Category: blaze media

Late last month, Elon Musk’s X.com launched a landmark legal challenge against a $140 million fine issued by the European Commission last December under the Digital Services Act, an EU censorship law. The case was filed at the General Court of the EU, which hears high-stakes challenges to EU regulatory and enforcement actions.

The commission claims the fine, the first to be issued under the DSA, was for alleged transparency and procedural breaches, which X denies. But the real reason the company was targeted is clear: X is a free-speech platform, and Elon Musk refuses to implement online censorship in the EU and around the world.

This case is the first-ever challenge to Europe’s bid to become a global censor. The outcome matters deeply for the free-speech rights of billions of people around the world.

This case, which ADF International proudly supports, underscores the grave threat the DSA poses to free speech. The law, which took effect in 2024, requires “very large online platforms” — such as X, Meta, and Google — that operate in or are accessible from the EU and have more than 45 million monthly users to remove so-called illegal content.

“Illegal content” takes its meaning from a host of speech-restrictive laws across EU countries, including Germany’s ban on insulting a politician. The law also requires platforms to “mitigate” so-called “systemic risks,” such as “negative effects” on “civic discourse,” “electoral processes,” and “gender-based violence.”

Codes of conduct have also been added to the legislation regarding “disinformation,” “hate speech,” and guidelines on electoral processes and the protection of minors, resulting in 153 pages of additional regulations that were never voted on. Platforms face massive fines of up to 6% of global annual turnover for noncompliance with the DSA and can even be suspended in the EU.

The vague terms used in the legislation and codes of conduct are extremely broad and lack precise legal definitions, meaning they are ideal tools for the commission to censor disfavored views. And the commission’s reach extends far beyond Europe.

A recent report from the House Judiciary Committee showed that Big Tech platforms face immense pressure from the commission to set their global content moderation rules to censorial DSA standards. This means the EU law is censoring speech not just in Europe, but also in the United States and around the whole world.

The case of Finnish parliamentarian Päivi Räsänen demonstrates what DSA censorship will look like in practice. After six years of criminal prosecution, Päivi is awaiting a verdict from the Supreme Court of Finland for tweeting a Bible verse. She was prosecuted under the “War Crimes and Crimes against Humanity” section of Finland’s criminal code. Under the DSA, censorial laws like this will become the global baseline.

Since Elon Musk bought Twitter (now X) and turned it into a free-speech platform, Brussels has been clear about its hostility toward the platform. Former European Commissioner Thierry Breton issued a stark warning in 2023, stating: “You can run but you can’t hide. … Fighting disinformation will be legal obligation under #DSA. … Our teams will be ready for enforcement.” Former commission Vice President for Values and Transparency Vera Jourová added: “Twitter has attracted a lot of attention, and its actions and compliance with EU law will be scrutinized vigorously and urgently.”

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It’s clear why the commission gave X.com the first-ever DSA fine last December. It was sending a message to all Big Tech platforms about what will happen to platforms that refuse to accept censorship.

That is what makes X.com’s legal challenge so important — the company is fighting for the right of citizens around the world to freely express their views online. In this case, the social media giant is challenging the centralized powers given to the commission by the DSA, which it argues violate its right to due process and are contrary to the rule of law.

The commission is able to set the rules for content moderation, set up the infrastructure, launch investigations, and issue penalties under the DSA, all with no meaningful oversight. If this is allowed to stand, the EU will have the unchallenged ability to police the global public square, with dire consequences for online free speech.

Now the court has an opportunity to hold the commission to account. An oral hearing is expected in the case, potentially by the end of 2026, and the subsequent ruling will affect how all Big Tech platforms are moderated by the DSA. X.com is arguing for the fine to be withdrawn, and if the basis for the fine is found not to be compliant with other EU laws, specific provisions in the legislation could be annulled.

This case is the first-ever challenge of the commission’s bid to become a global censor. The outcome matters deeply for the free-speech rights of billions of people around the world.

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

​X, Elon musk, Eu, Free speech, Free speech laws, Social media, European commission, Dsa, Content moderation, Opinion & analysis, Censorship, Lawsuit, Brussels, Illegal content, Dissent 

Mary Clarke grew up in Beverly Hills, surrounded by mink coats and parties hosted by Hollywood stars. She died in a ten-by-ten concrete room inside a Mexican prison.

In between, she raised seven children, survived two marriages, ran a business, and eventually walked away from comfort to live among violent criminals and forgotten men. If her life unsettles your assumptions about what holiness looks like, it should.

The institutional Church, for its part, did not immediately know what to do with a twice-divorced woman living inside a men’s prison and calling herself a nun.

She was born in 1926 to Irish immigrant parents who had clawed their way into California comfort without losing their faith or their social conscience. Her father built a successful business and moved the family to Beverly Hills, but he made sure his daughter understood that glamour was not the point. Mary absorbed the lesson, even if it took several decades and two divorces before she fully acted on it.

Broken promises

Her personal life was, to put it charitably, complicated. She married at 19 and watched the union fail due to gambling debts and broken promises. She married again and eventually found herself running her father’s company and managing what looked, from the outside, like a well-ordered life. It wasn’t enough. She hadn’t failed at life. She had excelled at a version of it that no longer satisfied her.

The turning point came in 1965, when she crossed the border into Tijuana with a priest and walked into La Mesa prison. What she saw there — the overcrowding, the degradation, the absence of basic dignity — did not strike her as someone else’s problem. She drove back to California and could not stop thinking about the faces she had seen.

So she went back. Then again. And again.

Each time she loaded her car with medicine, food, and clothing. Eventually the prison visits stopped being a charity project and became the center of her life. Beverly Hills was no longer home. It was the detour.

Heroic or insane

By 1977 her children were grown, her second marriage was over, and she made a decision that most people around her considered either heroic or insane. She sold or gave away nearly everything she owned, sewed herself a simple habit, took private vows, and moved into a concrete room inside one of the most feared prisons in Mexico, with nothing but a cot, a Bible, and a Spanish dictionary.

La Mesa was not a rehabilitation center in any optimistic sense. Drug traffickers ran the economy. Poorer prisoners slept on bare floors. Violence arrived without warning or apology. Into this world entered a middle-aged American woman with no official authority, no institutional backing, and an apparently unshakable conviction that every man in that prison still bore the image of God — however obscured it might be by crime, cruelty, or despair.

She walked into riots. She stepped between armed men. She spoke calmly into chaos. And more often than seemed statistically reasonable, people put their weapons down. She coaxed dentists to offer free clinics, persuaded bakers to donate bread, and reportedly sourced secondhand toilets from junkyards so that prisoners might have something the rest of the world takes for granted. She sat with the dying, prayed with guards, and confronted judges who handed lighter sentences to the wealthy than to the poor.

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The weight of years

The institutional Church, for its part, did not immediately know what to do with a twice-divorced woman living inside a men’s prison and calling herself a nun. For years she lacked formal status and could not even receive Holy Communion. She carried on anyway.

Eventually church leaders recognized the depth of her vocation. Bishop Posadas of Tijuana and Bishop Maher of San Diego both blessed her work, and she was received as an auxiliary Mercedarian, an order with a historic mission to prisoners. She later founded her own community, the Eudist Servants of the 11th Hour, specifically for older women called to serve after raising families or finishing careers.

That last detail matters. She was not looking for women who had not yet lived. She wanted the ones who had — women who carried the weight of years, of mistakes, of choices made and unmade — and she asked them a simple question: What now? It lands differently when you are old enough to realize that time is not infinite.

Mother Antonia Brenner died on October 17, 2013, at age 86. By conventional Catholic measures, she was a complicated figure: divorced twice, lacking formal vows for years, living far outside the expected parameters of religious life.

By any other measure, she spent three decades feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, and visiting the imprisoned — the precise works the gospel names without ambiguity.

She was fond of saying she had never met a prisoner not worth everything she could give.

The record suggests she meant it.

​Faith, Lifestyle, Christianity, Converts, Mother antonia, Mother antonia brenner, Mary clarke, The prison angel, Mexico, Eudist servants of the 11th hour 

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the late supreme leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran, did not die of old age. The United States killed him, and that fact matters.

Iran’s regime has advertised its project for decades: repression at home, terror abroad, and “Death to America” as a rallying cry. It has crushed dissidents, jailed and killed its own people, and waged proxy war across the region — all while murdering Americans and targeting U.S. interests. Western “countermeasures” rarely stopped the bleeding. At best they slowed Tehran down. At worst, they bought the regime time, money, and legitimacy.

Much of Europe is already governed by technocratic managers, and the spirited element of the people is being shoved to the margins. That arrangement can’t last.

The predictable scolding began almost immediately. As soon as the joint operation was launched, leaders of some of America’s most important European allies — the United Kingdom, France, and Germany — urged restraint and appealed to “international law.” Even figures associated with Alternative for Germany, an anti-immigration party on the right, echoed that posture. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called for “de-escalation” and an emergency U.N. Security Council meeting, and she convened commissioners for internal deliberations.

Iran may sit far from Europe’s coastlines, but its damage doesn’t. For decades, Tehran’s destabilization has pushed drugs, terrorism, and illegal migration across borders and into Europe. The regime has executed protesters, imprisoned dissidents, funded terror proxies, and even helped fuel a war on Europe’s own continent.

Western Europe’s governing class answers that threat with a familiar reflex: convene international bodies, issue statements, and restart negotiations that have already failed. That approach has produced little more than delay. European leaders and institutions have not mounted a serious response to Iran’s campaign. In many cases, they have not mounted much of any response at all.

This procedural faith sounds alien to MAGA ears. What’s easy to forget is that it’s also alien to Europe’s own history.

Operation Epic Fury has exposed something deeper than policy disagreement. It has exposed Europe’s postwar loss of thymos.

Plato used thymos to describe “spiritedness” — the part of the soul that burns with courage, indignation, and honor. In modern terms, it’s courage disciplined by moral judgment. It isn’t frenzy or bloodlust. Properly ordered, it’s the moral force that refuses humiliation, resists the inversion of good and evil, and defends what is sacred.

Europe’s warriors of old endured lives marked by hardship: hunger, plague, invasion, civil war, and exile. Their spirits pressed deep into theology, philosophy, science, exploration, and statecraft, expanding the frontier of human knowledge. The European peoples, formed in principalities, kingdoms, and states, took control of their destiny, much as President Trump has implored the Iranian people to do.

RELATED: Do they hate Trump — or do they just hate America?

Photo by Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images

European warriors made plenty of strategic blunders throughout their history, but they realized that building up forces was the key to fighting the powerful and obtaining power. At one time, nearly all of Europe underestimated Napoleon, but they did not assume that conferences alone would restrain him. Coalitions eventually formed because countering a powerful threat required a decisive response, and the Congress of Vienna only mattered because armies first checked imperial ambition.

Europe learned through blood that force underwrites order. Today, however, its leaders often speak as if procedural appeals alone can substitute for resolve.

The European Union has become an institution that manages, regulates, and adjudicates — not one that protects nations or Western civilization as a whole. The peace in postwar Europe depends on American security guarantees and nuclear deterrence rather than on institutions like the EU and the United Nations Human Rights Council.

This project’s main “success” is the coordinated dissemination of the belief that technocratic governance is a sufficient framework to sustain civilization. The decline of civil society across Europe, however, and the responses of some of its leaders to U.S. military action in Iran indicate the spurious nature of that belief.

Europe’s thymos has been effectively sedated by procedure and managed decline, but President Trump may be on his way to reviving it.

International law is not self-enforcing, and the international system depends upon sovereign states willing to act. Absent enforcement, resolutions accumulate into a paper fortification. The Islamic Republic has endured decades of censure from international bodies while expanding its influence and repressing its citizens. The U.N. Human Rights Council, for instance, puts its faith in strongly worded letters that have failed to achieve any positive outcome for Europe.

By contrast, America’s Operation Epic Fury rests upon a simple premise: Regimes that kill Americans, arm proxies, launder narcotics revenue, and pursue nuclear capability cannot be indefinitely managed by elegantly crafted communiqués.

Crucially, the U.S. strikes are targeting the ideological Islamist infrastructure in Iran, a problem that Europe has struggled to confront within its own borders.

In parts of Western Europe, the rise of leftist and Islamist coalitions is undeniable. In the U.K. and elsewhere, such demographic realities are almost certainly why the ayatollah’s death is being mourned instead of being celebrated. Last weekend, after news of Khamenei’s death broke, former Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn joined hundreds of pro-Iran protesters in London carrying banners of the ayatollah.

Europe’s decision to throw open its doors to mass migration in 2015 signaled more than a policy preference. It revealed a self-conception: Europe increasingly sees itself as an economic zone, not a civilization with borders and obligations. In that worldview, spirited self-preservation becomes morally suspect. A continent that won’t defend itself can’t credibly lecture America about saving others — or help America do it.

Americans shouldn’t expect allies to endorse every U.S. action without question. Friendship doesn’t require cheerleading. It does require moral seriousness. Europe’s leaders shouldn’t treat righteous indignation at injustice as “extremism,” and they shouldn’t confuse decisive action with warmongering or reckless escalation.

A civilization that suppresses thymos will not endure. Much of Europe is already governed by technocratic managers, and the spirited element of the people is being shoved to the margins. That arrangement can’t last.

RELATED: ‘Boots on the ground’ would turn Iran into Iraq on steroids

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Under President Trump, the United States retains, however imperfectly, a measure of civilizational confidence. We still believe that sovereignty, national defense, and the protection of citizens are legitimate goods. Europe’s thymos has been effectively sedated by procedure and managed decline, but President Trump may be on his way to reviving it.

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte voiced support for the strikes on Iran, declaring that key allies stand “all for one, one for all” amid our adversary’s widening missile retaliation. Such language hints at a remembered instinct — an older European reflex of solidarity not as bureaucratic coordination but as shared resolve and the will to act. There are also glimmers of hope in last Sunday’s E3 statement, in which Britain, France, and Germany said they were ready to take steps to defend their interests in the region.

Operation Epic Fury will be debated for years to come in the language of strategy and geopolitics. But beneath those arguments lies a more enduring question about the character of civilizations: Do they still believe that evil should be confronted? Do they still possess the spirited confidence that is required when words have failed?

Europe’s history is not one of defaulting to procedure. It is a civilizational resolve formed through centuries of trial. The same continent that produced parliaments and cathedrals also produced men willing to stand at Vienna’s gates and refuse surrender. Its Christianity did not preach passivity before tyranny. It taught that love may demand resistance.

Praising Athens’ war against Sparta, Pericles famously said:

For we are lovers of the beautiful in our tastes and our strength lies, in our opinion, not in deliberation and discussion, but that knowledge which is gained by discussion preparatory to action. For we have a peculiar power of thinking before we act, and of acting, too, whereas other men are courageous from ignorance but hesitate upon reflection. And they are surely to be esteemed the bravest spirits who, having the clearest sense both of the pains and pleasures of life, do not on that account shrink from danger.

Europe must choose whether it will regain its strength or allow the civilization it built to disappear forever.

Editor’s note: A version of this article appeared originally at the American Mind.

​Iran, Trump, Operation epic fury, Europe, Eu, Afd, Thymos, Maga, Western civilization, European decline, Pericles, Opinion & analysis, Nato, France, Germany, Iran war 

When BlazeTV host Steve Deace was asked to be part of the America Reads the Bible initiative, his answer was an emphatic yes.

For those who aren’t aware, America Reads the Bible is a week-long event where national leaders from every sphere of influence will read the entire Bible aloud continuously from Genesis to Revelation at the Museum of the Bible in Washington, D.C., from April 18-25, to reignite America’s spiritual foundation, foster national renewal and unity through God’s Word, and celebrate the nation’s upcoming 250th anniversary of freedom.

Americans across the nation are invited to attend in person or tune in via livestream as Candace Cameron Bure, Patricia Heaton, Texas Governor Greg Abbott (R), evangelist Franklin Graham, Steve Deace, and many others read the sacred Word of God aloud over our nation.

On a recent episode of the “Steve Deace Show,” Deace sat down with the fearless leader behind America Reads the Bible, Bunni Pounds, to explain the vision behind this historic event.

Bunni tells Steve that the idea for America Reads the Bible sprouted after she had “an encounter with the Lord” when she was visiting the Museum of the Bible.

“I had this thought after writing a book on Nehemiah that’s going to be coming out in May: We need an Ezra moment in this country because we have a leadership crisis.”

In the book of Nehemiah, Ezra, a Jewish scribe and priest, publicly read God’s law aloud to the returned exiles, sparking revival, repentance, and renewed commitment to God, which then enabled Nehemiah to lead the people in rebuilding Jerusalem’s walls.

America Reads the Bible aims to bring that same storyline here to America.

“We need people to rise up, and if we don’t know Scripture, if we don’t go to God every day, depending on him for our wisdom and our life, Steve, we’re in trouble as a nation,” Bunni says.

“And so I thought, wouldn’t it be awesome if our national leaders from all spheres of influence, all demographics and denominations, would humble themselves and say, ‘You know, we are high-performing leaders in this country, but we love Jesus, we know we need Scripture every day just to make it, and we’re going to call the American people back to daily Bible reading and discipleship for the well-being of our country.”’

Two and a half years later, Bunni’s vision has become a reality. In just a few short weeks, America Reads the Bible will begin, and the Word of God will be broadcast all over the nation.

“Come to D.C. Bring your kids, grandkids. Be a part of our opening celebration, and you can experience the whole museum. The Dead Sea Scrolls are there while we’re there as well,” Bunni says, noting that tickets can be purchased on the website.

For those who are unable to attend in person, she encourages using the livestream option.

“Livestream in your churches, in your communities, in your family room,” Bunni urges. “Some of you have never listened or read the Bible all the way through. Maybe you’re supposed to take off work and just sit under the reading of Scripture by our national leaders all week — but mobilize, mobilize, mobilize!”

To hear more about the event, watch the interview above.

Want more from Steve Deace?

To enjoy more of Steve’s take on national politics, Christian worldview, and principled conservatism with a snarky twist, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

​Steve deace, Steve deace show, Blazetv, Blaze media, America reads the bible, Bunni pounds, Spiritual crisis 

Airline etiquette has been on the decline for years, and people have doubted that air travel could ever again be a pleasant experience. However, a large airline has updated its policies, and many say that change could be a good start.

United Airlines updated its contract of carriage document late last month to include a section about audio and video content that will ensure a more peaceful — and quieter — travel experience.

‘I think we need to pack our manners whenever we go on an airplane, whenever we travel.’

United Airlines now notes in its “Refusal of Transport” section that the airline may refuse transport or permanently ban passengers who refuse to wear headphones while listening to audio and video content on a plane.

“We’ve always encouraged customers to use headphones when listening to audio content — and our Wi-Fi rules already remind customers to use headphones,” United spokesman Josh Freed said in an email to the Washington Post.

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“It seemed like a good time to make that even clearer by adding it to the contract of carriage,” Freed added.

When asked about the new policy, Florida-based etiquette expert Jacqueline Whitmore said, “It’s about time.”

“I think we need to pack our manners whenever we go on an airplane, whenever we travel. And the violators of this, ironically, are parents — parents who don’t put earbuds in their children’s ears or headsets” on them.

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​Politics, United airlines, Headphones, Contract of carriage, Airlines, Air travel, Air travel etiquette, Jacqueline whitmore, Passengers 

Last month marked five years since Rush Limbaugh’s death. Tributes still appear on schedule. Clips circulate. Familiar phrases — “talent on loan from God,” “doctor of democracy,” “half my brain tied behind my back” — resurface. Every so often his opening theme slides into a feed, and people pause longer than they expect.

That reaction says something.

Rush can’t be replaced because the habits that made him possible have largely disappeared.

When life felt unsteady, Rush stayed fixed.

For millions of Americans, his voice arrived at the same hour each afternoon as institutions shifted, headlines fractured, and the culture argued with itself. Agreement was never universal. But steadiness was.

The music still plays. Rush does not.

Five years later, the absence still feels different — in a way modern media can’t quite explain.

When talk show legend Johnny Carson retired in 1992, late-night TV didn’t disappear. It divided. Some viewers followed Jay Leno, who succeeded Carson at NBC. Others moved to CBS with David Letterman. Then the format split again, louder and more elaborate with each successor.

Late-night evolved. It never recovered the King of Late Night’s reach.

By today’s standards, Carson looks almost minimalist: a desk, a band, conversation allowed to breathe. Parents ended evenings there after the kids went to bed. The show closed the day not through spectacle but familiarity.

Rush occupied a different hour but understood his medium just as completely.

As broadcasting technology advanced and competitors added panels, simulcasts, and digital bells and whistles, Rush’s formula barely changed. Behind the golden EIB microphone sat one prepared voice, a “stack of stuff,” and three hours shaped not by focus groups but conviction.

Some days funny. Some days angry. Always patriotic. Sometimes wounded or reflective — even nostalgic.

Listeners heard it when Rush entered rehab in 2003. They heard it again when he announced his cancer diagnosis in 2020. They followed professional triumphs and personal failures, marriages that ended, and later the unexpected joy when he met Kathryn Rogers and married her in 2010. They heard the frustration and adaptation that followed the loss of his hearing.

The humanity never weakened the authority. It reinforced it.

Rush spoke from belief, and listeners found him.

He often said he never set out to build a network of hundreds of stations or reach millions of listeners. His goal was simpler: Be the best broadcaster he could be. Not an alternative. Not a counterpoint. The best at articulating what made America exceptional — and at exposing ideas that threatened it.

The audience followed.

For many people, the show unfolded alongside responsibilities that never paused for politics. For years — through hospital visits, surgical waiting rooms, doctor’s appointments, and pharmacy runs with my wife — Rush kept me company more hours than almost anyone outside my family.

He didn’t interrupt my life. He traveled alongside it.

That relationship is difficult to recreate because modern media now works in reverse. Voices don’t wait to be found; they chase attention. Commentary arrives instantly, tailored to preference and consumed in fragments measured in seconds.

Everyone now broadcasts. No one gathers.

Earlier media required commitment. If you missed Carson, you missed him. When “Seinfeld” was new, millions tuned in at the same hour because there wasn’t an alternative. The next morning’s conversations assumed a shared experience. Rush worked the same way. If you tuned away, the broadcast kept going.

Today almost nothing is truly missed. Everything can be replayed, clipped, streamed, or summarized. Convenience replaced anticipation. Access replaced commitment.

We gained availability and lost presence.

After Rush, commentary didn’t decline. It multiplied. Humor migrated here, outrage there, analysis somewhere else — across podcasts, streaming platforms, and social media personalities.

But coherence thinned.

Audiences scattered into niches large enough to sustain influence but too fragmented to create shared trust. Rush succeeded during one of the last eras when millions practiced the discipline of listening together long enough for familiarity to become confidence.

RELATED: We don’t have to live this way

Lindsey Nicholson/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

For conservatives especially, that steadiness mattered. As cultural institutions treated them with ridicule or dismissal, Rush spoke directly to listeners who felt talked about rather than spoken to.

He didn’t echo what people wanted to hear. He anchored them in what needed to be said. He didn’t flatter them. He reasoned with them. He laughed with them. Sometimes he challenged them.

Recognition replaced alienation.

Five years later, the lingering absence shows what was actually lost.

We didn’t lose commentary, Lord knows. We lost a shared reference point.

Rush can’t be replaced because the habits that made him possible have largely disappeared. Shared listening gave way to individualized feeds. Discipline yielded to distraction. Voices rise quickly now, but few endure long enough to be tested.

The spinning never stopped. We just lost the fixed point.

The question five years later isn’t who replaces Rush Limbaugh. He’s irreplaceable. The question is whether a culture trained to scroll still possesses the discipline to listen long enough for trust to form again.

Because Rush was never simply something Americans heard. He was something they chose.

​Rush limbaugh, Talk radio, Conservatives, Americans, King of late night, Opinion & analysis, Johnny carson, David letterman, Jay leno, Media 

Following the striking total lunar eclipse — commonly called a blood moon — that turned the moon a vivid copper red in the early hours of March 3, and amid the escalating U.S.-Israel military campaign against Iran, discussions of biblical end times prophecies are surging once again.

Given that blood moons occur roughly every 2-2.5 years, conflict involving Israel in the Middle East has persisted for decades, and the fact that Scripture clearly states that no one except God knows when Jesus will return, this kind of hysteria frustrates Jase Robertson.

“I believe the Bible — that only the Lord knows,” he says, reminding us that even Jesus himself doesn’t know the exact date of his return (Matthew 24:36).

But despite Scripture’s clarity that nobody knows when Christ will return, many professing Christians are nonetheless tempted to make grand predictions about the end of the world — sometimes down to exact day and hour.

Jase says these people are asking the wrong kinds of questions. On this episode of “Unashamed,” dives into the two wrong questions Christians should never ask about the end times — and the two right ones they should focus on instead.

The first “wrong question,” he says, is “when is it going to happen?”

“Wrong question,” he repeats, citing 1 Thessalonians 5:1-2, which reads, “Now, brothers and sisters, about times and dates we do not need to write to you, for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.”

The second “wrong question” is “where are we going?”

“Wrong question,” Jase says again, reading from 1 Thessalonians 4, which shifts the focus away from location and gives Christians the only assurance they need: They will be “with the Lord.”

There are only two questions Christ-followers should be asking about the end times, says Jase.

The first is: If you do live to see the return of Christ, “who are you with?”

“This is one that’s answered. … [You’re] with Him!” he exclaims.

The second good question is: “For how long?”

“Forever,” says Jase, citing 1 Thessalonians 4:17, which promises that “we will be with the Lord forever.”

“The Bible is about who you’re with — not where you’re going and not when it’s going to happen.”

Want more from the Robertsons?

To enjoy more on God, guns, ducks, and inspiring stories of faith and family, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

​Unashamed, Phil robertson, Jase robertsons, Robertson family, Robertsons, Blazetv, Blaze media, End times, Blood moon, Middle east conflict 

President Donald Trump on Saturday morning announced that Iran has stopped its attacks on neighboring countries, but he cautioned that Iran will continue to be “hit very hard” by the U.S. and Israel.

‘It is the first time that Iran has ever lost, in thousands of years, to surrounding Middle Eastern Countries.’

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian also released a statement Saturday declaring that Iran no longer will attack neighboring countries unless it is attacked first.

“I should apologize to the neighboring countries that were attacked by Iran, on my own behalf,” Pezeshkian said. “From now on, they should not attack neighboring countries or fire missiles at them, unless we are attacked by those countries. I think we should solve this through diplomacy.”

Pezeshkian dismissed Trump’s calls for Tehran, Iran’s capital, to surrender unconditionally.

“That’s a dream that they should take to their grave,” he stated.

Pezeshkian’s latest comments came after Iran reportedly launched multiple attacks on Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and Oman.

RELATED: Dozens of Democrats side with Iran over Trump

Masoud Pezeshkian. Photo by Majid Saeedi/Getty Images

Trump responded to Pezeshkian’s announcement in a post on social media, suggesting that the Iranian president’s apology was a direct result of the “relentless U.S. and Israeli attack.”

“Iran, which is being beat to HELL, has apologized and surrendered to its Middle East neighbors, and promised that it will not shoot at them anymore. This promise was only made because of the relentless U.S. and Israeli attack,” Trump wrote. “They were looking to take over and rule the Middle East.”

Trump also wrote that “it is the first time that Iran has ever lost, in thousands of years, to surrounding Middle Eastern Countries. Iran is no longer the ‘Bully of the Middle East,’ they are, instead, ‘THE LOSER OF THE MIDDLE EAST,’ and will be for many decades until they surrender or, more likely, completely collapse!”

The president warned that Iran would “be hit very hard” on Saturday.

In addition, Trump said: “Under serious consideration for complete destruction and certain death, because of Iran’s bad behavior, are areas and groups of people that were not considered for targeting up until this moment in time.”

RELATED: State Department launches urgent push to evacuate Americans from Middle East

Donald Trump. Photo by Nathan Howard/Getty Images

The president made remarks about the Iran conflict while attending the Shield of the Americas Summit in Doral, Florida, on Saturday.

Trump stated that the U.S. is “doing very well in Iran,” noting that 42 of Iran’s navy ships had been eliminated in three days. He also said Iran’s air force and telecommunications had been destroyed.

“They’re bad people,” Trump said. “When you look at October 7th, and beyond October 7th, look at all the killing that they’ve done over the years — for 47 years.”

Trump concluded that the strikes against Iran “had to be done.”

The Associated Press reported that “pillars of flame” were seen late Saturday above an oil storage facility in Tehran, and that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised “many surprises.” The AP added that Iranian state media confirmed the strike and blamed “an attack from the U.S. and the Zionist regime.”

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​News, Trump, Donald trump, Trump administration, Trump admin, Iran, Israel, Masoud pezeshkian, Iran strikes, Politics 

Police said a 47-year-old male — who was on parole and had 131 prior arrests on his record — was charged for setting a homeless man on fire while the victim was sleeping in New York City’s Penn Station, the New York Daily News reported.

Officers with the Amtrak Police Department arrested Damon Johnson on Tuesday and charged him with attempted murder and assault for the previous day’s attack, which left a 37-year-old man with second-degree burns on his arm and back, police told the Daily News.

‘Begins wailing and convulsing and scrambled to his feet with his jacket on fire.’

Johnson pleaded not guilty at his arraignment Wednesday in Manhattan Criminal Court where he was ordered held without bail, the paper said.

Amtrak police also arrested a 33-year-old female Wednesday and charged her with assault in connection with the attack, police told the Daily News.

However, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office declined to prosecute the female, the paper said, adding that police sources indicated that while she was with Johnson at the time the fire was started, it’s unclear if she committed a crime at the scene.

RELATED: Horror in Ohio home: Male accused of raping, beating pregnant woman over course of 2 days. But that isn’t the half of it.

The Daily News, citing police, said the victim was sleeping near a West 33rd Street entrance to Penn Station’s Amtrak rotunda near Eighth Avenue when three people approached him — and one of them set fire to the man’s clothes around 8:30 p.m.

During Johnson’s arraignment, Callum Mullan — a prosecutor with the DA’s office — described video of the attack, which he said shows Johnson leaning over the victim, who moments later “begins wailing and convulsing and scrambled to his feet with his jacket on fire,” the paper said.

After the attack, the three men fled into the station, the Daily News said.

First responders extinguished the flames and rushed the victim to New York-Presbyterian Hospital Weill Cornell’s burn unit, the paper said.

Mullan added that Johnson at the time of the attack was on parole for a 2018 robbery, in which he slashed a student’s face before taking cash from his pockets, the Daily News reported. Mullan said the victim needed more than 100 stitches, according to the paper.

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​Homeless man, Homeless victim, Set on fire, Attempted murder, Repeat offender, Penn station, New york city, New york city police department, Nypd, Parolee, Train station, Sleeping victim, Crime 

Where would Hollywood be without “creative differences”? It’s like a “Get Out of Jail Free” card with no feelings hurt. At least none that we can see.

Director Lee Isaac Chung (“Minari”) just left the “Ocean’s 11” prequel over that oh-so-Tinsel Town excuse. But why? No, really, why?

‘Is California overregulated?’ Kimmel asked, presumably a setup for the Democrat to counter his critics.

The film is set to star Margot Robbie and Bradley Cooper, and it’s got money-making IP written all over it. What’s not to love, at least from a director’s point of view?

We may never know. But nothing will stop Hollywood when it’s time to prequel-ize a hit franchise. And we can always drown our sorrows in “Ocean’s 14,” starring most of the saga’s original cast. Phew …

Hassle’s back?

“The View” hosts ganged up on right-leaning Meghan McCain until she couldn’t take it any longer. That was all the way back in 2021, and the show has been conservative-free ever since. Sorry, anti-Trumper Alyssa Farah Griffin doesn’t remotely count.

This week, the show’s previous token conservative made a rousing comeback. Elisabeth Hasselbeck rejoined the show briefly while Griffin is out on maternity leave. But the show she left in 2013 doesn’t resemble the current version.

Crazy is now the order of the day, the week, and the month. So when Hasselbeck shared a few obvious observations, it didn’t go over well. She noted that Sunny Hostin cheered on President Barack Obama’s Libya bombing but blasted President Donald Trump for the current Iran campaign.

The back-and-forth proved so heated that the far-Left Variety suggested that Hasselbeck come back to the show full-time. It came with a catch, natch. The scribe wants her pro-Trump views to be rebuffed by her fellow “View” hosts.

If leftists need Whoopi and Co. to have their ideological backs, the Democrats are in worse shape than we feared …

RELATED: DB Sweeney: ‘Protector’ star finds Hollywood longevity without selling his soul

Michael Loccisano/Getty Images | Magenta Light Studios

Keister-kissing Kimmel

No one throws softballs quite like Jimmy Kimmel. “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” is the safest of spaces for the AOCs of the world to push their talking points without a hint of, well, journalism.

Yet Gavin Newsom just flunked that test.

The California governor joined Kimmel to promote his new book, “Sure, I Grew Up Rich, but … Squirrel!” when he admitted an inconvenient truth: The Golden State is drowning in regulations.

“Is California overregulated?” Kimmel asked, presumably a setup for the Democrat to counter his critics.

Except Newsom said “yes” in so many words.

He described those “well-meaning laws” that have handcuffed Californians and sent residents fleeing the state. Except Newsom has a plan, one that apparently hasn’t been introduced to the state he governs yet. Any day now, Captain Vocal Fry. It’s called the “Abundance Agenda,” and it’s exactly the word salad we expected from Newsom.

Maybe the next time he visits Kimmel, he’ll stumble upon a better answer. Or Kimmel will realize Newsom is the 2028 version of Kamala Harris. Keep him in bubble wrap until Election Day …

Catfight

This might be the dumbest reason ever not to vote for an actor. Jessie Buckley’s heart-wrenching turn in “Hamnet” earned her raves and, more recently, a Best Actress nomination.

And she stands a solid chance of winning, or at least she did until she lost the all-important “cat” vote.

The Irish Times published a Pulitzer-level think piece suggesting the actress’ anti-cat comments could hurt her Oscar chances.

Laugh all you want, but is that argument any worse than others we’re hearing this Oscar season? Take Timothee Chalamet, the uber-talented star of “Marty Supreme.” He too is Oscar-nominated, but the word around Hollywood is that the actor is too “arrogant.” His celebrity “swagger” is a problem that could cost him votes.

Maybe the bigger problem is easier to spot. He’s a straight white male actor, and that doesn’t check off a single diversity box.

Better luck next year, kid …

Crack record

Billy Idol could be the worst drug counselor ever. The 1980s rocker, the star of the new documentary “Billy Idol Should Be Dead,” confessed that he kicked his heroin habit with a peculiar medication.

Crack.

He told Bill Maher on the comic’s “Club Random” podcast about his unique path toward sobriety. Sort of.

“Once you’re trying to get off heroin, what do you go to? You go to something else. I started smoking crack to get off heroin. … It worked. It worked.”

Maybe Keith Richards should have tried that long ago.

​Entertainment, Culture, The view, Sunny hostin, Joy behar, Ocean’s 11, Movies, Timothee chalamet, Lee isaac chung, Toto recall 

More and more car dealers are breaking what was once an industry taboo: selling salvage-title vehicles — cars insurance companies have already written off as total losses.

That change, which Karl Brauer and I discuss on the latest episode of “The Drive with Lauren and Karl,” reflects a simple reality: Affordable used cars are getting harder to find.

Alan compares flood damage to a long-term electrical disease inside a vehicle.

Used-car prices remain elevated, and inventory is still tight. Dealers looking for lower-cost vehicles to put on their lots are exploring options they once avoided — including vehicles that insurers have already declared totaled.

Lower prices may sound appealing to buyers struggling with high car costs. But the real question is whether those savings are worth the risk.

To unpack that risk, we brought in our friend automotive broadcaster Alan Taylor, who hosted “The Drive” for years before handing the microphone to Karl and me. Alan used to own a salvage yard before his broadcasting career, giving him firsthand experience buying, repairing, and reselling damaged vehicles.

During the episode, we were ribbing Alan about his new Liquid Carbon Series Mustang GTD, but the conversation quickly turned serious when the topic shifted to salvage vehicles — a business he knows firsthand from years running a wrecking yard.

Why salvage cars are entering the retail market

The driving force is affordability.

When used vehicles become expensive, buyers start searching for cheaper alternatives. Salvage-title vehicles often sell for significantly less than comparable clean-title cars.

For dealers, that means inventory that can be priced lower. For buyers, it can look like an opportunity.

But the lower price exists for a reason.

A salvage title means the vehicle was declared a total loss by an insurance company. That can happen after a crash, flood damage, theft recovery, or another major incident. Once a title is branded salvage, that designation stays with the vehicle permanently.

The problem for buyers is simple: The title tells you something serious happened — but it does not always explain how serious the damage actually was.

RELATED: Affordable cars still exist — but Americans can’t buy them

Bloomberg/Getty Images

The biggest danger: Flood cars

During the conversation, Karl and Alan both warned that some salvage vehicles carry risks that never truly go away.

Flood-damaged cars are the most notorious example.

Water can infiltrate wiring harnesses, electronic modules, sensors, and interior components. A vehicle might appear normal after repairs, but corrosion inside the electrical system can trigger problems months or years later.

Alan compares flood damage to a long-term electrical disease inside a vehicle — something that may not show up immediately but can slowly spread through the car’s electronics over time.

Those failures can be expensive. Replacing electronic modules, wiring harnesses, or sensor systems in modern vehicles can easily cost thousands of dollars, quickly erasing whatever savings a buyer thought they gained by choosing a salvage car.

A vehicle may pass a test drive today but develop costly electrical problems months later.

Modern cars make salvage repairs riskier

Those risks are greater today than they were decades ago.

Modern vehicles rely on dozens of electronic control units, sensors, and processors to operate everything from safety systems to driver-assistance technology. When those systems are damaged, repairs become far more complicated.

According to Alan, “Anything after 2019 has got so many processors, sensors, and wires” he can sum up the repair process in one word: “Nightmare.”

Older vehicles were largely mechanical. Modern vehicles are heavily electronic, and electrical damage can affect systems throughout the car.

That complexity makes hidden problems far more likely.

Not every salvage car is a disaster

At the same time, not every salvage vehicle should be automatically dismissed.

Sometimes a car receives a salvage title for reasons that do not involve catastrophic damage. Theft-recovery vehicles are one example. If an insurer pays the owner after a stolen vehicle disappears, the title can still be branded salvage even if the car is later recovered with relatively minor damage.

Alan saw this firsthand at his salvage yard.

“I used to sell 100 cars a month,” he says. “But I would sell them damaged to people, and then I had a body shop, and we’d fix it at the building next door.”

Those buyers understood exactly what they were purchasing and often ended up with affordable transportation after repairs.

Alan notes that the key difference between a good salvage purchase and a bad one is simple: knowing exactly what damage occurred and how the repairs were done.

Most retail buyers, however, do not have that level of visibility.

Knowing the damage matters

Karl offers a good example from his own garage.

One of his cars carries a salvage title, but he knows exactly how the damage occurred:

“I got T-boned in a parking lot.”

Because he witnessed the accident and understands the repair history, evaluating the risk is far easier.

Most used-car buyers do not have that advantage.

That uncertainty is what makes salvage vehicles risky purchases.

How buyers can protect themselves

For consumers considering a salvage-title vehicle, research is essential.

Before buying, experts recommend:

Running a vehicle history reportSearching the VIN online for accident photosHaving the car inspected by a trusted mechanicConfirming what repairs were performed and by whom

Without that information, the buyer is relying largely on trust.

And with modern vehicles packed with electronics, hidden damage can quickly turn a cheap purchase into an expensive repair bill.

The bottom line for drivers

Salvage-title vehicles exist in a gray area.

Some are repaired correctly and provide affordable transportation. Others hide structural or electrical damage that will lead to long-term reliability problems.

The lower price reflects that uncertainty.

For buyers who understand the risks and investigate the vehicle’s history carefully, a salvage car can occasionally make sense. But for most consumers shopping for dependable daily transportation, a clean-title vehicle with a documented history remains the safer choice.

To sum it up, the rule is simple: If you don’t know exactly why a car has a salvage title, you probably shouldn’t buy it.

Listen to the full episode of “The Drive with Lauren and Karl” (featuring Alan Taylor) below:

​Drive with lauren fix and karl brauer, Lifestyle, Auto industry, Align cars, Alan taylor, Salvage title, Mustang gtd 

Every year, Congress flirts with a government shutdown, driven by partisan squabbling and political showmanship. It’s an avoidable cycle that harms taxpayers, disrupts businesses, and creates uncertainty for the public — without producing meaningful policy outcomes. Shutdowns have become a costly ritual Washington should abandon.

Last year’s record 43-day shutdown brought large parts of government to a standstill. Flights were canceled. Permits stalled. Military personnel and civilian federal workers went without paychecks. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated that the lapse caused as much as $14 billion in permanent GDP loss — about the size of Kosovo’s entire economy.

Supporters of shutdown brinkmanship claim deadlines create leverage to force policy changes. In practice, shutdowns harden positions instead of producing compromise.

Now Democrats are holding up funding for the Department of Homeland Security, which has been closed for over a month. This partial shutdown is hitting TSA workers and other essential homeland security personnel.

Nobody wins in a shutdown.

The good news: Congress has tools to stop this nonsense for good. Last year, Rep. Jodey Arrington (R-Texas) and Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) reintroduced the Prevent Government Shutdowns Act. The bill would keep the government operating temporarily at current funding levels while negotiations continue on longer-term deals. It would also bar members of Congress from spending taxpayer dollars on travel, taking recess, or considering most non-spending legislation until they finish the budget.

Shutdowns don’t save money. Agencies burn time and resources preparing contingency plans, restarting operations, and cleaning up the mess. Workers ultimately receive back pay after funding is restored. Taxpayers foot the bill for Washington’s dysfunction.

Financial markets and businesses also pay a price. Companies that depend on permits, contracts, or federal data releases face delays that disrupt investment decisions. Entrepreneurs seeking approvals may postpone hiring or expansion. Credit rating agencies have warned repeatedly that shutdown brinkmanship undermines confidence in America’s governance — an unnecessary risk for the world’s largest economy.

The politics make reform urgent. Nearly all government funding is set to expire just weeks before Election Day, a pressure point at the height of campaign season. Recent history shows how easily the minority party can see strategic advantage in prolonging a lapse to reinforce a narrative of chaos and dysfunction heading into the midterms.

RELATED: Bidenflation? Trumpflation? Try unipartyflation

RonBailey via iStock/Getty Images

Americans expect disagreement in a democracy. They also expect basic governance to continue. Shutdowns signal that politicians will use essential functions as bargaining chips. That deepens cynicism about institutions and reinforces the belief that Washington prizes partisan victories over practical solutions.

Supporters of shutdown brinkmanship claim deadlines create leverage to force policy changes. Last year, Democrats tried to use a shutdown threat to extend temporary, expensive tax credits to subsidize Obamacare. In other cases, Republicans tried to use shutdowns to force a repeal of Obamacare. Neither strategy worked. In practice, shutdowns harden positions instead of producing compromise.

Ideally, Congress would pass the 12 regular appropriations bills before the fiscal year begins on October 1. It hasn’t done that in nearly 30 years, largely because the process has become a political weapon.

Avoiding shutdowns doesn’t mean abandoning fiscal discipline. It means recognizing that responsible governing requires stability alongside vigorous debate. Congress can fight over spending levels, taxes, and policy priorities without threatening the continuity of government operations.

Washington should end the brinkmanship, reopen the government, and adopt reforms that keep shutdown threats from holding the country hostage again.

​Opinion & analysis, Government shutdown, Brinkmanship, Republicans, Democrats, Economy, Fiscal discipline, Obamacare, Subsidies, Appropriations, Compromise, Paychecks, Tsa, Immigration and customs enforcement, Department of homeland security, Prevent government shutdowns act, Jodey arrington, James lankford 

Farming with lasers will make you healthier — here’s how.

An attachment, powered by artificial intelligence, could save farmers from a seemingly ever-present headache, while producing a higher yield than ever before.

‘[This] is now the cheapest way to control weeds in the vegetable fields.’

This laser farming technique uses powerful 240-watt lasers, high-resolution cameras, Nvidia processors, and nearly two dozen simple LED lights.

The operation is called “laser weeding,” and it comes from company Carbon Robotics, which has developed technology to destroy weeds with lasers while keeping crops intact, seemingly eliminating the need for pesticides that contain harmful chemicals.

“Optimal thermal energy destroys the meristem, stopping regrowth and returning weeds to organic biomass,” the company says on its website.

The machine looks almost like a UFO when in action, with lights flashing and little puffs of smoke coming off the ground. The “LaserWeeder” is slowly pulled over the crops and targets weeds — using AI programming to identify them — and takes them out with a laser.

RELATED: Ultra-processed food manufacturers ran the Big Tobacco playbook to addict consumers: Study

United States Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. recently promoted the technique on “The Joe Rogan Experience,” telling the host that one farmer he interviewed in Texas had dropped her costs from $1,500 per acre (to pay for pesticides and labor) to $300 per acre.

“It’s a million-dollar machine, which sounds like a lot, but you got 8,000 acres and you’re paying $1,500 an acre per growing season,” Kennedy explained.

“[This] is now the cheapest way to control weeds in the vegetable fields. … It kills the weeds at every stage of their life,” he continued. “It identifies their species and kills them instantly, all the way down through their root system by exploding them with this laser.”

Kennedy went further and said for farmers who are using the machine, they’ve seen a “30% increase in productivity” on the farm.

“It’s a million-dollar machine, but it pays back,” he reiterated.

RELATED: The media’s ‘confusion’ over RFK Jr.’s diet guidelines is either fake — or just stupid

Rogan asked a few simple questions about the machinery, including whether it would impact food and if it could be used for bugs.

The answers to those questions were “no” and “yes,” respectively.

“They can do it for bugs too. … They identify them and zap them,” Kennedy claimed, while adding there is no “impact” on the food.

According to Carbon Robotics, the machinery lowers weed control costs by 80% per year and kills 99% of weeds that grow around carrots, herbs, onions, and leafy greens.

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BlazeTV host Allie Beth Stuckey won’t say the name of the alleged transgender Canadian shooter who last month took the lives of his mother, his stepbrother, five young children, and a teacher — but she does want to focus on his father.

“The biological father of this Canadian shooter, his name is Justin Van Rootselaar. He publicly released a statement to express his deep sorrow and to clarify his complete estrangement from the child,” Stuckey explains.

In a statement from the father, he claimed that he distanced himself from his son, telling CBC that he was “estranged” and “not a part of his life.”

“In the statement, he emphasized that he had no involvement in his kid’s life or the upbringing. Apparently, he says the mother had refused his participation from the start. We don’t know, you know, we don’t know if that’s true, if it was really the mother’s fault or not. Unfortunately, the mother is now dead,” Stuckey comments.

The father also did not call his son by his preferred female pronouns.

“What he’s trying to say is, ‘This is not my fault. I was not involved in this at all.’ And I understand his desire to do that, but actually it was his absence, I believe, that contributed to this. It was his absence that created probably this kind of instability,” Stuckey says.

“Like, kids need more involvement from both parents, not less. He clearly didn’t have this strong male role model that he needed in his life. And I’m not saying that is always the antidote. That’s not always the thing that is going to prevent a guy, a young man, from going down this path, but it certainly doesn’t help,” she continues. “It certainly doesn’t help when you don’t have a father in the home.”

Want more from Allie Beth Stuckey?

To enjoy more of Allie’s upbeat and in-depth coverage of culture, news, and theology from a Christian, conservative perspective, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

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This time one year ago, David Hogg served as vice chairman of the Democratic National Committee, and he was openly touting Jasmine Crockett as the Democrats’ 2028 presidential nominee.

For real.

The other side is energized — and it is learning how to package its agenda in forms that look familiar enough to pass at a glance.

What a difference a year makes! Hogg was ousted from the DNC in June, and this week, Crockett’s U.S. Senate hopes sank like an Iranian frigate in the Indian Ocean.

Crockett built a national brand on performance: the nails, the lashes, the dialect, the whole routine. Private-school résumé, public “hood rat” persona. The problem wasn’t that Democrats objected to the routine. The problem was that it didn’t translate statewide.

Even though one in four Democratic primary voters are black, Crockett’s two-term House persona couldn’t carry her in a Senate primary among white voters living paycheck to paycheck. The scam had run its course.

Of course, modern Democratic politics rarely punishes grifters or scammers. It simply swaps in a new scam with better packaging.

Enter James Talarico, a name most Americans didn’t know a few weeks ago. He went on Stephen Colbert last month and played martyr about the Trump administration supposedly trying to censor an interview. Then — boom! — more than two million Democratic primary voters showed up and handed Texas’ Democratic U.S. Senate nomination to a straight white male.

That result doesn’t happen unless Talarico brings dark magic to the table.

He runs as part of “Team Jesus” — while speaking with forked tongue, of course.

That label provides a “permission structure” (read: scam) for Democratic primary voters who want a candidate who looks less like a cultural provocation and more like a “values” figure without changing the party’s underlying agenda. Democrats used a similar move nationally: Wrap the ticket in “normal” imagery — the old ball coach who wears flannel — and dare critics to object.

In Talarico’s case, the permission structure goes deeper because it touches theology. He offers a version of Christianity tailored for the normie voter — Christian language used to sell progressive policy as moral inevitability.

That’s why the stakes aren’t limited to one Senate race. If the left can redefine Christianity in public, it can neutralize one of the last institutions that resists its broader project. Talarico’s pitch attempts to do exactly that by presenting positions on abortion and gender ideology as not merely acceptable to Christians but practically demanded by God — who, in case you haven’t heard, is nonbinary.

RELATED: ‘Wake the hell up’: Glenn Beck warns Texans after primary election results

Mark Felix/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Talarico may still lose in November. But remember: Beto O’Rourke lost to Ted Cruz by less than three points in 2018. National Democrats will treat this race as winnable and amplify it accordingly. The messaging will be exported far beyond Texas.

So here’s the question for the American church: Are you prepared to confront this?

A statewide campaign can become a delivery system for doctrinal confusion. Many churches, even in red states, insist they don’t want to “get political.” That instinct can become an excuse for silence when clarity is required.

More than 1.2 million Texans voted for a candidate whose brand centers on a theological message that would have sounded unthinkable less than a generation ago. So maybe the more urgent question isn’t whether the church is prepared. It’s whether the church even cares.

One more question, because the turnout itself should concern conservatives.

In a red state, with a major GOP Senate primary featuring an entrenched incumbent, a well-known attorney general, and a sitting congressman, how did that race draw fewer voters than the Democrats’ contest between the phony preacher and the fake hood rat?

Yes, that happened.

If nothing else, it should serve as a warning: The other side is energized — and it is learning how to package its agenda in forms that look familiar enough to pass at a glance.

​James talarico, Ken paxton, John cornyn, Democrats, Texas, Texas primary, Senate race, Gop, Opinion & analysis, 2026 midterms 

Rick Burgess, BlazeTV host of the spiritual warfare podcast “Strange Encounters,” often encourages his audience to engage in what he calls “spiritual housecleaning” — that is, ridding your life of both objects and activities that would give demons a foothold to torment you. Whether it’s watching horror movies, participating in Halloween festivities, or adorning your home with items associated with occult practices, Rick pulls no punches about the importance of “cleaning out” your life so that it not only glorifies God but also doesn’t give Satan’s forces a reason to linger.

But what happens when the darkness you’re trying to rid yourself of doesn’t look like a book of crystal magic, a subscription to a pornography site, or a gruesome Halloween display? What happens when that evil exists inside another person?

On this episode of “Strange Encounters,” Rick addresses a question many people are asking right now: Is narcissism a personality disorder or a symptom of a demon stronghold?

Rick first acknowledges that in our current day, people are far too quick to label someone a narcissist out of dislike.

“I think that’s reckless,” he says, “but [narcissism] does exist, and these people are real.”

But are demons really the reason these people are so difficult to deal with? Or are they just suffering from extreme psychological challenges?

Rick’s answer is layered.

“I don’t think everybody who is a narcissist is truly under demonic possession or oppression,” he says, acknowledging that some really “do need psychological help.”

That said, he does believe that genuine narcissists are “opening themselves up to demonic oppression or possession.”

A true narcissist, he explains, “does not have the ability to be part of a really close relationship with anyone,” because they are only seeking relationships “that fit their own interest.” They are people who “cannot handle criticism” and are “arrogant” and full of “pride,” he says.

All of these traits stand in stark contrast to how Scripture calls believers to be — lowly in spirit and humble, walking in honesty and righteousness toward others.

“This is where we’re starting to get into the spiritual,” says Rick.

“[Narcissists] love manipulation. They love deception. That’s demonic. They have a carefully crafted smoke screen to keep you confused, and their main goal in all of this is control,” he explains.

They also “love a world of conflict and chaos” and “feed on conflict.”

Scripture, Rick says, tells us very clearly that Satan and his demonic legions operate in similar ways — deceiving and manipulating us, sowing chaos in our lives, and destroying our relationships.

What is the believer to do, then, when faced with a narcissist? Should he uproot the person from his life, like one would trash an ouija board, for example?

With human beings, it’s not so simple, says Rick.

For the Christian in this situation, he says it’s important to “pray for discernment,” “pray for protection against [the narcissist],” “pray that God would break that spiritual stronghold,” and “use the authority that you’ve been given.”

To hear Rick’s full biblical breakdown, watch the episode above.

Want more from Rick Burgess?

To enjoy more bold talk and big laughs, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

​Strange encounters, Strange encounters with rick burgess, Rick burgess, Spiritual warfare, Narcissism, Demon possessed, Blazetv, Blaze media 

The Department of Health and Human Services under Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has endeavored to radically improve American nutrition and address those elements of the food system that are contributing to the chronic disease epidemic.

The department has, for instance, flipped the “corrupt food pyramid,” worked to remove petroleum-based synthetic dyes from America’s food supply, raised awareness about the health risks of eating ultra-processed foods, and expanded research into nutrition and metabolic health.

On Wednesday, Kennedy announced a new Make America Healthy Again initiative aimed at curbing chronic disease and improving nutrition: teaching Americans to cook.

‘Eating together as a family is a sacred ritual.’

Kennedy joined Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins and USDA national nutrition adviser Dr. Ben Carson in announcing the commencement of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans Strategic Partnerships, which the USDA characterized as an effort to encourage “the private sector to participate in educating the American people about the importance of the Guidelines and how they serve as the foundation to better eating.”

During the press conference Wednesday, Kennedy noted, “Every American can feed themselves cheaper than fast food.”

A YouGov survey taken last month found that 36% of Americans said they cook food daily; 40% said they cook a few times a week; 10% said they cook once a week; and 2% said they never cook.

A study published last year in the journal Current Developments in Nutrition noted:

Poor dietary quality, including high intakes of ultraprocessed food and food-away-from-home, is associated with an array of adverse health outcomes, including increased BMI, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. Home food preparation, “cooking,” offers an affordable strategy for reducing ultraprocessed food intake and away-from-home intake.

The same study said that “the percentage of United States adults cooking has increased since 2003; however, the overall mean time spent cooking among cookers has remained relatively stable.”

RELATED: Cooking is easy; it’s our modern anxiety that makes it hard

Photo by GraphicaArtis/Getty Image

“One of the challenges that we’re facing and that we’re working on all kinds of innovative devices to solve is that Americans have forgotten how to cook,” said Kennedy. “The convenience of fast food is one of the things that attracts them, and many of them don’t have the cutlery, they don’t have the pots and pans, they don’t have the cutting boards, and they don’t know how to shop.”

The health secretary said that he and his team have been discussing possibly deploying the Commissioned Corps of the U.S. Public Health Service and/or other organizations within HHS “to go out and actually teach people to cook.”

Kennedy underscored that making and eating meals together is about far more than just bodily health.

“President Trump has talked about the spiritual malaise in our country. That spiritual malaise comes from the breakdown of families; it comes from the fragmentation, the atomization, the isolation — particularly in our children. They don’t feel connections any more,” said Kennedy.

“Cooking … and eating together as a family is a sacred ritual,” continued Kennedy, “and it’s something that brings families together for an hour or two hours a day, where they talk, where they interact, where they work together on an act of creation, and they eat together in this wonderful ritual that brings families together.

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Kentucky is on track to become the first state where the legislature overrides a governor’s opposition and opts into President Trump’s new school-choice program, part of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. The federal initiative lets states opt in to tax-credit scholarships that expand options for families without tapping public school budgets.

The Kentucky Senate just passed House Bill 1 by a 33-5 vote. All Republicans backed it, joined by one Democrat. The House had already approved the bill 79-17, with two Democrats voting yes. Now it heads to Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear, a reliable opponent of school choice.

Governors don’t get a permanent veto over school choice when legislatures have the votes — and families are demanding options.

Kentucky’s override rules make this fight different. Lawmakers need only a simple majority in each chamber to overturn a veto — and the vote totals suggest they have it.

Beshear’s own education choices underscore the disconnect. He attended Capital Day School, a private school, for part of his education. He also enrolled his children in private schools for portions of their schooling. He wants those options for his family, but he resists expanding similar opportunities statewide.

North Carolina provides the contrast. Republicans there advanced an opt-in bill to Democratic Gov. Josh Stein, but the state requires a 60% vote in each chamber to override a veto. The GOP lacks that margin, making success unlikely.

In Kentucky’s Senate debate, Majority Floor Leader Max Wise (R) singled out Democratic Rep. Tina Bojanowski for her yes vote. Another senator pointed to Colorado Gov. Jared Polis — the first Democratic governor to opt his state into Trump’s program. Polis called participation a “no-brainer” and said he “would be crazy not to” do it.

Here’s the key design feature: Any U.S. taxpayer can contribute to these scholarships and claim a dollar-for-dollar federal tax credit. Families can access scholarships only if their state opts in. That means residents of opt-out states can fund scholarships in opt-in states — a built-in incentive for governors and lawmakers to join rather than watch their taxpayers’ dollars flow elsewhere.

The program relies on private contributions. It does not divert funds from public schools. That approach likely explains the bill’s wide support — more than 80% of members present and voting in each chamber backed it. Kentucky’s 2024 school choice constitutional amendment never came close to that kind of consensus.

For Kentucky families, the opt-in may be the only viable path right now. The Kentucky Supreme Court unanimously struck down the state’s tax-credit scholarship program in 2022. It also blocked charter schools last month. Unless and until the court’s composition changes, the Trump program offers a practical workaround.

RELATED: When parents pay twice to escape public schools, the verdict is in

kinakomochi / Getty Images

That matters because the 2024 ballot measure tried to amend the state constitution to sidestep the court. Teachers’ unions spent millions opposing it. The language confused voters, and constitutional amendments don’t deliver immediate, tangible benefits like scholarships. When ballot measures confuse people, they default to the status quo.

So far, 27 governors have opted their states into Trump’s school-choice program. That group includes 26 Republicans — all except Vermont Gov. Phil Scott — and one Democrat, Polis. Republican-led legislatures in other states are exploring opt-ins and, in some cases, overrides against Democratic governors.

In Arizona, the state senate passed an opt-in bill, but Republicans likely lack the votes to override a veto from Gov. Katie Hobbs. Kansas and Wisconsin are also in play. Wisconsin Republicans don’t have the votes for an override. In Kansas, it remains unclear whether Republicans will unify the way Kentucky’s did.

Kentucky’s move shows why this program has momentum. It expands options without reopening state-funding fights or running into the same court barriers. The tax-credit mechanism encourages private giving while keeping scholarship access tied to states that opt in.

If Kentucky lawmakers follow through, they won’t just deliver scholarships. They’ll set a precedent: Governors don’t get a permanent veto over school choice when legislatures have the votes — and families are demanding options.

​Kentucky, School choice, One big beautiful bill, Public schools, Kentucky schools, School tax credits, Opinion & analysis, Donald trump, Andy beshear, Veto override, Supreme court, Charter schools, Taxpayers, Opt in, North carolina, Josh stein, Arizona, Katie hobbs 

Ryan Reynolds has made an almost 50X return on a tiny Welsh soccer team.

When Reynolds and fellow actor Rob McElhenney, best known for “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia,” bought Wrexham AFC in 2021 for about $2.6 million, it played in England’s fifth-tier soccer league and placed eighth. Now, it is knocking on the door of the country’s top league and is worth around $130 million.

‘Home! Chelsea! Yes!’

It did not take long for the Hollywood owners to bring the team out of obscurity, even though Wrexham is known as being the third-oldest existing professional soccer team in the world. Wrexham was founded over 161 years ago, in October 1864.

Five years of success after success has brought the stars’ team to the fifth round of the FA Cup, the final 16 teams of England’s biggest tournament and the oldest national soccer competition in the world.

Wrexham plays Chelsea FC, a team from England’s top-flight English Premier League, on Saturday at 12:45 p.m. ET. Chelsea is one of the wealthiest teams in the world and would typically crush lower-tiered teams. However, Wrexham has had magic surrounding it lately.

RELATED: Chicago Bears GM calls NFL’s race-based hiring ‘strange’ as league struggles with DEI incentive

Photo by Oli SCARFF / AFP via Getty Images

It already defeated Premier League team Nottingham Forest in the third round of the FA Cup (3-3, won on penalties) and Ipswich Town, a team ahead of Wrexham in its own division, in the fourth round (1-0).

“Home! Chelsea! Yes!” Reynolds said in an X video after learning about his team’s opponent.

While Wrexham has played both Chelsea and world-famous Manchester United in exhibition games, this is by far the biggest team it has played in real competition since Reynolds took the helm. His time as owner has been nothing short of a fairy tale for supporters over the last five years.

In 2022-2023, Wrexham won the National League, gaining promotion to the fourth tier, English League Two. Finishing in second place in consecutive years has garnered Wrexham a promotion to the EFL Championship, England’s second-highest league, where the team currently sits.

RELATED: Michael Jordan shocks NASCAR by doing something no one has done in 77 years

Photo by Robbie Jay Barratt – AMA/Getty Images

After Saturday’s match, Wrexham will continue its push to make the Premier League. As it stands, the team is in sixth place with 11 games remaining. The top two teams in the league will gain automatic promotion to the Premier League, while third through sixth will play in a four-team, single-elimination tournament with the winner getting promoted.

Wrexham would likely have to beat other giant clubs after Chelsea to win the FA Cup, though, which seems an unlikely outcome.

However, a win against the Blues would still be the biggest in its history in a year in which bigger upsets have happened. In January, Macclesfield FC shocked Crystal Palace 2-1. Macclesfield is a sixth-tier team with part-time players, while Crystal Palace was the defending champion and is in the Premier League.

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Back in 2011, Glenn Beck started getting “very, very sick.” His symptoms were strange and severe — loss of feeling in his hands, tremors, macular degeneration in one eye and macular dystrophy in the other, chronic pain, brain fog, and a psychological phenomenon researchers called “time collapse,” where the distinction between past, present, and future blurs.

For two entire years, he sought help from multiple doctors and specialists, all of whom concluded that he was “being poisoned.”

Except all his tests kept coming back clean.

“I wasn’t ingesting chemicals,” he says, noting that “no foreign agents” were ever found in any of his medical tests.

More time passed and Glenn continued getting sicker until one day, the root of his problem suddenly stared back at him: He was poisoning himself.

“I was being poisoned, but I was poisoning myself … I was consuming poison with the relentless diet of ‘the republic is dying,’ the news, the history, the media, everything that was going on for nearly a decade, ” he says.

“From 2001 to 2010, I barely slept. … I worked from 5:00 a.m. until well past midnight every day. Each day I was on stage, off stage, back on stage multiple times. By 2009, I wasn’t just battling what I believed were forces trying to reverse American freedom and evil; I was fighting for my life — in business, in media, in smears; physically, I was under threat all the time,” he recounts.

Eventually, Glenn got a proper diagnosis: “Adrenal fatigue.”

“I had been in fight or flight mode for over a decade — all day, every day — and your body is not built to live under constant siege like that. Mine broke, and I still pay the price for it,” he recounts.

Glenn shares this story today because he’s concerned that people are making the same mistake he made with the media content they constantly consume.

“We are poisoning ourselves,” he warns, “and I’m not speaking theoretically; I’m speaking from experience.”

“When you constantly call on your body to produce more cortisol, you’re not just stressed, you’re rewiring the brain; you’re reshaping your body; you’re altering the outlook on life.”

While cortisol is the body’s life-saving “alarm system,” it was “designed for dinosaurs and lions, not headlines and social media,” he says.

Sadly, because of the digital age’s insatiable appetite for virtual content, most of us are hooked up to a feeding tube that pumps us full of “outrage, catastrophe framing, existential politics … Nazis, pedophiles,” and every other form of soul-sucking content out there, Glenn warns.

When this happens, “cortisol stops being a tool and starts to become a poison” that throws our nervous system into a state of chaos, makes our bodies susceptible to chronic diseases, and causes emotional dysregulation, memory loss, decreased impulse control, and overactive fear triggers in the brain.

What can we do to avoid this pitfall?

To hear Glenn’s answer, watch the video above.

Want more from Glenn Beck?

To enjoy more of Glenn’s masterful storytelling, thought-provoking analysis, and uncanny ability to make sense of the chaos, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

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