The Epstein files released by the Department of Justice last month painted Microsoft co-founder and vaccine champion Bill Gates in a particularly unfavorable light.

Amid uproar over her ex-husband’s repeat mention in the files — including in a 2013 email wherein Jeffrey Epstein alleged that he procured for Bill Gates “drugs, in order to deal with consequences of sex with Russian girls” — Melinda French Gates told NPR’s “Wild Card” podcast, “It’s personally hard whenever those details come up, right? Because it brings back memories of some very, very painful times in my marriage.”

‘Knowing what I know now makes it, you know, a hundred times worse.’

While French Gates indicated that she has “been able to move on in life,” her ex-husband is alternatively still dealing with the consequences of his long-standing association with the notorious child sex offender.

Gates reportedly apologized to the staff of the Gates Foundation for the fallout of his Epstein ties during a town hall on Tuesday, stating, “It was a huge mistake to spend time with Epstein,” according to a recording reviewed by the Wall Street Journal.

Gates, who has not been accused of wrongdoing by any of Epstein’s victims and whose spokesperson characterized the claims in the 2013 email as “completely false,” reportedly stressed, “I did nothing illicit. I saw nothing illicit.”

The billionaire reportedly had an explanation for the photographs in the files featuring him in the company of women whose faces are redacted. Epstein asked to take pictures of his assistants with Gates after meetings, Gates claimed, according to the Journal.

RELATED: Epstein-friendly lesbians managing fraud-plagued Manhattan club in hot water — again

Photo by Leon Neal – WPA Pool /Getty Images

“To be clear, I never spent any time with the victims, the women around him,” said Gates, according to the Journal. He noted, however, that he “did have affairs, one with a Russian bridge player who met me at bridge events, and one with a Russian nuclear physicist who I met through business activities.”

Gates reportedly suggested further that despite his ex-wife expressing concerns about Epstein in 2013 — five years after he pleaded guilty to solicitation of a minor for prostitution — Gates continued meeting with Epstein.

“Knowing what I know now makes it, you know, a hundred times worse in terms of not only his crimes in the past, but now it’s clear there was ongoing bad behavior,” Gates reportedly told staff.

Gates, apparently recognizing that his relationship with Epstein helped boost Epstein’s reputation, reportedly apologized “to other people who are drawn into this because of the mistake I made.”

Gates also recognized the negative impact his Epstein ties have had on the organization previously known as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which became the Gates Foundation last year following the couple’s divorce and previous revelations about Bill’s ties to Epstein.

“It definitely is the opposite of the values of the Foundation and the goals of the Foundation,” said Gates, who has directly and through his foundation worked to shape public health, the news landscape, education policy, AI, American farmland, the energy sector, foreign policy, and the Earth itself.

“And our work is very reputational sensitive,” continued the billionaire. “I mean, people can choose to work with us or not work with us.”

When asked about the recording and Gates’ remarks, the Gates Foundation told Blaze News in a statement, “This was a scheduled townhall with employees, which Bill does twice a year. In the conversation, Bill answered questions submitted by foundation staff on a range of issues, including the release of the Epstein files, the foundation’s work in AI, and the future of global health.”

The foundation added, “In the townhall, Bill spoke candidly, addressing several questions in detail, and took responsibility for his actions.”

“The harm Epstein inflicted on women and girls was horrific, and no one should ever have to experience what they did,” the foundation said in a statement earlier this month. “The foundation regrets having any employees interact with Epstein in any way.”

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​Bill gates, Gates, Cabal, Pedophile, Jeffrey epstein, Epstein, Sex offender, Microsoft, Gates foundation, Philanthropy, Politics 

Messaging app Discord assured its users that they will not have to show their faces, unless they live in certain places.

In certain regions, users will still be subject to face scans or government ID submission.

‘We’ll give you options, designed to tell us only your age and never your identity.’

This comes after a data breach in October that saw at least 70,000 images of government-issued IDs stolen through one of Discord’s third-party verification services. Proton reported that passports, driver’s licenses, names, and IP addresses were stolen, along with user transcripts from conversations they had with support agents.

Still, in February 2025, Discord told users that their profiles would promptly be reverted to teen-level accounts by default, unless they submit to “facial age estimation or submit a form of identification to its vendor partners.”

This means that without verification, users could not get message requests, join political chats, or unblur a wide variety of sensitive content.

After some intense backlash, though, Discord is now rolling back its requirements, but only for now.

RELATED: Gamers REVOLT over age-verify scheme subjecting users to ‘suspicious entity detection’

Photo by Thomas Fuller/NurPhoto via Getty Images

It seems obvious that Discord still has plans to roll out user verification eventually, but at this time it is leaning toward requiring less intrusive means. However, in some jurisdictions, giving up one’s identity is still required by law.

“Where we have legal obligations, we will continue to meet them,” the company wrote in a blog post.

In “the U.K., Australia, and Brazil, the law may require platforms to use approved methods like facial age estimation or ID checks,” Discord continued, adding that it will be exploring alternative methods of verification in other jurisdictions.

“If you’re among the less than 10% of users who do need to verify, we’ll give you options, designed to tell us only your age and never your identity.”

Simply put, Discord will still be enforcing age restrictions on the user experience.

RELATED: Digital tyrants want your face, your ID … and your freedom

Photo by HENRY NICHOLLS / AFP via Getty Images

Discord floated different verification options like credit card verification, while putting limits on companies that use facial age estimation.

“Any partner offering facial age estimation must perform it entirely on-device. If they don’t meet that bar, we won’t work with them,” the company said.

One company that “did not meet that bar” was Persona. Discord ran a “limited test” with the company customer verification service in the U.K. but has since decided not to move forward with it. It is unclear whether this relates to a recent report that showed Persona was not only performing almost 270 cross-reference checks on user face data, but the platform was allegedly set up for, and compliant with, parameters that allow for government access.

While Discord has promised ongoing transparency, it is still moving toward user data collection and will still be using facial scans to do so.

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​Return, Tech, Face scan, Discord, Social media, Age verification, Age estimation 

Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) made waves at Tuesday night’s State of the Union address, even shouting at President Donald Trump as he gave his speech and refusing to stand in support of American citizens. The controversy continued Wednesday after video emerged of the Democrat denying something she said directly into the camera.

Earlier that day, LindellTV posted to X a short interview between a reporter and Omar.

‘I would say our country should be more fearful of white men across our country because they are actually causing most of the deaths within this country.’

The reporter first asked Omar about her financial records and her alleged connection to a winery, both of which have some question marks lingering around them.

Omar snapped at the reporter and said, “Do you just ask silly questions?”

RELATED: ‘You should be ashamed’: Ilhan Omar melts down when asked to support Americans

Photographer: Graeme Sloan/Bloomberg via Getty Images

The reporter moved on, asking her, “You recently stated that the American people should be afraid of the white man, that they should be fearful of the white man.”

“I never said that,” Omar replied.

“Yeah, you’re on video saying it,” the reporter said in disbelief.

The reporter then appears to have shown Omar video of her saying those words, yet Omar again denied it. She then admonished the reporter, claiming she needs to be more prepared because “what I was quoting was an actual study done by the FBI.”

In the video, which appears to come from a 2018 interview, Omar was asked about Islamophobia and its true origin.

The interviewer said, “A lot of conservatives in particular would say that the rise in Islamophobia is a result not of hate, but of fear. A legitimate fear, they say, of ‘jihadist terrorism.’ … What do you say to that?”

“I would say our country should be more fearful of white men across our country because they are actually causing most of the deaths within this country,” Omar replied.

“And so if fear is the driving force of policies to keep America safe, Americans safe inside of this country, we should be profiling, monitoring, and creating policies to fight the radicalization of white men.”

Omar did not make any reference to any study or report from the FBI or other intelligence sources in the clip.

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​Politics, Ilhan omar, Rep ilhan omar, White men, Islamophobia, Islam, Jihadist, State of the union, President trump, Sotu 

I grew up measuring time by the turn of seasons. Autumn meant schoolbooks and shorter days. Winter meant stripped fields, wind off the Atlantic, and weekend mornings beside my father in the wild stretch of Connemara, County Galway. Stone walls, peat bog, and low mountains framed the years that shaped me.

We hunted game birds — wing shooting, as my father called it. Pheasants burst from hedgerows in a clatter of bronze feathers. Woodcock came tearing through trees like pilots who had misplaced their maps. Snipe flickered over the marsh, determined to test the dignity of anyone aiming at them. Over time, you learned the land — and with it the humbling truth that even a bird with a walnut-sized brain could make you look foolish.

There was a burst of snarling, then a sound I still hear nearly 20 years later. Two badgers were below.

Nothing about it was hurried. We walked for miles. We watched the wind. We read the ground. We spoke softly, and often not at all.

My first gun

My first gun came later than I wanted and earlier than my mother preferred. I fired my first shot at 13. I still remember the weight of it, the kick, the sudden understanding that I was holding something that demanded respect. I also remember missing completely and nearly falling backward from the recoil. My father didn’t laugh. He checked my stance, corrected my grip, and only then allowed himself a small smile that said “you’ll learn.”

And I did.

At first, like any boy, all I wanted was to pull the trigger and fire into the sky. But my father had other ideas.

Learning to shoot, he insisted, was an art. Cheek firm to the stock. Follow through. Don’t rush. Breathe steadily. Safety first, always. A gun was never waved about, never pointed without purpose, never treated as a toy. It was a tool, and tools required competence.

No waste

The first time I hit a clay target, a surge of triumph swept over me. The first time I brought down a pheasant cleanly, I felt pride — and with it a sober awareness of what the shot meant. A life had ended, and I understood my part in it. My father insisted that we retrieve every bird and carry it home. Waste wasn’t tolerated. Nothing was done carelessly.

In those early years, the hunting extended beyond birds. Foxes came too close to the farm in lambing season. They took what they could. When that happened, the task fell to us. I was younger then, and I didn’t relish it, but I understood it. This wasn’t sport but protection. The lambs were vulnerable. The farm depended on them. Badgers, powerful and stubborn creatures, could maim or kill a sheep if they set upon it.

One afternoon, when I was about 15, we brought our two terriers to a sett we had been watching. They were small, fearless dogs — my father’s pride and joy — bred to go to ground and drive out whatever lay beneath. We waited above the hole, listening.

What came back up wasn’t what we expected.

Brief and brutal

There was a burst of snarling, then a sound I still hear nearly 20 years later. Two badgers were below. The fight was brief and brutal. When it ended, both terriers were dead.

The silence afterward felt unnatural. My father said little. He knelt beside the dogs, his hands steady, his face set in a way I had never seen. That day left its mark on both of us.

Within a week, he had tracked the badgers’ movements. He watched their runs, noted their patterns, and returned at dusk when they emerged. He shot them cleanly. I remember the way I looked at him then — not simply as my father, but as someone I deeply admired. Our dogs were gone, and he had set things right.

RELATED: Fishing with my dying father

Tim Graham/Getty Images

A simple nod

After that, our trips to Connemara changed. I was less a child tagging along and more a companion. We walked side by side, reading the land together. He asked what I saw and waited for the answer.

I recently flew back to Ireland to hunt with my father again. Dawn came slowly over the Twelve Bens, washing the valley in a soft silver light.

We walked as we always had. Now in his early 60s, he moved more slowly, but his eye remained sharp. A pheasant burst from cover. I swung, fired, and missed. He said nothing. Another bird rose minutes later. This time the shot landed true. He nodded once — which, from him, amounted to high praise.

There is a caricature of gun culture that reduces it to aggression — the love of noise, the love of power. That was never my experience. Hunting with my father gave me a vocabulary that didn’t rely on words. Approval showed itself in the briefest of looks. Correction came with a hand on the stock. Trust arrived in small responsibilities — carrying the gun, crossing a wall safely, judging distance and wind.

We ended the day as we always did: muddy boots, cold hands, birds cleaned and hung, and a couple of pints at the local pub. Outside, evening settled. Inside, there was warmth and a quiet satisfaction.

​Hunting, Fathers and sons, Fatherhood, Ireland, Shooting, Guns, Lifestyle, Pheasant hunting, County galway, Connemara, First person 

The former assistant director of the LGBTQ Pride Center is decrying his firing from North Carolina State University after an undercover investigation showed him bragging about undermining DEI restrictions.

The Accuracy in Media investigation showed Jae Edwards saying that he had to be “careful” in order to support LGBTQ members despite the college undoing its diversity, equity, and inclusion policies.

‘We’re used to going around them and finding ways around.’

Critics of AIM say the video appears to be heavily edited and argue that Edwards did not actually admit to breaking the policy.

“We’re still able to do the things that we want to do, have these events and programs. We have to be a little more careful,” he says in the footage.

“As a marginalized group, we’re used to these things,” Edwards added. “And we’re used to going around them and finding ways around.”

A school spokesperson confirmed Edwards’ termination, Carolina Public Press reported, and said in a statement: “The individual seen in the video had no role in policy or compliance decisions and was not authorized to speak on behalf of the university. The staff member no longer works at the university.”

After NCSU dropped Edwards, some students began a petition to demand his return, but they only garnered about 700 signatures out of a total student body of more than 39,000 students.

AIM contends that Edwards’ comments violate the repeal of DEI standards by the UNC system board of governors. Other AIM investigations have led to the dismissal of two other individuals from the UNC system.

Edwards has also raised $12,600 through donations to his GoFundMe account.

“Scrolling through social media and seeing articles, videos, and hate comments has produced emotions that I cannot begin to put into words,” he wrote in part. “Funds would go towards housing, medication, medical appointments, food, utilities, insurance and cat food.”

RELATED: The Sierra Club embraced social justice after being flush with cash — then destroyed itself

Even prior to President Donald Trump gaining office and ordering DEI policies to be ended, many diversity officers lamented that corporations appeared to be pulling back their support of the woke movement.

“I wake up every day trying not to be a cynic, but this is frightening,” said Vic Bulluck of the NAACP Hollywood bureau in 2023. “Hollywood seems to be sending a message that these programs that were designed to give more access to African-Americans are no longer needed.”

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​North carolina state university, Lgbtq center director fired, Aim undercover video, Ignoring dei ban, Politics 

In his State of the Union address last night, President Trump delivered a record-breaking, nearly two-hour speech touting a dramatic “turnaround for the ages” under his leadership, claiming the U.S. is now “bigger, better, richer, and stronger than ever before,” with a “roaring” economy featuring falling inflation, lower gas prices and mortgage rates, rising incomes, and a secure border with zero illegal entries in recent months.

He also highlighted immigration crackdowns, defended tariffs, warned Iran against nuclear ambitions while preferring diplomacy, proposed initiatives like universal 401(k)-style retirement access and barring institutional home-buying, and honored veterans and the Olympic hockey team, while taking jabs at Democrats and past administrations and projecting national revival ahead of midterms.

But amid the gamut of issues the president covered, BlazeTV host Steve Deace says there were three critical lines — and it was Democrats who ironically teed them up.

“Take it from someone who spent a year trying to fight Donald Trump in the 2016 primary as a strategist for the Ted Cruz campaign. Do not give Donald Trump a foil,” he laughs.

“That’s like handing Popeye spinach. That’s like Hulk Hogan hulkin’ up in the ring. Do not give Trump a foil, okay? And [Democrats] did that tonight.”

In response to Democrats’ behavior — sitting stoically, refusing to stand when Iryna Zarutska’s mother was honored, and even heckling in some cases — Trump threw zinger after zinger, drawing big Republican applause.

“I thought there were three money lines in this speech,” says Deace.

“Democrats are for illegal aliens; I’m for America.”“Democrats don’t want voter ID because they have to cheat to win elections.” “We’re going to ban child gender mutilation surgeries all over America.”

“Without question, this is the kind of vision-casting our side desperately needed tonight to get back on message, to get back on mission, and I think this is exactly what the doctor ordered.”

To hear more, watch the video below.

​Blazetv, Blaze media, 2026 sotu, State of the union, State of the union address, Trump sotu, Blazetv specials, Steve deace 

An NFL rule that rewards teams for developing talent along racial lines is getting put in the spotlight.

The rule, know as the Rooney Rule, is causing confusion among the Chicago Bears’ C-suite employees, who are expecting compensation for one of their staff members jumping ship to the Atlanta Falcons. In the NFL, if a team develops a “diverse” employee who then lands a certain type of role with another team, the first team is awarded draft picks by the league.

‘I’ll be honest. I think it is a little strange.’

Bears general manager Ryan Poles was asked about the rule, as the team is currently in limbo about receiving draft picks for former assistant general manager Ian Cunningham, who is now the general manager of the Atlanta Falcons.

“I’ll be honest. I think it is a little strange,” Poles told reporters at the NFL Scouting Combine. “I mean, at the end of the day, you should want to develop your staff regardless of the color of their skin.”

“I think that’s important,” Poles continued. “I think we take a lot of pride with the Bears on how we have our setup, and I take a lot of pride in that. So to be compensated for that’s a little strange. I mean, I saw the Chiefs get a pick because of me, and then I watched that player go and play.”

When Poles left the Kansas City Chiefs in 2022 — where he was the executive director of player personnel — to become the Bears’ general manager, the Chiefs received two third-round draft picks simply because he is black, NBC Sports reported.

RELATED: Perjury, drugs, and counterfeiting — Trump pardons 5 former NFL players

The bizarre rule comes directly from the NFL’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee, previously called the Workplace Diversity Committee. The rule states that teams must conduct in-person interviews with at least two “minority and/or female” candidates when hiring for a general manager or head coach, as well as at least one “diverse” person when hiring for senior-level positions.

Teams are even rewarded if their developed talent takes a job at another team. This comes in the form of third-round draft picks if an employee becomes a head coach or general manager.

The rule states that in 2020, “team owners approved a proposal rewarding teams who developed minority talent that went on to become GMs or head coaches across the league. If a team lost a minority executive or coach to another team, that team would receive a third-round compensatory pick for two years.”

The controversy with Cunningham’s move to the Falcons is that the Bears are being told they will not be compensated because his new role is not that of a primary decision-maker.

“The policy for receiving picks pertains to the head coach or the primary football executive,” chief NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy told Fox 32 in a statement.

RELATED: ‘We’re doing the right thing’: NFL to continue diversity initiatives, including forcing interviews with ‘minority candidates’

Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images

“The primary football executive position was filled by Matt Ryan,” the NFL spokesman added.

Poles stopped short of supporting the rule in his recent remarks, saying that if the league thinks “that’s what’s best to help incentivize, then that’s what they wanted to do.”

He added, “Like I said, that’s not the purpose of why we develop our staff.”

However, according to OutKick, the Bears are still submitting a review to the league in hopes of getting their draft picks, with Poles saying that if the Rooney Rule is in place, then he considers it to be “very clear” in terms of what should happen.

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​Politics, Nfl, Dei, Diversity equity inclusion, Racial quotas, Diversity, Football, Fearless, Sports 

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani (D) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) released a Spanish-language video Tuesday urging families to enroll their children in the city’s free 3-K and pre-K programs before Friday’s deadline, explicitly emphasizing that eligibility applies “regardless of … immigration status.”

The roughly two-and-a-half-minute video, posted to Mamdani’s official X account, features the two Democrats speaking entirely in Spanish in a studio setting with American and New York City flags behind them. Mamdani called his Spanish “rusty” before both promote what they describe as free, full-day early education for children turning 3 or 4 years old in 2026.

‘No Social Security number is required and that applications are available in more than 200 languages.’

Ocasio-Cortez states directly in the video, “Any New York City parent, regardless of your occupation, income, or immigration status, is eligible to sign their child up.”

RELATED: ‘This is disgraceful’: Mamdani raked over the coals for attack on NYPD

They stress that no Social Security number is required and that applications are available in more than 200 languages. Parents can apply online, by phone, or in person at Family Welcome Centers. The deadline for the 2026-2027 school year is Feb. 27.

While city officials frame the initiative as part of New York’s long-standing universal early education policy, critics argue the messaging shows how taxpayer-funded benefits are being promoted without regard to legal status at a time when the city is struggling with the financial impact of a historic migrant influx.

RELATED: ‘Despicable attack’: Brazen mob pelts NYPD officers with snowballs, multiple cops reportedly injured — and it’s all on video

Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

The programs are funded through a combination of city, state, and federal dollars. City leaders have previously touted the effort as returning an average of $26,000 annually to families by eliminating child-care costs.

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​Aoc, Mamdani, Free childcare, Illegal immigrants, Tax dollars, Politics 

The Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against the sanctuary state of New Jersey after its governor banned Immigration and Customs Enforcement from some state property.

On Feb. 11, New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill (D) signed Executive Order No. 12, which declared that federal immigration agents cannot access “nonpublic areas of State property for the purpose of facilitating federal enforcement of civil immigration law” without a judicial warrant or order.

‘Federal agents are risking their lives to keep New Jersey citizens safe, and yet New Jersey’s leaders are enacting policies designed to obstruct and endanger law enforcement.’

The governor claimed that the action would “protect against ICE raids on state property.”

“I take seriously my responsibility to keep New Jersey residents safe, and as a Navy veteran and former federal prosecutor, my commitment to upholding the Constitution will never waver,” Sherrill stated. “This executive order will prohibit ICE from using state property to launch operations. To strengthen public safety, we will also give New Jersey residents the tools to report ICE activity to the attorney general’s office and ensure residents know their constitutional rights.”

The governor’s office accused the Trump administration’s ICE agents of “violently abusing power and violating Constitutional rights.”

The DOJ responded to Sherrill’s executive action by filing a lawsuit against New Jersey on Feb. 23, stating that the state’s leadership has insisted “on harboring criminal offenders from federal law enforcement.”

RELATED: ‘She is putting a target on their backs’: New Jersey governor launches online portal to track ICE agents

Photographer: Christopher Dilts/Bloomberg/Getty Images

The complaint claimed that Sherrill aimed to “intentionally obstruct federal law enforcement,” adding that she “celebrates thwarting the constitutional obligation of the President of the United States to take care that federal immigration law be faithfully executed.”

The DOJ argued that Sherrill’s executive order obstructs and intentionally discriminates against the federal government. Prosecutors also claimed that the action violated the Supremacy Clause, which “prohibits a state from usurping Congress.”

“Federal agents are risking their lives to keep New Jersey citizens safe, and yet New Jersey’s leaders are enacting policies designed to obstruct and endanger law enforcement,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said. “States may not deliberately interfere with our efforts to remove illegal aliens and arrest criminals — New Jersey’s sanctuary policies will not stand.”

RELATED: Exclusive: ‘Best of the best’: DHS torches leftist media myths about ICE training

Mikie Sherrill. Photographer: Michael Nagle/Bloomberg/Getty Images

Sherrill reacted to the lawsuit, stating, “I think what the federal government needs to be focused on right now instead of attacking states like New Jersey working to keep people safe is actually training their ICE agents with some modicum of training, like any law enforcement officer in the state of New Jersey would have, so they can operate better and more safely.”

New ICE recruits receive 56 days of training and an average of 28 days of on-the-job training, according to the Department of Homeland Security.

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​News, Mikie sherrill, New jersey, Pam bondi, Department of justice, Doj, Justice department, Department of homeland security, Dhs, Immigration and customs enforcement, Ice, Immigration crisis, Illegal immigration crisis, Illegal immigration, Immigration, Politics 

President Donald Trump awarded several honors and medals during his historic State of the Union Tuesday night. Here is every honor Trump awarded during the joint address.

‘He was a legend long before this evening.’

1. Connor Hellebuyck, Presidential Medal of Freedom

Photo by ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / AFP via Getty Images

As goalie, Connor Hellebuyck played an integral role on the USA men’s hockey team that brought home the gold for the first time in 46 years. Trump hosted the team at the White House on Tuesday, just days after their historic victory, later inviting them to attend the State of the Union.

During his joint address, Trump announced that he would bestow Hellebuyck with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, America’s highest civilian honor. Trump also noted that he took a vote from the team members in the Oval Office as to whether he should award Hellebuyck the medal, and they unanimously supported the idea.

Trump’s address was a beacon of patriotism, and this moment was no exception.

“What special champions you are,” Trump said.

2. Andrew Wolfe, Purple Heart

Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images

Andrew Wolfe was one of the two National Guardsmen who were ambushed and shot, allegedly by an Afghan national, just feet from the White House in November. Wolfe was not expected to survive, but he miraculously pulled through and appeared at the State of the Union alongside his mother.

To commend his service, Trump awarded Wolfe the Purple Heart.

“It was a solemn and unforgettable moment, one that ensured their courage and sacrifice were honored not only by West Virginia but also before the entire nation,” West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey (R) said in a statement.

3. Sarah Beckstrom, Purple Heart

Photo by Demetrius Freeman/The Washington Post via Getty Images

Sarah Beckstrom was the second National Guardsman recognized at the State of the Union and was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart. Beckstrom was serving alongside Wolfe when she was ambushed and fatally shot in November at just 20 years old.

Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images

Beckstrom’s parents accepted the award on behalf of their late daughter Tuesday night, marking a solemn moment.

“West Virginia will never forget their service, their bravery, or their sacrifice,” Morrisey said.

4. Scott Ruskan, Legion of Merit

Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images

Scott Ruskan, an aviation survival technician and rescue swimmer for the United States Coast Guard, was recognized for saving nearly 170 people during the floods that devastated central Texas back in July. Those rescued included children attending Camp Mystic.

Trump awarded Ruskan the Legion of Merit for his “extraordinary heroism.”

Ruskan accepted the award alongside 11-year-old Milly Cate McClymond, one of the girls he rescued from Camp Mystic.

“As the waters threatened to sweep her away, 11-year-old Milly Cate McClymond closed her eyes and prayed to God,” Trump said. “She thought she was going to die. Those prayers were answered when Coast Guard rescue swimmer Scott Ruskan descended from a helicopter above … and he lifted not just Milly Cate but 164 others to safety.”

5. Eric Slover, Medal of Honor

Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Chief Warrant Officer Eric Slover was recognized for his role in capturing Venezuelan ex-dictator Nicolas Maduro in January, successfully piloting the Chinook mission despite being shot several times and sustaining severe injuries to his legs.

Despite being severely wounded, Slover stood up in a walker to accept the highest military decoration, the Medal of Honor.

“Chief Warrant Officer Slover is still recovering from his serious wounds,” Trump said, “but I’m thrilled to say that he is here tonight with his wife, Amy.”

“The success of the entire mission and the lives of his fellow warriors hinged on Eric’s ability to take the searing pain. It was unbelievable, what’s happened to his legs,” he continued.

6. Royce Williams, Medal of Honor

Photo by Mandel NGAN / AFP via Getty Images

Retired Navy Captain Royce Williams was also awarded the Medal of Honor Tuesday night, commending the 100-year-old veteran’s service in World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. First lady Melania Trump, who sat beside Williams, bestowed the award on the war hero during the address.

In 1952, Williams found himself in a 35-minute dogfight against the Soviets, where he downed four enemy aircraft, survived a 37mm cannon, and still returned to the deck of the USS Oriskany just off the coast of North Korea. His fellow servicemen later counted 263 holes in the frame of his F9F-5 Panther.

“Tonight, at 100 years old, this brave Navy captain is finally getting the recognition he deserves. He was a legend long before this evening,” Trump said.

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​Donald trump, State of the union, Sotu, Connor hellebuyck, Olympics, Men’s hockey, Medal of freedom, National guard, Dc national guard, Andrew wolfe, Purple heart, Sarah beckstrom, Patrick morrisey, Scott ruskan, Texas floods, Camp mystic, Milly cate mcclymond, Coast guard, Eric slover, Venezuela, Nicolas maduro, Veteran, Medal of honor, Royce williams, Melania trump, Congress, Joint session, Joint address, Korean war, Vietnam war, World war ii, Politics 

Governor Kathy Hochul recently slowed, but did not stop, Waymo’s march into New York, blocking expansion beyond city limits while leaving the door wide open inside them.

These aren’t simply cars without drivers. Waymo’s robotaxis are mobile intelligence machines. They map infrastructure, catalogue faces, record ambient sound, and track movement patterns across entire cities — continuously and autonomously. Unlike a fixed security camera or an app you can delete, these vehicles move freely through neighborhoods, past hospitals, around government buildings, silently collecting everything in their path. The data never sleeps, and the cars never stop.

China’s strategy for technological dominance is anything but subtle.

No small matter, then, that Waymo’s next-generation fleet is manufactured by Zeekr, a Chinese electric vehicle company with deep, documented ties to China’s Communist Party. Zeekr is a subsidiary of Geely, one of China’s most powerful automotive conglomerates — a company that operates, as all major Chinese corporations must, in full alignment with Beijing’s strategic interests. Under Chinese national security law, any firm can be compelled to hand its data to the state. No appeal, no refusal. No exceptions.

Zeekr carries the fingerprints of a government that has spent decades playing a patient, precise long game, embedding itself in Western supply chains, Western infrastructure, and now Western streets. Part of the Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, an automotive behemoth with stakes in Volvo, Polestar, and other Western car companies, Zeekr took off with significant state backing via the Yuexiu Industrial Fund and the Xin’an Intelligent Manufacturing Fund. Zeekr benefits from CCP-linked subsidies, even abusing the system to inflate sales, and exists within a corporate ecosystem where the line between private enterprise and party directive is deliberately blurred.

Hiding in plain sight

When the Waymo-Zeekr connection began attracting serious scrutiny, Waymo’s response was telling. Rather than address the security concerns directly, the company quietly rebranded the vehicles — scrubbing Zeekr’s name from its marketing materials entirely. “Waymo’s official explanation,” TechCrunch reported, “is that the company determined the U.S. public isn’t familiar with the Zeekr brand,” adding that, “of course, in the U.S. it might not hurt to ditch the name of a Chinese automaker either.” The cars didn’t change. The supply chain didn’t change. The data architecture didn’t change. Only the name did.

But China’s own strategy for technological dominance has been anything but subtle. Huawei was waved into Western telecommunications networks for years before governments finally acknowledged the obvious. TikTok spent the better part of a decade harvesting behavioral data on hundreds of millions of Americans while its ultimate obligations remained rooted in Beijing. The playbook is consistent: embed early, expand endlessly, extract continuously.

Waymo’s robotaxis are the next chapter. Former CIA analyst Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.)) cut straight to it when asked about Chinese autonomous vehicles operating on American roads: “I know what I would do with that data if I was at the Pentagon.” From someone who spent years inside America’s intelligence apparatus, that is a warning worth taking seriously.

Utopia with Chinese characteristics

That’s on top of the more, shall we say, pedestrian dangers. A Waymo vehicle recently struck a child in Santa Monica, exposing the technological fallibility that the industry and its urban density-obsessed allies prefer to obscure. When they do fail, as some inevitably will, there is no driver to bear responsibility, no human instinct to override an algorithm in a fraction of a second.

RELATED: Hollywood lawyers up against Chinese AI ‘slop’ as Seedance 2.0 sweeps the internet

Photo by Jonathan Raa/NurPhoto/Getty Images

To be sure, robotaxi advocates are right to observe that taking humans out of the driving loop likely leads overall to significant reductions in accidents. There’s a certain tempting logic to the riddle of improving our quality of life by taking ourselves out of the loop. But when you’re actually just looping out Americans, leaving Chinese humans with the goods and the control, what becomes of that utopian vision? A child struck by a robotaxi, as serious as that is, remains a local tragedy. A foreign government harvesting precise, continuous intelligence on American cities, American citizens, and American infrastructure is a national security crisis — one unfolding in slow motion, in plain sight, with a Waymo logo on the door.

Why hack America’s surveillance systems when you can drive right through them? To allow cars manufactured by a company with direct ties to Beijing to roam freely on American streets is, at best, breathtaking naivete. At worst? It’s the most efficiently delivered intelligence haul since the Cold War, although China’s own Typhoon hacks are a very close second.

Elon to the rescue?

While Waymo shamelessly rebadges CCP-aligned hardware and hopes no one looks too closely, Elon Musk has recently announced via a post on X that the Tesla Cybercab will retail for under $30,000 before the end of next year. It’s American-designed, American-developed, built without Beijing’s fingerprints anywhere in the supply chain. The autonomous future doesn’t have to arrive with a foreign intelligence apparatus riding shotgun. If America intends to remain the greatest nation on earth, it should probably stop subcontracting its surveillance vulnerabilities to the country most eager to exploit them.

Sadly, New York is not alone in this reckless endeavor. California has welcomed Waymo with equal enthusiasm and equal indifference to what’s underneath the hood. Together, two of America’s largest, most strategically significant states are rolling out the red carpet for a fleet built by companies that answer to a foreign flag. Both can still course-correct. Both can demand honest answers — about the hardware, the software, the data flows, and the loyalties embedded in every vehicle they’ve so eagerly waved through.

The Trojan horse isn’t somewhere outside the gates. It’s right at the curb, with a five-star rating and a pickup time of four minutes.

​Tech 

The New York City Police Department released photos of two people wanted in Monday’s mob attack on cops amid a snowball fight, which reportedly caused multiple injuries to officers.

The NYPD Facebook post indicates that “two uniformed police officers were inside Washington Square Park when two individuals intentionally struck the officers multiple times with snow and ice causing injury to their head, neck, and face. Anyone with information is asked to contact @NYPDTips or 800-577-TIPS.”

‘That doesn’t look like a snowball fight to me, Mamdani.’

The NYPD post adds that the pair are “wanted for assault on a police officer.”

Police told WABC-TV that officers responded to the park around 4 p.m. for a report of a number of people atop a roof — but officers were soon hit with snowballs, and multiple officers were taken to a hospital with facial cuts.

RELATED: ‘Despicable attack’: Brazen mob pelts NYPD officers with snowballs, multiple cops reportedly injured — and it’s all on video

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani (D) faced criticism Tuesday over the assault on officers, with a number of political figures noting that the mayor’s history of anti-police rhetoric contributed to the mob attack.

When asked at a news conference if he supports the police department’s intention to criminally prosecute suspects in the case, Mamdani replied, “I don’t. From the videos that I’ve seen, it looks like a snowball fight.”

RELATED: ‘This is disgraceful’: Mamdani raked over the coals for attack on NYPD

The NYPD’s Facebook post concerning the two individuals wanted in the matter has received more than 17,000 comments as of Wednesday morning — and it appears after a cursory read that many of them actually mock police over the incident. One wrote, “They showed up for a snowball fight. What did they expect? I’m sure there were mass casualties.”

Others, however, weren’t happy with those caught on camera attacking cops:

“That doesn’t look like a snowball fight to me, Mamdani,” one commenter noted.”A snowball fight is when you have 2 opposing sides,” another user stated. “NYPD was not throwing snowballs as far as I can see.””The cops didn’t think it was funny. They push a couple of people who were very aggressive,” another commenter wrote. “This idea that is being pushed by some that we do not have to respect or obey law enforcement is getting out of control. Those officers showed tremendous restraint.””The mayor would demand the arrest of the officers if they threw snowballs back at the thugs,” another user observed.

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​New york city, Nypd, Wanted, Police officers attacked, Snowballs, Injuries, New york city mayor zohran mamdani, Mocking police, Snowball fight, Assault on a police officer, New york city police department, Crime