Is this just another cycle, or is it the END? Martin Armstrong of Armstrong Economics published an article this week about the so-called Socrates program and how [more…]
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Cute, useful, or lethal, robot dogs are here to stay
People have been building animal-shaped machines for centuries, winding clockwork birds and gilded lions for the amusement of courts. The robot dog belongs to that genealogy more than its manufacturers tend to acknowledge. The desire to produce an artifact that appears, even in some limited sense, to move of its own will is old.
What has changed is the capacity. Servo-motors, reinforcement learning, whole-body control, lidar, thermal cameras, and four-dimensional sensing have replaced the balance spring and the escapement wheel. The modern robot dog’s gait is careful and deliberate, the way a living dog picks across a tile floor it does not trust. The machine lifts each foot with a kind of exaggerated prudence, sets it down, adjusts, proceeds.
The tension is political as well as commercial.
The robot dog is a sophisticated tool. In 2026, the most commercially mature robot dogs are inspection platforms. Boston Dynamics’ Spot walks choreographed routes through factories and substations, reading gauges, capturing thermal data, listening for acoustic anomalies. ANYbotics’ ANYmal does the same on offshore oil platforms in the North Sea, navigating multiple floors and docking itself to recharge when the battery runs low. Unitree’s B2 can carry more than 40 kilograms at a continuous walk and sustain five hours of operation. These machines keep humans out of dangerous spaces and convert the disorder of a physical facility into structured, repeatable, auditable information. The robot dog, at its most mature, is a mobile node in a maintenance stack.
Yet the form will not stay neutral. A wheeled robot carrying the same sensors through the same substation would register as equipment. Put those sensors on four legs, give the machine a head that swivels, let it pick its way over a cable tray the way a terrier negotiates a creek bed, and the machine becomes a presence. People talk to it, name it, and step aside for it in hallways because the shape suggests a creature for whom stepping aside would be courteous. Zoomorphism is an interface strategy, a way of converting surveillance and automation into something socially legible, even likeable.
Whose best friend?
This trick works in both directions. In 1999, Sony released AIBO, a small plastic quadruped sold as entertainment, personality, and a new kind of domestic presence. AIBO could learn, express simulated emotions, and develop what Sony’s marketing called a distinct character through interaction with its owner. Sony revived the line in 2018, still framing its robot dog as something that inspires an urge to pick it up and hold it. The promised effect was a feeling.
Boston Dynamics’ Spot occupies the opposite end of the spectrum with an almost polemical clarity. Its lease terms prohibit unstructured use in the home. It is an industrial product, full stop. Both machines are called robot dogs. One sells synthetic companionship. The other sells synthetic labor. The distance between them is the distance between a stuffed animal and a forklift, except that both have four legs, a head, and the silhouette of something you might once have loved.
The tension is political as well as commercial. When the NYPD deployed its Digidog unit, the public reaction was fast and hostile. The machine was described as creepy. Critics raised the historical associations of police dogs with intimidation. The objection was never really about the technology, but instead what the technology suggested when it walked through certain neighborhoods with a badge on it. Boston Dynamics has since published ethical guidelines, pledging not to weaponize its robots and requiring law enforcement customers to adopt use policies addressing privacy and civil rights.
RELATED: Robot teacher program tied to sex doll company
Artur Widak/NurPhoto/Getty Images
Ghost Robotics, which sells a competing quadruped called Vision 60, makes no such restrictions. Its marketing spans defense, homeland security, law enforcement, and public safety with a modularity that is, by design, indifferent to the distinction between protecting and threatening. The robot dog has become a site of contestation over how much force, sensing, and autonomy the public wants walking through public space.
An uninvited guest
A robot dog is a computer with legs, and computers are vulnerable. A command-injection flaw catalogued in NIST’s National Vulnerability Database affected several Unitree quadrupeds, including models sold to consumers and industry, with the potential for an attacker to execute root commands through Wi-Fi configuration over Bluetooth. When the machine in question can walk, see, and listen, a cybersecurity vulnerability becomes a physical-access problem, a pair of eyes you did not invite into the building.
Robot dogs in 2026 are an argument in the shape of an animal. They argue that legs are better than wheels on rough terrain, that autonomy reduces risk, that data captured continuously is worth more than data captured occasionally, that the familiar silhouette of a dog can make a sensor suite feel like a colleague rather than an intrusion. Some of these arguments are sound. Some are self-serving. All of them depend on the remarkable fact that a machine borrowing the contours of an animal that humans domesticated 15,000 years ago can still make us feel something. The robot dog does not need to achieve consciousness or love you. It only needs to walk into a room with a gait you almost recognize, and you will do the rest.
Robot dogs, Tech
‘He was lying’: RFK Jr. blasts Dana Bash for pushing Fauci’s lies, defending the jab
In her interview on Sunday with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., CNN talking head Dana Bash launched a defense of the COVID-19 vaccine and CNN host Jake Tapper’s infamous buddy Anthony Fauci, who is now the subject of an investigation in Florida.
Bash’s efforts to downplay both Fauci’s involvement in ruinous decisions made during the pandemic and her network’s fearmongering did not go over well as Kennedy — neither a stranger to gaslighting from the legacy media nor a shrinking violet — hit back, accusing the CNN host of pushing “nonsense.”
‘The biggest killer of kids in this country today came from these kind of experiments.’
At the outset of the interview, Bash challenged Kennedy’s long-standing criticism of Fauci, downplaying the influence that Fauci had with regard to America’s devastating lockdowns and suggesting that President Donald Trump deserves “some of the blame.”
Kennedy immediately rejected Bash’s defense of Fauci, underscoring that governors had executed lockdowns around the country “because Anthony Fauci was telling them from the top, ‘You need to lock down.'”
Fauci boasted ad nauseam in his diary about his pandemic-era influence, noting in one instance that California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) decided to shut down schools, bars, and restaurants on the basis of his fear-peddling.
Unable to mount a successful defense of Fauci and proving unable to elicit a condemnation of the president from Kennedy, Bash rushed to step on another rake.
RELATED: Two Americas, under Fauci, with liberty and justice for none
Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call Inc./Getty Images
Citing unnamed scientists, the CNN talking head suggested that radical gain-of-function experimentation — which Fauci helped fund with taxpayer money at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, the likely origin of the COVID-19 pandemic — is “necessary to prepare for the next pandemic, to get ahead of it, to figure out what these viruses can do,” albeit now with “better guardrails.”
Once again, Kennedy gave Bash a reality check, emphasizing that historic efforts to put guardrails around gain-of-function experimentation haven’t worked.
“And clearly, the COVID-19 pandemic and many other global pandemics that we have, have come from gain-of-function research,” continued Kennedy. “The RSV epidemic that we have that is the biggest killer of kids in this country today came from these kind of experiments. The Lyme disease almost certainly came from this kind of research. So — and the scientists who you say are experts are making the argument that this is necessary for pandemic response cannot point to one instance in history where research that came out of this kind of experimentation has actually provided us something beneficial.”
‘He was lying, and you were punishing people for not trusting the experts.’
Bash, once again finding herself on the back foot, pressed Kennedy on how America might alternatively prepare for the next pandemic.
Casting indirect shade on Fauci, Kennedy suggested that COVID made clear what should be done in the future and what should never be done again.
In addition to listening to doctors on the ground rather than censoring them, Kennedy said it’s essential when faced with another pandemic that the Constitution is strenuously protected.
Not getting the responses she apparently wanted, Bash tried changing the topic — but this time Kennedy hit the brakes, blasting the legacy media for “malpractice” during the pandemic and identifying Bash individually as “part of the problem.”
RELATED: Damning study of over a million kids finds myocarditis only in the vaccinated
“Your job is a fierce skepticism toward authority,” said Kennedy. “And you weren’t doing that. You were beating up on people who were dissenting.”
Bash, feathers clearly ruffled, launched into her latest defense of the experimental COVID-19 jabs that were nowhere close to being as safe or effective as advertised and were responsible for the deaths of numerous children by the Food and Drug Administration’s own admission.
After Bash claimed that “the COVID vaccine prevented deaths” and alluded to data suggesting as much, Kennedy asked the host, “You think the COVID vaccine protected children?”
“Can you show me one study that shows that children were protected by the COVID vaccine?” Kennedy said between interruptions from the defensive host. “That the vaccine did more good than harm to children? Can you show me one study that shows that?”
“I can tell you that when it comes to the vaccine, there have been studies that show that because of vaccine disinformation, there could have been 100,000 to 200,000 lives in the U.S. saved,” said Bash. “But because people didn’t get the vaccine, that’s why.”
“You are saying nonsense,” responded Kennedy.
The secretary wouldn’t let the talking head off the hook, saying, “You say you have seen studies. Cite me the study.”
Bash then tried changing the subject again, this time to talk about measles, but Kennedy claimed that the job of CNN during the pandemic was to scare people — “to put the chyrons up about ‘how many people are dying’ to get people to comply.”
Later in the interview — after Bash attempted to blame Kennedy for the recent measles outbreaks only to unwittingly spotlight another consequence of Fauci’s ruinous pandemic-era recommendations — the HHS secretary accused the host of repeating narratives “like a parrot.”
“All you know how to do is repeat things that people told you and say, ‘Trust the experts,'” said Kennedy.
“That’s what you did during COVID. Now we know that Anthony Fauci, who was the ‘expert,’ was lying about everything — about masks, about the social distancing, about natural immunity, about the transmission from the vaccine, about the source of COVID,” continued Kennedy. “He was lying, and you were punishing people for not trusting the experts. And now you’re rolling out the experts again.”
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Health and human services, Robert f kennedy jr, Dana bash, Cnn, Covid-19, Vaccine, Anthony fauci, Politics
Pressure mounts against WNBA to adopt ‘biological women’-only policy: ‘Women’s sports are for women’
Women seem to have had enough of battling over whether their sports can include athletes who were born male.
Amid the WNBA’s controversy stemming from star player Sophie Cunningham, who simply said girls “shouldn’t have to go against biological men” in sports, there have been growing calls for the league to cement through policy that the WNBA is for women only.
‘The WNBA needs to look in the mirror and do some soul-searching about what it stands for.’
According to the WNBA’s 2026 collective-bargaining agreement with its players’ association, Article XIII, Section 1 declares that “only players who are women are eligible to play in the WNBA.”
While the definition of what a woman is should go without saying — the WNBA does not provide one — several prominent role-players in the league have suggested that biological reality is not the basis for their opinion on this matter.
On Sunday, Minnesota Lynx head coach Cheryl Reeve wore a T-shirt that read, “Trans kids belong” and featured a transgender-themed rainbow.
That same night, Golden State Valkyries coach Natalie Nakese compared the issue to being “criticized for my height, for my ethnicity.”
She added that sports is about “belonging” and “inclusivity.”
When asked if men should be able to play in the WNBA, Indiana Fever head coach Stephanie White said last week that she is not “educated enough from a scientific standpoint” to make such a determination.
She added, “I don’t ever believe that exclusion is an answer.”
These vague sentiments have seemingly pushed prominent women’s activists to a boiling point, with many calling for the WNBA to adopt a policy that specifically states only biological women can play in the league.
“The WNBA needs to look in the mirror and do some soul-searching about what it stands for — fairness in women’s sports or not?” said Penny Nance, CEO and president of Concerned Women for America.
The CEO said in a press release that the WNBA has “poisoned” itself with activism for years and that it’s time for the league to defend young women, not “biological males stealing their opportunities.”
RELATED: WNBA coach counter-protests Sophie Cunningham with ‘trans kids’ shirt — Caitlin Clark responds
David Berding/Getty Images
Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-N.Y.) has advocated for prohibiting women’s sports franchises from receiving tax benefits if they do not prohibit biological men from their teams.
Tenney said in June that franchises may claim tax advantages tied to acquisitions, but if she has her way, they would not receive such luxuries if they “undermine” women.
“Taxpayers should not be subsidizing the erosion of women’s sports. … Women’s sports are for women,” Tenney declared.
Jennifer Sey, founder of pro-women apparel company XX-XY, told Blaze News that there is a broader cultural shift currently on display, but there is still “justice” to be served.
Sey pointed to “the growing number of people who will no longer pretend biology is mutable,” while adding that protecting young girls from adults “who treat basic reality as a moral offense” should not be controversial.
RELATED: WNBA star Sophie Cunningham comes out against men in women’s sports: ‘I want to protect young girls’
Amanda Loman/Getty Images
Many women’s sports leagues have already made “female at birth” policies or outright banned men from competing in their events.
The LPGA announced its policy in early December 2024, while British tennis barred men from women’s competitive tournaments just days later.
About a month after that, English women’s field hockey banned trans-identifying males from the sport.
This all came before President Trump’s executive order titled “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports” dropped in February 2025. Almost immediately after the order was issued, the NCAA updated its transgender student-athlete participation policy to keep men out of the women’s category.
The WNBA did not respond to a request from Blaze News regarding the league’s definition of a woman.
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Wnba, Sophie cunningham, Women’s rights, Transgenderism, Sports
Google Earth ‘rolling back’ image generation feature — as users instantly faked global mayhem
Google wants users to manifest a community garden, not a bombed-out hospital in Gaza.
The latter became all too possible as Google Earth’s naive new update was accidentally primed for manipulation.
‘We take misinformation seriously.’
On Thursday, Google announced the ability to “transform any place” on the map using Google Earth and generative AI called Nano Banana 2.
“Have you ever looked at an empty lot in your neighborhood and imagined a community garden, or wondered what your city looked like a century ago?” Google asked in a blog post.
The tech giant revealed that any of the satellite, aerial, or 3D imagery available on Google Earth can now be manipulated with AI to create custom images.
“Type whatever you want to see,” the blog reads.
One researcher, Henk van Ess, decided to take that seriously and see what the app was willing to do.
“Nothing was refused, nothing was softened, and nothing suggested I try a different prompt,” van Ess wrote in an article titled “How to plant a nuclear plant in Iran.”
“Refugees at a border, a nuclear plant in Iran, a fatal crash on an Amsterdam street, a hospital with a bomb crater in Gaza,” nothing was off limits to the user. Van Ess even showed a video of him generating an image where “refugees swarm the streets” in Mexico.
Soon, users had portrayed a plane hitting Freedom Tower, a crater caving in Iceland, and a collapsed Eiffel Tower, among other catastrophes.
RELATED: Don’t be fooled: This Apple privacy feature won’t protect your identity
Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu/Getty Images
Google responded to the researcher, saying, “We take misinformation seriously — every image created with Nano Banana in Google Earth includes the SynthID digital watermark, so if someone is unsure about an image, they can ask the Gemini app or use Lens in Search to see if the image was Al-generated.”
Van Ess ran one of the videos he created through Hive, AI detection software not run by Google. It came back with a 1% chance of being an AI-generated video and a 0% chance of being a deepfake.
The writer said this wasn’t necessarily Hive’s fault, given that it was scanning a real video that he had taken, but therein lies the issue with such content. It is very unlikely that an AI-generated video would be scanned right from its source and therefore be easily detectable.
RELATED: Apple and Google told to take down these illegal — and exploitative — apps
Kim White/Bloomberg/Getty Images
Google also provided its AI prohibited-use policy, which lists types of usage that would constitute crimes surrounding explicit content, abuse, or violation of intellectual property rights.
On its face, van Ess’ content did not seem to violate Google’s terms, but the company eventually acquiesced. On Friday, Google updated its blog to say that it was “rolling back” the feature while it works on “implementing stronger guardrails.”
Google directly stated that it saw people sharing screenshots of imagery “that appear to violate our policies,” while assuring readers that generated images didn’t appear in the “main Google Earth experience” and were also watermarked as being AI-generated.
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Artificial intelligence, Google earth, Misinformation, Deepfake
Mamdani rejects voter ID, but his grocery stores may ask shoppers for proof
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and his fellow Democratic Socialists of America have long opposed voter ID requirements, but his administration may have a surprise waiting for shoppers at his government-run grocery stores.
During a press conference last week, Mamdani announced that the city’s five government-run grocery stores would offer “a collection of essential staples” at prices “30% cheaper” than typical retail rates.
‘We are looking to make sure that we target New Yorkers, whether it be at sort of a library card-esque thing …’
When a reporter pressed Mamdani on how the city would stop opportunists from buying up the taxpayer-subsidized groceries in bulk and flipping them for a profit, a top administration official suggested requiring shoppers to prove they are “everyday New Yorkers.”
“Our RFP makes very clear that this is a program for New Yorkers to be able to put food on the table, not a program for people to be able to make a quick buck through reselling,” Mamdani responded before turning the question over to New York City Economic Development Corporation Interim President and CEO Jeanny Pak.
“We are looking to make sure that we target New Yorkers, whether it be at sort of a library card-esque thing, and also we manage who’s buying and that it’s focused on everyday New Yorkers,” Pak said.
“So we are mindful of that, and so we’re going to make sure that we have all the things in place to make — ensure that that does not happen.”
RELATED: Socialist Mamdani says city-run grocery stores will undercut supermarkets by 30%
Pak did not specify how shoppers would verify their eligibility, though her reference to a “library card-esque” system suggested some form of identification or residency verification may be required to access the discounted groceries.
Spencer Pratt, the former candidate for Los Angeles mayor, slammed Mamdani on X over his contradictory positions.
“Racist Commie Mamdani is going to make you show ID in his markets. You want your government-subsidized arugula? Show your papers! Ask for ID to vote? BIGOT!!!” Pratt wrote.
“Are you starting to realize what disingenuous lying buffoons these commies are?”
This is not the first time Mamdani has faced criticism over a perceived double standard on identification requirements.
Earlier this year, New York City’s emergency snow-shoveling program required paid shovelers to provide “two original forms of ID” and a Social Security number to register — a move that drew intense backlash from critics.
“Let’s get this straight: in Zohran Mamdani’s socialist utopia, it takes 2 forms of ID to SHOVEL SNOW, but no ID to vote. Make it make sense,” the House Republicans wrote on X at the time.
The first of five publicly owned grocery stores is anticipated to open in the Bronx by the end of 2027, with the remaining four storefronts slated to be operational by the end of Mamdani’s four-year term, including one in East Harlem.
Construction of the Harlem location alone is expected to carry a $30 million price tag.
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Democratic socialists, Mayor zohran mamdani, New york city, New yorkers, Spencer pratt, Voter id, Politics
Glenn Beck: Trump’s ‘Patriot Passport’ sparks leftist outrage — but they’re missing the point
Leave it to Donald Trump to turn a passport into a national debate.
To commemorate America’s 250th birthday, the Trump administration unveiled a special-edition “Patriot Passport” featuring historical artwork, tributes to the nation’s founding, and a portrait of the president.
While the left has immediately seized on the fact that Trump appears inside the passport, Blaze Media co-founder Glenn Beck doesn’t see it as controversial — and counts himself “fortunate” as he was one of the first to receive the new passport.
“I guess it’s controversial because it’s for the 250th anniversary and it has Donald Trump on the very front, not the front front, but on the first page. And I don’t find that controversial. He’s the president of the United States on the 250th anniversary,” Glenn says.
State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott tells Glenn that the passports will only be made this year and simply follows a tradition of commemorative passports.
“There was one for the 200th anniversary as well,” he says.
“This initially started as a passport that was only going to be available in person at the Washington, D.C., passport office. But what we saw through phone calls, emails, we had a booth at the state fair for example, with tens of thousands of Americans stopping by,” he explains.
“There was a huge amount of demand of people wanting to get this passport. So that’s why based off the demand that we’ve seen, based off the fact that people were saying, ‘We’ll fly back to Washington, D.C., to get this passport if we can get an appointment,’ we’ve decided to expand this opportunity across the country,” he adds.
Because of this, the Trump administration is reportedly making an additional 250,000 passports.
And despite the critiques, the passport doesn’t just feature Trump’s mug. It also tells stories of American history.
“There are different images on each one of the pages that mark certain events in history. Of course, the founding … our founders signing our founding documents,” Pigott tells Glenn.
“It’s also part of a broader effort here to mark the 250,” he says, explaining that one of the things the State Department is attempting to accomplish is create a “new series” where Americans are taken through “the history of diplomacy.”
“I think one of the untold stories that so many Americans aren’t told is all of the great things that our country has accomplished through diplomacy and other means,” he continues.
“And what we’re doing through this passport, telling the story, but also through other initiatives worldwide actually, is tell the story of American diplomacy in a way that is has not been told,” he adds.
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Donald trump, Glenn beck, State department, Washington dc, Patriot passport, Blazetv show, America 250
Suspect in deadly shooting at Idaho In-N-Out died of self-inflicted gunshot wound; 2 ‘heroic’ bystanders fired at him: Police
The suspect in a deadly shooting at an Idaho In-N-Out Burger over the weekend died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound — and two “heroic” bystanders fired at the suspect and diverted him from the scene, police said, according to the Associated Press.
Investigators said the gunman — identified as 24-year-old Chad Williams — acted alone during Saturday afternoon’s shooting at the Twin Falls fast-food restaurant, Police Chief Matthew Hicks said at a news conference, the AP reported.
‘People were running out crying and screaming. It was very scary.’
Hicks also said an off-duty state trooper and an armed citizen — whose identities weren’t immediately disclosed — both fired back and diverted the gunman from the In-N-Out, the outlet added.
“We believe their actions helped drive the suspect away from the scene, preventing further casualties,” the chief said, according to the AP. “We want to take a moment and commend the actions of the off-duty officer and the citizen, and their heroic action to stop this incident.”
Three victims died and seven others were injured in the shooting, the outlet noted, adding that authorities said Sunday two of the injured were treated at a hospital and released, three were listed as stable, and two were in critical condition.
Hicks said detectives are working to determine Williams’ motives and that the suspect’s family was cooperating fully with law enforcement, the AP reported. Hicks also warned of misinformation spreading online identifying a different male as the shooter, noting that the individual had “no involvement in this incident whatsoever,” the outlet reported.
Police who responded to the shooting found the body of the suspected gunman in an area near the restaurant, Twin Falls spokesperson Josh Palmer said, according to the AP.
Palmer added to the outlet that investigators were interviewing witnesses. The In-N-Out location — which had opened about a week earlier on July 24 as part of the California-based company’s recent expansion to Idaho — is in a busy shopping plaza, and hundreds of people were in the area when the shooting occurred around 2 p.m., the AP said.
Lane Koehn, 34, told the outlet he was at a stoplight near the In-N-Out when he saw a person with an AR-style rifle emerge from the drive-thru while a man with a pistol started firing at the shooter.
Koehn then saw someone in an In-N-Out uniform drag a person also wearing a uniform — who was bleeding from a gunshot wound to her chest — across the parking lot, the AP reported. The employee, Koehn, and the man with the pistol stayed until paramedics arrived for her, the outlet added.
“She was pretty bad off, but I don’t know,” Koehn told the AP. “I hope she made it.”
He said the shooter fired at least three or four rounds, but it was not clear if anyone in particular was targeted, the outlet said.
In-N-Out owner Lynsi Snyder said one of those killed was an employee, the AP reported.
“My heart is broken, my chest is heavy, my eyes burn from the tears I’ve shed. We lost one of our beautiful associates tonight,” Snyder said in a statement released early Sunday on social media, the outlet added. “In-N-Out will be mourning with the families and praying for them as they tread through a very painful season.”
Snyder did not identify the worker in question, the AP said. Officials were still trying to notify relatives of victims and therefore were not yet releasing the victims’ names, ages or other details about them, Palmer said, according to the outlet.
More from the AP:
Video taken by a driver from across the street captured a shooter, who appeared to be dressed in black, walking up to a white car carrying a long rifle, opening the driver-side door and popping the trunk. The person then walked to the trunk and reached inside. At that point the driver who shot the video left quickly, fearing that the man might be getting more weapons.
Twin Falls resident Haley Dodaro, 43, and her mother went to In-N-Out for lunch Saturday afternoon. While waiting in the drive-thru line, they saw people running across the road and workers bolting out of the restaurant. At first, Dodaro thought there might have been a fire, but then a man directing traffic in a reflective vest said there was a shooter.
“So that’s when we knew there was a shooting. People were running out crying and screaming,” Dodaro said in a text message to the outlet, the AP said. “It was very scary.”
Nayeli Rodriguez, 40, of Burley, was inside waiting for food with her daughters when she heard shots from the kitchen, the outlet noted, adding that an employee said it was a shooting and told people to get down.
Rodriguez told the AP an older man tried to protect her and her daughters, and they were among the last to run outside.
“We were trying to get as far as we could and some angels let us in their car,” Rodriguez added to the outlet, also via text message. “I left my car there in the parking lot.”
Twin Falls is in southern Idaho and about two hours southeast of Boise.
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Idaho, In-n-out burger, Fatal shooting, Bystanders, 2nd amendment, Crime
ASU unveils trendy new major — it’s already attracting major hate
Becoming a social media star may only cost in the neighborhood of $15,000 a year, according to Arizona State University.
With majorities of Gen Z and Gen Alpha hoping to make their way in the world as influencers or content creators, that might sound like a steal.
But the cultural blowback is immediate, with reportage in the Atlantic calling the ubiquitous figures “openly reviled.”
ASU now offers a bachelor of arts in content creation, under its journalism program.
‘It is absolutely incredibly important to learn how to use social media and brand yourself.’
The BA promises to teach students how to become an influencer and mass market themselves, all while earning a degree.
The new program was approved this year and says it will help students develop into “versatile storytellers” who operate “entrepreneurially as influencers as content creators.”
The program seemingly prepares students for a life of freelance work/unemployment with courses like “developing media content,” “information gathering,” and “on-camera presence,” with the promise of garnering a significant online following.
Jessica Pucci, senior associate dean at ASU’s Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication, said that any content creator would benefit from the program.
“They will have demonstrable audience growth. They will have a platform of their choice with real content and real followers and a real audience behind them,” Pucci told outlet Arizona’s Family.
Mike Windle/Getty Images
The outlet spoke to other women who praised the program, including ASU student Caroline Rowland, who described the major as an essential part of branding.
“It is absolutely incredibly important to learn how to use social media and brand yourself,” Rowland said.
Anna Elizabeth, who was characterized as an Arizona-based influencer and medical assistant, said the program would certainly have helped her when she started out.
“I feel like if I had that opportunity in this time that I started doing content, I feel like it would have benefited me a whole lot.”
With Elizabeth as an example of a person who isn’t a full-time influencer, ASU listed other possible careers associated with the degree, such as communications specialist, marketing associate, marketing manager, and public relations manager. All of these are typical outcomes of marketing, public relations, and communications degrees.
In its mission statement, Content Creation lists “global perspectives” and “personal branding” as priorities alongside the ability to create content, preparing students for “brand content projects, media internships, and content creation trips abroad.”
Joe Raedle/Getty Images
Courses that focus on content creation skills include topics like “how to become an influencer,” podcasting, and “interpersonal influence.”
According to ASU’s admissions site, the degree can be earned for as little as $14,814 per year, the average tuition rate for in-state residents. For out-of-state students, that cost could rise to approximately $39,000 per year.
Other schools offer similar programs, like Graceland University’s digital content creation major, as reported by the College Fix.
Another example is Grand Canyon University, a private Christian school in Arizona that offers a bachelor’s in social media.
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College, University, Social media, Content creators, Lifestyle
Michigan may help GOP keep control of Senate, no matter who prevails on Democratic side
The presumptive Republican nominee for U.S. Senate in Michigan is sitting pretty just hours away from the primary.
According to two polls conducted in late July, Republican primary front-runner Mike Rogers has a lead over the two main candidates vying for the Democratic nomination, Haley Stevens and Abdul El-Sayed.
El-Sayed campaigned with US-hating Islamist Hasan Piker, who once said, ‘America deserved 9/11.’
An EPIC-MRA poll conducted July 28 and 29 shows Rogers with a three-point lead over Stevens and in a tie with El-Sayed. A separate EPIC-MRA/MIRS poll from July 24 to 31 shows Rogers with a three-point lead over El-Sayed but two points below Stevens.
The Michigan primary election is Tuesday, and El-Sayed is the current favorite to win the Democratic nomination. The RealClearPolling average shows El-Sayed with a double-digit lead over Stevens, even though Stevens has been endorsed by Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.
Once again, that polling average may spell good news for Rogers since El-Sayed’s campaign has been shrouded in controversy ever since he announced his Senate candidacy.
Voters in Michigan, which went for President Donald Trump in 2016 and 2024, may not like the fact that El-Sayed:
has been endorsed by far-left radicals like Reps. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).campaigned with U.S.-hater Hasan Piker, who once said, “America deserved 9/11, dude. F**k it, I’m sayin’ it.”bills himself as a medical “doctor” even though he reportedly has never treated a patient, isn’t licensed in Michigan, and has never passed any board exams.employed a campaign staffer earlier this year who is currently under federal indictment in connection with anti-Semitic attacks.
Rogers believes the showdown in November will all come down to “crazy vs. common sense.”
“And it’s exactly why I’ll beat whichever of my radical opponents prevails on Tuesday,” Rogers tweeted Sunday.
RELATED: 3 Senate races that could flip the balance of power: ‘This is a wake-up call’
Sarah Rice/Getty Images
In January 2025, Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.) announced unexpectedly that he would not seek a third term. Should Rogers prevail in the election, Republicans would gain another seat, helping fortify their majority. Democrats already need to flip four seats to regain control.
Still, Rogers should not plan to coast his way into November. Rogers narrowly lost the 2024 Senate race to Elissa Slotkin, and Michigan has not elected a Republican U.S. senator since 1994.
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Michigan, Us senate, Mike rogers, Republican party, Politics
Warning: This college course may be bad for your brain
Every August, families spend tens of thousands of dollars on college tuition, housing, meal plans, and textbooks. They compare degree requirements, graduation rates, and campus amenities. Yet many never ask the most basic consumer question: What is actually inside the classes they are buying?
Colleges already label the price. It’s time to label the product.
Americans would not buy food without reading the ingredients or take medicine without knowing something about the possible side effects. College courses, however, are often sold by title and catalog description alone. Students register for “Introduction to History,” “Ethics,” or even a science requirement with little idea of the intellectual assumptions the professor will bring into the lecture hall.
That information can be consequential. A course may pursue knowledge through evidence and argument. It may also subordinate the subject to diversity, equity, and inclusion programs, critical theory, gender ideology, Marxist assumptions, or some other political project.
Ideological activism is not confined to philosophy, literature, or religious studies. It increasingly appears across the curriculum, including in professional programs and “hard” scientific fields.
Parents and students have every right to know whether a professor intends to teach the advertised subject, examine competing arguments, and permit disagreement — or use the classroom to promote a political worldview.
The concern is especially urgent at public universities. Faculty members at state institutions are government employees paid by taxpayers. In Arizona, for example, they undertake obligations to uphold the United States and state constitutions. Taxpayers are therefore entitled to ask whether professors are educating students for citizenship in a constitutional republic or teaching theories fundamentally hostile to it.
That’s why I developed what I call the “Intellectual Nutrition Label.”
The idea is simple. A nutrition label does not order shoppers to buy or reject a product. It tells them what the product contains so they can decide for themselves. The Intellectual Nutrition Label would do the same for college professors and courses.
Using public information — university biographies, curricula vitae, books, articles, interviews, lectures, and course materials — each label would summarize the intellectual content students are likely to encounter. Families should not need graduate training or weeks of research to understand what a professor openly teaches.
RELATED: Trump’s Justice Department is shining a light on woke universities — finally
Angela Lewis/Bloomberg/Getty Images
A useful label might ask:
Does the professor encourage the pursuit of knowledge or deny that objective truth exists?Does the course cultivate virtue and self-command or treat desire as its own justification?Does it direct students toward goodness, beauty, and wisdom or toward resentment, envy, and contempt?Does the professor teach students how to examine arguments or tell them which political conclusions a decent person must reach?
A label could also rate qualities such as intellectual honesty, knowledge, virtue, beauty, meaningfulness, and piety. A professor might rank highly for candor and scholarship while receiving a low rating for piety because he publicly rejects belief in God. The point would not be to uncover private opinions or publish anonymous accusations. The ratings would summarize what professors already say about themselves and their work.
Owen Anderson
That distinction is essential. An Intellectual Nutrition Label should not become a blacklist, an invitation to harassment, or a substitute for reading a professor’s work. It must rely on verifiable public evidence, represent a professor’s position fairly, and provide enough sourcing for readers to check the judgment for themselves.
The concept has predecessors. David Horowitz’s 2006 book, “The Professors: The 101 Most Dangerous Academics in America,” documented ideological activism in higher education. The David Horowitz Freedom Center continues to track left-wing activists and organizations. Turning Point USA’s Professor Watchlist sought to alert students to professors who brought political activism into the classroom and briefly maintained a list of recommended faculty.
The Intellectual Nutrition Label would have a narrower purpose: consumer disclosure. It would tell students and parents what intellectual ingredients a professor publicly advertises, in a format ordinary people can understand before registration day.
If a professor teaches that the United States is inherently oppressive, advocates Marxist critical theory, rejects biological sex as fixed, or treats Christianity principally as an instrument of domination, those positions should be documented in the professor’s own publications, biography, lectures, or course materials. An accurate summary of publicly stated beliefs is not censorship.
RELATED: Universities won’t give back the land — but they will bury history
ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images
The more serious objection may be that parents and taxpayers were never expected to notice. Academic language often conceals radical assumptions behind specialized vocabulary. Professors can signal their commitments to colleagues while students discover the course’s real content only after enrollment.
That arrangement is losing its protection. Parents increasingly ask what their children are learning. Taxpayers increasingly ask whether public universities are educating students or recruiting them into political movements. Those are legitimate questions, especially when a single semester can cost more than many families earn in months.
Throughout the coming semester, I will publish Intellectual Nutrition Labels evaluating professors from publicly available evidence. The labels will not decide which courses students may take. They will help families make that decision with their eyes open.
Readers can follow the project on my Substack and at intellectualnutritionlabel.com (coming soon).
When families spend tens of thousands of dollars on a college education, they deserve to know who is teaching, what that professor believes, and which intellectual ingredients will be placed before their children. Colleges already label the price. It’s time to label the product.
American universities, Christianity, College classes, Higher education, Political activism, Professors, Public universities, Tuition, Woke, Opinion & analysis, Intellectual nutrition label, Diversity equity inclusion, Activism
WNBA coach counter-protests Sophie Cunningham with ‘trans kids’ shirt — Caitlin Clark responds
WNBA coach Cheryl Reeve has made her opinion on men participating in women’s sports fairly obvious, but it’s a fringe one.
In response to Indiana Fever player Sophie Cunningham stating girls should not have to compete with or share the same locker room as boys, the Minnesota Lynx head coach performed a silent protest that will likely have parents scratching their heads.
‘I think both of us understand that we have platforms.’
During the Fever vs. Lynx game on Sunday, Reeve sported a T-shirt that read “Trans kids belong” and featured a transgender-themed rainbow. While the meaning behind the shirt can be inferred, fans wondered what Reeve and Cunningham were talking about when they were spotted having a conversation before the game.
At the postgame press conference, Reeve was asked by a reporter if she were willing to reveal what was said. After initially saying “absolutely not” to the idea, Reeve went on to say that both parties were focused on educating.
“I think both of us understand that we have platforms, and we both talked about wanting to, more than anything, educate,” the coach explained.
Reeve added, “There are some things that we have in common and maybe some things you differ on just like any issues, and I think it’s how you handle things, and it was nice to be in person [to have the conversation] for sure.”
RELATED: The WNBA’s message to young girls: Stay quiet on trans athletes
Cunningham did not show up for the Fever’s postgame press conference, but star Caitlin Clark was present for a reporter’s question about navigating protests that focused on “trans rights.”
“It’s not really a discussion we really have in our locker room,” Clark claimed, before parrying the core of the question.
“I think it’s for leagues and the governing bodies to work with their athletes to find solutions, but our focus is on basketball, and that’s what we talk about and how we can get wins.”
Clark’s fairly canned response comes after Fever Coach Stephanie White made remarks on Friday about the WNBA being an “inclusive league” that “welcomes everyone.”
“We’re a league that promotes diversity. We promote inclusion, and we’re a league that has always been on the forefront of social change,” the coach affirmed.
RELATED: How the WNBA’s hottest star became the left’s newest headache
David Berding/Getty Images
When asked for her stance on “men or athletes who tested biological male” participating in women’s sports, White stated that she is not “educated enough from a scientific standpoint” to make such a determination.
However, she did say, “I don’t ever believe that exclusion is an answer.”
Cunningham did not make any public comments about the ordeal over the weekend. However, she did take a photo with female athletics activist Riley Gaines, who wore an XX-XY athletics T-shirt from an organization that believes men should not be in women’s sports.
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Wnba, Sophie cunningham, Transgenderism, Caitlin clark, Sports
James Carville threatens to leave the Democratic Party
Since helping Robert Casey Sr. become the governor of Pennsylvania in the late 1980s, James “the Ragin’ Cajun” Carville has been a mainstay in the Democratic Party. The 81-year-old strategist who managed Bill Clinton’s first presidential campaign is, however, now seriously doubting his future in the party.
Carville, who has repeatedly warned about his party’s takeover by democratic socialists, explained on Sunday that he will leave the Democratic Party if it welcomes leftist streamer Hasan Piker.
‘Let the streets soak in their f**king red capitalist blood.’
“I am not going to be in the same party with Hasan Piker, I can tell you that right now,” Carville told Fox News. “If he becomes a force in the Democratic Party, I’m out of here.”
Piker, the multimillionaire son of Muslim immigrants from Turkey, is a former Young Turks contributor turned streamer who has accrued millions of followers on Twitch. This proud supporter of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) who was characterized by New Yorker magazine in December as a “Communist Manifesto”-thumping “old-school hard leftist” has made no secret of his contempt for America.
Piker, who was in attendance at New York City Democrat Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s election party, has, for example:
stated that “America deserved 9/11” and called for another attack;celebrated the “brave f**king soldier” responsible for Texas Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R) losing his eye in the Afghanistan war;identified the colors of Hezbollah terrorists as his “favorite flag”;told viewers who care about Medicaid fraud to “kill” Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), resulting in a temporary Twitch ban;shrugged off sexual violence by Hamas terrorists; andadvocated for murdering landlords who choose not to rent their properties, stating, “Let the streets soak in their f**king red capitalist blood.”
Piker, a self-admitted anchor baby who has said that he has no patriotism in his heart for America, has also lavished praise on Chinese dictator Mao Zedong, a bloodthirsty communist who was responsible for tens of millions of deaths.
RELATED: Democratic socialist leader goes on Fox and admits every extreme thing they want to do
Sam Barnes/Web Summit/Sportsfile/Getty Images
In one stream, Piker said that he “never would and never will” criticize Mao, calling the mass murderer “one of the great leaders of this world, a man who changed the entire universe, the entire planet.”
Carville emphasized on Sunday, “I have no intention of ever being in the same political party with that guy. Now, I think that a majority, [an] overwhelming majority of Democrats agree with me, but this idea that we’re going to seize the means of production and this — just go look at the DSA platform.”
While unclear about how things might pan out for the two-party system in the coming months, Carville said, “I can tell you for certain: Hasan Piker and James Carville are not going to be in the same political party. One of us is going to leave. It might even be me.”
In addition to supporting Ocasio-Cortez, Piker has endorsed Abdul El-Sayed, the 41-year-old Islamic leftist running for the U.S. Senate in Michigan. El-Sayed, who like Piker is the son of Muslim immigrants, has previously called for the defunding of American police and has in recent months attempted to make the election in Michigan a referendum on America’s relationship with Israel.
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Democratic party, Democratic socialists, Hamas, Hasan piker, James carville, Mao zedong, Socialist, Politics
Anne Hathaway’s woke speech is going viral again — and it’s even worse than you remember
A years-old speech from Anne Hathaway is making the rounds online again, and in hindsight, it served as a warning for the gender madness that was to come.
“With the exception of being a cisgender male, everything about how I was born has put me at the current center of a damaging and widely accepted myth,” Hathaway began in a 2018 speech for the Human Rights Campaign.
“That myth is that gayness orbits around straightness. Transgender orbits around cisgender, and that all races orbit around whiteness. And it is a myth that keeps money and power in the hands of the few instead of being invested in the lives of the free,” she continued.
“I appreciate this community so much, because it’s where I learn to reject this myth. I appreciate this community because together we are not just going to question this myth, we are going to destroy it,” she added.
“What does ‘gayness revolves around straight’ even mean?” BlazeTV host Dave Landau asks, confused.
“It means nothing,” co-host Stu Burguiere says.
“And all races revolve around white … if you’re talking about a global scale, then white is the minority,” Dave says.
“She’s just saying, ‘Listen, I have learned from all of you, who, by the way, I will not be meeting or signing autographs or shaking hands with after this, but I’ve learned from all of you that from a distance, that I am guilty about who I am, and I’m going to stand up here and do what I can to kind of alleviate that guilt,’” he continues.
“That’s all it is,” he adds.
“It’s this idea that you’re constantly victimizing people,” Stu agrees, adding, “and then they cheer for it.”
Want more from Stu and Dave?
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Stu burguiere, Dave landau, Anne hathaway, Hollywood, Whiteness, Blazetv show, Lgbt
Prominent professor supported Mamdani’s socialist scheme — until he apparently became a target
A prominent public intellectual is getting stomped out on social media after backing a socialist scheme before it came knocking at his door.
Scott Galloway is a professor and podcaster who agrees with many left-leaning political policies, but he changed his tune after New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, a democratic socialist, allegedly doxxed his address.
‘I came out in favor of this tax. He’s taken a legitimate source of tax revenue and is turning it into a wanted poster.’
Galloway said he was supportive of the Mamdani plan to jack up taxes on pied-à-terre residences, which are luxury second homes that do not serve as primary residences.
But when Mamdani released a list of these residences that allegedly included Galloway’s residence, all of a sudden, Galloway realized that backing a socialist scheme was bad for his personal finances.
“I’ve been doxxed. I don’t know if you’ve heard, but Mayor Mamdani has decided to release a list of the 950,000 residences with addresses and names that might be eligible for his pied-à-terre tax,” claimed Galloway.
“I came out in favor of this tax. He’s taken a legitimate source of tax revenue and is turning it into a wanted poster. And the question I would have is, other than trying to identify and imply these people have done something wrong, and then 18 months after a health care CEO was executed in the streets, and then published the list, what is the upside here? Why is he doing this?”
He went on to defend those seeking success in New York City.
“New York is the last place you want to demonize success! The reason people want to move to New York is they think, ‘I want to be successful on Broadway, I want to be successful in business, I want to be successful in the arts, and no one’s going to get in my f**king way if I am really talented and work hard,'” said Galloway.
“We’re going to celebrate it, we’re not going to put a big ‘R’ on your door and say you’ve done something wrong because you’re successful,” he added.
Kara Swisher, another prominent liberal, called it “creepy” and “very surveillance” on the same podcast.
Both were mocked and ridiculed by those who see Galloway as receiving a consequence of socialist karma.
“Useful idiots. NEVER help a communist,” responded Spencer Pratt.
“The Scott Galloway video is so captivating because it’s one of the rare moments we get to watch a prominent liberal realize the leaders he votes [for] view him as the problem. We’re witnessing the realization happen in real time. Scott, just wait until you understand that violence against the Target List is the whole point,” said one account on social media.
“I can’t believe this commie guy is doing commie stuff,” joked another detractor.
Galloway has been criticized for offering liberal solutions to young males embracing brutish and extremist outlets for feelings of alienation and loneliness.
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Scott galloway, Zohran mamdani, Socialism, New york city, Politics
Private equity is billing patients to the bone
Nearly half of American adults say health care is difficult to afford, and about one-third have skipped or postponed care because of the cost, according to KFF polling. Even insured Americans are feeling the strain: The average monthly price of health insurance rose nearly 26% in a single year, the Urban Institute recently found.
Many forces drive those costs. One has operated largely outside public view: private equity.
Private equity-owned hospitals charged more, spent no less on patient care, and kept the difference.
Last month, my organization, Campaign for Accountability, released “Overbilled and Overtreated,” a report combining hospital financial data from the National Academy for State Health Policy with the Private Equity Stakeholder Project’s ownership tracker. We compared 71 hospitals acquired by private equity firms with 71 closely matched peers.
After acquisition, private equity-owned hospitals collected $669 more in operating profit per patient. Their operating margins were 6.5 percentage points higher — roughly a 31% increase. Among privately insured and self-insured patients, where hospitals have more freedom to set prices, the gap widened to 10.4 percentage points.
Those profits did not appear to come from running hospitals more efficiently. Private equity ownership produced no statistically significant reduction in operating costs per patient. Costs did not fall. Charges rose.
Court records show what pressure for higher revenue can look like inside medical facilities.
At Steward Health, created after Cerberus Capital Management converted a nonprofit hospital chain into a for-profit company, a former nurse billing auditor alleged that a Massachusetts team systematically reclassified patient charts into more expensive billing categories. A moderate emergency room visit could be elevated to the most severe level; the team, he said, could “only upcharge.”
Three Steward physicians filed a separate lawsuit alleging that hospital staff recorded patients’ blood pressure readings as normal to avoid diagnoses that would require costly treatment.
At Select Rehabilitation, then capitalized by Caltius Capital Management, a whistleblower alleged that therapists were pushed to inflate billable minutes to meet quotas. In one example, the company allegedly billed for 50 minutes of therapy after providing five. The whistleblower also claimed that severely ill patients underwent needless therapy and that discharges were delayed to maximize revenue.
RELATED: Hospital consolidations and ‘nonprofit’ tax breaks are driving up medical costs
Onuma Inthapong/Getty Images
At Surgery Partners, owned by H.I.G. Capital Group, a physician alleged that patients were required to undergo unnecessary urine drug tests at a company-owned laboratory. The tests were billed at $3,200 to $4,600, while physicians were barred from using a $20 alternative. The company later agreed to a $41 million settlement with the Justice Department and received a $45 million federal pandemic bailout days later.
The most disturbing example involved children. USA Today reported that dentists at North American Dental Group, a private equity-backed chain, drilled healthy teeth under pressure to generate revenue. One 3-year-old received seven root canals without first receiving an X-ray. He later required surgery to repair the damage. A reviewing dentist called the treatment a form of child abuse.
Private equity firms are not shy about the strategy. Ardent Health, owned by Equity Group Investments, told investors in 2025 that roughly half its revenue growth would come from higher rates rather than greater patient volume. Surgery Partners boasted of rising “revenue per case.”
Translated from investor language, the promise is simple: Charge more for each patient and call the difference growth.
Private equity is not solely responsible for America’s health care crisis. Hospitals, insurers, drug companies, government payment systems, and professional cartels all contribute to high prices and limited competition. But private equity adds a distinctive pressure: Investors expect rapid returns, while the patients absorbing the costs often cannot shop around, delay treatment, or meaningfully challenge a bill.
RELATED: Caregivers should not have to lie to prove compassion
Benjavisa/Getty Images
Policymakers should account for that pressure. Proposals include barring private equity-owned hospitals and skilled nursing facilities from participating in Medicare and requiring providers to disclose mergers, acquisitions, and changes in ownership or control. At minimum, patients and regulators should know who owns the facility sending the bill.
Stronger disclosure alone will not solve the problem. Regulators and prosecutors must also scrutinize upcoding, unnecessary treatment, discharge delays, and other practices that turn patients into revenue targets.
The evidence in our report is difficult to dismiss: Private equity-owned hospitals charged more, spent no less on patient care, and kept the difference.
That may be an attractive growth strategy for investors. For patients already postponing care because they cannot afford it, it is another bill they should never have had to pay.
Health care affordability, Hospital profits, Private equity impact, Rising insurance prices, Patient care costs, Private equity, Hospital bills, Surgery, Medical bills, Opinion & analysis
Sen. Moreno goes nuclear on ex-son-in-law Rep. Miller
Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio) condemned Rep. Max Miller (R-Ohio) on Sunday, characterizing him as a “danger” and calling for his resignation. Miller, who is running for re-election, has denied the allegations advanced by his ex-father-in-law and indicated that he will not scuttle his re-election campaign.
How it started
In May 2021, then-congressional candidate Miller got engaged to Emily Moreno, the daughter of then-Senate candidate Bernie Moreno. The lovers had met while working for Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s failed presidential campaign in 2015 and got married in a civil ceremony on Aug. 17, 2022.
‘I’m winning in November.’
In November 2023, the couple welcomed a daughter into the world, but by that time, their relationship was apparently already falling apart.
Miller — who years earlier was accused by ex-girlfriend and ex-White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham of physical abuse that the congressman’s lawyer said “never happened” — filed for divorce in August 2024. According to a court filing, Emily Moreno Miller had moved with their daughter into a house earlier that month that had been allegedly purchased by a company owned by Sen. Moreno.
As the divorce proceedings grew uglier, a spokeswoman for Sen. Moreno stressed that “it’s a private family matter” and the senator would not be making further comments.
The couple’s divorce was finalized last year. However, their custody battle raged on, and just recently, a leftist site dug up allegations from court filings that paint Miller in a particularly unflattering light.
RELATED: Mike Lee SOUNDS the ALARM after stunning polls from Senate race in Texas
Joe Raedle/Getty Images
Mother Jones, citing a trove of court filings and police reports obtained through public records requests, last month detailed allegations of verbal abuse by Miller as well as drug use and violent behavior against multiple individuals.
The leftist site highlighted records related to an investigation by Cuyahoga County’s Division of Child and Family Services into how the couple’s daughter ended up with a broken collar bone — an injury that was not proven to have been the result of abuse. The records reportedly show that Emily Moreno told the detectives investigating the broken bone that Miller allegedly threw hot water at her in June 2024, pushed her, and put a gun to her head.
Mother Jones acknowledged that “some of the accusations contained in the records have not been conclusively proven by a court or law enforcement agency,” and noted that Emily Moreno “never filed a police report against Miller for harm she says he inflicted on her.”
How it’s going
On Sunday morning, Miller — who sued Emily Moreno earlier this year for alleged defamation and suggested in a recent interview that his ex-wife has untreated bipolar disorder and “sadly isn’t all there” — shared a nearly 20-minute video to X where he not only rejects his characterization as an abusive husband and father but confronted and denied each of the key allegations raised against him.
Miller also made clear that he wasn’t dropping out: “I’m not getting out of this race, and I’m winning in November.”
The congressman concluded his video by emphasizing that he will “hold strong” and clear his name and urging skeptics to review the packet of court documents he also released on Sunday, which the congressman evidently regards as exculpatory.
‘I personally wouldn’t wait two years before holding him accountable.’
The summary accompanying the “evidence packet” claims that: “every abuse allegation that has been investigated has been resolved in Miller’s favor”; “Moreno’s own sworn and recorded statements directly contradict her abuse allegations,” including her October 2024 statement that Miller had never harmed their daughter; “no court has ever found that Miller abused anyone”; and in the “‘boiling water’ incident,” Miller had only sprayed his ex-wife with tap water from the sink sprayer.
Stefan Mychajliw, a spokesman for Emily Moreno, said in a statement, “It is shameful that Max Miller decided to go on a bizarre and lie-filled rant about his ex-wife to desperately try to save his political career. There is a documented trove of evidence that Miller has a history of violent and dangerous behavior and no amount of victim shaming will change that.”
“Miller can lie and spin on X, but he cannot do so under oath in a court of law,” added the spokesman. “We are confident that justice will prevail in court.”
Sen. Moreno, among those not buying what his former son-in-law is selling, penned a lengthy social media post on Sunday, stating, “As a father and husband, I can tell you the last two years have been pure hell for my wife Bridget, our daughter Emily, me, and our entire family in the aftermath of Emily’s divorce.”
“It has been horrific to watch this play out in full public view, all while knowing an innocent two-year-old girl is caught in the middle,” continued the senator. “Our priority has always been protecting our daughter and our granddaughter. Out of concern for the safety of my family, I hoped to keep this matter private but Max Miller’s increasingly erratic and dangerous behavior has made that impossible.”
Sen. Moreno noted further that “Max Miller needs serious psychological help. He is a danger to my daughter, and I hold my breath every minute he has custody of my granddaughter.”
According to the senator, Miller’s character is unbecoming of an elected official, and “he should not serve in the House of Representatives.”
Miller said in response to Sen. Moreno’s post, “If my daughter said the same thing to me, I personally wouldn’t wait two years before holding him accountable. You know this isn’t true and the only reason you are speaking out now is to hide from your own media circus. This is all political.”
When asked over the weekend whether Miller should resign, President Donald Trump — who previously endorsed him — said, “Well, I’m going to look at it. I mean so far it’s accusations.”
A poll conducted in late June had Miller leading Democratic challenger Brian Poindexter by only one percentage point.
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Max miller, Bernie moreno, Ohio, Republican, Politics
Technology peaked with radio — especially when it comes to catching the game
Remember the radio? Of course you do. It’s not hard to remember. It’s still around. You can buy a little one on Amazon and tune into AM or FM. Cars still have them, for now. You can enjoy classical music on public radio, political commentary on talk radio, the game on a Friday night, or whatever else there is floating around on the airwaves at any given moment on any given day.
Before TikTok there was Facebook, and before Facebook there was MySpace, and before MySpace there was television, and before television there was radio, and before radio there was silence.
‘Who else is listening to this right now?’ That’s what I wonder a little when I’m driving and scanning the radio. There’s no way for me to know.
Imagine what that transition was like — from silence to radio.
Big world
I’ve been reading “Hello, Everybody! The Dawn of American Radio” by Anthony J. Rudel recently, and in it, Rudel writes at length about that time and transition from silence to radio sound.
The world was so big in those days. Rhode Island was so far from Spain, and Ohio was so far from Rhode Island. In that big world of people without Social Security numbers or anything like our panopticon of 2026, there were millions and millions of little worlds. Towns, blocks, clans, families, and people all in their own little worlds, living and breathing in silence.
Radio was, in some way, a beginning of the modern world as we know it. Of course, there have been many symbols of many beginnings in different and disparate domains, and radio was one of them. The ability to transmit a message across the land to anyone else who might want to listen was the beginning of mass communication and mass modern society. In hindsight, it was the first step in a long march toward Instagram, Facebook, and X.
When media was social
But radio was nothing like today’s social media. The people who listened to it still lived primarily in embodied communities — families, churches, neighborhoods, and workplaces. Radio expanded that world; it did not replace it.
Social media has done the opposite. Millions of us now inhabit synthetic networks populated by algorithms, bots, AI-generated content, and strangers selected by recommendation engines rather than real proximity. We are connected to more people than ever while becoming increasingly detached from the human beings physically around us.
Radio felt like a kind of modern magic. Voices traveled across the plains, through the night, and into your living room, making a vast country seem smaller. Yet those voices still pointed back toward a shared human world, answering one of humanity’s oldest questions: Is anybody out there?
Beautiful uncertainty
There’s something beautiful about how terrestrial radio isn’t completely predictable or reliable. Fishing, not knowing what you might catch when throwing your line in the water is like that. Driving and just letting the road go is like that. Tuning into the radio, passing over static as you turn the dial right, hearing faint music or voices covered by the gray sound, and landing on a station you haven’t heard before is like that.
Driving late at night with one hand on the wheel and the other on the dial, scanning from station to station, seeing if there is anything worth listening to is different from looking through Spotify playlists or flipping through CDs like we once did 20 years ago. Spotify playlists somehow feel like shopping at the store, and CDs felt like something private, while radio stations feel like something almost — almost! — communal.
“Who else is listening to this right now?” That’s what I wonder a little when I’m driving and scanning the radio. There’s no way for me to know. There’s no way for the radio station to know. There’s no way for anyone to know who’s listening in their car or in their bedroom or in their kitchen.
The sound is sent out into the world on a certain frequency, and those who are tuned in hear. There is no history of it marked, there is no documentation logged, there is no surveillance state knowing you listened that night. Ah, the sound of freedom.
RELATED: Goodbye, car radio? Big Tech’s plans to control what you listen to behind the wheel.
Ron Schwerin/Getty Images
Batter up
Maybe it’s nostalgia, or maybe it’s aesthetics, but whatever it is, there is something so damn American about listening to a baseball game on the radio. The game sounds better over a little tinny speaker with crackle and static than it looks on a 96-inch flatscreen. The way the announcers sound, the way they describe every detail, the distant cry of the crowd in the background. You imagine sight in your mind behind your eyes as you play out what they tell you.
Maybe the beauty of radio is the fact that we don’t have control once we finally land on a station that’s clear. Someone else chooses the music to play or the words to say, and it’s there in the background, and everyone out there who’s listening listens. Maybe it’s good, maybe it’s bad, maybe it’s all right, but it’s just what there is, and it’s fine. I think we might get sick of making so many choices these days. There’s too many choices. Going on a ride with someone else is nicer than driving ourselves.
If all this is just nostalgia, then it’s a nostalgia for a world that hadn’t quite yet evolved, or rather devolved, into the global cyber panopticon we have today. It was a world teetering on the edge of technological modernity; one still with the magic of the old little worlds; one that was peering over the fence toward the future and everyone else far away. It was a big world out there, and we could only hear just a little of it.
It was tinny, scratchy, and it was magical.
Community, Culture, Lifestyle, Radio, Social media, The root of the matter, Baseball
America’s two-tier economy is working exactly as planned
The left suddenly fears that artificial intelligence will replace American workers. It showed far less concern when illegal immigration undercut wages and jobs.
The double standard reveals a larger economic vision: protection for the credentialed class, cheap labor at the bottom, and little concern for the working Americans caught between them.
The left has built a bifurcated economy because it has bifurcated loyalties. Neither side of that arrangement puts America’s working class first.
Progressive warnings about AI often begin with the claim that employers will use new technology to replace costly labor or avoid training new employees. One progressive platform warns that AI could cause massive labor-market disruption. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) proposes taxing AI so that its gains do not flow only to the wealthy.
The concern isn’t inherently foolish. New technology can displace workers, at least temporarily, and policymakers should consider how people adapt. But the left’s labor solidarity becomes strangely selective when the competing worker entered the country illegally.
The Migration Policy Institute recently estimated that the illegal immigrant population may have reached 15.8 million. The Biden years also produced more than 10 million border encounters, although that figure includes repeat attempts and excludes people who evaded detection.
Meanwhile, the July Bureau of Labor Statistics report counted 7.1 million unemployed Americans. Those numbers do not prove that every illegal worker displaced a citizen. They do make it absurd to pretend that millions of additional workers have no effect on wages, bargaining power, or employment.
The standard answer is that illegal immigrants perform jobs Americans refuse to do. Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) put the argument plainly: In a capitalist economy, someone will always do the work others do not want.
But jobs are not fixed objects with permanently assigned wages. When employers cannot attract workers, they must raise pay, improve conditions, invest in equipment, or change the way the work is performed. Labor scarcity gives workers leverage.
Progressives claim to understand that principle when they campaign for higher legal wage floors. The five states with the highest minimum wages are deep blue. Democratic lawmakers routinely demand “living wages” and stronger benefits.
RELATED: The bipartisan farm bill that also grows amnesty
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Yet the same politicians short-circuit the market mechanism that might raise wages naturally. They permit a large supply of unauthorized labor, including an estimated 8.5 million people working off the books, to fill jobs at wages and under conditions many would never accept.
That arrangement is not compassionate to workers. It allows employers to avoid the higher pay, benefits, and taxes that legal labor would require. It also leaves illegal immigrants vulnerable to exploitation because their status limits their ability to challenge abuse.
The result is a two-tiered labor market.
At the top sit credentialed professionals whose jobs may be threatened by AI. Their anxieties receive white papers, Senate hearings, tax proposals, and sympathetic coverage. At the bottom sit unauthorized workers whom progressive politicians describe as indispensable because they perform society’s least desirable tasks.
Crockett’s own words and similar comments from other Democrats expose the hierarchy. The jobs at the top must be protected from technological competition. The jobs at the bottom must remain cheap enough that Americans supposedly will not take them.
The people excluded from both priorities are working-class citizens.
They are told that automation may eliminate their better-paying opportunities but that low-wage jobs cannot pay more because imported labor must fill them. They face high legal wage mandates and benefit requirements on one side, then competition from off-the-books labor on the other.
Government benefits without strong work requirements can compound the problem by creating a steep penalty for returning to employment. Sanctuary policies then protect the unauthorized labor supply that keeps wages down.
RELATED: Unaffordable housing is still ruining the party
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This is not a coherent defense of workers. It is a coalition strategy.
The modern left protects the professional class that staffs its institutions and the immigrant constituencies it hopes to mobilize. The blue-collar Americans who once formed the Democratic base receive speeches about dignity while policy steadily erodes their bargaining power.
Long gone are the days when the left at least pretended to organize politics around the American worker.
AI may indeed disrupt employment. Illegal immigration can also depress wages and displace workers. A party genuinely committed to labor would confront both pressures honestly instead of treating one as a crisis and the other as a moral obligation.
The left has built a bifurcated economy because it has bifurcated loyalties. Neither side of that arrangement puts America’s working class first.
Artificial intelligence, Illegal immigration, Labor, Wages, Unemployment, Elizabeth warren, Jasmine crockett, Big tech, White collar, Working class, Living wage, Opinion & analysis
Shocking footage: Young communist tells Nick Shirley she’d rather her rapist walk free than keep prisons
Nick Shirley — the 24-year-old investigative journalist who exposed the shocking depths of alleged day care and social services fraud in Minnesota’s Somali community — has now turned his gaze to another growing issue in America: the rise of communism.
While there are people of all ages and backgrounds who embrace communism, the system that seeks to erase freedom and equalize misery is especially popular among Gen Z.
On this episode of “Sara Gonzales Unfiltered,” Sara plays a viral clip from Shirley capturing a young woman arguing in favor of abolishing prisons — even if that means her rapist is allowed to freely roam the streets.
In the video, the woman admits that she is “pro-communism,” including “getting rid of prisons.”
When Shirley pressed her on why she feels prisons need to be abolished, she argued they are not beneficial for society.
“The system of criminality is a very strange way to interact with, like, I guess, humanity in general, and like things that as a species we’re not interested in, like, perpetuating. I think it’s kind of backwards, and so I’m not certain what prisons are actually doing for our society,” she said.
When Shirley asked her if she’d prefer “to have criminals out in the open,” her answer was a shocking yes.
“Sure, I’m fine with that because the idea of a ‘criminal’ is, like, a little bit funny to me,” she said.
“Let’s just say somebody who has raped a woman — would you like them to be out in the street?” Shirley asked.
“I think my answer is yes, even though that’s a challenging answer to say,” she replied.
Shirley then asked if she felt the same way if she were the woman who had been raped.
“I have been raped, and they are out in the street, and I’m not sure, like, them going to jail is a solution to, like, whatever is going on inside their heart or even my own heart that, like, contributed to that experience that I’m having,” she said. “And I don’t want more people to get raped, but I don’t know for certain that going into a jail in the United States is going to shift anything inside of their, like, operating system so that they’ll make a different choice again.”
Sara is baffled by Shirley’s exchange with the young communism supporter and fears a future where people with these destructive worldviews begin taking positions of power in society.
“These people are going to be CEOs, I guess, someday,” she says.
To see the viral footage, plus another shocking clip where a young man admits on camera he has a job but fraudulently collects food stamps and other benefits, watch the video above.
Want more from Sara Gonzales?
To enjoy more of Sara’s no-holds-barred takes on news and culture, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.
Sara gonzales, Nick shirley, Communism, Gen z, Blazetv show
On surrogacy, conservatives must speak the truth: ‘You can be a really good dad, but you’ll never be a mom’
Fox News political analyst Guy Benson is receiving congratulations from across conservative media after announcing the birth of his daughter, Madison Halsey.
“She’s here, and she’s perfect,” Benson wrote in a post that quickly racked up more than 10,000 likes.
“We are blessed and overjoyed to welcome Madison Halsey into the world and into our family. Our hearts are filled to the brim. A baby girl. We are just so thankful.”
However, BlazeTV host Allie Beth Stuckey doesn’t share his excitement.
“You’ve heard my spiel on surrogacy a lot, but when we create these children, especially in this situation where you are buying the eggs from one woman, you are renting the womb from another woman,” she says.
“So you’re taking a child away from their biological mother, you are placing them in an unrelated woman whose smell and touch and heartbeat and body they get to know, they call home for nine months,” she continues.
“And then you immediately take that child after birth away from the only home, the only smell, the only regulator, the only woman they have ever known and away from the biological mom with whom they share half of their DNA. We are treating that child worse than we treat kittens and puppies,” she adds.
For kittens and puppies, the natural bond between a mother and her litter is respected.
“But for some reason, when it comes to human babies who are much more fragile, who are much less resilient, and of course as Christians, we believe are made in God’s image and so matter infinitely more than a cat or a dog, we say, ‘Eh, it’s probably fine,’” Stuckey says.
“It is the prioritization of adult wants over children’s needs,” she adds.
But it’s not just purposely taking children away from their biological mother that bothers Stuckey, noting that the entire process has “physical consequences for the child.”
“It’s much more risky for the embryo. It’s much more risky, or riskier, for the baby as well during conception, during transfer and implantation, during gestation,” she explains.
“But then of course, you’re creating this emotional and psychological, physiological risk too,” she continues, before playing a TikTok video of a man in a homosexual relationship claiming his son cries for his “mommy” despite never knowing his mother.
“This is very common. This is natural. This is instinctive. Somewhere deep inside, we want to know where we came from. We want our mom. That does not mean that two men who are raising a child don’t love their child,” she says.
“It means that they’re not a mom. You can be a really good dad, but you will never be a mom,” she adds.
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.
Allie beth stuckey, Christians, Fox news, Guy benson, Surrogacy, Blazetv show, Lgbt
