Category: blaze media

The Swalwell for Governor campaign is quickly collapsing after a former staffer went public to accuse the Democrat of sexual harassment and assault.

Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) had jumped to the top spot in polling among Democrats to succeed Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-Calif.), but now his campaign is facing calls for him to step down.

‘The allegations are incredibly disturbing and unacceptable against Rep. Swalwell. We are immediately suspending our support.’

“Today I learned shocking information about Eric Swalwell containing the ugliest and most serious accusations imaginable,” Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-Calif.) said in a statement Friday calling on Swalwell to abandon his campaign.

“My involvement in any campaign begins and ends with trust. I cannot in good conscience remain in any role with this campaign, and I am stepping down from it effective immediately,” he added.

The former staffer said that Swalwell sexually assaulted her twice when she was too drunk to consent, according to an account in the San Francisco Chronicle.

The woman also claimed that Swalwell sent an image of his penis to her via Snapchat.

Swalwell has denied the allegations.

“For nearly 20 years, I have served the public — as a prosecutor and a congressman and have always protected women,” he said in a statement. “I will defend myself with the facts and where necessary bring legal action. My focus in the coming days is to be with my wife and children and defend our decades of service against these lies.”

A Swalwell attorney sent a cease and desist letter to one accuser.

Some top staffers left the campaign after the allegations dropped, and the California Teachers Association suspended its endorsement for Swalwell.

“The allegations are incredibly disturbing and unacceptable against Rep. Swalwell. We are immediately suspending our support,” CTA President David Goldberg said.

RELATED: Swalwell lashes out at Trump after FBI reportedly looks to release files on his alleged Chinese spy scandal

Republican Fox News contributor Steve Hilton leads in polling for the gubernatorial election after surpassing Riverside Sheriff Chad Bianco.

The Swalwell campaign canceled a town hall event planned in Palm Desert, citing an illness.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

​Eric swalwell sexual assault, Swalwell campaign collapse, Sexual assault, California governor election, Politics 

The Trump administration released renderings of a planned arch for the 250th anniversary celebration of the Declaration of Independence.

The 166-foot-tall arch would be constructed at the Memorial Circle in Washington, D.C., according to images filed by the Interior Department to the Commission of Fine Arts on Friday.

‘President Trump will continue to honor our veterans and give the greatest Nation on earth — America — the glory it deserves.’

“The Triumphal Arch in Memorial Circle is going to be one of the most iconic landmarks not only in Washington, D.C., but throughout the world,” White House spokesperson Davis Ingle said to Politico.

“It will enhance the visitor experience at Arlington National Cemetery for veterans, the families of the fallen, and all Americans alike, serving as a visual reminder of the noble sacrifices borne by so many American heroes throughout our 250-year history so we can enjoy our freedoms today. President Trump will continue to honor our veterans and give the greatest Nation on earth — America — the glory it deserves.”

Many on social media responded positively to the renderings posted by the White House Rapid Response team.

“I want my taxes to pay for stuff like this instead of immigrants,” said Blaze Media digital strategist and commentator Logan Hall.

“The Independence Arch in Washington, DC, would become the largest traditional triumphal arch ever constructed in the world, surpassing all existing ones. Just name it the TrumpVictory Arch,” another user said.

RELATED: Trump announces ‘Patriot Games’ high school athletic competition for 250th anniversary of founding

In October, the president said Memorial Circle was perfect for a new memorial.

“For years and years it sat, and every time somebody rides over that beautiful bridge going right to the Lincoln Memorial, beautiful right?” the president said. “They literally say, ‘Something’s supposed to be there!”

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

​Trump’s independence arch, New arch in washington dc, America 250th anniversary, Trump on his arch, Politics 

A Democratic member of the U.S. House of Representatives says he’s filed articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump for a post threatening Iran.

Rep. John Larson of Connecticut cited a social media post that threatened to end the civilization in Iran if it did not agree to his demands after weeks of U.S.-Israeli strikes.

‘They have an obligation to put patriotism over politics.’

“Donald Trump has blown past every requirement to be removed from office. And it’s getting worse. His illegal war in Iran is not only driving up prices for American families — it has cost American lives,” Larson said in the statement Tuesday.

“His profane and sacrilegious Easter Sunday and subsequent threats, including ‘a whole civilization will die’ and ‘open the Strait … or you’ll be living in hell’ not only foreshadow war crimes, but put our security at risk,” Larson added.

Larson said he filed for impeachment but that Trump’s Cabinet should seek the speedier remedy of removing the president from the Oval Office through the 25th Amendment.

“Members of the Cabinet and those closest to the President can act immediately,” Larson added. “They have an obligation to put patriotism over politics and invoke the 25th Amendment. Donald Trump is unable or unwilling to faithfully execute the responsibilities of the office and he is putting the nation’s security and economy in jeopardy.”

Many others have called for the president to be removed via the 25th Amendment, though that effort may have been tempered by the announcement of a ceasefire an hour before the deadline Trump set for Iran.

Among those calling for the president to be removed are former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), and Rep. Yassamin Ansari (D-Ariz.).

Trump was already impeached twice in his first term.

RELATED: Praise, prayers, and impeachment: Reactions pour in following US attack on Iran

Others, like Republican Rep. Mike Lawler of New York, defended the president’s threat.

“We’re talking about taking decisive action against Iran’s energy and civilian infrastructure. That is what the president is talking about,” Lawler told CNN. “He’s not talking about obliterating innocent people.”

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

​Third trump impeachment, Trump threat against iran, Us-israeli strikes on iran, Rep john larson of connecticut, Politics 

Beloved actor Michael J. Fox was clearly confused to find out he was allegedly dead, according to CNN, a day after he was on stage at a television festival.

Fox, 64, known for “Back to the Future” and “Teen Wolf,” took to social media on Thursday to tell followers to relax, because people think he has died every single year.

‘I thought the world was ending, but apparently it’s just me.’

Fox had just appeared at PaleyFest on Wednesday, making a surprise cameo on stage in Los Angeles. His own surprise, however, would come the next day when CNN began circulating a web article and video package claiming that he had passed away.

“Remembering the life of actor Michael J. Fox,” CNN wrote in an apparent screenshot of the piece, accompanied by a three-and-a-half minute tribute video.

‘Doing great’

This prompted TMZ to reach out to Fox’s team, who replied to confirm that he was in fact alive.

“Michael is doing great. He was at PaleyFest yesterday. He was on stage and was giving interviews,” they reiterated.

The real truth-telling was left to Fox though; he took to his Threads page (Meta’s version of X) to ponder his options.

“How do you react when you turn on the TV and CNN is reporting your death?” he asked, before taking a shot at the network formerly known as MSNBC.

RELATED: CNN analyst delivers Democrats devastating news about base support

Vinnie Zuffante/Getty Images

“Do you … A) switch to MNSBC, or whatever they are calling themselves these days, (B) Pour [scalding] hot water on your lap, if it hurts [you’re] fine, (C) Call your wife, hopefully she’s concerned but reassuring, (D) Relax, they do this once every year, [or] (E) Ask yourself wtf?”

All of the above

Fox apparently did not get the 2025 memo that MSNBC changed its name to MSNOW, which the Guardian described as a somewhat forced acronym that stands for “My Source for News, Opinion and the World.”

The original name identified a now-defunct partnership between Microsoft and NBC, which launched in 1996 as a combination of the Microsoft Network and NBC. MSN was also the colloquial name of a popular online messenger service released in 1999.

Fox concluded his remarks by saying, “I thought the world was ending, but apparently it’s just me and I’m ok. Love, Mike.”

RELATED: CNN’s ‘death spiral’: ‘Cringe’ selfie strategy deployed as network scrambles to stay relevant

Dead reckoning

CNN later issued a statement through a spokesperson that said, “The package was published in error,” NBC News reported. “We have removed it from our platforms and send our apologies to Michael J. Fox and his family.”

Fox’s appearance in L.A. was to promote his TV show “Shrinking,” which just finished filming its third season.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

​Align, Cnn, Fake news, Michael j. fox, Reporting, Msn, Msnbc, Entertainment 

The Trump administration is looking to tap a seemingly untouched resource: video game-playing adults.

A federal agency put out a call on Friday using a video that literally starts like an Xbox game.

‘It’s not a game. It’s a career.’

After a series of short video-game clips, text on the screen asks, “Are you up for the challenge?”

“You’ve been training for this,” it continues, building suspense, before a gamer sitting in front of his computer screens is transported into his new career: ensuring that passenger planes take off and land safely and without incident.

“Become an air traffic controller,” the ad says, with a club remix of the 2009 Yeah Yeah Yeahs hit “Heads Will Roll” playing in the background.

“It’s not a game,” the upbeat recruitment spot declares. “It’s a career.”

The 70-second video told prospective applicants that not only would they keep “millions of people safe” every day, but they would “make a lot of money” doing so.

RELATED: Floppy discs and copper strips: Newark failures hint at looming threat of another FAA disaster

Per the ad, gamers making the jump to an air traffic controller career could look forward to an “average salary” of “$155,000 per year after 3 years.”

Air traffic controller was just one of the roles at the Department of Transportation and FAA that was revealed to be sorely out of touch when President Trump took office for his second term in 2025.

Last year, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy reported that a near hour-long grounding of planes could be linked to “incredibly old technology” that utilized floppy discs and copper wires.

Earlier in 2025, documents about FAA hiring practices showed that the federal agency had been specifically looking to hire people with disabilities, which included “hearing, vision, missing extremities, partial paralysis, complete paralysis, epilepsy, severe intellectual disability, psychiatric disability, and dwarfism.”

This appears to be a stark contrast to the Transportation Department under Duffy, who once called the department’s systems “not effective to control the traffic that we have in the airspace today.”

RELATED: Investigator of LaGuardia plane crash suggests ‘multiple failures’ caused the collision; survivors respond

Luke Hales/Getty Images

Last September, Duffy met his goal to recruit at least 2,000 new air traffic controllers by bringing in 2,026. This was coupled with a stated goal of hiring at least 8,900 new air traffic controllers through 2028.

“To reach the next generation of air traffic controllers, we need to adapt,” Duffy said about the ad targeting gamers. “This campaign’s innovative communication style and focus on gaming taps into a growing demographic of young adults who have many of the hard skills it takes to be a successful controller,” he told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

According to a 2025 audit from the Office of Inspector General, the FAA employs about 13,000 traffic controllers in over 300 facilities across the U.S. Nearly 10,600 of those are “certified professional controllers.”

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

​Return, Gamers, Gaming, Air traffic, Faa, Airports, Department of transportation, Dei, Tech 

Failed presidential candidate Kamala Harris signaled she is eyeing another run for the White House.

Harris revealed that she “might” run for president in 2028 despite losing all seven swing states and the popular vote in 2024. After spending months on a book tour in the South, Harris hinted during the Democrats’ National Action Network convention on Friday that her presidential ambitions are alive and well.

‘I’m thinking about it in the context of then, you know …’

“Listen, I might,” Harris told Rev. Al Sharpton when asked about running again.

“I might. I’m thinking about it. I’m thinking about it.”

RELATED: After 11-year ‘political persecution’ begun by Kamala Harris, pro-life activist David Daleiden is VICTORIOUS

Adam Gray/Bloomberg/Getty Images

Harris cited her four years as vice president to former President Joe Biden, signaling that she is uniquely qualified compared to other potential Democrat candidates.

“I am thinking about it, but let me also say this,” Harris said. “I served for four years being a heartbeat away from the presidency of the United States. I spent countless hours in my West Wing office, footsteps away from the Oval Office. I spent countless hours in the Oval Office and the Situation Room.”

“I know what the job is, and I know what it requires,” Harris added.

While soft-launching a potential presidential bid, it wasn’t long before Harris went on into one of her signature word-salad tangents.

“I am thinking about it in the context of then, you know, is who, and where, and how can the best job be done for the American people,” Harris stammered. “That’s how I’m thinking about it.”

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

​Donald trump, Kamala harris, 2028 presidential race, Joe biden, Democrat nominee, White house, Word salad, 2024 election, 2028 election, Politics 

A Democrat interloper hoping, in his own words, to help get Democrats “a foot in the door” in a deep-red Ohio district was certified in February to run as a Republican candidate in the coming primary election for the Buckeye State’s 15th Congressional District.

Samuel Ronan — a former candidate for the chair of the Democratic National Committee — was, however, disqualified by Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose (R) following protest by a GOP voter.

Ronan’s fight to stay on the ballot went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which delivered the subversive some bad news on Thursday.

Infiltrator

Permitted under Ohio law to contest the candidacy of a party candidate, GOP voter Mark Schare did so on Feb. 20, claiming that Ronan had misrepresented his affiliation with the GOP.

‘Just one problem: he is a Democrat.’

According to court documents, Schare referred to Ronan’s prior remarks about tricking Republicans into voting for Democrats as well as a January 2026 Facebook post in which Ronan wrote,

I believe i [sic] very clearly mentioned in that very same DNC Chair race that Democrats, if they wanted to govern and regain the trust of Americans, would have to primary Republicans in deep red districts, as Republicans, just to get a foot in the door. So, if I am doing anything, it’s following the argument I made on that stage.

Ronan later admitted his strategy to the Ohio Board of Elections but suggested that he was not presently “fighting on behalf of the traitorous Democrats” who voted to fund U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. He also argued that he should be able to present his leftist ideology as a Republican and let the voters decide “what is or what is not Republican.”

RELATED: Democrat fraudster begs to keep $800,000 state pension funded by taxpayers

Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose (R). Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call Inc./Getty Images

The Ohio Board of Elections put his disqualification to a vote and ended up tied along party lines. The decision was consequently kicked to Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose (R), who broke the deadlock in favor of disqualification, revealing on March 19 that he was removing Ronan from the Ohio primary ballot.

LaRose emphasized in his decision that the “issue here is not ‘ideological purity,'” but “the integrity of the electoral process.”

Rejected

The Democrat interloper — who noted last month that he opposes sealing the border and stopping the “migrant invasion” — challenged his disqualification, suing LaRose and members of the Franklin County Board of Elections, and alleging that his First Amendment rights were violated.

Ronan managed to obtain a temporary restraining order; however, U.S. District Court Judge Sarah Morrison, an appointee of President Donald Trump, had it vacated and denied Ronan a preliminary injunction earlier this month.

“It cannot be the case that a State must allow a candidate on a partisan ballot even if he lied about his party affiliation simply because the First Amendment is implicated,” wrote Morrison. “To do so ‘would subject virtually every electoral regulation to strict scrutiny, hamper the ability of States to run efficient and equitable elections, and compel federal courts to rewrite state electoral codes.'”

After a three-judge panel on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit — made aware of Ronan’s recent social post in which he stated, “Leftists need to infiltrate [R]epublican spaces and primary them” — similarly refused to put the ex-candidate back on the ballot.

Alongside his campaign manager, Ana Cordero, Ronan appealed at last to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Ronan’s legal counsel claimed in the emergency application, “Ronan did not act in bad faith. He was honest. He made plain that though he was once a Democrat he is now seeking to transport across the aisle ideas that were not embraced by the Democratic Party. Ronan’s campaign is a good faith attempt to win over Republican voters by advocating his values — values he believes Democrats have forsaken. That is not a ‘strategic candidacy’ or some kind of trick. It is not unlawful.”

Republican Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost’s office said in a response to the application, “Samuel Ronan wanted to run for office in Ohio’s Republican primary as a Republican. Just one problem: he is a Democrat.”

The office noted further that “Ronan’s request is upside down.”

“Political parties possess a First Amendment associational right to exclude those who do not share their values,” said Yost’s office. “So it would be quite surprising if the First Amendment forbids States from protecting that right when the Amendment ‘barely — and only provisionally — permits’ States to compel association.”

Justice Brett Kavanaugh referred Ronan’s application to the full court, which denied Ronan’s request on Thursday, reported the Courthouse News Service.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

​Ohio, Yost, Election, Goprepublican, Primary, Subversive, Leftist, Samuel ronan, Congress, Larose, Elections, Primary challenge, Politics 

After what could have been a devastating school shooting like that at Columbine High School in 1999, one Oklahoma town is praising a hero rather than mourning this week.

On Tuesday afternoon at Pauls Valley High School in Oklahoma, an armed suspect entered the school with the intent to kill.

‘Principal Moore acted bravely to protect students’ lives.’

However, the shooting was quickly thwarted when Principal Kirk Moore sprang into action.

The suspect entered the school near the principal’s office. The suspect reportedly drove his truck with two pistols to the school, entered the building, ordered everyone to get on the ground, and attempted to fire one of the guns.

RELATED: Teens definitely pick wrong homeowner to ‘ding-dong ditch’; cops say he came out of house with gun, opened fire after prank

DAVID PASHAEE/Middle East Images/AFP/Getty Images

However, the gun did not fire at first.

Moore was then able to subdue the shooter, doubtlessly saving a number of lives in the process. He was shot in the leg as he restrained the shooter, though the injury is reportedly minor and Moore is expected to make a recovery.

“Hug your children extra close tonight. After the events of today, I am so appreciative for the brave actions of our high school Principal Kirk Moore and his staff. He undoubtedly saved lives today through his actions,” Pauls Valley Councilman Kahn Nirschl told News 9.

“Principal Moore acted bravely to protect students’ lives. Sarah and I are praying for his quick recovery. I’m thankful for the swift response from law enforcement and school staff, and I’m grateful no students were harmed,” Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt (R) said in a statement.

KOCO News reported that the suspect, identified as former Pauls Valley student Victor Hawkins, told investigators that he planned to kill students, faculty, and then himself. He also allegedly told investigators that he had “every intention of re-enacting what happened at Columbine.”

Classes at the high school were canceled on Wednesday and Thursday of this week.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

​Politics, Pauls valley high school, Kirk moore, Principal kirk moore, Columbine high school, Columbine shooting, Governor kevin stitt, Kevin stitt, Oklahoma, Shooting, School shooting, Hero 

A massive fire at a Southern California warehouse was allegedly sparked by a man who compared himself to Luigi Mangione, the man accused of executing a health care CEO.

The conflagration on Tuesday completely destroyed a 1.2 million-square-foot warehouse and caused over half a billion dollars in damages, according to a statement from Bill Essayli, the first assistant United States attorney for the Central District of California.

‘We will not tolerate political activists who resort to violence to advance their ideology.’

Video later surfaced showing the alleged arsonist lighting fires inside the warehouse while mocking the company for not paying its employees enough to live on.

“If you’re not going to pay us enough to f**king live or afford to live, at least pay us enough not to do this s**t,” the man records himself saying as he lights packages of toilet paper on fire.

The concept of a “living wage” is one extolled by left-wing activists including Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.).

On Friday, Essayli said there was other evidence pointing to a political motivation for the alleged arsonist, who was identified as 29-year-old Chamel Abdulkarim of Highland.

“Abdulkarim filmed himself setting merchandise on fire inside the warehouse and made statements criticizing capitalism and large corporations,” Essayli wrote. “He also compared himself to accused murderer Luigi Mangione.”

Mangione allegedly shot and killed UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson on the streets of Manhattan in Dec. 2024. The shooting was caught on surveillance video and became a cause célèbre for far-left critics of capitalism.

Essayli said Abdulkarim was charged with “arson of a building used in interstate and foreign commerce and used in activities affecting interstate and foreign commerce.” If convicted, Abdulkarim faces a statutory maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison.

He included the video that Abdulkarim allegedly recorded of himself lighting the fires.

There were no injuries from the fire.

RELATED: Viral video shows alleged arson attack on rumored ICE facility in Kansas City — mayor expresses outrage against ICE

One worker at the warehouse said he did not suspect Abdulkarim at all and believed the robots were to blame for the fire.

“There was no suspicion that it was him; actually he was missing. So everyone was trying to find him,” Alex Montero of San Bernardino said to KABC-TV. “Everyone was blaming the robots at first. We were almost 100% sure it was the robots until the action in the video, of course.”

“We will not tolerate political activists who resort to violence to advance their ideology,” Essayli added.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

​Ontario warehouse fire, Chamel abdulkarim arson, Arson attack over living wages, Ceo killer mangione, Politics 

The recent announcement of a two-week ceasefire with Iran has been met with a striking rhetorical divergence within the American executive.

President Trump has been quick to frame the pause as a moment of total capitulation. Yet thousands of miles away in Budapest, Vice President JD Vance has offered a far more somber assessment.

In the world of power politics, the most effective strategy is often the one that keeps the adversary off balance.

Describing the agreement as a “fragile truce,” Vance warned that the deal is being misrepresented by hard-liners in Tehran who are “lying about even the fragile truce that we’ve already struck.” This is not merely a case of a disorganized administration; it is the emergence of JD Vance as the necessary realist anchor in a high-stakes diplomatic gamble.

For years, the critique of American foreign policy has been its lack of internal coherence. But the Trump-Vance dynamic represents a different model. It is a form of strategic skepticism that allows the administration to pursue diplomacy without appearing naive.

In this arrangement, Vance has taken on the role of the “adult in the Situation Room,” providing a counterweight to the president’s natural inclination for the grand, celebratory deal.

The necessity of Vance’s skepticism becomes clear when one examines the Iranian response to the ceasefire. While the president speaks of a “workable basis” for peace, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has been careful to frame the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz not as a surrender, but as a regulated passage under continued Iranian coordination.

Araghchi’s insistence that “the era of Western dictation is over” suggests that Tehran views this two-week window as a tactical regrouping. By publicly doubting the “good faith” of the adversary, Vance provides the administration with the political space to explore a deal while maintaining the credible threat of escalation.

RELATED: I saw the sky light up over Dubai. The real shock came next.

AFP/Getty Images

This reflects a profound evolution in Vance’s own political identity. No longer just the populist firebrand, he is now operating as a sophisticated practitioner of realpolitik.

He understands that in the Middle East, a pause in hostilities is often just a prelude to a more complex form of conflict. When Vance remarks that the President is “not one to mess around,” he is not just praising his superior; he is signaling to the IRGC that the vice president’s office is keeping a meticulous tally of every violation, no matter how small.

The VP’s role also serves a vital domestic function. Within the coalition that brought this administration to power, there is a deep-seated wariness of international agreements that appear to favor adversaries.

By acting as the voice of caution, Vance ensures that the administration’s base remains invested in the process. He represents the wing of the movement that measures success not in the number of summits held, but in the tangible dismantling of enemy capabilities.

Furthermore, this messaging dichotomy allows the United States to navigate the complex mediation role being played by Pakistan. As Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Field Marshal Asim Munir attempt to broker a long-term settlement in Islamabad, the dual-track messaging from Washington provides them with leverage.

They can present Trump as the willing peacemaker while pointing to Vance as the embodiment of an impatient American security apparatus that is ready to strike if the talks stall. It is a division of labor that clarifies the stakes of failure for all parties involved.

RELATED: The only Iran plan that doesn’t end with a 20-year hangover

Majid Saeedi/Getty Images

The question is whether this strategy can be sustained. Diplomacy requires a degree of shared understanding of the rules. If the vice president is perceived as being fundamentally at odds with the President, Tehran may attempt to drive a wedge between them.

Yet, in the hyper-volatile environment of 2026, the traditional rules of diplomacy seem increasingly inadequate. The old model of a unified, singular voice has often led to a form of groupthink that fails to account for the duplicity of actors like the Iranian regime.

As we move toward the Islamabad talks, the value of Vance’s skepticism will be tested. If a more durable agreement is reached, it will be because the Iranians understood that they were not just negotiating with a president eager for a legacy, but with a vice president who was looking for an excuse to walk away.

In the world of power politics, the most effective strategy is often the one that keeps the adversary off-balance.

By playing the skeptic, JD Vance is not undermining peace; he is ensuring that any peace achieved is built on something more substantial than hope. The “fragile” nature of the truce, as Vance describes it, is actually its greatest strength.

It forces a level of honesty and verification that decades of polite, unified diplomacy never could. For the American interest, having a vice president who refuses to see the world through rose-colored glasses is not a liability. It is a strategic necessity. The center of the diplomatic world may have shifted to Islamabad, but the reality check remains firmly anchored in the vice president’s office.

​Jd vance, Donald trump, Iran war, Operation opic fury, Peace talks, Us iran talks, Diplomacy, Pakistan, Opinion & analysis 

Medical insurance claims in the United States are built around the federal government’s standardized system of diagnostic codes, designed to classify every conceivable injury and condition.

Yet among its more than 70,000 designations, there is no dedicated classification for a growing class of patients: regretful recipients of transgender “health care.”

Patients requiring hormone replacement following gonad removal … may face barriers to coverage without clearer diagnostic pathways.

The omission is all the more glaring when you consider some of the system’s more unusual distinctions.

Duck and cover

“There’s a code for a spacecraft collision injuring the occupant, getting … struck by a duck” as well as “walking into a lamppost,” said Dr. Kurt Miceli in a recent interview with Align. “But nothing for those who are trying to revert a gender transition.”

“So effectively, if you are someone who has been harmed by the medical system and you are trying to get medical care, there’s really no diagnosis,” he continued.

Miceli’s work centers on helping children through Stop the Harm, an organization that tracks gender-related medical interventions among minors. According to its database, more than 5,700 surgical procedures were performed on minors in the United States between 2019 and 2023.

California accounted for an estimated 1,359 of those cases, while Massachusetts reported approximately 300.

Miceli said he wants to “give a voice” to detransitioners by creating at least “some visibility” within the existing system of more than 70,000 codes. Such recognition, he argued, would signal that “this is a condition that we must direct resources to, we must appropriately treat, [and] we must build guidelines to help support.”

RELATED: ‘Truly a fool’s errand’: Top CDC adviser, RFK Jr. ally resigns from vaccine panel

Mark Kerrison/In Pictures/Getty Images

Cease and desistance

Beyond recognition, Miceli said the absence of a dedicated classification complicates care. Without it, patients may face challenges navigating billing systems, obtaining reimbursement, or receiving coordinated follow-up treatment.

He added that there is room for multiple distinctions — separating medical complications, social transition, and surgical outcomes, for example.

One step in that direction may come as soon as October 2026, when an update to the ICD-10-CM is expected to include a new designation: “Gender Identity Disorder, in Remission.”

The term, petitioned by Miceli, is defined as the resolution of “clinical symptoms associated with gender dysphoria, where the cognitive experience of incongruence between experienced/expressed gender and natal sex has remitted, leading to alignment of experienced/expressed gender and natal sex.”

Miceli said he hopes future updates will go further, including classifications that explicitly recognize “desistance.”

RELATED: ‘Looksmaxxing’ and the war on male self-improvement

Tyler Russell/Connecticut Public/Getty Images

In a bind

At the same time, he argued that legislative action may be necessary to ensure patients receive appropriate care and to “correct the harms that have been done to them.”

For example, patients requiring hormone replacement following gonad removal — or medical care after practices such as breast binding or genital tucking — may face barriers to coverage without clearer diagnostic pathways.

More comprehensive coding, he added, would also improve research and communication across the medical system.

“It’ll allow our physicians, our medical community to place that code onto the chart. We can get a better understanding of what’s going on,” Miceli said. “We can look at that code in association with other potential complications and, again, collect much more accurate real-world data.”

​Align, Gender, Woke, Gender ideology, Gender transition, Hospital, Surgeries, Detransition, Lifestyle 

An old clip of Jennifer Siebel Newsom, Gavin Newsom’s wife, has resurfaced and is going viral.

In the video, Newsom shares some parenting tips to help create an inclusive environment for kids.

When Stu Burguiere and Dave Landau saw it, they came away with one conclusion: Jennifer Newsom is “even worse” than her radical husband.

On this episode of “Stu and Dave Do America,” the duo engage in hilarious banter about the “first partner of California” (a title Newsom herself coined to be gender-inclusive).

In the resurfaced clip, Newsom says, “I’ve given our boys dolls — even if they tear the head off … to learn that care and caregiving is not just an activity that’s reserved for women, but that it’s also an activity that is a responsibility of men.”

“What I’ve done with both my daughters and my sons is if I’m reading a book and the protagonist is a male, I just change the ‘he’ to a ‘she.’ … I want them to see that women can be the center of a story, that women matter, that women are interesting,” she added.

Newsom then celebrated that we’re in a period of history where we can “deconstruct all these gender roles” and “limiting narratives.”

Stu calls her the “prototypical feminist left-wing nut job.”

Dave is more savage in his response. “How are you going to do well in school when you’re just making up stuff? Like, what are they going to do, book reports on ‘Jamika and Her Giant Peach’? ‘If You Give a Hoe a Cookie’? … ‘Christy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory’?” he gibes.

“I don’t think being gay is a choice, but she makes me feel like being gay is not only a choice, but it’s your parents’ choice,” he laughs.

Stu points out the flawed logic in Newsom’s parenting tactics: “You’re not only playing the gender games with your kids there; you’re actually misleading them about the book you’re reading.”

“She reminds me of the wife of every super popular jock that met his wife in high school. And you just go, like, “Oh god, you’re just here to serve a purpose,” Dave says.

“They want to sound interesting, but you just know she has a sign that says, ‘It’s wine o’clock somewhere’ in her kitchen. She’s just that woman,” he jeers, speculating that Newsom is “on wine or Xanax or both.”

To hear more of Stu and Dave’s hysterical commentary, watch the episode above.

Want more from Stu and Dave?

To enjoy more of Stu and Dave’s lethal blend of wit, humor, and insightful commentary subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

​Stu and dave do america, Stu burguiere, Dave landau, Blazetv, Blaze media, Jennifer newsom, Gender inclusivity, Gender deconstruction, Gavin newsom 

President Donald Trump absolutely eviscerated former President Joe Biden and “radical Democrats” in the wake of Homeland Security’s announcement that a male accused of killing a woman in a brutal hammer attack last week in Florida is an illegal alien the Biden administration protected from deportation.

Trump went off in a Thursday night Truth Social post saying the suspect — Haitian national Rolbert Joachin — was “released into our Country by the WORST President in History, Crooked Joe Biden, and the Radical Democrats in Congress.”

‘As I’ve said all along, if you import the Third World, you become the Third World, and that is what happened over the four years of Democrat Control.’

The president added that “the video of her brutal slaying is one of the most vicious things you will ever see. This animal was allowed to stay here because the Biden Administration granted him, and all Haitians, ‘Temporary [Protected] Status,’ a massively abused and fraudulent program which my Administration is working to terminate, but Deranged Liberal District Court Judges are standing in our way. This one killing should be enough for these Radical Judges to STOP impeding my Administration’s Immigration Policies, and allow us to END THIS SCAM ONCE AND FOR ALL.”

As Blaze News previously reported, a 40-year-old male is accused of hitting a woman in the head with a hammer and killing her in a horrific attack recorded on surveillance video outside a Fort Myers gas station convenience store.

DHS said suspect Joachin “first entered the United States in August 2022 and was released into the country under the Biden administration. A federal judge issued a final order of removal against him in 2022, but the Biden administration granted him Temporary Protected Status, which expired in 2024.”

“This illegal alien barbarically hit this woman in the head multiple times with a hammer. This heinous murderer was RELEASED into the country by the Biden administration. Not only did the Biden administration release him into the country, but they then gave him Temporary Protected Status,” said Lauren Bis, acting assistant secretary at the DHS Office of Public Affairs. “Their reckless immigration policies cost this woman her life.”

RELATED: Thug accused of killing woman in Florida hammer attack is Haitian illegal alien protected from deportation under Biden: DHS

Trump added: “To my fellow Republicans, and frankly all Common Sense Americans, NEVER FORGET that Joe Biden and the Democrat Party turned the United States of America into a dumping ground, allowing Tens of MILLIONS of Criminals, Lunatics, and the Mentally Insane from all over the World to pour into our Country, totally unvetted and unchecked through our wide Open Borders. As I’ve said all along, if you import the Third World, you become the Third World, and that is what happened over the four years of Democrat Control. We are rapidly trying to reverse this decline through Deportations, but if the Democrats are ever given another chance at power, they will immediately REOPEN the Border, and allow America to once again be a Safe Haven for Criminals.”

The president also asked for “prayer for this innocent woman’s family. We will ensure quick and severe JUSTICE is served in this case!”

DHS said Immigration and Customs Enforcement lodged a detainer against Joachin and that he will be deported regardless of the outcome of his case.

Joachin on Friday remained behind bars at the Lee County Jail on charges of homicide (murder dangerous depraved without premeditation) and criminal mischief. There is no bond listed for him in jail records.

Numerous outlets have posted censored video of the fatal hammer attack, but Trump attached video of the uncensored attack to his Truth Social post.

“I don’t recommend you watch this tape, because it is so terrible, but felt I had an obligation to put it up so that people can see what Democrats are protecting, and wanting to come into our Country, even now, after all we’ve been through,” Trump wrote. “Again, viewer discretion advised — Not for children!”

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

​Crime, Donald trump, Truth social, Temporary protected status, Joe biden, Radical democrats, Rolbert joachin, Homeland security, Illegal alien, Haiti, Hammer attack, Woman killed, Florida, Fort myers, Illegal immigration, Lee county sheriff’s office, Arrest, No bond, Politics 

Michael Moore has an Alex Jones problem.

The far-far-left filmmaker was once a mover and shaker in liberal Hollywood, but somewhere along the way, the modern progressive movement got even crazier than his factually challenged films.

Springsteen is worth a reported $1.2 billion, which in some circles is still considered upper middle class.

It’s like Candace Owens leaving Jones in the conspiratorial dust.

What’s a radical like Moore to do? Why spin, spin, spin on behalf of Iran, the country that may have slaughtered 30,000 of its own people. Possibly more.

Heck, in MooreLand, they’re the good guys, at least according to his recent Substack screed.

“We’re the bad guys! If you didn’t realize that under previous presidents at least Donald Trump has ripped off the mask and shown you who we really are!”

Nice try, Mikey. But in a world where Democrats fete the likes of Jennifer Welch and Hasan Piker, you gotta be a whole lot crazier to keep a seat at the table …

‘News’ to Fox

Nobody does fake news quite like CNN, but Michael J. Fox took this phony item personally. As well he should have.

The “Family Ties” alum has been battling Parkinson’s disease for some time, but the condition isn’t life-threatening at the moment. Tell that to CNN, which briefly displayed a video tribute to the “late” star.

To paraphrase Monty Python, he’s not dead yet.

Fox took the incident with good humor, using his Threads account to share his comical reaction.

“Do you … A) switch to MNSBC, or whatever they are calling themselves these days, (B) Pour [scalding] hot water on your lap, if it hurts [you’re] fine, (C) Call your wife, hopefully she’s concerned but reassuring, (D) Relax, they do this once every year, (E) Ask yourself wtf?”

(E) is always a safe bet when watching CNN, Mr. Fox …

Gag ghouls

It’s bad enough that “Saturday Night Live” ignores half the political material at its disposal. Now “SNL” is feeding ghoulish slop to its remaining far-left fans.

The most recent “SNL” episode found Weekend Update co-anchor Michael Che noting how President Donald Trump recently enjoyed a night at the theater.

“President Trump attended the opening night of ‘Chicago’ at the Kennedy Center, and I think that’s cool that the president is going to the theater. I mean, what’s the worst that could happen?”

Because John Wilkes Booth once shot and killed a president at Ford’s Theater … get it?

The joke was cruel enough, but the crowd roared in sustained approval. How long before “SNL” recruits Luigi Mangione to host? …

RELATED: SCORN IN THE USA: Bruce has no use for Trump-voting fans

Richard E. Aaron/Adam Berry/Andrew D. Bernstein/Getty Images

Lip service

Woke may be fading in Hollywood circles, but some celebrities won’t give up the ghost. Take Dan Levy, the “Schitt’s Creek” alum and son of legendary comic Eugene Levy.

Levy fils, who co-created the new Netflix comedy “Big Mistakes,” didn’t just defend female comedians against the age-old saw that they trail their male counterparts. He went the full feminist. You never go the full feminist.

I find women to be far superior to men in comedy. I love it. I’ve always been drawn to female voices in comedy. … I grew up watching Lucille Ball. I grew up watching Mary Tyler Moore, all of these incredible, funny women. It’s just been a life goal to continue to tell their stories, and I’ve been so lucky to have these casts stacked with unbelievably talented actresses.

He forgot to mention that they’re superior drivers too …

Working-class hero

“Born to Run” … his mouth.

The Boss slammed more than just President Donald Trump in a recent concert appearance. Springsteen took aim at “rich men” in one of the night’s political screeds.

“The richest men in America have abandoned the world’s poorest children to death and disease through dismantling of U.S. aid. This is happening now. We’re undermining NATO and the world order that kept us safe and at global peace for 80 years. This is happening now.”

Springsteen is worth a reported $1.2 billion, which in some circles is still considered upper middle class.

You’d think a man who sold his music catalog to Sony for a whopping $500 million would be able to offer his loyal fans a break. To quote his best bud President Barack Obama, “I do think at a certain point you’ve made enough money.”

Bruce is clearly still feeling the pinch if his latest tour’s $7,000 floor seats are anything to go by. It’s good to be the Boss!

​Entertainment, Lifestyle, Culture, Movies, Stephen colbert, Music, Bruce springsteen, Hollywood, Saturday night live, Donald trump, Michael j. fox, Cnn, Toto recall 

As many journalists and concerned citizens continue to raise the alarm about the rampant H-1B fraud and abuse endemic to our system, the Department of Justice has started to deliver some results. This week, BlazeTV host Sara Gonzales proudly claimed another scalp for her role in exposing a company for discriminating against Americans.

Earlier this week, the Department of Justice announced that it had reached a settlement with New Jersey-based Compunnel Software Group Inc. for illegal hiring practices.

‘The DOJ has taken action against at least one of the companies I exposed.’

According to the settlement, Compunnel signaled its intent to hire employees based on citizenship status, specifically favoring H-1B visa holders or related temporary employment-based visa holders. One email sent to the “charging party” indicated that the company wanted “only” temporary visa holders for a particular position.

Gonzales, host of “Sara Gonzales Unfiltered” on BlazeTV, touted this settlement as a win after covering this story in February.

RELATED: Sara Gonzales’ H-1B fraud investigation uncovers the city behind most of the scamming — now CBS is praising it

Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

“The DOJ has taken action against at least one of the companies I exposed,” Gonzales said on X. “Compunnel Software Group, Inc now has to cough up $313,420 after some of its recruiters posted job advertisements for positions in the United States that were offered to H-1B workers ONLY.”

“For too long, these scammers have felt comfortable blatantly breaking the law in broad daylight and stealing American jobs. I commend the DOJ for this swift resolution, and I am hopeful there will be more action in the future. We must take our country back from those who have come here with the intention of defrauding us while taking advantage of our resources,” Gonzales told Blaze News.

Compunnel has agreed to pay $58,000 in back pay to the U.S. citizen who was discriminated against in the hiring process. It has also agreed to pay $255,420 in civil penalties to the U.S. Treasury.

“Employers cannot exclude U.S. workers from the labor force by discriminating against them based on their citizenship status. Employers must design recruitment, training, and compliance practices to ensure adherence to federal civil rights laws,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.

“It’s illegal to discourage U.S. workers from applying for American jobs,” she said.

This is the ninth settlement the DOJ has delivered since the revival of its Protecting U.S. Workers Initiative in 2025 to enforce the Immigration and Nationality Act.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

​Politics, H-1b, H-1b visas, H-1b workers, Compunnel software group, New jersey, Department of justice, Sara gonzales, Sara gonzales unfiltered, Harmeet dhillon, U.s. citizen, Doj, Protecting us workers initiative 

Viktor Orbán has served as Hungarian prime minister for 16 consecutive years, advancing an unapologetically Christian, nationalist, “migrant-free, pro-family” agenda that he told President Donald Trump in November had kept his country “a special island of difference in a liberal ocean in Europe.”

Hungary under Orbán’s leadership has, for instance, banned LGBT propaganda targeting children; banned homosexual couples from adopting kids; opposed Ukraine’s proposed admission to the European Union; refused to implement the EU’s radical migration policies; built a barrier to keep out border-jumpers; drove bums out of public spaces; fought political interference by big-pocketed leftists like George Soros; and implemented various pro-natalist measures including tax exemptions for mothers.

‘A leader who will fight to preserve those things while also building a better future.’

For the first time in over a decade, Orbán — praised by conservatives and maligned by liberals on both sides of the Atlantic and recently threatened by Ukrainian President Volodmyr Zelenskyy — now faces the real possibility of an ouster in a country European parliamentarians like to pretend isn’t a democracy.

In Hungary’s national election on April 12, voters get to choose who will fill the 199 seats of the National Assembly and, by extension, whether to grant Orbán another term.

RELATED: The collapse of conservatism nobody wants to admit

Jonathan Ernst-Pool/Getty Images

Politico’s aggregate of recent polling data shows the prime minister’s Fidesz party lagging considerably behind the Tisza party, 49% to 39%. Several polls suggest, however, that there remain a great many undecided voters going into the weekend.

Polymarket presently puts the odds of Tisza winning at 77%.

Peter Magyar, the centrist leader of Tisza, is a former Fidesz member and government official. His party’s manifesto reportedly advocates for a more pro-EU, pro-NATO approach and commits to expediting Hungary’s embrace of the euro as its official currency.

Trump implored Hungarians on Tuesday to continue supporting Orbán, noting on Truth Social, “Highly Respected Prime Minister of Hungary, Viktor Orbán, is a truly strong and powerful Leader, with a proven track record of delivering phenomenal results. He fights tirelessly for, and loves, his Great Country and People, just like I do for the United States of America.”

“Viktor works hard to Protect Hungary, Grow the Economy, Create Jobs, Promote Trade, Stop Illegal Immigration, and Ensure LAW AND ORDER! Relations between Hungary and the United States have reached new heights of cooperation and spectacular achievement under my Administration, thanks largely to Prime Minister Orbán,” continued the president.

“He is a true friend, fighter, and WINNER, and has my Complete and Total Endorsement for Re-Election as Prime Minister of Hungary — VIKTOR ORBÁN WILL NEVER LET THE GREAT PEOPLE OF HUNGARY DOWN.”

Vice President JD Vance similarly threw his weight behind Orbán, characterizing the prime minister during a rally in Budapest on Wednesday as a “leader who feels real pride in this place, in its history, in its culture, and in its way of life; a leader who will fight to preserve those things while also building a better future.”

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

​Viktor orban, Orban, Hungary, Europe, Donald trump, Election, Nationalism, Conservative, Ukraine, Natcon, Politics 

A Florida commercial driver’s license crackdown has revealed huge safety issues within the industry.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement recently partnered with state and federal agencies to implement a four-day investigative task force called “Operation Highway Shield.”

‘We’ve got someone who is behind the wheel that is putting lives at risk, that has no regard for safety.’

FDLE Commissioner Mark Glass spoke to reporters on Thursday and revealed the staggering numbers of violations that were discovered when they inspected approximately 3,300 drivers.

From those drivers, authorities removed 176 from service, with 42 of them cited for federal immigration violations, while another 35 drivers were arrested for criminal charges.

“Some of the driver’s license that we would find wouldn’t even have a name on the CDL,” Glass told reporters. “Literally no name. … But you got a CDL, no first name, and it even says no name given; from other states, that is not from the state of Florida.”

At the same time, another 54 drivers were relieved of service over language deficiencies. According to Fox 35 Orlando, these deficiencies were tied to federal requirements outlined in President Trump’s executive order from April of last year, titled “Enforcing Commonsense Rules of the Road for America’s Truck Drivers.” The order requires proficiency in English.

“So you’re having people with no names, operating commercial motor vehicles, but different types of endorsement running up and down your highways,” Glass explained.

RELATED: End of the road: 200,000 foreign truckers could lose their CDLs as Trump’s rule takes effect

In one instance, officials said that in the Central Florida region of Sumter County, a truck driver was accused of swerving while on Interstate 4, which passes through Tampa and Orlando.

Authorities said the driver turned out to have limited English proficiency while also exceeding the legal blood alcohol level with a 0.27. In Florida, the legal blood alcohol level for typical drivers is 0.08%. For commercial drivers, however, it is 0.04%. This means the driver was nearly seven times over the legal limit.

“The larger picture of this is that we’ve got someone who is behind the wheel that is putting lives at risk, that has no regard for safety,” Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administrator Derek Barrs said.

Employers can also face consequences in these instances, too, Barrs warned.

RELATED: ‘Wild, Wild West’: Trump DOT moves to shut down 550+ ‘sham’ truck driver training schools after axing 6,500

David Paul Morris/Bloomberg/Getty Images

More than 10 agencies participated in the operation, which is just a small part of the typical 100,000 inspections done in the state per year. Fox 51 Gainesville reported that about a quarter of those inspections typically result in vehicles being removed from the road due to mechanical issues and another 10% because of driver violations.

Florida currently has 23 vehicle inspection sites in the state and plans to add another near the Florida-Alabama border.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

​News, Florida, Trucking, Truck drivers, Immigration, Illegal immigration, Cdl, Commercial driver’s licenses, Politics 

Kenny Rogers had a theory. It fit neatly into a chorus. You have to know when to hold them, when to fold them, when to walk away.

Good advice in 1978; even better advice now.

Status means nothing once the cards are in the air.

Poker is everywhere. From small home gatherings to casino floors, mobile apps to livestreamed high-stakes tournaments, Americans are finding their way to the table in record numbers. But those of us who have played this game for years know something the newcomers are still discovering. Poker isn’t really about cards.

Humbling education

I first sat down at a poker table at the tender age of 18. I thought I was learning a card game. I was not. What followed was a long education in humility, one that cost me roughly $900 in unannounced tuition fees.

What makes poker genuinely beautiful is that it holds up a mirror. Every decision you make under pressure — every fold, every bluff, every moment you push your chips forward knowing the outcome is uncertain — reveals something about your character.

How do you handle loss? How do you behave when winning? Can you stay calm when the situation indicates full-blown panic? The table asks these questions relentlessly, and it doesn’t accept dishonest answers. Unlike your therapist, your mother, or literally anyone else in your life, the cards don’t care about your feelings.

Bad luck and bad play

The game also teaches patience in a culture increasingly allergic to it. You can play perfectly for hours and still lose. You can make every right decision and walk away empty-handed. Poker forces you to separate outcomes from process, a philosophical discipline that, once learned at the table, improves almost everything else in your life. I spent years confusing bad luck with bad play. Untangling those two things was worth more than any pot I ever won.

Then there’s the community. Poker draws an almost absurdly wide cross-section of humanity. Retirees, students, engineers, artists, alcoholics, virgins, insomniacs, dreamers, Dana White — all seated together, temporarily equal, governed by the same rules.

Status means nothing once the cards are in the air. I once watched a highly influential, considerably lubricated lawyer get systematically dismantled by a pimply first-year hotel management student, to the tune of $10,000. The lawyer probably had a penthouse and a driver, but that night the kid charged him more per hour than he charged his clients.

Making peace with uncertainty

What matters is how you think, how you adapt, and how gracefully you handle the inevitable bad beats life and the deck will deal you. The great philosopher Blaise Pascal argued that virtually all human misery stems from our inability to sit quietly alone in a room. Poker, perhaps paradoxically, is one of the few places where we willingly gather to do something deeply solitary together. Each player locked inside his own mind, reading the room, making peace with uncertainty — which is either profound or deeply sad, depending on the hour.

My relationship with the game has changed considerably. In my late teens and 20s, I played with a chip on my shoulder and a point to prove, often to no one in particular. I chased losses. I overplayed hands. I mistook aggression for aptitude. The table punished all of it, ruthlessly and repeatedly.

Hard thinking

Now, in my 30s, with family plans taking shape and weekends suddenly finite, I play differently. I’m not there to conquer or to recoup some imagined debt from the universe. I sit down to enjoy the experience itself — the reading of people, the management of information, the occasional perfectly timed bluff that folds a better hand. The financial stakes matter less. The fun matters more. The conversations, the banter, the occasional expletive-laden eruption from an otherwise placid soul — this is what it’s all about.

RELATED: Parents: Let your kids out to play

Kaveh Kazemi/Getty Images

There’s a version of the poker story that gets told too often — the cautionary tale about addiction, debt, and ruin. The man who had everything, then didn’t. Those stories are real, and they deserve to be told. But the dominant experience at most tables isn’t tragedy. It’s something much more profound: a room full of people, voluntarily uncomfortable, choosing to think hard about something difficult together. That’s rare. Most of modern life is engineered to protect us from difficulty, to remove any sense of friction, to offer the path of least resistance at every turn. Poker refuses all of that. It insists on facing reality.

Perhaps that’s why the boom makes sense. We are drowning in algorithmic slop, in content tailored to our preferences and platforms designed to keep us from ever feeling the nasty sting of being wrong. The poker table is one of the last places where the feedback is immediate, honest, and occasionally brutal. You were wrong. Here is proof. Now what?

The newcomers crowding the tables will discover soon enough what the rest of us already know. The cards are almost incidental. What the table actually deals is a portrait of yourself you didn’t commission and can’t dispute. There are many paths to self-knowledge. This one just happens to have a rake and a pimply kid who will take everything you have.

​Poker, Culture, Gambling, Men, First person, Lifestyle 

Vice President JD Vance, who with second lady Usha Vance is expecting the delivery of their fourth child in July, told pro-life advocates gathered for the 52nd annual March of Life last year, “I want more babies in the United States of America; I want more happy children in our country; and I want beautiful young men and young women who are eager to welcome them into the world and eager to raise them.”

While an American baby boom might be in the cards, it certainly did not take place last year.

‘This is the choice that Americans now face, and the stakes could not be higher.’

New data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reveal that U.S. fertility rates dropped to an all-time low in 2025.

There were an estimated 3,606,400 births last year — a 1% decline from 2024. A plurality of babies — just over 1.11 million — were born to mothers in the 30-34 age group, which conforms to the years-long trend of women increasingly delaying family generation until older ages or putting it off altogether.

The general fertility rate, which references the average number of children born to a woman in her lifetime if she were to experience the age-specific fertility rates of a given year, was 53.1 births per 1,000 women ages 15-44. The rate has decreased by 23% since 2007, the year of the Great Recession.

Whereas the year-over-year decline in births per woman in the 15-44 cohort was 1%, the fertility rate for females ages 15-19 declined by 7% last year, dropping to 11.7 births per 1,000 females — another record low. The CDC notes that the fertility rate for teenagers has decreased by 72% since 2007 and 81% since 1991.

RELATED: 5 steps to reset your body’s clock to God’s natural design

Bettman/Getty Images

The total fertility rate averaged 3.7 births per woman in 1960; 2.12 births in 2007; 1.64 in 2020; and 1.6 in 2024. It fell again last year to 1.57, according to a Wall Street Journal calculation using the new CDC data.

This is particularly bad news for those keen to bequeath the nation to heritage Americans since the total fertility rate necessary for a population to maintain stability and replenish itself without requiring replacement by foreign nationals — what is referred to as replacement level fertility — is 2.1.

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said last year that a rate below replacement “is a national security threat to our country.”

Total fertility rates have plummeted across the first world. In the European Union, for example, the rate reportedly dropped from 2.62 in 1964 to 1.34 in 2024. The same year, the rate in Scotland dropped to 1.25 and to 1.41 in England and Wales.

Canada became one of the developed nations suffering “ultra-low fertility” in 2024, with a total fertility rate of 1.25 kids per woman. The Canadian government credited “increased educational levels, greater participation in the labor market, changing social norms, and the widespread use of contraception” for helping drive down the number.

The U.S. Congressional Budget Office projected in a report earlier this year that the fertility rate for foreign-born women in America this year will be substantially higher than the rate for native-born women, leading the home team 1.79 to 1.53.

The report noted further that:

on the basis of recent laws, policies, and demographic trends, CBO projects that the rate of population growth will generally slow over the next 30 years, from an average of 0.3% a year in the next decade to an average of 0.1% a year from 2037 to 2056. The total population is projected to stop growing in 2056 and remain roughly the same size as in the previous year.

The CBO added that net immigration is expected “to become an increasingly important source of population growth, especially if the annual number of deaths begin to exceed the annual number of births as expected in 2030.”

Some analysts have attempted to put a positive spin on America’s dwindling fertility rate.

“Women now have better control over their reproductive lives, so there’s not as much unintended pregnancy as there used to be,” Alison Gemmill, an associate professor of epidemiology at the UCLA School of Public Health, told CNN. “Our timelines have shifted.”

According to data released last month by the pro-abortion Guttmacher Institute, there were an estimated 1,126,000 clinician-provided abortions last year — nearly one-third the number of the reported live births.

In addition to exerting “better control” over their God-given procreative ability, Gemmill suggested that some would-be parents are rethinking having kids in light of concerns about so-called climate change, the economy, and raising a child in a supposedly “inequitable world.”

Karen Benjamin Guzzo, a demographer at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, recently told the New York Times, “There’s been a lot of doom and gloom about the birth rate, but the decline is also a success story.”

The Heritage Foundation has, alternatively, acknowledged this bleak trend as a crisis, noting in a January report, “American family life is truly at a crossroads. One path is marked by unwed childbearing, low rates of marriage, low fertility, low commitment, and easy divorce. This path is associated with the view that family formation (or its avoidance) is primarily about fulfilling adult desires and adult needs.”

“The other path elevates the family unit as an inherent good based on the commitment and sacrifice of husbands and wives for each other’s sake and for the sake of children that their union would welcome into the world. This path is associated with the view that all life is sacred and that sees the family as a source of fulfillment for adults because they direct their energies to the good of the family unit instead of to themselves alone,” continued the report. “Underlying this view is a deep sense of gratitude in knowing that human beings are here by God’s grace and that children are divine gifts.”

“This is the choice that Americans now face, and the stakes could not be higher,” the report added.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

​Society, Civilization, Baby, Crisis, Birth, Fertility, Fertility rate, United states, Replacement, Replacement theory, Natalism, Abortion, Life, Cdc, Politics 

Leftist radicals are throwing a temper tantrum now that a San Francisco-based coffee chain has decided to remove the LGBTQ+ Pride flag from its stores.

Philz Coffee began with a single store in the Bay Area in 2003 and has since expanded to 60 stores across California and Chicago. For some time, Philz cafes have notably displayed the Pride flag, implicitly lecturing about sexuality and gender to patrons who may simply want a cup of coffee or a pastry.

‘This is a change in how our stores look, not in who we are.’

But not for long.

On Wednesday, the company confirmed that all Philz stores will soon remove Pride and other flags and decor, claiming that doing so will create “a more consistent, inclusive experience.”

“Our long-standing support of the LGBTQIA+ community is unchanged. We are working toward creating a more consistent, inclusive experience across all our stores, including removing a variety of flags and other decor. This is a change in how our stores look, not in who we are,” said the statement from CEO Mahesh Sadarangani.

“Our allyship runs deeper than what is on our walls. It shows up in who we hire, how we treat one another, and in our annual Pride Month Unity celebration,” Sadarangani’s statement continued. “… Unity is fundamental to how we operate.”

RELATED: Unhinged 49-year-old female caught on video tossing coffee on McDonald’s worker enters her plea in court

OKrasyuk/Getty Images

LGBTQ+ activists have not taken the news well.

“It would be a huge mistake because the gay population won’t stand for it,” one unidentified individual told KRON. “We will boycott this place if that’s the case.”

“What’s the experience that Philz Coffee is selling? What is it that makes them distinctive? And the focus on the flags, the focus on Pride, that really has been an important part of what Philz Coffee is all about,” Berkeley professor Ann Harrison said, according to KGO.

Customer Todd Varney called the decision “pretty rotten” and speculated that it may have come as the result of “big money at the top.”

SF Pride Executive Director Suzanne Ford seemed to suggest the decision was part of a larger ongoing “global” effort against “queer” people. “There’s also a real frustration that comes with being a queer person right now — feeling like you want to respond to every headline, but not always knowing where your energy and bandwidth are best spent,” Ford said. “… It may seem small, but removing a Pride flag sends a message, and for many in this neighborhood, it feels like another blow right at home.”

A Change.org petition indicated that Philz “team members and customers” no longer feel “supported” by the company. “The Pride flags within the stores hold deep meaning and value to both staff and visitors, symbolizing that these locations are safe and welcoming spaces for all individuals, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity,” it said.

Sadarangani became CEO in 2021 after private equity firm Freeman Spogli & Co. bought Philz from founders Phil Jaber and his son, Jacob Jaber. Freeman Spogli & Co. also own other chains such as Popeyes and El Pollo Loco, according to the New York Post.

It is unclear when the flags will be removed.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

​Philz, Philz coffee, San francisco, Lgbtq, Pride, Pride flag, Politics