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Earlier this summer, the Trump Organization announced T1 Mobile, a new 5G cellular service, and promised an upcoming T1 phone that would be “proudly built in the United States.” Many regarded it as an extension of President Donald Trump’s push for a renaissance in American manufacturing — a new golden age for American business.

But recently, the company has had to walk back its claims about the U.S. provenance of its flagship phone.

Apple limits consumer freedom and makes the prospect of a new ‘American’ phone far less likely to succeed, no matter how patriotic its marketing.

While the pursuit of a truly American phone that is both designed and built in the United States is a worthy endeavor, the likelihood of its success has been greatly diminished by one company — ironically, an American one: Apple. The tech giant has spent decades building a fortress around the smartphone market, keeping competitors out and locking customers in.

Apple’s China ‘Marshall Plan’

Apple didn’t simply outsource a few manufacturing jobs. It created what Patrick McGee calls in his landmark book “Apple in China” a “super-Marshall Plan.”

While the original Marshall Plan rebuilt a battered Europe after the Second World War, Apple poured $275 billion into China between 2015 and 2020 — twice what America spent rebuilding postwar Europe, adjusted for inflation.

That staggering investment of money and American innovation didn’t just churn out iPhones. It built China’s manufacturing prowess and enabled its rise in precision industries. It effectively underwrote Beijing’s climb to global tech superpower status — fueling its dominance in everything from electric vehicles to artificial intelligence to 5G.

In creating a supply chain so vast and sophisticated — one dependent on China’s unique, massive labor force — Apple made it nearly impossible for American manufacturers to match its cost, quality, or speed. In exchange for global market share, Apple forsook American manufacturing and secured its dominance over competitors.

The walled garden

But China’s supply chain alone didn’t forge the heights of Apple’s smartphone walled garden. The company painstakingly designed a digital ecosystem around its platform that complicates deciding which phone to buy beyond basic considerations like price and performance.

Apple’s trap is both psychological and digital — not just logistical. Switching from iPhone to Android may be harder than escaping Alcatraz. Your cloud-stored memories, those precious photos, notes, bookmarks — are all locked in iCloud, with no convenient way to be transferred to competitors’ products.

Your AirPods and Apple Watch become expensive paperweights outside the Apple ecosystem. Try messaging your friends from an Android, and you’re marked by the dreaded green bubble — a stamp of second-class status among teens.

It’s not just peer pressure; it’s proprietary lock-in, and Apple wrote the manual.

For developers, Apple’s wall is even higher. The company controls the App Store with an iron fist — dictating terms, collecting fees, and stifling new entrants who dare challenge the status quo. It’s the digital equivalent of a company town: Innovators get in line or get left out in the cold. Both competitors and lawmakers alike are calling foul.

RELATED: Trump’s tariffs reportedly prompt Apple to make game-changing investment

Photo by ozgurdonmaz via Getty

Taken together, these choices trap users, limit consumer freedom, and make the prospect of a new “American” phone — like Trump’s T1 or any other real competitor — far less likely to succeed, no matter how patriotic its marketing.

Unleashing American smartphone competition

While sheer will can’t revive the great American supply chain overnight, opening competition in the smartphone market could. Legal and regulatory reform could break Apple’s digital monopoly and restore real competition.

One bipartisan proposal, the Open App Markets Act, aims to do exactly that — forcing Apple to open app distribution and payment systems. In theory, the act could give consumers the power to install what they want, how they want, from whom they want — tearing down Apple’s walled garden and letting a hundred new “American phones” bloom.

If passed, this law would give Americans the right to choose, switch, and control their digital lives. Only then, as cracks in Apple’s walled garden form, will we have a fighting chance at seeing a truly American-made phone compete with the iPhone.

​Opinion & analysis, Opinion, Apple, China, American manufacturing 

How much of America’s rural landscape, power, water, quality of life, and heritage will be wiped out by one industry — AI data centers? Big Tech firms won’t say. Evidently, it’s as much as we’re willing to tolerate.

David Sacks and his Silicon Valley allies know the stakes. They tried to slip a provision into the One Big Beautiful Bill Act to block all zoning and regulation of AI facilities. Why? Because the only way to cover the country with thousands of hyperscale data centers is to turn rural America into one giant industrial park — with no transparent public plan, no limits on power or water use, and no end in sight.

Zoning remains one of the few tools citizens can use to say no — not just to data centers, but to the entire agenda of unaccountable technocracy.

Before Mark Zuckerberg’s Manhattan-sized complexes even break ground, the United States is already on track for these facilities to consume more energy annually than Poland — a nation of 36.6 million people — used in 2023. That’s not a tech “footprint.” That’s a tech crater.

But a counterrevolution is building.

Loudoun County: The canary in the coal mine

If you want to see America’s future under digital colonization, look at Loudoun County, Virginia. The growth of hyperscale data centers there is so unnatural that some neighborhoods now want to rezone themselves as industrial just to escape.

Patricia Cave says life in her Arcola neighborhood has become impossible, as she and her neighbors have become essentially barricaded by server farms.

“Living on Hiddenwood Lane is no longer an option,” Cave told the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors last year. “We can’t be victims again to political winds that are bigger than us — and we can’t be a human buffer.” The only way she and her neighbors can sell their homes — at pennies on the dollar — is to convert them to industrial property.

Just 10 years ago, Cave’s neighborhood was ringed by rural farmland. Now, with 200 data centers covering roughly 49 million square feet in what’s known as Data Center Alley, you can’t escape their reach. About one-third of Loudoun County’s data centers now sit near residential areas.

Frederick County: Drawing a line

In Frederick County, Maryland, officials saw the writing on the wall and set a hard limit: No more than 1% of the county’s landmass can be used for data centers. It’s a rare example of local government acting to protect the character, environment, and livability of their communities before the tech giants could hollow them out.

Monroe County: Fighting for their ground

In Monroe County, Georgia, residents fought off a proposed rezoning that would have put a massive data center next to homes and farms. The company behind it claimed it would bring jobs. Locals pointed out the reality: a handful of maintenance workers, huge power demands — 1.1 gigawatts, more than the daily usage of a million households — and a future of noise and light pollution.

Residents won — for now.

The pattern is clear

Local victories are more the exception than the rule. The reality is that Big Tech companies are expanding across America with little or no resistance.

Tech companies claim these facilities are the backbone of the future. In reality, they’re engines of resource consumption — each one sucking up hundreds of millions of gallons of water and enough electricity to power the equivalent of large cities in counties with populations in the low five figures.

RELATED: Is this how we beat China? Trump’s AI dream guts small-town USA

Photo by blackdovfx via Getty Images

Meta, for example, wants to drop a 1.2-gigawatt behemoth in tiny Cheyenne, Wyoming — enough juice for 1 million homes. In drought-stricken Texas, Microsoft, OpenAI, and others are pushing the Stargate project, a cluster of hyperscale data centers around Abilene that would guzzle the power of millions of homes and drain staggering amounts of water. Smaller facilities in Texas have already consumed 463 million gallons in 2023 and 2024.

The profits leave town. The costs — environmental, economic, and social — stay behind.

But the real danger is Washington overriding local efforts to preserve local residents’ way of life. If Congress strips away zoning authority in the name of “progress,” the only “progress” will be toward an industrialized, unlivable countryside.

Why zoning matters

Public zoning meetings are the last places where ordinary citizens can stop these projects. Federalizing control would silence local voices. In court, zoning remains one of the few tools citizens can use to say no — not just to data centers, but to the entire agenda of unaccountable technocracy.

For once, the stakes are obvious: if we lose local control, we lose the fight. Loudoun County shows what surrender looks like. Frederick County and Monroe County show what resistance can achieve.

It’s time to choose.

​Opinion & analysis, Opinion, Daniel horowitz, Ai, Artificial intelligence, Ai data center, Data centers, Rural america 

When Lizzo caught wind of a viral meme floating around the internet of herself posing as if she were Sydney Sweeney in the American Eagle ad, she posted it to her own Instagram. The meme’s text read “If the Democrats won the election.”

Lizzo wrote in her own caption, “My jeans are black.”

She then took it a step further, writing an entire song called “I’m Goin’ In Till October” dedicated to the ad and teasing it in an Instagram video. In one line, she raps, “B***h, I got good jeans like I’m Sydney!”

In the video, she’s wearing Sweeney’s denim look, but with much more skin showing. Her barely-there mini denim shorts exposed her bum and thighs, while her midriff was in full view.

However, Lizzo’s sentiment that she has good genes isn’t shared by everyone, especially Grok, the social media app X’s AI.

“Hey @grok does Lizzo have good genes? Yes or no,” one X user wrote.

“No. Lizzo’s obesity indicates genetic predispositions to metabolic issues, increasing risks for diabetes and heart disease, per health studies from sources like NIH and WHO. Talent aside, those aren’t ‘good genes’ for longevity,” Grok responded.

“That blows me away,” BlazeTV host Pat Gray comments, shocked. “I’m surprised it took that stand.”

“It’s hard to disagree, but not in this day and age. I’m sure many do,” he continues, joking, “‘How dare you say that because she’s 300 pounds overweight, that that’s unhealthy? How dare you?’”

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A harrowing video showed an attack on a woman at a Memphis laundromat that was ended by two Good Samaritans who tackled the alleged offender.

Tennessee police said in an affidavit that Joseph Leake had been given a trespass notice on Wednesday to stay away from Ellie’s Laundromat on South Pauline Street. After signing the notice, he allegedly returned hours later.

‘Back in the day, if they saw you, people intervened — and they even told your parents. There was a thing called pride. It was a thing called morality, and I think that needs to return back to this city.’

Jacalyn Hendricks said she had interacted with Leake as she was washing her clothing earlier in the day.

“He was drying and washing his clothes, and he told me, ‘You don’t need to be on your phone,'” Hendricks said. “I didn’t understand what he meant at first. I asked him why, and he just said something about washing his clothes. I didn’t think much of it, and then he left.”

Police say Leake returned with an orange baseball bat and was yelling at the customers.

When he approached Hendricks in a threatening manner, two men identified as Donald Young and Regenald Harris jumped into action.

The video obtained by WLTX-TV shows Young and Harris tackling Leake and holding him down until police arrived.

“They was basically like my superheroes, because if they wasn’t here, they could have possibly hurt me more than what it was,” Hendricks said.

One of the men said that Leake told him he was not taking his medicine.

“I was glad I was able to hold him down instead of shoot him, because we have enough of that going on in the city, and I think it portrays the city in a negative light,” Harris said to WLTX.

“Once these guys are disarmed, once these guys are off the drugs, they’re back to their normal selves,” he added. “That’s when you can talk to them, and that’s when you can reach them.”

RELATED: Louisiana woman attacked by sex offender at laundromat was able to take away his weapon and stab him to death, police said

Leake was arrested and charged with aggravated assault, criminal trespass, and burglary.

Harris went on to express sadness for Leake.

“A lot of people say, you know, ‘he’s this’ and ‘he’s that’ — but you know what, my heart goes out to him too,” Harris continued. “I don’t want to read about him dead, and I don’t want to read about her dead either. I’m tired of seeing that go on in our city. And like I said, we can talk about it — or we can do something about it.”

He also hoped that more people would step in to make Memphis a better city.

“Back in the day, if they saw you, people intervened — and they even told your parents,” Harris added. “There was a thing called pride. It was a thing called morality, and I think that needs to return back to this city.”

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​Laundromat assault, Memphis crime, Laundromat attack, Good samaritans, Crime 

Dan Carlin, the host of a popular history podcast, ripped into President Donald Trump after his federal takeover of the police force in the District of Columbia, and many of his fans voiced their disapproval.

Carlin helms the incredibly popular “Hardcore History” podcast, which is estimated to have garnered over a hundred million downloads. On Monday, he reacted to the announcement from Trump that the crime in the district had gotten so bad that it demanded a federal response.

‘I’m a person who knows his history…we’ve never had anything like this and this is EXACTLY what the Founders worried about.’

“Those of you who don’t know what authoritarianism looks like…this is it. All the gaslighting about previous presidents ‘what about…!!! Is bulls**t. I’ve been talking about the slide towards NOW for 30+ years. Those earlier concerns were nothing. Now we are HERE,” Carlin posted on social media.

“Do you support the Constitutional Republic? Or this ONE PERSON. This one, malformed, narcissistic, completely non-empathetic (except for himself) version of an American wanna-be Mussolini…because that’s what this guy is,” he added.

He went on to accuse those supporting Trump of being brainwashed or un-American.

“You can say ‘well other presidents did this or that’ but none have come close to doing ALL this. You take the most extreme things previous presidents have done (the single most) and Trump combines those most extreme single things into his long list of most extreme things,” Carlin continued.

“Gaslight yourself till you’re blue in the face…I’m a person who knows his history…we’ve never had anything like this and this is EXACTLY what the Founders worried about,” he added. “It’s been a multi-decade slide to get here — but we’re HERE. Everyone who is honest with themselves knows it.”

RELATED: Leader of Hispanic Caucus angrily suggests Trump is extorting DC mayor into repealing sanctuary city policies

Many rejected Carlin’s assessment of Trump’s actions.

“You’re really putting the lie to the notion that historians have greater insight about the problems of our age than anyone else,” Will Chamberlain of the Federalist Society responded.

“Your case isn’t compelling. The Mussolini stuff is a totally unsound comparison, really it’s a reductive historical caricature. Different context, ideology, and state structure. No one-party control, no paramilitaries. It’s just not a serious argument. Just drop the analogy,” another response reads.

“Dan, a history podcast host doing his best Rachel Maddow/Jimmy Kimmel/Stephen King illiteracy impression: iN tHiS hOuSe ThAt Is AuThOrItArIaNiSM!!!1!1!1!1!1!11!1!!1!1!1” Ian Miller of Outkick joked.

“You may have Trump Brain Rot if his trying to make D.C. safer induces a hyperbolic screed like the sad thread below,” journalist Tom Elliott replied.

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​Dan carlin vs trump, Trump dc takeover, Dc federalization, Podcaster dan carlin, Politics 

A former Capitol Police chief ripped into Democratic Rep. Nancy Pelosi of California after she tried to cite the rioting at the U.S. Capitol when criticizing President Donald Trump’s federal takeover of D.C.

The former speaker of the U.S. House tried to accuse Trump of trying to distract the public by federalizing police in the District of Columbia and sending in the National Guard in order to shut down crime.

‘When I needed assistance, it was denied. Yet when it suited you, you ordered fencing topped with concertina wire and surrounded the Capitol with thousands of armed National Guard troops.’

“Donald Trump delayed deploying the National Guard on January 6th when our Capitol was under violent attack and lives were at stake,” Pelosi wrote. “Now, he’s activating the DC Guard to distract from his incompetent mishandling of tariffs, health care, education and immigration — just to name a few blunders.”

Steven Sund, who was in charge of the U.S. Capitol Police on Jan. 6, offered a fierce but polite response.

“Ma’am, it is long past time to be honest with the American people. On January 3, I requested National Guard assistance, but your Sergeant at Arms denied it. Under federal law (2 U.S.C. §1970), I was prohibited from calling them in without specific approval. That same day, Carol Corbin at the Pentagon offered National Guard support, but I was forced to decline because I lacked the legal authority,” he wrote.

“On January 6, while the Capitol was under attack and despite my repeated calls, your Sergeant at Arms again denied my urgent requests for over 70 agonizing minutes, ‘running it up the chain’ for your approval,” Sund added.

“When I needed assistance, it was denied,” he concluded. “Yet when it suited you, you ordered fencing topped with concertina wire and surrounded the Capitol with thousands of armed National Guard troops.”

Sund’s response garnered more than 16,000 likes of support in just a few hours after being published.

He had previously fired back at Pelosi in comments to Blaze News that undermined her version of the events on Jan. 6.

RELATED: DC mayor will remove Black Lives Matter mural and plaza over pressure from White House

“This is Liberation Day in D.C., and we’re going to take our capital back,” Trump said on Monday. “We’re taking it back. Under the authorities vested in me as the president of the United States, I’m officially invoking section 740 of the District of Columbia Home Rule Act.”

“Crime in D.C. is ending and tending today. We are going to use every power we have to fight criminal fear,” U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said at the same media briefing.

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​Nancy pelosi vs steven sund, Steven sund, Pelosi on jan6, National guard on jan6, Politics 

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced even more good news on the vaccine front — and that is that they’re going to put an end to incentivizing doctors with money to give more vaccines.

“It rewards certain treatments not because they’re better for the patient, but because someone profits. Take what happened during COVID. Hospitals were paid to report staff vaccination rates,” RFK said.

“Those numbers were fed into the National Healthcare Safety Network, then published on the CDC website to shame any hospital that refused to become an enforcer of federal vaccine mandates,” he continued, announcing that the Trump administration has now eliminated that policy by “repealing a dangerous Biden-era provision.”

“And we’re not stopping there. We’re scanning every corner of the health care system for hidden medical incentives that corrupt medical judgment. What we’re finding is alarming. Doctors are being paid to vaccinate, not to evaluate,” he explained.

“They’re pressured to follow the money, not the science,” he said, explaining that they’ve uncovered that more than 36,000 doctors had their Medicare reimbursements altered based on childhood vaccination rates.

“That’s not medicine. It’s coercion. It’s immoral. It has no place in a constitutional democracy or in a system that claims to protect children,” he continued. “Medical decisions should be made based upon one thing and one thing only: the well-being of the patient, never on a financial bonus or a government mandate.”

BlazeTV host Pat Gray and producer Keith Malinak are fully on board.

“How do you argue with that?” Gray asks.

“I mean, just common sense, man,” Malinak agrees.

“I mean, do you know anybody who would think, ‘No, that’s a really good idea if doctors are paid based on how many vaccines they administer to people’?” Gray adds.

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The Kentucky county clerk who was sent to jail for denying to issue a marriage license to a gay couple based on her religious beliefs has taken her case all the way to the highest court of the land.

Attorneys for Kim Davis have formally asked the Supreme Court to take up her appeal and possibly overturn the landmark Obergefell decision that enshrined the right of marriage for same-sex couples.

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

Davis was lionized by many for citing her religious beliefs to justify her actions in 2015. She later agreed to authorize the license for the couple as long as her name and signature were removed from the document.

However, she was ordered to pay $260,000 in attorney fees as well as $100,000 for emotional damages.

Davis cited her First Amendment protection for free exercise of religion in a filing that called on the court to reverse the “egregiously wrong” decision in Obergefell v. Hodges.

“The mistake must be corrected,” wrote Mathew Staver, the attorney for Davis, in the filing.

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

The attorney for the now-married couple denied by Davis said he expects the court to deny hearing the case.

“Not a single judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals showed any interest in Davis’ rehearing petition,” William Powell said to ABC News, “and we are confident the Supreme Court will likewise agree that Davis’ arguments do not merit further attention.”

RELATED: Is same-sex marriage about to get the Dobbs treatment?

The justices will consider taking up the case in a private conference in fall. If they hear the arguments, then a decision may be made by June 2026.

Chief Justice John Roberts had said in his dissent to Obergefell that the decision was “an act of will, not legal judgment” with “no basis in the Constitution.”

In 2018, one of the gay men denied by Davis tried and failed to challenge her for the office of county clerk despite having the backing of some liberal Hollywood stars.

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​Obergefell v. hodges, Supreme court same sex marriage, Overturn gay marriage, Politics, Kim davis vs same sex marriage 

A woman who was arrested for allegedly making threats against Jewish people, including children, was identified as a former youth organizer for Democratic socialist Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, but her office issued a bizarre response.

Iman Abdul, 27, allegedly posted a call for violence against Jews on Thursday to her social media account, according to the New York Post. She was arrested for making a terroristic threat, acting in a manner injurious to a child, aggravated harassment, and making a threat of mass harm.

‘I called for an attack on the school, the Zionist institution funded by our public dollars. … We have every right to verbally attack the school.’

Abdul posted an image of the Leon M. Goldstein High School for the Sciences in Manhattan Beach and then allegedly added a caption calling for people to attack Jews.

“If anyone needs a public school in NYC to attack for whatever reason … Lexus driving Israhell [sic] loving Zionisits [sic] all attend here,” she reportedly wrote.

The post has since been deleted.

Abdul was arrested on Friday at her home in Brooklyn, and the Post also reported that Abdul had worked as a youth organizer for Ocasio-Cortez in 2018. That same year, she had worked as a paid canvasser for Democratic state Sen. Julia Salazar, who confirmed the report.

When screenshots of the post were circulated online, Abdul responded and denied encouraging violence.

“I never called for an attack on the school in the sense of mass organization or not even individual people attacking individuals, that’s literally stupid,” she wrote. “I called for an attack on the school, the Zionist institution funded by our public dollars. … We have every right to verbally attack the school.”

The congresswoman’s office seemingly denied the report in a statement to Fox News Digital.

“This person was never staff on the campaign and any representation of such is false,” the statement reads. “Their comments are appalling and we condemn threats of violence without hesitation.”

While the statement denies Abdul was a staffer, it does not specifically address the possibility that Abdul worked as a volunteer for the campaign. Blaze News has reached out to AOC’s office for clarification.

RELATED: Ocasio-Cortez hammered with accusations of anti-Semitism after she blames Jewish group for Democrats’ loss

New York City Councilwoman Inna Vernikov appeared to confirm the story in a post on social media.

“Nobody comes to my district and threatens to attack my constituents without consequences,” she posted Saturday.

“On Thursday, we were alerted that a former AOC youth organizer urged her followers to ‘attack’ a NYC high school JUST BECAUSE Jewish students attend it,” Vernikov added.

She added that she called the NYPD because the school is in her district and asked for Abdul’s arrest as well as for police security for the school. She also referred to Abdul as a “Hamasnik” to identify her as an alleged supporter of the terror group.

“Let’s be clear. With an open antisemite like [NYC mayoral candidate Zohran] Mamdani on the ballot, these hate mongers are far more emboldened,” she continued. “I’m not going to let a Hamasnik come into our neighborhoods and threaten us without swift action and consequences. FAFO.”

Abdul’s attorney declined to comment on a request from Fox News Digital.

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​Aoc staffer threatens jews, Iman abdul, Aoc denies abdul report, Antisemitic threats, Politics 

Today, Lucy Biggers is a wife, a mother, and the social media editor for the conservative leaning outlet the Free Press.

But a few years ago, she was an entirely different person. Before COVID-19 and motherhood spurred an ideological transformation, Lucy was a prominent climate activist and an influencer for the progressive media outlet NowThis News. In 2018, she even helped produce a viral video that helped AOC win her first election.

On a recent episode of “Relatable,” Allie Beth Stuckey invited Lucy on the show to share her remarkable transformation from a “climate influencer” and “lefty social justice warrior” to an outspoken opponent of New York City’s Democratic mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani.

After years of being a climate activist and influencer, Lucy began to realize the entire environmental movement was rife with hypocrisy and lies and was irrevocably linked to other left-wing ideologies.

“The climate movement doesn’t really care about the environment. They like to protest, and they really hate human industry, you know, civilization. They hate the West. They hate America. And it’s really a protesting movement more than an environmental movement,” she tells Allie.

This realization led her to question the broader progressive agenda, including the socialist policies championed by figures like Mamdani, which she now sees as misguided and harmful despite the well-intentioned veneer.

Mamdani is an outspoken socialist, who proposes defunding police, opening city-owned grocery stores, and offering free buses and childcare — all in the name of helping New Yorkers.

When Lucy, who has worked in NYC for years, heard about Mamdani’s victory over Andrew Cuomo, she posted a video warning her followers.

“I just said, ‘Guys, I’m telling you, if I were 25, I would have loved Zohran Mamdani. When I was 26, I loved AOC,”’ but “these well-meaning leftist policies really are [the embodiment of the phrase] ‘the road to hell is paved with good intentions’ and end up creating the problem that they’re trying to avoid,” she says.

As an example, she points to the Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act of 2019 signed by then governor Andrew Cuomo. The law capped rent increases for rent-stabilized and rent-controlled apartments in New York City with the intention of protecting tenants from big rent hikes.

However, what it actually did was create a housing shortage. It’s common for New Yorkers to occupy the same rental unit for decades. If tenants leased an apartment starting in 1970, their original rent of $400 a month has largely stayed the same due to rent caps. However, if they vacate in 2020 – 50 years later – the renovations and updates their unit would require to be up to current code would cost landlords an astronomical amount of money, which they cannot afford to spend because rent caps keep their profits low.

“There are tens of thousands of empty rent-controlled apartments in New York City right now because the landlords cannot put $100,000 … into an apartment to bring it up to code and only charge $400 a month, right? So now we have this huge housing shortage in New York City,” says Lucy.

The left blames the problem on “capitalists” and “greedy landlords,” but the truth is when landlords are crushed by overregulation, the “capitalist bad guys,” like BlackRock, swoop in and buy up all the real estate.

“So I’m trying to explain to people, ‘Like, you guys, these leftist policies that are really regulatory end up creating the monster that you don’t want to have,”’ says Lucy.

And yet, she predicts that Mamdani is still going to win. Even though he’s a “nepo baby,” “a hypocrite,” and “a snake oil salesman,” he’s convinced New Yorkers that socialism is the golden ticket, says Lucy.

“Everywhere socialism has tried, it is a civilization-ruining practice, and talk to the people who are children of immigrants from Cuba, Venezuela, USSR. This experiment goes all over the world and never ends well,” she warns.

To hear the full story of Lucy’s transformation, watch the episode above.

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​Relatable, Relatable with allie beth stuckey, Allie beth stuckey, Lucy biggers, Climate activism, Zohran mamdani, Aoc, Blazetv, Blaze media 

CNN host Dana Bash had to “note” during her segment about President Donald Trump’s plan to deploy the National Guard into Washington, D.C., to address crime that January 6, 2021, was the “most violent” day there in recent history.

Trump made the announcement of the deployment at the White House on Monday. The D.C. Metropolitan Police Department will also temporarily be brought under federal control.

“This is Liberation Day in D.C., and we’re going to take our capital back. We’re taking it back. Under the authorities vested in me as the president of the United States, I’m officially invoking section 740 of the District of Columbia Home Rule Act,” Trump said.

In addition to looting, the White House came under attack by a large mob intent on storming the White House grounds.

The Trump administration said the drastic measure is needed considering the United States capital’s violent crime rate is higher than the capitals of Mexico and Colombia. While D.C.’s crime rate is starting to go down, certain serious crimes are still double what they were before 2020.

RELATED: ‘Knock the hell out of them’: Trump federalizes DC police, readies National Guard to crack down on crime

Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

While discussing the topic with her panel, Bash said this news will affect them because they live and work in D.C.

National politics correspondent Eva McKend said the reason why Trump believes D.C. has a lot of crime is because it’s one of many cities “with large black populations” and warned that federalizing the police “has led … to extreme acts of violence.”

As the segment was concluding, Bash got the final word in.

“I should note that the most violent moment in recent history in D.C. was January 6, and it was an attack on the United States Capitol by a lot of people who were doing it in the name of Donald Trump. It included people who were hurt, included members of law enforcement,” Bash said.

It is not true that the most recent “violent moment” in Washington was January 6, due to the fact that the Black Lives Matter protests and riots in 2020 lasted longer than one day. In addition to looting, the White House came under attack by a large mob intent on storming the White House grounds, which was stopped by the U.S. Park Police and Secret Service. Many officers were injured that night.

That moment was nearly repeated when rioters attempted to tear down the statue of President Andrew Jackson in Lafayette Square, a park next to the White House, a few days later. The crowd had to be stopped once again by law enforcement.

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A former substitute teacher in Illinois accepted a plea deal on predatory criminal sexual assault charges, according to authorities.

Police said the ex-teacher sexually abused an 11-year-old male student during “play dates” at her home. However, the teacher allegedly attempted to blame the child for making sexual advances toward her.

‘The accused abused her position as a sixth-grade teacher to exploit our client’s trust and engage in reprehensible acts.’

Alley Bardfield, 34, last week pleaded guilty to charges of predatory criminal sexual assault of a child under 13 years of age as part of a partial plea deal, according to WICS-TV.

Predatory criminal sexual assault is a Class X felony that is punishable by up to 60 years in prison, but the state recommended a sentence cap of 40 years, with eligibility for release after serving 85% of the term.

Bardfield is scheduled for sentencing on Sept. 25.

Bardfield — formerly of Decatur Public Schools — was arrested on April 3, 2024, following an investigation by the Mt. Zion Police Department and the Macon County Sheriff’s Office. The victim was a student in Bardfield’s sixth-grade class, and his mother tipped off law enforcement about the child sex crime allegations. Mt. Zion Police said in an April 2024 statement that “the victim’s mother reported noticing her son acting differently after a visit to” Bardfield’s residence, after which the mother “checked her son’s phone and social media.”

The mother reportedly found $700 in payments over a few months on the boy’s CashApp account. She also discovered a photo of her son and Bardfield flipping off the camera, according to police.

“Mt. Zion Police Department and deputies from the Macon County Sheriff’s Office conducted a joint investigation, which included a thorough review of text messages, social media, and a search warrant executed at the suspect’s residence,” the statement read.

RELATED: Married ex-teacher escapes jail sentence after accused of sharing explicit videos with student, inviting teen to have sex

Photo by halbergman via iStock / Getty Images

Police said the 11-year-old boy admitted to a sexual relationship with the teacher, including having unprotected sexual intercourse. Bardfield initially was accused of grooming, WICS reported.

Cunningham Lopez LLP, a Chicago-based law firm representing the victim, said in an April 2024 statement:

On April 3, 2024, Alley Bardfield was arrested on charges of grooming and predatory criminal sexual assault of our client. The accused abused her position as a sixth-grade teacher to exploit our client’s trust and engage in reprehensible acts. Ms. Bardfield’s actions have had a profound and lasting impact on our client, which will likely lead to significant physical, emotional, and psychological challenges.The perpetrator’s predatory actions have left our client with permanent injuries that have greatly disrupted his and his family’s daily life. As a result, we will be pursuing justice not only against Ms. Bardfield but also the school district as a whole, which failed to properly train and supervise in order to ensure the safety and well-being of its students. We are determined to hold both the perpetrator and the school fully accountable under the law.

A sworn police statement obtained by WCIA-TV stated that the sexual abuse occurred during “play dates” at her home in Mt. Zion.

Detective Corey James stated that the boy spent 25 hours from March 29 to March 30 at Bardfield’s home. During an interview with detectives, the 11-year-old said he and Bardfield had sex in her bedroom.

WCIA reported in April 2024 that police had the boy communicate with Bardfield through text messages, a phone call, and FaceTime while detectives monitored the communication between the two.

“During this time, Bardfield and the boy discussed birth control and pregnancy via text message,” the outlet previously reported. “Bardfield then advised the boy to delete the message and asked to talk to him on the phone.”

Bardfield reportedly told the boy during the phone call that she couldn’t get pregnant and that she missed the boy “a whole lot.”

Detective James stated that Bardfield confessed to having sexual intercourse with the 11-year-old and exchanging nude photos with him on the SnapChat messaging app during an interview with police. However, she allegedly blamed the sexual relationship on the boy, claiming that he made sexual advances toward her.

Shortly after her arrest, Decatur Public Schools fired Bardfield.

RELATED: Ex-Christian school teacher accused of sexually assaulting female student, rearrested after allegedly contacting another teen

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While many on the left have hoped that the controversy over the Jeffrey Epstein files might have eroded support of President Donald Trump, a CNN analyst says there are zero signs of it happening.

Polling analyst Harry Enten went through the numbers to show Kate Bolduan that Americans had lost interest in the Epstein debacle and that the president had not lost any support over the issue.

‘Donald Trump has some of the best political instincts of any politician I’ve seen, and in this particular issue you see it full well and clear.’

Bolduan appeared to be visibly disappointed as Enten ran through the polling results from the last few weeks.

“I would say that this is, from at least a political point of view, quickly turning into a dud of a story,” Enten said.

“Which is wild to think where this has been for three weeks now,” Bolduan responded.

Enten reported that the term “Epstein” was no longer the top term on Google search with the term “Trump,” and searches for the two terms together have dropped by 89% from only three weeks ago.

“At this particular point, the American people’s interest in this story, it’s quickly becoming something of a nothingburger,” Enten said.

He went on to point out that although Trump’s popularity had dropped by one percentage point from July to August, his current approval rating of 44% is seven percentage points above that of his first term in the same month.

“So he’s seven points higher, very much in a different political universe now, significantly higher in terms of his overall approval rating than he was in his first term,” Enten explained.

Among Republicans, approval for the president is hovering near 90%, a record high.

“So yes, there used to be a lot of interest in this story, but the bottom line is that even among those who had high interest in this story, it wasn’t something that they thought was all that important. … The interest in this story has fallen off the table,” he continued.

RELATED: Americans trust congressional Republicans to run the country far more than Biden, CNN poll finds

Bolduan pointed out that the attention congressional Democrats had put on the issue was “incongruous” with Americans’ attitudes.

“I would just say this, Donald Trump has some of the best political instincts of any politician I’ve seen, and in this particular issue you see it full well and clear because he has been saying, ‘This is a non-issue,’ and it turns out that a lot of the American public actually seem to agree with him,” Enten said.

“If you dream it, it will become,” a defeated Bolduan said. “That’s apparently the message.”

Enten posted video of the segment to his social media account on Monday.

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President Donald Trump reportedly told attendees at a $1 million-a-plate fundraiser in New Jersey earlier this month that he was contemplating reclassifying marijuana as a Schedule III drug under the Controlled Substances Act. He has since confirmed that the reclassification is on the table.

One of Trump’s most outspoken supporters has expressed hope that the president will ultimately decide against easing restrictions on cannabis.

Pro

Since 1970, cannabis has been listed as a Schedule I drug, a category of drugs the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration claims “have a high potential for abuse and the potential to create severe psychological and/or physical dependence” as well as “no currently accepted medical use.”

The Wall Street Journal indicated that the fundraiser conversation earlier this month was “part of a campaign by cannabis companies to persuade Trump to pick up where the Biden team left off and reclassify the drug” to a Schedule III substance, which would mean not only fewer federal restrictions but also big tax breaks for marijuana companies.

Among those reportedly in attendance at the fundraiser were Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla; cryptocurrency executives; political advisers close to the president; and Kim Rivers, the CEO of the marijuana giant Trulieve, which donated $750,000 to Trump’s inauguration.

Unnamed individuals who attended the fundraiser told the Journal that when Rivers personally encouraged Trump to reclassify the drug, the president flagged the matter for those staff members present.

RELATED: Marijuana can stunt or even kill babies in the womb: Study

LEONARDO MUNOZ/AFP via Getty Images

The matter of reclassification has evidently been on Trump’s radar for some time.

ScottsMiracle-Gro CEO James Hagedorn told Fox Business last week that Trump has told him and others “multiple times” that he will reclassify marijuana.

When Trump threw his support last year behind an unsuccessful Florida constitutional amendment to legalize marijuana for adults 21 and older, the then-candidate vowed that if re-elected, he would “continue to focus on research to unlock the medical uses of marijuana to a Schedule 3 drug.”

After he announced the federalization of the Metropolitan Police Department in Washington, D.C., on Monday, Trump was asked to square his crackdown on crime and drugs with the reports that he might soon reclassify marijuana.

‘Any cannabis use is associated with a 40% increased risk of psychosis.’

Trump said, “We’re looking at it. Some people like it. Some people hate it. Some people hate the whole concept of marijuana because … it does bad for the children, it does bad for people that are older than children. But we’re looking at reclassification, and we’ll make a determination over the … next few weeks.”

The president noted that it is a “very complicated subject” and that he has heard “great things having to do with medical” and “bad things having to do with just about everything else.”

Con

Trump ally and Turning Point USA CEO Charlie Kirk wrote in response to the Journal’s report, “I hope this doesn’t happen.”

“We need to protect public spaces for kids. Everything already smells like weed, which is ridiculous,” continued Kirk, who questioned the value of legalizing marijuana and raised concern over the drug’s significant increase in potency during his April interview with liberal polemicist Bill Maher.

“Let’s make it harder to ruin public spaces, not easier,” added Kirk.

RELATED: Stop blaming dopamine — kids aren’t addicts; they’re bored

Nordin Catic/Getty Images

Kirk is not alone in hoping that Trump will decide against reclassification.

Luke Niforatos, executive vice president of Smart Approaches to Marijuana, told Blaze News, “President Trump said today that he has heard a lot of bad things about marijuana. And for good reason.”

“Rescheduling marijuana will mean more crime, more homelessness, and more destruction of mental health,” continued Niforatos. “We need a strong generation of Americans. Rescheduling marijuana gives the Big Weed oligarchy a multibillion-dollar tax break so they can peddle more high-octane THC products that give our kids and our young adults schizophrenia and other forms of mental illness.”

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, roughly three in 10 people who consume cannabis have cannabis use disorder, which manifests in part as craving cannabis; trying but proving unable to quit using cannabis; using cannabis even though it causes problems at home, work, or school; using cannabis in high-risk situations; and using increasing amounts of the drug to achieve the same high.

The Canadian government, which legalized marijuana nationwide in 2018, claims that “any cannabis use is associated with a 40% increased risk of psychosis” and “earlier-onset cannabis use is associated with an increased risk of earlier-onset psychosis, with cannabis users under the age of 16 at greater risk of developing psychosis or schizophrenia.”

Cannabis use has been linked to other health conditions besides dependency and psychosis.

‘States that have legalized the drug have launched a panoply of cartel violence.’

For instance, a systematic review published on May 5 in JAMA concluded with moderate confidence on the basis of 51 studies with over 21.1 million participants that cannabis use during pregnancy can result in early births, low birth weights, and unusually small babies.

Blaze News previously reported that the review also indicated significantly increased odds of miscarriages.

Paul Larkin, a senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation’s Edwin Meese III Center for Legal and Judicial Studies, recently argued in JAMA Psychiatry against the Biden Department of Health and Human Services’ 2023 recommendation to the Drug Enforcement Administration that it reclassify cannabis as a Schedule III drug.

Larkin and Dr. Bertha Madras noted that HHS failed to properly address the adverse effects of cannabis use such as the high prevalence of cannabis use disorder among users and the mounting evidence linking marijuana use to psychosis.

They also noted that “there is no medical consensus that cannabis is a legitimate medical treatment” and that “the evidence supporting generic ‘cannabis’ as a treatment for medical conditions remains either low quality or nonexistent.”

When pressed for comment, HHS told Blaze News, “HHS continues to follow gold-standard science when determining the safety and efficacy of drugs.”

“The president should consider that no major law enforcement or medical association supports scheduling marijuana down to III, because it is a public safety and public health nightmare,” Niforatos told Blaze News.

“States that have legalized the drug have launched a panoply of cartel violence, Chinese CCP influence, and mental health carnage. Rescheduling marijuana gives a gigantic financial reward in the form of a tax break to cartels and the giant marijuana operators, like Glass House, the marijuana company ICE recently raided,” added Niforatos.

Marijuana has been legalized for medical use in 48 states plus the District of Columbia and legalized for recreational purposes in at least 24 states — a push aided by the drug’s normalization in and by the media.

Gallup revealed in November that the number of Americans who reported smoking marijuana had more than doubled since 2013, up to 15% from 7%. Whereas only 4% of respondents polled in 1969 reported trying marijuana, 47% of respondents reported trying the drug when asked last year.

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Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) has been heavily criticized by the right for changing her accent and persona based on who she’s speaking to — and now, not even her congressional aides can take it anymore.

“She is never in the office and is very disengaged. She does her b**ls**t that goes viral, and then freaks out over the most random things,” one aide told the New York Post.

“It is widely known that she’s not nice to staff and is just not a really dedicated member focused on constituents,” a second source said.

A third source who has worked with Crockett accused her of being “focused almost exclusively on being an influencer, not a member of Congress” and described her as “all diva, no wow.”

And apparently, when Crockett does go to the Hill, she forces her staffers to pick her up in rented vehicles — which she requires to be an Escalade or a similar higher-end vehicle. Most lawmakers allow their staff to pick them up in their own cars.

She then makes them open the door for her as she gets in the back seat.

“‘That’s the type of persona that I want to give the rest of the country,’” BlazeTV host Sara Gonzales mocks on “Sara Gonzales Unfiltered.” “I mean, that is really embarrassing and that certainly is not indicative of someone who believes that they are there to serve the people.”

And that’s not even the worst of it.

According to the official congressional expense report for January through March of this year, her staff total was $293,198.61. Her travel total for those two months was $129,301. Other services totaled $18,679, rent/communication/utilities were $30,679, and her office was almost $383,000.

“Grand total, almost a million dollars. $854,313.75, just over a time of three months, which averages to $9,492.37 of your tax dollars spent per day,” Gonzales says.

“You see the way she carries on. You see the way she conducts herself,” she says, adding, “Of course she thinks that she’s entitled to all of that.”

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Jen Pawol, 48, became the first female to umpire a Major League Baseball game when she called the game between the Atlanta Braves and Miami Marlins at Truist Park in Atlanta on Sunday.

Pawol spent about eight years umpiring professional baseball in the minor leagues before becoming the first woman since 2007 to call balls and strikes for a spring training game in February, the third woman in history to do so.

‘I think all umpires “below average” at their jobs should be abolished.’

Loud cheers greeted Pawol at the start of the game, and while there exists obvious controversy surrounding a woman umpiring a men’s sport, it was only after the first pitch was thrown that the criticism truly began.

Braves pitcher Joey Wentz threw the first pitch of the game well inside to Marlins infielder Xavier Edwards, but Pawol called it a strike anyway. The 93-mph pitch was so off the plate that Fox Sports announcer Brandon Gaudin remarked, “Joey Wentz likes that first call from Jen Pawol.”

In reaction to the clip on X, fans provided ruthless commentary about Pawol giving “one of the worst” calls in MLB history, while at the same time “ruining” baseball.

However, it’s a long nine innings in an MLB game, and when pitch-tracking stats for Pawol were released following the game, fans got to see exactly how the new umpire fared when compared to her colleagues.

RELATED: WNBA coach turns funny moments into feminist lecture: ‘This has been going on for centuries’

X page BallsAndStrikes was the first source to report on Pawol’s performance, showing that she missed 13 calls total: five favoring the Marlins and eight favoring the Braves.

When it came to a complex breakdown provided by Umpire Scorecards, Pawol’s overall accuracy was revealed to be 93%, with an overall consistency of 93%. Both numbers are just 1% below the MLB average for umpires.

Pawol’s called-ball accuracy was two percentage points below the league average at 95%, while her called-strike accuracy was 87%, one point below the league average.

Fans reacted to the stats on X with remarks “not bad” and “she did fine.”

What the data truly reveals about MLB umpires is not that it matters what gender the official is, but rather that fans are not happy with umpiring in the major leagues overall.

RELATED: Maine Democrat says transgender athletes make women better

Umpire Jen Pawol during a game between the Miami Marlins and Atlanta Braves. Photo by Todd Kirkland/Getty Images

“I think all umpires ‘below average’ at their jobs should be abolished,” baseball analyst Gary Sheffield Jr. told Blaze News. “I don’t care if they’re male, female, or flew in from space on a ship.”

Sheffield’s sentiment is shared by many fans who are calling for MLB to permanently institute an automated ball-strike challenge system that was used during the 2025 MLB All-Star Game.

The ABC system was well received and executed during the game, with multiple calls garnering a challenge from players that changed the course of the game.

Detroit Tigers pitcher Tarik Skubal — pitching for the American League that night — said that while he did not intend to make use of the system, he was happy when a ball call was overturned following his challenge in the first inning.

“It’s coming,” Skubal said back in July, per the Athletic. “Whether players like it or not, it’s going to come, so might as well get used to it.”

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Presidents in Latin America have voiced their opposition to President Donald Trump reportedly ordering the U.S. military to take direct action against drug cartels in the region.

As Blaze News previously reported, such a directive to the Department of Defense could allow the U.S. military to use force against groups that have been designated as foreign terrorists organizations. Many of those groups that are labeled as terrorists are based in Mexico, but a few others in Latin America and Haiti have the designation.

Colombian President Gustavo Petro … warned Colombians that Trump is going to bomb their country.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum assured her country on Friday that the United States is not going to invade with its military.

“We cooperate, we collaborate, but there will be no invasion. That’s ruled out, absolutely ruled out. … When [the U.S.] come[s] to raise it, we have always said no,” Sheinbaum said about the idea.

Sheinbaum boasted that U.S. federal agents who operate in Mexico do so under strict rules.

“I think we are the country that has the most regulation for foreign agents, whether from the United States or from another country,” she added.

“Let’s see how the executive order is, but there is no risk that they are going to invade our territory,” she concluded.

— (@)

Colombian President Gustavo Petro, an extreme leftist who has had an even rockier relationship with Trump, warned Colombians that Trump is going to bomb their country.

“We don’t do that ourselves because the bombs were killing children, and now he is going to come. It’s a problem of national discussion. … National sovereignty exists, and I prefer to talk and coordinate than to impose. That cannot be imposed,” Petro said.

— (@)

When Blaze News was in South America with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, she noted that Petro has not been very helpful in cracking down on the criminal organizations in his country that manufacture and traffic cocaine. While fentanyl is often considered the main scourge in the drug war, cocaine is still very popular in the United States and Europe. Fentanyl is also sometimes cut with cocaine, leading to accidental overdoses and deaths.

In a statement, White House spokesperson Anna Kelly told Blaze News, “President Trump’s top priority is protecting the homeland, which is why he took the bold step to designate several cartels and gangs as foreign terrorist organizations.”

Blaze News also reached out to the Department of Defense and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) for comment.

RELATED: Tren de Aragua in crosshairs as Noem signs deal with Chile to help prevent foreign gangs from entering US

Alex Brandon-Pool/Getty Images

The U.S. troops currently stationed at the U.S.-Mexico border are not in an offensive posture, as their mission has been to help U.S. Border Patrol intercept any illegal border-crossers. The military’s efforts, along with new policies in place to end catch-and-release, has resulted in a historic drop in illegal crossings.

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A beloved race car driver died following a case of extreme circumstances at a historic North Carolina track.

Robbie Brewer, a veteran driver with wins across multiple divisions, lost his life at just 53 years old following a race at the Bowman Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, on Saturday.

The 87-year-old venue recently welcomed the NASCAR Cup Series back to the stadium after more than half a century in 2025, which sparked renovations, investments, and a promise of more NASCAR events in the coming years. The stadium’s revitalization makes the death of Brewer even more tragic, especially when coupled with the unique circumstances that led to his passing.

‘I gave my last fist bump to Robbie last night.’

With just four laps remaining in the Sportsman division race on Saturday, Brewer’s No. 17 car was in the fourth position following a restart. As the field headed toward the green flag, Brewer’s car slammed into the outside wall in turn four and bounced off before driving back down the track and eventually coming to a stop.

In a video of the event showing the crash (not graphic), fans can be seen waving to Brewer, hoping to receive a thumbs-up from the driver. When he did not respond, fans looked panicked as race officials approached the car.

FloRacing reported that inside sources revealed Brewer suffered a heart attack during the race, which led to the crash.

In a video of the tragic incident, track personnel are seen rushing to Brewer. They eventually had to cut away the roof of his race car to remove him from the vehicle. He was then loaded onto an ambulance and taken to a nearby hospital.

RELATED: NASCAR driver calls Mexico City a ‘s***hole’ — immediately sent to ‘cultural sensitivity’ training

Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images

Brewer was later pronounced dead, with Bowman Gray Stadium releasing a statement.

“We are saddened by the passing of Robbie Brewer after he was transported to an area medical facility following an on-track medical incident during last night’s event at Bowman Gray Stadium,” the track said in a statement. “Robbie was a talented and passionate racer, and highly respected competitor among his peers. Our thoughts and prayers are with Robbie’s family and friends at this time.”

Fellow driver Brad Lewis posted his condolences on Facebook, sadly writing, “I gave my last fist bump to Robbie last night and told him to give ’em hell. Emilee spoke the last words to him over the radio. Hardest thing I’ve had to do was climb in a car after he was gone, but he would’ve told me to pump them up and get on the wheel.”

RELATED: ‘I don’t need anyone else talking s**t’: NASCAR’s Frankie Muniz says he may be at ‘a new low’ after insane string of bad luck

Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images

Brewer had a remarkable 35-year career with 11 wins in the Sportsman division.

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I had a lot riding on “The Naked Gun” — not just the $20.49 I shelled out for the ticket, but the fact that my friends Dan Gregor and Doug Mand co-wrote and co-produced the 2025 reboot.

I was in a tough spot: If their take on the Leslie Nielsen and ZAZ team comedy classic sucked, how was I going to ask them for my money back?

Venmo, probably.

Neeson’s action-hero physicality also delivers. Watch for the ‘bodycam’ scene, where he gives a performance that I can only describe as ‘The Grey’ but with IBS.

Post-postmortem

In my book, “That Joke Isn’t Funny Anymore,” I provide a postmortem on the death of comedy — but also a hopeful look forward to comedy’s rebirth. It’s been three years since “That Joke” debuted, and in that time I’ve seen the end of cancel culture, the shifting of the Overton window back to its original factory settings, and a comedy resurrection thanks to online “content creators,” podcasters, and stand-up comics.

For good and ill, the three often go together. Think of all the comic turned creator turned podcasters you follow. On the bright side, it’s never been easier for comedians to produce their work without having to answer to gatekeepers, but on the downside, there is the temptation to chase the algorithm, as Marc Maron put it recently on Howie Mandel’s podcast, to the detriment of the art.

A reboot to boot

The one genre that hasn’t seemed anywhere near a revival is the feature-length comedy. So Gregor and Doug — as well as director Akiva Schaffer and the rest of “The Naked Gun” 2025 team — were already fighting an uphill battle.

To make matters worse, they’re doing a reboot in a time when aren’t we all just tired of reboots? And, man, of all the reboots to reboot, you go ahead and reboot “The Naked Gun” to boot? That sounds impossible to pull off!

So I drove into Manhattan to witness the impossible on the big screen at the AMC theater in Times Square. Now that I think of it, if the movie sucked, I’d have to tack on tolls and the cost of parking to my refund.

Buttafuocus group

Gregor, the Long Island boy and NYU grad, had invited friends in the New York area to the watch party. Doug, the Philly kid and NYU alum, was doing his watch party in Philadelphia, where I imagine there was a higher chance of post-“Naked Gun” rioting.

The three of us met at NYU through improv. We performed on the same improv and sketch comedy team, the Wicked Wicked Hammerkatz, before graduating to the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater.

One of the reasons the Hammerkatz got a run at the UCB was because Gregor was able to pack the audience with his friends and family from Long Island. So walking into theater 17 for the 7 p.m. screening of “The Naked Gun” was a bit of a nostalgia trip for me: seeing the faces of the friends who had been supporting our comedy — throughout our various levels of success — for more than 20 years.

The hot seat

I had planned to sit alone — that’s why I picked a seat away from the crew — but Gregor had a seat for me right next to him. Son of a b***h. A great seat, sure, but do you understand what kind of pressure that put on me?

In the past, when I haven’t enjoyed a friend’s performance, I would use a line I stole from Matt Besser, one of the founding members of the UCB Theater: “It looked like you were having fun up there.”

I didn’t want to have to use that line. And I didn’t. Because for the next hour and 25 minutes (and some change, if you stay for the credits), I was laughing out loud. At points, tears in my eyes.

Jokes on jokes

There are so many jokes in “The Naked Gun” reboot that as you’re laughing, you’re missing new ones. It’s a brilliant design, really, to make sure audiences have to come back for another viewing to catch what they missed the first time around.

I want to talk about my favorite gags from the movie, but I don’t want to spoil them, and, well, there really is no way I can do them justice. “The Naked Gun” nails visual comedy, plays on words, and the straightest delivery of the stupidest (sometimes crudest) lines. It’s a hell of an homage to the originals.

I know original co-creator David Zucker had his reservations — this is his baby, after all — but he should be happy to see this one all grown up.

RELATED: ‘Naked Gun’ creator David Zucker offers ‘Crash’ course in comedy

mastercrash.com

A very particular set of skills

No, Liam Neeson is no Leslie Nielsen. He’s Liam Neeson. And he’s played up his gruff, grizzled persona for laughs before.

In the early 2010s HBO series “Life’s Too Short,” the “Taken” star briefly appears as himself, menacing Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant into doing some hilariously rigid “improvisational comedy” with him. It’s a brilliant performance, but it made me wonder if Neeson could ever carry a whole comedy.

I wonder no more. “The Naked Gun” performs a kind of alchemy by which it turns an incredibly intense figure like Neeson into a font of laughs.

In an interview with IndieWire, Gregor says, “The basic task was, ‘What’s the stupidest thing we can get Liam Neeson to say?’”

Neeson’s action-hero physicality also delivers. Watch for the “bodycam” scene, where he gives a performance that I can only describe as “The Grey” but with IBS. (Busta Rhymes is also great in the scene. Yes, Busta Rhymes is in the movie too.)

Chemistry lesson

Neeson’s chemistry with Pamela Anderson is so good that it’s obvious why they’re dating. Going into the theater, I stupidly didn’t even know she was in the movie. And yet there she is. Having pulled off the rare feat of aging gracefully in public, Anderson is elegant and magnetic — which makes the stupidest things Gregor and Doug get her to say and do that much funnier.

Danny Huston is brilliant as the villain, and his evil plot is the type of storyline that could be its own spinoff — it could work as another comedy spoof or a drama.

And if you’re wondering if “The Naked Gun” is “woke,” let’s just say if you think you can guess the punch lines from the setups, you’re going to be happily disappointed.

My boys did the impossible. See “The Naked Gun” once and you’ll want to see it twice. No refunds.

​That joke isn’t funny anymore, Naked gun, Liam neeson, Pamela anderson, Reboot, Movies, Culture, Entertainment, David zucker, Leslie nielsen, Dan gregor, Doug mand, Hollywood, Review 

Police said they responded to a shooting call in the 3000 block of Fostoria Road in southwest Memphis last month, WREG-TV reported.

Police responded to the location after the July 19 call and “made a forced entry into the residence, but the house was empty,” according to a complaint affidavit that Law & Crime obtained.

‘I told you to stop playing with me.’

The outlet said investigators soon learned about a shooting victim at a nearby hospital.

“In a statement to officers, [the wife] reported that she and her husband, defendant Decarlo Pitchford, had a verbal argument,” according to the affidavit, Law & Crime reported. “She attempted to leave the home with her belongings, but defendant Decarlo Pitchford became aggressive and tried to prevent her from leaving. She stated that he had a black handgun in his possession throughout the argument. As she walked near the bathroom, Defendant Decarlo Pitchford stood in the hallway, pointed the handgun, and fired one round, striking her in the abdomen. She stated that the shooting was intentional, despite the suspect claiming it was an accident.”

Amid the shooting, Pitchford allegedly told the victim, “I told you to stop playing with me,” WREG reported.

Pitchford, 51, allegedly admitted to police that he was in possession of a gun despite being a felon, Law & Crime said, citing the affidavit, and also allegedly said “his gun was jammed, and he was trying to clear it, and it went off accidentally shooting his wife.”

Police said Pitchford took his wife to a hospital — but on the way, allegedly stopped for a beer, WREG reported. It’s not clear where he allegedly stopped and for how long.

Pitchford is charged with attempted second-degree murder, domestic assault, and felon in possession of a firearm, the station said.

The Shelby County District Attorney’s Office last week highlighted the case, noting that a judge found probable cause for the charges against Pitchford.

He remained behind bars Monday morning, and there is no court date listed for him, according to jail records.

WREG said Pitchford is being held on a $350,000 bond.

The Shelby County Sheriff’s Office on Monday didn’t immediately respond to Blaze News’ inquiries regarding other information noted on Pitchford’s jail records — namely that his marital status is listed as single, and his total bond is listed as $700,000.

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​Beer, Shooting, Arrest, Domestic assault charge, Attempted murder charge, Felon in possession of a firearm charge, Hospital, Husband and wife, Argument, Crime