This single tiny crystal may have told us more about the red planet’s first few hundred million years than every other source we have.

Former Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida announced Friday that he will not be returning to serve in the 119th Congress.This announcement came after Gaetz withdrew his bid for attorney general just two weeks after President-elect Donald Trump nominated him for the position, which sparked controversy on Capitol Hill. Although Gaetz is eligible to serve the term to which he was re-elected, he mentioned in his resignation letter that he did not "intend" to return to the House and then confirmed that he will not return on Charlie Kirk's podcast. “I’m still going to be in the fight, but it’s going to be from a new perch. I do not intend to join the 119th Congress,” Gaetz told Kirk.Gaetz has spent several days alongside Vice President-elect JD Vance holding meetings with senators ahead of his confirmation. Gaetz withdrew following his time spent on the Senate side, saying his confirmation was "unfairly becoming a distraction" for the Trump transition team. "There is no time to waste on a needlessly protracted Washington scuffle, thus I'll be withdrawing my name from consideration to serve as Attorney General," Gaetz said in a Thursday post on X. Trump has since nominated former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi for the role. Republicans now have only a narrow House majority, and the vacancy left by Gaetz has yet to be filled. "There are a number of fantastic Floridians who’ve stepped up to run for my seat, people who have inspired with their heroism, with their public service," Gaetz told Kirk. "And I’m actually excited to see Northwest Florida go to new heights and have great representation." Gaetz has not yet announced where he will continue his political career but vowed to remain a close ally to the president-elect. “I’m going to be fighting for President Trump," Gaetz told Kirk. "I’m going to be doing whatever he asks of me, as I always have. But I think that eight years is probably enough time in the United States Congress.”Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

This past week, Ukraine launched missiles made by the United States into Russia despite Vladimir Putin’s warnings that an action like this would bring other countries into the middle of their ongoing war. “So Joe Biden gave the green light, and after he gave the green light, six U.S.-made missiles were used in this attack,” Sara Gonzales of “Sara Gonzales Unfiltered” comments, noting that Russia says they shot down five of them, while one of them hit their Ammunition Depot. “The use of Western non-nuclear rockets by the Armed Forces of Ukraine against Russia can prompt a nuclear response,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said in a statement regarding the attack. While Gonzales isn’t cheering on Putin, she doesn’t think his response is “unreasonable.” “I mean, he’s like, ‘You guys are the ones who have the codes, you guys are the ones who are working in conjunction with Ukraine to send missiles and hit our people, this is not a proxy war anymore, this is your direct participation and we should respond accordingly,’” Gonzales tells Glenn Beck’s head writer and researcher, Jason Buttrill. “I think it’s absolutely insane that you had to caveat what you just said,” Buttrill comments. “I was tweeting about this earlier today, and I did the same thing. I put a subtweet, where I was like, ‘I’m obviously not saying that I’m a Putin lover, I don’t like Russia, I think they’re bad.’” The real question, however, is why Biden waited until the remaining few months of his presidency to escalate America’s involvement in the war. “Why would he wait until all the way at the end?” Buttrill asks. “First off, I don’t think that Biden did give this order.” “Personally, I think this is the death gasps of the regime. This military industrial complex, which includes the intelligence and diplomatic cores, I think that they are scared to death that their entire way of thinking since the end of World War II is about to change,” he explains. “This is the last you know, Hail Mary, to how do we lock in the old status quo through Trump’s administration. They want to force him into being a wartime president. That’s what’s going on right now,” he adds. Want more from Sara Gonzales?To enjoy more of Sara's no-holds-barred take to news and culture, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey (D) announced on Friday that her administration plans to cut state-run shelter costs by tightening stay limits for families with children.At present, families have a nine-month stay limit in taxpayer-funded accommodations. However, this duration will soon be capped at six months.'Governor Healey is only making this change so she can hang her hat on saying she is doing something.'A Friday press release from Healey's administration framed the new policy as a cost-cutting measure to reduce the amount of taxpayer dollars going toward lodging to house homeless local and illegal alien families. Ultimately, the administration's stated goal is to phase out the use of hotels and motels from the state's shelter model, which has been overrun amid the ongoing immigration crisis.The administration claimed the move would "help more families find stable, permanent housing."Beginning on December 10, families will either be placed on the "Rapid Shelter Track," which offers a 30-day stay for those who can obtain "self-sufficient permanent housing," or the "Bridge Shelter Track," which provides six months of housing to "high-risk families and those with more complex needs."Healey stated, "In recent years, the state's family shelter system has grown to be increasingly unsustainable. We've taken significant action to rein in its growth, and we've seen tangible results. The size of the system has remained stable for the past year, we no longer have families relying on Emergency Departments or the airport for shelter, and all shelter sites currently have a service provider instead of relying on the National Guard.""More needs to be done so that Massachusetts taxpayers do not continue to be on the hook for this federal problem. The changes we are making will reduce costs, phase out the use of hotels and better meet the needs of all families," Healey added.Lieutenant Governor Kim Driscoll stated there is "clearly a consensus around making shelter brief, rare and non-recurring."Paul Craney of the Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance told Blaze News that the Healey administration's latest announcement is nothing more than "window dressing" that "will do very little to deter illegal immigrants and inadmissible migrants from coming to Massachusetts.""They seek the taxpayer-funded housing and generous welfare benefits," Craney stated. "Governor Healey is only making this change so she can hang her hat on saying she is doing something. In reality, what she's been doing since she was elected Governor is make the situation a whole lot worse.""Under the Governor's watch, they have expanded very generous welfare benefits for illegal immigrants and inadmissible migrants, making us a top destination in the country," he continued. "If the Governor wants to do something about Massachusetts being the top magnet state in the country, she should work with the new administration which is trying to solve the problem."Healey stated earlier this month that her state police will "absolutely not" be cooperating with President-elect Donald Trump's mass deportation plan. She vowed to use "every tool in the toolbox" to "protect" illegal aliens from the incoming administration's efforts.Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

A forensic pathologist from Texas, called by Daniel Penny's defense team, testified on Thursday that Penny's chokehold on Jordan Neely was not the sole cause of his death, contradicting statements from the medical examiner of Manhattan. Penny’s attorney Steven Raiser asked Dr. Satish Chundru point-blank if the chokehold was the cause of Neely's death, to which Chundru said no, the New York Post reported. Chundru said he ruled out the air choke and the blood choke because there were other contributing factors to Neely's death.Harris originally listed Neely's cause of death as 'inconclusive.'Chundru pointed to other details listed in Neely’s medical records, such as the bruising on Neely's neck and the “almost negligible” tiny spots of bleeding found on his eyelids, which Chundru claimed were not consistent with a fatal chokehold.Chundru said Neely died from “the combined effects of sickle-cell crisis, the schizophrenia, the struggle and restraint, and the synthetic marijuana," noting that schizophrenia results in an “increased risk of sudden cardiac death.” Penny put Neely in the chokehold after Neely made death threats, saying he did not care if he went to jail, which frightened many of the passengers.The synthetic marijuana, K2, that Neely used prior to making death threats on the subway car last year has been the sole cause of death in other cases he has seen, Chundru further noted.Dr. Cynthia Harris, who performed Neely's autopsy, previously told jurors she did not wait for the toxicology report to declare his cause and manner of death to be asphyxiation, not cardiac arrest. She said she was so convinced that Penny killed Neely that she would stand by her conclusion even if Neely had enough drugs in his system "to put down an elephant."Harris originally listed Neely's cause of death as "inconclusive" but changed the cause after watching the video, deciding Neely’s death was caused by “asphyxia” since, in her opinion, the video showed Neely being choked and “dying" from Penny's hold on him.“After watching it, I had no further questions about how he was dead,” Harris testified, because "there are no alternative reasonable explanations."Penny was charged by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's office with second-degree manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide. If convicted, Penny could receive 15 years in prison.Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Overwatch 2 Season 14 is just a couple of weeks away now, but Blizzard is so eager for you to meet new hero Hazard, it’s letting you play as the spiky Scot ahead of time. While the Overwatch Classic throwback mode remains high on players’ priority lists right now before it disappears, this weekend may require you to take a break from it and give Hazard a spin instead. Continue reading Overwatch 2 lets you try out its spiky new tank hero this weekend MORE FROM PCGAMESN: All Overwatch 2 characters, Best Overwatch 2 settings, Overwatch 2 tier list

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