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An alumni group is questioning the academic value of a course on offer at the taxpayer-subsidized University of Virginia — a course taught by a non-straight poet who apparently encourages students to consult animals about their supposed oppression.

The Jefferson Council, an alumni group “committed to leading the University of Virginia back to Thomas Jefferson’s legacy of freedom and excellence,” noted Wednesday on X, “A course titled ‘Ecofeminist Poetry & Poetics’ being taught this spring at the University of Virginia has students ‘listen’ to plants and animals to better understand how ‘settler colonialism’ and slavery ‘thrive off of the intrinsic interconnectedness between species.'”

‘Birds, goats, willow oaks, and lichen will accompany us through the semester.’

“This is a real taxpayer-funded class,” the group continued. “Is this what higher education has become?”

The description for the graduate course on the UVA English department’s website — which contains quotes from identitarian feminist and LGBT activist Alexis Pauline Gumbs — states:

This interdisciplinary course will interweave brief readings from ecofeminist theory, ecopoetics, and black and indigenous environmental theories with books of contemporary ecofeminist poetry. This curriculum will encourage each of us to see what happens when we “rethink and re-feel,” writes Gumbs, our own “relations, possibilities, and practices” in conversation with the more-than-human world.

The course syllabus notes that “birds, goats, willow oaks, and lichen will accompany us through the semester as we too attempt to listen across species,” reported the College Fix.

University records show that associate professor Brian Teare, a “queer”-identifying climate alarmist who specializes in environmental humanities and “queer theory,” has taught versions of the ecofeminist course for several years.

RELATED: Why do state schools bankroll people who despise the state?

Photo by Carol M. Highsmith/Buyenlarge/Getty Images

John Gardner, president of the Jefferson Council, told the College Fix, “It is surprising to the extent that such an inane and clearly agenda-based politicized course could find its way into the curricula of any respectable institute of higher learning.”

“It is not surprising to the extent that over the past decade or more the increasingly left-wing politicized faculties of most universities have turned their curricula into woke fantasylands,” added Gardner.

‘It is more suitable to be a course taught in Orwell’s “1984.”‘

Teare and the university did not respond to a request for comment from Blaze News.

Gardner referred to three other radical courses at the university that warrant concern: “Women and Gender in the Deaf World”; “Gender, Body Image, and Social Activism”; and “Queer Judaism,” which poses the question, “What if we approached Judaism as a queer religion?”

“There are many others with the common theme that they are mostly narrowly focused on allegedly marginalized ‘identity groups’ based on race, gender, or ethnicity and are often intended to promote a predetermined agenda,” said Gardner.

The alumni group’s president noted that Thomas Jefferson founded the university because “he felt it was important to have an educated and informed citizenry to sustain a successful republic.”

Gardner suggested that courses like Teare’s “are not meant to follow truth, but to advance a political/social agenda. It is more suitable to be a course taught in Orwell’s ‘1984’ than at Mr. Jefferson’s university.”

In 2025, UVA received over $338 million dollars in funding from the state.

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​Education, University, Woke, Leftism, Feminist, Queer, Homosexual, Propaganda, Indoctrination, Thomas jefferson, History, University of virginia, Uva, Virginia, Educator, Brian teare, Animals, Politics 

A 22-year-old man allegedly attacked a 94-year-old woman who was sitting in a rocking chair on her front porch and brutally raped her in broad daylight, police say.

The suspect, identified as Jeremiah Taylor, had numerous allegations of sexual assault in his background, including one against his own foster mother.

‘I don’t know what word you really use. I’m really dumbfounded to try to explain it.’

The Baton Rouge Police Dept. said officers responded to a report of a sexual assault on March 5 and identified a suspect within minutes of releasing images to the public the next day.

Taylor was initially booked on charges of first-degree rape, second-degree battery, and cruelty to the infirm. He is being held at the East Baton Rouge Parish Prison. He is being held without bond.

Baton Rouge Police Chief T.J. Morse said the evidence against Taylor is overwhelming.

“When you’re looking at one of the most vulnerable parts of our population, the elderly, to take advantage of them in this way, horrendous, unacceptable,” Morse said. “I don’t know what word you really use. I’m really dumbfounded to try to explain it.”

WLBT-TV reported that sources indicated the victim suffered broken bones during the assault.

Morse also expressed frustration that Taylor had a violent criminal history but had been released from jail in January after the most recent arrest was dismissed by a district attorney.

“It is a source of contention. It is a source of frustration on our department and with our officers,” he added. “Why this has happened is some questions that I would love you all to ask the rest of the judicial system.”

Taylor had prior arrests for simple burglary, first-degree rape, theft, and second-degree battery.

After an investigation, he was charged with raping another victim three times, one of which was the day after he was released from jail in January.

RELATED: Long Island mom raped in front of her daughter during brutal home invasion. Police have arrested a 14-year-old suspect.

A WBRZ-TV report showed that a man matching Taylor’s description was caught on video appearing to stalk another woman before she walked into her house, and he turned around immediately.

Another woman who said she had been his foster mother during the COVID pandemic claimed that he had sexually assaulted her as she slept.

“Jeremiah was with me maybe six to eight months before he thought it was OK to inappropriately touch me,” the woman said to WBRZ.

She says she pressed charges but believes nothing happened because he was underage at the time.

He was accused of raping a family member as well, but those charges were dropped when the victim could not be located by the district attorney.

Taylor had two words to say when reporters asked him if he raped the 94-year-old woman as accused.

“F**k no,” he said.

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​Jeremiah taylor rape, 94-year-old raped, Baton rouge rapist, Failed criminal system, Crime 

It may be one of the most remarkable technological breakthroughs in human history. Ask the American public, though, and you’ll hear something else entirely about artificial intelligence.

A recent NBC News survey asked registered voters how they feel about a range of public figures and political topics. The results were striking. While Pope Leo posted a net favorability rating of +34, artificial intelligence came in at -20. That puts AI near the bottom of the list, ranking ahead of only the Democratic Party and Iran. According to the poll, only 26% responded “positive” to AI, while 46% responded “negative.”

Who designs the systems? Whose values do they embed? Who gets accountability when they fail? The public does not have satisfying answers, and the industry hasn’t given them many.

Think about that for a moment.

A technology widely touted as capable of curing diseases, discovering new materials, and unlocking unprecedented productivity is viewed more negatively than every U.S. politician and institution included in the poll.

Artificial intelligence may be revolutionary, but unless its architects confront the distrust surrounding it, AI risks losing the public confidence it will ultimately depend on.

A perfect storm of distrust

As someone who follows AI closely, I can’t point to a single cause of the unease. It looks more like a perfect storm.

For decades, science fiction trained audiences to associate AI with dystopia. From “2001: A Space Odyssey” to “The Terminator,” AI often appears as the moment humanity loses control of its own creation. Fiction isn’t the whole story, but it primes the public to expect the worst.

Many Americans also worry about what AI will do to the workforce. Automation has threatened certain industries for years, but AI scales the threat. It now appears poised to hit huge swaths of white-collar work, including creative fields and even decision-making roles once assumed to require human judgment.

Then came the explosion of what critics call “AI slop.” Across the internet, AI-generated articles, videos, images, and posts flood the feed. Much of it is low-effort content built to attract clicks, not provide value. The internet already buckles under misinformation and spam. AI has supercharged this problem.

Americans also distrust the companies building these systems. The left has long been skeptical of massive corporations wielding too much power. The right grew more suspicious after years of fights over social media censorship and ideological activism. ESG efforts, which used corporate power to reshape incentives around political priorities, only reinforced the sense that tech and finance elites want to run the country by proxy.

In short, both sides now distrust many of the institutions developing artificial intelligence. That is a bad position for an industry trying to introduce world-changing technology.

When the experts sound the alarm

Public unease also draws fuel from the people closest to the machine. Several prominent voices in the AI world have issued stark warnings about risk.

Elon Musk has suggested there may be “only a 20% chance of annihilation” from future advanced AI systems. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei has cited a 25% chance AI development goes “really, really badly.” Geoffrey Hinton, often called the “godfather of AI,” has floated human extinction-level risk in the 10% to 20% range over the coming decades.

When the builders of a technology openly speculate about catastrophic outcomes, it’s not surprising the public grows uneasy. To the average voter, it can sound like civilization is playing Russian roulette — and the people loading the cylinder are asking to be trusted.

RELATED: Ex-NFL player asked ChatGPT for advice after allegedly murdering his fiancée

Photo by Wesley Hitt/Getty Images

Power, control, and fear of the unknown

Beyond jobs and misinformation, a deeper concern lies underneath: AI is becoming an infrastructure of decision-making.

Algorithms already shape what news we see, what products we buy, and what ideas spread online. As AI grows more capable, it will influence public opinion, political discourse, and cultural norms even more.

In authoritarian systems, that becomes an obvious tool of surveillance and control. But even in a constitutional republic, concentrating that much power in a handful of corporations — or in government — raises hard questions. Who designs the systems? Whose values do they embed? Who gets accountability when they fail? The public does not have satisfying answers, and the industry hasn’t given them many.

The AI industry should pay attention

Despite the excitement in Silicon Valley and Washington, the NBC poll reveals a simple truth: Much of the public does not trust AI. For the companies racing to build ever more powerful systems, that should be a wake-up call.

The industry often sells AI in near-utopian terms: medicine, energy breakthroughs, scientific discovery. Those gains may come. But many Americans see something else. They see massive data centers consuming energy while the internet fills with synthetic garbage. They see tech firms raising and spending billions while ordinary life gets harder. They see executives talking openly about betting civilization on tools they admit they don’t fully control.

If AI’s architects want public buy-in, they will have to address these fears directly.

A good place to start would be a clear public commitment to the constitutional principles Americans still expect: free speech, individual liberty, and personal autonomy. If AI will play a larger role in shaping information and decisions, the public needs confidence that these systems will protect fundamental freedoms rather than erode them.

AI will be shaped, in part, by trust. Right now, that trust is in short supply.

​Ai, Ai slop, Artificial intelligence, Elon musk, Dario amodei, Geoffrey hinton, Ai takeover, Ai approval, Opinion & analysis, Public opinion poll, Nbc news poll 

As the military conflict between the United States and Iran approaches its third week, many are asking questions like, “How many warheads do we have left?”; “How many missiles do they have left?”; “What is this going to cost?”; and “What is this going to do to oil?” says Glenn Beck.

While these kinds of questions are only natural, the bigger concern, he says, is “what [we’re] fighting.”

“I’m not making a case to fight Iran or this war or anything,” he assures.

But “you have to understand what you’re dealing with.”

And what we’re dealing with is an apocalyptic form of Islam known as “Twelver Shi’ism.”

On this episode of “The Glenn Beck Program,” Glenn exposes this radical theology that has guided Iran’s top leaders, military operations, and possibly even its lethal responses to Trump and Israel’s joint attacks.

“The name [Twelver Shi’ism] comes from their belief in the 12th Imam — divinely appointed leader … that succeeded Muhammad. … Muhammad was the first; the 12th one, Muhammad al-Mahdi, he was believed to have disappeared in the ninth century in a well when he was a child,” Glenn explains.

“According to the Twelver belief, he’s going to climb out of that well, and he’s going to return in the end days, OK? And when he returns, he’s going to establish a perfect Islamic justice that will oversee the entire world; he’s going to defeat all evil; he will convert everyone to Islam; and he’ll rule from Jerusalem, and the world’s transformed,” he continues, emphasizing the parallels in Christian end-times prophecies.

But what does this have to do with the current conflict with Iran?

“[Twelvers] truly believe that they can hasten [Mahdi’s] return if they plunge the world into chaos. … That crisis prepares the ground for the final victory of Islam,” says Glenn, drawing a parallel to Revelation’s prophetic warnings of “global upheaval, wars, famine, [and] pestilence” followed by “a powerful figure … promising peace and justice,” who is actually the Antichrist — “the deceiver.”

“The hero in one story looks very much like the villain of the other story.”

Even though “not every Shia Muslim believes in accelerating chaos … the most powerful clerical authorities in Iran do believe it,” says Glenn.

“In fact, Iran’s leadership, they frame the military mission in these terms,” he adds, noting that Iran’s “armies reference the Mahdi directly” and are taught that “they’re preparing for the Mahdi’s return.”

Even Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini — the central religious and political leader of the Iranian regime that drove out the Shah in 1979 — thought the “Twelvers were too dangerous,” despite believing in hastening the return of the Madhi through chaos.

“The ones [Khomeini] said were too dangerous because they were so unpredictable and could get everybody killed … those are the people that are in charge of [Iran] right now,” Glenn warns.

“That’s not religious speculation. This is state ideology. And these are the people that are arming the terrorist groups and sending signals to sleeper cells possibly here in America.”

Currently, Iran is actively launching missile and drone strikes on several of its Arab neighbors, which seems counterintuitive to us.

But we have to “stop thinking like a Westerner,” says Glenn.

If Iran’s goal is to “get everybody at war with each other,” starting with “setting the Arab world on fire” makes sense in its grand scheme to hasten the Mahdi’s return.

“So we have to ask ourself: Who are we actually dealing with?”

To hear more, watch the video above.

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​The glenn beck program, Glenn beck, Twelver shi’ism, Iran, Iran war, Blazetv, Blaze media, Mahdi, Islam, End times 

Quentin Tarantino is going way out of his comfort zone with his next project.

No grind-house gore, 1970s-style banter, or even bare feet. Tarantino’s new project is a play, not a movie. “The Popinjay Cavalier,” to open in London’s West End next year, is an 1830s-set comic farce.

‘We’re making a movie, not hundreds of millions of dollars of therapy.’

It sounds like a twee Wes Anderson project, but it’s merely the Oscar winner stretching his creative wings for a new kind of story, all the while stalling on what his 10th and final film will be.

Here’s guessing Rosanna Arquette won’t be invited to opening night …

Crock lobster

Should late-night TV shows go the “legal notes” route? We’ve already seen “The View” adopt that survival strategy after one too many Fake News stories.

Colbert and Co. are often just as bad, and this week, they’re even worse. The usual late-night suspects ripped into Team Trump for spending way too much on surf and turf. The phony narrative ignored historical precedent. The U.S. military routinely treats soldiers to great grub to thank them for putting their lives on the line.

To hear folks like Seth Meyers tell it, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth is eating large 24/7 with a greasy lobster bib around his Fox News neck.

Here’s Kimmel pushing the false narrative to its illogical conclusion:

Again, just in September, [Hegseth] spent $2 million of taxpayer money on Alaskan king crab. He spent $6.9 million on lobster tail. $140,000 on doughnuts. $124,000 on ice cream machines. $26,000 on sushi preparation tables. And $15.1 million on ribeye steak. What is this, “My 600-Pound Defense Department”?

Stop it, you’re killing us!

RELATED: Tarantino torches ‘Pulp Fiction’ actress for crying ‘racist’ — 30 years later: ‘You took the money’

Photo by Ernesto Ruscio/Getty Images

Too ‘Late’

When you’ve lost Variety, it’s not a good sign.

Legacy outlets like the Hollywood Reporter and Variety routinely carry late-night TV hosts’ water. They regurgitate their tepid punch lines while protecting them against serial fact-checks.

But Variety did something unexpected this week. The rag mocked Stephen Colbert’s “Late Show” for becoming a never-ending ego trip in his final weeks on the air.

The show’s focus on its own host’s misfortune has become outsized and a bit dramatic, especially because so many other institutions are in crisis: With everything else going on in the world, we have to go through a months-long celebration of life for a comedian whose job is coming to an end?

The site’s readers were not happy with the column. The Facebook comments section uniformly raged against the op-ed. We could have warned them. Never expect things to go smoothly when you peek your head outside the progressive bubble …

Gay abandon

Margaret Cho can’t get her talking points straight.

The lesbian comic savaged you-know-who while accepting an award from the website Queerty.

“It’s a f**king nightmare, we’re in a f**king war, they want to draft people for this incontinent child molester who doesn’t even know what he wants out of anything. It’s just insane.”

She also said the trans community faces a genocide under President Trump. A few beats later, she changed her tone so violently that a few in the crowd may have suffered whiplash.

“So what we have to do as gay adults, if you’re a gay adult, you have to stand up and be proud. Throw your shoulders back and look happy all the time. Because trans kids will see you, gay kids will see you, and they will see you and they will say, ‘Hey, that person made it. They’re happy. Maybe I can grow up to be like them, maybe I can be like that happy person.’”

Right. Because nobody sounds happier than Margaret Cho …

The Docter is in

My, have things changed at the Mouse House.

Disney animators saw themselves as the tip of the woke spear not long ago. Animators injected sexual themes into kiddie fare, purportedly to change young hearts and minds. Or, as one infamous Disney employee described it, the company’s “not-at-all-secret gay agenda.”

A few mega-flops later, Disney is singing a different tune. Screaming it, to be precise. The company stripped a trans character from its Pixar TV series “Win or Lose.” Recent sequels like “Inside Out 2” and “Moana 2” delivered joyous fun without the woke lectures.

Now, veteran Pixar director Pete Docter is delivering the smackdown on those demanding that Disney sexualize its content. Docter previously helmed “Monsters, Inc.” and “Up,” among notable Pixar projects, and he explained to the Wall Street Journal why the company removed gay themes from its 2025 dud release, “Elio.”

“We’re making a movie, not hundreds of millions of dollars of therapy,” he said.

Here’s betting some Disney employees might need some after hearing that quote.

​Hollywood, Celebrities, Entertainment, Culture, Jimmy kimmel, Quentin tarantino, Pete hegseth, Margaret cho, Movies, Tv, Toto recall 

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani proudly announced the creation of the Office for LGBTQIA+ Affairs and nominated a transgender-identifying male to lead it.

Mamdani said that New York City had the highest number of “queer” people of any city in the U.S. during the announcement Friday. Attorney Taylor Brown will be the first transgender person to lead an agency or office in New York City.

‘With Taylor Brown as director of the new Office of LGBTQIA+ Affairs, the city’s queer community will not only be celebrated, but protected at every turn.’

“New York City is proud of its LGBTQIA+ community and will refuse to deny health care, safety, or dignity to anyone on the basis of their identity,” Mamdani said in a statement. “With Taylor Brown as director of the new Office of LGBTQIA+ Affairs, the city’s queer community will not only be celebrated, but protected at every turn.”

Brown said the office would protect members of the LGBTQIA+ community from “hostile actors” in his statement.

“New York has given me everything — life-saving health care, education, a home, a career, my chosen family, and a life of purpose. I am so proud to serve this city as the inaugural director of the Mayor’s Office for LGBTQIA+ Affairs,” he said.

“I will work every day to ensure that the doors of New York City remain open to all and to continue New York City’s legacy as a beacon of opportunity and hope for those who have been ignored, discriminated against, and intentionally excluded,” Brown added.

The office will absorb the previous NYC Unity Project established under the de Blasio administration.

RELATED: ‘Tax them to the white meat!’ Mamdani’s new ‘equity officer’ posted now-deleted X posts against white women.

Mamdani said the office will also work to make sure transgender and other LGBTQ+ members get as many city services as possible.

Trans activists previously praised Mamdani for naming Abby Stein, a transgender-identifying man, ex-Orthodox Jew, and activist, to his transition team.

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​Mamdani transgender, Office for lgbtqia affairs, Trans lawyer taylor brown, Lgtbqia agenda, Politics 

Want to make yourself the center of attention — without people thinking you’re a bad person?

“Jealous Type” singer Doja Cat has revealed a trick long-favored by celebrities when weighing in on the latest scandal — and you don’t even have to know anything about the topic at hand.

Welcome to the wonderful world of virtue signaling.

‘What I was doing yesterday was virtue signaling … something that I could leverage.’

The pop star’s revelation came after actor Timothée Chalamet appeared on a CNN & Variety town hall, where he ruffled feathers with his passing remarks on the commercial irrelevance of opera and ballet.

“I don’t want to be working in ballet or opera or, you know, things where it’s like, ‘Hey, keep this thing alive!'” Chalamet said to co-host Matthew McConaughey.

Whiny dancer

The comments prompted backlash from many in the entertainment industry, including Doja Cat — real name Amala Ratna Zandile Dlamini — who lashed out at Chalamet in a TikTok video.

After mocking the actor, she claimed that “people [do] give a f**k” about opera and ballet, and she praised its decorum.

“You show up in a nice outfit. You sit the f**k down and shut the f**k up,” she said. “That’s the usual etiquette around those things. Maybe learn something from that.”

Mea culpa

Just one day later, however, Dlamini was singing a different tune.

“I know nothing about opera. I know nothing about ballet,” she offered in a short, contrite follow-up.

“I’ve never been to a ballet. I’ve never seen an opera,” she revealed. “And I took it upon myself yesterday to kind of give it to the man because there is a culture based around outrage and things like that, and people want to feel like they’re part of something. It’s a need to connect, whether good or bad,” she added.

Dlamini then took her confession a step further and told fans she was only doing it for views.

RELATED: Timothée Chalamet is right: Opera and ballet are dying — and you’ll never guess why

Rare honesty

The blunt confession was a rare moment of honesty in a culture generally concerned with trading outrage for clicks.

“What I was doing yesterday was virtue signaling because I wanted to connect, and I knew that Timothée’s goof-up was something that I could leverage in order for people to connect with me and f**k with me,” the Los Angeles native went on.

“And it’s easy. It’s a modern way to garner clicks, likes, approval, and all kinds of things like that from people. And so I did that yesterday, and I didn’t really think about why I was doing it.”

RELATED: Gene Simmons’ advice for celeb activists Ben Stiller, Mark Ruffalo: ‘Shut the f**k up’

Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

‘Wanted a hug’

“That was the perfect material for me to seem sincere. But the truth is, I don’t know anything about opera. I don’t know anything about ballet, and I’ve never been to either shows,” she said.

The 30-year-old also displayed some vulnerability when she discussed the deeper motivations behind her reaction.

“I think I just wanted a hug. I think that’s all that I wanted. I wanted a hug. I wanted to feel like I was part of something bigger than myself. I wanted to be pat on the back the way everybody else is patting each other on the back in the comments sections. And I wanted to look like a hero, and that’s what happened. And when I got it, I didn’t like it so much,” she said.

The half-Jewish, half-South African has been wildly successful over just five studio albums. She has gone platinum five times between 2019 and 2023, with her music gaining recognition in Switzerland, Sweden, and Great Britain.

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​Align, Virtue signaling, Celebrity, Hollywood, Los angeles, Tiktok, Ballet, Social media, Entertainment 

Former NFL coach Tony Dungy says he’s looking ahead in faith after learning he will not return to NBC’s “Sunday Night Football” this fall following 17 years on the broadcast.

“I have been informed by NBC that I won’t be back with FNIA this fall and it has given me time to reflect and also to look ahead. It’s disappointing news but I want to thank my NBC family for making the last 17 years so special. I’ll have lasting memories of my time there, especially with Rodney Harrison who has become a tremendous friend,” Dungy posted on X.

“God has always directed me in these moments and while I’m not sure what the next step will be for me — whether it will be in football, in broadcasting, or getting more involved in church and community outreach — I know God has plans for my life and I can’t wait to see them unfold,” he continued.

“And I am reminded of one of my favorite verses in the Bible — Romans 8:28. ‘God works all things for His good for those who love the Lord,’” he added.

“Seventeen years on NBC always shocked me. NBC is probably the most secular television network we have in America. I think they used Tony Dungy and the NFL used Tony Dungy to try to signal that ‘hey, we’re not anti-Christian,’” BlazeTV host Jason Whitlock says on “Jason Whitlock Harmony.”

“And now NBC and the NFL, I think, are kind of done with the biblical worldview — the Christian worldview — and so they have removed Tony Dungy,” he adds.

“I was surprised, just because, as you pointed out, he’s been there 17 years,” Anthony Walker tells Whitlock.

“I think it was a few years ago he started becoming even more vocal about his stance against abortion, about, you know, saving unborn children and went to a few rallies, public speeches, and faced a lot of criticism because of that,” Walker explains.

Want more from Jason Whitlock?

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​Fearless with jason whitlock, Fearless, Jason whitlock, The blaze, Blazetv, Blaze news, Blaze podcasts, Blaze podcast network, Blaze media, Blaze online, Blaze originals, Tony dungy, Christianity, Sunday night football, Nbc, Nfl, National football league, Jason whitlock harmony 

Outrage from the mother of an eighth-grade student at a New York middle school has led to a teacher being fired over a “racist” joke he made about slavery.

Dorothy Hall went to the media and demanded action be taken against the teacher from Gaskill Preparatory School, a public middle school in Niagara Falls, New York. She said her son is scared of returning to school out of fear of retaliation.

‘Invoking the suffering of enslaved people to entertain oneself is a blatant violation of dignity and a direct assault on the humanity of African American students.’

“He’s afraid of being retaliated against,” she said to WKBW-TV. “And I’m asking for the community to come together with me and my son, as well as the other student, because she absolutely didn’t have to deal with that either as a child. Nobody should have to deal with it, but especially as a child.”

Hall initially said her complaint was not taken seriously by the district.

“I’m reaching out to my community because I need for the science teacher, first of all, to be terminated. As of today, he’s only suspended with pay,” she said.

The Niagara Falls branch of the NAACP released a lengthy statement in support of her cause.

“Let’s be clear: This is not a joke. This is a racist insult rooted in the brutal history of slavery, inflicted on children by someone entrusted to educate them. It is harmful. And it is absolutely unacceptable,” reads the NAACP statement in part.

“This was an act of racial degradation directed at children who should never be forced to carry the weight of America’s most violent history within the walls of their classroom,” the organization added. “Invoking the suffering of enslaved people to entertain oneself is a blatant violation of dignity and a direct assault on the humanity of African-American students. It reveals a mindset that devalues African-American life, ignores historical trauma, and undermines any trust that families place in our public school system.”

RELATED: Elementary school librarian scolds first lady for sending ‘racist’ Dr. Seuss books

“I need accountability and justice. That’s what I need — my son needs. I don’t need. My son needs it,” Hall added.

The last records available indicate that more than $19K is spent per child in the Niagara Falls City School District.

Only 28% of students in the district are proficient in reading, while even fewer, 23%, are proficient in math.

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​Teacher makes racist joke, Teacher fired over racist joke, Niagara falls middle school, Dorothy hall racist joke, Politics 

U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro excoriated a federal judge for blocking subpoenas served by the Justice Department against Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.

James Boasberg, U.S. District Court chief judge for Washington, D.C., ruled Friday that the Dept. of Justice had no legal basis to issue the subpoenas in the investigation into renovation of the aged offices of the Federal Reserve.

‘Jerome Powell today is now bathed in immunity, preventing my office from investigating the Federal Reserve.’

President Donald Trump has accused Powell of mismanaging the renovation and tried unsuccessfully to pressure Powell to step down from his office. Boasberg, who has been accused of bias by the Trump administration, accused the president of seeking the investigation in order to force Powell out.

“A mountain of evidence suggests that the Government served these subpoenas on the Board to pressure its Chair into voting for lower interest rates or resigning,” the judge said in his ruling.

Pirro vehemently criticized the judgment in comments to the media.

“The American public is fed up with public moneys that seem to go into a black hole, especially in D.C. where no one is held accountable,” Pirro said.

“One of the age-old tools that all prosecutors have to investigate any crime, including cost overruns, is a grand jury subpoena. Today, however, in Washington, an activist judge has taken that tool away from us,” she added.

“As a result, Jerome Powell today is now bathed in immunity, preventing my office from investigating the Federal Reserve. This is wrong, and it is without legal authority,” she continued.

She indicated that the Justice Dept. intended to appeal the order from Boasberg.

The judge added that Pirro did not provide enough evidence for the accusation in his opinion.

“On the other side of the scale, the Government has produced essentially zero evidence to suspect Chair Powell of a crime; indeed, its justifications are so thin and unsubstantiated that the Court can only conclude that they are pretextual,” Boasberg wrote.

RELATED: Pam Bondi slaps Judge Boasberg with misconduct allegations

Powell also accused the administration of seeking the investigation to influence him.

“No one — certainly not the chair of the Federal Reserve — is above the law,” Powell said in January. “But this unprecedented action should be seen in the broader context of the administration’s threats and ongoing pressure.”

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Singer Gwen Stefani grew up in a Catholic household but drifted away from the Church as an adult — until an unexpected prayer brought her closer to God than she ever thought possible.

The No Doubt co-founder and multi-platinum solo artist recently opened up about her newfound faith with Jeff Cavins from Christian prayer and meditation app Hallow.

‘Please, God, let my mom have a baby.’

Stefani said her shift came 12 years ago, after talking to an acquaintance who had converted to Judaism despite a non-religious upbringing in Israel.

Wake-up call

“He was studying the Torah, and he had this big epiphany, … and he starts talking to me about the Torah. And I was desperate at this point, too, during all this. I really wanted to have another baby,” Stefani told Cavins. “I really did. And I couldn’t.”

After describing the teachings of the Torah as “waking me up,” she recalled talking to her then-8-year-old son about why he was unlikely to get his wish for a younger sibling.

“I’m sorry, your mommy’s too old,” she told him.

He then shocked her with a spontaneous prayer: “Please, God, let my mom have a baby.”

“I never taught him that,” Stefani marveled as she remembered the moment.

RELATED: Country star Blake Shelton says he found God in 2019: ‘I had one of those moments that you hear people talk about’

Running to God

To Stefani’s surprise, she learned she was pregnant just four weeks later.

“I was pregnant with Apollo, who I had at 44 years old naturally, totally a full-on gift. And that was the first miracle,” she explained.

“You can run from God, or you can run to God,” Cavins responded, with Stefani noting that she was always taught to run toward him.

The 56-year-old also revealed during her interview that the closest she feels to God is when she is doing music.

“Honestly, it’s ’cause I’m desperate for him because I’m like, I’m about ready to go on stage, and I’m not nervous, but I just want God to use me. I just want people to see God’s light through me,” she explained.

RELATED: ‘I’m Japanese and I didn’t know it’: Singer Gwen Stefani defends fascination with the Asian country, faces questions about cultural appropriation

December 2000. Photo by Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic

Daily practice

Stefani went on to say that she discovered the Hallow app during the COVID-19 lockdown and became so attached to the idea of daily prayer, she would have fears that one day the app would shut down and she wouldn’t be able to use it.

Now, she is doing work with the Christian prayer app, recently releasing videos like a 40-day Lent prayer challenge in which she encourages users of the app to pray every day leading up to Easter.

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While rabid defenders of illegal immigration often claim immigrants commit crimes at lower rates than U.S. citizens, investigative journalist Sharyl Attkisson tells Blaze Media co-founder Glenn Beck that couldn’t be further from the truth.

“The problem that I don’t understand is, first, people will say, you know, illegal immigrants, they don’t commit crimes half at the number that the citizen actually commits, and yet, we’re seeing people now killed on the streets, robbed, raped, etc., etc., by illegals,” Glenn tells Attkisson.

“I’m not saying all illegals are like this. … But we have lost the ability to seemingly even care about the crime if it’s an illegal doing it,” he adds.

“I’m so surprised that more people haven’t reported this. And I started reporting it at CBS News, and I’ve continued at full measure. So, we’ll go over a couple of facts because this is hard evidence,” Attkisson replies.

“There’s really hard evidence that a lot of people are ignoring for some reason that came in a 2018 analysis by the GAO, and it looked at how many illegal immigrants are in our prisons and jails. That’s a great hard measure of how many, compared to U.S. citizens, are caught committing crimes and serving time,” she explains.

Attkisson tells Glenn that in 2011, “The criminal alien proportion of the total estimated federal inmate population was 25%.”

“This is even before the big surge. One in four federal inmates was an illegal immigrant. But they only accounted for something like less than 7% of the population. So they’re committing crimes, if you look at the data in prisons and jails, at a huge rate compared to U.S. citizens,” she explains.

“And, by the way, that’s partial data because not all prisons and jails were reporting illegal immigrants,” she adds.

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As the Federal Bureau of Investigation is investigating a possible terrorist shooting at Old Dominion University, the Democratic governor of Virginia is getting hit with backlash over her statements about the incident.

One person was killed and two others were injured when an armed man attacked on Thursday, but other students were able to “subdue” him and kill him, according to the FBI. The deceased victim was later identified as Lt. Col. Brandon Shah, an ODU professor of military science.

‘She won’t say it now because she’s a Democrat politician. That’s how evil and depraved she and her party have become.’

Authorities have identified the deceased alleged shooter as Mohamed Bailor Jalloh, a former member of the Army National Guard who was previously convicted of trying to provide support to the ISIS terror group.

Gov. Abigail Spanberger offered a statement that did not acknowledge the alleged killer or his likely motivation.

“Lt. Col. Brandon Shah was killed today in his classroom at Old Dominion University. A devoted ROTC instructor, Lt. Col. Shah didn’t just lead a life of service to our country, he taught and led others to follow that path,” she posted.

“I am grateful for his example, deeply saddened by his death, and praying for his family. Amid this tragedy, I thank the brave students, first responders, and law enforcement officers who responded quickly to today’s horrific attack,” she added.

Spanberger was immediately assailed online by her critics.

“There was a time when this woman — a former CIA colleague of mine — would have unapologetically said ‘Brandon Shah was killed today by an Islamic terrorist …,'” former CIA officer Bryan Dean Wright posted. “She won’t say it now because she’s a Democrat politician. That’s how evil and depraved she and her party have become.”

“If you only read the Governor of Virginia’s post, you’d have no idea he was murdered by a terrorist because of his service and love of country. Purposeful omission. You’re a disgrace,” Fox News podcast host Riley Gaines said.

“WHO killed him? And why are you afraid to say it??” Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas replied.

RELATED: Heroic students subdued suspected terrorist in Old Dominion attack and ‘rendered him no longer alive,’ says FBI

“She can’t even say this was an act of terrorism. So pathetic, especially … since she has the largest naval base in her state,” radio show host Jeanne Ives said.

Spanberger campaigned as a moderate Democrat, but since she got into office she has implemented sweeping far-left policies that include an effort to gerrymander the state’s congressional districts.

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An anti-war veterans’ group has paid for a billboard near a California naval base to advise U.S. military members to refuse to follow “illegal orders” from the government.

The billboard echoed the message from six Democrats in a November video that was excoriated by President Donald Trump as “seditious.” At one point he seemed to warn that they could be put to death over the video.

‘To suggest and encourage that active-duty service members defy the chain of command is a very dangerous thing …’

“The San Diego Veterans for Peace, Hugh Thompson Memorial Chapter #91, is very pleased to announce … a billboard reminding active-duty troops that they have a duty to disobey illegal orders,” read a statement from the group.

The billboard appears near the entrance of Naval Base San Diego in Barrio Logan and reads, “Active Duty & National Guard: You have a duty to refuse illegal orders.”

A spokesperson for Veterans for Peace said the group is rolling out billboards with the same message near military bases throughout the U.S.

Despite the brutal rhetorical attacks from the president as well as War Secretary Pete Hegseth, the U.S. attorney’s office reportedly dropped the effort to indict the six Democrats over the video.

Hegseth also sought to revoke military benefits from Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona, a veteran and one of the Democrats in the video, and warned that he could face a court-martial. That effort was also thwarted by a judge, who said it threatened to chill the free speech of other military veterans.

RELATED: Trump ally drops effort to prosecute Democrats over ‘seditious’ video, sources say

Defenders of the “illegal orders” message say they are merely reiterating what is in the U.S. military code. Critics say they are encouraging troops to commit sedition.

“To suggest and encourage that active-duty service members defy the chain of command is a very dangerous thing for sitting members of Congress to do,” said White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt previously. “And they should be held accountable.”

According to its website, the Veterans for Peace group was founded in 1985 and advocates against war as a policy solution for nations.

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On November 5, 2009, U.S. Army major and psychiatrist Nidal Hasan fatally shot 13 people on military base Fort Hood and wounded more than 30 others. The mass shooting goes down as the deadliest on an American military base and one of the deadliest terrorist attacks on American soil since September 11.

Now, that same Texas military base once targeted by Islamic terror is celebrating Islam — and BlazeTV host Sara Gonzales can’t believe it.

“The Fort Hood Religious Support Office and Fort Hood Muslim Community warmly invite all to an evening of fellowship, reflection and community as we break the fast together during the month of Ramadan,” a social media post reads, before explaining the religious tradition more in depth.

“I actually love that it says, ‘The annual observance of Ramadan is one of the Five Pillars of Islam.’ Islam, the thing that’s incompatible with our way of life, with Western civilization, with this country,” Gonzales comments on “Sara Gonzales Unfiltered.”

“So, here’s the question I have, OK? Tell me this. If a Muslim is supposed to be faithful to Islam and Islam calls its followers to destroy those who do not follow Allah, … how can a Muslim be in the U.S. military?” she asks.

“The only excuse, the only reason that I could figure is those of you who might say, ‘Well, there are some peaceful Muslims. Well, there are some nice Muslims. Not all Muslims mean us harm,’” she says. “I would say it stands to reason that the only Muslims who would be capable and not dangerous to serve in our military would be bad at their religion, right?”

“This is a humiliation ritual at this point,” she continues. “And I’m not saying that I have all the answers, again, but I would like to pose the question: Does this seem like a disaster waiting to happen to anyone else?”

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The Department of Homeland Security criticized the left-wing media for overlooking the fact that most immigration arrests involve illegal aliens with prior charges or convictions.

The department highlighted Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Thursday arrests of pedophiles and other criminals in a press release exclusively obtained by Blaze News.

‘Instead of trying to score brownie points, sanctuary politicians should be thanking our law enforcement officers.’

Meanwhile, the DHS has remained without funding for one month, with Democrat lawmakers refusing to vote to reopen the agency without stringent reforms to ICE. On Thursday, senators voted for the fourth time against a bill that would fully restore funding to the DHS.

“Yesterday, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested more criminal illegal aliens convicted for sexual conduct against a child, sexual assault, conspiracy to distribute narcotics, and other horrific crimes,” the Friday DHS press release read.

Immigration agents captured Jose Mendez, an illegal alien from El Salvador who was previously convicted of sexual conduct against a child in Mineola, New York.

RELATED: ‘Heinous’ thug accused of shoving 83-year-old military vet onto NYC subway tracks was deported 4 times, charged 15 times: DHS

Jose Mendez. Image source: Department of Homeland Security

Edgar Martinez-Funez, an illegal alien from Honduras, was also nabbed by federal officers. He was previously convicted of attempted aggravated sexual assault of a child in Dallas County, Texas.

Edgar Martinez-Funez. Image source: Department of Homeland Security

ICE arrested Victor Enrique Perez-Sanchez, an illegal immigrant from Mexico who was convicted of sexual assault in Lamesa, Texas.

Victor Enrique Perez-Sanchez. Image source: Department of Homeland Security

Hein Ngoc Nguyen, an illegal alien from Vietnam, was convicted twice for conspiracy to distribute narcotics, conspiracy to distribute, and possession with intent to distribute MDMA in Fairview Heights, Illinois. MDMA is the drug more commonly referred to as molly or ecstasy.

Hein Ngoc Nguyen. Image source: Department of Homeland Security

The DHS also highlighted the arrest of Angel Geovanni Garcia-Bermudez. He is an illegal alien from Mexico who was convicted of trafficking fentanyl in Franklin County, Ohio.

RELATED: Spring break blues: DHS highlights outrageous airport conditions amid Democrat shutdown

Angel Geovanni Garcia-Bermudez. Image source: Department of Homeland Security

“The media and sanctuary politicians continue to ignore that nearly 70% of ICE arrests are of illegal aliens charged or convicted of a crime in the U.S.,” DHS Deputy Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis stated.

“Yesterday, the brave men and women of ICE risked their lives to get pedophiles, sexual assailants, drug dealers, and other scumbags out of this country,” Bis continued. “Instead of trying to score brownie points, sanctuary politicians should be thanking our law enforcement officers for removing the worst of the worst from American communities.”

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The Florida 20-year-old accused of giving birth in a toilet, watching her newborn drown, and then burying the baby in her back yard has bonded out of jail.

Anne Mae Demegillo was granted a $250,000 bond and must follow conditions such as turning over her passport, wearing a GPS monitoring device, and having no contact with any minors, WESH-TV reported.

‘It baffles me, to be completely honest. Sometimes you can’t explain everything.’

The station noted that during the bond hearing, Flagler County Sheriff’s Detective Shannon Smith testified that “I did ask her, if knowing what she knew now during our interview, if she could go back 48 hours and change how she handled the outcome of this, if she would change it, she said she doesn’t believe that she would.”

Flagler County Sheriff Rick Staly said Demegillo admitted to watching the baby drown and cleaning up the blood after giving birth in her bathroom, WFTV-TV reported: “She did tell us that she was hoping that the baby would hurry up and die.”

WESH said the state argued for no bond, citing Demegillo as a threat to the community and a potential risk for destroying evidence.

But Demegillo’s attorney, Michael Politis — who acknowledged that “there is something obviously that is off” regarding his client — argued that “there’s no diagnosable mental condition … but I think as far as the community and the danger to the community, I don’t think this is. This is an isolated episode,” WESH reported.

Records show Demegillo bonded out Thursday afternoon, and WESH cameras caught her quickly walking — and then running — away from the jail and ignoring reporters’ questions.

RELATED: Florida female, 20, gives birth in toilet, leaves newborn girl there, waits until baby ‘stops crying and moving,’ cops say

Demegillo last week claimed she thought the infant was deceased, so she hid the infant in a duffel bag in her closet and went about her normal daily routine, the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office said.

When Demegillo returned home last Thursday night from a theater performance in New Smyrna Beach, she buried the deceased infant in a shallow grave in her back yard, officials said, adding that at no point did Demegillo contact emergency services for assistance.

Chief Deputy Joe Barile of the sheriff’s office noted to WESH in a previous story that “it baffles me, to be completely honest. Sometimes you can’t explain everything.”

The newborn girl weighed three pounds, six ounces, and measured 18 inches long, WESH reported added.

Demegillo faces aggravated manslaughter charges, WESH said. But the station noted that the state attorney’s office said it expects to file more charges against her, including tampering with evidence.

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As many lawmakers in Washington debate election rules and as tensions rise overseas, Blaze Media co-founder Glenn Beck says several headlines that appear unrelated are actually telling the same story about the state of American institutions.

“I want to connect a few stories that on the surface look completely unrelated, but they’re actually not. They’re all telling you the same thing about how power is working in America right now,” he says.

Glenn begins by pointing to the Senate’s expected vote on the SAVE Act, a proposal that would require proof of citizenship to vote in federal elections.

“This is a complete sham,” he says. “Now, this is just a bill that says you have to prove you’re a citizen to vote in American elections. Think about that for just a second. Just this basic idea. If you’re voting in the United States, you should be an American citizen.”

Senate procedure, Glenn explains, allows lawmakers to avoid publicly defending their positions.

“Originally, if you wanted to block a bill, all you had to do is stand on the floor and talk hour after hour, day after day. … But today, you don’t have to do that anymore, because it’s hard. You just threaten a filibuster and then walk away. And you need a 60-person vote to bring it back to the floor,” Glenn says.

He argues the result is a process that lacks transparency and accountability.

“No speeches, no fight, no accountability, OK? No courage, just a zombie filibuster,” Glenn comments.

Lawmakers, he says, could force a more visible debate if they chose to.

“They could keep the Senate in continuous session for day after day after day, and if Democrats want to block voter citizenship requirements, then let them stand there for 24 hours a day explaining why. Make them hold the floor. Make them say it out loud,” Glenn says.

He then points out that the election debate is happening while larger global developments unfold.

“See, that’s the disconnect here,” he says. “The world is playing geopolitical chess for the whole game, and Washington is arguing whether the players are even allowed to sit at the board.”

For Glenn, the larger issue is what these headlines reveal about the condition of American institutions.

“The institutions that are supposed to protect trust, elections, law enforcement, government spending, the media are all under strain at the same time. They’re not broken beyond repair, but they are deeply strained,” he says.

Restoring confidence, he argues, will require “principles, transparency, and courage.”

“Transparency means letting Americans actually see the fight, whether it’s a Senate filibuster or an FBI investigation. Courage means you have to be willing to stand there and defend your position in the light and let the chips fall where they may,” he explains.

In the end, Glenn says the truth will eventually surface.

To hear more, watch the video above.

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A federal judge minced no words in his dissenting opinion regarding the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals’ refusal on Thursday to rehear the case of a Christian-owned women’s spa forced by Washington state into admitting men.

Judge Lawrence VanDyke, an appointee of President Donald Trump, wrote, “This is a case about swinging d**ks.”

”Sometimes, it feels like the supposed adults in the room have collectively lost their minds.’

“The Christian owners of Olympus Spa — a traditional Korean, women-only, nude spa — understandably don’t want them in their spa,” VanDyke continued. “Their female employees and female clients don’t want them in their spa either. But Washington State insists on them. And now so does the Ninth Circuit.”

The family-owned spa was accused of discrimination in 2020 for refusing access to a trans-identifying male whose penis was intact, and has been fighting an uphill legal battle ever since. In May, a three-judge Ninth Circuit panel ruled against the spa, holding that the First Amendment rights of its owners had not been violated by the state.

The spa subsequently petitioned the Ninth Circuit for a panel rehearing and/or a full-court rehearing of the case. Those were denied, prompting VanDyke to go nuclear:

Sometimes, it feels like the supposed adults in the room have collectively lost their minds. Woke regulators and complicit judges seem entirely willing, even eager, to ignore the consequences that their Frankenstein social experiments impose on real women and young girls. Yet if harmful and unfortunate consequences were all this case was about, we’d have to shrug and say: “That’s what comes with living in a democracy.” Unless the Constitution is implicated, we get what we voted for “good and hard.”

But some fundamental rights, like the right to the free exercise of religion, are constitutionally protected precisely to avoid majoritarian infringement. Unfortunately, in this case the panel majority has allowed Washington State bureaucrats to trample on such rights long secured by the Constitution.

VanDyke tore apart his colleagues’ reasoning, stating that:

“[Washington Law Against Discrimination] is not generally applicable because it treats comparable secular activity more favorably than Olympus Spa’s religiously motivated activity”;”WLAD’s application is not neutral because it facially differentiates among religions based on theological choices by granting an exemption to only a small set of favored religious activities”; and”WLAD’s woke redefinition of ‘sex’ undermines the hard-fought legal protections granted to women as a class and undercuts established criminal laws against voyeurism and indecent exposure.”

Some of the Trump judge’s colleagues couldn’t handle his criticism and frank language.

RELATED: WATCH: Talarico self-owns when he warns fascism will ‘be wrapped in the flag and carrying the cross’

Annie Wells/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

Mary Margaret McKeown, an appointee of former President Bill Clinton who previously ruled against the spa, said in a statement that was joined by over 25 other Ninth Circuit judges that the American legal system is “not a place for vulgar barroom talk” or a “place to suggest that fellow judges have ‘collectively lost their minds,’ or that they are ‘woke judges’ ‘complicit’ in a scheme to harm ordinary Americans.”

McKeown claimed that VanDyke’s language — not her decisions — “undermines public trust in the courts.”

VanDyke said in response to his colleagues’ pearl-clutching:

My distressed colleagues appear to have the fastidious sensibilities of a Victorian nun when it comes to mere unpleasant words in my opinion, yet exhibit the scruples of our dearly departed colleague Judge Reinhardt when it comes to the government trampling on religious liberties and exposing women and girls to male genitalia. That kind of selective outrage speaks for itself. The public deserves a court that is actually trustworthy. We should be earning that trust, not demanding it like petty tyrants.

“Sometimes ‘dignified and civil’ words are employed to mask a legal abomination. … Sometimes coarse and ugly words bear the truth,” VanDyke added.

Go deeper

The spa, owned by a theologically conservative Christian family, is modeled on jjimjilbang, sex-segregated bathhouses in Korea, and requires that guests be nude inside the pool area.

Court documents state the spa required that entrants “physically present in the nude as … female,” further noting, “Biological women are welcome.” Under the rules, female-identifying males were welcome just so long as they had “gone through post-operative sex confirmation surgery.” In other words, penises weren’t permitted.

In 2020, Caleb Richmond — a trans-identifying male who was once married to a woman and now goes by Haven Wilvich — attempted to use the Washington Law Against Discrimination to gain access to the spa. The spa reportedly denied the man access, prompting him to file a complaint with the Washington State Human Rights Commission.

When the WSHRC notified the spa that it had received a discrimination complaint, the spa asserted that its “biological women”-only policy was in keeping with state law and “essential for the safety, legal protection, and well-being of our customers and employees,” court documents said.

‘Washington has perversely distorted a law that was enacted to safeguard women’s rights to strip women of protections.’

Although initially defiant, the spa signed a pre-finding settlement agreement requiring compliance with WLAD while reserving the right to mount a constitutional challenge.

Richmond reportedly boasted online that he had successfully found a way to legally invade the women’s sanctuary. He wrote, “I did it,” adding he got “the main naked lady spa in the area to change their policies and allow all self-identified women access regardless of surgery and genitals.”

Richmond further suggested that he was “more woman” than any of his female critics because he is “an intentional woman whereas they are only incidental.”

Myoon Woon Lee, the owner of the spa, sued the WSHRC, claiming that the WLAD, as enforced, impinged upon his “traditional, theologically conservative” Christian values and put his female clientele at risk.

A Washington District Court judge dismissed the case with prejudice in 2023, but Lee appealed to the Ninth Circuit.

A three-judge panel ruled in May 2025 that the spa cannot sue the WSHRC on First Amendment grounds. The majority held that the enforcement of WLAD “did not impermissibly burden the Spa’s free speech,” that the spa is “not an expressive association,” and that “eliminating discrimination on the basis of sex and transgender status is a legitimate government purpose.”

Judge McKeown stated in her May opinion for the majority, “The HRC’s enforcement action against Olympus Spa was a straightforward application of Washington’s statutory scheme.”

Judge Kenneth Lee, a Trump appointee, said in his dissenting opinion, “Washington has perversely distorted a law that was enacted to safeguard women’s rights to strip women of protections. The women and girls of Washington state deserve better.”

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Timothée Chalamet is in trouble for saying that opera and ballet are dying art forms. The 30-year-old Oscar-nominated actor, whose parents chose the most complicated way to spell “Timothy,” told fellow movie star Matthew McConaughey, “I don’t want to be working in ballet, or opera, or things where it’s like, ‘Hey, keep this thing alive, even though no one cares about this any more.’”

Realizing he may have made a PR boo-boo with his honesty, Chalamet added, “All respect to the ballet and opera people out there. I just lost 14 cents in viewership.”

Yes, my wife is a dancer. Spoiler: She’s not a stripper. Strippers make money. Dancers don’t.

No matter how much Chalamet may have upset the ladies of “The View,” he’s right. Opera and ballet are dying arts. And the 14 cents he may have lost in viewership will not be spent instead on the opera or ballet.

Tickets, please

I find it rather telling that so many of the people defending the honor of opera and ballet aren’t showing their receipts. Look at all the people who love these fine arts with a passion — and yet can’t produce a ticket to prove they have ever been patrons.

It reminds me of New Yorkers who mourn the closing down of local restaurants and bars they never went to. “How can something like this happen?”

Easily. It’s your fault. You’re not supporting the ballet. You’re not supporting opera.

Now, I play a role in this. I have never been to an opera. So when the murder of opera eventually goes to trial, I’ll be convicted — not of first-degree murder or manslaughter, but at most of negligent homicide. When the fat lady sings from the witness stand, she’ll be pointing her finger at me — and you too.

RELATED: Marc Maron, king of the ‘fascist’-fighting hacks

Victoria Sirakova/Rick Kern/Ulstein Bild Dtl./Getty Images

Betrayed by ballet

I’m sure lots of you are saying, “But I go to musicals all the time!” Well, so do I. Musicals ain’t operas. Let’s not pretend seeing “Kinky Boots” on Broadway counts.

But I have been to the ballet. I might be the only person who has seen more ballet than I’ve seen Timothée Chalamet flicks. Over the past 13 years, I’ve seen a lot of dance. It’s one of the perks of marrying a dancer. Yes, my wife is a dancer. Spoiler: She’s not a stripper. Strippers make money. Dancers don’t. (Although the “stripper index” indicates an industry downturn.)

Most recently, for my birthday, my wife bought us tickets to see the Lyon Opera Ballet at New York City Center. Even though it has “opera” in its name, it is just ballet. And it sucked. I won’t go into details. I’ll just say this: When you go to see a live performance, there’s always the risk that it will suck. I accept that risk. In October of last year, we saw the Paris Opera Ballet at the same venue. (Again, “opera” in name alone.) That show was good … until it wasn’t.

Empty seats

No matter if it’s good or bad, I always make sure to eat at a great restaurant either before or after the show. Drinks help. And if you’re driving into the city, a bad show — when experienced with a person you love — well, there’s nothing like it! It always makes for great car conversation.

Now that I have provided these receipts, please take me at my word: When I attend these shows and look around, either I see lots of empty seats or lots of elderly patrons. It’s just the reality.

If you don’t go to the ballet, then you don’t support the ballet. The same goes for the opera. I know ballet and opera are class-coded, but tickets aren’t really that expensive compared to the more popular performing arts. But talk is cheap. Complaining is free. I say, put your money where your mouth is and go out there and support the arts you want to keep alive. And when you do, share those receipts.

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