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If there were one thing that stood out about the Super Bowl commercials this year — aside from companies desperately appealing to Millennials with ’90s-themed nostalgia — it was the prevalence of artificial intelligence. Chief among them, Amazon showed off a new AI feature that taps into its broad Ring camera network to create a mass surveillance dragnet so effective that “Minority Report” would blush. Even worse, the feature is enabled by default, which means your Ring camera could be scanning your street right now.

Your neighborhood is under AI surveillance

We live in odd times when Amazon would willingly spend millions of dollars on a Super Bowl ad, just to tell the world a secret that most companies would keep to themselves — that their Ring cameras are now essentially AI-powered mass surveillance tools.

Your cameras have been automatically opted in, and they are actively scanning your street.

The feature is called Search Party. In the 30-second ad, a little girl is given a puppy. After falling in love with him, the dog goes missing, only to be found after Ring cameras installed throughout the neighborhood scan the streets and identify the missing pet. It’s a heartwarming tale on the surface, positioning Search Party as a smart and helpful way to find a lost dog and bring him back home.

To Amazon’s credit, the feature was meant to be a benefit to users, boasting that more than one dog has been returned home per day since the feature launched. The broader implications, however, are that Search Party’s capabilities could easily be expanded to scan the faces of humans. It’s not unrealistic either, since Ring already does a version of this for designated family and friends with a feature called Familiar Faces. With humans as the target instead of animals, Ring’s camera network could create a surveillance state bolstered with facial recognition, ID matching, and a criminal database. It’s the stuff of dystopian nightmares.

Search Party is enabled by default on all Ring outdoor cameras and doorbells. That means your cameras have been automatically opted into the service without your consent, and they are actively scanning your street corner for lost pets right now.

Can the government spy on Americans with Search Party?

Amazon claims that privacy, security, and user control are critical pillars in Ring’s products and services. If this were the case, Search Party would have been optional from the start, but I digress.

For what it’s worth, Ring will only hand over users’ personal information and the recorded footage saved to user accounts when served a legal warrant or for urgent law enforcement requests involving imminent danger. So the government probably won’t exploit Search Party for surveillance purposes now or in the future, at least not in most cases.

Either way, it’s still creepy that Ring could one day build and keep a record of every person who walks by one of their devices, thanks to AI disguised as a helpful pet finder.

RELATED: How to stop Microsoft from letting the government see everything on your computer

Photo Illustration by Thomas Fuller/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

How to disable Search Party on Ring cameras

Although Search Party comes pre-enabled on your devices, you have the power to turn it off. Follow these quick steps to rid yourself of Amazon’s intrusive AI spyware for good:

Open the Ring app on your smartphone.Tap the hamburger menu in the top left corner.From the menu, choose “Control Center.”Under “Search Party,” tap on the “Search for Lost Pets” option, and disable it.

Screenshots credit Global Success Narratives

Your neighbors need to know about Search Party too

Keep in mind that disabling Search Party on your cameras is only half the battle. Every other Ring camera, including the ones in your neighborhood, is surveilling the block, monitoring you and your neighbors when you walk by. If you really want to kick Amazon’s AI out of your community, you’ll need to spread the word.

Tell your neighbors about the feature and how to disable it. Bring it up in town hall meetings. Let your neighbors know you do not want Search Party anywhere near your home. Only then will you be free from Amazon’s prying eyes.

​Tech, Ai, Ring camera, Security 

America is getting darker. Christians have felt it for some time, but now even some of the nonreligious crowd is noticing it. A shadow creeps across the nation, breeding chaos, confusion, and unmitigated wickedness.

Some want to fight the encroaching corruption with legislation, others with innovation, but Rick Burgess, BlazeTV host of the spiritual warfare podcast “Strange Encounters,” says those kinds of solutions treat only the symptoms, not the disease.

Underneath the rampant degeneracy permeating American institutions and culture is the root of all evil, and until we look it in the face, our country will continue to slide ever deeper into a pit of despair.

On this episode of “Strange Encounters,” Rick discusses America’s spiritual predicament, including the possibility of demonic portals in the U.S., with Tom DiMarco, author of the recently published book “The Only Way Out: A Brief Look at the Driving Forces Behind Today’s Chaos and the Only Person Who Can Save Us.”

Rick regularly encourages his audience to engage in what he calls “spiritual housecleaning,” meaning to examine what you’ve brought in or allowed to come into your home. Some things — like Halloween decorations, occult or witchcraft-related objects, and even media or content that promotes darkness — can be invitations of welcome to demonic forces.

But it’s not just individual Christians who need to engage in spiritual housecleaning. The nation at large is in desperate need of it too.

One item in America’s “house” deserving of scrutiny, says DiMarco, is Freemasonry — the world’s oldest fraternal organization.

Although it’s presented as a brotherhood promoting charity and personal improvement, DiMarco paints a more complicated picture.

“There’s lower levels of the Masons, and it’s basically a men’s club … they do a lot of good things, but there’s levels, and as you climb up the levels, you get to a point where you’re sworn to secrecy,” he says, citing claims of ancient deity worship among some Masonic circles.

The symbolism woven into some of America’s most prestigious monuments is another point of contention, says DiMarco. He points to the Washington Monument and the Capitol building as primary examples.

He explains that the Washington Monument is an “obelisk,” a tall, four-sided pillar tapering to a pyramid top that translates literally to “Baal’s shaft” — a phallic fertility symbol tied to pagan worship of Baal, who the Bible associates with child sacrifice.

The U.S. Capitol building’s dome, he argues, represents ancient pagan symbolism tied to a “fertility goddess” (the rounded shape designed to mirror pregnancy).

He further claims that inside the dome’s “belly” — in the Rotunda’s central fresco, “The Apotheosis of Washington” — six ancient gods are depicted, including figures symbolizing the god of war under names like Astarte, Ishtar, and Isis, whom he says evolved into the modern “Columbia” (as in District of Columbia), with Masonic influence in the naming and design.

On top of that, DiMarco claims that the man George Washington appointed to oversee the initial setup of the federal territory, Daniel Carroll (a wealthy aristocrat with alleged Masonic ties), set up the layout of Washington, D.C.’s monuments and buildings so that, when viewed aerially from the White House, it forms a pentagram — a five-pointed star often associated with occult or Satanic symbolism.

He argues that “the monuments are the compass and the square — the symbol of Freemasonry.”

Even our Statue of Liberty, he says, is modeled after a pagan goddess, “now named Columbia.”

“The second commandment, you know, specifically tells us not to build these things,” says DiMarco. “I think they become portals. They’re areas where it’s a gateway for these [demonic] beings to gain strength.”

He and Rick say that in ancient Israel, idolatry (worshiping other gods through idols, high places, Asherah poles, Baal altars, etc.) and adopting pagan practices were seen as direct violations of the covenant with God. The Bible repeatedly shows that these practices led to divine judgment — exile, defeat, or curses — while removing them via repentance, destruction of the idols, and returning to exclusive worship of Yahweh were often prerequisites for God’s restoration, blessing, protection, and deliverance.

They suggest that if America wants to see “a reign of peace,” like the one brought about by the “good kings” of Judah, we have to follow their steps and remove idols and pagan altars.

“As long as these things are here, we will have war,” says DiMarco.

To hear him unpack his portal theory, watch the full interview above.

Want more from Rick Burgess?

To enjoy more bold talk and big laughs, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

​Rick burgess, Blazetv, Blaze media, Burgess, Tom dimarco, Demonic worship, Demonic influence, Demons, Spiritual warfare, Washington dc, Paganism, Pagan worship, Strange encounters 

President Trump’s recent push to send federal health care dollars directly to individuals, rather than insurers, reflects a broader demand for transparency and effectiveness in how public funds are used. Government-funded medical research, which forms the foundation of much clinical care, also requires such scrutiny.

In recent years, academic medicine has advanced a nebulous theory of “structural racism” that echoes the 19th century “miasma” theory, which blamed disease on “bad air.” Despite scant evidence, studies attempting to validate this vague framework have multiplied, often funded by largely unaware taxpayers. Refocusing federal research dollars on rigorous science and evidence-based care is essential to correcting this trajectory.

The incentives were clear: Few researchers — early-career or established — would decline funding in an area where the NIH was investing heavily.

How did this happen? The construct of “structural racism” was virtually absent from medical literature until a decade ago. Since then, it has become the default explanation in academic medicine for differences in health outcomes across racial and ethnic groups. Its rise accelerated during the 2020 anti-racism craze, which swept through corporate boardrooms and university administrations while also becoming a core ideological pillar of Black Lives Matter and other political movements.

Academic medicine was no exception. This philosophy quickly gained favor in medical education, academic health centers, elite journals, and professional associations, eventually influencing federal agencies that distribute research funding.

The result: a surge of grant-funded studies built on the premise that racism causes health disparities. Of the nearly 2,300 articles indexed under the term “structural racism” in PubMed, the U.S. National Library of Medicine’s database of leading biomedical and health journals, 95% were published after Jan. 1, 2020. In 2025 alone, PubMed lists 400 such papers — nearly four times the total published before 2020.

This proliferation has been supported by a tsunami of federal taxpayer dollars coming from the National Institutes of Health. From 2020 to 2025, an NIH database search found nearly 750 projects mentioning “structural racism” in their abstracts, totaling almost $533 million in funding. More than 70 of those projects were funded in 2025 at just under $40 million — significantly down from more than 220 projects in 2024 totaling $150 million, but still far above 2020, when only 12 projects received a little over $12 million in the aggregate. Before 2020, the NIH had funded just 10 such projects at a combined cost of $4 million.

Funding patterns across NIH’s 27 Institutes and Centers from 2020 to 2025 make clear that ideology, not medical science, drove much of this growth. The largest investments came from the National Institute on Drug Abuse ($147 million in total funding), National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities ($70 million), and National Institute on Aging ($57 million), each pouring substantial resources into “structural racism” research.

In 2025, for example, NIDA supported a project under the Healthy Brain and Child Development National Consortium that identified “structural racism” as a risk to babies before and after birth, alongside more recognizable factors like maternal health, toxic exposures, and child abuse — thereby conflating an abstract, ill-defined, and ideological social theory with measurable, scientific variables as a threat to child development.

Also in 2025, NIMHD funded the Clinical Research Scholars Training program, a “health-equity focused” initiative created in part due to NIH calls for research on “the impact of structural racism and discrimination on health disparities.” Eligibility for this program was limited to those deemed “underrepresented in biomedical research.” All others need not apply.

RELATED: Who really controls behavioral health care — and why it matters now

Douglas Rissing / Getty Images

And just last year, a NIA-funded project invoked “interrelated systems of structural racism” and “race-specific stress” as risk factors for Alzheimer’s disease and cognitive decline, diverting attention and resources away from well-established contributors such as genetics, medical conditions, lifestyle and environmental factors, and core biological mechanisms like amyloid plaques and tau tangles.

Unfortunately, a commitment to science gave way to ideology years ago. Under Francis Collins, the NIH “acknowledged and committed to ending structural racism,” without even defining the concept itself. “Structural racism” was accepted despite its questionable validity and lack of explanatory power.

With vague boundaries and mechanisms difficult to measure, claims of “structural racism” far exceeded the empirical evidence. Nevertheless, the idea was accepted wholesale and used to justify a wave of DEI initiatives, effectively recasting the NIH as an “anti-racist” institution in the Ibram X. Kendi mold. Objective science was no longer sufficient; the agency was expected to take an activist stance.

Proponents embraced this shift, seeing an opportunity to move health research from “individual-level risk, health behavior, and functioning” to “structural level concepts” with “structural racism” named specifically. Research dollars supported tools like the Structural Racism Effect Index to “guide policies and investments to advance health equity.”

The incentives were clear: Few researchers — early-career or established — would decline funding in an area where the NIH was investing heavily, especially when that support could provide a path to publication in top journals.

Yet the instruments used to quantify “structural racism” expose a basic flaw: They don’t measure racism.

The SREI’s nine dimensions, for example, largely track socioeconomic conditions — wealth, income, housing, employment. In practice, a high score identifies communities facing poverty. Even researchers linking SREI scores to hypertension, obesity, smoking, and low physical activity concede they “cannot make causal inferences.”

RELATED: Teaching kids to hate America will have real-world consequences

Deagreez via iStock/Getty Images

These health risks may result from poverty, contribute to it, or arise from entirely different causes. Labeling them as products of “structural racism” adds no explanatory value, miscasts economic hardship as race-based, and downplays individual responsibility. It overshadows far more consequential drivers of outcome disparities, including access to care, personal choice, medical comorbidities, and genetics.

Nonetheless, no alternative explanation for health disparities has received anywhere near the same attention in leading medical journals — such as the New England Journal of Medicine, Lancet, and JAMA — as “structural racism.” This concept has been treated as settled fact, with disparities alone offered as proof: If disparities exist, racism must be the cause. Likewise, many medical organizations have reinforced this view through policies and position papers that embed an anti-racism framework into scientific inquiry.

But change is in the air. The NIH’s recent miasma-like fixation on “structural racism” is finally clearing. Under Director Jay Bhattacharya, the agency is refocusing on its core mission of funding rigorous, evidence-based science rather than ideology-driven research. This shift will direct scarce taxpayer dollars toward work grounded in medical science and its practical application — research that can genuinely improve health rather than feed political currents.

This course correction is timely, and while sustained effort in 2026 will be needed to fully restore the NIH to its rightful mission, taxpayers can take comfort: America’s leading biomedical and medical science research institute will once again prioritize their dollars and their health.

Editor’s note: This article was originally published by RealClearPolitics and made available via RealClearWire.

​Structural racism, Medical funding, Nih, Medical research, Government funding, Nida, Clinical research, Woke, Opinion & analysis, National institutes of health, Black lives matter, New england journal of medicine, Jay bhattacharya, Reform, Health, Equity 

Last year, the Defense Intelligence Agency concluded that Russia and China increasingly lean on nuclear weapons to pursue their national interests. Together, they could surpass the U.S. strategic nuclear force in numbers, creating a multiple-challenger problem and raising the risk of coordination between adversaries.

Put plainly: The nuclear balance is moving against the United States.

The DIA projects more than missiles and warheads. It predicts that China will deploy 60 fractional-orbit bombardment systems by 2035 — systems designed to complicate warning and response.

Start with Russia. The DIA projects a force of 400 land-based intercontinental ballistic missiles. Fifty would be Sarmats, each reportedly capable of carrying up to 20 high-yield warheads — about 1,000 warheads. The remaining 350 would be Yars missiles, with roughly four medium-yield warheads each — about 1,400 more. That puts Russia at roughly 2,400 warheads on land-based ICBMs alone.

Russia’s sea-based force adds more. The Bulava submarine-launched ballistic missile reportedly carries six warheads. Under the DIA’s forecast, that comes to about 1,152 additional warheads, pushing the combined ICBM/SLBM total to roughly 3,552. Russian strategic bombers can carry still more — around 1,000 warheads on air-launched systems.

That implies a Russian long-range strategic force as high as 4,552 warheads — far above the 2010 New START ceiling.

China’s trajectory looks even more unsettling. The DIA now projects 700 Chinese ICBMs by 2035, a striking revision given the agency’s history of underestimating Beijing’s growth. China reportedly produces 50 to 75 ICBMs per year. With roughly 400 already fielded, an additional 300 by 2035 are well within reach even at a slower production rate.

Warhead potential varies by missile type. The DF-31A can carry three re-entry vehicles. The DF-41 can reportedly carry up to 10 warheads. Depending on the mix, China could field anywhere from roughly 2,100 to 7,000 ICBM warheads.

The DIA also forecasts 132 Chinese SLBMs by 2035: 72 JL-3 missiles and 60 additional missiles for three new Type 096 ballistic-missile submarines. If the JL-3 carries three warheads, that yields 216 SLBM warheads. If the new SLBM carries at least six, that adds 360 more. In that scenario, China fields about 576 SLBM warheads — bringing the total for Chinese ICBMs and SLBMs to roughly 2,616 to 7,616 warheads.

The DIA projects more than missiles and warheads. It predicts that China will deploy 60 fractional-orbit bombardment systems by 2035 — systems designed to complicate warning and response. It also anticipates roughly 4,000 hypersonic weapons, many of which can evade current defenses and approach from unpredictable trajectories. Some could potentially carry nuclear payloads. China also produces hypersonic vehicles at scale and at far lower cost than the U.S.

North Korea compounds the problem. The DIA forecasts that Pyongyang could field about 50 ICBMs. That adds a third nuclear challenger and increases the risk of coordination among Russia, China, and North Korea during a crisis.

RELATED: How the military is computing the killing chain

Photo by John Harrelson/Getty Images

No quick fixes

Now consider the United States. The modernization plan centers on 400 Sentinel ICBMs deployed in existing silos through roughly 2045, with 400 warheads but potentially 800 to 1,200 in an upload scenario. At sea, the U.S. plans 12 Columbia-class submarines, each with 16 missiles. If each missile carries up to eight warheads, the fleet could carry 1,536 warheads. Combined, that produces 2,736 fast-flying warheads in a maximum-load scenario.

The bomber leg adds more, at least on paper. A force of B-52s and B-21s carrying cruise missiles and gravity bombs could add up to roughly 720 additional warheads, pushing a hypothetical total to about 3,456 strategic long-range warheads. That number may exceed the available warheads in the stockpile and planned cruise-missile inventories, but it illustrates the upper bound of what current plans could support.

Even that maximum posture faces a timing problem. Triad experts estimate that the United States would need at least four years to upload an expanded warhead force. Against a potential Russian and Chinese deployed force with more than 11,000 long-range warheads, the U.S. could face a numerical disadvantage of at least 3-1. More importantly, in this scenario the United States would already sit at its build limits: Sentinel and D-5 capacities would be maxed out.

We could add more bombers, but those aircraft also support critical conventional missions that few allies can perform. Current plans call for 100 B-21s, with growing support for 150 to 200. Additional ICBMs, submarines, or bombers would arrive late — often after 2040. The U.S. has 50 additional, currently empty ICBM silos that could help, but the vulnerability window could still remain open for years.

Time to build — again

Some argue that raw warhead counts do not matter. That view may comfort American planners, but it does not necessarily describe how adversaries think. Arms control — from SALT to New START — rested on the premise that limits matter and that verification matters. President Reagan captured the logic: “Trust but verify.”

If numbers never mattered, verification never would have.

History also suggests that superiority can translate into leverage. President Kennedy believed nuclear advantage helped the United States stare down the Soviets during the Cuban Missile Crisis. He reportedly called the newly deployed Minuteman force “my ace in the hole.” He similarly saw the Polaris submarine force as insurance against Soviet pressure during the Berlin crisis.

None of this replaces sound diplomacy. Military strength without strategy becomes bluster. Diplomacy without credible force becomes impotent. Henry Kissinger made that point repeatedly, and it remains true in a nuclear age.

If the 2023 Strategic Posture Commission is correct that Russia and China practice nuclear blackmail and coercion, the United States cannot assume shared premises about deterrence, arms control, or restraint.

RELATED: Trump’s space order shows why the Outer Space Treaty must go

Manuel Mazzanti/NurPhoto via Getty Images

Consider the recent arms-control record. Under the Moscow and New START agreements, the U.S. and Russia reduced deployed strategic warheads by roughly 4,500 each, bringing the total to roughly 1,700 to 1,800. Russia may have sought to keep U.S. deployed forces below 2,000 for roughly two decades while it modernized, recovered economically, and positioned itself for a new era of confrontation.

If China and Russia achieve meaningful numerical superiority, they may gain coercive leverage that changes behavior across regions. At the same time, abolition advocates urge the United States to abandon deterrence and extended deterrence, leaving America’s forces below those of its adversaries. That would signal weakness to NATO and Indo-Pacific allies, undermining confidence and pushing some to consider their own nuclear options.

That outcome would be bitterly ironic. Many critics predicted that pushing European allies to spend more would weaken the alliance. In reality, a stronger NATO — anchored by U.S. power and reinforced by allied conventional buildup — raises the cost of aggression and reduces the risk of miscalculation.

The enemy always gets a vote. Our adversaries have cast theirs. They treat nuclear force not simply as a deterrent, but as a tool of coercion and a shield for aggression — an adjunct to the unrestricted warfare the U.S. now faces.

Because nuclear weapons underpin America’s deterrent strength and provide the umbrella under which U.S. military and diplomatic power operate, the United States must complete — and expand — its nuclear modernization plans. That effort should include credible theater and tactical nuclear capabilities as well as strategic systems. These forces function as a firewall against coercion and attack.

No substitute exists, regardless of how strongly abolition advocates wish otherwise.

Editor’s note: This article was originally published by RealClearDefense and made available via RealClearWire.

​Nuclear triad, Nuclear bombers, Nuclear submarines, Russia, China, U.s., North korea, B-21 bomber, Cruise missiles, Nuclear deterrence, Start treaty, Opinion & analysis, America first, National defense, Strategy 

Police officers searching high and low for a missing toddler in Louisville, Kentucky, last month received an unlikely assist from a four-legged hero.

While a drone and police helicopter searched overhead for signs of the 3-year-old boy, officers with the Louisville Metro Police Department’s Seventh Division canvased the neighborhood, keenly aware that time was of the essence.

‘Lassie found him!’

Officer Josh Thompson indicated that a fellow officer heard tell of a report from a woman “that called in about a kid. It wasn’t the same description, but it was a young kid — hit her Ring doorbell camera, ran off.”

After following up with the woman, Thompson learned that the boy had ventured to the home across the street.

The front porch of that residence was flanked by packages, and there were no obvious signs of anyone being inside. So Thompson inspected the rear of the house, taking note that “there’s some spots where a kid may be.”

When returning to the front of the home, hoping that this time someone might answer the door, Thompson realized that he was being tailed.

RELATED: ‘The Case for Miracles’: A stirring road trip into the heart of faith

Photo by Luke Sharrett for the Washington Post via Getty Images

“There’s a dog, starts walking with me,” Thompson recalled. “At first, you don’t know about dogs. You don’t know where the dog’s from, so I’m kind of being a little leery of the dog. He’s barking, chirping at me a little bit, and then continues to follow me back to the front porch.”

The dog was relentless, yapping at Thompson in an apparent effort to get his attention.

Bodycam footage shows Thompson gesture to the dog and say, “Let’s go find him! Come on! Let’s go!” Immediately, the dog spins, then begins leading the officer back toward the rear of the house.

“It led me all the way back to the back yard. At that point, I’m thinking, ‘Okay, this kid’s in this back yard,'” recalled Thompson.

Noticing that the back door was ajar, officers briefly checked inside the house for the child but found nothing. When the officers came out empty-handed, they were greeted again by the dog, which hurried over to a parked car.

Moments later, Thompson heard his fellow officer, who had accompanied the dog through the back yard, announce victory: “I got him!”

“The kid was in the front passenger seat, terrified,” said Thompson.

With some coaching from the officers, the kid was able to unlock the door and was greeted with cheers.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen a happier kid in my life,” said Thompson. “He jumped out of the car, bear-hugged my neck, and wouldn’t let go.”

In the footage, it’s clear that the dog was similarly excited over the result, wagging its tail excitedly and darting its nose from officer to officer.

“Lassie found him!” says one of the officers.

Thompson suggested that in his two years patrolling the neighborhood, he had never seen the hero dog before or since.

“I don’t know where the dog came from,” he said. “But it was a blessing from God that day.”

The LMPD stated, “Outstanding work by our officers, and a four-legged friend who reminded us that heroes come in all forms.”

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​Lifestyle, Good dog, Dog, Canine, Missing, Toddler, Children, Police, Louisville, Metro, Politics 

A 39-year-man who had worked as a coach and math teacher at a high school was arrested for allegedly sending inappropriate messages to a 15-year-old girl.

Yaniv Rosenberg showed WESH-TV the nude selfie that was allegedly sent to his daughter by Colby Erskin, who was arrested Feb. 5 by the Seminole County Sheriff’s Office.

‘From, ‘Do you need help in math?’ to, ‘You look cute,’ to sexual comments.’

Rosenberg said Erskin had been his daughter’s math teacher at South Plantation High School before he took a job at a different school.

He described the messages allegedly found on his daughter’s device.

“From, ‘Do you need help in math?’ to, ‘You look cute,’ to sexual comments, to, ‘You want to hang out?’ to, ‘Can I see you after the football game?’ to freakin’ naked pics of himself,” Rosenberg said.

Erskin was a head football coach at Mount Dora High School in Lake County when he was arrested.

He is facing two felonies related to soliciting a child and sending harmful information.

Lake County Schools said Erskin had only recently been hired as a coach and was fired soon after the arrest.

“Mr. Erskin, who was hired less than a month ago as our football coach, was dismissed from his position (Feb. 5) after we learned that he had been arrested on a South Florida warrant for allegations that do not involve any of our students,” the statement reads.

RELATED: Michigan man who allegedly murdered his fiancée and her two sons says he just ‘snapped’

“We are cooperating with law enforcement and encourage anyone to come forward if you have anything to share regarding Mr. Erskin,” the district concluded.

The WESH video report shows a blurred-out image of the nude photo allegedly sent to the student.

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​Yaniv rosenberg’s daughter, Colby erskin arrest, Teacher sends inappropriate messages, Coach sends nudie to student, Crime 

Most parents who purchase baby formula trust that if the product is on the supermarket shelf, it must be safe for their child, but according to findings from the Healthy Florida First initiative, many of the top formula brands tested positive for heavy metals.

The state-led program, spearheaded by Governor Ron DeSantis (R), first lady Casey DeSantis, and Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo through the Florida Department of Health, aims to build a healthier Florida through independent testing and publication of contaminants in everyday foods.

On a recent episode of “Conservative Review with Daniel Horowitz,” Horowitz interviewed Casey DeSantis about what Florida’s health initiative uncovered about 24 top-selling baby formulas and what parents can do to ensure that their children are receiving the best nutrition.

A Consumer Reports investigation released in March 2025 found potentially harmful levels of heavy metals, including arsenic and lead, in some of the 41 baby formulas tested. Around the same time, HHS and the FDA announced Operation Stork Speed, which increased testing for heavy metals and contaminants, reviewed nutrient standards, and strengthened oversight of infant formula safety.

Despite this initiative, DeSantis says that according to infant formula testing conducted by Florida’s Department of Health, “there hasn’t been much change at all.”

“And honestly, since we had our results coming out, I haven’t heard anything from some of these baby formula manufacturers. And so it’s like at what point in time is enough enough?” she says, calling metal toxicity in baby formula “unconscionable and unacceptable.”

Out of the 24 baby formulas tested, Florida’s Department of Health found that 16 contained one or more heavy metals exceeding current safety standards.

“Could you give us a summary of those shocking findings?” asks Horowitz.

“Sixteen out of the 24 had high levels of mercury. Two had lead. These are problematic heavy metals, right? They don’t just leave the body. They’re there for a while,” says DeSantis, “and our surgeon general said, you know, when you’re exposed to this early in life in these quantities over the course of a year or two, your risk of getting cancer goes up exponentially.”

“I would encourage moms and dads and grandparents to go to exposingfoodtoxins.com because there you can see specifically which ones are better than others,” she adds.

“Don’t tell me it’s the manufacturing process and there’s nothing that we can do, because certainly there are some manufacturers that are doing it better. So we should, as consumers, push to drive change because that’s the right thing to do on behalf of families.”

To hear more of the conversation, watch the full interview above.

​Conservative review, Conservative review with daniel horowitz, Horowitz, Daniel horowitz, Casey desantis, Florida, Florida department of health, Operation stork speed, Ron desantis, Joseph ladapo, Blazetv, Blaze media 

The EPA just delivered news that millions of fed-up American drivers have been waiting for: Automatic start-stop technology is no longer being propped up by federal regulation.

On February 12, 2026, President Donald Trump and EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin announced what the administration is calling the largest deregulatory action in U.S. history. The move scraps the Obama-era 2009 greenhouse gas endangerment finding and wipes out federal greenhouse-gas standards for vehicles dating back to model year 2012.

‘Mechanically, it’s a disaster waiting to happen. Constant restarts accelerate wear on starter motors — even reinforced ones.’

For everyday drivers, the practical consequence is simple and satisfying: The regulatory credits that encouraged automakers to jam start-stop systems into vehicles are gone.

‘Universally hated’

Zeldin didn’t mince words, calling start-stop an “almost universally hated” feature — an “Obama switch” that makes your engine shut off at every red light. Trump echoed the sentiment, blasting the policy as a regulatory disaster that drove up prices and forced unwanted technology on consumers. Even the EPA’s own announcement acknowledged what drivers have been saying for years: A feature that kills your engine at stops and jolts it awake again was never embraced voluntarily — it was incentivized.

For years, automakers chased roughly a 1-mile-per-gallon compliance credit tied to start-stop systems. On paper, it helped meet greenhouse-gas targets. In the real world, the fuel savings were often negligible outside of ideal lab conditions. Still, the feature spread everywhere — from sedans to SUVs to trucks — not because buyers demanded it, but because it was the cheapest way to check a regulatory box.

Consumers got the irritation. Automakers got the credit.

‘Disaster waiting to happen’

I asked ASE Master Technician Greg Damon what start-stop really does under the hood. His answer was blunt:

Mechanically, it’s a disaster waiting to happen. Constant restarts accelerate wear on starter motors — even reinforced ones. Batteries cycle harder and require more expensive replacements. Engine components face repeated stress, especially during warm restarts when lubrication isn’t instantaneous. In shops, mechanics see higher failure rates, specialized repairs, and higher bills. All of that complexity and cost to chase a single MPG on a spreadsheet.

Is 1 MPG worth higher sticker prices, increased maintenance costs, and shorter component life?

Drivers have already answered that question. Many disable the system every time they start the car — if the manufacturer even allows it. Some vehicles require a ritual button press; others hide any permanent shutoff entirely. Subaru owners, in particular, have flooded forums with complaints about hesitation and drivability issues. Reviews and social media tell the same story: This isn’t progress. It’s punishment.

RELATED: Sick of your ‘eco-friendly’ car turning off at every red light? So is Trump’s EPA head

VCG/Getty Images

No incentive

After the ruling, I contacted major automakers. Their responses were identical — carefully scripted statements saying they would “review their strategy” if regulations changed. Well, the regulations have changed. Loudly. Publicly. And without ambiguity. With compliance credits vaporized, the financial incentive disappears. Expect manufacturers to quietly phase out start-stop or finally offer true, set-it-and-forget-it disable options.

The broader implications are enormous. The Trump administration projects more than $1.3 trillion in total regulatory relief, with per-vehicle compliance costs dropping by an estimated $2,400. Lower vehicle prices ripple through the entire economy. As Zeldin put it, the move restores consumer choice and eases cost-of-living pressure by removing mandates that distorted the market.

Other Clean Air Act rules governing traditional tailpipe pollutants remain in place. Emissions are not unregulated. What died here is the prescriptive, heavy-handed system that rewarded gimmicks like start-stop instead of genuine engineering improvements. Automakers now have room to pursue real efficiency — better engines, smarter hybrids, lighter materials, and improved aerodynamics — without sacrificing reliability or driver satisfaction.

Win for aftermarket

The automotive aftermarket wins too. An industry supporting more than 330,000 American jobs can breathe easier without constant compliance pressure steering vehicles away from serviceable, long-term ownership.

This is a win for common sense. Start-stop survived because Washington subsidized it, not because Americans wanted it. Without regulatory crutches, the feature faces the only test that matters: voluntary consumer demand. And the answer has always been clear.

If you’ve ever muttered under your breath at a red light while your engine shut off — then lurched back to life — this one’s for you. The era of government-mandated automotive irritation just took a fatal hit.

​Lifestyle, Epa, Start-stop, Lee zeldin, Auto industry, Donald trump, Ev mandate, Emissions standards, Align cars 

An LGBTQ activist tried to tear down the U.S. flag at the Stonewall National Monument during an event Thursday where officials returned a Pride flag removed by the Trump administration.

The Pride flag was removed on Tuesday from the monument in New York City that commemorated a riot against police by gay men in the ’60s.

‘The way the whole thing went down was pretty dramatic. … Gays have a sense of flair and drama.’

The crowd chanted, “Take it down!” and “Burn the American flag!” according to a USA Today report. Others chanted, “We will not be erased!”

Local officials did not give speeches and left immediately after returning the Pride flag.

The report said activists were upset that the flag had been put on a flagpole that was lower than the U.S. flag, so they took both down and used zip-ties to raise the Pride flag above the U.S. flag.

“We are reclaiming our space. It’s reclaiming our people; it’s reclaiming our culture,” one supporter said to WCBS-TV. “The flag has so much meaning behind it. The colors represent the diversity of our community. These are things you can’t take away from the community, which is why it’s so important for us to raise it again.”

“The way the whole thing went down was pretty dramatic,” said another attendee named Shep Wahnon. “Gays have a sense of flair and drama.”

Chloe Elentari, a transgender woman, told USA Today that the Trump administration was scapegoating transgender people in order to divert attention away from the Jeffrey Epstein files.

President Donald Trump had ordered all flags aside from the U.S. flag to be removed from federal buildings unless they were specifically authorized.

RELATED: Officials at ‘Latinx’ LGBTQ+ center are outraged that months-long fecal attacks are not an arrestable offense

The Stonewall National Monument was established in 2016 by President Barack Obama to recognize the riot as a milestone in the LGBTQ movement.

Activists were similarly angered in Feb. 2025 when the Trump administration removed transgender and lesbian references in the sign of the monument.

“This blatant act of erasure not only distorts the truth of our history, but it also dishonors the immense contributions of transgender individuals,” organizers said at the time, “especially transgender women of color — who were at the forefront of the Stonewall Riots and the broader fight for LGBTQ+ rights.”

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A U.S. law enforcement official with knowledge of the case told Reuters that an Arizona sheriff is blocking FBI access to key evidence surrounding Nancy Guthrie’s abduction and that it’s hampering the federal agency’s ability to assist in the probe.

The FBI asked Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos for physical evidence in the case — including a glove and DNA from the home of the 84-year-old victim — to be processed at the FBI’s national crime laboratory in Quantico, Virginia, but Nanos insisted on using a private lab in Florida instead, the official told Reuters.

‘It risks further slowing a case that grows more urgent by the minute.’

While Reuters said Nanos didn’t respond to its requests for comment, the outlet noted that Nanos said in a late Thursday interview with Tucson television station KVOA-TV that the FBI agreed with his decision to send newly discovered evidence to the lab, which has worked with his office for years.

However, the U.S. law enforcement official noted to Reuters that move is delaying the FBI’s ability to assist in the case.

Still, Nanos denied the allegations, Reuters said, and called them “not even close to the truth” in the KVOA interview.

“Actually the FBI just wanted to send the one or two they found by the crime scene. … I said, ‘No, why do that? Let’s just send them all to where all the DNA exist, all the profiles and the markers exist.’ They agreed, makes sense,” Nanos told KVOA, according to Reuters.

More from Reuters:

In a daily press update released earlier in the day, the sheriff’s department said investigators had “recovered several items of evidence, including gloves,” adding that all viable evidence is submitted for analysis.” The agency did not elaborate.

The Pima County sheriff has primary jurisdiction over the case, and FBI assistance must be officially requested by the county, otherwise the FBI is legally precluded from taking part in the investigation. The official said the county has spent some $200,000 so far to send evidence in the Guthrie case to the Florida lab.

“It risks further slowing a case that grows more urgent by the minute,” the official told Reuters earlier Thursday, citing unspecified “earlier setbacks” in the investigation.

RELATED: How the FBI actually got the Google Nest footage of Nancy Guthrie’s alleged kidnapper

The official added to Reuters that “it’s clear the fastest path to answers is leveraging federal resources and technology. Anything less only prolongs the Guthrie family’s grief and the community’s wait for justice.”

More from Reuters:

Signs of friction between the FBI and sheriff’s department emerged as the search for Nancy Guthrie stretched into its 12th day, as investigators intensified their search for clues in the presumed kidnapping for ransom.

Nancy Guthrie was last seen on January 31 when family dropped her off at her home following an evening dinner with them, and relatives reported her missing the following day, authorities said.

The sheriff has said the elder Guthrie had extremely limited mobility and could not have wandered off far from home unassisted, leading investigators to conclude early on that she had been abducted by force.

In addition, officials said last week that DNA tests confirmed traces of blood found on Guthrie’s front porch were Guthrie’s blood, Reuters reported, adding that law enforcement and family members have described Guthrie as frail health-wise and requiring daily medication to survive.

What’s more, Reuters also noted that at least two purported ransom notes have surfaced since Guthrie vanished — and both of them initially were delivered to news outlets and set two deadlines that have since lapsed.

However, Reuters noted that no proof of life is known to have surfaced following Guthrie’s abduction.

Savannah Guthrie, 54 — co-anchor of the popular NBC News morning show “Today” — has posted several video messages with her brother and sister that appeal to their mother’s captors for her return, Reuters said.

The siblings even state a willingness to meet ransom demands in the clips, Reuters added.

In addition, authorities released doorbell camera video at Guthrie’s home near Tucson showing an armed prowler in a ski mask and gloves trying to disable the camera, Reuters said, adding that the clip was recorded around the time that Guthrie was believed to have been taken from her residence by force.

More from Reuters:

Investigators were likely seeking to bring facial recognition analysis to bear on the video to produce a composite image of a suspect that they can run against a national database that includes all U.S. drivers with Real ID licenses, according to a former FBI agent.

Law enforcement officials on Thursday said a black latex glove found discarded on a roadside was recovered and undergoing forensic examination.

The FBI on Thursday doubled the reward offered for information leading to the location of Nancy Guthrie, or arrest and conviction of a suspect in her abduction, to $100,000.

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​Nancy guthrie, Savannah guthrie, Abduction, Fbi, Pima county sheriff’s department, Chris nanos, Today show, Crime 

A viral video purporting to show an arson attack on a facility rumored to be bought for federal detentions led to an outraged statement from the Kansas City mayor against ICE.

The video shows a woman trying to light a facility on fire Thursday after the building was rumored to have been sold to the Department of Homeland Security for a future detention center in Kansas City.

‘I am outraged by federal efforts to place 10,000 human beings in cages inside distribution warehouses in Kansas City.’

The woman has not been caught, and the motivation for the attack is unclear.

Ironically, the firm that owns the building said it was not going through with the sale to the federal government on Thursday.

“As negotiations concluded, we learned the purchasing party was the U.S. Government,” the company said. “Over the course of the building sale process, we determined that the terms no longer met our fiduciary requirements for a timely closing. Therefore, we chose not to move forward.”

As a KMBC-TV reporter was trying to report about the decision, his camera crew recorded the woman trying to light the building on fire.

When the mayor was asked about the attack, he expressed outrage at ICE and offered a half-hearted statement against the woman.

“I am outraged by federal efforts to place 10,000 human beings in cages inside distribution warehouses in Kansas City or anywhere in our country,” Mayor Quinton Lucas wrote in a statement on social media. “I’ll trust the courts, our local prosecutors, and law enforcement in Kansas City to handle the offender.”

Some critics of the mayor pointed out that he had promoted the outrage against the facility in a statement on the same day as the attack.

RELATED: ‘Quite literally insane’: DHS responds to new scheme from LA activists to warn illegal aliens about ICE

“I am aware of a recent release from a Kansas City firm regarding a distribution facility in South Kansas City that has been rumored as a target for a mass ICE detention encampment of up to 10,000 persons,” he said in a post Thursday.

“While Kansas City welcomes any news suggesting the halting of a planned conversion of a warehouse for goods and products into a human encampment,” he added, “I will continue with our legislative, legal efforts, and community engagement to ensure no warehouse or similar facility in Kansas City or nearby is converted to a mass encampment warehouse of persons that is offensive to the dignity and human rights of those who would be detained within it.”

KMBC has since posted the entire raw footage of the woman trying to burn down the building.

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On Tuesday, February 10, during a heated House Homeland Security Committee hearing, Democratic Rep. Shri Thanedar (Mich.) told U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Rodney Scott, “You better hope you get pardoned.”

“That’s a threat,” says Glenn Beck, who was deeply disturbed by Thanedar’s words.

“He didn’t say, ‘You violated the law, and you should be investigated.’ What he said was, ‘When power changes hands, we’re going to punish you for enforcing the law.’ That distinction is everything,” he warns.

“The moment the enforcement itself becomes criminalized retroactively,” Glenn says, “the rule of law does not merely weaken; it completely flips.”

“The message is no longer, ‘Follow the law.’ The message becomes, ‘Guess who’s going to be in charge later? You better act accordingly,’” he explains. “That is not a democracy. That’s a legitimacy war.”

Thanedar’s threat, he says, is evidence that accelerationism — “the belief that everything needs to be burned down” — is migrating from fringe street movements into the halls of government itself.

In the streets, accelerationism sounds like, “Burn it down,” but in the government, it sounds like, “We’ll deal with you later,” Glenn explains.

“[Thanedar’s threat] is nothing I have ever heard ever in my lifetime in America, and it should chill all of us to the bone,” he says. “When lawmakers openly promise prosecutions after elections, they’re not talking about justice; they’re signaling veto power — the rule by anticipation of punishment.”

Glenn warns that some people are engaging in “casual talk” about “Nuremberg-style trials” that would treat “domestic opponents” as Nazi war criminals deserving execution or lifelong imprisonment after a power shift.

This should terrify everyone, he says.

“Applause for the idea of prosecuting the former regime at every level and anyone who was participating — that means you, that means me, anybody who was on the side of the right — you better look out,” he cautions.

“This is not about one person. This is not about left versus right. This is about something far more corrosive,” Glenn warns.

“The normalization of the idea that power exists to punish the previous holder of power — you’re a banana republic.”

To hear more Glenn’s commentary, watch the video above.

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​The glenn beck program, Glenn beck, Shri thanedar, Ice agents, Anti ice, Department of homeland security, Dhs, Kristi noem, Blazetv, Blaze media, Banana republic, Annihilationism, Accelerationism 

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem held a press conference in Arizona on Friday to urge the passage of the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act.

Noem addressed reporters after attending a roundtable discussion with local officials, including Maricopa County Recorder Justin Heap, Arizona Assistant Attorney General Jennifer Wright, and state Rep. John Gillette (R).

‘There’s only one reason that anyone would oppose this bill, and that’s because they would want to cheat.’

The secretary emphasized that President Donald Trump has made election integrity one of the administration’s top priorities of its Make America Great Again agenda.

Noem stated that the nation’s election system “needs a lot of work,” adding that America currently has a “golden opportunity” to demonstrate that it is “serious about securing our elections and that we care about making sure that we preserve our sacred republic.”

She noted that the House of Representatives passed the SAVE America Act earlier this week, contending that its passage would implement “common-sense, straightforward” measures, including requiring proof of citizenship to register to vote and states’ removal of noncitizens from voter rolls.

“These measures are extremely popular with American citizens,” Noem continued. “American people have common sense, and they want to see reforms like this put into their elections.”

Noem highlighted a recent poll that found 84% of Americans support requiring a photo ID to vote and 83% support requiring proof of citizenship when registering to vote.

RELATED: 4 Senate Republicans evading MAGA’s pressure campaign to prevent noncitizens from voting

Photo by Kent Nishimura/Getty Images

“It’s common sense that our elections should belong to the American people, that they should be the ones who get to vote, whose votes are counted, that they get one vote, not more, not less,” Noem said. “It’s common sense to make sure that foreign nationals don’t vote in our elections, don’t elect our leaders and have a say in how our country runs.”

“It’s a fact that noncitizens have been voting in our elections. They’ve been registered, and they have voted from state to state,” she added.

The secretary provided examples of noncitizens who had voted in prior elections, including an illegal alien registered to vote in Maryland and another illegal alien registered in Kansas.

“As it stands, current guidelines for the National Voter Registration Act effectively stop states from going forward and checking citizenship during registration. The SAVE America Act would fix this,” she declared.

Noem addressed left-wing criticism that the SAVE Act would prevent American citizens from voting, including claims that newly married women would be disenfranchised when they have a name change and that the measure would make it impossible for U.S. service members to vote when deployed overseas.

She called these claims “just absurd” and “completely false.”

“Each of the arguments that have been laid out to criticize this bill are baseless speculation from the radical left because they want illegal aliens to vote in our elections,” Noem stated.

“There’s only one reason that anyone would oppose this bill, and that’s because they would want to cheat.”

RELATED: Lone Republican defies Trump, votes to tank the SAVE Act

Kristi Noem. Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

Reporters pressed Noem for specifics about Arizona’s election system, including whether “emphasizing election security threats without evidence” would “undermine public confidence” or further “misinformation.”

“We have a SAVE program that is available to the state of Arizona,” Noem replied, explaining that the state’s election officials could use the program to ensure that those on its voter rolls are verified.

Noem expressed concern that there are likely “many” individuals on Arizona’s voter rolls who should not be casting a ballot, including individuals who may be living in another state.

“I understand that you have mobile homes and boats on lakes that individuals may have as their voter registration address, but not necessarily that is where they live,” she said. “They live in another state, such as California or on the East Coast.”

Noem stated that Arizona has a history of being “an absolute disaster on elections.”

“Your leaders have failed you dramatically by not having systems that work, by disenfranchising the Americans who wanted to vote, that had to stand in lines for hours because machines failed or software failed. There’s no state that could use more improvement than Arizona,” Noem stated.

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​News, Kristi noem, Department of homeland security, Dhs, Election integrity, Arizona, Save act, Save, Justin heep, John gillette, Maricopa county, Jennifer wright, Voting, Elections, Politics 

A 58-year-old man with a long rap sheet has been accused of robbing a beloved skating coach at a St. Louis Starbucks before shooting the defenseless woman to death, according to court documents.

Twenty-eight-year-old Gabrielle “Sam” Linehan was in the drive-thru in the Tower Grove East neighborhood when, prosecutors allege, Keith Lamon Brown killed the beloved coach and mentor.

‘This loss is both sudden and heartbreaking for our athletes, staff, and broader community.’

Brown was also wanted for allegedly holding a cashier at gunpoint at a Dollar General and robbing another woman at gunpoint at a Jack-in-the-Box in the days prior to the incident.

Surveillance video reportedly shows Brown wearing a high-visibility vest and helmet as he walked up to Linehan’s vehicle. He fled on foot after allegedly shooting Linehan.

Days later when Brown was arrested, investigators said they found Linehan’s license in his possession as well as other items stolen from the woman at the Jack-in-the-Box.

The Metro Edge Figure Skating Club confirmed that Linehan had been their coach. A friend of Linehan said she had stopped at the Starbucks on her way to watch the Olympics at a friend’s house.

“This loss is both sudden and heartbreaking for our athletes, staff, and broader community. We are focused on supporting Coach Sam’s family and providing care and resources for our skaters during this difficult time,” the club said in a statement to KTVI-TV.

Brown was charged with first-degree murder, unlawful possession of a firearm, and three counts of armed criminal action. A judge denied bond for the suspect.

RELATED: Thug allegedly tries to rob man at Penn Station and ends up shot by his off-duty police wife

Court records indicated that Brown has a criminal history as far back as 1986 that includes burglary, robbery, and armed criminal action.

“Coach Sam will be deeply missed and forever remembered,” said the skate club, which also asked for privacy on behalf of her family and friends.

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​Gabrielle sam linehan, Keith lamon brown murderer, Starbucks drive thru shooting death, Skating coach and medalist murdered, Politics 

The Department of Homeland Security is not impressed with the latest effort by Los Angeles activists to warn illegal aliens about the presence of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.

Anti-ICE activists regularly employ whistles to help illegal aliens evade federal officers, but Amanda Alcalde is planning to install ICE warning sirens in the Highland Park neighborhood.

‘Seems like a public nuisance!’

Alcalde said the sirens would be installed on private property and at businesses since the plan is not sanctioned by the city.

In an email statement to Blaze News, DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin ridiculed the siren plan.

“This is quite literally insane. The residents of Highland Park want to buy an air raid siren — the same device that was used in London when German planes flew over — to alert the community about ICE. Seems like a public nuisance!” McLaughlin replied.

She went on to document “some of the criminals the residents of Highland Park are trying to protect and help evade arrest.”

Among those were Carlos Danilo Barrera, a criminal illegal alien and member of the Florencia 13 gang who is from El Salvador and was convicted of second-degree murder in Los Angeles, DHS said.

Some others listed by DHS include:

Diego Cardona, a criminal illegal alien from Guatemala and 18th Street gang member convicted for voluntary manslaughter in Los Angeles;Sergio Salvador Salazar Sorto, a criminal illegal alien from El Salvador convicted for false imprisonment and battery in Los Angeles; andEhsan Jalal, a 52-year-old citizen of Afghanistan convicted for robbery in Los Angeles.

Alcalde went on to say in a statement to KTLA-TV that the ICE operations had reduced the “ethnic” representation she saw on the streets of Los Angeles.

RELATED: ICE accuses LA officials of giving ‘a middle finger to the law’ after county paves way for illegal aliens to receive funding

“I’ve seen a lot of fear in people’s eyes. I don’t see a lot of our ethnic minorities out in the day-to-day. It’s big change. It feels dystopian in a way,” she said.

The Trump administration has been recently ramping up detentions and arrests against activists who interfere with federal enforcement operations, according to a Reuters report.

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After former CNN anchor Don Lemon allegedly joined a group of protesters who stormed a church in St. Paul, Minnesota, during a service last month, he finally appeared for his arraignment on Friday.

The incident allegedly involving Lemon and several other protesters occurred on January 18. Lemon was arrested on January 29 and released the following day, according to a CNN report.

Lemon is charged with conspiring to violate someone’s constitutional rights and violating the FACE Act.

Lemon, as expected, pleaded not guilty to the two charges brought against him. Lemon is charged with conspiring to violate someone’s constitutional rights and violating the FACE Act.

Lemon has reportedly hired former Minnesota federal prosecutor Joseph H. Thompson to represent him.

RELATED: Don Lemon ARRESTED over apparent involvement in church invasion; Jim Acosta whines

Photo by Stephen Maturen/Getty Images

Upon his release from custody late last month, Lemon said, “I have spent my entire career covering the news — I will not stop now. In fact, there is no more important time than right now, this very moment, for a free and independent media that shines a light on the truth and holds those in power accountable.”

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New episodes of HGTV’s hit home restoration show “Rehab Addict” were scheduled to air this week after host Nicole Curtis’ brief hiatus. On the same day of the show’s scheduled return, however, years-old leaked footage was published by RadarOnline showing Curtis mindlessly uttering a slur during a renovation.

Warner Bros. Discovery-owned HGTV promptly removed every episode of the show. Future episodes have been canceled.

‘I make no excuse for this.’

“HGTV was recently made aware of an offensive racial comment made during the filming of ‘Rehab Addict,'” the network said in a statement to Variety. “Not only is language like this hurtful and disappointing to our viewers, partners, and employees — it does not align with the values of HGTV. Accordingly, we have removed the series from all HGTV platforms.”

The show-killing viral video appears to show Curtis growing increasingly frustrated during a restoration job and muttering, “Oh fart n*****.”

Realizing immediately what she had just said on camera, Curtis turns to her crew with a look of panic, stating, “What the f**k is that that I just said?”

Curtis appears to ask someone off-screen to “kill that,” in reference to the video evidence — which clearly didn’t take place.

It’s clear that someone behind the scenes had it out for the historic-house-saving mother.

RadarOnline’s source, who indicated the footage was years-old, said, “You [Nicole] deserve everything you get. Treat us with dignity and respect, and quit making money off of our backs. … You are a trash human.”

The host of the now-erased nine-season series said in a lengthy Instagram post on Thursday, “I am sorry. I am filled with remorse and regret, just as much as I was one second after that word was said 4 years ago in 2022.”

RELATED: Deace: The Pam Bondi Show needs to be canceled

Photo by Paul Marotta/Getty Images for Cost Plus World Marke

“I show this, I say this and I realize you are getting a limited view as what has been circulating is a clip of MY footage that was stolen then manipulated, edited and sold to [a] tabloid to coincide with my return to television only to create this chaos of hate, anger, disappointment,” Curtis continued. “I make no excuse for this. I am not [a] victim. Nothing I say or do will take that moment 4 years ago away. I know it was wrong. This will never happen again.”

The ex-host proceeded to suggest that she has been “submerged in the African American community” her entire life and that she has chosen “to live and work in the inner cities of many major cities,” where she apparently hears that word used routinely.

While there were plenty of people apparently happy to see Curtis’ life ruined over a poor choice of words several years ago, she also had many defenders — and at least one job offer — in the wake of her cancellation.

Curtis is hardly the first reality television star canceled over racially charged language.

For instance, the late Hulk Hogan was fired from World Wrestling Entertainment in 2015 over his liberal use of the word “n*****” on tapes recorded nearly a decade earlier. American chef and prolific cookbook author Paula Deen was systematically canceled and stigmatized in the wake of allegations of racial discrimination and the repeated use of a certain slur.

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Yesterday, all but one Democrat in the U.S. House voted against the SAVE Act (Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act), which would require people to show official proof of U.S. citizenship when registering to vote in federal elections and provide a government-issued photo ID to cast a ballot.

Given that the overwhelming majority of American citizens support the core provisions of the SAVE Act, the near-unanimous Democratic opposition is evidence, says BlazeTV host Sara Gonzales, that Democrats are “actively trying to undermine what the American people want and what they voted for.”

“If you are in Congress, you are supposed to represent your constituency, and so … that would lead you to think that [the SAVE Act] is wildly unpopular with the left — like the Democrat constituency doesn’t want voter ID,” she says.

“But here’s the strange thing. That’s not correct. The vast majority of all Americans on both sides agree that we should have safe and secure elections,” she adds, citing the most recent Pew Research data showing 95% support for voter IDs among Republicans and 71% support among Democrats.

“If the vast majority of people agree, why are congressional Democrats attempting to stand in the way of the will of their own people?” she asks.

There are two answers to that, Sara says: “orange man bad” and “the Great Replacement [Theory],” which she says is “not a theory.”

On the latter, she declares, “Even if you were to argue that illegals are not voting and changing elections, well illegals are being counted in the census that is then used to create these districts and decide how many each state has to represent them in Congress.”

But regardless of the widespread bipartisan support for the commonsense SAVE Act, Democrats are attempting to force their will using one of their favorite tried and tested tactics: racialize the issue.

Sara plays a clip of Democrat Rep. Delia Ramirez (Ill.) calling the SAVE Act and Republicans’ defense of it “racist, misogynistic trash.”

“Republicans are invoking historical policies intended, let’s be clear, to disenfranchise Americans, especially working people, women, students, indigenous people, and anyone who can’t afford the burdens of a new bill. The Save America Act is yet another Republican attempt to intimidate and suppress the votes of anyone — anyone — who threatens their extremist white supremacist agenda,” she railed.

“The soft bigotry of low expectations. How can you expect a black person or a Hispanic person to know how to get an ID?” sighs Sara.

She points out the absurdity of Democrats’ argument against requiring would-be voters to get a photo ID on the grounds of race.

“You want to open a bank account? You need a photo ID. You want to fly on an airplane? You need a photo ID. You want to drive in a car? You need a photo ID. You want a credit card? You need a photo ID,” she lists. “Almost every instance where you do something very important, you need a photo ID.”

But none of the aforementioned examples seem to be race issues for Democrats, says Sara.

“I see a lot of minorities flying. … How did that possibly happen if it’s racist to expect those dumb black people to know how to go get a photo ID?” she sarcastically remarks, calling Democrats’ insinuation that racial minorities aren’t capable of obtaining a voter ID an “insanely inherently racist thing to suggest.”

To hear more of Sara’s analysis and commentary, watch the video above.

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​Sara gonzales, Sara gonzales unfiltered, Blazetv, Blaze media, Voter id, Save act 

Cardi B must have some weird fans.

The singer responsible for the hit we can’t even begin to name here took her turn blasting Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents during a recent concert performance. Yawn.

You will pick a side … and it better be the one we want.

To her credit, Ms. B took her progressive rhetoric up a notch or three. Even AOC might be proud!

“B***h! If ICE comes in here, we gon’ jump they asses … I’ve got some bear mace in the back! They ain’t taking my fans, b***h!”

And when Homeland Security mocked her outburst, she broke out the left’s weakest talking point.

“Why y’all don’t wanna talk about the Epstein files?”

Let’s hope she never faces any of the violent criminals caught up in ICE’s net. We’re guessing mace might not be enough to stop them from thanking her for her support …

RELATED: BOSS BABY: Springsteen hops on anti-ICE bandwagon

Rodin Eckenroth/Washington Post/Getty Images

AI A-listers

It’s Brad Pitt versus Tom Cruise in the battle of the 60-something superstars. And it’s all thanks to Seedance 2’s new AI technology.

A viral video of the stars’ digital doppelgangers caused a stir on social media this week. The Chinese AI company’s visuals are impressive, far less awkward than some digital clips we’ve seen.

There’s no blood spilled as the Hollywood heavyweights duke it out. But not everyone was tickled to watch the faux fight. The Motion Picture Association quickly cried foul, calling the China-based company’s video a massive copyright infringement.

The creator of the video, an Irish filmmaker named Ruairi Robinson, said it took all of two lines of text to prompt the video into life. He added a darkly humorous response after the understandable backlash commenced.

“Today’s question is: should i be killed for typing 2 lines and pressing a button.”

Here’s betting some Hollywood suits didn’t find it remotely funny …

Monkee business

He’s the last Monkee standing.

Micky Dolenz is back on tour this year to honor his band’s 60th anniversary. Yes, the ad seeking “4 insane boys, ages 17 to 21” to star in a Beatles-esque sitcom launched a quartet that has yet to wear out its welcome.

“The Monkees” only lasted two seasons, but the “pre-Fab Four’s” pop gems endure. And Dolenz isn’t ready to pull an ego trip at this stage in his career. If you want the hits, you’ll get ‘em.

“I’d been to some very disappointing shows where the headliner doesn’t do anything except maybe one big hit.”

“If I ever do go back and am asked to sing [the Monkees’] songs, I’m going to make sure I sing every one in their entirety, no medleys and no screwing around.”

He should have said, “no Monkeeing around,” but he might be tired of that pun after six decades …

Wim and vigor

You will pick a side … and it better be the one we want. Remember how the press bullied both Taylor Swift and Jimmy Fallon into getting political after years of nonpartisan stances?

That mantra is part and parcel of the Hollywood ecosystem in 2026. ICE? Nazis! Trump? Hitler 2.0! Voter ID laws? Jim Crow 2.0!

And the granddaddy of them all — the endless Israeli/Palestinian conflict? It’s a genocide!

Except Wim Wenders didn’t read the approved talking points. The veteran director got pressed by a journalist at the Berlin Film Festival on that intractable conflict and the festival’s lack of an official position or statement on the subject.

The celebrated director said, and we paraphrase, no dice.

“We are the counterweight of politics. We are the opposite of politics. We have to do the work of people, not the work of politicians. If we make movies that are dedicatedly political, we enter the field of politics. No movie has really changed any politician’s idea, but you can change people’s idea of how they should live.”

How long before Wenders is dubbed Hitler 3.0 by the left or the media (but we repeat ourselves)?

Be like Kevin

Kevin James didn’t bring his new rom-com, “Solo Mio,” to the Berlin Film Festival. He still took a page from the Wenders playbook.

If you want to know who he voted for in the last election, good luck.

“Politically, for me to speak on it, there are experts who know much more than I do,” James says. “I’m just focusing on what I can do, delivering a fun, heartfelt break from the craziness of the world. Everybody carries themselves around all day long with a lot of stress. It’s necessary in some ways, but you also need a break.”

Call him the anti-Mark Ruffalo. Or to be blunt, downright refreshing.

​Hollywood, Culture, Celebrities, Movies, Ice, Toto recall, Epstein files, Cardi b, Wim wenders, Kevin james, Ai, Brad pitt, Tom cruise, Seedance 

The Mamdani administration is under fire for cold-related deaths reported in New York City after restricting the conditions under which homeless people can be removed from the streets.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani (D) allowed more homeless people to stay outside during life-threatening cold temperatures rather than force them into warming centers. Critics said the policy was dangerous and irresponsible.

‘People die in their homes all the time.’

Since then, seven cold-related deaths have been documented, with others that have yet to be classified, though officials claimed these deaths occurred in “private homes.” A total of 19 people have died outdoors since freezing temperatures struck in late January.

When the administration was questioned about the lack of details being released about the deaths, the administration callously responded that the deaths were normal.

“They did not die on city property, so we are not releasing,” said a Mamdani spokesperson to the New York Post. “People die in their homes all the time.”

The controversy is compounded by a Gothamist report saying City Hall has taken over communications about the cold-related deaths from the New York City Police Dept. The confusion led to the public lacking information about the deaths.

“It is now clear that there was a miscommunication between NYPD and City Hall,” wrote Mamdani spokesperson Joe Calvello.

The NYPD issued a similar statement with identical wording.

“It is now clear there was a miscommunication between City Hall and the NYPD. Moving forward, information regarding deaths will be released by the most relevant agency,” said NYPD deputy commissioner for public information Delaney Kempner.

The report said both declined to comment further on the deaths.

Gothamist said that NYPD officials had expressed “confusion and frustration” at the decision from City Hall to take over the communications.

Critics are accusing Mamdani of trying to cover up the deaths related to his policies.

“It’s called the mayor’s CYA protocol,” said former First Deputy NYPD Commissioner George Grasso. The abbreviation CYA means “cover your a**.”

Contrary to the report, when pressed about the communications change, Mamdani said that the policy had not changed.

RELATED: Mamdani outraged at Trump for Pride flag removal from Stonewall monument to gay riot

“To my understanding, we’ve continued the policy as it has been,” Mamdani said at a press conference. “We’ve sought to be transparent with New Yorkers about this information.”

Mamdani spokesperson Dora Pekec issued a vague statement about the deaths.

“Each life of a New Yorker lost is a tragedy, whether at a private residence or on the streets of our city,” she said. “[The Office of Chief Medical Officer] has made the final determination that seven individuals died at private residences.”

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​Mamdani snow homeless deaths, Mamdani is not very smart, Cold-related deaths nyc, Socialist policies cause deaths, Politics