After a midair collision and a train derailment, Congress faces a simple test: Will it follow the evidence?

In aviation, the Senate’s ROTOR Act would mandate improved aircraft surveillance technology after last year’s deadly midair collision involving a military helicopter and a passenger jet. Yet earlier this month, the House failed to advance the bill after Pentagon opposition — sidelining broader use of Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast, a system that likely would have prevented that tragedy.

Rail risks being locked into prescriptive labor mandates, while aviation safety is undermined by incomplete adoption of proven technology. Neither sector is getting what it needs.

At the same time, a group of senators reintroduced the Railway Safety Act, branding it “data-driven” while again pushing minimum crew mandates — despite no empirical evidence that larger crews reduce accident rates — in response to the 2023 East Palestine derailment.

The impulse is understandable. When tragedy strikes, Washington acts. But acting quickly is not the same as acting on evidence.

If safety is truly the goal, Congress needs to ask a harder question: What actually reduces risk?

The data point in a clear direction. Human error dominates transportation accidents. And the most consistent safety gains in modern transport have come not from adding more people into systems but from improving system design, automation, and structured safety management.

Human error is the core problem

In 2024, roughly 40,000 Americans died in motor vehicle crashes — far outpacing most developed countries on a per-capita basis, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

By contrast, aviation and rail — sectors that have embraced automation and safety management systems — post dramatically lower fatality rates. Commercial aviation in developed countries now experiences fatal accidents at rates below 0.1 per million departures. Federal Railroad Administration data show train accident rates have fallen 33% since 2005, with derailments down significantly and human-factor incidents continuing to decline.

The lesson is straightforward: When systems are designed to reduce human error, safety improves.

RELATED: Female Black Hawk pilot didn’t follow orders before horrific crash: Report

Photo by Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images

Automation works — with caveats

Fully autonomous and semi-autonomous vehicle systems have posted lower crash rates in controlled environments. These results require continued scrutiny and larger data sets, but the direction is clear: Reducing reliance on human reaction time reduces collisions.

The same logic applies in aviation and rail.

Automation now governs the vast majority of routine commercial flight operations. Positive train control has sharply reduced train-on-train collisions and overspeed derailments.

Consider last year’s midair collision. Broader, uninterrupted use of ADS-B In and Out would have provided precise real-time traffic awareness to pilots and controllers. The technology exists to prevent exactly this type of conflict, a point highlighted in the BlazeTV documentary “Countdown to the Next Aviation Disaster,” which presaged the January 2025 Reagan National Airport tragedy. Yet expanded deployment has failed to advance despite bipartisan Senate support.

In rail, meanwhile, some lawmakers are moving in the opposite direction — toward mandates for more personnel.

Symbolic safety vs. structural safety

The East Palestine derailment stemmed from a mechanical failure — an overheated bearing — not a shortage of crew members. There were three crew members on board.

Adding personnel would not have prevented a bearing from overheating. Predictive maintenance systems, sensor networks, and better data integration are the tools designed to catch precisely that kind of failure.

Yet the RSA would codify minimum crew requirements across freight rail operations, regardless of route, cargo type, or level of automation.

This isn’t primarily about risk analysis. It reflects political incentives.

Organized interests exert concentrated influence. Diffuse beneficiaries — consumers, shippers, taxpayers — do not.

Labor interests can organize to protect jobs. The Pentagon can block safety rules it opposes. But the public — which wants safer transportation — is too diffuse to mobilize around specific, technical policy choices. The result is a grab bag of special-interest “safety” measures rather than coherent, risk-targeted reform.

RELATED: Trucks destroy roads, but railroads — yes, rail! — can save taxpayers billions

Photo by Brandon Bell/Getty Images

Focus on what works

Freight railroads in the United States are privately funded and capital intensive, investing billions annually in track upgrades, advanced detection systems, and predictive maintenance. Rail remains one of the safest ways to move goods over land because sustained technological improvement compounds over time.

By contrast, the Federal Aviation Administration — a government-run system — has struggled to modernize needed surveillance and air-traffic technologies at speed and at scale. In civil aviation, the FAA has deployed ADS-B across controlled airspace, dramatically improving traffic surveillance and situational awareness. But gaps remain where some defense aviation actors are not required to fully transmit or receive ADS-B data.

Rail now risks being locked into prescriptive labor mandates, while aviation safety is undermined by incomplete adoption of proven collision-avoidance technology. Neither sector is getting the policy it needs.

As Congress considers the RSA, lawmakers should prioritize provisions that directly reduce accident probability. Decades of transportation data point to a consistent lesson: Safety improves when systems are engineered to anticipate and correct human limitations — not when policymakers assume more humans automatically mean more safety. One-size-fits-all crew mandates don’t meet that test.

Nor should Washington abandon expansion of ADS-B and other proven collision-avoidance technologies. The system exists to prevent the very type of tragedy we witnessed. It shouldn’t take another collision for Congress to act.

The evidence isn’t ambiguous. Technology-driven risk reduction works. Symbolic mandates do not. If lawmakers are serious about safety, they need to focus on what demonstrably prevents accidents — and have the discipline to follow the data.

​Train crash, Plane crash, Congress, East palestine disaster, Midair collision, Railroads, Faa, Opinion & analysis, Derailment, Derailing trains, Rotor act, Automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast, Transportation, Safety, Technology, Automation, Human error, Rail safety act 

A former middle school teacher was arrested for allegedly running prostitution parties at his home in a suburb of Rochester, New York.

Investigators cited emails from 66-year-old Eric Simpson showing that he charged people for the parties at his home on Canandaigua Road in Macedon from 2021 until Dec. 2025, according to a press release from the Western New York District of the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

‘Mr. Simpson was subject to a required background check and employment screening, including fingerprinting and a check of the New York State Sex Offender Registry.’

Prosecutors said the home was utilized for “commercial sex transactions” between numerous sex workers and clients.

“Simpson regularly promoted, managed, and carried on prostitution parties, arranging to have commercial sex workers present and available to perform commercial sex acts with himself and with those he invited to the parties,” the press release reads.

Prosecutors said Simpson was known as “Major Hands.”

In addition to the parties, prosecutors said Simpson “promoted, established, and carried on” meetings between prostitutes and their clients at the home even when he was not present.

In the marketing emails the former teacher sent out, he advertised the number of prostitutes that would be at his home, often refer to them by name, and would indicate where people could park to attend the parties, according to prosecutors. He would direct customers to negotiate “donations” to the “dancers.”

A statement from the North Rose-Wolcott Central School District indicated that he worked there as a technology teacher from August 2024 until he resigned in January 2026.

“As with all employees, Mr. Simpson was subject to a required background check and employment screening, including fingerprinting and a check of the New York State Sex Offender Registry, which came through with approval from the New York State Education Department,” the district said.

“The charge against Mr. Simpson involves alleged conduct that occurred outside of his capacity as an employee of the District, and we have no reason to believe an investigation would involve his work with North Rose-Wolcott,” the district added. “However, the District will fully cooperate with law enforcement in their investigation if asked. The safety of our students, staff, and community is our top priority.”

The Gananda Central School District also said he worked there as a substitute teacher from September 2020 to June 2022 and from September 2022 to August 2024 as a middle school computer science teacher.

RELATED: Middle school assistant principal allegedly tried to pay for sex with 13-year-old — but it was a sting operation

An online listing for the home indicates that it has six bedrooms.

Simpson was released by U.S. Magistrate Judge Jeremiah J. McCarthy after arraignment on conditions that were not disclosed.

Macedon is a small town of about 9,000 residents located on the Erie Canal between Rochester and Syracuse.

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​Eric simpson prostitution charges, Prostitution parties in macedon, Middle school teacher prostitution, Macedon near rochester, Crime 

If you’ve flown out of a Texas airport lately, you’ve felt it: longer security lines, missed flights, and mounting frustration. Texans aren’t alone. Airports across the country are snarled, especially as spring break gets under way.

Why the hassle? Democrats in Washington have refused to fund the Department of Homeland Security and the Transportation Security Administration, causing mayhem at the departure gate. The fallout is hitting travelers first.

As this shutdown drags on, more employees are calling off or quitting for steadier work — which only worsens staffing shortages and delays.

This marks the third funding lapse in six months. Instead of doing their job, Democrats are using the DHS as leverage to undermine President Trump and stall the work Americans elected him to do.

The consequences are immediate. More than 95% of TSA employees are working without pay during this shutdown. Many have taken second jobs to cover basic bills. At the same time, the TSA has cut staffing, which means fewer screeners and longer lines — even as the security mission stays the same.

In Texas, wait times have reportedly reached three hours at some airports over the past week. That translates into real costs: lost time, missed flights, and families stranded because Congress can’t pass a basic funding bill.

And this chaos could end overnight. Congress could fund the government and get the DHS back to work. Instead, Democrats are choosing disruption — and putting national security at risk — to block Trump’s mandate to secure the border, end illegal immigration, and Make America Safe Again.

TSA employees have seen this movie before. During the 43-day shutdown in 2025, some slept in their cars to make ends meet. As this shutdown drags on, more employees are calling off or quitting for steadier work — which only worsens staffing shortages and delays.

RELATED: Spring break blues: DHS highlights outrageous airport conditions amid Democrat shutdown

Mark Felix/Bloomberg via Getty Images

The TSA isn’t the only agency taking the hit. The Coast Guard, housed within the DHS, has more than 7,000 employees going without pay and roughly 3,000 furloughed. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency has furloughed about 65% of its staff. FEMA is also feeling strain as its Disaster Relief Fund drains, threatening the agency’s ability to support state and local recovery efforts.

This shutdown burdens Americans, weakens our security, and undercuts the people responsible for protecting the nation.

President Trump and Republicans won in 2024 with a clear mandate. DHS employees are trying to carry it out. Congress should not sabotage them.

Enough. Democrats must stop holding national security hostage and fund the DHS now. Anything less betrays the American people.

​Tsa, Dhs, Government shutdown, Trump, Democrats, Gop, Democrat shutdown, Missing flights, Airports, Coast guard, Opinion & analysis, Transportation security administration, Department of homeland security, Delayed flight 

Immediately after the U.S. and Israel launched joint strikes on Iran in late February, a mysterious shortwave radio signal began broadcasting coded messages in Farsi. Twice daily, a man’s voice reads groups of seemingly random numbers — an old Cold War-era spy tactic rarely seen in recent decades. As of now, no one knows for certain who’s behind it.

To dive deeper into this curious resurgence of a classic espionage method, Glenn Beck speaks with his chief researcher and former Department of Defense intelligence analyst, Jason Buttrill.

Numbers stations, Buttrill explains, were “something that was used for very highly sensitive communications that one country — whether it was NATO country, U.S., or the Soviet Union — would send out all over the world.”

“People always kind of assumed it was meant for maybe sleeper agents or instructions for people outside the country to do something. … The numbers could represent words out of books or who knows what. But you’re not going to be able to break it very easily, if at all,” he adds.

What makes the numbers station currently broadcasting in Iran so suspicious, he says, is that we have no idea who’s behind it.

“We don’t know if the Iranians started this broadcasting that’s meant to go out of the country, or if this was something like a psy-op that we did, trying to broadcast in Farsi numbers into the country,” Buttrill tells Glenn.

Somebody, however — whether the U.S. or Iran — is actively trying to stop these communications because “five days after this started, … somebody tried to jam this signal,” he says.

“The jamming would take a state actor, right?” Glenn asks.

“Typically, yes, a state actor — someone with the means — but that would usually be, like, a nation-state,” Buttrill responds.

“Or, you know, Bezos or Elon Musk or somebody who now has more money than the United States will ever have,” Glenn quips.

In the next part of the show, Glenn and Buttrill address the broader developments and strategic implications of the ongoing conflict in Iran. To hear it, 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.

​The glenn beck program, Glenn beck, Blazetv, Blaze media, Iran war, Iran strikes, Numbers stations, Jason buttrill 

Democrats can learn. Political survival demands adaptation, and lately some on the left have started studying their Republican opponents with something like anthropological curiosity. They watch Republicans work a crowd and ask a practical question: What works?

One answer keeps recurring. Republicans like to quote the Bible.

Christians should stay alert. Not everyone who borrows the language of faith speaks truth.

You can picture the light-bulb moment. A candidate cites Scripture. The audience nods. Somewhere, a strategist thinks: Let’s find a guy who can do that for us.

Enter James Talarico, the Texas Democrat nominee for U.S. Senate who quotes Scripture all day long.

That tactic may sway voters who enjoy hearing a verse, even when it gets pulled out of context to bless ideas Scripture condemns. Christians who know their Bibles will spot the move fast.

Jesus warned about this exact type: “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits.”

A Bible verse proves nothing by itself. Wolves can quote Scripture, too. So can the devil.

The question is what the verse is being used to defend.

The abortion argument

Talarico claims Genesis 2:7 teaches that a human being becomes alive, and worthy of legal protection, only at first breath.

Wrong. The verse describes Adam’s creation. God formed the first man from dust and then breathed life into him. That account does not describe ordinary human development in the womb. It describes a singular act of creation.

Every other human life begins at conception. A distinct organism exists from that point, with its own DNA and its own trajectory of development. Scripture treats unborn children as living persons. Psalm 139:13-16 speaks of God knitting a child together in the womb.

Even if someone granted Talarico’s “first breath” premise for argument’s sake, the logic collapses quickly into moral absurdity. It pushes abortion right up to delivery. Some activists embrace that conclusion. Most Americans recoil, however, because they sense the truth: Killing a fully formed child moments before birth differs only in location from killing the same child moments after birth.

The ‘nonbinary God’ argument

Talarico also claims God is “nonbinary,” as if that settles the modern LGBTQ agenda.

God has no biological sex. God is spirit. That does not erase the created order for human beings.

Scripture speaks plainly: God created humanity male and female. Genesis 1:27 teaches it. Jesus repeats it when he addresses marriage: “From the beginning of the creation, God ‘made them male and female.’”

Christian teaching on marriage does not float as an arbitrary rule. It rests on creation itself, and Jesus affirms it.

RELATED: Talarico self-owns when he warns fascism will ‘be wrapped in the flag and carrying the cross’

Photo by Gabriel V. Cardenas/Bloomberg via Getty Images

The rainbow vs. the Ten Commandments

Talarico asks why a rainbow flag in a classroom counts as indoctrination while posting the Ten Commandments does not.

The answer isn’t complicated. The Ten Commandments summarize foundational moral truths about God, human life, and justice. They shaped the moral vocabulary of Western civilization for centuries.

The rainbow flag represents a moral program that rejects the biblical account of sex, marriage, and human nature. The two messages do not belong in the same moral category.

Fruit tells the truth

Jesus gave a practical test for identifying false teachers: Look at the fruit.

When someone uses Scripture to justify abortion or to deny the created order of male and female, the fruit shows itself. The apostle Peter warned about this kind of manipulation: “Untaught and unstable people twist [the Scriptures] to their own destruction.”

Christians should not get impressed because a politician can quote a verse. Even Satan did.

The question is whether the Bible is being handled faithfully or weaponized to sanctify fashionable sins.

Stay awake

Christians should stay alert. Not everyone who borrows the language of faith speaks truth.

Know the word of God. Test what you hear against it. Teach your children to do the same.

That’s how you recognize wolves, even when they show up in sheep’s clothing with a Bible in hand.

​Opinion & analysis, First amendment, Freedom of religion, Bible, Truth, James talarico, God is nonbinary, Fascism, Patriotism, Genesis, Abortion, Sin, Christianity, The devil, Satan, Scripture, Pride flag, Education, Ten commandments, Transgender agenda, Leftism, False prophets, Faith, Democrats