A cruise ship is at the center of a deadly hantavirus outbreak after three of the ship’s passengers have died. Five more are believed to be infected with a rare strain of the disease that can be transmitted from person to person — though the disease is usually passed through rat urine, saliva, or feces.

BlazeTV host Stu Burguiere points out that a cruise ship is “already the least healthy environment possible” and isn’t surprised it’s where the disease manifested.

“You’re quarantined on a ship, and you have a pass for nonstop, unlimited food and drink at any time,” he tells co-host Dave Landau, who points out that there’s also a communal pool.

“This is where all the diseases manifest themselves, in that water that everyone’s sharing,” Stu says.

“Thirty-five percent death rate if you catch this thing. So really, really bad. A little higher than COVID,” he continues. “That’s how they made you feel about COVID. You watch the news, you thought it was a 35% death rate, but it was not.”

“You really only died if you were 90 in a nursing home, and then they filled it with gang members and people that had it,” Landau says.

“Oh, you mean the exact proposal by Andrew Cuomo during this period?” Stu laughs.

“That’s correct,” Landau says.

“Now, what do you do with this ship, Dave? Because if this stuff is being passed around, you can’t really let it to shore. These people are just out there in a petri dish,” Stu says.

“Well, I think we have to do the right thing,” Landau says, joking, “and have the Joker blow it up.”

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​Blaze media, Blaze news, Blaze online, Blaze originals, Blaze podcast network, Blaze podcasts, Blazetv, Cruise ship outbreak, Dave landau, Deadly outbreak, Feces transmission, Hantavirus disease, Person to person, Quarantined ship, Rare strain, Rat urine transmission, Saliva transmission, Stu and dave do america, Stu burguiere, The blaze, Unhealthy environment, Covid comparison, Covid-19 

Mother’s Day has a way of sneaking up on people. One minute it’s April; the next, you’re rummaging through a half-empty scented candle shelf in CVS wondering whether “Tuscan Sunset” or “Nantucket Rain” better expresses your appreciation for the woman who gave you life.

Fortunately, the best last-minute Mother’s Day gifts often are not things at all.

Experience gifts also have the advantage of arriving instantly via email. Even if you’re down to the wire, they are still thoughtful because they require planning and shared time.

In fact, depending on your mother’s age, the last thing she may want is more stuff. Many parents eventually reach a stage of life when they are actively trying to simplify, downsize, declutter, or quietly distribute decades of accumulated possessions.

What they often appreciate more are gifts involving time, competence, memory, thoughtfulness, or shared experience.

A carefully planned lunch. A framed family photograph. Help organizing old pictures. Tickets for something months away. A promise to finally fix the technology problems everyone else in the family avoids.

The best gifts from adult children acknowledge a simple reality: Eventually, your role in your parents’ lives shifts. At a certain point, being helpful, attentive, and present matters more than buying another object that winds up in a closet.

Here are 10 last-minute Mother’s Day gifts that are still personal.

1. ‘Coupons’ but for tech support

Every mother has probably received a homemade coupon book at some point. Usually it promised things like “one free hug” or “breakfast in bed.”

Harder to pull this off as an adult — unless you offer something actually helpful.

Many parents quietly live with low-level technological chaos: three different remotes, passwords scattered across sticky notes, thousands of family photos somewhere in the cloud but nowhere anyone can actually find them.

Here’s where you come in. Some sample “offers”:

“I will finally fix the printer situation.”“I’ll set up your streaming passwords properly.”“I’ll organize all the family photos.”“I’ll clean up your phone storage.”

And if you’re not so tech-capable yourself, you can always hire someone to do it for you.

Of course, there’s no need to limit yourself to digital chores. Maybe there are some old paint cans that have been sitting on the side of the house for a decade, or maybe an unused garden bed needs to be brought back to life.

Yes, these gifts are more practical then sentimental, and that’s the point. Children eventually become useful — what better day to acknowledge this than Mother’s Day?

2. Tickets for some future event

One reason many last-minute gifts feel hollow is that they lack intentionality. A future event instantly solves that problem.

The key is specificity: not “We should go to a concert sometime,” but “I bought tickets for June 14.”

Experience gifts also have the advantage of arriving instantly via email. Even if you’re down to the wire, they are still thoughtful because they require planning and shared time.

These could be tickets to a concert, baseball game, or theater production; a botanical garden membership; enrollment in a cooking class; or reservations for afternoon tea.

In many cases, the anticipation becomes part of the gift itself.

3. A real letter

Not a text. Not a greeting card with two rushed sentences crammed beneath someone else’s poetry. An actual letter.

For many mothers, especially those with adult children, this may be more meaningful than almost any purchased object.

You don’t need to make it overly sentimental. In fact, it’s often better if it’s specific and grounded.

Memories you still think about.Things you understand now that you didn’t as a child.Family traditions you appreciate more with age.Sacrifices you failed to notice at the time.Funny stories only the two of you remember.

One advantage of getting older is realizing that ordinary family moments were not ordinary at all.

Print the letter and put it in an envelope. Include an old photograph if possible. Physical objects still matter.

4. Plans you made yourself

Many family gatherings supposedly “for Mom” still require mothers to organize them.

This year, remove her from the logistics entirely. Pick the restaurant. Coordinate schedules. Make the reservation. Handle transportation if necessary. Inform everyone where to be and when. The competence is part of the gift!

And it doesn’t necessarily have to be expensive. A carefully planned brunch at home can be more thoughtful than an overcrowded prix-fixe restaurant meal booked in a panic.

The important thing is that she experiences the day rather than managing it.

5. A family ‘podcast’ recording

One of the strangest things about adulthood is realizing how many stories you never asked your parents about.

How did they meet? What was their first apartment like? What do they remember about their own parents? What did family holidays look like when they were children?

A surprisingly meaningful Mother’s Day gift is simply deciding to record these stories before they disappear. The good news is that this requires almost no technology. An iPhone on the kitchen table is enough.

You could record a conversation with just your mother or both parents together. Gather siblings or grandparents, or even create a recurring “family podcast.”

The point is not production quality. In fact, part of the charm is hearing ordinary interruptions: laughter, people talking over each other, someone making coffee in the background.

Years from now, those details may matter as much as the stories themselves.

6. A portrait sitting

It may sound extravagant or old-fashioned, but commissioning a portrait — even a relatively simple charcoal sketch or watercolor — has become surprisingly accessible.

And unlike most gifts, it creates both an experience and an heirloom.

Some artists now work from photographs with quick turnaround digital commissions, while others offer live sittings that can be scheduled for later in the summer. The point is not necessarily museum-quality realism. In many cases, the charm comes from the act itself: setting aside time to sit still and be looked at carefully.

For mothers especially, who are often the family member behind the camera rather than in front of it, a portrait can be unexpectedly personal.

Even if the finished work arrives later, the commission itself can be given immediately — and is far more thoughtful than another last-minute gift basket.

7. A framed family photo

Most families now possess thousands of photos, and almost none of them exist anywhere outside a phone.

That’s why one of the best last-minute Mother’s Day gifts is often simply turning digital memories into physical objects again.

The easiest version is also one of the most effective: pick a genuinely good family photo, print it properly, and frame it.

You don’t need to wait for shipping, either. Places like FedEx Office, CVS, and Walgreens offer same-day photo printing at many locations. A thoughtfully chosen black-and-white candid photo in a simple frame will usually mean more than a generic store-bought decoration.

If you have slightly more time, photo books have become remarkably easy to make online. Services like Shutterfly, Mixbook, and Artifact Uprising let you assemble albums in an evening using photos already sitting on your phone.

The key is curation. Don’t dump 300 random images into a template. Pick a theme: vacations, grandchildren, pets. One thoughtfully assembled album often becomes something people revisit for years.

RELATED: Chuck Norris: Martial arts legend who submitted to a mother’s prayers

Sunset Boulevard/Getty Images

8. A fresh citrus subscription

Subscription gifts often fail because they seem generic — another monthly box filled with novelty snacks or products nobody would have purchased voluntarily.

The better approach is much simpler: Think about what your mother already genuinely enjoys eating or drinking, then find the best recurring version of it.

For some mothers, that might mean coffee from a favorite local roaster. For others it could be cheese or good olive oil.

The key is matching the gift to her actual habits rather than your idea of what a “gift” should look like.

Importantly, a subscription gift does not need to physically arrive on Mother’s Day itself in order to be thoughtful. In some ways, the delayed arrival is part of the appeal. Instead of a single rushed delivery, the gift becomes something she can look forward to weeks later.

One especially good option for citrus lovers is Marmalade Grove, a California citrus farm that ships seasonal fruit boxes directly to customers. A surprising number of people have never tasted truly fresh citrus picked close to ripeness, and the difference can be dramatic.

9. One excellent thing she would never buy herself

Last-minute shopping becomes much easier once you stop trying to find the “perfect” gift and instead follow a simpler rule: Buy one genuinely excellent version of something she already uses.

Not flashy luxury, but just an upgraded everyday object she would appreciate but probably never purchase for herself: exceptionally soft pajamas, a high-quality chef’s knife, beautiful garden shears, quality stationery.

Bonus: This often lends itself to a last-minute stop at a local business, whether it’s a gardening store, a paper store, or a kitchen goods supplier.

10. A gift in her name

Donating to charity “in someone’s name” can sometimes seem impersonal — the sort of thing corporations do instead of buying Christmas gifts.

But done thoughtfully, it can also be deeply meaningful. The key is specificity and personal connection.

Instead of donating to a massive abstract nonprofit, think about the causes, institutions, or traditions your mother genuinely cares about: a local pregnancy center, a veterans’ organization, local food banks, missionary work.

For religious families, one especially meaningful option is arranging a Mass intention or prayer offering on her behalf.

Like many of the best last-minute gifts, the point is not the amount of money involved. For many mothers — especially religious mothers — one of the greatest satisfactions is seeing their children carry forward the values they tried to instill in them.

​Family, Framed family photo, Gift guide, Last-minute gifts, Lifestyle, Provisions, Mother’s day 

For years, the public has been sold a false narrative: Children who experience gender distress must be affirmed — socially, hormonally, and even surgically — or they will suffer devastating mental health consequences.

However, now that some time has passed, the data shows a very different picture.

The treatments being presented as lifesaving are not addressing the pain and root problem whatsoever.

A large-scale Finnish study tracking young people referred for gender dysphoria found that the primary driver of poor mental health outcomes was not gender identity itself, but underlying psychiatric conditions.

Even more unsettling, medical interventions such as hormones and surgeries did not demonstrate a clear reduction of suicide risk.

In other words, the treatments being presented as lifesaving are not addressing the pain and root problem whatsoever. The current model of treating gender-confused youth is not delivering on its promises.

When I was a teenager, I was subjected to coercion to “become” a boy because my doctors and counselors peddled this as the solution to all of my problems. Turns out, it wasn’t.

I vividly remember walking into many doctors’ and therapists’ offices. I was depressed, had an eating disorder, and grew up in a tumultuous environment as a kid. That combination is usually a recipe for disaster. The root cause wasn’t that I was trans; it was that I had been through several traumatic experiences that no teenager or adolescent should face.

I am a detransitioner, meaning I am someone who went through the processes of “gender-affirming care” and have now reverted to identifying with my biological sex — a woman.

My experience is just one of many. Several of my friends and peers have experienced the same coercion and pressure to “accept” that they are another sex.

The Finnish study is not alone, however. It also aligns with another study done in the U.K., which found that the evidence for pediatric gender medicine is “remarkably weak” and that young patients often present with complex mental health needs requiring comprehensive psychological care, not surgical mutilation.

Together, these studies show a clear picture: The way that we currently handle this issue is completely wrong.

Children who present with distress, a rough home life, and being chronically online are often put on a conveyor belt of social transition, puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and irreversible surgeries.

Even more outrageous is that some of these can get approved in a doctor’s office without the consent of a parent or guardian. To do this behind parents’ backs and to encourage secrecy surrounding their social transition should be a crime.

RELATED: DEI went into hiding — but remains as dangerous as ever

Carl Lokko/Getty Images

The result of these practices has been disastrous for trust in our institutions, our health care system, and our school districts. Escalating these so-called treatments only further amplifies their harmful effects.

Hormonal interventions affect bone density, fertility, and long-term endocrine function. Surgical interventions are irreversible. These are serious medical decisions being made for patients who are, by definition, still developing.

My fight for justice is not simply about my own experience, although I have been through hell and back. It is fundamentally a question of ethics in medicine that the legal system must answer.

The evidence is stacking up against the false narrative that trans surgeries equate to lifesaving care. Children placed on this path often do not and will not fully understand its consequences until years later. By then, the damage has already been done.

Without action in every state, every medical institution, and every governing body, there will be continued pressure to worship an ideology with no scientific backing. The data is no longer in question. The evidence is settled. I believe the consensus is clear: We must end this abominable practice immediately.

​Gender dysphoria, Puberty blockers, Trans surgeries, Biological sex, Trans agenda, Gender ideology, Identity crisis, Detransitioner, Opinion & analysis 

Democrat James Talarico wasn’t always a politician.

When he was 21 years old, he was a sixth-grade teacher — and considering the comments he has made about transgender children in the past, BlazeTV host Sara Gonzales believes it’s worth digging into.

Gonzales found an old Facebook page dedicated to “Mr. Talarico,” where his 11- and 12-year-old students could gather to ask questions.

“This is already weird to me, in my opinion, to create a Facebook page for your students, because they’re 11. They shouldn’t be on Facebook,” Gonzales says.

But it gets worse.

“James Talarico frequently encouraged his young sixth-grade students to call his cell phone if they have any questions,” Gonzales explains, pulling up an old post from 2012.

“Read Chapter 11 in Hunger Games this weekend. Activity 2.11 is due on Monday. Call my cell or comment on this post if you have any questions,” Talarico’s post reads.

“How was he able to keep his employment doing this publicly?” Gonzales asks, pointing out that he even left his personal phone number on some posts.

“I’m just interested in asking what the hell was going on at that school, in that class, where Mr. Talarico is inviting 11- and 12-year-olds to call him on the phone,” she says, pointing out that in any other situation, his behavior would be a “red flag.”

“At worst, it is predatory behavior. At best, it is horrible judgment and horrible boundaries with young children,” she adds.

In another post on his Facebook page, Talarico wrote, “Looking forward to spending my birthday with the 6th grade boys at UT tomorrow!”

“Is that normal for a 21-year-old male? Gonzales asks. “Is that normal for a 21-year-old male to post on Facebook?”

“That is weird,” she adds.

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​Democrat james talarico, James talarico, Predatory behavior, Sara gonzales, Sara gonzales unfiltered, Transgender children, Red flag, The blaze, Blazetv, Blaze news, Blaze podcasts, Blaze podcast network, Blaze media, Blaze online, Blaze originals, Come and take it, Come and take it with sara gonzales 

Louisiana police say that an alert police officer realized something was off with a girl who was found in a car belonging to a man accused of public urination.

The harrowing incident unfolded on Saturday when officers of the St. Gabriel Police Department made contact with a 39-year-old man identified as Lionel Moore.

Moore was convicted in 2005 of indecent behavior with juveniles in Iberville Parish but failed to register as a sex offender several times.

St. Gabriel Police Chief Kevin Ambeau said officers found that Moore had warrants out of East Baton Rouge for failure to register as a sex offender after checking his driver’s license.

Then one officer made eye contact with the girl in his car and grew suspicious.

“Captain on the scene noticed her characteristics. She was dressed older than she was, at 17,” Ambeau said.

She also gave him different birth dates that did match her age. The teenager then confessed to have been with Moore for nearly three years.

Police determined that the girl had been reported missing by her mother in 2024.

“My captain was able to get the mom’s number, and we contacted the mom, who had moved out of state,” Ambeau added.

Police called on the Louisiana Department of Children and Family Services to help with the teenager.

Moore was convicted in 2005 of indecent behavior with juveniles in Iberville Parish but failed to register as a sex offender several times. He was taken into custody over the felony warrant.

RELATED: 16-year-old girl disappeared from Tennessee hotel — and was found hundreds of miles away with man she met online, cops say

Ambeau said they are now trying to determine if the teenager was being forced into sex trafficking. They are utilizing facial recognition technology on images from police body cameras and searching for her on sex trafficking sites.

“I been here all my life, and I’m 62 years old, and I ain’t never of heard of nothing like this,” said Jeffery Ben, a resident of St. Gabriel. “That’s bad.”

St. Gabriel is a city of about 6,677 residents in southern central Louisiana.

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​Public urinator had missing girl, Girl missing for 3 years, Sex offender found with missing girl, Louisiana missing teenager, Crime 

The Trump administration refused to allow FISA Section 702 to lapse for even one day, calling it a vital tool for counterterrorism. However, when it comes to ensuring Immigration and Customs Enforcement has the necessary tools to remove alien criminals without enduring endless lawfare by sanctuary judges, there seems to be no such reservation.

Simply throwing more money at ICE in the budget reconciliation bill without changing policy will not alter the current landscape of failed deportation promises.

Trump has won numerous cases from the Supreme Court on issues pertaining to due process, detention, and bond hearings, yet the lower courts continue to defy those rulings.

On the same day House Republicans, at the behest of the White House, rushed passage of the FISA reauthorization, they passed the Senate budget reconciliation bill, which offers ICE and U.S. Customs and Border Protection $75 billion in mandatory funding for the remainder of the presidency.

It is understandable why Trump would want to use his last party-line bill to front-load ICE funding in the face of Democrat opposition, but what is the purpose of funding ICE if it can’t even deport violent illegal aliens without lawfare? Why is the White House opposing efforts from House conservatives to expand reconciliation?

Sadly, the Trump administration has signaled that it is largely done with mass deportations and seeks to focus on what it refers to as “the worst of the worst.” So we will certainly remove all of the criminal aliens before his term expires, right?

Wrong!

Bryan Rafael Gomez, a Dominican illegal alien who was released into the country in 2022, was arrested by ICE Boston on April 4, following a warrant for murder charges in his home country. Yet Judge Melissa DuBose, a radical Biden appointee, ordered him released and claimed his detention was unlawful.

Cases like this one are occurring on a daily basis, and despite the unambiguous language of statute and endless Supreme Court victories stating that ICE is permitted or even required to apprehend, detain, and remove these people, radical lower court judges just come back with slightly different plaintiffs and rule the same way.

As of February, illegal aliens have filed more than 18,000 habeas petitions during Trump’s second term challenging their detention in federal courts. It’s more than the number of such challenges filed over the last three administrations put together.

What these filings are designed to do is remove cases from immigration courts and bring them into Article III courts where American rights are often erroneously applied to people litigating their way into status after final removal orders.

RELATED: The founders gave us the remedy for rogue state judges: Impeach

BrianAJackson/Getty Images

The entire purpose of a habeas petition was to give people a safety valve if they have a prima facie claim of being a citizen or a case of mistaken identity. But illegal aliens are now using habeas to block every removal, no matter how clear it is that the person is here illegally and even when they have a criminal record.

Earlier this year, U.S. District Judge John deGravelles granted habeas petitions and ordered the immediate release of four illegal aliens from ICE custody at Louisiana State Penitentiary, despite final removal orders. Who were the cast of characters?

Ibrahim Ali Mohamed (Ethiopia): Convicted of sexual exploitation of a minor (child sex crime/pedophilia). Entered/released into the U.S. under Biden policies; removed order issued September 2024. Luis Gaston-Sanchez (Cuba): Convictions for homicide, assault, resisting an officer, concealing stolen property, and two counts of robbery. Removed order from 2001.Ricardo Blanco Chomat (Cuba): Convictions for homicide, kidnapping, aggravated assault with a firearm, burglary, robbery, larceny, and selling cocaine. Removed order from 2002.Francisco Rodriguez-Romero: Convictions for homicide and a weapons offense. Removed order from 1995.

Three months later, these individuals, with convictions of rape, murder, assault, and robbery, remain in the country indefinitely.

In March, U.S. District Judge Susan Richard Nelson ordered the release of Carlos Antonio Flores-Miguel, a confirmed MS-13 gang member, from ICE custody. He had multiple illegal re-entries/deportations and was initially released into the U.S. under Biden policies in 2022.

ICE arrested him in Minneapolis on January 20, after he violently resisted (punching/kicking officers and grabbing an ICE officer’s gun holster).

Trump cannot spend the remainder of his term counting the number of the worst of the worst being deported on one hand, and even having many of those deportations hampered.

The time has come to use budget reconciliation to defund any federal court case granting a habeas petition to illegal aliens unless there is a claim the individual is a citizen or of mistaken identity. Why has Trump never supported Texas Republican Rep. Chip Roy’s effort to include this in reconciliation?

RELATED: How Republicans have failed to defund sanctuary cities for a generation

J. David Ake/Getty Images

To the extent this provision was ignored in last year’s bill, it is indefensible not to include it in this year’s bill now that we see deportations being ground to a halt.

Even if Trump or congressional Republicans are squeamish about applying this to every case, at a minimum they must block review of cases involving criminal aliens — at least for lower courts.

The notion that we can rely on the Supreme Court is absurd. Trump has won numerous cases from the Supreme Court on issues pertaining to due process, detention, and bond hearings, yet the lower courts continue to defy those rulings.

Years after the Trump v. Hawaii ruling made it clear the president can suspend immigration and visas from various countries, a new lower court judge issued an injunction against it. The same thing is happening with judges granting Temporary Protected Status despite Supreme Court rulings to the contrary.

So far, in neither Trump term has there been an effort from the White House to use reconciliation or any other must-pass bill to defund sanctuary cities, change any immigration laws, or jurisdiction-strip the courts.

These are all fiscal provisions that should be included in reconciliation. What is the point in throwing funding at ICE if it is legally hampered and the White House continues to abide by lawless lower court orders?

Then again, as we saw with FISA reauthorization, Trump seems to fight for what he wants. Perhaps if conservatives reallocated the defunded monies from sanctuary cities and judges to an ICE ballroom, it would get the attention of the man who promised 10 years ago to end illegal immigration.

​Counterterrorism, Democrat judges, House republicans, Ice funding, Illegal aliens, Illegal immigration, Immigration laws, Lower courts, Mass deportations, Sanctuary cities, Supreme court rulings, Trump administration, White house, Budget reconciliation, Chip roy, Trump, Opinion & analysis