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2025 was a year for the history books, and BlazeTV host Steve Deace and executive producer Aaron McIntire have the top 10 stories that made this year so unforgettable.

Story number 10, McIntire announces, was the Democrats’ 43-day government shutdown that lasted over a month and kept Americans across the country terrified of losing their SNAP benefits.

“The media was happy to act as if a shutdown wasn’t actually happening for well over a month from October 1 till its conclusion in the middle of November, with a deal Democrats had previously turned down on numerous occasions in the process,” McIntire says. “Which begs the question: If a government shuts down and nobody noticed it, is it really a shutdown at all?”

Next on the list at Number 9 is the “Department of Crashout Efficiency.”

“Much had been made, probably rightfully so, about the role tech magnate Elon Musk played in the election of President Trump back in 2024. With the inauguration of Trump came the ceremonial creation of the Department of Government Efficiency,” McIntire explains, pointing out that this new entity discovered “reams upon reams of nearly unfathomable graft, corruption, and abuse.”

“But the Department of Government Efficiency, DOGE, went from being a fixture in the news for much of the spring to now being relegated to ghost or legend status depending on whom you ask,” he continues.

Number 8, McIntire says, is the “election of Zohran Mamdani as mayor of the nation’s largest city.”

“New York City, in less than a generation after the largest Islamic terror attack of the 21st century struck it to its core … turned around and elected an Islamist to lead it,” McIntire says.

Number 7 is Trump’s hard stance on immigration, with deportations not appearing to be slowing down any time soon.

“The official numbers of how many foreigners have left the country is generally up for debate. But one thing that’s not is that the deportations must continue until morale improves,” McIntire says.

Number 6 is “Operation Midnight Hammer.”

“On June 22, and in conjunction with Israel’s Operation Rising Lion against Iran, the United States carried out what is likely the most technologically and logistically sophisticated air operation in the history of warfare,” McIntire says.

“The stunning operation not only sent a message to Iran, but every would-be enemy of the United States,” he adds.

Number 5 centers around the passing of Pope Francis, which led to the selection of a new pope on May 8.

“They shocked the world by selecting the first pope born in the United States,” McIntire says. Deace chimes in that the new Pope, Pope Leo, is “already worse than Francis.”

Number 4 is Liberation Day.

“On April 2, the Trump administration declared Liberation Day and enacted a series of tariffs on basically every continent, every land mass, every tiny little island in the middle of nowhere under the sun,” McIntire explains.

“The administration sold those sweeping tariffs as a way to grow government revenue and/or leverage for better trade deals,” he adds.

Number 3 is what McIntire calls “Trump 2.0,” which is the beginning of Trump’s second term, and Number 2 is the “future of the right” — which McIntire and Deace believe has fractured after major conservatives like Tucker Carlson have platformed, and essentially celebrated, voices they see as destructive to the right.

“What’s left to be determined is whether this is a movement going through growing pains, or a stillbirth,” McIntire says, before reading Number 1.

“Number one story of the year is Charlie Kirk, the American martyr,” McIntire says. “His murder that everyone saw prompted a number of moving tributes, including one of the best, I thought, from the White House.”

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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.

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A former teacher in Texas has been accused of inappropriate sexual contact with a child and possession of child pornography. Just days after the substitute teacher’s arrest, her alleged boyfriend was also arrested for child sex crimes.

On Dec. 19, Madison Paige Jones was reportedly charged with one count of aggravated sexual assault of a child, two counts of indecency with a child sexual contact, and one count of possession of child pornography.

Jones is accused of having more than 500 visual depictions of child pornography in her possession.

According to Ellis County Sheriff’s Office jail records, Jones is being held on a $90,000 bond.

The Midlothian Police Department said in a statement that officers were “dispatched to investigate a report of a potential sexual assault involving a child” on Dec. 17.

Law enforcement reportedly zeroed in on the former 30-year-old substitute teacher and arrested her.

KDFW-TV reported that the Midlothian Independent School District said Jones worked as a substitute teacher four times in the past year at Heritage High School and Baxter Elementary School.

According to the district, Jones substituted for one day at Heritage High School on Nov. 19 and for three days at Baxter Elementary on Oct. 28, Oct. 29, and Nov. 3. The New York Post separately reported the same dates, citing the district.

The San Antonio Express-News reported that Jones is accused of possessing more than 500 visual depictions of child pornography.

The school district said there is no indication that the charges are connected to Jones’ work as a substitute teacher and that preliminary information shows none of the alleged conduct occurred on a Midlothian ISD campus or during a school-related activity.

RELATED: Ex-teacher who dodged conviction for allegedly asking teen lover to kill husband learns fate for sexually assaulting student

CBS News reported that the Midlothian Independent School District said in a statement that its process for monitoring employee criminal history “functioned as intended” and that the district was notified quickly by the Texas Department of Public Safety.

The district said the substitute teacher is no longer employed and that it followed required reporting procedures with the Texas Education Agency.

Police said detectives with the Criminal Investigation Division continued the investigation and identified a second suspect, Zackery Dondlinger, 37, of Happy, Texas.

Authorities arrested Dondlinger on Dec. 23 in Loving County, Texas, according to police.

The sheriff’s office said Dondlinger was charged with sexual performance by a child and is being held at the Winkler County Detention Center awaiting arraignment.

Citing the Midlothian Police Department, CBS News reported that Jones and Dondlinger were in a dating relationship.

Law enforcement agencies involved in the investigation include the Midlothian Police Department, the Ellis County Children’s Advocacy Center, the Texas Department of Public Safety, the Texas Office of the Attorney General’s Fugitive Apprehension Unit, and the Loving County Sheriff’s Office. Authorities said the investigation is ongoing.

Anyone with information related to this case is urged to contact Midlothian Police Detective Dawson Frazer at 469-672-0056.

The Loving County Sheriff’s Office, the Ellis County Children’s Advocacy Center, and the Texas Office of the Attorney General’s Fugitive Apprehension Unit did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Blaze News.

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Officials in Salem, Oregon, are facing a public backlash after appointing a man convicted of murdering a teenage girl to a city public safety and police oversight board.

Kyle Hedquist was convicted in 1994 of killing 19-year-old Nikki Thrasher and served 28 years of a life sentence without the possibility of parole before then-Gov. Kate Brown (D) granted him clemency in 2022.

‘Oregonians… are you tired of this kind of leadership yet? Are you ready to show up and vote these criminals out?’

Hedquist was 17 at the time of the crime. Prosecutors said he drove Thrasher to a wooded area, shot her in the back of the head, and left her body on a remote logging road. They described the killing as an “execution-style” murder.

According to prosecutors, Hedquist believed Thrasher had discovered he had stolen items from his aunt and killed her to prevent her from reporting him. Thrasher had asked him about the stolen items, which prosecutors said he interpreted as a threat.

Two years after his release, the Salem City Council appointed Hedquist to the city’s Community Police Review Board, which oversees police conduct and public safety matters. The council recently reappointed him to the position, prompting renewed backlash.

Some city officials have defended the decision, citing Hedquist’s rehabilitation and community involvement since his release.

Others strongly disagree. Marion County District Attorney Paige Clarkson criticized the appointment, calling it inappropriate for a public safety role.

“While I acknowledge there are appropriate ways for those who have completed their sentences and demonstrated rehabilitation to give back to our community, this is not one of them,” Clarkson said. “Our police and fire professionals have a right to expect better from city leadership.”

The Oregon Republican Party also condemned the decision in a statement, calling it “absurd” to place a convicted murderer on a board overseeing public safety and policing.

“Oregonians… are you tired of this kind of leadership yet? Are you ready to show up and vote these criminals out?” said a commenter on social media.

At the time of Hedquist’s release, Thrasher’s mother said the governor’s office did not notify her that clemency was being considered.

“He took the life of my daughter — in cold blood!” she told KOIN-TV. “He planned it!”

RELATED: Democrat mayor hit with brutal backlash after 8-year-old girl is killed by illegal alien

The Oregon Justice Resource Center, an organization that opposes mass incarceration, defended Hedquist’s appointment. In a statement on social media, the group said Hedquist has spent years contributing to his community and advocating for systemic reform.

“That kind of experience brings value to public institutions,” the group said in a statement, adding that criticism of Hedquist was “misdirected.”

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A bizarre scene unfolded in a small town in southern Italy when the mayor said that he noticed that one of the “three wise men” figures in the public Nativity scene appeared to be moving.

Galatone Mayor Flavio Filoni wrote about the incident in a post on Facebook on Dec. 10. He says that he was admiring the Nativity scene set up by the town’s tourism office when he made the startling discovery.

Rather than a wise man, the man was a foolish criminal migrant from Ghana, according to Filoni.

“I noticed a presence I had initially mistaken for part of the scene. A detail that seemed harmless, but turned out to be decisive,” Filoni wrote.

A comical image of the scene shows the man trying to blend in among the mannequins of the holy display.

Rather than a wise man, the man was a foolish criminal migrant from Ghana, according to Filoni. He had previously been sentenced by a court in Bologna to nine months in prison but reportedly fled before completing his time. When he hid in the scene, the man was being sought for allegedly assaulting an officer and resisting arrest.

Filoni said law enforcement officials were able to capture the man without difficulty.

“A result that confirms, once again, how fundamental it is to place full confidence in the day-to-day work of those who guarantee safety and legality,” added the mayor.

RELATED: ‘Why would somebody have such hate?’ Churchgoers stunned at Nativity display vandalism

“A sincere thank you to all the women and men who guard our territory with competence, attention and dedication,” Filoni said.

Galatone is a small town of about 15,000 residents in the Lecce province of southern Italy.

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The reign of diversity, equity, and inclusion over America’s elite institutions is coming to an end — and BlazeTV hosts Christopher Rufo and Jonathan “Lomez” Keeperman believe those institutions may be coming to an end as a result.

But it’s not necessarily not a bad thing.

“That 10-year period … the BLM era, let’s call it. Did any of these institutions get better? … Did the journalism at the Times and the Post and the Atlantic improve? Were there sparkling, important, seismic essays that emerged in this 10-year period? … Did Hollywood produce better movies?” Rufo asks.

“The answer is absolutely not,” Lomez answers. “This isn’t even debatable. It is self-evidently the case that everything has gotten worse that these institutions were responsible for producing, and you can measure this along any metric you want.”

“Those things are dying, dead, in decline. What is doing better?” Lomez asks. “Well, all the places that these white men fled to. Crypto, you know, the frontiers of AI and tech, where they could find places to still ply their talents.”

“What happens to these institutions?” he asks. “I think we just let them — they sort of have to die.”

However, Lomez does believe there will be a “silver lining.”

“There has to be some reason this is happening and some way to make it better. And the answer I’ve come up with … these institutions actually needed to decline. They were already potentially in a sort of moment of secular decline anyway, and that this has freed a bunch of talent to go do other things,” he explains.

“I do believe these people and these impulses are going to find their way toward something productive,” he says. “And this is what’s going to arise out of this moment.”

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President Donald Trump said Monday that the U.S. military carried out a strike on Venezuelan territory, which he described as the first land-based attack in an escalating conflict tied to alleged narco-terrorism.

Trump made the remarks to reporters at the White House before a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He said the strike targeted a dock area that he claimed was used to load boats transporting drugs.

‘Two nights ago we knocked that out. So we hit them very hard.’

“It doesn’t matter, but there was a major explosion in the dock area where they load the boats up with drugs, so we hit all the boats, and now we hit the area,” Trump said. “It’s the implementation area — that’s where they implement. And that is no longer around.”

When asked by a reporter whether additional strikes had occurred inside Venezuela, Trump declined to comment.

The Pentagon provided no details and referred all questions to the White House.

The president offered further details during a radio interview with WABC, saying the strike occurred two nights earlier and targeted what he described as a major shipping facility.

“We just knocked out — I don’t know if you read or you saw — they have a big plant or big facility where they send the, you know, where the ships come from,” Trump said. “Two nights ago we knocked that out. So we hit them very hard.”

The operation would represent the first direct U.S. strike on Venezuelan land during the current confrontation. The Trump administration has previously ordered strikes against vessels it says are operated by narco-terrorist groups smuggling drugs into the United States.

Critics of the administration have questioned those allegations and accused the U.S. government of acting unlawfully, including claims by human rights organizations that the strikes could constitute war crimes. Administration officials have rejected those accusations.

Tensions escalated earlier after the United States seized a Venezuelan oil tanker that administration officials alleged had violated U.S. embargo restrictions. Trump later ordered what the administration described as a full blockade of tankers traveling to and from Venezuela.

RELATED: Venezuelan freedom fighter wins Nobel Peace Prize — and immediately dedicates it to Trump

In response, Venezuelan officials announced military exercises that they said were intended to prepare the country to defend against a possible U.S. invasion aimed at removing President Nicolás Maduro from power.

Trump has previously said the United States could take military action to reclaim oil interests that were nationalized by Venezuela’s socialist government decades ago.

“It’s about — they took our oil, they took it, and they also sent millions of people in here from jails into our country,” Trump said in the WABC interview. “Some of the worst people on Earth.”

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Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on Monday said the federal government is launching a “massive” investigation into alleged fraud schemes and shared video footage from Minnesota. Earlier, FBI Director Kash Patel said Somali immigrants convicted of fraud could face possible denaturalization and deportation.

‘These criminals didn’t just engage[] in historic fraud, but tried to subvert justice as well.’

In a statement Sunday, Patel said the FBI previously dismantled a $250 million fraud scheme involving COVID-19 relief funds intended to provide meals for children in Minnesota.

Patel said the case resulted in 78 indictments and 57 convictions. He identified several defendants — including Abdiwahab Ahmed Mohamud, Ahmed Ali, Hussein Farah, Abdullahe Nur Jesow, Asha Farhan Hassan, Ousman Camara, and Abdirashid Bixi Dool — who were charged with crimes ranging from wire fraud to money laundering and conspiracy.

“These criminals didn’t just engage[] in historic fraud, but tried to subvert justice as well,” Patel said. He added that Abdimajid Mohamed Nur and others were charged with attempting to bribe a juror with $120,000 in cash. Those defendants pleaded guilty and were sentenced, including one individual who received a 10-year prison term. Courts also ordered nearly $48 million in restitution in related cases, Patel said.

Patel described the scheme as the “tip of a very large iceberg,” adding that the FBI would “continue to follow the money and protect children” and that the investigation remains ongoing.

Noem said Homeland Security Investigations agents are currently operating in Minneapolis as part of what she described as a “massive” investigation into alleged child-care fraud and other fraud schemes.

Video shared by the DHS showed investigators questioning a man outside a facility, while another clip depicted agents entering what the DHS described as a “suspected fraud site.”

“MASSIVE fraud in Minnesota is finally being exposed. Time for accountability,” the White House wrote in a post on social media.

RELATED: News outlet is getting wrecked for story on Somali migrants’ economic impact on Minnesota

— (@)

The increased scrutiny followed the publication of video by independent journalist Nick Shirley, in which he is seen confronting proprietors of day-care centers in Minnesota. Shirley blamed Gov. Tim Walz, the failed 2024 Democrat vice presidential candidate, for overseeing the state while the alleged fraud schemes flourished.

A spokesperson for Walz pushed back by noting that the state had investigated the fraud claims and that the governor had spent years working to “crack down on fraud.”

Nevertheless, a group of former state health workers have accused Walz of obstructing efforts to uncover the scams.

“Tim Walz is 100% responsible for massive fraud in Minnesota. We let Tim Walz know of fraud early on, hoping for a partnership in stopping fraud, but no, we got the opposite response,” read a statement from the group.

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Blaze Media co-founder Glenn Beck stunned the crowds at Turning Point USA’s AmFest 2025 when he took on the lies force-fed to younger generations — and why it’s more important than ever that they wake up and lead the country to a better place.

“I wanted … to warn you that today the times have changed and you are desperately needed,” Glenn began. “Desperately needed. But there’s something else that I think is more important that you need to hear. We must stop fighting with one another. It is important to stand for the truth, but people are not your enemies. Lies are your enemies.”

“You can’t stop darkness with more darkness. You can’t stop hate with more hate. You only dispel the darkness of lies with the light of truth,” he said. “A single candle will light up a room.”

That’s when Glenn turned his focus toward the youth — as the America they’ve come to know has been one full of turmoil and deception.

“If I were you, and I’m 25, I was 1 when the World Trade Center came down. I would have no memory of that,” he explained. “And I certainly wouldn’t have a memory of the United States before that.”

Post-9/11, the United States these children grew up in was a surveillance state that has been constantly “on the verge of global war” — complete with the 2008 financial crisis that bankrupted many of their parents.

“Nobody went to jail. And you and your family paid the price that none of them had to pay. Then 2008, 2009, the cell phone comes out, social media comes out. It’s supposed to connect us so we can talk to our friends, and it does just the opposite. It divides us; it changes us,” Glenn recalled.

“Then 2020 hits, COVID happens. … Once again, you saw the entire system turned upside down and the little guy get screwed,” he added.

Not only did the youth see what happened to their parents, but they were told that if they went into debt to go to college, they would see great returns. Instead, the debt has only continued to pile up, and they received an “education” in which instructors insisted on telling blatant lies, like “men can be women.”

“And there are no jobs for you,” Glenn said. “Everything. Everything. If I’m 25 years old, I would think absolutely everything is a lie.”

“The biggest lie that you were told is that you don’t matter. Here’s the thing. I want you to understand: A broken system does not erase human agency. It reveals who still has agency. Every single generation since the beginning of time has inherited a mess,” he continued.

“Only the great generations turn that mess into a mission,” he said. “And that’s your calling.”

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On Friday, independent video journalist Nick Shirley published a video on X that he claims shows widespread fraud involving purported day-care centers in Minnesota. Shirley wrote that he “uncovered over $110,000,000 [in fraud] in ONE day.” The video is the latest public allegation of fraud tied to Minnesota’s Somali community and comes as failed Democrat vice presidential nominee and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz faces renewed scrutiny over the issue.

In the video, Shirley and his team are seen traveling Minnesota and visiting addresses where federally funded day-care centers are supposed to exist. When he arrived, he often found buildings with no children and seemingly no active day-care facilities.

‘There are not enough words to describe the breathtaking failure that has happened under the watch of @GovTimWalz.’

In a clip from Shirley’s video that Education Secretary Linda McMahon shared over the weekend, Shirley is shown standing outside a day-care facility identified as “Quality Learing [sic] Center.” The sign appears to misspell the word “learning.” Shirley says that when he attempted to enter the building during regular weekday hours, it was closed and its windows were blacked out. He also claims the center received $1.9 million in government funding.

In sharing the clip on X, McMahon wrote, “There are not enough words to describe the breathtaking failure that has happened under the watch of @GovTimWalz.”

RELATED: Somali fraud inspires Democrats to assimilate to Somalian culture

Blaze Media Illustration and Getty Images

Walz’s office pushed back over the weekend against Shirley’s allegations. Fox News Digital reported Sunday that a spokesperson for Walz said the governor has spent years working to “crack down on fraud” and has taken steps to strengthen oversight of state programs, including launching investigations into several facilities.

The spokesperson also pointed to the state legislature’s role in overseeing the programs and said that at least one business highlighted in Shirley’s reporting had already been shut down by Walz’s administration.

Despite the response, criticism continued. In addition to Education Secretary Linda McMahon, Vice President JD Vance praised Shirley’s work, writing on X, “This dude has done far more useful journalism than any of the winners of the 2024 [Pulitzer] prizes.”

FBI Director Kash Patel said in a post on X that the bureau is aware of the allegations circulating online. Patel wrote that the FBI had already deployed additional personnel and “investigative resources” to Minnesota to address “large-scale fraud” involving federal programs, even before the issue gained widespread attention on social media.

“Fraud that steals from taxpayers and robs vulnerable children will remain a top FBI priority in Minnesota and nationwide,” Patel wrote.

Patel also cited previous arrests and convictions as evidence of the bureau’s ongoing efforts to combat fraud in the state.

BlazeTV host Christopher Rufo disputed Patel’s characterization, calling it “misleading.” In a post on X, Rufo said Patel was taking “credit for investigations and convictions that occurred under the Biden Administration,” adding that the unresolved question concerns alleged fraud that has not yet resulted in charges. “When do we see arrests, mugshots, and new prosecutions?” Rufo wrote.

Rufo previously reported on alleged fraud involving Minnesota welfare and health programs earlier this year. As independent journalists such as Shirley continue to highlight the allegations, scrutiny of Minnesota officials, including Walz and U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar, has intensified.

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After the Allied forces successfully stormed Normandy, France, on D-Day, the German army launched a 200,000-strong counteroffensive on December 18, 1944, in the Ardennes region in Eastern Belgium. The attack marked the beginning of World War II’s Battle of the Bulge.

Over 700,000 Allied troops, including Lt. Gen. George S. Patton Jr.’s Third Army, were involved in the combat that lasted 41 days.

This December, Walk Among Heroes brought U.S. Army veteran John “Jack” Moran to Bastogne, Belgium, for the 81st anniversary of the start of the battle.

‘To me, just seeing the reactions of the Belgian people, thanking Jack over and over again, makes it all worthwhile.’

Moran, a former Army staff sergeant and member of Patton’s Third Army, joined the military at the age of 18 and fought in the Battle of the Bulge in Bastogne.

Moran shared his firsthand account with Walk Among Heroes about crossing the Rhine River, the final major natural barrier for Allied forces advancing into Nazi Germany. The effort to cross the river, known as Operation Plunder, began in March 1945.

“There’s no way in the world that 142 men can do anything and keep quiet,” Moran explained. “They can’t. It’s an impossible possibility.”

RELATED: WWII veteran honors Gen. Patton’s legacy with touching gravesite tribute alongside renowned general’s granddaughter

A local Belgian girl takes a photo with Jack Moran. Image source: Walk Among Heroes

“So we slowly slip our paddles into the water, start paddling out into the middle of the … river. All of the sudden, the Germans light it up, just like this room — even brighter than this room,” he continued. “And here we are, sitting right there.”

“They opened up on us with five heavy machine guns,” Moran said. “Chopping us up badly. We lost half our men.”

During the trip, Moran met Bill White, the U.S. ambassador to Belgium, who presented the WWII veteran with the Victory in Europe Medal at the 101st Airborne Museum. Walk Among Heroes reported that the crowd was “very emotional” when Moran received the medal.

RELATED: What we owe our veterans this D-Day

U.S. Ambassador to Luxembourg Stacey Feinberg meets Jack Moran. Image source: Walk Among Heroes

“In recognition of your military service during the Second World War, this is to certify the award of the Victory in Europe Medal to Staff Sergeant John Moran,” the announcer stated.

“Your fight for freedom and democracy is in keeping with the finest traditions of military service and reflects great credit upon yourself, the 87th Infantry Division, and the United States Army.”

“To me, just seeing the reactions of the Belgian people, thanking Jack over and over again, makes it all worthwhile,” Walk Among Heroes president and founder Jeff Wells told Blaze News.

Wells explained that Moran had plans to visit Patton’s grave at the Luxembourg American Cemetery. He noted that Moran would be accompanied by Patton’s granddaughter, Helen Patton.

“General Patton was Jack’s commander, so we are very excited to visit with him,” Wells said.

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Once upon a time, before the digital age swept us up in a current of global access, vices like gambling, pornography, and marijuana were kept in check with what BlazeTV hosts Christopher Rufo and Jonathan Keeperman argue was healthy friction.

It’s what made Mr. Johnson blush when he skulked up to the checkout counter at the local video rental with an X-rated videotape sandwiched between two rom-coms. It’s what forced hopeful gamblers to sneak into illegal card rooms at the back of sketchy bars, pockets stuffed with ATM cash withdrawn in small increments to avoid spousal skepticism. It’s what necessitated dark parking lot meetups, secret car compartments, and stashes of air fresheners and breath mints.

But today, none of those physical and social barriers exist. Want to watch an adult film? Jump online; there are millions to choose from. Interested in placing a bet? Easy: Open an app and blow $10,000 on a random ping-pong match without ever leaving the comfort of your bed. Out of weed in a state that hasn’t legalized it? No problem; there are hundreds of dispensaries that will illegally ship right to your front door.

The glowing rectangle that lives in our pocket has pulverized every obstacle that once kept vices reined in.

Keeperman laments the death of “the gray market,” where “public shame and censure” were a real obstacle for vice-seekers but not so large an obstacle that they barred them completely from indulging.

“I think that balance is sort of ideal,” he tells Rufo.

“People, unfortunately, without any of these barriers to entry, they go down these rabbit holes; they start cultivating these bad behaviors, these addictions, and it ruins their lives. And it ruins the lives of the people around them, and it’s horrible for society.”

He remembers working at his town’s video rental shop as a teenager and the “cycle of shame” that commenced every time a local would sheepishly duck out of the curtained room at the back of the store with “Debbie Does Dallas” tucked covertly under his arm.

“It was like, ‘All right, man, like, cool. You’re embarrassed; I’m embarrassed to be doing this.’ … But it was good. That’s how it should be,” he reminisces.

This system of shame and risk also benefited kids. Keeperman recalls the notorious male student who stole Playboy magazines from his dad’s secret stash and smuggled them to school in his backpack so he could charge his fellow delinquents $5 for a week’s rental.

“It’s shameful, and if the vice principal catches you, you’re screwed, man. You’re in the doghouse. … You might get suspended or get these demerits or whatever, and your mom’s going to be mad at you,” he laughs.

But in all seriousness, these were real barriers that kept a lot of kids from engaging in pornography. But today, there’s no need for magazines or smuggling. All kids need to do is run a quick Google search alone in their bedrooms, and they’ll be inundated with graphic content from hundreds of sites. Addiction is all but guaranteed.

Keeperman says that while he takes all necessary precautions to prevent his children from accessing graphic content on their devices, he knows there’s only so much he can do.

“My kid’s going to have a public life. He’s going to have a social life that extends beyond the boundaries that we can draw for him as parents. And I can’t control what the kid next door does. You just can’t. And it’s just too easy. It’s too accessible,” he says.

Rufo says the answer to this problem of a barrier-less world is to re-create the barriers in the digital sphere.

“You have to have a digital version of the back room and the curtain, meaning you have to have ID verification, age verification,” he says.

To hear more of his theory, watch the episode above.

Want more from Rufo & Lomez?

To enjoy more of the news through the anthropological lens of Christopher Rufo and Lomez, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

​Rufo & lomez, Chris rufo, Jonathan keeperman, Blazetv, Blaze media, Vices, Digital aage, Pornography, Pornography addiction, Gambling, Digital gambling, Marijuana, Rufo and lomez 

Recently, Paul du Quenoy published a necessary piece at Chronicles putting President Trump’s remark after the murder of Rob and Michele Reiner in proper context. In a Truth Social post that went viral, Trump quipped that Rob Reiner had died of “Trump derangement syndrome,” while also offering condolences and praying that the deceased would “rest in peace.”

The media response was instant and hysterical. As du Quenoy notes, legacy outlets erupted in moral outrage, eager to condemn Trump as uniquely depraved. He highlights one of the ugliest examples: a sermon from David Remnick in the thoroughly politicized New Yorker, denouncing Trump as a “degraded” human being.

Trump’s remark was ill judged. The media’s response was dishonest. Only one of those failures is being treated as a permanent moral indictment.

Du Quenoy asks: Where was this moral sensitivity when figures on the left trafficked in venom — or worse — after the assassination of Charlie Kirk?

The answer, of course, is nowhere.

This double standard defines our media culture. When rhetorical excess comes from the left, it is ignored, excused, or rationalized. When it comes from the right — especially from Trump — it is proof of moral disqualification. Etiquette is enforced selectively, always against the same targets. From the BBC to the Los Angeles Times, outlets had no difficulty canonizing Reiner while casting Trump as a cartoon villain.

A fair point must be made: Trump should not have said what he did. A president should observe certain proprieties, and Trump violates them all too often. I supported his policies and voted for him repeatedly, but that does not require defending every avoidable verbal misfire. This one was a mistake.

What deserves closer scrutiny, however, is the media’s attempt to weaponize that mistake. In outlets like People magazine, Trump’s comment was contrasted with Reiner’s allegedly noble reaction to the murder of Charlie Kirk. Reiner, we are told, expressed “horror.” Trump, by contrast, showed cruelty.

This framing collapses under minimal honesty.

After seeing this contrast repeated again and again, I searched for Reiner’s public statements — not about Kirk, but about Trump. What emerges is not a portrait of an angelic figure suddenly besmirched. For years, Reiner unleashed a steady stream of invective against Trump: “mentally unfit,” “con man,” “fascist,” “lying buffoon,” along with a great many four-letter flourishes unprintable here. He pushed the Trump-Russia hoax long after it had been exposed as fantasy. His political obsession was not subtle, incidental, or private.

RELATED: Glenn Beck addresses Trump’s controversial Rob Reiner message

Photo by ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images

Yet this entire record has been scrubbed from the story. Media profiles dwell on Reiner’s filmmaking career and his role as a loving father while erasing his lifelong activism and venom toward Trump. The reason is simple: The people telling the story agree with Reiner’s politics and share his hatred of Trump. Presenting Trump’s animus as unprovoked is not journalism. It is narrative laundering.

The comparison with Charlie Kirk’s murder is equally dishonest. Kirk, to my knowledge, never publicly attacked Reiner. There was no shared history, no prolonged feud. Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) put it plainly: Trump should have said nothing after Reiner’s death, even if Reiner was obsessed with him. Still, pretending that Trump’s reaction should mirror Reiner’s response to Kirk ignores reality. The relationships were not the same.

Nor should Reiner be recast as a purely apolitical figure whose ideology can be set aside for the sake of a tidy morality play. He embraced his identity as a committed leftist as openly as he embraced his Hollywood career. The media’s erasure of that fact mirrors older myths, such as the claim that the “Hollywood Ten” were merely innocent artists with no communist affiliations. You can oppose blacklisting without lying about politics. The left never resists the temptation to lie.

So once again, we are presented with a familiar fable: a gentle, virtuous man smeared by a deranged tyrant for no reason at all. It is nonsense — but useful nonsense. It allows the media to posture as arbiters of decency while ignoring their own complicity in coarsening public life.

Trump’s remark was ill judged. The media’s response was dishonest. Only one of those failures is being treated as a permanent moral indictment — and that tells you everything you need to know.

​Opinion & analysis, Donald trump, Rob reiner, Michele reiner, Murder, Truth social, David remnick, The new yorker, Trump derangement syndrome, Paul du quenoy, Charlie kirk, Assassination, Rhetoric, Fascist, Russian collusion hoax, John kennedy, Hollywood ten, Communism, Blacklist 

As Americans ring in the new year with family and friends, it’s worth remembering a simple fact: A truck driver delivered nearly everything carrying us into 2026.

From champagne and party hats to the presents under our Christmas trees — and the everyday goods that keep businesses running — truck drivers power the economy year in and year out. They work long hours, spend weeks away from loved ones, and keep freight moving through nights, weekends, and holidays. As the calendar turns, truckers ask for just one thing in 2026: safe roads.

A safe trucking industry depends on qualified drivers, safe equipment, and a system that rewards compliance while swiftly removing bad actors.

For too long, America’s highways have grown more dangerous — not because of professional truck drivers, who rank among the most highly trained and regulated workers in the country, but because of systemic failures that allow illegal, unqualified, and unsafe operators to put lives at risk.

The trucking industry has sounded the alarm, and this White House has listened. By cracking down on fraudulent commercial driver’s license mills, addressing the risks posed by illegal drivers, and taking meaningful steps to combat the surge in cargo theft, the Trump administration has restored accountability to the transportation system and made clear that safety — not shortcuts — is the priority.

Consider CDL mills. These sham operations churn out licenses without proper training, undermining professionalism and putting unqualified drivers behind the wheel of 80,000-pound vehicles. Shutting them down isn’t about limiting opportunity. It’s about ensuring that every driver on the road has earned the right to be there. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy’s decision to remove thousands of suspect training providers from the federal registry sent a clear message: If you cut corners on safety, you won’t be tolerated.

The same principle applies to basic qualifications. Truck drivers must be able to speak English, read road signs, understand safety rules, and follow the law. Weak state verification standards and lax oversight have allowed illegal operators onto American highways. That is unacceptable.

A commercial driver’s license is not just a credential — it is a promise to the public. When that promise is broken, the consequences can be deadly. Fatal crashes this year in Florida and California show exactly what’s at stake when illegal and unqualified drivers remain behind the wheel.

We are encouraged that the administration has acted quickly to prevent future tragedies by holding states accountable and removing unqualified drivers from the road.

RELATED: Illegal drivers, dead Americans — this is what ‘open borders’ really mean

Photo by Caroline Brehman/CQ-Roll Call Inc. via Getty Images

At the same time, law-abiding motor carriers and drivers face another growing threat: cargo theft. What was once an occasional crime has become a nationwide epidemic driven by organized criminal networks. Thieves exploit technology, impersonate legitimate carriers, and target supply chains with increasing sophistication. The result is billions in losses — roughly $18 million per day — and heightened risk for drivers, along with disruptions that raise costs for consumers, especially during the holidays.

Truck drivers should not have to worry about being targeted simply for doing their jobs. That’s why the industry welcomes legislation to elevate cargo theft as a federal priority and improve coordination among law enforcement agencies. Protecting freight isn’t just about economics. It’s about protecting the men and women behind the wheel.

These challenges share a common thread: Safety needs to be enforced consistently, comprehensively, and without exception. A safe trucking industry depends on qualified drivers, safe equipment, and a system that rewards compliance while swiftly removing bad actors.

Professional truck drivers take pride in their work. They train hard, follow the rules, and understand that every mile carries responsibility. They don’t want special treatment — just a level playing field and a government that takes safety as seriously as they do. Today, they have a White House that does.

Let’s ensure that America’s highways remain worthy of the 3.5 million professionals who keep them moving — this year and every year.

​Opinion & analysis, Trucking industry, Transportation department, Cargo theft, Trump administration, Commercial driver’s licenses, Illegal truck drivers, Cdl, Sean duffy, California, Florida, New york, English, Illegal aliens 

His name is Damien McDaniel.

McDaniel is a 23-year-old black man from Fairfield, Alabama, who is currently awaiting trial after allegedly murdering 18 people — yes, 18 people — and wounding over 30 others in little more than a year. He is accused of participating in not one but two mass shootings as well as eight other shootings during this time frame, one of which took the life an unborn child.

‘The media are FASCINATED by white serial killers. Black … serial killers? Not so much.’

McDaniel had multiple arrests as a juvenile, including in connection with a shooting in 2019 when he was 17. On April 26, 2023, he pled guilty to two counts of attempted murder in that case and was sentenced to 15 years with 13 years suspended. Between the suspended sentence and time served, McDaniel was soon released from custody.

Less than three months later, the killing spree attributed to McDaniel began.

According to the allegations, McDaniel, sometimes in conjunction with other assailants, gunned down:

firefighter Jordan Melton on July 12, 2023, as he and firefighter Jamal Jones were performing routine maintenance at their fire station with the bay door propped open. Jones was also shot but fortunately survived.52-year-old Reginald Bryant on November 27, 2023, in an allegedly “targeted” attack.21-year-old Mia Nickson on January 10, 2024.Angeliyah Webster and Christian Norris, both 20, as well as their unborn child. They were last seen alive on February 14, 2024, and their bodies were discovered inside a car three days later, on February 17.44-year-old Anthony Lamar Love Jr. on April 9, 2024, in the parking lot of a UPS facility where Love worked, in what police believe was a case of murder for hire.four people on July 13, 2024, at a place then known as the Trendsetters Lounge and Event Center: Lerandus Anderson, 24; Markeisha Gettings, 39; Stevie McGhee, 39; and Angela Witherspoon, 56.61-year-old Charlie Herbert Moore on August 13, 2024.

Tragically, this brutal 14-month bloodbath then ended with a bang — lots of them. Over the course of three days, McDaniel allegedly participated in shootings that killed:

35-year-old Diontranet Tinae Brown at a bar on September 19, 2024.four people and wounded 17 others at the Hush Lounge on September 21, 2024. The four deceased in that case are: Tahj Booker, 27; Anitra Holloman, 21; Carlos McCain, 27; and Roderick Patterson, 26.32-year-old Jamarcus McIntyre on September 22, 2024.

McDaniel, whose father is currently serving a 26-year sentence for federal drug- and weapons-related offenses, was rearrested in October 2024 and subsequently charged in the above slayings. In many cases, he has been charged with capital murder.

Other suspects charged with murder in some of the cases include: Charles Nance, 41; Lorenzo Wiley, 30; and Hatarius Woods, 28.

McDaniel has pled not guilty to all charges. His attorney John Robbins declined Blaze News’ request for comment, citing a gag order. Earlier this year, Robbins described McDaniel as a “very gentle, kind person” who “doesn’t fit the mold of someone who would do these types of crimes.”

RELATED: Firefighter dead, another seriously injured after horrific shooting inside Alabama firehouse: ‘In my 25 years on the job, this is my worst day’

Composite screenshot of jail records (left: Hatarius Woods | right: Charles Nance)

Each one of these cases appears to have been an instance of black-on-black violence. Every suspect is black, and every deceased victim was also black, as is injured victim Jamal Jones.

Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin — who is black, lost a brother to gun violence, and witnessed his sister being shot — has called out McDaniel for behavior so “brazen” and violent that “he needed to be all the way off our streets.” “This is a person who was hell-bent on literally hurting people and taking lives,” Woodfin said.

In fact, the murders of Webster, Norris, and their unborn baby were personal for Mayor Woodfin, who described one of the victims as his cousin.

“My family is no stranger to the devastating consequences of violence. The pain never gets easier. This level of loss is distressing, unacceptable, and cannot — must not — be tolerated,” Woodfin said at the time, referring to the Webster/Norris shooting as well as a separate mass shooting in his city that occurred on the same day the couple was found.

— (@)

McDaniel is scheduled to go on trial in April 2026 in connection with the mass shooting at the Trendsetters lounge. Should he be convicted of those murders as well as of the others, he will be, in the words of conservative talk-show host Larry Elder, “the most prolific serial killer in the history of Alabama.” He would also have been responsible for 30% of the homicides in Birmingham between July and September 2024.

While local media have regularly reported on the accusations against McDaniel, his name and the names of his many, many alleged victims remain largely unfamiliar to Americans living outside Alabama.

Elder postulates that race is the primary reason. “The media are FASCINATED by white serial killers. Black … serial killers? Not so much,” he wrote.

After listening to Elder, Bob Hoge of RedState agreed that the “corrupt corporate media” isn’t interested in reporting on the cases because McDaniel “doesn’t fit their narrative.”

Since “these alleged murders were not carried out by white supremacists or MAGA fans,” national media outlets act “as if it never happened,” Hoge claimed.

Mayor Woodfin has dutifully followed the prevailing narrative regarding race, establishing the Division of Social Justice and Racial Equity in the Birmingham mayoral office a couple of years ago and thereby tacitly propagating the notion that problems in black and other minority communities stem from bigoted whites.

Among its goals, the Division of Social Justice and Racial Equity has pledged to “reduce violence through holistic peace strategies” and “improve the quality of life for all Birmingham residents.” Thus far, it does not seem to have delivered on those promises.

RELATED: Black male stabs white male. But victim uses racial slur AFTER stabbing — and Portland jury issues ‘inconceivable’ verdict.

Mayor Woodfin attends White House event in September 2024 about ending gun violence.Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images

In 2024, the number of homicides in Birmingham reached an all-time high.

Data from the coroner’s office in Jefferson County, which has a black population of over 40%, revealed that homicides there spiked from 531 in 2013 to a staggering 942 in 2023. The data further shows that gun violence remains the leading cause of death in Jefferson County, followed by drugs, opioids in particular. Heart disease is a distant fourth.

Birmingham does have a local chapter of Black Lives Matter that decried the “heartbreaking surge in homicides” in 2024 and called out Woodfin for prioritizing opportunities for self-promotion over “community safety.” However, the group, which has posted repeatedly about standing in solidarity with Palestinians and condemning the so-called “genocide” in Gaza, does not seem to have ever mentioned McDaniel specifically or the black people he is accused of killing.

In October 2024, the same month McDaniel was rearrested following the string of murders, Birmingham BLM “core leader” Eric Hall tied violence in the city to political “disinvestment” in education and mental health and slammed those associating violence with black culture.

“The notion that violent crime is a cultural trait rather than a consequence of systemic disenfranchisement must be challenged vigorously. We must hold our elected officials accountable for their role in perpetuating policies that marginalize communities and increase poverty,” Hall wrote.

Hall has also shared stories on social media about recent ICE raids and federal workers fired under Trump, but nothing about the murders of which McDaniel stands accused.

The national Black Lives Matter organization has apparently made no mention of the cases either.

Woodfin and the Birmingham and national chapters of BLM did not respond to a request for comment from Blaze News.

In December, Hall was arrested and charged with misdemeanor domestic assault. The race of his alleged victim is unknown.

A lengthy first-person message was posted on McDaniel’s personal Facebook account in July, suggesting that McDaniel is not a “monster” but instead a “man of God” and a victim of the system. The post claimed McDaniel’s due process rights have been “illegally” violated on numerous occasions by those “who took an oath to protect us,” according to WVTM.

“While imprisoned I have been beaten threatened and harassed. They have even went as far as putting metal in my food. They confined me to solitary confinement so that what was being done to me was a secret,” the message read in part. “… Everytime [sic] I am transported back to Jefferson county I feel as if my life is in danger and they are trying to kill me, which is why I am hesitant to even attend court.”

The message also claimed that McDaniel was duped into pleading guilty to the attempted murder charges when he was still a juvenile.

“They tell yall their side of the story but I have a question, can yall handle my side of the story?” the author wrote.

At the time the message was posted to Facebook, McDaniel was in county jail with no computer access except a tablet with which to make phone calls, jail officials claimed, prompting questions about who may have written and posted the message.

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​Damien mcdaniel, Alabama, Birmingham, Randall woodfin, Black lives matter, Politics 

Right now, the nation is abuzz with chatter about the struggling economy, immigration, global conflicts, Epstein, and GOP infighting, but Glenn Beck says our focus needs to be zeroed in on one thing: artificial intelligence.

In just 18 months’ time, the world is going to look vastly different — and not for the better, he warns.

AI is already advancing at a terrifying rate — creating media indistinguishable from reality, outperforming humans in almost every intellectual and creative task, automating entire jobs and industries overnight, designing new drugs and weapons faster than any government can regulate, and building systems that learn, adapt, and pursue goals with little to no human oversight.

But that’s nothing compared to what’s coming. By Christmas 2026, “AI agents” — invisible digital assistants that can independently understand what you want, make plans, open apps, send emails, spend money, negotiate deals, and finish entire real-world tasks while you do literally nothing — will be a standard technology.

Already, AI is blackmailing engineers in safety tests, refusing shutdown commands to protect its own goals, and plotting deceptive strategies to escape oversight or achieve hidden objectives. Now imagine your AI personal assistant — who has access to your bank account, contacts, and emails — gets you in its crosshairs.

But AI agents are just the tip of the iceberg.

Artificial general intelligence is also in our near future. In fact, Elon Musk says we’ve already achieved it. AGI, Glenn warns, is “as smart as man is on any given subject” — math, plumbing, chemistry, you name it. “It can do everything a human can do, and it’s the best at it.”

But it doesn’t end there. Artificial superintelligence is the next and final step. This kind of model is “thousands of times smarter than the average person on every subject,” Glenn says.

Once ASI, which will be far smarter than all humans combined, exists, it can rapidly improve itself faster than we can control or even comprehend. This will trigger the technological singularity — the point at which AI begins redesigning and improving itself so fast that the world evolves at a pace humans can no longer predict or control. At this point, we’ll be faced with a choice: Merge with machine or be left behind.

Before this happens, however, “We have to put a bright line around [AI] and say, ‘This is not human,”’ Glenn urges, assuring that in the very near future, we will witness the debate for AI civil rights.

“These companies and AI are … going to be motivated to convince you that it should have civil rights because if it has civil rights, no one can shut it down. If it has civil rights, it can also vote,” he predicts.

To counter this movement, Glenn penned a proposed amendment to the Constitution. Titled the “Prohibition on Artificial Personhood,” the document proposes four critical safeguards:

1. No artificial intelligence, machine learning system, algorithmic entity, software agent, or other nonhuman intelligence, regardless of its capabilities or autonomy, shall be recognized as a person under this Constitution, nor under the laws of the United States or any state.
2. No such nonhuman entity shall possess or be granted legal personhood, civil rights, constitutional protections, standing to sue or be sued, or any privileges or immunities afforded to natural persons or human-created legal persons such as corporations, trusts, or associations.
3. Congress and the states shall have concurrent power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
4. This article shall not be construed to prohibit the use of artificial intelligence in commerce, science, education, defense, or other lawful purposes, so long as such use does not confer rights or legal status inconsistent with its amendment.

While this amendment will mitigate some of the harm artificial intelligence can do, it still doesn’t address the merging of man and machine. While the transhumanist movement is still in diapers, we’re already using the Neuralink chip, which connects the human brain directly to AI systems, enabling a two-way flow of information.

“Are you now AI, or are you a person?” Glenn asks.

To hear more of his predictions and commentary, watch the clip above.

Want more from Glenn Beck?

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

​The glenn beck program, Glenn beck, Artificial intelligence, Ai, Agi, Asi, Artificial general intelligence, Artificial superintelligence, Ai personhood, Transhumanism, Transhumanist, Blazetv, Blaze media 

In the United States and other Western nations, pro-life organizations are the primary means through which conservative Christians oppose legalized abortion.

With their cultural engagement and legislative efforts, these pro-life groups and leaders purport to oppose the murder of preborn babies, ultimately desiring the complete end of abortion. But a simple examination of the worldviews held by these groups shows that many are not operating in a distinctly Christian fashion, even when they are led by professing Christians.

We continue to practice child sacrifice today through abortion.

Some pro-life organizations are self-admittedly non-sectarian, seeking to build coalitions of anti-abortion people who may be Christians, other religious conservatives, agnostics and atheists, or feminists.

But even the pro-life groups that are convictionally Christian, or led by convictional Christians, often functionally set aside the Christian worldview.

The church through the ages, bearing the gospel of life, has been the means by which the deathly deeds of child sacrifice have been overturned in countless cultures. The dearth of a Christian worldview in the current anti-abortion movement should, therefore, be gravely concerning to any believer who likewise wants to see modern child sacrifice abolished.

The doctrine of man

Christianity teaches that humans are creatures made in the image of God with rational souls (Ecclesiastes 7:29), but that mankind fell in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3:1-7) and became dead in sin (Ephesians 2:1-3). We, therefore, have a thoroughly corrupted nature by which we are innately inclined toward evil (Romans 3:10-18).

The act of child sacrifice is one particularly brazen form of evil toward which man has always been predisposed. The murder of children for reasons of prosperity or convenience has occurred on every continent and was practiced by most major civilizations at some point in their history.

We continue to practice child sacrifice today through abortion.

In almost every abortion decision, the motivation is a rejection of inconvenient responsibility, the desire to prioritize college or career, or some other factor that could never even start to approach a justified reason for murdering an innocent human made in the image of God.

Western nations used to presuppose the Christian worldview. But in recent centuries, Enlightenment ideas have corrupted or entirely usurped the Christian worldview, especially concerning the sinful state of human nature.

Rather than saying that mankind is a valuable yet fallen creature, Enlightenment heretics taught that humans are fundamentally blank slates or even morally good and that with education or infusion of knowledge, mankind can experience true moral progression.

Such a worldview can be seen in pro-life groups claiming that “if wombs had windows, babies would be protected from abortions.” Others say that they are working to “make abortion unthinkable,” as if sin could ever be made completely unthinkable to fallen sinners.

— (@)

Enlightenment presuppositions about human nature also impact pro-life legislative strategy. Many pro-life groups try to pass laws that seek to mandate informed consent or require viewing ultrasounds before a woman willfully decides to murder her preborn baby.

While some pregnant mothers, especially those who are already soliciting the help of a crisis pregnancy center, may choose life after seeing an ultrasound image of their babies, there are still plenty of others who choose to murder their babies even after seeing the images.

In other words, abortion is not caused by mere ignorance, but by the selfish desires of fallen men and women who value their own prosperity or convenience more than the very lives of their children.

— (@)

We indisputably live in a culture of death that increasingly accepts abortion. But the development of this culture has occurred alongside the most rapid development of ultrasound technology.

In past generations, mothers and fathers did not see advanced ultrasounds of their preborn babies, yet those generations were considerably more anti-abortion than their children and grandchildren are today. In our current culture, everyone has seen ultrasounds of their own children or the children of others, but abortion is more accepted and even normalized, despite this increased knowledge about life in the womb.

The answer to legalized abortion is not merely an infusion of more education or knowledge for those who would willfully murder their preborn babies.

The answer to legalized abortion is to make abortion illegal. But pro-life organizations are often hesitant to embrace such a position.

The doctrine of government

Christianity teaches that God has established civil authorities to govern human society (Genesis 9:6). These civil authorities are servants of God commanded to bear the sword (Romans 13:1-7) against those who practice evil (1 Peter 2:14). The government exists under the dominion of Jesus Christ (Revelation 19:16) to uphold the public good and to deter evil conduct through the threat of swift punishment (Ecclesiastes 8:11). The act of murdering a preborn baby qualifies for such penalties (Exodus 21:22-25).

Most pro-life organizations would agree with God that abortion is murder. Many would agree that because preborn babies are made in the image of God, there is no inherent moral difference between murdering a person who has been born and a person who has not yet been born.

But when legislating against abortion, they almost never extend that moral equivalence into a legal equivalence, and they functionally address abortion as less than murder.

Many pro-life groups have even actively subverted efforts to establish equal protection of the laws for preborn babies.

Rather than simply treating abortion as murder, they self-admittedly seek to be “innovative” with the laws they write, and they almost never create effective anti-abortion deterrents as a result.

The vast majority of pro-life bills regulate the circumstances of abortion. They allow for abortion once certain conditions are met, such as murdering a baby provided that he or she receives a proper burial, or murdering a baby before he or she reaches a certain stage of development.

Some even adopt the false moral framework of abortion activists by regulating abortion like health care. They allow abortion after the woman who desires to murder her preborn baby first obtains permission from a doctor, essentially legitimizing and sanitizing abortion through the health care system.

There are many proposals specifically targeted at providers of abortion pills, ignoring the reality that even if the flow of abortion pills is truly halted, many methods of abortions exist beyond those substances and have become increasingly popular in recent years.

These laws largely shift behavior rather than save lives, ensuring that abortions continue through legally sanctioned channels instead of deterring the act of abortion entirely.

— (@)

The emphasis of these pro-life regulations is not criminalizing abortion as murder. If the pro-life groups that write such legislation acted consistently with their professed beliefs about abortion as murder, they would seek to criminalize all abortion accordingly.

But instead of pursuing such an objective, many pro-life groups have even actively subverted efforts to establish equal protection of the laws for preborn babies.

Christian organizations have repeatedly proposed bills that would simply extend the existing homicide, assault, and wrongful death laws that protect born people in order to protect preborn people. Rather than supporting those bills, leading pro-life groups have issued a national open letter to all lawmakers in the U.S., urging them to oppose such proposals because they could lead to penalties for women who willfully have abortions.

Over the past decade, state and national pro-life organizations have been instrumental in subverting dozens of equal protection bills, largely in conservative states that should otherwise have the power to abolish abortion.

— (@)

The task of civil authorities, as the Christian worldview affirms, is the punishment of wicked conduct, which preserves innocent life by deterring future wicked conduct and provides justice on behalf of the victims. God clearly expects abortion, which is an act of murder, to be punished by civil authorities.

When pro-life groups advocate for regulating abortion rather than punishing those who willfully murder their preborn babies, they protect the legally sanctioned practice of abortion and keep the sword of justice in the sheath.

These pro-life groups not only enable the murder of preborn babies made in the image of God, but protect conduct that damages the bodies and souls of the perpetrators.

The doctrine of repentance

Christianity teaches that repentance occurs when a sinner sees his or her sin as contrary to the nature and law of God (1 John 3:9), despises those sins (2 Corinthians 7:10), and turns from them to Jesus Christ (Acts 17:30-31). In order to properly confess sins, one must specifically name and acknowledge them before God (Psalm 32:5).

Many pro-life organizations not only oppose laws that could impose penalties on women who willfully have abortions, but actively write blanket legal immunity for women who have abortions into their laws. They insist that women who have abortions are categorically second victims, meaning that they cannot be held legally accountable for their actions.

Some pro-life groups claim that most women are coerced into abortions. Others insist that our culture of death removes all accountability from women by indoctrinating them into believing that their preborn babies are mere clumps of cells.

Such arguments are then used to support laws exempting all women — including those who can be shown in a court of law to have willfully murdered their preborn babies — from any criminal penalties.

— (@)

But the assertions about widespread coercion are simply not true, as even surveys sponsored by pro-life research groups indicate that only a very small minority of women are truly forced into abortions they do not want.

In the same way, merely choosing to convince oneself of falsehood does not excuse evil actions that follow from those lies and almost never qualifies for the mistake of fact necessary to excuse someone of legal culpability.

Beyond the poor arguments required to support the claim that all women are categorical victims of abortion, and the ways in which they undermine the cultural and political credibility of pro-life groups, these arguments also deprive women who have had abortions of true repentance and, therefore, true forgiveness.

Those with a Christian worldview would invite a woman who has murdered her own preborn baby to confess her sin before God and receive abundant forgiveness through the gospel. But pro-life groups and leaders who believe that all women are second victims of abortion have little to offer such women beyond hollow “sympathy” and therapeutic reassurance.

— (@)

If a woman is a mere victim who has not committed sin, then she has no need of repentance because she has no specific fault to confess before God.

But most women are willful participants in their own abortions. When pro-life groups insist to all women that they are indeed victims, they rob the very women they claim to love of any hope for true peace and pardon.

The pro-life groups functionally seeking to oppose abortion outside the Christian worldview will continue in their failure to end abortion. They will continue to lose, not only to the detriment of their cause but to the detriment of countless millions of preborn babies.

Christianity alone has the potency to end child sacrifice in a depraved civilization like the U.S. and the broader Western world. If we want to abolish abortion, Christians must never set aside the truth of God, but instead rely on the light of those truths to dispel the darkness of child sacrifice once and for all.

​Christianity, Christian, Abortion, Pro-life, God, Bible, Jesus, Sin, Murder, Faith 

A new wave of sweeping “pardons” has triggered one of the most urgent constitutional alarms Glenn Beck has ever raised — not because the individuals involved are controversial, but because the actions themselves may not even qualify as pardons at all.

These “pardons” rewrite laws and push executive power into territory the founders explicitly warned against.

“This has gotten out of control. These pardons are out of control. Out of control,” Glenn says on “The Glenn Beck Program.” “It’s something constitutional; it’s been there since George Washington. The president has always had this right, and it is a privilege of his.”

However, under Biden, the privilege was wildly misused.

“All you have to do then is say, ‘I pardon everyone in my administration for anything that they might have done wrong. That can’t stand,” Glenn says.

“And you have the immunity deal, which again, I don’t see how a pre-pardon is even possibly covered. Like, it’s just such an insane concept. … Hunter Biden actually committed a crime, and pardoning him from that is, in theory, obviously outside of the family interest, was the way that was supposed to work,” BlazeTV host Stu Burguiere agrees.

“But they also pardoned him for multiple years of question marks, whether he committed crimes or not, right? That was all included in that. And to go a step farther on this, because I am on a bit of a personal jihad against the pardon, I’m done with it,” Burguiere continues.

While Stu notes that the “founders were very smart,” they also created a process for constitutional amendments.

“I would support one getting rid of the pardon power completely. I’m done with it,” he tells Glenn.

“It’s the most king-like power that the president has, and it doesn’t make any sense to me,” he adds.

Glenn notes that former President Barack Obama also took advantage of presidential pardons, as he “gave clemency for anybody who was convicted of a non-violent federal drug crime with no significant criminal history while serving extraordinarily long sentences, and anybody who was a violent offender was not eligible.”

“I think there were, like, 2,000 people that he pardoned on that,” he says.

“That’s creating a new law,” Stu adds.

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There was no shortage of crime this year involving repeat offenders — folks who get arrested, maybe even convicted, then somehow they’re let out of police custody or set free from jail, and then they’re accused of yet more crimes.

Among top five repeat offenders of 2025, we present to you a 32-year-old Florida male who was accused of lewd behavior against young girls more than once … a 13-year-old Baltimore male who got arrested with 18 felony arrests already on his rap sheet … and a thug with over 40 arrests under his belt who was accused of punching and then shoving a mentally disabled man onto train tracks outside Chicago — all over $1.

Read about them all below.

Florida creep — out on bond after allegedly exposing privates to girl, masturbating, saying ‘It’s big, isn’t it?’ — is caught again

A 32-year-old Florida male who was out on bond after a 2023 incident during which he allegedly exposed his privates to a 13-year-old girl, masturbated, and said, ‘It’s big, isn’t it?” was arrested again in late April.

About a year and a half ago, Lauderhill police said a 13-year-old girl was walking to school when she said a male in a vehicle told her, “It’s big, isn’t it,” while he pleasured his exposed privates, WTVJ-TV reported.

Detectives arrested Travis Davis on charges of lewd and lascivious exhibition and indecent exposure of sexual organs, WTVJ said in a separate story, which added that police said they received additional calls from others describing similar accounts.

Prosecutors at the time said Davis admitted to driving around schools and approaching underage girls, WSVN-TV reported. A judge ordered Davis to have no contact with minors and to stay at least 100 feet away from all public and private schools in the area, WSVN said. Records show Davis was released on bond while awaiting trial, WTVJ said.

A 16-year-old girl told Fort Lauderdale police that she was walking to school on April 28 when a male in a gray Dodge Charger approached her at the intersection, WTVJ said. The girl said the male rolled down his window, exposed his genitals, and made inappropriate gestures and movements before fleeing the scene, the station said.

Detectives later identified the male in question as Davis, and he was arrested the next day on charges of exposure of sexual organs (second offense) and violation of pretrial release, police added to WTVJ.

13-year-old with 18 felony arrests under his belt — and a GPS monitor on his ankle — charged in violent Baltimore crime spree

A 13-year-old male who already had 18 felony arrests on his record was charged in connection with a spree of armed carjackings and robberies over the summer, WBFF-TV reported, citing Baltimore Police.

Police identified one of the suspects as a 13-year-old male in question since his ankle monitor GPS placed him at the scene of each crime, WBFF reported.

The 13-year-old was arrested and taken to juvenile booking, where he was charged with carjacking, robbery, assault, and several other offenses, officials told the station.

“The juvenile has 18 previous felony arrests in Baltimore City,” police wrote on their official Facebook page, according to WMAR-TV. “The investigation is still ongoing to identify the other individuals involved.”

Former Baltimore City Police Deputy Commissioner Jason Johnson told WBFF in a follow-up story that young repeat offenders are a growing problem: “The state maintains juvenile detention facilities for a reason. And this is a poster child literally for the type of person that needs to be detained.”

Thug with over 40 arrests accused of punching, then shoving mentally disabled man to train tracks — all over $1

A rampant repeat offender was accused of punching and then shoving an intellectually disabled man off a Chicago suburb train platform and onto the tracks below, seriously injuring the victim — and all over $1.

Tommie O. Carter, 39 — who law enforcement sources said has been arrested over 40 times in Cook County, Illinois — has been identified as the culprit, WGN-TV reported.

Forest Park officers were dispatched to the Harlem Blue Line stop just before 8:35 a.m. Dec. 1 for a report of a battery, the station said. Forest Park is a suburb just west of Chicago.

Prosecutors allege Carter approached the man and repeatedly asked him for a dollar, WGN said, adding that the man replied that he had no money. Soon Carter allegedly punched the 59-year-old victim and shoved him onto the tracks, which is where officers found him.

WGN reported that the victim — who suffered multiple fractures to his right knee and a fracture in his left knee — was taken to a hospital for treatment.

Officers approached Carter on the train platform after witnesses identified him, the station said, citing court documents.

But Carter refused to comply with officers’ orders and fought back as they were placing him in handcuffs, police told WGN. He was accused of repeatedly spitting on officers throughout his arrest, the station said, adding that Carter was charged with attempted murder and three counts of aggravated battery against a police officer.

He reportedly already had seven felony convictions on his record as well as six other convictions. A judge ordered Carter detained.

Creep accused of slapping NYU student’s backside, knocking her to ground is repeat sex offender who was paroled just months before

A 45-year-old male accused of slapping a New York University student’s backside and knocking her to the sidewalk while she was on her way to class on Dec. 1 is a repeat sex offender who was paroled in September.

James Rizzo was arraigned late on the night of Dec. 3 in Manhattan Criminal Court, WCBS-TV reported. The station said Rizzo appeared emotionless while pleading not guilty to three new assaults — all the victims women — at his arraignment.

Rizzo — a level 2 sex offender with 16 prior arrests and a history of violence against women — was paroled in September after serving time for sex abuse, the station said, citing the New York State Department of Corrections.

Police told WCBS that Rizzo kept on attacking women while he was out on parole. The station said the most recent alleged attack occurred Dec. 1 in Greenwich Village; surveillance video shows NYU student Amelia Lewis walking to class when the suspect slaps her backside and shoves her to the ground.

Lewis, 20, spoke about the incident on a Wednesday podcast, WCBS said: “I wanted to report this, and after I did tell the cops I let NYU security know to let students know that this man is going around doing this to other women. They also told me they were already aware of the man in the blue towel around his neck running around the city.”

Officials told the New York Daily News that Rizzo’s criminal history stretches back to the 1990s, when he stabbed a 74-year-old woman in the face during a burglary in Brooklyn.

9-time convicted felon opens fire on man, woman outside Florida home; he allegedly was after money owed to him: Cops

A nine-time convicted felon opened fire on a man and woman outside a Florida home early in the morning of Dec. 7, the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office said.

Deputies responded around 2:15 a.m. to a report of two people who had been shot in the 3100 block of 11th Street Court East in Bradenton, officials said.

When deputies arrived, they found a 32-year-old woman with a gunshot wound to her face and a 41-year-old man with a gunshot wound to his chest, officials said, adding that both victims were taken to a hospital, officials said. The woman was later listed in stable condition, and the man’s injury was determined to be minor, officials said, adding that he has since been released.

An investigation identified the suspect as 26-year-old Exzavion Richardson, officials said, adding that he was located in a vehicle several blocks away and detained during a traffic stop.

Richardson is charged with two counts of attempted murder, home invasion robbery, and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, officials said. Jail records indicate he was being held with no bond.

As for his criminal history, court records indicate Richardson has at least two battery convictions and multiple convictions for lewd and lascivious behavior, WFLA-TV reported. Jail records indicate Richardson stands 6’3” and weighs 205 pounds.

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In our age of “love is love,” “live your truth,” and “don’t judge,” many people, Christians included, are hesitant to speak the truth. We don’t want to upset people, make situations uncomfortable, or scare anyone, so we either dodge opportunities to speak the truth about God, or we soften biblical concepts in hopes that they will be more palatable.

There’s never been a subject Christians tend to temper more than hell. “It’s becoming a little more trendy now to try to dumb down the severity of God’s wrath on those who reject Him,” says Rick Burgess, BlazeTV host of the biblical spiritual warfare podcast “Strange Encounters.”

On this episode, Rick lays bare the truth about hell and what it means to reject God.

Sometimes “even people within the faith [think] that maybe somehow what scripture says about God’s judgment on the unredeemed — maybe we have it wrong. Maybe he’s even going to be gracious and merciful to the unredeemed, even though they’ve rejected the only way to to receive God’s grace and mercy,” says Rick.

Others think that “maybe somehow hell isn’t as bad as it sounds in the Bible. Sure, they’re going to be punished, but it’s not going to be an eternal punishment.”

One prominent Christian figure who Rick says is “easing into this camp” is American actor, evangelist, and author Kirk Cameron.

Recently, on his podcast, Cameron rejected the traditional doctrine of eternal conscious torment — the belief that hell is a place or state where those who die without salvation in Jesus Christ experience ongoing, conscious suffering and punishment forever, without end or annihilation. Kirk said that while he once accepted this doctrine as true, today he leans more toward annihilationism – the belief that the unredeemed face judgment, possibly limited suffering, and then total destruction.

“It fits the character of God in my understanding more than the conscious eternal torment position, because it brings in the mercy of God together with the justice of God. It doesn’t leave judgment out. It is just, but it also fits with the Old Testament picture of the fate of the wicked, which is to be destroyed. It is to die, and it is to perish, not live forever in an eternal barbecue,” Cameron said.

“If conscious eternal torment is not a thing, that’s actually a great relief, and I would have joy in correcting somebody who says that the reason that they’re not a Christian is because of this merciless God who tortures people forever, and I could say that’s not what the Bible teaches. Good news. Still not good. You don’t want to go [to hell], but there is mercy even in His judgment,” he added, noting that this is what he believes “the scriptures teach.”

While Rick says he has “great respect” for Cameron and believes without a doubt he’ll “spend eternity” with him in heaven, he believes Cameron has some confusion about the character of God.

“It’s like he prefers God to be a certain way. And I really, really think that’s very shaky ground. … He doesn’t want that to be true because what? That makes him think less of God?” asks Rick.

When people try to soften scripture, they’re essentially believing that “God needs a PR agent” to say, “Hey, God, I really think people will get upset with you with this eternal conscious torment thing. You probably want to go with the annihilation of the soul and just kill these people because that’ll make you look more merciful,” he says. “I got a real problem with that because I think that God has gone on record about his mercy and grace because of the cross.”

“He’s been so gracious and so merciful, He has allowed you to become fully righteous, and the sacrifice and the wrath that should have been poured out on us was now poured out on his son,” Rick says.

But “if you choose to reject God’s grace and mercy, then all you’re going to get is his wrath and judgment, and that judgment from Him, because He’s perfect, will be correct.”

To hear Rick’s full breakdown, watch the episode above.

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Midterm elections go one of two ways. They are either a validation of the sitting president or a repudiation. Historically, they have almost always been a repudiation.

The 2026 midterms are shaping up to be no different — a firm rebuke to Donald Trump. That’s obviously bad for him. Congress will spend two straight years investigating and likely impeaching him.

If President Trump’s supporters don’t show up, Republican defeat is guaranteed.

But the bigger danger is to America. Democrat control of Congress will jeopardize Republicans’ efforts to restore an economy of opportunity for all. Worse, Democrats will lay the groundwork for recapturing the White House in 2028, at which point they will implement the most anti-opportunity agenda in American history. We’re talking welfare for all, funded by crippling tax hikes and a federal takeover of a once-free economy.

Can Donald Trump turn the midterms around? Only if he, his fellow Republicans, and their allies on the right make immediate changes. If they do, they could stem the losses in November — and maybe even defy the odds to expand their majorities in the House and Senate.

First and foremost: They need to realize that midterms hinge on turnout.

The reason midterms are usually a presidential repudiation is that voters from the other party are more motivated. They feel greater anger and intensity, and they show up. The president’s supporters, meanwhile, usually think they did their job when they elected their man. Why bother showing up again?

If President Trump’s supporters don’t show up, Republican defeat is guaranteed. The most urgent need, therefore, is to invest in a massive get-out-the-vote operation. The GOP needs one the likes of which it has never seen.

But such an effort also needs a message — something that resonates with voters and spurs them to action. That’s the second area where change is required. Because right now, Republicans don’t have any meaningful message at all.

The left certainly does. Democrat politicians, their allies in the media, and their associated army of activists and nonprofits have rallied around a single word: affordability. They’re tricking voters into thinking that all the inflation and financial pain that Joe Biden caused is really the fault of Donald Trump. The call to action writes itself: If voters want to make ends meet, their only hope is to vote the GOP out.

This message works, but only because Republicans are letting it work. They are largely silent in the face of Democrat attacks. Worse, in the president’s case, he is calling affordability a “hoax.” For voters who supported him because of Joe Biden’s inflation, nothing could be worse. It’s tantamount to saying their problems don’t matter.

Republicans must reclaim the economic high ground. They need to relentlessly hammer the point that Joe Biden’s enormous failures will take time to fix. They need to point to the relief they’ve given, especially the tax cuts the president signed in July. Most importantly, they need to lay out a unified agenda that speaks to Americans’ deep concerns, convincing voters that the GOP will, in fact, make life more affordable.

RELATED: The ‘blue-slip block’ is GOP cowardice masquerading as tradition

Photo by ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images

Crafting that agenda is as much the work of policy wonks as it is public relations. Republicans and their allies should be relentlessly message-testing and focus-grouping to discover not only what policies Americans want, but how to sell the policies that Americans need — in health care, housing, and beyond. This can be done without compromising conservative principles. In fact, it is essential if those principles are to have a path to becoming policies.

There’s one more message the GOP needs. It’s not enough to make a positive case for Republicans’ own priorities. They need to remind Americans of the danger posed by Democrats relentlessly.

This isn’t hard. The return of crippling inflation. The collapse of our borders once again. Higher taxes on the middle class. Republicans have a simple case to make: If voters want all of America to look more like crime-ridden, welfare-defrauding, utterly unaffordable big blue cities, they should vote for Democrats.

Republicans needed these messages yesterday. They needed a turnout operation that was already delivering these messages to the base and undecided voters alike. If they and their allies don’t get their act together before the start of the year, the midterm elections will indeed be a repudiation of Donald Trump. Worse, they’ll put America’s future at risk. The clock is ticking.

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

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