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Josh Shapiro is routinely described as a popular and formidable political figure -- a rising star within the Democratic Party whose appeal is said to extend well beyond Pennsylvania. The claim is repeated so often that it has hardened into assumed fact. Yet when examined closely, it does not hold. What Pennsylvania and the nation are being shown is not a strong candidate buoyed by organic support, but a carefully engineered projection -- a political hologram sustained by money, messaging, and controlled conditions. Like all holograms, the image appears solid from a distance. It occupies space, commands attention, and seems...

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The Navy and tech firm Palantir have announced an initial $448 million contract that will see the tech company proliferate its artificial intelligence tools throughout several public and private shipyards, as well as individual suppliers, with the hope of boosting nuclear submarine production. ... Towards the end of the event, he took the stage with Palantir chief Alex Karp to jointly announce the new initiative, dubbed ShipOS or Shipbuilding Operating System, which Phelan characterized as “the most ambitious integration of artificial intelligence into naval construction, maintenance and repair and history.” “We’re deploying an AI-powered shipbuilding operating system across the maritime...

An emergency medical services (EMS) expert testified Tuesday in the ongoing wrongful death lawsuit Mays v. City of Seattle, saying that Seattle Fire Department (SFD) medics failed to follow protocol and "abandoned their position as paramedics" during the response to the 2020 shooting of 16-year-old Antonio Mays Jr. in the deadly Capitol Hill Occupied Protest, also known as "CHAZ" or "CHOP." This follows last week's testimony from Seattle Police Detective Alan Cruise, stating that officers were prohibited from entering the zone after the shooting under directives given by the City. Robyn McKinley, a veteran EMS professional who conducted an independent...

Netflix has canceled the LGBTQ-themed military series Boots, which the Pentagon had previously called “woke garbage.” The Netflix series told the story of a gay Louisiana teen named Cameron Cope (Miles Heizer), who, according to the Netflix description “finds new purpose — and unexpected brotherhood — with his motley team of fellow recruits” after he joins the military during the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy during the 1990s, which barred openly gay, lesbian, and bisexual individuals from enlisting until its official repeal in 2011. Former President Bill Clinton (D) instituted the policy through the Department of Defense. Produced by the...

Student leaders at a New York state college have approved a new campus club dedicated to the “furry” subculture. According to The College Fix, the Student Association at the State University of New York at Plattsburgh voted 11–1 on Nov. 16 to approve “Plattsfur” as a provisional student organization. The decision adds SUNY Plattsburgh to a growing list of universities that have formally recognized furry-themed clubs in recent years. Furry fandom is a subculture centered on wearing animal character costumes.The International Anthropomorphic Research Project describes the community as including “fans, artists, writers, gamers and role-players” who typically create a personalized...

Customs and Border Protection has thwarted a large drug smuggling attempt in Texas. CBP officers in the Lone Star State discovered a tractor trailer filled with cereal ingredients. More than $10.3 million in alleged methamphetamine was found hidden inside the cereal bags. “Our front-line CBP officers shut down a significant meth smuggling attempt hidden within ingredients that shouldn’t grace anyone’s breakfast table,” Port Director for the Hidalgo/Pharr/Anzalduas Port of Entry Carlos Rodriguez said. “As this seizure perfectly illustrates, our officers continue to use their inspections skills and technological tools to prevent this poison from reaching American streets,” Rodriguez added. The...

Breaking NEWS: HHS has terminated multiple federal grants to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), totaling around $18-20 million and for good reason. Consider their recent track record. They have presided over the greatest decline to the health of our children that America has ever seen. The AAP has recommended that pediatricians provide gender-affirming care for children. Since summer 2021, the AAP has also recommended that all students and school staff aged 2 and older wear masks in schools, even though there is no evidence that mask use would stop transmission. These masks harm children's development because speech, language learning,...

People attending a memorial service for a prominent human rights lawyer in Iran's holy city of Mashhad on Friday chanted slogans against the ruling theocracy and in favor of the pre-1979 monarchy, according to videos posted online. "Death to the Dictator," some of the people mourning Khosrow Alikordi's death chanted in an apparent reference to Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. The raucous gathering constituted one of the more prominent expressions of public discontent with the Islamic Republic in recent years. It was not immediately clear how large the crowd was. Nobel Prize Laureate Narges Mohammedi appeared to be heckled off...

The brother of LA Rams football superstar Puka Nacua has been arrested for his role in the theft of an SUV belonging to LA Lakers basketball player Adou Thiero. According to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, Samson Nacua, 27, was arrested with Trey Rose, also 27, for allegedly taking Thiero's car without his consent over the weekend. Cops were called to the One Hotel in West Hollywood after the vehicle was tracked there, per a report from NBC4 Investigates, and it was then found that the suspects had valeted the car and entered the hotel. Police then reviewed security...

A 24-year-old trans-identified male in Wisconsin has been sentenced to 1 year in county jail for child trafficking after being found with child sexual abuse material twice. Clayton William Solberg, also known as “Sofie Solberg” and “Sofie Fordo,” was granted 43 days credit for time served. Solberg was first apprehended by Trempealeau County deputies on December 27, 2023, after the Sheriff’s office received a cyber-tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC). He was charged with two counts of possession of child pornography, and was booked in the Trempealeau County jail. On January 3 of 2024, he...

The House of Representatives voted on Wednesday evening to pass the Protect Children’s Innocence Act, which will make it a crime for sex-change surgery and hormonal treatments to be provided to minors. The bill, authored by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), makes it criminal to “knowingly perform, or attempt to perform, genital or bodily mutilation on another person who is a minor” with penalties of up to ten years in prison. It further protects minors from chemical castration or hormonal treatments. Parents who facilitate, consent to, or transport the minor to receive sex change surgeries could also be charged. This...

Dan Bongino on Wednesday confirmed he is resigning from the FBI. Bongino said he will be leaving the FBI in January. Full statement on X: I will be leaving my position with the FBI in January. I want to thank President Trump, AG Bondi, and Director Patel for the opportunity to serve with purpose. Most importantly, I want to thank you, my fellow Americans, for the privilege to serve you. God bless America, and all those who defend Her. Shortly before Bongino made his official announcement, President Trump appeared to confirm Bongino’s departure from the FBI in remarks to reporters....

A divisive Texas pastor has sparked fury once again after telling young single women they must shed '20 to 30 pounds' to find a husband. Joel Webbon, a senior leader at Covenant Bible Church in Austin and the founder of Righteous Response Ministries, found himself in hot water over remarks he made earlier this month. During an episode of Righteous Response Ministries' livestream from December 3 titled 'Fertility, Beauty, & Submission,' he said: 'Here's the advice for young, single women who want to be married, and feel as though they are being passed over. 'The advice is, there are many...

Coalition Life, the nation’s largest pro-life professional sidewalk counseling organization, has released footage of a hearse pulling into the Fairview Heights, IL Planned Parenthood. The video contains footage of a Coalition Life sidewalk counselor engaging with the hearse driver upon its arrival. The driver clarified that they were not there for pregnancy related services, and were instead there “picking up someone to take them to the funeral home.” Moments later, the woman driving the hearse entered Planned Parenthood and exited carrying the remains of an aborted child in a bag. Following the incident, Coalition Life staff called Lake View Funeral...

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., suggested Tuesday that President Donald Trump was a bigger threat to the American way of life than radical Islamic jihad. Schultz brought up the president when NewsNation host Leland Vittert asked her on “On Balance” whether she believed that Islamophobia or jihad was a bigger threat to American life and values after a deadly attack against Australian Jews Sunday. “I think we have to focus, quite frankly, on, if we’re worried about the threat to American values, on the person who’s in the White House. I mean, we have a president …,” Schultz began. Vittert...

The criticisms against Sec. of War Pete Hegseth are “entirely political,” and anyone could have said the same things about “the Obama and Biden administration—and much more egregiously.” Hegseth has turned the U.S. military around in ways no one thought was possible, like getting the military back to meeting all of its recruiting quotas, explains Hanson during today’s episode of “Victor Davis Hanson: In a Few Words.” Recruitment under the Biden administration fell “some 40 to 50,000 recruits,” and former Sec. of Defense Lloyd Austin’s Pentagon used excuses like “people are out of shape, in gangs, using drugs, etc.”

“He spoke another parable to them, ‘The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three pecks of flour until it was all leavened’” (Matthew 13:33). In order for it to have the positive influence we referred to yesterday, the leaven of God’s kingdom must be hid. And that does not mean hiding to be invisible but hiding to penetrate deeply, completely permeating the world as leaven thoroughly permeates bread dough. Believers are not to be of the world, but they must be in the world to reach and change it with the gospel (cf....

BREAKING: The U.S. Senate has just officially confirmed Jared Isaacman as the new head of NASA. At just 42 years old, he now becomes the youngest person in history to lead the agency. Congrats @rookisaacman! To the Moon and Mars!🚀