A threat to livestock has re-emerged in South Texas and has prompted a significant response from state officials and food safety authorities in the Trump administration.

On Wednesday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture flagged a potential South Texas case of New World screwworm, a flesh-eating parasite that is considered a real threat to livestock.

‘These eggs hatch into dangerous parasitic larvae, or maggots, which burrow or “screw” into flesh with sharp mouth hooks.’

The USDA confirmed that a sample has been taken to the USDA’s National Veterinary Services Laboratories in Ames, lowa, for “confirmatory testing.”

The agency confirmed that it is monitoring the situation on the ground in coordination with local partners.

RELATED: Exclusive: CBP stops 300+ hatching eggs at the border — possibly preventing bird flu outbreak

Brandon Bell/Getty Images

The New World screwworm fly is a “devastating pest” whose larvae feed on the living tissue of warm-blooded animals, according to a USDA fact sheet available on a website page dedicated to screwworm information. A screwworm is roughly the size of a common house fly.

New World screwworm “flies lay eggs in open wounds or orifices of live tissue. These eggs hatch into dangerous parasitic larvae, or maggots, which burrow or ‘screw’ into flesh with sharp mouth hooks. NWS primarily infest livestock, but can also affect any warm-blooded animal, including wildlife, pets, humans, and birds,” according to a Texas Animal Health Commission document.

The screwworm fly thrives in warm, humid environments, making the national spread of screwworm unlikely.

On Wednesday night, Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins announced that the tests at the laboratory in Iowa confirmed the detection of New World screwworm. She added that it was found in a “3 week old bovine in Zavala County, Texas.”

In another post, Rollins assured the public that “our food supply is 100% safe. This potential New World Screwworm detection is being fully contained and is not a harm to the American food supply or consumer safety.”

She added that a return of the parasite was expected last year, according to available predictions: “All models showed NWS coming to the U.S. last summer/early fall — so a big thank you to our partners across the industry and local, state and the entire Trump administration for unprecedented action that gave us almost an extra year to prepare for this moment.”

The extra time bought by those monitoring the situation may prove crucial in an already precarious moment for the beef industry.

According to an analysis of the USDA’s annual report on U.S. cattle inventory released on January 30, 2026, the cattle herd stands at 86.2 million head, its lowest point in 75 years. Beef prices have already been on the rise month over month for the past year with little relief in sight, and any drop in supply could drive them even higher.

Rollins encouraged all farmers to follow movement restrictions and treatment guidance provided by the Texas Animal Health Commission.

The Texas Animal Health Commission published a press release on Wednesday, stating that the agency has been preparing for a resurgence of NWS cases for “over two years” since “northward progression from Central America was observed in 2023.”

The U.S. government has historically had success eradicating the parasite and continuously pushing cases farther southward. The USDA, in fact, “declared the United States free of indigenous screwworms as early as 1966,” despite a severe outbreak with 90,000 cases in Texas alone by 1972.

The best method of stopping the spread of NWS is the mass release of sterile flies into the region in which cases are found. Flies are sterilized by being irradiated with gamma rays before being released into the area.

In April, the USDA and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers broke ground on an $8.5 million sterile fly production facility at Moore Air Base in Edinburg, Texas. The initial facility is expected to be operational late 2027 with the production of 100 million sterile flies per week. The project will be scaled further to increase the production to 300 million flies per week in an effort to bolster the United States’ domestic strategy against the screwworm.

Rollins reportedly called the response an “all of Trump administration effort,” according to CNN.

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​Brooke rollins, Usda, Texas, Politics 

Vickrum Digwa, the Sikh who fatally stabbed and maligned white 18-year-old Henry Nowak in the U.K. in December, was convicted of the teen’s murder last week and sentenced on Monday to a minimum of 21 years in prison.

The British public now wants accountability for the police officers who responded to the scene of Nowak’s murder — those who reflexively accepted the Sikh’s false claim that the dying teen was a racist aggressor, arrested and handcuffed Nowak based on those false accusations, and then dismissed his final pleas.

‘They just hate white people.’

Following the release of bodycam footage showing Nowak’s undignified death in the custody of members of the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary — one of whom has resigned — hundreds of Britons took to the streets of southern England in protest. Politicians, meanwhile, sounded off about the discriminatory policies and practices that lay the groundwork for the teen’s mistreatment.

Amnesty International decided to chime in on Tuesday with a tone-deaf statement that critics seized upon as further evidence of the organization’s ideological capture and moral bankruptcy.

Rather than condemn the police’s treatment of Nowak, Amnesty International — a London-headquartered NGO that is purportedly committed to challenging “injustice wherever it exists,” confronting “uncomfortable truths,” and pushing for “transformative change, even when it’s unpopular or politically inconvenient” — condemned the reactions from right-leaning politicians.

“At a time when hate crimes are rising, and violence and fear are becoming a daily reality for people of colour and migrants, calls for ‘cold, hard rage’ are completely reckless,” stated Amnesty International.

RELATED: Two-tier Britain finally has its George Floyd moment

Britons take to the streets to protest Henry Nowak’s treatment at the hands of Southampton police. Finnbarr Webster/Getty Images.

The “cold, hard rage” quote derives from a statement from Reform U.K. Party leader Nigel Farage: “The fear of being called racist was greater than dealing with Henry Nowak’s murder. We should respond to this with pure cold rage. Britain’s historic way of life is being thrown away.”

While acknowledging that Nowak’s murder “is an awful tragedy,” Amnesty International said that “irresponsible narratives of two-tier policing seek to sow division and fly in the face of decades of evidence of institutional failure within policing and disparities faced by racialised communities. This includes many cases of deaths in police custody for which meaningful steps towards accountability are long overdue.”

Amnesty International filed this reality–averse statement under “racial justice.”

Charlie Weimers, a Swedish member of the European Parliament, said in response to the NGO’s statement, “Amnesty has been morally bankrupt for a long time. A pure left-wing organization.”

“Amnesty International lost its moral compass many years ago,” wrote former Canadian Defense Minister and Alberta Premier Jason Kenney. “Sad that an organization that used to be hugely effective in advocating for prisoners of conscience was coopted to become a boringly predictable voice for the left’s omnicause.”

Amnesty International has in recent years expanded its advocacy to include championing abortion, pushing climate alarmism, and advancing the cause of LGBT cultural imperialism.

Turning Point USA contributor Jack Posobiec emphasized, “It’s not complicated. They just hate white people.”

Amnesty International was hardly alone in its effort this week to gaslight the public about two-tier policing in the United Kingdom.

Nigel Farage demanded in parliament on Wednesday that British Prime Minister Keir Starmer “end this divisive practice of two-tier policing and make sure that all British citizens are treated the same.”

The leftist prime minister, who briefly expressed horror this week over Nowak’s mistreatment by police, responded by saying, “I don’t believe there’s two-tier policing in this country.” He proceeded to accuse Farage of attempting to exploit the tragedy.

While Starmer is evidently keen to pretend the U.K. doesn’t practice two-tier policing, the National Police Chiefs’ Council has announced it is reviewing its anti-racism guidance that, as currently worded, explicitly calls for treating people differently on the basis of race:

Our commitment to racial equity means producing equality of policing outcomes for people from different ethnic groups by responding to individuals and communities according to their specific needs, circumstances, and experiences, with understanding that these will be racialised and with the aim of reducing harm. It does not mean treating everyone “the same” or being “colour blind” (racial equality).

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​Henry nowak, United kingdom, Britain, Policing, Racism, Discrimination, Murder, Sikh, Immigration, Dei, Leftism, Police, Amnesty international, National police chiefs’ council, Keir starmer, Nigel farage, Politics 

President Donald Trump ousted Pam Bondi from the attorney general role on April 2, then announced that “very talented and respected Legal Mind” Todd Blanche, Trump’s former personal attorney, would be stepping in to serve as acting attorney general.

In the months since, several names have been floated as possible long-term picks for the position, including EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), and Republican Sens. Mike Lee of Utah and Ted Cruz of Texas.

The president announced his choice of nominee at a private White House Rose Garden dinner on Wednesday: acting AG Blanche.

In a video shared to social media by deputy White House Chief of Staff Dan Scavino, Trump said, “Tomorrow I’m instructing Dan and everybody else that’s involved in that very complicated process, which is gonna go, I think, very quickly, that we are going to make him permanent attorney general.”

Democrats wasted no time condemning Trump’s choice of candidate and vowing to block Blanche’s confirmation.

U.S. Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) told CNN’s Laura Coates on Wednesday evening that Blanche doesn’t have enough votes in the Senate to be confirmed, then characterized the acting AG as inexperienced.

RELATED: ‘We cannot allow Lunatics to change our way of life’: Trump makes big announcement about WHCD

Gage Skidmore/Getty Images

“This is a man that has been involved in investigating the chairman of the Fed, investigating former people that the president has perceived as his enemies. And they’re weaponizing that agency. They’ve even gone after United States senators,” said Booker.

“His only qualification, which seems to be all that President Trump wants from people, is that they are willing to do his bidding and they will act like his own personal attorneys, which he was, and not like somebody upholding the highest law enforcement office in the land,” continued Booker.

So far under the leadership of acting AG Blanche, the Justice Department has made progress on several fronts, securing, for instance, indictments against disgraced former FBI Director James Comey, the Southern Poverty Law Center, and former Cuban President Raul Castro; creating the National Fraud Enforcement Division; and addressing the fallout of the Biden administration’s government weaponization efforts.

After Coates pointed out that Blanche “does have legal experience, obviously” — noting that he has been a prosecutor, has worked in a law firm, and has already been tested as acting AG — Booker insinuated that some of his Republican colleagues are similarly uncertain about Trump’s pick, adding, “This is not a serious person.”

Having ironed out his talking points on CNN, Booker later said more of the same on MS NOW.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) melted down over the announcement, stating, “Corrupt & compromised by feckless Trump fealty, Blanche is a nonstarter as AG.”

“There’s no way we should confirm an AG who will continue as Trump’s personal lawyer, not the people’s,” added Blumenthal.

While Democrats have cast doubt on whether the Senate will confirm Blanche, it confirmed him as deputy attorney general last year in 52-46 vote.

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​Donald trump, Cory booker, Attorney general, Justice department, Todd blanche, Justice, Confirmation, Nomination, Congress, Politics 

We’re but days into the month of June, and already the LGBTQ+ agenda is being shoved down everyone’s throats — and that includes children.

“Even Elmo has fallen victim this year,” BlazeTV host Sara Gonzales says.

She displays the following Pride Month post from “Sesame Street”:

“It’s a kids’ show. … They’re puppets, so I don’t understand why we are talking about sex at all. Are they sexually active puppets?” Sara quips.

“There’s just absolutely no excuse for a children’s show celebrating who adults want to sleep with. There’s no innocent excuse, I should say. There are a lot of excuses that are completely demonic and evil,” she continues.

Sara points out that even parts of the rainbow community — specifically the “LGB” part — are beginning to get tired of the propaganda. She reads a fiery social media post from X user Cynthia Holt, a self-described lesbian and MAGA supporter:

“As a lesbian, I’m f**king LIVID right now at Sesame Street for pushing this Pride Month indoctrination garbage straight at little kids. … There is NO TQIA+. The LGB community does NOT want or allow this groomer pedo agenda shoved down our throats or anywhere near our children,” she wrote.

“We fought for basic rights and acceptance, not this delusional, hyper sexualized takeover that’s confusing kids, erasing actual same-sex attraction and turning childhood into a grooming playground. Sesame Street used to teach letters and numbers. Now you’re teaching toddlers to question their biology and celebrate fetish parades,” Holt continued.

Sara calls Holt’s excoriations “very valid statements.”

“Ten years ago when I was just making videos in my home, I literally said … I’m pretty sure the L’s, the G’s and the B’s are like, ‘We don’t want anything to do with the T’s,’” she laughs, acknowledging how many gay, lesbian, and bisexual individuals refuse to deny “biological reality.”

But unfortunately, Pride solidarity extends far beyond “Sesame Street.” Many corporations are participating in Pride Month this year, despite the financially disastrous consequences of companies like Target and Bud Light.

Sara expresses confusion at this ongoing advocacy when we’re living in a time where the LGBTQ+ tides are turning.

“You’re having these trans surgeries for kids that are being banned all across the country. People are waking up to it. It’s not cool anymore,” she declares.

“So it kind of boggles the mind that you still have these companies that are pushing this trans-gay agenda because it always seems to backfire.”

To hear more, watch the episode above.

Want more from Sara Gonzales?

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

​Sara gonzales unfiltered, Pride month, Sara gonzales, Sesame street 

In the murder trial of Karmelo Anthony — who was 17 when authorities charged him with murdering high school star athlete and fellow 17-year-old Austin Metcalf in a stabbing at a Frisco, Texas, track meet in April 2025 — the prosecution dismissed all prospective black jurors before 12 jurors and six alternates finally were selected Wednesday, KTVT-TV reported.

The prosecution argued that the circumstances surrounding the crime are “race-neutral” and a diverse panel of jurors isn’t needed, the station said, adding that Judge John Roach overruled the objection. Anthony is black; Metcalf was white.

‘This is close enough to home that I’m not confident that I could be completely fair.’

The juror pool began with 589 prospective jurors, the station said, which was narrowed down after prosecutors and defense attorneys vetted them, KTVT said.

When prosecutors asked prospective jurors if media coverage of the case led them to form opinions, several responded that it had; the station said one replied, “I don’t know if it’s going to affect me, but I can’t tell you those thoughts are not inside my head.”

Another prospective juror who identified as an educator in the Frisco Independent School District — where Anthony and Metcalf both attended different high schools — said “this is close enough to home that I’m not confident that I could be completely fair,” KTVT reported.

Prospective jurors also were asked if Anthony’s race and age would influence their judgment, and one potential juror whom prosecutors identified as African-American said he would “have a hard time putting a brother in jail,” the station added.

RELATED: Blaze News original: ‘Austin Metcalf got exactly what he deserved — point blank, period’: Karmelo Anthony defenders go viral

KTVT said Anthony’s attorney, Mike Howard, plans to argue that his client stabbed Metcalf, who was unarmed, in self-defense after an altercation.

The station said prospective jurors also were asked if they would hold it against Anthony if he didn’t testify, and one prospective juror acknowledged that “silence is deafening; it matters. It’s difficult to ignore.”

KTVT said several prospective jurors were annoyed at Howard for asking them, “How do you feel about the country’s immigration policies?”

The station said some of them refused to answer, noting that the subject is irrelevant.

The prosecution and the defense were each allowed to dismiss 10 prospective jurors, KTVT said, adding that the 12 jurors and six alternates were seated just after 5 p.m. Wednesday.

Opening statements are scheduled to commence Thursday morning, the station said.

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​Karmelo anthony, Austin metcalf, Texas, Frisco, Murder trial, Race, Black jurors dismissed, Crime 

Earlier this month I saw our old house in Pacific Palisades again, risen from the ashes in all its beautifully unremarkable splendor. In fact, the entire cul-de-sac had been restored, and when I followed Dulce Ynez to Jacon and then out onto Marquez, I passed all the familiar shops. There was Ronny’s Market, open for business, just as it was that Monday night 15 months ago when I stopped in for beer and toilet paper.

A mile or so down Sunset, Gelson’s supermarket was back too, along with the churches and the schools and the yogurt shops. So were other, more personal landmarks — sites of playdates and family dinners and Halloween parties, homes with addresses as familiar as my own.

We all remember Bass’ first public appearance during the fire: ambushed by a Sky News reporter as soon as she got off the plane from Ghana.

Like a ghost, this eerie figment of memory vanished the moment I went to get a closer look. One click on street view and I was back among the barren empty lots and charred ruins we had all come to accept as the new Pacific Palisades.

Map in the face

Why did Google Maps revert to pre-fire imagery of the Palisades (and Altadena, for that matter) sometime in mid-May?

It’s not unusual for Google to rely on older aerial photos for some maps, but after our town burned to the ground, the company seemed to make a special effort to document its destruction and slow recovery.

Anyone wanting to remember the complete and total devastation of the Palisades can go into Google Earth’s history and see the town flattened like Dresden in the first update, published just three weeks after the fire. Click through and you get a new aerial image roughly once a month until that September — at which point it’s as if somebody looked at the slow pace of rebuilding and decided it wasn’t worth the effort to take pics every month. And so the Palisades circa early fall 2025 remained the default.

Until sometime last month. Suddenly, with a looming mayoral election putting renewed scrutiny on incumbent Karen Bass’ much-criticized handling of the disaster, the most powerful tech company on the planet memory-holed what happened. Nothing to see here, folks.

At least, that’s how the “conspiracy theory” goes.

Wack job

Conspiracy theory: That’s what people like us — educated, affluent, well traveled — call such speculation. The phrase rolls off the tongue with a knowing, detached amusement — betraying just a hint of condescension for the benighted masses too paranoid to accept the unnamed Google spokesperson’s perfectly reasonable explanation:

This is a technical issue triggered by a recent, routine update to satellite imagery in Google Maps and Earth, which accidentally restored old imagery from before the fires. We’re fixing it ASAP.

Now that’s a response the old me could have gotten behind. Of course! A “technical issue.” “Routine update … accidentally restored …” It all checks out. I mean … I think. I use Google. I read the Economist. I know upper-level management at Netflix. My kid goes to the same school as the guy who designed the Cybertruck.

I don’t know exactly how it all works, but I believe the science — and I’m definitely not going to waste anyone’s time (“We’re fixing it ASAP”) with embarrassing, half-understood accusations. That’s what a conspiracy theorist does.

Hopelessly demoted

Why does that label sting? To paraphrase the old saw about capitalism, most of us see ourselves as temporarily embarrassed elites, no less capable or in control than the people we vote for. To express anger and frustration at them implies dependence. I’ve always thought that the most embarrassing thing about being a conspiracy theorist isn’t that it makes you look gullible. It’s that it shows everybody how helpless you feel.

Well, after days spent sweating through cheap paper hazmat suits, awkwardly scrabbling over ash-covered piles of twisted metal and carbonized particleboard in search of any remotely recognizable token of our previous lives, I’m no longer so self-conscious.

Months of misplaced documents, unfiled claims, and phone calls in which I invariably subject well-meaning strangers to me at my meanest, most self-pitying worst have made me realize there’s only so much we can control.

Most crucially, almost a year and a half of gaslighting, buck-passing, and bureaucratic bulls**t have made me so desperate for the straightforward, unvarnished truth that I no longer care about asking for it politely.

In other words, brothers and sisters, pass me the tinfoil hat, because I’m ready to start connecting some dots.

The author’s house before …

… and after. Photos courtesy Matt Himes

Loudmouth at large

Did Karen Bass or someone on her team actually call up someone at Google and ask them to make her re-election bid just that much easier? I don’t know. I don’t care.

Anyone with a modicum of imagination — and nothing fires up the imagination like coming face-to-face with the kind of apocalyptic destruction you’ve previously only seen in Michael Bay movies — can tell you the timing of this curious digital switcheroo doesn’t look good. Would it hurt Google to admit it?

Credit where it’s due: The only reason the company deigned to say anything at all was likely because of Spencer Pratt. He wasn’t the first to bring it to Google’s attention, but he was apparently the first person loud enough to merit an official response.

That’s because from the moment his own house burned down, Pratt started talking and hasn’t stopped. He has built a loyal local following by relentlessly calling out everybody he thinks failed the Palisades: Karen Bass, the LAFD, Gavin Newsom.

There were plenty of times he probably should have kept his mouth shut. Sometimes he seemed whiny or self-pitying. He was given to exaggeration and didn’t always aim his attacks precisely. But he also didn’t care what people thought, and this let him state the most obvious truths and ask the most basic questions that nobody else would touch.

Heel turn

Pratt is a former reality-star villain who thinks he’s “qualified” to run Los Angeles. That’s the joke his detractors never tire of telling. But the joke only works if you start with a specific idea of leadership.

Mayor Karen Bass exemplifies it. She has decades of public-sector experience and an easy familiarity with the levers of power. She understands the intricacies of policy and the necessity of compromise. She’s not very charismatic or compelling, but she knows how to project the kind of calm managerial competence that lets good liberals like us relax and take our eyes off the news.

But suddenly we were the news, and the last thing we wanted was to be “managed.”

We all remember Bass’ first public appearance during the fire: ambushed by a Sky News reporter as soon as she got off the plane from Ghana, she stared straight ahead for two and a half excruciating minutes, saying nothing, as if by standing completely still she could make herself disappear.

Bass found her words in time for the first official press conference, of course. But by then it was clear that the standard-issue pablum about unity and strength and resilience was just another defensive strategy to keep predators at bay.

Maybe that’s why the Google maps thing struck a nerve. It would have been easier to ignore if it didn’t seem like the crudely literal embodiment of Karen Bass’ primary political instinct during these long months of recovery: to put this whole mess behind her as quickly and as painlessly as possible.

RELATED: Dispatch from Pacific Palisades: A harrowing view of California’s competency crisis

Apu Gomes/Getty Images

Prattriots in control

It’s easy not to think about leadership until it fails you. Spencer Pratt as mayor? It never would have occurred to me; I doubt it ever occurred to him. Yet the fact remains that when thousands of people felt abandoned, confused, angry, and unheard, he was willing to make a spectacle of his own rage and pain on their behalf.

Was it self-indulgent? A way of making it all about him? Maybe at first. But at some point, Pratt was no longer just talking about himself. He was speaking for us too, saying things many of us were saying in private, while making it clear that none of the usual tactics — the bad-faith appeals to civility, patience, unity — were going to work on him. As they say in the reality biz, he wasn’t here to make friends.

It’s June 2026 now, and many of the things Spencer Pratt was mocked for saying no longer sound especially controversial. So much so that Jimmy Kimmel can go on his show and say of course Los Angeles’ current leadership is useless; everybody’s always known that; kudos to Pratt for saying so, but anyone who thinks that’s a reason to hand him the city is an idiot.

Sure, Pratt can identify the problem, but he has no idea how to fix it.

Skin in the game

But was identifying the problem really that easy? Kimmel didn’t do it. A few days after the fire, he was back on the air, fighting back tears as he praised the firefighters and condemned “our future president and his gaggle of scumbags” for daring to criticize Newsom and Bass.

I’ve talked to many of my fellow Palisadians about that long, terrible day, and two things hold true for everyone, regardless of the political views. Nobody saw a single fire truck come to help them. And nobody was thinking about Donald Trump.

Spencer Pratt has made a lot of us understand that leadership is not merely a matter of credentials or expertise. For those of us used to treating politics as a lifestyle choice, it took being brought to our knees to admit that we needed something more. It’s so simple a 5-year-old could understand it: Tell the truth about what happened, accept responsibility for what went wrong, and vow to prevent it from happening again.

In this post-Christian age, we like to think of ourselves as rational, self-reliant people who are above such symbolic gestures. Yet many of us occupy positions where we take it for granted that our concerns will be heard and our questions answered. The shock of the fire was compounded by a second shock: the realization that nobody in authority was really listening.

For once, Los Angeles is behind the times; a lot of Americans have known this for years. That could explain the interest the entire country has taken in this local contest. If the hopeful schemers and would-be main characters of our country’s broken-down dream factory can see themselves clearly, anyone can.

​Pacific palisades fire, California, Election, Spencer pratt, Karen bass, Nithya raman, Mayor, Los angeles, Gavin newsom, Donald trump, Lifestyle 

A Muslim, pro-Palestine valedictorian from a North Carolina high school blasted U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement during her commencement speech last week, which a school official is seen on video cutting short.

During the graduation ceremony for Clayton High School last Thursday, Leen Hijaz delivered the welcome speech, WRAL-TV said, adding in its video report that Hijaz is the valedictorian of the graduating class.

As Hijaz reached the closing remarks of her speech, she began commenting about ICE and Palestine, the station said. The following is the transcript of Hijaz’s final words based on a video recording:

Before I leave the stage, I have one last thing to say. Every single person here has a voice, and we are privileged to have the freedom to use it when so many people around the world are struggling and suffering to be heard. Whether it’s the millions suffering in Palestine, Sudan, Congo, Afghanistan, and so many other countries around the world, or the families being torn apart by ICE, these are not distant issues; they are happening right now as I speak. My point is, we’re not given a voice to stay silent.

Then what appeared to be a school official approached Hijaz at the podium and cut off her speech, after which Hijaz turned and sat down in her seat onstage.

Nevertheless, the crowd gave Hijaz a big round of applause.

Below is the clip of her off-script words:

RELATED: Hillary Clinton, other leftists praise HS valedictorian’s surprise, unapproved speech attacking pro-life ‘heartbeat bill’ in Texas

The moment was captured on video as Clayton High School live streamed the commencement ceremony on the school’s YouTube page, WRAL reported.

What’s more, Hijaz on her TikTok account the day after the graduation ceremony said her diploma was being withheld due to her words in her speech, the station said.

“What I focused on throughout my entire life was my education, and for something so important to me, something that I worked hard for 12 years of my life to get taken from me, I feel oppressed,” Hijaz said, according to WRAL.

Hijaz in her TikTok video also identified herself as a Muslim and added that she was the graduating class’ valedictorian even though she was technically a junior, noting that she graduated early.

Hijaz added that for six months she did “a lot of fighting to get on that stage” before the school “gave in and they said that I could do the welcome speech.”

“The only reason why I wanted to go on that stage is because I wanted to say something,” Hijaz said in her TikTok video. “And I really think that somebody had to say something because nobody else is going to speak up. Nobody.”

Hijaz added in her TikTok video that when the high school principal approached her at the podium, the principal said that “if you don’t stop speaking right now, you’re not graduating.”

What’s more, Hijaz said in her TikTok video that her diploma was going to be “withheld for a week.”

RELATED: ‘Substantial risks’: USC releases outside commencement speakers just days after axing Muslim student’s valedictorian speech

The News & Observer said the school’s principal didn’t respond to an email requesting comment on the incident.

In a statement provided to WRAL, Johnston County Public Schools said students were required to submit their remarks well in advance of graduation and that a student deviated from what administrators preapproved.

“School administrators intervened in order to maintain the integrity and focus of the program in real time,” the district said, according to the station. “This action was not about limiting a student’s voice but about ensuring that a school-sponsored event remained consistent with its intended purpose.”

In her TikTok video, Hijaz said she didn’t submit the end of her speech as part of her official speech because she said the school would’ve denied it “immediately because of how racist they are.”

“I was extremely scared to say something and really wasn’t planning on doing it, but I had so much support from my friends and family around me, and they really encouraged me to say something,” Hijaz said in her TikTok video, adding that “I didn’t get the chance to say everything I wanted to say, but I said enough that the word went out.”

Hijaz added in her TikTok clip that her principal was yelling her name and making her feel “uncomfortable” — and that later the principal said that she was “so disappointed” in Hijaz and that the valedictorian “made this all about” herself and “abused” the “privilege to speak.”

The school district told WRAL that while it respects students’ right to express their views and encourages important conversations concerning their views, they also have “a responsibility to ensure that official school events remain inclusive, respectful, and focused on celebrating all graduates.”

“We remain committed to supporting student expression while upholding the structure and expectations of school-sponsored activities,” the district said, according to WRAL.

WRAL added that the school district has given Hijaz’s diploma to her.

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​Education, Immigration and customs enforcement, Ice, Commencement speech, Leftists, Palestine, North carolina, High school, Valedictorian, Muslim, Politics 

Computers and their graphics processing units are becoming hot commodities, and prices seem poised to get worse, not better.

Demand for processors is set to affect everything from gaming to run-of-the-mill memory sticks, resulting in a pincer attack on consumer wallets.

‘AI demand is driving up the price.’

Blaze Media’s Auron MacIntyre noted a recent price spike in handheld gaming device Steam Deck; a product that has been on the market for about four years increased in price by $300 in May.

“Over the entire history of video games, systems went down in price as they get older,” MacIntyre wrote on X. “You might say ‘who cares it’s a child’s toy’ and fair enough but it’s a signal of a wider trend[.] The price is skyrocketing because AI demand is driving up the price on all physical computing hardware from video processors to RAM.”

The culprits in the processor gold rush are tech and AI companies buying up GPUs — which are typically used in phones, laptops, and gaming consoles — to power their data centers.

Just a few years ago, a few thousand GPUs in a single facility was considered cutting edge. Now, upwards of 100,000 GPUs are “interconnected through high-speed networking systems designed to operate as a single computational unit” inside one building, according to DataCenters.com.

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While the mind may imagine an all-powerful energy source or an unseen technology at the core of these sprawling data centers, photos inside the facilities show they are quite literally thousands of computers plugged into each other, powering the demands of search engines and AI agents.

The writing has been on the wall since at least 2024; Microsoft bought 485,000 Nvidia Hopper GPUs that year. Meta bought an estimated 224,000, ByteDance bought around 230,000, and xAI purchased 200,000 (per Data Center Dynamics).

Last November, Tech Powerup noted official “warnings” from manufacturers that price hikes would be unfolding as memory costs rose over 170% year-over-year.

This prediction turned out to be accurate as GPU pricing has risen between 5% to 20% or more, according to Fusion Worldwide. The outlet notes shortages in high bandwidth memory, graphics double data rate, and dynamic random-access memory.

This has led to product lead times of an additional three to seven months.

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Jim WATSON/AFP/Getty Images

Consumers may be well served to hoard some GPUs for themselves too. The demand is not only making prices increase, but depreciation is slower as well.

Business Insider recently cited a company selling refurbished GPUs that said in the second year of a processor’s life, it only loses 15 cents on the dollar. In its third year, the same GPU is only losing one additional cent and can be sold for 84 cents on the dollar.

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​Computers, Return, Video games, Data centers, Ai, Gpus, Tech