Ken Paxton is mocking his Democrat opponent for seemingly going missing from the campaign trail as Election Day looms.

James Talarico, who is competing against Ken Paxton for a U.S. Senate seat in Texas, recently stopped appearing in person at campaign events and released a statement saying he had contracted the flu from shaking so many hands.

‘No one has seen him for an extended period of time. Where is he? What is wrong with him? Bad rumors are coming out.’

On Wednesday, Texas Attorney General Paxton (R) had his supporters chant, “Where is Talarico?” at a Trump rally in San Antonio to ridicule the Democrat in the pivotal last weeks of the campaign.

CNN reported Thursday that Talarico’s last public appearance in Texas was a press conference on September 26.

Talarico’s campaign issued a statement about his ongoing absence.

“After holding more than 100 public events and shaking tens of thousands of hands, James came down with the flu but will be back on the trail this weekend,” said a statement from campaign spokesperson J.T. Ennis, according to CNN and Brooke Taylor of Fox News.

“Ken Paxton has been ignoring Texans this entire campaign, and his priorities are clear: He doesn’t answer to the people of this state — he answers to his billionaire megadonors and special interests,” the statement added.

President Donald Trump issued a scathing post laughing at Talarico for his unusual campaign absence.

“Ladies and Gentlemen, upon information and belief, James TalaFREAKo, who is running for the United States Senate in Texas, is MISSING IN ACTION!” the president wrote on social media Wednesday.

“No one has seen him for an extended period of time. Where is he? What is wrong with him?” he chided. “Bad rumors are coming out.”

RELATED: Talarico’s black and Hispanic outreach stalls just weeks before early voting

Paxton posted images to social media of posters jokingly calling Talarico a missing person.

“Missing posters are popping up across Texas as the search continues,” he wrote. “LAST SEEN: 12 days ago. Texans everywhere are asking: where is James Talarico?”

Democrats are looking to flip the Texas seat in hopes of seizing control of the U.S. Senate from Republicans in order to thwart the president’s agenda in the last half of his final term.

Those hopes might be dashed, as blacks and Hispanics question more and more whether Talarico’s campaign has done enough to reach out to those constituencies.

You can check out the latest polling average between Paxton and Talarico, plus race trends and other helpful data, at Blaze News’ Poll Watch.

Texas Senate polls 2026: Talarico vs. Paxton

Texas Senate polls 2026: Talarico vs. Paxtonpollwatch.theblaze.com

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​Ken paxton, Us senate, James talarico, Donald trump, Texas, Politics 

About 800,000 people turning out to see the pope in France should hardly be cause for alarm, unless you were hoping that Catholicism was already dead in Europe.

BlazeTV host Pat Gray believes the massive turnout has exposed a very different reality — and has been a harsh awakening for France’s leftists.

“They’re pissed off right now because the pope, he was in country this week, and like 800,000 people showed up. They were psyched for him to be there, and I think that because it’s Europe, everybody just figured that Catholicism was virtually done in France,” Gray explains.

“The Muslims are upset. The leftists are upset because this is showing that soft Catholic power is back in France,” he adds.

Gray jokes that unlike a different religion, Catholics don’t inflict harm on nonbelievers.

“Remember when the pope said that he was going to force everyone in France to become members of the Catholic Church?” he asks.

“He said, ‘No, you actually do have a choice. You don’t actually have to convert to Catholicism. You can be killed instead. We’ll just cut your head off.’ Remember when he said — oh, wait, no, you don’t remember that, because that didn’t happen,” he laughs.

He poses another satirical question, “But what about when the Catholic nation was causing terror all around the world? Remember that Catholic nation?”

And another, “Financing proxies to commit murder in their name and in the name of Jesus and swearing to destroy Israel by driving them into the sea?”

“Oh, wait. No, you don’t remember that, either, because first of all, there’s not a Catholic nation, and secondly, that didn’t happen,” he says.

“I don’t think you need to fear the Catholics in France, because they’re not the ones doing anything,” he adds.

​Pat gray, France, The pope, Catholicism, Riots, Muslims, Islam, Leftism, Blazetv show 

Some things are better left unsaid. Or in this case, better left untasted.

When Kraft decided it was going to mix its iconic macaroni and cheese flavor with another product, some likely thought it might be akin to a Cheetos collaboration, or the home recipe of Doritos and pasta.

Instead, the company went with cream soda.

‘It’s not horrible, but it’s horrible.’

Notes of powdered cheddar

The iconic Kraft brand released the limited-edition KD x Solly’s Cream Soda, with the “KD” referring to Kraft Dinner, which is how Canadians refer to the traditional meal.

A sweet cream soda with a “hint” of the “familiar” cheesy flavor of mac and cheese? Blaze News couldn’t help but try it out.

The soda’s unappealing orange hue offers few clues as to what awaits the drinker. In the glass, it could easily be mistaken for Hi-C or a particularly unfortunate vintage of Pedialyte. You decide.

The soda’s bouquet certainly reveals hints of cheesy goodness, with unmistakable notes of powdered cheddar on the nose. But the palate tells a different story: citrus-forward, with the vanilla notes of a cream soda lingering faintly in the background.

Unfortunately, the cheese is all aroma and no finish. Once it hits the tongue, the dominant flavor is less artisanal nacho platter than watered-down Tang that’s been left on the counter too long.

One Blaze News reporter said after a few gulps that he could probably “throw up” if he was to “let go.”

“It has no flavor at the end,” he added, describing the taste as immediate but “halting.”

RELATED: MAC & QUEASE: Kraft’s latest cheese-flavored collaboration has even Canadians recoiling

Blaze News

Fizzy fiasco

“It’s not horrible, but it’s horrible; you could drink one can,” said a news writer who asked to remain anonymous. “You could drink an entire can without getting sick,” he gleefully added.

The review concluded with, “You can really taste the cream soda, though.”

Other reviews concurred. “It was more like a prebiotic/probiotic drink,” a man on the Reddit page for soda wrote.

“Not very sweet at all. Smelled more like yogurt than soda. Massive disappointment,” he added.

RELATED: ‘I have photos of my son in high heels’: ‘Law & Order’ star gives deranged speech about wanting a gay son

KRAFT HEINZ CANADA/Solly’s Cream Soda

Liquid carnage

Food critic Dan Clapson was more measured, lamenting the lack of actual cheese ingredients while deeming the beverage “surprisingly drinkable.”

That much drinkers can agree upon; it is technically consumable.

For a similar effect, home cooks can take a can of cream soda, pour it into a glass, leave it in the fridge for a day, and then add some mac and cheese powder, stir and drink.

Otherwise, collectors probably don’t even need to open a can.

2.4/10.

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​News, Kraft dinner, Mac n cheese, Lifestyle 

Just days ago, Democratic Senate hopeful Abdul El-Sayed announced that Barack Obama will join him on the campaign trail in Michigan later this month. While the former president will try to make El-Sayed as palatable to the public as possible, El-Sayed’s comments over Obama’s presidency reveal perhaps some animosity between them.

Long before El-Sayed ran for U.S. Senate in Michigan, he worked as a college professor and then as the public health director of Wayne County. His political aspirations emerged when he ran for governor in 2018, but he ultimately lost the battle to Gretchen Whitmer. To this date, he has never held elected office.

In El-Sayed’s words, Obama’s presidency was rife with political blunders, pandering to right-wingers, and poor choices.

Although he wasn’t officially a politician, El-Sayed had plenty to say about the political class in 2012, namely Barack Obama. He pulled no punches in a contributor piece for HuffPost, delivering an entire laundry list of grievances against the left’s darling former president.

“Obama’s re-election last night was no victory,” he opined on the morning after Obama secured a second term.

El-Sayed continued by digging into Obama’s failures to end the ongoing wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, a campaign promise that helped him secure the presidency. Not only did Obama renege on his promise, but he even expanded U.S. war efforts into Pakistan and Yemen.

Obama was also a big proponent of drone strikes, a move that “perpetuated a climate of American hate, distrust, and destruction,” according to El-Sayed.

Next, El-Sayed took shots at the Affordable Care Act, claiming that Obama’s “prized accomplishment” failed to meet expectations and instead delivered “a watered-down reform that kowtows to the interests of health care lobbies before it provides meaningful, secure access to health care for our society’s most desperate.”

Lastly, Obama “deported more people from our shores than any other president before him.” Although President Donald Trump is gaining on this number today, Obama still holds the deportation record, removing 3.1 million foreigners through Immigration and Customs Enforcement during his two terms.

RELATED: Abdul El-Sayed claims ‘Muslims literally built this country,’ only proves he ‘hates America’

Pat Gray Unleashed/BlazeTV

In El-Sayed’s words, Obama’s presidency was rife with political blunders, pandering to right-wingers, and poor choices. More importantly, El-Sayed identified Obama’s true super power: his “magnanimous” disposition with “captivating” prose and “fresh” perspective that duped the minds of the voters who made him president.

It’s this same charisma that El-Sayed plans to weaponize for his own political gain today. If Michiganders fall for Obama the way the nation did in 2008, El-Sayed has a true shot at securing the Senate seat.

Abdul El-Sayed has a history of using influencers to further his political career, sometimes to his detriment. Earlier this year, El-Sayed partnered with controversial streamer Hasan Piker, with the two appearing at events to boost El-Sayed’s clout with content creators. Unfortunately for El-Sayed, Piker’s ongoing comments about how much he hates America have left a stain on his election prospects, a stain that he hopes to erase with Obama at his side.

Poll Watch/Blaze Media

The Michigan race is close, with pollsters leaning toward Abdul El-Sayed as the favorite over Republican Mike Rogers. For the latest Michigan Senate seat updates — and to follow other important midterm races across the nation — check out Poll Watch, available for Blaze News, BlazeTV+, and Blaze Unlimited subscribers.

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​Barack obama, Huffpost, Abdul el-sayed, Senate, Senate race, Politics 

Vice President JD Vance says Microsoft and other firms have been suspended from a program temporary H-1B visa holders often use to gain permanent residency in the United States

The Trump administration has heavily criticized companies for allegedly abusing the H-1B program, replacing Americans at high-paying jobs with foreign workers.

‘You cannot lay off American workers and then replace them with foreign indentured servants.’

“Our message to Microsoft is, you’re a great American company, but you’ve got to hire great American workers,” Vance said at a press conference Thursday. “You cannot lay off American workers and then replace them with foreign indentured servants.”

Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling said Microsoft, Adobe, Cognizant, Infosys, Tata, Wipro, HCL, and Capgemini have been suspended from access to the Permanent Labor Certification Program that allows employers to sponsor H-1B visa holders for permanent residency.

Sonderling said that the suspended firms have requested nearly 3 million foreign workers since 2009. The firms also had more than 230,000 H-1B visa approvals and more than 100,000 permanent labor certifications.

Microsoft alone had laid off 6,000 American workers just last year while receiving 6,300 H-1B visas for foreign workers and nearly 3,000 green cards, according to Vance.

RELATED: How the H-1B visa replaces American workers

Vance added that they will suspend PERM access for Microsoft “until they show that they are going to get serious about putting American workers first.”

The administration has also served subpoenas and opened investigations into alleged visa abuse at Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Brown, the University of Pittsburgh, UC Davis, Caltech, Arizona State, and MIT.

“Nobody will be getting a free pass because their name is carved into an expensive building,” said Labor Department Inspector General Anthony D’Esposito.

Microsoft responded in a lengthy press release that claimed the vast majority of their H-1B applications in the last fiscal year were not new arrivals but people already in the U.S., or re-applications for current workers.

“We believe in the strength and talent of the American workforce. That is why the vast majority of Microsoft employees in the United States are Americans,” read the statement in part.

“Microsoft only files H-1B petitions for those who meet the rigorous standards of this visa category,” the company added. “We pay our employees some of the highest compensation in the tech sector, and our wages are among the highest of all H-1B filings. We pay our H-1B employees the same as any other employees doing comparable work.”

Editor’s note: This article has been edited after publication to include the Microsoft press release.

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​Fraud, H1b visa, Microsoft, Foreign workers, Jd vance, Politics 

What began as student demonstrations over overcrowded classrooms and deteriorating schools has erupted into riots, fires, arrests, and what French officials describe as “urban violence.”

The chaos unfolding in France reflects a deeper crisis that extends far beyond education policy. Rather, it shines a light on immigration, assimilation, and public safety.

“How did we ever get to this point?” one French woman asked in a video posted to social media. “France, like this jewel of European civilization, a country of extraordinary cultural wealth, brought to its knees by thugs with an IQ of 80? They only understand force, and we are too weak. We need to get rid of all empathy.”

“These people hate us and would like to see us dead, so we will never co-exist peacefully,” she continued.

“I love this statement. The peaceful solution,” BlazeTV host Nick Freitas comments.

“The peaceful solution is to say, ‘Hey, look, we let you into our country for whatever reason. We let you into our country. You obviously don’t like our country. We can tell by all the fires and riots and murders and rapes … so you’re going to go back,’” he says.

“That is a perfectly reasonable position to take,” he continues. “And yet, I promise you, if France actually tried to deport, because French deportation numbers are pathetic. It’s something like less than one in 10 of immigrants in France that actually have a deportation order.”

“If you don’t do that one, if you allow them to stay, and you allow it to grow, well then, eventually, what’s going to happen?” he asks, noting that France will become unrecognizable.

“French people that don’t want to have their country turn into the places that these immigrants fled from are going to have to fight,” he says. “The question is how do they do it? Because this is one thing I will remind all of my European friends as you regularly mock the United States for our gun deaths.”

Freitas points out that while almost all of America’s “gun deaths take place in 2% of the counties,” the American people “actually have the means to push back against a government that would completely ignore the voting public.”

“We actually have a federalist system that allows for state authority to provide some sort of pushback against federal authority,” he says, before asking, “Where do you have that in Europe?”

“Making the Argument with Nick Freitas” is available on BlazeTV+, YouTube, and major podcast platforms.

Start watching Nick Freitas NOW at blazetv.com and use the promo code NICK for $20 off your BlazeTV+ subscription.

​Riots, Fires, France, Immigration, Nick freitas, Blazetv show 

The 24-year-old quarterback for the New England Patriots may be only a couple of years removed from college, but he has still had plenty of time to look into conspiracy theories.

In fact, his time in college actually academically contributed to his knowledge of mysterious events.

‘I took a conspiracy class in college.’

Drake Maye spent 2021-2023 at North Carolina and revealed in a recent interview that he has been doing some heavy reading.

Not only did he graduate from college early, the third overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft earned All-ACC Academic Team honors in 2023 and graduated with a 3.2 GPA.

On Monday, the quarterback let the hosts at WEEI 93.7 FM in on his own secret: “I took a conspiracy class in college.”

This meant that Maye was prepared when he was asked by a fan which “wild conspiracy theory” does he rather believe in.

Maye prefaced his answer by saying that he didn’t want to get too controversial on the air, and after remarking on the thick New England accent of the caller, he replied: “I don’t know about the moon [landing], you know?”

Maye’s answer had one radio host elated, who felt he was now in lockstep with his local quarterback.

“I think it’s —” Maye began as he pondered the theory. “I can see back in the day of why we would put on the mask if we went there, but I’m not really sure 200% if we went there or not. I wouldn’t say I’m leaning one way or the other. I just know I’m a little bit skeptical.”

RELATED: Flock of Ravens swarm President Trump in Baltimore: ‘Do yall know this guy?’

The Huntersville, North Carolina, native seemed fairly well versed in conspiracy theories overall. While Maye said he is “not 200% sure” of the validity of the lunar landing, he did have the opportunity to participate in other wild discussions in college, too.

“Hitler being alive” was another theory Maye recalled hearing in the classroom, and “are birds real?” was another.

Maye described those as “some of the classic ones that you hear about.”

The host rejoiced in Maye’s apparent revelations and said he believed director Stanley Kubrick was behind the camera for the moon-landing hoax.

But the radio personalities did have questions about Maye’s knowledge on birds being fake. Maye answered with the following: “Just, like, the government has a say in some of the, you know, things, you know, birds flying around and whether they’re videoing or listening or something along the lines of that.”

Fair enough.

RELATED: Fans accuse Chicago Bears player of performing Muslim prayer during national anthem: ‘Is this respectful?’

HUM Images/Universal Images Group/Getty Images

Belief in the 1969 lunar landing depends heavily on time and geographical location.

While some outlets reported that Americans’ doubt in the lunar landings exploded in the 1970s, those numbers cannot be substantiated and may connect public sentiment to the release of the 1978 film “Capricorn One,” which focuses on a faked mission to Mars.

A 1999 Gallup poll showed that just 6% of Americans thought the moon landing was faked.

Across the Atlantic, 52% of more than a thousand British people polled in 2016 said the landing was faked.

As for the other side of the Cold War, in 2000, 28% of respondents in a Russian survey said they thought America never went to the moon. Interestingly, 16% said they had never heard of American astronauts landing on the moon in 1969.

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​Nfl, Conspiracy theories, Lunar landing, Drake maye, Sports 

Despite early recognition that their party’s obsession with gender ideology contributed to its humiliating electoral losses in 2024, Democrats have largely spent the past two years draped in the LGBT flag, defending so-called “gender-affirming care” and cross-dressing men in women’s sports.

With the midterm election just weeks away, Democratic Rep. Marcy Kaptur of Ohio has joined other vulnerable Democrats in changing her tune on trans extremism.

‘Your words create deep emotional harm.’

Kaptur was long a darling of the LGBT advocacy group Human Rights Campaign and like-minded activists. After all, she co-sponsored legislation that would prohibit public accommodations and federally funded programs from discriminating on the basis of so-called “gender identity” and voted in opposition to the Department of War’s ban on military “dudes in dresses.”

The congresswoman has, however, signaled a new approach in recent ads.

In one ad titled “Say No,” Kaptur noted that she has “said no to gender ideology in schools.” In a second ad pushed online late last month, she stated, “I voted with Republicans to keep transgender ideology out of our schools.”

In both instances, she was referring to how she voted with Republicans in May to pass the Stopping Indoctrination and Protecting Kids Act, which would require public elementary schools to obtain parental consent before changing a kid’s pronouns or sex-based accommodations.

According to Blaze News’ Poll Watch, Kaptur, the longest-serving woman in congressional history, is currently neck and neck with Republican Derek Merrin, whom she beat by only a few thousand votes in 2024.

RELATED: Trans radical who massacred kids in Canadian school allegedly had American support

Kaptur’s late-stage flip-flop has, of course, enraged the usual suspects.

Upon seeing one of Kaptur’s ads, Erin Reed, the romantic partner of cross-dressing Montana state Rep. Zooey Zephyr (D), wrote, “This is getting out of control,” adding, “Do NOT vote for anti-transgender Democrats.”

Former Kaptur intern Nick Fulton whined in the pages of the Buckeye Flame that “as a 27-year-old working journalist who challenges oppression and interrogates transphobia daily, I am embarrassed at Rep. Kaptur’s name on my resume. So much so that I removed it.”

“Rep. Kaptur might win over some far-right transphobes with this ad, but she is losing her integrity — and every queer voter who thought that her democratic membership meant allyship,” added Fulton.

The non-straight advocacy group Equality Ohio slapped Kaptur with a D-grade, noting that while she at one time “earned a 100% rating from the Human Rights Campaign,” she “recently released anti-trans ads.”

Lucas County Stonewall Democrats published a letter on Sept. 21 demanding that Kaptur take down her “transphobic ad” immediately, stating, “Not only do your words create deep emotional harm and place an unnecessary spotlight on our Trans community members, putting them in more danger than they already are given the current climate, but you have also now engaged in a race to the bottom with Republicans.”

The Christopher Steele Project, a trans advocacy group, whined, “We can want Democrats to win and secure a Democratic majority while also recognizing that the queer community’s organized political power does not have to fund the first Democrats willing to abandon us.”

Alienating her radical base may not have been worthwhile since Republicans have already framed Kaptur’s about-face as little more than naked election-time opportunism.

Her opponent, Derek Merrin, said at his rally with President Donald Trump on Saturday, “Marcy Kaptur is desperate to hold onto power. She is resorting to the typical career politician handbook: slander your opponent, distort the facts, and hope voters don’t check the record.”

“Marcy Kaptur is claiming that she no longer wants men to be able to play in women’s sports,” said Merrin. “The problem is she’s voted two times against a bill that would have prohibited that practice. She’s also co-sponsored six times the radical Equality Act that would allow men to play women’s sports and allow men into women’s locker rooms.”

National Republican Congressional Committee spokesman Zach Bannon told Fox News Digital, “Lies from desperate Democrat Marcy Kaptur can’t erase her radical record. Kaptur is in damage control, and she must remove herself as a co-sponsor of the Equality Act and disavow her previous votes or remove her lies from the airwaves.”

Kaptur’s change in messaging strategy comes months after Ohio gubernatorial candidate Amy Acton (D) was downgraded by Equality Ohio after she claimed that she does “not support boys playing in girls’ sports”; weeks after Democrat U.S. Senate candidate James Talarico of Texas walked back his support for men in girls’ sports “if it risks safety or fairness”; and days after North Carolina Rep. Don Davis (D) released a commercial in which he states that “there should always be a safe and fair space for women and girls in sports.”

Pew Research Center surveys found last year that:

73% of Americans are uncomfortable with trans-identifying athletes competing against members of the opposite sex; 66% favored requiring athletes to compete against members of their sex; 56% support making it illegal for health care professionals to provide minors with “medical care for a gender transition”; 49% support requiring trans-identifying people to use public bathrooms that match their sex; and 47% favor or strongly favor making it illegal for public schools to push gender ideology in elementary schools.

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​Marcy kaptur, Derek merrin, Human rights campaign, Transgender, Lgbt, Midterm election, Ohio, Trans, Gender ideology, Politics 

When the first McDonald’s restaurant opened in 1940, computers as we know them didn’t exist yet.

Today, they could be the reason it’s seemingly unaffordable to eat fast food.

‘AI does not set the price of a Big Mac or ⁠any other menu item.’

A lawsuit filed in federal court in Chicago is alleging that higher prices at McDonald’s are a result of price-fixing by way of an AI-powered algorithm.

The Chicago lawsuit claims the fast-food company illegally coordinates menu prices across franchises in the United States, using an AI pricing system that analyzes customer data on an ongoing basis.

The accusation argues that the algorithm tracks millions of daily transactions from its approximately 14,000 restaurants and generates pricing recommendations to its franchisees, the Daily Mail reported.

This would allow the prices to move in tandem or simply rise based on an AI estimation of how much customers in a specific area may be willing to pay.

“Independent businesses must set their prices independently,” the lawsuit said, per Reuters.

In fact, a Reuters investigation is cited in the lawsuit, which revealed a 21% markup between two McDonald’s locations just minutes away from one another.

The report said that in September, a store in Fresno, California, was selling a Big Mac for $5.69, while another location just two miles away had its Big Mac priced at $6.89.

RELATED: Yes, groceries are more expensive. Now what?

Tim Boyle/Newsmakers

“AI does not set the price of a Big Mac or ⁠any other menu item,” McDonald’s reportedly said in response to the lawsuit.

The golden-arched restaurant also stated that franchisees make their own pricing decisions and that the use of pricing recommendations using tools or analytics is widespread throughout the fast-food industry.

The aforementioned report noted that McDonald’s CEO Chris Kempczinski told investors in 2023 that the company had developed its own tools to evaluate pricing at individual restaurants. That same year, a location in Connecticut was allegedly told to charge $18 for a Big Mac meal at a location next to a state turnpike.

The franchisee has an ongoing lawsuit against the company, with McDonald’s having disputed the details and saying the entrepreneur repeatedly breached franchise agreements.

RELATED: Is this why everyone gets into fights at Taco Bell?

Charles-McClintock Wilson/NurPhoto/Getty Images

In the new lawsuit, a lawyer for the plaintiff said in a statement that McDonald’s is “leveraging its troves of data and its franchised system to nickel-and-dime consumers down to ⁠the last French fry.”

The plaintiff is reportedly seeking to represent millions of customers in a class-action lawsuit.

Blaze News previously reported on the spike in fast-food prices, which have steadily outpaced inflation rates in recent decades. McDonald’s was one of the named culprits, but Taco Bell was identified as the biggest alleged price inflator.

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​Artificial intelligence, Big mac, Mcdonald’s, Tech 

United States Ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra says Washington has lost patience with Prime Minister Mark Carney’s handling of trade negotiations — and sees little reason to make further concessions.

“We thought we had reached an agreement on two occasions with Canada. On two occasions now, Canada has walked away from an agreement,” Hoekstra said in an interview with Blaze News. “As people from our side look at it, you know, this is the best trade agreement that anybody in the world has been offered. And if that’s not good enough for Canada, you know, hey, we’ll wait. We’ll wait for Canada to come back and … ask to go back to the negotiating table.”

‘If the Canadian government wants the Canadians to see the elements of a trade deal, it’s the Canadian government’s responsibility to release them.’

Hoekstra suggested that repairing relations will require more than resolving differences over tariffs. Anti-American rhetoric from Canada’s federal and provincial governments, he said, has changed how Washington views its northern neighbor.

Hard bargain

“We no longer necessarily view Canada as Canadians liking America. You have multiple numbers of your premiers who are saying, ‘Do not travel to the United States.’ I think you now have 11 provinces and territories that ban American alcohol. You have another that has put 50% tariffs on it. So that’s 12 out of 13.”

The ambassador was particularly incredulous at Carney’s characterization of the trade dispute.

“You call a trade disagreement where, for a period of time, you were getting 93% to 95% of trade across the border tariff-free … you call that a trade war, OK?”

Canada’s rejection of the proposed agreement remains a source of contention. Carney has argued that American negotiators demanded concessions that would compromise Canadian sovereignty, including protections for French-language rights and Quebec culture. U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer has disputed Canada’s characterization of the negotiations.

Carney has refused to release the proposed agreement, even to Official Opposition Leader Pierre Poilievre, leaving Canadians unable to examine the terms for themselves.

Asked whether Washington would make the proposal public, Hoekstra placed the responsibility squarely on Ottawa.

“If the Canadian government wants the Canadians to see the elements of a trade deal, it’s the Canadian government’s responsibility to release them. We have decided not to release them.”

European vacation

Meanwhile, Carney has been pursuing closer economic and political ties with the European Union. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen recently floated the possibility of making Canada the EU’s first “associate member,” an arrangement whose terms have yet to be defined.

Hoekstra indicated that Washington would assess the consequences once Ottawa decides how far it intends to go.

“We’re more than willing to let Canada go through this process, determine exactly what it’s going to do with the EU as an associate member, and we’ll then take a look at how that may impact the relationship with the United States, either militarily or economically.”

Canada’s growing relationship with China is another source of friction. Hoekstra warned that steel, aluminum, and other Chinese materials could enter the United States through Canadian products, circumventing American trade restrictions.

“Transshipment is a huge irritant,” he said.

Hoekstra argued that the practice allows Chinese producers to compete unfairly with American manufacturers.

“It’s not putting Canadians to work except maybe shaping the steel and the aluminum, but it’s putting Americans out of work through unfair competition because they are using … in some cases … slave labor.”

RELATED: Want to avoid fixing Canada’s problems? Just blame Trump.

Bloomberg/Shauna Clinton/Getty Images

Mission to Mars?

The ambassador was less concerned about the possibility of an outright military confrontation between the two countries.

Asked about a recent New York Times interview in which Carney acknowledged considering the “extreme tail risk” of an American invasion of Canada, Hoekstra recalled an American general’s response to a similar question in Vancouver.

“I think one of our generals answered that question very effectively when he was asked about this a couple of weeks ago in Vancouver. ‘Yeah, and after that, why don’t you ask me about our plans to invade … the Martian soil.’”

Hoekstra’s outspoken style has irritated Canadian politicians, some of whom have even supported a petition to have him sent back to Washington.

The ambassador joked that not all of the petition’s supporters would be Canadian.

“If you see an American out in front of Parliament gathering signatures, it very well could be my wife.”

​Us trade representative, Canada, Trade, Mark carney, Donald trump, Pete hoekstra, Ambassador to canada, Lifestyle, China, Eu membership, Letter from canada 

A 77-year-old woman was in the parking lot of a Florida veterinary clinic before 4:30 a.m. Monday when investigators said a male attacked her, WJXT-TV reported.

The woman was at the Macclenny location at that hour because she regularly volunteers to feed community cats at local businesses, Baker County Sheriff’s Office Lt. Dave Mancini told the station later that day.

‘We usually don’t have things like that happen here.’

Mancini added to WJXT that deputies and county residents know the woman well because of her work in animal rescue.

Deputies responded to the parking lot following reports of gunfire, the station said, adding that the 77-year-old woman opened fire in self-defense at the male who attacked her.

The male in question was identified as 57-year-old Alvin Tyrone Tisdale of Macclenny, WJXT said, adding that he was taken to UF Health in downtown Jacksonville, where he died from his injuries.

The sheriff’s office told the station that the woman called 911 to report the shooting and has been cooperating with law enforcement; no arrests have been made, and the shooting remains under investigation.

Veterinary hospital staff noted to WJXT that they arrived for work after the shooting scene had been cleared and did not witness the incident.

RELATED: Top 5 of 2025: Women who fought back when coming face-to-face with crooks

Local residents were shocked by the incident but were grateful that the woman was able to defend herself, the station said.

“We usually don’t have things like that happen here. It’s unfortunate for sure,” Todd McRae told WJXT, adding that while he is sad about the violence, he is glad that the woman protected herself.

Another Macclenny resident, Samuriah Major, told the station that she feels similarly: “I feel like everyone should use self-defense in that scenario, but it’s sad on both ends. Domestic violence is real these days, and women reacting and defending themselves, finally standing up for themselves, because usually in this case it would be the woman dying.”

Those with information about the incident are asked to contact the sheriff’s office at 904-259-0251 or submit an anonymous tip to First Coast Crime Stoppers at 866-845-8477.

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​Elderly woman, Physical attack, Florida, Gun, Gun rights, Self-defense, 2nd amendment, Fatal shooting, Crime 

Eleven years after Donald Trump’s rise, the Republican Party still has not broken with the business interests that depend on cheap, abundant migrant labor. A handful of conservatives want to shut off the employment spigot and reduce both illegal and legal immigration. But too much of the party remains willing to protect longtime illegal workers in agriculture, expand guest-worker programs, or legalize workers already here when employers insist they cannot operate without them.

That’s the real fault line. Almost every Republican says border chaos is bad. The harder test comes when immigration enforcement raises labor costs for industries dependent upon a large foreign workforce.

When a party’s voters and its governing class want fundamentally different things on a defining issue, eventually the contradiction must break somewhere.

For years, Republicans have talked about focusing deportations on criminal aliens while treating workers in agriculture, hospitality, and other favored industries differently. That approach leaves the cheap labor pipeline largely intact. If employers can continue hiring illegal labor with little consequence, the incentive to come and remain does not disappear.

Republicans simply won’t protect our nation’s sovereignty. Instead, they build up a false dichotomy that points to one solution: amnesty.

Senator Jim Justice (R-W.Va.) made the tension explicit last month. He told Politico that ICE can get “carried away” and questioned “dragging people away that have lived on your street corner for 15 years.” He later issued a statement saying he supports Trump’s immigration strategy “full stop,” while emphasizing the removal of dangerous criminals.

Justice serves one of the most anti-illegal alien states. He did not endorse blanket amnesty outright. He didn’t need to. His comments reveal how quickly the politics change once enforcement reaches local industries and communities that have become addicted to illegal labor.

The same pressure surfaced in southwest Kansas after ICE operations disrupted meatpacking towns. Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) complained that local law enforcement had not received adequate notice and said the operations caused “mass disruptions to local communities and businesses.” Enforcement, he said, should be done “in a responsible and secure manner.” Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) likewise urged coordination with local police and said DHS told him the operation targeted people with criminal warrants.

Their complaint was about tactics and coordination, not ICE’s legal authority to remove illegal aliens. Still, the episode underscores the problem: Enforcement remains popular in the abstract until it collides with an employer’s workforce. Clearly, the problem is worse than we thought.

Rep. María Elvira Salazar (R) of Florida has gone further. In a campaign ad, she told Trump that some enforcement efforts had “gone too far” and said Hispanic voters who backed him in 2024 “feel betrayed.” Salazar explicitly said she was not proposing amnesty. But she has long favored a “legal-status framework” for many illegal immigrants already living and working here. In other words, amnesty.

RELATED: Kansas Republicans muddy the waters on ICE enforcement

Pat Greenhouse/The Boston Globe/Getty Images

The guest-worker side of the equation is even clearer.

House Agriculture Committee Chairman Glenn Thompson (R-Penn.) introduced the Securing Agriculture’s Workforce Act with 50 co-sponsors. The bill would allow H-2A labor certifications lasting up to three years, make it easier to transfer guest workers between employers, and let certain illegal farmworkers who were already here and had worked in agriculture apply for H-2A status. That is not citizenship, but it is a legalization mechanism tied directly to agricultural employment.

The administration has moved in the same direction on temporary labor. For fiscal year 2026, DHS and the Labor Department authorized up to 64,716 additional H-2B visas on top of the statutory cap for seasonal non-agricultural workers.

H-2A has no numerical cap. In October 2025, the Labor Department changed the methodology used to set the program’s minimum wage. The department itself estimated the rule would produce $2.46 billion in annualized wage transfers from H-2A workers to employers. A federal judge ruled the methodology unlawful in August but did not vacate the rule, leaving the wage rates in place while the litigation continues.

Whatever one thinks of the legal dispute, the economic direction is obvious: Washington is making foreign farm labor cheaper and easier to use.

In July, Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-Wash.) led a bipartisan letter — joined by six Republican senators and a number of House Republicans endorsed by Trump — asking the administration to reduce processing delays and structural barriers in the H-2A program. The letter did not ask Congress to raise a visa cap, because H-2A has none. It asked the executive branch to make the existing pipeline work more smoothly.

Sadly, this is not a fringe position inside the GOP. The cheap-labor lobby remains deeply embedded in the party’s agricultural and business wings.

Consider Nebraska. Gov. Jim Pillen (R) has embraced Trump’s immigration-enforcement agenda, yet a New York Times and Flatwater Free Press investigation found that Pillen Family Farms had employed undocumented workers at at least 20 hog farms. Court records showed at least a dozen workers charged with using fake or stolen IDs between 2015 and 2024. Pillen and the company say they never knowingly hired illegal workers and that the business now uses E-Verify. Still, it’s worth noting that Pillen’s farms have never been raided by ICE.

RELATED: The promise was mass deportation. The policy is carve-outs.

Al Drago/Bloomberg/Getty Images

Republicans often treat illegal farm labor as the least objectionable form of illegal immigration. In reality, it may be among the most transformative.

Over the past few decades, large agricultural employers have reshaped rural communities across the Great Plains by relying heavily on immigrant labor. In Schuyler, Nebraska, roughly three-quarters of the population is Hispanic, while 27% of students in the Central Nebraska school district are foreign-born — figures more commonly associated with major metropolitan areas like New York and San Francisco.

The political divide is less about whether mass immigration transforms communities than about where that transformation occurs. Democratic interests tend to favor it in large cities; Republican-aligned agricultural interests have helped bring it to rural America.

When a party’s voters and its governing class want fundamentally different things on a defining issue, eventually the contradiction must break somewhere. The Republican Party itself was born in 1854 when the old party system fractured over the expansion of slavery into the territories.

If Republicans cannot choose between an immigration policy built around American workers and one built around employers’ demand for ever more labor, voters may eventually make the choice for them — and let this party go the way of the Whigs.

​Agriculture, American workers, Amnesty, Deportations, Illegal immigration, Labor department, Republican party, Opinion & analysis