Category: blaze media

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker (D) attempted in an interview on Thursday to once again gaslight Americans about the bloodletting in his state’s most populous city. Evidently immune to the Democrat’s latest deception, Fox News host Bret Baier shut down Pritzker’s attempt and confronted him with the facts about Chicago’s obscenely high murder rate.

“Why does Chicago have the highest murder rate of all the big cities?” asked Baier.

‘JB Pritzker just flat out lied about an obvious fact.’

Pritzker, whom President Donald Trump recently suggested should be jailed, responded, “Well, we are not in the top 30 in terms of our murder rate. … Our murder rate has been cut in half over the last four years, and every year it’s gone down by double digits, and if you look at all of the violent crime over the last four years, they’ve all gone down.”

Baier then pulled up a map highlighting the apparent murder rates for America’s biggest cities. The graphic indicated that Chicago led the way in blood with a murder rate of 17.47 homicides per 100,000 people.

By way of comparison, the reported murder rate for: Philadelphia was 16.91; Dallas was 13.62; Houston was 13.8; San Antonio was 8.39; Phoenix was 8.36; Los Angeles was 6.95; and New York City was 4.5.

RELATED: Trump urges SCOTUS to unleash National Guard in Chicago amid protests, increase in violence against ICE

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker. Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

According to the Illinois-focused research nonprofit Wirepoints, Chicago ranked first last year for total murders out of the nation’s 75 biggest cities, with 573 homicides. It also reportedly experienced the most homicides per capita among the nation’s 20 biggest cities last year.

Chicago Police Department statistics indicate that as of Oct. 19, the city has seen 347 known homicides so far this year.

After Baier noted that “Chicago is number one over Philadelphia, Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, Phoenix, Los Angeles, New York, and San Diego,” Pritzker said, “Look, you can pull statistics up. I can too.”

“No, no, no,” said Baier. “These are murders.”

“I’m explaining to you that our murder rate has been cut in half, and very importantly, Bret, and you gotta hear this, very importantly we’ve been doing the things that are necessary to bring crime down, right?” added the Democratic governor.

Critics had a field day with Pritzker’s attempt to put a positive spin on Chicago’s murder rate.

“JB Pritzker just flat out lied about an obvious fact,” wrote Elon Musk.

Former National Rifle Association spokeswoman Dana Loesch wrote, “Cut in half and still number one. Great job, @GovPritzker.”

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​Illinois, Chicago, Murder, Violence, Crime, Brand johnson, Jb pritzker, Donald trump, Bret baier, Lying, Gaslighting, Politics 

Despite having an uncountable number of consumer goods available at the click of a button at prices our grandparents would have found astonishing, our homes are full of junk that isn’t worth the wholesale cost.

New washing machines last a year or three at best, according to Americans who buy them. Worse, they don’t even wash clothes well, reined in as they are by government diktats about water and power consumption.

I spent $15 for a beautiful, indestructible lifetime blender. Yes, the pitcher is glass.

The same is true of almost every other appliance and machine in the contemporary American home. But it didn’t used to be this way. First, I’m going to tell you a story. Then I’m going to come back to the present and show you how to live like a king or queen on a budget with yesterday’s consumer durables.

Merit-ocracy

My mother was standing over the dishwasher in our kitchen in 1986. It was a model from the 1950s, one of the wheeled, portable ones you brought over and hooked to the sink tap with a hose. The top-loading machine’s lid had what you might call formica “inlay” in 50s colors with random sparkles embedded. It was meant to be used as a countertop so that the bulky machine wasn’t merely a space-taker in a small kitchen.

My mother was holding a broken clock radio. The digital display had “zeroed out,” showing only 00:00 no matter what time it was.

“Damn it,” she said, exhaling from her Merit Ultra Light 100. “I just bought this a few months ago. There was a time when ‘made in America’ meant something. We used to make the best-quality goods in the world. Whatever you bought you could depend on for a long time. What the hell happened?”

The dishwasher’s faithful service proved her point. The “outdated” 1950s dishwasher still cleaned dishes trouble-free. That was probably the first time I contemplated what it meant to call an appliance “outdated.” Within a few years, it was evident that “outdated” only meant “not in colors the people on TV think are modern.”

The new clock radio made in 1986 couldn’t even give us three months’ service before going kaput. But the 1956 wash-o-matic was whirring its way to clean dishes in May 1986 as well as it did for its first owner during the Eisenhower administration.

New phone, why dis?

How many of your devices or appliances offer such simple, consistent performance? Are you satisfied with your new low-water front-loader and its Byzantine maze of touch-screen “options,” none of which are “wash my clothes in 25 minutes”? How about the repair bill for the chipset when the “smart” computer inside it fails, leaving the perfectly good mechanics idle?

Do you like buying a new phone every few years? Think about that. Do you remember getting a “new phone” all the time 30 years ago? The very idea is absurd. Sure, our telephones in those days were simply and only telephones, not dating machines, compasses, and navigation systems. But are we sure that planned obsolescence in our every-device-in-one-wearable-computer is a lifestyle upgrade?

You can get a new microwave, blender, or vacuum cleaner at Walmart for astoundingly low prices adjusted for inflation. In fact, you can get each of these in multiple versions and colors. But what, specifically and actually, are you getting? Cheap plastic that looks good on a display shelf but that scuffs, cracks, and loses tension-holding shape after a few uses.

And do you need a new microwave? A new vacuum? If you said “yes” to that, are you sure? What is it that you “need” from a new appliance that you’re not getting from the old one? Assuming it’s not broken — and a lot of appliance purchases are made simply to “upgrade” — what’s wrong with your old vacuum?

Be honest. You know that you don’t “need” most of these things. You’re buying them because of free-floating anxiety about keeping up with the Joneses. You want a new microwave and a new vacuum and new stainless-steel-fronted appliances because everyone else’s kitchen looks like this. Despite their inflated claims, the “updated” versions of almost all of these simple mechanicals do nothing different than their ancestors from 50 years ago.

But now they’re ugly and short-lived.

RELATED: Ode to an Electrolux model L

Matt Himes

Sucks to be new

You don’t have to do any of this. In fact, you can live like royalty for almost no money, with all your mechanical and appliance needs met at the contemporary level of convenience and comfort you want.

You can have yesterday’s quality today by buying old, solidly built appliances for a fraction of their price when new. This is how I live. For at least two decades, the only brand-new things that have come into my home are computers and consumables. My furniture, my lighting, my appliances — all of it came from secondhand stores or online auctions.

I made a mistake recently in deviating from that path. When I sold my first house two years ago, I left my late 1970s all-mechanical-dial Kenmore washer and dryer behind. More fool me; as soon as I can use this brand-new modern junk-box General Electric calls a washing machine for shotgun target practice, the better.

Observe. This was my mother’s Electrolux vacuum from the early 1980s:

Josh Slocum

Power everything. Has never broken. If it does, a repair shop makes quick, cheap work of any repair I can’t do. Yes, parts and bags are still made. This machine cost the equivalent of $600 to $1,000 in today’s money when it was new.

This is my working blender. It’s a 1961 Waring “Blendor,” one of the most durable ever made:

Josh Slocum/smartstock/Getty Images

And do admit, it’s got art deco beauty even though it bears the scuff marks of age. Yes, it’s as solid and heavy as it looks. It has all it needs: two speeds and off. The colorful fabric cord is a replacement I put on, as the old one was frayed; all that took was a $5 cord and a Phillips-head screwdriver. $10 at the flea market, $5 for a cord. I spent $15 for a beautiful, indestructible lifetime blender. Yes, the pitcher is glass.

If you’re willing to expand your thinking and put away silly modern fears, you can also have beautiful, practical lighting that gives your home real warmth.

Josh Slocum/elleran/Getty Images

This kerosene lamp would have been found in your home in the late 1880s. It was as common as any electric gooseneck from Ikea today. This model, the New Juno, is now 140 years old and it works as well as the day it left the factory. I paid about $95 for it.

Antique kerosene lighting is my hobby, and I light and heat my home with three to five out of my collection of several dozen throughout the winter. This lamp alone is enough to heat my medium-size living room during a Vermont winter. It’s bright enough to read and work by, and in a pinch, you can cook over it during a power outage if you rig up a trivet. There are no solar panels or cussed digital panels to go wrong. Yes, replacement parts like glass chimneys and wicks are still made.

RELATED: Cold plunge: How I survive winters in the sticks

Mladen Antonov/Getty Images

Seek the antique

My guess is that readers find this pretty appealing even if it’s the first time they’ve considered stocking their homes this way. Once you get over the marketing-inculcated idea that you’re weird or missing out by not having the latest model of this or that, you realize that you can live like a king or queen for almost no money. You can have the same work-saving devices you’re used to. But these will work better for longer.

Aren’t they more charming to look at? When I share pictures of my working home goods on social media, people seem to love it. A common response: “Your house looks like my great-grandma’s!” They mean it as a compliment, and I mean my house to look and feel that way. I think we’re all getting tired of waking up to “updated” homes in Millennial Mortuary Gray and Bare Bones Joanna Gaines Shiplap bulls**t. The sterile field look wears better at the dentist’s office than it does in the den.

I haven’t given anything up. I have all the mod cons that do the same work as any new equipment, but I got them cheaper, they will last longer, and they please the eye. Try it — you may fall in love.

​Appliances, Lifestyle, Planned obsolescence, Smartphones, Electrolux, Home goods, Intervention 

A high school cheerleader who dreamed of becoming a nurse was shot during a party in a wooded area of Alabama. The 18-year-old died after being taken off life support because her gunshot wounds were so severe.

Kimber Mills was a senior at Cleveland High School, where she also ran track.

‘We shouldn’t be burying our little sister.’

Mills was attending a bonfire party over the weekend in a wooded area known as “The Pit,” according to AL.com.

The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement that deputies responded to a report of a shooting in the town of Pinson just before 12:30 a.m. Sunday

“Upon arrival, deputies discovered three victims suffering from apparent gunshot wounds: a 21-year-old male, an 18-year-old male, and an 18-year-old female,” the sheriff’s office stated, adding that all three were taken to area hospitals.

Trussville Police Chief Eric Rush said Mills was shot in the head and the leg.

The sheriff’s office later learned that a fourth shooting victim, a 20-year-old female, had been transported to a hospital in a personal vehicle.

The three surviving victims have non-life-threatening injuries.

Police said the preliminary investigation indicated that a “verbal and physical altercation escalated and resulted in gunfire.”

Kimber’s sister, Ashley Mills, told AL.com that the alleged shooter was trying to talk to one of Kimber’s friends, offering her drinks, and trying to get close to her.

“The girl told her boyfriend, a fight involving multiple people ensued, and shots were fired,” AL.com reported.

Ashley Mills said, “Kimber was caught in the crossfire.”

The sheriff’s office named 27-year-old Steven Tyler Whitehead as the shooter. The suspect remains in custody at the Jefferson County Jail. Whitehead is being held without bond.

Whitehead initially was charged with three counts of attempted murder. However, an additional charge of murder was filed against Whitehead on Wednesday after Mills died.

Image source: Jefferson County (Ala.) Sheriff’s Office

Mills was taken to the University of Alabama Hospital in critical condition, but Ashley Mills said there was “too much trauma to her brain,” and Kimber was placed on a breathing machine.

“There is no surgery that would give her a life worth living,” Ashley said.

But Kimber had already decided to be an organ donor — to give others a chance at life.

“We’ve already got it set up for her to be an organ donor because that’s what she wanted,” Ashley said.

Ashley Mills told WBRC that Kimber’s heart and lungs have already been matched with recipients.

On Tuesday, the hospital staff joined Mills’ family and friends for an Honor Walk — a ceremony during which medical staff line the hallway to honor a patient before being transported to the Legacy of Hope organ center roughly two blocks away.

Kimber’s brother, Michael Mills, led a prayer in the hallway.

“Heavenly Father, thank you Lord for this young woman, my sister, I love her so much Lord,” Michael prayed. “I pray for swift hands of the surgeons, Lord, that we do what needs to be done to save other lives Lord.”

Michael continued. “I pray no fear, no sadness Lord, no hatred. Thank you, Lord, for Kimber. Please protect us in these uncertain times.”

A Legacy of Hope representative told AL.com, “Today we stand in awe of a true hero, giving of themselves so that others may live.”

“May the recipients enjoy restored health and recognize the magnitude of such a rare and remarkable gift,” the spokesperson stated. “Thank you, Kimber, for the life-saving legacy you are leaving behind. We honor you today and always.”

RELATED: Minnesota trooper charged in ‘full throttle’ crash that killed high school cheerleader weeks before graduation

Mills died Tuesday when she was taken off life support, WBRC reported.

“We shouldn’t be burying our little sister. It should be the other way around,” Ashley Mills said. “It’s supposed to go from oldest to youngest not youngest first.”

According to WBRC-TV, Rodney Green, superintendent of Blount County Schools, released the following statement:

Our school district is deeply saddened today to learn of the passing of one of our students, Ms. Kimber Mills. Kimber was a bright, outgoing senior cheerleader for Cleveland High School. Kimber’s smile and infectious personality will certainly be missed, but she will always be remembered. Our heart is burdened for her family and for the impact this will have on the students, faculty, and staff at Cleveland High School. Please keep our Cleveland Family in your thoughts and prayers! I do want to thank everyone that has reached out to this family and supported them during this tragedy.

AL.com reported that Kimber was planning to attend the University of Alabama next year with a dream of becoming a nurse.

A GoFundMe campaign was launched to help support Mills’ family, which cited Psalm 34:18: “The Lord is close to the brokenhearted; he rescues those whose spirits are crushed.”

The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment by Blaze News.

Anyone with information related to the shooting is urged to contact the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office at 205-325-1450 or Crime Stoppers at 205-254-7777.

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​Cheerleader, Cheerleader killed, Cheerleader murder, Kimber mills, Murder, Shooting, Crime, Alabama, High school senior, Fatal shooting, Arrest, Organ donation 

President Donald Trump announced late Thursday evening that he was terminating all trade negotiations with Canada.

The president — who struck a positive tone about the northern nation during his meeting earlier this month with Prime Minister Mark Carney and signaled a desire to make a deal on steel, aluminum, and energy — indicated that the decision to nix trade talks was in response to “egregious behavior,” namely the decision by a provincial government to run TV ads critiquing tariffs south of the border.

‘CANADA CHEATED AND GOT CAUGHT!!!’

“The Ronald Reagan Foundation has just announced that Canada has fraudulently used an advertisement, which is FAKE, featuring Ronald Reagan speaking negatively about Tariffs,” wrote Trump. “The ad was for $75,000,000. They only did this to interfere with the decision of the U.S. Supreme Court, and other courts.”

The U.S. Supreme Court is set to hear oral arguments next month regarding the legality of the tariffs imposed by Trump under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.

Trump apparently saw the ad earlier in the week, telling reporters on Tuesday, “If I was Canada, I’d take that same ad also. They’re actually on television taking ads.”

Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s office indicated last week that it was spending $75 million on an anti-tariff ad that would air on ABC, Bloomberg, CBS, CNBC, ESPN, Fox News, NBC, Newsmax, and other networks.

Ford noted on Oct. 16, “It’s official: Ontario’s new advertising campaign in the U.S. has launched. Using every tool we have, we’ll never stop making the case against American tariffs on Canada. The way to prosperity is by working together.”

RELATED: After years of woke land acknowledgments, some Canadian homeowners may soon be evicted

Ontario Premier Doug Ford. Photographer: David Kawai/Bloomberg via Getty Images

The premier, a staunch critic of the raft of high tariffs Trump has imposed on imports from Canada, reportedly suggested to a crowd of Toronto businessmen last week that he was hoping the ad, which contains audio from former President Ronald Reagan’s April 25, 1987, radio address regarding protectionism, would resonate with Republicans.

In his address to the Toronto crowd, Ford cited new research from Yale University’s Budget Lab indicating that “consumers face an overall average effective tariff rate of 18.0%, the highest since 1934,” and that U.S. tariffs and foreign retaliation would cost American families roughly $1,800 a year in lost income.

“That ad — it’s not a nasty ad. It’s actually just very factual,” said Ford. “Coming from a person like Ronald Reagan, every Republican is going to identify that voice.”

The Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute issued a statement on Thursday, claiming that the ad “misrepresents the Presidential Radio Address, and the Government of Ontario did not seek nor receive permission to use and edit the remarks.”

A spokesperson for Ford’s office denied wrongdoing, telling Canadian state media, “The commercial uses an unedited excerpt from one of President Reagan’s public addresses, which is available through public domain.”

Reagan’s remarks in Ford’s ad all hail from the same five-minute speech in which the former president discussed both America’s commitment to free trade and why he felt compelled to impose duties on select Japanese products. Contrary to the suggestion by Ford’s spokesperson, the excerpt of the speech that appears in the 60-second ad has been substantially edited with the apparent intent to drive Ford’s anti-tariff theme. For example:

multiple sentences were cut; one sentence was lifted from its original spot at the outset of the speech and inserted midway through the ad with a “that” apparently swapped out for a “but”;another portion, which originally appeared just before the opening remarks heard in the speech, now appears toward the end of the voice-over; andthe second-last last line of the original speech — “America’s jobs and growth are at stake” — has been moved to serve as a conclusion for the ad.

Below is a transcript of the Reagan voice-over for the ad. The ellipses signal where content was dropped, and those segments lifted from their original context elsewhere in the speech appear in bold:

When someone says, “Let’s impose tariffs on foreign imports,” it looks like they’re doing the patriotic thing by protecting American products and jobs. And sometimes for a short while it works — but only for a short time. [But] over the long run such trade barriers hurt every American worker and consumer. … High tariffs inevitably lead to retaliation by foreign countries and the triggering of fierce trade wars. … Then the worst happens: Markets shrink and collapse; businesses and industries shut down; and millions of people lose their jobs. Throughout the world, there’s a growing realization that the way to prosperity for all nations is rejecting protectionist legislation and promoting fair and free competition. America’s jobs and growth are at stake.

The foundation indicated it was “reviewing its legal options in this matter” and provided a link to the full speech on YouTube, which is labeled as “unrestricted” for both access and use restrictions.

Trump leaned in to his criticism of Canada and the province’s ad on Friday morning, writing, “CANADA CHEATED AND GOT CAUGHT!!! They fraudulently took a big buy ad saying that Ronald Reagan did not like Tariffs, when actually he LOVED TARIFFS FOR OUR COUNTRY, AND ITS NATIONAL SECURITY.”

“Canada is trying to illegally influence the United States Supreme Court in one of the most important rulings in the history of our Country,” continued Trump. “Canada has long cheated on Tariffs, charging our farmers as much as 400%. Now they, and other countries, can’t take advantage of the U.S. any longer.”

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

Canadian state media indicated that Carney’s office did not immediately respond to its request for comment.

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​Tariffs, Tariff, Trade, Foreign, Canada, Donald trump, Supreme court, Scotus, Ads, Doug ford, Mark carney, Canadian, Trading, Reagan, Politics 

Not long ago, nearly everyone — Democrats included — agreed that Andrew Cuomo was finished, a despicable scoundrel unfit for public office. As governor of New York, he presided over the deaths of thousands of seniors by forcing nursing homes to accept COVID-positive patients. He pushed bail “reform” laws that unleashed violent criminals on the public. And after years of lecturing others about sexism, he resigned in disgrace for allegedly groping female subordinates.

That should have been the end of his political career. It wasn’t.

The conservative establishment’s embrace of Andrew Cuomo exposes what it has become: a protection racket for failed elites.

Now Cuomo is back, running for mayor of New York City, and astonishingly, he’s doing so with the blessing of the so-called conservative establishment. The Murdoch media, Republican megadonor John Catsimatidis, and a parade of Fox News personalities are all urging New Yorkers to cast their ballot for him on Nov. 4. Their justification: Cuomo’s opponent, Zohran Mamdani, is a hundred times worse.

The establishment’s favorite ‘lesser evil’

Mamdani, a self-described socialist and Hamas sympathizer, is undeniably radical. But the hysteria surrounding him has become an all-purpose excuse for elites to rehabilitate Cuomo. We’re told by pundits that electing this pro-Hamas, pro-LGBTQ Marxist from Uganda would unleash terrorists on the city’s Jewish population.

On Fox News this week, Democrat donor Bill Acker and Manhattan rabbi Elliot Cosgrove — who still insists, falsely, that Donald Trump praised Nazis — pleaded with viewers to vote for Cuomo. Moments later, Catsimatidis commanded Republicans to follow Trump’s “endorsement” and support the disgraced ex-governor.

The spectacle would be farcical if it weren’t so cynical: lifelong Democrats and media barons treating Cuomo as the savior of civilization because the alternative offends them more.

The New York Post’s moral collapse

The lowest point came with a New York Post editorial on October 20, which offered Cuomo a backhanded endorsement while smearing his rival Curtis Sliwa, the Guardian Angels founder who has spent decades fighting crime in New York’s subways.

The Post dismissed Sliwa as an “oddball with a sometimes-shady past and zero experience relevant to running the behemoth that is city government.” The same editorial mocked his animal-welfare activism as proof of eccentricity.

Contemptible doesn’t begin to describe the awfulness of the Post’s inept editorial. What “shady past” is the Post’s editorial board talking about? The editorial didn’t say — perhaps because nothing in Sliwa’s record compares to Cuomo’s documented abuses of office. The paper that once condemned Cuomo as unfit for power now cheers his comeback, pretending that the only alternatives are socialism or sleaze.

Rejecting the real alternative

The irony is that New York had a credible choice all along. Sliwa, a Reagan Republican with a populist streak, ran close behind Cuomo in the primary. He could have united voters across party lines, much as Fiorello La Guardia did in the 1930s, by campaigning on a single theme: restoring safety to a city in decline.

Instead, the city’s plutocrats and media elite sided with the insider they knew. Cuomo belonged to their cocktail circuit; the “oddball” Sliwa didn’t. He talked about crime too much. He didn’t chant “anti-Semite” often enough for their tastes. He simply refused to play their game.

Now, with Mamdani leading in the polls, the same establishment that once excoriated Cuomo has gone into panic mode, insisting that he’s the only bulwark against chaos. The New York Post, in particular, has worked overtime to rebrand him as the city’s last line of defense — conveniently forgetting its own editorials from two years ago calling him corrupt and dangerous.

RELATED: Why Zohran Mamdani will be ‘one of the most catastrophic mayors ever’

Photo by ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images

What the election reveals

Mamdani’s rhetoric on Israel is reckless, and his support for Hamas is morally obscene. But none of that would give him the power to conduct foreign policy. His real danger lies in domestic policy: dismantling what remains of New York’s police protection, completing the work Cuomo started when he ended cash bail.

If Mamdani wins, the result will be anarchy. But if Cuomo wins, it will be something worse — vindication for a ruling class that believes corruption is preferable to conviction, provided it keeps the right people in power.

The conservative establishment’s embrace of Andrew Cuomo exposes what it has become: a protection racket for failed elites. In the name of “stopping the left,” it now rewards the very figures who wrecked the state in the first place.

New Yorkers don’t have to choose between a Marxist and a predator. They could have chosen the man who actually rides the subway and fights for the normal people who live in the city. They chose not to. And the city will keep getting what its establishment demands — chaos, decay, and the return of the despicable scoundrel they once swore they’d never defend.

​Opinion & analysis, New york city mayoral race, Elliot cosgrove, Bill acker, Andrew cuomo, John catsimatidis, Republicans, Democrats, Marxist, Intifada, Zohran mamdani, Donald trump, Law and order, Curtis sliwa, New york post, Crime, Socialism 

Pick up the “latest” kids’ book these days, and chances are you’ll be met with one or all of the following: a feeble storyline, flat illustrations, and little to no moral value.

Not so, however, when you choose a children’s book by Dr. Matthew Mehan.

‘I want the American family to have something beautiful and lasting. I want their witty-wise love of God, country, and family to be helped along, so to speak, by this book.’

In addition to his career as associate dean and associate professor of government at Hillsdale in D.C., Dr. Mehan has built a remarkable reputation as a children’s author. Each of his books is years in the making, and it shows. The finished products are lasting works of art that resonate deeply with readers.

With this in mind, it came as no surprise when Dr. Mehan was awarded one of just five 2025 Innovation Prizes from the Heritage Foundation this summer. The awards are designed to support “innovative projects … that prepare the American public to celebrate our nation’s Semiquincentennial by elevating our founding principles, educating our citizens, and inspiring patriotism.”

Dr. Mehan is putting his prize — as well as a recently awarded NEH grant — toward a collection of fables, tentatively titled “The American Family’s Book of Fables.” The book is for all ages, not just kids, and will work through the Declaration of Independence phrase by phrase, supporting and expounding the founding document with an assortment of fables, dialogues, and poems touching on American history, culture, and wildlife.

This week, Dr. Mehan was kind enough to sit down with me to discuss his forthcoming book as well as the history of children’s literature in America.

Faye Root: Could you start by telling me a bit about your background and what inspired you to write children’s and family literature?

Matthew Mehan: I’ve always been interested in creative writing since I was a child. I wrote poetry and short stories, doodled and drew. After college, I published some poems and short stories in a few places.

But I also studied a lot of the great writers, and I noticed they were always practicing the rhetorical arts so that they could be good communicators — be of service. Guys like Cicero, Seneca, Thomas More, Chaucer, Madison, Adams. I started practicing different kinds of writing every night after work, and I started writing these poems about different sorts of imaginary beasts — fables in imitation of Socrates from Plato’s “Phaedo.” At the very end of his life, Socrates was turning Aesop’s Fables into poetic verse.

And that became the seed of my first kids’ book, “Mr. Mehan’s Mildly Amusing Mythical Mammals.” I went back for a master’s in English and a Ph.D. in literature. I realized I probably needed to find a genre that doesn’t expect this kind of literary public service. Children’s literature seemed like a really great place to do this. And then I started having kids as well, and I didn’t like what we were doing in the kid lit space.

RELATED: In memory of Charlie Kirk

Leigh Brown

FR: Couldn’t agree more. My congratulations on your Heritage Foundation Innovation Prize. Your book will be a collection of fables — could you tell me about it?

MM: The book is a direct attempt to celebrate the Semiquincentennial and to teach and reteach the Western tradition and the American principles and people. It’s folk stories and traditions: “Here’s what it means to be an American. Here’s what you should love about America. Here — get to know America.”

It’s divided into 13 parts and works sentence by sentence through the entire Declaration of Independence. Inside each of the 13 sections are three subsections: one for littles, one for middles, and one for bigs. Each of these are tied to an explanation of what that related portion of the Declaration means. The third engine of each of the 13 sections takes you to a different ecological region of the country.

So it’s not just the principles of the Semiquincentennial and the Declaration. It’s also the people and the stories and the wildlife, the beautiful countryside, and all the animals and creatures God gave us.

The whole book follows one particular funny fellow, Hugh Manatee, who starts in the Everglades, and he transports his heavy bulk by all various manners of technological, very American developments around the entire country.

I wanted a book that a family can engage with no matter their level. And it’s designed to be a big heirloom book for the American family to last a long time — 250 years until the 500th anniversary.

FR: Could you talk a bit more about the importance of fables in American history and how the founding generation viewed and used them?

MM: The answer is, they used them just constantly. The fable tradition goes as far back as Solomon, who uses it in the Old Testament. It’s part of our Judeo-Christian, Greco-Roman Western tradition. In fact, kind of a theme of the book is bringing back Roman Republicanism. The beast-fable tradition is very much a part of that self-governing Republican spirit. The founders knew this.

And then you have the fables of the medieval Bestiary, the early moderns, and all the way up to the last major attempt: L’Estrange, whose works were in the library of all the founding fathers. A lot of them also had Caxton. We’re talking 1490s and 1700s. So they’re definitely due for an American upgrade.

A page from “Mr. Mehan’s Mildly Amusing Mythical Mammals.” mythicalmammals.com

FR: Your book “Mr. Mehan’s Mildly Amusing Mythical Mammals” is an abecedarian. Could you explain what an abecedarian is?

MM: An abecedarian is basically just a fancy word for an ABC book where the structure is not complicated. There’s an A-word, and then some kind of poem or story, a B-word, and then a poem or story, etc.

I did it as a kind of nod to Chaucer, whose first published work of all time was an abecedarian. It was a good, simple structure. I could do the letter blocks for the little people, and each one of the letter blocks had funny alliterative tricks. These and the illustrations were very fun for littles. But then there was higher matter happening, both in some of the poems and the glossary for the adults. So there was sort of deeper matter for adults to seize on to.

For this new book, I’ve broken it out. I’m being more American, more candid, so it’s clear: This part’s for littles, that part’s for middles, that other part’s for bigs.

FR: In your article “Restoring America’s Founding Imagination,” you mention that “children’s imaginations were not coddled in our founders’ time.” Could you speak more about that?

MM: Think, for instance, of “Grimms’ Fairy Tales.” In these fables, a stepmother might cut off the hands of a child and put stone hands in place, right? “Fancy Nancy” books can’t handle that level of violence. But children had to deal with really rough things then. Rough times called them out of their doldrums to attention.

Now, I’m not going to go quite full Brothers Grimm-level gruesome with this book. But there are things, especially in the “Bigs” sections, that go wrong, that are serious. Explorers get burned at the stake. Someone takes an arrow in the sternum. People get shot and killed at Bunker Hill. If you read the school books of the founding period, they’re just not messing around. People die because they’re foolish, and yes, even kids can die.

Illustration from “The Handsome Little Cygnet.” John Folley

You’ve got to be gentle, careful, thoughtful. I try to be measured. But there’s got to be ways of introducing these themes to help children be adults. I think a lot of what happens in modern kid lit — why it’s not deep, why it’s not serious, or rich, or lasting — is because it’s so saccharine. It’s not written to call children up to something more.

And you can do that in a very fun, wacky, hilarious, enjoyable way. I try to do that. But I’m trying to mix in that there’s a moral here. It’s a different mentality than most of children’s books today, but it’s much more in keeping with our founding generation and the kind of moral seriousness combined with levity that sustains a witty-wise Republican citizenry. And I think the American audience is really starving for this kind of very moral, witty-wise book.

FR: You emphasize the importance of wit and wisdom in your work. Specifically, why does wit matter, and what role did it play in shaping America’s early identity?

MM: In a certain sense, wit is a virtue. To be witty is to have a certain kind of pleasant humor that can manipulate language, situations — turn them on their head, get people to see something different. And that makes people laugh because mental surprises are actually the source of laughter. Aristotle’s “Nicomachean Ethics” talks about wittiness this way — as playfulness.

Wit also means being “quick” in that sense of being adroit. Adroitness is actually a constituent part of the virtue of prudence — that sort of ability to take a problem and think about it in an adroit or adept way and quickly. That’s actually required for prudence.

In fact, the word “wit” in Latin means genius — to grasp something and see: “That’s what we should do.” It’s that sort of clever ability to take care of your business, to be able to say, “No, I can handle this. I can think this through. I can puzzle it out. I can come up with a solution. I can invent a new idea.” Think American invention, flight, jazz, computers.

Wit is a creative energy of the imagination and the mind that helps one to rise in this world. Obviously, that has to be wed to principle, to piety, and to the higher things that cannot be compromised, the unchanging things. That marriage of wit and wisdom was something that our founding fathers knew must be done and must be done in each of us.

FR: Finally, could you talk about the illustrations in your upcoming book?

MM: Yes, my dear friend John Folley is a realist impressionist — a classically trained artist. His work mirrors both the realist classical style with some new techniques in Impressionism — particularly playing with light and the heft and weight that light creates.

John Folley at work. Mythicalmammals.com

He makes beautiful oil paintings, which he did for “Mehan’s Mammals.” But he also uses a lot of the same principles in watercolor.

For this book, he’s going to do a combination of all of the types of art we’ve done before. We’ll have 13 major oils that introduce the animals and themes and the ecological areas of the country for each of the 13 parts. And probably one other oil: an American image of wit and wisdom and how Americans ought to pursue it.

And then we’ll have all kinds of pen and ink, computer color, watercolor, a lot of different little images basically populating the rest of the book. It’s going to be a very beautiful, hardback heirloom book. I want the American family to have something beautiful and lasting. I want their witty-wise love of God, country, and family to be helped along, so to speak, by this book.

—

“The American Family’s Book of Fables” is planned for release in May 2026 and will be available everywhere books are sold. Dr. Mehan will follow publication with a national book tour, culminating with the July 4 Semiquincentennial celebrations. For more information, keep an eye on his website.

Also be sure to check out two of Dr. Mehan’s other beloved children’s books: “Mr. Mehan’s Mildly Amusing Mythical Mammals” and “The Handsome Little Cygnet.”

This interview has been edited for content and clarity.

​Matthew mehan, Lifestyle, Culture, Children’s books, America 250, Semiquincentennial, Mr. mehan’s mildly amusing mythical mammals, The american family book of fables, The handsome little cygnet, Literature, Align interview 

New York police say they are investigating the bizarre death of a Long Island woman by chemical burn as a homicide.

Nassau County police said they were called on a welfare check on Friday to the woman’s residence on Larch Drive in Herricks at about 3:52 p.m. on Friday.

‘It is bizarre. It’s heartbreaking. I feel so sorry for the woman, even though I don’t know her.’

Police said they found Aleena Asif unconscious and not breathing. She was pronounced dead at the scene.

The 46-year-old was found with burns to her face that were determined to be chemical in nature.

A medical examiner determined that she died from asphyxiation from the chemical.

Residents from the neighborhood in Nassau County told WABC-TV that the area is very quiet and they were shocked by the incident.

“It is bizarre. It’s heartbreaking,” said Danielle Palermo, a resident in the neighborhood. “I feel so sorry for the woman, even though I don’t know her.”

Neighbors said they rarely saw Asif outside the home, but they believe she had children.

RELATED: Body of 6-year-old girl found stuffed in a 10-gallon bucket on her mother’s lawn. Police arrest girlfriend of the child’s father.

“Why? Who killed her?” Barbara Capone asked. “Why? There’s gotta be a story behind it.”

Police said the medical examiner will conduct further testing in the investigation.

The investigation is ongoing, and police are asking the public for any information they might have about the woman’s death.

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The Oak Lawn United Methodist Church sits in a neighborhood deemed the “gayborhood” in Dallas, Texas — and after Governor Greg Abbott’s recent order demanding that Texas cities remove political symbols from the roadway, the church decided to take a stand.

The church now features a freshly painted rainbow cascading down the church’s front steps, a public display of support for the large LGBTQ community.

“We see this as a bold statement,” senior pastor Rachel Griffin-Allison said.

The governor declared in a press release earlier this month that the Texas Department of Transportation would be removing all symbols, flags, or other markings that promote social, political, or ideological messages — emphasizing that taxpayer dollars should never be used to promote them.

The governor went on to say that any city that refuses to comply with the federal road standards will face consequences, including the withholding or denial of state and federal road funding.

“That word, ‘gayborhood,’” “Pat Gray Unleashed” executive producer Keith Malinak comments, “if someone on the right had coined that, it would have been a slur.”

“The word ‘queer’ used to be a problem, and now it’s totally accepted,” Pat Gray says.

“I’m glad they’re welcoming and inclusive; that’s terrific,” he adds.

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Every time a president so much as changes the color of the White House drapes, the press clutches its pearls. Unless the name on the stationery is Barack Obama’s, even routine restoration becomes a national outrage.

President Donald Trump’s decision to privately fund upgrades to the White House — including a new state ballroom — has been met with the usual chorus of gasps and sneers. You’d think he bulldozed Monticello.

If a Republican preserves beauty, it’s vandalism. If a Democrat does the same, it’s ‘visionary.’

The irony is that presidents have altered and expanded the White House for more than a century. President Franklin D. Roosevelt added the East and West Wings in the middle of the Great Depression. Newspapers accused him of building a palace while Americans stood in breadlines. History now calls it “vision.”

First lady Nancy Reagan faced the same hysteria. Headlines accused her of spending taxpayer money on new china “while Americans starved.” In truth, she raised private funds after learning that the White House didn’t have enough matching plates for state dinners. She took the ridicule and refused to pass blame.

“I’m a big girl,” she told her staff. “This comes with the job.” That was dignity — something the press no longer recognizes.

A restoration, not a renovation

Trump’s project is different in every way that should matter. It costs taxpayers nothing. Not a cent. The president and a few friends privately fund the work. There’s no private pool or tennis court, no personal perks. The additions won’t even be completed until after he leaves office.

What’s being built is not indulgence — it’s stewardship. A restoration of aging rooms, worn fixtures, and century-old bathrooms that no longer function properly in the people’s house. Trump has paid for cast brass doorknobs engraved with the presidential seal, restored the carpets and moldings, and ensured that the architecture remains faithful to history.

The media’s response was mockery and accusations of vanity. They call it “grotesque excess,” while celebrating billion-dollar “climate art” projects and funneling hundreds of millions into activist causes like the No Kings movement. They lecture America on restraint while living off the largesse of billionaires.

The selective guardians of history

Where was this sudden reverence for history when rioters torched St. John’s Church — the same church where every president since James Madison has worshipped? The press called it an “expression of grief.”

Where was that reverence when mobs toppled statues of Washington, Jefferson, and Grant? Or when first lady Melania Trump replaced the Rose Garden’s lawn with a patio but otherwise followed Jackie Kennedy’s original 1962 plans in the garden’s restoration? They called that “desecration.”

If a Republican preserves beauty, it’s vandalism. If a Democrat does the same, it’s “visionary.”

The real desecration

The people shrieking about “historic preservation” care nothing for history. They hate the idea that something lasting and beautiful might be built by hands they despise. They mock craftsmanship because it exposes their own cultural decay.

The White House ballroom is not a scandal — it’s a mirror. And what it reflects is the media’s own pettiness. The ruling class that ridicules restoration is the same class that cheered as America’s monuments fell. Its members sneer at permanence because permanence condemns them.

RELATED: Antifa is what you get when cowards run civilization

Photo by Julia Beverly/Getty Images

Trump’s improvements are an act of faith — in the nation’s symbols, its endurance, and its worth. The outrage over a privately funded renovation says less about him than it does about the journalists who mistake destruction for progress.

The real desecration isn’t happening in the East Wing. It’s happening in the newsrooms that long ago tore up their own foundation — truth — and never bothered to rebuild it.

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​Opinion & analysis, Media bias, Donald trump, Melania trump, East wing, Ballroom, White house, History, Preservation, Restoration, Destruction, Desecration, Jackie kennedy, Harry truman, Franklin delano roosevelt, Nancy reagan, Outrage 

President Donald Trump’s plan to build a grand new White House ballroom is underway, and the media and celebrity class have melted down into unhinged hysterics, per usual.

In a segment on “The View,” former White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre resurfaced to join the madness, telling the always-rational panel that “the people’s house is basically being sold to the highest bidder.”

“It is corruption at its core. And I heard someone say this when I was backstage. It could not be, there’s no greater metaphor right now than what’s happening right now in this country than watching Donald Trump take a wrecking ball to the White House,” she added.

“But why do they let him get away with it? He has all of these people who just let him get away with whatever he wants to do,” Joy Behar chimed in.

“That’s what he’s been doing for the nine, ten months, like the powers that are in the D.C. are not standing up. They’re acting as if they’re powerless … like no, you all have power. You all have power. Do something with it,” Jean-Pierre added.

“I will note,” BlazeTV host Stu Burguiere says on “Stu Does America,” “for a woman who constantly read every single answer she gave while she was in the White House and was the press secretary, you have to love her saying that she heard her point that she made on ‘The View’ from someone backstage, proving she’s never had an original thought in her entire life.”

Maria Shriver also weighed in on Trump’s renovation, writing in a post on X: “This breaks my heart and it infuriates me. Hundreds of millions of dollars to build a new ballroom. Good god.”

“Someone who just knows frugality,” Burguiere jokes.

However, the bill for the renovations is not being laid at the taxpayers feet, rather, it’s all privately donated — which is why the construction has continued despite the government shutdown.

“All the reporters that normally would be complaining about the shutdown because Republicans were responsible for it now have nothing to do because they can’t complain about the Democratic shutdown. So they’re just going to take pictures of the White House and complain about that,” Stu says.

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According to the DHS Privacy Office report, the Federal Emergency Management Agency under the Biden administration did not just mishandle a few cases — they secretly blacklisted conservatives and lowered their priority when it came to assistance.

“They tracked Americans, their political and religious beliefs, during disasters — not in theory, in black and white,” Blaze Media co-founder Glenn Beck says on “The Glenn Beck Program.”

“When these people were flooded, they were homeless, they were desperate, and asked for help from the same government that preaches compassion and equity, they got something entirely different. They got silence, delay, and sometimes nothing at all,” he continues.

According to the DHS report, “FEMA violated the Privacy Act of 1974 by collecting and storing data tied to protected speech.”

“They were checking bumper stickers and writing you down in a book. They logged gun signage 72 times, Trump 15 times, firearms 5 times, Biden twice,” Glenn says.

“Now it has been proven. FEMA workers skipped homes if you had a MAGA flag or a yard sign. And then they left notes,” he continues, quoting one of the workers’ notes: “‘There was a political flyer … so I didn’t leave a FEMA brochure.’”

Another quote from their notes reads: “‘We don’t recommend anyone visit this location.’”

“That’s not a clerical error here. That’s a blacklist. This is the same agency that airlifts people off of rooftops after hurricanes, that distributes food and shelter when nothing else works. And they were told to avoid Americans because of who they voted for. Not terrorists, not criminals, citizens,” Glenn says.

“I will tell you,” he continues, “I have been in disaster after disaster. … I have shown up at the hurricanes and the floods and the tornadoes with help. And not once did it even occur to me to ask you, ‘What’s your political affiliation?'”

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Democratic New York Gov. Kathy Hochul praised a settlement reached to fine apartment building owners $55,000 after they hung a poster calling on tenants to report immigrants to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Officials said a building superintendent tried to intimidate potential witnesses with immigration raids at an apartment building with mostly immigrant residents in Jamaica, Queens.

‘We will continue our work to call out all forms of hate, bias, and discrimination across our state.’

The original complaint about the poster was made in 2017 to the New York State Division of Human Rights, but the settlement was reached eight years later in February.

The state office accused the building owner, a management company, and others associated with the building of illegally discriminating against people based on their national origin.

The defendants agreed to pay the fine and also accepted three years of oversight to ensure compliance.

“Let us be clear: New York remains committed to protecting anyone who is discriminated against or harassed because of their national origin, citizenship, or immigration status,” Human Rights Commissioner Denise M. Miranda said in a statement Wednesday.

“It is unacceptable, unconscionable, and illegal for housing providers to discriminate against their tenants simply because of where they are from,” she added. “We will continue our work to call out all forms of hate, bias, and discrimination across our state.”

An attorney representing the management company in a separate lawsuit said they settled in order to avoid litigation costs, according to the New York Times.

RELATED: Activists blame Trump for bounty hunter ‘kidnapping’ of mom of 3 for deportation — feds say it was a hoax for cash

Photo by John Senter/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

Hochul praised the settlement on social media.

“Threatening to ’round up tenants’ or call ICE because of someone’s national origin is blatant discrimination. And in New York, it’s illegal. Any company engaging in it will be fined,” she posted.

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The race for the lieutenant governor’s office in Alabama will now include a former NFL quarterback thanks to the influence of slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

A.J. McCarron cited Kirk in his video announcement Thursday more than a year after his last stint as the quarterback for the Cincinnati Bengals football team.

‘It’s time for political newcomers and outsider candidates like me to lead the battle.’

“Today, Alabama’s conservative and cultural values are under attack from every direction. That’s why Charlie Kirk’s assassination affected so many of us so deeply,” McCarron said in the video.

He is running as a Republican and hearkened back to his endorsement of then-candidate Donald Trump in 2016.

“The Montgomery insiders and career politicians have had their chance. It’s time for political newcomers and outsider candidates like me to lead the battle,” he added.

Also running for the office is Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen, pastor Dean Odle, and Alabama Agriculture Commissioner Rick Pate.

“Alabama is my home — it’s made me who I am, and I feel led from above to give back to the state that has given me so much,” McCarron continued in the video.

“So, if you’re ready for a new voice, a fresh perspective, and want Alabama to remain the nation’s conservative and moral leader, just remember one simple phrase — A.J. for L.G.,” he added.

RELATED: Roger Goodell dismisses outrage over Bad Bunny performing Super Bowl show

The Alabama primaries are scheduled for May 19, 2026.

McCarron played in college for the University of Alabama Crimson Tide before getting drafted by the Bengals in 2014. He played for various other teams, including the Houston Texans and the Atlanta Falcons.

He led the Alabama team to back-to-back national championship titles.

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Virginia attorney general candidate Jay Jones faces more pressure to drop out of the race after reports surfaced that he is under investigation concerning a prior reckless driving conviction.

Jones’ campaign was already battling a scandal when leaked text messages from 2022 revealed that he had wished death upon a Republican lawmaker and his children.

In the texts, Jones stated that, in a hypothetical situation where he had only “two bullets” and had to choose between shooting then-House Speaker Todd Gilbert (R), Adolf Hitler, and Pol Pot, he would shoot Gilbert twice. He also claimed that Gilbert and his wife were “breeding little fascists,” referring to their children, and wished harm on them. None of Jones’ fellow Democrats called on him to exit the race over the texts.

‘From murderous text messages to reckless driving at 116 mph to defrauding a court of law, Jay Jones belongs behind bars, if convicted of fraud, not as a member of the state bar — let alone as Virginia’s attorney general.’

Several local reports on Wednesday indicated that Jones’ campaign was facing yet another scandal, this time involving a 2022 reckless driving conviction for driving 116 mph.

A court previously ordered Jones, a Democratic former Virginia delegate, to pay a fine and serve 1,000 hours of community service. According to reports, Jones completed 500 hours with the NAACP and another 500 hours at Meet Our Moment. However, he allegedly did not make it clear to the court that the latter was his own political action committee.

New Kent County Commonwealth’s attorney Scott Renick was assigned to investigate questions surrounding Jones’ community service. Yet, Renick felt “it would be improper for him to act in the matter … due to a potential conflict,” according to court records obtained by Blaze News. He recommended the court assign special prosecutor Nathan Green.

Renick’s office declined to provide any additional comments on the matter.

WAVY-TV reported that Green had also refused to accept the appointment. Green provided an order to Blaze News confirming that he had recused himself from the case. The order claimed that “it would be improper for him to act in the matter.” Green did not provide any further explanation.

RELATED: Democrat Jay Jones tries to pivot debate away from vile texts wishing death on a rival’s kids — but Virginia AG won’t let him

Jay Jones. Photo by Maxine Wallace/The Washington Post via Getty Images

Jason Miyares, the current Virginia attorney general and Jones’ Republican opponent, called on Jones to withdraw from the race “for the sake of public trust and common decency.”

“Virginians deserve an Attorney General whose integrity is beyond question,” Miyares stated. “Jay Jones had already disqualified himself with his violent text messages against political opponents and their children.”

“It is not possible for Jay Jones to fulfill the duties of that office while under an open criminal investigation,” Miyares continued. “If Jay Jones stays in the race, it shows a contempt for voters never seen in modern Virginia political history. Jay Jones has not taken accountability for his words or actions.”

RELATED: Nancy Pelosi has unbelievable response to Democrat candidate who issued death wish against Republican

Trevor Metcalfe/The Virginian-Pilot/Tribune News Service via Getty Images

The Republican Attorneys General Association previously called for Jones to drop out of the race following the unearthed text messages and heightened those calls Thursday because of the ongoing investigation.

“Jay Jones has proven himself time and again to be unfit and unqualified to serve as Virginia’s top prosecutor,” RAGA executive director Adam Piper stated in a press release. “While 51% of Virginians have said Jay Jones should drop out, Democrats continue to put partisan identifiers above principle by allowing Jay Jones to remain on the ballot. He is a threat to the safety of all Virginians.”

“Jay Jones has shown he lacks the character, integrity, and judicial temperament to be attorney general,” Piper said. “From murderous text messages to reckless driving at 116 mph to defrauding a court of law, Jay Jones belongs behind bars, if convicted of fraud, not as a member of the state bar — let alone as Virginia’s attorney general.”

Jones’ campaign did not respond to a request for comment.

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A political advertisement satirically portraying criminals who support the policies of Democratic socialist mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani was pulled by the Cuomo campaign.

The ad was posted by the campaign on Wednesday evening just as the last mayoral debate was ending, but then it was quickly taken down, according to the New York Times.

‘When a woman’s being domestically abused, she finally won’t have to deal with some pesky cop to arrest the abuser but now a social worker to help, you know, kumbaya the situation!’

Rich Azzopardi, a spokesperson for the Cuomo campaign, told the Times that it was posted “in error” and was not “done yet.”

Copies of the two-minute video generated by artificial intelligence have since gone viral on social media. One post with the video garnered more than 2.5 million views.

The video shows criminals happily endorsing Mamdani and expressing support for his policies that go easy on criminals. They include a domestic abuser, a pimp, a drug dealer, and a drunk driver.

Common Cause New York described the ad as “offensive and a shocking attempt at fear-mongering.” The group added that it might be in violation of state election law for failing to identify itself as being generated by AI.

“With plans to decriminalize all drugs, Mamdani will be a job creator for drug dealers!” says one character in the ad.

“Instead of helping us homeless get off the streets and into the mental health facilities we need, he wants to give us safe injection sites to do crack and let us sleep in subway cars!” says a character resembling a homeless man.

“When a woman’s being domestically abused, she finally won’t have to deal with some pesky cop to arrest the abuser but now a social worker to help, you know, kumbaya the situation!” says a heavyset male character in a wifebeater undershirt.

“Who cares if legalizing prostitution statistically leads to an increase for sex trafficking of women and young girls by 70%?” a black pimp character says.

“You can’t have safety without equality!” says a white woman who drunkenly stumbles out of her car after a crash.

“I’m a criminal for Zohran Mamdani!” they proclaim.

RELATED: Cuomo crushes Mamdani on his inexperience in final mayoral debate: ‘You’ve never accomplished anything!’

The ad was widely praised by some on social media, especially from those on the right.

“Probably the most honest political ad of the season,” one response reads.

“Truth in advertising. I love this ad. I could watch it on a loop,” another user said.

“Hahahahaha. This is by far the only good thing to come from @andrewcuomo ever,” another account replied.

On the other hand, others called it “racist and hateful.”

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The popular social media platform TikTok denies allegations from a tech insider that its algorithm is boosting the campaign of socialist New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani while undermining one of his opponents.

Mamdani surprised many when he won the Democratic primary in the mayoral race and defeated former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who came in second. Cuomo is currently running as an independent.

Cuomo attacked Mamdani during two debates for his inexperience and extremism, but polls show Mamdani remains popular among NYC voters.

Dodeles said that within politics, two terms stood out for nonorganic excessive publicity: Mamdani and Cuomo.

On Wednesday, Tel Aviv-based software engineer and tech founder Yehonatan Dodeles posted a report at Medium claiming that TikTok was pushing users to the Mamdani camp.

“TikTok’s algorithm is distorting the playing field in New York City’s mayoral race,” Dodeles wrote. “Our early analysis suggests that content favoring Zohran Mamdani is being amplified, while videos supporting Andrew Cuomo are being suppressed, a pattern that could meaningfully influence public perception and voter behavior.”

The analysis was based on a computer model that compared how many times some content was boosted as compared to the user-engagement levels. Dodeles said that within politics, two terms stood out for nonorganic excessive publicity: Mamdani and Cuomo.

The analysis estimated that anti-Cuomo content received 54% excessive publicity, while that seen as pro-Mamdani received 3% excessive publicity when normalized against the baseline for politics.

Ironically, pro-Cuomo content had exactly the same excessive publicity rating as anti-Mamdani content: -22%

Dodeles went on to say that the analysis took into account the natural popularity that the topics have among the platform users.

TikTok released a statement vehemently denying the report.

“This is nothing more than a deliberate attempt to push a political objective through a bogus study that is not based on any form of reality,” read the statement. “The story falls well short of basic journalistic standards.”

RELATED: Cuomo crushes Mamdani on his inexperience in final mayoral debate: ‘You’ve never accomplished anything!’

TikTok has been previously criticized for allegedly orchestrating its algorithm to damage American society while precluding the same content in China.

Steve Baker, investigative journalist for Blaze News, cited his recent report documenting SIM farms used by China to destabilize U.S. society to provide support for the accusations.

“Our sources tell us that the Chinese control TikTok directly through native onboard bots that cannot be detected whatsoever,” wrote Baker. “Of course the Chinese are brainwashing people to vote for Mamdani. No candidate for NYC mayor would harm America more than Mamdani.”

The platform has also been accused of favoring anti-Israel content while suppressing that which defends the nation amid the conflict with the Hamas terror group.

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Senate Democrats have doubled down on the government shutdown, blocking a bill that would make sure federal workers wouldn’t miss any more paychecks.

Republican Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin proposed the bill on the Senate floor that would ensure service members and federal personnel who are currently working would get their paychecks during the Democrat-induced shutdown. Only three Democrats in the entire Senate joined Republicans to pay federal workers.

‘They want to shut down the government.’

The bill ultimately failed, falling six votes short of the 60-vote threshold. Democratic Sens. Jon Ossoff of Georgia, John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, and Raphael Warnock of Georgia bucked 45 of their colleagues and joined 51 Republicans in support of the bill.

“We’ve heard Democrats criticize [Johnson’s] bill because it would provide pay only to those working through the shutdown,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune said in a post on X. “They say they want everyone to get paid. Well, I have great news: the clean CR would pay everyone. We just need five more Democrats to support it.”

RELATED: ‘These people are sick’: Trump admin slams top Dem for justifying shutdown suffering

Photo by Kent Nishimura/Getty Images

As Thune and his allies at the White House have pointed out, Democrats are the ones who have consistently voted against passing a clean continuing resolution to keep the government open. At the same time, Democrats are demanding Congress renegotiate Obamacare subsidies that aren’t set to expire until the end of the year and insisting on passing their hyper-partisan $1.5 trillion spending bill.

“I’ll just point out the irony in Democrats holding the government and the American public hostage over a health care system that they created,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said during Thursday’s briefing. “The health care system was called Obamacare. Why? Because Democrats and President Obama implemented it. And Republicans have always said it’s a broken system, yes, but they caused it. And now they want to shut down the government to fix it?

“We need to open the government, and then we can have these very important conversations about health care,” she continued.

RELATED: Democrat senator blocks vote to end shutdown to protest Trump’s ‘authoritarianism’ in drawn-out rant

Photo by JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images

Republicans have remained consistent on the shutdown fight. Their resolution is a clean, nonpartisan funding bill that keeps spending at the same rates Democrats voted for over a dozen times in the past. Thune has even indicated he would be willing to give Democrats a vote on the Obamacare subsidies so long as they vote to open the government.

Even still, just three Democrats have mustered up the courage to consistently vote with Republicans to reopen the government.

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Numerous Democrats are foaming at the mouth over the expansion of the White House East Wing with a stunning 90,000 square-foot addition paid for by President Donald Trump and other donors.

In response to the news that construction was under way on Trump’s ballroom, Hillary Clinton — the twice-failed presidential candidate and former first lady who absconded from the White House in 2001 with a small fortune’s worth of furniture and furnishings that weren’t hers to take — said, “It’s not his house. It’s your house. And he’s destroying it.”

‘Thank you for your attention to this matter.’

Sen. Chuck Schumer (N.Y.), one of the Democrats keeping the government shut down, brought a photo into the Senate on Thursday showing the East Wing’s demolition, suggesting it was not only illustrative of the White House’s “desecration” but symbolic of what the president is “doing to the whole country.”

In an apparent effort to troll these and other apoplectic Democrats, the White House’s website has been revamped such that it now highlights a selection of past administrations’ scandals on the premises.

Besides referencing in its major events timeline Presidents William Howard Taft’s remodeling of the West Wing, Franklin D. Roosevelt’s expansion of it, and Harry Truman’s “total reconstruction” of the White House’s interior, the website now makes mention of Bill Clinton’s sordid sex scandal, noting that the former Democratic president’s affair with Monica Lewinsky set the stage for perjury investigations and, ultimately, his impeachment.

The website also mentions the 2012 meeting between members of the radical Muslim Brotherhood and Obama White House officials, noting that “the Muslim Brotherhood is a designated terrorist organization by nearly a dozen nations.”

The White House

After highlighting how first lady Melania Trump oversaw the privately funded construction of the tasteful neoclassical tennis pavilion on the South Lawn, the White House timeline references how a bag of cocaine was found in the West Wing entrance lobby during Joe Biden’s time in office as well as the degenerate LGBT event Biden hosted at the White House in 2023 where a medical transvestite showed off his fake breasts on the South Lawn.

The White House

The new timeline appears to have already ruffled some feathers.

Sam Stein, managing editor of the anti-Trump Bulwark blog, wrote, “The White House has revamped its website to defend the destruction of the East Wing. And they’ve done it exactly the way you’d expect.”

James Blair, White House deputy chief of staff, said in reply, “Liberal Media has [a] problem with documented historical facts being posted on White House website.”

Deputy assistant to the president Kaelan Dorr got in on the fun, tweeting to Stein, “Thank you for your attention to this matter.”

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Universities across America have become dangerous indoctrination tools helping to push radical ideologies on our nation’s youth, and one radical professor couldn’t be making this clearer.

Stacy Patton teaches media, journalism, film, and communication at Howard University in Washington, D.C. — and she apparently has a deep appreciation for murderers.

“You see the Ph.D. next to her name, as if that means anything any more. In fact, usually, these days, Ph.D. is just a signal that you’re crazy,” BlazeTV host Sara Gonzales says. “So this woman is advocating for white political allies to emulate [a] vigilante mass murderer.”

Patton pointed to militant John Brown in a recent blog post, writing “So when white allies ask, ‘What can I do?’ Here’s the answer: Be like John Brown. Ask yourself, what am I willing to burn so somebody else can breathe?”

Brown was a militant abolitionist before the Civil War, who in 1856 orchestrated the Pottawatomie massacre. Alongside his fellow militants, he dragged five Kansas settlers out of their homes and executed them. In total, he had killed around 10 people directly and was responsible for the deaths of several others through these violent raids.

Later, he was tried for treason and eventually hanged.

“So this is the guy that this woman is glorifying. And by the way, he didn’t sacrifice himself. He slaughtered innocent men to ignite a race war. This is the guy that a college professor is calling for modern white progressives to take up his torch,” Gonzales says.

Now, leftists have been posting flyers all over college campuses urging students to join “The John Brown Club,” using slogans like “Hey, Fascist! Catch,” which was written on one of the bullets loaded into Charlie Kirk’s assassin’s weapon.

Under “Hey, Fascist! Catch,” the flyer reads, “The only political group that celebrates when Nazis die.”

Gonzales explains that “The John Brown Club” is now “just used as a collective group name for Antifa.”

“So we know of other Antifa members who have carried out violence under the banner of ‘The John Brown Gun Club,’” she says, citing the example of an Antifa member who tried to firebomb a Washington state ICE facility in 2019.

“That guy was a member of ‘The John Brown Gun Club,’” Gonzales says.

“So in reality, this woman knows that she is in fact glorifying a man who represents that. A man who represents violence being carried out across the streets in this country. She knows that she has a direct influence over the next generation. She knows that she is of course trying to instigate these people into committing crimes,” she continues.

“These professors are not educating these students any more. They are there to simply radicalize them,” she adds.

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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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A late-night Amazon Web Services outage earlier this week caused an uncomfortable sleep for those with subscription bed services.

At around 3 a.m. Eastern Time on Monday, Amazon said it had an operational issue at one of its northern Virginia centers that was affecting 14 of its services.

While AWS hosts only 6.3% of all websites, many major app providers and online companies are reliant on the service, causing a domino effect when a wide range of its tools went offline.

‘Now, weak and fallible, I sweat.’

Not only were apps for Snapchat, McDonald’s, and even Ring doorbell cameras rendered useless for a short period, but some users of “smart beds” were put in a rather sweaty situation.

As reported by Dexerto, owners of Eight Sleep mattresses found themselves in an awkward situation when they realized their beds could not connect to their servers.

Eight Sleep provides smart mattresses that range from $2,500 to $7,000 and require a monthly subscription. It comes with a hub that powers the whole system and connects to company servers, a temperature-adjusted cover that monitors your sleep, and optional features like temperature-controlled pillow covers and blankets.

When the AWS servers went down, customers reported that some of those features were thrown out of whack.

RELATED: Amazon’s secret strategy to replace 600,000 American workers with robots

“Tonight I learned 8Sleep runs on AWS,” a customer wrote on X. “Now, weak and fallible, I sweat on top of my +9 degree mattress which won’t cool.”

Another comment reported by multiple outlets was from an apparent tech enthusiast saying, “Backend outage means I’m sleeping in a sauna.”

“Eight Sleep confirmed there’s no offline mode yet, but they’re working on it,” the man added.

While more customers complained about heating issues, others cried out that their beds were “stuck in an inclined position.”

Matteo Franceschetti, Eight Sleep’s CEO, was quick to assure customers that a “fix” was incoming. Franceschetti immediately apologized for the AWS dependency and said the company would roll out a correction that would involve “outage-proofing” the smart furniture.

RELATED: CRASH: Amazon Web Services outage cripples apps, megacorps, and doorbells, shocking a fragile America

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On Wednesday, the CEO announced Eight Sleep’s new “Backup Mode,” which allows the hub to connect through Bluetooth when “cloud infrastructure or Wi-Fi is unavailable.”

“When an outage is detected, Backup Mode kicks in automatically, allowing you to open the app and access critical functionalities, making sure your experience is not disrupted,” Franceschetti explained.

While the new update seemingly renders online connectivity unnecessary, users were quick to point out the mass amount of data transfer that comes with an annual subscription between $200 and $400.

One X user showed that his app was shockingly transferring over 16 gigabytes’ worth of telemetry data per month.

At the same time, others showed off their own solutions to the outage, such as connecting a fish-tank cooler to a series of tubes and feeding them through a mattress.

“Fish tank cooler does not run on AWS but i do turn it on locally with a $10 homekit plug,” the budding engineer wrote.

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