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Six weeks later, McConnell’s latest ‘proof of life’ photo only fuels more conspiracy theories

Six weeks after Mitch McConnell was hospitalized for a fall and pneumonia, he has yet to be cleared to return to work — but his office did share a brand-new proof-of-life photo of him.

In the statement accompanying the photo, McConnell claimed to be going through “intense physical therapy” and said he would not be making an appearance at any events in the near future.

“That’s the same picture,” “Pat Gray Unleashed” co-host Jeff Fisher comments.

“We don’t even know that that’s recent. We don’t know if it’s real. Could be AI,” Gray says.

The photo, Gray points out, is eerily similar to the first photo released of McConnell. He’s sitting while his wife has her hand on his arm.

“The only difference is sitting in a different chair,” he says.

While the walls in both photos appear to look exactly the same, in the first photo he’s holding a newspaper, and in the second he’s not.

“What kind of game are they playing with the American people?” Gray asks.

“We’re obviously being scammed and played for fools,” he adds.

“We don’t understand why,” Fisher chimes in.

“No. What is it accomplishing?” Gray asks. “If he’s incapacitated-slash-dead, what is this doing for you to not tell the American people?”

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​Ai, Fall, Jeff fisher, Mitch mcconnell, Pat gray, Pneumonia, Proof of life, Wife, Blazetv show 

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How the WNBA’s hottest star became the left’s newest headache

Sophie Cunningham did not announce that she was joining the conservative movement. She did something more effective: She said what she believed, declined to apologize, and allowed the culture to decide what that meant.

The Indiana Fever guard has emerged over the past several months as one of the WNBA’s most recognizable personalities. She protects Caitlin Clark on the court. She points, taunts, jokes, and produces memes. She embraces glamour without softening the physical edge that earned her a reputation as Clark’s enforcer.

Cunningham’s rise does not prove that the culture has changed. It does suggest that refusing progressive scripts no longer guarantees exile from public life.

Then she said men do not belong in women’s locker rooms.

That statement, and Cunningham’s refusal to retreat from it, transformed a rising basketball personality into a broader cultural figure. Conservative commentators embraced her almost immediately, but her appeal extends beyond people who follow politics — or women’s basketball.

Cunningham is connecting because she projects something increasingly rare in public life: confidence without ideological explanation.

Athletes and celebrities routinely make bold declarations, encounter resistance, and issue an apology drafted in the language of corporate risk management. Cunningham followed a different script.

“I think I said what I said,” she told a reporter who asked how transgender people might receive her comments. Cunningham added that protecting children was important and said she would remain true to her beliefs and morals.

The answer was brief, but it established the central feature of her emerging public persona. Cunningham did not turn the interview into a political speech. She also did not allow the interviewer to make her qualification for continued public life contingent upon an apology.

That restraint made the statement more powerful.

Riley Gaines, the former NCAA swimmer who has become a leading advocate for women’s sports, praised Cunningham’s willingness to speak openly inside a league known for progressive politics.

“If you’re Sophie Cunningham playing in the WNBA, which is like the most woke league of all time in the history of ever, it takes immense courage to say exactly what she did,” Gaines said.

Clay Travis and Buck Sexton urged listeners to buy Cunningham’s jersey. Megyn Kelly called her “damn fearless” and emphasized that Cunningham had “a lot to lose.

RELATED: WNBA star Sophie Cunningham comes out against men in women’s sports: ‘I want to protect young girls’

Justin Casterline/Getty Images

The support was predictable. The scale and speed of it were more revealing.

Cunningham had already built an audience through basketball. Her willingness to defend Clark during physical confrontations made her a fan favorite. The pointing meme reinforced her image as a player who enjoys conflict rather than merely endures it. Her locker-room comments gave that persona a cultural dimension.

She was no longer simply the Fever player willing to confront an opponent. She had become the athlete willing to confront a prevailing social expectation.

Cunningham expanded that profile in July when she appeared at a UFC event as a surprise guest Octagon girl.

The appearance was not framed as activism. By Cunningham’s account, it came together almost on a whim. She participated in a popular sporting spectacle, displayed her humor and femininity, and appeared comfortable with the attention.

That combination has helped distinguish her from the carefully managed public figures who appear determined to make attractiveness, glamour, or sex appeal politically inoffensive.

Cunningham does not seem embarrassed by any of it. She can be physically aggressive on the court, glamorous outside it, and direct when discussing biological sex. For many fans, those qualities complement rather than contradict one another.

The closest recent comparison may be Sydney Sweeney.

Neither woman appears to have set out to become a conservative symbol. Sweeney became a political flash point largely because activists and journalists insisted on treating conventional beauty, femininity, and mass appeal as ideological provocations.

Cunningham is undergoing a similar transformation. She describes herself as not especially political. Her growing conservative audience has not required her to deliver a partisan endorsement or recite a movement platform. Her refusal to adopt progressive language has been enough.

RELATED: Sydney Sweeney spurns Cosmo girl’s desperate ‘MAGA Barbie’ bait

Patrick T. Fallon/AFP/Getty Images

Jennifer Sey, a former national champion gymnast and founder of the women’s apparel company XX-XY Athletics, told Blaze News that Cunningham’s support is broader than the organized right.

“Sophie Cunningham’s surge in support isn’t just from conservatives,” Sey said. “It’s coming from people who still believe in reality — and in women’s right to privacy, safety, and a fair shot in sport.”

Sey acknowledged that Cunningham probably leans conservative but argued that the label is beside the point.

“She keeps her politics to herself,” Sey said. “We back her because she’s telling the truth and defending women and girls. Full stop.”

That distinction helps explain Cunningham’s appeal.

She has not become popular because she presents herself as a political activist. She has become politically significant because she refuses to treat ordinary observations as forbidden.

Her recent locker-room remarks also fit an established pattern.

RELATED: Women’s sports finally got a reality check

Oliver Contreras/AFP/Getty Images

Late last year, Cunningham responded to WNBA star Paige Bueckers’ claim that she could beat NBA guard Josh Hart in a one-on-one game. Cunningham said an elite male player should be able to beat a female player.

The underlying point was the same: Biological differences do not disappear because acknowledging them has become culturally uncomfortable.

Sey said Cunningham’s status as an active and popular professional athlete gives her comments greater force.

“All the other pro athletes are lacking,” Sey said. “And she is making a huge impact because she is a popular player, she’s got sass, and she’s not backing down.”

Cunningham’s rise also exposes an opportunity for the WNBA.

The league has attracted unprecedented attention through Clark, but it has often struggled to welcome audiences that do not share the politics of its most vocal players. Cunningham offers a different model. She can attract fans without turning every disagreement into a lecture or every interview into an ideological test.

Whether she wants the larger role remains unclear.

Cunningham may prefer to remain an athlete with opinions rather than become a movement representative. She could decide that the commercial and professional costs are too high. One controversy, one interview, or one carefully worded clarification could alter the trajectory.

But the conditions for a larger cultural profile are already evident. She is visible, attractive, funny, physically fearless, and willing to withstand pressure. She possesses the instincts of a public personality without yet sounding like one manufactured by publicists.

Cunningham’s rise does not prove that the culture has changed. It does suggest that refusing progressive scripts no longer guarantees exile from public life.

For a player in the WNBA, that is already a big deal.

​Caitlin clark, Conservative movement, Indiana fever, Riley gaines, Sophie cunningham, Wnba, Sydney sweeney, Women’s sports, Trans agenda, Opinion & analysis, Analysis, Sports 

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Stop ‘owning the libs’ and start owning institutions

Liberals increasingly treat politics as religion. They may have abandoned traditional faith, but they have not abandoned devotion. They possess saints, heretics, rituals, taboos, pilgrimages, and a vision of salvation. That political faith has given progressives the commitment required to capture institutions, build machines, and shape the future.

Conservatives often respond with mockery.

The people you mock are organizing the world your grandchildren will inherit. Build something capable of stopping them.

We’ve all laughed at the childless, blue-haired activists lauding socialism behind their COVID masks. We point at and mock the unemployed polycule, the emotional instability, the theatrical rage, and the childish demands to abolish police, erase borders, and destroy capitalism.

The mockery is usually deserved. The dismissal is not.

Those ridiculous people keep showing up. They organize. They make art. They join committees. They staff bureaucracies. They run nonprofits. They enter classrooms. They write rules. They decide what your children learn, what your employees may say, and what your business must obey.

The joke is on conservatives who laugh while losing.

Conservatives build businesses, raise families, and grow churches. These are real achievements. They are more honorable than spending one’s life screaming slogans outside a courthouse or enforcing ideology from a human resources department.

But honorable work can become an excuse for political and cultural surrender.

Many conservatives tell themselves that activism is merely a symptom of liberal dysfunction. They imagine their own reluctance to organize proves superior health. Politics has become religion for the left, they say, while conservatives seek salvation elsewhere.

All true. None of it excuses the shocking lack of action.

Alexis de Tocqueville identified the American habit that once prevented private life from collapsing into selfish isolation. In “Democracy in America,” he praised Americans for their nearly compulsive desire to form associations.

RELATED: America’s newest jail has no walls

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They founded churches, schools, hospitals, libraries, fraternities, unions, charities, and local organizations with their own money and labor. These institutions created a dense web of civic life. They restrained individualism, solved local problems, and reduced the need for distant government.

Americans did not retreat from public life because they had families and businesses. They entered public life through their families, businesses, churches, lodges, and communities. That habit has largely fallen by the wayside.

Just a few decades ago, the average right-leaning businessman might also belong to the Elks Lodge, the American Legion, the Rotary Club, or a local church committee. These associations provided mutual aid, mentored young men, supported local institutions, and connected families across generations.

They were also political and cultural centers.

Men decided there to support a friend for city council. Couples organized fundraisers for the orchestra, hospital, or school. Veterans discussed local problems over beer. Business owners pooled money and influence. Neighbors formed habits of trust before a crisis demanded them.

Almost every great political and cultural movement began with passionate, like-minded people bonding over a drink.

The left’s version is uglier because the left is uglier. Progressive organizations often produce coercion, resentment, and ideological fanaticism. Conservatives are right to reject their ends.

But rejecting progressive ends does not justify abandoning organization itself.

If left-wing activists are so absurd, why do they keep winning? Why do they control education, entertainment, philanthropy, corporate bureaucracies, and much of government?

They win because they show up.

Conservative mockery has become a coping mechanism. It allows the right to transform defeat into evidence of superiority. The progressive may control the school board, but at least the conservative has a successful landscaping company and grills excellent barbecue.

The man with the barbecue may be happier and saner. The school board still controls his children’s curriculum.

RELATED: Conservatives can’t barbecue their way through national collapse

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Birth rates provide another excuse.

Conservatives correctly note that they are having more children than liberals. They assume demography will eventually deliver political victory. But children do not inherit politics like eye color.

Two obstacles destroy the fantasy of automatic triumph.

First, Democrats import loyal new voters faster than Republicans can raise children, and many immigrant populations have higher birth rates than native-born conservatives.

Second, the left controls the institutions that shape those children. Schools, universities, entertainment, music, social media, and corporate culture bombard young people with progressive assumptions all day.

A weekly church service and a few family dinners cannot compete with 16 hours of ideological formation unless parents build stronger institutions around their children.

Conservatives can fill houses with children and still lose every one of them politically.

I know stalwart conservative parents with five children who all became progressives. Their parents provided food, shelter, discipline, and love. The culture supplied the worldview.

Having children is not a political strategy. Raising them inside a durable culture is.

The same principle applies to business. Building a successful dealership, construction company, or restaurant is admirable. Building a fourth company while ignoring the city council, school board, local arts institutions, and state legislature is strategic negligence.

Politics will eventually enter the business whether the owner enters politics or not.

The left understands this. It does not separate cultural production, political organization, and economic power. It coordinates them.

Conservatives must recover the same seriousness without adopting the left’s fanaticism.

That means forming associations, funding artists, supporting schools, mentoring young people, running for local office, attending meetings, building media, and creating networks that survive one election cycle.

Not everyone must become a full-time activist. Everyone with something to conserve must contribute to the work of conservation. The task is difficult, time-consuming, and often thankless. It will interfere with leisure. It may cost money that could have purchased another boat, vacation, or business expansion.

Progressives understand that power shapes the conditions under which private life unfolds. Conservatives keep hoping private success will somehow neutralize public defeat. It will not.

The people you mock are organizing the world your grandchildren will inherit. Build something capable of stopping them.

​Faith, Government, Politics, Religion, Activism, Institutions, Democrats, Opinion & analysis 

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Reparations for slavery in 2027? Mamdani won’t rule out the idea

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani (D) is entertaining the possibility of cash reparations for slavery, calling the city “very complicit” in the institution that was outlawed in the state nearly 200 years ago.

During a sit-down discussion with the Root released Tuesday, journalist Charles Blow questioned Mamdani, a democratic socialist, about the city’s reparations efforts, including the work of NYC CORE, the Commission on Racial Equity, which was established by local law in 2024 to study reparations in the city and develop a “truth, healing, and reconciliation process.”

‘This is also what it looks like to acknowledge what history truly was.’

Blow asked Mamdani about a written statement about reparations the mayor submitted while running for mayor. The statement read in part, “New York City participated actively in the slave trade and furthered its legacy through racist institutions, policies, and laws. The city should reconcile and repair this legacy of slavery, stolen wealth, and discrimination.”

Further noting that Mamdani had said he was proud to support the new reparations commission examining Wall Street’s complicity in the slave trade, Blow then asked, “If a commission studying reparations in this city recommended cash reparations for people impacted in New York City, would you support that recommendation?”

“First, I want to say that I stand by what I submitted,” Mamdani responded.

“Here in New York City, we were very complicit.”

The mayor continued, “I can’t give you an answer in advance of them, but I can tell you that this is critically important because this is also what it looks like to acknowledge what history truly was.”

For reference, New York state fully emancipated all enslaved persons within its borders on July 4, 1827, making it the first state in the country to pass a law for the total abolition of slavery.

NYC CORE is expected to release its final report on reparations in July 2027. The commission’s website states that its work will “offer New Yorkers ways to address the history of enslaved African labor in NYC and the killing of indigenous people, with the testimony of current and past harms suffered by communities due to racism.”

RELATED: Immigrant business owners revolt against Mamdani’s ‘Soviet’-style grocery plan


Linda Tigani, the chair and executive director of NYC CORE, told Fox News Digital in a statement, “We would like to thank the mayor for using his platform to acknowledge New York City’s complicit history in chattel slavery. New York was home to the second-largest slaveholding population in America, after Charleston, South Carolina. The first commodities traded on Wall Street included the buying and selling of enslaved black people, and their brutal forced unpaid labor built one of the most powerful economic engines in the world.”

“We must repay the longstanding debt owed and truly tackle the racial wealth gap in New York City, which is directly correlated to the stain of slavery in New York City,” the statement continued.

However, if New York City decides to move forward with a reparations program, the federal government could stand in its way.

This year, the Department of Justice has attempted to block a Chicago suburb’s local housing reparations program designed for black residents who suffered from housing discrimination between 1919 and 1969 — a first of its kind. The DOJ argues that the program violates the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause and the Fair Housing Act.

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​New york city, Racial equity, Politics, Zohran mamdani, Reparations, Slavery 

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BRONCO BUSTED: I caught Ford sneaking my data — and uncovered an even bigger threat

Last night my Ford Bronco installed an automatic software update. By the next morning, it had quietly opted me into sharing additional driving data without asking my permission.

Fortunately, I caught the change before heading out and turned it back off. But instead of simply being annoyed by another software update, I found myself asking some much bigger questions: Why does Ford need more information about how I drive? Who benefits from collecting it? And why can a vehicle I already own change my privacy settings without my approval?

Manufacturers can collect your vehicle’s data, transmit it wirelessly, analyze it, and in many cases monetize it.

That update made me realize I’d been covering the same story under different headlines. Right to repair. Connected vehicles. Insurance companies buying driving data. Automatic license plate readers. Government mandates. Each seemed like a separate issue. They’re not. They’re all built on the same foundation: collecting more information about drivers while giving consumers less control over what happens to that information.

Hub cap

Every connected vehicle contains what’s known as a telematics control unit. Most drivers have never heard of it, yet it’s one of the most important pieces of technology in their vehicle. It’s the communications hub that connects your car to apps, manufacturers, dealerships, and cloud services. It also records an enormous amount of information about both the vehicle and the person behind the wheel.

Automakers describe these systems as improving convenience, diagnostics, and customer service. That’s certainly part of the story. But we’ve already seen the other side. General Motors was sued after driving information collected through OnStar was shared with data brokers and ultimately sold to insurance companies, raising serious questions about consumer consent.

Now connect that to the right to repair. Supporters believed the REPAIR Act would finally guarantee consumers and independent repair shops access to the data modern vehicles generate. Instead, the House committee stripped the telematics language before advancing the bill.

Manufacturers can collect your vehicle’s data, transmit it wirelessly, analyze it, and in many cases monetize it. Yet when lawmakers had the opportunity to guarantee vehicle owners access to that same connected data, those protections disappeared. If the information belongs to the companies that build the vehicle — but not to the person who bought it — we should all be asking why.

Cabin fever

Then I started looking at what automakers are developing behind the scenes.

Ford has published patents describing biometric systems capable of reading lips, scanning irises, monitoring heart rate, tracking facial expressions, and using interior cameras to identify occupants. Some filings even describe comparing biometric information with external databases.

Patents don’t guarantee products. Companies patent ideas that never reach production. But patents reveal where research dollars are flowing and what companies believe future regulators or markets may eventually demand. Ford isn’t alone. Nearly every major automaker is pursuing similar technologies.

RELATED: TATTLETALE EXPRESS: School buses may soon become America’s largest mobile surveillance network

VIEW Press/Getty Images

Kill switch

Then there are the laws most Americans never hear about until after they’ve passed.

Illinois recently approved an Intelligent Speed Assistance Program requiring certain repeat speeding offenders to install electronic monitoring devices at their own expense. Drivers would pay roughly $30 per month for three years. Owners of older vehicles that cannot support the required technology could lose their driving privileges because their cars cannot comply.

At the federal level, Section 24220 of the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act directs the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to establish standards for advanced impaired-driving prevention technology in future passenger vehicles. Regulators have acknowledged the technology is not yet reliable enough for widespread deployment, but Congress has already set the process in motion, with implementation deadlines approaching.

Birds of a feather …

Outside the vehicle, automated license plate reader networks continue expanding. Flock Safety may be the name most people recognize, but it’s no longer just Flock. Axon and other companies are building similar systems. Each program has its own justification — reducing crime, improving traffic safety, lowering insurance costs, or diagnosing vehicle problems — but they all rely on the same ingredients: more cameras, more connected technology, and more data about ordinary drivers.

That’s why the Bronco update bothered me. It wasn’t one software update. It was the realization that every one of these debates — right to repair, telematics, biometric patents, surveillance cameras, insurance data, and connected vehicle mandates — depends on the same infrastructure: vehicles that continuously gather information about their owners.

Once that infrastructure exists, the debate changes. It is no longer about whether the data can be collected. It becomes about who controls it, who profits from it, and how it may be used in the future.

Every one of these policies can be defended on its own merits. Safer roads are a worthy goal. Better diagnostics benefit consumers. Catching criminals matters. But when nearly every solution depends on more monitoring, more connectivity, and more information flowing away from the driver, it’s time to stop treating these as unrelated stories.

My Bronco didn’t create this trend. It simply made it impossible for me to ignore it.

The question is no longer whether modern vehicles collect more information than ever before. They do.

The question is who ultimately controls that information — and whether drivers are slowly losing control over the very vehicles they thought they owned.

​Biometric systems, Electronic monitoring devices, Ford bronco, License plate reader, Right to repair, Surveillance cameras, Telematics control unit, Vehicle data, Privacy settings, Ev mandate, Automotive 

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‘No mother deserves that’: Florida man shot and killed his mother before abusing her body, police say

A 23-year-old was arrested for allegedly shooting and killing his mother, whom he accused of abusing him for many years, according to Florida police.

George Beemer called police on Saturday morning complaining of chest pains, according to the Lee County Sheriff’s Office. After he was transported to a hospital, another 911 call reported that the home had caught fire.

‘I was devastated, absolutely devastated, and I can’t even stop thinking about it.’

Firefighters found the badly burned remains of a woman inside the home.

Police said that Beemer’s friend told them he had admitted to killing his mother and lighting the home on fire.

A medical examiner ruled the woman’s cause of death was a gunshot wound and the manner of death a homicide.

In testimony at court, a detective indicated that relatives had reported frequent arguments between the two and that the son would often break furniture in anger.

Beemer allegedly told police that his mother molested him and that he had had enough the day he killed her.

A friend of the mother told WINK-TV there’s no truth to the allegation.

“There’s absolutely no way,” the friend said. “No, no, absolutely never, never, no. I can’t buy it. I will never buy it. He’s using it as a defense mechanism to think that there’s any remote chance that this was justified.”

The friend said her first reaction to the news was to wonder what kind of drugs the son was on that day.

“I was devastated, absolutely devastated, and I can’t even stop thinking about it,” the friend added. “My oldest put me through hell and back, and I can remember sitting and talking with her. No mother deserves that.”

RELATED: Police find Florida mom’s 5-year-old twins dead at their home after she jumps off bridge to her death

Beemer was charged with second-degree murder, first-degree arson, as well as abuse of a dead human body.

He was held without bond, and his arraignment is scheduled for Aug. 24.

Police also said one cat was found alive inside the home, and one cat was found burned to death.

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​Killing, Mother, Shooting, Florida, Murder, Crime 

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Nothing says fake grassroots like an email from a corpse

Data center boosters routinely accuse local opponents of serving China or obstructing progress. In Coweta, Oklahoma, supporters of a proposed hyperscale project appear to have answered authentic opposition with something less democratic: phony support from real residents.

“Dear Vice Mayor Barnett, Project Atlas would generate millions for city services and schools, and all the needed upgrades are paid for by the developer. This seems like reasonable, low-impact growth. Please support this opportunity for Coweta.”

The data center lobby may have money, consultants, and automated emails. Its opponents have something more durable: actual voters and the truth.

The message appeared to come from a known Coweta resident. When the vice mayor contacted the supposed sender, the resident replied that he had not written it and opposed the project. Fox23 News confirmed the account with the victim.

That was not an isolated irregularity. Local farmer and activist Darren Blanchard obtained public records showing nearly 300 substantially identical messages supporting the data center. Many arrived at strange hours and apparently originated through an advocacy website that automatically generated letters to council members.

Automated advocacy tools aren’t new. But using the personal information of real people to send messages in their names without permission is not grassroots politics. It is political identity theft.

“What we suspect as to what was going on is that local citizens’ data — names, address, phone numbers, emails — was purchased, and probably a script was written and likely inputted into this advocacy website,” Blanchard said in an interview on my podcast. “And then nearly 300 people were impersonated within the community of Coweta, asking the city council to approve the data center. It was completely made up.”

The irony is hard to miss. Companies seeking to build facilities that warehouse and process vast quantities of information allegedly used residents’ personal data to impersonate them and manufacture consent.

The most grotesque message allegedly came from a dead man. Blanchard said a council member received an email supporting the project in the name of a deceased relative — on the second anniversary of that relative’s death.

That message persuaded city officials that the matter required the attention of law enforcement. Yet the city has redacted the names attached to the nearly 300 emails, making it harder for residents to learn whether their identities were used. Blanchard says an appeal to the Oklahoma attorney general has gone nowhere.

The proposed 270-acre hyperscale development from San Francisco-based Beale Infrastructure, backed by Blue Owl Capital, was abandoned at the end of March after intense local opposition and scrutiny of the campaign supporting it.

RELATED: Before you say ‘no’ to a data center, here’s what you’re giving up

Sarah Rice/Bloomberg/Getty Images

Coweta is not an isolated case of public resistance. In Box Elder County, Utah, Kevin O’Leary proposed a data center complex projected to consume enormous amounts of electricity and occupy a footprint larger than thousands of Walmart Supercenters. A public-records review by the Salt Lake Tribune found overwhelming opposition in emails to county commissioners. Just seven messages — about 2% — supported the plan.

The voters delivered an even clearer verdict. Last month, two Box Elder County commissioners who backed the project were crushed in their Republican primaries. Utah Senate President J. Stuart Adams, who played a prominent role in the state entity that approved the development, also lost.

In Calvert County, Maryland, Republican voters booted all three commissioners who had signed nondisclosure agreements with data center companies and then opposed a proposed moratorium.

These defeats expose the basic political problem facing Big Tech. Opposition to giant data centers is deep, local, and often bipartisan. Residents worry about electricity demand, water use, tax subsidies, land consumption, secrecy, surveillance, and the transfer of private risk to the public.

Those concerns cannot be erased by labeling opponents agents of China or enemies of innovation. Nor can they be overcome honestly by sending hundreds of nearly identical emails in the names of people who never authorized them.

Astroturfing usually tries to make a small constituency look large. The Coweta campaign went further: It manufactured a constituency from stolen identities, including one voice from beyond the grave.

Republican officials need to decide which side they are on. They can stand with citizens demanding transparency and control over their communities, or with globalists and techno-feudalists willing to fabricate public support.

The data center lobby may have money, consultants, and automated emails. Its opponents have something more durable: actual voters and the truth.

​China, Opinion & analysis, Globalists, Data centers, Oklahoma, Big tech, Artificial intelligence, Fraud, Darren blanchard, Astroturf, Grassroots 

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After BLM activist threatens him, James Talarico suddenly discovers reparations are part of his ‘faith tradition’

Democrat Senate candidate James Talarico continues giving Texans more and more reasons to vote against him in November. Not only does the progressive seminarian tout Christianity while supporting radical positions on abortion and transgenderism, but it appears he might be coming out in favor of race-based reparations now.

On this episode of “Come and Take It,” BlazeTV host Sara Gonzales exposes what she believes is Talarico’s radical agenda to bring anti-white policies to Texas.

After Talarico beat out fellow radical Democrat Jasmine Crockett back in March, Sara believes he’s been scheming to win over her voters, who she argues “voted for [Crockett] because she was black.”

But there’s one little problem: Talarico is a white man — the primary target of left-wing grievance politics.

“[Talarico] has checked all of the radical boxes for all of these other crazy things, but he hasn’t simped hard enough for black people specifically, which apparently angers the black community because you’re supposed to … go around telling black Texans how you are going to specifically work for them rather than for the good of all people,” Sara says.

She plays a recent video from Talarico’s July 19 town hall in southwest Houston, during which Black Lives Matter Houston activist Kandice Webber ripped into him, threatening, “You stay here, you answer our questions, or you suffer the consequences!” She then made it clear that she was attending the meeting “for my people, not for you.”

In her own social media video, Webber denounced Talarico as another “white moderate” whom her “people” would “undervote.”

“Black Texas voters, we ain’t f**king playing with you. Yeah, that white boy should have stayed where the f**k he was,” she raged.

“As radical as we know that James Talarico is, she calls him a white moderate. Like, that is insanity,” Sara says, accusing the Democratic Party of creating a “Frankenstein” mob so out of control, no level of radicalism could ever satiate it.

But it appears Talarico may be trying to do just that — satiate Crockett’s disgruntled voters.

The day after Webber’s threat, an audience member at Talarico’s town hall in DeSoto, Texas, asked, “Do you support reparations? And would you legislate for an anti-black crime bill?”

“Restoration, repairing past harms, is part of my faith tradition. It’s part of the values I was raised with, and it’s exactly why we need a lot of the policies we’ve been talking about here to invest in black communities, to invest in black Texans — whether it’s tuition relief, whether it’s homeownership grants, whether it is baby bonds to ensure that we are helping to build that generational wealth,” Talarico responded. “We have to correct the injustices of our past.”

“We are seeing the reverberations of slavery in modern-day Texas all over the place, and until we as a society are committed to righting those past wrongs, of restoring our black communities, we’re never going to be able to get this country back on track,” he added.

Sara translates Talarico’s calculated words: “Yes, I support reparations. Yes, I support legislation that puts black people on a pedestal and treats them better than anyone else because someone’s grandparents’ grandparents’ grandparents were mistreated a long time ago.”

She highlights the objective racism in his propositions.

“Tuition relief, aka free college, but for blacks only. White people, no thank you. Homeownership grants? Blacks only. Whites need not apply. Baby bonds, but only for black babies. Poor white kids? Sorry, you’re out of luck. You got the wrong skin color,” she fumes.

“That is so insanely racist, and yet it is the new policy proposition for James Talarico because he knows it’s his only play for getting the black vote.”

To hear more, watch the video above.

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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, James talarico, Black lives matter, Texas senate race, Reparations for slavery, Race politics, Blazetv show 

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Brewery owner who offered free beer when Trump dies says his alcohol permit has been REVOKED

A progressive owner of a Wisconsin brewery says he will fight “tooth and nail” after his alcohol permit was revoked.

Kirk Bangstad says the state’s Department of Revenue is revoking the permit for Minocqua Brewing Co. to operate at its two locations.

‘They’ll have to pry me out of my taprooms before I stop selling beer to thirsty progressives who come to visit us.’

Bangstad’s brewery has made headlines for its anti-Trump posts that included a promotion offering free beer whenever President Donald Trump dies.

“As you can imagine, I’m not taking this lying down,” the business owner wrote in a Substack post Sunday. “We’re going to fight the state of Wisconsin tooth and nail, and once again, they’ll have to pry me out of my taprooms before I stop selling beer to thirsty progressives who come to visit us.”

He went on to ask for donations to the brewery’s legal defense fund.

“As usual, fighting to keep my business alive means I have to pay lawyers, and that’s never cheap,” he added. “Every time this [happens], I rack up $100K in legal bills before we even see a judge. If you can help chip in to the Minocqua Company’s legal defense fund, I’d really appreciate it.”

The beer license revocations for the two locations in Madison and Minocqua will go into effect on Aug. 4.

A spokesperson for the Wisconsin Department of Revenue told Fox News Digital the brewery could file an appeal.

“We can confirm that the Department of Revenue has issued notice of a Brewer’s permit revocation for two Minocqua Brewing Company locations and notice of an Alcohol Beverage Warehouse permit revocation for one location,” the spokesperson said.

RELATED: Anti-ICE brewer’s death wish: Leftist promises free beer when Trump dies ‘in a few months’ — and the Secret Service takes notice

“The business has until August 4th to appeal and can operate during the appeal process,” the spokesperson continued. “Should the business decide to appeal, the next step would be to appeal to the Secretary of the Department of Revenue, who will assign the appeal to a Department of Revenue hearing examiner for their recommendations as to proposed findings of fact and conclusions of law.”

Fox News Digital said Bangstad declined to comment directly about the report but made jokes about the death of Trump and Mitch McConnell and insulted Fox.

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​Wisconsin, President donald trump, Death wish, Brewery, Politics 

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DAMNING report at prestigious academy finds Jeffrey Epstein — and 46 other alleged abusers — molested students

A prestigious art academy in northern Michigan released an independent report that concluded there were 70 incidents of sexual conduct with their students by 47 abusers over many decades.

The harrowing 100-page report from the Interlochen Center for the Arts says one of the abusers was Jeffrey Epstein, who was a donor at the center and was later convicted of pedophilia.

The incidents were described as physical conduct of a sexual nature and involved adults who were given access to students and campers.

The report relied on 180 interviews of alums from the center, which is a boarding school and summer camp. They reported dozens of incidents both at the center and off campus.

Most of the alleged incidents occurred before 2000, and about a third of the accused abusers have since passed away.

The incidents were described as physical conduct of a sexual nature and involved adults who were given access to students and campers.

Two of the alums reported physical conduct of a sexual nature with Epstein. He was a donor to the center from 1990 until 2003 and had attended as a teen.

The center commissioned the investigation two years ago. Only five abusers’ names were released, and they are all dead or previously accused of abuse. The school has provided all of the names to the Grand Traverse County Prosecutor’s Office for review.

Trey Devey, the president of the center, released a statement along with the report.

“The abuse described in the report is heartbreaking and is contrary to everything Interlochen stands for,” he wrote. “We are grateful to everyone who came forward to share their experiences, and we are deeply sorry for the harm experienced by members of our community. We also want to say clearly: Interlochen will not tolerate predators or those who enable them. Our campus exists to protect, educate, and empower every student.”

RELATED: Epstein victims have identified other ‘persons of interest,’ House Oversight Committee chair says

Board chair Barrett Rollins also released a statement.

“Student safety is a bedrock requirement and fundamental responsibility of this institution,” Rollins wrote.

“We recognize that the steps we have taken cannot erase harm that occurred,” he added, “but we hope they demonstrate our commitment to honoring those who came forward and to creating a safer future for all who are part of the Interlochen community.”

A building that was donated to the center by Epstein was demolished in June.

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​Jeffrey epstein, Pedophilia, Child sex abuse, Michigan, Politics 

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Teen girls say WNBA co-owner CURSED at them for holding sign thanking Sophie Cunningham during game

The woke backlash against WNBA player Sophie Cunningham defending women in sports has seemingly morphed into fury against two teenage girls who held up a sign at a game Tuesday in Seattle, where the Seattle Storm were taking on Cunningham’s Indiana Fever.

The sign read, “Thank you Sophie for speaking up for girls!” and the girls wore shirts from the XX-XY athletics brand that promotes opposition to biological males in women’s sports.

‘We weren’t trying to be political. We were just trying to support Sophie.’

“We were being super respectful. We were just holding our signs and cheering for both teams,” one of the teens said to investigative journalist Brandi Kruse.

The teens said an older lady confronted them, told them that “Jesus loves everyone,” and then called them “f**king insane” while pointing to her head.

“For you to come here and pull this s**t,” she reportedly added.

Kruse posted video on social media of her interview with the girls from outside the Seattle Storm arena. Kruse also identified the culprit as Storm co-owner Celeste Keaton.

“One of them was left in tears,” Kruse said of the girls. “I tried to get security involved and was told I should email the front office.”

One of the teens said she was shocked by the co-owner’s behavior.

“She’s also a woman, and she just kinda cussed out two 16-year-olds that were just trying to have fun. We weren’t trying to be political. We were just trying to support Sophie,” she added.

The team responded to reports of the incident with a statement from majority owner Ginny Gilder.

“We are aware one of our co-owners made comments to two fans in attendance at last night’s game,” the statement reads. “We apologize that this happened. Everyone who attends a Storm game deserves to feel welcome, and we remain committed to creating an inclusive environment where every fan is treated with respect.”

RELATED: Caitlin Clark puts black lesbians at risk of death, USA Today writer suggests — and cites Emmett Till lynching

Kruse asked one of the teens to sum up her takeaway from the incident.

“Maybe we’re not being very hateful, and maybe they should work on being more kind to people, even though our opinions differ,” she said. “Because we were being respectful and kind people, and I don’t care if you think something else. It’s your opinion, but obviously she was not happy.”

Kruse said she would continue to investigate the incident.

“As usual, the people preaching ‘love and inclusion’ prove to be the most hateful bigots of all. I will have much more … and none of the culprits will be spared my fury,” she added.

The Fever beat the Storm, 105-95.

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​Sophie cunningham, Wnba, Seattle, Indiana fever, Politics 

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LIFE ON MARS? Bizarre formation in NASA photo sparks red planet conspiracy theory

An apparent lack of trust in NASA combined with some rarely seen photographs from the surface of Mars has fueled a strange conspiracy theory online.

One UFO researcher says there is a secret hiding in plain sight in an old photo from NASA’s Mars Curiosity Rover, which he discovered using only the naked eye.

‘These kinds of open fractures are common in bedrock.’

Star war

The Mars rover has been on the red planet for nearly 14 years at this point, compiling a massive database of nearly 775,000 images.

One of those images from February 2022 has recirculated thanks to UFO researcher Scott C. Waring and outlet the Daily Mail. The U.K. website reported on Waring’s claim on Wednesday, which stated that the four-year-old NASA photo showed something citizens weren’t meant to see.

“This is a[n] unexploded missile laying on the surface of Mars just meter[s] from the NASA rover,” Waring wrote about the photo. “This is undeniable proof that there was a huge war on Mars long ago that killed not only the enemy, but most living things on the surface of Mars.”

The bold claim stems via a photo dump from the rover during NASA’s exploration of the Greenheugh Pediment in 2021. At the time, NASA said the rover was taking a look at “far-field rock targets.”

The space agency has not offered an explanation for the image — which appears to simply be a rock formation — but it has indirectly addressed prior claims Waring has made.

RELATED: Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin rocket EXPLODES into massive fireball over Florida

Feb. 2022. Image courtesy NASA.gov

‘Intelligent beings’

NASA images of other rock formations on Mars from May 2022 led Waring to say, “What looks like cut boulders is actually clay-type walls and an entrance way made by intelligent beings who needed protection from the elements.”

“We had them on Earth long ago, and they had them on Mars long ago,” he claimed.

However, NASA described the “door-shaped” opening as a naturally occurring fracture. The agency measured the opening at about 12 inches tall and 16 inches wide, “similar in size to a dog door.”

“These kinds of open fractures are common in bedrock, both on Earth and on Mars,” NASA added.

NASA has revealed other Martian theories in recent months, including claims surrounding the evidence of water and possible life.

RELATED: Start your engines! Climate experts now blame rising temperatures on reduced emissions.

Sept. 2026: ‘Formations suggest ancient groundwater flowed.’ Image courtesy NASA.gov

Home truth

In February, the space agency said that “spiderweb” formations suggested “ancient groundwater flowed” on the planet later than scientists had previously expected. This raised new questions about how long microbial life could have survived on Mars, NASA wrote.

To that end, NASA’s Ashwin Vasavada said in April that a newly discovered set of molecules “increases the prospect that Mars offered a home for life in the ancient past.”

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​Nasa, Mars, Curiosity rover, Ufos, Tech 

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Woman decapitated after ‘intoxicated’ boater, 45, allegedly drives 80 mph on river, catapults over another vessel: Officials

A woman was decapitated after an “intoxicated” boater allegedly drove around 80 miles per hour on a river in Illinois and catapulted over another vessel, authorities told ABC News.

Richard Stevenson, 45, is facing numerous charges — including aggravated DUI and reckless homicide — in connection with the boating accident on the Fox River near McHenry, the news network said, citing court records. The incident occurred Saturday afternoon.

‘It collided with vessel 2, resulting in the decapitation of a female passenger on the second watercraft.’

Stevenson has a history of driving while under the influence, according to court records, and ABC News said a judge on Monday ordered Stevenson held without release, indicating that his pretrial release poses a “real and present threat” to the community’s safety.

“The defendant, while intoxicated, drove his vessel at about 80 mph in a no-wake zone. Even when warned by a passenger, the defendant continued to operate in that manner. The vessel went over the top of another vessel and crashed,” Judge Cynthia Lamb alleged in court documents, citing evidence presented by prosecutors, according to the news network.

“When the defendant’s boat was on top of the victim’s boat, it decapitated one of the passengers of that boat,” Lamb added in documents, ABC News said.

A witness told responding officers that Stevenson’s boat was “at full throttle as it entered in a no-wake. It collided with vessel two, resulting in the decapitation of a female passenger on the second watercraft,” the news network reported, citing a criminal complaint filed Monday.

Court documents indicate that the boat Stevenson allegedly was operating overtook another vessel before he crashed into the timber on the west bank of the river, ABC News added.

RELATED: Family of Ugandan activist decapitated in bizarre accident at national park wins judgment for $10.5 million

Stevenson remained at the scene and soon was taken to a hospital, the news network said, citing court records.

More from ABC News:

A medical draw showed Stevenson had a blood alcohol concentration of 0.2, according to court records. The legal limit in Illinois is 0.08.

Stevenson allegedly told a witness after the accident that he was operating the vessel and that he had been drinking, according to court documents.

Stevenson also has a criminal history, including four misdemeanor speeding charges, most recently in 2023; three reckless driving charges, one with supervision and two with convictions. He also has two convictions for driving while under the influence, according to court records.

Stevenson is scheduled to appear in court on Aug. 5, the news network said, citing court records.

ABC News added that an attorney for Stevenson did not immediately respond to its request for comment.

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​Illinois, Boating accident, Fox river, Decapitation, Aggravated dui, Reckless homicide, Crime 

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Leaked Fauci diary reignites COVID outrage: ‘Everything he’s done to a beagle should be done to him’

For years, critics of Anthony Fauci argued that the nation’s top public health official knew more about COVID-19’s origins than he was willing to admit — and now the release of his diary proves they were right.

And Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky.) has been all over it.

“Senator Rand Paul has also been very into this. In fact, he took a beating multiple times in hearings where, you know, look, he was just quite clearly right when he was describing things like gain-of-function research,” BlazeTV host Stu Burguiere comments.

And both Stu and co-host Dave Landau support Paul in his fight to bring down the man who led Americans astray, as they believe what he did to the country was unforgivable.

“Fauci made it so kids couldn’t socialize for two years, which means he figured out a whole new way to cause autism without even using a vaccine, and then he was forcing vaccines,” Dave says.

“If you were in the Northeast, I mean, your kids didn’t go to school for up to a year and a half,” Stu agrees.

Dave admits that he has “hate for this guy for what he did to this country” that can’t be faked.

“Like, I f**king hate this guy. I’m sorry, I really do. I really think everything he’s done to a beagle should be done to him and on public TV,” he says, referencing the fatal experiments Fauci carried out on Beagles.

“I hate him,” he adds.

And Paul clearly does too.

In a thread on X, he wrote: “My investigation uncovered that Anthony Fauci kept a diary. What he wrote privately and what he told the country are two different stories.”

On January 26, 2020, Fauci wrote: “Now we know that the market was not the source. It was the amplifier.”

“He believes the wet market is not the source of this and then goes on for as long as I can remember saying up until now that there was natural origin and that’s where it came from,” Stu explains.

“I believe it was called the Wuhan COVID-19 lab,” Dave adds.

“They’re like, ‘No, somebody ate a bat sandwich four doors down.’ And you’re like, ‘Right, but where was it near?’ And they’re like, ‘Well, it’s certainly not near the Fauci-made-this-disease lab,’” he continues.

In another diary entry from February 1, 2020, Fauci admitted that only 2 out of 12 scientists on a call believed the virus was natural.

“The rest felt that deliberate insertion was possible,” he wrote.

“The lab leak theory. That’s what it is,” Stu says.

Want more from Stu and Dave?

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​Anthony fauci, Autism, Dave landau, Gain of function, Stu burguiere, Vaccines, Covid19, Rand paul, Blazetv show 

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Man whose premature birth was declared a ‘miracle’ by Pope Leo is now wanted by police over double shooting

Tyquan Johnson stopped breathing when he was born prematurely in 2007 and was dead for 65 minutes before a physician’s prayer miraculously led to the baby regaining a heartbeat, according to the Catholic Church.

Nineteen years later, police are searching for Johnson under an arrest warrant listing felony assault with a firearm and firing in a compact area.

‘If God didn’t want me in this world, He would just let me die on that table. But he wanted to give me a second chance.’

The revival of Johnson as a baby was considered a miracle because the attending physician had invoked the aid of Father Salvador Valera Parra in prayer immediately before Johnson came back to life.

The Catholic Church investigated the incident for years before Pope Leo XIV officially recognized it as a miracle in 2025.

Johnson is being sought over a double shooting in Newport, Rhode Island, on July 19, along with another man who is being sought for questioning.

Police said they found two victims, ages 22 and 25, who had been shot. They were transported to a hospital for treatment of gunshot injuries that were not life-threatening.

Detectives said they believe the shooting was targeted.

Johnson and the other man sought are believed to be armed and dangerous, according to a police Facebook post.

Johnson’s mother told WPRI-TV that she had not talked to him for several days.

RELATED: Pope calls for gun control in US after Texas mass shooting, Chicago Cardinal agrees: ‘The Second Amendment did not come down from Sinai’

Johnson was interviewed in 2025 after his revivification was declared a miracle.

“I feel normal. … I can do everything a normal person would do. It definitely has changed my faith a lot because I’m destined to be in this world,” he told WAVY-TV.

“If God didn’t want me in this world, He would just let me die on that table. But he wanted to give me a second chance,” he added.

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​Catholic church, Crime, Faith, Pope leo, Shooting, Politics 

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Democrat governor DEFIES DOJ investigation into noncitizen voting — DOJ vows to press on

The Department of Justice has announced an investigation into noncitizen voting in New Jersey, but the state’s Democratic governor is resisting the probe.

New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill (D) admitted on July 21 that about 6,600 noncitizens had been mistakenly registered to vote, and of those, about 400 cast votes.

‘NJ has a legal duty to keep ineligible voters off its rolls … DOJ will get this information through all legal means!’

She blamed the wrongful registrations on a “software error,” though the company working with the Motor Vehicle Commission countered that all the information it transmits “must still be validated and adjudicated by the Division of Elections.”

The Department of Justice responded by demanding that the governor hand over a list of those voters, but Sherrill has rejected the order.

“Today, I informed [Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon] that New Jersey will not provide the personal information of thousands of New Jersey residents. The request had no legal basis, and I will always protect New Jerseyans’ personally identifiable information,” Sherrill wrote on social media Tuesday.

She posted her letter response, which claimed that the request violated federal laws, including the Privacy Act.

On Wednesday, Dhillon fired back.

“Gov. Sherrill’s refusal to cooperate with federal law enforcement does nothing to protect law-abiding NJ voters,” she responded on social media. “NJ has a legal duty to keep ineligible voters off its rolls, & our request is grounded in that legal authority. DOJ will get this information through all legal means!”

Sherrill had accused the Trump administration of weaponizing the government when asked if she would comply with the demand from the Justice Department.

“As I have said, I am not in the habit of turning over private, identifying information of the citizens of New Jersey,” said the governor to a reporter. “This federal government is weaponizing the government against individuals that disagree with them. They weaponized my private data against me in my election, and so I am working to protect people and their private data here in New Jersey.”

RELATED: ICE drops fiery response to Democratic governor suing to block new detention center

Sherrill previously said the 400 noncitizens who voted were scattered across the state and were a mix of Republicans, Democrats, and unaffiliated.

She also said they were immediately taken off of the voter rolls as soon as her administration discovered the error, which she claims was made under her predecessor.

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​Department of justice, Mikie sherrill, New jersey, Harmeet dhillon, Politics 

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New Fed chair’s first major interest-rate decision doesn’t rock the boat — and Trump may not be happy about it

The first major decision at the Federal Reserve under new Chairman Kevin Warsh has come and gone, but little has changed.

On Wednesday, the Fed announced that the interest rate would hold at between 3.5% and 3.75%, despite calls from Dallas Fed President Lorie Logan and others for a “modest” increase.

‘We will deliver price stability.’

The decision was released at 2 p.m. ET, revealing that Warsh and eight other committee members had voted in favor of a fifth straight hold on rates, while three opposed.

Shortly after the announcement, Warsh spoke publicly.

“The economy is showing impressive resilience,” Warsh said. “Even with recent shocks, the trends are positive and reveal solid growth. Job gains have kept pace with the workforce, and the unemployment rate has changed little.”

Warsh also admitted that “inflation remains elevated relative to the committee’s 2% goal,” but promised: “We will deliver price stability.”

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Blaze News.

RELATED: Jerome Powell is out — for good reason. Here are 4 of his top blunders.

Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

President Donald Trump has pushed for years for the Fed to lower interest rates. “Interest Rates too high!” he posted on Truth Social back in May.

On Monday, Trump said of Warsh: “Kevin’s fantastic, but he’s got a board, and the board members are very political. He wants to do the right thing. I know what he wants to do. But you need the consent of some people that have perhaps bad intentions. Rates should be lowered.”

Trump nominated Warsh to be Fed chair back in January, and he was confirmed in May. Warsh replaced longtime Chair Jerome Powell, who repeatedly butted heads with Trump over interest rates.

Trump nicknamed Powell “Too Late” and called him a “DISASTER” because of his reluctance to lower interest rates.

“Jerome ‘Too Late’ Powell wants to stay at the Fed because he can’t get a job anywhere else — Nobody wants him,” Trump wrote in April.

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​Donald trump, Federal reserve, Jerome powell, Kevin warsh, Politics 

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Reactions pour in after Fauci pleads the 5th over 100 times

Days after Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) released more than 1,100 pages of Dr. Anthony Fauci’s pandemic-era diary, Fauci — a man who apparently had plenty to say in private — had little to say to the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.

On Wednesday, Fauci walked in and invoked the Fifth Amendment 111 times, according to Paul. When Fauci’s attorney tried to jump in out of turn, security dragged him out, the room erupting in applause.

‘All he had to do today was tell the truth … even if he admitted to destroying thousands of records, which we think happened, there’s no penalty attached. It would just be the truth.’

Democrats called it a “scapegoat” exercise and likened it to the McCarthy trials, but Republicans pressed anyway. Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) tested Fauci’s newfound silence with trivia — asking Fauci innocuous questions about the day of the week and the color of a tie and some carpet.

Fauci respectfully declined to answer each time, citing the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution.

However, Hawley shot back: “You don’t have any rights under the Fifth Amendment, because you’ve been pardoned.”

At the center of it all is Fauci’s pardon from President Joe Biden. Some Republicans argue that the pardon is invalid outright, pointing to reports that it was executed by autopen rather than signed by hand.

BlazeTV host Matt Kibbe argued that the plea itself proves the point: “For perhaps the first time in his life, Anthony Fauci didn’t seem to bask in the flood of cameras and public attention. Pleading the Fifth, not allowed under the terms of his pardon, should trigger criminal contempt of Congress charges. And jail time.”

BlazeTV host Steve Deace went farther, arguing the fight isn’t over even if the federal pardon holds: “There has to be consequences after this. … There’s no way that pardon is legitimate. And there has to be grounds for state Republican AGs to go after him even if it is. Because his pardon would not cover state offenses. And tyrannies and frauds were imposed at the state level.”

Deace’s book on Fauci, “Faucian Bargain,” digs into this argument further.

RELATED: Fauci pleads the 5th, Paul removes his lawyer as hearing explodes

Blaze podcast host Daniel Horowitz argued that the GOP is dodging the real story: “While Fauci’s behavior is obviously criminal and contemptible, it is also very revealing how most Republicans are still obfuscating the most important issue. Senator Ron Johnson continues to be the only Republican willing to discuss the dangers of the COVID vaccines and the questions it raises on the entire vaccine industry.”

After the hearing, Paul was asked whether Fauci had any right to plead the Fifth at all.

He said it’s likely headed to court: “This has probably never been tested legally. … With the grant of immunity, do you still need Fifth Amendment protections, or do they apply?”

He argued that Fauci risked nothing by simply telling the truth: “All he had to do today was tell the truth. … Even if he admitted to destroying thousands of records, which we think happened, there’s no penalty attached. It would just be the truth.”

RELATED: Puppy love: Diary exposes Fauci’s crush on Julia Roberts

On next steps, Paul confirmed that the contempt vote is moving forward, though prosecution isn’t up to him: “All I can do is recommend prosecution. I can’t initiate a prosecution.”

He closed by pointing to public sentiment: “I do know that a great number of the population feels that Anthony Fauci was dishonest because of what he was saying in private was different, or the opposite.”

Mike Davis, founder of the Article III Project, framed it as an inescapable trap: “He either has that Biden pardon, and he’s not subject to criminal liability for truthfully testifying today, and he refused — he pled the Fifth, illegally. Therefore, Rand Paul should hold him in contempt of Congress. … Alternatively, if he didn’t take that pardon from Biden, he should face charges for his crimes against humanity.”

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​Anthony fauci, Autopen, Fifth amendment, Josh hawley, Rand paul, Politics 

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WNBA All-Star weekend proved Caitlin Clark only player fit to be face of the league

A viral nightclub video featuring WNBA star Paige Bueckers during the league’s All-Star weekend has just reignited fan’s love for Caitlin Clark — believing she is the only one who embodies what the “face of the league” means.

In the video, Bueckers’ appears to be dancing and stripping down to her bra alongside other players, including Seattle Storm guard Natisha Hiedeman.

“Could you make Paige Bueckers the face of your league if this is the way she’s allowing herself to be documented out?” Whitlock asks.

“The big story this weekend was Caitlin Clark skipped the red carpet, Cailtin Clark wasn’t at this or that. And this is why, because she doesn’t want to put herself in the stud buds videos that go on at night,” he explains.

“Because she actually does want to be the face of the league and takes that responsibility off court very seriously. But no one else could be the face of the league because it’s a bunch of clowns for the most part,” he adds.

Steve Kim points out that her detractors will likely call Clark out for “white nationalism” and “white supremacy” because she believes in “working hard.”

“But this is the problem though, and we have to be blunt about this … sports mirrors society, and society mirrors sports,” he continues.

“These older women are the role models to the younger generation. That’s at least a theory, right?” he asks.

And Whitlock doesn’t believe they should be any woman’s role model — explaining that he thinks they’re impersonating men — and failing miserably.

Whitlock believes the women of the WNBA are attempting to impersonate men, but failing miserably.

“They’re trying to do a bad man impersonation. And that’s what Paige Bueckers is doing inside the nightclub, doing a bad man impersonation, and it just looks foolish,” he says.

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​Caitlin clark, Jason whitlock, Natisha hiedeman, Paige bueckers, Steve kim, White nationalism, Wnba, Blazetv show 

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Immigrant business owners revolt against Mamdani’s ‘Soviet’-style grocery plan

An immigrant-led nonprofit is preparing to slap New York City with a lawsuit now that democratic socialist Mayor Zohran Mamdani has unveiled plans for city-run grocery stores to sell products at 30% below market rates, the New York Post reported.

The board of the Multicultural Business Coalition voted to file a lawsuit in the coming weeks to block the initiative after Mamdani announced on Monday that fresh produce, meat, seafood, and “20 other essential items like cheese, milk, and bread” would be sold at a steep discount relative to privately owned stores — with “no exceptions.”

‘The mayor doesn’t seem to want to sit down with us.’

A letter notifying the mayor’s office of the coalition’s intent to pursue legal action is expected to be sent in the coming days, the Post reported. Frank Garcia, the group’s chairman, said the challenge “should be a non-partisan initiative.”

“The mayor doesn’t seem to want to sit down with us,” Garcia told the Post, warning that Mamdani “won’t be able to bully these lawyers.”

Founded earlier this year, the MBC represents roughly 65 organizations of business owners and merchants across the New York-New Jersey region, including Hispanic, Asian, Caribbean, African, Middle Eastern, Jewish, and South Asian-owned businesses.

However, the coalition is not alone in the fight against Soviet-style grocery stores in the Big Apple. Several other groups representing grocery store owners have spoken out against Mamdani’s plans, fearing that their bottom line could be jeopardized by city-run markets.

Radhames Rodriguez, president of the United Bodegas of America, told the Post that “having items that sell for 30% less than our prices means nobody will go to our stores.”

RELATED: Socialist Mamdani says city-run grocery stores will undercut supermarkets by 30%

Adam Gray/Bloomberg/Getty Images

Grocery executive John Catsimatidis, the owner of Gristedes and D’Agostino Supermarkets, has also bashed the proposal. In an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal, Catsimatidis argued that the mayor’s program “would collapse our food supply, kill private industry, and drag us down a path toward the bread lines of the old Soviet Union.”

To address concerns that the initiative could undercut privately owned stores in neighboring areas, Mamdani said the city-run grocery stores would not sell cigarettes, alcohol, lottery tickets, or hot food — items that typically generate some of the highest profit margins for bodegas and convenience stores.

“We know that a lot of what drives revenue for these bodegas, grocery stores, those are things that make it possible for them to continue to operate. Those are not things we have any interest in competing for,” Mamdani said.

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​New york city, Zohran mamdani, Democratic socialism, Politics