Category: blaze media

Maine Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner may be a self-proclaimed communist, but that hasn’t garnered the usual love and support from left-wing media outlets that many of his comrades have received.

In an exposé of the candidate, NBC News homed in on old Reddit posts written by Platner where he detailed his path to communism, writing that he “got older and became a communist” and is a “vegetable-growing, psychedelics-taking socialist these days.”

“After the war, I’ve pretty much stopped believing in any of the patriotic nonsense that got me there in the first place, and am a firm believer that the best thing a person can do is help their neighbors and live a loving life,” he added.

In a post from 2021, Platner wrote, “Bastards. Cops are bastards. All of them, in fact.”

When another user on Reddit claimed in 2020 that “white people aren’t as racist or stupid as Trump thinks,” Platner responded that as someone who lives in “white rural America,” he was “afraid” to tell the poster that “they actually are.”

But that’s not all. In posts from 2013, Platner “minimized challenges faced by military members in reporting sexual assault and encouraged people not to use substances in order to avoid being raped.”

The real reason for this exposé of one of their own, BlazeTV host Stu Burguiere explains, is that Platner had once gotten a Nazi tattoo removed.

“This is a guy, by the way, who was in the military, knows a lot about military history. There’s zero chance he did not know this was Nazi imagery,” Burguiere says. “But he says he was drunk 18 years ago and was unaware of its extremist association.”

“Let me just give you a little bit of advice, if I may, for just a moment to Graham,” he adds. “You know, sometimes you make a choice to consume enough of a substance to lose your self-control. If you don’t want to be in a compromising situation, act like an adult.”

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While the sports world continued to be rocked by arrests of athletes for alleged cheating, one popular sports commentator took some time out of the controversy to blame President Donald Trump.

Stephen A. Smith warned that the president was trying to get revenge on the players of the National Basketball Association and other sports figures over criticism they had leveled against him over many years.

‘This is just the tip of the iceberg. Everybody better brace themselves.’

“How many times, for one incident after another, have I said Trump is coming. He’s coming. I’m gonna say it on national television again,” Smith said.

He went on to claim that Trump was trying to disrupt the Super Bowl by ordering mass deportations during the performance of Bad Bunny at the halftime show.

“Big night for the NBA. [Victor] Wembanyama put on a show,” Smith said of the recent NBA game. “That has now been smeared because we’re talking about this story. OK?”

He went on to cite Trump’s longtime relationship with sports leagues going back to his time as owner of a casino in Atlantic City.

“Don’t be surprised if the WNBA is next on his list,” he continued. “Because when you’ve got all of these protests that have been going [on] out there and people that have been protesting against him and what have you, this man is coming. He’s coming.”

Smith said he would have more to say about the issue on another platform.

“And I’ve been saying it for a long time, and to me this is the latest nugget of evidence,” he added.

“Anybody that has seen his reactions from the sports leagues and the positions that people have taken, they are not surprised at what’s going on today,” Smith said.

“This is just the tip of the iceberg. Everybody better brace themselves,” he continued.

Among the evidence Smith cited to support his claim was that other sports figures had been arrested before, but they did not see the head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation holding media briefings on the matter.

FBI Director Kash Patel replied by berating Smith for the bizarre allegation and mocked the commentator during an interview on Fox News.

“I’m the FBI director. I decide which arrests to conduct and which not to conduct,” Patel said.

“That may be the single dumbest thing I’ve ever heard out of anyone in modern history, and I live most of my time in Washington, D.C. It’s right up there with Adam Schiff,” he added. “We arrest people for crimes.”

RELATED: NBA coach, former player arrested in Mafia-tied nationwide gambling bust

Smith responded by walking back some of his suggestions.

“Nothing to get ahead of here, people! I never denied or failed to mention that this FBI Investigation has been going on for years,” he posted on social media.

“I said Trump wasn’t inclined to stop it. He’s sparing no one because the man isn’t playing,” he added. “He’s coming!! In no way am I attempting to even have an opinion on the legitimacy of this matter. I don’t know the facts of the case. I’m just saying don’t expect POTUS to spare anyone on this matter. And I stand by that. That’s all!”

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An asteroid warning network has announced it will investigate a comet that allegedly has potential alien origins.

The comet, known as 3I/ATLAS, allegedly has peculiar traits that have not been seen in nature before. This theory is disputed, though.

‘Never seen in comets before.’

A NASA coordinated group called the International Asteroid Warning Network has added 3I/ATLAS to its list of observation campaigns for November, stating that it will monitor the comet for two months, ending in late January.

Concurrently, a Harvard astrophysicist told the New York Post that the comet, in addition to being the size of Manhattan, has several unusual characteristics that defy common knowledge about the objects.

Avi Loeb told the Post the comet has what is referred to as an “anti-tail,” which is a jet of particles that points toward the sun instead of away from it. It’s also emitting a plume — gas and dust that erupts from the surface — that contains four grams of nickel per second. Allegedly existing without iron, Loeb said this was unheard of.

Loeb also claimed the object also has non-gravitational acceleration that will bring it close to Jupiter, Venus, and Mars, which is suspicious enough for him to claim that the comet could actually be an alien probe.

The comet also allegedly contains a toxic gas that is not seen naturally occurring on Earth.

RELATED: Freakout at the Final Frontier

Photo by MADS CLAUS RASMUSSEN/Ritzau Scanpix/AFP via Getty Images

The nickel compound nickel tetracarbonyl is apparently present in the comet. According to ScienceDirect, this gas is formed from the reaction of carbon monoxide with metallic nickel and is the primary cause of acute nickel toxicity. The gas is used in the process of obtaining “very pure nickel” but can cause “severe health effects” in humans.

Loeb said the process is only imaginable because it’s used in industry and was “never seen in comets before.”

At the same time, the Post cited a study that suggests that the compound could form naturally in a carbon monoxide-rich environment.

“The [nickel] emission is more centrally concentrated in the nucleus of the comet and favors hypotheses involving easily dissociated species such as metal carbonyls or metal-polycyclic-aromatic-hydrocarbon molecules,” the study reads.

Loeb also said the object did not have a cometary tail, which “we usually see … and in this case there was no evidence for such a tail.”

RELATED: China 3-5 years from establishing ‘exclusion zones’ on the moon: Space policy advisor Greg Autry explains the new Cold War

Photo by Basri Marzuki/NurPhoto via Getty Images

Despite Loeb’s alien warnings and the IAWN’s plan for a lengthy observation period, the group states on its campaign page that the comet “poses no threat.”

It does, however, present a “great opportunity for the IAWN community to perform an observing exercise due to its prolonged observability from Earth and high interest to the scientific community.”

The group plans on holding a workshop on techniques to correctly measure the comet’s astrometry, “a transformation without a change to a figure’s shape or size, such as rotation or reflection.”

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Journalist Helen Andrews has written what BlazeTV host Jason Whitlock calls “one of the most important pieces of journalism in quite some time.”

The article for the online publication Compact, titled “The Great Feminization,” dives into the dangers of feminism and the havoc it has wreaked on society as a whole — starting with “cancel culture.”

“Cancel culture is simply what women do whenever there are enough of them in a given organization or field. That is the Great Feminization thesis. … Everything you think of as ‘wokeness’ is simply an epiphenomenon of demographic feminization,” Andrews writes.

“Wokeness is not a new ideology, an outgrowth of Marxism, or a result of post-Obama disillusionment. It is simply feminine patterns of behavior applied to institutions where women were few in number until recently,” she continues. “How did I not see it before?”

Andrews notes that women “became a majority of college-educated workforce nationwide in 2019,” which was followed by women becoming a “majority of college instructors in 2023.”

“Wokeness arose around the same time that many important institutions tipped demographically from majority male to majority female,” she writes.

“The substance fits, too. Everything you think of as wokeness involves prioritizing the feminine over the masculine: empathy over rationality, safety over risk, cohesion over competition,” she adds.

Andrews also points out that within group dynamics, the “most important sex difference” is the “attitude to conflict.” While “men wage conflict openly,” women “covertly undermine or ostracize their enemies.”

“We’ve all been in denial, that we all just, you know, ‘Women and men, they’re all the same and welcoming them into the workforce and into all positions of power — this is long overdue and this is good for America,’ and this article points out in great detail, and very powerfully, like no, they’re not the same,” Whitlock says in response.

However, while BlazeTV contributor Chad Jackson agrees somewhat with Andrews, he points out that the article was still “written from a spirit of feminism.”

“And what I mean by that is that she describes wokeism kind of rising up out of nowhere, seemingly out of nowhere here recently. When the reality of it is that what we’re seeing in these recent years is actually a culmination of what’s been going on for a few centuries, actually,” Jackson explains.

“When you’re coming from a kind of evolutionary worldview, you might get a lot of things right, but you miss the mark when it comes to certain key points. … I think that we tend to miss the mark when it comes to how these things have been brewing up for much longer than the recent history,” he adds.

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The U.S. Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments in a challenge to the ruling that established same-sex marriage rights in 2015.

Kim Davis was ordered to pay a $100,000 fine after the former county clerk denied granting a marriage license in 2015 to a same-sex couple based on her religious objections. Davis also served five days in jail for contempt of court.

‘This opinion has no basis in the Constitution. The High Court should overturn this egregious opinion from 2015.’

The court will hear arguments on Nov. 7 in a private conference. If the justices decide against hearing the full case, a denial could be released as early as Nov. 10.

The appeal to the Supreme Court asks that the punishment against Davis be overturned and also that the ruling establishing same-sex marriage be reversed.

“If ever there was a case of exceptional importance,” Davis said in the appeal, “the first individual in the republic’s history who was jailed for following her religious convictions regarding the historic definition of marriage, this should be it.”

District Judge David Bunning, who had found Davis in contempt of court, scolded her at the time for using “her own constitutional rights as a shield to violate the constitutional rights of others while performing her duties as an elected official.”

The appeal to the Supreme Court argues that Obergefell v. Hodges was unconstitutional and led to the unjust violation of Davis’ religious rights.

Her attorneys have pointed out that three of the justices who ruled in favor of the decision are no longer on the Supreme Court.

In addition, Chief Justice John Roberts had dissented against Obergefell v. Hodges and argued that it had “no basis in the Constitution” and characterized it as “an act of will, not legal judgment.”

RELATED: ‘Children as assets’: Gay couple’s viral IVF video reveals just how far Obergefell has gone

“Obergefell v. Hodges cannot … override the First Amendment to send someone to jail for their religious beliefs on marriage, and it certainly does not establish a right to obtain a marriage license with a specific clerk’s name on it,” said Liberty Counsel founder and Chairman Mat Staver.

“Kim Davis’ case underscores why the U.S. Supreme Court should overturn the wrongly decided Obergefell opinion because it threatens the religious liberty of Americans who believe that marriage is a sacred union between one man and one woman,” he added. “Like the abortion decision in Roe v. Wade, Obergefell was egregiously wrong from the start. This opinion has no basis in the Constitution. The High Court should overturn this egregious opinion from 2015.”

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​Obergefell v. hodges, Kim davis, Us supreme court, Overturning gay marriage, Politics 

The head of the U.S. Capitol Police union excoriated politicians for continuing the government shutdown over the deleterious effects on the officers on the force.

Gus Papathanasiou, chairman of the United States Capitol Police Labor Committee, also seemingly made a subtle jab at Sen. Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.).

‘As this shutdown continues, every day is WORSE, not “Better” for all of us.’

“This Govt shutdown needs to end! It’s negatively impacting all of our officers here at the USCP who are forced to work, and now will not receive their first full paycheck,” reads the statement to Blaze News from Papathanasiou.

The shutdown entered into a fourth week, with negotiations showing little sign of progress. The Capitol Police missed their first full paycheck on Oct. 10.

“Not only does this shutdown negatively impact federal cops but all federal workers throughout this country,” he continued. “Officers are starting to take out loans to pay their bills, rent, mortgages, food for their families, and the list goes on. As this shutdown continues, every day is WORSE, not ‘Better’ for all of us.”

Papathanasiou was likely referring to a controversial statement from Schumer that many saw as tone-deaf and insensitive.

“Every day gets better for us,” Schumer asserted as the shutdown entered a second week.

RELATED: Who is to blame for the government shutdown? CNN analyst finds astounding results

Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

Trump also bashed Schumer over the comment.

“Chuck Schumer recently said, ‘Every day gets better’ during their Radical Left Shutdown,” the president wrote on social media. “I DISAGREE! If nothing is done, because of ‘Leader’ Chuck Schumer and the Democrats, our Brave Troops will miss the paychecks they are rightfully due on October 15th.”

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The Trump Justice Department announced on Friday that it will monitor several polling sites in California and New Jersey ahead of the blue states’ off-year Nov. 4 elections “to ensure transparency, ballot security, and compliance with federal law.”

The DOJ’s Civil Rights Division will specifically deploy personnel to monitor polling sites in the California’s Kern, Riverside, Fresno, Orange, and Los Angeles Counties as well as in New Jersey’s Passaic County.

‘We have received reports of irregularities in these counties that we fear will undermine either the willingness of voters to participate in the election or their confidence in the announced results.’

“The Department of Justice will do everything necessary to protect the votes of eligible American citizens, ensuring our elections are safe and secure,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon of the Civil Rights Division. “Transparent election processes and election monitoring are critical tools for safeguarding our elections and ensuring public trust in the integrity of our elections.”

In New Jersey, voters are set to decide who will replace Gov. Phil Murphy (D).

It is presently a close race between Democratic Rep. Mikie Sherrill and Republican Jack Ciattarelli, the former New Jersey assemblyman who fell short by fewer than four points in the 2021 gubernatorial race.

According to a new Rutgers-Eagleton poll, 50% of voters would have cast votes for Sherrill and 45% would have cast votes for Ciattarelli if the election were held this week.

New Jersey Republicans recently asked the Justice Department in an Oct. 20 letter to dispatch Civil Rights Division personnel to monitor both the handling of vote-by-mail ballots and access to the Board of Elections in Passaic County, a historically Democratic stronghold that supported President Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential election.

RELATED: Corrupt Stacey Abrams groups once led by Sen. Raphael Warnock go extinct after admission of guilt

Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images

The New Jersey GOP stressed the urgency of such oversight, citing a “long and sordid history of [vote-by-mail ballot] fraud,” a dearth of transparency, and an allegedly insufficient response to potential fraud by state officials.

Concerns over potential mail-in voting improprieties appear to have heightened in recent years not only by the voter fraud scandal that marred a 2020 city council election in Paterson, the county’s most populous city, but the alleged refusal by the county’s Board of Elections to allow security cameras to monitor ballot storage areas.

The California Republican Party similarly requested the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division to provide monitors in five counties in the Golden State.

‘Transparency at the polls translates into faith in the electoral process.’

Corrin Rankin, chairwoman of the state GOP, said Monday in a letter to Dhillon, “In recent elections, we have received reports of irregularities in these counties that we fear will undermine either the willingness of voters to participate in the election or their confidence in the announced results of the election.”

Ensuring the integrity of the Nov. 4 election is all the more important because its result could impact future federal elections.

In California, voters will decide on Proposition 50, a measure that would replace the state’s current congressional map with a version that creates five new majority-Democrat districts.

This redistricting scheme was championed by Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) and endorsed by former President Barack Obama after both men and multitudes of other Democrats spent weeks pearl-clutching about Texas Republicans’ successful adoption of a new congressional map on Aug. 29.

Former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R), among the critics of Proposition 50, told the Houston Chronicle, “It is very wrong what they’re trying to do in California. It is not at all serving the people. It is serving the party.”

While the DOJ regularly sends personnel to ensure compliance with federal civil rights laws in elections across the country, Democrats in both blue states are fuming over the planned presence of Civil Rights Division monitors at poll sites in their upcoming elections.

“This is not a federal election. The U.S. DOJ has no business or basis to interfere with this election. This is solely about whether California amends our state constitution,” Newsom’s office stated on X. “This administration has made no secret of its goal to undermine free and fair elections. Deploying these federal forces appears to be an intimidation tactic meant for one thing: suppress the vote.”

New Jersey Attorney General Matt Platkin (D) said in a statement obtained by the Associated Press that the move was “highly inappropriate” and suggested that the Justice Department “has not even attempted to identify a legitimate basis for its actions.”

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi noted, “Transparency at the polls translates into faith in the electoral process, and this Department of Justice is committed to upholding the highest standards of election integrity.”

“We will commit the resources necessary to ensure the American people get the fair, free, and transparent elections they deserve,” added Bondi.

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​Gavin newsom, Voter fraud, Election, Election fraud, Mail in ballots, Ballots, California, New jersey, Donald trump, Dhillon, Department of justice, Election integrity, Politics 

At least 25 states across the country will pause critical food aid programs for millions of Americans due to the Democrat-induced government shutdown.

Dozens of states will issue notices to recipients of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program that they will not receive their government benefits on November 1. SNAP is notably the country’s largest food assistance program, with over 41 million recipients.

‘I choose country over party.’

These crucial benefits are set to lapse exactly a month into the shutdown all because Democrats refuse to vote for a clean, nonpartisan resolution to keep the government funded. Instead, Democrats are insisting on passing their own hyper-partisan $1.5 trillion bill and renegotiating Obamacare subsidies even though they don’t expire until the end of the year.

“It’s becoming clearer by the day that Democrats don’t want an outcome, they want a political issue,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) said in a post on X.

RELATED: Democrat senator blocks vote to end shutdown to protest Trump’s ‘authoritarianism’ in drawn-out rant

Allison Robbert/Bloomberg via Getty Images

“They’ve refused to reopen the government – 12 times,” Thune added. “They’ve refused my offer to discuss Obamacare’s failures. They’ve refused my offer to hold a vote on their own proposal to address a problem they created. They’ve refused to pay the troops and federal employees who are working without a paycheck. The only thing they’ve said yes to? The Schumer Shutdown and political ‘leverage.'”

Republicans have made multiple efforts to reopen the government, to pay federal workers, and to keep government programs afloat. Despite this, the majority of Democrats continue to stonewall their colleagues across the aisle and ultimately, the American people.

However, not all Democrats have stuck with their party’s position. Democratic Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania has largely made a name for himself by bucking his own party, and this shutdown fight is no exception. As the shutdown approaches the fourth week, Fetterman made it clear that he’s interested in “country over party.”

RELATED: Senate Democrats senselessly block GOP bill that would pay workers during government shutdown

Graeme Sloan/Bloomberg via Getty Images

“Shut our government down and America loses,” Fetterman said in a post on X. “2 MILLION Pennsylvanians depend on SNAP to feed their families. For me, it’s hungry Americans over party. Paying our military over party. Paying Capitol Police and federal workers over party. I choose country over party.”

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​Snap, Snap benefits, Government benefits, Social safety net, John thune, Donald trump, Trump administration, Chuck schumer, John fetterman, Senate democrats, Schumer shutdown, Democrat shutdown, Senate republicans, Aca subsidies, Obamacare, Government shutdown, Shutdown fight, Politics 

John Reid, the Republican candidate running for Virginia lieutenant governor, ripped into his Democrat opponent for embracing transgender ideology.

Reid called out Democrat state Sen. Ghazala Hashmi for flippantly dismissing the issue of transgenderism among children, according to a video obtained exclusively by Blaze News. In the video, Hashmi brushes off concerns surrounding transgender ideology and even brags about teaching the very LGBTQ books that have been banned from children’s libraries.

‘Any public official who says they ‘don’t really care’ if children are exposed to sexually explicit material in schools is completely out of touch with Virginia parents.’

“One of my concerns is violence. We seem to focus on sexually explicit material,” Hashmi said in the video obtained by Blaze News. “I don’t really care about that.”

“We teach the books that other people try to ban,” Hashmi said another video clip.

RELATED: ‘Trans’ fad is dying out among American youth, and straightness is ascendant: Study

“That’s Ghazala Hashmi. Not protecting kids, but pushing the radical agenda. While parents beg for decency, she laughs it off. While explicit books flood classrooms, she says, ‘I don’t really care about that.'”

“I’m John Reid. I’m running for lieutenant governor because I do care,” Reid said in the video. “It’s time to stand up, clean up our schools, and move Virginia forward.”

Although Hashmi has brazenly supported this radical ideology, she hasn’t mustered the courage to debate it with Reid in a public forum. Because Hashmi refused to participate in a debate with Reid on Tuesday, the Republican candidate took matters into his own hands and instead debated an AI generated stand-in of his Democratic opponent.

In spite of Hashmi’s failure to appear on the debate stage, Reid said her words “speak for themselves.”

RELATED: Democrat senator blocks vote to end shutdown to protest Trump’s ‘authoritarianism’ in drawn-out rant

Photo by Marvin Joseph/The Washington Post via Getty Images

“Ghazala Hashmi’s words speak for themselves,” Reid told Blaze News. “Any public official who says they ‘don’t really care’ if children are exposed to sexually explicit material in schools is completely out of touch with Virginia parents.”

“Parents deserve to know what’s in their kids’ classrooms — and when I’m lieutenant governor, they’ll have a voice and a seat at the table.”

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​John reid, Ghazala hashmi, Abigail spanberger, Virginia, Lieutenant governor race, Transgenderism, Transgender ideology, Transgender children, Banned books, Parental rights, Virginia republicans, Virginia democrats, Politics 

President Donald Trump announced late Thursday evening that he was terminating all trade negotiations with Canada on account of a $75 million anti-tariff advertising campaign initiated last week by Ontario Premier Doug Ford.

Trump leaned into his criticism of Canada Friday morning, stating, “CANADA CHEATED AND GOT CAUGHT!!!” and accused the northern nation of using the ad “to illegally influence the United States Supreme Court in one of the most important rulings in the history of our Country.”

The purpose of the ad, which featured excerpts from former President Ronald Reagan’s April 25, 1987, radio address regarding the benefits of free trade and downsides of protectionism, was to make the case against American tariffs on Canada to Republican voters.

Ford evidently figured the ad was not worth the cost.

The premier said in an X post on Friday afternoon that after speaking to Prime Minister Mark Carney, his government “will pause its U.S. advertising campaign effective Monday so that trade talks can resume.”

‘Let’s work together to build Fortress Am-Can and make our two countries stronger.’

“Our intention was always to initiate a conversation about the kind of economy that Americans want to build and the impact of tariffs on workers and businesses,” Ford wrote. “We’ve achieved our goal, having reached U.S. audiences at the highest levels.”

While the ad will not run as planned next week, Ford indicated that he has directed his team to “keep putting our message in front of Americans over the weekend so that we can air our commercial during the first two World Series games.”

The Toronto Blue Jays host the L.A. Dodgers for Game 1 on Friday night and Game 2 on Saturday.

RELATED: Trump says he’s killing trade talks with Canada for ‘trying to illegally influence’ SCOTUS with anti-tariff ad

Photo by EVAN VUCCI/POOL/AFP via Getty Images

“The people elected our government to protect Ontario — our workers, businesses, families and communities,” Ford continued. “That’s exactly what I’m doing. Like I said earlier today: Canada and the U.S. are neighbors, friends and allies. We’re so much stronger when we work together. Let’s work together to build Fortress Am-Can and make our two countries stronger, more prosperous and more secure.”

While Ontario is backing down, at least one other provincial leader appears eager to poke the bear.

The leftist premier of British Columbia, David Eby, revealed on Friday that his province was similarly making anti-tariff ads, stating, “Our wood faces higher US tariffs than Russia. Absurd. Truth will win!”

The Trump administration’s tariffs on Canadian softwood lumber were recently brought up to a combined 45%.

The Canadian Industry Minister Melanie Joly later told reporters, “We need to make sure that we reduce our dependency on the U.S. and that we support our businesses.”

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New York Attorney General Letitia James charged that she was being unjustly prosecuted by the Trump administration in a rant outside a Virginia courtroom after her first hearing as a bank fraud defendant.

James is accused of lying about the classifications of homes she owns in order to unfairly secure favorable tax and financial benefits. She pleaded not guilty to the charges on Friday.

‘I believe that justice will rain down like water! And righteousness like a mighty stream!’

She led a chant of “No fear!” with a handful of supporters who applauded her speech.

“This is not about me! This is about all of us!” James said. “And about a justice system which has been weaponized!”

The court proceeding under U.S. District Judge Jamar Walker lasted only 35 minutes. He scheduled James’ trial date for Jan. 26.

President Donald Trump has criticized James numerous times and called for her to resign over the allegations.

“Letitia James, a totally corrupt politician, should resign from her position as New York State Attorney General, IMMEDIATELY,” he wrote in April. “Everyone is trying to MAKE NEW YORK GREAT AGAIN, and it can never be done with this wacky crook in office.”

James made an enemy of the president when she filed civil charges in 2022 accusing him and the Trump Organization of exaggerating values of properties in order to obtain favorable financial advantages. Trump was fined over $450 million, but that fine was later tossed out of court and James was scolded by a judge for overestimating the damages.

RELATED: Trump calls on ‘wacky crook’ Letitia James to resign after troubling fraud allegation surfaces

“No fear!” James chanted before stating, “Because I believe that justice will rain down like water! And righteousness like a mighty stream!”

Walker was appointed by former President Joe Biden.

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​Letitia james, Bank fraud allegations, Trump vs james, Mortgage fraud, Politics 

The Department of Justice issued a warning to California after some of the state’s top Democrats said arresting federal agents for perceived violations of state law is on the table as immigration enforcement continues.

Former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), alongside Rep. Kevin Mullin (D-Calif.), said, “While the president may enjoy absolute immunity courtesy of his rogue Supreme Court, those who operate under his orders do not. Our state and local authorities may arrest federal agents if they break California law — and if they are convicted, the president cannot pardon them.”

‘Illegal and futile.’

Brooke Jenkins, the San Francisco district attorney, revealed her office has drawn up plans to arrest federal agents should they use force in her city as they have during violent protests and riots in Los Angeles and Chicago. Jenkins explained that the San Francisco Police Department is on board with the idea in cases of “clear, excessive use of force,” according to the New York Times.

The SFPD did not respond to a request for comment from the Times.

In a letter to Pelosi and Jenkins, the DOJ wrote that it views “any arrests of federal agents and officers in the performance of their official duties as both illegal and futile. Numerous federal laws prohibit interfering with and impeding immigration or other law-enforcement operations.”

RELATED: House Democrats’ ICE ‘tracker’ will ‘put our lives in danger’: DHS agent

ICECHARLY TRIBALLEAU/AFP via Getty Images

The DOJ further promised to prosecute any state or local official who violates federal law in the case of any arrests.

— (@)

Violent protesters have already gathered outside a staging area for federal agents in the Bay Area. On Thursday, protesters blocked the bridge that leads to Coast Guard Island Alameda, resulting in clashes and at least two arrests. Later in the evening, Coast Guardsmen had to shoot at a masked suspect who allegedly used a U-Haul in an attempt to ram the checkpoint and refused to listen to verbal commands to stop.

The Department of Homeland Security said no DHS personnel were injured in the incident. The driver was shot in the stomach and taken to the hospital. A bystander was hit with a bullet fragment and released from the hospital. The FBI is leading the investigation into the shooting.

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​Politics 

The Department of Homeland Security confirmed Coast Guard security personnel fired upon a driver who was using a rental truck in what appeared to be a ramming attack at their base in Alameda, California, on Thursday night.

Anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement protesters had gathered outside the base after hearing federal immigration agents were being housed at Coast Guard Island Alameda. The anti-ICE crowd had minor clashes with federal agents during the day, resulting in at least two arrests. A security guard working for a news crew was also reportedly attacked by anti-ICE protesters, leaving him with a gash on his face and a chipped tooth.

‘The vehicle’s actions posed a direct threat to the safety of Coast Guard and security personnel.’

In the late evening after most of the crowd had left, a masked suspect driving a U-Haul was filmed driving backward toward the Coast Guardsmen several times. The security officers can be heard on the footage yelling at the driver to stop. After the driver apparently continued his route into them, the Coast Guardsmen opened fire, video showed.

“Coast Guard personnel issued multiple verbal commands to stop the vehicle, the driver failed to comply and proceeded to put the vehicle in reverse — suddenly accelerating backwards at a high rate of speed directly toward them. When the vehicle’s actions posed a direct threat to the safety of Coast Guard and security personnel, law enforcement officers discharged several rounds of defensive live fire,” DHS said in a statement to Blaze News.

“No Coast Guard personnel were injured during the incident,” DHS continued. “Two civilians were injured and are expected to survive. The truck driver was wounded in the stomach and is being held for mental health evaluation. A bystander was struck by a fragment, treated at a local hospital, and released. The Federal Bureau of Investigation is the lead agency for this investigation, and we are coordinating with our law enforcement partners.”

Anti-ICE agitators have increasingly used vehicles to attack DHS agents during operations targeting illegal aliens. Cars have been used to attack federal agents in Chicago, Los Angeles, and the Phoenix metro area.

RELATED: Illegal alien shot after allegedly ramming car into federal vehicle was once honored by Democrat

@USAttyEssayli/X

Carlitos Ricardo Parias, who was shot after allegedly ramming his car into agents’ vehicles after being boxed in, was recently honored by the office of Democratic Los Angeles Councilman Curren Price with a Certificate of Recognition for documenting ICE operations on TikTok. Price characterized Parias as a “fearless citizen journalist.”

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​Politics 

In Ireland, the priest was once as vital to a village as the pub or the post office. He baptized the babies, buried the dead, and kept the farmers from killing each other.

If the neighbors were at war over a hedge, he’d settle it before Mass and still have time for a fry-up. The priest wasn’t just a man of God but also a referee of rural life — part Joe Rogan in a cassock, part St. Patrick with a whistle. The church bell was the town clock. The confessional was the psychiatrist’s couch. And the parish hall was the beating heart of the community.

You can now ‘attend’ Mass online, complete with comment sections and buffering hymns. It’s efficient, yes — but as spiritually satisfying as watching someone else eat your dinner.

That Ireland is disappearing. This year, the entire country produced just 13 new priests — barely enough to fill a choir, let alone a nation. The waves of eager new recruits who poured forth from the seminaries are no more, leaving weary veterans to cover half a dozen parishes, driving from one church to the next like overworked delivery drivers of the divine.

What happened? “This is an immense question, requiring a book-length answer,” Irish journalist John Waters tells Align, after which he kindly attempts a summary anyway:

The explanations include: Ireland’s history of kindergarten Catholicism; the damage done by simplistic moralization; the liberal revolution; the infiltration of the Catholic clergy; the escalating implausibility of transcendent ideas (a contrived not a naturalistic phenomenon); the moral inversion unleashed by the LGBT revolution; the confusion created by the church leadership for the past 12 years and counting; et cetera.

Irish goodbye

The outlook is bleak. The number of priests in the capital is expected to fall by 70% over the next two decades. Since 2020, only two priests have been ordained in Dublin’s archdiocese.

Across Ireland, the average priest is now over 70, long past retirement age. Some say the Church’s only hope is to let priests marry. It would make more sense than flying in bewildered clerics from Africa, men who can quote Scripture but not survive small talk in a Kerry kitchen.

It’s not that people stopped believing in God (though Ireland’s Catholic population has fallen to just 69%, down from nearly 78% less than 10 years ago). They just stopped believing the Church was worth the effort.

The pews that once held families now hold the few who remember when everyone came. Ireland changed faster than the Church could follow. Confession replaced by podcasts, pop psychology, and Pornhub. It’s a lethal mix of heresy and habit — busy souls, distracted minds, and a generation convinced that salvation can be streamed, scheduled, or outsourced.

Flickering faith

At the same time, people like my mother still light candles. They still bless themselves on long drives. They still mutter prayers when the doctor calls with bad news. Faith is still there; it has just learned to keep its head down. Weddings and funerals still draw a crowd, if only because even the most lapsed Irishman can’t stomach the thought of being buried by a stranger in a suit. The flame is still there, but it’s more a pilot light than a blaze.

The fading of show-up-every-Sunday faith has mirrored the fading of everything that once made Ireland feel Irish. The language is vanishing, the music sanitized, the dances replaced by drill rap and dead-eyed TikTok routines.

Even the local watering hole — the unofficial annex of every parish — struggles to stay open. What’s vanishing isn’t just religion; it’s ritual, the sense that life meant something beyond the week’s wages.

Mass exodus

Technology promised connection but delivered solitude. You can now “attend” Mass online, complete with comment sections and buffering hymns. It’s efficient, yes — but as spiritually satisfying as watching someone else eat your dinner.

Once, the whole community walked to church together, children skipping ahead, neighbors chatting along the road. After Mass came tea, gossip, and maybe even a few sneaky pints. These days, the only communion most share is over brunch — order taken by a Filipino, processed by a Nigerian, cooked by a Ukrainian, and blessed by a middle manager named Ahmed.

In rural towns, churches stand like sentinels — beautiful, empty, and slightly ashamed of their own magnificence. Some have become cafés or concert halls, serving flat whites where once they served faithful whites. It’s called progress, though it feels more like repurposed reverence.

RELATED: Church of England investigating vicar for calling a transvestite deacon a ‘bloke’

Photo by DANIEL LEAL/AFP via Getty Images

Let us spray

The same could be said across the pond. In Canterbury Cathedral — the cradle of English Christianity — artist Alex Vellis recently staged “HEAR US,” a graffiti-style art project inviting visitors to ask, with spray-can sincerity, “What would you ask God?”

The answers, splattered across medieval stone, came from “marginalized communities” — Punjabi, black and brown Britons, the neurodivergent, and the LGBTQIA+ faithful. A veritable clown car of the aggrieved, somehow granted front-row parking in the house of God. It was meant as inclusion; it landed as intrusion — like stringing jockstraps across the Vatican altar.

When critics like Elon Musk and U.S. Vice President JD Vance rightly accused the project of desecrating beauty in the name of diversity, Vellis fired back not with argument but with anatomy, accusing his detractors of “small d**k energy.”

Virile virtue

The phrase, unserious on the surface, hinted at something deeper: Both sides — the artist and the church that hosted him — seem afflicted by the same crisis of conviction. The Church, once roaring with moral certainty, now offers apologies to everyone and inspiration to no one. Its critics, meanwhile, confuse provocation for courage. Between them lies a vacuum where virtue used to be.

And this isn’t just an English problem. Across the Christian world, churches of every stripe — Catholic, Protestant, evangelical — have lost their fortitude. Too timid to offend, too eager to trend, they’ve traded conviction for comfort. “Small d**k energy” has gone liturgical.

Even in Ireland, where the Church once thundered with certainty, cowardice now calls the homily. The pulpit peddles activism instead of absolution, politics instead of prayer. No wonder so many stay home. And no wonder young men won’t answer the call. Who wants a life devoid of sex, love, and laughter?

If Catholicism is to last, it needs less talk and more testosterone. The next revival won’t come from a press release but from those who still believe life means something. If the Church in Ireland and beyond wants people back in its pews — and its pulpits — it best man up.

​Lifestyle, Culture, Christianity, Catholicism, Ireland, Uk, Canterbury cathedral, Immigration, Mass, Priesthood, Faith 

Certain decisions are best not left to machines, the Army has revealed.

A United States Army general made headlines last week when he told reporters at a media roundtable he had been using an AI chatbot to “build models to help all of us.”

‘He is helping the Army explore how artificial intelligence can strengthen decision-making.’

Major General William “Hank” Taylor told media at the annual Association of the United States Army conference that “Chat and I” have become “really close lately,” prompting more questions than answers about the Army’s use of AI.

Williams is the top United States Army commander in South Korea and makes decisions for thousands of troops. He explained to reporters that he is indeed using the technology to make decisions that affect those under his command, but to what end was unknown.

Now, the Eighth Army office has revealed to Return what exactly the high-ranking officer meant. The office said that Taylor’s remarks were actually regarding the Army’s “ongoing modernization efforts,” which specifically relate to how technology can assist leaders in making timely and informed decisions.

At the same time, the spokesperson said that the Army does not plan on replacing human decision-makers, especially in key areas.

RELATED: From West Point to Woke Point: The long march through the ranks

Photo by KIM Jae-Hwan/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

“All operational and personnel decisions remain the sole responsibility of commanders and their staff, guided by Army policy, regulation, and professional judgment,” media relations chief Jungwon Choi told Return.

He added that while Eighth Army recognizes the opportunities and risks associated with AI, it is only looking at how to integrate “trusted, secure, and compliant systems that enhance — not replace — human decision-making.”

The Army reiterated that point, stating that Taylor does not use any AI-assisted tools to make personnel, operational, or command decisions, and his remarks were only referring to using “AI-assisted tools in a learning and exploratory capacity.”

The Army is not looking at “delegating command authority to an algorithm or chatbot,” either, Choi reinforced.

The Department of War is tinkering with AI chatbots for its forces on the ground, however. As Return previously reported, training scenarios have already included experimentation with an offline battle-ready chatbot.

The technology, called EdgeRunner AI, allows soldiers to get instant information about mission objectives, coordinates, and other details instantaneously in an offline environment.

EdgeRunner recently wrapped up military exercises in Fort Carson, Colorado, and Fort Riley, Kansas.

RELATED: Democrats once undermined the Army. Now they undermine the nation.

Photo by JUNG YEON-JE/AFP via Getty Images

At the same time, Choi said that like many leaders, Major General Taylor has “experimented with publicly available AI-assisted tools to understand how generative AI functions, its potential uses, and the safeguards required for responsible employment.”

Taylor has also explored HQDA-approved large language models to “assess how secure, compliant AI systems” can support leadership development or improve operational efficiency, for example.

The spokesman said Taylor does not endorse any specific commercial platform, and the Army did not answer as to whether he was referring to using ChatGPT when speaking to reporters, which tech outlet Futurism claimed last week.

“MG Taylor’s engagement with HQDA-approved AI platforms reflects a forward-thinking approach to leadership and modernization,” the army representative concluded. “By responsibly experimenting with these emerging tools, he is helping the Army explore how artificial intelligence can strengthen decision-making, improve efficiency, and prepare leaders for the evolving demands of the modern battlefield.”

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​Return, Us army, Armed forces, Chatbot, Ai, Ai chatbot, Artificial intelligence, Chatgpt, Army general, South korea, Tech 

Actor Jeff Daniels, angered by Trump’s AI video response to the No Kings protests — which featured a left-wing activist being covered in feces that dropped from the sky — took out his frustration in a song he performed live on MSNBC’s “Deadline: White House” this week.

Daniels’ song is titled “Crazy World,” and he explained that it is how he copes with the current political situation.

“I’ve seen a young girl smiling at something he just said. / I watched him fall into her pretty green eyes, his cheeks turned Valentine red. / I’ve seen an old man walking with his wife by his side. / I watched him reach down, take her hand, damned if I didn’t cry,” Daniels sang as he played his guitar.

“This crazy world’s gone crazy. Who am I to judge? / It’s nice to know in a world full of hate, there’s someone out there still making love,” he continued.

Before taking the stage, Daniels lamented the lack of “decency” from President Trump for the AI meme he posted where he was “spewing excrement all over the people down below.”

“Would Lincoln have done that?” Daniels asked host Nicolle Wallace.

“I don’t think Nixon would have done that,” Wallace answered.

“Nixon wouldn’t have done it. Reagan wouldn’t have done it. Bush wouldn’t have done it — either Bush. I think people in the Midwest, where I am … we value our decency and our civility,” Daniels said.

BlazeTV host Pat Gray notes that former presidents like Nixon, Reagan, Bush, or Lincoln couldn’t have done what President Trump did, as artificial intelligence did not exist in their time.

“This is the ‘Dumb and Dumber’ actor who sat on a toilet and took a loud crap for two minutes. But he can’t take the potty humor of President Trump,” executive producer Keith Malinak adds.

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.

​Upload, Camera phone, Free, Sharing, Video phone, Video, Youtube.com, Pat gray unleashed, Pat gray, The blaze, Blazetv, Blaze news, Blaze podcasts, Blaze podcast network, Blaze media, Blaze online, Blaze originals, President trump ai meme, President trump, Jeff daniels, Jeff daniels msnbc, Nicolle wallace, Trump administration, No kings protests 

The star of “Dumb and Dumber” got … even dumber?

Veteran actor Jeff Daniels has a regular side hustle as a cringeworthy MSNBC guest. He played a newsman on TV once, and now Daniels fancies himself a political wonk. Yeah, he’s the same guy who starred as James Comey in “The Comey Rule,” one of the most fact-free Hollywood productions ever.

‘The real revolution going on in this country now is the Christian nationalist revolution — an attempt to upend the American dream and replace it with a theocracy.’

And that’s saying plenty.

This week, Daniels broke out his guitar on MSNBC to serenade the channel’s dwindling audience. The song in question? A ditty that helps him cope with President Donald Trump’s second term.

“Crazy World” features lyrics like this: “It’s nice to know in a world full of hate, there’s someone out there still making love.”

Groovy, man!

Everybody was kung fu fighting

“Sweep the leg! Sweep the leeeeeeeeg!”

Everything old is newish again, which means a “Karate Kid” musical is on the way. The production is getting its feet wet overseas with a spring 2026 tour in the U.K. before later arriving on Broadway’s West End.

Robert Mark Kamen, who wrote the original “Karate Kid” all the way back in 1984, also penned the musical update.

The four-film saga remained dormant for years before getting a new lease on life from both the 2010 remake featuring Jackie Chan and the celebrated Netflix series “Cobra Kai.” That second wind couldn’t keep this summer’s “Karate Kid: Legends” from conking out in theaters. Guess fans weren’t interested in uniting Chan with original franchise star Ralph Macchio.

Somewhere, Sensei Kreese is smiling …

‘Witch’ way, modern star?

“The Scarlet Witch” is casting a hex on streamers.

Elizabeth Olsen, who brought that MCU character to life in multiple films as well as Disney+’s “WandaVision,” is taking a stand for the theatrical experience. Olsen says she refuses to appear in any studio films bound for streaming-only venues.

“If a movie is made independently and only sells to a streamer, then fine. But I don’t want to make something where [streaming is] the end-all. … I think it’s important for people to gather as a community, to see other humans, be together in a space.”

That’s noble, but she may be fighting a losing battle. We’ve recently seen a flood of studio films flop in theaters, including “Roofman,” “Good Fortune,” and “Tron: Ares.” The theatrical model is still struggling post-pandemic, and the allure of “Netflix and chill” can be irresistible.

Plus, major stars like Robert De Niro, Dwayne Johnson, and Gal Gadot routinely appear in major streaming films without a second thought. If Daniel Day Lewis can memory hole his retirement plans, here’s betting Olsen may have a backpedal of her own coming soon …

‘Battle’ babble

Say what you want about Leonardo DiCaprio’s “One Battle After Another,” a film glorifying radical violence against a corrupt U.S. government. It’s a perfect fit for that cousin who spends days getting his No Kings poster art just right.

The film follows a group of pro-immigration activists who use any means necessary to free “undocumented immigrants.” Viva the revolution!

Just don’t call “OBAA” a “left-wing” film, argues Variety’s Owen Gleiberman:

“The real revolution going on in this country now is the Christian nationalist revolution — an attempt to upend the American dream and replace it with a theocracy.”

Yeah, that’s the tone of this fever-dream screed, so you can imagine the rest. Once the scribe takes a long, hot bath, he’s going to get to work on his next think piece: how Antifa is just an “anti-fascist” MeetUp group.

RELATED: Hollywood’s newest star isn’t human — and why that’s ‘disturbing’

Blaze Media

Norwood scale

Kevin O’Leary is saying the quiet part out loud.

The “Shark Tank” honcho makes an appearance in “Marty Supreme,” an Oscar-bait movie coming this Christmas. Timothee Chalamet stars as a ping-pong prodigy trying to win the sport’s biggest prize. O’Leary, who knows the value of a dollar, said the project could have saved “millions” had it fallen back on AI extras instead of using actual people:

Almost every scene had as many as 150 extras. Now, those people have to stay awake for 18 hours, be completely dressed in the background. [They’re] not necessarily in the movie, but they’re necessary to be there moving around. And yet, it costs millions of dollars to do that. Why couldn’t you simply put AI agents in their place?

It’s sacrilege in Hollywood circles to say that, but he’s probably not wrong. Hollywood is wrestling with the looming AI threat, including attacks on AI “actress” Tilly Norwood.

Let’s hope AI can’t train Tilly to scream, “Free Palestine!” at award shows. Then we’ll know Hollywood stars are really on the endangered species list.

​Entertainment, Hollywood, Trump derangement syndrome, Donald trump, One battle after another, Movies, Culture, Jeff daniels, Ai, Tilly norwood, Shark tank, Kevin o’leary, Toto recall 

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker (D) attempted in an interview on Thursday to once again gaslight Americans about the bloodletting in his state’s most populous city. Evidently immune to the Democrat’s latest deception, Fox News host Bret Baier shut down Pritzker’s attempt and confronted him with the facts about Chicago’s obscenely high murder rate.

“Why does Chicago have the highest murder rate of all the big cities?” asked Baier.

‘JB Pritzker just flat out lied about an obvious fact.’

Pritzker, whom President Donald Trump recently suggested should be jailed, responded, “Well, we are not in the top 30 in terms of our murder rate. … Our murder rate has been cut in half over the last four years, and every year it’s gone down by double digits, and if you look at all of the violent crime over the last four years, they’ve all gone down.”

Baier then pulled up a map highlighting the apparent murder rates for America’s biggest cities. The graphic indicated that Chicago led the way in blood with a murder rate of 17.47 homicides per 100,000 people.

By way of comparison, the reported murder rate for: Philadelphia was 16.91; Dallas was 13.62; Houston was 13.8; San Antonio was 8.39; Phoenix was 8.36; Los Angeles was 6.95; and New York City was 4.5.

RELATED: Trump urges SCOTUS to unleash National Guard in Chicago amid protests, increase in violence against ICE

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker. Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

According to the Illinois-focused research nonprofit Wirepoints, Chicago ranked first last year for total murders out of the nation’s 75 biggest cities, with 573 homicides. It also reportedly experienced the most homicides per capita among the nation’s 20 biggest cities last year.

Chicago Police Department statistics indicate that as of Oct. 19, the city has seen 347 known homicides so far this year.

After Baier noted that “Chicago is number one over Philadelphia, Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, Phoenix, Los Angeles, New York, and San Diego,” Pritzker said, “Look, you can pull statistics up. I can too.”

“No, no, no,” said Baier. “These are murders.”

“I’m explaining to you that our murder rate has been cut in half, and very importantly, Bret, and you gotta hear this, very importantly we’ve been doing the things that are necessary to bring crime down, right?” added the Democratic governor.

Critics had a field day with Pritzker’s attempt to put a positive spin on Chicago’s murder rate.

“JB Pritzker just flat out lied about an obvious fact,” wrote Elon Musk.

Former National Rifle Association spokeswoman Dana Loesch wrote, “Cut in half and still number one. Great job, @GovPritzker.”

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​Illinois, Chicago, Murder, Violence, Crime, Brand johnson, Jb pritzker, Donald trump, Bret baier, Lying, Gaslighting, Politics 

Despite having an uncountable number of consumer goods available at the click of a button at prices our grandparents would have found astonishing, our homes are full of junk that isn’t worth the wholesale cost.

New washing machines last a year or three at best, according to Americans who buy them. Worse, they don’t even wash clothes well, reined in as they are by government diktats about water and power consumption.

I spent $15 for a beautiful, indestructible lifetime blender. Yes, the pitcher is glass.

The same is true of almost every other appliance and machine in the contemporary American home. But it didn’t used to be this way. First, I’m going to tell you a story. Then I’m going to come back to the present and show you how to live like a king or queen on a budget with yesterday’s consumer durables.

Merit-ocracy

My mother was standing over the dishwasher in our kitchen in 1986. It was a model from the 1950s, one of the wheeled, portable ones you brought over and hooked to the sink tap with a hose. The top-loading machine’s lid had what you might call formica “inlay” in 50s colors with random sparkles embedded. It was meant to be used as a countertop so that the bulky machine wasn’t merely a space-taker in a small kitchen.

My mother was holding a broken clock radio. The digital display had “zeroed out,” showing only 00:00 no matter what time it was.

“Damn it,” she said, exhaling from her Merit Ultra Light 100. “I just bought this a few months ago. There was a time when ‘made in America’ meant something. We used to make the best-quality goods in the world. Whatever you bought you could depend on for a long time. What the hell happened?”

The dishwasher’s faithful service proved her point. The “outdated” 1950s dishwasher still cleaned dishes trouble-free. That was probably the first time I contemplated what it meant to call an appliance “outdated.” Within a few years, it was evident that “outdated” only meant “not in colors the people on TV think are modern.”

The new clock radio made in 1986 couldn’t even give us three months’ service before going kaput. But the 1956 wash-o-matic was whirring its way to clean dishes in May 1986 as well as it did for its first owner during the Eisenhower administration.

New phone, why dis?

How many of your devices or appliances offer such simple, consistent performance? Are you satisfied with your new low-water front-loader and its Byzantine maze of touch-screen “options,” none of which are “wash my clothes in 25 minutes”? How about the repair bill for the chipset when the “smart” computer inside it fails, leaving the perfectly good mechanics idle?

Do you like buying a new phone every few years? Think about that. Do you remember getting a “new phone” all the time 30 years ago? The very idea is absurd. Sure, our telephones in those days were simply and only telephones, not dating machines, compasses, and navigation systems. But are we sure that planned obsolescence in our every-device-in-one-wearable-computer is a lifestyle upgrade?

You can get a new microwave, blender, or vacuum cleaner at Walmart for astoundingly low prices adjusted for inflation. In fact, you can get each of these in multiple versions and colors. But what, specifically and actually, are you getting? Cheap plastic that looks good on a display shelf but that scuffs, cracks, and loses tension-holding shape after a few uses.

And do you need a new microwave? A new vacuum? If you said “yes” to that, are you sure? What is it that you “need” from a new appliance that you’re not getting from the old one? Assuming it’s not broken — and a lot of appliance purchases are made simply to “upgrade” — what’s wrong with your old vacuum?

Be honest. You know that you don’t “need” most of these things. You’re buying them because of free-floating anxiety about keeping up with the Joneses. You want a new microwave and a new vacuum and new stainless-steel-fronted appliances because everyone else’s kitchen looks like this. Despite their inflated claims, the “updated” versions of almost all of these simple mechanicals do nothing different than their ancestors from 50 years ago.

But now they’re ugly and short-lived.

RELATED: Ode to an Electrolux model L

Matt Himes

Sucks to be new

You don’t have to do any of this. In fact, you can live like royalty for almost no money, with all your mechanical and appliance needs met at the contemporary level of convenience and comfort you want.

You can have yesterday’s quality today by buying old, solidly built appliances for a fraction of their price when new. This is how I live. For at least two decades, the only brand-new things that have come into my home are computers and consumables. My furniture, my lighting, my appliances — all of it came from secondhand stores or online auctions.

I made a mistake recently in deviating from that path. When I sold my first house two years ago, I left my late 1970s all-mechanical-dial Kenmore washer and dryer behind. More fool me; as soon as I can use this brand-new modern junk-box General Electric calls a washing machine for shotgun target practice, the better.

Observe. This was my mother’s Electrolux vacuum from the early 1980s:

Josh Slocum

Power everything. Has never broken. If it does, a repair shop makes quick, cheap work of any repair I can’t do. Yes, parts and bags are still made. This machine cost the equivalent of $600 to $1,000 in today’s money when it was new.

This is my working blender. It’s a 1961 Waring “Blendor,” one of the most durable ever made:

Josh Slocum/smartstock/Getty Images

And do admit, it’s got art deco beauty even though it bears the scuff marks of age. Yes, it’s as solid and heavy as it looks. It has all it needs: two speeds and off. The colorful fabric cord is a replacement I put on, as the old one was frayed; all that took was a $5 cord and a Phillips-head screwdriver. $10 at the flea market, $5 for a cord. I spent $15 for a beautiful, indestructible lifetime blender. Yes, the pitcher is glass.

If you’re willing to expand your thinking and put away silly modern fears, you can also have beautiful, practical lighting that gives your home real warmth.

Josh Slocum/elleran/Getty Images

This kerosene lamp would have been found in your home in the late 1880s. It was as common as any electric gooseneck from Ikea today. This model, the New Juno, is now 140 years old and it works as well as the day it left the factory. I paid about $95 for it.

Antique kerosene lighting is my hobby, and I light and heat my home with three to five out of my collection of several dozen throughout the winter. This lamp alone is enough to heat my medium-size living room during a Vermont winter. It’s bright enough to read and work by, and in a pinch, you can cook over it during a power outage if you rig up a trivet. There are no solar panels or cussed digital panels to go wrong. Yes, replacement parts like glass chimneys and wicks are still made.

RELATED: Cold plunge: How I survive winters in the sticks

Mladen Antonov/Getty Images

Seek the antique

My guess is that readers find this pretty appealing even if it’s the first time they’ve considered stocking their homes this way. Once you get over the marketing-inculcated idea that you’re weird or missing out by not having the latest model of this or that, you realize that you can live like a king or queen for almost no money. You can have the same work-saving devices you’re used to. But these will work better for longer.

Aren’t they more charming to look at? When I share pictures of my working home goods on social media, people seem to love it. A common response: “Your house looks like my great-grandma’s!” They mean it as a compliment, and I mean my house to look and feel that way. I think we’re all getting tired of waking up to “updated” homes in Millennial Mortuary Gray and Bare Bones Joanna Gaines Shiplap bulls**t. The sterile field look wears better at the dentist’s office than it does in the den.

I haven’t given anything up. I have all the mod cons that do the same work as any new equipment, but I got them cheaper, they will last longer, and they please the eye. Try it — you may fall in love.

​Appliances, Lifestyle, Planned obsolescence, Smartphones, Electrolux, Home goods, Intervention 

A high school cheerleader who dreamed of becoming a nurse was shot during a party in a wooded area of Alabama. The 18-year-old died after being taken off life support because her gunshot wounds were so severe.

Kimber Mills was a senior at Cleveland High School, where she also ran track.

‘We shouldn’t be burying our little sister.’

Mills was attending a bonfire party over the weekend in a wooded area known as “The Pit,” according to AL.com.

The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement that deputies responded to a report of a shooting in the town of Pinson just before 12:30 a.m. Sunday

“Upon arrival, deputies discovered three victims suffering from apparent gunshot wounds: a 21-year-old male, an 18-year-old male, and an 18-year-old female,” the sheriff’s office stated, adding that all three were taken to area hospitals.

Trussville Police Chief Eric Rush said Mills was shot in the head and the leg.

The sheriff’s office later learned that a fourth shooting victim, a 20-year-old female, had been transported to a hospital in a personal vehicle.

The three surviving victims have non-life-threatening injuries.

Police said the preliminary investigation indicated that a “verbal and physical altercation escalated and resulted in gunfire.”

Kimber’s sister, Ashley Mills, told AL.com that the alleged shooter was trying to talk to one of Kimber’s friends, offering her drinks, and trying to get close to her.

“The girl told her boyfriend, a fight involving multiple people ensued, and shots were fired,” AL.com reported.

Ashley Mills said, “Kimber was caught in the crossfire.”

The sheriff’s office named 27-year-old Steven Tyler Whitehead as the shooter. The suspect remains in custody at the Jefferson County Jail. Whitehead is being held without bond.

Whitehead initially was charged with three counts of attempted murder. However, an additional charge of murder was filed against Whitehead on Wednesday after Mills died.

Image source: Jefferson County (Ala.) Sheriff’s Office

Mills was taken to the University of Alabama Hospital in critical condition, but Ashley Mills said there was “too much trauma to her brain,” and Kimber was placed on a breathing machine.

“There is no surgery that would give her a life worth living,” Ashley said.

But Kimber had already decided to be an organ donor — to give others a chance at life.

“We’ve already got it set up for her to be an organ donor because that’s what she wanted,” Ashley said.

Ashley Mills told WBRC that Kimber’s heart and lungs have already been matched with recipients.

On Tuesday, the hospital staff joined Mills’ family and friends for an Honor Walk — a ceremony during which medical staff line the hallway to honor a patient before being transported to the Legacy of Hope organ center roughly two blocks away.

Kimber’s brother, Michael Mills, led a prayer in the hallway.

“Heavenly Father, thank you Lord for this young woman, my sister, I love her so much Lord,” Michael prayed. “I pray for swift hands of the surgeons, Lord, that we do what needs to be done to save other lives Lord.”

Michael continued. “I pray no fear, no sadness Lord, no hatred. Thank you, Lord, for Kimber. Please protect us in these uncertain times.”

A Legacy of Hope representative told AL.com, “Today we stand in awe of a true hero, giving of themselves so that others may live.”

“May the recipients enjoy restored health and recognize the magnitude of such a rare and remarkable gift,” the spokesperson stated. “Thank you, Kimber, for the life-saving legacy you are leaving behind. We honor you today and always.”

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Mills died Tuesday when she was taken off life support, WBRC reported.

“We shouldn’t be burying our little sister. It should be the other way around,” Ashley Mills said. “It’s supposed to go from oldest to youngest not youngest first.”

According to WBRC-TV, Rodney Green, superintendent of Blount County Schools, released the following statement:

Our school district is deeply saddened today to learn of the passing of one of our students, Ms. Kimber Mills. Kimber was a bright, outgoing senior cheerleader for Cleveland High School. Kimber’s smile and infectious personality will certainly be missed, but she will always be remembered. Our heart is burdened for her family and for the impact this will have on the students, faculty, and staff at Cleveland High School. Please keep our Cleveland Family in your thoughts and prayers! I do want to thank everyone that has reached out to this family and supported them during this tragedy.

AL.com reported that Kimber was planning to attend the University of Alabama next year with a dream of becoming a nurse.

A GoFundMe campaign was launched to help support Mills’ family, which cited Psalm 34:18: “The Lord is close to the brokenhearted; he rescues those whose spirits are crushed.”

The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment by Blaze News.

Anyone with information related to the shooting is urged to contact the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office at 205-325-1450 or Crime Stoppers at 205-254-7777.

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​Cheerleader, Cheerleader killed, Cheerleader murder, Kimber mills, Murder, Shooting, Crime, Alabama, High school senior, Fatal shooting, Arrest, Organ donation