Category: blaze media

For years, Americans were told newer cars would be harder to steal.

Smarter security and keyless entry were supposed to usher in a new era for car owners. Instead, car theft is becoming faster, quieter, and far more sophisticated.

Consumers shouldn’t have to rely on 1990s anti-theft devices to protect vehicles loaded with modern technology — but that’s where we’ve arrived.

Federal prosecutors in Washington, D.C., recently charged six people tied to an international theft ring accused of stealing more than 100 vehicles in the D.C. area.

No smash and grab

It’s how they did it that should make us all concerned: a simple handheld device that can reportedly program a new key fob directly into a vehicle’s system — sometimes in about a minute.

No broken window, no smashed ignition, no dramatic Hollywood-style escape.

Just unlock the vehicle, program a key, and drive away.

Handheld device

According to prosecutors, the group used a device known as an Autel to bypass vehicle security systems and generate working keys on the spot. These are tools designed for locksmiths and dealerships, but criminals are now using them to steal cars with alarming speed.

And this wasn’t random street crime.

Investigators say stolen vehicles were moved into parking garages and other “cool-off” locations where VIN numbers were altered, tracking systems disabled, and identifying information changed before the cars were shipped overseas — often hidden inside containers labeled as furniture.

The Autel MaxIM KM100 is commercially available online for a few hundred dollars. It’s small enough to fit in one hand and reportedly works on hundreds of vehicle models.

Automakers spent years selling convenience features as progress. But every layer of convenience also creates another possible vulnerability — something that criminals figured out quickly.

RELATED: Why Tesla’s latest road test could be BAD NEWS for Washington

NurPhoto/Getty Images

Daily drivers

The vehicles targeted in this case included mainstream models like Chevrolet Camaros, Corvettes, and Honda Civics — not rare exotics sitting behind gated mansions. This isn’t just a luxury-car problem anymore. It’s becoming a mainstream problem tied directly to how modern vehicles are designed.

When vehicles become easier to access electronically and harder to track once they disappear, organized crime adapts fast. And investigators believe this case may only expose part of a much larger network.

So what actually works now? Ironically, some of the best protections are old-school.

Police departments are once again recommending steering wheel locks and Faraday pouches because modern theft methods depend on speed. A visible steering wheel lock adds time and attention — two things thieves don’t want.

Consumers shouldn’t have to rely on 1990s anti-theft devices to protect vehicles loaded with modern technology — but that’s where we’ve arrived.

Automakers have raced to add more connected features, more apps, and more digital access points. Security hasn’t always kept pace, and now the industry is dealing with the consequences.

There’s also a growing debate over devices like the Autel system itself. These tools absolutely serve legitimate purposes for repair shops and locksmiths. But critics argue there are too few restrictions on who can buy them and how they’re used.

That conversation is only going to get louder as these thefts continue spreading.

The next time you park your vehicle, the real question may not be whether someone can break into it.

It’s whether he can simply program his way in.

​Law enforcement agencies, Lifestyle, Align cars, Car theft, Tech 

Following redistricting in the South, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) delivered a passionate speech on voting rights and political organizing in Alabama, where she called on activists from northern states to “pull up” on their southern neighbors.

During the speech, AOC argued that protecting voting rights leads to better schools, expanded health care, and broader political representation, while warning supporters that opponents fear people “coming together” across state lines.

“It is time for the North to pull up to the South,” AOC yelled, “It is time for New York to pull up to Alabama. It is time for all of us to come to Georgia, to Louisiana, to Tennessee, to Mississippi and let them know exactly what they have uncorked with this injustice.”

“Because when black Americans have the right to vote and that vote is protected, our schools get funded. When voting rights are protected, health care gets expanded. When voting rights are protected, our country moves forward,” she said.

“And Montgomery, that’s what they’re actually afraid of. They’re afraid of us coming together. They’re afraid of us protecting one another. Alabama is the crucible. Georgia is the crucible. Tennessee, Louisiana, Mississippi is the crucible,” she continued.

“It is time to pull up. Because what they thought was the final blow is actually just the opening silo,” she yelled.

BlazeTV host Pat Gray laughs, saying, “Of course, she means salvo. It’s ‘the opening salvo.’”

“She doesn’t know what she’s talking about,” he adds.

Want more from Pat Gray?

To enjoy more of Pat’s biting analysis and signature wit as he restores common sense to a senseless world, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

​Pat gray, Alexandria ocasio cortez, Voting rights, Redistricting, Aoc, Alabama, Pat gray unleashed 

Trump may be president, but his anti-woke approach isn’t saving Hollywood from itself — as some of its latest releases have been met with heavy criticism.

Most recently, “The Mandalorian and Grogu” has gotten the second-worst Rotten Tomatoes score in the “Star Wars” franchise — coming in at a barely fresh 65%.

BlazeTV hosts Stu Burguiere and Dave Landau don’t believe it’s much of a mystery as to why that is.

“Well, Pedro Pascal’s in it. He was in my colonoscopy I had two weeks ago. The least s****y thing he’s done,” Dave jokes.

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Stu points out that “they’re going to the extremes on it,” which is too much for the fanbase.

“It’s a lot. The whole Mandalorian concept was like, ‘Hey, what if we did an adorable, puppy-dog version of Yoda?’ Like, it’s pathetic,” he says.

“I think it sucks,” Dave agrees.

“And Pedro Pascal sucks,” Stu adds.

The film “The Odyssey” from Christopher Nolan is also facing scrutiny for casting choices — specifically, for casting Lupita Nyong’o as Helen of Troy.

“I guess she’s pretty,” Dave says. “She’s not really the face that launches a thousand ships.”

“She’s more the face you get frozen yogurt with once. You know, the Tinder face that you match up but never meet up with. That sort of face,” he continues.

Dave also notes that because of the color of Nyong’o’s skin, she adds value to the Hollywood crowd.

“The Academy … they have mandated all this stuff,” he says, adding, “You have to have certain people in certain roles. So he’s just stacking the deck in his favor.”

Want more from Stu and Dave?

To enjoy more of Stu and Dave’s lethal blend of wit, humor, and insightful commentary subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

​Christopher nolan, Hollywood, Pedro pascal, Star wars, Stu and dave do america, The odyssey, The mandalorian and grogu 

Mary, a veteran Silicon Valley marketer who can’t find a job, considers herself a victim of an H-1B visa program run amok.

Her story, a U.S. native replaced by a foreign-born employee who is willing to work at a significantly lower wage, has become commonplace, particularly in the tech industry. Adding insult to injury, she says, her CEO, who hails from India, told her to train the man he selected to replace her before laying her off.

Despite stints at Google and Cisco and two years of job-hunting, Mary can no longer compete in a job market saturated with foreign-born H-1B visa holders. “I had experience. I should have walked right into these corporate jobs, but I didn’t. Why? Because Silicon Valley is flooded with people who work for two-thirds of the price, or even half price,” said Mary, who asked to be identified only by her first name.

Companies, on average, save nearly $100,000 per worker over six years by hiring an H-1B worker rather than an American.

U.S. tech workers like Mary are at the center of a battle brewing in Washington, D.C., over reforming the troubled H-1B visa program, which is designed to fill highly skilled positions when qualified American workers can’t be found. The controversy pits tough-on-immigration Republicans and some Democrats against the most formidable of opponents — Big Tech, the primary beneficiary of a program considered by critics to be little more than a pipeline of cheap labor.

In the last few decades, the California dream has gone global, as U.S. tech firms have filled their ranks and C-suites with employees born abroad. Intel is no longer the company of its founders, Robert Noyce and Gordon Moore, but of Malaysian-born Lip-Bu Tan, its CEO since March 2025. Microsoft is led by Satya Nadella; Alphabet Inc. by Sundar Pichai; Adobe by Shantanu Narayen; IBM by Arvind Krishna; and T-Mobile US by Srinivas Gopalan — all of whom were born in India.

All told, a remarkable two-thirds of the Valley’s nearly 400,000 tech jobs are now held by those born abroad, according to a 2025 report from the think tank Joint Venture Silicon Valley. Today, more tech workers were born in India (23%) and China (18%) combined than in the U.S. (34%).

Low-cost talent

The influx of low-cost Asian talent has clearly helped fuel profits in one of America’s most influential sectors. But there is a downside to this tech boom — the sidelining of U.S. workers thanks to the H-1B visa program. Created in 1990, the federal program has morphed into a vehicle for employers, particularly in the nation’s tech centers, to recruit much cheaper foreign labor at the expense of U.S. tech workers, according to Harvard economist George J. Borjas.

While the H-1B program spans multiple industries, it is overwhelmingly concentrated in tech. Last year, Amazon, Meta, Microsoft, Tata Consultancy, and Google were the biggest visa users, with Amazon alone recording more than 13,000 applications. These companies find the savings from hiring foreign workers hard to resist. The job of software developer, for instance, accounts for 38% of all H-1B visa workers, according to a 2026 paper by Borjas. And these foreign software developers earn about 30% less than their U.S. counterparts, the economist estimates.

Since many of these tech jobs pay six figures, the savings quickly add up. Borjas estimates that companies, on average, save nearly $100,000 per worker over six years by hiring an H-1B worker rather than an American. The arrangement “redistributes wealth from those who compete with immigrants to those who use immigrants,” Borjas wrote in 2016. That, in turn, helps account for the soaring stock prices of Big Tech since the 2008 financial crash.

RELATED: America should eliminate the H-1B and replace it with THIS

El Nuevo Herald/Getty Images

False rationale

The vaguely written H-1B law has been easy for companies to exploit. Hassan Abdullah, an immigration attorney and H-1B advocate, said the supposed congressional basis of the law — to fill highly skilled jobs with foreigners if Americans aren’t available — has always been a fiction. “The actual regulations don’t necessarily say that’s required,” said Abdullah, who helps companies get the visas. “Throughout all my years, I’ve never had to even consider that as a factor.”

One of the most glaring weaknesses of the law, critics say, is that most companies applying for these visas are not required to demonstrate that they were unable to find qualified American workers. Only companies with more than 15% of their workforce on H-1Bs must make small efforts to recruit U.S. citizens.

Companies are required to pay foreign workers at least the “prevailing wage” for the occupation and region, a provision that should theoretically reduce the incentive to hire employees from Asia. But the process relies on self-reporting and has been easy to manipulate because salaries are calculated using broad regional averages that often fail to reflect real market wages in the technology sector.

As a result, the number of H-1B visa workers has skyrocketed. 2025 was a banner year, with 406,348 approved visas, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Seventy percent of those visas were issued to Indians. That compares with a total of 275,317 visa approvals in 2015.

Missouri Sen. Eric Schmitt, who is part of the MAGA wing of the GOP, reacted to these numbers on X, calling the program “a national security nightmare. Enough. No more flooding the market with 400k+ H-1B visas while our people and our sovereignty gets screwed.”

After foreign-born employees take on leadership roles, including CEO, they attract and hire more foreigners by tapping their own professional and social networks.

With criticism of the visas dovetailing with broader anti-immigration sentiments, the Trump administration has made the most serious move yet to restrict the program. Six months ago, USCIS announced a new $100,000 fee that companies must pay per new H-1B worker living outside the U.S. While official figures have not yet been released, some immigration experts estimate that the fee may lead to a 30% to 50% decline in new visa applications.

“This is the first year we have not filed any H-1B visas for people outside the U.S. because tech companies don’t want to pay the $100,000 fee,” said immigration attorney Navdeep Meamber, who is based in Silicon Valley.

But companies have found a work-around. Meamber said she has seen an increase in the number of clients filing for the visas for workers already in the U.S., particularly those such as students who transferred from other visa types to H-1Bs.

“The $100,000 fee is discouraging some employers from bringing in brand-new H-1B workers, but it is not reducing the numbers, because foreign students, especially those who get on the Optional Practical Training program, can move into the H-1B pipeline without paying that fee,” said attorney Rosemary Jenks, a campaigner for immigration reform with the Immigration Accountability Project. “So there are still plenty of H-1B visas being issued every year.”

American ingenuity

Silicon Valley wasn’t always dominated by foreigners. Some claim the true birthplace of Silicon Valley can be found in a garage at 367 Addison Avenue in Palo Alto. It was there that David Packard, a native of Colorado, and Bill Hewlett of Michigan founded Hewlett-Packard in 1939. Robert Noyce, a native son of Iowa and co-inventor of the integrated circuit, critically made from silicon, gave name to the valley after the substance. With his colleague, Gordon Moore of San Francisco, they founded Intel in 1968.

Throughout the postwar years, America’s booming tech industry was largely pioneered by natives. By the 1980s, however, concerns were raised about the dwindling number of young people available to fill STEM jobs in the future. Erich Bloch, director of the National Science Foundation, told the American Council on Education in 1985: “The pool of potential students from U.S. schools will become smaller. Demographic projections, of which you are all aware, show the number of 18- to 24-year-olds declining by about 20% over the next decade.”

The 1990 Immigration Act created the H-1B visa, a temporary work visa lasting a few years aimed at filling the labor shortages Bloch had warned about. Since then, tech firms have sometimes struggled to find employees, particularly specialized engineers, during times of rapid growth. But whether the industry faces a persistent shortage of American workers is a matter of debate among economists and labor analysts.

Major technology companies reject the criticism that the H-1B system is primarily a source of cheap labor. Executives stress that the program allows American firms to recruit engineers and researchers with advanced technical expertise in areas where qualified talent can be scarce.

They also contend that many H-1B workers are paid high salaries and that access to global talent helps keep American companies competitive against rivals.

Critics of the visas point to waves of layoffs accompanied by the growth in H-1Bs as evidence that a labor shortage is nothing more than a fig leaf. Michael Capuano of the Federation for American Immigration Reform wrote in a blog post last year,

Google laid off 951 U.S. employees in 2024, but found room for 1,058 new H-1B workers. Apple laid off 735 people in 2024, but signed on 864 new H-1B employees. Microsoft laid off 3,426 workers from 2022 to 2024 and hired 3,259 new H-1Bs during that same period.

A 2023 analysis by the Economic Policy Institute similarly found that the top 30 H-1B employers hired more than 34,000 new H-1B workers in 2022 while laying off at least 85,000 employees during the same period.

In addition to cheaper talent, critics say H-1B visas also provide a captive workforce. Because employers can sponsor visa holders for permanent residency, many workers become heavily reliant on keeping their jobs in order to remain in the United States. Critics argue that this dynamic discourages employees from changing companies or demanding higher wages, with some likening the system to a form of indentured servitude.

Tribalism at play

Critics say favoritism has also contributed to foreign dominance of the tech sector. After foreign-born employees take on leadership roles, including CEO, they attract and hire more foreigners by tapping their own professional and social networks.

Kevin Lynn, executive director of the Institute for Sound Public Policy, argues that “professionalism doesn’t exist in these IT departments any more,” adding that “when you look at the hiring, it gets very tribal. It’s really India versus the rest of the world.”

Microsoft saw the number of decisions on H-1B applications rise from 2,983 in 2014, when Nadella became CEO, to 6,258 in 2025. Google’s numbers jumped from 2,309 in 2015, when Pichai took the top job, to 7,868 in 2025. During these years, these companies also grew, making it hard to know if the percentage of foreign workers increased. At IBM, H-1B decisions have remained consistent since Arvind Krishna was named the leader.

Meamber, the immigration lawyer, disputes the idea that companies run by foreign-born leaders are more likely to rely on labor from their home countries. “The CEO doesn’t even know who is being hired. … These decisions are being taken at a lower level by the HR team and by the recruiters,” she said.

Stephen Vivien, an engineer, said he witnessed Indian employees helping each other get hired by sharing interview questions when he worked at Google. “There were a lot of H-1B workers … there’s a network.” he said.

“When one Indian guy would be coming up for his interview; the other Indian guys who had [already] gotten hired would call and share the questions.”

RELATED: America didn’t lose its tech edge — globalist CEOs gave it away

Dhiraj Singh/Bloomberg/Getty Images

In April, a New York jury found New Jersey-based Cognizant Technology Solutions liable for $8.4 million after a former executive sued the company, which was founded in India, for discrimination against non-Indian and non-South Asian workers. The executive argued he was passed over for a promotion and was later fired for raising concerns about bias against non-Indian employees.

The decision follows a separate successful lawsuit brought by three other employees against Cognizant in 2017, all similarly claiming discrimination against non-Indian workers, though the company is appealing and denies all allegations. In both lawsuits, juries found in favor of claims that Cognizant had used the H-1B program as a tool to discriminate against American workers. Since 2009, the company has received tens of thousands of H-1B visa approvals.

Reformers vs. Big Tech

While restrictions to the program have yet to meaningfully slow its growth, some Republicans have called to abolish it. In February, Florida Rep. Greg Steube (R) introduced the EXILE Act, which would end the H-1B visa program entirely.

A proposed reform that might gain more bipartisan support targets the ineffective prevailing wage requirement that allows firms to underpay foreign workers. One idea floated by Republicans would create a minimum salary requirement for H-1B workers that is much higher than the current pay scale, thus removing the financial incentive to replace U.S.-born workers.

Ro Khanna, the Democrat congressman representing much of Silicon Valley, said on the “All-In” podcast last year that “there’s definitely abuse. … It needs to be corrected” in the H-1B program. Khanna said a new prevailing wage standard would be a reform he could support.

But legislation that would raise labor costs would be opposed by Big Tech, armed with its war chest of money and influence in Washington. Jenks, the lawyer, said H-1B reformers face a tough fight. “The donors on this issue include all of the high-tech companies, whether it’s Microsoft, Facebook, all of them,” she said. “They put millions and millions of dollars every year into lobbying.”

Editor’s note: This article was originally published by RealClearInvestigations and made available via RealClearWire. The article was reported in conjunction with a GB News documentary, which can be viewed here.

​H-1b visa, Immigration, Trump administration, Big tech, Foreign labor, American jobs, Tech layoffs, India, Google, Facebook, Opinion & analysis 

“You’re a traitor to your race!”

Hearing this insult made me realize I was not truly a moderate, but a conservative who needed to be more vocal.

When I was a 1L at Rutgers-Camden in my constitutional law class, we discussed issues such as affirmative action and disparate impact theory. I expressed the opinion that the law should be colorblind and merit-based, and that Asians were often harmed by these policies.

The left only celebrates minority success when it serves progressive grievance.

We also covered the Japanese internment camps. As a member of the Asian Pacific American Law Student Association, I reminded the class that the Japanese people at the time followed their political leadership with near-religious devotion and that it could be reasonably argued the camps were necessary at the time. I noted that while the internment camps were wrong, they did not rise anywhere near the level of the German death camps.

I was used to seeing dismay from students and professors when a minority student expressed conservative beliefs. But during this conversation, I first heard someone question my relationship with my mother’s heritage solely because of my political views.

To the best of my recollection, this statement came from a white law student who once bragged about working on Senator Ted Kennedy’s campaign on Martha’s Vineyard. I was a mixed-race student who had worked as a bartender while attending Penn State and as a roofer during summers just to make ends meet.

Identity politics has produced more division than unity. It becomes discriminatory by enforcing ideological litmus tests within racial groups. Those who prioritize colorblind merit, individual responsibility, and limited government are labeled traitors or inauthentic.

The liberal media and Democratic rhetoric claim to champion minorities while viciously attacking prominent minority conservatives personally — often without engaging their arguments on policy or evidence.

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, a black conservative who rose from poverty in the segregated South, embodies the self-made success story that identity politics struggles to accommodate. Rather than debate his skepticism of race-based policies, critics frequently resort to personal attacks and racial slurs. More recently, Charlamagne tha God called Justice Clarence Thomas a “coon” on “The Daily Show.”

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who has been one of Trump’s most popular cabinet members, recently gave a passionate defense of the American dream. It’s a dream he has long believed in, but Rubio has long been labeled a traitor to his own culture primarily because of his policy positions on immigration and economics.

Kash Patel is an Indian-American FBI director. He has been a victim of personal attacks and racist death threats, yet little has been offered to criticize his results on crime and national security. Identity politics won’t allow it.

Even prominent black voices in sports and entertainment take risks when they deviate. Stephen A. Smith has faced fierce backlash for simply suggesting black voters consider voting Republican or for criticizing certain Democratic policies.

Economist Thomas Sowell, one of the most influential black thinkers of our time, has been repeatedly smeared with terrible racist attacks for documenting how culture, incentives, and policy explain disparities better than systemic racism narratives. Refusal to conform comes at a personal cost.

RELATED: Democrats love free speech — until conservatives get some

Nathan Posner/Anadolu/Getty Images

A glaring example of this selective outrage appears among prominent Asian-American Democratic politicians. Senator Andy Kim (D-N.J.), the first Korean-American U.S. Senator, frequently highlights his identity as the son of Korean immigrants and advocates greater Asian-American representation in politics.

Yet when the Supreme Court ruled in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard (2023) that race-based admissions policies violated the Equal Protection Clause — policies that data showed penalized Asian applicants with higher academic standards — Kim expressed dismay and pivoted to criticizing legacy admissions rather than the clear anti-Asian discrimination.

In contrast, retired Navy Captain Hung Cao, a Vietnamese refugee and decorated veteran recently appointed acting secretary of the Navy, was immediately mocked by the Democratic Party’s official X account. (The post has since been deleted.)

These examples reveal identity politics’ discriminatory core: The left only celebrates minority success when it serves progressive grievance. When Asians or other minorities succeed through merit, service, and conservative principles, that success becomes a problem.

These Democrat lawmakers embrace group-based advocacy when it aligns with progressive causes — pushing for representation and condemning hate when politically convenient, and supporting affirmative action frameworks that benefit some minority groups. Yet when high-achieving Asians suffer from the very racial preferences identity politics demands, the commitment to fighting discrimination evaporates.

Identity politics demands loyalty to the liberal ideologies above consistent principle or the specific interest of their communities.

True equality comes from judging individuals by character and content, not enforcing racial political blocs.

​Affirmative action, Clarence thomas, Hung cao, Identity politics, Kash patel, American dream, Minorities, Democrats, Opinion & analysis 

An Arizona woman known as “GrammaCrackers” said she will not give in to the haters who called in a dangerous “swatting” call on her while she was livestreaming online.

Sue Jacquot has hundreds of thousands of followers on YouTube, but she got a shock on Monday during a 24/7 livestream campaign she ran to raise money to pay her grandson’s cancer bills.

‘They’re not going to tell me what I can do. They’re not going to make me afraid to do that.’

Jacquot had posted videos of herself playing Minecraft with her grandsons, Jack and Austin Self. Then one of the kids was diagnosed with cancer.

“He’s had 200 chemo treatments in like a year and a half, and that’s a lot of expensive bills that the insurance company won’t touch,” the 81-year-old said to KPNX-TV.

The family was planning to livestream for 15 days when the cops showed up at their doorstep.

“We got a call that Jack shot his grandma and killed her and that he was going to kill himself, and right then, I was like, ‘Whoa,'” Jack Self said. “It was kind of like a punch to the stomach.”

Swatting is a very dangerous tactic where police are falsely alerted to a violent crime at a victim’s home in the hope that the victim might be harmed during the emergency police response. Some of these incidents have resulted in lethal shootings.

More than a dozen Queen Creek police officers reported to the home and swarmed the residence after the call. The livestream showed police waking up Jacquot from her bed.

“They just sort of escorted me out, and they were apologizing,” GrammaCrackers said. “I just wondered what my grandkids had done.”

RELATED: Romanian man pleads guilty to orchestrating online ‘swatting’ campaign against US lawmakers, including an ex-president

Police said they are investigating the incident, but Jacquot says she won’t let the startling incident stop her.

“They’re not going to tell me what I can do. They’re not going to make me afraid to do that,” she said.

Jacquot recalled the swatting incident in a video on her YouTube channel, where she said she had never gotten so many hugs and attention from her grandsons afterward.

“It was kinda fun!” she said.

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​Swatting, Cancer bills, Livestream gamer, False police reports, Crime 

America’s gambling problem has a new face, and it looks suspiciously like yours. Or your brother’s. Or the guy next to you at Mass who keeps checking his phone during the homily.

A recent Ohio State University study found that religious affiliation does almost nothing to prevent sports betting. Catholic men ranked among the most enthusiastic gamblers in the dataset. The pew and the parlay, apparently, get along fine.

It trains people to seek deliverance through randomness rather than work, discipline, family, or faith.

Americans love believing that gambling addiction belongs to someone else: the degenerate, the Vegas burnout, the man at the racetrack, clutching losing tickets and emitting fumes that could strip paint.

Bottoming out

That stereotype has expired. Online gambling has democratized self-destruction, and the business of bottoming out is booming.

Personal responsibility matters — nobody disputes this. No app physically forces a man to wager his rent on a Tuesday game between two NBA teams he has never watched or followed and whose rosters he couldn’t name under torture. Adults make choices, and adults must own those choices. But treating this purely as a failure of weak individuals overlooks the scope of the problem.

America built a digital temptation machine that previous generations couldn’t have imagined. Old-school gambling required some effort. You drove somewhere. You walked through doors. You made bets in person. It also carried a healthy stigma: Someone might spot you. Shame had room to operate.

Online gambling vaporized that friction. The casino now follows you to the kitchen, the office bathroom, your daughter’s soccer game, and, yes, occasionally a funeral reception.

Value play

The trick of online gambling is that it markets itself as entertainment and finance at the same time. You’re not gambling. No, you are “making picks.” “Building parlays.” “Finding value.” The jargon sounds vaguely like a hedge fund internship for guys in tank tops.

The apps borrow heavily from social media design. Bright colors. Instant dopamine. Notifications calibrated to land at psychologically vulnerable hours. Near-misses engineered to keep users emotionally hostage. Vegas relied on free drinks and flashing lights. Modern sportsbooks use behavioral science perfected by Silicon Valley.

Sports betting hits young men particularly hard because it bonds with masculine identity. Sports have always offered escape, but now they double as a cruel promise of freedom from economic anxiety.

Every game now functions as a financial event. A chance to win. A chance to recover. A chance to prove you outsmarted the algorithm. I say this as someone who enjoys the odd wager, maybe 20 bucks on a soccer match or a UFC fight every few months. Plenty of my friends go harder. A few are clearly addicted, though they would never admit it.

RELATED: Predatory gambling apps are using loopholes to avoid state laws

Gabby Jones/Bloomberg/Getty Images

Undue influence

This is not a male-only problem. Women participate too, in growing numbers. The image of gambling addiction as a strictly male affliction belongs to the era of landlines, fax machines, and Blockbuster late fees. Apps market aggressively to everyone, repackaging an old vice as lifestyle entertainment.

Casual. Social. Empowering. America took compulsive wagering and gave it influencer branding. Lives ruined, families wrecked, mounting debt across every demographic. Yet the celebrity endorsements roll on without a hint of hesitation.

Joe Rogan and Theo Von have both taken DraftKings sponsorships.

Neither man invented gambling. Neither forces a listener to do anything. Both have every right to accept advertisers.

But there’s an important question worth asking. At what point does cultural influence carry moral weight? Both men are multimillionaires. Neither needs the sponsorship money to keep the studio lights on. With tens, perhaps even hundreds, of millions of dedicated listeners, they could sell practically anything. Sneakers, protein powder, trucks, premium tequila, leather wallets thick enough to stop a bullet, ergonomic office chairs, mattresses that promise spinal enlightenment. The list is endless.

But they choose gambling, which is reckless given that many of their listeners are young men who treat an ad read by either of them as an endorsement, a recommendation from a trusted voice, practically a green light from an older brother who has supposedly figured life out. Von, in particular, should know better. He has spoken honestly about his battles with addiction, and yet here he is, reading copy for an industry built on the same psychological hooks.

Gaming addiction

A ruthless and exploitative industry, I might add. The online gambling giants don’t build empires on casual users dropping five dollars on the Super Bowl. Profits come disproportionately from heavy users chasing losses at 2 a.m. while insisting they are “due.” America has normalized this sickness into something that no longer registers as strange. Ads run during games, before games, after games, across social media, and occasionally during segments warning about gambling addiction itself. “Call this hotline if you have lost your house. Also, use code TOUCHDOWN for a risk-free bet.”

The damage runs deeper than money. Online gambling sells the fantasy that rescue is one lucky bet away. One hit. One miracle payout. It trains people to seek deliverance through randomness rather than work, discipline, family, or faith.

The isolation makes it uniquely dangerous. Alcoholics gather in bars. Drug users move through visible circles. The online gambler hemorrhages money for years beside a sleeping spouse who trusts that everything is under control. Across the country, an increasing number are rolling the virtual dice, each one believing he is the exception.

He is not. The house always wins, and these days the house fits in your back pocket.

​Gambling, Addiction, Joe rogan, Theo von, Culture 

As BlazeTV’s Sara Gonzales continues her investigations into H-1B fraud in the state of Texas, the Indian media is growing more angsty.

“The Indian media is going crazy over my latest H-1B video,” says Sara, referring to her recent exposé in Frisco/Plano, where she confronted Great America Technologies’ owner Nagarjuna Reddy Sakam over suspected fraud.

Even though Sara’s H-1B investigations have sparked significant legal action from the state — including Attorney General Ken Paxton’s investigations, CIDs, and lawsuits against nearly 30 North Texas businesses, plus Gov. Greg Abbott’s freeze on new H-1B petitions by state agencies and universities — the Indian media continues to frame the Indian community as the victims.

“The Indian media is working overtime to try to discredit what I show in my videos,” says Sara.

She points out the irony of Indian media outlets trying to invalidate her investigations using an obscure report by a self-proclaimed entrepreneur who goes by the name James Blunt (@JBlunt1018), who apparently claimed that he “looked into the company and found nothing wrong.”

Given his strongly pro-Indian immigrant stance and an X profile picture that appears to be AI-generated, Sara strongly suspects that Blunt is “some sort of an Indian national.”

She then plays a clip from Times XP, a video news platform from the Times of India, where a news anchor claimed that America’s “social media activism,” “immigration politics,” and Sara’s “online investigation” are creating a “dangerous coalition” that might hurt Indian immigration efforts.

“This story is no longer just about H1B visas or the companies in Texas. It is becoming a part of much larger battle over immigration identity and who gets to define the American workforce in the years ahead,” the anchor said.

“I got a big problem with people in India trying to dictate to America what our workforce looks like or should look like,” says Sara in response.

She notes that according to “credible sources,” she is now being “monitored by the Indian government.”

But Sara isn’t phased.

“I’m not going to stop. We’re going to keep going until all your buddies get sent home,” she declares.

To hear more, watch the video above.

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​Greg abbott, H-1b fraud, Ken paxton, Sara gonzales unfiltered, Texas, India, Visas 

The Taliban government in Afghanistan issued a rule on separation of child brides in marriage, and the United Nations responded by expressing its “grave concern.”

Afghanistan’s justice ministry issued a decree containing several provisions regarding the lawful separation of a married couple but included an order pertaining to girls that had reached puberty.

‘This situation reinforces structural discrimination and limits women’s autonomy in matters fundamental to their dignity, safety, and well-being.’

The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan said the rules allowed men to interpret the silence of a girl reaching puberty as consent for marriage. Another section implied that child marriage was permitted, according to the agency.

“This undermines the principle of free and full consent and failing to safeguard the best interests of the child,” reads a statement from the organization.

The rules also say that a marriage can be declared invalid if a father or grandfather gives a minor girl or boy without any dowry or sufficient dowry.

The Taliban decree is “part of a broader and deeply concerning trajectory in which the rights of Afghan women and girls are being eroded,” said U.N. Special Representative Georgette Gagnon.

The agency said the rules allow women to seek divorce from men but make it far easier to men to seek divorce.

“While men retain the unilateral right to divorce, women must pursue complex and restrictive judicial avenues to separate from a spouse,” UNAMA said. “This situation reinforces structural discrimination and limits women’s autonomy in matters fundamental to their dignity, safety, and well-being.”

RELATED: Pete Hegseth orders investigation into ‘catastrophic’ withdrawal from Afghanistan under Biden

A spokesperson for the Afghan regime said “those who contradict the religion of Islam are not new, and we should not pay attention to them.”

The Taliban seized power in Afghanistan after former President Joe Biden ordered U.S. military forces out of the nation in 2021. The government almost immediately fell into terrorist hands, and they were able to seize massive amounts of abandoned military assets.

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​Afghanistan, Child brides, Child marriage, Taliban, Islam, Politics 

Police made a grisly discovery in a Texas residence that resulted in murder charges against three individuals, according to multiple reports.

KMID-TV obtained an arrest affidavit saying an individual alerted the Midland County Sheriff’s Office on May 11 claiming he witnessed a possible murder at a local home.

Esparza told police that Ramos held him at gunpoint and forced him to shower and change clothes — and then tried to make him dismember the victim’s body with a hacksaw, the affidavit stated.

Deputies soon conducted a welfare check of 43-year-old Sandra Ramos at her home.

When deputies arrived at the property, investigators said they found a double-wide trailer with covered windows, large dogs, trenches being dug behind the residence, and multiple RV spaces on the property, KMID reported.

No one answered the door when deputies knocked, according to the arrest affidavit.

The affidavit added that deputies obtained phone numbers for Ramos and contacted her, and while she agreed to meet with law enforcement, she never showed up.

According to the affidavit, investigators interviewed 31-year-old Victor Esparza — the alleged witness who originally contacted police about the possible murder.

Esparza appeared “disorganized” and was “inconsistent” with his details about the alleged killing, KMID reported.

The arrest affidavit said Esparza gave police a cell phone reportedly belonging to Ramos, along with recordings of conversations between him and another suspect.

Esparza told police the victim had been involved in a money dispute, according to the affidavit.

Court documents said Esparza told investigators that Ramos picked up him and the victim from a hotel and brought them to a residence, where multiple individuals were using methamphetamine.

Esparza told law enforcement that Ramos contacted another suspect through FaceTime and talked about assaulting the victim.

KMID reported that the second suspect arrived at the residence disguised with a bandanna, sunglasses, and a hat.

The affidavit said Esparza told police that Ramos was armed with a Springfield 1911-style handgun and held the victim at gunpoint while the other suspect beat the victim with a baseball bat.

According to the affidavit, Esparza claimed Ramos assaulted and stabbed the victim, and the victim’s body was placed into a large-wheeled storage container.

Esparza told police that Ramos held him at gunpoint and forced him to shower and change clothes — and then tried to make him dismember the victim’s body with a hacksaw, the affidavit stated.

Esparza informed investigators that he fled the residence after Ramos exited the home and left in a vehicle, according to the affidavit.

However, another witness at the residence reportedly told police a different story.

The affidavit said the other witness told police Esparza assaulted the victim and stomped on him until he lost consciousness.

The other witness said Ramos and Esparza strangled the victim to death, court records indicated.

On May 12, law enforcement arrived at the residence where the alleged murder took place.

Police found a locked door at the home, forced their way into a room, and discovered a storage bin with wheels, the affidavit said.

Police said a portable air conditioning unit — which was in a bathroom connected to the room in question — was blowing air directly on the storage bin.

Court records said investigators found inside the storage bin the remains of an adult male who had been dismembered.

The affidavit alleges Ramos and a second suspect intentionally killed the victim “by shooting the said person with a firearm; by cutting and stabbing the said person with a knife; by striking and hitting the said person about the head and body with a baseball bat; and dismembering the victim’s body and placing the remains into a storage bin.”

RELATED: Woman missing for over a year found buried beneath garage after chilling tip from suspected killer’s friend: DA

Police arrested Ramos on May 12 and Esparza on May 13.

Both suspects were booked into the Midland County Detention Center, and both were held on $2 million bonds.

Ramos and Esparza were charged with first-degree murder, according to KOSA-TV.

Citing the Midland County Sheriff’s Office, KWES-TV reported that a third suspect — 49-year-old Jose Luis Garcia Grimaldo — was arrested May 14.

According to KWES, Grimaldo told detectives he had been at the residence on May 10 to confront the victim — later identified as Victor Nunez.

Grimaldo informed investigators that he struck the victim with a baseball bat and punched him several times with a closed fist, the affidavit said.

Grimaldo stressed that the victim was alive when he left the residence, according to court docs.

However, Grimaldo was charged with murder and a second-degree felony count of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, KWES reported.

Grimaldo was being held at the Midland County Detention Center on a bond of $2.25 million.

The investigation is ongoing.

The Midland County Sheriff’s Office did not immediately respond to Blaze News‘ request for comment.

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​Dismembered body, Midland county, Murder, Texas, Arrests, Crime 

A retired police officer said he missed his wedding anniversary and the birth of his granddaughter because he was in jail for refusing to take down a meme from Facebook about the death of Charlie Kirk.

Larry Bushart, 61, received $835,000 in a settlement on Wednesday after suing Perry County Sheriff Nick Weems over the incident.

‘Respect the First Amendment today, or be prepared to pay the price tomorrow.’

Bushart posted several memes after Kirk was shot and killed in Sept. 2025. One of the memes quoted President Donald Trump on a separate shooting case where he said, “We have to get over it.”

While Weems admitted that some of Bushart’s posts were protected by free speech rights, he claimed that this particular post had caused people to fear the possibility of political violence.

The meme referenced the president’s comments about a shooting at Perry High School in Iowa, but the sheriff said it made people believe Weems was calling for a shooting at Perry County High School in Tennessee.

“This has everything to do with a guy coming onto a Perry County page posting this picture leading people in our community to believe that there was a hypothetical Perry County High School shooting that caused fear in our community — and we done something about it,” Weems said to WTVF-TV in Oct. 2025.

When Bushart was arrested, he was informed about the threat to a school.

“At a school?” Bushart responded. “I play on Facebook. I threatened no one.”

The sheriff admitted that the police knew Bushart was referring to a different school but added that the public did not know that.

Weems put Bushart in jail, and a local judge set his bail at $2 million.

After 37 days, the felony charge was dropped and Bushart was set free.

Bushart also said he lost his post-retirement job while in jail.

“I am pleased my First Amendment rights have been vindicated,” Bushart said after the settlement was reached. “The people’s freedom to participate in civil discourse is crucial to a healthy democracy. I am looking forward to moving on and spending time with my family.”

RELATED: Beto O’Rourke blames ‘powerful memes’ and Democratic incompetence for ‘incredible performance’ of Trump among Mexican-Americans

Cary Davis, an attorney for the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, praised the ruling as a warning to other government officials. FIRE represented Bushart in the case.

“It’s in times of turmoil and heightened tensions that our national commitment to free speech is tested the most,” Davis said.

“When government officials fail that test, the Constitution exists to hold them accountable,” Davis added. “Our hope is that Larry’s settlement sends a message to law enforcement across the country: Respect the First Amendment today, or be prepared to pay the price tomorrow.”

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​Charlie kirk, Facebook meme, First amendment, Politics, Foundation for individual rights and expression 

A federal judge ruled in favor of a Salvadoran illegal alien and dismissed smuggling charges after accusing the Trump administration of unfairly retaliating against him.

Kilmar Abrego Garcia has become a cause célèbre of the left after he was scooped up by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to be deported after living in Maryland for more than a decade.

‘Only after Abrego succeeded in vindicating his rights did the Executive Branch reopen that investigation.’

The Trump administration was forced by a federal judge to bring Garcia back to the U.S. in April 2025, but then immediately turned around and charged him with smuggling crimes related to an arrest incident in 2022.

On Friday, U.S. District Judge Waverly Crenshaw agreed with Garcia’s defense that the Trump administration’s prosecution was acting out of vindictiveness against him.

Crenshaw gave the government attorneys space to argue against the finding but concluded eventually that “the evidence before this Court sadly reflects an abuse of prosecuting power.”

While the judge said there was not enough evidence to prove actual vindictiveness, he said the government did not argue well enough against the “retaliatory taint” alleged by the defense.

“The Court does not reach its conclusion lightly,” the judge wrote. “The objective evidence here shows that, absent Abrego’s successful lawsuit challenging his removal to El Salvador, the Government would not have brought this prosecution. The Executive Branch closed its investigation on the November 2022 traffic stop. Only after Abrego succeeded in vindicating his rights did the Executive Branch reopen that investigation.”

A spokesperson for the Justice Department said the department would appeal the decision.

The media had come to the defense of Garcia from the beginning and was mocked for identifying him as a “Maryland man” in headlines in order to garner sympathy for his plight.

His family pleaded in the media that he was not a violent criminal and was a good husband and father, before it was revealed that he was reported for domestic violence.

RELATED: VIDEO: Democrat melts down during hearing over evidence that Kilmar Garcia is an MS-13 gang member

During a hearing about the case, a Justice Department attorney admitted in court that Garcia had been deported to El Salvador due to a clerical mistake. That attorney was later suspended and has since become a vocal critic of the administration’s legal policies.

Garcia has been accused by the Trump administration of being an MS-13 criminal gang member, but he has denied the allegations.

Judge Crenshaw was nominated to the court by former President Barack Obama in 2015.

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​Kilmar abrego garcia, Obama-appointed judge, Ms13 gang, Illegal immigration, Politics 

Emmy award winner Ilana Glazer described former NCAA swimmer turned anti-trans activist Riley Gaines as delusional for her campaign to keep biological men out of women’s sports.

In a podcast posted Thursday, Glazer and her guest Matt Bernstein continually insulted Gaines while simultaneously saying she is part of a cruel, right-wing grifter movement.

‘She is mad she lost fifth place in a swimming competition to a trans woman.’

Bernstein, a makeup artist and activist who refers to himself as a “queer Jew with long nails,” gleefully insulted Gaines on the podcast “It’s Open with Ilana Glazer,” while calling the former NCAA swimmer a bully.

All wet

Bernstein said Gaines has been “grifting millions of dollars” for years through “bullying people with no societal capital.”

Glazer then chimed in to refer to specific “right-wing people” as “sociopathic” before jumping all over Gaines. After referring to topics surrounding Gaines as “garbage,” Glazer boiled the athlete’s work down to being mad that she “lost fifth place.”

“She is mad she lost fifth place in a swimming competition to a trans woman,” she added.

Gaines tied William “Lia” Thomas — a man — for fifth place in the 2022 NCAA women’s 200-yard freestyle final. The two failed to mention that Thomas also won the women’s 500-yard freestyle final, making him a national women’s champion.

Thomas was also famously ranked as low as No. 554 when competing in men’s NCAA swimming, as opposed to reaching No. 1 against women.

RELATED: ‘I do nothing for the approval of man’: Riley Gaines delivers masterclass response after Trump’s ‘not a big fan’ jab

Shallow end

Gaines’ work resulted in an executive order to keep women’s sports for women only, but Glazer described the activism as “so stupid.”

“That is so uncreative. That’s literally stealing,” Glazer said, likening Gaines’ work to “anti-trans messaging, which genuinely leads to violence against trans women.”

With significant vocal fry, Bernstein then stated that Gaines and other women’s rights activists ignore “statistics or reality or truth” and instead profit off “the most minoritized people” in the country, referring to men who think they are women.

Nice Gaines

Bernstein did correctly characterize early comments from Gaines, however. In a 2022 interview with the Daily Wire shortly after her competition, Gaines said about Thomas, “I am in full support of her and full support of her transition and her swimming career and everything like that.”

She added, “because there’s no doubt that she works hard too, but she’s just abiding by the rules that the NCAA put in place, and that’s the issue.”

RELATED: Olympic Committee adopts new policy on ‘trans’ athletes

Rich von Biberstein/Icon Sportswire/Getty Images

Bernstein concluded that it was the right thing to do for Gaines to simply “move on” and ultimately wish Thomas well.

Glazer then described Gaines as having a “money-making scheme” that has now merged with “some new semblance of reality that she was robbed.”

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​Ilana glazer, Transgender athletes, Matt bernstein, Riley gaines, Ncaa, Entertainment 

“Call Her Daddy” host Alex Cooper has just announced that she’s pregnant after years of promoting hookup culture and casual sex — and BlazeTV host Allie Beth Stuckey is calling her out for selling one lifestyle while living another.

Cooper, whom Stuckey dubs a “podcast prostitute,” once told Vogue that she had “always been a cynic when it came to marriage” because she didn’t believe she would find the “once-in-a-lifetime love” her parents had.

“We see this very traditional trajectory that she is not preaching to her audience,” Stuckey comments, before playing a clip of Cooper on her podcast.

In the clip, Cooper tells a guest that she “couldn’t even fathom” having kids in her 20s because she had yet to do some very important “self work” that she has now accomplished — and she now wants kids.

But Stuckey calls Cooper’s self-analysis “wrong.”

“Most people, if you are a woman in your 20s and you are hooking up with a bunch of guys, of course you don’t want kids because you don’t feel safe. You don’t feel loved,” Stuckey says, pointing out that women who participate in hookup culture are giving their body away to strangers.

“Of course your mind and your body and your heart is not in the right place to want to have kids,” she says.

“I think that most women have to either be able to imagine or actually feel in that moment a sense of safety and security.”

And so far, everything Stuckey has learned about Cooper reveals her to be far “more traditional” than she tells her audience.

“I just wonder if she’s a little bit more traditional deep down and has always been a little bit more traditional deep down than she has let on,” Stuckey speculates, “and if a lot of this is because she just realized what people have realized for a very long time — that sex sells and this is what works.”

“It’s not like, OK, she realized that that was a dead end and she changed her ways. She is continuing to sell this kind of advice,” Stuckey adds.

And while Cooper’s podcast is well known to celebrate degeneracy, Stuckey has noticed that many Christians do listen to it.

“It should go without saying, but apparently it doesn’t, that Christians should not be fans of Alex Cooper. You should pray for her, but you shouldn’t be listening to her podcast,” she says.

“Ephesians 5:11-12 is really clear about this,” she say. “Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret.”

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​Allie beth stuckey, Alex cooper, Hookup culture, Call her daddy, Conservative, Traditional, Marriage 

Critics of Jimmy Kimmel are wondering if his entire family are deranged about politics after his sister-in-law reportedly bullied a local grocery store over pro-Republican cookies.

According to a report from a respected Los Angeles business, Carly Kimmel complained at the 78-year-old Vincente Foods grocery store in Brentwood after seeing that the store was selling cookies with Spencer Pratt’s campaign logo.

‘What the hell is wrong with this family??? Bunch of psychos.’

Pratt is running for mayor of Los Angeles after his family home was burned down during the devastating Pacific Palisades fires.

On Thursday, Kitson boutique said a reliable source at the store’s bakery confirmed the claim about Kimmel’s sister-in-law, who is married to the anti-Trump late-night show host’s brother.

“Attacking a small business seems to run in the family,” read the post. “It’s worth noting that the last two cases involving bakeries and freedom of speech ended with the bakeries winning in the Supreme Court. Go on Carly’s Instagram and tell her how you feel.”

Many online followed the advice and went to her account to criticize her alleged reaction.

The post included photos of the cookies with Pratt’s famous hummingbird logo.

Critics crushed the Kimmel relative over the cookie report.

“Imagine crashing out over cookies,” read a comment documented at the Post.

“What is wrong with the Kimmels??” said another.

“What the hell is wrong with this family??? Bunch of psychos,” responded a user on the X platform.

“And now they will be even busier! F**king losers need to stop f**king with people’s livelihood,” said another user.

Carly Kimmel has since made her account private. The account, ironically, is named “the unlikeables.”

A Blaze News request for comment to the bakery was not immediately answered.

The Post also reported that neither the grocery store nor Carly Kimmel responded to requests for comment.

RELATED: Spencer Pratt releases powerful video for Mother’s Day — and it’s devastating for Democrats

Recent polls show a surge of support for Pratt, who garnered the largest increase of support of all candidates since a similar March poll. However, incumbent Mayor Karen Bass (D) is still ahead of the former reality TV star.

Pratt uses the hummingbird for his campaign logo because he had become famous for posting videos of the birds feeding from his hand in the back yard of his house, before it burned down.

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​Jimmy kimmel, Spencer pratt, Los angeles mayoral election, Online outrage, Politics 

Law enforcement officials have released more details about the horrifying attack on a die-hard Trump supporter in San Diego, California.

Escondido police said they responded to a report of an assault on Buchanan Street on Wednesday at about 2:15 p.m. They found an elderly man brutally beaten outside his home, which is adorned with large U.S. flags and pro-Trump messages.

Police said that there was also a Good Samaritan who was hurt during the altercation.

The victim was identified as 69-year-old Kerry Sheron by the California Post, which spoke to his wife, Maria Moreno. He was transported to a hospital in critical condition.

She told the Post through tears that there’s “no hope” for her husband and he is not expected to survive.

A suspect in the beating fled by foot and was later taken into custody by police.

The suspect was identified as 32-year-old Thomas Caleb Butler, who was booked on attempted murder. Butler is said to be a resident who lives in the same neighborhood.

Moreno told the Post she believed her husband was targeted because of the pro-Trump display on his home. The post included a harrowing photograph of Sheron in the hospital.

The pro-Trump home had been the target of a lot of negative attention from those angry about its message. Sheron previously had been featured in a news story about vandalism at the home. One critic claimed that the house was violating laws against campaigning near polling sites.

Police said that there was also a Good Samaritan who was hurt during the altercation.

Butler faces life in prison if convicted. He is being held at the Vista Detention Facility in San Diego County and is scheduled to be in court Friday.

RELATED: Judge APOLOGIZES to suspected would-be Trump assassin — and cites Jan. 6 defendants

Republican Rep. Darrell Issa of California, whose district includes Escondido, called for a “full and immediate investigation” into the assault.

Fox News reported that a social media post about the home from 2025 showed a man holding up American flags and making what the poster described as a “Roman salute.”

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​Political violence, San diego california, Trump supporter, Politics, Crime 

The NAACP is calling on black athletes to withhold their talents and financial support from public universities in Southern states that the group believes are “minimizing” the “right to vote.”

“They’re asking for black athletes to boycott Southern schools,” BlazeTV host Jason Whitlock says on “Jason Whitlock Harmony,” before playing the clip of NAACP President and CEO Derrick Johnson giving a speech about the boycott.

“No representation, no revenue. No one black should be on a playing field of institutions that’s living off of our labor and yet in states that are seeking to reinstitute a sharecropping reality. It is not the responsibility of black America to hold individuals who should know better accountable for doing better,” Johnson said.

“As soon as the United States Congress stands united to ensure our Constitution represents all of us, we will be a better nation as a result. NAACP this morning, in solidarity with the CBC, we are calling on athletes who are coming out of high school not to attend any state-funded schools of states that have moved to minimize our right to vote, to minimize our ability to elect candidates of our choice, and states that are seeking to create a sharecropping reality,” he continued.

“Whether that state be Missouri or Mississippi. Whether that state is South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana, Texas, or Florida. 55% of all African-Americans live in the former Confederate South. But the 55% of us who live in the former Confederate South, we will not tolerate a Confederate mentality on our labor, on our ability to contribute, and our ability to have representation,” he added.

Johnson went on to repeat the talking point that “our democracy is in crisis,” and Whitlock and his panel are not amused.

“They want players who’ve worked all their lives to achieve an opportunity to go to a four-year college of their choice and play football — they want them to be stripped of that opportunity in order to, I guess, hurt the institutions and cause the institutions to capitulate,” Virgil Walker tells Whitlock.

“So what are the players who are not going to school — what is that going to result in? It’s not going to overturn anything that the Supreme Court did. It’s not going to change the gerrymandering that’s been happening on both sides of the political landscape,” he continues.

“It’s not going to change any of that. So the black players are to give up all of that for what? It’s absolutely unclear, and it makes no sense,” he adds.

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​Blaze media, Blaze podcasts, Blazetv, Confederate south, Gerrymandering, Jason whitlock, Jason whitlock harmony, Naacp 

Tulsi Gabbard notified President Donald Trump on Friday that she is resigning as director of national intelligence, effective June 30.

Gabbard, whom Trump allegedly considered replacing in recent months and whose judgment regarding Iranian nuclear aspirations Trump publicly questioned last year, said in a letter to the president that she is “deeply grateful for the trust you placed in me and for the opportunity to lead the Office of the Director of National Intelligence for the last year and a half.”

‘Tulsi has done an incredible job, and we will miss her.’

The former Hawaii congresswoman and retired Army Reserve lieutenant colonel noted that her “husband, Abraham, has recently been diagnosed with an extremely rare form of bone cancer” and “faces major challenges in the coming weeks and months.”

Gabbard married cinematographer Abraham Williams in 2015. In addition too putting his skills to work in service of Gabbard’s 2020 presidential campaign, Williams has worked on numerous documentaries, music videos, and commercials.

“At this time, I must step away from public service to be by his side and fully support him through this battle,” continued Gabbard. “Abraham has been my rock throughout our eleven years of marriage — standing steadfast through my deployment to East Africa on a Joint Special Operations mission, multiple political campaigns, and now my service in this role.”

RELATED: Vindicated? Gabbard probes the biolabs Romney called her a ‘traitor’ for mentioning.

Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

“His strength and love have sustained me through every challenge,” wrote Gabbard, adding that she could not “in good conscience ask him to face this fight alone while I continue in this demanding and time-consuming position.”

In her letter, Gabbard emphasized the “significant progress” that she has made at the ODNI “advancing unprecedented transparency and restoring integrity to the intelligence community.”

For instance, she helped expose the genesis of the Russia hoax; revoked the security clearances of dozens of officials over Russiagate; started the ball rolling on investigating hundreds of shady taxpayer-funded biolabs outside the U.S.; unearthed damning documents highlighting the bogus basis of Trump’s 2019 impeachment; and cleaned house at the ODNI, canning a multitude of deep-staters and saving taxpayers oodles of cash.

Despite her successes, Gabbard said that there is work left to be done and noted that she is “fully committed to ensuring a smooth and thorough transition over the coming weeks so that you and your team experience no disruption in leadership or momentum.”

Gabbard concluded her letter by stressing she will “remain forever grateful” to the president and “to the American people for the profound honor of serving our nation as DNI.”

Trump characterized the director’s resignation as unfortunate, said Gabbard will be missed, and noted that he has no doubt that Williams “will soon be better than ever.”

“Tulsi has done an incredible job, and we will miss her,” wrote Trump. “Her highly respected Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence, Aaron Lukas, will serve as Acting Director of National Intelligence.

Gabbard’s resignation comes just two months after one of her deputies, Joe Kent, resigned as director of the National Counterterrorism Center in protest of the Trump administration’s war in Iran.

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​Tulsi gabbard, Resignation, Trump administration, Donald trump, Director of national intelligence, Cancer, Politics 

During a tense meeting on Tuesday, conservatives pleaded with the Frisco City Council to halt the construction of a two-story, 43,575 square-foot mosque and torpedo plans to build Hindu and Jain temples in the area.

Texas native Larry Brock, a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel and pardoned J6er, noted that he is well acquainted with the Islamist worldview, in part because he lived under Sharia law for seven years while working for Saudi Arabia. He, like other opponents who raised concerns with the city council, emphasized that such a worldview is at odds with the one that still predominates in the United States.

‘I don’t want to bring any mosque to Texas ever.’

Brock went farther in his criticism, suggesting that by approving the relevant projects recommended by the city’s planning and zoning commission, city councilors would be putting themselves and the city at risk of unlawfully “aiding and abetting a terrorist organization and providing them material support.”

Edward Jacob Lang, a pardoned J6er from Florida wearing a tactical vest, similarly sounded off against Islam and accused the Frisco City Council of “selling out this country” and “inviting the enemy to eat at the table with you.”

After Lang railed against the perceived ascendancy of alien cultures in Texas and was escorted out while screaming that he would burn down a mosque if he lived in Texas, Joel Tenney — an Iowa evangelist in a 10-gallon hat — asked what it meant to be Texan and suggested that mosques are representative of a worldview incompatible with America.

RELATED: Musk seeks justice for British teen who died in police custody after being accused of racism by Sikh suspected murderer

Muslims engaged in prayer at a Mosque in Plano, Texas. RONALDO SCHEMIDT/AFP/Getty Images

Tenney, an outspoken supporter of President Donald Trump, claimed at the outset that he came from “Texas royalty” — that he apparently not only descended from Sam Houston, the first and third president of the Texas Republic, but from frontiersman Davy Crockett.

The evangelical preacher claimed further that he was “kidnapped and held hostage in 2021 by Islamists in the Middle East while on a missions trip to take care of the Coptic widows and fatherless,” apparently referring to the families of the Coptic martyrs beheaded by ISIS in Libya.

After signaling that he had deep roots in the state and good cause to resent Islam, Tenney stated, “I don’t want to bring any mosque to Texas ever. We shouldn’t have one here. It’s incompatible with what it means to be an American.”

Tenney, convinced that the construction of mosques and pagan temples would change the “structure and the fabric” of the state, insinuated that the ideal way forward for Muslims in America is conversion and assimilation, citing his Indian sister-in-law’s transformation from a Muslim migrant into a Christian, English-speaking, naturalized patriot.

Brandon Burden, the “lead prophet” at Kingdom Life, echoed this sentiment, stressing that Muslims “need to assimilate into the culture and not take it over.”

Some speakers pushed back against such criticism during the meeting.

Muslim Frisco resident Yameen Ahmed, for instance, condemned “anti-Muslim rhetoric” and said, “I hear lies that we are terrorists, rapists, and fraudsters. I reject every one of these lies.”

Yoga Gudivada, formerly of India, attempted to reassure Frisco residents that the planned Hindu temple would be mutually beneficial, stating that “it will serve the broader Frisco community.”

The city councilors chose ultimately not to challenge the zoning commission’s recommendations, thereby enabling the mosque and temple projects to advance on sites zoned decades ago for future places of worship.

Frisco Mayor Jeff Cheney said that there was no legal basis to appeal the planning decisions.

“Planning and zoning’s role is to execute on the ordinances and policies that the governing body of the city council has put in place. They have done their job here,” said Cheney. “The case has met all of the requirements that city council, and city councils before, have put in place and they approved it under an administrative act.”

Richard Abernathy, an attorney for the city, said that if the council instead overturned previously decided zoning decisions, it would expose itself to lawsuits, reported the Dallas Morning News.

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​Islam, Muslims, Frisco, Texas, Mosque, Protest, Conservatives, Religion, Freedom, Immigrants, Politics 

For years, Americans have been told self-driving cars are still somewhere off in the future.

An intriguing idea that is simply not fully ready for the real world.

Tesla now has millions of vehicles gathering real-world driving information every day. No competitor comes close to that level of data collection.

But on a recent episode of “The Drive,” my co-host Karl Brauer and I sat down with automotive journalist Roman Mica — and the story he told us had us thinking the future is closer than we realize.

Not everybody is going to be happy about it either.

Hands off

After spending roughly 2,000 miles using Tesla’s latest Full Self-Driving system across highways, city traffic, parking lots, and construction zones, Mica said the technology behaved very differently from earlier versions.

The old “until moment” — where the system suddenly did something unpredictable or dangerous — barely appeared.

This makes one thing undeniable: The gap between the current self-driving capability of this technology and the way the government talks about it is only getting wider.

Washington is still treating self-driving technology as if it’s experimental, while the companies building it are already deploying it in the real world.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration continues escalating investigations into Tesla’s Full Self-Driving system, focusing on crashes involving fog, glare, dust, and other low-visibility conditions. Regulators warn drivers not to put too much trust in the technology, constantly reminding consumers that these systems still require active supervision.

At the same time, policymakers continue promoting autonomous vehicles as the future of transportation.

Safer roads. Fewer accidents. Smarter mobility.

Both messages can technically be true. But the gap between them is becoming harder to ignore as the technology improves faster than the public conversation around it.

Racing ahead

Tesla isn’t alone either.

Nissan recently demonstrated autonomous driving technology navigating dense urban traffic in Tokyo. Waymo continues expanding robotaxi operations in multiple U.S. cities. Mercedes-Benz and BMW are investing heavily in increasingly advanced assisted-driving systems.

The race is already underway.

But Tesla remains the company pushing the technology most aggressively into everyday consumer vehicles, and that’s part of what makes regulators uneasy.

Traditional automakers typically introduce new driver-assistance systems cautiously and in tightly controlled stages. Tesla operates more like a software company, constantly refining the system through over-the-air updates while collecting enormous amounts of real-world driving data from millions of vehicles already on the road.

That approach has created a major advantage.

It has also created tension with regulators who are accustomed to slower, more predictable development cycles.

RELATED: Big Brother on the road: Backlash grows against license plate surveillance

SOPA Images/Getty Images

Cause for concern?

To be fair, some concerns are legitimate.

No self-driving system is perfect. Construction zones, poor weather, glare, faded lane markings, road debris, and unpredictable human behavior remain difficult problems for every autonomous platform currently being developed.

Tesla’s system still legally requires a driver ready to intervene at any moment.

But critics often avoid another uncomfortable reality: Human drivers fail constantly too.

People drive distracted. They text. They fall asleep. They panic. They drive impaired. Human error causes the overwhelming majority of crashes on American roads.

Computers don’t get tired or distracted.

That doesn’t automatically make autonomous systems safer in every situation. But it does explain why so many companies — and governments — continue betting heavily on the technology despite the public skepticism.

Head start

The bigger issue is scale.

Tesla now has millions of vehicles gathering real-world driving information every day. No competitor comes close to that level of data collection. Every mile driven feeds additional information back into the system.

That lead may prove difficult to overcome.

And that’s where this stops being just a technology story and starts becoming a political one.

Autonomous driving isn’t simply about convenience. It’s about infrastructure, liability, regulation, data collection, and ultimately control over how transportation functions in the future.

Washington wants the economic and technological advantages that come with leading autonomous vehicle development. But it also wants tight oversight over how that future arrives.

Those goals don’t always align neatly.

What Mica describes in our conversation would have sounded impossible only a few years ago. A vehicle handling thousands of miles across varied driving conditions with minimal intervention once felt like science fiction.

Now it’s happening on public roads.

That doesn’t mean fully autonomous driving has arrived. We are still a long way from removing drivers entirely from the equation in every environment and condition.

But the line between driver assistance and true autonomy is getting thinner much faster than most Americans realize.

And Washington still seems unsure whether it wants to accelerate that future — or slow it down.

​Tesla, Self-driving, Government regulation, Waymo, Robotaxi, Align cars