A "despicable" homicide suspect was caught on bodycam video pointing a gun at a Florida deputy and pulling the trigger, the Charlotte County Sheriff's Office said Monday.

Authorities said the Feb. 20 incident took place in Port Charlotte, which is about an hour southeast of Sarasota.

'Let me be clear: This individual is lucky to be alive today.'

Deputies got word that two suspects from a Sarasota County burglary were driving through their jurisdiction in a rental car, officials said.

After observing a traffic violation, deputies stopped the car and made contact with the occupants, officials said.

The driver was identified as 41-year-old Amy Lee; the passenger refused to provide his identification, officials said.

At first, neither Lee nor the passenger complied with deputy commands to exit the vehicle, but officials said they soon obeyed when they were told they would be arrested for obstruction.

Officials learned that Lee was arrested last year on multiple felony charges and that her co-defendant in those cases was 55-year-old Brian Hewson. He turned out to be the passenger in the rental vehicle, and he also had multiple warrants for his arrest, officials said.

Hewson "immediately resisted" when deputies tried placing him under arrest, and a deputy drew his agency-issued taser while shouting a warning, officials said.

But Hewson pulled a concealed firearm, pointed it directly at the deputy, and pulled the trigger, officials said.

However, there was no round in the chamber of the loaded gun, officials said, and it didn't fire.

With that, the deputy discharged additional taser probes — yet Hewson still tried to re-rack the gun, officials said.

"Thankfully, due to the neuromuscular incapacitation, Hewson was unable to maintain control of the gun, and it was secured by deputies," officials said.

RELATED: Florida felon named Blackie accused of pointing gun at vehicle in fit of road rage

Officials said Hewson was arrested for multiple warrants — including one for homicide in Pennsylvania, one for failure to appear in Pennsylvania, and charges in Lee County related to trafficking stolen property.

He also was charged with aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer for intentionally pointing a firearm at a CCSO deputy, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, possession of a controlled substance (1.1 grams of fentanyl found in the vehicle), resisting with violence, and possession of drug paraphernalia, officials said.

He was being held at the Charlotte County Jail without bond, officials said.

RELATED: Knifed for 'being a Christian'? Suspect allegedly stabs man and his dog after asking about victim's religion

Brian Hewson. Image source: Charlotte County (Fla.) Sheriff's Office

“Let me be clear: This individual is lucky to be alive today," Sheriff Bill Prummell said, adding that "I want to be sure it is understood that my deputies are trained to eliminate a lethal threat with deadly force. They deserve to go home to their families after their shift. This despicable human tried to take one of my deputies out instead of being a man and accepting accountability for his own decisions. Now he will face the justice he has tried to dodge for so long ... and I hope he spends the rest of his days behind bars.”

The sheriff's office added in its Facebook post about the incident that "as a point of clarification: We see a few people questioning why our deputy went taser instead of lethal. The answer to that is that he already had the taser in hand before the firearm was seen. Had our deputy attempted to switch from taser to firearm, he likely would have already been shot. The reaction, in the moment, is to use the taser that was already drawn and aimed to incapacitate the suspect. As you can see in the video, this happened VERY quickly."

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The United States Department of State has urged all U.S. citizens to leave more than a dozen countries across the Middle East due to the ongoing conflict in the region.

Reaping financial rewards from strong-arming fans into paying for streaming services has become one of the NFL's largest revenue streams, but that may change.

The post Utah Sen. Mike Lee Wants DOJ, FTC to Probe Rising Costs of Watching NFL, Other Sports on Streaming Services appeared first on Breitbart.

The SAVE America Act is a common-sense bill that would ensure American citizens would decide American elections by requiring voter ID and getting rid of mail-in ballots — which BlazeTV host Liz Wheeler could not be more on board with.

“It’s basically just elementary voter ID. This should have been passed weeks ago. Why hasn’t it been?” BlazeTV host Liz Wheeler asks, before introducing the vice president of programs at the Conservative Policy Institute, Rachel Bovard.

“She knows what’s going on and who is to blame and what needs to happen to get the SAVE Act passed,” Wheeler says.

“It has passed out of the House — twice, actually. So what we’re dealing with: You have the SAVE Act, and then you have the SAVE America Act. And that is where we are now focusing, is the SAVE America Act,” Bovard explains.

“We had to do a second vehicle, because the SAVE Act passed out of the House in April. It went over to the Senate, where it was then referred to the Senate Rules Committee. And Mitch McConnell is the chair of the Senate Rules Committee and doesn’t like this bill,” she says.

“I don’t know why. Inexplicably. He’s never spoken on it. He doesn’t like it,” she adds.

That’s when House and Senate conservatives, working together on the issue, tweaked the bill to reintroduce it as the SAVE America Act.

“They sent it over to the Senate, and they did something very strategic this time around. They packaged it in such a way, in what we call a message. So they sent it over to the Senate as a message. Meaning, normally, to get on a bill in the Senate, you have to overcome a filibuster. When you have a message, it’s privileged. You don’t. So you can get onto the bill, bypassing the filibuster altogether,” Bovard tells Wheeler.

“And the second thing that was so brilliant about what they did was when it comes over as a message, it doesn’t get referred to committee. It sits at the desk, where it is just now waiting for Majority Leader John Thune to call it up. Now, will it be subject to a filibuster then? I assume it will,” she says, pointing out that there are two ways to break a filibuster.

“The one everyone’s very familiar with is invoking cloture, which is 60 votes. But the other way is through physical exhaustion, which is the old-fashioned way, which is making senators stand and speak until they physically cannot do so any longer and then putting the question,” she continues.

“So instead of having to break through 60 votes, you break through physical exhaustion, and then in both cases, once you’ve broken the filibuster, the bill passes a simple majority," she says. “So that is where things stand right now.”

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Colin Gray, the father of the alleged September 4, 2024, Apalachee High School shooter, was convicted Tuesday on 27 charges, including second-degree murder.

The post Father Who Gave Alleged Apalachee High School Shooter a Rifle Convicted on 27 Charges appeared first on Breitbart.

Utility costs are squeezing New Yorkers after officials decided to shut down a nuclear plant, and criticism over the move is piling up.

The post New York: Critics Blame ‘Democrats in Charge’ for Rising Utility Costs After Nuclear Plant Shuttered appeared first on Breitbart.

The House Oversight Committee released video from a closed-door deposition about convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, in which former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton reacted to the news that a Republican lawmaker had secretly leaked a photo of her against the rules.

We now know that all the scorn that has been poured on missile defense over the years was perverse and wrong.

Watch & share!

President Volodymyr Zelensky is worried deliveries of missiles will dry up as they're needed to fight Iran, he told an Italian newspaper. 

The post Zelensky Worried World Could Forget About Ukraine, Stop Donating Missiles, Because of Iran Operation appeared first on Breitbart.

A company recently revealed its human-brain-cell-driven chatbot that it has taught to play video games.

However, even though the program runs on real human cells, it is still hallucinating answers.

'It could be more able to use biological intelligence in a meaningful way.'

The company, Cortical Labs, shared a video recently that showed its brain-cell-operated large language model responding in real time to a user prompt. Return reported on the company last year for using brain cells grown on a silicon "chip" for an organic computer. The tech is referred to as synthetic biological intelligence, and the company now appears to have a room full of such computers.

"This is a whole new paradigm to how ... the syntax of the LLM can be more like us," a company rep said in the video.

Boasting about his brain-powered chatbot, the voiceover added, "It could be more able to use biological intelligence in a meaningful way to select the next token and to create better responses."

This example immediately failed, though. When the user asked the program, "Tell me where you want to visit on vacation," the bot cited a place that does not exist.

"The Great Barrinchi Cove in the Maldives," it stated, before also suggesting "Tuscany, Italy, for its rolling hills, stunning views."

Despite the complex technology, these types of "hallucinations" are common with AI chatbots and are a somewhat typical occurrence for any frequent chatbot user.

RELATED: Dystopia: World's first 'biological computer' uses human brain cells that are 'raised in a simulation'

In 2022, Cortical Labs said it had successfully taught 800,000 living brain cells to learn how to play the game Pong. The cells were linked to a computer to gradually learn to sense the position of the game's ball and control the virtual paddle.

"If we allow these cells to know the outcome of their actions, will they actually be able to change in some sort of goal-directed way?" Chief Scientific Officer Brett Kagan asked at the time.

Since then, and after a bevy of requests, the company has advanced its model to play a more complex game: Doom.

The crude shooter game represents a 21-year jump in technological understanding for the program, given that Doom came out in 1993 and Pong in 1972.

RELATED: Trump fired Anthropic for being 'leftwing nut jobs,' but the company's AI is conquering the internet

The recent demo also showed an incomplete answer provided by the chatbot when asked to explain the meaning of life.

It answered, "The meaning of life is a philosophical question that has been pondered by thinkers and scholars across various cultures and religions for centuries."

It went on, "It explores the fundamental question of what purpose or ultimate meaning lies in human existence."

"Different interpretations may vary widely," it added before ending abruptly.

Cortical Labs has made its research publicly available, letting the viewer decide if the company is indeed creating science "for the greater good," as it has stated.

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An amicus curiae brief filed with the Supreme Court by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) claims that President Donald Trump’s executive order ending birthright citizenship is “immoral” and “denies the innate dignity and freedom of the person.”

The U.S. Supreme Court handed a massive win to parents last night, ruling that California cannot keep a child's gender transition secret from their parents.

Iranians around the world are sharing videos of themselves doing President Donald Trump's famous dance to thank him for taking out Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The post Watch: Iranians Do the ‘Trump Dance’ to Thank President for Taking out Ayatollah Khamenei appeared first on Breitbart.

Oil and gas prices spiked globally amid the escalating conflict in the Middle East. Americans aren't immune, having to shell out significantly more at the pump.

Since Saturday morning, the U.S. and Israel have executed multiple waves of military strikes against Iran. The Shiite nation has, in turn, launched a series of attacks on American installations, personnel, and allies in the region.

'We'll likely see both of those rolling over $3/$4 respectively quite soon.'

Violence has spread to Bahrain, Cyprus, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. Fighting is also heating up in southern Lebanon, where Israel has endeavored to seize more "strategic positions."

Related attacks and threats of attacks have slowed and in some cases halted regional energy production and transportation, choking global supply.

Aramco ceased operations at Saudi Arabia's biggest oil refinery on Monday following a nearby drone attack. Sources told Reuters that, as of Tuesday, the Saudi oil giant was working on rerouting some of its crude exports to the Red Sea to bypass the Strait of Hormuz, where several ships have been attacked in recent days.

Roughly one-fifth of the world's oil normally transits the Strait of Hormuz, a stretch of water between Oman and Iran that links the Persian Gulf with the Gulf of Oman. Shipping through the strait has, however, virtually stopped amid Iranian threats and attacks on vessels attempting to pass.

Ebrahim Jabari, a senior official with the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, reportedly stated on Monday that "the strait (of Hormuz) is closed. If anyone tries to pass, the heroes of the Revolutionary Guards and the regular navy will set those ships ablaze."

RELATED: Netanyahu denies forcing US into war after mixed messages from Rubio, Johnson

Nikolas Kokovlis/NurPhoto via Getty Images

Citing a shortage of tankers, overloaded export terminals, and navigation disruptions resultant of the "closure of the Strait of Hormuz," Iraqi authorities have announced major production reductions, reported OilPrice.com.

Following military attacks on two of its facilities, the world's largest liquid natural gas producer, Qatar's state-run QatarEnergy, also announced on Monday that it was halting LNG production, then revealed on Tuesday it was arresting the production of downstream products including urea, polymers, methanol, and aluminum.

In the wake of QatarEnergy's initial announcement on Monday, benchmark British and Dutch wholesale gas prices reportedly spiked by nearly 50%, while benchmark Asian LNG prices shot up 39%.

As of Tuesday, Brent crude oil prices were reportedly climbing toward $84 a barrel — the highest level since July 2024.

JP Morgan analysts indicated a day earlier that "if vessel passage through the SoH [Strait of Hormuz] is restricted for 3 to 4 weeks," Brent oil prices could exceed $100 per barrel, reported Yahoo! Finance.

Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at the price-tracking service GasBuddy, noted on Tuesday morning, "The most commonly encountered gas price today in the US is $2.99/gal, while the most common diesel price is $3.99/gal. We'll likely see both of those rolling over $3/$4 respectively quite soon."

"Based on the numbers at this moment (3/3/26, 945am ET), the average price of gasoline would likely climb to about $3.30-$3.35/gal in time," added De Haan. "Any further changes in markets will change this, but if everything held still, that's where we'd likely be. Diesel closer to $4.25-$4.45."

The analyst indicated that the 12-cent rise is the "largest since Russia's invasion of Ukraine boosted prices 15.0c/gal on 3/4/22."

When asked about spiking oil prices on Monday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters, "We knew that going in would be a factor. And so we have a program in place that will begin to be implemented by [Energy] Secretary [Chris] Wright, Secretary [Scott] Bessent."

"We talked about it last night, again, about this program. We talked this morning," continued Rubio. "And starting tomorrow, you will see us rolling out those phases to try to mitigate against that."

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Venezuela's socialist "interim" leader Delcy Rodríguez held a phone call on Monday with the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.

The post Venezuela Supports Qatar Against Iran Strikes – After Deleting Pro-Iran Statement appeared first on Breitbart.