Category: blaze media

Pizza Hut Classic is evidence that even if a company gets its branding right, customer service is the oil that keeps the machine running.

Since 2019, Pizza Hut has been spreading its retro vibes across the continent by reintroducing its 1990s decor, design, and dining experience.

‘The interior features cozy red booths and old-school Pizza Hut lamps.’

From Warren, Ohio to Hempstead, Texas, the iconic Pizza Hut chandeliers are being rehung, and the fantastic buffet is being put out once again. According to Chefs Resource, some locations have even brought back the beloved dessert bar.

Slice of life

With the return of the 1974 logo and nostalgic appeal, Pizza Hut did the inverse of Cracker Barrel. Instead of trying to modernize and simplify their decor, the pie-slingers retrofitted and cluttered theirs.

A page called the Retrologist dissected the formula and determined exactly what the word “Classic” in Pizza Hut Classic really means. To meet the new (old) standard, the writer pinpointed that each location must include the following:

1. The old logo is used in pole signage as well as at the top of the (usually but not always) red-roofed restaurant. The pole sign features the addition of the word “Classic.”
2. The interior features cozy red booths and old-school Pizza Hut lamps.
3. Stickers featuring the long-discarded character Pizza Hut Pete are found on the door.
4. Posters feature classic photos from Pizza Huts of yore.
5. A plaque displays a quote from Pizza Hut co-founder Dan Carney, explaining the concept as a celebration of the brand’s heritage.

While many of the revamped locations have received rave reviews, there still exists a way to make such a fine dining experience awful, even if surrounded by everything that made customers flock to the buffet 30 years ago.

RELATED: The ‘rebranding’ brigade’s war on beauty

Photo by Andrew Chapados/Blaze News

Word salad

For a Pizza Hut Classic ruined by modern belief systems, look no farther than north of the border, in the Toronto suburb of Scarborough.

While the restaurant did include the iconic chandeliers and some of the retro furnishings, it did not have old soda fountains or the memorable menus spotted at other locations. Instead, this unique eatery represented a new (low) standard of lackluster customer service, coupled with sprinklings of unfettered immigration policy.

These accommodations, or lack there of, will surely split customers down political lines. Yes, there are retro red Pepsi cups, but the waitress who literally speaks no English may fill that cup with Diet Pepsi with ice instead of “water with no ice.”

Is there a salad bar? Yes. Is the salad bar limited to plain lettuce and croutons? Also yes. Were there pieces of lettuce dropped in the ranch dressing (the only available dressing) for the duration of the visit? Definitely.

RELATED: Cracker Barrel’s logo lives — but like every digital-age public space, it now looks dead inside

Photo by Andrew Chapados/Blaze News

Meat and greet

A steady rotation of cheese, deluxe, and Hawaiian pizza was only broken up by one couple’s complaints about the lack of variety. A manager — also largely unintelligible in her speech — replied first with a refusal to change the rotation. Strangely, about 10 minutes later, she eventually brought out two meat lovers’ pizzas, in an apparent act of defiance.

The damaged seating in the restaurant combined with a chip out of the “Hut” portion of the building’s exterior revealed years-old paint and, along with it, a yearning for more care to be given. A restaurant that could be so nostalgic, but ruined by the apparent comforts of a district that has voted Liberal in its last three federal elections for a woman from the U.K. who holds citizenship in three countries, including Pakistan.

“I wanted to go to a dine-in, because in most places, including the U.K., you can’t do that now,” said reporter Lewis Brackpool, who visited the location. He added, “I come to one, and what do you know — it sucks.”

In at a massive discount due to the exchange rate, Brackpool could not help but feel like many who are from the area: that what had been promised was robbed.

The experience can be summed up in the words of an anonymous would-be customer who, upon seeing a commercial of what a Pizza Hut buffet looked like in the 1990s in comparison to the location in question, said, “They took this from us.”

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​Culture, Align, Pizza hut, Restaurant, Nostalgia, Retro, Dine-in, Immigration, Canada, America, United kingdom, Pizza, Lifestyle, Review 

The family of a 62-year-old man is mourning his death after he was mauled by three dogs in Katy, according to Texas police.

The Harris County Sheriff’s Office said witnesses reported a man mauled by dogs on Monday before chasing off the animals.

Animal control had no previous history with the dogs.

When EMS personnel arrived at the scene, they pronounced the man dead.

Police then found a mother and a daughter who had also been attacked by the dogs near Permission Creek Lane, according to the public information officer Thomas Gilliland. They were transported to a hospital for treatment of minor injuries.

Gilliland said the man’s family went looking for him when he didn’t return home from a morning routine walk.

The dogs were described as pit bull mix.

Police were able to find the dogs, and two were taken by animal control, while the third was shot by deputies and euthanized by animal control. They will be quarantined for 10 days, after which a judge will determine their fate.

Animal control had no previous history with the dogs. Gilliland said authorities had not determined how the dogs got out of the home.

The identity of the man was not released by police.

RELATED: 17-year-old girl brutally mauled by pack of dogs — her mom says she was unrecognizable

Homicide detectives interviewed the owner of the dogs.

Charges have not yet been filed.

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​Dog mauling, Dog attack, Texas dog attack, Pit bull attack, Crime 

What happened Sunday at the home of Rob and Michele Reiner is a family nightmare. A son battling addiction, likely complicated by mental illness. Parents who loved him. A volatile situation that finally erupted into irreversible tragedy.

I grieve for them.

Shame keeps families quiet. Fear keeps them guarded. Love keeps them hoping longer than wisdom sometimes allows.

I also grieve for the families who read those headlines and felt something tighten in their chest because the story felt painfully familiar.

We often hear the phrase, “If you see something, say something.” The problem is that most people do not know what to say. So they say nothing at all.

What if we started somewhere simpler?

I see you. I see the weight you are carrying. I hurt with you.

Families living with addiction and serious mental illness often find themselves isolated. Not only because of the chaos inside their homes, but because friends, neighbors, and even faith communities hesitate to step closer, unsure of what to say or do. Over time, silence settles in.

Long before police are called, before neighbors hear sirens, before a tragedy becomes a headline, people live inside relentless stress and uncertainty every day.

They are caregivers.

We rarely use that word for parents, spouses, or siblings of addicts, but we should. These families do not simply react to bad choices. They manage instability. They monitor risk. They absorb emotional whiplash. They try to keep everyone safe while holding together a household under extraordinary strain.

In many ways, this disorientation rivals Alzheimer’s. In some cases, it proves even more destabilizing.

Addiction is cruelly unpredictable. It offers moments of clarity that feel like hope. A sober conversation. An apology. A promise that sounds sincere. Those moments can disarm a family member who desperately wants to believe the worst has passed.

Then the pivot comes. Calm turns to chaos. Remorse gives way to rage. Many families learn to live on edge, constantly recalibrating, never certain whether today will be manageable or explosive.

Law enforcement officers understand this reality well. Many domestic calls involve addiction, mental illness, or both. Tension often greets officers at the door, followed by a familiar refrain: “We didn’t know what else to do.”

Calling these family members caregivers matters because it reframes the conversation. It moves us away from judgment and toward reality. From, “Why don’t they just …?” to, “What are they carrying?” It acknowledges that these families manage risk, not just emotions.

The recovery community has long emphasized truths that save lives: You did not cause it. You cannot control it. You cannot cure it. These principles are not cold. They bring clarity. And clarity matters when safety is at stake.

RELATED: The grace our cruel culture can’t understand

Photo by Gary Hershorn / Getty Images

Another truth too often postponed until tragedy strikes deserves equal emphasis: The caregiver’s safety matters too.

Friends and faith communities often respond with a familiar phrase: “Let me know if there’s anything you need.” It sounds kind, but it places the burden back on someone already exhausted and often afraid.

Caregivers need something different. They need people willing to ask better questions.

Are you safe right now? Is there a plan if things escalate? Who is checking on you? Would it help if I stayed with you or helped you find a safe place tonight?

These questions do not intrude. They protect.

Often, the most meaningful help does not come as a solution, but as a witness. Henri Nouwen once observed that the people who matter most rarely offer advice or cures. They share the pain. They sit at the kitchen table. They walk alongside without looking away.

Caregivers living with someone battling addiction and mental illness often need at least one safe presence who sees clearly, speaks honestly, and stays when things grow uncomfortable.

We have permission to care, but not always the vocabulary.

Shame keeps families quiet. Fear keeps them guarded. Love keeps them hoping longer than wisdom sometimes allows. One of the greatest gifts we can offer is the willingness to penetrate that isolation with clarity, grace, and tangible help.

Grace does not require silence in the face of danger. Love does not demand enduring abuse. Faith does not obligate someone to remain in harm’s way.

Pointing a caregiver toward safety does not abandon the person struggling with addiction. It recognizes that multiple lives stand at risk, and all of them matter.

When tragedies occur, the public asks what could have been done differently. One answer proves both simple and difficult: Stop overlooking the caregivers quietly absorbing the blast.

RELATED: The courage we lost is hiding in the simplest places

Photo by Wolfgang Kaehler/LightRocket via Getty Images

Welfare checks should not focus solely on the person battling addiction or mental illness. Families living beside that struggle often need support long before a breaking point arrives.

If you know someone whose son, daughter, spouse, or partner struggles, do not look away because you feel unsure what to say. You do not need to solve anything. You do not need to analyze anything.

Start by seeing them. Stay with them.

I see you. I see how heavy this is. You do not have to carry it alone.

Ask better questions. Offer practical help that does not depend on their energy to ask. Check on them again tomorrow.

This season reminds us that Christ did not stand at a safe distance from trauma. He came close to the wounded and brought redemption without demanding tidy explanations.

When we do the same for families living in the shadow of addiction and mental illness, we honor their suffering and the Savior who meets us there.

​Addiction, Caregivers, Drug addiction, Opinion & analysis, Rob reiner, Murder, Safety, Drugs, Mental illness 

In the recently argued Trump v. Slaughter case, most of the U.S. Supreme Court seemed to affirm what should be obvious: The president has a constitutional right under Article II to dismiss federal employees in the executive branch when it suits him.

That conclusion strikes many of us as self-evident. Executive-branch employees work under the president, who alone among them is chosen in a nationwide election. Bureaucrats are not. Why, then, should the chief executive’s subordinates be insulated from his control?

When the Roberts Court overturned Roe in 2022 and returned the issue to the states, many voters responded with fury. The electorate did not welcome responsibility. It resented it.

A vocal minority on the court appears to reject that premise. Justices Ketanji Brown Jackson and Sonia Sotomayor warned that allowing a president — implicitly a Republican one — to control executive personnel would unleash political chaos. Jackson suggested Trump “would be free to fire all the scientists, the doctors, the economists, and PhDs” working for the federal government. Sotomayor went further, claiming the administration was “asking to destroy the structure of government.”

David Harsanyi, in a perceptive commentary, identified what animates this view: “fourth-branch blues.” The administrative state now exercises power that rivals or exceeds that of the constitutional branches. As Harsanyi noted, nothing in the founders’ design envisioned “a sprawling autonomous administrative state empowered to create its own rules, investigate citizens, adjudicate guilt, impose fines, and destroy lives.”

Yet defenders of this system frame presidential oversight as a threat to “democracy.” Democrats, who present themselves as democracy’s guardians, warn that allowing agency officials to answer to the elected president places the nation in peril. The argument recalls their reaction to the Dobbs case, when the court returned abortion policy to voters and was accused of “undermining democracy” by doing so.

RELATED: This Supreme Court case could reverse a century of bureaucratic overreach

Photo By Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call

On that point, Harsanyi and I agree. Judicial and bureaucratic overreach distort constitutional government. The harder question is whether voters object.

From what I can tell, most do not. Many Americans seem content to trade constitutional self-government for managerial rule, provided the system delivers benefits and protects their expressive preferences. The populist right may bristle at this arrangement, but a leftist administrative state that claims to speak for “the people” may reflect the electorate’s will.

Recent elections reinforce that suspicion. Voters showed little interest in reclaiming authority from courts or bureaucracies. They appeared far more interested in government largesse and symbolic rights than in the burdens of republican self-rule.

Consider abortion. Roe v. Wade rested on shaky legal ground, yet large segments of the public enthusiastically embraced it for nearly 50 years. When the Roberts Court overturned Roe in 2022 and returned the issue to the states, many voters responded with fury. States enacted expansive abortion laws, and Democrats benefited from unusually high turnout. The electorate did not welcome responsibility. It resented it.

This reaction should not surprise anyone familiar with history. In 1811, Spaniards rejected the liberal constitution imposed by French occupiers, crying “abajo el liberalismo” — down with liberalism. They did not want abstract rights. They wanted familiar authority.

At least half of today’s American electorate appears similarly disposed. Many prefer guided democracy administered by judges and managers to the uncertainties of self-government. Their votes signal approval for continued rule by the administrative state. Republicans may slow this process at the margins, but Democrats expand it openly, and voters just empowered them to do so.

RELATED: Stop letting courts and consultants shrink Trump’s signature promise

Yuri Gripas/Abaca/Bloomberg via Getty Images

I anticipated this outcome decades ago. In “After Liberalism” (1999), I argued that democracy as a universal ideal tends to produce expanded managerial control with popular consent. Nineteenth-century fears that mass suffrage would yield chaos proved unfounded. Instead the extension of the franchise coincided with more centralized, remote, and less accountable government.

As populations lost shared traditions and common authority, governance shifted away from democratic participation and toward expert administration. The state grew less personal, less local, and less answerable, even as it claimed to act in the people’s name.

Equally significant has been the administrative state’s success in presenting itself as the custodian of an invented “science of government.” According to this view, administrators form an enlightened elite, morally and intellectually superior to the unwashed masses. Justice Jackson’s warnings reflect this assumption.

I would like to believe, as Harsanyi suggests, that Americans find such attitudes insulting. I am no longer sure they do. Many seem pleased to be managed. They want judges and bureaucrats to make decisions for them.

That preference should trouble anyone who still cares about constitutional government.

​Supreme court, Trump vs slaughter, Administrative state, Opinion & analysis, Donald trump, Democracy, Constitution, Article ii 

The prime minister of Australia vowed to take whatever action is necessary to prevent more horrific terrorist attacks but immediately turned to gun control as the answer.

He also revealed that one of the two suspects in the massacre had been previously investigated over Islamic terror ties to a cell in Sydney.

‘What we saw yesterday was an act of pure evil, an act of anti-Semitism, an act of terrorism.’

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese made the comments Monday after two gunmen opened fire at a Jewish celebration at Bondi Beach and massacred at least 15 people.

“The government is prepared to take whatever action is necessary. Included in that is the need for tougher gun laws,” he said.

Among the proposals to further restrict gun ownership is a limit on the number of guns a person can own as well as a review of gun permits held over a period of time.

The two gunmen were shot by police during the attack and were identified as a father and son. The 50-year-old father died of the gunshot injuries, but the son survived and is in custody. He is hospitalized in serious condition.

Albanese went on to confirm that the Australian Security Intelligence Organization had previously investigated the younger suspected gunman for six months in 2019 over ties to an Islamic State cell in Sydney.

“He was examined on the basis of being associated with others, and the assessment was made that there was no indication of any ongoing threat or threat of him engaging in violence,” Albanese added.

About 25 people are being treated at hospitals from the attack, and about 10 people are in critical condition.

RELATED: Chuck Schumer gives stunningly tone-deaf remarks following Australia attack

Video from the attack showed a brave man tackle one of the suspects and wrestle away his weapon. He was identified as Ahmed al Ahmed, a father of two girls and the son of refugee parents from Syria.

He was later shot in the incident and is recuperating at a hospital. A donation page set up for the heroic man has raised over $1.9 million.

“What we saw yesterday was an act of pure evil, an act of anti-Semitism, an act of terrorism on our shores in an iconic Australian location, Bondi Beach, that is associated with joy, associated with families gathering, associated with celebrations, and it is forever tarnished by what has occurred last evening,” Albanese said.

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​Australian attack, Australian prime minister, Bondi beach attack, Antisemitic massacre, Politics 

Comedienne and actress Leslie Jones opined that the proper way to set things right is to send every employee of Immigration and Customs Enforcement to jail.

The former Saturday Night Live cast member made the comments while being interviewed by Nicolle Wallace on “The Best People” podcast.

‘I just want a reckoning. I want a reckoning. Y’all know y’all did wrong stuff. You know some of the stuff you did was so wrong.’

Jones said there should be a reckoning after the midterm elections.

“Girl, I’m hoping, this is what I’m hoping, that midterms, people come out and vote like crazy to switch it over, and then the reckoning comes,” Jones said to a laughing Wallace.

“That’s why I want all, everybody that work for ICE, I want them in jail,” she added. “I just want a reckoning. I want a reckoning. Y’all know y’all did wrong stuff. You know some of the stuff you did was so wrong. I need a reckoning. Because that’s, to me, that’s the only thing that’s gonna make it right.”

She also called for some accountability for others involved in politics.

“You see somebody that’s doing something completely terrible, like some of these influencers, these crazy folks, and we let them go because freedom of speech, of course, but there should be accountability,” she added.

“Gravity, like things should fall,” Wallace chimed in.

Video of Jones’ comments were widely circulated on social media.

RELATED: Conservative writer posts same Tweet as ‘Ghostbusters’ actress — see what happened

Mass deportations have been a large part of President Donald Trump’s agenda in order to combat the influx of illegal aliens after four years under the Biden administration. Some of those efforts have been stymied by legal challenges.

Fox News said ICE did not respond to a request for comment about Jones’ wishes.

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​Leslie jones, Celebrities vs republicans, Put ice in jail, Liberal celebrities, Politics 

Atlanta police made an arrest late last week in connection with a homeowner who cops said shot two teenage porch pirates.

Police said Rakim Bradford, 34, was charged with two counts of aggravated assault and one count of possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony. Fulton County Jail records indicate Bradford was booked into jail Friday and released Sunday.

Police said officers responded around 3:40 p.m. Thursday to the scene on Celeste Lane SW and found a 16-year-old male who apparently was shot in his right arm, and a 15-year-old male who apparently was shot in his right foot.

The 16-year-old male was taken to a hospital in critical condition, underwent surgery, and is expected to survive his injury, police said, adding that the 15-year-old was alert, conscious, and breathing, and was transported to a hospital for treatment.

RELATED: Atlanta homeowner shoots 2 juveniles who were taking packages from his porch, police say

Bradford’s arrest warrant indicates the teens saw a delivery van in the townhome complex and then “agreed to steal that package from the front of the residence,” Atlanta News First reported.

However, before the teens were able to make off with the package, Bradford opened the door and shot at them, Atlanta News First added, citing the warrant.

“Don’t go and steal people’s packages,” neighbor Andrew Julian told Atlanta News First. “On the other side of that, what right do you have to defend your own home, and then what decision do you make to defend your own home based on somebody taking an item off of your porch? So, it’s certainly a conversation to be had.”

Nubian Barnes, a neighbor of Bradford’s in the Villages of Cascade Townhome community, told WSB-TV she could understand his frustrations: “I can. But to shoot them. I don’t know. I just don’t feel he should have shot him.”

Barnes added to the station that shooting the teens could have resulted in fatalities: “And then he would have been facing murder charges. All because of a package that probably didn’t cost that much. Definitely didn’t cost a human life.”

Reginald Boudreaux added to WSB that the shooting was “crazy to me. Like, you call the police. That’s what police are for.”

Quin King noted to WSB that the shooting was “just so much over packages. Packages can be replaced,” she said.

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​Arrest, Porch pirates, Teenage males, Atlanta, Shooting, Aggravated assault charges, Possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony charge, Released, Crime 

A USA Today reporter is facing fierce backlash after reporting that a top education official had hung a “Christian nationalist” symbol at his office — but it turned out to be an “Appeal to Heaven” flag.

Zach Schermele posted an image of the flag hung at the office of Murray Bessette, the principal deputy assistant secretary of the Office of Planning, Evaluation and Policy Development. The flag has a long historical tradition in the U.S. going back to the Revolutionary War.

‘Can we get a reporter with room temperature IQ or better?’

“A controversial Christian nationalist flag is hanging outside the D.C. office of a top Education Department official, the agency’s union and an employee who has observed it firsthand told me,” Schermele wrote on social media.

“The flag, which was raised by rioters during the Jan. 6 insurrection,” he added, “is adorning the office of Murray Bessette, principal deputy assistant secretary in the Office of Planning, Evaluation and Policy Development.”

His bizarre accusation was widely mocked on social media.

“We’re not doing this again. We’re not letting leftist media ignorance of American history demonize a patriotic flag dating back to the Revolutionary War and the Continental Navy. Proud to have it outside my office!” Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah responded.

“Reminder: this is not a ‘Christian nationalist flag.’ It was commissioned by George Washington himself, was designed by his personal secretary, and has long served in official & unofficial capacities as a flag of Maine & Massachusetts,” Dan McLaughlin of National Review replied.

“Can we get a reporter with room temperature IQ or better?” another detractor said.

“Attacking a revolutionary war flag that celebrates natural rights is a good way to announce you hate America’s founding principles,” Second Amendment activist Kostas Moros said.

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

RELATED: Lindsey Graham lectures Alito for flag, Mike Lee hits back: ‘Every right to hang whatever flag’

Blaze Media co-founder Glenn Beck summarized the historical significance of the flag when Alito was smeared for displaying it.

“That was the symbol of New England since the 16th century. Why? Because New England had big pine trees. Why was that important? Because they could build ships and build them for England or whoever and ship giant masts, which were hard to find because nobody had the giant pine trees that New England had,” Beck said.

The image also referred to a peace tradition among Iroquois Indians to ease tensions between warring nations.

“So, it is also the symbol of the tree of peace,” he added. “It was also on the coinage produced by the Massachusetts Bay Colony, and it became the symbol of the colonial iron resistance as well as a multi-tribal support for independence now.”

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​Appeal to heaven flag, Reporter mocked and ridiculed, Media smear, Politics, Christian nationalist flag 

Democrat Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota was quick to play the race card after her son was pulled over by ICE in a traffic stop Sunday.

Omar’s son was pulled over by ICE after making a stop at Target, and he was asked to produce his identification, according to the congresswoman’s account. Despite Omar’s accusations of racial profiling, her son was let go by ICE after producing his passport.

‘There’s nothing worse than when a person comes in and does nothing but b***h.’

“They are racially profiling,” Omar said of the ICE raids in Minnesota. “They are looking for young men who look Somali that they think are undocumented.”

“Yesterday, after he made a stop at Target, he did get pulled over by ICE agents,” Omar added. “Once he was able to produce his passport ID, they did let him go.”

RELATED: ‘The voices in her head are not real’: Senator Kennedy issues a hilarious rebuke of Jasmine Crockett

Christian Monterrosa/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Omar’s political allies quickly came to bat for her and her son, doubling down on the narrative that he was pulled over for racial reasons. Notably, neither law enforcement nor the congresswoman have clarified why her son was pulled over in the first place.

“Congresswoman Omar’s son was pulled over by ICE while he was following the law, on his way home from Target,” failed Democrat vice presidential candidate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said in a post on X. “This isn’t a targeted operation to find violent criminals, it’s racial profiling.”

Despite the left decrying alleged racial motivations, President Donald Trump has maintained his criticisms of Omar and Somali migrants in Minnesota, citing their lack of assimilation and the disproportionally high rates of fraud.

RELATED: ‘Complete lizard person’: Chuck Schumer gives stunningly tone-deaf remarks following Australia attack

“There’s nothing worse than a person that comes in and does nothing but b***h,” Trump told Blaze News in the Oval Office Friday, “and comes from a place where she shouldn’t be telling us what to do. She shouldn’t be telling us. And everybody agrees with me.”

“What’s happening in Minnesota with Somalia, where billions of dollars are being stolen like candy from a baby, we’re not going to let that go on.”

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​Donald trump, Ilhan omar, Ice, Tim walz, Minnesota, Somalians, Somali fraud, Racial profiling, Politics 

One of the first things I did when I moved to Dubai was buy a Dodge Challenger. Not the volcanic Hellcat or the feral Scat Pack — the SXT, the V6 base model.

Nevertheless, for those nine months in 2023, the car carried itself like it had seen things it couldn’t legally discuss. I miss it the way a grounded teenager misses his phone — painfully and often. The car was, in many ways, gloriously pointless. But to me, it was absolutely perfect. Nobody buys a Dodge for practicality. You buy one because fun is a dying art and driving is supposed to feel alive.

America insists this is why we can’t have nice things. The UAE shrugs, inhales some shisha, and says, ‘Great, we’ll have them instead.’

What fascinated me then, and still does now, is how the Middle East has quietly become the last stronghold for real American muscle.

Dubai drift

While America agonizes over emissions charts and frets about carbon neutrality, Dubai is out there treating a supercharged V8 like a household appliance. You hear them everywhere — echoing off glass towers, screaming down Sheikh Zayed Road, prowling through parking lots like metal predators looking for prey. It’s the sound of a culture still in love with combustion, unashamed of horsepower, and utterly allergic to guilt.

The region adores these cars. Worships them, even. In the West, muscle cars are increasingly treated like contraband with headlights, monitored by regulators the way principals monitor school corridors. But in the UAE, they’re symbols of power, freedom, excess, and the simple joy of pressing a pedal and feeling physics panic.

The numbers back it up. The UAE’s classic-car market is projected to grow from roughly $1.23 billion in 2023 to nearly $1.83 billion by 2032, with collectors routinely paying well above American estimates. This is particularly true for rare models, such as the 1971 Plymouth Hemi ’Cuda convertible that sold for about $4.2 million in Dubai, roughly 35% above its American estimate.

Men in flowing robes and sandals race around industrial estates with the confidence of emperors and the cornering ability of a wardrobe on wheels. Somehow, by the grace of God (not Allah), it all works. There’s something delightfully surreal about watching a man dressed like he stepped out of the book of Exodus drift a Challenger with monk-like serenity.

Combustion cosplay

Back home, Dodge now calls its new EVs “muscle.” But that’s like a woman getting very expensive surgery in a very private place and calling herself a man. Without the roar, the vibration, the combustion, it’s cosplay — an impersonation that fools no one except the marketing department. You can’t call something a muscle car if it sounds like a dentist’s drill.

Real muscle needs rumble. It needs that primal, throat-deep growl that shakes your sternum and announces your arrival three zip codes away. Take that away, and you’re just a sad sack who should have bought a Tesla and called it a day.

When muscle cars disappear, the loss isn’t just mechanical but cultural. For decades, when the world pictured America, it didn’t picture Washington or Wall Street. It pictured steel, cylinders, and a V8 rumble rolling across a desert highway.

Hollywood hardwired that association into the global imagination. “Bullitt,” “Vanishing Point,” “Smokey and the Bandit,” even the “Fast & Furious” franchise, for all its awful acting and cheese thick enough to insulate a house. I still remember being 8 years old, watching “Gone in 60 Seconds,” and thinking, Yes, this is what adulthood should look like.

You could grow up thousands of miles away, never having set foot on American soil, and still recognize the sound of a Mustang firing up. It was the unofficial anthem of the greatest nation on Earth, a national ringtone encoded in exhaust fumes. It symbolized everything the country loved about itself: rebellion, possibility, the belief that any man with a heavy foot and enough premium gasoline could outrun his problems. It was an identity as much as a mode of transport.

RELATED: ‘Leno’s Law’ could be big win for California’s classic car culture

CNBC/Getty Images

Revvers’ refuge

And that’s the tragedy. A silent America isn’t an America anyone recognizes. The muscle car was more than a vehicle. It was a character, a co-star, an accomplice. Kill it off, and the whole story changes — and not for the better.

And oddly, it’s the Middle East that seems most intent on preserving that myth. It’s as if the region has been appointed the accidental curator of America’s automotive soul. The UAE, in particular, feels like the final refuge where these cars can run wild. Environmental regulations exist there, but only in the same way that scarecrows exist — present, decorative, and cheerfully ignored. The country is spotless, the air somehow clearer than cities that run entire marketing campaigns screaming “sustainability!” And yet it’s bursting with Challengers and Chargers. America insists this is why we can’t have nice things. The UAE shrugs, inhales some shisha, and says, “Great, we’ll have them instead.”

It makes you re-think the demonization of muscle cars. We were told they were barbaric, dirty, irresponsible — rolling catastrophes portrayed as personal hand grenades lobbed at the atmosphere. Meanwhile, Dubai keeps its streets cleaner than half of California while simultaneously hosting enough horsepower to make a U.N. peacekeeper reach for the radio. The contradiction is almost poetic. The place accused of excess manages to be pristine, while the places preaching virtue can’t manage basic cleanliness without a committee and a grant.

Selling sand to a camel

A quick disclaimer for anyone feeling inspired to follow my lead. Dubai might be paradise for muscle cars, but it’s also the Wild West of used-car dealing. A shocking number of “mint condition” imports arrive after being wrapped around a tree somewhere in North America, are given a light cosmetic baptism, and are relaunched onto the market as if they had spent their lives humming gently down suburban streets.

Half the salesmen — greasy, fast-talking veterans from Lebanon, Palestine, and everywhere in between — could sell sand to a camel. You need your eyes open. Fortunately, I knew the sites where you can run a chassis number and see the car’s real history, dents, disasters, and all. It saved me from driving home in a beautifully repainted coffin.

Even with this dark underbelly, Dubai’s affection for American muscle is entirely authentic. You see it on weekend nights at the gas stations, which double as unofficial car shows. Dozens gather, engines idling like caged animals, while men compare exhaust notes with the seriousness of diplomats negotiating borders. Teenagers film everything, because why wouldn’t you document a species this endangered? The entire scene feels like a sanctuary, a place where mechanical masculinity hasn’t been entirely euthanized.

Muscle migration

Some of the funniest moments came from watching Emirati drivers — men dressed in immaculate white garments — exit their cars with Hollywood swagger, as if the Challenger were simply an extension of their personality. And in many ways, it was. It was part “Need for Speed,” part Moses at the Marina. And somehow, without irony, they pulled it off.

Living there made me realize that muscle cars aren’t dying everywhere. Rather, they’re migrating. Fleeing the jurisdictions that shame them and settling in regions that still celebrate joy. The Middle East has become the last refuge for these beasts. Not because it rejects the future, but because it refuses to surrender the past for a machine that feels clinically dead on delivery.

And that’s the real tragedy. America built the muscle car, mythologized it, exported it, then surrendered it to paper-pushers in Priuses, armed with clipboards and calculators. The UAE bought the export and kept the myth alive. My Challenger is gone now, sold to a man who claimed he needed it for “family errands.” But the fond memories of tearing around the city have never faded. America may have abandoned its automotive adolescence, but Dubai, thankfully, hasn’t.

Someone has to keep the engines roaring. And right now, it’s the men in sandals.

​Culture, Lifestyle, Muscle cars, Ford mustang, Dodge charger, Dubai, Middle east, Evs, Align cars 

Failed Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris is reportedly taking some steps toward running for president again, even though donors believe she cannot win.

An Axios report said Harris was signaling to possible competitors for the Democratic nomination that she may run again. Axios cited comments made about her and recent appearances she’s made to maintain her position atop the party.

‘People are done with the status quo, and they’re ready to break things to force change.’

Axios reported that many Democratic donors and party leaders are worried Harris will lose if she runs again.

Harris has extended her book tour with more stops in 2026, including some in the important primary state of South Carolina, as well as cities with a large population of black voters.

She also appeared with her husband, Doug Emhoff, at the winter meeting of the Democratic National Committee in Los Angeles, California.

DNC chair Ken Martin reportedly suggested at the meeting that Harris might run again.

On Wednesday, Martin referred to Emhoff as the former second gentleman, then reportedly joked that he might become the future first gentleman.

Harris is also employing new rhetoric that some find to be far different from the communications strategy she used during the campaign.

“Both parties have failed to hold the public’s trust,” the former vice president said at the DNC meeting. “Government is viewed as fundamentally unable to meet the needs of its people. … People are done with the status quo, and they’re ready to break things to force change.”

Polling also showed Harris to be one of the top contenders for the nomination.

RELATED: Kamala Harris cackles uncontrollably while claiming she defeated Trump’s strategy to bait her

A Harris spokesperson said in a statement to Axios that Harris “will approach 2026 with the same commitment that anchored 2025 — listening to the American people, reflecting where leadership has fallen short, and helping shape the path forward beyond this political moment.”

In May, a top Harris-Walz campaign advisor blamed the election loss on former President Joe Biden for staying in his doomed re-election campaign far too long.

“It’s all Biden. … He totally f**ked us,” David Plouffe said.

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Federal agencies under Democratic leadership blocked investigation activities into the Clinton Foundation, according to new records obtained by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa).

In 2015, Governmental Accountability Institute president Peter Schweizer published his book “Clinton Cash,” in which he accused Bill and Hillary Clinton of a pay-to-play and bribery scheme involving their foundation’s donors. The accusations prompted the Department of Justice and the FBI to open investigations into the Clinton Foundation; however, those efforts were ultimately shut down.

‘That’s a night-and-day departure from how the Biden Justice Department handled the Arctic Frost investigation against President Trump.’

On Monday, Grassley announced that new “behind-the-scenes” records revealed “how top leadership during the Obama-Biden administration repeatedly interfered to prevent DOJ prosecutors and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents from investigating the Clinton Foundation’s financial dealings.”

Grassley stated that records revealed that FBI leadership “obstructed investigative activities.”

“According to emails obtained by my office, on July 20, 2016 — 111 days before the 2016 election — an agent with the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division (CID) stated that, ‘based on the sensitivities surrounding the Clinton Foundation,’ agents were prohibited from ‘subpoena[ing] additional records related to the Foundation, the Clintons’; ‘conduct[ing] any interviews related to the Foundation or the Clintons’; and ‘shar[ing] any of the Foundation bank account info with any other office.’ Emails also show that the FBI ‘[did] not want to create any impression we were investigating the Clinton Foundation or the Clintons,’” Grassley wrote.

He claimed that the records indicated that in November 2016, the FBI blocked “the Clinton Foundation investigative team from accessing potentially incriminating evidence” on Anthony Weiner’s laptop.

RELATED: ‘Shut it down’: Newly released FBI doc reveals who apparently killed probes into Clinton Foundation

Photo by SAUL LOEB/POOL/AFP via Getty Images

When President Donald Trump’s first administration reopened the investigation in 2017, DOJ holdovers from the prior administration allegedly provided the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Arkansas with documents that omitted key information about the prior alleged interference from DOJ and FBI officials. When the attorney’s office requested additional information, it did not receive a response.

The court reportedly concluded that “there appear[ed] to be conflicts of interest” within the DOJ’s leadership that undermined the investigation into the Clinton Foundation.

RELATED: Declassified report: Obama’s FBI failed to search key evidence in Clinton email probe

Charles Grassley. Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

“The mainstream media smeared any investigation into Hillary Clinton as unfounded nonsense, but in reality, line agents and federal prosecutors seeking to follow up on legitimate leads were sidelined by partisan leadership looking to save Clinton’s reputation. That’s a night-and-day departure from how the Biden Justice Department handled the Arctic Frost investigation against President Trump,” Grassley said.

“For too long, our Justice Department has chosen winners and losers instead of enforcing the law without regard to power, party, or privilege. That must never happen again. I thank Attorney General Bondi and Director Patel for turning over these records, so the American people finally know how their Justice Department failed in the Clinton investigations,” he added, referring to Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel.

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Our world stands at a civilizational crossroads. Again. Nations must decide whether they intend to live in the 21st century or the seventh century. That choice may sound melodramatic, but anyone watching events in the Middle East, across Europe, and increasingly inside the United States understands the stakes.

On the eve of Thanksgiving in Washington, D.C., two National Guard troops were shot by a Muslim jihadist shouting “Allahu Akbar.” One of the soldiers, a young woman from West Virginia, later died. The other survived but has a long road of recovery ahead. Americans once again asked how such an attack could occur in the nation’s capital.

The choice is not between peace and war. It is between confronting an ideology that sanctifies domination or allowing it to advance unchecked under the cover of pluralism.

The answer begins with ideology.

Jihadist doctrine divides the world into two irreconcilable spheres: Dar al-Islam, the “House of Islam,” and Dar al-Harb, the “House of War.” The House of Islam consists of territories governed by Islamic law. The House of War includes every land not under Sharia. That category encompasses Israel, Europe, the United States, and vast portions of Africa and Asia.

For jihadists, this division is not theoretical. The ultimate objective is global submission to Islamic rule. The methods vary. Demographics, migration, political participation, and violence all qualify as legitimate tools of jihad, depending on circumstances.

Modern Sunni jihadist ideology draws heavily from Sayyid Qutb, the Muslim Brotherhood theorist whose book “Milestones” remains foundational. Qutb argued that Muslims should adapt their strategy based on their position within a society. When weak or outnumbered, they should emulate Muhammad’s early period in Mecca, focusing on persuasion and coalition-building. As power grows, they should advance to the next stage, asserting political authority and preparing for dominance.

That framework explains why jihadist movements operate differently across regions. We see the political phase at work in Western cities and institutions, including London, New York City, and Dearborn, Michigan. We see the violent phase in Israel, Nigeria, Europe, and parts of the Middle East.

Qutb held that the Quran justifies violence against non-Islamic governments. That claim draws on classical Islamic jurisprudence and has been codified in influential texts. Sunni and Shia jihadist groups alike act on this logic.

Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, and Iran’s Islamic regime wage war against Israel under its banner. Jihadist violence devastates Christian communities in Nigeria. Terror attacks across Europe and the United States follow the same ideological thread.

The question is not whether this ideology exists. The question is how nations respond.

Governments and citizens must decide whether they will confront a violent, medieval worldview or accommodate it in the name of tolerance and stability. That choice applies both abroad and at home.

Some regimes have already chosen regression. Iran’s rulers prioritize hatred of Israel over the welfare of their own people. The country’s severe water crisis stems not from natural scarcity but from ideological fixation and mismanagement driven by revolutionary dogma.

In Gaza, support for Hamas continues to rise. In Judea and Samaria, Hamas cells plot new attacks. Hezbollah smuggles weapons through Syria while Lebanon’s leaders face a stark decision: Embrace modern statehood or remain trapped in perpetual conflict.

American policy toward the region often sends mixed signals. The proposed sale of F-35 fighter jets to Saudi Arabia and its elevation to major non-NATO ally status were promoted as diplomatic successes. Yet the real measure will come in actions, not assurances. Will Saudi Arabia confront jihadist networks within its borders? Will it normalize relations with Israel? Or will it offer symbolic gestures while tolerating extremism?

Qatar presents an even sharper test. Through Al Jazeera, it shapes anti-Western narratives across the region. It has funded or enabled radical activism abroad and provided safe haven to Hamas and Muslim Brotherhood leaders. Any serious strategy against jihadist ideology must address Qatar’s role directly.

President Trump took a step in that direction by issuing an executive order calling for the designation of Muslim Brotherhood chapters as “foreign terrorist organizations.” That order, however, excluded the International Union of Muslim Brotherhood, based in Qatar, and U.S.-based Brotherhood-linked organizations, including the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

RELATED: Political Islam is playing the long game — America isn’t even playing

Photo by John Moore/Getty Images

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) went farther last week by designating CAIR and the Muslim Brotherhood as foreign terrorist organizations under state authority. That move reflects a growing recognition that ideological warfare does not stop at America’s borders.

The West must choose whether it will dismantle Muslim Brotherhood networks domestically and demand that its allies do the same. It must decide whether it will confront Iran, which remains the central destabilizing force in the region. Five months after a U.S. strike on Iranian targets, the regime continues to threaten Israel, the Gulf states, and Western interests.

These decisions carry consequences beyond diplomacy. They shape the world our children inherit.

The choice is not between peace and war. It is between confronting an ideology that sanctifies domination and violence or allowing it to advance unchecked under the cover of pluralism. The path forward demands clarity, resolve, and an honest reckoning with reality.

The century we choose will determine whether the future belongs to modernity and peace or to ancient grievances enforced by terror.

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Earlier this week, Glenn Beck made his biggest prediction for 2026: The AI boom will start to cause major power issues, including blackouts and brownouts, for average Americans.

However, what Glenn didn’t foresee was that the strain on our grids has already begun.

“The amount of ERCOT’s large-load interconnection requests ballooned to more than 230 gigawatts this year, a massive increase,” Glenn reads from a recent Dallas News article.

“You’re going to see the grids are not built for this. More than 70% of the large loads are for the data center. The data centers are just beginning to be built. We don’t have the energy. And I’m telling you, this is going to be the Achilles’ heel of this administration,” he explains.

“And believe me, it will only be worse with a Democratic administration. This is going to be the Achilles’ heel because we can’t build these power plants fast enough. And while Donald Trump is fast-tracking these nuclear power plants, it’s not fast enough because as we build these data centers, what’s going to happen is your energy, you’re going to start to have rolling brownouts,” he says.

“Also because of these data centers, you’re also going to see unemployment go up. If you start to have high unemployment, high prices, and rolling brownouts to where you’re having a hard time with electricity yourself, but the data centers for these Silicon Valley companies, they’re getting your power,” he continues.

“This will be an absolute nightmare for all politicians,” he adds.

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A social media user appeared to make a threat against Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah, who referred the message to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

The user appeared to post a heinous meme mocking the horrific assassination of Charlie Kirk and added, “Your [sic] next buddy turn down the rhetoric.”

Former US Attorney Jay Town responded that the meme and the message could be prosecuted as a threat against the senator’s life.

Lee posted a screenshot of the alleged message, which was deleted from the X platform.

“It’s ‘you’re,’ not ‘your,'” Lee responded. “Also, you just committed a federal offense.”

The senator also tagged the accounts for FBI Director Kash Patel and U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi.

“This is a clear threat,” he wrote in a follow-up message.

The account was later suspended, and it no longer appears on the platform.

Former U.S. Attorney Jay Town responded that the meme and the message could be prosecuted as a threat against the senator’s life.

“[Find Out] phase is coming when there’s a knock on your door! You can then explain how posting a pic of Charlie getting assassinated with ‘you’re next’ to a US Senator isn’t a threat… …TO A JURY!” he wrote.

Others questioned whether the message constituted a federal offense, but the meme ridiculing Kirk’s death was universally condemned.

Efforts to reach the person who ran the account were unsuccessful.

RELATED: Liberal arts student cites Mao in video calling for more political assassinations after Kirk

While many called for all sides to tone down their political rhetoric in the wake of Kirk’s shooting death in September, others online have lost careers and faced public outrage over their comments ridiculing the incident.

Blaze News has also reached out to Sen. Mike Lee’s office for comment.

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Philip Rivers knew the playbook going in.

When the 44-year-old quarterback got the call from the injury-plagued Indianapolis Colts, he already had a relationship with coach Shane Steichen. Almost a peer of his at 40 years old, Steichen was the offensive coordinator for the Los Angeles Chargers when Rivers last played in 2020.

‘These kind of things don’t come up.’

With Steichen using the same playbook with the Colts as he did when he was arm-in-arm with Rivers, the 44-year-old quarterback came out of retirement to plug the hole for the Colts as their promising season was falling apart.

On Sunday, the father of 10 stepped in the game and threw a touchdown in a hard-fought battle against the Seattle Seahawks, one of the best teams in the NFL this season. That single TD pass was one more than his opponent, and despite the Colts taking the lead with a late field goal, the Seahawks followed suit and kicked a field goal of their own with 22 seconds left to win 18-16.

At the postgame press conference, Rivers was asked why he wanted to come back after nearly five years away from the game, especially with a strong possibility of failure looming.

“I think about my own boys, you know, my own two sons, but certainly [the] high school team I’m coaching, but this isn’t why I’m doing it,” Rivers replied.

“These kind of things don’t come up. But obviously, this doesn’t come up every day. But I think, maybe it will inspire or teach [them] to not to run or be scared of what may or may not happen.”

RELATED: Christian NFL star apologizes after reference to kids’ game that likely left LGBTQ crowd seething

According to Catholic Vote, since retiring Rivers has been coaching the football team at St. Michael Catholic High School in Fairhope, Alabama, where his son also played quarterback.

It was when talking about his high school team that Rivers began getting emotional in front of the NFL press.

“Certainly I think of my sons and those ball players that I’m in charge of at the school. They’ll say, like, ‘Crap! Coach wasn’t scared!’ You know what I mean. Shoot, sometimes there is doubt, and it’s real, and … the guaranteed safe bet is to go home or to not go for it. And the other one is, ‘Shoot, let’s see what happens,'” he said.

It was in that moment that Rivers’ faith shined through.

“I hope that in that sense that it can be a positive to some young boys or young people. … Whatever God’s will, I’m happy with,” he added.

RELATED: ‘It’s not fair’: No. 1 women’s tennis player states obvious truth about transgender athletes in women’s sports

Photo by Steph Chambers/Getty Images

Rivers also answered questions about self doubt in his abilities after being away from the professional game so long. He admitted that he initially felt some doubt last week, but he was “thankful to God” those doubts quickly dissipated.

“I’ve been very much at peace and just at peace with everything about it,” he revealed.

The Colts play the San Francisco 49ers next Monday in a game that will likely be a must-win if the Colts want to make the playoffs.

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A Texas real estate loan agent says houses are being abandoned by illegal immigrants.

Deportations combined with updated Federal Housing Administration policies mean fewer foreign residents, both legal and illegal, are qualifying for federal loans.

‘That’s what corporations love — they love the fact there is so many more people, whether they’re legal or not.’

An announcement in late March from the Trump administration shifted FHA policy to stop allowing non-permanent residents access to FHA loans, which are loans guaranteed by the federal government and backed by the taxpayer. According to Congress, an FHA loan requires a down payment of only 3.5% for most borrowers.

DACA recipients, H-1B holders, asylum seekers, and refugees without green cards are some of the categories no longer permitted to use FHA loans. The Trump administration said it also prevented illegal immigrants from accessing loans that they acquired under President Biden.

“Today, HUD terminated Biden’s taxpayer-backed FHA mortgages for illegal aliens,” Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner wrote on X in March. “American taxpayers will no longer subsidize open borders by offering home loans to those who enter our nation illegally.”

The policy shift left only U.S. citizens, green card holders, and select others eligible for the federal loans. Months later, a loan agent says the changes have resulted in houses being hastily abandoned.

RELATED: Americans priced out while foreigners pour in: Trump admin report slams Biden for spike in rental costs

— (@)

“This week, I started doing foreclosures on undocumented properties,” a content creator named Antts Inc said in a recent viral video.

“Properties that the people had to leave in a hurry. I just left one. Pizza boxes open. Pizza was still there. All the food was still in the pantry. They grabbed whatever valuables they could, left everything else behind. These are foreclosures. So these are homes that were bought using FHA, guaranteed by the government for undocumented people,” he explained.

The loan agent said the properties come for inspection tagged as “possible undocumented immigrant” and typically have abandoned furniture or even items like fish tanks with dead fish.

The creator documents many of the houses he visits on his YouTube channel and predicts rents prices will soon start dropping.

“Rents will come down in some states it’s already happening! Don’t expect them to come down in sanctuary cities or states like California where they all flock to!” he wrote on X.

In Texas, rent costs are already drastically dropping since the same time in 2024.

RELATED: The rate cliff is real — and Washington created it

According to RentHop, studio rent has dropped by more than 11% since last December, while one-bedroom rental costs have decreased by more than 18.5%. For a two-bedroom unit, the price has gone down by about 17%.

Three- and four-bedroom rentals have stagnated or slightly increased, up by 2.6% and 0.7%, respectively.

“They drove rents up,” the Texas resident said about illegal immigrants in another video. “States like California where [illegal aliens] rent one house and there’s three families living there and they share the rent. But if you’re a single family and you’re trying to rent that house now, you gotta pay a ridiculous amount because you are one family competing with three that are living in the other house.”

He added, “That’s what corporations love — they love the fact there is so many more people, whether they’re legal or not.”

On RentHop, rent prices in Texas showed a sharp increase under the Biden administration starting in March 2021 and began a sharp decline under the Trump administration in October 2025.

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Resigning Metropolitan Police Department Chief Pamela Smith deliberately manipulated Washington, D.C., crime data to appear lower, according to a new report.

The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform’s majority staff released an interim report on Sunday as part of its ongoing investigation into allegations that MPD leadership pressured commanders to alter crime stats. The committee launched the probe into the department in August.

‘Chief Smith should resign today.’

After interviewing seven acting MPD commanders and one suspended MPD commander, the committee found that the department’s leadership placed “a higher priority on suppressing public reporting of crime statistics than stopping crime itself.”

The commanders allegedly told lawmakers that “they were not only pressured, but also instructed, to lower crime classifications to lesser intermediate offenses in such a way that those offenses would not be included in the [daily crime report] reported to the public.”

Smith allegedly created a “toxic management culture” that propagated a “culture of fear, intimidation, threats, and retaliation,” the report read.

Lawmakers concluded that the MPD’s crime data remains at risk of manipulation despite Smith’s recent resignation announcement.

RELATED: Whistleblower alleges widespread manipulation of DC crime stats, fueling Oversight Committee probe

James Comer. Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

“Every single person who lives, works, or visits the District of Columbia deserves a safe city, yet it’s now clear the American people were deliberately kept in the dark about the true crime rates in our nation’s capital,” stated committee Chairman Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.). “Testimony from experienced and courageous MPD commanders has exposed the truth: Chief Pamela Smith coerced staff to report artificially low crime data and cultivated a culture of fear to achieve her agenda. Chief Smith’s decision to mislead the public by manipulating crime statistics is dangerous and undermines trust in both local leadership and law enforcement.”

“Her planned resignation at the end of the month should not be seen as a voluntary choice, but as an inevitable consequence that should have occurred much earlier. Chief Smith should resign today,” Comer added.

Former Police Commander Michael Pulliam was placed on administrative leave in May and later suspended after he was accused of manipulating crime data. Smith stated at the time that the department was committed to immediately addressing “any irregularity in crime data.”

“Any allegation of this behavior will be dealt with through our internal processes, which will ensure those members are held accountable,” she declared.

RELATED: DC police commander under investigation for allegedly manipulating crime stats

Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

However, Smith announced her resignation last week, effective December 31. While she did not give a reason for her departure, some critics questioned the timing amid the ongoing allegations against her and the department.

These allegations against the department and its leadership emerged amid President Donald Trump’s warning that his administration would take over D.C. if its leaders failed to address the area’s crime crisis.

The MPD did not respond to a request for comment.

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Most people assume a diagnosis of clinical depression involves objective testing — a blood draw, a brain scan, or some clear biological marker. According to Dr. Josef Witt-Doerring, that assumption is wrong.

“They make you pick from nine symptoms. And it’s like if you have five out of nine of these symptoms — so it’s, like, low mood, anxiety, sleep problems … lack of interest in things … feelings of guilt. It’s just a very arbitrary list of symptoms that kind of make sense,” Witt-Doerring explains.

“They make sense for people who are depressed. And the way the people who wrote this diagnostic manual wanted to define depression was like, ‘Oh, well, if you just have any combination of five of them out of nine, we’ll say you have depression,’” he continues.

And there’s a reason for this lower standard of care.

“Where the big issue is happening in the U.S. and in much of the sort of the Western medicalized world right now is within family medicine. Because depression is so common, 80% of our prescriptions are being handed out by family med docs,” Witt-Doerring tells Stuckey.

“There are incentives that make it so the doctors want to see you in a very short period of time. So the aim of the game is billing insurance in this country. And so if you saw one person for an hour versus four people in an hour, and shorter visits, it works out that you essentially make double,” he continues.

The story behind SSRIs is no more comforting.

“Back in the 1950s, a drug was discovered called iproniazid, and it was being used as an anti-microbial for patients with tuberculosis,” he tells Stuckey, pointing out that while the drug was meant to cure people of tuberculosis, it also resulted in them perking up emotionally.

“They said, ‘Hmm, you know, they’re more energetic, they’re more lively, maybe this drug has some promise as an antidepressant. Let’s go and give to depressed patients.’ And so they went and they did that, and it worked,” he continues.

However, the official narrative that was born of this discovery could have “gone in two ways at this time.”

One narrative could have been that the drug has energizing properties that perked patients up, and what doctors were witnessing was a “drug effect.” The other narrative was that “maybe these drugs are actually helping these depressed patients because they don’t have enough serotonin, norepinephrine, dopamine.”

“And so one narrative survives and the other dies. And so the narrative that survives is that the patients have these chemical imbalances. And the reason for that is because it’s a better commercial narrative,” he explains, before pointing out that after the brains of depressed people versus non-depressed individuals were studied, not a single biomarker had been found.

And rather than curing depression, they’re “simply masking symptoms.”

“You could have a moral argument and say, ‘Yeah, morally I disagree with that.’ But you could also just say, ‘Well, I don’t really care. I just want to feel well and I’m suffering.’ And I think that’s totally fair because we want people to feel better,” he explains.

“But then the issue is we don’t tell them about, ‘Hey, these are drugs just like any other drug. They’re going to wear off over time, and there’s also risks of prolonged use because our brains aren’t used to being on them,’” he says.

“It’s just a lie,” he continues. “You know, it’s just a misleading message about the safety of the drugs and how they work.”

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The trial for a sitting Wisconsin judge is set to begin after she allegedly helped an illegal alien avoid ICE arrest in April.

Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan’s trial will begin Monday. Dugan is charged with obstruction of federal proceedings and concealing a person from arrest in connection with Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, an illegal alien who later pled guilty to re-entering the U.S. and no contest to one count of battery.

According to court filings, Dugan became ‘visibly angry’ when she learned about ICE’s presence, Reuters reported.

According to the Associated Press, the trial will begin with opening statements from the defense and prosecution as well as testimony from the prosecution’s first witness. The prosecution’s case will likely span most of the week, with around two dozen witnesses ready to take the stand.

Dugan faces up to six years in prison if convicted of both charges.

RELATED: Trial update: Wisconsin judge accused of helping illegal alien escape detention set to appear at final pretrial hearing

Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images

Dugan is accused of assisting Flores-Ruiz in evading Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents upon learning that they were waiting outside her courtroom to arrest him.

According to court filings, Dugan became “visibly angry” when she learned about ICE’s presence, Reuters reported. She also falsely told law enforcement that they needed a judicial warrant to carry out an arrest, according to the prosecution.

Flores-Ruiz was allegedly shown a side door through which he fled the scene. He was apprehended by ICE agents outside the courthouse after a short foot race.

Dugan lost a bid to dismiss the charges against her in August. U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman rejected the argument that she was acting in her official capacity as a judge, ruling that “there is no firmly established judicial immunity barring criminal prosecution of judges for judicial acts.”

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​Politics, Hannah dugan, Judge dugan, Judicial activism, Eduardo flores-ruiz, Obstruction of arrest, Ice, Immigration and customs enforcement, Trump, Judge lynn adelman, Trump administration