Category: blaze media

A woman found with hateful political messages written on her body with gruesome injuries was not a victim of a heinous attack, but she plotted the hoax herself, according to the U.S. attorney’s office.

Twenty-six-year-old Natalie Greene was found bound up with zip ties with numerous slashes and “Trump whore” written on her stomach on the night of July 23, according to a press release. The Rutgers student was working for Republican U.S. Rep. Jeff Van Drew of New Jersey at the time.

They also obtained a photograph of the design for the body modification that Greene requested from the scarification artist. They matched the wounds photographed by an officer.

Greene allegedly told investigators that she and a friend were attacked by three armed men on a trail at the Egg Harbor Township Nature Reserve in New Jersey.

When police arrived, they found her yelling, “He has a gun! He has a gun!” and crying loudly.

She was also found with the message “Van Drew is a racist” written in marker on her body.

Greene was transported to a hospital for treatment, where officers took photographs that were included in the criminal complaint.

Investigators grew suspicious when Greene’s friend appeared agitated when asked to provide keys to the car they drove to the nature reserve, a Maserati sport utility vehicle. After gaining access to the car, they found black zip ties as well as duct tape inside.

RELATED: Dem who blamed Trump for ‘Hinduphobic’ messages has been arrested for alleged race hoax

Image source: U.S. Dept. of Justice press release screenshot composite

Police then obtained cellphone data from the pair and saw that Greene had driven to the studio of a “scarification artist” in Pennsylvania just before the reported assault.

After obtaining data from their phones, investigators saw that someone had googled “zip ties near me” from her friend’s phone as well. They were able to garner evidence that she purchased the zip ties on the day of the alleged attack at a Dollar General store.

Investigators said they obtained evidence from the scarification studio that showed Greene paid $500 for body modifications just hours before the alleged attack. The studio requires clients to provide identification and sign a consent form prior to services performed.

They also obtained a photograph of the design for the body modification that Greene requested from the scarification artist. They matched the wounds photographed by an officer.

Drew’s office released a statement about Greene to the New Jersey Globe.

“While Natalie is no longer associated with the congressman’s government office, our thoughts and prayers are with her and hope she’s getting the care she needs,” the statement read.

RELATED: Activists blame Trump for ‘kidnapping’ of mom for deportation — feds say it was a hoax

Image source: U.S. Dept. of Justice press release screenshot

Greene was charged with conspiracy to convey false statements and hoaxes and making false statements to federal law enforcement. Each count carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison as well as a fine of $250,000 and three years of supervised release.

She was released on a $200,000 unsecured bond after her arraignment on Wednesday.

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​Natalie greene, Political hate crime hoax, Rep jeff van drew, Republican hoax, Politics 

Over 50,000 climate alarmists from across the globe climbed aboard fuel-guzzling planes, boats, and automobiles and traveled to Belém, Brazil, this month to attend the 2025 United Nations Climate Change Conference.

On the second-last day of anti-American diatribes and globalist pearl-clutching over the supposed crisis that Bill Gates recently admitted “will not lead to humanity’s demise,” the conference went up in smoke, at least partly.

‘The world is watching Belem.’

Footage circulating online shows a hectic scene: of flames erupting in the pavilion area of the Hangar Convention and Fair Center of the Amazon, where nations and various NGOs had set up their public-facing stands; of security guards blowing whistles and shooing panicked delegates and observers away; and of some individuals attempting to extinguish the growing inferno as it ate a hole in the roof.

One person in the office of the summit presidency confirmed that the blaze had been contained within about 30 minutes, the New York Times noted.

“Firefighters and security teams responded promptly and continue to monitor the site,” Cop30 organizers said in a statement obtained by Le Monde.

It’s presently unclear what started the fire. No injuries have been reported.

RELATED: Bill Gates does stunning about-face on climate ‘doomsday’ claims: ‘This view is wrong’

Photo by PABLO PORCIUNCULA/AFP via Getty Images

The fire proved to be the latest of several issues affecting the conference.

For instance, torrential rainfall at the outset of the conference flooded the entrances to the venue and left certain meeting areas soaked. There were reportedly also complaints of non-functional restrooms and oppressive heat.

In addition to complaining about “inadequate air-conditioning in venue areas” and the “poor condition of the delegation offices provided,” Simon Stiell, executive secretary of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change, whined in a Nov. 12 letter to Andre Correa do Lago, the president of COP30, that the conference’s security was substandard. According to Stiell, hundreds of protesters had damaged property and injured staffers.

COP30 was embroiled in scandal even before it began as the result of the local government’s decision to cut a four-lane highway through tens of thousands of acres of protected Amazon rainforest to ensure that COP30’s participants would enjoy easy motorized transit in and out of the hosting city.

Hours before the fire began, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged negotiators to reach an “ambitious compromise” on an anti-fossil-fuel agenda, stating, “The world is watching Belem.”

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​Cop30, United nations, Climate, Climate alarmism, Climate change, Fossil fuels, Brazil, Third world, Bill gates, Belem, Cop 30, United nations climate change conference., Politics 

Netflix’s thriller “A House of Dynamite” very much wants to teach us something about the folly of waging war with civilization-ending weapons. The lesson it ends up imparting, however, has more to do with the state of contemporary storytelling.

The film revolves around a high-stakes crisis: an unexpected nuclear missile launched from an unspecified enemy and aimed directly at Big City USA. We get to see America’s defense apparatus deal with impending apocalypse in real time.

It seems the best Ms. Bigelow, Mr. Oppenheim, and the team at Netflix can offer up is a lukewarm ‘nukes are bad, mmkay?’

Triple threat

“Revolves” is the operative word here. The movie tells the same story three times from three different vantage points — each in its own 40-minute segment. From first detection to the final seconds before detonation, we watch a bevy of government elites on one interminable red-alert FaceTime, working out how to respond to the strike.

This is the aptly named screenwriter Noah Oppenheim’s second disaster outing for the streamer; he recently co-created miniseries “Zero Day,” which features Robert De Niro investigating a nationwide cyberattack.

That series unspooled a complicated and convoluted conspiracy in the vein of “24.” “A House of Dynamite” clearly aims for something more grounded, which would seem to make accomplished Kathryn Bigelow perfect for the job.

And for the film’s first half-hour she delivers, embedding the viewer with the military officers, government officials, and regular working stiffs for whom being the last line of America’s defense is just another day at the office … until suddenly it isn’t. The dawning horror of their situation is as gripping as anything in “The Hurt Locker” or “Zero Dark Thirty.”

Then it happens two more times.

On repeat

In Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night,” Duke Orsino laments a repetitive song growing stale: “Naught enters there of what validity and pitch soe’er, but falls into abatement and low price.”

Or put another way, the tune, not realizing its simple beauty, sings itself straight into worthlessness.

And somehow, this manages to be only part of what makes “A House of Dynamite” so unappealing. Our main characters — including head of the White House Situation Room (Rebecca Ferguson), general in charge of the United States Northern Command (Tracy Letts), and the secretary of defense (Jared Harris) — offer no semblance of perspicacity, stopping frequently to take others’ feelings into account before making decisions, all while an ICBM races toward Chicago. From liftoff to impact in 16 minutes or less, or your order free.

Missile defensive

So thorough is this picture of incompetence that the Pentagon felt compelled to issue an internal memo preparing Missile Defense Agency staff to “address false assumptions” about defense capability.

One can hardly blame officials when, in the twilight of the film, we’re shown yet another big-screen Obama facsimile (played by British actor Idris Elba) putting his cadre of sweating advisers on hold to ring Michelle, looking for advice on whether his course of action should be to nuke the whole planet or do nothing. The connection drops — she is in Africa, after all, and her safari-chic philanthropy outfit doesn’t make the satellite signal any stronger. He puts the phone down and continues to look over his black book of options ranging “from rare to well done,” as his nuclear briefcase handler puts it.

And then the movie ends. The repetitive storylines have no resolution, and their participants face no consequences. The single ground missile the U.S. arsenal managed to muster up — between montages of sergeants falling to their knees at the thought of having to do their job — has missed its target.

Designated survivors — with the exception of one high-ranking official who finds suicide preferable — rush to their bunkers. The screen fades to black, over a melancholy overture. Is it any wonder that audiences felt cheated? After sitting through nearly two hours of dithering bureaucrats wasting time, their own time had been wasted by a director who clearly thinks endings are passé.

No ending for you

If you find yourself among the unsatisfied, Bigelow has some words for you. In an interview with Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, she justified her film’s lack of a payoff thusly:

I felt like the fact that the bomb didn’t go off was an opportunity to start a conversation. With an explosion at the end, it would have been kind of all wrapped up neat, and you could point your finger [and say] “it’s bad that happened.” But it would sort of absolve us, the human race, of responsibility. And in fact, no, we are responsible for having created these weapons and — in a perfect world — getting rid of them.

Holy Kamala word salad.

RELATED: Phones and drones expose the cracks in America’s defenses

Photo by dikushin via Getty Images

Bigelow-er

For much of her career, director Kathryn Bigelow has told real stories in interesting ways that — while not always being the full truth and nothing but the truth — were entertaining, well shot, and depicted Americans fulfilling their manifest destiny of being awesome.

That changed with Bigelow’s last film, 2017’s “Detroit,” a progressive, self-flagellating depiction of the 1967 Detroit race riots (final tally: 43 deaths, 1,189 injured) through the eyes of some mostly peaceful black teens and the devil-spawn deputy cop who torments them. “A House of Dynamite” continues this project of national critique.

But what, exactly, is the point? It seems the best Ms. Bigelow, Mr. Oppenheim, and the team at Netflix can offer up is a lukewarm “nukes are bad, mmkay?” This is a lecture on warfare with the subtlety of a John Lennon song, set in a world where the fragile men in charge must seek out the strong embrace of their nearest girlboss.

It’s no secret that 2025 carries a distinct “end times” energy — a year thick with existential threats. AI run amok, political fracture edging toward civil conflict, nuclear brinkmanship, even the occasional UFO headline — pick your poison. And it’s equally obvious that the internet, not the cinema, has become the primary arena where Americans now go to see those anxieties mirrored back at them.

“A House of Dynamite” is unlikely to reverse this trend. If this is the best Hollywood’s elite can come up with after gazing into the void, it’s time to move the movie industry to DEFCON 1.

​A house of dynamite, Entertainment, Culture, Netflix, Movies, Kathryn bigelow, Nuclear war, Review 

The Trump administration has unveiled a broad action plan for AI (America’s AI Action Plan). The general vibe is one of treating AI like a business, aiming to sell the AI stack worldwide and generate a lock-in for American technology. “Winning,” in this context, is primarily economic. The plan also includes the sorely needed idea of modernizing the electrical grid, a growing concern due to rising electricity demands from data centers. While any extra business is welcome in a heavily indebted nation, the section on the political objectivity of AI is both too brief and misunderstands the root cause of political bias in AI and its role in the culture war.

The plan uses the term “objective” and implies that a lack of objectivity is entirely the fault of the developer, for example:

Update Federal procurement guidelines to ensure that the government only contracts with frontier large language model (LLM) developers who ensure that their systems are objective and free from top-down ideological bias.

The fear that AIs might tip the scales of the culture war away from traditional values and toward leftism is real. Try asking ChatGPT, Claude, or even DeepSeek about climate change, where COVID came from, or USAID.

Training data is heavily skewed toward being generated during the ‘woke tyranny’ era of the internet.

This desire for objectivity of AI may come from a good place, but it fundamentally misconstrues how AIs are built. AI in general and LLMs in particular are a combination of data and algorithms, which further break down into network architecture and training methods. Network architecture is frequently based on stacking transformer or attention layers, though it can be modified with concepts like “mixture of experts.” Training methods are varied and include pre-training, data cleaning, weight initialization, tokenization, and techniques for altering the learning rate. They also include post-training methods, where the base model is modified to conform to a metric other than the accuracy of predicting the next token.

Many have complained that post-training methods like Reinforcement Learning from Human Feedback introduce political bias into models at the cost of accuracy, causing them to avoid controversial topics or spout opinions approved by the companies — opinions usually farther to the left than those of the average user. “Jailbreaking” models to avoid such restrictions was once a common pastime, but it is becoming harder, as corporate safety measures, sometimes as complex as entirely new models, scan both the input to and output from the underlying base model.

As a result of this battle between RLHF and jailbreakers, an idea has emerged that these post-training methods and safety features are how liberal bias gets into the models. The belief is that if we simply removed these, the models would display their true objective nature. Unfortunately for both the Trump administration and the future of America, this is only partially correct. Developers can indeed make a model less objective and more biased in a leftward direction under the guise of safety. However, it is very hard to make models that are more objective.

The problem is data

According to Google AI Mode vs. Traditional Search & Other LLMs, the top domains cited in LLMs are: Reddit (40%), YouTube (26%), Wikipedia (23%), Google (23%), Yelp (21%), Facebook (20%), and Amazon (19%).

This seems to imply a lot of the outside-fact data in AIs comes from Reddit. Spending trillions of dollars to create an “eternal Redditor” isn’t going to cure cancer. At best, it might create a “cure cancer cheerleader” who hypes up every advance and forgets about it two weeks later. One can only do so much in the algorithm layer to counteract the frame of mind of the average Redditor. In this sense, the political slant of LLMs is less due to the biases of developers and corporations (although they do exist) and more due to the biases of the training data, which is heavily skewed toward being generated during the “woke tyranny” era of the internet.

In this way, the AI bias problem is not about removing bias to reveal a magic objective base layer. Rather, it is about creating a human-generated and curated set of true facts that can then be used by LLMs. Using legislation to remove the methods by which left-leaning developers push AIs into their political corner is a great idea, but it is far from sufficient. Getting humans to generate truthful data is extremely important.

The pipeline to create truthful data likely needs at least four steps.

1. Raw data generation of detailed tables and statistics (usually done by agencies or large enterprises).

2. Mathematically informed analysis of this data (usually done by scientists).

3. Distillation of scientific studies for educated non-experts (in theory done by journalists, but in practice rarely done at all).

4. Social distribution via either permanent (wiki) or temporary (X) channels.

This problem of truthful data plus commentary for AI training is a government, philanthropic, and business problem.

RELATED: Threads is now bigger than X, and that’s terrible for free speech

Photo by Lionel BONAVENTURE/AFP/Getty Images

I can imagine an idealized scenario in which all these problems are solved by harmonious action in all three directions. The government can help the first portion by forcing agencies to be more transparent with their data, putting it into both human-readable and computer-friendly formats. That means more CSVs, plain text, and hyperlinks and fewer citations, PDFs, and fancy graphics with hard-to-find data. FBI crime statistics, immigration statistics, breakdowns of government spending, the outputs of government-conducted research, minute-by-minute election data, and GDP statistics are fundamentally pillars of truth and are almost always politically helpful to the broader right.

In an ideal world, the distillation of raw data into causal models would be done by a team of highly paid scientists via a nonprofit or a government contract. This work is too complex to be left to the crowd, and its benefits are too distributed to be easily captured by the market.

The journalistic portion of combining papers into an elite consensus could be done similarly to today: with high-quality, subscription-based magazines. While such businesses can be profitable, for this content to integrate with AI, the AI companies themselves need to properly license the data and share revenue.

The last step seems to be mostly working today, as it would be done by influencers paid via ad revenue shares or similar engagement-based metrics. Creating permanent, rather than disappearing, data (à la Wikipedia) is a time-intensive and thankless task that will likely need paid editors in the future to keep the quality bar high.

Freedom doesn’t always boost truth

However, we do not live in an ideal world. The epistemic landscape has vastly improved since Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter. At the very least, truth-seeking accounts don’t have to deal with as much arbitrary censorship. Even other media have made token statements claiming they will censor less, even as some AI “safety” features are ramped up to a much higher setting than social media censorship ever was.

The challenge with X and other media is that tech companies generally favor technocratic solutions over direct payment for pro-social content. There seems to be a widespread belief in a marketplace of ideas: the idea that without censorship (or with only some person’s favorite censorship), truthful ideas will win over false ones. This likely contains an element of truth, but the peculiarities of each algorithm may favor only certain types of truthful content.

“X is the new media” is a commonly spoken refrain. Yet both anonymous and public accounts on X are implicitly burdened with tasks as varied and complex as gathering election data, creating long think pieces, and the consistent repetition of slogans reinforcing a key message. All for a chance of a few Elon bucks. They are doing this while competing with stolen-valor thirst traps from overseas accounts. Obviously, most are not that motivated and stick to pithy and simple content rather than intellectually grounded think pieces. The broader “right” is still needlessly ceding intellectual and data-creation ground to the left, despite occasional victories in defunding anti-civilizational NGOs and taking control of key platforms.

The other issue experienced by data creators across the political spectrum is the reliance on unpaid volunteers. As the economic belt inevitably tightens and productive people have less spare time, the supply of quality free data will worsen. It will also worsen as both platforms and users feel rightful indignation at their data being “stolen” by AI companies making huge profits, thus moving content into gatekept platforms like Discord. While X is unlikely to go back to the “left,” its quality can certainly fall farther.

Even Redditors and Wikipedia contributors provide fairly complex, if generally biased, data that powers the entire AI ecosystem. Also for free. A community of unpaid volunteers working to spread useful information sounds lovely in principle. However, in addition to the decay in quality, these kinds of “business models” are generally very easy to disrupt with minor infusions of outside money, if it just means paying a full-time person to post. If you are not paying to generate politically powerful content, someone else is always happy to.

The other dream of tech companies is to use AI to “re-create” the entirety of the pipeline. We have heard so much drivel about “solving cancer” and “solving science.” While speeding up human progress by automating simple tasks is certainly going to work and is already working, the dream of full replacement will remain a dream, largely because of “model collapse,” the situation where AIs degrade in quality when they are trained on data generated by themselves. Companies occasionally hype up “no data/zero-knowledge/synthetic data” training, but a big example from 10 years ago, “RL from random play,” which worked for chess and Go, went nowhere in games as complex as Starcraft.

So where does truth come from?

This brings us to the recent example of Grokipedia. Perusing it gives one a sense that we have taken a step in the right direction, with an improved ability to summarize key historical events and medical controversies. However, a number of articles are lifted directly from Wikipedia, which risks drawing the wrong lesson. Grokipedia can’t “replace” Wikipedia in the long term because Grok’s own summarization is dependent on it.

Like many of Elon Musk’s ventures, Grokipedia is two steps forward, one step back. The forward steps are a customer-facing Wikipedia that seems to be of higher quality and a good example of AI-generated long-form content that is not mere slop, achieved by automating the tedious, formulaic steps of summarization. The backward step is a lack of understanding of what the ecosystem looks like without Wikipedia. Many of Grokipedia’s articles are lifted directly from Wikipedia, suggesting that if Wikipedia disappears, it will be very hard to keep neutral articles properly updated.

Even the current version suffers from a “chicken and egg” source-of-truth problem. If no AI has the real facts about the COVID vaccine and categorically rejects data about its safety or lack thereof, then Grokipedia will not be accurate on this topic unless a fairly highly paid editor researches and writes the true story. As mentioned, model collapse is likely to result from feeding too much of Grokipedia to Grok itself (and other AIs), leading to degradation of quality and truthfulness. Relying on unpaid volunteers to suggest edits creates a very easy vector for paid NGOs to influence the encyclopedia.

The simple conclusion is that to be good training data for future AIs, the next source of truth must be written by people. If we want to scale this process and employ a number of trustworthy researchers, Grokipedia by itself is very unlikely to make money and will probably forever be a money-losing business. It would likely be both a better business and a better source of truth if, instead of being written by AI to be read by people, it was written by people to be read by AI.

Eventually, the domain of truth needs to be carefully managed, curated, and updated by a legitimate organization that, while not technically part of the government, would be endorsed by it. Perhaps a nonprofit NGO — except good and actually helping humanity. The idea of “the Foundation” or “Antiversity,” is not new, but our over-reliance on AI to do the heavy lifting is. Such an institution, or a series of them, would need to be bootstrapped by people willing to invest in our epistemic future for the very long term.

​Trump, Elon musk, Ai, Ai bubble, Tech 

Cracker Barrel has lost one of its board members responsible for diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives.

After a marketing disaster involving a change to its iconic logo and unique in-store designs, the company quickly apologized and reverted back to its original look. It has since looked to regain consumer trust and is finally making moves in its boardroom.

‘Gilbert helped oversee the formation of our strategic plan.’

Now, an independent director and board member who shouldered at least some of the blame for the rebrand is stepping down.

Cracker Barrel announced Gilbert Dávila’s resignation on Thursday morning, following a shareholder vote on the company’s board of directors. Shareholders elected nine of the company’s 10 recommended director nominees, including CEO Julie Masino, who has taken the brunt of the public bashing for the marketing failure.

Cracker Barrel thanked Dávila for being a valued member of the board during his five years.

The company added, “Over that time, Gilbert helped oversee the formation of our strategic plan and led our Compensation Committee with skill and dedication. We are grateful for his many contributions.”

RELATED: Cracker Barrel desperately rewrites ‘inclusion’ and DEI web page after backlash

Just a couple weeks earlier, two of Cracker Barrel’s largest proxy advisory firms, Institutional Shareholder Services and Glass Lewis, were reportedly pressuring shareholders to drop Dávila over his role in the marketing fiasco that tarnished the company’s public image.

“Dávila is highlighted in board materials as one of two marketing specialists among the independent directors. He is also a member of a standing board committee whose purview is to assess social and political risks to the company’s business,” ISS said, the New York Post reported.

At the same time, the group reportedly said that while removing CEO Masino would create too much chaos, her responsibility for the botched logo “is no less than Dávila’s.”

Both ISS and Glass Lewis agreed, however, that change was sorely needed at the company, adding that Dávila’s marketing expertise was “faulty.”

In a recent interview, Blaze Media co-founder Glenn Beck pressed Masino and company senior vice president of store operations Doug Hisel about DEI and other woke marketing strategies, demanding to know: “Had the company embraced DEI as a culture?”

“Don’t preach to me on that,” he added, speaking for many consumers tired of political messaging from major corporations.

“I’m here to eat your meal. Can we just not have that thrown in our face?”

RELATED: Exclusive interview TOMORROW: Cracker Barrel CEO answers Glenn Beck’s brutal question — ‘Why weren’t you fired?’

— (@)

Under Dávila’s watch, Cracker Barrel’s diversity-laden marketing initiatives had spiraled out of control, with the company webpage dedicated to values frequently changing.

In fact, Cracker Barrel’s “culture and belonging” page has shifted gears so many times that internet archivists saved dozens of changes over the last two years alone.

The page had previously been labeled “culture and inclusion” and mentioned terms like “unconscious bias,” a form of inadvertent, subliminal racism allegedly exhibited by all.

Back in 2024, the page was called “Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging” at Cracker Barrel. It celebrated “Diversity in Our Decor,” “Diversity in Our Leadership & Development,” and even spoke of achievements on the Human Rights Campaign “equality index.”

It additionally included mention of company programs like “Be Bold,” a mission to develop “black leaders”; the “LGBTQ+ Alliance,” which had the purpose of “strengthening Cracker Barrel’s relationship to the LGBTQ+ community”; and “HOLA,” a program to “promote Hispanic and Latino culture through hiring, developing, and retaining talent within Cracker Barrel.”

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​News, Cracker barrel, Diversity, Dei, Americana, Executives, United states, Politics 

Florida Rep. Cory Mills (R) evaded another censure effort Wednesday night, but not without some heated criticism from a Republican colleague.

Republican Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina forced a censure vote on Mills Wednesday over “alleged stolen valor, arms deals he’s under investigation for and alleged abuses toward women.” Mace also went after Mills after a handful of Republicans blocked the censure of Democrat Delegate Stacey Plaskett of the Virgin Islands, who colluded with Jeffrey Epstein during a 2019 congressional hearing.

‘The more we learn about this guy and his purported activities, the worse it is.’

Mace alleged that Plaskett’s censure failed because Mills cut a “backroom deal” to suppress his own censure. Similar allegations were made toward Mills back in September when he was the deciding vote to protect Democratic Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar’s censure for the insensitive comments she made following Charlie Kirk’s assassination.

“Another backroom deal so Cory Mills can’t get censored [sic] for Stolen Valor,” Mace said in a post on X. “I have the General who ‘recommended’ him for the Bronze Star on record saying he never wrote it, never read it and never personally signed it. This. Is. Washington.”

RELATED: ‘Backroom deal’: Nancy Mace to force a vote on Cory Mills after Republicans shield Epstein-texting Democrat

hoto by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

The two Republicans reportedly had a heated exchange on the House floor Wednesday night, with Mace calling Mills a “disgrace” and mouthing the words, “You’re a piece of s**t.”

Mace later addressed these outbursts in a post on X, saying the real scandal is Mills’ track record.

“While Rep. Cory Mills is worried about my ‘mean’ words on the Floor last night — I’m worried about our national security and what sort of arms deals he or his companies have with foreign countries. I’m worried about how court records show he abuses women and had to have a restraining order set against him for it. I’m worried about how stealing the stories of other soldiers constitutes STOLEN VALOR and spits in the faces of veterans who gave it all Hold your tongue and sit this one out Mr. Mills.”

The censure vote ultimately failed 310-103, with 204 Republicans and 106 Democrats defending Mills.

Only eight Republicans — Reps. Anna Paulina Luna of Florida, Lauren Boebert of Colorado, Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, Harriet Hageman of Wyoming, Tim Burchett of Tennessee, Kat Cammack of Florida, Joe Wilson of South Carolina, and Mace — voted to advance the censure measure.

Although the censure failed, Mace still called the effort a win.

RELATED: ‘Swamp protects itself’: Republicans shield Epstein-texting Democrat — allegedly to save Cory Mills’ hide

Photo by Celal Gunes/Anadolu via Getty Images

“Last night was a win with either outcome of the vote,” Mace said in a post on X. “Now the Left can’t do any more backroom deals with Mills or use Mills as a bargaining chip whenever a Republican moves to censure another. And his investigation has been formally referred to an Ethics Subcommittee.”

“However, I pray leadership will remove Mills from his committees until Ethics is done with Mills. The more we learn about this guy and his purported activities, the worse it is.”

Blaze News reached out to Mills’ office for comment.

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​Nancy mace, Cory mills, Censure, Backroom deal, Ilhan omar, House republicans, House democrats, Stacey plaskett, Jeffrey epstein, Epstein files, Anna paulina luna, Lauren boebert, Marjorie taylor greene, Harriet hageman, Tim burchett, Kat cammack, Joe wilson, Politics 

Just weeks after the scandal in Celina ISD dropped where a coach was revealed to not only have had a past relationship with a high school student but was also videotaping middle school players in the locker room, another Texas football coach has been accused of abuse.

But he’s not the only one. A myriad of abusers have been exposed in Texas — all who have been tasked with guiding young students.

One woman, a teacher’s aide named Andrea Rodriquez, admitted to an “intimate relationship” with her student at Runge ISD in South Texas. A Mount Pleasant teacher named JaQuaven Rogers, a special education teacher’s aide at Wallace Middle School, has been accused of sex crimes against a student. And a Mesquite Academy teacher has been jailed for possessing child sex abuse material.

And all of this has been uncovered just this November.

Now, Robert Vela High School’s head football coach Ernie Alonzo is being sued by Robert Rocha, the father of an Edinburg Consolidated Independent School District student, after Alonzo ordered Rocha’s son to “perform strenuous physical exercises completely nude.”

According to Rocha, when his son “attempted to preserve any shred of dignity by covering himself with underwear,” Alonzo forced him to remain nude by threatening him.

The coach reportedly sought Rocha’s son out while he was in the shower and forced him out of the shower to perform the exercises for him. Following the act, “The coach secluded himself for unknown and suspicious reasons.”

The lawsuit also alleges that there were multiple victims who Alonzo targeted.

“I know I say this every time,” BlazeTV host Sara Gonzales says on “Come and Take It.” “But I really, I feel like I must hammer home, if this ever was my son, I would be in jail for homicide.”

“Think about the arrogance an adult must have to commit such a crime, like such a gross violation … the arrogance to think this is not going to come out eventually, like a boy isn’t going to understand inherently that his coach pulling him out of the shower and forcing him to exercise in front of him naked and then suspiciously taking a few moments to himself is entirely messed up,” she continues.

And like the Celina ISD case, Alonzo was hired despite having a shady history at another school – McAllen ISD. He was given the job despite his inappropriate behavior because of his “deep ties to the powerful political machine in Edinburg” and “the patronage of a high-level athletics administrator, Oscar Salinas.”

“Just like so many of these cases, the schools are passing the trash to other schools. … They’re allowing these people who they know have a track record of being inappropriate.” Gonzales comments.

“They don’t care. They care about everything except the children. They care about their pay. They care about covering for their own. They care about football. They care about your taxpayer dollars lining their pocketbooks, building new football stadiums,” she continues.

While those involved in the lawsuit have admitted that what Alonzo did was wrong, they’re now claiming “governmental immunity” from being sued.

“You might as well claim governmental immunity for sleeping with your students,” Gonzales scoffs.

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After more than a month’s delay due to the government shutdown, the government has released a new jobs report from September. The report defied expectations and proved President Trump is getting the economy back on track.

On Thursday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released the long-awaited jobs report. The numbers blew many estimates out of the water.

‘This strong report is more proof that President Trump’s pro-growth, America First agenda is already making great progress, and it will continue to deliver positive results for American families and businesses.’

According to data obtained from the BLS, the U.S. added 119,000 jobs in September, marking an increase compared to previous months. The estimate, according to Fox News, was 50,000 new jobs.

RELATED: Trump orders Labor Statistics chief to be fired over revisions in weak jobs report

Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

“The economy is booming under President Trump! His commitment to bringing jobs back to the United States and putting America First has turned this country around and set us on the right track!” Republican National Committee Chairman Joe Gruters said on X.

Wages are also up 0.2% to $36.67 in September, BLS said. According to the data, hourly earnings have increased 3.8% over the last 12 months.

In a statement obtained by Blaze News, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said, “The September jobs report more than doubled market expectations — adding 119,000 new jobs to the American economy. In stark contrast to the disastrous Biden economy, almost all of these new jobs were in the private sector and went to American-born workers instead of illegal aliens. Wages for workers are continuing to rise, a reversal of the Biden years where private sector wages declined by about $3,000 because of the Democrats’ inflation crisis.”

“This strong report is more proof that President Trump’s pro-growth, America First agenda is already making great progress, and it will continue to deliver positive results for American families and businesses,” Leavitt added.

Citing the government shutdown, the Bureau of Labor Statistics has said that it will not release full data for October. Instead, it will release partial data with the November jobs report, according to ABC News.

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In a video shared earlier in the week, six Democrat veterans in Congress urged members of the military and the intelligence community to “refuse illegal orders” from the Trump administration, though without specifying which orders were deemed illegal.

On Thursday morning, President Donald Trump posted a string of responses to the viral video.

‘SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH!’

In a Truth Social post, Trump said, “It’s called SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR AT THE HIGHEST LEVEL. Each one of these traitors to our Country should be ARRESTED AND PUT ON TRIAL. Their words cannot be allowed to stand — We won’t have a Country anymore!!!”

RELATED: ‘Rebellion’? Democrat lawmakers urge federal agents to resist Trump agenda in cringe video

Senator Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.)Photographer: Eric Lee/Bloomberg via Getty Images

“An example MUST BE SET,” he added in the same post.

In a second post, Trump reiterated his call for accountability: “This is really bad, and Dangerous to our Country. Their words cannot be allowed to stand. SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR FROM TRAITORS!!! LOCK THEM UP???”

Senator Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.), Senator Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), Rep. Chris Deluzio (D-Pa.), Rep. Maggie Goodlander (D-N.H.), Rep. Chrissy Houlahan (D-Pa.), and Rep. Jason Crow (D-Colo.) delivered the incendiary message.

In the video, the Democrats urged military and intelligence members to resist the Trump administration, telling them “we have your back”: “Americans trust their military. But that trust is at risk. This administration is pitting our uniformed military and intelligence community professionals against American citizens.”

“You MUST refuse illegal orders,” the video warned.

“SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH!” Trump said in another Truth Social post later on Thursday morning.

“It is insurrection — plainly, directly, without question. … It’s a general call for rebellion from the CIA and the armed services of the United States by Democrat lawmakers. … It shows what a dangerous moment we’re in,” White House deputy chief of staff for policy and homeland security adviser Stephen Miller said on Wednesday.

The video posted by Senator Elissa Slotkin reached 12 million views by Thursday morning.

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House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) issued deposition subpoenas in August to failed presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and former President Bill Clinton requiring their testimony “related to horrific crimes perpetrated by Jeffrey Epstein.”

Comer made clear on Tuesday that the Clintons risk criminal exposure should they continue not to comply with the subpoenas — and that he is willing to make use of the precedent set in recent years by Democrats.

‘They’re the one group in this investigation that’s never had to answer questions … from attorneys or members of Congress.’

The chairman noted in his Aug. 5 letter to Bill Clinton that owing to the former president’s past relationships with Epstein and child sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell, the committee believed him to have information regarding their activities relevant to the investigation.

“By your own admission, you flew on Jeffrey Epstein’s private plane four separate times in 2002 and 2003. During one of these trips, you were even pictured receiving a ‘massage’ from one of Mr. Epstein’s victims,” wrote Comer.

“It has also been claimed that you pressured Vanity Fair not to publish sex-trafficking allegations against your ‘good friend’ Mr. Epstein, and there are conflicting reports about whether you ever visited Mr. Epstein’s island,” continued the chairman. “You were also allegedly close to Ms. Ghislane Maxwell, an Epstein co-conspirator, and attended an intimate dinner with her in 2014, three years after public reports about her involvement in Mr. Epstein’s abuse of minors.”

RELATED: Epstein emails SHAME Obama/Clinton ally: Larry Summers quits public life amid calls for Harvard to cut ties

Photo by Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images

Comer noted in his letter to Hillary Clinton that her testimony was of interest to the panel not only because of her husband’s relationship with the dead sex offender but because of her links to Maxwell, whose nephew worked for Hillary Clinton’s first failed presidential campaign, then later for the State Department while Clinton was secretary of state.

The Oversight Committee compelled Hillary Clinton to testify on Oct. 9, but she didn’t show up.

When Bill Clinton’s Oct. 14 deposition date came around, a committee spokesperson announced that it would be delayed as the panel was “having conversations with the Clintons’ attorney to accommodate their schedules.”

Republicans on the committee are apparently still trying to settle on a date with the Clintons’ attorneys, a source familiar with the matter told ABC News.

“We expect to hear from Bill and Hillary Clinton,” Comer told “Just the News, No Noise” on Tuesday. “Donald Trump answered questions for years about Jeffrey Epstein. Every day he gets asked questions about Epstein, and he answers them in front of the American people. We’ve subpoenaed Republicans and Democrats.”

“Other Democrats have sent letters saying they knew nothing about Epstein, which would hold in court if something ever comes out that they did know something, then they’ve committed perjury there,” continued the chairman.

“But the Clintons have never responded. They’re the one group in this investigation that’s never had to answer questions in front of a credible reporter, and they’ve never certainly answered questions from attorneys or members of Congress,” added Comer.

Comer, evidently tired of the Clintons’ avoidance, added, “So we expect the Clintons to come in, or I expect the Clintons to be met with the same fate that Bannon and [Peter] Navarro were met with when the Democrats were in control.”

Democrats would likely condemn the Clintons’ visitation by legal consequence over their refusal to comply with congressional subpoenas — but such criticism would amount to rocks thrown from a glass house.

Eric Holder, Obama’s attorney general, was held in contempt of Congress in a decisive 255-67 vote in 2012 for refusing to turn over documents related to the Fast and Furious scandal.

The Obama Justice Department rewarded Holder for keeping the Democratic president’s documents from the American people’s elected representatives by refusing to prosecute.

House Republicans voted last year to hold former Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress for defying subpoenas for audio recordings of former President Joe Biden’s interview with special counsel Robert Hur.

The Biden Department of Justice revealed on June 14, 2024, that it would not bother prosecuting Garland.

Although keen to shield their own from consequence, Democrats held Republicans to a different standard.

The Democrat-controlled House voted 229-202 in 2021 to hold former Trump adviser and “War Room” host Stephen Bannon in contempt for defying a subpoena issued by the Jan. 6 committee.

Whereas the Biden DOJ would later let Garland off the hook for the same charge, the same outfit energetically prosecuted Bannon, securing a conviction and recommending that he serve at least six months in prison and pay a $200,000 fine. Bannon ended up languishing in prison for four months.

The president’s trade adviser, Peter Navarro, received similar treatment for not complying with a subpoena from the Jan. 6 committee. Navarro, who figured he was bound by executive privilege when he defied the subpoena, served a four-month prison sentence.

Navarro noted in a speech last year at the Republican National Convention, “I got a very simple message for you: If they can come for me, if they can come for Donald Trump, be careful. They will come for you.”

Comer’s apparent threat came a week after President Donald Trump directed the Justice Department and the FBI on Friday to “investigate Jeffrey Epstein’s involvement and relationship with Bill Clinton” and others, and “determine what was going on with them, and him.”

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On November 4, 2025, Democrats didn’t just win Virginia, New Jersey, and New York City — they crushed them. In Virginia, Democrats swept the statewide offices in a clean blue trifecta: Abigail Spanberger as governor, Ghazala Hashmi as lieutenant governor, and Jay Jones as attorney general. New Jersey followed suit, with the gubernatorial race called for Democrat Mikie Sherrill shortly after polling closed. And in New York City, Muslim Democratic Socialist Zohran Mamdani won the mayoral race.

Mark Levin is disturbed by Republicans’ apathy. “We gotta fight like hell, every single time, in every election, at every level of government. That’s the bottom line!”

Virginia, he says, was once “a red southern state” until the “locusts” — “government bureaucrats” looking to evade blue-state taxes and regulations – moved in and “screwed up everything.”

“Now the state of Virginia — the Commonwealth — has the largest number of federal bureaucrats of any state in the country, even more than Maryland. Wow. Go figure,” says Levin. “Plus, on top of that, we’ve had years and years of illegal immigration and legal immigration without assimilation, particularly under the Democrats.”

Add to that the fact that “Republicans are depopulating the state” and Soros and CAIR funding install people like Hashmi — a Muslim progressive Democrat who is now teed up to be Virginia’s next governor — and it’s clear that the state is on a one-way track to destruction.

New Jersey is much the same, although it doesn’t have the red history of Virginia. Blue voters, despite the already crushing taxes and regulations, voted in the same Democrat machine with Sherrill, who Levin says will simply sit at a desk and use a rubber “YES” stamp on every radical blue bill that crosses her desk. She’s nothing more than “a placeholder,” he scoffs.

Levin calls out Republican pundits on television and radio who ignorantly believe they can use these recent Democrat victories, especially Zohran Mamdani’s in New York City, as red campaign fuel in the future.

“They’re organizing at the local level like we’ve never seen before,” he warns. ”They’ve got more billions flooding in like we’ve never seen before. They’re already twisting the minds of our youth in our colleges and universities.”

To those pushing the idea that these blue victories will only help Republicans in the midterms and the 2028 election, he says, “Are you out of your mind?! … Get out of the way and let the serious people deal with this!”

To hear more of Levin’s commentary, watch the clip above.

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It’s my favorite time of year. When it gets cold, I fuel up four or five of the dozens of antique kerosene lamps I own. I use these to heat and light my house in winter; the charm and warmth make the cold and dark more bearable.

In past columns I’ve tried to convince you to abandon new, low-quality appliances and buy old workhorses. This time I want to persuade you to go even lower-tech and give flame light a try. You want to gather around the lamp with good people. You’ll find yourself staring into the flame, noticing the warmth it radiates (literal and metaphorical).

My center drafts have saved me during electricity outages in winter, giving enough light to work by as well as heat.

No electric lamps will make you feel this way. Some are very beautiful, of course, and the most charming use the original Edison-style incandescent filament bulbs. But they’re almost gone.

Thanks to meddling safetyist government, we live under the ghastly glow of LEDs. Before that, it was compact fluorescents. And before that, it was the sickening, flickering off-green morgue illumination of the overhead fluorescent tube, the appropriate furnishing for the inhuman Brutalist aesthetic that has infected 90% of commercial office space in the U.S. since the 1960s.

We weren’t made to live this way or light this way. We did not evolve under unnatural artificial light stripped of whole swaths of the color spectrum, drained of infrared.

We evolved by the campfire. For most of human history, the communal fire was the only source of “artificial” illumination at night. Firelight is a first cousin to sunlight, the original illumination that gave rise to all life on earth.

I’m going to give you basic tips on buying and running lamps, from simple to more complex. There’s a kind of kerosene lamp for everyone.

Sensible safety

Use common sense. You’re working with fire, and larger lamps put out a lot of heat, so be mindful that there’s plenty of clearance between the top of the chimney and the ceiling.

Keep charged fire extinguishers (you should anyway).

Yes, of course it’s possible to tip over a lamp, but in practice, it rarely happens unless you’re careless. They’re weighted to be fairly stable.

People also ask if my cats knock over the lamps. The answer is no, but you must use your own judgment because you know your animals and the layout of your house. My cats love to sleep near them for warmth and will walk on a table to get to them. But they don’t bump them. Again, you must exercise your own judgment.

Shredder the cat dozes by a center-draft lamp. Josh Slocum

No, you’re not in danger of carbon monoxide poisoning. Do you have a gas cookstove? Did you ever worry that you would get carbon monoxide poisoning from having your gas cookstove running? If you’re not afraid of your gas stove giving you carbon monoxide poisoning, there’s no physics-based reason to fear it if the flame comes from a kerosene lamp instead.

Carbon monoxide results from incomplete combustion. No combustion is 100% complete, but these lamps are burning close to it. I have been running kerosene lamps for about 15 years. They’ve never even blipped my smoke or carbon monoxide detectors.

No, the lamps won’t “suck up all the oxygen.” Your house is not hermetically sealed. The air is changing over all the time, even with your windows closed. You’re not in a pressurized submarine hull.

But “fumes,” you say. Every time you burn your favorite scented candles, you’re doing the same thing at a small scale, but no one is afraid of “fumes.” I think “fumes” is just miasma theory of disease, like how people used to falsely believe that bad odors from graveyards could transmit sickness to the living.

The only “fumes” you’re going to get with a lamp using clean kerosene are a bit of kero smell on lighting and on extinguishing. If it bothers you, take the lamp outside to light and extinguish. Remember that your ancestors right here in America all lit their homes this way, rich or poor. People weren’t dying of “fumes” or “lack of oxygen.”

The right stuff

Burn only clear, undyed kerosene. Not “lamp oil.” Not “lamp fuel.” These lamps want one thing only: the specific chemical we call kerosene. It’s a petroleum distillate similar to (but much less stinky than) diesel. Kerosene is not explosive like gasoline; don’t fear an explosion.

If you’ve experienced stinky oil lamps, it’s almost certainly because someone was burning “lamp oil,” which is liquid paraffin wax. This stuff clogs up wicks, it burns half as brightly as kerosene, it can smoke, and it smells awful. Stick with clear kerosene labeled “K1” or “1K,” found in your hardware store, Tractor Supply, Walmart, and similar stores.

Level I: Flat-wick lamps

Let’s introduce you to lamps. I categorize as Level I, Level II, and Level III. We’re going to go from simplest and least expensive to more high-powered lamps. If you’re new to lamps, start with Level I, the flat-wick lamps.

Everyone knows these lamps. These are what come to mind when you hear the phrase “oil lamp.” You remember lamps just like this from “Little House on the Prairie” on television.

These are called flat-wick lamps because, you may have guessed, their wicks are flat. This is my “sewing lamp,” so called because it’s tall enough to sit on a table by you for handwork.

Josh Slocum

Consider a wall-mounted flat-wick lamp, too. These can fit in beautiful wrought-iron brackets. Mount them to a stud in the wall and enjoy the character they add to your room. Below is one of my Victorian wall-mount lamps with a mercury reflector.

Josh Slocum

Level II: Center-draft lamps

So-called “center-draft” lamps are my personal favorite, and I recommend that you get at least one of them. They draw air from a central tube in the middle of the burner. Unlike flat-wick lamps, center-draft lamps have a round wick. They’re larger than most flat-wick lamps, so they put out about three times the light and heat of a basic lamp.

One center-draft lamp is enough to heat a medium-sized room, and you can cook over it in a pinch by rigging up a trivet. My center-draft lamps have saved me during electricity outages in winter, giving enough light to work by as well as heat. They’re essential equipment for anyone who is into prepping for emergencies. Plastic electronic LED lights with fancy solar panels can’t hold a candle to the rugged practicality and versatility of these.

Here’s my favorite, the “New Juno” model, made from 1886 to about 1915.

Josh Slocum

Any center-draft lamp is a good buy as long as it has all the parts necessary for operation (be sure it has a flame spreader). At the end of this article, I’ll link to businesses that specialize in advice and replacement parts. Do a little bit of reading, and you’ll learn everything you need to know before you buy.

Level III: The magical Aladdin lamp

Technology becomes as fun as it will ever get when one tech is declining as another rises. The old tech has to compete with the new, so the old tech gets refined to its highest potential just before it becomes obsolete.

That’s the Aladdin lamp. “Aladdin” is a brand name, not a generic type. These lamps are the zenith of kerosene technology that was competing with new electric light. These are mantle lamps. What does that mean? Bring to mind the Coleman lanterns you remember from camping. The ones that hiss and put out a very bright light. Those are mantle lamps too.

Aladdin lamps are mantle lamps, but instead of burning compressed gas, they burn kerosene.

In mantle lamps, the light does not come from the flame. The flame is used to heat the incandescent mantle. This is a thin, delicate mesh impregnated with rare-earths and mineral salts. These elements glow white-hot under heat. This is how the Aladdin lamp can produce a light that matches modern electric bulb output.

They are wonderful devices, and I have a few, but they are more finicky. They need a mantle, and you have to be very careful to keep the wick absolutely level, or you’ll get flame spikes that leave black carbon deposits on your mantle. The solution is to turn the flame low and burn off the carbon slowly.

Here’s my 1936 Aladdin Model B in green Corinthian glass:

Josh Slocum

Hopefully this has tempted you to get your first kerosene lamp. There are some dependable businesses run by people who love these lamps and know everything about them. Most breakable and replaceable parts like the glass chimneys and the wicks are still made and readily available from these purveyors and others.

Nobody knows more about lamps, and nobody has a wider selection of wicks, chimneys, diagrams, and how-to articles, than Miles Stair on the West Coast of the U.S. Go to his site first whenever you have a question.

Woody Kirkman of Kirkman Lanterns manufactures and sells quality reproduction lamps and replacement parts for antiques. You have likely seen his work in period films and at Disney parks and like. He is often hired to supply kerosene and gas lighting fixtures for movies and TV and for theme parks.

Gather those you love around you, and light your lamp.

​Lifestyle, Home, Heating, Kerosene lamps, Provisions, Antiques, Oil lamps, Little house on the prairie, Aladdin lamps, Intervention 

Police in Jacksonville, Florida, said they responded to a home around 12:41 p.m. Tuesday after a report that a person was shot, First Coast News said.

The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office said a man believed to be in his 70s living in the home on Arlex Drive, off Merrill Road, reportedly told police that a male armed with a gun broke through a window in the back of the home, the outlet reported.

‘Just glad to have another one, another one of these guys off the streets.’

The victim said he was ordered into a back bedroom and forced to hand over his car keys and other valuables, the outlet added, citing the sheriff’s office.

But the elderly victim fought back.

The sheriff’s office said the homeowner was able to grab a gun and managed to shoot the suspect once in the shoulder, the outlet reported.

The wounded suspect reportedly fled the home and drove off in the victim’s car, First Coast News said.

However, the sheriff’s office said police found the suspect inside the vehicle about 30 minutes later and took him into custody on Fort Caroline Road, near Jacksonville University — just a few miles from the scene of the home invasion, the outlet noted.

Brandon Meredith, who was driving along University Boulevard, told First Coast News he witnessed the suspect’s capture.

“Everyone had their tasers drawn,” Meredith told the outlet. “They’re moving up in a special kind of formation on the back of the car, heard a pop, they grabbed him and pulled him out, put him on the ground, and EMS was tending to him, and they had the intersection shut down for about two hours while this whole thing unfolded.”

RELATED: Elderly Texas homeowner armed with hunting rifle spots burglar who broke through back door. It doesn’t end well for intruder.

The suspect, who has not yet been publicly identified, was taken to a hospital for the gunshot wound, the sheriff’s office told First Coast News, and was in police custody.

Meredith added to the outlet that he’s happy with the way things ended up: “Just glad to have another one, another one of these guys off the streets.”

First Coast News said those with information about the incident that could help in the investigation can contact the sheriff’s office at 904-630-0500. The outlet added that anonymous tips are also welcome through Crime Stoppers.

Commenters on WJAX’s Facebook post about the incident expressed a variety of opinions about the outcome. The following are but a few of them:

“‘In custody’ means the homeowner needs some range time,” one commenter asserted.”Dang, people still dare to break in other houses in open carry state,” another user opined.”He’s a hero,” another commenter declared.”The only problem I see is the homeowner needs some shooting lessons,” another user wrote, adding “shoot for center mass, and this potentially eliminates the issue.””In blue states and cities, this poor homeowner would have to face trial and have his life financially ruined (at best), or spend the rest of his life in prison,” another commenter observed.

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The Department of Health and Human Services delivered what could prove to be a lethal blow this week to the profitable and predatory child sex-change industry that has been on the defensive since President Donald Trump’s Jan. 28 executive order directing all federal agencies to ensure that medical institutions receiving federal funding “end the chemical and surgical mutilation of children.”

HHS published an exhaustive peer-reviewed report on Wednesday that should make abundantly clear to those still clinging to LGBT activists’ preferred narrative about so-called “gender-affirming care” that “the harms from sex-rejecting procedures — including puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgical operations — are significant, long term, and too often ignored or inadequately tracked.”

“This is a new day in the Department of Health and Human Services. It’s a new day in the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health, a new day for the country,” Admiral Brian Christine, assistant secretary for HHS, told Blaze News. “It is because of President Trump and Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. that this information has come out.”

‘The HHS report should put an end to the scourge of child mutilation masquerading as health care.’

The 410-page report, titled “Treatment for Pediatric Gender Dysphoria: Review of Evidence and Best Practices,” reads as the weightier American counterpart to Britain’s damning Cass Review, detailing:

the often glossed-over risks and medical uncertainties involved with puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and sex-change genital mutilations; the unscientific nature and strategic omissions of fact in the World Professional Association of Transgender Health guidelines; the manipulation of medical definitions undertaken in service of gender ideologues’ medical agendas; ethical concerns regarding consent for sex-change procedures as well as the regret often experienced by victims of such procedures; andthe “international retreat” from the “gender-affirming” model of care.

The report — which National Institutes of Health Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya indicated “marks a turning point for American medicine” — notes that the overall quality of evidence concerning the effects of sex-change medical interventions on long-term health, psychological outcomes, quality of life, and regret was found to be “very low.”

Accordingly, the beneficial effects alleged in the literature and often cited by gender ideologues are likely to differ substantially from the actual effects of the sex-change procedures.

‘It’s literally a billion-dollar industry. It creates lifelong customers.’

What’s more, the report noted that while the risks of child sex changes are many and unmistakable — including infertility, sexual dysfunction, impaired bone density accrual, surgical complications, and heart, metabolic, and psychiatric disorders — publication bias, a failure of existing studies to adequately track and report harms, and other factors may have obfuscated the true fallout of so-called “gender-affirming care.”

The report minces no words in its conclusion, stating:

Many U.S. medical professionals and associations have fallen short of their duty to prioritize the health interests of young patients. First, there was a rapid expansion and implementation of a clinical protocol that lacked sufficient scientific and ethical justification. Second, when confronted with compelling evidence that this protocol did not deliver the health benefits it promised, and that other countries were changing their policies appropriately, U.S. medical professionals and associations failed to reconsider the “gender-affirming” approach. Third, conflicting evidence — evidence that challenged the foundational assumptions of the protocol and the professional standing of its advocates — was mischaracterized or insufficiently acknowledged. Finally, dissenting perspectives were marginalized, and those who voiced them were disparaged.

“The American Medical Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics peddled the lie that chemical and surgical sex-rejecting procedures could be good for children,” HHS Secretary Kennedy said in a statement.

“They betrayed their oath to first do no harm, and their so-called ‘gender-affirming care’ has inflicted lasting physical and psychological damage on vulnerable young people,” continued Kennedy. “That is not medicine — it’s malpractice.”

RELATED: Sacrificing body parts and informed consent to the sex-change regime

Photo by Bob Riha Jr./Getty Images

When other Western nations, Britain in particular, began to re-evaluate their barbaric medical approaches to gender dysphoria, the Biden administration and the U.S. medical establishment dug in their heels and pushed the child sex-change regime to new extremes.

For instance, Biden’s transvestic Assistant Secretary of Health and Human Services Rachel Levine, formerly Richard Levine, successfully pressured WPATH to drop its recommended minimum age requirements for sex-change mutilations. His reasoning for lowering the recommended age minimums — 17 for genital mutilations, 15 for healthy breast removals, 16 for breast implants, and 14 for hormone treatments — was apparently not based on scientific evidence but on politics.

Levine’s successor, Trump HHS Assistant Secretary Brian Christine, told Blaze News, “There was absolutely an effort by the prior administration and, very specifically, an absolute effort by the individual who was the prior assistant secretary for health, Rachel Levine,” to continue politicizing children’s health.

He added that both ideology and profit prompted medical professionals and associations to similarly dig in their heels.

“It’s literally a billion-dollar industry. It creates lifelong customers,” said Christine. “You bring a little boy or a little girl in and you have them either get hormones or they get a mutilating surgery — you’ve created a lifelong customer. You’ve created someone who’s going to come back again and again and again because of surgical complications or other things going on.”

Gender dysphoria is an “emotional and mental condition,” he explained. “There’s no question about that. These individuals who truly have gender dysphoria, they suffer terribly. They deserve compassion. They deserve mental health care. What they don’t need are sex-rejecting surgeries.”

Christine said that treating gender dysphoria as a mental health condition is especially important with kids. “You should treat them with mental health care because we know that if you do, the majority of these kids, by the time they’re in their late teens, are very comfortable in their own skin,” he said.

Neeraja Deshpande, policy analyst for the Independent Women’s Forum, said that the report, “in addition to creating a more transparent system, confirms once and for all what never should have been up for debate to begin with: that so-called surgical and chemical body alteration in the name of ‘gender transition’ is a medical danger to children.”

Terry Schilling, president of the American Principles Project, said in a statement to Blaze News, “The HHS report should put an end to the scourge of child mutilation masquerading as health care.”

RELATED: ‘They’ll create second sets of genitals’: WPATH Files author tells Glenn Beck about ‘gender-affirming care’ mutilations

Luis Soto/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

“The peer-reviewed study only confirms what the American Principles Project and anyone with common sense has known all along: The gender industrial complex relies on bad faith, bad science, and a radical ideology that places the financial interest of drug companies over those of children,” said Schilling.

Schilling suggested to Blaze News that elements within the child sex-change regime are now more likely to reap the whirlwind in court.

“This is, at a minimum, some type of consumer fraud. I do think that because of how horrific the harm that they did was that it does cross into serious criminal areas.”

While Schilling noted that the industry presently enjoys robust protection from trial attorneys and left-wing institutions, once major legal actions break through, prompting big payouts, “then you’ll have blood in the water, and the sharks will start circling.”

Schilling alluded to Chloe Cole‘s lawsuit as one such potential breakthrough action.

Cole, a detransitioner who has raised awareness across the country about the horrors and fallout of sex-change medical interventions, has sued Kaiser Permanente for alleged medical negligence in connection with the sex-rejecting procedures the health system performed on her as a minor.

Schilling commended the numerous experts who put their names to the report — including doctors and scientists from the Baylor College of Medicine, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Duke University — stating, “They’re very courageous for doing this. This is a very powerful and embedded industry that’s been doing really big and terrible things in the country … and for these guys to put their names behind it is a very big deal.”

When asked whether this report ultimately amounts to a lethal blow against the sex-change regime, HHS Assistant Secretary Christine told Blaze News, “Yeah, we certainly hope so. We certainly believe it will be. Listen, our job in the administration is to protect our children, protect our citizens. Our job is to produce gold-standard science. That’s exactly what we have done. It’s exactly what we’re doing.”

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​Sex change, Gender affirming care, Gender, Lgbt, Sex change surgeries, Medicine, Health, Hhs, Terry schilling, Medicalization, Robert f kennedy, Rfk, Gender ideology, Science, Brian christine, Politics 

A 29-year-old male accused in a fatal stabbing in Boston over the weekend was facing weapons and drug charges less than a month ago but walked free.

Court records indicate that Javonte Robinson’s previous weapons and drug charges were dismissed when an attorney could not be found after 45 days, WCVB-TV reported.

‘Under Governor Healey, the state failed to pay public defenders adequately, failed to ensure the courts had the staffing they needed, and failed to protect the public.’

Robinson’s case was dropped amid a work stoppage involving private attorneys who normally defend suspects who can’t afford lawyers, the station said, adding that the attorneys in question stopped accepting new cases in May in an attempt to force the state to pay them more.

WCVB said Robinson was among 145 individuals whose charges were dismissed in one day of court proceedings.

Robinson then allegedly stabbed a man Saturday night in the city’s Mattapan neighborhood, and the victim was taken to a hospital, where he died, Boston police said, according to the station. Robinson was arrested just after 3 p.m. Sunday, WCVB noted.

Robinson was arraigned Monday in Dorchester District Court and pleaded not guilty to the murder charge, Boston.com reported, citing court records. He was then taken to Suffolk County Jail, the outlet added.

RELATED: Thugs on parole, probation thrown behind bars after allegedly repeating same crimes that got them in trouble previously

More from Boston.com:

In late August, Robinson was arraigned on charges of possession of a dangerous weapon and possession of a Class A drug. He was released on personal recognizance, according to the records, but was transported to Attleboro District Court, where he was wanted on other outstanding warrants.

Last month, Robinson’s charges were dismissed without prejudice, meaning that the case could be reopened in the future. This was the result of the “Lavallee protocol,” which was activated in Massachusetts earlier this year due to the work stoppage.

Boston.com noted that the “Lavallee protocol” mandates that defendants without attorneys are ordered released after being held for more than seven days — and those who go 45 days without a lawyer have their cases dismissed without prejudice.

This is what happened in Robinson’s dangerous weapon case, Boston.com said, citing court records.

Massachusetts Republican gubernatorial candidate Brian Shortsleeve blasted Democrat Gov. Maura Healey for her handling of the lawyer shortage in the wake of the Robinson case, the Boston Herald reported.

Shortsleeve, according to the paper, said that “this should never happen in a functioning state government. Under Governor Healey, the state failed to pay public defenders adequately, failed to ensure the courts had the staffing they needed, and failed to protect the public. That is unacceptable, and it is dangerous.”

Fellow Republican gubernatorial candidate Mike Minogue also blamed Healey, the Herald said: “The fundamental role of the governor is to uphold the law and keep our communities safe. This is another example of our governor failing to solve problems and [running] an organization that has a horrible impact on the victim and their families.”

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​Boston, Massachusetts, Criminal set free, Possession of a dangerous weapon charge, Murder charge, Fatal stabbing, Lawyer work stoppage, Pay dispute, Police, Maura healey, Crime 

The years-long trend of American de-Christianization recently came to an end, with the Christian share of the U.S. population stabilizing at roughly six in ten Americans, according to Pew Research Center data. Of the 62% of adults who now identify as Christians, 40% are Protestants, 19% are Catholics, and 3% belong to other Christian denominations.

There are signs in multiple jurisdictions pointing to something greater than a mere stabilization under way — at least where the Catholic Church is concerned.

The New York Post recently found that multiple New York City Catholic parishes have not only seen a spike in conversions but their churches routinely fill to the brim. That’s likely good news for the Archdiocese of New York, which was found in a recent Catholic World Report analysis to have been among the 10 least fruitful dioceses in 2023 in terms of baptism, conversion, seminarian, and wedding rates.

‘We’ve got a real booming thing happening here.’

Fr. Jonah Teller, the Dominican parochial vicar at Saint Joseph’s in Greenwich Village, told the Post that the number of catechumens enrolled in his parish’s Order of Christian Initiation of Adults for the purposes of conversion has tripled since 2024, with around 130 people signing up.

Over on the Upper East Side, St. Vincent Ferrer has seen its numbers double since last year, jumping to 90 catechumens. The Basilica of St. Patrick’s Old Cathedral has reportedly also seen its numbers double, ballooning to around 100 people. The Diocese of Brooklyn doubled its 2023 numbers last year when it welcomed 538 adults into the faith and expects the numbers to remain high again this year.

Attendance in New York City reportedly skyrocketed in the wake of the assassination of Charlie Kirk, who was apparently attending mass with his Catholic wife, Erika, and their children.

RELATED: Charity, miracles, and high tech — here’s how these monks built a massive Gothic monastery

Photo by John Lamparski/Getty Images

“We’re out of space and exploring adding more masses,” Fr. Daniel Ray, a Catholic Legionary priest in Manhattan, told the Post. “We’ve got a real booming thing happening here, and it’s not because of some marketing campaign.”

While a number of catechumens cited Kirk’s assassination as part of what drove them to the Catholic Church, others cited a a desire for a life- and family-strengthening relationship with God; a desire to partake in the joy observed in certain devout Catholics; a desire for community; a desire for “guardrails”; and a desire for anchorage and meaning in a chaotic world where politics has become a substitute for faith.

“My generation is watching things fall apart,” Kiegan Lenihan, a catechumen in the OCIA at St. Joseph’s told the Post. “When things all seem to be going wrong in greater society, maybe organized religion isn’t that bad.”

Lenihan, a 28-year-old software engineer, spent a portion of his youth reading the works of atheist intellectuals such as Christopher Hitchens and Richard Dawkins. After experiencing an anxiety-induced crisis at school, he apparently sought out something of greater substance, devouring the works of Marcus Aurelius. He found that his life still lacked greater meaning despite achieving material success.

‘The Catholic Church is a place of sanity.’

“I realized on paper, I had everything I wanted, but I had no fulfillment in my soul,” said Lenihan, who remedied the problem by turning to Christ.

Liz Flynn, a 35-year-old Brooklyn carpenter who is in OCIA at Old St. Patrick’s, previously sought relief for her anxiety and depression in self-help books and dabbled in “pseudo spiritualism.”

After finding a book about God’s unconditional love for his children in a gift shop during a road-trip stop at Cracker Barrel, she began praying the rosary and developed an appreciation for Catholicism.

“I’m happier and calmer than I’ve ever been,” Flynn told the Post. “Prayer has made an enormous impact on my life.”

New York City is hardly the only diocese enjoying an explosion in conversions.

The National Catholic Register reported in April that numerous dioceses across the country were seeing substantial increases in conversions. For instance:

the Diocese of Cleveland was on track to have 812 converts at Easter 2025 — 50% more than in 2024 and about 75% more than in 2023; the Diocese of San Angelo, Texas, expected 56% more converts in 2025 (607) than in 2024 (388);the Diocese of Marquette, Michigan, was expected to see a year-over-year doubling of conversions; the Diocese of Springfield, Illinois, was expected to see a 59% year-over-year increase; the Diocese of Grand Island, Nebraska, was set for a 45% increase;the Diocese of Steubenville, Ohio, was expecting a 39% increase in converts; andthe Archdiocese of Los Angeles noted a 44% increase in adult converts.

Besides the Holy Spirit, the conversions were attributed to the National Eucharistic Revival, immigration, and evangelization.

Pueblo Bishop Stephen Berg told the Register that people are flocking to the church because it stands as a bulwark against the madness of the age.

“I think the perception of the Catholic Church is changing,” said Bishop Berg. “In a world of insanity, I think that people are noticing that the Catholic Church is a place of sanity.”

“For 2,000 years, you know, through a lot of turbulent times — and the Church has been through turbulent times — we still stand as the consistent teacher of the faith of Christ,” continued Berg. “The people are intrigued by that.”

As of March, 20% of Americans described themselves as Catholics, putting the number of Catholic adults at around 53 million nationwide.

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​Catholic church, Catholic, Christian, Faith, Religion, Abide, Conversion, Evangelization, Vatican, Renaissance, New york city, Diocese, Rcia, Catechumen, Politics 

The boyfriend of a woman who allegedly paid someone to torture and kill her said that she had been suffering from mental illness before the shocking events, according to Florida authorities.

Sonia Exelby was reported missing in October before police were able to trace her to an Airbnb in Reddick and found her remains nearby.

‘I’m so, so scared. I’m so broken and in so much pain. … I thought he’d do it quick and not give my mind time to stew.’

Exelby boarded a flight to Florida and arrived on Oct. 10, according to an investigation by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. The FDLE said that Exelby posted on a fetish website that she was willing to pay someone to torture and kill her.

A week after she arrived in Florida, her remains were found in a shallow grave.

Investigators linked her to a man named Dwain Hall, who had used her bank card and tried to use her credit cards.

When they interviewed him, he gave conflicting accounts of how they met.

Police said they gathered evidence pointing to Hall as Exelby’s alleged killer.

Authorities said Hall purchased rope and gun cleaner among other items at a Walmart in Gainesville on Oct. 10. After that purchase, he made a second purchase of a shovel. He then allegedly went to pick up Exelby at the airport, and they both went to an Airbnb that he had rented.

The next day, he charged $1,200 to Exelby’s bank card.

Authorities said he recorded a video of Exelby showing her with cuts and bruises, and asking her to say that she consented to being stabbed.

Exelby sent a message to a friend via the Discord app expressing regret.

“I’m so, so scared. I’m so broken and in so much pain. … I thought he’d do it quick and not give my mind time to stew,” she wrote.

On Oct. 14, Hall allegedly sent a package to a friend that authorities said contained a knife that had traces of Exelby’s blood. It also had a bracelet with DNA from both Exelby and Hall.

RELATED: NJ grade school janitor who allegedly contaminated food with bodily fluids called it the ‘devil’s work’ and a ‘sexual fetish’

Police also said the shovel Hall purchased matched the one they found at Exelby’s grave site.

Hall was initially arrested for fraud in relation to his alleged use of Exelby’s financial cards, but those charges were dropped when he was charged with kidnapping and first-degree murder.

U.K. law enforcement said that Exelby sought someone to kill her in 2024, but she obtained mental health treatment instead after the attempt was thwarted.

Hall allegedly told police he was upset because she promised to pay him $4K, but he only received $1.2K.

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​Sonia exelby, Woman pays to be tortured, Woman pays to be killed, Dwain hall arrest, Crime 

I’ve been titanically bearish on America for years. Sorry. I can do math.

The United States owes more than $38 trillion. That alone makes the balance sheet hopeless. The debt is insurmountable.

America’s GDP in 2024 was $29.2 trillion, meaning the debt exceeds 130% of what we produce in a year. If this were a business, every financial adviser would tell you to file Chapter 11 and salvage what you can.

Washington keeps adding another trillion to the tab roughly every 100 days. As the debt climbs, interest payments climb faster. The country now spins in a debt spiral that ends only one way. Game over.

The more the world moves away from the dollar, the more tens of trillions of unwanted dollars come flooding home. You haven’t seen anything like real devaluation yet.

Then comes the $210 trillion in future unfunded liabilities — mostly Social Security and Medicare. Those numbers don’t pencil out in any universe.

Underneath all of it sits a sinking currency. The dollar lost 87% of its value since we abandoned the gold standard in 1971. For decades, the petrodollar arrangement held the world in our system by forcing oil purchases through the U.S. currency. Saudi Arabia let that mandate expire last year. Global energy deals immediately began shifting to other currencies.

The more the world moves away from the dollar, the more tens of trillions of unwanted dollars come flooding home. You haven’t seen anything like real devaluation yet.

To fund our binge, Washington must keep selling treasuries. But foreign buyers are losing interest. Rates rise. The government buys its own debt just to keep markets from buckling. The Cayman Islands now holds $1.85 trillion — the largest single foreign share and rising fast. Treasury officials tried to obscure the numbers. None of it signals stability.

Meanwhile, our economy rests on an absurdly fragile foundation: 70% consumption. Seven out of 10 dollars depend on Americans buying things they can no longer afford. Household debt hit a record $18.6 trillion — nearly two-thirds of GDP. Families now pay down debt instead of fueling growth.

Shrinking consumption means a shrinking economy. Shrinking economy means shrinking tax revenue. Combine that with a weakening dollar and the picture becomes darker still.

Enter artificial intelligence, the accelerant. AI threatens tens of millions of jobs within years, wiping out income and collapsing the consumption model even faster. A government facing falling revenue and exploding obligations cannot pretend to stay solvent.

Some cling to fantasies like universal basic income. With what money? The same government already $210 trillion short on existing promises? Please.

This all points toward an economic crash far larger than 2008. Washington froze that crisis with $29 trillion in bailouts — money it didn’t have then either. We conjured it and shoved it onto the national debt.

That option is gone.

Today the government sits too deep in debt, with a weaker dollar and fewer global buyers. And the next crisis won’t hit one sector. It hits everything:

• Record mortgage debt: $13.1 trillion
• Record credit-card debt: $1.2 trillion
• Collapsing commercial real estate: $4.9 trillion
• Big Tech borrowing hundreds of billions to inflate an AI bubble

OpenAI’s Sam Altman already expects an eventual government bailout for AI’s collapse.

RELATED: When the AI bubble bursts, guess who pays

Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

Total U.S. debt — public and private — hit $102.2 trillion in 2024. Washington cannot rescue a single major sector, let alone all of them. The national debt was $10 trillion during bailout 2008. It’s four times that now. The dollar buys less. Foreign creditors show less patience.

So who steps in next time? Who buys the treasuries? Who absorbs the losses?

No one. Not abroad. Not at home. Nowhere on this planet.

That leaves Washington with only one move: Print tens of trillions in new dollars and hand them to itself — more IOIs (as opposed to IOUs) stacked on a pile already ready to topple.

And that printing wave will obliterate whatever value the dollar still holds.

Think the dollar’s fallen far? You haven’t seen anything yet.

​National debt, Us government, Dollar, Opinion & analysis, Debt, Artificial intelligence, Taxes, Consumers, Economy, Economic growth, Cayman islands, China, Bonds, Gdp, Bubble 

Earlier this month, former Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced her retirement after nearly four decades of public service. As Democrats say goodbye to one of their last remaining operatives to actually effectuate change, the party is left directionless.

The extent of Democratic leadership has now been reduced to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York. Both figures have repeatedly struggled to balance the progressives and the establishment moderates, with the most recent shutdown fiasco serving as a prime example.

‘We all need to take a very big dose of humility.’

Onlookers on both sides of the aisle largely agree that the undisciplined messaging and disorganized strategy would never have taken place when Pelosi held the gavel.

With no obvious leader to follow in Pelosi’s footsteps, the Democratic Party has become more undisciplined and rudderless than ever before.

RELATED: ‘Rebellion’? Democrat lawmakers urge federal agents to resist Trump agenda in cringe video

Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images

“She’s an all-time great speaker because all other tools that speakers had to discipline or motivate legislators were not available to her,” said Dheeraj Chand, a Democratic strategist and pollster with Siege Analytics, of Pelosi.

“She has no whip. She has no carrot. All that she has left is persuasive power, and she held that entire group of imbeciles together using nothing but persuasive power,” Chand told Blaze News. “No small feat.”

The latest instance of intraparty insubordination took place when 23 House Democrats chose to rebuke one of their own. The unusual reprimand came after Democratic Rep. Chuy Garcia of Illinois was censured by nearly all Republicans and several Democrats, with Democratic Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington authoring the condemnation.

Garcia, a retiring Democrat, was censured after he set up his chief of staff to be the lone Democrat on the primary ballot to succeed him in his deep-blue district, a move which Gluesenkamp Perez called “election subversion.”

“Both parties are finding it increasingly difficult, if not impossible, to lead their respective caucuses in the traditional hierarchical manner,” Len Foxwell, a Democratic strategist based in Maryland, told Blaze News. “We see the example with Representative Garcia as emblematic of the challenges that Democrats face with breakaway members, and we saw during the attenuated leadership tenure of Kevin McCarthy how virtually impossible it is for establishment Republicans to contain the Freedom Caucus.”

“When there’s no leader, it’s not only that there’s no opinion, but there’s nobody calling the shots,” Chand told Blaze News. “When there’s nobody calling the shots, it’s hard to feel like you are playing for a team that can protect you.”

RELATED: Democrat lawmaker faces censure for ‘colluding’ with Epstein during congressional hearing

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

In both cases, neither party had a political north star to follow. With former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, President Donald Trump’s command of the party slipped away after former President Joe Biden was declared the winner of the 2020 election. In the case of Democrats today, the party is still on the back foot following the colossal electoral rebuke they endured in November 2024 after Kamala Harris stepped in to replace Biden at the top of the ticket.

Some party moderates still believe that “a lot of Democratic voters didn’t come out because they were appalled at the vice president just getting to step in for the president, even though that was her job! Another perceived coronation, from her eyes, is just going to exacerbate the brand problem,” Chand suggested.

“Without a leader, every legislator is responding to what they think is the reason for the loss,” he told Blaze News.

“The Republican leadership chain is much more vertical and much more linear because the party is still led by Donald Trump,” Foxwell told Blaze News. “It is still absolutely Donald Trump’s party, and Mike Johnson toes the Donald Trump line, period full stop. It’s easy when you have an outsized leader at the top to set the substance, the tone, and the stylistic direction of the party.”

“We don’t have that, and we haven’t had it in more than a decade, even with the four-year interim with Joe Biden,” Foxwell added. “He was not what one would consider a strong party leader.”

RELATED: Hakeem Jeffries’ campaign allegedly solicited money from Jeffrey Epstein

Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

The shortcomings of the directionless Democratic Party culminated on November 4, 2024, when Trump swept all seven swing states and secured impressive electoral gains across nearly every demographic.

“Exit polls are something like tabular tarot cards — you see what you want to see in them. They reveal more about you than they do the world,” Chand told Blaze News. “It’s unreasonable to rely on them too much, but post-election surveys are very, very revealing. This kind of loss is a catastrophe that is decades in the making. It’s bigger than one candidate in 100 days or one term. We lost share with everyone except affluent white people. That’s a Reagan-level defeat [over Walter Mondale], for similar reasons.”

“Right now our party is in the midst of one of its periodic transitions in which the establishment wing is in a battle for primacy with its progressive insurgent wing. It’s taking on philosophical overtones, but also generational ones,” Foxwell told Blaze News. “It’s not just that the old-school leadership represented by Pelosi was perhaps philosophically out of sync with some of these younger, more progressive insurgents, but she also came from a different generation.”

While Republicans comfortably dominate the political landscape, Democrats are trying to find their own identity. New York progressives like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani have emerged as rising stars in their party and as a rebuke to establishment figures like Schumer and even Pelosi. Other figures, like Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom of California and even failed candidate Kamala Harris, seem to be scoping out the competition.

Even with a range of politicians to choose from, the first step Democrats need to take is zoom out and understand their electoral failures.

“Nobody sees this coming,” Chand told Blaze News. “I think we’re going to lose until we win. And when people figure out what it takes, we will win. I think we all need to take a very big dose of humility.”

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​Nancy pelosi, Donald trump, Kevin mccarthy, Mike johnson, Hakeem jeffries, Chuck schumer, Joe biden, Kamala harris, Barack obama, Democratic party, Republican party, Chuy garcia, Marie gluesenkamp perez, Establishment, Epstein, Alexandria ocasio-cortez, Zohran mamdani, Gavin newsom, 2024 election, Election night, 2028 election, Congress, Politics 

The Associated Press told us a partial truth after the November 4 elections: Republicans delude themselves when they brush off their losses. AP then added its usual spin, claiming GOP leaders deny that “affordability” drove their defeat. According to AP, soaring costs and economic uncertainty explain why Republican candidates collapsed across several high-profile races.

Republicans did not simply underperform. They were routed. GOP candidates lost in the marquee races in New Jersey and Virginia, and Democrats came within striking distance of a supermajority in the Virginia legislature. Democrats even clawed back ground in places like Luzerne County, Pennsylvania — a longtime working-class stronghold that had tilted red for decades.

The left treats politics as a total struggle. Republicans cannot keep treating it as a polite debate.

The GOP took a real shellacking.

AP captured only part of the story. Republican leaders keep denying the obvious, insisting the mid-cycle results followed the usual pattern for a party out of power. That excuse collapses when measured against the magnitude of the losses.

In New Jersey, a scandal-scarred, aggressively pro-LGBTQ Democrat crushed a strong Republican challenger by more than 14 points — in a state battered by high taxes, rising crime, and deep voter frustration. Jack Ciattarelli was supposedly running neck-and-neck with Mikie Sherrill. The final tally proved otherwise.

Virginia delivered an even starker picture. A hyper-progressive Democrat won the governor’s race against a conservative black Republican woman. The new attorney general prevailed despite revelations that he sent violent, disturbing text messages expressing rage toward a Democratic opponent and his children. Voters shrugged and voted for him anyway.

This election was not routine. It was a decisive, unmistakable rejection of the party in power. The results cannot be explained away by economic anxiety. Voters responded to ideology and identity — not affordability indexes.

Democratic voters turned out as a unified bloc against what they have been conditioned to believe is a dangerous, authoritarian movement. Media outlets, universities, Hollywood, and most major cultural institutions spent years drilling that narrative into the public. The left absorbed it fully and voted accordingly.

It’s hard to square AP’s affordability argument with the fact that voters rewarded Biden’s economically disastrous administration in the 2022 midterms — and continued to do so in these off-year races. By every major metric, economic conditions have improved dramatically since Trump returned to the White House. Inflation fell. Energy prices dropped. Markets hit record highs. Food and housing costs remain problems, but they remain high largely because the Federal Reserve refuses to cut rates — something Trump intends to fix when he replaces the current chair.

Meanwhile, Biden’s border catastrophe flooded the country with roughly 10 million illegal migrants, burdened taxpayers, and fueled a surge of crime. Yet he paid little political price. Voters did not punish him or his party.

To understand why, look at a recent Atlanta Journal-Constitution poll. Georgia Republicans list inflation and the economy as their top concerns. Georgia Democrats list something else entirely: a “tougher response” to Trump and MAGA Republicans. They rank economic issues and even abortion behind their desire to defeat an ideological enemy. For them, politics is a moral crusade.

RELATED: Mamdani sells socialism — and Republicans peddle the Temu version

Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

This reveals the central mismatch. Republicans speak the language of policy: inflation, taxes, energy, spending. Democrats speak the language of existential struggle. They believe they are at war with a malevolent force, and that belief animates them far more than grocery bills or mortgage rates. Trump derangement syndrome is very much alive and well with these voters.

Republicans just want to return to normal politics — debates over issues, clean contests, and sportsmanlike disagreements. Their media allies keep telling them nothing has changed since Trump beat a ditzy, verbally inept opponent in 2024.

Wrong. Everything has changed.

Republicans face a massive, highly motivated voting bloc determined to strip them of power. Democrats aim to defeat and humiliate their opposition, not negotiate with it. Their rhetoric against ICE, their nonstop attacks on Trump, and their saturation campaigns across media and education paid off. They fought harder. They fought longer. And they won nearly everywhere that mattered.

The GOP cannot afford to treat this moment as another cyclical setback. The left treats politics as a total struggle. Republicans cannot keep treating it as a polite debate. Until the GOP grasps the scale of the conflict, election nights will keep looking like this one.

​Midterm elections, Gop, Democrats, 2026, Opinion & analysis, 2026 election, Republicans, Blue wave