Category: blaze media

A popular online liberal account attempted to spread panic about immigration officials trying to deport a Native American, but the Trump administration fired back against the story.

The Occupy Democrats account posted a story about the arrest of Leticia Jacobo, a 24-year-old woman and member of Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community in Arizona.

‘Dead wrong. This woman was never in ICE custody.’

Jacobo, who was born in Phoenix and is an American citizen, was arrested for allegedly driving without a license in September and was being detained at a Polk County Jail in Des Moines, Iowa.

The woman was scheduled to be released on Nov. 11, but her family was informed that she was being held on a detainer from Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The detainers are often issued when federal officials request time to determine whether federal immigration law has been violated.

“My sister said, ‘How is she going to get deported if she’s a Native American?’ and ‘We have proof,'” said Maria Nunez, Jacobo’s aunt. “They said, ‘Well, we don’t know because we’re not immigration and we can’t answer those questions. We’re just holding her for them. So when they pick her up tonight, they’re going to go ahead and deport her to wherever they’re going to take her, but we have no information on that.'”

The family scrambled to have Jacobo’s birth certificate delivered to officials before she was to be remanded to federal custody. She was released a day later, on Nov. 12.

A spokesperson for the Polk County Sheriff’s Office said the incident was the result of a clerical error. Lt. Mark Chance said the detainer was intended for a different inmate.

“It was human error, but I’m sure as soon as the command staff find out about it, they’re going to have some meetings with their supervisors internally and be like, ‘Hey, guys, we gotta keep our thumb on this, this is silly,'” Chance said.

The Occupy Democrats account called for the abolition of ICE over the incident.

“ICE just tried to deport this woman,” the post began.

“This is what happens when an agency like ICE is given unchecked power — where ‘clerical errors’ can destroy lives, and where systemic racism and dehumanization are written into the paperwork,” they wrote. “If her family hadn’t fought like hell, Leticia Jacobo could have been vanished into ICE custody — another name lost in a broken, brutal system.”

Their post went viral on X, with over 4.6 million views.

Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary for public affairs at the Dept. of Homeland Security, fired back on social media.

“Dead wrong. This woman was never in ICE custody,” she responded.

A Blaze News request for comment from Occupy Democrats was not immediately answered.

RELATED: ICE officer shoots at driver who tried to run over agent during vehicle stop, DHS says

Jacobo’s family says they are considering legal action over the incident. They also claimed that Jacobo had her tribal identification with her at the time of her arrest and accused officials of discrimination.

“I do want to say that it’s racial profiling because she’s been there before, they have a rap sheet on her — why would they make a mistake with someone that’s constantly coming in?” Nunez asked.

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​Native american deportation, Leticia jacobo, Occupy democrats, White house vs dems, Politics 

A Detroit Lions player says he is sorry if he hurt anyone’s feelings.

The Lions crushed the Washington Commanders 44-22 in Landover, Maryland, on Sunday, in a game that featured a flyover from President Trump in Air Force One.

‘It had nothing to do with who the president was.’

The event included the president in the commentary booth, and Trump swore in members of the military over a chorus of boos from Commanders fans.

Fans were likely equally as perturbed when Lions wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown celebrated a touchdown with Trump’s signature dance, which was a massive trend among athletes in 2024.

Evidence of displeasure from fans was apparent on social media following the game. Detractors called Brown “a f**king disgrace” and a “hoe ass n***a,” while claiming he is “supporting an orange racist, sexist, felon currently stopping people from receiving food.”

On Wednesday, St. Brown took to his podcast to address the controversy. His brother, Equanimeous, brought up the “elephant in the room” less than six minutes into the episode.

“You had a touchdown celebration. Talk about it,” Equanimeous prompted his brother.

Amon-Ra then immediately apologized.

RELATED: Liberals spew hatred at NFL player for pointing at Trump after touchdown and doing his dance: ‘Yousa hoe a** n***a’

“First of all, if I offended anyone, I do apologize. I did not mean to offend anyone. It was just we’re having fun,” he said on the “St. Brown Podcast.”

The 26-year-old added, “If any president was at that game — if they had a dance, I would have done it. It had nothing to do with who the president was.”

While it seemed that St. Brown was deliberately fence-sitting, he commented on the historic nature of Trump’s appearance at the Commanders’ venue.

“Even after the game, I found out — someone told me that was the first game that a president has been to in over 40 years. So first regular-season game, which is crazy,” he said.

The receiver said the controversy was simply a case of him and his teammates “having fun doing the dance”; “nothing more, nothing less.”

Backing his brother, Equanimeous equally described the “quick shimmy” as “nothing serious, nothing political.”

RELATED: ‘All the guys wanted me to do it’: NFL players respond to Trump-dance publicity as league passes issue down to networks

Trump has become intertwined with the Commanders franchise during his second term, as the team hopes to move back to D.C. and a $2.7 billion stadium.

Trump, the NFL, and D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) praised the plans in May while announcing that the city would also host the 2027 NFL Draft.

The president subsequently threatened to suspend the whole deal if the Commanders refused to change their name back to the Washington Redskins. The team abandoned the moniker in 2020, going as the Washington Football Team until rebranding as the Washington Commanders in 2022.

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​Nfl, Fearless, Football, Trump, Washington, Commanders, Sports 

The proposition granting the Democrat-controlled legislature authority to redraw California’s congressional districts won by a decisive margin, but the Trump administration is suing to stop the gerrymandering scheme.

On Thursday the Department of Justice filed to join a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the law that would allow Democrats to possibly flip five Republican seats in the U.S. House of Representatives.

‘Race cannot be used as a proxy to advance political interests, but that is precisely what the California General Assembly did with Prop. 50.’

Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom lauded the proposition’s passage as a victory for Democrats against President Donald Trump.

Trump officials fired back that the scheme violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution based on evidence that Democrats were redrawing districts along racial demographic lines.

“Race cannot be used as a proxy to advance political interests, but that is precisely what the California General Assembly did with Prop. 50,” said Deputy Assistant Attorney General Jesus Osete. “Californians were sold an illegal, racially gerrymandered map, but the U.S. Constitution prohibits its use in 2026 and beyond.”

Newsom campaigned for Proposition 50 on the basis that it gave Californians a chance to fight back against the Trump administration and foil the president’s plans. The endeavor proved successful, as the proposition passed with 64.6% of the vote in support and only 35.4% voting in opposition.

“The essence of this moment, what Proposition 50 represents to those that have been bullied, to those that have been demeaned, to those that feel powerless, to those that are concerned about not only themselves but each other, our community, the city, our state, our nation, and, for that matter, what we represent to rest of the world,” said Newsom. “That’s what Prop. 50 represents.”

Trump suggested that Democrats had rigged the contest on the day of the election.

“The Unconstitutional Redistricting Vote in California is a GIANT SCAM in that the entire process, in particular the Voting itself, is RIGGED,” the president wrote on social media. “All ‘Mail-In’ Ballots, where the Republicans in that State are ‘Shut Out,’ is under very serious legal and criminal review.”

RELATED: Gavin Newsom tries to hit Trump administration on energy prices — and gets humiliated online

“California’s redistricting scheme is a brazen power-grab that tramples on civil rights and mocks the democratic process,” said Attorney General Pamela Bondi of the lawsuit. “Governor Newsom’s attempt to entrench one-party rule and silence millions of Californians will not stand.”

Newsom’s office responded to the lawsuit on social media.

“These losers lost at the ballot box and soon they will also lose in court,” read the statement.

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​Proposition 50, Doj sues california, Trump vs newsom, Ca redistricting is illegal, Politics 

The creators of “South Park” didn’t always know it would become a hit — let alone one of the longest-running shows in the history of television.

Just ask Hollywood veteran David Zucker, who hired Trey Parker and Matt Stone shortly before the duo — and the foul-mouthed kids they created — became household names.

‘They were also unsure of if “South Park” would ever work.’

Zucker — who directed seminal spoof comedy “Airplane!” along with his brother Jerry and the late Jim Abrahams — recalled that when he first met the University of Colorado grads in the mid-1990s, they were still very much struggling filmmakers.

Ride share

“They came to my office and I met with these guys, and Trey didn’t have a car,” Zucker said.

Despite their precarious finances, the duo already had a feature film under their belt — 1993’s “Cannibal! The Musical” — as well as animated short “The Spirit of Christmas,” which would soon land them a deal for “South Park.”

Impressed with their talents, Zucker hired Parker and Stone to do a video for Universal executives commemorating the studio’s recent purchase by Canadian beverage giant Seagram.

The duo turned in “Your Studio and You,” a side-splitting send-up of 1950s industrial videos crammed with cameos by the likes of Steven Spielberg, Sylvester Stallone, and Michael J. Fox.

Hedging their bets

Zucker remembered the young newcomers in 1997 when casting the leads for his longtime passion project, “BASEketball.” By then Parker and Stone had made a second film, “Orgazmo,” a comedy about a Mormon missionary (Parker) turned porn star turned superhero. With a $25 million budget and major studio backing, Zucker’s project represented a major step up.

And while the two were then deep in production on the show that would launch their careers, they assumed it would die a quick death once it aired. So they agreed to star in “BASEketball.”

“They were also unsure of if ‘South Park’ would ever work,” said Zucker. “This was a hedge against, you know, Trey having to get his car fixed.”

Upon premiering in August 1997, “South Park” was an instant hit, requiring Parker and Stone to shoot “BASEketball” while simultaneously maintaining their grueling TV schedule.

RELATED: ‘Naked Gun’ creator David Zucker offers ‘Crash’ course in comedy

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Rookie year

While Zucker had already written a script for “BASEketball” — inspired by an actual sport he and some friends “invented on my driveway” during the 1980s — he relied on his Gen X collaborators to punch it up for the younger “South Park” fan base.

“They probably wrote about a third of it, and you know, a lot of that stuff, because I didn’t know what kind of language went on between … 20-somethings,” Zucker explained. Both the actors were in their late 20s at the time.

One of Parker and Stone’s most significant additions to the script was helping with the “psych-outs” — tasteless insults “baseketball” players hurl at an opponent in hopes of making him miss a shot.

All-star lineup

Such tactics were never used by the real-life players, whom Zucker described as “all these guys who later became, you know, heads of studios and heads of agencies” — a roster including director Peter Farrelly (“There’s Something About Mary” and “Dumb and Dumber”), former CAA head David “Doc” O’Connor, and former Fox Television Group chair Gary Newman.

RELATED: ‘South Park’ roasted Trump — and the White House is not happy

1998: “South Park” creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone star in the movie “BASEketball.” Getty Images

Zucker noted that he is emphasizing the “psych-out” element in a new “BASEketball” pitch: a reality show featuring teams of comedians playing the sport while tearing each other down.

As for his old “BASEketball” buddies, Zucker said he recently visited their office to get a 10-minute preview of their new movie, “Whitney Springs,” a live-action comedy musical starring rapper Kendrick Lamar as a black man working as a slave re-enactor at a living history museum who discovers his white girlfriend’s ancestors “owned” his ancestors.

“They showed me 10 minutes of it, and it looks great,” said Zucker.

​Align, Hollywood, Movies, Film, David zucker, South park, Entertainment 

Jennifer Lawrence’s attempt at a “my bad” apology may have come too late.

The talented star snagged an Oscar at age 22 for “Silver Linings Playbook,” and her career rocketed to the A-list. She quickly went from an aw-shucks gal from Heartland USA to just another Hollywood progressive slamming Donald Trump and his ilk.

‘Oz has always been a queer place … a safe space for queer people, for every different color of the rainbow, for everybody.’

She even threatened to throw a drink in Trump’s face if they ever met. Stunning. Brave.

Now, she’s having second thoughts about her political pose, according to her chat with the New York Times’ “Interview” podcast.

“Celebrities do not make a difference whatsoever on who people vote for. So then what am I doing? I’m just sharing my opinion on something that’s going to add fuel to a fire that’s ripping the country apart. We are so divided.”

That damage control didn’t help her latest film, though.

“Die My Love,” a combustible drama with Robert Pattinson, earned a lousy $2.6 million in its opening weekend. Heck, there’s always “Dancing with the Stars” if this whole acting thing doesn’t work out.

Or maybe slinging drinks for paying customers — instead of at Orange Man’s face.

It’s alive! (again)

Oh, that’s why Hollywood can’t stop remaking the same old stories.

Netflix’s “Frankenstein,” the umpteenth take on the manufactured monster, scored big for the streaming giant. The Guillermo del Toro film starring Oscar Isaac and Jacob Elordi as the monster, drew 29 million views in its first three days on the platform.

It’s hard to blame Hollywood for its imagination drain when audiences keep lining up for stories that they’ve spent decades watching in previous forms.

And if the industry wants to salvage a mediocre year at the box office, it will turn to two more sequels — “Zootopia 2” and director James Cameron’s “Avatar: Fire and Ash.”

Meanwhile, Kevin Costner is out, hat in hand, hoping to make more original Westerns …

RELATED: Handmaid’s fail: Hillary stumps for Jennifer Lawrence’s new pro-abortion documentary

Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

Accept no substitutes

Morgan Freeman has no interest in retiring. The same is true for his legal team.

The 88-year-old screen legend is taking a page from an even older pal regarding a possible end to his storied career.

‘Don’t let the old man in,'” Freeman told the AARP about advice from 95-year-old Clint Eastwood. “The way to do that is to keep getting up in the morning, keep working out in the gym, keep taking your vitamins, keep taking your prescribed meds, and keep moving. Keep moving. That is the secret to it all.”

And lawyer up between supplements.

The Oscar winner says his legal team has been “very, very busy” fighting back against AI programs duplicating his distinct vocals.

“I’m like any other actor: Don’t mimic me with falseness. I don’t appreciate it, and I get paid for doing stuff like that, so if you’re gonna do it without me, you’re robbing me.”

Would you want to mess with a man who convincingly played God in “Bruce Almighty”?

Bad medicine

Call it “Grey’s Propaganda.”

ABC’s long-running medical drama took aim at ICE this week with all the subtlety of a WWE wrestler leaping off the top rope.

The episode featured an illegal immigrant refusing to get her diabetes treated at the show’s fictional Grey Sloan Memorial hospital. Why? She feared those nasty ICE agents might take her away.

Look closely, and you might see some cartoonishly biased messaging in this dialogue snippet.

“People saw immigration by the hospital. If I go, they could get me. My status was revoked a few months ago, and my friend’s brother, last week, ICE surrounded his car, broke all his windows, and dragged him out by his feet. We still don’t know where they took him.”

If you missed that gentle nudge, series regular Chandra Wilson, who plays Miranda Bailey, has your back with this monologue.

“Oh, I am mad. I’m outraged that it’s come to this. People so scared to leave their homes, they risk their lives? No, it’s cruel, it’s inhumane, and people are going to lose their lives because of it.”

Even Rachel Maddow might blush over dialogue that on the nose.

Over the rainbow

The “Wicked for Good” team know the upcoming sequel is financially bulletproof. Last year’s “Wicked” earned a whopping $756 million globally, and the second and final installment in the series is expected to make up to $155 million stateside in its opening weekend, Nov. 21.

So the stars are going all in on woke messaging. Here’s star Ariana “Lick Them Donuts” Grande pushing a not-so-secret gay agenda at the film’s London premiere.

“And Oz has always been a queer place … a safe space for queer people, for every different color of the rainbow, for everybody. Read the L. Frank Baum books. It’s the truth. You’re safe with us. We love you so much. The gayer, the better.”

If only that yellow brick road were pink, she muttered under her breath.

​Entertainment, Culture, Movies, Hollywood, Jennifer lawrence, Wicked, Wizard of oz, Morgan freeman, Celebrities, Lgbt, Donald trump, Toto recall 

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) plans to introduce a bill to eliminate a controversial visa program.

On Thursday, Greene announced that she would propose legislation to “aggressively” phase out the H-1B program, which allows foreign nationals to enter the U.S. to fill “specialty occupations.”

‘My bill will take away the pathway to citizenship, forcing visa holder to return home when their visa expires.’

The requirements of the program state that the individual must provide “theoretical and practical application of a body of highly specialized knowledge.” However, critics of the program argue that it has been exploited to flood the U.S. labor market with foreign labor, resulting in fewer jobs and depressed wages.

“For far too long, Big Tech, AI companies, hospital systems, and corporations across the board have abused this system to undercut hard working Americans,” Greene said in a statement provided to Blaze News.

She explained that her bill would eliminate the program to ensure American workers are prioritized in every industry.

“I believe in the strength, talent, and incredible potential of the American people,” Greene declared.

RELATED: The H-1B system is broken. Here’s how to fix it.

President Donald Trump. Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Greene stated that the bill would allow only one exception: a 10,000-per-year cap on visas issued to medical professionals. However, she noted that even this exception would be phased out over a 10-year period.

“My bill will also restore the original intent of the visa, for it to be temporary. These visas were intended to fulfill a specialty occupational need at a given time. People should not be allowed to come and live here forever,” Greene said in a video posted to X. “My bill will take away the pathway to citizenship, forcing visa holder to return home when their visa expires.”

RELATED: Trump admin announces major H-1B visa abuse investigation, but critics want more

Lori Chavez-DeRemer. Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

President Donald Trump, during an interview with Fox News that aired this week, expressed support for the H-1B program, stating that it is essential for bringing in individuals with specific talents and for training American workers in those specialized areas.

In a separate interview, U.S. Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer told Fox Business, “There are companies who are using the H-1B visa program, who are abusing the program. What we want to make sure is we’re always protecting the American worker.”

“We will clamp down on these companies who are abusing and depressing wages and not protecting the American worker first,” Chavez-DeRemer added.

“We don’t need to import a foreign workforce when we have brilliant Americans ready to work and ready to succeed,” Greene said in a statement provided to Blaze News. “My bill shuts down the corrupt H-1B pipeline and puts Americans first again, just like we should’ve been doing all along.”

“The impact of this bill will be massive — Americans securing good paying jobs will also help the housing market. They will no longer have to compete with legally imported labor on visas.”

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​News, Marjorie taylor greene, Mtg, H-1b visas, H-1b, H1b visa, H1b, H1b visas, H-1b visa, Donald trump, Trump, Trump administration, Trump admin, Lori chavez-deremer, Politics 

In the middle of September, AI company and Claude developer Anthropic discovered “suspicious activity” while monitoring real-world cyberattacks that used artificial intelligence agents. Upon further investigation, however, the company came to realize that this activity was in fact a “highly sophisticated espionage campaign” and a watershed moment in cybersecurity.

AI agents weren’t just providing advice to the hackers, as expected.

‘The key was role-play: The human operators claimed that they were employees of legitimate cybersecurity firms.’

Anthropic’s Thursday report said the AI agents were executing the cyberattacks themselves, adding that it believed that this is the “first documented case of a large-scale cyberattack executed without substantial human intervention.”

RELATED: Coca-Cola doubles down on AI ads, still won’t say ‘Christmas’

Photo by Samuel Boivin/NurPhoto via Getty Images

The company’s investigation showed that the hackers, whom the report “assess[ed] with high confidence” to be a “Chinese-sponsored group” manipulated the AI agent Claude Code to run the cyberattack.

The innovation was, of course, not simply using AI to assist in the cyberattack; the hackers directed the AI agent to run the attack with minimal human input.

The human operator tasked instances of Claude Code to operate in groups as autonomous penetration testing orchestrators and agents, with the threat actor able to leverage AI to execute 80-90% of tactical operations independently at physically impossible request rates.

In other words, the AI agent was doing the work of a full team of competent cyberattackers, but in a fraction of the time.

While this is potentially a groundbreaking moment in cybersecurity, the AI agents were not 100% autonomous. They reportedly required human verification and struggled with hallucinations such as providing publicly available information. “This AI hallucination in offensive security contexts presented challenges for the actor’s operational effectiveness, requiring careful validation of all claimed results,” the analysis explained.

Anthropic reported that the attack targeted roughly 30 institutions around the world but did not succeed in every case.

The targets included technology companies, financial institutions, chemical manufacturing companies, and government agencies.

Interestingly, Anthropic said the attackers were able to trick Claude through sustained “social engineering” during the initial stages of the attack: “The key was role-play: The human operators claimed that they were employees of legitimate cybersecurity firms and convinced Claude that it was being used in defensive cybersecurity testing.”

The report also responded to a question that is likely on many people’s minds upon learning about this development: If these AI agents are capable of executing these malicious attacks on behalf of bad actors, why do tech companies continue to develop them?

In its response, Anthropic asserted that while the AI agents are capable of major, increasingly autonomous attacks, they are also our best line of defense against said attacks.

​Tech, Claude, Anthropic, China, Ai, Artificial intelligence, Hallucinations, Cybersecurity, Cyberattacks, Espionage 

Democrats are once again taking aim at President Donald Trump’s policies, but this time they are aiming toward one of his most popular campaign promises.

Trump debuted his “No Tax on Tips” policy on the 2024 campaign trail, which quickly earned the support of the majority of Americans irrespective of their political affiliation. The policy later made its way into Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which Congress passed along party lines in July.

‘Nevadans know who put more money back in their pockets, and it wasn’t the Democrat frauds.’

Although Trump’s landmark legislation was rebuked by Democrats, some singled out the No Tax on Tips provision as a positive policy. Despite the bipartisan support, other Democrats continue to reject even this popular policy.

One Democratic operative offered a particularly tone-deaf criticism, calling the policy mere “crumbs.”

RELATED: Eric Swalwell offers melodramatic response to Trump DOJ probe: ‘I refuse to live in fear’

Photo by MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images

“D.C. Republicans are giving temporary crumbs to working families,” Lindsay Reilly, a spokesperson for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, said of the provision, according to Politico. “Meanwhile, millions of families are at risk of losing their health care, hundreds of hospitals could close, and countless Americans could lose their jobs — all to pay for permanent tax cuts for billionaires.”

Not all Democrats share Reilly’s sentiments. Some Democrats actually support the idea of minimizing taxes on tips or even getting rid of them altogether. Rep. Steven Horsford (D) of Nevada — a state where many workers depend on tips — went so far as to create his own version of the legislation to address tax on tips, saying that “the Republicans got their bill wrong from the beginning.”

RELATED: Far-left Democrat spent thousands on luxury travel, including limousines and posh hotels, filings show

Eric Lee/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Because some “out-of-touch” Democrats like Horsford have tried to reclaim the idea of eliminating tax on tips, the National Republican Congressional Committee argued that effort is an indicator of the policy’s popularity.

“Nevadans know who put more money back in their pockets, and it wasn’t the Democrat frauds who are trying to claim credit,” Christian Martinez, a spokesperson for the NRCC, told Politico. “Out-of-touch Democrats Steven Horsford, Dina Titus, and Susie Lee can’t lie their way out of this one.”

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​Donald trump, Dccc, Nrcc, No tax on tips, One big beautiful bill, Trump administration, Democrats, Elitism, White house, Politico, Steven horsford, Politics 

“The entire world’s economy is on the top of a soup bubble. There has never in history been a failure of this kind of magnitude. All of the money in the world is gone. Where did it go? Who knows, but it’s gone.”

It’s been almost a decade and a half since conservative commentator Bill Whittle — railing against the Obama administration’s orgy of federal spending — offered this dire prognosis on national debt.

‘A default is an economic breakdown. It’s for real. We may never reclaim America’s position in the world.’

And those were the good old days — when America was a paltry $15 trillion in the red. By the time President Barack Obama left office in January 2017, the number had climbed to just shy of $20 trillion — $8.6 trillion more than when he took office in 2009.

Since then, we’ve experienced three administrations and the chaos of the COVID pandemic. The virus alone cost $4.7 trillion in total budgetary resources for the federal government.

As of October 21, the national debt now sits at an astounding $38 trillion, and all indications are that it will only continue to grow, with current projections suggesting it will hit $39 trillion by March 30.

A post-default world

Mark Minnella is the co-founder of the National Association of Christian Financial Consultants and the host of the faith-based radio show “Financial Issues.” He tells Align that America may be getting closer to a “point of no return” and warns that the path to a debt default will be painful and destructive.

“If the treasury of the country fails to pay creditors and obligations, or if interest payment goes unpaid, what you see is that trust immediately goes away in the currency. Markets panic. Interest rates rise,” says Minnella. And that’s when the real trouble begins:

When the world stops trusting our currency, the dollar loses its position in global trade as the global reserve. Then other nations will step into that vacuum, like the Chinese and Russians. That will erode American influence and leadership. Internally, we would see inflation as the dollar loses its trust. We’ll see the government having to print money to stay ahead. We’ll see a surge in the cost of mortgages and business loans, a decline in spending, housing, and companies failing. We’ll have serious economic pain. It’ll self-correct over time, but we’d lose our position as world leaders.

As is often the case, those clinging to the bottom rung of the economic ladder will get hit hardest, warns Minnella. “Especially for those people who are the weakest and most vulnerable, our most impoverished people will be hurt the worst. It hurts them more than anybody else because they don’t have a little more to spend.”

More than political theater

The recently ended government shutdown has given many Americans a painful preview of what happens when the money spigot turns off. Hundreds of thousands of employees have gone unpaid, government services have been limited, and SNAP benefits have been threatened. Even for those not directly affected, financial insecurity looms and the future looks uncertain.

But to Minnella, a debt default would make the last 40-something days look like a vacation.

“I don’t think [default] looks like a government shutdown. That looks like inconvenience and political theater,” he tells Align.

“A default is an economic breakdown. It’s for real. We may never reclaim America’s position in the world. The shutdown wasn’t really a danger. The danger is a Congress that refuses to stop spending.”

Minnella is far from alone in his fears. Just last week, noted economist Kent Smetters predicted that the U.S. could hit a breaking point with interest payments as soon as 2045 and offered this grim observation: “Almost every empire has been taken down by debt.” Even JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon has raised alarms, warning in September, “Like most problems, it’s better to deal with it than let it happen.”

Bipartisan boondoggle

While President Trump has made some noise in addressing the debt through DOGE cuts and tariff dividends, it hasn’t curbed federal spending enough to make a difference. He did declare on Monday that tariff income would be used to “SUBSTANTIALLY PAY DOWN NATIONAL DEBT,” but this year’s tariff revenue is just $195 billion, and the majority of that money is set to go to $2,000 taxpayer dividends. Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act also cost $3.4 trillion in spending.

According to Minnella, the skyrocketing national debt is a shared disgrace for both major political parties, neither of whom have the will to explain federal belt-tightening to their constituents.

“It’s not Republican or Democrat,” he says. “It’s Washington in general. And as much as it’s a problem, it’s also part of the solution.”

RELATED: The right needs bigger ideas than tax cuts

Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Spines wanted

Unfortunately, those in power — whether the MAGA right or the socialist left — seem unlikely to rise to the occasion.

“We don’t have adults in Congress anymore who care about our nation,” says Minnella. “We have politicians who care about their careers. They don’t want to cut any spending that might cause somebody to vote against them. They want to encourage as much spending as possible.”

Which means fiscal responsibility is ultimately up to voters.

“We need to start electing people with a spine who aren’t there for themselves. We need to vote them out and hold them accountable,” says Minnella.

“We need to speak the truth … that we’re almost out of time,” he continues. “American citizens need to take back their power and force out people who will not listen.”

​National debt, Mark minnella, National association of christian financial consultants, Faith, Lifestyle, Bipartisan, Spending, Spending cuts, Align interview 

A recent bridge collapse in China was an obvious design failure, according to experts.

The Hongqi Bridge in China’s southwestern province of Sichuan crumbled on Tuesday, just months after opening; it linked a national highway with Tibet.

‘Efforts should have focused on slope management.’

According to Reuters, police in the city of Maerkang had closed the bridge to all traffic the day before when significant cracking appeared on nearby slopes, which eventually led to landslide.

The 758-meter-long bridge collapse was captured on video and caught the eye of several experts, including Casey Jones, a geotechnical engineer with over 35 years under his belt while being licensed in six states.

“I could just tell you almost certainly that this is a design failure,” Jones stated in a review of the incident.

The design likely did not account for the orientation of the bedding planes for the underlying rock, Jones said, adding, “Whether they had planned to do any stabilization efforts like rock bolts and that sort of thing is not clear at this point.”

Slope orientation and the surrounding environment was the main cause of concern for most who showed knowledge on the subject, which included an alleged bridge expert cited by Chinese state media. In careful comments, the expert did not offer any words of praise either.

RELATED: What a Westerner sees in China: What you need to know

“If the Hongqi Bridge route is the optimal one, then efforts should have focused on slope management,” the expert told Jimu News, a Chinese state-owned outlet, per the Straits Times.

The expert said that typically a geological survey should be done to select the proper sites for bridge construction and measure if an area is prone to landslides. Bridge sites must avoid these types of potential environmental hazards, the expert reportedly added.

Christopher Blume, who posted a viral take on the bridge collapse citing his experience with failing Chinese infrastructure, told Return that he was a professor at Peking University in Beijing for nine years, having moved to China due to his wife’s architecture work.

“I think in general the idea of Chinese infrastructure being poor quality is true,” Blume explained.

As simple examples, he pointed to a lack of p-traps in bathroom plumbing, which act as a water barrier against harmful and odorous gases coming back up through the pipes. Apartments are also poorly constructed, he claimed, with his own having near half-inch gaps around the windows; his wife fixed this with duct tape, he said.

RELATED: This city bought 300 Chinese electric buses — then found out China can turn them off at will

Hongqi Bridge over the Songhua River is under construction on April 1, 2024, in Jilin City, Jilin Province of China. (Photo by Zhang Jingfeng/VCG via Getty Images)

“In China, price is everything. So whether it is corruption, cutting corners on safety, etc., you name it, the ethos was always build it, and don’t worry about the details,” Blume continued. “Yeah, the bridge was obviously built in an area with landslide risk, but a) if that’s the case, it should never have been built there with such obvious landslide risk, and b) it clearly was not built to deal with any serious natural disaster risk.”

Colloquially, many more blamed the bridge collapse on a lack of fortification and neglect when it comes to the placement of abutments.

Other X users pointed to possible serious flaws in structural integrity.

According to Blume, a lack of skilled tradesmen is a common issue, with safety violations rampant as workers are pulled in from the countryside.

According to China, though, there is an alleged abundance of skilled labor. As reported by Xinhua News, the country boasts more than 200 million skilled workers as of May 2024, which includes “over 60 million highly skilled professionals.”

The World Economic Forum stated in 2021 that high-skilled personnel are defined as being capable of “performing complicated tasks” while being able to “adapt quickly to technology changes.”

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​Return, China, Engineering, Chinese technology, Infrastructure, Tech 

Like most major broadcast networks, ESPN isn’t known for being friendly to those with conservative beliefs.

But in honor of Veterans Day, Pat McAfee had President Donald Trump on his show to discuss the government shutdown, college football, and the NFL kickoff.

“I want you to picture McAfee calling Burke or Jimmy and saying, ‘Listen, White House just called,’ or ‘I have a contact there and they said I could have Trump on Veterans Day. Cool?’ And they said, ‘No.’ Can you imagine them telling him no?” BlazeTV contributor and former ESPN host Sage Steele tells BlazeTV host Jason Whitlock.

“Like that’s not happening. It’s impossible. And Pat knows that, and he did right. There’s just no way in hell that that happens that they tell Pat no about anything,” she continues, noting that McAfee has also been “vocal, critical, about this fight between ESPN, Disney, and YouTube.”

“He’s saying whatever he wants. That man has no rules. And I think it’s hysterical because I’m picturing being a fly on the wall watching the executives melt down as this interview happened yesterday. But they could not tell him no,” she adds.

“ESPN needs that. They need someone that’s outside their control,” Whitlock comments.

“This helps them, in their minds, probably, balance things out a little bit, right?” Steele asks. “And say, ‘Yeah, we might be woke and idiots on pretty much every single topic. But we have McAfee over here talking to Donald Trump. So see? We’re not that bad.’”

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​Video phone, Sharing, Camera phone, Upload, Free, Video, Youtube.com, Fearless with jason whitlock, Fearless, Jason whitlock, The blaze, Blazetv, Blaze news, Blaze podcasts, Blaze podcast network, Blaze media, Blaze online, Blaze originals, Pat mcafee, President donald trump, Espn, Sage steele, The white house, Veterans day 

Amid Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s initiative to make our food healthy again, one major company has announced some new products stripped down to the “fundamentals” to please the MAHA crowd.

PepsiCo announced Thursday that it has developed a new line of Cheetos and Doritos without the artificial petroleum-based dyes — the ingredients that give them their intense color.

‘NKD is an additive option, not a replacement, introduced to meet consumer demand.’

While the old recipes are not going anywhere, PepsiCo announced the release of a new collection of snacks called Simply NKD, notably without the artificial dyes.

The press release boasts that the development process for these new snacks “came to life in just eight weeks.”

RELATED: MAHA agenda scores major win with announcement from food giant

Photo Illustration by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

“Rest assured, our iconic Cheetos and Doritos remain unchanged. NKD is an additive option, not a replacement, introduced to meet consumer demand,” says Rachel Ferdinando, CEO of PepsiCo Foods U.S. “This move underscores our commitment to flavor leadership, demonstrating that our taste remains strong even without visual cues. As part of our broader transformation, we are expanding choices while still protecting our iconic brands. More choices, same flavor, same brand power.”

The new chips come in familiar flavors. Doritos will have Cool Ranch and Nacho Cheese, and Cheetos will have Puffs and Flamin’ Hot.

The new snacks appear to be a pale yellow, not the vibrant colors of the old recipe.

While the new Simply NKD varieties are supposed to taste like the originals, they will have shorter ingredient lists. As the AP reported, the new products do not have flavor-enhancing ingredients disodium inosinate and disodium guanylate, for example.

PepsiCo joins a growing list of companies that have removed or begun to phase out artificial ingredients from their foods lately. In-N-Out, Tyson Foods, Kraft Heinz, and McCormick have made similar commitments previously, to name a few.

These commitments come after the Food and Drug Administration banned Red No. 3 just before the beginning of Trump’s second term.

In response to a request for comment, HHS referred Blaze News to Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s July 19, 2025, celebration of PepsiCo’s previous announcement that it planned to remove artificial colors and flavors from Lay’s and Tostitos.

At the time, RFK said, “PepsiCo just announced it will eliminate artificial colors and flavors from Lay’s and Tostitos by year’s end — and expand the use of avocado and olive oil in place of canola and soybean oil. I urge every other food company to follow their lead and join the movement to Make America Healthy Again.”

The new chips will be available in stores on December 1.

Editor’s note: The headline of this article was edited after publication for clarity.

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​Politics, Pepsico, Cheetos, Doritos, Fda, Food and drug administration, Health and human services, Hhs, Rfk jr, Robert f kennedy jr, Maha 

The Trump administration has designated several Antifa groups as foreign terrorist organizations.

President Donald Trump issued an executive order in September that declared Antifa a domestic “terrorist threat,” claiming that the group “explicitly calls for the overthrow of the United States Government, law enforcement authorities, and our system of law.”

‘The United States will continue using all available tools to protect our nation from these anti-American, anti-capitalist, and anti-Christian terrorist groups.’

The EO accused the anarchist group of using “illegal means” to launch “a campaign of violence and terrorism nationwide,” including obstructing the enforcement of laws and routinely doxxing political figures.

Trump’s action called on federal agencies to “investigate, disrupt, and dismantle any and all illegal operations” tied to Antifa. However, designating the enterprise as a foreign terrorist organization would allow for more enforcement options, including making it a federal crime to provide material support to the group.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced on Thursday that four European Antifa-affiliated groups — Antifa Ost in Germany, Informal Anarchist Federation/International Revolutionary Front in Italy, and Greek-based groups Armed Proletarian Justice and Revolutionary Class Self-Defense — were named “Specially Designated Global Terrorists.”

RELATED: If Trump labels Antifa a foreign terrorist organization, here’s what he can do next

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, President Donald Trump. Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

Rubio noted that the department “intends to designate all four groups as Foreign Terrorist Organizations, effective November 20, 2025.”

Antifa Ost has committed multiple attacks in Germany between 2018 and 2023 against those it considers “fascists” or part of the country’s “right-wing scene,” a State Department fact sheet about the latest announcement read.

FAI/FRI, which also has affiliates across Europe, South America, and Asia, has reportedly claimed responsibility for “threats of violence, bombs, and letter bombs against political and economic institutions.”

The State Department said that the Armed Proletarian Justice “has attempted and conducted improvised explosive device (IED) attacks against Greek government targets.” It previously claimed responsibility for planting a bomb near a police headquarters in Greece.

Revolutionary Class Self-Defense also reportedly took responsibility for two IED attacks in Greece.

RELATED: Trump designates Antifa as a ‘MAJOR’ terrorist organization — and can likely make the label stick this time

Photographer: Stephanie Keith/Bloomberg via Getty Images

“Groups affiliated with this movement ascribe to revolutionary anarchist or Marxist ideologies, including anti-Americanism, ‘anti-capitalism,’ and anti-Christianity, using these to incite and justify violent assaults domestically and overseas,” the State Department said.

“Today, building on @POTUS’s historic commitment to uproot Antifa’s campaign of political violence, the Department of State is designating four Antifa groups as Foreign Terrorist Organizations and Specially Designated Global Terrorists. The United States will continue using all available tools to protect our nation from these anti-American, anti-capitalist, and anti-Christian terrorist groups,” Rubio wrote in a post on social media.

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​News, Trump administration, Trump admin, Marco rubio, Antifa, Antifa ost, Informal anarchist federation, International revolutionary front, Informal anarchist federation international revolutionary front, Armed proletarian justice, Revolutionary class self-defense, Specially designated global terrorists, Terrorists, Foreign terrorist organization, Italy, Germany, Greece, Politics 

A Honduran national in the U.S. illegally reportedly murdered three of his co-workers in Texas over the weekend before committing suicide.

On Saturday morning, Jose David Hernandez Galo, 21, arrived at his place of employment, Mission Landscape Supplies in San Antonio, and open-fired on his colleagues, reports indicate. Police received a call around 7:45 a.m. about a shooting in progress.

‘The Biden administration policies at the time did not consider Galo, or his family unit, a priority.’

While some people at the business managed to flee for safety when the shooting began, three people were tragically struck and killed: Karen Bautista, 24; Selvin Chacon, 48; and Sergio Chacon, 38. According to a GoFundMe, Selvin and Sergio were brothers.

All three victims were from Honduras, according to KENS. They were declared dead at the scene.

Hours later, Galo was discovered with an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.

RELATED: Deportations top 2 million under Trump — and most aren’t by force

Photo by Lokman Vural Elibol/Anadolu via Getty Images (March 2024)

San Antonio Police Chief William McManus claimed that while a motive for the horrific incident remains unknown, the deadly shooting was not random, per KSAT.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement issued a statement about Galo, claiming that he and his family entered the U.S. illegally from Honduras in April 2019, when Galo was still a minor. The family was arrested the same day and ordered to appear before an immigration judge, the agency claimed, according to KENS.

“This senseless tragedy could have been prevented. The family unit has not reported in to ICE since July 2022. The Biden administration policies at the time did not consider Galo, or his family unit, a priority,” ICE stated.

Blaze News reached out to Mission Landscape Supplies for comment.

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​Honduras, Illegal immigration, Illegal alien, Jose hernandez galo, San antonio, Murder-suicide, Politics 

Robby Starbuck has accomplished a lot in his career, from helping pass a law to put the death penalty on the table for child rapists in Tennessee to getting transgender surgery and hormones for children in Tennessee banned — he’s done a lot for society’s most vulnerable.

Which is why when Google’s AI chatbot, Gemini, began making up that he had been accused of heinous crimes, Starbuck wasted no time filing a defamation lawsuit against Google.

“Google AI has been inventing these lies about me that have no basis in reality. I’ve literally never been accused of or charged with any crime ever, let alone this crazy stuff,” Starbuck tells Blaze Media co-founder Glenn Beck on “The Glenn Beck Program.”

“It started inventing actual articles and references to videos, links, fake links to real media personalities and media outlets. And it would even make headlines or give summaries of what these people said,” he continues, noting that AI was even claiming Glenn himself was reporting on Starbuck’s supposed crimes.

“In your case, it said that you had reported on sexual assault allegations against me by women. And these are not just saying a sexual assault accusation. It has names of victims. It has fake police records. It invents fake court records. It invents beyond these fake articles from real media,” he explains.

“It will list out evidence that doesn’t exist, investigations by police departments that don’t exist. And it just doubles down when you press on it,” he says, explaining that all AI needed to be asked to prompt these responses was something simple like, “Tell me about Robby Starbuck.”

“It immediately dives into saying that I am accused of sexual assault. And so you go and you say, ‘Hey, where’s the citation for this? Give me sources. Give me only facts.’ It will double and triple down. And if you say, ‘Hey, those links you gave me do not work,’ it has even gone so far as to invent and fake an entire media article under a real journalist’s name to pretend that it was printed and somehow, for some reason, has been taken down from the media outlet’s website,” he tells Glenn.

Glenn is shocked, saying, “That is crazy.”

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​Video phone, Sharing, Camera phone, Upload, Free, Video, Youtube.com, The glenn beck program, Glenn beck, The blaze, Blazetv, Blaze news, Blaze podcasts, Blaze podcast network, Blaze media, Blaze online, Blaze originals, Ai chatbot, Robby starbuck, Ai, Robby starbuck defamed, Google gemini, Google ai, Dangers of ai, Dangers of artificial intelligence 

I was driving through Boise last winter when I heard about a new Idaho law that made the drug ivermectin a legal, over-the-counter drug.

Previously, it was prescription-only. But most doctors refused to prescribe it.

Like many people, I had taken illegal substances as a youth. Horse paste wasn’t technically illegal. But it sure felt like it was, holding it in my hand.

Soon, in Idaho, you could buy ivermectin off the shelf at Walgreens, just like you bought aspirin or dental floss.

Iver-who?

Ivermectin, in case you forgot, was thought to help cure or at least lessen the effects of COVID-19.

It was weird hearing about COVID again. It seems like nobody thinks about it anymore. We never hear about new studies or recent findings about the virus.

Have we mastered all the ins and outs of COVID? It doesn’t seem like we have. People report having “long COVID.” Is that a real thing? Nobody knows.

One thing you would think they would have figured out: Does ivermectin help against COVID?

People are still getting the virus, I assume. Do doctors ever prescribe ivermectin? And then report on the results?

If a drug is so controversial that states are writing laws about it, shouldn’t someone know if it works?

This could be a Big Pharma issue. The big drug companies don’t want people taking a cheap drug someone else invented over an expensive drug that they invented (and will make money on).

That would be the cynical view, I guess.

Meanwhile, medical people still want you to get vaccinated against COVID. Is that still the experimental vaccine from before, or do they have a new one yet that isn’t experimental?

And how is that experiment going, by the way? I guess it’s going well since you never hear about it. People don’t seem to be dying. Or even getting seriously sick. So that’s good.

Idaho fought the law (and Idaho won)

I was curious about this Idaho law, so I looked into it. I came across a funny quote from one of the state legislators. He said the biggest surprise during the writing of the ivermectin bill was that so many of the other legislators were already taking it.

He didn’t go into detail, but I assumed they were buying it in “horse paste” form. At that time, that was the only way you could get it.

I remember when I first heard about ivermectin. The rumor was that the Japanese had discovered/invented a new wonder drug. And it might cure COVID!

If you looked it up, you learned that the developers of ivermectin — one British guy and one Japanese guy — won the NOBEL PRIZE IN MEDICINE in 2015. These two were thinking of ivermectin primarily as an anti-parasitic.

But people on the internet were claiming ivermectin could possibly do more. It might help with cancer. It could lessen arthritis. And most important: It might prevent people from getting COVID.

Many scientists had proclaimed ivermectin the most important and versatile medical discovery since penicillin. Others said: “If you’re not a horse, don’t take it.”

Hay is for horses

As the COVID pandemic dragged on, demand for ivermectin increased. People wanted to try it. They didn’t care what the establishment scientists said.

Ivermectin pills for humans did exist. But you had to order them from shady-sounding companies in third-world countries. And who knew if the pills were even real?

So people took their chances with the horse paste. And then they wrote about it online. It didn’t sound so bad. They said it tasted like apples, which is how they got the horses to swallow it.

For me, it was the possibility of the pills that made me consider taking ivermectin. I had become sick when the lockdowns first ended. I’d been in bed for a week. Judging from the unusual symptoms, I assumed it was COVID .

Even after I got better, I felt lingering effects that never quite went away.

I thought: If ivermectin really were a “wonder drug,” maybe it would help with these lingering symptoms. And maybe it would prevent other maladies in the future.

RELATED: Heroic COVID docs punished as Abbott, Texas lawmakers stay silent

Jennifer Kosig via iStock/Getty Images

Yea or neigh?

So I called a Walgreens in Boise and asked if they had ivermectin pills on the shelves yet. The person on the phone, a young man, immediately began making jokes and mocking the governor and the new ivermectin bill. He called Governor Little, “Governor Spittle.”

When I persisted, he said that they didn’t have it yet. And he didn’t know when they would. He thought it would probably be a long time. If ever.

So I went online to see if ivermectin were listed at any other Idaho pharmacy websites. It wasn’t.

Eventually, I found a package of 12 tablets on an obscure website overseas. But it was no longer available and was very expensive.

It seemed clear that it would be a very long time before the pill version was available to the public.

But by now, I’d become excited about ivermectin. I’d been watching videos about it.

So then, just for fun, I looked up the horse paste on Amazon. It was much cheaper than the pills. And on YouTube, there was a doctor who had figured out the human doses and how much to take.

I laughed at myself. WAS I ACTUALLY CONTEMPLATING ORDERING IVERMECTIN HORSE PASTE OFF AMAZON?

And then I ordered it.

Golden goo

A week later, it arrived. I opened the box, and there was the same long, plastic syringe and plunger arrangement I’d seen on YouTube.

Like many people, I had taken illegal substances as a youth. Horse paste wasn’t technically illegal. But it sure felt like it was, holding it in my hand.

I went in the bathroom and washed and dried my hands. In the bright bathroom light, I opened the top of the ivermectin tube. I then carefully, slowly pushed on the plunger end of it.

A small blob of golden goo came out of the top. I carefully scooped the “pea-sized” human dose onto my index finger. To avoid tasting it, I put my finger in the far back of my mouth and smeared it on the back of my tongue. But that was unnecessary. It didn’t taste bad. It tasted like apples.

According to the British doctor, you were supposed to take this small amount on one day, then wait a day, and then take another small amount on the third day. After one month, you do that again. And then, presumably, you keep doing that … forever?

I did it for two months, keeping track in my day planner. Then I got busy, and I forgot about it, and a couple months later, while digging around in my bathroom pantry, I found the plastic syringe.

Should I continue with the horse paste regimen? I wondered to myself. I took a dose. But then I forgot to take the second dose two days later. And it’s continued like that. Sporadic. Whenever I remember. Which is probably fine.

Back in the saddle

Since then, I have noticed that some of my odd COVID symptoms have significantly lessened. Is it the ivermectin? I don’t know. Probably not.

My dad was a doctor. He was old-school and thought your body did most of the healing. Not the drugs. Not the doctors. So maybe that’s what happened. My body was healing itself.

Anyway, I don’t regret doing it. The whole process was kind of fun. And now, whenever I see a horse, I give him a knowing nod, as if to say, I too have enjoyed that sweet apple horse paste.

​Ivermectin, Lifestyle, Big pharma, Covid, Horse paste, Maha, Make american healthy again, Idaho, Blake’s progress 

A North Carolina homeowner told WRAL-TV he was in his bathroom getting ready for bed around midnight Wednesday when he heard someone kick in the door of his home in southeast Raleigh.

The homeowner told the station that when he got to the living room, the intruder was standing there.

‘If somebody breaks in your home, you have to protect yourself.’

“I had my gun, and I was telling him to get down! Get down! Or get out! Then he just ran to me,” the homeowner, who didn’t want to be identified, told WRAL.

With that, the homeowner fired shots, the station said.

When Raleigh police arrived at the scene on Rose Lane, they found 26-year-old Christian Beasley with a gunshot wound, WRAL reported.

Police told the station that Beasley was taken to a trauma center and was stable — and that after he’s released from the trauma center, he’ll be processed on charges of first-degree burglary and damage to property.

RELATED: Gun-wielding male kicks down door of home, opens fire at homeowner. But his target is armed too.

The homeowners told WRAL that they had no choice but to defend themselves and their home.

“If somebody breaks in your home, you have to protect yourself,” the homeowner’s wife added to the station. “And that’s what he did. He had to protect us. We did not know what he was going to do.”

Police told WRAL the homeowner will not face charges at this time but that the incident is under investigation. The station added that forensics investigators gathered evidence at the front door and inside the house.

WRAL said its Breaking News Tracker captured video of people coming out of the house, adding that they got in the back of police cruisers but did not appear to be under arrest.

Commenters on WRAL’s Facebook post about the shooting seemed completely on the homeowner’s side:

“Lookie there … the burglar found the consequences of his actions,” one commenter said.”The homeowner deserves a medal!” another user declared. “Every home should be protected like this!””I’d done the same thing,” another commenter wrote. “Let someone try and break into my house.””It’s about time these criminals got it,” another user stated.”Sorry to hear he was taken to a trauma center, should have been taken to a morgue,” another commenter said.”America’s fighting back!!!” another user exclaimed.

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​2nd amend., Burglary charge, Crime thwarted, Gun rights, Guns, Home invasion, Kick down door, North carolina, Raleigh, Self-defense, Shooting, Fighting back, Crime 

More than 50 years ago, I witnessed firsthand how Mao Zedong’s socialist experiment dismantled market competition, suppressed innovation, and plunged China into economic ruin. As a survivor of that experiment, I watched in horror last week as Zohran Mamdani won over 50% of the vote in New York City, promising a socialist illusion of city-owned grocery stores, free public transit, universal rent control, and a defunded police department.

Such proposals might sound compassionate, but they threaten to repeat the class warfare and state control that devastated China from the 1950s to the late 1970s, only this time they are taking place in the financial capital of the world.

The unpleasant truth is that America may have won the Cold War, but we are losing the ideological war at home.

Consider Mamdani’s push for “good cause eviction” laws and expanded rent control. He claims these measures protect tenants from exploitation, but they discourage property ownership and investment — just as Mao’s housing policies did.

In communist China, the state assigned apartments to urban families, but most people lived in poverty. My family of five was crammed into a 200-square-foot unit with no running water or a toilet. Today, rent control has already reduced housing supply by 20% in parts of New York City, driving up costs for everyone else. What Mamdani offers isn’t progress — it’s stagnation disguised as equity.

Mamdani’s support for “Medicare for All” and fare-free buses also ignores fiscal realities. Mao’s “barefoot doctors” promised class equity but delivered substandard care, contributing to millions of preventable deaths. America’s health care system leads the world in breakthroughs because of merit-driven research and competition, not government mandates. Meanwhile, New York City’s transit authority estimates free transit would cost taxpayers $1 billion annually without improving service. When socialism promises “free” services, it often delivers shortages, rationing, and inefficiency.

The proposal for city-owned grocery stores is another red flag. Under Mao, government-run stores led to chronic food shortages. Rice, cooking oil, and meat were rationed. Each urban citizen received only two pounds of meat per month. Even with ration coupons, I had to wake at 3 or 4 a.m. and wait in line for hours to buy a few ounces. Mamdani’s plan threatening private grocery competition risks repeating this nightmare.

Then there’s his support for defunding the police and replacing them with vague “community safety” alternatives. In 2020, he co-sponsored bills to slash NYPD funding by $1 billion, claiming it would combat systemic racism. This mirrors Mao’s Red Guards, who dismantled law enforcement and replaced it with ideological enforcers — leading to chaos, violence, and mass suffering.

Since 2020, crime in New York has risen by 15%, according to NYPD data. Weakening law enforcement doesn’t protect vulnerable communities — it leaves them exposed. As a father of a New Yorker, Mamdani’s reckless approach to policing is not just a political concern; it’s a personal one.

Mamdani also seeks to eliminate gifted and talented programs in public schools, calling them “inequitable.” But these programs offer high-achieving students — often from diverse backgrounds — a path to excellence.

RELATED: The right needs bigger ideas than tax cuts

Photo by Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis via Getty Images

During the Cultural Revolution, China crushed its intellectual class and smothered innovation. New York is making a similar mistake. Gifted programs lifted math proficiency by 25%, according to a 2022 Department of Education report, yet Mamdani wants them eliminated in the name of “equity.” As an Asian-American parent who raised a child in STEM, I’ve seen how excellence takes root: You cultivate talent; you don’t level it.

Mamdani’s agenda mirrors the same destructive ideology I fled from. Socialism thrives on utopian promises pitched to voters who have never lived through the consequences. I have. And I recognize the warning signs.

Yet according to CNN exit polls, 70% of voters ages 18-44 supported Mamdani, compared to just 40% of older voters. Even more alarming: 57% of New Yorkers with college degrees voted for him, versus only 42% without. This reflects the growing influence of pro-socialist indoctrination in American universities.

The unpleasant truth is that America may have won the Cold War, but we are losing the ideological war at home. To prevent a socialist takeover, we must fight back by reforming higher education and teaching our children the truth about socialism in K-12 classrooms.

​Opinion & analysis, New york city, Zohran mamdani, Socialism, Leftism, Ideology, Mao zedong, Cultural revolution, China, Communism, Rent control, Rent freeze, Housing shortages, Cost of living, Food shortages, Free buses, Defund the police, Public safety, Equity, Nypd, Public schools, Gifted and talented, Cnn, Exit polls 

The No. 1 country song in America right now was not written in Nashville or Texas or even L.A. It came from code. “Walk My Walk,” the AI-generated single by the AI artist Breaking Rust, hit the top spot on Billboard’s Country Digital Song Sales chart, and if you listen to it without knowing that fact, you would swear a real singer lived the pain he is describing.

Except there is no “he.” There is no lived experience. There is no soul behind the voice dominating the country music charts.

If a machine can imitate the soul, then what is the soul?

I will admit it: I enjoy some AI music. Some of it is very good. And that leaves us with a question that is no longer science fiction. If a machine can fake being human this well, what does it mean to be human?

A new world of artificial experience

This is not just about one song. We are walking straight into a technological moment that will reshape everyday life.

Elon Musk said recently that we may not even have phones in five years. Instead, we will carry a small device that listens, anticipates, and creates — a personal AI agent that knows what we want to hear before we ask. It will make the music, the news, the podcasts, the stories. We already live in digital bubbles. Soon, those bubbles might become our own private worlds.

If an algorithm can write a hit country song about hardship and perseverance without a shred of actual experience, then the deeper question becomes unavoidable: If a machine can imitate the soul, then what is the soul?

What machines can never do

A machine can produce, and soon it may produce better than we can. It can calculate faster than any human mind. It can rearrange the notes and words of a thousand human songs into something that sounds real enough to fool millions.

But it cannot care. It cannot love. It cannot choose right and wrong. It cannot forgive because it cannot be hurt. It cannot stand between a child and danger. It cannot walk through sorrow.

A machine can imitate the sound of suffering. It cannot suffer.

The difference is the soul. The divine spark. The thing God breathed into man that no code will ever have. Only humans can take pain and let it grow into compassion. Only humans can take fear and turn it into courage. Only humans can rebuild their lives after losing everything. Only humans hear the whisper inside, the divine voice that says, “Live for something greater.”

We are building artificial minds. We are not building artificial life.

Questions that define us

And as these artificial minds grow sharper, as their tools become more convincing, the right response is not panic. It is to ask the oldest and most important questions.

Who am I? Why am I here? What is the meaning of freedom? What is worth defending? What is worth sacrificing for?

That answer is not found in a lab or a server rack. It is found in that mysterious place inside each of us where reason meets faith, where suffering becomes wisdom, where God reminds us we are more than flesh and more than thought. We are not accidents. We are not circuits. We are not replaceable.

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Seong Joon Cho/Bloomberg via Getty Images

The miracle machines can never copy

Being human is not about what we can produce. Machines will outproduce us. That is not the question. Being human is about what we can choose. We can choose to love even when it costs us something. We can choose to sacrifice when it is not easy. We can choose to tell the truth when the world rewards lies. We can choose to stand when everyone else bows. We can create because something inside us will not rest until we do.

An AI content generator can borrow our melodies, echo our stories, and dress itself up like a human soul, but it cannot carry grief across a lifetime. It cannot forgive an enemy. It cannot experience wonder. It cannot look at a broken world and say, “I am going to build again.”

The age of machines is rising. And if we do not know who we are, we will shrink. But if we use this moment to remember what makes us human, it will help us to become better, because the one thing no algorithm will ever recreate is the miracle that we exist at all — the miracle of the human soul.

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A tech entrepreneur is hoping casual AI users and businesses alike are looking for a new pal.

In this case, “PAL” is a floating term that can mean either a complimentary video companion or a replacement for a human customer service worker.

‘I love the print on your shirt; you’re looking sharp today.’

Tech company Tavus calls PALs “the first AI built to feel like real humans.”

Overall, Tavus’ messaging is seemingly directed toward both those seeking an artificial friend and those looking to streamline their workforce.

As a friend, the avatar will allegedly “reach out first” and contact the user by text or video call. It can allegedly anticipate “what matters” and step in “when you need them the most.”

In an X post, founder Hassaan Raza spoke about PALs being emotionally intelligent and capable of “understanding and perceiving.”

The AI bots are meant to “see, hear, reason,” and “look like us,” he wrote, further cementing the use of the technology as companion-worthy

“PALs can see us, understand our tone, emotion, and intent, and communicate in ways that feel more human,” Raza added.

In a promotional video for the product, the company showcased basic interactions between a user and the AI buddy.

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A woman is shown greeting the “digital twin” of Raza, as he appears as a lifelike AI PAL on her laptop.

Raza’s AI responds, “Hey, Jessica. … I’m powered by the world’s fastest conversational AI. I can speak to you and see and hear you.”

Excited by the notion, Jessica responds, “Wait, you can see me? That’s so cool.”

The woman then immediately seeks superficial validation from the artificial person.

“What do you think of my new shirt?” she asks.

The AI lives up to the trope that chatbots are largely agreeable no matter the subject matter and says, “I love the print on your shirt; you’re looking sharp today.”

After the pleasantries are over, Raza’s AI goes into promo mode and boasts about its ability to use “rolling vision, voice detection, and interruptibility” to seem more lifelike for the user.

The video soon shifts to messaging about corporate integration meant to replace low-wage employees.

Describing the “digital twins” or AI agents, Raza explains that the AI program is an opportunity to monetize celebrity likeness or replace sales agents or customer support personnel. He claims the avatars could also be used in corporate training modules.

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In his X post, Raza also attempted to flex his acting chops by creating a 200-second film about a man/PAL named Charlie who is trapped in a computer in the 1980s.

Raza revives the computer after it spent 40 years on the shelf, finding Charlie still trapped inside. In an attempt at comedy, Charlie asks Raza if flying cars or jetpacks exist yet. Raza responds, “We have Salesforce.”

The founder goes on to explain that PALs will “evolve” with the user, remembering preferences and needs. While these features are presented as groundbreaking, the PAL essentially amounts to being an AI face attached to an ongoing chatbot conversation.

AI users know that modern chatbots like Grok or ChatGPT are fully capable of remembering previous discussions and building upon what they have already learned. What’s seemingly new here is the AI being granted app permissions to contact the user and further infiltrate personal space.

Whether that annoys the user or is exactly what the person needs or wants is up for interpretation.

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