Either hell froze over, or Apple finally listened to its users for once.

Following a wave of legibility complaints about Liquid Glass, the iPhone maker released an update that ditches the transparent layers for something much easier on the eyes. To get the Liquid Glass fix, all you need is your iPhone, the latest version of iOS 26.1, and a quick tweak to your display settings.

RIP Liquid Glass, 2025–2025. We won’t miss you.

We sounded the alarm on Liquid Glass when iOS 26 first landed in September. For reasons only Apple’s design team can understand, it launched with transparent layers that made text difficult to read, especially in the Notification Center and Control Center. Back then, the only fix was to “Reduce Transparency” via the Accessibility settings, a feature that was really only meant for folks with visual impairments, not for the masses.

One month later, a permanent fix is out, and you can try it right now.

The new setting comes with iOS 26.1, and it goes a step further than a simple transparency reduction, bringing back the old frosted glass layers of iOS 18 that you know and love. After you turn it on, your phone will look much more familiar, not to mention you won’t have to squint at your screen nearly as often.

How to disable Liquid Glass in iOS 26.1

The new feature is called Tinted Liquid Glass. To enable it, open the Settings app on your iPhone. Scroll down to Display & Brightness and tap into the next pane. From there, find the Liquid Glass section. The default option is Clear mode, but you can change it over to Tinted with a couple taps. Follow the red arrows:

Screenshots by Zach Laidlaw

That’s it! The transparent layers of Liquid Glass are now banished to the furthest reaches of your iPhone, never to be seen again — exactly the way it should be. RIP Liquid Glass, 2025–2025. We won’t miss you.

The iPhone isn’t the only Apple device that gets some relief. Tinted Liquid Glass is also available on iPads running iPadOS 26.1, and the steps to enable it are the same. Make sure you turn it on over there too for instant eye relief.

Pro tip: If you previously enabled “Reduce Transparency” in iOS 26 or iPadOS 26 last month, make sure you turn it off, otherwise you won’t see the full effect of the new Tinted Liquid Glass. Simply follow our step-by-step guide to undo it.

Liquid Glass isn’t dead dead

As fun as it would be to get rid of Liquid Glass entirely, you’ll still find pieces of it on your phone after the newest update. The Tinted setting removes those unsightly transparent panes that have tortured your eyes for the last month, but it doesn’t take away the other UI elements sprinkled throughout the operating system, like the liquid bubble icons, fancy light refractions, and bloopy animations. Those are all here to stay. Still, a win is a win, and it’s great to get back the frosted look from the previous iOS generation.

More changes to come?

The addition of a Tinted Liquid Glass option might not seem like a big deal on the surface, but it’s actually a huge shift in the way Apple does business. Historically, the company holds firm on its hardware and software decisions, a philosophy held by the late Steve Jobs, who once said, “People don’t know what they want until you show it to them.” Rarely does Apple cave to user feedback.

RELATED: Apple is falling — is the smartphone next?

Photo by Jaap Arriens/NurPhoto via Getty Images

Tinted Liquid Glass is a silent admission that Apple was wrong to force such a polarizing design on its users. It’s also proof that Apple no longer discards fervent customer feedback like it has in the past. This new version of Apple can be swayed by public criticism, opening the door for future changes if and when it makes another design choice that doesn’t bode well with users.

Leave a comment below if there’s something you hate about iOS 26 or Liquid Glass. We’d love to hear about it.

Download iOS 26.1 now

Tinted Liquid Glass isn’t the only feature to look forward to in iOS 26.1. The latest update comes with some other notable changes and bug fixes, including improved alarm controls, song-switching gestures in Apple Music, and customizable workout plans in the Fitness app.

To grab the latest update, open the Settings app on your iPhone, tap on General, then dive into the Software Update section. Pull down on the page to refresh if the screen is blank, and install iOS 26.1. After that, circle back to the middle of this article and follow the steps to get rid of those transparent Liquid Glass layers for good. Your eyes will thank you.

​Tech, Apple, Liquid glass, Ios 

When Disney-owned ABC briefly pulled Jimmy Kimmel off the air over comments he made about the assassination of Charlie Kirk, “Star Wars” actor Oscar Isaac took it personally.

In an interview with GQ magazine, Isaac was asked what his stance was on returning to “Star Wars” — and while he recently claimed to be on board with starring in the franchise again, things changed after Kimmel’s removal from the air.

“Yeah. I mean … I’d be open to it, although right now I’m not so open to working with Disney. But if they can figure it out and not succumb to fascism, that would be great,” Isaac said.

“If that happens, then yeah, I’d be open to having a conversation about a galaxy far away,” he added.

“What universe am I living in that now Hollywood is saying that Disney are fascists because, of course, the ABC thing and suspending Jimmy Kimmel? And so now, Oscar Isaac, who, you know, just made, what, $2 million off of ‘Star Wars,’ $6 million off of ‘Moon Knight,’ I’m told,” BlazeTV host Sara Gonzales says.

“Now he has morals and standards,” she adds.

“The funny thing,” BlazeTV contributor Matthew Marsden says, “is that’s an absolute bait and switch right there, what he was doing, because he knows that the series that he was in was terrible and that ‘Star Wars’ was ruined and nobody likes it.”

Want more from Sara Gonzales?

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​Video phone, Sharing, Camera phone, Upload, Free, Video, Youtube.com, Sara gonzales unfiltered, Sara gonzales, The blaze, Blazetv, Blaze news, Blaze podcasts, Balze podcast network, Blaze media, Blaze online, Blaze originals, Oscar isaac, Star wars, Jimmy kimmel, Disney, Fascism, Fascist 

A spokesperson for Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania says that the Democrat has been hospitalized after falling while on a morning walk.

Fetterman was quoted as joking about the injury to his face in the statement released Thursday.

Fetterman is said to be doing well and opted to stay at the hospital so that doctors can ‘fine-tune’ his medicinal regimen.

“During an early-morning walk, Senator Fetterman sustained a fall near his home in Braddock. Out of an abundance of caution, he was transported to a hospital in Pittsburgh,” read the statement.

He is receiving routine observation at the hospital.

“Upon evaluation, it was established he had a ventricular fibrillation flare-up that led to Senator Fetterman feeling light-headed, falling to the ground, and hitting his face, with minor injuries,” the spokesperson added.

Fetterman is said to be doing well and opted to stay at the hospital so that doctors can “fine-tune” his medicinal regimen.

A comment from the senator was included: “If you thought my face looked bad before, wait until you see it now!”

RELATED: Liberals viciously attack Sen. John Fetterman for defending ICE: ‘F**k you, f**k your mom, your family’

Fetterman is one of the few Democrats who split from the party to vote to reopen the government after a budget impasse shut it down.

This is an developing story, and additional information may be added.

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​John fetterman, Fetterman injured, Senator falls, Democrat hospitalized, Politics 

A Tuesday American Airlines flight carrying several members of Congress was abruptly diverted over a “disruptive passenger.”

‘Law enforcement met the flight and removed the customer, and the flight later re-departed for DCA, where it landed normally.’

The flight took off from Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport in Arizona and was en route to Washington, D.C. Roughly two hours and 41 minutes into the flight, the pilots diverted the plane to Kansas City International Airport.

U.S. Reps. from Arizona Greg Stanton (D), Eli Crane (R), Andy Biggs (R), and Paul Gosar (R) were passengers on the interrupted flight.

“Flying to DC rn to vote no on CR that fails to lower health care costs. @RepEliCrane, @RepAndyBiggsAZ & @RepGosar all on this flight,” Stanton wrote on X. “We’re making [an] emergency stop in Kansas City to remove [a] disruptive passenger. None of my colleagues is the disruptor. Freedom Caucus losing its mojo.”

Stanton thanked Kansas City police for “handling the situation professionally and without incident.”

RELATED: FAA cancels hundreds of flights, sparking holiday travel concerns amid ongoing Democrat shutdown

Rep. Greg Stanton. Photographer: Graeme Sloan/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Adam Burtner, a passenger on the flight, responded to Stanton’s X thread with a video showing an unidentified woman being escorted off the flight by a police officer. Right before exiting the plane, she stated, “Sorry, folks. We live in a fascist state.”

American Airlines confirmed that the flight was diverted due to a “disruptive passenger.” However, the details of the incident are unclear.

RELATED: Trump officially ends ‘pathetic’ Democrats’ record-breaking shutdown

Rep. Andy Biggs. Photo by Kent Nishimura/Getty Images

“On Nov. 11, American Airlines flight 1218, with service from Phoenix (PHX) to Washington, D.C. (DCA) diverted to Kansas City (MCI) due to a disruptive customer,” the airline told KSHB. “Law enforcement met the flight and removed the customer, and the flight later re-departed for DCA, where it landed normally. We thank our customers for their patience and our crew members for their professionalism.”

Burtner claimed that the woman said she was removed for taking a photograph of one of the lawmakers.

“Since there is some confusion on what she said, it’s as follows: ‘I took a picture of someone and they didn’t want me to tweet it.’ (Picture of a congressman aboard the flight.),” Burtner wrote.

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​News, American airlines, Flight, Washington dc, Dc, Phoenix, Arizona, Greg stanton, Eli crane, Andy biggs, Paul gosar, Politics 

Secretary of State Marco Rubio called out European officials on Wednesday for criticizing America’s self-defense while expecting the U.S. to provide military support for their own.

The Trump administration has obliterated at least 19 alleged narco-terrorist drug boats since Sept. 2 with the stated aim of “protecting the homeland and killing these cartel terrorists who wish to harm our country and its people.”

‘I don’t think that the European Union gets to determine … how the United States defends its national security.’

President Donald Trump has suggested that each drug boat vaporized by U.S. fighter jets, AC-130J gunships, and drones amounts to 25,000 American lives saved.

— (@)

A day after War Secretary Pete Hegseth announced that the U.S. had sunk an additional two boats in the Eastern Pacific, altogether killing six alleged narco-terrorists, French foreign minister Jean-Noel Barrot joined the chorus of foreign dignitaries who have been complaining about the strikes.

Barrot reportedly said at the G7 summit on Tuesday, “We have observed with concern the military operations in the Caribbean region, because they violate international law and because France has a presence in this region through its overseas territories, where more than a million of our compatriots reside.”

RELATED: ‘Begin repatriating’: German chancellor admits it’s time to give Syrian migrants the boot

Photo by Omar Zaghloul/Anadolu via Getty Images

When confronted with questions about the U.S. maritime strikes during a meeting with Latin American leaders last week, the European Union’s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said that the EU upholds international law and “international law is very clear on that. You can use force for two reasons: one is self-defense, the other one is the U.N. Security Council resolution.”

Rubio addressed the European pearl-clutching on Wednesday, politely suggesting to reporters that the continentals should pound sand.

“I don’t think that the European Union gets to determine what international law is, and what they certainly don’t get to determine is how the United States defends its national security,” said Rubio. “The United States is under attack from organized criminal narco-terrorists in our hemisphere, and the president is responding in the defense of our country.”

After indicating that the Europeans are out of their depth, Rubio hammered America’s allies across the Atlantic for their apparent hypocrisy.

“I do find it interesting that all these countries want us to send, you know, and supply, for example, nuclear-capable Tomahawk missiles to defend Europe, but when the United States positions aircraft carriers in our hemisphere where we live, somehow that’s a problem,” said the secretary of state.

Rubio added, “The president ordered it in defense of our country. It continues. It’s ongoing. It can stop tomorrow if [terrorist cartels] stop sending drug boats.”

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​Foreign policy, Policy, State department, Department of state, Marco rubio, Secretary of state, Europe, Tomahawk, Narcoterrorists, Venezuela, Interventionism, Politics 

Digital identification is the latest frontier in privacy and data protection, according to its newest purveyor.

Apple rolled out support for digital ID in its Apple Wallet this week, boasting that users can provide a plethora of personal data in order to add their digital identifiers to their phones.

‘Biometric authentication using Face ID and Touch ID helps make sure that only you can view and use your Digital ID.’

In order to be eligible for the privilege of digital ID, Apple requires users to have the following:

an iPhone 11 or newer or an Apple Watch Series 6 or newer.the latest software version.an Apple account with two-factor authentication turned on.a valid U.S. passport.a device with the region set to the United States.

If meeting the prerequisites, users must scan their passports into their phones, in addition to providing another live photo.

The photo and information must then be authenticated with Face ID or Touch ID.

Digital ID users can present their e-documents at TSA checkpoints for boarding domestic flights and at select businesses, Apple wrote in a blog post.

RELATED: UK government makes digital ID mandatory to get a job: ‘Safer, fairer and more secure’

TSA lists digital ID as being supported in at least 16 different states for domestic air travel, as well as Puerto Rico. Apple ID particularly is eligible in most participating states, including Arizona, California, Colorado, Georgia, Hawaii, Iowa, Maryland, Montana, New Mexico, and Ohio.

States like Arkansas, Louisiana, New York, and Virginia only support a state-sponsored digital ID.

“Digital ID in Apple Wallet takes advantage of the privacy and security features already built into iPhone and Apple Watch to help protect against tampering and theft,” Apple claimed.

“Your Digital ID data is encrypted. Apple can’t see when and where you use your Digital ID, and biometric authentication using Face ID and Touch ID helps make sure that only you can view and use your Digital ID,” the company added.

The justification for digital ID on the grounds of increased privacy and security mirrors reasoning used by the U.K. government during its recent introduction of mandatory digital ID for its citizens.

RELATED: Can anyone save America from European-style digital ID?

Photo Illustration by Thomas Trutschel/Photothek via Getty Images

“This government will make a new, free-of-charge digital ID mandatory for the right to work by the end of this parliament. Let me spell that out: You will not be able to work in the United Kingdom if you do not have digital ID,” U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced in September.

The leader stated that the digital ID would help crack down on illegal employment and immigration, before adding a moral justification to his argument.

“Because decent, pragmatic, fair-minded people, they want us to tackle the issues that they see around them. And, of course, the truth is we won’t solve our problems if we don’t also take on the root causes.”

As Blaze News previously reported, the digital ID movement seemingly started in the U.K. around 2004. At that time, the BBC published a report criticizing the government and the IDs as a “badly thought out” means of fighting organized crime and terrorism.

Since then, the idea has long been perpetuated by the World Economic Forum, the yearly gathering of government officials and international businessmen who discuss global policy and reform.

The WEF published “A Blueprint for Digital Identity” in 2016, citing the Aadhaar program, a government ID from India. The initiative was meant to “increase social and financial inclusion” for Indians. The Unique Identification Authority of India holds a database of user information “such as name, date of birth, and biometrics data that may include a photograph, fingerprint, iris scan, or other information.”

Over 1 billion Indians have enrolled in the program for the 12-digit identity number.

In 2023, the WEF promoted a report on reimagining digital ID.

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​Return, Digital id, Uk, India, Apple, Apple wallet, Tsa, Tech 

The BBC has been exposed for editing President Donald Trump’s January 6, 2021, speech — deceiving viewers into thinking that the president was cheering on violence.

The network played a clip of Trump that appeared to be him inciting an insurrection, saying, “We’re going to walk down to the Capitol, and I’ll be there with you, and we fight. We fight like hell.”

However, Trump didn’t say that at all.

According to a report from GBN News, the “BBC spliced together two clips that took place 54 minutes apart.”

Rather, Trump said, “We’re going to walk down to the Capitol, and we’re going to cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women,” before saying the second part of what the BBC played.

Tim Davie, director, and Deborah Turness, the chief executive in the news division, have now resigned following the revelation.

“Trump was on to something,” BlazeTV contributor Jeff Fisher tells BlazeTV host Pat Gray on “Pat Gray Unleashed,” referring to Trump calling the BBC “fake news” during a press conference.

“How about that?” Gray asks.

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​Camera phone, Free, Sharing, Upload, Video, Video phone, Youtube.com, Pat gray unleashed, Pat gray, The blaze, Blazetv, Blaze news, Blaze podcasts, Blaze podcast network, Blaze media, Blaze online, Blaze originals, Donald trump, Bbc, January 6th, Insurrection, Incitement, Violence, Fake news 

We were cleaning up after dinner. The sounds of Third Eye Blind filled the kitchen as we scraped plates, soaked pans, and went about washing knives and forks. My wife turned to me and asked, “Do Zoomers play in bands?”

I didn’t know how to answer. I thought to myself, trying to figure out if I knew any Zoomer bands, but I couldn’t think of a single one. I responded quizzically, “I don’t really know, to be honest. Maybe they just make electronic music these days.”

Tapping in your room on Ableton isn’t social, and it’s not really very impressive to the girls you like, either. They want to see strumming and singing, not clicking and dragging.

This happened a few days ago, I’ve been thinking about the question ever since, and I still don’t know if there are Zoomer bands.

Sonic youth

Now, of course, I am old, and I am not seeking out new music. I am not trying (and failing) to be younger than I am. But still, I am not blind or deaf, I am online, I do have some idea of the new music that comes down the pike, I do know the general sonic trends today, I do know Zoomers, and I don’t really think there are Zoomer bands like there were Millennial bands or Gen X bands or Boomer bands.

I am sure there are some Zoomer bands here and there. They are probably very indie and have fewer yet more devoted followers, and they are probably making some really cool stuff.

But rock and everything related doesn’t have the same cultural impact it once did. I remember when I was a kid, it felt like everything that coded as young and fun involved an electric guitar. Yeah, there was rap, but honestly I didn’t listen to it and I didn’t really know anyone who did. Maybe it was where I grew up (in the middle of nowhere), but rap wasn’t really much of a thing.

Born slippy

The same was true for electronic music and what eventually came to be known as EDM.

When I was in high school, we never heard techno, trance, or anything electronic anywhere except in a scene from a movie set in Sweden. It was when I went to Europe in high school that I first really heard EDM in a concentrated way. I stayed with a host family in Austria. My host brother gave me a data CD with a bunch of techno on it. I brought it back to the U.S. and thought it was so cool. It felt so foreign and so European.

Back in those days, rock ruled. Mainstream stuff was on the radio and MTV, and the better more independent-ish stuff was not. The sound of youth was rock. Today, it’s rap and EDM that rule; rock has faded into the sonic background.

I think there are probably a lot of good explanations for the decline of rock. The ways that societies evolve and change are complex. Social factors, demographics, technological developments, world politics, and economic realities all work together to impact things seemingly unrelated. Nevertheless, whatever the reason(s) why, the electric guitar no longer means what it used to mean.

RELATED: My parents ‘arranged my marriage’ at 16; maybe I should have taken them up on it

Harold M. Lambert/Getty Images

OK computer

Instead of electric guitar or drums, young people play around on software known as digital audio workstations — and they are worse off because of it.

I don’t say that out of ignorance of the medium or simple nostalgia for the distortion pedal. I grew up in music, studied classical music in college, played in bands along the way, and worked in acoustic music for some years. I’ve also produced electronic commercial music in a DAW for years, and trust me — it’s a totally different experience.

At the base, when you are making electronic music, you are alone. You are stationary. You are sitting at a desk moving only your fingers, staring at a screen, tweaking little digital dials to achieve the desired result. It’s a very sterile experience. It’s creative for sure, and it can be very fun, but it isn’t at all like playing in a band.

Making electronic music in the DAW is geared almost entirely toward the end result, while playing guitar in a band is geared toward the present experience, or at least partly the present experience. The experience working in the DAW is lonely; the experience playing in the band is social. The process of producing music on the computer is docile; the act of playing an instrument is physical.

Old time rock & roll

I like electronic music. Making it used to be my job. But I don’t think its replacing of rock is necessarily good. When rock was dominant, young boys wanted to play guitar, bass, or drums so they could play like the bands they loved and maybe impress the girls they liked.

They got together, played in their parents’ garage, sounded like garbage, but had a good time together while maybe, hopefully, improving on their instruments. And even if not, at least they were a group.

There is no comparable experience in the era of electronic music. Tapping in your room on Ableton isn’t social, and it’s not really very impressive to the girls you like, either. They want to see strumming and singing, not clicking and dragging. I met my wife when I played live music, not when I made electronic music.

Rock, at the end of the day, was something full of vital energy. Even when it was slower, angrier, or came in softer tones, its essence was electric and living. Good and bad, love and hate.

There is much to be said about the social isolation and various dysfunctions of the younger generations. Lots of things have contributed to a lonely world of lonely people. I’m not sure I’ve heard anyone suggest that the decline of rock mirrors the decline of a functional social society, but I think that oddly, it might.

Maybe we need more rock bands.

​Men’s style, Rock bands, Music, Lifestyle, Edm, Courtship, The root of the matter 

“You’re under arrest. You’re going to be arrested for money laundering.”

These were some of the last words Zhimin Qian heard as a free woman before she was arrested for allegedly laundering billions of dollars in cryptocurrency.

‘… compelling evidence of the criminal origins of the crypto assets …’

Qian, 47, was dubbed the “Goddess of Wealth” due to a lavish lifestyle acquired through money laundering with her accomplice, Malaysian national Hok Seng Ling, also 47. Qian is Chinese.

Police investigated Qian and conducted a search of her Hampstead, London, mansion in October 2018 after she attempted to buy another house worth over $16 million. According to the Telegraph, police found laptops, cash, and even a “treasure map” to a safe-deposit box in London. The drawn map simply labeled two streets and noted a “Metropolitan Safe Deposit.”

Another laptop was recovered from the deposit box in 2022, which reportedly stored billions of British pounds’ worth of crypto.

Qian was not shy about her spending while on the run for six years across Europe, allegedly staying in luxury hotels and purchasing high-end properties.

By the time of her arrest in April 2024, she was reportedly worth over $7 billion in Bitcoin assets. She had previously purchased a property in North London worth millions, along with other properties in Dubai.

RELATED: Trump tech czar slams OpenAI scheme for federal ‘backstop’ on spending — forcing Sam Altman to backtrack

The two criminals allegedly defrauded more than 128,000 people in China between 2014 and 2017 before Qian fled the country.

Qian traveled with false documents and went to the United Kingdom, where she laundered her money through her property ventures, Metro reported, citing police.

Both appeared in Southwark Crown Court in London, where Qian was sentenced to 11 years and eight months in prison, while Ling received a sentence of four years and 11 months.

Qian and Ling allegedly had an accomplice named Jian Wen, who was previously jailed for six years and eight months after being arrested with Bitcoin wallets also worth billions.

The illegally obtained Bitcoin reportedly represents the largest ever cryptocurrency seizure of Bitcoin, and it all came from just three people.

RELATED: Bitcoin and the return of honest money

Ling pleaded guilty to entering a money laundering arrangement, while Qian admitted to money laundering and “knowing or suspecting [Ling’s] actions would facilitate the acquisition or control of criminal property by another.”

London Metropolitan Police said they had been working for years to investigate the crimes and said that in addition to being perhaps the largest cryptocurrency case in the world, it was also “one of the largest money laundering cases in U.K. history.”

“Through a meticulous investigation and unprecedented cooperation with Chinese law enforcement, we were able to obtain compelling evidence of the criminal origins of the crypto assets the pair attempted to launder in the U.K.,” said Will Lyne, head of Economic and Cybercrime Command for the London police.

He added, “My thoughts are with the thousands of victims defrauded in this scheme, and I hope this outcome acknowledges the harm these defendants inflicted and reinforces the Met’s unwavering commitment to justice.”

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​Bitcoin, Return, Money laundering, China, Malaysia, Asia, Chinese, Cryptocurrency, United kingdom, Money, Scam, Tech 

When America completed its first nationwide railway in 1869, it did more than link two coasts. It united a nation. Railroads carried goods, materials, and people across vast distances at unprecedented speed, sparking an economic boom that forged a stronger, more unified country.

A century and a half later, the United States faces a new test. Globalization, supply-chain fragility, and inflation have exposed how dependent America has become on foreign systems and vulnerable networks. To meet these challenges, the nation must again invest in its own strength — beginning with its railroads.

Trucking currently dominates US freight, providing flexibility but at a steep cost in lives and highway damage. Railroads, by contrast, build and maintain their own infrastructure.

The proposed merger of Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern, announced in July, offers that opportunity. The combined company would create America’s first coast-to-coast rail network under a single U.S. carrier, spanning more than 50,000 route miles and linking 100 ports across 43 states.

A direct line to lower costs

A unified system means fewer handoffs between fragmented regional networks, faster delivery, and lower costs. Streamlined routes would eliminate the bureaucratic friction that slows commerce and adds uncertainty to shipping. For farmers, manufacturers, and consumers, that translates into stronger supply chains, lower prices, and renewed confidence in the American economy.

Trucking currently dominates U.S. freight, providing flexibility but at a steep cost. Federal data show that heavy trucks were involved in more than 150,000 crashes and 4,500 deaths in 2024. A single tractor-trailer inflicts the same highway damage as 9,600 cars — a massive public expense that taxpayers absorb.

Railroads, by contrast, build and maintain their own infrastructure. They reinvest billions each year without federal subsidies, move more goods with less fuel, and emit fewer pollutants. When uninterrupted by carrier transfers, rail shipping can be up to 60% more cost-efficient per ton than trucking.

A transcontinental system would amplify those advantages. Freight could move directly from origin to destination without costly delays. Lower transportation costs in agriculture, manufacturing, housing, and retail would ripple through the economy, easing inflation and boosting competitiveness for U.S. producers.

Strengthening American industry

The merger also complements the Trump administration’s effort to reshore manufacturing and rebuild domestic supply chains. With access to 100 ports and 10 international interchanges, a unified Union Pacific system would give U.S. manufacturers cheaper, more reliable routes for sourcing materials and delivering finished goods.

Expanded rail operations would also protect and grow good-paying union jobs in an industry that has powered America’s growth for more than a century. These are stable careers with benefits — the kind of work that anchors communities and sustains middle-class families.

Critics of rail mergers often warn of reduced competition or service quality. Those concerns deserve review. But in this case, the overlap between Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern is minimal. Rather than suppressing competition, the merger would strengthen it by enabling U.S. carriers to compete more effectively against trucking, air freight, and Canadian railroads — which have enjoyed uninterrupted transcontinental systems for decades.

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

Photo by FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty Images

A historic chance to unite the nation again

When the first cross-country railroad opened in 1869, it helped knit together a divided nation, fueled commerce, and launched America into the industrial age. The proposed Union Pacific-Norfolk Southern merger represents a similar moment of promise.

By creating the first true coast-to-coast rail network in U.S. history, this partnership could help reshore manufacturing, fortify supply chains, and make American transportation safer and more efficient.

Rebuilding American prosperity begins with reconnecting America itself. The next great chapter of that story could once again be written on steel rails.

​Trains, Freight, Union pacific, Railways, Opinion & analysis, United states, Transcontinental railroad, Shipping, Trucking, Logistics, Infrastructure, Maga 

Obama’s deep state tried to destroy Donald Trump, and in a recent New York Times article titled, “Trump Loyalists Push ‘Grand Conspiracy’ as New Subpoenas Land,” the publication is clearly trying to lie — claiming there’s no proof of that.

“Their theory of the case, still unsupported by the evidence: A cabal of Democrats and ‘deep state’ operatives, possibly led by former President Barack Obama, has worked to destroy Mr. Trump in a years-long plot spanning the inquiry into his 2016 campaign to the charge he faced after leaving office,” the article reads.

BlazeTV host Sara Gonzales, however, has the receipts.

“The New York Times actually spent time and money on this to try to rewrite the narrative of what actually happened — what we watched happen. Multiple years, multiple years — hard evidence of what this actually was.”

“So here’s what actually happened, New York Times,” she continues. “Obama, and his deep state operatives — which very much are still alive and well, actually — did conspire to try and undermine Trump at every step the second he announced his candidacy.”

Gonzales points to the disproven Russiagate hoax and the surveillance for President Trump’s campaign — which Obama “knew about.”

“They abused the FISA court system to tap his phones. Remember when President Trump was like, ‘They’re spying on me. President Obama’s spying on me.’ And they were like, ‘What a crazy right-wing nutjob.’ No, I mean, it turns out he was right. It was happening,” she explains.

“And on top of that, Tulsi Gabbard just this year released a report proving that not only do we know that Russiagate was a total hoax, not only do we know that they literally spent, like, what, two years, millions of taxpayer dollars, to investigate the thing that they already knew wasn’t true,” she says.

“And when I say ‘they,’ I mean from the very top, the president of the United States at that time, Barack Obama, was in on the whole thing,” she adds.

“There is irrefutable evidence that details how President Obama and his national security team directed the creation of an intelligence community assessment that they knew was false. They knew it would promote this contrived narrative that Russia interfered in the 2016 election to help President Trump win, selling it to the American people as though it were true,” Gabbard said at a White House press conference.

“It wasn’t. The report that we released today shows in great detail how they carried this out. They manufactured findings from shoddy sources. They suppressed evidence and credible intelligence that disproved their false claims. They disobeyed traditional tradecraft intelligence community standards and withheld the truth from the American people,” she continued.

“In doing so, they conspired to subvert the will of the American people who elected Donald Trump in that election in November of 2016. They worked with their partners in the media to promote this lie, ultimately to undermine the legitimacy of President Trump and launching what would be a years-long coup against him and his administration,” she added.

“Like, how much more evidence do you need, New York Times?” Gonzales asks, adding, “These are official documents.”

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On Sunday night, the Oversight Project announced the culmination of a long effort: President Trump’s pardons for the so-called “alternate electors” and their affiliates who faced state-level prosecution for their role in the 2020 election.

Credit belongs to President Trump and Pardon Attorney Ed Martin for seeing this process through — and for having the political will and moral memory to leave no MAGA supporter behind. These pardons are the result of over a year of focused work by the Oversight Project. And because the corporate left-wing media has predictably denounced them for their politics, prudence, and legal effect, it’s worth explaining the pardons’ justification and impact.

Participation in a constitutional process is not a crime. Operation Arctic Frost and its imitators will not define the future of American justice. These pardons will.

First, terminology matters. “Contingent electors” is the correct phrase. “Alternate electors” or “fake electors” are loaded terms invented by the press to imply criminality.

In reality, these electors prepared slates to be submitted to Congress while investigations and legal challenges into the 2020 presidential election were still pending. Their purpose was simple: to preserve flexibility should fraud or irregularities be confirmed.

The 2020 election was unlike any in modern history. Under the pretext of COVID-19, officials across multiple states expanded mail-in voting without the safeguards required by law. Signature verification, chain-of-custody rules, and registration requirements were ignored. Courts refused to hear evidence, dismissing cases on procedural grounds rather than the merits.

And somehow, we were told that the vice president and Congress — bodies that have historically played a role in adjudicating electoral disputes — no longer had any role to play. As a result, President Biden’s victory will forever carry an asterisk in the history books.

Debunking modern myths

The notion that elections can only be challenged in court is a modern myth. Since the founding, Congress has played a central role in resolving disputed elections, as have state legislatures empowered to ensure the integrity of their own processes — including, when necessary, selecting electors directly.

The list of precedents is long.

In 1797, John Adams, as president of the Senate, allowed time for objections to Vermont’s votes.In 1801, Thomas Jefferson counted Georgia’s contested votes — for himself.In 1857, a snowstorm kept Wisconsin’s electors from voting, but their ballots were counted anyway.In 1876, during the Hayes-Tilden standoff, Congress created a commission to adjudicate dueling slates from four states.In 1961, Hawaii submitted a contingent slate while its results were still being certified.In 2005, both chambers of Congress debated and ultimately rejected objections to Ohio’s votes.And as recently as 2017, multiple House members objected to electors from several states, though they lacked Senate co-sponsors.

This long record makes clear that the use of contingent electors is not criminal — it is, in fact, perfectly constitutional.

From constitutional to criminal

So why are good-faith contingent electors from 2020 now facing state prosecutions and financial ruin? The answer is weaponization.

During the Biden years, the federal government, blue-state prosecutors, and activist networks have coordinated to transform lawful political activity into criminal conduct. The same machinery that pursued President Trump through endless investigations was turned on ordinary citizens whose only “crime” was preserving constitutional options.

Operation Arctic Frost — the campaign of “map, harass, and isolate” tactics aimed at Trump allies — illustrates this perfectly. It was designed to intimidate lawyers, donors, and officials who supported Trump’s legal challenges, freezing them out of professional and financial life. The contingent electors were swept up in that same apparatus: coordinated prosecutions, media smears, and punitive lawfare intended to silence dissent.

RELATED: Biden FBI’s Arctic Frost surveillance of lawmakers could cost the government

Photo by SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images

From Fani Willis’ politically motivated prosecutions in Georgia to Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson’s efforts to organize partisan coalitions against perceived “threats,” the coordination has been unmistakable. Government, activist, and media arms all moved together with one goal: to erase the America First movement and criminalize its constitutional exercise of power.

That is the true definition of weaponization — using the law to destroy political opposition.

The legal case for Trump’s pardons

Critics claim the president cannot pardon state-level offenses. But that view collapses under constitutional scrutiny. States cannot prosecute conduct that falls under federal authority once it has been pardoned.

The selection of electors is a hybrid function — both state and federal — but the contingent electors acted in service of a federal purpose: the certification of the presidency. By issuing these pardons, the federal government has declared that these individuals acted lawfully, in good faith, and consistent with historic precedent.

If the federal government deems their actions lawful, how can states claim they committed crimes? That’s a question any fair court — or any fair jury — should be able to answer easily.

If these pardons are treated honestly, the state cases will collapse. More important, this should reassure every American committed to election integrity that defending the Constitution will never again be treated as a criminal act.

RELATED: The bureaucracy strikes back — and we’re striking harder

Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

Now what?

The toll on those targeted has been immense. Many have endured years of legal harassment, public vilification, and financial ruin simply for acting according to their constitutional duty.

The Oversight Project is exploring every possible avenue to secure restitution for those harmed — whether through private support, legislative action, or further executive remedies. These pardons mark the first step in correcting the record and restoring faith in the justice system.

They are not merely acts of mercy; they are acts of correction. They affirm that Americans who act to preserve election integrity, often at great personal cost, were right to do so.

The message is clear: Participation in a constitutional process is not a crime. Operation Arctic Frost and its imitators will not define the future of American justice. These pardons will.

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