Category: blaze media

On June 17, Arnold Schwarzenegger braved the coven that is ABC’s “The View.” Joy Behar tried to snare him with a question about ICE raids, but it didn’t go in the America-hating direction she hoped it would. In fact, it went in the completely opposite direction.

Pat Gray of “Pat Gray Unleashed” plays the clip of the Terminator’s epic pro-America speech.

“You’re an immigrant in this country. Did you have a visceral reaction to what [ICE is] doing?” Behar asked.

“I’m so proud and happy that I was embraced by the American people,” Schwarzenegger responded. “I came over here at the age of 21 with absolutely nothing. And then to create a career like that — I mean, in no other country in the world could you do that.”

“My bodybuilding career … my acting career, becoming governor, the beautiful family that I have created — all of this is because of America,” he continued. “This is the greatest country in the world, and it is the land of opportunity.”

Schwarzenegger then announced that he will be giving the keynote speech at Mount Vernon on July 4 to celebrate the 250th anniversary of America. The event will include a naturalization ceremony — a formal rite of passage in which legal immigrants who have met the requirements to become U.S. citizens take the Oath of Allegiance, officially granting them U.S. citizenship. During the ceremony, these new citizens pledge loyalty to the United States, renounce allegiance to foreign governments, and agree to uphold the Constitution.

Schwarzenegger made it crystal clear that he loves this ceremony. “It’s really a great, great celebration, and this is what this is all about — to celebrate people becoming Americans and coming to America,” he said.

All this while, the panel was politely nodding along, occasionally adding a “that’s true” or a “that’s great.” But then Schwarzenegger said something that caused their countenances to visibly sour.

“But the key thing also is at the same time, we got to do things legal,” he said. “Those people that are doing illegal things in America and the foreigners, they are not smart.”

“When you come to America, you’re a guest, and you have to behave like a guest. Like when I go to someone’s house and I’m a guest, then I will do everything I can to keep things clean … and do everything that is the right thing to do rather than committing a crime or being abusive,” he continued.

That’s when Sunny Hostin placed her manicured, heavily ringed hand on his arm as if to say, “All right, honey, don’t go there.”

But he would not be deterred. “The important thing is when you become an immigrant to think about: Okay, I go to America because I want to use America for the great opportunities that America has in education, in jobs, creating a family. … Then I have to give something back,” he said, arguing that immigrants “have a responsibility … to give back to America.”

They “didn’t expect conservative Arnold from 30 years ago”; they wanted “‘screw your freedom’ from five years ago,” says Pat.

To see the footage of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s patriotic speech that left “The View’s” hosts deeply uncomfortable, watch the video above.

Want more from Pat Gray?

To enjoy more of Pat’s biting analysis and signature wit as he restores common sense to a senseless world, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

​Pat gray, Pat gray unleashed, Arnold schwarzenegger, The view, Sunny hostin, Whoopi goldberg, Joy behar, Abc, Naturalization celebration, Immigration, Illegal immigration 

After a Texas man dumped his girlfriend, the breakup reportedly didn’t stop her from going behind her ex-boyfriend’s back to marry him without his knowledge. However, the ex-girlfriend ended up going to jail for allegedly stalking her former lover.

Beverly Hills Chief of Police Kory Martin said a 42-year-old man contacted the police department on June 13 to report that he returned home and found a package from his ex-girlfriend on his property, Law & Crime reported.

Chief Martin said the alleged victim was ‘going through a significant process to try to fix this at this point, so that’s a whole [different] situation.’

The package was a “gift bag from Bath & Body Works,” which contained products from the personal care and home fragrance retail chain, the outlet added.

The package also had some surprising contents.

One item was a photo of his ex-girlfriend — 36-year-old Kristin Marie Spearman — “holding what appears to be a marriage license showing them married and officiated by a local reverend,” People magazine reported.

The package also had a copy of the marriage certificate filed with the McLennan County Clerk’s Office, Law & Crime added.

RELATED: Florida woman, who doused herself in Diet Mountain Dew to tamper with evidence, learns her fate in murder of elderly roommate

Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images

The anonymous victim told police that he never got married to Spearman.

He told police he went with Spearman to get a marriage license on June 2. However, the couple reportedly got into an argument, they allegedly broke up, and their marriage never happened.

According to police, the man told Spearman that “he did not want to be in a relationship” with her any longer.

Investigators suspect that Spearman convinced a reverend to certify her marriage, even though the groom wasn’t in attendance or even aware that he was getting married.

“It was found during a follow-up investigation with the reverend that Kristin Spearman pursuant to the scheme of obtaining a marriage certificate convinced the reverend to certify the victim and Kristin in the Holy Union of Matrimony without the knowledge of the victim and his required presence,” police said, according to Law & Crime.

According to McLennan County’s website, both parties “must appear in person” and have valid identification to apply for a marriage license.

RELATED: Man once tried to outrun police on a mule — now he’s in jail for allegedly weaponizing a raccoon

Chief Martin told KWKT-TV, “At first, we were really considering that it may be some forged documents. However, once we made contact with the reverend who ended up signing the actual ceremony, showing that they were unified, he basically, you know, solidified the fact that, yeah, the groom was not present when that occurred.”

He added to the station that “I don’t think in 23 years I’ve never heard of anybody who managed somehow to get married to someone who wasn’t present for a ceremony.”

The Beverly Hills Police Department did not release the identity of the marriage officiant.

Chief Martin said the alleged victim was “going through a significant process to try to fix this at this point, so that’s a whole [different] situation.”

Police took Spearman to the McLennan County Jail after obtaining an arrest warrant for third-degree felony stalking, KWKT said.

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​Weird news, Odd news, Strange news, Marriage, Texas, Texas crime, Crime, Stalking, Arrest, Jailed 

I’ve been in Italy for the past 10 days, and I’m bored.

Yes, I’m bored, but not in the way you may think, and not for the reasons you may suspect. I haven’t been bored my entire time here.

My tolerance for input has increased since becoming a father, and now anything less than chaos is kind of a boring breeze.

The first week was packed to the gills. I was co-hosting a retreat centered around Josef Pieper’s “Leisure: The Basis of Culture.” The days were full of stimulating, productive discussion with like spirits. Great food, great cigars, great beer, great sights, great minds, great insights, great developments. It was a busy week, a fruitful week.

But the retreat is over, and now I’m bored.

Missing the bickering

Why am I bored?

Because I am dull and just want to sit inside and watch television all day? No. I don’t like TV. Because I can’t entertain myself? No. I’m pretty creative. Because I don’t have a job or any obligations and thusly suffer from a kind of postmodern ennui? No. I have a job, that’s what I am doing here. Just yesterday, I drove eight hours south and will be here for the week taking photos for a photo book, writing, and working. I’ve been working ever since I landed.

So then, why am I bored?

Because I’m alone. My wife and kids are at home. All the yelling and screaming that I have become so used to over the past few years are on the other side of the world. The bickering over who stole whose toy first is still happening I am sure, but it’s out of earshot.

The endless questions about cars, trees and if we are going to get ice cream later have been paused. The nagging feeling about safety — that feeling that wears you down over the course of the day — is absent from my quiet mind.

Off-duty dad

I would think I would love this trip all alone: the chance to be free of fatherly responsibilities for a couple of weeks; the opportunity to focus on work without distraction; the chance to be by myself again. But I don’t love it. It was fine for a couple days, novel in a way, but now it’s just kind of boring.

My tolerance for input has increased since becoming a father, and now anything less than chaos is kind of a boring breeze. My love has expanded in a way that isn’t so easy to explain. It might be summed up by that feeling you get at the end of the day. You can’t wait for your kids to go to bed because you are exhausted and fed up, yet 25 minutes after they are sleeping, you feel the need to go into their room again and give them a kiss because you miss them.

What the hell is that? One of the strange feelings that only parents know.

Been there, done that

I’ve seen all this stuff before. I’ve been to Italy. I’ve already taken in all the vistas I’m taking photos of today. I’ve already experienced all this, and it doesn’t really interest me doing it alone. When I was 25 and single, sure. When I’m 38 with a wife and kids, not really. I’ve seen enough; I would rather show them.

Some guys have a fear of settling down and starting a family. They are afraid of getting trapped or stuck with no way out. In a sense, they are right. When you have children, you are trapping yourself. You are forced together as a man and a woman. You are stuck forever as a father. You cannot go back. Your life is no longer only yours. You will never be as free as you were once before.

Stretching the soul

It’s true in all the shallow, obvious ways. But it’s true in a deeper, stranger, more emotional way, as well. My soul has been expanded outward. It’s broader than it was when I was just me. Yet, somehow, it didn’t become more shallow in the process. It’s actually grown deeper at the same time. It’s one of the mysteries of love. It grows.

I am no longer contained in a tight little shell that follows me wherever I go. I want to bring my kids with me, not out of duty — though duty is, of course, important — but because I am kind of bored without them. Because I want to share my world with them. It’s not because I love them — though I very much do — but because I like them.

From island to archipelago

I know that as soon as I get home, the chaos will hit me like a two-by-four right in the face. I will be forced to dole out instructions and mediate arguments. I will be exhausted by the time 8 p.m. rolls around. I will snap my fingers once and sternly tell them to stop whatever it is that they are doing. But in all of that, I will be whole as I know myself to be at this stage in my life.

Having a family means you are no longer only you. Your children are also you. Your sense of wholeness is deeper, yet more terrifyingly fragile at the same time. You are no longer protected and self-contained. You stop being an island and grow into an archipelago. What it means to be you means more than merely you.

That’s why I am bored here in Italy. I’m here, but it’s only one part, and I miss the whole thing.

​Align, Fatherhood, Italy, The root of the matter 

Republicans are having more babies than Democrats, and the difference has only increased in the Donald Trump era.

Several reports, along with data from the National Center for Health Statistics and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, show a clear relationship between red and blue counties and their fertility rates.

Not only do fertility rates get higher the more a county votes for Republicans, but the contrast with Democrat counties is growing stronger over time.

‘We need a culture that values our children intrinsically.’

According to a data analysis by the Institute for Family Studies, Trump support equals more families. For every 10% increase in Trump votes in 2024, there is an expected fertility rate increase of 0.09 in a woman’s lifetime.

The IFS also noted that in counties that had less than 25% of their votes going to Trump, like D.C., the median fertility rate was 1.31. In counties with a more than 75% vote share for Trump, the median fertility rate was 1.84. Of course, 2.1 or above is the ideal replacement rate, but the contrast is still large.

Moreover, the gap in fertility rates has grown by 85% in the last 12 years.

In the Barack Obama vs. Mitt Romney era of 2012, there was an 8% fertility difference between red and blue counties. According to the IFS, that difference has more than tripled to a 26% difference in 2024.

RELATED: America last: Hillary Clinton lets truth slip about illegal aliens and low US birth rates

Image courtesy ifstudies.org

In counties with more than 100,000 people, the “most Democratic” voter turnout correlates with a drastically lower fertility rate than the rest of the country, with a 1.37 birth rate. While moderate Democrat numbers are closer to the American average, the swing is big toward the “most Republican” counties, which average a 1.76 birth rate.

The Republican fertility advantage can be directly attributed to marriage, says Grant Bailey, research associate at IFS.

“Republicans (and conservatives) marry at higher rates, and married adults have much higher fertility rates than do singles,” Bailey told Blaze News. “With that said, even within marriage, conservatives have more children than their liberal peers.”

Bailey explained that even many married liberals never have children, and that drives an even bigger divide between the fertility rates across party lines.

RELATED: Hormonal birth control: As bad for you as smoking

Image courtesy ifstudies.org

“It’s no secret that birth rates have been in free fall worldwide for decades and that continuing on our current course will spell economic and social disaster for many,” Erika Ahern told Blaze News.

Ahern, an author at CatholicVote and a mother of seven, said that increasing a family’s demand for children requires “a shift in how we as a society value children and family altogether.”

Ahern added, “Instead of emphasizing the cost and inconvenience of children, we need a culture that values our children intrinsically.”

According to CDC data, the top 10 states with the highest birth rates in 2023 were Republican, and the bottom 10 were Democrat.

South Dakota is the only state with a birth rate above 2, at 2.01. Nebraska, North Dakota, Alaska, and Louisiana round out the top five.

On the bottom end, Vermont has just a 1.3 birth rate, the worst in the nation. Other than Oregon, which ranks 48th on the birth rate list, the Northeast dominates the bottom of the rankings. Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island are all near the bottom, with birth rates of 1.4 or below.

In 2022, Vermont, Wyoming, and Delaware had the fewest births by state in the country, with five states having fewer than 10,000. This can be attributed to population size for all but Vermont, which came in last on the CDC’s fertility rate rankings for 2022.

California had by far the most births of any state in 2022, approximately 420,000, but nowhere near the highest fertility rate; it was 11th worst.

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​News, Birthrate, Citizens, Babies, Republican, Democrats, Counties, Children, Parents, Politics 

Glyphosate is a word that’s beginning to slip into public consciousness as the MAHA movement continues gaining momentum. For those unfamiliar with the term, glyphosate is a chemical used in weed killers, like Roundup, which is the most popular herbicide in the United States. Since its development in 1970, we’ve been told it’s safe for humans and the environment by its manufacturers and by several regulatory agencies.

But surprise, surprise — now that we’re in an era of being honest about the additives and chemicals involved in our food production, it turns out that glyphosate is carcinogenic.

To get the scoop on this harmful chemical, Nicole Shanahan, BlazeTV host of “Back to the People,” invited Harvard-educated agricultural economist Dr. Chuck Benbrook, who’s spent his entire career fighting against the use of pesticides, to the show.

“The evidence is strongest linking exposure to glyphosate and glyphosate-based herbicides … with non-Hodgkin lymphoma” — a type of cancer that attacks the lymphatic system, disrupting the body’s ability to fight infections, says Dr. Benbrook. However, “there’s a new study coming out in just a matter of days linking glyphosate and glyphosate-based herbicides to leukemia.”

Glyphosate, he explains, “[disrupts] DNA replication in people’s bone marrow as their new blood cells are being formed,” which is exactly how “non-Hodgkin lymphoma and leukemia start.”

Despite the mounting evidence proving glyphosate is carcinogenic, farmers are highly motivated to protect it from stricter regulations and potential banning. Chemical pesticides, like glyphosate, are “very seductive for farmers,” as they are “a simple solution to dealing with weeds or insects or plant diseases,” says Dr. Benbrook.

Farmers’ “overreliance” on pest and weed killers has created a booming industry that pesticide companies will fiercely guard. Just like vaccine companies gained legal protection from lawsuits for vaccine injuries through the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986, “the pesticide industry is working very hard to to try to change federal and state laws so that pesticide companies can’t be sued in state court over harms from pesticides,” say Dr. Benbrook.

Eating organically produced food seems like a logical option to avoid the harms of glyphosate, as the USDA National Organic Program prohibits the use of synthetic pesticides, including glyphosate, in organic farming.

Unfortunately, it’s not that simple.

“I’m hearing from a lot of parents who are on all-organic diets [and] eat super clean, and their family members have really high levels of glyphosate coming back in their urine analysis,” says Nicole.

“It’s very difficult to avoid glyphosate completely through the American diet,” says Dr. Benbrook, noting that restaurant food, the water supply, and the very air we breathe can be contaminated with glyphosate. It “is so ubiquitous in the environment and in the food supply.”

To hear more of Nicole and Dr. Benbrook’s conversation on glyphosate, as well as genetically modified food and sustainable food production, watch the episode above.

​Back to the people, Nicole shanahan, Glyphosate, Roundup, Pesticides, Maha, Organic, Farming, Benbrook, Chuck benbrook, Food additives, Blazetv, Blaze media 

The latest wheeze from global public health elites? Jack up taxes on tobacco, alcohol, sugary drinks, and processed food by 50% to raise $3.7 trillion in new revenue. They call it “health policy.” In plain English, it’s government-sanctioned theft.

This isn’t about curing disease. It’s about expanding state power. These so-called health taxes, pushed by academic ideologues and international bureaucrats, are little more than economic punishment disguised as progress. They won’t meaningfully reduce illness, but they’ll absolutely hit working people the hardest.

Sin taxes don’t foster well-being — they weaponize economic pain against the people who can least afford it.

The new push for massive taxes on soda, smokes, beer, and snacks is social engineering with a hefty price tag. The goal isn’t better health so much as behavioral compliance. And who pays for it? Not corporations. Not policymakers. Regular people. Especially those already stretched thin.

The promise of $3.7 trillion in new revenue tells you everything you need to know. This is about cash, not caring. You’re not going to fix the obesity crisis by making a Coke cost $4. You’re just making life worse for the guy who wants a cold drink after work.

These aren’t just products. They’re small pleasures — a beer at dinner, a smoke on break, a soda on a hot afternoon. Legal, affordable, familiar. Stripping them from people’s lives in the name of “health” doesn’t uplift anyone. It makes life more miserable.

And this plan doesn’t educate or empower. It punishes. It uses taxes to bludgeon people into compliance. That’s not public health — that’s moral authoritarianism.

Proponents claim that higher prices discourage consumption, especially among young people. But that’s not smart policy — it’s an admission that the entire strategy relies on pricing people out of their own choices.

That’s not a sign of sound policy; it’s a confession that the aim is to price people out of their own choices. It’s hard not to see this as profoundly elitist. A worldview in which an ignorant public must be nudged, coerced, and taxed into making decisions deemed acceptable by a distant class of arrogant policymakers.

Sin taxes don’t foster well-being — they weaponize economic pain against the people who can least afford it. The more someone spends on a drink or a cigarette, the less they can spend on rent, groceries, or gas. In the U.K., economists found that sin taxes cost low-income families up to 10 times more than they cost the wealthy. That holds true in the United States as well. These are regressive by design.

History offers a warning. Prohibition didn’t end drinking — it empowered criminals. Today, in places like Australia, black markets for vapes and other restricted products are booming. When governments overregulate, people continue to consume. They just go underground, and quality, safety, and accountability go with them.

Public health bureaucrats love to talk about the “commercial determinants of health,” blaming industry for every social ill. But they ignore the personal determinants that matter even more: freedom, dignity, and the right to make informed decisions.

RELATED: Cigarettes and beer: The heady perfume that transports me to my childhood

guruXOOX via iStock/Getty Images

People already know the risks of smoking, drinking, and sugar consumption. They’ve seen the labels and heard the warnings for years. They don’t need lectures from bureaucrats, government ministers, or international agencies. What they need is respect — and the freedom to live as they choose.

These new tax schemes don’t offer support or alternatives. They rely on coercion, not persuasion. The state becomes the enforcer, not the helper. It’s a government model that punishes pleasure and equates restriction with virtue.

The sinister core of this health tax agenda lies in its relentless condescension. It assumes people are too stupid, too reckless, or too addicted to choose what’s best for themselves, and so government must intervene forcefully and repeatedly.

This is control, not compassionate governance.

A better path exists — one rooted in harm reduction, not prohibition. Encourage low-sugar drink options. Expand access to safer nicotine alternatives. Support moderate alcohol consumption. Respect the people you’re trying to help.

If public health advocates truly want to improve outcomes, they should abandon these regressive, punitive proposals. They should promote innovation, not punishment. Education, not enforcement.

Because real public health doesn’t treat people like problems to be managed. It treats them like citizens — free to live, choose, and thrive.

​Opinion & analysis, Public health, Taxes, Vice, Beer, Cigarettes, Soda tax, Coke, Gatorade, Sugar, America, Great britain, Australia, Class warfare, Nanny state, Health taxes, Trillion, United states, Liberty, Freedom, Elitism, Prohibition, Vape pens, Ban, Black market 

Many of us on the political right once held a principled aversion to telling the ultra-wealthy how to spend their money. Confiscating private wealth sounded un-American. If billionaires wanted to build libraries, fund symphonies, or throw lavish parties, fine — they were reinvesting in society, directly or indirectly.

But that was before the rise of the modern “philanthropath”: a new breed of sociopathic billionaire using inherited or self-made fortunes to re-engineer civilization from the top down. These aren’t benevolent stewards. They’re ideological crusaders waging war on tradition, prosperity, and truth.

These are not patrons of progress — they’re funders of decline. And their wealth has become a weapon.

George Soros spent millions installing radical, pro-crime prosecutors in cities across the country. Bill Gates bankrolls schemes to block the sun in the name of climate alarmism.

At least Soros and Gates earned their fortunes. Increasingly, the most aggressive philanthropaths are heirs — trust-fund radicals who never worked a day to build the wealth they now use to tear society apart.

The nepo-billionaire left

Earlier this month, Walmart heiress Christy Walton made headlines for bankrolling the No Kings anti-Trump protests. Hyatt heir and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker (D) used his $3 billion inheritance — and famous last name — to push transgender surgeries on minors. After President Trump’s 2024 election, Pritzker promised to turn Illinois into a destination for confused parents seeking to chemically sterilize and mutilate their children.

His sibling Jennifer Pritzker (born James) proudly funds transgender medical interventions, calling it “a continuation of my family’s tradition of putting personal philanthropy into service for the public good.”

As I’ve documented before, the eco-vandal group Just Stop Oil — responsible for throwing soup on van Gogh paintings and blocking roads across Europe — draws funding from Abigail Disney, Aileen Getty, and Rory Kennedy. These aren’t anonymous donors. They’re members of America’s closest thing to a royal class. Getty even defended funding the group in the Guardian, writing, “I fund climate activism — and I applaud the van Gogh protest.”

Inheritance reconsidered

I don’t support an inheritance tax. These taxes hit middle-class families hardest — especially family farms and small businesses. The IRS doesn’t care how long your grandfather worked the land; it just wants a cut.

But the more the ultrarich use their fortunes to fund antihuman ideologies, the harder it becomes to defend that wealth politically. They are making the moral case for confiscation easier by the day.

Market trader and television commentator Jim Iuorio recently wrote, “There is no moral or economic argument in favor of inheritance tax … it should obviously be zero … making it more than zero is rooted in petty jealousy.”

Fair enough. But if I had to argue in favor of an inheritance tax on moral grounds, I’d just start naming names: Alex Soros. Melinda Gates. JB Pritzker. Christy Walton. Aileen Getty. It’s not envy — it’s damage control.

RELATED: Billions go in, billions come out — guess who benefits?

Photo by BAY ISMOYO/AFP via Getty Images

What the right can do

We don’t need to confiscate wealth to fight philanthropaths. But we do need a strategy. Here’s a start:

Trustbusting: Break up corporate monopolies. This won’t empty the bank accounts of people like Gates or Zuckerberg, but it could dismantle the ideological machines they built — and send a message: America won’t tolerate ideological empires built on tech monopolies.

Lawfare: Conservatives have long avoided weaponizing the law. But that restraint has allowed the left to prosecute its enemies with impunity. State attorneys general and DAs should investigate tax-exempt foundations. Are these groups funding organized criminal activity? Are they operating as unregistered lobbying arms? If so, they’re fair game.

If the ultra-wealthy refuse to stop using their fortunes to undermine Western civilization, we must treat their fortunes as what they are: weapons.

An antihuman agenda

These billionaires aren’t just funding protests. They’re promoting a post-human future. In the name of “climate justice,” they want to ban meat, take away your car, outlaw carbon-based energy, and impose synthetic food alternatives on working families.

They aren’t asking politely. They’re demanding submission — or else.

World Economic Forum guru Yuval Noah Harari said the quiet part out loud in 2022: “We just don’t need the vast majority of the population.” I assume he doesn’t mean himself. He means you. He means your family.

When elites embrace mass depopulation as policy, don’t expect me to argue over tax brackets. I’m not interested in theory. I’m interested in survival.

So yes, I’m more open to separating sociopathic billionaires from their wealth than I once was. I still believe in economic liberty. But liberty doesn’t mean allowing radicalized aristocrats to fund our destruction.

Because if we don’t stop them now, they won’t just take your gas stove — they’ll take your future.

​Opinion & analysis, Bill gates, Philanthropaths, J.b. pritzker, Jennifer pritzker, James pritzker, No kings, Abigail disney, Rory kennedy, Aileen getty, Social engineering, Philanthropy, Foundation, Charitable giving, Billionaires, Wealth redistribution, Climate change, Covid-19, Alex soros, George soros, World economic forum, Yuval noah harari, Climate justice, Depopulation, Gas stoves 

Earlier this month, a former DEI-loving University of Michigan president suffered national embarrassment after Florida higher-ed officials voted against his nomination to become the next president of the University of Florida. The vote shows that the academic’s professed change of heart on DEI was met with significant skepticism.

Earlier this month, Santa Ono — the former University of Michigan president who spent years advocating for diversity, equity, and inclusion only to distance himself from the woke philosophy in recent months — suffered national embarrassment after Florida higher-ed officials voted against his nomination to become the next president of the University of Florida. The vote shows that the academic’s professed change of heart on DEI was met with significant skepticism.

Ono’s failed nomination and the allegations of serious academic misconduct still hovering around several former Ivy League leaders indicate that far-left causes célèbres, especially regarding DEI, seem to have fallen out of favor even at the university level.

Perhaps more importantly, it seems the work of some high-profile university administrators is finally facing much-needed scrutiny.

RELATED: Harvard president Claudine Gay resigns in disgrace, paints herself as a victim of ‘racial animus’

Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

All the right credentials, all the right politics

Santa Ono is a familiar face in higher education. At 62 years old, Ono has served as president at some of the most prestigious universities in North America: Michigan, British Columbia, and Cincinnati. He has a PhD in experimental medicine from McGill University, is an immunologist, and once worked as an associate professor at the Harvard School of Medicine.

And until recently, Ono had unapologetically embraced DEI. For instance, he stated that “systemic racism is embedded into every corner of any institution,” claimed he and his family had been victims of systemic racism, and pledged to do “the work” of eradicating systemic racism from the University of Michigan through a program he called “DEI 2.0.”

To his credit, Ono did withstand slings and arrows from UM radicals after he axed DEI 2.0 in March, following President Donald Trump’s executive order banning DEI practices. However, he admitted to nixing the program mainly on account of “federal executive orders, guidance, and funding cuts bringing urgency to the issue,” not because of any personal misgivings about it.

‘I’m excited to be part of that.’

In early May, reports began to circulate that Ono was vying for the presidential position at the University of Florida, vacated last summer by Republican former U.S. Sen. Ben Sasse of Nebraska. The news that Ono was leaving UM shocked many since he seemed deeply committed to the school. Having just joined it in 2022, Ono then signed a contract in October that extended his tenure as president there until 2032.

RELATED: From Wuhan to Michigan: Feds nab ANOTHER Chinese scholar in alleged bio-material smuggling plot

Photo by Michael Hickey/Getty Images

Still, announcements about Ono’s candidacy published as early as May 4 revealed he was the only person the search committee had recommended for the Florida job. The UF Board of Trustees then voted unanimously to approve him on May 27.

Ono’s confirmation at UF seemed all but assured.

He certainly expressed confidence. In an op-ed entitled “Why I Chose the University of Florida” published by Insider Higher Ed on May 8, Ono wrote: “Florida is building something truly exceptional. I’m excited to be part of that.”

Then, Ono ran into Florida officials focused on removing leftist ideology from the state’s university system.

Anti-woke board challenges Ono on DEI record

Since his re-election in 2022, Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis has worked hard to purge wokeness from all levels of education under his purview. As governor, DeSantis is entrusted with appointing individuals who share his values to the university system board of governors to oversee the state’s 12 universities, including the University of Florida.

Ono seemingly understood that his previous promotion of DEI could harm his chances of landing a job in a state like Florida, which is wary of neo-Marxism, critical race theory, and DEI. So in the Inside Higher Ed op-ed, he copped to his erstwhile support for DEI, claiming he believed it was originally intended to ensure “equal opportunity and fairness for every student” but that it had unfortunately morphed into an agent of “ideology, division, and bureaucracy.”

‘He didn’t have to do that.’

Ono — who four years ago penned an op-ed entitled “Universities Must Do More to Address the Climate Emergency” — further insisted he had “declined to politicize the institutions” he led and eschewed “ideological capture” at universities more generally. He then promised to uphold the “vision and values for public higher education” as expressed by Floridian leaders, ostensibly including DeSantis.

“If I am approved, UF will remain a campus where all students are safe, where differing views can be heard, and where the rule of law is respected,” Ono pledged (emphasis added).

Gov. DeSantis, who said he found many of Ono’s statements “cringe”-worthy but otherwise more or less stayed out of the nomination, deferred to those directly involved in the vetting process to determine whether Ono’s change of heart on DEI was sincere.

“It’s their judgment that he’s really kind of reached the limit on the campus leftism,” DeSantis told reporters, “and he would want to leave Michigan, where that is prevalent, to Florida, where it’s frowned upon, because he wants to be more in line with what Florida is doing and our policies.”

RELATED: DEI-vestment: University of Florida sheds ‘inclusion’ for innovation

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis looks on during warm-ups prior to the Capital One Orange Bowl between the Florida Gators and the Virginia Cavaliers at Hard Rock Stadium on December 30, 2019, in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Mark Brown/Getty Images)

Ono continued to distance himself from his DEI-filled past during an interview with the University of Florida Board of Trustees on May 27, claiming that his opinions on systemic racism “evolved over time” and that no group or institution should ever be tarred with a “blanket definition or label.”

The board of trustees was apparently so eager to make Ono the next UF president that they accepted Ono’s explanations regarding his DEI “volte-face” with little skepticism, according to an op-ed from Scott Yenor and Steven DeRose. Yenor and DeRose characterized the BOT as “embarrassing” automatons who simply “nodded” along as Ono attempted to explain away his past.

Yenor and DeRose likewise described Ono as a “dishonorable man,” a “fanatical opportunist,” and an empty suit.

Yenor and DeRose were not the only ones alarmed by Ono’s nomination. Florida Republicans in Congress — Sen. Rick Scott and Reps. Byron Donalds, Jimmy Patronis, and Greg Steube — all voiced their opposition to Ono, as did Donald Trump Jr., Charlie Kirk, and some members of the public.

The Florida board of governors apparently heeded those concerns. Paul Renner, a former speaker of the Florida House and a member of the BOG, told Blaze News that he was greatly “troubled” by the disconnect between Ono’s “horrendous record on DEI” and his statements to the UF trustees.

“If you give an interview and everything you’ve said is directly contradicted by the public record, that’s a problem, a problem of candor,” Renner said.

Yenor, a political science professor at Boise State University and the senior director of state coalitions at the Claremont Institute’s Center for the American Way of Life, gave Blaze News a similar assessment of Ono.

“He changed his view on a whole host of issues at a convenient time in order to get a job,” Yenor explained. “That shows that his convictions are for sale.”

Because of Ono’s seemingly shallow convictions, DeRose likened him to a “political windsock,” borrowing the imagery from another source.

Ono did not respond to a request for comment from Blaze News.

Renner and his fellow members of the board of governors used their interview with Ono in the first week of June to challenge him on his DEI record as well as other issues.

Governor Carson Good, for example, pressed Ono on his decision to require UM students to receive COVID boosters as late as 2023. Despite his background in immunology and experimental medicine, Ono claimed he had simply followed the recommendation of UM health officials, stammering that he is “basically a mouse doctor.”

“I don’t think he’s a strong leader,” Renner reiterated to Blaze News, characterizing Ono instead as “opportunistic.”

“He’s not in the camp of somebody who felt like they had to [promote DEI] to keep their job,” Renner continued. “He did it with his own face in a lot of these videos. He cut professional productions that talked about two spirits and transgenderism and thinking beyond the binary.”

“He didn’t have to do that.”

Yenor seems to agree, telling Blaze News that Ono is “not someone who’s taken any lumps for changing his views” on DEI.

In response to a request for comment, a DeSantis administration official gave Blaze News the following statement: “The governor appointed people to the Florida Board of Governors who are conservative and aligned to use their judgment, and he had confidence in their ability to be able to discharge this responsibility.”

‘A very, very, very easy decision’

Ultimately, only six members of the board of governors voted in favor of Ono’s nomination. Meanwhile, Renner, Good, and eight other governors voted against it.

That 10-6 vote marked the first time in the BOG’s 22-year history that members had rejected a candidate for university president. It may even have been the first vote of its kind in American history.

Most liberals and their allies in the media bewailed the politics involved in the BOG’s decision.

‘Many of the repudiations that Dr. Ono took were only taken after it was clear he was being seriously considered for the University of Florida job.’

The Gainesville Sun brooded that Ono was “grilled” over so many “flashpoints in the culture wars” — DEI, so-called climate change, and gender-related interventions for minors — that have been “waged by Florida’s ruling conservatives.”

“It’s an absolute embarrassment. The political questions that were being asked portends more politics in the process and less focus on academics,” howled Amanda Phalin, a former BOG member and a current business professor at UF, according to the Miami Herald, which also claimed Ono had been “clearly caught off-guard” by the BOG’s questions.

“Because of your insistence on performative politics, you chose to question him repeatedly on hot button political issues and then refused to accept his thoughtful answers,” fumed another UF professor, Dr. Michael Haller, who self-identifies as an “ally” of non-heterosexual people, according his X bio.

“No qualified apolitical leader will ever come near our campus again with an eye on sitting in a leadership role.”

RELATED: Pro-Palestinian students at University of Michigan force their way into ‘locked’ admin building, several arrested: Report

Podcast host Dan Senor moderates a session with WashU Chancellor Andrew D. Martin and University of Michigan President Santa Ono at the ADL Never Is Now event at Javits Center on March 3, 2025, in New York City. (Photo by Bryan Bedder/Getty Images for Anti-Defamation League)

However, Zack Smith of the Heritage Foundation — who, as a trustee of the University of West Florida and Pensacola State College, knows something of the nomination process — denied that Ono was ambushed by the BOG.

“The concern many people had [was] it didn’t seem so much as a ‘road to Damascus’-type conversion as it did a conversion of convenience, where many of the actions, many of the repudiations that Dr. Ono took were only taken after it was clear he was being seriously considered for the University of Florida job,” Smith explained to Blaze News.

When asked whether members of the BOG faced undue pressure from high-profile Florida conservatives to block Ono’s nomination, both Smith and Renner disputed that such pressure would have influenced the governors’ vote one way or the other.

“If you look at the members of the board of governors,” Smith said, “they are not wilting wallflowers themselves. Many have experience in state government and a host of different industries as well, and so I doubt that they were pressured by anyone.”

Governor Renner confirmed that “there was a crucible” but added that the heat comes with the BOG territory: “If you don’t like pressure on an issue like this, don’t sign up for the job.”

“For me, this was a very, very, very easy decision.”

‘Unprecedented’

Because the BOG vote to block Ono’s nomination was so “unprecedented,” it likewise revealed another problem with the higher-education system: The process to select a university president has seemingly been little more than political theater.

A school typically hires a search firm that then crafts a carefully worded job description that, according to Yenor, will attract a particular candidate or a particular type of candidate — likely one who shares their values. The University of Florida, for instance, may have signaled a preference for DEI-supporting prospects like Ono by hiring SP&A, which describes itself as “a boutique woman- and minority-owned executive search firm.”

In Florida, once a board of trustees votes on a candidate, he or she is then passed along to the state board of governors, who until Ono have apparently rubber-stamped every nominee they’ve been asked to consider.

‘Thank you so much for saving the University of Florida.’

Several sources indicated to Blaze News that the BOG was right to be concerned about Ono and to treat his hearing not as a pro forma exercise with the result already predetermined but as an opportunity to vet his true personal and professional character.

“I think the board acted appropriately to ask some very hard, very serious questions of Dr. Ono,” Smith said. “Their final sign-off approval was placed there for a reason.”

Yenor claimed that the Ono case may yet show that “the era where people defer to the experts is over.”

The UF Board of Trustees, especially Chair Mori Hosseini, which had just voted unanimously in support of Ono, blasted the BOG for rejecting his nomination. Hosseini — who has donated generously to Florida Republicans in the past, including more than $1 million to DeSantis’ failed presidential bid — called the decision “deeply disappointing.”

“You all decided today is the day you’re going to take somebody down,” Hosseini told the BOG directly.

RELATED: Florida first lady gives hint on possible run for governor

Florida Gators national championship men’s basketball team meets with President Trump at the White House. Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

By contrast, Renner told Blaze News that while he did receive multiple complaints from UF associates about his vote against Ono, some UF faculty members secretly expressed their appreciation for stymieing the Ono nomination. “Thank you so much for saving the University of Florida,” he recalled them saying.

For his part, Ono remains loyal to the University of Michigan, the school he ditched in favor of the University of Florida. Though he acknowledged in his resignation message some disagreement with the UM Board of Regents, as of Wednesday afternoon, Ono’s X profile still has the hashtag “Go Blue!” In fact, there’s even an outside chance that he could stay at the school as a member of the faculty.

The University of Michigan did not respond to a request for comment from Blaze News.

The sources who spoke with Blaze News did not share any insights as to who may be on the radar screen for the UF presidential vacancy, but most are optimistic that the right candidate is out there.

Renner indicated that he or she may be found within traditional academic circles. “There’s good people out there,” he explained. “I hope they do the right thing the next time around. But if it’s the same thing, guess what? It’s going to be the same answer. So I hope a message has been sent to pick somebody who is an actual leader on this issue and has all the academic credentials they want.”

DeRose and Smith, by contrast, believe that the school should consider candidates outside of academia. DeRose claimed UF must look for a leader from another industry to demonstrate a true commitment to “education reform.”

“Florida doesn’t need a president who’s just now evolving on DEI. They need the anti-DEI 2.0 president,” he explained. “You’re not going to find that from people who have traditional backgrounds in academia.”

“There certainly are other good candidates out there,” Smith claimed, “if they kind of widen their search net.”

Editor’s note: Matthew Peterson, the editor in chief of Blaze News, is a Washington fellow for the Claremont Institute.

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​Santa ono, University of florida, University of michigan, Harvard, Dei, Woke, Ron desantis, Board of governors, Board of trustees, Politics 

Last weekend in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, protesters gathered for a No Kings rally, holding signs that compared federal immigration officers to Nazis — one reading, “Nazis used trains. ICE uses planes.” These kinds of messages aren’t just offensive, they’re dangerous. And they’re becoming far too common in politics.

The same weekend, halfway across the country, Minnesota state Rep. Melissa Hortman (DFL) was shot and killed in a politically motivated attack. While the investigation is ongoing, the timing is chilling — and it reminds us that words and rhetoric can have consequences far beyond the floor of a legislative chamber.

Most people don’t want politics to be a blood sport. They want real solutions.

When public servants are threatened, harassed, or even harmed for doing their jobs, something has gone deeply wrong in our democracy.

It’s time to turn down the temperature — not just in our political speeches, but on our main streets, in school board meetings, and even our protest signs.

Cool the rhetoric

Public service is about problem-solving, not posturing. I’ve always believed in working with my neighbors — even when we disagree — to make our community safer and stronger. But that’s becoming harder when disagreement is met with dehumanization and history is twisted into political theater.

We’ve seen it right here in my community. At a recent public hearing on how to protect children from online predators, a woman disrupted the meeting to shout that our Jewish sheriff, Fred Harran, was a “Nazi.” A week later, during a Bucks County Commissioners meeting about a law enforcement partnership with ICE, Commissioner Bob Harvie warned of “parallels” between modern politics and pre-war Nazi Germany.

I’ve worked hard in the state House to expand Holocaust education in Pennsylvania schools, because I believe history must be remembered — not weaponized. As the daughter of educators, I was raised to know that using Nazi references as political attacks not only dishonors the memory of those who suffered, it poisons the possibility of honest, civil debate.

Civil discourse is critical

None of this is to say we shouldn’t debate serious issues — immigration, public safety, fiscal priorities, and the future of our communities. Or that we shouldn’t take part in peaceful protest rooted in our First Amendment rights. We must. But we must also remember that democracy isn’t about shouting each other down — it’s about listening, questioning, and finding common ground.

RELATED: It’s not a riot, it’s an invasion

Blaze Media Illustration

The truth is, most people don’t want politics to be a blood sport. They want real solutions. They want their kids to be safe, their neighborhoods to be strong, and their elected officials to focus on solving problems — not scoring points.

Let’s be better than the signs. Let’s be better than the sound bites. Let’s choose to be neighbors first and partisans second.

Because if we don’t change the tone now, we risk losing more than just elections — we risk losing one another.

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

​Opinion & analysis, No kings, Protests, Rhetoric, Civil discourse, First amendment, Free speech, Violence, Leftists, Ice, Donald trump, Assassination, Bob harvie, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, Politically motivated, Attack, Immigration, Immigration and customs enforcement, Police, Nazi, Fascist, Public safety, Fiscal policy, Common ground, History, Holocaust, Gestapo, Melissa hortman, Minnesota 

Unlike certain recent additions to the U.S. Supreme Court, Justice Samuel Alito has consistently delivered for God-fearing conservatives and constitutionalists.

This consistency and Alito’s resistance to the fads of the day have made him a popular target for Democratic lawmakers and other radical leftists, along with their fellow travelers in the liberal media.

Democrats including Sen. Dick Durbin (Ill.) and House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries (N.Y.) have, for instance, pressured Alito to recuse himself from cases of consequence. Other Democrats, such as Sen. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.), have painted a target on his back, calling him a “threat to our democracy.” Liberal publications such as the New York Times and ProPublica have pushed false narratives framing him as an extremist or at the very least as unethical. A false-flagger who helped the Lincoln Project stage a fake white supremacist rally in 2021 futilely tried to catch Alito saying something damning on tape. A radical even allegedly threatened to assassinate him last year.

Alito underscored in his recent interview with Peter Robinson, host of the Hoover Institution’s “Uncommon Knowledge,” that the judiciary has a responsibility to resist possession by the zeitgeist and to do what is right, even if unpopular.

In 2022, Alito gave a speech in Rome at a religious liberty summit convened by the Religious Liberty Initiative of the University of Notre Dame’s law school, where he underscored that religious liberty is far more than just “freedom of worship.”

‘Had every Athenian citizen been a Socrates; every Athenian assembly would still have been a mob.’

“Freedom of worship means freedom to do these things that you like to do in the privacy of your home, or in your church or your synagogue or your mosque or your temple. But when you step outside into the public square, in the light of day, you had better behave yourself like a good secular citizen,” said the conservative justice. “That’s the problem that we face.”

RELATED: American de-Christianization: Why it’s happening and what it will mean for the republic

Photo by VCG Wilson/Corbis via Getty Images

When asked in the interview published Wednesday to expound on his suggestion in the Rome speech, Alito told Robinson, “I think it is the problem that we face because support for religious liberty, unfortunately, has cratered in the last 20, 25 years.”

After Alito raised the matter of how the U.S. Constitution singles out religion and gives it protection that is not similarly afforded to views that are not religiously based, Robinson said, “I can’t remember who it was who said that it’s fair to expect the judicial system to ignore the politics of the day but naive to expect the judicial system to remain unaffected by the politics of the era — something like that. And if public support for religion, public practice of religion — if the support, as you just said, is ‘cratering’ — what can the court do over the long term?”

Alito indicated that the Constitution wouldn’t turn on a faithful minority just because the majority turned on faith.

“There’s a reason why we’re not elected. We are not supposed to do what is popular. We’re supposed to do what is right,” said Alito. “We’re supposed to interpret the Constitution and figure out what it means, and then apply the Constitution. That’s the purpose of this institution, the core purpose of this institution.”

RELATED: Secularists think they won at the Supreme Court — but they’ll lose in the end

Photo by CHIP SOMODEVILLA/POOL/AFP via Getty Images

While suggesting that America is “basically a democratic country,” Alito noted that the Framers, wary of the mob and its impulses, applied “some restraint on things that people might do.”

James Madison was among the Founding Fathers aware of the need for checks on the mob, noting in Federalist No. 55 that “passion never fails to wrest the scepter from reason. Had every Athenian citizen been a Socrates; every Athenian assembly would still have been a mob.”

In Federalist No. 51, Madison discussed how the republican government could serve as a check on the tyranny of the majority, ensuring that the “rights of individuals, or of the minority, will be in little danger from interested combinations of the majority.”

“We have to stand firm on this, and I think we have done a pretty good job on it,” said Alito, “but we have to keep it up because challenges … will continue to come.”

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​Samuel alito, Alito, Supreme court, Judiciary, Court, Peter robinson, Hoover institution, Constitution, Constitutionalist, Conservative, Politics 

Glenn Beck interviews former undercover FBI agent Scott Payne about the harrowing experience that sent him running to Jesus.

Retired undercover FBI agent Scott Payne spent much of his career infiltrating the most extreme, nefarious groups in the history of America. From the Outlaws Motorcycle Club, a notorious white supremacist gang with a deep history of illegal activities, to the KKK, Payne has seen things most of us couldn’t dream of.

However, there is one incident from his youth that he says was far more terrifying than being held at gunpoint or watching cultists sever a goat’s head as an undercover cop.

In his interview with Glenn Beck, Payne shared the story that sent him literally running to church.

While Payne “grew up in a Christian home,” where “both of [his] grandfathers were pastors,” he strayed from the faith and got involved in “witchcraft” following the unexpected divorce of his parents.

“It [started] kind of innocent and stupid, but I ended up just going into full-blown Satan worshiping — you know, wanting to sign a contract in blood” and “[watching] every horror movie from A to Z,” he says. “I was in a real dark place.”

One night, that darkness culminated in the manifestation of an actual demon.

Payne, who was in high school at the time, was at a party in his friend’s basement. He began talking in his “demon voices” and “acting out a scene” from a horror movie — a joke he coined to get a negative reaction out of others. While he may have been playing around, Satan’s forces were not.

There were “no psychedelics” involved that could have caused him to hallucinate the image that suddenly appeared before his eyes. In the midst of acting out a skit of a “satanic possession,” Payne saw a demon appear before him.

“What I saw was all red, like a watery image, and it was a demon looking at me smiling with this crooked finger and nails and looking at me and giving me the ‘come here’ [sign],” he recounts. “I screamed probably the highest I’ve ever screamed … I was as white as a sheet; I was panting, pouring sweat.”

His friend’s immediate response was perhaps even more haunting. Having previously warned him about the darkness he was meddling in, he looked directly into Payne’s eyes and said, “I told you, didn’t I?” as if he’d seen the same demonic vision.

The traumatic experience was enough for Payne to march himself directly to church that very night.

“I walked to Edwards Road Baptist Church in Greenville, South Carolina, and I think I sat through every service,” he tells Glenn. “That was it for the demonic stuff for me.”

Payne’s terrifying encounter with a demon in his youth was a turning point, driving him to embrace an unshakeable faith in Christ. Ironically, it was only the first of many encounters with evil he would face — not as a wayward teen but as an FBI agent infiltrating heinous groups. Strengthened by his faith, Payne endured the darkness of these missions, carrying the burden of confronting humanity’s worst. To hear his gripping story, watch the full interview above.

Want more from Glenn Beck?

To enjoy more of Glenn’s masterful storytelling, thought-provoking analysis, and uncanny ability to make sense of the chaos, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

​Glenn tv, Glenn beck, The glenn beck program, Blazetv, Blaze media, Scott payne, Demonic encounter, Demons, Fbi, Undercover fbi agent, Kkk, Outlaws, White supremacists 

The new “Karate Kid” movie has a surprising twist: older men teaching younger men to work hard, honor tradition, and develop a virtuous character. “Karate Kid: Legends” is exactly what you think it’s going to be — and thank God for that.

If, like me, you grew up trying to perfect the crane kick in the living room after watching the original “Karate Kid,” then this movie will hit all the right beats. It follows the classic formula: an underdog with raw talent, a wise mentor with quiet gravitas, a villain who cheats, and the enduring truth that virtue matters more than victory.

New movie, timeless themes

You might ask, “So … it’s not a great movie?” No. It is just what you expect, and that’s what makes it great. It doesn’t pretend to be something else. It’s not trying to be edgy, subversive, or “reimagine the genre.” It isn’t the millionth movie in the “Sixth-Sense-twist-at-the-end” series of hackneyed films we’re all bored with. It’s just a good old-fashioned “Karate Kid” movie. And in an age when every studio seems bent on turning childhood memories into political lectures, this is a welcome roundhouse to the face.

The tradition here is simple and good: older men teaching younger men how to face suffering with courage and to live lives of virtue.

No woke sermon, no rainbow flag cameo character delivering predictable lines about systemic injustice, no Marxist backstory about how dojo hierarchies are tools of capitalist oppression — this isn’t a Disney film, and you can tell.

Instead, it asks a dangerous question, one so controversial it might get you fired from an English department faculty meeting: Do hard work, discipline, tradition, and honor still matter?

In the woke world, of course, the answer is no. Disney movies now teach that tradition is oppressive, virtue is repressive, and hard work is a tool of colonialist mind control. Your feelings are your truth — and your truth is sacred. If you feel like turning your back on your family to pursue LGBTQ+ sex, then you’re the greatest hero in human history. But “Karate Kid: Legends” doesn’t go there. It doesn’t need to.

It’s not a message movie. But it has a message. And it’s one even a child can understand: Be honorable. Do the right thing. Grievance and self-pity don’t lead to victory. And if they do, it’s a hollow one.

Mentorship, hard work, virtue

The film also manages to affirm tradition without being heavy-handed about mystical Eastern spiritualism or ancestral ghost sequences. Disney spews New Age spirituality in cartoons for kids at every opportunity.

The “tradition” here is simple and good: older men teaching younger men how to face suffering with courage and to live lives of virtue. That includes working through loss — deep loss, the kind that could break a person. But instead of turning to rage or self-indulgence, our young hero learns to endure, to persevere, to get back up — and maybe, just maybe, deliver that final clean kick.

RELATED: Ferris Bueller’s surprisingly traditional ‘Day Off’

Photo by CBS via Getty Images

Of course, there’s a villain who cheats. You’ve got to have that. And yes, he’s detestable. That’s kind of the point. As the smug leftist professor at your local state university might say, “So it’s about childish morality?” Yes, professor — it’s about what even a child can know: Doing the right thing and building character matters. Wallowing in the self-pity of grievance culture will never get you there.

Somehow, this simple truth has become controversial. In a world where adults cry on TikTok about microaggressions and activist professors turn every syllabus into a therapy session about their own victimhood, it’s refreshing to see a film that reminds us that life is hard. But that doesn’t mean we give up. It means we get better. Stronger. Kinder. More honorable.

And that’s what “Legends” delivers — without apology, without postmodern irony, and without the cultural sludge we’ve come to expect from Hollywood.

No Oscar? No problem.

It’s clean. It’s earnest. It’s nostalgic without being desperate. And it shows us a vision of manhood and mentorship we desperately need: older men guiding the next generation, not with snark or shame, but with honor, wisdom, and love.

So if you want a movie that will entertain your kids without corrupting them — and hopefully inspire them to build a virtuous character — go see “Karate Kid: Legends.” It may not win an Oscar (which already tells you it’s good), but it might just help restore your faith in simple, straightforward storytelling. And that’s worth more than a golden statue.

​Opinion & analysis, Karate kid legends, Jackie chan, Ralph macchio, Movie review, Movies, Woke hollywood, Disney, Hollywood, Crane kick, Virtue 

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard struck back at the mainstream media after President Donald Trump said she was wrong about how close Iran is to developing nuclear weapons.

The president flatly rejected the notion that Iran was not seeking nuclear weapons or was not close to developing them when he took questions from reporters on Friday.

‘The dishonest media is intentionally taking my testimony out of context and spreading fake news as a way to manufacture division.’

“What intelligence do you have that Iran is building a nuclear weapon?” asked a reporter. “Your intelligence community has said that they have no evidence that they are at this point.”

“Well, then my intelligence community is wrong,” he responded. “Who in the intelligence community said that?”

“Your director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard,” he answered.

“She’s wrong,” Trump said.

Hours later, Gabbard blamed the media for the rift and posted video of her testimony to back her claim that her comments were mischaracterized.

“The dishonest media is intentionally taking my testimony out of context and spreading fake news as a way to manufacture division,” she wrote on social media.

“America has intelligence that Iran is at the point that it can produce a nuclear weapon within weeks to months, if they decide to finalize the assembly,” she added. “President Trump has been clear that can’t happen, and I agree.”

RELATED: Whoopi Goldberg says blacks are oppressed in the US just as much as Iranians under totalitarian regime in ‘The View’ debate

However, the testimony she posted included the following statement:

“The [intelligence community] continues to assess that Iran is not building a nuclear weapon and Supreme Leader Khamenei has not authorized the nuclear weapons program he suspended in 2003.”

This is not the first time Trump cast doubt on Gabbard’s assessment when asked by the media. On Tuesday, he was asked the same question about her testimony while he talked to reporters on Air Force One.

“I don’t care what she said,” Trump responded. “I think they were very close to having a weapon.”

Trump had announced on Thursday that he would decide whether to strike at Iran within two weeks in order to allow the Iranian regime more time to come to an agreement on a nuke deal.

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​Tulsi gabbard vs trump, Trump says gabbard wrong, Iranian nuke development, Trump on iran nukes, Politics 

A 22-year-old woman — who’s a now-former New York state school district employee — is accused of sending nude photos of herself to a 14-year-old boy.

The Chemung County Sheriff’s Office said Anamaria Milazzo from the town of Elmira was arrested on charges of disseminating indecent material to minors in the second degree — a class E felony — and endangering the welfare of a child, which is a class A misdemeanor.

Susan Rider-Ulacco — chief assistant district attorney for the Chemung County District Attorney’s Office — on Friday afternoon told Blaze News that Milazzo wasn’t jailed, despite the felony charge against her, because of New York state’s bail reform law.

A school resource officer assigned to the Greater Southern Tier Board of Cooperative Educational Services received a complaint June 9 alleging Milazzo sent indecent material to a minor, the sheriff’s office said.

The criminal investigations division of the sheriff’s office assisted with the investigation and learned that over a three-month period, Milazzo sent nude photographs of herself to a 14-year-old male, the sheriff’s office said.

RELATED: Ex-head counselor at all-boys’ Catholic HS pleads guilty to sexual abuse of student after nude pics, office tryst revealed

Photo by Louis Bryant III for The Washington Post via Getty Images

The Daily Voice said Milazzo was arrested June 16 and that she had worked as a teaching assistant since December 2024.

Milazzo was issued an appearance ticket to appear in the Wellsburg Village Court at a later date, the sheriff’s office said.

Susan Rider-Ulacco — chief assistant district attorney for the Chemung County District Attorney’s Office — on Friday afternoon told Blaze News that Milazzo wasn’t jailed, despite the felony charge against her, because of New York state’s bail reform law.

RELATED: Florida middle school teacher sent nude photo, engaged in ‘lewd conduct’ with 14-year-old student: Police

The Greater Southern Tier BOCES on Tuesday confirmed that Milazzo was a former employee at a BOCES facility in Chemung County, WETM-TV reported, adding that while Milazzo had been terminated, BOCES couldn’t comment on when she was terminated or her role at the district.

The New York Post said the 14-year-old boy was not identified, and it’s not clear if he was a student at the same BOCES school where Milazzo worked.

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​New york state, School district employee, Sending nude photos to minor, Anamaria e. milazzo, Elmira, Chemung county sheriff’s office, Disseminating indecent material to minors, Endangering the welfare of a child, Wellsburg village court, Greater southern tier board of cooperative educational services, Crime, Anamaria milazzo 

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is setting his sights on pharmaceutical companies yet again by attempting to hinder them from making commercials and advertisements for their products.

His plan is to require drugmakers to be completely transparent about the side effects of their products, because including all the side effects will increase the run time and drive up the cost of production exponentially.

And BlazeTV host Sara Gonzales couldn’t be happier, as she believes a lot of their commercials are not only ridiculous but are selling a magic pill rather than inspiring potential clients to take control of their health naturally.

One commercial for Jardiance from 2023 features an overweight cast dancing and singing a catchy tune about lowering their A1C.

“You look at that commercial, and that’s just a perfect representation of why RFK is doing this. They’ve got this high production value, they’ve got musical theater. Now, I don’t think it’s appealing, but clearly the point is to appeal to people by using this cutesy little song,” Gonzales says on “Sara Gonzales Unfiltered.”

“It masks the really brief mention of all of these dangerous side effects. You don’t hear that, you just hear the music,” she adds.

“Your skin’s going to melt off by day 90,” BlazeTV contributor Jaco Booyens jokes, adding, “You know the average price spend is close to $3 million per commercial.”

And Gonzales personally knows that the pills they’re spending so much to advertise aren’t the be-all and end-all for those struggling to get healthy.

“I used to be 100 pounds heavier. I lost the weight naturally, you can, too. And so I take personal offense to this, like, just take a pill, here. Just take a pill. Like, all of those women were obese, and they need to consider lifestyle changes rather than taking a pill just to get rid of their diabetes,” she says.

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A visa specialist who worked for the U.S. State Department is out of a job after getting caught on undercover video admitting that he was helping migrants find legal loopholes to stay in the country.

The video shows a man named Arslan Akhtar spilling his guts in a restaurant to a woman who works with the O’Keefe Media Group.

‘I would prefer him to be dragged out of the building with his hair plugs … and lynched on the street. We need a public justice, I think. That’s really what we need. We need a healthy dose of public justice.’

Akhtar also expressed thoughts and beliefs described as “virulent antisemitic, anti-American, and anti-Israel views” by the undercover group.

“I do say it to cab drivers that are from, like, Hispanic descent. I’m like, ‘Don’t talk to the police.’ Don’t admit the truth. … If you want a loophole, keep your mouth shut,” said Akhtar at one point.

“That’s the best advice I could possibly give to those guys, because the good people get taken advantage of. Our immigration system can be really cruel,” he added.

He said that he worked with a lot of Jewish people, and he called them “terrible” as well as “garbage people.”

In another embarrassing moment, the man says that he hates Yemeni people because they are so deceptive on the visa application process and identifies other groups he has animosity against.

“I hate [Yemenis] with a passion. They’re such awful people in the application process. They are the most conniving group of folks, next to Indians,” he said. “Oh, Bangladeshi people, they’re awful.”

He also advocated for shocking violence against billionaire Elon Musk.

“I would prefer him to be dragged out of the building with his hair plugs … and lynched on the street,” Akhtar said. “We need a public justice, I think. That’s really what we need. We need a healthy dose of public justice.”

RELATED: Illegal alien activist group demands Phoenix end ‘racist’ police stops on broken taillights and tinted windows

Photo by Selcuk Acar/Anadolu via Getty Images

At one point, the man joked that he didn’t want the woman to become a journalist after hearing his comments and “run with the story.”

The report said that Akhtar denied that any of his views led to bias in the performance of his job.

OMG obtained a statement from the State Department about the video.

“The contractor is no longer employed by the U.S. State Department,” the statement reads. “Upholding the rule of law and protecting the integrity of our immigration system is essential, which is why the Department will launch a new contractor screening and vetting process.”

The undercover video can be viewed on OMG’s YouTube channel.

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In a letter to the FBI, suspected political assassin Vance Luther Boelter blamed Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz for the June 14 shooting rampage that killed a key Democratic House member and her husband and seriously wounded a Democratic state senator and his wife.

Liz Collin of Alpha News broke the story Friday, citing “multiple sources with direct knowledge of the investigation.”

Gov. Tim Walz said Democrats should ‘bully the s**t out of’ President Trump.

The story said that a confession letter that Boelter left in a Buick sedan he abandoned June 15 during his flight from police places the blame for the massacre on the governor. The letter was addressed to FBI Director Kash Patel, Alpha News wrote. The story does not elaborate further on the letter contents.

Boelter was charged in federal court June 16 with the stalking and assassination of Minnesota House Speaker Emerita Melissa Hortman (DFL-Brooklyn Park) and her husband, Mark Hortman. They were gunned down inside the front door of their home that backs up to Edinburgh Golf Course in Brooklyn Park. Boelter is charged with two additional felony counts for use of a firearm in furtherance of the murders. He could face the death penalty.

Boelter is also charged with a firearms offense for allegedly pumping 17 bullets into state Sen. John Hoffman (DFL-Champlin) and his wife, Yvonne Hoffman, just inside the entry to their home about five miles from the Hortman residence. They are recovering from the wounds. A GoFundMe account was set up to aid them in their lengthy recovery.

RELATED: Phone associated with accused assassin’s home traveled to Dubai, Nepal, India, and Turkey, report says

Vance Luther Boelter allegedly sought to kill 4 Minnesota lawmakers in the overnight hours on June 14, 2025.Photos by FBI and Liz Collin/Alpha News

According to charging documents filed in U.S. District Court in St. Paul, after Boelter allegedly shot the Hoffmans, he went to the homes of two other Democratic lawmakers, state Rep. Kristin Bahner (DFL-Maple Grove) and state Sen. Ann Rest (DFL-New Hope). Bahner was not home. New Hope police rushing to check on Sen. Rest scared off Boelter, who was sitting in his parked SUV a block away.

Boelter was dressed in a police uniform and tactical vest with body armor, the FBI said. He wore a “hyper-realistic” silicone mask that covered his entire head and carried a tactical flashlight. Boelter drove a black Ford SUV painted and detailed to look like a police vehicle, including a flashing emergency light bar on the roof.

He allegedly parked the fake police vehicle in the Hortmans’ driveway with the emergency lights engaged about 3:30 a.m. June 14. He was on the front porch as cars from the Brooklyn Park Police Department pulled up to do a welfare check on the Hortmans. Boelter allegedly opened fire on the officers, then forced his way into the home and shot the couple and their golden retriever, Gilbert, the FBI said. The couple and their dog died from bullet wounds.

After allegedly shooting the Hortmans, Boelter escaped out the rear of the home and went on the lam. He was seen on security video less than three hours later in the alley behind a North Minneapolis home where he sublets a room. There was a second black Ford SUV parked near the home’s garage. Boelter is shown on video smashing the front passenger window with a blunt object before leaving the area.

Boelter convinced a man at a nearby bus stop to sell him an e-bike. He rode the bus to the man’s house and paid him $900 for the bike and a used Buick sedan. Boelter then evaded police until 9:15 p.m. the next day, when a woman in her driveway spotted him in a field in Green Isle, some 60 miles from the North Minneapolis house. Police closed in and arrested him without incident.

Boelter had earlier abandoned the Buick along Highway 25 in Belle Plaine, Minn. Police found a letter inside addressed to the FBI, along with Boelter’s cowboy hat. In the letter Boelter said he was the one police were searching for in the shooting case, court records revealed.

Gov. Walz appointed Boelter to a state workforce development commission for a term that ended in 2023. Democratic Gov. Mark Dayton appointed Boelter to a similar commission in 2016 for a two-year term.

Walz was heavily criticized on the right for remarks about President Trump he made May 31 in which he suggested Democrats “be a little more fierce” and “bully the s*** out of him.” He referred to the president as an “existential threat.”

Boelter is being held without bail in federal custody. He is scheduled to be in court in St. Paul on June 27.

Blaze News reached out to Governor Walz’s office, the U.S. attorney in Minneapolis, and the FBI in Brooklyn Center, Minn. None of the parties responded before publication.

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An illegal alien advocacy group called on the city of Phoenix to amplify its efforts to oppose deportation operations from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, but was soundly rejected.

In a vote of 8 to 1, the Phoenix City Council voted against adopting the suggested policy changes to law enforcement from a social justice nonprofit organization called Poder in Action.

‘These racist stops feed people directly to incarceration and immigrant detention; our communities are done with police violence and racial profiling.’

Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego, a Democrat, said she voted against the demand because activists had been lying about police actions.

“I’ll be voting against this petition because of the redundancies, misconceptions, and misinformation,” she said, according to KSAZ-TV. “And frankly, I’m concerned that approving this petition would result in an increase in crime.”

Gallego was personally criticized by Miros Mejia of Poder in Action for not living up to a promise to keep law enforcement from aiding in mass deportation efforts from the Trump administration.

“Unfortunately, that’s not what we’re seeing,” said Mejia, according to the news station.

Activists accused Phoenix law enforcement of allowing ICE agents into jails to target minor, nonviolent offenders.

“These are members of the community that have been here for a very long time, and when they are stopped and detained by police and handed over to ICE, unfortunately, it comes to the point where families are being separated,” Mejia added.

In a post on the group’s Facebook page, they said they had the following four non-negotiable demands:

BAN pretextual traffic stops for broken taillights and window tinting,END arrest quotas that criminalize our communities,STOP police harassment of unhoused people for sleeping at bus stops, andREQUIRE citations instead of arrests for nonviolent offenses.

“These racist stops feed people directly to incarceration and immigrant detention; our communities are done with police violence and racial profiling,” the group added.

The City of Phoenix apparently disagreed and released a statement opposing the adoption of the demands.

“The citizen petition … recommends sweeping policy changes that differ from recent city council direction, creates potential conflicts with state law, and requires extensive research and vetting regarding the potential implications of such changes,” reads their statement, according to KSAZ.

The group encouraged people to voice their opposition to ICE at the city council meeting.

“We’re being treated like we’re nothing,” said one woman, according to KTVK-TV.

“I want Phoenix to be a thriving, safe, and sustainable place for my family to stay for generations to come,” said another person.

“If you don’t support this resolution, we will know that while you’re on your vacation with your happy families relaxing, our families will continue to be ripped apart and traumatized by your city,” said another.

RELATED: Illegal alien activist patrol group claims to have disrupted and prevented ICE raids

One woman did speak out against the resolution.

“This petition perpetuates the violence we’re seeing against police, and I don’t appreciate that we’re continuing to talk about federal and state law when this has nothing to do with what the city can actually do,” she said.

Activists said the fight was not over.

“We’ll be back with more folks, and we’re going to make sure that we do protect our community in spite of the mayor and City Council,” said one man to KTVK.

The group’s mission statement said their goal was to “disrupt and dismantle systems of oppression” to help people of color and working-class communities.

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Kash Patel has dropped a bombshell that, if true, would prove a lot of Americans who questioned the results of the 2020 election right.

The FBI director turned over an intelligence report to Congress that exposes an alleged Chinese campaign to mess with the election results through the creation of thousands of fake U.S. driver’s licenses.

A confidential source alleged those driver’s licenses were to be used by the Chinese for thousands of mail-in votes to sway the election in Biden’s direction.

Of course, the mainstream media is largely ignoring the development.

“We were called domestic terrorists, by the way, when we questioned the 2020 election,” BlazeTV host Liz Wheeler comments. “So they cannot in good faith now report anything associated with any kind of meddling that happened in the 2020 election, or else it makes them domestic terrorists per their own definition.”

According to Just the News, the “newly declassified intelligence reports from August 2020 were not corroborated or fully investigated and instead were recalled from intelligence agencies at about the time that then-FBI Director Christopher Wray testified that there were no known plots of foreign interference ahead of the 2020 election.”

“We have an intelligence report, meaning a report put together by intelligence officials, and this was before the 2020 election, that said that China was producing driver’s licenses in order to take votes, and yet, this was not fully investigated,” Wheeler comments.

“What the heck? Why was this not fully investigated?” she asks, adding, “Probably, the reason is ideology, right? The people inside the intel community didn’t want to investigate this because they were in the tank for Joe Biden.”

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The Department of Health and Human Services, currently led by Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., wants California to stop teaching children that some men are “born with female anatomy” and some women are “born with male anatomy.”

The Administration for Children and Families under HHS sent a letter to the state of California requiring the state to remove gender ideology references from curricula, program material, and teacher advisories under the Personal Responsibility Education Program.

‘It’s a all a lie and can lead to irreversible medical harm against children.’

In its letter, the ACF pointed to specific, disturbing references intended for California middle school and high school students.

One of the lessons targeted for removal included the following words, “We’ve been talking during class about messages people get on how they should act as boys and girls — but as many of you know, there are also people who don’t identify as boys or girls, but rather as transgender or gender queer.”

Another entry in a teacher’s guide, cited by HHS, stated, “An adjective used to describe a person whose gender identity is congruent (or ‘matches’) the biological sex they were assigned at birth is ‘cisgender.’ Other gender identities may include non-binary, agender, bigender, genderfluid, and genderqueer.”

The guidance did not stop there and arguably got worse when it was meant for teens.

RELATED: Supreme Court justice FURIOUS; claims ruling ‘abandons transgender children’

Photo by Jonathan Wiggs/The Boston Globe via Getty Images

In the lesson titled “Teen Talk High School,” teachers are told to “remind students that some men are born with female anatomy, some women are born with male anatomy.”

The letter also states that gender identity is “essentially a social status defined by a community’s expectations for behavior.”

It additionally advises on the terms “genderqueer, gender non-conforming, and gender expansive” as being terms used to describe the “experience of being non-binary.”

The ACF claimed that the educational materials promote gender ideology and stated it must be removed because it has “nothing to do with” PREP’s prescribed purview.

January Littlejohn, a senior fellow at child advocacy group Do No Harm, told Blaze News that these lesson plans are the standard “gender pseudoscience” that has been taught to children for years without parents being aware.

RELATED: Matt Walsh’s crusade pays off: SCOTUS protects Tennessee kids from gender mutilation

Photo by Dania Maxwell/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

“It’s a all a lie and can lead to irreversible medical harm against children,” Littlejohn told Blaze News.

She continued, “This move by HHS is a critical step to getting this out of our school systems, which are ground zero. Telling children they can be born in the wrong body destabilizes their identity and risks having them become lifelong medical patients.”

Alleigh Marre, executive director of the American Parents Coalition, said in a statement to Blaze News that gender ideology should “never [have] had a place” in school curriculum at all.

“Education should be focused on real-world challenges, academic learning, and developing interpersonal skills. Anything outside of that is a distraction,” Marre added.

California has been ordered to remove all gender ideology references from its PREP materials within 60 days and return a copy to the ACF for its approval.

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