American independent journalist Tayler Hansen has created an internet stir with videos documenting a side of America's illegal immigration problem that received comparatively little attention during the Biden years.

Illegal immigrants are crossing into the United States from Canada.

'We spoke to multiple Indian nationals out there, and they all said the same thing: that they literally only view Canada as a stepping stone to the United States of America.'

What, you weren't aware of it?

The other border

Most people aren't. The southern border understandably dominated the immigration debate, with Americans accustomed to seeing images of migrants pouring across crossings in Texas and California. But while attention was focused south, illegal crossings along America's enormous northern border were soaring too.

U.S. Border Patrol apprehensions along the Canadian border rose from 6,618 in fiscal 2019 to 24,968 in fiscal 2024 — a 277% increase, according to the Government Accountability Office. The Swanton Sector, covering parts of New York, Vermont, and New Hampshire, alone recorded more than 19,000 apprehensions in 2024, up from just 1,563 five years earlier.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials told the GAO that many foreign nationals without valid documents to enter the United States were first traveling to Canada and then attempting to cross illegally into America.

Hansen has set out to show how it happens.

Major export

He jokingly calls illegal immigrants Canada's newest major export to the U.S.

“Canada's largest export is no longer oil because that's kind of been getting tamped down for us over the years due to them being treated like a Crown colony. … The only business that Canada is actually doing with us — and you can't even call it business at this point — is they're sending all of their illegal immigrants here because they realize they screwed up with their visa system.”

Hansen previously reported extensively on the southern border during the Biden administration. This time he traveled through Canada, investigated smuggling networks, and eventually gained the trust of people offering to move migrants illegally across the border.

The geography makes enforcement extraordinarily difficult. The United States and Canada share nearly 4,000 miles of land and maritime border, much of it far removed from official ports of entry.

“There is no such thing as real border infrastructure in Canada,” Hansen told me. “It is literally you walk across and now you're you're American basically.”

Hansen said he spoke with multiple Indian nationals who regarded Canada not as their final destination but as a route to the United States.

“We spoke to multiple Indian nationals out there, and they all said the same thing: that they literally only view Canada as a stepping stone to the United States of America.”

Goin' south

That phenomenon isn't merely anecdotal. CBP officials told federal investigators that the dramatic increase in northern-border apprehensions in 2023 and 2024 was partly driven by foreign nationals who could legally travel to Canada but lacked the necessary documents to enter the United States.

Hansen argues that the human-smuggling networks operating along the northern border have borrowed techniques from the cartels he observed while reporting in the south.

“They basically just copy and paste the cartels' tactics that they use on the southern border,” Hansen said. “And now they're using it on our northern border.”

Border Patrol apprehensions fell substantially after their 2024 peak and remained at reduced levels through April 2026, according to the GAO.

That doesn't make what Hansen documented any less disturbing.

In his documentary, Hansen made contact with a human smuggler and eventually learned how the operation worked. He describes a decentralized, three-country network involving fixers in India, smugglers in Canada, and accomplices in the United States who receive migrants after they cross.

“It's a three-step operation,” Hansen said. “You have a guy in India, and then you have multiple smugglers on the ground in Canada, and then you have smugglers in the United States of America that then take you to the safe house or take you to the place that you're going to live temporarily and provide the vehicles, provide everything.”

Hansen said one smuggler quoted him $10,000 for the crossing.

When he later confronted people involved in the operation, one offered an extraordinary defense.

“We are not smuggling,” the man told Hansen. “We are helping persons who want to, like, go over there and, like, who have problems here in Canada. So we are just only helping them.”

Hansen wasn't convinced.

“They know exactly what they're doing,” he said.

RELATED: Trump is right about the Smithsonian. Canada shows what happens when woke history wins.

Anadolu/Getty Images

Operating with impunity

He says that even after members of one smuggling network became aware someone was leaking their routes, one of its administrators assured him that the routes remained active.

“They are operating with impunity,” Hansen said.

Hansen says Sikhs predominate among the smugglers he encountered, although the migrants being moved include both Sikhs and Hindus.

“They really don't discriminate. As long as you're Indian, they want to bring you across. So you have Hindus, you have Sikhs.”

Canada's enormous temporary-resident population creates another potential problem.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada says more than 2.1 million temporary visas and permits expired in 2025 and almost 1.9 million more are due to expire in 2026. Those figures cover temporary residents of all nationalities, not only Indians, although Indian nationals compose a large share of Canada's temporary workers and students.

An expired permit does not automatically mean its holder is illegally remaining in Canada; temporary residents can extend or change their status, obtain permanent residency or leave the country. But Ottawa is actively trying to reduce Canada's temporary-resident population after years of explosive growth.

Stop the madness

Hansen believes tougher Canadian enforcement could give those without legal status another incentive to head south rather than return home.

“What do you think is going to happen if Canada actually starts to enforce expired visas and do deportations?” he asked. “These people aren't going to want to go back to India.”

Northern-border apprehensions have fallen dramatically from their Biden-era peak. But the smuggling infrastructure Hansen documented — fixers openly advertising routes, drivers moving migrants to the border, and accomplices waiting on the American side — raises an obvious question.

If Washington succeeded in making illegal entry across the southern border much harder, how much attention is being paid to the much longer border to the north?

Hansen thinks not nearly enough.

“It's madness that's taking place.”

A massive shipment of methamphetamine allegedly being smuggled into the U.S. was seized by federal authorities, according to a statement to Blaze News.

The contraband was seized from a shipment of leeks being transported across the Pharr International Bridge cargo facility on Saturday, according to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Department.

'The efforts of our CBP officers continue to be illustrated with massive disruptions of smuggling attempts at our international crossings.'

CBP officers had referred a tractor-trailer traveling from Reynosa in Mexico to secondary inspection on the bridge.

The inspection with nonintrusive equipment found anomalies in the shipment, and a canine indicated the odor of narcotics.

That led to a physical inspection that discovered 95 packages of alleged methamphetamine with a combined weight of 1,204.82 lbs. concealed inside the shipment.

The CBP estimated the value of the alleged methamphetamine to be $10,750,000.

"Our officers continue to be on a streak of success," said Carlos Rodriguez, the port director of the Hidalgo/Pharr/Anzalduas Port of Entry. "The efforts of our CBP officers continue to be illustrated with massive disruptions of smuggling attempts at our international crossings."

Homeland Security Investigation special agents initiated a criminal investigation into the leeked meth, and the Office of Field Operations seized the narcotics as well as the vehicle.

Earlier in August, $634,000 worth of cocaine was seized at the same port, CBP told Blaze News.

RELATED: Woman caught trying to smuggle live animals through US-Mexico border, CBP claims

"Fulfilling President Donald J. Trump’s mandate," said the CBP in a statement to Blaze News, "the Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Customs and Border Protection, under the leadership of DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin, have delivered the most secure border in history, stopping dangerous criminal aliens, weapons, and illicit narcotics from entering our communities, which will keep America safe for generations to come."

An estimated $50 billion worth of trade is transported across the massive international corridor.

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On July 30, the FBI released its annual report on active-shooter incidents, and the coverage went where you would expect: 34 attacks in 2025, a 42% increase over the year before, with 51 people killed and 115 wounded. All true. All worth knowing. Less noticed: 34 attacks were 21% below the five-year average of 43, and the five-year trend is downward.

Then there was the statistic almost nobody saw. Civilians intervened in seven attacks last year. In more than one in five incidents, people in the line of fire confronted the shooter. In 2024, civilians intervened in one out of 24 incidents. In a single year, the intervention rate rose roughly fivefold.

When seconds count, police are minutes away. You are your own first responder.

At a New Hampshire country club, a civilian hit the shooter with a chair and took his gun. At an Indiana public library, civilians overpowered a man when his shotgun malfunctioned and held him until police arrived. At an Army complex in Georgia, unarmed soldiers disarmed and restrained an attacker. At an Ohio warehouse, civilians took the weapon and forced the would-be shooter off the property. In two incidents, civilians used their own firearms. In another, a vehicle.

That is not a nation of victims waiting for instructions. It is a reminder that when violence begins, the people already there may be the only people in position to stop it. Self-defense isn’t just a right; it’s a duty.

Look at the FBI's own clock. At Annunciation Catholic Church in Minneapolis, where a gunman fired through the windows into a back-to-school Mass, killing two and wounding 28, the attack lasted roughly two minutes. The average police response in that category, from dispatch to arrival, was two minutes and 59 seconds.

I learned that arithmetic from a man who lived it. Stephen Willeford was at home in Sutherland Springs, Texas, when he heard shooting at the First Baptist Church down the road. He grabbed a rifle, loaded as he moved, ran barefoot toward the gunfire, and engaged a man who had just murdered 26 people at worship. The killer fired back. Willeford forced him to flee.

When I interviewed him, I expected to hear about courage. He wanted to talk about timing. Police were five to seven minutes behind him, he said. When seconds count, police are minutes away. You are your own first responder.

The FBI report contains the same lesson. At CrossPointe Community Church in Michigan, for example, a parishioner struck a shooter with his truck while armed church security engaged and killed him before he got inside.

Two days after the FBI published its report, the country got another demonstration. I was in Des Moines at Gun Owners of America's 50th-anniversary summit, in a hall where the case for armed self-defense was being made in every aisle. That same Saturday, it was being made in a drive-thru lane in Southern Idaho by a man who had not planned on making it.

RELATED: Jordan Salinas: Another ‘good guy with a gun’ ruins the gun control lobby’s narrative

Jason Armond/Getty Images; Facebook/JordanSalinas

On August 1, a gunman opened fire at an In-N-Out Burger in Twin Falls, killing three people and wounding seven. A customer in the drive-thru drew a handgun. An off-duty Idaho State Police trooper drew his. Police said the two men helped drive the suspect from the scene and prevented further casualties. The gunman fled and took his own life.

None of this is a complaint about police. Officers run toward gunfire to stop further harm, and three were killed doing it in 2025. But no department in America can station an officer inside every restaurant, sanctuary, classroom, or workplace at the instant evil walks in.

The FBI has documented what an ordinary person with a chair, a truck, or a lawfully carried pistol can sometimes do before police arrive. That is what the one-in-five figure means.

Anyone asking for votes this November should sit with that number. Voters should ask a simple question in return: When the shooting starts and help is three minutes away, do your laws make it easier or harder for a law-abiding person already on the scene to defend himself and others?

The Second Amendment protects a right the founding generation understood as essential to a free people: the right to keep and bear arms. That constitutional protection does not guarantee that every armed civilian will act wisely or successfully. The FBI data does show that civilians sometimes stop attackers before police can get there.

That is worth reporting.

The death of Dolly Parton sparked an outpouring of grief from fans across the political spectrum, including President Donald Trump, who ordered flags lowered nationwide in her honor.

“Very sad to report that Dolly Parton, one of the greatest Country singers, and far beyond, EVER, has just passed away. This is a true loss for millions of people. There has never been anyone like her, and never will,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.

“In her honor, I am lowering the American flag throughout the United States for a one week period beginning tonight at 6:00PM. Rest in Peace, Dolly! The World loves you,” he added.

“This was the loss of an icon for America,” BlazeTV host Sara Gonzales comments.

But it didn't take long for some commentators to transform a tribute to the beloved singer into yet another political battleground.

“Not even an hour after she died, s**t-libs were trying to politicize her death and turn it into an attack on Trump because orange man bad, I guess,” Gonzales comments.

“I wish I could tell you that I was joking, but an hour after Dolly Parton’s family posted a video announcing her death, you had soy boy low-T Harry Sisson, who posted this,” she adds.

“After Dolly Parton’s passing, Trump and the Republicans are trying to make it seem like they were aligned with her on the issues. But I would remind everybody that the Republicans consistently cut the programs that she cared most about,” Sisson said in a reel on Instagram.

“For example, Missouri Republicans cut $4 million in funding for Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library Literacy Program, which sends monthly free books to kids 5 and under. What about funding research for kids? In 2022, Dolly Parton donated a million dollars of her own money to fund pediatric infectious disease research,” he continued.

“But in 2025, Donald Trump cut $12 million in grants for pediatric medical research. And of course, we cannot forget that Dolly Parton was a huge supporter of the LGBTQ+ community. And, well, we know how Republicans have targeted that community,” he added.

“Libs live in this world where you’re not allowed to co-exist, which is so crazy because they’re the ones who have the co-exist bumper stickers on the backs of their cars, but you’re not allowed to co-exist if you have different political opinions,” Gonzales says.

“Literally everything has to be about politics and being diametrically opposed to Donald Trump,” she adds.

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The war on data centers has intensified to the point that localities across the country are banning them outright or stopping them through targeted zoning and regulation. The concerns are understandable. The political response is not.

Public opposition has jumped 12 percentage points in four months, with 61% now saying they oppose building new data centers, according to the Annenberg Public Policy Center. Opponents held 142 protests in 42 states on July 18, citing water use, noise, electricity demand, outages, pollution, and property values.

There is an obvious alternative for people who do not want a data center built on a particular parcel: Buy the land.

Predictably, politicians are turning against the industry.

On August 18, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) signed an executive order restricting data center construction and boasted that he was imposing “the strictest guardrails in the nation.” He denounced a history of industry “running roughshod over our communities to make a buck” and vowed that Pennsylvania would not be “bullied” or “bulldozed” by developers and their lawyers.

Critics noted that Shapiro, who faces re-election this year, had strongly supported data center construction and even placed projects in a fast-track approval program before the recent grassroots backlash.

The turn is broader than Pennsylvania. Some 210 counties and local governments now have active moratoriums on data center construction. More than 3,000 centers are operating in the United States, with another 1,500 under construction, Pew Research reports. Two-thirds of planned facilities are headed to rural areas, while 87% of existing data centers are urban.

It is reasonable to worry about harm from any large enterprise. Citizens have every right to warn property owners and neighbors about potential costs. They often have a moral responsibility to do so.

But concern does not create a general right to control someone else’s property.

No one can foresee all the consequences, positive or negative, of a novel enterprise. That is one reason we have courts: to hear claims of actual harm, determine responsibility, and order compensation or punishment where warranted. A functioning civil justice system reduces the need for sprawling systems of preemptive command and control.

Governments should not single out data centers with punitive taxes or regulations, nor should they subsidize them. Let them pay for the energy they use, comply with laws that apply generally, receive no privileged access to water or other resources, and answer in court if they injure others.

RELATED: The data center backlash is getting spiritual

Imaginima/Getty Images

That is a better rule than trying to calculate every hypothetical “social cost” in advance and empowering regulators to decide which enterprises may proceed. Markets reveal costs and benefits imperfectly, but government regulation does too — usually with fewer incentives to admit mistakes.

In a free society, you do not get to decide what other people do with their property merely because you dislike the proposed use. That remains true when “you” becomes “we.” A majority does not acquire a moral right to coerce simply by counting heads.

There is an obvious alternative for people who do not want a data center built on a particular parcel: Buy the land.

If you cannot afford it alone, put together a consortium. If you can afford it but would rather force the owner to accept your preferred use without paying him, then the problem is no longer the data center. It is your claim to control property you do not own.

Buy it, and you may use it as you wish — subject, of course, to the same rule protecting your neighbors from actual harm. Mission accomplished.

The developer will go somewhere else, taking the jobs, local tax revenue, and other economic benefits to a community that wants them more.

That process is not perfect. Nothing involving human beings is. But voluntary exchange does a better job of matching scarce resources with people willing to bear their costs than political systems in which the loudest coalition simply vetoes uses it dislikes.

Unfortunately, that is no longer good enough for a growing number of Americans. The backlash against data centers parallels the rise of democratic socialism in one important respect: Both elevate collective control over individual property rights.

People who want to build data centers should listen seriously to objections. They should pay their own way and answer for the harm they cause. But the reflexive demand to control other people’s property because a project is unpopular reflects a much older political decay.

Restoring property rights is essential to renewing American prosperity and human flourishing. Data centers would be a good place to start.

The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is home to nearly 8.5 million souls. Despite being the largest population center in one of the nation's most conservative states, the societal problems facing the rest of the nation plague the area as well. Divorce, single parenthood, drug addiction, poverty both spiritual and material, and loneliness are rampant. Now a Dallas-area pastor who is one of the fastest-growing voices in the Christian world is launching a new campaign, in conjunction with his church, to repair families and communities in Texas and across the globe.

Josh Howerton, Lakepointe Church pastor and host of the "Live Free" podcast available at BlazeTV, announced the plan to his congregation in a multi-campus vision night Thursday.

'And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places: thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; and thou shalt be called, the repairer of the breach, the restorer of paths to dwell in' (Isaiah 58:12).

According to a press release Lakepointe released Thursday, the initiative takes inspiration from the exhortation in Isaiah 58:12 to be “the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to dwell in.”

The program is described as "a two-year discipleship initiative aimed squarely at the gaps in families, in North Texas communities, and around the world."

The initiative has five goals, according to the press release:

• strengthening households through deeper discipleship;
• investing in the discipleship of our children, students, and families navigating special needs;
• serving the North Texas cities where our congregation lives;
• translating the Bible into new languages with ministry partners overseas; and
• carrying the gospel inside American prisons.

Howerton joined Blaze Media earlier in August with his popular podcast "Live Free."

"We often say we're a kite caught in a hurricane of grace. North Texas is experiencing explosive growth, and that fast growth gives us an opportunity to make a difference in neighborhoods, in schools, in families," said senior executive pastor Tim Smith.

The initiative aims to put Scripture into the hands of 1.5 million people who have never had access to it in their native regional language before. Lakepointe is funding a translation of the New Testament for that group in Northern India, a region that has seen high immigration to North Texas.

RELATED: America’s fastest-growing Christian voice is joining Blaze Media

The initiative will also endeavor to bring the gospel to 1.2 million incarcerated men and women in every prison in the U.S. through a partnership with God Behind Bars Ministry.

A sermon series focused on the initiative begins October 17 and 18, along with 21 Days of Prayer, and will culminate on Commitment Weekend on November 14 and 15, when Pastor Howerton will exhort the congregation to go into "the breach" with him.

Beef prices keep climbing, but small ranchers aren’t seeing the profits. So where is the money going?

Blaze Media co-founder Glenn Beck believes the answer lies in an industry dominated by a small number of meat-processing companies and a regulatory system that makes it nearly impossible for smaller competitors to enter the market.

And during a conversation with President Donald Trump, he let him know.

“Please when it comes to beef, please look at the cartel that is the meat-processing cartel,” Glenn tells Trump.

“I run a ranch, so I know what it’s like. And I’m telling you, it is the processing plants.”

“There’s four of them, and I think two of them are not even American. It’s bad. And I believe they’re colluding with each other,” he adds.

“I’m surprised because that’s been going on a long time, Glenn. Long before I got here,” Trump interjects.

“Help us. ... We can’t butcher with all of the federal regulations. It is really hard,” he says, noting that the “inspections are insane.”

“Break the back of those processing plants though. There’s people that want to build processing plants everywhere. The regulations are killing us, just killing us,” he adds.

“So you’re saying with less regulation, you think that the ranchers and farmers would do a very good job of processing the beef?” Trump asks.

“Yes,” Glenn answers.

And it’s not just Glenn who’s noticed the issue regulations are causing small farms and ranches, as a caller from West Virginia called in to share his story when it comes to the agriculture industry.

“My father was a farm veterinarian for 51 years,” he tells Glenn. “Over my entire lifetime, I have watched the complete destruction of the agriculture industry everywhere. From what chemicals you can use to where you take your cows to you name it.”

“Complete destruction. West Virginia passed a law that people might like. It’s called the farm-to-table law. They bypass the USDA. They have to meet West Virginia standards. But we got a lot of farm-to-table stores here now and completely bypass that whole ag industry,” he adds.

Glenn is hopeful that after bringing the issue up to President Trump, they might see more similar changes in the future.

“Anything that we can do to give relief to our ranchers and our farmers on regulation, which is what the president and I spoke about today, and hopefully he will act on it,” Glenn says.

“People are tired of all this processed food, not knowing where it comes from. I know if my ranch, if I could slaughter the beef and have standards obviously, but slaughter the beef, cut the beef, and sell it in the local grocery store, we’d save a ton of money on meat,” he continues.

“Right now, I think we sell my cattle, I think, in Denver, and then they’re finished off with grain someplace else ... and then they’re slaughtered. I mean, I don’t even know where they go. It’s insane. It’s stupid ... and it’s these big processing plants, man. That’s the problem,” he adds.

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Democratic socialist Nithya Raman's attempt to boast about improving the city was widely mocked and ridiculed as an example of utter government incompetence.

Raman, who is a mayoral candidate and Los Angeles city councilwoman, said her office was able to successfully paint a crosswalk after only about nine months.

'How dumb do you have to be to post this?'

"The Los Feliz Neighborhood Council alerted our office in late 2025 to the need for a crosswalk at Sunset Dr. and Bates St., which has just been completed!" Raman posted on social media.

"Thank you to our incredible CD4 Field Team for continuing to problem-solve, push for solutions, and make our streets safer," she added.

The post included a photo of the astounding infrastructure improvement, which showed that there had been no improvement to the cracked pavement, only a simple paint job.

The ridiculous post was roundly mocked online.

"Holy s**t, my sides...Nithya Raman's big accomplishment is taking 9 months to paint 7 yellow stripes over a cracked street? How dumb do you have to be to post this? BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA," responded reality TV star and former L.A. mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt.

"LOL only a commie would celebrate this as a success. Nearly year to do this and the street is still broken. What a joke!" replied Katie Pavlich of NewsNation.

"Dear Lord, Nithya. Your standards are so incredibly low. They didn’t even fix the street, they painted over cracks. And it took them a year," said Richard Grenell, a special envoy with the Trump administration.

"Peak California governance is bragging about taking a year to paint a crosswalk without bothering to fix the giant cracks," said another critic.

"Something that should have taken a minimum of a couple of days, with permitting took almost a year. The cracks in the road were not even fixed, just paint. It is unbelievably pathetic that you claim this to be an accomplishment," replied another detractor.

RELATED: LA officials mocked online after celebrating 'La Sombrita' shades for race and gender equity

Others compared it to another ridiculous infrastructure project in Los Angeles that was mercilessly mocked online.

Raman defeated Republican candidate Spencer Pratt in the mayoral jungle primary election. She is running against incumbent Mayor Karen Bass, also a Democrat.

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The U.S. Department of State has officially labeled an Italian hacker group as terrorists after finding some disturbing connections.

The connections have had brutal ramifications for U.S. federal agents, as this European group has been working closely with Antifa cells in the United States.

'Let's take back the night together!'

The group, called Autistici/Inventati Collective, has earned the label of specially designated global terrorist group, meaning it will join a long list that includes names like al-Qaeda, Tren de Aragua, and al-Shabaab.

The group was described by the State Dept. as a hacker cell that provides far-left extremists with encryption capabilities for calls and web-hosting services.

"The A/I Collective is a central node in the far-left's war on our civilization," the department wrote.

Particularly, "A/I Collective" has been assisting the Portland Antifa cell, called Rose City, which used a website hosted by the Italian group to doxx ICE agents, incite attacks against them "at their homes," and organize laser attacks on Border Patrol helicopters.

One poster showcased by the federal government was a graphic titled: "You're Invited: Lazer Tag!"

This encouraged readers to go to a park or public area to shine lasers at CBP helicopters in order to ground them. "Let's take back the night together!" the poster read.

Other sites hosted by A/I Collective encouraged terror attacks on critical infrastructure, the State Department showed. This included "detailed guides" on arson, bombings, and sabotage of sites like bridges, pipelines, and military logistics centers.

RELATED: Rutgers dean banned from campus after being hit with 'extremely disturbing charges' for allegedly recording 'upskirt' videos

Websites hosted by the Italian hacker group were allegedly hubs for extremists to brag about the terrorist acts they had committed, too.

A few examples included a terrorist boasting about bombing a police car and plotting to attack a federal building; the government said he was found guilty.

A group calling itself "Jane's Revenge" bombed pregnancy centers from Colorado to New York and posted calls for others to commit attacks on one of the websites, another government post stated.

Overseas, an attack on Germany's power grid left one person dead after a group claimed responsibility on an A/I Collective website and called for more public sabotage.

In Italy, seven suspects were arrested for terrorism-related charges over a sabotaged rail line during the 2026 Winter Olympics, after which they published a manifesto on an A/I Collective-hosted site.

RELATED: DHS investigation confirms FEMA left Trump supporters to fend for themselves after hurricane

GUILLERMO ARIAS/AFP/Getty Images

Secretary of State Marco Rubio told Fox News Digital that "far-left terrorism poses a profound threat to the United States and the broader West."

"Today, the United States sanctioned Autistici/Inventati – a major far-left tech collective whose services are used by the most active and violent Antifa cells in the United States and across the world," Rubio added.

The State Department concluded that it will continue to "crush transnational far-left terror networks" and that there will be no refuge for these extremist groups who "plot to violently overthrow free societies."

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President Donald Trump is touting a poll showing that he is more admired than other legendary Republican presidents.

The president posted a video of CNN analyst Harry Enten covering the poll that showed 53% of Republican respondents said they admired Trump more than Ronald Reagan or Abraham Lincoln.

'Trump's still the sun around which the GOP revolves.'

Only 18% of Republicans said in the CNN poll they admired Reagan most, while a paltry 8% said they admired Lincoln most.

Trump posted a short video to his Truth Social account from the segment that first aired on CNN on Wednesday.

Enten used the poll to explain why Trump-endorsed Darline Graham Nordone won the Republican primary runoff for one of two South Carolina seats in the U.S. Senate.

"Trump's still the sun around which the GOP revolves," he posted on social media.

"Trump's endorsees for Senate have won 100% of the time in 2026," he added. "He pulled Graham, who had little shot pre-endorsement, over the finish line."

Enten pointed out that a separate Elon University poll found 29% of Republicans said Trump was the best president in history, while only 25% said the same of Lincoln and 14% said the same of George Washington.

RELATED: Democrats face CRUSHING math problem trying to take over the Senate: CNN

He went on to show that New York City Democrat Mayor Zohran Mamdani had grown his national support and now had the most positive net favorability among Democrats, surpassing Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.).

Many polls have reported that the president's favorability has suffered after the prolonged military operation in Iran and some of its economic fallout.

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An AI production company is hoping viewers will follow suit on a popular Chinese trend.

Fountain 0 and its Iranian CEO Ash Koosha are hoping budding actors will license their likeness to appear as an AI character in TV or films. Recently, the company struck a deal with a popular left-wing commentator that could push along the business.

'The interests of these underserved audiences.'

Endless Summer

Fountain 0 has created AI movies like "Dreams of Violets" and a version of "The Odyssey" and now will produce adaptations of the works of one of daytime TV's biggest liberal hosts.

"The View" host Sunny Hostin, real name Asunción Cummings Hostin, has licensed her name and likeness to the AI startup to create adaptations of her fictional "Summer" novel series, Variety reported.

The books, "Summer on the Bluffs," "Summer on Sag Harbor," and "Summer on Highland Beach," are dripping with diversity themes, which Hostin herself said were stories that she hoped would reach "diverse audiences."

"I feel particularly strongly that there is a need to bring stories to the big screen that are more in tune with the lives of diverse audiences that Hollywood focuses too little on, and I believe Fountain 0's AI productions can have a major impact on responding to the interests of these underserved audiences," Hostin said in a statement, per Variety.

Viewers can look forward to themes of "Afro-Latina" lawyers and "Historically Black Beachfront" communities in Hostin's works.

RELATED: Val Kilmer 'resurrected' in new film — estate says he'd want it this way

LOU ROCCO/American Broadcasting Companies Inc./Getty Images

Slopaganda campaign

CEO Koosha joins the ongoing battle of AI studios clawing for legitimacy, but they have not been off to a good start.

The first AI film to hit theaters earlier this year faced calls for a boycott, with AMC Theaters immediately withdrawing its willingness to host the movie.

The two-minute film was overwhelmingly hated when it was posted online, including a plethora of comments calling it slop.

"Even for AI slop this is bad," one user wrote. Another unhappy viewer said, "This is complete garbage dude."

The founder of Particle6, the AI studio behind fake actress Tilly Norwood, urged viewers in July to simply get on board with AI cinema or risk being left behind.

"We have to accept that this is going to be part of our every day. And I worry for people who put their head in the sand and don't embrace AI because the future world will require people to have AI skill sets," Eline van der Velden said.

Studios like Fountain 0 will undoubtedly rely on public sign-ups to license faces for their AI background actors, a trend that has already taken off in China.

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Jason Mendez/Getty Images

Sunny's side

Blaze News reported earlier this month that signees can earn anywhere between $15 and $700 for their likeness to be used in AI content.

The main use for faces in China has been for the category of "microdramas," which have begun popping up on platforms the United States.

Hostin said she believes "top-quality AI productions can not only enable writers and directors to have their imaginations unleashed and no longer be tethered to budgetary constraints,” but can also "pioneer a new art form which can open up new dimensions for how public personalities can engage with audiences."

Adaptations of the books may use Hostin's image, but she will maintain control of where it is used.

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President Donald Trump has followed through on his threat to rename Lake Ontario as his trade war with Canada continues.

The president lambasted Canadian officials after they rejected a trade deal and responded with reciprocal tariffs to Trump's newest tariffs.

'Maybe we’ll have to change the name of the Atlantic and/or the Pacific. Maybe we’ll change them both.'

The president signed an executive order changing the lake's name to "Lake America" on Thursday.

"We’re going to be changing the name of Lake Ontario effective immediately to Lake America," he said to reporters.

"We filed all of the necessary papers, documents, [and] everything else. We’ve notified all of the various people you have to notify," he added.

The president previously changed the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the "Gulf of America" shortly after he retook office.

"If you think about it, we have a gulf, now we have a lake, now all we need is an ocean," Trump joked. "Maybe we’ll have to change the name of the Atlantic and/or the Pacific. Maybe we’ll change them both."

While Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has tried to match the president's rhetoric, Ontario Premier Doug Ford has fired back against the U.S. with excessive threats.

"He can kiss my ass as far as I'm concerned," said Ford. "We need to throw everything and the kitchen sink at him. He's arrogant, he's cocky."

Ford has threatened to cut off electricity and minerals that Canada provides for the northern U.S. states.

"I’ll cut them off," he added. "You won’t get a grain of sand out of Ontario."

RELATED: Trump says he will declare new US territory 'pretty soon' in the Middle East

The lake encompasses 7,340 square miles but is the smallest of the Great Lakes.

Canada is the second-largest trading partner to the U.S., behind Mexico in the top spot and ahead of China.

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The Trump administration is investigating a pair of federally funded universities accused of violating civil rights laws over their race-specific student-housing communities.

The University of Massachusetts Amherst, which received over $322 million in federal funding in fiscal year 2024, is home to five of what it calls "Defined Residential Communities" — "communities in residence halls where students can live with hall mates who share similar interests, backgrounds, and identifies."

'Re-create Jim Crow in the name of bizarro social justice.'

They are as follows: the Asian/Asian-American DRC; the disability DRC; the so-called "Latinx" DRC for Hispanics; the "Harambee" DRC for blacks; and the "Spectrum" DRC for non-straights.

The University of Nevada, Reno — whose active federal awards as of summer 2025 totaled over $520 million — has a similar offering called "Living Learning Communities," which are advertised as a way for students to "develop personal relationships with peers of similar academic, social, and cultural interests."

The University of Nevada, Reno, has the following identity-based LLCs: Asian Pacific Islander; black; LGBT; "Indigenous"; and "Latinx." They are apparently housed on LLC-specific floors.

Dean Kennedy, the University of Nevada, Reno's executive director of residential life, housing, and food services, said in 2023 that "for the safety of student participants, it is important only students who hold that identity are considered." While the university claimed Kennedy misspoke, the identity-based LLCs are still in place.

RELATED: Equal treatment makes a comeback

Doug Jones/Portland Press Herald/Getty Images

The Equal Protection Project, the Legal Insurrection Foundation's racism watchdog, filed civil rights complaints against both schools with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity in July.

The complaints allege that the two university housing programs "use race- and ethnicity-based descriptions and promotional materials to steer students based on race, color, and national origin, in violation of the Fair Housing Act."

The Fair Housing Act prohibits discrimination "against any person in the terms, conditions, or privileges of sale or rental of a dwelling, or in the provision of services or facilities in connection therewith, because of race, color, religion, sex, familial status, or national origin."

Under the act, it is also unlawful "to make, print, or publish, or cause to be made, printed, or published any notice, statement, or advertisement, with respect to the sale or rental of a dwelling that indicates any preference, limitation, or discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status, or national origin, or an intention to make any such preference, limitation, or discrimination."

The EPP argued that under applicable HUD regulations enforcing the FHA, "this kind of 'steering' toward or away from housing based on race is strictly prohibited. Steering liability attaches even if the housing program does not physically bar members of other racial or ethnic groups from participating."

The EPP claimed further that these programs violate both Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment.

Ilya Shapiro, director of constitutional studies at the Manhattan Institute, previously told the Washington Examiner that promoting "racial separation" in housing constitutes a "clear legal and constitutional violation."

"It’s one thing to provide opportunities for cultural expression; quite another to re-create Jim Crow in the name of bizarro social justice," said Shapiro.

HUD's Office of the Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity notified EPP in a pair of letters on July 29 that its complaints against the two universities had been officially filed and would be investigated under Title VI.

The HUD office noted in the letters published by Legal Insurrection on Tuesday that it is required by law to complete the investigation within 100 days — meaning the deadline is Nov. 6 — or to provide by that date an explanation for why the probe has not yet been completed.

The University of Nevada, Reno, said in a statement to Blaze News, "The University has been informed that a complaint concerning certain Living Learning Communities has been filed with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The University's Living Learning Communities are open to all students who choose to participate and are not exclusive housing environments."

"Programs and activities associated with these communities are designed to support student success, foster community, and enrich the residential experience for all students," continued the statement. "The University remains committed to complying with applicable federal civil rights and fair housing laws and will cooperate with any official inquiry."

The University of Massachusetts Amherst did not respond to Blaze News' request for comment by deadline.

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Manosphere influencers Andrew and Tristan Tate have been forced to admit an embarrassing truth that destroys the brand they have sold to young men across the world: They were apparently lying about their wealth.

The brothers are in federal custody in Miami battling extradition to the U.K. on rape and sex-trafficking charges and have been outed by their lawyers for allegedly not owning but renting all their fancy displays of a lavish playboy lifestyle.

BlazeTV host Jason Whitlock has been calling what they've been doing a grift for years, and he’s not surprised in the slightest to find out he seems to be right.

“The mansion was a renovated warehouse at the end of a dead-end street across a swamp from the airport. $600,000 or $700,000 of building. The Guardian called it a ‘run-down meat factory.’ Black paint, red neon, strip-club lighting sold as a villain lair,” Whitlock says.

“Romanian seizures, cars, watches, some Bitcoin, 15 properties totaling about $2 million. Combined, the brothers were being discussed in the neighborhood of $10 million,” he continues.

“Andrew had already said on tape he did not own the cars, a trust, a percentage of a company, access to a Bugatti he did not own,” he adds.

His lawyers told a Miami judge that their $2.1 million Aston Martin and the $12 million Bugattis he showed off were rented. The $50 million yacht they boasted wasn’t theirs either, but rather a prop they received payment to promote.

“That is not new information. That is notarized information,” Whitlock says.

“Tate sold a world where the righteous measure of a man is the thing he can park. Superfly lighting. A driveway full of other people’s cars,” he adds.

But the Tate brothers' grift has revealed even more about the pair than just lies.

“You will know them by their fruit,” Whitlock says. “The love of money is the root of all evil. Not money; the love. The hunger that will rent a yacht and call it testimony.”

“They told the judge they were playing a role. Every boy who copied the role was the audience. Every dollar that role pulled was the box office. What that hustle kills is a young man’s ability to tell a father from a pimp,” he continues. “A healed boy is a threat to that revenue.”

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As I — and numerous others — anticipated years ago, the populist backlash against the dystopian possibilities of super-duper artificial intelligence has begun in earnest, with the rise of data centers as the inciting event.

It is easy to see why. Beyond the standard human response to unasked-for change at scale — isn’t there someone (me!) you forgot to ask? — the populist spirit in America has always run bone-deep.

Americans do not like feeling mogged by their fellow citizens, and we like even less being lectured by the moggers about how we are unentitled to feel that way.

Alexis de Tocqueville understood the democratic dynamics of envy and resentment. Under conditions of social equality, everyone feels precariously interchangeable with everyone else, so another person’s relative advantage can register not merely as inequality but as a wound to pride.

Extend that dynamic to the “global town square,” where we spend more and more of our waking hours watching other people’s breakout advances in real time, and the sensation of being left behind goes nuclear.

Americans do not like feeling mogged by their fellow citizens, and we like even less being lectured by the moggers about how we are unentitled to feel that way. Worse, somewhere beneath the resentment lurks the humiliating suspicion that we have helped put ourselves in the inferior position.

Sensitive young men of ambition today — reminding me of my own “Fight Club”-era preoccupations — are once again stalking some kind of Nietzschean-Christian syncretism that promises, amulet-like, supreme confidence and supreme humility. The reason is that both Nietzsche and Christ condemned resentment.

The gulf between the Übermensch and the God-Man is obviously enormous. Yet both traditions understand that resentment degrades the person who lives by it. And that is why the backlash against data centers has moved so quickly from personal grievance and political interest onto the higher plane of spiritual war.

More Americans across the political spectrum now speak of data centers as if they are not merely ugly, expensive, noisy, or intrusive but evil — evil as “tech” itself has become in their imagination, evil as the “tech lords” who build it are presumed to be.

On the secular left, where human justice perfected becomes an almost religious ideal, tech’s push toward superhuman capability readily appears sinister. On the woo-woo left, where witches warn that they cannot hex Trump, tech’s tilt toward post-humanity manifests as something post-natural and spiritually contaminating.

RELATED: Is this the number-crunchers’ come-to-Jesus moment?

Inkoly/Getty Images

On the right, spiritual conservatives with relatively weak institutional confidence often apply a precautionary principle: If it looks menacing, assume it’s evil. Those with stronger church lives have a different reason for suspicion: an acute awareness of man’s fallenness and the old Actonian warning that absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Search a man for evil — beginning with yourself! — and evil, no doubt, you shall find. But this being America, where making me feel “less than” can register as a kind of spectral crime, the emotional incentive is to cast the first stone. And in an age when throwing a stick will almost certainly hit somebody culpable and “punchable,” it is remarkable that the techies did not prepare for the boomerang now whacking them upside the head.

But that should be the beginning of our rumination, not the end. Many, many techies are doing “this” because of what they regard as good intentions. Some sincerely believe they are acting, for our own good, out of their very best intentions.

Ignoring that fact will produce a maelstrom of resentment more destructive than the nightmares already filling our wounded and prideful imaginations.

The road to hell is paved with good intentions. But the proverb should not tempt us to dismiss good intentions as meaningless. It should force us to take seriously the human yearning for the good, the wonderful, and the pure — especially in people whose projects strike us as dangerous.

Christians, in particular, are meant to remember that all creation cries out for reunion with God and that even badly distorted human desires can point toward something real that has gone wrong in the seeking.

RELATED: The question of the AI age: How much humanism is too much?

Moor Studio/Getty Images

That does not give the maddest of mad scientists a cosmic hall pass. It does mean that, if we look without fear at the grand plans of our technologists, we may see in them a powerful expression of the universal human longing for purification.

As the structure of our economic life increasingly leaves people feeling condemned by bad debts, bad surpluses, and obligations they cannot spiritually discharge, we desperately seek something powerful and authoritative enough to wipe the ledger clean and leave us new.

Hey, our best-intentioned techies keep shouting. There’s an app for that!

No purification, no salvation; this we have known for ages. But when time feels short, we become vulnerable to shortcuts — to the fantasy of a perfectly engineered “solve” for our human, all-too-human debt.

If we merely demonize one another — losing sight of the Lord’s hidden presence in us all — then the data centers may not be what finally tears us apart. We may do that job ourselves.

The first democratic socialist to win a primary in Oklahoma's history is getting some unwanted attention after a bizarre "burn book" video from her past resurfaced.

The video, posted last September, is a spoof of a scene from the movie "Mean Girls" where a crazed teenager cuts out a picture of her social foe and pastes it into a book with a mocking statement.

'Are they mocking mental illness or promoting it? Why would they do this?'

N’Kiyla Jasmine Thomas, the candidate for one of two Oklahoma seats in the U.S. Senate, casts herself in the role of the unhinged, hysterical teenager but holds up a photo of Markwayne Mullin, who was a senator from Oklahoma at the time.

Republicans resurfaced the video to give voters a taste of Thomas' socialist hysteria.

"These people are cray-cray," replied Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas).

"The Democrat nominee for U.S. Senate in Oklahoma. Seems totally normal and stable," responded the popular Libs of TikTok account.

"This is a candidate for the United States Senate. Care to guess her party affiliation?" said actor James Woods.

"Honestly just expecting scenes like this to be 3 of the 4 nights of the DNC in 2028," replied commentator Scott Jennings.

"For US SENATE!??! What the actual f**k is going on at the DNC?? Senate seats are very important, this isn’t just a local council seat. For the love of God someone explain the absolute lunacy at the DNC right now," said another detractor.

"So, someone stands filming for the girl to walk in, she acts like a moron, then post this to social media. Are they mocking mental illness or promoting it? Why would they do this?" said another critic.

RELATED: Democratic socialists honcho gives rambling, incoherent reply when asked simple question

"We are getting to the point where many democrat candidates are just people who should be in mental institutions or jail," read another critic.

The video appears to still be on the TikTok account for Thomas, but the account has been restricted from most viewers.

Thomas won the Democratic primary despite being vastly outspent by the establishment candidate. She is facing Rep. Kevin Hern (R-Okla.) for the Senate seat after Mullin left to run the Department of Homeland Security.

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A Maryland judge ruled on Wednesday that the Democrats' attempt to gerrymander their state’s lone Republican congressional district out of existence was legally deficient.

Anne Arundel County Circuit Court Judge Robert Thompson held that the redistricting measure HB 2100 threatening Rep. Andy Harris’ (R-Md.) seat should not move forward as part of a November referendum. Anticipating an appeal to the Maryland Supreme Court, Thompson stayed his order.

‘When are we going to be honest with the people and say, "Your government can do whatever it wants"?’

Oversight Project vice president of litigation Jeffrey Clark represented the plaintiffs, arguing that Maryland Democrats ran roughshod over their own deadlines and election statutes.

HB 2100 was introduced August 3, despite statutory codes mandating that any modifications to statewide ballot measures be submitted by July 1. Plaintiffs argued that HB 2100 violated the July 1 deadline and illicitly placed a redistricting measure on the November ballot.

However, Assistant Attorney General Daniel Kobrin insisted that the General Assembly's constitutional authority was not restricted by statutes.

Judge Thompson ultimately bought Clark’s case. Throughout the roughly five hours of oral argument, Thompson repeatedly expressed skepticism toward the state’s case.

“Why not be honest with the people … and let them know if you have a three-fifths majority, you can do whatever you want?” Thompson asked Kobrin from the bench. “When are we going to be honest with the people and say, 'Your government can do whatever it wants'?”

The state immediately filed an appeal to the Maryland Supreme Court.

“We respectfully disagree with the Circuit Court’s decision and have already filed our appeal to the Maryland Supreme Court," Maryland Governor's Office spokesperson Ammar Moussa said in a statement. "At a moment when states across the country are manipulating congressional maps to silence voters and undermine fair representation, Maryland cannot afford to sit on our hands.”

State Sen. Cheryl Kagan (D) and Del. Kris Fair (D) attended the hearing. Kagan's involvement in the ballot measure was highlighted by the plaintiffs.

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Maryland Governor Wes Moore (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

“There is no time to comply with the plain language of the law with our new law because July 1st is in the rearview mirror,” the senator said in early August when debating the bill. Clark referenced her remarks as evidence that Maryland Democrats intended to violate election statutes to get the redistricting measure on the November ballot.

Ballots may be printed as early as September 3, according to state law. The Maryland Supreme Court is providing expedited review in order to render a decision prior to ballot-printing.

“It is very rewarding to see that the Judge assigned to the case agreed with the catalogue of legal errors we laid out that the General Assembly and Governor [Wes] Moore made in their hurry-up Special Session,” Clark said in a statement after the ruling. “Now we will proceed with energy and this wind at our backs as we go up to defend this victory on appeal before the Maryland Supreme Court.”

Clark served as acting administrator of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs from March 2025 to March 2026, leaving to join the Oversight Project.

“This is a big win not only for Marylanders but fans of justice across the country. We had the facts and law on our side and won, and that won't change if the state appeals,” Oversight Project president and affected Maryland voter Mike Howell said in a statement.

Howell, all seven Maryland Freedom Caucus members, and state Sens. Steve Hershey (R) and Justin Ready (R) jointly filed suit against the State Board of Elections regarding HB 2100 on August 6.

"Today's decision is a victory for Maryland voters and the rule of law," Rep. Harris said in an X post on Wednesday.

Kagan and Fair did not respond to requests for comment.

Editor's note: Mike Howell is a contributor to Blaze News.

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Earlier this month, the Democtatic Socialists of America threw a “Y2K Prom” in Los Angeles, pitching it with a straight face: “Do you hate capitalism, but love to dress up?”

The irony of charging up to $40 a ticket for anti-capitalist role-play is almost too easy to laugh at. While a room full of socialists discovering ticket markup is objectively hilarious, the event shouldn't be dismissed as a joke.

Conservatives cannot win this battle by simply shouting historical facts at 20-year-olds at a podium.

That’s because it offers a window into a much bigger problem.

Nationwide playbook

The recent prom is part of a nationwide playbook for leftist indoctrination. Across the country, DSA-aligned groups host book clubs, communist-friendly summer camps, "queer movie nights," and free clothing swaps. They hijack normal social spaces and turn them into political pipelines.

First, they offer community and entertainment. Next, they teach youth to blame capitalism for every personal problem. Finally, they turn those kids into foot soldiers who march, canvass, and vote the next lunatic into office. The left understands that capturing youth culture means capturing America's future, one dance party at a time.

Those sipping punch at these gatherings rarely pause to consider the savagery they are embracing. In the Soviet Union, the 1932 Holodomor starved nearly 4 million Ukrainians to death in the name of collective “progress.” Mao Zedong’s Great Leap Forward in 1958 managed to exterminate roughly 45 million Chinese citizens through sheer economic idiocy and central planning.

Yet today, a 22-year-old armed with an iPhone and a liberal arts degree considers it a human rights violation that people actually have to prove their worth once they leave the insulated incubator of higher education.

Disguising brutality

Modern socialism disguises its brutality with talk of fairness and equity. The old pitch promised equal opportunity, which required actual work and personal responsibility. Equity tosses individual merit into the gulag, favoring mandated outcomes and systematically penalizing anyone who dares to excel. It’s the ultimate political embodiment of tall poppy syndrome, dedicated to decapitating high achievers so the rest of the garden feels better about blooming late or never blooming at all.

The entire apparatus relies on the concept of eternal victimhood. Socialism is the official philosophy of the entitled and the lazy, providing a convenient intellectual cover for those who refuse to take control of their own destinies. When a person fails to pay rent on time, capitalism gets the blame. When a career stalls, systemic oppression gets the credit. The ideology replaces individual pride with a perpetual stream of excuses. It tells a young adult that his shortcomings are never his fault and that the neighbor down the street owes him a living simply for existing.

This is precisely what makes the summer camps, the dance parties, and the Y2K proms so insidious. In a relaxed social setting, far removed from the sterile classroom environment, the subtext is far easier to instill. It equates tyranny with good times, good music, and moral superiority. The socialism Gen Z worships owes less to Karl Marx and far more to Zohran Mamdani. And while the New York mayor radiates all the raw masculinity of an oat milk latte, Gen Z absolutely adores him for it.

RELATED: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and the cruel lie of egg-freezing

Bloomberg/Getty Images

Utopian dance party

Redistribution sounds fantastic to a generation conditioned to receive participation trophies for showing up to seventh-grade soccer practice. The illusion falls apart the moment the government runs out of other people's money to redistribute. At that point, the utopian dance party ends, leaving behind empty grocery store shelves and widespread rationing. The promise of free health care and subsidized housing morphs into a mandatory queue for bread in the dead of winter.

But democratic socialists are having a moment, largely because they actually understand the modern digital landscape. Their activists craft viral TikTok clips. They run sophisticated social media campaigns. Leftist organizers show up where young people hang out, offering a sense of belonging, even if that belonging is rooted in mutual resentment and economic suicide.

Conservatives cannot win this battle by simply shouting historical facts at 20-year-olds at a podium. Blasting socialism on cable news panel shows accomplishes nothing when the targeted demographic streams content on phones.

Right-leaning movements need better ideas, better messaging, and actual cultural spaces that appeal to young Americans. The defense of free markets, personal liberty, and individual achievement must sound energetic, daring, and fundamentally superior to the dreary alternative of state control.

Self-reliance builds genuine strength, while externalizing failure ensures permanent weakness. Securing the future requires proving that creating value through hard enterprise beats nursing grievances at an overpriced vintage prom. But if conservatives ever hope to win that fight, they first need to step onto the battlefield the left actually occupies.

Vice President JD Vance just put a spotlight on Abdul El-Sayed and his real priorities — and the Michigan Democrat Senate candidate wasn’t happy about it.

“It’s sometimes actually hard to understand what do these modern Democrats actually stand for. But look what they say. Pay close attention, and they’ll leave these little hints of what they actually care about,” Vance said.

“El-Sayed, this guy running for Senate in Michigan, he once argued, not too long ago, that criticisms of Sharia law were rooted in white supremacy,” he continued.

"I’d love to go back in time and tell my papaw that there’s a man who claims to stand for working people who says, ‘Not only should we have Sharia law, but if you criticize it, you’re a white supremacist.’ That’s not my papaw’s Democrat Party, my friends,” he added.

El-Sayed responded to the criticism in a post on X, “So do we think JD is taking Usha with him back in time to meet Papaw, or no ...”

Executive producer of "Pat Gray Unleashed," Keith Malinak, points out that this isn’t the first time El-Sayed has spoken about Usha Vance.

“‘What do you think is going through Usha’s head when he talks?’ ... ‘She’s like, damn, I have to sleep with him.’ Another quote. ‘I guess she’s pregnant, so something is happening,’” Malinak says, quoting El-Sayed.

“Another quote, he referred to Vance’s ‘brown kids’ ... and the ‘awkward conversation that Vance is going to have to have with them about hating people who are different,’” he continues.

“I mean, this guy is so obsessed with JD Vance’s family,” he adds.

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It’s official: diversity is not strength. At least not here in the U.K.

The recent publication of a Home Office document reminding asylum-seekers that rape, child abuse, and female genital mutilation are not accepted in our country is a tacit admission from the managerial class that the mass importation of people from backward countries meant bringing backward values to our shores.

Around the same time the brochure appeared, two Afghan migrants were convicted of raping a woman at knifepoint in a park in east London.

For those of us who have spent years writing about immigration and migrant crime, this realization is hardly news. And one suspects it's no surprise to the heavily credentialed ideological clones who staff the civil service.

Keep calm and carry on

There is something quintessentially British about trying to correct human behavior through a strongly worded public statement.

“Now look here, chaps. We’ve noticed a significant number of your tribe engaging in some rather brutish behavior. It’d be remiss of me not to bring this up. I’ve had a word with some of the boys, and if you don’t mind, it’d be awfully nice if you could stop.”

For centuries, British political thinking has conformed to this Victorian notion — that given the right script and a decent education, even the most unrepentant savage can be reformed into a productive, law-abiding citizen.

This is nothing more than progressivism dressed in the robes of 19th-century colonial paternalism. Believing that those who commit savage and barbaric practices can magically shed such vile and antiquated customs simply through exposure to Western values is an act of naivety so staggering it defies belief.

Sickening surge

Between 2021 and 2024, the number of foreign nationals convicted of sexual offenses surged by 62% — compared to 39% for British citizens. By 2025, foreign nationals accounted for one in seven sexual offense convictions, roughly 14% of the total.

When broken down by specific demographics, the disparities become even more alarming. Police data indicates that Afghan nationals are 22 times more likely to be convicted of sexual offenses than their British counterparts, with Eritreans following closely behind. Looking at these figures, one can only deduce that the British state hates its own citizens.

Since 2018, roughly 200,000 migrants have arrived in Britain on small boats, with a mere 4% ever returned. The rest are dispersed nationwide, disproportionately housed in poorer communities.

RELATED: Pakistani cousin marriage has no place in UK

Bloomberg/Getty Images

Under siege

Protests recently erupted in Piddington, a small rural village in Oxfordshire with a population of 400, over proposals to house 1,250 asylum-seekers in a nearby former military base. Lacking basic infrastructure — the village does not even have a shop or a pub — residents expressed concerns over safety, with parents terrified that they will not be able to let their children play outside. So great was their anger, fear, and frustration that villagers held a symbolic referendum voting to secede from the United Kingdom.

The Piddingtons of our country have every reason to be worried. In Epping, furious locals took to the streets outside the Bell Hotel after Hadush Kebatu, an Ethiopian asylum-seeker staying at the facility, sexually assaulted a 14-year-old schoolgirl within days of arriving in the town. Due to the escalating tension with the local community, the asylum-seekers were eventually relocated — though not before the High Court initially ruled they must stay.

Around the same time the brochure appeared, two Afghan migrants were convictedof raping a woman at knifepoint in a park in east London. Just months earlier, an Afghan asylum-seeker who arrived on a small boat was sentenced to 10 years after raping a 13-year-old girl in Nottingham.

In December 2025, two 17-year-old Afghan migrants were given 10-year custodial sentences for the rape of a 15-year-old girl. The court described the case as "horrific." One of the attackers held his hand over her mouth while the other filmed the attack on his mobile phone. They entered the U.K. just a few months earlier.

In March 2026, Ahmad Mulakhil, another Afghan asylum-seeker, was jailed for 15 years after abducting a 12-year-old girl and filming himself raping her — sparking riots in Nuneaton, Warwickshire.

Travel warning

You will excuse me if I doubt that a document informing asylum-seekers about the legal age of consent will do anything to stop these monsters. We have imported these "customs" along with the people who bring them.

In Afghanistan, Bacha bazi (boy play) is defended by warlords as an ancient custom; in reality it is institutionalized pedophilia. In Iraq, Shia Islam allows the marriage of girls as young as 9. One of the highest rates of female genital mutilation — as high as 98% — is found in Somalia, the country of origin for many immigrants to the U.K. In Pakistan, marriage between first cousins remains commonplace, contributing to disproportionately high rates of inherited genetic disorders.

When Britain imports large numbers of people from societies where such practices remain common or tolerated, it inevitably imports some of the attitudes that sustain them. Indeed, the British government itself warns citizens traveling in these countries that they may encounter laws and social customs profoundly at odds with British norms. The curious assumption of our immigration regime is that those differences become irrelevant when the direction of travel is reversed.