Hundreds of thousands of people have been forced to leave their homes due to raging wildfires across southwest Europe. Over 250,000 people have been evacuated in France and Spain, according to authorities from both countries. No deaths have been tied to these fires, but strong winds and extreme heat have propelled the flames through thousands…
Trump, his billionaire buddies, and his Republican lickspittles appear to be setting up a possible massive fraud with regard to this fall’s election. It could signal the end of American democracy.We democracy-loving Americans have fought oligarchy three times on these shores, roughly every 80 years. Each time, we defeated the morbidly rich and established or re-established popular democracy and a government that put working-class people ahead of the oligarchs.This time, the oligarchs are behaving like they believe they can win, and the measures our billionaire oligarch-in-chief is taking right now should put every American on alert, if not provoke immediate impeachment.First, some background.While the Founders like Jefferson and Washington had large plantations and exploited the labor of enslaved people, they weren’t the truly rich, the oligarchs, of their era. Both those men, in fact, died in bankruptcy or its near-equivalent. The richest man to sign the Declaration of Independence was John Hancock, whose “fortune” was only worth about a million dollars in today’s money; like every other Founder, he left no fortune or family dynasty.But there were real oligarchs in America in the 1770s, universally aligned with the British king, and they hated the idea of democracy and independence.In The Rise of American Civilization, historian Charles Beard’s most famous work, he notes that on the banks of the Hudson River:“From mansions that were castles, the Johnsons ruled in the Upper Mohawk Valley with a sway that was half feudal and half barbaric, relying on numerous kinsmen, armed Negro slaves, trained bands of Gaelic retainers, and savage allies from the dread Iroquois to maintain their sovereignty over forest and plain.”It was the wealthiest families of the colonies who most strongly opposed both the Revolutionary War and the Constitution, because both endangered the stability of their fortunes, which were grounded in trade or relationships with England. Thousands of these families fought for and with the British, and fled the colonies after the Revolutionary War, both to England and Canada.In the 1780s, we defeated oligarchy and established a fledgling, albeit imperfect, democracy, the world’s first at that scale.Eighty years later, the plantation oligarchs of the Old South had amassed such fortunes that only a few hundred families essentially controlled the economy and politics of that entire region.By the early 1850s, they’d outlawed democracy, rigging elections, imprisoning or killing pro-democracy newspaper writers and publishers, and turning their slave patrols against even white men who dared challenge their power.In 1861, after declaring their independence from the United States, they turned their guns on the rest of America in an effort to finally end democracy on this continent. Abraham Lincoln defeated them and reestablished (a still-imperfect) democracy in America.Eighty years after the end of the Civil War, oligarchs had once again seized control of the American economy and government during the part of the Gilded Age known as the Roaring 20s.President Grover Cleveland had pointed to its early stages, warning Americans:“As we view the achievements of aggregated capital, we discover the existence of trusts, combinations, and monopolies, while the citizen is struggling far in the rear or is trampled to death beneath an iron heel. Corporations, which should be the carefully restrained creatures of the law and the servants of the people, are fast becoming the people’s masters.”The oligarchs’ excesses, though, crashed the economy, leading to the Republican Great Depression and the election of Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1933. He challenged his era’s oligarchs head-on, saying, “They hate me, and I welcome their hatred.”With his New Deal and his 90% top income tax rate, he broke them, and both reestablished our democracy as well as building the first middle class in world history that was more than half of a nation’s population.So here we are now, 81 years after the end of World War II, and the oligarchs have once again seized control of our economy and our government. As President Jimmy Carter told me 10 years ago on my radio program:“It [Citizens United] violates the essence of what made America a great country in its political system. Now it’s just an oligarchy, with unlimited political bribery… So now we’ve just seen a complete subversion of our political system as a payoff to major contributors.”And now we learn that the billionaire oligarch in the White House has gutted every one of the federal agencies designed to protect this fall’s election, as if embracing the mentality of the old Confederate oligarchs who’d essentially outlawed voting by anybody who may have opposed them.Since taking office, Trump has:— Frozen and defunded the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s (CISA) election security division,— Cut off the threat-sharing network serving 1,300 state and local election officials,—...
A former teacher of the year from Mississippi has been arrested on charges of child sex crimes, according to authorities.The Sun Herald reported that Olivia Marie Smith was arrested and charged with sexual battery and enticement of a child to meet for sexual purposes.'We want to reassure parents, students, and staff that we are addressing this matter with seriousness and diligence.'Anyone convicted of sexual battery in Mississippi faces up to 30 years in prison, according to the Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network.Mississippi state law notes that anyone convicted of enticement of a child to meet for sexual purposes faces a minimum prison sentence of two years and a 10-year maximum, plus a fine of up to $10,000.Jackson County Circuit Court Judge Calvin Taylor set Smith's bond at $100,000 during a probable cause hearing ThursdaySmith was an assistant principal at the Oak Park Elementary School at the time of her arrest, according to the Sun Herald. But SuperTalk Mississippi Media reported that Smith was a teacher at Ocean Springs Middle School at the time of the alleged child sex crimes. Both schools are part of the same district.WLOX-TV reported that Smith won teacher of the year in 2022 when she was employed at Ocean Springs Middle School.The Ocean Springs Police Department said it was alerted June 20 about accusations of a school staffer having an inappropriate sexual relationship with a student.The Ocean Springs School District issued a statement to WLOX saying, "After being tipped off about potential inappropriate behavior taking place involving an employee, OSSD immediately notified OSPD and Mississippi Child Protective Services."The school district also conducted an internal investigation into the accusations.The Sun Herald reported that police conducted an investigation and accused Smith of engaging in a sexual relationship with a student.The Ocean Springs School District is fully cooperating with authorities in the investigation, police said.The district said it fired Smith following an internal investigation.Smith is not listed on the Oak Park Elementary School website or on the Ocean Springs Middle School site.RELATED: Former first-grade teacher pleads guilty to sex crimes against teen student after she allegedly admitted affair to husband The Ocean Springs School District said in the statement, "We are deeply saddened by charges announced today by the Ocean Springs Police Department against one of our former employees.""We understand the gravity of this situation and the concern it may raise in our community," the school district said.The statement continued, "We want to reassure parents, students, and staff that we are addressing this matter with seriousness and diligence. The safety of our students and staff members remains our highest priority."The school district said it "will not have any further comments on this matter."Neither the Ocean Springs Police Department nor the Jackson County Sheriff's Office immediately responded to Blaze News' requests for comment.Anyone with information about the case is urged to contact the Ocean Springs Police Department at 228-875-2211 or Mississippi Coast Crime Stoppers at 1-877-787-5898.Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is literally running away from accusations of voter fraud. A bombshell report earlier this month exposed Paxton for allegedly voting in six elections while registered at an address where he does not live. On Friday, while entering the Ronald Reagan Republican Center in Washington, D.C., Paxton was asked point-blank whether he had committed voter fraud. Rather than face the music, the attorney general raced inside.Q: Mr Paxton, did you commit voter fraud?KEN PAXTON: *walks away*(This is at least the third time just this week he's literally run away from questions of this sort) pic.twitter.com/HZWvR9w1y5— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) July 24, 2026This isn’t the first time Paxton has run from questions about his alleged voter fraud. Earlier this week, Paxton fled a press conference when faced with tough questions, earning him the nickname “No Comment Ken.”“This is at least the third time just this week he’s literally run away from questions of this sort,” journalist Aaron Rupar wrote on X. In another tough moment on Thursday, Paxton refused to answer whether he was ready to debate James Talarico, the Democratic Texas Senate candidate, who has publicly accused his opponent of voter fraud. This form of voter fraud is a second-degree felony punishable by a fine up to $10,000 and up to 20 years in prison. Paxton, a fierce ally of President Donald Trump, has previously advocated for cracking down on voter fraud, while also threatening to disenfranchise Democratic voters.
President Donald Trump's plan to paint the Eisenhower Executive Office Building white to match the White House is drawing fierce opposition from preservation experts, who warn the project could permanently damage one of Washington's most significant historic structures.More than two dozen preservation, materials and heritage experts are challenging the Trump administration's proposal in district court, arguing the move is unnecessary, expensive and potentially irreversible, and Washington Post columnist Philip Kennicott slammed the president's plan as a "terrible idea.""Trump’s architectural follies always have some measure of the absurd to them," Kennicott wrote. "The overwhelming gold ornament of the modestly scaled Oval Office is a comic absurdity. The algae bloom and shoddy work on the Reflecting Pool is an epic absurdity, because karma came quickly and the questions it raised about competence played out before the world.""The plan to cover the Eisenhower Executive Office Building is a tragic absurdity, because there is no good reason to do it and paint could permanently disfigure and damage the structure," the columnist added. "Unlike the Reflecting Pool, the results won’t come quickly in this case, or generate as much attention."Architect and structural engineer Stephen Kelley, who has worked on preservation projects ranging from ancient Roman ruins to historic Chicago skyscrapers, says the EEOB's granite exterior — quarried in Maine roughly 140 years ago — was "constructed for the ages." He and other experts fear that cleaning and coating the stone could trap moisture, damage joints and require the building to be repainted indefinitely.Beyond the physical risks, critics say the case carries a troubling legal precedent. By routing the project through the White House Office of Administration rather than the General Services Administration, the administration may be sidestepping laws requiring historic and environmental review. Greg Werkheiser of Cultural Heritage Partners warns this could let any presidential pet project bypass regulatory oversight simply by transferring it to the president's own office.A White House official defended the arrangement, saying the Office of Administration performs necessary due diligence and allows the project to be managed more efficiently given the building's disrepair.The dispute echoes an earlier chapter in the EEOB's history when a government commission in 1957 recommended demolishing the building entirely, calling it outdated. It survived, and is now considered part of one of Washington's great architectural ensembles.One anonymous preservation expert likened the painting plan to unilaterally altering a masterpiece, arguing that no single person should have the authority to impose such changes without accountability."Cutting the public out of the review process isn’t just about expediting the president’s demands, his need for an arch or giant new ballroom," Kennicott wrote. "Rather, it’s about eliminating the public entirely, reducing an engaged citizenry to an aggregation of impotent and alienated individuals, for whom new buildings and monuments arrive without warning, and old ones disappear in the dark of night."
