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Amid a broader spiritual collapse, one trend stands out: Young men are returning to church in growing numbers. Generation Z, in particular, seeks structure, meaning, and community in a world fractured by chaos and alienation.

For decades, the dominant story in the West told of religion’s slow death. Church attendance dropped year after year, while “nones” — those who reject any religious affiliation — surged. But recent data complicates that narrative, especially among younger Americans.

The return of young men to the church is a cultural reckoning and a budding flower of renewal.

Gen Z remains the least religious generation on record, with 34% identifying as unaffiliated — higher than Millennials (29%) or Gen X (25%). Yet signs of revival are breaking through. One recent survey found that 31% of Gen Z attend religious services at least once a month, while 25% actively practice a faith.

Similar trends are occurring in the United Kingdom. A report by the Bible Society reveals that Catholics now outnumber Anglicans by more than two to one among Generation Z and younger Millennials. In 2018, Anglicans made up 30% of churchgoers ages 18-34, while Catholics accounted for 22%. By 2024, these figures had changed to 20% Anglican and 41% Catholic.

According to the Becket Fund’s 2024 findings, members of Gen Z attending religious services at least monthly rose from 29% in 2022 to 40% in 2024. Similarly, those who consider religion important in their lives increased from 51% to 66% over the same period.

Religious is the new ‘rebellious’

What explains the sudden shift? For generations, youth pushed back against the dominant order, and for much of the 20th century, that order was Christianity. But what happens when Christianity fades, replaced by atheism or whatever postmodern creed happens to be in vogue? The instinct to rebel remains. Only now, the rebellion turns back toward order, tradition, and moral clarity.

For years, legacy media and Hollywood told young men they were disposable — interchangeable, expendable, even dangerous. That narrative failed. And now, young men are driving the revival.

Historically, women filled the pews in greater numbers. But in 2024, that dynamic flipped. According to the Alabama Baptist, 30% of men attended weekly services compared to just 27% of women — a quiet but telling reversal of a long-standing pattern.

Men lead the charge

Traditional, structured worship has become a magnet for young men seeking discipline and meaning. Orthodox and Catholic churches — with their rituals, hierarchy, and deep historical roots — have seen a marked rise in male converts.

A 2022 survey reported a 78% increase in conversions to Orthodoxy since 2019. Catholic dioceses across the country have posted similar gains. From 2023 to 2024, some reported conversion spikes of up to 72%. The Archdiocese of Los Angeles alone welcomed 5,587 people into the Catholic Church this Easter, including 2,786 baptisms at the Easter Vigil — a 34% jump over last year.

But this resurgence goes deeper than doctrine. Churches offer young men what the modern world fails to provide: real community. According to the Barna Group, 67% of churchgoing adults report having a mentor — often someone they met through church. Among Gen Z and Millennials, that number rises to 86% and 83%, respectively.

Small groups and discipleship programs allow young men to wrestle with challenges, seek counsel, and build genuine friendships. These are exactly the structures secular society neglects — and precisely what my generation craves.

Cultural shifts have accelerated the return to faith. The internet may connect everyone digitally, but it often isolates people in the real world. Local churches still offer something screens can’t: brotherhood, accountability, and face-to-face contact. In a culture that demonizes masculinity and treats male virtues as liabilities, the church remains one of the last institutions to honor strength, discipline, and leadership without shame or apology.

A cultural mandate

Many young men today feel discarded by a society that marginalizes their natural instincts and virtues. Christianity offers them something different — a call to action rooted in service, discipline, and brotherhood. It gives them a place where effort matters, strength is welcomed, and belonging isn’t conditional. The need to connect, to matter, and to be respected — long ignored in secular culture — finds real expression in the life of the church.

This return of young men to the pews marks more than a spiritual revival. It’s a cultural reckoning. In many ways, it echoes the moral foundation laid by America’s founders. Though denominationally diverse, the founders agreed that freedom without faith could not last. George Washington said it plainly: “Religion and morality are indispensable supports” to political prosperity.

Today’s young men appear to understand what many in power have forgotten — liberty without virtue cannot endure. As America drifts, a new generation looks not to slogans or screens but to God — for strength, clarity, and the courage to rebuild what has been lost.

​Opinion & analysis, Faith, Gen z, Religion, Church, Catholicism, Orthodoxy, Millennials, Revival, Christianity, Civilization, Culture, Surveys, Masculinity, History, Ritual, Hierarchy, Discipline, Friendship, Loneliness, Community 

The baby-buying business is booming.

Powered in part by affluent gay male couples, for a few hundred thousand dollars they can purchase eggs from a poor woman, pay for a lab-arranged conception, and then “buy” another poor woman to carry the baby through surrogacy — right up until the doctor rips newborn Junior away from her hands and gives him to his two new daddies.

The baby-buyers are calling all the shots here. The women who are poor enough to submit to this have no virtually no voice.

This is evil for a lot of reasons, not the least of which is that buying a baby is human trafficking. (And let’s not forget that not every baby-buyer wants to raise a child. Some want to resell. Human trafficking of human trafficking.)

Since we just celebrated Mother’s Day, we need to spotlight this abhorrent practice and how it shapes our view of mothers.

Here’s the truth: It teaches us that moms aren’t really needed. It teaches us that a woman in a child’s life brings nothing special that two men can’t replicate. The media eagerly publishes stories about gay dads and how they can “bond just as well” with children as the real mother who’s been paid and sent away.

So, ladies: Your contribution as a mother isn’t special. Women and men aren’t really that different. You goofy Christians and your “God created two genders” nonsense has been disproved! When it comes to children, we can mix and match parents at will. We just don’t need moms.

This is what the progressive, liberal culture wants us to believe about mothers.

Oops, hold on a second

Well, we might still need women for one thing. Not their feminine nature or anything they bring to the table as a creature different from a man. No, all we need from women are their eggs.

The franken-scientists haven’t yet figured out how to create their own, so for now, we need to use women for their ovaries.

After all, what could be better than flooding the female body with a bunch of hormones in order to harvest their eggs in a procedure that nobody has ever described as pleasant? Oh, and those additional hormones? Yeah, they’re implicated in the rise of certain cancers for women undergoing this process.

As Nadya Williams says in her excellent article “The Babies Money Can Buy,” this procedure is “only the latest cost our society is willing to exact from women to go against their biology in order to play the fertility game (as it becomes in the process) by men’s rules. … Egg freezing, after all, is a lucrative business, largely fueled by women trying to extend their childbearing years. But it is also fueled by men who decide to have children without, well, ever marrying a woman.”

Yes, the “we find women icky” crowd are happy to find a woman who can’t quite make ends meet and buy parts of her to make their new mom-less child.

How is this acceptable?

Oops, just one more second

Because science hasn’t yet perfected a viable alternative womb option, this practice tells women: We need to keep you around for now, but just as an incubator for our lab-made child. Sound good?

Baby-buyers prey on women in desperate financial straits with this generous offer: You can have all the discomforts of pregnancy and all the pain of childbirth, but no baby! Your hormones will be totally wacky afterward, and you’ll probably feel quite sad to lose the little person who grew inside of you.

In fact, as Williams explains:

There are additional emotional costs that are involved in carrying a child for nine months. Pregnancy is the ultimate bonding process for mothers with the baby in utero. The surrogate’s body, hormones, emotions — all these combine to treat the baby as her own, because that is how pregnancy is naturally designed to work.

Yes, the original Designer got it right the first time, and women — and their babies — are the ones who pay this soul-destroying price of separation from the little human they grew. You’ve probably read of cases where surrogates went to court to get a baby back, but savvy baby-buyers make sure their contracts are airtight. Even in cases where they decide they don’t want the baby and want it aborted.

After a woman bids a permanent farewell to the child she carried, maybe she’ll receive the extra bonus of recovering from surgery, since some buyers prefer their surrogates to have a C-section. Never mind that the procedure is far riskier, requires a longer recovery, and has been known to cause a lifetime of complications.

The baby-buyers are calling all the shots here. The women who are poor enough to submit to this have virtually no voice.

Again. How is this acceptable?

Now, I understand that not every surrogate is in these circumstances, but we must grapple with the facts as we have them — and they don’t paint a pretty picture.

Women and children, last not first

Remember when our culture encouraged men to put women and children first? Yeah, not so anymore. Now, we can just erase women completely.

Case in point: Colton Underwood, who starred on the reality show “The Bachelor” before coming out as gay. He and his now-husband recently bought eggs and a womb to create a motherless baby, then posed in the hospital with the child shortly after taking him from his mother. Afterward, they claimed their child has no mother at all.

Both the woman who carried the baby and the egg donor — completely erased.

Most surrogacy arrangements like this are highly questionable ethically. How did we get to the place where two rich guys can buy or rent a woman’s body parts?

Of course, it’s objectionable for anyone to do it. But the fact that our culture is now celebrating two men purposefully creating a motherless child is especially disgusting. It smacks of misogyny, and it hurts the child who was created to be mothered — not just fathered.

How is the child hurt? Because that Designer I mentioned created these little ones to be nurtured on the outside by the person who carried them inside. We know about mother-child bonding: It’s emotional and physical.

Before birth in any pregnancy (including surrogacy), the child’s genetic material crosses through the placenta and circulates in the mother’s blood, according to Dr. Kristin Collier, a bioethicist. The child literally becomes part of the mother. How cruel and wrong for the child to be taken from her. Countless studies have demonstrated other ways in which the maternal-child bond is irreplaceable for a child’s long-term health.

Yes, other situations rupture the maternal-child bond. But this situation is unique because the baby was created expressly to be taken away from its mother, expressly to live a life with no mother. That makes it even worse.

It is ironic that the progressive left embraced the book and TV series “The Handmaid’s Tale” as a rhetorical tool, darkly warning how President Trump or Republicans or pro-lifers want to enslave women and force them into bearing children.

Those “warnings” come from one side of the same mouths that celebrate two gay daddies making not one but two new forever-motherless babies.

Do they not see how we are inching toward a similar dystopian outcome? A woman-rejecting, woman-disrespecting, woman-using, woman-abusing outcome? Do they not see that even in that show, the birth mothers are devastated when their babies — who are products of rape — are taken from them?

And we must remember the children who will never have a mom in their lives. It’s a tragic loss for them, just like it is when a young mother dies or some other situation removes a mother from her children.

But at least those kids know who their mother is and sometimes will get a new mom in their lives. Until recently, humans have universally recognized and honored this crucial fact: Children need a mother. And not just daughters, by the way, though it’s sad to think about a girl growing up without her mother.

Yes, our dysfunctional culture is also rewriting the importance of fathers, and two women should not create babies who will never see or know their father. But surrogate fathers are not the same because a man’s contribution to a lab-conception process is much — shall we say — quicker and simpler.

No, this denigration of the role of a mother hits women and children the hardest.

Think about this the next time you see two daddies showing off their new designer baby on social media, which invariably generates likes and positive comments from those who fail to think deeply about this and from those who don’t understand the flawed nature of the research on same-sex parenting.

That research, for the record, is often conducted using participants recruited from LGBTQ advocacy organizations, and it mostly focuses on parental perception, not actual outcomes for children.

Them Before Us, an organization devoted to putting children’s needs before adult “wants” (including the need for a mother and a father), is a great resource for learning more about how to protect motherhood, fatherhood, and children.

There’s never been more of a direct attack on motherhood.

It’s not the news we want to discuss around Mother’s Day, but when mothers are deemed unnecessary, that’s nothing to celebrate.

​Designer babies, Lgbt ideology, Surrogacy, Natural law, God, Motherhood, Culture 

A stunning report from “60 Minutes” supported some of the more shocking claims of egregious fraud and abuse in federal spending by President Donald Trump and the Department of Government Efficiency.

The report aired Sunday evening and included interviews with Bryan Vorndran, the head of the FBI’s cyber division, as well as fraud expert Linda Miller, who worked at the U.S. Government Accountability Office.

‘They begin buying stolen identities so that they can begin applying for disaster loans, disaster grants, on behalf of stolen identities.’

Miller said she was glad to see that tech billionaire Elon Musk, who headed up DOGE, was making the issue of fraud such a public issue.

“To be honest, Elon Musk coming out and saying, ‘There is a huge amount of fraud,’ I welcome that message completely because finally, someone is actually saying this,” she said.

She said that much of the fraud was from foreign state actors, mostly from Russia and China. She estimated that the total amount of federal money lost through fraud every year was between $550 billion and $750 billion, and is nearing a trillion.

“What we’re really talking about is nation-state actors,” she said. “We’re talking about organized crime rings. We’re talking about using vast amounts of stolen Americans’ identities to monetize them for, you know, criminal activity.”

Among the more astounding claims was that nearly every American’s Social Security number and other private information were available for purchase on the dark web.

“Is it true that the Social Security number of just about every single American is available for sale on the dark web?” asked Cecilia Vega of CBS News.

“That is a true statement. All of our personally identifiable information — name, date of birth, former addresses, social security number — is available on the dark net and can likely be purchased,” said Vorndran.

In just one case from last year, officials concluded that $6 billion of pandemic relief money was stolen through fraud.

“When a disaster happens in the country, the fraud actors see where it’s coming. They look at the zip codes. And they begin buying stolen identities so that they can begin applying for disaster loans, disaster grants, on behalf of stolen identities,” Miller said.

RELATED: Trump reads long list of ridiculous federal programs found by DOGE during congressional address

Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

Miller did have a minor criticism of the work DOGE was doing. She said that too often they conflated fraud with programs that they didn’t approve of politically.

“You may not agree with what USAID does. You may not want to be investing American dollars in, you know, foreign fertilizer, for example. You may think that’s the wrong thing to be spending money on, but that’s not fraud,” she said.

“Fraud is willful deception. It involves willful deception,” she explained. “And it has to be proven in a court of law.”

The segment from “60 Minutes” can be viewed in its entirety on the show’s YouTube channel.

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​60 minutes doge, Doge fraud, Federal funds fraud, Bryan vorndran, Politics 

The first 100 days of Trump’s presidency marked a well-earned honeymoon. But the next 100 days will test whether the marriage can survive — especially with unruly offspring like judicial overreach and intra-MAGA infighting threatening the union.

Take Chief Justice John Roberts, for example. In a recent interview, he claimed the judiciary is “independent” from the other branches, yet also insisted it has the authority to “strike down” both laws and executive actions. So which is it? Are judges independent arbiters — or unaccountable gods?

Every movement walks a fine line between selling its soul and learning to take ‘yes’ for an answer.

Roberts may not understand what “independent” actually means. How can the judiciary call itself independent when it relies entirely on the other two branches for its power? Judges don’t appoint or confirm themselves. They don’t fund their own operations. They can’t enforce their own rulings or impose new policies. They act only through the political structures that created them.

‘Neither force nor will’

The judiciary is, by design, the most dependent of the three branches. The Constitution’s framers structured it that way to protect the rights they believed came from God, not government. Want proof? Run a full-text search of the Constitution for “strike down” or “struck down.” Those words don’t appear — because that power was never explicitly granted or even implied. Read Federalist 78 and 81. Hamilton makes it plain.

He also made clear that courts have no authority to tax, spend, or raise armies. Why did he highlight those powers? Because they are the most sweeping and dangerous. Governments that can conscript citizens and debase the currency can do real harm. But the political branches exercise those powers — and voters can hold them accountable. The judiciary, with its lifetime appointments, cannot be removed when it abuses its role. That’s why, as Hamilton wrote, courts were designed to possess “neither force nor will.”

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier shows exactly what’s at stake. He’s openly defying a federal judge’s order on immigration. So why hasn’t anyone arrested him for contempt? Who would enforce the order? The U.S. Marshals? Not without Trump’s OK. Local sheriffs? Only if Gov. Ron DeSantis agrees.

The chief justice is betting you won’t notice. He’s counting on your silence while the courts expand their own power unchecked. But a republic cannot survive if one branch decides its own jurisdiction. Power flows where it’s permitted to go. And the so-called moral majority — the people John Adams believed would hold the republic together — have surrendered too many battles to keep “We the People” alive in more than name. We’ve never truly been a nation of laws. We’ve always been a nation of political will.

Maligning MAHA?

That political will must now be exercised — boldly — against both the judiciary and the emerging fractures inside the “Make America Healthy Again” movement. While it’s true that MAGA 2.0 wouldn’t exist without MAHA, the movement faces internal risks just as dangerous as external enemies. If MAHA lets infighting fester, it will rot from the inside — just as Anthony Fauci’s unchecked power eroded trust during COVID.

I first heard of Casey Means through Joe Rogan and Tucker Carlson. Now, I’m being asked to believe — by MAHA stalwarts I deeply respect — that Trump’s nominee for surgeon general is some kind of psyop designed to block real accountability. Seriously? If Rogan and Carlson are now launch platforms for deep-state mind control, then it might be time to pack it in and let the judges run wild. Eat, drink, and brace for booster number 666.

When you’ve lived on the margins as long as the MAHA crowd has, it’s natural to view new arrivals — alleged “bandwagon jumpers” like Means and her brother Callie — with suspicion. But every successful team needs bandwagon fans. Have you ever noticed how stadiums only fill when a team wins? That’s no coincidence. MAHA has gained traction and credibility, and now people want in. That’s a good thing. But if MAHA wants to become the new status quo, it must learn to govern.

Every movement walks a fine line between selling its soul and learning to take “yes” for an answer.

At some point, you have to move past the constant sense of betrayal and start making real compromises. That’s how things get done. Whether in marriage, business, or politics — risk always comes with meaning. It’s just math.

Pulling the COVID shot off the market would take guts. So will getting a Republican Congress to accept its mandate from the people, rather than punting to unelected judges while cashing in on K Street.

The next 100 days must restore order. The path forward looks clear. What’s uncertain is whether we have the courage and conviction to walk it. Were we made to be ruled by John Roberts and Anthony Fauci? Or will we step up and govern like citizens? Yes, governing is hard. But letting medical and judicial “experts” run our lives is far worse.

Right?

​Opinion & analysis, John roberts, Supreme court, Judicial supremacy, Federalist, Federal courts, Congress, Donald trump, Ron desantis, James uthmeier, Maga, Maha, Joe rogan, Tucker carlson, Casey means, Calley means, Surgeon general, Trust, Deep state, Psyop 

It was Coco Chanel who said, “In order to be irreplaceable, one must always be different.” She was talking about fashion and personal branding, of course.

However, during the dark years of World War II, the maxim took on a dark meaning when the visionary fashion icon’s drive to remain indispensable led to cultivated strategic ties with German elites in order to secure her personal safety, social status, and business interests in Nazi-occupied France.

Glenn Beck, who just returned from vacation in Europe, tells Stu Burguiere that many have no idea that “Coco Chanel was a despicable human being.”

During WWII, “most of the designers just close down and they’re like, ‘We’re not making anything for anybody right now.’ But not Coco Chanel. She decides she’s going to move into the hotel where all the Nazis are,” says Glenn.

Once she was living in the Ritz, she started “making dresses for the Nazi wives” and “[sleeping] around a little bit with a few Nazis.” One Nazi she had a strategic romantic relationship with was Hans Günther von Dincklage, a German intelligence officer who gave her protection and influence.

At one point, she outed the French Jewish family who had partnered with her to fund the iconic perfume Chanel No. 5, but thankfully, they had already “transferred ownership to somebody else” by that point.

“Is it fair to call her a Nazi spy?” asks Stu.

“Yeah, she was known as a Nazi spy,” says Glenn.

But if her Nazi allegiance was well-known in France, how is her brand still thriving today?

It turns out that the answer lies right here in America.

When the war ended and she saw that Nazi collaborators were being executed, Chanel moved to Switzerland. From there, she put together a French couture show, which Vogue Paris rejected due to her Nazi ties.

However, Vogue America — “the same people that started the Met Gala in 1948” — decided to “whitewash her,” says Glenn.

“They brought her out on a new collection” that pitched “the little black dress,” which to this day is said to be something every woman should own. Her brand soared again.

“When did Vogue magazine come out and go, ‘You know what? That whole Nazi thing with Chanel was probably pretty bad’? Oh, I don’t know — never!” says Glenn.

To hear more about Coco Chanel’s Nazi ties, as well as the story of another French designer who was a war hero, watch the episode above.

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.

​Stu does america, Stu burguiere, Blazetv, Blaze media, Coco chanel, Nazi germany, Wwii, Nazi spy, Fashion, France 

Five years after COVID-19, how do red-state doctors still face persecution for heroically treating patients whom the medical establishment abandoned?

Instead of honoring doctors like Mary Talley Bowden and Eric Hensen with medals, the Texas Medical Board hounds them with investigations that could strip them of their licenses. The state legislature, meanwhile, has let the session slip by without so much as a committee hearing for bills that would end this travesty.

COVID exposed the worst kind of medical malpractice. Now, in Texas, we’re watching political malpractice finish the job.

Dr. Bowden, a soft-spoken ear, nose, and throat specialist based in Houston, treated thousands of COVID patients — none of whom died under her direct care. But 48-year-old Tarrant County Sheriff’s Deputy Jason Jones wasn’t so lucky. The father of six died needlessly in a Houston hospital that refused to treat him with anything beyond a ventilator. Hospital staff even covered his breathing tube to block his wife from administering ivermectin and barred Bowden from stepping in after writing him off as a lost cause.

In October and November 2021, Texas Health Huguley Hospital in Fort Worth fought Jason’s wife, Erin, every step of the way. Though hospital doctors had no recovery plan, administrators did everything possible to stop alternative treatments. Even after a court granted Dr. Bowden the right to administer ivermectin, the hospital threw up bureaucratic roadblocks: demanding a list of every surgery she’s performed, three letters of recommendation, and stacks of irrelevant paperwork — despite her record as one of Houston’s most trusted breathing specialists.

On Nov. 10, Bowden sent a nurse to the hospital to administer ivermectin. Hospital staff blocked her from entering, claiming an appellate court had stayed the district judge’s order — yet no such stay had been issued, and neither Bowden, her attorney, nor the nurse had received notice. The nurse turned around without ever stepping inside the ICU.

Jason Jones never received the treatment. The hospital discharged him at half his body weight. He spent the next year in poor health and died in 2023. In the end, the hospital got its way.

Process is the punishment

Jones’ story mirrors those of tens of thousands of Americans during the pandemic. Instead of holding anyone accountable or honoring doctors who fought to save lives, lawmakers have looked the other way. Rather than being celebrated, Bowden was hit with a Texas Medical Board complaint. Her alleged offense? “Disrupting” the ICU — despite the fact her attorney gave the hospital 30 minutes’ notice and she acted under court authority.

Bowden refused to pay a fine or submit to a mandated eight hours of continuing medical education. The board continues to pursue sanctions. The case remains open. She has lost hundreds of thousands of dollars and spent countless hours defending herself — all while continuing to treat patients. Without action from Gov. Greg Abbott or the Texas Legislature, she still faces the loss of her medical license.

At a recent hearing, Bowden attempted to call Dr. Mollie James, a Missouri ICU physician who moved to New York at the height of the pandemic. The board blocked the testimony, claiming James lacked sufficient credentials. Instead, they grilled Bowden about her political views on the COVID vaccine, citing her social media posts.

Four years after COVID’s failures became common knowledge, Texas still punishes the doctors who stepped up when others refused. Physicians who treated patients the medical establishment left to die now face professional ruin — while those who denied care walk free. The Texas Legislature has blown two full sessions without doing anything to stop it. The Texas Medical Board looks more like its draconian California counterpart every day.

No hearings, no accountability

State Sen. Bob Hall (R) has tried repeatedly to reform the board. This year, he finally succeeded in passing SB 2422 out of the Senate on a party-line vote. The bill orders the TMB to vacate all investigations and disciplinary actions against doctors who prescribed COVID treatments like ivermectin, spoke out against lockdowns or mandates, or refused to wear a mask. It requires the board to expunge all related records, refund fines, and reimburse legal expenses.

The Texas House hasn’t even held a hearing.

Abbott — whose mask mandate triggered many of the cases now under scrutiny — has said nothing. The governor refuses to push for legislation to correct the damage. Meanwhile, doctors like Eric Hensen, an ENT specialist in Tyler who treated thousands of COVID patients, still face the threat of losing their licenses. Hensen’s “crime”? He followed Abbott’s original mask guidance. The same governor who issued the order now watches in silence while Hensen’s career is destroyed.

COVID exposed the worst kind of medical malpractice. Now, in Texas, we’re watching political malpractice finish the job.

​Opinion & analysis, Covid-19 pandemic, Covid-19 tyranny, Texas, Legislature, Mary talley bowden, Texas medical board, Eric hensen, Ivermectin, Ventilators, Deaths, Jason jones, Hospitals, Lawsuit, Malpractice, Bob hall, Mollie james, Vaccine mandates, Greg abbott, Mask mandates 

Three Florida teenagers are accused of kidnapping a Las Vegas man at gunpoint, driving him to a remote desert area in Arizona, and then stealing $4 million in cryptocurrency and other digital assets, according to reports.

KLAS-TV reported that Belal Ashraf and Austin Fletcher — both 16 years old and from Pasco County in Florida — were charged last week with robbery, kidnapping, and extortion. A juvenile court judge ruled that Ashraf and Fletcher could be charged as adults. A unnamed third teenager reportedly avoided capture.

‘Law enforcement said the three teens were previously involved in disturbances together at a high school in Florida.’

Las Vegas Justice Court Judge Daniel Westmeyer set bail at $4 million for each suspect.

At a Tuesday hearing, Ashraf’s attorney argued that his client should be placed under house arrest. Judge Noreen Demonte approved the request, ordering Ashraf’s release with electronic monitoring, according to court records.

What allegedly went down?

The alleged victim was hosting a cryptocurrency-related event at a business in downtown Las Vegas, according to police.

L.E. Baskow/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Tribune News Service via Getty Images

Ashraf, Fletcher, and the third unnamed teenager reportedly approached the alleged victim at his apartment complex after he parked his vehicle. The three suspects forced the man at gunpoint into the back seat of their vehicle, according to a police report.

“[The alleged victim] was told if he complied, he would live to see another day, and if he did not comply, they had his dad and would kill him,” court documents read. “[The alleged victim] had a towel placed over his head and was told by the suspects not to look at them.”

The alleged victim claimed that he heard a fourth person talking to the kidnappers on the phone with the speaker on.

Police said the teenagers demanded that the alleged victim provide them with usernames and passwords for his financial accounts, which he reportedly furnished.

The teens are believed to have driven the alleged victim across the Nevada border to White Hills, Arizona — which is over 70 miles southeast of Las Vegas.

The alleged victim was kicked out of the kidnappers’ car in a remote desert area.

Pgiam via iStock / Getty Images

According to court documents, the alleged victim had to walk approximately five miles to a gas station, where he phoned a friend to pick him up.

The three suspects are accused of stealing $4 million in cryptocurrency and non-fungible tokens, according to prosecutors.

Vladimir Vladimirov via iStock / Getty Images

Investigators with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department reportedly tracked down the kidnappers’ vehicle and determined that it was driven from Florida to Nevada.

Ashraf and Fletcher were arrested. However, the third teenager reportedly avoided capture. During Fletcher’s probable cause hearing Friday, a prosecutor said law enforcement believes the third suspect fled the United States.

Anything else?

Police said the three teens previously were involved in disturbances together at a Florida high school.

According to court documents, the teenagers once screamed at an assistant principal and “were reported as swearing in English and Arabic, and [Ashraf] was observed shoulder-checking a school resource officer.”

The FBI allegedly assisted in the investigation.

A preliminary hearing is scheduled for June.

You can watch a local newscast about the cryptocurrency heist from KLAS-TV here.

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​Heist, Cryptocurrency, Cryptocurrency heist, Florida, Florida crime, Las vegas, Las vegas crime, Crime, Nevada, Arizona, Arrests, Teenagers 

California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, ordered cities to shut down homeless encampments in public spaces after a Supreme Court ruling eased restrictions on enforcement.

Newsom had previously opposed the criminalization of homelessness, but he has tried to maneuver to more centrist positions after the devastating national election swing against Democrats, according to the New York Times.

‘Local leaders asked for resources — we delivered the largest state investment in history.’

On Monday, Newsom issued a framework by which cities could be more forceful about keeping homeless tents away from sidewalks, bike paths, parklands, and other public property.

“There are no more excuses,” Newsom said in a statement. “Local leaders asked for resources — we delivered the largest state investment in history. They asked for legal clarity — the courts delivered. Now, we’re giving them a model they can put to work immediately, with urgency and humanity, to resolve encampments and connect people to shelter, housing, and care.”

The governor referenced a Supreme Court ruling that found cities could enforce laws against public homeless encampments despite the lack of bed space available for homeless people to move into. Newsom had praised the ruling at the time.

“Today’s Supreme Court ruling in Grants Pass provides state and local officials the definitive authority to implement and enforce policies to clear unsafe homeless encampments and helps us deliver common-sense measures to protect the safety and well-being of our communities,” he wrote.

Officials found that there were about 187,000 homeless people in the state in 2024.

Not surprisingly, homeless advocates were outraged by the order.

“Sadly, Newsom and Trump are using the same failed playbook,” said Jesse Rabinowitz of the National Homelessness Law Center. “We won’t be duped by this backwards approach, and we will continue to push for real solutions to homelessness, like housing and services.”

A news report from KTLA-TV about the model ordinance can be viewed on YouTube.

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The
Episcopal Migration Ministries is an arm of the Episcopal Church that has helped resettle nearly 110,000 individuals to communities across the country.

Despite its chatter about inclusivity, the EMM —
one of 10 agencies the U.S. government contracts to resettle refugees — revealed Monday that it will not help white Afrikaners on account of the church’s “steadfast commitment to racial justice.”

The presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church, Sam Rowe,
revealed in a letter to fellow Episcopalians that rather than resettle farmers from South Africa classified by the U.S. government as refugees, the EMM is terminating its contract with the federal government.

‘Jesus tells us to care for the poor and vulnerable.’

“In light of our church’s steadfast commitment to racial justice and reconciliation and our historic ties with the Anglican Church of Southern Africa, we are not able to take this step,” wrote Rowe. “Accordingly, we have determined that, by the end of the federal fiscal year, we will conclude our refugee resettlement grant agreements with the U.S. federal government.”

Rowe suggested that it is “painful to watch” African farmers, a group vilified and targeted with controversial legislation by South Africa’s socialist-led regime, “receive preferential treatment over many others who have been waiting in refugee camps or dangerous conditions for years.”

“Jesus tells us to care for the poor and vulnerable as we would care for him, and we must follow that command,” continued the bishop. “Right now, what that means is ending our participation in the federal government’s refugee resettlement program and investing our resources in serving migrants in other ways.”

White House deputy press secretary Anna Kelly told Blaze News in a statement, “The Episcopal Church’s decision to terminate its decades-long partnership with the U.S. government over the resettlement of 59 desperate Afrikaner refugees raises serious questions about its supposed commitment to humanitarian aid.”

“Any religious group should support the plight of Afrikaners, who have been terrorized, brutalized, and persecuted by the South African government,” continued Kelly. “The Afrikaners have faced unspeakable horrors and are no less deserving of refugee resettlement than the hundreds of thousands of others who were allowed into the United States during the past administration. President Trump has made it clear: refugee resettlement should be about need, not politics.”

Blaze News reached out to the EMM for comment but did not receive a response by deadline.

Rowe’s letter went public within hours of the first Afrikaner families’ arrival at Dulles International Airport under the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program.

U.S. Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security Troy Edgar welcomed the Boers Monday,
noting that the individuals who had undergone expedited vetting “have went through a lot of stuff and we’re just grateful to have them in the U.S.”

— (@)

The U.S. Department of State
announced Monday that it was working with the Department of Homeland Security and implementing partners “to consider eligibility for U.S. refugee resettlement for Afrikaners and disfavored minorities in South Africa who are victims of unjust racial discrimination.”

To be eligible for U.S. resettlement consideration, applicants must be South African; of Afrikaner ethnicity or a racial minority in South Africa; and “able to articulate a past experience of persecution or fear of future persecution.”

This initiative is the result of President Donald Trump’s February executive order, wherein he
ended foreign aid to South Africa and directed his administration to promote “the resettlement of Afrikaner refugees escaping government-sponsored race-based discrimination, including racially discriminatory property confiscation.”

South Africans supporting Trump gather in front of the U.S. embassy in Pretoria on Feb. 15, 2025, for a demonstration. Photo by MARCO LONGARI/AFP via Getty Images

Trump’s order came on the heels of South African President Cyril Ramaphosa’s January ratification of legislation that enabled the government to seize land without compensation in the name of the “public interest,” which is defined under the new law to include “the nation’s commitment to land reform, and to reforms to bring about equitable access to all South Africa’s natural resources in order to redress the results of past racial discriminatory laws or practices.”

RELATED:
No one is coming to save you

Critics and fellow travelers alike
recognized at the time of its passage that the law would be weaponized against white farmers — the very same ethnic minority whom South Africa’s Marxist-Leninist political party, the Economic Freedom Fighters, routinely chant about butchering.

‘A bad place to be right now.’

In the face of mounting indications that the South African government harbors racial animus toward Boers, numerous white South African academics and religious leaders
suggested in a recent open letter that the Trump administration has mischaracterized the situation, calling it a narrative “founded on fabrications, distortions, and outright lies.”

Unconvinced by such claims, Trump
reiterated in March that he was rolling out the red carpet for South African farmers who were worried about their safety, noting that they will enjoy a “rapid pathway to Citizenship” — a process that “will begin immediately.”

“South Africa is being terrible, plus, to long time Farmers in the country,” Trump
stated in a Truth Social post. “They are confiscating their LAND and FARMS, and MUCH WORSE THAN THAT. A bad place to be right now, and we are stopping all Federal Funding.”

Rowe noted in his Monday letter that the EMM has asked the Trump administration to “work toward a mutual agreement that will allow us to wind down all federally funded services by the end of the federal fiscal year in September.”

RELATED:
MacIntyre: Media runs cover for genocidal chant in South Africa

While the Boers’ race and origin appear to have ultimately prompted the EMM’s decision, Rowe hinted that Trump’s suspension of the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program, which is
still tied up in the courts, strained their relationship.

“Since January, the previously bipartisan U.S. Refugee Admissions Program in which we participate has essentially shut down,” wrote the bishop. “Virtually no new refugees have arrived, hundreds of staff in resettlement agencies around the country have been laid off, and funding for resettling refugees who have already arrived has been uncertain.”

The EMM may soon have absolute certainty about its relationship with the federal government.

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Republican U.S. Sen. John Cornyn of Texas said that U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi had opened a federal investigation into a proposed Muslim community that may discriminate against non-Muslims.

The EPIC Muslim center is already accused of “religious discrimination of Christians, Jews, and other non-Muslim minorities.” The 402-acre community will reportedly include a mosque, 1,000 homes, an outreach center, and senior living spaces about 40 miles away from Dallas.

‘Religious-based discrimination is a constitutional violation as well as a federal rights violation.’

Cornyn said Friday that the Justice Department was looking into whether federal discrimination laws had been violated.

“Religious discrimination and Sharia Law have no home in Texas,” he wrote on social media. “Any violations of federal law must be swiftly prosecuted.”

EPIC’s attorney, Dan Cogdell, responded to the announcement.

“EPIC will cooperate fully with any and all investigations — regardless of how misguided and unnecessary they are,” Cogdell said.

Cornyn had previously accused the community of possibly plotting to impose sharia law in Texas.

“Religious discrimination, whether explicit or implicit, is unconstitutional under the First and Fourteenth Amendments. Religious freedom is a cornerstone of our nation’s values, and I am concerned this community potentially undermines this vital protection,” he said. “Religious-based discrimination is a constitutional violation as well as a federal rights violation.”

Community Capital Partners, the developer of the city, denied the allegations.

“The consistent attacks and unwarranted investigations speak volumes about the state of politics and have little to do with our project, or our vision,” read a statement from the group. “We look forward to correcting the misinformation about EPIC City, and we will continue to work to create a diverse, safe and inclusive community — one in which everyone is welcome and people of every background, faith, and culture can live together in harmony.”

Cornyn is being challenged for his seat in the U.S. Senate by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, in what is seen as a battle between the establishment of the party and a fiery upstart faction.

Cornyn is losing to Paxton in a recent poll about the Republican nomination, but he is favored to win in the general election against a possible Democrat nominee.

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The term “black fatigue” has recently taken the internet by storm, and Jason Whitlock of “Fearless” saw it coming from a decade away.

“It is the antithesis, it is the yin to the yang of Black Lives Matter. It’s white people boldly expressing their fatigue with black people,” Whitlock explains, adding, “This was inevitable.”

“That’s why I spent so much time during the whole Black Lives Matter psyop, about a decade, saying, ‘This is crazy, Black Lives Matter is going to create a boomerang effect, it’s going to harden hearts,’” he continues.

The trending phrase is often accompanied in posts on social media by videos of black people behaving violently and dysfunctionally.

“There’s an endless parade of these videos, and they’re all about black fatigue. Like, ‘I’m tired of black folks.’ Black folks have raised their hand and volunteered to be the enemies of white people and to be the people that want to cast white people as the worst thing on the planet, and eventually people’s patience has worn out,” Whitlock says.

And people like Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) are only making it worse, which she couldn’t have done a better job of on one of her latest podcast appearances.

“I mean, I’m not gonna say that, like, a left-leaning person cannot be violent, ‘cause that would be crazy to say that somebody can’t be, but baby, baby, y’all got the white supremacist galore. OK, like all of them, you got the Proud Boys, you got the neo-Nazis, you have people that literally should be classified as domestic terrorists,” Crockett said in her falsified accent.

“Because a lot of times that is what they are doing, they are engaging in domestic terrorism. And guess what? They all align with your side, including the KKK,” Crockett continued, adding, “Inherently, in like who you are, y’all are violent.”

“This is so illogical,” Whitlock says, tired. “The KKK, started by the Democratic Party, she’s blaming on Republicans and conservatives.”

“She’s a congresswoman, and she’s presenting herself in this super ghetto fashion,” he continues, asking, “If you’re not fatigued by Jasmine Crockett, what planet are you living on?”

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A female was caught on police bodycam video hitting a police officer with a car Saturday and driving down a closed street in Laurel, Maryland, because she had to “go to work.”

As you might guess, the woman’s attempt to override the officer’s directions didn’t work out very well for her.

‘I gotta go to work! What do you want me to do?’

Police said the city’s Main Street Festival was under way when the female was recorded on bodycam video sitting in a parked car and arguing with an officer because she wasn’t allowed to drive her car down the taped-off street.

Image source: Laurel (Md.) Police

The officer apologized to the female for the inconvenience and said he’d be happy to call her a taxi.

“There has to be another way,” the woman told the officer. “I’m not taking a taxi all the way to Virginia. I work in Virginia … I need to get out.” It wasn’t clear where in Virginia the female works, but Laurel is about 40 minutes north of Washington, D.C., which borders northern Virginia.

The officer replied, “I can’t have you do that” as the woman exited the vehicle.

“I gotta go to work! What do you want me to do?” the agitate female replied.

Image source: Laurel (Md.) Police

The officer told her again that she wasn’t allowed to drive her car away: “Please do not disturb this area.”

The female’s retort? “I might have to.” She then tore the yellow police tape in front of the car.

Image source: Laurel (Md.) Police

With that, the woman got back in the car — and soon drove into the police officer, who used his palms to protect himself from the hood of the vehicle.

Image source: Laurel (Md.) Police

The officer began yelling for the female to stop as she began driving down the closed-off street.

She didn’t get very far, as what appeared to be a couple of other officers pounded on the car’s hood, and she soon came to a stop — and then the handcuffs were on.

Image source: Laurel (Md.) Police

The driver was identified as 28-year-old Kai Deberry-Bostick of Laurel, police said, adding that she didn’t injure anyone in the crowd.

Police told WRC-TV that DeBerry-Bostick is facing multiple charges, including assault, resisting arrest, and reckless endangerment.

Police said one officer suffered minor injuries after being struck by the car.

You can view the police bodycam video below:

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​Arrest, Laurel, Maryland, Police, Bodycam video, Main street festival, Crime 

Last week, white smoke billowed from the Sistine Chapel before Robert Prevost, now Pope Leo XIV, was announced as Pope Francis’ successor.

Millions around the world are now waiting to see if Pope Leo XIV will continue the legacy of his progressive predecessor or refocus the Catholic Church on tradition and orthodoxy.

LifeSiteNews CEO and co-founder John-Henry Westen tells Glenn Beck that one specific thing will tell us which direction this papacy is going: whether or not Pope Leo XIV reinstates Bishop Joseph Strickland.

“In the Catholic world, Bishop Strickland was the holiest bishop in the whole church in America. Everybody knew it,” says Westen.

“He got removed, though, because he went up against the machine. Francis was going anti-Catholic in his teaching on all sorts of issues, including fooling around with abortion, contraception, homosexuality, divorce … and Strickland was one of the only ones who spoke up,” he explains, adding that his removal was a devastating event, considering “700 families” as well as “all sorts of priests and religious orders” moved to Tyler, Texas, just for him.

Unlike many dioceses, Strickland’s “had the best numbers in terms of per capita seminarians”; its “financial situation was in great shape”; and it “[didn’t’] have any sexual abuse scandal,” says Westen.

He, along with a great many others, suspects that Strickland’s removal, which was supported by then-Cardinal Robert Prevost, was almost certainly political retribution for speaking out against Pope Francis.

The biggest indicator of the direction of Pope Leo XIV’s papacy, therefore, is whether he restores Bishop Strickland to his position in the Diocese of Tyler.

“All America — in fact all the world — should be looking for is the restoration of Bishop Strickland,” says Westen. It’s “the true signal, the one sign that will indicate where Pope Leo XIV is coming from.”

“If that man is not reinstated, there’s something really wrong,” he tells Glenn.

“Are there any good signs that maybe he’s going to be different?” Glenn asks, noting that Pope Leo XIV “has been railing against Donald Trump.”

“He’s a registered Republican in Chicago … but at the same time, he’s anti-Trump,” says Westen. Similar to Francis, “he’s real bad on immigration.”

Further, during the pandemic when Prevost was a bishop in Peru, he allegedly imposed restrictions such as requiring communion to be received in the hand rather than on the tongue and promoted confessions by telephone.

However, “there are some signs of hope,” says Westen.

For example, when Pope Leo XIV first emerged on the central balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City, he was wearing “traditional vestments,” unlike Francis, who wore “liturgical underwear.”

He also spoke in Latin — a tradition that has largely given way to the modern practice of speaking in vernacular languages.

Does this signify his intent to return to Catholic tradition?

“We’ll see,” says Westen.

However, there was one thing Pope Leo XIV did that gave him more hope than anything else. To hear it, watch the clip above.

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A South Carolina couple was arrested and their children were taken away after police investigated a call about a 6-month-old girl found in a bloody cradle.

The Anderson County Sheriff’s Office said officers were called to the single-wide residence of Akayla Bearden on D and M Drive after she reported that she found her infant daughter covered in blood on Friday.

The parents admitted that they had an ongoing issue with field rats for several months at the residence but had continued living there with their children.

Deputies said they found rat bite marks on the infant’s arms, head, face, and ears. She was transported to Greenville Memorial Hospital, according to a WSPA-TV report.

Police said that when they questioned the mother and her husband, Justin Bearden, they discovered more bite marks on the feet of the girl’s twin brother.

The parents admitted that they had an ongoing issue with field rats for several months at the residence but had continued living there with their children.

Three of their children were placed into the custody of the Department of Social Services.

The couple, both 24 years old, were charged with two counts of unlawful conduct toward a child.

Police said the hospitalized infant would remain at the medical center for a few days but did not indicate what her condition was.

A report about the harrowing incident can be viewed on WSPA’s YouTube account.

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The Department of Homeland Security released a statement on Monday explaining that Homeland Security Investigation is looking into whether the state of California knowingly provided federal benefits to illegal aliens.

The HSI field office in Los Angeles issued a Title 8 subpoena to California’s Cash Assistance Program for Immigrants (CAPI). According to DHS, this program provides benefits to aliens who are ineligible for Social Security benefits because of their immigration status.

As part of HSI’s investigation, the agency subpoenaed the following records:Applicant’s name and date of birth,Copies of applications,Immigration status,Proof of ineligibility for SSI from the Social Security Administration, andAffidavits in support of the application.

“Radical left politicians in California prioritize illegal aliens over our own citizens, including by giving illegal aliens access to cash benefits,” said DHS Secretary Kristi Noem. “The Trump administration is working together to identify abuse and exploitation of public benefits and make sure those in this country illegally are not receiving federal benefits or other financial incentives to stay illegally. If you are an illegal immigrant, you should leave now. The gravy train is over. While this subpoena focuses only on Los Angeles County — it is just the beginning.”

DHS noted that in April, President Donald Trump signed the memorandum “Preventing Illegal Aliens from Obtaining Social Security Act Benefits,” which warns agencies not to incentivize illegal immigration by offering aliens taxpayer-funded perks.

The memorandum directs DHS to ensure illegal aliens do not receive funds from Social Security programs and to prioritize civil or criminal enforcement against states and localities that violate Title IV of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA). DHS is working with the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and the U.S. attorney general’s office to crack down on misused federal funds.

DHS further stated that under the Biden-Harris administration, more than 2 million ineligible illegal aliens received a Social Security number in fiscal year 2024 alone due to the border crisis the Democrats created.

— (@)

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​Politics 

In the years that followed COVID-19, the mainstream media, including outlets like Fox News, continued to push the idea that Americans had to “trust the science.”

And while Fox News did have its share of dissident voices speaking out during the Biden administration’s reign, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. isn’t letting Fox forget when it did fall in line.

“Above all, we are going to get rid of the taboos about challenging orthodoxies, about challenging consensus, and we’re telling the public every day, all of us, ‘That is not science,’” RFK Jr. said in an interview on Fox News — before taking it to task for the part it played in the Biden administration’s tyrannical reign.

“Your whole industry was telling the public for years, ‘Trust the experts.’ ‘Trust the experts’ is not a function of science or democracy, it’s a function of totalitarianism and religion,” he added.

“Hold the vaccines, but inject that into my veins,” Jill Savage of “Blaze News Tonight” tells Matthew Peterson, who agrees wholeheartedly.

“I can’t emphasize enough that this is important, that people tell the truth in these positions after we’ve been told lies for so long,” he tells Savage. “The fact that you have the director of HHS, the people who are in charge of all these agencies, coming out and saying, ‘Oh no, these people have not earned trust, and science is about questioning and finding the truth.’”

“Straight into our veins and also into the bloodstream of the entire country, because it’s what we need to hear,” he adds.

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Stand-up comedian and host Tony Hinchcliffe said his joke about Puerto Rico last October helped the Donald Trump campaign because it grabbed headlines for more than a week just before the presidential election.

Hinchcliffe made countless news feeds when he joked about Puerto Rico being an “island of garbage” at Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally in October.

Democrats reacted as expected and subsequently compared Trump’s rally to a Nazi gathering filled with vitriol. For example, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) claimed that’s what Republicans “think about you,” meaning Republicans believe that Americans are literal garbage.

On an episode of Bill Maher’s “Club Random” over the weekend, Hinchcliffe said the Trump team later thanked him for the happy distraction.

“When I was at the inauguration and everything, trust me, they were all high-fiving me and kissing my ass,” Hinchcliffe said about Trump’s staff. “They look at me doing what I did and accidentally, right — it couldn’t have been planned — accidentally being the news for nine godd**n days during an election week.”

“Stop pretending you don’t love it,” Maher teased in response.

Tony Hinchcliffe performs in Austin, Texas, in 2022. Photo by Errich Petersen/Getty Images for SXSW

Hinchcliffe added that while it was a “very stressful” time for him, he managed to “ride that wave” and come out better on the other side.

As for Vice President JD Vance, history will likely look back fondly at his defense of Hinchcliffe’s jokes.

During a press conference the day after the rally, Vance fielded a question from a reporter who characterized Hinchcliffe’s remarks as “racist” and wanted to know if the Trump campaign supported such a “tone.”

Vance explained that he did not believe the proper reaction to the joke was to call Trump supporters “Nazis” and that overall, people needed to “stop getting so offended” by comedy.

“I’m so over it,” Vance stated.

‘He would nail it every time, day after day.’

Vance further explained the absurdity of the left-leaning reactions on Joe Rogan’s podcast, where he noted the excessive amount of coverage Hinchcliffe’s jokes got on networks like CNN, MSNBC, CBS, and more.

Hinchcliffe told Maher he was pleased with how Vance handled the backlash and praised the politician for seeing the situation through the lens of comedy.

“He would nail it every time, day after day,” Hinchcliffe said of the soon-to-be vice president. “He was just taking the questions like he was a comedian, like he understood the perspective of the mission.”

Hinchcliffe revealed that he hoped his appearance at the Trump rally would influence maybe a “thousand” votes in the president’s favor and thought it would be “awesome” if the president gave him at least some praise.

Maher then asked if Hinchcliffe actually did get to speak with Trump, to which Hinchcliffe said, “No,” causing the two comedians to burst out in laughter.

Hinchcliffe never did apologize for his jokes and has pointed out on his own podcast that there is, indeed, an actual garbage issue in Puerto Rico.

Well before the comedian ever appeared at the Trump rally, environmental websites were covering the island’s landfill problem and said the country would soon be at capacity for garbage.

The St. Kitts and Nevis Observer even said that the island’s infrastructure was under considerable strain and many of its landfills were over capacity.

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As the threat of artificial intelligence looms, artists of every medium are beginning to worry that their craft may no longer be a craft — and that like many others, their professions may be in trouble.

However, Stephen Limbaugh, a composer and concert pianist whose work has been performed by the Russian Philharmonic, has been featured at the White House and the Golden Globes, and is releasing an upcoming symphony for America’s 250th birthday, doesn’t share that concern.

“Authenticity is what people still crave, whether it’s their pop stars, or their composers, or their movies, or … any form of artist,” Limbaugh tells James Poulos on “Zero Hour.” “Somebody who it doesn’t feel like they’re just setting themselves up to sling a perfume on Instagram.”

“So, you’re not worried at all?” Poulos asks.

“No, because you can’t make art by calculation. You got a concert pianist in a concert, solo concert, he’s going to play a sequence of thirty-something-thousand notes, and he’s going to play it with like 99.5% accuracy, if he’s great, which is remarkable that he’s going to do that from memory,” Limbaugh explains.

“He’s not going to make a single calculation. AI cannot attempt that without making calculations. So, whenever the inspiration is striking, whenever you have the producer in the room,” he continues, “AI is never going to be able to make a suggestion like that. They might be able to take a bunch of information about how records were made and all this, and then they’ll calculate a suggestion for this and that.”

“Not worried about it, because it’s not going to be right,” he adds.

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Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) announced in Tampa the latest steps to bolster Florida’s plans to help the Trump administration carry out mass deportations, hoping those plans are able to be replicated in other states.

DeSantis revealed more than 100 Florida Highway Patrol troopers have been sworn in as special deputy U.S. Marshals, a designation that allows them to execute federal warrants to help remove criminal illegal aliens and carry immigration duties up until an illegal alien is removed by the federal government. As long as they have a warrant, those FHP troopers can target specific illegal aliens on their own without needing a federal immigration agent with them.

‘This is an extra layer of added authority that will be very useful in the future.’

“There is no one else in the country where they’re doing that,” DeSantis explained. “These guys now at FHP, they can do operations, they can get illegals, and they can do everything that an immigration officer will do up until they get processed for removal.”

DeSantis added that Florida has also offered the federal government assistance for transporting illegal aliens out of the country.

— (@)

Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles Director Dave Kerner, who oversees FHP, told Blaze Media after the press conference that this new move warns illegal aliens in the state it is only a matter of time before they will be caught.

“There’s nowhere to hide in the state of Florida, whether you’re a criminal illegal alien with a violent, felony past, or you have an active order of deportation, or you’re just here unlawfully. … The chances are very high you’re going to interact with a member of state government. … The chances of you being caught and detained under federal law is increasing every day,” said Kerner.

Kerner said the current number of FHP troopers who are also special deputy U.S. Marshals will remain the same for the time being, as the U.S. Marshals requested that number to fit their needs.

“They can also enter into that person’s home or conveyance or anywhere else where that person may find shelter that the warrant allows them to enter the premises to execute that warrant,” Kerner continued. “This is an extra layer of added authority that will be very useful in the future.”

Kerner echoed DeSantis’ calls to increase detention space, a major hurdle during immigration enforcement operations that has limited the number of people who can be taken into custody. Florida has offered the federal government options and resources to help increase capacity.

Kerner and Florida State Board of Immigration Enforcement Executive Director Larry Keefe said between the successes of Operation Tidal Wave, a large joint task force between Florida and federal law enforcement, and the fact that Florida accounts for over half of the 287(g) agreements nationwide, the Trump administration views Florida as the model for the rest of the country.

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​Politics 

Republican Sen. John Cornyn of Texas reposted an outdated endorsement from President Donald Trump on Monday as the 2026 Senate primary race ramps up.

Cornyn’s campaign account posted the Trump endorsement despite it being from 2020, claiming that Cornyn votes with the president “99% of the time” and vows to “fight for Texas with the President.” At the same time, early polling shows Cornyn trailing primary challenger Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.

A representative for Cornyn did not respond to a request for comment from Blaze News.

Even still, Cornyn may not be able to survive on Trump’s coattails.

Joshua Roberts/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Ever since Paxton entered the primary race, Cornyn’s campaign has focused on tethering the senator to Trump. As of this writing, the last dozen posts on his campaign account have mentioned Trump, despite the fact that the president has yet to make an endorsement in the primary.

Even still, Cornyn may not be able to survive on Trump’s coattails. Paxton is currently polling 16 points ahead of Cornyn, according to a new poll from the Senate Leadership Fund published Monday. The same poll shows Paxton 10 points ahead in a three-way race with Cornyn and Republican Rep. Wesley Hunt of Texas, who is reportedly considering a 2026 Senate run.

Photo by Brandon Bell/Getty Images

That being said, the same poll showed that Cornyn may be a more viable candidate than Paxton in the general election against former Democratic Rep. Colin Allred of Texas, who is considering another Senate run.

Cornyn is polling just one point ahead of Allred, according to the SLF poll, while Paxton is polling six points behind the former Democratic lawmaker. Allred previously attempted to unseat Republican Rep. Ted Cruz of Texas in 2024, although he lost by nearly nine points.

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​John cornyn, Ken paxton, Donald trump, Ted cruz, Colin allred, Texas, Senate republicans, Senate race, Senate primary, Republican primary, Trump endorsement, Politics