California is banning motorhomes. No, not the dilapidated firetraps illegally parked in crime and drug-infested encampments throughout the state — some 10,000 in greater Los Angeles alone. Those are fine. The regulations — which will effectively ban the sale of new motorhomes with a gross vehicle weight rating over 8,500 pounds — take effect January 1, 2025.It's new motorhomes — the kind that retirees might buy to live out their sunset years on the road — that the Golden State wants gone. Starting in 2025, California’s Advanced Clean Trucks regulation, aimed at promoting zero-emission vehicles, creates a near-total “ban” on motorhome sales in the state.And because Oregon, Washington, New York, New Jersey, and Massachusetts follow California Air Resource Board regulations, they'll be putting the kibosh on motorhome sales as well. As I said last week, this CARB needs cutting if we ever want to release ourselves from California's draconian authority over what we can drive. The ACT regulation mandates manufacturers of medium and heavy-duty vehicles to sell an increasing percentage of zero emissions vehicles each year.The regulations — which will effectively ban the sale of new motorhomes with a gross vehicle weight rating over 8,500 pounds — take effect January 1, 2025.Since 2020, the RV Industry Association has been asking CARB for exemptions from the ACT regulations, citing negative impact on motorhome manufacturers and dealers, to no avail. Complicating the matter are two other recently-passed regulations: the Omnibus Low NOx rule and the Advanced Clean Fleets rule. Along with ACT, these rules seek the gradual replacement of medium- and heavy-duty vehicles with zero emission vehicles by 2036. CARB also has its focus on off-road vehicles with the Small Off-Road Engine regulation, which threatens spark-ignition engines on generators. So no offroad vehicles or gas-powered generators?This has gone way too far. These rules also go into effect in Vermont for 2026 model year motorhomes. And the rules take effect in Colorado, Maryland, New Mexico, and Rhode Island with the 2027 model year.Get ready to go electric whether you like it or not. If you have an older motor home, it will need to be smogged twice a year. More regulations and more money out of your pocket.This all happened because of California's vote in August to ban the sale of new gasoline-fueled cars by 2035. One state controlling the other 49 is clearly unconstitutional. We need to fight this regulation at a federal level. We'll keep you posted, as usual.

Donald Trump is wasting no time building his team, and his recent appointments have fueled an absolute meltdown on the left — specifically his appointments of Tulsi Gabbard and Matt Gaetz. Gabbard was appointed to the position of director of national intelligence, while Gaetz was appointed attorney general by the president-elect. “What’s interesting about Gabbard,” Stu Burguiere of “Stu Does America” comments, “is she has come a long way, but she’s come a long way in certain categories.” “She was very, very liberal, approaching a socialist. I mean, she was supporting Bernie Sanders for president. She’s come a long way on things like that. She has not really moved at all on her views when it comes to foreign policy and the military-industrial complex, if you will,” he explains. However, Gabbard still must be confirmed by the Senate, and Burguiere believes that might present an uphill battle. “She’s also probably a little risky to actually get confirmed. I don’t think the Democrats have too warm feelings for her any more, and there are a bunch of those old-school Republicans who will not like her approach to foreign affairs,” Burguiere says, noting that John Bolton has called her a “threat to national security.” As for Gaetz, Burguiere believes it will be “an interesting ride” for him to actually get into the position, as Democrats are up in arms at the appointment and continue to accuse him of "sex trafficking." “Is he a good pick? He will do the things that Trump wants him to do, and he will be very aggressive in doing them. And you can kind of understand the thought process here, right? Bring somebody in who is going to go balls to the wall and go into the DOJ and fire basically everybody,” Burguiere says. “Gaetz will do it, but he’ll do it in a very splashy way, and that’s something obviously Donald Trump kind of likes, usually. So we will see how this goes,” he adds. Want more from Stu?To enjoy more of Stu's lethal wit, wisdom, and mockery, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

It's been more than a week since the 2024 election. Arizona and California are still inexplicably counting ballots, but the results are clear: Donald Trump and the Republicans crushed.While many commentators have already shared their wish lists and recommendations, now is also a good time to remember the prognosticators who got their predictions terribly wrong.This time around, the doomers posed a far bigger threat to Trump’s victory than the NeverTrump crowd.The main offenders were those in the Democratic machine who actually believed their own exaggerations, along with their followers who bought into the crazy leftist rhetoric. Many truly thought Trump was a fascist who would overturn democracy and that Kamala Harris was the next Barack Obama — as if that were somehow a good thing.Karine Jean-Pierre admitted that this messaging wasn’t meant to be taken seriously and that people are simply expected to forget it. Yet this hasn’t stopped the drama queens from shedding public tears and creating “coping spaces.” Much of this behavior seems performative, but many on the left genuinely fell for the propaganda. As I argue elsewhere, this needs to change, as it not only distorts and polarizes our politics but also perpetuates mental illness.Another group, less well known, also harbored serious doubts about Trump’s chances. These were the influencers and fringe pundits who had already lost faith in the democratic process and believed the system was rigged beyond repair.Some of their despair seemed justified, considering the 2020 and 2022 elections. In 2020, Democrats pushed for universal mail-in ballots, changed voting laws, and influenced the news media to promote Joe Biden, who spent much of his campaign in his basement, into the Oval Office. Many pointed to the 20-million vote gap between Biden and Harris as proof of widespread ballot stuffing and fraud in the last election. However, this gap seems to be narrowing daily and can be explained without invoking mass fraud narratives.The 2022 election, otherwise known as the red wave that never was, also fueled conservative conspiracy theories after candidates with brain damage and those running their own election efforts won. Some blamed poor candidates, like Dr. Oz and Herschel Walker, but it's fair to say something seems off in states like Arizona, Georgia, and Nevada. That said, the 2022 results didn’t exactly signal impending disaster for the American republic or a totalitarian takeover by the left.When Trump announced his run for president again this year, these right-wing doomers were primed to forfeit before 2024 even began. This wasn’t mere jadedness from some setbacks in the last two elections; these were false prophets telling patriotic Americans to give up on their country and prepare for the worst. In their view, everyone was a communist infiltrator, a traitor, a grifter, or an utter fool. They were telling people that the push to vote early was all a ruse to help Democrats win, that the “Chinese-run” Dominion machines would erase Republican votes, and that “if anyone thinks the Democrats are desperate now, just think of what they’ll do when the election season really starts happening.”Beyond this, they were predicting mass riots across the country that would plunge the country into a civil war if Trump were to win.Even though some of this paranoia had a basis in reality, culminating in two assassination attempts, much of it was just intended to demoralize conservatives and attract paid subscribers (“Follow me if you want the truth about this country …”). This time around, the doomers posed a far bigger threat to Trump’s victory than the NeverTrump crowd.Fortunately, enough Americans turned out to vote anyway. Despite the warnings, some voted early, some mailed in their ballots, and others voted on Election Day. Trump’s lawyers and campaign organizers worked tirelessly to prevent any undue interference. Everything went smoothly, and as some of us predicted, the fallout has been minimal. Americans are ready to move on and look forward to better days.One of the first orders of business should be to fix the current election system by requiring voter ID, in-person voting, and paper ballots. The next priority should be to purge the doomers and crackpots from the conservative movement.Currently, they are the biggest obstacle to the conservative movement’s legitimacy and effectiveness. Although they played a role in removing establishment figures from the old GOP, those dinosaurs are rapidly becoming extinct. It’s time to bring new life and optimism to America.

Given that it was such a genre-defining game, Valve had been surprisingly hushed this week despite it being the 20th anniversary of Half-Life 2. Consider that silence well and truly broken now, as it has just dropped a two-hour long documentary about the game’s development, released a new update for the game to enhance it even further, and essentially created an entirely new version of Half-Life 2 that is totally free to add to your library - if you’re fast. Continue reading Valve just released a new version of Half-Life 2, and it’s free right now MORE FROM PCGAMESN: Best old games, Best FPS games, Best VR games

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Time surely flies, and Gordon Freeman's followers know it better than anyone. Half-Life 2 is celebrating its 20th anniversary, and Valve has decided to make good on the occasion.

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Trump Formally Taps North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum for Interior Sec, Seat on National Energy Council

Illustration: The Verge WhatsApp dropped the most “I can’t believe this wasn’t already there” feature this week: message drafts. Now, WhatsApp lets you know if you have unsent messages typed up in chats so you know to get back to them later. To let you know about a draft, messages you’ve started writing will show a green and bold “Draft” word followed by what you’ve typed up. That way, you can ponder about finishing it when you open the app and not accidentally ignore your friends (though you still purposefully could, I guess.) Drafts also end up at the top of the chats list, so you don’t have to scroll to search for lost ones. The feature is now available in the app worldwide, Engadget reports. WhatsApp announced in July that it had hit 100 million monthly... Continue reading…

In which various government bodies fight over “permissionless” assets | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge The US Securities and Exchange Commission wants to “unilaterally wrest regulatory authority away from the States” when it comes to crypto, according to a lawsuit from 18 states. These states want to halt the SEC’s enforcement actions, so they can manage crypto regulation instead. Also named as a plaintiff on the suit is the DeFi Education Fund, a special interest lobbyist. Controversial SEC chair Gary Gensler is named in the suit, along with other SEC commissioners. Gensler’s treatment of crypto during his time as chair has made him a punching bag for the industry — and for Republicans such as president-elect Donald Trump. There has been an ongoing turf war over crypto regulation. Until this point, the two major contenders were the... Continue reading…