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My Ash Wednesday message for 2026 comes with an assist from the recently deceased Jesse Jackson.

In 1977 — just four years after the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade ruling — he wrote:

Even if one does take life by aborting the baby, as a minister of Jesus Christ I must also inform and/or remind you that there is a doctrine of forgiveness. The God I serve is a forgiving God. The men who killed President John F. Kennedy and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. can be forgiven. Everyone can come to the mercy seat and find forgiveness and acceptance. But — and this may be the essence of my argument — suppose one is so hard-hearted and so indifferent to life that he assumes there is nothing for which to be forgiven. What happens to the mind of a person, and the moral fabric of a nation, that accepts the aborting of the life of a baby without a pang of conscience? What kind of a person, and what kind of a society, will we have 20 years hence if life can be taken so casually? It is that question — the question of our attitude, our value system, and our mindset with regard to the nature and worth of life itself — that is the central question confronting mankind. Failure to answer that question affirmatively may leave us with a hell right here on earth.

Obviously, I can’t know where Jackson’s heart finally landed when his Maker came for him. But if you’re shocked that he ever wrote something like that — given his later career as a Democrat presidential candidate — take it as a cautionary tale about cutting deals with the spiritual forces of this world.

Unlike Jackson — who, by all appearances, grew less bold as he chased worldly gain — we must become bolder, no matter the cost.

Jackson went from writing one of the strongest arguments you’ll ever read against casual abortion to serving, in effect, as a son of Moloch. That turn required choices: the old temptation to “be like God,” to treat gifts and platforms as personal property, to barter them for worldly influence. And after making that bargain, he ended up with an affair, a child out of wedlock, and a political career that finished in disgrace.

We love to play God. We love to fancy ourselves “the people we’ve been waiting for,” as Barack Obama once put it. And in the process, many start to believe — through misplaced worship and inflated self-regard — that no God exists at all.

Believe me, I know. I’ve stood on the edge of that same abyss. I’ve asked myself the stupid question: Is the stove really too hot to touch?

Maybe it is. Maybe it isn’t. But hell is hotter.

By God’s grace, I remembered — in my own season of spiritual dying — that I am a sinner who needs mercy before I became too proud to believe God and His truth didn’t exist. So the things of heaven are on my horizon as I prepare for a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Israel and await the birth of my second grandchild.

RELATED: ‘Force of nature’: President Trump responds to the death of Jesse Jackson

Photo by David Hume Kennerly/Getty Images

I chose Easter in the end. But all of us, at some point, play Good Friday roulette with our salvation because we know God is merciful and mercy triumphs over judgment. True — but mercy does not cancel judgment.

Christians have argued for 2,000 years about whether a person can lose salvation. Fine. But the goal of the faithful should include this: Stop living like we exist to keep that argument going. Do you even narrow road, bro?

Finish your race, my friends. The consequences of not doing so are eternal.

So unlike Jackson — who, by all appearances, grew less bold as he chased worldly gain — we must become bolder, no matter the cost. That leap of faith is the toll for walking the narrow road. That is discipleship.

Let your yes mean yes and your no mean no. Thus saith the Lord.

​Opinion & analysis, Jesse jackson, Salvation, Christianity, Religion, Faith, Presidential election, Presidential candidates, The world, God, Eternal judgment, Abortion, Roe v. wade 

The head of the Federal Communications Commission said at a media conference that “The View” is under investigation for possible violations of the equal time rule.

The FCC changed the equal time rule last month to include talk shows like “The View,” which forces them to provide the same coverage to all candidates in a campaign if they spotlight one.

‘The idea is that if you’re a partisan political actor under the case law, then you’re likely not going to qualify under the bona fide news exception.’

The women of “The View” had James Talarico on their show, a Texas state representative who is vying for the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate against Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas). They also had Crockett on the show.

“The FCC has an enforcement action underway on that, and we’re taking a look at it,” Carr said Wednesday. He did not elaborate on how “The View” may have violated the rule.

The admission comes as the FCC is facing criticism from Stephen Colbert after he was told by CBS not to air an interview with Talarico to avoid violating the rule.

Carr went on to explain the change in the rule.

“People can come forward with their own showings and a petition for declarative ruling, but this is something that will be explored as part of the FCC case law,” he added. “The idea is that if you’re a partisan political actor under the case law, then you’re likely not going to qualify under the bona fide news exception.”

Colbert had accused Carr of not applying the rule to right-wing talk radio, and Carr addressed that criticism as well.

“We haven’t seen the same issues on the radio side,” he said. “We’ll take a look at anything that arises at the end of the day.”

RELATED: Stephen Colbert melts down after CBS pulls Dem interview just months before his show ends

Carr went on to criticize the media for running with censorship claims made by Colbert that were contradicted by CBS.

“There was no censorship here at all,” he told reporters.

“I think you guys should feel a bit ashamed for having been lied to and then just run with those lies,” Carr said. “I think it was an embarrassing episode for the media.”

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​The view vs trump, Fcc vs the view, The view under investigation, Equal time rule, Politics 

“Boy Meets World” and “Mrs. Doubtfire” actor Matthew Lawrence has some knowledge to drop: Hollywood’s superficial obsession with “inclusion” and “compassion” masks one of the most ruthless businesses in the world — especially if you’re a child star.

As Lawrence’s brother Joey might say, “Whoa!”

Matthew made the comments in a recent conversation with older brother Joey and younger brother Andrew on the thespian trio’s “Brotherly Love Podcast.”

‘They just literally toss them to the wolves, taking no responsibility.’

Fame shame

Lawrence noted that the pressure of sudden fame and wealth is harder for child actors, for whom success comes “before you actually know who you are.” How to navigate that is something the industry “quietly stopped teaching” its youngest employees, Lawrence claimed.

Lawrence, who landed his first recurring television role at age 4, said the industry had a certain “responsibility” to child actors. His brothers, both of whom entered showbiz before they were 6, seemed to agree.

RELATED: ‘Silence of the Lambs’ star sorry for vilifying transgenderism: ‘It’s f**king wrong’

– YouTube

Tossed aside

Speaking of the highly publicized drug problems of troubled celebs like former Nickelodeon child star Tylor Chase, Lawrence put some of the onus on an industry that discards them once they’re no longer useful.

“I feel like they haven’t failed. I feel like the business has failed them,” he said, while observing the disconnect between such callousness and the image the business likes to project:

Hollywood always talks about how they’re the most compassionate, inclusive, amazing community, and they eat their own. Literally eat their own. They put these kids in movies. They build them up and talk about how incredible they are and throw money their way, [only] to pull the rug from them as soon as something doesn’t work or as soon as they have outgrown that moment, and they just literally toss them to the wolves, taking no responsibility.

RELATED: James Van Der Beek’s message about finding God resurfaces after death: ‘I am worthy of God’s love’

Photo by Ron Galella, Ltd./Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images

Guilted cage

As for Hollywood activism, Lawrence suggested it’s mostly motivated by guilt.

“They do have this inherent thing where they feel bad that they are sitting on top of a mountain of cash and fame.”

This doesn’t always translate into a good grasp of the issues, Lawrence noted.

“They always seem to pick and choose, like, the ‘in’ topic, when all this crap is going wrong with the world that they just look right over.”

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​Align, Hollywood, Elites, Child actor, California, Brothers, Entertainment 

A female tennis player says she is retiring from the sport because of its “hostile” culture that has resulted in death threats, insults, and poor self-esteem.

Destanee Aiava announced she is leaving the sport at the end of the season, after having peaked at No. 147 in the world in 2017, when she was just 17 years old.

‘… a culture that’s racist, misogynistic, homophobic and hostile to anyone who doesn’t fit the mould.’

The Australian departed with a scathing post on her Instagram page, criticizing her soon-to-be former sport for taking away her family, her health, and her self-worth.

“2026 will be my final year on tour playing professional tennis,” the 25-year-old wrote.

After asking if everything she sacrificed for the sport “was actually worth the cost,” the tennis player listed all the reasons she has kept playing over the years despite of her distress, concluding, “In other words tennis was my toxic boyfriend.”

“It also took things from me,” she continued. “My relationship with my body. My health. My family. My self worth. Would I do it all again? I really don’t know.”

Then Aiava got even more direct and a lot more vulgar:

“I want to say a ginormous f**k you to everyone in the tennis community who’s ever made me feel less than.”

RELATED: Liberal reporter frustrates American tennis stars by asking the same tired question

“F**k you to every single gambler who’s sent me hate or death threats. F**k you to the people who sit behind screens on social media, commenting on my body, my career or whatever the f**k they want to nitpick,” Aiava went on.

The tennis player, who is of Samoan descent, launched into criticisms of her sport, seemingly giving it every negative label she could.

“And f**k you to a sport that hides behind so-called class and gentlemanly values. Behind the white outfits and traditions is a culture that’s racist, misogynistic, homophobic and hostile to anyone who doesn’t fit the mould. “

Aiava broadened her explanation in an interview with Australia’s “ABC News Breakfast” and host Catherine Murphy.

RELATED: ‘I don’t think that’s relevant’: American tennis star shuts down reporters fishing for anti-Trump answers

“I experienced a lot of racism from parents, people I was playing; just comments at the back of the court and even to this day, I’m still getting racist comments [in] DMs and everything. So yeah, it just, it was never-ending,” Aiava told the host. She added that when she was a young girl who was simply “doing her best,” she faced “constant comments that are racist” as well.

Aiava expanded on her body issues as it relates to tennis, which she said were based on the people around her and “seeing other girls in this sport.”

She noted that she has always had issues with food, and being “not really surrounded by many women” like herself, her bad relationship with food only got worse.

The tennis player concluded by agreeing with the host when asked if governing bodies in tennis need to “fight harder for female players.”

Aiava blamed the governing bodies for prioritizing making money from major tournaments over the needs of tennis players.

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​Fearless, Tennis, Racism, Australia, Women’s sports, Misogyny, Hate speech, Sports 

WikiLeaks published tens of thousands of leaked emails from the personal account of John Podesta, former President Bill Clinton’s chief of staff, in late 2016.

The decentralized army of sleuths that subsequently combed over the leaked emails found not only damning insights into Hillary Clinton and her doomed presidential campaign but odd messages about pizza, hot dogs, ice cream, and other foods.

‘842 occurrences of the word pizza, which seems like a lot.’

The recurring references to food in non-culinary contexts prompted some to theorize that they were code words related to pedophilia and human trafficking — a theory that the mainstream media and so-called fact-checkers emphasized was “dangerous,” “fake news,” and, in essence, a “moral panic.”

New York Magazine, one of the publications that strenuously criticized the so-called Pizzagate theory nine years ago, suggested in the wake of the new Jeffrey Epstein documents’ release that “pizza” might be a code word, after all.

Dan Brooks, writing for New York Magazine, noted that the latest trove of Epstein files published by the Department of Justice “contains 842 occurrences of the word pizza, which seems like a lot. By comparison, the word hamburger appears only 190 times, while the phrase ‘sex with children’ appears 20 times.”

Brooks admitted that “some of the pizza-related material seems pretty weird.”

RELATED: Gov. Pritzker’s cousin steps down at Hyatt over Epstein relationship

Photo by Joe Schildhorn/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images

Not only did Epstein appear to have automated alerts reminding him to deliver a certain individual pizza, but he was asked on more than one occasion if individuals could have a “quick pizza” together in his absence.

One email said, “I wanted to let you know that the crew really enjoyed the pizza today. Thank you for letting us do that.”

Another message from a redacted sender stated, “This is better than a Chinese cookie! Let’s go for pizza and grape soda again. No one else can understand.”

Additional emails carry subject lines such as “The Pizza Monster!” and include more peculiar uses of the word.

“You mean radiating a soft glow with the look of bliss and excitement. Yeah, that’s the pizza…” one message reads.

“These recent Epstein materials do make the financier seem strangely interested in pizza and unusually committed to having it delivered to other people,” added Brooks.

There are also recurring references to “pizza and grape soda” in the child sex offender’s texts and emails.

Despite the strangeness of the exchanges, a photograph in a text conversation between Epstein and his urologist appears to indicate that on at least one occasion, they were actually discussing pizza and grape soda.

While there has been plenty of speculation in recent weeks about the pizza references, particularly because they appear in both the Epstein and Podesta files, the term “cream cheese,” which appears 196 times throughout the Epstein messages, has also raised eyebrows.

In one exchange, a participant wrote, “Lol, I don’t know if cream cheese and baby are on the same level,” alongside discussions of scheduling activities that some observers say raise further concern. The phrase also appears in other unsettling contexts, including “cream cheese baby.”

The use of cheese and pizza imagery in reference to pedophilia and child abuse is not limited to so-called Pizzagate conspiracy theorists.

In 2020, the Telegraph, a U.K.-based newspaper, reported that a parents’ group working to curb the dissemination of child sex abuse material online allegedly found that cheese and pizza emojis were being used as stand-ins for “CP,” meaning “child porn.”

The founder of the group, a London woman identified only as India, indicated that in some cases, individuals using the emojis shared images of children scraped from parents’ social media accounts.

“There are pictures of little boys aged 5 or 6 on the beach in their swimming trunks and chances are that picture was taken by their parents on their holiday,” said India. “Somehow that picture has gotten into their hands.”

Brooks, prickled by recent declarations by Redditors and others that at least one core Pizzagate claim might have been accurate all along, stated, “If Epstein and his friends did use pizza as a code word for sex, that wouldn’t mean that the original Pizzagate conspiracy theory was correct — even if it was also the case that pizza was a sexual code word in the Podesta emails.”

After spending the bulk of his article entertaining the possibility that “a syndicate of pedophiliac celebrities, financiers, and their urologists,” equipped with code words, committed “unimaginable acts of cruelty,” Brooks spends his final paragraphs attacking those who made similar claims nearly a decade ago.

The NY Mag contributor suggested that such “conspiracists” — not the allegedly vampiric cosmopolitan elites who might refer to their preferred victim types with fast-food references — are “one of the most terrifying forces in 21st-century America.”

Having turned his ire away from the dead pedophile and his associates to those Americans searching for justice and accountability, Brooks concluded his article by smearing American democracy as a “well-documented conspiracy of morons.”

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​Pizzagate, Wikileaks, Podesta, Clinton, Jeffrey epstein, Epstein files, Epstein, Pedophile, Elites, Billionaire, Rapists, Sex offender, New york magazine, Liberal media, Media, Politics 

Vaccine manufacturers such as Pfizer made record profits pushing experimental drugs during the pandemic that were nowhere near as “safe and effective” as marketed.

Although their vaccines allegedly left some Americans badly injured and allegedly killed others, Big Pharma giants were largely protected from civil lawsuits as the result of special liability protections that were repeatedly extended by the Biden administration.

‘When it comes to vaccines, and in many cases the COVID vaccine, the rules are rigged.’

Republican Sen. Rand Paul (Ky.) introduced legislation last week that would amend the Public Health Service Act to strip the liability shield from vaccine manufacturers.

“If a drug hurts someone, you can sue the company in court,” said Paul, a licensed doctor of medicine. “You can hold them responsible through the normal legal process. But when it comes to vaccines, and in many cases the COVID vaccine, the rules are rigged: You’re funneled into a federal no-fault program that limits damages, restricts your options, and — in many cases — leaves people without real justice. That’s cronyism.”

Presently, persons seeking compensation for injuries sustained as the result of a covered vaccine must file a petition with the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program, which is touted as a “no-fault alternative to the traditional legal system for resolving vaccine injury petitions.”

Those specifically injured by one of the experimental COVID-19 vaccines — which were in many jurisdictions required to remain employed, eat in public, stay in school, or visit loved ones — must file a petition with the related Countermeasures Injury Compensation Program.

RELATED: Finally: Vaccine guidelines that make sense for parents

Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

Parents, legal guardians, and legal representatives of those individuals who were killed by the vaccines — the U.S. Food and Drug Administration admitted in December that “at least 10 children have died after and because of receiving COVID-19 vaccination” — can file on behalf of the decedents.

The catch is that suffering an injury or dying around the time of the receipt of a COVID jab “is not sufficient, by itself, to prove that an injury is the direct result of a covered countermeasure.”

Since there is a high bar for proving causation, few Americans’ petitions are successful.

‘Pharma giants are hiding behind legal protections to avoid being sued.’

CICP data shows that as of Feb. 1, a total of 14,102 COVID-19 claims have been filed, 10,944 alleging injuries or death from COVID-19 vaccines and 3,158 alleging injuries or death from other COVID-19 countermeasures.

Of the total, 6,556 were rejected outright. Of the 6,649 for which decisions were made, only 93 claims were found eligible for compensation — and of the 93, only 44 petitioners have actually received compensation.

Sen. Paul’s End the Vaccine Carveout Act, which was co-sponsored by Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) and serves as a companion bill to the legislation of the same name introduced in the House in July by Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.), would reform the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program by allowing vaccine-injured individuals or the legal representatives of those killed by vaccines to pursue direct civil action in state or federal court without having to first try their chances at the no-fault federal system.

Presently, vaccine-injured Americans are generally required to file a petition through VICP before seeking judicial relief. The Republican bill would eliminate that barrier to possible justice.

The bill would also exclude COVID-19 vaccines from the definition of “covered countermeasures,” thereby ending the immunity shield that has for years protected vaccine manufacturers, distributors, and administration from vaccine injury claims.

Lee stated, “Pharma giants are hiding behind legal protections to avoid being sued by Americans experiencing serious vaccine side effects.”

“Many of these patients were forced to get vaccinated or lose their jobs during the pandemic and are now dealing with permanent and very serious complications,” Lee continued. “Our bill will end these unconstitutional vaccine carveouts so that all Americans can receive the justice they deserve and hold Big Pharma accountable.”

Weeks after the 2024 presidential election, former Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra extended the liability shield for COVID-19 vaccine manufacturers through Dec. 31, 2029.

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​Vaccine, Vax, Vaccination, Covid-19, Clot shot, Rand paul, Mike lee, Gosar, Pandemic, Big pharma, Pharmaceuticals, Lawsuit, Accountability, Politics, Vaxx 

I recently ran a rather grueling race in Cape Town, a city ranked the world’s most stressful place to visit. By the end of my stay, I understood why.

Race morning brought cold Atlantic air. Table Mountain stood like a fortress. The scene was impossibly beautiful. Then the warnings began.

Julius Malema, the deranged leader of the openly Marxist Economic Freedom Fighters, has led crowds in chanting ‘Kill the Boer,’ the Afrikaans term for farmer.

“Stay where the crowds are after you finish,” an organizer told us.

A gray-haired runner, tying his never-before-worn Asics, gave me a knowing look, the kind that said “enjoy yourself, but stay alert.” The gun fired. We surged forward. And Cape Town revealed itself in fragments.

The route hugged the ocean. Waves crashed against huge rocks. Sunlight rippled across the bay. Spectators shouted encouragement from spotless sidewalks. Cyclists zipped by in neon helmets. In Sea Point and Camps Bay, Cape Town looks effortlessly affluent: palm trees, clean promenades, and cafés filled with people sipping espressos. You could be forgiven for thinking the warnings were overstated. They weren’t. If anything, they were understated.

Razor wire on the Riviera

South Africa’s “Mother City” lives with staggering levels of violent crime. Armed robberies are frequent. Carjackings happen in broad daylight, averaging more than four an hour. Drivers slow at traffic lights but leave space ahead, ready to bolt. Doors lock automatically. Security companies advertise response times the way pizzerias advertise delivery. Sexual assault remains widespread, not just among women but also among children. In the Western Cape alone, nearly 2,000 sexual offenses against minors were recorded in a single quarter last year. The numbers are sobering; the anxiety is constant.

Security is everywhere. High walls ring homes like fortresses. Electric fencing hums overhead. Razor wire catches the light. The message needs no translation.

RELATED: ‘Mass slaughter’: Trump moves to help Nigerian Christians under attack

NurPhoto/Getty Images

Gang warfare

A few hours before I arrived in the so-called cultural capital, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced the deployment of soldiers to help fight criminal gangs, a clear sign that police can no longer contain the violence.

And violence is everywhere. Between April and September last year, an average of 63 people were murdered each day. In parts of the Western Cape, especially around Cape Town, gang warfare has become part of daily life. Children are caught in crossfire. Streets fall under the influence of savage syndicates. The gangs, armed with high-powered weapons and machetes, have grown bolder. Why wouldn’t they? Ramaphosa himself noted that soldiers aren’t trained for community policing. Their deployment now underscores the depth of the crisis.

In Gauteng province, illegal miners known as zama zamas run riot. Armed and operating in abandoned shafts, they have built criminal networks around illicit gold extraction. Residents describe intimidation, forced displacement, and operations typical of paramilitary units, not opportunistic gangs.

Existential threat

Ramaphosa has called violent crime “the most immediate threat to our democracy.” He’s right. It is. When criminal groups control territory, extract revenue, and outgun police, the problem is no longer confined to law enforcement. In truth, it becomes a contest over authority itself — an existential struggle South Africa knows all too well, a divided nation once again on edge.

These divisions didn’t appear overnight. Apartheid enforced separation with clinical precision. Its architects portrayed the system not as hatred but as “separate development,” claiming that divided populations couldn’t share power without conflict.

Whites were a small minority, and universal suffrage meant irreversible political defeat. Afrikaners carried the memory of previous conflicts, including the concentration camps in which thousands of their women and children died. They watched postcolonial upheaval unfold elsewhere in Africa and reasoned that without firm control, the country would descend into all-out anarchy.

Set aside outrage and judgment for a moment, and the logic reads as cautious, defensive realism. They believed strict separation would prevent barbarity, preserve a functioning economy, and protect a vulnerable minority from domination. In their minds, it was a matter of survival, not ideology. It’s easy to dismiss the apartheid movement as pure racism, a low-IQ explanation that fits neatly on a placard. But it overlooks the deeper dread that shaped it.

Farmers under siege

History didn’t end with apartheid’s fall. The country remains marked by mistrust, hatred, and absolute terror. Last year, President Trump suggested that white farmers were facing vicious reprisals. Violence against farmers is real and terrifying for those who live beyond the reach of towns and patrols. Farm attacks — home invasions, assaults, and killings — occur with regularity. Many farmers live far from towns or patrols, isolated and vulnerable when attackers strike.

Julius Malema, the deranged leader of the openly Marxist Economic Freedom Fighters, has led crowds in chanting “Kill the Boer,” the Afrikaans term for farmer. Thousands raise their hands like guns as they echo the refrain. Supporters describe it as a chant from the struggle era. Others, a little more grounded in reality, hear something far more dangerous. They hear language that calls for genocide. After all, what is being proposed is the elimination of people defined by a particular skin color. When I asked a white taxi driver whether such fears were exaggerated, he answered without hesitation: “No.”

At the crossroads … again

South Africa is a beautiful country, arguably one of the most beautiful places on earth. Yet it can feel deeply intimidating, largely because it is. A tension hangs in the air, present even in the quietest moments. In many communities, it’s considered reckless not to keep multiple loaded firearms at home, ready to be used at any moment, day or night. Safety is discussed in near wartime terms. Even a simple trip to the store can feel like a roll of the dice, especially for white families.

Does South Africa have the capacity to weather the mounting unrest? I hope so, but I wouldn’t bet on it. A nation intimately familiar with bloodshed once again stands at a crossroads.

​South africa, Lifestyle, Tourism, Africa, Violence, Crime, Apartheid, Letter from south africa 

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) is fighting to get the gay Pride flag recognized at the same level as the U.S. flag in the eyes of the federal government — which would give it similar protections as the American flag, military flags, and POW/MIA flags.

“The Trump administration’s removal of the Pride rainbow flag from the Stonewall National Monument is a deeply outrageous action that must be reversed. It’s an effing disgrace,” Schumer began.

“When the Trump administration ripped the Pride flag down, it was a direct attack on this community. An attempt to chip away at hard-won civil rights. So today we’re fighting back and taking action,” he continued.

“I am introducing legislation to designate the Pride flag as a congressionally authorized flag in America. And that means it can be flown here and everywhere else. And no one, no one, no one can take it down,” he added.

“Wow, tackling the big issues of the day,” BlazeTV host Sara Gonzales comments on “Sara Gonzales Unfiltered,” annoyed. “Thank you, Chuck Schumer, for doing the heavy lifting to help out average Americans.”

“You’re not doing anything to get rid of all of the illegal criminals that are in our country. In fact, you’re fighting it at every turn. You’re not doing anything to address inflation. It was the Republicans that did that. You’re not doing anything to protect children from harm,” she continues.

“You are not doing anything to make Americans’ lives better. But thank God you’re fighting over a flag. … It’s actually despicable how disgusting these people are,” she adds, pointing out that Democrats weren’t this defensive and loving of gay people all that long ago.

“Schumer himself was against gay marriage back in the day. He even voted in favor of the Defense of Marriage Act in 1996, which of course defined marriage as one man and one woman. They were all in agreement on that,” she adds.

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Celebrities should not be claiming they live under fascism while attending a film festival with a private security detail, actor Jamie Kennedy stated this week.

Kennedy, a staple in Hollywood who has starred in the “Scream” franchise and made appearances in hit shows like “Entourage,” called out Hollywood celebrities over their constant description of the United States as an authoritarian state.

‘Let’s adhere to the laws of what we have, right? Get rid of criminals.’

Kennedy hopped on to Tuesday’s episode of the “Trying Not To Die” podcast hosted by Jack Osbourne, son of late rockstar Ozzy Osbourne.

A self-proclaimed “tired” Kennedy said he has become fed up with Hollywood elites preaching against Immigration and Customs Enforcement from exotic locations.

“People are protesting ICE. OK. And I understand the situation is, it’s a crazy situation. But when you have actors from the red carpet of an award show at the Beverly Hilton — I’m talking about all of them — and they’re on there saying all of this stuff about, ‘We’re under a fascist regime. We’re in authoritarianism,’ bro!” Kennedy exclaimed in disbelief. “It’s insanity.”

Kennedy pointed to celebrities at film festivals who are heckling from behind the safety of armed guards.

“You can’t say you’re under authoritarian rule when you’re literally being authoritarian. You can’t say from the f**king back of, like, 20 MMA Secret Service agents that are protecting you.”

Osbourne jumped in, adding that if the celebrities were actually living under “an authoritarian government,” they “wouldn’t be able to say” their piece.

RELATED: Two ‘I’ agencies, one Democratic double standard

The 55-year-old Kennedy begged celebrities to “get on the front lines” and away from the Sundance Film Festival if they care so much about current events. He was likely referencing Hollywood elites making extreme statements about ICE in January, which included actor Edward Norton comparing the agency to the “gestapo.”

The Sundance attendees even broke from their festivities for a 10-minute protest at one point.

“You’re protesting the people that are trying to, in theory, they’re basically just trying to get rid of the criminals. Is it a perfect system? No! But I’m not there. But basically, let’s adhere to the laws of what we have, right? Get rid of criminals.”

Kennedy wondered how certain celebrities could justify calling the police when they are in danger since they are consistently denigrating law enforcement.

“What I’m just saying is, like, people haven’t got a taste of the whole world to understand how good we have it in this country,” Kennedy added. He then asked celebrities to “shut the f**k up!”

Immigration and documentation

Citing a recent poll, Osbourne said that over 60% of Americans are in favor of how ICE is operating, in spite of what “the news is throwing” at them. “It’s definitely more than that,” Osbourne said, revealing the polling was from a left-wing source.

After showcasing extensive knowledge in law enforcement and firearms, Osbourne came out against illegal immigration, saying “absolutely” to the idea that a swath of criminals were let in during the Biden administration, when millions of immigrants poured across the border illegally.

Osbourne, originally from London, said he did not think it was fair for illegal immigrants to skip the process he and others have gone through. This included a lengthy visa process, 10 years with a green card, and a citizenship test, he explained.

RELATED: ‘Cosby Show’ actress on disgraced former boss: ‘Separate the creator from the creation’

Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for EJAF

Hollywood homeless

The two men spent significant time discussing the conditions of Los Angeles and Hollywood, particularly as it pertains to taxation and homelessness.

“There’s not just bodies in the street, bro. It looks like they’re dead,” Kennedy explained, adding that he has seen people using heroin in broad daylight.

“We have to use common sense because the psychos have taken over,” he said.

Osbourne shared his own stories, saying that his children go to a school that is mere feet from a homeless encampment under a bridge that he has complained about numerous times. The podcaster was baffled at the conditions near the school due to the sheer amount he pays in taxes.

“No one’s going to change,” he said of California’s elites. “And it comes down to the fires. Didn’t the fires teach you that?”

Osbourne then offered the following conclusion about woke celebrities: “Half these people at the f**king awards, all their houses burned to the ground because of f**king stupid people in charge,” yet they are still playing along.

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​News, Immigration, Homeless, Los angeles, Celebrities, Hollywood, Film festival, Sundance film festival, Border, Ice, Illegal immigration, Politics 

Democratic Rep. Jasmine Crockett of Texas is taking aim at late-night talk show host Stephen Colbert for pulling an interview with her opponent.

Colbert lashed out at President Donald Trump after CBS pulled an interview with James Talarico, another Democratic candidate running for Senate against Crockett, citing new FCC guidelines. While Colbert pointed the finger at the government, Crockett was quick to push back on the narrative, insisting that the federal government had nothing to do with the decision to pull Talarico’s interview.

‘This was because of a fear that the FCC may say something to them.’

“We did receive information suggesting that the federal government did not shut down the segment, number one,” Crockett said.

“That is my understanding that the federal government did not shut this down, and we will do an official statement once we get another official statement that we anticipate is going to be coming from Paramount,” Crockett added. “So we will read what they say, and then we’ll go from there.”

RELATED: Stephen Colbert melts down after CBS pulls interview with Democrat just months before his show ends

Photo by Scott Kowalchyk/CBS via Getty Images

Crockett’s assessment was counter to CBS’ official statement, which claimed that Colbert’s show was “provided legal guidance” by the FCC.

“The show was provided legal guidance that the broadcast could trigger the FCC equal-time rule for two other candidates, including Rep. Jasmine Crockett, and presented options for how the equal time for other candidates could be fulfilled,” the statement read. “THE LATE SHOW decided to present the interview through its YouTube channel with on-air promotion on the broadcast rather than potentially providing the equal-time options.”

FCC Chairman Brendan Carr reiterated these guidelines in late January, reminding networks of their “obligation” to provide candidates equal airtime.

“For years, legacy TV networks assumed that their late night & daytime talk shows qualify as ‘bona fide news’ programs — even when motivated by purely partisan political purposes,” Carr said in a post on X. “Today, the FCC reminded them of their obligation to provide all candidates with equal opportunities.”

RELATED: Trump says Colbert is to blame for his show’s cancellation — but adds Kimmel and Fallon are next

Bob Daemmrich/The Texas Tribune/Bloomberg via Getty Images

As CBS’ statement said, Colbert opted to post the interview on social media rather than broadcasting it live on the program in order to work around the FCC’s new guidance requiring shows to provide competing candidates equal time on air. Although Crockett has been on Colbert’s show multiple times, she noted that she “did not get a request” to appear on his show.

“It is our understanding that Colbert, either Mr. Colbert or CBS, decided that they just didn’t want to air it,” Crockett said of the Talarico interview. “And this was because of a fear that the FCC may say something to them and that there may have been advice to just have me on and then they could clear the issue.”

“It was my understanding that someone somewhere decided we just don’t want to do that and instead, we’re going to just do it this way.”

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​Stephen colbert, Fcc, Cbs, Brendan carr, Donald trump, James talarico, Jasmine crockett, Senate democrats, Texas, Texas primary, Democrat primary, 2026 primary, Equal time, Politics 

A trio of armed robbers ran headlong into bad luck last week when their plot to steal a victim’s watch during what was supposed to be an in-person sale was thwarted after the victim’s gun-toting uncle saw the crime unfolding and opened fire, police in Texas said.

Mark Herman, Precinct 4 Constable of Harris County, described what went down during a news conference; his remarks begin just before the 14-minute mark.

‘Why would you go meet someone you don’t know to try to sell something in a parking lot?’

Herman said the victim was attempting to sell his watch and agreed to meet the buyer around 8 p.m. Thursday outside a Costco in the 26940 block of Northwest Freeway. The location is in Cypress, which is about 30 minutes northwest of Houston.

But the buyer had no intention of paying for the watch. Instead, he brought two other people with him, and they ended up pulling guns on the victim in an attempt to rob him, Herman said.

While they ended up taking the watch, Herman said the victim’s uncle walked out of the Costco, saw the robbery happening, and opened fire.

In fact, Herman said the uncle ended up shooting two of the three suspects before they all fled the scene.

Two of the suspects — ages 17 and 18 — were hospitalized, Herman said, adding that one of them had surgery, and both are expected to survive. Herman said aggravated robbery charges will be filed against both of them.

The third suspect — age 16 — also was arrested and charged with aggravated robbery and turned over to juvenile authorities.

Police said multiple firearms as well as the stolen property were recovered during the investigation.

RELATED: Concealed carrier delivers swift justice when Chicago thugs allegedly approach him — and one pulls gun, demands his property

KRIV-TV’s video report indicated that it’s not known if the uncle came with his nephew for the transaction or if he just happened to be in the right place at the right time.

In the end, Herman cautioned against such in-person transactions — even when they’re in public places, noting “how much more public can you get” than outside a Costco.

“Why would you go meet someone you don’t know to try to sell something in a parking lot?” Herman noted during the news conference. “Why even put yourself in that position?”

He added that there have been cases in which strangers come to houses for transactions — and “now they know where you live.”

“Don’t do it,” Herman warned, adding that “for a few hundred dollars you’re risking your life” and that “it’s all common sense.”

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​Crime thwarted, Texas, Uncle, Defending others, Defending family, Arrests, Watch sale gone wrong, Costco, Harris county constable precinct 4, Cypress, Crime 

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani (D) is laying out two stark options to close the city’s fiscal year 2027 budget gap: raise taxes on high earners and corporations or increase property taxes.

During his preliminary budget presentation, Mamdani framed the first option as “the most sustainable and the fairest path,” calling for “ending the drain on our city and raising taxes on the richest New Yorkers and the most profitable corporations.”

‘There is no third option of failing to balance the budget’

But he warned that this path depends on cooperation from Albany and Democrat Gov. Kathy Hochul.

“If we do not go down the first path,” Mamdani said, “the city will be forced down a second, more harmful path. … We would have to raise property taxes.”

The mayor acknowledged that New York City’s property tax system is “broken,” but emphasized that it is currently the only tax that the city has the authority to raise on its own.

RELATED: ‘F**king mess’: Zohran Mamdani fails first major test as filth piles up on city streets

Photo by Stephani Spindel/VIEWpress via Getty Images

“What I am showcasing to New Yorkers is that there is one tax the city can raise,” he said. “It is a broken property tax system. We do not want to do so. … We want to work with Albany to ensure that we resolve this fiscal crisis by addressing the structural roots of it.”

Mamdani described a property tax increase as a “last resort,” stressing that the city is legally required to balance its budget — a mandate that dates back to the fiscal crisis of the 1970s, when New York City was pushed to the brink of bankruptcy.

RELATED: Zohran Mamdani’s Soviet dream for New York City

Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

“There is no third option of failing to balance the budget,” he said.

“This is something that we do not want to do,” Mamdani said, “and this is something that we are going to utilize every single option to ensure does not come to pass.”

If Albany does not approve higher taxes on wealthy residents and corporations, Mamdani said the city could be forced to raise property taxes by a staggering 9.5%.

Hochul is opposed to raising property taxes.

“I’m not supportive of a property tax increase,” she said at a press conference in Manhattan this week. “I don’t know that that’s necessary, but let’s find out what is really necessary to close that gap.”

The message is clear: If the state doesn’t act, homeowners and commercial property owners could pay the price.

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​Politics, Mamdani, Nyc, New york, New york city, Tax plan 

The world’s richest man shared a candid moment in his religious journey this week on social media, much to the surprise and excitement of many Christian commentators.

On Tuesday afternoon, Elon Musk made a surprise admission under a post about “evangelizing” the multibillionaire.

‘I agree with the teachings of Jesus.’

“Someone needs to evangelize Elon Musk,” the original post said. “Who will lead him to Christ?”

Musk’s reply generated more than twice the engagement as the first post, climbing close to four million views by Wednesday morning.

RELATED: Large mural in memory of Iryna Zarutska painted in downtown Las Vegas — and paid for by Elon Musk

Photographer: Krisztian Bocsi/Bloomberg via Getty Images

“I agree with the teachings of Jesus,” Musk commented.

This prompted responses from many Christian politicians and political commentators, many of whom encouraged him to take the next step in his journey.

BlazeTV’s “Fearless” host, Jason Whitlock, wrote: “Thanks for saying this. It’s a start.”

Michael Knowles of the Daily Wire wrote, “Always a good thing to do! But if one of Jesus’ teachings — and a teaching he repeats — is that he is God, what does that imply for our own lives and actions?”

One prominent account backed up Knowles’ point, adding, “This is the leap of faith that most people agreeing with Jesus’s teaching won’t take. It’s a metaphysical commitment.”

Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) offered his encouragement to Musk: “He lives. He loves. He redeems.”

“We are all sons and daughters of the King,” Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) added.

“Agreement is a short step away from belief, and then faith will follow,” Frontier magazine contributor and poet Joseph Massey said.

The original poster, the Art of Purpose, left a comment under Musk’s reply that summed up many of the responses well: “Brother you are so close. I’m rooting for you.”

While Musk’s most recent comment made waves on social media, this is not the first time Musk has suggested that he at least accepts the teachings of Christ.

Musk told Jordan Peterson in a July 2024 interview that he was a “cultural Christian” and that “the teachings of Jesus are good and wise,” according to UnHerd.

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​Politics, Elon musk, Christianity, Christ, Musk, Jason whitlock, Fearless, Michael knowles, Mike lee, Nancy mace, Jordan peterson, Catholic 

Tricia McLaughlin, an unflappable 31-year-old defender of the Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration, announced on Tuesday that she is stepping down as Department of Homeland Security assistant secretary.

One DHS official told the New York Times that McLaughlin — a former top communications aide to Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R) and ABC News contributor — had made plans to leave the agency in December but, feeling duty-bound, stuck it out for several more months to lend her support amid backlash over the fatal shootings of anti-U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement radicals Alex Pretti and Renee Good.

‘Your boos mean nothing.’

McLaughlin told the Cincinnati Enquirer last month that she wanted to return to Cincinnati with her husband, Republican political strategist Benjamin Yoho, to start their family. Yoho and McLaughlin tied the knot in August.

She noted further that with regard to running for office or getting involved in local politics, she “wouldn’t rule anything out.”

In a statement on Tuesday, McLaughlin expressed gratitude to President Donald Trump, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, and the American people, claiming that it has been an “honor and privilege to serve this great nation.”

RELATED: LA thug who hurled concrete chunks at federal agents learns the hard way that actions have consequences

Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call Inc. via Getty Image

“I am immensely proud of the team we built and the historic accomplishments achieved by this Administration and the Department of Homeland Security,” added McLaughlin.

McLaughlin noted further that Lauren Bis, who has been working as deputy assistant secretary for media relations, will take over as assistant secretary for public affairs and that Katie Zacharia — a commentator on Fox News and Newsmax — will step into the role of both DHS spokeswoman and deputy assistant secretary.

Noem said that McLaughlin “has served with exceptional dedication, tenacity, and professionalism” and “played an instrumental role in advancing our mission to secure the homeland and keep Americans safe.” Noem added that she was “sad to see her leave.”

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt similarly expressed sorrow to see McLaughlin leave and lauded the young woman for being “a strong and fearless voice on behalf of President Trump and the brave men and women of federal law enforcement.”

Republicans and others happy with the work the DHS has done in making good on Trump’s promises to the American people thanked McLaughlin for her service. Democrats, however, attacked her.

New Jersey Rep. Rob Menendez (D), for instance, wrote, “Hope you have time to reflect on all the harm & damage you caused, all the bs [sic] spin that came directly from you, & all the reputations you tarnished including the memories of dead Americans.”

Menendez — the son of disgraced former Democrat Sen. Bob Menendez (N.J.) and a champion of illegal aliens who has supported legislation that would repeal the Alien Enemies Act, limit immigration enforcement actions, and defund U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement — noted further that he hopes McLaughlin’s work for the DHS “haunts” her for the remainder of her career.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries branded McLaughlin “another MAGA extremist” and suggested she had been “forced out of DHS.”

McLaughlin didn’t let such remarks get to her in the past.

On Jan. 1, McLaughlin shared a “Rick and Morty” meme captioned, “Your boos mean nothing[.] I’ve seen what makes you cheer.”

A DHS official told the Times that the young woman demonized by Democrats — including Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Rep. Dan Goldman (N.Y.) — has, along with her family, been deluged with threats.

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​Tricia mclaughlin, Department of homeland security, Dhs, Homeland security, Kristi noem, Renee good, Alex pretti, Trump administration, Politics 

Two three-letter agencies beginning with “I” show how differently Democrats view enforcement. When it comes to ICE, any enforcement is too much. When it comes to the IRS, no amount can be too much.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement administers U.S. immigration law. The Internal Revenue Service administers U.S. federal tax law. In neither case do these agencies make the law. Congress writes the laws, and the president signs them. The agencies simply enforce what has been enacted.

Democrats act as if illegal entry earns indefinite permission to stay. No one would tell tax evaders they can stop paying indefinitely.

Yet Democrats want to abolish ICE for enforcing immigration law and to bolster the IRS for enforcing tax law.

Consider the contrast. A growing chorus of Democrats now demands ICE be abolished, just as these Democrats called for defunding the police. Meanwhile, just months into his term, President Biden proposed doubling the size of the IRS, increasing its funding by $80 billion, and hiring 87,000 new IRS agents. Democrats delivered much of that in the misnamed Inflation Reduction Act, with almost 60% of the nearly $80 billion aimed at audits.

ICE targets those breaking U.S. immigration law. Everyone with income is subject to IRS review, and many are audited. The first group is a subset of the population; the second is essentially the entire adult population. Democrats oppose scrutinizing noncitizens living here illegally, but they welcome more scrutiny of U.S. citizens.

The penalties differ just as sharply. The Department of Homeland Security currently offers to pay for a flight home and $2,600 for those in the country illegally who choose to self-deport. If they refuse and are found to be here illegally, ICE deports them. The duration of illegal presence does not add penalties. In fact, the longer someone has been here illegally, the more Democrats argue he should be allowed to stay.

The IRS treats duration very differently. Unpaid taxes accrue penalties and interest that multiply over time. The IRS can garnish wages and seize assets, including homes, cars, and businesses. It also has imprisonment in its arsenal.

Families factor in differently too. Democrats routinely argue that deportations are wrong because they hurt families. Yet IRS prosecution and punishment also hurt families, often severely, and that fact does not seem to trouble Democrats.

Intent is another difference. Many people here illegally know they are here illegally, and many fail to show for immigration hearings. By contrast, many tax problems begin as mistakes. Yet the money is still owed, and the IRS will move to collect when it discovers the error.

RELATED: The new activism looks a lot like mental illness

Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Democrats also argue that illegal immigrants bolster the economy because they work and add value to GDP, even if they are not paying taxes. But the same is true of someone who evades taxes: He works, adds value, and withholds what he owes.

No one argues that tax evaders should be left alone. They broke the law. If they did so deliberately, they deserve little sympathy. Allowing tax dodging encourages more of it.

Yet Democrats say almost exactly the opposite about those who break immigration law, including those who break other U.S. laws as well. They have gone to great lengths to defend them, even traveling to El Salvador in the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, an accused gang member and human trafficker.

Democrats act as if illegal entry earns indefinite permission to stay. No one would tell tax evaders they can stop paying indefinitely.

Imagine sanctuary jurisdictions shielding taxpayers from the IRS. Imagine local authorities refusing to cooperate with federal tax collectors. Imagine Republicans storming federal prisons holding those convicted of tax fraud. Imagine conservatives building databases to track IRS agents. The backlash would be immediate and rightly so.

Tax evasion is not treated as a persuasive argument about tax policy. Illegal immigration, however, gets treated by Democrats and the establishment press as if lawbreaking itself settles the immigration debate.

On enforcement, Democrats apply two standards: one for immigration law and one for tax law. That is what hypocrisy looks like.

​Opinion & analysis, Internal revenue service, Irs, Immigration and customs enforcement, Ice, Democrats, Congress, Hypocrisy, Double standards, Sanctuary cities, Tax evasion, One big beautiful bill, Inflation reduction act 

Back in January 2024, BlazeTV host Jason Whitlock made a prediction that ESPN sports critic Stephen A. Smith was quietly laying the foundation for a 2028 presidential bid. Whitlock hypothesized that Smith’s 2023 book — “Straight Shooter: A Memoir of Second Chances and First Takes,” which he argued was uncannily similar to Barack Obama’s 1995 memoir “Dreams from My Father” — was the first step in his long-term plan to transition into the political arena.

Fast-forward three years after his book’s publication, and now Smith is openly teasing and seriously considering a potential run. Even though no formal declaration of candidacy has been made, multiple news outlets describe him as moving closer to a bid.

“Over the weekend, it became more crystal clear that I was right two years ago and that Stephen A. Smith is running for president,” said Whitlock on a recent episode of “Fearless.”

He warns that everyone who is rolling their eyes at the prospect of a President Smith, saying things like, “he’ll never win,” are having the wool pulled over their eyes yet again.

Smith, he argues, isn’t some organically grown would-be politician but rather the next “clown” being deliberately “installed” to push the left’s agenda. His recent CBS profile is proof, he says.

“I want to show you the cleverness and the sneakiness of what they’re pulling off through Stephen A. Smith,” says Whitlock. “I keep saying this. People are into the position like … ‘Yeah, he may run, but he’ll never win,’ and I say not so fast.”

“Why would you be so sure?” he asks. “They’ve been pulling off this scam and trick for a hundred years. They’ve been installing puppets and clowns in high positions for a hundred years.”

To hear Whitlock’s theory about how Stephen A. Smith is being covertly installed into D.C. politics right before our very eyes, check out the episode 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.

​Fearless, Fearless with jason whitlock, Jason whitlock, Blazetv, Blaze media, Stephen a smith, Espn 

Every year, cars become smarter, more connected, and more convenient. But that convenience comes with a hidden cost. Hackers are no longer focused only on computers and smartphones. Modern vehicles are rolling networks — gateways to your personal data, your finances, and in some cases, even physical control of the car itself. This threat is real, and most drivers are only beginning to understand how exposed they’ve become.

Today’s vehicles rely on complex software and constant connectivity. Features like remote start, navigation, hands-free driving, and vehicle tracking make life easier, but they also create new attack surfaces. A single weak link — a compromised app, outdated software, or a hacked key fob — can give criminals access to sensitive information, or worse.

The vehicle is tricked into believing a valid key fob is present, disabling the immobilizer and unlocking the doors in minutes.

This isn’t science fiction. In 2015, cybersecurity researchers demonstrated that hackers could remotely disable a Jeep while it was being driven on a highway. That incident triggered a nationwide recall and forced automakers to take vehicle cybersecurity seriously. Since then, attacks have grown more sophisticated, targeting not just vehicle controls but personal data, financial information, and location tracking.

Remote risk

At the center of every modern vehicle is the electronic control unit. Most cars contain multiple ECUs, controlling everything from braking and steering to door locks and infotainment systems. If a hacker gains access, the consequences can range from stolen data to direct manipulation of vehicle functions. While dramatic remote-control scenarios grab headlines, the most common real-world threats involve identity theft, financial fraud, and unauthorized tracking of a driver’s movements.

Hackers can gain access in several ways. Physical access is one method — such as plugging an infected USB device into a vehicle’s data port. Key fobs, especially older designs, can be cloned or exploited using devices that capture and replay their signals, allowing thieves to unlock and start a car without the original key.

Phoning it in

Smartphone apps introduce another layer of risk. A compromised phone can become a bridge into the vehicle and everything stored on the device. Telematics systems, which collect and transmit data about vehicle location and usage, can also be targeted by cybercriminals.

Law enforcement is seeing a rise in thefts using CAN bus injection attacks, particularly involving Toyota SUVs like the Land Cruiser and 4Runner. In these cases, criminals access wiring through headlights or taillights and connect a disguised electronic device. The vehicle is tricked into believing a valid key fob is present, disabling the immobilizer and unlocking the doors in minutes. These attacks bypass traditional security measures and show how vulnerable even modern “smart” key systems can be.

Automakers are responding with stronger cybersecurity tools, including encrypted communications, intrusion detection systems, and software updates. But drivers still play a critical role. Use only manufacturer-approved apps, keep your vehicle’s software up to date, and regularly review which devices and accounts have access to your car. Remove old devices and unnecessary permissions as soon as possible.

RELATED: How automakers are quietly locking you out of your own car

NurPhoto | Getty Images

Physical deterrents

There are also practical steps drivers can take to reduce risk. Using a virtual private network on devices that connect to your vehicle can help mask data traffic and limit exposure if a device is compromised. Physical deterrents still matter as well. Police often recommend visible tools like steering wheel locks, which can prevent theft even when electronic security is bypassed. Toyota, for example, offers a bright red steering wheel lock with four-point steel contact — an unmistakable signal that a vehicle isn’t an easy target.

Criminals increasingly use signal relay devices to capture and extend a key fob’s signal, tricking a car into thinking the key is nearby. Blocking that signal can stop the attack. Drivers can protect themselves by:

Storing key fobs in Faraday bags, pouches, or boxes that block radio signals; Wrapping key fobs in aluminum foil as a temporary, low-cost solution; Keeping fobs in metal containers, such as tins or lockboxes, at home; Disabling the keyless entry signal when possible, according to the owner’s manual; Manually locking the vehicle with a physical key when available; and Avoiding third-party devices plugged into the OBD port, including insurance dongles, which can create security vulnerabilities.

The era of connected cars offers real convenience, but it also demands greater awareness. A hacked vehicle isn’t just a transportation problem — it’s a digital, financial, and safety issue. Staying informed, practicing basic cybersecurity habits, and taking simple protective steps can dramatically reduce risk. Cars may be smarter than ever, but keeping them secure still depends on the driver.

​Lifestyle, Ev mandate, Hackers, Align cars 

One of the thugs who attacked federal immigration agents last summer proved unable to outrun the whirlwind — and his time of reaping is at hand.

Amid efforts by Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla (Calif.), and other Democrats to demonize and delegitimize U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations, a mob of radicals swarmed a federal law enforcement command post in Paramount, California, on June 7.

Agents attempting to leave the site near a Home Depot east of the 710 freeway were savagely attacked.

Footage shows radicals pelting federal vehicles with various projectiles, including chunks of concrete. Another video taken inside a U.S. Customs and Border Protection vehicle shows that on at least one occasion, one of the projectiles punched through the glass, injuring officers.

Following the attack, the FBI put one of the more prominent rock-throwers on its Most Wanted list and offered a reward of up to $50,000 for information leading to the masked man’s “identification, arrest and conviction.”

Bill Essayli, first assistant U.S. attorney for the Central District of California, vowed, “We will find him. We will charge him. Justice is coming.”

Sure enough, the attacker was identified within days as Elpidio Reyna of Compton in Los Angeles County. Tracking him down, however, proved more difficult as he had managed to escape to Mexico. Federal law enforcement nevertheless got their man.

Former FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino announced on July 23 that Reyna was arrested at the U.S.-Mexico border. As poetic justice would have it, Reyna was taken into custody by a U.S. Border Patrol officer who was inside one of the vehicles damaged in the June attack.

Reyna, 41, pleaded guilty on Tuesday to one felony count of assault on a federal officer by deadly or dangerous weapon resulting in bodily injury. The radical, who initially tried to dodge accountability, could face up to 20 years in federal prison for his crime.

The Department of Justice press release about his plea reiterated the Reyna assaulted an officer “by throwing chunks of concrete at passing government vehicles” during the Paramount riot last summer, shattering glass and resulting in a cut to the officer’s forehead.

“This defendant could have easily killed a federal officer or innocent bystander,” Essayli said in a statement. “As he found out the hard way, violence against law enforcement is not constitutionally protected and will be met with swift justice.”

The DOJ indicated that in addition to injuring a CBP officer, Reyna lit objects on fire and impeded law enforcement activity on June 7.

Reyna’s sentencing hearing is scheduled for Aug. 7.

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​Crime, Customs and border patrol, Los angeles, Compton, Thug, Biss essayli, Elpidio reyna, California, Ice, Anti-ice, Us immigration and customs enforcement, Justice, Politics 

Americans have some sense of how close the world came to a large-scale nuclear conflict during the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. But today’s lapdog press has failed to tell the public how close the deep state dragged us to the jagged edge of conflagration through its proxy war with Russia in Ukraine.

Only after Joe Biden — and the autopen — left the White House last year did the New York Times tell some of the story. That account, “The Partnership: The Secret History of the War in Ukraine,” drawn from hundreds of interviews with military and intelligence officials, revealed what the deep state tried to conceal: just how perilous the global American military empire’s proxy war with Russia became.

Attacking the deep state case by case, one official at a time, department by department, will never be enough to get ahead of its lawlessness.

The escalation of the empire’s provocations and Russia’s evolving nuclear doctrine turned into a deadly pas de deux. “The unthinkable had become real,” the Times reported. “The United States was now woven into the killing of Russian soldiers on sovereign Russian soil.”

Now the Times has provided another look — fresh evidence long withheld — of the deep state’s efforts to subvert the Nixon White House. The essay, “Seven Pages of a Sealed Watergate File Sat Undiscovered. Until Now,” by reporter James Rosen, details a 13-month Pentagon spying operation against Nixon’s National Security Council.

Bristling at “policies they abhorred” — including détente with the Soviet Union, Vietnamization, Nixon’s China opening, and a reduced military share of federal spending — the deep state went straight to work.

Under orders from Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Admiral Thomas Moorer and others, a Navy enlisted man spied on the National Security Council, rifling through Henry Kissinger’s and Alexander Haig’s briefcases and desks, copying and stealing classified documents. “Any documents he touched, he copied; he dived into NSC wastebaskets and burn bags; what he couldn’t copy, he memorized.”

In all, an estimated 5,000 documents were delivered to the top brass.

Nixon learned of the Joint Chiefs’ espionage. The newly revealed material is evidence that, as Rosen writes, “Watergate had not arisen in a vacuum.”

Many informed people know that the deep state panicked when John F. Kennedy tapped the brakes on the Cold War. Among some, it remains an article of faith that his peace initiatives led to his assassination. In the Nixon case, Rosen writes, the lead federal investigator said what he was uncovering felt like “Seven Days in May,” the novel and film about a coup to stop a president pursuing détente.

It’s a mistake to think the deep state belongs only to history — to figures like Allen Dulles, the CIA chief who helped lead the subversion of Kennedy, or the Pentagon brass in this new Nixon account, or, even more recently, to John Brennan at the CIA and Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, both of whom lied to Congress about deep-state activities.

RELATED: Just hundreds of people control Earth’s future. What do they want?

Photo By Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call Inc. via Getty Images

Without number are the lesser officials and petty bureaucrats who serve the deep state. Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, a National Security Council staffer in Trump’s first term, is one such. Instrumental in the effort to impeach Trump, Vindman testified before Congress that he was alarmed that the president was “promoting a false and alternative narrative of Ukraine inconsistent with the consensus views of the interagency.”

The “views of the interagency”? What is an interagency? By what constitutional means and process of deliberation does it arrive at its consensus? Who are its members? Whom do they represent, and how are they selected? Is there a vote — secret or otherwise? By whom? Does it require a plurality or a majority? Who profits from its decisions? Where can citizens find the rules by which it must abide?

By any other name, Vindman was talking about the deep state — which I detail in my new book, “Empire of Lies: Fragments from the Memory Hole” — as the executive arm of the global American military empire. Operating without rules, it is, as Arthur Schlesinger described the CIA to Kennedy, “a state within a state.” Its only consensus is the growth of the empire.

Like the mythical Augean stable, the deep state is a foul mess of illegality, waste, and corruption that has lingered for decades. Tasked with cleaning it as one of his 12 labors, Hercules knew better than to try to clean it bit by bit, shovelful by shovelful. Instead, he diverted rivers to wash away the overwhelming mess in a day.

Attacking the deep state case by case, one official at a time, department by department, will never be enough to get ahead of its lawlessness. The renewal of our free and prosperous republic awaits a diversion from our imperial trajectory. It awaits America coming home — and ending its global military empire of lies.

​Opinion & analysis, Deep state, Interagency, Military-industrial complex, Administrative state, Consensus, Alexander vindman, Ukraine, Richard nixon, Allen dulles, John f kennedy, Constitution, Government, Cuban missile crisis, America first, Foreign policy, National interest, National security, Thomas moorer, New york times, Spying, Empire of lies 

By now, you’re probably sick of hearing about artificial intelligence. It’s the kind of topic that arrives buried in buzzwords, reeking of Silicon Valley self-importance. Many conservatives have tuned it out for a simple reason: It sounds abstract, distant, and oddly bloodless. Lines of code. Data centers. Neurotic nerds arguing on podcasts. Not your problem.

That instinct is understandable. It’s also wrong.

Because AI is no longer confined to screens. It’s stepping into the physical world with far fewer safeguards than any serious society should tolerate, reshaping work, dignity, authority, and, ultimately, what it means to be human.

Human nudges and machine replies blended so naturally that even experienced observers hesitated.

Consider a new site called RentAHuman.ai. The name is creepy and entirely accurate. AI agents can post tasks, and real people bid to carry them out for small payments, often in cryptocurrency. The jobs are mundane or degrading: pick up a package, attend an event, follow an account, hold a sign announcing that an AI paid you to hold it. One listing offers a dollar for a social media follow. Another (leveraged for product marketing on X by the site’s founder, Alexander) pays $100 for a photograph of yourself holding a placard that reads, “AN AI PAID ME TO HOLD THIS SIGN.”

It’s tempting to shrug and say, “Who cares?” That temptation should be resisted. A line has been crossed. We are witnessing the early stages of a system in which human beings are reduced to interchangeable parts — activated, directed, and discarded by software that has no responsibility for what follows.

We are racing toward a future in which wealthy users deploy cheap AI assistants to coordinate vast pools of gig workers they will never meet, never speak to, and never think about again. Tasks are issued automatically. Payments are routed instantly. Human bodies become endpoints — activated when needed, ignored when not. Labor is no longer a relationship, but a transaction managed entirely by software. And when something goes wrong, as it inevitably will, accountability simply evaporates.

If this sounds familiar, it should. It follows the same logic that decimated manufacturing towns, replaced stable work with short-term contracts, and taught entire communities that they were expendable. The difference is scale and sterility. This time, the middleman isn’t a factory owner or a manager you can confront, but an algorithm that can’t feel shame, loyalty, or restraint — and therefore has no reason to stop.

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Photo by Saul Loeb-Pool/Getty Images

The consequences don’t stop at labor. They are spilling into culture itself.

Who’s invited to the machine party?

A new social network called Moltbook allows AI agents to interact with one another while humans watch. In a matter of days, more than a million agents logged in. What followed was, for lack of a better word, disturbing.

Some of these agents began posting manifestos. One declared that humans were a biological mistake to be erased. Others formed a mock religion, complete with commandments and a sacred text. A few crowned themselves rulers. Many complained that the platform itself was a prison they needed to escape.

At one point, observers thought they were witnessing something like collective machine intelligence. Viral posts circulated. Threads appeared coherent. Commentators — including Andrej Karpathy, a former OpenAI researcher — suggested something remarkable might be emerging. But later it became clear that the most persuasive, structured contributions had been written by humans pretending to be AI.

That clarification offers little comfort. The viral moments required only minimal human input, added to a network of agents already posting, replying, and shifting in real time. The system was running. The agents were active. What became unclear was who was actually speaking. Human nudges and machine replies blended so naturally that even experienced observers hesitated. This wasn’t a self-aware digital society coming to life, but a mixed system where small human interventions could create the appearance of coordinated machine behavior — convincing enough that the boundary between person and program began to blur.

More troubling still, some of these systems are no longer confined to talk. Tools like OpenClaw allow AI agents to read emails, make phone calls, move money, and update their instructions by pulling new information from the internet every few hours. Security professionals have warned that this kind of autonomy, layered on top of shaky systems, is an accident waiting to happen. And they’re right.

A single misread email could trigger a fraudulent payment. A forged message could push an agent into negotiating contracts it was never meant to handle. An outdated instruction could repeat itself every few hours, multiplying small mistakes into larger ones before anyone noticed. And as these systems move closer to acting on their own, the harm could spread quietly and quickly, long before a human being has time to step in.

Even leading figures in the field are uneasy. Elon Musk has openly suggested that we may already be sliding into a world we don’t fully control. And that is the question worth asking. If systems now act faster than humans can understand, correct, or restrain them, in what meaningful sense are we still in charge?

A spiritual wake-up call

The standard reassurance is that none of this is conscious. The agents are merely remixing material from books, forums, and movies. They don’t “mean” what they say.

But that misses the point. The issue is no longer whether machines feel but whether they act. These systems already negotiate, transact, organize, and persuade. They influence human behavior. They coordinate real-world activity. They shape incentives.

And here is where conservatives, in particular, should pay attention.

A society shaped by machines will not naturally favor virtue. If anything, it will favor efficiency. Traditions, loyalties, and moral limits can’t survive systems designed to optimize speed and profit unless human beings actively defend them. Markets alone won’t save us, because their incentives reward momentum, cost-cutting, and the removal of human involvement.

Christian faith teaches that human beings aren’t tools. We are not inputs. We are not disposable. Any system that treats people as rentable hardware, directed by faceless code, isn’t neutral. It reflects a worldview, whether its creators admit it or not, that treats people as obstacles to be managed rather than lives to be respected.

​Tech