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Ronald Reagan famously cited the Roman maxim, “If it was not for the elders correcting the mistakes of the young, there would be no state.” That wisdom rings hollow when you’re on the mistake-making side.

Generation Z hasn’t exactly earned a reputation for excellence. As we wrote this, professional activist Greta Thunberg was in Paris, pausing her carbon-shaming campaign to weigh in on the war against Hamas. Here at home, Gen Z Democratic influencer Olivia Julianna is trying to rebrand her party’s image among young men by championing abortion access and highlighting its supposedly deep, hidden love for groups like Black Lives Matter.

Being ‘Christian first, conservative second’ isn’t political surrender. It’s the basis for cultural authority.

That barely scratches the surface.

A quick scroll through X reveals countless under-30 users with enormous followings and the “influencer” label — despite having little real influence. Their mistakes aren’t just frequent. They’re embarrassing.

So what’s a Christian Zoomer supposed to do?

The extreme of ‘influencerdom’

At a high level, the answer is simple: Build systems that reflect Christian values, and challenge the ones that don’t. But real influence won’t come by copying the warped incentives pushed by our generation’s loudest voices.

The skills needed to go viral online rarely match the skills needed to drive real-world change. In fact, they often clash. Posting about the dangers of corporate diversity, equity, and inclusion is one thing; using influence to force lasting change in corporate policy is something else entirely. Both matter — but they aren’t the same.

The other extreme: Apathy

But political “influencerdom” isn’t the only problem. Gen Z also suffers from a serious apathy problem. Between the aftershocks of the COVID economy and apocalyptic climate narratives — why bother thinking seriously about policy if the sun’s going to explode in 10 years? — Zoomers have earned a reputation as, in the Wall Street Journal’s words, “America’s Most Disillusioned Voters.”

We’ll show up to vote — maybe. But posting on Instagram takes less effort, so we’ll do that instead. One analysis summarized the challenge this way: “Campaigns must focus on converting robust online advocacy into real-world voter turnout.” That’s the kind of strategy you get when no one really cares.

RELATED: Church is cool again — and Gen Z men are leading the way

Shuang Paul Wang via iStock/Getty Images

A Christian Zoomer response

As Christians, our duty is the opposite of apathy. We’re called to care. Rejecting our generation’s default indifference is just the beginning. “Christ is King” isn’t a license to coast — it’s the foundation for action.

Here are some practical ways Christian Zoomers can avoid the traps of both performative activism and total disengagement.

Seek wisdom from the right sources. Don’t look to influencers for answers. The people most worth learning from probably don’t have a million followers on X. Avoid the echo chamber of “onlineness.” Instead, find expertise from unglamorous sources: people with “lived experience,” technical know-how, and hard-earned wisdom.

Join a local church. Every Christian needs the weekly rhythm of worship, sound teaching, and community. But for young believers navigating a secular world, the church is especially vital. Find a congregation that preaches the gospel clearly and offers intergenerational support. This isn’t about socializing — it’s about growing in conviction and courage through regular contact with people who live by “Christ first, culture second.”

Vote locally. You don’t have to be a political junkie, but you should know what’s happening in your county. Local and state policies affect your daily life far more than most federal debates. National politics is often a circus; local politics is where things actually get done. Caring about what happens five miles from home is a Christian habit worth cultivating.

Think before you post. Virtue-signaling comes in all forms — left, right, and “based.” Whether it’s a black square or the latest meme, pause before jumping in. Ask: “Am I actually doing something about this issue in my community?” If the answer is yes, then post away. If not, maybe start with action before broadcasting your opinion.

Keep a few friends who disagree with you. Yes, surround yourself with faithful Christians — but don’t retreat into an ideological bunker. Having friends with different views helps you resist tribalism. You may not see eye to eye on politics, but they probably aren’t your enemies. Humanizing your opponents is a discipline, one that fights against the hyperfixation and outrage that dominate our age.

Serve somewhere. Whether you care about the unborn, the incarcerated, or victims of trafficking, find a local organization doing the work — and show up. It’s easy to have strong opinions about cultural decay. It’s much harder to give your time. But service grounds us. It reminds us of God’s blessings and our call to be His hands and feet.

Our generation veers between two extremes: obsessive political engagement and total apathy. Both reflect a flawed attempt to wring meaning from a system designed only to support human flourishing — not define it. And both fail.

The politically apathetic pride themselves on floating above the fray, looking down on those who care enough to engage. The hyper-engaged believe their passion sets them apart — morally superior to the so-called “normies” who sleepwalk through civic life.

Both attitudes are wrong.

If we, the rising generation of Christians, want to engage the culture meaningfully, we must refuse to measure our success — or define our mission — by worldly standards.

Being “Christian first, conservative second” isn’t political surrender. It’s the basis for cultural authority. It doesn’t excuse disengagement. It demands engagement.

We act because we believe every person bears the image of God. That truth drives our pursuit of justice, mercy, and truth. Our theology shapes our politics, not the other way around.

And if pagan, anti-Christian values fall in the process? So much the better!

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Accused Minnesota assassin Vance Luther Boelter seemingly thought he was saving the country — and was willing to get his “hands dirty” in the process.

A handwritten statement contained in one of the notebooks seized by the FBI gives a clue to his possible motivation in allegedly killing a top Democratic state lawmaker and her husband on June 14 and attempting to kill a state senator, his wife, and adult daughter.

‘I could have left a pile of cops dead.’

As a federal grand jury delivered a six-count indictment against Boelter that could bring the death penalty for murder, prosecutors in Minneapolis released extensive new details from their investigation of what they said was Boelter’s plan to murder at least seven people in the predawn hours of June 14.

Boelter, 57, of Green Isle, Minn., was indicted by the grand jury for the murder of state House Speaker Emerita Melissa Hortman (DFL-Brooklyn Park) and her husband, Mark Hortman; the shooting and grievous wounding of state Sen. John Hoffman (DFL-Champlin) and his wife, Yvette Hoffman; and the attempted shooting and intended murder of the Hoffmans’ adult daughter, Hope. He was also charged with stalking the lawmakers and using firearms in furtherance of his crimes.

“Vance Boelter planned and carried out a night of terror that shook Minnesota to its core,” acting U.S. Attorney Joseph H. Thompson said in a statement. “He carried out targeted political assassinations the likes of which have never been seen in Minnesota.

“We grieve with the Hortman family and continue to pray for the recovery of the Hoffmans,” Thompson said. “Today, a grand jury indicted Boelter with the most serious of federal charges for these heinous political assassinations. Let me be clear: Boelter will see justice.”

RELATED: Accused assassin Vance Boelter ordered held for trial, tells judge he looks forward to the facts coming out

An image from the home security system of Melissa and Mark Hortman shows Vance Luther Boelter wearing a mask with goatee and a wig as he rang the doorbell at 3:30 a.m. June 14, 2025, the FBI said.FBI image

Prosecutors added detail to what they said was Boelter’s twisted plan to execute at least four Democratic state lawmakers in the overnight hours on June 14. He allegedly ended up killing the two Hortman spouses and their family golden retriever, putting 17 bullets into Hoffman and his wife, and firing at Hope Hoffman, who miraculously was not hit by the gunfire because her parents shielded her and pushed her out of harm’s way, the FBI said.

After allegedly shooting Mark Hortman at the front entrance of the Hortman home, Boelter allegedly executed Melissa Hortman as she attempted to run up the stairs, the FBI said. He then apparently fired on the family’s golden retriever, Gilbert, whom FBI agents later found mortally wounded in the back yard.

Thompson told a Tuesday news conference that the grand jury indictments came with a “notice of special findings,” which is the first step “for seeking the death penalty against defendant Vance Boelter.”

Thompson said the decision on whether to seek the death penalty “will not come for several months and will ultimately be decided by Attorney General [Pamela] Bondi with input from the Capital Case Unit in the Department of Justice, along with this office and the victims.”

The alleged attempted shooting and intended murder of Hope Hoffman was new to the case since a criminal complaint was first issued against Boelter on June 16. Statements from Hope Hoffman and her parents — who are recovering from their life-threatening wounds — led to the charges for harming and attempting to kill the Hoffman family.

“We now know that Vance Boelter not only shot at Senator John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, but he also shot at and attempted to kill their daughter, Hope Hoffman,” Thompson said. “Both John and Yvette acted with incredible bravery to put themselves between Boelter’s bullets and their daughter. Miraculously, Hope Hoffman was not shot, but she was the fifth intended victim of Vance Boelter that night, and as such she is included in the federal indictment.”

Hope Hoffman released a statement later Tuesday relating how she relives the nightmare of June 14.

“Though I was not shot physically, I will now forever coexist with the PTSD of watching my parents be nearly shot dead in front of me and seeing my life flash before my eyes with a gun in my face,” Hope Hoffman said.

“My parents pushed me out of the way that night. I was pretty bruised up from getting hurled against our washer, and I’m glad I was,” she said. “How I didn’t get grazed is nothing short of dumb luck. I’m grateful I happened to be at my parents’ house to be able to call 911. Had I not been, they wouldn’t be here. My parents saved me, and we saved each other.”

‘Good God, I was asleep!’

A search warrant affidavit released by the U.S. Attorney’s Office includes chilling new details of the execution of the Hortmans around 3:30 a.m. June 14.

According to the FBI, Boelter parked his fake police vehicle in the driveway of the Hortman home. Allegedly wearing a hyper-realistic silicone mask and a wig, Boelter rang the doorbell and shouted, “Police! Welfare check!” Boelter shined his tactical flashlight in Mark Hortman’s face when he answered the door, the affidavit said.

“When Mr. Hortman answered the door, Boelter — shining a flashing [sic] toward Mr. Hortman’s eyes — said there had been reports of shots fired,” the FBI affidavit said. “Mr. Hortman denied knowing anything about a shooting, saying at one point, ‘Good God, I was asleep!’

“Mr. Hortman told Boelter, who was still shining a flashlight toward him and was standing approximately six feet away from the doorway: ‘We can’t see you,’” the FBI said. “Mr. Hortman asked for Boelter’s name and badge number. Boelter did not promptly respond, but moments later he said, ‘Nelson, 286.’”

About this time, squad cars from the Brooklyn Park Police Department pulled up in front of the home to carry out a welfare check on the former speaker. Boelter allegedly began firing into the front door at Mark Hortman, then charged inside the home, the FBI said.

“One or more of the Brooklyn Park officers fired at Boelter as he charged forward into the home,” the FBI said. “As law enforcement later discovered, Boelter, having moved past the fallen Mr. Hortman and into the home, shot Representative Hortman several times at close range, killing her as she attempted to flee up the stairs.”

Shortly after, the FBI said, “sounds of extreme distress can be heard in the Hortman security footage coming from the Hortmans’ golden retriever, Gilbert. Law enforcement determined that later Gilbert, too, had been shot. … Gilbert was seriously injured. FBI agents took Gilbert to a veterinarian, who attempted to save him, but Gilbert died from his injuries.”

‘She was the fifth intended victim of Vance Boelter that night.’

Prosecutors released the full text of the confession letter Boelter allegedly left inside the Buick sedan he reportedly used as a getaway vehicle some four hours after the shootings and abandoned on a rural road in Belle Plaine, Minn., June 15.

The rambling, disjointed, two-page screed written on the back of a wall calendar attempts to implicate Minnesota Democrat Gov. Tim Walz in a plot to murder U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and U.S. Sen. Tina Smith (D-Minn.), allegedly so Walz could take one of the open Senate seats.

Boelter allegedly wrote the letter hours before he was captured in Sibley County, 50 miles southwest of the Twin Cities, at 9:15 p.m. the night of June 15. He was at large for 43 hours and led police on the largest manhunt in Minnesota history.

Boelter allegedly wrote that Walz “is probably cra**ing bricks right now because I’m still at large and he knows what I can do and that I know about where all the buried skeletons are. So I will be shot on sight, you can bet on that.”

Boelter allegedly wrote that he would only surrender directly to FBI Director Kash Patel and said, “I need to be held in a military prison in Asia or the Middle East, or at least on a military ship over there.”

Handwritten notes

Prosecutors also released snippets of handwritten notes taken from journals found in the fake police vehicle Boelter allegedly used to travel to and between the homes of four Democratic Minnesota lawmakers, prosecutors contend, with the intention of killing them all.

They said Boelter made repeated political references in the notebook pages, along with a list of more than 45 Democratic lawmakers from six states and the names of prominent attorneys and the locations of Minnesota Planned Parenthood facilities.

The notebooks contain “all manner of notations, scribbles, stray phone numbers or emails, and lists, but few cohesively written thoughts,” the FBI wrote in a probable-cause affidavit. “There is no manifesto explaining his actions. There are, however, certain subjects or themes that appear several times in Boelter’s notes. One recurring subject matter is politicians.”

RELATED: Accused assassin makes ‘disgusting’ attempt to paint himself a victim over jail conditions: Sheriff

A confession letter the FBI said was written by Vance Boelter makes references to being trained by the U.S. military and ordered to commit murders by Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.Image via FBI

The names of the Hortmans and the Hoffmans were written in the notebooks, along with the two other homes he reportedly visited that night, those of state Rep. Kristin Bahner (DFL-Maple Grove) and state Sen. Ann Rest (DFL-New Hope). Bahner’s family was not at home. Boelter was apparently scared away from the area near Rest’s home when New Hope police vehicles began arriving to check on the senator.

One chilling scribbled note read:

If you want to save the country you have to get your hands dirty.

Another entry said:

Doing what most people know needs to be done, but are not willing to do it themselves.

In text messages and two jail video interviews with the New York Post, Boelter said his pro-life views and support for Republican President Donald J. Trump were not his motivations in allegedly carrying out the deadly shooting rampage. He would not say specifically what his reasons were, making a vague reference to things going on in Minnesota in 2023.

RELATED: Vance Boelter’s wife speaks out for first time since June 14 shooting rampage

Handwritten notes the FBI said came from the writings of Vance Luther Boelter indicate that he was willing to get his “hands dirty” to “save the country.”Image via FBI

Thompson said he believes Boelter’s alleged statement in the letter about being “trained by U.S. military people off the books starting in college” is likely not some kind of delusion but more likely Boelter’s attempt to justify the crimes.

Boelter made similar claims on the website of Praetorian Guard Security Services, a residential security company he unsuccessfully tried to launch between 2018 and 2024.

“Dr. Vance Boelter has been involved with security situations in Eastern Europe, Africa, North America, and the Middle East, including the West Bank, Southern Lebanon and the Gaza Strip,” said his profile on a 2024 version of the website archived on the Wayback Machine. “He brings a great security aspect forged by both many on-the-ground experiences combined with training by both private security firms and people in the U.S. military.”

A geofencing study of Boelter’s home address in Green Isle identified a unique cell phone that pinged in overseas locations between 2022 and 2025, including Turkey, Dubai, Africa, India, and Nepal, according to the Washington, D.C.-based Oversight Project.

Cased the Hortman home

Among the new details released Tuesday by prosecutors was the revelation that a man matching Boelter’s description was seen on the Hortmans’ home security system the day before the killings. The video “depicts a man, wearing a rain jacket with the hood up, briefly walking around the side and back of the home,” the FBI said.

“Hours before this, at approximately 6:55 p.m., security cameras near Boelter’s temporary residence on Fremont Avenue recorded Boelter, wearing a rain jacket with the hood up, carrying what appears to be body armor and a duffel bag to one of his black SUVs.”

Entries in the notebooks indicated that the suspect did research on the lawmakers, their spouses, and their children and accessed Google Maps to determine the best travel routes.

The FBI seized a laptop computer left behind in the Buick sedan that Boelter allegedly abandoned in Belle Plaine. “The laptop also shows extensive use of Google Maps in the months and weeks leading up to the attacks,” the FBI said. “The laptop data shows the Hortman home address was entered in Google Maps as early as May 15, 2025.”

‘I support the police and didn’t want to see them hurt.’

The computer contained a query for Hortman on TruePeopleSearch.com on May 15 and a search for Hoffman on PeopleFinder.com on June 4, the FBI said. Melissa Hortman’s name was reportedly first entered into Boelter’s Garmin GPS unit on May 15, which Thompson said showed the amount of time and level of planning that went into the attacks.

“It was a crime committed first and foremost against the Hortmans and the Hoffmans and their families,” Thompson said. “But this political assassination, the likes of which have never occurred here in the state of Minnesota, has [shaken] our state at a foundational level.”

A Minnesota state fire marshal stands guard at the bier of state Speaker Emerita Melissa Hortman, her husband, Mark Hortman, and their golden retriever, Gilbert, at the Minnesota State Capitol in St. Paul on June 27, 2025.Photo by Stephen Maturen/Getty Images

Boelter’s alleged crime spree began just after 2 a.m. when he pounded on the front door of the Hoffmans in Champlin, the FBI said. Mrs. Hoffman quickly realized that the suspect was wearing a mask and was not a real police officer. The senator tried to push Boelter out the front door and was shot nine times, police said.

“Mrs. Hoffman attempted to shut Boelter outside the home by shutting the door on him, but Boelter then shot Mrs. Hoffman repeatedly. After the shooting, Boelter fled in the black SUV,” the affidavit said.

Hope Hoffman told police that “Boelter shot at her too, with bullets narrowly missing her as she saw her mother and father get shot.”

Boelter found no one home at the residence of Rep. Bahner in Maple Grove, so he drove to New Hope and parked about a block from the home of Sen. Rest, the FBI said.

A New Hope police officer pulled alongside Boelter’s SUV at 2:36 a.m., rolled down the car window, and tried to get his attention, the FBI said, but Boelter stared straight ahead and didn’t acknowledge her. The officer then drove away toward Sen. Rest’s home.

In his alleged confession letter, Boelter said that had he wanted to, he could have killed the New Hope officer.

“Cops were pulling up right next to me in their vehicles and I had an AK pistol aimed right at her head and I could have left a pile of cops dead but I did [sic] shoot 1 bullet towards law enforcement,” the letter said. “You can ask them because I support the police and didn’t want to see them hurt.”

After allegedly executing the Hortmans, Boelter fled out the back door and began shedding his disguise, body armor, and weapons as he ran, the FBI said. A partly disassembled 9mm Beretta pistol was found along his escape route. Another 9mm Beretta handgun was retrieved by police from a nearby pond.

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​Politics 

Chip and Joanna Gaines have been beloved by their Christian fans for years, but now they’re facing backlash for featuring a gay couple and their surrogacy-born sons on their new reality show “Back to the Frontier.”

The gay couple explained in an interview that they applied for the show in order to “normalize same-sex relationships,” but BlazeTV host Allie Beth Stuckey believes it’s much more than that.

“Their mission is to normalize forced motherlessness, which is the forcing of a child to live without their mother, and that is what is going on here, of course, and so they wanted to glorify that, they wanted to expand their platform so that more people could see this kind of relationship and more people could think, ‘OK, maybe a mom is unnecessary,’” Stuckey explains.

“‘Maybe a husband can become a wife, and maybe a dad can become a mom.’ I mean, it is functional transgenderism,” she continues. “Even if people aren’t actually identifying as the opposite sex, they are certainly identifying as the opposite gender role.”

The gay couple also claimed in the same interview that part of the reason they applied to be on the show was because they saw a flyer for the show with a gay couple in it.

“So that means, from the get-go, Magnolia Network along with HBO, they were trying to attract a gay couple. It’s not one of those things where, ‘OK, they weren’t looking for that.’ They just stumbled upon this, you know, exceptionally charismatic couple, and they just said, ‘OK, we have to go with them,’” Stuckey says.

“That’s what they were looking for. And if you don’t think that Chip and Joanna had a say in that, or at least knowledge of that and confirmed that, then you’re crazy. Or maybe you just don’t understand the level of influence they have as the executive producers of this show,” she continues.

Stuckey not only takes issue with forced motherlessness but sees deep moral issues with surrogacy itself.

“You’re discarding all kinds of embryos, all so two men can do what God created them not to be able to do and that is have biological children without a mother that is raising them,” she says.

“This is a social experiment in which we are laying the well-being of children on the altar of adult desire, and there is nothing more disordered than that,” she continues, adding, “Demanding children who cannot consent to this motherlessness to sacrifice their innate needs, their biological longing for their mother in services to the disordered desires of adults.”

Want more from Allie Beth Stuckey?

To enjoy more of Allie’s upbeat and in-depth coverage of culture, news, and theology from a Christian, conservative perspective, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

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Los Angeles megachurches often resemble their Hollywood neighbors — grand stage sets with top-tier lighting and sound, carefully produced services complete with scripts, soundtracks, and a live audience. They usually plant themselves in the “nice parts of town” — Hollywood Hills, Santa Monica, Pasadena. Perfect if you’re after a Sunday pep talk and a little feel-good music to carry you through the week.

But that was never Grace Community Church with John MacArthur at the pulpit.

MacArthur never chased applause or tailored sermons to flatter the mood of the age.

Unlike many pastors leading congregations of similar size, MacArthur, who died Monday at the age of 86, didn’t preach to people hoping to make them “feel better” about themselves. He preached to dying souls, convinced he held the only message that could save them: the gospel — the real, unvarnished gospel of Scripture.

An unapologetic truth-teller

“Being a pastor means you’re a truth-teller,” MacArthur once said. And the truths proclaimed from his pulpit often rubbed people the wrong way, both inside and outside evangelical circles. Statements like, “The whole purpose of the Christian message is to confront the sinner’s sin so you can call the sinner to repentance and forgiveness,” or, “The true gospel is a call to self-denial. It is not a call to self-fulfillment,” clash with a world that prizes non-judgment, self-indulgence, and endless comfort.

But for those who’ve discovered how hollow those things truly are, MacArthur’s words struck hard — painfully, yet like cool water on the cracked lips of a wanderer lost too long in the desert.

He stood nearly alone in the upper echelon of church notoriety, refusing to bend on the bedrock truths of the Christian faith for the sake of publicity, celebrity congregants, TV slots, or social praise.

MacArthur cared about one thing: reaching lost souls with the only message that could rescue them. It either turned you away like an offensive painting or drew you in, like peering into a dense, bristling forest from the window of a climate-controlled, sterile cell.

My family was among those drawn in.

It took us years to find a church home after moving from rural Virginia to Southern California. Until we settled into a small local congregation in northwest L.A., we often trekked to Sun Valley for one reason: the teaching at Grace Community Church. My parents had listened to MacArthur’s sermons for years back east. Amid the chaos of starting over out west, they knew they could rely on him for a feast of biblical preaching — the kind that made the gospel, not man, the focus.

Ministering in their neighborhood

As a kid, I never noticed much about Grace’s neighborhood. My 10-year-old eyes skipped past the barred windows, the tiny houses jammed with large families, the rows of homeless encampments along Wilshire Boulevard. Only when I returned as an adult did I grasp just how far Grace was from Beverly Hills. This was the hood. And Grace Community Church didn’t just happen to be there — they chose it.

Across the street stood Wat Thai, a historic Buddhist temple serving Sun Valley’s Thai, Vietnamese, and Cambodian communities. Just down the road, the Hilal Islamic Center ministered to the area’s Muslim residents.

The church building itself preached its own sermon. Unlike so many of L.A.’s glittering megachurches, Grace displayed a simple cross, adorned only with a wreath at Christmas. No fog machines, no laser shows — just a traditional choir and orchestra. Even after we found our local church more than an hour away, we never missed Grace’s Christmas concert. Just Google it, and you will get a glimpse into how special the church’s worship is.

Grace’s surroundings and the sanctuary delivered the same message: The gospel doesn’t belong to a single ethnicity, culture, or political camp. It doesn’t need to be repackaged or softened to reach the world. It simply needs to be proclaimed, boldly and without apology.

And that’s exactly what John MacArthur devoted his life to doing.

The gospel for all audiences

He never ducked controversy when conviction demanded courage. During the COVID lockdowns, when Los Angeles banned in-person worship, MacArthur stood behind his pulpit and delivered his landmark sermon “Christ, Not Caesar, Is Head of the Church,” in which he boldly declared, “We cannot and will not acquiesce to a government-imposed moratorium on our weekly congregational worship or other regular corporate gatherings. Compliance would be disobedience to our Lord’s clear commands.”

That Sunday, I sat in the congregation. For the first time in more than a year, after countless Zoom services, I worshiped shoulder to shoulder with fellow believers as the choir and orchestra swelled. Tears filled nearly every eye in the room. It was a moment I’ll carry forever — the last time I heard, and now will ever hear, John MacArthur preach in person.

RELATED: John MacArthur refused to compromise. Gavin Newsom learned the hard way.

iStock/Getty Images

MacArthur’s ministry outlasted the snares that took down so many other pastors with similar reach. He never chased applause or tailored sermons to flatter the mood of the age. Yet he could speak just as powerfully on Ben Shapiro’s stage as he did on Larry King’s. That’s because he never shifted his conviction. The gospel he preached to a conservative Orthodox Jew was the same gospel he preached to liberal Hollywood skeptics and suburban churchgoers.

Long after the lights fade on L.A.’s big productions, the legacy of that quiet, sturdy pulpit in Sun Valley will endure. It reached me. It reached countless others. It stands as proof that when you preach Christ — not entertainment, not cultural trends, not political hobbyhorses — the gospel still does exactly what God promises it will do: save sinners and transform lives.

Big shoes to fill

We lost a giant of the faith this week. Just as we’ve grieved R.C. Sproul, Tim Keller, and other pillars over the past decade, the church will deeply miss John MacArthur’s steady, trustworthy voice. Being an uncompromising Christian is only growing more difficult in today’s climate, even in the so-called Christianized West. MacArthur’s passing widens the void left by those who went before him, and younger voices who might fill it seem few and far between.

I hope I’m proven wrong. I hope many pastors rise with the same fearless conviction. If they do, they likely owe that spirit in part to the influence MacArthur had on believers across decades of faithful service to the Lord and his church.

Thank you, Pastor MacArthur, for ministering to the hearts, minds, and souls of countless people — including my family. Thank you for urging us to cultivate awe for the beauty of Scripture, reverence for the holiness of God, and a deep love for our Savior, Jesus Christ. May you rejoice now in His presence, after a life faithfully stewarded for His glory.

​Opinion, John macarthur, Pastor john macarthur, Pastor john macarthur died, Grace community church, Grace community church los angeles, Culture, Culture war, Culture wars, Opinion & analysis, Obituary, Remembrance, Christianity, Megachurch, Faith, Religion 

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services revealed in late March that it was downsizing its workforce from 82,000 to 62,000 employees as part of a broader overhaul intended to maximize efficiency, save taxpayers money, and help make America healthy again.

The agency sent notices of reduction in force to 10,000 employees. Another 10,000 workers apparently left voluntarily, accepting early retirement and buyout offers.

The threat of a proper housecleaning enraged Democrats and, of course, pink-slip recipients, who filed legal challenges. Democrat-appointed U.S. district judges proved more than willing to hold up the terminations, prompting the government to appeal and the Supreme Court to weigh in.

‘Despite spending $1.9 trillion in annual costs, Americans are getting sicker every year.’

Taking full advantage of the path cleared by the high court, HHS finalized layoffs for thousands of employees on Monday.

An HHS spokesperson told Blaze News that “all employees who were originally notified, who aren’t covered under the N.Y. v. Kennedy case, and those who haven’t had their notice rescinded have been terminated.”

How it started

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced the layoffs in late March, noting that the restructuring would:

save taxpayers $1.8 billion per year through the reduction in the workforce of about 10,000 full-time workers; streamline the functions of the department by consolidating 28 divisions into 15 divisions, reducing regional offices from 10 to five, and centralizing core functions;”implement the new HHS priority of ending America’s epidemic of chronic illness by focusing on safe, wholesome food, clean water, and the elimination of environmental toxins”; andmake Americans’ experience with the HHS more responsive and efficient.

The health secretary noted on X that while the moment was difficult, “the reality is clear: what we’ve been doing isn’t working.”

“Despite spending $1.9 trillion in annual costs, Americans are getting sicker every year. In the past four years alone, the agency’s budget has grown by 38% — yet outcomes continue to decline,” wrote Kennedy. “We must shift course.”

Straight out of the gate, senior officials at the National Institutes of Health including Christine Grady, the wife of former National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci, got the boot along with Fauci allies Clifford Lane, deputy director for clinical research and special projects at NIAID, and Emily Erbelding, director of the NIAID division of microbiology and infectious diseases.

Establishmentarians clutched their pearls over these and other firings at HHS.

Michael Osterholm, director of the University of Minnesota’s Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy, bemoaned the layoffs, telling Nature, “This will go down as one of the darkest days in modern scientific history in my 50 years in the business.

“It’s a bloodbath,” one U.S. Food and Drug Administration employee told CNN.

Former FDA Commissioner Robert Califf took his doomsaying onto LinkedIn, noting, “The FDA as we’ve known it is finished, with most of the leaders with institutional knowledge and a deep understanding of product development and safety no longer employed. I believe that history will see this a huge mistake.”

RELATED: How Big Pharma left its mark on woke CDC vax advisory panel — and what RFK Jr. did about it

Photo by Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images

Two major legal actions were launched in recent weeks with the apparent aim of writing the terminations off as unlawful and undermining the MAGA agenda: a class-action lawsuit filed in the District of Columbia on behalf of ex-HHS employees and a lawsuit filed on May 5 by Democratic attorneys general from 19 states and the District of Columbia, seeking to block the RIF.

Both cases were assigned Democrat-appointed judges, the class-action lawsuit to an Obama judge and the blue states’ lawsuit to U.S. District Judge Melissa DuBose, a Biden appointee.

‘Thank you for your service to the American people.’

As is the apparent custom of Democrat-appointed federal judges, Judge DuBose obliged the plaintiffs, blocking the Trump administration from finalizing the layoffs and requiring HHS to file a status report by July 11.

DuBose suggested that they had “sufficiently shown irreparable harm” and that the “Executive Branch does not have the authority to order, organize, or implement wholesale changes to the structure and function of the agencies created by Congress.”

How it’s going

Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court allowed federal agencies to continue with their mass layoffs, staying a Clinton judge’s order that had blocked the administration from proceeding without congressional approval.

On Monday, the Supreme Court sent another message on theme, letting the Trump administration execute mass layoffs at the Department of Education.

RELATED: Career feds act like they’re the ones running the country

Photo by Elijah Nouvelage/Getty Images

Citing the high court’s July 8 decision, HHS informed thousands of employees on Monday that their time at the agency was over as of close of business.

“You are hereby notified that you are officially separated from HHS at the close of business on July 14, 2025,” said a copy of the notice obtained by the Washington Post. “Thank you for your service to the American people.”

Not all of the intended 10,000 ousters are taking place this week.

Some jobs are temporarily protected owing to DuBose’s ruling in New York v. Kennedy, which reportedly shields employees at the National Center for HIV, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and Tuberculosis Prevention; the National Center for Environmental Health; the Division of Reproductive Health; the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health; the Office on Smoking and Health; the National Center for Birth Defects and Development Disabilities; the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products; the Office of Head Start; and the Division of Data and Technical Analysis.

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​Rif, Layoffs, Hhs, Health and human services, Robert f kennedy jr, Rfk, Health, Trump, Trump administration, District judges, Politics 

Vice President JD Vance had to cast another tiebreaking vote in the Senate to advance President Donald Trump’s agenda.

The Senate narrowly advanced the DOGE cuts package in a 51-50 vote late Tuesday night. Republican Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Susan Collins of Maine, and Mitch McConnell of Kentucky voted to block the DOGE cuts, prompting Vance to cast his tiebreaking vote.

Congress is inching closer to codifying the first DOGE cuts via the White House’s rescissions package, but the $9.4 billion price tag is just a drop in the bucket.

Although some Republicans have gone against the grain, the White House is keen on codifying DOGE cuts.

The rescissions package makes $1.1 billion in cuts to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, including PBS and NPR, which have functionally worked as left-wing organizations subsidized by American taxpayers. The package also cuts $8.3 billion to various leftist projects disguised as foreign aid programs such as the U.S. Agency for International Development.

RELATED: Vance casts tiebreaking vote after Republicans betray Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill’

Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

Although the DOGE cuts were able to clear a procedural hurdle, senators will now proceed with their vote-a-rama of amendments before scheduling the final floor vote in time for the Friday deadline.

Several House Republicans told Blaze News they were concerned that the Senate would water down the cuts through the amendment process, with one describing the cuts package as “low-hanging fruit.”

The DOGE cuts previously passed the House in a narrow 214-212 vote back in June. As in the Senate, a handful of Republicans voted alongside Democrats to block the DOGE cuts, including Reps. Mark Amodei of Nevada, Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, Nicole Malliotakis of New York, and Mike Turner of Ohio.

RELATED: Republican senator makes a stunning admission: ‘I can’t be somebody that I’m not’

Photo by Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images

Although some Republicans have gone against the grain, the White House is keen on codifying DOGE cuts. Director Russ Vought of the Office of Management and Budget previously told Blaze News that he would be open to drafting more rescissions packages in the future.

“We’re going to go through the process with the Hill to see if this first one passes, and see where we are,” Vought said. “… I think it will be successful, and it will certainly inform our strategy going forward.”

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​Jd vance, Senate, Senate republicans, Senate democrats, Donald trump, Trump administration, Doge, Doge cuts, Elon musk, Rescissions, Russ vought, Omb, Office of management and budget, Susan collins, Lisa murkowski, Mitch mcconnell, Npr, Pbs, Usaid, Spending cuts, House, House democrats, House republicans, Mark amodei, Brian fitzpatrick, Nicole malliotakis, Mike turner, Politics 

The National Education Association, America’s largest teachers’ union, held its annual convention earlier this month. The union’s resolutions — leaked to me by a union member — had nothing to do with improving education. Instead, the NEA declared war on the Trump administration.

One resolution committed the union to “defend birthright citizenship,” and another one to “support students’ right to organize against ICE raids and deportations.” Yet another declared support for “the mass democratic movement against Trump’s authoritarianism” and “the Los Angeles-based movement to defeat Trump’s attempt to use federal forces against the state of California and other states and communities.”

Forcing taxpayers to fund education for illegal immigrants undermines the rule of law and creates perverse incentives for further illegal immigration.

These resolutions confirm yet again that teachers’ unions are more invested in political activism than in prioritizing education.

In fact, NEA President Becky Pringle is an at-large member of the Democratic National Committee. Such actions expose teachers’ unions for what they really are: little more than an arm of the Democratic Party, pushing a radical agenda that puts taxpayers on the hook for funding the K-12 education of illegal immigrants.

With a conservative-leaning Supreme Court and growing public support for immigration enforcement, the time has come to revisit Plyler v. Doe, the 1982 ruling that forced states to provide free public education to children regardless of their immigration status. Reversing that decision would restore basic fairness for taxpayers and bring education policy back in line with the will of the American people.

The post-Plyler disaster

The court decided Plyler v. Doe on a narrow 5-4 vote, reflecting deep division even at the time. Today’s court, reshaped by President Trump’s appointments, has a stronger constitutional foundation to strike it down. The legal terrain has shifted. The original ruling was shaky then and looks even weaker now.

Legally, the case for overturning Plyler is strong. Conservative scholars argue that the 43-year-old ruling overstepped federal authority by compelling states to allocate resources for individuals who are not lawfully present. States have a sovereign right to prioritize their citizens and legal residents when allocating finite resources.

Meanwhile, conservative legal scholars argue that the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment — used to justify the decision — does not require states to educate those in the country unlawfully. That clause was written to protect citizens and lawful residents, not to extend taxpayer-funded benefits to those who violate immigration law.

RELATED: School censorship backfires in costly free speech beatdown

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Forcing taxpayers to foot the bill for illegal immigrants’ education undermines the rule of law and encourages more unlawful entry. Public sentiment aligns with this view. A June CBS News/YouGov survey found that 54% of Americans support President Trump’s deportation efforts, a stance that helped propel him back to the White House last year. A June InsiderAdvantage poll found that 59% of Americans — including 89% of Republicans — support Trump’s decision “to deploy National Guard and federal military in downtown Los Angeles.”

A 2013 Phi Delta Kappa International/Gallup poll revealed that 55% of Americans oppose using taxpayer dollars to fund education for children of illegal immigrants, with a staggering 81% of Republican voters in agreement. (Perhaps that’s why Gallup hasn’t asked the question again.)

Taxpayers bear the cost, but teachers’ unions reap the rewards.

Public school funding is tied to enrollment. More students — regardless of legal status — mean more money for school districts. Illegal immigrant students often qualify as English language learners, which brings in even more per-pupil funding through federal and state grants.

The surge in English learners creates a demand for specialized teachers. Hiring more staff means more union members — and more dues. The unions grow stronger and richer with every new student who requires extra services.

So when teachers’ unions protest immigration enforcement or attack Trump administration policies, they aren’t defending children. They’re protecting their bottom line. It’s all about the cash, not compassion. They’ve prioritized financial and political power over the interests of American citizens and legal residents, and they expect you to keep paying for it.

Two ways forward

Two strategies could pave the way to overturn Plyler v. Doe.

First, states like Texas, Oklahoma, and Tennessee are expanding school choice programs that exclude illegal immigrants from taxpayer-funded benefits such as private school scholarships and education savings accounts. These programs give parents greater control over their children’s education, but unions have launched aggressive campaigns to block them.

If unions sue to stop these programs on the grounds that they violate Plyler, they’ll likely lose. The ruling required states to provide free public education to illegal immigrants. It said nothing about private scholarships or alternative funding streams.

That legal distinction matters. The court’s conservative majority could uphold these state programs and clarify that Plyler doesn’t apply outside the public school system. Such a decision wouldn’t just protect school choice — it could also erode the Plyler precedent and clear a path to overturn it entirely.

That would return power to the states and allow elected leaders — not unelected judges — to decide how taxpayer dollars are spent.

The second way involves red-state lawmakers taking direct aim at Plyler.

Republican legislators in states like Tennessee have introduced bills to block taxpayer funding for the K-12 education of illegal immigrants. Tennessee recently put its bill on hold while seeking federal guidance on whether the move would jeopardize broader education funding.

If teachers’ unions sue to stop these laws, they risk a high-stakes loss.

A legal defeat could weaken Plyler and give states new authority to draw clear lines around who qualifies for taxpayer-funded education. One ruling could reshape national policy — and force a long-overdue debate about who pays, who benefits, and who decides.

The National Education Association’s unhinged resolutions reflect a desperate push to preserve a broken status quo. Its opposition to border enforcement isn’t about students — it’s about protecting funding, growing membership, and consolidating power. The Supreme Court should revisit Plyler v. Doe and reaffirm a basic principle: Taxpayer resources must serve those who respect the rule of law.

​Opinion & analysis, Illegal immigration, Supreme court, Plyler v. doe, Public schools, Illegal aliens, Taxpayer money, National education association, Nea, Leftism, Trump administration, Public education, School choice, Texas, Tennessee, Education savings accounts, Vouchers 

Prominent conservatives and Republicans alike are far from satisfied with Attorney General Pam Bondi and the White House’s answers about the Jeffrey Epstein case. This despite President Trump’s growing frustration that the story is distracting from his administration’s victories and legislative accomplishments.

Democrats spent years dismissing the Epstein scandal as a baseless right-wing obsession — but they’re not satisfied now, either. They see an opening to divide the GOP. While the Democrats’ efforts could backfire and lead Republicans to pull themselves together, it’s still likely that the administration will need to do more than it initially could have gotten away with to make the issue go away.

This might seem like a good opportunity for Democrats to let Republicans fight it out among themselves, but since the debacle began, they’ve merrily inserted themselves into the intraparty struggle session.

Rank-and-file Republican congressmen and senators have remained mostly quiet on the subject. But House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) told MAGA podcaster Benny Johnson on Tuesday that he’d like to see Epstein’s imprisoned co-conspirator, Ghislaine Maxwell, testify before Congress — and wants to see the administration release the documents it has.

Federalist publisher Sean Davis summed up the anger well. “The Epstein case isn’t just another random story people are focused on,” he wrote. “It is a proxy for whether the Trump DOJ has what it takes to hold the Deep State accountable across the board. And people are rightfully concerned about DOJ’s competence given how it has handled the Epstein mess this year.”

Others with direct access to the president also disagree with his wishes to stop talking about it, including MAGA internet provocateur Laura Loomer. “There should be a special counsel appointed to do an independent investigation of the handling of the Epstein files so that people can feel like this issue is being investigated,” she told the Playbook newsletter Sunday night, “and perhaps take it out of [Attorney General Pam Bondi’s] hands, because I don’t think that she has been transparent or done a good job handling this issue.”

Special counsels almost never unfold the way administrations hope — and they often spiral out of control. Loomer’s latest suggestion could hand a powerful excuse to White House officials already uneasy with her influence. Many inside the West Wing don’t share the president’s enthusiasm for her chaotic opinions and influence.

Trump himself is clearly furious about the situation. He scolded New York Post reporter Steven Nelson for raising the topic during a Cabinet meeting. He appeared frustrated when Pam Bondi stepped in to answer. Over the weekend, he posted in all caps, comparing the controversy to the Russiagate hoax that dogged his first term. On the South Lawn, he blamed Democrats for stoking the flames.

Democrats could have stepped back and let Republicans tear each other apart. Instead, they jumped headfirst into the fight.

Last Thursday, Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MS-13) introduced an amendment requiring the Justice Department to “retain, preserve, and compile” all Epstein-related records and report back to Congress within 60 days. The amendment passed out of committee unanimously.

Other Democrats haven’t fared as well.

On Monday, Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) proposed a similar amendment in the House, with a tighter 30-day reporting window. Republicans shot it down in committee. Only one crossed the aisle to support it: Rep. Ralph Norman of South Carolina — a Trump ally who also happened to be Nikki Haley’s lone congressional backer in the 2024 primary.

“It was a procedural vote,” Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) told Benny Johnson. “We voted against Democrats having House floor control,” not against transparency itself.

And then there’s Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.) — the man who once, in all earnestness, asked Navy Admiral Robert Willard in 2010 if adding additional personnel to a military base on Guam might cause the island to “tip over and capsize.” Other greatest hits include the long and convoluted House floor speech he gave apologizing for repeatedly using “the M-word” — midget — in a similarly strange floor speech.

This time, Johnson released a solo guitar-and-vocal act remaking Jason Isbell’s “Dreamsicle” to somehow be about releasing the Epstein files. It is deeply cringe-inspiring and very much worth a watch.

The partisan sniping could give Republicans reason to shut it all down, but internet anger that seemed ready to ebb on Monday came roaring back Tuesday, with MAGA influencers like Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk disavowing the news that he was “done talking about Epstein for the time being.”

“I like Pam,” the speaker told Benny Johnson on Tuesday. “I think she’s done a good job. We need the DOJ focusing on the major priorities. … I’m anxious to get this behind us.”

That may be exactly what the administration needs: Do more, and do it fast.

Before last week’s botched rollout, the Justice Department might have avoided this mess by releasing what it could — files that fell short of confirming an intelligence-backed blackmail ring but at least signaled transparency. That window has closed. A limited release won’t cut it any more.

Now the stakes are higher.

Testimony may be required. Non-explicit video evidence might need to be made public. A full data dump could be on the table. In a Monday interview with Benny Johnson, Lara Trump teased as much: “He is going to want to set things right as well. I believe that there will probably be more coming on this, and I believe anything that they are able to release … I believe they’ll probably try to get out, sooner rather than later. They hear it and understand it.”

But will that be enough?

Every day the White House waits, the harder this story becomes to contain.

Blaze News: Former Israeli prime minister responds to accusations that Israel orchestrated Jeffrey Epstein ‘blackmail ring’

Blaze TV: The administration says the Epstein case is closed, but a Judicial Watch FOIA request may tell a different story

Hot Air: Dershowitz: There is no Epstein client list, and don’t blame the DOJ

Blaze News: NBC News is getting annihilated on social media over absurd defense of Biden autopen scandal

Blaze News: Alleged would-be Trump assassin Ryan Routh makes wild demand, turning upcoming trial ‘into a circus’

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“Superman” scored big last weekend — thrilling fans, Warner Bros., and an industry desperate for a hero.

All this despite director James Gunn’s last-minute attempt to turn himself into box-office kryptonite.

To be fair, being forced to banter with Goldberg, Joy Behar, and Sunny Hostin is the closest thing to waterboarding we’ve ever seen on daytime TV.

Days before the film’s July 11 opening, Gunn made sure everybody knew that “Superman” is really a pro-immigrant story. If you disagree, “screw” you.

You kiss your mother with that mouth? Brother Sean Gunn, who has a blink-and-you-miss-it cameo in the film, cosigned his brother’s incendiary opinion with a statement of his own. If you don’t approve of Biden-era open border policies, you’re un-American.

Somewhere, Rachel Zegler is ordering a third pint and smiling through the beer’s foam …

Hackish

Jimmy Kimmel takes each summer off from his DNC-approved talk show. That leaves it up to guest hosts to maintain the sophisticated level of satire Kimmel is known for. Like calling Trump a racist. Or calling Trump a Nazi.

“Kangaroo Jack” star Anthony Anderson went Kimmel one better — he did both:

Trump’s media company has just made their streaming platform, Truth+, available worldwide. They also announced that Truth+ will be the first streaming network to call BET+ the N-word …

In all fairness, I looked it up, and they do have some great shows on Truth+ like “The Amazing Racist,” “Friday Night Whites,” “Third Reich from the Sun,” “Illegal Alien vs. Predator,” “The Search for OJ’s Gold,” “Dog the Bounty Hunter’s Roadkill Kitchen,” “RuPaul’s Normal Guys Dressed in Khakis Race,” “Dumb[Bleep] Dynasty,” and “White-ish.”

The left’s Trump jokes tend to be stale — but these gags expired circa 2017. Sounds like Anderson’s auditioning for a show of his own: “Hackish.”

Rich girls

Adam Carolla has a recurring routine where he finds the craziest things to complain about. It’s meant to be funny and tax the comic’s gift for improv. “What Can’t Adam Complain About?”

Michelle Obama can’t stop stealing the bit, but she’s serious about her caterwauling. The latest example? On the former first lady’s flailing podcast, she and Julia Louis-Dreyfus bemoaned how hard it is to be a woman.

“I think it’s important for all guys listening, especially men raising daughters, to realize that difference. And that thing that inadvertently, as you are loving and raising these beautiful girls, there are so many rules that make us small.”

(Here’s hoping the Obamas’ 28-acre Martha’s Vineyard estate gives Michelle some much-deserved elbow room this summer!)

Louis-Dreyfus, who overcame her billionaire father’s oppressive love and support to build a career as an actress, agreed that the obstacles in women’s way are “baked” into American society.

Victimhood sure does pay the rent …

‘The View’-lag Archipelago

Poor Whoopi Goldberg and Alyssa Farah Griffin. On paper, “The View” co-hosts get paid better than most people for spouting conspiracy theories and giving the show’s legal counsel fits.

Not a bad gig if you can keep it, right?

Right?

Yet, Goldberg recently whined that showing up on set can “feel like hell” after getting a warm reception from the show’s seals, er, rather live audience members.

“Thank you for that because sometimes this gig can feel like … HELL! And sometimes you feel like people are just angry at you all the time. And so to get a welcome like this this morning, we really appreciate it.”

The faux conservative Farah Griffin later confided she routinely cries at work. She just finds different spots in the building to shed those tears. Why? She often disagrees with her fellow panelists.

“This is a very hard job to do, and I oftentimes have the only opinion that’s different at a table of five people.”

To be fair, being forced to banter with Goldberg, Joy Behar, and Sunny Hostin is the closest thing to waterboarding we’ve ever seen on daytime TV.

‘Morning’ has broken

Apple TV+’s “The Morning Show” is going to tackle the President Biden dementia cover-up? The new trailer for the increasingly partisan drama finds stars Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon sharing key themes from the new season.

The show is set within the fictional world of a morning news program, where ratings rule and behind-the-scenes angst takes center stage.

“We have to question everything that we see, and we hear now more than ever,” Aniston’s Alex Levy says in the teaser.

“There was a cover-up,” Witherspoon’s Bradley Jackson adds.

The show often reflects reality, like previous episodes dealing with the COVID-19 fallout. So the Biden scandal would be perfect for the series. Maybe super journo Jake “I Missed the Biggest Story of the Decade” Tapper can play himself.

Except “The Morning Show” is increasingly woke and pushes progressive talking points. Expect just about any other subject to be the focus of the new season besides the meandering ex-president.

Corn Pop will be so disappointed.

​Hollywood, Superman, James gunn, The view, Culture, Movies, Whoopi goldberg, Toto recall 

House lawmakers are advancing their investigation into how non-governmental organizations contributed to the immigration crisis under the Biden administration.

The Committee on Homeland Security, chaired by Rep. Mark Green (R-Tenn.), announced last week that it is holding a hearing, “An Inside Job: How NGOs Facilitated the Biden Border Crisis,” as part of “a years-long investigation by the Committee into whether NGOs used taxpayer dollars to facilitate illegal activity during the Biden-Harris administration.”

A third organization received over $3 billion from the Biden administration to provide immigrant services.

Blaze Media national correspondent Julio Rosas, Oversight Project president and Blaze News contributor Mike Howell, and GUARD Against Trafficking president and co-founder Ali Hopper will provide their congressional testimony during Wednesday’s hearing.

Last month, Reps. Green and Josh Brecheen (R-Okla.), the chairman of the Subcommittee on Oversight, Investigations, and Accountability, sent inquiry letters to over 200 NGOs requesting additional information.

The committee expressed concerns about some of the NGOs’ activities, noting that one was linked to “the far-left, anti-law enforcement riots in Los Angeles” and another organization, funded by taxpayer dollars and potentially also backed by the Chinese Communist Party, allegedly advised illegal aliens on how to evade ICE. A third organization received over $3 billion from the Biden administration to provide immigrant services, including for the transportation and housing of unaccompanied alien children, the committee noted.

The hearing is scheduled for Wednesday, July 16, at 10:00 a.m. Eastern time. It can be viewed live on the committee’s YouTube.

RELATED: Liberals viciously attack Sen. John Fetterman for defending ICE: ‘F**k you, f**k your mom, your family’

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​News, Joe biden, Biden, Biden administration, Biden admin, Border crisis, Immigration crisis, Illegal immigration crisis, Illegal immigration, Immigration, Immigration and customs enforcement, Ice, Nongovernmental organizations, Non-governmental organizations, Ngos, Mark green, Committee on homeland security, Biden border crisis, Julio rosas, Mike howell, Guard against trafficking, Oversight project, Ali hopper, Unaccompanied minors, Unaccompanied alien child, Uacs, Unaccompanied children, Politics 

California police released security video from a bizarre incident where a man wearing a bikini and a sun hat tried to rob a donut shop in Los Angeles.

The incident unfolded at a Winchell’s donut shop in the Harvard Heights area on May 28. Video obtained by KMPH-TV shows the bikini-clad man in the kitchen pointing what looks like a gun while the workers toss objects at him, including cash.

At one point, the officer fires a shot at the man but apparently misses him.

As he leans down to pick up the cash, they ram him with a cart.

Surveillance video from outside the store shows one worker grabbing a chair and throwing it at the man before he flees from the scene.

Police said they were later able to find the man in an alley of a nearby apartment complex in July. Body camera video shows the confrontation as an officer tries to get the man to stand down.

At one point, the officer fires a shot at the man but apparently misses him.

RELATED: Homeless man allegedly devours victim’s face after fight at bus stop near Las Vegas Strip, told police he was possessed

Officers were able to subdue him through the use of a taser and arrested the man. They said they were able to recover a knife as well as an airsoft replica handgun from the area.

They later identified him as 41-year-old Christopher Hall. He was charged with robbery and assault with a deadly weapon.

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​Bikini robber, Armed bikini robber, Donut shop robbery, Video bikini robber, Crime 

I was working out of Blaze News’ headquarters in Irving, Texas, on September 27, 2024, when Hurricane Helene smashed into the heart of Appalachia. Within days, the scale of the devastation in Western North Carolina began to come into focus — and I knew I had to be there.

“I have more going on right now than I can keep up with,” I told my editor in chief. “So I need you to talk me out of this — but I think I need to be in North Carolina.”

Western North Carolina’s story is not one of despair but of resilience and defiance.

Matthew Peterson looked up from his desk, paused for a moment, and said, “You need to be in Western North Carolina.”

By that afternoon, I had checked out of my hotel and hit the road. My preferred route — Interstate 40 through the mountains of Tennessee and North Carolina — had been washed out by the storm, so I took the long way: I-20 to Atlanta, then I-85 up to Durham. Along the way, I stopped at eight Best Buy stores trying to find a Starlink satellite unit. All of them were sold out. It was a good sign: Relief workers were already headed into the mountains.

At home in the Raleigh area, I swapped my usual TV gear for boots and cargo pants. I ended up needing two pairs of boots. I blew out the soles on a pair during a rugged six-mile hike along the Toe River with a cadaver dog search team.

Blaze Media’s Jill Savage and Julio Rosas had already set out with Glenn Beck and Mercury One to Asheville in the early days after the storm. They quickly linked up with Savage Freedoms Relief Operations, a nonprofit led by Adam Smith, a 17-year Army veteran and former Green Beret. SFRO was operating out of the Harley-Davidson dealership in Swannanoa, and when I showed up unannounced and flashed my Blaze Media press badge, they took me in. I embedded with them for more than three weeks.

Smith is the kind of man you’d cast in a movie: six foot three, broad-shouldered, and commanding. But his heroism wasn’t theatrical. The first rescue he led was an aerial evacuation of his own daughter and ex-wife from the flooded Broad River Valley. He had no idea whether they were dead or alive until he got there.

Under Smith’s leadership — and in coordination with veterans, nonprofits, and local officials — SFRO helped launch one of the most effective private disaster responses in recent memory. They delivered nearly 6 million pounds of supplies and flew over 2,500 air sorties. Their supply chain used everything from helicopters and trucks to pack animals.

I witnessed more than 100 volunteers — many of them veterans — bringing food, fuel, medicine, clothing, and shelter to remote communities. There were days of search and rescue, followed by the harder, heartbreaking work of search and recovery.

Federal and state authorities were much slower to respond. National Guard troops and the 18th Airborne Corps were eventually deployed, working under the direction of Smith and SFRO leadership — but never in the numbers needed.

WNC saw no more than 3,500 military personnel at any one time. That’s a fraction of the 60,000 National Guard troops deployed to New Orleans after Katrina or the 17,000 sent to Haiti after the 2010 earthquake. By November 19 — just before Thanksgiving — virtually all military aid was withdrawn, even as thousands remained homeless and winter set in.

The Biden administration and North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper (D) failed to meet the moment. But others stepped in: Samaritan’s Purse, Mercury One, Great Needs Ministry (an Amish charity from Pennsylvania), and countless others.

“We wanted to help the people with the disaster,” Amanda Zook, a volunteer from the Amish group, told Blaze News. “Our hearts just felt drawn to come help the people in this area.” The Amish have spent countless hours repairing and rebuilding homes and businesses in the hurricane-afflicted area.

RELATED: FEMA fires 3 more supervisors tied to home-skipping scandal impacting Trump supporters

Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images

Local high-schoolers stepped up, too. Students from the Mountain Heritage High School carpentry class built a tiny home for 75-year-old artist Sherry Housley, who lost everything in the flood. “I was flooded with water,” she said. “Now I’m flooded with angels.”

There are hundreds of stories like hers. But recovery remains a long road. Estimates put the damage at $50 billion to $60 billion. So far, only a tenth of that has been allocated. One FEMA veteran told me, “This is the worst I’ve ever seen … times 10.”

I caught up with Adam Smith again just before the Independence Day holiday. He still lives in one of the hardest-hit areas. “Western North Carolina’s story is not one of despair but of resilience and defiance,” he told me. “The rugged people of the mountains have proven that they will stand when the system that is designed to protect, rescue, or save them collapses.”

“But they should not have to do it alone,” he added. “The region needs honest leadership, transparent spending, and a dramatic reduction of bureaucratic barriers.”

I asked him whether Western North Carolinians could still celebrate Independence Day after all they’ve endured.

“The real spirit of July Fourth lives in every volunteer wielding a chainsaw,” Smith said. “Every first responder risking life and limb. Every neighbor sharing a meal. Every small-town leader fighting to cut through the red tape.”

He’s right. “The battle for Western North Carolina isn’t over,” Smith told me. “It’s a fight that demands every American’s attention, because when the systems designed to protect us collapse, all that remains is each other.”

The people of WNC haven’t lost their independence — or their soul. They haven’t just survived. They’ve reminded the rest of us what it means to be free.

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On July 7, the Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation released a joint memo claiming that the client list of elites who partook in Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking ring of underage girls doesn’t exist.

While President Trump has made it clear that he’s eager to move on from Epstein, much of his MAGA base is not. The release of Epstein’s black book was a Trump campaign promise. To claim it doesn’t exist contradicts the narratives of Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI director Kash Patel.

But perhaps MAGA will get its wish after all.

On Monday, July 14, conservative podcaster Benny Johnson posted the following:

— (@)

The post seemed to confirm what Lara Trump, President Trump’s daughter-in-law, had told Johnson earlier that day on “The Benny Show” — that “we’re probably going to get more transparency on [Epstein] very soon.”

While Liz Wheeler, who’s been one of the most outspoken conservative voices on this matter, is excited about the prospect of “more disclosures,” she will remain skeptical until something actually happens.

“Actions speak louder than words,” she says.

However, Johnson’s bombshell does seem to corroborate what Liz’s sources have been saying as well — that “President Trump is beginning to understand exactly why you and I, his base, care so viscerally about the Epstein files.”

“[It’s] not because we have some morbid curiosity in Epstein the creep, but because it represents justice,” Liz says. “We want the deep state held accountable.”

To get more insight into what, if anything, is really coming down the pike, Liz spoke with Florida Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R), who is on the House Oversight Committee as well as the Task Force on Declassification.

“I haven’t seen the file, so I can’t really speculate as to why the messaging is going out the way that it is. I also haven’t heard that there is going to be more release of information,” Luna says. “So I’m hopeful that that interview is correct on Benny’s show with Lara. I think that that would be the right thing to do, but you know, we’re in this situation for a reason.”

“The conclusion of that memo — that there’s no blackmail, no client list, he definitively killed himself, and there’s no other documents that are going to be made public — was that communicated at all to you before that was posted?” Liz asks.

“No,” Luna says, noting that she has had zero contact with Bondi since the memo was released.

“The one thing that is a fact is that there’s information — not pertaining to [child sexual abuse material], not pertaining to victims — that can be released,” she tells Liz, adding that whatever can be released must be, as it’s “important to the very soul of the country.”

“Do we truly live in a society where you can’t buy your way out?” Luna asks. “We are going to continue to advocate for the transparency similar to how it was rolled out on JFK because that is the gold standard of transparency in this administration.”

To hear more of the conversation and more of Liz’s analysis, watch the episode above.

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According to its mission statement, the American Medical Association exists “to promote the art and science of medicine and the betterment of public health.” In practice, the AMA has become a well-funded political machine — one that uses its government-backed monopoly on medical billing codes to bankroll a progressive agenda.

Each year, the AMA collects hundreds of millions of dollars through royalties on its proprietary Current Procedural Terminology codes. These are the codes doctors use to communicate with insurers and federal agencies when they conduct checkups, order tests, or write prescriptions. Hospitals, insurance companies, and medical professionals are all required to use them — and pay for the privilege.

Instead of using its monopoly to support physicians or patients, the AMA has funneled its resources into ideological activism.

In 2023 alone, the AMA raked in nearly $285 million from CPT royalties. That isn’t a side hustle; it’s a windfall. Watchdogs now rank the AMA among the most financially powerful nonprofits in American health care.

The AMA didn’t earn that money through clinical excellence or medical innovation. It profits from what is essentially public infrastructure.

The federal government made it so. In the 1980s, Medicare and Medicaid began requiring CPT codes for billing. In 1996, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act made CPT codes the federal standard for electronic health care transactions. That mandate gave the AMA control over an indispensable part of American medicine.

Hospitals, providers, and insurers can’t opt out. But instead of using its monopoly to support physicians or patients, the AMA has funneled its resources into ideological activism.

On gun control, the AMA has pushed bans on so-called assault weapons, supported raising the legal age of ownership to 21, and opposed allowing teachers to defend themselves in the classroom.

On climate policy, it has declared climate change a “public health crisis,” called for slashing U.S. greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2030, and demanded “carbon neutrality” by 2050. The group even promotes plant-based diets — not to improve patient health, but to cut emissions. One AMA paper noted that producing a single serving of red meat releases 200 times more carbon dioxide than growing a serving of beans.

During the 2020 George Floyd riots, the AMA declared that racism was “an urgent threat to public health,” pledged to dismantle “racist and discriminatory policies,” and released a video in which its board members solemnly recited these mantras. The group also called for sweeping police reform, claiming “a correlation between policing and adverse health outcomes.”

This is political advocacy, not public health. And it’s not limited to official statements — it’s backed by millions of dollars the AMA collects thanks to its government-protected monopoly.

In 2024, the AMA spent nearly $25 million on lobbying — more than the AARP. By contrast, the National Rifle Association spent just $2 million. The beef and dairy industries, which stand to lose if AMA-backed climate plans move forward, spent far less.

Through lobbying and political donations, the AMA is using your money — your premiums, your tax dollars — to advance its political goals.

RELATED: The climate cult is brainwashing your kids — and you’re paying for it

Photo by Erik McGregor/LightRocket via Getty Images

That pipeline of influence may be in jeopardy.

According to recent reports, allies of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. have explored transferring CPT oversight from the AMA to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. It’s a smart move that the Trump administration should take seriously.

A working model already exists. Health care providers use ICD codes — International Classification of Diseases — to document diagnoses. These codes are freely available, globally standardized, and cost nothing to use. There’s no reason procedural codes like CPT couldn’t operate the same way.

Stripping the AMA of its CPT monopoly wouldn’t just break a political racket. It would free American health care from a rent-seeking gatekeeper that has long since abandoned its original mission.

CPT codes are public infrastructure now. A private group with a political agenda shouldn’t be allowed to control access to them — especially not one that spends its royalty checks advancing the left’s culture war.

The Trump administration, with RFK Jr. at the Department of Health and Human Services, has a real opportunity here: End the royalty scheme, move CPT into the public domain, and cut off the AMA’s cash flow.

It’s time to let doctors get back to medicine — and take politics out of the exam room.

​Opinion & analysis, American medical association, Ama, Democratic party, Leftism, Lobbying, Lobbyists, Doctors, Monopoly, Medical billing codes, Racket, Politics, Gun control, George floyd riots, Defund the police, Climate change, Alarmism, Robert f. kennedy jr., Health and human services, Maha, Royalties, Health insurance, Hipaa, Public health crisis, Racism, Discrimination, Mandates, Nonprofit 

The editor in chief of left-wing magazine Mother Jones faced swift backlash after justifying the harassment of Vice President JD Vance and his children while they were visiting Disneyland.

Clara Jeffery approved of reports that Vance and his family were booed as they tried to enjoy the theme park, and she pointed to families being torn asunder by the mass deportations of the Trump administration.

‘Keep young children of politicians out of your gutter fights. Reprehensible, deplorable bully.’

“People who feel bad for JD Vance’s kids as family gets booed at Disneyland,” Jeffery wrote on social media. “I get it, but better those kids know now what their father is about. Other kids are watching their parents get shipped off to gulags.”

In a second post, she appeared to blame Vance for bringing his children out in the open.

“Also, JD Vance knows he’s going to be booed at Disneyland or the Kennedy Center or wherever,” she added. “He doesn’t have to go with his kids, but … he probably wants the optics of his family being booed. So … yeah.”

Many on social media thought it heartless for Jeffery to make the comments at a time when so many incidents of violence against politicians have been documented.

“WTF is wrong with these people!???” Donald Trump Jr. responded.

“Imagine the type of soulless ghoul you have to be to say this…Imagine being the Editor in Chief of Mother Jones Magazine,” GOP strategist Andrew Surabian replied.

“Even among left-wing publications there used to be a standard against attacks on children. The left and their cohorts in MSmedia have sunk to new lows,” writer David Asman said.

RELATED: Left-wing editor cries ‘Christian nationalism’ after flight attendant wishes her ‘blessed’ night — and backlash is brutal

“Clara Jeffery, Mother Hones [sic] editor-in-chief is an immoral, piece of filth. Thankfully, 90% of America has no idea and gives zero f**ks who she is or her political agenda,” read another response.

“@ClaraJeffery is a soulless ghoul. Leftists are f**king demons,” another user said.

“Clara Jeffery, do you have children or grandchildren? How will you feel if your comment is flipped and millions of people do the same to them? Being cruel to children is not the solution,” another critic said.

“What a vile, bully you are. Keep young children of politicians out of your gutter fights. Reprehensible, deplorable bully. Shameless. You personify today’s leftist activists,” read another response.

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The Epstein saga continues. Now Ghislaine Maxwell — Epstein’s longtime romantic partner and convicted accomplice in his sex trafficking of underage girls — may give us the “client list” we were told by the DOJ doesn’t exist.

On July 13, a source close to Maxwell leaked to the media that she is willing to testify before Congress about which elites were clients of Epstein’s. According to a Daily Mail report, the source said Maxwell would “welcome the chance to tell the American public the truth.”

But Sara Gonzales, BlazeTV host of “Sara Gonzales Unfiltered,” isn’t convinced this is the magic solution to our Epstein problem.

“Why in the hell should we trust anything that she has to say? Like, you’re talking about a convicted child sex offender,” she says.

On the other hand, “maybe there are reasons why Ghislaine Maxwell might actually be credible,” Sara adds, playing devil’s advocate. After all, Maxwell was never offered a plea deal. And yet, how can we trust her when Epstein isn’t alive to challenge her narrative?

The Daily Mail’s source also stated that “no one from the government has ever asked [Maxwell] to share what she knows” — a claim Sara finds odd.

“I have a very hard time believing no one from the government has ever asked her to share what she knows,” she scoffs, “but if that were the case, that would be very telling, and I would want Ghislaine Maxwell to come up and tell the American people the truth about what happened.”

Thus far, “not a single member of Congress has publicly responded about hearing Ghislaine Maxwell,” she adds, calling it “odd.”

She actually agrees with Democrat Rep. Ro Khanna (Calif.), who tweeted the following on July 12:

— (@)

“I do not support Medicare for all or taxing the wealthy in a wealth tax,” but it’s true that “every single congressional member should be put on the record as to whether they want the Epstein files to be released to the public,” Sara says. “Do you want transparency or do you not? Speak now or forever hold your peace because eventually we will find out if you are one of the ones on that list, and we will deal with you accordingly.”

To hear more of Sara’s analysis, watch the episode above.

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The president escalated his attack on Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell to lower interest rates while his administration continued to accuse Powell of improper spending on renovations at the institution.

Powell had adopted a wait-and-see position on interest rates in anticipation that inflation might increase as a result of the tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump. On Tuesday, the president continued his rhetorical jab at Powell, despite a report showing an increase in inflation.

‘He’s a knucklehead. Stupid guy. He really is.’

“We should have the lowest interest rate anywhere in the world. Jerome Powell has done a terrible job. And frankly, I don’t think he could do a worse job. He’s called everything wrong,” the president said to reporters.

“So they had a report come out the other day, 71 different economists and me — you know who was right? Me! Did you know that? I was right!” he added, apparently referring to estimates of inflation from his tariffs.

On Tuesday, the Core Consumer Price Index was reported to have risen to 2.9% on a year-to-year basis. The increase led many to believe that Powell would refuse calls from the president to cut rates in order to cut off any overheating of the economy. Powell has previously said his target for safe inflation was about 2%.

“I tried being nice to the guy. It doesn’t help. He’s a knucklehead. Stupid guy. He really is,” Trump said about Powell in comments from the White House on Monday.

RELATED: Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell says he will not resign if asked by Trump

Earlier in July, Federal Housing Finance Agency Director William Pulte called for an investigation into Powell’s “political bias” as well as his “deceptive Senate testimony” and said they were enough to dismiss him from his position.

Powell has defended the independence of the Federal Reserve and denied claims that the president could fire him at will.

He also called for an independent probe into the renovation accusations. In a letter to members of the Senate Banking Committee, Powell indicated that he asked the Fed’s inspector general, Michael Horowitz, to review the costs of the renovation and anything else related to the project.

“The Board’s IG conducted an audit in 2021 to assess the Board’s process for planning and managing multiple renovation projects as well as procuring services under various renovation-related contracts,” Powell said in the letter. “I have asked the Board’s IG to take a fresh look at the project.”

Powell was first nominated to head the Federal Reserve by Trump during his first term, but the president has soured on his leadership and has lobbed numerous insults and accusations at the central banker.

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In a blatant show of hypocrisy, the left-leaning media has launched a vicious smear campaign against loyal Trump adviser Sergio Gor.

The media is questioning his security clearance with unverified claims about his Soviet Uzbekistan roots and has falsely branded him a “Russian spy.”

Meanwhile, the same media outlets shield extremist Zohran Mamdani, who was born in Kampala, Uganda, from criticism — despite the destruction his radical socialist policies could bring to New York and the rest of the country.

“There’s no allegation that [Gor] has Marxist or communist tendencies or beliefs, or that he pushes pro-Russia policy, or any of that. It’s just a Soviet smear of this guy,” BlazeTV host Pat Gray of “Pat Gray Unleashed” says, adding that it’s not just the media’s protection of Zohran Mamdani that reveals the hypocrisy.

“The same people who had zero problems with a member of Congress sleeping with a Chinese spy for two years,” he says. “They had no problem electing a man who attended a church where the pastor condemned America every week.”

“They couldn’t care less about the lead candidate for mayor of New York City, who’s an avowed socialist and Islamist,” he continues.

“None of that matters. But this guy who advises Donald Trump, he was born in Uzbekistan,” he adds.

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The House Rules Committee is dominated by Republicans, who boast a 9-4 majority over Democrats. However, while the vote was mostly along party lines, the results are likely not what was expected.

‘Every Republican on this committee should be able to easily vote “yes.”‘

The amendment, if passed, would have sent a vote to the House on whether to force Attorney General Pam Bondi to “preserve and release any records related to Jeffrey Epstein,” Newsweek reported.

However, Republicans voted down the motion, defeating it 7-5 with just one GOP member voting alongside Democrats.

Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) joined the four Democrats who voted to force the House ruling, including Teresa Leger Fernandez (D-N.M.), who told Republicans before the vote that if there is nothing that needs to be hidden, they should unanimously vote to release the files.

“Every Republican on this committee should be able to easily vote ‘yes,'” Fernandez said.

RELATED: ‘Epstein is a CIA op’: How far up does the scandal REALLY go?

Fernandez later shared a video of the vote to her X account, adding, “Republicans in the House Rules Committee just stopped an amendment that, if passed, would force Congress to vote on whether the Trump Administration should release the Epstein files. What are they hiding?”

Khanna also shared the vote on his X page, thanking Norman for joining his side’s vote.

“People are fed up. They are fed up,” Khanna wrote. “Need to put the American people before party!”

The only Republican absent from the vote was Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas).

Roy did not appear to make a public comment about the vote and has recently focused on the Texas floods and illegal immigration.

RELATED: Former Israeli prime minister responds to accusations that Israel orchestrated Jeffrey Epstein ‘blackmail ring’

Video went viral that purported to show House Republicans voting unanimously to block “the release of the Epstein files.” Despite the video amassing over 1 million views, it appeared to be unrelated to the House Rules Committee vote.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) said that video was actually from a “procedural vote.”

“We voted against Democrats having House floor control. It’s a misunderstanding,” Greene told podcast host Benny Johnson.

The House Rules Committee Republicans who voted against forcing the House vote on the Epstein files were:

Chairwoman Virginia Foxx (N.C.)Michelle Fischbach (Minn.)Erin Houchin (Ind.)Nick Langworthy (N.Y.)Austin Scott (Ga.)Morgan Griffith (Va.)Brian Jack (Ga.)

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Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is set to risk it all and hopes to bounce back from recent AI-related shortcomings with what he is calling “hundreds of billions” of dollars’ worth of investments.

Llama — Meta’s answer to public AI models like ChatGPT and DeepSeek — was not nearly as successful as the Facebook founder hoped, and with Zuckerberg still pushing his dream of augmented reality, he is hoping to get ahead in the field of “superintelligence,” popularized a decade ago by the tech philosopher Nick Bostrom and embraced in recent years by the likes of Zuckerberg.

‘We’re also going to invest hundreds of billions of dollars into compute to build superintelligence.’

By most accounts, including sources he has cited, Zuckerberg has started a new team of top AI talent, paying them as if they were star NBA players.

SemiAnalysis said the typical offers Zuckerberg is throwing out are about $200 million over four years, 100 times more than the usual payout in this field. There have even allegedly been some billion-dollar offers that were turned down by top researchers and engineers from competitor OpenAI.

The new team will focus on AI systems that can perform intellectual tasks at a level meant to compete with the smartest humanity has to offer against machines, with the hope of surpassing human abilities.

This superintelligence team is coupled with gigantic investments in another adjacent sector, which has turned into an arms race in the tech sector.

RELATED: Trump bets big on AI to make America dominant again

An Amazon Web Services data center in Manassas, Virginia, in 2025. Photographer: Nathan Howard/Bloomberg via Getty Images

“For our superintelligence effort, I’m focused on building the most elite and talent-dense team in the industry,” Zuckerberg wrote on Threads, his X-like platform. “We’re also going to invest hundreds of billions of dollars into compute to build superintelligence.”

To do this, Zuckerberg will throw money at the procurement of data centers, in the hope of competing with companies like Amazon, Microsoft, and Oracle, the biggest names in the game.

“We’re actually building several multi-[gigawatt] clusters,” Zuckerberg wrote, referring to the data centers. “We’re calling the first one Prometheus and it’s coming online in ’26. We’re also building Hyperion, which will be able to scale up to 5GW over several years.”

These data centers are gigantic. Zuckerberg showed a graphic displaying the Hyperion Data Center, which will call Richland Parish, Louisiana, its home and is almost the size of Manhattan.

According to Netizen, Zuckerberg will bring 500 jobs to the region, paying about $82,000 per year.

RELATED: Mark Zuckerberg’s multibillion-dollar midlife crisis

At the same time, Meta spokesperson Ashley Gabriel told TechCrunch that Prometheus is located in New Albany, Ohio.

These massive data center complexes will run the advanced AI models at an unprecedented scale, which of course will require massive amounts of energy to power them.

If Meta is to compete with Amazon and Microsoft in this space, they likely need to poach significant amounts of power from local sources, which has already become a big issue on the Eastern seaboard. Alternatively, Meta might need to build its own small modular nuclear reactors, which, while costing billions, could power the data centers while pleasing the surrounding community at the same time by lowering their energy prices through providing auxiliary power.

“We’re dealing with enormous quantities of energy demand,” Blaze Media’s James Poulos said. “AI inference consumes a lot, and training even more. There’s no clear way to come close to meeting anticipated needs without something like a national nuclear industrial program. And that’s before you start tallying all computational demands on electricity generation.”

According to a recent International Energy Agency report, next year’s increase in consumption across AI, crypto, and data centers “could amount to between 160 and 590 TWh compared with 2022. This is equivalent to the electricity consumption of Sweden (low estimate) or Germany (high estimate).”

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