Category: blaze media

If you think this is just another harmless piece of paperwork coming out of a state legislature, think again.

Minnesota’s HF 3865 is being sold as a simple clarification of collector car rules, but the reality is far more consequential. This proposal doesn’t just tweak the language — it redraws the lines around when you’re allowed to enjoy a vehicle you already own. And if it passes as written, classic car owners could find themselves boxed into a narrow window of “acceptable” use, with little room for the freedom that defines car culture.

Classic cars require regular use to remain functional. Sitting idle can lead to mechanical issues, from dried seals to fuel system problems.

For decades, collector vehicle laws have operated on a basic understanding. These vehicles are not daily transportation, and owners accept that limitation in exchange for reduced registration requirements and, in many cases, historic recognition. But within that framework, there has always been a reasonable level of flexibility. Owners could take their vehicles out for a drive, attend informal gatherings, test car repairs, or simply enjoy the result of years of restoration work.

HF 3865 changes that balance.

Centralized rule

The bill establishes a centralized rule governing how all collector-class vehicles can be operated in Minnesota. That includes vintage vehicles, classic cars, and other limited-use automobiles that have historically existed under a more flexible understanding between owners and regulators.

What makes Minnesota’s approach notable is that it cuts against the direction of travel in other states. In California — hardly a state known for regulatory leniency — lawmakers are advancing “Leno’s Law,” a proposal to ease emissions requirements for qualifying collector vehicles based on how rarely they’re driven and the practical limits of testing older cars.

Yes, even California is beginning to recognize that legacy vehicles don’t fit neatly into modern regulatory frameworks. Minnesota, by contrast, is moving to define — and restrict — how those vehicles can be used.

In practice, that shift matters. Once a centralized rule is in place, interpretation falls to regulators, inspectors, and law enforcement — each with their own threshold for what counts as acceptable use. What looks like a narrow clarification on paper can quickly become a broader constraint in reality.

Sunday drivers

That ambiguity doesn’t stay theoretical for long. It shows up in everyday situations: An owner takes a freshly repaired car out for a test drive and gets pulled over — does that qualify as permitted use? A weekend cruise without a formal event destination — allowed, or not? A quick drive to keep seals lubricated and the battery charged — reasonable to the owner, but potentially questionable to an officer enforcing a stricter reading of the rule. When the line isn’t clear, the practical burden often falls on the owner to justify the drive.

The concern isn’t just about what the bill says today, but what it enables tomorrow. When the state defines “appropriate use” for collector vehicles, it creates a framework that can be tightened over time — through enforcement patterns, regulatory guidance, or future amendments. What begins as a modest clarification can evolve into a far more restrictive system.

RELATED: ‘Leno’s Law’ could be big win for California’s classic car culture

CNBC/Getty Images

Eroding the culture

For owners, this isn’t theoretical. Classic cars require regular use to remain functional. Sitting idle can lead to mechanical issues, from dried seals to fuel system problems. Owners often need to take vehicles out for test drives after repairs or simply to keep them in working condition. Limiting when and why those drives are allowed adds friction to ownership in a way that goes beyond paperwork — it affects whether maintaining these vehicles is practical at all.

There’s also a cultural cost to consider. Classic cars are not just transportation; they’re rolling artifacts of American design, engineering, and craftsmanship. They connect generations and preserve a hands-on relationship with mechanical systems that is increasingly rare. Restricting their use doesn’t just inconvenience owners — it gradually erodes the culture that keeps them alive.

Supporters of HF 3865 may argue that the bill simply clarifies existing rules. But clarity is not always neutral. When clarification narrows behavior, it functions as restriction. And when that restriction applies to how individuals use their private property — particularly in ways that have long been understood as reasonable — it deserves closer scrutiny.

Minnesota lawmakers have a choice to make. They can preserve the balance that has allowed collector car culture to thrive, or they can begin redefining it in ways that may be difficult to reverse.

For classic car owners, the stakes are simple: This isn’t just about regulation. It’s about whether the freedom to enjoy what you own is quietly being rewritten.

​Lifestyle, Classic cars, Minnesota, California, Emissions, Culture, Leno’s law, Jay leno, Align cars 

Don Lemon is in the headlines again — this time for floating the idea of running for president. On the March 29 episode of the “Pod Save America” podcast with former MSNBC host Alex Wagner, the former CNN anchor admitted that he’s open to running if the right opportunity presents itself.

BlazeTV host Pat Gray played and reacted to the clip on a recent episode of “Pat Gray Unleashed.”

Wagner asked Lemon if he was considering running for office. After a tangent about how he’s disadvantaged because he’s “not a white man” so the “rules are different” for him, Lemon said that he was open to the idea.

“Do I ever think about it? Yes. Could it happen? Yeah, it could happen if the opportunity presented itself — the right opportunity presented itself. … I think I could be president of the United States. I could definitely run this country better than Donald Trump,” he said.

“A towel roll could. You would be a marked improvement,” Wagner replied.

“As an independent though, there would be a hard time for me to run for anything because, you know, the way the system is set up. I’d have to choose a side. And so, you know, I probably would have to become a Democrat,” Lemon added.

“You know what else I think that I could run better than most people? … A news organization because I was there. I’ve been in the game for so long, and I’m not interested in being, you know, the anchor out front. I could come in and fix the bulk of their problems and lickety-split in no time flat,” he continued, noting that he’s currently “building his own channel.”

Pat says the only thing Don Lemon could run well is “maybe a gay bar.”

“What do you want to bet there’ll be over five people there watching?” he asks, referencing Lemon’s new channel.

Between Meryl Streep’s warning to women about the dangers of the SAVE Act and Lemon’s presidential aspirations, Pat “[loves] what’s happening with the left.”

“They’re all so brilliant,” he laughs sarcastically.

To see Lemon’s clip and hear more of Pat’s commentary, watch the video above.

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.

​Pat gray unleashed, Pay gray, Don lemon, Don lemon president, Alex wagner, Blazetv, Blaze media 

A new Republican-led bill pushing for bipartisan reform to the immigration crisis has sparked intraparty clashes over major amnesty concessions.

Republican Rep. María Elvira Salazar of Florida, who introduced the Dignity Act in the House, lashed out at her GOP colleagues critiquing the “compassionate” bill, even though some provisions provide a pathway to “legal status.” Salazar said that calling it an amnesty bill is a “deliberate distortion” of the legislation despite language protecting “Dreamers,” halting deportations, and allowing illegal aliens to enter a seven-year program for “renewable legal status.”

‘I want dignity for Americans.’

“At some point in the future, another legislator will write another law to give them path to citizenship,” Salazar said. “Right now, what we need to do is to buy peace for these people — allow them to stay to continue working, because they are needed.”

Despite clear-cut protections for illegal aliens, Salazar’s Dignity Act has secured 20 Republican co-sponsorships and 20 Democrat co-sponsorships.

RELATED: ‘She was screaming’: Rep. Brandon Gill clashes with Ilhan Omar as immigration battle heats up

Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

While several Republicans have signed on to the bipartisan bill, prominent GOP House members have sounded the alarm.

Republican Rep. Brandon Gill of Texas slammed Salazar’s bill, saying it’s another case of “mass amnesty” and that it “would constitute a terrible betrayal of our voters.”

“Maria, your ‘DIGNIDAD Act’ would give legal status to over 10 million illegal aliens,” Gill said in a post on X. “It’s rank amnesty and everybody knows it. I want dignity for Americans — the people whose interests we represent — not illegal aliens. That means doing what we said we’d do: mass deportations.”

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​Donald trump, Open borders, Amnesty, Immigration crisis, Maria elvira salazar, Brandon gill, Dignity act, Mass migration, Dreamers, Politics 

As an avid library-goer, I’ve watched with interest how American libraries continue to shift and evolve in our new “post-book” world.

That’s right, one thing you notice in libraries these days: There are fewer books. And the ones they do have are checked out less often.

She shrugged and said, ‘Libraries are for everyone. I’m not allowed to tell them to turn their phone down.’

If you can’t find the book you want, you can always reserve it through the library system’s website. But increasingly, those books are not located in a branch library. They are in a warehouse somewhere. In a state of storage.

When you receive these stored books, they often look strange and sickly. Like they haven’t seen sunlight in a while. Like they belong in a museum, an artifact from the past.

Into the future

A couple of years ago, I visited several recently completed public libraries in major North American cities: Seattle, Phoenix, Salt Lake City, Calgary, among others. I noticed these libraries had been specifically designed in anticipation of a decline in book-reading.

These new buildings had “craft” areas, or recording studios, or computer labs. They had conference rooms, where they held workshops for seniors to help them use their smartphones, or instruct young people on how to start a business.

Most of these new libraries were socialistic in nature. They were becoming places where people could access social programs and government assistance. You could sign up for job training. You could get help with your taxes.

Prisons and psych wards

Another thing I noticed: The designers and architects of these libraries seemed to believe that rampant homelessness was not a passing trend. In their minds, this was a permanent situation, which libraries would need to accommodate and serve.

Because of this, many contemporary libraries look and feel very different from the classic library environment.

They had removed old, comfortable furniture and replaced it with unbreakable plastic chairs and tables. Reading lamps were gone, with harsh overhead LED lighting taking their place. Charging stations and sleeping lounges were favored over cozy study nooks. Couches or armchairs were made of odor-resistant, easily disinfected fabrics. Outdoor areas were constructed so they could be hosed down.

Because of these changes, many new libraries often looked like a cross between a prison and a psych ward. They’d been designed to house unclean, unpredictable, occasionally violent, and sometimes incontinent humans.

Shhhhhhhh!

One recent incident I found interesting: I was in a local library, and a patron was watching a TV show very loudly on his phone.

A librarian appeared to see what the noise was. I looked at her like, “Can you say something to that person?”

She shrugged and said, “Libraries are for everyone. I’m not allowed to tell them to turn their phone down.”

She wasn’t allowed? I thought to myself.

“But you,” she said, looking at me. “You can say something.”

Looking at the TV-watching patron, I didn’t feel inclined to confront him. But how could it be that the librarian wasn’t allowed to intervene?

In search of the ‘luxury library’

Like I said, I love libraries. I love the quiet. I love the atmosphere. I love being around other studious types like myself.

I’ve kept tabs on the libraries in my own city, frequently visiting some of my old favorites, to check on which ones are making progress and which ones are getting worse. (They’re all getting worse.)

But recently, I stopped doing that. I don’t go to the big central library building anymore. I have seen enough during recent years to know what that looks like.

Now what I do — at home and in other cities I visit — is figure out where the wealthiest parts of town are, and I find small regional libraries in those areas.

In such places, you have the best chance of finding the “original library experience.” Peace. Quiet. Clean carpets. Comfortable chairs.

You encounter kind, thoughtful librarians (as opposed to the PTSD librarians you encounter in the war-zone libraries).

Actual families visit these places. Moms with their kids. Teenagers after school.

There’s no need for armed security at the front door. There are no Narcan canisters rolling around in the bathroom.

What about the children?

But even these places are subject to change, as they continue to expand their purview.

In one such “luxury library” I frequent, the library has become a kind of part-time nursery school. During certain hours, one half of the building fills up with small children. There are toys and games and little play areas set up for them.

Because this small library is basically one giant room, I am exposed to the screams and cries of the children. They run around. Occasionally, I find them hiding under my table as I work.

I don’t mind the children at all. I don’t have children of my own and always enjoy their antics. And the library has to do something with that space, don’t they?

RELATED: When did America’s public libraries become homeless encampments?

Genaro Molina/Getty Images

Still searching

Even in these wealthy neighborhoods, it’s clear that the libraries are struggling to find ways to remain relevant to their communities.

They have my sympathies. I don’t want libraries to go away. But what purpose will they serve going forward?

I’d prefer that libraries not become another arm of the “nanny state,” full of progressive propaganda and social activism. (“Drag Queen Story Hour” is trying to make a comeback at one library in my city.)

And what about the homeless? Is it really the fate of our great American library system to become a charging station and nod-out zone for drug addicts and street people?

But such is the nature of our socialist society. Tiny enclaves of luxury. Prisons and psych wards for everybody else.

The only solution I have found is to seek out these “luxury libraries” — and make full use of them. And I recommend that others do the same.

​Lifestyle, Culture, Books, Libraries, Social services, Blake’s progress 

It didn’t take long for a federal government agency originally designed to censor certain foreign entities and curate their narratives on terrorism to be turned on Americans.

Then-President Barack Obama issued an executive order in 2011 establishing the Center for Strategic Counterterrorism Communications within the State Department — an agency tasked initially with “using communication tools to reduce radicalization by terrorists and extremist violence and terrorism that threaten the interests and national security of the United States.”

Obama broadened the mission of the agency and renamed it the Global Engagement Center in another executive order just months prior to President Donald Trump’s electoral victory in 2016.

‘Greatest level of disinformation risk.’

The Global Engagement Center — overseen by a steering committee of deep-state officials, codified into law in the 2017 National Defense Authorization Act, and afforded both grant-making authorities and the ability to “leverage expertise from outside the federal government” — eventually became, as one former intelligence source told investigative reporter Matt Taibbi, “an incubator for the domestic disinformation complex.”

In the final days of the first Trump presidency, the deep state and its censorship contractors — desperate to control the narratives about the 2020 presidential election and the COVID-19 virus — apparently turned this “disinformation complex” on Blaze Media in a proof-of-concept test.

According to discovery evidence gleaned by the Federalist in a now-settled case against the government, the Global Engagement Center backed a trial targeting Blaze Media and the free speech it platforms, despite concerns at the State Department about possibly censoring an American company with an American audience in contravention of the agency’s foreign-focused mandate.

Damning discoveries

The Global Engagement Center — which Secretary of State Marco Rubio acknowledged “actively silenced and censored the voices of Americans they were supposed to be serving” — was nominally closed in January 2025, then effectively killed by the Trump administration last April under its final name, the Counter Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference Hub.

Two years prior to the agency’s demise, the Federalist and several other plaintiffs filed a lawsuit against the Global Engagement Center and the State Department.

RELATED: The trial lawyers come for online free speech

Artur Debat/Getty Images

The lawsuit accused the government of actively intervening in the news media market through the Global Engagement Center “to render disfavored press outlets unprofitable by funding the infrastructure, development, and marketing and promotion of censorship technology and private censorship enterprises to covertly suppress speech of a segment of the American press.”

Prior to negotiating a deal with the State Department and settling the case last week, the Federalist obtained discovery evidence confirming that the Global Engagement Center had regularly backed and promoted censorial technologies including NewsGuard and the Global Disinformation Index.

Blaze Media previously reported that NewsGuard and the Global Disinformation Index generated blacklists of supposedly risky or misleading news outfits with the aim of getting them demonetized and directing funds to news organizations that advanced establishment narratives.

In the Global Disinformation Index’s fall 2022 report, for example, NPR, the Washington Post, and other liberal news outfits were labeled as the “least risky sites,” whereas Blaze Media, Reason, the Federalist, the Daily Wire, the New York Post, and other conservative publications made the top 10 list of “riskiest sites” and were smeared as having the “greatest level of disinformation risk.”

It turns out that Blaze Media was targeted for more than just a blacklist.

Testing Americans

In an August 2020 press release, NewsGuard showcased that it and two other technology companies — PeakMetrics and Omelas — had won a $25,000 contract earlier that year offered jointly by the State Department and the Pentagon to develop solutions that would help the departments evaluate “disinformation narrative themes in near real time ‘by identifying online sources spreading COVID-19 disinformation or misinformation narratives.'”

The Federalist obtained evidence that these Global Engagement Center-funded companies ran a test from Dec. 14, 2020, until Jan. 7, 2021, wherein Blaze Media was apparently a featured target.

The Global Engagement Center reportedly explained ahead of time that the test would entail PeakMetrics “first identify[ing] popular yet potentially divisive narratives relevant to the U.S. elections that are trending across channels.”

Omelas, in turn, was supposed to provide “evidence of direct attribution of these narratives to state-sponsored sources of disinformation.”

After PeakMetrics and Omelas assessed which narratives were becoming “integrated into domestic messaging,” NewsGuard “would highlight which sites the narratives continue to surface from and ‘provide information on the reliability, popularity, and endurance of the sites and dissemination platforms,'” reported the Federalist.

This proposed plan apparently made at least one person at the State Department uncomfortable. In a September 2020 email, the person apologized for a lack of clarity regarding the proposed test, noting that the agency had “explained to CYBERCOM” that it would be “impossible” to “focus on domestic audiences” and that “this test will NOT focus on US audiences.”

A PeakMetrics report — produced by the State Department and reviewed by the Federalist — suggested these reassurances, which prompted a department official to approve the test, were misleading.

The report explained that the outfits “collaborated to create a mockup of a joint dashboard incorporating all three companies’ capabilities.”

PeakMetrics noted further that it had performed a preliminary analysis on “Omelas’ ‘Unrest and Violence in America’ narrative,” then integrated its “technology enrichment for sources,” allowing “operators to garner insights such as technology stacks used for a site, IP addresses (and IP2GEO) associated with the site, and potentially affiliated sites using the same ID for particular technologies.”

The report added that “analysis of this metadata can provide unique insights into networks of disinformation propagators.”

PeakMetrics’ report featured two examples of so-called “disinformation propagators”: Sputnik News — a Russian state-owned news agency — and Blaze Media, one of America’s largest independent media companies, which the report claimed had a “record of promoting conspiracies [sic] and misinformation surrounding prominent figures and elections.”

Through a grant of over $2 million to a third party, the State Department funded the testing of the three companies’ technology and financed the test bed on which they collaborated, the Federalist noted.

“Our government financed testing for private technology companies to improve their products — products that target American[s’] speech and seek to silence domestic media outlets,” the Federalist summarized.

PeakMetrics and Omelas did not respond to a request for comment from Blaze News.

Matt Skibinski, the COO of NewsGuard, attempted to downplay the finding, telling Blaze News, “This small contract with the Trump administration’s Global Engagement Center was exclusively for the purpose of tracking narratives emanating from Chinese and Russian media outlets. The scope of work was extremely specific, even going so far as to list the foreign-owned publications that would be the subject of our monitoring.”

Skibinski did not deny that Blaze Media was used in the test.

“PeakMetrics simply incorporated that publicly available rating into its dashboard to test whether this would be useful,” said Skibinski. “Again, this was not part of the scope of work we were paid for, and again, The Blaze [sic] was rated well before we had this unrelated small Trump administration [Global Engagement Center] contract covering foreign disinformation.”

“We did it because we thought it might be a useful capability that could lead us to future contracts,” said Skibinski.

HOW YOU CAN HELP: Independent media only survives if readers step in. Stand with us and get uncensored access to what they tried to suppress.

​Blaze news, Newsguard, Censorship, Global engagement center, Gec, Censor, Covid, Politics, Leftism, Statism, Totalitarianism, Omelas, Peakmetrics, Federalist 

A Kentucky man who won a $167.3 million Powerball jackpot less than a year ago has been arrested for the fourth time since winning the lottery, according to multiple reports.

James Shannon Farthing, 51, and his mother won the $167.3 million Powerball lottery on April 26, 2025, which was the largest prize ever awarded in Kentucky.

The woman later reported to officers that she feared for her life while at Farthing’s house, according to police.

The Courier-Journal obtained an arrest citation saying Farthing “unlawfully entered” a residence in Lexington around 7:16 p.m. March 28.

The citation noted that the resident of the house said she witnessed Farthing on a security camera before hearing a “loud noise that sounded as if the door had been busted open.”

The resident informed police that she was missing $12,000 in cash, according to the citation.

WLEX-TV reported that Farthing fled the crime scene in a black Porsche.

Police said they located Farthing in his vehicle in a parking lot.

The arrest citation revealed that officers observed a burnt marijuana blunt in an ashtray, which led them to search the vehicle, where they discovered additional marijuana and blunts.

Farthing was charged with possession of marijuana and burglary.

Farthing’s $10,000 cash bond was posted March 29.

WKYT-TV reported that Farthing has entered a not guilty plea to the charges.

Farthing is scheduled to appear in court April 27.

RELATED: Dad accused of killing daughter’s alleged rapist wins Republican sheriff nomination: ‘We’re just getting started’

The Courier-Journal previously reported Farthing was arrested on Feb. 11 for allegedly intimidating a participant in a legal process, citing records from Scott County District Court.

The Scott County Sheriff’s Department said Farthing picked a woman up from her Lexington home for a get-together.

“The woman allegedly told law enforcement Farthing gave her a ‘gummy’ she felt pressured to take, though she was not sure what was in the gummy,” the Courier-Journal reported.

The woman later reported to police that she feared for her life while at Farthing’s house, according to police.

When deputies arrived at the house, they noticed a firearm and ammunition “in plain view” on Farthing’s bedside table, the citation stated.

Due to her intoxication level, the woman was transferred to a local hospital.

The citation noted that while at the hospital, the woman showed text messages to officers she was actively receiving from Farthing.

Officers who were still at Farthing’s home seized his cell phone, police said.

According to the citation, one text message Farthing wrote to the woman read: “Why would you do this to me unreal id never hurt you.”

The citation said Farthing told police that the woman had been “perfectly fine” before she disappeared and that he sent her multiple text messages in an attempt “to locate her.”

Farthing was arrested and charged with attempting to influence the woman “by means of harassing communications.”

Farthing was ordered not to contact the woman, according to court records.

Farthing was arrested in November 2025 in connection with a hit-and-run collision in Fayette County, according to the Courier-Journal. Farthing was charged with wanton endangerment and leaving the scene of an accident/failure to render aid or assistance.

As Blaze News previously reported, Farthing was arrested in Florida on April 29, 2025, just one day after he and his mother claimed the $167.3 million lottery jackpot.

Police released chaotic bodycam video of Farthing appearing to assault a deputy.

He was charged with battery and resisting an officer.

WLEX previously reported that Farthing pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges of battery and obstructing or resisting an officer without violence on Feb. 27, 2026.

Farthing received a sentence of time served after spending nine days in jail, according to court documents.

WLEX noted that Farthing was ordered to pay a total of $1,000 in fines, including $151 to the Rape Crisis Trust Fund and $201 to the Domestic Violence Trust Fund.

Citing online court records, People magazine reported that Farthing is awaiting arraignments in two separate cases in April, but it could not confirm the charges in those cases.

The Scott County attorney and the Fayette County Commonwealth’s attorney did not immediately respond to Blaze News‘ request for comment.

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​Burglary, Lottery, James farthing, Powerball, James shannon farthing, Crime, Kentucky, Arrests 

President Donald Trump announced on Tuesday evening a two-week ceasefire with Iran following conversations with Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. Trump noted further that the U.S. received a 10-point proposal from Iran, calling it a “workable basis on which to negotiate.”

Trump subsequently shared a statement from Iranian Foreign Affairs Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi confirming that if attacks against Iran are halted, the embattled Shiite nation would cease its “defensive operations.”

‘We welcomed the agreement between Iran and the United States of America.’

Sharif later stated that “the Islamic Republic of Iran and the United States of America, along with their allies, have agreed to an immediate ceasefire everywhere including Lebanon and elsewhere, EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu quickly contradicted the Pakistani leader.

Netanyahu’s office stated on X that “Israel supports President Trump’s decision to suspend strikes against Iran for two weeks subject to Iran immediately opening the straits and stopping all attacks on the US, Israel and countries in the region.”

It claimed, however, that “the two-weeks ceasefire does not include Lebanon.”

Following the news of the ceasefire, the Israel Defense Forces announced that the Israeli military had “ceased fire in the operation against Iran” but was “continuing to conduct targeted ground operations against Hezbollah” in Lebanon. The IDF has had a significant troop presence in Southern Lebanon for months.

RELATED: Are we risking the coalition that gave Trump a stunning 2024 victory?

Brendan SMIALOWSKI/AFP/Getty Images

According to the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health, “the total number of victims since March 2 until April 7 has risen to 1,530, while the number of wounded has increased to 4,812.”

On Wednesday, the IDF reported that it had “completed the largest coordinated strike across Lebanon since the start of Operation Roaring Lion,” striking targets in Beirut, Beqaa, and Southern Lebanon.

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said in response to the latest attacks, “While we welcomed the agreement between Iran and the United States of America, and intensified our efforts to reach an agreement for a ceasefire in Lebanon, Israel continues to expand its aggressions that have targeted densely populated residential neighborhoods, claiming the lives of unarmed civilians in various parts of Lebanon, particularly in the capital Beirut, heedless of all regional and international efforts to stop the war.”

Several European leaders joined the prime ministers of Britain, Canada, and Japan on Wednesday in welcoming the ceasefire and calling “upon all sides to implement the ceasefire, including in Lebanon.”

It’s presently unclear whether Israel’s continued military operations in Lebanon will impact the U.S.-Iran talks.

Blaze News has reached out to the White House for comment.

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​Iran, Hezbollah, Israel, Beirut, Netanyahu, Pakistan, Lebanon, War, Cease fire, Ceasefire, Sharif, Donald trump, Politics 

The world breathed a collective sigh of relief Tuesday evening after the United States and Iran reached a ceasefire agreement before President Trump’s ominous deadline expired.

Late Tuesday night and early Wednesday morning, Trump and other leaders laid out the plan for the coming days.

‘A Country supplying Military Weapons to Iran will be immediately tariffed.’

President Trump celebrated the two-week ceasefire and the “complete, immediate, and safe opening of the Strait of Hormuz” on Truth Social.

He called it a “big day for World Peace” in another post: “The United States of America will be helping with the traffic buildup in the Strait of Hormuz. There will be lots of positive action! Big money will be made. Iran can start the reconstruction process. We’ll be loading up with supplies of all kinds, and just ‘hangin’ around’ in order to make sure that everything goes well. I feel confident that it will.”

RELATED: Trump announces CEASEFIRE with Iran ahead of deadline

Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call Inc/Getty Images

“Just like we are experiencing in the U.S., this could be the Golden Age of the Middle East!!!” Trump added.

Trump continued laying out the plan early on Wednesday morning: “The United States will work closely with Iran, which we have determined has gone through what will be a very productive Regime Change! There will be no enrichment of Uranium, and the United States will, working with Iran, dig up and remove all of the deeply buried (B-2 Bombers) Nuclear ‘Dust.’ It is now, and has been, under very exacting Satellite Surveillance (Space Force!). Nothing has been touched from the date of attack. We are, and will be, talking Tariff and Sanctions relief with Iran.”

“Many of the 15 points have already been been [sic] agreed to,” Trump said.

Some uncertainty remains, however, regarding the contents of the existing peace proposal. On Tuesday night, Trump alluded to a 10-point proposal provided by the Iranians, while the United States’ proposal appears to have 15 points.

As promised, Trump quickly followed up with another post announcing the strict tariff policy that will be put in place: “A Country supplying Military Weapons to Iran will be immediately tariffed, on any and all goods sold to the United States of America, 50%, effective immediately. There will be no exclusions or exemptions!”

In a Wednesday morning press conference, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth lauded Operation Epic Fury as “a historic and overwhelming victory on the battlefield.” He added: “President Trump forged this moment. Iran begged for this ceasefire, and we all know it.”

The New York Times reported that while the strait is nominally open with the ceasefire, shipping companies are still wary of the risks involved with attempting the safe passage of the strait. Citing S&P Global Market Intelligence, the NYT reported that there are around 800 ships on either side of the strait.

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​Politics, Trump, Strait of hormuz, Iran, Israel, United states, Pete hegseth, Space force, Middle east, Tariffs, President trump, Operation epic fury 

Liberals seized majority control of the Wisconsin Supreme Court in 2023 — their first majority on the Badger State’s high court in 15 years. That majority was firmed up with Justice Susan Crawford’s win last year following the most expensive judicial race in U.S. history.

Wisconsinites dashed conservative dreams of a more balanced court on Tuesday by increasing the liberal stranglehold over their state’s high court in a landslide election.

‘We will keep fighting for our courts because they are that important.’

With over 95% of the votes in, Wisconsin Court of Appeals judge and former Democratic state legislator Chris Taylor had secured 60.1% of the total. Her Republican-endorsed opponent, Wisconsin Appeals Court Judge Maria Lazar, secured 39.8% of the total vote.

Abortion was a key issue during the race. Taylor, a former policy director for Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin, is, after all, a hardline abortion activist.

The 58-year-old liberal authored a bill in 2017, for instance, that claimed “every woman has the fundamental right to choose to obtain a safe and legal abortion.” The bill, which failed to pass, would have barred the state from preventing a woman from procuring an abortion “at any time during her pregnancy” if deemed necessary to “protect her life or health.”

RELATED: Trump-endorsed Republican to fill Marjorie Taylor Greene’s seat in Georgia

Wisconsin Appeals Court Judge Maria Lazar. Jonathan Aguilar/Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service/Catchlight/Getty Images

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that Taylor, who was endorsed by various pro-abortion groups, also celebrated after the state supreme court invalidated Wisconsin’s 1949 law that banned most abortions.

Taylor reportedly said last year that she would not recuse herself from a case just because it dealt with abortion.

Lazar, who previously enjoyed the support of pro-life groups and called the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs “very wise,” accused Taylor of being a “judicial activist.” Taylor, in turn, claimed that her opponent would bring “an extreme, right-wing political agenda to the bench,” reported the Los Angeles Times.

In addition to pushing the abortion agenda during her time in the state legislature, Taylor also championed curbs on the Second Amendment, demanding universal background checks, gun purchase waiting periods, and other so-called gun safety measures.

Whereas Taylor raised over $6.2 million over the course of her campaign, Lazar netted only around $1.2 million, reported the Courthouse News Service.

“The fight is not over,” Lazar said in her concession speech. “And that we will keep fighting for our courts because they are that important.”

Moving forward, the court will be skewed 5-2 for liberals. NBC News noted that it could get even worse: Next year, liberals could potentially pick up another seat on the bench as conservative Justice Annette Ziegler is not running for a third term.

Taylor, who will begin her 10-year term in August, is taking the seat of retiring Justice Rebecca Bradley, a Republican-aligned conservative justice who helped strike down Democratic Gov. Tony Evers’ order to postpone an election because of COVID-19 and condemned lockdown measures.

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​Wisconsin, Court, Supreme court, State supreme court, Leftist, Liberal, Majority, Chris taylor, Lazar, Abortion, Gun control, Gun grab, Second amendment, Life, Planned parenthood, Politics 

The loose-lipped Republican politician made fresh, wild assertions about classified government meetings, the alleged existence of alien programs, and secret forced breeding programs crossing aliens and humans.

Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) continued his recent extraterrestrial revelations in a recent interview, just as NASA is circling the moon.

‘This is what the guy told me.’

During a discussion with TMZ hosts Harvey Levin and Charles Latibeaudiere, Burchett was asked to elaborate on a closed-door meeting he had in a “secure setting” with an unnamed official.

Burchett quickly told the hosts that the individual “gave addresses, they gave times and dates,” and that the people who were in the meeting included those from the “executive branch of previous presidents, not this current president.”

After those remarks, TMZ’s Levin got more specific, asking directly about reports of “pieces of machinery” and “life” that were alleged found and did not “seem earthly.”

Levin asked Burchett to address the existence of either or both.

“I’d say you’d be safe to say both,” the Republican replied.

RELATED: ‘I’m not suicidal’: Rep. Burchett says US would fall apart if we heard truth about UFOs

Pushing things further, TMZ asked Burchett if it was true that “a member of our government” told him that a piece of alien machinery “interacted in some form with people.”

Burchett simply replied, “Yeah, they have … it’s pretty wild.”

“I’m not going to lie to you,” the 61-year-old continued, claiming he would even take a polygraph test to prove it. “This is what the guy told me.”

Burchett then recalled an interaction he had with a “very high-ranking naval official” who allegedly described underwater crafts to him that were the size of “a football field moving at over 200 miles an hour.”

Burchett’s story placed the meeting at his own office and concluded with the military official pulling him “up close” and saying, “Tim, they’re real.”

The official then left out the side door, which Burchett said “nobody ever uses,” describing it as “kind of weird.”

RELATED: Elon Musk announces plans for PERMANENT lunar city

Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

Burchett actually dispelled any idea that Earth is in danger, saying he did not believe there was an imminent threat just because the unknown forces could destroy humanity if they so chose to.

“I don’t think we’re at danger of this. I mean, if these things exist, as I think they do, they could have destroyed us with a blink of an eye. I just don’t see that,” the congressman explained.

He then added, “But I do think they have the technology and the capabilities of something that we can’t understand or we can’t grasp.”

The eyebrow-raising interview concluded with Burchett commenting on recent remarks by former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.).

Gaetz had told host Benny Johnson about “enforced breeding programs” that involved “captured aliens” who were forced to breed with humans “to create some hybrid race that could engage in intergalactic communication.”

“That’s a true story,” Burchett claimed. The congressman said that he, Gaetz, and Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) went to an unspecified location in Florida, where the group of politicians was first turned away. That was until Gaetz “made a phone call to somebody at the Pentagon.”

“All of a sudden they opened the doors,” Burchett recalled.

It was then that a group of pilots allegedly told the politicians about the breeding program.

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​Aliens, Return, Ufos, Florida, Congressman, Alien technology, Space, Nasa, Extraterrestrial life, Tech 

In 2015, Mohamed Bailor Jalloh, a naturalized American citizen born in Sierra Leone, traveled to Africa and met with ISIS in Nigeria. He began communicating with a terrorist online who, thankfully, was an FBI informant. Jalloh was arrested and convicted for providing material support to ISIS and was sentenced to 11 years in federal prison.

Jalloh should have been denaturalized and deported after his conviction. That should have been the end of the story. However, as a naturalized citizen, he was allowed to remain in the country.

In 2024, he was released from prison early, and on March 12 of this year, he walked into a classroom at Old Dominion University and opened fire, killing Lieutenant Colonel Brandon Shah, a retired Army officer.

We cannot allow our immigration system to be wielded as a weapon against our nation.

Shah was from Staunton, Virginia. He enlisted in the army in 2003 and flew an Apache helicopter over Iraq, Afghanistan, and Eastern Europe. He survived 600 hours of combat in the Middle East only to be gunned down by a terrorist as he taught a class here in the American homeland.

This horrific attack should never have happened. When a foreign-born terrorist is convicted of conspiring against our homeland, no American should ever have to worry that he will attack again.

My new bill, the Denaturalization and Expulsion of Persons Who Orchestrate Radical Terrorism Act, will guarantee that it never happens again.

The DEPORT Act makes it clear that any naturalized citizen who commits an act of terrorism, plots to commit an attack, joins a terrorist organization, or otherwise aids and abets terrorists is denaturalized and deported. In other words, Jalloh’s conviction for supporting terrorists would have been his last act on American soil.

Naturalization is intended to allow immigrants to pledge total allegiance to the United States. Terrorism is the antithesis of that pledge. This treasonous act represents everything we stand against. Any naturalized citizen found guilty of terrorism-related charges was never loyal to our country and should be removed from our homeland immediately.

Most Americans are understandably shocked to learn that this is not already the law. However, as FBI Director Kash Patel posted on X recently, denaturalizing terrorists is “extremely difficult.” To do so, the government must prove that the person in question fraudulently obtained his or her citizenship.

Under current law, joining a terrorist organization after naturalization is treated as prima facie evidence of such fraud, but only if it happens within five years of becoming a citizen.

The DEPORT Act extends this five-year window for denaturalization to 10 years. It creates a new pathway to denaturalize lone-wolf terrorists — those inspired by online propaganda and foreign extremist ideology who act without formally joining a designated terrorist organization.

RELATED: Austin’s ‘Property of Allah’ shooter is immigration failure made flesh

Stephanie Tacy/NurPhoto/Getty Images

Critically, the bill also directs the Secretary of Homeland Security to revise the application for citizenship to include an attestation requirement that will force every future applicant to swear under oath that they have no intent to commit terrorism against the United States. If this had been the law when Jalloh was naturalized, he would easily have been deported upon his conviction.

Passing this legislation would be common sense at any point in American history. We cannot allow our immigration system to be wielded as a weapon against our nation. But it is especially sensible today, as more than 50 million people currently living in the United States were born in foreign countries. This represents almost 15% of the total U.S. population.

Tens of thousands of these immigrants hail from countries with active terrorist networks. Worse yet, many were welcomed to America with little to no vetting under the Biden administration.

Jalloh’s terrorism is not an isolated incident. Ndiaga Diagne, the shooter who attacked a beer garden in Austin, Texas, on March 1, was a naturalized citizen from Senegal. This gunman, who wore a “Property of Allah” shirt, killed two people and injured 14 others.

Similarly, Ayman Mohamad Ghazali, the Lebanese-born man who reportedly rammed his pickup truck into Temple Israel in Michigan last month, was a naturalized citizen.

The status quo is untenable.

Ensuring that our nation has the ability to denaturalize and deport convicted terrorists isn’t radical. It is the bare minimum we can do to claw back our sovereignty and protect American citizens against the ticking time bomb within our borders.

​Naturalized citizens, Deport act, Denaturalize and deport, Old dominion university attack, Austin shooting, Mohamed bailor jalloh, Property of allah, Terrorist attack, Opinion & analysis 

Voters in Georgia went to the polls Tuesday to elect someone to fill the seat vacated by Marjorie Taylor Greene after she resigned on Jan. 5.

Republican Clay Fuller and Democrat Shawn Harris were the top two winners of the special primary election for Georgia’s 14th Congressional District that included 17 candidates on the ballot on March 10.

‘Our country is safer because of what President Trump has done regarding Iran.’

In the special election on Tuesday, Fuller defeated Harris handily. With 99% of the votes counted, Fuller had nearly 56% to Harris’ 44%.

Harris is a retired Army brigadier general who had been endorsed by Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.).

Fuller had the upper hand in the deep-red area of Georgia, especially with the endorsement of President Donald Trump, despite being outspent by Harris, $1.2 million to $6.5 million.

Greene demolished Harris by nearly 30 percentage points in 2024.

One of the major points of disagreement between Fuller and Harris was the U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran.

“I spent 40 years in the military. … The reality of it is, this is a war of choice,” said Harris.

“Our country is safer because of what President Trump has done regarding Iran,” said Fuller, who served in the Air National Guard overseas.

Had Harris won the pivotal election, Democrat hopes of retaking both chambers of Congress in the midterm elections would have soared.

For now, Fuller will complete Greene’s term. He will have to win the election in November to serve a full two-year term.

Greene was previously a stalwart Trump supporter but appeared to sour on the president and was very critical of his administration before she resigned the seat.

RELATED: ‘Low IQ traitor’: Trump torches MTG after she claims he ‘fueled’ death threats against her‘

On Sunday, she claimed Trump had “gone insane” after he threatened to hit power plants and bridges unless Iran relinquished its stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz.

“Everyone in his administration that claims to be a Christian needs to fall on their knees and beg forgiveness from God and stop worshipping the President and intervene in Trump’s madness,” wrote Greene.

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​Clay fuller vs shawn harris, Marjorie taylor greene seat, Clay fuller wins election, Georgia runoff election, Politics 

Social media is rife with warnings that AI will take everyone’s jobs within the next one to five years. If true, mass unemployment will become a mainstay of modern life, sparking questions as to how civilization as we know it will survive. The big-brained elite think they have a solution through universal basic income — with some optimists like Elon Musk claiming that high basic income is the wave of the future — but this idealistic concept poses several dangers severe enough that they could dismantle America and bring about the end of the world.

1. The death of capitalism

Let’s get this one out of the way first: UBI is a gateway to socialism. In a world where the people earn nothing and everything of value is handed down from on high, the capitalist system that made this country great ceases to exist.

Forced dependence, by any other name, is a form of slavery.

Without a consistent job or a way to earn a steady salary, the people must become dependent on the elite who control the money and dole it out at their discretion. Who exactly is expected to do this honestly and fairly? The government has shown itself to be an unreliable steward, especially on the left as the pursuit of equity ensures some groups — like white, straight men — are intentionally marginalized in favor of minority groups. Private companies don’t seem like good benefactors either, as many of them are currently firing employees in favor of AI, simply to keep more money for themselves.

Even if the UBI rollout magically goes off without a hitch, capitalism stands to face another hurdle. People are less likely to buy products and services when they live on a basic fixed income. In a study conducted in 2024, UBI recipients were most likely to spend UBI on necessities, like food and transportation, while withholding their dollars from what can be seen as more frivolous expenses that drive the American economy.

2. Financial inequity

The left’s disdain for wealthy Americans is well-known, with politicians regularly calling for the rich to “pay their fair share,” because why should you keep your money when the government can have it instead? Right now, the left tries to confiscate as much of the people’s earnings as possible through taxes — like California’s outrageous wealth tax — and if given the chance, they’d gladly redistribute those funds to groups that didn’t earn it.

RELATED: Why doesn’t money make you happy?

MicrovOne/Getty Images

Universal basic income would install a fast lane to the left’s unofficial wealth redistribution program. Once in power, they would get to decide which groups receive UBI, as well as the amounts that are distributed. In a left-leaning world, that could mean minority groups get more basic income while “privileged” groups receive less, finally giving them the power to push the “equity” they’ve chased since the Biden administration.

3. The end of the American dream

While Elon Musk’s “high basic income” is a novel idea, the reality of a socialist system means that most of us will get a meager allowance while the elite keep the lion’s share for themselves. In doing so, this will create a larger divide between the upper class and lower class. At the same time, the middle class who can’t work, can’t earn money, and can’t get a leg up will also fall into the lower-class bracket.

Under UBI, the middle class will be hollowed out, permanently relegating the majority of Americans to poverty. Even worse, this new system will ensure that no one can escape the lower class simply because they don’t have a way to earn more money than the elites are willing to give. Job scarcity and financial dependence will keep the poor in check, and the American dream will cease to exist.

4. Freedom isn’t free

Our forefathers promised the people life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. They made a social contract, one that still stands to this day. But if the jobs go away, UBI is instated, and the people must depend on someone else for their next paycheck, the Declaration of Independence loses its power.

Simply put, the people can’t be free if we’re forced to depend on politicians, benefactors, or elitists to provide our way of life. Forced dependence, by any other name, is a form of slavery. Universal basic income gives the elite the power to take our rights and render our founding documents null and void.

5. One step closer to the end times

Last but not least, UBI is one of the final levers required to spread the mark of the beast, the precursor to the end times.

In the New International Version of the Bible, Revelation 13:16-17 says: “It also forced all people, great and small, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads, so that they could not buy or sell unless they had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of its name.”

This doesn’t just mean you can’t buy or sell products unless someone says so. It also means you would need the mark to receive UBI payments.

To put it bluntly, it’s easier to force the people to sell their souls when their means to work, earn money, and be free are all taken away. Even if UBI isn’t the mark itself, it’s a Trojan horse that will usher in top-down control that can be exploited by the most evil forces our world has ever known. It’s exactly what the devil wants and needs before the book of Revelation comes to pass.

Is universal basic income inevitable?

In a word, no, not yet. The things above can only happen if the two things below about the ongoing AI race are true:

AI will be effective enough to fully replace human jobs, a feat that’s proving difficult with continuous hallucinations, mistakes, and more.AI will have the power to produce endless mountains of cash. There can only be enough basic income for everybody — even in small amounts — if AI can print infinite money.

Assuming these are true, more roadblocks stand in the way of an AI-controlled economy.

A crippled economy

Businesses are currently run by people who buy products and services from other human-led companies. Some businesses sell products to each other (B2B), while other businesses sell straight to consumers (B2C). This cycle is the beating heart of capitalism.

If companies are suddenly all run by the same AI platforms, they’ll no longer need to buy digital services from each other to get work done. They can simply use AI to build custom versions for their own companies at little or no extra cost, thus cutting out third-party vendors and partners, which will ultimately make some companies obsolete. In fact, this loophole has the power to take down the entire digital B2B market.

On the commerce side, consumers face a different problem. They can’t use AI to manufacture physical products for themselves — like iPhones, PCs, and game consoles — but under the universal basic income strategy, they are more likely to hold their money for necessary purchases than to spend it like they do today. This monumental shift in spending habits could also cripple companies and the market, or at the very least, it could stifle year-over-year growth.

In short, universal basic income, ushered in by the revolution of AI, would be a huge disaster for American workers, the American economy, and the American dream. All of it is in jeopardy unless the government passes regulations that prevent mass job loss. Luckily, after kneecapping the states’ ability to regulate AI via executive order, the federal government is finally stepping up by introducing the National AI Legislative Framework and the Trump America AI Act. More on that soon.

​Tech, Universal basic income, Ubi, Ai, Artificial intelligence 

As BlazeTV host Sara Gonzales has continued investigating and exposing H-1B fraud in Texas, she’s found that one city in India is behind most of the scamming: Hyderabad — the H-1B capital of the world.

“So many tips that we’re receiving, it’s the same song and dance. These Telugu people have schemed the system so much that they’ve been able to corner the H-1B market here in the United States,” she says.

And yet, despite Sara’s reporting, CBS News published a piece on April 4 portraying Hyderabad as a booming high-tech powerhouse and a major talent pool central to India’s IT success story. Reporter Shanelle Kaul, who traveled to the city, argues that the Trump administration’s new $100,000 fee on H-1B visa applications will hurt America’s ability to attract top global talent, potentially slowing U.S. tech innovation.

Sara is outraged by CBS’ claim that the city she’s discovered to be behind a great deal of H-1B fraud is actually “an amazing utopia full of tech workers that are just way more highly skilled than American workers.”

“I have thousands of emails backed up by actual proof from news agencies in India that these people are literally just faking everything,” she says.

“They fake their resumes; they fake their job experience; they have people come in and do the interviews for them on Zoom. … They fake all of their credentials. These are not the brightest and the best people. The only thing that they’re the best at is scamming our system.”

Sara rejects the claim that America doesn’t have the raw talent to be a top competitor in the tech industry.

“Was Steve Jobs from Hyderabad? … Mark Zuckerberg? Bill Gates … total scumbag. However, he was not Indian,” she says.

Hyderabad, which Kaul referred to in her piece as the “Silicon Valley of India,” is “still not better” than America’s home-grown tech industry, Sara argues.

“Why would we import people from there? We already have it. It’s here. We already have Americans,” she continues.

Part of Kaul’s reporting included an interview with Xavier Fernandes, the founder of Y-Axis, an immigration agency that helps people move to countries like the U.S., Canada, and Australia.

In the interview, he argued, “That kind of talent you can’t manufacture. It’s not a thing that you can get it locally.”

Sara is suspicious of both Fernandes and Kaul.

“Indians in India right now are like, ‘Anyone who comes from Hyderabad is highly suspect and should be investigated.’ That’s what the regular, normal, honest Indians are saying. So anyone who’s like, ‘Oh no, it’s just a really big tech hub’ — immediately suspect,” she says.

“Mainstream media is simply simping for people who are trying to defraud America. They do it every single time.”

To hear more of Sara’s commentary and watch clips from CBS News’ recent piece praising Hyderabad, watch the episode above.

Want more from Sara Gonzales?

To enjoy more of Sara’s no-holds-barred takes on news and culture, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

​Sara gonzales, Sara gonzales unfiltered, Blazetv, Blaze media, H1b visas, H1b fraud, Hyderabad india, Cbs news 

There is a reason why most red-state Republican leaders fail to reflect the political values of their constituents. They represent the special interests they work for rather than the whole of the people.

Nowhere is this more evident than with the ravaging of West Virginia by generative AI data centers, promoted by people like House of Delegates Speaker Roger Hanshaw, who legally represents special interest groups fighting poor, local communities in court.

The same man who was instrumental in stripping localities of their ability to block data centers is now representing the people behind those data centers in court.

Remember the provision in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act of 2025 that originally attempted to strip all state and local governments of any ability to block data centers from being built? Well, last year, West Virginia enacted just such a ban at the state level. Hanshaw shepherded HB 2014 to Republican Gov. Patrick Morrisey’s desk.

Among many special tax and regulatory favors offered to data centers, this bill removed local jurisdiction over the siting, zoning, and operating of certified high-impact data centers and microgrids.

Thus, companies like Google, Meta, and OpenAI could work with state politicians bought into their pay-for-play and force their way into any community. And what better person to be fighting for them than the speaker of the House?

While serving as speaker, Hanshaw filed a notice of appearance in the appeal to the Department of Evironmental Protection’s Air Quality Board on behalf of his client MGS CNP1 LLC, which is an affiliate of Houston-based Fidelis New Energy working on a data center project in Mason County.

This was in the middle of the session and just one week after the state House of Delegates passed legislation making it easier for these projects to obtain certification with the Department of Commerce.

Then, just two days after the session ended, Hanshaw took on a case through his work at Bowles Rice for Fundamental Data, the company working on powering the data center bonanza in Tucker County.

So the same man who was instrumental in stripping localities of their ability to block data centers is now representing the people behind those data centers in court against local community groups appealing the DEP’s permit issuance.

It was the Tucker County fight that led me to speak out nationally against this mindless business model of raping red-state land, power, and water for a form of generative AI that serves nothing but chatslop and the surveillance state.

Last August, I vacationed in Tucker County, home to the gorgeous Blackwater Falls State Park and Canaan Valley. A county that voted for Trump by a 50-vote margin, these people are the forgotten men that MAGA was supposed to represent.

RELATED: How to power the AI race without losing control

Rudall30/Getty Images

I spoke with several locals who were irate beyond words about the injustice occurring in a state with barely any Democrat elected officials.

What’s worse is that West Virginia is also being violated with endless transmission lines to power the blue-state “data center alley” in northern Virginia. According to a report from the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysts, West Virginia energy consumers will be expected to pay $572 million in higher rates to fund the rope to hang themselves.

What is so offensive is that these projects are not even creating jobs. According to the February JOLT report from BLS, construction remains in the greatest recession since the Great Recession, despite these so-called data center projects. Oracle, which is at the center of the cloud computing in the data centers, is laying off 18% of its workforce.

Shockingly, Henshaw and his minions attempted to pass even greater handouts for data centers offered to no other industry, in addition to what was in HB 2014.

This session, they introduced SB 623, which offered a complete property tax exemption and sales tax exemption on all data center equipment. They also introduced HB 4013, which would have created a new tax credit available to data centers to offset all state income, sales/use, franchise, and payroll withholding taxes based on capital investments, construction costs, and wages.

How many jobs did they have to create to qualify? Just 10! Which, of course, is a tacit admission that these behemoths don’t create many jobs, despite their enormous footprint, cost, and consumption of power.

In other words, Agenda 2030 is being fulfilled right under our noses in a state where Republicans control both houses of the legislature with 32-2 and 91-9 majorities.

What West Virginia, with its mind-numbing GOP majorities, shows is that the lack of conservative outcomes under GOP control is not due to a lack of power or votes but too much access to money and special interests.

​Data centers, Ai, Ai data centers, Roger hanshaw, Gop, Republicans, Big tech, Meta, Google, Openai, Opinion & analysis, West virginia 

I served in combat with the U.S. Army. Like many veterans, I know that men and women who come home carrying the physical and mental costs of war rely on disability payments to maintain mortgages and keep their families afloat. These funds help people rebuild lives that were permanently changed during their years of service and sacrifice.

Benefits are meant to help families recover from the physical and mental costs of war, yet they too often become a revenue stream for law firms that specialize in VA appeals.

Navigating the VA’s disability system is rarely simple. Many veterans are already coping with serious injuries, mental health challenges, or financial stress as they transition back to civilian life. Confronting a complicated bureaucracy on top of that can feel like fighting another battle — which is why veterans should have access to a range of options for help.

The current system often leaves veterans with limited options, partly because when disability claims are delayed and pushed into drawn-out appeals, attorneys are allowed to collect a percentage of the veteran’s eventual award. The longer the process drags on, the larger the payout.

The Department of Veterans Affairs paid $394.7 million to accredited attorneys over the past year — money taken directly from veterans who fought to earn those benefits. The CHOICE Act (H.R. 3132) would help ensure that those benefits stay with the veterans who earned them, not the lawyers who see them as a payday.

Federal law limits attorney fees in most VA disability cases at 20% of a veteran’s backpay award. Those guardrails exist for a reason: Without them, veterans’ benefits risk becoming just another profit center for the litigation industry.

Organizations representing trial lawyers spend millions lobbying Congress each year on issues affecting litigation and attorney compensation. Veterans’ disability claims are no exception. When legislation like the CHOICE Act seeks to limit attorney fees and protect veterans’ benefits, the trial bar mobilizes to protect its financial interests.

This opposition raises a simple question: When the debate is about veterans’ benefits, whose side are these lobbyists really on?

Does increasing the share of benefits that go to legal fees serve those who wore the uniform?

Benefits are meant to help families recover from the physical and mental costs of war, yet they too often become a revenue stream for law firms that specialize in VA appeals.

RELATED: The trial lawyers come for online free speech

Skodonnell/Getty Images

Veterans deserve strong advocates. The system should prioritize protecting them, not increasing the financial incentives tied to their benefits in an already strenuous process.

The complex VA benefits process can attract bad actors looking to profit from veterans navigating a complicated bureaucracy. Reputable companies that assist veterans with disability claims have been among the loudest voices calling for stronger oversight and clear rules to eliminate those abuses.

The CHOICE Act would establish guardrails that veterans deserve, including stronger consumer protections, limits on fees, and accountability for providers that violate the rules.

Congress must put veterans and their families first. The priority should not be filling trial lawyers’ deep pockets, but ensuring the system truly serves veterans’ best interests. When powerful lobbying organizations treat those benefits as a potential revenue opportunity, the system risks losing sight of whom it is meant to serve.

Our country made a promise: If you serve, and if service leaves you injured or disabled, the nation will stand behind you. The benefits belong to the veterans who earned them and not to the lawyers or lobbyists who see them as a revenue stream. Congress should pass the CHOICE Act and ensure those benefits serve the veterans they were meant for.

​Veterans, Va, Veteran benefits, Lawyers, Disability claims, Choice act, Bureaucracy, Opinion & analysis 

A man being sought by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents tried to run over officers and was shot in Northern California on Tuesday, according to ICE.

Officers were performing a targeted vehicle stop on Carlos Ivan Mendoza Hernandez in Patterson when he allegedly “weaponized” his vehicle and tried to run over officers.

KCRA-TV obtained dashcam video of the incident showing that the man put his car in reverse and then drove forward while surrounded by agents.

“Following their training, our officers fired defensive shots to protect themselves, their fellow agents, and the public,” reads a statement from ICE Director Todd M. Lyons on social media.

“The illegal alien was taken to a local hospital,” he added. “The FBI is on the scene.”

Lyons added that Hernandez was a member of the heinous 18th Street Gang from El Salvador and was wanted for questioning in relation to a murder.

No officers were injured in the shooting, and no law enforcement officers were involved in the shooting, according to the sheriff’s office.

KCRA-TV obtained dashcam video of the incident showing that the man put his car in reverse and then drove forward while surrounded by agents. At least one agent can be seen shooting into the car.

The driver, assumed to be Hernandez, continues to drive the vehicle over the median in the direction of oncoming traffic before it comes to a stop.

News helicopter footage from KCRA showed a lot of damage done to the car involved, including several gunshots in the windshield.

RELATED: A major win for student who posted pro-ICE posters at California high school: Report

On-ramps and off-ramps on the I-5 freeway were shut down for the investigation for hours afterward.

Patterson is a town of about 24K residents in Stanislaus County about 90 miles southeast of San Francisco. It is known as the “apricot capital of the world.”

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​Ice shoots man, Carlos ivan mendoza hernandez, 18 street gang attack, California ice shooting, Politics 

President Donald Trump announced that the United States has reached a ceasefire agreement with Iran just ahead of the deadline he set for its total destruction.

The president posted the message on Truth Social on Tuesday that the U.S. had met many of its military objectives.

‘I agree to suspend the bombing and attack of Iran for a period of two weeks.’

“Based on conversations with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Field Marshal Asim Munir, of Pakistan, and wherein they requested that I hold off the destructive force being sent tonight to Iran,” he wrote, “and subject to the Islamic Republic of Iran agreeing to the COMPLETE, IMMEDIATE, and SAFE OPENING of the Strait of Hormuz, I agree to suspend the bombing and attack of Iran for a period of two weeks.”

Trump went on to say that the U.S. received a 10-point proposal from Iran and called it a “workable basis” upon which to negotiate.

“Almost all of the various points of past contention have been agreed to between the United States and Iran, but a two week period will allow the Agreement to be finalized and consummated,” he added.

The president previously set a deadline of 8 p.m. ET on Tuesday night for Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz or face total destruction. The ceasefire was reached about an hour before the deadline.

RELATED: ‘Give it up or go to jail’: Trump vows to hunt down whoever leaked info about downed pilot in Iran

“On behalf of the United States of America, as President, and also representing the Countries of the Middle East, it is an Honor to have this Longterm problem close to resolution,” he added. “Thank you for your attention to this matter!”

This is a developing story.

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In the premiere episode of “Stu and Dave Do America,” Stu Burguiere and Dave Landau lived up to the show’s name by diving straight into the issues Americans actually care about: the decline in spanking kids, the weirder side of foot fetishes, and — of course — a savage ranking of Donald Trump’s most annoying former employees.

The nerdy-funny duo created a hilarious list of the president’s worst hires, complete with dishonorable mentions that will have you cackling.

The dishonorable mentions kicked things off with a parade of Trump alumni who earned a special place in the “thanks but no thanks” hall of fame: John Bolton, Alyssa Farah Griffin, Pam Bondi, Kristi Noem, and plenty more. Stu and Dave didn’t hold back on the roasts — from Bolton’s “serial killer” vibe to some truly unhinged Noem-related tangents involving puppies and questionable plastic surgery.

But the real contenders for most annoying Trump employee of all time were these five:

Anthony FauciCorey LewandowskiSteve BannonMichael CohenAnthony Scaramucci

Dave cast his vote firmly for Fauci, declaring: “It’s been six years of a destroyed world because of Fauci. … Literally anyone else would have done a better job.”

Stu followed up by joking that even the teacher who created Airborne would’ve been better suited for the role.

The whole segment is packed with the kind of rapid-fire banter and absurd tangents that make Stu and Dave such a great pairing — equal parts conserva-nerd precision and comedian chaos. If you need a good laugh at politics gone wrong, this episode delivers.

Check it out 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.

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Gilbert Smalls, 76, told police he complained about loud music coming from 21-year-old Justin Chatfield’s next-door apartment in the River Park Towers in the Morris Heights section of the Bronx on Thursday night, the New York Daily News reported, citing law enforcement sources.

With that, Smalls claimed the much younger Chatfield responded “f**k you” to his complaint; their argument took place through a wall that separates their apartments, the Daily News said.

‘Her baby, one of her babies, died in her arms.’

Moments later, Smalls told police he heard seven shots fired outside his window, the paper said, citing sources. Police haven’t determined if shots actually were fired, the Daily News added.

Smalls, who lives with his wife and told police he’s in poor health, then got his gun — a 9-mm pistol he keeps in a safe, the paper said.

Smalls then stepped into the hallway, the Daily News said, adding that Smalls’ doorway and Chatfield’s doorway are just inches apart.

Law enforcement sources told the paper that surveillance video obtained by investigators shows Smalls opening fire at Chatfield as soon as Chatfield came to his own apartment doorway.

Walter Fields — an attorney and longtime friend of Chatfield’s family — told the Daily News that after Chatfield was shot, he stumbled back into his apartment and tried to get help from his mother.

“Her baby, one of her babies, died in her arms,” Fields told the paper last week.

The Daily News said Chatfield was rushed to St. Barnabas Hospital but couldn’t be saved.

RELATED: 19-year-old thug reportedly violated bond at least a half dozen times before being accused of murder — while out on probation

Sources told the paper that police soon knocked on Smalls’ door with the intention of asking to look at his Ring doorbell video — but Smalls confessed instead.

“I’m the one who shot him,” one source quoted Smalls saying, the Daily News reported.

More from the paper:

Smalls then led police into his apartment and gave officers the key to the safe containing his gun, sources said.

The suspect suggested he shot his neighbor thinking he may have been armed, sources said.

He complained of health issues, telling cops he doesn’t expect to “make it,” presumably while behind bars, sources said.

Smalls was arraigned Saturday on murder and gun possession charges in Bronx Criminal Court and ordered held without bail, the Daily News said, adding that Smalls’ lawyer declined comment Monday.

Sources told the paper there had been previous tensions between Smalls and Chatfield, but it doesn’t appear police had ever been called to their apartments.

Chatfield had multiple arrests on his record, most recently for robbery in January 2025, police told the Daily News.

A large makeshift memorial was set up outside the apartment building for Chatfield, the paper said.

Chatfield also was expecting a child with his longtime girlfriend, the Daily News said. The couple were high school sweethearts, Fields added to the paper.

“He was very close to having a baby — I mean, within months,” Fields also told the Daily News. “He should be a new father. He was looking for work, going to trade schools. He was really trying to become a productive member. Support his family, support his child.”

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