Category: blaze media

“In New York, they don’t say ‘I love you,’ they say ‘NYPD suck my d**k’ and I think that’s beautiful.”

“A world without borders — just like a world without prisons or police — is possible, necessary, and the only moral way forward.”

Voters judge political parties by what they do, not by what they call themselves.

“Trick question — Israel doesn’t exist.”

Those are social media posts or reposts from Darializa Avila Chevalier, the Democratic Socialists of America-backed candidate who won the 2026 Democratic primary for New York’s 13th Congressional District.

Many Democrats still insist the Democratic Socialists of America remain a fringe movement with little influence over the party. Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.), for example, recently promised that “common-sense Democrats will fight back” against the socialist agenda.

The evidence suggests otherwise.

The DSA’s influence no longer depends on how many members it elects to Congress. Its influence comes from how many of its priorities have become mainstream Democrat positions.

Approximately 250 DSA members held public office in 2025, with roughly 90% elected after 2019. Only two currently serve in Congress, but the movement’s real strength lies elsewhere: dozens of state legislators and nearly 150 local officials, including mayors, city council members, county commissioners, and school board members. Another 35 DSA-backed candidates advanced through this year’s primaries and appear positioned to win office.

Increasingly, the DSA shapes the Democratic Party from the ground up.

Consider the issues. The DSA openly advocates sweeping changes on immigration, policing, transgender policy, censorship, and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The DSA has long called for expanding the Supreme Court to reduce conservative influence. Democrat leaders have moved in the same direction. Former Vice President Kamala Harris endorsed Supreme Court reform, while Senator Ed Markey (D-Mass.) introduced legislation in 2024 to expand the court to 13 justices, joined by Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.).

On gender policy, the DSA advocates taxpayer-funded transgender procedures, including for minors, and has threatened hospitals that refuse to provide them.

Former New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin (D) argued that schools should be permitted to withhold information from parents when a child socially transitions at school. Whatever differences may exist around the edges, the underlying assumption is similar: Parents should not always have the final say.

RELATED: Yet another establishment Democrat taken out by a Mamdani-like socialist from a foreign land

Michael Ciaglo/Getty Images

Immigration presents another point of convergence.

The DSA opposes meaningful immigration enforcement and has labeled Immigration and Customs Enforcement itself an instrument of “state violence.” Democrat officials have likewise resisted federal immigration enforcement in a variety of ways.

Sen. Andy Kim (D-N.J.) publicly aligned himself with anti-ICE activists, while New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill (D) has limited state cooperation with federal immigration authorities and expanded state funding for immigrant legal defense.

The rhetoric differs. The practical effect often does not.

The same pattern appears on free speech.

After Elon Musk purchased Twitter and restored numerous previously restricted conservative accounts, the New York City DSA launched a dedicated “Stop Musk” campaign.

Democrat officials have repeatedly criticized Musk’s moderation policies and supported efforts, both here and abroad, to pressure X over the speech it permits.

Again, the methods differ. The destinations look remarkably similar.

The DSA also embraced the “Free Palestine” movement immediately after Hamas’ October 7, 2023, terrorist attack, issuing a statement calling for an end to the Israeli regime.

Many of the Democratic Party’s most prominent progressive members have likewise become leading voices in the pro-Palestinian movement. Reps. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.), and Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) have all championed that cause, while several have also supported reducing police funding or sharply limiting law enforcement.

No, today’s Democratic Party is not formally controlled by the DSA. But it increasingly advances many of the same priorities. That is why Democrat leaders spend so much energy insisting they are not socialists. They understand the label remains politically damaging.

The problem is that voters judge political parties by what they do, not by what they call themselves. When the Democratic Party repeatedly adopts positions first championed by the Democratic Socialists of America, the distinction becomes more difficult to see.

Democrats may not like the comparison. Their policies increasingly invite it.

In 2026, voters should recognize an uncomfortable political reality: A vote for today’s Democratic Party increasingly advances the agenda of the Democratic Socialists of America.

​Opinion & analysis, Democratic socialists of america, Democratic party, Darializa avila chevalier, Ed markey, Adam schiff, Supreme court, Palestine, Israel hamas war, Terrorism, Transgender agenda, Congress, Grassroots, Elections 

The First Amendment has been under a decade-long attack from the left with mainstream oppressors bulldozing anyone who opposed COVID’s origin story, engaged in scientific debates over climate change and gender norms, or argued about the emerging reality of voter fraud.

Now, a new bipartisan bill led by Republican Sen. Ted Cruz (Texas) and Democrat Sen. Ron Wyden (Ore.) aims to tamp down the onslaught of online censorship pervading modern society with real repercussions for any government agency or representative that violates that sacred right.

The JAWBONE Act is poised to return free speech to the online and real-world arenas.

The censorship machine

The First Amendment is quite clear:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

That should be enough to keep politicians from violating the rights of millions of Americans from coast to coast. However, in recent years, elected officials on the left — and their supporters — have found ways to silence right-leaning voices, especially in online spaces where all opinions are meant to be heard and debated equally. Here are just some of the ways the left has created its own ideological echo chamber where dissent is denied wholesale:

Twitter banned a sitting president from the platform due to supposed violent rhetoric surrounding January 6.Facebook excessively moderated COVID-19 content that defied the accepted narrative after receiving pressure from the Biden administration.Twitter files revealed mass social media censorship under the guise of COVID misinformation, disinformation, and “mal-information.”Big Tech censored anti-Biden content, including the Hunter Biden laptop scandal that was later proven true.The Biden-Harris administration ran multiple anti-misinformation campaigns against American citizens and right-oriented media outlets.Universities canceled and disinvited speakers who didn’t espouse mainstream narratives.Revered speaker, podcaster, and man of faith Charlie Kirk was silenced with a bullet for speaking truths that were uncomfortable for some to hear.

When silencing culture rises to the level of targeted murders, you know things have gone too far. Luckily, the Justice Against Weaponized Bureaucratic Overreach to Networked Expression Act, or JAWBONE Act, is poised to return free speech to the online and real-world arenas.

JAWBONE Act

The JAWBONE Act is a new bill proposed by Sen. Cruz and Sen. Wyden that provides clearer restrictions on government-sponsored censorship campaigns. As its namesake suggests, it strictly forbids “jawboning,” or the act of government entities pressuring private social media, AI, and broadcasting companies from silencing free speech on their platforms.

Clear examples of jawboning include the period when social media companies shadow banned accounts on behalf of the Biden administration throughout COVID, as well as during the Russia collusion hoax and the Hunter Biden laptop scandal.

Most notably, the JAWBONE Act exists not only to protect citizens from deliberate speech violations, but it “create[s] a cause of action against any government agency or employee” that attempts to subvert the First Amendment.

RELATED: GOP bill aims to gut online censorship funds — where the money is going will shock you

SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images

That means victims can sue the government for merely attempting to jawbone them and obtain financial compensation, including damages and attorney fees, following any successful or attempted wrongdoing. To further hold government bodies accountable, government communications initiated with private social media, AI, and broadcasting companies must be submitted through a portal with public summaries detailing the essence of the messages, though any communications involving criminal and civil matters are exempt.

The ultimate goal is to fully “hold the government accountable for censorship and violations of the First Amendment,” by limiting the government’s illegal anti-free speech activities and returning the power to the people. Unfortunately, private companies aren’t included in the bill, so they can still theoretically silence and ban users on their own volition, although some states, like Florida, have passed anti-deplatforming legislation to deter potential offenders.

The JAWBONE Act is currently waiting for consideration before moving on to a vote. If passed, this bill would be the biggest protection conservative voices have against an authoritarian leftist government that could arise with a vengeance as we head into the midterms, especially without the SAVE America Act in place to prevent unwanted voter fraud that may tip the scales of power sooner than later.

​Senate, Ted cruz, Ron wyden, Online speech, Free speech, First amendment, Tech 

Police said that the parents and grandparents of 16 children subjected them to severe neglect and horrible living conditions described as “pure evil.”

Police executed a search warrant on Tuesday at about 10 a.m. at the residence on Ohmer Street in Hamden, according to a press release from Ohio Attorney General Andy Wilson.

‘I can tell you this is pure evil. What we saw down here today is pure evil.’

Inside the home they found 16 children living in a 12-by-12-foot space, and they were surrounded by human feces.

The children ranged in age from a 1-year-old to an 18-year-old and included boys and girls. Two of the children were so injured, they were flown to level 1 trauma centers. Others were evaluated and treated at local hospitals.

“Most of the livestock was kept in better condition than the children,” Vinton County Sheriff Ryan Cain said.

Police arrested the parents and grandparents, who were identified as Gary Siders Jr., Elizabeth Siders, Gary Siders Sr., and Christina Siders.

“The conditions these children lived in were horrific, and we are sickened by it. Fortunately, this tragic chapter has closed, but their recovery will take time,” Cain added. “Our investigators will continue following the evidence wherever it leads.”

The four suspects were all charged with 17 counts of endangering children, a second-degree felony.

Wilson said the children were “literally about to fall through the floor” and that many of them were unable to speak. The 18-year-old was unable to spell her name.

“I’ve been doing these types of cases for a long time. I’ve spent a big portion of my career dedicated to prosecuting these types of cases, and I can tell you this is pure evil. What we saw down here today is pure evil,” Wilson said.

The home was described as having an area of only 1,300 square feet with a total of five rooms, and it was owned by a trust of a deceased women.

Investigators said that the Siders moved between various properties in Ohio since 2008 and avoided establishing government and medical records during that time.

“This case continues to reveal the unimaginable conditions these children were forced to endure,” Wilson added Wednesday.

“Our focus remains on protecting these children, supporting their recovery, and ensuring everyone responsible is held fully accountable under Ohio law,” he continued.

RELATED: Texas cops investigating odor at home believed someone died inside — they found 2 children living in horrific conditions

Investigators said the case did not appear to involve human trafficking, but was instead one of “prolonged and extreme interfamilial neglect and abuse.”

The four suspects pleaded not guilty to the charges during a court hearing Wednesday, where they appeared via Zoom. A judge set cash bail for each at $300,000.

The Vinton County Prosecutor’s Office may file further charges after more information is discovered. If convicted, the suspects could face up to 12 years in prison for each count, which would be 204 years.

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​Endangering children, Neglect, Evil, Ohio, Child abuse, Crime 

This week, the U.N. Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory released a report accusing the Israeli military of deliberately targeting children. The commission alleged that more than 20,000 Palestinian children were killed and more than 44,000 were wounded between October 2023, after the Simchat Torah massacre on Oct. 7, 2023, and October 2025.

As with nearly every story of Israeli atrocities and Palestinian genocide, the report lacks essential context and frequently veers into outright fabrication. Writer Jonathan Sacerdoti quickly debunked the commission’s claims, noting the glaring lack of evidence that any of this is actually happening. Instead, the report relies heavily on unreliable Palestinian testimony.

The left understands that the conflict in the Holy Land reflects the larger conflict in the West between the secular left and the Christian right.

“The same pattern recurs case after case: a family account, a doctor’s guess about which weapon caused a wound, and a conclusion of premeditated murder,” Sacerdoti wrote. “Nothing connecting the dots.”

Missing from these accounts are the Hamas terrorists hiding behind — and under — those children.

It is well documented that Hamas uses human shields and places tunnels and command posts under schools, hospitals, and mosques to protect itself from the Israel Defense Forces. Hamas fighters also refuse to wear uniforms, allowing them to blend into civilian crowds at a moment’s notice. Worst of all, children used as cover for terrorists on the run are often recruited to become terrorists themselves.

Meanwhile, Israeli soldiers face severe restrictions in their pursuit of Hamas terrorists. They are forced to evacuate populated areas and warn civilians before operations. This gives Hamas time to escape, hide, and regroup.

That absurd cat-and-mouse game helps explain why Israel’s campaign against Hamas has been so painfully slow. Palestinian authorities hope to exhaust the Israelis and turn world opinion against them as civilian casualties mount over time.

For years, most American Christians who followed the conflict understood this challenge and supported Israel’s efforts. On one side stood a civilized liberal democracy attempting to follow the rules of war. On the other stood a failed Palestinian polity ruled by radical Muslim thugs who resort to lies, terror, and human shields.

Rather than build up their society, normalize relations with neighbors, and join the world economy, Palestinian leaders have kept their people in permanent refugee status for nearly 80 years. They have spent billions in foreign aid on unprovoked attacks against Israel and global public relations campaigns designed to excuse them.

The basic situation has not changed, but support for Israel has fallen significantly across the political spectrum.

RELATED: ‘All deportations are wrong’: Mamdani-backed socialist challenges Jeffries-supported Democrat

Michael Nagle/Bloomberg/Getty Images

Some of that decline follows the confusing and frustrating conflict with Iran, which Israeli leaders helped instigate in hopes of weakening the chief sponsor of Hamas and Hezbollah. But most of the resentment against Israel stems from ignorance and naivety among younger Americans.

Older generations who grew up in the 20th century had plenty of experience with corrupt, duplicitous foreign powers. Communist regimes lied. Islamist republics and dictatorships lied. Much of what came from the non-Western world had to be treated as propaganda designed to keep corrupt rulers in power.

And the corruption was not limited to governments. In many of these societies, business owners exploited workers, law enforcement preyed on citizens, political authorities embezzled public funds, and ordinary people learned to survive by surrendering agency and blaming suffering on outside forces beyond their control.

As a result, many of these countries never advance. They rely on Western support to prop up their existence. Trust is so low that collective action fails, and reform becomes nearly impossible. Foreign aid then worsens the dysfunction and corruption it was supposed to relieve.

That is the story of the Palestinians.

Their leaders blame all their problems on the West, especially Jews and white Westerners, and spread falsehoods both to the world and to their own people. They are always the passive victims. Failure merely happens to them; they never cause it.

As tiring as it is, the endless lies that flow from this learned helplessness must be challenged every time. Accepting baseless claims of genocide in Gaza will only prolong violence in the region and delude otherwise sensible Americans.

On the basis of dubious testimony and little hard evidence, many Americans now suspect Israel — and Jews generally — while foolishly trusting the fanatics who use children as shields and soldiers to terrorize innocent civilians.

Worse, the logic behind siding with the Palestinians carries over into American politics. That is why radical leftists, especially the socialist candidates who recently won primaries in New York City, talk so obsessively about Israel.

They believe lies about Palestinians because those lies help them believe their own lies. They study the techniques of “Pallywood,” the Palestinian propaganda machine, so they can repurpose them in their own campaigns. They express solidarity with “besieged” Palestinians so they can express solidarity with “besieged” American minorities. They accept the con so they can con others.

RELATED: Democrat with ties to Islamic terrorism wins primary in New Jersey

DREW ANGERER/AFP/Getty Images

All of it amounts to a political Ponzi scheme that works only so long as enough people believe it. By the time the truth comes out, the liars have often taken control and transformed the country into an authoritarian Third World mess. Look at the United Kingdom.

Jesus famously said, “The truth will set you free.” The logical inverse is also true: Lies will enslave you. When lies become commonplace and trust evaporates, every path to progress and flourishing closes.

Understandably, many younger people on the right want to stop talking about Israel and Palestine. Many Christians want to give up defending Israel’s actions. But that cedes moral and political ground to younger leftists who love talking about these issues and know exactly what they are doing.

The left understands that the conflict in the Holy Land reflects the larger conflict in the West between the secular left and the Christian right.

If the right wants to win that fight, it must become better at standing for truth and honesty. For now, that means supporting Israel’s fight against Hamas and Hezbollah and rejecting the lies that continue to pour out of this war.

​Gaza, Israel, Palestine, Un, Propaganda, Hamas, Idf, American christians, Socialists, New york city, Opinion & analysis 

Since its founding in 1844, the YMCA has become a household name, earning a reputation for safety, reliability, and positive childhood experiences, such as youth sports, summer camps, and neighborhood gyms that offer something for everyone.

Recently, however, the YMCA has cashed in on its longstanding trust with families to quietly implement policies that are antithetical to this reputation.

The YMCA has made crystal clear that it has no interest in protecting girls — neither their innocence nor their safety.

Last summer, American Parents Coalition exposed YMCAs across the country for effectively eliminating separate boys’ and girls’ private spaces by allowing men and boys into girls’ locker rooms, bathrooms, and private spaces. In many locations, these policies even extended to sleeping accommodations at summer camps.

When the YMCA was confronted with questions about these policies, it deleted references to its values from its corporate website.

Since the attempt to hide these values and recommendations one year ago, APC has discovered that the policies extend not only to branch patrons and summer campers but also to counselors. Certain camps are allowing older teen and adult biological male counselors to sleep in girls’ cabins too, provided they “identify” as girls.

According to Michigan’s Sherman Lake YMCA’s 2026 camp policy, counselors may choose whichever gender-segregated cabins they feel “comfortable leading and sleeping in,” regardless of biological sex. The camp also offers “all-gender” cabins that can include children and counselors “of any gender.”

McGaw YMCA Camp Echo, also in Michigan, similarly promotes “all-gender cabins with multiple counselors who have different gender identities,” while admitting that counselors assigned to cabins separated by gender only “most often” share “the same gender identity as campers in that cabin.”

In Colorado, Camp Shady Brook’s May 2026 handbook states that both campers and staff are assigned to cabin groups based on “gender identity.”

Not only do Sherman Lake YMCA and McGaw Camp Echo allow children and counselors to choose cabin assignments based on gender identity, but staff are also instructed to withhold information from parents if a child identifies as LGBTQ+ unless the child gives “express consent.” Sherman Lake further states that staff are “trained” to “regularly” ask children to share their preferred names and pronouns.

In Minnesota, YMCA Camp Olson says, “Some of our campers don’t fit in the boxes of ‘boy’ or ‘girl,’” and offers special cabins for children who identify “outside the gender binary,” while allowing “trans individuals” to “select either restroom.” In New York, Camp Gorham claims its cabins are “gender specific” before immediately clarifying that “Girl+ cabins are a space for girls, trans, and nonbinary campers.”

Camp Hazen YMCA in Connecticut similarly lets families choose between “Girls+,” “Boys+,” and “all-gender” cabins, with the “+” specifically intended to include “cisgender, trans, and nonbinary youth.”

RELATED: The Supreme Court finally confirmed what I knew all along

Kirby Lee/Getty Images

If that were not enough, South Mountain YMCA in Pennsylvania now offers a “Pride Camp” for children as young as 7, described as a “safe-space, non-gendered village” complete with programming built around LGBTQ+ identity and “social justice conversations.”

How is this the same YMCA generations of Americans grew up trusting? The YMCA has made crystal clear that it has no interest in protecting girls — neither their innocence nor their safety. At countless YMCAs across the country, camps are still operating with policies that place gender ideology above biological reality and parental rights.

Sadly, the YMCA has become yet another activist institution obsessed with appeasing a radical fringe that demands everyone around them, including children, embrace the lie that biological sex is meaningless and that boundaries between men and women do not matter even in the most intimate spaces.

What many Americans do not realize, however, is that American families fund the YMCA. Nearly every one of the camps named above has received thousands, if not millions, of dollars in federal funding through various government grants and taxpayer-supported programs.

If the YMCA insists on functioning like an activist organization while ignoring Title IX requirements, then the federal government must stop treating it like a neutral public institution worthy of taxpayer support.

Enough is enough.

​Biological sex, Gender identity, Locker rooms, Opinion & analysis, Summer camp, Ymca, American parents coalition, Reality, Title ix, Transgender agenda, Trust 

At a time when many Americans feel disconnected from their nation’s history, filmmaker Jon Erwin is changing that with his film “Young Washington” — a tribute to America’s founding story in honor of the country’s 250th anniversary.

Blaze Media co-founder Glenn Beck loved the film, telling Erwin that he watched it “with such pride and admiration.”

“It’s a great story and a great movie,” he adds.

“I just wanted to write kind of a love letter to the country for our 250,” Erwin says, “and it’s the only film in theaters nationwide that celebrates American history as we go into the 250.”

“We really want to do more of these stories. We want to do more stories on the life of George Washington. We want to do more stories on the founding of America,” he explains, noting that the story is “unbelievable.”

“As you know, it lives up to the hype. And you’re just filled with a sense of gratitude and awe and wonder and pride that this nation exists at all. And it really is something to celebrate together. It is a miracle. I mean, talk about low statistical odds of success,” he says.

And so far, audiences have loved the film as well.

“When our audience unifies our voice around something and shocks Hollywood, millions and millions of people see it that wouldn’t otherwise see it because of the fear of missing out. And that’s my hope, and that’s my prayer,” Erwin says.

Erwin tells Glenn that as the film has been screened across the country, audience members have chanted “USA” at the end.

“But what I love is a lot of people say, ‘I was up on Google all night researching, like, did this really happen,’ because some of the most extraordinary things in the movie actually happened. So, that’s my hope,” he says, adding, “is that it will serve as a spark of curiosity for Americans everywhere.”

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​Glenn beck, Young washington, Hollywood, Filmmaker, George washington, History, America, 250th us anniversary, Fourth of july, The glenn beck program, Jon erwin 

Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom used his official powers to try to counteract the $1.7 billion “anti-weaponization fund” proposed by President Donald Trump.

On Tuesday, Newsom said in a statement on social media that he had signed legislation to tax 100% of the funds that were granted to any Californian.

‘Taxpayer dollars should support victims, not the people who attacked law enforcement officers and our very democracy. We don’t fund criminals.’

The anti-weaponization fund was a part of the settlement Trump made in his lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service after his tax records were leaked to the public. Critics say he wants to use the fund to benefit his supporters and allies.

“I just signed a new law imposing a 100% state tax on any Californians who benefit from [Trump’s] Jan. 6th slush fund for insurrectionists,” Newsom wrote. “Taxpayer dollars should support victims, not the people who attacked law enforcement officers and our very democracy. We don’t fund criminals.”

The state of the fund is in dispute, as some members of the administration have said it does not exist and will not exist, but the president has made comments that he still wants it to be established.

“We are not moving forward with the fund. Period,” acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said during a congressional hearing.

Opponents of the fund have also filed a lawsuit to prevent its operation.

The Justice Dept. said the possible beneficiaries of the fund would include “millions of Americans whose online speech was censored at the behest of the government, parents silenced at school boards, Senators whose records were secretly subpoenaed, churchgoers targeted by the FBI, and so on.”

RELATED: Video shows Nancy Pelosi exploding with fury at reporter over Jan. 6 claims: ‘SHUT UP!’

“We believe democracy is worth defending, the rule of law matters, and public dollars should support victims — not those who attacked the very institutions that protect our freedoms,” Newsom added.

Newsom is widely believed to be jabbing at the president in order to jump-start a presidential campaign for 2028. He has tried to take on the mantle of the foremost opponent to Trump’s policies.

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​Anti-weaponization fund, California, Gavin newsom, President donald trump, Tax, Politics 

New York City residents were surprised to find two masked people climbing the Empire State Building just after noon on Wednesday.

The New York Police Department confirmed via social media that they closed down streets near 5th Avenue and 34th Street in Manhattan.

They unfurled a banner that read, ‘When the power of love beats the love of power the world knows peace.’

The couple identified themselves on social media as daredevil climbers Ivan Beerkus and Angela Nikolau from Russia.

They unfurled a banner that read, “When the power of love beats the love of power the world knows peace.”

The NYPD later confirmed that officers had taken the couple into custody but did not immediately say what charges they may face.

One woman told USA Today that there were rumors that the man proposed to the woman during the climb.

“But I don’t really know exactly what it is,” Stephanie Hazelwood said. “It just seems like an attention thing and art, maybe.”

Video obtained by ABC News did indeed appear to show the male climber getting on one knee and proposing to the female climber, who then takes photos of her hand.

“If it’s a proposal, it’s an elaborate one, and I hope she said yes,” one news anchor said on the video.

“OK, they’re hugging. I think he just proposed!” the other anchor said.

The couple were the subject of a documentary titled “Skywalkers: A Love Story” from 2024 and have a large following on social media.

RELATED: Watch: ‘Pro-Life Spider-Man’ climbs New York Times building and California’s second-tallest skyscraper in daring protest against abortion

A spokesperson for the Empire State Building said the “unauthorized” incident was resolved and used the occasion to market the building.

“It is to be emphasized that the Empire State Building Observation Deck, atop the ‘World’s Most Famous Building’ in the center of New York City, does offer a practical way for the most memorable marriage proposals,” the spokesperson said.

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​Daredevil climbers, Empire state building, Manhattan, Marriage proposals, New york city, Nypd, Crime 

Tragedy struck Senatobia, Mississippi, when police were called to Walmart for a shoplifting call. When police confronted a pair of adults, one allegedly drove a car toward the officers, who then shot at the car — killing 1-year-old Kohen Wiley.

“They are arguing that they weren’t running their car into the police and there was no reason for the police to shoot into the car,” BlazeTV host Jason Whitlock says.

However, regardless of what the truth is, Whitlock has found the mother’s reaction tragic as well.

The mother, Vellesiya Wiley, posted photos of herself at the funeral, fanning out a stack of cash and holding a stuffed animal.

“The mother looks like a child. That looks like a teenage mother. That looks anywhere from age 15 to 20 years old to me, is what this mother looks like. But this is at the funeral,” Whitlock says. “What are you doing?”

“I have some sympathy because she’s a child, the mother seems to be. And so she’s reacting like a child,” he adds.

Attorney Ben Crump didn’t waste time chiming in on the devastating news, writing in a post on X that he “will be commissioning an independent autopsy for baby Kohen Wiley because this family deserves the truth.”

“We are calling on the Senatobia Police Department to release the body camera footage now. Kohen Wiley will never get the chance to grow up. His mother will carry this pain for the rest of her life. There must be full transparency and accountability in this case,” he continued. “Justice for baby Kohen!”

“Ben Crump, the ambulance chaser. The illiterate ambulance chaser that barely has command of the English language,” Whitlock comments.

“There doesn’t seem to be much disagreement. The child was shot. What’s the autopsy going to show?” he asks, before pointing out that regardless, “one of the major takeaways” should be, “Don’t use your child if you’re planning on committing any sort of crime.”

“Don’t take your child with you if you’re planning on shoplifting. If you’re planning on doing anything illegal, leave your child with a babysitter at home. Don’t carry your child. And if you decide to get in your car and drive away as police try to detain you, really don’t have your child involved,” he continues.

“But we’ve created a society and a mentality and a culture that says, ‘No, other people are responsible for my safety’ … This is a toxic, poisonous, deadly mindset and culture that we’ve created that too many black people have fallen for,” he adds.

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​Ben crump, Jason whitlock, Kohen wiley, Senatobia mississippi, Fearless with jason whitlock, Vellesiya wiley 

Democratic Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker appears to be supportive of socialist Democrats making gains in recent elections, despite their decidedly anti-billionaire policies.

CNN’s Kaitlan Collins asked Pritzker during an interview Tuesday if he was comfortable with the far-left Democrats who frequently target billionaires as the enemy, despite the governor being worth about $4.3 billion.

‘I think it’s about what do you stand for and what do you actually accomplish for people, not how much money you have.’

“What do you make of Democrats in your party, as we lead up to 2026 and the midterm elections and 2028, who rail against the billionaire class in your party?” Collins asked.

“I completely understand how people feel looking at Elon Musk and what he’s done to this country and with DOGE and all the things that he blurts out on his own platform, on X,” Pritzker responded, “when people look at what the other kind of oligarch, Big Tech types, have done, right? Those are the examples that people have now of billionaires. Look at Donald Trump and the way he has treated working-class and middle-class people. The fact is that I understand why people feel as they do.”

When pressed by Collins, he implied that he would be exempt from the ban because of his Democratic policies.

“I think it’s much more about the values that you carry and then carry out,” he continued. “And as somebody who has stood up for a workers’ rights amendment and got it passed in the State of Illinois, who’s stood up for LGBTQ and reproductive rights, somebody who’s legalized cannabis, somebody who’s raised the minimum wage in my state for people from $8.25 to $15, you know, I think it’s about what do you stand for and what do you actually accomplish for people, not how much money you have.”

Collins quoted Trump as referring to the socialist Democrats as the greatest threat to the U.S. since the founding, and Pritzker responded by claiming the president suffers from dementia.

“The man is continually suffering from dementia. I don’t think he really understands what he’s saying,” he said.

“I think he has these concepts in his head, and he blurts them out without really thinking,” Pritzker added.

RELATED: George Soros has dumped MILLIONS of dollars into midterm elections — and he’s not done yet

Pritzker is the heir to the Hyatt Hotels fortune.

In Feb. 2026, the governor’s cousin Thomas Pritzker stepped down as the executive chairman of the Hyatt Hotels Corporation after 22 years over his involvement with the late pedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein.

In a letter to the board, Thomas Pritzker wrote, “Good stewardship also means protecting Hyatt, particularly in the context of my association with Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, which I deeply regret.”

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On a recent episode of his show, Tucker Carlson interviewed Christian commentator and theologian J.D. Hall on Christian Zionism, dispensationalism, and related topics.

During the discussion, Hall argued that Islam has historically been “kind” to Christians, especially under the Ottoman Empire.

Allie Beth Stuckey, however, believes this Muslim-sympathic interview is another attempt by Carlson to “whitewash Islam.”

On this episode of “Relatable,” Allie dives into the real history of Islam’s relationship with Christianity.

“When the Ottomans were in control of the promised land for 400 years in the millet system, they didn’t charge churches tax. Israel started just a few years ago,” Hall said, arguing that the Muslim rulers were actually “very kind to Christians.”

Citing the work of Raymond Ibrahim — a prominent historian specializing in Islamic history, the Middle East, and the historical and contemporary interactions between Islam and the West — Allie calls Hall’s claim about the taxes “misleading.”

“Churches weren’t specifically taxed, but Christians … had to pay an extra tax called the jizya that was imposed on non-Muslims. That was the only way to guarantee any kind of protection,” Allie corrects.

“It’s true that the Ottomans allowed religious communities to govern many of their own affairs … but non-Muslims remained second-class subjects. In addition to paying extra taxes, they faced restrictions on churches, on evangelism, legal rights, dress, bearing arms,” she continues.

Hall’s claim that Muslims were kind to Christians, however, “is just not true” at all, says Allie. “The Islamic Ottoman Empire persecuted Christians for centuries, killed them, enslaved them for centuries.”

She then gives the example of the Muslim takeover of Constantinople — “the center of Eastern Orthodox Christianity” and “the last remnant of the Roman Empire.”

“So when the city’s defenses gave way, thousands of civilians crowded into the Hagia Sophia, the city’s largest church, seeking safety, and the Ottoman troops led by Sultan Mehmed II forced their way inside, and the refuge became the scene of looting, enslavement, widespread abuse, including mass rape,” says Allie.

She reads eyewitness accounts from Thomas the Eparch and Joshua Diplovatatzes (two Byzantine figures who witnessed and documented the city’s fall): “Then, he (Sultan Mehmed II) seized one of the grand duke’s daughters, who was quite beautiful, and made her lie on the great altar of the Hagia Sophia with a crucifix under her head and then raped her. Then, the most brutish of the Turks seized the finest noble women, virgins, and nuns of the city and violated them in the presence of the Greeks and in the sacrilege of Christianity.”

“Wow — things haven’t changed in centuries,” says Allie. “This is the same thing that happens to Christians today in very similar manners, certainly in places like Nigeria and Uganda.”

“It is not just the pillaging of Christian women; it is the purposeful blasphemy against the Christian God.”

To hear more of Allie’s rebuttal, watch the episode above.

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The $850 million Obama Presidential Center opened last week in Chicago — but not without a performative “land acknowledgement.”

“We’d also like to take a moment to recognize the original inhabitants of the land upon which we are gathered today,” Valerie Jarrett, chief executive officer of the Obama Foundation, said. “We honor the Anishinaabe, the Council of Three Fires, the Ojibwe, the Odawa, and the Potawatomi nations.”

“First of all,” BlazeTV host Pat Gray comments, “It’s the ugliest building on this planet, especially at the price that was paid to build that thing, $850 million.”

“Secondly, I’m so sick of hearing about stolen land,” he says. “If you’re on stolen land, Barack, give it back. How about that? Once again, the United States is the only nation on earth … that’s continually hammered with this stolen land stuff.”

“Every nation on earth, all of them have been taken from someone else. Every major nation on earth has been taken from some indigenous peoples either through conquest, displacement, colonial expansion, war, you name it,” he continues.

Executive producer Keith Malinak points out that the tribe names Jarrett repeated had all “defeated each other over history.”

“The indigenous people who stole it from each other,” Gray agrees. “The only nations on this planet that can say … that they’re not on stolen land now are the ones that weren’t inhabited in the first place.”

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While Democrats are hopeful about their chances to gain control of the U.S. Senate as well as the House of Representatives, a CNN political analyst says the former is very unlikely.

Harry Enten explained the math problem plaguing Democrats in a segment focusing on the polling results on the Senate campaigns in several states.

In all of those states, Republicans are beating Democrats by at least 2 percentage points.

“So what’s the simple math here? Democrats need a net gain of four — four Senate seats to regain control of the upper chamber in Congress, and right now the math, simply put, isn’t there for them. … It’s a math problem,” Enten said.

Enten went on to show that the most likely Senate seat gains for Democrats are in North Carolina and Texas, where they are either ahead in the polling or even. However, they need at least two other seats to flip, and the most likely candidates are in Iowa, Alaska, and Ohio. In all of those states, Republicans are beating Democrats by at least 2 percentage points.

He went on to show that Democrats were basically tied in the election polling in Maine, a state where they should be further ahead.

“Even in Maine, a state that Kamala Harris easily won back in 2024. … You have a race that, simply put, is way too close to call. So really, on the mathematical march to four seats, there’s really only one seat at this point that Democrats can look like they can count on,” Enten explained.

CNN anchor John Berman noted that President Donald Trump’s popularity has suffered because of high inflation and the unpopularity of the Iran war. Enten countered that Democrats have still polled poorly in red states, where they need to pick up seats in order to win the Senate.

“These are states that are just very hard to win because, bottom line is, what is holding them back … is the fundamentals,” he added.

RELATED: ‘Blue wave’ expected for midterms looks more like a tiny ripple, says CNN’s Harry Enten

Enten ended by showing that prediction markets lessened the chances of Democrats winning the Senate from 49% in May to only 41% currently.

Republicans, meanwhile, have improved their odds to hold on to the Senate in the prediction markets from 51% in May to 59% currently.

Enten posted the video of his CNN segment to his official social media account on Wednesday.

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​Democrats, Donald trump, Harry enten, Midterm elections, Republicans, Politics, Senate 

Democratic Socialists of America continue to take out establishment Democrats at the ballot box. The latest casualty is a longtime congresswoman from Colorado.

On Tuesday, Gen Z upstart Melat Kiros trounced longtime incumbent Rep. Diana DeGette in the Democratic primary for the 1st Congressional District of Colorado, representing much of Denver. With 81% of the vote reported, Kiros holds a lead of nearly 10 points, 51.3% to DeGette’s 41.7%, according to NBC News.

‘This is the most anti-incumbent cycle we’ve seen in a really long time.’

As of Wednesday afternoon, DeGette had still not conceded the race on social media. Late Tuesday night, she posted to X that “it looks like we won’t have final results tonight.”

By all accounts, DeGette has established far-left Democrat bona fides. She was a manager in President Trump’s second impeachment effort, she supports “Medicare for all,” and she wants to abolish ICE.

Though she has a progressive track record, DeGette characterized Kiros’ platform as “extreme.”

Indeed, Kiros has been endorsed by the Democratic Socialists of America, Justice Democrats, and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), and she espouses many of their radical views, especially regarding Israel. She even claims to have been fired from a law firm after writing a letter supporting Palestine after the October 7 attacks.

Kiros, a lawyer and a Ph.D. student, explained that once she began campaigning for office, she realized: “All these policies I’m calling for are democratic socialism,” Vox reported.

DeGette, 68, was first sworn in to Congress in January 1997, four months before Kiros, 29, was born.

RELATED: The People’s Republic of NY-13: Election results breakdown

Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

Kiros is just the latest democratic socialist to successfully primary a Democrat incumbent. In the New York primary races last week, 32-year-old Darializa Avila Chevalier took out 71-year-old incumbent Rep. Adriano Espaillat, and NYC Comptroller Brad Lander defeated anti-Trump radical Rep. Dan Goldman.

Democratic socialist Assemblywoman Claire Valdez also won the primary for the open seat in the 7th Congressional District of New York. Rep. Nydia Velazquez (D-N.Y.) is retiring at the end of the term.

Both Avila Chevalier and Lander had been endorsed by NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani, a fellow democratic socialist who, like Kiros, was not born in America. Mamdani was born in Uganda to Indian parents, while Kiros was born in Ethiopia and brought to America as a baby.

Kiros views the 2026 Democratic primary races as an opportunity to reshape the party.

“This is the most anti-incumbent cycle we’ve seen in a really long time,” she told Vox. “So I think this is an opportunity to change the party in a way that — I don’t think we’ll have another chance like this. To pass it up, I think, is irresponsible.”

“This isn’t just about replacing one generation of leaders with another,” she also told Vox. “It’s about replacing it with moral clarity, with urgency, with courage — and making sure that the will of the voters is actually being represented and fought for at the federal level.”

The 1st Congressional District of Colorado is heavily Democrat, and Kiros is expected to win the seat in November.

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​Politics 

The president has made a major announcement regarding the upcoming midterms.

President Donald Trump says he will be heading up a Republican midterm convention, the first ever, in September.

‘THE GOLDEN AGE OF AMERICA HAS ONLY JUST BEGUN!’

The midterm convention will be held in Dallas, Texas, according to President Trump’s post on social media. He previously pitched the idea in Aug. 2025.

“It will be fantastic! It has never been done before, and will be a truly Historic Event. We are going to celebrate the GREAT AMERICAN COMEBACK, and the incredible successes of the American People who transformed our Country through the America First Agenda,” he wrote Tuesday.

He lauded a list of his accomplishments that included the shutdown at the border, lowering crime, and increasing the nation’s energy dominance.

Trump went on to say the convention will prepare the country for another 250 years of success.

“At the Event, we will have hardworking Americans, our Great Innovators, Entrepreneurs, Manufacturers, First Responders, and Job Creators who are powering our Nation’s Golden Age, and proving that America’s best days are still ahead of us,” he added. “We will also have lots of Great Entertainment — It will be a RALLY like none other!”

Richard Hudson, the chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, praised the president in a statement on social media.

“President Trump has united Republicans behind a winning agenda that’s delivering results for the American people,” he wrote. “The Midterm Convention will showcase our strong Republican candidates, energize supporters across the country, and ensure House Republicans have the resources to protect and grow our majority in November.”

The midterm convention will run from Sept. 9 to 10.

Democrats considered returning their midterm convention but decided against it. Some suspect that their dwindling cash donations forced them to abandon the idea.

RELATED: ‘Blue wave’ expected for midterms looks more like a tiny ripple, says CNN’s Harry Enten

The convention should help galvanize Republican voters to show up at the ballot box for the midterm elections, which will determine whether Democrats will take over Congress for the rest of Trump’s second term.

“THE GOLDEN AGE OF AMERICA HAS ONLY JUST BEGUN!” the president concluded.

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Just days before America’s 250th anniversary celebration of our independence, the Democrats’ latest attempts to take away American citizens’ gun rights are being called out by the Department of Justice.

On Wednesday, the Department of Justice sued two different states, both of which are run by increasingly notorious Democrat governors, over their latest attempts to ban certain firearms.

‘On April 10, I promised Governor Spanberger that we would sue Virginia if she signed this unconstitutional weapons ban into law. I keep my promises.’

The DOJ sued California and Virginia for their so-called “Glock ban” and the semi-automatic-weapon ban, respectively.

The lawsuit against California is in fact two-fold: First, the DOJ is challenging the ban of Glock-brand firearms, a popular choice of handgun among gun owners.

RELATED: 2A win: Appeals court in DC strikes down high-capacity magazine restrictions

Jim Vondruska/Getty Images

Second, the DOJ is challenging the legality of California’s “Gun Roster,” which shows which pistols are allowed and which are banned.

The law triggering this ban was signed by Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom on October 25. The specific “Glock ban,” as well as the ban on any other guns removed from the gun roster on January 1, was set to take effect on Wednesday.

Nearly 40 Glock models were removed from the gun roster at the beginning of this year, meaning they “may no longer be sold, offered for sale, imported for sale, or manufactured in California.”

Additionally, more than 70 models from Auto-Ordnance; Magnum Research; Kimber; Sturm, Ruger & Co.; Kahr Arms; Phoenix Arms; Franklin Armory; Sig Sauer; and Nighthawk Custom were removed from the approved gun roster on the same day.

In a state Senate hearing last year to discuss the bill before it was signed into law, the group Gun Owners of California argued against the passage of the bill, warning that the language was “overly broad” and not primarily concerned with the safety of the public:

“By specifically targeting the potential for modification, this bill disproportionately affects potential Glock purchasers and restricts access to one of the most popular handguns available, further demonstrating that this legislation is not about safety but about incremental firearm prohibition.”

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a press release Wednesday: “The Second Amendment is a sacred right belonging to all Americans, even those in California. California cannot ban the most popular type of handgun in America. We will work to stop this blatant trampling of our rights by the California government to protect the rights of lawful gun owners.”

In response to a request for comment, a spokesperson for Newsom told Blaze News:

The Trump administration is once again trying to dismantle California’s commonsense gun safety laws. Our response is simple — these laws save lives. California has proven that strong, evidence-based gun safety measures can reduce gun violence while respecting the rights of responsible gun owners. That’s why we have one of the lowest gun death rates in America and historically low crime rates across the board. We won’t be intimidated by another politically motivated lawsuit. We’ll continue defending the laws that protect Californians and keep dangerous weapons off our streets.

In addition to the DOJ’s challenge to California, the Department of Justice is also suing Virginia for its newly enacted law that bans the purchase and sale of ordinary semi-automatic rifles.

The law, signed by Democratic Gov. Abigail Spanberger on May 14, essentially freezes the markets for sales of “assault firearms” in the commonwealth.

Similar to the California law, Virginia’s ban was set to take effect on July 1, thus triggering the two lawsuits on the same day.

“On April 10, I promised Governor Spanberger that we would sue Virginia if she signed this unconstitutional weapons ban into law. I keep my promises,” Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon said in a press release. “Law-abiding Americans should not have to live under threat of criminal sanction for simply exercising their Second Amendment right to possess arms owned by millions of their fellow citizens.”

Spanberger’s office did not respond to a request for comment from Blaze News.

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BlazeTV host Sara Gonzales infiltrated the Texas Democrat convention in Corpus Christi — and it was every bit as insane as she expected.

First, Gonzales was not allowed any press credentials because of her views.

Then, she quickly found a Planned Parenthood booth where they were handing out free Plan B.

“They gave me not one, but two free Plan B’s because they hate babies in the womb and they love killing them. This is really disgusting stuff,” Gonzales says, before throwing the Plan B in the trash and saying, “They do the same to babies.”

Gonzales also spoke to some attendees, asking one woman, who was wearing a mask, what positions of James Talarico’s she supported the most.

When the woman refused to answer, Gonzales ventured, “Have you thought about maybe removing the mask? It’s 2026.”

The woman then pulled down her mask, got in Gonzales’ face, breathed heavily, and said, “I have chronic Epstein-Barr virus. Would you like it?”

“The masks don’t work, ma’am,” Gonzales replied. “Thank you for trying to give me a virus. Lovely people.”

Gonzales then approached another woman who was wearing an “I’m a Talafreako” shirt.

“What of James Talarico’s policies do you support the most?” Gonzales asked.

“The fact that he is a real Christian as opposed to a pseudo-Christian,” the woman replied.

“Have you heard the quote of his where he said he hates Christianity?” Gonzales asked.

The woman answered that “no,” she hadn’t, because he’s a minister.

“Somebody probably misquoted him. They do that all the time,” she added.

Gonzales also came face-to-face with another Talarico supporter, who claimed he didn’t care that Talarico’s friend, South Texan congressional candidate and musician Bobby Pulido, used to perform on stage with a bandmate who was convicted of indecent contact with an 8-year-old.

“I don’t care about his friend,” the man told Gonzales.

“You don’t care that he’s parading his convicted pedophile friend around on stage,” Gonzales replied, shocked.

“No, not really,” the man replied.

“He raped an 8-year-old girl,” Gonzales says, before the man tried to claim that Republicans are also guilty of pedophilia.

“I’m saying all pedophiles are bad and we should all agree, not just say, ‘But what about other pedophiles?’” she replied.

After even more insane interactions, Gonzales was then kicked out of the event for “agitating” the crowd.

“We were just standing there. We were told that many people told them we were agitating,” she says. “He brought two cops with him. I think one of them was trans, which really tracks with this mentally ill Democrat convention.”

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​Bobby pulido, Democrat, James talarico, Planned parenthood, Sara gonzales, Texas, Texas democrat convention, Sara gonzales unfiltered 

On Thursday, Apple raised prices on basically every Mac, every iPad, the HomePod, the Apple TV, and the Vision Pro. Not a refresh-with-new-specs bump where they hand you a faster chip to soften the blow, but a global markup on hardware that didn’t change, live on the store the same morning. Apple’s stock fell 6.1%, its worst single day since April 2025.

The same day, Microsoft raised Xbox prices for the third time in 13 months.

Apple put the blame squarely on ‘the rapid expansion of AI data centers.’

I’ve been telling you that you’re already paying for the AI boom. You just weren’t getting an itemized bill.

Back in May, the evidence was your electricity. Residential power prices are up roughly 30% since 2020, and they climb worse the closer you live to a data center. The point I kept hammering was simple: The cost of this build-out doesn’t stay in Silicon Valley. It gets pushed downstream, onto you.

What actually got more expensive

The numbers tell it better than I can. Here’s the Apple damage:

Table by Josh Centers for Blaze Media

A fully loaded 16-inch MacBook Pro now tops out at $10,149.00. Five figures for a laptop. Apple’s short reign as the best value computer manufacturer is over.

Cook called it a ‘hundred-year flood’

Tim Cook told the Wall Street Journal last week that Apple couldn’t keep shielding customers from what’s happening to component costs. He called it “a hundred-year flood” and said that in more than 40 years, he had never seen anything like it in any corner of the business.

Apple’s own statement ran in the same direction: It says component costs have spiked farther and faster than anything it has dealt with before, and it put the blame squarely on “the rapid expansion of AI data centers.”

Here’s the thing about that. When Apple tells you it can’t absorb a cost, believe it. This is the company with the most ruthless supply chain on Planet Earth, the one that squeezes suppliers for sport and gets first dibs on every new chip node. If Apple is raising your prices, the problem isn’t Apple being greedy this quarter. It’s a tell. The squeeze is real enough that even the apex predator is passing it down the food chain.

Xbox and the part that should make you mad

Microsoft’s hike lands August 1: A hundred bucks more on the 512GB consoles, $150 more on the 1TB models, and the 2TB version gets killed off entirely. The flagship Series X with a disc drive jumps to $800. It was $650 not that long ago.

Now, the first two Xbox hikes, back in May and September 2025, were about tariffs. Microsoft danced around it the second time with “changes in the macroeconomic environment,” but everybody knew what that meant. This time, Microsoft came right out and said console storage and memory are up 2.5x since October and the company expects those costs to double again by the fall of 2027. The story shifted from politics to physics.

And consoles are the worst possible place for this to hit, because of something most people don’t know: Microsoft sells the box at a loss. The whole model is to eat that loss up front and make it back on games, accessories, and Game Pass subscriptions over the life of the machine. So a memory spike doesn’t shave a margin here. It blows a hole in one.

RELATED: People still nagging you to get an Apple laptop? This news might silence them once and for all.

SvetaZi/Getty Images

Which brings us to the detail that tells you everything you need to know about where we are: buy now, pay later.

Microsoft is rolling out interest-free installments so you can finance an Xbox. Amazon is offering up to 12-month payment plans. The companies are rolling out a layaway program for a video game console and calling it a feature.

Follow the money, and you land on Micron

Micron just reported that quarterly revenue more than quadrupled. Its gross margin went from 39% a year ago to 84.9%. That’s fatter than Nvidia or Meta.

Memory makers are shoveling production toward high-bandwidth memory, the stuff that goes into AI servers, because that’s where the desperate, bottomless money is right now. Every wafer that becomes an HBM stack for some hyperscaler’s GPU cluster is a wafer that doesn’t become the plain old DRAM in your laptop or the storage in your kid’s Xbox. Consumer hardware and AI infrastructure are now fighting over the same finite supply, and consumer hardware is losing.

You’re not imagining the squeeze. You’re funding it. A video game console is now a layaway purchase in the same week a memory chipmaker posts a margin north of 80%. The money didn’t vanish. It just changed hands on the way to your living room.

This is the bubble, and you’re the collateral

Earlier, I wrote that the AI bubble wouldn’t burst with a headline. It would burst with a memo. A canceled license, a quiet budget revision, a company sheepishly rationing the miracle tool it told you would change everything.

This is the flip side of that exact coin.

Even as companies start trimming their AI spending behind closed doors, the hardware build-out they already committed to is still out there vacuuming up components by the trainload. The data centers are under construction. The memory orders are placed. And the bill for all of it lands on you, at the Apple Store, at the GameStop checkout, whether or not the AI revolution ever actually pays off the way they promised.

That’s the part that ought to bother you. Nobody asked if you wanted to subsidize this. You just woke up Thursday and the MacBook your kid needs for the fall semester costs $200 more than it did Wednesday, the Xbox now ships with a financing plan, and somewhere a server farm is coming online that will consume more power than a small city.

It’s not over, and they told you so

Apple all but announced the next round. iPhone increases are coming, probably aimed at the Pro models where buyers don’t flinch at a hundred bucks. Bloomberg Intelligence figures a $100 bump covers 78% of the added cost. There’s also a foldable model expected to clear $2,000. John Ternus inherits the whole memory mess on September 1 when he takes over as CEO.

And it isn’t just Apple bracing you for more. At the ISC 2026 conference, Lenovo warned, half in jest but pointedly, that memory prices have entered a structural climb that won’t reverse to early-2025 levels even as Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron race to add capacity and that high DRAM and NAND prices will become the “new normal” in 2030 and beyond. An actual hardware maker is now telling its own customers to budget for pricier PCs, consoles, and phones straight through the end of the decade.

The through-line of everything I’ve written on this is one ugly sentence: The era of cheap, open, owner-controlled personal computing is closing, and AI is the thing closing it. Not with a ban. Not with a law. With a price tag, applied a little at a time, until one Thursday you look up and the floor has moved out from under you.

The hardware is all still for sale. You just can’t afford as much of it as you could last year. And next year you’ll afford less.

And if you were planning to do what I told you in May — buy your own hardware, run your own models, stop renting intelligence from a company that loses money on you — here’s the bad news. That hardware runs on the same memory everyone is now fighting over. The DRAM, the storage, the GPU you would buy to own your compute is exactly what is spiking. The escape hatch is closing.

Buy what you actually need now. It is not getting cheaper.

​Tech 

Philadelphia Police have issued arrest warrants for a pair of 16-year-old males in connection with the murder of a Penn State University senior less than a month ago.

The teens — Kaiseem Smith and Azzubair Outen-Fleming — are wanted for murder and related offenses, and police are urging those with information to contact their tip line at 215-686-TIPS (8477), WTXF-TV reported.

‘They don’t deserve to get to walk away from what they did.’

Billy Schmidt, 22, was fatally shot around 1:30 a.m. June 6 in the 1900 block of Durfor Street in South Philadelphia, WPVI-TV reported.

The shooting occurred just blocks from his home in what his family has said may have been an armed robbery attempt, WTXF added.

Neighbors provided police with surveillance video that showed the moments just before gunfire erupted, WTXF reported, adding that Schmidt in the video can be heard asking for his phone back.

More from WTXF:

Police say the suspects were seen in the area of 20th Street between Ritner and Jackson streets before the shooting, and last seen near 22nd and Porter streets. One suspect is described as approximately 5 feet 8 inches tall with braided hair, wearing a gray “KONFUSED” brand hoodie with skulls and crossbones and a black mask. The second suspect, believed to be the shooter, is between 5 feet 3 inches and 5 feet 5 inches tall and was wearing all black with a camouflage face mask.

After the shooting, police say the suspects got rid of their masks and hoodies and were seen in white T-shirts.

“We are heartbroken over the tragic death of William Schmidt, and we share our deepest condolences with his family and friends,” Penn State officials said in a statement, according to WTXF.

RELATED: Penn State senior shot dead just yards from his family’s South Philly home — after thugs apparently stole his phone

Schmidt had been studying digital journalism and media and was planning to graduate in December, WTXF added.

The City of Philadelphia is offering a $20,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction, WTXF reported.

“I hope they find them. I want [them] in jail. That’s what I want. They don’t deserve to get to walk away from what they did,” Matthew Segal of South Philadelphia told WPVI.

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​Philadelphia, Murder, Fatal shooting, Billy schmidt, Suspects named, Arrest warrants, Penn state university, Crime 

Those license plate cameras hanging over highways and intersections are no longer just reading plates.

New technology now allows some of them to detect the electronic devices traveling with you: your phone, smartwatch, Bluetooth headphones, infotainment system, AirTags, and even some pet trackers.

Collect enough data points, and it becomes possible to identify where someone works, where they live, and who they regularly travel with.

In other words, the goal is no longer simply to identify your car. It’s to identify you. And most drivers have no idea this capability already exists.

Easy reader

Most Americans are familiar with Automatic License Plate Readers. Police departments, toll authorities, and private companies have used them for years. They photograph license plates, log the time and location, and store that information in massive databases.

These systems were originally sold as tools to find stolen vehicles and assist in Amber Alerts. But the databases have grown enormously, storing billions of scans and increasingly being used for purposes far beyond their original mission. Civil liberties groups have been raising concerns about that expansion for years.

According to Flock Safety, one of the largest providers of these systems, its cameras capture multiple frames of video and use motion detection to identify vehicles. The company says it does not use facial recognition technology and that its cameras are not designed to identify individuals.

Yet that distinction is becoming increasingly difficult to maintain.

ALPR cameras use optical character recognition technology to convert license plate images into digital text and compare that information against databases of vehicles of interest. Increasingly, however, the cameras are doing much more than simply reading plates.

Electronic fingerprint

Now, here’s where things get serious.

A defense contractor called Leonardo has been promoting a system called SignalTrace. It turns license plate cameras into advanced vehicle-tracking technology by combining plate information with signals transmitted by nearby electronic devices.

Even if you never gave permission for anyone to access your phone, smartwatch, Bluetooth devices, or your vehicle’s Wi-Fi system.

SignalTrace is essentially an add-on sensor that can be attached to existing license plate cameras. Instead of simply reading a plate, it searches for wireless signals coming from nearby devices: Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, RFID, and other identifiers.

Drive past one of these systems and it may detect the electronic signatures coming from your phone, smartwatch, Bluetooth headphones, infotainment system, AirTags, tire-pressure sensors, or other connected devices.

The system then links those electronic identifiers to a license plate. Leonardo calls this your “electronic fingerprint.”

In plain English, the goal is to connect vehicles with the electronic devices and people associated with them.

May the Fourth be with you

According to documentation referenced by multiple publications, SignalTrace isn’t limited to roadside cameras. The technology can also be deployed in parking garages, transportation hubs, event venues, and other public locations where wireless devices are present.

That means these systems can continue gathering information even when a vehicle isn’t the primary focus.

This raises two obvious questions.

First: Who controls the information about where you go and what devices you carry with you?

And second: How much of this surveillance is consistent with Americans’ expectations of privacy?

Privacy advocates argue that technologies like this raise serious Fourth Amendment concerns because they allow governments to collect detailed information about people’s movements and associations without individualized suspicion or a warrant.

Modern problems

That debate is only becoming more important as vehicles themselves become increasingly connected.

Modern cars already collect enormous amounts of information, including location data, driving behavior, route histories, voice commands, vehicle diagnostics, and in some cases information gathered through interior cameras and driver-monitoring systems.

Critics worry that systems like SignalTrace add yet another layer to an already expanding data ecosystem.

Most drivers don’t realize that they don’t fully control much of the information their vehicles generate. Manufacturers often determine who can access that data, whether it can be shared, and how long it is retained.

Now, layer SignalTrace on top of all that.

Not only can manufacturers collect information from connected vehicles, but external surveillance systems may now be able to detect the devices you bring into the car and tie those identifiers directly to your license plate.

Over time, that creates a remarkably detailed picture of your movements and routines.

RELATED: The latest ‘solution’ to reckless driving could limit freedom for all of us

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Pattern of life

Privacy experts often refer to this as “pattern of life” surveillance. Collect enough data points, and it becomes possible to identify where someone works, where they live, who they regularly travel with, and even sensitive locations they frequently visit.

Leonardo says the technology captures identifiers and frequencies, not the contents of calls or messages. That may be technically true. But once detailed information exists inside a database, history shows that its use often expands over time.

So what does this mean for ordinary drivers?

It means the privacy expectations many Americans still have on public roads may be changing quickly.

It means the data ecosystem surrounding your vehicle is becoming larger and more interconnected.

And it means lawmakers need to have serious conversations about who can collect this information, how long it can be stored, and what can be done with it.

I’m not saying every police department will abuse these capabilities tomorrow. But once the technology exists and the infrastructure is already in place, the temptation to use it more broadly becomes very real.

We’ve seen that happen with other surveillance tools.

Protect yourself

So what can you do right now?

First, familiarize yourself with your vehicle’s privacy and data settings. Many cars allow you to disable certain forms of data sharing or location tracking.Second, be mindful of Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. If you’re not using them, consider turning them off. These are precisely the types of signals systems like SignalTrace are designed to detect.Third, if you use AirTags, fitness trackers, or pet trackers, understand that those devices can also become part of your electronic footprint.Fourth, when you sell or trade your vehicle, factory-reset the infotainment system and remove all paired devices. Many people leave enormous amounts of personal information behind without realizing it.Finally, support serious data-privacy legislation and efforts to give consumers greater control over the information their vehicles generate.

Because technologies like this rarely arrive with a major announcement.

They appear quietly in police budgets, vendor contracts, and infrastructure projects.

And by the time most people notice, the system is already in place.

Bottom line: Your car is supposed to work for you, not the other way around. When surveillance systems start linking your license plate to the devices you carry every day, it’s worth paying attention — and asking some hard questions before these technologies become the new normal.

I’ll keep watching this space and bringing you updates as more departments adopt or test these systems. And I’ll let you know about the wins too.

If you’re wondering, “Where are all these cameras?” you will be shocked. Check out websites like deflock.org, an open-source project mapping license plate readers. Or look on eyesonflock.com, an aggregating Flock Safety Transparency Portal data, and haveibeenflocked.com, where you can enter your plate number to find out more.

​Airtags and trackers, Connected vehicles, Data control, Fourth amendment, License plate cameras, Privacy concerns, Surveillance systems, Electronic fingerprint, Tech, Flock cameras, Leonardo, Signaltrace, Automotive