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The U.S.-Israeli strikes against Iran are taking a toll on each American’s pockets as gas prices surge to the highest level in three years.

Iran responded to the decapitation strikes by confirming fears that it would shut down the Strait of Hormuz, a choking point for global oil tankers.

‘I would love to see the gas prices go down because everybody might not be financially able to meet the demands of these high prices.’

Oil prices have skyrocketed in the nearly three weeks since the strikes began, and Americans are paying nearly a dollar more per gallon at the pump.

That equates to about a 28.9% increase on average, from $2.98 at the beginning of the war to $3.84 on Wednesday.

The Associated Press spoke to drivers in Louisiana and Mississippi as they pumped gas into their vehicles.

“It’s pretty hard. I mean, times are tough for everybody right now,” Amanda Acosta said. “I’m getting way less gas and paying way more money.”

“I would love to see the war end,” said Thelma Williams, an Army Reserves veteran. “I would love to see the gas prices go down because everybody might not be financially able to meet the demands of these high prices.”

Meanwhile in Texas, Lubbock resident Clay Plant said the spikes in oil prices mean an immediate surge of jobs for workers in his region.

“It’s kind of a good sign for us in west Texas,” he said. “I look at it as my friends and family get to eat, and they get to go to work.”

Gas prices range from a high in California of over $5.56 per gallon to a low in Kansas of about $3.23.

RELATED: Gavin Newsom tries to hit Trump administration on energy prices — and gets humiliated online

Economists warn that the rise in oil prices increases the cost of all products that need to be transported and also leads to lower consumer spending as Americans readjust their budgets.

To provide some gas price relief, President Donald Trump temporarily suspended the Jones Act, a 1920 law restricting foreign-flagged ships, on Wednesday. The act has been excoriated by free market economists who argue that it leads to detrimentally higher costs on products shipped to the U.S.

About one-fifth of the world’s global oil supply flowed through the Strait of Hormuz.

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As the Maine Senate race heats up, BlazeTV host Liz Wheeler is calling out Senator Susan Collins not as a stabilizing moderate, but as a “subversive” within the Republican Party.

“What Collins is facing in the state of Maine is not a pretty picture. Susan Collins has portrayed herself to be a moderate Republican all her life, a sort of centrist Republican. You could call her a liberal Republican,” Wheeler explains.

“She’s not a social conservative. She’s not based. She’s not fully woke either. But what’s happening in the state of Maine is embarrassing for her because the state of Maine is about to elect a senator instead of Collins who’s not a moderate,” she continues.

And this politician who’s not moderate “has a Nazi tattoo on his arm.”

“A Democrat with a Nazi tattoo. A Democrat who has trained the militia, the transgender militia groups that seek to be the Marxist vanguard for a revolution. A man who not only claims to be a socialist, but claims outright to be a communist. I’m talking about Graham Platner,” Wheeler explains.

“Graham Platner, currently in Maine, is polling higher than Susan Collins. Susan Collins risks losing her seat to this whack job. Unless she gets a boost from you, unless people want to support her and turn out, unless people want to expose who Graham Platner is. But what would be our motivation to do that if Collins isn’t on our side?” she asks.

“What would be our motivation to make sure that Graham Platner loses if Collins votes in the exact same way that Graham Platner has promised to do? If Collins is subverting your vote by subverting the president’s agenda, is she on our side really, or is she set to lose everything that she has spent her entire career building?” Wheeler continues.

And Collins does not have a great track record when it comes to supporting the president’s agenda.

“It was Senator Susan Collins and Senator Bill Cassidy who torpedoed President Trump’s original nominee for the CDC, Dave Weldon. Dave Weldon is a congressman from the early 1990s who had the audacity, what, 30 years ago, to question whether the increase in the childhood immunization schedule had any correlation to the increase in chronic disease,” Wheeler explains.

Wheeler also points out that over the course of her career, Collins has taken “nearly three-quarters of a million dollars from the pharmaceutical and health products industry.”

This is why Wheeler crowns Collins as the “most destructive to the MAHA agenda within our own party.”

“The subversive that pretends to be one of us is Susan Collins,” she adds.

Want more from Liz Wheeler?

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A NASCAR driver apologized after he was suspended indefinitely for mocking another driver in a tone that he called his “gay voice.”

Daniel Dye, 22, was captured on a livestream video using the voice to ridicule IndyCar driver David Malukas after another person said Malukas “plays for the other team.”

In 2022, he was suspended for allegedly punching a high school classmate in the groin.

Dye, who was trading cards at the time, used the gay tone and bobbed his head in a mocking fashion, as described by NBC News.

“It’s like, ‘Oh my gosh, yes! We race Indianapolis too! Love Indianapolis and Roger Penske. I love Roger. Love you, Roger,'” Dye said.

“As soon as I do a David Malukas gay voice I get a gold, so let’s keep it going,” he added, implying that the gay voice led to his finding premium cards. “I’m on fire!”

Nascar said the incident violated its policy against drivers making a statement that “criticizes, ridicules, or otherwise disparages another person based upon that person’s race, color, creed, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, marital status, religion, age, or handicapping condition.”

Dye issued a lengthy statement apologizing for the behavior and promising to be better in the future.

“I want to first apologize to David Malukas. I recently went on a live stream with some friends and made some careless comments. I chose my words poorly, and I understand why it upset people. I’m sorry to anyone who was offended,” Dye wrote.

He added that he spoke to his friends in the LGBTQ+ community about the incident.

“I’m taking this seriously and working on being more aware and respectful moving forward. I’m sorry to everyone I let down,” he added. “I am committed to learning from this and better understanding … the impact that my decisions can have on others.”

RELATED: NASCAR tried to hide its Pride Month promotion, but fans found it anyway

Dye’s racing team Kaulig Racing also announced an indefinite suspension of the driver.

This is the second time Dye had been suspended over off-track antics. In 2022, he was suspended for allegedly punching a high school classmate in the groin. He was charged with a felony that was reduced to a misdemeanor and eventually dropped altogether.

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A Utah woman self-published a book in 2023 titled “Are You With Me?” — the story of a child who loses his father but is comforted by the knowledge that he remains with him in spirit. The description for the book claims it was “written by a loving mother” who personally faced the challenge of guiding “children through the difficult experience of losing a loved one.”

The problem? The 35-year-old author, Kouri Richins, was just convicted of murdering her husband and the father of her three sons.

‘Eric had to die.’

A Utah jury of eight unanimously found Richins guilty Monday of aggravated murder for lethally dosing her husband for pecuniary gain on March 4, 2022; attempted aggravated murder for trying to kill her husband on Valentine’s Day 2022; two counts of insurance fraud; and one count of forgery.

Kouri Richins faces 25 years to life in prison without parole for the aggravated murder and attempted aggravated murder convictions.

Prosecutors called scores of witnesses who helped paint a portrait of an adulterous and conniving woman who racked up millions of dollars in debt; whose real estate business was on the rocks; who lacked rights to several of Eric Richins’ assets in the event of a divorce per the terms of a prenuptial agreement; and who fantasized about her husband’s death.

“She did not have the money to leave Eric or the money to salvage her business,” prosecutor Brad Bloodworth said in his closing argument, CNN reported. “Kouri Richins is an intensely ambitious person. She is a risk-taker. There was a way forward — Eric had to die.”

The victim’s life reportedly was insured for over $2 million through numerous policies, including a policy that prosecutors said Kouri Richins applied for fraudulently.

RELATED: Mother publishes book about grief for her sons — after she allegedly murdered their father

“Kouri Richins wanted to murder Eric Richins, thus took out an insurance policy on his life to get money for murdering Eric Richins,” Bloodworth said. “Then she murdered Eric Richins, and then she submitted a claim to get the money.”

Wendy Lewis — Kouri Richins’ defense attorney — challenged the monetary motive, suggesting that Eric Richins was of more use to Kouri Richins alive as evidenced by the fact that “Kouri spent that life insurance within a matter of weeks and was still in debt.”

Prosecutors said Richins added fentanyl to a Moscow mule drink that she gave her 39-year-old husband, and a toxicologist testified that the victim’s blood contained five times the minimum level of a fatal dose of fentanyl, CourtTV reported.

Bloodworth provided a reminder in court that Carmen Lauber, a house cleaner who worked for Kouri Richins, testified that Richins asked her repeatedly in 2022 for illicit pills — pills she procured for Richins both prior to the Valentine’s Day murder attempt and days before Eric Richins’ death.

In addition to hearing about an apparent attempt on the part of Richins to pin the purchase of the illicit drugs on Lauber, jurors reportedly heard at trial that a forensic examination of Richins’ phone revealed internet searches about how to delete iPhone messages as well as about death benefit insurance payouts and fentanyl poisoning.

The jury reportedly also saw the romantic messages exchanged between Richins and her then-lover, Robert Grossmann, including messages from Richins about their future together.

A spokesman for the Richins family said the victim’s sons will remain in the custody of his family and that his family was “relieved” by the verdict.

RELATED: Ex-teacher and boyfriend indicted on 39 child sex charges; she confessed to abusing 5-year-old at his direction, cops say

The victim’s obituary stated in 2022, “Eric was a family man, who always strove to be the absolute best father and husband. He was an attentive and loving father to his three sons Carter (9), Ashton (7), and Weston (5), and a devoted husband to the love of his life, and wife of nine years, Kouri (Darden) Richins. Eric did absolutely everything in his power to provide his family with every possible opportunity to learn, grow, and have fun.”

Richins is scheduled for sentencing on May 13.

She also has been separately charged with multiple counts of mortgage fraud, money laundering, forgery, and issuing a bad check along with a single count of communication fraud, KSTU-TV reported.

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Journalist Nick Shirley uncovered more than $170 million in alleged day-care and hospice fraud in California, surpassing the scandal he previously exposed in Minnesota.

On Monday, Shirley shared a 40-minute video featuring him and his team confronting alleged fraudsters living in luxury at the expense of American taxpayers.

‘It’s like somebody took a motel building and turned it into a hundred fraudulent organizations.’

“Here is the full 40 minutes of my crew and I exposing California fraud, Minnesota was big but California is even bigger,” Shirley wrote.

“We ALL work way too hard and pay too much in taxes for this to be happening. These fraudsters have been able to defraud American taxpayers for years without any pushback from the public and politicians,” he continued. “It is time to EXPOSE IT ALL and end America’s fraud crisis.”

In the video, Shirley explained that California’s version of Medicare, Medi-Cal, has more than doubled from $108 billion in fiscal year 2022 to a proposed $222 billion in fiscal year 2026.

“One out of every 10 dollars of home health care in America is spent in Los Angeles,” Shirley stated. “It is estimated that the fraud in California could be in the hundreds of billions of dollars.”

Shirley and his crew stopped at several claimed day-care locations, including some homes in residential areas, that seemed to have no children present. In one instance, the team visited a supposed day care in an apartment complex, where they found two young children playing outside. The children informed them that no adults were present.

RELATED: Mike Lee reveals the real victims of Somali fraud: ‘It is not the rich people who suffer’

Simone Lueck/Bloomberg via Getty Images

“The crazy thing is California allocates $6 billion to child-care and day-care facilities just like these, and there are over 39,000 facilities in the state,” Shirley said.

Shirley and his team also visited alleged hospice centers receiving millions of dollars in taxpayer funds. He explained that two of the facilities charged roughly $6,000 per beneficiary.

“It looks like there’s about 15 more hospice centers inside this one plaza we’re going to right now,” Shirley said.

He noted that some facilities had not even registered with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, suggesting they may be shell companies.

“It’s rumored that these are Armenian-Russian gangs,” Shirley said.

RELATED: Death threats, doxxing, and empty Dem seats: The high cost of Nick Shirley’s fight against Minnesota welfare fraud

PASCAL POCHARD-CASABIANCA/AFP/Getty Images

One of the hospice locations Shirley visited reportedly received roughly $1.3 million. However, the location was empty, with no employees or furniture inside.

“Not only are these shell companies, these are shell buildings,” an individual on Shirley’s team stated. “It’s like somebody took a motel building and turned it into a hundred fraudulent organizations.”

Shirley highlighted the luxury vehicles in the parking lot, including Mercedes, Teslas, and BMWs.

Shirley explained that fraudulent hospices collect taxpayer funds by obtaining Medicare beneficiary numbers from individuals and enrolling them in care without their knowledge.

“Must be very lucrative, because a lot of these businesses, these doors right here have nothing on them; all the blinds are turned out,” he said. “This is what you call welfare maxxing.”

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The governors of the U.S. Federal Reserve have voted on interest rates — and President Donald Trump won’t be happy with the result.

The governors voted to keep overnight banking interest rates at their current levels despite pressure from Trump to lower them. The rates are currently in the 3.5%-3.75% range.

‘The US economy has really been just doing pretty well through a lot of significant challenges.’

Fed Chair Jerome Powell said in a media briefing Wednesday that holding the rates would contribute to fulfilling the dual mandate of maximum employment while keeping inflation down.

He emphasized that the economic effects of the tariffs, a Supreme Court ruling knocking down some tariffs, the attacks on Iran, and the spike in oil prices were all mostly unknown at this point.

“We are balancing these two goals in a situation where the risks to the labor market are to the downside, which would call for lower rates, and the risks to inflation are to the upside, which would call for higher rates, or not cutting anyway,” Powell said.

The stock market has tumbled downward since oil prices spiked following the U.S.-Israeli military strikes on the Iranian regime. Losses extended after the announcement from the Fed.

“The U.S. economy has really been just doing pretty well through a lot of significant challenges over the past few years. It’s been amazing to see,” Powell said.

He also rejected the assessment by some that the economy had entered a period of “stagflation,” which is low economic growth accompanied by higher inflation.

“I would reserve the term stagflation for a much more serious set of circumstances,” Powell added. “That is not the situation we’re in.”

RELATED: Supreme Court denies Trump emergency motion to fire Lisa Cook from the Fed — for now

Powell is also under investigation over claims that a billion-dollar renovation of the Federal Reserve building was being mismanaged. While those accusations appeared to have been defused when Powell hosted the president at the building to show him the renovation progress, the Dept. of Justice later issued subpoenas related to the claims.

Those subpoenas were rejected by a federal judge accused by the administration of being biased against Trump.

“There can almost be no inflation, but there can be a SLOWING of the economy unless Mr. Too Late, a major loser, lowers interest rates, NOW,” Trump said of Powell in April 2025. “Europe has already ‘lowered’ seven times. Powell has always been ‘To Late,’ except when it came to the Election period when he lowered in order to help Sleepy Joe Biden, later Kamala, get elected. How did that work out?”

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On Monday night, the Los Angeles Lakers defeated the Houston Rockets 100-92, with star point guard Luka Doncic scoring 36 points to extend the team’s winning streak to six games.

BlazeTV host Jason Whitlock thinks the reign of LeBron James is finally coming to an end — and even more, the longtime power broker may be OK with it.

“LeBron James seemed somewhat comfortable as the third leg, the third wheel,” he says, noting that even head coach JJ Redick is now referring to James as a third option.

Now that James, who Whitlock has long argued is a hindrance to the team’s success, is in his rightful place, will the Lakers finally reach their competitive potential?

On this episode of “Fearless,” Whitlock and guests Jay Skapinac, Dre Baldwin, and Steve Kim debate the future of the purple and gold.

“I know Charles Barkley will be upset with me for even suggesting this, but could the Lakers be a serious threat in the postseason?” Whitlock asks the panel.

For Baldwin, the answer is complicated.

“I say they are a threat because they have a very good player in Luka Doncic. They have Reeves, and of course, LeBron is still a very good third wheel. … As long as he’s OK with being in the third seat and staying there ego-wise, they are a threat,” he says.

“Now, are they actually going to win and come out of the West? I say no. They have all offense. They are not very strong defensively,” he caveats.

Kim is optimistic about the Lakers’ playoff prospects so long as the team continues to prioritize team performance over LeBron’s court time.

“You got to be able to play by the pecking order, and that’ll be the test for both JJ Redick and LeBron James,” he says.

Skapinac is more hesitantly optimistic.

“[LeBron] has actually muffled and suppressed his own ego for a couple games here, Jason. Can he do it for the next 16 games of the regular season and then for the remainder of the playoffs? … I still will hedge my bet and say no on that,” he argues.

Even if LeBron’s ego stays in check for the remainder of the season, however, he nonetheless has low hopes the Lakers will be serious championship contenders.

“It’s a stretch to suggest they’ll get out of the first round. They’re going to finish somewhere between three through six,” he predicts.

To hear more of the panel’s conversation, watch the video above.

Want more from Jason Whitlock?

To enjoy more fearless conversations at the crossroads of culture, faith, sports, and comedy with Jason Whitlock, 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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Former Auburn coach Bruce Pearl appears to be stealing the show as an analyst for the NCAA men’s tournament — and BlazeTV host Jason Whitlock is already over it.

“There’s no reason for Bruce Pearl to be the most interesting man in the NCAA Tournament,” Whitlock says on “Fearless.”

“For him to be overshadowing the players and the coaches in this tournament — and he is — that’s a problem. You have legitimate stars in this NCAA Tournament, and everyone’s talking about Bruce Pearl,” he continues.

“The former Auburn coach, the man that is still taking money, as we learned yesterday, from Auburn, while promoting Auburn, while taking a dump on Miami, while taking a dump on SMU. The former coach at Auburn and Tennessee should not be the most interesting man in any NCAA Tournament. He never won one,” he adds.

“I want to walk you through why this is a problem,” Whitlock says, pointing out that there are incredible stories all over the NCAA Tournament that aren’t getting the attention they deserve — because it’s all on Pearl.

“There’s more conversation about Bruce Pearl today than there is about Cameron Boozer at Duke. Cameron Boozer is a 6’9″ post player — power forward — who’s led Duke to the number one overall seed. He’s a fascinating story,” he explains.

“He has a twin brother on the Duke team that’s going to be starting. I believe his name is Cayden Boozer … the Boozer brothers and Duke. Fascinating story. Overshadowed by Bruce Pearl,” he says.

“He’s sucking up all the oxygen in the room. He’s launching this television career, which I hope ends after this year. He’s done enough damage,” he adds.

Want more from Jason Whitlock?

To enjoy more fearless conversations at the crossroads of culture, faith, sports, and comedy with Jason Whitlock, 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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Brent crude, the primary global benchmark for oil prices, rose higher than $120 per barrel in early summer 2022, largely on account of the fallout from the war in Ukraine and increased demand in countries reopening after suffering through years of self-imposed COVID restrictions.

At the time, this generated a great deal of excitement and consternation, especially when U.S. gas prices soared to a record high of roughly $5 a gallon.

Americans may soon long for the days of $120 per barrel.

‘Consumers continue to feel the sting of rising oil, gasoline, and diesel costs as geopolitical tensions in the Middle East remain elevated.’

Analysts at Citi said in a note on Wednesday that Brent crude — which recently saw an intraday high of nearly $120 a barrel and is presently trading over 65% above its level at the beginning of the year — could hit $200 a barrel if Tehran executes “broad energy infrastructure attacks” or keeps the Strait of Hormuz blocked until June, Investing.com reported.

Iran appears keen to satisfy both of these conditions.

Following the initial joint U.S. and Israel strikes on Feb. 28, Iran targeted energy facilities in its backyard, prompting various companies to wind down their production and shutter their facilities.

RELATED: Trump blasts allies over reluctance to join Iran conflict: ‘WE DO NOT NEED THE HELP OF ANYONE!’

Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Qatar’s state-run QatarEnergy, for instance, shut down its LNG production complex following Iranian drone strikes at two of its facilities. OilPrice.com recently noted that even if the hostilities in the region ended immediately, it could take several weeks to restart production.

On Wednesday, Tehran issued a warning via state media to several Middle Eastern oil facilities — the Samref Refinery and Jubail Petrochemical Complex in Saudi Arabia; the Al Hosn Gas Field in the United Arab Emirates; and the Mesaieed Petrochemical Complex, Mesaieed Holding Company, and Ras Laffan Refinery in Qatar — notifying them of imminent strikes “in the coming hours,” Reuters reported.

“These centers have become direct and legitimate targets and will be targeted ⁠in the coming hours,” the warning said. “Therefore, all citizens, residents, and employees are requested to immediately leave these areas and move to a safe distance without ⁠any delay.”

The warning, which was followed by a jump in the per-barrel price of Brent crude, came in the wake of airstrikes against the South Pars gas field, the world’s largest natural gas reserve which is shared by Iran and Qatar.

A source confirmed to the Jerusalem Post that several energy facilities in South Pars and the Iranian city of Asaluyeh were struck by the Israeli Air Force on Wednesday. Two senior Israeli officials told Axios that the attack was coordinated with and approved by the Trump administration.

Amid the attacks and threat of attacks on energy infrastructure, analysts at Citi wrote, “Brent prices will rally as the conflict continues over the coming days, to $110-120/bbl,” adding that could be the “price or market event which drives the U.S. to end its military operation” or alternatively drives global powers to “forcefully reopen the Strait.”

President Donald Trump has implored the international community to aid the U.S. in reopening the strait, emphasizing that China and other nations are far more reliant than America on the supply flowing down the strait.

According to Reuters, China received 1.6 billion barrels of crude oil over the past 14 months via the Strait of Hormuz; the rest of Asia collectively received 1.6 billion barrels; India received 1 billion barrels; Japan and South Korea each received 800 million barrels; the U.S. and Europe each received around 200 million barrels; and the rest of the world received a combined 300 million barrels.

Citing sources familiar with the matter, Bloomberg reported that Vice President JD Vance and other administration officials plan to meet at the American Petroleum Institute on Thursday to meet with oil executives.

“We look forward to convening key officials — including Vice President Vance, Energy Secretary [Chris] Wright, bipartisan leaders in Congress, and governors — to discuss the role of American oil and natural gas in supporting reliable energy supply amid global volatility,” Andrea Woods, a spokeswoman for the institute, told Bloomberg. “Our industry is focused on providing insight into market dynamics and strengthening American energy leadership and resilience for the long term.”

The price-tracking service GasBuddy noted that as of Monday, the national average price of gasoline was up 80 cents per gallon from a month ago and 66.1 cents higher than a year ago.

“Consumers continue to feel the sting of rising oil, gasoline, and diesel costs as geopolitical tensions in the Middle East remain elevated, pushing gasoline prices to their highest levels in years while diesel could soon approach the $5-per-gallon mark nationally,” said Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy.

“Until we see a meaningful resumption of oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz, upward pressure on fuel prices is likely to persist,” De Haan continued. “At the same time, seasonal forces are beginning to intensify as several regions complete the transition to summer gasoline, creating a double headwind that could continue driving pump prices higher in the weeks ahead.”

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The New York Post has uncovered a bizarre music video starring Bobby Pulido, an Emmy-winning musician who won the Democratic nomination for a U.S. congressional seat in Texas.

In the video titled “Dias de Ayer,” Pulido portrays several characters, including a gun-wielding gangster in the mold of “Scarface,” a pervert who pleasures himself in public spaces, as well as a gay male who is attracted to the pervert.

‘This freak is who Democrats chose to run in Texas?’

The embarrassing video from 2010 might complicate the campaign effort by the political neophyte.

The Post noted that he had made somewhat derogatory comments to users on social media implying that he might be gay.

“I can swear on the Bible that I’m not,” said Pulido in Spanish to questions about his portrayal of a homosexual in the video.

Pulido is hoping to unseat Republican Rep. Monica De La Cruz for the 14th congressional district in Texas. President Donald Trump won the district easily in 2024, and De La Cruz trounced Democratic opponent Michelle Vallejo by more than 14 percentage points.

Democratic polling found Pulido was trailing behind the incumbent by only three percentage points in September.

His campaign did not respond to a Post request for comment.

RELATED: Rep. Al Green forced into runoff with candidate half his age after failing to get 50% of Democratic primary vote

The Republican National Committee did have a comment on its official account on the X social media platform.

“This freak is who Democrats chose to run in Texas?” said the account.

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The governor of New York was reduced to begging the wealthy to move back to the high-tax state in order to help fund its social programs.

Democrat Gov. Kathy Hochul made the comments during a Politico forum in Albany on March 11 after the state legislature called for higher taxes.

‘They’re not going there because they have a nicer governor. … They’re going there because of the tax rate.’

“I need people who are high net worth to support the generous social programs that we want to have in our state,” said Hochul.

“There are some patriotic millionaires who stepped up. OK! Cut me the checks. If you want to be supportive, then maybe the first step should be go down to Palm Beach and see who you can bring back home, because our tax base has been eroded,” she added.

“So I philosophically don’t have a problem. It is, like, I have to look at the fact that we are in competition with other states who have less of a tax burden on their corporations and their individuals,” Hochul concluded.

Hochul is seeking to win re-election after she was elevated to the governor’s office because of the fall of Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D).

New York joins other states looking to tax the wealthy in order to fund their socialist schemes, including California, which is facing its own population exodus, and Washington state. Both states have experienced billionaires fleeing to other states with lower tax burdens.

“Wall Street businesses looking at Texas?” Hochul asked rhetorically. “They’re not going there because they have a nicer governor! I know that for sure! But they’re going there because of the tax rate. We have to be smart about this.”

RELATED: LA Times gets obliterated online for scolding people wanting to leave high-tax California

Hochul’s critics pointed out that she told conservative and Republican New Yorkers to leave the state in 2022 and go down to Florida, “where you belong.”

Ironically, just months later, she lamented that too many people were leaving the high-tax state to seek better opportunities elsewhere.

“We must and will make our state safe,” she said at her inaugural speech.

“And we must reverse the trend of people leaving our state in search of lower costs and opportunities elsewhere.”

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Thermostats have become so intelligent that they can build entire lifestyle portfolios on a homeowner simply by using the embedded technology that regulates and tracks heat and electricity.

Many smart thermostats are openly asking users for this information. But studies have also revealed that other knowledge, which no homeowner would want a stranger to know, can now easily be harvested and quantified.

A thermostat’s built-in motion sensors determine if a homeowner is home or away.

For example, an Ecobee smart thermostat, available on Amazon for $140, has been used to monitor sleep patterns over the course of a year. A 2022 study used six Ecobee sensors to track sleep time, wake-up time, sleep duration, as well as time spent at home. It also determined how those behaviors were influenced by weekends and seasonal weather.

This all came from the thermostat’s data, which can connect to Apple’s Siri, Amazon’s Alexa, and Google Assistant.

Google Nest thermostats can come equipped with a series of cameras, sensors, and more, as well as public-facing features like Home/Away Assist and Auto-Away. These features track whether the user is home or not and can do so in multiple ways.

The first option is to sync with the homeowner’s phone location. It asks for user location and address, and it even helps pinpoint the home on a map.

Auto-Away does not even need add-on sensors throughout the house to tell if the user is home. According to How to Geek, it uses the thermostat’s built-in motion sensors to make this determination.

The justification for the intimate invasion of privacy is to lower and limit heating or cooling usage when the user is not at home or to enable security features.

Ecobee also has passive motion sensors that can tell when a person is home or not.

RELATED: Creepy new laws will mean your car monitors you 24/7 — eyes, skin, even breath

Photo by Joan Cros/NurPhoto via Getty Images

Ecobee also utilizes a feature so it knows which rooms in a home are occupied. “Follow me” mode is an attempt to maximize energy efficiency by tracking the resident with sensors as he moves through rooms, and it adjusts the temperature accordingly.

At the same time, it tracks the amount of time spent in each room.

A 2018 study showed a 95% accuracy rating in terms of gauging home occupancy using a technology called WalkSense. The technology identified room occupancy, house vacancy, and even occupant activities.

The latter is helped by what is referred to as “load monitoring,” which is a fancy term for tracking what type of appliances a person uses by how much electricity he uses, another feature of smart home devices.

RELATED: Storm season is here. Yes, you need a better weather app.

Load monitoring works by applying a “signature” to an appliance by extracting data from its power signal. The signature is applied to the typical amount of energy usage from the appliance, which henceforth identifies the amount of power used by a dishwasher, washing machine, etc.

A February 2021 study proposed such a system that identified appliances with 98% to 99% accuracy.

Another study from 2017 even showed it was using load monitoring through a smart meter called Rainforest at the time.

Load monitoring is typically used with energy meter trackers like Sense Energy — installed on the electrical panel — but can be paired with home monitoring systems like Google Nest or Alexa, which either pair with or operate the smart thermostat.

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​Return, Automation, Thermostat, Smart home, Smart thermostat, Smart energy, Homeowner, Tech 

Actress Katherine Heigl was in attendance at Mar-a-Lago last weekend where she posed for photos with Lara Trump and Jeanine Pirro. And while the left is not happy with seeing the actress there, it was at an event that raised $5.5 million for Big Dog Ranch Rescue.

“Liberals outraged, I told you about everything, including dogs. Dogs,” BlazeTV host Sara Gonzales comments, shocked. “They don’t like dogs. That’s how you know they’re not the party for you. They are the party of hating dogs, because there was a big fundraiser at Mar-a-Lago to rescue dogs.”

“Now everyone hates Katherine Heigl for going there and trying to raise money to save dogs,” she adds.

One X user wrote, “F**k her and anyone attending maga-lago for any reason,” while another wrote, “Supporting Nazis. So many orgs that aren’t run by white supremacists. This is a choice.”

However, Heigl wasn’t taking the attacks lying down.

“Animals don’t vote. The only room they don’t like is the euthanasia room at a shelter,” Heigl told Page Six in a statement. “They are completely at the mercy of us, and they have no voice of their own.”

“This event was about animal advocacy, something that has always been deeply personal to me,” she continued. “Anyone who knows me knows that protecting animals is one of my greatest passions.”

“The point is, animals, of course, do not knowingly vote,” Gonzales comments, adding, “They’re not involved in our politics. And the charity event raised $5.5 million for rescue dogs.”

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​Sara gonzales unfiltered, Sara gonzales, The blaze, Blazetv, Blaze news, Blaze podcasts, Blaze podcast network, Blaze media, Blaze online, Blaze originals, Mar a lago, Katherine heigl, Leftist outrage, Leftism, Liberals, Trump derangement syndrome, Big dog ranch rescue 

Carl von Clausewitz framed war as a “continuation of politics by other means.” Weaponry, in this view, is an extension of state judgment, a tool pulled from the kit when the talking stops. Looking at the landscape of directed-energy weapons and autonomous subsea networks, one suspects the tools have begun to write their own script. The question is no longer just what we do with the tools, but what kind of world becomes thinkable and governable once they exist.

The new frontier is the management of latency, visibility, and energy at the very edges of the habitable world. It is a reorganization of politics around the capacity to see and the speed at which one can destroy.

The border is becoming a software-defined stack of sensing and response.

The visual theatricality of directed-energy weapons appeals to our desire for a clean defense. We hear of the Iron Beam, a 100kW-class laser system integrated into multitier defense arrays. The descriptions are intoxicating: an unlimited magazine, almost zero cost per interception, and the promise of reduced collateral damage. These defense systems promise to restore cost symmetry in the face of cheap, numerous drones that can saturate expensive missile defenses.

The technical reality is more mundane and perhaps more telling. These weapons of light remain stubbornly bound to the earth. A laser is a system of ordering: power generation, cooling, and software integration. It is also a prisoner of the weather. For all their speed-of-light elegance, lasers are degraded by the most common of things: rain, fog, and storms. Even when the technical feasibility is proven, the operational reality is constrained by the atmosphere itself.

If the sky is becoming a theater of light, the ocean is becoming a laboratory for a different kind of visibility. Historically, the undersea domain was the last holdout against panoptic ambitions: It was difficult to see, difficult to communicate through, and difficult to police. The Cold War depended on this opacity, on stealth and the difficulty of detection by sonar.

Now, the sea is being made a platform. Subsea drones, from small autonomous vehicles to the U.S. Navy’s Orca extra-large uncrewed undersea vehicle, are designed to make the underwater domain legible. The goal is a distributed fleet architecture, storing eggs in many baskets to ensure that no single loss is catastrophic.

RELATED: Yes, there’s an AI hive mind, and it’s making us dumber

Yuuji/Getty Images

Yet the physics of water remains punishing. While we take high-speed wireless for granted on land, the underwater acoustic channel offers only a few kilobits per second over a 10 km link. This scarcity of bandwidth forces a shift toward decision-making at the edge. A drone under the ice cannot call home for instructions but instead must interpret its own sensors and manage its own contingencies through a complex stack of perception, state estimation, and mission policy.

Reliability here is engineering for trust. In the extreme cold of under-ice operations, in which temperatures can sustain -35°C, there is no fail-safe of surfacing. The ice layer removes the luxury of escape.

The Arctic was once the site of exceptionalism, a region governed by cooperation, science, and the explicit exclusion of military security from the mandate of the Arctic Council. That story is ending. As the sea ice declines, this environment is being revealed as a corridor for commerce and surveillance.

The IPCC suggests the Arctic may be practically free of sea ice in September at least once before 2050. The U.S. Department of Defense is more aggressive, suggesting an ice-free summer could arrive by 2030. This melting makes minerals, fisheries, and choke points like the Bering Strait newly available for military and commercial ordering.

The map is being redrawn by infrastructure as much as by diplomacy. Finland and Sweden have joined NATO, shifting the alliance geography of the North. The U.S. Air Force maintains a North Warning System of 49 radars, a logistical feat that requires sustaining sensors and fuel in an austere environment. In this theater, sovereignty requires infrastructure: keeping the sensors on, the parts moving, and the communications flowing.

The cost of latency here is strategic. Because geostationary satellites do not sufficiently support high-latitude operations, there is a frantic move toward low-Earth-orbit constellations to provide the connectivity required for modern command and control.

We are witnessing a shift in the nature of the border. It is becoming a software-defined stack of sensing and response. NATO now treats the ocean floor, the hidden architecture of cables and pipelines, as a critical space that must be monitored by AI and sea drones. It is the defense of the material substrate of digital life. Technologically mediated violence produces a new kind of border politics, in which the decisive terrain is invisible, found in electromagnetic spectra, sonar inference, and satellite coverage gaps.

In this world, we are always operating under imperfect information. We return to Clausewitzian friction, though today we call it packet loss, acoustic noise, or navigation drift. We find ourselves at the edge of the habitable world, watching the ice melt and the sensors blink, waiting for the speed of light to solve a problem that remains stubbornly human.

​Tech 

Several super PACs linked to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee reportedly poured over $20 million into multiple House primary races in Illinois in hopes of advancing favored candidates or at the very least kneecapping candidates critical of Israel.

Some of the groups’ investments paid off.

‘There’s no gray lines as it relates to their beliefs.’

For instance, Cook County Commissioner Donna Miller — a beneficiary of nearly $4.5 million in ad spending from the AIPAC-linked group Affordable Chicago Now — defeated former Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. in the Democrat primary for the state’s 2nd Congressional District.

In the Democrat primary for the 8th Congressional District, former Rep. Melissa Bean, another beneficiary of spending by an AIPAC-aligned group, also came out on top, beating Junaid Ahmed, a leftist whom AIPAC faulted for centering “his campaign on attacking Israel.”

However, Chicago City Treasurer Melissa Conyears-Ervin, a candidate who ran in the 7th District Democrat primary to replace retiring incumbent Rep. Danny Davis, turned out to be a bad investment.

With 90% of the votes in, the Associated Press called the race for state Rep. La Shawn Ford, a Democrat with a history of tax fraud who secured 23.9% of the total vote. Conyears-Ervin, one of only handful of candidates who said in a WBEZ-FM survey that she did not oppose sending U.S. military aid to Israel, trailed behind with 20.5% of the vote.

RELATED: Jesse Jackson Jr.’s political comeback fails miserably after he served prison time

John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service/Getty Images

The United Democracy Project, an AIPAC super PAC established in 2022, poured nearly $5 million into positive ads for Conyears-Ervin, reported Politico.

Austin Weekly News reported that the AIPAC group’s intervention in the race was criticized by many of the other 13 candidates, including Ford, who was backed by the retiring incumbent.

“I’ve also had meetings with the very people that’s spending this money,” said Ford. “They want you to say ‘yes’ to everything that they have requests for. There’s no gray lines as it relates to their beliefs. It’s a yes or no. … ‘Don’t have a conversation, that this is what we want. We want you to vote with us in Washington 100% of the time, and we want to control our member,’ and that’s what this is about. And I refused that type of relationship.”

Ford suggested further last month that “this money dwarfs, or tries to dwarf, the voice of the voters in the 7th Congressional District, and it would tell you immediately who this candidate will be beholden to. Follow the money.”

Kina Collins, one of the leftist candidates defeated on Tuesday, said last month that it was “not going to help [Conyears-Ervin’s] case that AIPAC is backing her.”

While AIPAC’s support may have negatively affected Conyears-Ervin’s chances, she also had plenty of baggage. For instance, she reportedly agreed in September to pay a $30,000 fine to resolve charges brought by the Chicago Board of Ethics.

Conyears-Ervin, an ally of Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson (D), was accused of misusing city resources and retaliating against whistleblowers — allegations she denies, reported WTTW.

Conyears-Ervin’s race was among the Illinois primaries regarded as a test for AIPAC. The lobbying group characterized the night as a win overall, however, stating, “Illinois voters rejected half a dozen anti-Israel candidates across several heavily Democratic open-seat races. These results further demonstrate that campaigns defined largely by opposition to AIPAC, our members, and the values we represent continue to fall short on election night.”

The group added, “Although Chicago City Treasurer Melissa Conyears-Ervin did not advance, AIPAC congratulates State Representative La Shawn K. Ford on his win. The pro-Israel community is proud to have helped defeat Kina Collins, who has voiced anti-Israel views over multiple election cycles.”

Ford — who was indicted on 17 counts of bank fraud but ultimately pleaded guilty in 2014 to only a single misdemeanor charge of tax fraud — will face off in the general election with Republican nominee Chad Koppie, a farmer and retired Delta Airlines pilot whose “main goal is trying to ban abortion.”

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​Illinois, Conyear-ervin, Aipac, Foreign influence, Elections, Chicago, La shawn ford, Democrat, Primaries, Congress, Israel, Brandon johnson, Politics 

I went to an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting the other night, a meeting I have gone to sporadically over the years. It’s in a big church and tends to average around 200 people every Saturday night.

I was immediately surprised at the sparse attendance. This is something I have been seeing a lot lately. I was just at a meeting the week before that was half its normal size.

The idea of a person having a ‘drinking problem’ feels almost quaint now that most major American cities are full of drug-addicted zombies wandering the streets.

It’s not unusual for attendance at AA meetings to ebb and flow. One meeting will get hot for a while. Then it will die down and another meeting will become popular.

Also, COVID has had a lingering affect on AA meetings. People got comfortable doing Zoom meetings, and now they don’t want to leave their homes.

*******

I got a coffee and took a seat. The first of the night’s three speakers went to the podium.

He was from Texas. It was very entertaining to hear his accent and his crazy drinking stories. The next woman bottomed out in Los Angeles while working in the film business. The third person was a local guy and told his story of basically being in the grip of alcohol from age 13 onward.

That sober life

I’ve been sober for a long time. So I know how AA stories go. They’re all different, but at their heart, they are all the same. Also, there’s a certain AA language people use to describe their experiences. There’s a rhythm to the stories.

It’s all very familiar and routine for me. It’s a nice feeling to settle in and listen to your fellow drunks describe their experiences.

But sitting there this time, a dark thought came over me. I wondered if AA was getting old in some way. If I’m in my 60s, and this meeting felt like the perfect way to spend a Saturday night, what would it feel like to a younger person? Probably very old-fashioned.

AA’s glory days

AA began in the 1930s. It caught on immediately. Over the decades, it literally saved millions of lives and vastly improved millions of others.

In theological circles, many consider Alcoholics Anonymous to be the most profound and important spiritual movement of the 20th century.

But what now? Can it continue indefinitely?

I considered who founded AA in the first place: white Christian men, most of them professionals. Of course, AA evolved and adapted as it grew, quickly including women, younger people, and other ethnicities and social classes.

But it still bears the marks of its beginnings. And institutions with those kinds of roots tend to get targeted and harassed by leftist activists — even the most benevolent ones.

RELATED: When ‘live, laugh, love’ means ‘pour me another’

Matt Cardy/Tatyana Larina/Getty Images

First they came for …

So far, no one has accused AA of being sexist or racist or “white supremacist.” But it seems possible the left could find something wrong with it.

Not to mention that AA is a lot like church. There are prayers and talk of God, and many meetings actually take place in church basements.

And we all know how socialist/communist countries dealt with churches in the past. They shut them down.

I doubt that will happen, but the left could certainly try to discredit AA. Or file lawsuits against it, as with the Boy Scouts. The Boy Scouts were just minding their own business, until they were obliterated by lawsuits brought by the radical left.

To drink or not to drink

Another consideration: Is alcoholism still a major problem in our society? I mean, it obviously can be. But is it as bad as fentanyl? Or meth?

It usually takes years of drinking to seriously damage your body. Our new super-addictive street drugs can kill you in a week.

The idea of a person having a “drinking problem” feels almost quaint now that most major American cities are full of drug-addicted zombies wandering the streets.

In recent years, alcohol seems to have faded as the recreational intoxicant of choice. Think of how popular alcohol was in the 1940s and 1950s. Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin’s ever-intoxicated “Rat Pack” became the symbol of suave masculinity. The idea of a man not drinking was unthinkable. That’s what men did. They drank.

But not any more. Oh, men still drink. They drink Evian water out of their $30 water bottles.

Teenagers under the influence

And what about teenagers? Do they still drink? I’m sure they do. But not like the generations before them.

When I was in high school, everything we did was combined with alcohol from freshman year onward. That was what we did at social gatherings. That was how we talked to girls.

When you picture contemporary teenagers’ social lives and leisure activities, you see them online. On their phones. Gaming. Posting. Texting.

I don’t remember “reading” as being something I was good at when I was drunk. Or typing on a tiny keyboard.Maybe that’s why Adderall is so popular now. It sharpens your mental skills instead of blurring them.

Into the future

I am not suggesting I want Alcoholics Anonymous to age out or become irrelevant. I love AA. It saved my life. It gave me a life. The friends I made there will be in my heart until the day I die.

But the world is experiencing rapid change. And it seems inevitable that this will affect AA. I hope it can adapt and survive and continue into the future.

Because I, for one, still need a place to go when I’m feeling unsettled and overwhelmed. Where I can drink some bad coffee, lean back in my seat, and enjoy the company of my fellow alcoholics.

​Lifestyle, Aa, Alcoholics anonymous, Sobriety, Blake’s progress 

President Donald Trump’s administration has offered several concessions to persuade lawmakers to restart funding for the Department of Homeland Security, but Democrats continue to refuse to compensate Transportation Security Administration personnel.

The White House and Democratic lawmakers have remained in a negotiation stalemate since the DHS shut down on February 14.

‘If this continues, it’s not hyperbole to suggest that we may have to quite literally shut down airports – particularly smaller ones if callout rates go up.’

Border czar Tom Homan and the White House director of legislative affairs, James Braid, wrote a letter dated March 17 to Republican Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Katie Britt of Alabama, detailing the administration’s offered concessions.

The letter, which was shared by the Daily Wire, explained that the “majority” of Democrats’ demands “would make it impossible to fully protect American citizens from dangerous criminal aliens and expose law enforcement and their families to increasing threats of violence.”

“In other words, they would prioritize illegal aliens above American families,” it reads.

The letter detailed how Homan ended the surge operation in Minnesota, canceled Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s roving patrols, updated protocols for dealing with unlawful agitators, deployed body-worn cameras, and enhanced cooperation with local law enforcement.

RELATED: Spring break blues: DHS highlights outrageous airport conditions amid Democrat shutdown

Tom Homan. Photo by JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images

Homan and Braid stated that the White House has offered to codify several improved guidelines, including expanding the use of body-worn cameras, limiting immigration enforcement activities in certain sensitive locations, increasing the oversight of detention centers, and requiring officers to visibly display their identification.

Despite the administration’s efforts to negotiate, Democratic lawmakers repeatedly failed to make a good-faith effort to compromise, according to Homan and Braid.

“The Administration has worked in good faith to again reach bipartisan agreement on full funding for the entire Department of Homeland Security and institute common-sense operational improvements to federal immigration enforcement operations that enhance the safety of American communities,” the letter reads.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) accused the White House of not taking the negotiations seriously.

“The issue is, they’re not getting serious,” Schumer stated. “The key issues of warrants when you bust into someone’s house, the key issue of identity of police and no masks, they haven’t budged on those.”

RELATED: ‘Is it even REMOTELY reasonable?’ Scott Jennings demolishes liberal CNN panel on DHS funding feud

Photographer: Mark Felix/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Meanwhile, TSA agents missed their first full paycheck last week. An estimated 366 TSA agents quit last month, NBC News found.

A TSA spokesperson told Fox News that the national callout rate jumped to 10.19% on March 15, compared to 2% before the shutdown.

“If this continues, it’s not hyperbole to suggest that we may have to quite literally shut down airports — particularly smaller ones if callout rates go up,” acting Deputy TSA Administrator Adam Stahl told the news outlet.

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​News, Immigration, Illegal immigration crisis, Illegal immigration, Tom homan, Trump, Trump administration, Trump admin, Donald trump, James braid, Transportation security administration, Tsa, Department of homeland security, Dhs, Dhs shutdown, Adam stahl, Politics 

I’ve been sick the past couple days. In the last 48 hours, I’ve probably spent more time in bed during the day than I have in the past three years combined. It’s been miserable. But more than that, it’s been terrible feeling so useless.

I tried to work as much as I could, but with a fever, my brain turns to mush. Even doing my best, my productivity wasn’t much to write home about. I couldn’t really sleep, so I spent most of the days in a groggy state — lying in bed, looking at my phone.

Maybe friction is essential to life. We imagine wanting a life with no demands, no stress, no deadlines — but maybe we go soft without them.

Really, I was doomscrolling and “bed-rotting,” as our Zoomer friends call it.

I only did it for a couple days, but it was brutal on my mind and spirit. I can only imagine what it does to capable young adults who live like this. No wonder so many Zoomers feel listless, nihilistic — just sort of blah.

Pajama punditry

Feeling useless is bad enough on its own. It’s worse when you’re a spectator, scrolling through short-form videos of other people doing more interesting things. It’s like being kicked when you’re down. Psychological masochism.

There’s something especially bleak about the “bed” in bed-rotting. I’m someone who gets up and gets dressed, who puts on shoes in the morning and takes them off at night. Spending the middle of the day in bed feels wrong in a deeper way. It makes me feel lazy. For some reason, scrolling on the couch at 1 p.m. doesn’t feel as bad as doing it in bed at 1 p.m. Same behavior — but the setting seals the degradation.

“I can’t even rouse myself from bed. I can’t even pretend to engage with the world. I’m just waiting for it to get dark again so I can sleep.”

That’s the feeling. It’s deeply depressing.

Reflecting on a few days of this has clarified something — not just about younger generations, but something more universal: The problem isn’t just distraction. It’s uselessness.

RELATED: Most men buy their clothes too small

Bettman/Getty Images

Needless to say

We need to be needed. That’s the core of it. From love to work to everything in between, being needed gives shape to our lives. When we aren’t needed, we feel it. Even when we say we want a break, want to get away, want to escape the demands — after a while, the absence of need starts to itch. We want it back.

This is why people without children get dogs. They need to be needed. Simple.

It’s also why the looming threat of AI-induced uselessness is so unsettling. If you follow discussions about AI and the future of work, the forecasts can look bleak. Whether or not the worst predictions come true, it’s worth asking what happens if they do.

Give me friction

If large swaths of the workforce are replaced or managed by AI, millions of people could find themselves both unemployed and unneeded. The optimistic view says we’ll have universal basic income — and everyone will be free, comfortable, and happier than ever.

You can only believe that if you misunderstand human nature. We need to work. We need to be rewarded for what we do. We don’t actually want everything handed to us. Five-year-olds might — but not 45-year-olds. And even if we think we do, that feeling dulls quickly. The need to be needed comes back.

Maybe friction is essential to life. We imagine wanting a life with no demands, no stress, no deadlines — but maybe we go soft without them. Maybe we lose something vital when nothing is required of us.

Being needed might be one of the most precious conditions we have, especially in a world moving toward automation and away from human necessity. Preserving that — ensuring people are needed — may be one of the most important challenges of the next decade.

Because it doesn’t matter if we have everything we want — if we’re well-fed and comfortable. If we aren’t needed, we aren’t fulfilled.

​Men’s style, Lifestyle, Family life, The root of the matter, Bed-rotting, Usefulness, Sick 

Former Democrat Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (Ill.) faced a brutal primary loss after attempting to revive his political career in the aftermath of a corruption scandal.

Jackson represented Illinois in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1995 until 2012, when he resigned, citing health issues amid a federal investigation into his campaign’s finances. Jackson, son of the late civil rights activist Jesse Jackson Sr., pled guilty in 2013 and was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison for misusing approximately $750,000 worth of campaign funds for personal expenses.

‘A terrible night for anti-Israel candidates.’

Jackson ultimately served 17 months more than a decade ago. His name recognition and political experience were not enough to secure the Democratic nomination for Illinois’ 2nd Congressional District on Tuesday. He earned just 29% of the primary vote, while Cook County Commissioner Donna Miller won with 40.4% of the vote.

Jackson’s scandal-ridden track record was not the only force working against him. As in other primaries across the country, a very powerful lobbying group put its thumb on the scale, likely costing Jackson the race.

RELATED: Jasmine Crockett claims voters were ‘disenfranchised’ following crushing defeat in key Texas primary

Photo by Saul LOEB/AFP/Getty Images

The American Israel Public Affairs Committee has successfully ousted anti-Israel Democrats like former Reps. Jamaal Bowman (N.Y.) and Cori Bush (Mo.), and Tuesday night was no exception. AIPAC touted a pro-Israel winning streak, saying the organization helped “defeat six would-be Squad members” in the Illinois primaries.

“Six up… Six down!” AIPAC said in a post on X. “A great night for the pro-Israel community and a terrible night for anti-Israel candidates.”

“Tonight’s results tell a critical story: centering campaigns on attacking Israel and demonizing pro-Israel Americans is a losing strategy.”

RELATED: ‘Judgement Day is coming’: Ken Paxton advances with establishment incumbent in key Texas primary

Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service/Getty Images

Jackson was not an overly anti-Israel candidate, but AIPAC deemed Miller more supportive of its cause compared to the former congressman. Miller was reportedly able to rake in support from an AIPAC-aligned group that spent over $4 million on promoting her campaign.

Illinois’ 2nd Congressional District is heavily Democrat, and Miller is expected to secure the House seat in November.

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​Jesse jackson, Jesse jackson jr., Chicago, Illinois, Illinois primary, Democrat primary, Donna miller, Aipac, Politics 

Israel Flores-Ortiz, an illegal alien from El Salvador who stole into the U.S. in 2024 and was subsequently released by the Biden administration, is accused of molesting at least nine girls at Fairfax High School in Virginia where he was enrolled in the 11th grade, even though he is at least 18 years old.

Adding insult to injury, the school allegedly downplayed the scandal.

‘They have attempted to sweep it under the rug.’

The alleged offenses took place as recently as Feb. 25. Flores-Ortiz was arrested on March 7 and has been charged with nine counts of assault and battery.

“There’s a group of about 12 individuals that have reported this assault,” a mother of one of the victims told WJLA-TV. “It was all perpetrated by a single individual who is a stranger to the girls. He just sneakily walked up behind them and put his hand in between their legs. It was not just a butt smack or a butt grab. It was a groping of a private area. It had been occurring for several months.”

Two of the victims’ mothers said that the school was doing a terrible job handling the situation.

“Abysmal, abysmal,” said one of the mothers. “I think from the very beginning, Fairfax County has attempted to diminish what happened to these girls.”

Fairfax High School principal Georgina Aye reportedly waited over two weeks after the incidents were reported to notify parents in an email, “We are writing to share the news of the recent arrest of a student who was charged with inappropriately touching other students at school. These incidents involved the student touching students’ buttocks while they were transitioning in the hallways.”

RELATED: ICE arrests child-diddlers and ecstasy traffickers while Dems try to ‘score brownie points,’ DHS says

Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger (D). Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images.

Parents lashed out over Aye’s claim that the alleged molestation was simply a matter of a “student touching students’ buttocks.”

“Yeah, no, I would not be here for butt slapping,” one mother told WJLA. “I would, I mean, I would be upset about that, but this wouldn’t be my second day this week here at the courthouse for that. It was a clear violation. He put his hand in between my daughter’s legs, and the butt was actually the last thing that he touched.”

Another mother said, “The girls have experienced harassment and bullying from peers at school, including people that they once thought were their friends, and the letter that they sent out, referencing it only as buttocks touching, just adds fuel to rumors that they were just attention seeking.”

“They have attempted to sweep it under the rug,” said one mother.

The City of Fairfax School Board, which oversees Fairfax High School in partnership with the FCPS, said in a statement on Monday that it “takes the recent situation at Fairfax High School very seriously.”

“We support the students who have been directly affected and encourage members of the Fairfax High School community to support one another during this difficult time. Inappropriate conduct has no place in our schools, and we understand the concern and distress this incident has caused for students and families,” said the school board. “We also want to express our support for Principal Dr. Georgina Aye, a student-centered leader who has devoted her career to serving and supporting students. We have confidence in her leadership.”

In addition to receiving what one victim’s mother described as “a completely sanitized letter” from the school’s purportedly “student-centered leader,” parents were allegedly informed by Fairfax County Public Schools that upon his release, Flores-Ortiz would return to school.

FCPS told WJLA in a statement, “While Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) is unable to comment on specifics due to federal and state privacy laws, we prioritize student and staff safety and we fully investigate any time someone shares that an incident has occurred at school, or that they do not feel safe at school.”

FCPS did not respond to a request for comment from Blaze News.

ICE issued a detainer for Ortiz, the agency told WJLA, “to ensure this violent criminal is removed from our country so he can never claim another victim again.”

Fairfax County Sheriff Stacey Kincaid’s (D) office told Blaze News in a statement:

Israel Flores Ortiz remains in the custody of the Sheriff’s Office in the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center (ADC). While it is still too early in the process to know the outcome of his case, ICE has been notified of Ortiz’s location at the ADC, and they are able to execute their detainer by responding to the ADC and taking Ortiz into custody if and when he is ordered released.

The Fairfax County Sheriff’s Office does not obstruct or prevent ICE from acting on their civil detainers.

Flores-Ortiz reportedly requested to be released on bail. Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano’s (D) office told Blaze News that there was a bond hearing, but “after listening to arguments, the judge decided to hold him. He is being held.”

Judge Dipti Pidikiti-Smith reportedly denied Ortiz’s request on Friday after reviewing surveillance video of one of the incidents.

“This 19-year-old criminal illegal alien should NOT have been attending a Virginia high school and allowed to prey on innocent teenage girls. He now faces nine counts of assault and battery. This is yet another example of the Biden administration’s failed open border policies,” DHS Deputy Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis said in a statement.

“We are calling on Fairfax County sanctuary politicians to NOT release this predator from jail back into our communities to assault more teenage women,” continued Bis. “Unfortunately, Governor Abigail Spanberger ended cooperation with ICE and is siding with criminal illegal aliens over American citizens.”

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