Nate Silver: This Election Isn't a Toss-Up Anymore

Border Bros: Trump and RFK, Jr. Sound a Lot Alike on Border Security

Rocky, a lively German Shepherd puppy, prances into a bedroom where Simba, the mother cat, is lying on a bed with her five newborn kittens. With a toy in his mouth, Rocky’s playful nature is immediately apparent. His boundless energy seems to fill the room, but his demeanor quickly changes when he notices Simba and... The post Bouncy German Shepherd’s whole personality changes when he meets tiny newborn kittens appeared first on Animal Channel.

An unidentified male took a swing with a "5-foot-long tree branch" like it was a baseball bat, bashing a man in the back of his head in a horrific, unprovoked attack in Dallas over the weekend. You can view surveillance video of the attack here.The victim, Adam Mercado, and his girlfriend, Taylor Monnet, were in downtown Dallas early Saturday morning and decided to meet friends at City Tavern, KXAS-TV reported.'I always have my guard up; make sure you keep your head on a swivel — because for 10 seconds, I let my guard down, and this happened.'“As we were walking up, I noticed a gentleman holding a big stick, kind of looking like a spear,” Mercado told KXAS. “And initially, my senses were going crazy, my intuition was going crazy, so I said, 'You know what, let’s go inside and get a drink.'”Around 2 a.m., the couple decided to leave and were on the patio outside the tavern when the attack happened, the station said.“And that’s when I felt it,” Mercado recounted to KXAS. “The sound was loud enough to almost be a gunshot. That’s what scared me.”Video shows the male walking through the patio and stopping behind Mercado when he took a swing with the stick — which Mercado called a "5-foot-long tree branch" in a YouTube video description. A piece of the stick broke off when the male hit Mercado in the back of his head, after which Mercado fell to the ground. Video also shows the attacker punching another man — a City Tavern employee, KXAS said — who came over in an apparent attempt to intervene, knocking him to the ground before the suspect took off. Dallas police told the station investigators had not yet identified the suspect.Monnet is seen on the clip trying to get assistance for her boyfriend, telling KXAS that she was "running into the bar, and I’m screaming, just begging for help from anyone.”The couple told the station that they turned down an ambulance ride due to the possible financial cost. “Eventually went to the hospital a few hours later because my head, my ears, everything was ringing, I was sore,” Mercado recalled to KXAS. “And I knew that I had to get checked out.”The station said Mercado was diagnosed with a concussion, after which he experienced lingering pain and brain fog — along with fears about leaving their apartment in the wake of the attack.“It’s just been really traumatic, you know, I’ve never had any type of violence done unto me,” he told KXAS. “Very surreal.”Due to his expectation of a large hospital bill after a number of scans, and because he can't work for a little while, WFAA-TV said Mercado set up a GoFundMe page to help defray costs.He added a warning to others who are out and about like he was, WFAA noted: "I always have my guard up; make sure you keep your head on a swivel — because for 10 seconds, I let my guard down, and this happened."You can view video of an interview with Mercado and Monnet here.Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

The World Professional Association for Transgender Health is the organization responsible for the "gender medicine" guidelines regarded as authoritative by various American health institutions and groups, including the American Medical Association, the Endocrine Society, and the American Academy of Pediatrics. While Britain's landmark Cass Review and other studies have demonstrated WPATH's recommendations to be largely indefensible, a report published in March by Environmental Progress revealed that the organization may not be wholly interested in sound defenses. After all, some of its members appear to be freewheeling radicals happily engaged in horrifying pseudo-science. According to Mia Hughes' 242-page report, WPATH members "demonstrate a lack of consideration for long-term patient outcomes despite being aware of the debilitating and potentially fatal side effects of cross-sex hormones and other treatments." Internal documents and videos detailed in the report revealed that WPATH members have knowingly given irreversible medical treatments to mentally compromised victims incapable of providing consent; acknowledged minors cannot comprehend the long-term consequences of so-called gender affirmation; glossed over the regrets of victims of sex changes; and manufactured fake body parts in elective surgeries that do not "exist in nature." Despite WPATH's clear lack of mooring in science and ethics, the organization is still apparently not extreme enough for the Biden administration. According to an unsealed court document in the federal case Boe v. Marshall, Biden's transvestic assistant secretary of Health and Human Services successfully pressured WPATH to drop its recommended minimum age requirements for sex-change mutilations. The Southern Poverty Law Center, the Human Rights Campaign Foundation, and various other leftist groups have been working in Boe to undermine the democratic will of the residents of Alabama by axing the Alabama Vulnerable Child Compassion and Protection Act. The act banned the administration of sterilizing puberty blockers, sex-change mutilations, or cross-sex hormones to minors. The unsealed document that details conversations between the organization's leadership and Rachel Levine regarding WPATH's "Standards of Care Version 8" — as well as other subpoenaed materials WPATH apparently fought in court to keep hidden — is part of a broader report submitted in the case by Dr. James Cantor in support of Alabama's ban. One internal WPATH message noted, "I have just spoken to Admiral Levine today, who — as always is extremely supportive of the SOC 8, but also very eager for its release — so to ensure integration in the US health policies of the Biden government. So, let's crack on with the job." Another WPATH message indicated that Levine not only sought to rush the process but had communicated to the organization via his chief of staff, Sarah Boateng, that the "biggest concern is the section below in the Adolescent Chapter that lists specific minimum ages for treatment." The New York Times indicated that the draft guidelines initially recommended age minimums of 17 for genital mutilations, 15 for healthy breast removals, 16 for breast implants, and 14 for hormone treatments. Levine wanted these minimums eliminated and to expose vulnerable children to unnecessary surgeries WPATH members elsewhere acknowledged they could not consent to — not because of scientific evidence but because of politics. "[Levine] is confident, based on the rhetoric she is hearing in DC, and from what we have already seen, that these specific listings of ages, under 18, will result in devastating legislation for trans care," said the internal WPATH message. "She wonders if the specific ages can be taken out and perhaps an adjunct document could be created that is published or distributed in a way that is less visible than the SOC8, is the way to go." "The issue of ages and treatment has been quite controversial (mainly for surgery) and it has come up again," said another internal WPATH message. "We sent the document to Admiral Levine. ... She like [sic] the SOC-8 very much but she was very concerned that having ages (mainly for surgery) will affect access to health care for trans youth and maybe adults too. Apparently the situation in the USA is terrible and she and the Biden administration worried that having ages in the document will make matters worse. She asked us to remove them. We have the WPATH executive committee in this meeting and we explained to her that we could not just remove them at this stage." In a subsequent message, WPATH confirmed that in response to Levine's requests, the organization had made changes to how the minimum ages were presented in the documents. The court document indicated further that rather than admit Levine's influence in the face of questions over its abrupt and visible removal of recommended age minimums, WPATH "fabricated a false explanation." WPATH suggested that the changes were the result of an effort to place the "emphasis back on individualized patient care rather than some sort of minimal final hurdle that could encourage superficial evaluations and treatments outside of the thorough and comprehensive pathway recommended by WPATH standards." Cantor told the Times, "What's being told to the public is totally different from WPATH's discussions in private." Mia Hughes, whose report exposed WPATH earlier this year, reached a similar conclusion, but went farther, telling Blaze Media co-founder and nationally syndicated radio host Glenn Beck last month, "The Hippocratic Oath has long been abandoned by these people." — (@) Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

United States Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas held a news conference on border security in Tucson, Arizona, on Wednesday, where he rejected a recent report claiming more than 400 illegal aliens were smuggled into the U.S. unlawfully by a network with ties to a terrorist group.During the news conference, Mayorkas told reporters that the Biden administration does not have plans to increase the number of individuals processed through its CBP One application.'That reporting is incorrect.'“The number of appointments that are permitted through CBP One — approximately 1,400 to 1,500 a day — are based on the capacity of our ports of entry. They are antiquated ports of entry that are also in need of funding to modernize them.”He touted the Biden administration’s recent executive order, claiming it has already curbed illegal immigration. The DHS secretary called on Congress to take action on the border as well, namely to increase funding to expand law enforcement resources.One reporter pressed Mayorkas about growing reports of illegal immigrants committing violent crimes against American citizens. She noted that one murder suspect was wearing an Immigration and Customs Enforcement ankle monitor at the time of the crime. The reporter was presumably referring to Franklin Jose Pena Ramos, a 26-year-old Venezuelan national unlawfully in the U.S., who was accused of luring, binding, raping, and strangling 12-year-old Jocelyn Nungaray on June 20.“This morning, you said in an interview that the safety of the American people is the priority and that these individuals are vetted,” the reporter stated. “But we know in our conversations with the ICE director, we heard the FBI director say there are significant gaps in intel. So what would you say to reassure the American people that they are, in fact, safe and what would you say to the families who are mourning their loved ones because of these migrant crimes being committed?”Mayorkas replied, “Well, let me start where you ended. A message to the families is of course, our hearts are with them given their suffering.”“The safety and the security of the American public is indeed our highest priority. We screen and vet individuals when we encounter them,” he continued. “If we learn of derogatory information subsequently, later in the process, then we take enforcement action accordingly.”Mayorkas deflected blame for the uptick in crimes committed by illegal aliens amid the Biden administration’s open border crisis.“The individual who’s responsible for a heinous criminal act is the criminal,” he added.The DHS secretary was also questioned about a recent report from NBC News that stated 400 illegal aliens were smuggled into the U.S. by an ISIS-affiliated network. The whereabouts of more than 50 of the “subjects of concern” remain unknown, according to the news outlet.“DHS confirms that at least 400 migrants with potential ISIS ties recently crossed into the United States,” the reporter said.“That is incorrect,” Mayorkas responded.“Tell us why,” the reporter asked.“That reporting is incorrect,” Mayorkas claimed. “We do not have ... 400 people with potential ISIS ties. And let me, again, assure you that individuals who are identified to have those ties would pose a concern to us from a public safety and a security perspective. And they would be priorities for detention and removal.”The reporter asked Mayorkas to clarify whether the NBC News article was inaccurate.“I think it is inaccurate,” Mayorkas replied. “Let me be clear about something, precision when someone is addressing the facts is very, very important.”The reporter attempted to readdress the question, but Mayorkas cut him short.“I just answered your question. Precision — let me just be clear — precision when one is dealing with the facts is very, very important,” he repeated.While Mayorkas denied that the individuals were found to have ties to ISIS, he did not address whether the smuggling network that trafficked the illegal aliens into the U.S. was linked to the terrorist group, as NBC News’ report claimed.Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

The Supreme Court Upholds the Right to a Jury Trial, Leftists Melt Down

Trump Campaign Opens New Debate Fact-Check Website

Since the summer of 2016, archaeologists from Innsbruck have been excavating a late antique hilltop settlement in the municipality of Irschen in southern Austria. Their efforts have unearthed remarkable findings, but none as sensational as the discovery two years ago: a Christian reliquary hidden in a previously unknown church. This discovery, made on August 4, 2022, by a team led by archaeologist Gerald Grabherr, included a richly decorated ancient ivory reliquary box. Discovery of a Marble Shrine A report on the finding by Innsbruck University describes how the archaeologists uncovered a marble shrine measuring approximately 20 by 30 centimeters (8 by 12 inches) under the altar in a side chapel at an early Christian church on the Burgbichl. Inside this shrine was a heavily fragmented ivory "box" or pyx, adorned with intricate Christian motifs. Reliquaries like this one, often considered the holiest part of a church, are typically removed when a church is abandoned. However, this pyx was left behind, making it the first of its kind found in an archaeological context in Austria. "We know of around 40 ivory boxes of this kind worldwide, and as far as I know, the last time one of these was found during excavations was around 100 years ago," explained Gerald Grabherr. Most existing pyxes are either preserved in cathedral treasures or exhibited in museums. Read moreSection: ArtifactsOther ArtifactsNewsHistory & ArchaeologyRead Later 

In a shot across the bow, the Trump campaign released a memo Thursday morning dismantling President Joe Biden's talking points on crime ahead of the evening's presidential candidates' debate. The presumptive GOP presidential nominee took aim at four of what he termed "Biden ...