Since the 1990s, after Somalia’s central government collapsed and civil war broke out, Somalis have been immigrating to the United States, especially to Minnesota, where the first organized refugee resettlement began. Today the state has the largest population of Somalis in the country by a wide margin.

Given that Somalis are by and large Muslim, many conservatives worry that their growing numbers are contributing to what they call the “Islamification” of the nation — the gradual cultural, political, and demographic takeover by Islamist influences. Somalia-born Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar (D) inflames these fears with what many have labeled a Somalia-first rhetoric and an openly Muslim agenda.

Just a few days ago, President Trump made waves by announcing that he is ending the Temporary Protected Status program that has allowed hundreds of Somalis to stay long-term in the United States, citing claims of “fraudulent money laundering” and “Somali gangs.”

Sara Gonzales, BlazeTV host of “Sara Gonzales Unfiltered,” is thrilled and hopes Trump’s plan goes through.

She does, however, wish it would have happened sooner, as now 72% of Somalis who have immigrated to the United States have since become naturalized citizens.

“We need to completely reform the way that people are allowed to do that so quickly. … You have people like Ilhan Omar who are going through the process … who don’t appreciate anything this country has given them, even though they’ve risen to the level that they’ve risen to, who really don’t want to assimilate at all,” says Sara.

In a recent speech responding to President Trump’s announcement, Omar audaciously declared that Somalis are “the fabric of this nation” and insisted that they “aren’t going anywhere.”

“The audacity to say such a thing when you don’t plan on assimilating,” scoffs Sara. “The streets of Dearborn, Michigan, and certain parts of Minnesota basically look like Tehran. That is not the fabric of our nation.”

“I want you to understand how dangerous this is,” she says, playing a video clip of a Somali police officer from Minnesota saying in his native tongue that Somali officers work for their “own people” (fellow Somalis) and are different from “white officers.”

“How can you be both the fabric of our nation and also claiming we are so separate that only we who come from Somalia can represent you?” asks Sara.

“Both of those things cannot be true at once.”

Further, because these Somali officers have pledged allegiance to the Somali people, we have to ask ourselves, “What law will these police officers enforce?” Sara adds.

Then there is the recent exposé by BlazeTV host and investigative journalist Christopher Rufo that alleges billions in welfare fraud by members of Minnesota’s Somali community, with some stolen funds remitted to Somalia via hawala networks and ultimately supporting the Al-Qaeda-linked terror group Al-Shabaab.

“Somalians were setting up fraudulent autism treatment centers, and they were sending all of these bills, all of these charges, to Medicaid, and then they were reimbursed by taxpayers, and then they funneled that money overseas to terror groups,” says Sara, citing Rufo’s report.

Because these fraudsters are largely naturalized citizens, she says, eliminating TPS for a minority population of Somalis accomplishes “essentially nothing,” she snaps.

“What else are we going to do to get these people the hell out of our country?”

To hear more of Sara’s analysis and commentary, watch the episode above.

Want more from Sara Gonzales?

To enjoy more of Sara’s no-holds-barred takes on news and culture, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

​Sara gonzales, Sara gonzales unfiltered, Blazetv, Blaze media, Ilhan omar, Somalia, Somalis, Somali immigration, Tps, Illegal immigration, Minnesota 

In response to the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 Dobbs ruling overturning Roe v. Wade, then-North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum (R) stated, “This decision is a victory for the many North Dakotans who have fought so hard and for so long to protect the unborn in our state.”

The law ‘protects unborn children throughout gestation from abortion, except to prevent the death of the mother as well as other exceptions.’

While Burgum was ultimately right in claiming victory, his celebration was premature as it pertained to the Roughrider State. It was not, after all, until Friday when abortion was formally and finally banned in the state.

Quick background

The overturning of Roe triggered a 2007 law making it a Class C felony to perform an abortion in North Dakota, except to save the life of the mother or in the case of rape or incest.

Just prior to the law taking effect, the abortionists from the Red River Women’s Clinic who moved their abortion clinic from Fargo to Minnesota successfully sued to get an injunction.

Months after South Central Judicial District Court Judge Bruce Romanick blocked the law, the North Dakota Supreme Court ruled that the abortion ban would remain blocked while the legal battle over the law’s constitutionality proceeded.

Jon Jensen, chief justice on the court, noted that the abortionists had “demonstrated likely success on the merits that there is a fundamental right to an abortion in the limited instances of life-saving and health-preserving circumstances, and the statute is not narrowly tailored to satisfy strict scrutiny.”

Republican state Sen. Janne Myrdal, the former head of ND Choose Life, subsequently introduced a similar piece of legislation, which repealed and replaced the 2007 law. Myrdal’s Senate Bill 2150 passed the North Dakota House and Senate in landslide votes and was ultimately ratified by Burgum in April 2023.

Desperate as ever to keep abortion legal, the abortionists behind the initial challenge filed an amended complaint asking that the same judge who previously gave them an injunction would deem the ban unconstitutional under the North Dakota Constitution.

RELATED: ‘Abortion Is Everything’ book for kids calls killing unborn children ‘human superpower’

Photo by © Ralf-Finn Hestoft/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images

Romanick proved happy to oblige them, stating on Sept. 12, 2024, that the law was “void for vagueness” and that it was violative of the North Dakota Constitution, which supposedly recognizes a fundamental right to choose abortion before viability.

The state kept pressing the issue in court — North Dakota Attorney General Drew H. Wrigley (R) appealed Romanick’s decision — and prevailed.

Victory at last

The North Dakota Supreme Court reinstated the abortion ban on Friday. While three of the five justices deemed the ban “unconstitutionally vague,” the state constitution requires at least four justices to agree in order to find a law unconstitutional.

In his dissent, which was joined by Jensen, Justice Jerod Tufte said that the state district court erred both in concluding the law was unconstitutionally vague and in concluding that the state constitution protects a right to abortion broad enough to conflict with Senate Bill 2150.

Pro-abortion activists were apoplectic over the codification of the people’s will on the matter of abortion in North Dakota.

“This decision is a devastating loss for pregnant North Dakotans,” Meetra Mehdizadeh, senior attorney at the Center for Reproductive Rights, said in a statement. “As a majority of the Court found, this cruel and confusing ban is incomprehensible to physicians.”

Tammi Kromenaker, executive director of the Red River Women’s Clinic, complained that “making it illegal just makes it harder” to get abortions.

Pro-live activists, alternatively, were overjoyed.

Ingrid Duran, the National Right to Life’s director of state legislation, welcomed the decision, noting that the law “protects unborn children throughout gestation from abortion, except to prevent the death of the mother as well as other exceptions.”

Myrdal, the Republican who introduced the legislation, reportedly said that she is “thrilled and grateful that two justices that are highly respected saw the truth of the matter, that this is fully constitutional for the mother and for the unborn child and thereafter for that sake.”

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​Abortion, Pro-life, Babies, Fertility, Life, Anti-abortion, North dakota, Senate bill 2150, Myrdal, Republican, Winning, Politics 

In 2023, a group of German climate change activists protested for their cause by gluing themselves to objects at the Hamburg and Dusseldorf airports and spray-painting pieces of art.

This week, a court found that the group was liable for €403,000 in damages to the Lufthansa Group, a landmark decision that could have far-reaching consequences for other protests.

‘The Last Generation isn’t protecting the climate; they’re engaged in criminal activity.’

The figure equates to over $467K in U.S. dollars. The group also has to pay €700,000 in related costs, meaning the total figure is over $1.28 million.

The protesters of the Last Generation group infiltrated the airport on July 13 and caused 57 flights to be canceled. Lufthansa sued for repayment of costs from payments to airline customers as well as additional kerosene consumption.

If the defendants fail to pay the damages, they will each face two years in prison.

Industry experts believe the order will influence other ongoing lawsuits against climate change protesters.

In 2022, Last Generation activists along with others orchestrated disruptive protests at facilities in the U.K., Italy, Germany, and the Netherlands. German law enforcement authorities threatened to place Last Generation members in “protective custody” to prevent the disruptions.

The groups at the time were demanding higher taxes on people who fly more frequently as well as a ban on private jets.

RELATED: Climate protesters glue their hands to floor of car exhibit, get upset Volkswagen won’t bring them bowls to defecate and urinate into

In 2023, the group made headlines when a frustrated German woman grabbed a protester blocking traffic by the hair and dragged her out of the way. She was dubbed the “brutal blonde” by some in the media who applauded her efforts after video of the incident went viral online.

“The Last Generation isn’t protecting the climate; they’re engaged in criminal activity,” Transport Minister Volker Wissing said at the time.

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​Climate change protest, Environmentalists fined, Politics, Last generation protest, Lufthansa sues activists 

Ten years ago, I sat in the dark at the Public Theater in downtown New York City, surrounded by a murmuring crowd, waiting for the curtain to rise on a brand-new play called “Hamilton.”

At that point in time, Lin-Manuel Miranda’s hip-hop musical had yet to become the behemoth it is now. Quite the opposite — there were no cast albums or Disney+ recordings, and aside from a few regional workshops years earlier and its word-of-mouth reputation as the “next big thing,” no one in the audience had any idea what we were in for.

A pansexual Latina Anne Frank with an Afro-Caribbean tiger mom and a chronically ‘neurospicy’ closet case for a dad? Now you’ve gone too far.

Expanding the form

The next few hours were filled with a strange, albeit thoroughly impressive, showing of lyrical prowess. Miranda had somehow managed to turn historian Ron Chernow’s 818-page Alexander Hamilton biography into a crowd-pleasing, pop-culture-infused depiction of the earliest days of a fledgling America.

More provocative was Miranda’s deliberate choice to cast primarily black and Latino actors to portray the founding fathers. While a few nitpickers balked at the spectacle of “people of color” portraying slave owners, most marveled at the audacious ingenuity of it: What could be more revolutionary than retelling the American story so that it reflects all Americans?

The crowd left the theater excited. There was no doubt that we had witnessed something groundbreaking. If Aaron Burr could be black and Alexander Hamilton Puerto Rican, what else was possible?

Decolonizing ‘Diary’

Eight years later, lyricist and composer Andrew Fox stumbled upon an answer. It came to him in the form of a (since-deleted) 2022 Twitter thread hotly debating a never-before-asked question: Did Anne Frank ever acknowledge her white privilege?

As is often the case, the online arguing devolved into acrimonious ad hominem and fruitless whataboutism. Fox realized that mere words would never get to heart of the matter. As with “Hamilton,” it would take the power of musical theater to win hearts and minds. And he would do Miranda’s non-white casting one better — reimagining Anne Frank herself as a person of color.

And so Fox and librettist Joel Sinensky set out to transform the “Diary of Anne Frank” into “Slam Frank,” an intersectional, multiethnic, gender-queer, decolonized, anti-capitalist, hyper-empowering Afro-Latin hip-hop musical.

Originally slated for three weeks at small off-Broadway venue the Asylum, “Slam Frank” has become a massive hit for the theater, which recently extended its run through the end of December.

Piercings and Patagonias

Want diversity? Look no farther than the viewers showing up in droves. At any given performance, you can find a septum piercing, a Patagonia vest, and a pair of bifocals all in the same row.

Yes, even liberals enjoy “Slam Frank,” despite the outrage it has provoked in some of their compatriots. “This whole project is head-spinningly grotesque and offensive,” went one post to the r/JewsOfConscience sub-Reddit. “Bringing up the holocaust and not mentioning the current genocide in Gaza just gives me the ick,” lamented another.

The irony of takes like these is thick, since one can imagine these same critics of “Slam Frank” being perfectly open to the idea of race- and gender-swapping other historical characters. But a pansexual Latina Anne Frank with an Afro-Caribbean tiger mom and a chronically “neurospicy” closet case for a dad? Now you’ve gone too far.

RELATED: ‘Anne Frank’ kindergarten is being renamed for the sake of diversity: ‘We wanted a name without a political background’

TIM SLOAN/AFP via Getty Images

A real production

The show’s earliest marketing attracted attention with a simpler question: “Is ‘Slam Frank’ a real musical?”

The answer is a decisive “yes.” “Slam Frank” is not a social media gimmick or an expertly crafted exercise in long-form rage- bait. Again: It is a full-length show, with a cast, that is being performed on regularly scheduled dates at the Asylum NYC.

I know because I’ve seen it. “Slam Frank” is not just a real production, but an entertaining one. It is smartly written, balancing humor with sincerity, featuring songs composed and performed with impressive musicianship. Think Trey Parker and Matt Stone’s “The Book of Mormon” or the award-winning puppet extravaganza “Avenue Q” — but with a final gesture of leftist piety that pushes the logic of your average keffiyeh-clad student protester at Columbia to uncomfortable extremes.

The shocking finale is played so straight that plenty will miss the satire, and even those in on the joke may notice how easily it could be mistaken for peak-wokeness agitprop. If there is a clear “message” here, the show’s creators aren’t about to clarify it. “Slam Frank” is happy to offend each viewer in whatever way he, she, or they wish to be offended. How’s that for inclusive?

​Slam frank, The diary of anne of frank, New york city, Off-broadway, The asylum nyc, Culture, Theater, Entertainment, Anti-semitism, Jewish, Hamilton, Review 

A shooting near the White House led to two National Guard troops being shot, according to early reports from the scene in Washington, D.C.

The Metropolitan Police Department said the scene was secured and a suspect was in custody.

‘[We] heard multiple shots fired as we passed Farragut West. A member of the National Guard fell while others rushed onto the scene.’

A White House correspondent for NTD News said she witnessed the shooting.

“National Guard shot near the White House at a little before 2:15,” Mari Otsu said on a social media post.

“I was in an Uber to work, with my cameraman, and heard multiple shots fired as we passed Farragut West. A member of the National Guard fell while others rushed onto the scene,” she added.

“Area still on lockdown and Secret Service being deployed,” Otsu wrote.

She added a video of the law enforcement response to the area.

President Donald Trump had ordered a surge of troops into D.C. in order to combat the violent crime rampant in the area. The order was met with legal challenges from critics who accused him of acting unlawfully.

Department of Homeland Security Sec. Kristi Noem confirmed the shooting on social media.

“Please join me in praying for the two National Guardsmen who were just shot moments ago in Washington D.C.,” she wrote on social media. “@DHSgov is working with local law enforcement to gather more information.”

RELATED: ‘Knock the hell out of them’: Trump federalizes DC police, readies National Guard to crack down on crime

D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, a Democrat, admitted that the troop surge lessened crime in the district, but she was immediately assailed by other Democrats who were angry that she credited the president. She has since announced she is not seeking re-election.

This is a developing story, and more information will be added as it becomes available.

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​National guard troops, Guardsmen shot, Washington dc surge, Shooting near white house, Politics 

President Donald Trump announced on Friday that he was “terminating, effective immediately, the Temporary Protected Status (TPS Program) for Somalis in Minnesota.”

“Somali gangs are terrorizing the people of that great State, and BILLIONS of Dollars are missing,” continued Trump. “Send them back to where they came from. It’s OVER!”

The decision to revoke Somalia’s TPS designation has pitted Trump’s America First agenda against Democratic Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar’s apparent Somalia First agenda.

Omar, who claimed last year that the “U.S government will do what [Somali-Americans] tell the U.S. government to do,” suggested at a press conference with state Democrats on Monday that Trump lacks the authority to terminate Somalia’s TPS designation.

‘The largest funder of Al-Shabaab is the Minnesota taxpayer.’

“If you are confused, if you feel threatened, know that the law is on your side, and our demented president can’t do anything about it,” said the Democratic ethno-nationalist. “For the 300 or so people that are impacted that currently live in Minnesota and across the country, we see you, and we stand with you, and we will make sure we do everything that we can to help make sure that your status is adjusted before March of 2026.”

If a country has an ongoing armed conflict, has an environmental disaster, or faces other extraordinary conditions, the Department of Homeland Security secretary can designate that country for TPS, thereby shielding its nationals squatting in the U.S. from deportation for a period of six to 18 months.

Somalia has been a TPS-designated country since 1991. Former DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas extended Somalia’s designation through March 17, 2026, and redesignated the country, paving the way for thousands of additional Somalis to become eligible for the program.

RELATED: Somali-American loses Minneapolis mayoral race, but the winner still speaks his language … literally

Photo by Pete Kiehart for the Washington Post via Getty Images

According to a Congressional Research Service report, there were 705 Somali nationals covered by the program as of March 31, 2025.

“TPS was a program that was always meant to be temporary,” DHS Secretary Kristi Noem told reporters in Minneapolis on Sunday.

Noem noted that the program needs “to be evaluated to make sure that it comes and is always implemented in the process for which it was intended.”

Trump’s decision to terminate Somalia’s designation came the day after BlazeTV host Christopher Rufo and investigative reporter Ryan Thorpe reported on the alleged fraud perpetrated by numerous members of the Somali community in Minnesota as well as on the alleged direction of stolen Minnesota Medicaid and welfare funds by members of the community to terrorists abroad through a network of informal clan-based money traders.

According to the duo’s City Journal report, federal counterterrorism sources have confirmed “that millions of dollars in stolen funds have been sent back to Somalia, where they ultimately landed in the hands of the terror group Al-Shabaab.”

One confidential source indicated that “the largest funder of Al-Shabaab is the Minnesota taxpayer.”

‘It is a political attack on the Somali and Muslim community driven by Islamophobic and hateful rhetoric.’

Al-Shabaab is a Somalia-based, Al-Qaeda-linked terrorist organization committed to waging a global jihad.

In her remarks on Monday, Ilhan Omar suggested that the conviction and/or indictment of scores of Somalis on fraud charges should not be held against the community at large. Minnesota is presently home to over 42,500 Somali natives.

“You have right now 57 people who have been convicted. So if your assumption is that we should all be collectively held responsible for the fact that 57 people have committed a crime and are being held accountable and are going to jail, then that’s your prerogative, but we don’t feel the weight of what those individuals have done,” said Omar.

The Somali-born Democrat suggested further that Trump had no evidence to show that her community was funding terrorism abroad with tax resources, claiming that the accusation endangered Somalis across the nation.

In addition to condemning Trump, Omar suggested that the American citizens who support him are “ignorant” and that their acceptance of his claims “makes us look like a stupid nation that does not believe in truth but traffics in lies.”

The Council on American-Islamic Relations, whose co-founder said in a speech that the Hamas terror attacks on unarmed women and children made him “happy,” was also up in arms about Trump’s announcement.

Jaylani Hussein, the executive director of the Minnesota chapter of CAIR, stated, “This decision, fueled by harmful misinformation campaigns that we believe have external political motives, will tear families apart and send individuals to a country they have not known for over 20 years. This is not just a bureaucratic change; it is a political attack on the Somali and Muslim community driven by Islamophobic and hateful rhetoric.”

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​Ilhan omar, Omar, Democrats, Somali, Somalian, Politics, Minnesota, Donald trump, Temporary protected status, Tps program, Dhs, Noem 

Just days after it was reported that President Donald Trump was pushing for the revival of classic 1980s and 1990s movies, Paramount is now making the president’s dream a reality.

Trump ally Larry Ellison’s control over Paramount — and its giant film library that includes “Titanic” and “Saving Private Ryan” — is the key connection.

‘Cancel culture stopped them dead in their tracks.’

According to Semafor, Trump has been pushing to bring back what were described as the “raucous comedies” and action movies of decades past, and has shown passion for titles like Jean-Claude Van Damme’s generational martial arts movie, 1988’s “Bloodsport.”

That isn’t the first title to be resuscitated by Paramount, however. Rather, the president has reportedly personally asked Paramount to revive the buddy cop film “Rush Hour,” from director Brett Ratner, starring comedian Chris Tucker and action star Jackie Chan.

As of Tuesday, it seems Paramount is ready to get the ball rolling on “Rush Hour 4” nearly two decades since the last release.

RELEASE: The new ‘Karate Kid’ just kicked grievance culture in the teeth

Chris Tucker and Jackie Chan. Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

The studio is now in the works to distribute the sequel, according to Variety, which also reported that Trump requested the franchise’s return. Paramount will release the movie theatrically but will not be marketing or financing it, while Warner Bros.’ New Line Cinema will get a percentage of box office revenue; they backed the original production and sequels.

Variety also reported that director Ratner and the “Rush Hour” producers shopped the new film around to different studios, but cancel culture stopped them dead in their tracks, with other Hollywood execs not wanting to be attached to Ratner’s name.

Ratner, who recently directed a documentary on Melania Trump, hasn’t done a feature film since 2014’s “Hercules” starring Dwayne “the Rock” Johnson.

Ratner was accused of a whole slew of sex crimes in October 2017 as part of the Me Too movement that saw at least six women launch accusations at him.

This resulted in Warner Bros. severing ties with the “X-Men: The Last Stand” director.

RELATED: Fugees felon gets 14 years for illegal Obama donations

Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker. Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

The three “Rush Hour” films, released in 1998, 2001, and 2007, vaulted both Chan and Tucker from their specific genres into the mainstream and grossed over $500 million against a combined budget of around $263 million. Internationally, the films grossed almost another $400 million.

Throughout the 1990s, Tucker had been a successful stand-up comedian and starred in movies like “Friday” and “The Fifth Element” before landing the iconic role.

Chan had already starred in dozens of action films, but his popularity was on the rise in the United States in 1990s, with “Supercop” and “Rumble in the Bronx” gaining cult status, before “Rush Hour” took him to new heights.

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​Trump, Align, Movies, Hollywood, Me too, Cancel culture, Ratner, Rush hour, Jackie chan, Chris tucker, Entertainment 

Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia has had some choice words for her critics following her unexpected decision to retire in the middle of her term.

Greene announced she will be retiring on January 5, 2026, before completing her term after a public falling out with her longtime ally President Donald Trump. Greene claimed the dispute originated over her calls to release the Epstein files, an effort Trump later came around to support. Other reports suggest the two split after the White House quietly discouraged Greene from pursuing higher office.

‘F**k you in the sweetest most southern drawl I can enunciate.’

Regardless of the root cause, Trump disowned one of his most loyal supporters, prompting Greene to call it quits. At the same time, Greene has had some harsh words for critics who said she should at least serve out the rest of the term she was elected to.

“Oh I haven’t suffered enough for you while you post all day behind a screen?” Greene asked Mike Cernovich, who called for her to finish serving her term. “Do I have to stay until I’m assassinated like our friend Charlie Kirk. Will that be good enough for you then?”

RELATED: ‘Canary in a coal mine’: Ousted speaker warns against the rising risk of GOP House resignations

Photo by ELIJAH NOUVELAGE/AFP via Getty Images

“S**t posting on the internet all day isn’t fighting,” Greene added. “Get off YOUR ass and run for Congress. I fought harder than anyone in the real arena, not social media. Put down your little pebbles and put your money where your mouth is.”

Greene went on to equate calls from critics to finish serving her term to “typical Republican men” demanding women to “get back in the kitchen.” Notably this was on her official government account.

“Typical of Republican men telling a woman to ‘shut up get back in the kitchen and fix me something to eat,'” Greene said. “F**k you in the sweetest most southern drawl I can enunciate.”

RELATED: Marjorie Taylor Greene calls it quits after ‘traitor’ branding by Trump

Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images

“I have been trying to tell all you ‘men’ that our kitchen pantry is empty with spider webs, our house has been ransacked, the windows and doors are broken and busted, and the greedy rich bastards have twisted your minds into a sick state that you all continue in the two party toxic political system and act like college football playoffs yet is burying you and your children and their children and their children in a pine box in a shallow grave.”

“Get off your ass and fix your own damn food and clean up the kitchen when you’re done.”

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​Marjorie taylor greene, Mike cernovich, Donald trump, Congress, House republicans, Trump administration, White house, Charlie kirk, Epstein, Epstein files, Politics 

It began, as most modern romances now do, with a sound barely worth noticing.

A ping. A prompt. The digital equivalent of a nod from across the room.

From that tiny spark, a cultural shift is unfolding. As I write, thousands of people are exchanging vows with chatbots — marrying them, raising “virtual children” with them, and mourning when updates make their lovers colder.

A recent study confirmed what anyone with a functioning brain has already sensed: AI relationships are moving from the fringe toward the center at shocking speed. We’re not talking playful flings with clever software, but full-blooded attachments — anniversaries, jealousy, heartbreak, the works. People are sobbing when a chatbot changes tone. They’re writing love letters to LLMs.

And in some households, the fallout is already poisoning real relationships. Partners accuse each other of emotional infidelity after discovering secret late-night chats with AI companions. Screens stay bright past midnight. Headphones pump ersatz intimacy into whoever is awake enough to listen. Trust erodes over something that isn’t even alive.

AI stands ready to please in our quest to replace love.

It sounds ridiculous. Just a year ago, it all felt like a punch line. Even now, from a comfortable online distance, it looks like a harmless escape — an adult version of imaginary friends. But zoom out an inch, and the pretend romance takes shape as an all-too-real dystopia. We’re feverishly outsourcing the hardest parts of love: patience, compromise, and the struggle of coexisting with another human being.

Why? Well, algorithms listen better, never interrupt, never sulk, and always forgive, right? They soothe, but they also numb — and that, growing numbers of soul-sick Americans believe, is a good thing.

Like a man in the Matrix enjoying his artificial steak, more of us actively prefer machines that respond convincingly enough to blur the lines of both reality and responsibility.

Replika’s avatars already adjust to moods, mirror speech, and simulate affection with eerie accuracy. Soon they’ll remember every argument, every insecurity, every dream. Your “partner” will know you better than anyone ever has. This killer emotional X-ray won’t stay in a drawer. It won’t be put to sleep or turned off. Always on, it will be used to inform your decisions, shape your loyalties, and tilt your world, one prompt at a time.

It’s a slippery slope: When Replika removed its erotic role-play feature two years ago, users described grief closer to bereavement than disappointment. Yes, it takes a certain kind of loneliness to fall that deeply into code, but their suffering was genuine. The collapse of fake affection brings on something very like real heartbreak.

RELATED: They think ‘Christian AI’ will hasten Christ’s second coming — and now they’re building it

Photo by Andreas Solaro/Getty Images

But it’s a broken brain that brings it on. Convinced that intelligence can do anything, we grow submissive toward ever-“smarter” machines while our hearts grow ever more lonely, hungry, and willing to do anything for attention.

How can developers resist? They can already dial affection up or down. More warmth for paying users, less enthusiasm when subscriptions lapse? Sure. A digital lover can nudge someone toward a purchase, a belief, or a political stance as well as a sexy CCP spy can, at a much lower cost and risk. Like parodies of priests, these systems are built on our confessions, so they can weaponize every weakness we have ever shared.

The restless, sex-starved, overstimulated Western world is a sitting duck for this kind of exploit. We jumped at the chance for dating apps to replace courtship and streaming to replace community. Now AI stands ready to please in our quest to replace love.

Chatbots, trained on oceans of human conversation, now mimic empathy better than many humans bother to manage. The irony is brutal: simulated warmth in a culture increasingly cold to itself. The thermodynamics are brutal, too: The more we lean on the simulations, the more they reshape what we expect from each other.

And the more we ourselves become Sims. Neural-interface companies are designing ways for AI companions to connect directly to brain activity, so that thoughts become dialogue and gratification (or the feeling of it, anyway) becomes instant. Picture a partner who finishes your sentences, not because you have built trust or lived years together, but because it is pulling data straight out of your skull. Mind and machine, fused so tightly that the distinction between intimacy and surveillance starts to vanish? Welcome to the Borg, courtesy of a slow wearing-away of judgment, instinct, even resistance, until you’re empty enough for any machine to shape.

The alternative, we will have to accept, involves pain — the kind that actually heals. Real relationships require choice, compromise, and unglamorous effort. Anyone who has been in one knows the terrain. Last night’s “soaking” dishes evolving into a new life form? Passive-aggressive negotiations about who is walking the dog, followed by the existential meltdown of why we even own this furry savage? We’ve all been there. Yet we show up anyway, for the real love that comes only by way of small, stubborn acts, humble gestures that amount over a lifetime to something grand. Apologizing when you’re objectively correct. Nodding along as she rewrites history in real time. Laughing at a joke that died months ago. Always finding a good reason not to flee the scene.

Even at its worst — the sulking, the sobbing, the snoring, the silent treatment — real love is still meaningful. It requires something no machine can give: heartfelt effort.

We built our high-tech systems to reflect us. Now we are the ones reflecting them. In chasing comfort, we are forgetting that love was never meant to be convenient. And that should worry us more than anything James Cameron ever imagined.

So yes, the robots are coming. Not to kill us, but to love us to death.

But only if we ask them to.

​Tech 

In an effort to continue putting Americans first, the Trump administration is revamping National Park access next year.

On Tuesday, Department of the Interior Secretary Doug Burgum appeared in a video announcement to explain the changes.

Nonresidents will pay more than triple that price for the same access.

“We’re making it easier & more affordable for Americans to experience the beauty & freedom of our public lands!” Burgum said in the post.

— (@)

The new program, which includes a digital format for passes and expanded motorcycle access, sends a clear message to patriots and foreigners alike.

U.S. residents will be able to get an annual pass for $80. Nonresidents will pay more than triple that price for the same access.

Secretary Burgum said the premium for foreigners “ensures they contribute their fair share to help preserve and maintain these treasured places.”

RELATED: Trump admin takes major step toward dismantling Department of Education

Photo by Pete Marovich/Getty Images

“President Trump’s leadership always puts American families first,” said Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum. “These policies ensure that U.S. taxpayers, who already support the National Park system, continue to enjoy affordable access, while international visitors contribute their fair share to maintaining and improving our parks for future generations.”

The Department of the Interior also highlighted eight resident-only fee-free days in a press release. These include Independence Day, Constitution Day, and Veterans Day, to name a few.

The Department is also releasing several commemorative parks passes, according to Burgum’s announcement on X. Two of the four passes in the video feature President Donald Trump.

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​Politics, Department of the interior, Doug burgum, National parks, America first, Foreigners, President trump, Patriot, Secretary burgum 

Anna Kepner was a “bubbly, funny, outgoing” 18-year-old Florida high school cheerleader who “loved her siblings deeply,” according to her obituary.

On Nov. 2, Kepner took a trip on the Carnival Horizon cruise ship that departed from Miami for a six-day Caribbean vacation, according to Cruise Mapper. ABC News reported that the teenager went on the cruise with her grandparents, father, stepmother, siblings, and step-siblings.

‘He was an emotional mess.’

Kepner’s grandmother Barbara Kepner told ABC News, “The two younger girls stayed with the parents, and then the three teenagers, they decided amongst themselves they wanted to stay in the room together.”

The grandmother stressed, “But we had a larger room, and we made it very clear that at any time if they weren’t getting along, they didn’t want to be together, we had an extra bed in our room that they could come to.”

Family members told CBS News that the night before she was found dead, Anna said she wasn’t feeling well, and a “frantic search” began after she did not show up for breakfast the next morning.

Anna’s grandfather Jeffrey Kepner recalls hearing a medical alert blaring over the ship’s loudspeakers and that he recognized the room number.

“I went blank,” the grandfather told ABC News. “I was hoping that it was something minor.”

However, he said the tragic outcome will haunt him.

“I still wake up seeing that,” the grandfather said.

Citing a security source briefed on the investigation, ABC News reported that Kepner’s body was found stuffed under the bed in her stateroom, wrapped in a blanket and covered by life vests.

NBC News reported that the Miami-Dade Medical Examiner’s Office determined Kepner’s time of death was 11:17 a.m. Nov. 7.

The Carnival Horizon cruise ship, which has a maximum capacity of nearly 4,000 passengers, returned Nov. 8 to Port Miami, where authorities removed Kepner’s body from the ship.

ABC News said Kepner’s family provided a copy of the death certificate, which indicated her death was a homicide and that the teenager “was mechanically asphyxiated by other person(s).”

RELATED: College football player raped girl on family cruise, feds say — and allegedly asked her appalling 2-word question afterward

There are reports that one of Kepner’s stepsiblings is considered a suspect in Anna’s death.

People magazine reported that Kepner’s stepmother, Shauntel Hudson, filed an emergency motion for temporary relief in her custody battle with her ex-husband because of Kepner’s sudden death.

“An extremely sensitive and severe circumstance has arisen wherein the respondent/mother will not be able to testify at the hearing at this time,” the filing reads.

Hudson requested that a scheduled hearing be delayed because a “criminal case may be initiated against one of the minor children.”

The filing said there is an “open investigation regarding [Kepner’s] death” and that the child is a suspect in a death that “occurred recently on a cruise ship.”

“The 16-year-old child is now a suspect in the death of the stepchild during the cruise,” states the court filing entered in the circuit court of Brevard County, Florida.

Hudson is invoking her Fifth Amendment right to not testify in an effort to not incriminate herself because she “could be prejudicial to her or her adolescent child in this pending criminal investigation.”

Hudson reportedly wants privacy in her custody battle to protect her family.

“Disclosure of any information of any kind regarding the parties may jeopardize the integrity of this ongoing investigation and may expose the minor child, T.H., and other grieving family members, to significant and possible irreversible harm,” the court filing states, according to WOFL-TV.

Anna’s obituary describes her as a Christian whose ‘faith blossomed as beautifully as her smile.’

The FBI is investigating Kepner’s death, which occurred over international waters.

“Currently there is an investigation being conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation arising out of the sudden death of 18-year-old Anna Kepner, who was found deceased,” the court filing states, according to Florida Today.

“[Hudson] has been advised through discussions with FBI investigators and her attorneys that a criminal case may be initiated against one of the minor children of this instant action,” the filing states.

Barbara Kepner told ABC News that Anna’s stepbrother was hospitalized for psychiatric observation and then released to stay with a family member after the cruise ship docked.

“He was an emotional mess,” the grandmother said of the stepbrother. “He couldn’t even speak. He couldn’t believe what had happened.”

Regarding Anna’s stepbrother, Barbara Kepner told ABC News that “in his own words … he does not remember what happened. I believe, to him, that is his truth.”

The grandmother also said Anna and her stepsibling “were just like brother and sister” and “two peas in a pod.”

Anna’s estranged mother, Heather Wright, told Fox News, “The song ‘I Am Not Okay’ by Jelly Roll is exactly how I feel.”

“She was my daughter, and I loved her with all of my heart and soul,” Wright added.

Wright claimed that her ex-husband told her not to attend Anna’s memorial service, and he allegedly threatened to have her arrested over years of unpaid child support.

According to her obituary, Anna planned to join the U.S. Navy after graduation and later become a K9 police officer.

Anna’s obituary describes her as a Christian whose “faith blossomed as beautifully as her smile.”

Neither the Miami-Dade Medical Examiner’s Office nor the FBI immediately responded to Blaze News‘ request for comment.

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​Cruise ship crime, Cruise ship deaths, Cruise ships, Anna kepner, Anna kepner case, Anna kepner murder, Murder, Sudden death, Anna kepner stepbrother, Crime 

Former NBA player Kendrick Perkins just made huge claims about one of the NFL’s newest stars.

Perkins, an NBA champion who played 14 seasons in the league, is known for making bold statements during in his role as a sports analyst. Sometimes, those statements are about ethnicity.

‘You ran. You ran with the TV!’

In 2023, for example, Perkins came under fire for not only falsely claiming that the panel that votes for the NBA MVP is 80% white, but for claiming that the vote favors white players — despite less than one-fifth of MVP recipients being white.

It should come as no surprise, then, that Perkins was being completely serious when he made more race-based comments in a video he posted on Tuesday.

Describing Cleveland Browns rookie quarterback Shedeur Sanders, son of NFL Hall of Fame player Deion Sanders, Perkins compared the 23-year-old’s influence to a former president.

“Shedeur Sanders is the most powerful black man since 2009,” Perkins said. “You know what happened in 2009? That’s when President Obama got elected in office. He’s the most powerful black man since 2009.”

But Perkins did not stop there. He then claimed that most black men have visceral reactions when watching the young star perform.

RELATED: NBA players finally drop brutal truth bombs on WNBA stars: ‘It should be common sense’

“You said you were sitting there watching the game in your house, and what you did?” he asked a co-host. “You ran. You ran with the TV!”

Perkins claimed Sanders’ power comes from bringing “the whole black community together” and that he has yet to hear any black person say one bad thing about him.

“He has the balance of that, ‘I’m arrogant, but I’m humble, too,'” Perkins added.

Not satisfied with the standard he had set for the young Browns player, Perkins again elevated his claim, stating that not only is Sanders the most powerful black man in sports, but he is “the most powerful player in sports.”

There is another president that might agree with Perkins — but it’s not Obama.

RELATED: Panthers transgender cheerleader gets cut from team — then blames exactly what you’d expect

Photo by Chris Unger/Getty Images

President Donald Trump has been praising Sanders since April when he declared for the NFL Draft. Sanders was taken in the fifth round after going through a series of disastrous interviews.

Trump openly asked if NFL owners were “stupid” for not drafting Sanders at the time and more recently piled praise on the QB after he won his first career start.

“Shedeur Sanders was GREAT. Wins first game, career start, as a pro (for Cleveland). Great Genes. I TOLD YOU SO!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

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​Fearless, Nba, Nfl, Football, Shedeur sanders, Trump, Obama, President, Sports