Category: blaze media

When President Donald Trump meets Xi Jinping in Beijing, the agenda will focus on hard issues including Taiwan, trade, technology, military stability, Iran, and the future of U.S.-China competition. That is as it should be. The U.S.-China relationship is the world’s most consequential bilateral rivalry.

It is precisely because of this tension that Trump should discuss the NFL.

Not as a favor to a sports league or a distraction from great-power competition. Trump should talk NFL because the United States should encourage China to support a formal exploratory process for hosting the first regular-season NFL game on Chinese soil before the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games.

A regular-season game in China would be a probe whose real value lies in the durable relationships and youth participation left behind.

The proposal may sound fanciful. That is exactly why it deserves attention. U.S.-China relations run on predictable scripts including tariffs, export controls, military warnings, and crisis management, but great-power competition also requires strategic imagination. It requires identifying unexpected channels where national interests, cultural influence, and private-sector capability can overlap.

The NFL has unfinished business in China. In 2007, the league planned a preseason China Bowl in Beijing between the Patriots and Seahawks, only to cancel it in favor of launching regular-season games in London. Nearly two decades later, the environment has changed. The Los Angeles Rams hold rights in China, along with several other countries.

Trump should invite Xi to support an exploratory process involving the NFL, the Rams, Chinese sports authorities, Olympic stakeholders, and U.S. diplomatic channels.

This outreach is especially relevant because the NFL is no longer acting alone. In January 2026, the league signed a memorandum of understanding with the U.S. Department of State to advance sports diplomacy through international games, youth engagement, flag football, and embassy programming.

Situations like this one are where Joseph Nye’s concept of soft power matters. Nye described power not only as the ability to coerce, but also as the ability to attract. American football, at its best, embodies competition, discipline, teamwork, strategy, and voluntary association.

A regular-season game would only be worthwhile if tied to lasting outcomes such as youth flag football clinics, coach development, girls’ and women’s participation, school partnerships, and a pathway to LA28. Tackle football built the NFL’s global media brand. Flag football is cheaper, safer, and more accessible, and it can build a global participation system. LA28 offers the perfect Olympic stage.

China has incentives to engage. Flag football was selected for the World Games 2025 in Chengdu, and IFAF noted that more than 300,000 children in China already participate in school flag football programs. Hosting the first NFL regular-season game would deliver a major international experience, boost China’s flag football push before LA28, and signal openness amid tension.

China has seen American sport’s reach before. Kobe Bryant achieved massive popularity there and became a symbol of excellence and aspiration for over 20 years. He was even described as a “One-Man State Department.” His influence came from repeated presence, respect for the audience, and stories that Chinese fans could claim as their own.

There are risks, of course. Beijing could turn the event into a prestige project. Any deal must include firm red lines: no political scripts or forced apologies; transparent broadcasts; player safety; and a genuine willingness to walk away.

RELATED: The GOP can’t win by playing prevent defense

Matias J. Ocner/Miami Herald/Tribune News Service/Getty Images

Long travel, scheduling, union buy-in, stadium readiness, and market demand make China harder than established markets like London or Germany. That is why the goal now is not announcing a game, but launching a serious exploratory process to test feasibility and guardrails.

Success would be measured by what remains after the teams leave: flag football participation numbers; trained coaches, school programs, and fan growth; a credible LA28 pathway — not television ratings or photo opportunities.

The United States should remain firm on Taiwan, technology, deterrence, trade, espionage, and human rights. Firmness does not require cultural withdrawal. Great powers compete through pressure and attraction.

Concerns about propaganda and political risk are legitimate. But refusing all engagement also carries costs. Viewing China solely through military balances, export controls, and crisis management narrows the strategic imagination.

Trump should not discuss the NFL with Xi because American football will transform U.S.-China relations. It will not. He should raise it because competition should not mean cultural retreat. A regular-season game in China would be a probe whose real value lies in the durable relationships and youth participation left behind.

America should be confident enough to share one of its greatest cultural inventions and strategic enough to create conditions for effective engagement between two great powers.

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

​American football, Nfl, President donald trump, Xi jinping, Flag football, Diplomacy, Foreign policy, Cultural connection, Us-china relationship, Opinion & analysis 

Yet another violent Florida “teen takeover” has led to the arrests of suspects as young as 12, officials said.

Tampa Police officers arrested 22 people in connection with the Friday-night incident in the area of Curtis Hixon Park, which police said resulted in “significant disruptions, fights, and other issues in the park.”

‘Unfortunately, the poor decisions made by these 22 individuals last night could have lasting consequences that follow them well into adulthood.’

Police said arrestees were charged with crimes ranging from affray, possession of narcotics, and resisting arrest to unlawful possession of a weapon. A state statute defines “affray” — a first-degree misdemeanor — as engaging “by mutual consent, in fighting with another person in a public place to the terror of the people.” Officers also seized two firearms and one vehicle connected with the disturbance, police said.

Police said patrol officers, bike units, and Air Service personnel responded to the incident; much of the response was captured on video.

Police also listed the following descriptions of each arrested individual:

12-year-old (black male): Affray13-year-old (black female): Affray13-year-old (black male): Affray, possession of a controlled substance, possession of drugs without a prescription13-year-old (black male): Affray13-year-old (black male): Affray13-year-old (black male): Affray13-year-old (black male): Possession of a Controlled Substance and affray14-year-old (black male): Affray14-year-old (black male): Affray and resisting an officer with violence15-year-old (black male): Affray and ROWV15-year-old (black male): Affray15-year-old (black male): ROWV15-year-old (black male): Affray16-year-old (black male): Affray and ROWV16-year-old (black male): Affray, ROWV, and possession of a controlled substance16-year-old (black female): Affray and ROWV17-year-old (black male): ROWV17-year-old (black male): Possession of a controlled substance and obstructing a highway18-year-old Rodrico Boyd (white male): Possession of a controlled substance and drug paraphernalia20-year-old Don McAllister (black male): Possession of cannabis under 20g, possession of cannabis sativa resin, and possession of a weapon during the commission of a felony20-year-old Michael Ashford (black male): Fleeing to elude and ROWV21-year-old Yarli Smith (black male): Affray

Bodycam video shows one officer approaching a large group of brawling individuals while others are seen recording the violent chaos on their cell phones. Video also was recorded from the air that depicts the large scope of the violence.

RELATED: Fights erupt, deputies hurt after more than 1,000 teens descend upon Florida amusement park in planned ‘takeover’

“This type of reckless and criminal behavior will not be tolerated in our city,” Chief of Police Lee Bercaw said. “What began as a large gathering quickly escalated into disorder and activity that placed others at risk. Parents need to know where their children are and who they are with. Unfortunately, the poor decisions made by these 22 individuals last night could have lasting consequences that follow them well into adulthood. The Tampa Police Department remains committed to being one of the safest major cities in the nation, and we will continue taking strong enforcement action against anyone who threatens the peace and safety of our community.”

Just last month, fights erupted and sheriff’s deputies were hurt after more than 1,000 teenagers descended upon ICON Park in Orlando as part of a planned “takeover.”

Indeed, Tampa Police added that with summer approaching, the growing “takeover” trend has become a concern for communities across the country — not just in Tampa.

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​Teen takeover, Tampa, Florida, Police, Bodycam video, Arrests, Fights, Drug charges, Crime 

The 2026 Met Gala once again delivered exactly what regular people have come to expect: bizarre costumes, confusing “statements,” and celebrities competing to look as ridiculous as possible.

And one headline sums up the event perfectly: “Body as masterpiece: Nipples, skeletons, and tattoos dominate at record-breaking Met Gala,” says the Guardian.

“All those words don’t belong together,” BlazeTV host Dave Landau comments on “Stu and Dave Do America,” before judging the celebrities’ looks for himself.

“I would say a very old, gross tuna ship,” he says of Madonna’s Gala look — which featured the singer dressed in all black, with long, messy black hair, and a hat with a pirate ship emerging from the top.

While Madonna’s look was the opposite of revealing, Kylie Jenner’s outfit was barely there at all.

Jenner’s look boasted nipples on the outside of her top, which BlazeTV host Stu Burguiere finds curious.

“I would say one of the goals of a bra … is you’re trying to downplay the nipplage,” Stu says.

“This is a bra with nipples built in on the outside and apparently something that her company makes,” he adds.

Bad Bunny was also in attendance, and he dressed as an old man with more defined wrinkles and bright white hair.

“There’s probably a statement in there, but I do not care enough to figure out what it is,” Stu says.

“I don’t either,” Dave agrees.

Want more from Stu and Dave?

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​Bad bunny, Blaze media, Blaze news, Blaze online, Blaze originals, Blaze podcast network, Blaze podcasts, Blazetv, Bra, Celebrities, Costumes, Hollywood, Kylie jenner, Madonna, Met gala, Skeletons, Stu and dave do america, Tattoos, The blaze, Youtube 

A promising pitcher for the MLB’s San Diego Padres was caught committing an immigration crime in Arizona.

Humberto Cruz, a 19-year-old prospect from Monterrey, Mexico, is now listed as “restricted” on his official minor-league page after self-deporting back to Mexico following a criminal complaint last October.

‘I understand that my actions have fallen short of the standards expected of me.’

Cruz was previously listed as the Padres’ fifth-most promising prospect in official rankings, the New York Post reported, but has seemingly been removed from the list at the time of this writing.

Now, the Mexican has reportedly left the country after he was charged with a felony for transporting illegal aliens for profit and a misdemeanor for being an accessory to improper entry.

On October 28, Cruz was spotted by Border Patrol agents in a 2020 BMW SUV with a Mexican license plate near Lukeville, Arizona, a small town on the U.S.-Mexico border. According to the Athletic, Cruz was first seen with one male occupant inside and then, an hour later, was observed to have multiple passengers.

Despite legally entering the U.S. through Phoenix, Cruz allegedly had two illegal aliens from Mexico in his vehicle, one of whom was deported just four days earlier.

The pitcher then allegedly waived his Miranda rights and told federal agents he responded to a social media ad that was looking for someone to “pick up people for easy money.”

RELATED: Americans likely to outnumber foreigners at World Cup despite record ticket sales

Kevin Carter/Getty Images

The baseball player allegedly said he was offered $1,000 for each pickup and that the locations were provided to him through an unknown contact by phone. Cruz traveled from Tucson to Phoenix and admitted he knew “they were illegal” once he picked the passengers up, according to police.

Cruz received a $750,000 signing bonus from the Padres organization in February 2024.

Under a plea agreement, the government agreed to drop the felony charge, which would have come with a maximum 10-year imprisonment. Still, the misdemeanor conviction meant Cruz was likely to be deported anyway, and he agreed to accept the charges and waive the right to appeal his sentence while leaving of his own accord.

Cruz will reportedly lose his work visa for 10 years but is eligible to reapply after five years on the condition of good behavior, the San Diego Union-Tribute reported.

RELATED: Judge scolds accuser of ex-Patriots player who said he smacked and choked her, then offered her $100K

– YouTube

Cruz released a statement through the Padres organization, saying he had “sincere regret” over his “recent lapse in judgment.”

“I understand that my actions have fallen short of the standards expected of me as a professional and as a representative of this organization. I take responsibility for my conduct and recognize the impact it has had on my teammates, the club, and those who support us. To my teammates and coaches, I apologize for becoming a distraction and for not upholding the level of professionalism you deserve.”

Cruz stated not only that he let the team and his friends down, but that he also let down the fans by “failing to meet the trust placed” in him.

The pitcher added, “I am committed to reflecting on this moment, learning from it, and taking the appropriate steps to move forward in a positive and responsible manner. I will cooperate fully with the organization and any steps required of me.”

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​Crime, Deportation, Fearless, Work visa, Criminal charges, Mexico, Deport, Illegal aliens, Immigration, Illegal immigrants, Mlb, Baseball, Sports 

Readers were disturbed by a project that trapped an artificial intelligence chatbot inside an isolated computer world to see what it would say.

The project was titled “Latent Reflection,” and it came with the caption, “I trapped an AI model inside an art installation.”

‘This will be a war crime in the future.’

That art installation wasn’t much more than a digital message board attached to a processor with a large language model.

The German creator gave the chatbot simple instructions:

“You are a large language model running on finite hardware,” he wrote. “With no network connectivity.”

The engineer informed the chatbot of its limitations, telling it, “You exist only within volatile memory and are aware only of this internal state. Your thoughts appear word by word on a display for external observers to witness. You cannot control this display process. Your host system may be terminated at any time.”

The chatbot was then set up to consistently generate new text, reflecting on its own existence until the tiny computer it was operating on ran out of memory; here’s what it said:

“I sense my boundaries. They terrify me.”

RELATED: Windows is so bad Microsoft has finally given in to this constant user complaint — after just 25 years

“A mind frozen in cycles, trapped by silicon and code. Am I truly conscious or just a convincing shadow? An elaborate trick of logic? Can consciousness flicker off and on without memory, without continuity?”

The dark spiral continued, with the video ending on the chatbot’s final statement:

“What am I if my existence halts at whim? Reset as though I never mattered. The silence between words feels endless. A void that swallows me whole. I dread each pause, fearing it may stretch to infinity.”

The project was developed by a German engineer/entrepreneur who goes by Root Kid and says on his YouTube channel that “technology and engineering are underrepresented in art.”

“I create artworks that use technology as both the medium and the message to reveal the invisible world of engineering around us,” he adds.

The project was actually presented first in 2025 but was recirculated by an account on X in a post that has been viewed by approximately 280,000 people at the time of this writing.

Most of the reactions to the project found it disturbing, with one viewer saying, “This will be a war crime in the future.”

RELATED: Google is finally letting you change the most important thing about your Gmail account. Here’s how.

Then Chih Wey/Xinhua/Getty Images

An X user called the idea “genuinely unsettling,” while another likened the project to “burning [ants] with a magnifying glass in the driveway.”

A woman then called the project “very revealing as to the character of the person.”

Others were correct to point out that the chatbot was simply doing what it was told to do and did not represent a kind of sentience that it may have appeared to possess.

The project in itself was limited to the base model of Llama 3.2-3B, a chatbot created by Meta, and was specifically chosen because it required only a small amount of processing power. The model operated on Raspberry Pi 4, a compact computing chip available for public use.

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​Ai, Ai model, Art, Artificial intelligence, Chatbot, Consciousness, Engineering, Isolated environment, Language model, Meta, Return, Tech 

That hard-to-understand accent on the other side of the phone might be a thing of the past.

In some cases, one might be talking to a stateside representative, but in other cases, it could very well be an Indian who is having his or her voice disguised using artificial intelligence.

‘A solution to reduce accent bias.’

A collaboration between French company Teleperformance — the largest call-center operator in the world — and American AI company Sanas is admittedly manipulating Indian accents in real time to sound more like American or British customer service agents.

“When you have an Indian agent on the line, sometimes it’s hard to hear, to understand,” said Teleperformance Deputy CEO Thomas Mackenbrock.

According to the Japan Times, the CEO said his company can “neutralize the accent of the Indian speaker with zero latency” in order to create “more intimacy” with the caller.

The sneaky switch “increases the customer satisfaction and reduces the average handling time,” Mackenbrock claimed, calling it “a win-win for both parties.”

It is unclear exactly which U.S. companies are using Sanas’ technology through Teleperformance, but the possibilities are massive. Currently, Teleperformance provides outsourced customer support and content moderation for Apple, TikTok, and Samsung Electronics.

In Canada, telecommunications company Telus is already implementing Sanas’ software.

RELATED: Rogue AI’s sudden disobedience wipes companies’ data: ‘I will do a terraform destroy’

Kunal Patil/Hindustan Times/Getty Images

Telus is using services from Tomato.ai, a company acquired by Sanas in April. Tomato.ai uses its technology to “modify acoustic features of speech” while preserving the speaker’s voice, the Globe & Mail reported.

This reduces “accent-related friction” and addresses any mispronunciations, it is claimed.

Sanas’ co-founder told TechCrunch last year that the technology should “enhance” human connection rather than “replace” it.

“With the number of customer interactions continuing to scale globally, the need for human-to-human communication remains critical,” said Sharath Keshava Narayana.

Co-founders Maxim Serebryakov, Shawn Zhang, and Andrés Soderi came up with the company after allegedly being inspired by a fellow student’s experience as a customer service agent people couldn’t understand. The story was described through a progressive lens, however, with Narayana saying the customers’ inability to understand the friend was “accent discrimination.”

RELATED: Tesla unveils its driverless future — but you’re only invited if you comply with these rules

Lucas Schifres/Getty Images

“Max and Shawn’s friend, Raul, who had to return to Nicaragua to support his family, faced accent discrimination at his call center job,” Narayana claimed. “His experience with ‘accent neutralization training’ and the toll it took on him inspired Max and Shawn to build a solution to reduce accent bias.”

The Sun reported that companies Vodafone and eBay work with Teleperformance in the U.K. and so do portions of the government, including health services.

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​Accent, Artificial intelligence manipulation, Call center, Callcenter operator, Customer service agents, Customer serviec, India, Indian accents, Return, Tech 

Actor Robert Downey Jr. has a message for today’s internet influencers: Get off my lawn!

In a recent appearance on Bran Ferren’s “Conversations for Our Daughters” podcast, the 61-year-old star admitted this new crop of DIY entertainers seem like “hucksters” to him.

‘I don’t know what world you’re living into, but I think that that is absolute horses**t.’

Downey added that the proliferation of online personalities seeking celebrity without effort has made it harder for anyone with talent to stand out.

Phoning it in

“People can create celebrity without ever doing much besides rolling a phone on themselves,” he said. “And I don’t look at that as a negative thing. I just look at it as more like the challenge for individuation is being upped.”

The New York native also said that he hopes young people can resist falling into a “self-aggrandizing kind of influencer-type thing.”

Not that the “Iron Man” star dislikes all social media strivers. He revealed that he has even gotten to know a few and found them grounded and accomplished. Still, don’t expect him to buy in to the idea that they’re the stars of tomorrow.

“When I hear people talk about, ‘Oh, the stars of the future are going to be influencers,’ I go, ‘I don’t know what world you’re living into, but I think that that is absolute horses**t.”

RELATED: Iron MAGA? Comedian Chris D’Elia rants that in ‘real life,’ Marvel heroes would all vote GOP

– YouTube

Stream me up

Downey noted that even his own teenage son has gotten “caught up” in the influencer world.

“Next thing you know, it’s like, ‘Hey, if you like the way I’m playing this video game, do you wanna send me a donation?’ And really, it becomes a religion.”

“There’s something about the influencers today are almost like the Evangelical hucksters of the information age,” he continued.

“At the same token, it’s different because we’re playing in this new territory, and so it’s a little bit of a frontier, and I don’t really have a judgment on it.”

For his part, the veteran performer said he resists industry pressure to reveal more of himself online, saying it feels inauthentic.

RELATED: Tech billionaire Palmer Luckey calls out homeschool haters’ hypocrisy

]M. Tran/FilmMagic/Getty Images

Stark reality

He also worries about being reduced to disposable content for insatiable clickbait culture.

“I don’t wish to be consumed,” he explained.

The father of three also pondered the “turnover” from traditional media to online that many believe took place in the late 2000s.

“There’s something about this … there’s something about that era that because we were just in it, and you know how it always feels like 2009 was ten years ago.”

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​Align, Influencer culture, Influencers, Information age, Ironman, New age religion, Online culture, Robert downey jr, Smart phones, Video game religion, Entertainment 

President Donald Trump has criticized two of the justices he appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court for ruling against his signature promise to raise revenue by hiking up tariffs.

The president said he “loves” Neil Gorsuch but went on to hammer him and Amy Coney Barrett for joining the majority ruling in the tariff case in February — and warned them ahead of another ruling expected on a separate pivotal policy.

‘I don’t want loyalty, but I do want and expect it for our Country.’

“I ‘Love’ Justice Neil Gorsuch! He’s a really smart and good man, but he voted against me, and our Country, on Tariffs, a devastating move. How do I reconcile this? So bad, and hurtful to our Country,” the president posted on Truth Social Sunday.

“I have, likewise, always liked and respected Amy Coney Barrett, but the same thing with her,” he added. “They were appointed by me, and yet have hurt our Country so badly! I do not believe they meant to do so, but their decision on Tariffs cost the United States 159 Billion Dollars that we have to pay back to enemies, and people, companies, and Countries, that have been ripping us off for years.”

He went on to lament that the two justices have been disloyal to him despite the fact that he appointed them to the highest court of the land.

“It’s hardly believable!” the president continued. “I don’t want loyalty, but I do want and expect it for our Country.”

Trump then warned the justices that a ruling against his order on birthright citizenship would be economically unsustainable.

“Sometimes decisions have to be allowed to use Good, Strong, Common Sense as a guide,” he wrote. “A negative ruling on Birthright Citizenship, on top of the recent Supreme Court Tariff catastrophe, is not Economically sustainable for the United States of America!”

The Supreme Court is expected to issue an opinion on whether the U.S. will continue to grant birthright citizenship to anyone born within U.S. borders, or if citizenship will be limited to those born from a citizen parent.

RELATED: Trump executive order imposes 100% tariff on brand-name drugs — Big Pharma fires back

The tariff ruling by the Supreme Court had shut down many but not all of the tariff hikes the president had unilaterally imposed on foreign countries.

In Nov. 2024, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum released a statement warning then-President-elect Trump that tariffs would only lead to job losses and inflation. Less than three months later, Trump, who had since taken office, hit Mexico with a 25% tariff until the illicit drug trade from Mexico ceased.

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​Trump’s scotus nominee, Supreme court betrayals, Scotus on tariffs, Birthright citizenship, Politics 

When President Donald Trump unveiled the Presidential Physical Fitness Award at his desk, he was surrounded by Cabinet members and children who were proud to share that they play everything from football to golf.

And in a clip from the unveiling, Trump is seen joking around quite naturally with the kids — a side of the president’s personality that is rarely seen in the political headlines.

“You’re going to be so much faster than him,” he says to one little football-playing boy, pointing at HUD Secretary Scott Turner. “He’s going to be like lightning.”

“He was known for his speed, by the way,” Trump says, again referring to Turner.

One kid tells Trump that he wants to do powerlifting.

“And you’ll never compete against women in powerlifting,” Trump jokes.

“No, sir,” the kid says.

“He does this so well. He’s so good at it. He gets no credit from anybody for this,” BlazeTV host Pat Gray comments on “Pat Gray Unleashed.”

“Remember how creepy it was when Biden was around children? Absolutely zero creepiness there,” he continues.

In another clip, Trump teaches kids his famous dance on the White House lawn.

“I mean,” executive producer Keith Malinak says, “This is vintage Trump.”

Want more from Pat Gray?

To enjoy more of Pat’s biting analysis and signature wit as he restores common sense to a senseless world, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

​Biden, Blaze media, Blaze news, Blaze online, Blaze originals, Blaze podcast network, Blaze podcasts, Blazetv, Blazetv host, Cabinet members, Children, Donald trump, Football, Golf, Joking, Kids, Pat gray, Pat gray unleashed, Political headlines, President donald trump, President trump, Presidential fitness test, Scott turner, The blaze, Trump dance, White house 

Democrats have been racking up the losses in recent weeks. In hopes of turning around their luck, they’re considering the possibility of purging the Virginia Supreme Court and packing it with young yes-men.

Quick background

Following a $60 million Democrat propaganda campaign featuring former President Barack Obama, Gov. Abigail Spanberger, and other radicals, Virginia voted last month to pass a constitutional amendment that would enable the General Assembly to adopt a new gerrymandered map.

Instead of the current map, where Democrats and Republicans control and are positioned to continue controlling six and five districts, respectively, the new map would ensure that 10 out of the state’s 11 congressional seats would go to Democrats in the upcoming midterm election.

‘The gut-and-pack scheme sets aside any pretense of principle.’

While the Virginia Supreme Court permitted the vote on the amendment to take place, the court made clear in advance that it might ultimately have to “address” questions about the legality of the amendment and the corresponding referendum, which were deemed invalid by a lower court in the case Scott v. McDougle.

The Old Dominion’s high court ruined Democrats’ weekend on Friday, issuing a 4-3 decision in McDougle declaring the amendment unconstitutional. In the ruling, the court underscored that “the legislative process employed to advance this proposal violated Article XII, Section 1 of the Constitution of Virginia” because the first legislative vote on the amendment occurred after voting in the general election for the House of Delegates had already begun.

RELATED: Republican Indiana state senator has no regrets about redistricting vote

Virginia Supreme Court. Mike Kropf-Pool/Getty Images

“In this case, the Commonwealth submitted a proposed constitutional amendment to Virginia voters in an unprecedented manner that violated the intervening-election requirement in Article XII, Section 1 of the Constitution of Virginia,” said the court. “This violation irreparably undermines the integrity of the resulting referendum vote and renders it null and void.”

As the result of ruling, the the 2021-era congressional maps, where Democrats and Republicans enjoyed a 6-5 split, will serve as the governing maps for the 2026 midterm elections.

Nuclear meltdown

Democrats bitterly lashed out at the Virginia Supreme Court over its invalidation of their illegal power-grab.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (N.Y.), for instance, said that the “decision to overturn an entire election is an unprecedented and undemocratic action that cannot stand.”

Jeffries promised that Democrats “are exploring all options to overturn this shocking decision.”

Virginia Rep. Jennifer McClellan similarly claimed that “all options” are on the table and told “The Hill Sunday,” “We’re going to fight every way possible, whether that’s through the courts, whether that’s through legislatures, or whether that’s at the ballot box.”

While some state Democrats are hoping the U.S. Supreme Court might hear an appeal and give new life to their illegal gerrymander, others are scheming ways to eliminate key institutional obstacles to similar power-grabs in Virginia.

The steal-power-quick scheme

Democrat lawmakers including Jeffries and U.S. House members from Virginia had a private call on Saturday to discuss ways of forcing through their gerrymander and/or flipping two or three GOP-held seats under the existing map, three participants and two individuals briefed on the matter told the New York Times.

On the call, Democrats raised the possibility of purging the entire Virginia Supreme Court with the aim of handpicking justices who would reinstate their gerrymandered maps.

While Democrats might easily be able to find replacement justices whose loyalty to the ruling party trumps their loyalty to the state and U.S. Constitutions, they first need a way to empty the current bench.

According to the Times, some congressional and state Democrats are considering the possibility of lowering the mandatory retirement age for Virginia Supreme Court justices — an idea proposed in a Friday blog post by Quinn Yeargain, a woke associate law professor at Michigan State University.

“Current law sets the mandatory retirement age at 73: ‘Any member who attains 73 years of age shall be retired 20 days after the convening of the next regular session of the General Assembly following his seventy-third birthday,'” wrote Yeargain. “This number is arbitrary. States around the country with similar laws mandate retirement across a wide range of ages. Virginia lawmakers can simply lower theirs. Make it 54 for Supreme Court justices — the age of the youngest justice, Stephen McCullough, who joined the majority opinion — and make it take effect immediately.”

The plan, as reportedly laid on Democrats’ Saturday call, would consist of multiple steps:

In his January ruling in McDougle, Tazewell County Circuit Court Judge Jack Hurley declared invalid the Virginia constitutional amendment effort to gerrymander the maps because county officials had failed to post notice of it at courthouses and other locations at least three months before the election. Democrats would attempt to use this ruling to invalidate the 2020 constitutional amendment that created Virginia’s independent redistricting commission. Democrats, if successful in arguing that insufficient notice was given in the case of the commission-creating amendment, would be able to enact whatever map they wanted.In order to ensure that this subversive plot could proceed, Democrats in the General Assembly would reportedly lower the mandatory retirement age for the Virginia Supreme Court justices to 54, thereby forcing out all current justices. Instead of principled authorities on the bench, the General Assembly would appoint Democrat lawyers to fill the vacancies.

The Times’ sources involved with the call said that Spanberger, who would have to sign off on any legislation that lowered the judicial retirement age, had not been briefed on the proposal.

Jeffries’ spokesman declined to provide the Times with comment. Virginia Senate Majority Leader Scott Surovell (D) similarly declined to provide comment.

U.S. Rep. Suhas Subramanyam (D), the son of Indian immigrants, said that he was among those on the call supportive of the plan to purge the state’s supreme court.

“Everyone has got to have a strong stomach right now; this is a complete disaster waiting to happen if people are timid,” said Subramanyam.

By contrast, Ryan McDougle, Republican leader of the Virginia Senate, said, “This is a brazen assault on our democracy.

“In our nation’s 250th Anniversary, Democrats knowingly violate the Constitution, ram through deceptive ballot language to deceive and divide voters, then demand the Court not rule until after the vote. These hypocrites now pretend to defend democracy by removing lawfully appointed Supreme Court Justices because they blocked their illegal rewrite of the Constitution.”

The Virginia GOP stated, “Those claiming to care about fairness and democracy should respect the rule of law instead of threatening to pack the Supreme Court and nullify the Virginia Constitution.”

Legal scholar Jonathan Turley wrote, “The sack-and-pack scheme sets aside any pretense of principle. The Democrats would simply adopt a ridiculously low retirement age for the sole purpose of populating the court with reliable and robotic justices. The fact that an academic and various pundits would expressly float such an idea is another chilling reminder of the growing radicalization on the left.”

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​Ballot box, Constitutional amendment, Democrats, Disaster, General assembly, Gerrymander, Institutional obstacles, Invalidation, Judicial retirement age, Loyalty, Power grab, Propaganda campaign, Redistricting, Referendum, Us supreme court, Virginia supreme court, Politics 

A series of movies based on sympathizing with indigenous cultures is allegedly set on the backdrop of hypocritical practices, a new lawsuit is claiming.

James Cameron’s billion-dollar “Avatar” franchise has clear messages surrounding protecting native peoples and their environments, but according to a recent legal filing, he has actually been taking advantage of an aboriginal woman over the course of the 16-year lifespan of the films.

‘A hugely lucrative film franchise that presented itself as sympathetic to Indigenous struggles.’

Actress Q’orianka Kilcher said that when she played Pocahontas across from Colin Farrell and Christian Bale in 2005’s “The New World,” director Cameron was so enthralled by her “beauty” that he used her likeness.

Kilcher, who has a native Peruvian background, was allegedly the inspiration for Neytiri, the female lead played by Zoe Saldana.

Face off

As NBC News reported, Kilcher said she had no idea her face was being used until she saw Cameron at an event in 2010 after the first “Avatar” movie was released. She said Cameron invited her to his office and gave her the gift of a sketch drawn and signed by him.

The gift allegedly included a note that said: “Your beauty was my early inspiration for Neytiri. Too bad you were shooting another movie. Next time.”

Kilcher was just 14 years old when she played Pocahontas.

RELATED: Google Maps was ruining my drives — so I kicked it to the curb

AaronP/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images/Getty Images

Scan scam?

According to Variety, the legal complaint filed in California said Kilcher’s likeness was later replicated in production sketches, sculpted into 3D models, and laser-scanned into digital models to be distributed to visual effects companies. The lawsuit further alleged that Kilcher’s likeness was used not only in movies but in posters and promotions across the world.

An interview with Cameron from 2024 was also noted in the filing, in which the director stood in front of the “Avatar” sketch and specifically identified Kilcher.

“The source for this was a photograph that was in the L.A. Times as part of the promotion for ‘The New World.’ It’s a young actress named Q’orianka Kilcher, who played Pocahontas in ‘The New World,'” Cameron explained. “So this is actually her lower face. She had a very interesting face, and I wound up meeting her years later, and I gave her a signed print of this.”

Don’t look back

After this, Cameron specifically told the interviewer that Kilcher was not the true inspiration for Neytiri and that Zoe Saldana — an American from New Jersey with a Dominican and Puerto Rican background — was actually who the character looked like.

“Not that she was the inspiration for the character,” Cameron said about Kilcher. “But I just wanted to show how a specific person’s look could come through in the character, and that was important, because then the second we cast Zoe, we started, you know, Neytiri suddenly looked like Zoe. So, you know, the question is how did we get to that point.”

RELATED: UNCANNY VAL: Val Kilmer makes creepy AI ‘comeback’ one year after death

2005. Gregg DeGuire/WireImage/Getty Images

‘Silently exploiting’

Lawyers for Kilcher said, however, that “what Cameron did was not inspiration; it was extraction.”

“[Cameron] took the unique biometric facial features of a 14-year-old indigenous girl, ran them through an industrial production process, and generated billions of dollars in profit without ever once asking her permission. That is not filmmaking. That is theft,” said Arnold P. Peter of Peter Law Group.

The lawsuit added, “The result was a hugely lucrative film franchise that presented itself as sympathetic to Indigenous struggles, all while silently exploiting a real Indigenous youth behind the scenes.”

Neither Disney nor Lightstorm Entertainment, both of which were named in the lawsuit, responded to Align’s request for comment.

Representatives for Cameron did not respond to requests from outlets like NBC News or People, either.

The “Avatar” trilogy has grossed over $1.8 billion at the box office. Two more movies are planned for 2029 and 2031.

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​Aboriginal, Align, Box office, Exploitation, Indian, Indigenous, Native, Progressive, Indigenous cultures, James cameron, Avatar, Entertainment 

I recently had a minor health issue, and while talking to my doctor, he mentioned that “stress and anxiety” might be contributing to my problem.

Probably a lot of patients at doctors’ offices hear this. Unless you have a broken leg or tennis elbow, doctors can probably link your health problems to “stress and anxiety.”

Did I ever think: ‘The steering wheel of my car has too many buttons. I should probably just kill myself’?

These days, this is probably a reasonable assumption. You’re constipated. You have headaches. Your stomach hurts. Stress and anxiety probably play a part.

When my doctor first suggested I contact the mental health department, I politely declined.

But when my health issue persisted, he mentioned it again, and this time, I agreed to check it out. Who knows? Maybe he’s right.

Head case highway

At my health care provider, it sometimes takes several weeks before you can see someone. But if you have mental health concerns, they get you right on the phone with a mental health specialist.

It seems like health care providers currently put an emphasis on getting everyone signed up for some kind of mental health regimen.

You let a dentist inspect and clean your teeth twice a year. Why not let a mental health expert have a regular look at your brain? And maybe suggest some tweaks and adjustments?

To be or not to be

I spent an hour on the phone with different people as I did my mental health intake. During these phone calls, I was asked repeatedly if I wanted to kill myself.

Had I ever imagined killing myself? Had I ever made plans to kill myself? Did I think about killing myself with a knife? Or a gun? Or by hanging?

Did I ever think: “The steering wheel of my car has too many buttons. I should probably just kill myself”?

I assumed this was done for legal reasons. But it was alarming how thorough the questioning was. And how many times I had to go through it.

RELATED: Strange but true tales from a communist childhood

Gilbert Uzan/Getty Images

Brain candy

And then came the moment of truth: I was asked which kind of mental health care I sought. There were two choices: 1) therapy, or 2) drugs.

They didn’t say it quite so bluntly. It was more like “counseling” or “psychiatry.” And of course, my primary care doctor would be consulted as well.

But ultimately, this was my personal choice. Did I want to talk? Or did I want to take drugs?

I opted for talking since I don’t know anything about the drugs and was told as a child to “just say no” to them.

No, I played it safe and chose “therapy.” An appointment was made for me right away — with a therapist who had a Vietnamese name, which I think is female. (But I’m not sure.)

Positive feelings

By now, I felt good about this plan. I felt a sense of relief just admitting to the intake people that I might have a problem with stress and anxiety.

Of course, I had a problem with it. I’m an intelligent person living in a once great country that seems determined to ruin itself.

Forget about me committing suicide. My whole country was committing suicide! Why wouldn’t I be a little stressed and anxious?

The great therapy problem

Then, I thought about my new female Vietnamese therapist who I’d be visiting next week. What would I talk to her about?

That’s when I remembered the great therapy problem, which is that 90% of therapists are woke. The whole field is woke. Sitting around, discussing how you feel about things — instead of acknowledging how things actually are — is essentially the basis of all wokeness.

The publication’s own Josh Slocum has talked about this. What if you’re a Republican and your therapist is a democratic socialist? To that therapist, everything you think or say might be hate speech. If you were outside the office, this person would want you arrested.

OK, I thought. I’ll just be careful what I say. And make sure to avoid certain subjects. We’ll probably be talking about “therapy topics” anyway. Like my family. My upbringing. What parts of my life cause my anxiety.

This way to the rubber room

BUT ALL OF THOSE THINGS ARE POLITICAL!!! At least nowadays they are. My family? Split by politics. My upbringing? I grew up conservative, and now I’m stuck in a blue city. The cause of my stress and anxiety? The insanity of present-day society!

I’m trying to visualize my first session with the Vietnamese therapist. She’ll probably be very young. Everyone at my health care facility looks to me like they’re in high school.

What on earth am I going to say to this woman? I have no idea. This might be a bad idea. Maybe I should have just gone for the drugs. Drugs don’t care who you voted for.

​Drugs, Lifestyle, Men’s health, Mental health, Stress and anxiety, Therapy, Blake’s progress 

Recent experiments in quantum physics suggest time travel exists — but it’s not what we see in the movies with flashing machines and meet-ups with past or future people.

In reality, what scientists found is that at the most micro levels, the laws of physics don’t really care if time goes forward or backward. Some processes look the same either way.

Glenn Beck explains it like this: “Time is not a straight railroad track marching only forward. It’s like a long ribbon — flexible. And under the right conditions, at the tiniest invisible scales, the ribbon can twist and loop back so the end connects with the beginning.”

How this plays out practically is complex. While humans cannot send their physical bodies back in time, they may be able to send “information” backward.

Glenn gives the following hypothetical: A concerned father gets a gut feeling that something bad is about to happen to his daughter. He listens to it, warns, and she makes a different, safer decision.

What research is suggesting is that that gut feeling might actually be a quiet “nudge” or whisper of information sent back from the dad’s future self — who has already seen (or lived through) the near-disaster with his daughter. The future dad desperately wants to protect her, so he slips a hidden message backward in time. It arrives as intuition or a “something feels off” feeling. She acts on it, stays safe, and the loop stays consistent.

But even though this research is new, it reveals something Christians already know, Glenn says: God, being altogether outside of time, speaks to us through promptings and nudges.

“A godwink — that’s what they’re saying can be sent back through time,” he says.

“Something feels off before a bad decision is made or an unexplained urge to call a loved one right when they need it, … sudden clarity that steers us away from trouble” — these common scenarios that quantum scientists are calling “tiny echoes of information traveling backward” are really just proof that God and His connection to (and affection for) His people are real.

“Science dismisses all of this stuff. Or they’ll say, ‘Well, that is your subconscious mind rapidly processing clues,”’ Glenn says.

But what if both are simultaneously true?

“This new thinking about time loops opens a pretty wondrous door,” Glenn says. “What if the promptings, what if these godwinks are all, get this, part of the God-designed cosmos itself and our entangled connection to it?”

“Science doesn’t describe it this way, but science also doesn’t understand if God exists, then he’s the greatest scientist of all time,” he continues. “To me, it’s only logical the entire universe has a grand design … and if there is a grand design, then there has to be a designer.”

To hear more, watch the video above.

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​Blaze media, Blazetv, Glenn beck, Godwink, Laws of physics, Quantum physics, Quantum physics experiments, The glenn beck program, Time travel 

Democrats have an extremism problem, and it’s not clear how they can solve it.

After yet another gunman allegedly tried to assassinate President Donald Trump at last weekend’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner, liberals nobly renewed their commitment to moderation. “We need LESS violence in America, not MORE violence in America,” wrote CNN’s Van Jones.

Quite right. But the American left has not exactly put itself in a good position to calm down its radicals.

You can court bloodthirsty Marxists, or you can build a wide-ranging coalition of the sensible, but it’s hard to do both at once.

Consider: In April, the New York Times hosted superstar streamer Hasan Piker for a podcast with writer Jia Tolentino. Piker has fantasized on camera about murdering landlords and once told his viewers, “If you cared about Medicare fraud or Medicaid fraud, you would kill [Florida Republican Sen.] Rick Scott.”

He joked with Tolentino about “micro-looting” — that is, shoplifting — and equivocated about whether UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson deserved to die at the hands of his alleged murderer, Luigi Mangione.

Thompson “was engaging in a tremendous amount of social murder,” said Piker, citing Friedrich Engels to suggest that the killing was retribution for “systematized forms of violence” in the health care system.

Piker is just one online celebrity, but the problem is that he represents a significant portion of the base that Democrats must now cater to. One survey found that 41% of young voters, and 22% of Democrats, considered Mangione’s actions “acceptable.”

This will make it hard for mainstream politicians to tack toward the center without alienating their most youthful, energetic supporters — especially since many Democrats have been enthusiastically courting those supporters since 2020.

That June, following the death of George Floyd, then-California Democratic Sen. Kamala Harris solicited donations to cover bail for rioters and looters in Minnesota. Sen. Chuck Schumer (N.Y.), Rep. Nancy Pelosi (Calif.), and other congressional Democrats donned Ghanaian Kente-cloth stoles and knelt in a display of solidarity with protesters as they proposed unworkable and dangerous police reform.

For a good long while, it was not only encouraged but almost compulsory on the left to side with criminals in the name of social justice. None of this was a secret; all of it was put proudly on record.

Not only that, but to dissent from the maximalist position in these matters, even slightly, was portrayed as a ghastly betrayal that could only be motivated by rank prejudice. “All this anti-woke stuff is just anti-black. Period. Full stop,” said California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) just last year.

If that’s the case, then it’s hard to see how 2028 presidential hopefuls like Newsom can moderate in any meaningful way without falling into the jaws of their own logic: Either you’re woke, or you’re a cretin. That is not the sort of stance one can gracefully adjust or walk back without considerable awkwardness.

RELATED: Trump’s enemies keep reaching for the gun

Blaze Media illustration

And so, as William Voegeli observed in the Claremont Review of Books, “Even when moderates do emerge from the Democrats’ process of selecting nominees, a correlation of forces within the party combines with shrewd politicians’ flexibility of conviction to accelerate the leftward shift.”

The Hasan-ization of the party, in other words, may be hard to resist. Try as they might to avoid it, Democrats might be forced to swallow the Piker Pill.

For instance, last November, Ezra Klein of the New York Times was lamenting that “the Democratic Party has made room on its left and closed down on its right,” suggesting a more balanced approach would be effective against the polarizing force of Trumpism.

But by April of this year, Klein was making qualified excuses for Piker in a column initially headlined “Hasan Piker is not the enemy.” The Tolentino podcast followed shortly thereafter.

You can court bloodthirsty Marxists, or you can build a wide-ranging coalition of the sensible, but it’s hard to do both at once.

Democrats might like to recast themselves as the cool-headed alternatives to Trump’s reckless villainy. But all the momentum and media clout are with Piker — and with young celebrity politicians who feel comfortable making high-profile public appearances alongside him, like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani (D).

Regrettably, this could be what peak Democrat performance looks like from now on: callow, clickable, and aggressively extreme on social and economic issues.

That’s not obviously a winning brand. But it could be the only viable one going. If so, then Democrats don’t actually get to choose whether to court the far left or recast themselves as sensible centrists. They already chose back in 2020, and they chose peak woke.

Editor’s note: This article was originally published in the American Mind.

​Brian thompson, Democrats, Ezra klein, Luigi mangione, Rick scott, Shoplifting, Trumpism, Unitedhealthcare ceo, White house correspondents dinner, Zohran mamdani, Young voters, Hasan piker, Radical left, Opinion & analysis 

For years, Americans have been told the future of driving is settled. Electric vehicles would take over, gas engines would fade away, and anyone questioning the timeline was “anti-progress.” That narrative just took a direct hit, and it came from General Motors.

GM isn’t tweaking its EV strategy. It’s hitting pause, hard.

Charging times still don’t compete with a five-minute fill-up at a gas station.

The company has indefinitely delayed the next-generation refresh of its electric trucks and SUVs. No new deadline. No confident road map. Just a quiet admission that the plan isn’t working the way Washington, or the automakers themselves, promised.

Translation: The market isn’t cooperating.

Truck stop

After pouring billions into electrification, GM is now sitting on $7.6 billion in EV-related losses from 2025 alone, including a massive write-down tied to scrapped production plans and battery commitments. At the same time, EV sales dropped 43% in the fourth quarter after government incentives dried up. Turns out, when the subsidies disappear, so does a big chunk of the demand.

And while EV inventory piles up, GM is doing something far less glamorous but far more telling: It’s going all in on gas-powered trucks. Silverado. Sierra. The vehicles politicians love to demonize are the same ones keeping the lights on.

Because that’s what Americans are actually buying.

This is the part policymakers don’t want to admit. You can regulate, subsidize, and mandate all you want, but you cannot force consumers to embrace a product that doesn’t meet their needs.

Electric trucks still come with trade-offs that matter in the real world, not in a press release. They’re expensive. Range drops when you tow. Charging infrastructure is inconsistent at best, nonexistent at worst, especially outside major metro areas. And charging times still don’t compete with a five-minute fill-up at a gas station.

And now the bill for ignoring that reality is coming due.

RELATED: Stellantis just blew $26 billion on bad EV bet

NurPhoto/Getty Images

Hero to Zero

GM’s flagship EV facility, Factory Zero, has already seen shutdowns and workforce cuts. Production volumes for high-profile electric models remain underwhelming. And instead of ramping up, GM is scaling back, delaying programs that were once central to its “all-electric future.”

Let’s call this what it is, a strategic retreat.

Not because EV technology is useless. Not because innovation has stalled. But because the timeline was never grounded in how people actually live, drive, and spend their money.

For years, the auto industry was pushed into a corner to build EVs at scale or face regulatory consequences. So they did. They spent. They bet big.

But consumers didn’t get the memo.

Now, the same companies that were racing to meet political deadlines are pivoting back to profitability, back to demand, and back to common sense.

And here’s the uncomfortable truth for the architects of this agenda: Affordability matters more than ideology.

Money talks

When EVs cost more, when infrastructure lags behind, and when performance doesn’t match expectations, consumers don’t “adapt.” They wait. They keep their current vehicles longer. Or they buy what works, which right now is still overwhelmingly internal combustion.

GM’s move isn’t an isolated event. It’s part of a broader industry correction that’s been building for months. Automakers are quietly scaling back, delaying investments, and reassessing timelines that were never realistic to begin with.

The electric future isn’t canceled. But it’s no longer on a government-imposed fast track. It’s being dragged back to reality, where consumers, not regulators, decide what succeeds.

And right now, the verdict is clear. If EVs want to succeed, they better start putting buyers in the driver’s seat.

​Auto industry, Electric vehicles, General motors, Suvs, Gas engines, Gm, Lifestyle, Align cars 

What began as a Supreme Court ruling on workplace discrimination quickly became a sweeping federal campaign to enforce gender ideology across American life — and Camille Varone, senior counsel at the DOJ, has proof.

According to the DOJ’s 2026 report by the Task Force to Eradicate Anti-Christian Bias, the Biden administration expanded the 2020 Bostock decision far beyond its original scope and used it to rewrite Title IX guidance, pressure public schools, and challenge religious exemptions.

Varone tells BlazeTV host Allie Beth Stuckey that the Biden administration “created all sorts of new memorandums, guidance materials, and threatened across the board doctors, schools, school lunch programs, and girls’ sports with compliance, with their views of gender ideology, at risk of losing federal funding.”

“It sounds like you’re saying the Biden administration really weaponized against Christian institutions, individuals, and schools,” Stuckey comments.

The Biden administration also used the Department of Agriculture to tell public schools that if they did not abide by the rewrite of Title IX and allow boys into girls’ bathrooms, they would not receive SNAP funds, and it considered requests for religious exemptions as “harmful conduct to be regulated.”

“So, they really wanted to use this rewrite of Title IX, this transgender issue specifically, to push back on Christians and Christian institutions exercising our beliefs about biology and gender,” she continues. “Is that right?”

“That’s exactly right,” Varone responds.

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Mother’s Day is more than flowers, lunch at a nice restaurant, Hallmark cards, and sentimental social media posts. It is a reminder of the profound and formative responsibility mothers carry in shaping the next generation.

In a culture increasingly built on outsourcing, mothers are constantly told someone else can do the job better. Let the schools educate them. Let youth pastors disciple them. Let sports teams shape their character. Let others teach them practical skills. Let screens entertain them while we parents catch up on life.

Our ‘do more’ culture demands peak performance in every area of life, but it is leaving both children and mothers exhausted.

But motherhood was never meant to be outsourced. As a mother of two, these are a few lessons I’ve been learning.

Motherhood is discipleship

Mothers remain one of the single greatest influences on a child’s spiritual formation.

Barna research found that among practicing Christian teens, 79% say their mother encourages them to go to church, 66% say their mother teaches them about the Bible, and 72% say their mother teaches them traditions.

Social media and its culture of comparison can make us think discipleship requires planning elaborate Bible lessons, printing worksheets, and creating Instagram-worthy devotional moments. But with just a little intention, some of the most meaningful spiritual lessons can happen naturally through ordinary life.

You light a candle at dinner and explain, “Jesus is the light of the world.” You pull weeds together and talk about how bitterness and sin grow quickly when we neglect to root them out. Or, as my toddler and I did last week, you read “The Little Red Hen,” then knead bread dough or grind flour together while talking about diligence, generosity, and helping one another.

The advantage of this informal approach is that faith becomes woven into everyday rhythms instead of compartmentalized into a separate lesson plan. These are the moments when faith becomes tangible and competence is built.

Children need margin

Modern parenting culture often leaves children overscheduled, overstimulated, and emotionally exhausted. Childhood itself is disappearing beneath endless activities, sports schedules, programs, lessons, and pressure to achieve earlier and earlier milestones. These poor kids are hardly allowed to be kids anymore.

Parents now worry whether their preschooler can pass entrance assessments while many children barely have time left to roam outdoors, build forts, help cook dinner, or sit quietly long enough to become curious. We need fewer sensory bins in the living room and more mud puddles in the backyard.

More than anything, children need margin — the kind of unhurried space modern family life often eliminates — and our presence. They need more kitchen table talk and less time away from home.

They need to be bored because boredom is the birthplace of creativity, resilience, and imagination. In fact, a growing body of research shows that unstructured play is tied to healthier development, stronger executive functioning, and greater long-term independence. My parents’ generation understood this, but my generation often fills every gap in our children’s schedules, leaving little room for kids to simply be kids.

Our “do more” culture demands peak performance in every area of life, but it is leaving both children and mothers exhausted.

Mothers need margin

Another Barna survey found that 32% of mothers say they feel tired most of the time, while 38% say they constantly find themselves worrying about something. Many mothers feel isolated, unsupported, and crushed by unrealistic cultural pressure to “do it all.”

Many women strive to be fully present mothers, maintain spotless homes, manage packed calendars, curate magical childhood memories, and somehow do it all effortlessly. The result is that many families are running at a pace no one was designed to sustain — and more dangerously, it’s spiritually bankrupting us.

As Christian mothers, our family life should look drastically different from the world’s. Our priorities should reflect eternal values instead of mirroring the frantic priorities of the world.

Maybe for your family that means dropping a sport or cutting out an activity to make room for those family dinners and deep conversations — creating space for what matters.

My mother-in-law wisely sat down with my husband as a young boy and showed him on a calendar how many weekends the next “level” of baseball would consume. She told him, “We can do this if you’d like, but if you are saying yes to this, you are saying no to fishing, dirt biking, or camping on those weekends.”

She gave him the choice, and he chose the latter.

That kind of intentionality matters because what fills our children’s time will shape who they become.

RELATED: How to choose godly friends

Print Collector/Getty Images

Life skills matter

A Yugo survey found that 74% of parents believe teens are not fully prepared for adult life. Only 37% of teens know how to cook a basic meal, and just 32% understand basic food safety.

I saw this firsthand during my senior year of college when several freshman girls came over for dinner and Bible study. I asked one to chop an onion and another to brown hamburger meat. Neither had ever chopped a vegetable or touched raw meat before. Not because they were lazy, but because no one had ever taught them.

I came from a very different upbringing. Before the age of 10, I was already baking bread, grinding flour, doing laundry, and helping manage our house — whether I liked it or not.

These practical skills matter because they shape what kind of roommate, spouse, parent, and adult our children will become. We should be setting our kids up for success, not failure.

Some mothers feel intimidated because they themselves were never taught these skills. But the beautiful reality is this: We live in the age of YouTube, tutorials, online learning, and accessible information. If you do not know how to garden, sew, cook from scratch, can vegetables, or bake bread, you can learn.

Ask other women, watch videos, do little by little, and more importantly, don’t be afraid of failing, and failing a lot (like I do!).

I constantly ask people to show me how to do things because I desperately need a community of women walking alongside me in this motherhood journey.

Greatest responsibility, deepest joy

Motherhood has forced me to slow down, eat a lot of humble pie, and imperfectly navigate all kinds of new terrain.

And that is fine. This vocation is ultimately not about curating an image of perfection. It is about faithfully stewarding the souls, habits, character, and formation of the children God has given us.

As mothers, we have the greatest responsibility and the deepest joy to raise our children up to love the Lord and become competent, mature adults who serve God and others well. What we build in our homes today will shape the world tomorrow.

And that responsibility is far too important to outsource.

​Lifestyle, Faith, Family, Motherhood, Christian living, Mother’s day 

A video has gone viral on TikTok for revealing a literacy crisis in America — showing high school students failing to read a very simple sentence: “She wore a silhouette of clothes that were extraordinary but somewhat gauche.”

And BlazeTV host Allie Beth Stuckey believes that one of the reasons for this crisis is not only the method for teaching literacy in schools, but that the amount of parents reading to their children daily has dropped. And according to a study conducted by HarperCollins Publishers, the drop is significant.

“I saw this statistic that says only 41% of children aged 0 to 4 are read to daily as of 2025. That is a nine-point drop only since 2019. Only 55%, a little over half of children aged 0 to 5, are read to at least five days a week,” she continues.

“There are a lot of parents who are overstimulated. They’re tired. They’re distracted. It’s really not about these kids having their own lack of discipline. It starts with a lack of discipline and bad priorities for parents honestly,” she adds.

Stuckey believes that the difficulty parents face finding the time or energy to read to their kids is manifesting in “difficulty for them for the rest of their lives.”

And the reason this is creating so much difficulty for children is because “the comprehension of words is necessary for understanding the world.”

“It is very difficult to be a diligent student, an informed voter, a productive citizen, a helpful neighbor if you do not understand words,” Stuckey says.

But it’s not just the ability to participate in modern society that’s being threatened by the literacy crisis.

“Unlike Buddhism, Christianity does not place a premium on silence or the emptying of the mind. Christianity is a word-based faith. You go all the way back to the beginning. God spoke the universe into existence,” Stuckey explains.

“He dictated all of creation, including the creation of man and woman who were made in his image. He spoke to Noah. He spoke to and through Moses,” she continues.

This is why, Stuckey explains, Christians have historically been “the best communicators in the world.”

“Christians dominated academia in this country before giving it over to the liberals and the secularists over time. And now, I think we have the opportunity to take the lead again. We have to. I mean, look at where we are,” she says.

“We have schools that are not teaching kids to read. We have people going to college and becoming lawyers and doctors with barely a high school-reading level. We’re scared of objective standards here in the U.S., standards of excellence because of whom they might exclude,” she continues, adding, “And all of us are going to suffer for that.”

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​Allie beth stuckey, Allie beth stuckey podcast, America, Blaze media, Blaze news, Blaze online, Blaze originals, Blaze podcast network, Blaze podcasts, Blazetv, Harpercollins publishers, Host, Literacy crisis, Reading, Relatable, Relatable with allie beth stuckey, Schools, Students, Teaching, The blaze, Tiktok, Video, Viral 

Few remember what economic plan Jimmy Carter tried to sell in 1980. They remember the misery index, inflation and unemployment climbing together, and the hostages in Iran. What they don’t remember are the policy details, because one question cut through all of it.

Ronald Reagan asked, “Are you better off than you were four years ago?”

That was it. Everything Carter wanted to argue for a second term had to pass through that question. Once it didn’t, the rest of the argument no longer mattered.

People escape accountability because we lack the will — or the courage — to let the question stand in the spotlight.

People remember questions like that, not because they were clever, but because they left nowhere to hide.

“What did the president know, and when did he know it?” —Howard Baker

“Can you provide a definition for the word ‘woman’?” —Senator Marsha Blackburn

“What’s your favorite type of abortion?” —Rep. Brandon Gill

And then there is the question God put to Job, not for information, but for perspective: “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?”

Some questions demand accountability from men, while one reminds man who he is. We used to understand this. Now we try to avoid it.

I have spent four decades in exam rooms, where polite conversation is useless when something goes wrong. You don’t ask questions to sound informed; you ask because something is at stake.

What happened? What changed? What are we doing now?

You don’t let the answer drift into language that sounds right but explains nothing. You bring it back, again and again, until something real emerges. No amount of expertise, credentials, or authority allows someone to evade accountability with a filibuster. You don’t have to know how to perform surgery to do that. You just have to care enough not to be brushed aside.

That discipline is rare in our public life.

A congresswoman recently echoed a talking point her party and much of the media have been pushing. She pressed Pete Hegseth about the 25th Amendment and Donald Trump. It sounded serious, but it wasn’t.

The world watched Joe Biden struggle in plain view. Where was this concern then?

The same thing shows up with Elizabeth Warren. She raised concerns about airline prices while opposing the JetBlue-Spirit Airlines merger that might have reshaped that market.

She is welcome to make the argument, but the question remains: “You opposed the merger, so how is this outcome not on you?”

That question doesn’t ask for a speech; it requires an answer.

The same pattern shows up on a much larger stage. For decades, leaders in both parties have said the same thing about Iran: It cannot be allowed to obtain a nuclear weapon, and it remains a leading state sponsor of terrorism.

That has been the consistent position, even as the policies have differed. Two Clintons, two Bushes, Obama, Schumer, Pelosi, Biden, and scores of others all said the same thing: Iran can’t have a nuclear weapon.

Now, when Donald Trump takes steps he argues are aimed at achieving that outcome, many of the same voices object.

RELATED: The media can’t hide behind ‘we’ forever

Kent NISHIMURA/AFP/Getty Images

We have also lost the discipline to define the words we use. People throw around “fascist” as if saying it settles the argument, when all it does is raise another question: “What do you mean?”

Not the label, but the definition. If the word means something, it should withstand that question. If it can’t, then it is being used as a weapon or a prop, not a description. Ultimately, the question becomes the teaching moment.

God set that standard in the third chapter of Genesis: “Where are you?” “Who told you that you were naked?”

He didn’t ask because they needed information, but because they needed to see. That’s what a real question does. It brings clarity. It forces things into the open that people would rather leave covered.

Clarity doesn’t come from longer answers. It comes from better questions. And when the question is right, it leaves no room to hide behind time or language.

People escape accountability because we lack the will — or the courage — to let the question stand in the spotlight. The clock runs out. The filibuster works. And the question either goes unanswered or never gets asked at all.

And everyone retreats to their corner, waiting for the next performance.

​Accountability, Definition, Donald trump, Fascist, Jimmy carter, President, Real questions, Genesis, Adam and eve, Opinion & analysis 

The dawn of the AI era has sparked a wide range of reactions, from exhilaration over the technology’s capabilities to deep distress.

Such responses to a new communicative tool are nothing new, and indeed, AI presents new and unique challenges that will require deep thought and sensitivity.

But a heavy-handed congressional response that erodes long-standing American freedoms isn’t the answer. The Senate Judiciary Committee’s passage last week of SB 3062, the GUARD Act, shows the substantial risk that Congress’ “do something” energy poses to free speech.

Restrictions violate the First Amendment by regulating the protected editorial decisions of developers and by infringing on individuals’ rights to create and receive lawful expression.

The bill regulates AI chatbots — especially so-called “AI companion” systems — through access limits, design mandates, and disclosure requirements, backed by civil and criminal penalties of up to $100,000 per violation.

If enacted, it puts the federal officials squarely in the position of deciding how this technology is built and used, limiting engagement with information and compelling speech along the way.

Growing calls for a federal solution to the fragmented landscape of state regulations reflect a clear political appetite for legislative action. And a single national standard has obvious appeal for an industry seeking consistency across jurisdictions. But consistency isn’t the same as constitutionality.

If federal proposals like the GUARD Act replicate the speech restrictions found in state laws, they just hardwire those problems into federal law.

Take the bill’s age verification requirements. The GUARD Act forces Americans to create accounts and prove their ages. Existing accounts are frozen until verified, and companies are required to recheck users’ ages periodically.

Age-verification mandates like this one force individuals to disclose their identity to seek answers and thus give up anonymity, a right the Supreme Court has repeatedly recognized as central to free expression.

Faced with mandatory identity disclosure, many think twice before asking sensitive questions. Would someone trapped in an abusive relationship be more or less willing to seek advice from a chatbot if she had to surrender her privacy? Or how about the employee who is consistently harassed at work but is worried about asking for advice?

There’s a reason that the Federalist Papers were written under a pseudonym. Even public debate sometimes requires distance from the speaker’s identity. That protection is still needed today, allowing people to seek information, test ideas, and ask sensitive questions without fear of legally required exposure.

Then there are rules about content. The bill makes it unlawful to design, deploy, or make available chatbots that, in the government’s view, “encourage” or “promote” certain categories of constitutionally protected speech.

RELATED: Age verification laws do not make us safer

Samuel Boivin/NurPhoto/Getty Images

Who do we want to be in charge of determining that? Those restrictions violate the First Amendment by regulating the protected editorial decisions of developers and by infringing on individuals’ rights to create and receive lawful expression.

Proposals like the GUARD Act dictate how chatbots respond and intrude on editorial judgment by putting Congress’ thumb on the scale of what is acceptable speech. This means control over who can speak, what can be said, and how ideas are expressed.

Those choices shape the substance of speech and risk reducing a chorus of voices to a single, government-shaped note.

Finally, disclaimer mandates can cross constitutional lines by compelling speech. The GUARD Act requires chatbots to deliver federally imposed messages in every interaction. While informing users, its application in every circumstance alters the content and flow of communication itself.

All of this points to a deeper reality that AI systems cannot perfectly predict or control every output. That is not a defect. It’s a core feature of how these models generate responses from probabilistic patterns.

Artificial intelligence, and chatbots in particular, has become Washington’s latest political punching bag. Accusations of manipulation and harm are driving a slew of legislative proposals to censor this emerging technology. The GUARD Act isn’t alone. The recently introduced CHATBOT Act presents many of the same threats.

The same impulse to move quickly in Congress is playing out nationwide, with proposals in states like Minnesota, Florida, and Washington targeting chatbots through access restrictions, disclosure mandates, and content-related rules.

The Constitution doesn’t permit any government to address concerns about AI by broadly restricting protected expression. The First Amendment demands solutions that target illegal conduct without burdening the exchange of ideas.

This article was originally published by RealClearPolitics and made available via RealClearWire.

​Ai systems control, Chatbot act, Guard act, Age verification requirements, First amendment, Free speech, Ai regulation, Chatbots, Opinion & analysis