A top union boss conceded an important caveat that undercut his union’s endorsement of President Joe Biden. United Auto Workers (UAW) president Shawn Fain told Fox News anchor Neil Cavuto on the Jan. 24 edition of Your World with Neil Cavuto that union members would “vote with their paychecks” and that most of them would not vote for Biden. “Look‚ let me be clear about this: a great majority of our members will not vote for President Biden. Yes‚ some will. But that's the reality of this: The majority of our members are gonna vote their paychecks. They're going to vote for an economy that works for them‚” Fain said. This follows UAW announcing its endorsement of Biden the same day‚ in which Fain smeared former President Donald Trump as a “scab.” Apparently‚ the workers he represents are not exactly on the same page. Fain gave this shocking answer after Cavuto asked him about “very big Trump supporters” among the UAW membership. “A good many of them are at Trump rallies and MAGA enthusiasts. How do you feel about that?” Cavuto asked.   Despite this‚ Fain defended his union’s endorsement of Biden and repeatedly attacked Trump. Fain said that the former president had never “stood for the American worker” at any point in “history.” Fain added‚ “He stands against everything that we stand for.”  Earlier in the interview‚ Cavuto asked Fain about an enormous looming challenge to the auto industry as it pertains to Biden’s obsession with pushing electric vehicles onto the market. “You know far better than I‚ that [Biden] been a big proponent for EV‚ electric vehicles‚ many automakers have said this is sort of been the bane of their existence that the market just isn't there to support what they call the heavy hand of government to force the issue‚” Cavuto said.  Cavuto referenced struggles at Tesla as an example. “Tesla's shares are falling after the car maker forecast slower growth because of weak–EV sales or weaker than expected. Do you think that's a problem for the automakers? You scored this historic and very generous labor package for your members. It's imperiled by this industry push for EVs.” Fain gave a ridiculous answer that sounded like a public relations push from the Biden White House press office: “Look‚ we have to have an environment where we can all live and we can breathe clean air and have clean water. The UAW has always led the way on environmental concerns going back to our founding and wherever the industry goes‚ we’re gonna be a part of it. Our workers are gonna be part of it. We’re gonna fight for those jobs and we're going to fight for it to be a just transition where it pays good wages‚ good benefits so that people can afford to live off that job.” It is unclear how good wages and good benefits will be maintained in an environment where the Biden Administration mandates automakers sell 50% electric vehicles to a public that clearly doesn’t want them.   Conservatives are under attack! Contact ABC News at 818-460-7477‚ CBS News at 212-975-3247 and NBC News at 212-664-6192 and demand they hold Biden and his flunkies accountable for how his climate change fanaticism is hurting the U.S. economy

Many young startup founders trying to emulate Steve Jobs‚ Elon Musk‚ or Travis Kalanick move to a hacker house to work on the next big thing. They need to build a sense of mission within the company‚ but sometimes the hacker house itself becomes a cult around the house leader. At scale‚ the more dysfunctional of these cults seed the Valley with a sterile narcissism.Usually‚ there’s one guy who starts a hacker house. He has a rich family. His startup got venture capital funding. He already had success with a previous company‚ so he’s trying to cultivate new ones. Many of the founders in these houses know that they need to build a sense of following a mission within the company. Some are willing to risk that their hacker house might become a cult around its leader. And some invite it.Hacker houses are usually full of young people who are starting new projects and are trying to spin them up as new companies. Life here is characterized by long hours of work and partying hard afterward.The leader of the group is‚ most of the time‚ the founder who has the most funding or connections to the most prestigious people in the industry. “Who follows you on Twitter” is usually a heuristic used for eyeballing how high in the hierarchy someone would perceive you. And in the race to appear as a better version of competitors a lot like you‚ house leaders can’t help but try to convince their charges they’re the next of the best‚ of the biggest: Travis Kalanick‚ Steve Jobs‚ Elon Musk. In the hacker house‚ the leader is the killer app. Get in on the ground level‚ follow his star‚ get to heaven.Silicon dreams KENZO TRIBOUILLARD/gettyLights flashing‚ smoking coming from the stage‚ and the song being played ends with a roar:“Somebody make some motherf***ing noise in here!” The party attendees look at the stage of the backyard rock concert‚ and its screaming lead singer‚ with a shy kind of indifference. “F*** these people‚” the singer grunts into the mic. The roaring music resumes; the flashing lights‚ the fireworks‚ the smoke machines chug on. These are the first seconds for the intro episode of the HBO series "Silicon Valley."In reality‚ for those hoping to make it from hacker house to hacker heaven‚ it often means "I want power." The phrase "we are disrupting the market" – a favorite anti-establishment rallying cry – is a common basis for establishing a rigid and uniform internal culture after employees quit their jobs and start living in a hacker house‚ writing code eighteen hours a day.Inside‚ three hoodie-adorned twinks walk into a neon living room both astounded and disgusted by the size and magnitude of the house they’re in. They trash-talk the software that the homeowners wrote and subsequently sold to Google – “Money flying all over Silicon Valley‚ but none of it seems to ever hit us‚” says one‚ referencing one of the most iconic phrases from the series.Another guy with a spoon in his hand joins them and after being asked what he’s holding‚ he says it’s liquid shrimp and remarks upon its taste with an oddly specific comparison. A fifth guy joins the conversation. “Look‚ Dustin Moskovitz‚ Elon Musk‚ Eric Schmidt‚ whatever-the-guy’s-name-that-created Photrio! I mean‚ Kid Rock is the poorest person here‚ apart from you guys. There’s forty billion dollars walking around this party and you guys are standing here drinking shrimp‚ talking about what cum tastes like – yes‚ I heard that.”The party host wrestles the microphone from the screaming rock star and clinks his glass with a spoon calling for a toast. “I got seven words for you: I LOVE GOOLYBEEP’S INTEGRATED MULTI-PLATFORM FUNCTIONALITY!” Some attendees raise their glasses reluctantly.“But seriously ... a few days ago when we were brunching with ... Barack Obama‚ I turned to these guys and said‚ ‘You know‚ we are making a lot of money ... and yes‚ we are disrupting digital media‚ but most importantly‚ we are making the world a better place ... through constructing elegant hierarchies for maximum code reusability and extensibility.’ ”We are making the world a better place. We are changing the world. In reality‚ for those hoping to make it from hacker house to hacker heaven‚ it often means I want power. The phrase we are disrupting the market – a favorite anti-establishment rallying cry – is a common basis for establishing a rigid and uniform internal culture after employees quit their jobs and start living in a hacker house‚ writing code eighteen hours a day. It’s often accepted‚ if not explicitly‚ that if your startup is not receiving cease-and-desist letters you are really not changing the status quo. In the early days‚ many employees forgo their salaries‚ because they believe in the mission of the company. Bad companies keep this policy even after raising millions from venture capitalists.It’s easy to dismiss the cult of the hacker house as an all-too-characteristic efflorescence of bro-ish narcissism. But instead of sociopathy or some other pathology‚ there’s something bigger at play‚ something that reaches more broadly and deeply into human nature.Most endeavors to suddenly build the next great thing have the feel of a cult. How else can you convince people to give you millions of dollars‚ quit their jobs‚ drop out of school‚ and spend years working on a master plan to remake the world? But a lot of these cults‚ and the outsized personalities that drive them‚ are mostly harmless. They don’t put poison in the Kool-Aid they pass around. They juice up and get to work.As the pandemic of 2020 started‚ Marc Andreessen’s essay “It’s Time to Build” became an instant Valley classic‚ reanimating tech entrepreneurs looking to change the world and venture capitalists longing to get in early on the next startup that does exactly that.It was Andreessen who built Mosaic‚ the web’s first graphic interface browser. Together with Ben Horowitz‚ eventual partner at their eponymous venture fund‚ he built and ran Netscape‚ a company whose name works a bit like a Rorschach test. Whether you think of it as “the landscape of the net” or “the escape into the net” probably says a lot about you. After what many startup founders would see as an epic saga battling against giants like Microsoft‚ Andreessen exited his company‚ started his own fund‚ and rose to exemplar status with a brand of future-focused optimism – one that makes him‚ outside the established tech journalism industry‚ at least‚ hard to hate.Such legend and lore for noobs to imitate can’t help but fuel new cults of personality at the entry level. “Media is important because it’s the narratives about what is good‚ what is bad‚” former Coinbase CTO Balaji Srinivasan said on the "Pod of Jake" podcast. “So many people got into tech actually because of the movie 'The Social Network‚' again‚ even that was sort of a left-handed compliment. But at the time‚ Aaron Sorkin‚ he couldn’t help but‚ in a certain way‚ recognize that [Mark] Zuckerberg is a genius‚ the scenes of programming in that movie‚ you know?”And in the Valley‚ as opposed to Hollywood‚ lore control hinges on credibility. Back before journalism turned on tech‚ Vanity Fair plumbed the culture of cred at its 2014 “New Establishment Summit”; in a live interview with Andreessen and Mike Judge‚ creator of "Silicon Valley‚" Kara Swisher asked if the show’s “idiotic” people and situations were “the reality” in the Valley.“People just can pick up when something is real‚” says Judge‚ breaking into a little nervous laughter. “I’d like to say absurd‚ rather than idiotic. It’s absurd‚ it’s a lot of brilliant people‚” he continues with a certain empathy‚ “who sometimes can barely function in normal social situations and have billions of dollars.” The crowd giggles. “Oh‚ hi Marc.”Andreessen interjects. “Well‚ I know every single person in the show‚ like in real life‚ like every single one. And not the actors‚ the actual characters. Every single thing in it is accurate – every line‚ every person‚ every event‚ the way they are combined makes it absurd‚ but is highly true to real life. And hopefully we’ll talk more about that‚ because I think there is a deeper meaning to that. Another reason it’s so good‚ and I don’t think this is well known‚ but Mike started his career as a Silicon Valley engineer. So Mike has a deep grounding in physics and electrical engineer – so‚ unlike a lot of people – Aaron Sorkin” – Andreessen stage-coughs – “he actually knows what he’s talking about.”Andreessen returns to Zuckerberg‚ Sorkin’s "Social Network" semi-antihero. “I’m not defending every aspect of everything Zuck has done‚ but I will say that there is‚ on net‚ genuine heroism to building something of that scale and magnitude‚ from scratch.” More so than tapping out‚ tearing down‚ or policing into oblivion‚ the main alternatives on offer in today’s dominant culture. Even as Zuckerberg’s fortunes flag‚ his legend‚ no less than that of Steve Jobs‚ continues to shimmer‚ larger than life‚ in the mirror eyes of the hacker house lord angling to make tech lord.Srinivasan himself has built a sizable startup following. His captivating views on creating new cities and even new countries – "The Network State‚" as his new book has it – circulate through tweets often lurked by the hungry and ambitious hoping to leverage a hidden gem into the next startup worthy of devotion. Twitter notification – “@balajis is live in a Twitter Space”; roll out of bed‚ make some coffee‚ pop on the headphones; think “this Singapore time-zone difference is killing me” and “this is lore in the making.” Srinivasan’s newsletter project of giving grants away for completing micro-tasks like coding or working out have earned him popularity around the world. From the "Pod of Jake" interview:I’ve been fortunate enough to make it and that’s my contribution to humanity. Hopefully this helps find the next Ramanujans out there in some wartorn area like Syria‚ but hopefully that kid has a smartphone and we can airlift them out‚ right? Give them a shot‚ set up a school in Singapore‚ and I know it’s an idiosyncratic use of capital‚ but I’m not the type to spend on Ferraris.Why? Because‚ he maintains‚ at a time when government truth is breaking down and “decentralized truth” is gaining currency (cryptocurrency‚ to be precise)‚ VCs can make momentous changes poking strategically at the digital reworking of the world. “VCs won’t get most things right by making these big bets‚” as he puts it‚ “but they get the big things right.”In making big bets on getting big things right‚ they make big money. And why shouldn’t it go back into the ecosystem? All that’s needed is a receiving class of aspirants of sufficient intelligence and devotion.Thielian dialectic Stephanie Keith via Getty Images “You don’t like your character in HBO’s 'Silicon Valley.'” This time it’s the New York Times to Peter Thiel. This time it’s 2017.“Deny. I liked him. I watched the first season. My character died. I think eccentric is always better than evil‚” said Peter Thiel in a rapid-fire interview at the New York Times.“Mark Zuckerberg asked you to invest in Facebook while wearing pajamas.”“Deny. The actual story was that Sean Parker convinced him to go to Sequoia Capital wearing pajamas to insult them at some point.”Peter himself is notoriously hard to reach‚ if you are just a startup founder trying to get a meeting with VCs. He’s known to get more than a handful of philosophy professors in his office‚ discussing the meaning of a chapter of Leo Strauss’ "The City and Man" for an entire day. He earned his reputation starting a fintech company before the 2000s. The aim was to create a new digital private currency that would compete with the dollar. His company Confinity later became PayPal after merging with Elon Musk’s rival fintech X.com.His essays are also required reading in the tech world. For some tech bros‚ this is the first time they’re introduced to the ideas from René Girard and Goethe’s "Faust." His interviews talking about politics‚ technology‚ society‚ or the Bible are required listening.Thiel’s watchword‚ following Girard‚ is mimesis – the deeply ingrained human faculty of imitation‚ especially toward rivals and enemies. With his insistence to think for yourself‚ to be a contrarian‚ Thiel strikes at the heart of the mystique of the cult. Two of his favorite interview questions have gone from cliche to archetype in Valley culture: “What is something you know that nobody else knows?"What is something you believe to be true on which no one agrees with you?” Yet he knows how to speak the language the Valley understands. In his book "Zero to One‚" Thiel shows how the longing to wield the will over the world changes once cult-like imitation is warded away: “Every great business is built around a secret that’s hidden from the outside. A great company is a conspiracy to change the world; when you share your secret‚ the recipient becomes a fellow conspirator.”His intense mimetic rivalry with Musk led to the PayPal merger – but then a string of big solo bets‚ Facebook‚ Palantir – that paid big. His most recent wager‚ however – on politics – is different. The jury is still out on his national and international-level moves‚ and just what he has learned from them remains something of a secret. Perhaps the best peek in can be gained from contemplating the political upshot of one of Thiel’s biggest investment rules: “Never bet against Elon Musk.”For some tech bros‚ this is the first time they’re introduced to the ideas from René Girard and Goethe’s "Faust." His interviews talking about politics‚ technology‚ society‚ or the Bible are required listening.“'Silicon Valley‚' accurate or not accurate?” South by Southwest‚ 2018. “The show?” Musk replies. “Yeah – um‚ in fact‚ reality‚ the truth‚ is stranger than fiction. All the crazy stuff you see in that show 'Silicon Valley‚' the reality is way crazier than that.”With his hero’s journey lore of working long hours and sleeping on the Tesla factory floor – sometimes seen as a sort of final-level hacker house – Musk has a devout following around the world‚ including many talented engineers who give their youth to Tesla‚ SpaceX‚ and now Neuralink‚ to fulfill Elon’s vision of electric cars‚ spacefaring civilization‚ and human beings who somehow beat advanced digital technology by joining it ever more intimately.Elon’s track record and charisma have helped him through difficult times‚ in his companies and in his life. Most people have now forgotten his early tales of battery-swapping stations instead of charging stations. What sticks is SpaceX rockets landing vertically after returning from orbit. Musk’s current description of his daily life as that of a “tech monastery” feels intuitive now: progress of his sort runs on a kind of wing and a prayer – both the American faith in “making it work” and the faith that such faith is contagious‚ that it breeds authority.Much of Musk’s fan base followed him buying Bitcoin and Doge during the pandemic‚ massively moving the markets of both. And after fighting with other Bitcoin maximalists on Twitter‚ he publicly backed out from Bitcoin‚ tanking the market while most of his followers lost a lot of money after recklessly reacting to every single tweet. In this feud‚ the Bitcoin maximalists follow a different kind of leader‚ Satoshi Nakamoto. Srinivasan has said the controversially mysterious Bitcoin founder is very “Jesus-like” in his sudden appearance‚ disappearing after a while but never selling his coins or the promise implicit in them.Bitcoin maximalists offer salvation by holding their coin and awaiting paradise as crypto protestants fork coins and chains with varying degrees of piety toward Satoshi’s original white paper. Some say they themselves are Satoshi – summoning memories of Jesus telling his disciples to imitate him but not to trust those who claimed to be him. Beyond the cult lies the religion. While hacker houses mimetically reproduce cultish forms‚ the bets made by the ultimate tech lords raise questions about which kind of church will prevail in our age.Tech autocrats Justin Sullivan via Getty Images Antonio García Martínez recounts in his book "Chaos Monkeys" that “the culture is what kept twenty-three-year-old kids who were making half a million a year‚ in a city where there was lots of fun on offer if you had the cash‚ tethered to a corporate campus for fourteen-hours days. They ate three meals a day there‚ sometimes slept there‚ and did nothing but write code‚ review code‚ or comment on new features.” He mentions that a founder is the “keeper of messianic vision” that “presents an overwhelming and all-consuming picture of a new different world. Have a mad vision‚ and you’re a kook. Get a crowd to believe in it as well‚ and you’re a leader.”Zuckerberg‚ he remarks of one characteristic moment working at Facebook‚ “gave us a rousing speech. In this personality cult‚ we had slogans on the walls‚ we were all wearing uniforms‚ it all felt very North Korean or Cuban almost. And in that moment I realized that the mode-force of history: one egomaniac with a drive and the common man’s desire to be part of a compelling story. Which is what we were‚ just bit players in Zuckerberg’s story.” His interviewer asks‚ “What’s bad about that?” “There isn’t anything necessarily wrong at all‚” comes the reply. “Facebook is like the Roman Empire‚ with a strong culture and message‚ with a strong emperor in power trying to conquer the world.” Or was. That was then. What is now?Many of the newcomers to the Valley still want to be like Zuck‚ but most of them fail trying. Engineers and designers whose startups struggle go to someone higher for help‚ in exchange for equity or writing code‚ or‚ more rarely‚ something else. In the worst cases‚ some hacker houses have given rise to cases of alleged sexual assault‚ harassment‚ or simply some form of extortion.Young people with dreams of “making it” become mentally vulnerable after the disfiguring cycle of ninety-hour work weeks punctuated with launch parties for rival startups‚ competitions with fresher talent‚ and waves of departures claiming half their co-workers. Amid these torments‚ founders of other startups can get forlorn bros to join without even negotiating much. How do you negotiate with a savior who has arrived for your salvation?Of course‚ there are alternatives to the hacker house. There is the startup incubator. The most prestigious in the Valley remains Y Combinator‚ whose founder Paul Graham oversaw the rise of portfolio companies like Airbnb‚ Dropbox‚ Reddit‚ Stripe‚ DoorDash‚ Coinbase‚ Instacart‚ and Twitch.It is‚ in a salutary sense‚ more like a mafia than a cult: Martínez recounts in "Chaos Monkeys" how Paul threatened to ban two major blue-chip VCs from “demo day” (where startups pitch to investors with billions of dollars at stake) to protect him from a lawsuit backed by those VCs. The logic was simple‚ familiar‚ and devoid of mind games: If you mess with one of the family‚ even a small company‚ you mess with the whole family.But the incubator is in another sense even more like a factory than Musk’s shop. Bismarck Analysis founder Samo Burja remarked in the Valley magazine Palladium that “there were people who did remarkable things by working in software‚ but once it became commoditized and standardized‚ ironically by people like Paul Graham‚ deeply insightful people‚ they made [YCombinator] like a startup factory. Well‚ as soon as something is a factory‚ then you are a factory worker.”Graham’s 2008 blog post “Cities and Ambition” can be read as a warning about the Valley. The pathologies from the more dysfunctional of these cults come from a high base layer of narcissism throughout the Valley. Now that more of society is encompassed by the technology built in California – all the people in tech‚ from the lowest-level code monkey to the management of a company‚ they all have a feeling of importance‚ and they always want more users to control.When you ask what message a city sends‚ you sometimes get surprising answers. As much as they respect brains in Silicon Valley‚ the message the Valley sends is: you should be more powerful. That’s not quite the same message New York sends. Power matters in New York too of course‚ but New York is pretty impressed by a billion dollars even if you merely inherited it. In Silicon Valley no one would care except a few real estate agents. What matters in Silicon Valley is how much effect you have on the world. The reason people there care about Larry and Sergey is not their wealth but the fact that they control Google‚ which affects practically everyone.The reality is that venturing into a project that requires hundreds of thousands of hours from multiple people to bring into existence requires some sense of purpose. Turning these startups into mere money in and money out will make it impossible to build anything that stands.In an interview‚ Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky tells an old parable when thinking about hiring: “There are two men laying bricks‚ and a third guy comes up to one of them and asks ‘What are you building?’ The bricklayer says‚ ‘I’m building a wall.’ The third guy then turns around and asks the other bricklayer what he’s building. He replies‚ ‘I’m building a cathedral.’”“It’s the idea‚” Chesky adds‚ “that you’re not building financial systems‚ you’re not building a website‚ you’re not designing different screens and mockups. You’re building this mission. You’re creating this kinda-world.”Can a kinda-world ever attract true devotion? Maybe Heinrich Heine was right: “People in those old times had convictions; we moderns only have opinions. And it needs more than a mere opinion to erect a Gothic cathedral.”Pablo Peniche is a computer programmer and writer based in Mexico City.

The Maine House of Representatives' Judiciary Committee was poised Thursday to advance a bill that threatened to allow the state to seize custody of children whose parents refused them sex-change mutilations and other irreversible medical interventions. It was evidently not meant to be. Following some Republican backlash and a successful pressure campaign led by the parental rights advocacy group Courage Is a Habit‚ the committee voted 12-0 on the motion that LD 1735 — dubbed the "transgender trafficking bill" by critics — "ought not to pass." Courage Is a Habit said the victory demonstrated "what happens when you stop letting the Transgender cult emotionally blackmail you. The every-day-American Patriot is not helpless." The so-called " Act to Safeguard Gender-affirming Health Care" was the handiwork of Democratic state Rep. Laurie Osher‚ leader of the Legislature's LGBTQ+ Equality Caucus. The bill would have: prevented courts from considering the abduction of a child from a parent who has legal custody "if the taking or retention was for obtaining gender-affirming health care"; authorized courts to "take temporary jurisdiction because a child has been unable to obtain gender-affirming health care or gender-affirming mental health care"; and prevented law enforcement from participating in the "arrest or extradition of an individual pursuant to an out-of-state arrest warrant" based on laws against the sexual mutilation of children. Republican state Rep. Rachel Henderson warned‚ "This gives the state jurisdiction to effectively come into your home and take your kids based on a medical decision you made for the well-being and mental well-being of your child." Courage Is a Habit president Alvin Lui stressed to Blaze News that LD 1735 was a "sex trafficker's dream come true." Lui previously indicated that an early death for LD 1735 was critical‚ as the Democrat-controlled state House and Senate would likely pass the bill if given the chance. That opportunity was wrested away from them Thursday. State Rep. Katrina Smith‚ a Republican on the judiciary committee who has been critical of the bill‚ confirmed the result of the successful 12-0 vote‚ telling the Daily Signal‚ "Today we won a victory for our children who have been fooled into thinking they are not perfect the way God made them." "With the death of LD 1735 we have proven that when evil is brought out of the darkness and exposed in the light‚ it can be vanquished. The people spoke loudly and it mattered‚" added Smith. Shawn McBreairty‚ a parental rights activist who campaigned against the bill‚ said its defeat was a "massive win for parental rights all over our nation." "This is not Tennessee or Indiana or Oklahoma‚" Lui stressed. "This was 12-0 in Maine." Lui highlighted that even Democrats who have supported other radical legislation — legalizing abortion at nine months and sex-change surgeries for minors without parental consent — were not able to bring themselves to vote in favor of LD 1735. The parental rights advocate does not credit the bill's fate to a change of heart on the part of the committee members‚ but rather to their inability to pass it on the sly. Despite having previously supported the bill‚ Democrats on the committee retroactively claimed its language was flawed‚ reported WGME-TV. While her bill was thwarted Thursday‚ Osher threatened to keep trying. "We will make sure that people are protected‚ that our care providers are protected‚" Osher told WGME. "Today was a moment where we're not getting that done‚ but we will get that done." "The national significance of [the bill's failure] is twofold. First‚ it's one less state where children who have been lured into the Transgender Cult can go to and risk being trafficked‚" Lui told Blaze News. "Second‚ it sends a national message that the emotional blackmail hold the Transgender Cult has over parents is breaking." Lui‚ who credited the hard work of his co-founder Jennifer McWilliams‚ indicated the fight is not over. "Currently there are 15 states with a Transgender Trafficking Bill (12 legislative bills and 3 by executive order)‚" said Lui. He indicated his group will now work to "ensure not another state passes a Transgender Trafficking Bill." Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors‚ sign up for our newsletters‚ and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Biden’s border crisis is putting the lives of Americans at risk. One tragic example is Kayla Hamilton‚ a young woman who lost her life at the hands of an illegal immigrant. Now‚ her mother‚ Tammy Nobles‚ is suing the U.S. Department of Homeland Security over the brutal murder. According to Tammy‚ not only did the DHS fail to notice the boy’s MS-13 tattoos or run a background check but neither it nor CPS bothered to secure him after he became a lead suspect in her daughter’s death. Kayla had been renting a room with her boyfriend in a trailer when the woman who owned the trailers placed the illegal immigrant in her trailer. “It was pretty obvious he was not a good guy‚ because he had visible MS-13 gang tattoos on his body‚” Nobles tells Glenn Beck. Then‚ Nobles received a phone call from the police that her daughter was found deceased and that the evidence was consistent with a homicide. The illegal immigrant had used her iPod charger to strangle her and then raped her after she had died. “He’s the reason why your wonderful daughter is no longer here‚” Glenn responds‚ adding that it wasn’t just him who’s at fault. “To know that our own government is responsible for it is just obscene‚” he adds. After testifying in front of Congress‚ Nobles is attempting to raise $10‚000 for travel and legal bills to fight for her daughter’s justice. The fundraiser is called “Bring Kayla Hamilton Justice” and is on GoFundMe for those interested in fighting back. Want more from Glenn Beck?To enjoy more of Glenn’s masterful storytelling‚ thought-provoking analysis‚ and uncanny ability to make sense of the chaos‚ subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America‚ defend the Constitution‚ and live the American dream.

Texas is facing another Alamo. We're in a constitutional crisis. Governor Greg Abbott (R) on Wednesday wrote a letter to the American people and Joe Biden‚ and he defined his authority and the authority of the United States. But first‚ let me take you back to 1787. The Constitutional Convention came down to this question: Where do states' rights end‚ and where do the federal government's begin? Many states didn't want to join the union because they didn't believe the federal government was going to hold up its end of the bargain. States had to give up a large portion of their sovereignty and authority to join the union. How could they be sure that the federal government would uphold their rights? They had just come out of the war with England‚ which violated their rights‚ and they paid a big price to get those rights back. When considering coming under a new authority‚ the federal government‚ they were afraid. What if you had a weak federal government that has the responsibility to protect the border? The states insisted on having the authority to be able to protect their own borders against invaders. The first step was to add the Bill of Rights because the states were pushing back‚ saying‚ "We don't believe the federal government will always hold up its end of the bargain." Of course‚ they were thinking about an invasion of an army. But what is happening on our southern border is the textbook definition of invasion if you look at what China planned to do to Russia during the Sino-Soviet border conflict. The People's Republic of China thought that if there ever was a war with Russia‚ all China had to do was send a million people over the border and have them surrender. On day two‚ send another million. On day three‚ send another million. China predicted that by the end of the week‚ its invasion plan would collapse Russia. Abbott is saying that Texas is upholding the law‚ while Biden is flouting it. That's exactly what's happening at our southern border. Under the Biden administration‚ at least 6 million illegal aliens have crossed our border and are now in our communities and cities all across our country. Some estimates say there are as many as 10 million illegal migrants. Let's assume that the number is 6 million. That's still more than the population of 33 states in our country. The Biden administration has let in a whole new Colorado‚ a whole new Wisconsin‚ a whole new Oregon‚ and we don't even know who these people are. But we know who some of them are. The Border Patrol has picked up cartel members‚ human traffickers‚ and even members of Hezbollah‚ Hamas‚ and other terrorist organizations. Cartels are making bank from Biden's open-border policies by enabling human trafficking and drug smuggling operations to flourish. U.S. citizens continue to die from fentanyl that has been smuggled in as a direct result of the Biden administration's policies. This isn't a Trump problem. Trump had the border under control. Biden came in on day one and completely‚ through executive order‚ overturned everything that Trump had done. We saw it‚ and it's only getting worse now. Our government‚ through NGOs and public-private partnerships‚ is intentionally moving people from South America‚ Central America‚ and Mexico into the United States. This is all part of the United Nations and the World Economic Forum‚ which Joe Biden is fundamentally signed on for. That's why Abbott stated that "President Biden has refused to enforce those laws" that he‚ in his federal capacity‚ is obligated to enforce. Abbott goes so far as to say that Biden has violated the laws. Then‚ appealing to James Madison‚ Alexander Hamilton‚ and the framers of the Constitution‚ Abbott declared that Texas’s right to defend itself is the “supreme law of the land” and "supersedes any federal statutes to the contrary.” So what does this mean? Well‚ it means we are in a constitutional crisis. We have a state declaring its constitutional right to protect itself and the federal government saying no‚ it can't.Does Texas have the right to do this? Senator Ted Cruz says yes. Ron DeSantis has signed on. More and more states are signing on. They are arguing that the Constitution wouldn't have been ratified in the first place if it left states defenseless against an inept and corrupt government. Texas certainly wouldn't have signed on. You have to understand we weren't a commonwealth. Texas was a republic. It's the only one in the union. Texas had no reason to join the United States. It wanted to. This is why Texas‚ the Lone Star State‚ exudes a different attitude. Texans said‚ "We'll join‚ but we're still Texas." They never would have joined the union if they didn’t have the right to supersede the government in protecting their borders when the government failed in its job. In light of this‚ Abbott is saying that Texas is upholding the law while Biden is flouting it. As a state‚ you have a right to defend yourself if the federal government fails to do its constitutional duty‚ which we all know it has. The feds have failed to hold up their end of the bargain‚ just like the delegates at the Constitutional Convention predicted. This isn't just a "Texas issue." This impacts all of us‚ whether we as states‚ as citizens of the United States of America‚ have the right to defend ourselves. This is the time for the states to stand together. Want more from Glenn Beck? Get Glenn's FREE email newsletter with his latest insights‚ top stories‚ show prep and more delivered to your inbox.

Former Spanish soccer President Luis Rubiales will go on trial for his kiss of a female soccer player after the country won the Women's World Cup‚ which prosecutors have alleged was a sexual assault.Rubiales appeared to kiss star player Jenni Hermoso on the lips‚ which sparked outrage among her teammates. Hermoso later filed a criminal complaint.State prosecutors are reportedly seeking a fine or imprisonment of up to a year‚ Yahoo reported‚ which would fall under the jurisdiction of a new law that reportedly eliminates any discrepancies between sexual harassment and sexual assault. As such‚ the charge against Rubiales is sexual assault‚ along with an alleged attempt to coerce the victim into publicly supporting him.The judge reportedly described evidence that Rubiales pressured Hermoso to appear in a video in the aftermath‚ but she refused. Other Spanish soccer officials allegedly applied additional pressure to the player as well.Rubiales denies any criminal wrongdoing‚ the Sun reported‚ and previously claimed that he was a victim of a campaign led by "false feminists."However‚ the day immediately following the Women's World Cup‚ Hermoso had downplayed the incident when she called the kiss "mutual" and said she had maintained a great relationship with Rubiales."It was a mutual‚ totally spontaneous gesture because of the huge joy of winning a World Cup‚" she said‚ according to Fox News. "The 'presi' and I have a great relationship. His behavior with us has been a '10.' It was a natural gesture‚ of affection and gratitude. ... We've won a World Cup‚ and we won't get away from what's important.""There are idiots everywhere‚" Rubiales reportedly stated. "When two people have a gesture of affection‚ that isn't important‚ we can't pay attention to idiocy. We're [world] champions and I'll focus on that."Further complaints rolled in as the soccer president was retroactively criticized for a crotch grab he made on-camera earlier in the Women's World Cup. There was also outcry according to the Daily Mail over the executive carrying around one of the female players during the championship celebration.It took just a few days after the celebration for the entire women's team to refuse to play again until the president stepped down."No woman should feel the need to respond to the forceful images that the whole world has seen and of course‚ they should not be involved in non-consensual attitudes‚" the team said as part of a statement.After initially refusing to resign‚ less than three weeks later Rubiales decided to step down following a 90-day ban from soccer's international governing bod‚y FIFA."After the suspension from FIFA‚ plus all the other proceedings opened against me‚ it’s evident that I cannot go back to my position‚" Rubiales said in a letter.Rubiales has since seen his appeal of a new‚ three-year FIFA ban rejected‚ with the appeals committee saying they were "comfortably satisfied that Mr Rubiales behaved in a manner contrary to the principles" of the organization.The kiss was declared as "unconsented and carried out unilaterally and in a surprising fashion" by a Spanish High Court.Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors‚ sign up for our newsletters‚ and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Former Stardew Valley developer Arthur Lee‚ known best as ‘Mr Podunkian‚’ finally reveals the name of his upcoming city-based life sim game as it comes to Steam ahead of a planned launch in late 2024. Lee‚ who previously worked on the beloved‚ 98% Steam rated farming sim at developer ConcernedApe‚ has been teasing out details of his next project for quite some time via social media‚ but now confirms that Sunkissed City is planned to arrive in late 2024 as he unveils the game’s Steam page. Continue reading Ex Stardew Valley dev unveils new city-based life sim game on Steam MORE FROM PCGAMESN: Best sandbox games‚ Games like Stardew Valley‚ Best life games

If you're looking to buy yourself a new mini keyboard with RGB lighting‚ then now's the time to get your wallet out and take advantage of this great gaming keyboard deal. You can currently get this fantastic Mountain Everest 60 for a fantastic price of just $74.99‚ saving you a massive $65 on the $139.99 launch price. Continue reading There’s a $65 saving on the best mini gaming keyboard right now MORE FROM PCGAMESN: Best graphics card‚ Best gaming PC‚ Best SSD for gaming

The newly released Graven contains all of the hallmarks of the so-called ‘boomer shooter.’ Open-ended environments? Check. Searching for keys? Check? Demonic baddies? Check. But rather than cribbing from Doom or Wolfenstein 3D‚ its chief inspirations are two other id-published cult classics – Heretic and Hexen. Developed by Raven Software and released on PC back in 1994 and 1995 respectively‚ they transposed the 3D shooter to a dark fantasy setting‚ swapping pistols and rocket launchers for swords and magic. Continue reading 30-year-old cult-classic FPS gets a stylish‚ punishing successor

Who is on the Tekken 8 tier list? The only way to become the King (or Queen) of the Iron Fist tournament is to pick a powerful character‚ someone capable of defeating the majority of the roster without breaking a sweat. The Tekken games are known for their exceptional character balancing‚ meaning you should be able to pick anyone on the Tekken 8 roster without having to worry about any glaring weaknesses. That being said‚ even the best fighting games with amazing character balancing still feature tier lists‚ and Tekken 8 is no exception. We’re going to break down each character and highlight their strengths and weaknesses to determine who tops our Tekken 8 tier list. Continue reading Tekken 8 tier list – best characters January 2024 MORE FROM PCGAMESN: Tekken 8 roster‚ Tekken 8 review‚ Tekken 8 system requirements