Two Southern towns in different states share the same name: Hartsville. They were both chosen as future sites for nuclear plants in the late 1960s and early 1970s. One of those nuclear plants was completed and went online, helping to foster a thriving and prosperous community. The other plant was canceled, leaving a derelict cooling tower as a reminder of what might have been for the downtrodden town that has been economically left behind. Hartsville, South Carolina, with its nuclear generating station, is thriving. Hartsville, Tennessee, with its for-profit penitentiary and abandoned nuclear project, is dying. The 'tale of two Hartsvilles' shows the power of a town producing an actual product — requiring technicians, skilled tradesmen, and engagement with local businesses. The Pamphleteer, a Nashville-based publication, published a piece by Hamilton Wesley Ellis titled “Atomic Hartsville: A small Tennessee town’s forgotten history as a nuclear leader.” The article draws a stark contrast between the two Hartsvilles — and explores what might have been if Hartsville, Tennessee, had completed its nuclear power plant. But this story goes beyond one town’s missed opportunity and another’s industrial success. It serves as an allegory for a larger truth: Industrial vitality sustains American communities. Where industry thrives, prosperity and opportunity follow. Where industry dies, decline sets in — dragging despair in its wake. A ‘tale of two Hartsvilles’ Ellis writes of Tennessee’s Hartsville: Today the nuclear plant is quiet as the grave. Surely the town of Hartsville would look different had the plant’s four reactors reached criticality and provided power to the region. Since opening its doors in 2016, the private prison next door has had three fatal stabbings, three COVID deaths, and multiple cases of assaults on guards, mental health workers, and inmates alike. The prison’s short brutal history has firmly established it as a more dangerous place than any operational nuclear facility in US history, but at least they’re hiring. The juxtaposition of a prison-based service economy and a nuclear-fueled industrial economy is certainly compelling, especially for those old Nader-ites still fighting against nuclear energy. Beyond the nuclear argument, the “tale of two Hartsvilles” shows the power of a town producing an actual product — requiring technicians, skilled tradesmen, and engagement with local businesses. This industrial ecosystem creates wealth, which is recirculated through a variety of other employers and supports an environment that enables a middle-class lifestyle. If completed, the four-unit Hartsville facility would have been the largest nuclear power plant in the world.Photo by Karen Kasmauski/Corbis via Getty Images To that point, Ellis observes: The South Carolina Hartsville is home to a university, technical college, and the state Governor’s School for Science and Mathematics. Hartsville, Tennessee, has a Dollar General. Both towns have roughly the same population, give or take a couple thousand people, but extremely disparate vibes. One is a thriving community built on science and industry, the other a struggling village blanched gray by a very long run of bad luck. Hartsville, Tennessee, is the story of too many such towns across the U.S. that have had a “long run of bad luck” — and that bad luck was no accident. It lies at the intersection of an America-last political mindset among our ruling class and a wicked business school philosophy that sees any labor expense as unacceptable. RELATED: Comparative advantage was built on patriotism. That’s gone. adventtr via iStock/Getty Images American jobs were outsourced to countries where working conditions often resemble slavery. That decision triggered an industrial collapse across large swaths of the United States. With the collapse came a cascade of local devastation. Community institutions fell apart. Economic activity dried up. Social pathologies filled the vacuum. The so-called “principled free traders” who once cheered the offshoring of American jobs now ridicule those calling for the reshoring of industry. They claim automation made industrial labor obsolete. Andrew Yang, a former Democratic presidential candidate, often promotes this idea, as he did in a 2019 New York Times op-ed headlined, “Yes, Robots Are Stealing Your Jobs.” Let’s bring workers home Maybe so. But if that’s the case, then let’s reshore those plants that are using robotics. Transportation costs should decrease significantly. If labor expense is so “reprehensible,” aren’t transportation expenses also bad? Moreover, automation still requires human workers to build, service, and install the robots, as well as skilled tradesmen to do the plumbing and electrical work. Moreover, people will need to deliver products from the bays, handle deliveries, service vehicles, and so on. Hartsville, Tennessee — with its decaying cooling tower looming over a long-abandoned project — stands as a monument to the dismantling of reliable energy and the destruction of industrial jobs. This is the green, globalist vision for America. By contrast, Hartsville, South Carolina, with its thriving industrial base and a product globalists love to sneer at, represents the America-first alternative championed by the MAGA movement. Whether it is nuclear power, appliances, microchips, or any other product, industrial manufacturing drives local prosperity. It circulates money through the economy, creates stable jobs, and builds strong communities. The United States doesn’t just benefit from this activity — it depends on it.

Republican support for gay marriage hit its lowest point in nearly a decade while Democrat support has never been higher.In a new Gallup poll, Americans were asked if they thought "marriages between same-sex couples" should be recognized by law, with the same rights as traditional marriages. Only 41% of Republicans thought they should be, while a whopping 88% of Democrats said the marriages should be legal.'Conservativism should begin with upholding God’s view of marriage between a man and a woman.'The GOP numbers represented the lowest amount of support for same-sex marriage in the poll since 2016 when it was 40%, while in 2015 it was just 30%.Democrats set a new record for themselves, though, and after losing a few percentage points the last couple of years, they increased the record responses from 2022, when the number was 87%.The entirety of support among U.S. adults has slowly trended down from its 2022 peak of 71% support to 68% in 2025.RELATED: Labeling you ‘phobic’ is how the left dodges real arguments Photo by: Lori Allen/NBC via Getty ImagesAmericans were also asked for their views on the "moral acceptability of same-sex relations," regardless of legality. Just 38% of Republicans deemed them morally acceptable, while 86% of Democrats polled agreed. Overall, 64% of U.S. adults deemed same-sex relations morally acceptable."If conservatives want to win, it’s time for them to start conserving," reporter Natasha Biase told Blaze News. "Conservativism should begin with upholding God’s view of marriage between a man and a woman."Far more Republicans agreed with Biase 30 years ago than they do today, according to Gallup's historical polling. Data dating back to 1996 shows Republican support for the idea did not exceed one-in-five until 2010. Since then, it has steadily increased, including its peak support of 55% — the only majority — from 2021 to 2022. It has trended down since then.RELATED: The sexual revolution enslaved us — here's how we break free A Filipino same-sex couple walks down the aisle in the Philippines in 2023. Photo by Ezra Acayan/Getty ImagesDemocrat support has had a less rocky incline. A majority of the party's voters have supported gay marriage since 2006. It dipped below 50% in 2005, after a majority in 2004, as well."I think this is happening because the slippery slope exists," Biase continued. "First, it was gay marriage, and now, it’s literal toddlers taking hormones because they think they are another gender."Since 2022, Democrats and independents have slowly continued to increase their support, but the downturn for Republicans has been enough to decrease the national average.Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

What happened to libraries? No, I’m not talking about school libraries being turned into propaganda factories, shelving what amounts to textual pornography for middle school students, all justified under the guise of “inclusivity.” That’s a discussion for another time. One December, as my wife left the library, a homeless man spit across the stairs onto the back of her dress. She turned around to find him quite satisfied with himself. I am talking about the fact that across the United States, a tragic number of public libraries have turned into daytime homeless shelters and temporary asylums for the mentally ill, the insane, and generally disturbed. Furious George Go to any public library in any big city, and you will see a security guard slowly patrolling the quiet floor. Every once in a while he wakes up a bum up who’s sleeping on a bench behind the periodicals. “No sleeping,” he mumbles as he nudges the drowsy man. Unkempt and disturbed homeless men in their 50s hunch over the computers while mothers pull their 3-year-olds close, hurrying past on their way to the children’s section. Hanging around, right inside the lobby in the winter, the insane argue as a fight is about to break out. You walk by, head lowered, hoping to get inside without attracting any attention. Great expectorations Years ago my wife and I lived in Milwaukee. The library there was like any city’s library. A big, beautiful building right downtown full of books — and vagrants. So many of these old city libraries are so structurally stunning, and there is something darkly poetic in this. These grand buildings, built at a different time, a higher time, now lower than ever. The bricks are the same, but their purpose has been degraded. One December, as my wife was leaving, a homeless man spit across the stairs onto the back of her dress. She turned around to find him quite satisfied with himself. This is the current state of these once-great testaments to literacy. There may be no greater metaphor for our collapsing society than the demise of the library. Before everyone had money to buy the books they want, the library was a lifeline. Before the internet and before everyone had a telephone in their homes, the library was an oasis of knowledge. In the desert of the new world, the library was a miraculous thing. It was a symbol of civilization itself. Goodnight, literacy Today, however, people don’t read. They can, I think. But they don’t, that’s for sure. They watch TikTok and rot their brains consuming gutter slop content. The majority of the population no longer desire the library like they once did. They, of course, still need the library, but they don’t want the library. This is another part of the story that is the demise of the library. The people are degenerating. Of course, some people still read. I read, you read, we all read here. What are you doing right now, after all? But many of us buy our books. Personally, I end up buying books so I can support the author and own the book myself. Often the books that I end up buying are a little off the beaten path, so they won’t be found in the library. Though I do use the library for a host of more general research purposes. Nevertheless, I know I am not the norm and neither are you. People don’t read. Do people refrain from reading because of the homeless in the library? Probably not. People don’t read because people are getting dumber and their attention spans are fried. Crime and... crime But there is a certain percentage of people who visit the library less because of the general anarcho-tyranny of the situation inside. My wife stopped visiting the library after she got spit on. I stopped after being worn down by the generally depressing scene of disheveled men sleeping next to the nonfiction. The homeless invasion of the library is a tragic example of a society that no longer has the will to keep order as it ought to be kept. The reason vagrants populate the library is the same reason cities tolerate shoplifting and general disorder. The institutions responsible for keeping order and maintaining a decent public space are too cowardly to do so. They sacrifice the rights of the upstanding citizen for the sake of the dysfunctional and disturbed. You might think that this all sounds too harsh. One might protest, “Homeless people have a right to be at the library too!” Well, to a degree, they do. But vagrancy is a thing, and we all know what it is. A farewell to harms There was a time when our public spaces were kept more orderly. When those disturbing the peace were told to move along and if they didn’t go on their own, they were made to go. The homeless have rights, but so does everyone else. Public spaces deserve to be orderly, and if our government and institutions can’t ensure that, then they are failing. There is a bigger question running like a thread through all this. Is it humane to turn the insane loose on the streets? For a while people were institutionalized; that was our solution. But then we stopped, and for the past few decades or so we’ve thought the best option was letting people go free, even if they end up harming themselves or others. Which way is the right way? That’s a big question. I don’t know what the exact answer is. I’m not sure there’s a solution that makes us all feel good. But what I do know is that the scene of mentally ill homeless people disturbing everyone else and turning the public library into a homeless shelter is an acute example of societal dysfunction and degeneration. There is something dark, depressing, and poignant about the scene of the city library today. This place where people used to learn before they fried their brains is now a homeless shelter.

An investigation into a teacher accused of saying "hail Satan" while wearing a devil costume in class led to more allegations that he had written inappropriate notes in yearbooks of his high school students. Jesse Ruiz taught math at Mesa High School in Arizona before he resigned from his post in November over his behavior in class. He has since agreed to a negotiated settlement that would suspense his teaching license for two years. 'What really tipped it over for me is he kept telling him no, and the teacher kept persisting.' As the Blaze reported previously, a student in the class expressed his discomfort about the incident from October to KPNX-TV. "Some people thought it was funny, some people didn't like it, some people were like 'whatever,' they just blew it off," said Nathaniel Hamlet, a sophomore at the time. He said that Ruiz waved the pitchfork over students' heads and said "hail Satan" to some. It bothered Hamlet because he is a professing Christian. "I said, 'Don't do that to me,' and I pushed [the pitchfork] away, maybe three or four times, and he still said it and still did it," Hamlet recalled. Hamlet told his father, who had been a Mesa Public School board candidate, and he complained to the principal of the school. "I was livid because I am a Christian as well, obviously," said the father to the station. “What really tipped it over for me is he kept telling him no, and the teacher kept persisting.”Ruiz had claimed that he had dressed up as a part of Halloween spirit week along with another teacher, who had dressed up as an angel. He was placed on administrative leave soon afterward. RELATED: Grade school teacher fired after admitting having bipolar disorder and psychosis, supporting satanism on social media Photo by Jacek Boczarski/Anadolu via Getty Images After Ruiz resigned and had his license suspended, Chris Hamlet told KPNX-TV that he thought the teacher could redeem himself after two years. But then he heard about other accusations against the teacher and changed his mind. Ruiz reportedly made inappropriate comments to students in their yearbooks. Some examples included: “[T]hanks for all the free Canes HEHE. Gay Sex ... LOL.” “I am gonna miss the f**k out of you ..."“You should have run away from home or we should have kidnapped you,” to a female student."I think about every day and especially when I found a new ... or some new eye candy ;) on Instagram," to the same student."That was the big red flag right there," Chris Hamlet said about the allegations. "This is the pattern, and it's very dangerous. They should have stopped him at Skyline. He should have never got to Mesa. ... I think they need to pull his license. He has no business teaching children."Ruiz will need to complete a course about professional boundaries after the suspension before he's allowed to teach again. Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here