A 19-year-old Texas man was sentenced to decades in prison for his part in a horrific “nihilist” online child sex extortion cult, according to a press release from the Department of Justice.

The online networks labeled as “nihilistic violent extremist” groups by the Justice Department seek to push society toward collapse and chaos by corrupting and exploiting vulnerable groups online, including young children.

‘These groups ultimately seek nothing less than the destruction of our society.’

Alexis Aldair Chavez targeted victims under the online names Zack and Zack8884 as part of the 8884 network, which is related to the better-known 764 online cult.

In 2023, Chavez and a co-conspirator tried to make a minor female kill herself by overdosing on pills. They intended to record the suicide and then use the media to increase their status within the 8884 group.

Later, Chavez and the minor victim compelled another female to “strip naked on camera, cut herself, and engage in sexual acts.”

Another victim was extorted into cutting the word “Zack” into herself.

Around Dec. 2023, Chavez and a co-conspirator coerced a female victim to torture and kill a cat on a video call and also to cut her own tongue.

Another victim was made to light her arm on fire on a recorded video chat in the 8884 channel and let it burn through the skin into her flesh.

Another female victim was made to drink her own urine and attempt to overdose on pills.

In Jan. 2024, Chavez coerced a minor female to commit “sexually obscene activities and other egregious acts.”

He was arrested in Oct. 2024 and pleaded guilty in Dec. 2025 to one count of distribution of child pornography, one count of possession of child pornography, and one count of racketeering.

In July, he was sentenced to 40 years in prison, restitution of $10,000, and lifetime supervised release.

The Justice Dept. says it will continue to pursue the NVE groups and stop them from coercing victims into acts of “self-mutilation, online and in-person sexual acts, harm to animals, sexual exploitation of siblings and others, acts of violence, threats of violence, suicide, and murder.”

RELATED: ‘Pure evil’: Feds charge alleged leader of ‘unthinkably depraved,’ violent group involved in child sextortion

“Chavez’s crimes reveal the ruthless exploitation and manipulation at the core of NVE groups,” Assistant Attorney General for National Security John A. Eisenberg said in the press release.

“These organizations target children as part of their broader mission to spread terror,” he added. “These groups ultimately seek nothing less than the destruction of our society. NSD will use every resource at its disposal to identify and prosecute 764-linked criminality and to protect the most innocent among us from these predators.”

Experts warn parents to monitor their children’s online activity and limit or completely restrict their access to online apps and websites.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

​Department of justice, Sexual exploitation, Suicide, Crime, Nihilistic violent extremist 

Until late 2025, the Republican Party appeared likely to carry the MAGA coalition more or less intact into the 2028 presidential election. No successor can reproduce Trump’s personality or political style. But the coalition he assembled — working-class voters, growing numbers of Latinos and other former Democrats, and disaffected liberals such as Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Tulsi Gabbard — seemed durable.

JD Vance also appeared ready to clear the field. Marco Rubio, the only other plausible heir with national support, said just a few months ago that he would back Vance in 2028 if the vice president ran. The nomination looked less like a contest than a succession plan.

Much of the base may share Vance’s instincts, but the right is far from unanimous. His victory in an open contest cannot be assumed.

When I wrote my book, “JD Vance and the Future of the Republican Party,” the first sustained examination of Vance’s political thought and his place in the post-Trump GOP, that outcome seemed nearly certain. Vance would declare around the 2026 midterms. Rubio would endorse him. A few marginal candidates might enter, but none would reach double digits.

That scenario remains possible. It is no longer inevitable.

Two related developments have changed the equation: the fight over the U.S.-Israel relationship on the right and the war in Iran.

The first does not implicate Vance directly, but it has fractured the political world he must lead. Far-right podcasters and pundits have fixated on Israel and Jews for years. The dispute moved from the fringes toward the center when Tucker Carlson interviewed Nick Fuentes on his podcast in October 2025, one month after Charlie Kirk — one of the right’s most effective coalition builders and gatekeepers — was assassinated. Influential voices soon moved beyond debating the wisdom and limits of the U.S.-Israel alliance to entertaining conspiratorial claims that Jews themselves threatened America.

The conservative movement has never been intellectually uniform. Libertarians, social conservatives, anti-communist liberals, nationalists, and other factions have long competed under the Republican tent. But the past nine months have produced something more corrosive. Positions on Israel, American Jews, and even individual media personalities have become loyalty tests. Conservatives increasingly sort themselves into camps and excommunicate dissenters.

Every presidential nominee must unite competing factions. Vance faces an unusual version of that task because he entered politics through the world of conservative intellectuals, think tanks, and media. He has friends and allies across rival camps. Preserving those relationships without appearing captive to any of them may become one of his hardest political tests.

RELATED: JD Vance reveals opinion on Epstein files, explains ‘demon’ alien theory, slams ‘full of s**t’ Gavin Newsom with Joe Rogan

Nathan Howard/POOL/AFP/Getty Images

The war in Iran has made that test harder. Trump’s coalition has always included incompatible foreign-policy factions: George W. Bush-era interventionists, advocates of a restrained and more hemispheric strategy, and hard-line isolationists. The alliance held as long as the administration avoided wars that lacked a clear connection to the American interest.

Iran forced the disagreement into the open. Will the Republican Party continue military campaigns in the Middle East, or will it reserve force for direct threats to the United States? Republicans answer that question very differently, and the war has split the party. Any 2028 nominee will have to navigate the divide.

Vance is no isolationist, but his instincts favor restraint. He is also more willing than many senior Republicans to question the scope of U.S. commitments to Israel. Those positions may appeal to much of the base while alarming interventionists, pro-Israel conservatives, and establishment donors.

Can Vance maintain relationships with controversial figures such as Carlson, reconsider American commitments in the Middle East, and still hold the Republican coalition together? A competitive 2028 primary would force those questions into the open. Much of the base may share Vance’s instincts, but the right is far from unanimous. His victory in an open contest cannot be assumed.

Rubio remains the likeliest challenger. He has said he will not oppose Vance if the vice president runs, but supporters continue to promote the popular secretary of state as a candidate. Rubio’s greater acceptability to establishment Republicans and his more interventionist foreign policy would turn the primary into a direct contest over the party’s future. He could expose every fault line Vance must bridge.

One factor may matter more than all the others: Trump’s endorsement.

RELATED: The GOP’s 2028 ticket math is already brutal

Will Oliver/EPA/Bloomberg/Getty Images

After the Iran war, Vance is less likely to coast through a genuinely open primary, especially if Rubio changes his mind. But Republicans may never receive an open primary. Trump still commands the party he reshaped, relishes the role of kingmaker, and will want to choose his successor.

An unequivocal Trump endorsement of Vance could end the contest before it begins. Other candidates could run, but they would struggle against a Trump-Vance succession. If Trump chooses Vance, the vice president may become the 2028 nominee by anointing rather than competition.

Trump has spoken more than once about the race to succeed him. Once he speaks definitively, the question may no longer be whether Vance can win the Republican primary. It may be whether the party is willing to hold one.

If Trump names Vance, he will likely become the future of the Republican Party. Trump will decide whether the party gets a primary or an anointing.

​Donald trump, Jd vance, Joe rogan, Marco rubio, Middle east, Nick fuentes, Presidential election, Republican party, Tucker carlson, Opinion & analysis 

Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan’s testimony at a July Senate hearing raised troubling questions about accountability in judicial education.

Kagan acknowledged that she wrote the foreword to the Federal Judicial Center’s “Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence” without reading its climate-change chapter — a chapter later removed after critics identified serious bias concerns. She also admitted that she still had not read it.

Kagan’s admission offers a cautionary example. Rank does not excuse a failure of diligence.

Her foreword presents the manual as an objective resource for judges handling cases involving complex scientific evidence, from epidemiology to emerging technologies. Yet Kagan placed her authority behind a volume whose most contentious material she had not taken the time to examine.

That failure weakens the manual’s credibility and raises a broader question: How carefully are judges scrutinizing the scientific authorities placed before them?

The fourth edition of the influential manual, used by thousands of federal judges, drew immediate objections. The Federal Judicial Center withdrew the climate chapter in February after state attorneys general cited imbalances and potential conflicts of interest.

The problems did not end there.

A separate chapter on the nature of science remains in the manual despite presenting a distorted account of scientific inquiry. Kagan’s foreword also remains, still attesting to the volume’s reliability and impartiality.

Earlier editions offered a clearer standard. Physicist David Goodstein emphasized empirical testing, falsifiable predictions, reliable data, and other central principles of scientific reasoning.

The new chapter moves in a different direction. It elevates social considerations and consensus among experts while giving less attention to the rigorous testing that separates science from assertion.

Scientific collaboration matters. Consensus can also provide useful evidence. But “widespread agreement” cannot substitute for disciplined scrutiny, especially in court.

The Supreme Court’s Daubert standard requires judges to assess whether expert testimony rests on testable methods, peer review, known error rates, and general acceptance — all tethered to observable reality.

Nobel Prize-winning physicist Richard Feynman stated the principle plainly: “If it disagrees with experiment, it is wrong.”

History offers repeated warnings about confusing consensus with truth.

RELATED: Out of order: Courts shouldn’t rule based on ‘trust us’ science

Nadzeya Haroshka

Dominant scientific views have often yielded to better evidence. In darker cases, governments have enforced consensus through political power. Under Joseph Stalin, Soviet biologist Trofim Lysenko rejected genetic science in favor of politically favored theories of inheritance. The state elevated his ideas into doctrine, silenced dissenting scientists, and inflicted lasting damage on Soviet agriculture.

The lesson is not that expert agreement has no value. It is that agreement must remain answerable to evidence.

That principle matters especially in courtrooms, where scientific claims can determine enormous legal and economic consequences.

The revised chapter also raises questions about authorship. Several contributors have ties to climate-policy negotiations, including work involving international financial mechanisms. Those backgrounds do not automatically disqualify them. But in an era of sprawling climate litigation, involving more than 1,000 active cases and potential liabilities reaching into the trillions of dollars, such ties create at least the appearance of imbalance.

Prominent scientists, including widely published physicists, have urged Chief Justice John Roberts and the Federal Judicial Center to revisit the chapter. They argue that the manual should restore clear explanations of hypothesis testing and empirical verification rather than rely on sociological descriptions of how scientific communities operate.

Courts increasingly adjudicate scientific disputes with consequences affecting millions, and sometimes billions, of people. The reference materials judges rely on must therefore withstand the strictest tests of objectivity.

Kagan’s admission offers a cautionary example. Rank does not excuse a failure of diligence. Judicial integrity depends on personal responsibility, especially when a justice lends her name and authority to a supposedly impartial guide.

RELATED: Justice Amy Coney Barrett describes SWATTING attack against her family

Eric Lee/Getty Images

The Federal Judicial Center can still repair the damage. It should restore the manual’s emphasis on empirical verification, seek broader input from experts without policy entanglements, and reaffirm the manual’s limited role as a procedural guide rather than an arbiter of scientific truth.

Judges should also treat such manuals as starting points, not substitutes for primary research, adversarial testing, and careful examination of the evidence before them.

Kagan endorsed a manual without reviewing one of its most disputed sections. That lapse compromised the diligence her foreword implicitly promised.

The Federal Judicial Center should now restore the manual’s credibility by recommitting it to empirical evidence, falsifiability, and genuine viewpoint diversity. The integrity of judicial decision-making demands nothing less.

​Supreme court, Elena kagan, Trust the science, Scientific method, Richard goodstein, Joseph stalin, John roberts, Opinion & analysis 

Following the sudden passing of Senator Lindsey Graham, South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster (R) has officially appointed Graham’s younger sister, Darline Graham, to finish out the remainder of his term in Washington.

The decision is backed by an endorsement from President Donald Trump.

“I recommended, to Governor Henry McMaster, Lindsey Graham’s wonderful sister, Darline, to serve as interim Senator from the Great State of South Carolina. This would be a fabulous tribute to Lindsey, who loved her dearly!” the president wrote in a post on Truth Social.

However, BlazeTV host Pat Gray isn’t sure that a U.S. Senate seat is something to be passed down as a “tribute.”

“I don’t want a fabulous tribute to Lindsey Graham. It should be somebody who would make a great senator. If she’s the one, that’s fine,” he says. “But is she the one?”

“Conservative, smart, capable. That’s what you want. … It wasn’t Lindsey’s seat to own and then hand off to a family member,” he adds.

“Well, it kind of was,” Jeff Fisher argues.

“That’s the way those Senate seats have been. That’s why John Cornyn was so shocked that he got booted,” Fisher continues.

“That’s the way we treat it, but it’s not that way. It’s not that way. And we need to stop treating it as such,” Gray says.

And in a speech, Gov. McMaster announced the appointment of Darline to Graham’s seat.

“Today under the law, it’s my duty to and honor to name someone to serve in the place of this irresistible man — this irreplaceable man,” the governor said, correcting himself.

“Lindsey took care of his little sister in years long departed. It’s my honor to ask his little sister, Darline Graham, to finish his work for him now,” he added.

“So, I guess she’s got a duty to serve,” Gray comments, adding, “but he never said anything about her being the best candidate for that position.”

Want more from Pat Gray?

To enjoy more of Pat’s biting analysis and signature wit as he restores common sense to a senseless world, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

​Donald trump, John cornyn, Lindsey graham, Pat gray, South carolina, Us senate, Pat gray unleashed 

Energy drinks ‘should be avoided.’

Coffee talk

Its official statement claimed that recent randomized trials linked caffeine intake to lowered risk of several cardiovascular conditions, including heart failure. Caffeine is noted as being good for blood pressure, heart rhythm, lowering cholesterol, and preventing Type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and stroke.

This, of course, means not adding sugars, flavors, or cream in these instances.

More precisely, the heart association said that caffeine consumption is associated with a lower risk of atrial fibrillation but a higher risk of premature ventricular contractions, another type of irregular heartbeat.

RELATED: Why your coffee addiction is a superpower

Chris Jackson/Getty Images

Bean supremacy

The benefits do not extend to extreme caffeine intake seen in other drinks, the organization warned. This includes levels of caffeine in energy drinks or energy shots.

“Energy drink shots may contain 40-69 mg of caffeine per fluid ounce, 3-4 times more caffeine than regular caffeinated coffee,” the association wrote.

“Up to 5 cups of caffeinated coffee per day without added sugars or fillers, is safe and does not increase cardiovascular risk,” said Dr. Gregory M. Marcus, professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine.

However, Marcus echoed that the high doses of caffeine found in energy drinks may have harmful effects and “should be avoided.”

RELATED: The General Store

Harun Ãzalp/Anadolu/Getty Images

Pick-me-up

As Blaze News previously reported, coffee intake is linked to other health benefits as well.

A study tracking over 400,000 people found that two to three cups of coffee per day was linked to a lower risk of mental health disorders. This included lower rates of anxiety and depression.

However, that study claimed the benefits plateau around the fifth cup and then begin to reverse when going beyond.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

​Coffee, American heart association​, Energy drinks, Lifestyle 

The owner of an Italian restaurant refused to serve National Guard members because he said they were making his city less safe.

Miles Tamboli says he has gotten harassment and threats after telling four uniformed members of the Memphis Safe Task Force to leave his restaurant, Tamboli’s Pasta & Pizza.

‘None of that makes us safer. It makes us less safe, and it does the most damage to the people who were already struggling.’

The backlash against Tamboli’s got a significant boost when the popular Libs of TikTok account posted about the owner’s political statement and called on followers to make their voices heard.

“Tamboli’s Pasta & Pizza REFUSED to serve four members of the Tennessee National Guard. This is the owner, Miles Tamboli. Would be a shame if everyone in the area knew they kicked out US servicemembers!” Libs of TikTok wrote Wednesday.

That post garnered more than 2.9 million views on its own.

WMC-TV reported that state and federal law allows a business to refuse service to people based on their occupations.

“On Saturday night we declined to serve four uniformed members of the Memphis Safe Task Force, and I stand behind that decision completely,” Tamboli wrote in a statement to WMC. “I love this country and I love this city, and that is exactly why I made this call. I want Memphis to be safe.”

He went on to claim that crime had fallen in the city before the task force had arrived.

“Families in this city are now afraid to drive to work, afraid to take their kids to school, afraid to be seen,” he continued. “Our own schools reported that fear drove children to stop showing up to class. And this month a 20-year-old Memphian named Tyrin Johnson was shot and killed by National Guard troops during a foot chase, with no body camera footage and no answers for his family. None of that makes us safer. It makes us less safe, and it does the most damage to the people who were already struggling.”

RELATED: San Francisco restaurant refuses to serve uniformed police officers out of commitment to ‘social and racial justice’

He also claimed that “dozens” of other businesses pledged to oppose the National Guard operation.

One of those businesses, named Da Sammich Spot on Park Avenue, made national headlines when it refused to serve the troops in January.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

​Libs of tiktok, National guard, Tennessee, Boycott, Politics 

Less than a week after joining the Senate to fill her brother’s seat, the sister of the late Sen. Lindsey Graham has decided she will run for a full term.

“I’ve made a decision,” Sen. Darline Graham (R-S.C.) told Fox’s Sean Hannity in an interview posted to X on Monday. “I’m in.”

‘I feel like I can do it.’

Graham said she reached the decision after spending time in prayer and consulting with her family.

“I have been praying a lot, talking to my family. But with the love of my family, with the support of his staff, I know I’m a hard worker. I learned that from Lindsey. He cared about the people of this state. I’ve worked for almost 30 years for the people of this state. I feel like I can do it,” she expressed.

President Donald Trump publicly endorsed Graham on Friday, urging her to enter the race.

“I asked Darline, for the Good of our Nation, to run for the U.S. Senate in the Special Republican Primary on Tuesday, August 11, 2026,” Trump wrote.

“Darline, who comes from an absolutely incredible family, has been a WINNER all of her life and, should she accept, has my Complete and Total Endorsement in the Special Election for U.S. Senate in South Carolina,” he added.

RELATED: Glenn Beck warns: Lindsey Graham’s death exposes something very dark in America

Graham was sworn into the Senate Tuesday, a day after she was appointed by South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster (R) to serve out the remainder of her brother’s term, which concludes in January.

Trump also weighed in on that decision, posting on Truth Social, “I recommended, to Governor Henry McMaster, Lindsey Graham’s wonderful sister, Darline, to serve as interim Senator from the Great State of South Carolina. This would be a fabulous tribute to Lindsey, who loved her dearly!”

Lindsey Graham died on July 11 at age 71 of an aortic dissection, according to a preliminary finding from the medical examiner, after what the late senator’s office initially described as a “brief and sudden illness.”

The filing deadline for the special election is July 28, with several Republican candidates having already declared their candidacies, including Reps. Russell Fry and Ralph Norman, as well as businessman Mark Lynch.

The Republican nominee will go on to face Democrat Annie Andrews in the November general election.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

​South carolina, Darline graham, Lindsey graham, Henry mcmaster, Politics