“Modern Economy Rests On Single Road” In North Carolina Where Hurricane Collapsed Bridges

Don’t Wait on the Government—Here’s How We’re Saving Our NC Communities

V.P. Debate: Much Ado About Nothing

Feckless UN Remains Feckless

In a state already facing one of the worst maternal mortality rates in the country, this is only going to make things worse.

The vice presidential candidates each had just two things to accomplish Tuesday night. First, do no harm (to their ticket). Second (and this is a bonus): Score a viral moment. The bonus point was important for Gov. Tim Walz (D-Minn.) in particular. Only 1% of voters watching the presidential debate were undecided, so the goal is that viral moment – and his friends in the Democratic Party media were standing by ready to echo it. By the second hour, Walz was busier blocking punches than even trying to throw one back. And boy did he give it to us. When moderators asked the governor to address why he lied about being in Hong Kong during the Tiananmen Square massacre, he responded: “I grew up in a small town.” It was perfect. Hysterical. It played right into Vice President Kamala Harris’ response to any question at all: “I grew up in a middle-class family.” Will Ferrell couldn’t better parody a politician. But Walz wasn’t done. He rambled on and on. He — no joke — talked about how he rode a bicycle as a child. The moderators had to prompt him again! And he couldn’t answer, so he said he said it was because he was a “knucklehead.” And all this in the first 45 minutes, when a couple of Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and Georgia swing-state voters with power were still awake. But it was rocky for Democrats even before this. Walz was clearly nervous. He won six House races in a contested congressional district, but he’s never debated on a national stage, and he was up against Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio), who’s been out sparring with hostile reporters for months while Walz has gathered rust in the shed. And that was before the moderators even asked about current events, like the war in the Middle East. How even could Walz answer the first question and say what his administration’s policy toward an Israeli strike on Iran might be? He doesn’t know what policy his administration would have, and it’s not his fault. His running mate doesn’t know either. Both men quickly set out to defang each other, though they were so polite you could almost hear them say “my friend across the aisle” or some other outdated political courtesy. It’s been 12 years since the candidates last pretended to like each other. Vance got aggressive first with the moderators, calling them out for promising not to fact-check only to try doing so anyway. Everyone hates reporters. As a reporter myself, I can tell you: It’s impossible to dislike them too much. Easy target. By the time the first hour drew to a close, it was so clear Walz had lost that top Democrats, including former President Barack Obama’s pet David Axelrod, were chirping about how these VP debates don’t matter and political reporters were noting how lucky Democrats are for that. Walz knew it too. The ultimate goal of a vice presidential candidate is to do no harm to his principal, but by the second hour, Walz was busier blocking the punches than even trying to throw one back. Remember Sen. Lloyd Bentsen (D-Texas)? Probably not, but you might remember the line, “Senator, I served with Jack Kennedy, I knew Jack Kennedy, Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine. Senator, you are no Jack Kennedy.” It was a viral moment back before we had a phrase for it (or even the internet). Few will remember that future Vice President Dan Quayle dominated the debate during which it was uttered. They only remember that line. Walz needed a line like that. He didn’t get it. Or if he did, he scored it on himself. Instead, the debate undid the actual viral moment from the early, honeymoon phase of the campaign. Whatever people think of Vance now, he’s not weird. Sign up for Bedford’s newsletter Sign up to get Blaze Media senior politics editor Christopher Bedford's newsletter. The fire rises: City Journal: 'A Palestine of the mind' French writer Pascal Bruckner first rose to prominence in the early 1980s with his work “The White Man’s Tears,” which tore at the academic left’s obsession with the Third World and its hatred for the West. The strange combination of infatuation and self-loathing he observed 40 years ago has become fully mainstream in the American Democratic Party. With broader war breaking out in the Middle East, his critique is on display more than ever. In City Journal, Bruckner writes: In 1974, the writer Jean Genet, an uncontested celebrity of the French Left, whose works extol the beauty of hoodlums, assassins, Black Panthers, the S.S., and Yasser Arafat’s Fedayeen, explained his attachment to the Palestinian cause: “It was completely natural for me to favor not only the most disadvantaged but those who distill hatred for the West most purely.” For decades now, the Palestinians — or rather, a mythical view of the Palestinians — have brought together two elements essential to this distillation: they were poor, in contrast with the purported colonizers, who arrived partly from Europe (though a million Jews thrown out of Arab countries, beginning in 1948, also became Israelis); and they were Muslims, that is, members of a religion that some on the Left see as the spearhead of the disinherited. Thus, during a time when leftist revolutionary horizons were darkening, a certain orphaned progressivism took up the Palestinian revolt against Israel. Surprisingly, however, what originated as a minority preference has developed into a majority position, winning significant support from the highest reaches of political power and from the academy, in both Europe and the United States — and reshaping the mind of an era. ... The war in Yemen set off in 2014 by Saudi Arabia cost 370,000 lives, without provoking Western protests. The same can be said of the 400,000 victims of Bashar al-Assad. When Arabs kill one another, no one flinches. When Israelis confront Palestinians, though, the cry of “genocide” arises immediately; let us not forget that the Palestinian population has tripled in the last 50 years (from 1.3 million in 1948 to close to 5 million today). We owe to the great Palestinian poet Mahmoud Dachwich (1941–2008) this profound and bittersweet remark: “Do you know why we Palestinians are famous? Because you are our enemy. The interest taken in the Palestinian question flows from the interest attached to the Jewish question. ... If we were at war with Pakistan, no one would ever have heard of me. ... You have given us defeat, weakness and fame.” The Palestinian is our last natural savage, innocent even when killing or slaughtering. We excuse his terrorism because of his “despair.” He is the great Christic icon carried by the radical Left, and his beatification has been under way for 70 years. But the love borne for the Palestinian is unfortunately only a function of the hatred of the Israeli. The Palestinian tragedy over the last half-century is a result, not just of their corrupt (Fatah) or bloodthirsty (Hamas) leaders, or of their being the pawns of various diplomatic intrigues in the region; what plagues them most is that the progressives of Europe and America, almost totally ignorant of the reality of these people, have transformed them into an imaginary revolutionary cause ...

Former President Donald J. Trump’s recent campaign visits to Wisconsin have thrown a spotlight on violent crimes allegedly committed in the state by illegal aliens, including recent allegations that a Honduran national repeatedly raped and sodomized a Madison-area girl for two years starting when she was 6. When Trump visited the Mississippi River city of Prairie du Chien on Sept. 28, he was flanked by large posters showing illegal immigrants accused of recent crimes in Wisconsin, including a suspected member of the Venezuela-based Tren de Aragua gang arrested in that very city three weeks earlier. “This vile monster was charged with holding a mother and daughter captive against their will, sexually assaulting them again and again and again,” Trump said. “This animal crossed over Kamala’s wide-open border along with hundreds of thousands of others that are worse than him.” Trump brought the case up again Oct. 1 during a speech in Waunakee, Wisconsin, just north of the state capital of Madison. 'I will liberate Wisconsin from this mass migrant invasion of murderers, rapists, hoodlums, drug dealers, thugs, and vicious gang members.' Alejandro Jose Coronel Zarate, 26, was charged in Crawford County Circuit Court with second-degree sexual assault with use of force, child abuse intentionally causing harm, strangulation and suffocation, two counts of battery with a domestic abuse modifier, and disorderly conduct with a domestic abuse modifier. The criminal complaint accused Zarate of vaginal rape and sodomy of a woman, choking her, and throwing her against cabinets in the camper that she lives in with her daughter. When the daughter tried to get in between the pair during an altercation, Zarate grabbed her by the hair and shoved her, causing her to strike her head, the complaint said. After committing the act of sodomy on the woman, Zarate told her, “I get away with it. I’m a criminal,” according to the complaint. “He was arrested and released in the sanctuary city of Minneapolis,” Trump said. “... He assaulted another woman in the sanctuary jurisdiction of Dane County, and he had outstanding warrants for strangulation — all before coming to this small, beautiful, idyllic Wisconsin town.” Zarate is charged in Dane County with strangulation and suffocation, false imprisonment, battery, and disorderly conduct. He is accused of attempting to choke a female acquaintance in her vehicle on Nov. 16, 2023. Before Madison police could arrest him, Zarate reportedly fled the area. He was arrested in Minneapolis on Nov. 17 but released with no charges. The case details emerged on the campaign trail days after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement reported that 435,719 aliens convicted of crimes have been released into the United States, including 13,100 convicted of murder, 10,000 for robbery, 15,800 for sexual assault, and 62,231 for assault. None of these individuals are in custody, the report said. “I will liberate Wisconsin from this mass migrant invasion of murderers, rapists, hoodlums, drug dealers, thugs, and vicious gang members,” the former president said. “We’re going to liberate our country.” Three days before Trump’s visit to southwestern Wisconsin, another case of a brutal crime against a child allegedly involving an illegal alien was set to go to trial in Madison. The case was adjourned until April 2025. 'The media have systemically refused to cover immigration status of criminals in this state for a long time.' Williams J.A. Monge, 31, of Honduras, was charged in May with the repeated sexual assault of a child over a two-year period, starting when she was 6. According to the criminal complaint, the assaults included vaginal rape and sodomy. The abuse took place at a duplex in the city of Fitchburg, a suburb of 35,000 people south of Madison. Monge was the boyfriend of the girl’s mother and had been living with them since January 2022, the complaint said. A Safe Harbor forensic interviewer said the girl told her that the assaults “hurt really bad and [she] thought that she was going to die,” the criminal complaint said. On one occasion, the girl said, she bled so much she had to put her underwear in the garbage can. Monge threatened to kill the girl’s mother and grandmother if she told anyone about the abuse, the complaint said. The grandmother reported the abuse to the Fitchburg Police Department after the girl came to stay with her. The case has received no attention from the local media. Illegal immigrant criminal suspects Juan Carlos Rocha Mejia, Alejandro Coronel Zarate, and Williams Monge.Photos from Fond du Lac County, Crawford County, and Dane County jails. Both of these cases and others are being highlighted in a series of articles at the independent news site Wisconsin Right Now. The daily series — which started Sept. 25 and will run through Election Day — profiles some of the jaw-dropping impacts of the wide-open southern border under President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. “We became aware from law enforcement sources about some of these crimes and we feel that the media have systemically refused to cover immigration status of criminals in this state for a long time,” Wisconsin Right Now editor Jim Piwowarczyk told Blaze News. “We believe voters have a right to know the real-life impact of the Biden-Harris policies on immigration.” On Oct. 1, Piwowarczyk detailed the case of a 12-year-old in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, who authorities said was “sold” by her mother to a 31-year-old man so he could rape the girl. Elia Antonio, 34, of Fond du Lac, was charged in Fond du Lac County Circuit Court with trafficking of a child, failure to act in the sexual assault of a child, and two counts of bail-jumping. She is reportedly not in the country legally. A detainer has been filed on her by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. 'He’s been trying to buy my daughter from me.' According to the criminal complaint, on May 18, Antonio ordered her daughter to get into a van because they needed to drive to the hospital. Instead, they drove to pick up Antonio’s boyfriend, Juan Carlos Rocha Mejia, 31, of Fond du Lac. Rocha Mejia entered the United States illegally from Nicaragua, according to Piwowarczyk’s article. He was detained by the U.S. Border Patrol in 2021 but released under the Biden administration's catch-and-release policy. Rocha Mejia got into the back of the van, where he attempted to blindfold the girl and tape her hands to the back seat, police said. As she struggled with Rocha Mejia, he touched her through her clothing, the complaint said. He then “tried to rape her and make her faint by using a shirt to cover her nose and mouth,” the complaint said. 'Was going to end up in acid' The girl was able to unlock the door and escape from the van, running to a nearby house for help. Antonio said Rocha Mejia threatened her and said she “was going to end up in acid or you won’t see your kids any more.” Antonio told police, “He’s been trying to buy my daughter from me, buy like money, probably rape her, you know, like sell her to different people, you know, and stuff like that.” After telling Rocha Mejia she would not sell her daughter, he told her she had no choice, the criminal complaint said. “I want your daughter, whether you want to or not, and if you don’t accept the money, your daughter will be kidnapped or she will not be here any more, you got to accept it, you want it or not,” the complaint quoted Rocha Mejia as saying. Rocha Mejia gave Antonio $250. “It’s still in the car, I did not even touch it,” she said, according to the complaint. Rocha Mejia was charged with first-degree child sex assault/contact with a child using threat of force or violence, child enticement, false imprisonment, and strangulation and suffocation. Antonio is due back in court Oct. 28 for a status conference. Rocha Mejia has an Oct. 3 bail hearing. Both are being held in the Fond du Lac County Jail. There is also an ICE detainer filed on Rocha Mejia. Piwowarczyk, who had a 20-year career as a police officer before founding his news operation, said corporate media usually turn a blind eye to the illegal status of criminal suspects. “Only in a few cases in which a police chief or district attorney pushed the issue by including the immigration angle in a criminal complaint or press release,” he said. “This was the case in Fond du Lac and Prairie du Chien. In the vast majority of cases, the corporate media have censored the immigration angle and/or not even reported on the cases at all.” Some county jails, such as Dane County, are spotty at honoring ICE detainers, Piwowarczyk said. Other counties, including Waukesha County west of Milwaukee, have nearly flawless records working with ICE to hold suspects so immigration agents can take them into custody, he said. Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

WATCH: Even CNN Thought Vance 'Carried It' on Main Issues, While Jennings Just Levels Walz

Microsoft just released Office 2024 for Mac and PC users. Although the company wants consumers to choose the Microsoft 365 subscription, some might prefer the 2024 version. Is it worth it, though? Here's what you need to know. With Microsoft Office 2024, the company highlights a few changes in its suite of products. For Outlook, it adds search improvements, the ability to customize swipe left and right gestures for Mac, and an accessibility checker to check emails for accessibility issues. PowerPoint offers a seamless embed of a live camera feed directly into your slides with a cameo. You can also record your narration, animations, transitions, and inking with a recording studio. For OneNote, you can enjoy an enhanced inking experience including a full-screen pen-focused view to use the entire screen for inking. Finally, Excell lets you access new functions to help you access text and arrays in worksheets. You can easily paste pictures directly or use the IMAGE function to add images without changing the formatting. You can visualize different datasets with dynamic arrays in charts that will automatically update to capture all data when the arrays recalculate. Microsoft Office 2024 is available in two editions. Office Home 2024 is $149.99 and includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote for one PC or Mac. Office Home & Business 2024 is $249.99 and comes with everything in Office Home 2024 plus Outlook and the rights to use the apps for commercial purposes. Office 2024 runs on Windows 10 and 11 and the three most recent versions of macOS. Office 2024 requires both a Microsoft account and an internet connection. Office 2024 vs. Microsoft 365: Which one you should choose? Microsoft Office 2024 is the best option if you don't like paying subscriptions. However, if you enjoy having the latest features, you should consider Microsoft 365. The Personal subscription costs $69.99/year. With that price, you would get at least two years' worth of updates before it would cost the same as an Office Home purchase. At the end of the day, it all depends on what kind of user you are. If you're using it for studies, a single purchase might be enough, while working or doing specific tasks might be more suitable for a subscription since you'll always have the latest perks. You can find more details about Microsoft 365 here. Don't Miss: Security flaws in Microsoft Mac apps could let hackers spy on you The post Office 2024 just launched, but is it better than Microsoft 365? appeared first on BGR. Today's Top Deals Today’s deals: First AirPods 4 discount, $6 smart bulbs, $110 off Dyson V8, $6 MagSafe chargers, more Best Fire TV Stick deals for October Prime Day 2024 Best deals: Tech, laptops, TVs, and more sales Best Echo Dot deals for Fall Prime Day 2024

The long history of Egyptian afterlife writings began during the 3rd millennium BC, when the body of compositions known as the Pyramid Texts were carved onto the walls and coffins of the pyramids of Old Kingdom rulers at Saqqara, the necropolis of the ancient capital of Memphis. The function of the writings was to ensure that the ‘spiritual’ components of the deceased—the Ba and the Ka—were reunited after separating upon the death of the material body. The unification of these spiritual elements caused the deceased to be reborn as an Akh, which may be described as a transcendent, celestial being. As summarily explained by James Allen (2005:7): “At death, the ka separated from the body. In order for an individual to survive as a spirit in the afterlife, the ba had to be reunited with its ka, its life force: in the Pyramid Texts and elsewhere, the deceased are called ‘those who have gone to their kas.’ The resultant spiritual entity was known as an akh: literally, an ‘effective’ being. No longer subject to the entropy of a physical body or the limitations of physical existence, the akh was capable of living eternally, not merely on earth but also in the larger cosmic plane inhabited by the gods.” Read moreSection: Ancient WritingsNewsGeneralHistory & ArchaeologyReligionsMyths & LegendsAfricaHistoryAncient TraditionsPremiumPreviewRead Later