Category: blaze media

Cop-cam videos are one of my favorite guilty pleasures. Seeing the badly behaved and the thuggish get what’s coming to them is a rare treat in an America that has abandoned personal responsibility and consequences for bad behavior.

But the pleasure turns to frustration too often. In most of these videos, the police waste minutes to an hour repeating their orders to a struggling suspect who has no intention of obeying.

Any parent of a toddler knows that you don’t negotiate with terrorists.

Take the latest viral example: a blue-haired college kid of indeterminate gender demanding that the cop “use my pronouns” before “consenting” to being arrested (yes, they do think they have a choice).

What should have been a simple arrest turns into an eight-minute installment of absurdist theater. It is truly something to behold.

Missed manners

Before we get to that, consider the general cultural context of such videos. Anyone in their 40s or older knows that standards of public behavior in America ain’t what they used to be. Manners are a thing of the past. People walk their carts up the middle of aisles, oblivious to anyone needing to get by. They sail through doors you hold without acknowledgment.

And that’s just on foot. Rules of the road? Forget it. Everyone at a four-way stop is either trying to jump the right-of-way line or they’ve forgotten the rule altogether. Or they don’t care.

The other day I ran across an honest-to-God telephone booth preserved as part of a nostalgia display at an amusement park. These were built for a world with manners. People were motivated to build booths for phones because they assumed the caller wanted privacy and that the caller didn’t want to inflict his conversation on passersby. Quaint, no?

Broken windows

We’re living through a nationwide experiment in abandoning broken-windows policing. It’s just plain old common sense: When authorities let the “little” things slide — graffiti, vandalism, public disorder, petty lawbreaking — they teach people that the rules don’t matter. Bigger offenses inevitably follow. New York City learned that lesson the hard way before Rudy Giuliani and Police Commissioner William Bratton restored order in the 1990s by cracking down on so-called “quality of life” crimes.

It’s obviously true. But Democrats, leftists, and communists don’t like law and order. What they like is pretending that having rules for civil society is oppression. What they like even more is getting cities to defund their police departments so that criminals have a rules-free playground at everyone else’s expense. They do this by whining that mean, bad, Republican “fascists” like Giuliani were hurting “people of color” and “unhoused people” with these awful rules and laws.

You can see it in this essay on the blog Common Justice. Author “Cade T.,” who styles himself a “community organizer,” says cracking down on law and order is targeting those oppressed brown people again.

“Ultimately, the fear is that crime will become contagious and endemic in the urban environment,” he writes. “Under Giuliani, the NYPD identified neighborhoods in which to crack down on minor crimes. Not only did broken windows policing fail to reduce crime, but it also provided cover for a deliberate targeting of Black and brown communities.”

No respect

This is simply not true. Giuliani’s policy resulted in a dramatic decrease in violent crime. It stands to reason. When people see police take a hands-off approach — especially toward groups the political class considers “protected” — they naturally become bolder. We see it every time hundreds of black teens riot through city streets while news anchors timidly describe the violence as nothing more than a “teen takeover.”

A large number of Americans — especially younger ones — neither fear nor respect the police. Why would they? As Forbes reported in 2020, at least 13 major American cities cut police funding or staffing in response to the BLM movement, while many smaller jurisdictions created such a hostile political climate that officers no longer felt confident their own departments would support them for simply doing their jobs. Small cities like Montpelier, Vermont, now struggle to recruit and retain enough officers.

The video below shows what hands-off policing looks like in the 2020s. Even when cops are willing to try to do their job, they’re strangely timid about effecting an arrest in a way I don’t remember police acting when I was a young man.

RELATED: How a McDonald’s men’s room perfectly captures blue-state decline

Paul Harris/Getty Images

Gender special

Our protagonist is a young man I’ll call a “gender special.” He’s obese, his hair is dyed blue, and he simpers as he gesticulates, using a falsely high voice. It’s eight minutes long. If you’re pressed for time, just watch the first two minutes, and then the last two minutes. The whole thing is worth watching, though: The young man screams “JUST SAY SHE” repeatedly at the cops, jumping up and down like Rumpelstiltskin when his true name was spoken.

The encounter takes place on a Florida college campus. The cops were there to deal with a car theft. The blue-haired person begins screaming at the cops; it’s not clear why. The cops tell the shrieking man to lower his voice and stop freaking out or he’s going to be cuffed and taken for a psychiatric hold. So far, so good.

And then all hell breaks loose, and the cops waste almost seven minutes shouting repeated orders at the increasingly aggressive blue-hair. The trouble is, they don’t make good on those threats immediately. The tantrum-thrower escalates; he claims to be “scared”; he screams at the cops to stop harassing him (they’re not); and he pitches a fit at being referred to as “sir.”

He even threatens the cop with “f**king try it” when the cop warns him he’ll be handcuffed.

Tantrum terrorist

Any parent of a toddler knows that you don’t negotiate with terrorists. You give them one warning, and if they keep fussing, you bodily control them and remove them from the scene. Otherwise, the tantrum gets worse.

That’s the mistake the cops made. I watched the video and counted the number of verbal warnings and commands the cops gave before finally making good on the threat to take him down in cuffs: 14.

The blue-hair’s resistance didn’t stop there. Even after he was in custody, cops had to tase him twice before he finally stopped kicking and fighting.

Back the blue

Policing needs to go back to the way it used to be. Before recent years, we never saw cops who were afraid to arrest a disorderly suspect. Why do they keep giving orders repeatedly while their subject escalates? Don’t they see that failing to follow through on promised consequences teaches the suspect and onlookers that people can, in fact, break the law and the cops won’t do anything about it?

Yes. It does teach that lesson. And that’s part of why we now see behavior every day on the street that only used to happen in mental hospitals.

But the police are not the problem. The governments, municipalities, and mayors’ offices are the problem. Cops are working in hostile territory. They know their civilian superiors not only do not support them, but are often working to target their own police force for false complaints of racism and brutality that can cost a cop his career.

If we want the boys in blue to have our backs, we have to make sure someone has theirs.

​Crime, Defund police, Law and order, Police funding, Violent crime, Policing, Black lives matter, Defund the police, Intervention, Culture 

A Connecticut police officer shot and killed a man who was brutally beating his father with a baseball bat on Sunday, according to residents in the neighborhood.

Meriden police said they were called to the residence on Sagamore Road at about 10 a.m. on Sunday over reports of a domestic violence situation.

An autopsy found that the victim died from blunt force head injuries and listed his cause of death as homicide.

The shocking body camera footage shows a man beating a victim with a bat as the officer arrives.

The officer yells at the man to stop, but he continues attacking the man. Seconds later, the officer shoots at the man, who falls down.

The alleged attacker was identified as 38-year-old Robert Lee Jenkins III, who was treated for gunshot wounds and hospitalized before he was declared dead at about 11:30 p.m.

His victim was also declared dead at the scene.

WVIT-TV reported that numerous neighbors in the area confirmed the victim to be the father of Jenkins, but Connecticut law prevents the identification of victims of certain crimes.

The Connecticut Office of the Inspector General said the cause of death for Jenkins was determined by the chief medical examiner to be multiple gunshot wounds to the torso.

An autopsy found that the victim died from blunt force head injuries and listed his cause of death as homicide.

Some reports indicate that the officer fired nearly 20 times at Jenkins.

RELATED: Elderly couple hired 17-year-old to do odd jobs at their home — before he robbed and brutally murdered them, cops say

The Office of the Inspector General released the body camera footage from the harrowing incident.

The New Haven Judicial District State’s Attorney’s Office is investigating the incident along with the Connecticut State Police Central District Major Crime Squad and the Meriden Police Department.

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​Body camera footage, Brutal beating, Connecticut, Police shooting, Crime 

China has made its view of artificial intelligence unmistakably clear.

Beijing is reportedly preparing to restrict overseas access to its most advanced AI models even as second-tier Chinese firms race to capture global customers that American export controls may drive away. China treats frontier AI as a national asset to guard, not a product to sell freely on the open market.

America’s better bet is disciplined openness: protect frontier capabilities from adversaries while making it easy for allies and trusted partners to build with American AI.

No surprise. Authoritarian governments always seek to control information, technology, and who may benefit from either. The United States should not make the same mistake.

America’s technological advantage has never come from secrecy alone. It comes from building products others want to use, setting standards others trust, and scaling companies faster than any rival.

As Congress negotiates the National Defense Authorization Act, lobbyists are pushing for new AI export restrictions. The impulse is understandable. Advanced chips, large-scale cloud computing, and frontier model weights can help foreign militaries, cyber actors, weapons proliferators, and surveillance states.

Congress must distinguish between two goals: denying adversaries dangerous capabilities and keeping the world’s trusted AI ecosystem centered on the United States.

That distinction should guide every AI export policy.

The first principle is national security through technological leadership. American AI companies, cloud providers, chip designers, universities, and capital markets form the engine of that leadership. Export controls should protect the system, not cripple it.

Second, allies and trusted partners should receive privileged access. America needs an AI coalition, not an AI fortress.

NATO allies and partners such as Japan, South Korea, Australia, Taiwan, and New Zealand should not face the same practical restrictions as China, Russia, Iran, or North Korea when they meet strong security and anti-diversion standards.

Friendly countries will not build around American technology if they believe Washington can abruptly cut off access through broad and discretionary rules. They will build alternatives.

Third, controls should be risk-based and technically precise.

RELATED: The question of the AI age: How much humanism is too much?

Moor Studio/Getty Images

A transfer of frontier model weights is not the same as API access to a safeguarded model. A massive training run is not the same as ordinary inference. A Canadian researcher is not a Chinese military-linked laboratory.

The more a transaction transfers durable frontier capability, the stronger the case for licensing. The more it resembles ordinary use of a monitored service, the stronger the case for presumptive access.

The United States already uses focused tools to keep dangerous technologies away from dangerous actors. Those tools work best when they target specific end users and end uses: foreign militaries, sanctioned entities, weapons programs, offensive cyber operations, surveillance abuses, and diversion through shell companies or intermediaries.

They work poorly when companies cannot determine what the law allows.

That is the problem with the Remote Access Security Act, which the Senate is considering.

The remote-access loophole is real. Export controls fail when restricted firms cannot buy advanced chips but can rent the same computing capability through the cloud.

The House-passed bill, however, does more than close that loophole. It allows the Commerce Department to regulate remote access by a foreign person through a network or cloud service whenever the secretary determines that the use could pose a serious risk to U.S. national security or foreign policy.

That grants regulators enormous latitude.

“Foreign persons” include individuals and businesses in friendly countries. “Foreign policy” is an elastic standard. Together, those terms could give the executive branch sweeping authority over global access to American AI infrastructure.

The bill requires Commerce to inform Congress about anticipated regulations, including the security risk, method of regulation, and likely economic consequences. It does not require congressional approval before the rules take effect.

That may be administratively convenient. It is not sufficient for a power that could reshape the global AI market.

Regulators need discretion in a fast-moving technology sector. They do not need unbounded discretion.

The bill’s vagueness would change business behavior long before any court tested its limits.

RELATED: Smartphone and laptop prices are rising. Here’s why they won’t stop.

Crovik Media/Getty Images

When companies do not know who may receive access, they overblock. Cloud providers may exclude broad categories of foreign customers. AI laboratories may avoid international partnerships. Universities may slow research collaborations. Trusted allies and legitimate businesses may find themselves treated like hostile actors.

Customers who cannot obtain American AI will find it elsewhere. Increasingly, elsewhere means China.

DeepSeek, Alibaba, Huawei, Tencent, and Kuaishou’s Kling AI are aggressively courting users, developers, and investors worldwide. Every needless barrier Congress places before legitimate users of American AI gives those companies an opening.

The economic stakes are enormous.

PWC estimates that AI could add as much as $15.7 trillion to the global economy by 2030, with China among the largest projected beneficiaries. The Stanford AI Index reports that American private AI investment exceeded $285 billion in 2025, more than 23 times China’s total.

That lead is extraordinary. It is not permanent.

Customers gravitate toward ecosystems that are capable, accessible, reliable, and politically predictable. American dominance will erode if Washington makes access uncertain while Beijing makes its second-tier products easy to obtain.

Congress should not discard the Remote Access Security Act. It should improve it. A better bill would close the cloud loophole while creating safe pathways for lawful use. It should provide privileged access for allies and vetted users, define clear thresholds for frontier-scale compute and controlled model weights, and distinguish among weight transfers, training compute, inference, and ordinary applications.

It should also establish licensing deadlines, appeals or advisory opinions, safe harbors for companies that perform good-faith know-your-customer and anti-diversion checks, and periodic reviews that update or retire controls as technology changes.

That approach is not soft on China. It is how America can confront China without sabotaging itself.

The United States should deny adversaries the tools they need for military modernization, cyber operations, weapons programs, and authoritarian surveillance. It should also make safe transactions easy and dangerous transactions hard.

China is betting that control will win the AI race. America’s better bet is disciplined openness: protect frontier capabilities from adversaries while making it easy for allies and trusted partners to build with American AI.

Congress should write export rules that preserve that advantage, not hand American customers to Beijing by accident.

That model has kept American companies at the front of global technology for decades. It is how they will stay there.

​Artificial intelligence, Beijing, China, Foreign policy, Humanism, Information technology, National security, United states, Global economy, Congress, Nato, North korea, Opinion & analysis 

Last week, while testifying before Congress in support of additional funding for Supreme Court security, Justice Amy Coney Barrett described how escalating threats against the justices have affected her family.

She recalled that her then-12-year-old son once asked why she needed to wear a bulletproof vest.

Barrett should not have to defend her integrity because her children are frightened. She did not take an oath to place her family in danger.

Some commentators seized on the story as evidence that threats may have altered Barrett’s judicial outlook. They suggest that fear for her life — and the lives of her family members — has compromised her objectivity or influenced how she approaches cases before the court.

That claim does not withstand scrutiny.

The critics are searching for an explanation for the occasions when Barrett has diverged from Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito. They point to her positions in cases involving birthright citizenship, Mississippi ballot deadlines, and tariffs.

Those disagreements are fair subjects for criticism. But any serious assessment of Barrett’s record must consider the full body of her work, not a handful of outcomes that frustrated conservatives.

Barrett has frequently joined her conservative colleagues. She was part of the majority in Slaughter, an important constitutional decision affirming executive authority. She has stood firmly behind protections for women’s and girls’ sports. She has also joined decisions upholding immigration enforcement.

Critics may challenge any justice’s reasoning in any case. They should not invent a psychological explanation that ignores the justice’s broader record.

The suggestion that threats have softened Barrett’s jurisprudence also rests on a false comparison.

Some argue that military personnel and law-enforcement officers routinely accept danger as part of their work, so Supreme Court justices should do the same. But soldiers and police officers enter professions in which physical danger is expected. Supreme Court justices do not.

RELATED: Justice Amy Coney Barrett describes SWATTING attack against her family

Eric Lee/Getty Images

Context is crucial. Children of military personnel or law-enforcement officers generally understand that their parents’ work carries risk. My father served on a Secret Service protective detail. When he came home and hung his bulletproof vest in the closet, it did not seem unusual.

My mother taught nursery school. Had she been forced to wear a bulletproof vest because of threats against her classroom, that would have been deeply unsettling.

Barrett’s children did not grow up believing that their mother’s judicial service would make her a target. No one should expect them to remain unfazed when she comes home from the Supreme Court wearing body armor. Nor should anyone condemn Barrett for discussing their fear in public.

The underlying situation is disgraceful.

No justice should need a bulletproof vest to perform the duties of the office. Sadly, the days when Justice Antonin Scalia could attend daily Mass alone on Capitol Hill, unnoticed and unbothered, are gone.

Congress will probably approve the court’s request for additional security funding. It should.

Congress can also do more to reduce the political pressure placed on the judiciary.

For decades, lawmakers have avoided difficult policy decisions and allowed major national disputes to migrate into the courts. Congress increasingly leaves questions involving immigration, elections, executive power, abortion, and social policy to judges rather than resolving them through legislation.

That abdication turns every Supreme Court term into a national political showdown. It raises the stakes of each vacancy, each argument, and each ruling. It also encourages activists to treat justices as unelected legislators rather than judges interpreting the law.

Congress cannot eliminate threats by passing more bills. It can, however, reclaim its constitutional responsibility and stop forcing the court to settle every dispute elected lawmakers lack the courage to address.

Resolving contentious questions through the legislative process would not remove controversy from public life. It would reduce the pressure on nine justices to decide matters that properly belong to elected representatives.

Until Congress changes course, the court and its members will need more protection.

Barrett should not have to defend her integrity because her children are frightened. She did not take an oath to place her family in danger. A mother’s concern for her children does not prove judicial weakness.

It proves only that the threats are real.

​Immigration enforcement, Justice amy coney barrett, Secret service, Birthright citizenship, 14th amendment, Congress, Lawmakers, Opinion & analysis 

For more than two decades, LeBron James and Tom Brady defined excellence in their respective sports. But according to BlazeTV host Jason Whitlock, their current pursuits reveal a deeper struggle than winning championships or breaking records.

As James continues to tease retirement and Brady ventures into increasingly bizarre publicity stunts, Whitlock sees two icons wrestling with the same question: Who are you when the game is over?

“Let’s be honest about what we’re watching. LeBron has been the most documented athlete in human history. 20-plus years. Every summer is a cliff-hanger. Every decision gets a TV special, a hashtag, a rollout. The man turned free agency into a genre, but this time it’s different,” Whitlock says.

“And I think he feels it because for the first time, the show is almost over, and there’s no next contract that fixes that. So, what does he do? He stretches it. He teases the retirement. He dangles the last ride,” he continues.

“He’s squeezing every last drop out of his 15 minutes because he’s figured out that when the buzzer sounds on the career, it sounds on the relevance too,” he adds.

And Tom Brady is no different.

“Now, what’s Brady doing?” Whitlock asks. “Publicity stunts, slap fights with Logan Paul, flirting with a WWE storyline. The greatest quarterback alive is auditioning to be a pro-wrestling angle.”

“Brady’s chasing the same adrenaline, the same eyeballs, the same purpose, and he can’t find it because nobody ever taught these guys that the game ends,” he explains. “Now, here’s the part that should make you sit up because Brady’s flailing isn’t random. It’s managed.”

“The man pulling those strings is Ari Emanuel,” Whitlock says, describing Emanuel as a “super-agent, runs TKO, which runs the WWE and the UFC.”

“You think that’s Tom Brady expressing himself? No, that’s Tom Brady being inventory. A face on a poster to sell a show for the machine that owns him,” he says.

Whitlock likens the lives of James and Brady to Truman from the famous movie “The Truman Show,” which follows a man who was unwittingly the star of a reality TV show based on his life.

“When the lights come down, all they’ve got left to sell is personality and a willingness to be used, to be the face, to push the product, to carry the agenda for whoever owns the ring. Brady’s already on the ride. LeBron’s just stalling at the turnstile,” he explains. “That’s ‘The Truman Show.’”

Want more from Jason Whitlock?

To enjoy more fearless conversations at the crossroads of culture, faith, sports, and comedy with Jason Whitlock, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

​Jason whitlock, Lebron james, Quarterback, Sports, Tom brady, Ufc, Wrestling, The truman show, Ari emanuel, Wwe, Logan paul, Fearless with jason whitlock 

President Donald Trump was finally able to pass his SAVE America Act through the U.S. House, but it may not make it through the Senate.

The House narrowly passed a massive $1.15 trillion defense spending bill on a 216-212 vote with the SAVE America Act as a rider.

‘In an increasingly dangerous world, we are reminded of President Reagan’s admonition that freedom is not passed along in the bloodstream.’

Six Democrats voted to pass the National Defense Authorization Act, and seven Republicans voted against it.

The bill will raise service member pay by 5% to 7%, increase education and child care availability for military families, and spend $1.8 billion for barracks and housing costs.

Republican Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana praised the bill by claiming it would “ensure America maintains the most lethal, most dynamic, most capable fighting force in the world.”

Senate Democrats were able to block one version of the bill last week.

“In an increasingly dangerous world, we are reminded of President Reagan’s admonition that freedom is not passed along in the bloodstream,” Johnson continued. “It must be fought for and protected so the next generation may enjoy the same level of security and opportunity we have known. And that starts in Congress.”

One sticking point in the bill was the expansion of collaboration between the Israel’s defense forces and the U.S. military on weapons and intelligence development.

Progressive Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) excoriated the bill in a scathing statement.

RELATED: Trump team slams ‘b***h’ Democrat for floating bizarre conspiracy theory on housing bill delay

“Time and again we are seeing from this administration, and their Republican yes-men in Congress, that they simply do not care that working people are struggling,” she said.

“I refuse to support that agenda and will continue working to stop this funding and actually invest in our people and our communities,” she added.

If the bill is approved by the Senate, it will go to Trump’s desk for approval.

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​President donald trump, Save act, National defense authorization act, Us house, Military, Politics 

July 13 was shaping up to be a big day in the life of a 9-year-old Arizona boy named Hunter.

You see, on that day Hunter entered the Mesa Bank of America with his grandmother, Colette, to open his very first checking account, KNXV-TV reported.

‘You can’t let your fear guide you; you have to meet it head-on.’

Hunter — a bespectacled, blond-haired kid headed into the fourth grade — had spent the week doing work at his grandparents’ house and earned just under $200, the station said, adding that his grandmom suggested they deposit Hunter’s cash in the bank.

But it turns out Hunter’s big day also would be unforgettable for a rather scary reason.

KNXV said Hunter spotted someone entering the bank wearing a mask — but instead of panicking, Hunter reacted with courage well beyond his years.

“He just walked up and tapped me on the shoulder,” Colette told KNXV, adding that she noticed “the calmness in his demeanor, it was surreal. I just turned my head and saw the teller there with something pointed at her head.”

That something was a knife, KNXV reported.

With that, Hunter and his grandmother got under a desk for safety and didn’t hear the suspect say anything during the robbery, the station said.

“I did not hear anything; All I heard was my Nana’s breathing really hard,” Hunter recalled to KNXV.

Truth be told, the station said Hunter also was thinking about his hard-earned cash — $160 of his own money plus $27 in change from Colette.

“If I lose it, $160 down the drain!” Hunter explained to KNXV.

That same day, Mesa police arrested a woman who tried to rob the bank, the station said, adding that she was booked on charges of felony armed robbery, aggravated assault, and disorderly conduct. Police said no one was injured, KNXV reported.

RELATED: Blaze News original: 10 inspiring examples of Good Samaritans who ran toward danger to help others, often defeating bad guys

After giving police a statement, Hunter and his grandmother returned to the Bank of America the very next day to open his checking account, the station said.

“You can’t let your fear guide you; you have to meet it head-on,” Colette told KNXV.

When the station asked Hunter what his first debit card purchase would be, he replied that he wants to buy his grandmother a new keyboard — and maybe soon a computer for himself.

But when KNXV asked him what he would say to the bank robber, Hunter’s reply was blunt: “Get a job.”

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​Arizona, Mesa, Armed robbery, Bank of america, Crime 

The cost of generic drugs will likely change drastically after the latest tariff announcement from President Donald Trump.

The president said in a post on Truth Social that he would allow generic drug imports to have zero tariffs for two years, then face two large hikes afterward.

‘The objective of this Policy is to protect the people of the United States.’

Trump said the tariffs were designed to encourage drug companies to move their manufacturing operations back to the U.S.

“Effective August 1st, 2026, all Generic Drugs being brought into the United States will continue to have a TARIFF of ZERO PERCENT for a two year period of time, after which the TARIFF will be raised to 100% for a one year period of time, and 200% thereafter,” he wrote.

“The objective of this Policy is to protect the people of the United States,” Trump added.

Generic drugs account for 90% of the prescriptions in the U.S., according to the Food and Drug Administration, and half of generic drugs are manufactured in India. China, on the other hand, is the source for 95% of imported ibuprofen and 70% of imported acetaminophen.

White House spokesman Kush Desai cited other efforts from the administration to reshore manufacturing in comments to CBS News.

“The President’s resounding success securing firm reshoring plans from global drugmakers as part of our most-favored-nations deals and Section 232 tariff program for branded drugs is proof that this administration has a track record of success to get critical manufacturing back into the United States,” Desai said in an email.

RELATED: The hidden danger in Trump’s drug-price plan

Experts indicated to CBS News that manufacturers were likely to pass on the tariff costs to consumers but that the already low prices meant the cost increases could be modest.

However, some manufacturers may choose to pull out of the U.S. market altogether and cause drug shortages.

“Pharmaceutical Facilities are being built, at a level never seen before, all over the United States of America. Thank you for your attention to this matter!” Trump concluded.

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​Big pharma, Generic drugs, President donald trump, Tariffs, Politics 

Tech billionaire Elon Musk has vowed to help create a “historically accurate” movie version of “The Odyssey” after issuing strong condemnations against the casting in Christopher Nolan’s depiction of the epic Greek poem.

Musk previously called Nolan an “anti-white racist” for casting a Mexican-Kenyan actress for the role of Helen of Troy. He then pushed a popular online theory that Nolan “desecrated” the Homeric epic in order to fulfill Academy Award rules on diversity.

‘Grok Imagine will make a full-length movie of The Odyssey that is historically accurate and true to the art of Homer.’

“Chris Nolan is pissing on Homer’s grave. Disgraceful,” he added.

Musk’s own artificial intelligence engine found the diversity accusation to be without merit, stating, “No major studio film needs a diverse cast for Best Picture consideration.”

After the film came out to critical acclaim and box office success, Musk appeared to signal his continued displeasure with the movie in a response Tuesday.

Musk replied with two words when a user suggested that he put up $100 million to have Mel Gibson direct a version of “The Odyssey” with “painstakingly historically accurate ships, armour, weapons, and casting” and strict adherence to the dialogue of the poem.

“I’m down,” the trillionaire said.

He went on to say that his artificial intelligence engine would produce a historically accurate version as well.

“Before this year ends, Grok Imagine will make a full-length movie of The Odyssey that is historically accurate and true to the art of Homer,” he wrote on the X platform, which he also owns.

He added a user-generated short movie of scenes from the ancient epic developed through the AI engine.

Others have criticized the casting decisions in the Nolan version, which included a character not in the original epic portrayed by transgender-identifying actress Elliot Paige.

However, predictions that audiences would reject the very expensive film appear to have missed the mark, as many theaters report sold-out screenings. The movie has already earned $264 million in its opening weekend, making it the highest-grossing opening for a Nolan movie worldwide.

RELATED: ‘OD’ SQUAD: Whining, wacko stars can’t keep ‘Odyssey’ from box office glory

Others like philosophy professor Owen Anderson, who sometimes writes opinions for Blaze News, argue that Nolan’s epic is a “profoundly conservative” film based on the overarching themes about society and human nature.

“Rather than modernize Homer or turn the poem into another sermon about race, gender, or contemporary politics, Nolan has made a movie about the collapse of civilization itself,” Anderson explains. “The central question is not simply whether Odysseus will make it home. It is whether a civilization built on pagan foundations possesses the moral resources to repair the evil it has unleashed.”

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​Artificial intelligence, Christopher nolan, Elon musk, Woke hollywood, The odyssey, Politics 

Comedian and talk show host Bill Maher has excoriated the continued drift of the Democratic Party toward the far left and now says he might even vote for a Republican for president in 2028.

Maher was speaking with Jonathan Karl of ABC News about being awarded the prestigious Mark Twain Prize for Humor when he admitted he may vote for Vice President JD Vance.

‘Yes. My vote is in play. … I’m not living in communist America.’

Maher said he was still critical of the Republican Party but that some Democrats are just too far left for him. He launched into the critique after Karl asked him why Democrats are afraid of coming on his show.

“Democrats are cowardly. They’re cowardly,” Maher said.

“Their party is being taken over now by, every day I hear about a new very radical — I feel very good about 10, whenever years ago, I did lose fans because I wasn’t going to go along with some of this crazy stuff on the left too,” he explained.

“I didn’t change really on what I thought about the right, but just, I can’t sit and just not notice stuff, which people seem to want to do because it’s all about my team or your team,” Maher added. “But, you know, there’s some crazy stuff. You know, when we’re cheering for the intifada, cut, I’m out.”

He was referring to several Democratic candidates who have expressed their criticism of Israel by showing support for terrorist groups the nation’s military targeted.

“You told JD Vance you’re open, your vote is up for grabs,” Karl said.

“Yes. My vote is in play because it can’t be Trump running. So, I’m not living in communist America,” Maher replied.

He said he expects and hopes the Democrats will “do very well” in the upcoming midterms. He was less certain about Democrats in 2028 because the Democratic Socialists of America are pushing policies that are explicitly communist in nature, which he opposes.

“2028 is a different story because by then this wing of the party, this new wing with all the energy — and it’s not just a few people anymore,” Maher added.

“Could you see yourself voting for JD Vance?” Karl asked.

“Yes,” Maher replied. “If this is the Democratic side, yes.”

RELATED: Filmmaker David Mamet tells Bill Maher that Democrats have destroyed the family — and he agrees

Establishment Democrats have sounded the alarm about extremists making inroads in the party after several democratic socialist candidates defeated other Democrats in recent primary elections.

While Vance is considered the front-runner for the Republican nomination in 2028, Blaze News contributor Frank DeVito has argued that U.S. strikes on Iran and the partisan fight over the U.S. relationship with Israel has complicated his path to the presidency.

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​Bill maher, Democratic party, Jd vance, Midterms, Politics 

A Missouri state prosecutor has been yanked from office after allegedly engaging in sexual relations with a criminal defense attorney whose clients she was prosecuting, a prospective defendant accused of domestic abuse, and an illegal alien facing prosecution for sexual assault.

A judge for the Circuit Court of Ray County issued an order on July 17 barring Camille Johnston on a preliminary basis “from engaging in any activity, or exercising any authority, as the Prosecuting Attorney of Ray County.”

‘Removal isn’t a suggestion; it’s a necessity.’

In addition to stripping Johnston of her power, the judge prohibited her from entering the Ray County Courthouse and the prosecutor’s office unless and until the court says otherwise.

The order was issued in response to the quo warranto petition filed by Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway (R), which painted Johnston — who has held that elected position since Jan. 1, 2023 — in a particularly unflattering light, accusing her of engaging “in willful acts of misconduct, malfeasance, misfeasance, and nonfeasance.”

For starters, the petition alleges that Johnston has been engaged in an “intimate and romantic relationship” with a criminal defense attorney in the county — a relationship that she allegedly hid from individuals she has prosecuted, the judicial officers before whom she and her supposed lover appeared, and the general public.

Hanaway’s filing noted that this alleged relationship created “at the very least, an obvious appearance of a conflict of interest.” It is, however, not the most scandalous affair detailed in the petition.

RELATED: Convicted scammer and former aide to Minneapolis mayor arrested AGAIN

The petition alleges that Johnston also had a fling with a prospective defendant who was charged with acts of domestic violence against his wife — and that Johnston fired a female employee who became aware of the affair.

Johnston didn’t bother notifying the court, her employees, or the victim of her ties to the would-be defendant even when poised to prosecute him, claimed the petition. She was, however, eventually disqualified when local law enforcement learned of the alleged relationship.

The state prosecutor’s list of alleged conquests included more than just the accused wife-beater and the defense attorney.

According to the petition, Johnston allegedly lived for a time with an illegal alien from Mexico who she knew had stolen into the country in 2019.

In September 2020, Johnston was informed by members of local law enforcement as well as by the Missouri State Highway Patrol that the Mexican national — identified by KSHB-TV as Juan David Gutierrez — was a suspect in a sexual assault case.

Gutierrez has been charged with one count of first-degree sodomy or attempted sodomy and one count of second-degree sodomy.

“Again, [Johnston] willfully failed to fulfill her responsibility to seek her disqualification from the investigation and prosecution of J.G.’s case because of her conflict of interest,” said the petition.

The petition alleges further that Johnston deliberately failed to disclose the Mexican national’s location, later traveled to Florida to vacation with him, and declined to bring any criminal charges because of their relationship. She even allegedly gave him the title to her truck “so he could abscond and with the knowledge that he would likely return to his native country of Mexico to avoid detection and apprehension.”

In addition to accusing Johnston of felony hindrance of prosecution and felony accession to corruption, the petition accuses her of creating “an atmosphere of fear and tension within the office of Ray County Prosecuting Attorney by her outbursts of anger and violence, causing her staff to be fearful and afraid whenever [she] was in the office.”

Johnston’s attorney, Chad Gardner, told KSHB that they do not have a public statement due to pending litigation. Johnston has until Sunday to respond to Hanaway’s petition.

“When an elected official treats public office like their personal playground, betraying the public trust, ignoring legal obligations, and putting self-interest first, removal isn’t a suggestion; it’s a necessity,” Hanaway said in a statement.

“Johnston’s record reflects a sustained pattern of misconduct and willful neglect that has undermined the integrity of the prosecutor’s office and poses a serious threat to public safety,” continued the state attorney general. “In Missouri, public office is public trust, not a personal entitlement, and no one is above accountability.”

Hanaway’s office took action after receiving a number of complaints about Johnston and her office earlier in the year, reported KSHB.

Judge Kevin Walden of Missouri’s 8th Circuit Court has appointed Ray County Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Tara Medlin to serve as interim prosecuting attorney.

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​Missouri, Camille johnston, Catherine hanaway, Mexican, Politics 

The Democratic Socialists of America have released their new platform, which is titled “Workers Deserve More.” And Blaze Media co-founder Glenn Beck has been left wondering — who are the workers?

“Well, you can ask Mamdani because he apparently knows. Well, no, actually, they asked him yesterday, and it stumped him. He couldn’t answer who workers were,” he says.

The new platform also commits to “abolish the United States Senate, replacing the president and the Supreme Court with an executive and a judiciary chosen by and subordinate to Congress.”

“That means that you just want to abolish the United States of America,” Glenn comments.

The group also wants “to take the largest corporations into public ownership,” which Glenn immediately pegs as “communism.”

“Abolishing ICE, granting amnesty to all immigrants, defunding the Department of War, and eventually writing a new constitution,” he says. “That’s interesting.”

“In their words, … some demands may be achievable under the current system, but complete victory, I’m quoting, ‘requires building a new society from the ground up,’” he explains. “Well, the good news is, we know how that society looks, because it looks like the former Soviet Union or the current Chinese government.”

“This has been done before, and this is where the left loses. They always lose because they combine communism with radicalism and explosions and terrorism,” he adds.

Leftists like Hasan Piker are even openly copying Chinese Communist Party Chairman Mao, who oversaw the deaths of millions of his civilians under his “new society.”

In a clip from the College Democrats of America summer convention on July 18, Piker, dressed as Mao, said: “No more to Trumpism, but no more to the Democrats who compromise, who conciliate, and who betray us.”

“No more to the fascist reactionaries, but no more to the Democrats who will collaborate and cooperate with the fascists, who will fund ICE, who will fund Israel,” he added.

“This is exactly, exactly the way it has happened every single time,” Glenn comments.

“You’re teaching people to hate. You’re praising Chairman Mao, and you say you want to change the constitution,” he says. “No.”

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​Democratic socialists of america, Glenn beck, Zohran mamdani, Mao zedong, Communism, Socialism, China, Hasan piker, The glenn beck program 

Somewhere between Trenton and Washington, New Jersey’s noncitizen voter count has become the political equivalent of Schrödinger’s cat — both 6,600 and 35,152, both an accident and a scandal — until someone finally opens the box.

New Jersey Governor Mikie Sherrill (D) claimed Tuesday that roughly 6,600 people who indicated they were not U.S. citizens had been mistakenly added to the state’s voter rolls and that fewer than 400 of them went on to cast ballots between June 2023 and June 2024.

‘These are just the ones that got caught.’

According to Sherrill’s own account, people were asked directly, on a keypad, whether they were U.S. citizens, and they answered “no.” The system registered them to vote anyway.

Sherrill blamed a “serious software error” in the state’s Motor Vehicle Commission system for this failure. Sherrill claimed the “error” dates back to the administration of her predecessor, Phil Murphy (D).

Since she learned of the problem last week, Sherrill has launched an investigation, has ordered the erroneous registrations to be removed, and is replacing the vendor that ran the system.

The Department of Justice said it is looking into the matter as well.

RELATED: Trump exposed the cracks in our elections. The media proved his point.

Adam Gray/Bloomberg/Getty Images

IDEMIA, the French multinational company that has supported New Jersey’s Motor Vehicle Commission “for more than 40 years,” pushed back on the state’s framing. The company said its role is limited to transmitting registration data, noting that the information IDEMIA submits “must still be validated and adjudicated by the Division of Elections.”

The 6,600 number is notably smaller than the 35,152 noncitizens the Department of Homeland Security flagged on New Jersey’s voter rolls last Friday, a figure President Trump cited last week in a speech on election integrity, along with the claim that 250,000 noncitizens are registered across New Jersey, California, Nevada, and Pennsylvania combined.

Sherrill has yet to reconcile the gap between the DHS’ number and her own and has accused Trump of trying to “weaponize elections for political gain.” In her statement, she added, “Let me be clear: Donald Trump has zero credibility on the issue of election integrity.”

Trump himself put the 35,152 figure front and center in a post on Truth Social, calling it the “new” DHS number of noncitizens registered to vote in New Jersey and insisting “these are just the ones that got caught” and that “real numbers will prove to be many times this amount.”

He argued that all of those registrants are Democrats, urged Republicans to “get smart,” and called for passage of the SAVE America Act to overhaul election rules.

On CNN’s “The Lead,” Jake Tapper said in response to the whole debacle that the revelation is “not good for Democrats’ argument that there’s no such thing as undocumented immigrants voting.”

Older Tapper remarks resurfaced in which he had dismissed election-security concerns, saying, “It happens, but at very, very miniscule numbers. It’s not a serious threat when it comes to election security.”

Sherrill says the 400 improper voters were “registered as Democrats, Republicans and unaffiliated voters and were scattered across the state” — though those figures, like the 6,600 number itself, come from her own account.

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​Democrats, Department of homeland security, Donald trump, Election security, New jersey, Republicans, Save america act, Scandal, Undocumented immigrants, Mikie sherrill, Politics 

An amendment to a House bill intended to codify the president’s executive order against transgender-identifying people serving in the military has failed after four Republicans voted with Democrats.

The amendment would have required all military personnel to serve as their biological gender but failed on a vote of 217 to 212 on Tuesday. Supporters said the ban was necessary to ensure military readiness and discipline.

‘Four “republicans” just betrayed President Trump and our military in favor of the Transgenders.’

Below are the Republicans who voted against the amendment proposed by Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado:

Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania Rep. Kimberlyn King-Hinds of the Northern Mariana Islands Rep. Mike Lawler of New York Rep. James Moylan of Guam

Boebert responded with a condemnation of the four Republicans.

“Four ‘republicans’ just betrayed President Trump and our military in favor of the Transgenders. DISGUSTING!” she wrote on social media.

However, a separate amendment proposed by Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) was supported by five Democrats to pass a ban on transgender medical procedures and treatments provided by the military.

She also proposed an amendment restricting biological males from K-12 sports at schools run by the Department of War. That amendment passed as well.

“Let’s be clear: transgender ideology is a mental health crisis, not a medical one,” wrote Mace on social media.

“Mentally ill individuals should not be serving in combat,” she added. “Not one defense dollar should ever be wasted on chemical and surgical sex change procedures. Our NDAA amendment makes sure it never will.”

RELATED: Poll of military members finds a majority approve of Trump

The president first issued a transgender ban in the military during his first term in 2017.

“Our military must be focused on decisive and overwhelming victory and cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender[s] in the military would entail,” he wrote at the time.

Trump renewed the ban in his second term and argued that those suffering from gender dysphoria were at odds with the military’s “high standards for troop readiness, lethality, cohesion, honesty, humility, uniformity, and integrity.”

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​Republicans, Gender dysphoria, Transgender military ban, Donald trump, Politics 

Another leftist attack outside a federal building in Lower Manhattan has struck New York City, with 43-year-old Andrew Arrabaca landing himself in handcuffs as the alleged perpetrator.

The former U.S Army soldier allegedly doused the stairwell with gasoline, ignited it with a firework, and sent flames and smoke up the front of the building before shooting an airsoft gun.

“In fairness, he’s lighting gas on fire on cement,” BlazeTV host Dave Landau says on “Stu and Dave Do America.” “That’s just going to go out, right?”

“But there was also fireworks and some other explosives. People were hurt, right?” co-host Stu Burguiere chimes in. “This is not like a nothing scenario.”

Stu also points out that this is becoming increasingly common on the left.

“This is not Osama bin Laden, right? This is not … like this person necessarily tried to kill a bunch of people, but it is pretty indicative of what goes on over and over again with these leftists. They’re doing this stuff all the time,” he says.

“This is inherent on the left. This is part of the movement. … It’s an extreme part of the movement, but it is central to what they’re doing and also something that often mainstream normal leftists, Democrats just overlook because it doesn’t count,” he continues. “They just delete all the left-wing violence and only look at right-wing violence.”

And in a press conference following the attack, FBI assistant director in charge James Barnacle let the public know that officials are taking the situation “very seriously.”

“On his cart — he had a cart — he had anti-ICE literature on it. When he was being arrested, he yelled derogatory terms to ICE, used bad words. Obviously, he is an anti-American, anti-government extremist,” FBI Assistant Director in Charge James Barnacle said in a press conference after the attack.

“We know that from what he said. We know that from what he has said post-arrest, and we know that from his actions that he tried to take today,” Barnacle added.

“I mean,” Stu comments, “run him for Congress if that’s his profile.”

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​Andrew arrabaca, Dave landau, James barnacle, Leftwing violence, New york city, Osama bin laden, Stu burguiere, Us army soldier, Stu and dave do america 

Tech-fueled “Don’t Die” activist Bryan Johnson is known for finding ways to de-age himself in the hopes of living forever.

On Tuesday, he announced he believes he has figured out a way to keep himself, and eventually everyone else, going indefinitely.

‘This may be scary to some people … a dystopian future.’

It brings a whole new meaning to passing on costs to the next generation.

Johnson revealed in a recent YouTube video that he has an autoimmune disease, describing it as an incurable illness.

“My stomach is eating itself,” Johnson stated.

He went on to describe autoimmune gastritis, a chronic inflammatory disease that occurs when one’s immune system attacks the stomach lining cells.

Johnson acquired his wealth by selling his digital payments company to PayPal in 2013 for a cool $800 million, and he has since become known for his attempts to beat the aging process through clean eating, extreme health regimens, and even using his teenage son’s blood.

Now, Johnson says the best way to prolong a human life, starting with his own, will strike numerous people as a nightmarish option.

“I just cloned myself … as a newborn,” Johnson wrote on X.

“This baby-bryan lives in a petri dish for now. This may be scary to some people … a dystopian future. But, for others, they will see it as the inevitable future of health.”

The 48-year-old said that with this clone, he will “become [his] own blood boy,” develop new treatments, and even be able to inject himself with “young cells.”

Perhaps most disturbingly, Johnson also said his clone would serve him by “grow[ing] organs for transplantation.”

RELATED: Anti-aging mogul who used son as ‘blood boy’ reveals his incurable diagnosis

Describing his desired process as “a path to reverse aging,” Johnson’s plan mirrors a very specific plot already explored through cinema. Both 2005’s “The Island” and 1979’s “Parts: The Clonus Horror” focus on a secret facility that houses clones of the elite who are used for organ harvesting when their owner falls ill.

In “The Island,” clones who gain consciousness in the facility are told they survived a chemical weapons attack and must stay inside as the outer world is uninhabitable. Residents who win “the lottery” are told they are being transported to a paradise that acts as humanity’s last livable location. In reality, the clone is taken into a surgery room where they are killed and harvested for whatever their owner requires.

“I mentioned getting diagnosed with an incurable disease is one of the best things that has happened to me in a long time. It’s opened up a frontier of new paths to repair and strengthen the body. This is the first example,” Johnson wrote.

RELATED: Who wants to live forever?

While Johnson cites existing clinical trials that use cells to cure certain ailments, those are obtained either voluntarily from a host or from leading stem cell clinics in places like Panama.

For Johnson however, his desire is to “rebuild” his body “organ by organ” using a clone of himself as the resource.

“There’s no real limitation in imagining,” Johnson insisted. “My body will accept them [because] they’re my cells,” adding that “foreign cells are at risk of being rejected.”

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​Sci-fi, The island, Bryan johnson, De-age, Stem cells, Tech 

Georgia police video captured how a drug suspect’s vehicle ended up on top of a cop’s windshield during a chase last week.

The Sandy Springs Police Department Street Crimes Unit on Friday assisted the Homeland Security Investigations Atlanta Field Office with the apprehension of Jorge Luis Delgado-Bermudez, who was wanted on Fulton County drug charges, including methamphetamine and cocaine offenses, police said.

‘Georgia is another breed.’

The suspect also has ties to a larger criminal organization and is facing federal charges, police said.

As officers attempted to safely box in the suspect’s vehicle near the 8100 block of Colquitt Road, the suspect’s vehicle struck a concrete barrier, which caused its rear end to lift and land on top of a Sandy Springs Police patrol vehicle, police said.

With that, the suspect exited the vehicle and attempted to flee on foot but was quickly taken into custody without further incident, police said.

No officers or members of the public were injured, police added.

RELATED: Blaze News original: Have a laugh at supremely stupid crime suspects who gift-wrapped their arrests for cops — part 1

WAGA-TV reported that officials haven’t yet confirmed the name of the larger criminal organization allegedly tied to Delgado-Bermudez.

The station added that authorities haven’t released the time the collision took place or where the suspect is being held.

Image source: Sandy Springs (Ga.) Police

More than 500 commenters (and counting) offered their perspectives on the unorthodox arrest under the police department’s Facebook post about the incident:

“And he STILL tried to run!!!” one commenter noted.”Georgia is another breed,” another user declared. “Never run from the cops there; if Sandy Springs doesn’t get you, [state police] will total 10 cruisers to catch you.””I got got a feeling [state police] goes through more cruisers than Rosco P. [Coltrane] and Cletus,” another commenter said, invoking characters from “The Dukes of Hazzard.””Is it me, or did the crunching of cars and glass sound just like ‘We Will Rock You?'” a Queen fan wondered.”Almost hit the goose,” another commenter observed.”‘You got the wrong one’ as he’s actively running,” another user said.”Hey insurance, a car just flew into my windshield,” another commenter quipped.”Hey sarge, so what had happened was …” another user joked.”The new and improved Pit Maneuver!!!” another commenter exclaimed.”I don’t think he’s going anywhere now,” another user said.”Yeah, dispatch, I just pulled under the vehicle!” another commenter wrote.”Dude, that’s not a parking spot,” another user joked.

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​Arrest, Bodycam video, Georgia, Methamphetamine, Police, Sandy springs, Vehicle stop, Crime 

Infielder Joshua Kuroda-Grauer may have broken a record against the Arizona Diamondbacks on Monday, but it came at the cost of breaking something else, too.

The Athletics player had just hit his first MLB home run, but his hot streak soon came to an end in the fifth inning in the worst way possible.

‘I think he might be the only player in major league history.’

Kuroda-Grauer took a big swing and fouled a ball that, in most cases, would either land harmlessly near the batter’s box or bounce off his foot or leg.

On this occasion the odds were not in the young player’s favor when he smashed the foul ball right off his groin. First dropping to his knees, Kuroda-Grauer appeared to be in excruciating pain before eventually lying flat on the ground motionless for some time.

After about three and a half minutes, the 23-year-old somehow got to his feet and stepped back up to the plate — and, remarkably, smacked a single to right field.

Kuroda-Grauer was even able to come out and play defense in the bottom of the inning, but ESPN reported later in the evening that the player left the game in the sixth inning and was taken to the hospital for emergency surgery for a ruptured testicle.

RELATED: The surprising history behind ‘Take Me Out to the Ball Game’ — the anthem of America’s pastime

By continuing to play, and even get a hit, Kuroda-Grauer showed an insane amount of grit and determination that only an MLB manager can truly appreciate.

“I think he might be the only player in Major League history to, you know, fracture a testicle, stay in the game, get a hit, and not only that, play a half-inning of defense,” Athletics manager Mark Kotsay told a reporter on Tuesday. “It shows the fight that this kid has, desire to be on the field, and just the will and the want. It’s pretty remarkable.”

Taking time to consider the gruesome injury, Kotsay said it was indeed “bad timing.”

Kuroda-Grauer, a New Jersey native, was just called up to the majors for the first time at the end of June. Monday’s game was only his 16th in the big show, where he was batting a whopping .417 with 25 hits in 60 at-bats.

At the same time, the Athletics had been sticking around the middle of the pack in the American League, with their young stars seemingly starting to figure things out — that is, until a late-June collapse saw the team lose 14 out of 15 games. The team losing its hottest bat in Kuroda-Grauer simply adds even more insult to injury.

The A’s did manage to beat the Diamondbacks on Monday, though, 5-2.

RELATED: Whitlock: MLB can’t spend ‘Pride Month’ mocking America and then wave a flag

Norm Hall/Getty Images

Kuroda-Grauer is recovering well, according to his manager, who said the infielder had to stay in hospital for a second night.

“He’ll stay one more night in the hospital and then travel back to Sac,” Kotsay said unironically, referring to Sacramento.

Shockingly, Kuroda-Grauer was only placed on the 10-day injured list following his surgery, meaning he could return to action in the first week of August.

“There’s no real timeline for this,” Kotsay added. “It’s obviously a unique injury. [I’m] thankful that he’s going to be fine and [this] doesn’t impact his life.”

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​Mlb, Athletics, Sacramento, Arizona, Sports 

Even the Washington Post, hardly a bastion of “Reefer Madness” hysteria, is sounding the alarm.

In a recent op-ed, former nurse Monica Romano described how heavy cannabis use beginning at age 13 led to years of addiction and anxiety. Romano acknowledges what an increasing body of research now suggests: Today’s high-potency cannabis is linked to impaired memory, disrupted adolescent brain development, depression, and a heightened risk of psychosis. She thought marijuana would solve her problems. It didn’t. If anything, it made them many times worse.

On average, cannabis use appeared in medical records roughly two years before psychiatric treatment became necessary.

That should give America pause. Instead, the country seems to be moving in precisely the opposite direction.

Spaced

And Romano’s story may become increasingly familiar as more young Americans are exposed to these products at an early age.

Eight percent of eighth-graders are already using cannabis. By tenth grade, that number doubles to 16%. By the time high school seniors are clearing out their lockers and preparing to disappoint their parents in the real world, roughly one in four have experimented with marijuana. Cannabis is now a mainstream feature of modern adolescence, right up there with slamming doors and threatening to run away from home.

Not your grandmother’s ganja

What today’s kids are consuming bears little resemblance to the weak, dirt-flavored twigs that hippies smoked while strumming out-of-tune guitars at Woodstock. Modern cannabis is a different beast entirely. It’s stronger, meaner, and vastly more potent. If earlier generations were playing with matches, the kids of 2026 are playing with blowtorches.

A massive study published in JAMA Health Forum tracked almost half a million teenagers ages 13 to 17, following them into their mid-20s. Adolescents who reported cannabis use were significantly more likely to require psychiatric hospitalization later in life. The risk of psychotic disorders and bipolar disorder roughly doubled. The consequences can be devastating and lifelong.

The data came directly from pediatric health care records collected between 2016 and 2023. On average, cannabis use appeared in medical records roughly two years before psychiatric treatment became necessary. First comes the smoke, then comes the psychological fire. It is a grim progression that makes it increasingly difficult to dismiss these outcomes as nothing more than pre-existing vulnerabilities.

RELATED: 4 marijuana facts the pro-pot lobby doesn’t want you to know

Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

Kid stuff

Regulators have allowed an increasingly potent drug to be packaged in brightly colored gummies, chocolates, and candies while permitting advertising features that researchers say make cannabis more appealing to adolescents. Recent research has found that flavor references, colorful illustrations, and other youth-oriented marketing cues significantly increase teenagers’ interest in cannabis products, even in regulated markets.

It is a remarkably effective business model, assuming your future customers are also your future psychiatric patients. When a brain-altering substance becomes easier to buy, easier to market, and easier to normalize, the line between consumer product and public health problem begins to disappear.

Psychosis involves a profound break from reality. When a young person loses the ability to distinguish internal thoughts from the outside world, the foundations of an ordinary life begin to crumble. Individuals with chronic psychotic disorders face a suicide risk roughly 12 times higher than the general population. Beyond that lies the daily reality: maintaining relationships, holding a job, or living independently become dramatically more difficult.

The data spikes across the board, affecting more than just the hardcore stoners who wake up and immediately rip a bong before breakfast. The JAMA Health Forum study examined self-reported use in the past year. A casual, weekend puff at a party was enough to increase the odds of future madness. You don’t need to be Snoop Dogg to shatter your mind; a little bit of casual experimentation will do the trick nicely.

Of course, not every kid who takes a hit will end up conversing with the toaster. Risk isn’t destiny. But when you double the chances of permanent psychiatric damage, playing Russian roulette with a few extra chambers loaded starts to look like a terrible bet.

Super-high me

To understand why the kids are losing it, you have to look at the chemistry. A few decades ago, cannabis had a single-digit percentage of THC. Today, California flower routinely clears 20%, and the concentrates — the vapes and dabs — climb north of 95% pure, unadulterated psychoactive gasoline. America is handing industrial-strength chemical weapons to teenagers and acting shocked when their lives begin to fall apart.

A teenager’s brain is still under construction. The neural circuits responsible for judgment, emotional regulation, and impulse control are being built in real time. Flooding those unfinished systems with extraordinarily potent psychoactive chemicals risks altering that development in ways that may not fully reverse. The consequences will echo well beyond adolescence: more impaired workers, more struggling students, greater mental illness, and a generation less prepared for the ordinary responsibilities of adult life.

The country spent decades arguing over whether marijuana should be legalized. That argument is largely over. The question now is whether America is prepared to live with the consequences of normalizing a drug dramatically stronger than anything previous generations consumed. Judging by the evidence, those consequences have already begun to arrive.

​Bipolar, Cannabis industry, Health, Legal marijuana, Marijuana, Psychiatric hospitalization, Pyschosis, Reefer madness, Teen psychosis, Teenagers, Lifestyle 

Republicans are breaking fundraising records with just months left before the midterms.

The National Republican Congressional Committee announced Monday that it raised $17.6 million in June alone. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee ended June with more cash on hand than Republicans in the four previous election cycles.

‘Democrats are still holding clown show socialist auditions for who gets to lose in November.’

The NRCC is enjoying its best fundraising pace ever in an election year with $82.6 million raised in 2026 so far. With the DCCC trailing $13.7 million behind, it’s the largest Republican cash-on-hand lead by June for any election year on record.

The DCCC did not respond to a request for comment.

It also marks the first time since 2016 that the NRCC has more cash on hand than the DCCC at this point in the election cycle. Having more cash on hand at this point in the cycle allows Republicans to secure television advertising space and pump more money into competitive districts in the final stretch.

“Republicans are building a campaign machine to win, while Democrats are still holding clown show socialist auditions for who gets to lose in November,” NRCC spokesman Mike Marinella said in a statement to Blaze News. “We have deeper pockets, a more favorable map, stronger candidates, and the better message to grow the House majority.”

RELATED: These Republicans want to make Trump’s border policy permanent

Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc/Getty Images

It’s not just the NRCC that’s setting records. The entire Republican ecosystem is finding fundraising success headed into November.

The Republican National Committee ended June with $128.5 million in its war chest. That’s the largest end-of-month stockpile since the RNC’s inception.

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) broke GOP leader records, raking in $135 million in this election cycle. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) further contributed $55 million to GOP fundraising efforts, the Washington Examiner reported. Scalise raised $9 million between April and June.

“While Democrats lunge further into disarray and to the far left, House Republicans are united, well-funded, and on offense to win the midterms,” Johnson said in a press release announcing his numbers. “With less than four months to go, we continue to expose the contrast for America before voters this fall — a choice between Republicans’ common sense and Democrats’ embrace of crazy and communism.”

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​Midterms, Speaker mike johnson, Republican national committee, Steve scalise, Republican party, Politics