Nearly half a year after the wild success of Fitbit Air, Google’s wearable division just released a second fitness tracker with even more features. Fitbit Edge slots directly between the sleek Air and Pixel Watch as a goldilocks option for many users, but its price could be a deterrent for some.

Fitbit has coasted along since Google acquired it in 2021, releasing iterative updates to its existing trackers but falling short of launching anything groundbreakingly new. That changed this year, when Google introduced the ultra-slim Fitbit Air. During my extensive trial period, I loved Air for its sleek, lightweight, and simple design, though the AI-powered Coach hallucinated too much to be reliable for anything other than a neat toy to play with.

At first glance, Fitbit Edge is poised as an upscaled version of Charge with a bit of design language borrowed from Pixel Watch.

One thing noticeably absent from Fitbit Air was a display. This was by design, of course. Fitbit Air was meant to be a no-muss-no-fuss tracker with as few distractions as possible. No bright lights. No notifications. Instead, it just sits on the wrist, silently collecting data and ushering it into the new Google Health app.

Some users aren’t happy with such a simple device. They want to be able to see their data without grabbing their phone, opening an app, and syncing their tracker. For those users, Fitbit Edge may be a better option.

Fitbit Edge is an entirely brand-new device from Fitbit. It slides directly between the simplified Fitbit Air and the more robust Pixel Watch in both price and features. It also replaces a long-time fan favorite device, the Fitbit Charge, that originally launched in 2014. Rest in peace.

At first glance, Fitbit Edge is poised as an upscaled version of Charge with a bit of design language borrowed from Pixel Watch. Unlike the plastic and fabric that makes up Air, Edge has an oblong aluminum frame that comes in four distinct colors — matte black, satin silver, satin pyrite, and champagne gold — paired with a silicone Active Band in obsidian (black), fog (light blue), olive, and canyon (coral pink). Continuing its partnership with Stephen Curry, Fitbit also offers a Stephen Curry special edition fabric band.

The user interface is extremely simple. There’s only one button on the side that can be used to wake the device, or start and stop workouts. As for the 1.3” AMOLED color display, it’s fully touch compatible, so you can use it to swipe through data as you would on a typical smartwatch.

Google claims Fitbit Edge gets a full seven days of battery life. This will need to be tested after the device launches, but if it’s true, that would put it on par with the Fitbit Air that also achieves approximately seven days per charge. This number is even more impressive with Edge, though, since it also needs more power to light the always-on AMOLED display.

RELATED: Google Health just dropped. Should you trust it with your data?

Zach Laidlaw

When it comes to data duty, Fitbit Edge collects the important metrics you’d expect from a Google fitness tracker — continuous heart rate, oxygen levels, and sleep quality, and it includes an entire array of heart health features, like AFib detection, irregular heart rate notifications, and high/low heart rate alerts.

Google unveiled several new features in August, collectively dubbed Health Guardian, that are built into Fitbit Edge. Insulin resistance trends use heart rate data to look for signs of early blood glucose complications, all without penetrating the skin or requiring a blood sample. Meanwhile, blood pressure trends also use heart rate data to search for potential signs of high blood pressure without requiring a dedicated blood pressure cuff. Health Guardian is coming to Fitbit Air soon, but it will launch on day one with Edge. To get the most out of Health Guardian, however, the entire feature set, with sleep breathing quality thrown in, is reserved for Pixel Watch.

Two things that Fitbit Edge has that Air doesn’t — a built-in GPS sensor and an altimeter. Both can be used during outdoor workouts to map runs and track elevation changes. To get this data with Fitbit Air, you’d need to bring your phone during a workout session, but Edge can gather these on its own.

All of this is meant to prop up Google’s AI-powered Coach that’s built into the Google Health app. After nearly half a year since it launched, Coach is still fundamentally flawed, in that it can occasionally misinterpret data or even hallucinate results, especially if there are gaps in the data. Presumably, Google will improve Coach over time, and while it remains an interesting tool to tinker with, I wouldn’t stake your health on it just yet. Take whatever it says with a grain of salt, at least for now.

If you love Fitbit hardware or software, and you like fitness trackers with built-in displays, Fitbit Edge might just be for you. If you walk or run outside often and you want to map your runs without bringing your phone, Fitbit Edge also might be for you. However, for the vast majority of people who just want a simple fitness tracker that gets the basics right, it’s hard to overlook Fitbit Air, especially at just $99.99.

If the latter sounds more like your speed, check out the latest entry in our long-term Fitbit Air review that covers the device as it ages, as well as any new features and bug fixes that roll out along the way.

As for Fitbit Edge, it’s currently available for preorder at $179.99 — almost double the price of Fitbit Air, just for the privilege of an added display and a couple extra sensors, and $20 more than the defunct Charge 6. Only you can decide if the price is worth it, but to me, it makes Fitbit Air all that much more appealing. Fitbit Edge is expected to ship later this month when devices hit store shelves on Tuesday, October 27.

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​Fitbit, Fitness, Tech, Google 

A Florida female with a blood alcohol content over three times the legal limit tried to pick up a child at an elementary school last week, police said.

A staff member at Wadsworth Elementary School in Palm Coast on Thursday notified a school resource deputy that a woman in the front lobby was trying to pick up a child and appeared impaired, the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office said.

‘Am I in trouble?’

School staff reported that the woman struggled getting in the door, had slurred speech and glassy eyes, and could not legibly write the name of the student she was trying to sign out, authorities said.

Deputies confronted the woman and identified her as Rebecca Beard, 28, of Palm Coast, officials said.

While speaking with Beard, deputies smelled alcohol on her breath and noticed she had slurred speech, was visibly unsteady, and appeared very tired, officials said, adding that Beard told deputies she had taken prescription medication the night before and was drowsy.

Deputies reviewed surveillance video showing her driving in an erratic manner while entering the school’s parking lot, officials said.

Despite her signs of impairment, Beard insisted she was able to drive, so deputies conducted a series of field sobriety exercises, officials said.

“Am I in trouble?” Beard is heard asking deputies on bodycam video prior to the exercise.

During the exercises, deputies observed that Beard repeatedly failed to follow instructions and struggled to maintain her balance — and as a result, deputies determined she couldn’t safely operate a vehicle, officials said.

RELATED: Florida female, 24, allegedly plows into parked car, smacks car’s owner — and her DUI arrest video is a hoot

Deputies arrested Beard for DUI, officials said.

Beard was taken to the Sheriff Perry Hall Inmate Detention Facility, where she provided breath tests, officials said, adding that the first test showed a blood alcohol content of 0.298, and the second showed a blood alcohol content of 0.294.

Deputies determined Beard had driven to the school with a blood alcohol content over three times the legal limit, officials said.

Deputies later searched Beard’s vehicle and found a large empty bottle of vodka under the back passenger seat, officials said.

“This woman endangered all the drivers on the roadway, children and cars on the campus, and had planned to pick up a student and try to drive home drunk, once again endangering everyone,” Sheriff Rick Staly said. “I am thankful that school staff was vigilant and alerted the SRD and deputies so they could intervene. This is a great example of ‘See Something, Say Something’ in action and our school staff and deputies working together to keep our children safe.”

Flagler Schools Superintendent LaShakia Moore added that “we are proud to see our employees putting ‘See Something, Say Something’ to work to help keep our students and our campuses safe. It takes everyone working together to safeguard our amazing students.”

Beard was booked into the Sheriff Perry Hall Inmate Detention Facility, where she was later released on a $1,000 bond, officials said.

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​Drunk driving, Florida, Female, Elementary school, Arrest, Dui, Child, Crime 

Chris D’Elia hates making his material political, and activists hate that.

That’s why when the comedian gave his latest take on the war between Israel and Palestine, he knew it was going to ruffle some feathers.

‘Guys, how can we report him?’

Choose or lose

For years, the New Jersey native has told fans he doesn’t want to use his act to take sides, a policy he reiterated during a recent appearance at the Improv.

“People will be like, ‘You have a following, are you going to say something about Gaza?'” the comedian began.

D’Elia’s reply was short and to the point: “Where’s that?”

When he gets asked, “Well, are you for Palestine or Israel?” D’Elia has a response for that too:

“I don’t watch soccer, I don’t know! I hope they have a good game.”

While the joke killed with the live audience, D’Elia knew what he was getting into when he posted it online:

“I’m sure the comment section below will make us all feel really good and happy,” he wrote.

The social media activists did not disappoint.

RELATED: Iron MAGA? Comedian Chris D’Elia rants that in ‘real life,’ Marvel heroes would all vote GOP

Peanut gallery

“It’s ok to be spineless and stand for nothing,” a Lebanese man said.

“You can be funny and stand for justice at the same time, you do not have to compromise one for the other,” another man, with “FreePalestine” in his profile replied.

“Damn chris been bought out by [Israel],” said another.

“Guys, how can we report him?” asked an Indian man.

Many other comments took D’Elia’s non-stance as a stance in itself, saying they now understood him to be a supporter of Israel.

RELATED: ‘Supergirl’ star proclaims character is ‘probably’ bisexual and definitely doesn’t need a man

Gun nuts

The joke police always come out in full force whenever the comic even broaches the subject of politics, which he does more often than he may be willing to admit.

In January, D’Elia went out on a limb and joked that he thinks all superheroes are secretly Republicans.

“Who’s Republican, dude? Wolverine! Cyclops! Professor X, hello?! You think he’s out there — in his mind, he’s like, ‘But secretly, f**k these woke, white, liberal women.’ Killing them left and right, dude, with his brain.”

Not that D’Elia spares the GOP. Last year, D’Elia caricatured conservatives as trigger-happy gun nuts while recounting being accosted by a liberal petitioner who wanted him to give a signature to support abortion rights.

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​Israel, Palestine, Chris d’elia, Stand-up comedy, Entertainment 

Americans always imagined the future would be filled with flying cars, and now Elon Musk is making that dream a reality.

Alongside designer leader Lars Moravy, Elon unveiled the new Tesla Roadster that can cling to a track upside down using powerful suction fans and pull off stunts with technology borrowed from SpaceX.

“Elon Musk, like a year ago, was talking about this new thing, and he wouldn’t say what it was, but he kind of did. He basically said, ‘Yeah, there’s a flying car coming.’ And so … we got a demonstration,” BlazeTV host Pat Gray says, before playing the clip of the unveiling.

On what resembled a gravity-defying Hot Wheels track, the roadster drove up the track before flipping off and safely landing on the ground.

“We have … a fan suction system on the bottom of the car that can pull up to two G’s in order to make the car go upside down. And then we borrowed some technology from SpaceX to do the rest,” Moravy explained.

“Yeah, I mean, this car really sucks,” Elon joked.

“This car could suck the chrome off a trailer hitch,” he said. “It could suck a tennis ball through a hose pipe. And it could stick upside down. Now, you might say, like, how often do you want to stick upside down in a car, right?”

“Maybe not that often, but it actually has an actual benefit on the track or just driving, where the downforce of the car means you can corner incredibly well. Like you can corner it like it looks like you’re breaking physics because the car sticks to the ground so hard,” he continued.

“It’s going to crush every track record that has ever existed,” he added.

“What damage is that going to do to the roads?” Jeff Fisher asks.

Gray agrees, adding, “That’s what I was wondering, because that’s an issue.”

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​Elon musk, Flying car, Spacex, Tesla, Tesla roadster, Blazetv show 

The WNBA is not enforcing its own rules when it comes to “The Star-Spangled Banner.”

Fans noticed on Monday that for the second straight game, both teams in the WNBA finals fled the court before the national anthem was played.

‘The anthem does not represent freedom, justice, and liberty for all Americans.’

The WNBA finals between the Golden State Valkyries and Atlanta Dream has the league getting widespread attention for all the wrong reasons — again.

Fans and media noticed that the teams headed to their locker rooms before the anthem on Saturday night and were anticipating the same for Game 2 on Monday.

It seemed not even beloved singer Alanis Morissette could keep the teams’ attention, as the Dream were seen walking off the court before her performance, followed by the Valkyries jogging to the locker room as the anthem was starting.

A video from Fox News stated that “both teams” returned to the floor “moments after” the national anthem ended.

Despite zero comment or reprimand from the WNBA, both teams appear to be in direct violation of league rules, which state in the 2026 rule book that the national anthem is to be a “dignified” event:

“Players, coaches, and trainers are to stand and line up in a dignified posture along the sidelines or on the foul line during the playing of the National Anthem,” the rule book reads.

Unfortunately, however, WNBA teams have a storied history of skipping the anthem on a regular basis, with league officials previously signaling that they have no problem with it.

RELATED: Philly women’s sports bar named after transgender activist closes following claims it wasn’t inclusive enough

As reported by the Associated Press, the league suspended its anthem protocol through a memo in 2017, originally in response to seemingly racist events in Charlottesville, Virginia.

It should be noted that in 2026, the Department of Justice charged the Southern Poverty Law Center for allegedly sending more than $270,000 to a person to help plan, and attend, the alleged white nationalist rally.

The Dream have been skipping the anthem frequently in the years since. A set of pregame notes from 2020 highlighted the players’ association’s stance that “the anthem does not represent freedom, justice, and liberty for all Americans” and that players would continue to protest it “in various forms.”

This continued through the 2026 season, even when other teams remained on the court.

The Valkyries, on the other hand, have never taken part in the national anthem since their inaugural 2025 season, the AP reported.

RELATED: Be like Mike: Michael Jordan NBA Finals jersey sells for world-record price at auction

Matthew Huang/Icon Sportswire/Getty Images

The WNBA has stayed silent in the media over the matter, seemingly not responding to any media requests from other outlets.

Blaze News also reached out to the Atlanta Dream and the WNBA for comment and did not receive a response.

Game 3 of the WNBA Finals tips off at 8 p.m. ET on Wednesday. The series is currently tied 1-1.

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​Basketball, Wnba, National anthem, Sports 

SHELBY TOWNSHIP, MICH. — Former Border Patrol Commander Greg Bovino may be retired, but he remains laser-focused on the mass deportation of illegal immigrants.

At the Deportation Celebration on Saturday night in Macomb County, Michigan, a political bellwether, Bovino characterized illegal immigration as “the greatest threat” that America has ever faced.

‘If we can get this 100 million out, I want to be back in on it.’

“When somebody crosses the border illegally, they’re not crossing it just to stay right there at the border,” he explained to James Dickson of Michigan Enjoyer. “They’re coming in … to do something wrong: smuggle drugs, human trafficking. Some try to find work. Some use our social services.”

Bovino assured the crowd that President Donald Trump is the “best” president he has ever worked for and that transitioning from President Joe Biden to Trump in January 2025 was like flipping a “light switch” on border enforcement.

However, Bovino indicated that Trump has gone soft on the issue in recent months, due in part to “poor information” from people who are “not border security professionals.” Bovino even claimed that he has been accused of “letting Trump off the hook” regarding mass deportations, though he remains optimistic that Trump may soon make it a major priority again.

“I’m hearing rumblings, folks, that maybe he is starting to wake up a little,” Bovino added.

RELATED: ‘Stop spreading this garbage’: DHS fires back at Minnesota prosecutor’s ‘unlawful’ investigation into Bovino

Blaze News

In response to a request for comment on some of Bovino’s remarks, White House spokeswoman Lauren Bis told Blaze News:

President Trump stopped the invasion of our country. There has never been a president who has been stronger on border security and immigration enforcement. Thanks to President Trump’s strong immigration enforcement policies, approximately three million illegals have left the United States and zero illegals have been released at the border in 17 months.

Bovino, 56, retired from the Border Patrol after immigration agents fatally shot two agitators in Minnesota back in January. And though he is less than a year away from the mandatory age of retirement at the agency anyway, Bovino suggested he may yet stage a comeback.

“You can get a waiver, even a fossil like me can get a waiver. So I was planning on lobbying the big man hard for a waiver,” he claimed, presumably referring to Trump.

Bovino added that he wants to return to the scene so he can help show 100 million illegal aliens the door. “If we can get this 100 million out, I want to be back in on it,” he said.

When Dickson pressed him on whether returning is a realistic option, Bovino replied, “Oh, absolutely. … It just depends on how serious our politicians are going to go on immigration. If you really want to go serious, then it’s definitely possible.”

In the event a return to federal immigration enforcement does not work out, Bovino confirmed to Blaze News that he may take a different approach and run for political office instead.

“I will run for something if they don’t start mass deportations! That’s the single focus and should be the single focus!” Bovino wrote in a message Monday.

“POTUS or bust,” he added in a follow-up message. The “Senate isn’t quick enough for what [the] country needs.”

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​Border patrol, Greg bovino, Michigan, Mass deportation, Donald trump, Politics 

Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) is crying political persecution after federal agents reportedly searched her Washington, D.C., home — accusing the Trump administration of weaponizing federal law enforcement against its political opponents.

“I’m ok. Make no mistake: this is an attempt to target political enemies and weaponize federal law enforcement. For ten years, Trump has targeted me with baseless lies and smear campaigns. This is just the latest escalation in his campaign of political intimidation. I will not be silenced,” Omar said in a post on X.

“She will not be silenced,” BlazeTV host Stu Burguiere mocks.

“No, she will not be when it matters,” co-host Dave Landau says, joking, “We all leared something new.”

“The most likely scenario multiple people claimed is that immigration cops are looking into a long-floated rumor that Omar is actually one year older than she has long claimed to be. A tiny detail that may put her citizenship in jeopardy,” Stu explains, reading from a New York Post article.

“The issue here is that if she came as a child, she would be automatically a citizen because she came at least as far as this particular part of the law goes. If she’s 18, she would have a different set of restrictions and actually could be deported, which of course is definitely what Donald Trump wants to do,” Stu explains.

“Now he’s not necessarily saying that he had anything to do with this. In fact, he’s saying he didn’t,” he adds, playing a clip of Trump commenting on the situation.

“Well, I understand they’re looking at her very carefully, I’ve always found her to be totally crooked personally, but that has nothing to do with me. I think she’s a terrible person, just a complainer. She comes from a country that is a non-country. And then she comes over here and she complains about our Constitution,” Trump said.

“I think she’s a terrible person but that’s really up to the DOJ,” he added.

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani does not share Trump’s sentiment.

“This morning, the federal government turned the full force of the Department of Homeland Security against a sitting member of Congress for the offense of disagreeing with the White House. The path to citizenship should not be weaponized against anyone, including Rep. Ilhan Omar, a naturalized American who swore an oath to this country — the same one that I took,” Mamdani wrote in a post on X.

“The promise of citizenship should not be contingent on someone agreeing with the federal government,” he added.

“Another thing that shouldn’t happen is the New York City mayor commenting on an issue, a local Minnesota issue about a congresswoman who’s from Minnesota,” Su says.

“It’s got nothing, literally, nothing to do with Mayor Mamdani other than the fact that they share socialism as their religion and a false god,” he adds.

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​Donald trump, Ilhan omar, Immigration, Raid, Stu burguiere, Dave landau, Blazetv show 

Democrat Ohio gubernatorial candidate Amy Acton is leading Republican Vivek Ramaswamy in the polls by 3.6 percentage points with Election Day just two weeks away. It appears, however, that Acton’s mother may have thrown Ramaswamy a lifeline.

D.J. Byrnes, an Ohio political blogger who was found guilty of sexual harassment earlier this month for sending a pornographic image of Shrek to Republican state Sen. Jerry Cirino, reported last week on “rumblings” that Ramaswamy had “co-opted Dr. Amy Acton’s estranged mother for an endorsement video.”

‘If you think she’ll make your life better, you’re fooling yourself.’

Ohio Gubernatorial polls 2026: Acton vs. Ramaswamy.pollwatch.theblaze.com

On Monday night, an X account affiliated with Byrnes shared a minute-long ad featuring a woman who identifies herself as Donna Arthur, “Amy Acton’s mother.” Acton’s campaign confirmed that the woman in the video is the Democrat’s mother.

Acton’s mother states in the video:

I love my daughter, but when I saw her lying about her opponent, and it’s not easy for a mother to say this, but Amy has a serious problem. She is a liar. She lies about her past. She says she grew up living in a tent. None of that is true.

Acton, the former director of the Ohio Department of Health who earned the moniker “Dr. Lockdown” by curtailing basic liberties during the pandemic in the Buckeye State, has long shared a bootstrap sob story about growing up in a dysfunctional family from Youngstown, living in a tent, alleged molestation, and moving around the country.

“Homelessness is an issue that is very near and dear to my heart,” the Democrat told the Toledo Blade in 2020. “It is something I experienced as a kid.”

Acton said in a 2020 interview with WKBN-TV that she lived in 18 different places by the time she was 12; was stigmatized as a child because she was “dirty and smelly”; and was fed by strangers who knew that she and her brother “were hungry.”

RELATED: Senior Michigan Democrats make announcement sure to give El-Sayed an ulcer: ‘Party loyalty is not blind obedience’

Jon Cherry/Getty Images

The pro-abortion Democrat’s campaign site presently claims that “Amy Acton faced a difficult childhood. She overcame periods of abuse, hunger, and neglect, and even wound up living in a tent in the middle of winter. That challenging upbringing molded the values and determination that have shaped a career dedicated to lifting others.”

“She’s lied her entire life,” Arthur says in the video.

“My daughter needs help, and she can’t help you if she needs help herself. People can change, but first they have to tell the truth, and my daughter still isn’t doing that,” Arthur continues. “Don’t vote for people who lie. Don’t let her become your governor. If you think she’ll make your life better, you’re fooling yourself. It will only get worse.”

Ramaswamy’s campaign and Arthur did not respond by deadline to Blaze News’ requests for comment.

The Acton campaign has released a statement from Acton’s brother, Philip Stearns, noting, “It’s not surprising that Vivek Ramaswamy has stooped to such a despicable low as to attempt to turn the sexual abuse Amy endured at 12 years old from our birth mother’s husband into a political talking point.”

“After he was arrested and Amy and I were removed from their custody, our birth mother stayed married to Amy’s rapist until he died,” continued Stearns. “This desperate, disgusting attack reveals exactly who Vivek Ramaswamy is at his core — a pathetic excuse for a man who is willing to hurt anyone as long as it gets him what he wants.”

Acton’s estranged mother has previously cast doubt on the Democrat’s origin story.

Donna Arthur told the pro-life organization Operation Rescue in 2020 that after leaving Acton’s biological father because he was allegedly abusive, she was a single mom for several years.

During this time, Arthur claimed that her family was never homeless and always fed. She claimed further that instead of living in 18 locations, they lived in only four homes until her remarriage, after which time there were only two additional moves.

A cleaner version of the video was shared by Walter Curt, Ohio state director of the Conservative Caucus, and has since gone viral online.

Conservative author Rod Dreher wrote, “Well, I guess that’s one lady who’s not going to get a Mother’s Day card next year! Holy cow!”

Former Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell noted, “Nobody enjoys hearing a mother say these things about her child. Arthur says she loves her daughter, and there is no reason to doubt her. Speaking out against your own child in a statewide race carries a heavy personal cost, and Arthur chose to bear it anyway.”

“Ohio cannot afford a governor who rewrites her own history when it suits her,” continued Blackwell. “The woman who has known Amy Acton longer than anyone is warning that she does.”

Arthur’s claims about her daughter needing help come a month after a Washington Examiner report highlighted concerns about Acton’s mental stability in her previous role as Ohio’s top health official.

According to interviews with current and former state government workers, Acton allegedly: missed so many crucial meetings about COVID while director of the Ohio Department of Health that Republican Gov. Mike DeWine asked about her whereabouts; was once found “curled up” in the fetal position on the floor prior to an emergency response meeting; was observed “constantly crying on the job”; and “acted passive-aggressively toward subordinates who said something she disagreed with.”

The Acton campaign denied the claims in the Examiner report, calling them “disgusting lies and desperate mischaracterizations.”

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​Amy acton, Ohio, Vivek ramaswamy, Politics 

I went to see Peter Thiel deliver one of his “Antichrist” lectures in Nashville, Tennessee, recently.

It was held in the Grand Lodge of the Masonic Temple of Freemasons, a beautiful old building just up the street from Nashville’s famous Broadway strip.

To my right were two enthusiastic Indian men in their mid-20s. I didn’t talk to them, but they seemed like girls at a Taylor Swift concert.

Doors opened at five, the lecture started at six. I wanted to be there early for maximum people-watching. I was curious who exactly was going to these lectures.

Peter Thiel was a member of the original “PayPal mafia,” so he’s of obvious interest to techies. Since PayPal, he’s continued to build and invest in other tech projects, most recently Palantir, which has been controversial. (Some people worry about its surveillance possibilities.)

Thiel is also a notable conservative and has generously contributed to like-minded political and cultural causes. Rumors often swirl among right-leaning creatives and artists, who among them might be getting precious “Thiel bucks.”

Apocalypse-maxxing

But now, with his fortune made and his iconic status locked in, Thiel had branched out into a new area: religious and philosophical discourse.

In his “Antichrist” lectures, Thiel was discussing the philosophical ramifications of a world dictator — as described in the New Testament — who would inevitably rise up in a climate of constant fearmongering and societal decline.

So would the attendees of Thiel’s lectures be students of philosophy and biblical history? Well, probably not.

I suspected most Thiel fans were still mostly fascinated by his vast wealth and technological genius, his relationship with Elon Musk, his thoughts on late-Trumpism. Things like that.

But if he wanted to talk about Aristotle and biblical prophecy, well OK, they were willing to hear about that.

Young and conservative in America

I pulled up in my Uber in front of the Grand Lodge. Attendees were mingling on the steps outside, along with an impressive amount of security personnel.

As with most conservative events, there were a lot of young men dressed in coats and ties. They too were gathered on the front stairs, as cars and ride-shares pulled up, delivering more guests for the event. It looked a little like a movie premiere at times.

I passed through security and entered the building. Inside, there was more security and an airport-style screening machine. More young men in coats and ties were gathered there as well.

I noticed how happy everyone looked. For these guys, living under the constant weight of wokeism (even in Tennessee), tonight was a moment of unity and camaraderie.

You could see it in their faces. What a relief it was to come together like this. Especially around a figure like Peter Thiel, a shining example of conservative competence, excellence, and success.

VIP seating

I eventually made it to my seat in the VIP section. I introduced myself to the man on my left. He was a pastor and had recently run for governor in his state but lost in the Republican primary.

To my right were two enthusiastic Indian men in their mid-20s. I didn’t talk to them, but they seemed like girls at a Taylor Swift concert, anxious and impatient to see their hero in the flesh.

I have to admit, I was excited too. It was fun being in that room. I kept scanning the audience. Smart, good-looking people everywhere. Everyone buzzing with anticipation …

White vs. black

Without fanfare, Thiel came to the podium and began his talk. People settled in. He mostly read his lecture, which wasn’t ideal, but he was engaging. And there were some funny bits.

I found his attire interesting. He was dressed all in white: white T-shirt, white skinny jeans, futuristic white sneakers. What does that mean? I wondered.

For that matter, why is the Antichrist such an important concept for Thiel? How does it relate to him?

Leftist critics say these lectures are a way for Thiel to strike back at those who would try to restrict Palantir. Others wonder if Thiel will become an “Antichrist” himself, if Palantir becomes an invasive surveillance apparatus.

Either way, if he’s dressing all in white, Thiel must think of himself as the “good guy.”

Remembrance of things past

Another thought I had: Peter Thiel was a philosophy major at Stanford as an undergrad, after which he went to Stanford Law School, where he began his pursuit of money, power, and influence.

What if now that he has achieved so much, he feels isolated and alone and nostalgic for his pre-celebrity youth?

What if the best memories of his life were those years at Stanford, where, while still a teenager, he spent late nights with his fellow philosophy students talking about “stoicism” and “ethics” and “the ultimate purpose of life”?

What if those undergrad days were the last moments of innocence and genuine intellectual curiosity he had before feeding himself into the capitalist technology machine?

Maybe this lecture series was his attempt to return to those carefree days, when he didn’t have to travel with a security detail, before he was forced into the technocratic hero/villain roles he will never escape.

Maybe Peter Thiel wants to be 19 again. A student. A lover of knowledge. Without all the baggage his fame and fortune have forced on him.

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