Category: blaze media

The socialist dreams of the mayor of New York City have hit another stumbling block after fewer than 100 days in office.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s administration says the promise of “free and fast” public buses for all New Yorkers will not happen this year.

‘The fact that he can’t fulfill any of his silly promises is entirely unsurprising.’

Mamdani promised before the election that he would eliminate bus fares and said that doing so would cut down on violence on public transit.

“The act of fare collection on the bus happens on the bus. So when you eliminate the fare box, you make for a safer experience for the bus driver, for everyone on the bus,” Mamdani said in an interview with Trevor Noah in December.

“The safety of that bus, the efficacy of how is it moving, the question of the doors, all of this is tied to the elimination of fare at once,” he added.

In an interview released by Politico on Wednesday, Mamdani tried to deflect when asked if he was giving up on the free bus pledge after the New York legislature did not include funding for the program in budget proposals for this year.

“Both legislative houses included language within their one-house budget proposals in support of bringing back a free-bus pilot program,” he said. “That is something that we are encouraged by, and it continues to be part of budget negotiations. I’m absolutely committed to making buses fast and free, and we’re encouraged by the conversations we’re having with the governor and legislative leaders to take action on that in 2026 as a first step.”

Economic expert and Blaze News contributor Carol Roth responded to the mayor’s sinking socialist dreams in an email to Blaze News.

“Mamdani’s campaign always was akin to the class president promising free pizza and a hot tub in the lunchroom. The fact that he can’t fulfill any of his silly promises is entirely unsurprising,” Roth said.

RELATED: ‘Parasitic Socialist’: Elizabeth Warren is getting crushed online over her tax hike proposal

Very soon after his inauguration, some New Yorkers and bus drivers mocked and ridiculed the possibility of his promise coming true.

Even Democratic New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said in November that she could not support the bus fare promise because of the prohibitive cost.

“I cannot set forth a plan right now that takes money out of a system that relies on the fares of the buses and the subways,” she said.

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

​Mamdani socialist dreams end, Mamdani free bus fares, Socialism fails, Kathy hochul vs zohran mamdani, Politics 

My childhood had a simple structure: Leave the house, come back when hungry.

Nobody tracked my location. Nobody scheduled my fun. I roamed a small Irish village with a rotating gang of kids, knocking on doors to collect whoever was free, wandering fields we didn’t own, climbing trees we absolutely shouldn’t have.

Our treehouse was born from boredom. Three of us, on a long summer afternoon, with nothing to do.

Our treehouse — built from stolen timber, held together, technically, by two bent nails — would have given a structural engineer a full breakdown. We were enormously proud of it.

Bumps and bruises

There were scuffles. Real ones, occasionally bloody, always brief. Someone would throw a punch over some perceived injustice. A disputed goal, a broken rule, an insult that landed a little too cleanly. Five minutes later, we’d be back at it, whatever it was that day.

No adults mediated. No one processed feelings. The fight resolved itself because the game needed bodies, and everyone knew it. You learned, quickly, that holding a grudge cost you far more than swallowing it.

The point isn’t that we were tougher or that children today are soft, although I would argue that both are true. The point I’m trying to make is that we were unsupervised, and supervision, it turns out, changes everything.

I say this not from a rocking chair but as someone who, at age 8 or 9, split his time between farm chores and disappearing into the village like a feral little fugitive. Less than 25 years ago. A blink of the eye, really, except apparently long enough to completely reinvent childhood.

Rationing daylight

Now, one in 10 parents say their young children play outside once a week or less. One week. Seven days. Imagine rationing daylight like that. Childhood has migrated indoors, onto screens, into carefully arranged playdates where two children sit in a living room while two adults hover nearby, making sure nobody says anything upsetting. The kids sense the performance. They behave accordingly.

Researchers from Denmark recently did something beautifully simple: They asked children what good play actually feels like.

Not what it teaches. Not what skills it builds. What it feels like from inside.

The answers were slightly embarrassing for every adult who has ever built a color-coded activity schedule. Children cared about the feeling of play. That loose, almost electric sense that something is genuinely alive. They cared about belonging — not polite, managed inclusion, but being genuinely wanted by the group. They cared about imagination running slightly off the rails. They even valued a certain productive chaos, the kind that adults instinctively shut down.

Adults, predictably, care about outcomes — cognitive development, motor skills, social learning they can point to and measure. Children care about none of this while they’re playing. What they actually care about is whether it’s fun, whether they’re wanted, and whether there’s the slightest chance that it might go delightfully wrong.

Screen police

Our games always went somewhere unexpected. A football match would mutate, mid-afternoon, into something involving a rope, an old mattress someone had dumped in a field, and rules nobody could fully explain afterward. The logic was impeccable at the time. The mattress did not survive.

Modern play environments iron out exactly these qualities. Soft surfaces, approved equipment, and an adult nearby to ensure fairness and prevent anything resembling genuine consequence. The result looks like play. Children sense that it isn’t, the way you sense when a photograph has been retouched slightly too much. Something essential has been removed.

Screens fill the gap with surgical efficiency. Nearly a third of young children now engage regularly in what researchers call “media play” — a phrase that earns its quotation marks. Tapping a screen is not the same as negotiating who gets to be the villain or managing the social fallout when the smallest kid turns out to be the best climber and everyone has to begrudgingly update their hierarchy. Digital games have fixed rules, predictable rewards, and zero social friction. That’s precisely their appeal. It’s also precisely their poverty.

The consequences don’t arrive with bruises or a note from school. They arrive later, wearing other disguises. Low frustration tolerance. Social anxiety with no obvious origin. A deep unfamiliarity with boredom, which is actually the raw material of invention.

RELATED: The day my father handed me the gun

NurPhoto/Getty Images

Free range

Our treehouse was born from boredom. Three of us, on a long summer afternoon, with nothing to do. Within an hour, we had made a plan. Within a week, we had made something structurally catastrophic and deeply satisfying. Nobody told us to build it. Nobody approved the design. Nobody stood beneath it checking for hazards, which was probably wise given what happened to the second shelf.

Children need exactly that kind of space. Not the park for 15 minutes before the grocery run, but long, unscheduled stretches where the only available resource is other children and whatever the back yard contains. Boredom long enough to become uncomfortable. Discomfort long enough to force creativity.

They need, occasionally, for nobody to be watching.

We turned out fine, most of us. There were scraped knees. One incident involved a gate left wide open, a bull wandering into the street, and a level of collective amnesia that has never fully lifted. The treehouse was, after much deliberation, abandoned to the weather. The nails, I’m told, are still there.

​Childhood, Ireland, Culture, Play, Helicopter parents, Lifestyle 

The male accused of killing a woman in a Florida hammer attack last week is a Haitian illegal alien who was protected from deportation under former President Joe Biden’s administration, the Department of Homeland Security said Tuesday.

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

‘Not only did the Biden administration release him into the country, but they then gave him Temporary Protected Status.’

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

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

RELATED: Florida thug accused of bashing woman’s head with hammer, killing her, in horrific attack outside convenience store

Image source: Department of Homeland Security

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

Notably, both Fort Myers Police as well as the Lee County Sheriff’s Office spell the suspect’s name Rolbert Joachin, while DHS originally spelled it Rolbert Joachim. The reason for the spelling discrepancy is unclear, but Fort Myers Police on Wednesday confirmed to Blaze News that “the correct spelling is Joachin.” DHS on Wednesday later updated its website to the spelling Joachin.

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

Gulf Coast News on Wednesday reported that Joachin gave a detailed confession to detectives following his arrest and indicated that he went to the gas station last week specifically to kill the victim — a gas station clerk identified as Nilufa Easmin, also known as Yasmin. The outlet added in a video report that Easmin was the mother of two daughters.

More from Gulf Coast News:

Joachin told detectives he wore the same clothes that Yasmin had seen him in two days earlier so that she would recognize him, court notes said. He then said he intentionally smashed her car with a hammer so that she would come outside.

Surveillance video from the store captured the attack. In the video, Joachin reportedly smashed her car’s windshield. The surveillance video then shows the clerk coming outside. Joachin then approaches the victim and is accused of hitting her in the head with the hammer, killing her.

The following video report about the killing aired prior to the news about the suspect’s immigration status.

RELATED: Concealed-carrying motorcyclist fatally shoots alleged road-rage driver who charged at him with hammer, police say

What’s more, detectives said Joachin is a suspect in another case they have been working on for months, Gulf Coast News reported, adding that specifics about the case were not revealed.

The outlet added in a Wednesday video report concerning the suspect’s pretrial detention motion hearing that the judge ruled Joachin will remain in jail with no bond until trial because he’s too dangerous to be released to the public; his next court appearance — his arraignment — is scheduled for May 4.

The Miami Herald reported that the Trump administration has been “fiercely litigating in the courts to end [Temporary Protected Status] for Haiti and several other countries.” The paper added that an appeals court in March upheld TPS for Haitians, which upheld a ruling from Washington, D.C., U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes, “but the administration asked the Supreme Court to intervene in the case days later.”

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, referring to the killing of the Fort Myers gas station clerk, wrote on X that “this horrific murder was preventable. Even as Florida arrests hundreds of criminal aliens every day, four years of the Biden admin’s open-border policies continue to wreak havoc on our communities. Members of Congress pushing for amnesty should be ashamed. There is no dignity in allowing more American victims at the hands of those who have no right to be in our country.”

Jeremy Redfern, deputy chief of staff for Uthmeier, added on X that “U.S. District Court Judge Ana Reyes said that ending TPS for Haitians was racist, and she blocked the attempt. Oral arguments over whether SCOTUS should stay Judge Reyes’ order happening on April 29th. So, here we are.”

Editor’s note: This article has been edited after publication to note that DHS now spells the name Joachin.

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

​Department of homeland security, Immigration and customs enforcement, Arrest, Biden administration, Crime, Dhs, Florida, Fort myers, Haiti, Hammer attack, Homicide, Ice, Illegal immigration, Joe biden, Killing, Temporary protected status, Politics 

A Democrat mayor joined a mob of activists to shut down the painting of a mural in honor of Iryna Zarutska in Providence, Rhode Island, but the muralist is getting the last laugh.

Mayor Brett Smiley said the mural was against the values of the city after the owners of a prominent gay bar previously said they would allow it to be painted on one of their walls.

‘She worked to build a life for herself and lost it along the way. This mural is our way of honoring her on a building owned by an immigrant family who understands that journey.’

Halfway through the commission of the mural, the owners of the Dark Lady changed their minds and said on social media that the outrage from the LGBTQIA+ community forced them to stop the painting.

Now the mural has found a new home at a Lebanese restaurant instead of the gay bar.

The owner of Opa the Phoenician on Atwells Avenue is donating space for the mural on Federal Hill.

“She was once an immigrant chasing the American dream,” said Francois Karam about Zarutska. “She worked to build a life for herself and lost it along the way. This mural is our way of honoring her on a building owned by an immigrant family who understands that journey.”

He went on to say that the decision wasn’t made out of political motivation.

A Change.org petition garnered more than 13,600 signatures from those who demanded that the mural be returned to the Dark Lady’s wall. In an email statement to Blaze News, the petition creator lamented that the voices against the mural had won.

“While I appreciate that a version of Iryna Zarutska’s mural has been allowed to go up at Opa Restaurant on Atwells Avenue, this is no real victory. It’s a quiet concession to political pressure,” said Anthony D’Ellena, a local Republican committee chairman.

“Mayor Smiley called the original prominent mural ‘divisive’ and used his influence to bully the first business into removing it,” he added. “Now Iryna gets a diminished, tucked-away tribute on a side wall instead of the bold, visible memorial she deserved in downtown Providence.”

A separate petition on Change.org opposing the mural garnered 15 signatures.

RELATED: New butterfly species named in honor of Ukrainian woman brutally murdered on NC light rail

D’Ellena said in an update to the petition that he would continue to fight for the return of the mural.

The brutal murder of Iryna Zarutska, an immigrant who survived the war in Ukraine, was captured on security video from the Charlotte, North Carolina, light rail system. A suspect with a history of mental illness and violent crime was arrested and sparked a campaign against lax law enforcement policies.

Mayor Smiley is running for re-election in 2026 against another Democrat on the ballot as well as a third Democrat candidate who is a convicted child molester.

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

​Mayor brett smiley vs zarutska mural, Iryna zarutska mural, Activist shuts down iryna mural, Muralist defeats activists, Politics 

The U.S. and Iran reached a fragile ceasefire agreement on Tuesday before President Donald Trump’s threat of civilizational annihilation could be put to the test.

Trump subsequently noted that the U.S. “will be helping with the traffic buildup in the Strait of Hormuz. There will be lots of positive action! Big money will be made,” adding that “this could be the Golden Age of the Middle East!”

‘It is madness.’

When asked on Wednesday whether he was amenable to the Iranians charging a toll for all ships that transit the Strait of Hormuz — the body of water between Iran and Oman linking the Persian Gulf with the Gulf of Oman, across which one-fifth of the world’s oil customarily travels — Trump told ABC News’ Jonathan Karl, “We’re thinking of doing it as a joint venture. It’s a way of securing it — also securing it from lots of other people.”

“It’s a beautiful thing,” Trump said, hours before Iran reportedly halted oil tankers attempting to pass through the strait, claiming Israel had violated the ceasefire by firing on Lebanon.

While now apparently open to such a partnership with Iran, Trump suggested to reporters on Monday that the U.S. could unilaterally impose tolls on vessels attempting to pass through the strait, reported The Hill.

RELATED: Israel ramps up attacks on Middle East target despite US-Iran ceasefire

Elif Acar/Anadolu/Getty Images

“What about us charging tolls?” said Trump. “Why shouldn’t we? We’re the winner.”

He also said during the press briefing, “We want free traffic of oil and everything else.”

Such tolls on vessels transiting a natural strait would seem to run afoul of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea — ratified by the U.S., 170 other nations, and the European Union — which guarantees vessels the “right of transit passage” through straits used for international navigation; bars states bordering straits from hampering transit passage; and states that “no charge may be levied upon foreign ships by reason only of their passage through the territorial sea.”

Tolls can be levied only at man-made canals, according to the U.N. agreement.

Of course, the agreement’s authority and enforceability could be tested.

“All international law, unfortunately, is fragile,” Saleem Ali, chair of the University of Delaware’s geography department, told the New York Times. Ali noted that international laws depend on mutual respect between nations.

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

The idea clearly doesn’t resonate with everyone.

Karen Young, a senior research scholar at the Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs, told Blaze News, “It is madness to think we are jointly collecting fees to help secure profits to the [Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps].”

Former Israeli government spokesman Eylon Levy expressed a similar objection, writing, “If President Trump lets the Iranians charge a toll for ships in the Strait of Hormuz, then every time you fill up your car at the pump, you will put money straight in the pockets of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. This would be a humiliating disaster for the US.”

Joint venture or no, it appears that Iran aspires to keep sweating passersby in the Strait of Hormuz, now for crypto tributes.

Hamid Hosseini, a spokesman for Iran’s government-linked Oil, Gas and Petrochemical Products Exporters’ Union, told the Financial Times that his nation intends to force ships passing through the strait to pay the cryptocurrency equivalent of $1 per barrel of oil and notify Iranian officials of their cargo during the two-week ceasefire.

“Once the email arrives and Iran completes its assessment, vessels are given a few seconds to pay in Bitcoin, ensuring they can’t be traced or confiscated due to sanctions,” said Hosseini. “Everything can pass through, but the procedure will take time for each vessel, and Iran is not in a rush.”

Reuters estimated last week that if Iran charged each vessel $2 million to transit the Strait of Hormuz, as it had already in one instance, and traffic were restored to prewar volume — 150 ships down the strait — Tehran could bring in around $110 billion annually.

According to the European think tank Bruegel, the $2 million per vessel, which “translates to roughly $1 per barrel,” would prompt the world oil price to rise “by only $0.05-$0.40 per barrel, relative to the pre-war level,” with Gulf exporters absorbing the bulk of the toll.

Of course, for Iran to impose tolls, it must first keep the strait open.

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

​Sea, Strait of hormuz, Law of the sea, Iran, Us, Donald trump, Toll, Duty, Money, Oil, Gas, Energy, Persian, Gulf, Export, War, Politics 

With the whole world holding its breath amid the ongoing conflict in the Middle East over the past several weeks, President Trump’s ceasefire with Iran has restored some confidence to the markets — though some uncertainty remains.

Oil prices dropped and stocks surged after Trump’s announcement on Tuesday evening that a ceasefire had been reached with Iran.

Oil prices also plummeted as the Strait of Hormuz has been projected to be opened.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose over 1,300 points since the close of market on Tuesday following the announcement of the ceasefire.

Likewise, the S&P 500 saw a 2.5% jump from Tuesday to Wednesday in response to the news, moving from just over 6,600 to 6,785 when markets opened on Wednesday.

RELATED: Iran reneges on key point of ceasefire amid allegations of broken promises

Punit PARANJPE/AFP/Getty Images

The NASDAQ also saw a significant leap in response to the news, moving nearly 650 points for an almost 3% positive gain.

Oil prices also plummeted as the Strait of Hormuz has been projected to be opened. Crude oil WTI dropped from roughly 112 per barrel to just under 95 per barrel, a 17-point drop overnight.

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

​Politics, S&p 500, Nasdaq, Crude oil, Oil prices, Gas prices, Iran, Israel, Dow jones, President trump 

Central Intelligence Agency Director John Ratcliffe said the recovery of a downed U.S. airman in Iran was a “no-fail mission” that required technology available nowhere else in the world.

In reference to an F-15E Strike Eagle fighter pilot who was lost in Iran, the CIA boss told reporters on Tuesday that the challenge of finding the pilot was comparable to hunting for a single grain of sand in the desert; but they did it.

‘If your heart is beating, we will find you.’

Director Ratcliffe revealed the agency used human and technical assets and also “executed a deception campaign to confuse the Iranians who were desperately hunting for our airmen.”

He added, “At the president’s direction, we deployed both human assets and exquisite technologies that no other intelligence service in the world possesses.”

While Ratcliffe stopped short of describing exactly what those “unique capabilities” were, an insider report by the New York Post claims that the CIA implemented a secret technology known as “Ghost Murmur.”

RELATED: Trump announces CEASEFIRE with Iran ahead of deadline

The mountainous yet barren region of the Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad province in Iran offered an ideal setting for the technology’s first use, one source reportedly said.

The CIA director stated that even though the pilot was hiding and concealed in a mountain crevice, he was still visible to the CIA but “invisible to the enemy.”

It was “about as clean an environment as you could ask for” due to low electromagnetic interference, the source went on. With “almost no competing human signatures” and a strong “thermal contrast between a living body and the desert floor” at nighttime, operators enjoyed a second layer of confirmation that they had found their man.

“It’s like hearing a voice in a stadium, except the stadium is a thousand square miles of desert,” an unnamed source told the Post.

The “Ghost Murmur” tech uses long-range quantum magnetometry to identify the electromagnetic pulse of a human heartbeat. The heartbeat’s signature is separated from background noise to locate it.

The source, allegedly briefed on the CIA program, also said that “in the right conditions, if your heart is beating, we will find you.”

The source told the Post that the signal of a heartbeat is usually so weak it can only be measured in a hospital-style setting with sensors pressed to a person’s chest, however, advances in the technology — chiefly built around finding defects in synthetic diamonds — have made finding such signals more possible.

“The capability is not omniscient. It works best in remote, low-clutter environments and requires significant processing time,” the insider claimed.

RELATED: NASA astronaut gives very American response to DEI questioning

Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps/Anadolu/Getty Images

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth told reporters at the same press conference that the pilot’s first message upon finding cover was “God is good.”

“We leave no man behind. And that is not luck. It’s the result of unmatched training, superior technology, unbreakable warrior ethos, and sheer American grit,” Hegseth added.

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

​Return, Cia, Iran, Trump, Secret, Heartbeat, Tech 

In a sudden change, Iran has reportedly once again closed off the Strait of Hormuz amid allegations that the ceasefire agreement has been violated.

Iran reportedly prevented ships from passing through the Strait of Hormuz Wednesday morning, even though opening the strait was a key aspect of the ceasefire agreement reached Tuesday night.

President Trump has denied that Lebanon is included in the ceasefire, seemingly backing Israel’s continued advancements into the country.

According to an initial report, Iran has closed the strait in response to Israel’s ongoing military offensive in Lebanon.

The ceasefire agreement, announced by Pakistan’s prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, on Tuesday, specifically stipulated that the ceasefire applies everywhere, including Lebanon: “With the greatest humility, I am pleased to announce 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.”

RELATED: ‘Golden age of the Middle East’: Trump lays out plan for coming weeks after Iran agrees to temporary ceasefire

Elke Scholiers/Getty Images

According to multiple reports, President Trump has denied that Lebanon is included in the ceasefire, seemingly backing Israel’s continued advancements into the country.

These discrepancies raise more questions about the exact nature of the ceasefire deal and, perhaps, the authority with which Pakistan’s prime minister speaks on behalf of the two parties in the conflict.

For Israel’s part, the Israel Defense Forces announced that in “10 minutes,” they “completed the largest coordinated strike across Lebanon since the start of Operation Roaring Lion.” The strike reportedly targeted 100+ Hezbollah targets in Beirut, Beqaa, and southern Lebanon.

In his post, Prime Minister Sharif announced that the ceasefire would be further discussed at the upcoming “Islamabad Talks” on Friday.

This is a developing story.

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

​Politics, Iran, Strait of hormuz, Israel, Idf, Lebanon, United states, Trump, President trump, Shehbaz sharif, Pakistan, Hezbollah, Beirut, Israel defense forces 

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.”

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

​Donald trump, 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.

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

​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.

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

​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.

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

​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.

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

​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.

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

​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.

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

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