New law: Speed limiting devices may soon be required in vehicles in Illinois.
[Q: Should Illinois be able to require speed limits in vehicle ?]
A new proposal in Springfield would require certain Illinois drivers to install speed-limiting technology in their vehicles, creating a statewide program aimed at reducing high-speed crashes and traffic fatalities.
House Bill 4948 would establish the Intelligent Speed Assistance Program, which would mandate that some offenders install a device that automatically limits the vehicle’s top speed, based on the posted speed limit where it is being driven.
The new legislation proposed by Democrats would require some Illinois drivers to install devices that would limit speed in their vehicles. The purpose is to reduce high-speed crashes and traffic fatalities.
State Rep. Martha Deuter’s (D) House Bill 4948 would establish the Intelligent Speed Assistance Program, which would mandate that some traffic offenders install a device that automatically limits the vehicle’s top speed, based on the posted speed limit where it is being driven.
The law would take affect on January 1, 2027 
Individuals required to install this device would come as a result of a court order.
A driver ordered by a judge to participate in the program would be required to install a certified intelligent speed assistance system on every vehicle they own, and they would also be prohibited from operating a vehicle that doesn’t have the device installed.
Courts would be allowed to order enrollment for reckless driving convictions, and would make it mandatory for anyone found guilty of driving more than 100 miles per hour on Illinois roads.
If a driver fails to follow the rules of the program, the Illinois Secretary of State would be given the authority to suspend or revoke their driver’s license.
The measure tasks the state’s Zero Traffic Fatalities Task Force with overseeing the program. The task force would be responsible for approving and certifying speed‑assistance devices, setting safety and tamper‑prevention standards, publishing a list of approved manufacturers, and creating rules for installation, data reporting, and compliance.
HB4948 must still move through committee hearings and floor votes in both chambers of the General Assembly.
Speed limiting devices are systems designed to prevent vehicles from exceeding predetermined speed thresholds, enhancing road safety and compliance with traffic regulations.
Overview of Speed Limiting Devices
Speed limiting devices (SLDs) are crucial components in modern vehicle safety systems. They can be mechanical, electronic, or GPS-based, each serving the purpose of controlling vehicle speed to prevent accidents and improve road safety.
The Illinois Mileage tracker tax is back. The new proposal includes a provision to have a tracker in applicable vehicles and 1.5 cent per mile tax.
[Q: Good Idea or bad plan?]
Senate Bill 3566 would establish a new Road Usage Charge Program. The per mile charge would require tracking devices to be installed in EV vehicles or self report mileage.
This new 2026 proposal is a different from the per mile/tracker legislation that was proposed in 2025.
The law mandates the new tax would only be applied only to EV vehicles (for now), it would give drivers the option to pay 1.5 cents per mile, or an annual fee of $320 to the state. That fee would be charged on top of Illinois’ standard vehicle registration cost, which is currently $151, meaning EV owners would pay at least $471 per year under today’s rates.
Note: There are no provisions in the legislation to lower gasoline taxes to offset the new revenue the state would receive from EV’s.
State Sen. Ram Villivalam (D‑Chicago), is the same legislator who proposed pilot program that involved vehicle tracking in 2025. Villivalam is same legislator who is proposing this legislation. The 2025 legislation did not pass.
It should also be noted that for the current bill under consideration, effective in 2028, the cost per mile would increase.
Illinois has one of the highest gas tax rates in the nation, with the state’s per-gallon tax rate on gasoline rising to $0.483 per gallon beginning on July 1.
That rate does not include taxes levied on retailers for petroleum products, along with sales taxes and even municipal tax rates, which are allowed under Illinois law.
Since those fuel taxes go toward maintaining roads and bridges in the state, it’s imperative that the state raises enough money to help pay for that maintenance. Due to improvements in fuel efficiency and the more widespread adoption of electric vehicles however, those tax revenues have not been going up fast enough to address wear-and-tear on area roadways, leaving states across the country struggling to keep up with maintenance costs, according to the Brookings Institute.
As a result, more states are weighing different options to pay for maintenance, including instituting tolls and charging drivers per mile driven, regardless of the type of vehicle that they are driving.
What’s in Illinois’ version of the mileage tax bill?
The idea behind the pilot program was to evaluate the “potential for mileage-based revenue as an alternative to the current system of taxing highway use through motor fuel taxes,” according to the text of the legislation.
The program would include at least 1,000 volunteers, and the pilot would be required to last for at least one year. Participants would have received rebates for their motor fuel taxes incurred during the course of the year.
In addition, the per-mile pricing would have varied based on the time of day drivers are using roadways, and what type of roadway they were driving on at a given time.
How would mileage be tracked?
Some critics of mileage taxes have argued that requirements to use electronic tracking devices would violate the civil liberties of drivers, arguing that multiple Constitutional amendments cover such rights.
Illinois’ system would have allowed for drivers to use such electronic devices, but would have also allowed them to explore other tracking means, including taking photos of the odometers in their vehicles.
A vote on the bill in the committee was postponed in March, and the measure was never brought up for a vote before the end of the session. It was re-referred to the assignments committee on June 2, according to the General Assembly’s website.
How much would Illinois’ tax rate be?
While no specific tax rate was included in the proposed legislation, the expectation is that the Illinois tax rate would be around three-to-four cents per mile driven on state roadways, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
For context, a driver who racks up 10,000 miles on Illinois roadways under a three-cent tax would pay $300 in taxes for the year. If their vehicle gets 30 miles per gallon on average, they would pay roughly $161 a year in Illinois fuel taxes.
In Utah, only drivers of electric cars can enroll, paying $0.016 per mile. It’s tracked either via an onboard device or a smartphone app, providing location data.
In Oregon, drivers who sign up for their program pay two cents per mile, but are given a discount on fees paid for their vehicle registrations, saving between $35 and $115 annually, according to officials.
☣️ A Chinese bioweapons labs was just busted by the FBI in Las Vegas.
The FBI discovered something that’s major….
The feds just discovered an illegal biolab in Las Vegas.
The owner of the property is a chinese national who was previously arrested in connection to an illegal biolab in California
They found pathogens labeled HIV, malaria, TB, COVID-19, and Ebola.
They were planning a massive attack!
The illegal bio lab just raided in Las Vegas was operated by the same LLC and Chinese nationals as the one discovered in Reedley, CA. Here’s what we know about the Reedley lab from a highly disturbing report that was requested by the Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party.
It was run by an international fugitive from China named Jiabei “Jesse” Zhu. After running various state-connected companies in China, he moved to Canada, where he set up dozens of corporations to “steal valuable American intellectual property and unlawfully transfer” it to China. The Supreme Court of British Columbia found he committed “fraud on an epic scale,” resulting in a $330 million judgment. He then fled to America, assumed the alias David He, and set up several more companies, including the one behind the bio lab. He was indicted in 2023 and has been in custody ever since, but his partner and other associates have not been.
Hold on now. What is this all about!? No threat to the public? How in the world could they know that????
One individual is in custody.
979 Sugar Springs Dr. Las Vegas, NV 89110 was the residence they found the Lab in.
Coventry Estates subdivision
It is owned by DAVID DESTINY DISCOVERY LLC, purchased in Oct. of 2022 but was sold by Wang Zhaoyan, who owned it for 5 months prior to the sale.
This LLC has been mentioned in news reports related to Jia Bei Zhu (a Chinese national, also known as Jesse Zhu, Qiang He, or David He), who faced federal charges in 2023–2024 connected to an alleged illegal biolab operation in Reedley, California.
Court and media sources indicated the LLC owned properties (including this one and others), with funding ties and shared addresses involving Zhu and Wang Zhaoyan.
The California lab Jia Bei Zhu was operating had the following items:
✔️Thousands of vials and samples of biological materials
✔️Potentially infectious agents/pathogens (CDC identified at least 20 based on labels:
Viruses: SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19), Hepatitis B and C, HIV (1 and 2), Human Herpes viruses (e.g., Herpes simplex, Cytomegalovirus), Dengue, Rubella, Respiratory Syncytial virus
Parasites: Malaria (including deadly forms like Plasmodium falciparum), Toxoplasma gondii.
A freezer explicitly labeled “Ebola” containing unlabeled sealed silver bags (consistent with high-risk bio storage methods).
✔️Medical and lab equipment: Dozens of refrigerators, ultra-low temperature freezers (-80°C), beakers, containers; some hooked to illegal wiring.
✔️Hazardous chemicals and waste: Over 800 containers (e.g., nitric acid, phosphoric acid, sodium hydroxide, flammable liquids, 55 gallons of ethanol, empty liquid nitrogen tanks). Many improperly stored.
✔️Medical waste and test-related items: Used COVID-19 tests, pregnancy tests, misbranded kits in production/shipping stages.
While everybody is busy with the Epstein files, China continues to secretly infiltrate America with bio weapons.
The Reedley lab was discovered in December of 2022, when a code inspector came upon a suspicious warehouse. Inside, she found many Chinese nationals “wearing white lab coats, glasses, masks, and latex gloves,” along with “thousands of vials of biological substances” and 1,000 mice. It was later learned these were “transgenic” mice “genetically engineered to catch and carry the COVID-19 virus.” A further inspection found “blood, tissue and other bodily fluid samples and serums” along with thousands of vials of “suspected biological material.” Some of the vials were labeled with the names of infectious agents, while others were labeled in a “code” that was never deciphered.
At first, the CDC refused to investigate, and even hung-up on local officials who asked for help. After Rep. Costa got involved, the CDC did an inspection and found “at least 20 potentially infectious agents, including HIV, Tuberculosis, and the deadliest known form of Malaria.” Yet the CDC did not bother to test any samples, even those with unknown contents, making it “impossible for the Select Committee to fully assess the potential risks that this specific facility posed to the community.” The Select Committee report calls this “baffling.” Later, local officials discovered a refrigerator in the lab labeled “Ebola.”
While the supposed purpose of the lab was to sell test kits, in fact all the company did was buy counterfeit kits from China and re-sell them in the United States. Thus, there was a “lack of apparent legitimate (or even profit-motivated criminal) motive in the operation of the illegal facility.” Meanwhile, Jesse Zhu, its operator, was “receiving unexplained payments via wire transfer” from Chinese banks.
The report concluded that “no one knows whether there are other unknown biolabs because there is no monitoring system in place.” Now we know that there was at least one other, but we still don’t know how many more. That is why it is critical for Congress to pass my bipartisan legislation, authored with Rep. Costa and Rep. Valadao, to find these labs and shut them all down.
HOW IS THIS HAPPENING?
The Chinese nationals are required by law (in China) to gather and provide intelligence to the CCP when coming on a student visa
WE TAKE 300,000 CHINESE STUDENTS A YEAR!
There is CURRENTLY an organized spy ring in our Universities, and it MUST be stopped.
It’s not just the students, it’s professors too. Here’s an example of one at Harvard:x.com/BillGertz/stat…
This reveals a critical national security issue where 300,000 Chinese students on U.S. visas are legally required by China to spy for the CCP, forming an organized spy ring in American universities. Despite this, there’s no U.S. law to stop it, as highlighted by Senator Ashley Moody’s efforts to end such visas. This problem is part of a larger pattern of Chinese espionage, backed by intelligence reports and incidents like students being charged for spying on military sites, underscoring a significant threat to U.S. security.
Yet the “geniuses” in our Texas government allow visa holders from adversarial countries like China to buy homesteads because we don’t want to be called “racist”.
Never mind that Chinese government requires, by law, all visa holders from China in the U.S. to perform espionage, etc… for the CCP.
This is not just happening in Texas either. Stop the insanity!
This is incredibly disturbing and begs so many questions, including why someone at the CDC is not being held responsible for ignoring inquiries, how a Chinese national floated so easily into Canada and then to the U.S. under different names to commit multiple, massive frauds, how Treasury was not flagging the large transfers from Chinese banks, etc. And where is the FBI in developing intelligence for finding more of these operations.
So many failures, and so much potential destruction in process. If this story is true, any culprits must be treated as terrorists, sending a signal to others that the costs exceed the benefits of such operations. Throw the book at them. All the books.
Jelly Roll Wins His First-Ever Grammys and Urges Deeper Relationship With Jesus
Unlike many of his fellow artists at the 68th annual Grammys, Jelly Roll refused to weigh in on the political climate in America during the 2026 awards show.The hip-hop-country hyphenate grew passionate about God from the Crypto.com stage.
Jelly Roll has never been one to shy away from his faith in public settings, and he leaned into it at the Grammys Sunday as he took his first Recording Academy prizes.
“First of all, Jesus, I hear you and I’m listening, Lord, I am listening, Lord,” he began his fiery acceptance speech after winning the new award of best contemporary country album for his 2024 record Beautifully Broken. “I’d have killed myself if it wasn’t for you and Jesus” he said after thanking his wife.
Beautifully Broken is Jelly’s 2024 collab-heavy redemption-journey record that hit No. 1, and he drew on its themes as he continued his speech.
“There was a time in my life, y’all, when I was broken. That’s why I wrote this album. I didn’t think I had a chance y’all,” he said, in a preacherly cadence. “I was a horrible human.” But then, he noted, he found a Bible and music while in a jail cell and “I believed that music had the power to change my life and God had the power to change my life.”
He finished his speech with gusto. “I want to tell y’all right now,” he said, growing even more passionate as Reba McEntire looked on gleefully from the audience. “Jesus is for everybody. Jesus is not owned by any one political party. Jesus is Jesus. Anybody can have a relationship with him. I love you Lord.”
With their heavily produced performances, the Grammys can lack spontaneity and intimacy, but Jelly’s speech provided a refreshing counterbalance as he bared his soul and asked the audience to do the same.
Jelly Roll, the moniker of Jason Bradley DeFord, is a prolific genre-defying singer-songwriter who came to prominence in the early 2020’s with the alt-rock addiction lament “Dead Man Walking” and “Son of a Sinner,” a country power ballad about navigating one’s flawed humanity. After previously spending time in jail for aggravated robbery and other crimes, he has spoken openly about those mistakes and music and religion as paths out of dark places.
Jelly had reason to be joyous Sunday: he won all three Grammys he was nominated for after striking out on his four previous noms. He also took best country duo/group performance for his hopeful singalong “Amen” with Shaboozey and best contemporary Christian Music Performance/Song for his worshipful blues-rock duet “Hard Fought Hallelujah” with Brandon Lake.
Despite the sly reference to party affiliation in his speech, Jelly deflected a political question in the pressroom shortly after, saying, “People shouldn’t care to hear my opinion. I’m a dumb redneck” and “I hate to be the artist that sounds aloof, but I just feel so disconnected from what’s happening.” But then he almost directly contradicted that thought when he said a second later, “I have a lot to say about it, and I’m going to in the next week, and everybody’s going to hear exactly what I have to say about it the most loud and clear way I’ve ever spoken in my life.”
The musician is, to be sure, often eager to speak about his faith at live performances and award shows. “The world is hearing about Jesus like they haven’t in decades right now,” he said from the stage of the Christian-themed Dove Awards last year, in a similarly rousing speech, as he cited Matthew ministering to the needy and encouraged the audience to do the same. “They’ve heard of Jesus. Now show them Jesus,” he intoned.
🚨A Tale of 82 Smurfs: Massive Money Laundering Fraud in the Democratic Party — Showcasing Missouri Congressman Wesley Bell
If I told you that 82 senior citizens that average 75 years old donated $11,516,000 in over 537,000 separate individual donations would you believe me?
Me neither!
According to the FEC, this group of senior citizens that average 75 years of age did just that!
Note: (The ages were determined with google searches that included the addresses and names.)
These donations of more than half a million separate donations (allegedly) only average $21.41 each.
Why?
That way the “masters of political money laundering” had hoped to stay “under the radar”. It worked for almost two decades. In the last few years investigative reporters such as James O Keefe, Peter Bernegger and Bob Cushman have foiled this great conspiracy that is believed to have laundered somewhere over a billion dollars in the last two decades through ActBlue with the probable complicity of the FEC.
This is what we call “smurfing” AKA money laundering.
This is illegal!
What is smurfing? “Smurfing” involves making many small financial transactions to avoid reporting thresholds (e.g., for money laundering). In political campaign law there are two important functions which are “bypassed”.
It is generally required that the actual name of the donor be assigned to each donation.
There are strict limits on how much an individual may contribute.
In “smurfing” (i.e. money laundering) these laws are ignored.
(Note: This report is an expansion of a previous analysis of 72 smurfs. This report adds 10 smurfs that are found contributing to Missouri Congressman Wesly Bell.)
82 Smurfs Exposed!
The 82 smurf table above was accomplished by combining previously discovered smurfs as follows.
➡ 20 smurfs attributed to Cory Booker (Corey Booker was the common denominator in terms of campaign committees that paid large sum of money to the business interests of Judge Mechan’s daughter. All 20 smurfs donated to Bookers campaign committee thru ActBlue.)I have reported my findings of laundered money to the Judge Merchan family in a letter to the judiciary Committee/ Jim Jordan. In my research utilizing the FEC database I identified 20 money mules AKA “Smurfs” whose identities that I believed were stolen to launder money to money to various democratic entities. Isn’t it remarkable that just 20 individuals are shown to have donated about 2.6 million dollars in about 188,000 donations! Note Loren Merchan is the daughter of Judge Juan Merchan.)
➡ 22 smurfs attributed to Mark Kelly (AZ Senator and The Seditious Six Leader) – bjhi89In late 2025 and early 2026, U.S. Senator Mark Kelly (D-AZ), a retired Navy captain and astronaut, became the subject of intense scrutiny and administrative action by the Department of Defense (DoD) under Secretary Pete Hegseth, following accusations of “sedition” made by President Donald Trump.
The “Seditious” Allegation – The Video: In November 2025, Senator Kelly and five other Democratic lawmakers with military or intelligence backgrounds released a video message to U.S. service members, stating: “Our laws are clear: you can refuse illegal orders”.
The Reaction: President Trump accused the lawmakers of “seditious behavior,” initially suggesting in a social media post that it was “punishable by DEATH”. Pentagon Action: Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth labelled the comments as “seditious in nature” and a violation of the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ). Hegseth claimed that by telling troops to refuse orders, Kelly was undermining the chain of command and engaging in “reckless misconduct”.
➡ 10 smurfs attributed to Fani Willis (Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and her office were removed from the Trump case after the Georgia Court of Appeals ruled there was an appearance of impropriety tied to Willis’ romantic relationship with the special prosecutor she appointed to lead the case. A replacement prosecutor dismissed the case in November.)
➡ 10 smurfs attributed to Tim Walz ( Governor Tim Walz faces intense criticism, primarily from Republicans, for massive fraud in Minnesota’s social programs (like child care and school meals) occurring under his watch, with allegations of “money laundering” through fraudulent claims. President Trump has vowed to get to the truth in this case.)
➡ 10 smurfs attributed to Congresswoman Ilhan Omar. (In January 2026, U.S. Representative Ilhan Omar (D-MN) is at the center of intense scrutiny and multiple investigations related to large-scale fraud within Minnesota’s Somali community and her own personal finances.)
➡ 10 Smurfs attributed to Missouri Congressman Wesley Bell. ◦ Wesley Bell, the U.S. Representative for Missouri’s 1st District and former St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney, has faced several controversies and “problems” involving campaign finances, government spending, and political backlash ◦ Campaign Funds Used for Luxury Vehicle: In 2024, Bell’s campaign reportedly spent $35,000 to purchase a luxury Denali Ultimate SUV, a move that has drawn scrutiny from ethics watchdogs regarding the personal use of campaign funds. ◦ Staffer Altercation: During a heated town hall in August 2025, a staffer or associate of Bell was reportedly involved in a physical altercation with a protester, leading to further local condemnation.
82 Smurfs feeding the Democratic Party Money Laundering
The chart in image 3 below, shows some of the primary recipients of the 11.5 million dollars that pretty much describes the Democratic Party. There are more but this cross-section should serve as a clear indication of the purposeful management/direction of this Massive Money Laundering effort.
Who received this laundered money?
The names include, but are not limited to:
Gretchen Whitmer – Gov MI Fani Willis – DA – Ga Tim Walz – Gov – MN Ilhan Omar – Congress – MN DNC – Democratic National Committee DCCC – Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee DSCC – Democratic Senate Campaign Committee Progressive Takeover – Hybrid PAC Hillary Clinton Kamala Harris Joe Biden Cory Booker Mark Kelly Nancy Pelosi Chuck Schumer Adam Schiff Elissa Slotkin Raphael Warnock Jon Ossoff Elizabeth Warren Amy Klobuchar Gary Peters John Fetterman Hakeem Jeffries Maggie For NH
Why is this happening?
It seems clear to this me that the purpose of this smurfing (money laundering) is to provide “under the cover of darkness” large sums of money to Democratic candidates and committees and escape the limits of contributions and the revelations of the source of this money.
Democratic consultant James Carville says Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker could potentially be his party’s best choice to lead Democrats to victory in the 2028 presidential election.
[Q: do you think Pritzker will be our next president? ]
Carville sat down for a Fox TV interview and said the following:
”If I had to say one guy… I’d take JB Pritzker,” ….this was in a response to the question of who Carville could see carirying the Democrat flag into 2028 
Carville was asked which Democrat he could see carrying the flag into 2028.
Starting January 1, 2026, Illinois landlords (yes — including Chicago) are required to add a new mandatory document to EVERY residential lease and renewal under the Safer Homes Act.
And no — this is not optional.
Here’s the breakdown 👇
🏠 What you MUST do at lease signing:
Attach the “Summary of Rights for Safer Homes” as the FIRST page of the lease
Every adult tenant must sign or initial EVERY page of that summary
This applies to new leases AND renewals
Keep it on file with your lease documents
📌 Why this matters:
This document educates tenants on important safety rights, including protections related to domestic or sexual violence, emergency lock changes, confidentiality, and protections from retaliation.
Whether you agree with it or not — the law requires disclosure.
⚠️ If you DON’T do this:
Your lease signing can be considered non-compliant
Tenants may be entitled to damages
You could be responsible for court costs and attorney fees
And yes — it can be used against you in a dispute
⚠️ What Happens If You Don’t Comply
Failing to include the Summary of Rights and get tenant signatures can be costly:
Potential Consequences
🔹 Tenant can pursue actual damages up to $2,000
🔹 OR the statutory minimum of $100 per violation
🔹 Court costs and attorney’s fees if the tenant wins a claim based on your failure to provide the summary
Even though these amounts may seem limited, fee shifting (tenant’s ability to recover attorney’s fees) can make disputes expensive and time consuming.
That’s why compliance isn’t optional — it’s a legal requirement for all written leases in Illinois as of January 1, 2026.
💡 Bottom line:
This is a paperwork requirement that protects tenants and protects you — but only if you do it correctly.
If you’re still using old lease packets or “winging it” at lease signing… this is your sign to stop.
Education is key.
Process is power.
Compliance saves you money.
📄 👉 Official Document (Summary of Rights for Safer Homes Act):
🚨 “JUDGE, JURY, AND EXECUTIONER”: Rep. Thomas Massie Moves to Defund Vehicle ‘Kill Switches’ 🚨
The battle for the future of your dashboard is heating up on Capitol Hill. Representative Thomas Massie (R-KY), joined by Scott Perry (R-PA) and Chip Roy (R-TX), has officially offered an amendment to defund a federal mandate that could require all new cars to be equipped with “kill switch” technology as early as 2026.
The “Dystopian” Mandate 🏛️⚖️
Massie slammed Section 24220 of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), which directs the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to mandate “advanced drunk and impaired driving prevention technology” in new vehicles.
Massie warned that the tech would allow your car to passively monitor your driving and disable itself if the system “disapproves” of your performance. “How do you appeal your sentence once your car has judged you to be incapable of driving?” Massie asked.
Massie painted a grim picture of a mother stranded with her children in a blizzard after her car “grounded” her for swerving to avoid a pothole or a patch of ice.
From debate:
Chair: It is now in order to consider amendment number one printed in part B of House Report 119-462. For what purpose does the gentleman from Kentucky seek recognition?
Mr. Massie: Mr. Chair, I have an amendment at the desk.
The Clerk: The Clerk shall designate the amendment.
Amendment number one printed in part B of House Report number 119-462, offered by Mr. Massie of Kentucky.
Pursuant to House Resolution 1014, the gentleman from Kentucky, Mr. Massie, and a member opposed each will control five minutes. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Kentucky.
Mr. Massie: Mr. Chair, I rise in support of our amendment. This is co-sponsored by Mr. Perry from Pennsylvania and Mr. Roy from Texas, and I regret that we have to offer this amendment. What I’m going to describe will probably sound like a bad science fiction movie, but that’s what’s written into law. Right now in law, that’s going to be implemented for the—it says for 2026 and beyond. Now the reality is the technology doesn’t exist, but that doesn’t keep legislators from imagining things that they would like to do to infringe on civil liberties. But there’s a law that states that every vehicle manufactured is going to have to have a kill switch in it. The car itself will monitor your driving, and if the car thinks that you’re not doing a good job driving, it will disable itself. So the car dashboard becomes your judge, your jury, and your executioner. Imagine this: we got a snowstorm coming. A mom takes her kids out, they’re going to the grocery store. It’s snowing. They’re trying to get some groceries before the big storm hits. She swerves for a pothole. The neighbor’s pet gets in the way, swerves for that. A first responder goes by. She pulls over. Her car says, you got one more swerve and then we’re going to ground you. There it is. The next thing she has to avoid, an icy patch in the road, the car has adjudicated her as unsuitable for driving. It disables the vehicle and there she’s stranded. My question is, how do you appeal your sentence once your car, the technology in your car has judged you to be incapable of driving? Once it’s disabled you and your children at the side of the road, how do you appeal that? Do you press a button on the dashboard? Do you start talking to an AI? What if it really was somebody who was drunk? Are you really going to send a police car after this disabled vehicle? Do we have the resources to do that? There’s going to be so many false positives. The technology is unworkable. That’s why the DOT is still in the rulemaking process, trying—asking for feedback on how this thing could even exist. And it’s just a bad idea but it’s in law, and so our amendment would defund that. And with that, I’d like to reserve the balance of my time.
The gentleman reserves. The gentleman from Kentucky is recognized.
Mr. Massie: Mr. Chairman, drunk driving is a serious problem, but 31 states already have the technology to keep drunk drivers off of the road with ignition interlock devices that they can mandate. And this technology that’s in the law is not going to fix the drunk driving problem. With that, I’d like to yield two minutes to my friend from Pennsylvania, Mr. Perry.
The gentleman from Pennsylvania is yielded two minutes.
Mr. Perry: I thank the gentleman from Kentucky for his work on this and, of course, the chairman of the full committee for the hard work on appropriations. Look, none of us want to be on the road with drunk drivers, and of course, this was a solution intended to deal with them. And all of us want them to be dealt with, but I’m going to remind everybody, as my friend from Kentucky just said, there is already legislation in multiple states—dozens of states—that deal with drunk drivers through the ignition interlock system. Probably in your family somewhere, someone you know, you’ve dealt with this. I know in my family and the people I know, I’ve dealt with it. But here’s what I don’t want to see in America: everybody being punished for the people that drink and drive, including the ones that don’t drink and drive. I happen not to drink, but I’m going to be forced to have this thing in my car and I’m going to just tell you what’s next. After what Thomas said—after what Representative Massie said—the car is going to be the judge, jury, and sentencer for your crime in the car. The next thing is going to be, well, we need to hook this thing up to the government so we can dispatch the police. I’m just going to tell you what’s going to happen next. They’re going to be shutting your car off when they decide, whatever they decide from wherever they decide it. Ladies and gentlemen, I don’t know about what you think about due process and the Constitution and the Fourth Amendment and the right to not be imposed upon by illegal, unlawful search and seizure, but punishing everybody for this crime—whether they’ve committed it or not, if they’re going to commit it or not—should be unconstitutional. This shouldn’t really be a question. We all want to get to the problem, and we’re happy to work with everybody on all sides to deal with it. But you cannot punish, convict, convict and punish everybody in the country for the sake of the ones that do things that they shouldn’t do. And with that, I yield the balance to the gentleman from Kentucky.
The gentleman from Kentucky is recognized.
Mr. Massie: Last time we offered this amendment, it had bipartisan support. I urge my colleagues to vote for this amendment. It would defund an unconstitutional and unworkable mandate that has already missed the deadlines. And with that, I yield back.
Before the weekend ends and America moves on to the next headline, we need to pause and look at a story that matters more than almost any other—the collapse of Venezuela, and what it warns us about if the last democratic superpower ever falls the same way.
This didn’t happen overnight. It happened step by step, over one generation.
VENEZUELA: HOW A PROSPEROUS NATION COLLAPSED
1992 Venezuela is the 3rd richest country in the Western Hemisphere, powered by oil and a growing middle class.
1997 Venezuelans become the 2nd largest buyers of Ford F-150s—a sign of widespread prosperity.
1998 Hugo Chávez is elected, promising to “redistribute wealth” and fix inequality.
2001 The country votes again for socialism, framed as compassion and fairness.
2003 The government imposes price controls and currency controls. Black markets appear. Shortages begin.
2004 Private healthcare is fully socialized.
2006 Inflation rises sharply as massive welfare programs expand without real economic backing.
2007 All higher education becomes “free.”
2008 Key industries—oil services, steel, cement, telecom—are nationalized. Production drops almost immediately.
2009 Private gun ownership is banned.
2010 The currency is devalued by 50%, crushing savings and accelerating inflation.
2011 Oil production begins a steady decline due to mismanagement and lack of investment.
2012 American politicians, like Bernie Sanders, publicly praise Venezuela’s model.
2013 Chávez dies. Nicolás Maduro takes power and tightens state control.
2014 Opposition leaders are arrested or silenced.
2015 GDP collapses. Hyperinflation begins.
2016 Severe food and medical shortages spread nationwide.
2017 The constitution is suspended. Elections are no longer meaningful.
2018 Inflation exceeds 1,000,000%. Maduro “wins” a widely fraudulent election.
2019 Unarmed civilians are killed by their own government.
2020 More than 8 million people flee the country to escape hunger and repression.
2023 Minor economic improvements fail to relieve mass poverty.
2024 Disputed elections trigger protests and global isolation.
2026 Maduro is removed by force. Venezuela is liberated after decades of ruin.
THE HARD TRUTH
It took one generation of “progressive” leadership to turn one of the richest countries on Earth into a nation defined by hunger, fear, mass graves, and mass migration.
This is the lesson history keeps teaching:
You can vote your way into socialism. But history shows people only escape it through collapse, violence, or foreign intervention.
And here is the part Americans must understand clearly:
If this happens in the United States, there will be nobody coming to save us.
No outside superpower. No rescue force. No second chance.
Freedom is fragile. Prosperity is not guaranteed. And once lost, they are brutally hard to recover.
Venezuela’s people paid the price. America cannot afford to learn this lesson the same way.
I don’t think suspect in yesterday’s confrontation with federal agents, woke up that day planning to get killed. I really don’t. What I do think is that she probably thought she was provoking them in a way that would end with her getting yanked out of the car, maybe shoved to the ground, detained, something ugly but non-lethal. The kind of thing that turns into a viral video where they get to play the victims and paint ICE as monsters. That’s a scenario people assume is safe, especially if they’ve been around activism long enough to believe the script always ends the same way.
If her girlfriend was already outside the vehicle filming, that tells me this wasn’t spontaneous panic. That looks like intent to capture a moment. Maybe they thought, “We’ll push, they’ll overreact, we’ll get content.” I’m sure she didn’t think she’d get shot. I’m sure she thought she was in control of the situation.
But then reality intervenes. Maybe she didn’t see the officer in front of the car. Maybe she had tunnel vision and was focused on the agent next to her. But she did accelerate forward, and once a vehicle is moving toward an officer, the situation changes instantly. At that point, whether she meant to or not, she put herself into a lethal scenario, and she lost her life.
That’s tragic. It’s also not the same thing as “this just happened for no reason.”
And if it turns out there’s evidence that this was coordinated… that the girlfriend was setting this up, encouraging it, orchestrating it to get a viral confrontation… then yeah, I think she should face charges too. Not just because someone died, but because if you help engineer a dangerous situation and someone ends up dead, you don’t get to wash your hands of it afterward.
Sympathy doesn’t mean pretending people had no agency. And accountability doesn’t mean saying someone deserved to die. Both things can be true at the same time.
Roy F. McCampbell's Blog 
Jelly Roll Wins His First-Ever Grammys and Urges Deeper Relationship With Jesus
Jelly Roll Wins His First-Ever Grammys and Urges Deeper Relationship With Jesus
Unlike many of his fellow artists at the 68th annual Grammys, Jelly Roll refused to weigh in on the political climate in America during the 2026 awards show.The hip-hop-country hyphenate grew passionate about God from the Crypto.com stage.
Jelly Roll has never been one to shy away from his faith in public settings, and he leaned into it at the Grammys Sunday as he took his first Recording Academy prizes.
“First of all, Jesus, I hear you and I’m listening, Lord, I am listening, Lord,” he began his fiery acceptance speech after winning the new award of best contemporary country album for his 2024 record Beautifully Broken. “I’d have killed myself if it wasn’t for you and Jesus” he said after thanking his wife.
Beautifully Broken is Jelly’s 2024 collab-heavy redemption-journey record that hit No. 1, and he drew on its themes as he continued his speech.
“There was a time in my life, y’all, when I was broken. That’s why I wrote this album. I didn’t think I had a chance y’all,” he said, in a preacherly cadence. “I was a horrible human.” But then, he noted, he found a Bible and music while in a jail cell and “I believed that music had the power to change my life and God had the power to change my life.”
He finished his speech with gusto. “I want to tell y’all right now,” he said, growing even more passionate as Reba McEntire looked on gleefully from the audience. “Jesus is for everybody. Jesus is not owned by any one political party. Jesus is Jesus. Anybody can have a relationship with him. I love you Lord.”
With their heavily produced performances, the Grammys can lack spontaneity and intimacy, but Jelly’s speech provided a refreshing counterbalance as he bared his soul and asked the audience to do the same.
Jelly Roll, the moniker of Jason Bradley DeFord, is a prolific genre-defying singer-songwriter who came to prominence in the early 2020’s with the alt-rock addiction lament “Dead Man Walking” and “Son of a Sinner,” a country power ballad about navigating one’s flawed humanity. After previously spending time in jail for aggravated robbery and other crimes, he has spoken openly about those mistakes and music and religion as paths out of dark places.
Jelly had reason to be joyous Sunday: he won all three Grammys he was nominated for after striking out on his four previous noms. He also took best country duo/group performance for his hopeful singalong “Amen” with Shaboozey and best contemporary Christian Music Performance/Song for his worshipful blues-rock duet “Hard Fought Hallelujah” with Brandon Lake.
Despite the sly reference to party affiliation in his speech, Jelly deflected a political question in the pressroom shortly after, saying, “People shouldn’t care to hear my opinion. I’m a dumb redneck” and “I hate to be the artist that sounds aloof, but I just feel so disconnected from what’s happening.” But then he almost directly contradicted that thought when he said a second later, “I have a lot to say about it, and I’m going to in the next week, and everybody’s going to hear exactly what I have to say about it the most loud and clear way I’ve ever spoken in my life.”
The musician is, to be sure, often eager to speak about his faith at live performances and award shows. “The world is hearing about Jesus like they haven’t in decades right now,” he said from the stage of the Christian-themed Dove Awards last year, in a similarly rousing speech, as he cited Matthew ministering to the needy and encouraged the audience to do the same. “They’ve heard of Jesus. Now show them Jesus,” he intoned.
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