“This case could completely wipe out the ATF’s ability to create law and subvert congress, which would be a massive win for the Second Amendment.” [more…]
Category: blaze media
3 reasons liberal podcaster’s tired anti-homeschooling rant doesn’t make the grade
Jennifer Welch recently unleashed a tirade against Christian homeschooling families, calling homeschooling “trickle-down stupidity” and a “fundamental crazy Christian problem” and calling parents with traditional values “the worst, worst, worst.” She even dismissed the decision to homeschool as selfish.
Welch isn’t an education researcher or a homeschooling expert. She’s a progressive podcaster whose “I’ve Had It” podcast has built a large audience by channeling liberal anger at conservatives into viral commentary. Her latest target just happened to be Christian homeschool families. But her latest broadside is still worth answering, if only to correct the caricature she presented of millions of families who have chosen a different path.
Welch’s comments reveal a deeper, increasingly common assumption: the belief that educational institutions are better equipped than parents to shape children.
As a serious Christian who was homeschooled from kindergarten through 12th grade and intends to homeschool my own two children, I couldn’t disagree more. In fact, Welch’s contempt for families like mine is a reminder of exactly why I will never hand my children over to what have become taxpayer-funded ideological institutions.
The irony is hard to miss. At a time of collapsing birth rates, declining academic achievement, and a culture struggling to pass on its moral inheritance, America needs more strong families willing to invest their time, resources, and lives in raising the next generation.
Yet instead of encouraging those families, Welch chooses to mock them.
Here are three reasons Welch couldn’t be more wrong about families like mine.
1. Homeschoolers outperform their peers in nearly every measure
Study after study has found that homeschoolers outperform their peers across a wide range of academic measures. The facts simply don’t support Welch’s dismissive caricature of homeschooling or her claim that it produces “trickle-down stupidity.” Homeschooled students consistently perform well in standardized testing, reading, language arts, math, science, and social studies. Research has also found that homeschooled adults tend to be highly engaged in their communities and successful in higher education and professional life.
Interestingly enough, there were at least 16 U.S. presidents who received part or all of their education at home through their parents or tutors, which was a more common practice in early America.
Public schooling, by comparison, is a relatively recent invention — and one that is increasingly failing America’s students. If we’re going to question an educational model, perhaps we should begin with the one producing declining test scores and growing dissatisfaction.
If Welch believes homeschooling produces “trickle-down stupidity,” she’s overlooking a remarkable list of accomplished homeschool graduates. In addition to presidents, homeschooling has helped produce notable entrepreneurs, athletes, military leaders, and scholars for generations. More recently, figures such as Tim Tebow, Charlie Kirk, Serena Williams, Simone Biles, and Bethany Hamilton demonstrate that an education at home is hardly a barrier to excellence.
RELATED: Education without ‘schooling’: Why a godly home is the best place for children to learn and thrive
Heritage Art/Getty Images
2. Homeschooling puts our children’s needs before our own
Welch calls homeschooling “child abuse” and “selfish,” then goes on to admit she cannot imagine spending that much time with her own children: “For me personally, it was that I would have gotten up on my hands and knees and strapped them to my back and crawled to get them to school every day just to get them where I wasn’t.”
It’s difficult to square those remarks with the claim that homeschooling parents are the selfish ones.
Parents who educate their children at home invest thousands of dollars in curriculum, books, and educational resources while often sacrificing an entire income so one parent can teach full-time. They willingly make those financial and personal sacrifices because they believe giving their children a strong education, solid character, and a biblical worldview is worth far more than the cost.
This is exactly why, long before we ever started dating, my husband and I had each independently decided that homeschooling would be non-negotiable for our future family. If we couldn’t agree on homeschooling or Christian school for our children, it would have been a deal-breaker. That’s how deeply we care about raising children who love God, love their country, think critically, and become exceptionally well educated.
That isn’t selfish. It’s putting our children’s needs ahead of our own.
3. Parents — not the government — should raise children
Welch’s comments reveal a deeper, increasingly common assumption: the belief that educational institutions are better equipped than parents to shape children. But our children don’t belong to the state, to cultural elites, or to government institutions. Parents bear the primary responsibility for raising them. That isn’t simply a Christian conviction; it’s one of the foundations of a free society.
The Bible commands parents to teach their children diligently, pass on the faith, and train them in wisdom and truth, especially in a culture that has lost its bearings. Homeschooling is one way families can faithfully live out those convictions. As the late preacher Voddie Baucham famously warned, “If we continue to send our children to Caesar for their education, we need to stop being surprised when they come home as Romans.”
Whenever people ask why my husband and I plan to homeschool our children, the conversation almost inevitably ends with the same question: “How will they socialize?” — as though homeschoolers spend their childhood hidden away from society.
My own experience was exactly the opposite. I interacted with people of all ages and walks of life through church, sports, music lessons, homeschool co-ops, volunteer opportunities, and countless experiences outside the walls of a traditional classroom.
I still remember living and working in Washington, D.C., and watching people’s jaws drop when I told them I had been homeschooled.
“But you’re so normal?”
Exactly.
Homeschooling isn’t about hiding children from the world. It’s about preparing them to enter it with strong convictions, intellectual curiosity, and a sense of purpose.
Jennifer Welch is free to mock families like mine. We’ll keep raising our children according to our convictions — and we’ll let the results speak for themselves.
Biblical worldview, Charlie kirk, Christian school, Serena williams, Simone biles, Tim tebow, Traditional values, Homeschooling, Education, Christian living, Indoctrination, Faith
A new threat on American streets: Inside the rise of Indian gangs
For decades, Hollywood fed us a steady diet of tracksuit-wearing Gambino soldiers whining about their mothers and cartoonishly tattooed cartel enforcers threatening to dissolve people in vats of premium tequila.
But those legacy brands are officially losing market share to a heavily armed, highly aggressive corporate competitor that weaponizes car horns to deafen the opposition. International syndicate networks tied directly to India are systematically restructuring the geography of global street violence, proving that globalization works beautifully for extortion rackets too.
By establishing these isolated, closed-off cultural zones, these factions maintain a fierce allegiance to old-world tribal hierarchies.
Playing ‘Hard Ball’
California serves as the primary battleground for a ruthless wave of Indian organized crime tearing through the state. These syndicates use major metropolitan hubs as operations bases for massive drug trafficking corridors and organized intimidation schemes. Federal agents recently dismantled a major cell during Operation Hard Ball, arresting 11 Indian operatives across targeted raids in Los Angeles and Sacramento.
Investigators seized massive stockpiles of high-grade narcotics, automatic weapons, and cash, exposing a highly sophisticated network built for domination rather than minor street theft. This aggressive expansion shows exactly how foreign syndicates import overseas violence directly into the heart of American suburban communities. India is best known for bowel-blasting street food and a population of drivers apparently trained exclusively in demolition derbies. The American public would do well to update its perspective — fast. That goes for the rest of the West too, because this brand of trouble spans continents.
The expansion strategy mimics that of a tech startup, rapidly scaling operations across Europe and the Great White North. Take Portugal, for instance. The historic streets of Lisbon and the sunny coastal regions of the Algarve are currently experiencing an influx of Punjab-themed turf wars. Rival Indian syndicates are actively fighting over localized human smuggling routes and synthetic drug distribution rights, turning once-peaceful European plazas into active combat zones.
RELATED: A Memphis mom was fired for telling the truth about crime; now she’s fighting back
Sen. Marsha Blackburn/Austin Johnson/Getty Images
Canada war zone
Meanwhile, Canada has become something of a war zone. In the suburban sprawl of Surrey, British Columbia, and the Greater Toronto Area, daylight drive-by shootings are now a standard feature. These are high-volume tactical ambushes executed on public streets with automatic weapons.
Organized crime expert Martin Purbrick notes that the massive Indian diaspora across the United Kingdom, Canada, and the United States provides the perfect camouflage for foreign syndicates. Because these criminal networks integrate effortlessly into pre-existing social and cultural enclaves, they remain entirely invisible to outside law enforcement.
This insulating effect is particularly troubling in the United States, where a massive influx of Indian nationals flood the country utilizing heavily abused H-1B visa programs, fraudulent tech certifications, and rubber-stamped degrees from fake universities to set up illicit cash-heavy operations under the guise of legitimate business.
For those who argue that these people are simply desperate migrants seeking a better life, I would argue that if an individual is entirely comfortable breaking federal immigration laws and committing systemic document fraud just to enter the country, there is absolutely no reason to believe he will suddenly develop a moral conscience and stop breaking the law once he is safely inside.
Clannish communities
And once inside, the immediate consequences are clear. In Texas, suburban stretches outside Dallas and Houston have been completely overrun by waves of rapid migration. The sudden demographic shift is sobering because it features a total lack of assimilation. Instead of adopting local Texan culture, these highly clannish Indian communities stubbornly lock themselves into insular, self-governing pockets that refuse any meaningful integration with the broader American population.
This refusal to assimilate allows them to import third-world values directly into respectable neighborhoods from a nation where female genital mutilation, forced child marriages, and primitive honor killings are routine societal practices. By establishing these isolated, closed-off cultural zones, these factions maintain a fierce allegiance to old-world tribal hierarchies. This absolute rejection of Western legal and social standards provides a protected operational base for crime syndicates, allowing them to enforce their own brutal brand of street justice entirely outside the reach of American law.
Normalized savagery
When a syndicate recruits enforcers raised in an environment where killing your own sibling is considered a legitimate way to preserve family reputation, putting a bullet in someone’s head to settle a drug debt becomes second nature. This normalized savagery feeds directly into the operational tactics used on streets in America and beyond.
Modern law enforcement agencies are forced to adapt to a criminal structure that operates like a multinational corporation rather than a traditional street corner crew. The hierarchy relies on distinct, siloed departments handling recruitment, international money laundering, transport logistics, and tactical intimidation. The primary advantage these syndicates maintain is their ability to exploit the immigrant communities they embed themselves within. Victims of extortion may refuse to contact authorities due to targeted threats directed at their relatives back in the homeland.
With over 3 million Indian nationals now residing in America, the scale of this blind spot is staggering. While the multiculturalist consensus assumes the vast majority are law-abiding, it is past time to acknowledge the harsh reality. A significant and growing number are not, having entered the country through illicit, fraudulent, or entirely illegal means. It is precisely this undercurrent of lawlessness that provides the perfect, impenetrable human shield, enabling foreign thugs to operate with total impunity on American soil.
India, Immigration, Culture, Organized crime, Canada, Crime
Latino voters want the SAVE Act
Latino voters overwhelmingly support requiring government-issued photo ID to vote.
A Poll conducted by Pew Research Center confirmed that 82% of Latino voters in the United States approve such a requirement. The SAVE Act would codify the popular supermajority opinion on voter identification into law, but while the House has passed it multiple times, it has stalled in the Senate.
As citizens, Latinos want to protect the democratic republic that has blessed their lives so richly.
It should be no surprise that Latino voters support the key feature of the SAVE Act.
First, immigrant voters highly value their citizenship and the right to vote that it conveys to them. It takes at least seven years of legal presence in the U.S. to become a citizen, and those who have gone through that process value what they learned and who they became in the process.
They are proud and patriotic and zealous to preserve the system they have adopted and mastered. They do not take their rights as citizens lightly, and they do not want noncitizens to vote. Second, immigrant voters highly value the rule of law, which they recognize as the main thing that makes the United States what it is — the best place in the world to work and build a prosperous and free life.
While writing my book, “The New Pilgrims: How Immigrants are Renewing America’s Faith and Values,” I interviewed many immigrants who specifically explained that they moved to America for the purpose of coming under the rule of law. They understand that no justice, no equal protection under law, is possible without it.
They can also articulate how lawlessness and cheating undermine prosperity in their home countries. They understand that the land of the free and home of the brave persists because of America’s deep cultural commitment to obeying the law. They understand how illegal voting would undermine the very thing they value most about life in America.
Third, Latino immigrants, whether they are here legally or illegally, do not want noncitizens to vote in our elections. While the vast majority of illegal immigrants in America lead disciplined lives characterized by arduous labor, careful observance of the law, and moral practices such as church attendance, Latino immigrants recognize that there is a criminal element among many new immigrants that they do not want to empower in the United States.
Many of the most vulnerable illegal immigrants fled to the United States to get away from such people in their countries of origin. They do not want to risk arrest, imprisonment, or deportation by voting illegally, and they certainly do not want the criminal element to do so.
Hispanic immigrants in the United States who have become citizens have a terrific record of success in building the American dream of prosperity and freedom.
RELATED: Where is the outrage over our stolen birthright?
Douglas Rissing/Getty Images
Many current U.S. government officials and members of Congress illustrate spectacular success stories of immigrants and children of immigrants from Latin America: Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio), and Maria Elvira Salazar (R-Fla.), not to mention Sonia Sotomayor, Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Luz Rivas (D-Calif.), and many others on both sides of the aisle.
Stories from industry, business, education, the military, the clergy, and every institution and profession in our society offer a literally never-ending story of Latino success in America. The system works beautifully for those who pay the price to become citizens and raise their children to love our country.
As citizens, Latinos want to protect the democratic republic that has blessed their lives so richly.
Latino voters are not a monolith. They voted for the Republican and Democrat presidential candidates in nearly equal numbers in 2024. In future elections, they will vote for the candidates that best represent their values and support them in Congress.
It’s time for both Democrat and Republican senators to represent the overwhelming Latino opinion and vote to pass the SAVE Act now, while there is still time to rescue America’s political integrity.
Editor’s note: This article was originally published by RealClearPolitics and made available via RealClearWire.
2028 election, American dream, Congress, Immigration, Legal immigrants, Opinion & analysis, Pew research center, Rule of law, Save act, Voter fraud
Teddy Roosevelt’s SECRET letter proves progressivism was always headed to THIS
On July 4, the $450 million Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library opened its doors to the public — a public that, according to a letter in a library exhibit, Roosevelt felt was similar to cattle.
In the letter written to Charles Davenport at Cold Spring Harbor in his own hand, he explained that “society has no business permitting degenerates to reproduce their kind.”
Roosevelt wrote in the letter, “We have to refuse to apply human beings the same elementary knowledge every farmer applies to his own stock. And that’s madness.”
“The farmers who let all the increase come from the worst stock would be threatened as fit inmates for an asylum,” he added.
Roosevelt also wrote that the “inescapable duty of the good citizen of the right type is to leave his blood behind him in the world.”
“We have no business permitting the perpetuation of a citizen of the wrong type,” he said.
Like most progressives, Glenn points out that Roosevelt made it clear that he believed in “categories.”
“This fight is about categories,” he says. “It’s about, you know, the collective and not the individual in his own hand to the director of the Carnegie-funded scientific institute. This was not the fringe. This is the cutting edge. This is the settled science that you must pay attention to of the time.”
“Theodore Roosevelt believed in the science and in the expert and in the government strong enough and clever enough to act upon what the experts knew. That’s progressivism all in one letter,” he explains.
“Now, was he great with the national parks? Yeah, he was great on national parks. Was he great on the individual and the man in the arena? Yeah, he was brave. He was funny. He read a book every day. A book every day. He took a bullet in Milwaukee and finished the speech. He set aside 230 million acres. That’s not the argument,” he continues.
“The argument is what he thought the American government was for,” he adds.
Glenn explains that Roosevelt also believed that “property is subject to the community’s right to regulate its use” and that government officials were the “stewards of the public welfare” rather than “servants of the law.”
“In a speech he called a ‘Charter for Democracy,’ he proposed when a court strikes down a progressive statute, the people should be able to vote to overturn the court. Former president of the United States in 1912 proposing a popular recall of judicial decisions. That’s not constitutional. That’s not how it works,” Glenn says.
“Theodore Roosevelt is exactly what we’re seeing. He’s just dressed up in prettier clothes. He’s not a despicable man where Woodrow Wilson is just a despicable man,” he says, adding, “And I don’t think he actually saw what was coming.”
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National parks, Presidential library, Progressivism, Theodore roosevelt, Woodrow wilson, The glenn beck program
The latest iPhone security threat has a nasty fix
A couple of months have gone by since the last major security threat to plague Apple’s ecosystem, so we’re due for another round. This time, a fatal flaw has been identified for a very specific group of iPhone models, and unlike most bugs we cover here on Blaze Media, this one costs real money to fix. Here’s everything you need to know.
The flaw
The fatal flaw in question is a BootROM exploit known as usbliter8. For curious minds, BootROM is the on-device component that’s required to boot up a device, or turn it on from a power-off state.
It can’t be resolved by downloading a future iOS update.
This system relies on a “chain of trust” to validate a device’s hardware and software every time the phone boots up to ensure that all components are secure and uncompromised on a cybersecurity level. If BootROM is compromised in any way, hackers can install unauthorized code, downgrade your phone to a less secure version of iOS, and potentially leverage other exploits to access data.
Luckily, not all iPhones are at risk. The usbliter8 exploit specifically affects Apple devices with A12 and A13 chips under the hood. Drilling down deeper, these iPhone models are in danger along with several Apple Watches. Check the list to see if your phone is included:
iPhone XRiPhone XiPhone XS MaxiPhone 11iPhone 11 ProiPhone 11 Pro MaxiPhone SE (second generation)Apple Watch Series 4Apple Watch Series 5Apple Watch SE (first generation)
If you’re not sure which iPhone you have, open the Settings app, tap on General, then About, and find the model of your phone under Model Name.
Screenshots by Zach Laidlaw
The problem
What makes this flaw so tricky is that it takes place on the hardware level. Unlike software-related bugs that can be patched with a quick update directly from Apple, usbliter8 is attached to the chip inside your smartphone.
That means it can’t be resolved by downloading a future iOS update. The problem will remain on your handset for what’s left of its life.
The solution
So how do you fix a flaw that can’t be repaired with new software?
There’s only one solution, and you probably won’t like it.
RELATED: Dems launch new push to control more of what you do in your car
SergeyBitos/Getty Images
You have to upgrade your iPhone to a new model outside of the affected devices. In other words, if your phone is on the threat list, you need to replace your vulnerable device with an iPhone 12 from 2020 or newer.
The bright side
For many iPhone owners with these older models, this may be a hard pill to swallow. New phones are expensive, and they’re only growing less affordable, thanks to the RAM shortages brought on by AI.
So let’s say you can’t or don’t want to upgrade to a new iPhone to fix the problem. Should you be worried about someone hacking into your device?
By all accounts, the risk of an usbliter8 actually happening in a real-life situation is slim. In order to carry out an attack, the hacker would need physical access to your device, and he would have to be able to put the phone into Device Firmware Upgrade mode. As long as you keep your phone on your person or in a bag at all times, you’re probably safe.
Bonus tip: Never plug your phone directly into a public charging cable you might find at a restaurant, airport, rest stop, hospital, or a college campus. Sometimes these cables are tampered with or comprised in a way that exposes your device to bad actors. If you must charge your phone in public, bring your own cable and charging brick that plugs directly into a wall outlet.
That said, in the event that your phone is stolen or accessed via usbliter8, there isn’t much that can stop a hacker from breaking in. The hacker doesn’t need your password to access DFU mode and install malicious code. However, usbliter8 can’t break into encrypted data on an iPhone on its own, so always use a complex password and biometric authentication, such as FaceID or TouchID. Those are your best defenses.
Iphone, Security, Hackers, Ios, Tech
Video shows Canadian ‘illegal alien’ slapping teen; assault suspect ‘has no business being in our country’: DHS
The U.S. Department of Homeland security said a video it posted on X Thursday shows Canadian “illegal alien” — Kaitlyn Tracey — slapping a teenager.
The DHS added that the “maple leaf menace” — who was arrested after the alleged assault in Point Pleasant Beach, New Jersey, earlier this month and then placed in the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement — “has no business being in our country.”
‘Our message is clear: If you come into our country illegally and break our laws, we will find you, we will arrest you, and we will deport you.’
The video the DHS posted shows a red-haired female with tattoos and wearing a black baseball hat appearing to twice slap another female on a boardwalk and then walking away with a male.
Police said: “The female suspect began yelling at the female juvenile over patriotic-colored sweatpants with political wording. The female suspect was then seen on video striking the juvenile female, once to the body and once to the face, with an open hand. The female suspect then left the scene without being identified.”
While the victim of the alleged assault seen on the video was wearing shorts, she does appear to be wearing a tank top with the numbers “250” on the front — presumably in regard to America’s 250th anniversary celebrated on July 4. The incident occurred July 3.
The following video contains a partial clip of the alleged slaps:
Police department detectives conducted an investigation, and police said they identified Tracey on July 6 as the suspect in connection with the incident.
Tracey was charged with simple assault, endangering the welfare of a child, harassment, and obstruction, police said, adding that Tracey early on Monday was taken into custody without incident, processed, and transported to Ocean County Jail.
Blaze News on Wednesday morning checked ICE records, which show Tracey is in ICE custody at its Delaney Hall Detention Facility in Newark, N.J. The DHS told Blaze News that is where Tracey “will remain pending her immigration proceedings.”
“She entered the United States on April 14, 2024, on a visa set to expire on September 6, 2024,” the DHS added to Blaze News. “In violation of our nation’s laws, she overstayed her visa and failed to depart.”
“Under President Trump and Secretary Mullin, ICE is targeting the worst of the worst. Nearly 70% of ICE arrests are of illegal aliens charged or convicted of a crime in the U.S.,” the DHS added to Blaze News. “Our message is clear: If you come into our country illegally and break our laws, we will find you, we will arrest you, and we will deport you.”
Fox News said a man identifying himself on social media as Tracey’s husband, Matthew Geroni, disputed the allegations in an interview with NJ.com and said the incident was “blown out of proportion.”
Fox News added that Geroni told NJ.com: “A person like Kate does not belong in any facility. My wife has never been in trouble in her entire life. She’s never had any kind of situation like this. This one little situation that was really a nothingburger when it happened has been blown so out of control by conservatives online that it has caused my wife to be put in a detention center.”
More from Fox News:
Geroni also posted several emotional videos to social media after Tracey’s arrest, saying he was trying to find an immigration attorney and pleading for help.
“I need help. I don’t know what to do,” he said in one video. “I need an immigration lawyer. … I need my wife.”
Geroni also said he created a GoFundMe campaign to help pay for Tracey’s legal defense and immigration costs before it was removed from the platform. Before it was taken down, the fundraiser said it had been organized by friends to help cover Tracey’s legal expenses and immigration-related costs.
In another video, Geroni claimed the campaign was removed after what he described as a coordinated mass reporting campaign by a “Facebook group of MAGA supporters.”
But Fox News said a GoFundMe spokesperson disputed Geroni’s claim and noted that the fundraiser was removed for violating the platform’s policies.
“GoFundMe’s terms of service prohibit fundraisers for the legal defense of violent crimes,” the spokesperson said, according to the news network. “Consistent with this long-standing policy, the fundraiser was removed from the platform and fully refunded.”
Fox News said Francis R. Hodgson, Tracey’s attorney, declined to comment; court records show Tracey is scheduled to appear in Ocean County Superior Court on Aug. 4.
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Crime, Canada, New jersey, Department of homeland security, Immigration and customs enforcement, Politics
Whitlock: MLB can’t spend ‘Pride Month’ mocking America and then wave a flag
Major League Baseball was determined to wrap this year’s All-Star Game in red, white, and blue. But according to BlazeTV host Jason Whitlock, it felt less like a celebration of America and more like a carefully scripted PR campaign.
“They tried way too hard to have this great patriotic moment last night,” Whitlock says, pointing out that instead, it “came off as fake and gay.”
“They want you to fake it, and they want you to be as fake as they are. And so they had players standing on the field holding cards and pretending to interact with kids and holding sparklers, and Patti LaBelle sang one of the worst national anthems in the history of All-Star games,” he explains.
“America has slid off the rails, and you’re just trying to put a happy face on this, you’re trying to reconnect people to Americana and some sort of pride satisfaction with America, but it can’t be done. It can’t be faked. It can’t be manufactured. And that’s what it was last night,” he continues.
Whitlock also notes that the MLB “just spent the last month on its knees kissing the LGBTQ’s rear end and stuffing Pride Night down our throat.”
“It’s going to take real work, not nostalgic moments with players holding sparklers in between innings, celebrating the 250th birthday of America in a fake way,” he says.
“Patriotism is real and organic, and it’s about shared values and people that take pride, real pride … in their country,” he continues, “And Major League Baseball doesn’t do that. Professional sports don’t do that. Professional sports for the last decade have been a tool to denigrate America.”
“And you don’t just get to, ‘Well, we’re going to stop doing that and pivot, and now we’re patriotic again.’ No, no, no, no. The only way you get to do that is when you repent for what you’ve been doing for the last decade and a half, two decades,” he adds.
He recalls the MLB’s promotion of DEI, racial idolatry, Black Lives Matter slogans — and “Pride.”
Whitlock explains that the MLB participates in not the Christian culture of the country, but in being a “safe space” for “sexual perversion.”
“That’s why they can’t now turn around and say, ‘Hey, we’re about, you remember all that nostalgic stuff in the ’80s and ’90s. We’re about that. We’re about family.’ No, you’re not. You’re about the mirage. You’re about same-sex marriage. You’re not about what made America great,” he says.
“The whole thing was fake,” he says, adding, “I’m going to keep it 1,000% real.”
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Fearless with jason whitlock, Mlb, Pride month, Fearless
The hidden danger in Trump’s drug-price plan
One of the most influential military strategists of the 20th century, U.S. Air Force Col. John Boyd, developed a decision-making process known as the OODA loop: observe, orient, decide, act.
His model emphasized a simple but powerful principle: Move quickly, but only after understanding the strategic environment.
Nations that lead biotechnology will enjoy not only economic advantages but also strategic leverage during future global crises. China understands this.
The most important step is often “orient.” It requires leaders to look beyond the immediate problem, understand the broader consequences of their actions, and anticipate unintended outcomes. When leaders skip that step, they may solve today’s problem while creating a much larger one tomorrow.
President Donald Trump’s recent effort to reduce prescription drug prices illustrates that challenge.
One of the administration’s most significant health care initiatives is the adoption of a most-favored-nation pricing model. Under this policy, the United States would tie the prices of certain prescription drugs to the lower prices paid by selected foreign countries.
The objective is understandable. Americans often pay substantially more for prescription medicines than patients in Europe or Canada. Reducing those costs would help millions of families.
But sound public policy requires looking beyond immediate savings.
Economists have long recognized that government-imposed price controls often reduce investment and supply over time. In the early 1970s, President Richard Nixon imposed broad wage and price controls in an effort to combat inflation.
Instead, the country experienced stagflation — the painful combination of high inflation and slow economic growth. Energy price controls contributed to gasoline shortages by reducing incentives for increased production. Rent-control policies in cities such as New York have similarly discouraged new housing construction, contributing to housing shortages.
Pharmaceuticals operate under similar economic realities.
Developing a single breakthrough drug often requires more than a decade of research, thousands of unsuccessful experiments, and billions of dollars in investment. The profits from successful medicines finance the research that produces tomorrow’s cures.
If government policies significantly reduce those returns, companies are unlikely to stop producing today’s medicines. More likely, they will reduce research and development spending, slowing the pace of innovation.
RELATED: Big Pharma’s miracle drugs have a nasty side effect
Bagira22/Getty Images
That slowdown would be both an economic and national security concern.
Biotechnology has become one of the world’s most strategically important industries. It influences health care, agriculture, artificial intelligence, military medicine, pandemic preparedness, and protection against biological threats.
Nations that lead biotechnology will enjoy not only economic advantages but also strategic leverage during future global crises.
China understands this.
Just as Beijing has invested aggressively in artificial intelligence, critical minerals, semiconductors, and advanced manufacturing, it has identified biotechnology as a strategic national priority.
Between 2016 and 2021, the market capitalization of Chinese biotechnology companies grew to approximately $300 billion, while the Chinese government invested heavily in research centers, biotechnology hubs, and advanced scientific education.
The numbers tell an even more compelling story.
According to the National Security Commission on Emerging Biotechnology, China completed more than 7,100 clinical drug trials in 2024, compared with roughly 6,000 in the United States. China’s share of global clinical trials has grown from approximately 1% in 2009 to nearly 30% today, while America’s share has declined.
Chinese scientists now produce roughly 60% of the world’s most-cited biotechnology research papers, and China accounts for 22% of international pharmaceutical and medical technology patents — an increase of nearly 380% over the past decade.
China also graduates approximately twice as many STEM students as the United States each year.
These statistics show that China views biotechnology as a critical component of future economic and military power. The United States, by contrast, risks treating one of its greatest strategic advantages primarily as a domestic pricing issue.
That should concern every American.
The COVID-19 pandemic exposed the vulnerabilities created by dependence on foreign supply chains for medicines and medical equipment. Imagine a future pandemic — or a deliberate biological attack — in which America depends not merely on foreign manufacturing but also on foreign research, patents, advanced therapies, and biotechnology innovation.
The leverage China now enjoys through its dominance of critical minerals could become far greater if it also dominates the technologies needed to develop vaccines, precision medicine, or defenses against biological weapons.
None of this means prescription drug prices should remain high. Americans deserve affordable medicines.
The challenge is finding policies that lower costs without discouraging the innovation that has made the United States the global leader in biomedical research.
Trump’s leadership style has often been characterized by speed — moving rapidly to implement broad policy changes and challenge long-standing assumptions.
Speed can be an advantage in business, where quick decisions often create competitive advantages. But governing a nation is fundamentally different from managing a corporation. Public policy affects industries, scientific leadership, national security, and future generations.
Decisions that appear successful in the short term can produce unintended strategic consequences years later.
Boyd understood this better than most. The goal was never simply to act quickly. It was to understand the entire battlefield before deciding how to act.
America should pursue reforms that make prescription drugs more affordable. But before adopting policies that could reduce investment in biotechnology, policymakers should pause long enough to complete Boyd’s “orient” step.
RELATED: Eli Lilly strikes a $3 billion Chinese drug deal
Nikos Pekiaridis/NurPhoto/Getty Images
In an era of growing strategic competition with China, protecting America’s leadership in biotechnology may prove as important to national security as maintaining superiority in the air, at sea, in space, or in cyberspace.
Sometimes the most dangerous consequences of a decision are not the ones we see today.
They are the ones we fail to anticipate tomorrow.
Drug prices, Donald trump, China, Prescription medications, Big pharma, Stem students, Biotechnology, Covid, Opinion & analysis
‘Very s***ty’: Gay couple sue surrogate mother who REFUSED to abort baby with minor birth defect: Report
A legal battle has cast an unflattering light on the ugly business of surrogacy as well as on the eugenicist mentality that predominates in Canada — a country whose health care system was founded by a eugenicist, where euthanasia is now a leading cause of death, and where there are no legal limits on abortion.
According to a damning new report from the National Post in which the names of parties involved were withheld, a homosexual couple is suing a surrogate mother who two years ago refused their request to abort the baby boy over whom they now have legal custody.
‘They are suing the woman who brought their son to them.’
The lawsuit, filed in Ontario Superior Court in May, alleges that the surrogate mother failed to keep the gay couple informed about the health status of the baby, endangered the baby, caused the homosexuals so much emotional distress that one missed work for two months, and violated the plaintiffs’ confidentiality, reported the Post.
The target of the lawsuit, a resident of Ontario’s Muskoka region who works as a correctional officer, has denied all of the allegations and told the Post, “You know I’m a single mom, you know I have a daughter, and you’re basically suing me for my house. It seems very s***ty, it’s just awful.”
“I just feel used,” continued the woman, who claimed that the plaintiffs have indicated they are seeking roughly $600,000 in damages. “They didn’t get the perfect child they wanted, and they threw me away.”
It is unlawful under Canada’s Assisted Human Reproduction Act to pay a woman to be a surrogate mother or to pay to arrange the services of a surrogate mother. Surrogacy is not, however, prohibited “so long as a surrogate mother in Canada makes this decision for altruistic reasons (i.e., without financial or other gain).”
A surrogate mother can only be repaid for out-of-pocket costs directly related to her pregnancy.
RELATED: ‘There is no mama’: How a viral video accidentally exposed the true cost of gay adoption
BSIP/Education Images/Universal Images Group/Getty Image
The surrogate mother targeted by the lawsuit told the Post that she became interested in surrogacy after seeing a pair of close friends face reproductive obstacles.
After her profile was shared on the website of the referral organization Surrogacy in Canada Online, the woman was inundated with messages from individuals seeking her services, she claimed. Following an extensive screening process, she ultimately entered a contract with the homosexual couple now suing her.
According to the surrogate mother who underwent in-vitro fertilization with embryos produced with a donor egg and each of the homosexual’s sperm, her relationship with the couple was positive until June 2024, when she informed them that an ultrasound indicated the baby had a cleft lip and potentially a cleft palate and minor heart defect as well.
The couple said in a letter reviewed by the Post, “Considering that medical tests indicate that the fetus has, or is likely to have, a genetic, chromosomal or other abnormality or defect, and in accordance with article 8.5 (a) of our surrogacy agreement … we want to inform you of our wish that the pregnancy be terminated.”
“Although very difficult, this decision is free and informed,” added the couple, which is being represented by Jonathan Lancaster, a litigator at the Toronto-headquartered firm Fasken.
While proposed legislation criminalizing the coercion of pregnant women to abort their babies was defeated in 2010, Juliet Guichon, a bioethics professor at the University of Calgary, told the Post that Canadian law makes clear that the decision of whether to abort a baby ultimately rests with the expectant mother.
The surrogate mother refused to kill the 22-week-old baby over what she regarded as a superficial condition.
After hearing from doctors at Mount Sinai Hospital that the baby was generally healthy, the homosexual couple allegedly greenlit the continuation of the pregnancy.
The relationship between the surrogate mother and the homosexual couple continued to deteriorate when the woman decided to keep to the original plan of having the baby delivered at home by midwives.
The surrogate mother noted that the child had breathing problems on delivery but was provided oxygen by the midwives and then promptly taken to a hospital.
The homosexual couple who sought the baby’s death ended up taking him home, then effectively suspended contact with the surrogate, according to the mother.
Under Ontario’s All Families Are Equal Act, “the child ceases to be the child of the surrogate and the surrogate ceases to be a parent of the child” if the surrogate has entered into a surrogacy agreement before the child is conceived, has received independent legal advice in advance of entering the agreement, and the child is conceived through assisted reproduction.
The surrogate mother only enjoys the rights and responsibilities of a parent with respect to the child until the baby is 7 days old.
RELATED: Britain’s first homosexual ‘parent’ via baby purchase charged with rape, sexual exploitation
PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP/Getty Images
After repeated requests for her outstanding expenses — including for lost income and transportation costs — allegedly went unanswered, the surrogate mother attempted to take the homosexual couple to small-claims court only to discover that her surrogacy contract required the resolution of such disputes by arbitration.
‘The practice of surrogacy itself cannot be reconciled with the dignity and rights of the two persons it most directly concerns.’
The Post reported that the homosexual couple subsequently filed a lawsuit, alleging that the mother put the baby’s health at risk by negligent behavior and by “failing to follow the (parents’) direction regarding decisions affecting the fetus’ medical care”; violated their confidentiality; and caused them emotional distress.
Blaze News did not immediately receive a response from the couple’s attorney.
“What I find most difficult in this is they are suing the woman who brought their son to them,” Sally Rhoads-Heinrich, the owner of Surrogacy in Canada Online, told the Post. “How is their son going to feel some day if he learns that?”
Guichon, who emphasized that the homosexual couple sought to end the baby’s life over a medical condition that “can be completely overcome by surgery and therapy,” noted that “the question arises as to whether it is in the best interests of the child to be raised by these people.”
A political declaration calling for the global abolition of surrogacy was launched at a high-level side event at the U.N. Human Rights Council last month co-hosted by the Vatican and the governments of Italy, Chile, and Cameroon.
“The practice of surrogacy itself cannot be reconciled with the dignity and rights of the two persons it most directly concerns,” said Archbishop Ettore Balestrero, an Italian prelate of the Catholic Church who works in the diplomatic service of the Holy See.
“The human person can never be the basis of a commercial contract. Every child has the right to an origin that is fully human. And under the convention on the rights of the child, the child also has the right to preserve his or her identity and as far as possible to know and be cared for by his or her parents,” continued Balestrero. “Surrogacy equally violates the dignity of the woman. It is rarely the privileged who carry children for others. The market of surrogacy is built overwhelmingly on the material need of women in situations of poverty and economic vulnerability.”
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Abortion, Canada, Eugenics, Birth defect, Cleft palate, Ontario, Homosexual, Surrogacy, Surrogate, Pregnancy, Lgbt, Radicalism, Politics
The revolution will not be televised — it will be livestreamed in 4K
Narcissism has given itself a new name: socialism.
It shouldn’t come as any surprise that the generation that has grown up scrolling through social media feeds tends to be self-obsessed. This is evident in fewer marriages, lower birth rates, and a greater likelihood of mental illness. Politically, it is reflected in the alarming percentage of young people who have favorable views of socialism.
Socialism is rising in popularity because it allows today’s youth to engage in the self-absorption of influencer culture while also enjoying the faux moral superiority of communist propaganda.
Over the past few months, members of the Democratic Socialists of America have found success in political races across America. Whether it’s Zohran Mamdani’s cadre of candidates in New York City or Colorado’s Melat Kiros, it seems like no place is safe from the DSA’s growing influence.
The party’s prospects improved markedly after Mamdani’s victory in the New York City mayoral race last year. When he launched his campaign in October 2024, the DSA’s city chapter maintained a steady membership of about 5,000 and had only about 50,000 members nationally. But after Mamdani’s victory, NYC’s chapter tripled, while the national party doubled, hitting the 100,000 mark in February.
This happened as the DSA shifted its recruitment strategy, no longer relying on anger but preying on the egocentrism of today’s youth as it ramped up its focus on college campuses.
The Mamdani campaign’s many viral moments helped turn out the youth vote. His strong social media presence carried him across the finish line in America’s largest city. Other DSA candidates such as Claire Valdez and Abdul El-Sayed adopted Mamdani’s winning strategy.
They are gaining social status and expanding their voting blocs by putting themselves at the forefront of their campaigns.
The DSA candidates are having success because they aren’t painting themselves as politicians — they’re becoming influencers.
Their rallies look like nightclubs; they surround themselves with celebrities; and their TikToks show them enjoying an idyllic, manicured vision of the cities they represent. Their young followers aren’t being shown homeless encampments or violent drug addicts attacking their fellow citizens. Instead, DSA candidates shield them from the dangerous effects of the failed policies they would only accelerate.
I often hear older conservatives who grew up during or shortly after the Cold War ask the question, “Can’t these socialist kids see their city crumbling around them?” Indeed, they can. They see the graffiti, the unsafe public transportation, and the street takeovers. They choose to ignore these realities or blame them on “capitalism” as they look with awe at Zohran Mamdani joyfully walking shoulder to shoulder with his fellow New Yorkers on his way to get a poppy-seed bagel.
They’re caught up in his smile as he reads to a class of preschool children or encourages people to relinquish private property for the greater good.
RELATED: The media’s Democratic cover-up is collapsing
Chuwy/Getty Images
The DSA operates like any social media influencer, showing its audience how good life could be if they buy the right product, and in this case, that product is a trendy, Instagram-ready brand of socialism.
Perhaps no one has embodied the socialist influencer mindset more robustly than Hasan Piker. He has amassed a large following through daily, hours-long live Twitch streams, where he talks about communist theory and chats with his ever-growing group of followers.
Piker has been constantly seen with liberal elites and even made an appearance at Vanity Fair’s Oscar party, where he dressed like a chic Chairman Mao. He posts photos of himself thoughtfully “reading” Lenin or wearing expensive suits at Free Palestine rallies.
But for all of Piker’s radicalism, such as saying that the streets should “soak in red capitalist blood,” he could fairly be described as a communist MrBeast.
Piker and Mamdani represent the sinister narcissism underpinning the burgeoning socialist movement. Young people are obsessed with themselves: A recent Morning Consult poll found that 86% of respondents want to be influencers, the fourth most popular career aspiration for Americans between the ages of 13 and 38.
Socialism is rising in popularity because it allows today’s youth to engage in the self-absorption of influencer culture while also enjoying the faux moral superiority of communist propaganda. It is a match made in hell.
Kids looking to build audiences need only post about abolishing ICE or implementing rent control. Never mind that their iPhones and Instagram feeds were created by the very people and corporations they rail against. What matters is that they see their own image reflected in every inch of the world.
Editor’s note: A version of this article appeared originally in The American Mind.
Birth rates, Celebrities, Hasan piker, Homeless encampments, Influencers, Narcissism, Socialism, Zohran mamdani, Rent control, Democratic socialists of america, Opinion & analysis
Digital memory card dropped at store leads to discovery of hundreds of thousands of child porn files
Law enforcement officials said a search warrant of a 40-year-old man’s devices led to the discovery of hundreds of thousands of child porn images and videos.
The disturbing discovery was made after the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department was contacted by workers at a Stater Bros. grocery store in the picturesque mountain town of Lake Arrowhead.
Surveillance video from the store allegedly showed Quinn dropping the microSD memory card.
A worker found a microSD memory card and turned it over to police in June 2026.
Deputies reviewed the card and found “thousands of digital media depicting child pornography” that included “infants and juveniles performing sexual acts.” Some of the media was generated by artificial intelligence, but others were real.
Investigators were able to connect the card to Adam James Quinn, a resident of Lake Arrowhead. Surveillance video from the store allegedly showed Quinn dropping the microSD memory card.
Deputies then performed a search warrant at Quinn’s residence and seized other microSD cards as well as hard drives, flash drives, laptops, other computers, and his phone.
They allegedly found hundreds of thousands of child porn files on the devices.
Quinn was arrested on Wednesday and charged with possession of child pornography.
RELATED: 4 teachers and 1 cop in small Alabama town arrested over child pornography, police say
Lake Arrowhead. Don Kelsen/Los Angeles Times/Getty Images
Police released his booking photo in hopes of obtaining other information from the public that might help their investigation.
Lake Arrowhead is a small town with about 12,000 residents located in the San Bernardino Mountains.
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Child porn, California, Surveillance, Crime
Want to sell your book? Vilify the Christians who raised you.
Last year, here in Portland, I went to an author event at my local bookstore. The book was called “On Fire for God: Fear, Shame, Poverty, and the Making of the Christian Right.” It was a memoir by Josiah Hesse.
The event description said the memoir was about Hesse’s “bleak and difficult childhood in a small, rural Evangelical community in Iowa.”
My guess is that his literary agent or his editor understood how hungry mainstream publishers are for books that attack and slander the Christian faith.
Apparently, Hesse suffered mental anguish as a child when he was told by church elders that he was going to be tortured in hell for his sins.
Breaking with his church and family while still in his teens, he struck out on his own, eventually becoming a successful writer and journalist. Now he had written a book exposing the Christian right.
Dissing Christians
Hesse was doing a national book tour. He was traveling the country doing interviews and podcasts. He had just been featured on National Public Radio.
Needless to say, the mainstream media loved this book. A full frontal attack on the Midwestern evangelicals is always welcome in their circles. Especially if the author escaped the oppression of the church and found shelter in the safe spaces of progressive liberalism.
The book event began with Josiah Hesse making a grand entrance into the bookstore’s event area.
I didn’t know what to expect from such an author in terms of appearance, but I was definitely not expecting the rock-star shag haircut, the crisp white shirt, the shimmering black dinner jacket, or the elegant cravat around his neck.
Had this guy come here on his yacht? His face had definitely been moisturized. He looked like he could be in an ABBA tribute band.
Getting to know the author
Hesse took the stage and began his talk. He described growing up as an evangelical Christian.
As a young man, he was sensitive and imaginative and didn’t fit in. His parents, meanwhile, were loyal evangelicals. His dad believed in the “end times” and the eventual rise of the Antichrist.
In his teen years, Hesse’s feelings of alienation from his family and community got progressively worse. It didn’t help matters that he developed a taste for wearing high heels and trying on his mother’s clothes.
Small-town boy
So it turns out that Josiah was gay! Not that there’s anything wrong with that. Eventually, he did what so many young gay people do: When he was old enough, he moved to the nearest big city. In this case, Denver.
There, he scraped by, working odd jobs and picking up writing gigs. Over time, he was able to develop his talent and eventually got a literary agent and published a book called “Runner’s High” at a major publishing house.
Watching him talk, he seemed like an upbeat guy. He told funny stories. He didn’t seem traumatized by his Christian upbringing. He was just gay. And now he was a successful writer who was gay.
RELATED: My search for America’s last decent public libraries
Joe McNally/Getty Images
Family ties
I also noticed the “breaking with his family” part of the story wasn’t quite as severe as promised. In his talk, he described returning home, hanging out with his dad, meeting up with old friends, reconnecting as best he could.
It was an interesting and relatable story.
So what happened to the evil Christian right? That’s what the book was supposed to be about. Where’s the trauma? Where’s the abuse? Where are the scars?
The Portland audience seemed restless and disappointed. Where was the evil? That’s what they came for. WE WANT OUR CHRISTIAN EVIL!
Not following the script
I haven’t read the book, so I don’t know for sure what’s in it. Hesse did quote some statistics during his talk.
These statistics seemed designed to reassure the anti-Christian audience that he was on their side. Trump is bad. Conservatives are neanderthals. Christians are brainwashed and in some cases predatory.
But I was skeptical. I didn’t believe Hesse was really this simpleminded. He was clearly an intelligent guy. He wasn’t super political. He didn’t hate his family, or his town, or his old friends.
He had moved away from his rural community, as any talented gay person would do. He found his people in Denver. And now he was writing books and living his best life.
Go where the money is
My guess is that his literary agent, or his editor, or maybe Hesse himself understood how hungry mainstream publishers are for books that attack and slander the Christian faith.
They especially love books that confirm the stereotype: “small-town Christians = bigots + racists.”
These memoirs are so popular that there’s a formula:
The author is abused and humiliated by the sadistic locals.The author breaks free of their bigotry and finds his way to the “good people,” i.e. college-educated liberals in coastal cities.There, the formerly oppressed author can flourish and be his true self: gay, or nonbinary, or furry, or poly-whatever.Everyone lives happily ever after.
That’s the genre that Josiah Hesse’s “On Fire for God” supposedly belongs to. (See also “Educated” by Tara Westover, another memoir with almost the exact same storyline.)
Did Josiah strictly adhere to that formula? More or less. My main impression of the author: He looked happy. His writing career was going great. He was on a national tour. He was staying in nice hotels. He was wearing a cravat.
And I’m sure his publishers got what they wanted too. Another book that confirms that educated people, good people, moral people are uniformly against the Christian right, which is apparently an ongoing threat to our nation.
The only problem is: Whenever someone writes a book about the “dangerous Christian right,” it turns out he is just describing another small town in Iowa — usually, a town where, if you actually went there, you would find kind, decent people who, when you brought up the “Christian right,” wouldn’t even know what you were talking about.
Antichristian, Memoir, Trauma, Books, Entertainment, Faith, Memoirs, Josiah hesse, Portland, Christian right, Blake’s progress
Your ‘healthy’ food has a secret ingredient the FDA won’t tell you about
Most Americans assume the ingredient label tells the whole story.
But according to Ashley and Patrick Sullivan, creators of the documentary “Breaking Big Food,” that assumption is usually wrong — and they’re exposing one loophole Big Food uses to keep cheap but toxic ingredients hidden from the public.
“What would you say is maybe one ingredient that people don’t know to look for? I’ve heard a lot of people talk about seed oils and different things, but what would you say is maybe one that doesn’t get enough attention that people need to look out for?” BlazeTV host Allie Beth Stuckey asks.
“I think natural flavors can be tricky. Sometimes, they can be from naturally derived sources, but specifically if they are used in savory foods, a lot of times it can be code for MSG,” Ashley tells Stuckey.
MSG is monosodium glutamate, which Patrick explains is an “excitotoxin.”
At specific dosages, this acts as a neurotoxin to the brain.
“So think of like your Stove Top Stuffing kind of thing that has natural flavors. That ‘natural flavors’ is likely a monosodium glutamate,” Patrick says.
“You’re saying it could be in something that’s marketed as healthy, that doesn’t have any other bad ingredients, but it does have natural flavors, which honestly a lot of times I’ve kind of just resigned myself to being like, ‘Well, that’s the only thing in it then whatever,’” Stuckey says.
“But you’re saying it could be MSG,” she adds.
“Yeah, and that would be something that you kind of look at the FDA and say, ‘I think they’re asleep at the wheel here on yet another issue regarding food labeling,’” Patrick says. “I think most Americans want to know, they want to educate themselves. They want to feed their families healthy food.”
“And they’re sort of expecting the FDA, whoever is in charge of what is on the grocery store shelves, they kind of expect that the FDA has kind of done their homework,” he continues. “They’re sadly mistaken that there are loopholes like natural flavors.”
But it’s not just “natural flavors” that consumers have to worry about.
“There’s also the loopholes of like GRAS, ‘generally recognized as safe,’ where in America, you have to prove harm rather than proving safety,” Patrick says.
“So for the past 30 years, the FDA was overwhelmed, and they allowed Big Food to begin introducing new chemicals into the food supply that they allow the food companies to self regulate as well. We think that’s generally recognized as safe,” he continues.
“And as a result, you hear claims, I’m not sure if the number is correct, but there’s about 10,000 chemicals in the United States that are allowed to be used under generally recognized as safe principles,” he explains, adding, “And those same chemicals are not allowed to be used in Europe.”
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Allie beth stuckey, Ashley sullivan, Breaking big food, Excitotoxin, Fda, Gras, Msg, Natural flavors, Patrick sullivan, Seed oils, Relatable with allie beth stuckey
ICE center employee allegedly shoots woman after protesters block his vehicle
A worker at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement processing center was booked on suspicion of attempted murder after shooting a protester, Colorado police say.
Aurora police said protesters were blocking ICE workers’ access to the ICE facility on Thursday evening when two female protesters got into a verbal altercation with the workers and took photos of their vehicles.
She was shot in the lower part of her body, but her injuries are believed to be non-life-threatening.
Brandon Booth, 42, allegedly “retrieved his personally owned pistol” and fired it at the two protesters as they walked away, striking one. He got back into his car and drove away.
Police said they were notified about the shooting around 7:30 a.m.
Booth was detained about two blocks away from the location of the shooting on Nome Street with a gun in his vehicle, police said.
The victim, who has not been identified, was described as a protester by police.
She was shot in the lower part of her body, but her injuries are believed to be non-life-threatening.
Both was booked on “probable cause of attempted second-degree murder, first-degree assault, attempted first-degree assault, felony menacing, and unlawful carrying of a concealed weapon,” according to the police statement.
A spokesperson for GEO Group, which runs the ICE facility, released a brief statement about the incident to CBS News.
“We are aware that an off-duty Aurora ICE Processing Center employee was involved in a shooting incident,” the statement reads. “This individual has been placed on unpaid administrative leave, and we will fully cooperate with law enforcement.”
Aurora Police Chief Todd Chamberlain called the shooting a “tragedy on all fronts” in a statement Friday.
The Colorado District Attorney’s Office for Adams and Broomfield Counties declined to comment in an email to Blaze News.
The district attorney’s office said official charges would be announced after the next hearing on July 22.
“We remain committed to ensuring an ethical, thorough, objective, and comprehensive review of this case. Violence of any kind will not be tolerated in Aurora. Constitutional rights are a pivotal part of a just society — violence is not,” Chamberlain concluded.
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Attempted murder, Immigration and customs enforcement, Protesters, Politics
Swastika and racial slur found on fence at elementary school in SoCal town
California residents are expressing shock at the discovery of a swastika and a racial slur in a message left on an elementary school fence.
The message was found outside on a fence shared between Rio Seco Elementary School and the SportsPlex in Santee near San Diego.
‘Hate has no place in our schools or community.’
Someone snapped a photo of the message and posted it to the Facebook page “All Things Happening in Santee.”
The school district said in a statement that it notified the San Diego County Sheriff’s Office and immediately took the messages down.
“The Santee School District strongly condemns acts of hate and vandalism. Recently, we discovered an offensive and hateful symbol displayed on a shared fencing area,” the statement reads in part.
An image of the message on social media shows that the slur was the N-word.
“Hate has no place in our schools or our community. We remain strictly committed to fostering safe and welcoming learning environments for all students, staff, and families,” the district continued.
The incident comes as the City of Santee continues efforts to strengthen its reputation and promote unity following past incidents involving hate groups.
KGTV-TV spoke to residents who were enjoying the city’s weekly concert series near the school.
“It’s kind of sad that that’s happening because, you know, it’s the old saying, one bad apple,” resident Dion Milton said. “You can’t let it spoil the whole tree.”
“My sister-in-law grew up here when this was nothing but farmland,” he added. “It has changed, and I think for the better.”
Milton went on to end with a hopeful message.
“You’re going to have your few that don’t know how to love,” he added. “You just try to show them love, and maybe they’ll catch on. If they don’t, then maybe next time.”
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Racism, Vandalism, California, Hate crime, Politics
One airline makes special offer to snowflake passengers wanting to boycott Trump International Airport, leaked memo says
Anti-Trump passengers to Florida who will suffer trauma from flying into President Donald J. Trump International Airport in West Palm Beach may have a free option available to them from one airline.
Many on the left claimed to be boycotting the airport after it was officially renamed on July 9. It was previously named Palm Beach International Airport.
The airline pushed back … and claimed their rules ‘don’t allow for changes because of an airport’s name or three-letter code.’
According to a memorandum sent to United Airlines reservation agents and obtained by Live and Let’s Fly, passengers who object to landing at the airport could be rerouted to Ford Lauderdale Airport or Miami International Airport.
The memo even offers a statement that agents can use when confronted by a snowflake passenger:
“I understand that you’d rather not fly to this airport anymore. We can look at nearby airports like Fort Lauderdale or Miami instead. Is that an acceptable alternative?” the memo suggests, according to Live and Let’s Fly.
The airline pushed back in a statement to the New York Post and claimed its rules “don’t allow for changes because of an airport’s name or three-letter code.”
The president’s Trump Force One plane was the first to land on the tarmac of the airport after the name change. Many of his supporters and allies praised the decision to change the name, which was signed into law by Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
“There is no person who has done more for Florida and our country, and no one more deserving of this incredible honor,” Eric Trump responded on social media at the time.
RELATED: Outrage erupts over new passport celebrating America’s 250th — and guess whose image is on it
“Congratulations Dad — I’m happy to have played a big role in making this happen,” the president’s son continued.
The airline also said the memorandum was poorly worded and that passengers may make changes to their ticket for many reasons without incurring charges.
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Trump international airport, United airlines, Donald trump, Boycott, Florida, Politics
Glenn Beck rips Tim Walz’s SICKENING defense of predator
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz is in the headlines again after coming to the defense of the now-deported immigrant he previously pardoned — even though the immigrant was convicted of sexually assaulting a 10-year-old girl.
In his response to the Trump administration, Walz appears to be exploiting the empathy of his Democrat voters and ignoring the disturbing reality of what the immigrant did.
“Tim Walz and people like him will take that compassion and they will abuse it,” Blaze Media co-founder Glenn Beck begins.
“Walz responded to the Trump administration because Trump deported a pedophile that was a legal immigrant here that Tim Walz had pardoned,” he says. “You’re pardoning a pedophile?”
“So Tim Walz comes out and talks about the Trump administration deporting that illegal migrant convicted of raping a 10-year-old girl. How is Tim Walz not being recalled? Why is there not an impeachment hearing on Tim Walz?” he asks. “He pardons an illegal migrant convicted of raping a 10-year-old girl.”
The predator, Glenn notes, is “not an American citizen.”
“There’s no reason to have a threat in here that’s not an American. We have our own threats,” he says.
In a horrifying response to Trump’s deportation of the predator, Walz said, “Did that make us any safer? Did that make the children that are left behind any more stable? Did it improve the idea that we can’t all be judged by our worst day? And I want to be very clear: These are horrific crimes.”
“Yeah, Tim. I think that did make his children that apparently he left behind more stable,” Glenn comments. “Yeah, they got rid of a child rapist as a father.”
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Glenn beck, Tim walz, Donald trump, Pedophile, Minnesota, Illegal immigration, Glenn beck program
INSANE videos from unhinged Democratic debate to replace Graham Platner are going hilariously VIRAL
Democrats who are still hoping to win one of Maine’s seats in the U.S. Senate after Graham Platner’s unceremonious exit were likely disappointed by the Democratic debate Thursday.
The social media team for the Republican National Committee had a field day posting various clips from the debate that displayed the candidates’ absurdity and/or extremism.
‘They say we want to hurt people. I don’t want to hurt anybody, I just want to use the bathroom.’
Transgender-identifying candidate Ashley Webb got the most attention with the bizarre statements he made from the stage. In one video, Webb tries to list his qualifications to serve in the Senate.
“I ran for office several times. Didn’t win,” Webb explained with a brief laugh, “but I did run. And then, I’m a songwriter, and then I write my own books.”
Then Webb, who was wearing a dress, added: “I wouldn’t lie to the people, and I wouldn’t deceive the people, like we’re being deceived right now … like what’s going on with ICE.”
Webb went on to explain why he supported the rights of trans-identifying individuals to use any bathroom.
“And then with the trans community, we’re being dehumanized,” Webb said. “They say that we want to hurt people. I don’t want to hurt anybody, I just want to use the bathroom. … If they want me to use the men’s room, I will, but I don’t want to be assaulted.”
Webb also supported expansion of gun restrictions nationally.
“I think a national red flag law would probably be more appropriate. If you’re a danger to society, you shouldn’t have a gun,” he said in another video posted by the RNC.
Other candidates used the platform to bash the Democratic Party and to advocate abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
And many had warm thoughts about Platner, despite his embarrassing shortcomings.
“The single idea from Graham Platner that spoke most deeply to me is that he’s right. The democracy that we thought we had has been deeply corrupted by those in power in Washington,” said Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, who failed miserably to unseat incumbent Sen. Susan Collins (R) in 2014.
“We need someone who’s gonna stand up for Mainers, and Graham Platner was right! The system’s rigged!” said Dan Kleban, co-founder of Maine Beer Company.
The New York Post compiled a video of some of the cringiest moments from the debate.
After the debate ended, a television commentator tried to gently acknowledge the lack of pizzazz from the candidates.
“When it comes to charisma, Platner had a lot of advantages. … I don’t think that any of those people that we saw just now have that card to play,” Ron Schmidt said.
The winner of the Democratic scramble to replace Platner will go up against Collins in November.
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Democrats, Graham platner, Us senate, Debate, Susan collins, Politics
Shocking study reveals the devastating damage fluoride might be doing to your brain
Fluoride use in drinking water has long been a contentious debate, resulting in multiple state bans in recent years.
Now, a new study shows that the chemical compound could have brutal effects on brain cells and cognition when consumed by humans or animals.
‘Structural damage to the central nervous system may occur.’
Brain drain
Florida became the second state after Utah to ban fluoride from its drinking water systems in 2025, and Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) may have been ahead of the curve if a recent study on fluoridization effects are to be believed.
A brain research study published on Science Direct is claiming point-blank that fluoride consumption can lead to cognitive dysfunction.
The study used living mice and HT-22 cells, mice brain cells, and concluded that “structural damage to the central nervous system may occur in human and animals after fluoride exposure.”
The mice were exposed to fluoride for five months, absorbing it through water as sodium fluoride, as it is typically delivered through drinking water systems or toothpaste. One group of mice consumed drinking water that had 50mg of sodium fluoride per liter, a second group drank water with 100mg/liter, and a third group drank pure deionized water.
The mice who had fluoride showed losses in brain and body weight compared to the control group, as well as a decrease in cognitive ability.
The HT-22 cells decreased in numbers with the increase of fluoride concentrations, while cell survival rate gradually decreased. At the same time, the number of axons and dendrites — which facilitate communication within the nervous system — decreased as fluoride concentrations increased.
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Seth McConnell/The Denver Post/Getty Images
Muddled mice
To test the fluoride-induced neurotoxicity, the team of scientists evaluated learning and memory capabilities through a behavioral study known as the “step-down test.”
Researchers placed the mice on a platform, where the surrounding floor delivered a mild electric shock. Then, the researchers recorded how many times the animals mistakenly jumped down after learning about the shock. These errors were considered a lapse in “avoidance memory,” PsyPost wrote.
The test reportedly showed a distinct drop in cognitive performance among the mice who were exposed to fluoride. The group that had a medium dose made more errors than those drinking the pure water, and while the highest dose group made even more errors, it wasn’t statistically significant compared to the medium-dose group.
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Gregory Rec/Portland Portland Press Herald/Getty Images
Ban wagon
While readers should be aware that the study was carried out entirely by scientists in mainland China, the debate over fluoridization in water is not limited to the communist country.
Around the same time Florida banned the process in 2025, at least five other states were having policy discussions about doing the same: Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Nebraska, and New Hampshire.
In addition to the two state bans, nine other states have less than 50% of their population on fluoridated water, according to CDC data. Among the lowest are Oregon (26%), New Jersey (16%), and Hawaii (8.5%).
Globally, the United States is one of the highest users of fluoride in water, but not the top. According to World Population Review, the U.S. is ranked as No. 7 (73%) in usage behind Malaysia, Australia, Gabon, and Brunei, while allegedly 100% of both Singapore and Hong Kong populations are on fluoride water.
Other Western countries with significant usage include Ireland (73%), Israel (70%), New Zealand (61%), and Canada (44%). China’s rate is just 15%.
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Florida, Ron desantis, China, Fluoride, Brain damage, Health
Europe bans ‘sexualization’ of female athletes on camera, but viewers are stating the obvious
A governing body in Europe has decided that female athletes are being harmed by broadcasting presentations.
The European Broadcasting Union put out a 23-page report recently that demanded broadcasters cease using camera angles that they say contribute to the “sexualization” of women.
‘Certain camera angles … cause discomfort for athletes and unnecessary distractions.’
EBU Executive Director Glen Killane called the “sexualization of women athletes through selective camera angles and editing choices” a significant concern in the sports world, so his union set out to put a stop to it.
To that end, the broadcasters announced new guidelines for how women’s athletics should be filmed, specifically track and field. This included barring camera angles from beneath pole vaulters going over the bar, for example, long shots of female athletes, and camera angles of the lower half of their bodies.
Readers were quick to voice their displeasure with the decision.
“Great idea, let’s make women’s sports even more unwatchable,” wrote one X user.
“The beauty of elite athletes’ physiques is an integral part of the spectacle. If athletes [prefer] to conceal certain body parts, they can simply wear more covering clothing,” another reader argued in response to a post from a track and field page.
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Richard Heathcote/Getty Images
Another comment seemed to summarize the EBU’s perspective on the matter when a reader stated, “Why can’t they just wear what they want to and not worry about creepy camera angles?”
In the EBU guidelines, two female athletes offered similar sentiments. British Olympic pole vaulter Holly Bradshaw wrote that “on too many occasions cameras are zoomed in, showing super slow-motion action replays of athletes in undignified positions.”
She said this has resulted in online abuse.
Serbian Olympic long jumper Ivana Spanovic also said, “Certain camera angles, combined with gender stereotypes … cause discomfort for athletes and unnecessary distractions.”
It didn’t take long, however, for readers to point out that both Bradshaw and Spanovic have themselves posted images and video of their competitions from angles that will soon be banned.
Bradshaw posted images from angles nearly identical to those the EBU considers “compromising,” such as this photo and this photo.
Spanovic was also noted to have shared multiple images that seem to be obvious violations under the new guidelines, specifically this image.
JAVIER SORIANO/AFP/Getty Images
“Men wear shorts why can’t women. I’ve never understood this. This isn’t a bikini contest,” Google whistleblower Zach Vorhies wrote.
The debate has raged on for years, especially when it came to the track and field uniforms for the United States at the 2024 Summer Olympics.
While some expressed outrage at the bikini-style women’s uniforms, it was later revealed that sponsor Nike had a plethora of options for athletes, including athletic shorts and longer tights. In fact, Nike said in 2024 that it offered over 50 different iterations and claimed that track and field athletes could “choose outfits that match their style and personal preference without sacrificing comfort during the games.”
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Track and field, Europe, Olympics, Sexism, Sports
