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Americans have been struggling through daylight saving time their entire lives, but President Donald Trump is now considering putting an end to it.

“The House and Senate should push hard for more Daylight at the end of a day. Very popular and, most importantly, no more changing of the clocks, a big inconvenience and, for our government, A VERY COSTLY EVENT!!! DJT,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.

In a report from 2016, it was estimated that daylight saving time cost the United States more than $430 million a year.

However, there are many others who disagree with the president on the basis of public health and safety.

In a previous report on PBS, experts — like Dr. Karin Johnson from the American Academy of Sleep Medicine — claim that darker mornings are horrible for sleep. The Academy recommends permanent standard time for sunnier mornings and darker evenings.

And in the same report from PBS, Dr. David Harkey of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety explains that a darker morning commute would result in more accidents.

“I mean, I don’t care one way or another if I’m being completely honest,” Eric July tells Sara Gonzales on “Sara Gonzales Unfiltered.” “I’m pretty sure it’s very important, them up there debating whether or not we should move the clock back a f**king hour.”

“It really pisses me off,” he continues. “Because every year this pops up, and I’m like, ‘We’re really going to do it or don’t.’”

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​Camera phone, Upload, Sharing, Free, Video phone, Video, Youtube.com, Sara gonzales unfiltered, Sara gonzales, The blaze, Blazetv, Blaze news, Blaze podcasts, Blaze podcast network, Blaze originals, Truth social, President donald trump, Donald trump, Daylight saving time, Daylight savings time, The trump administration 

Since the Enlightenment, liberalism has aimed to remove politics from the political. Given that human history is largely defined by clashing worldviews and violent conflict, the impulse to tame this dynamic is understandable. Liberalism, grounded in secular neutrality and rule of law, sought to suppress the passions that drive men to war. Its answer was to distribute power widely enough so that no single leader’s rage or charisma could lead a nation into chaos.

This project has reached its apex in today’s managerial neoliberal regime, where secular humanism serves as the ruling creed and experts, housed in supposedly impartial institutions, are tasked with determining truth. But the cracks in this foundation began forming long ago.

In the liberal order, the collapse of institutional credibility marks a crisis of truth. And so far, the only answer from the ruling class has been to scream, ‘Shut up!’

Our ruling class members have willingly torched the credibility of the very institutions they rely on for legitimacy — all in pursuit of temporary political advantage. That destruction has accelerated a collapse that now feels inevitable. Liberalism faced an epistemological crisis and failed to meet the challenge. Like every tradition that cannot defend its intellectual ground, it is watching its authority erode into dust.

Neutral governance comes with clear benefits. It claims to free society from bitter conflicts over religion and identity. It promises a greater scale of cooperation by stripping away regional particularities — traditions, customs, prejudices — that make governing diverse populations difficult.

Even technical differences tied to nationhood, like currency, units of measurement, or contract law, obstruct trade. But by creating institutions that claim neutrality in matters of faith, culture, and commerce, liberalism increased the scale of possible coordination. It built what amounts to a “minimum viable morality,” a lowest common denominator that allowed incompatible systems to function together.

The problem? That same minimum morality now appears insufficient to hold anything together.

Instead of serving specific peoples with particular needs, modern institutions — staffed by credentialed experts — aim to impose rational, universal standards on everyone. The promise is simple: equal treatment under a neutral system. The administrators of this system are chosen not for their biases, but for their supposed objectivity.

These institutions soon become more than arbiters — they become the final authority on truth. In the liberal order, they are the only legitimate source of knowledge. If it isn’t institutional, it isn’t real.

The economic benefits of this arrangement are obvious. Large-scale cooperation yields immense material gains. Yes, traditions and religious customs may erode in the process, but who can argue with abundance? Prosperity silences most dissent.

As long as the ruling class preserves the credibility of the institutions, the system works. Managerial liberalism turned experts into a new priestly caste — with one crucial difference: This priesthood could actually make it rain. As long as the economy grew and the promises were kept, no one questioned the myth of neutral expertise. All the boats were rising. Why complain?

Unfortunately for the liberal order, human beings are predictably flawed. The institutions were never truly neutral, and the experts were never infallible. Over time, the ruling class got greedy. They stretched their credibility to justify wars and push social engineering — even when it clearly wasn’t in the public interest.

As their grip on power tightened, they grew bolder. Those who ran the system began treating institutional trust as a political currency to be spent. They traded legitimacy for short-term advantage, eroding the very foundation that kept their authority intact.

This trend hit its apex during the global COVID-19 pandemic. Across the board — from the World Health Organization to local physicians — experts promoted obvious falsehoods to maintain power. The betrayal was staggering.

After watching that coordinated institutional collapse, the public started asking uncomfortable questions. If medical professionals — the most trusted experts in life-and-death matters — could lie, what else has the system lied about? Elections? Wars? Economics? History? Suddenly, everything is up for re-examination.

This moment terrifies the ruling class. Its members’ entire strategy relied on institutional consensus to shape truth and steer public opinion. This is why disillusioned liberal voices like Sam Harris or Douglas Murray, once celebrated for challenging orthodoxy, now beg the public to get back in the box and stop asking questions.

Epistemology is the branch of philosophy concerned with how we know what we know. Under managerial neoliberalism, experts — and the institutions they populate — became the foundation of knowledge itself. Truth was whatever the expert consensus declared it to be.

Philosopher Alasdair MacIntyre (no relation) argued that the survival of any tradition depends on its ability to confront and resolve an epistemological crisis. In the liberal order, the collapse of institutional credibility marks just such a crisis. And so far, the only answer from the ruling class has been to scream, “Shut up!”

MacIntyre also insisted that resolving a crisis requires more than adopting a new framework. It demands understanding why the old one failed. But the current elite show no capacity for that kind of reflection. Instead of humility, we get hysteria — mockery, censorship, and cancellation from experts who should be asking how they got it so wrong.

The global neoliberal order has hit an epistemological wall, and its expert class members lack the wisdom or self-awareness to break through it. They will continue screeching and lashing out in defense of a collapsing worldview. But the truth is unavoidable: The era of rule by experts is ending.

This crisis brings danger, yes — but also opportunity. A new paradigm is emerging. And whatever comes next, it will not be governed by the priests of consensus.

​Opinion & analysis, Deep state, Administrative state, Managerial state, Elites, Experts, Crisis, Credentials, Covid-19, World health organization, Epistemology, War, Institutions, Trust 

The Department of Justice asked the Internal Revenue Service to escalate President Donald Trump’s war against Harvard University by revoking the institution’s tax-exempt status.

CNN reported that two sources familiar with the matter said the IRS was looking into the possibility after the Trump administration froze billions in federal funding to Harvard on Tuesday. Fox News then confirmed that the DOJ had asked the IRS to follow through.

‘Harvard can no longer be considered even a decent place of learning, and should not be considered on any list of the World’s Great Universities or Colleges.’

Harvard has been resisting orders from the president to take action against anti-Semitism and other discriminatory practices on campus. University officials said the orders are unconstitutional, and they refused to accept the command from the president.

“The university will not surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights,” said legal counsel on Monday. “Harvard will not accept the government’s terms as an agreement in principle.”

The president has been lobbing insults at Harvard from his social media account.

“Harvard has been hiring almost all woke, Radical Left, idiots and ‘birdbrains’ who are only capable of teaching FAILURE to students and so-called ‘future leaders.’ Look just to the recent past at their plagiarizing President, who so greatly embarrassed Harvard before the United States States [sic] Congress,” read a post from the president.

“Many others, like these Leftist dopes, are teaching at Harvard, and because of that, Harvard can no longer be considered even a decent place of learning, and should not be considered on any list of the World’s Great Universities or Colleges. Harvard is a JOKE, teaches Hate and Stupidity, and should no longer receive Federal Funds.”

Some Trump critics pounced on the report to further harangue the administration.

“To my knowledge, this is the first time an administration has tried something like this,” said R. William Snyder, a professor at the business college of George Mason University. “The whole purpose of higher education is to educate the masses. Just because they educate in a way that you don’t like, is that grounds to terminate their tax-exempt status? I’d say no.”

“This would not only be blatantly unconstitutional, it would once again represent the Trump right behaving in a way that it said the hard left would behave if it gained power,” responded New York Times columnist David French.

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Washington state police said that a child molester handyman is a person of interest in the death of an elderly woman whose remains were found in concrete beneath a shed.

82-year-old Marcia Norman had been reported missing since April 1, and the Thurston County Sheriff’s Office said that her remains were found partially encased in concrete in the newly built shed in Olympia.

The man had once been a pastor at Calvary Chapel of North Thurston before he was charged in 2021 with nine counts related to child molestation.

Detectives quickly identified 47-year-old Jeffrey Zizz as their primary suspect because he was the last person who reportedly saw her. Zizz, a convicted child molester, had dinner with Norman before she went missing, according to police.

The handyman had been interviewed by police and had some personal items seized as part of their investigation, including his car.

Police said that he tried to flee from the state in a friend’s car but was later arrested in Missoula, Montana. Leaving the state was a violation of a previous sentence related to a child molestation case. He is being extradited to Washington state.

Investigators said they found the remains after discovering that Zizz had built a shed in Olympia after her disappearance. When they excavated the concrete, they found her body.

The man had once been a pastor at Calvary Chapel of North Thurston before he was charged in 2021 with nine counts related to child molestation. He pleaded guilty to two counts. He has not yet been charged in the death of Norman.

Images from the case can be viewed on the news report from KOMO-TV on YouTube.

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​Elderly woman killed, Marcia norman murder, Jeffrey zizz murder suspect, Child molester pastor handyman, Crime 

If you want to make a movie about Jesus, the Bible is a great place to start — and end.

So it was an odd choice for Mofac Studios, a South Korean production company, to use Charles Dickens’ work “The Life of Our Lord” as the basis for its new animated children’s movie, “The King of Kings.”

Emotional moment aborted, unless you count the emotion of annoyance, which I experienced in abundance.

Dickens appears to have had a great deal of respect for Jesus because “The Life of Our Lord” is a work he wrote for his children to understand Jesus’ life. He never intended for the book to be shared outside his own family.

Nevertheless, this is the route the filmmakers decided to take with this retelling of scenes from Jesus’ life — through the eyes of Charles Dickens. Or rather, through the eyes of one of his young sons, Walter. And this route ends up being a confusing journey, especially for the audience of children the film targets.

An ode to gentle parenting

I first must address the movie’s opening scene, which is jarringly not Dickensian, but seems to have been conceived by a gentle-parenting influencer.

Here is how it unfolds: Charles Dickens is giving a dramatic reading of his work “A Christmas Carol” at a packed theater. Backstage, his wife and three young children (he actually had 10 kids, but who’s counting?) are noisily wreaking havoc as son Walter and his pet cat playact scenes from “King Arthur,” who is Walter’s hero.

The mayhem interrupts father’s performance so much that he has to ask the audience to wait while he goes behind the curtain. Walter is portrayed as a cherubic-looking but straight-up disrespectful and petulant brat. Somehow, Dad not appreciating his child wrecking his performance makes him the bad guy, as mom pleads for his understanding (um, why wasn’t she keeping them quiet, for heaven’s sake?). Even the cat is shown to be ticked at dad.

This whole interaction takes too long, considering that hundreds of people who paid to attend are just waiting on the other side of the curtain. I thought maybe the filmmakers forgot they left them out there. Eventually Walter pouts and says he’s going home. His parents are dismayed at this. Go figure.

I’m always a little uncomfortable with depictions for children that normalize or even elevate selfish, bratty behavior. So in a movie theater full of children, I was uncomfortable with this opening — and it was not the only discomfort I was about to experience.

The odd filmmaking choices just keep coming

That scene sets the stage for the rest of the film, in which (back at home that night) Charles Dickens narrates his entire manuscript for “The Life of Our Lord” to Walter by way of proving to him that there is a king even more impressive than “King Arthur.”

Many familiar Bible scenes come to life as the tale unfolds, and I expected a kind of “Princess Bride” experience, where the action would return to the narrator telling the story to a child. Instead, the child and the narrator (Walter, his dad, and the cat) are transported into Bible scenes.

Sitting in the movie theater full of children, I couldn’t help but think how confusing these Bible stories would seem when the Dickens family is suddenly a part of each one — not only witnessing action but also interacting with it.

One of the most egregious examples is when Walter and his cat are following Jesus into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. Walter loses his cat, which his dad finds (also in the scene), but then Jesus is holding the cat while looking lovingly at Walter. Weirdly, Jesus then turns into Walter’s dad again. Good grief.

The kid also follows Jesus to the cross, attempting to take him a container of water, but he trips and the container rolls toward Jesus, who looks at it while he’s collapsed under the cross, exhausted. This mixture of sacred and silly is hard to stomach.

My personal opposite-of-favorite, however, was the scene where Peter hears the cock crow at dawn and sinks to his knees, realizing the weight of what he has done. The animation in that scene is beautiful, and I felt tears coming — that scripture always gets me — but then the kid and his cat walk into the scene to comfort Peter.

Emotional moment aborted — unless you count the emotion of annoyance, which I experienced in abundance.

But how did they do with the Bible stories?

Other than a couple of figures (with a cat) from the 1800s repeatedly showing up in first-century Israel, the Bible stories are mostly accurate. Mostly.

For example, though it is commonly believed, the film perpetuates the myth of “no room at the inn.”

Jesus’ words are subtly changed a few times, and not for the better. When at age 12 his parents find him in the temple, the Bible says he told them, “Did you not know I had to be in my Father’s house?” But in the movie, he tells them he feels like he needs to be there.

That’s not the only time Jesus seems to be using present-day language. When he tells the people who want to stone the adulterous woman that they can do so if they’ve never sinned and they start backing away, he seems to taunt them with a “that’s what I thought” comment.

There is also language that doesn’t seem to acknowledge that Jesus was always God, including a remark about how he was able to do something because “his faith was so strong,” as if he was just a man with extraordinary faith — instead of God himself.

How the film looks

Some of the big panoramic scene shots are beautiful, cinematic, and richly detailed. However, the animation is hit-and-miss because many of the Bible characters look cartoonishly grotesque — and not just the bad guys. Peter and John are pretty ugly; Jesus, though, is much better looking.

I appreciated that in deference to its target audience, the filmmakers managed to depict the cruelty to Jesus with considerable discretion.

For instance, his flogging is shown, but he is not shown receiving it. The crucifixion is hard to watch, although not gory. But the crucifixion should be hard to watch.

How it all ends

Strangely, the resurrection gets short shrift here. The empty tomb is shown and the fact that Jesus is alive is made very clear, but it’s almost glossed over.

Back at home, Walter is so excited about his new favorite king that he wakes up his brother and sister in the middle of the night to tell them the story. Then the credits roll with an awful song by Kristin Chenoweth that includes lyrics about how if you just believe, anything can happen.

Not the “just believe” message again! This wasn’t a “Grinch” movie, for heaven’s sake. Ugh.

After the credits, there’s a “special message” in which a group of kids who’ve seen the movie talk about how great it is and how you can pay for more kids to see it by using a QR code.

Should I have used that QR code?

No. I wouldn’t recommend this as a good use of money or time for your kids.

However, if your kids are at least later-elementary age and already conversant with the Bible’s depiction of Jesus, and you are willing to take them out after the movie to talk about it with the goal of building up their discernment skills, then “The King of Kings” is a great parenting opportunity.

Editor’s note: “The King of Kings” and distributor Angel Studios are sponsors of BlazeTV. The independent views of the author do not necessarily represent the views of Blaze Media.

​The king of kings, Angel studios, Charles dickens, God, Jesus, Easter, Resurrection, Christianity, Faith 

There’s a movement on the right that’s been growing in momentum: that men and women are becoming proud of building the traditional nuclear family — despite decades of propaganda urging both men and women to put their careers first.

However, while the movement is strong, the increase of women who self-identify as liberal and men who self-identify as conservative appears to be stronger. This has made it harder for those who want a traditional family unit to find those ideologically aligned partners who want to build that family unit.

“A growing political divide between men and women has compounded the challenges of finding love. Around 39% of women ages 18 to 29 identified as liberal in 2024, according to Gallup, compared with 25% of their male peers. This gap has more than tripled in a decade: 32% of women and 28% of men called themselves liberal in 2014,” claims a recent report from the Wall Street Journal.

“So it was a gap of four points; now it’s a gap of 14 points,” Stu Burguiere of “Stu Does America” comments. “And you think about when we were going through the election time. All the stories of women who would not date a man who had a MAGA hat on or had some conservative indicators in their profile.”

“We saw it the other way around, too; women who would be like, ‘I’m proud of being a Trump supporter,’ would get boycotted essentially by all the men that they would be matched with because they didn’t want anything to do with it,” he continues.

While politics is making it harder for single men and women to find eligible partners, Stu doesn’t believe it’s all bad.

“Having massive disagreements about core issues of humanity is not the worst reason to not get with someone,” Stu says, “That being said, when more and more people are of one persuasion or the other, and especially with white women in particular, they’re becoming more and more liberal by the day for whatever reason, that makes matchmaking a little bit more difficult.”

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I don’t throw around the word “masterpiece” lightly. In fact, I’ve developed something of a reputation for being hard to impress. I don’t think that’s unfair. My standards aren’t unusually high — contemporary standards are just too low.

So when I find something that deserves real praise, I won’t hold back. And the new animated film “The King of Kings” comes about as close to a masterpiece as anything I’ve seen in a long time.

Sola scriptura doesn’t mean solo scriptura. Artistic license is perfectly legitimate — so long as it serves, rather than subverts, the gospel message.

The latest release from Angel Studios is the most compelling telling of the gospel for children I’ve ever encountered — and I’ve seen plenty as a homeschool dad. Honestly, it’s one of the best animated films I’ve seen in years, period.

Framing the story with Charles Dickens as narrator was a brilliant decision. Dickens, arguably the greatest storyteller in the Western canon, guides the audience through the life of Christ by telling it to his young son for the first time. That structure — Dickens’ son imagining the gospel story and entering the narrative — creates a vivid, emotionally immersive experience.

It works. In fact, it’s what makes the whole film so powerful.

To witness the gospel again, this time through a child’s innocent eyes, restored my own “faith like a child.” I choked up more than once, as did my wife. The film’s depiction of the great exchange — Christ’s life for ours — comes through in a way that a child can grasp and can move adults to tears.

The animation is exceptional. Multiple visual styles blend seamlessly. The voice cast includes familiar names, many with
more major awards than Ralphie’s old man. This isn’t just Christian entertainment — it’s top-tier craftsmanship. The filmmakers took excellence seriously. They treated the source material with the respect it deserves.

Audiences noticed. “The King of Kings” became
the top new release in the country.

There’s a message here — one Hollywood and faith-based filmmakers alike would do well to hear.

To Hollywood: Enough with the agitprop. Stop desecrating beloved stories with political sermons. Honor the source material. The audience will show up.

To faith-based creators: Make something
great first. Let its moral or religious value emerge from its quality — not the other way around.

A final word to my fellow believers: I know it’s easy to nitpick. I do it myself. But don’t become the kind of person who’d complain about being hanged with a new rope. The Gospel of John ends with this:

Now there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.

The Bible never claims to include every word or deed of Christ. And telling a story for modern audiences sometimes requires creative choices. That’s not heresy. That’s storytelling. Sola scriptura doesn’t mean solo scriptura. Artistic license is perfectly legitimate — so long as it serves, rather than subverts, the gospel message. That goes for more than just “The King of Kings.”

Soapbox dismounted. Time for you to get off the couch and go see this movie.

Editor’s note: “The King of Kings” and distributor Angel Studios are sponsors of BlazeTV. The independent views of the author do not necessarily represent the views of Blaze Media.

​Opinion & analysis, Religion, Hollywood, Movie review, Movies, The king of kings, Animation, Angel studios, Charles dickens, Faith-based, Storytelling, Heresy 

The American Civil Liberties Union announced Tuesday that it filed a lawsuit against the Department of Defense’s school system for removing books that reference “race and gender” from its libraries.

President Donald Trump previously signed executive actions banning diversity, equity, and inclusion from the federal government, resulting in the removal of woke gender ideology books from the Department of Defense Education Activity’s schools.

‘I assume the ACLU will now support school choice for military families, so the federal government won’t get to dictate what is or is not in military kids’ education.’

A presidential action titled “Ending Radical Indoctrination in K-12 Schooling” argued that the American school system has “indoctrinate[d]” students with “radical, anti-American ideologies while deliberately blocking parental oversight.”

In February, the DOD distributed a memo to parents of children within the school system explaining that the agency was reevaluating library books “potentially related to gender ideology or discriminatory equity ideology topics.”

The DOD and the Department of Education released a joint statement earlier this month announcing the creation of the Title IX Special Investigations Team, tasked with protecting students “from the pernicious effects of gender ideology in school programs and activities.”

The ACLU’s lawsuit, filed on behalf of a dozen students, accuses the DODEA of violating students’ First Amendment rights by removing the materials.

“Since January, their schools have systemically removed books, altered curricula, and canceled events that the government has accused of promoting ‘gender ideology’ or ‘divisive equity ideology,'” the ACLU claimed. “This has included materials about slavery, Native American history, LGBTQ identities and history, and preventing sexual harassment and abuse, as well as portions of the Advanced Placement (AP) Psychology curriculum.”

Natalie Tolley, a parent with three children in DODEA schools, stated that Trump’s executive orders were “a violation of our children’s right to access information that prevents them from learning about their own histories, bodies, and identities.”

“I have three daughters, and they, like all children, deserve access to books that both mirror their own life experiences and that act as windows that expose them to greater diversity,” she continued. “The administration has now made that verboten in DODEA schools.”

Neal McCluskey, the director of the Cato Institute’s Center for Education Freedom, reacted to the lawsuit, stating, “I assume the ACLU will now support school choice for military families, so the federal government won’t get to dictate what is or is not in military kids’ education.”

A spokesperson for the DODEA told the Associated Press that the school system does not comment on ongoing litigation.

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​News, American civil liberties union, Aclu, Department of defense, Dod, Defense department, Department of defense education activity, Dodea, Education, Gender ideology, Politics 

A federal judge says there is probable cause to hold President Donald Trump in contempt for refusing to end deportation flights from a previous ruling.

U.S. District Judge James Boasberg had issued the emergency order on March 15 against the flights of illegal immigrants that were ordered by President Donald Trump. The president invoked the Alien Enemies Act from 1798, which critics say is being improperly applied to the immigration crisis.

‘The president is 100% committed to ensuring that terrorists and criminal illegal migrants are no longer a threat to Americans and their communities across the country.’

Boasberg, who has been criticized by many accusing him of political bias, said Wednesday that he found probable cause that Trump had showed a “willful disregard” for the order.

“The Constitution does not tolerate willful disobedience of judicial orders — especially by officials of a coordinate branch who have sworn an oath to uphold it,” he said Wednesday.

“The Court ultimately determines that the Government’s actions on that day demonstrate a willful disregard for its Order, sufficient for the Court to conclude that probable cause exists to find the Government in criminal contempt,” he added.

The emergency order was meant to allow the court time to fully consider the merits of the case. Boasberg said all flights must be canceled and those on the way must return to the U.S., but that did not happen.

Boasberg called on the administration to make declarations by April 23 or face a referral for prosecution.

White House communications director Steven Cheung responded to the order in a brief statement on social media.

“We plan to seek immediate appellate relief,” he said. “The president is 100% committed to ensuring that terrorists and criminal illegal migrants are no longer a threat to Americans and their communities across the country.”

Boasberg has lambasted Justice Department lawyer Drew Ensign for failing to fulfill his requests for information about the flights.

“If you really believed everything you did that day was legal and would survive a court challenge, you would not have operated the way that you did,” said the judge to Ensign.

The Trump administration had previously responded by saying the judge was mounting a “massive, unauthorized imposition on the Executive’s authority to remove dangerous aliens.”

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An American pastor who was kidnapped by armed men while preaching a sermon in South Africa last week was rescued days later as part of a remarkable mission, according to law enforcement.

As Blaze News previously reported, Josh Sullivan was preaching during a Thursday evening service at the Fellowship Baptist Church in Motherwell — a township outside Gqeberha in South Africa’s Eastern Cape province. Suddenly four armed men abducted Sullivan, who is from Tennessee, in front of his wife and six children.

‘Thank you for your support and prayers. Please do not stop praying for the Sullivans.’

The Hawks — a specialized police unit that investigates organized crime, economic crime, corruption, and other serious crimes — reportedly tracked down the kidnappers. On Tuesday, law enforcement engaged in a “high-intensity shoot-out” with alleged kidnappers at a safe house and rescued Sullivan.

The South African Police Service said in a statement, “As officers approached the house, they observed a vehicle on the premises. The suspects inside the vehicle, upon seeing law enforcement, allegedly attempted to flee and opened fire on the team.”

“The officers responded with tactical precision, leading to a high-intensity shoot-out in which three unidentified suspects were fatally wounded,” police stated.

Law enforcement officers rescued Sullivan from the vehicle, who reportedly was unharmed and in “excellent condition.”

The Fellowship Baptist Church in Tennessee stated, “Praise the Lord!” Tom Hatley, the church’s pastor, said that “Josh has been released. Thank you for your support and prayers. Please do not stop praying for the Sullivans.”

Church secretary Heather Shirley told the Christian Post that God “was the one protecting him and taking care of him. And that’s what we were praying for all along, that He would take care of him and bring him home.”

Shirley added, “We want to let Josh tell the whole story as he wants to or give us something to give to our people so that they understand exactly how he felt. I don’t think any of us can understand how he felt in that situation. I mean, there had to just be a hedge of protection around him, provided by God; that’s the only explanation for it.”

Sullivan — a self-described “church planting missionary” — arrived in South Africa in 2018 with plans to “finish language school … and plant a church to the Xhosa-speaking people.”

Missionary Mark Coffey said of Sullivan, “Josh’s love for the Xhosa people is evident in everything he does. He doesn’t just serve them — he walks with them, learns from them, and pours his life into building lasting relationships rooted in the love of Christ. He often says that learning the Xhosa language wasn’t just about communication — it was about connection.”

There were an average of 51 kidnappings every day in the country in 2023, according to the government.

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​Religion, Kidnappings, South africa, Faith, Good news, Goodwill, Crime, Missionary family, Pastor abducted, Pastor rescued, American pastor, Christianity, Baptist pastor 

Since the earliest times, the Catholic Church has commemorated the Wednesday of Holy Week as Spy Wednesday, the day Judas Iscariot slipped away to negotiate the traitor’s price to turn Jesus Christ over to the chief priests in Jerusalem.

The betrayal of Judas deserves plenty of attention as we prepare to recall Christ’s Passion and death on Good Friday. The remembrance of Judas’ treachery serves as a warning to all, important enough to have its own commemoration on a weekday traditionally associated with bodily mortification.

‘They weighed for my wages thirty pieces of silver.’

The chief priests were actively looking for a means to seize Jesus without triggering a riot. As they deliberated, suddenly Judas appeared, seeking an audience.

“The chief priests and the scribes sought how they might put Jesus to death; but they feared the people,” wrote Dom Prosper Guéranger, the late French abbot and author of the comprehensive 15-volume series “The Liturgical Year.”

“And Satan entered into Judas, who was surnamed Iscariot, one of the twelve; and he went, and discoursed with the chief priests and the magistrates, how he might betray him to them. And they were glad, and covenanted to give him money. And he promised; and he sought opportunity to betray him in the absence of the multitude.

“They admit him and he says to them, ‘What will you give me and I will deliver him unto you?’” (from Matthew 26:15) Guéranger wrote. “They are delighted at this proposition and yet, how is it, that they, doctors of the law, forget that this infamous bargain between themselves and Judas has all been foretold by David in the 108th Psalm?

Judas Iscariot settled for 30 pieces of silver, the price of a slave, to betray Jesus Christ.P. Molnar/Wikimedia Commons

“They know the Scriptures from beginning to end — how comes it,” Guéranger wrote, “that they forget the words of the prophet, who even mentions the sum of thirty pieces of silver?”

Thirty pieces of silver was typically the price of a slave. The amount of this shameful bargain is mentioned in Zechariah 11:12, “And they weighed for my wages thirty pieces of silver.” The words of the prophets, which would have been clear to these men who plotted against Jesus, did not give them pause as they prepared to carry out the gravest crime in history.

“On this day, Judas leaves his Master, and takes the devil for his guide,” Guéranger wrote. “The love of money blinds him. He fell from the light, he became darkened; for how could he be said to see, who sold the Light for thirty pieces of silver?”

According to the Jewish historian Josephus, there were about 2.7 million people in Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover. The people had welcomed Jesus as a king on Palm Sunday, laying their cloaks and palm branches along the path as he rode into Jerusalem on a donkey.

Jesus was determined to eat the Passover alone with his apostles. So he frustrated Judas’ scheming by the way he selected the place to eat the Passover meal.

‘This sort of talk is hard to take. Who can stand it?’

“Our Lord knows that Judas had sold him and is about to betray him and Judas therefore is laying plans,” said Venerable Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen in one of his Holy Week discourses. “Our Lord now begins to thwart his plans.”

How does our Lord do it? He says to some of his disciples, go into the city and you will find a man with a water pot on his head. Ask him, where has he prepared the house for the Passover meal? The disciples went into the city. They found a man with a water pot on his head. Why did our Lord use that particular sign?

Well, because men never carry water pots on their head. Women carry water pots on their head. That would be just like saying, go into the city and find a man who’s carrying a pink parasol. So the disciples then found the man who had prepared the upper room. Judas therefore did not know where he was being led. Our Lord wanted the last meal alone with his apostles, and Judas would now have to come with him and no one would know except the disciples who met the man with a water pot on the head.

The Agony in the Garden.Giovanni Bellini, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Why did Judas go on his spy mission, scheming to betray his Redeemer? Sheen said a popular theory was that Judas had succumbed to avarice. But despite some evidence for this in Scripture, Sheen said the downfall of Iscariot’s faith came when Christ introduced the Holy Eucharist while teaching in the synagogue at Capernaum.

“In truth, in very truth I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood you can have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood possesses eternal life and I will raise him up on the last day. My flesh is real food; my blood is real drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood dwells continuously in me and I dwell in him” (from John 6:52-57).

This core mystery of the Catholic faith became an insurmountable stumbling block for Judas and other followers of Christ, according to Fr. William Patrick Casey of the Fathers of Mercy.

“Jesus said this over and over again, and the Jews heard him,” Fr. Casey said in a popular audio talk on the Holy Eucharist. “They knew what he was saying, but it was just too much for them. It was too much even for some of his own disciples. They just couldn’t believe it. They said, ‘This sort of talk is hard to take. Who can stand it?’ He said, ‘If you don’t eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.’”

Archbishop Sheen places the start of Judas’ fall on this day in Capernaum.

“Where is the first mention of the fall of Judas?” Sheen asked in one of his audio talks. “The day our Lord announced the Eucharist. When did Judas leave? The night our Lord gave the Eucharist. He broke at the announcement of the Eucharist. As a matter of fact, that was the critical moment in the life of our blessed Lord. When he announced the Eucharist, he lost the masses, because he refused to be a bread king.”

At the Last Supper, Jesus asked Judas to sit near him.

Engraving of the Last Supper.Public Domain/Wikimedia Commons

“Christ chose Judas to be an apostle,” Sheen said. “He did not choose him to be a traitor, but to be an apostle.”

Judas had worked out a sign with the brigands who would seize Jesus in the Garden of Olives: a kiss.

“How shall they, who are sent to seize him, be able to distinguish him from his disciples?” Guéranger asked. “Judas will lead the way; he will show them which is Jesus, by going up to him and kissing him!”

Judas thought Christ to be a coward who would retreat into the olive grove when soldiers came to seize him. But when death came for Christ that night, He went out to meet it face to face.

Judas’ betrayal was no kiss of peace or friendship.

“The Lord came forward and Judas reached out his arms and threw them around the Lord’s neck,” Sheen said. “And the Greek word in the Gospel is καταφιλέω; he smothered him with kisses. Divinity is so sacred, it is always betrayed by some sign of affection. And our Lord says, ‘Friend, would you betray the Son of Man with a kiss?’”

On the traditional calendar, the Church keeps a penitential fast on Spy Wednesday as a reminder of Judas’ betrayal of Christ, according to Dom Benedict Baur, the late German Benedictine theologian.

“What a spectacle! Christ betrayed by one of His own apostles and handed over to His enemies,” Dom Baur wrote in a reflection published in the Mass companion “Benedictus.” “That act sounded the depths of ingratitude, hypocrisy, and baseness. The act was made more despicable by the fact that it was performed for money.”

Baur said the stakes are high for all Christians who neglect and lose their faith or chase after worldly gains.

“Often they forsake religion and neglect the sacraments,” he wrote. “What remains to them from all the temporal advantages they may gain? They soon prove empty; this discovery drove Judas to despair.”

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President Donald Trump’s administration appears to have amplified its efforts to crack down on radical college campus protests, revoking visas for more than 1,300 foreign students, according to an analysis from Inside Higher Ed.

The publication reported that as of Wednesday morning, it verified that 1,321 students have had their legal status changed by the Department of State.

‘Visiting America is not an entitlement.’

A chart on the outlet’s website showed a breakdown of how many foreign students at each university were affected.

According to the chart, the University of Texas System had the greatest number of impacted students. A Monday article from the Austin American-Statesman stated that 176 students within the school’s system had their visas revoked.

Randa Safady, the UT System’s vice chancellor of external relations, told the news outlet, “UT institutions learn of the revocation of student visas or immigration status changes by checking the Federal Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS), a federal tracking system for exchange visitors.”

“As of Friday, April 11, the UT System learned that 176 students have been affected by the action,” Safady added.

Northwest Missouri State University was listed second among those most affected, with 43 students losing their legal status. A local report from WDAF-TV found that five of the individuals were current students, and 38 were optional practical training students who had already graduated but remained in the U.S.

Dr. Lance Tatum, the university’s president, stated, “Please know this situation continues to evolve and Northwest’s International Involvement Center is working directly with the impacted students to offer guidance. However, these students also are being advised that they depart the U.S. immediately to avoid accruing unlawful presence.”

Ashley Mowreader, the author of the Inside Higher Ed report, told the Daily Caller News Foundation, “It’s very unclear what is driving these revocations.”

“The government has provided little to no explanation,” she said. “What we’ve heard from campus officials is that some of the students affected weren’t involved in campus protests.”

In March, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that the agency had already pulled at least 300 student visas in response to Trump’s January executive order vowing to combat anti-Semitism. The action pledged to cancel student visas and “deport Hamas sympathizers.”

“To all the resident aliens who joined in the pro-jihadist protests, we put you on notice: Come 2025, we will find you, and we will deport you. I will also quickly cancel the student visas of all Hamas sympathizers on college campuses, which have been infested with radicalism like never before,” Trump stated.

Last week, Rubio penned an op-ed for Fox News in which he said that “visiting America is not an entitlement.”

“It is a privilege extended to those who respect our laws and values. And, as secretary of state, I will never forget that,” he wrote.

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Over the past decade, the once universally loved “Saturday Night Live” has become a clear propaganda tool of the left — consistently pushing left-wing issues while poking fun at the right.

However, that may be changing after one April 12 “SNL” skit shockingly mocked gay surrogacy.

The sketch took place at a chaotic dinner party where guests shared bizarre personal updates. One gay couple at the dinner party had a newborn baby, and the other guests then begin asking questions as to where and how they acquired a baby — even asking if they stole it.

The skit took it so far as to ask the gay couple how just the other night they were going to a gay rave called “Bulge Dungeon” when there was a baby on the way.

“There are two different ways to see this,” Allie Beth Stuckey of “Relatable” says. “Either you can see it as using comedy to normalize two men purchasing a baby, or you can see it as a big vibe shift that we are actually starting to mock and deride something that deserves our mockery and derision.”

“Because it is a legitimate question. How could two men, who do not have the genetic material nor the wombs to create and bear children, have a child?” Stuckey asks.

While Stuckey is skeptical that the skit was pointing out the gay couple’s purchase of a baby as a bad thing, she did think one line from the skit was a home run.

“That line about ‘last night you were talking about going to Bulge Dungeon and now you have a baby and we’re just wondering how to square that circle,’ that was a good one. That was the best line, because if you see a lot of these men who are purchasing children, you do have some questions, like, ‘Do you know the first thing about raising a child?’” Stuckey says.

“And so I appreciate that whatever the motive is, that we are in the mode right now of mocking something that is absolutely depraved and destructive,” she adds.

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

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The Global Engagement Center, a multi-agency entity housed within the U.S. State Department that was
credibly accused of working with domestic and foreign organizations to silence conservative voices, was supposedly shuttered on Dec. 23, 2024. This closure was, however, a sleight of hand.

In the final weeks of the Biden administration, the censorious practices undertaken by the agency established by Barack Obama in 2011 and the officials who executed them were
migrated to a new outfit called the Counter Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference (R/FIMI) Hub.

On Wednesday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio
announced the closure of the State Department’s R/FIMI, which reportedly had 40 employees and a budget of over $51 million.

“Over the last decade, Americans have been slandered, fired, charged, and even jailed for simply voicing their opinions. That ends today,” wrote Rubio. “I am announcing the closure of the [State Department’s] Counter Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference, formerly the Global Engagement Center (GEC), which cost taxpayers more than $50 million per year and actively silenced and censored the voices of Americans they were supposed to be serving.”

‘American taxpayers through the State Department were paying groups to attack Americans.’

Rubio discussed the birth and death of the censorship outfit in a live conversation Wednesday with Mike Benz, executive director of the Foundation for Freedom Online, alluding to the GEC’s origins: a
pair of Obama executive orders aimed at reducing radicalization by Islamic terrorists and extremist violence threatening the interest and national security of the United States.

“Who’s going to be against that? That sounds normal,” said Rubio. “By 2020, it had grown into this movement of … actually going after individual American voices.”

Rubio noted that money from the program was being directed to supposedly “impartial” NGOs, which were “tagging and labeling voices in American politics — Ben Shapiro, the Federalist, others — tagging them as foreign agents.”

“American taxpayers through the State Department were paying groups to attack Americans and to try to silence the voice of Americans,” continued Rubio. “And there were consequences. These weren’t just a label they put on people. Some of these people got deplatformed; they got taken down; they couldn’t communicate.”

A lawsuit
filed against the State Department in December 2023 by Texas, the Daily Wire, and the Federalist accused the Biden administration of actively intervening in the news media market through the GEC “to render disfavored press outlets unprofitable by funding the infrastructure, development, and marketing and promotion of censorship technology and private censorship enterprises to covertly suppress speech of a segment of the American press.”

The lawsuit alleged that the GEC had, for instance, backed the Disinformation Index Inc., the American component of the British think tank
Global Disinformation Index, and NewsGuard Technologies.

Blaze News
previously reported that both GDI and NewsGuard Technologies generated blacklists of supposedly risky or misleading news outfits with the aim of getting them demonetized and directing funds to news organizations that parrot approved narratives.

The GDI’s fall 2022 report, for instance, labeled NPR, the Washington Post, HuffPost, and a number of other liberal news outfits with troubled relationships with the truth as the “least risky sites.”

Meanwhile, Blaze News, Reason, the Federalist, the Daily Wire, the New York Post, and other conservative publications made the top-10 list of “riskiest sites” and were smeared as having the “greatest level of disinformation risk.”

Gabe Kaminsky then of the Washington Examiner — a publication that also appeared on the GDI blacklist — reported in 2023 that GDI would compile a “dynamic exclusion list” and provide that list to corporate entities such as the advertising company Xandr. Xandr and other recipients subsequently declined to place ads on websites flagged by the GDI.

Matt Taibbi, an investigative reporter who
helped expose some of what the GEC was up to, previously told Blaze News, “The GEC was turned into a key actor in the narrative-control bureaucracy.”

“It was outrageous,” Rubio said Wednesday regarding the GEC’s work and impact.

The secretary of state noted that the GEC, which was
deemed the “worst offender in U.S. government censorship & media manipulation” by Elon Musk in the wake of the Twitter Files and found to be internally dysfunctional in a 2022 State Department Office of Inspector General report, was technically disbanded in December but really just rebranded before President Donald Trump took office.

‘Trump administration is smashing the censorship cartel.’

“Over the last few months, we’ve worked on it and just taken it down,” said Rubio.

Rubio noted in an article Wednesday on the Federalist — a publication chosen on account of its targeting by a GEC-backed organization — that “whatever name it goes by, GEC is dead. It will not return.”

Last month, Rubio and Darren Beattie, acting under secretary for public diplomacy, apparently terminated over 100 contractors who worked with the agency.

The MIT Technology Review
reported that employees at R/FIMI received an email Wednesday inviting them to a meeting with Beattie, who notified them their office and jobs were no more.

Rubio
noted his Federalist piece that “Obama’s man in charge at GEC, Rick Stengel” once said to the Council on Foreign Relations in 2018, “I’m not against propaganda. Every country does it, and they have to do it to their own population. And I don’t necessarily think it’s that awful.”

“All too many abuses of trust that occurred at the GEC seemed to reflect Stengel’s dark founding vision,” wrote Rubio.

The secretary added:

Ultimately, the problem wasn’t that our government picked the wrong people and NGOs to police “disinformation.” The problem is that they were picking anybody to do this at all. The entire “disinformation” industry, from its very beginnings, has existed to protect the American establishment from the voices of forgotten Americans. Everything it does is the fruit of the poisoned tree: the hoax that Russian interference, misinformation, and “meddling” is what caused President Trump’s victory in 2016, rather than a winning political message that only he was offering.

“This travesty has gone on long enough,” Rubio declared.

He told Benz, “The best way to counter disinformation is free speech — is to make sure that what’s true has as equal or greater opportunity to communicate as what’s not true. We’ve learned that the hard way.”

Brendan Carr, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission,
called Rubio’s final blow to the censorship outfit a “very important action,” adding that the “Trump administration is smashing the censorship cartel and restoring free speech rights to Americans.”

Benz
wrote, “R-FIMI is R-FINISHED.”

— (@)

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A viral video showing a sports reporter asking for a young lady’s phone number during a baseball broadcast angered feminists who called it sexist and misogynist.

Sportscaster Wiley Ballard was interviewing two female fans during the broadcast of the Atlanta Braves games against the Toronto Blue Jays when he was encouraged by other broadcasters to ask for a phone number.

‘This is highly inappropriate and joking about a new pickup method on air is gross and cringy.’

“You got four innings, five innings to get the numbers!” joked play-by-play commentator Brandon Gaudin.

“All right, they want me to get your number,” said Ballard to one of the women, who obliged.

The commentators joked that it was a brilliant tactic to flirt with women at baseball games.

“I should have thought of this years ago!” said Ballard.

When the video hit the internet, however, an army of embittered Karens clawed out of the woodwork to accuse Ballard of acting inappropriately.

“It’s hard not to ignore the unbalanced power dynamics at play here, with many pointing out the obvious double standard had the genders been reversed. One can only hope Ballard learned his lesson,” responded journalist Kristen Wong at Sports Illustrated.

“An unprofessional disgrace, from the reporter, to the guys in the booth, to the producer in the truck who could’ve stopped it at any point. It’s not ‘fun’. It’s not ‘cool’. It’s not ‘harmless’. And it’s only a ‘standard’ for harassment,” wrote Fox Sports writer Ralph Vacchiano.

He added that the incident “put the woman in a terrible, unwelcome, unfair, even dangerous spot.”

“Yes it was unprofessional,” wrote one fan on social media. “If a woman in sports media did the same thing she would get crucified.”

“This is disgusting behavior. We want to make women and everyone feel comfortable at sporting events and this is what gets promoted? Hey @wileyballard_ this is highly inappropriate and joking about a new pickup method on air is gross and cringy,” replied fantasy NASCAR writer Matthew Selz.

Others defended Ballard and told social media to calm down.

“The fact that @wileyballard_ the kindest, most professional reporter I met covering Atlanta sports is at the eye of today’s dumb internet storm is objectively hilarious,” responded seasoned sports anchor Wes Blankenship. “Inhale. Exhale. And consider that you may be alive today because a gentleman asked a girl for her number.”

“All of the think pieces on Wiley Ballard have to stop. Dude is the [sic] one of the nicest guys in the business and has worked extremely hard to get where he is,” replied broadcaster Brady Penn. “To those of you crying about it being ‘inappropriate’ or ‘misogynistic’ please stop. It was two adults having a fun bit that crushed.”

Despite the Wiley flirtations, the Braves went on to defeat the Blue Jays 8 to 4.

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Karmelo Anthony — the Texas teen charged with murdering high school star athlete Austin Metcalf at a Frisco track meet April 2 — and his family reportedly moved into a $900,000 home in a gated community after Anthony’s $1 million bond was cut to $250,000 Monday, and he walked free from from jail later that same day, the Daily Mail reported.

The outlet added that Anthony, 17, and his family are renting a Frisco home in a development known as “Richwoods” for an estimated $3,500 per month, according to Zillow, and that no one answered the door for a request for comment.

‘He got a new car.’

However, the Daily Mail said that when visiting the home Tuesday, a white Suburban, a black Acura, and a third sedan were seen parked in the driveway.

One resident who asked the outlet for anonymity said the Anthony family just purchased a new vehicle: “He got a new car. If you look at the license plate, it’s got a paper tag, and it says it expires June 4.”

The Daily Mail reported that “the lavish lifestyle is in stark contract to the cash struggles Anthony’s father, Andrew Anthony, claimed to have in court Monday, where the parent claimed he was the sole breadwinner.”

At Monday’s bond hearing, Karmelo Anthony’s new attorney Mike Howard said the Anthony family “needs to be able to survive. There’s been a tremendous amount of pressure. I think at this point, living in a gated community, given everything, the safety of their younger children is very warranted. Security details and criminal defense are not cheap,” KDFW-TV reported.

WFAA-TV reported that Anthony’s father at the hearing also said his family doesn’t yet have access to the money raised through GiveSendGo — which is closing in on $450,000 as of Wednesday afternoon. The father also said the cost of moving to a new home and providing for his wife and four children prevented the family from being able to pay Karmelo Anthony’s original $1 million bond, WFAA added.

‘Not good. Not good. I don’t think he should be out.’

A number of the Anthony family’s new neighbors didn’t know they had moved into their new digs until Anthony was released from jail Monday, the Daily Mail reported.

To say they weren’t thrilled with the Anthony family’s new living situation is an understatement.

“Not good. Not good. I don’t think he should be out. I don’t understand why he had a knife? My kids were in track. Your tents, for your school — you don’t sit under another school’s tent. That is not done because everyone leaves their stuff there while they’re out on events,” one mother told the Daily Mail. “Why would you stab someone? And now he’s a few doors down. It’s very scary. Like could he rob houses? I don’t know.”

The terms of Anthony’s house arrest include that he must wear an ankle monitor, must speak to the bailiff every Friday morning, and isn’t allowed on social media.

Another concerned neighbor told the Daily Mail that “the whole reason we live here is because it’s gated” and that “this is supposed to be a good neighborhood. These are high-end houses. Not everyone can move in here. I don’t even know what to say. This is supposed to be safe.”

The same neighbor also wondered to the outlet why the Anthony family asked for donations while maintaining a lifestyle already akin to others in “Richwoods.”

One neighbor added to the Daily Mail in reference to the Anthony family: “The best thing they can do is move. I think that would be best for everyone.”

In contrast, Karmelo Anthony’s defenders have been going viral on social media, with one of them actually declaring that Metcalf “got exactly what he deserved — point blank, period.”

What’s the background?

Frisco police told KXAS-TV they were called to Kuykendall Stadium around 10 a.m. April 2 after a 17-year-old stabbed a 17-year-old during a confrontation, which ultimately proved fatal. Police added to the station they arrested Karmelo Anthony and charged him with Metcalf’s murder.

‘What kind of parents did this child have? What was he taught?’

The victim’s father, Jeff Metcalf, told KXAS his son didn’t know the student who attacked him and that Austin’s identical twin brother, Hunter, not only saw the stabbing but also tried to stop the bleeding. You can view KXAS’ video report here.

“I tried to whip around as fast as I could,” a teary-eyed Hunter told WFAA. “I looked at my brother, and I’m not going to talk about the rest. I tried to help him.” You can view WFAA’s video report here.

Hunter told WFAA he held his brother until first responders started attempting resuscitation.

Jeff Metcalf added to KXAS that Hunter “was holding on to [Austin], trying to make it stop bleeding, and he died in his brother’s arms. I rushed up there, and I saw him on the gurney, and I could tell — they said he wasn’t breathing. I could see all the blood, and I saw where the wound was, and I was very concerned, so I had to find his brother, and we rushed to the hospital. And we prayed, and it’s God’s plan, I don’t understand it, but they weren’t able to save him. This is murder.”

Jeff Metcalf also told KXAS that the suspect got angry after being told he was in the wrong place and being asked to move: “I’m not trying to judge, but what kind of parents did this child have? What was he taught? He brought a knife to a track meet, and he murdered my son by stabbing him in the heart. The guy was in the wrong place, and they asked him to move, and he bowed up. This is murder.”

However, Karmelo Anthony’s father contended in an interview with the New York Post that “everyone has already made their assumptions about my son, but he’s not what they’re making him out to be.” Anthony’s father added to the paper that his son is “a good kid. He works two jobs. He’s an A student, has a 3.7 GPA.”

The suspect’s father also told the Post, “I feel bad for the other parents and family, and words can’t explain how both [families] have been affected by this tragedy.”

After the stabbing, the arresting officer said Karmelo Anthony reportedly told him, “I was protecting myself,” before the officer questioned him about the incident, WFAA-TV reported, citing the arrest affidavit.

Anthony also reportedly told the officer that Metcalf “put his hands on [him],” the station said, citing the affidavit, after which Anthony was handcuffed.

The arresting officer soon told a fellow officer arriving on the scene that he had the alleged suspect — and Anthony reportedly interjected, “I’m not alleged; I did it,” WFAA reported.

A witness reportedly noted to police that Metcalf — who competed for Memorial High School — told Anthony he had to move from under his team’s tent, the station said, citing the affidavit. With that Anthony opened his bag and reached inside, the witness told police, WFAA said.

“Touch me and see what happens,” Anthony told Metcalf, the station added, citing a witness.

Metcalf reportedly touched Anthony, the witness told an officer, and Anthony told Metcalf to punch him and see what would happen, WFAA reported.

Metcalf then reportedly grabbed Anthony, after which Anthony reportedly pulled out what the witness recalled as a black knife and stabbed Metcalf once in the chest before running away, the witness said, the station reported, citing the affidavit.

Metcalf reportedly grabbed his chest and told others to get help, the witness told police, according to WFAA.

While Anthony was in the back seat of a police vehicle, an officer saw fresh blood on his left middle finger, the station said, citing the affidavit.

WFAA, citing the document, said Anthony while he was in the back seat of the vehicle also reportedly asked the officer if Metcalf was going to be OK. While being escorted to the squad car, Anthony asked an officer if his actions could be considered self-defense.

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A Wisconsin teenager — who apparently had his sights set on assassinating President Donald Trump — has allegedly killed his mother and stepfather as a part of his plot.

The teen, Nikita Casap, 17, faces nine felony charges, including two counts of murder and two counts of hiding a corpse. Federal investigators are pursuing an additional three charges: presidential assassination, conspiracy, and use of weapons of mass destruction.

An affidavit from federal authorities claims that Casap was in touch with “other parties” regarding his plan to kill the president and overthrow the government — which he appeared to have planned to accomplish via the drone and explosives he bought.

“Understand that this is another assassination plot against the president,” Liz Wheeler of “The Liz Wheeler Show” comments, disturbed. “Thank God it was thwarted. Thank God this evil individual or this individual who had embraced evil was unable to successfully kill the president.”

“But also, understand the reality of what we’re facing. What happened in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13 last year, and then what happened again on Donald Trump’s golf course, were not isolated attempts on Trump’s life. This is an ongoing effort to murder the president of the United States,” she continues.

A sweep of his background reveals that the teen had been indoctrinated with far-left-wing ideology.

“Surprise, surprise,” Wheeler says. “He was an anarchist. He wanted to overthrow the government of the United States.”

Casap was also reportedly in touch with people from Russia and neo-Nazi groups.

“This young man who murdered his parents in order to steal their money to fund his attempt to assassinate President Trump, this is not just some crazy kid. This is what happens when you spend decades telling these young men, ‘You’re evil because you’re white. You’re evil because you’re a man. President Trump is a Nazi,’” Wheeler says.

“This is not a coincidence,” she adds.

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A federal judge granted the Associated Press an injunction on April 8, preventing the Trump administration from excluding the liberal publication from press events at the White House.

The ruling, which an attorney for the government suggested “constitutes an unprecedented intrusion into Executive authority,” was celebrated by the liberal publication and others antagonistic of the Trump White House.

The AP and its allies were premature in their celebration.

The White House apparently found a way to minimize its encounters with the AP without running afoul of the injunction.

Days after appealing the decision to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, the White House changed its policy for the press pool, abolishing the news wire service seat and replacing it with a second print reporter seat.

Previously, the AP shared a guaranteed rotating spot with Reuters and Bloomberg. The three outfits have now been dropped into a much larger group of print media organizations eligible for inclusion in the pool.

The New York Post, which was first to report the changes, indicated that the reassignment of the three wires expands the White House print rotation from 31 to 34 spots and “dramatically” decreases opportunities for each wire service.

‘The Court does not order the Government to grant the AP permanent access to the Oval Office, the East Room, or any other media event.’

The White House’s new policy eliminating the wire spot states that:

“outlets will be eligible for participation in the Pool, irrespective of the substantive viewpoint expressed by an outlet”;
“eligible outlets will be chosen for the White House Press Pool on a rotating basis”;
“wire-based outlets will be eligible for selection as part of the Pool’s daily print-journalist rotation”;
“the White House Press Secretary shall retain day-to-day discretion to determine composition of the pool”; and
“the President retains absolute discretion over access to the Oval Office, Air Force One, and other comparable sensitive spaces.”

“The makeup of the pool is far more reflective of the media habits of the American people in 2025,” a senior White House official told the New York Post. “The White House press policy continues to be grounded in fairness for all outlets that wish to cover the White House.”

U.S. District Court Judge Trevor McFadden noted in his ruling last week that the AP must be put “on an equal playing field as similarly situated outlets, despite the AP’s use of disfavored terminology.”

“The Court does not order the Government to grant the AP permanent access to the Oval Office, the East Room, or any other media event,” continued McFadden. “It does not bestow special treatment upon the AP. Indeed, the AP is not necessarily entitled to the ‘first in line every time’ permanent press pool access it enjoyed under the [White House Correspondents’ Association]. But it cannot be treated worse than its peer wire services.”

The new policy appears to satisfy McFadden’s requirement since it deprives all of the wire services of their coveted spot.

Lauren Easton, a spokeswoman for the AP, said in a statement, “The administration’s actions continue to disregard the fundamental American freedom to speak without government control or retaliation.”

“For decades, the daily presence of the wire services in the press pool has ensured that investors and voters across the United States and around the world can rely on accurate real-time reporting on what the president says and does,” said Bloomberg editor in chief John Micklethwait, who was similarly upset over the apparent checkmate. “We deeply regret the decision to remove that permanent level of scrutiny and accountability.”

WHCA president Eugene Daniels of MSNBC bemoaned the shake-up in a statement Tuesday night, suggesting the three liberal publications were somehow owed their traditional spots.

“The changes to the press pool today show that the White House is just using a new means to do the same thing: retaliate against news organizations for coverage the White House doesn’t like,” said Daniels. “The Associated Press, Bloomberg News and Reuters play an integral role in coverage of the presidency and should be allowed their traditional spots in the pool.”

The AP filed a court motion Wednesday claiming the White House’s press pool shake-up was a violation of McFadden’s injunction. The liberal publication asked the judge to enforce his preliminary injunction.

The court has ordered the parties to appear for a hearing on April 18.

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​Associated press, White house press pool, Press pool, Wire service, Winning, White house, Karoline leavitt, President donald trump, Politics 

Newly released dashcam video shows the moment of a crazy hit-and-run accident involving multiple vehicles in Southern California last week that led to a bizarre chain of events culminating in the arrest of the wife of rock band Weezer’s bassist.

As Blaze News previously reported, 51-year-old best-selling author Jillian Lauren Shriner was arrested last Tuesday and charged with attempted murder of a peace officer.

‘It’s crazy how just one man can cause so much chaos.’

Shriner exited her home in the Eagle Rock neighborhood of Los Angeles at the same time police swarmed the area to search for three suspects involved in a hit-and-run incident. Police say Shriner was armed with a handgun.

“The officers ordered Shriner to drop the handgun multiple times; however, she refused,” according to the police report obtained by KNBC-TV. “Shriner then pointed the handgun at the officers, and an officer-involved shooting occurred.”

Citing Los Angeles Police Department spokesperson Jennifer Forkish, the Los Angeles Times reported that Shriner “pointed her gun at officers” and “opened fire.”

Cops allegedly returned fire and shot Shriner in the shoulder, and then she fled into her home.

Shriner then purportedly exited her house and surrendered to the police. She was transported to a hospital with a non-life-threatening gunshot wound.

Police reportedly recovered a 9mm handgun from Shriner’s home.

Shriner — the wife of Weezer bassist Scott Shriner — was taken into custody but released after posting a $1 million bond.

Police officers reportedly apprehended the alleged hit-and-run driver in a neighboring back yard. Video seemingly shows the suspect attempting to blend into the neighborhood by watering a garden and wearing only his boxers.

The man was arrested and charged with one count of misdemeanor hit-and-run. He allegedly got into a car crash with two other vehicles on a nearby freeway.

KABC-TV released wild dashcam video of the crash, as well as the suspect fleeing the crime scene with clothes and a guitar.

Video shows a gray sedan swerving across multiple lanes, slamming into a black car, and then a Tesla crashing into the other vehicles from the rear.

David Gonzalez was driving his brand-new Telsa when he was involved in the three-car collision.

“I thought I was in an episode of ‘GTA,'” Gonzalez said of the crash, referring to the Grand Theft Auto video game. “Honestly, that stuff just doesn’t happen.”

Gonzalez suffered an injured back and broken arm in the crash and will require surgery.

His Tesla, which he purchased just two weeks ago, was totaled.

Gonzalez said of the events following the car crash, “Ripple effect. At the moment, I had no clue what happened after, but it’s crazy how just one man can cause so much chaos.”

Shriner is scheduled to return to court on April 30.

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​Celebrities, Weezer, Scott shriner, Jillian lauren shriner, Hit and run, Car crash, Dashcam video, Car accident, Crime, Southern california, Los angeles, Eagle rock, Attempted murder charge, Arrest 

An American who had been a hostage of Iran called out the hypocrisy of Democrat Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey for hopping into action for a migrant from El Salvador after previously ignoring the man’s captivity.

Booker excoriated the Trump administration over the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, an accused MS-13 gang member who was deported to an infamous terrorist prison in El Salvador. Xiyue Wang claims that Booker did nothing for him while he was held hostage in Iran.

‘Booker never advocated for my release & refused to speak to my wife.’

“The Supreme Court ruled 9-0 that the Trump administration must facilitate the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia,” wrote Booker on social media. “The story of his detainment is horrifying, all of us must share his story and demand his quick and safe return. An assault on the due process rights of anyone is a threat to the due process rights of everyone.”

The unanimous ruling from the court said that Garcia must be brought back to the U.S., but the Trump administration has claimed that his return is out of its power, while the El Salvadoran president also rejected the idea when questioned by reporters.

Politico reported Tuesday that Booker was organizing a delegation of Democrats to go to El Salvador to try to help Garcia.

Wang responded to the report in a post on social media Tuesday.

“I was an NJ resident, Sen. @CoryBooker’s constituent, when I was jailed in Iran as an American hostage,” he wrote. “Sen. Booker never advocated for my release & refused to speak to my wife. Sen. Booker is a hypocrite.”

When he was confronted with some of the efforts Booker did undertake on his behalf, Wang admitted his error but persisted in his opinion that Booker did not do enough to free him.

“As Sen. Booker’s constituent, I expected him to do more,” he responded. “There are other members in Congress across the aisle, who weren’t my reps and did more, like [Rep.] Chris Smith (D-N.J.) & [Rep. Pramila] Jayapal (D-Wash.).”

“Sen. Booker does not appear to be consistent in advocating for unjustly detained Americans abroad, he seems to take a special interest in this specific case because President Trump deported the person in question,” Wang added.

Critics of the Trump administration argue that the evidence of Garcia’s gang membership was dubious because the man had never been criminally charged after entering the U.S. The claim that he was a gang member was made by a confidential informant and also on the basis that Garcia was wearing a Chicago Bulls hoodie and hat.

Attorneys for the Trump administration also admitted in court that he was deported based on a “clerical error.”

Wang, a Chinese-American graduate student at Princeton University, had been convicted of spying by the Iranian government without evidence and sentenced to 10 years in prison in 2017. The Trump administration was able to secure his release in 2019 as part of a prisoner swap.

Princeton had defended Wang’s actions and said he was innocent of the charges issued by the hostile Iranian government.

“He was not involved in any political activities or social activism,” the university said in a statement, “he was simply a scholar trying to gain access to materials he needed for his dissertation.”

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​Iran hostage vs cory booker, Xiyue wang vs cory booker, Cory booker on kilmar garcia, Kilmar abrego garcia, Politics