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A 15-year-old New York City boy spoke out from his hospital bed this week after police said a group of 13 suspects — also teenagers — attacked and stabbed and robbed him on Oct. 22.

Police said the boy was on his way home from school in Jamaica, Queens, when the broad-daylight attack occurred at the intersection of 160th Street and Hillside Avenue, WCBS-TV reported.

‘What happened to my son is horrific.’

With his mother by his side, the victim recounted to the station the words of one of his attackers.

“Give me all your clothes, whatever you’re wearing, your shoes,” the boy recalled one of the mob members telling him, WCBS noted.

He then told the station, “I [started] running. After that, they pushed me and stabbed me.”

The vicious attack left the 15-year-old with severe stab wounds, broken bones, bruises — and needing surgery, the station said.

After all that, WCBS said the suspects stole the victim’s sneakers — worth $350.

“I was shocked to see my son in this condition,” the boy’s mother told the station in her native language of Punjabi. “What happened to my son is horrific.”

RELATED: Video: 5 thugs repeatedly stomp, punch boy, 15, on busy NYC street — and steal his sneakers. Crime expert says there’s ‘basically nothing you can do to these kids.’

Local activist Japneet Singh told WCBS the attack took place on “a major avenue, major corridor” and that “if that can happen to this boy, it can happen to any of our children. We have to make sure we protect our kids.”

While the boy has months of recovery ahead of him — including three surgeries — his mother told the station she hopes those responsible are caught. Meanwhile, she added to WCBS that she’s not leaving his side: “Ever since he was attacked, I’ve been here with him day and night.”

Police told WNYW-TV that detectives are reviewing surveillance video from the area to identify those involved.

Those with information about the attack are urged to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers hotline at 800-577-TIPS (8477), WNYW said, adding that tips can be submitted confidentially online or by text.

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​New york city, Queens, Nypd, Police, Physical attack, Robbery, Stabbing, Teen beaten over sneakers, Hospitalization, Surgeries, Crime 

For nearly two decades, Bill Gates has been sounding the alarm on climate change, framing the issue as the most dire existential threat to humanity.

But seemingly overnight, his alarmism softened. On October 28, the tech mogul published an essay titled “Three tough truths about climate” on his Gates Notes blog. One particular sentence raised eyebrows: “Although climate change will have serious consequences — particularly for people in the poorest countries — it will not lead to humanity’s demise.”

Later that day, Gates joined CNBC’s “Squawk Box” for an exclusive interview, during which he reiterated this apparent reversal. “Climate is a super important problem, [but] there’s enough innovation here to avoid super bad outcomes.”

“As we go about trying to minimize [rising temperatures], we have to frame it in terms of overall human welfare—not just, everything should be solely for climate,” he added.

Glenn Beck was shocked when he heard the longtime climate fearmonger utter these words.

“This is the narrative flipping here,” he says, reminding his audience that not that long ago, the Microsoft co-founder wrote a book on the importance of getting to net-zero emissions and funded solar geoengineering initiatives that attempt to play God by hacking the planet’s thermostat.

What gives? Has Gates just seen the error of his ways, or did something else cause him to reverse course?

Glenn’s theory: The billionaire “philanthropist” hasn’t moved an inch. His sudden shift in tone is nothing more than a pragmatic pivot triggered by Donald Trump’s 2024 election win.

“Donald Trump won, and Donald Trump is dismantling his global dream. Donald Trump is taking apart the World Economic Forum and the United Nations and all of these things that he was for,” Glenn says.

Now that disposing of the world’s “stupid useless eaters” in the name of planetary salvation is no longer a viable option with Trump in power, Glenn says Gates needs a plan B that keeps his influence intact. That’s why he’s suddenly pro-affordable energy for the masses he once felt free to sacrifice.

Glenn urges his audience to not let Gates off the hook for this sudden pivot. “You were spending us into oblivion. You were destroying the Western way of life. You were scaring our children. You told us we’re all going to die. And now you have the balls to just casually reverse yourself?” he berates.

“No, we should not listen to him. We should not listen to any of these people. They have been designing a steel cage for anybody who is not in their class.”

To hear more, watch the clip above.

Want more from Glenn Beck?

To enjoy more of Glenn’s masterful storytelling, thought-provoking analysis, and uncanny ability to make sense of the chaos, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

​The glenn beck program, Glenn beck, Bill gates, Climate change, Bill gates climate, Blazetv, Blaze media, Donald trump, Wef, Globalism 

George Clooney has it all. The villa on Lake Como, the Hollywood halo, the tequila fortune.

And now — apparently — a farm. He grows olives, you see. Presses them into artisanal oil. Talks lovingly about “the land.”

In Ireland, farmer suicide rates are among the highest in the country. In America, it’s even worse. Farming isn’t just lonely — it’s a daily battle against debt, drought, and despair.

It’s the sort of thing the lifestyle press laps up. The movie star who’s “gone back to nature,” barefoot among the groves, a rake in both senses of the word. But as someone raised on an actual farm in Ireland, I can’t help but laugh. Calling Clooney a farmer is like calling yourself a surgeon because you once removed a splinter with tweezers.

Knee-deep in muck

My father’s a real farmer. He’s the kind of man who measures days in chores, not hours. He’s out there in rain, shine, or two feet of snow, wrangling 100 cattle and 300 sheep with saintly patience. Starting at age 7, I spent 10 years doing the same thing. The man’s hands could sand a doorframe just by clapping. His back has carried more than hay bales. It’s borne the heavy burden of being taken for granted. Farmers feed everyone, yet everyone forgets them. They’re the engine of every economy and the punchline of every town.

The romantic idea of farming — what I call the “Clooney complex” — is built on Instagram filters and feckless fantasy. A celebrity buys a few acres, plants some lavender, adopts a goat named Aristotle, and suddenly it’s “sustainable living.” They wear linen shirts and wax lyrical about the “spiritual rhythm” of rural life, just before jetting back to L.A. in a jet that could single-handedly melt a glacier.

Meanwhile, the real farmer down the road is up at five, knee-deep in muck, coaxing a calf into the world in sideways sleet. The rhythm of real rural life sounds less like “peaceful simplicity” and more like an industrial power washer.

We don’t name our sheep. That’s something people who’ve never farmed don’t understand. When you’ve got 300 of the woolly little delinquents, sentimentality is a luxury you can’t afford. I’ve seen enough lambs die in winter to know why farmers are wary of names. We remember numbers. The birth tags. The weight. The cost of feed. The constant arithmetic of survival. Romanticizing farming is like romanticizing trench warfare — fine for those who’ve never experienced it firsthand.

Debt, drought, and despair

And yet, people love the image. The noble tiller of soil, weathered but wise, standing in a sunset, surrounded by his empire. They never show the invoices, broken fences, silage bills, oppressive environmental regulations, or the bank statements.

They don’t show the nights you lie awake wondering whether the mart price will rise or fall. They don’t show the hours spent alone, the silence broken only by the rattle of a gate or the cough of an animal on the way out. Farming is isolation dressed as independence. You’re your own boss, yes — but your employees are cows, and they never take a day off.

In Ireland, farmer suicide rates are among the highest in the country. In America, it’s even worse. Farming isn’t just lonely — it’s a daily battle against debt, drought, and despair.

Each season, costs climb higher: cement for sheds, grain for feed, diesel for tractors, even medicine for the herd. Profits shrink, pressure builds, and hope thins out like soil after too many harvests. American farmers are now three and a half times more likely to die by suicide than the average worker. The farm devours what it earns. It’s less a business than a benevolent parasite — you feed it in the hope it feeds you back.

RELATED: AI isn’t feeding you

Photo by Nikada via Getty Images

Learning from the land

But to the celebrity farmer, it’s a lovely way of life. Clooney can pose with his olives, Chris Pratt with his chickens, or “Top Gear” legend Jeremy Clarkson with his camera crew and call it “a return to roots.” Fine, let them have their fun. But real farming isn’t less a return than a sentence. It’s 70-hour weeks, constant pressure, and the faint but familiar panic of wondering what happens if you get sick. No stand-in. No understudy. Just you and the land, locked in an ancient marriage of necessity.

Don’t get me wrong — I love the land. There’s a holiness to it that city life can’t touch. I understand why people are drawn to it, even why they imitate it. But farming isn’t a hobby. It’s not therapy. It’s work in its rawest form — bone-deep, back-breaking, Sisyphus-like labor. And while actors can play at being farmers, farmers can’t play at being actors. When a calf’s stuck halfway out, the only thing rolling is your sleeves. There are no retakes.

If George Clooney wants to plant crops, fine. Let him. But I’ll believe he’s a farmer when he’s up at dawn to dig a drain, when his hands smell permanently of disinfectant. I’ll believe it when his holidays depend on the lambing schedule and not the film schedule. Until then, he’s just a gardener with glorious lighting.

Farming is a philosophy in itself. It teaches humility, patience, and a genuine appreciation for the good times. You learn to solve problems with what’s at hand — wire, hope, and plenty of profanity. It’s not glamorous, but it’s brutally honest.

So when I read about Clooney’s olives, I smile. Until he has scraped muck from his boots with a stick, yelled at a stubborn sheepdog that won’t listen, and worked from first light to last, I’ll save my applause for the real ones: the men and women who work the land not for show, but for the soil itself. Owning a field doesn’t make you a farmer any more than starring in “The Perfect Storm” makes you a fisherman.

​George clooney, Ireland, Hollywood, Farming, Farmland, Entertainment, Suicide, Mental health, Lifestyle 

“Arctic Frost” was an FBI operation greenlit in April 2022 by former Director Christopher Wray and ex-Attorney General Merrick Garland that targeted various individuals supportive of President Donald Trump and/or skeptical of the results of the 2020 election.

The investigation, which was formally assigned to special counsel Jack Smith in November 2022, ultimately resulted in the four-count indictment Smith filed in August 2023 accusing Trump of attempting to disrupt the lawful transfer of power.

It turns out that the partisan nature of the investigation was baked in at the outset — right into its name.

‘They were so out of control, and thought they never would get caught.’

Following Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley’s (R) publication of documents on Friday showing that Wray, Garland, and former Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco approved the opening of Arctic Frost, Mike Howell, president of the Oversight Project, stated that “what you should know is that they were so out of control, and thought they never would get caught, that they named this investigation after an orange to mock Trump.”

RELATED: Damning new docs reveal who’s on Biden admin’s ‘enemies list,’ expose extent of FBI’s Arctic Frost

Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Arctic frost is the name of a satsuma mandarin orange hybrid. Early in its investigation into Operation Arctic Frost, the Oversight Project revealed that “the corrupt FBI agents who opened this case named it this to mock” Trump.

Many of Trump’s detractors — including disgraced former FBI Director James Comey — have in years past suggested that he has an orange pigmentation.

In addition to serving as a nod to fellow Trump antagonists, the alleged naming of the operation as an intended insult to Trump signals that it was, from its very inception, nothing more than a partisan campaign aimed at the ruination of the president and his allies.

Blaze News has reached out to the FBI for comment.

Editor’s note: Mike Howell is a contributor at Blaze News.

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​Arctic frost, Oversight project, Mike howell, Grassley, Fbi, Orange man, Donald trump, Bias, Weaponization, Politics 

Failed Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris was confronted in a tense exchange with a journalist who called her out for evading questions about former President Joe Biden’s “frailties.”

Harris was challenged by Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s Sarah Ferguson on Biden’s decline that all Americans witnessed yet no Democrat leaders publicly acknowledged. Because of the party’s silence on the issue, Ferguson asked Harris how the cover-up affected her campaign.

‘Are you still reluctant to criticize the former president?’

“Wasn’t [Joe Biden’s] refusal to recognize his own frailties the reason that you faced a nearly impossible task?” Ferguson asked.

Rather than admitting to the frailties that the American public saw with their own eyes, Harris retreated by changing the subject to Trump.

RELATED: CNN brutally fact-checks Jasmine Crockett for peddling debunked ballroom hoax

Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

“I ran against Donald Trump for president,” Harris responded. “And Donald Trump ran on a platform that was, in large part, I believe, misrepresenting his intentions to the American people. I do believe that there are a fair number of people that voted for Donald Trump who believed him when he told them that his first priority on day one was going to be to bring down prices. And he didn’t. And you combine that misrepresentation of intention with also what was at play in terms of massive amounts of mis- and disinformation.”

In the middle of Harris’ rambling response, Ferguson called out the failed candidate for avoiding her question entirely.

“I want to interrupt you because that is a world-class pivot,” Ferguson said, “but it is not the question that I asked you, which is about Joe Biden’s failure to recognize his own frailties and what that did to you. The question is about Joe Biden. Are you still reluctant to criticize the former president?”

RELATED: Kamala Harris’ 2028 trial balloon on BBC goes horribly bad

Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

As Ferguson pointed out, Harris and even former staffers from the Biden administration seem reluctant to point out the obvious weaknesses of the former president.

“He was not frail as president of the United States,” Harris replied.

“But he had frailties,” Ferguson pushed back. “We all saw the debate.”

Harris, with a stunned expression, made a last-ditch attempt to defend Biden’s fitness for office.

“I do believe that Joe Biden had the capacity to be president of the United States, and I’ve never doubted that he had the capacity to be president of the United States,” Harris said.

“If you want to talk about whether he had the ability to endure what a race for president of the United States would require in that political environment, in 2024, as I’ve said in the book, I had concerns.”

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​Kamala harris, Donald trump, Joe biden, Biden decline, 2024 election, Biden coverup, Biden autopen, White house, 2028 election, Sarah ferguson, Presidential debate, Disastrous debate, Politics 

As New York City heads into its next mayoral election, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) is doing few favors for the campaign of Zohran Mamdani — at least not for those who value coherence. Her remarks at a recent rally could serve as a Logic 101 case study in contradiction.

The problem isn’t limited to her message. The Democratic platform itself, and Mamdani’s campaign in particular, now rests on foundations so incoherent that one almost blushes to analyze them.

The modern left doesn’t appeal to reason. Instead, it appeals to envy, resentment, lust, and the eternal promise of something for nothing.

Behind AOC, a man waved a sign that read: “Free Buses.” A perfect summary. She may imagine the crowds came to hear her and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) thunder against injustice, but the truth is simpler: Promise free things to people indifferent to truth, and you can fill any arena.

As a logic professor, allow me to walk through the highlights of her address. Think of it as a guided tour through the labyrinth of leftist reasoning — or rather, unreasoning.

The new party of contradiction

AOC’s positions directly contradict what Democrats like Hillary Clinton, Chuck Schumer, and Nancy Pelosi said 30 years ago about immigration and public safety. The irony? In attacking Donald Trump, she’s also attacking them.

Her first contradiction concerns ownership. AOC claimed that New York City “belongs to the people of this country” but moments later insisted it “belongs to immigrants.” Well, which is it? Either she contradicted herself within two sentences, or she truly believes the city belongs to citizens of other nations. That would make sense only if you’re an international socialist calling on the “workers of the world” to unite.

She also called herself “a fascist’s worst nightmare” because she defends immigrants. Yet the fascists of the 1940s didn’t allow people to leave their countries. Republicans are merely asking migrants to follow the law. No fascist ever demanded less government power. Conservatives do. Fascists didn’t defend free speech; yet Elon Musk — whom AOC routinely attacks — is now a hero of speech and open debate.

Lessons for the willfully ignorant

Next came her invocation of the Confederacy and Jim Crow. Someone should tell her: The Confederates were Democrats. The segregationists were Democrats. The architects of slavery, redlining, and resistance to civil rights — all Democrats. Why should anyone believe the same party now represents moral progress? The left ruins the cities it governs and then blames everyone else. It’s the political version of DARVO: deny, attack, and reverse victim and offender.

Then came her favorite populist line — that her opponents are “funded by billionaires.” Public records tell a different story. Plenty of billionaires bankroll her and her fellow radicals. How does she say it with a straight face? Remember our friend with the “Free Buses” sign: He’s not there for philosophy — he’s there for freebies.

The left’s new theology

AOC then delivered a sermon on intersectionality, the academic creed of Kimberlé Crenshaw: all “oppressed” groups united by one great villain — the white, Christian, heterosexual male.

Picture a wheel: The hub is the white Protestant man, the spokes are every “marginalized” group on earth. AOC’s list was textbook: “This city was built by the Irish escaping famine, Italians fleeing fascism, Jews escaping the Holocaust, black Americans fleeing Jim Crow, Latinos seeking a better life, Native people standing for themselves, Asian Americans coming together.”

For AOC and the radical left, grievance is the very air they breathe. Humanity divides neatly into identity blocs, locked in eternal conflict — and at the center of every injustice stands the Christian West. She closed the circle by declaring that American history is defined by “class struggle,” the dialectic Marx demanded.

AOC contradicts herself, defines ‘the American people’ as everyone but American citizens, and divides humanity into tribes of grievance.

Her introduction of Bernie Sanders confirmed it. “Senator Sanders,” she said, “is the foremost leader and advocate for labor and class struggle in the United States.” At least she’s honest. Sanders is an international socialist — otherwise known as a communist — and AOC’s crowd now wears that label proudly.

But a 1990s-era Hillary Clinton would instantly see the contradiction: You can’t be both pro-American worker and pro-open borders. Clinton was a national socialist (minus the genocidal agenda); Sanders and AOC are international socialists. The alternative to both isn’t fascism — which is also a species of national socialism — but the American republic: constitutional rule, checks and balances, a Bill of Rights, and a government that protects its citizens from threats foreign and domestic.

‘Acceptance’ without love

For those wondering whether any theology slipped into AOC’s secular revival meeting — it did, but only in parody.

In older times, an evil spirit could be tested by whether it could quote scripture correctly. By that standard, AOC’s spirit fails. She told the crowd we must “accept our neighbor as ourselves.” Not love — accept. The difference is enormous.

To love your neighbor is to will his good. To “accept” your neighbor, in AOC’s lexicon, is to affirm whatever destructive path he chooses. When a neighbor wants to mutilate his body for a sexual fetish, love warns him against harm. AOC’s “acceptance” cheers him on. Her mercy kills.

The Christian calls sinners to repentance and faith in Christ. The radical left calls that “hate speech.”

RELATED: Why Gen Z is rebelling against leftist lies — and turning to Jesus

Photo by David Ryder/Getty Images

The logic of the new faith

By now, any logic student would have learned the lesson: AOC contradicts herself, defines “the American people” as everyone but American citizens, and divides humanity into tribes of grievance. Her creed depends on intersectionality — a doctrine that scapegoats not just white men, but all Christians who refuse to bow before the new secular orthodoxy.

If that student left disappointed by the quality of public rhetoric, he’d still leave wiser. Over the gates of hell, Dante wrote: “Abandon all hope, ye who enter here.” Over the platform of the radical left, one might inscribe a similar warning: Let none who expect coherence enter here.

The modern left doesn’t appeal to reason. It despises reason as a tool of “European colonialism.” Instead, it appeals to envy, resentment, lust, and the eternal promise of something for nothing — free buses for all.

The American republic will not survive if its citizens trade reason for rage. To preserve it, we must expose the incoherence at the heart of the left’s new religion. Free buses to a ruined city are no substitute for freedom itself.

​Opinion & analysis, Alexandria ocasio-cortez, Zohran mamdani, Bernie sanders, Hillary clinton, Socialism, Free buses, New york city mayoral race, Kimberlé crenshaw, Billionaires, Karl marx, Marxism, Class struggle, Confederacy, Immigrants, Religion, Marginalized, Free speech, Hate speech, Elections, Leftism 

Nearing the one-month mark, the government shutdown has caused increased anxiety as Republicans stand fast against Democrat demands. However, new polling shows some surprising shifts in public opinion.

Explaining the results of new polls from AP-NORC and Quinnipiac, CNN data analyst Harry Enten demonstrated that Republicans have little to no reason to “give in” in this battle in the Senate.

‘This is, in fact, the worst position Democrats have been on a generic ballot at this point in a midterm when there was a Republican president in the last 20 years.’

To begin, Enten showed that the Republican brand in general gained two points in popularity: “That’s within the margin of error, but clearly it hasn’t dropped.”

Approval for congressional Republicans has also increased by five points since the shutdown began, according to Enten’s analysis.

RELATED: Mike Johnson calls out Schumer for continuing government shutdown

Photo by JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images

“You might think, given that the Republicans are in charge of both the House and the Senate, that a government shutdown might actually hurt the Republican brand — but in fact, it hasn’t.”

Enten demonstrated that the shutdown has not only significantly rallied the Republican base — it has also done well with independents.

“Something could rally the base but alienate those in the middle — or something could rally those in the middle but alienate the base. But the truth is, we’re not seeing that. What we’re seeing is that the Republican brand has actually gotten better among independents, and it’s also gotten better among Republicans as well.”

Enten also showed that Democrats are in a “considerably worse” position ahead of the 2026 midterms. While still ahead of Republicans on the generic congressional ballot, Democrats are up only three points now, compared to +11 points at this point in 2017, a year before the 2018 midterms.

“This is, in fact, the worst position Democrats have been on a generic ballot at this point in a midterm when there was a Republican president in the last 20 years.”

“So again, what’s the electoral reason that Republicans would give in at this point?” Enten repeated.

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​Politics, Republicans, Democrats, Ap-norc, Quinnipiac, Harry enten, Public opinion, Public opinion poll, Government shutdown, Democrat shutdown, Independents, 2026 midterms 

Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino will not have to directly report to Judge Sara Ellis on a daily basis after the U.S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals overruled Ellis’ orders set in place this week.

Ellis’ strange order came after Border Patrol agents in the Chicago metro area were accused of violating a temporary restraining order on the use of tear gas during confrontations with violent anti-Border Patrol crowds. Bovino threw a tear gas canister toward a violent mob while his agents were working in the Little Village neighborhood, which prompted Ellis to order Bovino to her courtroom.

‘The order significantly interferes with the quintessentially executive function of ensuring the Nation’s immigration laws are properly enforced.’

Bovino said he was willing to comply with going to the courthouse every day, but the circuit court intervened, calling the demanded daily reports an “extraordinary and extraordinarily disruptive requirement.”

The circuit court also determined that Ellis’ ruling would “significantly” impede federal enforcement of immigration law.

“The order significantly interferes with the quintessentially executive function of ensuring the Nation’s immigration laws are properly enforced by waylaying a senior executive official critical to that mission on a daily basis,” the ruling said, according to 25 News.

RELATED: Far-left congressional candidate hit with reality check after allegedly impeding ICE operations

Eileen T. Meslar/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images

Will Chamberlain, senior counsel to the Article III Project, previously slammed Ellis’ ruling as “ridiculous.”

“This ruling is ridiculous because it entails a district court judge becoming the supervisor of a senior DHS official on her own initiative. The executive power belongs to the president of the United States — not to Article III judges. Judges have the right to issue lawful injunctions; they do not have the right to micromanage law enforcement,” Chamberlain previously told Blaze News.

Before Bovino testified to Ellis, the Department of Homeland Security released footage taken from body cameras and drones showing the attacks Border Patrol agents faced when they were in Little Village. Ellis complained that she did not see agents giving the required two warnings before using crowd-control measures like tear gas.

Bovino has been on the front lines in both arresting operations and crowd-control actions, such as at the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in nearby Broadview.

Following Ellis’ ruling, Bovino said, “We’re going to go out there. We’re gonna accomplish the mission. We’re closing in on 3,000 apprehensions as we speak. … We’re even going to go even harder, and I’m not worried about it all.”

— (@)

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​Politics 

A 48-year-old mother boarded a Florida school bus Monday morning and threatened a student and cursed out the bus driver, the Polk County Sheriff’s Office said.

But the mother — identified by authorities as Latanya Rowe — allegedly was just getting started.

‘These police ain’t gonna be able to protect you!’

The bus was supposed to be taking students to Davenport High School, but Rowe apparently had some business to take care of first.

The sheriff’s office said Rowe began cursing at and threatening a student on the bus about a Friday incident between the student and Rowe’s son and daughter. The student victim recorded video of Rowe’s profanities and threats, officials said.

“Yeah, record me!” she yelled to start things off. “I know where you live!”

She also cursed out the bus driver, accusing him of not “handling the situation” between her kids and the student, authorities said.

The bus driver told Rowe to get off the bus, but she refused, officials said, adding that when he told her he was contacting law enforcement, she left.

The sheriff’s office said Rowe’s actions caused the bus to be delayed by about 50 minutes.

Before the clip ended, Rowe was heard hollering — apparently at the student — that “these police ain’t gonna be able to protect you!”

RELATED: Mom and her 17-year-old daughter board middle school bus, start slugging 8th-grade boy: Report

The sheriff’s office said that when deputies went to Rowe’s home, she told them through her Ring camera that she was at the high school.

Indeed, the two school resource deputies went to the high school’s front office where they found Rowe cursing, yelling, and causing a disturbance, officials said. When the deputies attempted to take Rowe into custody, she resisted, the sheriff’s office said.

What’s more, Rowe’s daughter was standing nearby and was told multiple times to move back, officials said, adding that she repeatedly refused and told deputies that she wanted to go to jail too. The sheriff’s office said she was taken into custody for violation of the “Halo law” after warnings and resisting arrest.

Deputies investigating the original dispute between the three students on the bus — Rowe’s son and daughter and the student victim — learned through several witnesses that Rowe’s son had been bullying the student victim for a week and calling the victim racial slurs, officials said.

When all three students got off the bus Friday afternoon, the victim attempted to talk to Rowe’s son and daughter, but they both punched the victim, officials said, adding that the victim fought back until another student separated them.

“The irony of this situation is that this woman’s two children were found to be the aggressors in a fight that took place on Friday, yet she was screaming at the victim and accusing the victim of hurting her kids,” Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said in the aftermath. “The victim’s parents declined to press charges and preferred that the school handle that internally, but we are moving forward with charging this mother for her criminal conduct. You cannot go onto a school bus or onto school property and cause a disturbance — schools are meant to be safe places where children learn.”

RELATED: ‘You talkin’ s**t to my daughter?’ Mom allegedly boards school bus, repeatedly punches 64-year-old driver, drags her by hair

Rowe was charged with disrupting a school function, trespassing on school grounds, disorderly conduct, and resisting arrest, officials said, adding that she was released after posting $1,750 bond.

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​Florida, Polk county sheriff’s office, Sheriff grady judd, Mother, Arrest, School bus, Verbal assault, Bullying, Student victim, Bus driver, Davenport high school, Crime 

Halloween was never something I thought that deeply about until recently. If I’m being honest, for years I rolled my eyes at the rigid Christian parents — holier-than-thou stick-in-the-muds — who refused to let their kids participate in any Halloween traditions, especially costume-wearing and trick-or-treating.

I grew up in a Christian home with parents who had strong convictions about darkness but still allowed me and my siblings to enjoy Halloween festivities. Our parameters were simple: no horror movies, no haunted houses, no costumes that represent evil, and no trick-or-treating at homes with macabre decorations.

‘So many people think Halloween is about candy and it’s about dress-up, but they don’t question the meaning behind it.’

Some of my favorite childhood memories are from Halloween.

When she could find the time, my mom, a skilled seamstress, would handmake our costumes. One year, she hand-stitched me a sequin and tulle fairy dress. Another year, she made my little brother Larry the Cucumber from “VeggieTales.” He looked like Shrek’s awkward cousin, and I was forced to let him tag along for trick-or-treating — a total vibe kill when you’re 11 years old and going as a fierce leopard queen of the savanna. Twenty years later, my family still howls in laughter at the image of the two of us, a majestic jungle cat trailed by a strange pickle.

After returning home with pillowcases bursting with candy, my brother and I would stay up late sorting through our plunder and making valuable trades. He liked the fruity stuff; I was a chocoloholic, so it worked out. We made these exchanges while we watched “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown” and “Casper.”

When I grew older, I would help my mom get my little sister ready for trick-or-treating. I’d curl her hair, paint her nails, and delicately apply sparkly eyeshadow until she was the best princess in the neighborhood.

By all measures, Halloween at my childhood home was sweet and fun.

In my early adult years before my husband and I had a child, we kept the same guidelines. Our front porch was decorated exclusively with pumpkins and orange string lights. If we went to a costume party, we dressed as something benign, like Peter Pan and Wendy (he’s still salty with me about the green tights). We handed out candy and hyped up every princess and Power Ranger who came to our door. If our friends invited us to see a horror movie or go to a haunted house, we politely declined.

For years, this is how we did Halloween, and I always arrogantly assumed that we were doing it right — threading the needle perfectly so that no darkness got into our bubble.

But everything changes when you have a child. The second your doctor places that perfect baby in your arms, the lens through which you see the world morphs. Suddenly, there is danger lurking around every corner. Your mind is incessantly flooded with bone-chilling what-ifs. Your spirit gets more sensitive and begins picking up on things — lyrics, innuendos, hidden agendas — it never noticed before.

The weight of responsibility gets 1,000 times heavier as you realize: I am not only responsible for protecting this human being physically, I’m also charged with nurturing and guarding their soul.

And so when Halloween rolls around, you start asking questions you never asked before.

Questions like: What if my toddler sees a scary costume or yard display and has nightmares? What if allowing him to trick-or-treat exposes him to terrors he otherwise would’ve remained ignorant of? What if I start traditions I regret later?

These questions gave way to deeper spiritual inquiries: Is there an uptick in demonic activity on Halloween (even in well-lit suburban neighborhoods)? Am I sending my son out onto demon-infested streets by allowing him to trick-or-treat? By participating in Halloween in any capacity, am I attempting to whitewash a day that glorifies darkness? Is it possible for Christians to partake in Halloween and still glorify God? At what point have we crossed the threshold from innocence to fraternizing with evil? Is there such a threshold when it comes to Halloween?

These queries then birthed a whole different set: By only partaking in the innocuous parts of Halloween (granted those exist), might we be a positive example for others who don’t know Jesus? Could setting parameters around Halloween teach my child how to be light in the darkness — in the world but not of it? Might the plastic monsters in people’s yards eventually be a tool to introduce our son to the real monsters? Are candy and costumes wholesome practices 364 days of the year but grave moral evils just on October 31? If that’s the standard I hold to, am I not being a bit legalistic?

RELATED: Why Christians should stop running scared from Halloween

kajakiki/Getty Images Plus

Full transparency: I’m not sure where I fall on this issue. I am struggling because I think my parents did an exceptional job protecting us from darkness while still allowing us to have fun and make awesome memories.

If possible, I would like to re-create the same experiences for my children.

However, we were kids in the 1990s. We didn’t have access to global information in the palm of our hands. My mom wasn’t privy to the dark pagan origins of trick-or-treating and costume-wearing.

But today, we can find the answers to literally anything in mere seconds thanks to high-speed internet, smart devices, and artificial intelligence — another big moral question mark. Many discerning Christians have begun looking into the origins of things they thoughtlessly engaged in for years, including Halloween. They’re deeply disturbed by what they’re finding.

Social media has also given everyone who wants it a platform. Practicing witches are all over Instagram and TikTok. They’ve busted the myth that witches wear pointy hats and concoct bubbling potions in the dark forest. Turns out, they’re sitting next to you at the coffee shop, browsing grocery store aisles in your hometown, and creating spreadsheets in the cubicle next to yours.

Halloween is a frequent subject on “WitchTok,” a virtual community that has amassed billions of views. Oct. 31 is a day when modern witches revive the ancient pagan rituals that influenced Halloween. And they’re doing it boldly — consulting with demons, worshipping at satanic altars, and casting curses and spells. One can only guess what they’re doing off camera.

This is all going on while children stuff themselves with Snickers and Skittles.

On the flip side, social media has also given voice to ex-occult members who are exposing the dark art’s sinister secrets. These Christian converts pull no punches about Halloween: It’s a hard no.

Many of them describe personal experiences with rituals, hauntings, and “demonic weddings” on Oct. 31. They almost unanimously implore believers to abstain from the holiday to avoid opening spiritual doors to evil.

I recently saw this Instagram post from Christian music artist Forrest Frank:

In the video, ex-occultist and former satanic church leader Riaan Swiegelaar warns that Halloween is “the highest day on the satanic calendar” and “the night of the year where there is the most human sacrifice on the whole planet.”

“So many people think Halloween is about candy and it’s about dress-up, but they don’t question the meaning behind it,” he said.

Swiegelaar went on to suggest that anyone who participates in Halloween by opening their doors and engaging in the traditions will be “affected” by the darkness.

An ex-satanic priest turned evangelist named John Ramirez, who spent over two decades engaging in unspeakable horrors on Halloween, warns that participation in any capacity is like having a one-night stand with Satan. He even goes so far as to claim that pumpkins, not even Jack-o’-lanterns, outside our doors are an invitation for demons to enter.

Do I take their word for it? Even though my childhood memories don’t align?

Do I lean harder into the Christian or pagan roots of Halloween? Can I participate in some traditions given they were shaped by All Hallows’ Eve, the vigil before All Hallows’ Day, a Christian feast established by the early church to honor saints and martyrs?

Or do I turn my porch light off and barricade my family indoors because Halloween was also influenced by the pagan fire festival of Samhain, a night steeped in death and the demonic? Ancient Celtic peoples made offerings and sometimes even sacrifices to the dead, practiced divination and necromancy, and danced around great bonfires to keep evil spirits at bay. Samhain is where costume-wearing and trick-or-treating got their start.

However, both traditions are a bit of a mixed bag. Ancient pagan practices blended with medieval Christian traditions to eventually become the candy-driven, costume-obsessed hallmarks of modern Halloween. Samhain was the night Celts believed the veil between the living and the dead was thin. Spirits that crossed the barrier needed appeasement, so people offered gifts, usually food, to quell their wrath — a precursor to passing out candy.

One could argue that Christians, by turning demonic practices into veneration and community-oriented festivities, brought light where there was darkness.

However, British and Irish Christians then put their own spin on these practices with “souling,” where the poor went door-to-door on All Hallows’ Eve, offering prayers for the dead in return for food, which further shaped the trick-or-treating we know today.

The tradition of costume-wearing has a similar trajectory.

During Samhain, Celts would disguise themselves using animal skins or masks to confuse or ward off malevolent spirits. By the medieval period, after Christianity had spread across Ireland and Scotland, these practices were reshaped into what became known as “guising.” Children dressed up and went door-to-door, performing songs, poems, or tricks for food or coins. This was widely accepted by Christians as part of All Hallows’ Day festivities.

So while Samhain birthed the concepts of trick-or-treating and dressing in costumes, Christians had the final say. The early church redirected pagan impulses of worshipping and fearing the dead to honoring them as part of the “communion of saints.” Or did they merely sanitize sin? I guess it depends on how you look at it.

Many Christians who condemn Halloween today point back to the pagan origins of these traditions as evidence of why believers should abstain. They’ve definitely got a point. Samhain was — is — dedicated to the demonic.

However, one could argue that Christians, by turning demonic practices into veneration and community-oriented festivities, brought light where there was darkness. Again, it depends on how you look at it.

I do find it interesting that the majority of Christians who are bent on seeing the entirety of Halloween as irredeemably evil don’t bat an eye when December rolls around and Christmas trees go up. Christmas trees have the exact same history as Halloween’s favorite traditions: It began as a pagan practice of worshipping nature spirits, and then Christians adapted it into a “holy” holiday tradition.

I asked a close friend of mine who falls in this category (no Halloween but Christmas trees are fine) her thoughts on this. She told me Halloween in general is a celebration of darkness, whereas Christmas is not.

It’s a fair point, but I still wonder if mainstream Christmas is not a celebration of a different kind of darkness — greed and materialism.

“It’s just the whole Halloween vibe. It doesn’t sit well with my spirit,” she told me.

There, I think, is where everyone should find their answer: in the Spirit, which convicts us all differently. I’m reminded of the apostle Paul’s words to the early Gentile Christians in Romans 14, who were arguing over disputable matters of conscience, like consuming food offered to idols and observing certain holidays. He told them, “Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind.” Perhaps the same wisdom applies here.

This year, my husband and I have decided to abstain from Halloween and use this time when our son is still too young to remember anything to pray about what our future Octobers should look like.

My spirit is certainly disturbed when I see our next-door neighbor turning his yard into what I can only describe as a temple of darkness — monsters and fiends of all varieties awash in a sickly red glow. I then look over at the cluster of pumpkins on my own front porch and wonder: Are he and I guilty of the same crime?

Until I have my answer, I’ll keep pondering, praying, and letting the Spirit — not the season or even my cherished memories — tell me what belongs in our home.

​Christianity, Christian, Samhain, All saints day, Halloween 

It’s no secret that the Department of Justice and the FBI were weaponized against President Donald Trump and his allies under the previous administration.

Damning new revelations about the FBI’s Arctic Frost investigation indicate, however, that the campaign waged by former Attorney General Merrick Garland’s lawfare regime to hound and potentially lock up individuals supportive of Trump and/or skeptical of the results of the 2020 election was far worse than previously imagined.

‘[Biden] thought basically half of America were domestic terrorists.’

“Arctic Frost was not just an attack on Democracy; it was a coordinated and sustained invasion of it,” Mike Howell, president of the watchdog group Oversight Project, said in a statement.

“Everyone responsible should be held accountable and banished from public life,” continued Howell. “The long continuum of a decade-long campaign by the Federal government against Trump can get complicated. What you should know is that they were so out of control, and thought they never would get caught, that they named this investigation after an orange to mock Trump.”

This week, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and the House Judiciary Committee published thousands of pages of additional documents altogether providing a better sense of the vastness and invasiveness of the Arctic Frost dragnet, which was launched in April 2022.

Grassley published documents earlier this month detailing how the Biden FBI sought private cellphone records from numerous GOP lawmakers during Arctic Frost — an operation greenlit by Garland and former FBI Director Christopher Wray that morphed into at least one case brought against Trump by Garland’s special counsel, Jack Smith.

Apparently the covert surveillance of Republican Sens. Ted Cruz (Texas), Marsha Blackburn (Tenn.), and other lawmakers was just the tip of the iceberg.

On Wednesday, Grassley made public 197 subpoenas obtained through whistleblower disclosures showing that Smith and his team demanded testimony, communications, and records related to at least 430 Republican individuals and entities.

RELATED: The bureaucracy strikes back — and we’re striking harder

(Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Grassley stated, “Arctic Frost was the vehicle by which partisan FBI agents and DOJ prosecutors could improperly investigate the entire Republican political apparatus. Contrary to what Smith has said publicly, this was clearly a fishing expedition.”

Among the recipients of the subpoenas were:

financial institutions and platforms such as Avidia Bank, Bank of America, Capital One, JP Morgan Chase, TD Bank, BILL, and Wells Fargo;various campaign, consulting and legal outfits including the Save America Joint Fundraising Committee, the Republican National Committee, Parscale Strategy, and the Trump Make America Great Again Committee; and34 individuals including former Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale, Trump 2020 communications director Tim Murtaugh, GOP campaign operative Thomas Datwyler, former acting Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller, and deputy national security adviser Robert Gabriel.

Grassley indicated that Smith and his team squeezed some of these individuals, banks, and businesses for their records concerning and communications with:

media companies such as CBS, Fox News, OAN, Newsmax, and Sinclair; “any member, employee or agent of the Legislative Branch of the U.S. Government”; White House advisers including Stephen Miller, Dan Scavino, and Lara Trump; conservative groups including Turning Point USA and the Republican Attorneys General Association; data concerning Republican donors and fundraising efforts; and financial data relating to conservative individuals and entities.

‘I think they’re being sabotaged within.’

Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wisc.) said Wednesday that “what is revealed in those 1,700 pages of documents, in those 197 subpoenas, is nothing short of a Biden administration enemies list. I’m old enough to understand how toxic a term that was under Richard Nixon. This is far worse — far worse, orders of magnitude worse.”

“People need to understand how politicized the Biden administration turned all these agencies,” continued Johnson. “[Biden] thought basically half of America were domestic terrorists.”

Johnson emphasized that the records Grassley made public were not obtained from the FBI but rather from a whistleblower and suggested that Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel are being hindered by bad actors within their respective agencies.

“We need to do everything we can to assist Director Patel and AG Bondi in making sure they have the staff to take control over these agencies. They’re the heads of them — I don’t think they have the control,” said Johnson. “I think they’re being sabotaged within.”

— (@)

The House Judiciary Committee released over 230 pages of additional documents on Tuesday providing insights into the nature and origins of Arctic Frost.

Among the heavily redacted documents turned over by Patel is a April 13, 2022, memo issued by the Washington, D.C., field office that discusses the flimsy predicate for the Arctic Frost investigation — a probe allegedly named after a type of orange to mock Trump.

RELATED: GOP senator to sue Jack Smith after his lawyers try gaslighting on Biden FBI surveillance

Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images

The memo requesting the investigation alleged that “subjects corruptly conspired to obstruct the United States Congress’ certification of the 2020 Presidential election results by submitting fraudulent certificates of electors’ votes to the United States Government” and cited supposed evidence that individuals linked to the 2020 Trump campaign allegedly attempted to convince former Vice President Mike Pence to support alternate electors in 2021.

At the time of Arctic Frost’s conception, the lawfare regime appeared particularly interested in hounding former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and legal scholar John Eastman.

However, the documents suggest that hundreds of other conservatives may have also been targeted for investigation, including Trump trade adviser Peter Navarro; Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.); Steve Bannon; former Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows; former co-chair of the Republican National Committee Youth Advisory Council CJ Pearson; and the chief operating officer of Turning Point USA. Tyler Bowyer served as COO of TPUSA until recently.

Other documents in the trove provided by Patel indicate that the scope of the Arctic Frost “fishing expedition” grew rapidly such that just months into the probe and days after the agent who requested the opening of the investigation celebrated the indictment of Peter Navarro, investigators requested additional funds and bodies.

“The Arctic Frost team is requesting approximately $16,600 from [the Public Corruption Unit] for travel in June to conduct more than 40 interviews, serve subpoenas, and execute several cellular device search warrants,” said an email dated May 25, 2022. “We would be requesting assistance from 11 [Washington Field Office] individuals to travel to various locations, in addition to utilizing individuals from the various field offices.”

By January 2023, the Arctic Frost operation — which was formally assigned to Jack Smith in November 2022 — had targeted individuals in at least seven states, interviewed over 150 individuals, served over 400 subpoenas, and secured scores of search warrants, including for lawmakers’ phones and Trump’s Twitter account.

Missouri Rep. Bob Onder (R) noted that the revelations about the Arctic Frost probe have revealed “an alarming weaponization of government power at the highest levels.”

Editor’s note: Mike Howell is a contributor at Blaze News.

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​Arctic frost, Fbi, Weaponization, Corruption, Jack smith, Merrick garland, Christopher wray, Wray, Garland, Smith, Donald trump, 2020, Kash patel, Pam bondi, Politics 

Politicians and pundits have found a new social menace to fret about: online gambling. Some even compare its growth to an “opioid epidemic.” But alarmist rhetoric often obscures more than it reveals.

A new study by Douglas Walker of the College of Charleston and Brett Evans of Georgia College dismantles many of the claims fueling this moral panic. The authors find that much of the fear surrounding online gambling rests on weak evidence and flawed research methods.

Legalization didn’t create online gambling. It merely brought an existing market into the open, where it can be monitored, taxed, and regulated.

Walker and Evans examined the academic literature most often cited by anti-gambling activists and found “implicit anti-gambling biases, flawed research methodologies, and unsubstantiated conclusions.”

The result, they argue, is a distorted public perception of an industry that has become both mainstream and heavily regulated.

A case study in statistical gamesmanship

The researchers focus on three papers that critics routinely cite to show that legalized sports betting harms society.

The first, from the University of Oregon, claimed a link between sports gambling and intimate partner violence. The authors found that violence increased in cities where local NFL teams lost as betting favorites. But the same study failed to mention that violence decreased — and by a larger margin — when those teams won as favorites.

Since favorites win more often than they lose, the Oregon study’s framing was, at best, misleading. By focusing narrowly on “upset losses,” the authors turned an isolated pattern into a sweeping conclusion. Walker and Evans note that such selective reporting suggests an intent to produce a politically useful result rather than an accurate one.

Confusing deposits for debt

A second paper — beloved by anti-gambling commentators — claimed that online gambling depletes household savings. Yet it defined all unresolved bets as losses, even when the bettor eventually won. The study also lumped sports betting with online casino gaming, which has existed far longer, and ignored daily fantasy sports altogether.

Its data failed to mention that the median sports bettor wagered only $750 over 12 months — about $62.50 per month. That hardly supports the picture of mass financial ruin.

Ignoring the market that already existed

Like so many policy debates, this one forgets the black market that thrived long before legalization. Critics assume online gambling barely existed until states sanctioned it. In reality, the American Gaming Association estimates that Americans wagered $64 billion through offshore sites in 2024 alone.

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

Ivan Kuchin via iStock/Getty Images

Legalization didn’t create gambling. It merely brought an existing market into the open, where it can be monitored, taxed, and regulated.

Correlation without causation

A third set of studies blames sports betting for macroeconomic trends such as rising bankruptcy and delinquency rates. Walker and Evans point out that such research often mistakes timing for causation. States typically legalize gambling or lotteries when budgets tighten or economies falter. The economic distress comes first; gambling reform follows.

Recent years have included two divisive presidential elections, a global pandemic, and disastrous public policy responses — all of which distort economic data. Yet many academics pin every fluctuation on gambling laws.

As any freshman statistician knows, correlation does not equal causation. But for activists chasing headlines, correlation is good enough.

The return of the prohibitionists

Walker and Evans don’t romanticize gambling. They simply urge policymakers to weigh evidence honestly and to resist moral panics. Moderation is the sensible course.

But prohibitionists in public life rarely settle for moderation. They prefer sweeping bans that spare them the hard work of assessing trade-offs. As Prohibition showed a century ago, banning a popular activity doesn’t eliminate it — it just drives it underground.

Online gambling deserves scrutiny, but it also deserves truth. Demonizing it with sloppy statistics or ideological bias serves neither public health nor public honesty.

​Opinion & analysis, Online gambling, Addiction, Las vegas, Gambling legislation, Regulation, Moral panic, Economics, Debt, Myths 

Democrats are casting the shutdown showdown as a battle over health care costs, tapping into widespread anxiety over the cost of health care, especially among those enrolled in Medicare. For them, it’s politics. But for millions of American seniors, the worry is real — not just a convenient talking point.

Recent polling shows 58% of Medicare recipients 65 and over are concerned about future health care costs, and half are worried a major health situation could result in either debt or bankruptcy.

If left unchanged, Medicare will be unable to pay full benefits by 2036.

While medical debt is a growing concern among Medicare recipients, the staggering size of the federal debt — largely driven by Medicare spending — is a ticking time bomb Congress can no longer ignore. As one of the largest federal spending programs, Medicare consisted of a jarring $874 billion out of the $6.75 trillion federal budget (about 13 cents of every dollar spent in FY2024).

While Medicare receives some funding from premiums paid by enrollees, the single largest source of revenue comes from the federal government’s general fund. If left unchanged, Medicare will be unable to pay full benefits by 2036.

Medicare Advantage toes the line

Fortunately, policy solutions exist that can help both seniors and taxpayers.

Medicare Advantage merges public financing with private delivery under accountability. The government pays a fixed amount per enrollee to private plans, calibrated by benchmarks and quality measures. Plans that achieve higher star ratings — which were just released for 2026 by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services earlier this month — receive bonus payments. Meanwhile, poor performers lose ground.

This structure introduces incentives for efficiency and quality that are lacking in traditional Medicare. Yet, successive years of cuts to how Medicare Advantage plans are reimbursed have forced several major insurers to announce they’re withdrawing from certain Medicare Advantage markets next year.

Companies like UnitedHealth, Humana, Aetna, as well as regional plans such as UCare (serving Minnesota and parts of Wisconsin) and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Vermont, are withdrawing from select Medicare Advantage counties across the country, citing rising costs. Seniors are using more medical services than expected, driving up claims, while federal reimbursement rates are being cut. Added regulatory and administrative burdens (such as expanded reporting requirements and prior authorization rules) further limit insurers. Together, these pressures make participation unsustainable in some markets.

If unchanged, more insurers will leave Medicare Advantage, and options for seniors will continue to shrink. Meanwhile, Medicare costs are growing much faster than private health care spending.

In 2023, traditional Medicare spent $15,689 per enrollee, more than double the private sector amount. This is a result of the traditional fee-for-service model, which pays providers per treatment instead of per patient, rewarding volume over outcomes, encouraging unnecessary care, and driving up costs.

Conversely, Medicare Advantage’s structure encourages prevention and coordination. To attract enrollees, Medicare Advantage offers supplemental benefits such as vision, dental, hearing, wellness programs, transportation, and over‑the‑counter benefits. Many Medicare Advantage plans now include these extras at little or no additional cost. That flexibility helps tailor benefits to beneficiary needs.

Better treatment, lower costs

When allowed to work, Medicare Advantage delivers higher satisfaction, lower costs, and greater access to coverage than traditional Medicare. One Harvard study found that seniors enrolled in Medicare Advantage had better health outcomes than seniors on traditional Medicare. A National Institutes of Health review of hundreds of studies found that Medicare Advantage provided significantly better quality of care and health outcomes than traditional Medicare by a factor of four to one. Another NIH study found that across 48 studies, Medicare Advantage enrollees received more preventative care and had fewer hospitalizations and emergency visits, shorter stays, and lower total spending.

The financial and quality advantages are clear. One study comparing expected out‑of‑pocket costs in Medicare Advantage versus traditional Medicare found that from 2014 to 2019, projected costs were 18% to 24% lower under Medicare Advantage. For seniors on fixed incomes — that is significant.

RELATED: Democrats deny shutdown is about health care for illegal aliens — then one admits the truth

Photo by Nathan Posner/Anadolu via Getty Images

Seniors get it. This year, the majority of Medicare beneficiaries are enrolled in Medicare Advantage plans. Over the last two decades, enrollment in Medicare Advantage has skyrocketed. Unsurprisingly, polling shows 93% of Medicare Advantage enrollees were satisfied or very satisfied with their coverage, and 94% would recommend it to their family and friends. The Congressional Budget Office now projects that by 2034, Medicare Advantage could account for nearly two-thirds of all Medicare beneficiaries.

The model for the future

Medicare Advantage provides the model for quality, affordable health care for seniors that aligns with what they prefer. Reducing regulatory burdens and barriers within the insurance market will provide Medicare Advantage plans greater flexibility and even entice those insurers leaving the Medicare Advantage market to reconsider.

Medicare cannot continue as purely fee‑for‑service without reform — neither for the medical and financial health of Americans, nor for the sake of the federal budget. The current fiscal challenges plaguing the federal budget demand models that can bend the cost curve while improving quality. Medicare Advantage is not a cure-all, but it is among the most promising tools in the toolbox.

​Opinion & analysis, Medicare, Health insurance, Medicare advantage, Congress, Taxes, Insolvency, Spending, Democrats, Patients, Fee-for-service 

Everybody knows the real victims of 9/11 weren’t the 3,000 murdered Americans or their grieving families. No, according to the new progressive hierarchy, it’s Zohran Mamdani’s second cousin — thrice removed, four times hijabed — who claims she was once offended on the subway. Allegedly.

So if you’re keeping score at home in the “words are violence” sweepstakes, here’s the latest update: Something that probably never happened is righteous if it helps an Islamic socialist become mayor of America’s largest city. Meanwhile, Virginia’s Democratic candidate for attorney general gets a pass for fantasizing about the murder of a Republican lawmaker and his family.

Nothing new under the sun. Just another civilization sprinting toward its chosen darkness, proud all the way.

You’d think New Yorkers might have enough self-respect not to be played so easily — especially when it comes to one of the most fateful days in American history. But no. Apparently Loki was right. They were made to be ruled — and by the very people who treat the ashes of Ground Zero as a holiday display.

I’d wager real money that at least one family member of a 9/11 victim will vote for Mamdani next week. Loki, it seems, must have read John Calvin at some point in his multiverse journey: When God wants to punish a rebellious people, He gives them wicked rulers.

The worldview beneath the wreckage

We can’t outrun our worldview. Because worldview is destiny. When a people deny reality, they descend into madness. That’s what’s happening to those voting for Mamdani. They are largely godless, and once you reject the author of reality, you’re on a short, steep slide toward hell.

Hell, for its part, knows how to work with human nature. The devil discovered long ago that our fallen desire to shake a fist at God rivals even his own. That’s how you get from watching the Twin Towers fall to, just 25 years later, electing a man who shares the same ideology as one of the hijackers.

Not secretly. Not reluctantly. These voters are proud of it. They’ll call friends and family “racists” and “Nazis” for disagreeing. Such is the will to power when you reject God: The world must be turned upside down and morality twisted into a hall of mirrors.

When even Ayn Rand saw the abyss

Ayn Rand, no friend of Christianity, at least saw the problem. In an interview late in life, she told Phil Donahue that without some objective truth in the universe, nothing else made sense. Why do we reason instead of acting on instinct like animals? Rand recognized, however dimly, that a world without truth collapses into nihilism.

But that clarity is rare. Rand was a unicorn. Most people in her camp never do the math. They end up voting for their captors, praising their murderers, and calling it freedom.

The short version is simple: If you’re not in Christ’s camp, you belong to chaos. There are no neutral parties. Hell is happy to let you think otherwise — right up to the moment the darkness slams the door shut.

The believer’s tension — and the city’s choice

Every true believer wrestles with the tension between judgment and mercy. We are commanded to love God with our whole heart, mind, and strength — and to love our neighbor as ourselves. You can’t be “nicer than God,” but you must strive to let mercy triumph over judgment whenever you can.

RELATED: Zohran Mamdani’s Soviet dream for New York City

Photo by: Lindsey Nicholson/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

New York doesn’t care. The city long ago chose the darkness, which knows no such tension. Evil allows the illusion of tolerance until the moment comes to plant its flag.

By all means, take one more stroll down Tolerance Boulevard, Big Apple, and see where it ends. You’ll find it’s a one-way street to annihilation.

The math checks out

New York has made its peace with godlessness. First it worshiped the idol of corporate power. Then it voted for Sandinista Bill de Blasio’s Marxism. Now it’s ready to give the false god of Islam a chance to shatter its soul completely. The math checks out every time.

Nothing new under the sun. Just another civilization sprinting toward its chosen darkness, proud all the way.

God help us all.

​Opinion & analysis, Zohran mamdani, Hell, New york city, Mayoral election, Big apple, Socialism, Marxism, Evil, Tolerance, 9/11, Violence, Words, Loki, Jay jones, Murder, Incitement, Twin towers, Church, Faith 

Public universities in Florida may soon have to hire more Americans, thanks to a decision from Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis.

In an announcement on October 29, DeSantis directed the Florida Board of Governors to “pull the plug” on the use of H-1B visas for faculty and staff at Florida state universities.

‘Why do we need to bring someone from China to talk about public policy?’

In explaining the decision, DeSantis criticized companies for prioritizing visa-holders over American workers: “These tech companies will fire Americans and hire H-1B at a discount. … This is basically, in some respects, cheap labor that they’re bringing in to try to save money.”

The governor said these practices hurt American workers, who should be first in line at American universities.

DeSantis said his administration has discovered many examples of unnecessary H-1B hires in the university system. “You got a computer application professor from China, public policy professor, China. Why do we need to bring someone from China to talk about public policy?” DeSantis asked.

He went on to list more examples, citing them as proof of the threat that H-1B visas pose to American workers, particularly when visa workers can be paid significantly less.

RELATED: Senate Republicans betray Trump, help Democrats try to block tariffs

Photo by Kevin Dietsch / Contributor via Getty Images

To address the issue, DeSantis announced, “I am directing the Florida Board of Governors to pull the plug on the use of these H-1B visas in our universities.” He went on to say that staff and faculty jobs can be filled “with our residents in Florida or with Americans.” The Florida Board of Governors oversees the state’s 12 public universities.

The H-1B visa program has recently become a hotbed issue. On September 19, President Trump signed a proclamation requiring companies to pay a $100,000 fee for new H-1B hires. In August, the Young Republicans of Texas announced they would endorse only national candidates who oppose the H-1B program.

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​H-1b visas, Florida, Ron desantis, Universities, Visas, Politics 

A bombshell report came out over the weekend accusing Immigration and Customs Enforcement of surveying millions of Americans’ social media accounts. In what left-wing groups call an “assault on democracy and free speech,” this looks to be a major violation of American rights and freedoms.

Or … maybe their journalistic machine isn’t telling the whole truth.

The problem

In the report, the Verge alleges that ICE has partnered with an AI-powered social media monitoring group Zignal Labs to survey the social media posts of everyday Americans as part of an online surveillance system. The platform can scan posts in 100 different languages, analyze photos and videos to pinpoint the precise location they were taken, and even review weather data thanks to a new partnership with NOAA.

If you do something illegal and you post it online, you’ve just supplied the evidence to charge your crime.

With the power to process up to 8 billion posts per day, the Verge raises serious concerns over Americans’ privacy and free speech, as if the Constitution had suddenly become precious again. And for what? According to Will Owen, the communications director at the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project, the goal is to “terrorize immigrant families” and “target activists fighting back against their abuses.”

That sounds terrible, if it were true. Unfortunately for Owen, he’s missing some details.

The details

For starters, ICE isn’t targeting “immigrant families.” Anyone who’s a legal citizen or in the country under an active visa isn’t under any pressure — or terror — at all. What ICE is looking for are illegal immigrants who have broken our nation’s laws and deserve a one-way ticket back home. Owen’s first claim is incorrect.

Second, the “targeted activists” he references are the ‘mostly peaceful’ protesters that have incited violence across the U.S. The most recent attack happened last week, when an anti-ICE protester in a U-Haul truck tried to ram into Coast Guardsmen at a base in Alameda, California. Or maybe you remember the deadly shooting at an ICE facility in Texas? Perhaps I could interest you in the rising tensions in Chicago, or the active calls for violence from former media pundits, or liberals’ outright disregard for law and order relating to ICE in general. These “activists” sound more like rioters, agitators, and criminals than law-abiding citizens who simply wish to exercise their First Amendment rights. Owen just isn’t being honest.

RELATED: House Democrats’ ICE ‘tracker’ will ‘put our lives in danger’: DHS agent

Photo by Mathieu Lewis-Rolland

The Verge is right about one thing, though: Social media monitoring isn’t a new phenomenon. In fact, social media has been used as a political weapon for years. The Biden administration loved it, in fact. Unlike ICE, which is (allegedly) leveraging social media to bring illegal aliens and criminals to justice, the previous White House and its party apparatus preferred to target regular American citizens. Here are just a few examples:

Let’s start with the Twitter Files. Remember when Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) silenced journalists he didn’t like?Then the Biden White House pressured Facebook to censor conservative content, especially posts that questioned the COVID vaccine.The Biden-Harris campaign also ran a deep-state censorship campaign against the American people under the guise of misinformation and disinformation.Biden’s DOJ demanded info on users who interacted with Trump’s Twitter account.President Trump was banned from Twitter amid political pressure.The Biden administration indicted Douglass Mackey for jokingly telling voters to cast their vote for Hillary Clinton via text in the 2016 election. The conviction was later tossed out as saner minds prevailed.And on, and on, and on.

The truth

Believe it or not, social media isn’t a private space concealed under lock and key. It’s a public square brimming with comments, photos, videos, and data. When you post online, you willingly put your content in the public eye for all to see, and many groups regularly take advantage of it. Facebook can scan your posts to serve you ads. The large language models powering AI can gobble up your data for better responses. And yes, law enforcement can see illegal activity and charge offenders under the law. It all falls under fair use.

That means, if you do something illegal in the public square, there could be consequences. If you post about illegal things, legal repercussions will follow. The same goes for an illegal alien whose crime is simply residing in the country. All it takes is a photo, video, or some piece of information that confirms their location to pursue charges or, in this case, deportation.

A final word to the wise

Although illegal aliens don’t get to enjoy the same rights as American citizens (that requires citizenship), they do have to follow the same laws. No one — legal, illegal, or otherwise — has the right to commit a crime in a public space in the United States. If you do something illegal and you post it online, you’ve just supplied the evidence to charge your crime. Generally, it’s a good idea to refrain from posting about illegal things if you don’t want to get caught. In the case of an illegal immigrant living in the United States, it’s probably better not to post at all.

​Tech, Ice, Immigration and customs enforcement, Social media monitoring, Surveillance 

Let’s face it: Halloween is only fun if you’re a kid. If I had my way, I’d spend the evening at home with all the lights off and a pile of newspapers on the doorstep so nobody thinks there’s any free candy to be had.

But I have children of my own, which means I’ve got to roam the streets with all the other middle-aged walking dead and their spawn. Now I can either do this in the time-honored dad uniform of jeans and quarter-zip sweater, or I can dispense with pretensions to dignity and wear a costume of my own. Years of experience has taught me that option number two is the only way to go.

Investing in a basic theatrical makeup kit can ensure that your costume is at least as frightening as the obsessive amounts of time and energy that clearly went into it.

Look, I hate dressing up for Halloween. It’s not so much that I mind wearing a costume; it’s the hassle of deciding upon one and then procuring the necessary pieces to make it happen. School just started and “the holidays” loom; who needs another decision to make?

But I’ve come to see it as my duty. You see, every adult standing around like a dork in their street clothes makes the occasion that much less Halloween-y. You get a critical mass of such wallflowers, and the night is ruined. So each year, a certain number of us must take it upon ourselves to do what other parents can’t or won’t.

I’m no hero. Or if I am, I’m a reluctant one. Every time Halloween comes around, I tell myself I’m going to sit this one out. But in the end, I always suit up. I like having a job to do. Over time, I’ve compiled a list of simple rules to help me do that job. Maybe they can be of use to you.

1. DON’T pick something you have to explain

Matt Himes

I threw this together at the last minute with an old dress shirt and and my son’s debate trophy. The key is confidence. Walk around with an indifferent swagger, NOT as if you’re pleading with people to guess who you are. They know who you are — and if they don’t, that’s their problem. The startled laughs and nods of appreciation that trailed in my wake as I moved through the crowd told me all I needed to know. Remember: A good Halloween costume is all punchline, no setup.

Here’s an example of a costume that didn’t work because I violated this rule:

Matt Himes

New York City, 2008 (that’s my friend Robin as “Sarah Palin” next to me), and I’m dressed as … what? An Islamic terrorist? Well, yes, but he’s also an Obama supporter, as explained by the cover of “Rolling Jihad” taped to my chest. Instead of going with something timeless and elegant like “Jäger bomber” I’ve turned myself into a walking political cartoon (the ones that nobody gets). Do this, and you’ll have people puzzling over your little commentary (or threatening to beat the s**t out of you on the F train) all night.

2. DO team up with your kids while you still can

Matt Himes

That kid in the striped shirt? He’s 12 now. This year, he’s going as a disgusting zombie and hanging out with his boys. But once upon a time, we were best friends, just like the duo we portray in this picture. Enjoy it while it lasts: At a certain point, childhood ends, and Hobbes has to step aside.

Here’s an even older one with my daughter. She’s applying to college this year as I quietly sob into my laptop.

Matt Himes

RELATED: ‘Carrie’ and the monster who raised me

Sunset Boulevard/Getty Images

3. DON’T prioritize ‘originality’ over recognizability

Matt Himes

You may pride yourself on your refined taste in music, art, and movies, but Halloween is not a time to show it off. Nothing kills a costume concept like the desire to be “original.” I thought I had a brilliant idea for my wife a few years back: Stevie Nicks. Not too mainstream or obvious but oh so clever and niche. And who doesn’t love Stevie Nicks? A better question to ask would have been who recognizes Steve Nicks? Nobody who saw the above ensemble (right) did, that’s for sure. I thought this look would hit like the opening arpeggiated synth bass line of “Stand Back,” but my ego wrote a check my eye for scarf-and-hat coordination couldn’t cash.

Unlike Stevie’s Prince-inspired 1983 banger, “Bohemian Rhapsody” is not a song I ever need to listen to again. But like I said, when it comes to costumes, it helps to go for the big hits.

Matt Himes

Do I like Queen? They’re OK. I’d rather listen to Steely Dan, but Donald Fagen isn’t going to make for much of a costume, now is he? So Freddie Mercury it is. He’s like Donald Trump: You may not like him, but there’s no mistaking his signature style.

Not a huge “grunge” fan, but the same thinking guided my choice to be Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain. In this case, it helped that I, too, have fair skin and hair. Also this particular image is well-known enough that you can type in “Kurt Cobain sunglasses,” for example, and the internet knows exactly what you’re talking about.

Matt Himes

Admittedly, Sid Vicious and Nancy Spungen is a bit of a “deep cut,” but anyone who didn’t get it just assumed we were generic punks — itself a valid costume. Although sharp-eyed readers will notice that I nailed the details.

Matt Himes

4. DO get way too into it

Let’s zoom out on that Stevie Nicks photo:

Matt Himes

That “authentic Gene Simmons KISS demon” costume cost me something like $300; it had reviews from professional KISS cover band guys raving about how it gets “every last grommet” correct.

I also spent an hour and a half figuring out how to do my own face paint, hunched over the bathroom sink while watching Simmons himself demonstrate on his daughter.

Overkill? You bet. But sometimes you have to take one for the team. Plus now I have an heirloom-quality codpiece to pass down to my children and grandchildren.

Matt Himes

Investing in a basic theatrical makeup kit can ensure that your costume is at least as frightening as the obsessive amounts of time and energy that clearly went into it:

Matt Himes

5. DON’T overshadow your wife

When the Gene Simmons idea got ahold of me, I was planning to do something to go along with my wife’s Stevie Nicks. Tom Petty? I can’t remember, but the result would no doubt have been uninspiring. I’m glad I made the choice I did, but I do regret leaving her in the lurch. While there’s no rule that says couples have to coordinate costumes, I did have a responsibility to make sure she was properly sorted before getting myself ready. It’s like in those airline safety videos when the oxygen masks drop.

My showboating tendency is still kind of an issue in this Boy George/Cyndi Lauper combo, but I like to think I did right by her — and the “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun” songstress.

Matt Himes

And the year we showed up as these two, I think she got the better part of the deal (that mask was hot):

Matt Himes

Some people say my wife’s clenched fist and rigid posture is a sign of distress; I just a see a woman grateful to submit to her husband’s God-given role as Halloween creative director:

Matt Himes

When you marry a marine biologist’s daughter:

Matt Himes

One year, I had an idea of being a head louse. Didn’t quite come off (see rule 1 above) …

Matt Himes

… but I did get this photo of my wife as a school nurse that I will treasure until my dying day:

Matt Himes

6. DO strut your stuff

As the father of two daughters, I’ll be the first to say that Halloween costumes have gotten way too revealing. But that doesn’t mean all nudity is gratuitous; sometimes the “role” calls for a little sex appeal.

Matt Himes

You’re not going to have this lithe, youthful body forever — if you’ve got it, flaunt it! That said, keep in mind that you will be around children and old people. When my wife wanted to leave the house in this “sexy squirrel” getup, I had to put my foot down. Some looks need to stay in the strip club.

Matt Himes

Happy Halloween to you and yours.

​Costumes, Lifestyle, Trick or treat, Costume, Kiss, Kurt cobain, Bojack horseman, Marriage, Kids, Family, Happy halloween 

Amazon responded to allegations of thousands of upcoming job cuts following a scathing report that said the company planned to replace more than 600,000 U.S. jobs with robots.

The New York Times reported last week that it had reviewed internal documents that allegedly revealed Amazon’s intentions to avoid making new hires by increasing automation. Amazon told Blaze News in response that “leaked documents often paint an incomplete and misleading picture” of company plans and that the details did not reflect its overall hiring strategy.

Less than a week later, Amazon is announcing thousands of job cuts.

‘This generation of AI is the most transformative technology we’ve seen since the Internet.’

Reuters reported on Monday that the company is planning to cut as many as 30,000 corporate jobs as it attempts to “pare expenses” for overhiring that happened during the peak demand period during COVID-19. Reuters said that three sources provided the outlet with the inside information.

In comments to Blaze News, Amazon simply stated that it is reducing its corporate workforce, which totals approximately 14,000 roles being cut.

While there was no mention of the allegedly 16,000 remaining cuts, Amazon said the latest jobs reduction had no relation to the New York Times piece. However, a spokesman carefully articulated that Amazon sees that story as revolving around “potential future hiring of hourly employees within operations facilities.”

“It’s not related to today’s announcement,” the spokesman added, without making any mention of automated replacements.

RELATED: Amazon’s secret strategy to replace 600,000 American workers with robots

Photo by Paul Hennessy/NurPhoto via Getty Images

In a press release, Amazon said it is offering “most employees” 90 days to look for a new role within the company and will “prioritize internal candidates to help as many people as possible find new roles within Amazon.”

However, despite representatives shying away from addressing a future entrenched in automation, the company openly discussed its need to “organize more leanly” ahead of upcoming changes that are a result of AI integration.

“This generation of AI is the most transformative technology we’ve seen since the Internet, and it’s enabling companies to innovate much faster than ever before (in existing market segments and altogether new ones),” Amazon’s Beth Galetti wrote. “We’re convinced that we need to be organized more leanly, with fewer layers and more ownership, to move as quickly as possible for our customers and business.”

RELATED: ‘Smart bed’ customers rage, rig aquarium coolers as Amazon outage overheats their mattresses

Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Amazon said it will continue to hire in “key strategic areas” in 2026 while also “finding additional places we can remove layers, increase ownership, and realize efficiency gains.”

The company recently boasted about its annual holiday-hiring increase, stating its plans to fill approximately 250,000 positions. However, in its communications, Amazon has avoided directly revealing its plans relating to automation. It did, however, deny recent claims that it has directed employees to avoid using terms such as “automation” and “AI” in reference to robotics.

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​Return, Amazon, Automation, Ai, Artificial intelligence, Corporate america, Jeff bezos, Robots, Tech 

Disaster nearly struck eastern Mississippi on Tuesday, Oct. 28, when a truck hauling lab monkeys from Tulane University crashed, with several of the animals fleeing the vehicle.

While all but one of the escaped monkeys were “destroyed” — according to the Jasper County Sheriff’s Department — the monkeys were “aggressive to humans” and potentially carried “hepatitis C, herpes, and COVID-19.”

However, Tulane University has now set people’s minds at ease and claimed that the escaped primates would not be the cause of the next pandemic.

“Non-human primates at the Tulane National Biomedical Research Center are provided to other research organizations to advance scientific discovery,” Tulane University said in a statement. “The primates in question belong to another entity and are not infectious. We are actively collaborating with local authorities and will send a team of animal care experts to assist as needed.”

“I wasn’t aware that they transported monkeys this way,” BlazeTV co-host 1/4 Black Garrett says on “Normal World,” adding, “let alone with herpes and COVID.”

“Here’s what I love, though,” BlazeTV host Dave Landau chimes in. “They say ‘potentially diseased’ even though they have the three diseases and they’re coming from New Orleans.”

“You have, like, herpes, hepatitis C, and COVID-19. They always try to jam it in there like it’s just as bad. It sounds like you’re trying to tell a girl what you have,” Landau laughs. “You’re like, ‘Look, you might want to get tested for hep C. You know, maybe some herpes and, you know, COVID-19.’”

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 phone, Upload, Sharing, Free, Camera phone, Video, Youtube.com, Normal world, Normal world with dave landau, Dave landau, The blaze, Blazetv, Blaze news, Blaze podcasts, Blaze podcast network, Blaze media, Blaze online, Blaze originals, Mississippi, Diseased monkeys, Wuhan lab, Covid-19 pandemic, Scamdemic, Tulane university, Covid-19, Herpes, Hep c 

A shocking murder-for-hire plot in Missouri has led to the arrest of three people who were trying to cover up the sex assault of a 15-year-old girl, prosecutors say.

Kcoree Warren was shot and killed at his home on July 8 to keep him from testifying at trial against a man accused of having sex with the girl on March 21.

Klaus himself was killed on the same day, and prosecutors said the white Kia that was seen driving away was destroyed in a fire.

Police said a man named Lavor Harmon met the girl as she was walking home from a school bus and exchanged phone numbers with her. He picked her up later to go shopping and then allegedly had sex with the minor girl at his home.

Warren reported the alleged crime to police, and Harmon was charged on May 19.

About 10 days later, Harmon’s sister Lavonda Harmon went to Warren’s home with another man and offered him $12,000 to keep quiet about the crime. He declined.

Warren was then shot and killed later by Andrew Klaus.

Klaus himself was killed on the same day, and prosecutors said the white Kia that was seen driving away was destroyed in a fire.

Prosecutors say that Harmon was present when Klaus was killed, along with his uncle Anthony L. Young and that man’s son, Anthony D. Young.

RELATED: California pastor arrested in murder-for-hire plot against daughter’s boyfriend, who narrowly survived shooting, police say

Police say they know the identity of the man who went with Lavonda Harmon to offer the bribe, but they have not released that information, and he has not been charged.

Lavor Harmon is being held on a $2 million bond, while both Anthony L.Young and Anthony D. Young have bonds for $2 million on unrelated federal charges.

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​Murder for hire plot, Kcoree warren death, Statutory rape, Missouri murders, Crime