The Islamic State is leveraging artificial intelligence to recruit new members and further its ideology, according to a new report.   The Islamic State has not held any significant amount of land since 2019, yet it has found a way through AI to reinvent itself, Mohammad Taha Ali explained in a new report for the Middle East Forum.   “Unlike earlier jihadist movements that relied on physical sanctuaries, the Islamic State now thrives in virtual ones,” Ali wrote.   Ali, a postgraduate student from Jamia Millia Islamia in New Delhi, India, specializing in conflict resolution and strategic affairs, told The Daily Signal he first became aware of the Islamic State’s use of AI at the end of 2023 and start of 2024, “when ISIS-affiliated online networks began regularly using generative AI to produce multilingual propaganda and automated recruitment material.”   Today, the Islamic State is using new technology tools to create deepfake videos and manufacture news reports that are sympathetic to radical Islamic propaganda. ISIS, according to Ali, takes advantage of crisis situations, such as the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, to flood various digital platforms with “AI-generated extremist content.”   “The goal is not just recruitment; it is to exhaust the algorithmic defenses of major social platforms and dominate online discourse,” Ali wrote.   Even within education, female Islamic State loyalists in refugee camps, such as the al-Hol Displacement Camp in Syria, are using “algorithmically produced martyrdom stories, ensuring the continuity of the movement’s narrative even without formal leadership,” he explained.   Video Games  Gaming is one of the key digital platforms ISIS uses to spread its message and recruit new people into jihadism.   Ali referred to the trend as “gamified radicalization,” in which terrorists target gamers, often in diaspora communities, with radical Islamic ideology.   “These recruits seldom cross a border yet become ideological soldiers in the Islamic State’s virtual army,” he said. “This fusion of gaming culture and jihadist mythology represents an entirely new front in extremist mobilization.”   Cryptocurrency   The Islamic State has also taken advantage of the advent of cryptocurrency, according to Ali. He explained that ISIS uses decentralized forms of currency to evade oversight. Cryptocurrency can be exchanged with anonymity, allowing financers of the “califate,” the establishment of the Islamic state, to fund fighters with greater trust that their identity won’t be exposed.   “In this way, the Islamic State’s ‘caliphate without borders’ morphs into a financial ecosystem without identities,” Ali said.  What Can Be Done?   The Trump administration is “partially” taking the necessary steps to combat the threat of the Islamic State’s use of AI and cryptocurrency, Ali said, explaining “there has been progress on crypto enforcement, but the U.S. still lacks a coherent strategy for tracking and countering AI-generated extremist content and synthetic networks.”  The new Islamic State is a “networked, AI-enabled insurgency,” Ali said, and must be treated as such.   To address the threat, Ali recommended intelligence agencies work with technology companies to monitor and detect AI-generated Islamic State propaganda. Second, specialists who investigate cryptocurrency transactions need greater support through the Financial Action Task Force, an intergovernmental body established to combat nefarious financial activity.   Finally, Ali recommended governments “fund diaspora-led digital literacy and counternarrative programs specifically in gaming communities where extremist recruiters are now operational.”   Defeating the “AI Caliphate,” according to Ali, will require policymakers “to think not like soldiers or theologians, but like engineers.”   The post How Terrorists Are Using AI  appeared first on The Daily Signal.

A federal magistrate judge on Monday criticized federal prosecutors when ordering that they turn over grand jury evidence to the defense team representing indicted former FBI Director James Comey, who faces charges of perjury and obstruction of a congressional investigation. Magistrate Judge William Fitzpatrick said interim U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan made two statements to grand jurors that could be “fundamental misstatements of the law,” The Hill reported. “The Court recognizes that the relief sought by the defense is rarely granted,” Fitzpatrick said in the opinion. “However, the record points to a disturbing pattern of profound investigative missteps, missteps that led an FBI agent and a prosecutor to potentially undermine the integrity of the grand jury proceeding.” Magistrate judges, such as Fitzpatrick, are not presidential appointees, but are appointed by a panel of federal district judges. John Malcolm, director of The Heritage Foundation’s legal center, explained that it is unusual for a judge to order the release of grand jury transcripts, even to the defense, as Judge Fitzpatrick acknowledged. However, Malcolm told The Daily Signal that “it is not unheard of.” “After all, Trump’s DOJ recently sought the release of the grand jury transcripts related to the [Jeffrey] Epstein indictment because they believed that the public interest outweighed the need for grand jury secrecy,” Malcolm said. “Here, the judge is obviously concerned with what documents the grand jury saw and what instructions they were given about the applicable state of the law.” It’s too early to say if this suggests the judge would dismiss the grand jury indictment, the legal analyst said.  “The defense team has made enough of a showing that he is concerned about what happened, and thinks that the defense attorneys should be afforded the opportunity to see the material and make whatever arguments they want to make,” Malcolm added.  A defendant’s legal team is entitled to have the prosecution’s evidence in a case to mount a defense. However, defense lawyers generally do not receive grand jury transcripts of non-testifying witnesses or agents who provide summary evidence. Nor do they get documents that were received by the grand jury that would not be exculpatory and are not introduced at trial by the government. The judge said Halligan seemed to suggest to the grand jury that Comey would not have a Fifth Amendment right to decline to testify at his criminal trial. Further, he said she suggested to the grand jurors they did not have to rely on the record before them and that the government had more evidence at trial.  A Justice Department spokesperson declined to comment for the story. The Eastern District of Virginia is in a mostly Democrat-leaning area, with a grand jury and jury pool that might not be eager to indict someone aligned with Democrats.  Comey faces charges for telling Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, in testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee in 2020, that he never authorized leaks. Prosecutors say this was a lie because Comey authorized Columbia University law professor Daniel Richman to talk to reporters. The post Judge Gives Comey Early Win. What Does it Mean for the Rest of the Case? appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Editor’s note: This is a lightly edited transcript of today’s video from Daily Signal Senior Contributor Victor Davis Hanson. Subscribe to our YouTube channel to see more of his videos. Hello, this is Victor Davis Hanson for The Daily Signal. There’s been a lot of confusion, discussion, but also confusion, about the idea of platforming some person or deplatforming someone versus canceling them. It came up during the Tucker Carlson interview of Nick Fuentes. I think we should make a distinction. If you have a venue, you’re a talk-show host, a podcaster, you’re inviting someone to lecture, that’s a choice that you make. And you operate within particular sidelines, parameters. In other words, you don’t invite an abject racist. You don’t invite an abject antisemite. You don’t invite somebody who would like to have that forum to advance your views. And we have to be very clear about this. People in the news that are antisemites, racist, anti-American, radicals, whatever extremist point of view they embrace, they get to a point of public exposure because they’re quite skilled in demagogic rhetoric. They’re formidable debaters. If anybody went back to “Firing Line” and watched William F. Buckley debate George Wallace, Buckley had the moral and the intellectual argument on his side. But he was dealing with a man who, for 25 years, had spoken almost every day to crowds. And George Wallace was probably the best orator that ran for president—say, in ’68 and ’72. And Buckley used all of his skills just to tie down Wallace. And it was a very even debate. So, my point is, if you have a venue and you want to bring somebody in who is beyond the pale, and that person is going to come onto your venue to do a couple of things, of course, get greater exposure for his noxious ideas, but more importantly, he’s coming equipped with formidable rhetorical skills. And three, don’t expect, when he has a large mainstream audience, he is going to voice all of the extreme positions that got him on the show in the first place. That was true of William F. Buckley with Huey Newton, Eldridge Cleaver, William Shockley, etc. So, when you bring somebody like Nick Fuentes on, be prepared that he’s not going to be transparent about the excess of his views or the extreme nature of them. He’ll calm them down in order to get a bigger audience. Two, he’s going to come after years or hours, days of debating people. So, you have to be at the top of your game. In the case of Tucker Carlson, there’s no question that he’s a very skilled interviewer. And when he wanted to pin Sen. Ted Cruz down, who, himself, is a formidable debater, Tucker Carlson did very well. I mean, it was almost an ambush interview. And he tried to embarrass—and sometimes, successfully so—Ted Cruz. So, he could have used those formidable skills to cross-examine Nick Fuentes. But he did not. So, when you don’t invite Nick Fuentes on your program, it doesn’t mean that you’re canceling him. It doesn’t mean that you’re deplatforming him because he’s beyond the pale. And you say, “Well, who are you to say that, Victor?” Well, I’m not Victor saying that. There are accepted norms—that you don’t use the N-word, or you don’t call for people to go back to Israel, if they’re Jewish, or you don’t make fun of people’s race in the public sphere, the way he did. You can do that, of course, under the First Amendment, but you’re not invited into acceptable venues to vent those views and to spread hate. The second thing is canceling. These are options. So, when you don’t offer Fuentes a venue, you’re not canceling him out. You’re just making a choice. You make a choice every day, who you invite on your show, who you talk to, where you go. But, if he is so extreme and you decide either to withdraw the invitation or not to invite him at all, that’s not canceling, that’s not deplatforming. How about Tucker himself, which is a very different case? Tucker Carlson had had a distinguished career as a journalist, as a writer, as a debater, as a conservative pundit for years. I was on his show for six or seven years. He never once voiced anything that was remotely what I would consider antisemitic. His father was a devout Christian. Maybe he would qualify as a Christian Zionist. A big supporter of Israel. He was a patriot. He had a very distinguished career. Tucker Carlson comes from one of the oldest families in California, the Miller & Lux 19th-century land development company. So, he’s been around for a long time, and no one had ever questioned that he was antisemitic. I don’t know what happened in the last year or so, when he decided to bring on these beyond-the-pale guests. But I don’t think, necessarily, the question is to go after Tucker Carlson for bringing them on. We don’t go after William Buckley. The question’s more nuanced. The question is, if you bring them on, are you prepared to ask them the sort of questions that they are, A, going to evade, and B, going to moderate their views, and C, use you to get a larger audience? And if you don’t do that, then fairly or not, people are gonna think you’re complicit in an effort to spread those views, which, in the case of Nick Fuentes, are abhorrent. So, I think everybody was shocked, disappointed that Tucker didn’t use those skills with somebody as reprehensible as Fuentes. And I think they hope that he will in the future. We publish a variety of perspectives. Nothing written here is to be construed as representing the views of The Daily Signal. The post Canceling vs. Deplatforming: Tucker Carlson’s Misstep appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Every year, hundreds of dogs die from heat-related injuries after being left in vehicles. Even on mild days, car interiors can reach deadly temperatures within minutes. We at DogingtonPost created this car temperature dog safety chart to help you make split-second decisions that could save your pet’s life. The data shows exactly when your car becomes a death trap for dogs. How Fast Do Cars Become Deadly for Dogs Your car transforms into a furnace faster than most dog owners realize. Research from the American Veterinary Medical Association shows that vehicle interiors increase by 20°F in just 10 minutes, regardless of outside temperature. On a 70°F day, your car reaches 89°F within 10 minutes and climbs to 104°F after 30 minutes. These numbers represent the difference between life and death for your dog. Temperature Rise Happens in Minutes, Not Hours The physics of heat accumulation work against pet safety every time you park. After 20 minutes in mild weather, interior temperatures rise by 29°F above outside conditions. Within one hour, the temperature differential exceeds 40°F. This means a comfortable 75°F spring day creates a 115°F oven inside your vehicle. Even cracked windows provide minimal relief-studies show they reduce interior temperature by only 2-3°F. Dogs Face Biological Disadvantages in Heat Dogs face a biological disadvantage that makes car heat exponentially more dangerous for them. While humans sweat through their entire body to regulate temperature, dogs have limited ability to regulate their body temperature through sweating, making panting their primary cooling mechanism. This becomes ineffective when air temperature exceeds their normal body temperature (101-102°F). Brachycephalic breeds like Pugs and Bulldogs face even greater risk due to their compromised airways. Elderly dogs, overweight pets, and those with heart conditions cannot regulate temperature effectively. Heat Emergency Signs Appear Rapidly Heat exhaustion in dogs progresses rapidly to life-threatening heat stroke. Watch for excessive panting with a panicked expression, bright red or pale gums, thick drool, vomiting, diarrhea, and loss of coordination. When a dog’s body temperature exceeds 104°F, organ damage begins. At 109°F, multiple organ failure becomes likely. Dogs show weakness, collapse, or seizures within 15-30 minutes in hot cars. These temperature thresholds and time limits form the foundation for our comprehensive safety chart that shows exactly when your car becomes too dangerous for dogs. When Does Your Car Become Too Hot for Dogs The temperature danger zone for dogs starts at 70°F outside temperature. At this seemingly comfortable temperature, your car interior reaches 89°F within 10 minutes and climbs to 104°F after 30 minutes. The American Veterinary Medical Association confirms that dogs face serious risk when interior temperatures hit 85°F, which makes any outside temperature above 65°F potentially lethal. Professional veterinarians agree that no dog should remain in a car when outside temperatures exceed 70°F, regardless of time duration. Critical Temperature Thresholds That Kill Dogs Dogs enter heat stress when car interiors reach 85°F and face heat stroke with elevated breathing rates, dry or sticky gums, abnormal gum color, bruising in the gums, lethargy, and disorientation. Outside temperatures of 75°F create interior conditions of 94°F within 10 minutes and 109°F within 30 minutes. At 80°F outside, cars reach 99°F in 10 minutes and 114°F in 20 minutes. These numbers represent absolute maximums before organ damage starts. Shade reduces interior temperature only 5-10°F (still creating deadly conditions on warm days). Safe Time Limits Stop at Five Minutes Safe car stays for dogs exist only in temperatures below 65°F outside, with maximum duration of 5 minutes regardless of weather conditions. Between 65-70°F outside temperature, dogs face risk after 3 minutes in vehicles. Above 70°F, zero time remains safe for any dog. Weather services report that spring and fall days often reach 75°F at 10 AM, which creates immediate danger zones in lots. Professional dog trainers recommend the five-second rule: if placing the back of your hand on the pavement is too hot to handle for five seconds, the ground is too scorching for your dog. Visual Temperature Chart for Quick Decisions Outside temperatures translate to interior car temperatures through predictable patterns that every dog owner must memorize. At 70°F outside, expect 89°F inside after 10 minutes and 104°F after 30 minutes. At 75°F outside, cars reach 94°F in 10 minutes and 109°F in 30 minutes. At 80°F outside, interiors hit 99°F within 10 minutes and 114°F within 20 minutes. These calculations assume closed windows and typical sun exposure (partial shade provides minimal protection). The next step involves practical tools and equipment that can help you keep your dog safe when car travel becomes necessary during warmer weather. How Can You Keep Your Dog Safe During Car Travel Smart dog owners plan every errand around their pet’s safety and choose dog-friendly businesses or leave pets at home during warm weather. Target, Home Depot, and Lowe’s allow leashed dogs in most locations, while many banks offer drive-through services that eliminate parking risks. Petco and PetSmart welcome dogs year-round, which makes them perfect stops when temperatures climb above 65°F. Schedule veterinary appointments, grooming sessions, and pet supply runs during cooler morning hours before 10 AM when pavement temperatures stay below 85°F. Apps like BringFido locate dog-friendly restaurants, stores, and services within your area and eliminate guesswork about where dogs can accompany you safely. Portable Cooling Equipment That Actually Works Battery-powered fans designed for pet carriers provide active air circulation but require interior temperatures below 90°F to remain effective. Cooling mats filled with gel or water absorb body heat for 3-4 hours and work best when you place them on car seats before travel starts. Reflective windshield shades reduce interior temperature by 15-20°F when properly installed (though this still creates dangerous conditions above 75°F outside temperature). Portable water bowls with non-spill designs prevent dehydration during travel, while frozen water bottles wrapped in towels provide temporary cooling zones for dogs to lean against. Emergency Shade and Ventilation Techniques Pop-up canopies attached to vehicle doors create shade zones during brief stops but require constant supervision and work only in temperatures below 80°F. Battery-operated window fans pull hot air out while they draw cooler air in and reduce interior temperature by 10-15°F maximum. Reflective car covers designed for pet travel reduce cabin air temperature by 17.7°C when vehicles must park in direct sunlight for medical emergencies or unavoidable situations (these solutions serve as last resort options only, never as primary safety strategies during warm weather months). Final Thoughts Dog owners must memorize three critical numbers from our car temperature dog safety chart: 70°F outside temperature marks the danger zone, 85°F interior temperature triggers heat stress, and 5 minutes represents the maximum safe duration in any parked vehicle. These numbers save lives when you face split-second decisions about your pet’s safety. Heat stroke develops rapidly and kills dogs within minutes once temperatures exceed safe thresholds. If you spot a dog trapped in a hot vehicle, act immediately. Note the car’s make, model, and license plate number, then alert nearby businesses to locate the owner through store announcements. Call local police or animal control services if the owner cannot be found within 2-3 minutes (32 states plus Washington D.C. have laws that protect animals from dangerous vehicle conditions and provide legal protection for citizens who rescue distressed animals). We at DogingtonPost provide dog owners with practical safety information that protects pets from preventable tragedies. Temperature awareness saves lives, and every dog owner needs access to reliable data about vehicle heat dangers. Visit DogingtonPost for comprehensive guides on responsible dog ownership and the latest canine safety research.

Real ID So Real, Even Real Terrorists Can Get One!

Legendary "Airplane!" director David Zucker has a theory about why today's movies are flopping so badly — and the folks in charge aren't going to like it."The studios are very frightened people afraid to take risks," the director told Align, stroking his chin. "I wrote an article ... about the 9% rule. There's 9% of people who just don't have a sense of humor. There's like zero sense of humor. So the studios are being guided by those people."'There's 9% of people who just don't have a sense of humor.'According to Zucker — whose cinematic pedigree includes comedies like "The Naked Gun," "BASEketball," and "Top Secret!" — cancel culture is still alive and well in the film biz, pushed by overly cautious studio brass. Cracked rearview"It's like driving looking through the rearview mirror," Zucker said — an attitude that leads to unfunny films that repackage old ideas with jokes that don't land.Zucker didn't have to look far to find an example: the recent "The Naked Gun" reboot, which went ahead without his involvement.RELATED: 'Trey didn't have a car': 'Airplane!' director David Zucker on humble origins of 'South Park' empire Your browser does not support the video tag. Blocked callsZucker recalled the confusion he felt when he learned Paramount had no intention of consulting him on "The Naked Gun" reboot, despite having pages upon pages of jokes already written. Instead, the studio went with "Family Guy" creator Seth MacFarlane, who came in and took over.Zucker attempted to explained the debacle:"I'm excluded from it. I called him. He didn't return my calls, refused to meet with me. So I don't know. I don't know what's going on, but that's Hollywood."Still he said MacFarlane did contact him after the movie finished production and spent "10 minutes just telling me how much he idolized [my movies], hard to get mad at a guy who keeps telling you what a genius you are."'Painful' viewingDespite all the flattery, Zucker said he had no intentions of ever seeing the new version of "The Naked Gun," recalling his experience watching "Airplane II: The Sequel," with which he also had no involvement."If your daughter became a prostitute, would you go watch her work?" he asked. "So you know, it's painful. It would be painful to sit through. It's somebody else doing our movie, and they don't know what they're doing."RELATED: 'The Naked Gun' remake is laugh-out-loud funny? Surely, you can't be serious (L-R) Seth MacFarlane, Pamela Anderson, and Liam Neeson attend 'The Naked Gun' New York Premiere on July 28, 2025. Photo by Arturo Holmes/WireImageIn Zucker's view, Hollywood's risk-averse approach is especially obvious in comedies. "If you do a comedy that's not funny, you can't hide," he noted, adding that the new "The Naked Gun" "must have been excruciating to sit through."It's safe to say Zucker won't be lining up for the upcoming "Spaceballs" reboot either. Not that he was a huge fan of the 1987 original, which he dismissed as "an attempt to copy 'Airplane!'""You can't do stuff that's 10, 20 years old ... puns [that] were fresh in 1982," he laughed.As for his own movies, Zucker said he hopes to advance the pun-filled, slapstick comedy genre he helped popularize — with his next project offering a fresh, humorous spin on film noir.

The average football fan is likely not a big supporter of Canada's prime minister.Amid an ongoing trade and tariff war with President Donald Trump, Canada's Liberal leader, Mark Carney, made an appearance at the Grey Cup, the championship game for the Canadian Football League.'We were cheered as well.'On Sunday night, the East Division champion Montreal Alouettes and the West Division champion Saskatchewan Roughriders faced off at the Princess Auto Stadium in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. It was just an eight-point victory for the Roughriders, 25-17, but for Carney, exactly zero winning was had.During the playing of the national anthem, fans shockingly paused their singing to boo the prime minister as he appeared on camera.That was not all, though. During the coin toss, the CEO of cryptocurrency platform Coinbase joined the prime minister, and assuming the fans in Winnipeg were not staunch vocal supporters of physical currency, the raucous boos were likely directed at Carney when his name was announced.RELATED: Trump says he's killing trade talks with Canada for 'trying to illegally influence' SCOTUS with anti-tariff ad About a minute later, Carney was booed even louder as the referee handed him the ceremonial coin and said, "Mr. Prime Minister, would you do us the honor?"Mainstream Canadian outlet the National Post even described the boos as having "suddenly increased in volume" as Carney tossed the coin into the air.Another video from the event went viral and appeared to show at least two fans getting vulgar with the Liberal Party leader."Carney! Carney!" a person called out, waving to him at first. The wave then turned into a middle finger, while at the same time a second football fan was heard yelling, "Yeah, you f**king commie, eh?!" The prime minister was asked about the boos on Monday and claimed that at least some in the crowd were his supporters."You were booed," a reporter said as he entered Parliament, per the National Post. "What does that show you about Western disaffection?"Carney responded, "We represent the entire country. We were cheered as well," he claimed. The Grey Cup brings Canadians together across provinces, territories, and time zones to celebrate the very best of Canadian football — and last night was no exception. Thanks for having me, Winnipeg, and congrats to the @sskroughriders on the big win. pic.twitter.com/rMEFQPKhBZ— Mark Carney (@MarkJCarney) November 17, 2025Carney later posted on X that the national championship "brings Canadians together" and that Sunday's game was "no exception."Manitoba, where the game was played, voted slightly in favor of the Canadian Conservatives in the 2025 federal election, winning seven seats to the Liberals' six.Saskatchewan's fans were more than likely conservative, voting the right-wing party in for 13 seats in 2025; the Liberal Party won just one in the province.While Montreal's fans are very proud of their French culture, the province voted in favor of Liberals in the same election, handing them 44 out of a possible 78 seats.Meanwhile, Carney recently apologized to President Trump over an ad that used former President Ronald Reagan in an attempt to dig at Trump's tariff policies.The prime minister placed the blame on Ontario's Progressive-Conservative Premier Doug Ford, saying "I told Ford I did not want to go forward with the ad," which sparks further questions about the Liberal Party leader's relationship with what is supposedly an opposing party.Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia said she has been targeted with violent threats and suggested that they are related to a vote on releasing the Epstein files.Greene tried to tie the threats to rhetoric from President Donald Trump and others who had criticized her over the vote, which is scheduled for Tuesday.'The toxic and dangerous rhetoric in politics must end and we need healing in this country for all Americans.'"President Trump’s unwarranted and vicious attacks against me were a dog whistle to dangerous radicals that could lead to serious attacks on me and my family," she wrote on social media.Greene said that she had previously been the target of death threats and swatting calls from the left but went on to say the current threats were likely from the right."Now that President Trump has called me a traitor, which is absolutely untrue and horrific. Mark Levin has been calling me a traitor. And so have other prominent likely paid social medial activists. This puts blood in the water and creates a feeding frenzy. And it could ultimately lead to a harmful or even deadly outcome," she said."Also, the timing of this just happens to be days before we take the vote on releasing the Epstein files," she added. "I love America and the American people, and I swore an oath to uphold the constitution and always do so. I am not a traitor."She said that her construction company's office building had received a pipe bomb threat.A spokesperson for the Rome Police Department confirmed in an email statement to Blaze News that they had received threat reports related to Greene."While the threats directed at Congresswoman Greene’s business occurred in a different jurisdiction in Georgia, we can confirm that Rome Police were notified of an unordered pizza delivery, as well as received two email threats referencing her family, at an address within our jurisdiction," read the statement.Greene blamed the president's rhetoric against her, adding, "When the President of the United States irresponsibly calls a Member of Congress of his own party, traitor, he is signaling what must be done to a traitor."She included a clip explaining how hoax pizza deliveries are used to intimidate targets by letting them know that their residence is known to their critics."The toxic and dangerous rhetoric in politics must end and we need healing in this country for all Americans," Greene concluded.Also on Monday, the president posted on social media that he supported Republicans voting to release the Epstein files. RELATED: Trump denies report of letter and drawing sent to Epstein on 50th birthday, threatens to sue WSJ "As always, we take any threat seriously and follow established investigative procedures, regardless of political context," continued the police statement. "The Rome Police Department remains committed to thoroughly investigating all credible threats and ensuring the safety of every member of our community without regard to political affiliation or public profile."Greene has also been one of the few Republicans to call the Israeli military operation against Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Strip a "genocide." She went on to argue against U.S. involvement in the Middle East unrest.Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz (R) dropped out of the 2016 presidential race after his crushing defeat in the Indiana Republican primary by then-candidate Donald Trump. It seems that Cruz did not, however, drop his aspirations of one day taking the White House.Cruz kept his powder dry during the 2020 presidential election and, in 2024, successfully ran for a third term in the U.S. Senate. Now, the 54-year-old Calgary-born senator appears to be preparing for a 2028 presidential bid.Unfortunately for Cruz, MAGA influencers do not appear too impressed by his recent attacks on Tucker Carlson, which some regard as proxy attacks on Vice President JD Vance, who is far and away the 2028 Republican front-runner, by even Secretary of State Marco Rubio's admission.'Cruz is gonna have a tough time.'On Monday, Axios highlighted a number of signs that Cruz is indeed "laying the groundwork" for a 2028 bid, such as hitting the speaker circuit, endorsing midterm candidates, and securing a date to host a big donor retreat next year.The liberal publication suggested further that it's clear from his recent salvo against Tucker Carlson that Cruz is simultaneously courting powerful pro-Israel donors, some of whom aligned themselves with Nikki Haley in her humiliating 2024 GOP primary run against Trump; "staking out turf as a traditional, pro-interventionist Republican"; and setting the stage for a battle with Vance, who is not only a Carlson ally but unmistakably at odds with the tack taken by the George W. Bush-era GOP.RELATED: Vance, Banks come out swinging against reporter attacking Tucker Carlson's son Photo by Al Drago-Pool/Getty Images Axios stated that "by poking at Carlson's isolationist foreign policy views, accusing him of anti-Semitism and more, Cruz is putting himself on a collision course with Vice President Vance."Vance, like Carlson, has criticized the protraction of the war in Ukraine; cautioned against new regime-change wars; emphasized that the U.S. is "not at war with Iran"; and noted that American and Israeli foreign policy are not always aligned.Cruz has indicated that similar foreign policy views expressed by Carlson are "bat-crap crazy" and "off the rails."Cruz, who is reportedly set this week to address the Jewish Federations of North America's General Assembly, has also blasted Carlson for his October interview with Nick Fuentes, whom he labeled a "little goose-stepping Nazi," suggesting that Carlson was wrong and "complicit in evil," not for platforming Fuentes but for failing to adequately cross-examine him."We have a responsibility to speak out even when it's uncomfortable," Cruz said in a statement to Axios. "When voices in our own movement push dangerous and misguided ideas, we can't look the other way. I won't hesitate to call out those who peddle destructive, vile rhetoric and threaten our principles and our future. Silence in the face of recklessness is not an option."While Vance — whom Fuentes routinely attacks for having a wife of Indian descent — has made expressly clear that he thinks Fuentes is a "total loser" who does not belong in the MAGA movement, others have attempted in recent days to smear Carlson and Vance with a single stroke.Cruz's office did not respond to Blaze News' request for comment.A number of MAGA influencers criticized Cruz on Monday over the poor timing of the Axios piece and/or his apparent punches in Vance's direction.Human Events senior editor Jack Posobiec highlighted that Cruz's latest dig at Carlson came just hours after President Donald Trump signaled continued support for Carlson, claiming reporters "can't tell him who to interview" and that "ultimately, people have to decide."Political strategist and commentator Alex Lorusso wrote, "Right after President Trump says you can't tell Tucker Carlson who to interview, Ted Cruz says we have a 'responsibility' to speak out against him. He has a rude awakening coming if he wants to run for president in 2028 by positioning himself against DJT."Normalcy advocate Robby Starbuck wrote, "Breaking: Ted Cruz will lose the 2028 primary. He has absolutely no chance against JD Vance.""It's all about principle you see," tweeted BlazeTV host Auron MacIntyre, "and that principle is power."The popular X user Swig noted, "Ted Cruz’s bizarre attacks on Tucker Carlson are simply a proxy attack on JD Vance. Extremely transparent game he is engaging in.""Judging by top MAGA influencers, Cruz is gonna have a tough time," concluded Axios' Marc Caputo. Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Love at First Slight: Marjorie Taylor Greene Has Chosen the Worn Path to 'Conservative' CNN Panel Analyst