In 2025, the nomenclature caught up with the reality. For decades, the United States had operated under the fiction of a Department of Defense, a name that suggested protection, reaction, and a reluctance to engage. When Secretary Pete Hegseth signed the memoranda that would redefine the American military for the algorithmic age, the letterhead had changed. It was the Department of War again.

The revival of the old title was not merely cosmetic. It was an unapologetic signal, a shift from a defensive posture to a mission-focused one. Then between late 2025 and early 2026, Hegseth released a flurry of new memos announcing that the United States intended to become an “AI-first” war-fighting force. The language was clipped, urgent, and devoid of the hand-wringing that usually accompanies the introduction of new lethal means. The department now treats AI not as a support tool but as a core element of warfare, intelligence, and organizational power.

There is a simulation engine that alludes without irony to Orson Scott Card’s novel about child soldiers fighting insectoid aliens.

Reading through these documents, one is struck by the anxiety of the “algorithm gap,” which echoes the “missile gap” of the Cold War, with the stakes shifted from megatonnage to processing speed. The prevailing sentiment is that falling behind an adversary’s AI capabilities would be as catastrophic as falling behind in nuclear weapons. The Department of War does not intend to be a laggard. “Speed and adaptation win,” one memo states.

To achieve this speed, the Department has declared war on its own bureaucracy. The memos speak of a “wartime approach” to innovation, dismantling the risk-averse culture that has defined Pentagon procurement for half a century. The endless committees and boards have been dissolved, replaced with a “CTO Action Group” empowered to make quick calls. The ethos is that of Silicon Valley, grafting Mark Zuckerberg’s call to “move fast and break things” onto an institution whose business is to break things in a more literal sense.

The specific initiatives, what the Department calls “Pace-Setting Projects,” read like the chapter titles of a science-fiction novel. There is “Swarm Forge,” a project designed to pair elite war-fighters with technologists to experiment with drone swarms. There is “Ender’s Foundry,” a simulation engine meant to war-game against AI adversaries, a name that alludes without irony to Orson Scott Card’s novel about child soldiers fighting insectoid aliens. There is “Open Arsenal,” which promises to turn intelligence into weapons in hours rather than years.

RELATED: ‘Reckless and seditious’: Hegseth issues brutal demotion of Democrat senator over ‘illegal orders’ video

Photo by ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / AFP via Getty Images

What is being built here is “civil-military fusion,” a concept the Chinese have long championed and which the United States is now adopting with a convert’s zeal. The Department is actively courting the private sector, mentioning commercial AI models such as Google’s Gemini and xAI’s Grok. It is bringing in tech executives to run the show, with a new chief technology officer empowered to clear bureaucratic blockers.

The transformation is not limited to the battlefield but permeates the “enterprise,” a sterile word for the three million personnel who make up the Department’s nervous system. The vision is total: Under a program called GenAI.mil, every analyst, logistician, and staff officer will be issued a secure AI assistant to draft reports and code software. The goal is to embed AI systems across war-fighting, intelligence, and support functions until the distinction between soldier and data processor dissolves. The focus is on “decision superiority,” out-thinking the opponent at every turn.

The drive for decision superiority leads to a profound shift in the role of human judgment. The memos describe “Agent Network,” a project to develop AI agents for battle management “from campaign planning to kill chain execution.” They speak of “interpretable results,” a concession to the idea that humans should know why the machine decided to fire. The momentum is toward “human on the loop,” in which a human may abort an attack, rather than “human in the loop,” in which the human must initiate it. We are entering an era of “hyper-war,” in which AI systems could escalate a conflict in seconds, before a human commander can pour a cup of coffee.

The Department is betting that American ingenuity, harnessed in code, will secure the future, that it can maintain “America’s global AI dominance” through force of will and capital. The memos outline a future in which algorithms join soldiers on the battlefield, data platforms become as crucial as tanks, and decisions are increasingly informed by machines. It is a grand experiment in efficiency. We have decided that if warfare is now a battle of algorithms, we intend to algorithmically outgun the world. The name on the building has changed to reflect the reality: We are no longer defending. We are computing the kill.

​Tech, War, Ai, Department of war 

A 17-year-old teenager knocked out a man who was falsely claiming to be an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent after climbing through the family’s kitchen window, according to police.

The bizarre incident unfolded on Jan. 19 when police responded to a call at a home on Climax Street in the Beltzhoover neighborhood of Pittsburgh.

‘He was heavily intoxicated and high on drugs, as he began to foam at the mouth.’

The landlord of the home called police to report a break-in, and while the police drove to the home, they were informed that the family’s son had knocked out the intruder.

When they arrived, they found 35-year-old William Gregory unconscious and the boy with minor injuries.

Court documents said the man demanded to see the family’s immigration documents after getting through the window and threatened the teenager with a pocketknife.

When the man tried to steal a cell phone as well as a PlayStation game console, the boy punched him out. Police said the man actively resisted arrest when he awoke.

“He was heavily intoxicated and high on drugs, as he began to foam at the mouth,” police said.

Gregory was charged with burglary as well as ethnic intimidation, and he is being held at the Allegheny County Jail.

A neighbor of the family told WTAE-TV that she was very concerned about the incident.

“I believe that is a Hispanic home, you know, and our neighborhood is very diverse,” Crystal Calloway said.

RELATED: Teens’ story claiming they were attacked unravels after cops find their damning video posted to social media, police say

“It’s a great thing that the young man, his adrenaline went through going into action and went to defend his family, you know. Thank goodness for that,” Calloway added.

The man was also wanted for a previous burglary as well as possession of a firearm.

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​Playstation crime, Ice impersonator, Beltzhoover ice arrest, William gregory arrest, Crime 

Just when you think the left can’t sink any farther, you get this gem of a concept. And this, from “Rapid Response 47″ on X.

Governor Tim Walz (D) says, “Many of us grew up reading that story of Anne Frank. Somebody’s going to write that children’s story about Minnesota.”

Does the governor already know some brave lefties hiding these poor, poor innocent individuals from mean old ferocious ICE?

I addressed this issue last July here with this cartoon.

Isn’t it rather ironic that Gov. Walz would use a young Jewish girl during World War II to paint a picture of so-called Nazi tactics? Many of the Minneapolis rioters themselves seemed to have shifted their focus from violently campaigning in support of Hamas over Israel. Were they conveniently forgetting the events of October 7, 2023, when Hamas committed atrocities that would have made even the German Gestapo blush?

RELATED: The sanctuary city playbook is spreading in red states

Photo by Stephanie Tacy/NurPhoto via Getty Images

So does President Trump back off at this point and let Minneapolis and the state of Minnesota in general fall into a sinkhole of their own creation? Let “what happens in Minnesota stay in Minnesota,” and the governor, senators, and local police agencies have a jolly good time handling their own streets and neighborhoods?

Another of my cartoons from last December already addressed that issue.

One thing is for sure: The left is not backing down. So for the president and all fed-up patriots, are we ready to finally say, “Enough is enough!”

​Ice, Tim walz, Ice protest, Anne frank, Illegal aliens, Minnesota, Opinion & analysis 

Ben Gillenwater is an IT expert with 30 years of experience and the creator behind the “family IT guy” accounts on social media, where he shares tips with parents on how to protect their kids online from harmful content, predators, and addictive algorithms, among other virtual risks.

But most importantly, Ben is a dad. Five years ago, he gave his 5-year-old son an iPad, the results of which were so disturbing, it launched him into his current role as a full-time content creator dedicated to protecting children from the dangers of the digital world.

On this episode of “Relatable” with Allie Beth Stuckey, Ben dives into the online perils facing today’s children — including one so sinister, it’ll forever change the way you think about child predators.

When most people think of online groomers, they picture creepy men in basements posing as minors in an effort to lure children into secretly meeting up with them. But some groomers have no intention of ever making physical contact with their victims. Their sole intention is to get rich off of creating chaos and ruining lives from afar.

Gillenwater gives the example of Jordan DeMay — a 17-year-old high school student from Michigan, who tragically died by suicide in 2022 after falling victim to a sextortion scam.

“Good kid, good family, good school records, had a girlfriend,” he says.

Then one day, an attractive girl messaged him on social media and struck up a flirtatious conversation that culminated in her sending nude photos. Jordan was asked to return the favor, and when he did, it was revealed that the images of the girl were stolen or fake and that she was actually a Nigerian gang. The two brothers behind the operation — Samuel and Samson Ogoshi — threatened to blackmail DeMay by sending his explicit photos to his family, friends, and school contacts if he didn’t wire them money, spurring DeMay to take his own life.

This entire sextortion scam — from initial contact to DeMay’s suicide — occurred in less than six hours.

DeMay’s tormentors, says Gillenwater, are part of a broad network of Nigerian cybercriminals called “the Yahoo Boys.” They’re the same people behind the Nigerian prince scams that have conned hundreds of thousands — perhaps even millions — of people into wiring money with fake promises of huge inheritances or riches, only to demand endless upfront “fees” that leave victims with nothing.

Whether they’re posing as wealthy princes or attractive women, their strategy is the same: “identify weakness in people,” Gillenwater says.

Back in the ’80s and ’90s when the digital world was just ramping up, these cybercriminals were able to dupe people using only “poorly worded emails,” but today, thanks to advances in technology, their predatory empire is built on “very well-worded and well-informed AI-powered hunting programs,” meaning their schemes have only gotten darker and more effective.

“Teenage boys specifically are targeted for this [sextortion scam] in particular, and they exploit their biology,” says Gillenwater.

“What they do when establishing the initial connection is they study all of your friends on Instagram and gather up your whole network so they know everybody you go to school with … everybody you go to church with … every family member … that’s how they blackmail you is they’re going to send your naked photo to all those people,” he explains.

Sadly this nefarious kind of operation isn’t exclusive to Nigeria.

“There’s South American gangs, there’s Asian gangs, there’s African gangs, there’s European gangs. It’s a very high-profit, very low-effort endeavor, part of which is automated,” says Gillenwater.

But cybercriminals are just one threat in the vast, dark web of online child predation. In the next part of the interview, Gillenwater dives into some shocking statistics regarding the “traditional creep,” who targets vulnerable kids online for sexual exploitation.

To hear more and learn tips that will help you protect your kids online, watch the full episode above.

Want more from Allie Beth Stuckey?

To enjoy more of Allie’s upbeat and in-depth coverage of culture, news, and theology from a Christian, conservative perspective, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

​Relatable, Relatable with allie beth stuckey, Allie beth stuckey, Ben gillenwater, The family it guy, Ai, Sextortion, Sextortion scams, Yahoo boys, Nigerian gangs, Sexual exploitation, Blazetv, Blaze media, Jordan demay 

For years, parents have been warned to monitor their children’s online activity, limit social media, and guard against predatory digital spaces. That guidance is now colliding with a very different message from policymakers and technology leaders: Artificial intelligence must be introduced earlier and more broadly in schools.

When risky platforms enter through schools, they inherit an unearned legitimacy, conditioning parents to trust tools they would never allow at home.

On its face, this goal sounds reasonable. But what began as a policy push has quickly turned into something far more concerning — a rush by major tech companies to brand themselves as “AI Education Partners,” gaining access to public education under the banner of innovation, often without parents being fully informed or given the ability to opt out. When risky platforms enter through schools, they inherit an unearned legitimacy, conditioning parents to trust tools they would never allow at home.

AI in education is being sold as inevitable and benevolent. Behind the buzzwords lies a harder truth: AI is becoming a back door for Big Tech to access children and sidestep parental authority.

Platforms already under fire for child safety

At the center of this debate are three companies — Meta, Snap, and Roblox — all now positioning themselves as AI education partners while facing active litigation and investigations tied to child exploitation, predatory behavior, and failures to protect minors.

Meta is facing lawsuits and regulatory actions related to child exploitation, unsafe platform design, and illegal data practices. Internal company documents revealed that Meta’s AI chatbots were permitted to engage minors in flirtatious, intimate, and even health-related conversations — policies the company only revised after media exposure.

European consumer watchdogs have also accused Meta of sweeping data collection practices that go far beyond what users reasonably expect, using behavioral data to profile emotional state, sexual identity, and vulnerability to addiction. Regulators argue that meaningful consent is impossible at such a scale. Meta has also claimed in U.S. courts that publicly available content can be used to train AI under “fair use,” raising serious questions about how student classroom work could be treated once ingested by AI systems.

Snapchat is facing lawsuits from multiple states, including Kansas, New Mexico, Utah, and others, alleging that its platform exposes minors to drug and weapons dealing, sexual exploitation, and severe mental health harm. In January 2025, federal regulators escalated concerns by referring a complaint involving Snapchat’s AI chatbot to the Department of Justice.

Despite this record, Snap signed on as an AI education partner, promising “in-app educational programming directed toward teens to raise awareness on safe and responsible use of AI technologies.”

Roblox, long flagged by parents for safety concerns, is being sued by multiple states, including Iowa, Louisiana, Texas, Tennessee, and Kentucky, over allegations that it enabled predators to groom and exploit children. Yet Roblox now seeks classroom access as an “AI learning” platform.

If these platforms are too dangerous for children at home, they are too dangerous to normalize at school. Allowing companies with a history of child-safety failures to integrate themselves into classrooms is negligent and dangerous.

The contradiction no one wants to address

The danger becomes clearer when you step outside the classroom.

Across the country, states including Florida, Tennessee, Louisiana, and Connecticut are restricting minors’ access to social media through age verification, parental consent, and limits on addictive features. At the federal level, the bipartisan Kids Off Social Media Act seeks to bar social media access for children under 13 and restrict algorithmic targeting of teens.

For more than a century, the Supreme Court has recognized that parents — not the state and not corporations — hold the fundamental right to direct their children’s education.

When Big Tech gains access to classrooms without transparency or consent, that authority is eroded. Parents are told to restrict social media at home while schools integrate the same platforms through AI. The result is families being sidelined while Big Tech reduces their children to data sources.

RELATED: Why every conservative parent should be watching California right now

Photo by AaronP/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images/Getty Images

This dangerous escalation must meet a clear boundary. Some platforms endanger children, others monetize them, and some expose their data. None of them belong in classrooms without strict, enforceable guardrails.

Parents do not need more promises. They need enforceable limits, transparency, and the unquestioned right to say no. The Constitution has long recognized that the right to direct a child’s education belongs to parents, not Silicon Valley. That authority does not stop at the classroom door.

If artificial intelligence is going to enter our classrooms, it must do so on the terms of families,not tech companies.

​Ai, Ai in education, Children’s education, Parental rights, Roblox, Meta, Facebook, Snapchat, Snap, Opinion & analysis 

More than 100 community members, including parents, attended a meeting of the West Chicago City Council to demand they take action against an elementary school teacher who posted about immigration.

West Chicago Mayor Daniel Bovey also joined the mob in calling on Gary Elementary School to get rid of the teacher for showing support for Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

‘We want to ensure our schools are safe spaces, and we look forward to seeing all students back in school.’

“We have kids in our school districts, in this school specifically, who have lost a mom or dad or family member within the last three months. They’re going home wondering if they will ever see Mom or Dad again,” Bovey said.

The teacher’s outrageous statement was composed of only two words: “Go ICE.”

He posted it in the comments section of a story about immigration operations on social media.

The superintendent of the school said the teacher has been placed on paid leave.

“On Thursday, January 22, 2026, the District learned of concerns regarding a disruptive social media comment made by a District employee on his personal account,” Superintendent Kristina Davis said in a statement.

“The teacher initially submitted his resignation,” she added. “Later that day, he withdrew his resignation before the Board had an opportunity to take action.”

Others believed the post made the teacher unqualified to continue teaching.

“Where is the due process for all the kids being kidnapped on the streets?” one activist asked.

“At home, we teach our children to be respectful to the teachers, and we expect the same for the teachers to be respectful,” said Emma Villa, a grandparent.

Some parents kept their children out of school to protest the teacher’s words.

“You have many students across District 33 who did not go to school today because of fear incited by a teacher,” Illinois state Sen. Karina Villa claimed.

RELATED: CAIR leads anti-ICE protest outside office of Tim Walz at Minnesota state capitol

Some called for Bovey to resign from the mayor’s office for trying to shut down the teacher’s political speech.

“We understand that this situation has raised concerns and caused disruption for students, families, and staff,” Davis continued in her statement. “We want to ensure our schools are safe spaces, and we look forward to seeing all students back in school tomorrow. Thank you for your patience, trust, and partnership during the ongoing investigation.”

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​Gary elementary school teacher, Two word ice support, West chicago mayor daniel bovey, Outrage over ice post, Politics