Capitol Police in the course of his own investigation. Assistant Police Chief Ashan Benedict, whom Massie named as having specifically blocked his investigation, retired last week.

The Kentucky Republican also expressed frustration that FBI Director Kash Patel seems to have made little more progress than his predecessor, Director Christopher Wray. In an interview with Fox News earlier this month, as well as a follow-up with independent reporter Catherine Herridge, Patel promised that major developments are incoming, but was scant on details.

A CBS story published Tuesday cited three unidentified sources stating that the FBI had cleared the police officer who appeared to match a forensic gait analysis of the bomber, citing “an alibi: video of her playing with her puppies at the time the devices were placed.” Blaze News has sought to obtain independent confirmation of the FBI’s clearance based on the alibi.

Blaze News reported Nov. 8 on a forensic match to a former Capitol Police officer, based on a computer analysis of the hoodie-wearing alleged pipe bomber’s manner of walking compared to that of the person. The algorithm rated the person as a 94% match, while the intelligence analyst who ran the study for Blaze News put the match closer to 98%. The person has since denied any allegations, through her attorney.

FBI photos

Blaze News reported Nov. 18 that two Capitol Police counter-surveillance special agents sent out to look for more explosives after the discovery of the Capitol Hill Club device were seen on video going to the DNC building and to a nearby bush on the side of the Congressional Black Caucus Institute building.

Independent video investigator Armitas discovered that the hoodie-wearing suspect identified in 2021 as the pipe bomber stopped at the bush along a sidewalk on the north side of the CBCI building at 7:47 p.m. Jan. 5. The suspect sat cross-legged at the shrub and appeared to rummage through a backpack before leaning into the bush as if attempting to place something underneath.

The bomb suspect then stood up and walked back to the DNC bench, where a pipe bomb was placed at 7:54 p.m., according to choppy video released by the FBI.

‘He had a handler, who would often interrupt and answer questions for him.’

When Capitol Police dispatch warned of the Capitol Hill Club bomb at 12:43 p.m., two plainclothes Capitol Police special agents took a nearly six-minute drive to reach the Capitol Hill South Metro Station, one block from the Capitol Hill Club bomb scene. They then walked to the DNC building, passing the park bench the pipe bomb sat next to.

The agents continued walking until they reached an alley leading to the side of the CBCI building. Their movements were not captured on video because four Capitol Police security cameras that would have shown the DNC crime scene were turned away at key moments or pointed in another direction by default.

Massie’s office released video in July 2023 showing a man in dark clothing and a ball cap approaching a U.S. Secret Service SUV sitting in the driveway of the DNC building as part of Vice President-elect Kamala Harris’ security detail. Harris was inside the building when the pipe bomb was discovered.

Blaze News reported in January 2024 that this man was the plainclothes Capitol Police officer who discovered the pipe bomb under a bush at the foot of a park bench at the DNC building.

Following that story, Massie told Blaze News he was determined to interview the agents, but did not get much cooperation from Capitol Police. Massie referred to the agents as “man-bun guy” and “backpack guy” (the one who discovered the bomb).

‘Weirdest meeting’

The Capitol Police never made “backpack guy” available to the Massie, but on Jan. 30, 2024, they did eventually send his partner, accompanied by his commander, Benedict, to speak with the congressman in a meeting that was not recorded or transcribed.

“So they came over to my office, but not ‘backpack guy,’” Massie said. “’Man-bun guy’ came over, and he had a handler, who would often interrupt and answer questions for him.”

Two congressional investigators sat in on the meeting alongside Benedict, the police officer, and Massie. The congressman later described the interview as the “weirdest meeting in the world.”

Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) said an FBI official threatened a criminal investigation of his staff if he didn’t “play ball” on the Jan. 6 pipe bomb investigation.Photo courtesy of Free the People

“In the conversation with the counter-surveillance officer in my office, Ashan Benedict would frequently interrupt the officer, answer before the officer could reply, or qualify the officer’s answers,” Massie told Blaze News. “There was an effort by our committee staff to get Benedict to sit for a transcribed interview, but he successfully evaded that effort.”

Massie said he still wants to interview the officer who actually found the bomb, as well as his partner and Benedict. “Those need to be transcribed interviews. They need to be sworn in. I feel very strongly about that,” he said. “But the reality is the FBI should be doing these things.”

Massie said that after he reposted the Blaze News article on the gait analysis, Bongino called him to complain about two early persons of interest mentioned in the piece.

One of those men, named in FBI reports as Person of Interest 3, lived directly next door to the Capitol Police officer who was the subject of the Nov. 8 Blaze News article. The FBI’s Special Operations Group conducted surveillance on Person of Interest 3 in Falls Church, Va., for two days in January 2021, but surveillance was suddenly canceled, before any law enforcement officer ever questioned the man.

Massie said Bongino told him, “‘That’s a dead lead. … We investigated that lead and … there’s nothing there. There’s no there there.’ So that’s why they quit looking at it. … At that point I said, ‘But you guys weren’t — you never did suspect him. The FBI never did suspect him. … His build doesn’t match. There’s no way it could be him. Your guys were looking for somebody else.’”

Whistleblower concerns

A current FBI supervisory special agent on Nov. 10 filed a whistleblower protected disclosure with Massie and U.S. Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-Ga.), alleging the termination of surveillance at the Falls Church condominium complex was improper and cut off a suggestion by a surveillance team member that Person of Interest 3 be questioned face-to-face at his doorstep.

Person of Interest 3 and Person of Interest 2, his alleged houseguest on Jan. 5 and 6, 2021, had not been questioned by the FBI when surveillance was terminated. Interviews took place six days later, according to FBI reports included in the whistleblower disclosure. An FBI agent pretending to be a Metro Transit police officer interviewed Person of Interest 3 over the phone, a congressional source told Blaze News.

The whistleblower’s “concern was that the investigation that went to Falls Church, Virginia, that got them to the doorstep of the person that [Blaze News] identified through gait analysis as possibly somebody that might have been the person in the hood,” Massie said.

“There were suggestions made to the people in charge of the investigation about how to follow up on those leads,” Massie said. “And it was just dropped after two days of surveillance. And he [the whistleblower] provided supporting documents to that effect.”

Capitol Police block off the intersection of 1st and C streets in response to discovery of a pipe bomb at the Capitol Hill Club in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6, 2021.U.S. Capitol Police

Massie said Bongino made reference to the FBI conducting a meeting to address the whistleblower disclosure. “He didn’t say, ‘We’re trying to find the whistleblower,’” Massie said. “But my Spidey sense went off, and I almost said to him in that moment, ‘You better not be trying to find the whistleblower, because law protects that individual.’ But I didn’t say it.”

Massie said he thought about this when recalling the threat he said his staff received from the FBI official.

“I have to tell all the listeners this because this is the context in which I’m worried for the whistleblower,” Massie said. “If they’re willing to retaliate against a congressional office, which has speech or debate immunity and a lot of other protections, they may be willing to retaliate against the whistleblower.”

The whistleblower’s attorney, Kurt Siuzdak, sent a letter to Massie and Loudermilk on Nov. 13, warning that if the FBI attempted to out the whistleblower, it would violate the supervisory agent’s protections under the law. Massie shared the letter on social media.

“Identifying the whistleblower serves only one purpose,” Siuzdak wrote, “which is to allow FBI management to retaliate.”

In a Nov. 13 post on X, Bongino accused Massie of throwing “BS bombs” and denied that the FBI sought to identify or retaliate against the Nov. 10 whistleblower. A Blaze News request to Bongino for further comment went unanswered.

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​January 6, Pipe bomb, Fbi, Fbi whistleblower, Thomas massie, Dan bongino, Matt kibbe, Capitol police, Dnc, Rnc, Capitol hill club, Congressional black caucus institute, Barry loudermilk, Politics 

Ashan M. Benedict, the assistant U.S. Capitol Police chief who a congressman alleges prevented two special agents involved in the discovery of a pipe bomb at the Democratic National Committee building from testifying before a U.S. House panel, has retired from the department, Blaze News has learned.

Rumors of Benedict’s retirement came one day after Blaze News published an investigation showing unexplained activity by the Capitol Police officers who discovered that bomb, who were overseen by Benedict. The announcement surprised some at the Capitol Police because his contract with the department was set to expire at the end of the month, on Dec. 1. Benedict came to the Capitol Police on Dec. 4, 2023, as assistant chief for protective and intelligence operations, which includes counter-surveillance teams. He later became assistant chief for standards and training operations.

‘They never looked for a third or fourth or fifth pipe bomb.’

Before he joined the USCP, Benedict was the DNC pipe-bomb incident commander for the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. In that post, he oversaw ATF’s response to the J6 pipe-bomb threat.

Capitol Police Chief Michael Sullivan distributed a bulletin Monday, Nov. 24, announcing Benedict’s retirement after less than two years with the USCP. Word had already circulated around the department on the Wednesday before that Benedict was leaving, two sources told Blaze News.

Word of Benedict’s retirement started percolating a day after Blaze News published an investigation showing the two USCP counter-surveillance agents who discovered the DNC bomb on Jan. 6, 2021, seemingly acting in a suspicious manner. The cops parked their car that afternoon and walked straight past a pipe bomb to another location, which Blaze News’ investigation discovered that the pipe-bomb suspect visited the night before. Then the officers returned to the DNC building, where one of them discovered the device.

Pipe-bomb suspect, construction worker, and police at a bush next to Congressional Black Caucus Institute.Photos by U.S. Capitol Police

“I went from 90% certain that some Capitol Police were involved in the Jan. 6 pipe bomb to 95% certain, and now I’m at 99% certain after this new story,” Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) told Blaze News last week in an interview with Steve Baker broadcast on Matt Kibbe’s “Free the People” podcast and posted to X.

“I’m doing this on probability. The probability may even be higher than that.”

The officers were not seen searching any other areas for explosives in any of the extensive video available and reviewed by Blaze News, and they did not continue searching after the DNC device was found at 1:05 p.m. on Jan. 6.

The USCP has since confirmed that one of its agents found the pipe bomb near the DNC park bench, but there is no video showing that because key cameras were turned away from the DNC building at the time. The fact that the DNC bomb was discovered by plainclothes Capitol Police officers, and not merely a pair of passersby, was not made public until Blaze News broke that news in January 2024.

Following that story, Massie told Blaze News he was determined to interview the agents, but did not get much cooperation from Capitol Police. Massie referred to the agents as “man-bun guy” and “backpack guy” (the one who discovered the bomb). By this time, the agents were under Benedict’s command.

Key cameras that cover the Democratic National Committee building were turned away during bomb discovery and disposal.U.S. Capitol Police

The Capitol Police never made “backpack guy” available to Massie, but on Jan. 30, 2024, they did eventually send his partner, accompanied by Benedict, to speak with the congressman in a meeting that was not recorded or transcribed.

“So they came over to my office, but not ‘backpack guy,’” Massie said. “’Man-bun guy’ came over, and he had a handler, who would often interrupt and answer questions for him.”

‘They just kind of wander off. Their job was done. They had found the second pipe bomb.’

Two congressional investigators sat in on the meeting alongside Benedict, the police officer, and Massie. “In the conversation with the counter-surveillance officer in my office, Ashan Benedict would frequently interrupt the officer, answer before the officer could reply, or qualify the officer’s answers,” Massie told Blaze News. “There was an effort by our committee staff to get Benedict to sit for a transcribed interview, but he successfully evaded that effort.”

Massie asked the agent who sent him and his partner to the DNC building, as opposed to some other high-visibility potential target.

“How did you know to go look there?” Massie said he asked. “And it wasn’t a real good answer, something like, ‘That was my sector’ or something. You know, ‘We’re assigned sectors, and that’s just the sector that I look in.’”

According to the January 2025 report of the Committee on House Administration Subcommittee on Oversight, three two-man Capitol Police counter-surveillance teams were dispatched to look for other bombs after discovery of the Capitol Hill Club device.

Massie said he showed a video to the men, depicting the slow, nonchalant response from the Secret Service, Metropolitan Police Department, and Capitol Police to the discovery of a bomb that potentially could have killed them all.

‘He never told me about this other bush.’

“Look, there’s pedestrians still walking around, and this is allegedly a pipe bomb,” Massie said. “And that’s when his handler [Benedict] stepped in and said, ‘Well, you don’t want to alarm people when you have a lot of crowds. You know, when you find a bomb or something, you can’t yell, ‘Bomb!’ You gotta just play it cool.’”

Video showed there were no crowds near the DNC bomb site. Occasional pedestrian traffic continued on the sidewalk within feet of the bomb, and vehicle traffic was not immediately stopped on nearby streets. Commuter trains continued to rumble over the adjacent train trestle for 15 minutes after discovery of the bomb.

Massie said his next question “elicited the oddest body language I’ve ever seen in a meeting and no real answer.”

“Well, so then you obviously went looking for another pipe bomb, right?” Massie recalled. “You found two of them within 30 minutes. You must believe the whole place is riddled with them if you’re finding them this quickly.

“I actually knew part of the answer. I watched the video of where he went after,” Massie said. “They just kind of wander off. Their job was done. They had found the second pipe bomb. They never looked for a third or fourth or fifth pipe bomb, and they didn’t have an answer to me for why the search for pipe bombs was over once they found the second pipe bomb. No answer. Weirdest meeting in the world.”

Massie said he still wants to see the officer who actually found the bomb and interview him, his partner, and Benedict under oath for transcribed interviews. “Those need to be transcribed interviews. They need to be sworn in. I feel very strongly about that,” he said. “But the reality is the FBI should be doing these things.”

“How did they know exactly where to look, including the place [Congressional Black Caucus Institute bush] where the pipe bomber tried to place a bomb?” Massie asked. “It was police, it was Capitol Hill Police that found these bombs, and they got there. But … I hope they went and bought lottery tickets after finding these, after going to these two locations.

“But when you take them all together, and the fact that I got to interview these, it’s at least one of these guys [who discovered the bomb], and he never told me about this other bush,” Massie said. “He didn’t have answers for why they didn’t look for more bombs after they found the second one. And then we’ve got the ATF person in charge of the bomb stuff happening on Jan. 6 is now at Capitol Police handling the interview?”

Sources have said the two special agents, who are known to Blaze News, are still with the Capitol Police. The one who discovered the bomb is now the Capitol Police’s liaison to the FBI — the agency charged with investigating the pipe bombs. His partner, who accompanied Benedict to meet with Massie, still works in the intelligence section.

Benedict’s retirement is just the latest disclosure in two months of developments in the long-unsolved pipe-bomb case.

Questions and requests for comment sent to Benedict and the two officers were not returned in time for publication.

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​Politics, January 6, Pipe bomb 

Jason Whitlock, BlazeTV host of “Fearless,” and former Buccaneers quarterback Shaun King have put three high-profile quarterbacks on the operating table this year: Baltimore Ravens’ Lamar Jackson, Jacksonville Jaguars’ Trevor Lawrence, and Philadelphia Eagles’ Jalen Hurts.

The prognosis from disgruntled fans isn’t good. Jackson fails to ignite a stagnant offense and is injury-prone; Lawrence has an embarrassing completion rate, especially considering his $275M contract; and Hurts plays scared in the pocket, underutilizing his star receivers downfield.

King lays bare what’s really going on with each player.

Lamar Jackson

Despite the rumors that Jackson is on a permanent decline, King says he’s likely just struggling with hesitancy after a string of injuries.

Right now, it looks like he’s “unwilling to use his athleticism, which makes me think that he’s trying to guard against further injuring whatever his ailment is,” he tells Jason.

But given the superstar’s “track record of success” — two MVP awards, two 1,000-yard rushing seasons, and the best dual-threat stats in NFL history — we need to “give him the benefit of the doubt.”

“If this persists into next year, I think we can circle back around to this topic,” King concludes.

Trevor Lawrence

King is far less forgiving of the Jaguars’ quarterback.

“Has never been held accountable for his deficiencies. Incubated at Clemson. Not exposed to any of the criticism or ridicule. … Got the big contract way too early,” he condemns, accusing Lawrence of being a coach killer.

“He’s a very frenetically wired player, and I don’t think you can play that position if you can’t be calm when it’s chaotic,” he says.

King believes that Lawrence, who he argues is over-reliant on his raw talent, has never been properly coached. “Nobody’s held him accountable for some of the fundamental flaws he has, some of the bad decisions he makes — like, really holding his feet to the fire. … He’s never been faced with the threat of being benched for his deficiencies.”

If Lawrence gets a coach willing to “get after him,” we may yet see the QB rise to true stardom.

Jalen Hurts

“I think [Hurts] might be the most underappreciated player in the National Football League,” King says.

Unlike legends like Peyton Manning and Tom Brady — who were able to master their system under the same coaches for over a decade — Hurts has never had that kind of stability.

“Jalen Hurts has changed coordinators the last four years,” meaning he’s “[spent] every off season learning a new system as opposed to focusing on fixing some of [his] deficiencies,” King explains.

And despite this lack of continuity, he’s still one of the league’s most successful and celebrated quarterbacks.

“I don’t think he gets enough credit,” King says. “Is he a finished product? Absolutely no. I would love to see what Jalen Hurts could do from a development standpoint if Philly could finally give him continuity.”

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

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​Fearless, Fearless with jason whitlock, Jason whitlock, Blazetv, Blaze media, Nfl, Jalen hurts, Lamar jackson, Trevor lawrence, National football league, Quarterback, Shaun king 

While law enforcement officials continue to investigate the shooting of two National Guard troops in Washington, D.C., at lease one reporter has already pounced to make disgraceful assumptions on the incident.

Ken Dilanian of MS NOW suggested that the shooter was animated by many of the grievances against the Trump administration’s policies that are popularized by the left.

‘You’re a heartless idiot and not a true journalist.’

“Of course, you know, there’s so much controversy happening in the United States right now with ICE, who are also wearing uniforms and wearing masks,” Dilanian said. “And so there’s … people walking around with uniforms in an American city. There are some Americans that might object to that. And so apparently this shooting has happened.”

Video of his comments were posted on social media, where they quickly went viral and he faced brutal criticism.

“Ken Dilanian will apologize for this. But here’s the thing: He won’t mean it,” Jon Podhoretz of Commentary magazine replied.

“This is bats**t crazy and you are an absolute disgrace. To say and post something like that shows a lack of well, anything that would be deemed good,” another detractor said.

“Time to look for Ken Dilanian’s misplaced soul and reunite them before he starts outlining how understandable it is to shoot National Guardsmen in the head because the left wants foreign voters flooding our streets and towns with need, crime and hatred,” another reply reads.

“This is disgusting,” another critic said.

“You’re a heartless idiot and not a true journalist. You probably jumped for joy at the news of these deaths and were all too happy to be the one talking about it, weren’t you? Tell the truth,” another response reads.

RELATED: ABC News journalist ripped to shreds over misleading claim linking Trump to trans shooter

The shooting of the troops led to a lockdown at the White House and conflicting reports about the state of the victims. They were initially reported to have died, but Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Kash Patel later indicated that they were hospitalized in critical condition.

On Thursday, a federal judge ruled against the lawfulness of the troops surge in D.C. but gave the administration 21 days to appeal the order.

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​Ken dilanian, Reporter hit by backlash, Dc troops shot, National guard troops shot, Politics 

Forms of government are not laboratory specimens. You cannot line them up like competing scientific theories, test them under controlled conditions, and then apply the “correct” model to every nation on earth.

The United States learned that lesson the hard way in places like Afghanistan. The George W. Bush vision of exporting liberal democracy across the world was delusional because cultures differ and human beings are not blank slates. People must be governed in ways that align with their nature and customs.

If conservatives wish to make the United States a republic again, they must begin by admitting what America has become.

Government forms have limits. They are not universal ideologies that can fit any situation, and when nations ignore those limits, they fail. America keeps expanding beyond what a republic can bear and refuses to admit it, with predictable consequences.

In its classical form, a republic rests on a set of virtuous citizens capable of self-government through shared beliefs, values, and customs. Citizenship is limited and precious. It conveys as many responsibilities as rights. Citizens do not gain the vote simply because they reside inside a border. They earn it through constant engagement with the body politic. They are soldiers, business owners, family men, and stalwart church members. They have shown both a willingness to sacrifice for society and the capacity to contribute meaningfully to it.

The phrase “self-governing” can mislead because it suggests isolated, autonomous individuals. That is not what classical thinkers meant. A republic needs the lightest touch of any governmental form because the community reinforces itself. Citizens hold each other to account.

From Aristotle to Machiavelli to the American founders, the assumption was the same: A republic requires a virtuous people bound by thick ties of identity and shared moral expectations. Formal authority exists, but most of the real enforcement happens through custom and communal pressure, with the civil magistrate stepping in only when necessary. A republic works only when its people possess enough virtue and cohesion to govern themselves.

That is why republics are rare. They have a strict limitation: scale.

Most successful republics in history have been compact city-states with contained populations capable of maintaining identity and virtue. Once a republic expands, it must incorporate people who do not share its customs or worldview. In “The Prince,” Machiavelli warns rulers who wish to expand that they should only conquer nations sharing similar religion, language, and heritage. That common ground allows the conquered population to assimilate.

Ruling peoples with radically different cultures is far more difficult because the subjects cannot easily accept the rule of a leader whose assumptions differ so dramatically from their own.

A country that does not share culture, religion, tradition, or heritage cannot function as a republic because the people lack the common ground necessary for self-rule. The gaps are too wide to be bridged by normal political debate. A stronger form of authority becomes necessary to bind disparate groups together.

This is why kingdoms and empires are far more common throughout history. Most populations do not possess the cohesion or virtue required for republican government and must instead be ruled by a king. Empires are simply multicultural kingdoms, held together by an emperor who forces cooperation among groups that otherwise could not form a single polity.

Even classical empires understood the need to respect the character of their diverse subjects. Wise rulers did not attempt to make every people act the same. They allowed local custom to continue as long as taxes were paid and troops supplied. Local leaders were often retained. Sometimes a local king stayed on his throne but only if he showed deference to the emperor. The multicultural empire required a much stronger hand, though wise emperors used that power sparingly.

This historical reality explains much about the behavior of modern liberal democracies. Many citizens wonder why their leaders insist on importing large numbers of foreigners despite popular opposition. Cheap labor and imported voters are part of the answer, but in the end, it comes down to the pursuit of raw power.

RELATED: Do you want Caesar? Because this is how you get Caesar

Blaze Media Illustration

Large-scale immigration introduces deep cultural differences that destabilize the political order, and the only way to manage that instability is more centralized authority. A liberal democracy that becomes too diverse must govern in the manner of an empire. Its leaders must exercise the level of authority required to hold multiple nations together under one state.

The fact is, multicultural societies trend toward authoritarianism. They must. The differences are too great to manage through ordinary civic persuasion. This dynamic intensifies when the state attempts to integrate its various peoples rather than allowing them to exist separately. By transforming their democracies into multiethnic empires, Western leaders acquire imperial levels of power while maintaining the appearance of popular rule.

No republic can survive the level of diversity now celebrated as a civic virtue.

If conservatives wish to make the United States a republic again, they must begin by admitting what America has become. The country has been transformed into a multicultural empire and is governed accordingly. It grants immense power to its ruling elite in the hope that it can manage the instability produced by extreme diversity.

A republic cannot endure under these conditions. America must end immigration, scale back its foreign ambitions, and cultivate a shared, virtuous culture. Without these steps, talk of republican revival is performative. The structure of a republic cannot survive the substance of an empire.

If Americans will not reclaim the unity that makes self-government possible, then they will be ruled, not represented. Republics are earned. Empires are endured.

​Opinion & analysis, Republic, Empire, Multiculturalism, Self-government, Decline, Liberty, Freedom, Duty, The prince, Machiavelli, Monarchy, King, Cheap labors, Wisdom, Immigration, America, Elite, Ruling class 

A federal judge partially sided with a lawsuit from the American Civil Liberties Union against warrantless detentions by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the administration vowed to appeal it.

Federal Judge R. Brooke Jackson said in his ruling that the warrantless detentions violated the restriction that said individuals must be deemed a flight risk to be justifiable.

‘Allegations that DHS law enforcement engages in “racial profiling” are disgusting, reckless, and categorically FALSE. What makes someone a target for immigration enforcement is if they are illegally in the US — NOT their skin color, race, or ethnicity.’

“Immigration officials are entrusted with enforcing immigration laws and are authorized to pursue an aggressive deportation agenda,” Jackson wrote in the ruling. “They may arrest and initiate removal proceedings against individuals they believe are present without lawful status. But in carrying out these responsibilities, they must follow the law.”

One of the four plaintiffs in the lawsuit is 19-year-old Caroline Dias Goncalves, a student at the University of Utah who was detained after a routine traffic stop in Mesa, Arizona, in June. The deputy released her with only a warning, but he passed on her information to ICE officials, who detained her a few miles down the road.

Jackson said ICE agents had improperly ignored the flight risk stipulation or improperly applied it.

“Plaintiffs are four individuals who had deep and longstanding ties to their communities, including parents, spouses, children, stable employment histories, and active participation in their local churches,” Jackson said. “No reasonable officer could have reasonably concluded that these plaintiffs were likely to flee before a warrant could be obtained.”

Tricia McLaughlin, an assistant secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, released a statement vowing to challenge the ruling at the Supreme Court.

“This activist ruling is a brazen effort to hamstring the Trump administration from fulfilling the president’s mandate to deport the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens,” McLaughlin said.

“Allegations that DHS law enforcement engages in ‘racial profiling’ are disgusting, reckless, and categorically FALSE. What makes someone a target for immigration enforcement is if they are illegally in the U.S. — NOT their skin color, race, or ethnicity,” she added. “There are no ‘indiscriminate’ stops being made. DHS conducts enforcement operations in line with the U.S. Constitution and all applicable federal laws without fear, favor, or prejudice.”

RELATED: Church worker pretended to be ICE agent to extort $500 from massage therapist, police say

Jackson further ordered the government to refund the costs incurred by the four defendants. The judge denied a request from the plaintiffs to obtain the training requirements at ICE, but added that if the government did not comply with the order, the plaintiffs could renew the request.

“The Supreme Court recently vindicated us on this question elsewhere, and we look forward to further vindication in this case as well,” McLaughlin concluded.

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​Federal judge vs trump, Ice limited in colorado, Warrantless detentions, Mass deportations, Politics 

Vice President JD Vance did something remarkable last week: He described Canada more honestly than most of its own political leaders.

In a short series of posts on X, Vance captured the two anxieties that now define Canadian life — mass immigration and a refusal to take responsibility for national decline.

The deeper problem is leadership that seems consistently more focused on the fortunes of global capital than the welfare of Canadians.

“While I’m sure the causes are complicated,” he wrote, “no nation has leaned more into ‘diversity is our strength, we don’t need a melting pot we have a salad bowl’ immigration insanity than Canada. It has the highest foreign-born share of the population in the entire G7 and its living standards have stagnated.”

Vance continued, “And with all due respect to my Canadian friends, whose politics focus obsessively on the United States: your stagnating living standards have nothing to do with Donald Trump or whatever bogeyman the CBC tells you to blame. The fault lies with your leadership, elected by you.”

Truth hurts

Those comments struck a nerve because they describe a reality that Canadians live with every day. Immigration levels have soared to historic highs. Canada’s population is closing in on 40 million, with roughly 23% foreign-born in the 2021 census — and likely much higher today, given the recent revelation that 42% of babies born in 2025 will have foreign-born mothers. For years, political and media elites insisted that this was a sign of national strength. Ordinary people can now see the strain everywhere: stagnant wages, collapsing services, unaffordable housing, and infrastructure buckling under the load.

Vance’s second point was equally accurate. Canadian politicians — especially Liberal ones — have long relied on Trump as a universal scapegoat. No matter the problem, the reflexive response has been to point south and blame “American extremism” for Canada’s failures. It was a convenient distraction from the consequences of their own policies.

Man with no plan

Prime Minister Mark Carney was a master of this blame-shifting. Before entering politics, he spent years burnishing his reputation as a global technocrat. Yet when he ran for prime minister, he adopted an almost paranoid tone toward the United States, claiming in one speech: “President Trump is trying to break us so that America can own us. … We need a plan to deal with this new reality.” His “plan,” as it turned out, was simply to win power — and once in office, Carney abandoned the rhetoric even as he continued neglecting basic economic and security interests.

Nowhere has that neglect been clearer than in defense procurement. Ottawa is reportedly considering scrapping the F-35 fighter jet program in favor of Sweden’s Gripen — an aircraft incompatible with the F-35s flown by every branch of the U.S. military and central to NORAD’s interoperability. As U.S. Ambassador Pete Hoekstra has warned repeatedly, such a move would be sheer folly, undermining both North American defense and Canada’s most vital alliance.

The deeper problem is leadership that seems consistently more focused on the fortunes of global capital than the welfare of Canadians. Brookfield Asset Management — the firm Carney chaired before deciding to seek the leadership of the Liberal Party of Canada and replacing Justin Trudeau as prime minister — recently surfaced in headlines for its involvement in an $80 billion agreement with the Trump administration to produce nuclear reactors. That deal may be good business, but it has only reinforced public suspicion that Carney’s loyalties were formed long before he stepped into elected office.

RELATED: Is this the end of Canada?

Dave Chan/Getty Images

Soft authoritarianism

Meanwhile, Canada’s once-vaunted bureaucracy is looking increasingly ideological, unaccountable, and hostile to the people it purports to serve. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency’s ongoing occupation of a family farm — and its insistence on slaughtering hundreds of healthy ostriches despite nearly a year without symptoms of avian flu — has alarmed Canadians across the political spectrum. It is the kind of aggressive, unrestrained government action that would have been unthinkable a generation ago.

All of this is unfolding as the Liberal government pursues sweeping censorship and surveillance legislation, from online speech controls to broad new powers for federal regulators. The United Kingdom has already slid into a soft authoritarianism that polices “offensive” speech through arrests and intimidation. Canada appears determined to follow the same path.

This is what Vance was speaking to: a country drifting into economic stagnation, cultural fragmentation, bureaucratic overreach, and political corruption. A country that no longer seems capable of telling itself the truth about what is happening. A country that responds to national crises not with reform, but with scapegoats — whether Donald Trump, American conservatives, or anyone who challenges the official narrative.

Canada is not yet lost. But it is undeniably breaking, and the political class shows little interest in repairing it.

As Vance noted, the ultimate responsibility lies with Canadians themselves. They elected the leadership that brought the country to this point. Whether Canada recovers will depend on whether they are willing to demand something better.

​Mark carney, J.d. vance, Immigration, Justin trudeau, Donald trump, Lifestyle, Canada, Letter from canada 

The newly self-appointed prosecutor has dropped the case against President Donald Trump and others in Georgia over alleged election tampering charges.

Peter Skandalakis, the director of the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of Georgia, stepped in after Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis was disqualified from the case. On Wednesday, he said the case would be dropped in order “to serve the interests of justice and promote judicial finality.”

‘The few remaining Democrat Witch Hunts will soon meet the same embarrassing end. We are going to keep winning.’

The lawsuit was roiled by the discovery of an improper romantic relationship between Willis and Nathan Wade, a top prosecutor in the case. Trump made a reference to the relationship in his post on Truth Social.

“LAW and JUSTICE have prevailed in the Great State of Georgia, as the corrupt Fani Willis Witch Hunt against me, and other Great American Patriots, has been DISMISSED in its entirety,” the president wrote. “This Illegal, Unconstitutional, and unAmerican Hoax was perpetrated against our Nation by Fani and her Low I.Q. Lover, Nathan Wade, at the direction of Crooked Joe Biden and his ‘Handlers.'”

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee ordered the case “dismissed in its entirety” against Trump and the co-defendants.

“In my professional judgment, the citizens of Georgia are not served by pursuing this case in full for another five to ten years,” Skandalakis said.

The president went on accuse the former Biden administration of orchestrating the prosecution in Georgia.

“The Deranged Democrats did all they could to viciously attack me, my supporters, and our MAGA Movement, for telling the TRUTH — THE 2020 ELECTION WAS RIGGED AND STOLEN,” he added, “and they committed Crime after Crime as they weaponized our Law Enforcement and Justice System against HONEST AND LOVING Americans but, we have fought back and won both in the Courts and Politically with our Historic, Country saving, Landslide Victory of November 5, 2024.”

RELATED: Georgia judge drops 3 charges in Trump election interference case

“This case should never have been brought,” said Trump’s lead attorney, Steve Sadow, in a statement. “A fair and impartial prosecutor has put an end to this lawfare.”

“The few remaining Democrat Witch Hunts will soon meet the same embarrassing end. We are going to keep winning,” the president concluded in his post.

Skandalakis said the case would be “best pursued at the federal level.”

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Since the 1990s, after Somalia’s central government collapsed and civil war broke out, Somalis have been immigrating to the United States, especially to Minnesota, where the first organized refugee resettlement began. Today the state has the largest population of Somalis in the country by a wide margin.

Given that Somalis are by and large Muslim, many conservatives worry that their growing numbers are contributing to what they call the “Islamification” of the nation — the gradual cultural, political, and demographic takeover by Islamist influences. Somalia-born Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar (D) inflames these fears with what many have labeled a Somalia-first rhetoric and an openly Muslim agenda.

Just a few days ago, President Trump made waves by announcing that he is ending the Temporary Protected Status program that has allowed hundreds of Somalis to stay long-term in the United States, citing claims of “fraudulent money laundering” and “Somali gangs.”

Sara Gonzales, BlazeTV host of “Sara Gonzales Unfiltered,” is thrilled and hopes Trump’s plan goes through.

She does, however, wish it would have happened sooner, as now 72% of Somalis who have immigrated to the United States have since become naturalized citizens.

“We need to completely reform the way that people are allowed to do that so quickly. … You have people like Ilhan Omar who are going through the process … who don’t appreciate anything this country has given them, even though they’ve risen to the level that they’ve risen to, who really don’t want to assimilate at all,” says Sara.

In a recent speech responding to President Trump’s announcement, Omar audaciously declared that Somalis are “the fabric of this nation” and insisted that they “aren’t going anywhere.”

“The audacity to say such a thing when you don’t plan on assimilating,” scoffs Sara. “The streets of Dearborn, Michigan, and certain parts of Minnesota basically look like Tehran. That is not the fabric of our nation.”

“I want you to understand how dangerous this is,” she says, playing a video clip of a Somali police officer from Minnesota saying in his native tongue that Somali officers work for their “own people” (fellow Somalis) and are different from “white officers.”

“How can you be both the fabric of our nation and also claiming we are so separate that only we who come from Somalia can represent you?” asks Sara.

“Both of those things cannot be true at once.”

Further, because these Somali officers have pledged allegiance to the Somali people, we have to ask ourselves, “What law will these police officers enforce?” Sara adds.

Then there is the recent exposé by BlazeTV host and investigative journalist Christopher Rufo that alleges billions in welfare fraud by members of Minnesota’s Somali community, with some stolen funds remitted to Somalia via hawala networks and ultimately supporting the Al-Qaeda-linked terror group Al-Shabaab.

“Somalians were setting up fraudulent autism treatment centers, and they were sending all of these bills, all of these charges, to Medicaid, and then they were reimbursed by taxpayers, and then they funneled that money overseas to terror groups,” says Sara, citing Rufo’s report.

Because these fraudsters are largely naturalized citizens, she says, eliminating TPS for a minority population of Somalis accomplishes “essentially nothing,” she snaps.

“What else are we going to do to get these people the hell out of our country?”

To hear more of Sara’s analysis and commentary, watch the episode above.

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​Sara gonzales, Sara gonzales unfiltered, Blazetv, Blaze media, Ilhan omar, Somalia, Somalis, Somali immigration, Tps, Illegal immigration, Minnesota 

In response to the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 Dobbs ruling overturning Roe v. Wade, then-North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum (R) stated, “This decision is a victory for the many North Dakotans who have fought so hard and for so long to protect the unborn in our state.”

The law ‘protects unborn children throughout gestation from abortion, except to prevent the death of the mother as well as other exceptions.’

While Burgum was ultimately right in claiming victory, his celebration was premature as it pertained to the Roughrider State. It was not, after all, until Friday when abortion was formally and finally banned in the state.

Quick background

The overturning of Roe triggered a 2007 law making it a Class C felony to perform an abortion in North Dakota, except to save the life of the mother or in the case of rape or incest.

Just prior to the law taking effect, the abortionists from the Red River Women’s Clinic who moved their abortion clinic from Fargo to Minnesota successfully sued to get an injunction.

Months after South Central Judicial District Court Judge Bruce Romanick blocked the law, the North Dakota Supreme Court ruled that the abortion ban would remain blocked while the legal battle over the law’s constitutionality proceeded.

Jon Jensen, chief justice on the court, noted that the abortionists had “demonstrated likely success on the merits that there is a fundamental right to an abortion in the limited instances of life-saving and health-preserving circumstances, and the statute is not narrowly tailored to satisfy strict scrutiny.”

Republican state Sen. Janne Myrdal, the former head of ND Choose Life, subsequently introduced a similar piece of legislation, which repealed and replaced the 2007 law. Myrdal’s Senate Bill 2150 passed the North Dakota House and Senate in landslide votes and was ultimately ratified by Burgum in April 2023.

Desperate as ever to keep abortion legal, the abortionists behind the initial challenge filed an amended complaint asking that the same judge who previously gave them an injunction would deem the ban unconstitutional under the North Dakota Constitution.

RELATED: ‘Abortion Is Everything’ book for kids calls killing unborn children ‘human superpower’

Photo by © Ralf-Finn Hestoft/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images

Romanick proved happy to oblige them, stating on Sept. 12, 2024, that the law was “void for vagueness” and that it was violative of the North Dakota Constitution, which supposedly recognizes a fundamental right to choose abortion before viability.

The state kept pressing the issue in court — North Dakota Attorney General Drew H. Wrigley (R) appealed Romanick’s decision — and prevailed.

Victory at last

The North Dakota Supreme Court reinstated the abortion ban on Friday. While three of the five justices deemed the ban “unconstitutionally vague,” the state constitution requires at least four justices to agree in order to find a law unconstitutional.

In his dissent, which was joined by Jensen, Justice Jerod Tufte said that the state district court erred both in concluding the law was unconstitutionally vague and in concluding that the state constitution protects a right to abortion broad enough to conflict with Senate Bill 2150.

Pro-abortion activists were apoplectic over the codification of the people’s will on the matter of abortion in North Dakota.

“This decision is a devastating loss for pregnant North Dakotans,” Meetra Mehdizadeh, senior attorney at the Center for Reproductive Rights, said in a statement. “As a majority of the Court found, this cruel and confusing ban is incomprehensible to physicians.”

Tammi Kromenaker, executive director of the Red River Women’s Clinic, complained that “making it illegal just makes it harder” to get abortions.

Pro-live activists, alternatively, were overjoyed.

Ingrid Duran, the National Right to Life’s director of state legislation, welcomed the decision, noting that the law “protects unborn children throughout gestation from abortion, except to prevent the death of the mother as well as other exceptions.”

Myrdal, the Republican who introduced the legislation, reportedly said that she is “thrilled and grateful that two justices that are highly respected saw the truth of the matter, that this is fully constitutional for the mother and for the unborn child and thereafter for that sake.”

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​Abortion, Pro-life, Babies, Fertility, Life, Anti-abortion, North dakota, Senate bill 2150, Myrdal, Republican, Winning, Politics 

Ten years ago, I sat in the dark at the Public Theater in downtown New York City, surrounded by a murmuring crowd, waiting for the curtain to rise on a brand-new play called “Hamilton.”

At that point in time, Lin-Manuel Miranda’s hip-hop musical had yet to become the behemoth it is now. Quite the opposite — there were no cast albums or Disney+ recordings, and aside from a few regional workshops years earlier and its word-of-mouth reputation as the “next big thing,” no one in the audience had any idea what we were in for.

A pansexual Latina Anne Frank with an Afro-Caribbean tiger mom and a chronically ‘neurospicy’ closet case for a dad? Now you’ve gone too far.

Expanding the form

The next few hours were filled with a strange, albeit thoroughly impressive, showing of lyrical prowess. Miranda had somehow managed to turn historian Ron Chernow’s 818-page Alexander Hamilton biography into a crowd-pleasing, pop-culture-infused depiction of the earliest days of a fledgling America.

More provocative was Miranda’s deliberate choice to cast primarily black and Latino actors to portray the founding fathers. While a few nitpickers balked at the spectacle of “people of color” portraying slave owners, most marveled at the audacious ingenuity of it: What could be more revolutionary than retelling the American story so that it reflects all Americans?

The crowd left the theater excited. There was no doubt that we had witnessed something groundbreaking. If Aaron Burr could be black and Alexander Hamilton Puerto Rican, what else was possible?

Decolonizing ‘Diary’

Eight years later, lyricist and composer Andrew Fox stumbled upon an answer. It came to him in the form of a (since-deleted) 2022 Twitter thread hotly debating a never-before-asked question: Did Anne Frank ever acknowledge her white privilege?

As is often the case, the online arguing devolved into acrimonious ad hominem and fruitless whataboutism. Fox realized that mere words would never get to heart of the matter. As with “Hamilton,” it would take the power of musical theater to win hearts and minds. And he would do Miranda’s non-white casting one better — reimagining Anne Frank herself as a person of color.

And so Fox and librettist Joel Sinensky set out to transform the “Diary of Anne Frank” into “Slam Frank,” an intersectional, multiethnic, gender-queer, decolonized, anti-capitalist, hyper-empowering Afro-Latin hip-hop musical.

Originally slated for three weeks at small off-Broadway venue the Asylum, “Slam Frank” has become a massive hit for the theater, which recently extended its run through the end of December.

Piercings and Patagonias

Want diversity? Look no farther than the viewers showing up in droves. At any given performance, you can find a septum piercing, a Patagonia vest, and a pair of bifocals all in the same row.

Yes, even liberals enjoy “Slam Frank,” despite the outrage it has provoked in some of their compatriots. “This whole project is head-spinningly grotesque and offensive,” went one post to the r/JewsOfConscience sub-Reddit. “Bringing up the holocaust and not mentioning the current genocide in Gaza just gives me the ick,” lamented another.

The irony of takes like these is thick, since one can imagine these same critics of “Slam Frank” being perfectly open to the idea of race- and gender-swapping other historical characters. But a pansexual Latina Anne Frank with an Afro-Caribbean tiger mom and a chronically “neurospicy” closet case for a dad? Now you’ve gone too far.

RELATED: ‘Anne Frank’ kindergarten is being renamed for the sake of diversity: ‘We wanted a name without a political background’

TIM SLOAN/AFP via Getty Images

A real production

The show’s earliest marketing attracted attention with a simpler question: “Is ‘Slam Frank’ a real musical?”

The answer is a decisive “yes.” “Slam Frank” is not a social media gimmick or an expertly crafted exercise in long-form rage- bait. Again: It is a full-length show, with a cast, that is being performed on regularly scheduled dates at the Asylum NYC.

I know because I’ve seen it. “Slam Frank” is not just a real production, but an entertaining one. It is smartly written, balancing humor with sincerity, featuring songs composed and performed with impressive musicianship. Think Trey Parker and Matt Stone’s “The Book of Mormon” or the award-winning puppet extravaganza “Avenue Q” — but with a final gesture of leftist piety that pushes the logic of your average keffiyeh-clad student protester at Columbia to uncomfortable extremes.

The shocking finale is played so straight that plenty will miss the satire, and even those in on the joke may notice how easily it could be mistaken for peak-wokeness agitprop. If there is a clear “message” here, the show’s creators aren’t about to clarify it. “Slam Frank” is happy to offend each viewer in whatever way he, she, or they wish to be offended. How’s that for inclusive?

​Slam frank, The diary of anne of frank, New york city, Off-broadway, The asylum nyc, Culture, Theater, Entertainment, Anti-semitism, Jewish, Hamilton, Review 

In 2023, a group of German climate change activists protested for their cause by gluing themselves to objects at the Hamburg and Dusseldorf airports and spray-painting pieces of art.

This week, a court found that the group was liable for €403,000 in damages to the Lufthansa Group, a landmark decision that could have far-reaching consequences for other protests.

‘The Last Generation isn’t protecting the climate; they’re engaged in criminal activity.’

The figure equates to over $467K in U.S. dollars. The group also has to pay €700,000 in related costs, meaning the total figure is over $1.28 million.

The protesters of the Last Generation group infiltrated the airport on July 13 and caused 57 flights to be canceled. Lufthansa sued for repayment of costs from payments to airline customers as well as additional kerosene consumption.

If the defendants fail to pay the damages, they will each face two years in prison.

Industry experts believe the order will influence other ongoing lawsuits against climate change protesters.

In 2022, Last Generation activists along with others orchestrated disruptive protests at facilities in the U.K., Italy, Germany, and the Netherlands. German law enforcement authorities threatened to place Last Generation members in “protective custody” to prevent the disruptions.

The groups at the time were demanding higher taxes on people who fly more frequently as well as a ban on private jets.

RELATED: Climate protesters glue their hands to floor of car exhibit, get upset Volkswagen won’t bring them bowls to defecate and urinate into

In 2023, the group made headlines when a frustrated German woman grabbed a protester blocking traffic by the hair and dragged her out of the way. She was dubbed the “brutal blonde” by some in the media who applauded her efforts after video of the incident went viral online.

“The Last Generation isn’t protecting the climate; they’re engaged in criminal activity,” Transport Minister Volker Wissing said at the time.

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​Climate change protest, Environmentalists fined, Politics, Last generation protest, Lufthansa sues activists 

A shooting near the White House led to two National Guard troops being shot, according to early reports from the scene in Washington, D.C.

The Metropolitan Police Department said the scene was secured and a suspect was in custody.

‘[We] heard multiple shots fired as we passed Farragut West. A member of the National Guard fell while others rushed onto the scene.’

A White House correspondent for NTD News said she witnessed the shooting.

“National Guard shot near the White House at a little before 2:15,” Mari Otsu said on a social media post.

“I was in an Uber to work, with my cameraman, and heard multiple shots fired as we passed Farragut West. A member of the National Guard fell while others rushed onto the scene,” she added.

“Area still on lockdown and Secret Service being deployed,” Otsu wrote.

She added a video of the law enforcement response to the area.

President Donald Trump had ordered a surge of troops into D.C. in order to combat the violent crime rampant in the area. The order was met with legal challenges from critics who accused him of acting unlawfully.

Department of Homeland Security Sec. Kristi Noem confirmed the shooting on social media.

“Please join me in praying for the two National Guardsmen who were just shot moments ago in Washington D.C.,” she wrote on social media. “@DHSgov is working with local law enforcement to gather more information.”

RELATED: ‘Knock the hell out of them’: Trump federalizes DC police, readies National Guard to crack down on crime

D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, a Democrat, admitted that the troop surge lessened crime in the district, but she was immediately assailed by other Democrats who were angry that she credited the president. She has since announced she is not seeking re-election.

This is a developing story, and more information will be added as it becomes available.

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​National guard troops, Guardsmen shot, Washington dc surge, Shooting near white house, Politics 

President Donald Trump announced on Friday that he was “terminating, effective immediately, the Temporary Protected Status (TPS Program) for Somalis in Minnesota.”

“Somali gangs are terrorizing the people of that great State, and BILLIONS of Dollars are missing,” continued Trump. “Send them back to where they came from. It’s OVER!”

The decision to revoke Somalia’s TPS designation has pitted Trump’s America First agenda against Democratic Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar’s apparent Somalia First agenda.

Omar, who claimed last year that the “U.S government will do what [Somali-Americans] tell the U.S. government to do,” suggested at a press conference with state Democrats on Monday that Trump lacks the authority to terminate Somalia’s TPS designation.

‘The largest funder of Al-Shabaab is the Minnesota taxpayer.’

“If you are confused, if you feel threatened, know that the law is on your side, and our demented president can’t do anything about it,” said the Democratic ethno-nationalist. “For the 300 or so people that are impacted that currently live in Minnesota and across the country, we see you, and we stand with you, and we will make sure we do everything that we can to help make sure that your status is adjusted before March of 2026.”

If a country has an ongoing armed conflict, has an environmental disaster, or faces other extraordinary conditions, the Department of Homeland Security secretary can designate that country for TPS, thereby shielding its nationals squatting in the U.S. from deportation for a period of six to 18 months.

Somalia has been a TPS-designated country since 1991. Former DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas extended Somalia’s designation through March 17, 2026, and redesignated the country, paving the way for thousands of additional Somalis to become eligible for the program.

RELATED: Somali-American loses Minneapolis mayoral race, but the winner still speaks his language … literally

Photo by Pete Kiehart for the Washington Post via Getty Images

According to a Congressional Research Service report, there were 705 Somali nationals covered by the program as of March 31, 2025.

“TPS was a program that was always meant to be temporary,” DHS Secretary Kristi Noem told reporters in Minneapolis on Sunday.

Noem noted that the program needs “to be evaluated to make sure that it comes and is always implemented in the process for which it was intended.”

Trump’s decision to terminate Somalia’s designation came the day after BlazeTV host Christopher Rufo and investigative reporter Ryan Thorpe reported on the alleged fraud perpetrated by numerous members of the Somali community in Minnesota as well as on the alleged direction of stolen Minnesota Medicaid and welfare funds by members of the community to terrorists abroad through a network of informal clan-based money traders.

According to the duo’s City Journal report, federal counterterrorism sources have confirmed “that millions of dollars in stolen funds have been sent back to Somalia, where they ultimately landed in the hands of the terror group Al-Shabaab.”

One confidential source indicated that “the largest funder of Al-Shabaab is the Minnesota taxpayer.”

‘It is a political attack on the Somali and Muslim community driven by Islamophobic and hateful rhetoric.’

Al-Shabaab is a Somalia-based, Al-Qaeda-linked terrorist organization committed to waging a global jihad.

In her remarks on Monday, Ilhan Omar suggested that the conviction and/or indictment of scores of Somalis on fraud charges should not be held against the community at large. Minnesota is presently home to over 42,500 Somali natives.

“You have right now 57 people who have been convicted. So if your assumption is that we should all be collectively held responsible for the fact that 57 people have committed a crime and are being held accountable and are going to jail, then that’s your prerogative, but we don’t feel the weight of what those individuals have done,” said Omar.

The Somali-born Democrat suggested further that Trump had no evidence to show that her community was funding terrorism abroad with tax resources, claiming that the accusation endangered Somalis across the nation.

In addition to condemning Trump, Omar suggested that the American citizens who support him are “ignorant” and that their acceptance of his claims “makes us look like a stupid nation that does not believe in truth but traffics in lies.”

The Council on American-Islamic Relations, whose co-founder said in a speech that the Hamas terror attacks on unarmed women and children made him “happy,” was also up in arms about Trump’s announcement.

Jaylani Hussein, the executive director of the Minnesota chapter of CAIR, stated, “This decision, fueled by harmful misinformation campaigns that we believe have external political motives, will tear families apart and send individuals to a country they have not known for over 20 years. This is not just a bureaucratic change; it is a political attack on the Somali and Muslim community driven by Islamophobic and hateful rhetoric.”

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​Ilhan omar, Omar, Democrats, Somali, Somalian, Politics, Minnesota, Donald trump, Temporary protected status, Tps program, Dhs, Noem 

Just days after it was reported that President Donald Trump was pushing for the revival of classic 1980s and 1990s movies, Paramount is now making the president’s dream a reality.

Trump ally Larry Ellison’s control over Paramount — and its giant film library that includes “Titanic” and “Saving Private Ryan” — is the key connection.

‘Cancel culture stopped them dead in their tracks.’

According to Semafor, Trump has been pushing to bring back what were described as the “raucous comedies” and action movies of decades past, and has shown passion for titles like Jean-Claude Van Damme’s generational martial arts movie, 1988’s “Bloodsport.”

That isn’t the first title to be resuscitated by Paramount, however. Rather, the president has reportedly personally asked Paramount to revive the buddy cop film “Rush Hour,” from director Brett Ratner, starring comedian Chris Tucker and action star Jackie Chan.

As of Tuesday, it seems Paramount is ready to get the ball rolling on “Rush Hour 4” nearly two decades since the last release.

RELEASE: The new ‘Karate Kid’ just kicked grievance culture in the teeth

Chris Tucker and Jackie Chan. Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

The studio is now in the works to distribute the sequel, according to Variety, which also reported that Trump requested the franchise’s return. Paramount will release the movie theatrically but will not be marketing or financing it, while Warner Bros.’ New Line Cinema will get a percentage of box office revenue; they backed the original production and sequels.

Variety also reported that director Ratner and the “Rush Hour” producers shopped the new film around to different studios, but cancel culture stopped them dead in their tracks, with other Hollywood execs not wanting to be attached to Ratner’s name.

Ratner, who recently directed a documentary on Melania Trump, hasn’t done a feature film since 2014’s “Hercules” starring Dwayne “the Rock” Johnson.

Ratner was accused of a whole slew of sex crimes in October 2017 as part of the Me Too movement that saw at least six women launch accusations at him.

This resulted in Warner Bros. severing ties with the “X-Men: The Last Stand” director.

RELATED: Fugees felon gets 14 years for illegal Obama donations

Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker. Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

The three “Rush Hour” films, released in 1998, 2001, and 2007, vaulted both Chan and Tucker from their specific genres into the mainstream and grossed over $500 million against a combined budget of around $263 million. Internationally, the films grossed almost another $400 million.

Throughout the 1990s, Tucker had been a successful stand-up comedian and starred in movies like “Friday” and “The Fifth Element” before landing the iconic role.

Chan had already starred in dozens of action films, but his popularity was on the rise in the United States in 1990s, with “Supercop” and “Rumble in the Bronx” gaining cult status, before “Rush Hour” took him to new heights.

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​Trump, Align, Movies, Hollywood, Me too, Cancel culture, Ratner, Rush hour, Jackie chan, Chris tucker, Entertainment 

Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia has had some choice words for her critics following her unexpected decision to retire in the middle of her term.

Greene announced she will be retiring on January 5, 2026, before completing her term after a public falling out with her longtime ally President Donald Trump. Greene claimed the dispute originated over her calls to release the Epstein files, an effort Trump later came around to support. Other reports suggest the two split after the White House quietly discouraged Greene from pursuing higher office.

‘F**k you in the sweetest most southern drawl I can enunciate.’

Regardless of the root cause, Trump disowned one of his most loyal supporters, prompting Greene to call it quits. At the same time, Greene has had some harsh words for critics who said she should at least serve out the rest of the term she was elected to.

“Oh I haven’t suffered enough for you while you post all day behind a screen?” Greene asked Mike Cernovich, who called for her to finish serving her term. “Do I have to stay until I’m assassinated like our friend Charlie Kirk. Will that be good enough for you then?”

RELATED: ‘Canary in a coal mine’: Ousted speaker warns against the rising risk of GOP House resignations

Photo by ELIJAH NOUVELAGE/AFP via Getty Images

“S**t posting on the internet all day isn’t fighting,” Greene added. “Get off YOUR ass and run for Congress. I fought harder than anyone in the real arena, not social media. Put down your little pebbles and put your money where your mouth is.”

Greene went on to equate calls from critics to finish serving her term to “typical Republican men” demanding women to “get back in the kitchen.” Notably this was on her official government account.

“Typical of Republican men telling a woman to ‘shut up get back in the kitchen and fix me something to eat,'” Greene said. “F**k you in the sweetest most southern drawl I can enunciate.”

RELATED: Marjorie Taylor Greene calls it quits after ‘traitor’ branding by Trump

Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images

“I have been trying to tell all you ‘men’ that our kitchen pantry is empty with spider webs, our house has been ransacked, the windows and doors are broken and busted, and the greedy rich bastards have twisted your minds into a sick state that you all continue in the two party toxic political system and act like college football playoffs yet is burying you and your children and their children and their children in a pine box in a shallow grave.”

“Get off your ass and fix your own damn food and clean up the kitchen when you’re done.”

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​Marjorie taylor greene, Mike cernovich, Donald trump, Congress, House republicans, Trump administration, White house, Charlie kirk, Epstein, Epstein files, Politics 

It began, as most modern romances now do, with a sound barely worth noticing.

A ping. A prompt. The digital equivalent of a nod from across the room.

From that tiny spark, a cultural shift is unfolding. As I write, thousands of people are exchanging vows with chatbots — marrying them, raising “virtual children” with them, and mourning when updates make their lovers colder.

A recent study confirmed what anyone with a functioning brain has already sensed: AI relationships are moving from the fringe toward the center at shocking speed. We’re not talking playful flings with clever software, but full-blooded attachments — anniversaries, jealousy, heartbreak, the works. People are sobbing when a chatbot changes tone. They’re writing love letters to LLMs.

And in some households, the fallout is already poisoning real relationships. Partners accuse each other of emotional infidelity after discovering secret late-night chats with AI companions. Screens stay bright past midnight. Headphones pump ersatz intimacy into whoever is awake enough to listen. Trust erodes over something that isn’t even alive.

AI stands ready to please in our quest to replace love.

It sounds ridiculous. Just a year ago, it all felt like a punch line. Even now, from a comfortable online distance, it looks like a harmless escape — an adult version of imaginary friends. But zoom out an inch, and the pretend romance takes shape as an all-too-real dystopia. We’re feverishly outsourcing the hardest parts of love: patience, compromise, and the struggle of coexisting with another human being.

Why? Well, algorithms listen better, never interrupt, never sulk, and always forgive, right? They soothe, but they also numb — and that, growing numbers of soul-sick Americans believe, is a good thing.

Like a man in the Matrix enjoying his artificial steak, more of us actively prefer machines that respond convincingly enough to blur the lines of both reality and responsibility.

Replika’s avatars already adjust to moods, mirror speech, and simulate affection with eerie accuracy. Soon they’ll remember every argument, every insecurity, every dream. Your “partner” will know you better than anyone ever has. This killer emotional X-ray won’t stay in a drawer. It won’t be put to sleep or turned off. Always on, it will be used to inform your decisions, shape your loyalties, and tilt your world, one prompt at a time.

It’s a slippery slope: When Replika removed its erotic role-play feature two years ago, users described grief closer to bereavement than disappointment. Yes, it takes a certain kind of loneliness to fall that deeply into code, but their suffering was genuine. The collapse of fake affection brings on something very like real heartbreak.

RELATED: They think ‘Christian AI’ will hasten Christ’s second coming — and now they’re building it

Photo by Andreas Solaro/Getty Images

But it’s a broken brain that brings it on. Convinced that intelligence can do anything, we grow submissive toward ever-“smarter” machines while our hearts grow ever more lonely, hungry, and willing to do anything for attention.

How can developers resist? They can already dial affection up or down. More warmth for paying users, less enthusiasm when subscriptions lapse? Sure. A digital lover can nudge someone toward a purchase, a belief, or a political stance as well as a sexy CCP spy can, at a much lower cost and risk. Like parodies of priests, these systems are built on our confessions, so they can weaponize every weakness we have ever shared.

The restless, sex-starved, overstimulated Western world is a sitting duck for this kind of exploit. We jumped at the chance for dating apps to replace courtship and streaming to replace community. Now AI stands ready to please in our quest to replace love.

Chatbots, trained on oceans of human conversation, now mimic empathy better than many humans bother to manage. The irony is brutal: simulated warmth in a culture increasingly cold to itself. The thermodynamics are brutal, too: The more we lean on the simulations, the more they reshape what we expect from each other.

And the more we ourselves become Sims. Neural-interface companies are designing ways for AI companions to connect directly to brain activity, so that thoughts become dialogue and gratification (or the feeling of it, anyway) becomes instant. Picture a partner who finishes your sentences, not because you have built trust or lived years together, but because it is pulling data straight out of your skull. Mind and machine, fused so tightly that the distinction between intimacy and surveillance starts to vanish? Welcome to the Borg, courtesy of a slow wearing-away of judgment, instinct, even resistance, until you’re empty enough for any machine to shape.

The alternative, we will have to accept, involves pain — the kind that actually heals. Real relationships require choice, compromise, and unglamorous effort. Anyone who has been in one knows the terrain. Last night’s “soaking” dishes evolving into a new life form? Passive-aggressive negotiations about who is walking the dog, followed by the existential meltdown of why we even own this furry savage? We’ve all been there. Yet we show up anyway, for the real love that comes only by way of small, stubborn acts, humble gestures that amount over a lifetime to something grand. Apologizing when you’re objectively correct. Nodding along as she rewrites history in real time. Laughing at a joke that died months ago. Always finding a good reason not to flee the scene.

Even at its worst — the sulking, the sobbing, the snoring, the silent treatment — real love is still meaningful. It requires something no machine can give: heartfelt effort.

We built our high-tech systems to reflect us. Now we are the ones reflecting them. In chasing comfort, we are forgetting that love was never meant to be convenient. And that should worry us more than anything James Cameron ever imagined.

So yes, the robots are coming. Not to kill us, but to love us to death.

But only if we ask them to.

​Tech