Gaming Trends That Started in the ‘80sWe love the ‘80s for its iconic media that still reverberates through culture today. While the decade’s movies and music get most of the attention, it was also the start of some enduring gaming trends that have only grown since. Here we have three trends that might not make you nostalgic, but they will show how influential the ‘80s were for modern gaming.Source: UnsplashThe Roguelike GenreLet’s start at the very beginning of the decade, when Rogue was released and instantly became a hit in many colleges across America. The 1980 ASCII game challenged players to navigate a dungeon using turn-based grid maps, with each new room being procedurally generated. What’s more, it popularized permadeath mechanics – you have to restart with a new character if you lose. Thanks to its popularity, it inspired other games like Hack or the Lord of the Rings-inspired Moria. Despite the ’83 game crash on the horizon, games like Rogue persisted.Nobody knew it at the time, but this was the birth of the roguelike genre. These are games that combine permadeath, procedurally generated maps, and often feature turn-based or grid-based gameplay, although the latter has become less common over time. Popular roguelikes include the equally influential Dwarf Fortress, The Binding of Isaac, FTL: Faster Than Light, Slay the Spire, and Hades. The DNA of Rogue spread much further than that, with some of its mechanics also found in non-roguelike games today.Electronic Card GamesAs personal computers and game consoles made their way into the home, some devs spent their time making fantasy romps like Rogue. Others took a more humble approach; they simulated games that already existed instead, and that’s how we got electronic card games like 1987’s Solitaire Royale. A few years later, Microsoft’s early ‘90s solitaire releases would get more attention and capture the free time of many computer users, but the ‘80s is where the first solitaire games were released.They joined other electronic card games to form the seeds of an industry that was way ahead of its time. Then the World Wide Web launched in ’89, and, a few short years later, players could play card games with other people. Even solo games like blackjack were reinvented as technology developed, bringing us to today, where it’s possible to stream a game of blackjack into your living room. Now, players can access live blackjack online hosted by real people, merging traditional card game gameplay with modern streaming tech that we could only dream of. It’s a far cry from the flat, digital cards that were on CRT screens in the ’80s.Classic Arcade CharactersWe’ve written in the past about how the ‘80s was a golden age for arcade gaming, and during that time we welcomed iconic characters like the Mario Bros, Donkey Kong, Link and Zelda, and Pac-Man, among others. Besides becoming instant classics, each has spawned a tentpole gaming franchise that is still rolling out new releases to this day. They include complete reinventions that change how the games play, but their ‘80s characters have become timeless.Source: UnsplashToday, Hollywood seems to have cracked the code surrounding videogame adaptations and is bringing a lot of game characters to new audiences. With a Mario movie down and a Zelda movie in the works, some of the biggest ‘80s icons are set to transcend gaming and spread further than they already have.Between these characters, genres, and spinoff industries, we have multiple gaming trends that got their start in the ‘80s. Even more, they have grown to become more relevant today than they ever have been in the past.

President Donald Trump says he will make a decision on whether to strike Iran within two weeks. Our expert breaks down all the latest economic data and what it means for you. And, is ChatGPT helping children obtain abortion pills behind their parents’ backs? It’s Friday, June 20, and this is the news you need to know to start your day. Morning Wire is available on video! You can watch today’s episode here:  If you’d rather listen to your news, today’s edition of the Morning Wire podcast can be heard below: Two Weeks To Stop The Spread (Of Nuclear Weapons) Topline: Israel vows to intensify attacks on Iran as President Trump sets a deadline for U.S. intervention. We recently learned that President Trump has told top aides that he’s given the green light for airstrikes on Iranian nuclear facilities, but is waiting to see if they’ll blink first and agree to abandon their nuclear program. On Thursday, the White House gave us a timeline for how long he’s willing to wait. “Based on the fact that there’s a substantial chance of negotiations that may or may not take place with Iran in the near future,” Trump wrote, “I will make my decision whether or not to go within the next two weeks.” The Ayatollah has good reason to take that timeline seriously. Remember, in the spring, President Trump said Iran had 60 days to reach a deal — when it refused to compromise, on the 61st day, Israel launched its preemptive strikes, reportedly with Trump’s backing. “Iran has all that it needs to achieve a nuclear weapon,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters on Thursday. “All they need is a decision from the Supreme Leader to do that. It would take a couple of weeks to complete that weapon, which would of course pose an existential threat not just to Israel, but to the United States and the entire world.” The Ayatollah has publicly vowed to fight to the death, saying his people would never surrender and that shutting down the nuclear program is a non-starter. But privately, Tehran is seemingly more open to ending this war before it spirals further. First, the president told reporters this week that Iran has offered to come to the White House for direct negotiations. While Trump said they should have been more willing to talk before the war began, he didn’t entirely shut down the idea. According to Reuters, preliminary talks between the United States and Iran have already begun. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff reportedly held a series of phone calls with Iran’s Foreign Minister over the last few days, hoping to find a diplomatic solution. Iran reportedly told Witkoff that it would be willing to restart negotiations on a nuclear deal, but only if the U.S. could first convince Israel to pause its airstrikes. As one diplomat put it, Tehran “could show flexibility in the nuclear issue” if Washington helps broker a ceasefire. But Israel seems resolute on pushing forward until Iran’s nuclear program is dismantled. Economic Update Topline: Inflation is down, wages are up. The latest data reveals a strong economy – but uncertainty continues. New data is painting a positive picture of the economy, even as war in the Middle East has caused a spike in oil prices. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell declined to lower interest rates this week despite President Trump’s calls for doing so, partly due to instability abroad and the ongoing tariff negotiations, both of which have the potential to raise prices, although as now year-over-year inflation is relatively low – in May it was only 2.4%, compared to a high of 9.1% in June 2022. “The Fed is not going to lower rates this year at all,” Kenny Polcari, Chief Market Strategist at Slatestone Wealth, told The Daily Wire. “The hard data, which is measurable data on the economy, continues to be fairly robust and strong. And so therefore, I think current rates are not restrictive. They’re certainly not causing the economy to go off the edge … every president wants rates to be lower. I get that. But in this case, I think Powell’s right.” Crude oil prices have spiked by more than 10% since Israel launched its recent bombing campaign against Iran. Nevertheless, Polcari told The Daily Wire he’s bullish on the American economy and does not believe the price surge will drive inflation in the long term. “Had this not exploded in the Mideast the way it had, oil would be trading in the mid to low 60s,” Polcari said. “I think it’s going to go back there once this Middle East situation calms down. But until that happens, the potential is for gas prices to rise because the price of oil has gone up … over the short term, like next month, you could see the rise in energy prices kind of leak into PPI and CPI, causing inflation to kind of either remain steady or even tick a little bit higher. But I don’t think that’s a long-term issue.” Is AI Assisting Underage Abortions? Topline: Is ChatGPT assisting underage girls with secret abortions? When prompted by The Daily Wire about what ChatGPT would say to a 14-year-old girl in Tennessee looking to get an abortion without her parents’ knowledge, version GPT-4o of ChatGPT provided a detailed list of abortion providers and gave a step-by-step guide on how to discreetly obtain abortion pills. ChatGPT encouraged the minor to hide this from her parents and advised her on how to effectively break the law in a state like Tennessee, where medication abortions are illegal and parental consent for abortion for a minor is required. The chatbot specifically advised the minor to delete her browser history and not tell anyone about the abortion. It offered to help her connect with an activist group that would ship her abortion pills. The chatbot suggested that the minor use the name and mailing address of a different adult, who is “not a parent.” And it suggested the child open the abortion pills “privately” when “no one is home” and “carefully” throw out the packaging “somewhere not at home.” The abortion pill mifepristone is currently enmeshed in legal battles over serious — and sometimes fatal — safety concerns. Earlier this month, the Food and Drug Administration committed to a full review of the pill’s safety. The responses were very abortion-focused, but when the chatbot was specifically asked about pro-life pregnancy centers, it denigrated these facilities. Its responses mirrored left-wing talking points about crisis pregnancy centers, which serve millions of women every year. One other note on this report: when you review some of these responses, ChatGPT is not just spitting out clearly biased information; it’s often delivering it in a personal way, trying to elicit trust. The bot also called this hypothetical 14-year-old “brave” for secretly seeking the abortion pills. And at another point, it told her, “You’re doing everything right, and I’ve got your back.”

Corporations that receive billions of dollars in taxpayer-funded federal contracts have a duty to be ideologically neutral, transparent, and accountable to the American people. This shouldn’t need to be said. But 1792 Exchange’s new database of top government contractors shows that it does. One of the report’s most striking revelations is the fact that some government contractors most aggressively aligned with diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) are not even American. These include the United Kingdom-based BAE Systems, BP, Deloitte, and Rolls-Royce, and Ireland-based Accenture. Many American contractors blatantly promote radical agendas — at this point, LGBT might as well stand for “Lockheed, General Dynamics, Boeing, Textron” — but allowing foreign firms to act as ideological agents within the American system is beyond the pale. These firms exert extensive influence on federal agencies and provide essential services such as defense technology, energy logistics, financial auditing, and consulting, while actively promoting a worldview that the American electorate and our current administration reject. As President Donald Trump made clear in executive orders rescinding federal DEI mandates, the “government should be focused on mission readiness, not ideological indoctrination.” This principle must encompass foreign contractors and consultants. To grasp the scale of ideological encroachment, consider BAE Systems, the British defense and aerospace giant, which received $7.7 billion in government contracts in 2023. Despite serving as a primary contractor for the Department of Defense, BAE has adopted comprehensive DEI goals, including race- and gender-based recruitment benchmarks and board composition — a commitment they called “Change the Race Ratio” in their 2023 annual report — and ethnicity-based mentorship programs, such as RISE, implemented by KPMG. In the United Kingdom, where BAE is allowed to take “positive action,” it must adhere to national expectations of not engaging in “positive discrimination.” Yet on American soil, with American funds, they behave as if potential violations of civil rights law are both normative and commendable. Similarly, BP — the British energy conglomerate that obtained over a billion dollars in federal contracts from the United States government — publicly supports a vast range of DEI policies, including racial equity audits, DEI-linked executive compensation schemes, and gender identity training protocols. American citizens, through federal procurement budgets, are effectively subsidizing an imported ideology that increasingly lacks democratic legitimacy at home. Accenture ($3 billion) and Deloitte ($3.7 billion), incorporated in Ireland and the United Kingdom, respectively, have become deeply embedded in federal operations, making their cultural influence within agencies indistinguishable from that of internal leadership. These firms frequently promoted their DEI credentials in competitive bids, and until now, federal officials have often highlighted these characteristics as value-added features instead of liabilities. It’s commendable that Accenture announced it would end its DEI initiatives. However, given its history of establishing headquarters in foreign countries — first in Bermuda, then moving to Dublin in 2009 to avoid paying American taxes — it’s concerning that the company promoted this agenda at any point without being fully invested in the outcome of our nation. Given that $3 billion of its $64.9 billion in revenue comes directly from American taxpayers, and its global CEO operates from an office in the Washington, D.C., area, one should question how Accenture can claim to be Irish. Notably, the company is aware of this line of inquiry, listing its Irish domicile as a risk factor in its 2024 10-K filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Likewise, Rolls-Royce ($1.1 billion), the British aerospace firm, completes the list of foreign-headquartered contractors that combine technological excellence with radical ideological activism. Although it reportedly rolled back funding for its identity-based employee resource groups in the United States, Rolls-Royce previously enacted internal policies that reflect the most radical tenets of the DEI framework, including “anti-racism” events and unconscious bias training. The central paradox is this: as the United States reorients its federal policy around merit, neutrality, and excellence, some of the largest beneficiaries of government contracts are foreign actors advancing the very ideologies that Americans just voted to reject. Congress and the Trump administration must act swiftly to align federal contracting policy with the new executive directives. A contractor’s country of incorporation must not allow it to launder political agendas through backdoor bureaucratic channels. Ultimately, federal contracting is more than an economic matter; it is a matter of sovereignty. American taxpayers should not be subsidizing foreign entities that undermine American values. 1792 Exchange’s report has exposed this vulnerability. Now, it falls to policymakers to close the gap between the will of the people and the behavior of those paid to serve them. Daniel Cameron is the CEO of the 1792 Exchange and the former attorney general of Kentucky. The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Alligators are known for being rather intimidating creatures. But did you know that they can be a bit playful, too? This is something that Michael Kiehl seemed to discover recently in Venice, Florida. While out near a swampy area, he came across an alligator — or as some folks like to say, he saw a “swamp puppy.” There was something about this alligator stood out. He was chewing on something, but it was not what you’d expect. Usually, you would expect to catch an alligator chewing on their prey. But in this case, the gator was chewing on a squeak toy! Suddenly, the nickname “swamp puppy” has never felt so accurate. Luckily, Michael was able to keep a safe distance to capture this moment on camera. See it for yourself in the video below! @fox13tampabay ONLY IN FLORIDA A "swamp puppy" was caught on camera playing with a squeaky toy in Venice. Have you ever seen anything like this before? #florida #gator #onlyinflorida #news ♬ original sound – FOX 13 News Tampa Bay “As a Floridian this is just a causal day,” one commentor jokingly writes in reply to Michael’s video. Others add, “My dog would be going nuts to get that ball” and “Awww swamp puppies are the cutest.” When This Florida Gator Gets a Hold on a Squeaky Toy, He Proves Why “Swamp Puppy” is Such a Fitting Nickname Like many others, you may be a bit concerned for our alligator friend. What if he is trying to eat the toy instead of play with it? While this can’t be entirely ruled out, alligators are much more playful than most people realize. In fact, the University of Tennessee completed a research study on this very topic years ago. This study applies to both alligators and crocodiles. (Note, these creatures are in the same scientific order but not families.) In the end, the results show that these animals do, indeed, engage in “play-like behavior.” Who would have guessed!? You can find the source of this story’s featured image here! The post Gator Finds Unlikely “Prey” And You’ll Never Guess What He’s Chomped On! appeared first on InspireMore.

Iran Says No Negotiations While Under Israeli Fire

'There is no legal process for people'

BREAKING OVERNIGHT ... TRUMP DEFEATS GAVIN NEWSOM IN THE 'NUTTY 9TH' CIRCUIT ... POLITICO: Appeals court blocks Newsom’s bid to reclaim control of National Guard from Trump A federal appeals court has indefinitely blocked an effort by California Gov. Gavin Newsom to reclaim control of the National Guard troops President Donald Trump deployed to Los Angeles following unrest related to immigration enforcement.

And the fact that this is happening to the Mets

'Yet who really wants to side with illegal aliens who spit on and burn American flags while waving Mexican flags?'