Category: blaze media

Dallas police have released a terrifying video showing a suspect in the back seat of a police car remove handcuffs, hop in the driver’s seat, and accelerate away — as an officer who managed to re-enter the vehicle at the last second tries to stop him.

The incident occurred May 30 near Interstate 35 and Illinois Avenue, police said.

‘What the f**k are you doing?’

Officers Ibrahim Kante and Kenneth Harper conducted a traffic stop for a registration violation in the 2300 block of south Marsalis Avenue, police said.

The traffic stop resulted in the arrest of 37-year-old Stacey Huffman for driving while license invalid, possession of a controlled substance, and unlawful possession of a firearm, police said.

Officer Kante handcuffed Huffman — with the cuffs behind the suspect’s back — and placed him in the rear seat of the squad car while the officers completed their investigation, police said.

But Huffman managed to remove his left hand from the handcuffs and kept his hands behind his body, police said.

When the officers began driving, Huffman tried to open the locked rear door of the squad car and removed his seatbelt, police said.

Image source: Dallas Police Department video screenshot

“What the f**k are you doing?” one officer hollered at Huffman as both officers exited the stopped squad car around 6:10 p.m. on northbound I-35 near Illinois Avenue to restrain the suspect, police said.

But while both officers were outside the vehicle, Huffman climbed into the driver’s seat and drove away, police said.

Image source: Dallas Police Department video screenshot

Officer Harper was able to re-enter the vehicle in the back seat, but Officer Kante was still outside, police said.

Officer Harper deployed his Taser, but it was not effective when Huffman pulled the wires away, police said.

Image source: Dallas Police Department video screenshot

Officer Harper drew his duty weapon, and when Huffman accelerated the vehicle, Officer Harper struck Huffman on the side of the head with the weapon, police said.

Image source: Dallas Police Department video screenshot

But Huffman continued to drive erratically, and Officer Harper was violently thrown across the back seat, police said.

Image source: Dallas Police Department video screenshot

“Stop the f**king car!” Officer Harper yelled at Huffman.

After driving about 1,000 feet at speeds reaching about 50 miles per hour, Huffman opened the driver-side door and exited the moving squad car, police said.

Video then shows the moment when the police vehicle appeared headed for a collision with a pulled-over car on the shoulder of the roadway, but Officer Harper regained control of the squad car, steered away, and avoided a collision.

Image source: Dallas Police Department video screenshot

Police said Huffman was rendered unconscious and taken into custody.

Image source: Dallas Police Department video screenshot

You can view police video of the incident below. Content warning: Language.

RELATED: Unhinged man bites police dog while resisting arrest; cops say man became disruptive amid operation he wasn’t even part of

Both Huffman and Officer Harper were taken to a local hospital for treatment, police said.

Officer Harper was treated and released; Huffman remained hospitalized, police said.

When Huffman is released from the hospital, he will be charged with his initial offenses from the original traffic stop — plus unauthorized use of a motor vehicle and escape from custody, police said.

The Dallas Police Department’s Special Investigations Unit is probing the incident, and the Dallas County District Attorney’s Office and the Office of Community Police Oversight have been notified, police said.

This remains an active and ongoing investigation, police said, adding that information may change as additional evidence, forensic analysis, and video review are completed.

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​Dallas police, Texas, Suspect, Police vehicle, Police bodycam video, Police video, Arrest, Crime 

No matter what kind of car we prefer, most American drivers can agree on one thing: We don’t need another reason for vehicle ownership to become more expensive.

New vehicle prices remain painfully high. Used cars still cost more than they did just a few years ago. Insurance premiums continue to climb, and repair bills that once seemed unthinkable have become routine. For many families, keeping an older vehicle on the road isn’t a preference anymore — it’s a financial necessity.

An insurer may choose to repair rather than total a vehicle because recycled components make the economics work.

That’s why a little-noticed trend deserves far more attention than it’s getting: America’s salvage yards are burning.

Junk science

Most drivers never set foot in a salvage yard, but many have unknowingly benefited from one. Salvage yards provide recycled engines, transmissions, body panels, mirrors, wheels, electronic modules, and countless other components that offer affordable alternatives to buying new parts.

Without them, many repairs would cost significantly more.

That matters because modern vehicles have become dramatically more expensive to fix. A headlight is no longer just a bulb and a lens — it may include LED arrays, cameras, and sensors costing thousands of dollars to replace. Bumpers house radar systems. Side mirrors contain blind-spot monitoring equipment. Even relatively minor collisions can generate repair bills that shock vehicle owners.

For decades, the salvage industry has quietly helped offset those costs.

Most people think of a scrapyard as the final resting place for totaled vehicles. In reality, these facilities function as warehouses of reusable inventory. Every wrecked vehicle contains components that can help repair another one, extending the life of cars already on the road and giving consumers lower-cost alternatives to factory-new parts.

When a salvage yard loses thousands of vehicles and reusable components to a fire, the consequences extend far beyond the property itself. Repair shops lose inventory. Insurers lose salvage value. Consumers lose affordable options.

Eventually, those costs work their way through the system.

More expensive repairs contribute to higher insurance claims. Parts shortages can increase repair times and rental-car costs. And families trying to keep an aging vehicle running are left with fewer choices and bigger bills.

That’s why these fires deserve more scrutiny than they typically receive.

Batteries included

Industry groups have reported a growing number of fires at recycling facilities in recent years, with lithium-ion batteries frequently cited as a contributing factor. Given the proliferation of batteries in electric vehicles, hybrids, e-bikes, power tools, and consumer electronics, those concerns are understandable. Damaged or improperly handled lithium-ion batteries can ignite and burn intensely.

But determining the actual cause of individual fires matters. Some incidents are quickly linked to batteries, while others remain under investigation or are ultimately attributed to different causes. Before broad conclusions are drawn, it’s important that investigators establish the facts.

The larger issue is that automotive recyclers have become an increasingly important part of keeping transportation affordable.

Americans are holding onto their vehicles longer than ever because replacing them has become so expensive. That makes access to quality recycled parts more valuable than ever. A driver with a 12-year-old SUV may not need a brand-new factory transmission if a properly inspected recycled unit is available at a fraction of the cost. Likewise, an insurer may choose to repair rather than total a vehicle because recycled components make the economics work.

Remove enough inventory from the marketplace, and those calculations begin to change.

RELATED: 10 tactics to beat even the pushiest car salesman

Mark Sullivan/Getty Images

Free to fix

This also intersects with the broader right-to-repair movement. Much of that debate centers on software access and diagnostic tools, but those issues address only part of the problem. Consumers also need access to reasonably priced replacement parts. Salvage yards provide competition in the marketplace and help prevent repair costs from becoming even more prohibitive.

Independent repair shops understand this better than anyone. Their ability to source quality recycled components often allows them to save customers thousands of dollars compared with using factory-new parts. If those options disappear, many repairs simply stop making financial sense.

The result is simple: Consumers either pay more or replace vehicles they otherwise could have kept on the road.

Insurance companies face similar challenges. Every totaled vehicle contains recoverable value through parts recycling and salvage sales. When that inventory is destroyed before it can be reused, that value disappears as well.

Where there’s fire …

Viewed in isolation, a scrapyard fire is local news. Viewed as part of a broader pattern, it becomes a warning about the fragile supply chain that keeps older vehicles on the road.

As vehicles become more technologically sophisticated and more expensive to repair, the automotive recycling industry becomes more — not less — important. Yet most people only notice it when dramatic images of smoke and flames appear on the evening news.

The next time headlines report another salvage-yard fire, look beyond the blaze itself. Ask what inventory was lost, how many future repairs depended on those parts, and what replacing them will ultimately cost.

Because in the automotive world, expenses rarely disappear. They get passed along.

And in the end, the people most likely to pay are the ones who can least afford another hit to their household budget: ordinary American drivers just trying to get a few more years out of their vehicles.

​Supply chain, Repair costs, Lifestyle, Auto industry, Salvage yards, Scrap yards, Electric vehicles, Lithium-ion battery, Lithium ion battery fire, Used cars, Automotive 

The Democratic Party has a problem: Americans are increasingly repelled by transgenderism.

Between 2022 and 2025, the average American’s favorability toward restrictions on transgender policies rose significantly. Support fell both for requiring insurance companies to cover gender reassignment procedures and for protecting trans individuals from job and housing discrimination.

The Democrats’ only long-term strategy is the faint hope that radical gender ideology will vanish into the cultural ether.

All of this happened as the share of Americans who consider it morally acceptable to change one’s gender has fallen from 46% to 40% since 2021.

This drop in support is seen in younger generations too. Eric Kaufmann found that between 2022 and 2025, the number of trans-identifying college students fell by half. The decline was even sharper at elite institutions: At Phillips Academy in Andover, the number of trans-identifying students fell from 9.2% in 2023 to a mere 3% in 2025.

At Brown University, the number of nonbinary students was nearly halved between 2023 and 2025. The data highly suggests those rates will continue to fall.

The Democrats’ problem grows more acute when considering the opposition to trans ideology from groups like Gays Against Groomers and the LGB Alliance. They are some of the most vocal advocates against drag queen story hours for children, gender reassignment surgeries, and cross-sex hormones for children. Their stand demonstrates to moderates that progressive gender ideology was always a radical, far-left movement.

All of this has put Democrats in an awkward position. The party fought hard to add transgender colors to the Pride flag, pushed to allow men to compete in women’s sports, and declared Easter Sunday “Trans Day of Visibility.” But as Americans withdraw support for transgenderism, the Democrats’ trans advocacy has become an electoral liability.

Though some Democrats like Rep. Seth Moulton (Mass.) argued after the 2024 election that the party’s over-the-top trans activism alienated voters, the party hasn’t backed away. Even as Democrats shift from their “party of empathy” messaging — which was meant to counter Trump’s “fascist,” muscular MAGA movement, now giving way to figures like Maine’s Graham Platner — their support for trans ideology has stayed consistent.

James Talarico, perhaps the Democrats’ last major pure empathy candidate, strongly supports transgenderism, though his stance has become noticeably awkward in his fight against Ken Paxton for the U.S. Senate in Texas. Recent reporting has revealed that Talarico’s church library is filled with pro-trans books aimed at children. And then there are his comments that “God is nonbinary” and that there’s nothing he “loves more than trans kids.”

Meanwhile, the gruff, populist Graham Platner, covered in tattoos and emphasizing his service in the U.S. Marine Corps, has centered his campaign around a Bernie Sanders-like socialist populism. But he still firmly backs trans rights. At a campaign event in 2025, Platner said, “I stand right in the f**king way of anyone who’s going to try to come after the freedoms of the LGBTQIA+ community.”

Though Platner and Talarico are almost complete opposites in aesthetic and presentation, neither is willing to abandon his support for transgenderism, even though it’s an increasingly unpopular issue for the average American voter.

RELATED: Trump’s Justice Department is shining a light on woke universities — finally

Angela Lewis/Bloomberg/Getty Images

Democrats cannot openly denounce transgenderism, because they still have to keep the trans constituency in their electoral fold. They are stuck with people like transgender Rep. Sarah McBride (D-Del.), whose political identity is built on trans advocacy.

The Platner wing of the party, which seeks to represent the average, working-class American, won’t make trans advocacy a key campaign issue. But this wing will never denounce transgenderism either. The Democrats’ only long-term strategy is the faint hope that radical gender ideology will vanish into the cultural ether.

The party can’t admit it was wrong. To do so would mean admitting to being complicit in child mutilation and pushing biological falsehoods. Running against the same ideology the Democrats spent years promoting would alienate the far left, whose support for transgenderism remains staunch.

So the Democrats are scrambling to de-emphasize their trans activism as they shift toward a more populist approach. But their overemphasis on transgender ideology will haunt them for years.

Conservatives need to press the Democrats on why they backed trans so aggressively, championing the stories of survivors and highlighting the lifelong consequences gender reassignment surgeries bring. Woke is not dead, and the trans issue remains a live one for Democrats.

Editor’s note: This article was published originally at the American Mind.

​Democrats, Transgender, Pride month, Seth moulton, James talarico, Graham platner, Woke, Opinion & analysis, Texas, Senate, Transgenderism, Identity, Gender, Ideology 

A Georgia mother can be heard screaming on a harrowing 911 call before Atlanta police responded and found a horrific crime scene.

Atlanta police said they responded to a call of an injured person in a domestic dispute at about 11:30 p.m. on March 14.

‘Stop! Rashad, stop! Help!’ she says before the line goes silent.

They found a 4-year-old girl with multiple lacerations being held by an adult male later identified as 35-year-old Rashad Dixon. They were able to separate the girl from Dixon through the use of de-escalation tactics.

Police said she succumbed to her injuries after being rushed to a hospital.

Dixon was also treated for laceration injuries and was then arrested.

After an investigation, prosecutors said that Dixon stabbed and killed his daughter in order to punish the girl’s mother for leaving him.

WSB-TV obtained the audio of the 911 call, where the girl’s mother can be heard yelling for Dixon to stop.

“Stop! Rashad, stop! Help!” she says before the line goes silent.

Prosecutors say Dixon stabbed the phone in order to stop the emergency call. He then allegedly broke one of the windows in her car and also stabbed himself in an attempt to “evade the consequences of his actions.”

Dixon was charged with a slew of crimes, including:

Murder;Aggravated assault;Aggravated battery;Cruelty to children in the first degree;Possession of a knife during the commission of a felony;False imprisonment;Two counts of criminal damage to property; andSimple assault.

“It’s a horrible case of a father taking the life of his child to punish the mother,” Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis said about the case.

“We’re going to ask that he be put in prison for the rest of his life,” Willis added.

RELATED: Pregnant mother found brutally raped and murdered in Mexico after fleeing the US with 7 children, police say

“Sometimes they say prosecutors don’t cry, but this one, when you read it, when you see some of the evidence, it’s heart-wrenching,” Executive District Attorney Simone Hylton said.

Hylton said there was a history of abuse of the victim’s mother by Dixon.

“This is an indication of the extreme events that can occur in intimate partner violence cases,” she added.

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​Domestic dispute, Atlanta crime, Child murder, Crime 

I was listening to a Classic Punk playlist on Spotify the other day and heard the song “Safe European Home” by the Clash.

I always assumed this song was making fun of uptight British and European vacationers who preferred not to venture too far from the safety of their milquetoast white societies.

The Dead Kennedys saw that liberal college students were too brainwashed to understand how lucky they were.

That’s how it was back in the 1980s. Europe, England, and America were so safe and law-abiding that young people had to seek out exotic locations to have real travel adventures.

I thought “Safe European Home” was about boring, bourgeois people who would never consider visiting Africa, or the Caribbean, or Central America, mostly because they might be exposed to poverty and crime — much of which was created by their own countries’ capitalist exploitation of these third-world countries. At least that’s what the Clash would say.

Or at least that’s what I thought they’d say.

¡Viva la Revolución!

The Clash always presented as left-leaning. They were always singing about third-world revolutions, police brutality, resisting military conscription.

They even named one of their albums after Nicaragua’s socialist revolutionary party: “Sandinista!”

But hearing “Safe European Home” again, I realized that I had never listened closely to the lyrics. Was my interpretation correct? What was the Clash trying to say with this song? So I Googled it.

It turns out I was wrong. The real story of that song was that in 1977, Clash members Joe Strummer and Mick Jones traveled to Jamaica to write songs and soak up the reggae vibes.

But once there, they had a rude awakening, which they described in the lyrics of “Safe European Home”:

I went to the place where every white face
Is an invitation to robbery
And sitting here in my safe European home
Don’t wanna go back there again

Mick Jones said after the trip: “I’m surprised we weren’t filleted and served on a plate of chips. We went down to the docks, and I think we only survived because they mistook us for sailors.”

So it turns out that “Safe European Home” was not a jab at unadventurous European travelers. Jones and Strummer were actually horrified by the lawlessness of Jamaica!

They weren’t making fun of anybody. They were genuinely relieved to get back to Western civilization.

RELATED: Antifa with an AARP card: When did protesting ‘dictators’ become the new pickleball?

UCG/Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Jello and the boys

Another influential punk band, the Dead Kennedys, had their own song about traveling in dangerous places: “Holiday in Cambodia” (1980).

In this song, lead singer Jello Biafra taunted sheltered American college kids by suggesting they visit war-torn Cambodia, where the population was being brutalized by communists.

So you’ve been to school for a year or two
And you know you’ve seen it all
In Daddy’s car, thinkin’ you’ll go far
Back east, your type don’t crawl

It’s time to taste what you most fear
Right Guard will not help you here

On a holiday in Cambodia
Where you’ll do what you’re told
A holiday in Cambodia
Where the slums got so much soul

Of course, if you were a college student in the United States at that time, you probably had leftist professors telling you communism was a good thing.

But the Dead Kennedys were not telling you that. They were telling you the truth. Cambodia was an absolute nightmare. And for college kids, who thought Mao and Trotsky and Che Guevara were “cool,” it would be a devastating reality check.

California Über Alles

The Dead Kennedys claimed they had no official ideology. But they obviously leaned left.

They mocked President Reagan and accused Governor Jerry Brown of turning California into a fascist police state in their song “California Über Alles.”

Imagine that: thinking the biggest problem in California was too many police! I wonder what the Dead Kennedys think of California now?

A liberal who hasn’t been mugged yet

So yeah, two of the most left-leaning punk bands were clearly aware of the privileges they enjoyed by living in Western societies.

In both cases, these musicians outwardly supported leftist causes. But when push came to shove, they showed an instinctive conservatism.

The Dead Kennedys saw that liberal college students were too brainwashed to understand how lucky they were.

And the Clash was a classic case of “a liberal is just a conservative who hasn’t been mugged yet.”

Throughout their career, the Clash maintained “left-wing revolutionaries” as their public image. But they still preferred Europe to Jamaica. Or at least they did back in 1977, when Europe was still predominantly European.

What would they think of it now? We can only guess at the answer to that.

​Lifestyle, Blake’s progress 

New Department of Justice data shows that the vast majority of violent crimes committed by noncitizens are being committed by illegal aliens, not legal residents — and BlazeTV host Allie Beth Stuckey, alongside her brother, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Texas Justin Simmons, believes this needs to change.

“A few weeks ago, they released stats for fiscal 2025. And one of the stats in there said that of the 66,000 people sentenced in the United States, 28,000 were noncitizens. Now, not 28,000 were illegal aliens because there’s a difference. You can be a resident alien and have legal status here,” Simmons explains.

“So 28,000 were noncitizens, but of those 28,000, 91.6% were illegal aliens,” he says. “Now, I will say, most of those illegal aliens were charged with those immigration offenses we talked about earlier, illegal entry, illegal re-entry.”

“But, understand it also encompasses a much broader group of criminals. It’s those people who engaged in alien smuggling. It’s people who are engaged in some kind of immigration documents fraud. So it’s important to understand the full context of what all is included in that number,” he continues.

This is why Simmons believes the mission to “stop illegal immigration” is so important.

“You can just imagine how much money we would have saved if we didn’t have to incarcerate all those folks who have broken the laws of the United States, who have shown their unwillingness to follow the laws of the United States upon entering the country,” he adds.

Stuckey points out that among the charges are “murder, manslaughter, sex abuse, child sex abuse.”

“The vast majority of those heinous crimes among the noncitizens are being committed by the illegal aliens,” she says.

“Most of the most heinous ones, stalking, harassing, kidnapping, drug trafficking, the vast majority of those are being committed by these illegal aliens, which just shows how dangerous the situation is,” she continues.

“It’s a human rights issue.”

Want more from Allie Beth Stuckey?

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

​Allie beth stuckey, Illegal aliens, Justin simmons, Murder, Relatable, Stalking, The blaze, Drug trafficking, Immigration, Illegal, Relatable with allie beth stuckey 

A 17-year-old male was beaten into coma in Manhattan as the New York Knicks completed a historic comeback win against the San Antonio Spurs in Game 4 of the NBA Finals, police told the New York Daily News Friday.

The New York City Police Department released a photo of the suspect — wearing a referee-style shirt — in the hope that tipsters may recognize him.

‘I know there was a lot of stuff happening outside.’

Police believe the culprit is a Twitch streamer who was screaming out, “Spurs in 7!” to get a reaction from Knicks fans on the streets, the Daily News said.

What’s more, the paper said the beatdown was livestreamed — and that it went down outside the Juniper Bar on West 35th Street near 8th Avenue, which is about two blocks from Madison Square Garden, where the Knicks defeated the Spurs 107-106 Wednesday on a last-second basket.

While the suspect hollered, “Spurs in 7!” as he and his friends recorded reactions, the Daily News said a young man standing next to the victim said, “Suck my d**k!” which led to a “free-for-all near a food cart on the sidewalk that dissipated after a few minutes, then quickly resumed again, according to a video reviewed by the Daily News.”

The male who wore the referee-style shirt repeatedly punched and kicked the victim, the paper said.

RELATED: Mayhem in Manhattan: Chaos, violence erupt outside New York Knicks Game 3 watch party

While video showed the victim standing on his own — although bruised and red-faced — minutes after the fight was broken up, he reportedly suffered a seizure, and medics rushed him in critical condition to Bellevue Hospital, the Daily News said.

The paper added that the victim briefly was in a coma with fluid in his lungs but has since woken up and is expected to survive.

The NYPD posted a photo of the suspect and said the following: “WANTED FOR GANG ASSAULT: On Wednesday night after the Knicks game, a group approached a 17-year-old near 237 W 35th St and got into an argument. This individual punched and kicked the teen. He had a seizure and was in a coma. Any info? DM @NYPDTips or call 800-577-TIPS.”

The Daily News said the attacker remained at the scene after the fight and at times appeared intoxicated and was lying on the sidewalk.

Workers at the Juniper Bar told the paper they were too swamped dealing with patrons and didn’t witness the fight.

“We were too busy,” one bartender told the Daily News Friday. “I know there was a lot of stuff happening outside.”

She added to the paper in regard to her bar, “It was packed. There was a lot, like 100 people outside.”

More from the Daily News:

The attack happened as 10 cops were injured and 56 fans were arrested as jubilant fans went wild in the streets of Midtown during the Knicks’ come-from-behind victory — with celebrants destroying a yellow cab and Citi Bikes and setting off fireworks.

Videos circulating online show jubilant Knicks fans stomping on Citi Bikes, climbing street lights, attempting to steal traffic signs, and ripping out poles cemented into the sidewalk.

In another video, a group of men, one waving a Palestinian flag, jump onto a yellow cab, shattering the windshield. One of the men was whipping the hood of the cab so hard with a belt he was denting it, the video shows.

The group also tried to flip the taxi over, police said. Fans climbed on top of four NYPD vehicles, damaging their windows. Some broke into a tractor trailer, stealing items inside.

Other videos show fans setting off fireworks in the street and getting quickly arrested.

The NYPD told the paper that as Wednesday’s game went on, crowds north of Madison Square Garden grew to about 10,000 and “became increasingly destructive.”

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​Manhattan, New york city, New york knicks, Fight, Victim, Coma, Police, Suspect at large, Crime 

Pop singer Ariana Grande ripped into the White House for using her song in a video on social media promoting Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The video was posted to the White House account on TikTok, but it removed the song after Grande left a comment objecting to what she called “barbaric, inhumane, heinous nonsense.”

‘I love this country, and what I’m seeing here happening is not America. It’s just not.’

“Please do not ever use my music ⁠in relation to this barbaric, inhumane, heinous nonsense. f**k ice,” she wrote.

Although the comment appears to be hidden, some posted screenshots, and a spokesperson for the singer confirmed that she wrote the comment herself.

Hours later, the song was removed and the message, “This sound isn’t available,” was added to the caption, according to Entertainment Weekly.

White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson released a statement about the comment.

“We’ll say this one last time: What’s actually barbaric, inhumane, and heinous are the criminal illegal aliens who have injured and murdered innocent American citizens,” she said.

This is not the first time Grande has objected to the ICE deportation mission.

In January, she wore a pin reading “ICE OUT” at the ceremony for the 2026 Golden Globes. Other celebrities wore “Be Good” pins after anti-ICE protester Renee Good was shot and killed by federal agents in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

RELATED: ‘Disgusting and inhumane’: Pop singer furious that song was used by White House ‘to incite violence’

“This is for her,” actor Mark Ruffalo said about the pin for Good during an interview on the red carpet. “This is for the people in the United States who are terrorized and scared today. I know I’m one of them.”

“I love this country, and what I’m seeing here happening is not America. It’s just not,” he added.

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​Ariana grande, Ice, Social media, Tiktok, White house, Politics 

Spencer Pratt says he has damaging evidence against one of the Los Angeles mayoral candidates after he was boxed out of the primary election.

Pratt initially came in second place when the first ballot count was announced on election night, but his lead was whittled away by successive ballot counts until socialist city councilwoman Nithya Raman overtook him.

‘The city is a mess, and you’re about to reward the arsonist who torched the place with four more years of destruction.’

Rather than abandon his effort to save Los Angeles, Pratt released a fiery and defiant video Friday claiming to have damaging audio secretly recorded by a candidate’s staffer.

“You think you could get rid of me that easily?” Pratt says in the video.

“I didn’t get in this for political power; I got in this to expose this corrupt machine, and nothing’s changed,” he added.

He referred to Raman and incumbent Mayor Karen Bass as “morons” and “dumb and dumber,” a reference to the popular movie. Pratt also claimed that many Los Angeles business owners and entrepreneurs told him they were leaving the city because of the inept government.

“That means the city has to cut services. More potholes, less firefighters, less police patrols, more criminals, more drug addicts terrorizing your communities,” Pratt continued.

“You have no idea how bad things are about to get for this city. Look at this place already,” he added.

“This city is a mess, and you’re about to reward the arsonist who torched the place with four more years of destruction?” he said.

Bass will go up against Raman, who previously endorsed Bass and was counted as one of her allies. Some on the left see Raman as the manifestation of a party battle between centrist moderates and the far-left socialist fringe trying to take over.

“My goal hasn’t changed. I’ve been laser-focused on stopping these commie animals, and I will stop them. If you think we uncovered a lot of fraud and evil in the campaign, just wait,” he added.

KTLA-TV published Pratt’s video in its entirety on its YouTube channel.

RELATED: Socialist mayoral candidate is outraged at encampment outside her LA home — but its not what it seems

“So Karen, Nithya, ask yourself, is it possible that one of your employees may have a recording of you doing or saying something that would force you to resign in disgrace?” he asked. “I hope you sleep well at night over the next five months.”

The latest ballot count with about 99% of the votes had Bass at 34.3%, Raman at 29%, and Pratt at 25.5% of the votes. The difference between Pratt and Raman was about 30K votes.

“It’s war!” Pratt said in the video.

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​Karen bass, Los angeles, Los angeles mayoral election, Nithya raman, Spencer pratt, Politics 

BlazeTV host Christopher Rufo apparently lives rent-free in the head of John Oliver, the English agitpropist who long played second fiddle to the eponymous host of “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.”

Oliver melted down in 2022, for instance, not only over Rufo’s campaign against radical gender ideology but over his successful efforts to rid American schools of critical race theory.

‘Say what you will about — here it comes — the Nazis, but stick with me, credit where it’s due.’

On Monday, the liberal commentator — whose transvestite–produced HBO show had a defamation suit dropped earlier this month by an Obama judge — targeted Rufo again, this time over the role he has played in New College of Florida’s conservative renaissance.

Florida under Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis has managed to break the radical left’s stranglehold over the education system, pushing back against critical race theory, LGBT propaganda, and historical revisionism in the classroom; nuking university DEI programs; keeping men out of girls’ sports; and eliminating discrimination based on race, color, sex, or national origin in public institutions.

DeSantis’ strategic appointments — particularly those he made to New College of Florida’s 13-member board of trustees in early 2023 — have been a critical piece of this institutional reconquest, the significance of which is clearly not lost on Oliver.

Oliver excitedly caught his audience up, stating that DeSantis “appointed six new board members who are political allies including Chris Rufo, the conservative activist who then tweeted, ‘We are now over the walls and ready to transform higher education from within.'”

After characterizing Rufo as a “cartoon supervillain” and randomly joking about masturbation, Oliver stated, “Rufo is constantly sounding the alarm over the woke indoctrination of young people, but being appointed as a trustee at New College actually represented something new for him: a chance to put his ideas into practice. And as he explained at the time, his goal was nothing less than to offer a blueprint for what conservatives could then do for education nationwide.”

“John Oliver just can’t get enough,” Rufo responded on X. “This is his third story calling me a ‘supervillain.’ I take it as a compliment.”

RELATED: Trump’s Justice Department is shining a light on woke universities — finally

Thomas Simonetti/Washington Post/Getty Images

In addition to bemoaning New College’s transformation into an exemplar for other institutions aspiring to break free from their woke encumbrances, Oliver also complained on Monday that the liberal arts college axed its gender studies program.

The liberal host made a note of “Rufo bragging they’d gotten rid of a ‘massive’ and ‘radical’ department that indoctrinates students.”

Rufo motioned at an August 2023 board meeting to begin to dissolve the program, stating online, “We are the first public university in America to begin rolling back the encroachment of queer theory and gender pseudoscience into academic life.”

After the board voted 7-3 in favor, the college’s only full-time gender studies professor — a woman who identifies as a man — subsequently submitted a resignation letter, thereby evidencing her political bias and ideological capture.

In a letter dated August 2023, the radical professor wrote, “Eliminating Gender Studies is a reactionary attempt to prevent cultural shifts that scare you. Gender has changed before, and it is changing again. You can’t keep your kids from being gay or trans.”

In addition to whining about the demise of the school’s gender indoctrination program, Oliver melted down on Monday over the college’s 2024 disposal of propaganda — some of it apparently damaged by Tropical Storm Debby — from the defunct Gender and Diversity Center’s library, likening it to Nazi book-burnings.

Oliver highlighted an Aug. 16, 2024, tweet in which Rufo wrote, “We abolished the gender studies program. Now we’re throwing out the trash.”

The British propagandist said in response on his show, “Say what you will about — here it comes — the Nazis, but stick with me, credit where it’s due, I know when the Nazis went after books, they went big.”

“Ideologues capturing something that they hate, claiming that they want to fix it, and then destroying it instead,” Oliver said later in his tirade. “But seldom has that move been more blatant than watching people talk about great debates and classical education, only to then drive away faculty, refer to books as trash, and assemble a veritable Avengers of D-list conservatives, celebrities, creeps, and weirdos.”

New College officials such as David Rohrbacher, provost and vice president of academic affairs, wholly rejected Oliver’s framing.

“What I’m proud about over the last three years is that in addition to many, many new ideas, new projects, new policies, new educational strategies,” Rohrbacher told the Free Press, “New College remains the college it was in terms of that model of experimental learning and experiential learning.”

Multiple professors told the FP that while the college now has fewer radical course offerings, the new leadership does not police what they teach.

New College President Richard Corcoran emphasized that “the great liberal-arts schools that are not indoctrinating, that have great [test] scores and get great students — yeah, that would be who we’d like to be.”

Corcoran noted further that most of the “ideological warriors have left” and the people the school has been hiring are “a who’s who of faculty in the history of the college.”

Oliver’s panicked episode aired in the wake of a deal reached late last month by state lawmakers, which, if finalized, will transfer control of the University of South Florida’s Sarasota-Manatee campus to New College.

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​Chrishopher rufo, Critical race theory, Education, Florida, Gender studies, Hbo, Indoctrination, John oliver, Leftism, Ron desantis, Rufo, Transgender, University, Politics 

A U.S. congresswoman says new evidence released by the national intelligence director should void one of the two impeachments of President Donald Trump.

Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) said the allegations that Trump was guilty of colluding with the Russian government were false.

‘It was a terrible lie that tore this country apart, and was plotted by a weaponized intelligence agency under Obama.’

Trump was impeached in 2019 over alleged abuse of power and obstruction of Congress related to his campaign to pressure the Ukrainian government to investigate corruption allegations in a supposed attempt to damage the Biden family ahead of the 2020 election.

Luna said new evidence contradicted the claims that underpinned the impeachment.

“I will be putting forward a resolution to void the fraudulent impeachment of President Trump during his first term in office. Russia collusion never happened,” Luna wrote in a statement on social media.

According to the report from DNI Tulsi Gabbard, the investigation into the president’s call had been spun out of “politicized, manufactured narratives” created by Trump’s political opponents.

“It was a terrible lie that tore this country apart, and was plotted by a weaponized intelligence agency under [former President Barack] Obama. There is no monetary value that can be assigned to the damage this lie caused. It destroyed families’ relationships with one another, our country’s comradery [sic], and our relationship with another nuclear super power (Russia) that could have resulted in war,” Luna added.

“Thank goodness the admin has started to restore that relationship, but HISTORY should reflect what actually transpired,” she added.

Gabbard has since announced that she is stepping down from the DNI office. The former Hawaii congresswoman said that her husband was diagnosed with an “extremely rare form of bone cancer” and was facing difficult treatment challenges.

The president wants to replace Gabbard with Jay Clayton, the former head of the Securities and Exchange Commission.

RELATED: Rep. Luna rejects ‘s**t hit piece’ implying ‘something distasteful’ between her and Trump

Trump was impeached by the House in 2019, but the Senate refused to convict him. A second impeachment over Jan. 6 was also successful in the House in 2021, but he was ultimately acquitted again in the Senate for the second impeachment.

The president called impeachment a “dirty, filthy, disgusting word” as well as a form of “giant presidential harassment” in 2019.

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​Russia collusion, Impeachment, Politics, Donald trump, Anna paulina luna 

While BlazeTV host Jason Whitlock admits Victor Wembanyama is the San Antonio Spurs’ “biggest star,” he isn’t impressed with the NBA player’s attitude toward the country that’s signing his paychecks.

This is because before the beginning of Game 3, Wembanyama made it a point not to be on the court for the national anthem.

“I do not like Victor Wembanyama, and I didn’t like him before Game 3, and what transpired in Game 3 really made me dislike him,” Whitlock says.

“He did not take the court for the national anthem before Game 3. Victor Wembanyama, I believe, stood in the tunnel, in the locker room during the national anthem before Game 3, and no one talked about it,” he explains.

“This isn’t a coincidence that a Gregg Popovich-run organization has an anti-American Frenchman who can’t come out and respect the national anthem in a country that’s paying him millions upon millions of dollars, a country that’s making him the face of professional basketball,” he continues.

“This guy is the most coddled and pampered athlete perhaps in NBA history, maybe in sports history,” he says. “He’s getting the Colin Kaepernick treatment.”

Whitlock calls the NBA star a “punk” who’s being tolerated purely because “the NBA is a global basketball league, and the NBA is a propaganda arm of the Marxist, socialist, communist agenda.”

“And so, America’s the bad guy, and Victor Wembanyama, the guy the NBA is trying to make the face of the league, can’t even come out and participate in the national anthem,” he adds.

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​Fearless, Jason whitlock, Colin kaepernick, Victor wembanyama, San antonio spurs, Nba, Fearless with jason whitlock, Gregg popovich 

A deadly shooting unfolded in Midland, Texas, Friday morning before a standoff with police that reportedly left the suspected gunman dead.

Midland Police responded to an active shooting incident in the 4600 block of West Wall Street, officials said.

‘We see the drones, and then we see the Texas Rangers and the undercover cars with lights on. … Had to be, seems like, 50 police officers, like a small army.’

Officers heard gunfire coming from a building and worked quickly to secure and clear the area, officials said, adding that “armored units were deployed, and partner agencies assisted in the response.”

The shooting left at least one victim dead and 10 others injured, officials told NBC News.

The suspect was seen dead with a drone, Midland Mayor Lori Blong told CBS News.

More from NBC News:

Nine victims were taken to Midland Memorial Hospital, a spokesperson for the hospital said. Three are undergoing surgeries, and one is in recovery. Two others are stable and remain in the emergency department, and three have been discharged.

Another person was taken to Odessa Medical Center Hospital.

A spokesperson for the city could not confirm if all of the victims had been shot.

Video reportedly from the scene captured the startling sounds of the shooting.

Blong added to CBS News there was no indication that any police officers were injured.

Lee Carlisle was at a nearby Super 8 Motel and described to CBS News what he saw and heard.

“We heard several, several gunshots, like 20 gunshots, and then it moved down — the whole situation moved further down,” Carlisle told the news network. “We see the drones, and then we see the Texas Rangers and the undercover cars with lights on. … Had to be, seems like, 50 police officers, like a small army.”

Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott released a statement: “Cecilia and I are deeply saddened by the senseless act of violence in Midland. We are praying for the victims, their families, and the entire community,” he wrote on social media.

RELATED: CA man finds home intruder firing shotgun at his wife — and ends the threat permanently

“I have been briefed on the matter and commend the swift response from the Midland Police Department, DPS and all assisting law enforcement agencies,” Abbott added.

Midland is located in Western Texas about three hours south of Lubbock.

This is a developing story; updates may be added.

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​Active shooter, Greg abbott, Midland, Police, Texas shooting, Shooting, Crime 

A dispute over player eligibility now has Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) involved after he entered himself into the fray on Thursday.

The Big 12 Conference finds itself with its hands tied after a court ruling pumped the brakes on the NCAA punishing a Texas Tech player.

‘Any such action would be unlawful and would expose the Conference to substantial liability.’

Quarterback Brendan Sorsby was caught earlier this year gambling on NCAA games, and it turned out he had been betting on his own team for years. Sorsby wagered approximately $90,000 over four years, On3 reported, and he also allegedly used sportsbook accounts registered to his friends and family.

Earlier this week, a Texas judge in Lubbock County, where Texas Tech is located, temporarily prevented the NCAA from enforcing a permanent eligibility ban on Sorsby, meaning the 22-year-old will be able to play this season for the Red Raiders, apart from the first two games.

Then came reports that the Big 12 and other conferences were considering boycotting Texas Tech altogether, with Kansas State athletic director Gene Taylor telling Yahoo Sports that the Big 12 had “serious conversations” about it.

Enter Texas AG Paxton’s office, which sent a letter to the conference saying the state could seek “substantially more than $200 million” if the Big 12 tries to move forward with the boycott.

Reporter Pete Nakos posted the AG’s letter, which said Texas is aware of the attempted sanctioning of Texas Tech for “continuing its support of Mr. Sorsby as a student-athlete.”

“This letter serves to notify the Big 12 that any such action would be unlawful and would expose the Conference to substantial liability,” Paxton’s antitrust chief, Thomas York, wrote.

RELATED: ‘USA!’ chants rock Madison Square Garden as Trump attends NBA Finals

The letter continued, describing the possible plan as “a naked horizontal agreement among competitors to disadvantage Texas Tech by cutting off access to the resources it needs to compete.”

The state government argued this would open up the conference and its members to potential damages stemming from Texas Tech’s “lost football revenues, damages to its alumni contributions, and damages to its recruitment, plus attorneys’ fees.”

Paxton’s office also cited a possible breach of contract and “tortious antitrust,” described as “any sanction that disrupts or interferes with Texas Tech’s existing or potential contracts associated with its football team.”

This includes the disruption of potential sponsorships, ticket sales, and other commercial relationships, for example.

Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond (R) then fired off a letter of his own, calling Paxton’s claims “meritless” and “facially absurd.”

Drummond also expressed support for the Big 12 sanctioning Texas Tech over the Sorsby saga.

Texas Tech “has shirked responsibility by running with a bogus claim to a friendly court. Its leadership has prioritized winning over sport, over honor, and over integrity. If Texas Tech will not do the right thing, the Big 12 should,” he wrote, according to images of the letter shared by ESPN college football reporter Pete Thamel.

RELATED: ‘I had the right papers’: Somali World Cup referee booted from US gets an answer from the White House

John E. Moore III/Getty Images

As Blaze News previously reported, members of the Big Ten and the SEC have also discussed refusing to play Texas Tech.

Thamel cited three unnamed Big Ten sources on Monday night who said they planned on discussing the possible sanction, while University of Georgia athletic director Josh Brooks reportedly issued an internal memo to his school’s coaches advising them not to schedule any games against Texas Tech in any sport without conference approval.

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​Fearless, Big 12, Texas, Ncaa, Football, Texas tech, Ken paxton, Sports 

Both Elon Musk and his company SpaceX broke records on Friday, while bringing thousands of uplifting stories along with it.

Not only has SpaceX, founded in 2002, finally gone public with a massive opening on the NASDAQ, but with it, everyday employees’ lives are changed forever.

‘… from engineers to Cafeteria workers.’

SpaceX’s IPO has successfully raised $75 billion, making Musk the world’s first trillionaire, officially. Outlets including Reuters have reported that the company — now trading under SPCX — will boost Musk’s net worth to more than $1.1 trillion due to his controlling shares.

With him will come new millionaires in the thousands. More than 4,000 people will see a huge financial boost from the offering, which has been reported to include even cafeteria workers who have long held on to stock in the company.

Musk shared a post on X that stated the IPO will “create 4,400 new Millionaires, from engineers to cafeteria workers. God bless Capitalism.”

Although the SpaceX owner has already distributed the wealth in that sense, he has made more shares available than is typical of most IPOs; more than 20% of available shares are reserved for retail investors, according to Yahoo.

RELATED: Mamdani announces new city office that sounds just like DOGE — and gets nailed with mockery

Adam Gray/Bloomberg/Getty Images

SpaceX’s successful round of $75 billion more than doubles the previous highest market debut from 2019, from Saudi Aramco, Saudi Arabia’s state-owned oil company, that raised $29.4 billion.

The record-setting raise makes SpaceX the largest IPO launch in history with a valuation of $1.77 trillion, per Yahoo Finance.

Musk had been estimated to have a net worth of $782 billion as recently as Thursday, which still had him as the richest person in the world pre-trillionaire status. He has almost three times the wealth of Google co-founder Larry Page.

RELATED: America’s most powerful AI superchips may be in China’s hands

CHARLY TRIBALLEAU/AFP/Getty Images

Musk told JPMorgan Chase during a livestream last week that SpaceX had been cash-flow positive since around 2015; however, the company reported $18.67 billion in revenue in 2025 but incurred a $4.94 billion net loss.

The entrepreneur added that SpaceX is raising capital for “a significant growth phase” that includes plans to put over 100,000 satellites into orbit and build AI data centers in space.

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​News, Spacex, Elon musk, Stock market, Tech 

Despite multiple controversies coming to light over the past few months, Maine Senate hopeful Graham Platner has secured the Democratic nomination in his state — winning a whopping 72% of the vote and defeating state governor Janet Mills.

Among those controversies was an account on an app known for sexual predators; a Nazi tattoo; and abuse and cheating allegations from women he has dated.

But on election night, Platner spun the recent controversies to a crowd of supporters by harping on “love and redemption.”

“Love and redemption. Redemption is not just some simple or easy destination. It’s a journey. I’ve made mistakes in my life. Mistakes that I regret, that I live with. That I continue to learn from. I’m still far from perfect,” Platner said.

“Every day I wake up, and I try to be a little bit better and a little bit kinder than I was the day before. And if you give me the chance, I will be a senator for the people who cannot afford to buy a senator,” he added.

“You called a guy a Nazi for years; then you elected one,” BlazeTV host Dave Landau tells co-host Stu Burguiere on “Stu and Dave Do America.” “It’s just ironic.”

Stu agrees, pointing out that the left even called Charlie Kirk a Nazi.

“So let’s get a guy with a Nazi tattoo,” he says, before recalling an article written by the Free Press on Platner, which he says catches Platner in “another pathological lie.”

Despite uncovered text messages showing that Platner had a romantic relationship with one of his accusers, Platner claimed they didn’t even date.

“Obviously not a casual relationship,” Stu says, explaining that many of the various resurfaced text messages were from 2025 — which was “approximately six weeks before he launched his senatorial campaign.”

“The last message he sent was right before he launched his campaign. Could there be anything more transparent? … It’s like Jeffrey Epstein coming off of his first, you know, arrest, and saying, ‘Well, he’s saying he’s a better guy and there’s not much more going on,’” he continues.

“You don’t run that guy for office,” he says. “There’s something going on, and we’re going to learn more about it, I’m sure.”

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​Dave landau, Free press, Graham platner, Janet mills, Jeffrey epstein, Maine, Nazi, Sexual predators, Stu burguiere, Stu and dave do america 

U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema has told the Trump administration that unless it provides statements denying the establishment of the “anti-weaponization” fund, a lawsuit would continue against the president.

The lawsuit against the fund was filed by the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, which has argued that the billion-dollar fund was just another mechanism for the president to pay off his friends and allies.

‘This is about seeking accountability for all Americans who were victims of lawfare and weaponization.’

President Donald Trump has touted the need for the $1.8 billion anti-weaponization fund to compensate Americans who have been unfairly prosecuted by the government, including J6ers.

The fund was created in a settlement after the president dropped his lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service over the leak of his tax documents.

Administration lawyers argued that the issue was moot, citing testimony from acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, who told members of the U.S. House that it would not go through. However, he would not provide a written statement saying the same.

“We are not moving forward with the fund. Period,” Blanche said.

Brinkema cited statements from the president to cast doubt on that argument and called on both Blanche and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to provide concrete statements against the fund’s creation. She gave the administration a week to provide her with a declarations under penalty of perjury that the fund would not be established.

Democrats in the Senate also tried to pass a provision against the anti-weaponization fund in an ICE funding bill but were denied by Republicans.

“This is about seeking accountability for all Americans who were victims of lawfare and weaponization: millions of Americans whose online speech was censored at the behest of the government, parents silenced at school boards, Senators whose records were secretly subpoenaed, churchgoers targeted by the FBI, and so on,” reads a description of the fund from the Justice Department.

RELATED: Video shows Nancy Pelosi exploding with fury at reporter over Jan. 6 claims: ‘SHUT UP!’

The Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington excoriated the fund in a statement accusing the president of “brazen” corruption.

“By settling his absurd $10 billion lawsuit against his own administration, Trump and the Justice Department just engaged in the most brazen act of self-dealing in the history of the presidency, and did so quickly in order to avoid the scrutiny of the judicial process, while quite likely violating the Constitution’s Domestic Emoluments Clause in the process,” a CREW statement reads.

“This is one of the single most corrupt acts in American history,” the group concluded.

Brinkema is 81 years old and was nominated to the court by former President Bill Clinton.

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Just over a year after President Donald Trump’s administration instructed the federal government to cancel several media outlet subscriptions, Politico announced that it is sunsetting one of its news brands.

The federal government spent over $8 million in 2024 on Politico-related subscriptions.

‘The government shouldn’t subsidize poor journalism.’

In Feb. 2025, the White House directed the General Services Administration to “pull all contracts” for Politico and its stand-alone energy and environment brand, E&E News. Other government agencies, including the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Department of Veterans Affairs, also canceled their subscriptions to Politico’s services.

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin announced last year that he had terminated over $1 million in annual media subscriptions, including nearly $460,000 for the EPA’s membership to Politico and E&E News.

“Best $458,919 we ever saved on behalf of taxpayers,” an EPA spokesperson told Blaze News. “The government shouldn’t subsidize poor journalism, and it’s a stinging indictment of the previous administration that they wasted so many hard-earned American tax dollars keeping this outlet afloat.”

RELATED: Veterans affairs secretary says department discovered high-priced contract with Politico — and canceled it

Robert Alexander/Getty Images

Politico pushed back against criticism that the federal government was subsidizing the media through subscriptions. The outlet released a statement in 2025 insisting that it has “never received any government funding” in the form of subsidies, grants, or “handouts.” It noted that “most” of Politico Pro and E&E News subscribers are in the private sector.

Despite insisting that Politico has “no financial dependence on the government,” the outlet laid off 3% of its staff, including E&E News journalists, in Jan. 2026, according to Semafor.

Politico acquired E&E News in Dec. 2020, aiming to “reach a large new audience of subscribers.” Yet, approximately 16 months after the Trump administration began canceling media subscriptions, Politico announced it is closing the stand-alone brand.

RELATED: Trump orders another federal agency to axe media contracts amid Politico controversy: Report

KENZO TRIBOUILLARD/AFP/Getty Images

Politico framed the sunsetting of E&E News as a strategic restructuring move that consolidated its U.S. Politico Energy and E&E teams “into a single powerhouse.” The announcement did not mention any revenue pressure, but framed the changes as a “new chapter.”

“Beginning in September, we are modernizing how we deliver our energy and environmental policy journalism and launching a more focused, high-impact portfolio of daily news and intelligence products,” Politico wrote.

“As part of this shift, E&E News will no longer operate as a separate brand. Its journalism and expertise will be fully integrated into POLITICO’s energy and environment portfolio of stories, briefs, analysis, and newsletters,” it continued.

Politico did not respond to a request for comment.

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​News, Politico, Donald trump, Environmental protection agency, Epa, General services administration, Gsa, Usda, Department of veterans affairs, Lee zeldin, Energy, Politics 

A Catholic company with an “extremely popular” product said it has decided turn away from using artificial intelligence, no matter the cost.

A well-known Catholic retailer called the Little Catholic Box said the company’s decision to use AI received passionate opposition from its consumer base.

‘AI can be a valuable tool that requires vigilance.’

The company took out a Facebook ad on Tuesday that discussed its extremely popular Saint Trading Cards and said they “were prototyped using AI.”

After using AI-generated images for the cards, the company’s leaders said the backlash inspired them to do more research and even reach out to real, human artists for their input.

However, what truly seemed to change the company’s mind was words from the pope on AI and the direction of humanity in the face of emerging technologies.

Referring to the pope’s May 15 encyclical entitled “Magnifica Humanitas,” Little Catholic Box wrote that while “AI can be a valuable tool that requires vigilance” it can “never replace the human person.”

From that point forward, the company decided not to use AI for its art and vowed to start commissioning original art from “human artists.”

In the face of a longer timeline and higher costs, the leaders of the Catholic company — founded by parents of seven — said they believed the change would actually result in a better product and “stronger Catholic community overall.”

RELATED: A real nation knows who is in and who is out

AI-generated art previously used by the Little Catholic Box. Image courtesy the Little Catholic Box

Pope Leo XIV’s letter thoroughly discussed the rapid increase and digitalization of the world through AI and robotics. However, he left room for grace, even for AI, and said technology should not be considered, “in itself, as a force antagonistic to humanity.”

“On the contrary, it has formed part of our history since the beginning as ‘a profoundly human reality, linked to the autonomy and freedom of man,'” he added.

The pope stressed being “profoundly human” in an era of AI and called on Catholics to “safeguard the grandeur of humanity bestowed upon us.”

“Let us not be afraid to get our hands dirty,” Leo continued, “on the ‘construction site’ of our time.”

This included placing the human person “at the center of our choices,” while making the “rejected stones” of society the cornerstone, which he listed as including “the poor, the sick, the migrants, and the least among us.”

RELATED: Brazil sends off its World Cup team in the most Catholic way possible

Human-created art now used by the Little Catholic Box. Image courtesy the Little Catholic Box

The Little Catholic Box said the company is still going to sell through its original set of AI works, but has now paid out human artist commissions for the new products.

“We feel really good about the direction these products are headed, but it honestly bothers us that Set 1 is still for sale,” the company claimed.

In a comment to Blaze News, owner Greg Johnson said AI was initially used to generate images of the saints because the company “believed it was the fastest and cheapest way to bring them into existence with extremely limited resources.”

Johnson said they immediately discovered that a large segment of their market was “adamantly opposed to the use of AI” for this purpose, and when further research was conducted into AI ethics, they “concluded that we could no longer use it.”

“While our initial decision to use AI seemed to make sense at the time, we did not fully understand how its use would alienate a significant portion of our audience, some of whom we will never win back,” he added.

At first, Johnson also explained, he did not fully understand the arguments against the use of AI around sacred images.

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​News, Catholic, Pope, Art, Artificial intelligence, Tech 

The Maextro S800 wants very badly to be a Rolls-Royce.

At 18 feet long, painted two-tone, lined with soft leather, backed by Huawei and built by a thousand robots in Hefei, it has the size and the price tag of ambition. What it lacks is the one thing Rolls-Royce has spent a century perfecting: restraint.

A car that can park itself is a clever feat of engineering; most Rolls-Royce owners employ a driver for that.

The Maextro comes with a 40-inch screen, roughly 40 speakers, and a party trick that lets it park itself while you film it for social media. Rolls-Royce sells the absence of gimmicks. The Maextro sells gimmicks as a feature.

Treat what follows as a cultural diagnosis. The car is just a symptom of a nation rich in cash and short on class.

Motor trend

I lived and worked in China for two years. The Maextro is the most expensive version of the kind of tacky automotive excess I saw every day on the streets of Shanghai and Chengdu.

A pearl-white BMW 7 Series gliding through traffic with a Pikachu decal the size of a dinner plate slapped on the rear door. A matte-black Porsche Cayenne with Hello Kitty stickers ringing the wheel wells. A Mercedes S-Class in a finish that violates several local optometry standards, with the owner’s WeChat QR code printed on the trunk in case you wanted to add him.

People who make these choices have plenty of money. They want you to know it, immediately, from a great distance, with no possibility of misinterpretation.

The Maextro is that instinct scaled up and given a research and development budget.

Spirit of Excess

Rolls-Royce understands something the Maextro does not, which is that genuine luxury operates on the principle of subtraction. The iconic Rolls-Royce Spirit of Ecstasy hood ornament is small. The grille is dignified. Everything about the car suggests that the owner has nothing left to prove, because the proving was done by his grandfather, his great-grandfather, or some ancestor who did something morally questionable in the 1700s and was richly rewarded. Old money and new money operate on very different frequencies

China, in fairness, has had perhaps 30 years to figure out what to do with serious wealth. Desperate poverty was the default for many Chinese until relatively recently. The first generation of Chinese billionaires grew up eating cabbage in winter and now own art collections that would make a Medici blush. There is no inherited playbook for this. There is no grandfather who can pull you aside and gently suggest that the diamond-encrusted Vertu phone might be a touch much. The cultural muscle memory for restrained wealth hasn’t had time to develop, because the wealth itself is still wet behind the ears.

RELATED: Who makes the Waymos flooding American streets? China.

David Paul Morris/Bloomberg/Getty Images

From Ming to bling

So you get the Maextro: a “luxury vehicle” that confuses features with refinement, that mistakes the bill of materials for taste. Forty speakers is a number a teenager picks. A 40-inch screen is what you install when you have never considered that a car’s interior might benefit from looking less like a control room. A car that can park itself is a clever feat of engineering; most Rolls-Royce owners employ a driver for that. The Maextro is engineered to impress someone standing on the sidewalk. The Rolls-Royce is engineered to impress the person sitting inside it. These are different products serving different psychologies, and only one of them is luxury.

There is something comical about watching a nation with 5,000 years of refined aesthetic standards produce a flagship sedan that resembles a karaoke lounge on wheels. This is country that gave the world Song dynasty celadon and Ming furniture so understated it still looks modern.

The classical Chinese ideal was the scholar in the bamboo grove, the brushstroke that suggests rather than declares. Somewhere between the Cultural Revolution and the iPhone, that sensibility was misplaced. What replaced it is a culture where a man worth $200 million still feels the need to wrap his Bentley in something that announces itself from a block away, because somewhere in his lizard brain, he’s still the kid whose grandmother boiled tree bark during the famine.

The Maextro will sell. It will sell to people who want a Rolls-Royce and cannot quite stomach the price and to people who want a Rolls-Royce and find the actual Rolls-Royce insufficiently exciting. It will be photographed at the entrances of exclusive nightclubs and parked outside fancy restaurants where the valets know to leave it where everyone can see it. It will do everything its buyers want a car to do.

What it won’t do is fool anyone who has ridden in the real thing. Taste is built, not bought. China has the money now. The wisdom to spend it well is a generation or two behind.

​Align cars, Cultural revolution, Shanghai, Maextro, Rolls-royce, China, Uk, Lifestyle