Lead was a common material in Roman society

Vice President Kamala Harris just announced her selection of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate in the Nov. 5 presidential election. As governor, Walz routinely touts his gun ownership and affinity for duck hunting as a reason why people should take his opinions in favor of more gun control seriously. He completely misses the point. The Second Amendment isn’t primarily about hunting, and the constitutional right to keep and bear arms isn’t premised on ensuring the ability to shoot ducks for food or sport. It is, rather, centered on the unalienable right of self-defense. And it’s fundamentally concerned with securing the rights and liberties of a free people living in a free state. As it turns out, that fundamental concern is just as important to the safety and security of ordinary Americans today as it was in 1791, when the Second Amendment was ratified. Almost every major study has found that Americans use their firearms in self-defense between 500,000 and 3 million times annually, according to a 2013 report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In 2021, the most comprehensive study ever conducted on the issue concluded that roughly 1.6 million defensive gun uses occur in the United States every year. For this reason, The Daily Signal publishes a monthly article highlighting some of the previous month’s many news stories on defensive gun use that you may have missed—or that might not have made it to the national spotlight in the first place. (Read other accounts from past years here.) The examples below represent only a small portion of the news stories on defensive gun use during crimes that we found in July. You may explore more using The Heritage Foundation’s interactive Defensive Gun Use Database.  July 1, Tulsa, Oklahoma: In violation of a protective order, a man confronted his estranged wife and a group of her friends at a gas station and threatened them with a gun, police said. One of the woman’s friends drew his or her own gun and told the man to “step back and put his gun down.” Instead, he appeared to raise his gun at the friend, who then shot the man several times, killing him. July 2, Bullhead City, Arizona: Police said Mayor Steve D’Amico heard someone banging on his front door and “messing with” the doorknob in the middle of the night, so he armed himself for a potential confrontation. While still in his underwear, the mayor opened the door, located the would-be intruder (who’d somehow gotten past a locked gate), and detained him at gunpoint until police arrived. The suspect faced charges for trespassing and disorderly conduct. Speaking to reporters, D’Amico said it was “a wake-up call that anything can happen to anybody” whether “you’re in a good neighborhood [or] a bad neighborhood.” July 7, Memphis, Tennessee: A gas station’s security cameras captured the moments when an armed victim defended himself from a rifle-wielding carjacker, police said. The two engaged in a brief shootout before the would-be carjacker fled in a vehicle with two others. It’s not clear from the security video whether anyone was hurt; police didn’t release more details. July 8, California Valley Village, California: Police said two intruders broke into what they believed was an unoccupied residence and came face-to-face with an armed homeowner. After a “scuffle” in which one intruder used pepper spray against him, the homeowner opened fire, hitting one intruder and sending the other fleeing with an accomplice waiting in a getaway car. The wounded suspect was identified as a repeat offender recently released on probation; his extensive criminal record included arrests for burglary, robbery, and illegal gun possession. July 9, Ashland, Pennsylvania: Police said a man who apparently suffered from delusions that people were shooting at him jumped through a window of a home, armed himself with kitchen knives, and tried to hide behind an oven. The homeowner—who happened to be an off-duty police officer—saw the shattered glass and held the intruder at gunpoint until on-duty colleagues arrived to take him into custody. The suspect, who was ordered to take a mental health evaluation, faced criminal charges. July 12, Cincinnati: A driver acted in self-defense when she shot and wounded two women who approached her vehicle and assaulted her with rocks, police said. The severity of the attack was suggested by the vehicle’s flat tires and broken back and side windows. July 17, Orion Township, Michigan: A man whose firearms had been confiscated by police under the state’s red flag law broke into a residence where his ex-girlfriend lived with her stepson, police said. The man then tried to kill her using a gun he’d stolen from his ex-wife. Fortunately, her stepson was also home and fatally shot the man after he forced his way into the bedroom where the stepson and the ex-girlfriend had barricaded themselves. July 18, Towns County, Georgia: Police said an armed homeowner helped end a dayslong search for an escaped prisoner who walked away from an off-site work detail. The homeowner ordered him to the ground and held him at gunpoint until police arrived. The homeowner’s dog had alerted him to an intruder on the property; when the homeowner investigated, he saw the man in an orange prison jumpsuit. The escapee had been at a county detention center awaiting a court appearance on charges including two counts of burglary, drug offenses, and violating his probation.  July 22, Ogden, Utah: Police said a pair of pit bulls attacked two neighbors, who shot the dogs to avoid being bitten. The growling dogs had hemmed in one neighbor, who shot and killed one dog when they went after him; the other neighbor shot and wounded the second dog when it charged. The dogs had a history of biting, police said. July 28, North Vernon, Indiana: An intruder entered a house through an unlocked door, helped himself to food, went into the room of a female resident, and chased her around the property, police said. The homeowner armed himself and held the intruder at gunpoint until police arrived. The suspect faced charges of burglary and unlawful residential entry. July 30, Chicago: A concealed carry permit holder returned fire with someone who approached his car, fatally shooting him. Neither the permit holder nor the four other occupants of his car—three described as “younger”—were injured, police said. As these examples so clearly demonstrate, the core purpose of the right to keep and bear arms isn’t to put food on the table but to give ordinary Americans the practical ability to defend themselves so that they make it home for dinner. It’s a shame that we keep having to remind certain anti-gun politicians that we’re not particularly worried about “deer in Kevlar vests.” No, we’re worried—just as the nation’s founding generation was—about armed criminals who wear masks and tyrants who enforce at bayonet point the egregious laws they dictated through pen strokes. And a politician’s affinity for hunting doesn’t make his support for restrictive gun control measures any less of an affront to the purpose of the Second Amendment. The post No, Liberals, the Second Amendment Still Isn’t About Hunting appeared first on The Daily Signal.

ATLANTA—Taxpayer dollars shouldn’t fund education systems that seek to undermine American values, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Friday. “We have a radical idea that the tax dollars that Floridians pay should not go to fund universities that are hostile to our freedoms and way of life,” DeSantis, a Republican, said at conservative commentator and radio talk show host Erick Erickson’s The Gathering conference in Atlanta. The Florida governor said taxpayer funding instead should go to colleges and universities dedicated to pursuing truth, high academic standards, and preparing students to be good citizens of the republic. DeSantis listed his efforts so far to improve Florida education. He mentioned Florida’s Bright Future scholarship program, which allows students with good test scores to graduate college free of debt. The governor said he has sought to restore academic rigor in the Sunshine State and attract talented professors to teach at universities. “We did a reform that all tenured professors must undergo review every five years and can be terminated,” DeSantis said in his speech at the Grand Hyatt Buckhead in Atlanta. DeSantis discussed his overhaul of the New College of Florida, which he said he turned from a “Marxist commune” into a classical, liberal arts school. He appointed seven conservatives as trustees and hired a conservative president for the college who abolished a gender studies program. “They were the first university in America to eliminate DEI,” DeSantis said, referring to the left’s emphasis on diversity, equity, and inclusion programs. New College’s mission, he added, changed to becoming “the nation’s top publicly funded classical liberal arts college, similar to Hillsdale College.” Some students and faculty left, but many more wanted to apply, the governor said. “Let me tell you, if Marxist professors are leaving the state of Florida, that is good for the state of Florida,” DeSantis said to enthusiastic applause. Parents who work hard to give their children a good K-12 education shouldn’t have to worry that a college or university will undermine their efforts, he said. “You’re working hard to instill values. You do that for 18 years, and then your kids go to some university where they want to undo that with indoctrination,” DeSantis said. “That is not good. So I think this higher education issue is critical … because of what’s happened at Columbia and all this other stuff.” Last spring, Columbia University had to cancel in-person classes and graduation ceremonies due to pro-Palestine, anti-Israel protesters who occupied the New York City campus. Police arrested more than 100 students. “If we do not have a counter with higher education, we are ultimately going to lose a lot of the battles that lie ahead of us,” DeSantis said. “I’m just proud of Florida. No state has done more to reclaim the historic, traditional mission of higher education than the state of Florida.” Many Minnesotans have fled to Florida because of Gov. Tim Walz’s radical agenda, DeSantis said. Vice President Kamala Harris, now Democrats’ presumptive presidential nominee, chose Walz as her running mate Tuesday. “Minnesota has lost population since he’s been governor, and so I think the policies have been very destructive when you’re driving out people,” DeSantis said. Walz set up what DeSantis called a “COVID snitch line” so that Minnesotans could report their neighbors for leaving home during government-imposed lockdowns. Yet, the Florida governor said, Walz tells Republicans to “mind your own damn business.”  “He wanted you reported to the authorities,” DeSantis said. “That is not ‘minding your own damn business.’ That is a total abuse of government power.” Walz repeatedly has used the word “weird” to describe Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and his running mate, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, yet he is the one who put feminine hygiene products in boys’ restrooms at school, DeSantis said. “This is a guy that used Minnesota tax dollars to put tampons in the boys’ bathroom,” DeSantis said. Many of America’s maladies are rooted in leftist ideology, said the Florida governor, who challenged Trump for the Republican presidential nomination this year. “We’ve seen them overtake K-12 education, [the] federal bureaucracy, even a lot of corporate America, all these different things,” DeSantis said of the Left. Yet Florida is winning the culture war, he said. “Florida shows not only did we fight these people, we beat them on issue after issue,” DeSantis said. “We beat the teachers unions when it came to being open during COVID or having universal school choice and even paycheck protections for teachers union dues.” As of last summer, union dues no longer are taken directly out of paychecks in Florida. As a result, the teachers union in Miami-Dade County doesn’t have enough members and is going to be decertified, DeSantis said. Although he is a conservative, the governor said, he doesn’t want to “conserve” the current state of the country. “I think what Florida represents nationally is a great rediscovery and restoring [of] the timeless truths that have made this country great,” DeSantis said. “When we have fidelity to those founding principles, we do well as a country. … These are things that endure.” The post ‘Marxist Professors Leaving’: DeSantis Explains How He Saved Education in Florida From Leftist Indoctrination appeared first on The Daily Signal.

A street kitten was found hiding behind window bars, hissing at everyone. Once he was safe, he realized he was always meant to be a lap cat. PuppyKittyNYCityA volunteer for PuppyKittyNYCity came across a street kitten who had camouflaged himself behind window bars at a building.The tuxedo was alone, without a mother or siblings. Despite being tiny and sick, he was feisty and tried his utmost to protect himself. The finder jumped into action and brought him to the rescue to get him help."A foster (volunteer) found him and brought him to us. He had an upper respiratory infection and was very hissy," PuppyKittyNYCity shared with Love Meow. He was found hiding behind window barsPuppyKittyNYCityThe kitten was in poor shape with watery eyes, a congested nose, and a dirty coat, but he hung in there with all his might. With a makeshift carrier made of a cardboard box and a pair of pants, he was securely transported to the rescue.They gently cleaned his face, warmed and dried him with a towel, and gave him food and water to refuel and rehydrate his tiny body. PuppyKittyNYCityNamed Brat, the little one didn't hold back his spicy attitude, hissing and spitting when volunteers tended to him. His fighting spirit had carried him through the harsh street life and into the hands of his rescuers.Despite having an "angry baby" on their hands, they were determined to turn those "hisses into kisses." PuppyKittyNYCityHannah, a foster volunteer, welcomed the hissy tuxedo into her care. She provided Brat with a cozy space where he could heal and socialize.Soon, the tuxedo realized he no longer had to fight and began to relax and enjoy the luxuries of indoor life. He was very spicy when he first arrivedPuppyKittyNYCityWith proper care and good food, his eyes cleared up, appetite improved, and energy level soared.Brat was a little spitfire, living up to his name. His hisses gradually turned into purrs as he leaned into his foster mom for affection and melted into her lap. Brat was hissy during cuddle sessions but eventually melted into his foster mom's lapHannah @thefurballfactoryHe grew fond of cuddle sessions with his people, basking in all the love.With his newfound confidence, Brat blossomed into a playful and mischievous kitty. He hopped and pounced, always on the lookout for trouble. He often stuck his tongue out as if he forgot to put it away, only adding to his cuteness. He likes to stick his tongue outHannah @thefurballfactoryHe befriended the resident cats and a cat-adoring dog, Red, and charmed everyone with his unbridled energy and endearing personality.Nothing seemed to hold him back as Brat wrestled his gentle canine friend who towered over him. He waved his mittens in the air while sticking out his tongue like a little warrior. Brat and his canine friend, RedHannah @thefurballfactoryA few weeks after he was rescued, Brat transformed into a full-fledged lap cat. A lovely family saw him on social media and fell head over heels for him.When they met the little tuxedo, it was clear they were a match made in heaven. Brat has found his forever homeHannah @thefurballfactory"Little Brat is officially home. From a hissy street kitten to his own amazing family."Brat is living out his dreams as a spoiled love bug, holding hands with his forever people, snuggling in their lap, and purring nonstop. Hannah and PuppyKittyNYCityShare this story with your friends. More on PuppyKittyNYCity on Instagram. Thanks to Hannah @thefurballfactory.Related story: Cat Follows His New Family from Room to Room, Guarding Them After Many Lonely Years Outside

Harvard Study: Celebrities Have a Big Impact on Politics

Americans are waking up to the Google leviathan feeding Americans with biased news, Fox News columnist and author David Marcus said in an interview on MRC's UnCensured. The interview, hosted by MRC Free Speech America Vice President Dan Schneider, touched on growing evidence that Google is actively putting its thumb on the scale of the 2024 election. However, Marcus was not quite sure Americans have fully grasped how deeply embedded Google's leftist bias is. “I don’t think they understand the extent to which Google is not a neutral arbiter,” Marcus said in the 12-minute interview published on Friday. “They probably assume what they’re getting is whatever website has the most hits or something like that,” he added, “as opposed to an algorithm that’s pushing things in a specific direction.” Marcus noted however that Americans are relatively familiar with the rampant censorship on social media networks. “I think they understand a little more in regard to social media as opposed to search functions,” Marcus told Schneider. “In social media, a lot of people are sort of aware of what happened when Musk took over and the concept of free speech on social media.” ICYMI! Google Won’t Let Up! Search Giant Turns Users to Harris in Searches for Completely Different Names In the interview, Marcus suggested that even X owner Elon Musk might not fully grasp how his platform's algorithms function. Three MRC Free Speech America studies have shown that X's algorithm, likely because of Jack Dorsey’s censorship, favors left-leaning media while suppressing right-leaning sources. One study revealed that X's algorithm amplifies Vice President Kamala Harris while diminishing the visibility of Sen. JD Vance (R-OH), President Donald Trump's running mate. Another study found that congressional Democrats are promoted, while Republicans are sidelined. Read MRC’s Latest Studies Here! Dorsey’s Ghost Still Haunts X: Left-Leaning Media Hailed, 74% of Right-Leaning Media Punished Conservatives are under attack. Contact your representatives and demand that Big Tech be held to account to mirror the First Amendment while providing transparency, clarity on hate speech and equal footing for conservatives. If you have been censored, contact us using CensorTrack’s contact form, and help us hold Big Tech accountable.

NPR's home page lit up with an article by digital news desk editor and writer Rachel Treisman, “Why Republicans are calling Walz 'Tampon Tim.'” She summarized the Republican mockery of Minnesota governor and Democratic VP nominee Tim Walz for signing into law a requirement that public schools provide menstrual products to students in grades 4-12. In the girls’ and boys’ bathrooms. This "free period products" movement is supposed to help keep female students in school at their difficult times. NPR was pushing this in 2021. [Image via L.A. Johnson for NPR] Treisman evaded the reason for the Republican mockery, swerving past the ridiculous image of tampon machines in elementary school boys’ bathrooms, to instead insist how proudly Democrats were embracing Gov. Walz’s “Tampon Tim” epithet. She did a bait and switch, painting Republicans as virulently opposed to a liberal policy of machines dispending free tampons in girls' bathrooms, when they are actually opposed to a radical policy of machines dispending tampons in elementary school boy’s bathrooms. The labeling was typical NPR. After Vice President Harris announced her pick, Stephen Miller, a former adviser to former President Donald Trump, tweeted, “She actually chose Tampon Tim.” Chaya Raichik, who runs the far-right social media account Libs of TikTok, photoshopped Walz’s face onto a Tampax box. …. The moniker refers to a law that Walz, the governor of Minnesota, signed last year, requiring public schools to provide menstrual products -- including pads and tampons -- to students in 4th through 12th grades. …. But Republicans appear to be taking issue with the wording of the legislation, which says the products must be available “to all menstruating students in restrooms regularly used by students.” Some Minnesota Republicans initially tried to limit the initiative to female-assigned and gender-neutral bathrooms, but were unsuccessful…. At least the Republican critiques of Walz are included, so there's some rough balance. The “trust the science” folks at NPR must have taken the day off, judging by the bizarre "female-assigned" lingo. The bill’s inclusive language reflects that not all people who menstruate are women, and not all women get periods, which was important to those who lobbied for the legislation. “It will make it more comfortable for everyone … then people can use whatever restroom they want without being worried,” Bramwell Lundquist, then 15, told MPR News last year. But some in the Republican Party -- which has increasingly promoted anti-transgender policies and rhetoric -- see that aspect of the bill as a reason to attack Walz. "Female" only appeared as "female-assigned," and the word "girl" was not used in the online story. Wokeness won. Treisman quoted state Rep. Sandra Feist in support because "one out of every 10 menstruating youth" miss school, and then Hillary Clinton. Former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said it was “nice of the Trump camp to help publicize Gov. Tim Walz’s compassionate and common-sense policy,” adding, “Let’s do this everywhere.” Yet NPR carefully avoided the heart of the issue, the reason it's being mocked in the first place: That putting tampon machines in elementary school boys' restrooms is not only ridiculous but wasteful. (Just anticipate the life expectancy of a tampon machine installed in the average boys' bathroom.)

CNN has seriously been striking out with veterans recently. In addition to allegedly defaming a Navy veteran (get all of NewsBusters latest reporting on the case here), host Brianna Keilar tried to disparage Senator J.D. Vance’s military service as a Marine combat correspondent on Thursday’s Inside Politics, ridiculously suggesting he wasn’t in real danger while in Iraq. But on Friday’s CNN News Central, Vance’s former officer in charge confronted Keilar on her own show, calling her out for being wrong. On Thursday, Keilar scoffed at Vance’s ability to call out Democratic vice presidential candidate Governor Tim Walz’s lies about seeing combat. She suggested he couldn’t speak to it because he somehow wasn’t in danger while deployed to Iraq: I also think that J.D. Vance, as a messenger on this, may be an imperfect messenger because we have, as you introduced him as a combat correspondent, which was what his title was. But when you dig a little deeper into that, he was a public affairs specialist someone who did not see combat, which certainly the title “combat correspondent” kind of gives you a different impression. So, he may be the imperfect messenger on that.     Keilar’s disrespect sparked a backlash on social media. “Maj. Megan McClung was the first female Marine to die in Iraq and the first female graduate of the United States Naval Academy to ever die in combat. She was a public affairs officer,” wrote radio host conservative Larry O’Connor on X. “[CNN and Keilar] don't think it's a dangerous job because [Vance] had the same job.” During Friday’s CNN News Central, Keilar issued a non-apology as she delivered lecture about a nebulous group of people who were attacking Vance’s military service, or course she didn’t include herself: Attacks on J.D. Vance's service are also offensive. J.D. Vance served honorably in Iraq or a combat zone where anything can happen and frequently does. As he said in his book, he was quote, “Lucky to escape any real fighting.” That doesn't make his service less-than “Lucky,” he says and luck is often what makes the difference in a combat zone or even a training mission; that today is not your day. In a country were so few shoulder the burden, military service should not be a liability. It should be an asset.   Maj. Megan McClung was the first female Marine to die in Iraq and the first female graduate of the United States Naval Academy to ever die in combat. She was a public affairs officer.@cnnpr's @brikeilarcnn don't think it's a dangerous job because @JDVance had the same job. pic.twitter.com/B27ELNSL6B — L A R R Y (@LarryOConnor) August 8, 2024   This was followed up with an interview with retired Marine Major Shawn Haney, Vance’s officer in charge. Haney said she may not agree with a lot of Vance’s politics but she had an admiration for “my Marine” that far superseded the disagreement: First of all, I’m 100 percent proud of J.D. and everything that he's accomplished. He joined the Marine Corps. It's not easy, not that many people do it. And I got to know him very well. I consider him to be a little brother. I’m very honored that he describes me as a mentor. I just looked at it as leadership. I saw all of the traits that he had. I saw that he had leadership abilities. He had just the ability to work well above his rank. Toward the end of the interview, Haney politely confronted Keilar about her comments about Vance. “And I've also seen the criticism. Just going to point out that I saw yesterday where you talked about combat correspondent and that's important to me as well… there's a hall in our public affairs school called Defense Information School of 130 heroes that served in that capacity who did not make it out of a combat zone,” she said. She also told Keilar: “And that's not just about J.D. Vance. That's about all of my Marines, but not just Marines. All combat correspondents, public affairs Marines, combat camera Marines, graphic artist. All of those Marines and other service members whose job it is to go where the action is, wherever that is, and to tell the story.” The transcripts are below. Click "expand" to read: CNN’s Inside Politics August 8, 2024 12:24:54 p.m. Eastern (…) BRIANNA KEILAR: I also think that J.D. Vance, as a messenger on this, may be an imperfect messenger because we have, as you introduced him as a combat correspondent, which was what his title was. But when you dig a little deeper into that, he was a public affairs specialist someone who did not see combat, which certainly the title “combat correspondent” kind of gives you a different impression. So, he may be the imperfect messenger on that. (…) CNN News Central August 9, 2024 3:38:09 p.m. Eastern KEILAR: Informed observers connected to politics or the military, myself included, have noted that the Trump campaign is swift-boating Tim Walz. Attacks on J.D. Vance's service are also offensive. J.D. Vance served honorably in Iraq or a combat zone where anything can happen and frequently does. As he said in his book, he was quote, “Lucky to escape any real fighting.” That doesn't make his service less-than “Lucky,” he says and luck is often what makes the difference in a combat zone or even a training mission; that today is not your day. In a country were so few shoulder the burden, military service should not be a liability. It should be an asset. And despite our recent years as a country at war, many service members haven't seen combat. That doesn't make them or their service less admirable or less necessary, nor does retiring from the National Guard after 24 years. These kinds of attacks from the left or the right diminish the service of so many others who have served honorably, who sacrifice time away from family, who put themselves in harm's way, because the military is made largely of J.D. Vance's and Tim Walz's. There are two veterans on these presidential tickets, two enlisted veterans at that. They have unique insight into what America's men and women in the armed forces and their families have been through and need. And shouldn't that be the focus? This is a presidential race for commander-in-chief and so often that candidate or their running mate has never personally served, even as they vie to make decisions about sending people into dangerous situations. The fact that this year they do matters to a lot of people. It matters to me in a family where we're raising two boys who idolize their dad’s military service; two boys who are significantly more likely to serve because their dad did. And if they choose that path it matters to have someone at the table who knows what that sacrifice means. (…) 3:42:34 p.m. Eastern MAJ. SHAWN HANEY (Marines Ret.): First of all, I’m 100 percent proud of J.D. and everything that he's accomplished. He joined the Marine Corps. It's not easy, not that many people do it. And I got to know him very well. I consider him to be a little brother. I’m very honored that he describes me as a mentor. I just looked at it as leadership. I saw all of the traits that he had. I saw that he had leadership abilities. He had just the ability to work well above his rank. (…) 3:46:29 p.m. Eastern HANEY: And I've also seen the criticism. Just going to point out that I saw yesterday where you talked about combat correspondent and that's important to me as well. And that's not just about J.D. Vance. That's about all of my Marines, but not just Marines. All combat correspondents, public affairs Marines, combat camera Marines, graphic artist. All of those Marines and other service members whose job it is to go where the action is, wherever that is, and to tell the story. And those people, there's a hall in our public affairs school called Defense Information School of 130 heroes that served in that capacity who did not make it out of a combat zone. So, that's important to me as well. That's why I'm here today to represent my Marine J.D. Vance, represent his service, probably tried to send a message to all veterans, stand on your record – It's enough – but also defend those of us whose job it is to tell that Marine Corps story and to go wherever that story is. (…)

Blaze Media national correspondent Julio Rosas was on the ground in Minneapolis during the George Floyd riots of 2020 — and he remembers what Tim Walz allowed to happen in his state quite well. Not only did he take no action, but he refused to deploy the Minnesota National Guard to the focal point of the destruction to save his constituents. “It was unlike anything I’d ever covered,” Rosas tells Jill Savage and Matthew Peterson of “Blaze News Tonight.” The Minnesota Police Department had been ordered to evacuate from the third precinct, because that’s where Derek Chauvin was originally assigned out of. “They had besieged that station for the entire week. The riots had broken out for that entire week,” Rosas explains. “The BLM rioters scored a major victory, by forcing them, by forcing the mayor, to give the order to evacuate.” “The rioters many times expressed their desire to set the building on fire with the officers still inside, so if they hadn’t evacuated for probably another 10 minutes, things could have been drastically worse,” he adds. “The governor of the state of Minnesota in fact bears responsibility because he refused to get off his duff and send any help,” Peterson chimes in. “There was a big mistake in the thinking from the mayor and then I think ultimately the governor,” Rosas agrees, explaining that he thinks the major mistake was that they believed the decision to give up the police station would give the rioters what they wanted and calm them down. “But that’s not what happened,” he adds. Want more from Blaze News Tonight?To enjoy more provocative opinions, expert analysis, and breaking stories you won’t see anywhere else, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

The latest U.S. vaping statistics highlight a changing tobacco landscape in which vaping is on the rise and smoking is declining. However, FDA regulations have not kept pace with these market shifts, particularly in allowing safer smoking alternatives to reach the market. The FDA’s regulatory processes are limiting harm reduction options for American adults and underscore the need for urgent congressional action to amend tobacco control laws to better protect public health. A recent report from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, using data from the 2023 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, shows a 13.3% increase in nicotine vaping among Americans ages 12 and up, from 8.3% in 2022 to 9.4% in 2023. Encouragingly, underage use (Americans ages 12 through 20) of vapor products fell by 4.1%, from 12.2% in 2022 to 11.7% in 2023. In 2023, 26.6 million Americans were vaping, of whom 4.5 million (16%) were underage. The FDA’s regulatory processes for introducing safer alternatives to cigarettes are overly cumbersome, repetitive, and inadequate for the growing number of adults using e-cigarettes. SAMHSA also documented an ongoing decrease in combustible cigarette use. In 2023, only 13.7% of Americans 12 years or older smoked, totaling 38.7 million people, with 1.2 million (3.3%) being underage. This 13.7% smoking rate shows a 6.2% decrease from 2022, when the smoking rate was 14.6%. More importantly, this reduction represents 2.4 million fewer Americans smoking compared to the previous year. SAMHSA’s findings align with recent financial reports from tobacco manufacturers showing steep declines in U.S. cigarette sales. British American Tobacco reported a 13.7% drop in U.S. combustible cigarette volumes in its mid-year financial report, attributing the decrease to economic pressures on consumer spending and the rise of unregulated disposable e-cigarette products. Similarly, Altria’s second-quarter report for 2024 indicated a 13% decline in domestic cigarette volumes, acknowledging macroeconomic pressures and the “growth” of disposable e-cigarettes led to these declines. Efforts to limit disposable vapor products by tobacco manufacturers and regulators continue. To date, the FDA has authorized only 34 e-cigarette products, 32 tobacco-flavored and two menthol-flavored — the first non-tobacco-flavored products permitted in the United States. All are owned by three companies: Altria, BAT, and Japan Tobacco International. The FDA’s regulatory processes for introducing safer alternatives to cigarettes are overly cumbersome, repetitive, and inadequate for the growing number of adults using e-cigarettes. This situation presents a significant paradox in that since the e-cigarette application deadline four years ago, only the largest tobacco manufacturers have received FDA authorization but also profit from combustible cigarette sales. What’s more, these manufacturers have spent billions of dollars on research and development and incurred substantial costs related to FDA authorization processes. Yet they are losing sales of both their e-cigarette products and traditional cigarettes to companies that have not even applied for FDA approval, nor have they disclosed their products to the FDA for sale in the United States. Despite the presence of these unregulated products, smoking rates continue to decline, while vaping has increased — a trend reflected in adult survey data and declining sales numbers from tobacco manufacturers. The FDA’s marketing order application process needs significant reform. Despite the FDA’s claim of commitment to using all available regulatory tools to address illegal products, the agency resists endorsing less harmful alternatives to cigarettes. As adult vaping increased in 2023, the FDA did not issue any new marketing orders for e-cigarette products but authorized more than 660 orders for combustible cigarettes — in a year when adult smoking rates fell. This inaction is unacceptable for an agency granted congressional authority to regulate tobacco products two years after the introduction of safer alternatives like e-cigarettes. Ranging from e-cigarettes to oral nicotine and a limited rollout of heated tobacco products since 2007, American adults have been exposed to a variety of safer alternatives, many which are non-FDA-approved. Despite this, the percentage of adults, including medical professionals, who are unaware of the health benefits of tobacco harm reduction products continues to rise. This ongoing issue stems directly from the FDA’s ineffective regulatory approach, which appears to favor traditional cigarettes and smoked tobacco products over safer alternatives. The FDA’s focus on youth usage hinders its efforts to enhance the market for safer tobacco alternatives, despite reports showing a decrease in youth e-cigarette use and a slight increase in youth smoking. A recent SAMHSA report shows that the percentage of youth ages 12 to 20 years old reporting current cigarette use rose by 6.5% from 2022 to 2023. While still below 2021 rates, this uptick is concerning, with several states reporting increases in youth smoking rates in recent Youth Risk Behavior Surveys. The FDA is not fully using its regulatory capabilities to eradicate outdated smoking habits and promote access to regulated tobacco harm reduction products. The approval of only 34 e-cigarette products from three manufacturers is grossly inadequate to meet the needs of over 20 million adults who vaped in 2023. This limitation not only stifles free market competition but also contradicts American values. Congress must address and revise the restrictive 2009 tobacco law, which currently impedes tobacco harm reduction efforts for American adults who smoke.