Category: blaze media

Bill Belichick has accomplished a lot in his football career, but now he’s added another completely different notch to his belt. That is, the North Carolina head coach has become the first coach ever featured on the cover of Us Weekly magazine with his 24-year-old girlfriend, Jordon Hudson.

And BlazeTV host Jason Whitlock does not believe it’s a good thing.

“I’ve heard of midlife crisis … but on the cover of a magazine with your sugar baby? This, to me, this feels like some sort of ritual, humiliation ritual,” Whitlock says.

“And it couldn’t have come at a worse time,” BlazeTV contributor Steve Kim chimes in. “Look, I understand the way the media works a little bit, and I’m sure this cover was planned out months ago, but to come out on the same week after you get just blown away by USF and on a game day where, once again, she’s on the sideline before the game, I think that’s the greatest irony.”

And BlazeTV contributor T.J. Moe points out that it’s going even worse for Belichick than just poor optics.

“There’s a lawsuit right now going on. It got filed today, where one of the former administrators is suing UNC for hiring Belichick behind closed doors. This is how poorly this is going,” Moe explains.

“This is how upset UNC is right now with the hiring of Bill Belichick,” he says, noting, “and they’re embarrassed about it.”

“I don’t have another explanation other than he’s so tied up in this 24-year-old that he was willing to sacrifice his entire reputation and his life,” he adds.

Want more from Jason Whitlock?

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

​Video phone, Free, Upload, Video, Camera phone, Sharing, Youtube.com, Fearless with jason whitlock, Fearless, Jason whitlock, The blaze, Blazetv, Blaze news, Blaze podcasts, Blaze podcast network, Blaze media, Blaze online, Blaze originals, Tj moe, Steve kim, Bill belichick, Unc football, Jordon hudson, Bill belichick’s girlfriend, The patriots, Nfl, Nfl football 

A disturbing Halloween display appears to advocate for violence against supporters of President Donald Trump at a neighborhood in Houston, Texas.

Video of the grotesque mock execution shows two mannequins, a male and female, being hanged by rope beneath a small Mexican flag.

Below the mannequins are two coffins, in case the message wasn’t already clear enough.

The pair are wearing red hats that appear to mimic the “Make America Great Again” hats of the pro-Trump movement. They are also wearing black face masks, which could allude to the controversy over federal immigration officials wearing masks during their operations.

Next to them is another mannequin with a colorful poncho and hat. Above the display flies a larger Mexican flag, and below the mannequins are two coffins, in case the message wasn’t already clear enough.

Blaze News obtained video of the display, which can be viewed below:

Many on both sides of the aisle have called for an end to political violence after the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk in Utah.

Commentators were shocked by the display on YouTube:

“Political hate speech.””These people are insane.””I suppose they will try and push this off as ‘freedom of speech,’ too? Sickening.” “Is it a good idea to do that in very red Texas.” “What in the actual ffffff. Imagine if the roles were reversed.”

While the state of Texas is solidly in the Republican column, Houston is reliably left-leaning in elections.

RELATED: DHS: Deadly Dallas ICE shooting came a month after bomb threat at same office

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

​Halloween display, Maga mannequins hanged, Political violence, Houston halloween, Politics 

Republican Rep. Cory Mills (Fla.) has on multiple occasions claimed that he was “blown up” twice overseas and campaigned on the biographical assertion that he was “wounded twice while deployed.” His story does not, however, add up.

When called out this week for alleged “stolen valor,” the scandal-plagued congressman shared a letter from an old comrade in an apparent effort to validate his narrative. This attempt to bolster his account does not appear to have gone as planned.

The narrative

Ahead of the 2022 midterm elections, then-congressional candidate Cory Mills released a campaign advertisement highlighting his supposed bona fides. A quarter of the way through the ad, Mills refers to his formative experiences in the Middle East.

‘Unreal.’

Mills states in the ad, “I was hit not once but twice with improvised explosive devices and explosive formed projectiles. After you take a hit like that, you don’t know if you’re going to survive or not.”

During that stretch of the video, a large graphic appears at the center of the screen stating, “WOUNDED TWICE WHILE DEPLOYED.”

Screenshot: YouTube, Cory Mills

Keen observers have questioned the veracity of the “wounded twice” claim in the campaign advertisement as well as Mills’ repeated assertion that he was “blown up twice” while serving as a defense contractor in Iraq.

Mills’ congressional bio states, “While serving abroad, he was struck twice in 2006, once with an improvised explosive device (IED) and once with an Iranian explosively formed projectile (EFP), which resulted in numerous casualties.”

RELATED: Cory Mills’ Bronze Star document raises serious concerns about stolen valor, Rep. Mace says

Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call Inc. via Getty Images

Mills told C-SPAN in 2023 that he “was blown up twice by roadside bombs in 2006.”

Republican Rep. Nancy Mace (S.C.) shared a video of Mills’ claims to X on Monday, writing, “Beginning to think nothing Cory Mills says is true. This guy has been parading himself around as some sort of U.S. Army special ops covert Ranger sniper James Bond 007 elite commando for years and it’s not even remotely close.”

‘Was it some severe maiming wound? No.’

“He was an ambulance driver mainly in the motor pool,” continued Mace. “Medics work hard to save lives! Why wasn’t that good enough? But instead he fabricated his resume, and stole stories from men who either gave their life for their country and can’t speak now or can’t speak for themselves due to their injuries.”

“Total Stolen Valor. And this guy sits on the House Armed Service committee?” added Mace. “Unreal.”

The admission

Mills’ “blown up twice” claims appear to be in reference to two incidents that took place in Iraq: a roadside bombing that occurred on March 15, 2006, and a roadside bombing that took place on April 19, 2006.

Blaze News previously confirmed that Mills was present at the first incident. However, photographic evidence and sources have called into question the congressman’s recollection of events and alleged injuries.

Mills, discussing the first incident, revealed the extent of his injuries in his April interview with Blaze News.

“I ended up hitting my head,” said Mills. “Was it some severe maiming wound? No. I’ve got the actual document that shows where I was hit.”

RELATED: Stolen valor? Veterans dispute Cory Mills’ record: ‘He fooled a lot of us’

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

“I had a concussion. So a concussion isn’t being wounded? Knocking your head off an actual armored vehicle door and having to go get treated and have three days down, that’s not being wounded, right? So what is your definition? Do I need to lose an arm? Do I need to be shot in shrapnel? Just tell me. Tell me what your definition of wounded is. Because apparently, [traumatic brain injury] is not an external wound,” said Mills.

After Mills suggested that he had sustained a Purple Heart-qualifying wound, Blaze News asked Mills for clarification whether he had indeed suffered a traumatic brain injury.

“No, actually I just got reviewed by the PA and the doc there, and they basically told me, ‘Monitor yourself over the next 24 hours,’ and then — which I did — and then 72 hours later, I was cleared to be able to return back to work.”

“So you weren’t wounded, then,” said Blaze News.

“According to them, I had a severe concussion. That’s all they wrote up,” said Mills.

‘That blood on Cory was not Cory’s.’

When Blaze News later pressed Mills on the twice-wounded claim and asked whether, in the second incident in which a vehicle was hit by an explosion, he was in the affected car, Mills answered, “No.”

“We were on the team that [was] actually there,” said Mills. “We helped to try and pull everyone out and actually get the bodies transferred.”

“Were you wounded then?” asked Blaze News.

“No, I wasn’t wounded on that,” said Mills.

Scott Kempkins, one of Mills’ then-colleagues who suffered injuries in the second incident, previously told Blaze News that Mills was “absolutely not wounded.”

“I got hit in the shoulder, the neck, and the leg,” Kempkins said. “And then the guy in the turret took a little bit of shrapnel to the side of his face. That was it. Cory’s vehicle was already around the corner and about 50 yards down the street. It would have been impossible for him to be wounded.”

While Mills has referred to blood on his pant leg in a photograph taken after the mission as supposed confirmation of an injury, one of his colleagues told Blaze News that the blood did not belong to Mills.

An appeal to doubt

In response to Rep. Mace’s Monday tweet, Mills shared the photograph of him apparently wearing another man’s blood along with a July 16, 2025, letter from Paul Sovitsky, Mills’ team leader in Iraq when he was working for DynCorp International on the State Department’s World Personal Protective Services program.

‘If Cory is claiming he was wounded in both, that’s probably a stretch.’

Sovitsky’s letter did not support the “twice wounded” claim but gave Mills a possible out regarding his “blown up twice” narrative.

“I understand that there may be a question as to what ‘blown up’ means to the military contractors that served in Iraq and Afghanistan,” said the letter. “It refers (in contractor speak) to being in a motorcade struck by improvised explosive devices.”

“It does not necessarily mean that you are physically ‘blown up’ or even seriously wounded,” added Sovitsky.

RELATED: 5 former colleagues of Rep. Cory Mills say he told them he became a Muslim — as girlfriend claims Blaze News report ‘entirely untrue’

Courtesy of Scott Kempkins. An image apparently taken after the April 2006 roadside bombing.

Sovitsky, who was in the vehicle with the congressman when their motorcade was ambushed by a command-detonated IED, subsequently told Blaze News that “with all of Cory’s train wrecks, no one needs to lie about what he did.”

“I don’t think there was any question about the first explosion,” said Sovitsky, who indicated he had asked for the letter not to be made public, and called Mills a “human train wreck.”

Sovitsky lent credence to Mills’ claim of an injury in the first roadside attack, telling Blaze News that the congressman complained of a “throbbing” head after their Suburban was raked with bullets and swept by a shock wave.

Sovitsky cast doubt, however, on whether Mills sustained an injury in the second roadside bombing, referring to indications that he was around 50 yards away at the time.

“If Cory is claiming he was wounded in both, that’s probably a stretch,” Sovitsky told Blaze News. “He did provide aid. He even got blood on his pants treating — I believe it was Scott Kempkins, who got a big wound in his shoulder.”

When Blaze News noted that Mills had shared the photograph where his pant leg was bloodied as if to insinuate that was his injury, Sovitsky said, “No, no, totally a lie.”

“That blood on Cory was not Cory’s,” added Sovitsky.

Blaze News has reached out to Mills for comment.

While Sovitsky acknowledged that the congressman proved effective and helpful at the time, he noted, “If the beef on Cory is that he has lied about his military service and exaggerated his contractor service, you can’t fix that by then telling a lie.”

“In court, the minute you can impeach some part of, you know, a witness’ testimony, their entire testimony … has to be questioned,” said Sovitsky. “And I want Cory to pay the price for his lies and screwing people over.”

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

​Cory mills, Mills, Iraq, Blown up, False narrative, Sovitsky, Nancy mace, Jill savage, Congress, Politics 

Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night “comedy” show, “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” was suspended all of six days before ABC caved to public pressure from the left and reinstated it.

The network originally pulled the show because Kimmel made the following vile comment just six days after Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk was publicly assassinated while speaking on his college campus tour: “We hit some new lows over the weekend, with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it.”

He then went on to make fun of President Trump for his reaction to being asked how he was handling the death of his friend. “I think very good,” he said before quickly pivoting to discussing a White House ballroom renovation project.

Liz explains, “When you are a public broadcast network … ABC, or NBC, or CBS, you have a broadcast license. You’re not a cable news network. You have a broadcast license from the federal government. It’s issued by the FCC … and part of the terms of your broadcast license is that you are to serve the public interest.”

But the left spun the narrative that the government strong-armed ABC to suspend the show because Kimmel criticized Donald Trump.

Clearly they’ve forgotten that “he’s been [mocking Donald Trump] on a nightly basis for the last decade” and has never been fired for it, says Liz Wheeler, BlazeTV host of “The Liz Wheeler Show.”

“Jimmy Kimmel was not fired for making a joke at Donald Trump’s expense. He wasn’t even fired for mocking Charlie Kirk, as despicable as he is for doing that. … Jimmy Kimmel was fired for lying about Charlie Kirk’s assassin,” she clarifies, noting that Kirk’s alleged murderer has been proven to be a radical leftist.

Kimmel “lied and libeled half of the country,” says Liz.

But that’s exactly what he’s expected to do. As part of the left-wing media apparatus, Kimmel is expected to broadcast “malicious, false vilification of everyone who dared to vote for Donald Trump.”

This kind of hate-inspiring rhetoric is the entire reason Charlie Kirk is dead, says Liz.

“Children, yes, like Tyler Robinson, are indoctrinated with violent, revolutionary, neo-Marxist ideology like transgenderism. This happens in schools from kindergarten all the way through college,” and “the mainstream media and voices like Jimmy Kimmel play a large, even an outsized, role in that kind of propaganda,” she explains.

Whether it’s a teacher celebrating the death of Charlie Kirk or Kimmel’s slanderous lie that Robinson was MAGA and that Trump supporters are a violent gang, it is moral and necessary for them to lose their jobs.

“It’s not cancel culture; it’s self-defense,” says Liz.

To hear more of her commentary, watch the episode above.

Want more from Liz Wheeler?

To enjoy more of Liz’s based commentary, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

​The liz wheeler show, Liz wheeler, Charlie kirk, Abc, Jimmy kimmel, Jimmy kimmel live, Kimmel suspension, Fcc, Blazetv, Blaze media, Free speech 

Sean Duffy’s Department of Transportation is taking decisive action to protect American roadways following an increase in tragic accidents involving non-English-speaking truck drivers.

Safety and national security issues within the trucking industry gained national attention in August after an illegal alien who obtained his commercial driver’s license in California allegedly caused a fatal wreck in Florida.

‘This is not a proposal. This is a final rule, and it is effective immediately.’

Duffy held a press conference on Friday morning to announce “emergency action” aimed at ensuring safer roadways.

The DOT revealed the results of a Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration audit, which found “systemic non-compliance” among state driver licensing agencies in California, Colorado, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Texas, and Washington.

RELATED: Duffy threatens funding freeze for 3 states flouting English requirements for truck drivers

“This is not a proposal. This is a final rule, and it is effective immediately,” Duffy said during the presser. “… Here’s the bottom line: Non-citizens will not be eligible for a CDL unless they meet a much stricter set of rules. Second, all states must immediately pause the issuance of non-domiciled CDLs until they can comply with our new rules.”

“My message is very simple,” Duffy added. “Get into compliance now, or we’ll pull funding and we’ll force you into compliance.”

The DOT described California as “the most egregious,” citing that over 25% of the non-domiciled CDLs reviewed were improperly issued.

“The audit has uncovered both a catastrophic pattern of states issuing licenses illegally to foreign drivers, as well as the fact that even if the current regulatory framework is followed, it can fail. The confluence of these two factors have created an imminent hazard on America’s roadways that must be fixed,” read a DOT press release obtained by Blaze News.

The DOT attributed the issuance of a “large number” of non-domiciled CDLs to ineligible drivers to poor quality assurance, inadequate training, and programming errors. The department identified cases where licenses remained valid beyond the drivers’ lawful presence in the United States.

RELATED: American trucking at a crossroads: Deadly crash involving illegal alien exposes true cost of Biden’s border invasion

Photo by Kevin Carter/Getty Images

The department presented four examples of California-issued CDLs with expiration dates extending beyond the work authorization periods of the respective foreign nationals. For instance, one set of images displayed a CDL with an expiration date of June 2030, issued to a foreign national whose work authorization expired in April 2022. Another photo showed a CDL with a June 2030 expiration date, issued to a foreign national whose work authorization ended in May 2021. In both cases, the licenses were issued several years after the individuals’ work authorizations had lapsed.

As a result of the FMCSA’s findings, the DOT declared a pause on California’s issuance of non-domiciled CDLs, requiring the state to identify all unexpired licenses that fail to comply with regulations.

RELATED: Hidden phones, earpieces: Five non-English speakers arrested for alleged CDL cheating scheme

Photo by George Rose/Getty Images

The DOT issued an interim final rule to tighten eligibility requirements for non-domiciled commercial learner’s permits and CDLs. Foreign nationals seeking these credentials must “meet a much stricter set of rules, including an employment-based visa and undergoing a mandatory federal immigration status check using the SAVE system.”

Duffy warned in August that the department would pull federal funding from states that fail to comply with English language proficiency requirements for drivers. He noted at that time that California receives $30 million from the DOT.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

​News, Department of transportation, Dot, Sean duffy, American trucking industry, Trucking industry, Trucking, Non-domiciled, Non-domiciled cdl, Non-domiciled cdls, Federal motor carrier safety administration, Fmcsa, California, Texas, Colorado, South dakota, Pennsylvania, Washington, Politics 

Anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement sentiment has been on the rise in recent months as agitators continue to harass and attack ICE agents and facilities. In the wake of the deadly ICE facility shooting in Dallas on Wednesday, agitators have taken their rhetoric to the next level, with some now appearing to call for violence against ICE agents.

On Friday, Blaze News captured footage of a crowd of anti-ICE protesters attempting to block a federal vehicle from entering an ICE facility in Broadview, Illinois. The initial standoff around the vehicle then escalates with multiple participants openly calling for violence against law enforcement.

‘Arrest ICE!’

In a video captured by Rosas, the crowd of agitators can be heard shouting, “Arrest ICE!” One individual then yells, “Shoot ICE!” Another individual then appears to echo that violent statement. The first agitator can be heard escalating even further: “Shoot the f**kers! Shoot the f**ker!”

— (@)

In another video, the masked crowd can be seen swarming and hitting the federal vehicle while repeating chanted slogans after a leader in the crowd, according to video footage captured by Blaze News’ Julio Rosas.

RELATED: ‘Pure attack on ICE’: Acting ICE director tells Glenn Beck the motive for deadly attack is clear

— (@)

“Anti-ICE protesters are trying their best to interfere with federal operations in Illinois. The crowd has been blocking a road agents use to bring in their vehicles,” Blaze News national correspondent Julio Rosas said.

“One federal agent was swarmed as he entered, with the mob hitting his vehicle and getting in front. Other agents have pepper balls and tear gas to break up the crowd, but so far I have not seen any arrests.”

— (@)

Yet another video shows the crowd dispersing after federal agents shoot pepper balls from the fence as the vehicle nears the entrance of the ICE facility. The crowd can be heard shouting and coughing as a plume of pepper spray swirls around the vehicle. The crowd disperses as the vehicle reaches the entrance.

ICE agents have ramped up the protective measures of their facilities in response to the rising frequency of protesters and violence targeting the agency.

“The fence installed this week on the other side of a different road has kept the crowd away from the ICE facility itself, but that has not deterred people from showing up,” Rosas said.

Rosas confirmed that Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss was present at the scene but was not among the crowd surrounding the federal vehicle. He also added that Democrat 9th District Illinois congressional candidate Kat Abughazaleh was at the scene.

Agents were forced to move Abughazaleh last week after she refused to get out of an ICE facility’s driveway.

Following this standoff between ICE agents and the anti-ICE protesters, Rosas reported he saw two arrests made at the scene.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

​Politics, Ice, Ice facility, Ice facility protests, Julio rosas, Blaze news, Broadview illinois, Anti-ice, Pepper spray, Pepper ball 

If you were starting to miss former Vice President Kamala Harris and her infamous word salads, then you’re in luck — because she’s back and talking just as much as ever.

Harris has been making the interview rounds to promote her new book, “107 Days,” and in one recent interview on “Good Morning America” with Michael Strahan, she explained why former President Joe Biden did a great job during his losing campaign for a second term.

“My concern about him running for re-election was completely separate from my admiration and knowledge about his capacity to serve as president of the United States, which was consistent and never wavered,” Harris told Strahan.

“Well, as we sit here today, do you think he would have been up for running the country for four more years?” Strahan then asked.

“I — here’s the distinction that I make. Having had the experience myself, it is one thing to have the capacity to govern. It is another thing to go through an election for president of the United States,” Harris replied.

“Running for president of the United States is like being in a marathon at a sprinter’s pace, with people throwing tomatoes at you every step you take. It is not for the lighthearted. It takes an incredible amount of endurance and stamina. And can you imagine doing it while you are also carrying literally the weight of the world as being president of the United States?” she continued.

“So the distinction I make is about capacity to be president and what that election would require in that campaign, especially running against Donald Trump,” she added.

BlazeTV host Stu Burguiere can’t believe what he’s hearing.

“So she’s saying it’s harder to run for president than be president. That’s her case. That is a bizarre argument. You’re talking about managing the world’s nuclear weapons. You’re talking about multiple conflicts going on at any given time,” Stu says.

“Running a campaign is like running a marathon at a sprinter’s pace while they’re throwing tomatoes at you,” he mocks. “What’s being president like? A wonderful stroll through the park?”

Want more from Stu?

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

​Blaze media, Blaze news, Blaze online, Blaze originals, Blaze podcast network, Blaze podcasts, Blazetv, Camera phone, Former president joe biden, Free, Joe biden, Joe biden mental decline, Kamala harris, Kamala harris interview, Kamala harris interview with michael strahan, Sharing, Stu burguiere, Stu does america, The blaze, Upload, Video, Video phone, Youtube.com 

Tennis legend Serena Williams recently asked her social media followers their opinions on some decor she found inside a New York City hotel.

Williams was in town for an event put on by apparel companies SKIMS and Nike, which included a walk on a red carpet with Kim Kardashian. On Thursday, Williams made a temporary Instagram story post from inside an unknown hotel room where she made a discovery.

‘She has a thing against cotton??’

In a point-of-view video, Williams walks up to a cotton plant sitting on a table in a hallway and asks her audience, “All right, everyone. How do we feel about cotton as decoration?”

“Personally for me, it doesn’t feel great,” Williams stated.

In another post immediately after, Williams is shown wearing a one-piece gray suit with one leather glove on, while holding a piece of cotton in her hand.

“Feels like nail polish remover cotton,” she noted. Williams then touched it to her fingernail before visibly cringing and walking out of frame.

Although there was no opportunity for viewers to leave comments on Williams’ choice of video format, on other pages that reposted the clip, she did not garner any of the support she may have been looking for.

RELATED: Serena Williams and ‘The View’ DEFINE ‘crip walking’ as black culture

On the page TheShadeRoom, black viewers overwhelmingly disagreed with Williams taking issue with the plant.

“I don’t feel nothing about it!! It’s cute. She has a thing against cotton??” asked Gee Gee.

“I actually think it’s beautiful [art] decoration,” said a woman named Constance.

“They weren’t out there for her to see it as an offensive gesture. … It’s decor,” a man named Jay commented.

“It’s a plant! We aren’t picking it, giving free labor anymore! It’s a beautiful plant,” remarked Kiesha.

A few viewers inferred from Williams’ video that she saw the decoration as racist, with a woman named Charlandra claiming, “Seeing raw cotton can evoke racial trauma, recalling the forced labor our ancestors endured while picking raw cotton! Some of these hotels do have racial undertones! It’s a weird looking plant.”

At the same time though, kiky808 said, “Victim card race baiting bs while wearing a blonde wig.”

RELATED: Coco Gauff: ‘I’m proud to represent the Americans that LOOK like me’

Serena Williams and Kim Kardashian attend the NikeSKIMS Launch Event at Nike House of Innovation on September 24, 2025, in New York City. Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for SKIMS

But viewers on that page were not alone. Over on TMZ Sports, the vast majority of black commenters also saw no problem with the plant.

For example, Aurora commented, “It’s a plant. They didn’t ask you to pick it.”

Another comment read, “Black woman here, I have cotton plant decorations all over my place, they’re beautiful. Wrap this up.”

Cathy, who listed Milan, Italy, as her residence, asked, “Do people in America not wear cotton clothes?”

A woman named Jamie asked an interesting question when she wrote, “I’m Asian … should I be offended when people throw rice at weddings[?]”

While Williams did not explicitly say she felt the plant was a racist dog whistle, the overwhelming interpretation of her video and remarks indicated that she was, indeed, implying it.

In the past, Williams has received public support from the media surrounding allegedly racist cartoons and alleged sexism on the tennis court. Now that she’s retired and not as frequently in the public eye, her support for these plights may be drying up.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

​Fearless, Serena williams, Tennis, New york, Nyc, New york city, Racism, Racist, Sports 

Mason County, Kentucky, sits just an hour from Cincinnati but feels like another world. Its beautiful rolling hills, deep farming roots, and traditions make it a bastion of conservative culture. Trump carried the county by 44 points. Residents distrust globalism, Big Tech, and government collusion.

Yet Mason has become the latest target for one of the largest data centers in the world. The company behind it hides its name, cloaks officials in nondisclosure agreements, and dangles cash at landowners while refusing to reveal how it will feed the massive hunger for power and water.

The question now is whether Kentucky — and America — will heed the warning or allow ‘progress’ to consume the very land, food, water, and power that make progress possible.

The plan calls for a sprawling 5,000-acre “technology campus” near Big Pond and Tuckahoe roads. Local officials admit the buyer is a Fortune 20 giant, described only as a “global, top 10” company with “hundreds of thousands of employees.”

Residents say the tactics are familiar. A few landowners get offers — $35,000 an acre in this case — while the broader community is left to bear the burden: displaced farmland, strained resources, and declining property values. Good luck selling to anyone but the data-center developer once the deal is in motion.

Power drain

The proposed complex in Maysville would demand 2.2 gigawatts of power, starting at 110 megawatts by 2026 and hitting full capacity by 2028-2031. That’s the annual energy use of 1.8 million American homes. For a county of 17,000 people, the numbers are staggering. The project alone would nearly double the East Kentucky Power Cooperative’s yearly output.

And that’s before accounting for water. Data centers require enormous cooling systems that siphon off local supplies. Add in the direct loss of 5,000 acres of farmland and timberland — in a nation already facing record-low cattle herds and shrinking food security — and the price tag for “progress” keeps rising.

By comparison, the average coal plant sits on 585 acres; a natural gas plant, only 30. Those facilities power the nation. This one would devour power and water to feed servers.

A national trend

This isn’t just about Mason County. Hyperscale data centers are sprouting everywhere with the help of state and federal officials eager to rezone farmland. Twenty such facilities are already planned for Kentucky, 10 for Ohio, and 35 for Indiana. Each site removes productive farmland, stresses infrastructure, and hands more of the food and energy supply to giant corporations.

The sales pitch is always the same: jobs and economic development. Yet the real math looks different. The U.S. lost more than 100,000 beef-cow operations between 2017 and 2022. Farmers face higher feed costs, tighter margins, and competition from giant meat-packers. Now, Big Tech threatens to take what’s left.

Cronyism exposed

Mason County Judge-Executive Owen McNeill and other officials signed NDAs while promoting the deal. Residents see it for what it is: promises of prosperity in exchange for their land, heritage, and way of life. On Facebook, 1,500 locals in “We Are Mason County” compare it to a Nigerian prince scam — big promises, little proof, and huge risks.

The scam extends to Frankfort. House Bill 775 exempts data centers from Kentucky’s 6% sales and use tax for 50 years. Servers, networking equipment, cooling systems — all tax-free. Farmers pay sales tax on every tractor and plow, but Google and Meta lobbied for an endless free ride.

RELATED: Time to pump the brakes on Big Tech’s AI boondoggle

Photo by BlackJack3D via Getty Images

Land, food, water, power

At stake are the four essentials of civilization. Land grows food. Water sustains life. Power keeps the lights on. Once given away, none of these can be reclaimed. The boosters of artificial intelligence say America must have the infrastructure for it at any cost. But if AI can’t survive without tax breaks, secrecy, and the seizure of farmland, maybe it isn’t the inevitable juggernaut Silicon Valley claims.

Mason County itself bears the name of George Mason, the anti-Federalist who warned that monopolies in trade and commerce would mean “no Security for … the People for their Rights.” He did not live to see global monopolies seizing farmland in Kentucky, but he predicted the danger.

The question now is whether Kentucky — and America — will heed the warning or allow “progress” to consume the very land, food, water, and power that make progress possible.

​Opinion & analysis, Opinion, Ai, Ai data center, Ai farmland, American farmland, Farms, Agriculture, Conservatives, Rural america, Rural voters, Artificial intelligence, Water, Electricity, Food, Kentucky, Big tech, Google, Meta, Amazon 

A Florida high school football coach of “significant size” is accused of fighting several students at once and has been charged with child abuse.

Jamir Clarke, 29 — a now-former assistant football coach at Blanche Ely High School in Pompano Beach — was arrested Monday on four counts of child abuse without great bodily harm, WTVJ-TV reported, citing Broward jail records.

‘I feel like as an adult, you should have a larger margin for patience for these kids because they can get mouthy, they can talk and say wild jokes, but I think putting your hands on a kid is never OK.’

The fight occurred in a weight room during football practice after an argument over social media posts, the station said, citing an arrest report.

The report said one of the victims made the “negative” posts, and Clarke became “verbally argumentative” before he started “swinging punches,” WTVJ said.

RELATED: Prominent high school girls’ basketball coach — an 81-year-old male — fired after yanking star player’s ponytail

According to WPLG-TV, which cites a partially redacted arrest report, Clarke called a student a “b***h” and punched the student in the face after the student admitted to posting something negative on social media about someone associated with Clarke.

Deputies said other students surrounded Clarke and “rushed” him, WPLG added, which prompted Clarke to start “swinging punches” at the students.

“He hit our football player first, and then everybody just retaliated,” one student told WPLG. “He just got surrounded by everybody, and he just started throwing punches at everybody.”

WPLG said the report indicates Clarke struck three students and a mirror on a wall was cracked. WTVJ, citing the report, said Clarke allegedly struck four students.

One victim told police that Clarke could have de-escalated the argument but incited the brawl after throwing the first punch at the student, WPLG reported.

More from WPLG:

According to the report, responding deputies were searching the weightlifting room, where the fight occurred, when they found a locker room door that was locked.

Staff helped deputies open the door, and inside they found Clarke “sitting on the floor with his legs crossed and the lights off,” the report stated.

A WPLG video report says Clarke stands 6’7” and weighs 400 pounds.

“While he is arguing he acted in self-defense, he is a significant size, your honor, so there is a valid reason for the teammates of this victim to be of concern as Mr. Clarke presented a risk to them,” prosecutor Eric Linder said in court Wednesday, according to WPLG.

Broward County Public Schools told WPLG, “The employee in question is being reassigned as we review the matter for further action, up to and including termination. We are deeply disturbed by this incident, as the safety and well-being of our students is our number one priority.”

The school’s principal told parents in an email that Clarke “will also no longer serve as an assistant football coach at our school — this was his only position on our campus,” WPLG added.

Clarke was being held at the Broward County Main Jail and appeared in court Wednesday morning where a judge ordered him held on a total bond of $30,000, WPLG noted, adding that if he posts bond, he’ll be placed on house arrest with a GPS monitor, he must surrender any weapons or firearms, and he’s been banned from contact with the victims.

Clarke bonded out of the Broward County jail early Thursday evening, WPLG said in a follow-up report, which noted he said nothing as he departed the jail in Fort Lauderdale.

RELATED: Wild brawl caught on video at HS basketball playoff game; 7 arrested, including 3 minors and 1 player

In addition, prosecutors said in court that Clarke earlier this year was accused of violence against a student at Monarch High School in Coconut Creek, WPLG said, adding that a BCPS spokesperson confirmed that Clarke is a campus monitor at the school.

“Following Clarke’s arrest on Monday (9/22/25), Broward Schools Police was made aware of a video that showed him fighting with students in a bathroom at Monarch High School, where he was working as a campus monitor,” a BCPS spokesperson said in a statement, according to WPLG. “That incident, which took place in early September, was not reported at the time. Clarke, who has been employed with BCPS since December 2024, is being reassigned while these incidents are reviewed for further action, up to and including termination. At all times, the safety and well-being of our students is our number one priority.”

Monarch parent Shaka Williams told WPLG that Clarke’s behavior was “outrageous.”

“The video I saw is him being the aggressor, and it was terrible,” Williams noted to the station. “I feel like as an adult, you should have a larger margin for patience for these kids because they can get mouthy, they can talk and say wild jokes, but I think putting your hands on a kid is never OK.” Williams also said, “You should have more self-control. I didn’t know it was over two schools. That’s crazy.”

Monarch student Isaiah Robinson told WPLG that the accusations against Clarke are “not surprising, really, now that he has a history of it.”

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

​High school football, Football coach, Florida, Arrest, Coach fights students, Child abuse charges, Pompano beach, Crime 

A casual conversation turned into a deprogramming session when Bill Maher recently hosted the notoriously Trump-hating director Rob Reiner on his “Club Random” podcast.

Maher urged the MAGA-mad mogul to see the importance of keeping communication open with his political opponents, citing Barack Obama’s skill at dealing with Republicans during his presidency.

‘Every fiber of your being wants to be like, “I got to get this person to not see it that way.”‘

“Politics is about making deals. It’s about bargains,” Maher said, lamenting that liberals like Reiner are not willing to work with the current administration.

Tokin’ moderate

Reiner, meanwhile, countered that today’s GOP is beyond reasonable discussion.

Maher, noting that the Democrats do not have “any power,” said that the idea of purposely not having conversations with conservatives is a pointless endeavor.

“The idea of, ‘We don’t talk to you when we don’t even have the power?’ Of course, you have to talk to people,” Maher explained.

But Reiner interjected.

“Before you have an exchange, you have to agree on certain facts,” Reiner said.

Return to condescender

Maher’s tone switched, the way it often does when he himself is speaking to someone he completely disagrees with.

“No, you don’t. You can’t. Once you start down that road … you just have to talk to people,” the host said.

The portly producer then offered up an example that showed he does not see much worth in talking to someone who is on a different page.

RELATED: Bill Maher urges left to stop comparing Trump to Hitler

“No, no, you talk to people,” Reiner asserted. “But if somebody says, ‘Two plus two is four,’ and the other guy says, ‘No, it’s not,’ how do you begin the discussion?” he asked.

“Because, Rob, that’s a slippery slope,” Maher replied, already sounding defeated.

“If you start down that road of, ‘I can’t talk to you if you believe this crazy thing,’ you just can’t,” he continued.

Reiner, 78, legitimately seeming like he wanted to hear Maher’s advice, asked, “What do you do?”

A player’s prayer

The “Real Time with Bill Maher” host admitted that while he has never been married, his experience in long-term relationships has led him to be able to accept the fact that he doesn’t have to agree with everything someone says.

“It’s very like a relationship. … And I know there are moments where the person is believing something, and you just — every fiber of your being wants to be like, ‘I got to get this person not to see it that way, ’cause I just think it’s f**king nuts.'”

But if that person wants that relationship to last, Maher continued, they will have to learn “three little words that are most important to any relationship.”

“They’re not, ‘I love you.’ They’re, ‘Let it go,'” he revealed. “Sometimes you just have to let it go.”

RELATED: Chris Pratt mocks Trump haters for being ‘allergic’ to good policy, defends RFK Jr.

Photo by Allen Berezovsky/Getty Images

Over the moon

Maher gave examples of speaking with someone who does not believe the lunar landing of 1969 happened, or even Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., whom he disagrees with on many topics.

The reason Democrats need to reach across the aisle is because there were a lot of places where “the Democrats did f**k up,” Maher said.

On his list of DNC gaffes was the U.S.-Mexico border, DEI initiatives in colleges, and “elite universities, where the kids are raised to be these anarchist, America-hating anti-Semites, and there is zero diversity of opinion.”

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

​Align, Bill maher, Charlie kirk, Discourse, Republican, Democrat, Liberal, Conservative, Rob reiner, Entertainment 

“When people stop talking, really bad stuff starts.”

Just days after Charlie Kirk was assassinated, a clip of him saying these exact words went viral. In it, Charlie explained to the students around him the reason why he felt called to speak at college campuses across America — something he did for years with great success. “When you stop having a human connection with someone you disagree with, it becomes a lot easier to want to commit violence against that group,” Charlie explained.

Though many who had the privilege of debating Charlie would walk away with a newfound understanding and respect for the other side, just as many would leave in a frenzy, unable to reconcile their own convictions with the truth in his words. For them, it was easier to call him “hateful.”

Charlie’s assassination was the inevitable consequence of a subversive culture that taught Americans that words are violence, disagreement is hatred, and silencing your opposition, even permanently, is a moral good.

His life’s work was dedicated to countering a fundamental breakdown in civil discourse taking place within our country. Conversation itself had become “hate speech”; its proponents were labeled “fascists” — the solution for which was violence. This moral perversion, echoed from classrooms to the highest offices of power, built a culture of permission that ultimately led to Charlie’s assassination.

Time for debate

Though conventional responses often emphasize abstract calls for “unity,” such routine prescriptions miss the mark. This moment requires unrelenting confrontation. It demands that we renew our commitment to debate, possess the courage to repel assault on free speech, and above all, refuse to tolerate the moral perversion within our culture that rationalized, if not directly caused, Charlie’s death. If we fail to meet this moment of national crisis with conviction, nothing will change.

Just days after Charlie’s assassination, YouGov polling on political violence confirmed what disturbing public celebrations of his death had already revealed: Liberals are increasingly willing to justify political violence.

According to YouGov, “very liberal” Americans are eight times more likely to say political violence is justified than their conservative counterparts (25% versus 3%). When it came to celebrating the death of a public figure, 90% of “very conservative” people said it was not acceptable to be happy about the death of a public figure, compared to only 56% of the “very liberal.”

The bleak reality of this data played out in real time as college professors, Democrats, and elected officials celebrated, if not excused, Charlie Kirk’s assassination. Some members of Congress even felt the need to contextualize Charlie’s assassination with all the “bad things” he has said over the years — as if anything he said somehow made his life less valuable and more deserving of death.

On social media, these sentiments were sadly commonplace.

Confront subversive thought

Charlie’s work on college campuses was dedicated precisely to this issue. For too long, the left has enjoyed an unchallenged echo chamber of subversive thought, inverting conventional American morals that value the pursuit of truth, free speech, and open debate with violence and suppression in the defense of ideological conformity — the ultimate good of the progressive left.

At San Francisco State University, for instance, former NCAA swimmer Riley Gaines was infamously assaulted and held for ransom by a mob of enraged students, simply for affirming the reality that men cannot be women.

At MIT, students and faculty alike demanded that the university cancel geophysicist Dorian Abbot’s lecture on climate change on the basis that Mr. Abbot did not support race-based admissions and instead believed that people should be evaluated as individuals — how horrible. “Freedom of speech goes very far, but it makes civility difficult,” said MIT Professor Robert van der Hilst.

Keep talking, keep debating

Charlie’s warning was prophetic; people had indeed stopped talking, and bad stuff was happening. Any thought that challenged the progressive orthodoxy was not up for conversation, and, in fact, holding such controversial beliefs barred you from university grounds altogether.

Free speech makes you dangerous and violent. It made Charlie Kirk a threat.

In reality, the willful suppression of speech, debate, and the pursuit of truth is far more dangerous, subversive, and “hateful” than any charge Democrats have ever levied against us. Charlie’s death is proof of that.

RELATED: Charlie Kirk showed us the lie at the heart of progressive culture

Photo by PHILL MAGAKOE/AFP via Getty Images

His assassination was not an isolated crime. It was the inevitable consequence of a subversive culture that taught Americans that words are violence, disagreement is hatred, and silencing your opposition, even permanently, is a moral good.

So now is not a time for “both-sides-ism.” Our nation faces moral bankruptcy, and the radical left has made it clear where it stands. It is incumbent upon all of us to push harder, chastise evil, and especially challenge the institutions that reject the principles of free speech that Charlie fought so hard for. Failure to do so will only result in further deterioration of the shared values that we believe make our nation great.

​Opinion & analysis, Opinion, Charlie kirk, Charlie kirk assassination, Free speech, Debate, Violence on the left, Left wing extremism, Left-wing extremism, Left-wing violence, Left wing violence 

Charlie Kirk is no longer with us, but young men are continuing to fight for a healthy debate of ideas across the country — including a group of men who go by the name “Fearless Debaters.”

The men, clad in MAGA hats, set up debate tables on college campuses and invite those who disagree to have a conversation with them.

However, when they set up shop at Tennessee State University, they were met with very little peaceful debate and much more anger and childishness, as a group of black women descended upon their operation and began yelling and stealing their property.

But the college’s response didn’t address its students’ behavior at all, but only the behavior of the white men in MAGA hats who attempted to have a conversation with the students.

“Today, a group of individuals unaffiliated with Tennessee State University appeared on campus without prior notice. In accordance with university policy, any demonstration or protest activity requires advance approval and permitting,” a statement from the university began.

“Campus police and staff responded promptly, and the individuals were escorted from university grounds without incident. At all times, TSU students conducted themselves in a professional and respectful manner,” the statement continued.

BlazeTV host Jason Whitlock is shocked, as the students were not conducting themselves in “a professional and respectful manner” by any means.

“These guys set up a table and put a sign in front of it and put a microphone for people to debate them the way Charlie Kirk, Steven Crowder, they do this at white college campuses all the time,” Whitlock says.

“This is commonplace. But I guess if you’re white and want to debate Tennessee State students, you need a written permission. You need legal authority to do that,” he continues, noting that TSU is a publicly funded university.

As for the students behaving “respectfully,” Whitlock calls it “an insanity and a delusion that permeates a matriarchal-controlled culture.”

“To argue that these kids — who are stealing things that aren’t theirs, knocking over things that aren’t theirs, flipping people off, giving them the bird, shouting them down — ‘they acted professionally at all times.’ Are you kidding me?” He asks.

A follow up statement called the “Fearless Debaters” a “hostile group” who had the intention of disrupting, demeaning, and inciting fear at TSU.

“These students are so weak, according to their leaders, that their psychological safety is violated when white people disagree with them,” Whitlock says.

“You can’t build a properly functioning, well-organized society based on the matriarchy, founded in the matriarchy. Doesn’t matter what color the matriarchy is; it’s the matriarchy. It’s going to lean into drama and chaos. It’s going to lean into feelings,” he adds.

Want more from Jason Whitlock?

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

​Camera phone, Free, Video phone, Upload, Video, Sharing, Youtube.com, Fearless with jason whitlock, The blaze, Blazetv, Blaze news, Blaze podcasts, Blaze podcast network, Blaze media, Blaze online, Blaze originals, Tennessee state university, Fearless debaters, Jason whitlock, Maga, Men in maga hats, Charlie kirk, Steven crowder, Charlie kirk assassination 

With just over a month left before the election, the New Jersey governor’s race is heating up. And more scrutiny about Democrat gubernatorial candidate Mikie Sherrill’s past is mounting as a past scandal resurfaces.

Blaze News previously reported on Mikie Sherrill tripling her wealth while in Congress with alleged insider trading. Now, however, details have emerged that she was implicated in a cheating scandal that precluded her from walking in her U.S. Naval Academy graduation ceremony.

‘Today’s admission by Congresswoman Sherrill that she was implicated in, and punished for, her involvement in the largest cheating and honor code scandal in the history of the United States Navy is both stunning and deeply disturbing.’

The New Jersey Globe reported that Sherrill’s class at the U.S. Naval Academy was involved in a large-scale cheating scandal in which two dozen of Sherrill’s classmates were expelled for obtaining and sharing a copy of an electrical engineering test in December 1992.

One of the midshipmen in the class reportedly estimated that “more than 80%” of the 663 people who took the test the next day had seen the exam. Others were punished for not speaking out about this cheating, as was the case with Sherrill.

RELATED: ‘Tripled her net worth’: Democrat gubernatorial candidate slammed for suspected insider trading

Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images

“I didn’t turn in some of my classmates, so I didn’t walk, but graduated and was commissioned as an officer in the U.S. Navy, serving for nearly 10 years with the highest level of distinction and honor,” Sherrill said, according to NJ.com.

“Today’s admission by Congresswoman Sherrill that she was implicated in, and punished for, her involvement in the largest cheating and honor code scandal in the history of the United States Navy is both stunning and deeply disturbing,” Jack Ciattarelli’s campaign manager, Eric Arpert, told the New Jersey Globe. “For eight years, Mikie Sherrill has built her entire political brand around her time at the Naval Academy and in the Navy, all the while concealing her involvement in the scandal and her punishment. The people of New Jersey deserve complete and total transparency.”

Upon review of the 1994 graduation program first obtained by the New Jersey Globe, Blaze News can confirm that Sherrill’s name does not appear in the document.

As has been widely reported, Sherrill has made her military service as a U.S. Naval Academy graduate and helicopter pilot a major part of her political identity. Despite the scandal, she graduated on time and served in the Navy for nine years before her retirement in 2003.

“Jack [Ciattarelli] continues to try and use any avenue he can to execute the MAGA playbook of smearing military service,” she said. “Now, his latest attempt is to go after a 30-year-old widely reported incident when I was an undergraduate at the Naval Academy.”

According to an Emerson College Polling/PIX11/The Hill poll from September 22-23, Sherrill and Ciattarelli are now tied at 43% approval, closing Sherrill’s lead in past polls with just over a month before the November 4 election.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

​Politics, Mikie sherrill, Jack ciattarelli, New jersey, New jersey governor race, New jersey governor, Us naval academy, Cheating scandal 

Lamentations asks, “Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by?”

That question has been weighing on me heavily. Not just as a broadcaster, but as a citizen, a father, a husband, a believer. It is a question that every person who cares about this nation, this culture, and this civilization must confront: Is all of this worth saving?

We have squandered this inheritance. We forgot who we were — and our enemies are eager to write our ending.

Western civilization — a project born in Judea, refined in Athens, tested in Rome, reawakened in Wittenberg, and baptized again on the shores of Plymouth Rock — is a gift. We didn’t earn it. We didn’t purchase it. We were handed it. And now, we must ask ourselves: Do we even want it?

Across Europe, streets are restless. Not merely with protests, but with ancient, festering hatred — the kind that once marched under swastikas and fueled ovens. Today, it marches under banners of peace while chanting calls for genocide. Violence and division crack societies open. Here in America, it’s left against right, flesh against spirit, neighbor against neighbor.

Truth struggles to find a home. Even the church is slumbering — or worse, collaborating.

Our society tells us that everything must be reset: tradition, marriage, gender, faith, even love. The only sin left is believing in absolute truth. Screens replace Scripture. Entertainment replaces education. Pleasure replaces purpose. Our children are confused, medicated, addicted, fatherless, suicidal. Universities mock virtue. Congress is indifferent. Media programs rather than informs. Schools recondition rather than educate.

Is this worth saving? If not, we should stop fighting and throw up our hands. But if it is, then we must act — and we must act now.

The West: An idea worth saving

What is the West? It’s not a location, race, flag, or a particular constitution. The West is an idea — an idea that man is made in the image of God, that liberty comes from responsibility, not government; that truth exists; that evil exists; and that courage is required every day. The West teaches that education, reason, and revelation walk hand in hand. Beauty matters. Kindness matters. Empathy matters. Sacrifice is holy. Justice is blind. Mercy is near.

We have squandered this inheritance. We forgot who we were — and our enemies are eager to write our ending.

If not now, when? If not us, who? If this is worth saving, we must know why. Western civilization is worth dying for, worth living for, worth defending. It was built on the blood of martyrs, prophets, poets, pilgrims, moms, dads, and soldiers. They did not die for markets, pronouns, surveillance, or currency. They died for something higher, something bigger.

RELATED: What happens when America kills its Christian soul

Photo by MATTHIEU RONDEL/AFP via Getty Images

Yet hope remains. Resurrection is real — not only in the tomb outside Jerusalem, but in the bones of any individual or group that returns to truth, honor, and God. It is never too late to return to family, community, accountability, and responsibility.

Pick up your torch

We were chosen for this time. We were made for a moment like this. The events unfolding in Europe and South Korea, the unrest and moral collapse, will all come down to us. Somewhere inside, we know we were called to carry this fire.

We are not called to win. We are called to stand. To hold the torch. To ask ourselves, every day: Is it worth standing? Is it worth saving?

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. Pick up your torch. If you choose to carry it, buckle up. The work is only beginning.

Want more from Glenn Beck? Get Glenn’s FREE email newsletter with his latest insights, top stories, show prep, and more delivered to your inbox.

​Opinion & analysis, Opinion, Glenn beck, Western civilization, Classical liberalism, Classical education, Charlie kirk, Citizenship, Athens, Rome, Religion, Christianity 

Something strange is stirring in our silicon age. Across continents, people are falling head over heels for artificial beings made of pixels and code. They whisper secrets to chatbots, plan futures with fabricated personalities, and even talk of marriage to their digital darlings. What started as a curiosity has morphed into something darker: a substitute for the sacred bonds that anchored humanity for millennia.

The stories sound absurd until you realize they’re true. Young men spend their days chatting with AI girlfriends who never age, never argue, never roll their eyes at bad jokes. Women confide in artificial companions that dish out sympathy without ever needing comfort themselves. In America, some have already staged wedding ceremonies with their software “soulmates.” The line between love and illusion has blurred beyond recognition.

Enter the Berlin brigade. Convinced they’ve cracked the code of healthy connection, a group of German tech entrepreneurs now peddles “social AI companions” as a fix for loneliness. Their company Born’s flagship product, Pengu, forces users to co-parent virtual pets with real friends. Instead of locking you alone in a romance with code, the idea is to make companionship communal — a shared playground rather than a private obsession. To them, it’s less about solitude, more about solidarity.

Grown men and women, once expected to raise families or at least care for real living creatures, are now told to co-parent cartoons.

It sounds clever. It’s also fatally flawed. The very assumption that artificial beings can meaningfully supplement human relationships evinces moral, even spiritual decay. No design, no algorithm — however powerful — can capture the divine spark that makes real human connection possible.

It’s telling that their grand solution resembles a dressed-up Tamagotchi. In the late 1990s, 7-year-old me carried one everywhere until, inevitably, I forgot to feed it. The thing beeped, the pixels blinked, and then it died. That was the lesson: Responsibility has consequences, even if only for a digital blob with eyes. Tamagotchi was innocent, even charming, a rehearsal for the day when you might be trusted with a goldfish, a puppy, or, eventually, a child of your own …

But that was playtime for children. Born, and the companies sure to follow in its wake, repackage the care toy experience for adults desperate to truly connect. Grown men and women, once expected to raise families or at least care for real living creatures, are now told to co-parent cartoons. Once we started with pets as surrogates for children. Now, we’ve regressed even farther: surrogate companionship in the form of fake pets, blinking on screens, waiting for middle-aged owners to tap a button and feel a sense of responsibility. “Black Mirror” couldn’t write this script.

In this age of apparent plenty, we are starved for something as basic as love. Once, people built families, forged friendships, and leaned on neighbors through thick and thin. Now, we are asked to bond over pixels and pretend this passes for solidarity.

RELATED: Why Sam Altman brought back his soul simulator

Photo by VCG/Getty Images

The Berlin brigade may boast of promoting togetherness, but their invention only trains people to substitute effort with ease, reality with simulation. Community without commitment, intimacy without inconvenience, solidarity without sacrifice. Rather than a triumph of innovation, artificial animals for adults betray a bankruptcy of the imagination caused by spiritual barrenness. What was once a stepping stone for children — a toy meant to prepare them for the big, bad world — has become the endgame for adults who have forgotten what real responsibility looks like. We used to hand Tamagotchis to 7-year-olds. Now we hand them to 37-year-olds and call it progress.

The marketing push to rebrand loneliness as “shared play” only deepens the tragedy. A real bond is forged in friction. Arguments fought are resolved, forgiveness sought is and given. Laughter is earned through moments inherently impossible for any machine to match or replace. No co-parented animated abomination can substitute for soul. Instead, these projects risk normalizing adolescence without end, eternal childhood, a society of overgrown babies frantically tapping buttons to keep fake creatures alive while their own lives pass by.

So where do we go?

The cure for loneliness will never come from Silicon Valley labs or Berlin bunkers. The men in hoodies and the startup visionaries in their refurbished warehouses can sell you toys. They cannot sell you love. What they offer is spiritual candy (or, perhaps, crack): sweet, addictive, and devoid of nutritional value. Instead of co-owning a counterfeit hamster or digital rabbit with your workmates, how about co-owning a meal, a memory, a moment of real humanity?

Sit across a table and argue politics, stumble through karaoke, help them move furniture, lend them money and pray you get it back. Babysit their kids, water their plants, feed their cat that hates you. Show up at the hospital when they’re sick, show up at the funeral when it’s worse. These are the awkward, absurd, and authentic rituals that bind people together. They are the ridiculous and entirely redemptive acts that teach us how to live. What makes these rituals sacred is precisely what makes them inconvenient. They cost time; they demand both effort and patience. That is the price of connection, and it’s one certainly worth paying.

​Tech, Culture 

Millions were moved when Erika Kirk said she had forgiven the man who allegedly shot and killed her husband, Charlie Kirk, but that moment led to an important decision from actor Tim Allen.

Erika Kirk made the powerful comments at the memorial service for her husband and said that her Christian faith guided her in making the difficult choice to forgive Tyler Robinson.

‘Whoever built me, this is too much, too weird that it happened by accident. It didn’t happen by accident.’

Allen said in a post on social media Thursday that her speech moved him to do the same about the man who killed his father.

“When Erika Kirk spoke the words on the man who killed her husband: ‘That man … that young man … I forgive him.’ That moment deeply affected me,” the actor wrote.

“I have struggled for over 60 years to forgive the man who killed my Dad. I will say those words now as I type: ‘I forgive the man who killed my father,'” he added. “Peace be with you all.”

Allen previously disclosed that the death of his father in a car accident led him to lose faith in God. He was 11 years old when a drunk driver killed his father in a car accident as his father was returning from a college football game.

Part of me still doesn’t trust that everything will work out all right. I knew my father was dead, but I was never satisfied with why he was dead. I wanted answers that minute from God. “Do you think this is funny? Do you think this is necessary?” And I’ve had a tumultuous relationship with my creator ever since.

Allen has said that he fell away from God but began to reclaim his Christian faith after he was arrested for possession of over a pound of cocaine at the Kalamazoo/Battle Creek International Airport in 1978. He served two years in federal prison and changed his ways afterward.

RELATED: ‘Lightyear’ movie flops at the box office amid woke controversies

“Whoever built me, this is too much, too weird that it happened by accident. It didn’t happen by accident,” he said in an 2011 interview.

He also recently said that he was reading through the entire Bible for the first time in his life.

“Finished the Old Testament and it is such a gift when I get out of the way and the words and meaning flow. This week I am now in the book of the Gospel of Paul,” he posted on social media. “A Roman Jew familiar with Plato, Stoicism, and other Greek schools of thought. I am amazed in seven pages!”

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

​Tim allen, Erika kirk, Forgiving kirk killer, Charlie kirk assassination, Politics 

Floyd Lee Corkins. That name should ring louder than it does.

In 2012, Corkins stormed into the Family Research Council’s Washington, D.C., offices armed and intent on mass murder. A security guard stopped him before he could carry out a massacre. He became the first person convicted of domestic terrorism in the District of Columbia.

Corkins came once. His successors will come again. … The question is what we’re prepared to do about it.

Yet you probably don’t recall him right away. Why not? Probably because the propaganda leaflets against Chick-fil-A and Christians found in his car tied back to groups like the Southern Poverty Law Center — and the press played down the obvious connection. They helped bury what Corkins meant to announce in blood: that political rhetoric backed by violence was the new normal.

I’ve long warned that when legitimate authorities fail to punish evil, someone eventually decides to take matters into his own hands. Corkins is the left’s demonic version of that. His case teaches a simple lesson: If you’re going to call conservatives Hitler, sooner or later someone will start acting on the metaphor.

That same logic drove the 2017 shooting at a congressional baseball practice, where a Bernie Sanders supporter nearly assassinated a swath of House Republicans. Rhetoric became ammunition. Talking points became bullets.

Fast-forward to 2025. The demons are autographing their shell casings. They want everyone to know exactly who wants us dead. And the corporate left-wing press winks and nods along.

Enter Jimmy Kimmel, a late-night host with fewer viewers than Glenn Beck can pull in an impromptu X Spaces session.

Kimmel should have been irrelevant years ago. But his network kept him on the air. Why? Not because he draws ratings or ad revenue — he doesn’t. He survives because of affinity advertising: the corporate and philanthropic subsidy system that props up “the right people” no matter how much red ink their shows spill. Pfizer, Disney, the Soros family — they all bankroll the propaganda they want in circulation, audience or no.

As the Joker explained while burning an enormous pile of cash, “It’s not about the money. It’s about sending a message.”

That’s why Kimmel could stand on stage and smear conservatives, even after Charlie Kirk’s assassination, and still be untouchable. His words carry the same function as Corkins’ bullets: intimidation dressed up as entertainment.

RELATED: Violence gave Jimmy Kimmel his job back

Blaze Media Illustration

The danger isn’t just one unfunny comedian. It’s the ecosystem that shields him. Advertisers and networks subsidize the message, the media excuses it, and the extremists absorb it as permission. That’s how rhetoric becomes carnage.

We face two choices. We can enforce the law, punish violent actors and those who materially enable them, and protect the marketplace of ideas. Or we can accept the Corkins rules: a culture where calling people Hitler is step one and shooting them is step two.

The notion that we can run in place like Mike Pence, emasculating ourselves for the sake of “proper tone” or one last bow to decorum, is a funeral march. Some may find comfort in that tune, but I will not bind my children’s future to it.

Corkins came once. His successors will come again. Kimmel’s sponsors and allies want you to think this is inevitable. It isn’t. The question is what we’re prepared to do about it.

​Opinion & analysis, Floyd lee corkins, Family research council, Washington d.c., Mass murder, Chick-fil-a, Splc, Southern poverty law center, Leftism, Left-wing violence, Jimmy kimmel, Demons, Lies, Abc, Late night host, Comedy, Political violence, Domestic terrorism, Christians, Glenn beck, Advertising, Pfizer, Disney, Propaganda, Soros, Charlie kirk assassination, Mike pence, Tone 

On September 8, just two days before Charlie Kirk was struck with an assassin’s bullet while speaking on his college campus tour, Jezebel, a far-left feminist outlet, published an article titled “We Paid Some Etsy Witches to Curse Charlie Kirk.”

After Charlie’s death, the outlet updated the article with an editor’s note claiming the piece was satirical with no intent for physical harm. A couple of days later, the article was removed from the website entirely.

But many Charlie supporters didn’t buy Jezebel’s fauxpology, nor its claims of satire. Numerous conservative commentators, media outlets, and online voices took the curse at face value, believing Charlie’s fate was indeed spurred by witches summoning dark supernatural forces.

While Allie Beth Stuckey, BlazeTV host of “Relatable,” thinks Jezebel is “secular, left-wing, degenerate, demonic, disgusting nonsense,” she knows the truth about curses: They can’t touch God’s children.

However, Allie doesn’t buy Jezebel’s claim that the article was just a joke. “This demonic outlet … tried to harness the powers of Satan to attack this emissary of light and goodness and the gospel,” she says.

But their nefarious efforts failed because God protects His children from curses.

“As we pray and as we put on the full armor of God as we read in Ephesians 6, I want to assure you, Christian, of your protection. I want to assure you, Christian, that you are covered by the blood of the lamb,” she says.

While Christians certainly experience trials and suffering in life, they are “not under the curse of the darkness” but rather “under the protection and the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Allie cites three verses as evidence of this encouraging truth:

Galatians 3:13-14: “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us — for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree’ — so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.”

Colossians 1:13-14: “He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in Whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”

1 John 1:7: “But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.”

Our protection through Jesus, Allie says, means that we cannot be possessed by demons or cursed by dark powers.

We can, as evidenced by the book of Job, experience grief, loss, and suffering. “But nothing can befall you outside of God’s sovereignty,” she reminds.

To hear more of Allie’s commentary, watch the episode above.

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.

​Relatable, Relatable with allie beth stuckey, Allie beth stuckey, Jezebel, Charlie kirk, Witch curse, Curse, Charlie kirk cursed, Blazetv, Blaze media 

The push for lab-grown and artificial meat is no accident. It is a coordinated campaign to reframe how Americans think about food. From glowing media coverage to celebrity endorsements, the message is clear: Ranching is destructive, eating real meat is backward, and the future belongs to synthetic substitutes.

Beneath the glossy propaganda lies a troubling experiment — one that threatens the livelihoods of ranchers, undermines food security, and hands more control of the food supply to corporate and global elites.

What ‘fake meat’ really means

Plant-based “meat” products like Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods use plant matter mixed with additives to mimic the flavor and texture of beef. Lab-grown “meat” is even more radical: animal cells cultivated in bioreactors through a chemical process, then marketed as the real thing.

These companies aren’t simply offering another option at the grocery store. They are trying to redefine what counts as food — and consolidate who controls it.

Both are ultra-processed concoctions. They imitate rather than nourish, raising serious questions about their long-term effects on human health.

Under normal circumstances, such products would remain niche novelties. But with heavy investment from billionaires like Bill Gates, development has accelerated. Gates has argued that “all rich countries should move to 100% synthetic beef” and poured millions into the industry. At the same time, mainstream media outlets have worked overtime to present lab-grown and plant-based meats as inevitable, urgent, and morally superior.

Follow the money

The driving force is not consumer demand. It is financial interest. These companies aren’t simply offering another option at the grocery store. They are trying to redefine what counts as food — and consolidate who controls it.

Consumers are told they are “saving the planet.” In reality, they are enriching investors and empowering corporations that want to dominate the food supply chain.

What’s in it?

The supposed “better” alternatives raise their own health concerns. Plant-based burgers are not vegetables pressed into patties but chemical cocktails that include methylcellulose, a laxative additive, and soy leghemoglobin, a genetically engineered substance designed to mimic myoglobin, the protein in meat that people often mistake for blood.

Lab-grown meat, even less tested, relies on processes with no precedent at scale. Regulators are barely beginning to study safety issues. Meanwhile, we already know ultra-processed foods shorten lives. A 19-year study linked high consumption of such foods to a 31% higher mortality rate, along with increased rates of obesity, diabetes, and heart disease.

To assume that fake meat will escape these dangers is wishful thinking.

The attack on ranchers

If this were merely a matter of consumer choice, the stakes would be lower. But the movement does more than promote itself. It vilifies ranching, branding cattlemen as climate villains.

That message lands hardest when ranchers are already under siege. U.S. cattle numbers have fallen to 86.7 million head — the lowest since 1951. Since 2017, more than 100,000 beef operations have closed, a 15% decline. Rising feed costs, volatile markets, and the dominance of giant packers already squeeze small producers. Fake meat could finish the job.

RELATED: Florida bans lab-grown ‘meat.’ Who’s next?

Photo by Nick Otto for the Washington Post

When family ranches collapse, food production falls even more under the control of corporate giants and investors with little connection to rural America. Transparency disappears. Communities lose their anchor. Consumers end up beholden to whoever controls the labs.

This push isn’t about “helping the planet.” It’s about gaining control and consolidating power.

What policymakers can do

Markets work only when buyers get honest information and producers compete on equal footing. State and federal officials should:

Require clear labels (“plant-based” or “cell-cultivated”) so shoppers know what they are buying.Police false environmental or health claims.Enforce competition laws to keep big buyers from crushing small ranchers.Improve price transparency.Help local producers connect with consumers and earn fair value for sustainable grazing.

Supporting ranchers and strengthening antitrust enforcement would do more for food security and public health than subsidizing experimental startups.

Keep food real

Fake meat is sold as progress. In reality, it risks damaging our health, weakening our food supply, and destroying the ranchers who have long fed the nation.

Even if lab-grown meat proves harmless, centralizing control over food erodes transparency, accountability, and community. The future of food should not be synthetic. It should be local, rooted in real ranching, and kept in the hands of Americans who have nourished this country for generations.

​Opinion & analysis, Maha, Lab-grown meat, Impossible burger, Agriculture, Ranchers, Beef, Fake, Meat, Bill gates, Synthetic beef, Truth, Regulation