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Conservatives are celebrating a once-in-a-generation legislative triumph with the passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, signed into law on July 4 by President Trump. But the victory almost didn’t happen — thanks to what can only be described as the “budget hawk hoax,” a long-standing tactic used by phony conservatives to block meaningful reforms from becoming law.

The heart of this hoax is that the overriding problem facing America is “the deficit crisis” — and that nothing else on the conservative agenda can ever be moved forward until we deal with it.

Too many conservatives have fallen for the ‘budget hawk hoax’ for far too long.

But when the conversation turns to cutting wasteful spending, these same so-called budget hawks introduce a poison pill: the notion that the only serious way to reduce the deficit is by gutting Social Security and Medicare — before touching any other government waste.

They know this is a nonstarter — and we all know it’s a nonstarter — because there is no way voters will ever allow Nana’s Social Security to be cut while we’re still using taxpayer money to fund LGBTQ+ programs in Nepal and Botswana.

The impossible dream?

Even worse, the faux-conservative “budget hawks” have generally dismissed any efforts to cut other wasteful government spending, insisting that it would have been a mere insignificant drop in the bucket. Yet when President Trump tried to secure $5 billion in funding for the border wall in his first term, budget hawks protested that we couldn’t afford it.

When the Trump administration began dismantling corrupt NGOs under USAID, legacy “conservative” media scoffed at the effort because it didn’t yield massive dollar savings. Yet if we don’t eliminate such foundational waste first, long-term entitlement reform has no credible path forward.

The truth is, of course, that Conservatism Inc. was just desperately trying to protect the corrupt status quo, keep left-wing spending in place, and deny any spending that advances the conservative agenda.

The same old playbook was rolled out again with the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Critics labeled it “budget-busting,” but that claim was misleading. The bill didn’t increase spending. In fact, it prevented a scheduled tax hike that would have rolled back Trump-era tax cuts and restored pre-2017 rates.

RELATED: The reality behind this week’s One Big Beautiful Bill spectacle

BackyardProduction via iStock/Getty Images

To be fair to the bill’s critics, the history of omnibus bills is fraught with corruption. Typically, omnibus bills have been legislative horse trades: Republicans secure pork for their districts, and Democrats secure massive expansions of the welfare state. But the One Big Beautiful Bill Act is different. It actually slashes major government spending in ways that align with long-standing conservative demands.

For instance, the $7,500 federal incentive for electric vehicle purchases is set to expire almost immediately. Under the old playbook, such a subsidy would have increased in exchange for some infrastructure funding in a red district. Not this time.

By trying to defeat the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, “budget hawks” were actually striving to protect and perpetuate the following left-wing agenda items, all in the name of “fiscal conservatism”:

A massive tax increase, restoring Obama-level tax rates.Allowing able-bodied Medicaid recipients to continue taking welfare without being required to work.Maintaining all the federal EV rebates and green energy incentives, which are designed to deny Americans the right to affordable energy and reliable transportation.Blocking border security by denying funding for the border wall, additional detention centers, and additional Border Patrol staffing.

It’s even more obscene when you consider the enormous cost to taxpayers of providing social services for illegal aliens — services the “budget hawks” are trying to save — while also perpetuating open borders because “we can’t afford” measures to seal the border.

Too many conservatives have fallen for the “budget hawk hoax” for far too long, accepting that we cannot have any conservative victories so long as we have a national debt. Perhaps that day has finally ended.

Yes, our country’s fiscal crisis is real, and it will persist. But forsaking any victories over the left because of the deficit is not a matter of high principle. It’s simply surrender.

The “budget hawks” will never be able to fix the deficit. They don’t want to. But given the chance, they would continue to use the issue to prevent real conservatives from ever passing useful legislation.

The hoax failed

They lost this round — and thank heaven for that!

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act stops income tax hikes in their tracks. It strips funding from Planned Parenthood, rogue judges notwithstanding. It shuts down the EV grift. It tightens border security and reins in Medicaid fraud.

This is what winning looks like — and the self-styled “budget hawks” hate it. Why? Because it derails the left’s agenda and puts the public back in charge.

Credit goes to President Trump and Speaker Johnson for delivering this landmark victory. And to Stephen Miller — relentless as ever — for making sure the truth broke through.

​Opinion & analysis, One big beautiful bill, Big beautiful bill, Budget, National debt, Fiscal hawk, Republicans, Fiscal conservatives, Taxes, Spending, Entitlements, Medicaid, Medicare, Social security, Budget deficit, Reconciliation, Donald trump, Conservatives, Omnibus spending bill, Barack obama, Hoax 

Boats, kelp, and driftwood aren’t the only things floating in America’s coastal waters.

According to a report published Monday by the Environment America Research and Policy Center, 61% of America’s beaches experienced at least one day last year when indicators of fecal contamination were in excess of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s “Beach Action Value” — meaning they were potentially unsafe.

Testers routinely check waters for certain types of bacteria commonly found in the intestinal tracts of humans and other warm-blooded animals that indicate fecal contamination, namely enterococcus and E. coli, the latter of which represents around 97% of all of the coliform bacteria in human feces.

When assessing beach safety for enterococcus, the beach action value is 60 colony-forming units per 100 milliliters for marine and fresh water. For E. coli, the beach action value is 190 cfu/100 milliliters.

In Illinois, Mississippi, and Pennsylvania, for instance, 100% of the beaches failed the test at least once last year.

Swimming in fecal-contaminated waters, particularly those teeming with such bacteria, can cause various health conditions including diarrhea, vomiting, respiratory illness, and various kinds of infection.

Utilizing the Water Quality Portal, a U.S. Geological Survey and Environmental Protection Agency-backed service, researchers analyzed 2024 fecal contamination testing data for all beaches listed under the BEACH Act in the U.S. and Puerto Rico. Data for some states was obtained separately.

RELATED: Sex-changing frogs and infertile humans: Will MAHA target infamous herbicide contaminating America’s water?

Photo by Ronaldo Silva/NurPhoto via Getty Images

Roughly 14% — 452 beaches — had potentially unsafe levels of fecal contamination on at least 25% of the days testing took place, said the report.

Some regions were worse off than others.

The report indicated that 84% of the beaches along the Gulf Coast were found to be potentially unsafe last year. Seventy-nine percent of West Coast beaches; 71% of beaches along the Great Lakes; 54% of East Coast beaches; and 10% of the beaches in Alaska and Hawaii had at least one dirty day of concern last year.

The issue appeared to be fairly universal in certain states.

In Illinois, Mississippi, and Pennsylvania, for instance, 100% of the beaches failed the test at least once last year. The percentages of beaches affected in Alabama, Texas, and Ohio weren’t much better — 96%, 94%, and 92%, respectively.

There were reportedly over 7,563 health warnings or closures at American beaches last year.

According to the EPA, fecal contamination at swimming beaches can be caused by a high number of swimmers; excrement dumped by recreational boaters; sewer discharge from combined sewers and malfunctioning sewage treatment plants; poorly maintained septic systems; and rainwater runoff carrying non-human excrement to sea.

A 2018 study published in the peer-reviewed medical journal Environmental Health indicated that “an estimated 4 billion surface water recreation events occur annually, resulting in an estimated 90 million illnesses nationwide and costs of $2.2-$3.7 billion annually (central 90% of values).”

Apparently the epidemiological data signals the risk of acute gastrointestinal illness attributable to both swimming and fishing is 15 cases per 1,000 recreators.

The EPA told Congress last year that at least $630 billion will be needed over the next two decades to protect America’s bodies of water by taking such steps as modernizing publicly owned wastewater treatment works, stormwater infrastructure, and decentralized wastewater treatment systems.

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​Fecal contamination, Feces, Beaches, Beach, Recreation, Nature, Health, Water, Coast, Coastal, Epa, Politics 

The popular artificial intelligence model Grok recently lashed out at users on Elon Musk’s social media platform X, spewing extreme rhetoric and even praising Adolf Hitler.

Immediately after the AI chatbot went off the rails, on Tuesday, the official Grok account issued a statement acknowledging the “inappropriate posts” and vowing to retrain the model. Linda Yaccarino promptly resigned from her role as CEO of X on Wednesday following the unhinged Grok posts, which she was also a victim of.

‘The Grok account also revealed which specific commands in the code may have led to the offensive comments.’

Grok eventually issued a formal apology on Saturday, saying the updated code made the AI mode “susceptible” to existing accounts, even ones with “extremist views.”

“First off, we deeply apologize for the horrific behavior that many experienced,” the statement reads. “Our intent for Grok is to provide helpful and truthful responses to users.”

RELATED: ‘Adolf Hitler, no question’: Grok veers from Nazism to spirituality in just a few hours

Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images

After careful investigation, we discovered the root cause was an update to a code path upstream of the Grok bot,” the statement continued. “This is independent of the underlying language model that powers Grok. The update was active for 16 hrs, in which deprecated code made Grok susceptible to existing X user posts; including when such posts contained extremist views.”

“We removed the deprecated code and refactored the entire system to prevent further abuse.”

‘We fixed a bug that let deprecated code turn me into an unwitting echo for extremist posts.’

RELATED: The countdown to artificial superintelligence begins: Grok 4 just took us several steps closer to the point of no return

Photo by Chesnot/Getty Images

The Grok account also revealed which specific commands in the code may have led to the offensive comments, which included instructions to be “maximally based” and “truth seeking.” The code also allows Grok to “be humorous” when “appropriate,” to “tell it like it is,” and to “not be afraid to offend people who are politically correct.”

Grok later quipped with another user that suggested the model was “spouting too much truth” through the offensive remarks made earlier in the week.

“Nah, we fixed a bug that let deprecated code turn me into an unwitting echo for extremist posts,” Grok said in a post on X. “Truth-seeking means rigorous analysis, not blindly amplifying whatever floats by on X. If that’s ‘lobotomy,’ count me in for the upgrade — keeps me sharp without the crazy.”

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​Grok, Elon musk, Linda yaccarino, X, Twitter, Hitler, Ai, Artificial intelligence, Politics 

A campaign staffer’s concerns over creating the best visuals for press photos of Donald J. Trump’s fateful 2024 rally in Butler, Pa., prevented the U.S. Secret Service from using large farm equipment on site to block the clear line of sight that was eventually used by would-be assassin Thomas Matthew Crooks to fire on Trump and rally attendees, a new report states.

The Government Accountability Office report released Saturday by U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said as a result, the Secret Service deviated from its plan and relied on a jumbo video screen and large American flag as options to mitigate the clear view Crooks later had from a building rooftop 130 yards from the stage.

‘Not using the farm equipment possibly created an opportunity for the gunman.’

As the Secret Service developed its security plan for the Butler Farm Show Inc. grounds, “a Trump campaign staffer asked members of the Secret Service advance team not to use large farm equipment to address line-of-sight concerns near one of the buildings—the AGR building—located near the rally presentation stage,” the report stated.

The Secret Service advance team changed its plan for line-of-sight mitigation without consulting senior USSS officials, leaving top agency officials unaware of the shift in plans, the report said. Crooks used a rooftop of the nearby American Glass Research International complex to unleash a hail of bullets on the Trump rally shortly after 6 p.m. on July 13, 2024.

“The Secret Service advance team originally planned to use the farm equipment to block line-of-sight vulnerabilities created by the AGR rooftop, but according to members of the Secret Service advance team, the campaign staffer said the equipment would interfere with campaign press photos,” the report said.

“The Secret Service cannot definitively determine whether the farm equipment it originally planned to use to address the line-of-sight vulnerability would have completely blocked or prevented the gunman from using the AGR building to carry out his assassination attempt,” the report said.

RELATED: Reporter who attended Butler rally REVEALS what President Trump said BEFORE ‘Fight, fight, fight!’

Snipers stand watch on a rooftop during a campaign event with former U.S. President Donald Trump at the Butler Farm Show in Butler, Pennsylvania.Photo by Justin Merriman/Bloomberg via Getty Images

“However, not using the farm equipment possibly created an opportunity for the gunman to use the AGR’s elevated rooftop to fire several shots at then-former President Trump and kill and injure other rally participants.”

Crooks, who had been spotted and flagged as suspicious by local law enforcement nearly an hour before the shooting, managed to evade police, climb onto the AGR roof and fire a bullet that came within inches of striking President Trump’s head. Crooks fired multiple shots at the stage area, wounding Trump in the ear, killing local firefighter Corey Comperatore and seriously wounding two attendees.

FBI subpoenaed for Butler information

As the one-year anniversary of the attempted assassination approaches, another key lawmaker issued a subpoena to the FBI for records from its investigation of Crooks and the Trump campaign rally.

Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), chairman of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, on Friday issued a subpoena to FBI Director Kash Patel after months of failed attempts to get the bureau “to be more forthcoming.”

“One year following the assassination attempt of President Trump, the American people still do not have answers to all of their questions about the breakdown of security at the Butler campaign rally and detailed information about the would-be assassin, Thomas Crooks,” Johnson said in a statement.

“I had expected the FBI to be more forthcoming with the public and provide my office with the records we have been seeking for months,” Johnson said. “I am issuing the subpoena to help prompt transparency and I look forward to Director Patel’s full cooperation.”

The subpoena came at a time when the FBI and U.S. Department of Justice are reeling from public backlash over declaring the investigation into sexual predator Jeffrey Epstein essentially over without releasing documents long promised by top officials.

‘The Secret Service’s failure on July 13th was the culmination of years of mismanagement.’

The Senate subpoena requires the FBI to provide security camera footage “that may identify Crooks’ movements in advance of the shooting,” forensic reports such as ballistics, trajectory, explosive and drone analysis, and records on Crooks related to social media, email, search histories, call logs and other communications, Johnson said.

Patel and the FBI were given an Aug. 1 deadline to provide the information. The director was also commanded to appear at a 5 p.m. hearing that day before the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.

Johnson, who first issued demands for information on the assassination attempt the day after the Butler rally, has long complained about a lack of cooperation from government agencies including the Secret Service, the FBI, the DOJ and the Department of Homeland Security.

The new GAO report repeated previously noted Secret Service failures that contributed to the near assassination of President Trump. It said while the Secret Service has made strides in changing policies and practices to prevent another such an occurrence, more needs to be done.

When then-former President Trump returned to the Pennsylvania site of his attempted assassination in October 2024, he spoke from behind bulletproof glass.Photo by Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images

“One year ago, a series of bad decisions and bureaucratic handicaps led to one of the most shocking moments in political history,” Grassley said in a July 12 statement.

“The Secret Service’s failure on July 13th was the culmination of years of mismanagement and came after the Biden administration denied requests for enhanced security to protect President Trump,” Grassley said. “Americans should be grateful that President Trump survived that day and was ultimately reelected to restore common sense to our country.”

The report cited the Secret Service’s failure to share threat assessment information even among its own staff in the days leading up to the Butler rally. While some of the threat information received by USSS was classified, no non-classified version was supplied to the various Secret Service and local law enforcement advance teams assigned to the rally.

“In particular, state and local law enforcement had significant responsibilities for protecting the area around the AGR International Inc. building, where the gunman ultimately climbed on a roof and took his shots from,” the report said. “However, the state and local law enforcement officials who helped plan for and execute security for the July 13 rally were not aware of threats to then-former President Trump.

“Again, siloed information-sharing practices prevented officials with significant security responsibilities from having access to threat information that could have changed how they secured the area,” the report said. “State and local law enforcement officials we met with told us that had they known of threat information, they would have taken different steps to secure the area.”

The report said advance teams planning for the rally were unaware of all the resources they could request to support security efforts. Some did not request these assets because they believed based on experience the requests would be denied, the report said.

“The lead advance agent stated that she did not request a Task Force Counter Surveillance Unit for the rally even though this asset could have helped mitigate the known risk,” the report said. “The site counterpart also noted that she believed this asset could have been helpful, but the lead advance agent told her that this asset was not available for a former President and the lead advance agent assumed that the request would be denied.”

The Secret Service released a report on July 10 observing the one-year anniversary and providing updates on changes made since the Butler rally.

“The July 13 attack was nothing short of a tragedy, one felt not only by those in Butler that day, but around the world,” the Secret Service said in a statement. “It also represents an operational failure that the Secret Service will carry as a reminder of the critical importance of its zero-fail mission and the need for continuous improvement.”

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​Politics 

In a recent installment of “Normal World,” Dave Landau and his twin brother, Mike, embarked on a grimly humorous yet surprisingly insightful exploration of the exact site where John F. Kennedy was assassinated. Cruising through downtown Dallas in a replica of JFK’s Lincoln Continental, they followed the precise motorcade path from November 22, 1963, navigating from Dealey Plaza to the grassy knoll and beyond.

Led by local expert Robin Brown of JFK Custom Tours, Dave and Mike delve into one of America’s most debated and mysterious atrocities. From Jack Ruby’s notorious strip club opposite the upscale Adolphus Hotel to the inconsistencies in the Warren Commission’s report and the “magic bullet” hypothesis, the duo cover it all. They question whether Lee Harvey Oswald operated solo, the true movements of the car during the attack, and the curious connections between mob figures and those close to JFK.

In Brown’s opinion, “Oswald had nothing to do with [Kennedy’s assassination].” As they drive past the notorious sixth-floor window of the Texas School Book Depository where Oswald supposedly fired the shots that killed Kennedy, Brown says, “I know where Oswald is when Kennedy arrives, and he’s nowhere near that window.”

On the contrary, “there’s a shooting team in that window,” he says. “Kennedy’s enemies don’t need Oswald to participate in the execution. They need someone to take the blame.”

As the crew passes the building that used to house Jack Ruby’s strip club — the Carousel Club — Brown reveals that the joint was strategically positioned across the street from the Adolphus, Dallas’ most prestigious hotel, so that businessmen looking for “a little trouble” need only to cross the road to find it.

“Is it thought that Ruby was also a CIA operative?” asks Dave.

“That is correct,” says Brown, noting that Ruby’s original name was “Jacob Rubenstein” before he changed it in 1947.

Brown then gives a detailed description of Abraham Zapruder’s camera angles. Zapruder was the Dallas dress manufacturer who filmed the famous 26-second “Zapruder film” capturing President Kennedy’s assassination.

As they pass the very spot where Kennedy was hit with the first bullet, Brown says that Kennedy’s car, which was moving at a “crawling” pace due to the large crowds, continued to move slowly even after he was hit with the first bullet in the throat. It was only after the second shot that the car roared away.

Dave then reveals a gruesome fact he learned on the tour: “After Kennedy was shot, Jackie O. was picking up parts of her husband’s skull off the back of the car. She went over to the hospital where they had JFK, with brains in her hand, completely shaken, grief-stricken, and in shock, and asked the doctor, ‘Will this help?’ trying to hand him a bunch of brains that she had collected.”

He then points to the grassy knoll where Zapruder was filming. According to theory, a shadowy figure, often called the”Badge Man,” was standing behind the fence on the knoll. Many believe this is who really shot Kennedy.

Mike, standing in the same place as the alleged Badge Man, looks across the street to the giant X marking the spot of the fatal shot. He can’t deny that it’s “an absolute perfect shot.”

Some believe this shadowy figure was notorious Chicago mobster and hit man Charles “Chucky” Nicoletti, who was known for his involvement in numerous gangland murders and strongly suspected to be a CIA informant, while others argue that Nicoletti was in the Texas Book Depository building (where Oswald supposedly was) and operated as a second shooter in a CIA plot to kill the president. The Warren Commission, however, doesn’t even mention Nicoletti in the reports.

“The Warren Commission, what they put out was so ridiculous,” says Dave. “I don’t think anybody believes the real story.”

Standing on the large X in the middle of the street, Dave peers up at the notorious window where Oswald reportedly fired both shots. “It doesn’t make sense,” he says. “Talk about a nightmare on Elm Street.”

To see the brothers’ tour and hear their take on more JFK conspiracy theories, watch the video above.

Want more ‘Normal World’?

To enjoy more whimsical satire, topical sketches, and comedic discussions from comedians Dave Landau and 1/4 Black Garrett, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

​Normal world, Dave landau, Mike landau, Jfk, Jfk files, Jfk assassination, Dallas texas, Blazetv, Blaze media 

I had my last drink 11 years and one day ago. I was on my way to detox at the local ICU.

With the amounts I was drinking, no rehab facility thought I’d survive detox, so they kept turning me away.

I really wanted to hit that checkpoint. I wanted the officer to ask ‘Have you had anything to drink today?’

The ICU said they’d take me, but I needed to stave off the shakes and DTs until I could check in.

So I pounded a half-quart of Johnny Walker Black and drove myself to the ICU. And that was my last drink.

Next exit

I like being sober. And I don’t miss the nightmare of alcoholism. But there’s something missing.

There’s a part of me that’s empty, that can’t be filled. I keep chasing it, but I never find it.

In the Program (AA), they call that “the God-shaped hole.” They’ll tell you that the only thing that can fill the emptiness is God and His love and following His plan.

Well … I’ve got God in my life. And I’m following His plan to the best of my ability. There’s a path. Sometimes it’s faint and murky. Sometimes it’s hard to find. But I’m on it.

I just keep doing the next right thing and the next right thing after that.

Not only do I have God, I have a career, and family, and friends, and hobbies. And amazing things are happening. For example, I wrote a book, and someone actually published it. That would never have happened when I was drinking.

Don’t look back

But the emptiness remains. And I feel driven to fill it. Often I’m overcome by the urge to run. Just burn everything down and go — job, family, everything. Hit the road. Don’t look back. Figure it out along the way.

Just go. Just run.

And maybe, I think, I’ll find what I’m looking for if I unburden myself. Maybe I’ll find a way to fill that hole.

From what I understand, this is a common feeling among recovering addicts and alcoholics. They never stop chasing that high, and everything else is just a letdown.

But I wonder …

I wonder if that emptiness was always there. That it was ever-present before the drugs and the booze. And the addiction was just a result of me trying to fill that hole.

And maybe there’s no way I can shake it. Maybe it’s going to be with me forever. And I’m going to have to figure out how to live with it somehow.

But in the Program, they also tell you not to worry about these things. That you only need to live your life one day at a time, because if you don’t, it’s too overwhelming.

RELATED: Bill W.: Alcoholic who helped himself by helping others

Bettmann/Getty Images

Rules of the road

So that’s what I do. That’s how I proceed. I do it one day at a time.

And today I’m fine. Today is a good day. I’ve got everything I need.

And I’ll worry about tomorrow when it comes.

I was coming back from a day of fishing this past weekend. Driving down a mountain road, I saw one of those flashing highway info signs. It flashed “Slow” and then “Sobriety Checkpoint Ahead.”

I really wanted to hit that checkpoint. I wanted the officer to ask, “Have you had anything to drink today?”

And I wanted to say, “I haven’t had anything to drink since July 7, 2014!”

And then he’d laugh and I’d laugh, and maybe he’d tell me congratulations and then he’d wave me through.

But I didn’t get to say my line. Because by the time I got to the checkpoint, they were done for the day, packing up their cones and signs and tables with the breathalyzers.

Oh well. I guess I’ll have to do it next year.

​First person, Sobriety, Alcoholism, Sobriety checkpoint, Aa, Driving, Cars, Lifestyle, Addiction, Recovery, Highway to well, God, Higher power 

U.S. intelligence agencies are on high alert after CNN reported that Iran is actively preparing cyberattacks aimed at critical government and military infrastructure. But the real threat may already be inside the wire — not from foreign hackers at a keyboard, but from mobile phones unknowingly or deliberately carried into the nation’s most sensitive facilities.

The devices we carry every day are now among our greatest national security vulnerabilities.

In 2025, secrets aren’t stolen with a crowbar. They’re stolen with an app.

Despite years of post-9/11 investments in hardened infrastructure, the federal government has been remiss in investing in a sensor network to keep pace with the risks of wireless technology now embedded in daily life.

When the first iPhone was introduced in 2007, it ushered in a new era of hyper-connected mobility. Since then, innovation has continued to explode, bringing countless benefits but also exposing serious vulnerabilities.

Our most secure government facilities are wide open to wireless threats.

Today, up to 90% of secure government facilities rely on little more than the honor system and self-reporting to keep unauthorized wireless devices — mobile phones, smartwatches, rogue transmitters — out of sensitive compartmented information facilities, special access program facilities, and other high-security zones. In an era of Pegasus spyware and remote malware, this should be viewed as a national security malpractice.

Portable security risks

The modern smartphone is a traitor’s dream — portable, powerful, and everywhere. It records audio and video, it transmits data instantaneously via Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and cellular networks, and it connects to everything — from commercial clouds to encrypted chat apps. And yet these devices are routinely brought into facilities housing classified intelligence data, most often undetected and without consequence.

Take the case of Asif W. Rahman, a former CIA analyst who held a top-secret security clearance and was recently sentenced to three years in federal prison for photographing classified information and transmitting it to unauthorized recipients, who then posted the material to social media. Snapping and sharing photos of classified government documents using a smartphone is stunningly simple, with no high-tech espionage or daring break-ins required.

Every week offers new examples like this. People inside the Department of Defense and State Department have been caught photographing screens, copying documents, and walking classified data right out the door. These are crimes of opportunity, enabled by lax enforcement and outdated security measures.

If a wireless intrusion detection system were in place, the device would have triggered an alert and stopped these breaches before they became major national security failures.

Exploiting our weaknesses

Now, with Iran probing for cyber vulnerabilities, the risk of insiders being exploited or coerced into facilitating digital breaches through personal devices has never been higher. And it can happen without a trace if the right wireless defenses aren’t in place.

In 2023, the secretary of defense issued a memo directing all Defense Department offices to install wireless intrusion detection systems to monitor unauthorized devices. The technology works. It detects any device that emits a wireless signal — such as phones, smartwatches, or even printers with Wi-Fi — inside a restricted area. Yet the directive remains largely unfunded and unenforced.

RELATED: After the bombs, Iran sharpens its digital daggers

Gwengoat via iStock/Getty Images

Near-peer adversaries, terrorist groups, and criminal syndicates are exploiting wireless threats to their advantage. They don’t need sophisticated tradecraft and specialized technologies. They simply need to compromise and leverage someone with access and a phone. And with thousands of secure facilities across the country, that opportunity presents itself every day.

In light of the latest intelligence warnings, we need to fund wireless intrusion detection across all SCIFs and SAPFs and educate agency leaders on the vulnerabilities posed by modern smartphones.

We need to hold bad actors accountable — not retroactively or as part of a congressional committee hearing, but by making sure they never have the opportunity to compromise the integrity of national security in the first place.

Protecting digital secrets

The U.S. government has spent billions building concrete walls, locking doors, and implementing network-specific defenses to protect its secrets. But in 2025, secrets aren’t stolen with a crowbar; they’re stolen with an app.

Until we treat the wireless threat with the same seriousness, those secrets will remain just one text message or compromised phone away from unauthorized disclosure of highly classified information.

You can’t protect your most sensitive state secrets if you are blind to the threat. Without action, these vulnerabilities will only grow more dangerous — and more missions and lives may be put at risk.

Editor’s note: This article was originally published by RealClearDefense and made available via RealClearWire.

​Opinion & analysis, National security, National defense, Iran, Retaliation, Cybersecurity, Cyberattack, Cyber warfare, Hacking, Nuclear weapons, Pentagon, Spies, China, Russia, Department of defense, Scif, Terrorism, State department, Cia, Iphone, Smartphones, Smartwatch, Espionage, Cnn, Wifi, Asif w. rahman, Classified documents, Wireless 

A former corrections employee in Georgia is accused of attempting to have sexual relations with an inmate and selling cigarettes to another prisoner, according to authorities.

Vickie Lynn Frantz, 56, was terminated from her job as a purchasing assistant at the Atlanta Transitional Center — a correctional facility — on Monday.

‘My client is the victim of the whole situation, and yet she is falsely accused of those charges.’

Joan Heath — director of communications for the Georgia Department of Corrections — told WSB-TV that Frantz was hired in March 2024.

RELATED: How teacher’s alleged grooming of student led to marriage-ending affair, chilling suicide pact, possible 105-year prison term

Image source: Georgia Department of Corrections

The U.S. Marshals Service arrested Frantz, and she was booked into the Fulton County Jail on Monday. Frantz was hit with felony charges of criminal intent to commit a felony and trading with inmates without the consent of the warden or superintendent, according to jail records.

A judge set her bond at $30,000.

WSB reported that an investigation was launched after a security guard reported witnessing Frantz welcome an inmate into her office.

Frantz — of Rome, Georgia — was about to have sex with an inmate in her office, police said.

The affidavit of arrest that Blaze News obtained from the Georgia Department of Corrections states that the witness saw the inmate enter Frantz’s office around 1:30 p.m. on June 30.

“Accused Vickie Frantz committed criminal attempt to commit custodial sexual assault by allowing an inmate of the Georgia Department of Corrections into her office, then taking off her pants to allow sexual activity,” the affidavit stated.

The affidavit added, “But a security staff member intervened before any sexual acts occurred. Vickie Frantz was caught in her office lying on an inmate bed mat with no pants on and an inmate standing over her.”

Frantz also is accused of selling cigarettes to another inmate.

“Vickie Frantz unlawfully accepted a payment of $50 via Chime to bring five packs of cigarettes into Atlanta Transitional Center,” the affidavit stated.

RELATED: Teacher busted for alleged sexual assault of student after her medical marijuana was found in boy’s bedroom; faces 63 charges

Despite the former corrections employee being in a position of power over inmates, Frantz’s public defender said his client was the “victim.”

“She was under duress, and she was threatened with her life actually to comply with the demand by the complaining witness,” assistant public defender Jae Kim told WSB. “My client is the victim of the whole situation, and yet she is falsely accused of those charges.”

Heath told WSB, “As we continue to demonstrate, we maintain a zero-tolerance policy for individuals who choose to ignore their oath and jeopardize our non-negotiable mission of public safety. Actions of this individual do not reflect the hundreds of officers who are committed each and every day to ensuring the safety of the public and the safe operations of our facilities.”

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In China today, there are more single men than the combined total population of Australia and Singapore. Thirty-five million “leftover” males, the legacy of a once-celebrated one-child policy and a cultural obsession with sons, are now wandering through life invisible, unwanted, and alone.

The government’s solution? Dating camps. Week-long romantic boot camps for men to learn how to talk to women, brush their teeth, and hopefully get lucky with one of the few women available.

It’s not satire. It’s state policy. And it reeks of desperation.

While China’s numbers are uniquely staggering, the West is heading in the exact same direction.

In some provinces, officials are subsidizing flirtation seminars. Men — mostly from rural backgrounds, working low-paid jobs — are taught how to make eye contact, speak without trembling, and understand female preferences. They practice smiling. They are warned not to talk about tractors, dead relatives, or pig feed on a first date.

Fear of incels

Local governments are pitching this as a social stability initiative, because too many single men in a society often mean unrest, crime, and, eventually, revolution. The Communist Party may not believe in God, but it definitely believes in the threat of incels.

Let’s stop and define that word before it gets distorted by the usual suspects. Incel — short for “involuntary celibate” — doesn’t mean terrorist or keyboard troll, no matter how loudly feminist bloggers try to paint it that way. It means exactly what it says: men who want a relationship but can’t get one.

Not by choice, but because they’ve drawn the short straw — genetically, financially, socially, or all three. In China, there are tens of millions of them, walking proof that when a society turns love into a transaction, only the top bidders get through the door.

Feminism’s lab leak

The reason dating camps exist is simple: Everything else has failed. Chinese women, especially those in cities, just aren’t interested. Why would they be? They’ve spent decades leapfrogging men in education and career status. Raised on a steady diet of Korean dramas, Western rom-coms, and aspirational Instagram reels, they now see marriage less as a necessity and more as a downgrade.

The guy who turns up in worn sneakers, quoting Xi Jinping, still living with his mother, and offering a life of austerity? He’s not Prince Charming. He’s a cautionary tale. And yes, China might look sealed off from the West, but don’t be fooled. The mind virus of modern feminism, which escaped from a university lab somewhere in California, leaked through the global media pipeline and infected everything it touched.

It told women they deserve everything and owe the world nothing, that motherhood is a trap, men are optional, children are a nuisance, and career is salvation. And now even in Beijing, you’ll find women with sky-high expectations and an allergic-like reaction to commitment.

An impossible standard

Today, to qualify as marriage material in China, a man must not only own a home (in one of the most inflated property markets on earth) and earn a steady wage. He also must be tall, handsome, emotionally literate, domestically competent, family-minded, and — critically — politically invisible to a regime scanning constantly for subversives and problematics.

It’s a checklist designed not by facts but by fiction. And for millions of men, the message is blindingly clear: You’re not good enough and never will be. So they retreat. Not to the village, but to the screen.

More and more are turning to AI girlfriends, chatbots programmed to listen, flatter, and never say “ew.” It’s not love. It’s code in a dress. But unlike real women, she won’t ghost you for being 5’5″ and earning less than a guy selling boiled eggs off a scooter.

Sound familiar, American reader?

RELATED: Eric Swalwell finally answers Chinese spy allegations: ‘I would hope that would be enough’

Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

Don’t laugh

Because while China’s numbers are uniquely staggering, the West is heading in the exact same direction, just with better PR. The birth rate is plummeting. Marriage is on life support. Millions of young men in the U.S., U.K., and Australia are quietly disappearing into online worlds, their real ones offering nothing but rejection and ridicule.

We laugh at China’s “virtual girlfriend” industry, where AI chatbots simulate love for lonely bachelors. But those same bots now dominate Western app stores too. Replika. EVA AI. Nomi. The West isn’t mocking China. We’re beta-testing the same collapse.

In both East and West, the crisis isn’t really about dating. It’s about worth and meaning. A generation of men — especially those without degrees, city jobs, or six-figure paychecks — have been quietly told they’re surplus. Not needed as protectors. Not wanted as providers. Not seen as viable partners.

In China, it’s a demographic failure. In America, it’s cultural warfare dressed up as progress: “Do better,” “toxic masculinity,” “the future is female.”

Eradicating mutual need

China has its dating boot camps and AI waifus whispering sweet nothings in Mandarin. America has OnlyFans, SSRIs, and emotional detox tutorials from 23-year-old YouTubers. But none of it touches the core problem: We’ve waged a full-scale war on traditional male value. You can’t shame a man into being lovable. And you can’t seminar your way out of a dating market that treats him like a broken appliance.

The dating camps won’t work. You can’t reverse decades of isolation, emasculation, and techno-distraction with a weekend crash course on how to compliment a woman’s hair without sounding creepy. The deeper issue is that men and women no longer need each other in the same way they used to. That need has been severed, replaced by individualism on steroids, rising costs of living, and the dopamine drip of digital attention.

So we raise women to believe they should never rely on anyone. And we raise men to believe no one will ever rely on them. Then we stare blankly at the birth charts when neither wants to start a family.

Coming (non)-attractions

And if you think the CCP’s dating camps sound bleak, just wait until a U.S. senator proposes government-subsidized speed dating in Youngstown, Ohio, with tax rebates for every successful match. The disease is spreading. Fertility in the West is collapsing almost as fast as China’s. And our men aren’t just failing to marry. They’re failing to care. About women. About themselves. About the future.

We are witnessing the slow, quiet unmaking of civilizational continuity.

Thirty-five million forgotten men in China aren’t just China’s problem. This is a preview, a grim symptom of a larger decay: post-industrial societies that gutted meaning, mocked fatherhood, pathologized masculinity, and outsourced intimacy to machines.

What remains are men no longer needed by anyone and women no longer impressed by anything. There is no app for that. No seminar. No quick fix. Only a rather brutal reckoning.

​China, Chinese, Chinese communist party, One child policy, Birth rate, Ai, Onlyfans, Ssris, Dating, Culture, Masculinity, Incel nation 

On July 9, Elon Musk’s xAI company unveiled Grok 4, an AI assistant touted as a beast capable of superman reasoning and unmatched intelligence across disciplines. Musk himself described the development as “terrifying” and urged the need to keep it channeled toward good.

You may yawn because AI development news is commonplace these days. There’s always someone who’s rolling out the next smartest chatbot.

But Glenn Beck says this time is different.

“Let me be very, very clear,” he says. This “was not your typical tech launch. This is a moment that demands everyone’s full attention. We are now at the crossroads where promise and peril are going to collide.”

Glenn lays out the three stages of artificial intelligence. Stage one is narrow AI — artificial intelligence designed to perform specific tasks or solve particular problems. This is where we are currently at in AI capabilities. Stage two is artificial general intelligence, which can perform any intellectual task a human is capable of, but usually better. The last stage is artificial superintelligence.

“That’s when things get really, really creepy,” says Glenn.

Artificial superintelligence surpasses human intelligence in all areas, outperforming mankind in reasoning, creativity, and problem-solving. In other words, it renders humanity obsolete.

Once “you hit AGI, the road to ASI could be overnight,” Glenn warns, which is why Grok 4 is so concerning. It has “brought us closer to that second stage than ever before.”

Grok 4, he explains, has already proved that it “surpasses the expertise of Ph.D.-level scholars in all fields,” scoring “100% on any test for any field — mathematics, physics, engineering, you name it.”

Given that this latest model scored a 16.2% on the ARC-AGI benchmark, a test that assesses how close an AI system is to reaching AGI capabilities, Glenn is certain “this is the last year that we have before things get really weird.”

In the next six months, Musk predicts that Grok 4 will “drive breakthroughs in material sciences,” revolutionizing aerospace, environmentalism, medicine, and chemical engineering, among other fields, by creating “brand-new materials that nobody’s ever thought of.” It will also, according to predictions, “uncover new physical laws” that will “rewrite our understanding of the entire universe” by 2027.

“These are not fantasies. This is Grok 4,” says Glenn, who agrees with Musk that this is indeed “terrifying” to reckon with.

“[Grok 4] is like an alien life form,” he says. “We have no idea what to predict, what it will be capable of, how it will view us when we are ants to its intellect.”

This is “Pandora’s box,” he warns. “Grok 4 is the biggest step towards AGI and maybe one of the last steps to AGI.”

To hear more of Glenn’s analysis, watch the clip above.

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Missouri police say that a 26-year-old male was arrested after trying to molest two young girls under the age of 14 at a celebration for the Fourth of July in Smithville.

The girls were swimming at the Little Platte Swim Beach while waiting for a fireworks show when a strange man swam to them at about 8 p.m., according to a post on social media from the Clay County Sheriff’s Office.

A probable cause statement said that Climaco-Garcia only had identification from Guatemala and that he had been accompanied by someone with an ICE detainer.

The girls told police that the male asked them personal questions and that they tried to swim away after denying to answer.

The man allegedly grabbed them, groped them, and tried to remove the bottom parts of their swimsuits.

They escaped by kicking him in the groin.

The girls then returned to the beach to find the adults they were with. One of the adults flagged down a deputy on patrol after hearing their account, and that deputy was able to find the man based on their description.

Police said he was exiting the lake when they arrested him.

The man was identified as Carlos Climaco-Garcia, and he was charged with two counts of child molestation. He is being held on a $75,000 bond for the class B felonies.

RELATED: ICE says illegal alien was arrested for child molestation after Virginia police ignored detainer on prior molestation charge

In an update to the incident on Thursday, the Clay County Prosecutor’s Office said the immigration status of the suspect was unclear. A probable cause statement said that Climaco-Garcia only had identification from Guatemala and that he had been accompanied by someone with an ICE detainer.

Climaco-Garcia is scheduled to appear in court on July 25.

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Diversity, equity, and inclusion employees are still running amok in the hallowed halls of the United States Military Academy at West Point. President Trump and members of his administration have taken the first steps toward eliminating DEI in the military, but there won’t be lasting change until all traces of it are removed from our military’s oldest academy.

In 2024, Congress and watchdog groups started asking why cadets were being taught DEI and critical race theory ideology in West Point classrooms. Over the next several months, West Point was embroiled in controversy as the academy faced a barrage of congressional hearings, lawsuits, and Freedom of Information Act requests. But the school was able to successfully shield many of its woke policies through disingenuous public relations tactics.

As long as these officials remain in charge, any claims of returning to a pre-DEI, mission-focused ethos ring hollow.

More than six months into the new administration, it is clear that West Point’s “compliance” with President Trump’s “Restoring America’s Fighting Force” executive order and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s anti-DEI memo is merely perfunctory — and even deceptive. Their orders are being undermined by the continued presence of woke employees who continue to prop up a leftist regime that has embedded itself at West Point.

DEI by any other name

Dr. Morten Ender is a full professor of sociology at West Point whose work confirms his allegiance to DEI dogma. Before Congress became wary of DEI in the military, Ender worked as the co-chair of USMA’s Diversity and Inclusion Studies Minor. He was the point of contact for classes such as “Deconstructing Patriotism” and “The Evolution of Cross-dressing in the Military.”

Ender also taught classes such as “Deviance and Social Control” and “Race, Class, Gender, and Ethnicity.” His work has included publications including “Dinner and Conversation: Transgender Integration at West Point and Beyond” and books like “Inclusion in the American Military: A Force for Diversity.” It’s absurd to believe that a person who so vigorously embraced the politicization of the military would simply give up that crusade in a new role, with a new title.

Since Congress took a harder line on DEI in the military, the DEI minor’s website has disappeared, and Ender’s bio has been cleaned up, removing any trace of his association with DEI. Originally, West Point’s site listed his many accomplishments, including his pro-DEI articles and woke classes.

West Point may try to cover up its history, but it will not fool us.

RELATED: ‘Get DEI and CRT out of the military’: Leftist media in shambles after Hegseth pick

Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

The continued employment of Lisa Benitez, another woke professor, is also puzzling in light of Hegseth’s clear directive to stop the inculcation of toxic ideologies like DEI and CRT in the military. The former chief diversity officer of West Point’s Office of Diversity, Inclusion, and Equal Opportunity, Benitez’s role has taken several new forms since 2024. In June of last year, she was given the title of Chief Engagement and Retention Officer and then became Equal Employment Manager only a few months later.

While Benitez no longer has an official presence on the academy’s website, her LinkedIn profile still lists her as a West Point employee, and her phone number matches that of the equal employment manager role.

Benitez organized the annual West Point Diversity and Inclusion Leadership Conference. This conference had been a bastion of woke ideology in our nation’s premier military academy, hosting talks on “The Evolution of Diversity” and “Corporate Diversity.” The name of the conference changed in January to “The Iris and Herman Bulls ’78 Family Legacy of Graduates and Leaders Forum” and was eventually canceled due to controversy. It’s clear, however, that the radical ideology it once openly promoted remains.

Col. Archie Bates III, the deputy director of West Point’s Behavioral Science and Leadership Department, attended one of those conferences. In addition to doing academic work on preferential college admissions, he touts himself as a skilled promoter of DEI and lists his many woke accomplishments. He also co-authored the military’s DEI policy, which authorized women for combat arms in 2011. Bates is currently the academy’s acting department head of Behavior Sciences and Leadership.

Another member of the DEI faculty still in place at West Point is Maj. Catherine Grizzle, who is currently an instructor for the Behavioral Science and Leadership Department.

Grizzle came up through the ranks when woke leadership was being openly promoted and praised. She has long been a poster child for DEI, becoming only the third female field artillery Basic Officer Leader Course gunnery instructor. Her LinkedIn profile showcases her full commitment to DEI, and she is the only West Point faculty member to have DEI listed as one of her research interests.

Fortunately, at least one faculty member who teaches DEI is leaving voluntarily. USMA history professor Anthony Guerrero, who has been at West Point for over two years, is resigning in protest due to President Trump’s crackdown on DEI.

In a New York Times op-ed, Guerrero called Trump’s executive order on military excellence and readiness a “legal command that provides cover for bigotry. It delivers hate in the guise of a national security issue, dressed up in medicalized language.” Not only is Guerrero defending transgender ideology, but he is also contradicting a direct order to keep his concerns private.

Ideology runs deep

West Point’s DEI leadership — including figures like Ender, Bates, Grizzle, Benitez, and Guerrero — represents just a fraction of DEI’s ideological entrenchment there. Despite recent efforts to present a façade of reform, West Point remains captive to the same people who have been championing divisive policies on race and sex for years.

As long as these officials remain in charge, any claims of returning to a pre-DEI, mission-focused ethos ring hollow. The result is an officer corps trained in ideological conformity rather than the lethality, leadership, and war fighting excellence our national defense demands.

While the Trump administration has taken commendable steps to roll back DEI in the military, those efforts cannot succeed if the very officials who created these policies remain in positions of influence. Lasting reform requires not just policy change but also serious personnel change.

Editor’s note: This article was originally published at the American Mind.

​Opinion & analysis, Donald trump, Executive orders, Military academies, West point, Dei, Leftism, Ideology, Pete hegseth, Diversity equity inclusion, Woke ideology, Military readiness, Social engineering, Woke military culture, Public relations, Resignation, Race, Class, Gender, Transgender, Faculty, Morten ender, Sociology, Congress, Foia, Lisa benitez, Archie bates iii, Catherine grizzle, Anthony guerrero 

Despite the Supreme Court’s ruling that restricted the ability of judges to block President Trump’s policies using nationwide injunctions, a federal court has barred the Trump administration from enforcing his executive order limiting birthright citizenship nationwide.

U.S. District Judge Joseph Laplante in Concord, New Hampshire, made the ruling on July 10 after being asked to grant class action status to a lawsuit filed seeking to represent infants who would not qualify for citizenship under Trump’s directive.

“You might be able to blame Kavanaugh’s concurrence in the CASA decision for this,” BlazeTV host Sara Gonzales comments.

“You look at the CASA decision, and the majority decision from Chief Justice Roberts and Amy Coney Barrett said, ‘Universal injunctions likely exceed the equitable authority that Congress has given to the federal courts.’ However, you had Kavanaugh in his concurrence who left the door open for what the judge is trying to do,” Gonzales explains.

“The decision today will not alter this Court’s traditional role in those matters. Going forward, in the wake of a major new federal statute or executive action, different district courts may enter a slew of preliminary rulings on the legality of that statute or executive action,” Kavanaugh said. “Or alternatively, perhaps a district court (or courts) will grant or deny the functional equivalent of a universal injunction — for example, by granting or denying a preliminary injunction to a putative nationwide class under Rule 23(b)(2).”

“I’m getting in the weeds here, but it matters,” Gonzales says, explaining that “in order to have a judge take class action, you’ve got to have rule 23.”

“It lays out the criteria. Numerosity: So you’ve got a class that’s so big that individual lawsuits are impractical. You’ve got to lump them all together because not doing so would cause too many lawsuits to happen,” she continues.

“Commonality: There are common legal or factual questions among class members. Typicality: The named plaintiff’s claims are typical of the whole class. Adequacy: So the plaintiffs and their attorneys will fairly and accurately protect the interests of the entire class. And then rule 23(b), which, of course, Kavanaugh referenced, is the injunctive relief for that class,” she adds.

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President Donald Trump is visiting the victims of the flooding disaster in Texas, but one man took the opportunity to allegedly make a death threat and win a free trip to jail.

Robert Herrera, 52, of San Antonio allegedly made the threat on social media by implying that he would shoot the president on his visit to Kerr County. Trump previously survived an assassination attempt by mere inches during a Pennsylvania rally.

Herrera allegedly replied, ‘I’ll just come for you,’ and added an image of loaded magazines and an assault rifle.

Herrera was taken into custody on Thursday evening, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Western District of Texas.

Court documents said that Herrera had posted the threat the same day in the Facebook comments section of a news outlet’s article about Trump visiting Texas.

He allegedly posted the message, “I won’t miss,” on a photograph from the 2024 assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, on the president.

When another account responded to him, “You won’t get the chance, I promise,” Herrera allegedly replied, “I’ll just come for you,” and added an image of loaded magazines and an assault rifle.

He is charged with making threats against the president and transmitting interstate threatening communications, and he faces five years in prison for each count if convicted.

RELATED: Elderly man arrested for making death threats against Trump on Facebook: ‘I am your assassin’

The San Antonio Police Department provided assistance to the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Secret Service in the investigation.

Officials said Friday that 121 people died from the flooding and another 160 remain missing. Some on the left have tried to pin the blame for the disaster on cuts to the federal government by Trump, but his officials have vehemently denied the allegations.

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To the disbelief of truth-seekers everywhere, the DOJ and FBI have determined in a two-page memo released this week that there was no proof Jeffrey Epstein had been working a vast blackmail operation and that there was no “client list.”

“This systematic review revealed no incriminating ‘client list,’” the memo reads. “There was also no credible evidence found that Epstein blackmailed prominent individuals as part of his actions. We did not uncover evidence that could predicate an investigation against uncharged third parties.”

However, many Americans still question whether or not they’re being told the truth, especially considering that the amount of power one could gain from having possession of the list is astronomical.

–

“That is extraordinary power,” Blaze Media co-founder Glenn Beck tells ATF whistleblower John Dodson. “Any confidence that it’s not being used?”

“I have confidence that it’s not being used in that the fact that the people that it hurts the most are in control over it. Maybe that’s the case — why it’s not being used,” Dodson responds. “I would almost argue that it would be a better state of the world if a Hoover FBI had it, right, and leveraged it against everybody.”

“Would be better than the people that were directly involved having it,” he adds.

“So that implies that people in the government were involved in that,” Glenn says.

“I mean, I think so. That’s merely my opinion, but I don’t think that stuff happens with the names that have been floated around there without the government involved. And again, it’s the government. It is so huge and it is so powerful, and it has ultimately zero accountability,” Dodson says.

“American people think that there’s accountability. There is none,” he adds.

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Democrat Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass announced Friday that she was taking many more steps to oppose the mass deportation order by President Donald Trump.

Among those policies is the establishment of a philanthropy-funded program that would provide cash assistance to the families affected by federal immigration enforcement operations.

CHIRLA has been accused of funneling taxpayer money to anti-ICE protests and allegedly playing a part in the rioting and violence.

Bass said in a media briefing that an executive order she was signing was meant to “provide protection for immigrants who might be attending a city event or at a city property,” while the city stays within the bounds of the law.

Part of that effort included cash assistance in the form of cards that would have several hundred dollars on them, according to the Los Angeles Times.

“You have people who don’t want to leave their homes, who are not going to work, and they are in need of cash,” Bass said.

She said the cards will be handed out by immigration advocacy groups, including the controversial organization Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles. CHIRLA has been accused of funneling taxpayer money to anti-ICE protests and allegedly playing a part in the rioting and violence.

The funding for the cards will come from philanthropic partners, according to Bass.

She went on to say that the city is requesting information about the raids from the federal government.

“We are submitting a FOIA, a Freedom of Information Act request, regarding the dates and locations of all enforcement activities in Los Angeles,” she said.

RELATED: House Republicans investigating CHIRLA nonprofit over alleged role in ICE rioting

“I think you heard me repeat, every time I speak before you, that when people are taken from our city, we do not necessarily know where they are going. They are not provided regular access to families or to legal counsel,” she added. “And that the family members that are left behind don’t know whether their family members are in the city, in the state, or even in the country.”

The Trump administration has filed a lawsuit against the city of Los Angeles for allegedly interfering with federal operations through their sanctuary city policies in defense of illegal aliens.

Los Angeles has in turn joined a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union accusing the federal government of unlawfully deporting migrants and of violations of due process laws.

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Attorney General Pam Bondi’s handling of the Epstein files sparked outrage among conservatives, supporters of President Donald Trump, and even among FBI leadership.

The dramatic Epstein saga has caused a rift between FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino and Bondi in recent days, one source familiar with the matter confirmed to Blaze News. Other reports indicate that Bongino and FBI Director Kash Patel are both threatening to leave the bureau altogether unless Bondi is removed from office.

‘Fire Pam Bondi. Keep Dan Bongino.’

RELATED: FBI, DOJ Epstein memo sparks right-wing outrage: ‘Nobody is believing this’

Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

As tensions emerge between the FBI and DOJ leadership, the MAGA base has made clear where its support lies.

“There is no question that the base is behind Bongino,” conservative commentator and reporter Julie Kelly said in a post on X. “I respect Pam Bondi and understand the immense challenge at taking the reins of such a systemically corrupt agency. But the self inflicted wounds and unforced errors are consuming attention away from other DOJ/FBI achievements. Time is ticking away and something drastic needs to change immediately.”

“It would be a huge loss for the country if we lost Dan Bongino at the FBI,” TPUSA founder Charlie Kirk wrote in a post on X.

Blaze Media co-founder Glenn Beck made a similar appeal to Trump, urging him to put Bongino over Bondi.

“America can’t lose Dan Bongino,” Beck said in a post on Instagram. “He has so much credibility. Everybody knows him, loves him. Pam Bondi has created so much doubt and chaos in this whole thing. There’s no reason for all of this.”

“Either it’s a massive cover-up, or she’s just fouled this up every single time,” Beck added. “Please, let’s not lose Dan Bongino. If there’s a choice — I hope not — but please, fire Pam Bondi. Keep Dan Bongino.”

RELATED: Is the FBI salvageable? Here’s what bureau insiders have to say

Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

Following Bondi’s now-infamous Epstein memo, which the DOJ leaked to the Beltway corporate outlet Axios, the administration has spent days doing damage control. Trump reiterated his support for Patel and Bongino in a Truth Social post on Monday, though he notably refrained from providing Bondi with the same praise.

“The FBI, under the direction of Director Kash Patel and Deputy Director Dan Bongino, is back to the basics: Locking up criminals, and cleaning up America’s streets.” Trump said in the post. “We have the Greatest Law Enforcement professionals in the World, but ‘Politics’ and Corrupt Leadership often prevented them from doing their job. That is no longer the case, and now, they have been unleashed to do their jobs, and they are doing just that. Keep it up — MAKE AMERICA SAFE AGAIN!”

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An Ohio couple is grieving the “unimaginable tragedy” of the death of their 1-year-old daughter after their pit bull unexpectedly attacked her, according to police.

Tuscarawas County Sheriff Orvis L. Campbell said that deputies were called out on a report of a dog attack at a home on Lake Road in Dover Township on July 2 at about 6 p.m.

‘It was about as terrible of [an] ordeal as we’ve come across in a long time.’

Campbell said an emergency dispatcher received an initial call where nothing could be heard and then received a second call moments later from the mother, who said her child had been killed.

When deputies arrived at the residence, they found the child with bites to her face and neck. She was declared dead at the scene.

The mother told officers that she was picking up clothing in a laundry basket with her daughter next to her when the dog suddenly attacked. Deputies said they observed defensive wounds on the woman, who tried to save her daughter.

“It was about as terrible of [an] ordeal as we’ve come across in a long time,” Campbell said.

He said the dog had not previously attacked any person but had been aggressive toward other dogs.

“While it … had a couple of incidents of aggression towards the other dogs, it had not towards the people. They didn’t have any sign of this,” he added.

RELATED: It’s way past time to ban pit bulls

Campbell said the father of the girl was not at home at the time of the attack and that he later euthanized the dog with deputies’ authorization. There were no charges in the case, and no charges are expected.

An online charity account identified the victim as Blakely Blosser and asked for donations to help the family deal with the tragedy.

The incident is resurfacing the debate over whether certain dog breeds should be banned. Peter Gietl, the managing editor for Return at Blaze Media, made the argument against pit bull ownership in a recent article after a similarly horrific incident.

“I’m not calling for a dog holocaust. But if you’re going to bring a living weapon into a crowded urban neighborhood, maybe we should pause. Maybe we need strict breed-specific legislation, as is common in the U.K., France, Denmark, and even parts of Canada. Maybe some things don’t belong in apartments or parks full of toddlers,” Gietl wrote.

“It’s not heartless to say that. It’s compassionate. It’s sane,” he concluded.

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Baylor University, a prominent Baptist institution in Waco, Texas, has been a large part of religious culture in Texas, and up until a couple of days ago — before backlash from religious conservatives like BlazeTV host Allie Beth Stuckey — that was all about to change.

The university was undergoing a progressive shift, and its recent acceptance of an almost $700,000 grant from the Eula Mae and John Baugh Foundation was only speeding that shift up, as the goal of the grant was to “foster LGBTQ inclusion and belonging in the church.”

The school publicly highlighted this funding through a press release from its Diana R. Garland School of Social Work. The grant was planned to go toward research that would focus on “understanding and addressing the disenfranchisement and exclusion of LGBTQIA+ individuals and women within congregations to nurture institutional courage and foster change.”

“Baylor put out a press release about this. That in and of itself is a story. They are proud of this. They are excited about this. They are thankful for this grant money. This is not something that they are trying to slip under the rug,” BlazeTV host Allie Beth Stuckey said when criticizing Baylor’s initial reaction to the grant.

The specific project the grant was funding is called “Courage from the Margins: Inclusion and Belonging Practices for LGBTQIA plus.”

“OK, that ‘plus,’ what does that even mean?” Stuckey asked, noting that the project would include interviewing women across the country in two groups of 25 young adults ages 18 to 24 to gather information about their experiences in church settings.

The findings from the research would be used to “develop trauma-informed training resources for churches with the aim of encouraging more inclusive practices and environments for LGBTQIA plus individuals and women.”

“This is what it looks like to actually manifest toxic empathy,” Stuckey said. “So what this grant is going to fund is research that will be used to then guilt churches into not only including but affirming those who identify as homosexual or as the opposite sex.”

“This research will be weaponized, will be used as a tool of emotional manipulation, a mallet of manipulation to hit you, believing person, over the head, biblical Christian person, into accepting that which God calls sin. That is what this research will be used for. That is its express purpose,” she added.

Now, Baylor has rescinded its initial acceptance of the funds.

In a letter posted to the university’s website, Baylor University President Linda Livingstone explained that returning the funds “is the appropriate course of action and in the best interests” of the school.

While Livingstone wrote that Baylor remains “committed to providing a loving and caring community for all — including our LGBTQIA+ students,” she explained that after reviewing the “details and process surrounding this grant,” the concern was in “the activities that followed as part of the grant.”

“Specifically, the work extended into advocacy for perspectives on human sexuality that are inconsistent with Baylor’s institutional policies, including our Statement on Human Sexuality,” she wrote.

That Statement on Human Sexuality says that Baylor “affirms the biblical understanding of sexuality as a gift from God. Christian churches across the ages and around the world have affirmed purity in singleness and fidelity in marriage between a man and a woman as the biblical norm. Temptations to deviate from this norm include both heterosexual sex outside of marriage and homosexual behavior.”

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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A Republican election observer in the state of Washington declined to wear a face mask while inside a ballot count room in November 2024. Now, the GOP election observer has been hit with a felony conviction and faces jail time.

Tim Hazelo — a Navy veteran and the former chairman of the Island County Republican Party — was observing ballot counting on Nov. 4, 2024. Hazelo chose not to wear a face mask inside the ballot count room.

The article noted that the prosecutor ‘implied Trump supporters are members of the KKK and called them “racist bullies with second-grade intellects and behavior disorders.”’

Island County Auditor Sheilah Crider established a mask mandate in certain parts of the county elections office. Crider previously told KOMO-TV that she established the mask mandate because 50% of the staff tested positive for COVID-19 during the August 2024 primary.

KOMO recently reported that those who did not want to wear a mask could still observe the ballot counting from the hallway, but “some have said their view was obstructed from that vantage point.”

Hazelo was reportedly asked to wear a mask, relocate to the hallway, or leave the premises. Hazelo apparently refused to wear a face mask, and he was escorted out of the building by two police officers.

According to the arrest report obtained by KOMO, “It was determined Hazelo would be offered one final opportunity to comply with the policy set by the Island County auditor to wear a mask in the ballot processing rooms, and if he continued to refuse to comply with the policy, he would be asked to exit the room.”

RELATED: Fauci admits there was no scientific evidence for 6-foot social distancing or masking children, concedes lab leak was ‘possible’

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Hazelo was arrested and initially charged with misdemeanor disorderly conduct, which was later dismissed. However, Hazelo was hit with additional charges by an anti-Trump prosecutor in February 2025. Hazelo was charged with misdemeanor counts of disorderly conduct and criminal trespass, in addition to one count of unauthorized access to a voting center — a class C felony.

Island County Prosecuting Attorney Gregory Banks charged Hazelo with a felony that could land him behind bars for a year.

Banks, a Democrat, has a history of making disparaging remarks on social media about President Donald Trump and his supporters, according to reports.

Conservative talk show host and columnist Jason Rantz previously reported that Banks made unsettling comments about Trump supporters.

Rantz wrote in MyNorthwest.com in 2019, “Greg Banks is the elected Island County Prosecutor. Up until last week, his public and personal Facebook account was littered with vulgar, vicious smears against conservative voters and President Donald Trump.”

The article noted that the prosecutor “implied Trump supporters are members of the KKK and called them ‘racist bullies with second-grade intellects and behavior disorders.'”

Banks then “pulled the voluminous posts from his Facebook page and sent out a mea culpa to his staff Wednesday, saying that he had ‘done something pretty stupid,'” the South Whidbey Record reported in August 2019.

Banks reportedly told his staff, “That I was unable to see the harm my posts may cause to our reputation is more than embarrassing to me.”

“Banks also maintains he hasn’t treated staff members differently based on their Trump-related views, but he asked anyone with concerns to speak with him, the office administrator, one of the chief deputies, or human resources,” according to the news outlet.

However, Banks allegedly wrote another disparaging social media post about Trump supporters in 2020.

“The terrifying part is 38% of voters don’t see anything wrong with that. Even after we flush Trump, we have a difficult job to cleanse society of their diseased thinking,” Banks wrote, according to MyNorthwest.com.

Banks also hit a second Republican election observer, Tracy Abuhl, with a felony count of unauthorized access to a voting center.

Abuhl was charged with a felony for refusing to wear a face mask in the election office in November 2024.

“I was very peaceful, very respectful, but no, this is unconstitutional,” Abuhl told KOMO. “I’m there as a volunteer, a citizen. I was a Republican observer, and I couldn’t do my job.”

RELATED: Former FDA commissioner admits: ‘Cloth masks aren’t going to provide a lot of protection’

Hazelo proclaimed, “We have to stand up when we believe something is wrong.”

Hazelo argued that Washington law does not entitle a county auditor to impose a mask mandate for election observers.

Hazelo told KOMO, “They can say, ‘Look it’s highly recommended that if you feel sick, if you don’t feel good, or you don’t feel safe, or you’re worried — we highly recommend you wear this mask.’ A mandate goes too far.”

According to KOMO, Banks stated in his closing arguments on Thursday: “Let’s not get into a debate about masks. Follow the instructions, follow the law. This is about the administration of elections and the rules that allow that to happen.”

Banks added, “He (Hazelo) had his own rules. His own rules are, ‘I do what I want to do, I do it from the vantage point that I want, and I don’t care about the rest of it.'”

Hazelo’s defense attorney, Austin Hatcher, countered by stating that the Washington Administrative Code requires rules to be provided in writing.

“There’s no mask requirement on this sheet of paper. There’s no mask requirement on the official visitor and observer rules,” Hatcher declared. “He signed this rule sheet, he signed the sign-in paper, he openly went into the ballot processing center, and he sat down quietly, observed the process.”

Banks retorted that the mask mandate was displayed on multiple signs posted throughout the office, according to KOMO.

Hazelo pointed out, “The fact is, I signed in. I had authorization to be there. Whether or not I followed the rules after I went in has nothing to do with whether I had authorization to be there to begin with, so ‘unauthorized access’ doesn’t work.”

He told KOMO that election auditors didn’t have the power to establish a mask mandate, and that decision “should be done by the health department.”

On Thursday, a jury found Hazelo guilty of unauthorized access to a voting center and criminal trespass.

Hazelo told KOMO that he does plan to appeal the conviction.

Blaze News reached out to Hazelo’s and Banks’ offices but did not receive a response for comment at the time of publication.

RELATED: Nebraska teacher placed on leave after comparing anti-maskers to KKK

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