While the transgender movement has lost significant ground culturally and politically in recent years, it’s still probing for vulnerabilities — especially during Pride Month.

In a recent interview with women’s sports advocate and founder of XX-XY Athletics Jennifer Sey, Steve Deace highlighted a recent example: In California high school track and field, biological male athlete AB Hernandez (who identifies as transgender) has dominated the girls’ high jump and triple jump at state championships, leading to a California Interscholastic Federation policy where displaced biological girls are forced to share the top podium spot and co-champion status with him.

“You’re on the front lines of this battle. What do you think?” Deace asked Sey.

Sey believes that the transgender agenda has been “pushed back,” but it’s far from being defeated.

She explains that while 27 states currently have laws keeping women’s sports for biological females only, a pending Supreme Court decision this June will determine if those protections are constitutional. She expects the court to uphold them, but emphasizes that this victory would only apply to those 27 states. The remaining 23 states, which prioritize gender identity over biological sex, would still allow biological males to compete in girls’ sports.

In other words, even a favorable ruling from SCOTUS doesn’t end the fight nationwide.

“So we still have a ton of work to do,” she says.

That work, she argues, needs to focus on “[changing] the culture.”

“Seventy to 80% of Americans agree … that women’s sports should be for women … but I don’t think we’ve made meaningful progress in getting that 80% to stand up and say what they believe,” says Sey.

“All right, so how do we do that?” Deace asks.

As for her, Sey plans to “keep producing content, keep encouraging people to stand up and say what they think, to stand up and say the most commonsense thing that there is, which is that men and women are different.”

With every person who speaks this truth, the stronger the “permission structure” becomes in the broader culture, she argues.

“Yes, we need legislation. We need state legislation; we need national legislation to reify Title IX. But I think when we win the cultural battle is when we actually win,” she tells Deace.

He agrees and reiterates the need for people to have enough courage to endure public shaming if necessary — especially “dads at school board meetings” and “young women [willing] to say, ‘I refuse to take part in this charade.’”

Sey agrees that men specifically need to join the movement. “We need way more men in this fight. … We need moms to do it too, but dads have been particularly absent in this fight.”

While she agrees that young female athletes should take a stand for their own rights, she is unwilling to ask them to forgo competing in order to make a statement.

“How do I tell a 14-year-old girl that she needs to do it when a professional athlete with all the money in the world won’t do it because she’s afraid of losing endorsements?” she asks.

“These [professional athletes] are women with enough power and enough influence, and they pull enough dollars in for these brands that I’d be willing to bet that the brands won’t fire them,” Sey continues.

“I want to put the pressure on them more than these 14-year-old girls. They’re the leaders.”

To hear more, watch the episode above.

Want more from Steve Deace?

To enjoy more of Steve’s take on national politics, Christian worldview, and principled conservatism with a snarky twist, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

​Steve deace show, Steve deace, California, Men in women’s sports, Jennifer sey 

For American Christians, biblical accounts of martyrdom can seem far removed from everyday life. And yet some 388 million Christians worldwide face high levels of persecution or discrimination — from imprisonment and government surveillance to mob violence and social exclusion — for practicing their religion.

Christ never promised his followers a life free from suffering; the New Testament repeatedly warns that persecution is part of the Christian experience. Yet Scripture couples that warning with a command: Christians are not to forget their fellow believers who suffer for the faith.

Few Christians in the United States or Europe will ever face the kinds of pressures endured by believers in North Korea, Nigeria, Pakistan, China, or Armenia.

“Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body” (Hebrews 13:3).

Christians today do respond in many ways, from prayer and advocacy to humanitarian aid and legal assistance. Here are five places where believers face significant challenges in 2026 — and five organizations working on the front lines to support them.

1. North Korea

North Korea remains one of the most dangerous places in the world to follow Christ. While North Korea’s constitution formally guarantees freedom of religion and the government permits a small number of state-controlled churches, independent Christian activity is treated as a threat to the regime. Believers caught with a Bible or participating in unauthorized worship can face imprisonment, forced labor, or worse. In some cases, punishment extends to entire families under the country’s system of collective responsibility.

Organization helping: Open Doors

Founded by the Dutch missionary known as Brother Andrew, Open Doors has spent decades serving Christians living under persecution. The ministry is best known for its annual World Watch List, which tracks countries where Christians face the most severe restrictions.

North Korea again ranked at the top of this year’s installment. The organization supports underground believers through networks operating outside the country, assists defectors, and helps document conditions that would otherwise remain hidden from the outside world.

Open Doors recently published the story of a North Korean Christian who spent more than a decade imprisoned because of his faith before being released. The testimony provided a rare firsthand account from inside the country and reflected the organization’s broader work supporting underground believers and documenting religious persecution that is otherwise difficult to verify from outside North Korea.

2. Nigeria

Nigeria remains one of the deadliest countries in the world for Christians. Islamist extremist groups, armed militants, and recurring attacks on villages have left thousands dead and displaced countless families in recent years. In May, suspected Fulani militants killed five people and abducted several others in attacks on Christian communities in Plateau State, highlighting the persistent insecurity facing many believers.

Organization helping: International Christian Concern

Based in Washington, D.C., International Christian Concern focuses on advocacy, reporting, and direct assistance for persecuted Christians worldwide.

In April 2025, ICC reported that more than 300 Christians had been killed in Nigeria in just over three months. The organization has consistently documented attacks on churches and Christian villages while advocating greater international attention to the crisis.

Last month, ICC released “Nigeria’s $10 Million Genocide Cover-Up,” a report alleging that government officials and international actors have obscured the religious dimensions of violence that has killed tens of thousands of Nigerian Christians over the past two decades.

3. Pakistan

In Pakistan, an accusation of blasphemy against Islam can upend a person’s life long before a verdict is reached. Christians have frequently found themselves among those targeted under the country’s controversial blasphemy laws, while recent investigations have raised concerns about organized networks that allegedly fabricate accusations and profit from the resulting prosecutions.

Organization helping: Voice of the Martyrs

Voice of the Martyrs was founded in 1967 by Romanian pastor Richard Wurmbrand, who spent 14 years imprisoned by the communist regime for his Christian faith before escaping to the West and launching a ministry dedicated to serving persecuted believers.

Because many of the Christians it serves live in dangerous environments, the organization often withholds names and identifying details from public reports.

In September 2025, Voice of the Martyrs Radio featured Pakistani Christian scholar Dr. Yousaf Sadiq discussing efforts to preserve and distribute the Punjabi Psalter, a collection of Scripture-based worship songs used by Christians in Pakistan. The project was presented as one way of strengthening believers living under pressure. VOM has also highlighted cases involving Christians accused under Pakistan’s blasphemy laws and encouraged prayer for imprisoned believers.

4. China

Unlike North Korea, China does not ban Christianity outright. Instead, the government seeks to control it. Churches are expected to submit to state oversight, religious leaders face pressure to promote Communist Party priorities, and believers who resist can find themselves under surveillance or behind bars.

Organization helping: Aid to the Church in Need

Aid to the Church in Need is a Catholic pontifical foundation that supports clergy, seminarians, religious communities, and Christian families in countries facing hardship or persecution.

Like many ministries operating in sensitive regions, ACN does not always disclose detailed information about beneficiaries or projects in countries where publicity could place local Christians at risk.

This year, Aid to the Church in Need spotlighted the case of Jimmy Lai, the imprisoned Hong Kong Catholic publisher and pro-democracy activist serving a 20-year sentence under Hong Kong’s national security law. Through interviews with Lai’s family and its “Faith Under Siege” podcast, ACN has helped keep international attention focused on one of the world’s most prominent Christian prisoners of conscience.

RELATED: 5 pro athletes who boldly take a knee — for Jesus Christ

Kevin Sabitus/Getty Images

5. Armenia

Armenia is one of the world’s oldest Christian nations and the first kingdom to adopt Christianity as its official religion. But recent disputes between the government and the Armenian Apostolic Church have prompted warnings from religious-freedom advocates who say one of Christianity’s oldest institutions faces mounting political pressure.

Unlike North Korea, Nigeria, or Pakistan, the concern in Armenia is not mass violence against Christians but an increasingly contentious relationship between the state and the church that has shaped Armenian identity for more than 1,700 years.

Organization helping: Christian Solidarity International

Christian Solidarity International, a Switzerland-based human rights organization, advocates on behalf of persecuted religious minorities around the world.

In 2026, CSI conducted a fact-finding mission in Armenia, where its delegation met with imprisoned Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan after negotiating access with Armenian authorities. The group later delivered letters from the archbishop to participants at the International Religious Freedom Summit in Washington, released a report on alleged state persecution of the Armenian Apostolic Church, and urged Western governments to raise concerns about detained clergy and religious freedom in Armenia.

Remembering the forgotten church

Few Christians in the United States or Europe will ever face the kinds of pressures endured by believers in North Korea, Nigeria, Pakistan, China, or Armenia. Yet their stories serve as a reminder of both the cost of discipleship and the fragility of religious freedom in a fallen world. They also challenge Christians elsewhere not to forget their brothers and sisters in Christ.

As the Apostle Paul reminded the early Church, “If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together” (1 Corinthians 12:26).

​Armenia, China, Discrimination, Faith, Martyrdom, Nigeria, Persecution, Religious freedom, World watch list, North korea, Charity, Lifestyle 

Who kills more black males than anyone else? Other black males.

That is why the available data should tell you that if you are the parent of a black son, you should be far more concerned about what other young black men may do to him than what race-baiters and grievance-mongers may have to say about the Karmelo Anthony verdict.

We are tired of the fake black bravado culture that costs young men their lives and then demands that everyone else pretend the killer is the victim.

A jury in Texas deliberated for less than three hours this week before declaring Anthony guilty of first-degree murder for stabbing Austin Metcalf at a high school track meet last year. The judge sentenced the 19-year-old to 35 years in prison.

Justice was done. The facts are clear. And since this is 2026, not 1956, I am strenuously declaring any attempt to build an indefinite period of racial grievance around this case unavailable for the historically aggrieved. Those days are over.

I do not owe anyone moral deference because of skin color. I owe my neighbor love. I owe him fairness. I owe him the truth. I owe him the same moral standard I owe every other neighbor.

That cuts in every direction. You might be black, white, Hispanic, Asian, gay, straight, male, female, rich, poor, Christian, atheist, or whatever. None of it gives you permission to stab another young man and then demand that the country treat you as the victim.

My ancestors were so-called greasy Catholic dago wops who arrived with little, lived in real ghettos, worked thankless jobs, had children, and actually made their way in America in spite of it all. My mother had a kid at 15 — me — earned a GED, went to college, and improved her life. I was on food stamps and government cheese before we made our way forward together.

I owe you nothing.

The race-baiting Jezebel Jasmine Crockett has lived a far more privileged life than my mother or I ever did. She happens to be black, but I’m way more ghetto than she is.

So we’re done with her nonsense. The incendiary name-calling no longer works the way it once did. Americans under 60 are not moved by every accusation of racism. Many younger white male voters now respond with open contempt when activists try to turn criminal cases into racial theater. They don’t care — and they can’t wait to tell you so.

We are tired of the fake black bravado culture that costs young men their lives and then demands that everyone else pretend the killer is the victim. You do not get to stab someone because your feelings were hurt. You do not get to talk yourself into violence and then ask the public to blame society for your choices.

Two young men are gone from their families in different ways. One is dead. One will spend much of his life in prison. Both outcomes are terrible. Neither outcome can be fixed by pretending that race explains away responsibility.

If you are black in America, you face a choice: Are you black or are you American? It’s your call, and I’m praying you make the right one, because this nation needs all the loyal patriots it can get right now.

RELATED: White-hating agitator claiming Karmelo Anthony was ‘legally lynched’ is a criminal, disgraced ex-judge

LeoPatrizi/iStock/Getty Images

But if you make the wrong decision, please know that your fate will be yours and yours alone. We’ve run out of patience with any racial decadence, disarray, and deviance. We have no time to coddle you as we try to save what’s left of this culture. Try being a better human.

If a black male is more likely to be assaulted by a black male and a white male is more likely to be assaulted by a black male, then you’re only left with two options as to why that is the case: Either Charles Darwin was right about some races being favored over others — his book “Descent of Man” is the guidebook for modern eugenics and one of the most racist things you’ll ever read — or you can believe that despite being made in the likeness and image of God like the rest of us, modern black culture just sucks and we’re tired of paying for it.

For the record, I believe the latter. Either way, it’s 2026, and the time for a reckoning is at hand. It’s your sin, not mine. Take responsibility for your actions. Stop wasting your life. Leave the ghetto behind.

The choice is yours.

So are the consequences.

​Opinion & analysis, Karmelo anthony, Racism, Grievance, Crime, Austin metcalf, Texas, Murder trial, Morality, Charles darwin, Jasmine crockett 

Do you have young people in your life who can’t figure out how to make “food happen” without overspending on DoorDash? Are you alarmed about the lack of basic cooking, shopping, and life skills in the teen-to-30 set?

I’m here to help anyone willing to learn. I have no illusions that many of my readers are under 50, but you fellow middle-agers might want to clip this piece for your grandchildren who could benefit from some basic home economics.

Equipping your first kitchen in your first apartment is not only affordable, it’s downright cheap. That is, if one is willing to buy used.

Below, we’re going to talk about setting up your first kitchen on a budget. Then I’m going to throw in two easy, cheap recipes that even the most reluctant would-be cook can master.

DoorDash math

Before we get to the practical advice, let’s describe the problem. I wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t seen it. Open social media, and you’ll find young people who believe that fast food or DoorDash is cheaper than buying groceries and cooking.

The illiteracy and innumeracy of so many members of the Gen Z cohort is not an exaggeration, and it’s not a joke. It’s also not “just them being naive on social media.” If the responses to online discussions about food cost are to be believed, it’s actually true that millions of young people are so innumerate they’re never going to be able to cover their daily living expenses.

This is hard to explain because it’s nonsensical.

Take this X post that shows the unit cost of a burger and fries meal bought from a fast food joint compared to the unit cost of buying the ingredients and making the food at home. The fast food meal costs $14.99 and feeds one person. The homemade version using ingredients from the store comes out to $5.43 per person, yielding four meals.

So far, so obvious, right? Wrong. Take a tour of the responses to that post and find young people who say that, no, the groceries actually cost more than the fast food meal. How? They add up the total cost of all the groceries instead of comparing the unit per-meal cost when you divide the grocery bill among the four meals it yields.

Frozen assets

That’s how bad off the kids are. Even more, young responders seem not to understand that you can store leftovers.

This one is representative: “The point is. If you’re a single person. As most young people are now. It is cheaper to get the fast food than to get the groceries. Make one meal and watch the rest rot, or be forced to eat cheeseburgers every night for a week.”

Make one meal and watch the rest rot? Why let it rot instead of eating the leftovers or putting them in the freezer? We see why right there in the text: This young’un thinks it’s unbearable to be “forced to eat cheeseburgers every night.”

After trying my best to explain reality to these children using unit price comparisons, I gave up. They want a luxurious convenience lifestyle, and they’ll defend that desire to the point of absurdity.

But there are also many Gen Z people who could budget their money more wisely by returning to basic home cooking and self-sufficiency like we older people remember. The trouble is that they haven’t been taught. Their parents didn’t teach them household management, and schools dropped home economics. The young have been trained by culture and social media to believe everything is too expensive and that they’re powerless to do anything about it.

That means it’s on us older people to give some remedial home and life training. Think of this piece as the first installment of Uncle Josh’s Finishing School for Generation Z.

RELATED: How to bake your own bread — no gadgets, recipes, or kneading required

Josh Slocum

Make frugality great again

Equipping your first kitchen in your first apartment is not only affordable, it’s downright cheap. That is, if one is willing to buy used instead of insisting on having brand-new for no good reason.

You can often buy kitchenware at thrift stores for about one-quarter the price of new. Like most of my generation, I equipped my first apartment at thrift stores. As a homeowner in my 50s, more than half my house is secondhand goods.

Basic kitchen equipment

This assumes you have a stove and fridge, as almost every apartment does. If not, an electric burner or two can be bought for $20 to $50. A dorm-size fridge can be bought secondhand for about $75.

Once you have those covered, I recommend:

1 large skillet1 large sauce pan with lid1 small sauce pan with lid1 large pot big enough for boiling pasta or making soup, with lid2-3 mixing bowls1 spatula1 pair of tongs1 good chef’s knife for cutting meat and vegetables1 drainer/colander1 cutting board3-4 assorted wooden spoonsEnough plates, glasses, and flatware to serve 4

At any thrift store I’ve been to recently, you can buy everything above for a total of less than $50, maybe a lot less.

From here you can buy additional pans, utensils, and more as needed. But this basic setup is enough to make many meals, including the two recipes that follow.

Cheap and cheerful

My mother started teaching me how to cook when I was about 8 or 9 years old. This used to be considered normal, and it should be now. If the young person in your life doesn’t know how to cook, these are great places to start. Anyone who can follow directions can make these meals. They’re tasty and nutritious, and they’re inexpensive.

I will use typical prices at my local grocery stores to estimate per-meal cost. My calculation will give a final per-serving cost. Leftover bulk ingredients can be used for other dishes, or frozen and stored for later meals.

Each recipe assumes four servings, but you’re likely to get six in reality.

Bean and sausage stew

INGREDIENTS:

1 pound dried beans such as navy or white beans ($2)1 pound Italian sausage ($6)1 medium onion (89 cents)2 stalks celery (about $2 for a whole bunch, use two stalks)1 bay leaf (about $5 per jar, about 20 leaves per jar)Olive oil for sautéing (negligible cost on a per-serving basis)Salt and pepper (essentially free on a per-serving basis)

PREPARATION:

Put the dried beans in a large pot and add about twice as much water as beans by volume. (The beans will expand and absorb much of the water.)

Salt the water well and add the bay leaf. Bring to a boil, then cover and simmer for about one and a half hours. Stir occasionally, and check for doneness by biting into a bean.

Meanwhile, heat a skillet with some olive oil on low to medium heat. Chop the onion and celery. Crumble the sausage into the pan and add the onion. Sauté for about 10 minutes, stirring, until sausage is cooked through and vegetables are softened.

Add the sausage and vegetable mixture to the simmering beans for the last 15 to 30 minutes of cooking time.

When the soup is done (beans are soft), finish it off with a bit of cream for a hearty stew. Hot sauce is also nice. This goes well with a green salad and crusty bread with butter.

Estimated cost per serving: $2.65

Baked chicken, potatoes, and fresh vegetables

This is the kind of cooking I was raised on, and I still cook this way. Working in restaurants taught me fancier exotic dishes, and I like them too. But as I’ve gotten older, I’ve returned to American home cooking as a mainstay. Plain food, cooked well and nicely seasoned, will never steer you wrong. The price is right, it tastes good, it’s good for you, and it fills you up.

You can use this paradigm of meat-starch-vegetable with any kind of meat.

INGREDIENTS:

2 pounds chicken legs, or thighs and drumsticks ($4)1 pound fresh carrots, peeled and cut into sticks or pennies ($3)2 large russet potatoes cut into 1.5-inch chunks ($2)Olive oil to coat the bottom of a large glass baking pan (negligible)McCormick Montreal Chicken Seasoning (about $5 per jar)Salt and pepper for the vegetables (negligible)

PREPARATION:

Coat a large glass baking dish with olive oil.

Season the outside of the chicken with the Montreal seasoning. Then, work your finger under the skin and pull it back. Season under the skin.

Take your potatoes and carrots and toss them by hand in the olive oil until they’re coated.

Place the chicken and vegetables all in the same baking dish, and bake at about 375 degrees for about half an hour. You’ll know it’s done when the chicken juices run clear and the skin is getting golden brown. Don’t worry about exact timing; this is forgiving.

Estimated cost per serving: $2.75

Bon appetit!

​Lifestyle, Cooking, Home economics, Home cooking, Intervention 

For decades, Google dominated the search engine race, beating out competitors like Bing, Yahoo, and many others as the de facto arbiter of information on the internet. However, for reasons only Google execs can understand, the Big Tech giant has since decided to let its search engine fade into obscurity beneath the shadow of AI. Naturally, users aren’t happy, and many of them are flocking to an alternative for a better experience.

The search engine everyone’s squawking about

Whether you’ve heard of it or not, DuckDuckGo has been around since 2008. It bills itself as a privacy-focused search engine that does exactly the opposite of Google — it won’t monetize your queries, spy on your browsing history, or inject political bias into its algorithm. It simply delivers search results, and that’s it.

The sudden surge is a clear rejection of Google’s new AI-first strategy.

Shortly after Google’s announcement to push AI interactions over classic Search, users looked to DuckDuckGo as their saving grace. According to DuckDuckGo on X, installs of its app jumped up 30% in the United States.

Why? After all, DuckDuckGo offers an AI search mode, just like Google. How is it any better? The difference is that DuckDuckGo lets users actively remove AI from their queries, while Google puts AI front and center.

DuckDuckGo with AI (L); DuckDuckGo without AI (R). Screenshots by Zach Laidlaw

The sudden surge is a clear rejection of Google’s new AI-first strategy, though it hasn’t stopped the company from moving forward. In the grand scheme of things, a 30% jump for a competitor that only boasts 2% of the search engine market is quite small compared to Google’s dominating 90%. Still, after Microsoft spent hundreds of billions of dollars to lure Google customers over to Bing, it’s interesting to see DuckDuckGo have its moment simply because Google neglected its search engine roots.

How to make DuckDuckGo the default search engine on iPhone and Android

If you want to change the default search engine on your phone, it’s pretty easy, though the steps are a little different depending on your operating system and default browser. If you do try it out and decide you don’t like it, you can always switch back using this guide in reverse.

RELATED: Sick of Microsoft’s preinstalled propaganda on your PC? Block it now.

DigitalVision/Getty Images

Safari on iPhone: Open the Settings app, scroll to the bottom, tap “Apps,” then select “Safari” from the list. Beneath the “Search” section, choose “Search Engine,” and change the default from Google to DuckDuckGo.

Screenshots by Zach Laidlaw/Safari on iPhone

Chrome on Android: Open the Chrome app, tap the three-dot menu in the top right corner, and choose “Settings.” Beneath the “Basics” section, tap “Search Engine” and change the default option from Google to DuckDuckGo.

Screenshots by Zach Laidlaw/Chrome on Android

Chrome on iPhone: Open the Chrome app, tap the three-dot menu in the bottom right corner, and open “Settings.” Then tap “Search Engine,” change it from Google to DuckDuckGo, and you’re done!

Screenshots by Zach Laidlaw/Chrome on iPhone

Edge on Android: Open the Microsoft Edge app, tap the hamburger menu in the bottom right corner, and go into “Settings.” Then tap “Search” and change the search engine from Bing to DuckDuckGo.

Screenshots by Zach Laidlaw/Edge on Android

Edge on iPhone: Open the Microsoft Edge app, tap the hamburger menu in the bottom right corner, and choose “Settings.” Then select “Search” and change the “Select Search Engine” option from Bing to DuckDuckGo.

Screenshots by Zach Laidlaw/Edge on iPhone

Brave on Android: Open the Brave app, tap the three-dot menu in the bottom right corner, and open “Settings.” Under the “General” section, select “Search Engines” and change the Standard Tab and Private Tab to DuckDuckGo.

Screenshots by Zach Laidlaw/Brave on Android

Brave on iPhone: Open the Brave app, tap the three-dot menu in the bottom right corner, and choose “All Settings.” Under the “General” section, tap “Search Engines” and change the Standard Tab and Private Tab to DuckDuckGo.

Screenshots by Zach Laidlaw/Brave on iPhone

Firefox on Android: Open the Firefox app, select the three-dot menu in the top right corner, followed by “Settings.” Under “General,” tap “Search,” then “Default search engine,” and switch it to DuckDuckGo for normal and private browsing.

Screenshots by Zach Laidlaw/Firefox on Android

And finally, Firefox on iPhone: Open the Firefox app, select the three-dot menu at the bottom, and tap “Settings.” Under “General,” choose “Search,” then “Default Search Engine,” and change it to DuckDuckGo.

Screenshots by Zach Laidlaw/Firefox on iPhone

Happy Duck hunting!

​Tech, Duckduckgo, Search engine, Default browser, Google 

On Monday, June 8, Texas Tech’s highly anticipated quarterback Brendan Sorsby was granted a temporary injunction, allowing him to play in the 2026 season while his gambling case against the NCAA continues. The NCAA immediately appealed the judge’s decision the same day.

Sorsby redshirted as a freshman at Indiana in 2022. That season, he placed multiple bets (at least 40) on Indiana football games and players. His gambling addiction worsened over the following years at Indiana and then Cincinnati, where he placed thousands of bets totaling around $90,000.

In April 2026, shortly after transferring to Texas Tech, the NCAA began investigating him. Later that month, Texas Tech announced he was taking an indefinite leave to enter a 35-day residential rehab program in Arizona for gambling addiction, which he completed in late May. Upon return, he was declared ineligible by the NCAA for betting on his own team.

Texas Tech and Sorsby sued the NCAA the same day. A Texas judge granted the temporary injunction on June 8, with a full trial set for February 2027.

While speaking to the Touchdown Club of Houston, head coach Joey McGuire defended Sorsby, arguing, “As a society, we’ve been OK with other things that happens and allowing players to play. … It’s crazy because it’s not murder; it’s not beating somebody.”

BlazeTV host Steve Deace calls this mindset a product of modern culture’s “toxic empathy.”

“You can look at Brendan Sorsby and say, ‘You’re playing in an industry that is sponsored by gambling. The entities that want to condemn you are taking huge gambling dollars and advertising,”’ Deace acknowledges.

He also sympathizes with the “temptation” Sorsby faces as a young man with an addiction and a cell phone designed to gratify it.

“We put these little devices in your phones, and you’re an impulsive young man and … the ‘vice-ocracy’ is right here at your fingertips. It’s very enticing, hard not to succumb to,” he admits.

But consequences, Deace argues, are necessary regardless.

“In his right mind, would Brendan Sorsby risk a $6 million payday to get down for 25 bucks on a Knicks-Spurs NBA Finals parlay? No. Just like in your right mind, would you risk your entire family and your reputation to get down with your secretary? No,” he analogizes. “But see, because of sin, we’re not in our right minds, and that’s why we need consequences.”

Empathy, he argues, is a good thing as long as it doesn’t lead to the absolution of punishment.

“We can imagine having the world as your oyster as Brendan Sorsby did and the money you’re making now and this device in your hands and the dopamine hits, and I can think, ‘Holy cow, what would I have done with that at 20 or 21?’ You can have empathy, but we still have to have accountability,” Deace explains.

“The difference between empathy and toxic empathy is toxic empathy demands no accountability and instead condemns you for trying to instill it. Empathy comes with accountability.”

Co-host Aaron McIntire agrees. “I think something that needs to be re-emphasized with this story is that Brendan Sorsby did not turn himself in. He was caught,” he points out.

“That in and of itself is problematic because you kind of wonder, hey, do you really think that you have a problem here? Whereas if he had turned himself in, I think the accountability should be the same thing, but on a human level, on a man-to-man level, there’s some integrity that is still left.”

McIntire condemns Joey McGuire’s downplaying of Sorsby’s offense.

“What [Sorsby] is doing is not just undermining his own credibility and integrity. … He is nuking the integrity of everyone else in this sport,” he argues, speculating that fans will now overanalyze every bad play as potential “point shaving.”

“It’s just disgusting.”

To hear more, watch the episode above.

Want more from Steve Deace?

To enjoy more of Steve’s take on national politics, Christian worldview, and principled conservatism with a snarky twist, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

​Steve deace show, Steve deace, Texas tech, Brendan sorsby 

The American family farm is being systematically wiped out as corporate monopolies are taking over our food supply.

That’s why Joe Maxwell of the Farm Action Fund has launched the bipartisan Rural Independence Initiative — to take on what BlazeTV host Daniel Horowitz calls the pillaging of rural America.

“We just released a paper along with the launch of the Rural Independence Initiative, a bipartisan, cross-partisan organization, the only political organization that’s pro-healthy food, pro-farmer, pro-rural America,” Maxwell tells Horowitz.

“We want candidates that will fight for markets — fair and free markets — healthy food, and economic independence from monopoly control,” he explains, pointing out that he doesn’t care whether they’re Democrats, Republicans, or Independents.

Maxwell says this is because “both parties are working against the people and for corporate monopoly oligarchy control of our economy.”

“And therefore, what we eat, what we can raise, how we’re going to produce it, and then ultimately control of our government,” he adds.

“Exactly, because if you look at the farm bills, which are always overwhelmingly bipartisan, they’re pushed by both parties, the same monopolization of the land, obsessive support for very specific things, very specific crops, often not even for food,” Horowitz agrees.

“So, they’ll say, ‘I’m for rural America, America’s farms, America’s heartland.’ But the reality is, they’re all on the same side. They’re all against us,” he adds.

And while Maxwell is fighting for rural America, what he’s fighting for isn’t special treatment, but fairness.

“A rural worker will make about $24,000 a year less than the average metropolitan worker. … Rural grandparents will see more of their grandchildren die before the age of 1 than metropolitan grandparents, and rural grandchildren will lose their grandparents three years earlier than metropolitan,” he explains.

“So, the policy has to begin with a lens towards representing people, individual businesses — whether that’s a meat packer or a light manufacturer in rural America or whether that’s the farmer,” he continues. “We have to break the grip that these companies have on these sectors to restore the wealth and the quality of life for rural Americans.”

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Though the Trump administration has faced a series of legal setbacks on tariffs, it seems to have found a solution. After the Supreme Court ruled that the administration’s reciprocal tariffs were wrongfully imposed, the president immediately leapt to Plan B: Section 122 tariffs, which allow the temporary placement of global tariffs.

But these tariffs — derived from the Trade Act of 1974, which Trump used to install a 10% levy on most imported goods — expire in just over two months, and a court has ruled them unlawful. Although that case is still working through the system, the administration is already planning to replace Section 122 tariffs with Section 301 tariffs. These, too, stem from the Trade Act, but unlike the previous tariffs, they will be here to stay.

These tariffs … are durable, cover almost all American imports, and leave no questions for investors.

They will also allow the Trump administration to target countries that have relied on unfair trade practices such as lax environmental standards that let our trade “partners” produce at excess capacity — essentially to get one over on the United States.

Section 301, in short, gives the president the power to counter unfair foreign trade practices. Unlike the reciprocal and 122 tariffs, they can be placed only after a long process that includes public hearings and comment periods. While this may frustrate those who want quick action, the process practically guarantees courts will not rule them unconstitutional, as the authority is laid out explicitly in the statutory text.

Currently, the only active 301 tariffs are against China, which have been in place since the first Trump administration. But the second Trump administration is planning to broaden the use of Section 301 significantly.

The Office of the United States Trade Representative launched two investigations in the spring that covered 60 countries, accounting for nearly all American imports. The first investigation focused on products made with forced labor across the globe. Earlier this month, the administration revealed the results: Those countries, including the European Union, had failed to ban products made with forced labor or to stop forced labor within their borders.

The second investigation, which is somewhat narrower in scope, is ongoing. It targets “excess capacity” — essentially unfair government intervention stemming from weak or absent environmental regulations abroad, with pollutants from China having been found in American water and air. This harms America’s labor force and limits businesses’ ability to expand facilities and production.

According to United States Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, these tariffs are being pursued on “an accelerated timeframe” while still ensuring all legal requirements are being met. The next step for the forced labor tariffs will be a comment period ending in early July, followed by a hearing and — most likely — the announcement of the new tariffs.

By relying on Section 301, the Trump administration is making a smart play for three key reasons.

RELATED: Donald Trump is still the working-class president

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First, President Trump is obviously committed to dismantling “free trade” ideology and replacing it with fair trade. Leaving office with only a handful of trade agreements and tariffs only on China — tariffs that all but the purest free traders would support — would not meaningfully advance that goal.

But if comprehensive Section 301 tariffs can be placed on countries found violating a range of agreements, it becomes significantly harder for future administrations to lift them, as the Biden administration discovered with the China tariffs levied by the first Trump administration.

Second, Section 301 is a more concrete process. It requires hearings and comment periods, conducted in a way where — even if the outcome is broadly understood — there are no surprises. Markets will therefore have essentially priced them in.

While President Trump’s reciprocal tariffs came from a well-reasoned place, their back-and-forth nature spooked investors and at times threatened his broader economic agenda. These tariffs, by contrast, are durable, cover almost all American imports, and leave no questions for investors.

Most importantly, Section 301 allows the United States to target trade both broadly and narrowly. Broadly, in the sense that a wide array of countries can be targeted at once, as the investigation of more than 60 countries shows. Narrowly, in that it allows the administration to focus on problems long derided by President Trump, including topics many conservatives have overlooked such as “inadequate environmental protections” and labor law violations.

In previous Republican administrations, these would not have been priorities. But the United States has extremely strong environmental protections and labor laws; ignoring the disparity between our laws and those of our competitors means trade deficits never close and American jobs get offshored.

With Section 301, that era is ending. New global tariffs will soon arrive, and this time they won’t be blocked by a court.

Editor’s note: This article was published originally at the American Mind.

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