Across generations, the American Dream has been sustained by one simple idea: Hard work and smart decisions can lead to a better life. That belief shaped my own family’s story, and it’s what drives my work today. My parents came legally to America from Nigeria, believing this country would give them and their future children a chance to accomplish more than they ever could dream. They were right. My father, who became a college professor, saved every penny he could and used it to change the lives of me and my sisters. When he passed away, he left us a modest sum of money that helped me and my wife and purchase our first house together and form the foundation of our adult lives. That act of foresight changed everything for me. It showed me that real, lasting wealth is not only about income, but about intentional planning. Now, with three young children of my own, I think often about how to give them the same chance to thrive. For millions of parents across America, Trump Accounts are a powerful new tool. These tax-advantaged savings accounts, from the Working Families Tax Cuts initiative, help working and middle-class families save, invest, and build generational wealth for kids. Let’s clear up some confusion: Kids under 18 with a Social Security number qualify for family contributions up to $5,000/year, growing tax-free until 18. The $1,000 government boost is only for babies born between 2025 and 2028 via IRS Form 4547. Older kids still get core benefits. We’re signing up our son (born last year, eligible for both) and our two daughters, who also qualify. Under recent Treasury and IRS guidance, eligible Americans can open a Trump Account if they earn income under certain thresholds and file tax returns consistent with working-family deductions. Contributions to these accounts can be invested in a broad-based index of American equities, giving everyday Americans a way to participate in the long-term success of the U.S. economy. What makes these accounts especially meaningful is that the interest earned or investment gains grow tax-free if withdrawals follow the program’s qualified-use rules. Families can contribute up to specified yearly limits, and employers are encouraged to match or supplement those contributions as part of an employee benefit package. In short, it’s a simple, effective way to turn hard-earned wages into lasting wealth–something traditionally available only to those with specialized financial tools or expensive advisors. State financial officers have an important role to play in ensuring families know about this opportunity. Leaders like Mississippi Treasurer David McRae have already stepped forward to help spread the word. As a father of three, McRae understands that financial literacy isn’t just about dollars and cents. It’s about self-determination. He recently called Trump Accounts “a chance for parents to invest in their children’s future with purpose and pride.” I couldn’t agree more. The State Financial Officers Foundation (SFOF), which I lead, is proud to join that effort by encouraging our treasurers, auditors, and other financial officers to partner with employers, community leaders, and schools to promote these accounts as financial literacy tools. We are also leading by example, as we plan to make Trump Accounts an SFOF employee benefit complete with matching contributions. But the greatest impact will come when families themselves take the first step. Opening a Trump Account doesn’t require great wealth or financial expertise. It only requires an intentional effort. Parents can set aside what they can each month and watch that investment grow alongside their children. It’s a simple act of preparation that says, “I believe in your future,” while teaching personal finance in the most practical way possible. For my wife and me, it means setting up accounts for each of our three children and contributing regularly, just as my father once invested in my future. We want our children to enter adulthood with the confidence that comes from financial stability, not the anxiety of debt or the uncertainty of starting from zero. Like so many American parents, we’re building not just a financial account, but a legacy. Very few presidents have been able to influence wealth building for everyday Americans in such a direct, material way. Policies come and go, but tools that empower families to save and invest can outlast any administration. Trump Accounts have the potential to be one of President Trump’s most enduring legacies because they give American families a real shot to change the financial future of their children. The promise of this country has always been that each generation can reach higher than the last. With Trump Accounts, that promise has a tangible form, one savings plan at a time. The opportunity is here. It’s time to make the most of it. We publish a variety of perspectives. Nothing written here is to be construed as representing the views of The Daily Signal. The post From My Father’s Gift to My Children’s Future appeared first on The Daily Signal.

President Donald Trump told soldiers at Ft. Bragg he is updating their equipment and facilities to ensure the American military is “the best trained, the best equipped, the most disciplined, and the most elite fighting force the world has ever seen.” Trump spoke in Fort Bragg, North Carolina, alongside first lady Melania Trump, to honor U.S. special forces for their roles in the recent capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro. “What we did recently in Venezuela, nobody ever saw anything like that happened,” Trump said. The president announced a variety of efforts to improve the efficacy of the military. He said he would order construction of an initial fleet of 10 new battleships to strengthen naval capability. The ships will be “100 times more powerful than the ships that we got to see in the 1940s,” according to Trump. Trump said he is asking for $1 billion to improve on-base housing and related facilities at Fort Bragg and in the surrounding area. “We’re also going to spend billions of dollars on improving here and around the area and make it great because the people in this area have been so incredible,” Trump said. Trump announced the purchase of 30 new Abrams tanks, 48 new Black Hawk Chinook and King Stallion helicopters, and 86 armored multi-purpose fighting vehicles. “It’s all of the things that you’ve been wanting to get, all brand new and only,” he said. “We’re going to be reviving our strength. We’re going to be doing many other things that nobody thought was even possible. We’re actually using that strength to defend the core, vital interest of the United States.” Trump echoed that the administration is investing $1 trillion in the armed forces, with an increase to $1.5 trillion planned for next year. The Trump administration is also implementing an across-the-board pay raise for all service members in honor of the United States’ 250th anniversary. Trump said he rebuilt the military to be the “strongest military on the face of the earth.” “We rebuilt. We really did. We rebuilt it in my first time. We had a great first term. We had the best economy in history. But this is blowing it away,” he said. “We had a great economy the first time, we did everything, but we really created a tremendous military.” Trump touted increased military recruitment numbers since his election. “They couldn’t get people to join, and as soon as we won the election, an election took place on Nov. 5,” he said. “Now we have waiting lists for every branch of the military, waiting lists for people to get in. In other words, your jobs are wanted by everybody.” The post How President Trump Plans to Bolster Military Operations appeared first on The Daily Signal.

The Arrogance of Migrants Is Something to Behold

In a move one-upping Thursday’s World News Tonight, the virulent anti-Trump-haters at ABC made the decision Friday to go full Leroy Jenkins by having Good Morning America double down with not one but two segments melting down (pun intended) over President Trump’s decision to repeal the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) endangerment finding on climate change and fossil fuels. “Major rollback. The President announcing sweeping environmental deregulation, erasing the scientific conclusion that greenhouse gas pollution from cars, power plants, and factories, endanger human health. Mary Bruce is at the White House, and Ginger Zee with a climate change reality check,” fill-in co-host Rebecca Jarvis warned in a tease. Like with World News Tonight, chief White House correspondent Mary Bruce was on-scene to fret Trump was “wiping out the federal government’s most powerful tool to regulate greenhouse gasses and fight climate change” and “erasing the scientific conclusion” that it “endangers human health[.]” ABC’s ‘Good Morning America’ went full Leeeeerooooy Jenkins on Friday with not one but two segments telling you President Trump’s decision on the EPA’s endangerment finding will kill you pic.twitter.com/RF705U7LNI — Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) February 13, 2026 Bruce touted Obama’s statement claiming the move was based on corporate greed: Former President Obama firing back, saying “we’ll be less safe, less healthy, and less able to fight climate change — all so the fossil fuel industry can make even more money.” The 2009 decision had given the U.S. government authority to regulate emissions from cars, power plants, and oil refineries, labeling greenhouse gasses like carbon dioxide and methane as a danger to public health and the environment. She also spoke to former EPA official Matthew Davis, explaining he told her, in Bruce’s summation, “thousands will die every year.” Davis — whom she made sure people knew was a “scientist” — told her “this is definitely not a decision based on science” and the removal of an Obama regulation will lead to “more pollution,” “more heart attacks, more stroke, more asthma attacks, more people’s lives will be cut short.” Only in the last sentence did she even acknowledge the Trump administration’s argument before quickly rebutting it: Now the White House is touting this as the largest deregulation in U.S. history, claiming it will save over $1 trillion but some major health organizations and several states, including California, New York, Connecticut, and Massachusetts, are already vowing to sue to block this reversal[.] GMA then went a step further with senior meteorologist and climate activist Ginger Zee, cued up by Trump-hating political correspondent Rachel Scott to “give us a reality check” because she knows “the science.” Zee didn’t outright tell viewers they were going to die, but she was close in saying Trump was rejected what “science [has told] us...for more than a century” and declared “[t]he National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine...found with overwhelming scientific evidence that human-caused greenhouse gas emissions harm public health and welfare.” She then asserted “[c]limate change intensifies risk to humans from exposure to extreme heat, ground level ozone, airborne particulate matter, extreme weather events, and airborne allergens, which then affect incidents of cardiovascular, respiratory, and other diseases.” Of course, she painted a grim picture as though little is being done: And just to put a little pin in understanding how warm we are. In 2024, global CO2 emissions hit an all-time high, and we saw the most significant annual increase since modern measurements began in 1957. The last 11 years have been the 11 warmest on record. Those records go back to the 1800s. She closed by showing her Greta Thunberg-levels of advocacy by arguing “the other administrations” — as in the Obama and Biden regimes — “didn’t do as much as they could — that’s what most climate scientists would say — to reduce those greenhouse gas emissions.” As he’s increasingly done to mirror colleague and former Clinton official George Stephanopoulos, co-host Michael Strahan interjected with his own personal snipes at the Trump administration: “But science shows that these threats are really real to the environment.” On issue after issue and climate at the top of the list, the media not only refuse to consider views besides their own, but they purposefully ignore them under the guise of said issue being existential. To see the relevant ABC transcript from February 13, click here.

New episodes of HGTV's hit home restoration show "Rehab Addict" were scheduled to air this week after host Nicole Curtis' brief hiatus. On the same day of the show's scheduled return, however, years-old leaked footage was published by RadarOnline showing Curtis mindlessly uttering a slur during a renovation.Warner Bros. Discovery-owned HGTV promptly removed every episode of the show. Future episodes have been canceled.'I make no excuse for this.'"HGTV was recently made aware of an offensive racial comment made during the filming of 'Rehab Addict,'" the network said in a statement to Variety. "Not only is language like this hurtful and disappointing to our viewers, partners, and employees — it does not align with the values of HGTV. Accordingly, we have removed the series from all HGTV platforms."The show-killing viral video appears to show Curtis growing increasingly frustrated during a restoration job and muttering, "Oh fart n*****."Realizing immediately what she had just said on camera, Curtis turns to her crew with a look of panic, stating, "What the f**k is that that I just said?"Curtis appears to ask someone off-screen to "kill that," in reference to the video evidence — which clearly didn't take place.It's clear that someone behind the scenes had it out for the historic-house-saving mother.RadarOnline's source, who indicated the footage was years-old, said, "You [Nicole] deserve everything you get. Treat us with dignity and respect, and quit making money off of our backs. ... You are a trash human."The host of the now-erased nine-season series said in a lengthy Instagram post on Thursday, "I am sorry. I am filled with remorse and regret, just as much as I was one second after that word was said 4 years ago in 2022."RELATED: Deace: The Pam Bondi Show needs to be canceled Photo by Paul Marotta/Getty Images for Cost Plus World Marke"I show this, I say this and I realize you are getting a limited view as what has been circulating is a clip of MY footage that was stolen then manipulated, edited and sold to [a] tabloid to coincide with my return to television only to create this chaos of hate, anger, disappointment," Curtis continued. "I make no excuse for this. I am not [a] victim. Nothing I say or do will take that moment 4 years ago away. I know it was wrong. This will never happen again."The ex-host proceeded to suggest that she has been "submerged in the African American community" her entire life and that she has chosen "to live and work in the inner cities of many major cities," where she apparently hears that word used routinely.While there were plenty of people apparently happy to see Curtis' life ruined over a poor choice of words several years ago, she also had many defenders — and at least one job offer — in the wake of her cancellation.Curtis is hardly the first reality television star canceled over racially charged language.For instance, the late Hulk Hogan was fired from World Wrestling Entertainment in 2015 over his liberal use of the word "n*****" on tapes recorded nearly a decade earlier. American chef and prolific cookbook author Paula Deen was systematically canceled and stigmatized in the wake of allegations of racial discrimination and the repeated use of a certain slur.Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Yesterday, all but one Democrat in the U.S. House voted against the SAVE Act (Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act), which would require people to show official proof of U.S. citizenship when registering to vote in federal elections and provide a government-issued photo ID to cast a ballot.Given that the overwhelming majority of American citizens support the core provisions of the SAVE Act, the near-unanimous Democratic opposition is evidence, says BlazeTV host Sara Gonzales, that Democrats are “actively trying to undermine what the American people want and what they voted for.” “If you are in Congress, you are supposed to represent your constituency, and so ... that would lead you to think that [the SAVE Act] is wildly unpopular with the left — like the Democrat constituency doesn't want voter ID,” she says.“But here's the strange thing. That's not correct. The vast majority of all Americans on both sides agree that we should have safe and secure elections,” she adds, citing the most recent Pew Research data showing 95% support for voter IDs among Republicans and 71% support among Democrats.“If the vast majority of people agree, why are congressional Democrats attempting to stand in the way of the will of their own people?” she asks.There are two answers to that, Sara says: “orange man bad” and “the Great Replacement [Theory],” which she says is “not a theory.”On the latter, she declares, “Even if you were to argue that illegals are not voting and changing elections, well illegals are being counted in the census that is then used to create these districts and decide how many each state has to represent them in Congress.”But regardless of the widespread bipartisan support for the commonsense SAVE Act, Democrats are attempting to force their will using one of their favorite tried and tested tactics: racialize the issue.Sara plays a clip of Democrat Rep. Delia Ramirez (Ill.) calling the SAVE Act and Republicans' defense of it “racist, misogynistic trash.”“Republicans are invoking historical policies intended, let's be clear, to disenfranchise Americans, especially working people, women, students, indigenous people, and anyone who can't afford the burdens of a new bill. The Save America Act is yet another Republican attempt to intimidate and suppress the votes of anyone — anyone — who threatens their extremist white supremacist agenda,” she railed.“The soft bigotry of low expectations. How can you expect a black person or a Hispanic person to know how to get an ID?” sighs Sara.She points out the absurdity of Democrats’ argument against requiring would-be voters to get a photo ID on the grounds of race.“You want to open a bank account? You need a photo ID. You want to fly on an airplane? You need a photo ID. You want to drive in a car? You need a photo ID. You want a credit card? You need a photo ID,” she lists. “Almost every instance where you do something very important, you need a photo ID.”But none of the aforementioned examples seem to be race issues for Democrats, says Sara.“I see a lot of minorities flying. ... How did that possibly happen if it's racist to expect those dumb black people to know how to go get a photo ID?” she sarcastically remarks, calling Democrats’ insinuation that racial minorities aren’t capable of obtaining a voter ID an “insanely inherently racist thing to suggest.”To hear more of Sara’s analysis and commentary, watch the video 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.

A 58-year-old man with a long rap sheet has been accused of robbing a beloved skating coach at a St. Louis Starbucks before shooting the defenseless woman to death, according to court documents.Twenty-eight-year-old Gabrielle "Sam" Linehan was in the drive-thru in the Tower Grove East neighborhood when, prosecutors allege, Keith Lamon Brown killed the beloved coach and mentor.'This loss is both sudden and heartbreaking for our athletes, staff, and broader community.' Brown was also wanted for allegedly holding a cashier at gunpoint at a Dollar General and robbing another woman at gunpoint at a Jack-in-the-Box in the days prior to the incident.Surveillance video reportedly shows Brown wearing a high-visibility vest and helmet as he walked up to Linehan's vehicle. He fled on foot after allegedly shooting Linehan.Days later when Brown was arrested, investigators said they found Linehan's license in his possession as well as other items stolen from the woman at the Jack-in-the-Box.The Metro Edge Figure Skating Club confirmed that Linehan had been their coach. A friend of Linehan said she had stopped at the Starbucks on her way to watch the Olympics at a friend's house. "This loss is both sudden and heartbreaking for our athletes, staff, and broader community. We are focused on supporting Coach Sam’s family and providing care and resources for our skaters during this difficult time," the club said in a statement to KTVI-TV.Brown was charged with first-degree murder, unlawful possession of a firearm, and three counts of armed criminal action. A judge denied bond for the suspect.RELATED: Thug allegedly tries to rob man at Penn Station and ends up shot by his off-duty police wife Court records indicated that Brown has a criminal history as far back as 1986 that includes burglary, robbery, and armed criminal action."Coach Sam will be deeply missed and forever remembered," said the skate club, which also asked for privacy on behalf of her family and friends. Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Jeff Lynne opted to live up to the band’s name when he hired Louis Clark as string arranger and utilized a full orchestra in the group’s recordings. The post The Same Musician Who Orchestrated ELO Gave Us ‘Hooked on Classics’ appeared first on Best Classic Bands.

Spartacus Is SHOCKED! Cory Booker Feigns Outrage When Called Out on Dems' Immigration Policy

Friday Afternoon Shakeup Rocks Major Federal Agency As Midterm Fight Looms