. ⚠️ Order your Alligator Alcatraz shirts here: https://markdice.com/products/alligator-alcatraz-tee Use Promo code FREEDOM at the checkout to save 20% off today. ⚠️ Order your shirts here: https://www.markdice.com ? Order my book "The War on Conservatives" from Amazon here: https://amzn.to/40vEC9U ⚡️ Join my exclusive Locals community here: https://markdice.locals.com/support ? Sponsor me through Patreon here: https://Patreon.com/MarkDice Order my book "Hollywood Propaganda: How TV, Movies, and Music Shape Our Culture" from Amazon: https://amzn.to/30xPFl5 or download the e-book from Kindle, iBooks, Google Play, or Nook. ? Order my book, "The True Story of Fake News" ➡️ https://amzn.to/2Zb1Vps ? Order my book "The Liberal Media Industrial Complex" here: https://amzn.to/2X5oGKx Mark Dice is an independent media analyst and bestselling author of "Hollywood Propaganda: How TV, Movies, and Music Shape Our Culture.” He has a bachelor's degree in Communication from California State University and was the first conservative YouTuber to reach 1 million subscribers (in 2017). He has been featured on Fox News, Newsmax, the History Channel, E! Entertainment, the Drudge Report, and news outlets around the world. This video description and the pinned comment contains Amazon and/or other affiliate links, which means if you click them and purchase the product(s), Mark will receive a small commission. Copyright © 2025 by Mark Dice. All Rights Reserved.

German Chancellor Merz Insulted Javier Milei. He Needs to Apologize.

For years, Meta has claimed that it carefully manages access to its platform’s data to benefit users and developers alike. But internal documents from its Federal Trade Commission trial paint a different picture—one of strategic exclusion and economic sabotage cloaked in user protection. Specifically, documents reveal that Meta has been weaponizing its application programming interface, or API, to crush American competitors while maintaining an open door for foreign hostile nations—a double standard that undermines both U.S. innovation and national security. An API is like a digital bridge that allows different software systems to communicate with each other and enables apps and services to share data easily with one another. For tech startups and businesses, API access to major platforms like Facebook is often essential for survival, as it connects them to wider markets. But the lack of that API access can prove deadly. In 2013, Circle, a promising social networking startup, was gaining traction—that is, until Facebook terminated Circle’s API access, saying that Circle was spamming users. Yet internal emails show a different motivation: an attempt to keep Circle from competing with Facebook. Path, another social networking competitor, met a similar fate in April 2013, when Facebook abruptly cut off its API access. According to court documents, Path’s growth “slowed significantly” afterward. Similarly, Vine, Twitter’s short-form video service, was denied API access after a couple of days which could have accelerated its growth. The pattern holds firm. Throughout 2013, Facebook systematically blocked API access to multiple mobile messaging apps, with internal communications stating they would not communicate with developers “in any way about these restrictions.” Facebook acknowledges the detrimental effect that restricting API access has. An internal slide deck in early 2014 states that changing API access would be “killing prospects of many startups.” The message was clear: If you threaten Meta’s dominance, you’ll be digitally excommunicated and your business will die. Yet while American innovators were being systematically cut off, Meta maintained an open and permissive approach to developers from hostile foreign nations. Before the 2014 API change, over 240,000 software developers in hostile countries could access Facebook users’ data. That included nearly 90,000 developers in China, over 42,000 in Russia, 76,000 in Vietnam, and thousands in Iran, Cuba, and North Korea. More specifically, Chinese developers—including those from Huawei—could access users’ profile data, photos, and even private messages. Facebook’s API structure was so permissive that developers only needed consent from one user to access that person’s entire network of friends’ data. A single compromised account could expose hundreds of connections. And Meta knew about these risks. Internal documents show the company was aware that foreign developers could exploit this access for intelligence gathering and espionage. Yet the company continued providing broad access to actors from adversarial nations while simultaneously choking off American competitors under the banner of user protection. Although a court opinion has stated that Meta restricting API access from competitors doesn’t constitute an illegal “refusal to deal” under antitrust law, legal permissibility doesn’t equal ethical behavior. Meta’s selective enforcement puts foreign countries first and America second. The broader implications extend beyond individual company grievances. APIs enable interoperability, increase efficiency, and foster innovation by allowing new services to build upon existing platforms. But when dominant companies like Meta use API access as a competitive moat rather than a bridge to innovation, they effectively tax the entire U.S. ecosystem’s growth potential. Even worse, Meta’s actions aid U.S. enemies. If protecting users were truly the priority, the company would have implemented consistent standards choking off security threats alongside competitive threats. Instead, Meta created a system that protected its market position while leaving users genuinely vulnerable to foreign manipulation and data harvesting. The solution isn’t complex regulation of every API decision, but rather consistency and transparency in how these powerful gatekeepers operate. When platforms achieve the scale and influence of Meta’s ecosystem, their infrastructure decisions effectively become public infrastructure decisions, affecting innovation, competition, and security across entire industries. Congress and federal enforcement agencies should hold these companies with monopolistic reach accountable to their own standards. Meta’s API practices reveal a company that views user and developer protection as a convenient excuse rather than a genuine commitment. Until that changes, we should view Meta’s claims with the skepticism they deserve. After all, a company that protected Chinese developers’ access while blocking American innovators has already shown us where its true loyalties lie. The post FTC Trial Reveals Meta Disregard for National Security, Innovation appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Republicans and Democrats are hailing a Coast Guard swimmer as a national hero after he saved 165 lives from the flash floods in central Texas.   Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem took to the social media platform X to share about Petty Officer 3rd Class Scott Ruskan: “United States Coast Guard Rescue Swimmer and Petty Officer Scott [Ruskan], directly saved an astonishing 165 victims in the devastating flooding in central Texas. This was the first rescue mission of his career and he was the only triage coordinator at the scene.”  “Scott [Ruskan] is an American hero,” Noem added. “His selfless courage embodies the spirit and mission of the [U.S. Coast Guard].”  United States Coast Guard Rescue Swimmer and Petty Officer Scott Ruskin, directly saved an astonishing 165 victims in the devastating flooding in central Texas.This was the first rescue mission of his career and he was the only triage coordinator at the scene.Scott Ruskin is…— Secretary Kristi Noem (@Sec_Noem) July 6, 2025 The official account of the White House also took to X to praise Ruskan: “Scott Ruskan and his aircrew saved 165 lives on their first mission during the Texas floods. From the U.S. Military to first responders and volunteers — these brave Americans remind us who we are. When disaster strikes, they don’t run from the storm. They run into it.”  Democrats also praised Ruskan. “In our darkest times we see people do extraordinary things to help others,” Sen. Andy Kim, D-N.J., posted on X. “Petty Officer Scott Ruskan from NJ heroically rescued 165 people from the Texas floods. We are eternally grateful to Ruskan and other first responders risking their lives for others.” In our darkest times we see people do extraordinary things to help others. Petty Officer Scott Ruskan from NJ heroically rescued 165 people from the Texas floods. We are eternally grateful to Ruskan and other first responders risking their lives for othershttps://t.co/m89r9LeUTJ pic.twitter.com/AUxmKAR9Pi— Andy Kim (@AndyKimNJ) July 7, 2025 At least 104 people have died in the Texas floods, 28 of them children, CNN reported. Dozens are missing. Bryan Winchell, a Texas Task Force 1 helicopter search and rescue technician, called the Coast Guard from Corpus Christi for reinforcement in central Texas on the Fourth of July, according to The New York Post.    Ruskan helped to spearhead the triage and evacuation efforts at Camp Mystic, the Christian summer camp for girls in Texas’ Hill Country that has suffered some of the worst effects of the floods.   Due to poor weather conditions, it took Ruskan and his team almost 6 hours via helicopter to travel to San Antonio from Corpus Christi, to get closer to Camp Mystic. Ruskan and his team worked with 12 rescue helicopters to evacuate close to 200 people, The New York Times reported. Landing zones were set up on an archery field and a soccer field. Ruskan then gave up his spot on a helicopter to allow for two extra spots for the rescuees. He told his crew that he would love to stay to continue helping.  “That’s a little bit outside our area of operation normally, but people were in danger, and we’re a good asset to try and help people out, and these guys were asking for help, so that’s kind of what we do,” Ruskan told The New York Post. He said he wanted to comfort the victims, noting that it was “probably the worst day of their life.”   Ruskan said he realized that while he could not successfully find every single missing person, he could ensure those who were found were brought to safety and help console them.  “Honestly, I’m mostly just a dude. I’m just doing a job,” he told the Post. “This is what I signed up for, and I think that any single Coast Guard rescue swimmer or any single Coast Guard pilot, flight mechanic, whoever it may be, would have done the exact same thing in our situation.”  “That’s what we were asked to do and we’re gonna do it,” he added. “Any one of us, if anyone else was on duty that day, they would have done the same thing as us. We just happened to be the crew that got the case.” The post ‘American Hero’: All Corners Praise Coast Guard Swimmer Who Saved Lives Amid Texas Floods appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Teenagers get a bad name today. We call them lazy. Screen-addicted. Entitled. Unable to focus beyond 15-second videos. We’re wrong about one group of teens. Dead wrong. They call themselves Scattered Spider. They’re probably younger than your college freshman. They live in suburban bedrooms across America and Britain, and they’ve just brought industries to their knees. These pimple-faced pirates are demonstrating that the right teenager with the right skills can bring civilization to its knees. This is the new face of warfare — young hackers with Discord accounts who can crash critical infrastructure between homework assignments. The pattern is terrifyingly simple. These digital natives understand something adults missed. Every corporation’s weakest point isn’t its firewall. It’s the 19-year-old working the IT help desk. Here’s how it works. A Scattered Spider member calls your company. He sounds stressed. Professional. Maybe a little desperate. “Hi, this is Dan from accounting. I’m locked out of my email before the big presentation. Can you reset my access?” The help desk worker wants to help. Dan sounds legitimate. His caller ID shows he’s calling from inside the company. His knowledge of internal systems seems authentic. Dan isn’t Dan. He’s a teenager who spent 30 minutes researching your company’s structure. The phone number is spoofed. The knowledge comes from social media stalking and corporate websites. Within minutes, “Dan” has access to your entire network. What happens next would impress military strategists. These criminals don’t just break in and grab data. They study their targets like doctoral students. They learn entire industries before launching coordinated strikes. First, they hit retail. UK grocery chains crumbled. Shelves emptied. Supply chains froze. Then insurance companies across North America. Claims processing stopped. Customer data vanished. Finally airlines. Flights canceled. Passengers stranded. Each sector gets the full treatment. Multiple companies hit simultaneously. Maximum chaos. Maximum profit. The FBI calls this “the most imminent threat” to American infrastructure. They’re not exaggerating. Scattered Spider emerged from something called “the Com” — an underground network of trolls and criminals. Think 4chan crossed with organized crime. These malicious minors level up fast. What begins as petty harassment quickly turns into full-blown extortion. Afterwards, members shift their focus to cyber-terrorism. It all unfolds like a ridiculous game of Whac-A-Mole. The stakes, however, aren’t tokens; they’re tens of millions in actual damage. To compound matters, there’s no boss to arrest. No chain of command to cut. Just a sinister swarm that mutates and multiplies. There’s no neat hierarchy to dismantle. Just skilled youngsters loosely networked through dozens of apps. Shut one cell down, and three more spring up. It’s not a gang; it’s a marketplace. Take down one ransomware service, another pops up offering better customer support. Arrest a member, and a teenager in another time zone takes their place before the cuffs even close. The economics drives everything. A successful attack pays more than any teenage job and, honestly, better than most jobs, period. Caesar’s Entertainment forked out millions after Scattered Spider struck. MGM Resorts lost $100 million recovering from their breach. Why flip burgers for minimum wage when you can make millions with phone calls? Traditional security focuses on firewalls and passwords. Scattered Spider, however, focuses on human psychology. They’ve weaponized politeness, our willingness to help, and trust in familiar voices. The phishing websites they craft are masterpieces of deception. This is social engineering taken to an art form. Once inside networks, they deploy ransomware or steal data for extortion. But the real weapon isn’t malware. It’s their understanding of human nature. We built digital fortresses to keep out traditional hackers. These teens simply called at the front door and asked to be let in. The generational divide makes defense nearly impossible. Corporate security teams think like adults. Scattered Spider thinks like teenagers. They’re two generations ahead in understanding how digital natives operate. Adults worry about TikTok rotting teenage brains. Meanwhile, these cunning culprits are conducting advanced psychological operations against Fortune 500 companies. The irony cuts deep. We dismiss teenagers as distracted and lazy, while the most dangerous ones are running sophisticated criminal enterprises. Scattered Spider represents something new in human conflict. Previous terrorist groups needed training camps and weapons. These youngsters need smartphones and social skills. We’re in an arms race between teenage criminals and corporate security. The teenagers are winning. The next wave promises to be even more devastating. As Amazon, Google, and Microsoft expand deeper into healthcare, hospitals become prime targets. Imagine Scattered Spider infiltrating electronic medical records systems during a crisis. Ventilators shut down. Patient data held hostage. Surgery schedules scrambled. Life-support systems compromised. These aren’t just financial attacks anymore — they’re potential body counts. When a teenager in suburban Manchester can disable cardiac monitors at Cleveland Clinic with a phone call, we’ve crossed into biological warfare territory. The same teens who grounded planes could soon be deciding who lives and dies in emergency rooms. These pimple-faced pirates are demonstrating that the right teenager with the right skills can bring civilization to its knees. So, perhaps it’s time to stop underestimating them and instead focus on stopping them. READ MORE from John Mac Ghlionn: The Literary Castration of the Modern Male Not Everyone Needs a Therapist. Some Just Need a Job. 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