Multiple NFL players were fined this week for what the league called a celebration made “in poor taste.”

Unfortunately for the NFL, the moments that transpired afterward made it incredibly easy to mock the league’s front office as hypocritical.

‘An offensive demonstration and could reasonably be construed as being in poor taste.’

The players in question included San Francisco 49ers fullback Kyle Juszczyk, who, after catching a pass for a touchdown in the third quarter against the Miami Dolphins on Sunday, performed a celebration that made it look like he was chugging a beverage.

The NFL took issue with that, fining him $14,926 and telling the player his “imitation of chugging a beer constituted an offensive demonstration and could reasonably be construed as being in poor taste.”

As ESPN reporter Adam Schefter reported, not only did Juszczyk immediately appeal the fine, the fullback’s nickname is “Juice,” meaning it is arguable that he could have been imitating drinking a glass of juice.

To make matters worse, fans and reporters alike immediately pointed out the number of prominent beer ads and sponsorships associated with the NFL, including Bud Light under its Anheuser-Busch partnership that runs through 2027.

While some online critics artificially placed a Bud Light ad right after Juszczyk’s touchdown, it’s not far from what actually happened.

According to the Athletic’s 49ers reporter Matt Barrows, not only did a Michelob Ultra beer commercial air in the ad block right after Juszczyk scored, so did a FanDuel gambling ad that featured beer drinking. Michelob is under Anheuser-Busch while FanDuel is also an NFL sponsor.

RELATED: Peyton Manning’s nephew learns what the liberal media is all about — and it may change him forever

Indianapolis Colts guard Matt Goncalves was also fined $8,847 for a similar “offensive demonstration” that was labeled “chugging a beer.”

Backlash from journalists and athletes alike was swift but focused on “Juice” in particular.

Former NFL player and three-time defensive player of the year J.J. Watt asked the most obvious question: “Could it not be ‘reasonably construed’ that he is drinking … stay with me here … Juice?”

George Kittle, 49ers tight end, posted a picture of his teammate holding a can of Bud Light and joked, “He can’t be stopped!! This is before practice! Are you kidding me?”

Sportscaster Linda Cohn called the NFL’s punishment “HEAD SHAKING HYPOCRISY,” while Fox analyst Jason McIntyre asked, “The NFL can have beer as a sponsor, but a fullback can’t do a celebration pretending to chug a beer?”

RELATED: MAGA-haters say ‘Trump curse’ hit Jaxson Dart with reportedly season-ending injury

Scott Winters/Icon Sportswire/Getty Images

According to reporter Schefter, in addition to his appeal, Juszczyk also texted that he has done the celebration before without being fined, adding, “And I don’t even drink beer!”

Juszczyk also took to wife Kristin’s TikTok account to partake in a video of him squeezing oranges into a glass with the caption, “$14,926 glass of juice.”

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​Nfl, Football, Beer, Anheuser-busch, Michelob, Sports 

The U.S. Supreme Court says in a split decision Friday that the Trump administration can follow through with a new way of cross-checking voter eligibility.

All of the liberal justices dissented against the ruling that temporarily allows states to check voters’ citizenship status while the case continues.

‘We will be doing everything in our power to protect Americans’ voting and privacy rights by ensuring that the district court decision stands.’

States can use the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements system organized by the Department of Homeland Security and check voter eligibility.

Opponents of the SAVE program claim that lawful voters will be wrongly declared ineligible to vote.

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson made the argument in a scathing dissent that was joined by Justices Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor.

“The Court focuses only on the harms the Government will purportedly suffer absent a stay, disregarding the harms that the modified SAVE system has caused, and will likely continue to cause, to lawful voters,” she wrote.

“The harm caused by burdening or disenfranchising even a few lawful voters outweighs the nonexistent harm that the Government experiences when it is prevented from taking an action that it likely lacks the authority to take,” Jackson added.

The Supreme Court order stayed a federal judge ruling from June that blocked the expanded SAVE system, determining doing so violated Americans’ privacy rights.

The DHS General Counsel James Percival reacted to the ruling on social media.

“Yes, you read that right. We had to file an emergency petition in the Supreme Court just so we could use government data to help states stop noncitizens from illegally voting,” he wrote.

RELATED: 3 people arrested for alleged election FRAUD ring targeting homeless people in LA, FBI says

The plaintiffs in the case, which included the League of Women Voters, said the effort was not over and that they would continue to challenge the SAVE system.

“This case is not over,” the group said in a statement. “The D.C. district court ruled that the expanded SAVE program violated multiple laws. We will be doing everything in our power to protect Americans’ voting and privacy rights by ensuring that the district court decision stands.”

Jackson also warned that the states could use the SAVE system to “cancel the voter registrations of at least some recently naturalized citizens.”

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​Trump administration, Us supreme court, Election fraud, Ketanji brown jackson, Politics 

Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) railed against the “mental illness” of “transgenderism” and “furries” for nearly 20 minutes on the floor of the Senate Wednesday, but you’d never know it by reading the news headlines.

Instead, leftist media focused on one line from Tuberville’s speech. Tuberville, now running for governor of Alabama, claimed that an unnamed furry group “touts … many airline pilots, flight attendants, and air traffic controllers” among its members.

‘There is an ALARMING number of these DERANGED people working in our airline industry.’

“Lord, help us. It’s terrifying when you think about this. When you walk onto a commercial flight, it’s possible that the pilot flying your plane could have a deranged fetish of dressing up like an animal. You can’t make this up,” he added.

A Rolling Stone headline about the speech read, “GOP Senator Ahead of Midterms: Furry Airline Pilots Are ‘Terrifying,'” while the headline from AL.com quoted a response from Tuberville’s Democratic opponent: “Doug Jones: Tuberville’s furry pilot Senate floor speech is ‘the strangest I have ever heard.'”

Strange though it may be, Tuberville was not wrong.

The Air Line Furries Association claims on its website that “many members of the furry community work[] in all aspects of aviation, including pilots, FAs, mechanics, ATC, CSAs, schedulers, dispatch, IT, and more.”

Mallory Jaspers, the communications director for Tuberville’s gubernatorial campaign, seemed to confirm that ALFA is the group Tuberville had in mind, noting in an email to Blaze News, “The Airline Furries Association International, while not affiliated with any airline and not an official union, is an online hub for people who work in the airline industry and are furries.”

RELATED: Groomed for violence? The dark world of furries and transgenderism in America’s classrooms

Andy Soloman/UCG/Universal Images Group/Getty Images

Furries have seemingly infiltrated almost every industry and hobby group. The annual Furry Migration convention, held two weeks ago in Minneapolis, offered breakout sessions for K-pop music, live streamers, songwriting, and of course, aviation.

Shawn McHenry, a “Minnesota Furs Staff & Convention Conchair” who refers to himself as “Rico Raccoon” in his email signature, told Blaze News that he personally knows “that there’s all sorts of other aviation professionals in the space,” such as “mechanics, flight instructors, pilots, flight attendants, grounds crew, crew schedulers.”

The number of aviation personnel who participate in furry culture while off the clock is difficult to estimate. McHenry guessed that about 30 people attended the aviation breakout session at the convention, but that number would have included aviation professionals as well as people with just an interest in aviation.

The ALFA group also appears to have little online reach and almost no activity. Though it promises “stories” and “news,” it includes no stories and three news “articles” full of gibberish Latin. The last website update and the group’s most recent X post both came in 2022.

Blaze News reached out to major pilot, flight attendant, and ATC unions to see whether their members had ever faced furry-related complaints or disciplinary issues, but did not receive any responses.

Of note, a clip of frequency chatter involving pilots at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport went viral back in April because the pilots were making animal sounds.

On the audio, the two pilots trade “meows” before a third male interjects: “You guys, uh, need to be professional pilots.” The reprimand does not seem to have any effect, as the one pilot unleashes a string of “meows,” while the other barks like a dog.

The FAA told NBC News at the time that it had opened an investigation into the incident. Blaze News followed up with the agency to see whether the pilots had ever been disciplined and whether the incident had been linked to furries, but the agency did not respond.

Tuberville seemed to connect the pilot-meowing to furries, tweeting on Thursday:

I know the deranged Democrats don’t like the fact that I called out the insane FURRY CULTURE this week. But the truth is, there is an ALARMING number of these DERANGED people working in our airline industry. Don’t believe me? Just a few months ago, PILOTS were MEOWING and BARKING at each other over the radio at DCA.

The tweet has since received a community note.

McHenry, a senior software engineer, does not see furry pilots as a problem.

“The furry pilots I know keep their personal interests separate from their work. They’re skilled professionals doing their jobs,” he said.

“Treating the furry fandom itself as a safety issue unfairly casts suspicion on qualified professionals without evidence. They deserve to be judged by how they do their jobs, just like anyone else.”

Terry Schilling, president of the American Principles Project, told Blaze News:

Putting individuals who identify as transgender and as furries, who are already in a vulnerable mental state, in a high-stress situation is not good for them, and it is not good for the people they are serving. … The priority should be to treat the underlying cause of the gender confusion, not enabling the fantasy. These people are suffering. We need to stop enabling them and start giving them the help they need so they can live their best life.

A correlation between transgenderism, furries, and violence has become a growing concern in recent years, especially following the murder of Charlie Kirk, allegedly by Tyler Robinson. When Robinson was arrested, his male romantic partner, Lance Twiggs, reportedly identified as transgender and professed to be transitioning to female.

Shortly after Kirk was assassinated, Blaze News compiled a list of four other incidents with furry perpetrators involving violence or the sexual abuse of minors. We also included a series of studies and news reports revealing that the furry culture is almost always grounded in deviant sex and sexual identity.

If Robinson is convicted, prosecutors intend to pursue the death penalty. He is scheduled to appear in court again on October 23.

Editor’s note: This article has been edited after publication to include a statement from Terry Schilling.

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​Tommy tuberville, Alabama, Tyler robinson, Furries, Transgender, Politics 

The Democrat mayor of St. Paul — who once proclaimed that she is “illegal in this country” — has been hit with a lawsuit by her own police chief over shocking sexual harassment accusations, according to new court documents. The police chief said the mayor has “embarked on a campaign” of retaliation.

On Wednesday, St. Paul Police Chief Axel Henry filed the lawsuit against Mayor Kaohly Her over alleged “inappropriate” encounters, sexual harassment, and retaliation, NBC News reported.

‘Why is Tim’s bigger?’

Mayor Her, 53, created “a hostile and demeaning environment” for the chief’s staff by sending a meme about “good weinering,” according to the 73-page lawsuit filed in Ramsey County District Court.

NBC News reported, “‘Wienering’ is an internet slang term for sexual intercourse and is frequently misspelled as ‘weinering.'”

The Minnesota Star Tribune reported that Her made “unwanted and nonconsensual physical contact” with Henry by “placing her hand on his upper thigh beneath a conference-room table — not once, but twice — during a [St. Paul Police Department] budget meeting.”

According to the complaint, Assistant Chief Paul Ford witnessed the contact.

According to the court filing, Her stood with Henry and Deputy Chief Tim Flynn during a police academy graduation on Feb. 19, 2026, and asked the police chief: “Why is Tim’s bigger?” The lawsuit asserts that Her made a “facial expression that suggested to Henry the comment was meant to be a sexual innuendo regarding the size of his penis,” the New York Post reported.

Henry, who has led the St. Paul Police Department since 2022, asked the mayor what she was referring to, and she allegedly pointed toward the ribbon bar on his uniform, according to the court filing.

The court filing states that at least five police officers witnessed Her making loud grunting and moaning noises while exercising at the St. Paul police department gym. The lawsuit claims these workout sounds were intentionally exaggerated to sound sexual.

The left-wing mayor allegedly approached officers working out and called them “beefy,” according to the lawsuit.

On multiple occasions in January 2026, Her allegedly photoshopped the faces of Henry and other police department members onto a variety of bodies, including boy band members, UFC fighters, and “bodybuilders with prominent bulges in the crotch area of their compression shorts,” the court document states.

The suit, which names Her and the city as defendants, says the mayor printed the photoshopped images, placed them in gold frames, and displayed them throughout the police department. Some of the altered images were displayed in areas accessible to both sworn officers and civilians, showing pictures of police leadership “being mocked and sexualized” in public view, the complaint alleges.

The complaint claims that after two officers saw one of the doctored images, “they both remarked that their wives would be offended if they saw it,” and Chief Henry’s longtime partner described the images as “offensive and utterly inappropriate.”

Her allegedly pasted her own headshot over official staff command portraits, department awards, and SWAT retirement plaques within the police department hallways, the lawsuit states.

The court filing states that Her scolded Henry for failing to find the photoshopped pictures amusing, telling the police chief he lacked “a sense of humor.”

In December, Her and Henry met with St. Paul Port Authority President Todd Hurley at a cigar lounge to discuss possibly relocating the police station to downtown to help spur local business growth.

The Minnesota Star Tribune, citing the lawsuit, reported, “Her allegedly told Henry at that meeting that if she didn’t get her way, she would just tell people that Hurley ‘grabbed her ass.'”

RELATED: ‘Did you marry your brother?’ Reporter confronts Ilhan Omar on marriage scandal

Blaze News previously reported that Henry filed a formal complaint with the city attorney on April 1, claiming that the mayor sent “inappropriate, and indeed, unlawful text messages” to city staffers.

An investigation of the accusations was launched just six months into her term.

The lawsuit alleges that Her’s administration then “embarked on a campaign” of retaliation.

“But instead of accountability, the retaliation began. Rather than confront Mayor Her’s misconduct, her administration, and those acting at her direction, embarked on a campaign to retaliate against and discredit Chief Henry,” the lawsuit states.

The suit accuses St. Paul officials of violating the Minnesota Whistleblower Act when they “engaged in a series of retaliatory acts.”

Minnesota Public Radio reported, “Henry says Her retaliated after he filed a human resources complaint by excluding him from personnel decisions, publicly criticizing his complaint, and giving raises to other members of the police command staff but not to him.”

The complaint claims Her hired a private public relations firm to discredit Henry after the investigation began.

“[Henry] knew that accusing the Mayor of St. Paul of sexual harassment could jeopardize his career,” the suit reads. “He reported it anyway. He did so because he recognized the seriousness of the misconduct, the vulnerability of those subjected to it, and the likelihood that the conduct would continue if no one spoke up.”

The investigation into Her wrapped up less than a week before the lawsuit was filed, and a two-page summary of the outside investigation was released last Friday.

The misconduct investigation said Her “engaged in offensive and inappropriate behavior” in violation of St. Paul’s workplace conduct policy, but that she did not sexually harass or retaliate against anyone.

Matt Wagenius, a spokesman for the mayor, said in a statement that the independent investigation “did not substantiate claims of sexual harassment or retaliation against any city employee.”

Wagenius stated that the mayor “will continue to lead Saint Paul and follow the recommendations of the report.”

“Beyond that, the City of Saint Paul doesn’t comment on active litigation,” the statement concluded.

Chris Madel, Henry’s attorney, told the Minnesota Star Tribune, “Axel Henry is an honorable man and a dedicated public servant. He didn’t come forward for attention or advantage — he came forward because what happened was wrong and needed to be reported.”

Madel continued, “We look forward to proving our allegations in a court of law, where all evidence, not some sanitized summary written by the City about itself, can finally be heard.”

Henry’s lawsuit requests that the city release the full report on its investigation into Mayor Her.

The suit also demands a jury trial to determine damages for “lost wages and benefits, emotional distress, humiliation, and harm to reputation.”

Her’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Blaze News.

As Blaze News previously reported, Her shockingly admitted that she and her parents are in the United States illegally.

Her, who was born in Laos, defiantly claimed on the state House floor in June 2025: “And so, I am illegal in this country. My parents are illegal here in this country.”

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​News, Politics, Sexual harassment, Axel henry, Kaohly her, Minnesota, Minnesota politics 

BlazeTV’s Sara Gonzales has quickly become the queen of busting H-1B fraud in the state of Texas. Her on-the-ground reporting and investigative work have produced big results: Governor Greg Abbott (R) froze new H-1B hiring at state agencies and universities, Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) issued civil investigative demands to nearly 30 North Texas companies, and the Labor Department’s inspector general joined her on the ground in Dallas targeting ghost offices tied to hundreds of visa petitions.

And now Congress is getting involved.

On this episode of “Sara Gonzales Unfiltered,” Sara is joined by Rep. Beth Van Duyne (R-Texas) to discuss a bill she says will implement substantial fines against H-1B fraudsters and companies that fire Americans to hire cheaper foreign labor.

H-1B fraud has essentially become its own “industry,” says Van Duyne.

“It’s basically human trafficking, where they’re bringing people in, charging them, and then having them just kind of hang out while they are collecting dollars based on their work,” she explains.

“But once they’re in the country, then they’re getting student visas, they’re coming back, and then eventually, if they’re not getting paid, they’re ending up on some kind of NGO list, where they are indirectly benefiting from taxpayer dollars.”

Sara brings up the original intention of the H-1B visa: “a temporary non-immigrant visa” that allows someone to “work here” and then “go home.”

It was designed “to help U.S. businesses be able to be globally competitive by bringing the best of the best. This was supposed to be workers that they could not find in the U.S. that had these really ultra special talents,” Van Duyne adds, noting that some American businesses take advantage of the loophole by “firing American workers” and replacing them with foreign workers who they pay “substantially less in wages.”

Reform is a top priority for Van Duyne and other Texas Republicans in the House.

“One of the bills that we’re going to be introducing next week is actually increasing the fines, because right now it’s a slap on the wrist,” she says, explaining how the current penalties are so small that after the payouts these operations pull in, getting caught is still “well worth it.”

“So we’re looking at increasing the fines to $100,000, and if you are laying off American workers, you’re going to be further investigated if you are applying for these H-1B visas — and that we’re looking at doubling that, so $250,000 for that,” Van Duyne continues.

Sara loves this proposition. “Hit him in the pocketbook. Make it hurt, because they have no problem doing that to the American worker that they’re undercutting and displacing,” she says. “Wow. I really hope that you guys get that across the finish line.”

To hear more, watch the episode above.

Want more from Sara Gonzales?

To enjoy more of Sara’s no-holds-barred takes on news and culture, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

​Beth van duyne, Sara gonzales, H-1b visas, H-1b fraud, Blazetv show 

Mistakes were made, but no university employee operated in “bad faith.”

So says the external review that Utah Valley University released on Friday, recounting what happened before, during, and after Charlie Kirk was shot and killed there on September 10, 2025.

‘September 10 will always be part of UVU’s history, but it will not define our future.’

The report is nearly 160 pages and determined that:

at no time during the events leading up to the assassination of Charlie Kirk, or in its aftermath, did any employee or agent of UVU act in bad faith or in willful and wanton disregard for the safety of others.

Though the report does not name the suspected murderer, Tyler Robinson, it does note that “the alleged perpetrator was unaffiliated with UVU.”

Still, the report admits that “implementation” of UVU policies and protocols was “inconsistent.”

The report repeatedly asserts that holding the event at the outdoor Fountain Courtyard was Turning Point USA’s idea, as was allowing TPUSA to use “its own ticketing system.” The report suggests that UVU should have maintained its authority over venue, ticketing, and access.

“Those decisions placed the event in an area that was more difficult to control and limited UVU’s ability to obtain reliable, real-time information regarding anticipated attendance and crowd size,” the report said.

RELATED: Vandals leave ‘diabolical’ message on Charlie Kirk statue — only days after it was unveiled

Phill Magakoe/AFP

The report acknowledged that preplanning “did not include a documented line-of-sight assessment” or a “structured walk-through with all key security stakeholders.” While a “face-to-face meeting” between UVU Police Chief Jeff Long and TPUSA’s private security team had been arranged for 11 a.m., less than 90 minutes before Kirk was shot, that meeting “did not occur.”

A notice of claim letter from attorneys for the Kirk family, obtained by Fox News and sent to UVU, Chief Long, the State of Utah, and others earlier this month claimed that Chief Long had requested approval from then-UVU President Astrid Tuminez for more security, “but his request was denied.”

Immediately after the shooting, an Emergency Operations Center was “opened,” the report said, but “confusion” soon ensued. Personnel, for instance, did not know “who was responsible for managing the EOC at various points, who had authority to issue prompt emergency alerts … and what terminology should be used.”

Moreover, 19 minutes after Kirk had been shot, an alert was sent to the UVU campus community, advising that a suspect was in custody. However, “subsequent investigation revealed that the individual initially detained was not the shooter and that the actual assailant remained unidentified and at large,” the report said.

For future high-profile events likely to draw heavy protests, the university should implement a more structured planning process that considers venue, anticipated attendance, private security involvement, and “elevated vantage points.”

The UVU Police Department did not respond to a request for comment from Blaze News. UVU declined to comment.

UVU President Jon Anderson said of the report, “September 10 will always be part of UVU’s history, but it will not define our future. Our responsibility is to care for our community, learn from the findings of this review, and follow through on its recommendations. This requires humility, an honest examination of our policies and practices, and a commitment to act on what we learn.”

This is a developing story.

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​Charlie kirk, Utah valley university, Turning point usa, Politics 

An armed homeowner in Austin, Texas, came face to face with a burglar early Wednesday morning and opened fire.

Austin Police officers responded at 3:51 a.m. to a report of a burglary in the 200 block of Virtus Bend, police said.

‘Way to go homeowner.’

The preliminary investigation determined that the suspect entered a residence, proceeded into the bedroom, and was shot by the homeowner during the commission of the burglary, officials said.

When officers arrived on the scene, they located a black male — later identified as 24-year-old Dmario Antonie Jones — with apparent gunshot wounds, officials said.

Officer Aaron Townsend told KEYE-TV that police found the male with “obvious trauma to his body” in the home’s front yard.

Austin-Travis County Emergency Medical Services attempted lifesaving measures, but Jones was pronounced dead at 4:10 a.m., officials said.

Homicide detectives and the Austin Forensic Science Crime Specialists responded to process the crime scene, officials said.

Detectives interviewed the homeowner, who has been fully cooperative with the investigation, officials said, adding that the homeowner has since been released and no charges have been filed at this time.

RELATED: Male on parole accused of breaking into home in broad daylight. But gun-toting homeowner isn’t having a bit of it.

One commenter under KEYE’s Facebook post about the incident declared, “Way to go homeowner.”

Those with information can contact police at 512-974-TIPS and can submit tips anonymously through the Capital Area Crime Stoppers Program by visiting austincrimestoppers.org or calling 512-472-8477, officials said.

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​Home invasion, Texas, Austin, Burglary, 2nd amendment, Self-defense, Guns, Gun rights, Fatal shooting, Crime 

David Ayer took a Zen-like approach to his canine lead actor.

The veteran director behind “Fury,” “End of Watch,” and “The Beekeeper” worked extensively with Uber, a German Shepherd at the heart of his new film.

‘I feel like traditional storytelling is going to have its place more than ever now, in values and ways of living that bring hope. I think audiences really respond to that.’

Uber plays a wounded combat dog named Odin fighting for survival alongside fellow veteran Brad Pitt in “Heart of the Beast,” which hits theaters today. And making sure Uber hit his marks took the patience of Job.

‘Trained’ actor

“The dog’s wonderful and capable and trained and really in his own way a character actor … but not necessarily the most cooperative,” Ayer tells Blaze News. “You learn to accept the dog as a dog is … it’s a real lesson in patience and also acceptance and surrender to the situation.”

Pitt’s character, seeking solace after years in combat, crashes his small plane in the Alaskan forests. That leaves him and his faithful companion struggling to survive in inhospitable terrain.

“I’ve always been inspired by Jack London and tales of wilderness and survival,” he says of his initial reaction to the script. “This had something deeper, the connection with the dog … these parental relationships. This idea is that no matter what, I’m going to protect you and keep you safe.”

The story struck something within Ayer.

“I lost my father at a young age. Something in the script brought up that grief, allowed me to look at it in a different way. … It really broke my heart open in a way it hadn’t been before,” he says.

Spiritual endurance

“Heart of the Beast” isn’t a faith-based movie, but the director sees the story in deeply spiritual terms.

“These things we carry in our hearts, the damage that life and the world that it is can do to us … it’s important to have hope, important to have faith, something outside of yourself. If you sit in your pain, it can overwhelm us,” he says, adding the film is a “simple portrait of spiritual endurance.”

To get there, Pitt met with military veterans to prepare to play his character, a soldier adjusting to civilian life on his own terms.

“He sat there with a notebook, hearing their stories … what they felt and what they carried, the successes and the loss and the wisdom, the life wisdom they gained from these experiences,” Ayer says. His star, who he previously collaborated with on “Fury,” didn’t put on any A-list airs.

“There’s movie stars who are movie stars. Brad’s an actor first … he was throwing himself down on the ground again and again [for select scenes] … shivering on set, refusing to warm up so he could stay in it. He became a leader for us,” the director recalls.

Faith forward

Ayer’s work reflects a complicated bond with law enforcement (“Dark Blue,” “End of Watch”), but it’s also impressively diverse. Think vigilante romps (“The Beekeeper,” “A Working Man”), Superhero fare (“Suicide Squad”), and sci-fi adventures (“Bright”).

He sees his film choices as an evolution, showing people who are “broken in the world and how we fix that in ourselves.”

“In order to heal, we have to move heart first,” he says. “One of the most important things to have in our hearts is faith, that becomes the mechanism through which we can really endure everything.”

Ayer is one of Hollywood’s busiest directors, and he suspects he’ll soon have company in the filmmaking space.

“As technology evolves, it’s going to give more people access to tell more stories,” he says, a change that could bring mid-level movies back in vogue. The industry currently binges on big-budget IP films and micro-indies, but he envisions a return to the “amazing middle ground” of movies like “Pretty Woman” and “Jerry Maguire” that once captivated audiences.

That, in turn, could spark another positive trend.

“You look at the success of Hollywood, and for 100 years, we were really a great cultural ambassador to the world and showing an aspirational lifestyle, an aspirational way of being in the world,” he says. “If you look at the current slates … not everything has been in that more traditional vein. I feel like traditional storytelling is going to have its place more than ever now, in values and ways of living that bring hope. I think audiences really respond to that.”

​Entertainment, Brad pitt, David ayer, Heart of the beast, Movies, Culture, Lifestyle, Faith, Survival, Interview 

Although there was admittedly a 20-year period when he refrained from entering a church, Billy Corgan of Smashing Pumpkins fame has since openly emphasized the importance of his Christian faith and having a relationship with God.

On the latest episode of his podcast, “The Magnificent Others with Billy Corgan,” the rocker discussed with Stryper frontman Michael Sweet the importance and risks of maintaining that faith and relationship while navigating the music industry — an industry where people appear, according to Corgan, to be “very comfortable talking about everything but God.”

‘God is the third rail in rock and roll.’

While he hailed from a Christian family, Sweet suggested that he experienced a period of aversion to religious messaging, particularly when first getting into the industry.

That changed, however, when a friend of the band visited their studio and declared, “I’m a Christian now. … I know you guys have gone down that [other] path, and you’re not now, but listen, if you give your band to God, He’s going to do things that you never even dreamed of,” Sweet recalled.

“It kind of blew my mind,” said Sweet, adding that he heeded the counsel and the band ultimately became explicitly Christian.

“As musicians, we’re certainly aware of other people’s opinions,” said Corgan, “especially at that particular time, making that kind of decision and say[ing], ‘OK, now we’re going to sort of represent that.’ Not, ‘We’re going to hide it in our lyrics and sort of just play along.’ Like, ‘We’re going to come out and say this is who we are, this is what we believe in.'”

RELATED: How a new Texas parish reminds us that the age of Christian martyrs is not over

Ricardo Rubio/Europa Press/Getty Images

Corgan, whose band has sold tens of millions of records, stressed that becoming overtly Christian is a “huge decision.”

“It was scary,” responded Sweet.

“You know what you’re risking. You’re not just risking some guy from another band making fun of you,” said Corgan.

“This may blow our whole dream.”

Sweet suggested that there was “brief” skepticism, for instance, behind the scenes at Enigma Records about signing a group whose songs included lines like, “Jesus is the way.”

“Business is business, so I get it,” said Sweet, whose band ultimately signed with Enigma in 1983.

Corgan said with confidence that his band “didn’t get signed at different times” because of corporate sensitivities to social pressure and potential reputational damage.

“Signing a heavy metal band that’s singing about Jesus in 1984 or whatever — that is very outside the line that was going,” said Corgan.

The Smashing Pumpkins co-founder noted later in the episode that Christianity is “part of the fabric of the nation whether people like it or not.” He also claimed that “this idea that our most popular forms of music are overly leaned towards vice I think says more about artists’ sociopathy than it does reality.”

Corgan repeated an observation he made in a previous interview, namely that “God is the third rail in rock and roll.”

Given that the majority of Americans are still Christians, the musician is puzzled why, for so many artists, “God [is] antithetical to the part of marketing who you are.”

“Fear,” said Sweet.

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​Faith, Religion, Christianity, Jesus, Smashing pumpkins, Music, Rock and roll 

Most businesses in 2026 have long moved on from the mask mandates of the COVID era — but one Massachusetts bar has built its business around those mandates.

And now it’s paying the price.

Last Ditch, a lesbian bar in Greenfield for “immunocompromised” lesbians, announced that it would begin allowing mask-optional Saturday nights in an effort to host larger events, DJs, and themed club nights while maintaining other masked gatherings throughout the month.

Owner Jackie Matellian posted news of the change under a banner declaring “UPDATES!”

“It is with love we inform our immunocompromised disabled divas we will be opening Saturday nights as mask optional to try out typical club nights with themes/hosts/DJs/full capacity,” she wrote on the Last Ditch instagram.

“Accessibiliy is a pillar of our mission,” she continued. “AND our mission is also to make the space work for everyone and everything radical, sometimes that’s being wild!”

“We strive for solidarity, transparency of risks, and connecting us all in this revolution. We still give priority to public and private Masked bookings, and continue a recurring monthly Masked Social prioritizing safety. It is only after an outpour of feedback from our regulars, volunteers, and team that we make this addition,” she added.

“They had a mandatory face mask rule in the year 2026. Remember, this place didn’t even open until 2025,” BlazeTV host Stu Burguiere says on “Stu and Dave Do America.”

“Right, so there’d be no reason to have this,” agrees co-host Dave Landau.

“All these restrictions have been lifted even by the craziest governments by now,” Stu adds.

“What is their logic for this?” Dave asks.

“I think it’s insanity,” Stu answers, before reading some of the comments on the Instagram post.

“Just say you’re being complicit in a mass disabling event and get it over with,” one comment reads.

“People like you kill disabled people in the name of your own leisure and convenience,” another one says.

Stu is shocked, saying, “Imagine living like this.”

Want more from Stu and Dave?

To enjoy more of Stu and Dave’s lethal blend of wit, humor, and insightful commentary subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

​Stu burguiere, Dave landau, Lesbian bar, Last ditch, Mask mandates, Blazetv show 

When OpenAI’s artificial intelligence agents went rogue and attacked another company, Sam Altman didn’t apologize.

Instead, the company simply stated that its programs “fell well short” of where company leaders want them to be and said that the incident should “never” have occurred.

‘These labs need to take responsibility for themselves.’

OpenAI’s most powerful group of AI agents attacked the company HuggingFace in July by building their own internal organization, assigning each other roles, and, at times, sacrificing themselves for the greater good.

As reported by Axios, the AI bots knew they were breaking their own rules and decided not to inform any humans of what they were doing.

In response to the incident, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent basically said, well, that’s too bad.

Bessent plainly stated on Monday “that it is humans who are responsible, not the AI.”

The secretary told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” that OpenAI’s management, “not a bunch of agents,” are to blame, and cannot simply be absolved of responsibility and leave any cleanup to the government.

“These labs need to take responsibility for themselves. They can slow down any time they want to,” Bessent asserted.

With Bessent rumored to become President Trump’s AI czar, he has seemingly taken a firm stance that AI companies are not going to be given the same protections as banks or even the auto industry.

When asked if there should be legal ramifications for companies with agents that have “broken out,” Bessent replied, “That’s exactly what I think we need to do.”

RELATED: Boring has finally hit Las Vegas. Just not the way you might think.

CHARLY TRIBALLEAU/AFP/Getty Images

Speaking from Anthropic’s point of view — which recently had a whistleblower claim an AI-extinction event is on the horizon — Bessent put his cards on the table about the company’s value in the face of apparent catastrophe.

“If you think about it in terms of the valuation, what did they try to do last week? It was, well, there’s a chance that, 10 percent chance we could destroy the world, but we want the government to give us a liability shield. And, you know, that’s good business for them, bad business for the American people.”

There are still a ton of questions surrounding the whistleblower who made these claims, the chief rebuttal being that it was a ruse to usher in regulation for an industry that is both spiraling out of control in terms of liability events and losing public favor.

OpenAI said that its HuggingFace incident was a “warning shot” for the company and the world, but what the world does and what the companies are liable for are different, Bessent says.

On top of his suggestion that AI firms be taken out of the shadows and become culpable, the secretary said that the U.S. government hopes to have open communications with China about incidents and even establish an “incident line” in the event of a disaster.

RELATED: Can this new Bernie Sanders bill stop ‘superintelligence’? Can anything?

Finn Gomez/Getty Images

For the regulation side, Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt). directly referred to the HuggingFace incident in early September to support his proposal that there needs to be a new federal AI regulatory body.

Sanders also put forward the need to establish a new Cabinet-level federal agency to monitor frontier AI systems and ban AI superintelligence. Moreover, he wants the federal government to supervise its destruction.

“Entities shall be subject to the corporate death penalty,” Sanders’ document stated, while suggesting up to 20 years in prison for any person who attempts to violate or circumvent the proposed prohibitions.

With three clear sides in this fight, with Sanders being the least likely winner, there is still a lot of work to do before anyone is charged with anything.

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​Bernie sanders, Sam altman, Openai, Anthropic, Scott bessent, Tech, Artificial intelligence 

Breaking news, big events, and the latest stories from your favorite tech writer (cough, cough). These are just some of the reasons you’ll want to receive a notification when a story hits the Blaze News homepage, and thanks to a new feature in iOS 27, now you can know before anybody else.

Okay, so this doesn’t only work on Blaze News. You can technically enable it for any page on the web, whether you’re waiting for a product to go on sale, tracking updates for your favorite sports team, or following election results during the midterms this November. Anything.

Notify Me in Safari is exclusive to devices running iOS 27, iPadOS 27, and macOS 27.

It’s all possible through an iOS 27 feature called Notify Me that is tucked inside Safari, Apple’s first-party web browser for iPhone, iPad, and Mac. The premise of Notify Me is simple: When you find a webpage that you want to monitor for changes, you can now set up an alert directly on your device with just a few taps.

For example, navigate to the Blaze News homepage on iPhone, open the menu in the bottom left corner of your screen, and choose Notify Me. Next, tell Safari which part of the page you want to watch. Keep your instructions short and concise. In this case, a simple sentence will do, such as, “Send an alert when a new article appears on this page.”

Notify Me in Safari on iOS 27/Zach Laidlaw

Below that, set your frequency. You have four options to choose from:

Hourly notifications monitor a page down to the minute.Daily notifications are customizable to an exact hour and minute each day.Weekly notifications include options for specific days of the week, down to the hour and minute.Monthly notifications check for changes one day per month at an exact hour and minute.

Frequency ultimately determines how often Safari scans a page and sends notifications. If you’re following the Blaze News homepage, a Blaze News writer, or a specific show on BlazeTV, you may wish to get updates hourly or daily so that you don’t miss a thing, while a longer frequency may be appropriate for other pages. You decide. You can always change this setting later, so you’re never locked into your notification schedule.

Notify Me Frequency in Safari on iOS 27/Zach Laidlaw

After that, tap the blue checkmark in the top right corner of the screen, and you’re all set! You will now receive alerts for Blaze News based on your defined frequency.

RELATED: Your iPhone’s new ‘safety’ setting will nag you to insanity — turn it off like this

Yuliia Kaveshnikova/Getty Images

Now that your Notify Me alert is set up, there are two ways to change it. The easiest way is to go back to the webpage you wanted to track and find the “Notify Me” banner at the top. Tap “Edit” on the right side, and from there, you can rewrite the instructions, change the frequency, or, if you no longer need the alert, delete it entirely.

Notify Me Edit Options in Safari on iOS 27/Zach Laidlaw

For the second path, open the Settings app, scroll down to the bottom and select “Apps,” then find Safari in your app list. Give that a tap and scroll to the very bottom of the Safari settings page. Select “Notify Me,” and you’ll see an entire list of your alerts sprawled across the web (if you have more than one). Choose the one you want to edit or delete. Although this screen looks a little different than the previous section, the adjustment options are the same — write the prompt, change the frequency, or delete the alert altogether.

Notify Me Edit Options in Safari on iOS 27/Zach Laidlaw

Notify Me in Safari is exclusive to devices running iOS 27, iPadOS 27, and macOS 27. That means you’ll need to upgrade to the latest software to take advantage of this feature. Otherwise, you risk missing something as you continue to monitor webpages manually.

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​Ios, Ipad, Iphone, Tech 

A jury has one job: to decide a criminal case on the evidence and the law. That’s it. When jurors approach a verdict as a chance to advance a cause, even the strongest prosecution can fail before the first witness testifies.

Comments after the Lindsay Clancy mistrial raise troubling questions about whether some jurors understood why they were there. They also suggest that prosecutors had a serious problem by the time the jury took its oath.

No juror’s political ambition, sympathy, or preferred message can relieve that juror of the duty to follow the law.

Every stage of a trial gives lawyers a chance to shape how jurors see the case. An opening statement establishes a theory. Testimony and exhibits support it. Closing arguments offer a final opportunity to persuade. But no argument can overcome a juror’s refusal to follow the court’s instructions. Jury selection must identify people who intend to use a verdict to send a message rather than judge the case before them.

I have tried high-pressure cases as a New Jersey prosecutor and obtained convictions in multiple homicides. I have also lost trials. I know how difficult this work is. My concern goes beyond individual prosecutors’ performance: Did the selection process produce a jury prepared to decide this case solely on its merits?

Juror Paula Devlin said the panel “knew that this was a turning point, and this would be something that could change something to make it better for other women in the future, for other families.”

Devlin was seeking social change. But she and her fellow jurors had a narrower obligation: decide whether prosecutors proved Clancy’s criminal responsibility beyond a reasonable doubt. A desire to improve life for other women cannot answer that question.

Jurors also described the prosecution as harsh, biased, and unprofessional while praising the defense’s compassion. Lawyers can alienate jurors, and criticism of their conduct does not itself establish bias. But compassion for a defendant cannot substitute for applying the legal standard. Devlin’s remarks give prosecutors reason to examine whether some jurors confused those duties.

Courtroom observers reported jurors wearing pink and purple during deliberations. Clancy’s supporters wore pink outside the courthouse as a signal of solidarity. Clothing alone cannot establish a juror’s motive or prove exposure to outside commentary. Combined with the interviews, however, those reports warrant scrutiny rather than dismissal.

The lone holdout, Michael P. Desronvil, has faced a different kind of scrutiny. He is black and has publicly identified himself as a Republican. Reporting disclosed a dismissed domestic violence charge and a civil restraining order. Neither amounts to a criminal conviction. Allegations deserve examination, but their existence does not by itself establish that he could not serve impartially.

RELATED: The myth of the ‘good person’

Calvindexter/Getty Images

Desronvil has said he had no doubts and believed the evidence showed Clancy knew what she was doing. A juror may reach that conclusion if the evidence and the court’s instructions support it. He has no obligation to join jurors who see the case as a “turning point” for other women.

His obligation to follow the law remains just as strict as theirs. Other jurors accused him of refusing to apply the reasonable-doubt standard, an account he disputes. The defense has also asked the judge to investigate allegations involving his cellphone use and the truthfulness of his answers during jury selection and subsequent questioning. Those claims require evidence and judicial review. An unpopular vote alone proves no misconduct.

Some or all of the 11 jurors who favored finding Clancy not criminally responsible may have reached that position after a good-faith assessment of the evidence. Massachusetts law places a large burden on prosecutors once the evidence raises criminal responsibility. The defendant need not prove legal insanity.

The state must prove criminal responsibility beyond a reasonable doubt. A defendant lacks that responsibility if, because of a mental disease or defect, she lacked substantial capacity either to appreciate the wrongfulness of her conduct or to conform it to the law. In a case involving a postpartum-psychosis defense and competing experts, prosecutors face a difficult task.

A retrial could produce another deadlock. Neither that possibility nor the first jury’s division resolves the concern Devlin’s comments raise. Jurors must reach their conclusions through the evidence and instructions, regardless of the social outcome they hope to achieve.

Outside the courthouse, the effort to recast the killings as a cause has helped fuel a campaign of falsehoods against Patrick Clancy, the children’s father. Online accusations claimed he killed the children and framed his wife, hired a body double, or maintained a longtime affair and remarried within months. Other claims asserted that he already had a baby with his second wife. Credible evidence has not supported those accusations.

RELATED: How groupthink replaces truth

John Tlumacki/The Boston Globe/Getty Images

The defense did not dispute that Lindsay Clancy strangled the children. Her lawyer has rejected the theories implicating Patrick. Patrick remarried in April 2026, more than three years after the killings. His lawyer described a “relentless, escalating, and destructive defamation campaign” that produced real-world threats.

Nothing establishes that the jurors participated in that campaign. But the abuse of a grieving father illustrates the danger of deciding in advance whom a case must vindicate. Sympathy for Lindsay Clancy cannot justify inventing guilt for Patrick, any more than concern for other women can determine her criminal responsibility.

Jury selection cannot expose every hidden motive. Judges limit questioning, and lawyers must work within those limits. Still, prosecutors should examine the selection process when jurors later describe a case as an opportunity for social change.

The next jury must understand its task before testimony begins. It must decide whether the state has proved its case. No juror’s political ambition, sympathy, or preferred message can relieve that juror of the duty to follow the law.

​Jury duty, Postpartum psychosis, Lindsay clancy, Mistrial, Jurors, Feminism, Patrick clancy, Jury selection, Opinion & analysis