The days of the neighborhood children running with reckless abandon in the sprinkler out back appear to be long gone. Today we are a worried world, and we no longer rejoice when that golden celestial orb makes her appearance once again in the summer sky after being hidden away for far too long.

Today we fear the sun more than nuclear war, famine, or economic collapse combined. Yes, it’s that bad! The sun keeps us up at night fraught with concern about UV exposure, skin cancer, aging, and anything else that might remind us that we were indeed meant to live in the light and not cower in the dark.

There’s a theory that our ancestors never really got sunburned, unless they were stranded in the desert.

Of course I’m being dramatic for the sake of proving a point and because, well, it’s more fun to add a little poetry to our world and the way we see it. It’s also more fun to read, I hope.

But the truth is we are afraid of the sun. Not me, and hopefully not you, but someone is, and there are far too many someones out there.

Shirts and skins

I never realized how afraid people are of the sun until I had kids. Then, whenever we went to the playground, the park, the beach, or anywhere outside, I noticed that all the kids were hidden, covered, and protected from any and all rays that might emanate from the blue yonder above.

There were no UV protective “swim shirts” when I was a kid. Did not exist. At the risk of sounding like another complaining “back in my day” old person, I think it’s worth wondering why they appeared all of a sudden.

We go to the beach almost every day if it’s nice, and as I walk with my kids down the shore, we make note of what we see. We see a lot of kids in swim shirts. It will be 84 degrees and sunny, and they are wearing long-sleeve shirts in neon green, navy, and red.

My kids and their golden tans must appear like strange visitors from strange land, and I must seem like a reckless parent to the moms and dads who fastidiously apply SPF 7500 over an impenetrable swim shirt.

Mad hatters

You know those safari hats with the huge brims and the long tails that sit on the neck to protect the wearer from the hot African sun? You’ve probably seen them in old films depicting some adventure in the Sahara.

Well, I’ve seen them on the playground. Moms carefully placing the hat, tying it around the neck, and calling after their children not to take it off. I can confidently say that my children have never, and will never, be found wearing the safari hat on the swings or the slides.

I understand skin cancer is real. I know that getting burned to a crisp and having to apply that sweet green aloe vera lotion before bed isn’t exactly anyone’s idea of a good time. Although I must say I do love the smell of that aloe and appreciate the soothing relief it bestows upon the body.

But these scenes I describe are not scenes witnessed in the Mojave desert after 14 hours in the blistering sun or the Arabian peninsula on 117-degree day. I’ve seen all this in Northern Michigan, where the the temperatures aren’t even that hot and the sun isn’t even that strong.

I know that different people have different genetics. I saw a kid with fire-red hair and skin the color of Greek yogurt at the beach the other day. My kids with their brown hair and golden skin are probably a little more suited to the sun. I am aware of that. But still, my kids are European and relatively fair, all things considered, and there were red-haired Irish kids when I was in second grade and none of them wore swim shirts. Sunscreen, yes; swim shirts, no.

RELATED: Sun’s out, guns out: Finally, therapy even men can enjoy

Jason Connolly/Raymond Boyd/Getty Images

Indoor generation

I’ve thought about this a lot, and while I do think there is an element of safety-ism involved with this new trend to treat the sun as if it’s a wicked villain whose main aim is to scorch our kith and kin, I think the real reason why there are more swim shirts and sun-fearing families than ever before comes down to the television and the iPad.

Simply put, more people and more kids are spending more time inside than any of us ever did before. And because they are spending so much time on the iPad and in front of the television rather than outside in the great outdoors, they are lily white in the middle of summer. And so when they decide to venture out into that blazing day, they burn like a crisp. It’s too much all at once. Of course you are going to burn bad if you never see the sun.

There’s a theory that our ancestors never really got sunburned unless they were stranded in the desert. Basically the idea is that in our agrarian past, we spent more time outdoors, and if you spend more time outdoors all year round, you will get used to the sun gradually as it gets stronger over the course of the spring. You develop a natural tan slowly, and once July arrives, your skin will be ready.

Sunshine superman

Our ancestors were like a potato slowly warming in a pre-heating oven. The pale indoor-dwellers of today are like pieces of raw dough tossed into a deep fryer. No wonder they burn, and no wonder they fear their day in the sun.

I never put sunscreen on my kids, and they never burn. I believe it’s because they spend so much time outside. They are similar to our agrarian ancestors (and every single kid in America before the year 2000) in that way. They get used to the yellow rays gradually as spring blooms, and so by the time July comes, they can enjoy the beach like normal human beings, without a swim shirt or a safari hat.

I do hope I am not being too cruel to the parents who cover their children head to toe in July. I know they are just doing their best like I’m doing my best; their best is just different from mine. But perhaps all the sun protection, sunscreen, and fear might be avoided if the kids just got outside a little more.

​The root of the matter, Lifestyle, Culture 

The human cost of illegal immigration took center stage during a contentious Capitol Hill hearing on sanctuary cities, where the mother of a young woman allegedly murdered by a Venezuelan illegal immigrant confronted Democrats like Pramila Jayapal (Wash.) — who made it clear she couldn’t care less.

BlazeTV host Sara Gonzales explains that Sheridan Gorman “was allegedly gunned down by an illegal from Venezuela. She was walking through a park in Chicago. She made the most terrible decision to just walk through a park where she lived. That’s it. And she was killed.”

“And her mother has had enough of these Democrats who just are simping for the illegal criminals. Meanwhile, they don’t seem to give a s**t about her daughter or any of the other ones who have been killed by these illegals,” she adds.

The mother pointed out that it appears to only be the “Republican side that cares about our American children,” before delivering her heartbreaking response to Democrats fighting for illegal immigrants.

“I know that you’re a mother. I know that you’re a father. I deeply value that. But basically what you just did, what you said was, ‘I’m so sorry for your loss. I have a daughter, too. I have a son. I feel your pain,’” the mother told Democrats in the hearing.

“You don’t feel my pain, because the next words out of your mother were ‘but.’ There’s no ‘but.’ When your child is in a coffin, there’s no but. And I need you to understand that. And if you ever want to talk about it, I’m here,” she continued.

“I’m going to buy Congress a bench. And they can come and sit and hold my hand and look me in the eye and explain to me why illegal immigrants are more important than my daughter,” she added.

And Pramila Jayapal couldn’t have sounded less interested in the tragedy.

“Unfortunately, this hearing is, it’s the fourth time in this committee that we’ve had a hearing on sanctuary cities. The fourth time. And there’s many other things that we could be doing other than this,” she said.

“Oh, I’m sorry, ma’am. Are we taking up too much of your time? It’s just that people’s daughters are dying because you guys won’t stop letting illegal criminals in our country,” Gonzales comments, disgusted.

“Not only do they not care about murdered American children; clearly, Pramila Jayapal has better things to do,” she adds.

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​Illegal immigration, Pramila jayapal, Sanctuary cities, Sara gonzales, Sheridan gorman, Sara gonzales unfiltered 

Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) says Republicans are squandering a golden opportunity to pass the SAVE Act and secure America’s elections — even though they have enough power to do it.

“We control the House, the Senate, and the White House,” Luna says to Blaze Media co-founder Glenn Beck. “And yet you have a group of four Republicans in the Senate, and really John Thune, who has every ability to enforce the talking filibuster and just doesn’t want to do it.”

“If you’re going to continue the cycle of insanity, then you can’t complain about it,” she continues. “But that’s why I’m taking such a hard-line position on what I’m doing right now — with, by the way, other members of Congress.”

“This is not just my fight. I mean, you have members of the Freedom Caucus, Representative Tim Burchett, Max Miller, all these members are saying, ‘Hey, hold up. We have the ability to, in the text of the National Defense Authorization Act, put the Save America Act,’” she says. “And yet, why are we not doing it?”

Luna, who is a veteran, points out that voter ID and proof of citizenship have always been important to national defense and security — but the Democrats are pretending it’s not.

“It is Chuck Schumer saying he wants to give citizenship to millions of illegal people here. It is the fact that it doesn’t matter if it’s one or one hundred or a thousand cases of voter fraud,” she says. “Why would you not want to secure that?”

While the left will claim the “Trump machine” will steal the next election, Luna points out that voter ID would fix that too.

“Even aside from that, even aside from party politics, black, white, Hispanic, Democrat, Republican, independent, men, women, we all want voter ID,” she continues. “Period.”

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​Anna paulina luna, Chuck schumer, Donald trump, Glenn beck, House, John thune, National defense authorization act, Republicans, Save act, Save america act, Senate, Voter id, The glenn beck program 

Politicians and bureaucrats routinely claim that America is experiencing a historic drop in crime and that, in many parts of the country, the streets have never been safer. Yet for everyday citizens who see boarded-up storefronts and brazen daylight robberies, there’s an unsettling sense that the reality on the ground tells an entirely different story.

This is not a matter of misperception. As Anna Giaritelli, a seasoned homeland security reporter for the Washington Examiner, details in her book “Under Assault,” the numbers being fed to the public are systematically manipulated.

‘You don’t know what you don’t know until you find out the hard way sometimes.’

Giaritelli experienced this firsthand when moving to Washington, D.C. Carefully examining official data was a priority during the neighborhood search. “I looked at the crime stats before I moved to Capitol Hill,” she told me, “and selected my home there based on blocks on Capitol Hill that were the safest and showed the least amount of crime incidents.”

Off the map

What she didn’t know was that the Metropolitan Police Department’s public crime map didn’t show the whole picture. It only displayed first-degree and select second-degree felonies. Most felonies and misdemeanors were entirely absent. In other words, the map only flagged major, headline-grabbing crimes like homicides or armed robberies. It completely skipped over everyday break-ins, property theft, and assaults.

“Whether it’s a resident or a business owner, people base their decisions on where to move on that crime map,” Giaritelli argues.

“And not to include all crimes shows an inaccurate picture of the state of public safety in D.C. I would not have moved to this block had I known the real extent of crime in the area. I’d argue Washington, D.C., officials are liable for misleading the public, particularly victims like myself who they knowingly deceive.”

When local governments sanitize data, families buy homes in dangerous areas and entrepreneurs invest life savings in storefronts that are highly vulnerable. By blinding the public, officials make it impossible to accurately assess risk, leaving citizens exposed.

Anna Giaritelli

Widespread issue

For individuals living in quiet suburbs or rural towns, spiking urban crime rates can seem like someone else’s problem. It is tempting to look at the mayhem in major metropolitan areas and assume it stays within city limits.

However, the manipulation of this data is a widespread issue that ignores municipal borders.

“I think city crime stats matter for everyone, regardless of whether they live in a suburb or rural America,” Giaritelli warns. “You don’t know what you don’t know until you find out the hard way sometimes.”

The methods used by big-city bureaucrats to improve their public image are easily exported. Whether in a small town or a massive coastal metropolis, police departments and municipal leaders answer to the same political pressures to show downward trends. If they learn they can rewrite reality with the stroke of a pen, they will.

As Giaritelli observes, a resident may not find out a town is doing this “until you become a victim and go looking for your stat, only to find you didn’t meet the threshold to be counted.” It remains unknown how deep or widespread this miscounting truly is across America.

RELATED: ‘Citizen Vigilante’: A cinematic hand grenade lobbed at the cathedral of liberal pieties

bollfilms.com

Collapse of public trust

This growing awareness has fueled a massive pushback. Giaritelli’s petition demanding absolute crime data transparency has received nearly 20,000 signatures. This groundswell signals a deeper crisis marked by the collapse of public trust in institutional data.

Public safety is one of the rare issues that unites most people across the political aisle. Sure, there is a loud faction of progressives who would gladly replace the local police force with hug-dispensing, gender-fluid therapists, but the vast majority, just like conservatives, want law and order. At the end of the day, everyday citizens simply want safe neighborhoods. But when government statistics become fiction, the entire justice system breaks down.

Giaritelli lays out the structural domino effect:

We can’t properly fund the public safety, the judicial system, and the prisons and jails in our communities if we don’t know how much crime is actually occurring. Covering up crime stats causes problems throughout the system. If we don’t know how much crime there is, we cannot plan and adequately respond to it.

When cities hide numbers, they intentionally starve the system of resources. Giaritelli points out the real-world cost:. In D.C., underfunding led to a severe lack of jail space. A violent offender arrested in her area was released the very next day. He lived blocks from her apartment. He went on to be arrested five more times before going to trial, and each time, the judge released him right back onto the streets due to a lack of space.

If those crimes aren’t counted, she notes, “then we’re not setting an annual budgets for the next year to take into account the need for jail space, the need for victims funding, and the need for more police.”

When citizens can no longer trust official government statistics, decision-making becomes distorted. Budgets become less reliable, serious crimes may be undercounted, and law-abiding families ultimately bear the consequences.

Punishing the victims

Perhaps the most disturbing revelation in “Under Assault” is how Giaritelli discovered this institutional gaslighting.

In April 2020, Giaritelli was walking to the post office just blocks from the U.S. Capitol when she was physically and sexually assaulted on a public sidewalk in broad daylight. Her attacker was eventually caught and sent to federal prison. Later, while working on a routine newsroom assignment evaluating D.C. crime trends, she decided to look up her own incident on the city’s official crime map.

There was no mark. No pin. Nothing.

“When I contacted D.C. police to inquire about my specific assault, I was told that it did not meet the threshold to be counted by D.C. police on the crime map.”

A citizen was sexually assaulted, the perpetrator was convicted in a federal court and sent to prison, yet according to the city’s public-facing ledger, the crime never happened.

To make matters worse, the police department removed individual incident pins entirely. In their place, they covered the city map in vague, shifting shades of color to denote general crime levels. It is a clear case of bureaucratic deception. By erasing distinct markers, they make it completely impossible for a victim to verify whether an assault was ever officially counted. Giaritelli knows this only too well, even as many Americans remain unaware of the highly unethical practice.

When institutions trusted with safety care more about protecting their public image than protecting human lives, the system is actively hostile to the truth. The next time an official stands behind a podium and claims crime is down, it’s worth listening. But it’s also worth verifying it for yourself.

​Crime, Washington dc, Anna giaritelli, Books, Interview, Lifestyle, Culture 

Florida sheriff’s deputies arrested a dozen adults and three juveniles who were stealing food and drinks late last month from the Davenport Wawa located on Old Lake Wilson Road, the Polk County Sheriff’s Office said, adding that a 16th suspect was arrested during the investigation for interfering with deputies while they were detaining the theft suspects.

Store employees contacted the sheriff’s office after observing the suspects walking around the store and concealing bottled drinks and food within their clothes on June 26, officials said.

‘This is a classic case of people who came to our county, fooled around, and found out.’

The suspects all appeared to know each other and arrived at the store in three vehicles — a BMW, a Tesla, and a Honda Accord, officials said.

The suspects — a mix of young adults and juveniles — were taking turns going into and out of the store during a 15-minute time span, officials said, with some of them eating and drinking the items they stole.

They also coordinated the caper by blocking the clerks’ view while accomplices committed thefts, officials said.

The employees gave deputies detailed descriptions of the suspects and their cars, and the suspects were still at the Wawa in the parking lot preparing to leave when deputies arrived, officials said.

Deputies secured all the suspects, interviewed them, recovered some of the stolen items that had not yet been consumed, and collected empty bottles and packages of the items they had consumed, officials said.

All of the suspects admitted to taking the items, the sheriff’s office said.

The items that were stolen and/or consumed were: Calypso drinks, Brisk iced tea, a bag of Cheetos, and a Ramen soup — a total value of about $40, officials said.

Deputies retrieved surveillance video from the store as well showing the coordinated thefts, officials said.

RELATED: Blaze News original: Have a laugh at supremely stupid crime suspects who gift-wrapped their arrests for cops — part 1

During the investigation, a male who did not appear to be with or know any of the suspects approached and began yelling at the group of theft suspects to not cooperate with or speak to the deputies, officials said.

Deputies told Jayden Murphy, 18, of Pomona Park to move away or leave the area so the deputies could continue with their investigation — but he refused, officials said.

Murphy was arrested for violating the “Halo Law” and was charged with two counts of harassing first responders and two counts of resisting arrest, officials said.

Florida’s Halo Law establishes a 25-foot buffer zone around active law enforcement officers, firefighters, and emergency medical personnel, officials said, adding that bystanders who intentionally enter or remain in the buffer area after receiving verbal warnings may be charged with a second-degree misdemeanor.

Officials said the 15 suspects who committed the thefts are:

Angel Quintero, 19, of Winter Springs;Genaiya Saintira, 18, of Hollywood;Valencia Saul, 19, of Lantana;Pervaysia Laster, 20, of Boynton Beach;Shenia Smith, 19, of Parkland;Lillian Brown, 19, of Hollywood;Sterllin Hyppolite, 18, of Lauderdale Lakes;Davends Clerge, 21, of Boynton Beach;Garvens Clerge, 18, of Boynton Beach;Schneider Joseph, 22, of Lantana;Richemond Seraphin, 21, of Lantana;William Butler, 18, of Lake Worth;Lorendy Sanon, 17, of Boynton Beach;Berlinda Saul, 17, of Lake Worth; andJaneen Gonzalez — 17 on the day of the arrest, 18 now — of Palm Beach.

“This is a classic case of people who came to our county, fooled around, and found out,” Sheriff Grady Judd said. “Now they’re all facing charges because they found it perfectly acceptable to go into the Wawa, grab what they wanted, and consume it without paying for it.”

All of the adult suspects were taken to the Polk County Jail, and the three juveniles were taken to the Juvenile Assessment Center, officials said.

They all were charged with misdemeanor petit theft and felony tampering with evidence, officials said, adding that the 12 adults also were charged with misdemeanor contributing to the delinquency of a minor. Schneider Joseph also was charged with misdemeanor probation violation, officials said, adding that Angel Quintero, Pervaysia Laster, and Davends Clerge also were charged with possession of marijuana and possession of paraphernalia, both misdemeanors, after deputies found drugs in the BMW they occupied.

Officials said all 15 theft suspects had been staying in an Airbnb and visiting Polk County from other Florida counties.

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​Florida, Wawa, Polk county sheriff’s office, Grady judd, Theft, Felonies, Tampering with evidence, Crime 

Support for Democratic Maine U.S. Senate candidate Graham Platner is rapidly crumbling within his own party just a day after Politico reported on a sexual assault allegation made by a woman who once dated him.

In a joint statement released on Monday, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee chair Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) called for Platner “to immediately withdraw as the Democratic nominee for Senate and allow Maine Democrats the opportunity to choose a new candidate.”

‘In light of these very serious allegations, I have recommended that he step aside.’

“The DSCC will not invest in the Maine Senate race if Platner remains on the ballot,” they added, threatening a major funding stream.

As of Tuesday, Platner has lost a significant amount of his top endorsements as a plethora of senators withdraw their support and echo calls for him to withdraw from the race.

Those senators include Sens. Schumer and Gillibrand, Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.), Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.), and Ed Markey (D-Mass.).

This wave of defections comes after many Democratic leaders continuously stood by Platner following earlier allegations and controversies, including a now-covered-up chest tattoo that resembled a symbol used by Nazi concentration camp guards, sexually explicit messages he sent to several women while married, and past Reddit posts in which he downplayed sexual assault in the military.

“I have spoken with Graham Platner about the best path forward for Maine. In light of these very serious allegations, I have recommended that he step aside,” said Sanders, a longtime supporter of Platner, in a statement. Just over a month ago, on Memorial Day weekend, Sanders headlined a “Fight Oligarchy” rally for Platner in Maine.

Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), who also previously supported Platner’s campaign, released a statement on social media: “I’ve been very clear that sexual assault or violence against women is a red line. These allegations are very serious and credible. Graham Platner should drop out from the race. I am withdrawing my endorsement.”

Maine Democratic nominee for governor Hannah Pingree is also pushing for Platner to “exit the race immediately,” adding that he is “no longer that candidate” best suited to defeat incumbent Sen. Susan Collins (R) in November’s general election.

The increasingly influential New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, though he never officially endorsed Platner, joined his fellow Democrats in their calls on Tuesday.

“I believe that it’s time for him to drop out of the race,” he told reporters from City Hall.

According to Politico, Democratic National Committee chair Ken Martin and Senate Majority PAC have additionally both withdrawn their backing for Platner’s candidacy, dealing a major blow to his establishment support.

RELATED: ‘Taking time to reflect’: Graham Platner responds to most recent sexual misconduct allegations against him

Mel Musto/Bloomberg/Getty Images

In light of the report, Platner issued a two-minute video response on Monday in which he denied the allegation against him, describing it as “troubling, serious, and false,” adding that “any accusation of nonconsensual behavior is categorically false.”

Noting the seriousness of the allegation, however, Platner made a remark that has prompted voters across the country to speculate on his future plans for the campaign.

“So, regardless of the inaccuracy of the reporting but mindful of the political reality it will inflict, we are taking time to reflect on the best path forward for the state that I love, the people that I love, the movement I belong to, and the goal of defeating Susan Collins,” he said.

While no definitive statement on his next move was made, Platner did promise to keep fighting for the base of supporters he amassed over the duration of his candidacy.

“On June 9, 154,058 Mainers — the most in primary history — voted to reject a broken politics beholden to Washington and the donor class. They voted for hope, for change, to take back our economy, to take back our power, and to take back our Senate seat.”

According to the Maine Commission on Governmental Ethics & Election Practices, July 13 is the deadline for Platner to withdraw from the race while still allowing Maine voters to select a replacement candidate.

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​Democratic party, Graham platner, Sexual assault allegation, Politics 

Bryan Johnson, the transhumanist founder of the neurotechnology company Kernel, sold his digital payments company Braintree to eBay Inc. for $800 million in 2013, then pursued his bio-hacking obsession headlong, tinkering with his body in the hope of pausing the aging process and potentially even evading death.

In a 2023 interview with Bloomberg, Johnson revealed that in addition to staying out of the sun, he was preparing to invest at least $2 million on his body with the aim of having the body and organs — penis and rectum included — of an 18-year-old. To this end, he hired a team of over 30 doctors and health experts to monitor his every bodily function.

‘My stomach is eating itself.’

“What I do may sound extreme, but I’m trying to prove that self-harm and decay are not inevitable,” Johnson said just months before supplementing his usual supply of rejuvenating plasma from so-called blood boys with blood from his son.

Johnson, who calls himself “the healthiest person alive” and founded the “Don’t Die” health cult, revealed last week that he has been diagnosed with an incurable disease.

“Bad news #1: I have an autoimmune disease. My stomach is eating itself,” the middle-aged transhumanist wrote in an X post.

“Good news: I’m going to try and solve it,” he added.

Johnson suggested that he developed autoimmune gastritis during a period in his life when he was juggling “stress and grind” and let his health slip.

Autoimmune gastritis is an inherited chronic inflammatory disease that occurs when an individual’s immune system attacks their stomach lining cells. According to the Cleveland Clinic, this condition can lead to an increased risk of developing small neuroendocrine tumors in the stomach and an increased risk of gastric cancer.

RELATED: Transhumanism is coming to destroy the human soul

© CORBIS/Corbis/Getty Images

“I just discovered it in May. I’m unsure how long I’ve had it,” the transhumanist said. “AIG causes irreversible damage: nutritional deficiency, anemia, and over a long horizon, elevated cancer risk. When AIG is discovered today, standard medical care concedes defeat, stating that nothing can be done except managing the condition, no matter how awful or lethal the effects.”

Johnson indicated further that his supposedly healthy living regimen failed to address his low iron levels.

‘Bro so busy trying to not die he forgot how to live.’

Autoimmune gastritis destroys the stomach’s parietal cells, which reduces secretion of the gastric acid required for absorption of inorganic iron.

Only after the supposed “healthiest person alive” overhauled his medical team and underwent further testing was his incurable condition revealed.

While there is presently no cure for autoimmune gastritis, Johnson said that he and his team are “going to try and solve my AIG.”

Johnson’s non-terminal diagnosis appears to have only worsened his health obsession.

“We fill our days mostly on things that are trivial next to what we ultimately care about. We know, deep down, however, that in the noise of it all, health is easily forgotten until it’s the only thing that matters,” the transhumanist wrote.

Bryan did not immediately respond to Blaze News’ request for comment.

Following his disease reveal, Johnson lashed out at those whose who, according to his paraphrase, suggested that “bro so busy trying to not die he forgot how to live.”

In response, the transhumanist offered a pessimistic and reductive interpretation of the world, suggesting that people ultimately construct personas to shield themselves “from the terror of their inevitable death,” then “to make this irreconcilable pain invisible to themselves, they dissolve themselves into the group and enact its rituals.”

He proceeded to characterize himself as a heroic figure — the “abstainer” from “societal death rituals” who “reveals to the room that they are drunk.”

According to the transhumanist — who takes hundreds of pills a day, follows a strict plant-based diet, has injected some of his son’s blood, and has spent a fortune in a futile attempt to stave off the inevitable — Johnson’s critics aren’t troubled by his decisions but by “their reflection in the mirror.”

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​Bryan johnson, Transhumanism, Aging, Death, Disease, Health, Bio-hacking, Technology, Gastritis, Autoimmune, Blood boy, Weirdo, Politics 

We covered why you should educate your kids at home in part 1.

Now we’re going to cover the “how,” which involves sparking your child’s interest and imagination from as early an age as possible. Three things will help you meet this goal enjoyably and effectively.

My number-one book recommendation for parents, right from the start, is to obtain a really good guide to children’s books.

Let’s start with what is the 100% most important thing to do. The most effective way to spark learning for young children is so simple, and it’s good for you, the parent, as well.

1. Go outside

The more time children spend exploring the outdoors, the more their curiosity is piqued and the more they learn. And this learning is the best learning, through their God-given senses.

Don’t skimp on outside time. Go out several times a day, weather permitting, and don’t rush them back inside. Walks are great!

Nature provides the best classroom, wherever you live (or visit): beauty, colors, and patterns to see; birdsong and leaves rustling and dogs barking to hear; cool breezes and warm sun to feel; velvety flower petals and rough bark to touch; and (with supervision!) fresh berries or tomatoes from the garden to taste.

Side note: Play is a child’s first job, and outdoor play is the best workplace. Playing with your children (out or inside) is one of your most important jobs, too. Laughing and enjoying each other should happen often each day!

So introduce them to the glories outside your door, let them experience it, and give them language to describe it. Don’t worry; this is what we naturally do when we’re present outside with kids. “See the pretty flower?” And, as age-appropriate: “What color is it? Feel how soft it is! No, we don’t want to pick it — let’s let it keep growing here.”

Which brings me to the second-most important part of your child’s curriculum.

2. Talk. About everything.

You will be rewarded with a more verbal child, earlier, who can share his/her thoughts and needs more effectively.

Talk to your children outside, talk to them inside, talk to them while they’re eating, talk to them during diaper changes.

Point things out, describe them in adult language, ask them to name the things you’re pointing out.

This starts with nouns (“See the ball? Can you say ball?”) but eventually they’ll be able to add adjectives (“purple ball”) and other parts of speech, leading eventually to phrases and sentences.

Side note: Treasure each adorable mis-pronunciation (yeah, get those on video if you can for the grandparents), but continue saying the words properly. Don’t correct them — just say them properly when you say them. They’ll get it.

3. Help them learn to love books

The last subject in our must-have preschool curriculum is “Introduction to Books.”

Books — hard-copy books that children can touch — should be introduced from the very beginning.

Cloth books made for teething babies are plentiful, and by all means let them gum away on them — but also turn the pages and show them the pictures, again speaking about what they’re seeing (“See the black square?”).

Books made of waterproof material are available for bath time, as well. These “chewable” books tend to be mostly images, which is what you want, for these purposes. You won’t really be “reading” them as much as describing them.

Board books will carry you through the first few years, when children aren’t yet able to be gentle with “regular” books. These should have brief, simple text and colorful, interesting images. Invest in a library of these, because you will use them over and over.

There are some time-tested classic board books (see list below) and quite a few that are outstanding for bedtime (again, see suggestions). You should keep board books in every location where your child might want a story! But keep the bedtime books separate, since they often become part of your bedtime routine (remember our principle of “order”).

Also, do teach them to respect their books. Discourage throwing or standing on them — “let’s treat our books nicely” is a lesson they need to learn so they can move on to picture books. This is the category of regular children’s books (with regular, tearable pages!) that we are aiming our children to be able to enjoy.

This level has so many good selections (again, see suggestions below) that you will probably run out of childhood before you run out of books. Again, you can have bedtime books, books for the car, books for different rooms. You can’t have too many books. (Well, that might be an exaggeration, but as a book lover, I defend my right to push this idea.)

We haven’t talked about content of board or picture books yet, so a few quick notes. First, I have seen a tendency for Christian board books to include concepts that simply aren’t appropriate for board-book-age children. As a grandparent, I ordered a couple of recommended board books and found the text of one of them to be far too advanced for a toddler; another was better but still included ideas that I deemed too much for a young child.

While I’m warning about Christian books (of all things), let me point out the obvious — the world is full of children’s books that are inappropriate in every way for any child, and that certainly includes yours. Before buying, I recommend that you quickly read through every page and scan the images (good habit if you use the library, too).

RELATED: Patriotic heresy: 4 examples of tangling faith with the flag

Tom Williams/Getty Images

What to keep out of your home (and a bonus arts curriculum idea)

Since we’re talking about things to avoid, here’s one that will probably involve some discipline on your part. But the truth is, your child could go without any screen time for the first 5 or 6 years of his/her life and be the better for it. Andy Crouch’s book “The Tech-Wise Family” suggests no screens till age 10.

Studies demonstrate that screen time is a net negative for young children, so don’t create a habit that will be painful to halt. If you have already allowed it, pull back now — the sooner the better.

Don’t read Kindle children’s books. Don’t let them play video games. Don’t teach them they need a screen to be entertained.

You may have to teach them this by example. GET OFF YOUR PHONE.

Do you want a child who wants to sit in front of a screen being entertained? Or do you want a child who loves to play and learn outside, talk to you, and spend time reading books together?

I cannot state this any more clearly: SCREENS BAD.

However, there is one way you can use your TV for a net benefit. Play symphony orchestra performances (easy to find on YouTube). Your children may learn what musical instruments look like, but more to the point, this will provide outstanding early music education as they listen during daily activities and while they play.

Your first curriculum purchases

What follows is a brief selection of really good books you may find helpful, in a number of categories.

Very first books

You won’t have any trouble finding cloth or bath-time books. Sensory books, with textures the child can touch, are also great starters, like:

“See, Touch, Feel: A First Sensory Book” by Roger Priddy

Board books

Just about anything by Sandra Boynton. Favorites:

“Moo, Baa, La La La” (also a Christmas version, “Moo, Baa, Fa La La La La”)“The Going to Bed Book”

Since we just mentioned a bedtime book, just a couple of must-haves:

“Make Way for Ducklings” by Robert McCloskey (it ends with the ducklings settling down for a peaceful night’s sleep after an adventure!)“Big Red Barn” by Margaret Wise Brown“Sleepyheads” by Sandra J. Howatt

A couple of Christian board books that are more age-appropriate:

“God Cares for Me” by Kristen Wetherell“Don’t Forget to Remember” by Ellie Holcomb

Classic picture books

Just a few favorites:

“Each Peach Pear Plum” by Janet and Allan Ahlberg“Dear Zoo” by Rod Campbell“The Rainbow Fish” by Marcus Pfister“Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel” by Virginia Lee Burton“Millions of Cats” by Wanda Gág“The Snowy Day” by Ezra Jack Keats“Chicka Chicka Boom Boom” by Bill Martin Jr. and John Archambault“Caps for Sale” by Esphyr Slobodkina“Curious George” by H.A. Rey“Harry the Dirty Dog” by Gene Zion“Ox-Cart Man” by Donald Hall and Barbara Cooney“Mr. Gumpy’s Outing” by John Burningham“The Very Hungry Caterpillar” by Eric Carle“Freight Train” by Donald Crews“The Carrot Seed” by Ruth Krauss“Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?” by Bill Martin Jr. and Eric Carle

Many of these authors have more than one classic book, so browse their other titles as well. And, of course, there are thousands of other outstanding picture books. So many books, so little time!

Guides to children’s books

My number-one book recommendation for parents, right from the start, is to obtain a really good guide to children’s books. All of the volumes below are excellent, and I don’t think it’s going overboard to have all of them in your personal home library. And yeah, these can be on your Kindle, if you prefer!

“Honey for a Child’s Heart: The Imaginative Use of Books in Family Life” by Gladys Hunt“Books Children Love” by Elizabeth Wilson“Read for the Heart: Whole Books for WholeHearted Families” by Sarah Clarkson“Books that Build Character” by William Kilpatrick

Congratulations!

You have just completed Home Education 101 — the Preschool Edition. Everything you need to know to prepare and get started “homeschooling” your precious littles:

Take them outsideTalk to themLove books with them

You cannot beat this combination.

A version of this essay previously appeared at She Speaks Truth.

​Homeschooling, Home education, Christianity, Godly family, Christian living, Education, Parenthood, Faith 

A loss to Belgium should not overshadow remarkable achievements and accomplishments by the United States as one of the World Cup host countries.

While the tournament is over for the United States, current and former players are trying to let fans know that this isn’t the end, but rather the start of what will be a more competitive future for the sport in America.

‘Hold your head high, and don’t for a second stop dreaming.’

Things fell apart at the end of the round-of-16 match against Belgium on Monday, with U.S. Soccer eventually losing 4-1. However, star players like Christian Pulisic said they were disappointed in their performance and thought the team did not reach its full potential.

“I’m disappointed with myself, of course, but I’m going to try to stay positive. I did a lot of good things, and the team did as well,” Pulisic said after the game, per ESPN.

After calling it an “unfortunate way to finish,” Pulisic said while he fell short of the moments he was hoping to have, he believed the team was on its way to getting to that next level.

Former U.S. players stepped in on Monday to back that reality up and said the sport and team is in a way better spot than when the tournament started.

“You can’t get away from talk shows talking about soccer, the U.S. men’s national team, talking about these individuals and how brilliant they’ve been,” former USA goalkeeper Brad Guzan said, according to Fox Sports.

“They should be extremely proud of what they’ve been able to do,” he added.

RELATED: Referee at center of World Cup red-card scandal was investigated for match-fixing in Brazil

In a tournament that saw a seemingly unlimited amount of celebrity endorsements from the likes of Jay-Z, Tom Cruise, and more, the game of soccer seems to have been elevated to a place that hasn’t been seen in the United States.

This is what so many former players urged hardcore fans to think about, including former midfielder Maurice Edu, who said, “The bigger picture still exists.”

His message to the team included, “Hold your head high, and don’t for a second stop dreaming, stop daring yourself to be the best version of this national team that we’ve ever seen. Don’t, for a second, ever, question what your ability is and what the standard is.”

Another former USA goalkeeper, Tim Howard, echoed that sentiment, declaring on his YouTube channel that the team “brought this country to new heights” and should be praised for what they did for soccer in the United States.

“This team should be proud, should be proud of what they achieved together. … This country backed our team. They gave what they had and came up short,” Howard concluded.

RELATED: Report: Trump personally involved in FIFA overturning USA player’s suspension

Michael Miller/ISI Photos/ISI Photos/Getty Images

Many agree that the game U.S. Soccer put on the field attracted more fans than ever before, with former U.S. midfielder Sacha Kljestan saying it brought him pride to see “a lot of young kids out there and a lot of fans.”

Kljestan focused on “that casual sports fan that locked in on this team and was so excited to watch them play. That was special.”

The casual fan was certainly brought out when looking at online engagement, where even CNN anchor Jim Sciutto made a patriotic X post saying the team had triumphant moments and, at times, “looked magical.”

Other fans said they had never seen the United States “dominate games like they did this World Cup.”

Wrapping up what seemed to be the most prominent takeaway from experts, another fan wrote on X, “The USMNT is young.”

“They need to build physical strength and get the experience. … Dropping out at the round of 16 is not embarrassing.”

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​Fifa, Sports, Us soccer, World cup 

For many conservatives, Project 2025 represented an actual blueprint. Its supporters argued that America finally had a plan to enforce existing laws, restore accountability, and take a weed-wacker to a bloated federal bureaucracy. It was a genuine road map for restoring sanity after years of government dysfunction. Reasonable people can debate its policy specifics. But at least the conversation centered on shrinking government overreach while strengthening it where the system had genuinely failed.

Project 2029, the Democrats’ answer to Project 2025, takes America down a far darker path. Its opening sales pitch is practically impossible to oppose: Protect children online. Keep teenagers away from addictive, IQ-draining social media.

On paper, it reads like a manifesto every exhausted parent would happily sign in blood. After all, most Americans have looked around and concluded that social media is the digital equivalent of handing a toddler unlimited candy, fireworks, and a triple espresso before bedtime. If TikTok were a real-world babysitter, it would probably encourage your 8-year-old to lick shopping carts for internet fame.

Kids will adapt. The surveillance infrastructure will stay forever.

Protecting children matters. So too does it matter that good intentions have a funny habit of checking in for the weekend and staying for generations.

Inside the trap

The cornerstone of Project 2029 is the “Kids Over Clicks” proposal. It aims to ban social media accounts for anyone under 16 while forcing platforms to strictly verify users’ ages. Supporters frame this as simple common sense. Critics see the first pieces of a much larger surveillance system falling into place.

That’s because you cannot reliably verify a person’s age online without verifying exactly who he is in the physical world. Clicking a box that says “Yes, I am 18” is about as trustworthy as asking a toddler who drew on the walls. Serious age verification requires government identification, facial recognition scans, digital credentials, or another permanent method that ties your online activity to your real-world identity.

Every major expansion of government authority arrives carrying an affable, even adorable message. Sometimes it’s national security; sometimes it’s public health. This time, it’s the kids. Nobody wants predators targeting children online, and nobody wants 12-year-olds disappearing into algorithm-driven rabbit holes filled with exploitation. The concern is entirely genuine. The proposed solution, however, deserves equal scrutiny.

Think about the children 10 years from now. Imagine growing up in a country where creating an anonymous online account is automatically viewed as a suspicious, near-criminal act. Where every major website explicitly demands your digital papers before allowing you to read or participate. Where speaking freely online increasingly resembles checking in at an airport. Children raised inside that system won’t experience it as unusual or oppressive. Fish rarely file complaints about the aquarium.

RELATED: New Senate bill punishes chilling of online speech — if it passes

Bjorn Bakstad/Getty Images

Contrary to conventional wisdom, anonymous speech isn’t just a shield for internet trolls. It has protected whistleblowers exposing corporate corruption, domestic abuse victims seeking safe havens, political dissidents challenging powerful institutions, and ordinary citizens asking uncomfortable questions without fearing professional execution. Replace anonymity with mandatory identification, and many of those crucial voices simply vanish overnight. Not because they are criminals, but because they are human beings who quite like avoiding angry mobs, career-ending screenshots, and awkward conversations with the government.

Supporters argue that responsible citizens with nothing to hide have nothing to fear. That argument has aged about as gracefully as New Coke. Databases get hacked with laughable frequency. Governments change, administrations rotate, and policies written for one benevolent purpose always find exciting new careers serving entirely different masters. A child safety database readily becomes a fraud prevention tool, a national security asset, and finally an information enforcement mechanism. Bureaucracies possess an almost supernatural ability to discover fresh, urgent reasons for expanding yesterday’s temporary measures.

A glimpse of the future

America has watched this movie before, and the sequel is usually longer and much more exacting. Other countries are already offering a depressing sneak peek. Britain has introduced sweeping online age verification hurdles. Australia is testing hard restrictions on younger users. Across Europe, digital identity systems continue to mutate. Each promised careful limits. Each insisted ordinary citizens had absolutely nothing to worry about.

Yet once that tracking infrastructure exists, dismantling it becomes politically impossible. Governments rarely surrender powers they have already collected. Why would they?

Perhaps the ultimate irony is that determined teenagers usually find a way around technological barriers anyway. VPNs exist. Shared accounts exist. Older siblings know well that they often can be bribed. Adolescents have been bypassing parental controls since the invention of parents. The kids will adapt. The surveillance infrastructure, however, will stay forever.

America absolutely should protect children online. Parents deserve better, more intuitive tools. Platforms should face devastating financial penalties when they deliberately exploit young users. And data collection targeting minors deserves strict, uncompromising limits. Those are debates worth having.

But protecting children should never become a convenient political shortcut for building systems that actively erase privacy for everyone else. The children we want to protect today may someday inherit an internet where every single opinion carries a permanent, unremovable digital name tag.

That might sound incredibly reassuring to a Democrat. It sounds terrifying to me.

​Tech 

Pennsylvania State Trooper Michael Pahira Jr. was conducting a routine inspection of a tractor-trailer on the side of Interstate 81 South near Ashland on July 1 when a second tractor-trailer allegedly helmed by a Haitian illegal alien careened his way.

The incoming tractor-trailer sideswiped the 44-year-old trooper’s cruiser, careened into the truck that Pahira was inspecting, then struck the trooper. Although nearby construction workers were able to pull Pahira free of the flaming wreckage, he was pronounced dead 90 minutes later.

‘Because of these reckless policies, a Pennsylvania State Trooper is dead.’

In the wake of the horrific crash, the Pennsylvania State Troopers Association and lawmakers demanded answers — especially to the question of how the illegal alien, 33-year-old Michael Bon, managed to obtain a non-domiciled commercial driver’s license.

While a spokeswoman for the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles attempted to displace blame for her agency’s issuance and renewal of Bon’s CDL, the U.S. Department of Transportation has corrected the record, making abundantly clear that Massachusetts helped set the stage for Pahira’s untimely demise.

According to the Department of Homeland Security, Bon was released into the U.S. by the Biden administration in July 2024. He filed an application for Temporary Protected Status in October 2024, which was never granted.

The DHS claimed that U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services terminated Bon’s parole in June 2025, but the Haitian refused to leave and has remained in the country illegally — living in Massachusetts — ever since, the Boston Herald reported.

RELATED: Blue state gave Haitian illegal alien a commercial truck driver’s license — ‘and now a good man is dead’

Kyle Grillot/Bloomberg/Getty Images

In March 2025 — months prior to the termination of his parole — Bon obtained a non-domiciled commercial driver’s license from the MRMV. After his transition to illegal alien, Bon had his CDL renewed in February 2026.

Amelia Aubourg, a spokeswoman for the MRMV, recently attempted to assign blame for Bon’s licensing to the Trump administration, telling the Herald that the “Non-Domiciled Commercial Driver’s Licenses program is a federal program,” and that “this individual was ruled eligible based on the Trump administration database and allowed to drive by federal law and Trump administration policies.”

What Aubourg neglected to mention was that the Trump administration issued a rule in September 2025 barring DACA recipients, asylum-seekers, refugees, TPS holders, and other noncitizens from obtaining, renewing, upgrading, or transferring non-domiciled CDL licenses.

This interim final rule, which would have barred Bon from renewing his CDL in February, was understood at the time to be a lifesaving measure.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in a Sept. 26, 2025, statement, “Licenses to operate a massive, 80,000-pound truck are being issued to dangerous foreign drivers — oftentimes illegally. This is a direct threat to the safety of every family on the road, and I won’t stand for it. Today’s actions will prevent unsafe foreign drivers from renewing their license and hold states accountable to immediately invalidate improperly issued licenses.”

After reviewing emergency legal challenges filed by the American Federation of Teachers and other liberal outfits, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit put the rule on hold in early November.

As part of the broader campaign to torpedo the rule, Massachusetts led 18 other states in filing a joint submission characterizing the rule as unnecessary and unlawful.

Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell (D) claimed in a November 2025 letter to Duffy that the rule’s “dramatic new restrictions on eligibility for non-domiciled commercial driver’s licenses and commercial learner’s permits are unlawful” and complained that it would “strip nearly all of the country’s 200,000 non-domiciled CDL holders of their licenses and their livelihoods.”

Campbell not only claimed that the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration lacked the authority to impose the restrictions but cast doubt on whether “these restrictions provide any additional safety benefits.”

Campbell was joined in her opposition by California Attorney General Rob Bonta and numerous other radical Democrat officials.

A source familiar with the matter told Blaze News that “had those rules been in place during the driver’s February 2026 license renewal, [Bon] would have been deemed ineligible for renewal.”

A U.S. Department of Transportation spokesperson told Blaze News, “Secretary Duffy has spent the last year in office reining in a trucking industry allowed to operate like the Wild West under Biden and Buttigieg. That’s why the Department issued a final rule stopping unqualified and unvetted foreign drivers from obtaining licenses to drive commercial trucks and buses.”

“States that operate recklessly and fail to enforce our common-sense rules will be held accountable,” added the spokesperson.

Blaze News did not immediately receive a response from Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell’s office or the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, which oversees the MRMV.

The Trump administration successfully issued its final rule preventing unqualified foreign drivers from driving big rigs on March 16.

As for Michael Bon, he has been charged with felony vehicular homicide, felony vehicular aggravated assault, misdemeanor counts of recklessly endangering another person and involuntary manslaughter, and various traffic offenses.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has also lodged a detainer asking Pennsylvania officials not to release Bon from jail.

“This Haitian illegal alien was RELEASED into our country by the Biden administration, and the sanctuary state of Massachusetts gave him a commercial driver’s license,” DHS acting Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis said in a statement.

“Now, because of these reckless policies, a Pennsylvania state trooper is dead after a crash that was 100% preventable. Illegal aliens should not be driving trucks on America’s highways,” added Bis.

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​Biden administration, Department of homeland security, Illegal alien, Massachusetts, Temporary protected status, Tractor trailer, Department of transportation, Michael bon, Michael pahira, Haiti, Migrants, Cdl, Commercial driver’s licenses, Truck driver, Murder, Politics