To honor his brothers and sisters in arms this Veterans Day, Captain Mike Bouchard, who just announced his congressional candidacy, pledges to protect American interests, especially right here at home.

Bouchard — a 32-year-old Michigan Army National Guard captain and the son of longtime Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard — learned firsthand the importance of an America First foreign policy after he witnessed a dramatic change at the U.S. southern border immediately after Joe Biden took office in 2021, when Bouchard was still full-time active duty in the Army. Within days, President Biden closed major immigration checkpoints, unleashing what Bouchard described as a “manufactured” immigration crisis.

‘They were scared of an overwhelming US response.’

What’s worse, drug cartels have developed sophisticated capabilities that “rival some of the stuff we have,” Bouchard told Blaze News. “We need to step up our game to combat them. Because if we don’t, we’re opening ourselves up to a lot of unsavory things.”

Bouchard also noted that U.S. military strength was undermined during the Biden administration by woke infiltration. “We had a week-long training canceled to have briefings. One of the briefings was a transgender Navy Seal who was brought in to teach us about empathy,” he recalled.

Now that Trump is back, Bouchard says American military might has been restored.

Bouchard has just returned from a nine-month deployment to Iraq and was overseas when hostilities between Israel and Iran erupted in June. He claims that he and all the other American servicemen and women stationed in the Middle East were not directly targeted at that time because of our military’s “lethality” under Trump.

“They were scared of an overwhelming U.S. response,” he said.

RELATED: Son of popular Michigan sheriff urged to run for Congress as a Republican

Photo given to Blaze News

Even though the world seems to respect American military power once again, Bouchard noted that radicals in America are no longer abiding by American values and are instead resorting to “political violence” to settle differences.

Bouchard claimed the assassination of Charlie Kirk, which occurred while Bouchard was still in Iraq, convinced him that he had to jump into the political fray and begin a run for Congress as soon as he returned home.

“I didn’t make the final decision to do this until the day I got home. I got home. I thought about it. … I prayed on it. I did some research. This is the right time,” he explained.

Bouchard is now running as a Republican for the 10th district in Michigan, a seat currently occupied by Republican Rep. John James, who is running for governor. Should Bouchard win, he says he will be able to continue serving military members, veterans, and all military families through legislative action.

Bouchard worries about veteran unemployment and alarming rates of suicide. He also wants to prioritize addressing veteran homelessness, child care, and medical care. “Veterans Affairs is a massive bureaucracy, but what we can do is put in systems and processes to make it more efficient,” he said.

No matter what happens in his 2026 congressional race, Bouchard indicated to Blaze News that he will never forget or abandon his “friends” in uniform, especially his fellow paratroopers in the 82nd Airborne Division.

“They have some of the best men and women in the world. I mean, when you jump out of airplanes for a living, it tests your mettle. It tests your character,” he said.

“The people who stay there you can trust in any circumstance.”

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​America first, Charlie kirk, Congress, Donald trump, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Joe biden, John james, Michigan, Mike bouchard, Sheriff bouchard, Politics, Veterans day 

President Donald Trump on Thursday called former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi an “evil woman” when asked to comment on her retirement announcement.

“I’m glad she’s retiring,” Trump said as he took reporter questions in the Oval Office.

“I think she did the country a great service by retiring,” he continued. “I think she was a tremendous liability for the country. I thought she was an evil woman who did a poor job, who cost the country a lot in damages and in reputation. I thought she was terrible.”

However, not all conservatives gave Pelosi the same exit treatment.

“I will praise Nancy Pelosi. She had an incredible career for her party. I served under her speakership in my first term of Congress, and I’m very impressed at her ability to get things done. I wish we could get things done for our party like Nancy Pelosi was able to deliver for her party,” Marjorie Taylor Greene shockingly said in an interview on CNN.

“She was on ‘The View’ the other day too,” BlazeTV co-host Jeff Fisher says on “Pat Gray Unleashed.” “Yeah, she’s been making the rounds.”

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said in a post on social media that the reason why MTG has changed her tune on opposition like Pelosi is because Trump told her she could not be the Republican nominee for Georgia Senate.

“She was gearing up for that statewide race, and Trump told her no,” AOC said in the social media video post. “The White House and Trump-land shut down Marjorie Taylor Greene’s personal ambitions to run for Senate, and she has been on a revenge tour ever since.”

“So we’re believing AOC on this,” “Pat Gray Unleashed” executive producer Keith Malinak comments.

“I mean, it adds up,” host Pat Gray says. “That definitely checks out.”

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​Free, Video phone, Video, Camera phone, Sharing, Upload, Youtube.com, Pat gray unleashed, Pat gray, The blaze, Blazetv, Blaze news, Blaze podcasts, Blaze podcast network, Blaze media, Blaze online, Blaze originals, Evil woman, Nancy pelosi, Donald trump, Keith malinak, Marjorie taylor greene, Jeff fisher, Mtg, House speaker pelosi 

A protestant pastor is not backing down from his claim that he can have multiple wives.

Rich Tidwell, a pastor in Canton, Missouri, has sparked an online debate about the acceptance of polygamy in Christianity and whether or not it is biblically justifiable.

‘I have two beautiful wives.’

To the expected amount of backlash, Tidwell recently made an announcement on his Instagram page that his second wife is expecting his eighth child.

“I have two beautiful wives,” Tidwell wrote in a long entry. “We’re thrilled for what the Lord has done for our family,” he added, citing Bible passage Luke 18:29.

The pastor wrote about his justifications in an article called “Plural marriage,” labeling the practice as polygyny, which refers to one man being married to multiple women.

“In 2019, I discovered the surprising fact that God not only never prohibited polygyny throughout the entire biblical narrative (as He did with polyandry or homosexuality), He divinely ordained it in several cases,” Tidwell claimed.

He then cited more passages.

RELATED: Church-hopping: Confessions of an itinerant worshipper

Exodus 21:10 regulates but does not prohibit the practice, Tidwell claimed, when it says, “If he takes another wife to himself, he shall not diminish her food, her clothing, or her marital rights.”

Tidwell also noted 2 Chronicles 24:2-3, which mentions that “Jehoiada took two wives for him, and he became the father of sons and daughters,” as well as 2 Samuel 12:7-8:

This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: “I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. I gave your master’s house to you, and your master’s wives into your arms. I gave you all Israel and Judah. And if all this had been too little, I would have given you even more.”

The pastor continued with more citations and said that if God explicitly gave men more than one wife at any time in history, “Then it was not and is not sin.”

For those who argued that polygyny is not the original design for mankind, Tidwell countered, “Neither is death, nor clothing, nor eating meat.”

RELATED: This crisis in churches is real. Will Christians fight back?

— (@)

In an article titled “Should polygamist families be welcome at church?” Tidwell shared a letter he wrote to an Anglican church in Missouri requesting to attend its worship services; he was soundly denied.

A priest replied, saying the bishop, clergy, and parish council “unanimously decided against” the family’s participation.

“On multiple levels, polygamy is forbidden in our convictions, interpretation of Scripture, and the Canons and Constitution of the [Anglican Church of North America],” the unknown representative wrote, citing the following: “Canon II.7: Of Christian Marriage, which defines marriage as a lifelong union of one man and one woman.”

“These convictions are non-negotiable,” the letter said. “If you ever repent and become functionally and theologically monogamous, you are welcome to participate.”

Tidwell is a pastor at the nondenominational Ormond Church in Canton, Missouri, according to Protestia.

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​Lifestyle, Align, Christianity, Missouri, Polygamy, Protestant, Faith 

The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments on Wednesday regarding President Donald Trump’s authority to impose reciprocal and fentanyl-related tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. Given the skepticism expressed by liberal and conservative justices alike, there is cause to suspect that things may not go in the president’s favor.

Trump has since underscored in a series of posts on Truth Social that a loss for his administration in this case would prove to be a “catastrophe” for the economy and national security.

Skepticism on the high court

One day prior to the Supreme Court hearing oral arguments in the consolidated cases Trump v. V.O.S. Selections and Learning Resources, Inc. v. Trump, the president noted that the outcome of the case could mean “LIFE OR DEATH for our Country. With a Victory, we have tremendous, but fair, Financial and National Security. Without it, we are virtually defenseless against other Countries who have, for years, taken advantage of us.”

‘The US Supreme Court was given the wrong numbers.’

While Justice Samuel Alito appeared sympathetic to some of the government’s arguments, his conservative colleagues didn’t come across as entirely convinced.

Justice Neil Gorsuch, for instance, joined his liberal colleagues last week in trying to poke holes in U.S. Solicitor General D. John Sauer’s defense of Trump’s tariffs, suggesting that the danger of too liberal a reading of the IEEPA in the president’s favor risks creating “a one-way ratchet toward the gradual but continual accretion of power in the executive branch and away from the people’s elected representatives.”

RELATED: Trump’s SHOCKING 25% truck tariff: A matter of national security?

Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

Chief Justice John Roberts, like some of the other justices on the high court, took issue with the absence of the word “tariffs” in the IEEPA, which empowers the president to regulate imports of “property in which any foreign country or a national thereof has any interest” during a declared national emergency.

“You have a claimed source in IEEPA that had never before been used to justify tariffs. No one has argued that it does until this — this particular case,” said Robert.

Roberts, whose note on the unprecedented nature of the interpretation was also raised by Justice Amy Coney Barrett, added that tariffs amount to an “imposition of taxes on Americans, and that has always been the core power of Congress.”

Concern in the White House

Trump, no doubt aware of how the oral arguments went, has emphasized in the days since what is at risk.

Hours after indicating that any money left over from his proposed $2,000 tariff dividend for American citizens “will be used to SUBSTANTIALLY PAY DOWN NATIONAL DEBT,” Trump suggested on Monday that the cost of the Supreme Court’s invalidation of his tariffs — which Barrett said would likely be “a mess” — could be far higher than previously suggested.

Trump noted in a Truth Social post on Monday, “The ‘Pay Back’ Numbers being quoted by the Radical Left Lunatics, who would love to see us lose on Tariffs because of how bad it would be for our Country, are much higher than those being stated by our Fake Opposition — Opposition mainly from Foreign Countries that would do anything to be allowed to charge us Tariffs without retribution.”

‘Possibly non-sustainable!’

“The actual Number we would have to pay back in Tariff Revenue and Investments would be in excess of $2 Trillion Dollars, and that, in itself, would be a National Security catastrophe,” added the president.

In a subsequent post, Trump wrote, “The U.S. Supreme Court was given the wrong numbers. The ‘unwind’ in the event of a negative decision on Tariffs, would be, including investments made, to be made, and return of funds, in excess of 3 Trillion Dollars.”

As all revenues from tariffs, including new and pre-existing ones, through September of this year had raised between $174 and $195 billion, Trump’s allusion to a figure over $3 trillion appears to refer to the potential tariff revenue lost over the next decade.

According to a recent Tax Foundation report, Trump’s tariffs “will raise $2.4 trillion in revenue over the next decade on a conventional basis and reduce US GDP by 0.6 percent, all before foreign retaliation.” Other estimates put potential revenue as high as $3 trillion.

The Congressional Budget Office released an estimate in August indicating that “increases in tariffs implemented during the period from January 6, 2025, to August 19 will decrease primary deficits (which exclude net outlays for interest) by $3.3 trillion if the higher tariffs persist for the 2025-2035 period.”

Trump suggested further that the loss of tariff revenue and return of funds “would truly become an insurmountable National Security Event, and devastating to the future of our Country — Possibly non-sustainable!”

U.S. trade representative Jamieson Greer told “Mornings with Maria” last week that the reciprocal tariffs at issue have netted over $100 billion but less than $200 billion and noted further that if they are invalidated, specific plaintiffs might receive a refund, but it remains unclear what will happen to the remainder.

“As for the rest of it … I’ll hand that file to the secretary of the treasury,” said Greer.

“You’ll have all these importers and importing interests who are going to want that money back, and so, you know, we’ll have to figure out — probably with the court — what kind of a schedule might look like and what the rights are of these parties and what rights the government has to that money.”

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As Republicans attempt to redraw districts to gain a cushion in their razor-thin majority in Congress ahead of the midterms next year, an unexpected setback in a reliably red state raises the stakes.

A redistricting case in Utah has potentially thrown a wrench in the nationwide redistricting battle.

‘Turns out, she was orchestrating it from the start.’

The AP reported that Judge Dianna Gibson has ordered the Utah congressional districts to be redrawn in conformity with a 2018 ballot initiative known as Proposition 4, which in effect could grant Democrats a seat in the House.

Proposition 4’s map was drawn by the League of Women Voters of Utah and Mormon Women for Ethical Government, the plaintiffs of the redistricting case. That map largely keeps Salt Lake City intact in one district rather than breaking it apart, creating a reliably blue voter base that could flip one of the state’s four congressional seats to the Democrats.

Gibson rejected S.B. 200, a congressional map that was enacted by Republican lawmakers and that maintained four seats, on the grounds that it did not meet the rules against gerrymandering.

RELATED: Gov. Gavin Newsom threatens to redistrict California after Texas GOP drops new district map proposal

Photo by Matt Archer/Getty Images

Gibson’s decision was reportedly handed down just a few minutes before the clock struck midnight on Monday.

Republican Utah state Rep. Candice Pierucci called the redrawn map a “clear example of judicial activism.”

Pierucci added, “The Judge drove the entire process, set aggressive deadlines and refused an extension for map drawing by the legislature. We moved 104 lawmakers under those deadlines and she herself couldn’t be bothered to issue the decision before a quarter to midnight. We followed her direction every step of the way — turns out, she was orchestrating it from the start.”

All four Utah congressional seats are currently occupied by Republicans, and Republicans currently have a slim majority in the U.S. House, holding 219 seats to Democrats’ 213. Three seats are vacant following two deaths and one resignation.

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​Politics, Redistricting, Utah, Better boundaries, Redistricting fight, Candice pierucci, Dianna gibson, Judge dianna gibson, Congressional redistricting, Congressional map, 2026 midterms, Midterms 

Our economic realities as Americans are tied directly to energy. But those of us working outside the energy industry must be forgiven for not noticing that in 2022, China began construction on an experimental thorium reactor that requires no water, generates substantially less toxic byproduct, purports and appears be vastly safer than all other reactor designs, and all but eliminates the possibility of meltdown. American citizens should be forgiven for not noticing because in 2022, as you recall, we were suffocating in the various tendrils of psychological operations and captured government.

And when China operationalized the reactor and proved the design, firing it up last month, pulling a positive yield of uranium, Americans were again distracted. Our industries are still captured, corrupted, or sidelined. Our government is still dysfunctional, and it appears we are now, in some very official sense, losing the energy arms race.

Clickbait headlines have suggested that China outright stole the reactor design. The truth is probably even worse.

The Chinese reactor works. It delivers cheap, abundant, safe, clean energy. Congress is silent. Portions of our mainstream media only serve corporate (often energy sector-tied) interests, so they aren’t going to sound the alarm.

Here’s the kicker regarding the United States’ second-place status in this energy battle: Americans funded the entirety of the original research for the thorium reactor in the 1960s at Oak Ridge Nuclear Laboratory. This raises major questions about past, present, and future for the energy and tech sectors.

Of the successful test of the thorium reactor in China, the Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics stated in a press release, “This marks the first time international experimental data has been obtained after thorium was introduced into a molten salt reactor, making it the only operational molten salt reactor in the world to have successfully incorporated thorium fuel.”

Clickbait headlines have suggested that China outright stole the reactor design. The truth is probably even worse. If you take blood pressure medication, be forewarned: There is malfeasance here, for sure, but the technology wasn’t stolen from either American corporations or Oak Ridge Laboratory. Oak Ridge Laboratory, in concert with the U.S. government, evidently declassified much of the pertinent research, according to researcher Kirk Sorensen.

RELATED: This city bought 300 Chinese electric buses — then found out China can turn them off at will

CFOTO/Future Publishing via Getty Images

Sorensen runs the website https://energyfromthorium.com, where portions of the material, now in the public domain, were published. Meanwhile, private American research into what turns out to be a highly feasible and safe energy source has been, at best, scattered and underfunded. What’s more, the stultifying (false?) dialectic between environmentalism and first-world living standards has muddied the waters for decades.

Oak Ridge Labs partnered with the Shanghai Applied Physics Institute back in 2015. American research was just simply handed to the Chinese. Meanwhile, we have considerable energy issues in America: prices jumping 10%-20% per year in many states and services often approaching third-world standards in terms of reliability and transparency. We have the highly unstable and contentious AI industry building data centers at a heady pace and signaling orders of magnitude more energy demand in short order. Lastly, we have a contingent of right-aligned Americans squaring up to take on the potential re-industrialization of the country — automobiles, pharmaceuticals, microprocessors, and steel manufacture at all levels could and probably must be re-shored if we as a nation are ever to right the ship.

None of this happens without abundant, cheap energy.

Since the early 2000s, concerns over dwindling cheap oil have confused the public and stymied good-faith efforts to manage the infrastructure, source, and delivery problems that our grand techno-American plans seem to require. Elon Musk’s grandfather, Joshua N. Halderman, was involved with M. King Hubbert in the original Technocracy Inc. endeavor, which signaled early alarms about exponential growth meeting finite oil capacity. Elon is a big fan of solar, but one wonders if perhaps now he’d be better off investigating thorium … if American industry and government can get out of his way, of course.

​Tech, Culture, Power, Energy, China 

The Senate Republicans officially passed their funding bill to reopen the government Monday night, with the help of Democrat defectors. The legislation is now in the House, where members are expected to vote to finally reopen the government sometime Wednesday.

Over 40 days into the record-long government shutdown, eight Senate Democrats voted to pass the same clean continuing resolution that has been on the table since day one. The funding bill was passed in a 60-40 vote, with Democratic Sens. Dick Durbin of Illinois, Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire, Tim Kaine of Virginia, Jacky Rosen of Nevada, Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, Angus King (I) of Maine, and Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada voting with 52 Republicans to reopen the government.

House Democrats are already whipping members to vote against reopening the government.

With just enough Democrats defecting to pass the GOP resolution, many of their fellow Democrats expressed disapproval for the “pathetic” deal they negotiated.

The main reason Democrats shut down the government in the first place was to force Republicans’ hand on extending Affordable Care Act subsidies that are expiring at the end of the year. One record-breaking shutdown later, all Democrats have to show for it is a pinky promise from Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) that there will be a floor vote on the subsidies, which was offered to Democrats on day one of the shutdown.

RELATED: ‘Pathetic’ Senate Democrats cave, advancing key shutdown vote and prompting intraparty uproar: ‘It’s a surrender’

Photo by Nathan Posner/Anadolu via Getty Images

Republicans offered Democrats one minor concession Sunday night ahead of the filibuster vote: to reverse some firings made via reduction-in-force notices. Republicans agreed to reverse all RIFs issued during the shutdown and to refrain from issuing any more until the continuing resolution expires on January 30.

In total, this deal affects only about 4,200 employees of the roughly 150,000 federal workers who have been laid off since President Donald Trump began his second term in January.

RELATED: Democrat senator makes stunning admission about Obamacare failures

Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images

The bill is now headed over to the House, where votes are expected to resume Wednesday afternoon after the House has been out of session for over 50 days. During a Monday press conference, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) publicly urged all members to return to Washington, D.C., as soon as possible to begin voting.

House Democrats are already whipping members to vote against reopening the government, arguing that the continuing resolution “fails to address” their health care concerns. Despite their ongoing opposition, the funding bill needs only a simple majority and is expected to pass the House.

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​Chuck schumer, John thune, Mike johnson, Donald trump, Government shutdown, Democrat shutdown, Senate democrats, Senate republicans, Democrat defectors, Dick durbin, Maggie hassan, Tim kaine, Jacky rosen, Jeanne shaheen, John fetterman, Angus king, Catherine cortez masto, Affordable care act, Aca subsidies, Obamacare, Rifs, Reduction in force, Federal firings, Politics 

When General George S. Patton served as military governor of postwar Bavaria, he startled the press by comparing Germans who voted for the Nazis to Americans who voted for Republicans or Democrats. Eighty years later, that comparison, once deemed outrageous, makes more sense than most care to admit.

Today’s Democratic Party has become a profoundly destructive force. Its leaders incite violence, wink at assassination attempts, and encourage riots to block the Trump administration’s efforts to deport illegal immigrants — including criminal offenders — the Biden White House imported as future Democratic voters.

As a European historian whose own family fled the Nazis, I recognize the pattern. The difference today is that Democrats enjoy advantages the German totalitarians never had.

In Virginia, Democrats just elected an inexperienced attorney general who once wished death upon a Republican leader and his children. Jay “Two Bullets” Jones, a man with no serious professional experience and a long public record of hate-filled rhetoric, is now the state’s top law enforcement officer. His victory didn’t trouble Virginia’s Democratic establishment. Democrats defended him, celebrated him, and made clear they see nothing disqualifying about open derangement when it serves the cause.

Parallels in power

The point isn’t that the Democratic Party is identical to Hitler’s regime. It’s that its tactics — the deceit, manipulation, and contempt for constitutional limits — echo the methods the Nazis used to dismantle Weimar Germany from within.

As a European historian whose own family fled the Nazis, I recognize the pattern. The difference today is that Democrats enjoy advantages the German totalitarians never had. Even at the height of economic collapse, no more than one-third of German voters supported Hitler’s party. In America, at least half the electorate — and possibly more — backs a party that celebrates political violence, erases gender distinctions, tears down monuments, degrades men, and promotes the mutilation of confused children in the name of “affirmation.”

Many of the Democrats’ most reliable constituencies — college-educated women, black voters, and recent immigrants — embrace the movement’s nihilism without the desperation that once drove Germans to extremism. Their loyalty is ideological, not circumstantial, and that makes the threat more enduring.

How the right lost its nerve

The totalitarian Democrats’ rise owes as much to their ruthlessness as to the right’s failure to resist it. For years, the so-called conservative establishment — especially the Murdoch media — has preached “common ground” and “dialogue.” Its members have treated the left as a legitimate partner even as it dismantled every shared institution. They’ve assured us, wrongly, that the Democratic Party was about to collapse. Their naïve optimism left Republicans unprepared for last week’s electoral debacle.

RELATED: Accountability or bust: Trump’s second term test

Credit: Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

A serious conservative movement would treat the Democrats not as rivals but as a subversive force bent on domination. They control the mainstream media, public education, entertainment, and the bureaucracy. The task is not to appease them but to weaken their grip. That means defunding their institutions, shrinking the administrative state, and cutting federal money to the states and cities run by radical leftists — Virginia, California, New Jersey, Minnesota among them. Washington should stop subsidizing those who despise the nation it governs.

The vapid notion that “we all want the same things for our children” only empowers those who plainly do not. They want to rule, not reconcile.

What must be done

Conservatives must demand fair, transparent elections conducted in designated polling places on Election Day under bipartisan supervision. Voter identification should be federally required — a safeguard, not a surrender of state authority, which has long been diluted anyway.

And before Senate Democrats move to end the filibuster to cement their control, President Trump and his allies should act first. Forget “comity.” The GOP cannot afford another cycle of deference to rules their opponents ignore.

The moment demands moral clarity, not compromise. The Democratic Party is not merely misguided — it has become an organized threat to constitutional government and civil peace. Treating it as anything less will only hasten the day when America wakes to find itself a one-party state.

​Left wing violence, Domocrats, Totalitarian, Censorship, Opinion & analysis, Elections, Jay jones, Political violence, George patton, Virginia, Nazi germany, Filibuster 

ESPN’s reign as the king of sports media may be nearing its end.

BlazeTV contributor Paul Burkhardt is among those who believe this to be true, explaining that the network is “very vulnerable” as competitors like Netflix and Amazon prepare to make a “power play” that could permanently reshape the sports broadcasting landscape.

“I don’t think a lot of people are realizing — and I’ve been on this and been studying this now for probably about a year and a half — I believe ESPN is very vulnerable right now,” Burkhardt tells BlazeTV host Jason Whitlock and the rest of the panel on “Fearless.”

“And it’s the worst time for this to happen, because I think Netflix and Amazon are in a position to make the ultimate power play over the next, say, two to five years. They’ve already started to dabble into the games. They already have the leagues with them to some varying degree,” he continues.

“I think there’s a takedown about ready to happen, and I’m in line to watch it,” he adds.

Burkhardt believes that “Netflix and Amazon are ready to pounce.”

“I think that ESPN could be drunk on its success. ESPN has always had an overinflated sense of itself, particularly the on-air talent, because ESPN had such a monopoly on sports coverage that anybody you put on there was going to have the feeling of having a following,” Whitlock agrees.

“I don’t think Stephen A. Smith has a sincere following. I think he’s been forced down our throats on ESPN, but no one thinks Stephen A. Smith is talented. No one thinks he’s that informed or that insightful about sports,” he continues.

“It’s kind of reflective of the whole mentality of Hollywood and the leftist deal. … If they decide this person’s important; if they want to put Joe Biden in as president even though he’s half dead; if they decide, ‘Hey, no one likes Hillary Clinton, but we’re going to run her for president,’” he adds.

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Law enforcement in Alexandria, Louisiana, responded to the 1800 block of Henry Street just after 7:30 a.m. Saturday for a reported home invasion, the Rapides Parish Sheriff’s Office said. Alexandria is about 200 miles northwest of New Orleans.

Officials said a black male identified as 33-year-old Davante Deundra Thomas of Alexandria allegedly kicked down the door of the residence armed with a handgun and fired at the homeowner.

‘People have a right to protect themselves.’

But the homeowner also had a gun — and wasted no time using it.

Officials said the homeowner returned fire, striking Thomas.

After deputies arrived, Thomas was found dead inside the home with the gun still in his hand, officials said.

Sheriff’s detectives and the Crime Scene Unit responded and began their investigation and processed the scene for evidence, officials said.

The sheriff’s office said no arrests have been made.

Officials said the investigation is still active and ongoing, and all those with any information about the incident should contact detectives at 318-473-6727 or the sheriff’s office at 318-473-6700.

Commenters reacting to the shooting were a bit mixed in their opinions. Most seemed completely behind the homeowner who returned fire — but others believed there was more to the story:

“Turns out the more you F around the more you find out,” one commenter said.”Welp, he won’t do that again!!!” another user noted.”This is a good opportunity to teach your kids about what happens if you go breaking into houses,” another commenter wrote.”People have a right to protect themselves,” another user said.”Crazy thing is people don’t realize how many homeowners actually have weapons in their homes just for this reason,” another commenter observed.”Naw, we aren’t getting the entire story here,” another user countered. “Don’t pass judgement without all the facts.””This just doesn’t sound right to me, either,” another commenter stated. “Something [is] not adding up.”

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​2nd amend., Alexandria, Armed intruder, Break-in, Crime thwarted, Door kicked down, Fatal shooting, Gun rights, Guns, Home invasion, Homeowner shoots intruder, Intruder opens fire, Louisiana, Rapides parish sheriff’s office, Self-defense, Crime