Category: blaze media

LGBT activists’ moment in the sun appears to be at an end.

Public opinion has, for instance, soured on permitting cross-dressing men in women’s sports and bathrooms; on the provision of sex-rejection mutilation surgeries and puberty blockers to minors; and on the promotion of gender ideology in schools. Public support is also slipping for homosexual “marriage.”

‘Groomers hardest hit.’

Major corporations have pumped the brakes on the rainbow flag and supporting LGBT indoctrination initiatives and events — or have at the very least felt the need to pretend they would.

It appears that LGBT activists are now also losing their grip on future generations. New data from the CDC’s Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System reveals a dramatic decline in non-straight identification among high school-age Americans.

According to an analysis of the CDC data by San Diego State University psychology professor Jean Twenge, the number of LGB-identifying students “plummeted” in 2025.

Whereas, for instance, CDC data showed that 17% of 9th-graders — Americans ages 14 and 15 — identified as non-straight in 2023, that number fell to 11% last year. There were also declines in non-straight identification in other grades, especially among 10th-graders.

There was also decline for 12th-graders, but only two percentage points, from 18% to 16%.

RELATED: Gay Atlantic writer whines to Bill Maher that LGBT extremism is blowing up support for homosexual ‘marriage’

PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP/Getty Images

The psychology professor highlighted that this “free fall” was driven almost entirely by teenage girls, which makes sense given that the LGBT social contagion that was dismissed and/or downplayed in recent years by so-called experts predominantly impacted girls.

“Identifying as LGB dropped from 27% in 2023 to 22% in 2025 among girls and from 9% to 7% among boys,” Twenge noted. “The previous increase in identifying as LGB was also larger among girls, with a 128% increase (more than doubling) from 2015 to 2021 among girls and a 99% increase (doubling) from 2015 to 2023 among boys.”

Twenge noted that the greatest decline was observed among 9th-grade girls. Whereas 30% of the cohort identified as non-straight in 2021, the number had fallen to 17% last year.

Part of this decline in LGB identification among teenage girls can be attributed to the collapse of the “bisexual” fad. Last year, only 13% of 9th-grade girls identified as “bisexual” — down from 26% in 2021.

“The sharp turn downward in identifying (and acting) as LGB among Gen Alpha teens could be a harbinger of a coming wave of change, or it could be a blip — it’s hard to say,” wrote Twenge.

Mary Rice Hasson, director of the Person and Identity Project at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, tweeted: “Looks like people aren’t ‘born that way.'”

Todd Erzen, the co-host of BlazeTV’s “Steve Deace Show,” said in response to the decline in teenage LGB identification, “Groomers hardest hit.”

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​Homosexual, Lgbt, Sexuality, Gender ideology, Centers for disease control and prevention, Politics 

A popular Christian influencer couple was arrested for allegedly abusing a 14-year-old girl, according to Texas police.

39-year-old Seth Michael Day is accused of sexually and physically assaulting the girl after a high school teacher noticed injuries to her face and head.

The girl said she had suffered numerous instances of abuse and reported some of them but that Heather Day had lied to officials in order to cover it up.

The teacher reported the injuries to the Keene police, who interviewed the girl. She claimed to have suffered ongoing abuse by Day and said he injured her with a cell phone.

After receiving treatment at the Cook Children’s Medical Center, she also said that Day had sexually assaulted her.

In the last incident of abuse on Sept. 22, the girl said Day assaulted her while his wife, Heather Marie Day, was in the home.

Police said they found evidence of the physical and sexual assaults at the Days’ home after obtaining a search warrant.

The girl said she had suffered numerous instances of abuse and reported some of them but that Heather Day had lied to officials in order to cover it up.

She allegedly told the victim that she had an autoimmune disease called hereditary angioedema, which causes swelling. Police noted that swelling would not explain the the injuries the victim had.

Records show the Days were both booked into the Johnson County jail but were released on bail of $100,000.

Heather Day hosts a Christian podcast, and the couple have authored several books, including one titled “I’ll See You Tomorrow.”

Seth Day is also a professor at Southwestern Adventist University, but he was placed on administrative leave after his arrest.

RELATED: ‘Pure evil’: Gay couple raped adopted baby boy before brutally killing him

“We are fully cooperating with law enforcement,” the university said in a statement that indicated the allegations did not involve its students, staff, or other members of the faculty.

“The safety of our University community remains our first priority. We will share additional details as appropriate,” the university added.

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​Search warrant, Sexual assault, Law enforcement, Christianity, Christians, Crime 

BlazeTV host Sara Gonzales‘ crusade against H-1B visa abuse in Texas not only has alleged fraudsters panicking and closing up shop but has prompted meaningful crackdowns by state and federal officials.

Those officials poised to nab the kinds of fraudsters targeted by Gonzales’ investigations might soon be able to hit them with greater penalties.

‘Hopefully we’ll make them think twice about doing this.’

On Thursday, just days after lauding Gonzales for “bringing this to the surface,” Rep. Beth Van Duyne (R-Texas) introduced legislation that would increase penalties for certain violations of the H-1B visa program, Blaze News has exclusively learned.

The congresswoman told Blaze News that American workers have been “losing opportunities and having wages drastically cut because some bad actors, employers, were actually wanting to break the law to get cheaper labor, and one of the ways that they were doing that is to abuse the H-1B visa program.”

“Hopefully, we’ll make them think twice about doing this,” added Van Duyne.

Currently, the secretary of labor is permitted to impose a civil penalty of up to $5,000 per violation should an employer engage in willful violations of the H-1B program’s conditions, willful material misrepresentations in an H-1B attestation, and/or retaliation against employees who disclose suspected H-1B violations.

The penalty is $35,000 per violation if it involves the termination of an American worker employed within 90 days before or after the filing of a visa petition.

Van Duyne said on “Sara Gonzales Unfiltered” last week that the current fines amount to little more than a “slap on the wrist” — that a $5,000 fine is hardly a deterrent for H-1B employers when they’re saving tens of thousands of dollars by importing a foreign worker instead of hiring an American.

RELATED: BlazeTV host Sara Gonzales’ investigation has Indian H-1B sponsor panicking

Van Duyne’s H-1B Visa Fraud Crackdown Act would raise the maximum per-violation fines from $5,000 to $100,000 and from $35,000 to $250,000, respectively.

The congresswoman told Blaze News that “the $100,000 penalty is already federal law for falsifying information to the government,” so “we were just being consistent.”

“You guys have to pass that!” Gonzales told the congresswoman.

“Hit them in the pocket book. Make it hurt because they have no problem doing that to the American worker that they’re undercutting and displacing.”

Additionally, the new bill would bar H-1B employers who willfully commit violations from sponsoring new visas for at least five years, or 10 years in the event that an American worker was displaced. Presently, those penalties are two years and three years, respectively.

Gonzales said in a statement to Blaze News about Van Duyne’s bill, “Any meaningful steps to crack down on the fraud and over abuse of the H-1B visa system is very welcome. It’s a great first step, and Congress needs to act to make sure that we can end, or at the very least, reform this corrupt system once and for all.”

“This is why I’ve been working so hard to expose the fraud in the H-1B visa system, to make sure that appropriate action is taken.”

While she noted that wage suppression and fraud shouldn’t be partisan issues, Van Duyne told Blaze News that Democrats will likely oppose the bill in part because they are keen on “flooding their areas with people who are here legally or illegally to make sure that they’re not losing their power and losing their congressional district seats because of populations.”

In April, Van Duyne and fellow Texas Republican Reps. Pat Fallon, Ronny Jackson, and Brandon Gill sent a letter to members of the Trump administration, urging them to “provide recommendations to Congress, if necessary, on statutory or regulatory changes to close loopholes and restore integrity to the H-1B program.”

The congresswoman, who has been working with U.S. Immigration and Citizenship Services and the Department of Labor on this issue, told Blaze News that “one of the things that we requested in the letter was to give us ideas of legislatively what we could do,” and this bill “was one of of the things that the administration suggested that we enact.”

Van Duyne, appreciative of the Trump administration and the work of “independent journalists like Sara Gonzales,” told Blaze News that there are additional related bills in the works.

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​H-1b visa, Visa, Immigration, Sara gonzales, Congress, Fraud, Politics 

It knows what you are eating, it knows when you’re awake.

Those are the apparent benefits of new Samsung smart fridges, which look more like gigantic phone screens than they do refrigerators.

‘Being able to glance at what’s inside right from the screen or my phone …’

With a 32-inch display and the ability to tell homeowners what is inside their fridge, the Samsung fridges offer endless technological capabilities seldom seen in something that is simply supposed to keep food cold.

However, with a six-foot-tall smart device comes the need for internet connectivity and, of course, mandatory updates.

When users of the product went to open their smart fridges last week just before a holiday, they noticed they had suddenly lost power and stopped functioning.

South Korean outlet Star News reported that dozens of fridge owners saw blank screens after the update, or text that read “Checking SmartThings app during update,” or “offline.”

Standard fridge owners are used to seeing nothing on their appliance doors; for smart fridge owners, however, the lack of an operating system display and absent LED lights meant their fridges weren’t powered and weren’t keeping their food cold.

To make matters worse, the report stated that in some cases all cold air had escaped the fridges completely.

RELATED: ‘We have compromised the FBI’: Pokemon lovers boast of shocking hack on federal website

SeongJoon Cho/Bloomberg/Getty Images

The affected products predominantly included Samsung Bespoke AI 4-Door refrigerators released in 2024 or later.

These fridges are described as using artificial intelligence to monitor its contents, and the AI can track expiry dates or suggest recipes for the user. This is, of course, made capable through the use of internal cameras that work with Google Gemini and an “AI Food Manager.”

One review suggested the “item tracking save[s] serious time and cut[s] down on forgotten, expired groceries.”

“Being able to glance at what’s inside right from the screen or my phone makes meal planning seamless,” the review added.

The gigantic display screen also makes it possible to watch videos or listen to music from the refrigerator, with another user stating that they like to use the fridge screen to monitor their security cameras.

RELATED: Confusing repairs? Foreign menu? Your iPhone camera app just got a lot more helpful

SeongJoon Cho/Bloomberg/Getty Images

When some users reached out to Samsung to get emergency repairs, some were allegedly told that “employees have left for the day, making immediate action impossible.”

Further consumer reports said there was no mention of activating an emergency response team, even though inquiries had allegedly led customers to being told that an engineer visit was required for repair.

However, Samsung has since responded to the incident saying they had “activated an emergency response protocol, and its service centers are taking immediate action to address this issue.”

“The issue has been limited to Korea, with no impact identified to overseas markets,” Samsung told Ars Technica.

The statement concluded, “It occurred September 22nd afternoon due to an error during Samsung’s internal testing related to a refrigerator software update. Samsung immediately suspended the testing upon receiving reports of the issue.”

The incident happened just before South Korea’s Chuseok holiday break, which was celebrated September 24-26 this year.

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​Artificial intelligence, Smart fridge, Samsung, South korea, Tech 

While lawmakers try to cram down restrictive age verification laws that would implement nationwide digital ID to use devices, AI, and the internet, Big Tech is fighting back by giving parents more control on their platforms. Apple is the latest to join the effort with new child safety features for iOS 27.

Child safety was one of the headlining announcements when Apple unveiled iOS 27 at WWDC this past spring, and now that the operating system is widely available for iPhones 11 and up, you can enable these on your child’s device right now.

Apple’s new child safety features in iOS 27 are all about parental control and responsibility.

To set up a new child account with the latest child safety features in place, you must establish a “family” within your iPhone. To get started, open the Settings app, tap on your iCloud account at the top, then tap “Family.” Next, select “Create Child Account” and input your child’s name and date of birth.

You’ll be prompted to input your child’s iCloud email address or create a new one, along with a password that you and your child can remember. You can choose to keep this password to yourself or share it with your child.

Lastly, you can choose whether you receive a notification on your phone or on your child’s phone if your child tries to sign in on another device with his or her Apple account. It’s best to set this to alert your phone number, just so you’re aware if your child tries to use a separate device.

Child Safety Features in iOS 27/Zach Laidlaw

Once everything is set up, you now have new controls to govern your child’s account:

Content Restrictions let you restrict your child’s content access based on his or her age range. This affects which apps they use (like social media), shows they watch, books they read, and more. You can also limit which sites they visit, either opening them up to the entire web or requiring your permission before they visit a new site.Communication Safety monitors his or her device for any content that isn’t age-appropriate, including images and videos that contain adult themes or violence.Communication Limits ensure that your child can only share phone calls or messages with specific people that you choose.Apps and Website Activity shows how much time your child spends on his or her phone and gives you the ability to limit app usage from day to day. You can even pause screen time during certain times of the day, like during school when they should be in class, or summertime when they should be outside.Screen Distance monitors how closely your child uses his or her phone to their face and sends an alert if the phone is too close, hopefully preserving their eyes.Ask to Buy alerts you every time your child wants to buy or download an app, song, or movie, giving you the power to approve or veto the decision.

You also have the option to share your child’s location from his or her phone to yours. Enable this so you always know where your child is through the Find My app. This is especially useful if your child attends school and participates in extracurricular activities.

And that’s it. Your child is now protected based on the parameters you set. You can also change these parameters at any time, choosing to add more restrictions or loosen them as circumstances change and your child grows older.

To tweak the parameters, go back to the Settings app, tap on the “Family” tab beneath your name at the top, choose your child, and make adjustments accordingly.

RELATED: Not all new iPhones are worth it. This one blows them all away.

iPhone 18 Pro Max Models/Apple

Apple’s new child safety features in iOS 27 are all about parental control and responsibility. It’s up to parents to decide what their kids can and can’t see, and for families in Apple’s product ecosystem, these tools go a long way to provide meaningful guardrails without government overreach.

As for Android users, Google has taken steps to add more parental features as well, with a new API that offers “age-appropriate experiences” to users. It’s not nearly as robust as Apple’s offerings here, but at least both companies are moving in the right direction.

Apple’s new child safety features are available in iOS 27. Install it on your device now for instant access, plus you get other features like the new Siri, a more accessible Visual Intelligence, and custom Safari alerts.

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​Ios, Iphone, Parental controls, Safety, Tech 

A popular Christian influencer couple was arrested for allegedly abusing a 14-year-old girl, according to Texas police.

39-year-old Seth Michael Day is accused of sexually and physically assaulting the girl after a high school teacher noticed injuries to her face and head.

The girl said she had suffered numerous instances of abuse and reported some of them but that Heather Day had lied to officials in order to cover it up.

The teacher reported the injuries to the Keene police, who interviewed the girl. She claimed to have suffered ongoing abuse by Day and said he injured her with a cell phone.

After receiving treatment at the Cook Children’s Medical Center, she also said that Day had sexually assaulted her.

In the last incident of abuse on Sept. 22, the girl said Day assaulted her while his wife, Heather Marie Day, was in the home.

Police said they found evidence of the physical and sexual assaults at the Days’ home after obtaining a search warrant.

The girl said she had suffered numerous instances of abuse and reported some of them but that Heather Day had lied to officials in order to cover it up.

She allegedly told the victim that she had an autoimmune disease called hereditary angioedema, which causes swelling. Police noted that swelling would not explain the the injuries the victim had.

Records show the Days were both booked into the Johnson County jail but were released on bail of $100,000.

Heather Day hosts a Christian podcast, and the couple have authored several books, including one titled “I’ll See You Tomorrow.”

Seth Day is also a professor at Southwestern Adventist University, but he was placed on administrative leave after his arrest.

RELATED: ‘Pure evil’: Gay couple raped adopted baby boy before brutally killing him

“We are fully cooperating with law enforcement,” the university said in a statement that indicated the allegations did not involve its students, staff, or other members of the faculty.

“The safety of our University community remains our first priority. We will share additional details as appropriate,” the university added.

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​Search warrant, Sexual assault, Law enforcement, Christianity, Christians, Crime 

“Phobos” is Greek for “fear.” In modern times, “phobia” has come to mean an irrational fear. Presumably a rational fear is based on a reasonable risk.

Is arachnophobia (fear of spiders) irrational? There are nearly 54,000 species of spider, but only 1% are dangerous to us. So a general phobia of spiders is irrational, but a fear of black widows isn’t. And there is a reason my Australian friends tap their shoes upside down before putting them on — funnel-web spiders like shoes, and they are deadly.

The risk of being a victim of terrorism is small. But if it happens in the West, it’s likely to be by a Muslim with Islamist motives.

The United States and Europe have seen plenty of terrorist attacks and murders by non-Muslims, but for motives that were political, not religious. For Muslim fundamentalists, or “Islamists,” there is no separation between politics and religion.

In this list of suicide bombings from the University of Chicago, the culprits appear to be nearly all Muslims, with motives that are likely jihadist. Muslims, with either premeditated Islamist motives or mental illness or a mix of both, have committed bombings, shootings, stabbings, and vehicle assaults in Europe and the United States.

Here are a few.

Europe

2004, Madrid: Terrorists set off bombs in four trains, killing 191 people.2005, London: Four suicide bombers killed 52 people on three Underground trains and one bus.2015, Paris: Coordinated suicide attacks killed 130 people, notably at the Bataclan theater.2016, Brussels: Suicide bombers killed 34 people at the Zaventem Airport and a metro station.2016, Nice (France): A man drove a truck through a seaside promenade, killing 86 people.2017, England: Suicide bombers killed 22 people at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester.2024, Germany: A man stabbed and killed three people and wounded more.

The United States

2009, Fort Hood: A U.S. Army major shot and killed 13 people and wounded 30.2013, Boston: Tsarnaev brothers killed three people and wounded hundreds with bombs.2015, Chattanooga: A man killed five people at a military recruiting center.2015, San Bernardino: A couple shot and killed 14 people and wounded 22.2016, Orlando: A man shot and killed 49 people and wounded 53 at the Pulse Nightclub.

The risk of being a victim of terrorism is small. But if it happens in the West, it’s likely to be by a Muslim with Islamist motives. Our educators, media, and politicians would pretend otherwise.

RELATED: New York Times gets ROASTED over bizarre framing of alleged terror attack on plane — and the Times responds

Jack Guez/AFP/Getty Images

The Daily Telegraph reports that in Britain, many of those too young to remember it are “barely aware of the context and the details of the [9/11 terrorist] plot.” Schoolteachers don’t teach the plain truth to avoid offending parents, allowing absurd conspiracy theories to take root — such as that the United States or Israel blew the Twin Towers up as a pretext to launch a war in the Middle East.

In a 2016 poll of 3,000 British Muslims, 31% thought the United States was behind 9/11. Seven percent said it was “the Jews,” and only 4% blamed al-Qaeda or Muslim terrorists. In America, no one 30 or older can ever forget what happened. But some of these students interviewed by Young Americas Foundation are unaware of who carried out the attacks and why.

True, most American youth are ignorant of all history due to abysmal K-12 education standards. Sometimes popular culture fills the gap. There are hundreds of movies, from “Apocalypse Now” to “Platoon,” about Vietnam. There are thousands about World War II.

But for 9/11, very few. An ABC miniseries, “The Path to 9/11,” was shown once in 2006 and never again. It’s not available to stream, though I found a DVD on Amazon and a blurry YouTube bootleg.

In the U.S., any criticism of Islamism is quickly labeled “Islamophobia” by groups like the Council on American-Islamic Relations. But there is no official, government-endorsed definition of that term. Americans’ free speech is protected by the First Amendment to our Constitution, but Britain and many other countries have only limited protection.

In Britain, the Labour government downplays Islamic extremism for fear of offending the Muslim votes it depends on.

The British government created a Working Group on Anti-Muslim Hatred to define “Islamophobia,” but they deleted all the comments and contributions by outside groups to the effort. Why? Critics allege that they would show Islamists were influencing the new definition, which could one day result in prosecutions. One Conservative member of Parliament warned the government that “there is a serious risk that this definition could lead to limitations on freedom of speech, criminalize language and prevent the discussion of religious ideas — creating a de facto blasphemy law.”

But of course, there already is a de facto blasphemy law all over Europe — with the possible penalty being death.

Written Islamic religious tradition prohibits depicting the Muslims’ prophet. In 2005, the Danish magazine Jyllands-Posten published cartoons that did so. Ambassadors from 11 Muslim-majority countries, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, and the Arab League all protested to the Danish government. Street protests took place in Denmark, Australia, Canada, the U.K., the United States, and elsewhere.

Danish Muslim groups (unsuccessfully) tried to get the magazine prosecuted for blasphemy.

That year, the clear political cost of crossing Islamist red lines was made clear all over the West. Soon enough, so was the physical cost.

RELATED: Osama bin Laden is dead. His strategy is still working.

CNN/Getty Images

In 2006, the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo put a cartoon of the Muslim prophet Muhammad on its cover and reprinted the Danish cartoons along with new ones. In 2015, Islamist terrorists killed eight journalists and staff and two police officers at the magazine’s offices in Paris.

In 2020, French teacher Samuel Paty was killed and beheaded by an Islamist fanatic because he had used a cartoon from Charlie Hebdo in teaching a class on free speech.

In 2021, a teacher in England used one of the Charlie Hebdo cartoons to illustrate a lesson on free speech and blasphemy. Doxxed and threatened with death, he went into hiding and is still under police protection. The school suspended the teacher and apologized.

Salman Rushdie wrote “The Satanic Verses” in 1988. A year later, Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Khomeini put out a fatwa (religious decree) ordering all Muslims to kill him and anyone involved with the book’s publication. Italian and Japanese translators of the book, and its Norwegian publisher, were stabbed by assailants in the following years.

Rushdie was protected by the British government at great expense. But in August 2022, while giving a talk in upstate New York, he was stabbed and nearly killed by Hadi Matar, a Muslim attempting to carry out the 35-year-old fatwa.

To have a fear of all Muslims may not be rational, but to have a fear of Islamism surely is. Trying to define Islamophobia so broadly as to limit free speech — and then ban it under threat of fines or prison — doesn’t make that reality go away.

​Arachnophobia, Blasphemy, Charlie hebdo, Conspiracy theories, Europe, Free speech, History, Islamism, Islamist, Islamophobia, Muslim, Opinion & analysis, Phobos, Salman rushdie, Terrorism 

Despite multiple documented admissions that she did kill her three children, Lindsay Clancy’s lawyer, Kevin Reddington, recently argued that “there’s no evidence” of these admissions.

BlazeTV host Sara Gonzales is so disgusted by Reddington’s sudden shift, she names him “a close second for worst person of the year” behind Clancy, who Sara believes acted in a “premeditated manner.”

“Nobody, including Lindsay Clancy’s lawyer, Kevin Reddington, nobody really disputed that Lindsay Clancy killed her children, that she strangled her children to death. … He was trying to get her a not-guilty plea by reason of insanity,” she says.

To prove it, she plays two clips.

The first captures Reddington mid-trial arguing, “She knows that she killed these children. We’ll sit here, listen to their evidence, but I suggest to you that the issue for consideration is what was going on in that woman’s mind.”

The second clip features him in a CBS News interview, saying, “No one is discounting the horrific loss of those kids, let alone Lindsay Clancy, who is well aware and lives with that every day.”

“So obviously, there’s no disputing it. This was not in question. Anyone who watched the trial knows this was just an assumed fact the entire time,” says Sara, “and now all of a sudden out of nowhere, Kevin [Reddington] has himself some amnesia.”

But that’s not Reddington’s only crime in her book.

“On top of all of that, this lawyer, Kevin Reddington, has, I guess, made it his life’s mission to go after the holdout juror who prevented Lindsay Clancy from being found not guilty,” Sara adds.

She explains how Reddington even asked the judge to investigate the holdout juror, but the motion was postponed to a later hearing. When Reddington was called out for attacking the holdout juror, he acted like the accusations were overblown, arguing, “I filed one motion and said nothing.”

But Sara has the receipts — and they suggest otherwise.

She plays a clip of Reddington bashing the holdout juror to reporters after the mistrial was declared on September 4.

“They know that they were robbed by one man for whatever his agenda was who stole seven weeks of the life of these other jurors that were so attentive, so beautiful, so wonderful. … And I got a funny feeling that they would have gone on for another week if they had to. So I hope that guy can sleep well at night,” he said.

In an interview with Fox News, he also said, “The biggest misconception is that this individual is referred to as the holdout juror. He in fact is the obstructionist juror.”

“So because he had convictions about Lindsay Clancy’s guilt, he is somehow an obstructionist,” Sara quips.

To see the clips of Reddington and hear more of Sara’s commentary, watch the episode above.

Want more from Sara Gonzales?

To enjoy more of Sara’s no-holds-barred takes on news and culture, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

​Sara gonzales, Lindsay clancy, Blazetv show, Kevin reddington 

Two mothers said their teen boys were sent racist insults via social media by a 13-year-old who is now facing felony charges.

Kisha Jenkins and Kiara Shaw told WLS-TV that their sons, both age 13, were sent messages on Snapchat that included their photos as well as racist insults and threats.

‘He called him a monkey, said he was going to do some nasty things to him, said he was going to sell him on Facebook.’

Oswego, Illinois, police announced that the juvenile who allegedly sent the messages is facing a hate crime charge and other felonies.

“Hate, discrimination, racism, and even the threats that were in that message should never be tolerated, and you have to stand for something,” said Shaw.

The two reported the messages to their kids’ school as well as the police.

“With my son, he called him a monkey, said he was going to do some nasty things to him, said he was going to sell him on Facebook,” she added.

Jenkins said her son was significantly affected by the messages.

“My child was, you know, very upset by it. He was very disturbed by it. He also felt threatened by it,” she said.

The superintendent of Oswego School District 308 responded in a message to the district’s families.

“This moment must be a catalyst for change. It must be the reason we talk more deeply with young people about how they use technology, about the value and weight of their words,” wrote Dr. Andalib Khelghati. “A post can take seconds to share and a lifetime to repair.”

He went on to ask parents to talk to their children about their messages online.

“I am asking something of every one of you: Please talk with your students. Ask them what they see online. Ask them how they would respond if they saw someone being targeted. Remind them that their words matter, that silence can feel like agreement, and that reaching out to a trusted adult is always the right thing to do.”

RELATED: Swastika and racial slur found on fence at elementary school in SoCal town

Jenkins said she also sympathized with the family of the child who allegedly sent the messages.

“I don’t feel good on either part that my son has to deal with this, nor that the parents of this boy, who I know, have to deal with this situation because it’s heartbreaking,” she added.

Oswego police indicated that the boy appeared in court on Friday.

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​Hate crime, Racial slur, Racism, Social media, Politics, Crime 

A pro-Palestinian woman admitting to orchestrating a race hoax for years has led to one activist group dissolving and another going on hiatus in contemplation of dissolving.

Hannah Gann told people at different times that she was black, Palestinian, and Tunisian, but she later admitted that she was a Jewish white woman.

‘She has moments when she tries to act extra black, like cosplaying black.’

“I hid the truth or outright lied about my background to everyone in my life,” said Gann when confessing her hoax.

A group that included teachers in the Philadelphia district and advocated for the Palestinian cause said they were shutting down in the wake of the controversy over Gann.

“After much reflection, Philly Educators for Palestine has made the decision to dissolve,” the group said in a statement. “We are deeply grateful to everyone who participated, supported, organized, learned, taught, and stood alongside us. We are proud of what we accomplished together and of the community that was built through this work.”

The Racial Justice Organizing Committee said it was taking a “two-month hiatus to rest, process, and decompress,” and added that members would make a decision about their next steps by the end of the year.

Members of the groups expressed shock and anger at what they called a “betrayal” by Gann.

She admitted in a 10-minute video that she had “allowed half-truths and obfuscations to grow into outright lies.”

One woman told the Philadelphia Inquirer that she had been befriended by Gann and was outraged by the damage she had done to their cause.

“She has moments when she tries to act extra black, like cosplaying black,” said the organizer, who did not want to be publicly identified.

The woman said Gann would wear large earrings, wear African print clothing, and use black vernacular.

“She told people she was mixed. She told someone she was Lebanese,” the woman added.

Members of the two groups called on Gann to face discipline from her employer, a project-based district high school.

RELATED: Hanging of black woman propagandized as racist lynching allegedly turns out to heinous hoax

“I think Hannah should get fired,” said the organizer. “This has got to be so traumatizing for those kids. This is a group of kids that don’t trust adults anyway, living in Philly at this time. And they had an adult they thought they could trust, and she was lying about something so fundamental.”

She went on to call Gann’s actions “disgusting” and said she would never speak to Gann ever again.

WPVI-TV reported that Gann was no longer working with students, although the Philadelphia district said it would not comment about personnel matters.

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​Race hoax, Racial justice, Palestine protest, Social justice, Politics 

Activists in a town in Upstate New York are celebrating their efforts to help two men escape U.S. Border Patrol agents by climbing onto a roof.

At one point the officers were able to obtain a ladder to try to get to the two men, but the men pushed the ladder off the roof and continued their hours-long standoff.

Police did not aid in any arrests related to the ‘Border Patrol investigation, the property complaints, or the demonstration.’

The incident began in Oswego, New York, at about 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday, according to Syracuse.com.

Oswego police said they were called to the scene over a report of a reckless driver, which ended up being the agents on an immigration enforcement operation.

Oswego Mayor Robert Corradino said the police chief told him that federal agents were pursuing a man in a car who was able to get away and get on the roof of a home on 7th Street.

In a statement released Thursday, Corradino confirmed that Border Patrol was attempting to “apprehend multiple individuals on federal judicial warrants” and that “the individuals fled from a vehicle after a brief pursuit.”

Then, citing advisement from the police chief, Corradino added that “the subjects managed to climb to the second-story roof of the residence and refused to come down.”

That’s when neighbors and activists appeared and harassed the officers involved in the standoff. They demanded to know if the officers had warrants for the two men and yelled at the officers to leave.

The protesters tossed water bottles to the men and applauded when a man caught one, Syracuse.com reported.

One online influencer who reportedly claimed to be a U.S. Marine veteran documented the efforts of the protesters to drive away the officers.

At about 7:30 p.m., the agents left after about a six-hour standoff. The protesters then organized to make sure they weren’t being fooled into leaving so that the officers could return and detain the two men.

Estimates indicate more than 70 protesters participated, according to Syracuse.com.

In his statement, Mayor Corradino tried to assuage those accusing city officers of helping the immigration enforcement mission.

RELATED: Pro-ICE student suspended over posters at California high school after hundreds walked out

“Our police officers acted swiftly to support the school district, protect private property, and de-escalate conflicts as they emerged,” the mayor wrote. “Our firefighters responded to a 911 call solely to provide a safe means of egress, a reminder that their mission is always centered on safety, not enforcement.”

He added that police did not aid in any arrests related to the “Border Patrol investigation, the property complaints, or the demonstration.”

A Blaze News request for comment from the Department of Homeland Security was not returned in time for publishing.

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​Activists, Border patrol, Department of homeland security, New york, Politics 

Americans may be hearing positive economic talking points from politicians, but Jesse Kelly tells BlazeTV host Steve Deace many families are living a very different reality.

“There are little things that matter and then there are big things that really matter,” Kelly says. “And here’s the truth. Because of the COVID lockdown stuff and printing $7 trillion … people have lost 30% to 50% of their income, basically their earning power, because the dollar’s gone down in just the last five years.”

“And so now … there is this tidal wave of unhappiness across the country as we’ve had this tiny window of a massive drop in people’s standard of living,” he explains.

“And I really don’t think either Republicans or Democrats truly understand that that is the sentiment across the board of the United States of America. People are unhappy. I can’t afford anything anymore,” he adds.

And since Donald Trump is the man in charge, he’s the one who is “going to get white hot hate.”

“People remember what it was like to afford things before he got there,” Kelly says, noting that previously, the hate “fell on Joe Biden and the Democrat Party after they stole an election and installed that cadaver for four years.”

And despite the economic pain so many Americans are in, Trump continues to claim that the economy is doing great.

“What happens is you’ve taken somebody at their lowest possible moment, and you’ve kicked dirt in their face when you do that,” Kelly says. “And you never want to do that as a politician. You’ve taken somebody whose dog just died, and you walk up to him and say, ‘I bet you didn’t walk enough. That’s probably why your dog just died.’”

Now, Trump is giving speeches at rallies and telling Americans the price of gas is “worth it because of Iran.”

“Gas prices are through the roof. Diesel $6.50 a gallon. Prices have not come down. Interest rates are going up. The anger’s there, if not even worse. And you have people in the Trump administration saying, ‘If you can’t afford beef, eat chicken.’

“That messaging is freaking awful,” Kelly says.

“And that better change now,” he warns, “considering we’re like five weeks before the election. We have five weeks to get that reversed. If they want to know what to do, look at JD Vance. He’s the one who’s out there doing it right.”

“‘I know you’re hurting. I’m sorry you’re hurting. We’re fighting for you,’” he mimics.

“That’s how you message when the public is angry,” he adds.

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​Jesse kelly, Midterms, Steve deace, Republicans, Democrats, Donald trump, Economy, Blazetv show 

Justin Haskins of the Heartland Institute is sounding the alarm on a recent survey that revealed just how open Americans are to Sharia law.

The poll asked a series of questions regarding the Islamic legal system, and Haskins found that the younger an American is, the more likely he or she is to be in support of it.

“Twenty-one percent of all voters say that they have a somewhat positive view of Sharia law, which is radical. I mean, radical Islam is associated with this,” Haskins tells Blaze Media co-founder Glenn Beck of the first question asked.

“The younger you are, the more likely you are to have a positive view of Sharia law,” he adds.

But the questions only got more intense, and the answers got more alarming.

When they asked, “Would you support a law that requires public schools to teach about the benefits of Sharia law?”

“Eight percent said yes, 76% said no, 16% said not sure,” says Haskins

“Which I don’t know how you could not be sure about that. Similar to the last question, the young people’s support was much, much higher. Twenty-four percent of 18- to 24-year-olds said yes, they do want that law. Thirty-one percent of 25- to 29-year-olds, around 20% when you get into the late 30s, and it goes down until you get to 3% for people 40 and above,” Haskins explains.

The third question asked was, “If a majority of people in an American town, city, or state were to want Sharia law, would you support a proposal that would allow Sharia to become the legal code for all citizens in that town, city, or state?”

Seven percent said yes, 83% said no, 10% said not sure.

“I mean, this is overthrowing the Constitution. This is overthrowing the rule of law, is overthrowing individual liberty. You have a quarter of young people saying that they would favor that,” Haskins says.

And it’s only downhill from there.

Haskins calls the response to number four “astounding,” which was: “What poses a greater threat to America’s future? Sharia law or America’s alliance with Israel?”

Forty-three percent said Sharia law, while 25% said America’s alliance with Israel.

Bu number five may be the most disappointing.

“Which religious ideology poses a greater threat to America’s future? Sharia law or traditional Christianity?”

“Fifty-five percent said Sharia law. So that’s the majority, but it’s only 55%. Thirteen percent said traditional Christianity. Twenty-three percent says neither poses a threat, which I think is a reasonable answer to have. And 9% says not sure,” Haskins explains.

“I mean, this is a pretty straightforward question. It’s either neither, or it’s Sharia law. But nobody should be saying traditional Christianity,” he adds.

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​Justin haskins, Sharia law, Islam, Glenn beck, Poll, Blazetv show 

Defense attorneys for the autistic J6 pipe bomb suspect have claimed in a new court filing that FBI agents “coerced” him into confessing after he mentally short-circuited during their lengthy interrogation.

Quick background

On Dec. 4, 2025, Brian Cole — a 31-year-old Virginia man “requiring support” on account of a level-1 Autism Spectrum Disorder diagnosis, according to his attorneys — was arrested and interviewed by federal agents, having been accused of planting pipe bombs at the headquarters of the Republican National Committee and the Democratic National Committee on Jan. 5, 2021.

‘How am I supposed to explain that I’m innocent?’

Cole was initially charged with interstate transportation of explosives and with malicious attempt to use explosives. A superseding indictment filed on Wednesday further charges Cole with two felony counts of attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction and two felony counts of committing an act of terrorism while armed.

According to court documents, the FBI identified Cole as a suspect partly on the basis of his alleged purchases of “multiple items consistent with the components that were used to manufacture the pipe bombs placed at the RNC and DNC,” including five nine-volt battery connectors, multiple endcaps, two white kitchen timers, 14-gauge electrical wire, and steel wool.

These alleged purchases took place months and in some cases years ahead of the incident, as the FBI affidavit acknowledges.

The FBI further alleged that Cole “purchased equipment that would facilitate the manufacturing of a pipe bomb”; that cellphone data places him in the area around the time the bombs were supposedly planted; and that his Nissan Sentra was observed driving past a license plate reader near where the devices were ultimately found.

John Shoreman, one of Cole’s defense attorneys, noted just weeks after the arrest that the suspect — who has pleaded not guilty in the case — is an autistic, “mild-mannered man” who lived with his mother and “whose life is run by strict routine.”

RELATED: ‘We have compromised the FBI’: Pokemon lovers boast of shocking hack on federal website

Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images

Shoreman, responding to prosecutors’ claim that Cole confessed to planting bombs, told NPR in January, “Whether or not that post-arrest interview [on Dec. 4] constitutes a confession — a lawful confession — is something that we will need to visit at a later stage in this case.”

Stimming out

Cole’s attorneys filed a motion on Tuesday requesting the suppression of statements that Cole made to the FBI during his interrogation on Dec. 4, arguing that their client had not provided law enforcement with “a voluntary confession.”

According to the defense, the video and transcript of Cole’s interrogation:

show the methodical dismantling of a man whose autism spectrum disorder left him unable to withstand the psychologically coercive tactics deployed against him, and who told the agents so, in real time, while they pressed him, told him his professions of innocence were criminal, and threatened to “drag” his family through the same experience Mr. Cole had gone through that morning — the morning that started at gunpoint.

The defense characterized the events of Dec. 4, 2025, as discombobulating for Cole, starting with his arrest at gunpoint, his isolation in an interview room with a pair of special agents, and his alleged instruction by the FBI agents prior to Mirandization that he would benefit in the long run from being “forthright with us.”

The defense indicated that Cole was utterly bewildered by the accusation that he was involved in the pipe bomb plot.

Citing the transcript, the defense claims Cole initially responded: “Whoa, wait a minute. Wait a minute. … This, this is a misunderstanding. Please tell me. Please tell me. Please, please, please tell me.”

Cole allegedly also stated, “Please tell me this is a misunderstanding,” another five times, begged to be given time to process the information, then repeatedly stated, “Oh, my God.”

According to the defense’s motion, Cole “underscored his deteriorating mental state to the agents dozens of times” and began to physically manifest signs of mental distress, including gagging and experiencing chills that prompted one agent to wrap him in a blanket.

Over the course of his apparent breakdown, Cole repeatedly referred to his mental challenges, repeatedly denied the accusations, and repeatedly stated, “How am I supposed to explain that I’m innocent?” according to the filing.

After the FBI agents allegedly made numerous threats and assertions of “infallible certainty” about evidence supposedly implicating Cole, the suspect began “stimming,” then broke, claimed his attorneys.

Cole’s attorneys defined stimming as “the self-regulating repetition characteristic of an autistic person in acute physical and emotional distress.” According to the defense, Cole manifested this stimming behavior when he allegedly chanted, “I didn’t, I didn’t, I didn’t,” then said to himself, “Do whatever you can to clear your name. You can get out of this.”

After Cole allegedly short-circuited, the agents supposedly gave him an off-ramp, asking him to identify a suspect in surveillance footage. The filing, citing the transcript, summarizes the exchange Cole allegedly had with the agents that resulted in Cole identifying the suspect as himself:

“Do you recognize that person?” “No.” “Have you watched this video before?” “No.” (Tr. at 92.) Only then did the agents remind him what a denial would cost: “lying to federal agents is breaking the law. That’s another crime. … So more lies just makes it worse, okay? … No, look at me. Do you understand that?” (Id.) Seconds later, repeating the question drew the opposite answer. “So, is this individual you?” (Pause.) “Yes.”

The defense claimed in the filing that Cole’s identification of the suspect as himself after repeated denials “was not the product of the video; Mr. Cole had just denied recognizing himself in it. It was the product of the threat — the agents turned ‘No’ into ‘Yes’ by telling him that ‘No’ was itself a crime.”

Following Cole’s apparent admission that he was the suspect on-screen, he allegedly began “repeating the agents’ own script back to them.”

Furthermore, the FBI agents, having apparently recognized that Cole is close with his family and sensitive about their perception of him, allegedly threatened to “drag them all here” and subject them to a similar ordeal unless he told them “the truth,” according to the filing.

After reviewing audio of Cole’s interrogation and related documents, Richard Leo, a professor of law and psychology at the University of San Francisco, said in a Sept. 24 report filed by the defense that Cole’s Dec. 4 interrogation:

involved the use of psychological interrogation techniques, methods, and strategies that have been shown by social science research to increase the risk of eliciting false and unreliable statements, admissions and/or confessions (i.e., situational risk factors). These included: Reid-based guilt-presumptive interrogation; false and exaggerated evidence ploys; minimization and maximization; and implied (if not explicit) promises of leniency and implied threats.

In light of Leo’s conclusion and the recordings that prompted it, the defense argued that Cole’s statements to the FBI were “involuntary under the totality of the circumstances” and that his interrogation was “objectively coercive.”

Cole’s attorneys did not respond to requests for comment by deadline.

A Justice Department spokesperson told Blaze News that the department “intends to respond to the defense’s motion in a filing with the Court” and “does not comment on pending litigation.” The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia told Blaze News, “We will respond to the motion in our filing with the court.”

Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) demanded on Wednesday that FBI Director Kash Patel resign over Cole’s case, stating what Patel and former FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino “have done to this autistic black man is inexcusable.”

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​Pipe bombs, Rnc, Dnc, Brian cole jr., Fbi, Department of justice, Kash patel, J6, January 6 pipebomer, Politics 

The Trump administration has revoked visas for more than a quarter of a million people over violations that included birth tourism and endangering national security.

State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott called the 250,000+ visa revocations a “historic milestone” in the administration’s efforts to protect the American people, Fox News reported Wednesday.

‘We will not stop until every foreign national who threatens the safety of our communities is held accountable.’

“Every visa decision is a national security decision. Through continuous vetting on a scale never seen before, we are identifying and removing those who commit crimes, support terrorism, defraud Americans, or abuse our immigration system,” Pigott explained.

“A U.S. visa is a privilege, not a right — and if you violate the terms of that privilege, you will lose it,” he added. “We will not stop until every foreign national who threatens the safety of our communities is held accountable.”

The revocations targeted people who violated the terms of their visas and those who committed crimes, including defrauding Americans or calling for violence against America or Americans.

About 2,300 of those involved birth tourism.

About 27 visas were revoked on Monday for officials from Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru, as well as their families over accusations of corruption.

A report in August indicated that the administration was looking to revoke visas for 200,000 people who had applied for asylum, which would be the largest single mass revocation of visas in U.S. history.

Pigott said at the time they were investigating false claims of asylum.

“We are coordinating with DHS to identify and revoke the nonimmigrant visas of foreigners who have come to the United States claiming to be short-term visitors, but then file for asylum to stay here permanently,” he said.

RELATED: Illegal alien with badge impersonates Border Patrol to disrupt mission, calls in reinforcements

Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau said in August that Americans were “fed up” with “bogus” requests for asylum.

“Asylum isn’t supposed to be a loophole to circumvent immigration laws; rather, it’s supposed to provide a narrow safe harbor for persons persecuted because of their ‘race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion,'” he wrote on social media.

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​Birth tourism, Trump administration, Immigration, Illegal immigration, Politics, Visa 

Steve Hilton held nothing back on Wednesday in California’s only gubernatorial debate, slinging an expletive-laden nickname at his Democratic foe, Xavier Becerra.

During the CNN-hosted debate, Hilton said Becerra had been called an “idiot” and a “bitch-ass” by former colleagues. The “bitch-ass Becerra” barb was allegedly coined by Becerra’s fellow Biden appointee and ex-director of the Domestic Policy Council Susan Rice.

‘You’ve never actually had to make any money of your own.’

Rice served alongside Becerra during his tenure as secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services under President Joe Biden.

Just prior to the debate, Hilton launched bitchassbecerra.com, raking his opponent over the coals for his record on fraud, gender ideology extremism, and human trafficking.

Hilton and Becerra clashed over competence, immigration, affordability, and the Trump administration as the debate continued.

“You’ve never created a job. You’ve never actually had to make any money of your own. All you’ve ever done is spent other people’s money in every government job you’ve had,” Hilton said. “According to your Democrat colleagues, the ones who worked with you, like Susan Rice, who worked with you side by side when you were in the Biden Cabinet — she described you as an idiot.”

“She called you ‘bitch-ass,'” Hilton said.

According to a CNN tweet late Wednesday night, Rice has denied the remarks.

The candidates went tit for tat over immigration. Hilton accused Becerra of losing track of unaccompanied migrant children by prioritizing speedy releases into the general public as HHS secretary. The Office of Refugee Resettlement, responsible for unaccompanied migrant children, is a part of HHS.

RELATED: AOC’s latest ICE rant sounds like a campaign launch

Mario Tama/Getty Images

Becerra in turn tarred Hilton as a racist.

“You seem to welcome immigrants who look like you, but deport immigrants who look like me,” Becerra said. Forty-one percent of Californians are Latino.

Hilton faces an uphill battle in the deep-blue state. The former Fox broadcaster and U.K. political operator is trailing Becerra 60% to 38% among likely voters, according to a Public Policy Institute of California poll.

That same poll found that 52% of likely voters think California is headed in the wrong direction. Hilton used that sentiment to his advantage during the debate, calling on voters to consider giving him a chance after nearly two decades under Democratic supermajorities in California.

“Xavier Becerra, you’re the candidate who is supported by the machine in Sacramento — the unions, big business, all these people that, for 16 years, have given us the highest cost of living in the country, made it impossible to build anything, given us the highest unemployment rate, the highest poverty rate,” Hilton said.

Democrats have controlled the governor’s mansion, state Assembly, and state Senate since 2011.

Becerra dedicated much of his time on the debate stage emphasizing Hilton’s proximity to President Donald Trump.

“Steve, you’re running for governor of California, and you’ll enforce Trump’s laws at the federal level, but you won’t enforce state laws at our level,” Becerra said. “California welcomed you, and you welcomed ICE mercenaries into our state in return.”

Hilton responded by accusing Becerra of scapegoating the president and ignoring Californians’ real concerns.

“All you ever say is Trump, Trump, Trump, and that’s nothing but an insult to every Californian who is desperate for something to change in this state,” Hilton said.

California voters will have to wait some time to see whether they get change or more of the same. State officials have 30 days to count votes after Election Day, and the state has been plagued by lengthy ballot-counting times in recent elections, including the 2026 primary in June.

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​California, Donald trump, Joe biden, Politics, Steve hilton, Susan rice, Xavier becerra 

The NHL says it has reached peak fandom and is looking for new ways to bring in additional viewers.

One way the league thinks it can attract new fans is by capitalizing on hockey-themed romance novels and TV shows, and the ideas are somewhat queer, to say the least.

‘The popularity of hockey romance in not only this country … it’s unmistakable.’

The NHL is hoping to reach a “younger” and untapped market with a series of audio-only ads promoting players as if they are the center of a romance novel.

The “Hot for Hockey” campaign currently features five 30-second ads themed around NHL players, featuring titles like “The Summer I Turned Gritty with Trevor Zegras” and “The Storm Between Us.”

“Hot for Hockey brings together the NHL’s biggest stars and fiercest matchups, told in a way you’ve never heard before,” the description reads. “Because off the ice, just like in love, it’s all part of the game.”

The clips have an average rating on Spotify of 2.84/5.

The campaign follows the success of the gay hockey-drama TV series “Heated Rivalry” and other hockey romances like “Off Campus,” which has a second season premiering next year.

NHL CMO Sean Eggert even said that the league has contracted popular hockey romance authors to write and narrate the clips in hopes that it will direct listeners to check out upcoming games.

“The popularity of hockey romance in not only this country, but North America at large, even parts of Europe, it’s unmistakable,” Eggert said, per the Sports Business Journal. “You can’t hide from it. And so it’s a great opportunity for us to extend and reflect that culture back in our storytelling.”

RELATED: Former NFL player and Christian minister says Muslim players are being unfairly punished

Matthew Huang/Icon Sportswire/Getty Images

Eggert confidently said that “younger” fans of the genre will pick up on the tonality and “lean in and start to share and hopefully take action.”

The Philadelphia Inquirer spoke to NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, who corroborated that “the hockey romance genre is extraordinarily popular.”

“The data is overwhelming,” Bettman reportedly claimed.

The commissioner admitted that the content of the genre is not suitable for every audience or age group, but said hockey-drama fans are now connecting with the sport.

Bettman went on to say that while the NHL isn’t exactly hurting for fans, they are looking to encourage those “not focused on hockey to take a look.”

“I don’t think we’ve ever had more fans. Our buildings are sold out. We set another record last season. Our ratings were up dramatically,” Bettman boasted.

RELATED: ESPN reporter asks Alex Ovechkin if he would ‘support the genocide’ of Ukraine — Ovechkin doesn’t budge

Mark LoMoglio/NHLI/Getty Images

The NHL is no stranger to controversial campaigns and promotional content.

When the league canceled its themed jersey nights after backlash over gay Pride jerseys, it launched its Player Inclusion Coalition just days later.

The coalition is explicitly focused on promoting race and sexuality, including with its race-centric “Color of Hockey” series.

In 2025, the coalition announced Hockey’s Beauty Club, encouraging people (including children) to wear rainbow tags on their hockey bags to indicate that they support homosexuality.

“To have the bag tag on your bag, to walk into the rink, I think it shows somebody on your team that person’s a beauty. That person’s got my back,” said former Minnesota Wild defenseman Jon Merrill. “He, she, or they are going to stand up for me.”

Merrill was described by the league as an “active member in LGBQT+ communities” who has officiated hockey games “in a tutu” or dressed in “full drag” at other events.

The “Heated Rivalry” series has also been celebrated at NHL Pride nights, specifically noted at a Florida Panthers game in March.

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​Nhl, Pride, Hockey, Heated rivalry, Gary bettman, Sports 

From deploying the National Guard and slashing homicides by 30% to beautifying the city’s parks and waterways, the Trump administration has been unusually attentive to the nation’s only federal district.

On Tuesday, Trump issued an executive order to defeat a new D.C. foe: “foreign, invasive mosquitoes.”

‘The expanding tick populations in the United States expose Americans, our pets, and our livestock to debilitating and expensive health risks.’

Trump’s Eliminating Disease-Carrying Pests and Restoring Enjoyment of the Great Outdoors order aims to reduce the capital’s invasive mosquito population by 90% and its tick population by 50% in two years.

The order directs the Departments of the Interior and Agriculture, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the General Services Administration to implement the anti-pest campaign in consultation with the Department of Health and Human Services.

Both novel and well-established interventions are set forth in the order.

Agencies are directed to drain pest breeding grounds on federal land. They are also ordered to “control” the deer and rodent populations responsible for carrying ticks.

The order further directs the EPA to “consider sterilization techniques, safe genetic modification, and use of safe, beneficial bacteria” in alignment with a May 2025 executive order enhancing biological research security.

A similar Singaporean effort has seen remarkable success since launching large-scale operations in 2018.

RELATED: Supreme Court kick-starts Trump’s mass deportation machine

Christina House/Los Angeles Times/Getty Images

Singapore’s National Environment Agency released lab-bred male mosquitoes carrying the Wolbachia bacteria into the wild. When Wolbachia-infected males mate with uninfected wild females, the resulting eggs fail to hatch.

Egyptian mosquito populations exposed to the trial fell by nearly 85%, and dengue fever exposure declined by around 70% at the Wolbachia-infected males’ release sites.

Though specific plans for a Wolbachia trial have yet to be confirmed, the D.C.-area initiative is designed to serve as the testing ground for future nationwide protocols.

Private companies in D.C. have already begun releasing Wolbachia-infected mosquitoes in the area.

“I was frankly flabbergasted when I read it because of how detailed it was and how much I agreed with what they were proposing,” Bee Safe Mosquito Control founder Todd Montgomery told City Cast DC. “To me, it sounds like they have somebody advising them that really does know what they’re talking about, and they’re trying to approach it in a really smart way.”

Bee Safe Mosquito Control released 600,000 Wolbachia-infected mosquitoes into the D.C. metro area in 2026.

Google’s Debug Project, another Wolbachia-infection proposal, has also applied for experimental pesticide approval with the EPA, according to Politico.

Though the federal mosquito response is just beginning, government funds have already been released for the order’s tick-killing component.

Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s HHS issued nearly $3 million to two CDC Centers of Excellence in Vector-Borne Diseases on Monday. The pilot program will lace deer and rodent bait with acaricide, an anti-tick pesticide, to study its efficacy.

“This effort is designed to move tick control forward by evaluating large-scale deployment of wildlife-targeted interventions,” CDC Division of Vector-Borne Diseases Director Lyle Petersen said in a press release. “The ultimate goal is simple but ambitious: reduce the number of ticks to stop tick bites and tickborne diseases.”

Agencies have until late November to plan and launch their campaigns, “subject to the availability of appropriations.”

The EPA, GSA, CDC, and Departments of the Interior and Agriculture did not immediately provide comment.

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​Center for disease control, Executive order, Washington dc, Politics, Donald trump, Mosquitos, Ticks 

Since 2023, the Dao Feng and Angela Foundation, in partnership with Young America’s Foundation’s National Journalism Center, has given a set of annual awards for journalism it calls accurate, courageous, and in the public interest — a counter to what the organizers describe as a media establishment that “protects power rather than challenges it.”

Former winners include Matt Taibbi, Michael Shellenberger, and Bari Weiss for the Twitter Files; Susan Crabtree for her Secret Service reporting; and the Federalist for its series on the Russia collusion story.

This year, BlazeTV’s Sara Gonzales is a finalist in the multimedia category for her investigation of H-1B visa abuse in Texas — a $10,000 prize. Winners will be announced November 19 in Washington, D.C.

Gonzales has spent over a year investigating businesses in North Texas that sponsor H-1B workers. Again and again, the address on file was a home residence, an empty office, or a space with no signs of any business operations. Several of Gonzales’ visits turned into heated confrontations, but the end results were always fruitful.

Her work has drawn multiple official responses. Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) opened an investigation into suspected H-1B abuse by Texas businesses, first sending civil investigative demands to three North Texas companies and later expanding the probe to nearly 30, crediting Gonzales with getting it started.

Governor Greg Abbott (R) froze new H-1B petitions at state agencies and public universities through May 2027 and ordered a review of how those institutions were already using the program. By summer, Labor Department Inspector General Anthony D’Esposito had joined her in Dallas as the federal probe moved into the same companies she had been filming.

Gonzales’ eight exposés follow the same pattern. She finds a North Texas-based company approved to sponsor H-1B workers, visits the address on file, and films what actually takes place there: a house, an empty office, a day care with no children, a food truck.

Several visits turned into arguments. In more than one, someone called the police. Later installments went farther, including workers who say they paid for visas they never received and a sponsor accused of not paying the employees he had brought in.

That reporting is what the Dao Prize judges singled out. Asked about the nomination, Gonzales said, “It’s very rewarding to see my hard work in uncovering H-1B fraud being recognized alongside so many other great journalists.”

To see Gonzales root out H-1B corruption and fraud that costs American workers their jobs and taxpayers their money, watch the video above. Check back in November to find out if she takes home a prize.

Editor’s note: Blaze News editor in chief Christopher Bedford is a member of the Dao Prize committee. Like the other members of the committee, he is unable to vote on nominations from his own organization.

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New York City Police said they’re looking for an unidentified individual who approached a 44-year-old male victim from behind in front of 1638 Park Avenue and threw an unknown substance on him, causing severe burns to his face and neck.

The incident occurred around 8:47 p.m. Monday, police said, adding that the individual who threw the substance on the victim fled on foot, traveling northbound on Park Avenue. Police said the individual is wanted for assault.

‘It looked hot. It was bubbling, it was smoking. Only God knows what it was.’

WABC-TV reported that the victim — whom the station refers to only as “Mr. Alcantara” — was waiting for his food order outside Cravin Crispy at Park Avenue and East 116th Street in East Harlem when a male walked past carrying what appeared to be a pot.

Alcantara told the station that the male threw the substance at him without warning and that he suffered severe burns and scars.

“I felt a splash of something, and then after I felt the splash … a complete burn,” the victim told WABC. “It just turned black, and it ate through the hoodie.”

Alcantara told the station the substance made his skin feel as if it were on fire, and it left him with burns to the left side of his face, his ear, and the back of his neck.

“I have black areas on my skin, and then there’s certain areas that are white and certain areas that are pink,” he told WABC. “And I also have blisters in certain areas as well.”

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The station said Alcantara ran into Cravin Crispy screaming for help — and that Oscar Perez, who was behind the counter, said the attack left him shaken.

“I was scared,” Perez told WABC. “I was traumatized for my life.” Perez told the station he saw the male carrying the pot but had no idea he would throw it at a customer.

“It looked hot. It was bubbling, it was smoking. Only God knows what it was,” Perez added to WABC.

The substance left stains on the sidewalk and Alcantara with lasting injuries, the station said, adding that the victim indicated he didn’t fully understand what had occurred until he saw video of the attack.

“Obviously at first it was terrifying,” Alcantara told WABC. “All I wanted to know is why?”

The victim said doctors told him he’s fortunate the substance didn’t touch his eyes, the station said.

“Thank God, no,” Alcantara added to WABC. “That’s what the doctors were saying … that I’m lucky it didn’t get into the eye because I probably would have been blind in that eye.”

The station said Alcantara will need a skin-graft procedure and is unsure if he’ll ever look the same. He added to WABC that he hopes the suspect does not harm anyone else.

Police said that those with information regarding this incident should call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or, for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public also can also submit tips by logging onto the Crime Stoppers website at https://crimestoppers.nypdonline.org or on X @NYPDTips.

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​New york city, Random attack, Physical attack, Unknown substance, Injuries, Burns, Crime