Prayers are streaming in for Phil Robertson, the patriarch of the "Duck Dynasty" family, after his family revealed that he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. Robertson's son Jase Robertson spoke about the diagnosis on the latest BlazeTV podcast episode of "Unashamed with the Robertson Family" published Friday. 'I’ve appreciated Phil’s bold faith in Jesus Christ and the way he points to God’s Word.' "Phil's not doing well," he said. "I think I spoke on the 1,000th podcast, we were trying to figure out the diagnosis, but according to the doctors, he has some sort of blood disease causing all kinds of problems." Phil Robertson had been a part of the podcast but owing to his health declining, he has been absent. "It's like accelerated, and it's causing problems with his entire body. And he has early stages of Alzheimer's. So if you put those things together, he's really not doing well. He's struggling," Jase Robertson said. He went on to say that his father had trouble walking around without "crying in pain." Sadie Robertson wrote on Instagram about her grandfather and posted an image of them together. "In moments like this, it can feel overwhelming for such bad news to be such public news. But you know what? I’m genuinely so thankful my family chose to make our life public because of how incredible it is that so many people know my grandpa!" she wrote. "I’m so glad that so many people have been able to learn from his faith and his love for his family.I’m so proud to be his granddaughter. I’m so proud to have learned how to love the word, honor the word, and teach the word from him," she added. Evangelist Rev. Franklin Graham Jr. was among those who called for prayer for Robertson's condition. "Would you join me in praying for Phil Robertson, his wife Miss Kay, and their family?" wrote Graham on social media. "Phil is having serious health issues. I’ve appreciated Phil’s bold faith in Jesus Christ and the way he points to God’s Word."The Robertson family gained nationwide prominence after their show "Duck Dynasty" broke cable rating records for a nonfiction series. The show ended in 2017 after 11 seasons.Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s MAGA team up is taking the world by storm, and Lara Trump is one of the few with a front-row seat to the blossoming friendship. “It’s interesting because I kind of feel like Elon is maybe a little bit like we are, which is that, you know, you kind of keep everybody at a distance, but once you’re in, you’re really in,” Lara tells Dave Rubin of “The Rubin Report.” “I kind of feel like he’s a bit the same way from just watching how this whole relationship developed with my father-in-law,” she continues. And this relationship is changing the world. “I think to have a brilliant mind like Elon Musk as part of your team, part of the transition, and obviously DOGE coming up,” she says. “I think that look, we’re approaching what I believe is probably the most transformational period in America since our inception, since the birth of this country, and I think you have to give a lot of credit to Elon Musk.” Musk’s acquisition of Twitter, now X, has completely changed the way Americans discuss politics — and rendered the mainstream media almost completely obsolete. “Had he not bought Twitter, where would we be right now? Would we even be having a conversation about Donald Trump winning?” Lara asks, adding, “No, honestly. And so I think he’s been really important to all of this, and we like to have him on the team. We like to have good people on our team.” “It’s just hilarious to me,” Rubin responds, “It’s like the same people who think that the world is going to end in six years because of climate change also now hate the guy that wants life to go interplanetary.” “You can’t make it up,” Lara laughs. Want more from Dave Rubin?To enjoy more honest conversations, free speech, and big ideas with Dave Rubin, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

Congressional investigators released an interim report Friday detailing some of the creative ways that the Biden administration has apparently sidestepped the legal process in order to spy on and track American citizens, particularly those who have expressed opinions and political views unfavorable to the powers that be. The report was released just days after Marc Andreessen, co-founder of Netscape, told Joe Rogan that scores of tech founders were de-banked under the Biden administration through a politically motivated effort he referred to as "Operation Choke Point 2.0," an apparent update on a scandalous Obama Department of Justice initiative. Americans' financial data reveals a great deal about their political viewpoints, interests, vulnerabilities, and locations. The new report from the House Judiciary Committee and its Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government, titled "Financial Surveillance in the United States: How the Federal Government Weaponized the Bank Secrecy Act to Spy on Americans" noted that "because of this data's usefulness, federal law enforcement agencies increasingly coordinate with financial institutions to secure even greater access to Americans' private financial information, often without legal process." Congressional investigators began looking into the process after a whistleblower alleged that Bank of America voluntarily and without legal process provided the FBI with a list of names of Americans who used a BoA credit or debit card in Washington, D.C., around the time of the Jan. 6, 2021, protests. A former senior FBI official, Joseph Bonavolonta, later confirmed the testimony of the whistleblower, retired FBI supervisory intelligence analyst George Hill. While law enforcement is normally barred from inquiring into financial institutions' customer information, at least without going through proper legal processes, federal agents apparently found a workaround: Highlight as "suspicious" client characteristics common to intended targets — such as criticism of gun-grab policies, vaccine mandates, COVID-19 lockdowns, and the Deep State — and encourage financial institutions to file Suspicious Activity Reports. The Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network compiles these reports into a searchable database. 'This could lead to widespread abuse of power and debanking.' The Weaponization Committee indicated Friday that last year, the FinCEN database was accessed by over 14,000 government employees for more than 3 million warrantless searches. According to FinCEN's latest annual report, nearly 15.42% of active FBI investigations in fiscal year 2023 were directly linked to SARs and Currency Transaction Reports. At least 4.6 million SARs and 20.8 million CTRs were filed last year. The new report from the House Judiciary Committee, which relies on over 48,000 pages of newly reviewed documents and three new transcribed interviews, underscored that federal agencies have increasingly worked "hand-in-glove with financial institutions, obtaining virtually unchecked access to private financial data and testing out new methods and new technology to continue the financial surveillance of American citizens." The report claims that: the FBI manipulated the Suspicious Activity Report filing process "to treat financial institutions as de facto arms of law enforcement, issuing 'requests,' without legal process, that amount to demands for information related to certain persons or activities it considers 'suspicious'"; FinCEN coordinated with the FBI to lean on financial institutions to comb through their data and file SARs on hundreds of Americans "without any clear criminal nexus"; and while on paper an advisory body to the Treasury Department on matters pertaining to the Bank Secrecy Act, the BSA Advisory Group has become "a tool for federal law enforcement and financial institutions to monitor the private, financial data of American citizens" — a tool set to become more invasive and more powerful in the hands of federal law enforcement operatives. The report concludes, "All Americans should be disturbed by how their financial data is collected, made accessible to, and searched by federal and state officials, including law enforcement and regulatory agencies." Congressional investigators emphasized that with e-commerce ascendant and the use of cash growing increasingly less common, "the future leaves very little financial activity beyond the purview of modern financial institutions or the government's prying eyes." The Weaponization Committee added on X that "without safeguards, this could lead to widespread abuse of power and debanking." The report was not, however, all doom and gloom. Lawmakers highlighted potential legislative reforms that could be undertaken to curb the potential for continued and worse abuse, including raising the threshold for currency transaction reports from the $10,000 mark to $60,000, as a means to reverse the CTR's transformation from a program about criminal activity into a government surveillance program; amending the BSA to require that banks notify a customer that an SAR was filed, provide a justification, and offer the flagged client the opportunity to respond to the corresponding allegations; restore Fourth Amendment protections to American's financial records, requiring law enforcement obtain a warrant to gain access to Americans' private financial information; "Federal law enforcement has shown that it will leverage any opportunity to operate outside the bounds of the statutes that govern access to Americans’ financial data," said the report. "Absent adequate congressional oversight and legislative reforms, it is likely that countless more Americans will be subject to financial surveillance and potentially federal investigation, all without ever knowing about it." Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Democratic U.S. Senator-elect Adam Schiff of California rejected the idea of a preemptive pardon for him that is reportedly being considered by aides to President Joe Biden. Schiff made the comments Monday when asked by KNBC-TV about the possibility. 'That I think, would tend to encourage people to feel they're not beholden to the law because they outgoing president would give them a prospective pardon.' "I don't think it's a good idea and I would urge the president not to do that," said Schiff "First of all I think it's unnecessary, but also think it's unwise. I don't want to see a precedent where you start to have presidents on the eve of leaving office issuing blanket pardons to people of their own party or of their own administration," he added. "That I think, would tend to encourage people to feel they're not beholden to the law because they outgoing president would give them a prospective pardon," Schiff concluded. "So I think it's unwise policy, and I would urge the president not to go down that road." Some wondered whether Schiff was positioning himself for a pardon when he stepped down immediately from his position as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives for California on Friday. A report from Politico then claimed that a circle of senior Biden aides was debating whether pardons should be issued for people already being targeted by the incoming Trump administration, including Schiff, former Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, and Anthony Fauci. Biden issued a sweeping pardon for his son Hunter Biden related to gun and tax evasion charges, but critics noted that the order also included a much larger length of time than was necessary and was far more expansive than expected.Schiff's comments to KNBC can be viewed on a video on social media. Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

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Photo: David Pierce / The Verge Meta has announced the v72 Quest update, and it’s packed with features like faster hand tracking, an easier way to pair your headset with a Windows 11 PC, and better support for showing your keyboard while you’re in full virtual reality. The update is rolling out gradually, which also goes for certain features so you may not be able to use them immediately. Meta says you can now connect to a paired PC with the Quest’s Remote Desktop feature simply by looking at it and tapping the “Connect” button that appears above your keyboard. That’s similar to how it works on the Vision Pro, but here, you’ll need the Mixed Reality Link app installed on your computer before you can pair the devices together from within your Quest headset’s Settings app. The feature requires Windows 11 22H2 and newer. Image: Meta Now you can connect to your PC just by looking at it. Also, in Quest v72, the company says it’s “rolling out a more general keyboard tracking system” that should detect and let any keyboard around you appear through a passthrough “window” while you’re in a virtual environment, similar to the Vision Pro. Quest headsets have had a feature that shows a virtual version of your keyboard where your real one is since 2021, but that has only ever worked with specific keyboards. Meta also says it has made the hand cursor more stable when navigating, pinching to select things, and pinching and dragging windows. The company also says it’s now easier to use your hands while in confined spaces and that it added a “hand ray visualization” to help find and target things with the cursor. There is a little bit more in the update, too, including new live captions for calls from the People app and the addition of direct messaging in the Instagram app. Meta also added a Media Gallery app for viewing your images, videos (spatial included), and screenshots.

Photo by Ashley Carman / The Verge Spotify has officially shut down its Car Thing accessory that offered simple and slick control over music and playlists while driving, and it’s giving owners just over a month (January 14th) to reach out to the company and get a refund. The device started to display its final words early today as enthusiasts mourn the loss of the device on its dedicated subreddit. The final message on the Car Thing reads: Car Thing is discontinued and no longer operational. Thank you for being on this journey with us, safe travels. For more information, visit carthing.com. Contact customer service by no later than January 14th, 2025 to discuss your refund options. Spotify announced in May that it intended the already discontinued devices would shut down in December, and now they have. The company also said, eventually, that it would work to issue refunds, but owners need to contact the company and provide proof of purchase to receive compensation. For most users, the Spotify Car Thing is just another piece of e-waste humans will have to deal with later. The company recommends resetting it to factory settings and “safely disposing of your device following local electronic waste guidelines.” However, tinkerers are finding new uses for the hardware: Car Thing can be hacked to run custom software that doesn’t require Spotify’s backend. As 9to5Google notes, it’s a bit underpowered to run full-on Android, but some projects like “Desk Thing” can repurpose them as a controller at your computer desk.