Because today’s auto industry feels thoroughly international — Americans can buy nearly any car made anywhere, and American vehicles are common sights overseas — it’s easy to forget how deeply regional car markets still are.

That’s the topic of the latest episode of “The Drive,” a podcast I host with executive analyst at iSeeCars.com and Forbes Autos contributor Karl Brauer. This week, our guest is longtime Detroit News auto columnist and syndicated cartoonist Henry Payne.

Japan’s streets — especially in dense cities like Tokyo — are filled with vehicles most Americans rarely see: kei cars, a government-defined class of tiny, boxy, ultra-efficient runabouts.

In a conversation that jumps from Japan’s Mobility Show to the battle over unionization at Volkswagen’s U.S. plant in Chattanooga, we keep returning to the same theme: Cars are global, but markets are local—and policy is increasingly the hidden hand behind what gets built, where, and for how much.

The power of US demand

Payne joins us fresh from the 2025 Japan Mobility Show, an experience he says he found “surreal.”

“My grandfather fought on Okinawa in WWII, and here I am two generations later, and I am going to Japan as a guest of Honda,” he says.

Despite all that’s changed since then, Payne says the show was a reminder of how regional cars still are.

Japan’s streets — especially in dense cities like Tokyo — are filled with vehicles most Americans rarely see: kei cars, a government-defined class of tiny, boxy, ultra-efficient runabouts. They’re built around small displacement engines, tight dimensions, and the reality that Japan imports most of its energy. They make sense there.

In the U.S. they generally wouldn’t — despite recent rumblings from Trump to the contrary.

That contrast matters because it underlines a second point: The United States is not just a big market — it’s a market that props up entire global product plans. Payne notes that Honda sells far more of its output in the United States than it does in Japan, and other Japanese brands lean even harder on American buyers. The U.S. consumer is simply a different customer: higher buying power, more space, more appetite for variety, and more willingness (or necessity) to buy larger vehicles.

In other words, when automakers build out multiple trims and performance variants off the same platform — base model, sport model, track model, special edition — that’s usually because of U.S. demand.

Auto industry math still comes down to very specific local realities: what people can afford, where they live, what infrastructure exists, and what regulators demand.

Flex or flounder

If Japan shows how regional car markets still are, Chattanooga shows what happens when the most powerful market of all — the United States — starts limiting its own flexibility.

Payne’s argument is that transplant automakers (foreign brands building cars in the U.S.) have long enjoyed a competitive advantage: non-union shops.

It’s important to note that the advantage is not in labor prices — “You’ll find that the pay scales of the non-union automakers in these right-to-work states are pretty competitive with UAW,” Payne says — but in the ability to adapt to changing markets.

Unions add a layer of management that makes it more difficult to shift production, change processes, and retool lines.

Nonetheless, Volkswagen’s Chattanooga plant last year became the first foreign-owned factory to unionize. This was the UAW’s third attempt to unionize the plant — and the first time that VW didn’t put up a fight. Why not?

In a word, Payne says, the EV mandate. Because it so much harder to make a profit on EVs, VW relies on various subsidies and tax breaks — incentives turned out to be politically sensitive.

Volkswagen wasn’t legally required to accept unionization — but the politics had shifted. With the UAW closely aligned with Democrats and billions in EV incentives flowing from Washington, Payne notes that VW received a letter from 33 Democratic senators urging it to stay neutral, citing “a lot of money on the line.” The leverage wasn’t statutory; it was political.

Thanks to President Trump, the EV tax credits ended in September, removing much of VW’s incentive to unionize. Of course, by then it was too late.

RELATED: ‘A uniquely American industry’: SEMA CEO urges EPA to scrap emissions regs

SEMA CEO Mike Spagnola. Bill Clark/Getty Images

‘The Henry Ford of his time’

The conversation ends with a more personal detour: Payne’s long-running fascination with Tesla — which he sees less as an “EV brand” and more as a rare disruptor in a mature, brutally difficult industry.

In fact, Payne calls Elon Musk “the Henry Ford of his time” and the Tesla Model 3 (he’s on his third) “the most fascinating car I’ve ever owned.”

“It’s good to have a disruptor,” Payne continues, likening Musk to Donald Trump and the latter’s effect on Washington, D.C. “It’s good to have Elon Musk come into the automotive industry … and say, ‘Why are we selling cars through dealers instead of through stores like Apple sells iPhones? Why aren’t we updating cars constantly like phones and making them better on the road?’”

And if you’re wondering why your next car costs what it costs — or why automakers seem to change direction every six months — this episode offers a blunt answer: The industry is being pulled by forces that don’t always align, and the tug-of-war is happening everywhere at once.

Listen to the full episode of “The Drive with Lauren and Karl” (featuring Henry Payne) below.

​Drive with lauren fix and karl brauer, Honda, Tesla, Uaw, Lifestyle, Auto industry, Ev mandate, Align cars 

A former NFL sideline reporter may be running for office after a few years of getting familiar with the political field.

The news comes after much criticism of Minnesota Governor Tim Walz (D), including the former sports reporter describing him as a non-serious politician who has allowed fraud to run rampant in his state.

‘Tim Walz is not serious. He adores Ilhan Omar.’

After 11 years working on the beloved “Sunday Night Football” broadcast, sideline reporter Michele Tafoya left the program in 2022. Immediately following the Super Bowl — Tafoya’s last NFL gig — the California native was announced as the campaign co-chair for Republican gubernatorial candidate Kendall Qualls.

Now, Tafoya is reportedly eyeing a possible Senate run in Minnesota, where a retiring Democrat will open up a seat in the Democrat-majority state.

As reported by OutKick, Tafoya met with members of the National Republican Senatorial Committee last week, which has reportedly been recruiting her in hopes of launching a Senate campaign.

The seat in question will be vacated by Democrat Sen. Tina Smith for the 2026 midterm elections.

RELATED: Whitlock: Michele Tafoya risked everything to start her own Freedom Convoy

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A run by Tafoya would put her in a tough Republican primary field that includes former NBA player Royce White, former Navy officer Tom Weiler, and former Navy SEAL Adam Schwarze.

Tafoya, however, has not been shy about criticizing Minnesota Democrats, particularly Gov. Walz and Rep. Ilhan Omar. She recently asked Walz in an X post to “please deal with the horrendous fraud [he] allowed” in Minnesota, along with other posts about Omar’s activities.

Tafoya said on X in September that “Tim Walz is not serious. He adores Ilhan Omar.”

She added, “He signed legislation for abortions at 9 months, tampons in boys[‘] bathrooms, and making Minnesota a sanctuary for kids who want to get life-altering gender surgeries without parental consent.”

RELATED: Whoopi Goldberg declares ‘white people’ are the ones who need to ‘step up’ and make skin color a non-issue in America

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Tafoya made headlines in late 2021 after appearing on left-wing squawk box “The View,” where she dared to question the protests of then-NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who kneeled during the national anthem.

Kaepernick had compared the NFL Draft to a slave auction in a documentary at that time.

“I’ve been covering the NFL for 25 years,” Tafoya had said, per OutKick. “Nobody forces these guys to play. I thought comparing it to the slave trade was a little rough. These guys enter willingly, they are the most well cared for people. Yes, they play a hard sport. And every one of them — black, white, Latino, whoever’s playing the sport — will tell you how much they love it, and they’re willing to do it, and they make a d**n good living.”

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​Fearless, Minnesota, Tim walz, Football, Nfl, Senate, Senator, Midterms, Sports 

In a Sunday interview with WCCO-TV, Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) accused U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement of pulling over her son on Saturday and pressing him for proof of citizenship. Others who have trouble with the truth, namely Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) and the liberal media, were quick to make hay of Omar’s allegation.

“Congresswoman Omar’s son was pulled over by ICE while he was following the law, on his way home from Target,” Walz said in a post on X. “This isn’t a targeted operation to find violent criminals, it’s racial profiling.”

‘It is shameful that Congresswoman Omar would level accusations to demonize ICE as part of a PR stunt.’

The Department of Homeland Security stopped the narrative in its tracks, noting that the Democrat ethno-nationalist’s sob story appears to be yet another tall tale.

DHS noted on Tuesday that “ICE has absolutely ZERO record of its officers or agents pulling over Congresswoman Omar’s son.”

“With no evidence, it is shameful that Congresswoman Omar would level accusations to demonize ICE as part of a PR stunt,” continued the agency. “Allegations that ICE engages in ‘racial profiling’ are disgusting, reckless and categorically FALSE.”

“What makes someone a target for immigration enforcement is if they are illegally in the U.S. — NOT their skin color, race, or ethnicity. Under the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, DHS law enforcement uses ‘reasonable suspicion’ to make arrests,” added the DHS.

RELATED: Ilhan Omar compares Stephen Miller’s immigration rhetoric to Nazism

Photo by Kent Nishimura/Getty Images

Clinging to the congresswoman’s narrative, Omar’s office said in response to the DHS on Tuesday, “The congresswoman’s son and others were pulled over by ICE, racially profiled, and forced to prove their citizenship with a passport.”

“ICE has long operated as a rogue agency beyond reform,” continued the statement from Omar’s office. “It’s no surprise that an agency known for disappearing people also can’t keep its records straight.”

The response from Omar’s office may amount to a rock thrown from a glass house.

In the wake of border czar Tom Homan’s confirmation that the Trump administration is investigating Omar for alleged immigration fraud — possibly in connection to Omar’s marriage to her alleged brother — former Democratic congressional candidate AJ Kern told Alpha News that public records appear to indicate Omar has trouble keeping the record straight about when she was born.

While Omar has repeatedly indicated that she became a citizen at the age of 17 — a claim she even made to the Guardian this week — Kern noted that Omar “was actually 18 in the year 2000, when her father became eligible to apply for citizenship.”

Citing official documents, Kern suggested that Omar “actually wasn’t a minor when her father could apply for naturalization,” adding that “it kind of blows a hole in her story that she obtained naturalization or citizenship when she was 17.”

Emails reviewed by Alpha News show that Omar’s staff contacted the Legislative Reference Library on May 17, 2019, requesting they change the Somali-born ethno-nationalist’s date of birth from Oct. 4, 1981, to Oct. 4, 1982.

Blaze News has reached out to Omar’s office for comment.

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​Somali, Minnesota, Ilhan omar, Leftist, Liar, Tall story, Liberal media, Us immigration and customs enforcement, Ice, Dhs, Politics 

In Maryland, a new commission to study slavery reparations will soon be established after a months-long legislative fight.

On Tuesday, the Maryland General Assembly voted to override Democratic Gov. Wes Moore’s veto of a bill that would establish a commission to study slavery reparations.

Fox News reported that the Senate voted 31-14 to override the veto, and the House of Delegates approved the override 93-35. Democrats enjoy a sizable majority in both chambers.

‘It’s immoral and it’s fiscally ruinous to this state and it sends a message to the generations out there now in Maryland that if you’re concerned about fairness, dignity, opportunity in this state — to flee Maryland.’

Moore, a black Democrat, originally vetoed the bill in May, arguing for “action” rather than establishing another study.

In his veto letter to Senate President Bill Ferguson, Moore said, “Now is not the time for another study. Now is the time for continued action that delivers results for the people we serve.”

RELATED: ‘Beachhead of criminality’: Trump admin urges Walz to resign in light of ‘ghost students’ fraud scheme

Photo by Jonathan Newton/for The Washington Post via Getty Images

Delegate Matthew Morgan (R-St. Mary’s County) warned that the bill was only going to enable “race-bait handouts”:

“This bill betrays the original intention, the unifying event of the civil rights movement. It’s immoral and it’s fiscally ruinous to this state and it sends a message to the generations out there now in Maryland that if you’re concerned about fairness, dignity, opportunity in this state — to flee Maryland,” Morgan said on the House floor Tuesday.

The recently approved bill will establish a commission that will study possible forms of reparations to black Americans for the legacy of slavery and racial discrimination.

The Legislative Black Caucus of Maryland celebrated the override of the governor’s veto in a statement posted to Instagram: “This landmark action establishes a rigorous and comprehensive plan for reparations and marks Maryland’s first-ever step toward reparations. At a time of growing attacks on diversity and equity, today’s action reaffirms our shared commitment to truth-telling, accountability, and meaningful progress for Black Marylanders.”

A preliminary report is required by January 1, 2027; a final report is due by November 1, 2027.

The commission will expire in the summer of 2028.

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​Politics, Reparations, Governor wes moore, Wes moore, Black americans, African americans, Maryland, Legislative black caucus of maryland, Slavery, Bill ferguson, Matthew morgan 

Illinois Governor JB Pritzker has signed a bill legalizing “medical assistance in dying” for terminally ill adults with a prognosis of six months to live or less — making Illinois the 12th U.S. state to allow assisted suicide.

The legislation was narrowly approved by the Illinois Senate in October after the Illinois House passed it in May.

“First, do no harm,” Blaze Media co-founder Glenn Beck comments. “I’m having a hard time with that. Doctors, maybe you can tell me how you get around this. First, do no harm. That is a very important concept that our doctors are to buy in to and that we all believe.”

“This is the 12th state in the country that is allowing assisted suicide. And there are about 25 others that are standing in line for it. What a surprise: Illinois is the first of this batch of them coming in to say, ‘I want to kill people.’ It is a culture of death, and that’s what we are battling,” he says.

“When you look at what people are saying about global warming, what is the solution? Fewer people. How do you do that? Well, culture of death takes care of that, right? When you look at, you know, just about anything now — health care, abortion: culture of death. Islam: culture of death. Marxism, honestly, it is a culture of death,” he continues.

However, supporters of this culture of death like Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) argue for it as a humane option — and a rare one.

“Western world, you’re being played. This is not compassion. I’m going to be real clear with you. This is preparation for when the system can no longer afford to fulfill its promises. That’s what this is. … They are preparing you so you look at this as compassion,” Glenn explains.

“And so when it gets worse and worse up until the very end, you don’t recognize it. I mean, they’re beginning to, a little bit in Canada, to see what’s coming their way. And why is it happening? Because they can no longer afford socialized medicine,” he says.

“Can America afford to fulfill its promises that it’s made for generations on all of this socialized everything? No,” he states.

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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.

​Camera phone, Video, Upload, Sharing, Video phone, Free, Youtube.com, The glenn beck program, Glenn beck, The blaze, Blazetv, Blaze news, Blaze podcasts, Blaze podcast network, Blaze media, Blaze online, Blaze originals, Culture of death, Marxism, Jb pritzker, Maid, Medical assistance in dying, Illinois maid, Suicide, Legalizing suicide 

President Trump’s secretary of war is making it a point to set the record straight for those servicemen and -women who adhered to their convictions and refused the Biden COVID shots.

In a memorandum dated December 6, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth ordered Pentagon leadership to identify service members wrongfully discharged because of their refusal to take the jab and give them their due.

Sean Parnell said that nearly 8,700 service members were ‘involuntarily separated’ from the military because of their refusal to take the jab.

Specifically, many service members were given a general discharge rather than a fully honorable discharge.

“It is unconscionable that thousands of former Service members who held true to their personal and religious convictions were not just separated, but separated with General (Under Honorable Conditions), rather than Honorable, discharge characterizations,” Hegseth wrote.

RELATED: Activist judges overruled: Trump judges greenlight Hegseth’s ban on military ‘dudes in dresses’

Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call Inc. via Getty Images

Chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said that nearly 8,700 service members were “involuntarily separated” from the military because of their refusal to take the jab.

Of those, Parnell continued, “more than 3,000 received less than honorable discharge characterizations.”

“The department is committed to ensuring that everyone who should have received a fully honorable discharge receives one and continues to right wrongs and restore confidence in and honor to our fighting force,” Parnell said.

In his first week back in office, Trump signed an executive order to reinstate service members who left or were removed from duty on account of the “unfair, overbroad, and unnecessary” COVID vaccine mandates. Hegseth then began implementing that directive in February.

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​Politics, Trump administration, Pete hegseth, Secretary of war hegseth, Secretary of war, Military, Pentagon, Covid, Covid vaccine, Vaccine mandates, Biden, Sean parnell 

The overturn of Roe v. Wade was considered a generational victory for the anti-abortion movement, and yet the murder of preborn image-bearers of God has not only continued over the past three years but has substantially increased.

When brick-and-mortar abortion facilities shut their doors in conservative states that passed new abortion regulations, the abortion landscape quickly adapted to the shifting legal environment. More men and women who want to murder their preborn babies are turning to abortion pills and other methods of self-induced abortion.

The increased use of abortion pills, especially those provided through telehealth, accounts for much of the recent rise in abortion numbers.

The convenience, anonymity, and lower price point of abortion pills have made the substances more popular than ever. Many progressive states are even seeing their brick-and-mortar abortion facilities close because of the market disruption presented by abortion pills.

These realities were confirmed once more by the latest abortion numbers report from the Society of Family Planning, which tracks all of the abortions occurring in the American health care system.

The organization found that self-induced abortion led to a new record for monthly abortion numbers since Roe was overturned.

— (@)

Americans are currently murdering 98,800 preborn babies every month, as the first six months of 2025 would indicate, an increase from 96,300 preborn babies per month as of 2024.

This marks the third consecutive annual increase for monthly abortion numbers since the overturn of Roe.

In annual terms, we are on track to murder nearly 1.19 million preborn babies in 2025, an increase from 1.14 million preborn babies in 2024. That was an increase from 1.06 million preborn babies in 2023, the first full year after Roe was overturned.

This data does not even count abortions occurring outside the formal health care system, if such a term could even be used to describe the legalized murder of preborn image-bearers of God. The report also does not consider abortion pills provided by local activist networks or overseas supply chains, nor preborn babies destroyed through the IVF process and abortifacient birth control.

In any case, the increased use of abortion pills, especially those provided through telehealth, accounts for much of the recent rise in abortion numbers.

RELATED: How pro-life leaders betray the one truth they can’t afford to compromise

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When a woman seeks a telehealth abortion, she schedules a virtual appointment with a third-party abortion provider and soon thereafter receives abortion pills in the mail. These abortions accounted for 27% of preborn babies murdered in the second quarter of 2025, a rapid increase from 5% of abortions in the second quarter of 2022.

Many telehealth abortions are solicited by women in conservative states and are, therefore, protected by shield laws. In other words, since progressive states like California and New York passed shield laws protecting abortion providers from civil and criminal penalties imposed by conservative states, they have legal cover to send abortion pills into states like Texas or Oklahoma.

In the first six months of 2025, there were almost 15,000 abortions per month provided under shield laws, and 55% of those abortions were provided in conservative states with some form of abortion regulations.

That means abortion pills provided by means of telehealth accounted for almost 50,000 abortions in conservative states in the first six months of 2025.

RELATED: Stevie Nicks just said the quiet part out loud about abortion — and it’s horrifying

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The increased abortion numbers in America are often discussed on the progressive left, yet they have only recently become a serious discussion in the anti-abortion movement. There are two primary takeaways from this heartbreaking abortion data.

The first is that abortion in our nation is far from over.

When a man and woman decide to have an abortion, they are making the choice to murder an image-bearer of God equal in value to a person who has already been born. The murder of even one such image-bearer of God is completely unacceptable. But the mass murder of preborn babies, protected by law in all 50 states, is an unspeakable abomination.

God judges nations that commit child sacrifice. There are countless examples of nations throughout human history that have murdered their children in ritual fashion and reaped divine judgment as a result. The uniquely strong Christian history of America only heightens our guilt, because unlike many ancient civilizations, we are fully aware of the hatred that the one true and living God has revealed for child sacrifice — yet we persist in such wickedness anyway.

Christians cannot tolerate the mass murder of preborn image-bearers of God.

This is not the time for Christians to assume that the overturn of Roe means that the battle against abortion has essentially ended. This is the time for Christians to let our love for God and our preborn neighbors move us to spend more effort than ever abolishing abortion.

The second takeaway is that abortion in conservative states is far from over.

While many conservative states passed new abortion regulations after Roe was overturned, those laws have massive loopholes that allow for abortion pills. They may ban third-party abortion providers from assisting women with abortions, but they explicitly protect the act of a woman having a self-induced abortion, ensuring that telehealth abortions enabled by shield laws continue with no reliable deterrents.

These policies are often based in compassion for women who are truly victims of abortion. But in the vast majority of cases, women are willful participants or even initiators in the murder of their preborn babies.

The loopholes granting immunity to women who have abortions must be closed in favor of equal protection legislation that criminalizes the act of abortion as murder for all parties willfully involved.

Many pro-life groups in conservative states have nevertheless opposed equal protection legislation, which would simply extend the existing state murder laws to protect life from fertilization. These organizations, no matter their intentions, are safeguarding self-induced abortions in conservative states that would otherwise have the ability to pass equal protection.

Christians cannot tolerate the mass murder of preborn image-bearers of God. Rather than simply assuming after the overturn of Roe v. Wade that a substantial victory has been won, we must awaken from our apathy and seek to abolish abortion once and for all.

​God, Child sacrifice, Abortion pills, Christianity, Christian, Abortion 

“The future of AI will either be ruled by American values or by China.”

That warning came last month from Rep. Brett Guthrie (R-Ky.), chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. It may sound abstract. It is not.

The question is no longer whether China seeks technological supremacy. It is how far it is willing to go — and how much Americans are willing to tolerate.

The Chinese Communist Party already appalled the world with its industrial-scale harvesting of organs from living human beings. Now it is pursuing something even more invasive: the exploitation of the human brain itself to power artificial intelligence and enforce political control.

This year, President Trump’s team prepared a national plan to secure American dominance in AI. At the same time, Guthrie and his colleagues — Rep. Gus Bilirakis (R-Fla.) and Rep. John Joyce (R-Pa.) — have been pressing government agencies and private firms with urgent questions about China’s activities and the risks to U.S. national security.

The evidence is alarming.

The CCP has harvested brain-wave data from some of the world’s highest-performing athletes, including a Formula 1 driver and elite alpine skiers. It has built systems to collect brain-wave data from Chinese schoolchildren at scale. Now concerns are mounting that it may be harvesting the brain-wave data of unsuspecting Americans through wearable headband devices sold openly on Amazon.

These devices represent a primitive form of brain-computer interfaces.

BCIs are an American innovation with legitimate and profound medical promise. Brain-computer interfaces allows paralyzed individuals to control prosthetics, smartphones, and computers using their thoughts. Physicians use BCIs to address cognitive impairments affecting memory, learning, and focus. Researchers see potential applications for treating depression, epilepsy, autism, schizophrenia, and Parkinson’s disease.

Elon Musk’s company Neuralink helped pioneer BCI development to restore autonomy to patients with severe neurological conditions. Musk has also argued that such technology could help humans keep pace as artificial intelligence grows more powerful.

The CCP’s motives are different — and far less virtuous.

Beijing views BCIs not as a therapeutic tool, but as a strategic weapon. By collecting and analyzing human brain-wave data, Chinese researchers have made advances in mind-reading and behavioral control designed to enforce obedience to the Communist Party. The regime is now exploring the use of this data to develop what it calls “super soldiers” — or humanoid combat robots integrated with human cognitive input.

Disturbingly, some of this progress has been enabled by elite American research institutions.

“China is working on pairing humanoid robotics with BCI,” said Sam Koppelman, publisher of the investigative research firm Hunterbrook. His team conducted a six-month investigation into BrainCo, a company founded at Harvard, funded by a People’s Liberation Army-linked entity, and later relocated to China.

In response, Guthrie, Bilirakis, and Joyce formally urged the Justice Department to investigate “potential national security risks posed by BrainCo.”

Their concerns followed Guthrie’s probe into DeepSeek, another AI company that his committee said maintains a “close relationship with the Chinese Communist Party.”

“DeepSeek admits to sending Americans’ personal information to servers in China, where it is undoubtedly accessed by officials connected to the Chinese Communist Party,” Guthrie said in a joint statement with Bilirakis.

According to Koppelman, China now prioritizes what it openly calls “cognitive warfare.”

RELATED: China is arming itself with minerals America refuses to mine

kritsapong jieantaratip via iStock/Getty Images

“This technology, as it develops, will be able to do things like read your brain,” he explained on a podcast. “They’re going to hack the human brain. That’s the idea.”

Hunterbrook reports that BrainCo and DeepSeek are among the CCP’s so-called “Six Little Dragons” of high-tech development.

BrainCo’s consumer-facing products include wearable EEG headbands marketed for meditation and focus. Its OxyZen and FocusCalm devices promise to help users “train your brain for better focus and a calmer mind.”

But critics warn the process may work in reverse — using American brain-wave data to train China’s planned army of super soldiers.

BrainCo disputes the allegations. Its FocusCalm website features a pop-up statement denying military ties and threatening legal action against critics.

The Trump administration is now weighing how to respond to what increasingly resembles a nightmarish penetration of American high-tech research and consumer markets. This month, the administration formally defined AI dominance as a “core, vital national interest.”

The question is no longer whether China seeks technological supremacy. It is how far it is willing to go — and how much Americans are willing to tolerate.

If the CCP can harvest our data, map our thoughts, and manipulate cognition itself, what will it do next?

​Opinion & analysis, Donald trump, National artificial intelligence strategy, Artificial intelligence, National security, America first, Big tech, China, Brainco, Neuralink, Elon musk, Technology, Super soldiers, Chinese communist party, Justice department, Medical devices, Brain-computer interfaces, Mind control, Brain waves 

A female accused of inserting razor blades into loaves of bread at two Walmart stores in Biloxi, Mississippi, was arrested Tuesday, WJTV-TV reported.

Camille Benson, 33, of Texas, was charged with attempted mayhem, the station said, adding that her bond was set at $100,000.

‘Time to start baking my own bread.’

Customers reported finding the razor blades at a Walmart Supercenter and a Walmart Neighborhood Market, Lt. Candace Young, a public information officer for the Biloxi Police Department, told WJTV.

Walmart employees told police a customer first reported finding a razor blade in a loaf purchased from the Walmart Supercenter on Dec. 5, the station said, adding that a customer who bought a loaf at the Walmart Neighborhood Market reported finding a razor blade on Dec. 8.

Law enforcement officials said that after another customer complained to the Walmart Supercenter on Sunday, employees inspected merchandise and found several more loaves had been tampered with, WJTV reported.

RELATED: Mom finds razor blades affixed on slide at child park moments before her 3-year-old daughter was going to slide down

The police department was notified on Monday, the station said, and asked all those who purchased bread from those Walmart locations to inspect the loaves and report any findings.

“The health and safety of our customers is always a top priority,” Walmart said in a statement, according to WJTV. “We have removed and thoroughly inspected all potentially affected products at impacted stores in Biloxi. We appreciate law enforcement for their swift action and will continue cooperating with them as they investigate.”

Police don’t believe any other stores have been targeted, the station added.

Walmart also said if customers purchase a product that has been tampered with, they should immediately throw it out and visit their local Walmart for a full refund, WJTV noted.

More than 3,000 comments have been left under WJTV’s Facebook post about the arrest, and observers didn’t hold back:

“She doesn’t look like she is playing with a full deck,” one commenter wrote.”Now give her the bread she put razors in,” another user suggested.”The devil is really busy!” another commenter declared.”Bread will now be packaged in boxes with pull tabs,” another user predicted. “Wait till its price triples.””Time to start baking my own bread,” another commenter stated.

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​Mississippi, Biloxi, Walmart stores, Razor blades, Loaves of bread, Arrest, Jailed, Attempted mayhem charge, Crime 

Minnesota appears to be a magnet for fraudsters, particularly from Somalia.

While the problem has hardly been a secret — scores of bad actors have been charged and/or convicted in connection with various fraud schemes in the state — the Trump administration has recently taken a special interest, exploring just how bad the graft has gotten on Democratic-Farmer-Labor Gov. Tim Walz’s watch.

Much of the focus has so far been on the alleged fraud committed by members of the Somali community in relation to coronavirus pandemic relief funding. However, Education Secretary Linda McMahon hammered Walz in a letter on Monday over student aid fraud in the Gopher State, calling on him to resign.

‘Minnesota’s political elite has turned a blind eye and even helped facilitate the laundering of money.’

“At the beginning of this year, the U.S. Department of Education became aware that fraudulent college applicants, especially concentrated in Minnesota, were gaming the federal postsecondary education system to collect money that was intended for young Americans to help them afford college,” wrote McMahon.

The education secretary referred to these fraudsters as “ghost students” because “they were not ID-verified and often did not live in the United States, or they simply did not exist.”

According to McMahon, 1,834 so-called ghost students were found to have received $12.5 million in taxpayer-funded grants and loans in Walz’s state.

In June, the Education Department flagged Riverland Community College and Century College in White Bear Lake as two of the institutions in Minnesota that were impacted by the fraud scheme.

RELATED: Tim Walz tries gaslighting Americans again — this time about Trump’s ‘garbage’ remark

Photo by Celal Gunes/Anadolu via Getty Images

The Rochester Post Bulletin reported in April that Riverland had apparently averaged more than 100 potentially fraudulent applications per year for the previous two financial aid periods.

A history instructor at Century College reportedly told state lawmakers earlier this year that he discovered in 2023 that 15% of his students were “basically an organized crime ring.”

Minnesota State College Southeast was similarly impacted, having discovered that the spike in its 2025 spring enrollment numbers was driven by 84 ghost students. While some of the apparent fraudsters at these and other institutions were locals, most were reportedly from other countries.

Ghost students will reportedly engage remotely and do the bare minimum of classwork until financial aid funds are doled out around 10 days into the semester. Once their payday arrives, they usually vanish.

“They collected checks from the federal government, shared a small portion of the money with the college, and pocketed the rest — without attending the college at all,” said McMahon. “Our new fraud prevention system has now blocked more than $1 billion in attempted financial aid theft by fraudsters, including coordinated international fraud rings and AI bots pretending to be students.”

The education secretary stressed that Walz’s “careless lack of oversight and abuse of the welfare system has attracted fraudsters from around the world, especially from Somalia, to establish a beachhead of criminality in our country.”

McMahon further suggested that Walz has done “nothing as governor to stop this criminal behavior” such that scammers have “gotten rich off federal housing, education, food stamp, and small business programs — even defrauding assistance for elder care and autistic children.”

After suggesting that “Minnesota’s political elite has turned a blind eye and even helped facilitate the laundering of money that was meant to help America’s least fortunate,” McMahon accused Walz of benefiting from the sordid state of play and implored him to resign.

Republican Majority Whip Tom Emmer (Minn.) said that McMahon’s assessment of Walz’s “catastrophic failures” was “spot on,” adding that “it’s time for Walz to take accountability and make way for real leadership to clean up this mess.”

Walz plans to seek a third term next year.

Former health care executive and Army veteran Kendall Qualls won the non-binding Minnesota GOP gubernatorial straw poll on Saturday, winning three more votes from delegates than Minnesota House Speaker Lisa Demuth.

While a September poll found that Walz had a significant edge over Qualls, it appears Minnesotans are fast losing faith in their governor and his ability to curb fraud in the state.

A recent KSTP-TV/SurveyUSA poll of 578 registered voters found that 69% believe Walz needs to do more to stop fraud in Minnesota. According to the poll, Walz’s disapproval rating is 48%.

“It’s pretty obvious,” Walz said during a press conference on Friday. “Fraud happened. We need to take accountability — ultimately me.”

“I take responsibility for everything,” added the governor.

Blaze News has reached out to the governor’s office for comment.

McMahon’s letter comes just weeks after Small Business Administration Sec. Kelly Loeffler announced an investigation “into the network of Somali organizations and executives implicated” in the $1 billion Minnesota COVID fraud scandal, particularly those who received SBA PPP loans.

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​Minnesota, Governor walz, Tim walz, Walz, Somali, Fraud, Fraudster, Linda mcmahon, Financial aid, Somalian, Education department, Education, Ghost students, Politics 

Conservatives are riled up after Vanity Fair released a hit piece on the Trump administration on Tuesday morning. Published in two parts, the article combines months of candid interviews with Trump’s chief of staff Susie Wiles, who is quoted saying many brow-raising things about President Trump and fellow Cabinet members.

One particular section of the article is going viral on X. It quotes Wiles claiming Trump has “an alcoholic’s personality,” JD Vance has “been a conspiracy theorist for a decade,” Elon Musk is an “avowed ketamine user,” Russell Vought is a “right-wing absolute zealot,” and Pam Bondi “completely whiffed” in her handling of the Epstein files.

In response to Vanity Fair’s hit piece, Wiles posted the following response.

— (@)

BlazeTV host Liz Wheeler confesses she’s not sure why everyone is freaking out about this article.

“This article does not bump my adrenaline or my cortisol up even a notch. … In a sense, this article is a nothingburger because it just doesn’t matter … because the mainstream media are liars,” she says.

And that includes Vanity Fair. In this very article, author Chris Whipple called January 6 a “bloody … assault on the Capitol” that left “nine people” dead.

“What an absolute lie this is,” says Liz.

“One person died on January 6, and that was Ashli Babbitt, who was shot by a Capitol police officer. The others died of natural causes, drug overdoses, suicides in the days and weeks following,” she corrects.

“January 6 protesters killed no one, and yet Vanity Fair would have you believe that this was a bloody, murderous mob. … That’s just factually wrong, and Vanity Fair knows this.”

The fact that Vanity Fair pushes such propaganda should be enough cause for us to dismiss this article. Further, even if Wiles engaged in office gossip, it doesn’t change the Trump administration’s “operational capacity or success.”

However, there is one section of the article Liz says is interesting and perhaps worth paying attention to, and that is the part where Wiles addresses Attorney General Pam Bondi.

In part two of the article, Whipple notes Wiles’ reaction to the Epstein files, specifically regarding Bondi’s spectacle of passing out “secret” Epstein info binders to certain right-wing political commentators, including Liz — binders that contained nothing of import or interest.

The article quotes Wiles saying, “I think [Pam Bondi] completely whiffed on appreciating that that was a very targeted group that cared about this. First she gave them binders full of nothingness. And then she said that the witness list, or the client list, was on her desk. There is no client list, and it sure as hell wasn’t on her desk.”

Later in the article, Whipple quotes Wiles again: “Whether [Epstein] was an American CIA asset, a Mossad asset, whether all these rich, important men went to that nasty island and did unforgivable things to young girls — I mean, I kind of knew it, but it’s never anything I paid a bit of attention to.”

Liz has long speculated about President Trump’s dismissive attitude about Bondi’s infuriating binders and the Epstein files in general. It seems he’s “underestimated” how much his base cared about the Epstein issue and perhaps Wiles is why.

“Behind the scenes, I know there was some discussion about why President Trump misread his base and particularly who might have been misinforming him about how the base thought about the Epstein files, and at the time, I had some people telling me behind the scenes that is was Susie Wiles,” says Liz, noting that she “never made a big deal about it” because she didn’t have confirmation.

“Well now, this [article] seems to somewhat confirm it — not because of necessarily any malicious motive. But if, in fact, Susie Wiles told Vanity Fair that she underestimated the potency of the Epstein scandal, and it was not something she ever paid attention to, then that somewhat explains President Trump’s dismissal of the entire Epstein scandal,” she adds.

“It sounds to me like Susie Wiles was in his ear telling him that, you know, ‘This will just pass; just let it go.”’

To hear more of Liz’s commentary and analysis, watch the full episode above.

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​The liz wheeler show, Liz wheeler, Blazetv, Blaze media, Vanity fair, Hit piece, Trump administration, Susie wiles, Pam bondi, Epstein files, Donald trump, Epstein