Category: blaze media

Does your car spend more time in the shop than in your driveway? And for the same repairs, over and over again?

Congratulations — you might just have a lemon.

The term ‘lemon’ is often tossed around to refer to any beat-up car, but it’s actually a legal distinction, indicating a defective product that is therefore covered under applicable statutes and special lemon laws in your state.

Ok, it’s not exactly something to celebrate, but the good news is you do have the leverage to seek a refund or replacement and maybe reimbursement for repairs.

All thanks to lemon laws.

What are lemon laws?

Before I talk about what lemon laws cover, let me be clear about what they don’t: any complaints about a vehicle’s fundamental design or other non-critical issues such as squeaks and rattles, minor vibrations, or fading paint.

Lemon laws only apply to problems that either impair the normal operation of the vehicle or affect its value, intended use, or safety — problems that the manufacturer has failed to fix satisfactorily after ample opportunities to do so.

If you have a vehicle that breaks down or fails in some way, even frequently, but in different ways each time, then you’re probably NOT going to be covered. The awful truth in that case is probably that you don’t have legal grounds to be reimbursed; you simply have an unreliable, trouble-prone, or poorly designed car.

The term “lemon” is often tossed around to refer to any beat-up car, but it’s actually a legal distinction, indicating a defective product that is therefore covered under applicable statutes and special lemon laws in your state.

Lemon laws vary from state to state. In some states, used vehicles are covered, and in others, the law applies only to new vehicles. Some states may also include motorcycles and RVs in lemon laws.

How do I find my state’s specific lemon law?

Check the Center for Automotive Safety for state-by-state lists, including details about what’s covered under lemon laws and contact numbers for more information on each state.

How do I know if my car is covered?

Here are three basic conditions you need for your car to qualify for lemon law coverage:

1. They’re doing the same repair over and over again.

The vehicle has an issue that’s ongoing or has occurred repeatedly that you’ve first given the manufacturer (through a dealership service department) several chances to repair. Lemon law usually applies only after the manufacturer has tried to fix a particular problem three or four different times (depending on the state) and has failed to provide a lasting solution.

Again, if your car has had many different but unrelated repairs during the warranty period, then it is not covered by lemon law. Your best solution in that case would be to contact the manufacturer and inquire about the possibility of a warranty extension.

2. It’s a nearly new vehicle (to you).

Lemon law only applies during the first year or two and first 12,000 or 24,000 miles of vehicle ownership, depending on the state. Identification of the problem and all of the repair attempts must be made during this period. If the problem first occurred in the first year of ownership but subsequent repairs were not made until later years, then the vehicle will likely not be covered under lemon law.

3. You own rather than lease.

Lemon law does not usually apply to leased cars. That’s because the manufacturer or a bank is the actual owner of a leased car, and lemon law often only applies to the original buyer even if the car was bought used when less than a year old.

How do I strengthen my case?

1. Keep all your repair documentation.

Document each repair done during the warranty period. Keep all of your receipts. Consumer laws won’t apply unless you keep your own records as proof of all repairs done. Keep copies of the original repair order for each repair and make sure that the dealership correctly documents your problem and how long your car was in for the repair (In some states, 30 days in repair in the course of a year defines a lemon car). Also, make sure you get a repair invoice for repairs covered by technical service bulletins.

2. Create and keep your own documentation.

If a component of your car that has already been repaired fails in a situation where it puts your safety in jeopardy or causes an accident, document it with pictures, witnesses, and a police report, if applicable.

How do I file under lemon law?

Filing a complaint and getting the lemon law process underway again depends on what state you reside in and where you purchased the car.

In some states, filing a lemon law complaint involves no more than filling out a formal complaint form, but in many other states, it is a more complicated legal process and involves the hiring of an attorney.

In either case, the advice of an attorney who is familiar with your state’s lemon laws will increase your chance of getting the refund.

If satisfactory action still isn’t taken, be sure to lodge a consumer complaint with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Consumer complaints are the primary signal for the NHTSA to launch an investigation on a particular problem. This often leads to recalls (if it relates to safety in some way) or technical service bulletins regarding the problems.

NOTE: The 30-day lemon law for used cars means that if a car is being repaired for 30 days out of a year, it is a lemon. However, the nuances of the law vary by state. Whether or not the lemon law can be applied to a used car with no warranty depends on the issue with the car and the specifics of the state’s laws.

So never buy a car that says “no warranty expressed or implied” as you will have no protections. Buyer beware.

What if my car isn’t covered?

In the case that the lemon law doesn’t apply to you or if lemon law doesn’t give you the retribution you desire, there are often other laws that may apply.

If your car is highly troublesome but not covered under lemon law, first try contacting the regional service representative of the manufacturer. Document and request return receipts for all communications. Manufacturers will often take generous actions to maintain their reputations.

I hope you don’t need the above information. But if you do, I hope you find it useful — and don’t get too frustrated with the process. We all know what they say about life giving you lemons.

​Lemons, Lemon laws, Automobile, Consumer protection, Dealership, Lauren fix, How-to, Align cars, Lifestyle 

Maverick City Music is a wildly popular Christian band, but that hasn’t stopped them from collaborating with rappers like GloRilla, who does claim to be a Christian herself.

GloRilla’s album “Glorious” dropped on October 11 and features excessively vulgar songs and additional collaborations with rappers like Megan Thee Stallion and Sexyy Red.

The rapper’s real name is Gloria Hallelujah Woods, and she goes by “GloRilla pimp” on social media. She has also claimed that she still holds her faith close to her despite her music not relaying that message.

“That’s sad because God has obviously given her a talent, and she had this wonderful privilege of being raised in a Christian home and going to church. A lot of people don’t have parents that bring them to church and teach them about the word of God,” Allie Beth Stuckey of “Relatable” says before reading some of the lyrics on her new album.

“Ho, you must not know what you just started, f***/ Me and my b*****s go gnarly/ Give a f*** about this party/ We gon’ step on s*** regardless/ Get my goons, swipe that b****, and now dispute the charges,” Stuckey reads from her song “Hollon.”

Another collaboration with Sexyy Red features lyrics so dirty that Stuckey can’t even try to repeat them and instead says “two private parts that I cannot say.”

“She just says that over and over again with Sexyy Red,” she says. “I think that it’s important for you to know what I’m talking about when I say how crazy it is that there are Christians on this album.”

“I know some of you out there are going to be like, ‘Don’t be judgmental; they’re just collaborating, trying to maybe bring her and her listeners closer to God,’ and I hope to the Lord that happens. Truly, I do. But I mean, what association does light have with darkness? I’m just not sure that an actual collaboration is the way to share the gospel with her and her listeners,” she adds.

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.

​Camera phone, Sharing, Video phone, Free, Video, Upload, Youtube.com, Relatable with allie beth stuckey, Relatable, The blaze, Blazetv, Blaze news, Blaze media, Blaze podcasts, Blaze podcast network, Christian, Religious, Glorilla, Maverick city music, Christian music 

President of the Crime Prevention Research Center John R. Lott Jr. has stumbled across some seriously sketchy data released by the FBI.

“We all remember the infamous fact-check in the presidential debate when Donald Trump was talking about increasing crime rates and ABC News was like, ‘There has not been increasing crime rates according to the FBI,’” Liz Wheeler of “The Liz Wheeler Show” tells John.

“This, you have found, is false,” she adds.

“The FBI every September puts out its data for the preceding year. And I noticed, just by comparing the excel files that they put out for last year and this year, for 2022 and 2023, that there were large changes that had occurred in their data,” he explains.

“They have a footnote that says they’ve revised or I guess updated the data for 2022, but beyond that, they mentioned nothing about the change,” he adds.

While David Muir, the moderator of the ABC News debate between former president Trump and Vice President Harris, was citing statistics from this data — John tells Wheeler that the FBI “missed over 880,000 violent crimes.”

“They missed 1,699 murders, over 10,000 rapes, missed 33,000 robberies, and missed 37,000 aggravated assaults. And for property crimes, they missed 198,000 property crimes that they hadn’t included in their numbers,” he explains.

“So when you say that 1,699 murders were missed, what does that mean?”

“Well, it’s kind of a black box. They don’t explain what happened, they just give you the data,” he says.

“It’s so deceptive. It’s also I think a good reminder when the mainstream media and the left have told us, it’s a form of gaslighting actually, over the course of the past year, every time a conservative has said, ‘Listen, our cities are facing an increase in violent crime where our neighborhoods aren’t as safe,’ and the left said, ‘Oh, violent crime is going down,’” Wheeler comments.

“We should follow our guts,” she continues. “We know that the violent crime rate is not going down.”

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.

​Upload, Free, Video phone, Sharing, Camera phone, Video, Youtube.com, The blaze, Blaze news, Blazetv, Blaze media, Blaze podcasts, Blaze podcast network, The liz wheeler show, Liz wheeler, Fbi crime stats, Abc moderator, David muir, Abc debate, Kamala harris, Donald trump, Election 2024 

In their quest to make motherhood great again, conservatives have set a very high bar for those wanting to make a go of it. Enter the all-or-nothing mother.

She must breastfeed baby, and if she’s unable to produce milk for whatever reason, she’s just not trying hard enough. She can’t leave baby in a crib, or sleep-train baby, or leave baby alone with his father or extended family, because Mama must be with baby at all times, lest she give baby a lifetime of attachment-related trauma.

Rather than purity-spiraling and leading the birth rate into further decline, conservatives could simply tell women the truth: that they can relax, because there are a thousand different ways to be a good mother.

She must feed baby exclusively organic food, but she can’t have a job to help her afford it — that might require the ultimate dereliction of maternal duty: day care.

Not that preschool, full-day kindergarten, or half-day kindergarten is much better. Come to think of it, homeschooling is really the only path for any mother who cares about her children. And so on and so forth.

Domestic girlbosses

In theory, such all-or-nothing motherhood applies the tightly wound, busy-busy-busy culture of high-status, white-collar professions to the domestic sphere — where the stakes are the lives and souls of one’s own children, far greater than corporate presentations and spreadsheets ever could be!

And yet, in practice, this vision of motherhood makes it seem intolerable — not to mention impossible — to the only audience that matters: impressionable young women and girls. Far from convincing them of the value of motherhood, making motherhood out to be an all-or-nothing ordeal makes young women wonder if the feminists really were right, if being a mother is incompatible with being a full person.

I say this as a member of that demographic: I’m 23 years old and single, and while I am quite conservative and have always wanted children, I’m surrounded primarily by moderate to liberal, professional-class women my age who don’t know what they want.

Child-hating hags?

My peers, for the most part, aren’t the child-hating, travel-obsessed hags they’re all too often made out to be by conservative media — they happen to actually like children, sometimes in spite of themselves.

While some of their apprehension toward motherhood is absolutely driven by a culture that eggs on adult narcissism and extended adolescence, much of it is driven by the opposite extreme: the expectation that not only will they have to give up their friends, their hobbies, and their careers when they have children, but they will have to become completely dependent on their husbands for their financial and social life and will spend every moment hovering over their children with no self left besides “mother.”

When young women feel like motherhood is all or nothing, that either you stay “child-free” and keep yourself or become a mother and lose yourself, is it any wonder they’re choosing to keep themselves in greater numbers?

More time to spare

While this failure to create tolerable motherhood norms is nonpartisan — it’s telling, for instance, that conservative mothering and hippie mothering have basically become one and the same — conservatives have a special responsibility here.

After all, unlike liberals, conservatives are interested in getting more women to have more children. Instead of tilting at the windmill of middle-class maternal neglect, conservatives should acknowledge the reality that working mothers today spend more time with their children than stay-at-home mothers did a generation ago, and yet children today are more anxious and less self-sufficient than ever before.

Conservatives would do well to keep in mind that women in traditional cultures have the proverbial village to help them raise their children, something American women, even those with traditional values, usually lack.

As a result, while many of the demands conservatives make of mothers ostensibly resemble traditional culture, they deviate from traditional culture in the one way that counts: Rather than enmeshing mothers in the fabric of society, over-intensive conservative mothering norms often alienate mothers from everyone else.

Love’s legacy

Why drive mothers crazy — and deter would-be mothers from having children — all for the sake of what is essentially a neurotic, individualistic ideology that doesn’t even seem to improve children’s outcomes — and might actually make them worse?

Rather than purity-spiraling and leading the birth rate into further decline, conservatives could simply tell women the truth: that they can relax, because there are a thousand different ways to be a good mother. And that, when we think of our mothers as adults, we don’t remember the lifestyle choices they made — day care or not, organic or not, home birth or not — but rather the love they gave us — the deep, unconditional love that only a mother can give.

​Motherhood, Declining birth rates, Working mothers, Lifestyle, Birth rate 

Wim Hof, often referred to as “The Iceman,” has built a cult-like following around his extreme breathing techniques and cold exposure practices.

The impish Dutchman’s claims of superhuman feats — such as running a marathon in the desert without water or swimming under ice for long periods — have captivated those eager to push their physical and mental limits.

The shaggy sexagenarian once gave himself an enema using the jet of a public fountain in Amsterdam, an incident that resulted in a severe injury requiring surgery.

Influencers ranging from Gwyneth Paltrow and Jesse Itzler to Andrew Huberman and Tim Ferriss have been enthused about Hof and his methods.

However, the recent suspension of a Hof biopic after allegations of domestic violence could be the beginning of the end for the 65-year-old.

Reports of physical and verbal abuse over 13 years cast a harsh light on his carefully crafted image as a wellness guru and spiritual guide. These accusations don’t just dent his reputation — they threaten to bring his entire empire crashing down. And if it does come crashing down, it won’t be a minute too soon.

You see, the Iceman is also a stone-cold con man.

Zero method to the madness

The Wim Hof Method revolves around controlled breathing and cold exposure. Hof’s breathing technique involves deliberate hyperventilation, which reduces carbon dioxide levels in the blood. This disrupts the body’s natural urge to breathe, creating the illusion of being able to hold one’s breath longer.

However, while it might seem to improve breath-holding, it comes with serious risks. When carbon dioxide drops too low, blood vessels tighten, cutting down oxygen flow to the brain and raising the chance of fainting.

The danger is even greater when Hof encourages practicing this technique in cold water, where it can lead to blackouts and even death. More on this later.

The Hof hype hustle

Despite these dangers, Hof’s empire thrives on grand promises of improved physical and mental well-being through his method and his method alone. For just under $5,000, followers can become certified Wim Hof instructors.

Aside from the steep price, there’s a bigger issue. Specifically, the lack of solid scientific evidence supporting his philosophies and practices. Hof’s charisma is undeniable; he’s a master salesman who knows how to work a room, bypassing critical thinking with his rugged charm and bombastic energy.

Perpetually bare-chested and shoeless, he struts around like a modern-day shaman, preaching the gospel of extreme resilience. His unpolished, primal persona draws people in, making the absurd seem attainable and the dangerous feel like a dare worth taking.

It’s all part of the hustle — a grizzled prophet luring followers with promises of transcendence while he cashes in on their craving for the extraordinary. Think Tony Robbins meets Bear Grylls with a generous serving of QVC.

Stiffing the softheaded

Hof’s story is rooted in personal tragedy. After his wife’s suicide in 1995, he claims to have found solace and salvation through plunging into cold water and practicing extreme breathing.

While this backstory elicits sympathy, it also casts him as a martyr, a role he skillfully uses to draw followers into his program.

The real tragedy, however, is that countless people are spending thousands to get certified in what is essentially glorified pseudoscience.

Hof’s persona and tragic past cloak his glaring lack of medical or scientific expertise, dressing up his method as a revolutionary breakthrough when it’s nothing of the sort. More hot air than hard ice — hype that quickly melts away when analyzed objectively.

Hof, as you can probably tell, is a truly bizarre being. Among his many strange feats is the claim that he can control his erections at will — a skill he seemingly puts to use in stiffing gullible followers out of hard-earned money.

The shaggy sexagenarian once gave himself an enema using the jet of a public fountain in Amsterdam, an incident that resulted in a severe injury requiring surgery. True to his anti-medicine stance, he refused antibiotics during recovery, opting instead to rely on his body’s supposed natural healing abilities.

Milking the masses

While Big Pharma poses a serious threat, one of the biggest issues with anti-medicine hacks like Hof is their relentless drive to monetize their influence. If they’re not peddling questionable supplements or dubious techniques, they’re hawking products like books, clothing, and pitiful playlists.

Hof is no exception. His official website offers a wide array of products, further underscoring the commodification of his brand over any serious commitment to improving people’s health. For Hof, it’s less about enlightenment and more about making money.

But it gets worse. Hof’s reckless advice has arguably contributed to multiple deaths. This is according to author Scott Carney, who initially set out to debunk Hof but ended up adopting the method himself.

Carney, a former skeptic turned devoted follower, has now become Hof’s most outspoken critic, revealing how the Iceman’s contradictory advice and inadequate training have led to preventable deaths.

Cold hands, cold heart

Despite warnings on Hof’s website not to combine breathwork and water submersion, he frequently demonstrates and encourages exactly that in his videos and teachings, leading to confusion among followers.

This dangerous mix of hyperventilation and cold exposure has claimed at least 21 lives, with many survivors recounting near-death experiences from blacking out in water. One such tragedy was the drowning of 27-year-old Andrew Encinas, who died after practicing Hof’s method in his brother’s pool.

The combination of hyperventilation and water exposure significantly increases the risk of shallow water blackout — a deadly condition where the body fails to signal the need to breathe, leading to unconsciousness underwater. Hof’s persistent failure to clearly separate his breathing exercises from cold immersion has fostered a dangerously lethal environment for his followers.

Worse still, he has shown a disturbing lack of accountability for the lives lost. In one case, as Carney notes, a grieving father filed a $67 million lawsuit against him. Hof, however, remained dismissive.

How long Hof and his followers can ignore the mounting death toll linked to his practices is another matter. The empire built on withstanding the cold is increasingly feeling the heat.

​Wim hof, Iceman, Wim hof method, John mac ghlionn, Wellness guru, Scam, Lifestyle 

Some pastors and evangelical leaders counsel true believers to rest assured that no matter what happens in November, no matter who wins the presidency, Christians are citizens of heaven, and God, in a very real sense, “has our backs.” The country might end up going to hell, but we are headed, sooner or later, to a better place.

That’s all well and good — to a point.

Pray that God will continue to work miracles and that he will use every one of us, individually and corporately, ‘for such a time as this.’

What about the citizens here and globally who will continue to suffer under harmful and reckless policies if one party gains another four years in power? Whether you’re Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, or atheist, one critical issue demands your attention: wide-open borders and their impact on your life and family.

For more than three years, millions of people have crossed our southern border without vetting. Many violent criminals and gangs, labeled “newcomers” by this administration, have taken advantage of this crisis. These criminals have terrorized neighborhoods, organized prostitution rings — including the sexual exploitation of children — trafficked deadly drugs like fentanyl, and caused chaos in once-peaceful towns across America.

Don’t the citizens of heaven have a responsibility to love their neighbors and do everything they can to ensure their safety, security, health, and happiness?

The origin of the word “politics” means “affairs of the cities.” Didn’t Jesus command his disciples, then and now, to “go into all the world and preach the good news”? Isn’t “all the world” made up of cities? And isn’t the good news that there is eternal salvation available to all who believe in him? And before rising from the dead, didn’t Jesus prove himself to be God by relieving the physical, mental, and spiritual suffering of many helpless people?

So a true follower of Jesus cannot use the excuse that he is “not political.” That statement in itself declares a political position — whatever happens, good or bad, I have given my consent.

St. Paul shared his opinion and the good news at a place called Mars Hill. He wasn’t afraid to mix it up with pundits and wise guys of his day and age.

The apostles challenged the political status quo of the Sanhedrin, Jewish leaders who themselves had to play ball with the rulers of the Roman Empire.

Reports say more than 70% of Christians calling themselves evangelicals do not vote. How is that possible? Would not an entire country be set aright with participation of godly people? That appears to be a no-brainer.

In Esther’s day, a man name Haman was about to rain hell and death down onto the Jews in the kingdom ruled by King Xerxes. But Esther put her very life on the line to make an appeal to the king. Her bravery resulted in the tables being turned on Haman: The gallows he built to kill the Jews was used to hang him.

It should be overwhelmingly obvious to anyone with even a tiny spark of wisdom that America cannot continue on its current trajectory. Those who follow the living God, the God who truly loves us and who is still involved in “the affairs of the city,” must persist in “storming heaven” with our prayers.

Pray that God will continue to work miracles and that he will use every one of us, individually and corporately, “for such a time as this.”

Believe it or not, the Deep State and its evil schemes can certainly be stopped. They cannot outsmart the God who they insist does not exist.

Our God promises in the Old Testament that he “will hear from heaven, forgive our sins, and heal our land.” But before he does, it is up to us to “humble ourselves, pray, seek his face, and turn from our wicked ways.” Those marching orders can be found in 2 Chronicles 7:14.

The question is, are there big enough remnants of Christians and Jews this day to step up to this critical challenge?

Editor’s note: A version of this article appeared originally at the Stream.

​Evangelicals, Politics, 2024 presidential election, America, Opinion & analysis, Abide, Faith 

Every few months, the dumpster fire formerly known as Twitter informs me that I shouldn’t be homeschooling my kids. The accusations are often hurled down from Mount Olympus as stern rebukes: They won’t be properly socialized! They’ll receive a substandard education! They’ll become Republicans!

More recently, however, Dr. Caitlin Baird raised concerns that were more bemused than disparaging. She wrote “seriously…what makes anyone believe they’re qualified to homeschool their kids K-12?” Even with “4 degrees in both the sciences and the humanities,” she said that she “would never presume to believe [she] was qualified to teach.”

“But,” she added, “maybe I’m missing something.”

If your public school taught you to read well, then you can teach your kids to read well. And if public school didn’t teach you to read well, why exactly do you want to send your kids there?

In the spirit of dialogue, I’d like to address her concerns, because she is indeed missing something. My goal is modest: to assure nervous young parents that they are qualified to teach their children and to encourage them to at least consider homeschooling as an option.

First, I find it extremely odd for educated people to insist that they aren’t qualified to homeschool. I want to ask them, “Can you read? Can you write your name? Do you know your shapes and numbers? What does the cow say?” If you answered “yes,” “yes,” “yes,” and “moo” to these questions, congratulations, you have mastered kindergarten. If you can add, subtract, and multiply, your knowledge will carry you all the way through third grade. Throw in long division and fractions, and you’re probably good through fifth. And if you need a refresher on percentages, take a few weeks and relearn them. If Billy Madison could do it, so can you.

Some commenters on Twitter argued that it’s arrogant to claim you’re qualified to teach reading simply because you know how to read. To them, that’s like claiming you’re qualified to manage a restaurant because you once ate at an Olive Garden. But that’s a bad analogy. In reality, if you spent 13 years learning how to manage restaurants from teachers who knew how to manage restaurants and have been managing restaurants for your entire adult life, then yes, you probably are qualified to teach your kids how to manage restaurants. Believe it or not, this is how many family trades worked for centuries.

In the same way, if your public school taught you to read well, then you can teach your kids to read well. And if public school didn’t teach you to read well, why exactly do you want to send your kids there?

Second, some parents may feel capable of teaching their kids reading, writing, and math. But they ask, “What about other subjects like history, science, and art?” I’m only partly joking when I say, “They can learn those later.” When I think back to my own public school education, it feels like I repeated the same lessons about the Pilgrims, photosynthesis, and torn paper collages every year until I turned 12.

Be honest: Do you really remember all the facts you memorized in your fifth grade social studies class? What you’ve likely retained are those skills that you continued to use throughout your life, skills like … drum roll … reading, writing, and math. Consequently, these are the topics you should emphasize in the early years.

Moreover, the internet is teeming with high-quality content on a variety of subjects. Some of it is for purchase, but much of it is completely free. Lean into these tools. After that, you can add art, music, sports, and foreign language as you see fit. However, these activities mostly take place outside school hours already.

The bottom line is that if your child’s primary school education is focused on the three Rs, he’ll probably be fine. Your voracious 11-year-old reader will not be permanently handicapped in U.S. history because he didn’t make a macaroni-art picture of the Mayflower in first grade. And once children enter high school, there are all kinds of options for supplemental and concurrent education through community colleges, summer schools, and distance learning programs.

Third, how can you ward off the question homeschooling parents most dread, “What about socialization?”

One word: co-op.

This frequent, individually tailored instruction will be provided by someone (you) who knows and loves your children better than anyone else in the world.

There are thousands of homeschool co-ops scattered all over the country that employ a variety of educational frameworks. Not only will they often provide you with a complete curriculum that covers all the major subjects, they will connect you to other seasoned homeschooling parents who can answer your questions, point you to resources, and offer advice. Between our Classical Conversations co-op, church, youth group, Trail Life, Science Olympiad, and cross-country practice, my kids spend plenty of time with their peers. The only “socialization” they’re missing out on is being stuffed into a locker, having their lunch money stolen, and being forced to watch the chorus teacher sing a Janet Jackson tribute medley during morning assembly.

Fourth, when people complain that homeschoolers receive a substandard education, they need to be asked, “Compared to what?”

Let’s be honest: Public schools aren’t doing well. In 2019, only 37% of 12th graders were deemed proficient in reading, and 30% did not even achieve a basic reading level on a national test. Many parents were very dissatisfied by what they witnessed in their kids’ virtual classrooms during COVID lockdowns.

Since studies routinely show that homeschoolers academically outperform their public school counterparts, why isn’t it considered a viable educational alternative?

Finally, homeschooling has benefits that no public or private school can provide. Unless you have your own reality TV show with a title like “Tim and Jean Have Seventeen,” your student-to-teacher ratio will be far lower than anything a traditional school can offer. This frequent, individually tailored instruction will be provided by someone (you) who knows and loves your children better than anyone else in the world. And you’ll be able to shape your kids’ character in ways that public schools can’t. Some of my family’s most important and educational conversations about science or theology or economics happen not while we’re in the classroom but while we’re in the car on the way to the grocery store.

Homeschooling isn’t for everyone. Sometimes it’s an impossibility due to financial constraints or the special needs of your kids. Sometimes parents are truly unequipped to teach even basic skills. Sometimes local public or private schools are excellent. However, I want to encourage every parent to consider homeschooling as a live option, at least for the first few years of elementary school.

Today, with homeschooling exploding across the country, I hope that skeptics like Dr. Baird will talk to a few homeschooling families and homeschool alumni in their areas and will try to keep an open mind. Like public school or karaoke or dad jokes, homeschooling can be done poorly. But it can also be done well. And when it’s done well, it is joyful and fulfilling in a way that few things can be.

​Homeschool, Public school, Parents, Align, Culture 

According to the Bible, what will hell be like?

The descriptions are awful, and the occupants are unsettling. Jesus said “the devil and his angels” would be there (Matthew 25:41). He taught that the unrighteous would be there (Matthew 25:41-46). John the apostle described it as “the second death” (Revelation 21:8) and the “lake of fire” (Revelation 20:15). It is a place of unceasing punishment (Revelation 20:10; Matthew 25:46), and thus it is a place from which there is no escape.

Growing up, I used to imagine that those who go to hell would, at some point (and probably sooner than later), come to their senses and repent. If the prodigal in the parable (Luke 15:11-32) came to his senses when he was eating pig slop, surely the horrors of hell would provoke deep sorrow and repentance.

Have you ever wondered whether there will be repentance in hell? Should we imagine that those in hell will eventually cry out to God for salvation, only to have their cries rejected? Will they plead for his redemption, pledge themselves to him, and renounce their wickedness, only to have their desperate cries met with divine contempt?

We should not imagine those things because we have no biblical reason to suppose that the wicked will ever be repentant in hell.

Hell is full of hardened hearts. And repentance doesn’t flow from a hardened heart. Repentance is a gift of God. It is a work of the Holy Spirit. And in the New Testament, repentance is unto salvation.

Will they wish they weren’t in hell? Yes. Will they wish the punishment would cease? Of course. Consider the language of the rich man in Luke 16, when he says, “I am in anguish in this flame” (Luke 16:24) and describes his abode as “this place of torment” (Luke 16:28).

Jesus described the emotions of hell’s occupants when he said, “The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers, and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 13:41-42; see also Matthew 24:51).

Should we imagine this “weeping” as being tears of repentance? No repentance is specified. Weeping is not the only thing mentioned. We read about weeping and gnashing of teeth. Together, that pair of descriptions — tears and teeth — is an image of distress and rage. The “gnashing of teeth” denotes rage and hostility. The inhabitants of hell are hostile, angry, rageful.

Hell is full of hardened hearts. And repentance doesn’t flow from a hardened heart. Repentance is a gift of God. It is a work of the Holy Spirit. And in the New Testament, repentance is unto salvation. There is never true repentance without salvation. Peter said, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins” (Acts 2:38). When addressing those who might be opposed to the gospel, Paul said, “God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will” (2 Timothy 2:25-26). And, of course, Paul is talking about people alive on earth, not about people in hell.

Faith and repentance are the result of the gracious work of the Spirit, as the Lord opens our eyes to see the ugliness of our sin and the beauty of redemption. He convicts us, and we experience genuine contrition, a godly sorrow. According to Paul, “Godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death” (2 Corinthians 7:10).

Those in hell will never desire to worship God. They will never love the Lord. They will never repent. Instead, their hardness of heart will bear the fruit of all the horrors of sin.

If there is any grief in hell, it is a worldly grief and not a godly grief. Godly grief produces repentance, the repentant are saved, and God is glorified because his Spirit’s merciful work illuminates the sinner’s heart and reveals the glory of Christ to him.

It is unthinkable that repentant people would not be saved. And because those in hell will not be delivered from their judgment, there can be no genuine repentance in them. The Spirit will not produce repentance in the hearts of the wicked who cannot be redeemed from the second death.

There will not be any saving grace or common grace in hell. There will only be the unrestrained rage of the godless, who, in their unending unrepentance, will indulge their blasphemies and hatred to the uttermost. If heaven is a place of love and hope, hell is a place of hate and despair.

Those in hell will never desire to worship God. They will never love the Lord. They will never repent. Instead, their hardness of heart will bear the fruit of all the horrors of sin. The wicked in hell will be embodiments of iniquity, living manifestations of spiritual darkness. They will never want to flee to Christ, for they will despise him and blaspheme him forever.

When we reflect on the abode of the wicked, let us rejoice that there is good news of a Savior who welcomes sinners to him even now. When people flee to Christ, he will never refuse them. In fact, he saves them and keeps them — forever.

This article was originally published by Dr. Mitchell Chase at his Substack, Biblical Theology.

​Abide, Hell, God, Christianity, Christians, Bible, Repentance, Faith 

If you’re Euro-American, your great-grandmother probably tatted, and if her great-grandmother was a lady of class, she probably also tatted.

While there is some thought that tatting has nautical origins, it is a relatively new lace-making technique that materialized a little over two hundred years ago and briefly trended in women’s magazines and ladies’ parlors. It is resurging, threatening to become as popular as it was in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

Tatting is great on public transit. I can keep my lace and shuttle in my skirt pocket, pull it out and work on it for only a stitch or two if I like, then quickly shove it back into my pocket.

Tatting was always an aristocratic pastime. Regular women had no time for sitting around to make lace. It was the 19th-century equivalent of the “fidget spinner” for women who hosted parties with fancy tea-things and was especially suited for chatty women who liked to keep their fingers preoccupied.

Keturah Hickman

Aristocratic fidget spinner

One of my most prized possessions is a bookmark that was supposedly tatted by my great-great-great-grandmother, Mary Ann Wheeler. It was given to me by my maternal grandmother, who taught me to tat about four years ago when I asked to learn. It took me nearly three days to be able to make only an inch of lace. After that I made about ten yards of cotton lace edging for a quilt I sewed by hand.

Shuttle tatting does indeed feel similar to a fidget spinner for me, except I feel good after “spinning” when I have something — lace — to show for it.

Keturah Hickman

Keturah Hickman

Shuttle diplomacy

I’ve been living on the road with
my husband out of our backpacks for the last few months. Tatting stores better than knitting or crocheting might — it is light and needs little space. I’m even able to keep a few extra shuttles on me to give away whenever I meet someone who wants to learn.

It is great on public transit. I can keep my lace and shuttle in my skirt pocket, pull it out and work on it for only a stitch or two if I like, then quickly shove it back into my pocket.

Tatting is difficult to master if you have not already learned other handicrafts. It involves making a series of knots with either a shuttle or straight needles and requires perfect, taut tension in order to flip the knots from one thread to another so that the knots
slide instead of stick. The size of the lace is determined by the needles when needle tatting and by the weight of the thread when shuttle tatting.

Needle tatting is a good option if you have hand or finger disabilities. I personally prefer shuttle tatting simply because the shuttles are very pretty and fun to use. Shuttles can come in all sorts of sizes for holding more or less thread. They are traditionally made of sterling silver but can also be found made of bone, shell, wood, steel, or plastic. Often one tats with a thin thread, but it is possible to tat with any sort of string. I have used embroidery floss and yarn.

Time to tat

One can make all sorts of things by tatting. I made all my wedding dress lace with silk yarn. I’ve also made barefoot shoes, earrings (my own ears are unpierced, but earrings sell well on the road), bookmarks, collars, lace edgings, and doilies. There are various Instagram accounts selling tatted jewelry.

Keturah Hickman

Lace cuffs and collar combos are also popular. While little old ladies are best known for their doilies, they also used to make beautiful lace edgings for priests’ vestments. I have ambitions of making a lace parasol. The beautiful thing about tatting is that once you master it, it doesn’t take as long to make lace as one might think.

When I hosted the girls’ immersive program “The Living Room Academy,” I did not teach tatting because it simply takes more time to master the basics than any other general skill, and I did not consider it a “necessary” skill to prioritize along with sewing and baking. However, if you feel that you simply want to make lace for the fun of it, it is worth the time and effort to learn tatting.

My husband has joked that we should open a tatting shop next to a tattoo parlor, and I could offer “tats with no regrets.” There’s just something about a piece of lace. Perhaps it was an aristocratic fad at one point in history. But now … now we all have time to make a little lace, if we want.

Keturah Hickman

​Tat, Lace tatting, Crafts, Keturah hickman, Lace, Lifestyle 

We all know what it is. We all have our favorite examples. Perhaps, like many, yours is Bruce Springsteen, whose new look is giving off Tilda Swinton trapped in a tanning bed.

It’s the unigender uniparty. It’s about much more than the occasional lesbian-style jokes aimed at aging celebrity men. It’s about the strange way our high-profile elites seem to be converging on a neutral (neuter?) public image — one that seems to convey through specific common cues that they are on their way toward transcending secondary and perhaps even primary sex differences.

Cuban is on the fast track to laughingstock status. But if he cracks and slaps back, he’ll have to choose between chaining himself even more tightly to his fellow unitards or somehow distancing himself from the team — always a dangerous decision in our digitally tribalized age.

And as the internet discovered this week, it has claimed Mark Cuban as its latest victim.

No longer the Wall Street-presenting alpha Chad familiar from “Shark Tank,” Cuban has self-adjusted in keeping with his emergence as a top spokesbeing of the “progressive” upper management class — adopting, whether consciously or somehow otherwise, the smooth, animatronic presentation of the Masters of the Ellenverse.

But it’s the glasses that complete the picture and the glasses that have launched a million memes. Searching Cuban glasses on X returns an infinite scroll of references, who-wore-it-betters, and general japes — a chorus of mockery that, as of this writing, Cuban has declined to respond to, although it beggars belief that he hasn’t caught wind of the trend.

Taking advantage of the uncanny mutation, Elon Musk himself took a swing amid his MAGA road campaign. “Mark Cuban and Rachel Maddow are the same person,” he joked, reposting the visual evidence. “Don’t believe conspiracy theorists who claim otherwise!”

Cuban is on the fast track to laughingstock status. But if he cracks and slaps back, he’ll have to choose between chaining himself even more tightly to his fellow unitards or somehow distancing himself from the team — always a dangerous decision in our digitally tribalized age.

You’re in or you’re out — that seems to be the reality in the unigender uniparty, which won’t settle any more for mere ideological uniformity. Thou must be remade in its image to earn thy spot on the screen and stage. Surely, the final step into full posthumanity is just a reveal away. The choice is yours, Cuban. You must respond. Doth thy soul belong to the bespectacled Borg? Or dare you disavow?

​Mark cuban, Elon musk, James poulos, James poulos zero hour, Mark cuban kamala harris, Unigender, Uniparty, Tech 

Americans are leaving the Democratic Party in droves, waking up to the reality that the party no longer fights for their values. For years, Democrats have claimed to stand for the working class, but more people are realizing that this is just lip service. The party has become disconnected from the struggles of hardworking Americans — rising inflation, struggling businesses, and an economy that benefits only the elites.

Instead of addressing these core issues, Democrats continue pushing a progressive agenda that caters to out-of-touch coastal elites, ignoring everyday Americans.

The growing support for Trump among black voters is not a fleeting trend; it’s a sign that Democrats have failed a key part of their base.

Take the Harris-Walz campaign, for example. It is now unraveling before our eyes. After Joe Biden was effectively sidelined, Kamala Harris, who never even made it through the Democratic primary, was forced into the role of nominee. The media has done everything possible to prop her up, but with less than 20 days until the election, it’s clear their efforts are failing.

Even Democratic voters are struggling to rally behind a candidate who simply doesn’t resonate with the public. People want leaders who understand their values, focus on what matters to them, and actually fight for their concerns.

In a desperate move, the Harris campaign turned to Barack Obama, hoping to win back black voters, especially black men. But this strategy has backfired. Many in the black community felt insulted by Obama’s lecturing tone, as if his mere presence could gloss over the party’s failures. Black voters have been promised the world by Democrats for decades, yet they’ve seen little action.

Black communities are struggling with crime, unemployment, and failing schools, and instead of offering policies to help, Obama’s solution is “Vote for Kamala or you’re sexist.” No wonder black Americans are tired of being talked down to by a party more interested in checking the box of “diversity” than in delivering real results.

Bringing Obama into the campaign only highlighted how out of touch Democrats are with the real issues facing black Americans — economic opportunity, neighborhood safety, and quality education for their children. Instead of addressing these pressing concerns, the Harris campaign clings to the past, hoping to mask the administration’s current failures with nostalgia. But voters see through it, and more are turning to Donald Trump, a leader who not only talks about these issues but takes action to address them.

The growing support for Trump among black voters is not a fleeting trend; it’s a sign that Democrats have failed a key part of their base. Black Americans, like many others, are realizing that the party they’ve long supported no longer represents their interests. They are looking for leadership that isn’t focused on pleasing political elites but is instead rooted in putting Americans first. Trump’s focus on creating jobs, securing the border, and ensuring safety resonates because it reflects the values of everyday people — not the woke, progressive left.

As we approach Election Day, it’s not just black voters who are shifting their support. Minority communities across the board are gravitating toward Trump and candidates like JD Vance who offer clear, strong leadership in these uncertain times. Trump and Vance have consistently put America first, whether it’s on the economy, foreign policy, or national security. Their vision for restoring America resonates with voters fed up with weak Democratic leadership that prioritizes appeasing international bureaucrats and pushing radical policies over fixing problems at home.

Take a look at the polls. The fact that Arab voters in Michigan are showing up in record numbers for Trump during early voting speaks volumes about the Democrats’ failures. These voters feel abandoned by a party that promised change but delivered nothing. They see Trump as someone who cares about their needs and tackles issues head-on. Democrats have only themselves to blame for this shift. They’ve focused too much on identity politics and not enough on delivering real solutions.

Harris’ problems don’t stop with black voters. At a recent Univision town hall, she failed to provide meaningful answers when Latino families pressed her on the rising cost of living, from groceries to housing. Instead of addressing their concerns, she offered more empty promises and shifted the conversation to granting amnesty to millions of illegal immigrants. Latino voters who are struggling to make ends meet saw right through this tone-deaf response. They aren’t looking for more political posturing — they want real solutions to the problems they face every day.

The Harris-Walz campaign is more than just out of touch with the American people — it’s emblematic of a party that has lost its way. Harris’ attempts to appear relatable, whether by doing interviews on trendy podcasts or casually drinking a beer on late-night TV, come across as insincere stunts. Americans can tell when a politician is pandering, and this election cycle, they’re not buying it. Voters are fed up with a Democratic Party more interested in regaining power than in working for the people, and this time, they’re not falling for it.

The truth is that Americans want leaders who are strong, decisive, and focused on the issues that matter most — border security, economic stability, and protecting American jobs. This election is a clear signal that Americans, especially minority communities, are ready for real change. The future of the Democratic Party looks dim, and the Harris-Walz campaign is just the latest example of how a once-powerful party has lost its way.

The Democrats’ priority isn’t the people any more — it’s power, and voters aren’t buying it.

​Opinion & analysis, Politics 

Vice President Kamala Harris sat down for an interview with Fox News host Bret Baier — and it did not go well for her.

However, Glenn Beck of “The Glenn Beck Program” believes she did the interview for a very specific reason — which was just to speak to her voters, not change any minds.

“He has talked about locking people up because they disagree with him. This is a democracy, and in a democracy, the president of the United States in the United States of America should be willing to be able to handle criticism without saying he’d lock people up for doing it, and this is what is at stake,” Kamala said to Baier.

“She needed to shore up her own people, and her own people believe that Donald Trump is a threat. And they needed to show she’s tough as nails, she knows, and she’s not afraid of anybody, and this is a democracy,” Glenn mocks.

“This is the most angry she got, and it really came out of nowhere,” he continues. “This was the moment she was looking for. It didn’t matter what the question was, that’s why she kept making it about Donald Trump. She kept going to Donald Trump, and it wouldn’t fit anywhere. It fit right here.”

“That’s the clip that’s going to be seen by progressives and those on the left,” he adds.

Stu Burguiere is in full agreement, telling Glenn that he believes it was “a scripted takedown in her mind of Trump.”

“It hearkens back to the approach of Biden, which was standing in front of the ‘Revenge of the Sith’ wall and yelling about how bad [Trump] is about democracy,” Stu adds.

The reason this is so important is Kamala’s strongest voter base is in those who simply hate Donald Trump.

“She has to have that rage that they spent eight years, 12 years on,” Glenn says. “They’ve spent all this time and money and energy building up that rage. They need to kindle that rage here in the last few weeks.”

Want more from Glenn Beck?

To enjoy more of Glenn’s masterful storytelling, thought-provoking analysis, and uncanny ability to make sense of the chaos, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

​Upload, Free, Video phone, Sharing, Camera phone, Video, Youtube.com, The glenn beck program, Glenn beck, The blaze, Blazetv, Blaze news, Blaze podcasts, Blaze media, Blaze podcast network, Kamala harris, Fox news, Donald trump, Brett baier 

Given this year’s uninspiring movie lineup and Disney’s ongoing financial troubles, “Inside Out 2” seems like a bit of divine intervention. It hasn’t just been the highest-grossing film of the year, raking in over $1.6 billion worldwide; it’s also the highest-grossing animated film ever. On top of that, it’s a genuinely good movie, recapturing much of the magic that made early Pixar and Disney films so beloved.

But not everyone involved in the project is celebrating its success. A lengthy article in IGN reports that many who worked on the film are actually unhappy with what its success represents for Disney’s future. They’re frustrated by the film’s safe approach to cultural issues, the rigid creative hierarchy, and the pressure placed on employees to produce results.

What really bothered employees was Pete Docter’s insistence on making ‘universal stories.’

While some of these complaints may seem trivial, they highlight the deeper causes behind the decline of mainstream entertainment. It’s not about streaming platforms, global audience demands, massive budgets stifling creative risks, or even the rise of dopamine culture that has turned audiences into restless viewers. What’s truly killing Disney — and Hollywood as a whole — is the rampant immaturity and laziness among its creative workforce.

Nearly everyone interviewed in the IGN story whined about the pressure to meet deadlines and hit their goals. Apparently, the producers’ desire to turn a profit on a project that cost over $200 million was a real downer for some of the staff.

People outside Hollywood might wonder why this isn’t always the case when making a movie. Instead of being told that their film needs to succeed, workers on some movie sets are reassured that even if the project flops, it’s no one’s fault — except maybe the audience’s — so they should take it easy and prioritize their mental health. This could explain why TV series like “She-Hulk: Attorney at Law,” “The Acolyte,” or “The Rings of Power” command massive budgets ($225 million, $180 million, and nearly $1 billion, respectively) but still look cheap and poorly made.

Then there’s the resentment toward Pete Docter, the chief creative officer of “Inside Out 2.” Having been involved in nearly every successful Pixar movie, including “Toy Story,” “Wall-E,” “Up,” and “Inside Out,” it made sense to bring in Docter. “I mean, you saw the end result of that,” one person said of Docter taking a larger role. “[‘Inside Out 2’] made a billion dollars at the box office. That was a direct result of Pete’s involvement. Pete’s a genius. Nobody can dispute this.”

And yet the malcontents at Pixar will indeed dispute this. Yes, Docter had a proven track record and seemed to be a relatively nice boss, but he was also “a symbol of Pixar holding fast to an internal culture that’s stubbornly set in its ways, with an aversion to bringing on new directors and voices.”

What really bothered employees was Docter’s insistence on making “universal stories.” He wanted to make movies that a mass audience could relate to instead of pushing an agenda to appeal to a select group of people.

Naturally, this posed a problem for the progressive staff, who seemed to have learned nothing from the failure of “Lightyear,” which proudly featured a lesbian couple kissing. Many on the team were intent on telling the story of 13-year-old Riley entering a romantic relationship with another girl — because they believed this is what families with young children want to see. Docter stepped in, calling for edits to make Riley “less gay,” which led to “a lot of extra work to ensure that no one would interpret her as not straight.”

As ‘South Park’ memorably pointed out, the novelty of ‘putting a chick in it and make her lame and gay’ doesn’t work — and it never did.

The fact that these edits were necessary raises the question: What would have happened if Docter had never taken over and writer Kelsey Mann had been pressured into making Riley gay? What if Anger, a clear stand-in for conservative white males, rather than Anxiety, became the antagonist, trying to force Riley to conform to heteronormative expectations and suppress her feelings?

It would undoubtedly have been a disaster, not necessarily because it would offend audiences but because it would be boring and clichéd. A gay Riley would never make mistakes and would always have the purest intentions. The only way to counter a homophobic Anger would be to lecture him on how normal and natural same-sex attractions are. Instead of telling a story about the emotions going on a journey to work together for Riley’s mental health, the film would have become a battle against Anger and his allies to liberate Riley’s sexuality.

Out of respect for the queer community, it would be next to impossible to have any levity in any part of this story, for fear of trivializing and misrepresenting the issue and the people involved. The only potentially funny and relatable character might be the antagonist Anger, but even he would have to be censored and sufficiently flattened with no redeemable qualities so that younger viewers would understand he is bad for being homophobic.

Perhaps a handful of people might be genuinely interested in taking their kids to see this kind of film, but most people would understandably pass. Not because they don’t care about gay people but because the movie will be humorless, dull, and patronizing. As “South Park” memorably pointed out, the novelty of “putting a chick in it and make her lame and gay” doesn’t work — and it never did.

Still, disgruntled Pixar employees will lament that they “may never see a major gay character in a Pixar movie.” Of course, they’ll see plenty of gay characters elsewhere, but Docter and other level-headed leaders at Pixar recognize that this approach simply doesn’t fit family films. They hold onto the old-fashioned belief that entertainment is not about pushing progress or indoctrinating young audiences but about telling stories everyone can relate to and enjoy. It’s about uniting people in an artistic experience that speaks to their shared humanity. And, above all, it’s about making money.

Until today’s creatives understand this and adjust their expectations, they’ll continue to witness the decline of their industry.

​Pixar same sex kiss lightyear, Pixar, Inside out 2, Lame and gay, Disney, Opinion & analysis, Align, Entertainment 

Pagers and walkie-talkies can be turned into remotely triggered bombs — so why not electric vehicles?

That was my first thought when I read about last month’s coordinated attacks on Hezbollah — believed to have been orchestrated by Israel — in which pagers and walkie-talkies exploded across Lebanon, killing dozens and wounding thousands.

A thermal runaway event could be induced deliberately, even when the EV’s ‘ignition’ is off — especially if a hacker gained access to the vehicle’s battery management system.

While those devices appear to have been modified at some point during the supply chain, the principle behind turning them into deadly weapons is relatively simple: Heat the battery until it catches fire or explodes.

It could just as easily apply to EVs — as well as hybrids, plug-ins, or 48v cars, all of which use batteries much larger than in any handheld device.

Of course, these vehicles have a number of safety systems to prevent the battery from catching fire and overheating. But those safety systems run on software that can be hacked, especially since they are already years old by the time the vehicles are built and sold.

Roy Fridman, CEO and chief revenue officer for C2A Security, an Israel-based cybersecurity company focused on the automotive industry, recently said that one automaker told him that the software that controls a motor has two million lines of code. And that’s just the motor.

He stated, “You have hundreds of millions of lines of code inside a vehicle. If you were talking about autonomous vehicles, it’s even more. But the number of lines of code in a vehicle is continuously growing.”

This code is vulnerable to exploitation thanks to wireless connections to the internet (for software updates) and to charging infrastructure. Vehicle-to-grid technology, which allows EV owners to sell their energy storage capacity to grid operators, requires connection to the electricity grid.

“The more communication protocols you have, the more lines of code you have, the more you are susceptible to [hacking],” Fridman said.

We already know the technology exists to disable cars remotely. Cybersecurity experts are also worried that EVs could be hacked to steal drivers’ personal data.

As Fridman says, its plausible that someone could “create a battery overload and disable some of the protective mechanisms” within your car.

Lithium-ion batteries catch fire when they enter an uncontrolled, self-heating event called thermal runaway. Most often, it occurs due to damage or a defect in the battery. But such an event could be induced deliberately, even when the EV’s “ignition” is off — especially if a hacker gained access to the vehicle’s battery management system.

An overheated battery gives off toxic and flammable gases, which can cause an explosion. At the very least, it produces a smoldering, difficult-to-extinguish fire.

For more on this, see my video below:

​Evs, Hacking, Hezbollah, Battery fires, Hybrids, Lauren fix, Align cars 

Boeing is a company in crisis and plans to return to the capital markets to raise up to $15 billion in cash to address its liquidity problems. Unfortunately, Boeing squandered over $43 billion on stock buybacks in the previous decade — cash it could desperately use now.

I don’t want to debate the pros and cons of stock repurchases so much as highlight another example of how Boeing’s management, dominated by finance executives fixated on cost reduction and stock valuation, has undermined what was once a leading American engineering and manufacturing company.

In 2018 and 2019 alone, Boeing squandered $11.7 billion of cash to repurchase 33 million shares, which comes out to more than $350 per share. Incredible.

That said, I generally disagree with my pro-capitalism friends on the practice of stock buybacks. I’ve observed for years how harmful this management tactic can be. Companies often conduct stock repurchases when they’re doing well, they are flush with cash, and their stock price is high, using buybacks to further boost the price. But when bad times come and the stock price drops, companies are forced to issue new shares at a much lower price.

The argument for stock repurchases is that a company flush with cash returns excess funds to shareholders by buying back shares. This action increases the value of the remaining stock, as the company’s market capitalization is spread over fewer shares.

The trouble is that the money from buybacks primarily goes to
former shareholders — those who sell their stock. In contrast, a dividend would benefit ongoing shareholders. Even better, retaining the cash to invest in the company can lead to better products, new revenue streams, and ultimately higher profits. Other smart alternatives include paying off debt or simply holding the cash for future needs.

But those options don’t provide short-term boosts to stock prices. Not coincidentally, today’s senior executives often receive substantial compensation based on stock performance. In other words, draining a company’s cash reserves through buybacks can help an executive move from earning seven figures to eight figures, but it doesn’t build long-term value or support future growth.

Over the past few years, there has been a litany of awful stories involving Boeing, including planes falling out of the sky, the 737 MAX being grounded, doors blowing out in flight, astronauts being stranded in space, etc. It’s all starting to impact operations and cash flow.

CNBC reported last week that Boeing plans to cut 10% of its workforce, about 17,000 people, amid a machinist strike that has shut down manufacturing for over a month. The launch of Boeing’s critical new 777 variant has now been pushed back until 2026. It’s already several years behind schedule. Boeing has paused flight tests after discovering structural damage in an aircraft.

That’s a polite way of saying the company discovered negligent engineering and poor design. Once upon a time, negligent engineering would have been unthinkable at Boeing. But the business-school types now in charge have long since rid the company management of those who prized high-quality design and production.

According to CNBC:

Boeing expects to report a loss of $9.97 a share in the third quarter, the company said in a surprise release Friday. It expects to report a pretax charge of $3 billion in the commercial airplane unit and $2 billion for its defense business. In preliminary financial results, Boeing said it expects to have an operating cash outflow of $1.3 billion for the third quarter.

Despite all this chaos and neglect, Boeing CEO
Dave Calhoun made $32.8 million in total compensation in 2023, up from $22.6 million in 2022.

To be fair, Boeing’s executives have been able to loot the company and redistribute shareholder equity to themselves because Boeing’s board of directors allowed it to happen. They are complicit.

The table below shows a breakout of Boeing’s $43.5 billion in stock repurchases from 2013 to 2019. Of note, the current Boeing stock price is about $150 per share.

Here are a few key observations:

The $43.5 billion of cash that Boeing flushed away over seven years to improve the stock price had an average price per share of $172.
$15 billion of stock at $150 per share will mean 100 million shares are being reissued at $22 per share less than they were originally repurchased. To summarize the math, Boeing will have flushed away a net $2.2 billion of critically needed cash by buying high and selling low for the same 100 million shares. That is some impressive financial wizardry.
In 2018 and 2019 alone, Boeing squandered a combined $11.7 billion of cash to repurchase 33 million shares, which comes out to more than $350 per share. Incredible. The cash is gone, and Boeing stock is now trading, again, at just $150 per share.
Boeing critically needs cash to service its debt of more than $55 billion. That $43.5 billion it flushed away would be mighty helpful right now.

Boeing’s costly and deadly mismanagement, which prioritized cost-cutting and stock price manipulation, would make an excellent case study for business schools. Unfortunately, the very management practices that have so damaged Boeing are the same ones being taught in our elite business schools today.

​Boeing, Boeing 737 max, Debt, Stock market, Dave calhoun, Opinion & analysis 

After the first presidential debate, Vice President Kamala Harris had a slight edge on Donald Trump — but that edge is now weakening, and her loyal mainstream media is starting to realize it.

“Numbers say it, it is a tied game here weeks before the election,” MSNBC pollster Steve Kornacki told Kristen Welker of “Meet the Press” in a recent segment.

“Harris had opened up that advantage over Trump going in our new poll,” Kornacki continued. “That advantage has all in the last few weeks in our poll washed away for her.”

The polling on the issues of immigration and financial stability lean in favor of Trump while Kamala’s leading in “representing change,” though her numbers have still dwindled on that specific issue since September.

“Maybe a reason for that too is remember, she’s the VP in an unpopular administration. Look, we ask [about] Joe Biden’s policies as a president, ‘Do you think they’re helping or hurting your family?’” Kornacki says, before showing that almost double the number of people asked say the current administration’s policies are hurting their family.

Meanwhile, 44% of people polled believe Trump helped their family while 31% of them say he hurt their family.

Dave Rubin of “The Rubin Report” doesn’t think it looks good for Kamala, explaining that she appears to be in “the doom loop.”

“They thought, ‘All right, she couped the old man, now we can just install her and protect, right? We have an entire machine dedicated to protecting her, we have a corporate machine and corporate media, we have Big Tech on our side, we’ll just protect her and hide her,’” Rubin says.

“When they realized that the protect and hide wasn’t working as well as they thought, then they thought, ‘Okay, we’ll just put her in these ridiculously easy interviews,’ with the exception of that ’60 Minutes’ one, which was more difficult, and that one was an abject disaster,” he continues.

“But even in the easy ones, she failed because she’s so deeply inauthentic. So the more people find out about her, the less they like her,” he adds.

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​Upload, Free, Video phone, Sharing, Camera phone, Video, Youtube.com, The rubin report, Dave rubin, The blaze, Blazetv, Blaze podcasts, Blaze podcast network, Blaze media, Msnbc, Election 2024, Donald trump, Kamala harris, Polls 

A national election is upon us. Friends, family, and neighbors are at odds. Results may be challenged. What a time we are in! Between the bombast and the ballots, it’s hard to see our way through to a time of hope and peace.

Wonder what happens after November 5? For the person of faith, it looks a lot like November 4. Pray. Love. Trust.

We can pray, we can love, and we can trust, my friend. What God says will happen will happen.

Pray. Perhaps you find yourself unsure of how to pray. Everything seems so confusing, so angry, so exhausting. Here are two topics you might consider for your conversations with God.

Let’s lift up our nation. We are a family with so much shared history and an important future. Ask God to humble us, hear us, and heal us. It may seem futile, but remember — the power is not in the one who prays; it’s in the God who hears.

And let’s ask God to help our neighbors, and let that help start with us. Pray for the compassion to reach out to the single mom across the hall at work and the shut-in at the nursing home. Pray for hope for those still recovering from storms — whether those tempests go by the name of Helene or Milton or divorce or chronic illness. May God bring his healing balm of hope.

And pray for those neighbors with whom you disagree. Yes, even those who make you mad. The quickest way to douse the fire of anger is with a bucket of prayers. Rather than blame, pray. Jesus did this. While hanging on the cross, he interceded for his enemies: “Father, forgive them; they don’t know what they’re doing.”

We are never more like Jesus than when we pray for others — those with whom you agree and those you don’t. Pray for this hurting world. God cares about it all.

Love. Now, love is not exactly the byword of the day. Contentiousness, yes. Anxiety, for sure. Fear, our constant companion. But love seems to be in short supply.

Let’s check our source. This worried world is not the place to look to for steadfast love. Let’s instead turn our gaze to a gracious God whose love will never fail. Governments will fail, but God’s love will last. Crowns are temporary, but love is eternal. Your money will run out, but his love never will.

Let God love you. And let him help you share that love with others. Pause for a moment, right now, and make a list of three people you can show love to today — quietly, simply, and unconditionally. I promise you, that offering of love will return to you in unexpected ways, and the hope-o-meter of your heart will rise like the morning sun.

Trust. It’s hard, I know. So many unknowns, and the things we do know are worrisome. These are troubling times with challenges both at home and abroad. Leadership matters. But whether your preferred candidate occupies the White House or not, we can know that God’s in charge of who’s in charge. Proverbs states that a king’s heart is like a stream of water in the hand of the Lord; he directs it wherever he pleases.

Might I suggest we lift our eyes and shift our thoughts? We can face the problems of this world by focusing on the promises of the next. The future is not as frightening if you know the future. And you can know the future when you know who controls it.

One of my favorite sermon illustration books contains a story of a missionary and his son. They moved from England to Central Africa in the company of four other adults. Three of them died. The health of the father began to fail, so he resolved to return to England. He and his boy bounced for days across Africa in an old, broken-down wagon. Upon reaching the coast, they embarked for England by sea. Within a few hours, they encountered a brutal storm. The waves and wind combined to make the sound of cannon blasts and shake the ship from stem to stern. During a lull in the tempest, the father held and warmed his son.

The boy asked, “Father, when shall we have a home that will not shake?”

I can’t vouch for the story. The book provides no source. But I can most certainly vouch for the question. I’ve asked it. You’ve asked it. Each and every person has felt this world with its troubles and tremors and asked, “God, when shall we have a home that will not shake?”

His answer? “Soon, dear child. Very soon.”

This world, so upside down, will be right side up. People who were rejected in this life will be respected in the next. In this age, they were enslaved and sold; in the next, they will rule and reign. In this age, they were handicapped and sick; in the next, they will serve with perfected, glorified bodies.

This sounds like heaven. This sounds like the perfect ending. This sounds like the grand conclusion to the story of God.

We can pray, we can love, and we can trust, my friend. What God says will happen will happen.

​Faith, Hope, 2024 presidential election, Prayer, Opinion & analysis 

Paganism has been on the rise in the Western world for some time now. More and more people are abandoning their religious upbringings and rejecting the Judeo-Christian values of the West. While some have opted to adopt agnosticism or atheism, others, especially Gen Zers, have chosen to replace Christianity with a different set of beliefs and practices rooted in paganism. Ranging from engaging in actual black magic to just dressing in dark, edgy clothing, witchcore is the newest fad among the rising generation.

Unlike the colonial days when witches were so feared that even the town spinster had to watch her back, today, witches and witchcraft are embraced by society.

Allie Beth Stuckey points to a recent magazine in a grocery store checkout lane titled “Witches: Discover their secretive and mysterious practices” as an example of how mainstream the occult has become. The magazine, which features a woman clad in black robes and a pointed hat holding a cluster of burning red candles, sits adjacent to gossip columns and rows of candy as if it’s just another mundane object.

“This is clearly a glorification of witchcraft,” says Allie.

While the magazine features a traditional-looking witch, the majority of today’s witches look like “your normal suburban mom.”

“Even if someone is not wearing a pointy hat and walking around with their black cat, they might be imbibing and emulating [and] exhibiting aspects of witchcraft,” says Allie.

Further, modern “witchcraft doesn’t necessarily always look like a Ouija board or like dying your hair black and casting spells,” she explains. It often looks like “manifesting,” “transcendental meditation,” “burning sage,” “using crystals,” etc.

Modern witches weren’t ushered into the dark arts because they happened to stumble upon a group of women chanting incantations in the forest either. Most of them were introduced to new age concepts in the growing realm of “self-help” and “self-empowerment” guides. Allie explains that things like “a Cosmo article,” “astrology,” or the idea of tapping into your inner “goddess” is all it takes for someone to set off down a path of darkness.

A recent British Vogue article even spoke on the subject of witchcore and admitted that although the fad aims to “merge romantic mystical vibes with grungy Gothic undertones,” the “witchcore aesthetic is influenced by ancient rituals and practices, from potion making and herbalism to tarot card reading, sage burning, and crystal healing.”

“It’s not just about following a trend that you saw that you think is cute,” says Allie. Even things that seem benign, like a specific clothing aesthetic, are rooted in the incredibly dark idea of unleashing “a woman’s darker side.”

Artists like Taylor Swift are heavily responsible for viralizing the witchcore trend.

Allie plays a video of Swift performing on her Eras tour in a black robe surrounded by a circle of female dancers who are also clad in black robes. They essentially bow down to the pop icon who stands in the center of the dark ring.

“That is clearly demonic,” says Allie.

What’s perhaps even more disturbing, however, is the number of Christians who don’t recognize that these new age concepts and practices are satanic in nature. Some even try to engage in certain aspects of new ageism while maintaining their Christian faith.

“That’s called syncretism,” says Allie.

“In the Book of Revelation, one of the things that [Jesus] condemns is syncretism — trying to wed light and darkness.”

To hear more of Allie’s commentary on the rise of modern witchcraft, 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 with allie beth stuckey, Allie beth stuckey, Witchcraft, Witchcore, Rise of paganism, Pagan rituals, Blazetv, Blaze media, Taylor swift, Eras tour, Relatable 

We are preoccupied with a great variety of problems. Some of us are concerned about climate change. Others detail the continuing fallout from COVID. Still another group looks with alarm upon the aggression of Russia and the growing appetite for power that appears to accompany China’s ascent. Many view the burst of innovation surrounding artificial intelligence as a major threat.

But there is another, much less heralded crisis going largely unaddressed that has the potential to affect virtually everyone physically, mentally, and spiritually.

That crisis has to do with the vast growth of an aging population accompanied by diminishing numbers of young people.

It has been known for some time that our entitlement programs that provide for the old are on an unsustainable path. Social Security, for example, began with a veritable army of young workers available to support the benefits awarded to each senior citizen. Over time, that margin has eroded drastically. While there were once more than 40 workers per beneficiary, the ratio is
now closer to 2-1. The same problem applies to Medicare.

Western nations are facing this problem as a group. This much is well understood. What is less well understood is how to solve the problem as we continue to have fewer children but more old people who live longer. Any attempted reform appears to be a political nonstarter. And in the relatively near future, these programs are likely to become unsustainable.

But that problem is only the tip of the iceberg for modern societies such as America. We have been economically mobile. Families are spread out in sometimes distant locations across the generations. Elderly parents grow increasingly infirm without any immediate family in the area. Family ties are often strained because of divorces and other domestic disruptions. The once-large network of siblings who could divide up tasks of caring for parents has contracted substantially.

We need to develop more robust family, church, and community ties. Our families must grow closer together rather than more attenuated and spread out.

In addition, the two-income family has replaced the old single-provider model (virtually out of economic necessity) in which women stayed at home and tended to provide care for both younger and older generations.

Finally, and crucially, the old are living so long that their children who must care for them are often elderly themselves and can be easily overwhelmed by the task.

This last point threatens to be a straw that breaks the camel’s back as people who are already becoming less capable and less flexible are asked to make incredibly difficult decisions about their parents. Those decisions can be even more challenging when finances are not sufficient to support several years of expensive care in assisted living or nursing homes.

Under our current system, many families will exhaust the assets of their elderly parents and then have no choice other than to go through a process of pauperization as they transition to a Medicaid facility unless they are able to handle the caregiving themselves. There is little doubt that many people will find themselves beyond their resources and their own expectations and preparation as they encounter this problem.

The first two areas have to do with stewardship of resources. We all need to consider how to prepare ourselves and our families financially as best we can. That may require significantly less focus on accumulating goods and travel experiences and more on saving to provide for our future needs and for those we love.

In addition, American public policy will have to take greater account of the perilous dynamic of a large aging population supported by a smaller population of younger people.

Most important, however, is that we will have to become stronger spiritually and more connected as we try to face the crisis. We need to develop more robust family, church, and community ties. Our families must grow closer together rather than more attenuated and spread out.

How many of us can remember growing up surrounding by large numbers of relatives at family gatherings on birthdays and holidays? How many likewise have seen the decline of such events? How many have expectations of their church body (if they have a church at all) that are more oriented toward a consumer or entertainment experience than toward serious spiritual formation and filial relationships?

The challenge of aging parents and grandparents who reach the point of not being able to care for themselves is more pressing than it has ever been. Earlier generations were better situated and better prepared to deal with realities of aging than we are.

We need to start weaving the spiritual and social fabric back together, so that we can be responsible and loving toward our mothers and fathers.

​Social security, Medicare, Medicaid, Retirement hme, Aging crisis, Align 

Black men are turning their backs on Vice President Kamala Harris and turning out record levels of support for former President Donald Trump.

Among black male voters, 20% said they would vote for Trump even though just 4% considered themselves Republican, according to a New York Times/Siena poll from Oct. 12. Trump is on track to perform better among young black men than any other Republican candidate since 1960, according to CNN pollster Harry Enten.

Harris has managed to hold on to only 41% of support from black men ages 18-44, which is a 12-point deficit from President Joe Biden’s numbers and roughly half of former President Barack Obama’s support among the demographic, according to Enten’s analysis.

These figures have sounded the alarm for the Harris campaign. In an attempt to regain their support, the Democratic presidential hopeful curated a policy pitch to the “brothas,” as Obama said.

Obama lectured other black men during a campaign appearance last week in an attempt to boost turnout for Harris.

“We have not yet seen the same kinds of energy and turnout in all quarters of our neighborhoods and communities as we saw when I was running,” Obama said to a roomful of black men. “Now, I also want to say that that seems to be more pronounced with the brothas. So if you don’t mind, I’m just going to speak to y’all directly.”

“You’re coming up with all kinds of reasons and excuses; I’ve got a problem with that,” Obama continued. “Because part of it makes me think, and I’m speaking to men directly, part of it makes me think that, well, you just aren’t feeling the idea of having a woman as president, and you’re coming up with other alternatives and other reasons for that.”

Harris has made other attempts to bridge the widening gap between herself and black men.

Harris unveiled her “opportunity agenda” for black men on Monday, featuring policy proposals like forgivable loans for “black entrepreneurs,” bolstering cryptocurrency so black men “know their money is safe,” and legalizing recreational marijuana, despite overseeing over 1,900 marijuana convictions during her tenure as San Francisco district attorney.

However, the campaign’s last-ditch effort to regain the votes fails to address the actual policy priorities of black men.

As in other demographics, the economy remains the top issue for roughly a quarter of black men, according to the recent NYT/Siena poll. While Harris’ pitch to black men is tailored to address issues with a racial backdrop, only 4% said equality is their top priority and just 2% said the same for racial issues.

Democratic political pundits like former CNN host Don Lemon are even admitting that “Kamala Harris has a problem with black men.”

“There’s a problem,” Lemon said. “I went from battleground state to battleground state. … It was not curated. I went up to people just doing man on the street and said, ‘Who are you gonna vote for?’ Black men, time after time after time, they said, ‘I’m voting for Donald Trump.'”

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​Kamala harris, Black men, Black male voters, Donald trump, Barack obama, Joe biden, Battleground states, 2024 presidential election, Politics