Category: blaze media

State exams are meant to test students’ aptitude and gauge their understanding of the curriculum. But what happens when the grading system fails? Texas found out the hard way when an AI-powered grading system led to rampant grading errors and a huge recount.

AI makes mistakes. This disclaimer is stamped on almost every query when you interact with the top frontier chatbots on the market. Yet society continues to trust AI with increasingly more important tasks. This time, Texas put it in charge of grading students on the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness exams, and the results went as you might expect.

As people become increasingly more distrustful of AI, they’re more likely to question the results of anything that AI touches.

The AI-powered grading system initially made headlines in 2024 when Texas announced that the state would save $15 million by replacing human graders with a “technology similar to ChatGPT” on some portions of the state exams. The system adopted a hybrid approach, relying on humans to score the multiple choice questions while AI graded the larger open-ended written section.

If at any time, AI displayed a “low confidence” message about the score it gave to a student, the responses were to be flagged so that a human could review them. However, if AI is confident in its response — as chatbots often are when they hallucinate or outright lie — no such notification would reach the humans at the top.

During a limited trial test in December 2023, educators noticed that their students received a “drastic increase” in failing scores. If students or parents wanted to request a rescore, it would cost them $50 out of pocket, unless the new score was higher than the original — then the fee would be removed.

At first, the state of Texas only received 2,758 rescore requests by spring of 2024 — a sizeable number, considering that rescore requests were a rare phenomenon at the time. However, this number continued to climb, jumping to a staggering 21,620 rescore requests by 2025. By 2026, the number reached 64,489 rescore requests — that’s up to $3 million in out-of-pocket costs from parents looking to get better scores for their children.

Estimated costs of future rescoring currently sit at $15-$20 million.

After human graders reviewed the tests, the number of corrections doubled year over year and 13,300 scores — or approximately 20% — improved overall. At the same time, none of the scores were lowered.

RELATED: The AI backlash is going viral. Here’s how Trump wants to fix that.

Devrimb/Getty Images

While this appears to be a clear failure of the AI-powered grading system, further review shows a discrepancy for both machine and man. Out of the recorded errors, 58% came from AI, while 42% came from human mistakes. This essentially means that even if AI was removed from the grading system, grading errors would possibly improve, but they wouldn’t go away entirely.

This story, though, does lead to an interesting thought experiment: Even though AI and human errors were both present, the fact that AI was employed to grade the larger written portions of the exams made students and parents too leery to trust their final scores, thus leading to the jump in requests. As the people become increasingly more distrustful of AI, they’re more likely to question the results of anything that AI touches. Until hallucinations are a thing of the past, this is simply a side effect of an AI-powered world.

As for the Texas school system, one must wonder if the extra money it set out to save is worth the trouble, distrust, and future rescore requests that are almost certain to plague the state for years to come. So far, Texas has no plans to suspend automated AI grading at this time.

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​Artificial intelligence, Chatbots, Educators, Errors, Hallucinations, Recount, School system, Texas, Tech 

A 35-year-old male accused in the ambush killing of a Philadelphia police officer over the weekend was arraigned Sunday morning on 76 charges and ordered held without bail, Fox News reported, citing court records.

Eric Lewis faces charges including murder, homicide of a law enforcement officer, attempted murder, 10 counts of attempted homicide of a law enforcement officer, aggravated assault, terroristic threats, and other offenses, the cable news network said, adding that Lewis’ next court date is scheduled for Oct. 26.

Pennsylvania state Rep. Amen Brown (D), who lives near the shooting scene, told KYW Lewis allegedly said during his arrest that he wished he had killed more officers.

Lewis is accused of shooting two police officers, killing one and wounding the other, early Saturday morning in the 100 block of North 52nd Street in West Philadelphia, KYW-TV reported, citing District Attorney Larry Krasner.

Philadelphia Police Officer Shane Seiber was killed, Fox News said, adding that the 40-year-old was a father of two and an Air Force veteran who served 10 years with the Philadelphia Police Department. Seiber is survived by his wife, 7-year-old son, and 3-year-old daughter, the cable news network added.

“He fought valiantly, but he lost his life today,” Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel said at a Saturday news conference, Fox News noted. “His wife was able to be by his side before he passed, as well as his family.”

The wounded officer, a 33-year-old father of five, was shot 12 times and initially listed in critical condition, Fox News said, adding that his condition has since been upgraded to stable.

The shooting unfolded around 12:20 a.m. when the two officers responded to a report of a man with a gun, the cable news network said, adding that police said the officers located an armed man on a porch.

The officers then came under “significant gunfire” after reaching the porch, police told Fox News, adding that other officers and a SWAT team arrived soon after and found both officers on the porch suffering from gunshot wounds.

The cable news network said more gunfire followed, after which authorities declared a barricade situation before Lewis was taken into custody.

Pennsylvania state Rep. Amen Brown (D), who lives near the shooting scene, told KYW Lewis allegedly said during his arrest that he wished he had killed more officers.

Police told Fox News that Lewis was in possession of two handguns and a shotgun; one of the handguns belonged to an officer wounded in the attack.

Krasner at a Saturday news conference declined to say if Lewis fired the officer’s handgun or how he obtained the other firearms, the cable news network said.

Krasner added to Fox News that nothing in Lewis’ criminal background would have prevented him from obtaining a firearm.

RELATED: Two Chicago police officers shot in ‘ambush’ attack; suspect in custody

Lewis is an employee of the Philadelphia Water Department and has a criminal history dating to 2012, the cable news network said, citing Pennsylvania court records it reviewed.

Court records show Lewis was convicted of theft and receiving stolen property in 2012 and convicted of gun-related offenses and simple assault in 2013, Fox News said, adding that he received probation in both cases.

Lewis pleaded guilty in 2018 to disorderly conduct involving fighting and again was sentenced to probation, the cable news network reported.

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​Philadelphia, Fatal shooting, Police officers shot, Ambush, Arrest, Crime 

The Trump administration recently targeted Microsoft over its use of foreign-worker visas, accusing the tech giant of laying off thousands of American employees while continuing to recruit overseas. It is a confrontation long overdue.

Firing thousands of citizens via HR emails while simultaneously begging the government for new workers from overseas is a shameless business model. Microsoft axed 6,000 domestic workers last year. During that same period, the company snagged 6,300 H-1B visas and secured nearly 3,000 green cards. The corporate PR department insists that these filings were mostly routine extensions for current staff, but that claim deserves plenty of scrutiny. A company liquidating its domestic workforce should be forced to stand in the light and explain why its foreign hiring machinery runs at full speed. Corporate entities love to wrap themselves in the American flag when asking for tax credits, then toss it in the trash the moment cheap foreign labor offers a marginally better quarterly margin.

A cruel joke played on middle-class taxpayers.

Washington let giant technology conglomerates dictate national labor policy for decades. Keith Sonderling at the Department of Labor noted that the handful of tech companies under scrutiny have requested nearly 3 million foreign workers since 2009. That figure represents a massive structural exploit rather than a temporary patch for specialized talent shortages. Successive presidential administrations treated Silicon Valley’s hiring wish lists like Holy Scripture. Bureaucrats took corporate claims of talent scarcity at face value and ignored the economic incentives driving the requests. Executive suites realized long ago that importing a workforce is far more profitable than paying local market rates. Washington finally stopped treating corporate convenience as a national strategy, and the current administration deserves genuine credit for that.

The psychological mechanics of the H-1B system offer a rather sobering look at corporate control. JD Vance ruffled feathers by calling visa holders indentured servants. The language may be slightly hyperbolic, but the overall thesis is sound. When an H-1B worker loses his job, a 60-day countdown to deportation begins immediately. That legal sword of Damocles hanging over an employee’s neck instantly changes the workplace dynamic. A worker bound to his employer by immigration status rarely complains about mandatory overtime. He doesn’t challenge executive decisions. He doesn’t demand aggressive pay raises. Tech giants proudly parade their progressive credentials, yet they actively cultivate a workforce rendered docile by the threat of exile.

RELATED: Vance unveils huge crackdown on replacing American workers with foreigners

Aaron Schwartz/Bloomberg/Getty Images

American graduates spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on computer science degrees, only to find the door to entry locked. Families take on crippling debt. Students live on cheap noodles for four years, and young engineers enter the market ready to build software. Tech giants bypass those local graduates entirely, claiming that the domestic talent pool is inadequate. Some hyper-specialized roles genuinely require rare global experts, but the vast majority of visa requests cover standard engineering roles that local graduates can easily perform. Corporate recruiters simply prefer candidates who can’t easily quit for a competitor down the street. Expecting American citizens to fund higher education while big tech imports entry-level labor is a cruel joke played on middle-class taxpayers.

Silicon Valley insists on enjoying every benefit of American society while rejecting every basic duty to American workers. Microsoft relies on government-funded basic research and capital markets protected by American law. The moment public officials ask Microsoft to prioritize domestic hiring, executives cry foul and lecture the public on global competitiveness. It’s all very rich and incredibly infuriating.

Global corporations want American security without American allegiance. A company is entirely free to operate in foreign markets. It is not entitled to use the federal government as a low-cost staffing agency.

Federal immigration policy exists to protect the host country, not to maximize the net profit of a software monopoly. For decades, the system placed the entire burden of proof on the domestic worker. The American engineer had to prove he was worthy of employment while tech firms enjoyed automatic access to foreign talent pools. Reversing that burden forces corporations to prove actual domestic labor shortages before printing more visas. Federal policy must serve the public interest, not act as a perpetual subsidy for corporate HR departments.

America simply cannot beat economic rivals like China by treating domestic talent development as a low-priority chore. Building AI models requires long-term investment in local universities. It demands apprenticeships and specialized training programs. Relying on foreign labor indefinitely removes any incentive for tech companies to invest in domestic talent. Corporations treat American workers as disposable assets to be cut during lean quarters and ignored during rapid expansions. The country can’t maintain a technological edge when its primary economic powerhouses treat their own citizens as financial liabilities.

The ongoing showdown between federal regulators and Microsoft signals a necessary break from too many years of corporate welfare masquerading as immigration policy. The federal government finally called Silicon Valley’s bluff, forcing executives to justify why they handed thousands of pink slips to local workers while international recruitment desks stayed open around the clock. American labor laws should benefit the people living under them, not the balance sheets of multinational corporations. It turns out corporations can survive without unlimited access to cheap imported labor, and watching them scramble to justify their hiring practices should satisfy anyone who believes American workers must always come first.

​H-1b visas, Tech 

A 45-year-old male fatally shot seven of his relatives and one family friend in an Erie, Pennsylvania, home, on Friday, police told the Associated Press.

The gunman took his own life, the AP said, adding that authorities have not released his name. One of the victims was eight months pregnant, police said in a news conference video.

‘They were a lovely family. Who would have thought this would ever happen?’

Erie Police Chief Rick Lorah said the gunman was related to seven of the victims, while the eighth victim was a friend of the pregnant woman, the outlet added. Police have not made the names of the victims public, the AP noted.

A man whose 1-year-old daughter Amarianna was among the shooting victims told the outlet Sunday that the gunman was a grandfather who never seemed distressed.

“I think that was a front for him,” Julius Windham told the AP while standing at a memorial to shooting victims, who also included a 5-year-old boy.

“Him every day, him smiling and being just — you would think … nothing like that would happen,” Windham added to the outlet.

Mourners on Sunday placed candles, flowers, and stuffed animals outside the home where the man opened fire shortly before 5 p.m. Friday, the AP said, adding that Windham wore a T-shirt with pictures of the women and children and the words, “Forever In My Heart.”

“Words can’t even explain what I’m going through right now,” Windham added to the outlet. “But I gotta be strong for my community, you know what I’m saying? My family, my daughters, my sons, everybody.”

Chief Lorah said video and audio evidence investigators recovered included muffled gunshot sounds coming from inside the home just before two “distressed” women arrived and began pounding on the door, according to the AP, which added that the gunman came out of the house, shot them as they ran toward him, and then returned inside the house.

RELATED: Male, 25, accused of shooting to death his mother, father, brother, and brother’s girlfriend

Responding officers found the two women dead outside, the outlet said.

Police deployed a drone and robot, the AP said, adding that officers then went inside the home and found the bodies of the 5-year-old boy and 1-year-old girl on the first floor; two more women and two young men in a stairwell; and the shooter on the second floor.

“Out of respect for the victims and the families, I will not discuss the details of what our officers encountered inside that home,” the chief said at a news conference, according to the outlet.

Lorah declined to discuss a motive for the shooting but suggested mental health could be a factor, the AP said, adding that the chief noted that investigators would talk to relatives and examine the cell phones of the women who were killed outside the home.

“They knew something was going on at that house,” Lorah also said, according to the outlet. “We have to figure out what that is.”

Nicole and Debra Eller, whose best friend was among the victims, told the AP they have known the family for more than 30 years. Nicole Eller added to the outlet that the shooter “was a good guy, and then he started going downhill with everything.”

“They were a lovely family. Who would have thought this would ever happen?” Debra Eller added to the AP. “Oh my gosh, this is so upsetting. This should have never happened to her or the kids or anybody. His grandchildren, his kids, how can you do that?”

The outlet added that Erie Mayor Daria Devlin (D) at a Saturday news conference told the victims’ families she was “so deeply sorry. What happened to you was horrific, and there is nothing that any of us can say today that will make this any easier. … Our entire community is with you; we’re grieving with you. And we are here to support you.”

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​Fatal shooting, Mass shooting, Erie, Pennsylvania, Crime 

The U.S. Department of Justice has announced another round of alleged election crimes, including one case involving an illegal alien.

A DOJ press release on Monday documented the details of the charges that involved people from Pakistan, Portugal, France, Peru, Jamaica, and Cuba, among others.

‘Criminals who disrupt the integrity of America’s elections will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.’

68-year-old Forrest Scott Woody of Hendersonville, North Carolina, was charged for allegedly voting twice in the 2024 election, once in North Carolina and once in Alabama, according to a press release from the DOJ.

78-year-old permanent legal resident Silvia Delgado Phelps from Peru was charged for allegedly voting in multiple elections in Baldwin County, Alabama, despite not being a U.S. citizen.

48-year-old Hacina Saadi, described by the DOJ as an illegal alien from France, was charged “by information with voting by an alien during the 2024 election.”

Two lawful permanent residents from Pakistan and another lawful permanent resident from Portugal were similarly charged.

42-year-old Staciann Pollion Davis, a lawful permanent resident from Jamaica, was charged for allegedly voting in the general election in Clarke County, Alabama, despite Davis not being a U.S. citizen.

64-year-old Andre’s Garcia, a lawful permanent resident from Cuba, allegedly voted in at least 15 elections, including at least 13 federal elections, over the last 20 years.

59-year-old Cary Ann Patterson, a lawful permanent resident from Britain, allegedly voted in at least 10 elections as an alien, based on records from the Gallia County Board of Elections in Ohio.

RELATED: 3 people arrested for election FRAUD ring targeting homeless people in Los Angeles, says FBI

A 69-year-old from Pakistan was arrested for allegedly voting in at least six elections, while a 63-year-old from the Philippines was arrested for allegedly illegally voting. Both were charged in the Northern District of Ohio.

“Under President Trump, criminals who disrupt the integrity of America’s elections will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” read a White House post about the announcement.

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​Department of justice, Immigration, Election crime, Voted fraud, Politics 

Police in Lansing, Michigan, are investigating whether the deaths of five men along the Lansing River Trail over roughly the past year may be connected. They have not ruled out the possibility of a serial killer.

All victims were white homeless males between the ages of 22 and 70 who died within the same mile stretch of the 20-mile trail. Four of the five cases involved apparent blunt-force trauma to the face or head, with no weapon recovered. Several of the victims were found under or near bridges, and police believe the attacks likely happened overnight or in the early morning while the men were lying down or sleeping.

BlazeTV hosts Stu Burguiere and Dave Landau discussed Lansing’s predicament on a recent episode of “Stu and Dave Do America.”

Dave views the situation through his dark comedic lens. “It’s very suspicious because the deaths are not related to diabetes, alcoholism, or just generalized despair, so it’s a very good chance.”

“I mean, those are the three very far leading causes of death in Michigan,” Stu jokes.

Dave points out that the reporting on the Lansing deaths uses the word “unhoused” instead of homeless to describe the five victims.

“[White liberals] prefer the term unhoused because somehow that means that it’s the exact same word,” he says.

“I will say the one thing that’s different about it is homeless is like, ‘hey, I want to have a home and I don’t have one.’ Unhoused is ‘we’re supposed to house you and we’ve forgotten to,”’ says Stu.

The duo then play a video from Lansing police Chief Rob Backus, who told reporters: “One question that we are being asked is, ‘Do we have a serial killer in Lansing?’ What we need the public to know is that we are investigating all of these cases. They are all active investigations, and we are looking at the idea or the possibility that these may be related cases.”

“Probably a good idea when it’s the same mechanism,” says Stu sarcastically.

“I don’t feel like the serial killer thing is happening that much any more, though,” he adds.

“It was the bees’ knees in the ’70s and ’80s,” laughs Dave.

To hear more, watch the episode above.

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​Dave landau, Police investigation, Serial killer, Stu burguiere, Blazetv show 

A program identified by the Trump administration as a potential significant source of fraud may be getting a major overhaul.

Last Wednesday, the Department of Homeland Security announced a proposed rule that could change a major “pipeline” for nonimmigrant students to get jobs in the United States.

‘A $70,000 university-paid fee could dramatically shrink it and potentially make OPT unworkable for a large number of international graduates.’

The DHS has proposed a new rule regarding the Optional Practical Training, a contingent program often used by nonimmigrant students with F-1 visas to find temporary employment within the United States.

If finalized, the new rule would place a significant financial burden on universities if and when they decide to recommend a student for OPT.

“Optional Practical Training was never meant to be a back door into the American workforce, a subsidy for cheap labor, or a prize for those who game the system,” a DHS spokesperson said in a press release.

“DHS is upskilling OPT to require foreign students to justify their worth to employers. American workers should not have to compete against a program that has been turned into a pipeline for cheap foreign labor.”

RELATED: JD Vance announces MASSIVE crackdown on companies and universities replacing Americans with foreigners

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

The higher barrier would, the administration argues, potentially decrease the amount of fraud within the program, which has reportedly suffered issues such as “problematic worksites and ‘pay-to-stay’ visa schemes.”

The new rule would also add an extra $30,000 fee for additional OPT windows, meaning a student who is granted OPT, for example, during their program and again after the completion of their program would need to have the university recommend him or her both times and pay the base $70,000 plus the additional $30,000 fee.

The rule and the press release emphasize that the fees would be connected not to the employers to which these students are sent, but to the universities who are recommending them.

According to the proposal, the fees collected will be deposited in the Treasury of the United States.

Many have called for an overhaul of the OPT program for a significant amount of time, not least among them Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.).

In November 2025, Sen. Schmitt highlighted the “severe problems” with the OPT program, and his request to re-evaluate the program gained some traction within the Trump administration.

Schmitt called the OPT program, which was established through DHS regulations rather than a statute, a “back door into the U.S. job market for foreign workers,” adding that it “incentivizes colleges to become ‘visa mills.'”

Then-DHS Secretary Kristi Noem replied to Sen. Schmitt at the beginning of this year, writing that DHS was re-evaluating the program.

Rahul Reddy, an immigration lawyer at Reddy Neumann Brown PC, stressed that this was an “extraordinary” change that could possibly go into effect around graduation season next year.

“In practical terms, the proposal does not formally abolish OPT,” Reddy wrote. “But a $70,000 university-paid fee could dramatically shrink it and potentially make OPT unworkable for a large number of international graduates.”

The DHS will accept public comments before the rule is made final. Members of the public can view the proposed rule on the Federal Register website and submit comments until November 9.

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​Department of homeland security, F1 visas, Foreign labor, Immigration lawyer, Kristi noem, Trump administration, United states, Eric schmitt, Politics 

Popular comedian Shane Gillis outraged many on the left during his monologue on “Saturday Night Live” over the weekend, and a high-profile actor is leading the charge.

Gillis touched upon many subjects in his monologue, but one story especially triggered leftists: when he criticized women for dressing like “whores” at gyms.

‘They are not objects. They are superior human beings to men, OK? And I’m sorry if this gets me in trouble with the internet, but f**k!’

“I haven’t been to the gym in so long, I didn’t know women just dress like whores now,” said Gillis.

“Look, I’m sorry, there’s no other way to describe [it]. Have you seen it? I’ve seen it. The shorts. Have you seen the shorts? There’s neon … they’re like artificial bait-colored [shorts], and the wrinkles go around the cheeks and all combine at the butthole. And don’t look! You’re not allowed to look.”

“For real, don’t look because they are filming. I’m in the background of like 10 TikToks right now,” Gillis joked.

While his joke got a large laugh from the audience, leftists had a different reaction: outrage.

“Women wearing short shorts at the gym does not make them whores. It makes the men calling them whores misogynists. There’s a difference there. By the way, I’ve seen more men’s nipples at the gym than I’ve ever seen women showing their bodies off,” actor Dan Levy of “Schitt’s Creek” fame said in a video on Instagram.

“But I’m speechless that something like that can exist on live national television. And to be perfectly honest, more men need to be standing up in opposition to it, because it’s complacency that has created the environment in which women are sexually assaulted, and it’s a ‘conversation’ as opposed to a ‘crime,'” he added.

He went on to say that men would treat women as objects because of speech like that from Gillis.

“They are not objects. They are superior human beings to men, OK? And I’m sorry if this gets me in trouble with the internet, but f**k!” Levy concluded.

RELATED: Liberals are trying to CANCEL funnyman Nate Bargatze for what he did on Sunday

Gillis has a history of being canceled by “Saturday Night Live.” He was hired on as a cast member in 2019 and then abruptly fired after the woke mob unearthed clips from his podcast they said were homophobic and racist.

His popularity has exploded since then, and his return five years later to host “SNL” enraged the critics who wanted him permanently canceled.

Saturday’s show was his third time hosting.

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​Shane gillis, Saturday night live, Comedy, Politics, Lifestyle 

The “ongoing criminal investigation” into Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) seems to have escalated Monday morning, as Homeland Security Investigations agents raided her residence in Washington, D.C., Fox News has reported.

Fox News reported that agents raided Omar’s residence in connection with the immigration paperwork Omar’s late father filled out on her behalf when she was a child.

‘This enforcement action is part of an ongoing federal criminal investigation.’

Omar was born in Somalia in October 1982, according to her congressional biography. She claimed in a 2018 interview that she became a naturalized U.S. citizen before she turned 18.

Rumors have swirled for nearly a decade that Ahmed Nur Said Elmi is Omar’s biological brother and that she married him to help him remain in the U.S.

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin even seemed to confirm those rumors during the Republican midterm convention last month.

“We know that she married her brother to try to bring him to the United States,” Mullin told podcaster Benny Johnson September 10. “We know he lives now in London.”

Mullin confirmed an “investigation” into Omar and that “something’s gonna happen.”

RELATED: DHS secretary: Ilhan Omar married her brother, and consequences are coming

A few days after Mullin’s comments to Johnson, border czar Tom Homan confirmed the “ongoing criminal investigation” into Omar.

“If someone committed immigration violation, if someone committed marriage fraud or anything like that, regardless if they’re a congressman or not, no one’s above the law,” Homan said September 13.

According to Fox News, multiple people wearing HSI jackets were seen outside Omar’s D.C. residence Monday morning at around 6 a.m. The DHS and the DOJ are both involved in the investigation, Fox said.

“Today in the Washington, D.C., area, Homeland Security Investigations executed a judicially authorized search warrant secured by the Department of Justice. This enforcement action is part of an ongoing federal investigation,” a DOJ spokesperson told the outlet in a statement.

A TV broadcast of the report had a slightly different statement: “This enforcement action is part of an ongoing federal criminal investigation.”

Fox could not confirm whether Omar was at the residence at the time of the raid.

Multiple attempts to reach Omar’s office were unsuccessful. Omar’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment.

This is a breaking story.

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​Markwayne mullin, Ilhan omar, Fraud, Tom homan, Politics 

Despite refusing to work with Republicans on a bipartisan bill for election integrity, Democrats are sounding the alarm about election integrity.

And Hollywood celebrity Mark Ruffalo is leading the charge.

“Now we need to be on guard for what we may not see coming: Elon,” Ruffalo began.

“That’s the cybersecurity of these elections. And while I’m not an expert, I’ve been talking to experts, and the one thing I’ve heard repeatedly is that there is a vulnerability of the votes when they’re transferred from the polling places to the county headquarters and then to the state,” he continued.

“Now that’s three times those tallies are being transferred over the internet … over our phones. We know that these systems are vulnerable,” he added.

“Oh, I thought it was ludicrous to even bring it up,” BlazeTV host Pat Gray laughs.

“Then when the Republicans are in power, then they flip and then it goes back and then, I mean, stop,” executive producer Keith Malinak says.

“He just made Trump’s point on the voting process,” Gray adds.

“So they should be able to get together and have a bipartisan solution on fixing our voting system,” Malink agrees. “Hey, how’s that Save Act coming?”

But Ruffalo wasn’t done.

“We’ve got to run to January,” he said passionately to the crowd. “We’ve got to make sure our people get seated. They’re going to try and stop them. They’re going to try and stop us. They’re going to try and stop us from taking our country back. And we’re not going to let them.”

“Trump, we’re not letting ya,” he added, before yelling, “Hands off our f**king vote.”

And Ruffalo wasn’t the only one, as Robert De Niro also got behind the podium to make a similar, angry statement.

“When masked and armed ICE thugs stalk our polling places, what do we say to them? Keep your f**king hands off our vote,” DeNiro said. “And when that coward, that piece of s**t, Donald Trump, tries to take our voice and power away, what do we tell him?”

“Hands off our vote,” he yelled.

Gray isn’t having it, calling both Ruffalo and DeNiro, “Despicable buffoons.”

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​Donald trump, Election integrity, Mark ruffalo, Pat gray, Robert deniro, Blazetv show 

Your car may know more about you than you realize.

A series of federal lawsuits involving Honda, Toyota, Volkswagen, General Motors, and Ford alleged that vehicle infotainment systems downloaded and permanently stored private text messages and call logs from phones connected to the car.

For some users, GM collected precise location information as often as every three seconds.

The cases were dismissed. But not because a court established that the technology couldn’t do what the plaintiffs claimed.

Disappearing data

In the GM case, for example, the district court said the plaintiffs had not alleged sufficient injury under Washington’s privacy law. It also noted that they had not alleged GM itself reviewed, used, or even had the ability to retrieve the data stored in the vehicle.

So the case did not establish that GM was secretly reading drivers’ texts. But neither did the dismissal answer the underlying technological question. The plaintiffs alleged that the infotainment system itself automatically downloaded and stored text messages and call logs from connected phones, and the court did not rule that this collection wasn’t happening.

That uncertainty is part of what makes modern connected cars so difficult for consumers to understand. Your phone talks to your car. Your car talks to manufacturer servers. Companion apps talk to still more companies.

Figuring out exactly what information is moving — and where it ends up — can be surprisingly difficult.

A new study from researchers at Northeastern University and Consumer Reports gives us a better idea.

Researchers tested 21 late-model vehicles and 30 companion smartphone apps. Nineteen of the 21 vehicles contacted at least one outside third party over Wi-Fi. The recipients included some of the biggest technology companies in the world.

The phone apps created even more connections.

Seven of the 30 apps transmitted sensitive identifiers such as VINs, email addresses, phone numbers, or precise location to companies associated with advertising and analytics. Researchers also found that pairing a manufacturer’s app with the vehicle could substantially increase the number of outside companies receiving data.

And then we get to insurance.

Driver’s dossier

General Motors provides one of the clearest documented examples of what can happen once driving data leaves the car.

GM offered a feature called OnStar Smart Driver that let customers monitor their driving habits.

According to the Federal Trade Commission, GM and OnStar were also collecting precise location and driving-behavior information from millions of vehicles and selling that information to third parties, including consumer-reporting agencies.

The data could get remarkably specific.

The FTC said it included hard braking, speeding, and late-night driving. For some users, GM collected precise location information as often as every three seconds.

Consumer-reporting agencies including LexisNexis and Verisk then used GM driving data to compile reports on individual drivers. The FTC says insurance companies used those reports to set rates and, in some cases, deny coverage.

We aren’t talking about targeted ads or some mysterious data broker knowing which coffee shop you visit. We’re talking about directly influencing what you pay for car insurance.

One consumer complained to GM that when he signed up, he understood that OnStar would track him. He had not understood that the information could be passed along to a third party and affect his insurance bill.

GM has since shut down Smart Driver and ended its telematics relationships with LexisNexis and Verisk. The company said it discontinued the program following customer feedback.

The FTC didn’t stop there. In January, it finalized an order requiring GM to obtain affirmative consent before collecting or sharing certain connected-vehicle data and barring the company for five years from sharing covered geolocation and driver-behavior information with consumer-reporting agencies.

RELATED: 6 modern car technologies that make driving worse

Bill Pugliano/Getty Images

Behind the screens

That’s harder to answer than you might expect.

The Northeastern researchers built a Faraday enclosure at Consumer Reports’ Connecticut test facility to block cellular signals and isolate the Wi-Fi traffic coming from the vehicles. They then watched where the cars and their companion apps tried to connect.

While they could identify many of the companies receiving traffic, they couldn’t always see what was inside it; much of the communication was encrypted.

That is not evidence that every transmission contained sensitive personal information. It does mean even researchers specifically studying the problem sometimes can’t tell exactly what information is moving between a modern car and the companies it contacts.

For the owner, there is even less visibility.

You buy the car. You download the app. You agree to the terms. Maybe you activate remote start, navigation, emergency assistance, or one of the dozens of other connected features now built into new vehicles.

Most people aren’t thinking about the advertising and analytics companies behind the screen.

Why would they be?

Connected works both ways

None of this means connected-car technology is inherently bad.

Emergency assistance needs to know where your vehicle is. Navigation requires location. An app that lets you start the car remotely obviously has to communicate with it.

But there is a big difference between collecting information necessary to provide a feature and allowing that information to begin circulating through an ecosystem the owner barely knows exists.

And consumers shouldn’t have to become privacy lawyers to discover the difference.

Before activating connected services, I would want to know some fairly basic things.

What is the car collecting?

Who gets it?

Can they sell or share it?

Can I turn the collection off?

And could any of this wind up in a consumer report used to make decisions about me?

For years, the connected car was sold as safer, smarter, and more convenient, and maybe it is. Just remember: The connection works both ways.

​Car infotainment systems, Car insurance, Modern connected cars, Smartphone apps, Driving data, Lifestyle, Privacy, Big tech, General motors, Ftc, Automotive 

Foreign billionaires and well-funded nongovernmental organizations can use a gap in federal election law to pour money into state ballot-measure campaigns. Half the states have yet to ban the practice, and some of those that have acted still leave openings for foreign-linked spending.

Federal law flatly bars foreign nationals from contributing to political candidates. State ballot initiatives and referenda, however, are treated differently under the Federal Election Campaign Act. Unless state law says otherwise, foreign nationals can spend to influence those measures. Because ballot campaigns can rewrite state constitutions, alter election rules, redraw districts, and affect turnout in candidate races, that distinction is no small matter.

No foreign government, foreign national, or foreign interest should have a hand in deciding the laws Americans live under.

One of the best-known examples involves Swiss billionaire Hansjörg Wyss. Americans for Public Trust has documented hundreds of millions of dollars in Wyss giving to U.S. political nonprofits. The Honest Elections Project notes that the left-wing Sixteen Thirty Fund alone received $243 million from Wyss and spent more than $130 million on ballot issues in 25 states.

Those figures deserve one qualification. Nonprofit funds are commingled, so they do not prove that Wyss’ dollars paid for any particular ballot campaign. But money is fungible. The fact remains that current federal law permits an organization that receives enormous sums from a foreign national to spend heavily on domestic ballot measures.

Through that ballot-measure gap, the Honest Elections Project argues, foreign nationals can influence issues ranging from abortion and energy policy to redistricting and election law, while partisan groups can use ballot campaigns to help drive turnout in candidate races.

The legal history is clear. In Bluman v. FEC, a three-judge federal court upheld the federal ban on foreign nationals’ spending in candidate elections, and the Supreme Court summarily affirmed in 2012. But the district court also noted that the law does not bar foreign nationals from issue advocacy, including spending on ballot initiatives.

In a 2015 enforcement matter, FEC commissioners who voted to dismiss a complaint relied on that distinction. They wrote that the act “does not bar foreign nationals from issue advocacy” and that state and local ballot initiatives do not constitute an “election” under the 1971 Federal Election Campaign Act.

RELATED: The danger of calling the left stupid

ALEX EDELMAN/AFP/Getty Images

The FEC is unlikely to solve the problem on its own. The commission’s website notes that election laws outside the financing of federal elections are generally beyond its jurisdiction. In the 2015 matter, the commissioners were even more explicit: “The Commission has no authority to otherwise interpose itself as arbiter of who can participate in state and local ballot initiatives.”

A later FEC case reinforced the same approach. In 2021, the commission voted 4-2 to dismiss allegations involving foreign-national donations to a Montana ballot initiative committee. That leaves Congress and the states to close the gap if they choose.

States are free, subject to constitutional limits, to restrict foreign funding of ballot initiatives and referenda. Twenty-five states now have full or partial bans on foreign-national or foreign-government funding of ballot-measure campaigns.

Some laws are broader than others. California law, for example, bars foreign governments, foreign principals, and foreign nationals from funding state and local ballot measures. But a domestic subsidiary of a foreign corporation is treated as a foreign principal only when the decision to spend is made by a foreign officer, director, or management employee who is neither a U.S. citizen nor a lawful permanent resident — a limitation very easy to evade.

Arkansas offers a broader model. Its law applies to persons who are not citizens or lawful permanent residents, foreign governments, foreign political parties, and entities organized under foreign law or based abroad. It also bars direct or indirect donations to ballot-measure committees and requires committees to certify that they have not knowingly accepted prohibited funds, according to Ballotpedia.

RELATED: States need to take election security into their own hands

CJ Gunther/Getty Images

Congress has moved as well. On July 13, the House passed the Stop Foreign Funds in Elections Act by voice vote. The bill would extend the federal foreign-national ban to state and local ballot initiatives, referenda, and recall elections. The Senate received the measure the next day and referred it to the Committee on Rules and Administration, where it remains.

“No foreign government, foreign national, or foreign interest should have a hand in deciding the laws Americans live under,” co-sponsor Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) said in a statement after House passage. Ballotpedia likewise reported the measure’s passage and its referral to the Senate.

States need not wait for Congress. Lawmakers can review their own statutes and close gaps that permit foreign nationals or foreign-controlled entities to fund ballot campaigns. Citizens and members of the press can use Ballotpedia’s state-by-state chart to see which restrictions are already in place and which proposals remain pending.

Foreign funding of referenda and ballot initiatives gives people with no vote in the matter a legal avenue to spend heavily on the laws Americans live under. States should exercise their power to curb the practice, and the public should insist that they do so.

​Abortion, California law, Congress, Election laws, Fec, Federal law, Foreign money, Foreign nationals, Redistricting, Senate, State law, State lawmakers, Supreme court, Opinion & analysis 

The midterms could sway political power in the United States, if the Democrats gain control of the Senate and/or the House. To keep that from happening, it is good to remember just how much President Donald Trump and the Republicans have accomplished for America and specifically for Texas since taking power in 2025.

Texas is key to keeping the Senate in Republican control, with Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) facing off against state Rep. James Talarico (D) for the coveted seat currently held by longtime Sen. John Cornyn (R). Paxton defeated Cornyn in a primary runoff in May.

As the midterms draw near, it is important to remember all the wins that Republicans have secured for the American people.

Trump has delivered for Americans, including those in Texas, on the economy, jobs, agriculture, public safety, and fraud.

Americans have saved a total of $82 billion since the Working Families Tax Cuts bill was passed. This piece of legislation cut taxes for working families; eliminated taxes on tips, overtime, and Social Security; and established Trump Accounts for children under 18. Due to these cost-saving measures, both weekly wages and household income are up from when Trump started his second term.

The economy received an additional boost thanks to $11.2 trillion in direct U.S. and foreign investments, some of which was used to create new jobs in Texas. Some of the top-name brands building new opportunities in the state include SpaceX, with a $16.8 billion Terafab facility that will create 3,000 new jobs; Meta’s new $10 billion data center that will create 4,300 jobs; and a $3.6 billion expansion of Toyota’s San Antonio plant that will add 2,000 jobs.

RELATED: Paxton hammers Talarico for going ‘missing’ from campaign trail — and Trump chimes in hilariously

L-R: Kent NISHIMURA/AFP/Getty Images; John Anderson/The Austin Chronicle/Getty Images; Mandel NGAN/AFP/Getty Images

In addition to new business, Trump increased natural gas shipments and lowered energy costs through a loan to AEP Texas. He also signed an executive order to pause climate change restrictions while expanding fossil fuel production to give the people ample energy for homes, businesses, and technological endeavors like AI.

Trump specifically set out to help farmers with the Farmer Bridge Assistance program that doled out $12 billion in one-time relief payments while they waited for the tax cuts that came with the Working Families Tax Cuts bill. The bill also included a permanent 20% small business tax deduction and expanded export opportunities to send more American crops to foreign nations.

Public safety was also a huge boon for the Trump administration. After the first full year of his second term, all major crime metrics — including violent crimes such as murder, rape, and aggravated assault — dropped by 10% or more in Texas. Many of those metrics have fallen again in 2026.

This is in addition to 16 straight months with no border releases and 2.2 million self-deportations as of February. In 2025, America had net negative migration for the first time in 50 years.

Lastly, the Trump administration aggressively pursued fraudsters throughout Texas and elsewhere with an entire list of arrests, charges, and convictions ranging from Medicare fraud to Ponzi schemes and COVID-19 relief fraud.

Poll Watch/Blaze Media

The Texas race is close, with pollsters leaning toward Democrat James Talarico as the favorite over Republican Ken Paxton. For the latest Texas Senate seat updates — and to follow other important midterm races across the nation — check out Poll Watch, available to Blaze News, BlazeTV+, and Blaze Unlimited subscribers.

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​Ken paxton, Donald trump, Texas, Senate, Senate race, Politics 

For years, President Trump has called for Christopher Columbus to be returned to his place among the respected, great men who are part of this nation’s history.

And his speech just days before Columbus Day was the latest of his defiant pronouncements against those who hate America’s history.

‘We’re going to place it in a very special place of honor.’

On Friday, President Trump hosted a celebration of Christopher Columbus at the White House in the latest of his efforts to rehabilitate the 15th-century Italian explorer whose memory and legacy have been maligned in recent years by the woke left.

Trump, however, has long been a staunch supporter of Christopher Columbus and his legacy, even calling for the U.S. to “BRING BACK COLUMBUS DAY” four years ago. In April 2025, he posted on Truth Social that he would bring Columbus Day “back from the ashes” after the “Democrats did everything possible to destroy” him, including the destruction of his statues.

During his speech Friday, Trump echoed a number of these sentiments and made some important announcements in his efforts to rehabilitate Columbus Day.

“Christopher Columbus changed the future of humanity forever. And in this administration, we know that Christopher Columbus is — to us, he’s a hero. He’s a hero,” Trump said.

RELATED: Social studies teacher vandalizes Christopher Columbus statue

Trump told the story of Baltimore’s statue of Columbus, “made from the finest Italian marble,” which faced the city’s Little Italy.

“But on July 4, 2020, a hate-filled mob of radical left lunatics and Marxists, communists lashed chains around Columbus’ neck,” toppled the statue to the ground, and dumped the broken remains into Baltimore Harbor, he said.

“They want to tear down the history and heritage that makes us who we are, not only Columbus,” Trump reminded the audience at Friday’s event.

The fragments were quickly recovered by Italian-Americans, and a restored version of the statue, using the fragments of the destroyed statue from Baltimore, was placed outside the Eisenhower Executive Office Building near the White House earlier this year. Trump said last month he placed it there “in Honor of the Italian American Community” — a common theme during Friday’s event as well.

President Trump indicated that there was another surprise — but he hadn’t seen it yet.

Trump introduced Brett Rugo during the speech and explained that Rugo had presented the White House with “a one-of-a-kind 19th-century statue of Christopher Columbus from Italy.”

He told the crowd that he had not seen the statue yet. He asked the audience what they thought of it, and many gave signs of approval.

Trump went on to explain the plans for the statue: “We’re going to be bringing Brett’s [statue] over to the Rose Garden, and we’re going to place it in a very special place of honor.”

“While I’m president of the United States, we’ll always honor and celebrate the immortal legends,” Trump said.

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​Christopher columbus, Communists, Donald trump, Marxists, Radical left, United states, White house, Politics 

The late-life radicalization of the Boomers is proving to be an ongoing catastrophe.

I am, of course, referring to liberal Boomers, not conservative ones. As far as I can tell, conservative Baby Boomers might be one of the most stable voting blocs in the country. Conservative Boomers today tend to vote for the same things they have always voted for and basically believe in the same American values they did in 2006 or 1986. Their stability is something we currently take for granted, and it will be missed one day.

The old people I remember from the 1980s and ’90s acted old. I don’t mean that as an insult.

Liberal Baby Boomers have taken a different path: a strange, late-life radicalization.

Gray panthers

Usually when we hear the word “radicalization,” we think of anarchists, Islamic terrorists, and other violent groups. With liberal Boomers, we aren’t dealing so much with a violent insurgency or rogue actors who want to bring society to its knees. We’re dealing with people who, in their old age, have too much time to read the news and get mad in fits of performative self-righteousness and who have decided that a good use of their twilight years is reliving some micro-version of the ’60s and ’70s.

Next time there is a No Kings rally or some other left-wing protest, drive by and take a look at who is there. You may be struck by the amount of gray hair. This isn’t a novel observation. Researchers studying the recent anti-Trump protest movement have noticed that many of the organizers are considerably older than the activists who usually come to mind when we think of political protest.

At first, that doesn’t seem strange at all. Of course retired people are going to show up. They have the free time.

But I’m interested in something beyond simple availability. Why do so many people who are approaching 70 or 80 seem determined to become political activists now? Why the signs, the marches, the constant outrage, the sense that retirement is finally their chance to join the resistance?

AARP anarchists

The obvious retort is that young people today are politically disengaged and somebody has to do it.

There may be some truth to that. But it still doesn’t explain why a certain kind of affluent liberal senior citizen now seems to fancy himself part of the vanguard of political action.

There is something historically upside down about it.

The old stereotype says that age brings caution. You accumulate responsibilities, watch political fashions come and go, and become a little less impressed by people promising to remake the world. Whether or not people literally become more conservative as they age, older generations have traditionally occupied that cultural role: They remind the young that most supposedly revolutionary ideas have been tried before and that smashing things is easier than rebuilding them.

The old are supposed to be the anchor. The young are supposed to be pulling at the chain.

So how did we end up with 70-year-olds trying to recapture the barricades?

RELATED: The future belongs to people who believe in one

Cheng Xin/Getty Images

Elder shortage

Maybe it’s because fewer of them have grandchildren than previous generations did. Maybe it’s the nature of technological society, which gives everyone access to a limitless supply of things to be angry about and has, for whatever reason, had a particularly strange effect on liberal Boomers. Maybe it’s because people are living longer and spending more years in retirement with more free time.

Or maybe it’s just something particular to the liberals of that generation. Maybe they want to relive their glory days.

Maybe they simply can’t bear to be old.

I’m not sure exactly what the answer is. It’s probably some combination of those things plus a few others. But what I do know is that it wasn’t like this when I was a kid.

The old people I remember from the 1980s and ’90s acted old. I don’t mean that as an insult. They weren’t desperately trying to keep up, prove they were hip, adopt the latest political vocabulary, or convince the rest of us that they were on the right side of history. They had older-generation attitudes. Sometimes those attitudes were wrong. Sometimes they were annoying. But they were recognizably the attitudes of people who had been around for a while.

What makes the current situation even stranger is that many of these newly radicalized liberal Boomers weren’t extreme leftists when they were younger. Plenty were basically centrists in the ’80s and ’90s. They had kids and jobs and mortgages and wanted their children to have a decent future. Those responsibilities tended to keep them somewhere near the middle, even if they considered themselves liberals.

Now the kids are gone, the mortgage is paid off, and some of them seem to have finally become the campus radicals they never quite managed to be at 22.

Are we going to see the same thing happen as Gen X ages? What about Millennials?

I hope not.

If we want future generations to inherit the same America we lived in, at some point we have to start acting our age.

​Lifestyle, Culture, Baby boomers, Maturity, No kings, Donald trump, Gen x, Millennials, Politics, Activism, The root of the matter 

Being a 16-year-old in high school is hard enough. It’s a different ball game entirely when you’re actively involved in politics. Sadly, for many young conservative teens across our country, the pressure to conform and abandon their beliefs comes not only from student bullies but from adults.

Ella Smith, 16, is a homeschooled student in southern Nevada who is also enrolled in her local high school choir in Clark County as an elective. She works part-time as a door knocker for Commit 100, a joint program coordinated by conservative nonprofit groups Turning Point Action and Citizens Alliance. Her job is simple: Find 100 registered Republicans unlikely to vote outside of presidential elections and get each of them to make a plan to vote, whether by mail or in person.

Can conservative students participate openly in their school communities without risking their reputations or physical safety?

Since the assassination of Charlie Kirk last September, hostility from students and teachers with differing viewpoints has escalated.

In mid-September, Ella was knocking on doors in Boulder City, Nevada, with her grandmother, who also canvasses for Commit 100. The next day as she walked through the hallways to go to choir, a school employee asked her to step into the front office and confronted her about her after-school activities. By the end of the conversation, she was left in tears.

According to the family, a school employee said she was speaking on behalf of the vice principal. She then allegedly accused Ella of going around town telling people how to vote and claiming to represent the school. The employee also said the school had received anonymous Ring camera footage of Ella door knocking and that she’d already watched the footage.

The school employee continued pressing these allegations in front of other faculty and students nearby, turning the confrontation into a public embarrassment. Ella described the exchange as “condescending and intimidating.” To make matters worse, other students and staff remained within earshot during the full length of the interaction.

A teenager should not have to choose between participating in civic life outside school and being treated with dignity inside it. Sadly, accounts from the past year from within Clark County suggest that principle is still in need of defending.

Ella’s mother, Mica Smith, later contacted the vice principal’s office directly. She wanted to understand why the school felt the need to pull her daughter aside over an after-school job.

The vice principal reached out days later and said she had reviewed the footage, found that Ella had done nothing wrong, and said the staff member who pulled her aside had acted inappropriately, leading to an apology.

Those acknowledgments matter, but a simple “sorry” is only the beginning of accountability. What corrective actions were taken? Why was an employee who wasn’t a teacher and had no authority to accuse or discipline a student so confident she could do both? What assurances do Ella and other conservative students involved in civic engagements have that it won’t happen again?

RELATED: The danger of calling the left stupid

ALEX EDELMAN/AFP/Getty Images

Ella’s family believes she was treated this way because of her work for a conservative cause. That motive hasn’t been independently established. However, no one needs to settle the question of motive to recognize how serious her account is, especially given what the school itself has admitted. This is especially true when you look at the state of our classrooms throughout the country and even in Clark County.

Sadly, Ella is not the only young conservative in the community reportedly describing hostility.

Around the same time, the secretary of the Turning Point-sponsored Club America chapter at Veterans Tribute Career and Technical Academy addressed the Clark County school board in late September. The student described repeated online and in-person harassment, bullying, and threats from other students over the club’s conservative beliefs.

Between student bullies and adults who single out conservative students, families deserve an answer to a basic question: Can conservative students participate openly in their school communities without risking their reputations or physical safety?

These don’t appear to be isolated incidents.

Last September, Clark County School District Superintendent Jhone Ebert announced that an unspecified number of teachers were removed from classrooms after posts were discovered on their personal social media profiles mocking and celebrating the murder of Charlie Kirk.

The district did not tell parents which teachers had been removed. Families shouldn’t have to wonder whether the people responsible for educating their children celebrated the killing of a man who went to college campuses to have peaceful conversations.

RELATED: Democrats have a political violence problem

Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu/Getty Images

These incidents are not limited to Nevada.

Last month, the University of Utah made headlines when it investigated two College Republicans for alleged doxxing. On the anniversary of Kirk’s assassination, the students shared photos online of a liberal student with a cake that read “Happy Kirkiversary.” The university ultimately dropped the case due to lack of evidence, and the Office of the Dean of Students emailed the two students and apologized for the inconvenience. But by then, the damage was done.

There was a time when a simple “sorry” and “we’re taking care of it” was enough for parents to let situations like these go. But over the last decade, censorship and intimidation have escalated on high school and college campuses across the country.

Expecting accountability from students and staff who misbehave is not a demand for ideological agreement. No one is asking them to bend a knee and convert. But in a functioning society, we shouldn’t have to demand tolerance and basic professionalism from the people running our schools.

There is an inspiring silver lining in all of these situations: the courage of young conservatives standing up for themselves and what they believe.

Ella has continued to knock on doors with her grandmother every day since the incident. Club America chapters are still popping up across the country by the hundreds, especially since Charlie Kirk’s death. And College Republicans aren’t backing down from continuing their meetings and activities.

Ella’s willingness to work, participate in her community, and stand by her convictions reflects the kind of patriotism and responsibility Americans should want to encourage in young people.

​Charlie kirk, College republicans, Doxxing, Young conservatives, Patriotism, High school students, Nevada, Clark county, Utah, Opinion & analysis 

One Democratic Senate candidate has tried so hard to appeal to working-class Texans that he has accidentally become a parody of himself — and one satirical video is capitalizing on that.

The parody begins with a man asking, “Want to know what’s gay?” and answering, “When Republicans shut down our factory.”

“I support immigrants, not because we want them, but because he wants them,” he said, pointing up to the sky.

The actor goes on to claim he is “all about the three P’s,” which are “PBR, pigskin, and protecting trans rights.”

“I went to college here, in this state, which is impressive because I could have gone somewhere much better. My daddy grew up on a farm, and I have visited that farm. This race isn’t about party. In fact, don’t even look into what political party I am,” he said.

“Do I believe every American should own a firearm? No,” he continued. “But I’m going to keep that to myself. My first name is one syllable, and my last name is just the teeniest bit ethnic. I’ve thought about it. I’ve prayed about it. And that’s why I’m running to be your next senator.”

“But not before I finish these ribs,” he added.

Comedian Davey Jackson is certain of who the politician is that the parody is targeting.

“My guy, James Talarico,” he tells BlazeTV host Sara Gonzales.

“He’s the worst,” Gonzales says. “And yet, he still has a chance here in this state.”

“He looks like Elf on the Shelf came to life and is walking around politicking,” Adam Johnson jokes. “That’s what it looks like.”

Gonzales also points out that while early voting begins next week in Texas, “Talarico has been mysteriously absent for 12 days.”

“Nobody knows where he is. His campaign said 12 days ago, ‘Oh, he has the flu,’” she continues.

“That puts you down for 12 days? You’re too f**king weak to be a senator then,” she adds, “Like, what, you’re going to have a cold and you’re going to miss like six votes?”

Want more from Sara Gonzales?

To enjoy more of Sara’s no-holds-barred takes on news and culture, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

​Satirical video, Sara gonzales, James talarico, Trans rights, Texas, Blazetv show 

President Donald Trump recently renewed his criticism of the left’s immigration agenda, taking aim at mass amnesty. The Democratic Socialists of America are making the point for him, calling to “grant amnesty for all immigrants regardless of status.”

The White House Council of Economic Advisers released a new report last week estimating that the DSA’s immigration policies could cost Americans a whopping $440 billion to $613 billion over 10 years. And that’s not the worst of it.

‘The rule of law cannot co-exist with mass amnesty.’

According to the CEA, allowing mass amnesty could create $36 billion to $47 billion in estimated annual costs for just SNAP, Medicaid, and HUD housing vouchers.

The report argues that these costs would come from “turning the existing population of illegal aliens into legal residents eligible for federal social safety net programs.”

While DSA candidates like Melat Kiros believe “millions of undocumented immigrants in the United States right now should have an immediate pathway to citizenship,” American taxpayers should be asking the more important question: If mass amnesty could leave taxpayers with billions in new costs every year, what exactly does it solve?

It certainly does not solve the underlying problem. It changes the legal status of the people already here while leaving the incentives that attract more illegal immigration intact. We have been down this road before. Not to ruin the ending, but we somehow keep finding ourselves right back to where we started.

In 1986, President Ronald Reagan signed the Immigration Reform and Control Act. The law created legalization programs for millions of illegal aliens while also establishing employer sanctions intended to discourage the hiring of unauthorized workers. About 2.7 million people ultimately received legal status under the law.

However, the bargain did not work. Due to IRCA’s eligibility cutoff, roughly 2 million were excluded from legalization, while an estimated 500,000 were eligible but never received legal status. According to the Migration Policy Institute, those who remained in unlawful status “became the nucleus of today’s large unauthorized population.”

The enforcement side also fell short. Weaknesses in employment verification and document fraud undermined employer sanctions. The problems IRCA was meant to address ultimately grew. The unauthorized population increased from an estimated 3.5 million in 1990 to 12.2 million by 2007.

Legalization changed the status of millions of people, but it did not prevent the country from having to deal with an even larger unauthorized population later. A growing population of illegal aliens brings larger costs for schools, health care, housing, and other public services.

RELATED: Republicans cannot serve two masters on immigration

Kent NISHIMURA/AFP/Getty Images

The DSA platform does not just call for mass amnesty; members also want an end to ICE detention and deportations.

CEA estimates the “net cost to taxpayers of ending deportations and ICE detentions to be between $79 and $139 billion over 10 years.” The report argues that doing so would eliminate fiscal savings associated with current immigration enforcement.

Former Border Patrol agent and Texas Public Policy Foundation senior fellow Ammon Blair puts it plainly: “The rule of law cannot co-exist with mass amnesty.”

If amnesty paired with enforcement did not keep our country from ending up back here, why should taxpayers expect amnesty with less enforcement to work any better?

Mass amnesty is not an immigration solution. And it cannot prevent the next wave of illegal immigration.

American immigration policy sends a message around the world. If the United States repeatedly demonstrates that entering or remaining in the country illegally may eventually end in legal status, policymakers have to consider the incentive that amnesty creates for the next person deciding whether our immigration laws are worth obeying.

That is the problem with DSA’s socialist immigration promises. The slogans are simple, yet the consequences are anything but. Americans would be left paying billions in new costs while the DSA simultaneously calls for less immigration enforcement.

We cannot mistake an old idea for a new solution. History has shown us that mass amnesty is not the answer. Socialism has never been short on promises, but it is taxpayers who are always expected to foot the bill.

​Americans, Democratic socialists of america, Deportations, Ice detention, Illegal immigration, Mass amnesty, Medicaid, Melat kiros, Taxpayers, Opinion & analysis 

What happens when a society teaches people that they have no lasting purpose, then wonders why they feel hopeless?

I am spending time volunteering with Stranraer Reformed Presbyterian Church in Scotland. On Thursday, October 15, the church is hosting a free public talk on depression at 7 p.m. at the Millennium Centre. Depression deserves our attention because its effects reach beyond individuals into families, communities, and the life of nations.

The Christian still wrestles with sin and sorrow. Yet Christ is working in us. Our hope rests on His faithfulness, not on our ability to manufacture a cheerful mood.

I am also a professor at Arizona State University, where I see the importance of this question among students. The 2024-2025 Healthy Minds Study, based on responses from more than 84,000 students at 135 colleges and universities, found that 37% reported moderate to severe depressive symptoms, and 33% reported moderate to severe anxiety. Both measures had improved since 2022, but the burden remains enormous.

In Great Britain, the picture is troubling too. NHS England found a common mental health condition in 22.6% of adults ages 16-64 in 2023-2024, up from 18.9% in 2014. Among 16- to 24-year-olds, the figure was 25.8%. In Scotland, 2023-2024 data show that 10% of adults reported at least two symptoms of depression and 16% at least two symptoms of anxiety.

Some people seek relief through alcohol or drugs, but self-medication can become another prison. The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism notes that alcohol may temporarily relieve anxiety even as heavy drinking and repeated withdrawal worsen it. The damage can spread outward: The United Kingdom recorded 9,809 alcohol-specific deaths in 2024, and victims in England and Wales believed offenders were under alcohol’s influence in 39% of violent incidents in 2023-2024.

Clinical depression is not simply unbelief. Faithful Christians suffer it, and medical treatment can help. My concern here is spiritual hopelessness: What account of life can sustain someone when pleasure fades and suffering remains?

The secular state can fund treatment and other necessary services, but it cannot supply redemption. No program can answer the question that comes before policy: Why should I have hope? If human beings are only material organisms, here briefly and then gone, what lasting meaning does suffering possess?

That does not mean every government intervention fails. It means government has limits. A list of recommended behaviors may help people manage a problem, but it cannot give them a reason to live or reconcile them to God. Our trouble reaches deeper than ignorance of the rules.

A culture that reduces human beings to appetite, chemistry, and consumption should not be surprised by a crisis of purpose. Physical pleasure and distraction cannot bear the weight of the human soul. An evening’s escape still leaves tomorrow’s question waiting.

RELATED: Where was God? Frank Turek asks the question after Charlie Kirk

Owen Anderson

Christianity begins somewhere else. Human beings are made in the image of God, and Christ redeems His people by His blood. Our lives therefore have meaning now, not merely after death.

Sometimes Christianity itself gets reduced to “when you die, you go to heaven and avoid hell,” as though everything before death were unimportant. That misses our present calling. Alienation from God has consequences now. Clinical depression is no verdict on anyone’s salvation, but spiritual despair can foreshadow the hopelessness of separation from God. Communion with Christ brings hope into the present.

First, our feelings do not define us. We cannot always explain why darkness settles over us, but we can bring God’s Word to bear on it. The psalmist asks his own troubled soul, “Why are you cast down, O my soul?” (Psalm 42:5). Then he directs it: “Hope in God.” His sorrow is real, but it does not have the final word.

Second, Christianity offers grace rather than a ladder we climb to earn acceptance. Rules can identify wrongdoing, but they cannot free sinners from sin’s power. Islam’s five pillars, for example, prescribe religious duties, but Islam does not offer the Reformed Christian doctrine of justification by grace alone through faith alone. The distinction is not academic: Christian hope rests on what Christ has done, not on whether we can accumulate enough religious merit.

I find no comparable assurance in religions built around reincarnation. A cycle of death and rebirth governed by karma is not the Christian promise of reconciliation with God and resurrection. Christianity offers a destination, not an endless series of attempts to repair ourselves.

RELATED: What Chris Hansen knows about sin that modern culture forgets

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The Christian still wrestles with sin and sorrow. Yet Christ is working in us. Our hope rests on His faithfulness, not on our ability to manufacture a cheerful mood.

That hope also takes practical form in the church. We visit the lonely, listen to the grieving, pray with the discouraged, and help families bear burdens they cannot carry alone. The sufferer needs patient fellowship, not an accusation that sadness proves spiritual failure. The gospel gives us both a message to proclaim and neighbors to love.

Finally, Christian hope reaches beyond the individual. The Great Commission sends the church into the world because the nations belong within the scope of Christ’s saving purpose. History need not follow a straight upward line; setbacks do not cancel God’s promises. I believe Scripture points toward a day when “the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord” as the waters cover the sea (Isaiah 11:9).

That gives parents, students, and churches reason to labor faithfully even when today’s headlines seem to announce defeat.

Christians have hope to offer a hopeless world. We should bring it into the darkness. If you happen to be in the Stranraer area, join us October 15 at 7 p.m. And for a further resource on spiritual depression, listen to Martyn Lloyd-Jones’ series.

​Depression, Medication, Sorrow, Sin, Christians, Alcohol, Drugs, Mental health, Faith, Death, Christ, Great commission, Scripture, Opinion & analysis 

Artificial intelligence has already transformed the way Americans work and research.

But BlazeTV host Daniel Horowitz believes the public is being sold an inflated vision of artificial general intelligence — and pouring staggering resources into the wrong model to achieve it.

“I actually like AI,” Horowitz tells BlazeTV host Steve Deace. “And I believe for narrow tasks, edge computing, localized sovereign data … there’s a lot of good stuff being done.”

“My concern is, we’re misallocating resources away from the most useful, least painful, least consuming analogues of AI and using an all-of-government approach towards this AGI, which in my view is the least useful … most expensive, really unfeasible the way they’re trying to do it, and also problematic,” he explains.

“For the average person out there, like me, that only knows about AI doing that or asking ChatGPT questions, help them understand the distinction that you just drew in ways that would relate to their understanding of the technology,” Deace says.

“If you want an ‘ask me anything,’ what they did was get people addicted to it, and then they’re like, ‘OK, it doesn’t cost anything,’” Horowitz explains.

“But then it does. Actually, we’re going to have to build five hyperscales in every county, and this much power, and yada yada, and make everything else more expensive,” he says.

“So, now that’s an ROI thing,” he continues. “It’s not that there is no use to artificial general intelligence, right — this open-ended generative AI. It’s not that there’s no use to it. It’s that there is a question of an ROI in the way they’re going about doing it.”

“Is it accurate to say that you believe, therefore, we’re overselling this technology to the American people based on what you just told us?” Deace asks.

“We’re overselling the need and utility of centralized cloud hyperscale model for AI. In terms of deploying it in low latency, narrow at the edge, there’s things like the Iron Dome in Israel. You know, Israel has no hyperscale,” Horowitz replies.

“My core thesis is what they’re selling you on — again, and people could disagree with me, but my contention is that, just the opposite. Not only am I not opposed to it, I believe they are doing what government does in health care and many other sectors,” he continues.

“They’re misallocating resources towards a bubble and to Oracle’s grift of their 1970s technology of a centralized cloud in an impossible way that would perpetually have to scale in a way that either becomes obsolete or unfeasible,” he adds.

Horowitz goes on to explain that one of the only reasons this is being done is “a surveillance state.”

“Remember, China doesn’t have nearly as many of these because they built their surveillance state — in large part from these same companies, by the way — before AI. So, they already have it. They don’t need it,” he says.

And what Horowitz finds extremely concerning is that auto companies have just “won the rights to your texts when they get cycled through the car player.”

“They got all of it, and they won in court that they’re able to keep it,” he says.

“Your car, your home, your appliances. They would ideally want every step you make, every breath you take,” he adds.

Want more from Steve Deace?

To enjoy more of Steve’s take on national politics, Christian worldview, and principled conservatism with a snarky twist, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

​Artificial intelligence, Daniel horowitz, Surveillance state, Steve deace, Ai, Blazetv show