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We live in a scaled-up, real-world version of the classic children’s board game “Mousetrap.” The built world is over-engineered, too interdependent, and so precarious that a slight disturbance might bring the whole thing down.

The interconnected, precarious Rube Goldberg contraption that is modern society has more than just rolling balls and baskets and levers. Our real, physical-world interdependencies include reliance on digital algorithms and computing devices that no one can intuitively understand. It’s the worst of both worlds, physical and electronic.

This is a real-world lesson in physics and mechanics that teaches universal principles that can never be altered by whim or historical vogue.

A friend’s internet service went out recently. Even though she was able to get a human staff member on the phone, that human wouldn’t talk to her to even confirm that the company recognized that she was a paying customer.

Why? Because she couldn’t log in to her email on another device and recite a “one-time code.” Remember, she was calling because she didn’t have internet access. Cell signals in rural states are often insufficient for internet use. You see the problem.

Everything is like this, but everyone is acting like this is the way things have always been. It’s not true. There is no reason to live this way. It is not a natural law. The overcomplicated world is not something that just “happened.”

This setup is a result of choices. Disconnected choices, yes. There’s no central mind that has created our society. There’s no single controlling cabal that has engineered the way we live, communicate, procure food, or any of that. There are powerful interests, legal and commercial, that influence our society more than you and I as individuals can influence it. But it’s not a conspiracy in the classic sense. It’s a result of accumulated errors. We need a reset.

Memories of the analog world

1979. My family slipped away from Tully, New York, in the dead of night by means of my grandmother’s silver Buick Electra. The Buick told you that she had a V-8 through the distinctive muffled bass rumble from twin tailpipes. She was what I call an “honest mechanical.”

We boarded the Amtrak to cross the country so my stepfather, a glassblower who specialized in making electrodes, could find a job. There was nothing left for a working-class man in Upstate New York in the 1970s.

On arrival in Los Angeles, my Uncle Lee and Aunt Sherry were waiting in a 1979 lemon-yellow Cadillac Coupe de Ville. A Cadillac. I was going to ride in a Cadillac!

The trunk mechanism on my Uncle Lee’s Cadillac was my first introduction to what I would later think of as overcomplicated or dishonest mechanicals. It did this amazing thing I had never seen before. The trunk lid raised and lowered all by itself, untouched by human hands. After my mother loaded the last suitcase into the cavernous trunk, the enormous yellow deck lid silently, slowly crept downward. When the lid reached the latch, the mechanism slowed down to a crawl to give you a “soft and silent” latch.

Today, my base-model Toyota has all those bells and whistles plus more. The “more” is the irritating part. Nothing in the car is controlled mechanically or directly. Everything is drive-by-wire. The car decides when to spin the wheels when stuck in snow, even though I could do a better job if I were allowed to control the traction. Even the heater fan and lights are programmed to slowly, softly ramp up and ramp down, as if a too-sudden onset of sound or light would strike the driver with apoplexy.

Man and machine

The legend of John Henry both horrified and fascinated me as a child. The steel-driving man of folklore tried to prove he was as good as the new-fangled steam drill at chipping out a tunnel to lay track. John Henry swung his sledgehammer until his muscle fibers broke and he died exhausted on the ground, while the steam piston kept reciprocating.

I understood that this tale from America’s railroad age was really about our present. It was obvious to me even as a kid in the 80s: Machines were crowding out the men. The mechanization of work inverted our values; humans had to live up to the demands and preferences of machine logic, not the other way around.

John Henry’s last act was a way of saying, “I am a man, and I live.”

RELATED: America needs mechanics; here’s where to apply

Getty Images/Heritage Images

Honest mechanicals

Honest mechanicals are machines that can be observed, understood, and intuited. They show their works; nothing is hidden from the hands or the eyes. Compare honest mechanicals to modern digital devices. Call those devices “black boxes” whose function cannot be observed, understood, intuited, or reverse-engineered by human senses alone.

Black boxes (computers of various sorts) are not mechanicals at all. They don’t have levers or pulleys or counterweights, or sprockets, or escapements. They have invisible states of magnetic orientation. You cannot see the works with your eyes, and the complexity of a chipset is beyond the human mind’s ability to grasp.

A piece of photographic film with a light-sensitive emulsion that forms an image is an honest mechanical. The image is readable by the human eye.

A .jpg picture file is a black box. The image cannot be read or intuited by humans without another black box we call a computer.

A steam locomotive is an honest mechanical. Observe that you can understand how the machine turns heat into steam, turns steam pressure into lateral force, and then translates lateral force into rotary motion, thus moving the train and its passengers along.

You can intuit an honest mechanical. And if you have children, especially boys, I recommend that you introduce them to honest mechanicals. Show them how steam engines work. Show them a cutaway of an internal-combustion automobile engine. Let them take apart a blender or a stand mixer to see how electric motors produce rotary motion.

Here’s an easy hands-on lesson you can and should do with your kids, starting at about age 4. It doesn’t matter that the lesson uses “obsolete” technology. That is a benefit. This is a real-world lesson in physics and mechanics that teaches universal principles that can never be altered by whim or historical vogue.

Make your own record player

Materials:

1 33 and 1/3 long-playing record album — one that’s scratched that you don’t care about1 #2 pencilconstruction paperScotch tape1 sewing needle

Instructions:

Form the construction paper into a cone and tape together. Tape the sewing needle securely to the small end of the cone. Think of an old gramophone with a needle attached to a brass horn — that’s what you’re doing.

Put the pencil inside the center hole of the record. Spin the record like a toy top, and help your kid lower the needle-in-a-cone onto the guide groove at the edge of the record.

Magically, you’ll hear the sound on the record, slightly amplified by the paper cone. Sure, it’ll be at the wrong speed, and maybe you won’t be able to parse the words. But you and your kid will immediately understand basic sound recording and reproduction. You will understand that sound can be transcribed as a wave form that can take real-world, physical form in the bumps and pits of a piece of material.

Most importantly, your child will understand that the material world actually exists and that it is analog.

This matters. It matters more than you probably know. Modern young people have grown up in a world of portable computers and phone screens that appear to show them reality, but that do nothing but arrange points of light into virtual simulations. Have you noticed that young Millennials and younger seem not only put off and frightened by simple mechanical technology — mechanical telephones, cars that use a clutch and a gear shift — but almost disgusted and embarrassed by devices from just a generation ago?

This is not merely the universal plaint of the old about the shortcomings of the young. The world today is different to an extreme degree from the world of just one or two generations ago. Young people don’t know how to get around town without GPS, they’re frightened to get driver’s licenses at 16, and few can even whip up a basic meal on a stovetop. Why would they know these things when they’ve been reared to believe that food and transportation just “happen” by sliding your fingers along an iPhone touchscreen?

Do what you can to ground yourself (first) and your kids and grandkids back inside the real, physical, material, analog world. Remember what John Henry knew: We are men and women, and we live.

​Lifestyle, Culture, Diy, Build your own, Analog, Digital, Tech, Parenthood, Education, How to, Intervention 

Biomedical research has produced extraordinary breakthroughs that have saved countless lives. But too many promising drugs now stall in federal review, and children with rare diseases are paying the price.

I’m a bioscientist. My work has focused on how healthy cells function and how that knowledge can be applied to therapeutic enzyme development. I’ve spent my career working inside the disciplines that move a treatment from lab bench to patient: protocol design, reproducibility, evidence standards, and layered human testing to ensure safety.

Is this simply bureaucracy doing what bureaucracy does? Or are rare pediatric therapies effectively facing a higher bar inside the system?

Standards, evidence, and process matter. But so does urgency.

Children with rare diseases do not live on regulatory timelines. They lose function month by month — speech, mobility, independence, even the ability to breathe on their own.

Of the more than 6,800 known rare diseases, about 70% begin in childhood. Better-known examples include Duchenne muscular dystrophy, Gaucher disease, and cystic fibrosis.

Developing therapies for these children is difficult, expensive, and slow even under the best conditions. Treatments such as Ultragenyx’s UX111 for Sanfilippo syndrome, Sarepta’s Elevidys for Duchenne, and Regenxbio’s RGX-121 for Hunter syndrome can take decades to develop, years to move through trials, and still more time to reach the children who need them.

That reality makes avoidable regulatory delay even harder to defend.

Too often, applications do not stall because the underlying science has failed. They stall over manufacturing or procedural concerns — in many cases, issues that are fixable and not directly tied to whether the therapy is clinically helping patients. Those delays can undermine the purpose of the FDA’s accelerated approval pathway, which exists to move critical treatments to patients faster while additional data is collected.

As a scientist, I was particularly troubled by the FDA’s recent rejection of a promising Hunter syndrome treatment and by yet another clinical hold placed on its development despite positive trial results.

That raises an uncomfortable question: Does the review process itself need review?

RELATED: The FDA is undermining a culture of life inside and outside the womb

Bill Oxford via iStock/Getty Images

The approval path for UX111 is another example. The therapy went through the rigorous biologics license application process, only to be delayed by a manufacturing hold.

Elevidys offers a similarly painful lesson. More than 1,200 Duchenne patients received the treatment over three years. Then, after two non-ambulatory patients (including one with underlying complications) tragically died, the FDA pulled the treatment from all patients, leaving families crushed and panicked.

Children are waiting too long for access to potentially life-changing therapies.

Yes, medical breakthroughs have increased. But so have regulatory burdens tied to approval and release. By the time many of these therapies reach the market, a decade or more has passed. In rare pediatric disease, that delay has a name: time children do not have.

Sometimes, it is their entire lifetime.

Manufacturing processes can be improved. Facilities can be upgraded. Paperwork can be corrected.

Lost neurons and muscle fibers cannot be replaced.

FDA leaders, along with Congress and the White House, should push for a smarter accelerated approval process — one that allows multiple requirements to be addressed simultaneously when appropriate, instead of serially dragging out timelines. If regulatory review had moved more efficiently, the Sanfilippo treatment might have cleared on its original 2025 approval timeline. Duchenne patients might not have lost access to the only available gene therapy. Hunter syndrome patients might not still be waiting.

This debate is not about abandoning safety or efficacy standards.

Ultragenyx has said manufacturing improvements are addressable and not directly related to product quality. Sarepeta responded to FDA concerns over Elevidys by requesting black-box warnings while allowing treatment to continue for ambulatory patients. In the RGX-121 Hunter syndrome case, the FDA rejected the use of a long-accepted biomarker (cerebrospinal fluid) used in the trial.

RELATED: ‘Hold Big Pharma accountable’: Vaxx giants are sure to be nervous about Rand Paul’s new bill

Drs Producoes via iStock/Getty Images

These decisions do not help children with rare diseases. Timely, science-based approvals would.

And the stakes go beyond today’s patients. Regulatory efficiency also affects whether companies continue investing in rare-disease therapies at all. Orphan drug development requires major upfront investment, long timelines, and often poor financial returns. In many cases, these programs are closer to philanthropic science than blockbuster pharma economics.

When developers face repeated slowdowns across different diseases, sponsors, and technologies for reasons unrelated to core clinical safety or efficacy, the signal to the market is clear: Don’t take the risk.

That is how innovation gets smothered.

At some point, the pattern at the FDA becomes impossible to ignore. Is this simply bureaucracy doing what bureaucracy does? Or are rare pediatric therapies effectively facing a higher bar inside the system?

Those are scientific and ethical questions that deserve honest answers.

Accelerated approval does not mean lower standards. It means applying standards intelligently. It means allowing earlier access while confirming evidence continues to accumulate. It means recognizing that “wait and see” is not neutral. It is a choice that guarantees disease progression in children who cannot afford delay.

Good science and compassion are not competing values. We can maintain rigor and still act with urgency.

The FDA has the authority. The science is moving. The children cannot wait.

Accelerated approval is not cutting corners. It is using every tool we have to save time families do not have.

​Opinion & analysis, Fda approval, Fda regulations, Rare diseases, Childhood disease, Sick kids, Food and drug administration, Bureaucracy, Red tape, Science, Duchenne muscular dystrophy, Gaucher disease, Cystic fibrosis, Healthcare, Hunter syndrome 

After an incredibly eventful week of Olympic victories for Team USA, one leftist outlet got what it had coming when it said that feeling patriotic was “yucky.”

While hundreds of accounts roasted the author and the article, one three-word reply from a restaurant stole the spotlight and left the HuffPost the clear loser in the exchange.

‘This is the only acceptable response to HuffPost.’

HuffPost’s original post on Saturday, captioned, “If waving the American flag or chanting ‘USA’ turns you off right now, you’re not alone,” received a simple comment from Jimmy’s Famous Seafood.

“Go f**k yourself,” the family-owned restaurant’s account said Sunday.

RELATED: HuffPost gets absolutely scorched over article saying Olympics patriotism feels ‘yucky’

Photo by Carolyn Van Houten/Washington Post/Getty Images

Many major accounts announced that Jimmy’s Famous Seafood had earned a follow in the wake of the viral reply.

“This is the only acceptable response to HuffPost,” Nick Sortor said.

“Okay do you have locations in Florida patriot?” BlazeTV host Auron MacIntyre asked.

“Only one location — family owned and operated. We ship to all 50 states however!” the account replied.

Jimmy’s Famous Seafood is based in Baltimore, Maryland, where it has been operating since 1974.

At the time of writing, Jimmy’s Famous Seafood had just under 360,000 followers on X. Its reply received over 13 million views, compared to 10 million views of HuffPost’s original article.

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​Politics, Jimmy’s famous seafood, Huffpost, Olympics, Usa, America, United states of america, Patriot, Nick sortor, Crabs, Social media, X, Auron macintyre 

Virginia police said a meat cleaver attack in Virginia left a scene described as a “bloodbath” after they shot and killed the alleged attacker.

Fairfax County Police responded to a call Monday from inside a residence at the Margate Manor apartment complex in Mantua, as well as from a neighbor.

‘I can’t imagine anything would compel anyone to butcher a family.’

The alleged attacker was described as a man in his fifties who used a 10-inch knife similar to a meat cleaver to attack his wife as well as his daughter, according to Fairfax County Police Chief Kevin Davis.

The man’s son-in-law was outside clearing snow from the top of his car when he heard the commotion coming from inside the residence, according to police.

When he responded, he found his father-in-law stabbing his wife and then turning to attack the son-in-law.

Davis said officers found the man attacking the son-in-law when they arrived, and he ignored commands to stop.

“Our officer gave repeated commands — one after another after another — to this perpetrator, the father-in-law, to drop the knife, drop the knife,” he said. “Not only does he not drop the knife, but he proceeds to stab the son-in-law.”

An officer opened fire on the man and killed him.

All three victims were transported to a hospital, where the two women were later declared dead. The injured son-in-law remains in critical condition.

Police also found a child in the residence, but the 1-year-old baby of the younger couple was unharmed. The baby is under the care of child protective services while police seek to identify family members.

“To describe this scene as bloody would be an understatement,” Davis said.

RELATED: 19-year-old drove for 22 hours straight to kidnap 2 underage girls he met on Roblox game, police say

Davis said there had been no previous domestic violence calls at the residence, or any other calls. He defended the actions of his officer and said the bodycam footage supported that he followed use-of-force policies.

Police have not yet released the names of the alleged assailant or of the victims.

“We don’t know yet what turmoil, what strife is happening in their lives, but I can’t imagine anything would compel anyone to butcher a family,” Davis added.

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​Man butchers his family, Fairfax county cleaver attack, Bloodbath butcher stabbing, Crime, Meat cleaver attack 

The Trump administration has rescinded the Obama administration’s 2009 Greenhouse Gas Endangerment Finding for gases such as carbon dioxide. You may now exhale without worrying that the carbon dioxide in your breath will contribute to global warming.

After all, with 8.3 billion people on the planet exhaling an average of 2.3 pounds of CO2 per person per day, roughly 9.5 million tons of CO2 are respired into the atmosphere daily. That is a lot of hot air — literally.

If you have been holding your breath while waiting for more sensible environmental regulations that focus on both people and the planet, you may now breathe easier.

Fortunately, plants use the air we exhale. It is part of the life cycle that sustains a healthy biosphere. Add the full carbon cycle — in which carbon is sequestered and released throughout the living and nonliving components of the global ecosystem — and a natural balance is generally maintained.

The serious question has been whether human activity, especially the increasing use of fossil fuels since the late 1800s, has tipped that balance.

The major “consensus science” conclusions tied to the endangerment finding include the confident assertion that modern climate change can be attributed to people burning fossil fuels and releasing greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. According to one professional organization, these human-caused changes “are larger and faster than any humanity is known to have endured over the last 10,000 years.” The same view also holds that many harmful impacts already under way will intensify and outweigh any benefits.

Yet another perspective deserves consideration. One of the greatest forces lifting people out of poverty has been the burning of fossil fuels. The progression from coal to oil to natural gas — along with advances in pollution controls — has helped produce dramatically higher living standards in societies that use their energy resources well.

Arguably, the human-caused improvements in comfort, productivity, and longevity made possible by fossil fuels are also “larger and faster than any humanity is known to have [enjoyed] over the last 10,000 years.”

As for harmful impacts, the rhetorical pattern often looks familiar: find an extraordinary weather event and blame it on anthropogenic global warming. Extreme heat? Human activity. Extreme cold — as the United States recently experienced? Human activity again.

At least most scientists acknowledge that positive effects exist. These include substantial increases in global vegetation and the advantages of warmer temperatures over colder ones for human well-being and development.

RELATED: 5 truths the climate cult can’t bury any more

Khanchit Khirisutchalual via iStock/Getty Images

Any honest assessment of climate change and its effects on people, infrastructure, and the natural world should weigh both benefits and harms. Complex systems demand that kind of accounting.

The current retraction of the endangerment finding will be a particular breath of fresh air for the auto industry. In essence, the Environmental Protection Agency concluded that it “lacks statutory authority under Section 202(a) of the Clean Air Act to prescribe standards for [greenhouse gas] emissions” from “new motor vehicles and new motor vehicle engines.”

According to the EPA:

As a result of these changes, engine and vehicle manufacturers no longer have any future obligations for the measurement, control, and reporting of [greenhouse gas] emissions for any highway engine and vehicle, including model years manufactured prior to this final rule. This final action is only related to [greenhouse gas] emissions and does not affect regulations on any traditional air pollutants. Rather, this action realigns EPA’s regulatory framework with the best reading of the CAA, which does not authorize EPA to regulate [greenhouse gas] emissions from new motor vehicles.

As the agency notes, traditional health-based air pollutants such as sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, ground-level ozone, particulate matter, lead, and carbon monoxide — not CO2 — are unaffected by this EPA action.

So if you have been holding your breath while waiting for more sensible environmental regulations that focus on both people and the planet, you may now breathe easier.

Editor’s note: A version of this article appeared originally at American Thinker.

​Opinion & analysis, Epa, Environmental protection agency, Climate change, Greenhouse gas emissions, Carbon dioxide, Co2 emissions, Breathing, Regulations, Supreme court, Greenhouse gas endangerment finding, Barack obama, Donald trump, Science, Clean air act, Humanity 

The alien debate has taken a turn after former president Barack Obama casually stated in an interview with Brian Tyler Cohen that aliens are “real” — but they’re not where the public may believe them to be.

“Are aliens real?” Cohen asked Obama on “No Lie with Brian Tyler Cohen.”

“They’re real, but I haven’t seen them,” Obama told Cohen, before adding that “they’re not being kept in … Area 51.”

“There’s no underground facility, unless there’s this enormous conspiracy and they hid it from the president of the United States,” he said.

However, while Obama confirmed the existence of aliens, President Donald Trump went on to criticize the former president’s admission.

“He gave classified information. He’s not supposed to be doing that, you know. I don’t know if they’re real or not. I can tell you he gave classified information. He’s not supposed to be doing that. He made a big mistake,” Trump replied when asked about Obama’s claims by a reporter.

While Trump’s initial reaction was not to discuss Obama’s admission, he then went on to announce on Truth Social that he would be releasing government files on aliens to the public.

“Based on the tremendous interest shown, I will be directing the Secretary of War, and other relevant Departments and Agencies, to begin the process of identifying and releasing Government files related to alien and extraterrestrial life, unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP), and unidentified flying objects (UFOs), and any and all other information connected to these highly complex, but extremely interesting and important, matters,” Trump wrote in his post.

BlazeTV host Sara Gonzales is thrilled that both Obama and Trump seem to be alluding to the existence of aliens as a fact — and that the public may soon finally know what’s really out there.

“We now have a former president who has said, ‘Yes, aliens are real, but they’re not at Area 51.’ And now we have a current president saying, ‘Oh, you shouldn’t have shared that; that’s classified information.’ It feels like we now have two presidents, two people who would know, admitting that aliens exist,” Gonzales comments.

“It feels a whole lot like Donald Trump let it slip,” she adds.

Want more from Sara Gonzales?

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

​Video phone, Camera phone, Sharing, Video, Upload, Free, Youtube.com, Sara gonzales unfiltered, Sara gonzales, The blaze, Blazetv, Blaze news, Blaze podcasts, Blaze podcast network, Blaze media, Blaze online, Blaze originals, Aliens, Obama, Former president barack obama, President trump, Donald trump, Obama aliens 

Actor Chris Hemsworth said he moved his family back to Australia from Los Angeles partly because the film industry is no longer operating in the California metropolis.

The “Thor” star made the comments while a guest on the “SmartLess” podcast with Jason Bateman and Will Arnett.

‘You know when you come back from work, you wanna go on a holiday? Like, coming home for me is — it feels like a holiday.’

“It was right around the time my boys were born, and it was just, we kind of were set up in L.A. and not enjoying it, you know? Like, nothing was shooting there. We were filming kind of everywhere else,” he explained.

The film industry has been on the decline in Los Angeles, as movie theater productions take advantage of tax incentives offered by other states and countries.

The 42-year-old went on to say the move to Australia was the “greatest decision” he’s ever made.

“You’d come home and paparazzi and all the sort of the trappings of, you know, living in that space,” he added.

He also complained that living in Los Angeles meant they lived far too close to their neighbors.

“You know when you come back from work, you wanna go on a holiday? Like, coming home for me is — it feels like a holiday. We have a big farm and horses and motorbikes and surf,” he added.

He described his own idyllic childhood in Australia as part of the reason he was inspired to become an actor.

“It was just all bush land and rainforest sort of set up around us,” he said. “And so we would just [have] … outdoors adventures and playing different characters. And I think that’s, to be honest, where the sort of intrigue or interest into that transportation into another.”

RELATED: Legendary director Steven Spielberg abandons California as debate over billionaire tax heats up

President Donald Trump threatened to put a 100% tariff on movies produced outside the U.S. in order to boost the film industry in California.

“California, with its weak and incompetent Governor, has been particularly hard hit!” Trump wrote in Sept. 2025. “Therefore, in order to solve this long time, never ending problem, I will be imposing a 100% Tariff on any and all movies that are made outside of the United States.”

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​Actor chris hemsworth, Celebrities leaving california, Actors leaving los angeles, California exodus, Politics 

As Mexico continues to burn in the wake of the capture and death of a major drug cartel leader, one Canadian politician is being ridiculed for her bizarre response.

Parts of Puerto Vallarta went up in blazes after authorities said Nemesio “El Mencho” Oseguera Cervantes was killed during an operation by the Mexican army in Tapalpa, Jalisco.

‘I trust the cartel has taken the appropriate DEI training to respond appropriately.’

While many lawmakers have expressed concern for their constituents who were caught up in the Mexican conflagration, House of Commons member Heather McPherson was especially worried about “2SLGBTQIA+” people.

“Many Canadians, especially members of the 2SLGBTQIA+ community, are in Puerto Vallarta, where violence has quickly escalated. A shelter-in-place order is in effect,” McPherson wrote in a post Sunday on social media.

“Please stay vigilant and consult the Government of Canada travel advisories for Mexico,” she added.

The expanded woke acronym refers to two-spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning, intersex, and asexual people.

Many online scolded McPherson for focusing on the gender identity agenda when Canadians were under potentially lethal threat in Mexico.

“Can you meet with and pressure the Mexican cartel terror groups to be 2SLGBTQIA+ inclusive?” journalist Andy Ngo responded.

“Why ‘especially members of the 2SLGBTQIA+’? Do you value their lives more than the rest of the alphanumeric digit lives out there because you hope they’ll vote for you?” journalist Dahlia Kurtz replied.

“Not progressive enough! Next time I want a land acknowledgement before hitting the trans button please,” documentarian Tim Thielmann said.

“I trust the cartel has taken the appropriate DEI training to respond appropriately,” activist Eva Chipiuk joked.

“How are those Canadians in PV different from non-alphabet Canadians in PV? Why are you like this?” another popular response reads.

“My mother is in Mexico right now, which I confirmed last night, is safe, not someone you’d care about because she’s not part of your alphabet gang. Do you see how dumb your post is?” another detractor said.

RELATED: Mexico hands over 26 high-ranking alleged drug cartel figures to US for prosecution

“WTH, you should delete this post, many Albertans are in Mexico and may be stranded regardless of sexual preference! This is not a time for politics it is a time for unity towards all stranded Albertans,” another user said.

Cervantes, the founder of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, controlled a vast criminal organization that specialized in smugging cocaine, methamphetamines, fentanyl, and illegal aliens into the U.S. His death leaves a power vacuum that is unlikely to be resolved without further bloodshed.

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​2slgbtqia movement, Woke canadian politician, Heather mcpherson, Mexican cartel violence, Politics 

Rob Reiner’s 32-year-old son Nick Reiner pleaded not guilty Monday to two counts of first-degree murder in connection with the fatal stabbing of his parents in December, the Associated Press reported.

Nick Reiner’s attorney, Deputy Public Defender Kimberly Greene, entered the plea on her client’s behalf as he stood “behind glass in an enclosed custody area of the packed Los Angeles courtroom,” the AP said.

‘We will be looking at all aggravating and mitigating circumstances.’

Nick Reiner has been held without bail since his arrest after his famed Hollywood director father and his mother, Michele Singer Reiner, were found dead Dec. 14 at their home in the Brentwood neighborhood of Los Angeles, the AP said.

The outlet added that Reiner appeared in court with his head shaved and wearing brown jail clothes — but notably not the suicide prevention smock he donned in his first court appearance in December.

The judge told Reiner to return to court April 29 for the scheduling of a preliminary hearing where prosecutors will present evidence — and a judge will decide if there’s enough of it to proceed to trial, the AP said.

RELATED: Nick Reiner will be charged with murder in the killing of his parents, Rob Reiner and Michele Reiner: Prosecutors

District Attorney Nathan Hochman said his office hasn’t decided if it will seek the death penalty for Reiner, the AP said.

Hochman added that the death penalty decision “goes through a very rigorous process. We will be looking at all aggravating and mitigating circumstances,” the outlet noted.

Notably, Reiner’s not guilty plea is common for criminal defendants at this stage of a case, the AP said.

Reiner’s high-powered former attorney, Alan Jackson, said last month he had to quit the case due to “circumstances beyond our control — but more importantly beyond Nick’s control.”

Jackson added at the time that he was “legally and ethically prohibited from explaining all the reasons why” he withdrew from the case but noted that he and his team “remain deeply, deeply committed to Nick Reiner and his best interests.”

Jackson also told reporters that “we’re not just convinced — we know — that the legal process will reveal the true facts of the circumstances surrounding this case, Nick’s case” and that “we’ve investigated this matter top to bottom, back to front. What we’ve learned — and you can take this to the bank — is that pursuant to the laws of this state, pursuant to the law in California, Nick Reiner is not guilty of murder. Print that! Print that!”

Deputy District Attorney Habib Balian said Monday that his office is still awaiting a full autopsy report in the case, but all other evidence has been turned over to the defense, the AP noted.

Rob Reiner, 78, and Michele Singer Reiner, 70, died from “multiple sharp force injuries,” the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner said in initial findings, the outlet also reported, adding that authorities said they were killed hours before the bodies were discovered.

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​Hollywood, Murder, Rob reiner, Nick reiner, Murder trial, Murder charges, Fatal stabbing, Not guilty, Plea, Michele singer reiner, Crime 

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and former President Barack Obama both made recent statements pertaining to necessary limitations around immigration.

At the Munich Security Conference in Germany on February 14, the former Secretary of State said, “There is a legitimate reason to have a debate about things like migration. It went too far. It’s been disruptive and destabilizing, and it needs to be fixed in a humane way with secure borders that don’t torture and kill people.”

In the same weekend, the former president shared a similar sentiment on the “No Lie with Brian Tyler Cohen” podcast: “We’re a nation of laws. We have borders, and we’ve got to figure out an immigration policy that is orderly and that is fair and is enforced in a sensible way that is compatible with our values. … We’ve got to accommodate the reality that the majority of the American people think that there’s a difference between somebody who’s a U.S. citizen and somebody who’s not, and that they want an orderly immigration system.”

While some perceived these statements as backtracking on their former rhetoric, BlazeTV host John Doyle says these big Democrat players haven’t backtracked — or even softened — their immigration stance at all.

“What this rhetoric is, first of all, is a strategy,” he says.

All this talk of secure borders and orderly systems, he argues, isn’t contrition or concession but rather calculated damage control after Democrats suffered politically from their mass migration policies.

“When they’re making this kind of sentiment more publicly known, that is not because they’re actually thinking about renegotiating, going back to the drawing board, taking the whole thing back to formula, reworking their immigration policy. This is about securing gains. That’s all it is,” Doyle says.

“This is about taking your chips and cashing out and saying, ‘Hey, we’re not crazy. We’re not running on that platform anymore. We just want it to be humane.”’

He expresses concern that many Americans — specifically those who have been “propagandized into wanting to believe that the Democrats are the good guys” — will be duped by this false humility.

“The answer from Republicans has to just be calling them out on this and doubling down and saying, like, ‘OK, put your money where your mouth is, then. Why are you impeding ICE? Why are you flirting with secession rhetoric, civil war rhetoric?”’ he declares.

“There has been no meaningful opposition from the Democrat Party to mass immigration. They understand it is the best thing that could ever happen to them politically,” he adds, claiming that “anti-elite, anti-exceptionalism, egalitarianism, state-enforced equality” are ideologies they “have no intention of ever going back on.”

When “big players” like Hillary Clinton and Obama “get into a microphone and say, ‘No, no, no, no — that stuff is extreme; we’re not that guy anymore. … But it does have to be humane,”’ it’s a “weapon,” he says, to secure their past gains on immigration, calm anxious swing voters, pull moderates back into the Democrat fold, and set a trap for Republicans to ease up on enforcement.

It’s “the perfect recipe,” Doyle says.

To hear more of his commentary, watch the video above.

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Blaze Media fans, mark your calendars! Tomorrow night, President Trump will deliver the 2026 State of the Union address. The speech starts at 9 p.m. ET, but we’ve got an entire evening planned just for you.

With pre- and post-speech shows featuring some of our top talent, including Allie Beth Stuckey, Stu Burguiere, Steve Deace, and more of your favorite BlazeTV hosts, this is an event you don’t want to miss.

The SOTU goes way deeper than mere policy updates. Virtue, sovereignty, and constitutional limits — these are the pillars that must stand if we’re to survive as a nation.

While many will be reacting to the speech, Blaze Media will be asking the questions that matter most: Are we still one nation under God? Are we strengthening families? Preserving liberty? Living with moral responsibility?

We’re diving into the full gamut of issues: the housing crisis and its impact on family formation, immigration and national sovereignty, the limits and proper role of government, and other critical topics.

Don’t miss out! Join us for the pre-show at 7:30 p.m. ET as our hosts set the stage for what’s sure to be a historic speech, and stick around for our 10 p.m. ET post-show, where the hosts will dissect Trump’s address and field personal questions from BlazeTV subscribers.

Don’t have a BlazeTV subscription yet? Join today with code SOTU40 for $40 off, and get full access to tomorrow’s SOTU event — pre-show, speech, post-analysis, live backstage commentary during the address, and a chance to ask our hosts questions!

We’re fired up to watch history unfold with you. Join us live for the full Blaze Media breakdown, and let’s unpack it all together!

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A man who was being honored at an award show caused controversy by yelling “n*****” while two black actors were on stage.

A movie about a man with Tourette’s syndrome won multiple awards over the weekend at the British Academy of Film and Television Arts Awards, Britain’s Oscars equivalent.

‘Tourette’s makes you say that?’

John Davidson, the inspiration for the film, was in the audience to see “I Swear” take home three trophies, but the event was not without controversy related to his affliction.

Jarring outburst

As actors Michael B. Jordan and Delroy Lindo were presenting the award for best visual effects — the first award of the night — Davidson was heard yelling the N-word, causing an abrupt pause in the show until Lindo decided to carry on with the presentation.

According to the Mirror, Davidson was also heard shouting phrases like “shut the f**k up” and “boring” during the award show, and even said “f**k you” during the presentation for the best children’s and family film.

However, several Hollywood personalities took issue with Davidson’s racial slur, with one even saying it was not an accident.

RELATED: With Sundance gone, Utah bets on AI film festival as a force for ‘social change’

‘Infuriating’ reaction

After writer Jemele Hill asked if “Black people are just supposed to be ok with being disrespected and dehumanized so that other people don’t feel bad,” actor Wendell Pierce (“The Wire”) added that he felt the reason behind the cursing did not matter.

“It’s infuriating that the first reaction wasn’t complete and full throatted [sic] apologies to Delroy Lindo and Michael B. Jordan,” he wrote on X. “The insult to them takes priority. It doesn’t matter the reasoning for the racist slur.”

Actor and singer Jamie Foxx took his statements one step further and claimed Davidson meant what he said.

“Nah he meant that s**t,” Foxx wrote in response to the video on Instagram, the Guardian reported.

Foxx made additional comments, including, “Out of all the words, you could’ve said Tourette’s makes you say that?” Foxx added, followed by, “Unacceptable.”

RELATED: ‘Looksmaxxing’ king Clavicular: Charles Atlas for the TikTok era?

Royal ruckus

Davidson has been a well-known activist for his syndrome in the U.K. for decades since he appeared in a BBC documentary in 1989 called “John’s Not Mad.”

He has previously admitted that he yelled, “F**k the Queen,” when he met the late monarch.

According to advocacy group Tourette Association of America, the phenomenon is known as coprolalia and affects a small percentage of those with Tourette’s.

The inability to control “obscene words or socially inappropriate and derogatory remarks” comes from the “overwhelming urge” to twitch, shout, or swear.

“The particular manifestation of such language may have to do with the individual’s stronger emotional content in certain parts of the brain” but is “not indicative of their personal convictions (such as in the context of racial slurs).”

The BBC apologized for the remarks heard on air, with a spokesperson saying, “Some viewers may have heard strong and offensive language during the BAFTA Film Awards 2026. This arose from involuntary verbal tics associated with Tourette’s syndrome, and was not intentional. We apologise for any offence caused by the language heard.”

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The race for the governor’s office in California has seen a shake-up, according to a new poll that has a Democratic candidate taking over the number two spot.

Rep. Eric Swalwell (D) is now leading the Democratic pack, while on the Republican side, Fox News contributor Steve Hilton has been able to pull ahead of Riverside Sheriff Chad Bianco.

‘The Republican electorate in California is split. … Democratic voters have not yet clearly coalesced around one candidate.’

However, 21% of the California electorate continues to be undecided and could completely upend the contest after more voters pick a candidate.

California has an open primary system that has the two top candidates, regardless of party affiliation, proceed to go head-to-head in the general election.

Hilton garnered support from 17% of the respondents to the Emerson College/Inside California Politics survey, while Swalwell came in at 14%, which is tied with the 14% supporting Bianco.

Bianco has been hammered by Hilton for being photographed kneeling with protesters during the Black Lives Matter demonstrations and for skipping a gubernatorial debate.

Former Rep. Katie Porter (D) came in third place in the poll with 10% support, but that is a drop from the 11% she garnered in Dec. 2025. Porter’s campaign has been stymied by reports that she harassed her staff and also from damaging accusations from her ex-husband.

Billionaire leftist Tom Steyer saw a surge from his ad spending in California, but he still came in fourth place despite more than doubling his support from 4% two months ago to 9% in the current poll.

“The Republican electorate in California is split between Steve Hilton (38%) and Chad Bianco (37%), while Hilton also picks up a plurality of independent voter support at 22%,” said Emerson College Polling executive director Spencer Kimball.

“Democratic voters have not yet clearly coalesced around one candidate: 23% of Democrats support Eric Swalwell, 14% support Porter, 12% Steyer and 22% are undecided,” he added.

RELATED: California Democrats crushed by backlash against tax proposal to replace revenue lost by electric car mandate

Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom got some bad news in the new poll as well.

His approval rating has dropped from 47% to 44%, while his disapproval rating has spiked from 39% to 45%, for a net approval rating crashing down 9 percentage points.

Californians were decidedly negative toward President Donald Trump according to the poll — 62% disapproved of the president, while 32% approved.

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President Donald Trump has been falsely accused of racism since before his first term in the White House, but one CBS reporter suggested that no one has ever falsely accused the president of being racist — and press secretary Karoline Leavitt quickly called him out.

“Yesterday in his statement about Jesse Jackson, the president said, ‘Despite the fact that I’m falsely and consistently called a racist by the scoundrels and lunatics on the radical left, Democrats all, it was always my pleasure to help Jesse along the way,’” CBS correspondent Ed O’Keefe recited from Trump’s Truth Social post — which was a tribute to the late Jesse Jackson — at a White House press briefing.

“Where or when does the president believe he’s been falsely called racist?” O’Keefe asked.

“You’re kidding, right?” Leavitt asked, stunned. “I will pull you a plethora of examples. I’m going to get my team in that room to start going through the internet of radical Democrats throughout the years, Ed, who have accused this president falsely of being a racist.”

“And I’m sure there’s many people in this room and on network television across the country who have accused him of the same. In fact, I know that because I’ve seen it with my own eyes,” she added.

“I realize what Ed O’Keefe is trying to do here,” BlazeTV host Sara Gonzales comments. “He’s trying to say, ‘Well, he’s never been falsely accused. We were always dead on the money with that.’ And to that point, Ed O’Keefe himself called President Trump a racist.”

O’Keefe once posted on X that President Trump received “backlash and support over his racist tweets.”

While O’Keefe and many others in the Democratic Party believe Trump to be a racist, Jesse Jackson did not, and Gonzales plays a decades-old video of Jackson thanking Trump for being “inclusive” and creating a “comfort zone.”

“I don’t think I’m going to be able to recover after all of those racist remarks. Hear that racist rhetoric? Oh my gosh. Helping the NAACP, helping Jesse Jackson. Boy, if President Trump is a racist, he’s doing it very wrong,” Gonzales says.

“He is the worst racist in history. … He was rapped about in rap songs before he ran for president as a Republican. He has a very long history of black people in America actually loving him, singing about him, talking about him,” she continues.

“They thought he was the coolest until there was an R in front of his name, and then everyone had to hate him, and then we all had to pretend like he’s definitely a racist,” she adds.

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A growing number of Republican lawmakers are calling for Texas Rep. Tony Gonzales (R) to resign after damning text messages he apparently exchanged with a now-deceased staffer have come to light.

Gonzales first came under scrutiny in September after one of his district staffers, Regina Santos-Aviles, set herself on fire outside her Uvalde home, passing away from her injuries the following day. The Daily Mail later published an expose alleging an affair between Gonzales and Santos-Aviles, which he repeatedly brushed off as “personal smears.”

‘I am so sick of people not calling this crap out.’

The scandal recently resurfaced after news broke that back in April, several months before her death, Santos-Aviles apparently messaged a co-worker claiming to have had an “affair” with their “boss.”

Despite Gonzales’ attempts to shut down the story, another flurry of explicit texts that appear to be from the congressman to Santos-Aviles have only exacerbated the scandal.

RELATED: ‘Desperate rage’: Republican accuses lawyer of ‘blackmail’ amid affair rumors linked to staffer’s suicide

The newly released text messages appear to show Gonzales pressuring Santos-Aviles to “send [him] a sexy pic” and asking her to name her “favorite position.” Santos-Aviles seemed to push back on his advances, saying she didn’t “like taking pictures” of herself and that his line of questioning was “going too far boss.”

Attorney Robert Barrera — who is representing Santos-Aviles’ widower, Adrian Aviles — told Blaze News that these messages “appear valid.” Blaze News also reached out to Aviles to confirm the validity of the messages.

Gonzales’ office did not respond to a request for comment from Blaze News.

RELATED: Texas Republican’s staffer fatally set herself on fire last year — text now seems to confirm their alleged affair

Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images

As the scandal reaches a fever pitch, more and more Republicans are pressuring the Texas congressman to resign and bow out of his primary race against Brendon Herrera, a gun YouTuber who nearly unseated Gonzales in 2024.

“The entire Texas delegation, as well as every single other Member of Congress, should be condemning a sitting Member of Congress asking for explicit photos of their staff,” Republican Rep. Anna Paulina Luna of Florida said in a post on X. “As a woman, this is really disgusting to see. Not to mention, it brings dishonor on the House of Representatives.”

“I am so sick of people not calling this crap out,” Luna added. “Again, like I’ve said before, this is not the only case of this crap up here. [Tony Gonzales], shame on you.”

Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) offered a succinct response to the apparent messages: “RESIGN!”

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) fell short of calling for Gonzales’ resignation but rather said he would need to address the allegations. Notably President Donald Trump endorsed Gonzales in December following the initial scandal and has not yet rescinded his endorsement.

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Democratic socialist Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York is still on the defensive after a humiliating performance at the Munich Security Conference.

The far-left firebrand was thoroughly ridiculed over a rambling non-response she made to an important question about current events and U.S. foreign policy.

‘I could give — whatever about that, to be honest.’

She offered a bizarre justification in a video on her Instagram account and tried to blame President Donald Trump in response to the criticism.

“If you think that I don’t understand foreign policy because out of hours of discourse about international affairs, I pause to think about one of the most sensitive geopolitical issues that currently exist on Earth,” Ocasio-Cortez said, “I’m afraid the issue’s not my understanding, but rather the problem is perhaps you’ve gotten adjusted to a president that never thinks before he speaks and doesn’t care about the implications of his words before he speaks on matters like these.”

Both the president and Vice President JD Vance have mocked Ocasio-Cortez over the gaffe.

“After the president said that I was so smart,” Vance said Thursday, “and that I didn’t want to repeat our congresswoman who froze for 20 seconds over in Munich — now I’m tempted, sir, just to freeze for 20 seconds and just stare at the cameras. And maybe they’ll say nice things about me like they do about Congresswoman Cortez!”

Ocasio-Cortez was asked at the global conference to explain what the U.S. should do if China invaded Taiwan, a contentious possibility that many believe could become reality soon.

“Um, you know, I think that this is such a, you know, I think that this is a, um, this is of course a very long-standing policy of the United States,” she stammered while pausing numerous times. “And I think what we are hoping for is that we want to make sure that we never get to that point.”

RELATED: JD Vance mocks Ocasio-Cortez on her humiliating response to foreign policy query — and she lashes out at him

Many outlets noted that Ocasio-Cortez is widely considered to be trying to expand her name recognition in order to run for even higher office, including the presidency. She denied the suspicion after her embarrassing gaffe.

“Everyone’s got this story wrong, that this is about me running for president,” she said to the New York Times.

“I could give — whatever about that, to be honest,” she added.

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CIA Director John Ratcliffe revealed last year that there were “multiple procedural anomalies” in the production of the January 2017 Intelligence Community Assessment — a document created at former President Barack Obama’s urging that served as the cornerstone of the Russia collusion hoax.

Ratcliffe emphasized that ex-CIA Director John Brennan sacrificed “analytical soundness” for “narrative consistency.”

The CIA evidently did not limit its prioritization of political agenda over fact to just the one document.

After the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board determined that dozens of analytical CIA assessments were similarly infected with political bias, Ratcliffe announced on Friday that he had ordered retractions or substantial revisions of 19 intelligence products.

“The intelligence products we released to the American people today — produced before my tenure as DCIA — fall short of the high standards of impartiality that CIA must uphold and do not reflect the expertise for which our analysts are renowned,” the CIA director said in a statement.

To provide some insight into the extent of the political perversion and suboptimal quality of past CIA products, Ratcliffe published three redacted versions of reports that the agency indicated “exhibit substantial deviations from the President’s expectations that CIA’s workforce remains independent from a particular audience, agenda, or policy viewpoint.”

‘We owe it to the American people to correct the record.’

One of the reports, published in October 2021, is titled “Women Advancing White Racially and Ethnically Motivated Violent Extremist Radicalization and Recruitment.”

The report:

Concern-mongers about white women who “may not openly advocate violence but amplify white [racially and ethnically motivated violent extremist] narratives regarding their perceptions of racial and ethnic hierarchy, as well as perceived threats from those they see as advocating multiculturalism and globalization”;Complains that some white women “have produced blogs, videos, or other online content under the guise of cooking tutorials, which feature discussions about the importance of organic food alongside subtle narratives about racial purity and the defense of white European heritage”; Haphazardly blurs the lines between bona fide white supremacists and individuals who’ve amplified the so-called conspiracy theory that “the white population is decreasing because of increasing immigration and birthrates among non-white groups”;Notes that supposed radicals have dared to celebrate “motherhood and homemaking as women’s most important responsibility”;Leans heavily on left-wing media reports; andAdvocates modeling future messaging on the best practices from the Expert Center on Gender and Right-Wing Extremism, part of a leftist German NGO led by anti-white former Stasi collaborator Anetta Kahane.

One of the other redacted reports released last week, an assessment published in July 2020 titled “Worldwide: Pandemic-Related Contraceptive Shortfalls Threaten Economic Development,” similarly evinced an unmistakably leftist worldview.

RELATED: Where in the Constitution is ‘the interagency’ anyway?

Photographer: Aaron Schwartz/CNP/Bloomberg via Getty Images

As its title suggests, the report concern-mongered about the impact of pandemic-era supply chain disruptions on the third world’s access to abortions and contraceptives.

It warned that an uptick in babies “in African and other developing countries would perpetuate poverty, strain household budgets, and limit disposable income for consumer goods, including U.S. exports.”

The document relied heavily on propaganda from the International Planned Parenthood Federation as well as the Guttmacher Institute, an NGO that advocates expanding abortion practices around the world.

“There is absolutely no room for bias in our work and when we identify instances where analytic rigor has been compromised, we have a responsibility to correct the record,” Ratcliffe said. “These actions underscore our commitment to transparency, accountability, and objective intelligence analysis.”

CIA Deputy Director Michael Ellis, whose internal review confirmed that the documents “did not meet the high standards the American people expect from the CIA’s elite analytic workforce,” tweeted, “When we fall short of our standards, we owe it to the American people to correct the record.”

Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) commended Ratcliffe “for correcting the record and ensuring that the CIA’s analysis is free of any political bias,” adding, “I’ve been sending these kind of reports back to the CIA for years and observing that they contain no intelligence.”

“Our intelligence agencies have too often missed critical national-security developments to waste time on, for instance, how ‘pandemic-related contraceptive shortfalls threaten economic development,'” Cotton continued. “Honestly.”

Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) noted that Ratcliffe “has done a tone [sic] of work behind the scenes. Well done director!”

Not all were pleased with the attempt to remedy the agency’s ideological capture.

Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) suggested that the retractions and revisions were “part of a broader and deeply troubling pattern in this administration: sidelining career experts, undermining inconvenient intelligence assessments, and allowing political considerations to override professional judgment.”

“When political appointees appear to dictate what analysis is valid, it threatens the credibility, reliability, and independence of the Intelligence Community itself,” Warner added.

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The online response to a Huffington Post article whining that Olympics patriotism feels “yucky” is decidedly negative.

While most Americans are swelling with pride over the victories racked up by U.S. Olympians in the Winter Games, some on the left are crippled by conflicting emotions.

‘Being a left-wing extremist sounds utterly exhausting, miserable, and empty.’

The article by Monica Torres proclaimed, “If waving the American flag or chanting ‘USA!’ turns you off right now, you’re not alone.”

Right out of the gate, Torres assailed the Trump administration for killing unarmed civilians and detaining 2-year-olds, then went on to cite therapists treating the “cognitive dissonance.” One expert said the angst could even manifest itself physically in the forms of “tightness in the neck, shoulder or jaw areas, as well as digestive issues and trouble sleeping.”

The progressive news outlet and Torres were pummeled online.

“Who is this self-loathing cringe actually for? Who is the intended consumer?” asked one user on the X platform.

“Imagine being so corrupted that you can’t even root for your nation’s exceptional young athletes. Pathetic!” read another reply.

“If you hate America because you lost a free and fair election, you’re not alone. You’re a moron, and at least a fair bit anti-American, but that’s HuffPo’s audience, and their schtick,” said another detractor.

“Just fire everyone and close. Activism is not journalism,” responded one critic.

“Patriotic Americans cheer while Liberals struggle with cognitive dissonance over 3 words — USA.
Grow up,” replied another user.

“Delete this account, fire all of your editors…and rebrand,” read another reply.

RELATED: HuffPo calls to cancel Thanksgiving over global warming, and the online ridicule is brutal

Photo by Andrea Branca/Eurasia Sport Images/Getty Images

“Being a left-wing extremist sounds utterly exhausting, miserable, and empty,” responded Mollie Hemingway.

The post of the article garnered more than 10 million views.

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A married employee of an Indiana high school was arrested after allegedly sexually abusing a student, according to police. Authorities were tipped off to the damning child sex crime accusations after her husband found his wife with a second student, police said.

The Union City Police Department — located in Western Ohio near the border of neighboring Indiana — announced in a statement the arrest of Alicia Hughes “following an investigation into allegations involving inappropriate conduct with a minor.”

‘It will be interesting to see the school’s policies, how this individual was screened and trained, and what “red flags” were overlooked or ignored.’

Hughes — a 31-year-old employee of the Randolph Eastern School Corporation in Indiana — was caught with a student by her husband on Feb. 14, police said.

“During the course of the investigation, officers learned that Hughes’ husband had discovered her with an 18-year-old student of Randolph Eastern School Corporation and confronted the individuals,” police stated.

The press release revealed, “It is alleged that Hughes was battered during that altercation. The alleged battery is being investigated by the Randolph County Sheriff’s Department.”

Police did not reveal the husband’s name.

Investigators said they “uncovered evidence that Alicia Hughes had also engaged in a sexual relationship with a separate high school student who was 17 years old at the time.”

The Union City Police Department noted that Hughes and the student “engaged in sexual intercourse on at least five occasions.”

Hughes was arrested and charged with five counts of child seduction related to the sexual relationship with the minor student, according to police.

Police said Hughes was being detained at the Randolph County Jail on a $25,000 cash-only bond.

According to Indiana law, child seduction is when a “person used or exerted the person’s professional relationship with the child to engage in sexual intercourse, other sexual conduct, or any fondling or touching with the intent to arouse or satisfy the sexual desires of the child or the person under this section.”

Those in a position of power include employees of a school corporation.

RELATED: Teacher of the year arrested for alleged child sex crimes — then she’s arrested on similar charges just days later

Cleveland.com reported that Randolph Eastern School Corporation Superintendent Neal Adams said that Hughes “has been removed from all duties with students pending the outcome of the legal process.” The outlet added that Hughes is a high school secretary.

The staff directory for the Union City Jr/Sr High School does not show the name of the suspect; however, an archived version of the school’s website shows an attendance secretary named “Alicia Hughes.”

Adams did not specify if Hughes had been terminated.

“We recognize that situations of this nature are deeply concerning for our families, staff, and the broader community,” Adams added. “Please know that we share those concerns and are taking this matter with the utmost seriousness, care, and urgency.”

Tom Blessing, an attorney for survivors of sexual abuse, said of the accusations, “Usually, we see abuse claims involving teachers and coaches, but any school staff with access to children could use their position of authority and trust to take advantage of them: custodial and maintenance staff, counselors, office staff, even administrators.”

Blessing continued, “It will be interesting to see the school’s policies, how this individual was screened and trained, and what ‘red flags’ were overlooked or ignored.”

Blessing noted that many times “institutional failures enabled the abuse” in sexual misconduct cases by school employees.

The Randolph County Sheriff’s Office did not immediately respond to Blaze News‘ request for comment. The Union City Police Department did not have any updates on the case.

Those with information about the case are urged to contact the Union City Police Department at 937-968-7744.

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The Department of Homeland Security set the record straight on Immigration and Customs Enforcement training, debunking claims from the media that agents are receiving less training.

A DHS press release exclusively obtained by Blaze News counters falsehoods about ICE’s training programs amid a significant increase in new hires.

‘Despite false claims from the media and sanctuary politicians, no training hours have been cut.’

Leftist outlets have claimed that the Trump administration reduced the length of its training course from roughly five months to just 42 days, as reported by the Atlantic in January.

The DHS released further details on Monday about ICE’s training program, discrediting those claims.

The agency explained that ICE recruits receive 56 days of training and an average of 28 days of on-the-job training. Under the prior administration, agents trained eight hours a day, five days a week. Under President Donald Trump, new hires are being trained 12 hours a day, six days a week.

“No training requirements have been removed,” DHS stated, adding that it is the “same hours of training officers have always received.”

RELATED: ‘Quite literally insane’: DHS responds to new scheme from LA activists to warn illegal aliens about ICE

Photo by Stephen Maturen/Getty Images

Federal Law Enforcement Training Centers are prepared to accommodate 12,000 new hires in 2026, with the One Big Beautiful Bill Act providing these centers with $750 million to boost the training and readiness of ICE agents, as well as Border Patrol and Customs and Border Protection officers.

“DHS has streamlined training to cut redundancy and incorporate technology advancements, without sacrificing basic subject matter content. Under these new improvements, candidates still learn the same elements and meet the same high standards ICE has always required. No subject matter has been cut,” the press release read.

Further, the DHS noted that most new ICE hires are experienced law enforcement officers who have previously completed a law enforcement academy.

Leftist outlets have accused the Trump administration of eliminating Spanish-language courses for ICE personnel.

The DHS responded to this claim as well, explaining that the agency terminated the language classes, which covered only one dialect of Spanish, to instead provide officers with robust translation and interpretation services for multiple languages.

The agency stated that ICE training courses focus on enhancing several skills, including arrest techniques, defensive tactics, conflict management and de-escalation, firearms and marksmanship, and proper use of force.

According to the DHS, new hires who join ICE’s Special Response Teams undergo more intensive training, including 30 hours of tryouts, an SRT Basic Operator Course, ongoing marksmanship training for all issued firearms, and continuous training for specialized skills, such as breaching techniques, perimeter control, hostage rescue, and more.

Further, the DHS described education on the Fourth and Fifth Amendments as an “integral component” of ICE officers’ basic training at FLETC.

“The overarching objective is to ensure that, prior to assuming field duties, every ICE officer has been repeatedly trained, tested, and held to clear standards that require consistent respect for constitutional rights in all enforcement activities,” the DHS said.

RELATED: ‘Large human smuggling operation’ uncovered in Texas? ICE makes alarming claim about ‘alien from India.’

Photo by Jim Watson – Pool/Getty Images

DHS Deputy Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis stated, “We have ensured our law enforcement officers get the best of the best training to arrest and remove murderers, rapists, pedophiles, terrorists, and gang members from our communities.”

“Despite false claims from the media and sanctuary politicians, no training hours have been cut,” Bis continued. “Our officers receive extensive firearm training, are taught de-escalation tactics, and receive Fourth and Fifth Amendment comprehensive instruction. The training does not stop after graduation from the academy — recruits are put on a rigorous on-the-job training program that is tracked and monitored.”

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​Immigration and customs enforcement, Ice, Department of homeland security, Dhs, Lauren bis, Trump administration, Trump admin, Immigration, Illegal immigration crisis, Illegal immigration, Immigration crisis, Federal law enforcement training centers, Fletc, Politics