NTD Evening News Full Broadcast (Aug. 23)

Welcome to NTD Evening News. I'm your host, Cary Dunst, and welcome to our brand new studio. We're so happy to have you here. We've got a lot to cover. Let's jump in. A trade dispute heating up. New U.S. tariffs on Canada are now in effect, and Canada says it will hit back with dollar-for-dollar counter tariffs. How President Trump responds. U.S. Postal Service is tightening rules for mail-in voting. What the new policy says and a look at whether it could impact the midterms. With the 2026 midterms approaching, what comes next for the American right? Professor Jeffrey Bloodworth joins us live with a look at the MAGA movement at a pivotal time. A once-in-a-lifetime event taking over the streets of Washington, D.C., President Trump kicks off the start of the American Freedom 250 Grand Prix before an energetic crowd. President Trump touting progress on the White House Ballroom Project as the Supreme Court now clears the way for construction to continue what we know so far. And a parade filled with music, color, and tradition making its way through New York City today, and behind it, a persistent call for religious freedom in China. This is NTD Evening News, live from our global headquarters in New York City. Good evening. Thank you for joining us tonight. President Trump making his first public comment today after trade talks broke down between the U.S. and Canada. In a Truth Social post, the president writing, quote, Canada wants the benefits of being a state without being one, adding they have also charged our great farmers for many years, massive amounts of tariffs, no more. His comments came after Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney announced retaliatory tariffs on U.S. starting next month. The U.S. imposed 50 percent tariffs on about $20 billion worth of Canadian goods that took effect early Saturday. Now, the tariffs were originally set for August 19th. President Trump delayed them three days to extend trade talks. In response, Carney says Canada would match the U.S. tariffs dollar for dollar, accusing Washington of making a last minute power play. He said the U.S. wanted to limit Canada's ability to negotiate trade deals with other countries before those talks collapsed. U.S. Trade Representative Jamison Greer accused Canada of walking away from terms that the two sides had already agreed to. The U.S. is now looking to have those tariffs lowered, and we're going to keep you posted as that continues. And they continue to retaliate. And after a year of that retaliation, we've said enough. And so we've taken countermeasures. Our interest is in protecting American workers and protecting American supply chains. We've been offering to bring the Canadians along on that path, really to cut the tariffs on them, on steel, on tariff autos, even lumber, things that are sensitive for them. And they've always had the best deal and they still would have an even better deal. But they didn't want that. We're great trading partners, right? But Canada gets the benefit of trading with the U.S. way more than the U.S. gets the benefit of trading with Canada. It's a country that doesn't have a military. We want fairness for the American worker. And some of our best friends are the worst offenders that treat us the worst. I think you're going to see Mark Carney come to the table very, very quickly because it's going to be devastating for his country. That's tariffs charged to the USA. There are tariff-related tensions between the United States and its neighbor to the north. In short, they asked too much and they offered too little. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney slams the brakes on trade talks with the U.S. In recent days, the United States proposed new terms that run economic, unfair and undermine the net benefits for Canada and called into question the reliability of any deal. Although both sides issued optimistic statements about coming to a deal before this weekend's deadline, things fell apart late Friday. We don't have new talks planned with the Canadians. We're moving forward with measures that respond to Canadian retaliation. Carney says Canada will match Washington, D.C.'s tariffs dollar for dollar in sectors including steel, dairy, appliances, agricultural equipment and electronics set to take effect on September 8th. As President Trump has introduced a trade policy to reshore American production, protect American jobs, two countries have retaliated against the United States, the People's Republic of China and Canada. As for now, Canada doesn't plan to back down to the Trump White House. And the U.S. is changing how deportations work. Some Mexican nationals deported from the U.S. are now being sent to Honduras. The move is part of the administration's broader immigration policies. Honduras has received about 365 Mexican nationals deported from the U.S. Another group was expected to arrive in the country yesterday. Under international agreements, deportees are generally returned to their country of citizenship. But some migrants can be sent to third countries under certain agreements. Immigration experts say the approach could make illegal re-entry into the U.S. more difficult. That's because migrants would be farther from the U.S.-Mexico border. Here's Borders' Tom Homan speaking on Fox News. We don't arrest people based on the color of their skin. I'm actually an equal opportunity deporter. I deported people to 180 countries last year. So I don't care if you're from Asia, you're from Europe or you're from other countries. If you're in the country legally, you'll be deported regardless of the color of your skin. Meanwhile, Mexico is dealing with a separate issue involving one of its governors. President Claudia Sheinbaum says no personal interest should come before the country's interests. Her comments came after Sinaloa Governor Ruben Roca returned to office on Friday. Roca had stepped aside in April after U.S. prosecutors accused him of having ties to the Sinaloa cartel. Roca denies any wrongdoing. Mexico has said the U.S. has not provided enough evidence to justify his arrest or extradition. And President Trump says construction of his White House ballroom is under budget, ahead of schedule. The update comes after the U.S. Supreme Court allowed construction to continue. And the president posted a photo of the construction site on Truth Social, calling it tremendous work. Earlier this month, a lower court ordered construction to stop, saying that the project likely requires congressional approval. The Trump administration appealed to the Supreme Court, citing national security and the president's safety. Chief Justice John Roberts, he signed a temporary order on Friday allowing the construction to continue, while the justices consider the Trump administration's appeal. The 90,000-square-foot ballroom is expected to cost $400 million. President Trump says it will be funded entirely by private donors and companies with, quote, zero dollars of taxpayer money. The administration wants it completed by 2028, before the end of President Trump's second term. And the U.S. Postal Service has published a finalized plan for mail-in ballots. It would require states using USPS, or mail ballots, to first notify the agency at least 90 days before an election. Now, the states would also have to provide a list of eligible mail-in voters at least 60 days before the election, and that would include providing each voter's name and address, along with a unique tracking barcode on the ballot. Postmaster General David Steiner says that this policy will help ensure that the right ballots get to the right people. The new policy was first proposed in June, following President Trump's March executive order on mail-in voting, but it cannot take effect for the 2026 midterms, while this federal injunction against the executive order still remains in place. U.S. District Judge Indira Tawani warned changing election rules so close to the midterms could disrupt the voting process. The Trump administration has said mail-in ballots lead to widespread voter fraud. For nearly half a century, the Republican Party rested on Ronald Reagan's three-legged stool. That was free market economics, social conservatism, and a foreign policy focused on projecting American power abroad. But that framework has fractured, and President Donald Trump's rise accelerated a transformation that was already underway. Joining us tonight to discuss is Jeffrey Bloodworth. He's a professor at Gannon University teaching American political history. It's great to have you with us, Professor Bloodworth. A recent essay claims that the Republican Party has moved beyond this Reagan-era paradigm. From a historian's perspective, I'd like to explore with you what exactly has changed, and when did that transformation actually become irreversible in your view? Well, I mean, it changed because Ronald Reagan's key foreign policy challenge, the Soviet Union, disappeared. And so, you know, the historical circumstances of 1980, when Reagan was elected, are not the historical circumstances of 2026. And so Reagan's conservatism, as you said, with the three-legged stool, bears resemblance to Trump's conservatism, but historical circumstances have changed. I mean, you no longer have a Soviet Union and a global communist movement defining many aspects of foreign and domestic policy. So, you know, the world has changed. Conservatism drifted away from kind of Reagan's rock-solid principles. And, you know, Trump was the disruptive force bringing forth an updated conservatism that is similar but also different from Ronald Reagan's. Explore that a little bit further and deeper. So what would MAGA have to do to turn this populist instinct that would be more of a coherent governing philosophy rather than something that just gets out the vote? Yeah, I mean, for example, free trade. Ronald Reagan was a famous free trader. And the free trade paradigm, you know, reigned on both sides of the political party, largely because of Reagan's political genius. But what we've seen since the time of Reagan is the Rust Belt and, you know, thousands and millions of manufacturing jobs going abroad. And so the populist forces that gathered, you know, that Trump coalesced challenged what had been a principle of free trade in all sectors at all times. And what the populists were able to do was to challenge a conventional wisdom, you know, based on the realities of, you know, 2016, when Trump was first one. And so the challenge for the right, you know, as Trump enters the final two years of his presidency, is how do you put just being a populist force that opposes? And how do you become a conservative movement that then enacts kind of Trump's basic governing philosophy, which is, you know, essentially a kind of a new Reagan consensus. So instead of opposing a conventional wisdom, right, what populists under Trump have done is they've kind of become the conventional wisdom on the right. How do you enact these ideas, rather than just opposing ideas that you see no longer fit the current circumstances? Yeah, when you describe that they need to apply that policy into a bit more of a, you know, down to the street level policy in action, what might some of the hallmarks of that policy look like, in your view? Well, I think we see it with immigration, is that Reagan famously, you know, saw America as a beacon to the world. And I don't think that has changed for most conservatives. Conservatives still think of America as a beacon to the world. But what you had is an immigration system that was broken and out of control. And at the street level view, what it means is you're going to have, you know, you're going to have immigration enforcement. And at times it's going to be politically divisive. And what you're trying to do, what populists under Trump are trying to do, is look at the realities of the 2020s. I mean, thinking about K through 12 education, we have a school system that I think a lot of people understand are no longer kind of teaching the basics of math and reading, and have gotten probably too far down the path of trying to enact social justice. And at the street level view, this is about a conservative principle that tries to bring the, you know, K through 12 education back to basics. And so, you know, we're seeing this today with immigration. But I could imagine a conservative movement as we move, you know, into a post-Trump era, one in which they're trying to apply these ideas to the basic realities of just education, which millions of Americans are struggling with as they want to get their kids to get, you know, go to the best schools and have a great job. So you have to translate these kind of populist instincts into policies that answer the everyday realities of American voters. Yeah, I think you're right in that we seem to have gotten away from the everyday realities. And oftentimes they're using a phrase like common sense, which seems to apply here. I want to talk about some of the challenges that they have, though, economically. So how can the party implement broad industrial tariffs without getting the inflation that could come from that? And how do they also do that on the border enforcement side against, you know, potential labor market disruptions? You know, both of these things we're talking about kind of striking this balance to do what's best in the needle. I think anyone who pays attention to American immigration policy can understand that for a generation, illegal immigration had gotten out of control. I mean, at the same time, you know, you can't go to zero immigrants because, you know, the American economy absolutely depends upon immigrants coming in, providing, you know, lots of dynamic, cheap labor. And if you if you turn the immigration spigot to zero, that's just going to ratchet up labor costs and everybody's going to be paying more. And the same thing when it comes to reshoring. What you want to do is to is to turn the spigot down on trade. You want to make bring American industry back in the sectors where it makes sense. But if you if you go too far, too fast, you can ramp inflation up. And what you're going to do is voters are going to go to the ballot box and they're going to be mad that their dollar doesn't go as far. And so you have this is Republican or Democrat. You have political principles, you have policy aims, but you have to, you know, try to find that that golden mean where you are pursuing them robustly and vigorously, but you're also at the same time not causing, you know, lots of temporary harm. And this is hard stuff. And any politician is going to make some missteps. Yeah, you've articulated that challenge very well about striking that balance from where we are and potentially where we want to go. I want to then turn that same concept as we look at foreign policy. You know, Reagan's republicanism, of course, as you mentioned earlier, was really shaped by the Cold War and the Soviet Union and a strong commitment to American power abroad. So what replaces that framework in a world of China, economic competition, wars in Europe and all the challenges that we faced in the Middle East? Yeah, look, under Reagan, we've still lived in a post World War Two era where American intervention had had broad support on both sides of the political spectrum. And there was a very clear bow, meaning the Soviet Union and global communist advance. We live in a multipolar world in which, you know, American intervention at all times has has has blown up in America's face. I mean, think of the Iraq war just for an instance. And so you have to have a foreign policy that is, on the one hand, interventionist, but is also not, you know, a knee jerk interventionism at all times. And we saw this on both sides. You know, Democratic and Republican presidents were too interventionist at times. And that cost America strategically, it cost America in terms of blood and treasure. And so at its best, what Donald Trump's kind of foreign policy is, I think harkens back to a 19th century American foreign policy where it's Western Hemisphere first, and the United States will work with allies, but will oftentimes be much more unilateral than America had been in the early post-war era. And so, look, Trump is different from Reagan, but he operates in a different world. And in many ways, if you want to think about, you know, Trump's foreign policy, I think it fits a late 19th century American foreign policy that is more unilateralist, but also, you know, works with allies. But, you know, it's dealing with threats that Ronald Reagan just didn't. And so it's going to look different in its details. Well, you can definitely see the influence of Reagan there on that portrait that's always featured prominently in President Trump's White House. A dynamic discussion. Really appreciate it. Of course, November 3rd will reveal what's next to the MAGA movement. Professor Jeffrey Bloodworth, great to speak with you. Thanks. And coming up, a once-in-a-lifetime event taking over the streets of Washington, D.C. President Trump kicks off the start of the Freedom 250 Grand Prix for an energetic crowd. And a major change could be coming to law schools across America. We'll explain what's behind the Trump administration's push to change how they're accredited. An important message for Americans ages 50 to 85. Have you seen that life insurance thing I got in the mail? From Colonial Penn? Yeah, that's it. It's over there. The recycle bin. I sent for this. You're buying life insurance now? Have you been to the grocery store lately? The last thing we need is another bill. 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My dad wasn't around, and I remember riding a bike and falling off and cutting myself. And me never just wanting to get back on it. People ask, how your children learn how to ride a bike, and you did. I didn't teach them. I just created an environment where they taught themselves, and all I had to do was be there. Welcome back to NTD Evening News. I'm Kerry Dunst. A first-of-its-kind event to celebrate America's 250th birthday. President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump at the Freedom 250 Grand Prix. Excitement is in the air, as the nation's Capitol witnesses its first-ever IndyCar race. Just that everyone's safe. They have a good time. The track is wonderful. You know, we're going around the Capitol, but this turned out to be a better track. And so now we see the Capitol. You see it right behind you. And I want everyone to be safe, and I want the people to have a good time. Ahead of the race, President Trump and the First Lady, they took a ceremonial lap around the race circuit in their presidential motorcade. And the president waving the green flag to signal that the start of the race. Spectators filled the area a day earlier to witness the practice laps and share their excitement. Oh, this is awesome. It's so great to be at the 250. What an opportunity. This is the first time being anything like this before. This is amazing. Like, the atmosphere, seeing it up close, is a great experience. This is awesome. Like, I've never seen any sort of race, and this is, like, awesome. All the noise and all the cars going fast. Race car drivers have to complete 147 laps around the streets of D.C. They are passing by some of the city's, of course, most iconic buildings on Pennsylvania Avenue at the Washington Monument and Capitol Hill in the backdrop. The circuit is 1.7 miles per lap, making the total distance traveled exactly 250 miles. Some 200,000 spectators are expected at the Grand Prix, which is free, and it is open to the public. A major change could reshape how law schools in America operate. The Trump administration is moving to challenge the American Bar Association's power to accredit law schools. The Education Department says the ABA's accreditation arm may not be independent enough from the legal profession's persuasion, and the move could affect nearly 200 law schools, as well as the path to becoming a licensed lawyer. The Education Department is recommending that the ABA lose its federal authority to accredit law schools. The recommendation comes with a nearly 500-page report on Friday, which has been more than a year in the making. The White House and congressional Republicans have also accused the ABA of using its role in legal education to promote DEI policies. The department says the ABA's accreditation standards are out of compliance with federal rules. ABA approval has been the standard path to taking the bar exam in most states going all the way back to 1952. It allows law schools to participate in federal student aid programs, and the Education Department says that the decision isn't final and could take several months. The recommendation now goes to an independent advisory panel before reaching the Education Department's top leadership. The council says it's confident it will address any concerns that the department may have at that panel hearing. Hawaii facing another round of heavy rain and flooding. Tropical storm Moak is moving now toward the islands just days after Hurricane Lala caused widespread damage. Moak is expected to pass south of Hawaii, but that could still bring very dangerous conditions. Forecasters say the island could see up to 15 inches of rain. Maui could also get as much as six inches through Monday. Now the National Hurricane Center warns the rain could trigger life-threatening flooding and mudslides. The greatest risk is along the island's eastern slopes and mountainous areas. Those areas are still recovering from flooding caused by Hurricane Lala just last week. Lala dropped more than 30 inches of rain in parts of Hawaii. Unbelievable. The flooding destroyed roads and bridges and swept homes from their foundations. More than 8,000 people are still without power as of Saturday morning. Hawaii County Mayor is urging residents to prepare for more heavy rain and strong winds. Moak is expected to move west of the island chain by Tuesday. So everybody stay safe out there. Next, the Trump administration is vowing to impose the toughest sanctions in history on Iran. Treasury Secretary Scott Besson saying he will announce more details on Monday. Besson says he believes the scale of these sanctions would make a restart of military conflict less likely. In an interview with CNBC, the Treasury Secretary says that the new sanctions and the U.S. naval blockade could be enough to topple the Iranian regime, adding, quote, it is going to work in Iran and we are going to collapse this regime. He continued on to say it is time for our allies and the rest of the world to make a decision, end quote. The Iranian regime responded. They're calling the new measures, quote, repetitive. The regime also vowing to retaliate. An Iranian official says that the regime will treat any country that joins the U.S. in imposing sanctions as an enemy. He says Iran will strike those countries and target their interests. The threat of new U.S. sanctions comes as the Iranian currency is in freefall now against the U.S. dollar. For the first time ever, one dollar is worth a whopping two million real. This means the Iranian currency lost seven percent of its value in just the past week compared to a year ago. The real already lost half of its value against the U.S. dollar. And over the past week, some Iranian officials acknowledging that the country's economy is now vulnerable. A former ally of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky now challenging him over one of the most sensitive questions that's facing the country, whether Ukraine should hold elections while the war with Russia continues. Mikhail Fedorov, the former defense minister and the architect of Ukraine's very successful drone strategy, is now calling for a way to restore the democratic process. And that's a move that puts him at odds with the president. The man who, more than any, drove the development of drone technology to defend Ukraine against Russia's invasion has now targeted Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky directly. Former Defense Minister Mikhail Fedorov, a longtime ally to Zelensky and popular figure among young Ukrainians, dropped a political bombshell this week in demanding wartime elections in his country. It's the biggest internal challenge to Zelensky since Russia attacked the country four and a half years ago. In the face of Russia's ground and air assault, Fedorov made a public appeal to SpaceX owner Elon Musk to switch on his Starlink satellite Internet service for the country's defense. Musk promptly did. Ukraine's military now uses tens of thousands of Starlinks, with commanders describing it as the lifeblood of their battlefield communications. And early in the war, Fedorov advocated building, quote, an army of drones, becoming an early champion of a technology that would come to dominate the battlefield. As war raged, Ukraine's defense ministry was beset by corruption and mismanagement scandals. When Fedorov was appointed defense minister in January 2026, he pledged a data-driven overhaul of the vast department. He laid out a vision of a path to victory that involved inflicting 50,000 monthly casualties on Russia, neutering its aerial attacks and crippling its economy. But he did not deliver on promised proposals to reform the process of conscripting troops into the roughly million-person armed forces. And he clashed with military chief Oleksandr Sirsky, who favored a more infantry-driven style of fighting that critics said led to high troop losses. Fedorov was abruptly dismissed in July amid a broader government reshuffle. His firing prompted thousands of protesters to stream into the streets of Kyiv and other cities, demanding he be reappointed, and Sirsky dismissed. Zelensky subsequently replaced Sirsky, but did not bring Fedorov back. This week, Fedorov said it was time for the Ukrainian people to choose their leaders. We are facing a systemic government crisis, he said. The old system lives by its own rules too often. Russian President Vladimir Putin vowing to target Ukraine's most sensitive economic sectors after Ukrainian strikes hit Russian economic targets. In comments published yesterday, Putin says Kyiv has now opened, quote, Pandora's box. Now, a lot depends on our unity, on the courage of Russian soldiers and officers, on everyone who works conscientiously in their place to contribute to the victory. I am confident our soldiers will not let us down. During a speech at a party conference Saturday, Putin, making the claim that Ukrainian strikes on Russia are driven by what he calls a deteriorating situation for Kyiv on the front line. Ukraine has escalated its campaign of drone strikes this summer targeting Russian economic infrastructure, which includes oil refineries and online retailer warehouses. Russia responded with strikes, including against Ukrainian grain exports via the Black Sea. The Russian leader also restated his public position that Moscow is open to peace talks, but only on the basis of, quote, the realities on the ground. He dismissed proposals by Ukraine via intermediaries as, quote, exotic. Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky is meeting with a bipartisan U.S. Senate delegation today in Kyiv. Zelensky thanking the U.S. for its continued support and hoping that Congress will pass Senator Lindsey Graham's sanctions bill, placing new sanctions on both Russia and on Iran. And if you've ever turned to AI for relationship advice or companionship, you are not alone. But new research raises a question. Could AI actually make us less connected? Ahead, we ask a relationship expert where AI fits into our most human connections. I got this. You've done the hard part. You quit smoking. Now do the easy part and get scanned for lung cancer. If you smoked, you may still be at risk. But early detection could save your life. Talk to your doctor and learn more at Saved by the Scan.org. We said we'd never break the three second rule. Never do that and never become a minivan mom. As parents, we say never a lot, but never happens. 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If you smoked, you may still be at risk, but early detection could save your life. Talk to your doctor and learn more at SavedByTheScan.org. We said we'd never break the three. My graduation was. We said we'd never break the three-second rule. Never. Welcome back to Antity Evening News. Glad you're here. AI has increasingly become part of our most personal conversations. People are turning to chatbots not only for information and entertainment, but for emotional support, friendship, even simulated romantic relationships. Joining us now is founder and president of Communio JP DeGance. He's also a marriage and relationship expert. Help us understand what AI companionship may mean for intimacy, connection, and the way that we relate to one another. Thanks for joining us so much. Really appreciate your insights here. Let's start with the big picture. Why are people increasingly turning to AI for emotional support or even companionship? We've been under an epidemic of loneliness for the last about 20 years now, 18 years since the first Surgeon General Advisory. Fundamentally, that's driven by the decline of intact families. Marriages are just a lot less likely to exist. What people are turning to is the companionship oftentimes of artificial intelligence. There's some new research out of Stanford that shows those who are seeking companionship and disclosing real personal information to their AI have a much greater sense of having lower well-being, less happiness. A separate study done by the Institute for Family Studies showed that one out of seven, okay, so 15% of those young adults between the age of 21 and 29 were either currently dating, engaged, or married, are actually also using AI for romantic relationships, okay, in addition to their in real life relationship. And another 20% to 30% say that they've at least experimented with these kinds of relationships. It's bad news if we're concerned about future happiness, right, and this kind of behavior leads to lower well-being outcomes and lower levels of happiness. Yeah, what you're describing almost connotes some of these dystopian films that have come out over the last 10 or 20 years now. But for someone who has had a stressful week, maybe they feel lonely or they simply need someone to talk to, some feedback, can AI, you know, provide any benefit in that regard, or at least in the short term, or is that a slippery slope? Yeah, you know, the Stanford researchers called it junk food, a social snack, okay, and like a lot of junk food, it may fill you up for a bit, but it's generally unhealthy for you, right, and a big thing we have to get folks to is into in real life relationship, right. When we talk to churches and pastors, we emphasize the need to build the types of community that exists outside of regular worship, folks finding young adult groups, young professionals associations, sports, right, adult sports, okay. These kinds of opportunities to engage in real life, really important for our flourishing, for our well-being, okay. AI is really powerful, it's a great tool, we use it at Communio, okay, but it has its role and its place, and we should not humanize it and allow it to replace or think that it's replacing real life relationships. For instance, when you share personal information to an AI, it's normal in a human relationship to reciprocate, right, to share your own deeper feelings and concerns, and AI doesn't have any of these feelings, right, so you can't, there isn't the reciprocity that a normal human relationship would bring. That's one of the big things that we want to make sure folks understand as they think about this junk food, so to speak, from a social perspective. Yeah, as you mentioned this sort of emotional junk or fast food, does that non-reciprocation then have consequences with navigating real human dynamics such as patience or some of these other things that you'd expect in a normal sort of human relationship? Yeah, look, AI will feed back to you what it thinks you want to hear, okay, so there's, an AI bot is far more likely to mirror your tone, mirror, and keep you engaged in conversation. The AI is designed to keep you there dialoguing with it, right, and that's just not how real people behave, right, and we've got, you know, we've got these, as you've gone through another tech, this is yet another tech revolution, right, we had the smartphone revolution, and you've got a tremendous amount of young men and young women that are constantly glued to either social media, video games, and what have you, so this is, you know, another possible area, at least in social media, there may be real, you know, oftentimes real people engaging in conversation with you on a platform. That is not really what's happening here, so, and I think it's important for us not to seek the easy fix here, right, at the end of the day, where we are, from a dystopian perspective, from a loneliness perspective, the loneliest people in America are not the elderly and not widows, okay, it's 30-year-olds, in our research, it's 30-year-olds who are unmarried, okay, those are the loneliest people, and they are loneliest, lonelier than the group of widows, right, the loneliest group there is widows and widowers in their 50s, they, as a cohort, unmarried 30-year-olds are more likely to be lonely than even that, than that cohort, so taking the steps to touch grass, go out, you know, church is still probably the most easily accessible place where you can meet people in real life, certainly there's other venues like, like I mentioned, things like sports, dance lessons, you know, fitness clubs, you know, get out in real life, engage in conversation, see and be seen, is the lingo being used frequently on college campuses now, sabzing, right, see and be seen, put yourself out in real life and be open to conversation, that's a huge thing that we need to do and encourage our kids and young people, you know, it starts at a young age where we're getting glued to these devices, COVID did not help, made it far worse, and we need to take these concerns seriously. Absolutely, and let's take a microscope to couples, now if someone starts telling an AI things that they aren't telling their spouse or partner, problems at home, frustrations, even intimate details, when does that become a relationship issue in a marriage? Look, I think it's incredibly symptomatic of a trend or a problem in relationships, right, you need, you know, from a relationship perspective, we need to reconnect with our loved one or spouse each day, we call it, you know, a couple's huddle is sometimes how it's called, 10 minutes, set the device down, set the electronics down, okay, don't just talk about the budget, don't just talk about what's going on, share what you appreciate in your spouse, right, start there, what's one thing over the last day, over the last week that your wife, your husband has done that you really appreciate, and getting into the habit of sharing that, share new information, what happened over the last 24 hours, 48 hours that your spouse doesn't know about, right, and disclose that, find when you have something that you want your spouse to change, you know, you have a complaint, something that you're concerned about, share it clearly, set expectations clearly, provide a path for your spouse to fix it, and then, you know, the data is overwhelming on this, if you can pray as a couple, okay, much better outcomes, much more likely to forgive, be able to forgive, remain committed, take a moment and say, you know, what can I pray for you about, right, today, so those are, you know, stopping to do that is incredibly important, the AI, to your question, is to the extent that it acts as a quick fix to replace that, it's dangerous, dangerous for the health of your relationship, for the health of your marriage over an ongoing period of time. Well, that's powerful warnings, as well as powerful advice, JP DeGance, thank you so much for joining us this evening. Great to be with you, thank you so much. And the Stanford researchers say potential safeguards could include usage limits and directing users toward human support when conversations indicate a need, and of course, JP gave us even more powerful advice than that, going much level, praying with your spouse, nothing could beat that. Next, we move on, Falun Gong practitioners take to the streets of New York City today, celebrating their spiritual practice, while also calling attention to a decades-long persecution against Falun Gong in China. NDD's Niku Bani brings us more from the parade. Here in Brooklyn, New York City, the colors and the music may be what catches your eye, but for the practitioners marching down 8th Avenue behind me, there's a much deeper message, as they say this is a way to raise awareness of a persecution that's happening in China. Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a traditional Chinese spiritual practice, rooted in truthfulness, compassion, and forbearance. Falun Gong spread widely in China in the early 90s, and by 1999, an estimated 100 million people were practicing. The Chinese Communist Party, viewing the practice's popularity as a threat to its power, launched a brutal persecution to eradicate it. Now, practitioners march in parades all over the world to spread the word. Leading the parade is the New York Tianguo Marching Band, founded in 2005 and made up entirely of Falun Gong practitioners. The volunteer musicians say their mission is to share the beauty of the practice through music. I started doing this particular Brooklyn parade about six years ago. I think it's important for people to see that we are still here. For those who have fled the CCP's persecution, the message is extremely personal, and that impact doesn't stop at China's borders. There are still people being persecuted in China, so I just want to call for them, shout loud for them, and hope this could give the pressure to China and stop the persecution in China. They also export that persecution to Western countries like the United States, where they're going after Falun Gong practitioners, demographics activists, all those kind of people on foreign shores as well. So it does affect Americans, and they shouldn't stand for it. As spectators line the streets to watch, practitioners say they hope one message sticks with them. Falun Gong is good. Nikubani, NTD News, New York. Coming up, this year's U.S. Open Tennis is already underway with the qualifying tournament starting tomorrow. This year boasts the biggest prize money portfolio in Grand Slam tennis. More on that after the break. Imagine a coffee that cares for your health. Expertly fermented with a 50-enzyme complex to enhance flavor and remove bitterness. 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That's up 27% on last year and above any other competition for this level. Men's, women's, and mixed doubles winners will split a $1 million purse. While men and women's singles champions, they take home $5.5 million. Now, the U.S. Open qualifying tournament begins tomorrow. 128 men, 128 women. They will compete, hoping to end up in the final 16. Men and 16 women, then they may get to the 2026 singles draw. Now, former ATP pro Patrick McEnroe picking his favorite for the men's singles champion as American player Ben Shelton. He told the New York Post, quote, if there ever was an opportunity for Big Ben to put it all together, this would be this spot. This would be the place. And we're wishing Big Ben a lot of luck. It has been a while since an American has been able to take home on the men's side. We'll see if he can do it. And that is all for today's news. But for around the clock coverage, you can visit us at Entity.com. You can also use our Entity app. Thanks for tuning in. I'm Cary Dunst. Good night.