After years of false starts, Congress is finally within reach of ending one of the most universally hated rituals in American life: changing the clocks twice a year.

The House Rules Committee voted 6-4 Monday to advance Florida Republican Rep. Vern Buchanan’s Sunshine Protection Act to the full House floor, teeing up a chamber-wide vote on making daylight saving time permanent nationwide.

‘Ridiculous, twice-yearly production.’

States such as Hawaii and Arizona, which already skip the twice-yearly changeover, would keep their exemptions.

President Donald Trump has backed the bill, calling the current system a “ridiculous, twice-yearly production” and predicting that passing it would be a win for Republicans.

It’s been a long time coming. Then-Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) first introduced the Sunshine Protection Act back in 2018 and kept pushing it nearly every Congress since — only for the House to kill it. Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) has since picked up the baton, with bipartisan co-sponsorship.

Not everyone in Congress is on board. Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon (D-Pa.) tried to amend Buchanan’s bill with language from her own rival measure, the Sunshine for Our Kids Act, which would lock in standard time instead. The amendment was rejected before it reached the floor.

RELATED: California Republicans move to end daylight saving time — America’s dumbest tradition

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Supporters argue the case is simple: More evening sunlight means more time to be outside, shop, exercise, and spend money at local businesses, rather than watching the sun set before dinner.

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) has framed it as giving states the freedom to stop asking Washington’s permission every year to decide how they want to live. Polling has consistently shown a solid majority of Americans just want the switching to stop — most favoring the “more evening light” version Buchanan’s bill delivers.

Critics have raised familiar objections about winter sunrise times — the same argument that sank the country’s last attempt at permanent daylight saving time in the 1970s. But with six competing bills on the table and a Republican Congress that just moved one out of committee, Americans could be looking at their last “fall back” ever.

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Customs and Border Protection officials told Blaze News exclusively that a woman has been caught trying to smuggle live birds into the U.S. from Mexico.

The 26-year-old U.S. citizen was allegedly attempting to walk through the Gateway to the Americas Bridge last Wednesday with the birds in a small container when she was caught.

‘We must remain vigilant in protecting our wildlife from these reckless and illegal activities.’

CBP officers uncovered the container and identified the birds as parrots. The woman was arrested, and the parrots were turned over to the U.S. Department of Agriculture – Veterinary Services.

“These smuggled animals can carry diseases that are not known to occur in the United States, which can endanger native wildlife,” said Laredo Port Director Alberto Flores to Blaze News.

“We must remain vigilant in protecting our wildlife from these reckless and illegal activities,” he added.

“On the border at land, air, and sea-based ports of entry, including Laredo, CBP officers and agriculture specialists continue to fulfill CBP’s agriculture mission by preventing the introduction of harmful pests and diseases into the United States,” read a statement from CBP.

In March, CBP officials were able to detect the smuggling of three live parrots at the same entryway during a secondary inspection of a 2007 GMC Yukon. Those parrots were transported to a local zoo to receive care.

RELATED: Video shows police PULLING 39 illegal aliens from tractor trailer that caught FIRE while fleeing from police

In the March case, CBP released a photo of the birds in a narrow box with holes punched in the cardboard for ventilation.

Wildlife trafficking convictions can carry significant fines and even jail time.

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House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) announced late last month that he would bundle the SAVE America Act with the 2027 National Defense Authorization Act so that Senate Republicans are presented with the choice of both bolstering the integrity of American elections and funding national defense — or neither.

“We’re going to pass a MIRV, or what’s better known as a ‘merge onto the rule,'” said Johnson, adopting the military acronym for multiple independently targetable re-entry vehicle, a ballistic missile that carries multiple warheads. “So what that means is, when Republicans vote for the rule, they’ll be voting not just for the NDAA and everything else in there, but they’ll be voting to merge onto that the SAVE America Act we passed back in February.”

‘WHATEVER IT TAKES.’

Johnson noted further that “if any Republicans choose to vote against the rule, they will be voting against that outcome. So we think this is another good way to show the resolve of the House.”

House Republicans’ resolve was tested and proven on Tuesday in a successful 215-211 vote in favor of a special rules resolution that included language that would attach the SAVE America Act (S.1383) to the end of the NDAA once it passes the House.

Florida Rep. Randy Fine was the lone Republican who voted against the rule.

Ahead of the vote, Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) — who previously opposed the rule — noted on X, “We will try the MIRV process on the condition that Speaker Johnson attaches the SAVE America Act to all the appropriation bills and all must-pass bills here in the House and ensures it is sent to the Senate as one bill. If John Thune strips it out in the Senate that will be on him and the entire country should be watching what he does.”

RELATED: STOLEN ELECTION? Trump to address declassified intel revelations about 2020 foreign interference: Report

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Luna said after the vote, “The House is doing its job, now it’s the Senate’s turn. All eyes on John Thune. If SAVE America fails all of America will know who to blame.”

While Luna preemptively assigned the burden of the act’s success to Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.), Democrats appear dead-set on blocking the linked NDAA, claiming their opposition has something to do with the protracted Iran conflict.

Although he too initially opposed the rule, Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) suggested after its passage on Tuesday that it was worthwhile.

“That’s what we need,” said Burchett, reported The Hill. “We need to just keep pounding the Senate and forcing them to take the right stand.”

Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) was among those enthusiastic over this turn of events, stating, “THANK YOU to House Republicans for delivering on their promises to the American people and setting a good example for us in the Senate.”

Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R) emphasized after the vote that with the midterm elections just a few months away, “we must try EVERYTHING we can to get the SAVE America Act passed. WHATEVER IT TAKES.”

In addition to tethering the SAVE America Act to the 2027 NDAA, the rule advances other legislation, including a measure that would make daylight saving time permanent nationwide and the State Department appropriations bill.

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Lifelike humanoid companion robots are arriving now in Chinese homes to combat epidemics of fractured families, alienated elderly populations, and general isolation. Secreted below the flesh-tone silicone skin layer are onboard AI-driven emotional response engines, personalized and local memory, 88 mechanical and motorized joints, and voice and expression modification options for which the ultra-alienated (and evidently wealthy) Chinese consumers are lining up.

The robots are made by UBTech, a publicly traded company in Shenzhen. According to the South China Morning Post, the UWorld U1 Companion Series of “ultra-bionic androids” are expressly designed as domestic companions, featuring “lifelike silicone skin, custom voice replication, and 88 high-degree-of-freedom joints. Variants include Lite, Pro, and Ultra, priced from roughly $17,650 to $145,000.”

Americans lead the global charge toward loneliness and alienation.

Over 13,300 such models were sold on the first day they became available.

Ole Lehmann, former crypto trader turned AI business implementation navigator, turned to X recently to weigh in. “Loneliness is becoming a market,” he observed, “and the Chinese are buying like crazy.”

Lehmann, who “helps non-technical people make money with AI,” noted that “China has 118 million empty-nest seniors, parents whose kids grew up and moved away. Another 90 million adults live completely alone. For a huge share of the country there’s nobody to talk to. The U1 was built to fill exactly that gap. A presence in the house that talks back, reads your mood, remembers your life.”

Lehmann ended his post with a portentous question: “I’m curious to see if this would catch on as easily in the West?”

Perhaps the AI whisperer isn’t up on the American economy of late and doesn’t realize that the vast majority of us are still battling to pay for essentials, much less navigate the maze and slay the guardians of first homeownership.

Or perhaps Lehmann does understand something about the market.

Hearts of darkness

If loneliness is the lever … and if the purchase can be made feasible (say, something along the lines of buying a boat or building that ADU in your backyard) … and if we consider that in many ways Americans lead the global charge toward absolute levels of loneliness and alienation …

Then yes, indeed, it’s unfortunately very much in our future. We will begin seeing flesh-bots, service-bots, shopping-bots, and anything else the so-called email class (mostly female, well-paid, childless) desires.

As ever, the story is in the replies. Under Lehmann’s post, commenters suggest the possibilities for “upgrades” and the inevitability of integrated porn and sex options. Of course, barring some deep wellspring of backlash, this is coming — despite the abhorrence tingling through every last relational entity on earth. We seem, as Leonard Cohen suggested, to “want it darker.”

RELATED: Shadowy companies are selling access to your smart TV — and its data

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Among adults under 50 who do not have children, a Pew Research survey found that almost half believe it is unlikely they will ever have kids. The U.S. marriage rate has plummeted since the 1970s, hitting historic all-time lows. It’s been 26 years since Robert Putnam, in “Bowling Alone,” showed how American social capital was wiped out in exchange for the sugar-high blip of cheap consumer goods. Do that math if you have any question about the uses of robots in America.

It may be the sheer oddity of our simulation-heavy era that contributes to this delirious sense that everything “new tech” seems to unearth or expose such old and terrifying desires. Another factor must be related to globalization, this ongoing tech-enabled merger of East and West. When the Japanese first entered American car markets, they struggled with marketing. Their vehicle names often didn’t land with American consumers. Pink Lady, believe it or not, just didn’t compete with Cherokee or Malibu.

“Ultra-bionic” is endearing, in a sense, but somehow simultaneously bizarre and insulting. (Isn’t bionic ultra enough?) When America is ready (that is, when the price point can be made to work), American marketers will jump on those childless middle-aged women and unmarried young men with a calculated skill any natural predator would envy. As Putnam warned about the logic of social capital, no matter how cheap the bots, we’ll all pay dearly.

​Tech, Humanoid, Robot 

Two teenagers were arrested for allegedly shooting seven people and killing five in a crime spree over the weekend.

Illinois State Police said all of the victims were related to the 15-year-old girl, who has been charged as a juvenile. Ja’ymier Davis, 16, of East Saint Louis was arrested and is being charged as an adult.

‘It’s all because y’all wanted to be together, so … they wanted to eliminate everybody that had a problem with the situation.’

The investigation began after human remains were reported on Sunday at the Samuel Gompers Homes public housing complex, according to Illinois State Police Director Brendan Kelly at a press conference.

Three victims were shot and killed at that location, while two others were shot and killed at two separate locations at Jones Park and 39th and Summit streets. Two others were shot at Jones Park and transported with serious injuries to a hospital.

The husband of one of the survivors spoke to KSDK-TV and said the couple had posted a “hit list” on Instagram.

“It’s all because y’all wanted to be together, so … they wanted to eliminate everybody that had a problem with the situation,” Lamarian Smiley said.

He said his wife was one of the victims but that the pair had run out of bullets and were unable to kill her.

The alleged killers also cut off one of the thumbs of the girl’s 74-year-old grandmother, Patricia A. May.

Smiley also said that the gun used in the spree was stolen from the girl’s mother.

“Her daughter took the keys from her purse, unlocked the lockbox, and took the firearm,” he added. “The police were notified as soon as they found out that the firearm was taken.”

The St. Clair County State’s Attorney’s Office says it’s requesting the 15-year-old suspect be charged as an adult as well.

RELATED: ‘Those children were hunted down and killed’: Oklahoma police stunned by family massacre where 10-year-old boy was unharmed

Smiley indicated that be believes mental illness was to blame.

East St. Louis is a city of about 18,500 residents located in the southwest part of the state.

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The ink will not even be dry on the final 2026 midterm ballots before Washington turns to the next race: the battle for the White House in 2028.

Election Day ends November 3. By the morning of November 4, the campaign for America’s next president will already be under way.

There is one rule every VP nominee must follow: Do not become the story. The job is to amplify the presidential candidate, not compete with him.

The biggest names — Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio among them — will dominate early speculation. But the more interesting question may be the second spot on the ticket.

Vice presidential picks are no longer afterthoughts. Gone are the days when running mates were chosen simply to “balance the ticket.” Today’s contenders are expected to serve as attack dogs, media stars, policy messengers, fundraising powerhouses, and trusted governing partners.

They must energize the base, reassure swing voters, and be ready to step into the Oval Office if necessary.

Which running mate gives the Republican nominee the greatest advantage?

The answer will not be about geography alone. It will be about chemistry, fundraising, media skill, governing experience, and the ability to help win the handful of battleground states likely to decide another close election.

Several Republicans are already generating early speculation.

Andy Ogles — Tennessee, 11 electoral votes

Ogles belongs at the top of the watch list.

The Trump-endorsed Tennessee congressman has built a reputation as one of the House’s most outspoken conservatives, championing limited government and an unapologetic defense of Trump-era policies.

Ogles pairs an easygoing manner with hard-line positions. He has become a familiar figure in congressional battles over immigration, federal spending, election integrity, and cultural issues.

As chairman of the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Protection, Ogles also works on an issue likely to grow more important in future campaigns.

Tennessee is safely Republican, so his value would lie less in changing the Electoral College map than in energizing conservatives across other states.

Byron Donalds — Florida, 30 electoral votes

Donalds combines strong media skills with a compelling personal story and growing national recognition.

Frequently mentioned as a leading contender in Florida’s 2026 gubernatorial race, the Florida congressman has become one of the Republican Party’s most visible communicators. Supporters argue that his appeal extends beyond the party’s traditional coalition, making him one of the GOP’s fastest-rising figures.

With Florida’s 30 electoral votes already central to any Republican path to the White House, Donalds would bring both state-level strength and national media reach. His New York roots also have some Republicans wondering whether he could help the party make inroads with voters in the Northeast.

Sarah Huckabee Sanders — Arkansas, 6 electoral votes

Sanders brings executive experience and years in the national spotlight.

The Arkansas governor first became a national figure as White House press secretary, then returned home to lead a reliably Republican state. Her familiarity with the Trump movement, fundraising network, and communications experience continue to make her a frequently mentioned possibility for a future Republican ticket.

Arkansas’ six electoral votes are not in doubt. Sanders’ value would come from her executive résumé, conservative credibility, and ability to speak directly to the Trump coalition.

Her appearances at high-profile fundraising events, including in Palm Beach, have only fueled speculation about her national ambitions.

Tim Scott — South Carolina, 9 electoral votes

Scott has built his national profile around economic opportunity, education, faith, and conservative policy priorities.

After his 2024 presidential campaign, the South Carolina senator remains a respected figure within the party and has continued expanding his national profile.

South Carolina’s nine electoral votes are safely Republican. Scott’s appeal would lie less in delivering his home state than in his optimistic message, donor network, and ability to broaden the ticket’s tone without abandoning conservative priorities.

RELATED: Trump to address declassified intel revelations about 2020 foreign interference: Report

Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

The Trump name may not be leaving the stage

Another variable remains impossible to ignore: the Trump political brand.

Donald Trump Jr.’s name continues to circulate among supporters and commentators as a potential future candidate. Although he has repeatedly said he is focused on advancing the America First movement rather than seeking office himself, his national profile, fundraising network, and loyal following keep him in nearly every early conversation about 2028.

Unlike many political heirs, Trump Jr. has spent years campaigning across the country, building relationships with conservative activists, appearing regularly in conservative media, and becoming one of the Republican Party’s most recognizable surrogates.

Whether he ultimately seeks the presidency, accepts a vice presidential nomination, or remains one of the party’s most influential campaign voices, his involvement would almost certainly keep the Trump family’s political movement at the center of Republican politics.

There is one rule every VP nominee must follow: Do not become the story. The job is to amplify the presidential candidate, not compete with him.

In a country where elections are often decided by razor-thin margins in a handful of battleground states, even a small advantage can mean the difference between victory and defeat.

​Arkansas, Electoral votes, Jd vance, Marco rubio, Presidential candidate, South carolina, Swing voters, Tennessee, Vice president, Running mate, Gop, 2028 election, Opinion & analysis 

On Saturday, July 11, longtime Republican U.S. Senator from South Carolina Lindsey Graham died at the age of 71. He passed away suddenly from an aortic dissection shortly after returning from a trip to Ukraine.

When he saw the news, Glenn Beck was troubled — but not because he’s a fan of Graham’s or even because death is a sad reality. He was disturbed because once again many people, including conservatives, were celebrating the tragic news.

“I haven’t agreed with Lindsey Graham in a very long time — not on the wars, not on the surveillance state, not on a dozen deals. I thought he sold out the people that elected and sent him there,” Glenn admits.

“I wanted South Carolina to retire him, but at the ballot box. … We settle things with paper and not with blood,” he emphasizes.

Right now, many Americans on both sides of the political aisle have blurred the line between loss and death.

“Lindsey Graham didn’t lose; he died — and those are not the same thing. … Stop celebrating death, America, as if it’s a political victory. It’s grotesque,” Glenn says.

“I am not going to reduce an entire man’s life to whether or not we agreed. What a dishonor. What a dishonor — not to his family or to him, to yourself,” he continues.

While Graham’s legacy is complicated, it’s full of admirable moments, Glenn argues.

Graham came from humble beginnings, was the first person in his family to attend college, and lost both his parents to tragic deaths when he was in his early 20s.

At the age of 22, Graham, the new “man of his family,” drove home nearly every weekend from Columbia University to check on his little sister, Darline.

“And when he joined the Air Force, he did something incredible. He legally adopted his sister. Why? There’s no fame in that. … He adopted her so that if he died in the military, his benefits would go to her,” Glenn adds through tears.

In 2009, Graham was the only Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee to vote in favor of Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s confirmation. A year later, he did the same for Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan.

Glenn says Graham was “right” to vote in favor of these liberal judges he personally disagreed with and praises him for being the only one who understood that a Senate confirmation is an “anti-corruption device” designed to prevent a president from “appointing his relatives or his cronies or his flatterers.”

“It was never meant to be a second election. Lindsey Graham understood this, … and he did what he felt was required of him, and it cost him politically,” Glenn explains.

But his favorite Graham moment happened in 2018 during Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court confirmation hearing. Graham passionately ripped into Senate Democrats, calling the process “the most unethical sham since I’ve been in politics” for what he saw as a smear campaign to destroy Kavanaugh’s life and delay the seat until after the midterms.

“This is what a human being looks like when you write him down. It’s not a hero or a villain. It’s a ledger. There’s ink on both sides of the page,” Glenn says, “and if you think your page is going to come out any cleaner, I’d encourage you to go back and look at those pages of your life.”

He then gives Graham the honor he’s owed.

“Three decades in the uniform of the United States. Brother, guardian, father, in fact, to a 13-year-old girl who had nobody else. Lindsey Graham, I salute you. Thank you for your service to your state, to your service for your country.”

To hear more of Glenn’s commentary, watch the video above.

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