Category: blaze media

A group of Democrats identifying as moderate say they are organizing to oppose the extremist policies of the far right as well as those of the socialists on the far left.

The moderate-identifying Democrats are unhappy about the recent victories of far-left extremists in places like New York City, where Democratic incumbents lost in primaries this week. About a dozen moderate-identifying Democrats signed on the pledge at the “Promise to America” website.

‘Americans want safe communities and institutions that solve problems. We believe in building more to lower costs and expand opportunity.’

Democratic Rep. Tom Suozzi of New York appeared on Fox News to publicize the effort.

“You know there are certain things that I believe in that are not being reflected in the current environment, especially with some of these races on Tuesday,” said Suozzi.

“As we said in our pledge, we’re for capitalism, not socialism. We’re for safety, not lawlessness. We’re proud of America, not ashamed of America — and we need to be promoting those things,” he added. “The far left and the far right, you know, they’re all very well organized. But those of us that don’t support those far-left or far-right principles need to do a better job organizing and getting our message out.”

“America is stronger than our politics. Politics forces false choices between extremes on right and left. We reject them,” the group said in the pledge.

“Too many Americans have not benefited from the last half-century of economic growth,” they added. “Americans want an economy that lowers costs, expands opportunity, and rewards the people who work hard every day. Americans want safe communities and institutions that solve problems. We believe in building more to lower costs and expand opportunity. We believe Democrats succeed when we speak to the whole country and value persuasion over purity.”

The website asks supporters of the cause to sign the pledge as well.

RELATED: Hunter Biden wants Democrats to learn EXTREME lesson from NYC elections

The victories of far-left socialists backed by Democratic New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani have been seen by many as a revolution in the Democratic Party. Some, like Hunter Biden, have opined that the victories mean the Democratic Party needs to lurch into the far left and push harder for socialism.

Other Democrats who signed onto the moderate-identifying agenda include Rep. Adam Gray of California, Rep. Laura Gillen of New York, Rep. Kristen McDonald Rivet of Michigan, and Rep. Josh Gottheimer of New Jersey, among others.

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​Democrats, Extremist, Moderate, Socialism, Politics, Zohran mamdani 

Vice President JD Vance gave “The View” plenty to chew on last week. Facts. Knowledge. Arguments that didn’t require a tinfoil hat.

The Republican did something else during his trip to the far, far-left showcase. He gave the gals a ratings boost. The show’s 3.3 million viewers represented the highest “View” tally since 2024.

81-year-old Rod Stewart recently canceled a few shows due to illness. When he returned to the stage, he needed oxygen to get through a Utah performance.

That makes sense, since the ABC showcase rarely offers opposing views from the right and Vance has a reputation for being a thoughtful guest.

Even “View” haters wanted to see what went down.

So will this open the floodgates for more right-leaning guests on the show?

Of course not. In fact, co-host Joy Behar took heat from her fellow panelists for being friendly with Vance. Plus, a steady stream of smart, thoughtful conservatives would expose “The View” audience to sane opinions that clash with the show’s conspiratorial blather.

That ratings boost sure was nice, but you can bet ABC won’t let it happen again …

Super stupor

You can’t say Milly Alcock isn’t committed to “the bit.” And by that, we mean being as woke as possible while promoting her new film, “Supergirl.”

She previously trashed Christian dads and played the victim card over viewers who allegedly objectify her physique. That drew swift comparisons to Rachel Zegler, whose woke musings in the run-up to “Snow White’s” release built enough bad buzz that the film never recovered.

The live-action update lost a reported $170 million for Team Disney.

Alcock is walking, nay running, in Zegler’s footsteps, even as box office predictions suggest “Supergirl” will lose millions, too. This week, she did it again.

“I think that [Supergirl is] a really great representation of what a modern woman can be. She can be strong, she can be tough, she can be messy. And I love how this film doesn’t center around any sort of love or romance or anything like that at all. She has such resilience — and I think that [the LGBTQ+] community is so, so resilient. I’m really honored that they can connect to her.”

She later declared that her Supergirl would be bisexual.

That sound you hear is Zegler’s agent popping open a bottle of champagne …

RELATED: Tan-splaining Colbert celebrates ‘scandal-free’ Obama at new presidential center opening

Mandel Ngan/Scott Olson/Anadolu/Getty Images

Bourne that way

Wait, did Kathleen Kennedy get a new job?

The woman many blame for the demise of the “Star Wars” franchise is no longer with Lucasfilm or Disney. She still set a curious standard for woke storytelling, from her “the force is female” mantra to trashing iconic characters like Luke Skywalker.

Even “South Park” mocked her “Star Wars” reign: “Put a chick in it! Make her lame and gay!”

Kennedy is not attached to the “Bourne” franchise, but that popular saga may be taking a very Kennedy-like approach to its future.

The InSneider reports that Zendaya is in play to replace franchise star Matt Damon in the saga. It wouldn’t be the first “Bourne” film sans Damon. Jeremy Renner starred in “The Bourne Legacy,” a 2012 film that didn’t light up the box office as expected ($113 million stateside).

It’s a potential gender AND race swap, two staples of the woke Hollywood era. Zendaya is a young, talented star, but physically she looks like she would struggle to open an aspirin bottle, let alone tackle an army of thugs.

We’ll have to see if this is a trial balloon of a story or signs that the Kennedy-ization of Hollywood continues …

Rock till you drop

The Who sang, “Hope I die before I get old” on “My Generation” back in 1965. Now, some aging singers are proving how hard it is to keep rocking into their golden years.

First, 81-year-old Rod Stewart recently canceled a few shows due to illness. When he returned to the stage, he needed oxygen to get through a Utah performance. Then, Lionel Ritchie, 77, left the stage early on the first stop of his current tour in St. Paul, Minnesota, after feeling dizzy on stage.

Some stars simply refuse to retire. Others love performing so much they can’t imagine calling it a career. There’s something noble about older stars giving their all to the fans, especially those who are roughly the same age as them.

We want them to be forever young, but their mortality is a stark reminder of our own. Perhaps that’s why the Who’s 2025 North American tour, the band’s farewell, was called “This Song Is Over.”

​Culture, Entertainment, Hollywood, J.d. vance, Lifestyle, Milly alcock, The view, Toto recall 

A video has gone viral after a Texas woman was filmed telling a Muslim to leave the country in a grocery store. While the left believes the woman was in the wrong — and promptly got her fired from her job — BlazeTV host Sara Gonzales isn’t so sure she agrees.

“Get the f**k out of here. You’re really not welcome in this state or this country,” the woman is shown saying in the viral clip.

“You are wearing scrubs,” the Muslim fired back.

“It doesn’t matter. What matters is that you worship a terrorist who is a warlord, a pedophile, and Islam is a terrorist organization, not a religion,” the woman replied.

“Yeah, because you’re not educated about it,” the Muslim said.

“I’m very educated on this subject. … This is not a Muslim country. This is a Christian country,” the woman answered.

“You need to go back to your Islamic country where you came from. Everybody’s aware of why you’re here. So don’t think that we don’t know, and don’t think you’re going to get away with it.”

“I would invite you to show me the lie,” Gonzales comments.

“If our politicians in this country were honest, if they were honest, and they were not bought and paid for, they would be saying the exact same thing. Islam is a terrorist organization, not a religion. It is a terrorist ideology, not a religion. It is organized terror,” she explains.

“Islam is antithetical to our founding principles. And they’ve come to conquer and terrorize. And by the way, by the way, don’t take it from me, Sara Gonzales. Take it from them. Straight from the horse’s mouth,” she continues, before playing a clip of a Muslim explaining their faith.

“We’re commanded to terrorize the disbelievers. And this is a religion like I said. The Quran says very clearly in the Arabic language, ‘Torhibuna.’ This means, ‘Terrorize them.’ It’s a command from Allah,” the man in the clip said.

“We are seeing the direct result of mass Muslim immigration play out over in the U.K., where they have just dropped a report that you will have nightmares about if you read,” Gonzales says, referring to the recent “Rape Gang Inquiry Report.”

“The government over there covered it up because they were too scared of being called a mean name because they were too scared of admitting that this mass migration policy was bad,” she continues.

“We have Muslims saying what they want to do. We have in their written books exactly what the plan is. We have history to show us exactly their path. We have what’s happening in the U.K. as an example, as a blueprint of what they will do,” she adds.

And despite all of that, the left still wants to let them in.

“Somehow, someway, the left still can’t help themselves. They still can’t help themselves because, you know, facts hurt their feelings,” Gonzales says.

“And they didn’t like that this woman was spitting facts,” 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.

​Come and take it, Muslim, Rape gang inquiry, Sara gonzales, Sara gonzales unfiltered, Terrorist organization, Viral video, Come and take it with sara gonzales 

The leader of the top opposition party in France’s National Assembly has joined numerous other lawmakers in raising the alarm about the horrific case of Louis of Narbonne — a white 17-year-old foster kid who was ambushed on the night of June 19 and effectively left for dead by several individuals.

“Louis, 17 years old, was lynched to death with unimaginable violence, filmed by his gleeful assailants, left to agonize through an entire night, and found lifeless on a construction site in Narbonne,” Jordan Bardella, president of the National Rally party, wrote on Wednesday.

‘This everyday barbarity that can no longer be minimized, downplayed, or concealed.’

“He is the symbol of a country adrift, undermined by a barbarization that neither the laxity nor the blindness of our leaders can halt,” continued Bardella. “We must dare to break with 30 years of failures if we are to restore order in France.”

The suspects — a diverse crew who reportedly knew one another from child welfare facilities — filmed themselves at an under-construction seniors residence punching and kicking in the head of the dying teenager.

The nightmarish footage — which one of the attackers reportedly shared on social media — not only shows the thugs’ relentless attacks on the already-unconscious boy but also shows suspects posing for pictures beside the dying teen, whose agonal breathing can be heard throughout.

RELATED: ‘White lives matter’: UK erupts over footage of English teen’s demise in handcuffs after stabbing by Sikh thug

Olivier MORIN/AFP/Getty Images

According to the French investigative outlet Frontières, the family authorized the release of the footage “in order to challenge the version put forward by some media outlets describing it as a mere ‘brawl.'”

Frontières noted further that “despite the pain, his loved ones refuse anonymity and want the truth to be known.”

La Montagne reported that one of the suspects sent the footage to an acquaintance who, seeing the attack and the boy’s injuries, promptly alerted the Aude Departmental Fire and Rescue Service. Since the concerned caller allegedly didn’t know where Louis had been attacked, first responders were unable to swiftly locate and rescue the boy.

David Leyraud, national supervisor of the Police Alliance, said that Louis was ultimately found on Saturday morning by a construction worker.

Jean-Philippe Rey, the prosecutor of the Republic of Narbonne, said that “when they arrived, the firefighters took the victim, still unconscious. He had bruises in the eyes, multiple bruises on the forehead as well as bleeding in the mouth and nose.”

The victim was placed in an artificial coma and succumbed to his injuries on Tuesday.

‘While our children are dying, our leaders look the other way.’

Louis was placed in a child welfare facility in May. According to records obtained by L’Indépendant, he filed a complaint with police on May 22 alleging assault by a group. Earlier this month, he filed another complaint — this time accompanied by his youth worker — alleging yet another attack.

One of the suspects allegedly conspired with the other four suspects and lured Louis — who had recently secured a job offer and was set to leave child welfare services — to the construction site in Narbonne on false pretenses, reported L’Indépendant. At the destination, the thugs ambushed the teen.

On the basis of the viral footage, phone records, and the insights provided by the individual who first alerted authorities to the attack — and who contacted authorities with more information after allegedly being threatened by one of the attackers — police arrested and charged five individuals with attempted murder.

The suspects are between the ages of 16 and 19, a senior police officer said. They have been placed in pre-trial detention.

The two adult suspects were previously on the radar of police for alleged minor offenses, including theft and drug use, reported L’Indépendant.

While some of the suspects allegedly gave partial admissions about their roles in the attack, most reportedly claimed ignorance of the plot and said they were just following the others.

Investigators ruled out a racist motive in the attack, according to L’Indépendant, which reported: “The initial findings, resulting from the rapid investigation, in any case rule out a racist motive, as some people hastily suggested.”

When asked for more information about the suspects, the Préfecture de l’Aude told Blaze News an investigation is underway. Blaze News has reached out to the Narbonne Public Prosecutor’s Office and the City of Narbonne for comment.

One of the victim’s friends told Frontières, “I am in a nightmare. I am struggling to believe that Louis is gone.”

“While our children are dying, our leaders look the other way,” Julien Leonardelli, a National Rally member who serves as a member of the European Parliament, wrote in the wake of Louis’ death.

Marine Le Pen, co-founder and parliamentary leader of the National Rally party, wrote, “The ordeal of young Louis, 17 years old, lynched in Narbonne, breaks the heart and fuels immense anger among the French in the face of this everyday barbarity that can no longer be minimized, downplayed, or concealed.”

“Through endlessly refusing to swiftly and effectively punish acts of delinquency, those in power, backed by the left and the far left, have sent a disastrous message: that of permanent impunity,” continued Le Pen.

The National Rally leader stressed that 2027 — when France will hold its next presidential election — will mark an end to “this savagery and this unbearable ultraviolence.”

The news of yet another brutal slaying of a young teen by remorseless individuals quickly crossed the Atlantic.

BlazeTV host Allie Beth Stuckey wrote, “The video of that poor boy in France, Louis, is too much to bear. Why is it the same kinds of people *everywhere* who commit these acts of subhuman violence? Truly animalistic monsters. God help us.”

While multitudes around the world condemned the boy’s lynching, Raphaël Arnault — a leftist activist who serves in the National Assembly as a member of the radical France Unbowed party — downplayed the attack, noting, “For years this kind of tragedy has existed for young people left abandoned,” and complaining about “the media uproar and the racist horrors of the far right.”

A march is planned in Narbonne this weekend in remembrance of the victim.

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​France, Louis, Lynching, Marine le pen, Murder, National rally, Crime, Politics 

I have been adamant throughout our months of Iran coverage that President Trump needs to turn his attention back home and start using his domestic political leverage to address our problems here.

So watching him threaten not to sign the housing bill Congress just passed unless lawmakers also pass the SAVE America Act is music to my ears.

We live in an era of survival. The enemy is an unrelenting demonic construct, and my conscience tells me without ambiguity that it must be defeated before we are.

Demanding election integrity is exactly the sort of fight Trump should pick. The housing bill is already divisive within the MAGA base, so the president risks little political capital by holding it up. If anything, he is postponing an internal coalition fight he will eventually need to have while using his leverage to improve his overall bargaining position.

This maneuver should not be necessary. Trump’s own party controls Congress for the time being. But we have to live in the world as it is. And in the world as it is, John Thune (R-S.D.) still sucks.

If Trump vetoes a housing bill that does not include the SAVE Act, I would wager the odds are roughly 50-50 that Congress overrides him. In a strange way, that might not be the worst outcome. An override could provoke Trump to get Hulk-mad on the domestic front, which is exactly where we need his attention from now through the midterms and beyond.

I do not see a real loss here for the president unless he caves.

He cannot pick this fight now and fail to follow through. This is a game of chicken. As “The Hunt for Red October” taught us, the hard part about playing chicken is knowing when to flinch.

It is also almost America’s 250th birthday. Asking Congress to protect one of the people’s birthrights — free and fair elections — seems modest enough. It is one of the main reasons we are celebrating at all.

Good thing, then, that “The Art of the Deal” has always been Trump’s favorite hill to die on. He is a subject-matter expert in leverage-based negotiation. This is his game.

Get busy living or get busy dying.

The meter is running not only on Trump’s presidency but on the fate of the entire nation. New York, for example, continues to be handed over to Islamic socialists.

Three Democratic congressional district primaries just went exactly the way socialist Mayor Zohran Mamdani (D) wanted them to go as he turns the Big Apple into his own private Strait of Hormuz. Meanwhile, too many of the Republicans we regularly vote for have no interest in reading the signs of the times, assuming they are capable of reading them at all.

That is why voters turned to Trump in the first place. It is also why he is almost all they have to rely on right now.

What kind of political party needs to be leveraged into passing legislation that would make it easier for that party to win elections — and that an overwhelming majority of the people want passed?

RELATED: America turns 250 with a broken heart

Matthew Hatcher/AFP/Getty Images

How politically brain-dead does that sound when you say it out loud?

But that is the GOP for you.

Decades of such institutional stupidity have made our politics more existentially binary than ever. We are out of options other than making the best use of what we have. It is Team GOP or bust.

I desperately dislike being in that position. In fact, I have spent much of my career trying to avoid such a fate. But again, we have to live in the world as it is.

You may have deep theological or philosophical disagreements with members of your government that, in another era, would not be reconcilable. But that is not the era we inhabit.

We live in an era of survival. The enemy is an unrelenting demonic construct, and my conscience tells me without ambiguity that it must be defeated before we are.

Two worldviews enter. One must leave. That is the only playbook before the GOP, whether the party understands it or not. Our team is on the field.

One way or another, I plan to win.

​Donald trump, John thune, Midterms, Opinion & analysis, Republicans, Save america act, Veto, Democrats, Affordable housing, Elections, Reform, Zohran mamdani, Socialism 

Millions of Americans remember where they were on the morning of September 11, 2001, and they have never forgotten the horror they felt when they watched jetliners crash into the Twin Towers in New York city, killing more than 3,000 innocent people.

“I’m sure you remember the creepy feeling that we all felt as the identities of these Muslim terrorists were unveiled, realizing these Islamists hated you,” BlazeTV host Liz Wheeler says on “The Liz Wheeler Show.”

“Well, here we are 25 years later. This same burning, smoldering hatred for America in the form of this Muslim woman is now likely being sent to represent New York City in the U.S. Congress,” she explains.

The Zohran Mamdani-endorsed Darializa Avila Chevalier won her primary election in New York City last night, beating a five-term incumbent.

However, the issue Wheeler has with her is that Chevalier, a Muslim, has openly talked about her hatred for the United States.

“I forgot to get napkins, so I just wiped my hand on the American flag behind me,” she wrote in a now-deleted post on X.

After her win, Mamdani thanked Allah.

And Chevalier herself has promised to reflect Islam in the halls of Congress.

“I know that we all deserve a representative who isn’t bought by AIPAC. I’m also the only Muslim in my family. I reverted three years ago,” she said, explaining that her friend pushed her to join the faith.

“It was seeing how all of my friends who were showing up to organizing, who are Muslim, were showing up in the space and the grace and love and passion that they had in these spaces of social justice that really pushed me to join the faith,” she went on.

“And wanting to make sure that we are reflecting that, that I’m reflecting that in every space that I’m in and that, you know, inshallah, if we make it to Congress that we’re reflecting that in the halls of power as well,” she added.

“That 25 years after September 11, these people control New York City — Zohran Mamdani is the mayor, Darializa likely on her way to the U.S. Congress representing New York City — is just appalling,” Wheeler comments.

“It’s shocking,” she adds.

Want more from Liz Wheeler?

To enjoy more of Liz’s based commentary, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

​Allah, Darializa avila chevalier, Inshallah, Liz wheeler, September 11th, Zohran mamdani, The liz wheeler show 

What is wrong with man? Every political philosophy begins with an answer to that question. Scripture’s answer changes everything.

As New York celebrated the victories of Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s endorsed candidates this week, I recalled something he said after his own victory last fall: “Praise be to Allah, the most gracious, the most merciful.” Predictably, much of the conversation has centered on his politics and, as we approach the 25th anniversary of 9/11, his public invocation of Allah.

Government can restrain the effects of evil. It cannot regenerate the human heart.

Those discussions are important, of course. But I found myself thinking about something else.

Gratitude reveals theology because we instinctively thank the one we believe governs reality. Some thank fortune. Some thank the market. Some thank government. Some thank the universe. Some thank themselves.

Our gratitude reveals what we ultimately believe about reality.

New York’s mayor publicly thanking Allah does more than express personal devotion. He is acknowledging a theological authority. Theology never stays inside the sanctuary. Eventually, it walks into the courtroom, the classroom, the legislature — and the voting booth.

Theology inevitably shapes our understanding of human nature. That understanding eventually produces a political philosophy.

Most Americans assume we are arguing about taxes, health care, immigration, education, or economics. We are not. Beneath every political argument lies another question.

What is wrong with man?

Every political philosophy answers it.

If man is basically good, then his deepest problem lies outside himself. The system is broken. The economy is broken. The institutions are broken. Change the system, and people should improve with it.

That assumption helps explain socialism’s enduring appeal. If people are basically good but trapped inside unjust structures, then changing those structures becomes the highest moral priority. Build a better system, and society should improve.

Scripture begins somewhere else.

Jeremiah addresses the heart: “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick.” Jesus locates murder, theft, adultery, greed, envy, and slander in the heart as well. Paul affirms the same conclusion when he writes in Romans that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”

RELATED: Trump showed voters the con behind the curtain

Aaron Schwartz/Bloomberg/Getty Images

If Scripture is right, no political system can solve mankind’s deepest problem.

The reformers understood that sin had not merely damaged humanity but corrupted every faculty of our being. We still bear God’s image and remain capable of astonishing courage, creativity, generosity, and sacrifice. But we are also fallen.

Those convictions profoundly influenced the political imagination of the men who framed the Constitution. The framers did not write the Constitution for basically good people. They wrote one for sinners.

They divided power through checks and balances because they knew power does not sanctify fallen people. It magnifies them.

Their greatest political achievement was not trusting themselves. As a result, the framers collectively produced a document better than they were.

Checks and balances are not expressions of political optimism. They reflect theological realism. They acknowledge that no office, no election, and no majority vote can cure what Jeremiah identified in the human heart.

The same view of human nature should shape how we think about wealth. Whenever someone accumulates great wealth, someone inevitably says, “Think what we could do with all that money.”

Elon Musk’s extraordinary wealth has simply made that argument impossible to ignore.

“Think what we could do with all that money.”

Notice what is quietly assumed. We imagine our compassion is purer, our judgment sounder, and our motives less corrupted.

RELATED: Who wants to eat a trillionaire?

Victor J. Blue/Bloomberg/Getty Images

When Mary poured perfume worth nearly a year’s wages on Jesus’ feet, Judas objected.

“Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?”

On the surface, it sounds compassionate, practical, even responsible. Then the apostle John adds one sentence that changes everything.

“He said this, not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief.”

John does not debate Judas’ proposal. He exposes Judas’ motive.

There is a kind of generosity that costs us nothing because it spends someone else’s resources. Judas voiced it. John exposed it. Every generation repeats it.

Before we recognize Judas in someone else’s politics, we ought to recognize him in ourselves.

When I stand before God, he will not ask me what others did with their resources. He will ask what I did with mine.

That question reaches far beyond money. It reaches into our families, churches, communities, opportunities, and even our suffering. How we steward each of them reveals our theology.

Politics asks, “Who should control this?” Stewardship asks, “Lord, what would you have me do with what you have entrusted to me today?”

Good government, the rule of law, checks and balances — all of those things matter. But they can only restrain the effects of what Scripture says is already there. They cannot create what Scripture says is missing.

Government bears the sword. Christ bore the cross.

Government can restrain the effects of evil. It cannot regenerate the human heart.

Only the gospel can make sinners new.

We do not merely need a better system. We need a new heart.

​Opinion & analysis, Zohran mamdani, Political philosophy, Religion, Faith, Gospel, Human nature, Elon musk, Judas iscariot, Socialism, Elections 

Lawmakers never tire of devising new ways to undermine digital privacy and First Amendment rights, always under the guise of “protecting kids.”

The KIDS Act — the Kids Internet and Digital Safety Act — is the latest piece of smug political branding and virtue-signaling to dress up heavy-handed federal overreach in the gentle language of child welfare. Lawmakers considering this legislation should ask a simple question: Could its broad and vague provisions someday be wielded by their political opponents to muzzle speech they favor?

Children deserve real and meaningful protection in the digital age. But true safety comes from empowering parents and holding actual bad actors accountable under existing laws.

Congress should reject the KIDS Act and defend the constitutional rights of all Americans.

House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Brett Guthrie (R-Ky.) and Ranking Member Frank Pallone Jr. (D-N.J.) claim this latest “safety package” is about “empowering parents, establishing safety as a default, strengthening privacy for children and teens, increasing transparency around data brokers, and holding Big Tech accountable.”

Washington has heard this pitch before. Wide-ranging digital legislation is routinely sold as a privacy measure even when it undermines privacy.

As Taxpayers Protection Alliance research director David McGarry wrote in December, “Consensus [around digital safety legislation] remains elusive, and for good reason. The regulation of the internet is shot through with difficulties.”

The Kids Online Safety Act proves the point. McGarry observed, “Seeing the imprudence and constitutional vulnerabilities of the bill, its supporters have continuously trimmed and reshaped the legislation, each time declaring that this time — finally — the bill had been rid of its deficiencies. Each time, however, the amendments proved wanting, and further efforts to amend KOSA were undertaken.”

That analysis applies just as well to the current version of KOSA included in the KIDS Act.

Supporters claim the latest version removes the “duty of care” requirement that would have forced platforms to withhold poorly defined categories of online content from underage users. But the bill still targets broad categories of constitutionally protected speech.

Digital platforms are instructed to “establish, implement, maintain, and enforce reasonable policies, practices, and procedures” addressing supposed harms to minors, including the “use of … alcohol”; “threats of physical violence so severe, pervasive, or objectively offensive that such threats impact a major life activity of a minor”; and “financial harm caused by deceptive practices.”

RELATED: Digital tyrants want your face, your ID … and your freedom

imaginima/iStock/Getty Images

Those terms are vague and dangerously elastic. What counts as the “use” of alcohol? Could a platform face scrutiny for allowing video clips featuring champagne toasts? Could a joke between friends be treated as a threat of physical violence? Because “deceptive” remains undefined, virtually any online transaction or promoted product could become a federal enforcement hook.

This minefield of liability makes a mockery of the First Amendment and chills expression across the digital domain.

The bill’s most insidious provision involves age verification.

On paper, the KIDS Act says it does not mandate age verification. That language sounds reassuring, but it functions as a legislative bait and switch. The bill imposes a legal standard holding tech platforms liable for content if they “know or should have known” a user’s age.

Consider the real-world meaning of “should have known.” If a company faces massive legal penalties or federal lawsuits for failing to determine a user’s age, it will feel compelled to verify the identity of everyone who logs on — children and adults alike.

That creates a de facto mandate requiring adults to upload driver’s licenses, biometric data, or government IDs just to read a news article, browse a forum, or use a search engine. Web users would be asked to hand over their most sensitive personal information to corporate databases that have repeatedly proved vulnerable to data breaches and foreign hackers.

Age verification on this scale is not a “best practice,” as the bill’s language suggests. It is constitutional malpractice.

The KIDS Act also responds to alleged online harms by expanding federal bureaucracy and spending more taxpayer dollars. It establishes a asinine array of busywork for busybodies: Federal Trade Commission and Health and Human Services studies, a four-year National Institutes of Health longitudinal study, public awareness campaigns, and a new “Kids Internet Safety Partnership” inside the Department of Commerce.

RELATED: Age verification laws do not make us safer

Waldemarus/iStock/Getty Images

This amounts to a major expansion of taxpayer-funded bureaucracy tasked with creating a “playbook” for more age verification.

Supporters will note that lawmakers stripped the highly controversial “duty of care” provision from previous versions of KOSA and retained explicit protections for data encryption. But removing the worst elements of an inherently broken bill does not transform it into good policy.

Children deserve real and meaningful protection in the digital age. But true safety comes from empowering parents with robust tools, advancing media literacy, and holding actual bad actors accountable under existing criminal laws.

It does not come from turning the internet into a surveillance state where adults must show their papers to browse the web.

Congress must reject the KIDS Act and protect both the Constitution and the digital domain.

​Age verification, Big tech, Child welfare, Congress, Digital privacy, First amendment, Kids act, Online safety, Opinion & analysis, Parents, Surveillance state 

A Republican-sponsored bill wants to make sure no money goes toward censoring Americans’ speech online.

Rep. Mario Díaz-Balart (R-Fla.) is credited with making key additions to the text that people who feel they have been blacklisted online will surely appreciate.

Prohibitions on any form of deplatforming, deboosting, demonetizing.

The appropriations bill, H.R. 8595, contains text specifically designed to prevent NGOs and nonprofits from aiding tech companies in online censorship.

This includes prohibitions on any form of deplatforming, deboosting, demonetizing, suppressing, or otherwise penalizing lawful speech online in the United States.

Funds also cannot be used to affect advertising, sponsorship, payment, or revenues on the basis of lawful online speech.

Additionally, no programs can help, directly or indirectly, “create, disseminate, share, or operationalize any blacklist or similar designation system.”

Mike Benz, director of the Foundation for Freedom Online, described portions of the bill as prohibiting NGOs, contractors, or subcontractors from supporting or helping a foreign government looking to wield censorship laws on platforms like X, Meta, Google, or YouTube.

RELATED: The empire cannot drone-strike its way out of decline

Eva Marie Uzcategui/Bloomberg/Getty Images

However, among many of the appropriations in the bill, which includes money to the Offices of Inspector General, the State Department, and the Treasury Department, are appropriations to a series of organizations most Americans are likely are not aware of.

Many of these organizations are spending money in a way most Republicans would not approve of either, even if they are not even in the realm of censorship.

This includes appropriations for the National Endowment for Democracy, which has a stated goal of supporting “projects of nongovernmental groups abroad who are working for democratic goals in more than 100 countries.”

The organization’s board of directors includes several sitting U.S. House members and senators.

Appropriations also go to the Israeli Arab Scholarship Program, which “funds scholarships for Israeli Arabs to attend institutions of higher education in the United States.”

RELATED: DYSTOPIA NOW? UK will scan ‘all content’ on users’ phones without face scan or uploaded ID

SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images

The Center for Middle Eastern-Western Dialogue Trust Fund also gets support in the bill, an organization that has historically served as “a bridge between Iranian and U.S. scholars and experts by including Iranian citizens in its conferences when possible.”

It also pushes dialogue on topics including “the Caspian Sea and its neighbors, unity and diversity in Iraq, and the future of Afghanistan.”

Other appropriations are provided to the East-West Center, which has a “lush 21-acre campus” in Hawaii that “promotes better relations and understanding among the people and nations of the United States, Asia, and the Pacific.”

At the same time, the Asia Foundation has a “Strategy 2030” program that aims to “build inclusive, future-ready economies.”

The House will hold a final passage vote on the bill this week.

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​News, Gop, Republicans, Foreign aid, Ngos, Nonprofits, Social media, Tech 

Blaze News readers spotted this problem from a mile away when we covered Ring’s creepy AI-powered surveillance features earlier this year. Ring should have seen it coming too, given the company’s penchant for spying on everything within viewing distance of its nearest camera — at least that’s what this new class-action lawsuit alleges. According to the suit, Amazon Ring is collecting and storing photos of passersby without their consent, and if the court finds for the plaintiff, the company will pay up to the tune of $5 million.

The lawsuit

In the class-action lawsuit filed by a Virginia man, Ring is charged with violating the privacy of millions of Americans through AI-powered facial recognition and analysis features included in many of its cameras embedded in video doorbells, mounted outdoors, and even placed inside homes.

The sad truth of the modern world is that mass surveillance is nothing new.

The suit specifically goes after Ring’s Familiar Faces feature, which is designed to detect the faces of “friends, family, and frequent visitors over time.” Once a familiar face is identified, Ring owners receive a notification that tells them which person is at the door.

In order to pull off this trick, Ring cameras allegedly must scan the faces of everyone who walks by and compare them with the facial images saved in its system. This includes friends and family members as well as complete strangers who have no idea that the camera mounted nearby is analyzing their likeness with AI. Just like that, a feature built for user personalization is now a potential tool for creating AI-generated profiles of vast numbers of unwitting Americans who did not agree to participate in Ring’s alleged public surveillance operation.

Even more problems for Ring

The lawsuit doesn’t even take into account Ring’s known spy-like feature called Search Party. Billed as a helpful tool to find lost pets, Search Party taps into a vast network of Ring cameras in a specific area to scan for lost dogs, cats, and other critters, identify them, and help owners bring them back home.

The concern here is that finding lost pets is merely the tip of the iceberg. If Ring’s surveillance dragnet can find animals, it can also scan for people, subverting privacy and crossing ethical boundaries. Even worse, a leaked email from Ring founder Jamie Siminoff admitted that mass surveillance was the true purpose of Search Party all along, concealed under the guise of stopping crime in neighborhoods.

According to Siminoff, Ring doesn’t use captured footage without users’ consent, stressing that “sharing has always been the camera owner’s choice.” This is only half true. While Familiar Faces is locked behind a manual setup process that requires users to opt in, Search Party is enabled on supported cameras by default; you must disable it manually in the Ring app to limit Ring’s spying capabilities.

RELATED: Shadowy companies are selling access to your smart TV — and its data

JDawnInk/Getty Images

Unfortunately, if the allegations are true, the anonymous people who walk in front of Ring cameras with Familiar Faces or Search Party enabled don’t get a choice in the matter, and images of these people are recorded, stored, and analyzed directly on Ring’s servers, often without their knowledge. Absent opt-in or opt-out options for these pedestrians, we come to the crux of the lawsuit.

Today’s spyware could be even more dangerous with AI

The sad truth of the modern world is that mass surveillance is nothing new. CCTV, which was first deployed in Nazi Germany to watch V-2 rocket launches from a safe distance during World War II, became a mainstay of American public security by the 1980s. Past is prologue. Fast-forward 40 years, and the powers that be have found an array of creative ways to spy on us — warrantless FISA investigations, smart TVs, smart glasses, and the list goes on.

Throughout these privacy violations, mass surveillance captured plenty of footage, but it used to take time and effort for real people to pore through it all and give it meaning. Today, AI can do all the image analyzing for governments, corporations, and bad actors in record time, allowing underground organizations to identify and monitor Americans so efficiently that it would make Communist China blush. The facade of privacy and online anonymity in America is effectively gone.

Thankfully, we still have some rights in this country, and one way we hold offenders accountable and test claims for truth is through our legal system. The class-action lawsuit against Ring was filed in June, and now the two parties have the option to settle or go to trial. While we wait, you can read the complete lawsuit here.

​Tech 

A Florida man arrested for allegedly bragging about sexually abusing his young foster child also fostered 23 other young boys with his gay husband, police say.

Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri said in a media briefing that 51-year-old John David Ballard was arrested after police received a cyber tip on May 7.

‘By his own statements, he was using these kids for his sexual pleasure.’

Ballard had allegedly admitted on the messaging app Kik that he had been sexually abusing the 7-year-old boy in his care.

Gualtieri said the messages were explicit, graphic, and “gross.”

Ballard allegedly admitted to the conversations to deputies when they served a search warrant on his phone in June. He also told officers that he’s “into some really weird stuff” after they found videos of bestiality on his phone, according to police.

Deputies allegedly found dozens of graphic child pornography images that included victims as young as 2 months old.

The investigation expanded when investigators discovered that Ballard and his husband, Bradley Borsuk, were very active in the foster community. The couple had fostered 23 young boys between 2017 and 2023 and had adopted five children between 2015 and 2023, according to police.

All of those boys were between ages 4 and 12 years old.

Gualtieri said officers had spoken to most of the boys, some of whom were now young men, and said some had described “concerning behavior” in the ongoing investigation.

Some allegedly said that Ballard would punish them by making them undress and stand in front of a window, and others said Ballard watched them take baths or showers.

Gualtieri said Ballard and his husband had even authored a book described as an adoption journal.

On June 17, Ballard was arrested and charged with 20 counts of possession of child pornography and five counts of sexual activity involving animals.

Ballard’s husband has not yet been arrested, and authorities are still considering what to do with the four adoptive children they have living in their home.

RELATED: Woman admits to horrific child sex abuse charges and bestiality — will testify against husband

“This is really a very difficult case, because it involved the betrayal of trust that the Child Welfare System puts into people who volunteer to help the most vulnerable among us. And those are children who have been abused, abandoned, and neglected,” the sheriff said.

“One thing that is really maddening about the situation is the fraud that Ballard committed on others by holding himself out as this model foster and adoptive parent,” Gualtieri added. “By his own statements, he was using these kids for his sexual pleasure.

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​Florida man, Foster children, Foster child abuse, Child sex abuse, Gay couple, Lgbtq, Crime 

The day-to-day status of negotiations may be uncertain, but the Trump administration appears to be doing everything it can to reach a deal and end the conflict with Iran.

The war had solid support from Trump’s more Fox News-oriented voters, but it remained unpopular with much of the country. It cost Trump several high-profile supporters. It also earned him the favor of political operators who previously despised him. Several figures who had declared themselves “Never Trump” suddenly discovered a strange new respect for the president once they believed he was willing to launch another regime-change war in the Middle East.

Stop allying with neoconservatives. They will always betray you in the end.

Those fair-weather allies are now melting down over the prospect of peace between America and Iran.

In his farewell address, George Washington warned the fledgling republic that foreign entanglements were dangerous to freedom and independence. He encouraged commerce with all nations but cautioned against permanent alliances and favored nations. Washington understood that favoritism toward a foreign power would invite foreign influence and lead some citizens to mistake loyalty to an ally for loyalty to the United States.

No event has vindicated that warning more clearly than the war with Iran.

Trump immediately stood out in conservative politics by taking three positions that were popular with the base and dangerous to the establishment. He opposed open borders, unfettered trade, and endless regime-change wars.

Republican politicians, conservative pundits, and Washington think tanks loathed him for all three positions, but especially for the third. Endless conflict created job security and enormous income streams for permanent Washington. The war class did not appreciate a reality television star barging in and threatening the gravy train.

Many neoconservatives abandoned the GOP once they realized Trump was not going away. Others stayed because the war-hawk establishment had deep roots in the Republican Party. They realized they could gain more influence by pretending to convert to the MAGA movement and working from within to steer policy.

Several figures who swore they would never support Trump began presenting themselves as his greatest champions, hoping they could define what MAGA should become.

When the war with Iran began, these neoconservative champions viciously attacked anyone who pointed out that the conflict contradicted Trump’s previous foreign policy. They invented slurs to brand opponents as traitors to the president and insisted that total ideological conformity was the only acceptable position.

RELATED: The empire cannot drone-strike its way out of decline

ATTA KENARE/AFP/Getty Images

The strategy worked for a time. It drove many anti-interventionists away from their previous support for Trump. That made it even more revealing when Trump moved to end the conflict and his new allies suddenly attacked him in blind rage.

America and Israel entered the conflict with very different goals. For the United States, the only real concern was preventing Iran from gaining the capacity to produce a nuclear weapon. It is unlikely an Iranian nuke could threaten the U.S. directly, but keeping hostile regimes from obtaining that capacity is a legitimate goal.

Israel saw Iran differently. For Benjamin Netanyahu, Iran was an existential threat that had to be taken off the table entirely. His goal was always to collapse the current Iranian regime, replace it, or let the country become a failed state.

As Marco Rubio indicated after the war began, Israel insisted on starting the fight knowing it would force the United States to join. The two allies were out of step from the beginning, so it is no surprise that Netanyahu has done everything possible to disrupt the peace process and achieve every military objective he can while still under the protection of American arms.

The reaction in Israel to Trump’s pursuit of peace has not been gratitude. The president’s popularity there has plummeted, and headlines accusing him of betraying Israel have appeared across the country’s newspapers. One Israeli media figure even suggested America deserved another 9/11-style terror attack so the public would be frightened back into fighting Iran.

Hardcore Israel supporters in America have reacted no better. Figures such as Ben Shapiro, who briefly departed the Never Trump camp to push for war, are now turning back against Trump. At times they try to hide their anger by blaming Vice President JD Vance for the peace deal, but no one is fooled.

Neocons pushed relentlessly for a conflict that had little to do with American interests. Once they got their war, they expected military escalation to force Trump into the wider regime-change conflict they desperately desired.

Very few presidents would have had the fortitude to exit the Iran war after realizing it was unwise. Trump did. The neoconservatives will never forgive him for that outrage.

It turns out all the rhetoric about loyalty to Trump was a farce. The neoconservatives always hated Trump and his voters, despite their change in tone after his second election. Many pundits who praised Trump’s decision to bomb Iran had tried to replace him with Ron DeSantis in the primary. The people who believed their rhetoric and followed their lead were foolish. They are notably silent now that the neoconservatives are losing their minds and turning on the president.

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

Blaze Media Illustration

What should we learn from this unwise detour into foreign adventurism?

First, Americans have little interest in extended foreign conflicts. They elected Trump to address crises at home, not to fix the Middle East.

Second, Washington was right about entangling alliances. Israel is its own country with its own priorities. It cares about the United States to the extent that America helps advance those priorities. Entering a war with an ally that does not share your interests is foolish.

Third, neoconservatives are not domestic political allies. They have no loyalty to Trump or the MAGA base and will turn on both the moment either stops serving their purposes.

The lesson is not complicated, but it is expensive. Movements that cannot distinguish temporary agreement from real alliance eventually wake up serving someone else’s agenda in wars they never wanted to fight at all.

Stop allying with neoconservatives. They will always betray you in the end.

​Opinion & analysis, Donald trump, Iran, War, Peace, Negotiation, Neocons, George washington, Farewell address, Congress, Maga, America first, Foreign policy 

Preserving the continuity, vitality, and quality of life of exurban and rural red America should be a top priority for conservative policymakers.

Instead, red America faces a multifront assault on land use and development. Corrupt local Republican politicians and their developer donors are pushing data centers, solar and wind farms, and Section 8 housing for foreign labor. Now, Congress has sent President Trump a uniparty housing bill — the Obamacare of housing — that will open the floodgates for the federal government, globalists, and special interests to force more of that transformation on red communities.

Conservatives need communities that remain intact, counties that can govern themselves, and neighborhoods that are not remade by federal bribes and developer schemes.

After years of negotiations, Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Tim Scott (R-S.C.) just sent the largest housing bill in recent memory to the president’s desk. Only five Senate Republicans voted against it. Every Democrat supported it. Trump had signaled he would sign the bill — but only after Congress passes the SAVE America Act.

The bill is being sold as a magic wand to lower housing prices. In reality, it expands the Housing and Urban Development and Federal Housing Administration programs that helped fuel the housing bubble through artificial subsidies.

Conservatives are being told the bill bars corporate ownership of residential homes. But that provision was tacked on at the 11th hour, accounts for only 19 of the bill’s 381 pages, and is riddled with loopholes. Worse, the bill’s main provisions incentivize overdevelopment and Section 8 expansion in red America, negating whatever limited utility the corporate ownership provision might have.

The result is more social transformation than the partial corporate ownership ban claims to prevent.

Obama-style zoning incentives

Section 107 sets the tone by creating a federal zoning standard for “directing local reforms,” including “mechanisms to encourage adoption” of loose zoning rules — all in the name of increasing housing inventory. It also creates a national standard for developers and builders to request special zoning and appeal denials of variances.

That may sound appealing when discussing onerous regulations in blue states. But in red America, already overbuilt since COVID, this bill will create a federal standard that pressures communities to drop one of their few remaining tools of self-defense against the transformation of their neighborhoods.

The rest of the bill offers incentives to communities that follow this national standard. Inevitably, that will encourage localities to rezone not just for housing but also for other uses, including data centers.

HUD should not exist. It certainly should not dictate zoning policy to rural America.

The zoning guidelines would push communities to “reduce minimum lot sizes and setbacks,” increase the number of “duplexes, triplexes, quadplexes,” and promote “transit-oriented development.” Nothing good will come from federal incentives that effectively impose Section 8-style housing and density mandates on suburbs, exurbs, and rural towns.

RELATED: Another tax credit won’t fix what Sunday schools used to teach

Alex Wong/Getty Images

Grant money as a weapon

Ask any conservative living in red America under RINO leadership — which describes much of America — and he will tell you that one of the greatest threats to the character of his county comes from developers working with corporatist GOP politicians, usually their donors, to transform the neighborhood through overdevelopment.

This bill does not directly mandate adoption of the zoning standards. It does something almost as dangerous: It offers local communities and developers incentives that will function like a mandate.

Section 207, written by pro-Hamas Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), creates new competitive HUD grants for states, localities, tribes, and other entities for planning, zoning reform, barrier reduction, and implementation to increase “affordable” housing supply.

Some grants will go toward reducing environmental barriers, which is how Warren got Republicans to support the bill. But much of the remaining criteria is rooted in urbanizing more of America.

The funds are contingent on adopting plans to rezone and “increase the availability of affordable housing and access to affordable housing.” In practice, this provision places a loaded gun to the head of communities that want to keep out Section 8. Nothing gets between local politicians and grant funds.

Section 208 goes further by granting funds to communities that have already demonstrated measurable progress in expanding housing supply at all costs. Eligibility criteria include localities that build more multiunit housing, reduce lot sizes, create “zoning overlays for mixed-income housing,” and use “local tax incentives or public financing for attainable housing.”

Want to densify your suburb and destroy single-family neighborhoods? This bill is for you.

Then comes the Community Development Block Grant program. Rather than following through on every Trump budget proposal’s promise to abolish this program, the bill expands it. Worse, it creates a zero-sum reallocation within the existing CDBG formula by shifting money from low-growth communities to high-growth communities.

Build more homes, and you get rewarded. Build fewer, and you get punished.

That will either shift more money to blue areas, which make up the lion’s share of places needing more inventory, or incentivize red areas to overdevelop.

Subsidizing the next bubble

No bad housing bill would be complete without provisions expanding the FHA’s authority to extend even more loans to people who cannot afford houses, thereby fueling the next housing bubble.

Section 213 allows the FHA to insure larger loans for apartment buildings, enabling more and bigger multifamily projects to be financed with FHA insurance.

Outside the Northeast, home prices are already beginning to tumble from COVID-era overbuilding, and builders are desperate to sell. In June, 35% of builders cut prices, while 62% used sales incentives to attract buyers. America does not need to expand HUD’s reach into local communities to incentivize what is already happening.

Ironically, this bill is being sold as a way to prevent corporations from transforming neighborhoods by purchasing too many homes. But almost every other provision accelerates an even greater transformation.

Section 1001 supposedly bans very large corporate investors from buying more single-family houses. But it carves out practical exceptions for new construction, build-to-rent developments, meaningful renovation programs, and certain pathways that help renters eventually buy homes.

In other words, the same corporations will enjoy even more subsidies to build Section 8 rentals in the suburbs under the bill’s extremely limited ban than they enjoyed before it.

RELATED: Home builders say immigration reform is essential to ease housing affordability crisis

Lindsey Nicholson/UCG/Universal Images Group/Getty Images

No one is home

This is why Congress should not rush through a bill of this magnitude on the suspension calendar without debate.

Then again, nobody is home in the so-called conservative movement to flag a bill this large. Obamacare could pass overnight, and the loudest voices on the right might not even notice.

The bill’s supporters claim they are solving a housing crisis. In reality, they are giving HUD, developers, corporate investors, and local Republican sellouts more tools to transform red America.

Conservatives do need homes. They need communities that remain intact, counties that can govern themselves, and neighborhoods that are not remade by federal bribes and developer schemes.

That is the home conservatives must ultimately construct. Where is the bill to expedite that construction?

​Affordable housing, Donald trump, Elizabeth warren, Housing and urban development, Obamacare, Opinion & analysis, Rural america, Section 8, Senate, Tim scott, Red america, Development, Grants 

When Trump won the presidency in 2024, several celebrities made good on their promise to evacuate the United States — but that’s not stopping them from coming back.

Rosie O’Donnell famously fled to Ireland with her 13-year-old child, Clay, immediately after Trump’s win, and returned this June for the Tony Awards.

While O’Donnell had no issues getting back into the States, she made it clear that she was “worried” that it would be “problematic” the first time she returned on a secret trip in February.

“I worried the first time I came back, whether that would be problematic, and I came alone without my child, who is 13 and has autism. She’s my youngest of five,” she told Page Six in an interview. “I wanted to make sure that if anything happened, it didn’t happen in her presence, so it was fine — as it should be.”

O’Donnell explained that Trump “can’t really arrest American citizens without cause” and speaking out against him is “using freedom speech” and “is not a reason to be arrested in America.”

BlazeTV host Jeff Fisher points out that O’Donnell also called Trump an “a-hole and a con man.”

“That’s so surprising for her,” BlazeTV host Pat Gray adds.

But O’Donnell isn’t the only one.

While Ellen DeGeneres also made a big show of moving to the U.K. after Trump’s election, she purchased land in California after the move.

“They’d already sold both their homes in Los Angeles, both their mansions in L.A.,” Gray explains, “and so they had to go back home, and they bought a new mansion in Los Angeles where she spent her birthday this year.”

Want more from Pat Gray?

To enjoy more of Pat’s biting analysis and signature wit as he restores common sense to a senseless world, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

​Pat gray, Jeff fisher, Ellen degeneres, Donald trump, Rosie o’donnell, America, Liberal, Pat gray unleashed 

Second lady Usha Vance had a humorous rejoinder to a fashion critic politicizing her pregnancy style in the New York Times.

The vice president’s wife was the subject of fashion scrutiny over the dress she wore and how it related to the “paradigm-shifting” politics of the administration.

Fashion critic Vanessa Friedman described Vance’s ‘stretchy coral dress that hugs her stomach’ before launching full-bore into the deep end.

Vance responded by ridiculing the attempt to find deep political significance in her fashion choices.

“Now that we know the political significance of my $8.75 coral maternity dress from Old Navy, can’t wait to hear what the New York Times has to say about my elastic-waistband pants and compression socks!” she joked in the post on the X platform.

“In the meantime, enjoy my pregnancy fashion (or lack thereof) and a good story with your kids,” she added, with a video link to a storybook reading with her husband.

New York Times fashion critic Vanessa Friedman described Vance’s “stretchy coral dress that hugs her stomach” before launching full-bore into the deep end.

“That three such prominent women in the MAGA movement were pregnant at pretty much the same time was, indubitably, a coincidence. But for an administration that has such an intuitive and strategic understanding of the power of aesthetics that an unspoken dress code in which men outfit themselves in the image of the president has developed, it has also become a telling one,” Friedman wrote.

“Together, the women have created a notably consistent, and somewhat paradigm-shifting, picture of the White House’s family and fertility platform,” she added.

Vance also posted the receipt proving she paid $8.75 for the bright coral-colored Old Navy dress — on sale from $49.99 to $12.49 and reduced further with a discount.

Paradigms have rarely been shifted at such bargain prices.

RELATED: White House hammers Jen Psaki over comments on Usha Vance: ‘Circle back on that, moron’

In this round, the second lady easily knocked out the Gray Lady.

Vance announced in January her pregnancy with the couple’s fourth child. The baby will be the first to be born to a sitting vice president.

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​New york times, White house, Usha vance, Usha vance pregnant, Fashion critic, Politics 

The MyPillow founder and CEO is sleeping easy after reaching a settlement with Dominion Voting Systems over allegations regarding the 2020 election.

Dominion, which is now known as Liberty Vote, filed the defamation lawsuit against Mike Lindell in 2021 and sought $1.3 billion in damages.

‘I can now run for governor, win governor.’

On Monday, five years later, Lindell’s attorneys and the company filed to end the lawsuit with prejudice after settling out of court. The “with prejudice” condition restricts the same lawsuit from being filed in the future.

Liberty Vote said in a statement only that “the parties have agreed to a confidential settlement to this matter.”

Lindell is running for governor of Minnesota, and the latest polling showed that he is the leading Republican in the race. In March the party endorsed Kendall Qualls, an Army veteran and former health care executive.

Lindell said in a statement to WCCO-TV that the end of the lawsuit was a “big relief” for him.

“I can now run for governor, win governor, and not have to have in the back of my mind a worry about a $1.3 billion lawsuit,” he added.

Lindell was previously ordered to pay $2.3 million to a Dominion employee for defamation and ordered to pay DHL $780,000 in Jan. 2025. A federal judge also ruled that Lindell had defamed the Smartmatic voting machine company. A court has yet to determine if the case meets the “actual malice” standard that could lead to Lindell paying damages to Smartmatic.

He issued a defiant response in Jan. 2021 to the Dominion lawsuit threat.

Dominion had similarly sued former NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani and ended the lawsuit in Sept. 2025 with an undisclosed settlement.

RELATED: Mike Lindell says the FBI confiscated his cell phone at drive-thru of a Hardee’s

The three top Republican primary candidates are all seeking the endorsement from President Donald Trump, who has said only that Lindell “deserves” to be governor.

Whoever wins the Republican primary on August 11 will run against Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) in the general election.

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​Mike lindell, Politics, Minnesota, 2020 election, Defamation, Dominion voting systems 

FIFA officials are refusing to back down on their first “Pride Match” for the World Cup despite objections from Iran and Egypt, Islamic nations where homosexuality is illegal.

The two countries are scheduled to compete in the match at Seattle Stadium on Friday, which will also include soccer- and rainbow-themed events with the LGBTQ+ community.

‘Whether that is Iran, Egypt, Qatar, Bosnia … or, frankly, the United States of America, we can all do better when it comes to inclusion’

“We are here to ensure that everybody who comes to visit, and anybody who’s watching this game, understands that we celebrate people, their sexual identity, their sexual orientation, and we are an inclusive and safe place to visit and live in,” said Pride Match co-chair Jen Barnes to the Seattle Times.

The match will be followed by the Seattle Pride Parade the following day in the downtown of the city.

FIFA says that fans will be allowed to bring in Pride flags to the stadium, as well as other flags advocating sexual orientation and gender identity.

The Iranian regime considers homosexuality a crime punishable up to death, while Egypt outlaws homosexual activities under laws banning “indecency.”

In December both Iran and Egypt objected to participating in the LGBTQ+ match, but neither pulled out of the contest.

Hedda McLendon, the senior vice president of legacy for the host committee in Seattle, told the Times that they were not pressured by FIFA to change their planned celebration.

“It was always about inclusion and visibility,” she said, “and whether that is Iran, Egypt, Qatar, Bosnia, Herzegovina, Australia, or, frankly, the United States of America, we can all do better when it comes to inclusion and LGBTQ visibility.”

According to California state Sen. Scott Wiener (D), both of the countries demanded that Pride flags be banned from the Pride match, but FIFA denied the demands.

RELATED: Pride activist outraged at CA city officials for canceling festival — then officials fire back

“Hard no to these violent, repressive regimes,” he added. “And huge gratitude & respect to the LGBTQ Egyptians & Iranians — in these countries & in diaspora — who fight so hard, putting their lives at risk, to shed light on & to end this violent repression.”

“If Iran and Egypt don’t want to see Pride flags at their match in Seattle, that’s just too damn bad,” responded transgender activist Charlotte Clymer on social media. “LGBTQ folks were intentionally erased in Qatar in 2022 due to ‘respect for local culture.’ Seattle supports LGBTQ people. Respect the local culture.”

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​World cup, Homosexuality, Lgbtq agenda, Pride parade, Seattle, Politics 

The tension in the Women’s National Basketball Association is boiling over as star player Caitlin Clark continues to take what many commentators are describing as targeted abuse.

The Indiana Fever guard has been increasingly critical of the WNBA’s officiating while opposing teams have continued their physical play against her.

‘She is not being treated with any sort of respect.’

Clark recently complained about getting “a technical [foul] for clapping” (again), and added, “We should all just go on the calendar now and pick a game that I’m going to be suspended for if I’m going to get technicals for clapping.”

While the 24-year-old’s “emotion” and “passion”-fueled play may contribute to her rough treatment, the league seems ready to explode over recent incidents with her involving physical altercations.

On Monday, Clark narrowly avoided an elbow to the face from Phoenix Mercury player Alyssa Thomas, which resulted in a review in which officials still found Clark guilty of a foul.

Then again on Wednesday against the Mercury, things took a turn when Thomas seemingly pushed her fist into Clark’s throat while she was on the ground, but no foul was called during the game. This — and another incident that reportedly injured Clark’s back and resulted in a foul for the Mercury — seemed to be the final straw and set off a firestorm in the league, starting with Clark’s coach, Stephanie White.

“The fist in the throat is crazy,” White said after the game. “It’s crazy. It’s dangerous.”

“We have a generational talent and a WNBA superstar who had two cheap shots right there that weren’t called. And I just say again, absolutely unacceptable,” the coach yelled.

RELATED: Jason Whitlock: Nike and the WNBA fumbled the Caitlin Clark phenomenon

– YouTube

Sports media broadcasters did not bite their tongue after the fouls, either.

Barstool Sports owner Dave Portnoy shared a clip of the dangerous foul and asked, “What are we even doing here?”

“Brutal cheap shot. These women would still be flying commercial without Caitlin and this is how she is treated. Insane,” Portnoy said, referring to the WNBA players getting chartered flights in 2024, Clark’s first season in the league.

Former NFL MVP Boomer Esiason said after the foul that Clark should “seriously consider” going to play in a different league. Esiason claimed she would get “the royal treatment” if she went elsewhere.

“I think that there’s a petty, petty jealousy, and she’s a straight white basketball player. And she is not being treated with any sort of respect,” Esiason added.

RELATED: ‘Just follow the money’: NFL doctor reveals why so many players are getting injured

– YouTube

At the same time, legendary Fox Sports host Colin Cowherd accused the WNBA of “driving into a wall at full speed with Caitlin Clark.”

Cowherd pointed out that a brand-new poster put out by the league commemorating 30 years of history did not include Clark on it. The poster featured Angel Reese, who came into the league the same year as Clark, as well as Paige Bueckers, a rookie.

On Thursday afternoon, the WNBA announced it was giving Thomas a flagrant foul 2 for making contact with Clark’s throat, ESPN reported. This came with a one-game suspension.

Despite praising the league and its diversity in 2024, Clark has continued to be snubbed by women’s basketball. She was even passed for the women’s USA basketball roster for the 2024 Summer Olympics.

Clark also only finished fourth in MVP voting for the WNBA in 2024.

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Pastor Kody Woodard has gone viral for claiming the Bible supports female pastors, but BlazeTV host Allie Beth Stuckey disagrees, saying he’s building his argument on passages that don’t support the claim.

“For the record, I do believe that women can be pastors. And the reason I believe that is because Scripture shows me that,” Woodard said in a video on Instagram.

“I study the Scriptures, and I actually see that Apollos, who Paul compares himself to later, was actually taught by a woman. Read Acts 18. In Acts 21, four unmarried women prophesy in church. In Colossians, Nympha was the pastor of the church, and they met in her house. Chloe, same thing in first Corinthians 1. Romans 16, 1 and 2. Phoebe is a deacon. First Corinthians 11, women prayed and prophesied in the church,” he continued.

“OK, not a single one of these examples is of a female pastor. And I see this a lot. Oh, this woman taught this person, or this woman corrected this person’s theology, or this woman shared her testimony, or this woman was told by Jesus to go share what He had done for her,” Stuckey comments.

“I do believe that women are called to preach the gospel. I do believe that women can correct someone’s theology. I think women can talk about theology. I think women can love the Bible and teach Bible studies,” she continues.

“But none of the examples that were given were of a woman leading a church as a pastor. Even the passage about women prophesying or the Holy Spirit coming upon men and women to prophesy has nothing to do with women being pastors,” she adds.

In another clip, Woodard explained that any verses interpreted to command women to be silent in churches or not preach in churches are taken “out of context.”

“People who make this kind of argument, you are banking on your congregation not reading the passage for themselves. That’s it … I saw someone in these comments say, ‘Oh, that was so textual. That was so scholarly.’ It’s not at all. It’s banking on you not reading Scripture for yourself,” Stuckey says.

“So that’s what’s going on here. And you can think that that is somehow oppressive or that is anti-woman. The truth is that women are just as made in the image of God as men, is that we have been given gifts, we have been given talents,” she continues.

“The Bible is not an anti-woman text, but it is an anti-egalitarian text. It is an anti-men and women are the same text and are called to the same function and purpose,” she says, adding, “We are not.”

Want more from Allie Beth Stuckey?

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

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A woman allegedly caught on video dumping garbage all over a Manhattan street before stealing a special-edition New York Knicks trash bin has been canned from her corporate job. Reports say the viral trash-can culprit was later identified as a JPMorgan Chase executive.

More than 2 million people descended upon lower Manhattan on June 18 for the New York Knicks’ ticker-tape victory parade to celebrate the NBA team’s first championship in 53 years, according to the NYPD.

‘First, we would reiterate previous comments that dumping trash onto the street and stealing public property for your own personal use are both illegal, antisocial behaviors, and not what New Yorkers do.’

Prior to the championship parade, the New York City Department of Sanitation released limited-edition blue- and orange-colored garbage cans to commemorate the Knicks’ long-awaited NBA championship. The Knicks-themed bins were situated in the “Canyon of Heroes” corridor of lower Manhattan.

While the Knicks parade had several viral moments, one of the most widely shared videos from the celebration was a woman donning Knicks garb, emptying garbage from a Knicks-themed trash can on the street, and then stealing the receptacle.

A post on the X social media platform shared on June 18, with nearly 4 million views, shows a smiling woman posing with a Knicks-themed trash can for a photo in the subway.

On Tuesday, the New York Post identified the woman as 40-year-old Angie Baez.

Citing her LinkedIn profile, the Post noted that Baez was a JPMorgan Chase employee who was promoted to executive director of community and industry engagement for card and connected commerce over a year ago.

Sources told the Post that JPMorgan officials “looked into the incident after the video surfaced.”

The New York Post reported that Baez “was fired Tuesday over the incident.”

A JPMorgan Chase spokesperson told the Post, “This employee is no longer with the company.”

On Wednesday, a JPMorgan spokesperson confirmed to NBC News that Baez is no longer employed by the company.

“The spokesperson would not comment on if she left the company as a result of the video,” according to NBC News.

On Wednesday, the Department of Sanitation confirmed that the trash can was returned. The Department of Sanitation shared a post on Facebook of the Knicks-themed trash can with the caption: “Home sweet home.”

The Department of Sanitation issued a statement to NBC News that read:

First, we would reiterate previous comments that dumping trash onto the street and stealing public property for your own personal use are both illegal, antisocial behaviors, and not what New Yorkers do. On top of all that, doing both on camera is incredibly stupid.

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On Saturday, the New York City Police Department informed the Post that it had not received any complaints related to the incident and that Baez has not been charged with any crimes.

Under New York State law, the theft of property valued at $1,000 or less is prosecuted under New York Penal Law § 155.25 as petit larceny, a Class A misdemeanor.

“Consequences are often minimal — usually a fine, summons, or community service for first-time offenders,” according to the Post. “The littering that accompanied the theft could bring additional penalties.”

The Department of Sanitation confirmed to Fox News that NYC Sanitation Police slapped Baez with two summonses following the incident: a $75 fine for littering and a $100 penalty for impeding sanitation operations.

A request for comment from JPMorgan Chase was not returned to Blaze News by the time of publication.

Baez did not immediately respond to NBC News and the New York Post.

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​News, Jpmorgan chase, New york city, Jp morgan, Manhattan, Politics