The Department of War has set its sights on hypersonic weapons, vehicles that maneuver through the atmosphere at Mach 5 and beyond. The very speed of these weapons, their desirable property, raises new challenges for their use. Hypersonics move the friction of the battlefield upstream into the design, manufacturing, and test ecosystems, where failures can be expensive and hard to diagnose.

The allure of these systems is “decision-centric.” The idea, borrowed from John Boyd, is to get inside an opponent’s decision cycle, his "OODA loop," and force a state of perpetual disorientation. The wager is that speed plus maneuverability can deliver a kind of supremacy that feels, to those in the Pentagon, like control over time itself.

The history of this pursuit is a recurring military revolution of time compression. In 1968, the rocket-powered X-15 made its final flight, an engineering path the U.S. partially explored and then left dormant for decades. Now, the Department of War frames its latest tests as a return to that aerospace mastery.

To bridge this gap, the military has begun to borrow the jargon of Silicon Valley.

The context is different this time, and the pressure of the moment is no longer speculative. Russia has claimed the combat use of its Kinzhal and Zircon missiles in Ukraine. China, according to the Department of War’s 2025 reports, possesses the world’s “leading hypersonic missile arsenal.” These events convert the technology from a next-gen category into an “enacted reality,” a spectacle of intimidation that shapes budgets and public mythologies.

The American effort is split between two architectures: the boost-glide vehicle, which maneuvers through the upper atmosphere after being launched by a rocket, and the hypersonic cruise missile, an air-breathing vehicle powered by a scramjet. The scramjet is a particularly demanding piece of engineering, requiring supersonic combustion to occur in extremely short “residence times” at extreme temperatures. These systems make the operational promise that they can fly in the upper atmosphere, between 80,000 and 200,000 feet, effectively exploiting the altitude bands where existing sensors and interceptors struggle to maintain continuous observation.

The department’s own vocabulary reveals a more earthbound struggle. Officials describe a portfolio that is a grinding capacity contest involving aero-aerothermal science, high-temperature materials, and supply-chain fragility. The Government Accountability Office notes that the limited experience in producing these weapons makes cost prediction and schedule control unusually difficult.

RELATED: 'Painful days': Iran kills US troops as Trump threatens decapitated Iranian regime

Photo by Daniel Torok/White House via Getty Images

The fiscal year 2026 research funding request for hypersonics was $3.9 billion, a sharp drop from the $6.9 billion requested in FY2025. As of early 2026, the department has not yet established stable “programs of record” for these weapons, implying that the mission requirements and long-term funding remain unresolved.

To bridge this gap, the military has begun to borrow the jargon of Silicon Valley. It speaks of delivering a “minimum viable product.” It aims to develop capability at the “speed of relevance,” a phrase that imports the tempo of commercial tech into the military imagination. The warfighter is reimagined as a “user” whose feedback shapes “capability increments.”

The constraints on this vision are mundane. The GAO identifies aged facilities and “insufficient sustainment” as major risks for test capacity. There are long lead times for specialized carbon-carbon materials and limited suppliers for thermal protection. To enhance the workforce, the department is spending $100 million to run a university consortium to cultivate a community of labs and curricula.

The speed of these weapons affects the attacker as well as defender. When decision time shrinks, the temptation to automate launch decisions grows. Arms control analysts warn of “flash” dynamics driven by machine interpretation and rapid escalation pathways. This concern became concrete on February 5, 2026, when the New START treaty expired. For the first time in decades, the United States and Russia have no binding bilateral framework for strategic predictability. In this vacuum, strategic stability is a contested design space in which weapons, sensors, and machine-speed doctrines interact.

The NBA has described a strip club as an "iconic cultural institution."

Along with musical performances, a podcast, and chicken wings, the Atlanta Hawks have announced a "Magic City Monday" on March 16 against the Orlando Magic.

'Allowing this night to go forward without protest would reflect poorly on us as an NBA community.'

In the official announcement, promoted by the NBA itself, the league declined to note that Magic City — the establishment being celebrated — is actually a strip club, nor did it even describe it in a tamer fashion, like an exotic dancing club, for example.

Instead, the venue was celebrated as having a "pivotal role in hip-hop and Black culture."

"This collaboration and theme night is very meaningful to me after all the work that we did to put together 'Magic City: An American Fantasy,'" said Jami Gertz, principal owner of the Hawks. "The iconic Atlanta institution has made such an incredible impact on our city and its unique culture."

Melissa Proctor, Hawks executive vice president, avoided stating the true nature of the club also, instead mentioning "the food ... the music and the exclusive merchandise."

The bizarre promotion drew reaction from San Antonio Spurs center Luke Kornet, who pointed to the obvious omission of Magic City being "Atlanta's premier strip club."

RELATED: Michael Jordan shocks NASCAR by doing something no one has done in 77 years

In a written post to his page on Medium earlier this week, Kornet — a devout Catholic, according to the New York Times — asked the NBA to cancel the promotion and to respect and protect women instead.

"The NBA should desire to protect and esteem women, many of whom work diligently every day to make this the best basketball league in the world. We should promote an atmosphere that is protective and respectful of the daughters, wives, sisters, mothers, and partners that we know and love."

The 30-year-old went on: "Allowing this night to go forward without protest would reflect poorly on us as an NBA community, specifically in being complicit in the potential objectification and mistreatment of women in our society."

Along with stating that he and other players were surprised by the themed night, Kornet said the league should hold a "higher standard" for what it promotes.

RELATED: NJ governor crushed with boos at Devils game before honoring Team USA hero Jack Hughes

Photo By Raymond Boyd/Getty Images

"The celebration of a strip club is not conduct aligned" with what the NBA purports to be, Kornet added.

Sharing Kornet's sentiment was Golden State Warriors veteran Al Horford.

"Well said Luke," Horford wrote on X, sharing a copy of Kornet's statements. Horford played for the Hawks from 2007 to 2016.

Despite the brazen celebration of the club, this appears to be the only instance that the NBA or one of its teams has promoted a business of this nature.

The Hawks and NBA did not respond to a request for comment from Blaze News.

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Being president of the United States is a job unlike any other. Wise leadership often goes unnoticed because the public never sees the disasters it prevented. Feckless leadership leaves a paper trail of avoidable tragedy — and nowhere does that trail run clearer than immigration.

The mass shooting over the weekend in Austin, Texas, offers a grim case study. Ndiaga Diagne opened fire at a popular bar near the University of Texas, killing two people and injuring 14 others before police killed him. The story of how he entered the country, stayed, and ultimately gained citizenship reads like a checklist of missed opportunities for enforcement and vetting.

A government that takes national security seriously screens more aggressively, removes violators faster, and treats immigration law as law — not as a set of suggestions.

Diagne, a 53-year-old naturalized U.S. citizen originally from Senegal, moved through an immigration system that repeatedly rewarded leniency and procedural box-checking over basic security judgment. As the U.S. hardens its defenses amid escalating conflict with Iran, the country should confront these shortcomings and adopt reforms that put Americans’ safety first.

A path to citizenship full of red flags

Diagne’s record raises questions that any serious system should have addressed long before he was granted citizenship.

He entered the United States on a B-2 tourist visa on March 13, 2000, during the Clinton administration. A year later, New York City police arrested him for illegal vending. That offense alone might not have warranted major action, but it marked the beginning of a pattern. Reports also suggest he overstayed his visa, since tourist visas for Senegalese citizens typically allow a stay of six months.

By 2006, during the George W. Bush administration, he adjusted his status to lawful permanent resident through marriage to a U.S. citizen. In April 2013 — during the Obama administration — he became a naturalized citizen, despite earlier signs of disregard for immigration rules and later arrests in New York between 2008 and 2016. Some of those matters remain sealed, and public reporting about the underlying conduct varies, but the volume alone should have triggered deeper scrutiny at every stage.

Reports also describe Diagne as emotionally disturbed. He reportedly applied for asylum years after becoming a citizen — a move that makes little sense on its face and raises further questions about stability, intent, and how carefully officials reviewed his file over time.

The attacker’s presentation added another disturbing layer. He wore a hoodie emblazoned with “Property of Allah” alongside an Iranian flag. Reports about images from his home also claim he kept pictures of Iranian leaders. Even if investigators ultimately draw a different conclusion about motive, the optics underscore the obvious point: When the system admits, legalizes, and naturalizes people with glaring warning signs, the country absorbs the risk.

None of this looks like a one-off error. It looks like a culture of permissiveness — a system that too often treats enforcement as optional and vetting as a formality.

RELATED: The great replacement, American style

piranka via iStock/Getty Images

We’ve seen this pattern before

Austin did not occur in a vacuum. The 2015 San Bernardino terrorist attack left 14 people dead and 22 injured at a holiday party. One perpetrator, Tashfeen Malik, entered the U.S. on a K-1 fiancé visa during the Obama administration. Investigators later said she pledged allegiance to ISIS online before the attack.

San Bernardino revealed the same basic weakness: immigration pathways that assume good faith, overlook warning signals, and fail to connect the dots until bodies lie on the ground.

Now place those lessons in the current context. Iran’s regime has built its influence by exporting terror through proxies such as Hezbollah and Hamas. As U.S. and Israeli strikes pressure Tehran, the regime’s remaining options include asymmetric retaliation. Domestic security officials should treat that risk seriously, especially after reports that the Biden-Harris administration released more than 700 Iranian nationals into the interior. Even if only a tiny fraction pose a threat, the consequences could be catastrophic.

America cannot afford “sleeper” operatives posing as refugees or asylum-seekers from terrorist-sponsoring regimes. A government that takes national security seriously screens more aggressively, removes violators faster, and treats immigration law as law — not as a set of suggestions.

Democrats have opposed border security, tougher deportations, and reforms such as the SAVE Act. They dress up their opposition as compassion. In practice, permissive policies expand the pool of illegal residents, increase pressure for amnesty, and reshape political incentives through reapportionment and election machinery. Americans pay the price. The dead in Austin and San Bernardino paid the price.

Americans should say, with one voice: No more.

The founder of Star Autism Center admitted that he began the $6 million scam after "investors" approached him and provided families from the Somali community to bilk the federal government out of taxpayer cash.

Abdinajib Hassan Yussuf was only 22 years old when he started running the scheme after dropping out of St. Cloud Technical College in Aug. 2020.

The more services the families signed up for, the more they would receive in kickback payments.

Yussuf said he registered his center with the Minnesota Secretary of State and was able to enroll as an Early Intensive Developmental and Behavioral Intervention program provider with the Minnesota Department of Human Services on the very same day.

Court documents said that some of the workers at the Star Autism Center were unqualified family members as young as 18 years old.

Yussuf admitted that he didn't know anyone with autism, so the "investors" arranged for families in the Minneapolis Somali community to sign up for the autism services.

Some of the families received monthly kickback payments for signing up, and Yussuf said that many had falsified diagnoses obtained for the sake of the scam. The more services the families signed up for, the more they would receive in kickback payments.

Yussuf and his partners then sought and gained reimbursement for the faked services from Medicaid and bilked the federal government out of $6 million over four years.

The fake autism center CEO pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud and faces five years in prison once he is sentenced.

Yussuf sent more than $200K of the stolen funds to Kenya, according to the U.S. Attorney's office.

RELATED: Minnesota news outlet is getting wrecked online for story on Somali migrants' economic impact on Minnesota

Prosecutors say they are planning to indict Yussuf's "investors" in the scam.

Blaze News' requests for comment from the Minnesota Sec. of State's office as well as the Minnesota Department of Human Services were not immediately returned.

The Trump administration is investigating Democratic-Farmer-Labor Gov. Tim Walz (Minn.) for possible obstruction of justice related to the Somali community schemes.

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On an episode of “Moonshots with Peter Diamandis” released earlier this year, Elon Musk dropped a statement so chilling, it stopped Glenn Beck in his tracks.

“Well, one, like, side recommendation I have is, like, don’t worry about, like, squirreling money away for retirement in, like, 10 or 20 years. It won’t matter. ... If any of the things that we’ve said are true, saving for retirement will be irrelevant,” the tech titan said.

Diamandis followed up with an equally chilling statement.

“The services will be there to support you. You’ll have the home. You’ll have the health care. You’ll have the entertainment,” he said.

Musk then likened today’s AI progress to a roller coaster car perched at the crest of a hill, insinuating that right now we’re in the stomach-churning hang time before the inevitable free fall.

“I think we’ll hit AGI next year in ’26,” he posited. (Note: The podcast was recorded in December 2025.)

Glenn unpacks the gravity of Musk’s shocking statements: “AGI is artificial general intelligence. That means the computer — the AI system — is smarter at everything than any human is. It is better at, name the topic, than the best human you can find, and it can do everything that a human can do better than a human.”

But unlike Musk and Diamandis, Glenn isn’t as optimistic about this techno-utopia that AI will supposedly create.

“We have got to prepare for this,” he warns.

Already AI is replacing workers in many industries, but the free fall into rendering humans virtually useless has yet to come but approaches closer every day, he says. “It’ll go the factory worker, then the truck driver, then the coder, then the accountant, the analyst.”

“The ground is shifting quickly,” he says, warning that the world is gearing up to propose dystopian ideas to compensate for the coming AI takeover — ideas we must be prepared to reject.

One of the most prominent (and harrowing) “solutions” is universal basic income — that is, regular cash payments provided by the government or a similar authority to every individual in a population, with no conditions attached.

“I am dead set against that,” Glenn says.

“[UBI] is the modern version of bread and circuses — and make no mistakes, the communists, the social planners, the Davos crowd, they’re going to offer it all as, not as a temporary bridge, but as a permanent arrangement,” he cautions.

Already, the globalist elites are devising plans to create “a managed society — a population that is pacified, production centralized, dependency normalized,” he explains, citing the work of WEF agenda contributor Yuval Noah Harari, who’s argued that AI and automation will create a “useless class” of people who become superfluous to the economic and political system and therefore must be provided for with universal basic income and essentially sedated via computer games, virtual reality, and possibly even drugs.

“People are going to go for this,” Glenn says, “not because they love collectivism, but because nobody offered them another path.”

It’s essential, he argues, that we explore other avenues for how to handle the AI takeover before true panic sets in and the frenzied masses agree to something disastrous.

One promising alternative, Glenn says, originates from celebrated free-market economist Milton Friedman, who, despite being “accused of being a defender of the coldest kind of capitalism,” supported “a version of basic income” called the “negative income tax.”

This idea, Glenn explains, proposes eliminating the welfare state — “that’s food stamps, housing subsidies, overlapping programs, bureaucracy” — and “[replacing] all of that with a simple income floor that everybody gets.”

“If you earn below a certain threshold, the government will send you supplemental income, but as you earn more, the support will phase out very gradually,” he adds, noting that the genius in this plan is the preservation of “incentive.”

“Technological advancement is going to become so severe at some point that AI could create pockets of severe displacement, and with that, you’ll either get violent populism, authoritarian redistribution of wealth, or a market-compatible safety valve, and that’s what [Friedman’s] negative income tax was — a pressure release without central planning,” Glenn says.

If we fail to choose the path that preserves our freedom, a bleak “new world order and one world government” will greet us on the other side of the impending AI apocalypse.

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

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The death of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who ruled Iran with brutality for nearly four decades, has thrown the Persian Gulf country into a historic moment of uncertainty — and possibility. His welcome passing shattered the familiar, oppressive order and forces a question Iran can no longer postpone: What comes next?

That question arises as Iran sits at the center of a deeper shift that may prove historic and generational. Much remains uncertain: how change will unfold, how long it will take, and what form it will assume. One principle, however, should guide every serious observer: Lasting change in Iran must come from within, driven by Iranians themselves and their organized resistance. Anything imposed from abroad or engineered through outside force will fail.

Iran’s destiny will be shaped by Iranians: by students, workers, professionals, and above all by women who refuse to accept a future defined by repression.

For more than four decades, Iran’s clerical establishment has displayed many vulnerabilities. One stands out as both defining and revealing: institutionalized misogyny. This is not merely a social failing. It is a governing doctrine.

That doctrine has become the regime’s weakness.

Women have been among the primary victims of Iran’s repression. They have also become the most dynamic force challenging it. Across the country, women no longer merely participate in dissent. They drive it. In city after city, they confront the regime’s most repressive forces. In many instances, they do not just join protests; they lead them.

One striking feature of this movement is its intergenerational character. Observers rightly note the youth of Iran’s protesters. But mothers march alongside daughters, and that image captures something profound about Iran’s national awakening: The demand for freedom is no longer confined to one age group or social class. It has become a shared national aspiration.

In moments of historic transformation, leaders emerge whose lives embody a movement’s aims. In Iran’s struggle, one such figure is Maryam Rajavi, president-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran. For nearly half a century, she has been engaged in Iran’s fight for freedom. Her commitment is personal. She lost one sister to the Shah’s secret police, SAVAK, and another under the rule of the ayatollahs while she was pregnant. Such losses would silence many. For her, they hardened resolve.

Rajavi’s significance lies not only in her story but in her vision. Over decades, she has helped cultivate a generation of women within Iran’s resistance — women who now occupy leadership roles, organize networks, and sustain activism under extreme repression. Tens of thousands of women affiliated with her movement have died in the struggle for freedom. That sacrifice, measured in lives rather than slogans, lends credibility to the movement she represents.

This is not symbolic inclusion. It is a structural transformation. Women at every level of opposition challenge the regime’s core assumption that power must remain exclusively male.

At the center of Rajavi’s platform is a 10-point plan outlining a democratic future for Iran. At its heart sits a principle the current regime finds intolerable: gender equality. In that vision, equality is not a concession. It is a foundation — essential to political legitimacy, economic progress, and justice. Women’s rights are not a peripheral demand; they are a declaration that a future Iran must break with decades of repression.

RELATED: Iran’s freedom fighters put America’s No Kings clowns to shame

Photo by Thierry Monasse/Getty Images

Sometimes a single image conveys what volumes of analysis cannot. Few signals would announce a new era more clearly than the emergence of a modern-minded Muslim woman as a central leader of democratic change. That would mark more than a political transition. It would signal renewal — a break with tyranny and a declaration that Iran’s future belongs to all its citizens.

History offers countless examples of societies that seemed immovable until, suddenly, they were not. Authoritarian systems often look strongest just before they weaken and most permanent just before they dissolve. The forces now stirring within Iran — especially the courage and leadership of its women — suggest the country has entered such a moment.

The lesson for the world is straightforward. Iran’s destiny will not be shaped by foreign intervention or external engineering — and it will not be served by fake leaders like Reza Pahlavi, who rely on social media and bots for relevance. Iran’s destiny will be shaped by Iranians: by students, workers, professionals, and above all by women who refuse to accept a future defined by repression.

Their struggle is not only national. It reflects a universal truth: The desire for freedom, once awakened, cannot be permanently suppressed.

The direction of Iran’s transformation is becoming clearer. And if history is any guide, when that transformation reaches its turning point, it will bear a defining hallmark: It will have been led, inspired, and sustained by women.

Voters in North Carolina took to the polls Tuesday to select their primary candidates in several races, including a high-stakes U.S. Senate race. After Republican Senator Thom Tillis announced his retirement last June, over a dozen candidates threw their hats in the ring — six Republicans and six Democrats.

Polls opened at 6:30 a.m. Tuesday for voters to select their primary candidates for Tillis' open Senate seat, as well as 14 U.S. House of Representatives seats.

Trump said Whatley is 'fantastic at everything he does' in an endorsement message.

Trump-endorsed Michael Whatley won the Republican primary election decisively Tuesday night after delayed polling results were released. Whatley pulled in over 234,000, or 63.8%, of the votes, as of 9:00 p.m. ET, according to WFAA.

Former North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper was considered the favorite on the Democratic ballot. As expected, Cooper won the Democratic nomination handily, according to WFAA.

RELATED: Tuesday’s must-watch primaries: The races that will determine if America First takes over in 2026

Former North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper (D)Photographer: Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Whatley celebrated the victory on social media shortly after the race was called: "Thank you North Carolina! I’m honored to be the Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate in North Carolina. Republicans are united. Now the real fight begins. This November, North Carolina voters will have a choice: Safer Communities, Secure Borders, More Jobs and Lower Costs or Roy Cooper's failed record. Let’s win."

In a statement obtained by Blaze News, Senate Leadership Fund Executive Director Alex Latcham congratulated Whatley: "SLF congratulates future U.S. Senator Michael Whatley on his primary victory tonight, where he once again proved that he is the leader who can build winning coalitions and ensure North Carolina remains red this November."

"Meanwhile, Roy Cooper's failed leadership left families without homes after Hurricane Helene, raised prices across the board, and prioritized far-left ideologies over North Carolina values," Latcham went on. "Voters know that Roy Cooper cannot be trusted to represent them in Washington, and Senate Leadership Fund will firmly fight to ensure Michael Whatley is elected this November."

Trump said Whatley is "fantastic at everything he does" in an endorsement message posted to Truth Social last month. With Trump's blessing, Whatley also served as the chair of the Republican National Committee from March 2024 to August 2025.

Other candidates who appeared on the GOP ballot include Michele Morrow, Don Brown, Richard Dansie, Thomas Johnson, and Elizabeth Anne Temple. Additionally, Margot Dupre's name reportedly appeared on the ballot, but she was disqualified for not having eligible voter registration in the state, according to WRAL.

Other Democrat candidates include Daryl Farrow, Justin E. Dues, Robert Colon, Marcus W. Williams, and Orrick Quick.

Originally scheduled to close at 7:30 p.m. local time, the poll closing time was pushed back by one hour at a precinct in Halifax County due to an issue that delayed the site's opening, WBTV reported.

The precinct that experienced the issues was Halifax County's Littleton precinct. The voting location was Littleton United Methodist Church, according to the North Carolina State Board of Elections' press release regarding the decision.

"With more than 2,600 polling sites statewide, it is not unusual for minor issues to occur at polling sites that result in brief disruptions of voting. The State Board routinely meets to discuss the extension of hours when the need arises on Election Day," the Board said in the statement.

As a result, no primary results were reported until 8:30 p.m. ET.

North Carolina is considered by many to be a key battleground state that could serve as a potential indicator for the fate of the remainder of Trump's second term.

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An influencer on TikTok was ordered by a jury to pay millions to a professor she defamed by blaming her for the heinous 2022 murders of four University of Idaho students.

TikTok tarot reader Ashley Guillard from Texas got millions of views for posting videos wherein she falsely claimed University of Idaho assistant history professor Rebecca Scofield was romantically involved with one of the female students killed.

'You were making [dozens] of videos about me, someone you never met, you never talked to — someone you had no connection to.'

Guillard also said Scofield had ordered the murders.

Scofield said in a lawsuit filed in 2022 that she had never met any of the students and that the accusations had hurt her career and caused her mental anguish.

On Friday, a jury agreed and unanimously ordered the influencer to pay $10 million in damages. Of that, $7.5 million was portioned as punitive damages, while the rest was compensatory.

Guillard represented herself during the trial and related how she left her husband and got interested in tarot and numerology before teaching herself through YouTube videos how to read the cards. She also claimed that she had honed her psychic abilities by testing her predictions on reality television shows.

Scofield testified that the elaborate videos delved into her personal and professional life and felt "utterly terrifying" to her.

She also was able to confront Guillard when she was cross-examined by the defendant.

"You spoke lies into a camera about me and my husband," Scofield said to Guillard. "You were making [dozens] of videos about me, someone you never met, you never talked to — someone you had no connection to. I don't know how anyone could not feel threatened by that level of interest from someone they had never met."

RELATED: Professor sues TikTok tarot card reader and crime sleuth who accused her of ordering murder of 4 Idaho students over romantic entanglement

Guillard tried to defend her claims against Scofield during the court case, but the jury remained unpersuaded. She previously said she was eager to present her evidence to the court.

"I am actually gleaming with excitement," she said at the time. "I'm going to immediately start planning because I cannot wait to present my ideas in court regarding Rebecca Scofield and her role in the murder of the four University of Idaho students."

Police arrested Bryan Kohberger on Dec. 30, 2022, and charged him with the murders after allegedly finding his DNA on the weapon. In July 2025, Kohberger pleaded guilty in order to avoid the death penalty.

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A father was charged with murder after his teen son was accused of fatally shooting four in a Georgia high school in 2024 — and on Tuesday a jury returned a verdict in the case against the dad.

The jury found Colin Gray guilty of all charges in the deadly shooting his son is accused of carrying out at Apalachee High School in Winder, which is northeast of Atlanta, the Associated Press reported.

Colt Gray — who was 14 at the time of the shooting — pleaded not guilty to 55 counts, including murder, the AP said.

The outlet said Gray "now joins a growing number" of parents being held responsible after their children have been accused in shootings.

More from the AP:

Colin Gray was found guilty of second-degree murder in the deaths of two 14-year-old students, Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo. Georgia law defines second-degree murder as causing the death of a child by committing the crime of cruelty to children. Gray was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in the killings of teachers Richard Aspinwall, 39, and Cristina Irimie, 53.

Another teacher and eight other students were wounded. Gray was also convicted of multiple counts of reckless conduct and cruelty to children.

RELATED: 4 killed, 9 injured in shooting at Georgia high school, officials say

Gray will be sentenced at a later date, the AP said, adding that second-degree murder is punishable by at least 10 but no more than 30 years in prison; involuntary manslaughter carries a penalty of one to 10 years in prison.

"We talk a lot about rights in our country," Barrow County District Attorney Brad Smith told the outlet after the verdict. "But God gave us a duty to protect our children, and I hope that we remember that, as parents, as community members, to protect our children because that is our God-given duty."

The teen's mother, Marcee Gray, wasn't charged, the AP said.

She testified that she urged her estranged husband to lock all guns inside his truck so their son Colt couldn't access them, the outlet noted. She and Colin Gray were separated in the months leading up to the Sept. 4, 2024, shooting, the AP reported, and Colt lived mostly with his father during that time.

Prosecutors said Colin Gray gave Colt the gun he's accused of using in the school shooting as a Christmas gift and allowed him access to it along with ammunition despite the boy's deteriorating mental health, the outlet reported, adding that they said Colin Gray had "sufficient warning that Colt Gray would harm and endanger" others.

Colt Gray — who was 14 at the time of the shooting — pleaded not guilty to 55 counts, including murder, the AP said, adding that his judge set a status hearing for mid-March.

More from the AP:

Investigators said Colt Gray carefully planned the shooting at the school attended by 1,900 students.

He boarded the school bus with a semiautomatic, assault-style rifle in his book bag, the barrel sticking out and wrapped in poster board, investigators said. He left his second-period class and emerged from a bathroom with the gun and then shot people in a classroom and hallways, investigators said.

Colin Gray knew his son was obsessed with school shooters, even having a shrine in his bedroom to Nikolas Cruz, the shooter in the 2018 massacre at Florida’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, prosecutors said.

"It wasn't like one parent missed one warning," Smith told reporters, according to the outlet. "This was multiple warnings over a lengthy period of time and, like we said, you just had to do one thing — take that rifle away, and this would have been prevented."

The AP said Jennifer and James Crumbley — the first U.S. parents held criminally responsible for a mass school shooting committed by a child — are serving 10-year prison terms for involuntary manslaughter after their son Ethan killed four students and wounded others in Michigan in 2021.

The outlet added that Colin Gray was the first such parent to be charged in Georgia.

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As the Department of Health and Human Services dives into the chronic disease epidemic in America, BlazeTV host Sara Gonzales is calling on officials to investigate something else as well: “the phenomenon that is liberal white women and why they are so mentally unstable."

“I don’t get it. I want to get it. It is destroying the country,” Gonzales says, before playing a clip of a “scholar” who studies the “far right.”

“You already know she’s terrible and insufferable just from that basic point, but she decided to flee America. That’s probably partially because of the TDS,” she adds.

“This is day one as a refugee in Canada. We made it across the border yesterday afternoon, and we’re in an Airbnb now. I don’t have a home. Some people can choose to leave, and some people are forced to leave, and I am one of the ones that have been forced to leave,” the woman said in a TikTok video she’s recording of herself.

“I think a lot about, like, Jews in Nazi Germany, and for a long time I was like, why didn’t they get out? You know, like, the signs were so clear, and things were so bad for so long. Why didn’t they get out?” The woman continued.

“That is the most horribly offensive thing I have ever heard in my entire life. I mean, the way that they call us all Nazis, obviously, but to say that, I mean, they’re constantly bastardizing the term Nazi, Nazi Germany,” Gonzales comments, disgusted.

“But she found out that the grass isn’t always greener on the other side,” she continues, before playing more of the self-described “refugee” woman’s TikTok.

“The situation in Canada is absolutely dire. For Americans who don’t know, the housing crisis here is worse than in the United States. I lived in L.A. for six years, and I have not faced rent as bad as here. And in Canada, I think it’s actually the cost-of-living crisis is worse here,” the woman said into the camera.

“Especially when you are shut out of the health care system, when you can’t access any of the resources that Canadians have access to. And that’s understandable, you know, I’m not a citizen of the country, but it is making the financial situation dire because we can’t work, because there are two adults, a cat and a dog,” the woman continued.

“Her brain is broken,” Gonzales comments.

“I would just ask HHS: You could do the coolest thing and save the country if you just figured out how to reverse TDS. It’s causing major problems,” she continues. “Then again, we’re probably lucky that she’s gone. So maybe not. Maybe just leave her there.”

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A year-long investigation into prostitution led to raids at the home and adult bookstores allegedly owned by one man, according to Dallas police sources.

Department of Justice agents along with Dallas Police officers raided multiple locations on Feb. 13 related to the Paris Adult Book Store as well as a home in Plano.

'It's a big deal if the IRS is involved. They might shut it down for good.'

The identify of the owner has not yet been released.

A day prior to the raids, the City of Dallas shut down Pandora's Men's Club Dallas over accusations of promotion of prostitution and narcotics sales by workers. WFAA-TV said it was unclear if that action was related to the raids.

Sources told WFAA that the owner faced prostitution, trafficking, and money laundering charges.

Plano Police officers as well as Internal Revenue Service agents were also involved in the raids.

"You name it, they over there!" remarked Roy King, a resident who witnessed the raids and spoke to WFAA. "I ain't never seen nothing like this in my whole entire life!"

Other business owners in the area said the street is known as "the Blade," but while they told WFAA that lots of "ugly" activity happened there, they did not want to speak publicly about it.

Dallas Councilwoman Gay Donnell Willis said she was "happy to see this effort to combat illegal activity in a high crime corridor" in a post on social media.

The Dallas Police Dept. released a brief statement with few details.

"The activity is part of an ongoing, multi-agency effort focused on public safety and the disruption of criminal activity within the community. Due to the nature of the investigation, no additional details are available currently," the DPD said.

RELATED: 14-year-old girls that went missing from sleepover were forced into prostitution by men they met online, police say

Bianca Davis, the CEO of a nonprofit that helps trafficked girls and women, said the networks are getting more sophisticated every day.

"We can come up with 400 signs of what to look for, and someone will show up with the 401st sign. It is just ever-changing," she said.

She expects that an investigation will lead to cellphone and computer communications that can uncover the extent of the criminal network.

"It's a big deal if the IRS is involved. They might shut it down for good," said local business owner Eddie Radoncic to KXAS-TV.

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Pop singer Kesha expressed her outrage after her song was used by the White House in a social media video promoting the military attacks in Iran.

The video posted by the White House account is titled "Lethality" and features U.S. warplanes firing missiles at tankers as Kesha's song "Blow" from 2011 plays.

'This show of blatant disregard for human life and quite frankly this attack on all of our nervous systems is the opposite of what I stand for.'

The 30-second video was posted to TikTok, where it garnered almost two million views.

Kesha, whose full name is Kesha Rose Sebert, excoriated the administration for the unauthorized use of her song.

"It's come to my attention that The White House has used one of my songs on TikTok to incite violence and threaten war," she said in a post on social media.

"Trying to make light of war is disgusting and inhumane. I absolutely do NOT approve of my music being used to promote violence of any kind. Love always trumps hate," she added. "Please love yourself and each other in times like this. This show of blatant disregard for human life and quite frankly this attack on all of our nervous systems is the opposite of what I stand for."

She went on to reference an accusation from Democrat Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland about President Donald Trump allegedly covering up his presence in the Epstein files.

RELATED: Sabrina Carpenter condemns White House's 'evil' use of song — they respond with ridicule

Photo by Tim Mosenfelder/Getty Images

"Also, don't let this distract us from the fact that criminal predator Donald Trump appears in the Files over a million times," she wrote.

She added, "Stop using my music, perverts," in a second post.

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CNN’s latest documentary on so-called “Christian nationalism” appears to attempt to redefine those who celebrate that America was founded on Christian beliefs as extremists — becoming a vague political weapon rather than a clear ideology.

“We hear all the time: The danger is Christian nationalism, but the definition of Christian nationalism is so fluid,” BlazeTV host Allie Beth Stuckey comments on “Relatable.”

“I’m not even sure how I would personally define it, but if you break down the words, nationalism just means that you want to put the interests of your country first. It’s not automatically synonymous with Nazism or fascism, but I do believe that we actually have the Christian responsibility to put the needs and the well-being of our citizens first,” she explains.

“God created nations. Nations are like families,” Stuckey says, pointing out that “you don’t hate your neighbors just because you lock your doors and you live inside a house.”

“You just love your family. And God has created these circles of affection and circles of priority for us for our good, especially for the good of children again. But I think that’s true of Zimbabwe, as well of China. Everyone should put their country first,” she continues.

“So that’s how I would define nationalism ... in comparison to globalism,” she says, explaining that the end result of globalism is a global government where the needs of everyone across the globe are prioritized equally.

“Absolutely impossible chaos. I’m anti-chaos,” Stuckey says.

“And then Christian, of course, we know what Christian is. A belief in the gospel of Jesus Christ. And so you believe in the gospel of Jesus Christ. You believe in putting your country first. You believe as Christians that your Christian worldview should impact all you think about policy and politics,” she explains.

Stuckey also explains that what CNN is trying to do is attempt to define “Christian nationalism” as something it is not.

“The CNN anchor behind the project, her name is Pamela Brown. She interviewed Douglas Wilson. Doug Wilson is an Idaho pastor in Moscow, Idaho. He identifies as a Christian nationalist, and she said, quote, ‘The response to that report was overwhelming and highlighted the need to better understand this movement working to redefine America as a Christian nation,’” Stuckey says.

“So you can already kind of see the bias in their language there, as if America doesn’t have a Christian foundation, which of course it does,” she adds, pointing out that while Brown is worried about a Christian’s belief system, the secular belief system many Americans follow is even more widespread.

“They’re bringing the fullness of their belief system into the voting booth, into their PTA meetings, into the city council, into their classrooms, into every public sphere that they occupy,” she says.

“And Christian conservatives, and Christian conservatives alone, are told, 'You can’t do that,'” she adds.

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A Minneapolis county attorney said her office is investigating 17 incidents involving federal agents, including Border Patrol Chief Gregory Bovino, for possible criminal charges.

Bovino headed the immigration enforcement mission in Minnesota dubbed Operation Metro Surge but left the area after the deaths of anti-ICE protesters Renee Good and Alex Pretti in January.

'We will investigate and pursue charging where appropriate, and we'll seek collaboration with local law enforcement wherever and whenever needed.'

On Monday, the Hennepin County Attorney's Office said it was investigating the incidents and opened an online portal to collect tips from the public about "potentially unlawful behavior" committed by agents of Operation Metro Surge.

"Our [Transparency and Accountability Project] team is actively investigating 17 incidents that have been brought to our attention by the community, including Gregory Kent Bovino's actions near Mueller Park on January 21," reads a statement from Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty.

Moriarty was likely referring to an incident captured on video where Bovino tossed a canister of chemical irritants at protesters after giving them a warning to disperse. A photographer also captured an officer apparently directly spraying an irritant into a protester's face after he was pinned to the ground on the same day.

"We will investigate and pursue charging where appropriate, and we'll seek collaboration with local law enforcement wherever and whenever needed," she added.

The statement said that portals created for the cases involving Pretti and Good had been closed after collecting public information.

"Make no mistake, we are not afraid of any legal fight," Moriarty added. "But we will do this ethically, responsibly, and vigorously. TAP is fundamental to our efforts to ensure the transparency and accountability that our community deserves. This is just the beginning."

A request for comment from the Department of Homeland Security was not immediately returned.

RELATED: Sex toys, other objects allegedly thrown at cops at Minneapolis ICE facility, prompting dozens of arrests — but not by DHS

After Bovino left, the administration sent border czar Tom Homan to oversee the operation in Minneapolis. He has since withdrawn the federal officers and ended the operation after citing its successes.

Afterward, Bovino released a video message to federal officers expressing his gratitude and support.

"I'm very proud of what you, the mean green machine, are doing in Minneapolis right now, just like you've done it across the United States over these past tough nine months," he said in front of Mount Rushmore in late January.

"I also want you to know that I've got your back, now and always — I love you, I support you, and I salute you," he added.

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The U.S. Department of Justice and two Washington, D.C., federal judges failed to follow statute and legal precedent by keeping pipe-bomb suspect Brian Cole Jr. behind bars since Dec. 4, an “unjust deprivation of liberty” that can only be corrected by his immediate release, defense lawyers argued to a federal appeals court.

Defense attorney J. Alex Little filed an interlocutory appeal after U.S. Magistrate Judge Matthew Sharbaugh and U.S. District Judge Amir Ali denied Cole release pending trial on charges that he placed two pipe bombs on Capitol Hill on Jan. 5, 2021.

‘At that moment, by operation of statute, the government’s right to hold Cole in custody expired.’

In a 72-page appeal memo and 350-page appendix filed with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, Little said the judges violated his client’s rights by failing to hold a required preliminary hearing and then largely ignoring defense evidence that Cole poses no danger to the public.

Federal prosecutors, he wrote, obtained an invalid indictment from the District of Columbia Superior Court on Dec. 29 because they had no intention of presenting evidence at an adversarial preliminary hearing. The federal indictment handed up on Jan. 6 compounded the errors, Little contended, and contained one criminal count with an expired statute of limitations.

FBI agents and technicians search the 2017 Nissan Sentra belonging to Jan. 6 pipe-bomb suspect Brian Cole Jr. outside his Woodbridge, Virginia, home on Dec. 4, 2025. Photo by Andrew Leyden/Getty Images

“The government — apparently unaware of, or indifferent to, its obligations under [18 U.S. Code] § 3060 and facing the reality that no federal grand jury would be available — raced instead to a D.C. Superior Court grand jury as an end-around to avoid a probable cause hearing,” Little wrote. “Cole objected and requested immediate release.”

Under federal law, criminal defendants must either be charged by grand jury indictment or be given a preliminary hearing within 14 days of their first appearance in court. At a preliminary hearing, defense attorneys are allowed to cross-examine witnesses and challenge government evidence. Cole was arrested Dec. 4 and first appeared in federal court in Washington, D.C., on Dec. 5.

On December 3, the DOJ filed a criminal complaint charging Cole with two counts: transporting an explosive device in interstate commerce with intent to kill, injure, or intimidate, and malicious attempted destruction by means of explosive materials.

No required preliminary hearing

Cole’s attorneys agreed to delay his detention hearing until Dec. 30, but Little said that did not substitute for the mandatory preliminary hearing. The Dec. 29 Superior Court indictment is not a valid substitute for a federal grand jury indictment, Little wrote.

“A Superior Court indictment is not a placeholder, and a subsequent federal indictment cannot reach back in time to satisfy a condition that was not met when it was due,” Little wrote. “This Court should reverse and order Cole’s release.”

Judge Ali held that Cole likely waived the preliminary hearing by not moving to schedule the hearing, according to Little, but said the responsibility was the magistrate’s alone.

RELATED: Brian Cole Jr.’s location just the latest snag in the DOJ’s evolving Jan. 6 pipe-bomb narrative

A federal grand jury charged Brian Cole Jr. with two explosives-related charges, alleging he planted pipe bombs on Capitol Hill on Jan. 5, 2021. FBI, Prince William County photos

“The hearing date is the court’s to set,” Little wrote. “The court has no discretion to omit it. And the defendant bears no responsibility for the court’s compliance with its own mandatory obligation.”

“Even assuming Cole’s right to a preliminary hearing had not been forfeited — and it had not — the government’s attempt to satisfy § 3060(e) through a D.C. Superior Court grand jury indictment was legally invalid,” Little said.

The statutory reference to “an indictment” refers to a federal indictment, Little added.

‘Congress prescribed mandatory discharge as the consequence for the government’s failure.’

“The Superior Court return was not one. The government did not seek the Superior Court indictment because it was the right vehicle,” he wrote. “It sought it because no federal grand jury was available, and it had no intention of presenting evidence at a preliminary hearing.”

The D.C. Superior Court “does not have jurisdiction over federal criminal offenses,” Little wrote. “Congress vested ‘original jurisdiction, exclusive of the courts of the States,’ in the federal district courts ‘of all offenses against the laws of the United States.’”

Magistrate Judge Sharbaugh on Jan. 2 ruled that Cole should remain behind bars until trial. The defense moved to revoke that order, which District Judge Ali refused to do in a ruling on Jan. 16. The defense filed for reconsideration of that decision. On Jan. 29, Judge Ali affirmed the decision to jail Cole until trial, ruling that no release conditions could guarantee the safety of the public.

Little contends that those decisions just compounded a judicial error.

Officials from the FBI’s Evidence Response Team and the Special Operations Branch walk toward the home of Jan. 6 pipe-bomb suspect Brian Cole Jr. in Woodbridge, Virginia, Dec. 4, 2025. Photo by Andrew Leyden/Getty Images

“On December 30, 2025, no valid federal indictment had intervened, no preliminary hearing had been held, and no lawful extraordinary circumstances finding had extended the deadline,” Little wrote. “At that moment, by operation of statute, the government’s right to hold Cole in custody expired.

“Congress prescribed mandatory discharge as the consequence for the government’s failure to comply with the preliminary hearing statute,” he said. “That consequence should be imposed now.”

Short shrift for evidence?

Little said Judge Ali erred by not giving more than a passing glance at defense evidence offered after Judge Sharbaugh’s ruling.

The defense offered evidence refuting the DOJ’s claim that Cole erased his cell phone to destroy evidence in the case and argued that there is no evidence Cole is a danger to the community.

Cole began “wiping” or doing a factory reset on his cell phone in mid-2022. Prosecutors said he wiped the device some 943 times, right up until his arrest. A defense psychologist submitted an affidavit that such behavior is common among those suffering from obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Maryland neuropsychologist David O. Black, who said he diagnosed Cole with autism spectrum disorder, level 1, and obsessive-compulsive disorder, told the court, “Repetitive behavior of this nature is consistent with behavior that is often seen in obsessive-compulsive disorder.”

‘The government cannot have it both ways.’

“Between January 2021 and now, the government cannot point to a single threatening act, a single violent communication, a single extremist affiliation, or a single acquisition of explosive materials,” Little wrote. “It does not claim Cole threatened anyone. It does not claim he posted anything alarming online; indeed, it concedes it found no such posts.”

Little again undermined the DOJ's argument that Cole spent nearly five years evading the FBI’s massive pipe-bomb investigation.

RELATED: Prosecution of Brian J. Cole Jr. for Jan. 6 pipe bombs raises more questions than it answers

Police block off the road leading to the home of pipe-bomb suspect Brian J. Cole Jr. in Woodbridge, Va., on Dec.4, 2025.Photo by Andrew Leyden/Getty Images

“The government cannot have it both ways,” Little wrote. “Either Cole was a meticulous concealer who carefully covered his tracks for nearly five years, or he was someone who left Home Depot receipts from November 2020 in his vehicle until December 2025, stored pipe components in a closet and his car with their original purchase receipts, and purchased every component using his own credit and debit cards under his own name.”

Cole’s defense team has volunteered that Cole be placed on strict court supervision that includes home detention with GPS monitoring. Cole’s grandmother, Loretta Donnette, volunteered to be responsible for Cole and ensure that he complies with all court release conditions. Her husband, a retired federal law enforcement officer with the Government Services Administration, would be home at all times, she told the court.

“Cole has no criminal history, strong community ties, and a family — including a retired law enforcement officer — prepared to ensure his compliance,” Little said. “Pretrial detention under these circumstances is not ‘the carefully limited exception’ the Constitution requires. It is an unjustified deprivation of liberty that this Court should end.”

The DOJ originally had until March 9 to respond to the defense’s appeal memorandum, but on Monday the Court of Appeals issued an order suspending the appeals calendar for the case. It’s not clear how that will impact timing of a decision from the court.

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Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem testified on Tuesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee that the Biden administration paid child traffickers to sponsor unaccompanied minors.

Moments after Noem was sworn in to testify, a masked protester against immigration enforcement interrupted the hearing by shouting for the abolition of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The hearing was interrupted a second time by another protester, who yelled out claims that ICE had killed Americans, shouting, “Black lives matter!”

'We’re not going to stop until we find every single one.'

During Noem’s opening statement, she accused Democrats of holding the DHS hostage by leading a government shutdown of the agency, which she called “reckless” and “unnecessary.”

“As a result, critical national security missions, including border security, immigration enforcement, aviation security, disaster response, cybersecurity, and the protection of critical infrastructure, are all being strained. Our ability to provide for a safe and successful World Cup is being hindered as well,” Noem explained.

She noted that over 100,000 DHS employees are “again being asked to work without pay for the third time in just five months.”

RELATED: Tom Homan says Trump administration has located 23,000 of the 300,000 migrant children lost under Biden administration

Photo by HERIKA MARTINEZ/AFP via Getty Images

Noem explained that during the Biden administration’s open-border crisis, unaccompanied minors were "lost" and "not tracked."

She said that it has been “challenging” because the Department of Health and Human Services, under the Biden administration’s leadership, paid sponsors to host the unaccompanied minors.

“And those sponsors, many times, we found instances where they trafficked these children themselves,” Noem continued. “So under that administration, we not only had children that were in this country as a part of a program, the government was paying individuals that were knowingly trafficking them and abusing them.”

She declared that under the Trump administration, these practices have ended, and federal law enforcement agents have found many of these children and attempted to reunite them with their families.

Noem reported that the current administration has located 145,000 of the 450,000 children whom the previous White House was not tracking.

“We’re not going to stop until we find every single one,” Noem declared.

RELATED: ICE exposes Biden's biggest border failure: Kids handed to sex abusers and criminals

Photo by HERIKA MARTINEZ/AFP via Getty Images

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) addressed the rise in child abuse material online, noting that in 2023, there were an estimated 104 million images and videos of suspected child sexual abuse reported in the United States.

“With all of these images of kids online, I was shocked to learn recently that hundreds of thousands of children in these images are unidentified,” Hawley told Noem. “The Interpol database alone, 90,000 kids are completely unidentified. In the U.K.’s database, it’s over 200,000.”

“Would it be helpful to you if Congress said, ‘You know what, we’re going to create more analysts, more child abuse expert positions, more forensic analysts, and more prosecutors to give to you to look at these images, figure out who these kids are, and go after their abusers?'” Hawley asked.

“Yes, it’d be incredibly helpful," Noem responded, adding that providing more resources to Homeland Security Investigations would allow the agency to "free more kids from that life of victimhood."

Hawley pledged to introduce legislation to provide the DHS with additional funding to rescue children from trafficking.

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For nearly half a century, every U.S. president has drawn a firm red line against Iran — only to watch the regime cross it time and again.

Now, following President Donald Trump’s decisive military strike last weekend that targeted hundreds of sites and eliminated key figures in Iran’s top leadership, Glenn Beck sits down with former Navy SEAL and bestselling author Jack Carr to unpack what this pivotal moment truly means for the region and beyond.

When he first heard the news that the U.S. and Israel had launched a joint military attack on Iran, Carr’s initial reaction was one of “sadness.”

“It made me sad because diplomacy had failed,” he says, arguing that Trump’s maximum-pressure campaign against Iran was doomed to fail because acquiescence to any of the three non-negotiables — no nuclear weapons, no ballistic missiles, and no supporting terrorist proxies — would make the Iranian regime look “weak,” something it cannot suffer if it wants to stay in power.

“Any covert action we’d attempted over the last year or in previous administrations over the past decades, that has failed also, and now we’re in a full-scale military engagement with Iran,” he laments.

Glenn agrees wholeheartedly: “Jimmy Carter said, ‘This can’t stand.’ ... Ronald Reagan said, ‘They got to stop.’ ... H.W. Bush, ‘It’s got to stop. They got to get to the negotiating table.’ Clinton said that, W. Bush said that, Obama said that, Trump said that in the first term, Biden said that.”

“I mean, at some point you’re like, this is insane. We’ve tried giving them billions of dollars; we’ve tried holding money back; we’ve tried carrots and sticks, and nothing works,” he continues, calling Trump “the first one to say, ‘I’m not kicking the can down to the next president. It’s over.’”

“Some of [those former presidents] actually helped Iran get either more powerful or gave them more options when it came to building up these different weapons programs, to crushing any popular uprising or protests. So I’m not surprised that we got to this point,” Carr says.

“When people declare war on you and tell you that they want to destroy you, you probably don’t want that person to have a nuclear weapon or to have options that can lead to your demise,” he adds.

But Glenn thinks this military operation against Iran is “much bigger” than preventing the terrorist regime from obtaining a nuclear weapon.

“This is about Trump redesigning the entire world and going after CRINK,” he says, arguing that Trump is aiming to “take the I” out of CRINK, “which hurts oil for China, hurts money through the oil for Russia,” and weakens Iran’s supply of drones to Russia.

“To look at this just as Iran, I think you’ll never understand why we did this. Do you believe that’s true, or am I wrong?” he asks.

“You’re absolutely right,” Carr says.

He explains that Trump’s military strike on Iran disrupts China’s crucial economic and technological lifeline to the regime. China buys huge amounts of discounted Iranian oil to evade U.S. sanctions and has committed $400 billion over 25 years to Iran — including selling advanced surveillance technology that helps the Iranian government monitor and suppress its own people.

By weakening or breaking this support, the U.S. not only destabilizes Iran’s regime but also frees up American attention and resources to address bigger long-term threats — confronting China over Taiwan (the island China claims as its own) and the tiny but vital computer chips known as semiconductors (the essential “brains” powering phones, computers, cars, AI systems, and military equipment), most of which are produced in Taiwan — while also handling threats from Russia.

“So you’re exactly right. This is not just about Iran,” he says.

To hear more of the conversation, watch the video above.

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President Donald Trump vehemently denied that he was pushed into joining the military operation against Iran by Israel.

The joint Israeli-U.S. strikes on Iran have entered a fourth day and are likely to continue for some time as Iran retaliates with missile strikes against its neighbors in the Middle East.

'Israel was ready, and we were ready. And we've had a very, very powerful impact because virtually everything they have has been knocked out now.'

Opponents of the strikes have lobbed the accusation that the Israelis pushed Trump into joining their military action. At the White House on Tuesday, he rebuffed the suggestion that Israel, and specifically Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, was to blame.

"Did Israel force your hand to launch these strikes against Iran? Did Netanyahu pull the United States into this war?" a reporter asked.

"No. I might have forced their hand," Trump said.

"You see, we were having negotiations with these lunatics. And it was my opinion that they were going to attack first. They were going to attack if we didn't do it. They were going to attack first — I felt strongly about that. And we have great negotiators, great people, people that do this very successfully and have done it all their lives, very successful," he explained.

"Based on the way the negotiation was going, I think they were going to attack first. And I didn't want that to happen," he added. "So, if anything, I might have forced Israel's hand. But Israel was ready, and we were ready. And we've had a very, very powerful impact because virtually everything they have has been knocked out now."

The president also offered what he thought might be the "worst-case scenario" in Iran.

"I guess the worst case would be, we do this, and then somebody takes over who is as bad as the previous person, right," the president said. "That could happen. We don't want that to happen. That would probably be the worst: You go through this, and then in five years you realize you put somebody in who was no better."

RELATED: 'American-made retribution': US 'suicide drones' deployed against Iran are based on tech from Iranian drones used in Ukraine

The president was hosting German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who said his country supports the effort to remove the regime in Iran.

"As I said in Germany the last two days, we are supporting the United States and Israel to get rid of this terrible terrorist regime, and we are looking forward to [the] day after," Merz said. "And we have to talk about the strategy, what is following after this regime is away."

The strikes on Iran have led directly to the death of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was also reportedly killed, though an aide told Turkish news outlet Anadolu Agency about Ahmadinejad on Sunday: "I am in touch with him. All is good."

The remaining regime has responded by striking at nearby Middle East states hosting U.S. military bases and assets.

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The Israeli military has carried out a strike on Iran’s Supreme Council during a meeting to select a new supreme leader, an Israeli official claims.

A senior Israeli official told Fox News that the attack happened on Tuesday “while they were counting the votes for the appointment of the supreme leader.” The strike reportedly took place in Tehran, where the regime’s remaining senior officials were gathered to determine who would replace the late Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who died in a strike over the weekend.

Israeli analysts estimate more than 1,000 enemy combatants have been killed inside Iran since the campaign began.

The bombing is one of the most direct blows yet against Iran’s political command structure as part of the joint U.S. and Israeli campaign now entering its fourth day. Since the launch of the coordinated operations targeting Iranian leadership and infrastructure, more than 40 of Iran’s top leaders, including Khamenei, have reportedly been killed, fracturing the regime’s chain of command.

Israeli analysts estimate more than 1,000 enemy combatants have been killed inside Iran since the campaign began.

RELATED: Iranian state TV hijacked with Trump, Netanyahu message urging citizens to 'seize control'

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has framed the broader operation as necessary to dismantle Iran’s ballistic missile and nuclear capabilities, arguing the regime’s long-term objective threatens not only Israel but the West.

Vice President JD Vance says that the administration’s objective remains limited: Prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon and ensure it cannot rebuild that capability.

"There's just no way that Donald Trump is going to allow this country to get into a multi-year conflict, with no clear end in sight and no clear objective," Vance said, according to Fox News. "He's defined that objective as Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon and has to commit long-term to never trying to rebuild the nuclear capability."

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As Operation Epic Fury enters its fourth day of attacks against Iran, Mike Huckabee, the United States ambassador to Israel, gave a message to Americans stranded in Israel, which is now enduring airstrikes from Iran.

On Tuesday morning, Huckabee released a video that was just under four minutes long with instructions for Americans on what to do amid the ongoing attacks.

'The US embassy is not in a position at this time to evacuate or directly assist Americans in departing Israel.'

Huckabee gave an outline of the "fairly limited" options for Americans seeking to leave Israel.

"What we are recommending to all of our American citizens, including our own embassy staff, is follow the directions of Home Front Command, which are right now to shelter in place and to be close to a shelter at all times," Huckabee said. "Follow the alerts. If you hear the siren, make sure you take cover. That's the best thing you can do."

RELATED: US service member death toll continues to rise amid Operation Epic Fury

Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images

The Home Front Command is an arm of the Israel Defense Forces responsible for search-and-rescue missions in Israel and around the world, according to the HCF website.

Huckabee stressed that all Americans in Israel and the surrounding area should sign up for the State Department's STEP program, which communicates necessary updates to U.S. citizens.

The ambassador to Israel added one other option, though there are obvious risks and uncertainties involved with it as well: "In addition, the Israeli Ministry of Tourism is providing bus service from several locations — Herzliya, Tel Aviv, Haifa, and Jerusalem — to go to Taba, just across the border in Egypt, and from there, flights could be available from the Taba airport, though there are limited flights. But also ground transportation would be able to be obtained in Taba to go on to Cairo, where the airport is operating normally and efficiently."

Ground transportation from Tel Aviv to Taba takes an estimated four hours of travel. It takes between six and 10 hours by bus from Taba to Cairo.

The U.S. embassy for Jerusalem echoed Huckabee's instructions about finding an escape route while saying what Americans in the Middle East never wish to hear during an armed conflict in the region: "The U.S. embassy is not in a position at this time to evacuate or directly assist Americans in departing Israel."

Secretary of State Marco Rubio released a similar message on Monday night encouraging Americans to sign up for the STEP program for up-to-date situation notifications. Rubio also announced that the State Department, immediately after Operation Epic Fury commenced, "activated a 24/7 task force, surging personnel and resources necessary to help provide American citizens with up-to-the-minute safety and security information."

The State Department issued a "worldwide caution" warning on February 28.

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