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Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, up until this month recognized by the U.S. government as a terrorist organization, was formed as the result of the merger of al-Qaeda’s Syria affiliate, al-Nusrah Front, and other extremist groups committed to a “popular jihad.”

HTS, which in recent years tried to rehab its public image, led the Turkish-backed Islamic militants who seized the Syrian capital of Damascus in December and ultimately overthrew the Assad regime — a regime change made possible with the help of the Obama CIA and the Pentagon.

Despite the HTS’ murderous history and threats to the existence of Syria’s Christians, Alawites, and Druze, Western neocons celebrated the replacement of Bashar al-Assad as president with HTS leader Muhammad al-Jawlani, who now goes by Ahmed Hussein al-Sharaa.

‘The current political environment in Syria remains deeply unstable and ambiguous for Christians.’

The Washington Post’s foreign policy columnist Josh Rogin, for instance, wrote, “Syria is free. The rebels won. The people liberated themselves from tyranny.” Trump critic Bill Kristol wrote, “The fall of a brutal dictator is rare enough that we should take the opportunity to celebrate it, and pay tribute to those who brought it about.” Democratic Rep. Marcy Kaptur (Ohio) expressed hope in December that under the new terrorist leadership, Syria would “be a tolerant society accepting of people from all religious confessions.”

Recent massacres, bombings, rapes, and kidnappings committed by al-Sharaa’s forces, friends, and fellow travelers have provided strong indications that such celebrations were premature.

A source who routinely travels to Syria and who has been in recent contact with people in the country has shared with Blaze News insights about life for Christians and other religious minorities under the new regime.

RELATED: Syria’s terrorist regime just killed an American citizen — more Christians, Druze are next

The Syrian regime’s security forces roll into the Druze city of Suwayda on July 15. Photo by SAM HARIRI/AFP via Getty Image

“The current political environment in Syria remains deeply unstable and ambiguous for Christians and certainly dangerous for other religious minorities, with recent events in the governorate of Sweida tragically underscoring this reality,” said the source, who asked to remain anonymous over security concerns. “On July 15, 2025, Sweida experienced a large-scale massacre resulting in the deaths of hundreds of civilians.”

Between July 13 and July 20, over 1,200 people were were killed in clashes between Sunni Muslim Bedouin clans, which were aided by al-Sharaa’s forces, and Druze-linked militias in Syria’s southern Druze-majority Suwayda province, according to the U.K.-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

There have reportedly been numerous religiously-motivated assassinations across the country in the days since.

The source noted that “among those killed was a prominent pastor of the local evangelical church, along with his entire family.”

Khaled Mazhar, the pastor of the Good Shepherd Evangelical Church in Suwayda city “who had converted from another faith tradition, was known for his peaceful integration and for serving as a respected leader within both the church and the wider community,” added the source.

The SOHR indicated that members of al-Sharaa’s Ministry of Defense were responsible for the pastor’s slaying.

In response to the historic bloodletting, Blaze News’ source indicated that religious communities, including Orthodox and Catholic Christians, have opened their churches as a place of refuge, and “overcrowding is now common.”

“This recent crisis highlights both the persistent vulnerability of religious minorities in Syria and the profound challenges they face in the current political landscape. The urgent calls for international protection reflect a widespread sense of abandonment and a desire for tangible, effective action from the global community,” the source said.

Fr. Tony Boutros, a Melkite-Catholic priest in Suwayda who was among the Christian clergymen abducted by radicals in 2015, said in a recent video statement, “We ask the U.S., Europe, the Vatican, and the whole world for international protection for this region of Sweida, all of it, for us and for our Druze brothers, my dear ones. Look at the massacres that happened to us in Sweida.”

‘The biggest thing that gets lost is complexity.’

The source indicated that everyday life for Christians and other religious minorities in Syria can “appear relatively normal,” but such appearances are deceptive, as “underlying fear and uncertainty are constant realities.”

RELATED: New massacre, old problem: How Syria can protect its religious minorities

Photo by Ali Haj Suleiman/Getty Images

“Most recently, the bombing at the Mar Elias Church in Damascus on June 22, 2025, during a Sunday liturgy, resulted in at least 20 deaths and dozens injured — demonstrating how quickly violence can erupt even in seemingly safe spaces,” the source said. “In Sweida, the ‘Suwayda Massacre’ and other attacks have deepened a sense of vulnerability. Even where no violence is occurring, minorities remain wary, practicing their faith discreetly and living with a persistent sense of fragility, knowing that the situation can deteriorate suddenly and dramatically.”

While life under the terrorist regime remains precarious, the source indicated that family presently in Syria believe “the situation is much better than what it was during the previous regime,” although there is disagreement on this point.

“I used to say that nothing in the universe will be worse than the Assad regime. They were absolute monsters. However, if you ask someone from Sweida now, their answer would be different,” the source said.

When pressed on whether something has been neglected in other reports that readers should know about the situation in Syria, the source noted, “The biggest thing that gets lost is complexity.”

“Too often, reports paint Syria in black and white, but the reality is anything but simple,” the source continued. “The situation shifts from city to city, even from one household to the next. It changes every day. Any responsible reporting has to acknowledge just how nuanced things are and resist the urge to generalize. Oversimplifying only does a disservice to the real lived experiences on the ground.”

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The House Ethics Committee released a 23-page report on Friday detailing the investigation into Republican Rep. Mike Kelly of Pennsylvania over allegations of insider trading. Although the report largely cleared Kelly of these allegations, the committee found “substantial evidence” that he violated the Code of Official Conduct.

Kelly was first subject to investigation in July 2021 over allegations that his wife purchased a steel company’s stock “based on confidential or material nonpublic information” the lawmaker learned during his “official job duties.”

‘My family and I look forward to putting this distraction behind us.’

After four years of investigation, the Office of Congressional Conduct found that there was “substantial reason to believe” the stock purchase was made based on the confidential information Kelly would have learned in his official capacity. However, the report also noted that the OCC “cannot definitively say what Representative Kelly and his wife knew about these developments and when they knew them” due to the “lack of cooperation” from Kelly, his wife, and his then-chief of staff.

“The Committee is particularly concerned with Representative Kelly’s actions during the Committee’s investigation — most notably the fact that his wife made an additional purchase of stock in the same company during the pendency of the investigation, Representative Kelly did not timely disclose that purchase, and he failed to respond to Committee questions regarding the purchase,” the report reads.

RELATED: George Santos bids a ‘fabulous’ farewell, surrenders for prison sentence

Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images

“As discussed further below, the Committee determined that Representative Kelly (and his wife) should divest of any stock in the company before Representative Kelly takes any further official actions directly related to that company,” the report continues. “Additionally, the Committee found that Representative Kelly’s failure to acknowledge the seriousness of the alleged misconduct and the Committee’s investigation violated clause 1 of the Code of Official Conduct.”

RELATED: House Republicans officially subpoena Epstein’s partner in crime

Photo by Caroline Brehman/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images

In a statement obtained by Blaze News, Kelly insisted the investigation was just a “distraction.”

“This investigation has unnecessarily lasted for nearly five years,” Kelly said in the statement. “In the years since this investigation began, the Cleveland-Cliffs Butler Works plant faced an uncertain future due to the Biden administration’s reckless energy policies. Throughout this process, I have fought for the 1,400 workers at the plant, I’ve spoken with these workers, and they appreciate the hard work we have done to fight for those jobs and for Butler.”

“My family and I look forward to putting this distraction behind us.”

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Fans are split on the season 27 premiere episode of “South Park,” which features an AI-generated video of President Trump nude, with a cartoon version of him in bed with Satan.

What critics are missing, however, is years worth of history and Easter eggs throughout the episode that are more than likely to play out over the course of the rest of the season. Furthermore, it is probably not even Trump at all.

‘Woke is dead … you can just say “retarded” now, nobody cares.’

The episode starts with fan-favorite and overall evil child Eric Cartman waking up to find out that NPR, “where all the liberals b***h and whine about stuff,” is no longer on the air, thanks to Trump.

The reason Cartman is upset about NPR being canceled is not because he supports the content, but because “it was the funniest s**t ever … where all the lesbians and Jews complain about stuff.”

After heading to school, Cartman is excited to have his need for woke nonsense fulfilled by his principal, whose name is literally PC Principal, standing for “politically correct.”

However, due to the state of the world, it turns out that PC Principal now wants “PC” to stand for “Power Christian” and tells the school children to turn to the Bible before he literally brings Jesus to the school, who will stand in the halls and eat lunch with the kids every day.

Some conservatives were upset over clips that showed subsequent parts of the episode.

RELATED: Dems furious at Republicans trying to rename Kennedy Center theater after first lady Melania Trump

In a clip on X that has been seen nearly seven million times, the cartoon version of Trump is dancing around at a White House party, while a song can be heard with the lyrics, “We’re bringing back Christ … Christ makes the money.”

Trump then takes a call from a group of his supporters, who are upset about Jesus being forcibly put in school. Trump tells them he will sue their whole town for criticizing him. Trump then strips nude and gets into bed with Satan.

The show also portrays the hosts of “60 Minutes” being too afraid to criticize Trump over fear of getting sued, with Jesus eventually also trying to prevent Trump’s rowdy supporters from turning on him, whispering that they need to be careful or else the Paramount Network, which “South Park” is aired on, is going to get sued.

The ongoing theme of the episode, titled “Sermon on the ‘Mount,” is that while wokeness may be dead and people are turning to Christianity, it remains important that citizens are not in fear of legal backlash if they criticize those in power.

Or, as Cartman says, “Woke is dead … you can just say ‘retarded’ now, nobody cares.”

RELATED: ‘Put a chick in it, make it lame and gay!’ ‘South Park: Joining the Panderverse’ review

Partisans, some of whom have claimed online that the new episode is indicative of how creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker secretly endorse “pedophilia” and “inbreeding,” are actually missing a lot of context from “South Park” lore.

For example, when Trump’s supporters first become upset with him, the show purposely shows former teacher Mr. Garrison sitting on his couch watching television. This is important because Garrison had been used to literally be Trump in the show since 2016; in this world, he is Trump.

Then, when the show portrays the new Trump, he has a unique way of talking as if his mouth is half of his head. This is typically how the show portrays Canadians talking, but it is also how the show portrayed celebrities in older episodes. Specifically, it is how the show portrayed Saddam Hussein in episodes as far back as 2000.

Not only did “South Park” consistently portray Hussein as dating Satan, this new version of Trump uses the same voice that was used for Hussein for all those years. A silhouette of the Hussein character was also used in a preview of the new “South Park” season, which was different from how the new Trump is portrayed.

Mr. Garrison as the president of the United States in season 20, first airing in 2016.

As a joke about how Paramount has to praise the Trump administration to avoid a lawsuit, “South Park” did crassly portray President Trump in an AI-generated video at the end of the episode, showcasing him crawling nude through the desert to show his “love” for America.

It seems the Trump White House is not the biggest fan of the new episode, though, as assistant press secretary Taylor Rogers compared the show’s creators to talentless left-wing pundits.

“The left’s hypocrisy truly has no end — for years they have come after ‘South Park’ for what they labeled as ‘offense’ [sic] content, but suddenly they are praising the show,” Rogers told Rolling Stone. “Just like the creators of ‘South Park,’ the left has no authentic or original content, which is why their popularity continues to hit record lows. This show hasn’t been relevant for over 20 years and is hanging on by a thread with uninspired ideas in a desperate attempt for attention. President Trump has delivered on more promises in just six months than any other president in our country’s history — and no fourth-rate show can derail President Trump’s hot streak.”

Stone and Parker are also being accused by viewers of having finally “sold out,” after reaching a $1.5 billion streaming deal with Paramount, announced just days before the new episode airs.

Based on the reactions, however, it would seem that, somehow, it is now the network that is entertaining the joke, not the fans.

Stone and Parker’s response to the outrage?

“We’re terribly sorry.”

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There is a revolution under way in American education that has prompted pearl-clutching on the part of establishmentarians and excitement among families frustrated with the status quo.

The Trump administration’s shake-up at the Education Department, the president’s war on DEI, and recent successes on the school-choice front certainly have changed the game, particularly where brick-and-mortar schooling is concerned. The revolution, however, is also being waged online, where disruptors are challenging expectations regarding what is possible for at-home instruction.

The Oklahoma State Department of Education announced on Tuesday that it is partnering with the American Virtual Academy, a fully online K-12 preparatory school that is now in the approval process for tuition to be paid for by the Oklahoma Parental Choice Tax Credit program and apparently already has approval for school choice scholarships in several other states.

“Left-wing indoctrination in schools poses a serious threat to our students, and parents deserve more options for their kids,” OSDE Superintendent Ryan Walters said in a statement. “We are proud to be one of the first states in the country to do this.”

The school’s president, Damian Creamer, recently spoke to Blaze News about his academy and about the environment that made this alternative both viable and desirable for some families.

Creamer noted that the pandemic was “very much an eye-opener for a lot of people — getting an inside peek into what is actually going on in the public school system.”

RELATED: America’s largest teachers’ union declares war on the Trump administration, will use kids as foot soldiers

Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

When the classrooms were shuttered and schooling temporarily went online, largely at the urging of teachers’ unions, parents across the country were afforded a glimpse into the kinds of leftist propaganda being fed to their kids. It is hard to overstate how much this drove the popular backlash in recent years over DEI, critical race theory, and other forms of wokeness.

“The families are saying, ‘Hey, that’s not what we signed up for, and that’s not what we expect. We want our kids to be taught how to think critically. We want them to learn how to read. We want them to learn how to write. We want them to learn arithmetic,'” said Creamer. “Yes, education is where minds are shaped — and if you’re going to shape our child’s mind, you better make sure that you’re not going against our values as a family.”

These concerns have prompted many Americans to turn to at-home instruction, which is reportedly America’s fastest-growing form of education.

According to the National Home Education Research Institute, there were 3.1 million homeschooled K-12 students in the 2021-2022 school year, up from 2.5 million in spring 2019. Forbes indicated last year that estimates put the number of American homeschooled students at nearly 4 million kids nationwide. As multiple states do not require notification when parents decide to educate their children at home, the number might be much higher.

‘We had to get moderation in there quickly.’

The National Center for Education Statistics revealed in a September 2023 publication that the top reasons parents gave in a 2019 survey for homeschooling were: concerns about the school environment; to provide religious instruction; to provide moral instruction; to emphasize family life together; dissatisfaction with schools’ academic instruction; to provide a nontraditional approach to education; and/or to help with their child’s special needs.

The spike in recent years also appears to have been driven by ruinous school closures, sporadic teachers’ union strikes, and the politicization of the classroom.

The AVA started off as the Bridge School, which Creamer indicated had initially catered to athletes and child actors, providing those with roving lifestyles individualized, remote learning solutions. The AVA, however, has a distinctly conservative orientation.

Creamer noted that the idea behind the AVA was not only to provide kids with a high-quality education based on a research-based curriculum and to jettison the customary leftist gobbledygook but to help prepare a generation of productive citizens: “Let’s teach them how to be great Americans. Let’s teach them to love their country. Let’s teach them about the founding principles of our country.”

While there are many options when it comes to at-home instruction, Creamer, whose online charter school Primavera is presently in hot water over student test scores, suggested that the unstructured “nomad” style — where parents effectively ad-lib instruction on the go — isn’t for everyone.

Some of the families exploring the educational landscape where “there really is no rhyme or reason” may alternatively “choose a virtual school like American Virtual Academy where it’s a fully accredited school; it’s got a curriculum that’s going to lead to a diploma” qualifying them to get into college, he said.

When asked about whether AVA has any plans to get students engaged socially, especially given the risk of isolation when leaving in-person learning, Creamer told Blaze News, “We do, and they socialize every day in the school.”

Utilizing AVA’s proprietary platform, students and parents alike form pods and clubs, and all of the academy’s teachers have their own homerooms. However, just like in the physical classroom, there are rules online.

“Everything is moderated — has to be moderated. Just trust me, we’ve done it where it wasn’t moderated, and that was bad. We had to get moderation in there quickly,” said Creamer.

In addition to online social engagements, AVA is planning get-togethers in the real world, including a family, faith, and freedom day event in Arizona, and field trips to the nation’s capital as well as to places of civic and historical consequence.

While providing opportunities for student and parent interaction, Creamer noted that “a lot of parents are putting their kids into virtual school because of the socialization” at school — because they don’t want their kids getting “into things they don’t want their kids to be involved with.”

Creamer, who is also the CEO of the e-learning company StrongMind, noted that digital learning is particularly viable now on account of artificial intelligence.

“When the student sets up their profile, that profile — we’re learning about the student,” said Creamer. “We know where they’re at academically. We’re benchmark-testing the students so we can see, academically, what they know and what they don’t know and where they’re at grade level.”

Extra to calibrating the learning experience on the basis of an individual student’s academic strengths and weaknesses, AI agents can take into account the student’s like, dislikes, and career aspirations and offer them a bespoke experience with the aim of maximizing engagement.

“Education like this is where we can start to really move the needle now,” said Creamer.

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Texas state Rep. James Talarico (D) has gone viral all over apps like TikTok for his “progressive Christian” views — and in one popular 2022 sermon, he makes the bold claim that Jesus was actually a feminist.

“The first way we can tell that Jesus was a feminist is through his actions. And throughout the Gospels, Jesus is constantly subverting first-century gender norms by talking with women, learning from women, healing women, trusting women. In fact, the only person to ever beat Jesus in a debate in the Bible was the Syrophoenician woman,” Talarico said in his sermon.

“Think about that. The only person to teach Jesus something was a woman. Even the Son of God had something to learn from one of God’s daughters. The church should start to listen to them again,” he added.

“Okay, so much blasphemy there,” BlazeTV host Allie Beth Stuckey comments. “First of all, Jesus is God. Okay, so that’s pretty basic. Jesus is God. That means he’s all-knowing. That means he’s all-powerful. That means he is not limited by time and space.”

“And so it is not possible for Jesus to have learned something that he did not already know. It is not possible for him to have made an error. It is not possible for Jesus to have lost a debate because he is all-knowing,” she continues.

Rather, in the conversation with the Syrophoenician woman, Stuckey explains that he used the moment “as a learning opportunity” in order to “teach her and the people around him something about faith.”

“Progressives are always getting it wrong because they are reading their politics into the text, and they miss the true meaning and beauty of the text. They miss the gospel in the text because they are looking to justify their politics,” she says.

Want more from Allie Beth Stuckey?

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

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A day after suspected would-be presidential assassin Ryan Wesley Routh refused to meet with his court-appointed defense attorney at a federal lockup in Miami, U.S. District Judge Aileen M. Cannon approved Routh’s motion to proceed to trial as a pro se defendant representing himself.

Routh, 59, of Greensboro, N.C., faces Sept. 8 jury selection in his trial on five federal counts charging him with aiming a sniper rifle through a fence and trying to kill President Donald J. Trump on Sept. 15, 2024, at Trump’s West Palm Beach, Fla., golf resort.

‘The attorney-client relationship is irreconcilably broken.’

Routh wrote a letter to Judge Cannon, entered on the court docket July 11, complaining bitterly about his federal public defenders and stating that it’s “best I walk alone.” The judge held Faretta hearings on July 10 and July 24 before ruling in an eight-page order that Routh can proceed as his own attorney.

The judge ordered federal public defenders Kristy Militello and Renee Sihvola to serve on the case as standby counsel.

Militello filed a motion with the court to withdraw from the case after she said Routh repeatedly refused to meet with her for their scheduled July 22 consultation at the Federal Correctional Institution-Miami.

“While undersigned counsel was on the train to Miami, BOP [Bureau of Prisons] legal staff emailed to advise that Mr. Routh refused our scheduled, in-person legal visit,” Militello wrote. “Undersigned counsel continued our trip to the detention center in Miami and upon arrival asked BOP staff to inform Mr. Routh that his counsel was present, in person, and wished to meet with him.”

Six refusals

“Mr. Routh has now refused six attempts from members of our office/the defense team to meet with Mr. Routh,” Militello wrote. “As a result, undersigned counsel submits that the attorney-client relationship is irreconcilably broken. It is clear that Mr. Routh wishes to represent himself, and he is within his Constitutional rights to make such a demand.”

Judge Cannon issued a four-page order warning Routh that he will be required to follow Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, Federal Rules of Evidence, and local rules for the federal Southern District of Florida.

“A pro-se defendant bears responsibility for actively preparing the case for trial and exercising control over his defense, and must obtain any essential discovery, file all necessary pleadings and motions, and comply with all scheduling orders and Court instructions,” Judge Cannon wrote.

The judge warned that “any vexatious, obstructionist, or obstreperous behavior or other misconduct may result in an order revoking defendant’s pro-se status, along with any other sanctions the court deems appropriate.”

RELATED: Ryan Routh’s former employee pleads guilty to helping arm Trump’s alleged would-be assassin

The Paul G. Rogers Federal Building and United States Courthouse in West Palm Beach, Florida.Photo by Giorgio Viera/AFP via Getty Images

Federal prosecutors filed a motion in limine on July 8 expressing concern that Routh sought to “turn this trial into a circus.” The government seeks to limit how the defense can proceed in accordance with standard rules of evidence, especially Routh’s expected attempt to litigate his character before trial begins.

Prosecutors called out Routh’s “odd claim” that the government has not identified “specific pieces of evidence at issue.”

“As outlined below,” prosecutors wrote in a July 24 filing, “to the best of our ability lacking a defense exhibit list, we have done so. And our arguments are more persuasive in light of the defendant’s decision to represent himself — this court has a responsibility to ensure that trial does not become a circus and that the jury is not burdened and distracted by plainly inadmissible evidence.”

Prosecutors said the defense has “refused to inform the court of matters as simple as whether Routh was at the golf course on September 15, 2024.”

The FBI said Routh set up a sniper’s lair just outside the fence of the Trump International Golf Club and lay in wait for nearly 12 hours with a “military-grade” SKS 7.62×39-caliber rifle aimed toward the sixth green. President Trump was playing the fifth fairway on Sept. 15 when a Secret Service agent doing an advance sweep saw a rifle poking through the chain-link fence. The agent opened fire after determining that the rifle was pointed at him.

Routh fled the area at 1:31 p.m. without taking a shot at President Trump, the FBI said. He reportedly took off north in a Nissan SUV with stolen plates on Interstate 95. Routh was stopped and arrested by officers from the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office and the Martin County Sheriff’s Office at 2:14 p.m.

Two attempts in 64 days

This attempted assassination was the second attempt on President Trump’s life in a little more than two months.

RELATED: Secret Service suspends 6 agents over Trump assassination attempt — but some argue the real story is who didn’t get punished

FBI investigators comb the outside of the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida, Sept. 16 for evidence in the second attempt on Donald J. Trump’s life in 64 days.Photo by Amy Beth Bennett/SouthFlorida Sun Sentinel/Tribune News Service via Getty Images

Would-be assassin Thomas Matthew Crooks somehow got onto a slightly pitched roof of a building overlooking the Butler County Farm Show grounds in Pennsylvania on July 13 and fired eight rifle shots at the stage of a Trump rally, striking Trump in the right ear, killing firefighter Corey Comperatore, and seriously wounding David Dutch and James Copenhaver. A Secret Service counter-sniper shot and killed Crooks.

Both cases led to a flurry of investigations that savaged the Secret Service for alleged inept communication, failure to share credible threat information, and negligence in failing to staff the Butler event with counter-surveillance teams and drones capable of shooting down potential aerial threats aimed at the president.

The Secret Service was also pilloried for failure to adequately screen the Trump golf club in West Palm Beach, such as patrolling the perimeter with agents or overhead drones. The Secret Service failures at the time led to calls for then-candidate Trump to replace his Secret Service detail with private armed security.

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Based on communications allegedly obtained by Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service, the declassified House Intelligence Committee report provides specific insights into Hillary Clinton’s condition during the 2016 presidential campaign.

And boy, is it enlightening.

The report described Clinton as struggling with “intensified psycho-emotional problems” that were characterized by episodes of uncontrolled anger, aggression, and cheerfulness. These episodes were severe enough that the former presidential candidate was prescribed a daily regimen of heavy tranquilizers.

But that’s not all.

In a recent White House press conference, Tulsi Gabbard explained that the report also exposes “possible criminal acts” that included “secret meetings with multiple named U.S. religious organizations” that were offered significant increases in financing from the State Department in exchange for their support of Clinton’s campaign.

Despite all of this, former CIA Director John Brennan and the intelligence community then “mischaracterized intelligence and relied on dubious, substandard sources to create a contrived false narrative that Putin developed a ‘clear preference for Trump.’”

“It’s weird that they say that she had psycho problems, right?” BlazeTV host Pat Gray says, not trying to hide his lack of surprise.

“Cheerfulness,” he adds, laughing, “I didn’t see that part.”

The findings have vindicated those who thought something seemed off with Clinton during her campaign — especially after footage started circulating of the former presidential candidate teetering over as she waited to get into a car, before being caught by security.

“Wow,” Gray says, rewatching the footage. “Forgot about that.”

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“Nutrition and Physical Degeneration” by Weston A. Price is, to my mind, the greatest book about nutrition ever written. You’ve probably never heard of it, and even if you have, I’d wager you’ve never read it. Which is a real shame.

It’s a shame you’re not the only one who hasn’t read Price’s book. If it had been more widely read at the time of its publication — 1939 — and its essential insights taken up by the mainstream medical establishment, the entire history of nutritional science might be wildly different. Instead of 80 years of declining health marked by an explosion of every kind of chronic disease imaginable, we might have seen a new golden age of health.

Bad bacteria in the mouth can end up in the brain and influence dementia progression.

There would be no need for Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to come along and “Make America Healthy Again,” because Americans would all be jacked and glowing and living their best lives, fortified by wholesome diets that provided them with the nutrients that are essential to proper human flourishing.

Weston Price’s thesis was simple: Modern diets — specifically diets made up of food produced in factories — are causing our bodies to degenerate. If that sounds scary, well, it should.

What makes a good face?

Price became a dentist in Cleveland, Ohio, at the turn of the 20th century. As the years rolled by, he began to notice more and more of his patients, especially the children, displaying profound signs of ill health. It wasn’t just that their mouths were starting to fill with cavities. It was that their jaws weren’t developing and aligning properly, the roofs of their mouths weren’t forming right, and their cheeks and nasal passages were narrowing. The entire structure of the face was basically giving way and collapsing.

And with these unpleasant physical changes, which made his patients less attractive, came mental and behavioral changes too, none of them good. Many of the children, in particular, had trouble concentrating and learning.

Price knew these changes had something to do with changes to the foods his patients were eating. Being a scientific man, Price wanted to be sure. So he decided to find control groups to compare his patients with. Together with his wife, Price traveled the globe, from the arctic circle to Australasia, even stopping in the Highlands of Scotland and the Swiss Alps on the way, to look at small-scale societies whose diets had not yet been affected by modern industrial processes.

What Price discovered was that wherever a society continued to eat as their ancestors ate, so long as that meant eating nutrient-dense animal foods — organ meat, fatty cuts, blood, dairy, rendered fat, shellfish and seafood, eggs — then none of the problems Price had been seeing back home in Ohio were visible. Groups who still cleaved to their ancestral diets displayed what Price called “perfect health,” and it extended well beyond their faces: They grew tall and muscular, they were free from disease, they were vigorous and happy.

Price demonstrated something fundamental that scientific researchers are only just beginning to appreciate: That oral health and the development of the face are a powerful index of general health. Chances are, a person with an unhealthy mouth will have an unhealthy body. (A recent study showed bad bacteria in the mouth can end up in the brain and influence dementia progression.)

RELATED: We bought an illegal superfood in Colorado — here’s what I learned

Natalie Behring/Getty Images

The only way out is chew

Another essential insight from Price is the role of food texture in facial development. Price noted that modern diets are much softer than ancestral diets (people in traditional societies also used their mouths in day-to-day tasks like leatherworking).

What this means is that the musculature of the whole face and especially the jaw has less chance to develop because it gets less use. Muscle is muscle and responds in the same way to stimulus, whether we’re talking about the biceps or the masseters of the cheek and jaw. Use it or lose it. The facial muscles remain open to development throughout our lives.

One easy way to reverse the modern atrophy of our faces and to develop a jaw that could kill is to chew gum. Chewing gum also has powerful anti-stress effects, which is never a bad thing in our increasingly aggravating world. And, of course, chewing gum also looks cool.

The problem with most gum today is that it’s made of plastic. Yes, most synthetic forms of chewing gum use a base made of polymers derived from petroleum. You might as well break a piece off your iPhone casing and chew that. Another recent study showed that gum can release as many as 3,000 plastic particles and that chewing around 180 small sticks of gum a year could result in the ingestion of 30,000 microplastic pieces.

Then there are the artificial sweeteners, which are linked to a wide variety of health issues, from gut dysbiosis and diabetes to brain cancer, in the case of aspartame.

Mastic over plastic

Here’s my recommendation. Chew mastic gum instead, just like the ancient Greeks did 2,500 years ago.

Mastic is a resin taken from the mastic tree (Pistacia lentiscus). Authentic mastic, the very best, only comes from trees on the Greek island of Chios, and there’s no better brand than Greco Gum.

Unlike the bag of mean little shards and dust you’ll get if you buy mastic on eBay, every tin of Greco Gum contains fat, juicy droplets that crunch satisfyingly in your mouth and then become a soft, sucking mass you can really get your teeth into.

Mastic has a very pleasant, fresh taste, a bit like pine, and you can reuse it multiple times.

As well as being entirely natural, mastic gum has potent antibacterial properties. The father of medicine, Hippocrates, recommended mastic to treat digestive problems and colds and to freshen the breath. I chew mastic most days, and my head wouldn’t look out of place buried in the ground on Easter Island. Try it. Build a face fit for stone.

The company profiles and product recommendations that Align publishes are meant solely to inform and edify our subscribers. Unless explicitly labeled as such, they are neither paid promotions nor endorsements.

​Maha, Mastic gum, Facial muscles, Health, Lifestyle, Gut health, Mouth health, Weston price, Nutrition and physical degneration, Rfk jr, Provisions 

Former Republican Rep. George Santos of New York faced a highly publicized fall from grace, and the dramatic saga may be coming to a close.

Santos will be surrendering to serve his maximum sentence of 87 months in prison Friday after he pled guilty to charges of federal wire fraud and identity theft. In the midst of his legal debacle, Santos also became the sixth member of Congress ever to be expelled from the House back in December 2023.

‘To my critics: Thanks for the free press.’

“Well, darlings… The curtain falls, the spotlight dims, and the rhinestones are packed,” Santos wrote in his farewell post. “From the halls of Congress to the chaos of cable news what a ride it’s been!

“Was it messy? Always. Glamorous? Occasionally. Honest? I tried… most days,” Santos added. “To my supporters: You made this wild political cabaret worth it. To my critics: Thanks for the free press.”

RELATED: ‘A badge of honor’: George Santos prepares for expulsion from Congress, claims colleagues have drunken sex with lobbyists

Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images

“I may be leaving the stage (for now), but trust me legends never truly exit,” Santos said. “Forever fabulously yours, George.”

Santos was launched into the spotlight for his flamboyant personality and unpredictable political displays, whether he was claiming he had “Jew-ish” heritage or if he was rushing around the halls of Congress with a mystery baby.

However, his tendency to embellish eventually caught up to him after he was accused of making various inconsistent claims about his education, professional experience, and finances. He was also accused of making fake donations and a fake nonprofit as well as wire fraud after he spent the donations on luxury items, rent, and Botox.

RELATED: The REAL reason George Santos was expelled from Congress: UPDATED

Cheney Orr/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Santos admitted wrongdoing, but argued that his sentence was unusually harsh, saying many of his former colleagues in Congress would also be in prison if the law was applied evenly.

“Just put it this way,” Santos said in an interview with Tucker Carlson. “No one is going to prison for what I’m going to prison for. Because if they were, we wouldn’t have half of Congress right now. And that’s on both sides.”

Santos made similar accusations about his former congressional colleagues in the Blaze Originals documentary “Bought and Paid For,” which you can view below.

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​George santos, Congress, House republicans, Tucker carlson, Prison, Mystery baby, Jew-ish, Expelled, Politics 

The official Democratic Party X account made a monumental blunder late Thursday when it was a little too honest about the state of the country under President Biden.

It was just after dinner time when the Democrats’ account attempted to do what it typically does: dunk on President Trump.

The account decided to make a post mocking “Trump’s America,” but unfortunately for Democrats, it immediately backfired.

‘The democrats really thought they had something there.’

The Democrats posted an image on X titled “U.S. Grocery Prices Reach Record Highs in 2025,” followed by the caption, “Prices are higher today than they were on July 2024 all in major categories listed below.”

The attached graph showed prices of cheese, alcohol, grocery, dairy, produce, and meat.

In addition to the confusing double-speak, the graph showed that prices skyrocketed in 2021 and continued to creep upward through 2024.

It did not take long for readers to notice that the Democrats were accidentally highlighting the stark increase in prices that caused so much suffering under President Biden’s term.

President Trump’s rapid response team replied to the post almost immediately and pointed out that most of the prices started going down when President Trump took office.

Reporters soon noticed the Democrats had apparently deleted their post, but luckily an X user managed to archive the image for the whole world to see.

RELATED: Democrats left with egg on their face after cost of a dozen plummets under Trump

Photo by NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP via Getty Images

“Obviously, the Democrats deleted it,” Fox News host Carley Shimkus said on Friday morning.

She added, “They were saying that all of these prices have gone up in 2025. That’s what the headline read. But when you read the graph, the highest points were during Joe Biden’s administration.”

Readers reacted to the Democrats with shock and awe, with one user writing on X, “The democrats really thought they had something there.”

Another X user replied that it seemed “insane that not one person actually looked at the graph before green lighting the post.”

While it is true that prices could always stand to come down more, the fact remains that cost of living under the current president has gone down in key areas.

RELATED: Illegal labor isn’t farming’s future. It’s Big Ag’s crutch.

US President Joe Biden (L) visit Mario’s Westside Market grocery store alongside US Rep. Steven Horsford (D-NV) in Las Vegas, Nevada, on July 16, 2024. Photo by KENT NISHIMURA/AFP via Getty Images

Not only did Americans enjoy a more affordable Fourth of July in 2025 under Trump, but the president has certainly followed through on one of his biggest promises that greatly affects families.

The price of eggs had dropped by 61% between Trump’s inauguration and June, with even CNN admitting that the president’s “egg price fiction has suddenly become reality.”

Egg prices have ticked up in July to an average of $3.37 per dozen at the time of this writing, according to Trading Economics. However, this is nowhere near the more than $8 Americans were paying in March after prices exploded at the end of Biden’s term.

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​News, Groceries, Democrats, Trump, Biden, Cost of living, Food, X, Twitter, Politics 

Former criminology student Bryan Kohberger has been sentenced to life in prison without parole after pleading guilty to four murders in Idaho, where he fatally stabbed Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle, and Ethan Chapin in an off-campus home on Nov. 13, 2022.

According to newly released documents, the students were stabbed an ungodly amount of times — with one being stabbed over 50 times.

And Kohberger appeared to be proud of the weapon he used when he matched with a woman on the dating app Tinder in the fall of 2022. At one point in their conversation, the now-convicted murderer asked what the woman thought would be the worst way to die — to which she responded by knife.

Kohberger then asked something to the effect of “like a KA-BAR?” — which is the knife and sheath he had purchased on Amazon before the murders. While the sheath was found at the crime scene, the knife was never recovered.

BlazeTV hosts Dave Landau, ¼ Black Garrett, and Angela are understandably disturbed by the crime.

“Might just be a Ted Bundy,” Angela tells the panel.

“An old-fashioned murder,” ¼ Black Garrett agrees, adding, “like just a spur-of-the-moment psychopath murder.”

In order to avoid the death penalty, Angela explains that Kohberger first “had his lawyers try to advocate for him to take the death penalty off the table because he had autism.”

“And they were like, ‘No,’” she adds.

Want more ‘Normal World’?

To enjoy more whimsical satire, topical sketches, and comedic discussions from comedians Dave Landau and 1/4 Black Garrett, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

​Video, Camera phone, Upload, Sharing, Video phone, Free, Youtube.com, Normal world with dave landau, Normal world, Dave landau, The blaze, Blazetv, Blaze news, Blaze podcasts, Blaze podcast network, Blaze media, Blaze online, Blaze originals, Bryan kohberger, Idaho murders, Ka bar knife and sheath, Serial killer, Ted bundy, True crime 

President Donald Trump named Alina Habba as the interim U.S. attorney for New Jersey on March 24. She was sworn in four days later. The White House announced on July 1 that the president was nominating Habba for a full four-year term.

The prospect of Trump’s presidential counselor laying down the law in a state with a Democratic trifecta and triplex enraged Democrats, especially New Jersey Sens. Cory Booker and Andy Kim, who campaigned against her Senate confirmation, and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (N.Y.), who wanted Habba gone after her indictment of New Jersey Rep. LaMonica McIver (D).

It looked like Democrats were going to get their way this week — until the president and his administration threw them a major league curve ball.

How it started

Interim U.S. attorneys are allowed to serve for only 120 days if not confirmed by the Senate or extended indefinitely by the district court for the district concerned. This meant that Habba needed winning votes both in the Senate Judiciary Committee, then on the Senate floor before the expiry of her term on Friday.

Those votes failed to materialize.

On Tuesday, with time yet left on the clock, federal judges in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey — 15 out of the 17 of whom are Obama and Biden appointees — declined to appoint Habba without offering any explanation.

RELATED: Democrats crown judges while crying about kings

Acting U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Alina Habba. Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images.

A panel of the blue state’s judges issued an order — signed by George W. Bush appointee Renée Marie Bumb, the chief judge for the district — appointing one of Habba’s subordinates, Desiree Leigh Grace, as the U.S. attorney for the district until the vacancy is filled.

Grace posted a long-winded message on LinkedIn detailing her professional journey to the role, concluding, “It will forever be the greatest honor that they selected me on merit, and I’m prepared to follow that order and begin to serve in accordance with the law.”

Within hours of Grace posting her message, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi announced on Tuesday that Habba’s replacement had been removed.

‘There has been enough noise the past four months.’

“The first assistant United States attorney in New Jersey has just been removed,” wrote Bondi. “This Department of Justice does not tolerate rogue judges — especially when they threaten the president’s core Article II powers.”

Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche emphasized that “Alina is President Trump’s choice to lead — and no partisan bench can override that.”

Blanche later confirmed that “pursuant to the president’s authority, we have removed that deputy, effective immediately. This backroom vote will not override the authority of the chief executive.”

The Trump administration evidently had someone in mind to replace Grace as first assistant U.S. attorney: Alina Habba.

A Justice Department official told Axios that Trump withdrew Habba’s nomination to be New Jersey’s prosecutor following her reported resignation on Thursday. Bondi then reportedly appointed Habba the first assistant U.S. attorney. Since the top seat was vacant and Habba was next in line, she became acting U.S. attorney.

This play appears to enable Habba to run the New Jersey office for at least the next 210 days.

“Donald J. Trump is the 47th President. Pam Bondi is the Attorney General. And I am now the Acting United States Attorney for the District of New Jersey,” Habba wrote Thursday evening. “I don’t cower to pressure. I don’t answer to politics.”

Habba added, “This is a fight for justice. And I’m all in.”

Habba sent a letter to prosecutors in the New Jersey office roughly a half-hour after making this post, stating, “There has been enough noise the past four months,” reported the New York Times.

“Let’s keep our focus and get back to the important work ahead for the District of New Jersey,” she added, signing the letter as the acting U.S. attorney for the District of New Jersey.

Steve Vladeck, a professor of law at the Georgetown University Law Center, suggested on the liberal X knockoff Bluesky that “this will be challenged,” citing a legal requirement that an individual made acting officer must have served in the position of first assistant to the office of such an officer for more than 90 days.

When pressed for comment about possible challenges to Habba’s title change and to Vladeck’s critique about its legitimacy, White House deputy press secretary Harrison Fields said in a statement to Blaze News, “President Trump continues to have full confidence in Alina Habba and her commitment to serve the people of New Jersey.”

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​Alina habba, Habba, Donald trump, Pam bondi, Department of justice, New jersey, Democrat, District judges, Judicial overreach, Winning, Maga, Nj, Cory booker, Hakeem jeffries, Politics 

Suspected assassin Vance Luther Boelter said that before the gruesome June 14 killings in suburban Minneapolis, he was part of an undercover investigation of what he called the “sudden and unexpected deaths of 400 Minnesota citizens and ties between Minnesota politicians and the Chinese government.”

In his latest bizarre exchange with the media, the jailed Boelter continued to spin wild tales that allegedly explain the shooting rampage that killed state Rep. Melissa Hortman (DFL-Brooklyn Park) and her husband, Mark, and seriously wounded state Sen. John Hoffman (DFL-Champlin) and his wife, Yvette.

‘SHOT, SHOT, MY PARENTS HAVE BEEN SHOT!’

Boelter was indicted on six federal charges for murder, stalking, and firearms violations that could bring the death penalty upon conviction. He will be arraigned on Sept. 12 in Minneapolis. His court-appointed attorney says he will plead not guilty to all charges.

In a message sent from the Sherburne County Jail to Alpha News, Boelter referred to himself in the third person.

“Prior to June 14. Unknown to his wife, family, friends, and coworkers, Dr. Vance Boelter EdD had conducted a two-year-long undercover investigation into the sudden and unexpected deaths of 400 Minnesota citizens, and ties between Minnesota politicians and the Chinese government,” Boelter wrote. “Evidence will be forthcoming.”

Boelter did not offer more details on the alleged deaths. The statement about politicians and China could be a reference to Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D), who made dozens of trips to China since his youth in Nebraska.

RELATED: Accused Minnesota assassin: ‘If you want to save the country you have to get your hands dirty’

Security video shows a disguised Vance Boelter at the front door of Minnesota state Sen. John Hoffman on June 14, 2025, according to the FBI. Photo by U.S. Department of Justice

Boelter, 57, of Green Isle, Minn., previously told the New York Post that the shootings were not motivated by his pro-life views or his support for President Donald J. Trump. Emails he sent to the New York Times via the jail’s messaging system also spoke of his alleged involvement in a two-year investigation.

The Times said Boelter’s “cryptic messages” referred to “a mysterious military operation” and “suggest a man in the throes of grandiose delusion, one who saw himself as somehow chosen to save the country by taking extreme action.”

Two statements found in Boelter’s alleged journals seized by law enforcement included, “If you want to save the country you have to get your hands dirty,” and, “Doing what most people know needs to be done, but are not willing to do it themselves.”

In a letter allegedly written by Boelter left in the getaway vehicle the FBI said he used on June 14 and 15, Boelter said he was told to kill both of Minnesota’s U.S. senators by Walz. Walz has not commented on the conspiracy theory described in the disjointed letter, which was addressed to FBI Director Kash Patel and written on the back of two pages from a wall calendar.

An addition to Boelter’s defense team could indicate that the U.S. Department of Justice will seek the death penalty for Boelter on the murder charges. The grand jury indictments include a “notice of special findings” that are a first step toward the death penalty.

Kimberly Sharkey, a federal public defender from Nevada, has been admitted to practice in the Minnesota district of the federal court system. Sharkey is chief of the Federal Death Penalty Unit at the Federal Public Defender’s Office in Las Vegas. She will aid in Boelter’s defense.

Acting U.S. Attorney Joseph H. Thompson said a decision on whether to seek the death penalty against Boelter won’t occur for several months. Attorney General Pam Bondi will make the ultimate decision with input from prosecutors and family members.

In another development, Hennepin County officials released a heavily redacted transcript of the 911 call made by Hope Hoffman after her parents were shot. The transcript was released after Minnesota media took legal action in an attempt to force the county to share the information.

During the three-minute call placed at 2:05 a.m., Hope Hoffman said, “My dad has been shot.” After being asked to repeat her address several times, Hoffman exclaimed, “SHOT. SHOT. MY PARENTS HAVE BEEN SHOT!”

After the dispatch center transferred the call to paramedics, Hope Hoffman indicated that her father is a state senator. Police said that detail was key, because word was sent to area law enforcement agencies to be on the lookout for the shooter in case the crime was targeted.

The FBI said Boelter pounded on the front door of the Hoffman home dressed as a police officer and wearing a “hyper-realistic” silicone mask over his head. After Sen. Hoffman opened the door, his wife quickly realized that the man shining a flashlight in their faces was not a law enforcement officer.

When Sen. Hoffman attempted to shove the suspect from the front entry back onto the porch, he was shot nine times. Mrs. Hoffman likewise tried to push him out the door and was shot eight times, she said. Hope Hoffman was able to close and lock the door after her parents shielded her from the hail of bullets.

Prosecutors said Boelter attempted to fire on Hope Hoffman and intended to kill her. That allegation was added to the grand jury indictment, but was not originally included in the criminal complaint filed against Boelter on June 16.

John and Yvette Hoffman were released from the hospital after emergency surgery and a stay in intensive care.

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​Boelter, Hortman, Hoffman, Pam bondi, Assassination, Minnesota, Tim walz, Crime, Politics 

I’ve only been kicked out of a coffee shop once — in Sarajevo — by its Muslim Bosniak owner, a flustered old man whose extent of the English language, in that moment, began and ended with the crystal-clear command “OUT!”

My crime? I pulled out my computer to do what I’m doing right now: typing away in a coffee shop.

The future won’t be a total rejection of digital life, but a deliberate recalibration of it. One where we build spaces that embrace work and others that invite embodied, human experiences.

Unbeknownst to me, I had broken the cardinal rule of coffee house worship: Don’t bring digital idols into the house of caffeinated prayer.

Coffee clash

The digital age has created a clash of coffee civilizations. In the “old world,” coffee houses are sacred institutions, literally beginning in the halls of 15th-century Sufi monasteries — the secret to Yemeni monks enduring long nights of prayer. By the 16th century, the first true coffee houses, or qahveh khaneh, had opened in cities like Istanbul. These were not just places to drink coffee. They were places to gather. To think. To debate. And to dissent.

When coffee reached Europe, it kept that soul. In Vienna, my new hometown, Austrians added cream and sugar to the sacks of coffee beans left behind after the Ottoman’s failed siege of the city in 1683. They built palatial cafés with velvet chairs and chandeliers to temple this holy elixir.

Soon, the Habsburg Empire had a new kind of salon. Writers, royalty, composers, and commoners alike gathered at these temples to read newspapers, play chess, and argue over art and empire. You could — and still can — nurse a single cup for hours and no waiter would shame you. You weren’t just buying a drink. You were buying time — the right to sit and be human.

But in America, coffee took a different path — one more utilitarian than indulgent.

Fuel, not feast

Thanks in part to our revolutionary break with British tea culture, Americans adopted coffee as a patriotic staple — but we turned it into fuel, not a feast. Civil War soldiers drank it from tin cups. Cowboys slurped it from fireside pots. By the 20th century, coffee had become the liquid of labor, a utilitarian pick-me-up for factory shifts, office jobs, and now Zoom fatigue.

Even Starbucks, the company that tried to inject a bit of European café charm into American life, eventually succumbed to the pressure of the digital age. The café became an office with scones. A public-private workspace. A glorified power outlet.

American-style third-wave coffee shops — the artisanal descendants of our work-addicted brew — are now being exported to Europe. The very places that once viewed coffee as a communal, intellectual rite are filling up with sleek, minimalist cafés that serve pour-overs in silence to solitary laptop users.

These cafés still serve excellent coffee. But they often import an entirely different ethos — one in which the body is present, but the mind is in the digital world. You used to gather in a café to share ideas. Now you gather there to ignore the people around you and answer emails. American coffee shops have become second offices, not sacred spaces. The vaunted “third space,” neither home nor workplace, is dying in America — erased by phones and remote gigs.

In a digitized world, there is no third space. No sacred space. Just “space.” And in the process, the embodied experience — touch, taste, smell, silence — is being lost. Coffee becomes an accessory to the screen, not a destination in its own right. We forget what it means to simply be present. To look up. To linger. To not produce.

But in Europe, where it all began, a new generation of coffee shops is resisting the collapse. Tech-lash is brewing, and European cafés are reviving the original purpose of coffee houses: face-to-face connection. Some are actually enforcing silence and slowness.

But Americans are never ones to be left behind. Even in San Francisco, where cafés are catering to the digital hustle, the vibe is shifting — responding to generational shifts toward more care, more curation, and more community.

RELATED: Conservative coffee shop aims to provide alternative to ‘typical liberal American coffee establishments’

Photo by Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images

A brewing rebellion

In Vienna, at Julius Reindl, a specialty café in the city’s 7th district, “tech-free tables” are clearly marked. Across town, Phil — a beloved café-bookstore hybrid — bans devices altogether. It doesn’t just invite you to unplug. It insists on it.

The Offline Club takes the idea even further. This community hosts regular tech-free gatherings in cafés across Europe, where guests are asked to leave their phones at the door and engage in analog activities instead — reading, drawing, journaling, or simply talking to strangers. The events fill up quickly. People are hungry for spaces where they can be human again.

Back in Silicon Valley, most cafés have long headed in the other direction. Yet, there are signs that even digital nomads crave a calmer, richer experience. A new spot in San Francisco called Elsewhere advertises itself not as a refuge from the digital world, but as an optimized extension of it. It’s open late. It’s designed for digital workers. Screens are not just tolerated — they’re expected. But the atmosphere is new. “This is more than just a café chain,” Elsewhere promises, pledging members “productivity sanctuaries around the world, and a cultural experience rooted in great flavors and even better community.”

Choosing intentional spaces

During my time working remotely in Bosnia, I rented a desk at a beautiful coworking café called Habitus — designed specifically for digital nomads. There, I could plug in, work hard, and when I needed a break, I stepped outside the glass wall of the workspace into the café itself. I sat among the people. I ate. I drank. I listened. No laptop. No phone. Just coffee and cake — and quiet.

The future won’t be a total rejection of digital life, but a deliberate recalibration of it. One where we build spaces that embrace work and others that invite embodied, human experiences. One where sacredness is not accidental, but chosen.

In our digital age, technology is here to stay, and we have the responsibility of choosing where and how we allow it to shape us. The embodied world — the world of smell, taste, warmth, and eye contact — will not demand our attention the way our phones do. It waits quietly, patiently, for us to return. But we have to choose it. Again and again.

In that sense, the slow rise of tech-free cafés across Europe isn’t just a trend. It’s a quiet act of resistance. A declaration that presence still matters. That meaning requires slowness. That some things — like a good conversation over a warm cup of coffee — are worth protecting.

And maybe that begins with something as simple as putting down your phone — and picking up your cup.

​Return, Lifestyle, Cafes, Coffeehouses, Unplug, Tech, Coffee break 

The pro-life movement is celebrating a historic, hard-earned victory: Thanks to unprecedented strategic coordination, focused and unified messaging, and targeted investments from courageous philanthropists, Congress has officially defunded Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers in this year’s federal budget.

This landmark achievement is more than just a policy win — it’s a new beginning and sets a crucial precedent in our decades-long effort to stop forcing American taxpayers to bankroll the abortion industry. It marks important progress for women, children, and every citizen who believes our tax dollars should be used to protect life, not end it.

Planned Parenthood’s priorities are painfully clear: Political power and profit over patients.

For too long, women have been put in harm’s way by Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers.

A recent New York Times exposé uncovered horrific conditions inside clinics across the country — moldy equipment, sewage leaks, faulty STI testing, and misplaced IUDs — all while Planned Parenthood raked in nearly $2 million per day in taxpayer funding. When Americans learn the truth about these dangerous conditions, 60% say they support defunding abortion providers like Planned Parenthood.

While hiding behind the moniker of “health care,” Planned Parenthood has consistently deprioritized real health care.

Over the last decade, cancer screenings, pap smears, breast exams, and prenatal services have all plummeted by more than 50%. Meanwhile, abortions have soared. According to its own annual report, Planned Parenthood performed a record-breaking 402,230 abortions last year — an increase of more than 9,500 from the previous year and a 23% escalation since 2013.

Now, Planned Parenthood and big abortion providers are aggressively pushing mail-order chemical abortion pills, shipped directly to women with no physical exam, no doctor oversight, and often no warning about life-threatening side effects.

These pills are deceptively marketed as “safer than Tylenol,” yet the real-world consequences tell a tragic story.

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

Shuran Huang for The Washington Post via Getty Images

Amber, a 28-year-old from Georgia, took the abortion pills and initially experienced expected cramping. But days later, her pain intensified, and bleeding became severe. Living four hours from the clinic and unable to access immediate care, Amber began vomiting blood and passed out at home. She was rushed to the hospital but tragically died during an emergency procedure.

Amber’s story isn’t isolated.

Holly, an 18-year-old from California, died after taking the same abortion-pill regimen. She experienced excruciating cramps and heavy bleeding, was sent home from the hospital with painkillers, and returned days later in septic shock from an undiagnosed infection. Her father later said she “suffered in silence” and was tragically unprepared for the ordeal she endured.

Toni, a Pennsylvania high school senior, took the abortion pill at home, initially feeling only minor effects. But more than a month later, she was suddenly gripped by intense pain and began passing large blood clots. Alone and terrified, she described lying in agony, completely unprepared for the trauma and heartbreak that followed.

These women — and countless others like them — are not statistics. They represent the profound, too-often-hidden human cost of the abortion-pill regimen that Planned Parenthood recklessly champions.

New analysis of actual insurance claims data reveals that 1-in-10 women experiences serious complications after taking chemical abortion drugs, yet Planned Parenthood continues mailing them out, unaccompanied by proper care, with callous disregard for the lives left in their wake.

And the danger doesn’t stop at abortion.

Planned Parenthood is now a leading national player in the controversial and lucrative business of cross-sex hormones. The organization openly boasts that it’s become the nation’s “leading provider of gender transition hormones for young adults.” Undercover footage from Live Action’s investigation revealed Planned Parenthood staff offering puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones to minors — sometimes after just a 30-minute virtual consult, on the same day as the initial inquiry, often without parental consent.

Americans are not on board. In fact, 64% of voters oppose giving taxpayer dollars to organizations that provide puberty blockers and gender transition treatments to minors, including 51% who strongly oppose it.

Planned Parenthood’s priorities are painfully clear: Political power and profit over patients. While its clinics provide botched and substandard care, the organization received $498 million in donations in 2022 — nearly all of which funded partisan advocacy, lawsuits, promotion of abortion and sex-change hormones to minors, and aggressive lobbying against commonsense safeguards like the Hyde Amendment, which protects taxpayers from funding abortion.

But Americans are waking up. Most now reject the lie that Planned Parenthood is essential to women’s health.

In reality, nearly 9,000 community health centers outnumber Planned Parenthood locations 15 to one, providing comprehensive care without abortion, gender ideology, or political agendas. These centers offer prenatal care, diapers, parenting classes, quality health care, and genuine support that helps mothers and babies thrive.

Americans want to fund these centers instead with 70% of voters supporting public funding for local health and pregnancy support centers — not abortion chains.

This year’s federal defunding of Planned Parenthood is a critical step forward. It’s not the finish line — but it’s real progress. It proves that truth, persistence, and unified action across the pro-life movement can still move the needle in Washington.

Now, we must build on this momentum. Let’s ensure every tax dollar stays permanently out of the hands of abortion providers — and instead supports compassionate, life-affirming care for women and families.

Let’s keep going. Lives depend on it.

​Planned parenthood, Culture, Abortion, Abortion pills 

Law enforcement authorities are releasing more terrifying details from horrific child rape allegations involving an underground bunker in Alabama.

Police were tipped off about the possible abuse at a storm shelter used as a bunker in the small city of Brent in February, as Blaze Media previously reported. What they discovered has led to dozens upon dozens of charges against seven individuals, and police believe there may be more victims as well as perpetrators.

‘I know God’s forgiveness is boundless, but if there was a limit to it, I think we’ve reached it.’

“I’ve been in law enforcement for 33 years, and this is absolutely the most horrible thing I’ve ever seen when it comes to the victimization of children,” Bibb County Sheriff Jody Wade said about the case. “I know God’s forgiveness is boundless, but if there was a limit to it, I think we’ve reached it.”

Prosecutors said that 10 victims aged 3 to 15 years old were taken to the bunker and sexually assaulted and tortured for the sake of clients who would make “appointments” and paid as much as $1,000 a night. Some of the children said they were drugged.

Some of those arrested were parents of children that were abused.

Rebecca Brewer, 29, was reportedly paired up with 29-year-old Andres Velazquez-Trejo and had three children with him. She also had at least one child from a previous relationship.

41-year-old Sara Louise Terrell was arrested along with several others with the surname Terrell, but police were still trying to determine their relationship.

Ricky Terrell allegedly raped a 10-year-old girl, while Sara Terrell allegedly used an animal training collar with shock capability on at least one child.

“He would tie one child to the bed, one child to a chair, and one to one of the support poles,” Assistant District Attorney Bryan Jones said of Trejo. “Then he would allow people to pay to have sex with the children.”

Wade said that the Department of Homeland Security was involved in the investigation because it believed there’s a link to the Mexican gang Sureños, based on the human trafficking involved.

Jones said it might have been a blessing in disguise that the children were drugged in order to limit their memories and some of the trauma from the alleged abuse.

“I’m hopeful … that they won’t have near the trauma they would have had if they had not been drugged,” he said.

Charging documents said that 21-year-old William Chase McElroy allegedly admitted to fondling a male victim and raping at least one girl, while Dalton Terrell allegedly confessed to have sexual intercourse with a minor.

Timothy St. John, 23, is charged with bestiality, among other charges, for allegedly having sex with a dog.

RELATED: Woman sentenced to life in prison for ‘abhorrent’ abuse of infant

When asked about what they might do with the bunker, the sheriff was unsure.

“We will see what can or should be done about that,” he said. “If I had my way about it, we’d blow it up.”

The children are in state custody.

“No child deserves this, the power and control of it, the stealing the innocence of a child, and the horrible victimization they went through with these monsters,” Wade said.

“They’re getting the medical help they need, the emotional, psychological help we can best provide them,” he added. “Some of the older children will carry this vividly for the rest of their lives. You can’t heal from this, but you can move on as best you can.”

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​Child sex bunker, Underground bunker abuse, Bibb county child rape, Mass child rape case, Crime 

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard — one of the few people in Washington who still seems to believe public service means serving the public — has ignited a political firestorm with her latest move. In a stunning act of transparency and defiance, Gabbard declassified over 100 pages of intelligence documents she claims expose a “treasonous conspiracy” orchestrated by senior Obama-era officials to fabricate the false appearance that Russia helped elect Donald Trump in 2016.

Not only did she release these documents publicly, but she also referred the matter to the FBI and Department of Justice for possible criminal prosecution. Her list of alleged conspirators includes former President Barack Obama, former CIA Director John Brennan, former FBI Director James Comey, former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, and former National Security Adviser Susan Rice.

If the Justice Department doesn’t act, the deep state will be confirmed — not as a ‘conspiracy theory,’ but as a fact.

Gabbard says the documents prove what many Americans have suspected for years: The entire Russia collusion narrative was not only false but knowingly manufactured and politically weaponized. She claims the declassified assessments directly contradict the official narrative, showing analysts concluded Russia had neither intent nor capability to sway the election.

Instead, Gabbard says Obama and his top advisers cherry-picked and distorted intelligence to craft a narrative that could undermine Trump’s presidency before it began. That narrative, of course, fueled the Mueller probe, impeachments, FISA warrants, and years of media hysteria.

The significance of Gabbard’s referral can’t be overstated. It’s not just a political gesture — she’s handing real evidence to prosecutors and demanding real consequences. While most of D.C. hides behind process and posturing, Gabbard is doing what Congress refused to do: treat treason like treason.

She’s one of the only officials in Washington doing her job, regardless of party or personality. In Gabbard’s eyes, the rule of law applies to everyone.

Whether the Justice Department takes up the referral remains to be seen. The agency has confirmed receipt and reportedly assembled an internal strike force to assess the claims. That’s a notable development. But considering the department’s track record, expectations remain low. Many believe the department prioritizes preserving the status quo over seeking justice. If past trends hold, the smart money says they’ll delay, deflect, and ultimately decline to prosecute — and that outcome, by itself, would be a great shame.

‘People want hangings’

I stopped by the Morning Glory Café in Indian Harbour Beach, Florida, on Thursday morning and struck up a conversation with the breakfast-counter regulars. Their reactions tell you everything you need to know about where the American people stand.

Betty K., retired schoolteacher: “Tulsi’s actually standing up to the swamp — for once. Americans deserve real justice, not cover-ups.”

Bob H., small-business owner: “If Hillary, Obama, Brennan really did conspire, then yes — charge them. No one can be above the law.”

Cindy M., nurse: “This is gut-wrenching. … Our intelligence agencies turned on us. Gabbard is the first one who seems to want justice.”

A woman eating beside her husband, who asked to remain unnamed: “People want hangings.”

She didn’t flinch — and neither did anyone else.

RELATED: If no one goes to jail, the coup was a success

SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images

If this referral results in prosecutions, the consequences would be seismic: potential prison time, disgrace, and the end of political legacies. More importantly, it would send a chilling message to every bureaucrat and agency head: Abuse of state power and election interference will not be tolerated. It could begin to restore the fractured trust between the American people and their government — with one critical truth: No one, not even a president, is above the law.

If the Justice Department does nothing, then the opposite truth becomes undeniable: that intelligence agencies have become untouchable; that the deep state protects its own; that the law applies only to the powerless.

Our government would be confirmed as a hollow shell, run by unelected bureaucrats and political fixers. We wouldn’t just be losing faith in the republic. We’d be living in a managed illusion, where facts are fungible and truth belongs to whoever controls the narrative.

Justice, not theater

Americans are fed up. They don’t want another committee. They don’t want another special counsel. They don’t want another round of political theater. They want justice — and they’re not wrong.

The Constitution guarantees equal protection under the law. It does not say, “unless your name is Obama.” And yet, here we are, watching the slow-motion erosion of our legal system while those entrusted to defend it look the other way.

Tulsi Gabbard just threw down the gauntlet. Now, we get to see who in this government still has a spine. If the Department of Justice acts, it’s the beginning of a reckoning. If it doesn’t, the deep state will be confirmed — not as a “conspiracy theory,” but as a fact.

And the people? They’ll take that truth with them — to the ballot box, to the streets, and to every café counter in America.

​Opinion & analysis, Tulsi gabbard, Office of the director of national intelligence, Odni, Russiagate, Russia hoax, Russian collusion, Justice department, Intelligence community, Barack obama, John brennan, James comey, James clapper, Susan rice, Fbi, Cia, Treasonous conspiracy, Treason, Conspiracy, Deep state, Congress 

Ulta Beauty, a favorite makeup store of women across the country, is now receiving backlash online for its latest promotional video with “Queer Eye” star Jonathan Van Ness, who identifies as “nonbinary” and uses they/she/he pronouns.

Van Ness founded the brand JVN Hair, which launched at Ulta Beauty both online and in approximately 700 stores.

And to celebrate his product, Van Ness got dressed up like a woman and acted like “a caricature.”

In a reel posted to Instagram, long-haired Van Ness excitedly runs to his products in the store wearing heels and a dress. He repeatedly jumps up and down, and the more high-pitched his squealing noises become, the more viewers’ ears — and Ulta Beauty’s reputation — shatter.

“I thought we were done with this transgender nonsense with women’s makeup, but we’re not,” BlazeTV host Sara Gonzales says on “Sara Gonzales Unfiltered.”

“That’s not a woman. That’s a weird version of a woman that only a man would think is a woman. It’s a caricature of a woman,” BlazeTV host Dave Landau tells Gonzales.

“That’s what’s so offensive,” Gonzales agrees. “You think that you can just stroll up with a dress on and shriek loudly with your beard and be accepted as a woman, as if that’s all that we are to you. And it is actually horribly offensive at the core.”

“A woman is not a gay man,” Landau says. “You see what I’m saying? Like that’s how they behave. They behave like Mario Cantone in ‘Sex and the City.’”

Want more from Sara Gonzales?

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​Upload, Sharing, Video, Camera phone, Free, Video phone, Youtube.com, Sara gonzales unfiltered, Sara gonzales, The blaze, Blaze news, Blaze podcasts, Blaze podcast network, Blaze media, Blaze online, Blaze originals, Transgender, Jonathan van ness, Queer eye, Ulta beauty, Non binary, Lgbtqia agenda 

The media has wasted no time labeling the recent Medicaid reform in Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act cruel, as 4.8 million Americans will lose health care coverage.

BlazeTV host Allie Beth Stuckey and her father, Ron Simmons, are well aware that the left is upset over the reforms, but they also know why they’re wrong.

“What are we hearing on health care? ‘Oh, we’re going to kick grandma off Medicare and Medicaid,’” Simmons tells his daughter. “Again, not true. Totally not true.”

“Medicaid and Medicare are different. Medicare is for people generally that are age 65 or 66, older, depending on … when you were born and all those types of things,” he explains, noting that Medicaid is “set up primarily for people that are disabled or their income levels are such that they actually receive it free.”

“And what the ‘big, beautiful bill’ is doing,” he continues, “they are requiring them to work, be looking actively for work, or be in some type of educational or training program. I mean, doesn’t that just seem simple to get what I would call ‘freeloaders’ off of the free health care?”

“Why should you and I be paying for their health care when they’re able to work but not willing to work?” he adds.

However, there is a “little bit of truth” to what the Democrats have been claiming.

“There will be people that absolutely lose their health care under Medicaid. But it’ll only be those people that are able-bodied and should be working, or at least should be looking for work, or getting trained so that they can go to work,” Simmons explains.

“That’ll make our health care system actually financially more responsible,” he adds.

Want more from Allie Beth Stuckey?

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

​Free, Video, Sharing, Video phone, Camera phone, Upload, Youtube.com, Relatable, Allie beth stuckey, The blaze, Blazetv, Blaze news, Blaze podcasts, Blaze podcast network, Blaze media, Blaze online, Blaze originals, Big beautiful bill, Ron simmons, Healthcare, Medicaid, Medicare, Truth about healthcare, Leftist lies, Media lies, Relatable with allie beth stuckey, Health care 

Just after 3:30 a.m. on July 6, 35-year-old Tamir Johnson pursued the driver of a Toyota Prius for two blocks before cutting off the Prius driver at South Fifth and Hamilton Streets in Allentown, Pennsylvania, authorities told Lehigh Valley Live.

With that, Johnson of Whitehall Township allegedly used a metal baseball bat to strike the driver’s side door of the Prius, the outlet said.

Interviewed after the shooting, Matt Tuerk — the Democrat mayor of Allentown, which is about 60 miles north of Philadelphia — told WPVI that the incident was ‘senseless’ and was the ‘product of people kind of losing their cool and having in my estimation too easy access to guns.’

The Prius driver — fearing for his life — responded by shooting Johnson, Lehigh Valley Live said, citing investigators.

The Prius driver fired one shot with a handgun and hit Johnson in the torso, WPVI-TV reported, adding that Johnson died a short time later.

After the shooting, the Prius driver drove his car a short distance away, parked, and dialed 911, investigators told Lehigh Valley Live, adding that the Prius driver remained at the location until police arrived and then handed over his legally possessed gun. Indeed, WPVI — citing investigators — noted that the Prius driver has a license to carry.

RELATED: Road rage suspect opens fire on fellow motorist in Chicago, cops say. But victim is a concealed carrier — and wins shootout.

Interviewed after the shooting, Matt Tuerk — the Democrat mayor of Allentown, which is about 60 miles north of Philadelphia — told WPVI that the incident was “senseless” and was the “product of people kind of losing their cool and having, in my estimation, too easy access to guns.” However, Tuerk in the same interview characterized the shooting as “self-defense.”

Blaze News on Thursday reached out to Tuerk, asking him what he meant by his two statements and how they can exist side by side. The mayor on Thursday didn’t immediately respond to Blaze News’ questions.

RELATED: Male, female — both just 17 years old — accused in road rage shooting

Lehigh County District Attorney Gavin P. Holihan on Monday ruled that no charges will be filed against the driver who pulled the trigger, saying the deadly shooting was justified, Lehigh Valley Live reported.

“The investigation revealed that [the Prius driver] did not provoke Johnson’s conduct,” the outlet added, citing a news release from the DA’s office.

Johnson leaves behind three children, his family said, adding that he helped at-risk youths. His family added in the DA’s news release that Johnson was “so much more than a moment of conflict” and was “a provider, a protector” whose “children were his world,” Leigh Valley Live noted.

Holihan said that “while the law justifies the use of deadly force in [this] situation, it is not something to be taken lightly,” the outlet noted. The DA also told Lehigh Valley Live that the incident “has profound consequences for the family of Johnson, and also for the driver of the Prius, who has expressed remorse for what transpired.”

Mark Schlofer of Eastern Arms — a gun shop in Catasauqua, which is about five minutes from Allentown — told Blaze News on Thursday that the driver who pulled the trigger “did everything perfectly” in reaction to the road rage attack, adding that “this is the way you do it” and that “you have to wait until you feel like your life is threatened” before firing. Schlofer also told Blaze News that “everybody knew … right out of the gate” that it was self-defense.

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​Crime thwarted, Road rage, Fatal shooting, Self-defense, 2nd amend., Guns, Gun rights, Allentown, Pennsylvania, District attorney, No charges, Baseball bat, Crime