A federal judge on Monday permanently blocked the Justice Department from releasing former special counsel Jack Smith’s report on President Donald Trump’s alleged mishandling of classified documents.  Smith’s report was set to become public on Tuesday without the court order. Judge Aileen Cannon of the Southern District of Florida had dismissed the classified documents case against Trump and two other defendants, prosecuted by Smith, in July 2024, on grounds that Smith’s appointment was unconstitutional. However, in her Monday ruling she wrote that despite her 2024 order that Smith cease his activity in the case, he continued to compile his report and submitted it to the Justice Department. “Special Counsel Smith and his team went ahead for months, undeterred, preparing Volume II using discovery collected in connection with this proceeding and expending government funds in the process,” Cannon wrote. “To say this chronology represents, at a minimum, a concerning breach of the spirit of the Dismissal Order is an understatement, if not an outright violation of it,” Cannon, a Trump appointee, continued.  “The Court need not countenance this brazen stratagem or effectively perpetuate the Special Counsel’s breach of this Court’s own order,” she wrote. Smith’s first volume of his report alleged Trump participated in a conspiracy as he challenged the 2020 election outcome.  Trump and two other previously indicted individuals, Walt Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira, filed a motion to block the release of the second volume.  “Special Counsel Smith, acting without lawful authority, obtained an indictment in this action and initiated proceedings that resulted in a final order of dismissal of all charges,” Cannon wrote in her decision. “As a result, the former defendants in this case, like any other defendant in this situation, still enjoy the presumption of innocence held sacrosanct in our constitutional order.” Cannon went on to say that the release of the second report after charges were dismissed would set an unusual precedent.  “Moreover, while it is true that former special counsels have released final reports at the conclusion of their work, it appears they have done so either after electing not to bring charges at all or after adjudications of guilt by plea or trial,” Cannon continued. “The Court strains to find a situation in which a former special counsel has released a report after initiating criminal charges that did not result in a finding of guilt, at least not in a situation like this one, where the defendants contested the charges from the outset and still proclaim their innocence.” The post ‘BRAZEN’: Judge Slams Jack Smith in Blocking His Second Volume of Report on Trump appeared first on The Daily Signal.

If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net. Colorado’s latest attempt to regulate minors’ online access differs from its predecessors. Senate Bill 26-051 doesn’t target adult websites directly. Instead, it targets the operating system sitting on your phone. The bill, currently before the Senate Committee on Business, Labor, and Technology with a hearing scheduled for February 24, would require operating system providers to collect your date of birth when you create an account. We obtained a copy of the bill for you here. That data gets converted into an age bracket signal, which then flows to app developers through an API whenever you download or open an app. Developers must request and use that signal. The age check becomes embedded in the infrastructure before you ever reach the app itself. This is a structural change from what Colorado has tried before. SB 25-201, passed out of committee in 2025 but ultimately lost, required websites hosting material deemed harmful to children to run their own age verification. It also mandated at least one verification method that didn’t expose a user’s identity, and required compliance with Colorado’s Privacy Act data handling standards. Those provisions didn’t save it. Civil liberties groups argued that requiring government ID to access lawful speech burdens adults. Technical experts pointed out that a state mandate can’t easily reach websites hosted outside Colorado. The bill went nowhere. Senate Bill 25-086 tried platform-level requirements instead, making social media companies determine user age categories and redesign accordingly. Governor Jared Polis vetoed it in April 2025, citing feasibility problems, constitutional exposure, and the difficulty of imposing broad mandates on platforms at the state level. SB 26-051 exists because of those failures. By moving enforcement to the operating system layer, lawmakers are targeting a genuine chokepoint. Apple and Google control the operating systems, app stores, account infrastructure, and software distribution pipelines for virtually every smartphone. Requiring age signals at that layer means a defined compliance target with a limited number of companies to regulate. The desktop web doesn’t offer that. Browser-based access spans millions of independently operated sites across multiple jurisdictions. There’s no single point of control. Any law that tried to impose universal age verification across the open web would require something far more radical, either mandatory identity verification for internet access, which would end anonymous browsing entirely, or rely on parental controls, which already exist and remain optional. That reality shapes the bill’s most honest framing: it imposes heavy compliance burdens on operating system providers and app developers while leaving the broader ecosystem largely unchanged. Apple and Google would be required to collect age data, generate signals, and build API infrastructure, cementing Big Tech dominance. App developers would be required to integrate those signals into their applications. Users would be required to provide their date of birth information when establishing accounts. The constitutional terrain here is unstable, thankfully. Federal courts reviewing age verification laws in other states have scrutinized whether such laws are narrowly tailored and whether less restrictive alternatives exist. Parental controls are exactly that alternative. Major platforms already offer device-level and account-level filtering tools that parents can configure voluntarily. Courts have noticed. If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net. The post Colorado Senate Bill Would Require Apple and Google to Embed ID Checks in Operating Systems appeared first on Reclaim The Net.

Demanding a Firewall Against the Radical French Left

The unusual fossils include ichthyosaur embryos and squids with their ink sacs intact.

There are things the NASA chief has "come across in the job that he can’t explain," but aliens are not among them.

The incident that left two astronauts stranded has been placed in the same category as the Challenger and Columbia disasters.

Before a call from President Donald Trump and a few drinks with FBI Director Kash Patel, Team USA men's hockey made a heartfelt tribute to one of their compatriots.After the players received their gold medals for a stunning 2-1 win over Team Canada on Sunday, viewers may have noticed a couple of youngsters on the ice posing for the team picture, along with a loose hockey jersey.'When we got the call to come out, it felt like maybe he did make the team.'No, those were not captain Auston Matthews' children. Nor were they superstar goalie Connor Hellebuyck's children. They were Noa and Johnny Jr., children of the late Johnny Gaudreau.In 2023, Gaudreau, 31, and his younger brother Matthew, 29, were tragically killed by a drunk driver while riding bicycles in Oldmans Township, New Jersey. Gaudreau was one of the star players for the NHL's Columbus Blue Jackets, while Matthew was a former professional hockey player who last played in the ECHL.In yet another wonderful gesture, Team USA invited Johnny Gaudreau's widow, Meredith, to join the team in Italy on Saturday, along with the Gaudreau brothers' parents, Guy and Jane. The whole family was in the audience for the gold-medal game."To be able to get it done like that, to win, to have his jersey out there in the team photo, have his kids come out and be with us, we're obviously thinking of him," Auston Matthews said, per ESPN. "Just felt like the impact that he's had on so many guys in this room is special. He was with us in spirit the whole tournament," Matthews added.RELATED: 'LOTS OF WINNING!!!' Trump praises America's historic hockey victory at Winter Olympics "It's fun to be a part of this," Meredith said before the game. "When we got the call to come out, it felt like maybe he did make the team. So it's fun. Here to represent him and support everyone that's honoring him, as well."Meredith revealed to a reporter that she only had two days' notice before making the trip overseas to join the squad, but she said it was something she simply could not pass up."Once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the kids. So that was the main reason that drove me out here," the mother continued, before delivering some truly heartbreaking remarks. "I feel like I have two roles in life now: It's honor John, my husband, and make sure these kids know how special their dad is and give them some special opportunities."RELATED: NHL superstar Johnny Gaudreau and brother killed by suspected drunk driver on eve of sister's wedding: 'Unimaginable tragedy' Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images USA forward Dylan Larkin firmly stated that "Johnny and Matty should be here.""That is the biggest loss that all of us at USA Hockey, their family, our family, has gone through," Larkin continued. "And to have Johnny Jr. and Noa out there, it just felt right."Larkin added that he thought the Gaudreau brothers may have had a hand in stopping some pucks from going into the USA net."And I think part of those, the puck not going in our net, was somehow him standing there doing something, laughing with Matty. Just somehow they put a spell around our net where that puck didn't go in."Larkin then joked around, reportedly smiling while saying, "Ironic, on the defensive side; he would've never been back there," he said about Johnny.These comments nearly mirrored what was said about the late brothers by their sister, Katie. Katie jokingly told Fox News that while her brothers were "never quite defensive," she thought a couple of saves had some assistance from above."Up there, they were definitely helping out."Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani built part of his campaign around a bold promise: a $30 minimum wage by 2030.His plan called for phased increases: $20 per hour in 2027, $23.50 in 2028, $27 in 2029, and $30 in 2030. After that, wages would automatically adjust each year based on cost of living or productivity growth.'You just can’t make this stuff up.'As of January 1, 2026, New York City’s minimum wage is $17 per hour under state law.But as a major winter storm approached the city this month, the Department of Sanitation activated an emergency snow-shoveling program paying $19.14 per hour. Overtime is set at $28.71 after 40 hours.The temporary workers are tasked with clearing snow and ice from bus stops, crosswalks, fire hydrants, and step streets.RELATED: Mamdani goes full ‘Batman villain’ and holds New York City hostage Photographer: Adam Gray/Bloomberg via Getty ImagesThe pay rate quickly drew criticism online. Several users on X pointed to the gap between the mayor’s long-term wage proposal and the city’s current emergency pay scale.Conservative commentator and former ESPN anchor Sage Steele weighed in: “Let me get this straight: Zohran Mamdani campaigned (ignorantly) on raising NYC’s min wage to $30/hour, but is now begging residents to shovel snow for $19/hour??”Steele, like others, also focused on the documentation requirements tied to the job, contrasting them with New York’s voting rules, which generally do not require voters to present photo identification. “This ... from someone who believes requiring ONE form of ID to vote is racist?? You just can’t make this stuff up,” she continued.RELATED: Mamdani threatens massive property tax hike if Albany blocks wealth tax plan Photo by Stephani Spindel/VIEWpress via Getty Images Mamdani has defended the employment documentation rules, stating that federal I-9 verification laws require all employers, including municipal governments, to confirm identity and work authorization before issuing pay.A few critics labeled the rules “Jim Snow 2.0,” framing the documentation requirement as an unnecessary barrier.Mamdani's office did not respond to a request for comment from Blaze News.Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Our story showcases the stunning evolution of the chart-topping hits and unforgettable recordings of, most notably, Dennis Edwards, Melvin Franklin, Eddie Kendricks, David Ruffin, Otis Williams, and Paul Williams. The post Get Ready: 12 Classic Songs by The Temptations appeared first on Best Classic Bands.

OOF! Dan Bongino Just BODIES 'Deformed Hobbit' Evan Kilgore for Whining That 'Trump's Second Term Sucks'