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The Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department has issued a bulletin with a request from the public for alleged victims of an Israeli OnlyFans model to come forward.

The bulletin said Adva Lavie is suspected to be involved in a “series of residential burglaries” of the homes of older men in Los Angeles County.

‘I think when you probably hang out with someone really powerful and someone really connected, if you piss them off, it’s problematic because they can really f**k you over.’

She allegedly posed as a girlfriend or companion on social media apps and platforms, according to the bulletin posted on Facebook.

“They’re invited into the home, and then this person ends up burglarizing their home by stealing their personal belongings, and so that would kind of be the scenario we’re looking at,” Captain Dustin Carr said to KTTV-TV.

The sheriff’s department said Lavie had been arrested previously for a similar crime in a different jurisdiction but had been released from custody.

“We want to make sure that all victims are identified, they come forward and help prosecute this case,” Carr added. “We have some information that there may be other victims as well.”

Police said there may be as many as 10 victims in the alleged scheme.

However, when Lavie spoke to the Daily Mail via telephone about the allegations, she said she was the victim of a conspiracy before she hung up the phone.

“I think when you probably hang out with someone really powerful and someone really connected, if you piss them off, it’s problematic because they can really f**k you over,” she said.

RELATED: Squatters take over multimillion-dollar mansion in Hollywood Hills and rent it out to OnlyFans model, realtors say

Others working in the adult entertainment industry accused her of robbing them as well.

“She decided to pretty much rob basically every person in that group, essentially anything marked with a designer label,” said Cody Steele, who accused her of stealing items from his Airbnb.

Lavie was described as a female adult with a height of 5’7″, a weight of 104 pounds, with brown hair and brown eyes. She is known to drive a black Porsche SUV and a white Mercedes-Benz sedan.

Police said she also goes by the name Mia Ventura, Shoshana, or Shana.

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Hi, I’m Lauren Fix, longtime automotive journalist and a member of the Society of Automotive Engineers. Welcome back to “Quick Fix,” where I answer car-related questions you submit to me.

Today’s question comes from Paul in Pennsylvania.

Hi Lauren:

What is the deal with flood-damaged cars?

Should I take a chance? The deals sound great, but am I buying a nightmare?

Great question, Paul, and I think this is something a lot of people get confused about.

Remember Hurricanes Rita and Katrina? Combined, they resulted in some 500,000 flood-damaged cars, many of which ended up on the used market.

I’ll say now the same thing I said then: Don’t buy a car with flood damage. It’s not worth the risk.

Why?

Number one, there is no warranty. I don’t care if the car is brand new, you lose your warranty right out of the box. No manufacturer is going to stand behind it. And they can tell if the car is flood-damaged; even if it’s not obvious upon inspection, the insurance companies will report it.

Secondly, water can do unseen damage to a car’s passive safety features. This includes airbags, forward collision warning, even seat belts.

If the water got into the base of the car, like where your feet go onto the carpet, that could rot out everything underneath — including the various computerized sensors that keep these safety features working.

Even worse, corrosion from water could actually cause an airbag not to deploy or deploy with no reason. Not good.

The third thing that people often fail to consider is the health hazards a flood-damaged car can present. If its in the ductwork, you’re breathing it: anything from mold to mildew to E. coli.

Think about it: You don’t know where the car was. It was underwater, yes, but was it salt water? Sewer water?

Now — if you suspect a car you’re looking at is flood-damaged, the best thing to do is take it to an ASE-certified technician. If he confirms the damage, walk away. No matter how good the deal may seem, you do not want that car.

Even without a mechanic, there are a few tell-tale signs to look for.

Excessive air freshener: If they’ve doused the car with perfume in the interior … yeah, that’s a clue they’re covering something up. Rust in weird places: Rust is never good, of course, but in some places on a car it’s understandable. In other places — on the hood hinges, for example — it’s a very bad sign. Moisture in the fuse box: If you see any signs that water’s gotten under that plastic cover, that means it’s been in a flood.

Finally, watch out for “washed” titles. Unscrupulous sellers will move a title from state to state to try to hide flood damage or a car’s totaled status. Don’t rely on the title alone; companies like Carfax can help protect.

Ultimately, its better to trust your gut than to snap up a too-good-to-be-true deal. Flood-damaged cars are nothing to play around with, and they can be very dangerous.

Got a car-related question? Email me at getquickfix@pm.me.

​Align cars, Quick fix, Lauren fix, Lifestyle, How to, Cars, Used cars, Flood damage, Hurricane katrina, Hurricane rita, Title washing 

California Democrat gubernatorial candidate Katie Porter made a huge mistake when she threw a fit on air with a local reporter who was asking her simple questions — because it’s not the first time Porter has acted out.

And those wronged by her are taking the opportunity to pile onto her worsening PR crisis.

Now, footage from 2021 has resurfaced of an interview Porter did with Politico.

“Politico is like, ‘We’ve been waiting. We’ve been waiting to release this. Now is our moment,’” BlazeTV host Sara Gonzales says, before playing a clip of Porter screaming at one of her staffers during the interview for getting in her shot.

“Get out of my f**king shot,” she yells at the staffer, who can be seen wearing a mask in the background of the virtual meeting with Politico.

Her staffer then pulled down her mask and said she wanted to tell Porter that what she was talking about was “actually incorrect.”

“Okay. You also were in my shot before that. Stay out of my shot,” Porter responded.

“So, this was not the first time, by the way,” Gonzales comments, laughing.

“We’ve got another clip of her bullying staffers, and I want you to pay very close attention, because … you can see the anger bubbling within her. And then there’s a moment where she turns off her camera, and I just, I’m really worried about her staffers in that moment,” she continues.

When Porter resurfaces, one of her staffers can be seen running to get out of the shot in the background.

“I just feel like we need to check on those staffers and make sure that they didn’t end up mysteriously missing because if so, I think I know who killed them,” Gonzales says.

Even worse, texts from 2022 have resurfaced where Porter berates and lets go of a staffer for failing to take a COVID-19 test, despite exhibiting no signs of illness. The staffer explained to Porter that after her friend was murdered, she was going through a difficult time and slacked off a little — but Porter wouldn’t hear it.

“I cannot allow you back in the office, given your failure to follow office policies,” Porter wrote via text to her staffer, Sasha.

“I understand. Thank you for the last two years and all that I have learned. I hate to have disappointed you in the manner, as I know it isn’t an excuse I had found out my friend from the navy had been murdered and my head was not in the best place. Not an excuse, but the reasoning for the lack of forethought. I appreciate everything this office has done for me,” the employee wrote.

“Well, you gave me Covid. In 25 months, it took you not following the rules to get me sick. My children have nobody to care for them,” Porter responded coldly.

“I think your children owe Sasha a thank-you, because any moment that they don’t have to spend with your miserable ass is probably greatly cherished,” Gonzales says. “They should write her a thank-you card and send her a bouquet, Sasha, for getting you sick.”

However, that’s not even the worst of it.

According to divorce records, Porter also “frequently abused” her ex-husband “verbally” and threw “toys, books, and other objects” at him during their marriage. She once even poured scalding-hot mashed potatoes on his head during a fight.

“This is who wants to be in charge of the state of California,” Gonzales says. “Guys, they are not sending their best.”

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.

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Markets reacted negatively to an announcement from President Donald Trump Friday that the U.S. would nail China with a massive hike in tariffs.

The president said he was responding to “extraordinarily aggressive” action taken by the third-largest trading partner to the U.S., behind Canada and ahead of Germany.

‘It is impossible to believe that China would have taken such an action, but they have, and the rest is History. Thank you for your attention to this matter!’

Trump posted the statement on Truth Social just ahead of the stock market close.

“It has just been learned that China has taken an extraordinarily aggressive position on Trade in sending an extremely hostile letter to the World, stating that they were going to, effective November 1st, 2025, impose large scale Export Controls on virtually every product they make, and some not even made by them,” the president wrote.

He went on to call the plan a “moral disgrace” and said the plan was “obviously” devised by Chinese leaders years ago.

“Based on the fact that China has taken this unprecedented position, … starting November 1st, 2025 (or sooner, depending on any further actions or changes taken by China), the United States of America will impose a Tariff of 100% on China, over and above any Tariff that they are currently paying,” he added. “Also on November 1st, we will impose Export Controls on any and all critical software.”

The president was responding to an announcement from Chinese officials on Thursday that they were imposing export controls on rare earth minerals and technology. The new tariff imposition would bring the total tariff burden for Chinese products to 140%.

RELATED: Trump slaps India with 25% tariff — in an attempt to influence Russia

Photo by JIM WATSONPETER KLAUNZER/AFP/POOL/AFP via Getty Images

Stock market futures took a modest dive, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq indicator dropping by 3.6% and the Dow Jones slipping by 1.9%, or about 900 points.

Cryptocurrency, on the other hand, plummeted after the tariff post, with the value of Bitcoin dropping by as much as 10% at one point. Other cryptocurrencies dropped between 20% and 40%.

“It is impossible to believe that China would have taken such an action, but they have, and the rest is History,” Trump concluded. “Thank you for your attention to this matter!”

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A Venezuelan opposition leader was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for her fight against the authoritarian regime led by Nicolas Maduro.

María Corina Machado is a 58-year-old industrial engineer who has been in hiding since 2024, when Maduro’s allies declared his re-election victory despite cries that the contest had been rigged.

‘I dedicate this prize to the suffering people of Venezuela and to President Trump for his decisive support of our cause!’

After receiving the award, Machado surprised many by dedicating it to President Donald Trump for his efforts in opposing the Venezuelan government.

“This recognition of the struggle of all Venezuelans is a boost to conclude our task: to conquer Freedom,” Machado said in a message on social media.

“We are on the threshold of victory and today, more than ever, we count on President Trump, the people of the United States, the peoples of Latin America, and the democratic nations of the world as our principal allies to achieve Freedom and democracy,” she added.

“I dedicate this prize to the suffering people of Venezuela and to President Trump for his decisive support of our cause!” Machado concluded.

Machado is married to a constitutional lawyer and is a mother to three children, but the regime has accused her of being a fascist and terrorist for opposing their communist schemes.

“She is receiving the Nobel Peace Prize for her tireless work promoting democratic rights for the people of Venezuela and for her struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy,” said Joergen Watne Frydnes, chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee.

RELATED: Liberals pounce to defend drug cartels after Trump reveals strike on drug-running gang members near Venezuela

Photo by Jesus Vargas/Getty Images

Trump has been campaigning for the Nobel Peace Prize on the basis that he has negotiated many state conflicts in his second term.

“They will never give me a Nobel Peace Prize. It’s too bad. I deserve it, but they will never give it to me,” the president lamented in February while meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Others have argued that the value of the prize was significantly diminished when it was awarded to then-President Barack Obama for no discernible reason.

Apart from Obama, three other U.S. presidents have been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

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In an interview with Fox News’ Martha MacCallum, U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Mike Waltz indicated that the Trump administration is considering offensive action against some of the gang elements that currently control large portions of Haiti. Waltz said the United Nations Security Council has approved “a mandate and rules of engagement to go on offense against these gangs.”

‘Unlike the past, we’re going to go on offense.’

The U.N. approved a “Gang Suppression Force” on September 30 in an attempt to increase support for Haitian forces working to combat the gangs and support infrastructure in the country. Waltz stressed the importance of combatting these gangs as part of the Trump administration’s wider efforts against criminal elements in the Caribbean.

“These gangs are in coordination with all of these transnational groups. They’re shipping drugs, money, weapons. They’re destabilizing the entire region,” Waltz said.

RELATED: A war on Venezuela would be a war on reality

Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images

The U.N. has been involved in security in Haiti since 2023, when 400 Kenyan police officers were sent to the country in an effort to support police operations and secure critical infrastructure. Since then, things have gotten worse, with gangs now controlling around 90% of the capital city of Port-au-Prince and over 13,000 people killed by gang violence since 2023.

This new U.N. resolution will increase the number of U.N. personnel to just over 5,500 and will include military as well as police presence. The real difference, however, is a shift in focus from defense and protection to proactive measures to combat gang activity.

Under the new resolution, U.N. forces are cleared to conduct “intelligence-led targeted, counter-gang operations to neutralize, isolate, and deter gangs that continue to threaten the civilian population.” Ambassador Waltz summed it up by saying, “Unlike the past, we’re going to go on offense.”

This move is the latest by the Trump administration to target international criminal activity throughout the Caribbean region. In February, President Trump designated certain drug cartels as international terrorist organizations. In September, the U.S. Navy deployed a task force to the South Caribbean, forcing cartels to shift their activity to overland routes. So far, the U.S. military has carried out four lethal strikes on cartel ships reportedly carrying drugs in the Caribbean.

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Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman has alleged that online gaming platform Roblox has not protected children from abhorrent content.

Coleman filed a lawsuit on Monday, claiming that Roblox has allowed minors to be exposed to “animated bloody” content surrounding the assassination of Charlie Kirk.

‘We constantly monitor all communication for critical harms.’

The lawsuit, posted by Fox News Digital, accuses the massive online gaming community of operating under insufficient guardrails in terms of denying children access to certain materials. This includes violence, sexually explicit materials, and alleged “Charlie Kirk ‘assassination simulator[s].'”

Blaze News previously reported that as of Q2 2024, Roblox had a claimed 79 million active daily users, an increase of almost 15 million from the same time in 2023. This included approximately 58% of its user base being under 16 years old, which equates to at least 46 million children.

The alleged assassination simulators “began popping up on Roblox, allowing children as young as 5 years old to access animated bloody depictions of the September 10 shooting,” the lawsuit stated.

Roblox could easily “require users to verify their age and their parents’ consent by virtually any mechanism, including merely asking for these data,” the legal document continued. “Doing so would create at least some restriction on the content available to users under 18 years old.”

RELATED: ‘Ginger ISIS member’ has terror plot thwarted by Roblox user: ‘I cannot agree with the term terrorist’

– YouTube

“As such, child predators can — and do — establish accounts to pose as children,” Kentucky wrote.

In response to the lawsuit, a Roblox spokesperson told Blaze News that the company welcomes the opportunity for a direct conversation with the Attorney General about the topic. However, the company also said that some of the parties involved are seeking financial gain.

“The attorney general’s lawsuit is based on outdated and out-of-context information,” Roblox said. “We believe together we can increase safety not just on Roblox, but on all platforms used by kids and teens. The AG’s office is partnering with plaintiff’s attorneys, who we believe have misrepresented matters to seek financial gain.”

The spokesperson added, “Roblox has taken an industry-leading stance on age-based communication and will require facial age estimation for all Roblox users who access our communications features by the end of this year. Roblox does not allow image sharing via chat, and most chat on Roblox is subject to filters designed to block the sharing of personal information. We constantly monitor all communication for critical harms and swiftly remove violative content when detected and work closely with law enforcement.”

Roblox pointed to more information about its efforts to implement age verification, which undoubtedly would confirm a user’s age, but also could deter platform usage altogether.

This includes verification through selfie-videos, the aforementioned “facial age estimation,” ID, or verified parental consent.

RELATED: Kids ‘cosplaying as ICE agents’ and performing raids on ‘illegals’ in Roblox game

— (@)

The sheer volume of Roblox users makes any enforcement incredibly difficult to pull off without pre-existing barriers to entry, monitoring, or filtration systems. This brings up further issues surrounding digital ID, including, for example, the exposure of children’s likenesses.

At the same time, gamers are constantly finding new ways to develop ridiculous scenarios on the platform, such as performing ICE raids or in-game protests. There also exists the threat of bad actors grouping together to discuss crimes or make terror plots.

Roblox told Blaze News that it includes rigorous text chat filters to stop inappropriate contact with minors.

Additionally, the company said that while it started as a “platform for children,” 64% of the user base is now over 13 years old.

Blaze News did find several videos on YouTube appearing to be re-creations of Kirk’s assassination within the video game.

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A debate between the gubernatorial candidates in Virginia turned into a humiliating defeat for Democrats after their nominee refused to withdraw her endorsement of scandal-ridden attorney general candidate Jay Jones.

Democrats have been shoved into an untenable position after leaked texts showed Jones had wished violence on his political opponent as well as his children.

‘Would it take him pulling the trigger? Is that what would do it? And then you would say he needs to get out of the race, Abigail?’

Republican gubernatorial candidate Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears used the issue as a cudgel to hammer away at Democrat Abigail Spanberger during their debate Thursday at Norfolk State University. Spanberger vehemently denounced the comments but tried in vain to derail the conversation and instead attack Sears.

“Abigail, when are you going to take Jay Jones and say to him, ‘You must leave the race’? He has said that he wants to murder his political opponent, and not only that, but his political opponent’s children,” Sears said.

Spanberger tried to filibuster the question without answering, but it only prolonged her embarrassment.

“We are all running our individual races. I believe my opponent has said that about her lieutenant governor nominee, and it’s up to every person to make their own decision. I am running my race to serve Virginia, and that is what I intend to do,” Spanberger eventually said.

Sears pressed on.

“I’m wondering why my opponent won’t say, beyond it’s abhorrent and disgusting, why she won’t say it is not OK and that he must leave the race because Jay Jones advocated the murder, Abigail, the murder of a man,” Sears said.

“Would it take him pulling the trigger? Is that what would do it? And then you would say he needs to get out of the race, Abigail? You have nothing to say?”

Spanberger’s comment appeared to mimic a statement from former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi when she avoided the issue in a CNN interview Wednesday.

“She has to do what she has to do. She’s going to be governor. She’s running very well,” Pelosi said of Spanberger. “Her race is her race, and her state is her state, and it’s up to her.”

Republican Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin continued the criticism of Spanberger on social media.

“Abigail Spanberger continues to stand behind her running mate who wanted to see a man and his children murdered,” he wrote. “Abigail, you had your chance to show courage and moral clarity and you failed.”

RELATED: Democrat Jay Jones cancels fundraiser amid growing backlash over violent texts about GOP rival and his kids

Headlines after the debate extended the embarrassment for Spanberger, and video from the debate has already been turned into a devastating campaign advertisement.

Spanberger has had the financial and early polling advantage on Sears in the race, but the emergence of the text scandal in the wake of the horrific assassination of Charlie Kirk may tip the scales.

The texts have prompted many to call on Jones to abandon his campaign, but so far, he has not relented.

“I’ve told you this before,” read the Jones text. “Only when people feel pain personally do they move on policy.”

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​Winsome earle-sears, Abigail spanberger, Jay jones texts, Virginia gubernatorial race, Politics 

Americans were told that the infamous pipe bomb was planted on January 5 and found just moments before the first breach of the Capitol on January 6.

However, that narrative is now crumbling.

“You have access now to information that says that this narrative that came from law enforcement originally, this is not true,” BlazeTV host Liz Wheeler says to John Solomon, editor in chief of Just the News.

“Kash Patel has always had his doubts about what happened on January 6. And now that he’s got access to what are known as prohibited case files and other drives of evidence that Congress had never accessed before, we’re beginning to see that the narrative doesn’t hold up,” Solomon tells Wheeler.

– YouTube

Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

While the FBI’s initial narrative claimed that the pipe bombs were planted by unidentifiable figures the night before, there’s no phone tracking in the time frame that matches the action of the person on video.

“And so over the last six months or so, some people in Congress like Barry Loudermilk, the chairman of the subcommittee, looking at it, starting to wonder, ‘Was that a head fake? Was there something different to look at? Was this a training episode?’” Solomon explains.

“You start opening up the possibilities of things that you didn’t think about in the original analysis when it was so clean and cut and the FBI gave us a nice cookie cutter of what they thought the storyline was,” he continues.

Now, FBI Director Kash Patel has been coming out with new information, like the lab report.

“The lab report shows that both of these bombs were not likely to have been active, meaning they would not have likely exploded with the triggers that were on them,” Solomon tells Wheeler. “And they use language like, ‘If they had been properly assembled, they would have exploded, but it doesn’t look like that.’”

Expert Fred Whitehurst, Solomon recalls, explained that the report had “a lot of problems in it” and was “made to make it sound like these bombs were dangerous and terrible and those bad Donald Trump people probably planted them.”

“There are two key things,” he tells Wheeler. “There doesn’t appear to be a lot of black powder in the bomb. That would be the propellant for the bomb exploding and putting out dangerous material and shrapnel towards people.”

“And then two, if these were planted 16 hours in advance, the bomb maker had an only one hour timer on it. So if you planted them 16 hours earlier, that timer is gone in an hour. What happened?” he continues.

However, that’s when the “real bombshell” came.

“There was a witness who found the Republican National Committee bomb and that witness says there is no chance that bomb was planted 15, 16 hours before,” Solomon tells Wheeler.

The witness noticed that there were 20 minutes left on the timer for the bomb before she alerted the police.

“Now none of that fits the 15-hour narrative that the FBI had long bestowed upon the American public,” Solomon says. “And by the way, that narrative comes from the Capitol police from their video footage.”

“So it starts with the Capitol police,” he adds.

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Bob Ferguson, the Democrat governor of Washington state, signed a bill in May that would have compelled Catholic priests to break the seal of confession or face up to 364 days in jail and a $5,000 fine.

Catholic bishops in the Evergreen State fought back — and came out victorious on Friday with the reinforcement of the Trump Justice Department.

Background

Senate Bill 5375, as ratified by the self-identifying Catholic governor and scores of other Democrats in the legislature, required any person operating in an official supervisory capacity with a nonprofit or a for-profit organization who has “reasonable cause to believe that a child has suffered abuse or neglect” to notify law enforcement or the Department of Children, Youth, and Families.

‘Priests should never be forced to make the impossible choice of betraying their sacred vows or going to jail.’

The law mandated, however, that no one except for members of the clergy had to report abuse when that information was obtained solely as a result of a privileged communication.

“SB 5375 modifies existing law solely to make members of the clergy mandatory reporters with respect to child abuse or neglect,” U.S. District Judge David Estudillo noted in his July ruling. “However, other groups of adults who may learn about child abuse are not required to report. Parents and caregivers, for example, are not mandatory reporters.”

Estudillo noted further that a parallel piece of legislation that went into effect on July 27 also exempted university attorneys from divulging child abuse information if it has something to do with their clients.

RELATED: Christian counselors fight for freedom of speech before the Supreme Court

Washington State Gov. Bob Ferguson (D). Photo by JASON REDMOND/AFP via Getty Images

“A law is not neutral if the government ‘proceeds in a manner intolerant of religious beliefs or restricts practices because of their religious nature,'” Estudillo noted. “Here, clergy were explicitly singled out.”

Not only was the law discriminatory, it would have both invited the government into the confessional and put priests at risk of automatic excommunication.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church maintains that “every priest who hears confessions is bound under very severe penalties to keep absolute secrecy regarding the sins that his penitents have confessed to him” and “can make no use of knowledge that confession gives him about penitents’ lives.”

The Code of Canon Law — cited in the May 18 complaint filed by Archbishop Paul Etienne of the Archdiocese of Seattle, Bishop Joseph Tyson of the Diocese of Yakima, and Bishop Thomas Daly of the Diocese of Spokane — similarly underscores the inviolability of the sacramental seal, noting further that a “confessor who directly violates the sacramental seal incurs a latae sententiae — automatic — excommunication reserved to the Apostolic See.”

A month after the bishops filed suit, the Trump DOJ intervened in the case, stressing that SB 5375 “deprives Catholic priests of their fundamental right to freely exercise their religious beliefs, as guaranteed under the First Amendment.”

Victory

On Friday, the state of Washington settled the case, agreeing to make permanent a Biden judge’s July injunction blocking the law.

The federal court handling the case further recognized that the Democrat law had infringed upon the Catholic bishops’ free exercise of religion in violation of the First Amendment and may also have infringed upon their rights under the U.S. Constitution’s Establishment Clause and the Church Autonomy Doctrine.

Mark Rienzi, president and CEO of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which served as co-counsel in the case, said in statement obtained by Blaze News, “Washington was wise to walk away from this draconian law and allow Catholic clergy to continue ministering to the faithful. This is a victory for religious freedom and for common sense.”

“Priests should never be forced to make the impossible choice of betraying their sacred vows or going to jail,” added Rienzi.

“Preventing abuse and upholding the sacred seal of confession are not mutually exclusive — we can and must do both,” stated Jean Hill, executive director of the Washington State Catholic Conference. “That’s why the Church supported the law’s goal from the beginning and only asked for a narrow exemption to protect the sacrament.”

The WSCC added that “priests have been imprisoned, tortured, and even killed for upholding the seal of confession. Penitents today need the same assurance that their participation in a holy sacrament will remain free from government interference.”

Blaze News has reached out to Ferguson’s office for comment.

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With no end in sight for the government shutdown, President Donald Trump’s administration is turning up the heat on Democrats.

The Office of Management and Budget has officially begun issuing reduction-in-force notices that will lead to “substantial” layoffs across several federal agencies, an OMB spokesperson told Blaze News. OMB Director Russell Vought also confirmed the layoffs in a post on X Friday, saying, “The RIFs have begun.”

‘Every day it’s actually getting worse for them.’

Vought originally directed agencies to begin drafting RIF notices back in September in anticipation of the government shutdown. Trump also signaled on Thursday that mass layoffs and program cuts were imminent, warning that Democrats would get “a little taste of their own medicine.”

“We’re only going to cut Democrat programs, I hate to tell you,” Trump said during the Cabinet meeting Thursday.

RELATED: White House dares Democrats with nuclear response to looming shutdown

Annabelle Gordon/Bloomberg via Getty Images

“Chuck Schumer proclaimed this morning that every day gets better for them,” Trump said. “No, every day it’s actually getting worse for them, and they’re having a rebellion in the Democrat Party because they want to stop.”

Although Democrats have continued to dig their heels in, Republicans have remained unified behind the president, arguing there’s nothing to negotiate. Going into the 10th day of the shutdown, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) made his media rounds on Friday by attending several pressers throughout the day, even joining the House Freedom Caucus for its historic, first-ever press call.

During the call, Johnson also hinted that Congress may be considering another rescissions package and that lawmakers will be hearing more “in the days to come.”

RELATED: Most Democrats vote against bill boosting security funds for politicians following Kirk assassination

Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

As of this writing, Democrats have voted to keep the government closed over a half dozen times since the September 30 funding deadline lapsed. The Republican-led funding bill Democrats have so heavily protested is a clean, nonpartisan CR that keeps the government open at the current spending levels, with the exception of increased funding for security following Charlie Kirk’s assassination.

In contrast, the Democrats’ funding bill boasts a $1.5 trillion price tag, aiming to reverse virtually every legislative accomplishment Republicans secured with Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

Even with competing legislation, Congress has reached a stalemate, with both the House and the Senate out of session until Tuesday.

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​Russ vought, Donald trump, Russell vought, Office of management and budget, Shutdown, Schumer shutdown, Chuck schumer, Hakeem jeffries, Mike johnson, John thune, Trump administration, Mass layoffs, Rifs, Rif notices, Cabinet meeting, Democrat agencies, Government shutdown, Government funding, Congress, One big beautiful bill, Charlie kirk, House democrats, House republicans, Senate democrats, Senate republicans, Politics 

“Hollywood has the best moral compass.” —Harvey Weinstein.

“I ain’t raising my kids in this town.” —George Clooney.

OK, the second one isn’t a direct quote, but it’s close enough. The Oscar winner recently admitted a key reason he left La-La Land after marrying his legal eagle bride Amal.

The All-American Halftime Show will bring something that hasn’t been part of football’s biggest day for a long time: patriotism.

The actor told Esquire about his bucolic life on a farm in France and why it’s a better fit for his young family.

“They have a much better life [in France]. I was worried about raising our kids in L.A., in the culture of Hollywood. I felt like they were never going to get a fair shake at life.”

What, no nepo baby plans?

Crime. Homelessness. Drugs. Lack of opportunity. Yes, the greater Hollywood area is no place to raise a family, and Clooney almost says it verbatim. Better yet, maybe if California stopped voting in hapless Democrats, its big cities might be more family-friendly?

Less than zero (stars)

Somebody had to say it.

Author and raconteur Bret Easton Ellis is sharing what no one in Hollywood will. The critical devotion to “One Battle After Another,” a cinematic love letter to violent radicals, is all about the film’s hard-Left, anti-ICE politics.

It’s kind of shocking to see these kind of accolades for — I’m sorry, it’s not a very good movie — because of its political ideology, and it’s so obvious that’s what they’re responding to, why it’s considered a masterpiece, the greatest film of the decade, the greatest film ever made. Because it really aligns with this kind of leftist sensibility.

He makes a solid point. The film features silly, cartoonish characters, gaping plot holes, and endless sympathy for terrorists. But it’s anti-ICE (without ever mentioning the acronym). Thus the raves.

And, Elllis predicts, the film will age badly. And soon. We’ll see. The only chance it doesn’t win Best Picture is if its momentum peaks too soon or enough anti-ICE attacks occur so that even woke Hollywood wakes up at last …

Pot, meet kettle

Jimmy Kimmel is probably sore he didn’t get an invite.

Some big-name comedians, including Bill Burr, Louis C.K., and Aziz Ansari, are taking heat for performing at a Saudi Arabian comedy festival. The regime is hardly immune to human rights abuse, and good luck roasting the royal family from any given stage.

So when Ansari showed up on “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” the host decided to grill him like Woodward and/or Bernstein.

“People are questioning why you would go over there and take their money to perform in front of these people,” Kimmel began. “They murdered a journalist [Jamal Khashoggi]. These are not good people over there.”

Ansari defended himself, saying he was speaking to a repressed gathering and it “could push things in a positive direction.”

What the “Parks and Recreation” alum should have said after that was, “Hey, why did you malign MAGA unfairly and never come close to apologizing?”

That would have shut Kimmel up …

RELATED: Bad Bunny: Learn Spanish if you want to understand my Super Bowl performance

Photo by: Will Heath/NBC via Getty Images

Patriots win

I guess we don’t have to learn Spanish in four months after all.

Turning Point USA is planning an alternative Super Bowl halftime show so that viewers don’t have to settle for Bad Bunny’s anti-Trump, anti-border-control shctick during the big game.

Now gridiron fans have a plan B for the game. The All-American Halftime Show will bring something that hasn’t been part of football’s biggest day for a long time: patriotism.

Details are scarce regarding the talent, but it’s another sign that right-leaning Americans are fed up with the nonstop messaging coming out of the left (and the institutions the left has captured) …

Noah’s no-no

Give Trevor Noah some credit. He’s consistent. Consistently unfunny, to be exact.

The far-left comedian is always up for a challenge. They said “The Daily Show” was unsinkable. To which new host Noah said “hold my beer” — and promptly drove off 1 million viewers.

Noah’s latest trick? Find the funny in the gruesome public assassination of Charlie Kirk.

Now, gallows humor is a legitimate form of comedy, and sometimes dark humor can be a way to process grief. (See the Onion’s 9/11 issue, for example.)

But Noah’s attempt at comedy failed on two basic levels.

“You have to admit, that is an incongruous, funny thing that happened,” quipped the oh-so-clever comic. “You are there, on stage, and you’re like, ‘Let me tell you why people should have guns,’ wa-pahhh.”

First of all, supporting the Second Amendment is hardly equivalent to condoning wanton gun violence. If Kirk’s brutal murder “proves” anything, it’s that there will always be deranged souls willing to resort to violence.

And the comment itself — which hundreds of witless online wags made before Noah — barely qualifies as a joke. Which is on brand, we’ll give him that …

​Entertainment, Culture, Hollywood, George clooney, Super bowl, Turning point usa, Donald trump, Toto recall 

Dominion Voting Systems, the Canada-based company that was accused of helping throw the 2020 election to President Joe Biden, has been sold to Scott Leiendecker, the founder and chairman of the Missouri-based company Liberty Vote.

Leiendecker, a former Republican election director of the St. Louis City Board of Election Commissions who also serves as CEO of the election technology company KnowInk, said in a statement that Liberty Vote’s “mission is rooted in American values and committed to transparency, independent audits, and verifiable paper records.”

Liberty Vote has acquired Dominion, which will move all of its operations to the United States. The website for Dominion now also redirects to the Liberty Vote site.

Nevada’s Democrat Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar has given him the stamp of approval.

In the spirit of President Donald Trump’s March 25 executive order titled “Preserving and Protecting the Integrity of American Elections” — which insists upon a voter-verifiable paper record — Liberty Vote will apparently also prioritize the use of hand-marked paper ballots and third-party auditing to bolster election security.

According to the Daily Caller, Leiendecker conditioned the deal on dropping a number of outstanding defamation lawsuits against prominent conservatives as well as the One America News Network.

Although Dominion machines have had issues in the past — Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson admitted last year, for instance, that there was a nationwide “programming” issue with those Dominion voting machines that allowed access for people with disabilities — critics alleged in the wake of the 2020 election that Dominion manipulated votes in its electric terminals to help elect Joe Biden.

RELATED: Honor system? More like fraud system

Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

For instance, former federal prosecutor Sidney Powell suggested, without providing evidence, on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures” that Dominion software was “where the fraud took place, where they were flipping votes in the computer system or adding votes that did not exist.”

The platforming of such claims proved costly for Fox News, which agreed to pay $787.5 million in April 2023 to settle its defamation lawsuit with Dominion. In August, Newsmax reached a $67 million settlement with the company but maintained that its coverage was “fair, balanced, and conducted within professional standards of journalism.”

Dominion has in recent months reached settlements with other outfits and individuals who raised concerns about the 2020 election, including former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani in late September and Powell in June.

Leiendecker told the Daily Caller that remaining litigation with MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell will be dropped per the terms of the acquisition agreement.

While Leiendecker is a Republican and has made a goodwill gesture to the conservatives targeted by his new acquisition, Liberty Vote officials signaled to Axios that he is ultimately a neutral actor, noting that Nevada’s Democrat Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar has given him the stamp of approval, characterizing Leiendecker as “open, honest, and transparent.”

Blaze News has reached out to Aguilar to confirm his support for Leiendecker.

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​Elections, Voting, Voter, Dominion, Dominion voting systems, Leiendecker, Missouri, Liberty vote, Politics 

Many football fans complain that Shedeur Sanders is a nepo baby — someone who has achieved prominence due to family connections (nepotism) rather than merit. They argue that his famous father, Deion Sanders, has laid a golden path for him, leading Shedeur to undeserved success.

Whether it was installing him as the starting quarterback at Jackson State University and later at the University of Colorado Boulder, where Deion ensured Shedeur was named the team’s quarterback without competition, or leveraging his own fame to secure high-profile NIL deals and public endorsements for Shedeur, Deion has consistently paved the way for his son’s success in football and beyond.

Maybe it worked for a while, but now that Shedeur is in the NFL playing for the Cleveland Browns, it seems Daddy’s influence is beginning to backfire, as it becomes clear that Shedeur isn’t the superstar Deion has made him out to be.

On October 7, the Browns traded first-string quarterback Joe Flacco to the Cincinnati Bengals, pushing rookie quarterback Dillon Gabriel to first string and Shedeur to second string. But during a press conference, head coach Kevin Stefanski avoided directly naming Shedeur as the clear QB2 behind Gabriel.

When asked by a reporter if Shedeur would now be the backup quarterback, he said, “I’ll let the week play out, make a decision later on that.”

For a few days, there was speculation that Bailey Zappe, who plays on the Cleveland Browns’ practice squad, could be promoted to the QB2 spot over Shedeur, but earlier today, Stefanski officially named Sanders as the backup quarterback behind Gabriel.

Even still, his hesitancy speaks volumes.

Jason Whitlock, BlazeTV host of “Fearless,” reads between the lines: The Browns don’t have a ton of faith in Shedeur Sanders.

“This is a no-win situation. If [Shedeur] succeeds, everyone’s gonna say, ‘Why didn’t he play to begin with?’ But if he fails, it’s like, ‘Well, they put him in a position to fail,”’ contributor Steve Kim says. “I think Stefanski’s in a real catch-22 here.”

Jason sees Stefanski’s reluctance to immediately confirm Shedeur as the number two quarterback as “an indictment of Shedeur Sanders and an indictment of the Browns organization.”

“What it really says is, ‘We shouldn’t have kept this guy,”’ he says.

“They’re keeping Shedeur out of some sort of political or fear factor or some other agenda other than what’s best for [the Browns’] roster.”

To hear more of the conversation, watch the video above.

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​Fearless, Fearless with jason whitlock, Jason whitlock, Shedeur sanders, Deion sanders, Cleveland browns, Nfl, Nepo baby, Nepotism, Blazetv, Blaze media, Joe flacco 

Dr. Oz is the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services administrator for President Trump, and he’s joining Blaze Media co-founder Glenn Beck on “Glenn TV” to debunk the left’s lies surrounding the current government shutdown.

“It is really reprehensible, what the Democrats are doing,” Oz tells Glenn. “This has been a process, this continuing resolution process, whether you like it or not, that’s gone on for a long time.”

“One of the things we addressed, I think, quite successfully, is the fraud, waste, and abuse in Medicaid. In fact, some of the points you make like money going towards illegal immigrants — again, it’s not that you’re paying for it in California; it’s that folks are being taxed in Mississippi and Texas and Florida, and that money is being shipped to California,” Oz explains.

“We stopped that. We’re not going to reverse that. And we’re certainly not going to reverse it for seven weeks of continuation so we can actually have more negotiations,” he says, noting that Medicaid and Medicare are only getting hurt by shutting down the government.

“These programs, we struggle to keep open when you have a shutdown of this nature. This is high-stakes poker, and it’s unfair, and frankly, the Democrats don’t have many chips anyway,” he adds.

Glenn notes that some Democrats are now asking whether or not illegal immigrants will be helped in the emergency room — even in life-or-death situations where the patient may have a gunshot wound.

But Oz says that question distorts the truth, explaining that there’s a law that will protect illegal immigrants.

“You will get the care you need, especially if it’s lifesaving care. You’re in trouble if you don’t provide that care. So this is not about that at all. This is about giving benefits to illegal immigrants,” Oz explains.

“Again, I’ll pick on California because it’s such an obvious case. … If you’re on Medicaid in California and you’re an illegal immigrant, you are getting free dental care. It’s just not fair to the American people,” he says.

“It’s not like the citizens of California are paying for that. We’re footing most of the bill at the federal government, which we tax every one of the other 49 states and then we pay California to make up for the fact that they’ve decided to fund illegal immigrant health care,” he adds.

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​Camera phone, Free, Sharing, Upload, Video, Video phone, Youtube.com, Glenntv, Glenn tv, Glenn beck, The glenn beck program, The blaze, Blazetv, Blaze news, Blaze podcasts, Blaze podcast network, Dr oz, Blaze originals, Blaze online, Government shutdown, Healthcare for illegal immigrants, Illegal immigration, Democrats vs republican’s, Liberals vs conservatives, President donald trump, The trump administration 

First lady Melania Trump has joined forces with an unexpected foreign leader to lead a crucial humanitarian effort in a war-torn region.

During a press conference Friday, Mrs. Trump announced her partnership with Russian President Vladimir Putin to reunite Ukrainian children with their families. So far, eight children who were displaced by the war were reunited with their families in just the last day or so, she indicated. The first lady also confirmed that she remains in communication with Putin to continue the effort.

‘I hope peace will come soon. It can begin with our children.’

“A child’s soul knows no borders, no flags,” Trump said.

“We must foster a future for our children which is rich with potential, security, and complete with free will,” she added. “A world where dreams will be realized rather than faded by war.”

RELATED: Trump teases shutdown consequences for Democrats: ‘A little taste of their own medicine’

Photo by Contributor/Getty Images

During her address, the first lady recounted the initial letter she wrote to Putin in August 2024, raising concerns about the children who were separated from their families due to the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine.

“Since then, President Putin and I have had an open channel of communication regarding the welfare of these children,” Trump said.

Over the last three months, both Ukraine and Russia have participated in several “back-channel meetings” that Trump says have all been “in good faith.”

“Each child has lived in turmoil because of the war in Ukraine,” she said, speaking about the eight children who were reunited this week. “Three were separated from their parents and displaced to the Russian Federation because of frontline fighting. The other five were separated from family members across borders because of the conflict.”

RELATED: Drones shut down airports in NATO countries as suspicion falls on Russia

Aaron Schwartz/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Mrs. Trump also said that Russia has agreed to work alongside officials to return children who have turned 18 since their displacement.

“Again, this remains an ongoing effort,” Trump said. “Plans are already under way to reunify more children in the immediate future. I hope peace will come soon. It can begin with our children.”

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The drums of war are echoing across the Caribbean. U.S. warships patrol the southern sea lanes, and squadrons of F-35s wait on standby in Puerto Rico. Strike lists are reportedly being drafted in Washington. The question is not whether the United States can act but whether it should. And more importantly: Who is the real enemy?

All signs point to Venezuela, long a fixation of neoconservatives who see regime change as a cure-all. For years, some in the Republican Party have argued that Venezuela sits at the center of Latin America’s drug trade and that military action is overdue.

A legitimate campaign to combat drug cartels must not morph into another regime-change crusade.

That narrative is convenient — but false. Venezuela is not a cartel state, and this is not a war on drugs.

A tale of two narco-states

In September, the Trump administration made two moves that reshaped the regional map. It added Venezuela to its annual list of major drug-transit and production countries and, for the first time since 1996, decertified Colombia as a U.S. partner in the war on drugs.

That decision was deliberate. It acknowledged what U.S. policymakers have long avoided saying: Colombia, not Venezuela, is the true narco-state.

Colombia remains the world’s leading producer of cocaine. From Pablo Escobar’s Medellín empire to the FARC’s narco-financing, traffickers and insurgents have repeatedly seized control of state institutions and vast territories. At their height, these groups ruled nearly half the country. Decades of U.S. intervention under “Plan Colombia” have failed to stem coca cultivation, which remains near record highs.

Venezuela, by contrast, has never been a major coca producer. Its role is mostly as a minor transit corridor for Colombian cocaine en route to global markets. Corruption is real — particularly within elements of the military, where networks of officers known as the “Cartel of the Suns” have profited from trafficking. But those are rogue actors, not the state itself.

Unlike Colombia, Venezuela has never seen cartels seize entire provinces or build autonomous zones. The country’s economic collapse has weakened state control, but it hasn’t transformed Venezuela into another Sinaloa or Medellín.

Regime-change fever returns

Despite this, Washington appears to be edging toward confrontation. Naval buildups and targeted strikes on Venezuelan vessels look increasingly like the opening moves of a regime-change operation.

The danger is familiar. Once again, the United States risks being drawn into a war that cannot be won — one that drains resources, destabilizes the region, and achieves nothing for the American people. The echoes of Iraq and Afghanistan are unmistakable. Those conflicts cost thousands of American lives and trillions of dollars, only to end in retreat and disillusionment.

Americans have every reason to demand a serious, coordinated strategy against the cartels that flood our communities with cocaine and fentanyl. But targeting Venezuela misreads the map. Only a fraction of the hemisphere’s narcotics pass through Venezuelan territory — and the country produces no fentanyl at all.

If Washington wants to dismantle the cartels, it must focus on the coca fields of Colombia and the trafficking corridors of Mexico, not Caracas.

RELATED: Oops! The man they call a ‘threat to democracy’ just made peace again

Photo by Hu Yousong/Xinhua via Getty Images

No exit

A U.S. invasion of Venezuela would be a disaster. The Maduro regime has already begun arming civilians. Guerrilla groups operate in both urban and jungle terrain. The population is hostile, the geography unforgiving, and the odds of a prolonged insurgency high.

The opposition, eager for power, would have every incentive to let American soldiers do its fighting — then disavow the costs.

A war would not remain confined to Venezuelan borders. It would destabilize Colombia, Ecuador, and Brazil, and unleash a wave of migrants heading north. The fall of Saddam Hussein set off migration patterns that reshaped Europe for a generation. A conflict in Venezuela could do the same to the United States.

Limited airstrikes would achieve little beyond satisfying the egos of Washington’s most hawkish voices. A full-scale invasion would create a power vacuum ripe for chaos.

The real test

President Trump faces a critical test of restraint. Interventionists inside his own administration will press for action. He must resist them. A legitimate campaign to combat drug cartels must not morph into another regime-change crusade.

America has paid dearly for those mistakes before. It should not make them again.

​Opinion & analysis, Donald trump, Venezuela, War, Nicolas maduro, Gulf of america, Drug trafficking, Drug cartels, Caracas, Navy, Colombia, Cocaine, Fentanyl, Regime change, Neoconservatives, Anti-war 

Casualties are expected from an explosion at a military-supplier facility in Tennessee, and officials have said they are working to locate 19 personnel who are currently unaccounted for.

The explosion was reported at the Accurate Energetic Systems plant near Bucksnort about 60 miles southwest of Nashville at about 7:50 a.m.

‘Keep everyone in your prayers as we go through this the next few days.’

Hickman County Sheriff Jason Craft released few details as the rescue efforts continue.

“We’re at the beginning stages of all of this,” Craft said. “We’re getting information minute by minute, and we’re going to continue to build on that and do what we need to do. Keep everyone in your prayers as we go through this the next few days.”

The explosion was heard miles away from the site. Humphreys County Sheriff Chris Davis said there were minor explosions heard after the main blast.

“We do have several people at this time unaccounted for. We are trying to be mindful of families and that situation,” Davis added. “We do have some that are deceased.”

The plant is owned by Accurate Energetic Systems, which develops and manufactures explosives for the military and other industries.

RELATED: Suspicious package detonated by police at university ahead of Turning Point USA event

Mayor Jim Bates said in a CNN interview that the plant had no safety issues except for a “small ammunition explosion” in 2014.

“It’s pretty devastating to see this,” he added.

Humphreys County emergency management team spokesperson Grey Collier said they are working to notify families.

“The families are there waiting at the main office to hear news, to find out about their loved ones,” she added.

Bates added: “We just pray that the good Lord keeps their hand on the families that’s involved.”

The Humphreys County Sheriff’s Office said the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is involved in the investigation.

This is a developing story.

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​Tennessee military facility, Facility explosion, Bucksnort explosion, Accurate energetic systems, Politics 

Charlie Calkins waited. He waited for the stars to align. He waited for the right woman to appear, for the perfect partner to materialize. None of it happened. So he improvised. He became a father anyway.

This is America in 2025: a country where men bypass marriage as if it were a tollbooth. Where fatherhood is recast as a consumer choice. Where children risk becoming accessories to adult ambition.

The real question facing modern masculinity isn’t how to become fathers without wives. It’s how to become men worthy of wives in the first place.

The Atlantic tells Calkins’ story in its recent celebration of this trend, dressing it up as progress, as evolution, even as a solution to masculinity’s supposed crisis.

But it isn’t progress. If anything, it’s the very opposite.

Motherless by design

These aren’t men widowed by tragedy or abandoned by partners. They’re men who have deliberately chosen to design motherless homes. Not by accident, but by intent. Not through misfortune, but through willful selfishness. Here are men so allergic to commitment that they would rather hire wombs than marry. So determined to avoid the risk of family life that they would orphan their own children from birth.

And the science isn’t debatable here. Single-parent homes breed absolute chaos, the sorts of problems that ripple through every part of society. They fuel crime, academic failure, and emotional wreckage on a scale too obvious to ignore.

Boys without fathers are far more likely to end up in gangs, in prison, or dead in their 20s. Girls without fathers often become teenage mothers, repeating the cycle before they have a chance to escape it.

The absence of mothers brings its own devastation. Boys without them wrestle with wild anger. Without her steady hand, they lose their way. Lacking her love, they grow restless, reckless, and resentful. Girls without mothers face higher risks of depression, self-destruction, and fractured identity, deprived of the model that teaches them how to become women.

Broken homes, broken bodies

The wreckage is measured in blood and sometimes bullets. The Minnesota trans-identifying shooter’s parents were divorced, just like the parents of Adam Lanza, the Sandy Hook killer. Many other mass shooters share the same broken background. Wounded families breed wounded children, and some grow up to wound others.

Contrary to what the Atlantic claims, these “single dads by choice” aren’t fixing masculinity’s crisis. They are the crisis. Real masculine leadership builds institutions. It doesn’t turn family into a transaction. Marriage isn’t optional prep work. It’s boot camp for parenthood. It’s the daily grind of sacrifice and commitment, the training ground where men learn to put someone else first. Those skills don’t arrive with a birth certificate.

Formation by fire

A man who skips marriage skips character formation. He chooses the drive-through version of family — fast, convenient, and ultimately empty. Can’t find the right woman? Rent one. Struggle with relationships? Delete the requirement. Find commitment too complicated? Engineer around it entirely.

But family isn’t supposed to be engineered. It’s forged in fire, through conflict, through reconciliation, through the daily miracle of two people choosing each other again and again. Children need to see it. They need both perspectives. They need the security of parents bound by more than biology.

These “single dads by choice” are emotional adolescents. They’ve found a loophole in human nature, a way to get what they want without ever growing up. And it won’t be these dads who pay the price. It will be their children.

RELATED: Homosexual who fundraised to get baby through surrogacy exposed as pedophile

Image composite: Rainbow photo by PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images; Photo of Brandon Mitchell from Pennsylvania Sex Offender Registry.

Picture that child 20 years from now: sitting in a therapist’s office, wrestling with abandonment issues he can’t name. Struggling to understand why his father’s desire for parenthood mattered more than his own need for a mother. “But Dad wanted me so much,” he’ll say. “He went to such lengths.” Yes, he did. Every length except the one that mattered: learning to love a woman, to commit to building something together, to create a real family instead of a designer arrangement.

The real question facing modern masculinity isn’t how to become fathers without wives. It’s how to become men worthy of wives in the first place. How to shoulder the work of partnership, build something bigger than yourself, and pass on stability to the next generation.

Single fatherhood by choice doesn’t answer this challenge. It surrenders to it. And it feeds a cultural shift that Americans should recognize as dangerous.

Structure of responsibility

For centuries, the basis of a healthy society was marriage between a man and a woman. That union produced not only children but continuity, a structure of responsibility that connected men to the work of family and women to the security of partnership.

The breakdown of that bedrock was gradual — first through the normalization of divorce, then the redefinition of marriage itself, first into a cultural abstraction, then into same-sex unions, then into same-sex adoption. At every turn, the essential was downgraded to optional and the optional was elevated to a right. Marriage no longer stood as the pillar of family life but as a lifestyle choice, easy to embrace or evade. And the cost is clear. Children without two committed parents pass that damage on, multiplying it across generations.

The question is not whether single parents can be heroic — many are. The question is what happens when a society normalizes broken homes and calls it progress. When the exception becomes the expectation, everyone suffers.

​Culture 

President Trump was shocked at reactions from members of the press on Thursday while making an official proclamation about Columbus Day.

Appearing with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and War Secretary Pete Hegseth, the president spoke to the media about his landmark peace negotiations between Israel and Palestine. Before his remarks though, he made time to sign a document about the historic explorer Christopher Columbus.

‘We love the Italians.’

After a short history lesson from staff secretary Will Scharf about Columbus’ travels to the New World in 1492, Trump promptly summarized the document by stating, “In other words, we’re calling it Columbus Day.”

Shockingly, the press erupted in applause.

“Yes!” one person was heard saying as Trump looked off to his staff, puzzled.

“That was the press that broke out in applause,” the bewildered president pointed out. “That was — can you believe that? I’ve never seen that happen before. The press actually broke out in applause.”

Laughing, Trump then presented the newly signed document before delivering one of his famous one-liners.

RELATED: DEBUNKED: The left’s claims about Christopher Columbus are FALSE

“Columbus Day, we’re back!” Trump said, showing the document off. “Columbus Day! We’re back, Italians! OK? We love the Italians.”

The proclamation honors Columbus’ life, faith, courage, and perseverance while further cementing October 13, 2025, as Columbus Day. It also discusses attempts by progressives to cancel Columbus with claims he is a controversial figure.

“Outrageously, in recent years, Christopher Columbus has been a prime target of a vicious and merciless campaign to erase our history, slander our heroes, and attack our heritage,” the document reads.

Describing “left-wing radicals” who have toppled statues and monuments of the explorer while tarnishing his character, Trump declared in the writings that “those days are finally over.”

“Our Nation will now abide by a simple truth: Christopher Columbus was a true American hero, and every citizen is eternally indebted to his relentless determination,” Trump wrote.

The shift in federal guidance comes after President Joe Biden issued the first presidential proclamation of Indigenous Peoples’ Day — to be observed on Columbus Day — in 2021.

“For generations, Federal policies systematically sought to assimilate and displace Native people and eradicate Native cultures,” Biden wrote at the time. “Today, we recognize Indigenous peoples’ resilience and strength as well as the immeasurable positive impact that they have made on every aspect of American society.”

RELATED: Saving History

A depiction of Genoese navigator Christopher Columbus (1451–1506) claiming possession of the New World, 1492. Photo by Universal History Archive/Getty Images

On Thursday, Trump further praised Italian Americans for their contribution to American culture.

“United States and Italy share a special bond rooted in the timeless values of faith, family, and freedom,” Trump explained.

Finally, the White House said it will direct the American flag to be displayed on all public buildings on Columbus Day to honor his legacy as well as “all who have contributed to building our Nation.”

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​Trump, News, Columbus, Columbus day, Press, Media, Woke, Left-wing, Statues, Politics