Ted Cruz called JD Vance “insecure” after the vice president said it was “really obvious” that the Texas senator is positioning himself for a presidential campaign.

Cruz said his attention remains on the midterm elections after Vance made the remarks during an NBC interview on Thursday.

“In my experience, people engage in political bomb-throwing when they’re feeling insecure,” Cruz told Politico.

“So he’s welcome to make whatever comments he likes. I’m going to keep focusing on the midterms and helping us win on Election Day in the next 30 days.”

Vance’s comments followed Cruz’s suggestion earlier this year that the Republican Party has yet to decide whether to support the vice president as its nominee for president in 2028.

Cruz also told Politico that Vance, rather than himself, appeared distracted and concerned. He noted that no Republican had campaigned for more candidates than he had over the past decade, adding that “this year will be no exception.”

The Texas senator cited more than a dozen candidates he has successfully supported during his time in the Senate, including Vance.

“Indeed, ironically, I spent a full day on the road with JD Vance, campaigning with him when he was running for Senate in Ohio [in 2022],” Cruz said.

“I was very glad he won that race. I was very glad to help him.”

The Daily Mail has contacted Vice President Vance’s office for comment.

The latest clash between Cruz and Vance emerged when reporters asked the vice president Thursday about the upcoming midterms and whether the GOP’s election results would influence his decision to launch a presidential campaign.

“Regardless of what happens over the next 35 days, there will be new information, new things you have to make a decision over,” Vance replied.

Vance has not formally announced a campaign and has remained guarded about his political plans. Instead, he brushed aside the question by saying: “The American people make that decision.”

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The vice president then turned his attention to criticizing his former Senate colleague, Cruz.

“It is really obvious to me that, at this very moment, Ted Cruz is running for president,” Vance told NBC News.

“At this moment, I’m not. I’m trying to help elect Republicans. That’s what I’m going to keep on doing.”

Cruz said in August that neither he nor the Republican Party had rallied behind Vance as the GOP’s 2028 presidential candidate, arguing that the discussion remains open.

‘Oh, no. There’s going to be a full discussion about who we are and what we believe,’ Cruz said. ‘I’ll certainly be part of the discussion.’

The Texan accused Vance of being an acolyte of Tucker Carlson, the podcaster and former Fox News host, according to Axios. 

Cruz and Carlson have clashed and traded insults, particularly over the Texan’s strong support of Israel.

Vance and Cruz were Senate colleagues long before Vance’s nomination to become Trump’s running mate. 

Cruz was Trump’s most formidable GOP challenger in the 2016 campaign, and he was the last to drop out after Trump received 45 percent of the Republican backing while the Texan received just 25 percent. 

While Cruz is not on the ballot this year – his term runs through 2030 – he has been campaigning in swing states, including Iowa and South Carolina, both early presidential primary states, to fundraise for the GOP ahead of this year’s elections. 

The Texas senator’s presidential ambitions are seen as a long shot. 

Vance currently has a 45 percent chance of becoming the GOP’s 2028 presidential nominee, according to the prediction market Kalshi. 

Cruz, meanwhile, has just a two percent chance. 

After noticing an unusual change in her breast, Jessica Lee Pearce sought medical advice and was initially told there was no need to be concerned.

More than a year later, the Melbourne nursing assistant was diagnosed with breast cancer. Before that diagnosis, she had noticed thickening and a visible change in one breast.

Jessica arranged a breast screening appointment and underwent an ultrasound, mammograms and additional scans. However, doctors said the findings were inconclusive.

Because Jessica had dense breast tissue and had previously undergone breast implant surgery, she was reassured that nothing sinister had been detected and continued with her everyday life.

That changed when she was 33 and discovered a lump while showering.

‘I knew straight away,’ Jessica, now 36, told the Daily Mail.

Finding the lump was especially alarming because breast cancer was already a familiar fear for Jessica, rather than a remote possibility.

Her grandmother had received a breast cancer diagnosis at only 29. One of Jessica’s closest friends was also diagnosed with stage three breast cancer in her early 30s while breastfeeding twins.

Those experiences had made Jessica particularly attentive to her breast health, so she returned to her GP after finding the lump. Her doctor was able to feel it too and referred her for further investigations.

Within weeks, Jessica learned that she had stage two hormone-positive, HER2-negative breast cancer.

Genetic testing delivered another devastating revelation: Jessica carried a BRCA2 gene mutation that had been passed unknowingly through her family.

Her treatment involved a double mastectomy, four rounds of chemotherapy, 25 radiation sessions and several years of hormone therapy. The treatment also brought on menopause in her early 30s.

Nearly three years on, Jessica has moved beyond the most intensive stages of treatment, but says the impact of cancer continues to affect almost every area of her life.

‘I’m exhausted, I’m in pain, I’m trying to work. It’s not a nice feeling, life after cancer,’ she said.

‘You just kind of feel like you’re stripped of everything, and you’ve got to build yourself back up.’

A lump appeared 13 months after an inconclusive breast screen 

Jessica’s concerns about her own breast health began more than 12 months before she was eventually diagnosed.

A close friend from high school had developed stage three breast cancer in her early 30s while caring for four children, including one-year-old twins.

Seeing her friend endure cancer treatment prompted Jessica to pay closer attention to her own body and become more vigilant about checking her breasts.

‘There was that bit of relief because it was only a bit of thickening – but I still had no idea what else I was feeling,’ she said.

She also remembers encountering comments about her age while seeking breast checks.

‘When I was going in to see the radiologist, they said, “Oh, you’re too young to be checking”. It made me feel a bit silly,’ she said.

‘I struggled to say the word cancer’

Over a year later, Jessica almost attended the appointment that would change her life alone.

She had already been investigated once, and when her husband Adam received a last-minute medical appointment, she told him to go. One of her friends accompanied her instead. When Jessica was told she had breast cancer, she broke down. 

‘We got in the car and I thought, “What is going on?” Then we made some phone calls, and I struggled to say the word cancer,’ she said.

Her friend helped tell Jessica’s family and Adam.

‘You just go through all these emotions, it’s very surreal, and you think that this surely couldn’t be your life,’ she said.

Further testing established that Jessica had stage two, hormone-positive, HER2-negative breast cancer. A sentinel node biopsy found no cancer there, but another biopsy detected cancer in her right areola.

Then genetic testing revealed Jessica carried a BRCA2 gene mutation, a result that would influence her treatment and expose a previously unknown pattern within her family.

The BRCA2 result changed her treatment – and her family’s future 

Jessica’s grandmother had developed breast cancer at 29, while an aunt had also experienced the disease when she was young. An uncle died from pancreatic cancer at 45, but genetic testing had not been done at the time.

Until Jessica received her result, the family hadn’t known they carried a BRCA2 mutation.

Since then, her father, one of her brothers and one of her cousins have also learnt they carry it, while other relatives have either tested negative, are awaiting testing or have not yet been screened.

‘I have been the first to open up this big can of worms,’ Jessica said.

The result also helped determine Jessica’s next step. Doctors had been waiting to learn whether she carried the mutation before deciding between a single and double mastectomy.

Jessica underwent a double mastectomy with immediate reconstruction. But before treatment progressed, she made another decision about her future.

Jessica and Adam already had three boys between them and hadn’t planned to have another child together. Even so, facing cancer made Jessica suddenly conscious of losing the choice. Before treatment put her into menopause, she froze four eggs.

The mum initially thought she could donate the eggs if she never used them herself, but discovering her BRCA2 mutation complicated those plans.

Unable to accept simply discarding them, she donated the eggs to the MitoHOPE research program, where they could contribute to research into mitochondrial disease.

‘I can’t have them go into the bin,’ she recalled thinking.

The decision reflected something Jessica would repeatedly try to do during treatment: reclaim some control over what happened to her and, where possible, use it to help someone else.

Knowing she would struggle to watch her long hair gradually fall out, she decided to shave it the day before treatment began. Her partner, son, stepsons and other family members joined her in solidarity. Jessica donated her hair to Wigs for Kids.

After completing chemotherapy, she went on to have 25 radiation sessions.

Throughout it all, she and Adam were also trying to help their children understand what was happening. 

Her nine-year-old asked if she was going to die 

Jessica and Adam waited until they knew more about her diagnosis before sitting down with the boys, who were seven, nine, and 10 at the time.

‘I just found out I’ve got a lump that they’ve got to investigate. It is breast cancer. I know that word might sound scary,’ she recalled telling them.

Jessica became emotional and Adam helped her through the conversation.

Her son immediately asked whether she was going to die. When Jessica reassured him she wasn’t, he appeared to accept the answer and went off to play cards with his younger stepbrother.

It wasn’t until the following day that the reality seemed to sink in.

‘Yeah, Mum, you told me you have breast cancer,’ he said when Jessica reminded him of their conversation.

‘Wait a minute.’

He ran down the hallway crying, and Jessica followed him and held him.

Jessica and Adam decided to keep the boys involved rather than leave them to make sense of the changes on their own. They helped with her fertility injections, visited her in hospital, and later joined her at Breast Cancer Network Australia events.

Treatment ended, but the effects have continued 

Nearly three years on, Jessica’s life remains shaped by what happened.

She has since had her ovaries and fallopian tubes removed because of the risk associated with her BRCA2 mutation and continues to take hormone therapy.

The treatment has left her dealing with fatigue, brain fog, aches and pains, as well as the physical and emotional effects of entering menopause at a young age.

She has also developed osteopenia in her lumbar spine and left hip. The day before speaking about her experience, she underwent an MRI because of persistent back pain.

Although the most intensive stages of treatment are behind her, the appointments, checks and fear that something else could be wrong have continued.

‘I don’t feel like myself,’ she said.

‘I love to make jokes, and I always will, and I’ll always put a light on it. I have a bit of dark humour as my way of coping.

‘But I know right now that I’m not the best mum or the best partner. I’m exhausted, I’m in pain, I’m trying to work.’

At the same time, Jessica has pushed herself to finish her nursing degree.

‘I have all these appointments still, and checks and scares, and you can’t help but have it in your mind, and going through menopause and everything at such a young age,’ she said.

‘I’m 36, and I’m osteopenic in my lumbar and my left hip, and finishing my nursing degree, and then trying to have the strength to do that because I don’t want that to go to waste either.’

Using her experience to spread awareness

During chemotherapy, Jessica became involved with Breast Cancer Network Australia and was selected as one of the Pink Ladies for the 2024 Pink Lady Match at the MCG.

She has since become a community ambassador, using her experience to support others affected by breast cancer and describing it as turning her ‘pain for purpose and power for others’. 

Jessica often reflects on the 13 months between her first breast screen and finding the lump in the shower. 

‘I was lucky enough to find it when it hadn’t spread. It was early breast cancer, stage two, but it definitely makes you think that within those 13 months, if it had been any longer and I didn’t feel that lump, what may have been,’ she said.

After years of surgery, treatment and learning to live in a body that still doesn’t feel entirely like her own, Jessica wants other people to become familiar with theirs.

‘Know yourself, feel yourself, get to know your normal,’ Jessica said.

‘Everybody can be lumpy and bumpy at different stages, but it can be such a taboo thing as well, feeling your breasts, or having it out there, or talking about it.

‘The more that we’re open about it and the more that we can express ourselves with it, the chances of women and even men catching it early, rather than when it’s much later on.’

Breast Cancer Network Australia helps ensure that all Australians who are affected by breast cancer receive the very best care, treatment and support.

Together with Tetley, BCNA has launched a new national initiative called The Uncomfortable Cup to encourage Australians to have difficult but necessary conversations about breast cancer.

Tetley is raising funds to support the BCNA through a limited-edition pink pack of Tetley Tea Cup 100s. Five cents for every pack sold will be donated to BCNA. Learn more and donate at www.tetley.com.au/theuncomfortablecup/

In Nashville, widely known as the South’s influencer capital, a new breed of entrepreneur is turning discarded possessions into six-figure incomes—by searching through dumpsters and reselling what others leave behind.

For 31-year-old Nashville resident Carter Stevens, the unlikely business has been life-changing. In just two years, dumpster diving helped him move from homelessness and overwhelming debt to earning a six-figure income.

Behind the Tennessee capital’s polished high-rise apartment buildings, Stevens searches massive steel dumpsters for designer apparel, costly furniture, electronics and other unwanted goods that can be sold online.

His discoveries have included a Gucci handbag, BAPE sneakers, a Louis Vuitton shirt and a 65-inch television—items their previous owners apparently decided were no longer worth keeping.

During one recent outing, Stevens found dresses draped over a dumpster alongside a marble table and the large television.

A warning sticker urged people to “Keep Off!” But Stevens climbed onto the container anyway, first checking the haul for bugs—one of the few problems that can bring his scavenging operation to an immediate halt.

Stevens hates insects and is allergic to cats, but the potential payday lurking among the garbage has proved too tempting to ignore. He has documented some of his lucrative finds on TikTok.

His unusual business is powered by the sheer volume of goods Americans purchase, use briefly and ultimately throw away.

In Nashville, where aspiring musicians, creators and social media influencers arrive seeking fame, opportunity and a fresh start, those castoffs can be especially valuable.

Some of Stevens’ finds remain sealed in their original packaging. Others are the same fashionable products promoted by influencers across TikTok.

One white Simply Southern dress he recovered still carried its original $59.99 price tag.

Stevens summed up the kinds of products he typically uncovers in comments to the Washington Post: “all the stuff we use to fill the void.”

As the son of successful music producer Chris Stevens, he grew up surrounded by wealth and developed a taste for luxury early in life, particularly flashy shoes, designer clothing and expensive cars.

After leaving college, he built a business selling vintage clothing near Nashville’s Vanderbilt University. At one point, country star Kacey Musgraves was among the shoppers browsing his racks.

“I made it,” he recalled thinking. But rather than putting money aside, Stevens spent heavily. “I screwed myself,” he later admitted.

He struggled with drugs, including Adderall, and went to rehab for a week in 2021. Yet afterwards he remained addicted to buying things.

Stevens splashed out $1,200 on Christian Dior Birkenstocks, $10,000 on a camping van and drove a Mercedes-AMG that cost an eye-watering $3,100 a month with insurance.

‘I just woke up itching for stuff,’ he said.

At its worst, his monthly spending topped $15,000.

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When his vintage business declined, the lifestyle collapsed with it.

Stevens slept inside his storage unit until he was warned he could be thrown out. He stayed with his parents before spending three weeks living inside a Nissan Sentra.

Eventually, a cousin loaned him enough money to secure an apartment.

Then came the discovery that would change everything.

Leaving a Goodwill store last November, Stevens noticed workers dumping dozens of office chairs outside a nearby warehouse.

He discovered they were Steelcase chairs – expensive pieces selling for hundreds of dollars apiece online. Stevens returned with a trailer and collected 190 of them.

Suddenly, trash was a business. Within six weeks, he had sold all but 40 to liquidators and pocketed about $17,000 in profit – enough to clear his credit-card debt and repay his cousin.

Stevens began searching warehouses, hotels, apartment complexes and shopping centers. 

He also launched a junk-removal operation, collecting couches, standing desks, lamps and even iPads.

After just six weeks, his eBay sales reached $30,000.

Not everyone was happy. On one occasion, a security guard allegedly confronted him with a gun drawn.

But Stevens insisted to his concerned parents: ‘I’m providing a service.’

His father Chris, a five-time Grammy winner who has written songs for stars including Kenny Chesney and Carrie Underwood, admitted the unusual career could be frightening.

His son could encounter needles, dangerous chemicals, armed security guards or accusations of trespassing. But Chris also understood the value of hard work.

‘I don’t ever want to rob you of the feeling of working your way to success,’ he had told his children.

Now Stevens is trying to turn his extraordinary recovery into something bigger.

Dumpster diving is physically exhausting and he fears the lucrative finds will eventually dry up. 

With thousands of dollars saved, he has begun studying real estate wholesaling through YouTube, TikTok and Reddit.

‘This is going to take a lot more work,’ he told The Post.

For a man who once chased the dopamine rush of buying expensive items, he now says he can find pleasure in something that costs absolutely nothing. 

He says his new rule is that he will now only buy something if he believes he can eventually sell it for more.

Selma Blair says the professional fallout from an anti-Islam remark she made two years ago effectively wiped out her Hollywood career.

The 54-year-old actress discussed the controversy during a speech Thursday at the Anti-Defamation League’s State of the Arts event, held at The Jewish Museum, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The dispute began in February 2024, during the Israel-Hamas war, when the Cruel Intentions star responded to a video posted by Abraham Hamra, a Syrian Jewish refugee.

In the comment, Blair called for the deportation of people she accused of supporting terrorism and made sweeping, inflammatory claims about Islam and Muslim countries. She concluded by writing, “May they meet their fate.”

After removing the post, Blair separated from her representatives at CAA and also lost members of her publicity team.

Speaking to the audience this week, Blair said she understands “what erased feels like” and described the personal and professional damage the backlash caused, including its effect on her family.

“The brands I worked with were gone within a day,” she recalled. “Several partnerships I had spent years developing were suddenly shelved.”

She said the losses extended across nearly every part of her professional life: “My agency was gone. My lawyer was gone. My publicist was gone. My book agent was gone. My book publicist was gone. My social media manager was gone. My son’s godmother was gone — my best friend.”

Blair added that most of her industry friends distanced themselves as well, with only a few people continuing to stand by her.

“And of course, my manager, my supposed friend of 30 years, and a Jew, was gone too,” she said. “I still don’t know what any of them were thinking. No one returned my calls.”

Reflecting on the original statement, Blair acknowledged that it offended people and said she apologized immediately.

“There were no conditions and no fine print,” she said. “I meant it then and I mean it now, and I’m leaving the comment there, because the comment was not the story.”

The intense reaction left Blair frightened at the time, and she said that fear also affected her son, Arthur, who is now 15.

“He’s a teenager now. He’s supposed to be embarrassed by me, not frightened for me,” Blair said. “Careers come back. Years of his childhood do not.”

Two years after the controversy, Blair emphasized that she is not seeking sympathy. She said, however, that she is working again.

‘I have a team now I’d walk through fire with. It’s small, and it is my team. I want you to know that before I tell you the part that isn’t better. It left a mark.’ 

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Daily Mail has reached out to a rep of Blair for comment, but has yet to hear back. 

After Blair left the since-deleted comment on Hamra’s video in February 2024, the comment was condemned by Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights organization.

The actress soon issued an apology and wrote that she ‘mistakenly and inadvertently conflated Muslims with Radical Islamists and fundamentalists, a terrible err in my words, and resulted in hurting countless people I never meant to, and I deeply regret this.’

The star added that she recognized ‘how I contributed to the Muslim community being understandably very upset. I respect and love all peace-loving communities, all over the world.

‘It was my Muslim friends who helped educate and show me the way. I am committed to paying forward their love and understanding. We cannot allow ignorance and rage to become our downfall.’ 

In conclusion, Blair said that she is ‘dedicated to tolerance and peace for all who want it – not hate’ and would ‘do better.’ 

Following the apology, it was revealed that the Hollywood star had parted ways with her agents at CAA and her publicity team. 

Her partnership with the Narrative publicity team had also come to an end at the time. Changes to her management and legal representation had also been made. 

Blair now has a number of projects under her belt, including an upcoming episode of Criminal Minds. 

The actress also recently starred in the Israel-Hamas war drama film Stay Forte. 

The premise is: ‘Three Israeli hostages – Shamiriz, Chai, and Tallaka – escaped their Gaza captors but were killed while trying to reach Israel, after being taken from their homes and held in terror tunnels,’ per IMDB.

The film was released in theaters in the U.S. in March.  

Blair also announced a new documentary about antisemitism titled Hineni during her appearance at Thursday’s event. 

Blair previously announced her diagnosis with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) in 2018, but has since shared that she is currently ‘relapse-free.’ 

During an interview with New Beauty in January, she offered a positive update on her health battle.

‘I’m relapse-free. I found the right treatment for me, finally. It took many years and a lot of false starts. But I didn’t give up.’

She expressed that she was able to ‘find the right doctor’ while sharing she is still in the process of ‘healing.’