About 11 million people on the island nation of Cuba have lost power after the country’s electrical grid completely collapsed on Monday.

Cuba relies on oil to run the power grid, and a U.S. embargo has worsened the energy crisis it was already suffering under. The U.S. ended oil deliveries to Cuba from Venezuela and threatened other countries with steep tariffs if they provided oil to the nation.

‘Taking Cuba in some form, yeah, taking Cuba. I mean, whether I free it, take it, I think I can do anything I want with it.’

The state-owned power operator said efforts were under way to restore power to the island. In the meantime, energy has been rationed and many services have shut down.

“The impact [of the blockade] is tremendous. It is most brutally manifested in these energy issues,” Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel said on Friday. “This causes anguish among the population.”

Díaz-Canel said Cuba had not received oil in about three months.

“Officials in the U.S. [government] must be feeling very happy by the harm caused to every Cuban family,” said Cuban Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Fernández de Cossío in a statement about the blackout.

Electricity generation is plagued by aged power infrastructure and a lack of spare parts that are also blocked by the embargo.

President Donald Trump said he had designs for a takeover of the island.

“I do believe I’ll be … having the honor of taking Cuba. That’s a big honor,” the president said to reporters at the White House. “Taking Cuba in some form, yeah, taking Cuba. I mean, whether I free it, take it, I think I can do anything I want with it, you want to know the truth.”

RELATED: Massive blackout hits Cuba after entire power grid fails; communist government blames the US

He added, “They’re a very weakened nation right now. They were for a long time. Very violent leaders.”

Protesters have also risen up against the communist government in anger over the blackouts and a shortage of food.

Díaz-Canel said he’s having talks with Trump in order to find “areas of cooperation.” Some anticipate there will be a deal soon to allow some private businesses to operate on the communist island.

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With tensions rising in the Middle East and concerns growing over oil supply, many Americans are wondering what the latest developments mean for the economy — and financial expert Carol Roth may have some answers.

“It’s difficult to have mobility in this economy right now, and it’s, you know, sort of a tough thing for everyday people to deal with,” BlazeTV host Stu Burguiere tells Roth, noting that recent developments in Iran are affecting not only the price of gas, but food prices.

“How should we be thinking of this right now, Carol?” Stu asks.

“So, I think that we should be thinking that we hope that there is a short end to this conflict both from a moral and human perspective as well as from an economic perspective,” Roth explains.

“There’s a lot of uncertainty. There’s a lot of risk, and we don’t know what the duration is going to be. And so as that information comes out and then gets, you know, kind of extrapolated and increased by algorithmic trading and hedge funds, you see a lot of volatility, but we’ve seen that somewhat normalized,” she says.

“The challenge is that, you know, a lot of the tampering of inflation … had a lot to do with the fact that oil had been in a very good and attractive place, particularly for consumers. Maybe not as much for producers, but at least for consumers,” she continues.

Roth believes that in order to combat these issues for everyday Americans, the Trump administration needs to focus on things like small businesses.

“I’d like to see more policies that remove barriers. If you remove barriers, particularly from small businesses, they are the biggest job creators and drivers. They’re also, by the way, the ones who are going to be least susceptible to AI changes,” Roth tells Stu.

“And so, that would be a really good and easy thing to do,” she adds.

Want more from Stu?

To enjoy more of Stu’s lethal wit, wisdom, and mockery, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

​Stu does america, Stu burguiere, The blaze, Blazetv, Blaze news, Blaze podcasts, Blaze podcast network, Blaze media, Blaze online, Blaze originals, Financial expert, Carol roth, The economy, Inflation, Iran war, Strait of hormuz, Gas pries, Gas prices 

The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department is facing contempt of court charges after it refused to release a violent criminal with 35 arrests.

Las Vegas Justice Court Judge Eric Goodman said that 36-year-old Joshua Sanchez-Lopez should be released and placed on electric monitoring, but police say he’s too much of a risk.

‘The idea that a Metro employee can overrule a judge’s release order and keep someone locked up should worry anyone who believes in the Constitution and the rule of law.’

Sanchez-Lopez has previous convictions that include involuntary manslaughter and drug charges and was arrested in January on a charge of grand larceny of a motor vehicle. Goodman said he could be released from jail and monitored if he posted bail.

Metro police told the judge on Jan. 29 they would not release Sanchez-Lopez, in defiance of his order.

The letter cited previous incidents where Sanchez-Lopez failed to appear in court and violated the department’s program. In one instance, he mocked police after posting a photo of his ankle monitor on Snapchat.

On Feb. 5, Goodman responded and threatened to hold the cops in contempt of court.

Metro argues that the decision to keep Sanchez-Lopez is granted to the sheriff by state law.

The suspect’s public defender disagreed.

“Metro’s argument is flat wrong,” reads a statement from public defender P. David Westbrook.

“It is the job of the elected judge to decide whether someone charged with a crime should be released and under what conditions,” he added. “The idea that a Metro employee can overrule a judge’s release order and keep someone locked up should worry anyone who believes in the Constitution and the rule of law.”

Metro assistant general counsel Mike Dickerson said they’re trying to preserve public safety.

“We have to take a look at that and say, ‘Is this somebody who our electronic supervision program can monitor safely in the community?'” Dickerson said.

“There’s absolutely competing narratives about public safety occurring in our community. There’s different approaches too,” he added.

RELATED: Former DHS attorney who told judge ‘this job sucks’ is now running to unseat Rep. Ilhan Omar

In a statement on social media, Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo of Nevada said he backed the police.

“Sheriff McMahill and the men and women of Metro are doing exactly what they’re sworn to do: protect the public,” he wrote. “When repeat violent offenders are ordered back onto our streets, law enforcement has a duty to speak up and push back. I fully support LVMPD’s decision to take this issue to the Nevada Supreme Court and fight for public safety. I stand with law enforcement.”

Goodman also pointed out that the level of electronic monitoring ordered for Sanchez-Lopez was similar to house arrest.

“The safety of our officers is paramount,” Dickerson continued. “The safety of the public is key, and the key here is Sheriff McMahill will not violate the law to appease the Las Vegas Justice Court and let out people who he deems to be dangerous. We have a system that’s set up so people can get out of jail quickly, and sometimes, there just needs to be a little bit more thought given to it because lives are on the line.”

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Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino is reportedly retiring from federal service after having left Operation Metro Surge in Minnesota, according to two sources CBS News described as “directly familiar with his decision.”

Bovino has been serving as the chief patrol agent of the El Centro sector on the U.S.-Mexico border and has been praised by immigration hawks who approved of his aggressive tactics to enforce federal law.

‘Politicians are laying blame at the feet of law enforcement instead of looking in the mirror at how they have fueled the hatred and violent attacks.’

He is expected to retire at the end of the month, the sources said.

“The greatest honor of my entire life was to work alongside Border Patrol agents on the border and in the interior of the United States in some of the most challenging conditions the agency has ever faced,” Bovino said to Breitbart News.

He faced heated criticism from the left after anti-ICE activists Renee Good and Alex Pretti were killed during separate incidents involving federal agents in Minneapolis.

Bovino left Minneapolis and was replaced with border czar Tom Homan, who eventually drew down the operation after reaching an agreement with local officials.

After Bovino returned to California, Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said he and other federal officers were under criminal investigation over their actions in Minnesota.

“Our [Transparency and Accountability Project] team is actively investigating 17 incidents that have been brought to our attention by the community, including Gregory Kent Bovino’s actions near Mueller Park on January 21,” Moriarty said in a statement earlier in the month.

On the date cited by Moriarty, Bovino was captured on video tossing a canister of chemical irritants at anti-ICE protesters.

DHS responded to Moriarty’s investigations with a fiery statement.

“This does nothing to make Minnesota safer. Enforcing federal immigration laws is a clear federal responsibility. … Politicians are laying blame at the feet of law enforcement instead of looking in the mirror at how they have fueled the hatred and violent attacks we are seeing against federal law enforcement officers,” a DHS spokesperson said.

RELATED: Gregory Bovino and other federal agents under criminal investigation by Minneapolis county attorney

Bovino released a video statement praising federal immigration officers after his release from Minnesota.

“I’m very proud of what you, the mean green machine, are doing in Minneapolis right now, just like you’ve done it across the United States over these past tough nine months,” he said in the video from Mount Rushmore.

“I also want you to know that I’ve got your back, now and always — I love you, I support you, and I salute you,” he added.

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Last night’s Academy Awards brought the usual mix of celebration, surprises, and disappointment.

It also offered a revealing glimpse into how modern storytelling wrestles with the problem of human evil. Again and again, our stories invent new creators and judges — aliens, scientists, political systems — while avoiding the possibility that the answer might be the one Christianity has proposed all along.

Interestingly, the film’s bleak ending inadvertently highlights the beauty of the alternative.

We see this pattern clearly in this year’s Best Picture winner, “One Battle After Another.” In that film, humanity’s problems are framed largely as political ones: injustice embedded in systems that must be overcome through struggle here on earth.

The problem of evil

The year’s other nominees approach the same problem from different angles. “Frankenstein” warns about the dangers of human beings assuming the role of creator, while “Sinners” treats Christianity itself as a corrupting force rather than a remedy for human brokenness. The stories differ in tone and message, but they circle the same question: Why does humanity repeatedly descend into violence, cruelty, and exploitation?

And then there’s “Bugonia,” Yorgos Lanthimos’ ambitious science-fiction drama. Although the film failed to take home Best Picture or any of the four Oscars for which it was nominated, its unsettling message reveals much about our post-Christian frame of mind.

The film proposes a provocative premise: Humanity was seeded on Earth by extraterrestrial beings known as Andromedans. But when humanity fails to live up to their expectations — ravaging the planet, waging war, exploiting one another — the aliens decide to erase the experiment and reboot the world.

Spoiler alert: They succeed.

Failed experiment

In the film’s closing act, the Andromedans judge humanity irredeemable. Our history of violence, greed, and environmental destruction becomes the evidence against us. Like scientists abandoning a failed experiment, they extinguish the human race in order to start again.

The premise is morally haunting because it contains a kernel of truth. Humanity has indeed fallen short of what we know to be right. Our history is filled with wars, cruelty, and exploitation of both people and planet. Watching the film, you can almost understand why an external observer might conclude that humanity is incapable of redemption.

But the film’s central idea contains a deeper philosophical problem that it never addresses.

In “Bugonia,” aliens replace God.

Persistent theory

Instead of an eternal Creator, we are told that advanced beings from another star system planted life on Earth. Humanity, in other words, is merely the product of a cosmic experiment. The idea echoes the pseudoscientific theories popularized decades ago by Swiss author Erich von Däniken, most famously in his 1968 best-seller “Chariots of the Gods?” He argued that ancient monuments and religious traditions were evidence that extraterrestrials had visited Earth and influenced — or even created — human civilization.

Despite the popularity of those claims, they have been widely rejected by scientists and historians as speculative at best and misleading at worst. Yet the underlying idea persists in popular culture, resurfacing in films, television shows, and speculative fiction like “Bugonia.”

The problem is that such explanations never truly answer the deepest question. They merely move it one step back: If the Andromedans created humanity, who created them?

The difficulty with theories that attempt to explain existence without God is that they ultimately arrive at an illogical conclusion — that somehow the material universe emerged from nothing. Matter, life, and consciousness simply appeared. The universe, in effect, would have to create itself.

Every effect requires a cause. Every creation requires a creator. If alien life exists somewhere in the universe — and it very well may — those beings would still be part of the created order. They, too, would owe their existence to something greater and eternal.

A different story

“Bugonia” imagines alien overseers who judge humanity and wipe the slate clean when the experiment fails. But the story humanity actually lives in is far different.

According to Scripture, there was indeed a moment when God chose to “reset” the world. In the story of Noah, humanity had become so violent and corrupt that God sent a flood and preserved only Noah and his family to begin again. Humanity was, in a sense, rebooted.

But even after the flood, humanity fell short again. We continued to quarrel, exploit, and destroy. The human story remained one of brokenness mixed with moments of grace.

The difference between the God of Scripture and the Andromedans of “Bugonia” is not power. It is mercy.

The aliens in the film conclude that humanity’s failures justify annihilation. God reached a radically different conclusion. Rather than abandon His creation, He entered into it.

The eternal God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, into the world — not to condemn humanity but to redeem it. Where the Andromedans choose extermination, God chooses sacrifice.

This is the heart of the Christian story. Humanity fails again and again. Yet instead of discarding us as a failed experiment, God offers forgiveness and transformation.

RELATED: What Shia LaBeouf’s public struggle shows us about Christian redemption

MEGA/GC Images via Getty Images

Quiet revolution

Even then, the story does not become one of instant perfection. People who follow Christ still struggle. They still fall short. The difference is not that believers suddenly become flawless, but that they now have a path toward redemption.

One of the most profound summaries of that path comes from John the Baptist, who famously said of Christ: “He must increase; I must decrease” (John 3:30).

Those few words describe the quiet revolution at the heart of Christianity. The transformation of humanity does not come from our own power or moral superiority. It comes from learning humility — placing God at the center rather than ourselves.

And that humility has consequences. A world shaped by self-interest breeds the very problems “Bugonia” highlights — violence, greed, environmental destruction, and exploitation. A world shaped by love of neighbor and reverence for a Creator begins to look very different.

Radical vision

Interestingly, the film’s bleak ending inadvertently highlights the beauty of the alternative.

In “Bugonia,” humanity is judged solely by its failures. There is no grace, no redemption, no possibility that flawed beings might grow into something better.

The Christian story, by contrast, insists that redemption is the point of the whole drama. God promised after the flood that He would not destroy the world again in such a way. The ultimate reset came not through annihilation but through Christ — through renewal.

For all its imaginative power, “Bugonia” ultimately imagines a universe governed by distant creators who abandon their creation when it disappoints them.

The Christian vision offers something far more radical: a Creator who loves His creation enough to save it.

​Academy awards, Oscars, Movies, Culture, Christianity, One battle after another, Best picture, Bugonia, Emma stone, Frankenstein, Sinners, Faith