Category: blaze media

Democrat lawmakers have rejected Republican attempts to keep the government open amid a looming shutdown, demanding an extension of Affordable Care Act tax credits, which are set to expire at the end of the year.

White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller slammed Democrats for refusing to support a “clean, routine government funding bill because it doesn’t give free healthcare to illegals.”

‘The approximately $66.4 billion in federal expenditures attributable to illegal aliens is staggering, and constitutes an increase of 45 percent since 2017.’

Neera Tanden, the former domestic policy adviser under the Biden administration, accused Miller of pushing a “total and complete fabrication.”

“This is a lie. It is a violation of law for the ACA premium tax credits to go to illegal aliens,” Tanden wrote in a post on X.

ACA’s eligibility standards require an individual to be a U.S. citizen or a lawfully present noncitizen, which can include asylum-seekers, refugees, and those granted employment authorization. The Biden administration relaxed criteria for various categories of immigration status, allowing more foreign nationals who were previously considered unlawfully present to qualify for status that may be eligible for ACA tax credits.

Additionally, multiple studies have uncovered that federal tax dollars do reach illegal aliens through the health care system.

RELATED: Democratic governor hands tax dollars to illegal aliens for college tuition while state drowns in debt

Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

The Congressional Budget Office found in October 2024 that the Biden administration had cost state and federal taxpayers $16.2 billion to cover Medicaid emergency services for illegal aliens since taking office.

Paul Winfree, president and CEO of the Economic Policy Innovation Center, told Fox News Digital in March that California has been “exploiting an existing loophole within law” to use billions of dollars in reimbursements from the federal government to provide illegal immigrants with Medicaid.

“Medicaid spending is supposed to be jointly financed by the federal government and states. However, states are increasingly designing Medicaid money-laundering schemes that result in massive federal expenditures without any state financial obligation,” an EPIC report claimed. “The state of California, colluding with insurance companies who cover Medicaid beneficiaries, has created one of the most outrageous ones yet, a money-laundering scheme that results in California obtaining more than $19 billion in federal money without any state contribution over the period from April 2023 through December 2026.”

California’s Department of Healthcare Services claimed EPIC’s report was “misleading.”

RELATED: Did your state just sue the Trump administration to keep benefits flowing to illegal aliens? Here’s the list.

Photo by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

A 2023 study from the Federation for American Immigration Reform found $66.4 billion in federal expenditures on illegal aliens, including $23.1 billion in medical spending.

“The approximately $66.4 billion in federal expenditures attributable to illegal aliens is staggering and constitutes an increase of 45 percent since 2017. This amounts to roughly $3,187 per illegal alien, per year,” FAIR reported.

“Illegal aliens do qualify for many benefits,” Ira Mehlman with FAIR told Blaze News. “Illegal aliens who have been granted parole, [Temporary Protected Status], or DACA qualify for these benefits because — while they remain illegal aliens — they are lawfully present. Under the Biden administration, millions of illegal aliens were paroled into the country or granted TPS and have been able to access these benefits.”

Editor’s note: This article has been edited after publication to include a statement from Ira Mehlman with Federation for American Immigration Reform.

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​News, Medicaid, Affordable care act, Aca, Stephen miller, Neera tanden, Illegal immigration crisis, Illegal immigration, Immigration crisis, Immigration, Health care, Politics 

In a highly anticipated in-person speech to nearly every general and admiral in the U.S. military, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth laid down his marker: the warrior ethos must once again define America’s armed forces. A great nation needs a great military. That is his aim.

The audience mattered. Senior officers have lived for decades under politicized leadership that drained readiness and morale. Many of them became complicit in the decay. Hegseth addressed that reality head-on.

Restoring standards

No issue exposes the compromise of standards more clearly than the push to force women into combat roles. In 2015, President Barack Obama ended the combat-exclusion policy that had kept certain military professions male-exclusive. Alongside that change came the promise of a “neutral” fitness test that would evaluate service members without sex-based bias.

Hegseth did not dismiss the service of women or minorities. He rejected the falsehood that readiness and lethality can coexist with preferential treatment.

Reality quickly destroyed the illusion. The Army never implemented a sex-neutral test. Women could apply for the same jobs as men but received higher fitness scores for weaker performances. In 2021, under political pressure, Army generals dropped the “leg tuck” exercise — the only event that measured upper-body pulling strength — because women performed comparatively worse. Senior officers defended these changes as if they were sacred doctrine.

Even special operations forces were not spared. Lt. Gen. Jonathan Braga, then commander of Army Special Operations Command, produced the “Women in ARSOF” report. He had solicited candid feedback from Green Berets, Rangers, and operators. The report dismissed their concerns as bigotry, portraying combat veterans as sexists in need of re-education.

The 83-page document dwelled on alleged discrimination in schools like Jumpmaster and agonized over access to contraception. It devoted not a single paragraph to whether integrating women made America’s most lethal units more lethal. It didn’t — so the report pretended not to notice.

Research ignored, ideology embraced

Serious studies on women in combat confirm what soldiers already know: Sex-integrated units fight with less effectiveness than male-only ones.

Commanders in 2015 knew this, yet they embraced an ideology that put politics above victory. They proved willing to compromise the standards that safeguard success on the battlefield.

Hegseth’s speech on Tuesday declared that era over and done. The administration will close the door on identity politics in uniform and restore a culture rooted in the warrior ethos, not fashionable slogans.

RELATED: Hegseth declares war on woke military policies: ‘We are done with that s**t’

Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

Consequences of compromise

The consequences are not abstract. Every diluted standard, every political accommodation, every double standard based on sex or race weakens the institution charged with defending the nation. A military that bends to ideology loses sight of its sole purpose: to fight and win wars.

Hegseth did not dismiss the service of women or minorities. He rejected the falsehood that readiness and lethality can coexist with preferential treatment. He rejected the belief that temporary political fashions should rewrite timeless military traditions. And he reminded the brass that generals and admirals who pushed progressive experiments cannot be trusted to restore strength.

The way forward requires courage. Leaders must speak truth over ambition, defend standards without apology, and recommit to preparing soldiers for combat. The pride and strength of the American military depend on it.

​Opinion & analysis, Opinion, Pete hegseth, Hegseth, Defense secretary, Secretary of war, Military readiness, Military, Military meeting, End wokeness, Wokeness, Wokeness in the military, Transgenderism 

Netflix is facing renewed boycott threats after Elon Musk said he canceled his subscription over transgender indoctrination and incendiary comments about Charlie Kirk’s assassination.

The tech entrepreneur posted on X, the social media platform he owns, in response to the controversies springing up about the entertainment streaming service.

‘A random nazi gets shot and its a public statement. You’re such a f**king evil s**t.’

The popular Libs of TikTok account posted a video clip from a show on Netflix, which is sold as being appropriate for children as young as 7 years old. The video from “Dead End: Paranormal Park” shows a main character coming out as transgender to a friend.

The show is based on a comic book series created by Hamish Steele, who lists his pronouns as “he/they” on his website and is proud of receiving an award from the LGBTQ group GLAAD.

Steele also allegedly posted extremely harsh statements on the BlueSky platform about Kirk after his death in response to someone else’s post.

“Why the f**k are you even commenting on this, d**khead? You sympathy [sic] for any of the families being slaughtered by your weapons but a random nazi gets shot and its a public statement,” Steele wrote. “You’re such a f**king evil s**t.”

“He’s a groomer,” Musk replied to the post from Libs of TikTok.

Musk then said he canceled his Netflix account.

Libs of TikTok reported that Steele locked up his account on BlueSky after the backlash.

RELATED: LGBTQ activists complain companies are caving to backlash against Pride Month: ‘They’re scared to death’

Others jumped on the bandwagon to post screenshots of their cancellation notices from Netflix.

“JUST CANCELLED MY @netflix ACCOUNT. We will not support a company who pushes transgenderism on kids and employs someone who celebrates m*rder,” one post reads.

The show originally debuted in 2022 and lasted only two seasons before Netflix cut the show.

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​Elon musk, Netflix boycott, Charlie kirk mockery, Transgender indoctrination, Politics 

A new poll found that a majority of Americans continue to support deportation of illegal aliens despite a campaign in the mainstream media to criticize enforcement.

The Siena/New York Times poll found that 54% of respondents supported deportation, while only 43% opposed it, for a net approval rating of 11%.

‘Sanctuary cities knowingly release illegal alien public safety threats to the streets every day. That’s where the problem is.’

Men overwhelmingly favored deportation, 65% to 33%, while far more women opposed the policy, 45% to 51%. White Americans also overwhelming favored deportation, 62% to 37%. Black Americans opposed the policy by a margin of -25%, and Hispanic Americans were the most against deportation, with a margin of -38%.

As compared to previous results from the same poll before the election in 2024, support for deportations dropped slightly from 56% to 54%, while opposition to deportation increased from 37% to 43%.

The Siena poll also found Democrats to be slightly favored over Republicans in the generic ballot for the midterm election among registered voters.

“Probably enough for Democrats to retake the House in 2026 — even with GOP gerrymanders in Texas and elsewhere — but far from the blue wave environments of 2006 and 2018,” wrote Fox News Radio analyst Josh Kraushaar.

As compared to the same poll in April, Democrats had not improved or declined in the general ballot, while Republicans had gained slightly by one percentage point.

RELATED: Activists blame Trump for bounty hunter ‘kidnapping’ of mom of 3 for deportation — feds say it was a hoax for cash

The poll found that President Donald Trump’s approval rating had slightly improved since April by one percentage point to 43%.

Trump’s border czar Tom Homan has said that the Trump administration will be increasing deportation operations in sanctuary cities like Chicago, Illinois.

“You can expect action in most sanctuary cities across the country,” he said. “President Trump’s prioritized sanctuary cities because sanctuary cities knowingly release illegal alien public safety threats to the streets every day. That’s where the problem is.”

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​Support for deportation, Nyt siena poll, Trump approval ratings, Immigration enforcement, Politics 

The Washington Free Beacon reported that Bob Harvie, one of two Democrat commissioners of Bucks County and a Democrat congressional candidate, has reallocated funds intended for opioid relief toward transportation for children to an “LGBTQ youth” center.

According to the Bucks County website, the Democratic House candidate oversees a multimillion-dollar settlement fund from opioid manufacturers “whose misleading business practices helped create the addiction crisis gripping American communities.”

‘The Rainbow Room and its Roy G Biv program have hosted disturbing activities such as a “Drag Queen story time,” “Queer Tarot Night,” “Queer Prom.”‘

According to the terms laid out on the website, Bucks County expects to receive close to $70 million over the next 18 years. Further, the terms “require that these funds be used to remediate the ongoing opioid epidemic.”

RELATED: Republican dashes Democrat hopes, secures contested Georgia Senate special election

Photo of Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

However, the board that Harvie oversees apparently siphoned money from this fund to facilitate the transportation of children to an LGBTQ clinic called the Rainbow Room, which is open to children as young as 14.

A grant sheet available on the Bucks County website shows a grant award from Bucks County to the “Planned Parenthood Keystone Development Team” for the allocation of $13,500 for “Expanding Services and Transportation to Lower Bucks Rainbow Room.” The Rainbow Room is open to children ages 14 to 21, according to its website.

The Free Beacon reported that the Rainbow Room and its Roy G. Biv program have hosted disturbing activities such as “Drag Queen story time,” “Queer Tarot Night,” “Queer Prom,” and just last week hosted a seminar titled “Translating Transition,” open to “LGBTQ+ Youth & Friends Ages 14-21.” Roy G. Biv, dubbed “Rainbow Room Junior” on the Planned Parenthood website and deriving its name from the colors of the rainbow, reportedly hosts children between the ages of 10 and 14.

The addition of the transportation fund to the LGBTQ facility for minors came with the December 20, 2024, updated list of recipients. The Planned Parenthood Keystone Development Team is not listed as a mini-grant recipient in an October 4, 2023, list.

“The opioid crisis is devastating communities across the nation, including Bucks County,” NRCC spokesperson Reilly Richardson told Blaze News. “It is unconscionable that Bob Harvie would reallocate funds meant to address addiction to pay for his ideological pet projects. Bucks County deserves better.”

Bob Harvie, who has been on the board since January 6, 2020, and has been the chair for two consecutive terms since January 5, 2022, is running for Congress in 2026 against Republican incumbent Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick. Fitzpatrick has represented Pennsylvania’s first district since 2017.

Fitzpatrick himself also appears to support “LGBTQ youth.” His website details his recent leadership role in a “bipartisan push to safeguard LGBTQ+ youth crisis services with 988 Access Act.”

Blaze News contacted Harvie, Bucks County Vice Chair Diane Ellis-Marseglia, the Rainbow Room, and Fitzpatrick for comment but did not receive a response.

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​Politics, Bob harvie, Brian fitzpatrick, Lgbtq, Bucks county, Opioid crisis, Rainbow room 

Despite his radical policy ideas, Democratic Socialist Zohran Mamdani seems to be the front-runner in the New York City mayoral race, according to several polls. His remaining opponents include former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa, following the recent withdrawal of current NYC Mayor Eric Adams from the race over the weekend.

Mamdani’s platform includes a slew of controversial far-left programs for the city, including investing tens of millions of dollars in so-called “gender-affirming care” for adults and children.

‘New York City must be a refuge for LGBTQIA+ people, but private institutions in our own city have already started capitulating to Trump’s assault on trans rights.’

During a June interview with actor Laverne Cox, who identifies as transgender, Mamdani declared he would ensure that New York City is a “sanctuary city” for the “LGBTQIA+” community.

If elected mayor, he vowed to establish an office for “LGBTQIA+ affairs” and invest $65 million in “gender-affirming care.” Mamdani told Cox that to fight the Trump administration, New York City must fully fund its own services, which he plans to accomplish by “taxing the wealthiest New Yorkers and corporations.”

Mamdani’s “LGBTQIA+ Protections” sheet offered a breakdown of the $65 million, revealing that $57 million would be provided directly to hospitals and clinics offering these services to “both transgender youth and adults.” He also plans to take action against facilities that refuse to provide such services, claiming that they are violating the New York Constitution and other state and city laws.

“The Mamdani administration will coordinate with the NYS Attorney General and District Attorneys to investigate and hold public hearings on hospitals that deny trans youth their rightful healthcare and hold them accountable to the law,” the policy sheet read.

RELATED: NYC mayor race shake-up: Adams drops out, boosting Cuomo’s fight against Mamdani

Zohran Mamdani. Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

Mamdani intends to allocate $87 million for various LGBTQIA+ “support and services,” including $30 million for housing programs, $20 million for mental health services, and $10 million for organizations providing “transgender” services.

“Queer and trans people across the United States are facing an increasingly hostile political environment. New York City must be a refuge for LGBTQIA+ people, but private institutions in our own city have already started capitulating to Trump’s assault on trans rights,” Mamdani’s website states.

RELATED: Trump slams Hochul’s endorsement of ‘communist’ Mamdani: ‘No reason to be sending good money’

Photographer: Stephanie Keith/Bloomberg via Getty Images

His plans appear to directly violate the Trump administration’s January executive order, “Protecting Children from Chemical and Surgical Mutilation,” which states that the federal government will withhold funding from institutions that support the use of puberty blockers or surgical procedures for children.

Mamdani has run on the platform of “Trump-proofing NYC,” which involves a greater reliance on local funding rather than federal support. To achieve his goals, he would implement an 11.5% tax on corporate profits, increase income taxes by 2% for households earning over $1 million per year, and hire additional staff for the Department of Finance. These workers would be responsible for enforcing tax laws, including collecting $2.1 billion in unpaid fines.

“Only out-of-touch, radical Democrats could misread public opinion so poorly as to think that a new transgender-for-everybody policy agenda is a good idea,” White House spokesman Kush Desai told Blaze News.

Blaze News contacted Mamdani for comment.

Editor’s note: This article has been edited after publishing to include a statement from White House spokesman Kush Desai.

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​News, New york city, Nyc, New york, Zohran mamdani, Mamdani, Andrew cuomo, Curtis sliwa, New york city mayoral race, Donald trump, Trump, Lbgt, Transgender, Trans, Trans ideology, Transgender ideology, Politics 

President Donald Trump unveiled a new deal to drastically reform the pharmaceutical industry and reduce drug prices for consumers.

Trump announced that Pfizer would be heavily discounting some of its “most popular medications” and that all new medications introduced in the U.S. markets would be sold at the “reduced Most Favored Nation cost.” Trump also revealed that these discounted drugs will be available for purchase on a federally operated “TrumpRx” direct-to-consumer website.

‘The big winner of this deal clearly will be the American patient.’

“It’s going to have a huge impact on bringing Medicaid costs down, like nothing else. … Especially, low-income Americans will be helped so greatly,” Trump said in the Oval Office Tuesday.

“This is a consequential moment for our country,” press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a post on X. “Drug prices WILL be lower for everyday Americans, thanks to the negotiating prowess and determination of President Donald J. Trump. Democrats have been wanting to do this for decades. The Trump Administration has delivered.”

RELATED: Health organizations attacking Trump’s Tylenol-autism claims are cozied up with Big Pharma

Trump initially issued an executive order in May that directed drug companies to offer the “most-favored-nation” price for American patients. If they failed to do so, the Department of Health and Human Services would make a rule to implement the policy, and the Food and Drug Administration would revoke approvals for drugs that may be “unsafe, ineffective, or improperly marketed.”

Trump also wrote to over a dozen major pharmaceutical CEOs in July demanding that the manufacturers voluntarily extend the “most-favored-nation” pricing to all medicines provided to Medicaid recipients. Trump gave these companies until Monday to formally respond.

“If you refuse to step up, we will deploy every tool in our arsenal to protect American families from continued abusive drug pricing practices,” Trump wrote.

So far, Eli Lilly pledged to raise prices in Europe in order to lower costs in the United States. Bristol-Myers Squibb similarly plans to charge the same list price for a new schizophrenia treatment in both the United States and United Kingdom.

RELATED: Who is bankrolling the anti-MAHA movement?

Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images

“The big winner of this deal clearly will be the American patient. There’s no doubt about it,” Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said during the press conference. “They are the ones that will see significant impact in their ability to buy medicines.”

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​Donald trump, Big pharma, Pharmaceutical companies, Pfizer, Trump administration, Drug prices, Medicaid, Medicare, Hhs, Department of health and human services, Rfk, Robert f. kennedy jr., Albert bourla, Most favored nation, Fda, Politics 

A Christian baker believes she should not have to design a cake that celebrates an ideology that goes against her faith.

In 2017, Cathy Miller was reportedly approached by a lesbian couple, Eileen and Mireya Rodriguez-Del Rio, at her business, the Tastries Bakery in Bakersfield, California.

‘A three-tiered, plain white cake with no writing, engravings, adornments, symbols, or images is not pure speech.’

Miller explained that same-sex couples were not part of her belief system and that she did not wish to design their cake. Miller did, however, recommend another cake decorator in town.

Later that year, California’s Civil Rights Department sued Miller and said she violated the state’s anti-discrimination laws.

In 2023, a five-day trial ended with a ruling in favor of Miller, finding that she “serve[d] and employ[ed]” people of all sexual orientations and that her “only intent, her only motivation, was fidelity to her sincere Christian beliefs.”

However, an appellate court reversed the decision and said in February that Miller’s refusal was “not protected expression under the federal Constitution’s free speech guarantee.”

“A three-tiered, plain white cake with no writing, engravings, adornments, symbols, or images is not pure speech,” wrote associate Justice Kathleen Meehan of the California 5th District Court of Appeal, Yahoo reported.

After the California Supreme Court refused to hear her argument, Miller is now asking the SCOTUS to hear her case.

RELATED: Bakery owners found guilty of harboring illegal aliens after immigration raid

Photo by Becket

Miller has allegedly always safeguarded her business with the declaration that her custom creations are all carefully designed and will not “celebrate ideals that violate the Christian sacrament of marriage.”

Her written standards also state that Tastries will not design custom bakery items that depict gore or pornographic images, demean others, or celebrate drug use.

While Miller has faced near limitless threats over the years, she said she has been humbled by the “outpouring of support for my freedom to serve my community with joy, compassion, and faith in my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”

A total of 16 states — along with other legal and faith groups — have asked the Supreme Court to articulate a clear rule regarding the expressive nature of the wedding cakes, so that lower courts can resolve cases on their own. These states are:

Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio, South Carolina, Texas, and West Virginia.

RELATED: Buc-ee’s gets rich by doing everything Wall Street hates

Photo by Becket

Similar cases have been heard by the Supreme Court in recent history.

The Masterpiece Cakeshop, Ltd. v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission case was decided in 2018, in which a Colorado baker told a same-sex couple that he would not create a cake for their wedding due to his religious opposition to same-sex marriage. Colorado did not recognize same-sex marriage at the time of the event, and the baker said he would still sell them other baked goods.

The Supreme Court sided with baker Jack Phillips, but not because it believed he should be allowed to refuse the service. Rather, the high court ruled in a 7-2 decision that the Colorado Civil Rights Commission showed religious bias toward Phillips in the case.

In the 2023 ruling for 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis, the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that the First Amendment prohibits Colorado from forcing a web designer to create “expressive designs for same-sex marriages” and to speak “messages with which the designer disagrees.”

Justice Neil Gorsuch’s opinion for the case focused on “expressive conduct” and content.

“No government … may affect a ‘speaker’s message’ by ‘forc[ing]’ her to ‘accommodate’ other views,” Gorsuch wrote.

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​News, Cake maker, Baking, California, Supreme court, Gay marriage, Christianity, Christian bakery, Christians, Politics 

Former Democrat presidential candidate Kamala Harris said the quiet part out loud when she wrote in her new book, “107 Days,” that her first choice for a vice presidential candidate in the 2024 election was not Tim Walz — but Pete Buttigieg.

And not only did she admit that Walz was not her first choice, but that she didn’t pick Buttigieg as her running mate because he is gay.

MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow, who is gay, sat down with Harris for an interview and put her in the hot seat over her decision.

“I guess I’d ask you to just elaborate on that a little bit. It’s hard to hear with you running, as you know, you’re the first woman elected vice president, you’re a black woman and a South Asian woman elected to high office, very nearly elected president. To say that he couldn’t be on the ticket effectively because he was gay is hard to hear,” Maddow said, disappointed.

“No, no, no, that’s not what I said, that he couldn’t be on the ticket because he is gay,” Harris responded, before trying to explain herself.

“To be a black woman running for president of the United States and as a vice presidential running mate, a gay man, with the stakes being so high, it made me very sad, but I also realized it would be a real risk, no matter how, you know, I’ve been an advocate and an ally of the LGBT community my entire life,” she said.

BlazeTV host Liz Wheeler is floored.

“Imagine if this were a Republican saying what Kamala Harris just said. Imagine if a Republican went on cable news after having lost the presidential election,” Wheeler says.

“Imagine if a Republican said, ‘Actually, my first choice for vice presidential running mate, I decided against because he was gay.’ The left’s heads would explode. They would be screeching and screaming melting down like the wicked witch of the West, calling that Republican a bigot, a hateful homophobic bigot,” she continues.

And instead of admitting that she didn’t choose Buttigieg because he’s gay, she laid the blame at the feet of Americans who wouldn’t vote for him.

“Kamala Harris, her answer, she said she didn’t disqualify Pete Buttigieg because he’s gay, because she’s personally prejudiced. She disqualified — she decided not to choose him because he’s gay because you’re prejudiced,” Wheeler says.

“She didn’t have time to contend with the homophobic masses. She didn’t have time to re-educate the Christians, the terrible, hateful Christians who hate Pete Buttigieg because he’s gay,” she continues, adding, “She’s dripping with disdain for you, but she’s above board.”

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​Video phone, Sharing, Video, Free, Camera phone, Upload, Youtube.com, The liz wheeler show, Liz wheeler, The blaze, Blazetv, Blaze news, Blaze podcasts, Blaze podcast network, Blaze media, Blaze online, Blaze originals, Rachel maddow, Msnbc, Kamala harris, Tim walz, Pete buttigieg, 107 days, Kamala harris new book, Kamala harris interview, Homophobic, Lgbtq agenda 

President Donald Trump delivered a bold message to United States military leaders in a landmark address at Quantico, Virginia, on Tuesday.

Trump emphasized the importance of military excellence to hundreds of American generals and admirals during his historic speech. Although Trump acknowledged the foreign adversaries America is actively up against, the president also pointed to the “invasion from within.”

‘Defending the homeland is the military’s first and most important priority.’

“As leaders, our commitment to every patriot who put on the uniform is to ensure that the American military remains the most lethal and dominant on the planet,” Trump said during his address. “Not merely for a few years, but for the decades and generations to come. For centuries.”

“We must be so strong that no nation will dare challenge us, so powerful that no enemy will dare threaten us, and so capable that no adversary can even think about beating us.”

RELATED: Hegseth declares war on woke military policies: ‘We are done with that s**t’

Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images

Trump went on to discuss the importance of morale and culture in the military. Following former President Joe Biden’s term in office, both Trump and War Secretary Pete Hegseth are course-correcting by weeding out bad actors, reversing woke military policies, and reinvigorating the rank and file.

“From Sparta, to Rome, to the British Empire, to the United States of America, history has shown that military supremacy has never been simply a matter of money or manpower,” Trump said. “At the end of the day, it is the culture and spirit of our military that truly sets us apart from any other nation.”

“Our ultimate strength will always come from the fierce people … the unbending will, and the traditions of excellence that have made us the most unstoppable force ever to walk the face of the earth.”

RELATED: Netanyahu signals support for Trump’s latest peace proposal: ‘It has to be done’

Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

Trump also pointed to the importance of defending the American homeland before entertaining other political projects or military ambitions abroad.

“We’ve brought back the fundamental principle that defending the homeland is the military’s first and most important priority,” Trump said. “Only in recent decades did politicians somehow come to believe that our job is to police the far reaches of Kenya and Somalia, while America is under invasion from within.”

“Not only are we rebuilding our great strength, but for the first time in years, my administration is actually using that strength to defend the core and vital interests of America,” Trump added. “Very simply, we are putting America first.”

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​Donald trump, Dow, Dod, Department of war, Pete hegseth, Military, Military readiness, America first, Invasion from within, Military dominance, Foreign policy, Trump administration, Quntico, Foreign adversaries, American homeland, Politics 

Reality is hard for many people across the political spectrum to accept, especially when it comes to children being raised by their married, biological mother and father.

“Before you post your caveats and your kind of exceptions to that, that is the ideal. That is in general true. That is in principle true. Every data set we have — and we’ll get into some specific numbers — shows that kids are best suited to live with their married biological mom and dad,” BlazeTV host Allie Beth Stuckey says.

While sometimes the scenarios that lead to a child being separated from both or one of his biological parents are tragic, sometimes they’re also simply because of the “sexual revolution that has occurred over the past 20 years and especially the past 10 since Obergefell.”

“We are talking about intentionally creating motherless and fatherless children, intentionally taking children out of the ideal and putting them in — in the most charitable terms — a less than ideal situation, knowing that the data shows us that this is not best for their well-being,” Stuckey explains.

And it’s no longer just two men or two women ensuring that children grow up in these less than ideal, fatherless or motherless situations.

In Canada, three men who are in a “polycule” adopted a three-year-old girl through Quebec’s youth protection services. The “polycule” had to be approved first as foster parents, which they say required “a lot of work and openness to their relationship.”

“It’s through that process that they learned that we are a little different because we’re three, but we’re not different from any other family,” one of the men said in an interview.

“You actually are, though, because you’re three dudes, which tells me you have no moral limits. Like if you’re willing to not only defy nature, and you are willing to defy even liberal definitions of marriage, and you live in some kind of inherently unstable polycule situation, then you do not have the correct components to raise a child,” Stuckey says.

“Even if we take religion out of it, let’s just look at this scientifically,” she continues. “Two men or two women who want to be in a relationship have to acknowledge that they do not have the parts that are needed to create a child. And therefore, because biology, not bigotry, has set limitations on your reproductive abilities, then there should be limits and restrictions and regulations around your ability to obtain and raise a child.”

“I’m very sad for this little girl. … This little girl would be better off in foster care until she is 18 years old than living with three men who are living in a polycule situation. One hundred percent. Because there is no end to the confusion and instability and chaos that a situation like this can cause,” she adds.

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ESPN host and analyst Paul Finebaum might run for office because of Charlie Kirk despite never being involved in politics.

The SEC Network personality and host of “The Paul Finebaum Show” said in a recent interview that he is “considering” leaving the Disney-owned network to run for the United States Senate.

‘I felt very empty doing what I was doing that day.’

Perhaps surprisingly, Finebaum said that he would run on the Republican ticket in Alabama, finding inspiration after Kirk was assassinated on Sept. 10.

“I spent four hours numb, talking about things that didn’t matter to me. And it kept building throughout that weekend,” Finebaum said.

“I felt very empty doing what I was doing that day.”

Finebaum continued, “It’s hard to describe, not being involved in politics … how that affected me and affected tens of millions of people all over this country. And it was an awakening.”

Seemingly revealing his political affiliation for the first time, Finebaum said he is a “registered Republican in North Carolina as of this hour. And I was a registered Republican in Alabama before I moved.”

Finebaum also told OutKick’s Clay Travis in the interview that he voted for President Donald Trump, but “they also tell us not to discuss that.”

RELATED: Another coach in the Senate? Auburn basketball’s Bruce Pearl rumored as Tommy Tuberville’s replacement

South Carolina football head coach Will Muschamp (R) speaks with radio personality Paul Finebaum. Photo by Lance King/Getty Images

As for the potential seat, Finebaum said after talking to “someone … who made it clear that there was a desire for me to be involved,” he is now considering a seat in Alabama. That seat will be vacated by Senator Tommy Tuberville (R), who has his eye on becoming the state’s governor.

Finebaum also revealed to Travis the reason he was so reluctant in the first place.

When Auburn basketball coach Bruce Pearl was initially rumored to run for Tuberville’s seat, Finebaum said he was “hesitant” and did not take the idea of running “too seriously.”

Eventually, however, the person he spoke to was so “compelling and compassionate in the approach” that Finebaum began to think about running.

“One or two people in Washington had reached out to me about whether I would be interested in politics, something I’d never thought about before. Something I didn’t really think possible,” the analyst continued.

“I gave some thought to it as the weekend [after Kirk’s murder] unfolded … and got a little bit more interested.”

Born in Tennessee, the college sports host went into greater detail about why Alabama would be the best fit for him, besides the obvious reason of the vacancy.

“Alabama has always been the place I’ve felt the most welcome, that I’ve cared the most about the people. I’ve spoken to people from Alabama for 35 years, and I feel there is a connection that is hard to explain,” he noted.

RELATED: ‘Ireland is ran by traitors’: Steelers quarterback, disabled senior mugged in Dublin during NFL visit

BlazeTV host Steve Deace said he believes Finebaum “absolutely has the name ID to win a primary.”

“Which means winning the election in Alabama,” Deace said.

Regarding the idea of yet another sports personality getting into Alabama politics, Deace commented, “I’m fine with people in sports getting involved in politics, as long as they agree with me and know what time it is. It would be delicious irony for woke ESPN to produce a senator inspired by my friend Charlie Kirk’s boldness.”

ESPN declined to comment on the situation. Finebaum’s show did not return a request for comment.

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​Fearless, Football, Alabama, Charlie kirk, Espn, Sec, Senate, Sports 

While speaking to hundreds of generals and admirals in Quantico, Virginia, on Tuesday, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth announced a new direction for the military to strip out woke policies.

Hegseth said the military would adhere to higher standards of fitness and physical readiness and would get rid of politically correct and left-wing policies that have hamstrung the ability of servicemen and women to complete their mission. Hegseth also called out “fat troops” and “fat generals” in particular.

‘The speech Sec. Hegseth delivered was pitch perfect and exactly what they’ve been waiting to hear for years.’

“Each service will ensure that every requirement for every combat [military occupational specialty], for every designated combat arms position returns to the highest male standard only,” Hegseth said. “Because this job is life or death. Standards must be met.”

Many on social media responded positively to the announcement.

“I’m 100% with Sec. Hegseth,” replied Medal of Honor recipient Dakota Meyer. “The greatest betrayal isn’t politics — it’s sending men & women into harm’s way unprepared. Our freedom depends on a military that is lethal, prepared & accountable. Anything less costs lives.”

“I’ve just had a bunch of military and ex-military guys tell me the speech Sec. Hegseth delivered was pitch perfect and exactly what they’ve been waiting to hear for years,” replied Turning Point USA spokesperson Andrew Kolvet. “It wasn’t PC or polite, and that appears to be the point. No more weak warriors. No more fat generals.”

“I’m 4’9” and was about 135 coming back from Afghanistan — we had a Brigade run and I was up front in a infantry company with the 1st Sergeant, when we finished he took me to see all the fall outs (chubby guys) and told them that a woman beat them and that they sucked,” responded combat veteran Jeannette Garcia.

“Pete Hegseth just gave one of the most powerful & motivational speeches I’ve ever heard Worthy of a true Secretary of War,” replied Jim Hanson, president of Worldstrat. “It had one unifying theme. You have a mission. To lead the most lethal fighting force on Earth to victory. Now move out & draw fire.”

RELATED: Nancy Pelosi outraged after Defense Sec. Hegseth orders removal of gay icon’s name from naval ship

Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

“What’s bizarre is you couldn’t serve if you had a freaking peanut allergy, but if you were trans the military would pay to give you large amounts of exogenous hormones that have a powerful effect on your mood as you handle heavy weaponry,” said writer Mark Hemingway. “Hegseth is right about woke nonsense.”

Others took the opportunity to make jokes:

“Pete Hegseth really gathered all the generals to give them a ‘No Fatties’ speech. Legend,” said one commenter.

“Department of War about to place the biggest order for Ozempic in history,” said another.

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​Pete hegseth speech, Anti-woke military, Reaction to hegseth, No more fat generals, Politics 

Video game developer Electronic Arts has taken a sweetheart deal to go private.

Private equity firms Silver Lake and Affinity Partners will buy the company alongside Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund.

Silver Lake was recently named one of the new owners of TikTok, while Affinity Partners was founded by Jared Kushner, former senior adviser to President Trump and husband of first daughter Ivanka Trump.

‘They’ve been ruining entire franchises.’

EA’s shareholders will receive $210 per share in cash, a premium of 25% on the company’s closing share price on September 25, Variety reported.

Stocks had dipped to a two-year low in January after massive failures from games Dragon Age: Veilguard and EA FC 25. The company lost $6 billion in market value due to poor sales, much of which was colloquially attributed to adherence to woke doctrine and a lack of product care.

For example, Dragon Age: Veilguard missed its sales projection by nearly 50% after fans pointed out the game had prioritized wild identity politics through pronoun options, the masculinization of female characters, and even transgender-surgery scars. The game also featured its monsters giving lectures about how to properly apologize for misgendering someone, along with a monster arguing with parents about its gender identity.

RELATED: Video game faces backlash from female gamers over focus on ‘top surgery scars’ and trans characters

Paris Games Week is an international trade fair for video games and esport. (Photo by Chesnot/Getty Images)

The buyout is expected to close around June 2026, the end of the first quarter of EA’s 2027 fiscal year. The company’s headquarters will remain in Redwood City, California, even after the takeover.

Andrew Wilson, who will remain the CEO, called the sale “a powerful recognition” of the company’s “remarkable work.”

“Looking ahead, we will continue to push the boundaries of entertainment, sports, and technology, unlocking new opportunities,” he added.

Kushner called EA an “extraordinary company with a world-class management team and a bold vision for the future.”

Kushner added that he “grew up playing their games” and now enjoys them with his kids.

While optimism for the future of the company is booming, fans and those within the industry are pulling no punches as to why they think the company is being sold — it was going in the worst direction possible.

“Seems like going private might not be bad. Perhaps they’ll be able to focus on making profitable games that people like rather than trying to please the woke because of ‘public’ pressure,” Marty O’Donnell, composer for the iconic Halo franchise, told Blaze News.

Moving forward, O’Donnell shared the new owners’ optimism, saying, “Looks like they’re in for the long haul rather than dismantling and selling the pieces.”

Avid gamer and online influencer Ian Miles Cheong called the buyout a good development and told Blaze News, “It means games they make will prioritize the players and not the woke agenda.”

“They’ve been ruining entire franchises with the s**t they’ve been putting out for years. They wrecked all their latest games with pronouns and f**ked up Dragon Age beyond all recognition,” he continued. “I’m sure it becoming privately owned will make the company a lot more driven [and] directed. I can’t see the new owners being willing to burn their profits on indie LGBT adventures.”

RELATED: EA stock crashes after ultra woke Dragon Age: Veilguard misses sales target by nearly 50%

Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Cheong described the current status of EA as a company that was likely in its dying years, becoming nothing more than a yearly soccer game factory.

This same sentiment had spiraled out of control regarding EA’s sports division, which had angered fans even with their annual sports games.

After the EA FC 25 debacle, the 2026 version has been poorly received, garnering just a 52% rating on game-purchasing platform Steam at the time of this writing.

The NHL 26 forums on EA’s own website are rampant with complaints that the game is nonfunctioning, and while these types of complaints have been part and parcel for decades, they seem to have reached critical mass.

Furthermore, the latest installment of the usual hit Madden NFL franchise already has a 30% discount on the PlayStation store less than six weeks after its release.

It seems not even the record-setting sales of EA’s returning college football series could save the company from game over. Perhaps outside investors will finally offer an extra life.

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​Return, Gaming, Video games, Electronic arts, Jared kushner, Saudi arabia, Woke, Dei, Tech 

The Bayou State has reportedly issued an arrest warrant for a Northern California doctor accused of sending abortion pills to a Louisiana woman in 2023 — a woman who has indicated she was pressured to take the drugs and is now “haunt[ed]” by her chemical abortion.

“On multiple occasions, I have raised concerns about the unlawful distribution of these pills in our sate and the harm that it does to women,” Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill said in a statement. “It’s dangerous, irresponsible, unethical, and illegal to distribute these pills to strangers in violation of the criminal laws of our state, without any relationship whatsoever to the individual who may ultimately be consuming them.”

‘I would have told the doctor that I wanted to keep my baby.’

“I will enforce and defend the laws of our state, including suing the governors whose shield laws purport to protect these individuals from criminal conduct in Louisiana,” added Murrill.

The warrant for Remy Coeytaux’s arrest is the latest action in a broader battle between red and blue states over federal approvals for mifepristone — an abortion drug that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has indicated is linked to a number of serious adverse events as well as the deaths of dozens of mothers.

Rosalie Markezich, the recipient of the drug who is now “haunt[ed]” by her chemical abortion, has joined Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill in requesting to join a lawsuit aimed at prompting the FDA to prohibit telehealth prescriptions to mifepristone. Texas and Florida are similarly keen to get involved in the lawsuit that was revived last year by Missouri, Kansas, and Idaho.

Markezich claimed in a court filing earlier this month that despite initially celebrating her pregnancy, her boyfriend “soon changed his mind,” then used her personal email address and mailing address to obtain mifepristone and misoprostol “from an online provider that his sister has used multiple times before.”

RELATED: The abortion pill’s body count — and the progressive cover-up behind it

Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill. Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images

A few days after allegedly forwarding to Remy Coeytaux the $150 her boyfriend sent her, Markezich received the drugs by mail.

According to her declaration, Markezich changed her mind about killing her child, but her boyfriend, who apparently “had anger issues and a criminal record,” allegedly coerced her into taking them — and she proved unable to throw them back up.

“The trauma of my chemical abortion still haunts me,” said Markezich. “Had the FDA required an in-person visit with a doctor before dispensing the drugs, my boyfriend would never [have] been able to obtain the drugs that he made me take. I also would have told the doctor that I did not want to take them. And I would have told the doctor that I wanted to keep my baby.”

‘Safeguards for women regarding the administration of mifepristone have been significantly reduced.’

Murrill, who has not elaborated on what charges Coeytaux faces or when the warrant was issued, said in a statement to the Associated Press that Markezich is bravely representing many women “who are victimized by the illegal, immoral, and unethical conduct of these drug dealers.”

Coeytaux, who did not immediately respond to the Associated Press’ request for comment, is also named in a civil complaint filed in July with the federal court for the Southern District of Texas.

The Texas complaint, filed on behalf of Jerry Rodriguez, alleges that Rodriguez’s girlfriend, Kendal Garza, became pregnant with his child but was ultimately pressured by her estranged husband to use abortion drugs allegedly obtained from Coeytaux “to murder Mr. Rodriguez’s unborn child.”

Weeks after the filing of Rodriguez’s suit, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton ordered Coeytaux to cease and desist from mailing abortion drugs into the state of Texas and indicated such conduct not only violates Texas state law but the federal Comstock Act of 1873, which prohibits the mailing of abortion-related drugs.

Whereas some red states have laws on the books enabling mothers to take legal action against out-of-state abortion drug pushers, several Democrat-run states — including California, as of Friday — have passed laws shielding abortion-pill peddlers from legal consequence for violating other states’ abortion bans.

While the multi-state lawsuit that Markezich and Murrill seek to join could end up resolving this conflict, the Trump administration may end up deciding independently to impose restrictions on mifepristone prescriptions.

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and FDA Commissioner Martin Makary reportedly told Republican state attorneys general in a Sept. 19 letter that the Department of Health and Human Services was conducting a safety review of the abortion drug.

“Recent studies — such as the study by the Ethics and Public Policy Center (EPPC), which you highlighted in your letter — indicate potential dangers that may attend offering mifepristone without sufficient medical support or supervision,” said the letter. “FDA’s own data collected between 2000 to 2012 indicated 2,740 adverse events, including 416 events involving blood loss requiring transfusions. Since then, safeguards for women regarding the administration of mifepristone have been significantly reduced.”

A coalition of 20 Democratic attorneys general cited Kennedy’s letter in a joint statement on Monday where they noted, “If access to mifepristone is challenged, we will take action to protect it.”

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​Mifepristone, Abortion drug, Abortion, Pro-life, Lousiana, Markevich, Bayou, Babies, Drugs, Big pharma, California, Newsom, Politics 

After President Trump announced that the results of a study from Harvard show pregnant women could be endangering their unborn babies’ health by taking the pain reliever Tylenol — liberal pregnant women across the country have been uploading videos of themselves taking the pain medication out of spite.

And former President Barack Obama is egging them on.

“So we have the spectacle of my successor, in the Oval Office, making broad claims around certain drugs and autism that have been continuously disproved. And the degree to which that undermines public health to the degree to which that can do harm to women who are pregnant,” Obama said in a speech following Trump’s announcement.

“I’d love to see Trump say pregnant women shouldn’t drink alcohol and watch them deny that,” BlazeTV host Pat Gray says in the middle of Obama’s rant on “Pat Gray Unleashed.”

“For parents who do have children who are autistic, which by the way itself is subject to a spectrum and a lot of what is being trumpeted as these massive increases actually have to do with a broadening of the criteria across that spectrum so that people can actually get services and help,” Obama continued.

“All of that is a violence against the truth,” he added, despite Tylenol being reported years ago to be unsafe for pregnant women — before Trump ever mentioned it.

“Medical health experts have released an important statement on pregnancy and pain medication. It’s part of a study in the British Scientific Journal Nature, and here’s what it does,” a reporter on the Canadian Broadcast Company said in October 2020.

“It cautions pregnant women about using acetaminophen, and that is the active ingredient in Tylenol and many other medications that so many of us use to relieve pain or fever,” the reporter added.

“The statement is backed by nearly 100 scientists and doctors from around the world. They insist a higher level of caution is needed when pregnant people use fever and pain meds that contain acetaminophen, including Tylenol. The authors don’t have any new evidence showing the drug harms a developing fetus,” CBC’s health and science reporter Christine Birak chimes in.

“But their statement does say a growing body of experimental and epidemiological research suggests that prenatal exposure to acetaminophen might alter fetal development, which could in turn increase the risks of certain neurodevelopmental, reproductive, and urogenital disorders,” she added.

Gray is shocked, commenting, “Wow, did you hear the violence? Did you hear the violence against the truth?”

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Secretary of War Pete Hegseth announced another policy shake-up in the department to uproot remaining woke policies that have plagued our military.

Hegseth delivered remarks to hundreds of generals and admirals in Quantico, Virginia, calling out policies that promote gender diversity rather than military strength and merit.

‘This job is life or death. Standards must be met.’

“This administration has done a great deal from day one to remove the social justice, politically correct, and toxic ideological garbage that had infected our department,” Hegseth said. “To rip out the politics.”

“No more identity months, DEI offices, dudes in dresses. No more climate change worship. No more division, distraction, or gender delusions. No more debris,” Hegseth added. “As I said before and will say again, we are done with that s**t.”

RELATED: Netanyahu signals support for Trump’s latest peace proposal: ‘It has to be done’

Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

Hegseth announced that moving forward, every combat requirement will be enforced to the “highest male standard” to ensure that the American military performs at the highest level. Some of these requirements include a height and weight requirement, biannual physical tests, and rigorous combat training.

“Each service will ensure that every requirement for every combat [military occupational specialty], for every designated combat arms position returns to the highest male standard only,” Hegseth said. “Because this job is life or death. Standards must be met.”

“Frankly, it’s tiring to look out at combat formations, or really any formation, and see fat troops,” Hegseth added. “Likewise, it’s completely unacceptable to see fat generals and admirals in the halls of the Pentagon and leading commands around the country and the world. It’s a bad look. It is bad. And it’s not who we are.”

RELATED: Democrats gloss over anti-ICE violence in Portland ahead of Trump’s crackdown on ‘domestic terrorists’

Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

These heightened standards quickly raised questions about women serving in the military. Hegseth maintained that the standards would be enforced across the board, regardless of the gap in biological capabilities between men and women.

“If women can make it, excellent. If not, it is what it is,” Hegseth said.

“It will also mean that weak men won’t qualify, because we’re not playing games.”

“This is combat. This is life or death.”

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​Donald trump, Trump administration, Pete hegseth, Dei, Woke policies, Military standards, Gender diversity, Racial diversity, Department of war, Department of defense, Military, Warrior ethos, Quantico, Politics 

A specter is haunting America — the specter of left-wing radical violence. As the country balances on a knife edge and radical nutcases shoot up and burn churches and assassinate conservative icons, Hollywood figured it was time to throw a Molotov cocktail into the tinderbox.

I went and paid 17 good American dollars to see “One Battle After Another” so you don’t have to. Fair warning: Better-paid critics than I have given this terrible movie — a loose adaptation of Thomas Pynchon’s 1991 novel “Vineland” — rave reviews. It has also generated plenty of precious “Oscar buzz” for director Paul Thomas Anderson as well as for stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Benicio Del Toro, and Sean Penn.

Watching ‘One Battle After Another’ may not be entertaining, but its celebration of vitriol and murder is clarifying. This is not the usual ‘anti-conservative’ Hollywood bias.

Insidious propaganda

As you might suspect from the people involved, this is more than the usual Hollywood slop. It’s an insidious piece of propaganda that speaks to the depravity of the left and, I fear, wanders into wholly new territory that portends truly dark times ahead.

The movie’s first offense is its running time: an interminable two hours and 50 minutes. (Am I the only one who thinks we need a new rating system for any movie over 90 minutes long? Rated NB = “Nap Before.”)

The film opens with our antifa heroes violently attacking an ICE detention center to liberate the detainees. One wonders whether Juan, up here to work construction, might have some hesitation about white and black revolutionaries spraying AKs and gassing U.S. Border Patrol agents on his behalf, but the white liberal director’s myopic lens doesn’t dwell on those questions.

Weed and self-pity

DiCaprio plays Bob Ferguson, a has-been revolutionary holed up in a Northern California sanctuary city, padding around in a weed haze, a bathrobe, and self-pity. His daughter Willa, played by Chase Infiniti, scolds him for misgendering her nonbinary prom date. The revolution will always eat its own.

Her mother, Perfidia Beverly Hills, was a rat who turned state’s witness and slept with Penn’s comically over-the-top ICE agent, named Lockjaw. Willa may be his biological daughter. Lockjaw is evil because he wants border security and has a Nazi haircut. Hollywood eschewed subtlety a long time ago.

Lockjaw, meanwhile, wants to impress a cabal of Patagonia-vested white supremacists — a hedge-fund-meets-Gestapo ensemble who seem to have wandered in from a bad HBO pilot — so they’ll let him join their club. How better to do that than by hunting down our antifa heroes?

RELATED: ‘Hey, fascist! Catch!’ Leftist group apparently recruiting college students with slogan tied to Kirk murder

Photo by Brooks Kraft LLC/Corbis via Getty Images

Empty artistry

Here’s the tragic part: Paul Thomas Anderson is still a genius. The camera work is exquisite. The pacing (when he wants it to be) is taut. The centerpiece car chase is one of the most technically stunning action sequences of the century.

Anderson is, after all, the man behind “There Will Be Blood” and “Boogie Nights.” But artistry is empty if it doesn’t serve the truth, and “One Battle After Another” is pure left-wing propaganda. The film glorifies the fantasy of bloodshed, depicting conservative America not as wrongheaded neighbors but as literal Nazis to be liquidated. The revolutionaries are cast as sexy, tragic heroes. Blowing up a senator’s office? Righteous. Knocking out half of Los Angeles’ power grid? Revolutionary chic. The collateral damage to working stiffs barely scraping by? Never mind.

Watching “One Battle After Another” may not be entertaining, but its celebration of vitriol and murder is clarifying. This is not the usual “anti-conservative” Hollywood bias. When the perpetually sweaty DiCaprio shouts “¡Viva la revolución!” while detonating bombs, you’re meant to cheer. And if you’re not cheering, well, those bombs are meant for you.

Increasingly, Hollywood views half the country not as fellow citizens with outdated beliefs, but as enemies who deserve punishment. Owning firearms, favoring borders, voting differently — these aren’t policy differences; they’re treated as moral crimes, grounds for extermination.

Luxury nihilism

The old trick was to sneer at conservatives as rubes or buffoons. Now the fantasy is direct violence. What was once snide mockery has hardened into veneration of the kill shot.

That’s not to say that it is an altogether convincing fantasy. The usual ignorance of liberals when it comes to actual, real-world violence — their compulsive need to make revolution “cool” — is on full display. At one point, a bank robbery is staged by an antifa firebrand with a name I won’t print; this is the group’s usual method of “fundraising.” Anderson seems blissfully unaware that modern bank heists are idiotic — bills are marked, surveillance is everywhere. No one outside a Nicolas Cage movie thinks it’s viable.

And let’s face it, none of the laptop warriors celebrating “One Battle After Another” are likely to to take to the streets to firebomb ICE. Then again, they don’t have to. While they indulge their adolescent rebellion fantasies in front of an IMAX screen, their luxury nihilism trickles down to the truly unhinged and desperate, some of whom are perfectly willing to try to change minds with a bullet. Which means the fight may be coming to you, whether you sit out this “Battle” or not. Buy ammo.

​One battle after another, Paul thomas anderson, Culture, Entertainment, Movies, Antifa, Hollywood, Leonardo dicaprio, Sean penn, Review 

For nearly 80 years, a painting of Jesus guiding stranded sailors hung at the United States Merchant Marine Academy’s Wiley Hall as a symbol of the sailors’ religious heritage. Now, Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy is returning the painting to a place of prominence back from the dark basement to which it was relegated during the Biden years.

During his visit to the academy in May, Duffy announced his intention to reinstall the painting that was removed in 2023.

‘God is good for these Mariners — true FAITHFUL American patriots!’

On Monday, Duffy celebrated the successful installation in a social media post.

“Jesus is out of the basement!” Secretary Duffy wrote on X. “I promised you I would restore faith at @UsmmaO by returning ‘Christ on the Water’ to its place of prominence, where it belongs after being taken down under Biden and my predecessor. God is good for these Mariners — true FAITHFUL American patriots!”

RELATED: Duffy threatens funding freeze for 3 states flouting English requirements for truck drivers

Photographer: Eric Lee/Bloomberg via Getty Images

“Our purpose today is to preserve a piece of the Academy’s cultural and historical legacy. We honor the past and the resilience of those who came before us,” U.S. Merchant Marine Academy Acting Superintendent Captain Tony Ceraolo said in a press statement. “This painting is about history, remembrance, and hope ensuring that the story of our midshipmen and their wartime experiences remain part of our shared institutional memory.”

“Christ on the Water,” also known as “Jesus and Sailboat,” had been a fixture at the academy since 1947, when it was originally installed. Painted by marine artist Lt. Hunter Wood, USMS, in 1944, the painting is guessed to be set on sail canvas, likely with marine paints, and the varnish seems to have been spar varnish.

The Biden administration removed the painting in 2023 due to a complaint from the Military Religious Freedom Foundation. It was placed in a flood-prone space in the lower area of the building.

Now back on full display in the Elliot See Room of Wiley Hall, the painting can be enjoyed by the numerous faithful patriots at the academy. Duffy’s post included a photo of more than two dozen midshipmen.

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​Politics, Sean p duffy, Department of transportation, Christ on the water, Lt hunter wood, United states merchant marine academy, Wiley hall, Faith, Biden administration 

President Donald Trump began his battle against urban crime when he federalized police and deployed National Guard troops in Washington, D.C., in August.

As if on cue, leftists pulled out statistics saying that crime in the nation’s capital already had been decreasing, and they criticized Trump, calling his move dictatorial, a power grab, and overkill.

‘Stay out of DC.’

After all, what’s the point when Metropolitan Police Department stats say that, as of Friday, violent crime in D.C. is down 28% compared to 2024?

But those numbers essentially are meaningless. There are several reasons why.

RELATED: Democrats gloss over anti-ICE violence in Portland ahead of Trump’s crackdown on ‘domestic terrorists’

Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

First, Blaze News recently published a fact-check noting that the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department has been accused by its own union of manipulating crime data. D.C. Police Commander Michael Pulliam reportedly was placed on paid administrative leave in May following the union’s allegations.

What’s more, Gregg Pemberton, chairman of the D.C. Fraternal Order of Police, told WRC-TV that higher-ups instructed officers to fudge data: “Instead of taking a report for a shooting or a stabbing or a carjacking, they will order that officer to take a report for a theft or an injured person to the hospital or a felony assault, which is not the same type of classification.”

Pemberton noted that felony assaults aren’t listed on the MPD’s daily crime stats and aren’t a requirement of the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting program — and that there’s “absolutely no way” crime in D.C. has declined as much as the department claims.

‘Not a very livable place’

While violent crime in the nation’s capital has received much of the attention of late, what about the far more frequent “petty” property crimes such as burglary, theft, and shoplifting?

The latest numbers from the FBI — which only account for reported crimes (and the less violent the offense, the more likely it will go unreported) — show only a marginal drop in property crimes in D.C. in 2024 compared to 2023.

For example, the FBI said larcenies dropped to 18,260 in 2024 from 19,752 in 2023, and motor vehicle thefts dropped to 5,328 in 2024 from 6,861 in 2023. Burglaries actually increased to 1,675 in 2024 from 1,666 in 2023.

The other factor is that overall crime in D.C. exploded in 2023. A compilation of the FBI numbers shows that violent crime in the nation’s capital that year was a whopping 207.4% higher than the 50-state average, and property crime was 124.7% higher.

Yet, even the federal government’s count shows that property crime didn’t drop much in 2024 compared to 2023’s historically bad numbers. So how much better have the D.C. streets really been of late when rampant theft and other property crimes still occur, and an untold number of incidents aren’t even reported?

Even when crooks are arrested for ‘petty’ property crimes, in most cases — unless they involve high dollar amounts — they’re misdemeanors that often aren’t subject to bail, and the criminals are right back out on the streets.

Jeffrey H. Anderson — who served as director of the Bureau of Justice Statistics during Trump’s first term — told Blaze News that the effects of not policing property crimes in D.C. “has only gotten worse” in the post-George Floyd and pandemic era.

In fact, Anderson said D.C. has been doing the “opposite” of broken-windows policing, which hits lower-level crime harder so more serious crime is less likely to get a foothold. But he said when items in stores in the nation’s capital are “under lock and key” to prevent shoplifting and “lifestyle crimes” like turnstile jumping run rampant, it gives the impression that “nobody’s in charge here” and sends a stark message: “Stay out of D.C.”

Anderson added that it’s all a “constant reminder that it’s not a very livable place.”

John R. Lott Jr., president of the Crime Prevention Research Center and former senior adviser for research and statistics in the Office of Justice Programs and the Office of Legal Policy at the Justice Department, told Blaze News about another disheartening factor: People overall seem “less confident” in the possibility of criminal convictions, and indeed citizens are “less likely to report crimes” as a result.

Lott added that it’s more difficult these days to report crimes in some places, noting that often those who tell police about crimes after the fact are instructed to “come down to the station” to fill out police reports, which means they’re less likely to go to the trouble — and thus fewer crimes are reported.

Anderson also noted that in regard to unreported crimes, people simply “don’t trust police,” and the National Crime Victimization Survey — which annually asks U.S. residents if they’ve been crime victims and explores related details and is far more reliable than FBI stats, he said — suggests that only half of the crimes that take place actually are reported to police.

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Photo by Eric Lee/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Fewer arrests, more crime

Anderson last September argued in a Wall Street Journal op-ed that “crime rates haven’t been falling, and urban crime is far worse than it was in the pre-George Floyd era.” And as far as the urban property-crime rate goes nationally, Anderson contended it’s also getting worse. Property crimes “rose from 176.1 victimizations per 1,000 households in 2022 to 192.3 in 2023. That’s part of a 26% increase in the urban property-crime rate since 2019. These numbers exclude rampant shoplifting, since the NCVS is a survey of households and not of businesses.”

The result is easy to discern. In D.C. — and everywhere else — crooks commit property crimes significantly more often than violent crimes. And even when property crimes are reported, they’re more likely to go unsolved, as stretched-thin law enforcement resources are more focused elsewhere.

In that vein, the Manhattan Institute published “Doing Less with Less: Crime and Punishment in Washington, DC” a little over a year ago, and part of it examines arrest numbers in the district in 2019 compared to a significant decline in certain arrests in 2023 — which, as noted, was a year in which D.C. crime exploded.

Yet, the study found that the steepest arrest declines were for “minor or quality-of-life crimes. Levels of arrests for prostitution, traffic violations, narcotics, disorderly conduct, liquor law violations, release violations, and driving while intoxicated, for example, have all collapsed.” The study adds that such numbers indicate the “MPD has not only reduced its activity but focused the activity that remains on gun crimes (i.e., homicide and weapon violations).” In addition, the study notes that “the city has also experienced a decline in its capacity to investigate.”

Plus, even when crooks are arrested for “petty” property crimes, in most cases — unless they involve high dollar amounts — they’re misdemeanors that often aren’t subject to bail, and the criminals are right back out on the streets. Then we’ll soon see them once again ripping off stores with impunity.

In D.C., the consequences have been front and center. A few examples:

CVS in early 2024 announced it was closing a Washington, D.C., store after teen thieves routinely emptied its shelves.Petco in late 2024 said it was closing its D.C. USA mall location because of repeated theft.In late 2023, a D.C. resident actually remarked that if those in power in the nation’s capital could provide “hair care” products and other toiletries for “unhoused or under-income folks,” then rampant CVS shoplifting might end.

Trump’s plan is working

In the meantime, Trump’s federalization of D.C. police and infusion of National Guard troops appears to be working. Even Democrat Mayor Muriel Bowser — who’s no Trump fan — acknowledged in August that the federal surge has helped drive down crime significantly. In fact, Bowser said carjackings fell by 87% during August’s surge period, compared to the same period the previous year. Indeed, U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents stopped a D.C. carjacking.

But what about other cities to which Trump has been directing his attention? The president noted in August that he received calls from Democrats across the country asking him to clean up their cities like he’s done in D.C.

Early on, Trump hinted that Chicago would be next, and predictably, leftist leaders like Mayor Brandon Johnson and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker have been opposed to Trump’s federal intervention. While the National Guard hasn’t made an appearance there yet, the Associated Press said that “dozens of armed federal agents, in full tactical gear, walked the streets of some of the city’s most prominent tourist and shopping areas” on Sunday.

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Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images

Left-wing pushback in Chicago mirrors the left-wing pushback in D.C. when it comes to crime stats.

NewsNation noted that Johnson and Pritzker said troops aren’t necessary in Chicago “where homicides are down by 31%, shooting incidents have been reduced by 36% and crimes like robbery, burglary and car thefts are all down by between 21 and 36%, according to the Chicago Police Department.” But tell that to residents of the Windy City who favor Trump’s troops and federal agents.

NewsNation reported that even as leaders tout falling violent crime, Chicago faces a rash of smash-and-grab burglaries, store break-ins, and home invasions targeting the elderly. Sound familiar?

On to Portland and Memphis

National Guard troops are on their way to Memphis and Portland, and while the deployment in Portland is centered on violent anti-ICE activity, the move on Memphis looks to be a crackdown on overall crime.

But again, those same overtures in regard to crime stats have been ringing out loud and clear in regard to both cities. Reuters pointed out Monday that “violent crime in Portland has dropped in the first six months of 2025, according to preliminary data released by the Major Cities Chiefs Association in its Midyear Violent Crime Report.” Memphis police in early September reported “historic crime reductions, with decreases across all major categories in the first eight months of 2025 compared to the same period in previous years.”

No city seems to want Trump’s federal deployments to help fight crime, despite his success in D.C.

Perhaps this thought-provoking TikTok message that user “thinkingnotsosimple2.0” posted in late August can help spell things out. The TikTok user — a black female — praised Trump’s efforts in D.C., noting that she has gathered “video after video showing D.C., specifically Union Station, and how clean and safe it is” since Trump federalized police in the nation’s capital.

“People don’t understand how big of a deal this is, because the Capitol is right there within, like, a six- or seven-minute walk,” she said, before adding that local residents “did not like walking there, whether in the daytime or the evening. Some people would take taxis just to avoid any type of encounters” with drug users and dealers.

She concluded: “People have been talking about cleaning this up for a decade. And you mean to tell me President Trump hasn’t even had control for 30 days, and he cleaned it all up.”

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​Opinion & analysis, Crime, Crime statistics, Donald trump, Data, Washington d.c., Federalizing local police, Law enforcement, National guard, Law and order