Category: blaze media

Law enforcement in the United Kingdom appears to have difficulty clamping down on imported rape gangs but is quick to make arrests for thought-crimes such as expressing a love for bacon within earshot of a future mosque, unfurling the British flag, singing gospel music in public, praying silently for aborted babies, and, in the case of Irish comedy writer Graham Linehan, criticizing trans activists.

Following his trip to the United States, Linehan, the co-creator of the television program “Father Ted” and creator of “The IT Crowd,” was greeted at London’s Heathrow Airport by five armed police officers.

‘I was arrested at an airport like a terrorist.’

The Metropolitan Police Service confirmed to Blaze News that Linehan was arrested by the MPS Aviation Unit on suspicion of inciting violence.

The comedy writer noted on his Substack that police escorted him to a private area and told him he was “under arrest for three tweets.”

Linehan indicated that “in a country where pedophiles escape sentencing, where knife crime is out of control, where women are assaulted and harassed every time they gather to speak, the state had mobilized five armed officers to arrest a comedy writer” for the following tweets:

an April 19 tweet where he captioned a photograph of a trans-activist protest, “A photo you can smell.”a follow-up to the smelly protest tweet where he clarified for the benefit of a critic, “I hate them. Misogynists and homophobes. F**k them.”an April 20 tweet where he wrote, “If a trans-identified male is in a female-only space, he is committing a violent, abusive act. Make a scene, call the cops and if all else fails, punch him in the balls.”

“When I first saw the cops, I actually laughed. I couldn’t help myself. ‘Don’t tell me! You’ve been sent by trans activists,'” wrote Linehan. “The officers gave no reaction and this was the theme throughout most of the day. Among the rank-and-file, there was a sort of polite bafflement. Entirely professional and even kind, but most had absolutely no idea what any of this was about.”

The comedy writer noted that after taking a nap in a locked cell, he was hauled before an officer, who grilled him about his tweets.

RELATED: Why the English flag now terrifies the regime

Photo by Krisztian Elek/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

“Eventually, a nurse came to check on me and found my blood pressure was over 200 — stroke territory,” wrote Linehan. “The stress of being arrested for jokes was literally threatening my life! So I was escorted to [accident and emergency], where I write this now after spending about eight hours under observation.”

Linehan indicated he was ultimately freed on bail on the conditions that he does not go on X and will show up to another police interview in October.

The writer concluded:

I was arrested at an airport like a terrorist, locked in a cell like a criminal, taken to hospital because the stress nearly killed me, and banned from speaking online — all because I made jokes that upset some psychotic crossdressers. To me, this proves one thing beyond doubt: the UK has become a country that is hostile to freedom of speech, hostile to women, and far too accommodating to the demands of violent, entitled, abusive men who have turned the police into their personal goon squad.

“On Monday, 1 September at 13:00hrs officers arrested a man at Heathrow Airport after he arrived on an inbound American Airlines flight,” a police spokeswoman told Blaze News. “The man in his 50s was arrested on suspicion of inciting violence. This is in relation to posts on X.”

“After being taken to police custody, officers became concerned for his health and he was taken to hospital. His condition is neither life-threatening nor life-changing,” continued the spokeswoman. “He has now been bailed pending further investigation.”

The spokeswoman indicated the officers were armed but did not draw their weapons at any point during the arrest.

This is hardly Linehan’s first run-in with Britain’s thought police.

The BAFTA-winning comedy writer was charged with harassment and with allegedly breaking a trans-identifying man’s phone in April. His trial in that case is reportedly set to begin this month.

Vice President JD Vance noted earlier this year that free speech in the United Kingdom “is in retreat.”

“The entire collective West — our transatlantic relationship, our NATO allies, certainly the United States under the Biden administration — got a little too comfortable with censoring rather than engaging with a diverse range of opinions,” Vance said during his visit to the U.K. last month. “I just don’t want other countries to follow us on what I think was a very dark path under the Biden administration.”

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​England, United kingdom, Uk, Britain, Thoughtcrime, Police, Censorship, Trans, Transgender, Lgbt, Transvestite, Graham linehan, Politics 

The Metropolitan Police have been experimenting with and refining their live facial recognition technology for nearly a decade. Large events, such as the recent Notting Hill Festival in West London, have been used as special targets for the police force’s technology.

Not everyone is on board with this surveillance technology, however. Several groups have come forward to call for the reconsideration of the use of this technology on several grounds, including the fact that the legitimacy of the technology is relatively unproven both in practice and in law.

‘We all want criminals off the streets, but turning [the] carnival into a mass police lineup is not the way to do it.’

According to the BBC, 11 organizations urged Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley in a letter to abandon the technology, warning that it is a “mass surveillance tool that treats all carnival-goers as potential suspects” and has “no place at one of London’s biggest cultural celebrations.”

RELATED: YouTube admits to secretly manipulating videos with AI

Photo by Leon Neal/Getty Images

The recent letter, signed by Big Brother Watch, Human Rights Watch, Liberty, the Runnymede Trust, Race on the Agenda, Privacy International, Statewatch, Open Rights Group, Stop Watch, Race Equality First, and Access Now, highlights the invasiveness, past errors, and the potential lack of legality of the use of this technology.

LFR has been used at the Notting Hill Carnival dating back to 2016 and 2017, according to a Sky News report. Using cameras mounted on police vans, LFR matches live people’s faces against police records. This purportedly gives police the ability to know exactly who to pull aside for “questioning,” especially in crowded areas or large events.

Rowley admitted that “at that time, the technology was in its early stages and the algorithm’s performance was limited.” However, the tech has since made “considerable progress,” at least according to the commissioner.

The letter points out that the “Notting Hill Carnival is an event that specifically celebrates the British African Caribbean community, yet the MPS is choosing to use a technology with a well-documented history of inaccurate outcomes and racial bias.”

Rebecca Vincent, the interim director of Big Brother Watch, told Sky News, “We all want criminals off the streets, but turning [the] carnival into a mass police lineup is not the way to do it.”

The Met has reportedly announced that the technology has led to 457 arrests and seven false alerts since January 2025.

While the Met claims that the technology has improved substantially, the concerned groups have demonstrated the adverse effects of LFR on law-abiding citizens. In February 2024 or 2025, Shaun Thompson, a black Londoner coming home from his work at a community outreach program called Street Fathers, was stopped by police outside the London Bridge Station. According to his telling of events, he was told that he was “wanted” and was held for roughly 30 minutes because the software had mistakenly identified him as a suspect. He described this incident with the police as a “stop and search on steroids.”

Commissioner Rowley defended the “doubling” of the tech by saying it can be used to “disrupt and deter” the minority of festival attendees who might cause problems, according to the BBC.

“Where we know that LFR can help locate individuals the police need to speak to, and those people pose a public safety risk to the many seeking to enjoy Carnival, it is entirely reasonable to ask — why wouldn’t you use it in this context?” he said.

More LFR vans are expected to be rolled out soon in Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, Bedfordshire, Surrey, Sussex, Thames Valley, and Hampshire, according to Metro. They are already in use by South Wales Police, Essex, and Met Police areas.

Return contacted Big Brother Watch for comment and was referred to its press release page for additional information.

​Tech, Lfr, Live facial recognition, Metropolitan police department, London, Big brother watch, Notting hill carnival, Shaun thompson, Rebecca vincent, Mark rowley 

President Donald Trump announced on Monday that he would award the Presidential Medal of Freedom to former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani. The announcement came just hours after Giuliani had a brush with death in Manchester, New Hampshire.

According to New Hampshire State Police, Giuliani and his driver, Theodore Goodman, were traveling southbound Saturday evening on the Interstate 93 when they were flagged down by a woman on the roadside who indicated that she had been involved in a domestic violence incident.

‘This was not a targeted attack.’

The 81-year-old former mayor and his driver stopped to provide assistance, called police, then waited with the woman until troopers arrived to investigate.

After speaking with the troopers and disclosing what they witnessed, the mayor and Goodman got back into their rental Ford Bronco and pulled onto the interstate. Police indicated, however, that just moments later, a woman driving a Honda HR-V rammed into the rear of the vehicle “almost directly across from the scene of the reported domestic violence incident on the southbound side.”

The driver of the Honda, identified as 19-year-old Lauren Kemp of Concord, is not believed to have any connection to the domestic violence incident. As of Sunday evening, no charges had been filed.

RELATED: Trump to DC: Crime is a choice

Photo by Brian Blanco/Getty Images

Fortunately, the troopers who were still at the scene were able to provide immediate first aid.

Goodman and Kemp both sustained non-life-threatening injuries.

Michael Ragusa, Giuliani’s head of security, indicated in a statement that Giuliani was transported to a nearby trauma center, where he was diagnosed with a fractured spine, multiple lacerations and contusions, and injuries to his left arm and lower leg.

Ragusa noted further that “this was not a targeted attack” and asked “everyone to respect Mayor Giuliani’s privacy and recovery, and refrain from spreading unfounded conspiracy theories.”

Arthur Aidala, a friend of Giuliani, told the New York Times that the former mayor’s spirits were high after leaving the hospital on Monday afternoon.

“I have some healing to do, but I’m otherwise in great shape,” said Giuliani, according to Aidala.

“As President of the United States of America, I am pleased to announced that Rudy Giuliani, the greatest Mayor in the history of New York City, and an equally great American Patriot, will receive THE PRESIDENTIAL MEDAL OF FREEDOM, our Country’s highest civilian honor,” Trump noted in a Monday afternoon post on Truth Social.

Giuliani served as New York City mayor from 1994 through 2001. In addition to overseeing a radical drop in crime and implementing policies that helped transform the city for the better, Giuliani stalwartly led his city through the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks.

Trump added, “Details as to time and place to follow. Thank you for your attention to this matter. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!”

The Medal of Freedom was established by President John F. Kennedy in 1963.

While it is supposed to be awarded to individuals like Giuliani — those “who have made exceptional contributions to the security or national interests of America, to world peace, or to cultural or other significant public or private endeavors” — former President Joe Biden awarded it in his final months in office to a woman who made millions of dollars helping snuff out millions of American lives; to accused sex creep and former Democratic Sen. Chris Dodd; Democrat megadonor George Soros; failed presidential candidate Hillary Clinton; and former members of the Jan. 6 committee.

Giuliani has in years past been recognized for his leadership with various honors, including a knighthood from the late Queen Elizabeth II and with Person of the Year for 2001 from Time magazine.

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​Crash, Rudolph giuliani, Giuliani, New york city, Mayor, Donald trump, Medal of freedom, Nyc, Trump, Politics 

Tennis player Jelena Ostapenko was labeled “racist” by fans after she insulted opponent Taylor Townsend following a match at the 2025 U.S. Open.

Townsend hammered Ostapenko, winning in straight sets — 7-5, 6-1 — before the two shook hands at the end of play. Immediately after, and with Townsend saying “good match,” the opponents got into an argument about tennis etiquette.

Etiquette, however, was not the actual problem. Rather, it was Ostapenko’s alleged insults toward Townsend that some viewers believed were “racist.”

‘People get upset when they lose, and some people say bad things.’

“You have to say sorry,” No. 26-ranked Ostapenko is heard saying on video. The rest of her rant toward 139-ranked Townsend remained a mystery until a subsequent on-court interview.

“Can you fill us in on the conversation you were having with Jelena,” an ESPN reporter asked Townsend.

“Yeah, I mean, you know, it’s competition. People get upset when they lose, and some people say bad things,” the American began. “She told me I have no class. I have no education and to see what happens when we get outside the U.S.”

Ostapenko is Latvian.

Townsend continued, strangely stating, “I’m looking forward to it. I mean, I beat her in Canada, outside the U.S. I beat her in New York, outside the U.S. So let’s see what else she has to say.”

Later at a press conference, Townsend was asked directly if she felt the Latvian’s remarks had racial undertones.

RELATED: Tennis star stops match to make absurd demand about a baby in the crowd

“That’s something that you’re going to have to ask her,” Townsend replied.

The 29-year-old then admitted that she did not feel the remarks were actually racist.

“I didn’t take it in that way. But also, you know, that has been a stigma in our community of, you know, being non-educated and all the things when it’s the furthest thing from the truth. And the thing that I’m the most proud of is that I let my racket talk,” she said.

As reported by the Daily Mail, Ostapenko said on her social media account that she felt it was “very disrespectful” of Townsend when she “had a net ball in a very deciding momen[t] and didn’t say sorry, but her answer was that she doesn’t have to say sorry at all.”

“It was first time ever that this happened to me on tour … if she plays in her homeland it doesn’t mean that she can behave and do whatever she wants,” the 28-year-old Latvian stated.

Ostapenko’s social media has been flooded with claims that her on-court remarks were racist, with comments appearing on her Instagram page, such as: “Not only is your racism showing but so was your lack of class. You don’t like the calls take it up with the ref.”

Another user wrote, “I pray you learn how to take your losses and get rid of your racist thoughts and behavior. It’s not a good look.”

The athlete later responded to the claims on her page.

RELATED: Coco Gauff: ‘I’m proud to represent the Americans that LOOK like me’

Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia (L) argues with Taylor Townsend of the United States (R) following their Women’s Singles Second Round match on Day Four of the 2025 US Open at USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on August 27, 2025, in New York City. Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images

“Wow how many messages I received that I am a racist,” Ostapenko wrote on Instagram. “I was NEVER racist in my life and I respect all nations of people in the world, for me it doesn’t matter where you come from.”

“There are some rules in tennis and unfortunately when the crowd is with you you can’t use it in disrespectful way to your opponent,” she continued.

“Unfortunately for me coming from such a small country I don’t have that huge support and a chance to play in homeland,” she added. “I always loved to play in the US and US OPEN, but this is the first time someone is approaching the match this disrespectful way.”

Despite Townsend remarking that Ostapenko was not being racist at the time, she felt it necessary to declare she is representing black people when competing.

“Whether it had racial undertones or not, that’s something she can speak on,” the Illinois native stated.

“[I’m] very proud as a black woman being out here representing myself and representing us and our culture,” she said. “I make sure that I do everything that I can to be the best representation possible every time that I step on the court and even off the court.”

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​Fearless, Tennis, Racism, Racist, Woke, Latvia, Us open, Women’s sports, Sports 

A grim pattern plays out every time a mass shooting happens in America. Before the victims are buried, before the facts are in, Democrats rush to the microphones to cast blame.

The pattern always goes one of two ways. If the killer can be tied to any semblance of a right-wing ideology, it’s a Republican problem. If the ideology runs the other way — or worse — touches one of the left’s sacred identity groups, then it’s a gun problem. Never their own movement. Never their own rhetoric. Never their own political tribe.

When the killer looks like someone Democrats already despise, it’s open season. When the killer looks like one of their own, the ideology vanishes, and the weapon is to blame.

The Annunciation Catholic School shooting in Minneapolis last week makes this pattern undeniable. The killer — a former student, a biological male identifying as a trans woman — wrote “Kill Trump” and “6 million wasn’t enough” (a nod to the Holocaust) on his rifle before the attack.

This wasn’t a generic outburst of violence; it was laced with the same extremist left-wing, anti-Christian, anti-conservative hatred that Democrats wink at every single day. Yet no Democratic leader stood up and said, “This is what our rhetoric creates.” Instead, they changed the subject — to guns.

Democrats’ hypocrisy

The hypocrisy is as predictable as it is insulting. When a white extremist commits murder, the left shouts that Republicans have “blood on their hands.” They blame Trump rallies, Fox News, Christian nationalism, you name it. But when a mass murderer hates Christians, embraces the transgender ideology, and openly calls for President Donald Trump’s death … crickets.

Cue the same refrain: gun bans, universal background checks, confiscation. They exploit tragedy to seize power.

Let’s not forget the attempted assassinations of President Donald Trump. Thomas Crooks, who shot at Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, wasn’t a right-winger. He was a registered Democrat who donated to a progressive group.

Ryan Routh, who was arrested outside Trump’s Florida golf course with an AK-style rifle, described himself as a Biden voter who celebrated January 6 prosecutions online.

Where were the breathless op-eds blaming Joe Biden’s rhetoric? Where were the lectures about “dangerous political climates”? The media memory-holed their affiliations as soon as they didn’t fit the narrative.

An evil pattern

This isn’t new. In 2017, James Hodgkinson opened fire on a congressional baseball practice, nearly killing Steve Scalise. Hodgkinson was a Bernie Sanders volunteer, a man who posted constantly about his hatred of Republicans. Did Democrats take ownership? Did they tone down their language about “Republicans killing people” over health care? Not at all. They shrugged, called him a lone wolf, and moved on.

In 2019, Connor Betts murdered nine people in Dayton, Ohio. He described himself as a pro-Satan leftist, a gun-control supporter, and a backer of Elizabeth Warren. Did Democrats connect his politics to his crime? No. They blamed Trump for fostering a “culture of hate.”

Then came the 2023 Nashville Covenant School shooting. A transgender shooter targeted a Christian school. Rather than mourn the victims, the Biden White House declared a “Trans Day of Visibility.” They stonewalled the shooter’s manifesto for months — because it revealed too much about motive and ideology.

This pattern is too obvious to ignore. When the killer looks like someone Democrats already despise, it’s open season. When the killer looks like one of their own, the ideology vanishes, and the weapon is to blame.

Guns don’t vote Democrat or Republican — but shooters do. And the record shows plenty of killers in recent years have aligned with the Democratic left.

The ugly truth

The ugly truth is that Democrats care more about using mass shootings for their political advantage than stopping them. They use them to smear Republicans as extremists and push gun control. It’s why Biden could call half the country “semi-fascists” in one breath and then act shocked when his supporters try to take Trump’s life in the next. It’s why the same party that insists words are violence refuses to acknowledge that their own words — calling Trump a dictator, Christians bigots, Republicans Nazis — might radicalize someone to pick up a gun.

And their rhetoric has been shameless. Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) once told a crowd, “If you see anybody from that cabinet in a restaurant, in a department store, at a gas station, you get out and you create a crowd and you push back on them.” Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton wasn’t far behind, declaring, “You cannot be civil with a political party that wants to destroy what you stand for.”

These aren’t just slips of the tongue. This is licensed hostility — leaders telling their base that Republicans are illegitimate, dangerous, even deserving of harassment. And then Democrats act surprised when that rhetoric finds its way onto the barrel of a gun.

Meanwhile, conservatives say the obvious: Murderers are responsible for their murders. But we can also recognize that culture, rhetoric, and ideology matter. We should confront the roots of violence wherever they grow — whether in white supremacy or in radical gender ideology, whether on the right or the left. Democrats refuse to do this because it would mean admitting that their own movement produces violence too.

Instead, they hide behind platitudes. “Thoughts and prayers don’t work,” they sneer, mocking faith communities while proposing policies that wouldn’t have stopped the crime in the first place. They will never admit that the shooter who targets Republicans, who targets Christians, who scrawls “Kill Trump” on his weapons, is soaked in the very rhetoric their side promotes daily.

RELATED: Tone-deaf Democrats lash out over prayers for Christians murdered in devastating Minnesota shooting

Photo by Stephen Maturen/Getty Images

Democrats had 12 years at the highest levels of power to do something meaningful about this. Eight years of President Barack Obama, four years of President Joe Biden. They promised “commonsense gun reform.” They promised unity. They promised safety.

Yet what did we get? Nothing but more division, more pandering to activist groups, and more empty speeches. No progress, because their goal has never been real solutions. Their goal has always been to weaponize tragedy to advance their ideology.

Enough is enough

As a father, I can’t sit quietly anymore. All of my kids attend Catholic school. They go to weekly Mass. When I read about a shooter storming into a Catholic parish school with “Kill Trump” written on his gun, I don’t just see headlines. I see my children. I see my wife. I see my parish family.

I want real solutions. I’m tired of the empty suits across the Republican aisle and the cynical blame-shifting of Democrats. Enough is enough. If they won’t protect us, if they won’t be honest about the problem, then we, the people, need to take matters into our own hands.

We need bold leadership at the local level — parents, parishes, and communities willing to protect our children, defend our faith, and confront the truth. Because the politicians won’t do it. And our families can’t wait any longer.

​Opinion & analysis, Opinion, Annunciation, Annunciation catholic school, Annunciation church and catholic school, Annunciation shooting, School shooting, Transgender, Thoughts and prayers, Violence, Rhetoric, Democrats, Media bias 

In season 4, episode 21 of “Parks and Recreation,” three of the main characters are attempting to secure van rentals to help with their city council campaign. However, the well-funded opposition has offered to pay the owner of the vans, Bill, a massive amount of money to not rent them out. After trying to reason with him, appealing to his sense of honor, and offering to let him in on the ground floor of an alcoholic yogurt investment scheme, the trio return to their car (a Mercedes owned by Donna Meagle) and sit dejectedly in the driveway. Bill attempts to leave in his truck, but they are blocking the driveway. He honks. They do not move. He becomes angry and gently taps his car into their rear bumper. Donna becomes incensed, pulls forward, then puts the car in reverse and stomps on the gas, ramming into Bill’s truck and causing a good amount of damage to both vehicles.

Bill is, understandably, rather upset. But Donna informs him that she did not hit his car, he just slammed into the back of her car, and she has witnesses to back it up. Bill realizes they fully intend to back up this fake story. He has no evidence, no way to prove that Donna deliberately backed into him. Instead of getting sued, he agrees to let them use the vans for free.

Why did I just recount a scene from a random episode of “Parks and Rec”? Besides being funny (you can check it out here), it’s relevant to real life. Think about it for a second. What if you are behind someone, and they reverse into you? Instead of apologizing, they refuse to admit fault, claiming you rear-ended them. If there are no cameras around, good luck convincing the insurance company.

Incidents like this are more common than you might think. There has been an increase in recent years of people staging vehicle accidents to claim insurance. Here is just one example. What saved the person in this video from being framed was the presence of a dashcam. Our society is increasingly low-trust, and we should be prepared for more and more dishonest behavior. The days when we could assume that a random person we encounter probably shares our sense of right and wrong are over. Your innocence is not important unless you can prove it. That’s where dashcams come in.

RELATED: Choose wisely to win the radar detector arms race

Photo by Alex Bierens de Haan / Contributor via Getty Images

A dashcam is a fairly simple device. It’s really just a camera that attaches either to your dashboard (hence the name) or to the inside of your windshield. It records what happens while you are out on the road. Simple, right? Well, buckle up.

There’s a wide variation in pricing, depending mostly on how good the camera is and how much storage it has, as well as other minor factors. You can have just one camera recording out the front of your car, or two so you can have one in the back. The trend is toward ensuring your camera is recording what happens inside your car (popular with Uber or other rideshare drivers), although coverage outside the vehicle is not just helpful for law enforcement.

As for installation, that’s a world of its own. You can plug the cameras into your console charger or wire them into your fuse box. There is an entire niche industry around the wiring, mounting, and general setup of these systems.

The cameras themselves come in many different versions. You can pick up the Car and Driver 1080p HD Dash Cam (yes, the Car and Driver magazine makes a dashcam) at Walmart for around $60. You can also pay $338 for the PC Magazine Editors’ Choice Garmin Dash Cam Live if you want features like 180-degree field of vision, 1440p resolution, driver assist features, voice command, and remote viewing. You can go more expensive (the Escort MAXcam 360c will run you about $900, although it’s also a radar detector so it’s actually not that bad of a deal). And of course, you can also find options at the other end of the price point spectrum. The 70mai Smart Dash Cam 1S can be found for $40, and there are lots of even cheaper generics — yes, the quality is certainly more dubious.

It all really depends on how thoroughly you want to record your surroundings and what your priorities for the system are. Do you just want a camera in the front to record any potential accidents, or are you one of those people who aspires to become a regular contributor to Dashcam Nation, a YouTube channel where you can watch such masterpieces as Idiots in Cars 327. (Yes, it’s exactly what it sounds like.)

Whatever your budget or specific priorities, having a dashcam is a good idea. Leaving aside deliberate fraud, there are many situations in which having evidence comes in handy. In my state, there are so many uninsured drivers — many of them illegal immigrants — that the state requires me to purchase uninsured motorist protections as a part of my auto insurance plan. If you are in an accident involving one of these uninsured drivers, video evidence is going to make your life a lot easier. In the event of a hit-and-run accident, capturing the license plate of the car at fault means you don’t have to rely on your memory for the police statement.

In short: Dashcams can afford you some peace of mind while out on the road, and that’s something we could all use a little more of these days.

​Dashcam, Tech 

In June, with four months left in fiscal year 2025, the Army announced that it had surpassed its goal of enlisting 61,000 recruits. Female recruitment surged in particular across every branch, a shift many credit to President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s return to a “warfighter” ethos.

Yet Republicans in Congress still haven’t done their part to cement this new direction in law.

Congressional Republicans must seek a permanent end to the regime that has so disastrously compromised the military’s lethality.

The misguided and weak leadership of the previous administration allowed the ideology of diversity, equity, and inclusion to run rampant at the Pentagon, strangling recruiting efforts and sidelining the military’s true mission.

Under Joe Biden, the Army fell nearly 30,000 recruits short. Misguided priorities drained confidence in the service and hollowed out the ranks. If the “Trump bump” holds, it could reverse those losses and begin restoring the military’s strength and credibility after years of neglect and ideological tinkering.

Lingering progressive activism

Racial and gender identity politics defined the Biden administration so deeply that simple executive orders cannot uproot them — especially in the military. Former Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s 2022-26 Strategic Management Plan spelled it out, imposing race-based quotas on every service member and civilian across the force.

The Trump administration must insist that Congress make it impossible to return to this decades-long embrace of race and gender essentialism. Such action is necessary for Secretary Hegseth to continue sharpening the edge of American military power with confidence.

Congress has started moving in the right direction. The Senate Armed Services Committee recently advanced the 2026 National Defense Authorization Act with two measures aimed at curbing DEI. Section 547 blocks race and identity from influencing service academy admissions. Section 920 repeals several provisions that embedded DEI in the Defense Department.

These changes, though welcome, fall short. Congress must go farther if it wants real impact. Identity politics must be banned not just in admissions, but throughout the military. And for Section 920 to matter, DEI cannot simply be buried — its presence should disqualify applicants from future government service.

Ending DEI-based admissions

Another urgent target for repeal is the 2021 DEI selection board mandate, which forces military boards to “represent the diverse population of the armed force concerned.” That order undermines their core mission: choosing the most capable leaders to win wars.

Early signals from the House and Senate Armed Services Committees show they recognize the problem, but they have yet to commit to locking in Trump-era reforms. America’s depleted readiness should be evidence enough. Lawmakers must act decisively — restore the military’s lethality and bury DEI for good.

RELATED: How DEI took a sledgehammer to the US military’s war ethos

Photo by Ivan Cholakov via Getty Images

Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) has pushed consistently to root DEI out of the military. But he works with razor-thin majorities in both chambers, where entrenched Armed Services Committee staff — Republicans in name only — resist meaningful reform.

Trump’s political resurgence leaves no excuse. Republicans in Congress must break this pattern and confront the bureaucrats blocking change.

Republicans have their chance

Lawmakers now face their moment. The current Senate and House drafts of the NDAA fall short. Republicans must seize this chance to codify President Trump and Secretary Hegseth’s reforms and restore warfighting as the military’s sole organizing principle.

To end the tyranny of DEI and race quotas, Congress cannot stop at praising executive action. It must legislate a permanent end to the ideology that has gutted readiness and crippled lethality.

​Opinion & analysis, Opinion, Military readiness, Dei military, Dei in military, House armed services committee, Diveristy equity inclusion, Pentagon, Army, Navy, Airforce, Marines, War, National defense, National defense authorization act 

A secretive dark money group with ties to the Democrat Party is shelling out up to $8,000 a month to influencers to parrot left-leaning talking points.

The Chorus Creator Incubator Program is said to be funded by the Sixteen Thirty Fund, which has funneled money to dozens of left-leaning influencers, according to a report from WIRED magazine.

Those paid through the program include Olivia Julianna, a Gen Z activist who spoke at the DNC; Loren Piretra, an Occupy Democrats YouTuber who worked as a Playboy executive in the past; and Barrett Adair, who runs an American Girl Doll meme account.

Other influencers include Suzanne Lambert, also known as “Regina George liberal”; Arielle Fodor, an education creator with 1.4 million followers on TikTok; and Sander Jennings, the older brother of trans influencer Jazz Jennings.

In the Wired magazine expose written by Taylor Lorenz, she explains that the only rules the influencers must abide by in order to get their money is they must keep it a secret, and they must agree to restrictions on their content.

“Creators told Wired that the contract stipulated they’d be kicked out and essentially cut off financially if they even so much as acknowledged that they were part of the program. Some creators also raised concerns about a slew of restrictive clauses in the contract,” the article reads.

“It’s a lot of money,” BlazeTV host Alex Stein comments on “Prime Time with Alex Stein.” “It’s not like ridiculous money, but it just shows you how easily somebody can be bought. I guess we could all use $8,000 a month though.”

“So basically $100,000 a year, that’s a pretty good gig,” he adds.

Want more from Alex Stein?

To enjoy more of Alex’s culture jamming, comedic monologues, skits, and street segments, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

​Sharing, Free, Upload, Video, Camera phone, Video phone, Youtube.com, Prime time with alex stein, Alex stein, The blaze, Blazetv, Blaze news, Blaze podcasts, Blaze podcast network, Blaze media, Blaze online, Blaze originals, Democrats, Liberals, Leftism, Democrat influencers, Dark money, Dark money politics, Taylor lorenz 

While the mainstream media amplifies and obsesses over conspiratorial voices on the right in order to smear conservatives, the left is not without its own crazed hallucinations.

One of the more entertaining but maddening theories being spread by those on the left on social media and other platforms is the idea that the first assassination attempt against President Donald Trump was staged to garner support from his followers.

‘This gets me SO F’king ANGRY!! ***100% STAGED***’

After the incident in Butler, Pennsylvania, many on the left immediately began claiming that the entire affair had been staged. Some even said that the ear injury was faked because the president healed so quickly.

“That shooting so f***ing staged dawg they clipped Trump’s ear with a damn rubber bullet,” said one account on the day of the attempt: “omfg he just won the election.”

That tweet got more than 230,000 likes and millions of impressions on the X platform.

“When asked about his ear yesterday, trump said ‘I heal quickly,'” said another account only a month later. “… This gets me SO F’king ANGRY!! ***100% STAGED***”

This bizarre conspiracy theory still persists on the X platform, with tens of thousands of people liking and retweeting messages for more than a year.

“In a DESPERATE attempt to win votes, get elected and avoid prison, trump STAGED an assassination attempt in Butler, PA. He is guilty of 2nd degree murder! The TRUTH is a WHISPER away!!!” read one post with more than 21,000 likes from Oct. 2024.

“Donald Trump’s assassination attempt was staged. If it was real, the Secret Service would have rushed him off the stage. Instead, they propped him up & let him stand there out in the open saying ‘Fight!’ three times,” read another post from January with more than 129,000 likes.

RELATED: Hillary makes a new accusation in the election conspiracy theory

Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

“Trump’s approval rating is tanking so it’s probably time for another staged assassination attempt to goose his numbers,” read another post from April with more than 2,800 likes.

And it still continues. This is from a little more than a week ago: “This was all staged by Trump! Why did he not have blood on his hair???? Cause he wasn’t shot!!!!” read the post with more than 5,300 likes.

Despite the nutty claims on social media, there is no evidence that the attempt was staged. Even some mainstream media outlets have slapped down the bizarre theory.

“The ‘staged’ claims are Pants on Fire. The FBI is investigating the shooting as an assassination attempt. It was witnessed by thousands of rally attendees, including dozens of news photographers and reporters,” read a report in PolitiFact that was republished at PBS News.

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​Trump assassination staged, Left wing conspiracy theories, Liberal conspiracy theories, Butler assassination attempt, Politics 

The horror of a man setting out to murder children at church defies belief. The Minnesota Catholic school shooting last week left the nation stunned, with many grasping for explanations and redirecting grief into attacks on gun policies, school security, and even, outrageously, on prayer itself.

But one factor demands attention: the worsening mental health crisis in America. Our culture increasingly enables, rather than treats, serious psychological disorders. And in this case, one condition in particular — transgenderism — deserves special scrutiny.

The recurring presence of trans-identifying shooters should alarm every lawmaker and every medical professional.

The emerging facts about the shooter reveal a deeply disturbed individual. His writings and grotesque images showed a man in desperate need of psychiatric care, yet he found affirmation instead of help. His delusions were encouraged, not confronted, and the result was catastrophic.

The pattern is becoming familiar. This tragedy mirrors the 2023 Nashville shooting, where a woman identifying as a man killed six students and teachers at her former Christian school. Other recent attacks, from Colorado Springs to Aberdeen, Maryland, also involved trans-identifying shooters.

Meanwhile, a staggering number of young Americans are being swept into this delusion. Surveys suggest that nearly 1 in 3 teenagers now claim some form of trans or “gender-diverse” identity. The trend skews heavily under age 35, a clear sign that cultural indoctrination and medical malpractice are driving young Americans to deny biological reality.

The truth remains unchanged: Humanity has two sexes. Males produce small gametes, females produce large ones. That is the basis of reproduction. That is science. “Follow the science,” we are told — until it points somewhere inconvenient.

Parents are bullied with the claim that failing to “affirm” their child’s identity will cause suicide. Schools push the ideology on children barely old enough to read. Doctors who should offer counseling instead pump minors full of dangerous hormones, mutilate their healthy bodies, and reinforce the lie that society, not their confusion, is the real problem. The result is not relief but deeper misery and hostility.

RELATED: Trans-identifying man with a ‘twisted mind’ said, ‘I want to die,’ before opening fire on Catholic Mass in Minneapolis

Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images

The Minnesota shooter himself admitted the betrayal in his final writings, expressing regret over the “brainwashing” he had embraced. His screeds were filled with self-loathing that soon turned outward. When “affirmation” fails, when surgeries and hormones leave the underlying pain untouched, some lash out — against themselves or against others.

The responsibility for the massacre in Minneapolis rests with the man who plotted, armed himself, and carried out this evil act. His hatred was written in loathsome slogans on his weapons and shouted through his crimes. But America ignores the mental health crisis feeding such hatred at its peril.

The recurring presence of trans-identifying shooters should alarm every lawmaker and every medical professional. It is past time to end the malpractice of so-called gender-affirming care. Those struggling with gender dysphoria need real psychiatric help, not a dangerous charade. Until that happens, more atrocities will follow — and more innocents will get hurt.

​Opinion & analysis, Opinion, Annunciation, Annunciation catholic school, Annunciation church and catholic school, School shooting, Transgender, Gender affirming care, Mental illness, Mental health, Delusions, Murder, Mass shooting, Transgenderism, Malpractice 

Buc-ee’s may be technically categorized as a “convenience store,” but for millions of Americans, it’s more like a roadside pilgrimage. No matter how big its new stores are, they remain packed. The chain has a fanatically loyal customer base, and it has become a destination for those not fortunate enough to have a Buc-ee’s nearby.

What’s the draw? Buc-ee’s has enormous restrooms that are immaculately clean, cheap gas with often more than 100 pumps, a kitschy-fun shopping experience, and exceptional food — including Texas barbecue and an in-house bakery. In addition, it’s heavily staffed with low-turnover, career employees.

I shudder to think of the destruction that would be brought upon the Buc-ee’s business model if private equity decided to “fix” its operations.

Buc-ee’s is thriving by rejecting numerous destructive “best practices” currently embraced by corporate America and private equity.

Fortunately for Buc-ee’s, it’s still privately owned by its founders, Arch Aplin and Don Wasek, whose business acumen came from running convenience stores and working directly with customers and employees. They weren’t poisoned by an elite business school education, where modern executives learn that customers are prey and employees are a pestilence whose compensation reduces executive bonuses.

The winning formula

The magic formula to Buc-ee’s success is built on a very simple foundation: clean restrooms and cheap gas. It first developed its cult following in Texas by being a place you could always count on for a clean restroom while driving the interstates. Good candies, food, and pastries then added to the appeal.

Nowadays, the same foundation is in place: clean restrooms and cheap gas. But once a customer walks inside to use the restroom, a wonderland of food and products awaits. The food and merchandise are not necessarily cheap, but they’re high-quality, and many customers enjoy making those purchases as part of their Buc-ee’s experience. But it’s still possible to visit Buc-ee’s for gas and a potty stop without paying a premium.

Standing up to Wall Street

By contrast, Las Vegas tourism is down dramatically — in no small part because of the city’s outrageous pricing. The old Vegas model of cheap buffets and affordable rooms to get people into the casinos was not unlike Buc-ee’s lure of clean restrooms and cheap gas. But the Wall Street wizards now in control of Vegas have ditched the old model in favor of revenue-mining every possible moment of a visitor’s stay.

As Jeffrey Turner explained on his Substack, “The MBAs and data-crunchers at the corporate casino have installed Disneyland pricing into their models.”

Buc-ee’s still understands the power of the previous business model that Las Vegas abandoned: Provide a high-quality “loss leader” — or two — to get the customers in the door, and then provide high-margin products that entice them to open their wallets.

For those who work at Buc-ee’s, it’s more than a job — it’s a career. Buc-ee’s doesn’t consider its staff to be “unskilled” labor who deserve near-minimum wages. Their excellent compensation results in lower turnover and better customer service. The food at Buc-ee’s might be a little more expensive than at a nearby fast-food joint, but it’s of much higher quality and served by professional staff — things customers will gladly pay a premium for.

As I discussed in a recent column, revenue mining has become an all-too-common corporate business strategy these days, especially in private equity. Revenue mining exploits customers while slashing costs to the bone, shipping jobs oversees, firing veteran employees who know the business best, wrecking customer service, downgrading quality, and killing innovation. That pernicious strategy may briefly produce record short-term profits, but it also destroys customer loyalty and brand value.

I shudder to think of the destruction that would be brought upon the Buc-ee’s business model if private equity decided to “fix” its operations.

RELATED: Fear the beaver: How a gas station became a cult (and why you should consider joining)

Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

The famous Buc-ee’s restrooms by themselves produce no revenue, and they occupy significant square footage. Its full-time staffers make about $40,000 annually simply to keep these restrooms clean. In other words, the restrooms are a loss leader, drawing customers in but producing no revenue. That’s anathema to private equity.

Private equity would slash the restroom maintenance, eliminate or outsource the cleaning crews, and decrease their square footage. Or maybe they’d try to charge admission to the restrooms. But they would undoubtedly kill the golden goose — the restrooms — and thus lose the golden egg that gets customers to the checkout registers.

A job sign outside a Buc-ee’s in Alabama recently showed that several manager positions within a Buc-ee’s pay in excess of $100,000 per year, and the store’s general manager can earn more than $200,000 per year. Wall Street or private equity would waste no time in slashing Buc-ee’s employee head count and compensation, assuming it would increase the bottom line. But it wouldn’t; it would simply destroy the staffing that makes Buc-ee’s success possible.

RELATED: Corporate America is eating its seed corn — and our future

Photo by Tim Grist Photography via Getty Images

Private equity would also be aghast at the “lost revenue” from offering below-market gas prices. Estimates are that Buc-ee’s sells about 400,000 gallons of gas per day. Just charging 5 cents more per gallon would bring in an additional $7 million annually, all things being equal.

But all things aren’t equal.

A success story worth copying

Buc-ee’s sells such a high volume of gas because its prices are lower. Buc-ee’s understands that a lower gross profit per gallon with higher volume produces more gross profit than lower volume at a higher price. But more importantly, those swarms of cars fueling up on inexpensive gas are full of people who stroll inside and purchase high-margin discretionary products. It’s a simple concept that is alien to rapacious financial wizards, but one that’s well understood by retailers on the ground.

Buc-ee’s success is a refutation of prevailing business wisdom. May it serve as an example to the next generation of business leaders on the importance of developing a loyal customer base with abundant staff, career wages, great customer service, high-quality products, and an enjoyable customer experience.

​Opinion & analysis, Buc-ee’s, Wall street, Private equity, Private ownership, Gasoline, Prices, Toilets, High margins, Sales, Sales volume, Customer service, Cheap gas, Loss leader, Loyalty 

Robot wives, robot sex partners, and even robot entrepreneurs have made headlines this year, but what about robot umpires?

It seems every baseball fan has called for robot umpires at some point in the 2025 season, especially after fans saw an automated ball-strike challenge system being used during the 2025 MLB All-Star Game.

‘The meter maids of baseball.’

Multiple calls garnered a challenge from players that changed the course of the game, leaving viewers to invoke the digital strike zone placed on screen whenever an umpire gets a call wrong.

But are the umpires actually getting worse?

Using numbers from a recent Umpire Scorecards post, overall accuracy for umpires in 2025 is 93%. While this may seem low, it’s a combination of called-ball accuracy averages (97%) and called-strike accuracy averages (88%).

Scoring the average accuracy rating of an umpire throughout the course of the season and weighing that against what is expected of them, we see that fewer umpires are dipping below the expected performance levels year over year.

In 2022, 35 umpires had an average accuracy rating below what was expected of them. In 2023, that number was 27, and in 2024, it was 21. In 2025, that number dropped to just 16.

Looking back through these years, not only are poor averages less abundant, but the MLB even seems to be getting less lenient about giving inaccurate umpires the go-ahead to call games.

RELATED: First female MLB umpire shocks fans with her call on the very first pitch

First female MLB umpire Jen Pawol at PNC Park on August 24, 2025, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Photo by Justin Berl/Getty Images

Umpires with below-average accuracy ratings are calling fewer games than before.

In 2025, five of the six worst under-performing umpires (in terms of average accuracy vs. expected accuracy) have played five games or fewer. Just four umpires inside the bottom 10 for worst accuracy overall have umpired more than five games.

Perhaps those umpires will be seen more in the final 30 games of 2025, but it seems unlikely they will reach anywhere close to the number of games that inaccurate umpires got in 2024.

MLB umpiring even took a step forward — or back, depending on fan perspective — with a female umpire appearing twice so far.

Some took Jen Pawol, the first female umpire to call balls and strikes in a regular season game, as an end-of-days scenario for the league, but it was not as bad as expected. While Pawol did not actually rattle any cages in her debut and performed just below average, her second game went mostly unreported when she performed better than her first.

Still, it should be noted that Pawol has the fifth-worst overall accuracy for umpires this season and the third-worst against the expected average. But with what seems to be the new normal, she has been limited to just two games all year.

While poor performers are getting the nod less frequently and fewer umps are below average, fans are still unhappy.

RELATED: This isn’t just baseball — it’s a rebellion in cowhide

Kansas City Manager Matt Quatraro argues with home plate umpire Ryan Addition on August 13, 2025, at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, MO. Photo by Keith Gillett/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

Experts and analysts say it’s because of the umpires’ attitudes.

“I’m ready to get rid of the mall cop macho mentality these guys have officiating the game,” baseball broadcaster Gary Sheffield Jr. told Blaze News. “Get me an automated system when it’s ready so we can get back to baseball.”

Sheffield had previously shared sentiments with Blaze News that he thought any “below-average” umpire should be fired, male or female.

Former Division I and pro player Leo Dottavio agreed, telling Blaze News that he’s been involved in “countless games that were decided by umpire error.”

Adding that it was clear to him in the past that umpires had been influenced by player attitudes or outside sources, Dottavio plainly stated, “It’s time for the robo ump.”

Now a comedian, Dottavio stressed that he has grown to despise the average umpire as a fan and called average umpires “a bunch of beta males trying to get back at the true … kings, the guys on the field.”

It does seem that no matter what stats the MLB boys in black (or blue) put up, they certainly have an image problem. Fan reactions show this, referring to them either as bullies, or as Dottavio joked, “the meter maids of baseball.”

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Eighty years ago, the United States dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, ushering in the nuclear age. Many analysts claimed those weapons forever changed the nature of war. They were wrong.

Two centuries earlier, Prussian theorist Carl von Clausewitz defined war as a violent clash of wills — a cyclical struggle of action, reaction, chance, and chaos. That description fits every era, from Thucydides to today.

Putin has nothing to lose by threatening to use nuclear weapons. He has everything to lose by actually using them.

The nature of war doesn’t change. What does change is its character, shaped by technology, geography, and culture. Nuclear weapons altered that character profoundly, preventing a U.S.-Soviet clash but never abolishing Clausewitz’s law of the battlefield.

From hot to cold

After 1945, nukes put a ceiling on global conflict. Compare the bloodletting between 1914 and 1945 with the relative restraint that followed. Fear of annihilation imposed boundaries.

Cold War strategy revolved around the “escalation ladder.” NATO knew it could not match Soviet conventional strength in Europe, so U.S. planners threatened to climb the rungs:

Tactical nukes: Battlefield use against enemy units nearby.Theater nukes: Regional strikes on key military targets.Strategic nukes: Long-range strikes on an enemy’s homeland.

At first, Washington believed it had escalation dominance, but that illusion collapsed in the 1970s as Moscow built powerful counterforce weapons and theater nukes. America’s fallback was no longer credible.

The U.S. answered with modernization — Minuteman III, MX, and Trident missiles at the strategic level; Pershing II deployments in Europe at the theater level; and new conventional doctrines like AirLand Battle and the Navy’s Maritime Strategy. This layered approach restored balance.

From cold to frozen

With the Soviet Union’s collapse, nuclear centrality in U.S. policy faded. By 2010, the Obama administration’s Nuclear Posture Review declared Russia no longer an adversary. Nuclear strategy atrophied.

Trump 43 reversed course, seeking to revitalize deterrence against a resurgent Moscow. Joe Biden returned to the Obama approach. Trump 45 has emphasized preventing Iran from joining the nuclear club, but strategy toward Russia remains unsettled.

Nuclear relevance today

Russia’s war in Ukraine reignited fears of nuclear escalation. Both Moscow and Washington maintain roughly 1,400 deployed warheads each, plus reserves. Thanks to satellite guidance, modern systems now strike with pinpoint accuracy. A smaller yield can achieve the destructive power once requiring a much larger blast. Some fear this makes nuclear weapons more “usable.”

RELATED: Trump’s Pentagon overhaul: Purging woke agendas, restoring readiness

Douglas Rissing via iStock/Getty Images

Could Putin employ a tactical nuke to break the stalemate? Possibly. Russia fields low-yield warheads and delivery systems like the Iskander-M (NATO code: SS-26 “Stone”). But Moscow also has advanced non-nuclear options — thermobaric bombs, massive bunker-busters, and electromagnetic pulse warheads capable of crippling electronics across miles. These weapons achieve nuclear-like psychological and operational effects without crossing the nuclear threshold.

So far, NATO aid to Ukraine has mirrored Soviet and Chinese support for North Vietnam — decisive but short of direct conflict. And Russia has escalated through massive conventional strikes on Ukraine’s power plants, command centers, and cities, deliberately raising the human and economic costs. The effect mirrors nuclear terror: darkness, disruption, and despair.

That’s why Putin has no military incentive to use actual nuclear weapons when his conventional arsenal achieves the same result.

Putin’s nuclear Rubicon

Technological advances have blurred the line between nuclear and non-nuclear weapons, lowering the odds of Russia crossing the nuclear Rubicon. But Clausewitz warned that war always brings chance, uncertainty, and friction. Nuclear weapons magnify all three.

Putin can posture, threaten, and hint. But as one commentator put it: “He has nothing to lose by threatening to use nuclear weapons. He has everything to lose by actually using them.”

​Opinion & analysis, Nuclear war, Nuclear weapons, Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Atomic bomb, Donald trump, Nuclear posture review, Strategy, Soviet union, Russia, Ukraine, War, Conventional weapons 

Police in Cape Coral, Florida, said officers responded just after 2 a.m. Wednesday to a burglary in progress at a home in the southeast part of the city.

Kyle Myvett told detectives he had gone to bed when his home security cameras alerted him to someone breaking into his vehicle, police said.

‘Thanks to a quick-thinking neighbor in his Batman pajamas, another burglary suspect was put behind bars.’

Presumably without a second to spare, Myvett never bothered to change out of his pajamas before going into superhero mode.

Yup, he was still dressed in his Batman PJs when he ventured outside to investigate — and observed the suspect rummaging through his truck, police said.

The suspect was identified as 20-year-old Justin Schimpl, police said.

Detectives determined that Schimpl allegedly broke into Myvett’s vehicle — as well as his neighbor’s vehicle — and stole multiple items, including two pairs of Ray-Ban sunglasses valued at $300 each, a woman’s wristlet, cash, and more than $500 in gift cards, police said.

“Thanks to a quick-thinking neighbor in his Batman pajamas, another burglary suspect was put behind bars,” police said.

As you can see, not all heroes wear capes; sometimes their bedtime duds just don’t include them.

Image source: Cape Coral (Fla.) Police Department

Schimpl claimed another male was with him, but the name of that male changed multiple times, police said.

The Lee County Sheriff’s Office helicopter as well as a Cape Coral Police Department K-9 searched the area, police said, but no other suspects were located.

Police said Schimpl was arrested and taken to the Lee County Jail on the following charges:

two counts of burglary of an unoccupied conveyance (unarmed), a third-degree felony;one count of burglary of an occupied dwelling, a second-degree felony;two counts of petit theft under $750, a first-degree misdemeanor from a prior conviction.

Jail records indicate the total bond is for $40,000; Schimpl’s next court date is Sept. 29.

Police also said Schimpl is “known to law enforcement from prior investigations.”

You certainly might say that. Here’s a look at Schimpl’s mug shots dating back over the last two years:

Image source: Lee County (Fla.) Sheriff’s Office

The charges against him from his previous arrests include:

weapon offense — missile into dwelling, vehicle, building, or aircraft;resist officer;battery;probation violation;drug possession;larceny — petit theft;grand theft of a firearm;dealing stolen property.

Jail records show he’s scheduled for a hearing on a charge of grand theft of a firearm on September 16.

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​Crime thwarted, Batman, Batman costume, Florida, Cape coral, Suspect caught, Burglary charge, Theft charge, Jailed, Superhero, Crime 

Failed presidential candidate Al Gore claimed in his 2007 Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech that the previous year, “as the Northern Hemisphere tilted away from the sun, scientists reported with unprecedented distress that the North Polar ice cap is ‘falling off a cliff.’ One study estimated that it could be completely gone during summer in less than 22 years.”

Two years later, the climate alarmist told the Copenhagen Climate Conference that new research indicated there was “a 75% chance that the entire north polar ice cap during some of the summer months could be completely ice free within the next five to seven years.”

It turns out Al Gore, whose fearmongering reportedly nets him $200,000 per speaking engagement, was not only wrong about a 20-foot rise in the global sea level “in the near future,” polar bear drownings, and the snows of Kilimanjaro, but also about the future of Arctic ice.

A paper published this month in the American Geophysical Union’s biweekly peer-reviewed scientific journal Geophysical Research Letters indicated that over the past 20 years, “Arctic sea ice loss has slowed considerably, with no statistically significant decline in September sea ice area since 2005.”

This slowdown in the loss of Arctic sea ice was pronounced across all months of the year and could “plausibly” continue over the next decade.

The researchers behind the paper — from Columbia University and the University of Exeter — indicated that even with relatively high global temperatures, “climate modeling evidence suggests we should expect periods like this to occur somewhat frequently.”

RELATED: Netflix rebooting ‘Captain Planet’ to push pagan climate propaganda on new generation of kids

Photo by PABLO PORCIUNCULA/AFP via Getty Images

Natural factors, variations in ocean currents in particular, have a tremendous impact in this arena — accelerating, slowing, or reversing ice loss — and have apparently served in recent decades to offset the impact of relatively high global temperatures.

This natural corrective is all the more critical as humans reduce their emissions.

‘Now the [natural] variability has switched to largely cancelling out sea ice loss.’

While the authors take for granted that ice loss over the past 50 years has been driven in part by “human-induced climate change,” they acknowledged that there was actually significant Arctic sea ice expansion during at least one other period of increasing anthropogenic greenhouse emissions — from the 1940s to the 1970s.

An increase in industrial aerosol emissions from North America and Europe reportedly helped cool the Arctic in the mid-20th century. The very phase-out of exhaust — particularly sulfur emissions — from ships that some environmentalists advocated for appears to have “contributed to enhanced global and Arctic warming since 2020,” said the paper.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Climate Program Office indicated that in 2020, new international shipping regulations “drastically” cut sulfur emissions from ships. The exhaust they previously created — reflective clouds called “ship tracks” — had long reflected sunlight back into space, thereby cooling the planet.

“It is surprising, when there is a current debate about whether global warming is accelerating, that we’re talking about a slowdown,” Mark England, the researcher who led the study, told the Guardian.

While willing to admit the alarmism of yesteryear was bunkum, England still was sure to tinge his forecast with pessimism.

RELATED: The climate cult is brainwashing your kids — and you’re paying for it

Photo by Sebnem Coskun/Anadolu via Getty Images

“The good news is that 10 to 15 years ago when sea ice loss was accelerating, some people were talking about an ice-free Arctic before 2020,” said England. “But now the [natural] variability has switched to largely cancelling out sea ice loss. It has bought us a bit more time, but it is a temporary reprieve — when it ends, it isn’t good news.”

England emphasized the need to maintain a sense of urgency and alarm, stating, “Climate change is unequivocally real, human-driven, and continues to pose serious threats. The fundamental science and urgency for climate action remain unchanged.”

While Arctic ice loss has slowed, the Antarctic has been gaining ice in recent years.

According to a 2023 study published in the European Geosciences Union’s peer-reviewed journal the Cryosphere, the Antarctic ice shelf area grew by 2048.27 square miles between 2009 and 2019, gaining 661 gigatonnes of ice mass “with 18 ice shelves retreating and 16 larger shelves growing in area.”

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​Science, Arctic, Ice, Climate, Weather, Earth, Arctic ice, Ice sheets, Glaciers, Climate alarmism, Climate change, Global warming, Hoax, Politics 

The New York Times recently published an article attempting to recast the events of Jan. 6, 2021, through the lens of prosecutors who lost their jobs following President Donald Trump’s return to the Oval Office. The piece depicts these lawyers as martyrs in a political purge, forced to leave behind diplomas and personal items as though they were casualties of injustice.

Yet this framing fundamentally ignores the real devastation that flowed from the government’s handling of January 6: families destroyed, children traumatized, and ordinary Americans subjected to years of aggressive and politicized prosecution.

Prosecutors were not martyrs. They were the instruments of a system that made martyrs out of ordinary citizens.

Those of us who have worked directly with these families have seen firsthand the long-term impact of the Department of Justice’s unprecedented approach. History cannot be rewritten to cast prosecutors as victims while erasing the lives they targeted from public memory.

The forgotten victims

The most overlooked victims of January 6 have been the children of defendants. These young people endured traumatic government raids that remain etched into their memories. Many remember predawn operations when flash-bang devices exploded inside their homes.

They recall doors being battered down, glass shattering, and heavily armed agents entering their bedrooms. They watched their mothers cry, attempting to hold families together as fathers were taken away in handcuffs. In certain cases, both parents were removed, leaving children to wonder if they would ever see their families whole again.

This was not a foreign dictatorship. It happened in the United States. These tactics, carried out against families who posed no threat, inflicted deep and lasting harm on innocent children. Yet the prosecutors who initiated these cases are now presented as political casualties.

That is an inversion of reality. They were not martyrs. They were the instruments of a system that made martyrs out of ordinary citizens.

The tragedy of Matthew Perna

The case of Matthew Perna illustrates the human toll of this prosecutorial overreach. Perna entered the Capitol, recorded video, and left without committing violence or destruction. Nevertheless, prosecutors pursued severe charges against him, including the application of a “terrorism enhancement” that would have drastically increased his sentence. Media outlets amplified the narrative, branding him as a threat to the nation.

The weight of this combined persecution proved too much for Perna. Before sentencing, he took his own life. His story exposes both the cruelty of the government’s approach and the complicity of media institutions that reinforced it. Today, prosecutors involved in such cases seek sympathy for their professional losses, while families like Matthew’s continue to grieve irreparable personal losses.

An egregious double standard

The broader context highlights a political double standard. Democrats describe January 6 as one of the darkest days in American history. Yet the riots of 2020 — federal courthouses attacked, businesses destroyed, police assaulted, communities set ablaze — are routinely called “mostly peaceful.”

The murder of retired police captain David Dorn, killed on livestream while defending his community, generated little lasting outrage. Entire cities endured months of chaos, but few faced consequences comparable to the sweeping prosecutions unleashed against January 6 participants. Where were the terrorism enhancements then? Where were the years-long investigations, the solitary confinement, the relentless media coverage?

The truth is straightforward: Unrest associated with the political left is minimized or excused. Protests involving Trump supporters are magnified into terrorism. This inconsistency erodes public trust in equal justice under the law.

A critical course correction

Against this backdrop, the decisions by Attorney General Pam Bondi and special prosecutor Ed Martin should be recognized for what they are: efforts to restore fairness to a corrupt system. Bondi took decisive action to remove prosecutors who had shown an inability to separate justice from politics.

Martin, who himself witnessed the events of January 6, understood that Americans cannot be criminalized simply for supporting a particular political movement. His leadership in ending the ongoing persecution of defendants brought accountability to those who had turned prosecutions into a political weapon.

The New York Times calls this a “purge.” A more accurate description is a course correction — an attempt to re-establish integrity in the Department of Justice and reaffirm that justice must not serve partisan ends.

The true victims of January 6 were not federal prosecutors. They were the more than 1,500 Americans caught in the dragnet of politicized charges. They were the families left bankrupt and broken. They were the children who still wake with nightmares of flash-bangs and broken doors. They were people like Matthew Perna, who lost hope under the crushing weight of unjust treatment.

They were also President Trump, the first lady, their son Barron, and allies who endured years of politicized investigations, predawn raids, tanks in neighborhoods, and heavily armed SWAT teams at their doors. These were the consequences of a government determined to use its vast powers not against criminals, but against political opponents.

Setting history straight

We must ensure that these truths are not forgotten. We cannot allow prosecutors to rewrite history by presenting themselves as martyrs. We cannot permit the suffering of families, the cries of children separated from their parents, or the suicide of Matthew Perna to be erased from public consciousness.

RELATED: Exclusive: Justice for victim’s severe injuries is elusive after he was shot point-blank by police on Jan. 6

Photo by Suspended Image via Getty Images

Justice in America must return to its foundational principle: fairness for all citizens, regardless of political affiliation. Until that principle is restored, we must continue to speak out and to stand with those whose lives were devastated by the misuse of government power.

This is not about revenge. It is about truth. It is not about politics. It is about families. And it is not about power. It is about ensuring that no American child ever again experiences the terror of waking to flash-bangs, shattered doors, and the loss of their parents over politics.

​Opinion & analysis, Opinion, Jan 6, January 6, January 6 victims, January 6th capitol riot, Jan 6 riot, Truth about jan 6, Pardons, Matthew perna, Department of justice, Justice department, Weaponized justice, Prosecutors, Victims 

Peter Thiel might be the biggest head-scratcher in Silicon Valley. He’s a billionaire, a Trump-Vance-supporting Republican, a married gay man, a transhumanism enthusiast, and … drum roll … a “Christian.”

He’s publicly declared that Christianity is true and that Christ is the best role model; he’s deeply involved in various Christian organizations; and yet he’s openly admitted his affinity for transhumanism, believing that the future of humanity is a world where man conquers mortality by fusing with technology. It’s a twisted, human-centric version of the transformed, glorified body Christians are promised after death, says BlazeTV host Allie Beth Stuckey.

Recently Thiel has been in the headlines for his seminars on the Antichrist, which are a bizarre blend of theology and his controversial views on technology and transhumanism. In short, Thiel speculates that Revelation’s beast will be deeply connected to artificial intelligence. Whether a human leveraging AI for control, a pseudo-human system, or an AI-driven global order, Thiel is confident that artificial intelligence will play a key role in the end times.

And he’s not the first to suggest this. The idea that AI and the Antichrist are irrevocably connected — and maybe even synonymous — is a theory that has gained traction in recent years. When you think about it, the proposition isn’t all that crazy. AI’s capacity for global control, deception, economic dominance through digital systems, and false promises of salvation uncannily mirrors Revelation’s description of the Antichrist’s deceptive, totalitarian rule.

Despite Thiel’s theological waywardness, is there merit to his Antichrist warnings? Should we take him seriously?

BlazeTV host Allie Beth Stuckey dove into Thiel’s Antichrist theory on a recent episode of “Relatable.” Her conclusion? It’s complicated.

In an interview with New York Times opinion columnist Ross Douthat on the “Interesting Times” podcast, Thiel described the Antichrist as “a potential systemic threat rather than a literal individual, suggesting it could manifest as a one-world totalitarian state that promises peace and safety but suppresses freedom,” says Allie.

He explained that the Antichrist might weaponize fearmongering about technology’s dangers, like rogue AI, to trick people into accepting a powerful, centralized (likely AI-enabled) authority. In other words, he (or it) would convince the globe that the only way to avoid technology-induced apocalyptic scenarios and ensure safety and peace for all is to consolidate power, including technological power, under a global regime.

But some have noticed a strange incongruence. Thiel co-founded Palantir Technologies, which develops and produces the very types of technology he claims the Antichrist could wield against humanity.

Douthat called him out on this contradiction in their interview. “You’re an investor in AI; you’re deeply invested in Palantir, in military technology, in technologies of surveillance, in technologies of warfare, and so on, right? And it just seems to me that when you tell me a story about the Antichrist coming to power and using the fear of technological change to sort of impose order on the world, I feel like that Antichrist would maybe be using the tools that you are building,” he said.

Another glaring contradiction is Thiel’s support for transhumanism — the merging of man and machine to achieve immortality. This is, again, the very type of technology he warns could be monopolized and weaponized by the Antichrist.

What gives?

When Allie heard Thiel’s Antichrist theory, her red flag immediately went up. Thiel’s prediction seems to suggest that because the Antichrist will promote “technological stagnation” in order to gather power to himself, the best way to prevent such a scenario is to continue investing and advancing technology — even merging with it.

“It is interesting and maybe questionable that someone who makes a lot of money through technology would say that stopping technological innovation is actually going to, you know, usher in the Antichrist,” she says.

But more importantly, does Thiel’s prediction square with scripture’s accounts of the Antichrist?

The Bible outlines the Antichrist as a “man of lawlessness” (2 Thessalonians 2) who will exercise authority over “every tribe and people and language and nation” (Revelation 13) and eventually declare himself God. He is the evil harbinger of Christ’s second coming.

“So the debate that Peter Thiel is wading into is what is the means by which this person will be able to convince so many people that he is powerful and needs to have all this authority,” says Allie.

“Is it possible that this person uses the threat and the fear of AI-powered Armageddon to gain his power? I would say that is possible. … But is he some kind of metaphor for technological stagnation or climate change or whatever it is? No. [The Antichrist] is an actual man,” she explains.

“I do think it’s interesting that Peter Thiel is talking about something like this. I would recommend that he and every single person get right with God.”

To hear more on Thiel’s Antichrist theories and Allie’s thorough analysis, watch the episode above.

Want more from Allie Beth Stuckey?

To enjoy more of Allie’s upbeat and in-depth coverage of culture, news, and theology from a Christian, conservative perspective, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

​Relatable, Allie beth stuckey, Relatable with allie beth stuckey, Blazetv, Blaze media, Peter thiel, Antichrist, End times, Revelation, Christianity 

Geo-engineering — the various processes by which the weather is intentionally altered — is a growing concern, not just here in America but across the globe. Many wonder if practices like cloud seeding, where silver iodide or dry ice is dispersed into clouds to induce precipitation, or solar radiation management, where aluminum oxides or sulfates are injected into the stratosphere to reflect sunlight and reduce global temperatures, risks meddling with cosmic forces we can’t even begin to fully realize.

“Geo-engineering really scares me because it seems like we’re starting to play God,” says Glenn Beck.

Even more worrisome is the fact that the Environmental Protection Agency has historically been minimally involved in geo-engineering, leaving it up to private companies and researchers to experiment with delicate weather patterns that potentially impact the entire globe. Far more concerned with imposing strict regulations that stifle economic growth but do little to actually protect the environment, the EPA has largely ignored the growing list of consequences of geo-engineering – like acid rain, ozone depletion, and ecosystem disruption.

But that’s all changing under Trump EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin — a man Glenn says is “killing it.” He is taking charge of the agency in ways we’ve never seen before. Unlike former EPA chiefs, who had limited engagement with geo-engineering, Zeldin has prioritized transparency by launching new online resources to address public concerns about geo-engineering and contrails, while actively investigating private activities of geo-engineering companies.

“I agree with your concern just with the idea of playing God,” he told Glenn on a recent episode of “The Glenn Beck Program.”

“It’s not like [geo-engineering] is thoroughly studied,” “approved,” “trusted,” or “vetted,” he says.

The vast majority of geo-engineering practices, he explains, are spearheaded by “people who just want to do it on their own,” so they lobby for “someone to hand over a billion dollars” so they can “go dump a whole bunch of sulfur dioxide into the stratosphere.”

“No, that doesn’t sound good; it doesn’t sound right; and it shouldn’t happen,” says Zeldin.

Glenn remembers fearmongering about “global cooling” when he was a child. “There were these scientists that said, ‘We need to dump coal ash on the polar caps because that will attract the heat and stop the impending ice age that was coming,”’ he recounts. “Can you imagine if we had done that? What a stupid idea.”

Today, however, global warming is what the majority of “experts” fret about, and that’s what geo-engineering primarily aims to mitigate.

Except global warming — at least the assumption that the planet is catapulting towards combustion — has been proven overblown. Zeldin reflects on how countless predictions about the planet’s demise have failed to come true. “Six years ago, AOC was saying that in 12 years the planet was going to end. … Six years later, obviously that’s not going to happen,” he says.

The days of writing policy based on the doomsday predictions of “experts” are over under Zeldin’s EPA. The Obama administration’s Endangerment Finding that declared greenhouse gases a threat to public health, resulting in over $1 trillion spent on rigid and economically disastrous climate regulations under the Clean Air Act, is the shameful past Zeldin is moving away from.

“When you’re talking about trillions of dollars of federal policy coming out, it should be something decided by Congress. There should be a debate and a vote of the elected representatives of the American people instead of some bureaucrat at some agency deciding to oppose trillions of dollars of regulation on their own,” he tells Glenn.

“In that 2009 Endangerment Finding, there were a whole bunch of different references to interpreting how the law doesn’t prevent [agencies] from doing something, so therefore, they must be allowed to do it. That’s not how I’m going to operate,” he vows. “I will just follow the plain reading, the plain text of the law, and if Congress wants to change the law, then we’ll follow whatever that change is. That is our job.”

To hear more about what the EPA is doing under Zeldin’s leadership, 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.

​The glenn beck podcast, Glenn beck, Blazetv, Blaze media, Lee zeldin, Epa, Geoengineering, Cloud seeding, Solar radiation management, The glenn beck program 

In recent years, Republicans have enjoyed sweeping victories in the red state of Iowa, most recently with President Donald Trump’s 13-point statewide victory in the 2024 presidential election. However, there are warning signs that this monumental lead is beginning to erode.

For the first time in three years, Democrats managed to break the Republicans’ supermajority after Iowa Democrat Catelin Drey defeated Republican Christopher Prosch for an open state Senate seat on Tuesday. Drey won the district by a jaw-dropping 10 points, which is a dramatic departure from Trump’s 11-point victory in the district back in November.

‘If it can happen in Woodbury County, Iowa, this can happen anywhere in America.’

Steve Deace, a native Iowan and host of the “Steve Deace Show” on BlazeTV, cautioned that this shift is part of a growing political phenomenon in the Hawkeye State that poses a real threat to Republican leadership.

“This is not an isolated incident,” Deace told Blaze News. “They have been doing this to us for several years now. If they can do it in Woodbury County, which Trump won by 23 points in 2024, then they can pretty much do it absolutely everywhere.”

RELATED: Ex-Clinton adviser warns Democrats of dire midterm season: ‘Elections have consequences’

Photo by Rebecca S. Gratz for the Washington Post via Getty Images

Normally, Republicans easily sail to victory in Western Iowa, Deace said. They could even nominate “a ham sandwich for Congress” and it would win because “there is no blue area in that part of the state.” But now that Trump will no longer appear on the ballot, Republicans may have a tougher time.

“What we have seen as a trend line for the last several years now is that if Trump is not on the ballot, our people just don’t turn out. That’s just a fact.”

After Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds announced she would not seek re-election, her imminent departure opened the playing field to a slew of candidates. Notably, Reynolds endorsed Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida’s presidential bid in 2023.

On the Democratic side, former Assistant Attorney General Rob Sand has pitched himself as a gun-toting moderate in an effort to capture some of the Republican vote. On the Republican side, Congressman Randy Feenstra has been considered the front-runner, but Deace says he “excites no one.”

“This is just a complete indictment of the complacency of Republicans,” Deace told Blaze News. “There’s energy on the other side.”

RELATED: The brutal reality Democrats can’t ignore

Photo by Caroline Brehman/CQ Roll Call

One source familiar with Iowa’s ongoing political battles told Blaze News that the GOP’s inability to put forward an energizing candidate is the product of a perfect political storm.

Sand has focused much of his campaign on improving water quality and advocating against the CO2 pipeline projects, echoing the concerns of landowners and farmers. In doing so, Sand and other Democrats have made an effort to make Republicans synonymous with the pipeline, furthering the apparent divide between the GOP candidates and their constituents.

“There is a lot of grassroots to see [Feenstra] as the pipeline guy. … There’s just not excitement for candidates right now,” the source told Blaze News.

“Our people are just not motivated, by and large, to vote for the Republican Party brand as a brand anymore,” Deace told Blaze News. “And so you’ve got to prove to them you’re worth their time and effort for them to show up. And I think that this is a wake-up call for the next midterm.”

RELATED: Defeated Democrat senator attempts a long-shot political comeback: ‘Voters will reject him again’

Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

The source, who was granted anonymity to speak freely about Iowa’s political landscape, said the disconnect between the conservative base and the lackluster candidates is ultimately because of external influence in politics.

“There is a little fatigue,” the source told Blaze News. “There are a lot of state senators and state reps who are very good, very conservative, if not the most conservative in the country overall. We’re so conservative that the moderates that are in there get more conservative voting records because they just don’t want to take the flak.”

“But there’s a money factor in play,” the source added, speaking about lawmakers who ascend to national politics. “There’s a reason a bunch of these guys don’t want to go to D.C. They want to stay home. They got a farm to worry about.”

“There are danger signs,” Deace told Blaze News. “Because if it can happen in Woodbury County, Iowa, this can happen anywhere in America.”

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​Ron desantis, Donald trump, Kim reynolds, Rob sand, Randy feenstra, Steve deace, Steve deace show, Iowa, Swing state, Blue state, Red state, Republicans, Democrats, Christopher prosch, Catelin drey, Pipelines, Woodbury county, Politics 

Happy Sept. 1 to all — even the haters and losers in corporate media who, truth be told, haven’t had a great year.

That doesn’t mean no one’s winning. On Wednesday, One America News announced that Google’s YouTube TV will now carry the channel in its basic package. The deal comes just three years after OAN was dropped by Verizon and DirecTV under pressure from advertisers, activist groups, rising costs, and a political climate openly hostile to conservative media.

The cracks in profits and the resulting hard decisions and pivots are everywhere to see.

Meanwhile, the corporate press keeps sinking. President Donald Trump, FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr, collapsing public trust, and brutal market shifts have combined into a perfect storm for the old media guard. Line up the casualties, and the wreckage speaks for itself.

Carr set the tone just weeks into the new administration with a Feb. 11 letter to Comcast and NBCUniversal alerting them that they’re under investigation to “ensure your companies are not promoting invidious forms of discrimination in violation of FCC regulations and civil rights laws.”

FCC rules under the Communications Act have long barred companies from discriminating on race, sex, religion, or age. But this marked the first time an administration used those tools against woke corporate culture. It was a warning shot heard around the world.

The shake-up didn’t stop there. On Feb. 24, MSNBC cut ties with Joy Reid, its longtime host known for race-baiting and peddling conspiracy theories.

Days later, on Feb. 26, Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos announced a major shift in editorial policy: The paper would now “focus on personal liberties and free markets.” The move looked less like patriotism and more like a calculation to protect Bezos’ global business interests. Still, it stunned the Post’s anti-Trump staff, many of whom saw it as surrender to the country’s new conservative mood. Opinion editor David Shipley quit in protest almost immediately.

Then, a month later on March 27, Carr kicked off the second week of spring by sending another letter warning of an investigation into DEI policies violating civil rights law — this time to Disney and ABC.

Spring capped off on June 8, when ABC senior national correspondent Terry Moran fired off a middle-of-the-night rant about how White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy Stephen Miller’s “hatreds are his spiritual nourishment.” He wrote the post just over a week after he interviewed the president in the Oval Office.

It’s the kind of unhinged post that would have been standard fare during Trump’s first term, but times had changed, and ABC fired him. Moran stands by his characterization of Miller. He’s now “an independent journalist.”

By summer, the hits to corporate media were coming harder and faster. On July 2, CBS announced it was settling with Trump over deceptive edits to its “60 Minutes” campaign-trail interview with Vice President Kamala Harris.

The $16 million settlement mirrored ABC’s settlement with Trump seven months prior, paying approximately $1 million to cover Trump’s legal fees, with the rest going to the future Trump presidential library. It also included an agreement to release future, unedited transcripts of presidential interviews.

During the spring, as part of the blowback over the Harris interview, CBS had hired a producer to oversee “sensitive” content. That oversight led to the April 22 resignation of longtime “60 Minutes” producer Bill Owens.

Then on July 17, CBS announced it would not renew Stephen Colbert’s contract. It was the end of the 32-year run for “The Late Show” and a dismal result of how snide and political it had become since David Letterman’s departure from the show a decade ago.

The very next day, on July 18, the Senate passed the White House’s rescission package, ending taxpayer money to PBS and NPR. The hyper-Democratic television and radio networks had been conservative targets for decades; now, they were on their own. Four days later, on July 22, NPR’s newsroom chief, Edith Chapin, announced she was leaving the company.

Then it was back to business. On July 24, the FCC approved a Paramount Global/CBS-Skydance Media merger. The deal came complete with a commitment to eliminate DEI and to install an ombudsman over CBS News. These moves were a direct result of the FCC’s push to actually enforce the Communications Act’s public interest standard, which requires balanced viewpoints for companies that want to use public spectrum.

Biden-appointed FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez was furious. Monitoring for bias, she claimed, is a terrible threat to press freedom.

On July 31, it was back to the Washington Post. That day, “fact-checker” Glenn Kessler, columnist Jonathan Capehart, and dozens of other Democrat journalists accepted the struggling paper’s proposed buyout package.

The following day, Aug. 1, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting announced it would shut down under the business pressures caused by the end of taxpayer funding.

All that, and the year is far from over. The cracks in profits and the resulting hard decisions and pivots are everywhere to see. When you combine the pressures of declining profits and a rightly distrustful public with an administration interested in using the tools of the American civil rights regime to actually protect all classes of Americans, it’s a near-perfect storm.

Gentlemen, it’s time to reap the whirlwind.

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