Democrat Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) has made the rising cost of living a centerpiece of his political identity.

“The average Super Bowl ticket now costs $6,773. That’s not just a game — it’s a luxury bill,” he wrote on X in February. “For too many working Americans, seeing the biggest sporting event in person would take … months of rent just to afford one ticket.”

‘He’s using campaign cash to live a luxury lifestyle.’

Federal campaign finance records reviewed by Politico show donor money has been footing the bill for his travel.

Gallego, who has campaigned as a working-class fighter from Phoenix, has spent liberally across two donor-funded accounts — on luxury resorts, private jet flights, family trips to Disney parks, and repeated personal reimbursements.

Twenty days after launching his Senate campaign, Gallego and then-Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) used their joint fundraising committee, Swallego Victory Fund, to attend and host a Super Bowl LVII fundraiser in Glendale, Arizona, Politico reported. Filings show the committee spent $34,700 on “event tickets” and $2,700 at the Henry, a Phoenix restaurant.

The fund raised $56,505 total and dissolved Jan. 1, 2025.

Swalwell later resigned amid sexual assault and harassment allegations from multiple women, which he called “false.” Gallego said he did not know about Swalwell’s alleged behavior, but the joint committee leaves their finances and names linked in the public record.

RELATED: Democrats close ranks around Graham Platner despite string of scandals

Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call Inc./Getty Images

Records show Gallego has tapped his leadership PAC and main campaign committee for more than $18,000 in child care reimbursements since 2019 — including $400 to an individual Politico identified as his wife’s mother for babysitting — with his wife, three kids, and au pair joining him on the road at donors’ expense.

“He just spends his campaign account like it’s his personal slush fund,” a person granted anonymity told Politico. “He’s using campaign cash to live a luxury lifestyle.”

Gallego pushed back. “This is not breaking news,” he told Politico.

“Democrats and Republicans in Congress and the White House alike regularly travel with their wives and children, as is permitted by the FEC.” Leadership PACs have broad latitude under FEC rules as long as spending has some fundraising function.

Gallego’s JUNTOS PAC records reviewed by Blaze News reveal additional spending: nine payments totaling $115,000 to Wheels Up, a private jet membership company, listed as “fundraising consulting services”; more than $60,000 at the Phoenician, a luxury Scottsdale resort; three payments totaling roughly $10,200 to the Dorado Beach Ritz-Carlton in Puerto Rico; and a single staffer who received more than $54,000 in reimbursements, including a $43,847 payment for “travel and catering.”

Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) asked Senate leadership in April to investigate Gallego over allegations “sexual in nature” and potential campaign finance violations. His office called them “right-wing conspiracy theories.” Senate Majority Leader John Thune confirmed that the matter was referred to the Senate Ethics Committee.

Gallego has since established a legal defense fund in May.

“He is one of the most vetted candidates after his tough 2024 campaign,” said Jacques Petit, a spokesperson for Gallego.

The drip of revelations arrives at a delicate moment. Gallego is among Democrats eyeing a potential 2028 presidential bid, alongside Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, California Gov. Gavin Newsom, and former Vice President Kamala Harris.

Sen. Gallego did not respond to a request for comment from Blaze News.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

​Campaign finance, Super bowl, Politics, Democrat, Arizona, Gallego 

If God has blessed you with children — and the ability to stay home with them — I urge you to consider keeping them home with you as they launch into more formal education.

If you can’t stay home with your kids — well, let’s start there.

All children are best served by spending the bulk of their time with the people who love them the most. Period.

The most common reason given for not being able to stay home is financial. I would challenge you and your spouse, however, to prayerfully and creatively consider ways to make it happen.

I’ve seen many sacrifices made so that a family can live on one income and encourage that to be seriously considered before children come along. That being said, it’s also never too late and always beneficial to change your lifestyle so that you can spend more time at home with your kids, at any age, period. They grow up awfully fast.

And by the way, I think an excellent goal for fathers is to pursue income opportunities that allow him to be home-based too (at least some of the time, at minimum). Your children thrive best with abundant time with both of you.

Financial obstacle … or excuse?

But when it comes to home education, we are usually talking more about moms than dads, so let’s address whether finances are really what’s keeping mom from staying home. A friend of mine, who sacrificed a promising career to stay home with her three-soon-to-be-four children, thinks Christian women should ask themselves where their hearts are when career and home are at odds:

Am I valuing my own career — and my own time — too highly? Am I willing to submit these things to the Lord?Have I not seriously considered staying home, since so many women don’t? Am I willing to be different?Am I willing to sacrifice? Am I willing to prayerfully ask God if I should stay home?

If these questions are asked when a baby is on the way, they may need to be asked again when a child reaches what we deem “school-age.”

Which brings us back to home education, which is the term I prefer over “homeschooling.” That implies we are doing institutional school at home, which further implies that institutional school is the ideal, or at least the norm. I think that’s an idea every responsible parent should challenge, particularly Christian parents.

Like Dorothy said …

There really is no place like home. No institution can match the power of a godly home as a place for children to grow, learn, and thrive. That applies for all of childhood, starting from birth.

All children are best served by spending the bulk of their time with the people who love them the most. Period.

Daycare cannot possibly provide the nurture, attention, and love that new parents can at home. No preschool can do a better job continuing to nurture a child’s individual needs and gifts as well as loving, committed parents.

And although far too many children do get institutionalized practically from birth, at least parents of babies, toddlers, and preschoolers generally have to pay the institution in question, which has the effect of encouraging parents to at least consider staying home with them, at least part of the time.

But once the children hit school-age, the societal expectation is that the stay-at-home parent (usually mom) will finally be able to go back to work, jump back into a career, get some time to herself, etcetera.

No magic switch

However, there is no magic switch that flips when a child turns 5 or 6, negating their need for, and benefit from, being primarily home with engaged, loving parents.

In fact, I would argue that this is the case throughout what we categorize as the elementary school years. Kids up to about age 12 need their home, family, and parents more than they need an institutional school.

So here’s how you can lay the groundwork in your child’s first years so that home education becomes an organic part of your daily life from their earliest days, making the transition to more formal learning at home more natural when the time comes.

RELATED: 6 ways I’m using 2026 to deepen my relationship with God

Heritage Images/Getty Images

Home education 101

Education is what you’re doing from your baby’s first day of life, by the way.

Dictionary definition of “education” — the process of imparting knowledge, skills, and judgment.

Your baby begins to learn about the world primarily through his/her interaction with mom and dad. This is God’s design and why He brings children into the world through families.

He equips you, the parents, with the desire to protect and nurture your baby, which generally involves you learning new skills, rearranging your schedule, and buying some stuff! (And boy, will those three tasks continue to dominate your life!)

As the preschool years unfold and children increasingly become active in your household, the most important thing you can do for them is simple and organic:

Establish your home as a safe, orderly, loving, peaceful, and interesting place.

It is simple — but it takes effort.

We’ll finish with some thoughts to guide you toward each of these goals.

Safe

You are your child’s safety. Your daily presence with them fosters a deep sense of security, which is necessary so they can begin to see that they can separate from you, at times.

This does not mean you can never leave, or use a babysitter, but it is helpful if trusted family members or like-minded close friends live nearby and can be part of this security-building experience. After all, when God placed your child in a family, that included the grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, etcetera.

A sense of security is also fostered by encouraging children to develop resilience. When they take a tumble, if you see it isn’t serious, a cheerful and calm, “You’re OK!” will send the right message and encourage them to get right back to whatever they were doing. This is not to discourage you from comforting them — on the contrary, comforting and reassuring them that you’re there for them will help them comfort themselves and bounce back more quickly.

There is no such thing, in the baby/toddler/preschool years, as too much time with mom, dad, or other loving family members or friends. When safe and feasible, bring them along for chores and tasks and allow them to “help” as just another form of play — but they are learning all along.

Orderly

Children thrive within boundaries; they want them, they need them, you need them.

Generally keeping to schedules (which change often as babies grow into preschoolers) and generally keeping an orderly environment (they can start helping put toys away at very young ages!) help to foster this sense of order.

Loving

You can’t really express too much affection for each other in a family. Children also need to see that mom and dad love each other. Is this a good place to mention grandparents again? Why yes, it is. Have them come over tonight.

Peaceful

Disagreements arise, but with a little person in the house, strive for a peaceful demeanor. Home should always be a refuge. Yelling is not acceptable, nor are temper tantrums (child or adult).

Interesting

And here is where we finally get to what people think of as “education.” But remember our definition — by providing and modeling safety, order, love, and peace, you already are imparting knowledge, skills, and judgment. That’s the most important “curriculum.”

In part 2, we’ll get into curriculum specifics!

A version of this essay previously appeared at She Speaks Truth.

​Homeschooling, Home education, Christianity, Godly family, Christian living, Education, Parenthood, Faith 

Americans are increasingly being taught to see themselves not as individuals, but as members of demographic groups whose race, sex, or ancestry defines their experiences, beliefs, and even moral standing — and Blaze Media co-founder Glenn Beck has the stories to prove it.

In one example, Democrat Senate candidate James Talarico explained that he has a limited ability to understand the world because of his background and identity as being “white and a male.”

“Now, he offered this as some sort of humility … but notice the mechanism of the claim. The limit isn’t experience or his reading or his choices. The limit is his category. The category of his race and his sex set that is putting the limit and the ceiling on what his mind can reach,” Glenn comments.

“Think about how racist that is. If I said, you know, Talarico, let’s say he was African-American and I said, you know, ‘Well, his imagination is limited because he’s black.’ I mean, that’s clearly racist, right?” he asks.

Another story Glenn cites is Joy Reid discussing the fourth of July.

“She’s not excited about it. What a surprise. She said, ‘Black Americans are not excited about the 4th of July.’ That to black America, Independence Day is Juneteenth,” Glenn explains.

“Most Americans had no idea, most black Americans had no idea what Juneteenth was until recently. But I don’t want to argue this. I want you to look at the shape of the sentence here. She didn’t say, ‘I feel this way.’ She said, ‘Black people are not excited,’” he says.

“So there’s one holiday for one category and another holiday for another category. The nation’s birthday has to be sorted by skin. Hold on to that,” he adds.

And now a church in Virginia, which was a historically mostly white congregation generations ago, hosted a black walking tour — which was a slave trail through Richmond.

The point of the tour was to confront and atone for that history.

“Watch what’s being atoned for and by whom. Not the men who did it, because they’re two centuries dead. The living are doing the penance for an inheritance of guilt — guilt assigned by not anything they did, but by the group they were born into,” Glenn says.

“You cannot create categories over individuals. When the man becomes his race or his disability or whatever over who he is as an individual, there’s trouble on the horizon. The citizen who becomes his demographic before he becomes an American. The believer then inherits guilt by bloodline rather than by his own deeds,” he continues.

“In every single case, the individual has disappeared and the group steps forward to stand in its place,” he adds.

Want more from Glenn Beck?

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

​Glenn beck, James talarico, Joy reid, Juneteenth, Race, Virginia, Fourth of july, Slavery, The glenn beck program 

An NFL doctor sees all sorts of injuries in the world’s top athletes, with one physician pointing to a new, scary trend that is taking hold of the sports world.

Experts are now saying that the body cannot take what modern athletes are now routinely putting themselves through, and unfortunately, it’s not slowing down.

‘It can be a big moneymaker.’

The trend is an ever-growing level of exposure to sports, starting at a young age, that has resulted in near-insurmountable recurring body trauma. Dr. Brad Bellard, a team physician for the Denver Broncos, says he and others are constantly trying to adapt to devastating injuries popping up in young athletes.

“I don’t see it changing any time soon. We’re working around it,” Bellard told Blaze News.

The level of consistent competition children are engaging in through youth sports is aging their bodies at a rate never before seen, Bellard revealed.

“Right now in my clinic, I have patients who are 15 years old whose patellar tendon, which is very important in terms of being able to jump, is worn out, probably to the level of [an] NBA veteran,” the physician explained.

Year-round sports and the so-called “youth sports industrial complex” have created an ecosystem that Bellard says is driven by both profit and an inability to tell young athletes when enough is enough.

“Just follow the money. Right?” Bellard explained. “It can be a big moneymaker.”

The doctor continued, “As long as the incentive is to get the people playing as much as they possibly can, it’s gonna be tough. And that’s just me being very real.”

RELATED: The ‘youth sports industrial complex’ is destroying young bodies — NFL doctor speaks out

Dennis Grombkowski/Bongarts/Getty Images

Physicians are focused on educating coaches, parents, and athletes at every turn these days, while encouraging youngsters to play a variety of different sports and utilize different workouts. These efforts are accomplishing only so much, Bellard revealed, which is why so many are now screaming from the rooftops about young ballplayers overworking their muscles, ligaments, and joints.

“That’s the best we got so far,” he revealed.

These problems should be dealt with at the youth level, but as Dr. Bellard explained, there is a whole new set of issues once an athlete does make it to the pro level. Not only are modern athletes more likely to come into the pros with serious knee, shoulder, ankle, or other problems that weren’t nearly as prevalent in the past, there exists the issue of telling a superstar that sheer iron will cannot save him from injury.

Blaze News asked Bellard about legendary former NBA forward Dennis Rodman and how he was able to make a career out of partying every night while not missing a step when it came to game time.

RELATED: MLB says warning Christian players was a mistake — but confirms 2 teams are allowed to push Pride propaganda

Scott Taetsch/Getty Images

With five NBA championships, Bellard said Rodman is an example of an athlete new pros look at and say he “was able to do this,” so why can’t I?

Despite Rodman’s “suboptimal training techniques,” Bellard said while laughing, his “off-the-court activities” proved he was an exception, not the rule. This is a concept that many players are having a trouble grasping.

For every seemingly cartilage-less player Bellard has seen who can still inexplicably jump into the rafters, there are dozens of examples of athletes who can’t perform through such injuries.

Bellard said he does feel some personal responsibility when he can’t help athletes achieve their goals, but he believes it is his job to keep echoing how they can try to avoid such devastating damage.

“It means something to me to be able to help these athletes achieve their goals, get back to the field of play,” Bellard said candidly. “I’d say it’s somewhat tough whenever they can’t.”

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

​Fearless, News, Nfl, Nba, Sports 

Why can’t America seem to get “created equal” right?

It’s our national creed. It’s our DNA. Yet here we are, heading into America’s 250th year, and “We the People” still does not include all the people.

I was conceived in rape but adopted into a diverse family of 15 with nine other adopted siblings.

I just want to clarify the language to avoid ambiguity. Every human is a person; every person is a human. All of us begin life at fertilization. Every compromise on personhood has always resulted in discrimination, destruction, and death.

Give me liberty

Most of us are familiar with Patrick Henry’s famous 1775 speech, in particular this passage:

“Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!”

Henry’s words became the rallying cry for what would soon become the American Revolution; yet his fiery eloquence was belied by his own denial of liberty to those he enslaved. This is what a soul compromised looks like.

In a letter responding to a Quaker abolitionist challenging him on his hypocrisy, Henry answered in a pathetic yet painfully honest way:

“Would anyone believe that I am master of slaves by my own purchase? I am drawn along by the general inconvenience of living without them. I will not — I cannot justify it, however culpable my conduct … I believe a time will come when an opportunity will be afforded to abolish this lamentable evil.”

Choosing evil

Isn’t this exactly where our culture is? We know killing our own children via elective abortion is a lamentable evil, but our society is drawn to the convenience of it all. It cannot be justified. Someone else — the innocent and defenseless unborn child — should pay for the ease of my existence!

The Supreme Court had an opportunity to correct half a century of a supremely wrong decision. The nation’s highest court finally overturned Roe in the historic Dobbs decision on June 24, 2022, declaring there is no constitutional right to abortion.

There were many reasons why I rejoiced over Dobbs. I was conceived in rape but adopted into a diverse family of 15 with nine other adopted siblings. I married an incredibly resilient woman, single mother to a child the biological father had pressured her to abort. Two of my four kids were adopted. My new book and documentary, “Should Have Been Aborted,” detail this journey of a life many say should never have been lived.

RELATED: The pro-life movement won Roe — so why is it losing the war?

Blaze Media

Words of humility

Tragically, in a judicial compromise, the court promptly allowed states to decide on who gets to live and who gets to die. Life is not a states’ rights issue any more than slavery, women’s suffrage, or racial discrimination. Imagine a modern-day patchwork of state-by-state laws allowing varying levels of chattel slavery, unequal voting rights by gender, and codified racism. This is what we currently have with abortion.

The Declaration of Independence reminds us that our most fundamental rights are not granted by a morally inconsistent government. The most powerful nation on earth began with these words of humility: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.”

Are we a happier nation after depriving ourselves of 67 million members of our posterity?

Failure to defend

Despite a Republican-led administration and Congress, the failure to defend life continues. After initially defunding Planned Parenthood for 10 years, the GOP caved. The final version of Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill Act only defunded the corrupt abortion wing of the Democratic Party for one measly year, which expires on July 4.

Recently, when asked by a reporter about where his administration stood on extending the defunding of Planned Parenthood, President Trump kind of shrugged it off as a “thorny issue.” (Although Trump has implemented tremendous pro-life policies, his conflicting abortion rhetoric is antithetical to a pro-life worldview.) There is no current federal bill even being considered that bans abortion.

Comprise kills the justice millions deserve.

The GOP used to be led by a faction called “Radical Republicans,” who fought uncompromisingly for the erasure of the evil institution of slavery. Today, they’re led by “Rickety Republicans,” who often fail to put up a fight against Planned Parenthood and the evil institution of baby killing.

If conviction doesn’t drive you, compromise inevitably will. America’s children deserve better.

​America at 250, Culture, Dobbs, Roe v. wade, Abortion, Patrick henry, Defending life 

A 23-year-old suspect allegedly left tire marks on his elderly victim’s head after running her over in front of her husband during a purse-snatching incident.

Prosecutors say that Ali Hcaimi had a pattern of targeting elderly people for robberies but was caught after the lethal incident on Saturday at about 2:45 p.m. in the city of Glendale.

‘He ran her over from head to toe. There were tire marks on her head.’

Hcaimi approached the couple near their home on 59th Avenue and interacted with the woman before grabbing her purse. She struggled with him before he drove over the victim in his vehicle.

She was transported to a hospital, where she later died.

“He ran over the elderly female victim in front of her husband, who had to witness this event,” said a prosecutor in court. “He ran her over from head to toe. There were tire marks on her head.”

Prosecutors said Hcaimi had robbed another elderly woman just five days previously.

They said the man followed a woman home from the bank and stole $5,000 she had withdrawn. He ran off with the money in her purse, which also had her medications. The purse and the medications were later found discarded.

“He had an MO here where he was preying upon elderly victims who really cannot defend themselves adequately against him,” said a prosecutor.

The suspect initially spoke in English when he appeared at the Maricopa County Superior Court before requesting an Arabic interpreter.

Through the interpreter, he claimed he had a mental or psychological issue that would be aggravated if he were ordered to detention in a closed place or room.

“Perhaps maybe the best option is to put me, uh, if possible, to be held in custody somehow at home, my mother’s home or something,” he said through the interpreter. “I can be put on a leg on my belt on my feet or something, and I can promise that I won’t leave home at all.”

The judge denied the request and gave Hcaimi a $1.25 million cash-only bond along with other release restrictions.

RELATED: Man lethally stabbed elderly victim in the neck targeted him because he was a pedophile: cops

He faces a felony first-degree murder charge as well as felony robbery for one case and another felony robbery charge for the second case.

Hcaimi was described by the media as an “Arizona man” despite suspicion that he might be a migrant due to his interpreter request.

A neighbor said that the couple had just moved to Florida and were back at the home to pick up some of their belongings. He added that hazmat workers had to clean up the streaks of blood in the street left in the attack.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

​Elderly victim, Purse snatching, Arabic interpreter, Murder charges, Crime 

On a recent episode of the “Can’t Be Censored” podcast hosted by former Canadian journalists Travis Dhanraj and Karman Wong, longtime conservative commentator Tucker Carlson dropped a major announcement: He’s withdrawing his support for the GOP.

“There’s no chance I would support the Republican Party. Not going to support the Democratic Party. I don’t know what I’m going to do,” he stated bluntly, citing his frustration with what he believes is the party putting a foreign country’s interests above America’s.

“I’m out, and if I’m out, then I think a lot of other people are out,” he added.

When he heard Carlson’s announcement, Glenn Beck issued a warning to both Washington Republicans and conservative voters.

Addressing Republican politicians, Glenn scolds, “I told you this would happen. For years, I have said this. I said the day would come when your own people would stop defending you, when their loyalty would run out, when ‘the other side is worse’ doesn’t work anymore.”

Widespread disaffection “is here,” he warns.

MAGA, Glenn argues, isn’t just about Trump. It’s about commonsense policies and national strength.

“[Trump] was just the first major candidate that said, ‘You know, we’re not done as a nation, and I’m not going to manage the decline.’ That’s what people want,” he exclaims. “A healthy and commonsense-driven country that doesn’t destroy their faith and their family and their freedoms.”

Glenn then turns his focus to conservative voters.

“When somebody like Tucker walks, when the next one walks (and there will be a next one), people are going to come and say, ‘Circle the wagons. You’ve got to defend the party.’ No … don’t rush to defend the GOP,” he entreats.

“Every time you defend them for free, they teach you that betrayal is survivable, that they can ignore you and keep you,” he continues. “The only language a comfortable incumbent understands is the sound of the door closing behind a voter who’s done.”

This doesn’t mean we stop fighting the “authoritarian and crazy left.” We just have to “find the Republicans or whatever that stand for something,” he pleads.

Glenn pivots to Washington again: “You’re not going to survive this. And I don’t mean a tough cycle coming your way. I mean, you are building with your own hands a movement aimed directly at you, and you deserve it.”

No amount of spending or messaging will slow or divert the train that’s coming, he warns.

There is only one good way to stop the GOP exodus, says Glenn: “Simply remove the reason it exists.”

“And the only way to do that is to start listening to the people who sent you there and then actually do the thing they sent you to do. That’s it. That’s the secret in the sauce.”

To hear more, watch the video above.

Want more from Glenn Beck?

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

​Glenn beck, The glenn beck program, Tucker carlson, Donald trump, Gop