Category: blaze media

Gas prices are all over the place these days, and unless you want to pay top dollar to put the same stuff in your tank that is sold for less down the street, you need an easy way to check local prices without driving all over town. Here are just a few of our favorite apps that can help you find the most affordable gas stations (and maybe even make some money on the side).

GasBuddy

You can’t talk about gas prices online without mentioning GasBuddy. As the most popular option on the list, GasBuddy has been around since Y2K, starting as a website before jumping to smartphones in 2010.

Arm yourself with these apps for a complete look at your local gas prices.

What makes GasBuddy so great is that it offers quick and easy access to all the best prices in your area. In the list view, you can sort options by price, distance, gasoline grade, and whether cash or credit is accepted. You can also tap over to the map view to see nearby gas stations, along with glanceable price tags. GasBuddy is built on crowdsourced data, so if one of the listed gas prices is incorrect, you can report the mistake and submit a price update for other drivers.

Screenshots by Zach Laidlaw/GasBuddy

Google Maps

You probably know Google Maps as one of the leading navigation apps on the App Store and Google Play, but while it’s good at getting directions and checking local traffic, it’s also surprisingly decent at gathering gas prices. Tap on the “gas” tab at the top of the screen (you may have to scroll over to find it) to get an instant view of all local gas stations, along with a quick map and list view of their lowest prices. You can select a gas station to open the overview menu, where you can see prices for regular, mid-grade, and premium gas at your chosen location.

RELATED: New hack poses biggest iPhone threat in 19 years: What you can do

Xaume Olleros/Bloomberg/Getty Images

Scroll down, and you’ll find the “Popular times” graph, which shows the best and worst hours to stop by based on traffic estimates, along with the amount of time you should expect to wait for a fill-up.

Screenshots by Zach Laidlaw/Google Maps

Waze

Waze started as a community-based navigation app that empowered users to share updates about traffic, road hazards, speed traps, and more, all intended to help fellow “Wazers” safely navigate the map. Although the app was purchased by Google in 2013, Waze has largely maintained its unique design and personality, leaning heavily on its crowdsourcing roots to deliver important information to drivers, including gas prices.

To see the prices in your immediate area, tap on the “Where to?” search bar and select “Gas.” Instantly, you’ll find a map of nearby stations, complete with markers advertising their lowest prices. Choose your favorite station to see a full list of prices on regular, mid-grade, and premium gasoline. On this screen, you’ll also see if the station has nearby parking to park your car so that you can go inside for drinks or snacks.

One of the best parts about Waze’s gas price feature is that you can set tracking preferences in the settings menu. You can choose your preferred gas type, station brand, and sorting options to ensure the most pertinent results show up first on the map.

Screenshots by Zach Laidlaw/Waze

Upside

If you enjoy any of the shows on BlazeTV, you’ve probably heard of Upside. While it’s true that Upside has advertised on some of our podcasts, the company did not pay to be featured in this article. The reason this app made the list is because Upside is a genuinely useful service that can help you get cheap gas and even put some money back in your pocket.

Unlike the other apps here that display gas prices on a map, Upside labels stations with the amount of cash back you can earn. To get direct price information, select your preferred station. Prices are listed by the amount you’ll save on premium, regular, mid-grade, and diesel. Make sure you tap “Claim” at the bottom of the page to redeem the offer, and read the fine print below for redemption details.

While Upside can help you save money at the pump, there is one stark limitation — discounts are only available at Upside’s preferred partner gas stations. That means your favorite station might not offer cash back. For what it’s worth, though, Upside claims to support 50,000 stores nationwide, so the chances are high that there are still viable options in your area.

Screenshots by Zach Laidlaw/Upside

Your ticket to savings

Gas is one of those things that you can’t live without, but just because it’s a necessity doesn’t mean you should pay top dollar. Arm yourself with these apps for a complete look at your local gas prices and save money every time you fill up. There’s no point in spending more for the same stuff that another station sells for less.

​Tech 

A 68-year-old retired police sergeant is responsible for a series of kidnappings and rapes in Detroit, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Benjamin Martin Wagner served for nearly 30 years on the Detroit Police force but was arrested in Greenville, North Carolina, decades after the assaults.

Wagner was caught after law enforcement officials finally tested 11,000 rape kits that had been collected from cases between 1984 and 2009.

Prosecutors say Wagner kidnapped and raped five women and girls in northwest Detroit between 1999 and 2003, but they believe there may be other victims.

“The deplorable fact in this case is that the person we are charging has led a double life as a law enforcement officer and serial rapist,” Wayne County Prosecutor Kim Worthy said.

The victims ranged in age from 15 to 23 years old.

“The commonalities were they were walking to school or home from work or simply going to a friend’s house. These happened in the early morning hours, mostly, all on Detroit’s northwest side,” said Worthy.

“He utilized isolation and force. He was armed with a handgun in each and every case,” she added. “He threatened their lives if they reported, and he did not use a condom in any of the assaults.”

Wagner was caught after law enforcement officials finally tested 11,000 rape kits that had been collected from cases between 1984 and 2009. They were discovered in 2009 at a Detroit Police Department warehouse.

Prosecutors said Wagner received several awards and commendations while working as an officer from 1989 until 2017.

Wagner was arrested on March 17 and will be extradited to Michigan.

RELATED: Thug who brutally raped 94-year-old in broad daylight had just been released after other rape charge was dropped, police say

Many police departments across the country have stored rape kits but neglected to test them owing to budget constraints or simple incompetence. One advocacy group believes about 50,000 rape kits have gone without testing, allowing the perpetrators of rape to escape justice and continue victimizing Americans.

“We have betrayed at least a generation of survivors in the way that the criminal justice system and the larger public have responded to sexual assault,” said criminology expert Rachel Lovell of Cleveland State University.

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​Benjamin martin wagner rapist, Retired police was rapist, Detroit police rapist, Untested rape kits, Crime 

The recently departed Robert Mueller, best known as the Russiagate special counsel, maintained his honor under circumstances far more fraught than the New York Times would like to admit.

To the Times, Mueller was a near-extinct liberal Republican, a straight-arrow institutionalist who resisted Donald Trump’s tawdry politics while avoiding the thuggish legacy of J. Edgar Hoover. That portrait distorts both men. It also misses the real point: Mueller’s conduct during Russiagate, whatever its flaws, looks more honorable when set against the corruption surrounding him.

With all the corruption swirling around him, Mueller himself held the line, even as age and decline had plainly weakened him.

The Times’ swipe at Hoover was as gratuitous as it was ignorant. Hoover had long passed his prime by the 1970s, but beginning in 1924, he transformed a bureau riddled with corruption into a professional law-enforcement agency that promoted rigorous investigative standards around the world. Of Hoover’s successors, only Mueller approached that level of competence while avoiding Hoover’s late-life degeneration.

What the Times missed about Mueller was his stubborn rectitude in finishing the Russiagate investigation without yielding to the partisan pressure for indictment.

Trump, in his usual blunt fashion, responded to Mueller’s death with satisfaction rather than acknowledging him as an honest prosecutor who refused to sign on to a ruinous partisan prosecution.

That refusal matters. The larger Russiagate story is not that Mueller pursued Trump too aggressively. It is that Russiagate itself was one of the most dishonest political dirty tricks in our country’s wild history.

What Russiagate was — and wasn’t

Only Mueller’s refusal to indict saved the country from the further disgrace of charging a president based on a fiction manufactured by Hillary Clinton’s campaign and abetted by corrupt actors in the FBI and CIA, including James Comey and John Brennan.

Properly understood, the special counsel investigation was the capstone of that long corruption. Had Mueller’s deputies, working with Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, indicted Trump, as many of them plainly wished to do, the damage would have been irreparable.

For that reason, Mueller’s resistance to the demands of his own partisan aides deserves recognition, not contempt. As his legacy hardens into historical judgment, we should examine the Russiagate investigation for what it was and what it was not.

When Trump fired FBI Director James Comey in May 2017, Mueller was quickly named special counsel. But Comey’s Russiagate inquiry had begun as a counterintelligence investigation, which required no identified crime. Comey privately told Trump that he was not a subject of the investigation as a foreign agent. Publicly, however, Comey let suspicion fester while refusing to clarify that point. Trump’s dealings with Russia were already constrained by the posturing of both Comey and President Obama.

Then came Rosenstein. Urged on by the unctuous Comey, Rosenstein violated the governing regulation by appointing Mueller without first identifying a predicate crime. Only later did Rosenstein and Mueller’s team realize they needed one. So Mueller’s deputies settled on a theory that Trump may have obstructed justice by firing Comey.

That theory never held up. Comey served at the pleasure of the president and could be fired for any reason or no reason at all. Even the crime eventually offered to justify the special counsel’s existence failed as a legal foundation.

So the Mueller inquiry rested on a faulty premise from the start. It was not the first dirty trick played on Trump. It was the last.

RELATED: The case against Clinton, Brennan, and Comey is stronger than ever

Alex Wong/Getty Images

Media malpractice

Have readers learned any of this from the New York Times, the Washington Post, or the self-justifying book later written by Mueller’s deputies? Hardly. Those institutions covered up the illegality while sermonizing about their virtue and Trump’s supposed criminality.

Step backward in time, and the prior outrage appears: the FISA surveillance of the Trump campaign, and later the presidency, approved in October 2016 on the phony strength of the Steele dossier. Andrew McCabe admitted under oath that the dossier formed the basis for the FISA application. That document rested on the cartoonish fable that Trump aide Carter Page had been offered billions tied to an oil interest by Russia’s Igor Sechin in exchange for influencing the Republican platform. The tale was fiction, filtered through suspected Russian operative Igor Danchenko.

That surveillance was not a good-faith mistake. It was a vicious political trick carried out by McCabe and Comey, who had no plausible reason to believe the Carter Page story was true.

Before that came the Crossfire Hurricane investigation, opened on July 31, 2016. Its predicate was equally rotten. Joseph Mifsud, a mysterious professor later treated as Russian-connected, told young Trump aide George Papadopoulos that Russia had “dirt” on Hillary Clinton in the form of emails. Then Alexander Downer, the former Australian ambassador, drew Papadopoulos into a conversation and extracted the statement needed to move the allegation into official channels.

But Mifsud was no Russian cutout. He was tied to Western intelligence circles, including Claire Smith, a British official involved in spy vetting. So Crossfire Hurricane itself appears to have been launched not by genuine Russian infiltration but by the oily maneuvering of intelligence allies tied to Comey and Brennan through the Five Eyes network.

And beneath all of it sat the mother of the dirty tricks: Hillary Clinton’s decision to blame Russia for the exposure of internal Democrat emails showing how the DNC had worked against Bernie Sanders. To sustain that narrative, Clinton’s campaign hired Christopher Steele to produce the false dossier alleging Trump-Russia collusion. That was the seed crystal of the entire hoax. It survived only because crooked Hillary had dirty birds running the FBI and CIA.

RELATED: The media’s ‘war on misinformation’ loses all credibility

Deagreez via iStock/Getty Images

Concealing the truth

Once you see that, the real scandal comes into focus. If the Steele dossier triggered Crossfire Hurricane, which led to the false FISA surveillance, which in turn helped justify Mueller’s appointment, then any honest special counsel investigation should have started with the dossier itself. An honest inquiry would have examined whether Clinton, Steele, Steele’s sources, Comey, and Brennan conspired to manufacture the false collusion narrative that became Russiagate.

Instead, Mueller’s deputies chose to ignore the dossier. Their excuse was almost comic: The dossier was too false and unreliable to investigate! But false collusion was the heart of the scandal. Investigating that fraud should have been central, not optional.

They concealed other truths as well. They continued to describe Mifsud as Russian-connected while omitting his far more troubling ties to Western intelligence circles. They kept from the public the extent to which the original predicates for the whole affair were contrived.

Then came the final abuse. Professional ethics require prosecutors to put up or shut up. If they decline to prosecute, they do not defame the subject by insinuating guilt they cannot prove. Mueller’s deputies ignored that rule. In the Mueller report and their later book, they dwelled at length on how Trump may have almost obstructed justice and why they could not “exonerate” him, even though exoneration is not a prosecutor’s task.

In short, Mueller’s deputies concealed the corrupted predicates of the earlier investigations while compounding the damage with their own slanted and misleading account.

Yet with all that corruption swirling around him, Mueller himself held the line, even as age and decline had plainly weakened him. He did not stop his deputies from smearing Trump, and that failure matters. But he remained the thin blue line that prevented one of the ugliest abuses of prosecutorial power in modern American history.

Robert Mueller should be remembered not as the anti-Trump hero or anti-conservative that the New York Times described, but as a conscientious man who kept his footing amid corrupt company.

​Robert mueller, Russiagate, Fbi, Hillary clinton, James comey, Mainstream media, Steele dossier, Crossfire hurricane, Opinion & analysis, Corruption, Fisa abuse, Five eyes, Deep state 

Following the death of action legend Chuck Norris, what might have been a moment of shared cultural reflection has quickly turned contentious. Leftists are already scrutinizing Norris’ film legacy through a political lens — something BlazeTV host Sara Gonzales is tired of.

“Democrats never waste an opportunity to make everything about politics, make death about politics. … This guy was a Hollywood icon, a meme legend, and you would think that we could all just be like, ‘Oh, that’s sad that he died,’” Gonzales says.

One article published by Variety magazine makes this clear, with the headline reading, “Chuck Norris Was a Great Action Star — but Politics May Overshadow His Legacy.”

“Yes, he was a Republican, but he didn’t really wear that with a badge on his shoulder or anything, but weirdly, this isn’t even what the article is taking shots at him about,” Gonzales comments, before reading a paragraph from the article.

“Was Norris a brilliant athlete and top-shelf star? Yes. But there’s no denying that his roles were part of a body of work used to show American strength, might, and the pernicious attraction of taking the law into one’s own hands — something that seems less fun in a year in which our country is funneling money into bombing Iran and ICE agents are acting like one-man militias,” the author, William Earl, wrote.

“Given our nation’s divisions in morality, information literacy, and overall sense of reality, it’s easier to see Norris’ characters as justification for a fringe conspiracy movement rather than a moral standing,” he continued.

Earl went on to ask the question that’s on no one’s mind: “When a star is the poster boy for American exceptionalism and might, at what point does his legacy transition from escapism to dangerous propaganda?”

“What an absolute freaking loser,” Gonzales comments.

“The Democrats make everything unfun. They are unfun, miserable, ghoulish people,” she continues. “But you know what? That leaves us with no shortage of things to talk about.”

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.

​Sara gonzales unfiltered, Sara gonzales, The blaze, Blazetv, Blaze news, Blaze podcasts, Blaze podcast network, Blaze media, Blaze online, Blaze originals, Chuck norris death, Chuck norris, Chuck norris politics, Chuck norris republican, Democrats, Variety magazine, Leftism, Leftists 

At the beginning of the year, one of my crystal-ball predictions for 2026 was that Samuel Alito and/or Clarence Thomas would retire so President Trump could replace them before the midterms.

Recent reporting suggests that prediction may prove correct, especially with speculation that Alito is considering stepping down. So I checked with some sources to see which names are circulating as possible replacements.

Why should our side ever put a judge on the Supreme Court who sides with the left on the sanctity of life for any reason?

The reality is Alito is not easily replaced. He has been one of the best Supreme Court justices of this century. His successor cannot be some C-plus or B-minus judge with a fuzzy record and a habit of folding at the wrong moment. The stakes are too high.

That is why one name worries me: Judge Andrew Oldham.

Trump already passed on Oldham for the Supreme Court in 2020 and for good reason. What remains of our constitutional republic does not have time for a “meh” nominee.

Oldham, a former general counsel to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R), now serves on the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. A quick look at his record shows a pattern that should alarm anyone hoping for another Alito.

Let’s start with life.

Alito authored the phenomenal majority opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson, which overturned Roe v. Wade, one of the most wicked decisions in American history. Oldham’s record points the other way. In 2000, Bill Clinton’s FDA treated pregnancy as an “illness” to justify accelerated approval of abortion drugs as the supposed “cure.” Years later, a Trump-appointed district judge rightly rejected that decision, and a Trump-appointed circuit judge backed him. Oldham, however, became the first circuit judge to side with the Clinton FDA’s position on procedural grounds.

The American Family Association called that decision “shockingly weak” at the time. The Supreme Court effectively vindicated that criticism in 2024 when it overturned Oldham by a 6-3 vote.

Why should our side ever put a judge on the Supreme Court who sides with the left on the sanctity of life for any reason?

The concerns do not stop there.

AFA, which tracks judicial nominations as well as any group on the right, has also described Oldham as “soft” on COVID shot mandates. He earned that reputation when he wrote an opinion saying schools need not require children to wear masks, not because masks do not work, but because schools could instead adopt other COVID policies involving vaccines, plexiglass, hand sanitizer, distancing, and more.

The opinion was so weak that no other judge joined it.

Then came gender ideology. Last year, my Blaze Media colleague Daniel Horowitz reported on Oldham siding against doctors and with the Biden administration’s edict that they must perform gender-transition procedures on children by refusing even to hear their challenge. Oldham had a chance to join a Trump-appointed judge who rejected Biden’s grotesque mandate. He passed.

His immigration record raises more red flags.

RELATED: Supreme Court sides with Catholic parents against California on student gender notification — for now

Photo by Kent Nishimura/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Oldham declined to back a Trump-appointed district judge who ruled against allowing illegal aliens to receive cheaper in-state college tuition than out-of-state Americans. That alone should have disqualified him from serious consideration.

Thankfully, Trump’s Justice Department sued last year to end that practice in Texas, where Oldham’s former client is governor. Once the Justice Department sued, Texas finally conceded the point. Now left-wing groups want the courts to restore that anti-American policy. And which legal precedent are they citing? Oldham’s.

You cannot make it up.

Nor was that his only immigration failure. Oldham also ruled against Abbott when the governor declared an invasion at the southern border two years ago. Does that sound like a judge ready to overturn Plyler v. Doe, the disastrous precedent that for illegal immigration serves much the same function Roe once served for abortion?

Now sensing that his moment may have arrived, Oldham appears to be trying to retcon himself as a reliably based jurist. Even Slate has noticed the pattern — the judicial equivalent of a comb-over meant to hide an obvious weakness. The result has been embarrassing. He now gets overturned with some regularity by one of the most right-leaning Supreme Courts in recent memory.

That tends to happen when ambition outruns conviction.

Oldham once lobbied Barack Obama to appoint Elizabeth Warren, of all people, to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Now he wants conservatives to view him as Alito’s natural heir. That kind of ideological shape-shifting should make everyone nervous. When a man’s career seems driven more by advancement than by principle, it becomes hard to know where he actually stands.

That was never a question with Alito.

Replacing a sure thing requires another sure thing. Oldham is not that. Maybe he has good explanations for parts of his record. But maybe Trump can do better.

This may be Trump’s last chance to appoint a Supreme Court justice. It would amount to a self-own of historic proportions for the most based president of modern times to replace Alito with someone appreciably weaker than a George W. Bush appointee turned out to be.

​Supreme court, Donald trump, Samuel alito, Clarence thomas, Supreme court justice, Judge andrew oldham, Opinion & analysis, Fifth circuit, Federal courts, Constitution, Dobbs v. jackson women’s health organization, Roe v. wade, Daniel horowitz, Transgender agenda, Gender ideology, Illegal aliens, Plyler v. doe, Elizabeth warren, Consumer financial protection bureau 

Hollywood actor Vince Vaughn ripped into late-night shows for becoming far too political and driving away their audience.

Vaughn made the comments while being interviewed by comedian Theo Von on his podcast, “This Past Weekend.”

‘It felt like they had an agenda. It stopped being funny, and it started feeling like I was in f**king a class I didn’t want to take.’

Von blamed the falling ratings for late-night shows on the left-wing bias in the entertainment industry.

“Why a lot of the late shows have struggled, because all they did,” Von said, “the only person they could make fun of at a certain point was just white, redneck kind of people, and then everything tanked after that.”

“Think about that. They never get it right,” Vaughn replied. “The podcasts have gotten so much more popular with less production, less writers, less staff.”

“Oh yeah, we have two people working here, and both of them are hungover, and that one guy has shingles!” Von joked.

“Yeah, because people want authenticity,” Vaughn added. “I think that the talk shows, to a large part, became really agenda-based. They were going to [evangelize] people to what they thought. And so people just rejected it because it didn’t feel authentic. It felt like they had an agenda. It stopped being funny, and it started feeling like I was in f**king a class I didn’t want to take.”

He went on to tie the low ratings directly to entertainers’ politics.

“But if you look at what happened to the talk shows and why their ratings are low, it’s got only to do with the fact of what you just said, which is they all became the same show. And they all became so about their politics and who’s good and who’s bad,” Vaughn said.

“And it’s like, imagine sitting next to someone who’s like that on a f**king plane! Bro, you’d be like, ‘How do I get out of this f**king seat!'” Vaughn added.

Video of Vaughn’s comments was posted to social media, where it garnered more than 1.6 million views in less than a day.

RELATED: Vince Vaughn too ‘Old School’ for Hollywood wokesters

Vaughn, who has previously identified as a libertarian, said he escaped being ostracized in Hollywood by simply being honest without attacking people who disagree.

“If you’re constantly worried what someone else thinks of you and you’re only around them a couple hours a day, you’re miserable most of the time. You’ve got to … find the way to be yourself but be respectful.”

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​Vince vaughn libertarian, Liberalism in hollywood, Late night shows too political, Theo von podcast, Politics 

California Governor Gavin Newsom (D) posted a bizarre message trying to mock President Donald Trump but instead was crushed by online mockery.

The post referenced an online joke that compared Newsom to the Patrick Bateman character, a sadistic serial killer in the popular film “American Psycho.”

‘Can’t decide if he’s the most or least self aware person alive.’

“For so many years people have been saying that Patrick Bateman and I look alike. Now this pic has been going all over the place. What do you think?” he wrote, with an image comparing the two men.

Newsom was referring to a post from the president using the same wording but comparing himself to rock ‘n’ roll icon Elvis Presley. Trump was visiting Graceland, the theme park former residence of Elvis.

Then the backlash hit the governor.

“I think yes, you are a psychopath,” commentator Bridget Phetasy said.

“Newsom seeing the Patrick Bateman comparisons and treating it like a looks question. That tracks,” GOP strategist Erin Maguire responded.

“This dude is so narcissistic it boggles the mind,” podcaster Mikhaila Peterson replied.

“Well he was a sociopathic narcissist and a douchbag in that movie so I think that’s probably the similarity people are seeing,” another popular response reads.

“Can’t decide if he’s the most or least self aware person alive,” another popular response reads.

“He played a narcissistic psychopath serial killer! Who in the hell is running this account?!” activist April Silverman replied.

RELATED: Gavin Newsom lashes out at Joe Rogan for accusing him of ruining California: ‘He did horrible s**t!’

“Everyone is commenting on how insane it is that he is embracing the psychopath image, but I haven’t seen anyone point out that he altered his photo so that he doesn’t have a pencil neck,” attorney Laura Powell said.

Newsom’s post garnered more than 4.5 million views after getting ridiculed.

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​Gavin newsom serial killer, Newsom vs trump, Newsom american psycho, Newsom social media, Politics 

Police in Covington, Tennessee, on Monday said they responded to the 1400 block of South College Street in regard to a harassment complaint.

Arriving officers spoke to the 26-year-old victim who stated that she was showering and noticed she was being recorded on video, officials said.

‘We are working with DCS to identify all victims in this investigation and provide protective and medical services for these children.’

The victim identified the suspect as 22-year-old Deondre Dyson, who also resides at the residence and allegedly was outside the victim’s window when the incident occurred, officials said.

Officers found Dyson at the residence and escorted him to the police department’s Criminal Investigations Division for interviewing, officials said.

RELATED: Transgender sex offender accused of trying to kidnap boy at elementary school gets good news from DA

Image source: Covington (Tenn.) Police Department

Soon after Dyson provided detectives with consent to search his phone, detectives uncovered a “disturbing video of Dyson allegedly engaging in a sexual act with a 3-year-old toddler,” officials said.

Detectives determined the recording occurred at a residence in Lauderdale County, officials said.

Soon detectives contacted authorities with the Lauderdale County Sheriff’s Office, who launched a child sexual abuse investigation related to the video, officials said.

Dyson admitted to his role in the videos of both victims, officials said.

Detectives arrested Dyson and took him to the Tipton County Jail, officials said, adding that Dyson has been formally charged with unlawful photography and sexual exploitation of a child.

Tipton County General Sessions Judge M.O. Eckel III held Dyson in jail awaiting his arraignment, officials said.

Detectives anticipate additional charges after analysts finalize the forensic review of the electronic evidence, officials said.

“This is a troubling investigation on multiple levels. We are working with DCS to identify all victims in this investigation and provide protective and medical services for these children,” Covington Police Chief Donna Turner said, according to officials. “This case started with an adult but due to the thorough investigation by our detectives, an alleged monster was uncovered.”

Those with information related to this investigation are encouraged to contact the Covington Police Department Criminal Investigations Division at 901-475-1261. Tips may also be submitted via Facebook Messenger at Covington TN Police Department or through the City of Covington website.

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​Tennessee, Arrest, Covington, Deondre dyson, Jailed, Police, Sexual exploitation of a child, Unlawful photography, Crime 

The landscape of college basketball is changing, and after noticing a larger amount of standout white players flooding the courts during this year’s NCAA Tournament, BlazeTV host Jason Whitlock has a theory as to why that is.

“The same thing that’s going on in the NBA is going on in college basketball. You got Nikola Jokic and Luka Doncic and Cooper Flagg running around everywhere all over college basketball,” Whitlock begins.

“This is the exciting whites storming the NCAA Tournament, and no one wants to talk about it. No one wants to know how we got here. Let me go a cut deeper about what’s going on here as well because it’s not just the players,” he says, pointing out that there are no black American coaches in the Sweet 16.

“Kelvin Sampson, we’ll claim him as a coach of color. You guys know Kelvin Sampson’s one of my favorite people. He’s Native American, but things have gotten so bad for black coaches that we have to pretend like Kelvin Sampson is a black American coach. He’s not,” he continues.

Whitlock believes none of this will be discussed because “it’s all connected to a bigger issue in the black community” that he points out is off limits.

“And that’s the fact that there’s a leadership problem in black America. And that’s because black America has a matriarchal culture. We’re led by women. Women are not great leaders. Period. End of story,” he explains.

“They keep shoving it and slamming it down your throats that these queens, black and white, and particularly lesbians, they’re great leaders. They’re just like men. And I keep telling you all, look at what’s happening to black America,” he continues.

“That’s the take today that no one else is going to make or give you or ask you to marinate on. But it is so crystal clear and so obvious,” he adds.

Want more from Jason Whitlock?

To enjoy more fearless conversations at the crossroads of culture, faith, sports, and comedy with Jason Whitlock, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

​Fearless with jason whitlock, Fearless, Jason whitlock, The blaze, Blazetv, Blaze news, Blaze podcasts, Blaze podcast network, Blaze media, Blaze online, Blaze originals, White college basketball players, Ncaa tournament, March madness bracket, Ncaa, Kelvin sampson, Whitlock, Black culture 

While the Democrat-induced shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security enters its sixth week, Americans and even some airlines are looking for new ways to apply pressure on Congress to end it.

Most recently, Delta Air Lines announced that it would be revoking key perks afforded to members of Congress until DHS is reopened and Transportation Security Administration employees can get paid. These services include express lanes and dedicated congressional phone numbers to afford members and their staff extra flexibility.

‘I wait in line like everyone else.’

But with no clear end in sight to the DHS shutdown, Republican Rep. Mark Alford of Missouri offered his own defense of the congressional perks.

“The reason these are put into place is because of our irregular schedule in Congress,” Alford told Blaze News during a Republican Study Committee press conference Tuesday. “We don’t know what time of the day we’re going to leave after votes to get back to our district, to work in our district, to see our families.”

RELATED: Delta revokes major travel perk for Congress amid ongoing DHS shutdown

“It’s not like a special favor necessarily that we’re getting. It’s to accommodate a chaotic schedule in Congress so that we can represent the three quarters of a million people that we represent,” Alford added.

Alford went on to offer a financial justification for these congressional benefits, arguing they ultimately save taxpayers money.

“There’s also a discount for congressional travel,” Alford said, “because this is taxpayer money that we’re talking about. It comes out of our members’ representational account, and going through this special office, there is a government fare for these tickets, and I would submit to you that that is in the best interest of the American taxpayer.”

“These offices exist to help facilitate so that we can do our job, not for our pleasure, not to get through security any faster, but to do our job for the American people, and some use these services more than not,” Alford added.

RELATED: Trump adds new condition to ICE airport plan in DHS shutdown fight

Photo by CHARLY TRIBALLEAU / AFP via Getty Images

Although Alford defended some of these members-only services, he said it was “disconcerting” to see members of Congress cutting TSA lines and going around security, particularly during the DHS shutdown.

“I personally do not do that,” Alford said. “I wait in line like everyone else, and I think the more the American people see that we are — look, we’re a voice and a vote for three quarters of a million people.”

“We are not better because we have this pin,” Alford added. “We’re not better than anyone else, but we do have a job to do, and to get here and to get back home is part of that job.”

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​Donald trump, Mark alford, Dhs shutdown, Dhs, Democrat shutdown, Republican study committee, Delta, Tsa, Tsa lines, Politics 

Los Angeles residents appear to be souring on the Democratic mayor of Los Angeles after various scandals and controversies, according to a new poll.

The Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies/Los Angeles Times poll found that a majority of L.A. residents disapprove of Mayor Karen Bass just two months before she hopes to capture the Democratic nomination for her re-election.

‘That she’s having this much trouble against such a little-known field bodes very, very poorly for her.’

The poll found that Bass is still the front-runner for the nomination, with 25% support of Angelenos, but another 25% were undecided.

Far-left City Councilwoman Nithya Raman came in second place with 17%, and reality TV star Spencer Pratt has taken the third place spot with 14%.

Fifty-six percent of likely voters said they view Bass negatively, and 13% said they had no opinion. Only 31% said they had a favorable opinion of Bass.

“These are very discouraging, if not downright devastating, poll numbers for Karen Bass. She’s running ahead of her opponents only because her opponents are not very well known,” said USC and UC Berkeley political communications lecturer Dan Schnur to KABC-TV.

“That she’s having this much trouble against such a little-known field bodes very, very poorly for her,” he added.

Among the more damaging controversies hurting Bass is her apparent lack of leadership during the 2025 Palisades fires and her attempts to pass the blame onto others afterward. Pratt, whose house burned down in the fires, has been hammering away at Bass and other Democratic leaders over their incompetence.

RELATED: Video: LA Mayor Karen Bass has deranged meltdown over ICE operation near Newsom’s anti-Trump presser

Schnur added that Bass would be doing far worse if other candidates had run for mayor.

“The only thing saving her at this point is that top-tier candidates who were considering running decided to stay out of the race,” he said.

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A man who had been arrested and sentenced for threatening to kill President Donald Trump and others was sentenced to prison and released before allegedly making more threats.

Diedrich Holgate, 47, was sentenced to a year and a half of prison time for the original threats made when Trump was a 2024 candidate.

‘I have the right to kill the president. I want to kill you.’

In 2024, Holgate threatened to kill the president nearly three dozen times in posts on social media and calls and voicemails sent to U.S. Secret Service.

“I will kill everyone,” he said, according to Fox News, citing a federal indictment. “The president is going to die. I don’t care if it is Trump or Biden. I will hang everyone for treason.”

In one call, when he was asked directly who he was targeting, he responded, “POTUS, FLOTUS, and SCOTUS. … I have the right to kill the president. I want to kill you.”

Holgate was also sentenced to supervised release, which he began to serve on Jan. 21 at the Northwest Regional Re-Entry Center in Portland, Oregon. Holgate was released to a halfway house, where he allegedly continued to make threats and was subsequently arrested again.

He was kicked out of the halfway house after being found vaping in a bathroom, according to testimony from Diana Leiseth, his federal probation officer.

Leiseth said Holgate would send her 20 to 40 messages a day and renewed his threat to kill the president and others. One message allegedly said: “Trump’s gonna fkn pardon me or I’ll kill him!!!!”

“I’m done playing — everyone is dead, dead, dead,” the man said to Leiseth, according to her testimony.

Leiseth added that Holgate refused to stay at approved residential housing and didn’t show up to a probation request.

RELATED: ‘Pew pew MAGA’: Florida TikToker threatened to shoot Trump supporters — and faces years behind bars

Photo by Aaron Schwartz/CNP/Bloomberg via Getty Images

A man by the same name in Austin, Texas, was arrested in 2017 and allegedly threatened to kill an Austin police officer and his family for violating his constitutional rights.

Holgate was ordered to be held in custody pending a new hearing in the trial.

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Six technically unrelated news stories are all pointing in the same direction, but nobody is noticing the common thread, says Glenn Beck.

Those stories are as follows, Glenn says:

1. Recently declassified documents revealed that the Biden administration had evidence that China was accessing American voter registration data in 2020, but it “was hidden from members of Congress” and “from the people.”

2. “There is so much fraud in this country” that recovering even “half of it” could “balance the budget,” with a new task force now being launched to go after it.

3. The national debt has now surpassed $39 trillion.

4.The Supreme Court is “quietly, patiently reconsidering” the doctrine of qualified immunity — a legal rule that protects government officials from being sued for violating rights unless the violation matches an exactly identical situation already ruled unconstitutional in a previous case.

5. In Las Vegas, the Metropolitan Police Department recently defied a judge’s order to release a suspect with 35 prior arrests and a conviction for involuntary manslaughter onto pretrial GPS monitoring, citing public safety risks.

6. Key allies, like Germany, France, the U.K., and others, are refusing to commit military support to reopen or secure the Strait of Hormuz — a vital global oil shipping route that Iran has heavily disrupted or de facto closed amid the ongoing U.S.-Israel-Iran conflict.

“Every story by itself is dismissible, until one day you realize they were never separate stories at all,” says Glenn

When you zoom out and see the big picture, it becomes clear that these aren’t really news stories at all, he says. “They’re signals; they’re sirens; they’re warnings.”

There are two possibilities when it comes to these six stories, Glenn argues: Either “the government is actually starting to do its job … confronting fraud, confronting corruption, restoring accountability, having our allies take a stand one way or another,” or “the system [is beginning] to lose control of itself.”

“If this is a correction and we lean into it, we fix it, we demand the truth, we rebuild. But if this is collapse, then the most dangerous thing we can do is pretend it’s normal,” he says.

“What is the solution?” he asks.

To those who aren’t connecting the dots between these six stories, Glenn’s advice is blunt: “Wake up and recognize where we are in history.”

To those who do recognize the imminent peril, he gives a choice: “There is a movement to correct [America’s deep-rooted corruption] right now. Are you part of that movement, or are you part of the movement that says, ‘I just can’t do anything about it’?”

“I know which side I’ve chosen,” he says. “I demand … we tear down the corruption; I demand we believe that this country is worth saving and taking the steps every day to preserve our principles in our own families, in our own neighborhood, in our own town, in our own state.”

To hear more of Glenn’s compelling analysis, watch the video above.

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In a last-ditch effort to stop Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Democrats have been attempting to defund the Department of Homeland Security — and their plan is backfiring miserably.

“Guess what, guys?” BlazeTV host Sara Gonzales says. “You played yourselves, because now you’ve unleashed ICE agents at airports across the country.”

“The Radical Left Democrats have hurt so many people with their vicious and uncaring ways. What they have done to the Department of Homeland Security, our fantastic TSA Officers, and, most importantly, the great people of our Country, is an absolute disgrace,” President Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social.

“If the Democrats do not allow for Just and Proper Security at our Airports, and elsewhere throughout our Country, ICE will do the job far better than ever done before! The Fascist Democrats will never protect America, but the Republicans will,” he added.

And, as expected, the Democrats are not happy with Trump’s move to place ICE agents at airports around the country.

“The last thing that the American people need are untrained ICE agents to be deployed at airports all across the country, potentially to brutalize or in some instances kill them,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries told Dana Bash in a segment on CNN.

“He is trying to do what they always do, and any time that they want to make this country less safe and any time that they don’t want to go along with what the majority of Americans decided when President Trump was elected on his agenda of deporting the criminals, the illegals,” Gonzales says, before showing a clip of what TSA lines have looked like across the country.

“You’re affecting a whole hell of a lot of Americans, Democrats. You are restricting their ability to just travel freely and be able to just show up at an airport and go through all the motions and go get to their flight and go wherever they need to go,” she continues.

However, while Jeffries and other Democrats claim it’s the fault of the Republicans, even ABC News is reporting that the blame can be placed squarely on the Democrats.

“Democrats have once again blocked a funding bill for the Department of Homeland Security as they continue to insist on reforms to ICE and Customs and Border Protection in exchange for funding the agency,” a post on X from the network reads.

“The same ABC News that likes to call terrorists activists,” Gonzales adds.

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​Sara gonzales unfiltered, Sara gonzales, The blaze, Blazetv, Blaze news, Blaze podcasts, Blaze podcast network, Blaze media, Blaze online, Blaze originals, Democrats, Department of homeland security, Dhs, Republicans, Ice, Immigration and customs enforcement, Tsa lines, Hakeem jeffries, Cnn, Dana bash, Abc news 

All of the top Democratic candidates running for governor of California accused the University of Southern California and KABC-TV of being racist against the minority candidates after none of them met the criteria to join a debate.

Two Republicans and four Democrats met the standard to appear in a debate scheduled for Tuesday, but some of the lower-tier candidates complained that those who qualified were all white. The criteria is a mix of polling performance and campaign donations.

‘Democrats in this state cannot organize anything.’

The Democrats who qualified for the debate are former Rep. Katie Porter, Rep. Eric Swalwell, billionaire Tom Steyer, and San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan.

According to the New York Times, the candidates left out pointed to Mahan, a white candidate who would not have qualified but for the millions of dollars he has raised in Silicon Valley, as evidence of racial bias.

“This biased and bigoted action by USC to manipulate the data to exclude every qualified Black, Latino, and API candidate in favor of a less qualified white candidate is shameful,” former L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa railed.

“We are a minority-majority state, and the idea that the four candidates of color are not going to be on the stage to bring those perspectives, to really speak to those communities, is really not doing right by the voters,” said former California Controller Betty Yee.

“Criteria used to determine which candidates qualify to participate in a debate must be transparent, fair, and objective,” Porter responded. “I’m disappointed by how USC handled the process for Tuesday’s debate. Candidates and Californians deserve answers.”

“It is a shame that USC has decided to elevate one candidate at the expense of others,” Swalwell replied. “USC, and every host of a gubernatorial debate, should employ fair, objective, and honest criteria for all candidates. I remain hopeful they will do so Tuesday night.”

Steyer also accused USC of coming up with “retroactive standards that elevate some candidates that didn’t meet the initial criteria” in order to exclude other candidates.

Mahan called on the organizers to include four candidates who were excluded and are persons of color: Villaraigosa, Yee, Biden HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra, and state Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond.

“The organizers of the USC debate must include these qualified candidates, and I ask all my fellow candidates to support this request,” he wrote.

USC defended the “independence, objectivity, and integrity” of the researcher who created the criteria for the debate and then canceled the debate.

Republican candidate Steve Hilton mocked Democrats after the cancellation.

RELATED: Swalwell surges in California governor’s race — but Republican candidate still leads, says new poll

“It’s another example that Democrats in this state cannot organize anything. … This is a really important debate about the future of our state,” Hilton said. People want to hear from the candidates, especially in such a crowded field, but yet again, the needs of the insiders, the Democrats, come before the needs of the people.”

One recent poll shows Hilton and Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco taking the lead at 17% and 16% respectively, while Swalwell and Porter tie at 13%. Steyer comes in fifth place with 10% support.

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A sanctuary state governor is refusing to confirm whether he will honor an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainer request against an illegal alien accused of fatally shooting a college student.

Sheridan Gorman, an 18-year-old college student at Illinois’ Loyola University Chicago, was attacked at around 1 a.m. on Thursday when she was out on a walk with friends to view the northern lights.

‘We are calling on Governor JB Pritzker and Chicago’s sanctuary politicians to commit to not releasing this criminal illegal alien from jail back into American neighborhoods.’

Jose Medina-Medina, an illegal alien from Venezuela, approached Gorman while wearing a mask and armed with a gun, according to the Department of Homeland Security. When Gorman attempted to flee, Medina-Medina allegedly fired his gun, shooting Gorman. She was pronounced dead at the scene.

The DHS reported that Medina-Medina was apprehended by U.S. Border Patrol agents in May 2023 but was released into the country under the Biden administration. He was again released from custody the following month after he was arrested in Chicago for allegedly shoplifting.

On March 22, the DHS asked Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) not to release Medina-Medina from custody a third time and instead honor ICE’s arrest detainer.

RELATED: College student went to Chicago park to see northern lights — and was lethally shot by illegal alien suspect, DHS says

JB Pritzker. Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images

The Federalist reported Monday that Pritzker’s office refused to say whether his administration would honor ICE’s request.

“Our thoughts are with the family, friends, and Loyola University community grieving the senseless murder of Sheridan Gorman,” a spokesperson for Pritzker’s office told the Federalist.

“Violent crime has no place in our streets, and we expect the alleged perpetrator to be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law,” the spokesperson continued. “The Trump administration needs to stop politicizing heinous tragedies and instead focus on real solutions, like reinstating federal funds to prevent violence that support our public safety efforts.”

RELATED: Parents enraged over adult illegal alien allegedly molesting Virginia high school girls

Photo by Mostafa Bassim/Anadolu via Getty Images

Medina-Medina is facing several charges, including first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, aggravated assault, and unlawful possession of a firearm.

“Sheridan Gorman had her whole life ahead of her before this cold-blooded killer decided to end her life. She was failed by open border policies and sanctuary politicians who RELEASED this illegal alien TWICE before he went on to commit this heinous murder,” DHS Acting Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis stated. “We are calling on Governor J.B. Pritzker and Chicago’s sanctuary politicians to commit to not releasing this criminal illegal alien from jail back into American neighborhoods.”

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A quadruple amputee who is also a professional cornhole player is accused of fatally shooting his car passenger, according to numerous reports. But how could he have fired a gun?

Two people flagged down police officers in La Plata, Maryland, at 10:25 p.m. Sunday, the Charles County Sheriff’s Office said. La Plata is about 35 miles south of Washington, D.C.

‘It’s early in the investigation, but there’s no evidence to suggest anyone else was involved in the shooting and that he acted alone.’

Officials said a preliminary investigation revealed the two people in question were in the back seat of a car when the driver — Dayton James Webber, 27, of La Plata — shot and killed the front-seat passenger during an argument.

Officials said Webber pulled over and asked the two passengers to help pull the victim out of the car — but the two witnesses refused, exited the car, and left the scene.

Webber then fled with the victim still in the car, officials said, adding that all the occupants of the car are known to each other.

A search began, and nearly two hours later, a resident of Charlotte Hall, Maryland, called 911 to report a body in a yard, officials said.

Officers responded and found the victim — Bradrick Michael Wells, 27, of Waldorf — who was pronounced dead at the scene, officials said.

Charles County Sheriff’s Office detectives obtained an arrest warrant for Webber and found his car in Charlottesville, Virginia, officials said.

Webber was found at a nearby hospital seeking treatment for a medical issue, officials said.

Upon Webber’s release from the hospital, officers with the Albemarle County Police Department arrested Webber, officials said.

Webber soon was arraigned in the District Court of Maryland for Charles County, WTTG-TV reported, adding that he was charged with first-degree murder, second-degree murder, use of a firearm in the commission of a felony, and two counts of first-degree assault.

RELATED: All-out brawl … at a cornhole tournament fundraiser? Sadly, yes: ‘Alcohol and beanbags do not mix’

WTTG, citing a statement of charges filed by Det. M. Bigelow of the Charles County Sheriff’s Office, said Webber picked up two people from work in a vehicle with Wells already in the front passenger seat.

While the vehicle was in motion, an argument broke out between Webber and Wells, the station said, citing the documents.

The two witnesses told police that Webber pulled out a firearm and shot Wells twice in the head during the argument, WTTG reported.

The statement of charges also indicates that Webber soon pulled the vehicle over and asked the passengers to remove Wells from the car, but they refused, exited the vehicle, and flagged down a police officer, the station said. Webber drove off with Wells still inside the car, WTTG said.

Around 12:41 a.m. Monday, a Charlotte Hall resident found Wells’ body on the side of a road, the station said, citing the documents.

The statement of charges notes that both witnesses from the car positively identified Webber as the shooter and Wells as the victim, WTTG reported, which provided the basis for the murder and assault charges against Webber.

Police have not explained how Webber — a quadruple amputee — was able to drive a car or fire a weapon, the station said.

“It’s early in the investigation, but there’s no evidence to suggest anyone else was involved in the shooting and that he acted alone,” Diane Richardson of the Charles County Sheriff’s Office told WTTG in a statement.

However, the station in its story included links to videos posted on social media that WTTG said “do appear to show Webber shooting rifles and 9mm handguns.”

The station, citing reports, said Webber underwent quadruple amputation as a baby after a blood infection.

What’s more, WTTG said Webber is a professional cornhole player in the American Cornhole League.

“That’s one of the great things about our sport, how accessible it is, and how we like to say anyone can play, anyone can win, because if you want to put your mind to it, you want to put the time into practice, you can become competitive,” ACL Commissioner Stacey Moore told Fox News Digital earlier this month, according to the station.

Those who have more information about this case are asked to call Det. R. Johnson at 301-609-6453, WTTG said.

Tipsters who want to remain anonymous may contact Charles County Crime Solvers by calling 1-866-411-TIPS, the station said, adding that tips also can be submitted online at www.charlescountycrimesolvers.com or by using the P3Intel mobile app.

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Delta Air Lines is apparently pressuring members of Congress to restore funding to Transportation Security Administration agents amid the ongoing Department of Homeland Security shutdown.

The decision by Democratic lawmakers to withhold funding for DHS has resulted in lengthy airport security lines, particularly in Atlanta, which is home to Delta’s headquarters. Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, one of the world’s busiest airports, has advised air travelers to arrive at least four hours before their scheduled flights.

‘It’s ridiculous to see them being used as political chips.’

Meanwhile, the callout rate for the airport’s TSA agents reached 41.5% on Sunday, according to the DHS.

TSA agents have not received their full paychecks since Feb. 14. They received partial paychecks on Feb. 28, missed their next pay period on March 13, and are set to miss their second full paychecks on March 27.

Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian called the situation “inexcusable” during a March 17 interview with CNBC.

“It’s inexcusable that our security agents, our frontline agents, that are central to what we do, are not being paid. And it’s ridiculous to see them being used as political chips,” Bastian stated. “So yeah, we’re outraged.”

“If there’s a call to action here, and I think over 90% of the American public support those people getting paid, ask our folks right here in Washington to do their job. Get our people paid. They can do it,” Bastian added.

RELATED: Trump adds new condition to ICE airport plan in DHS shutdown fight

Ed Bastian. Photographer: Michael Nagle/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Delta appears to be pressuring Congress members to act by suspending a special benefit typically granted to them.

The airline announced that it has halted its dedicated flight assistance service for Capitol Hill legislators, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution first reported.

“Due to the impact on resources from the longstanding government shutdown, Delta will temporarily suspend specialty services to members of Congress flying Delta,” a statement from the company reads, according to the AJC. “Next to safety, Delta’s No. 1 priority is taking care of our people and customers, which has become increasingly difficult in the current environment.”

Members of Congress will be treated like all Delta travelers, according to their SkyMiles status, a spokesperson told the news outlet.

RELATED: ‘Absolute insanity’: Democrats’ DHS shutdown has travelers lining up outside Atlanta airport

Photo by Charly TRIBALLEAU / AFP via Getty Images

Last week, Bastian joined nine other aviation CEOs in an open letter to Congress, stressing the importance of paying TSA agents. Leaders of American Airlines, Southwest Airlines, and United Airlines also signed the letter.

“Americans — who live in your districts and home states — are tired of long lines at airports, travel delays and flight cancellations caused by shutdown after shutdown,” the letter reads. “Yet, once again air travel is the political football amid another government shutdown.”

“First, leaders should immediately come together to reach an agreement to fund the Department of Homeland Security,” it continues. “Then they need to act so this problem never happens again.”

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An American hostage has been released by the Taliban after more than a year in custody.

Fox News reported Tuesday that Dennis Coyle, an American academic who spent nearly two decades in Afghanistan before being detained by the Taliban without charges, has finally been released after more than a year in near-solitary confinement.

‘Today, Dennis is on his way home.’

Coyle, 64, was taken from his home in Kabul in January 2025.

“The United States welcomes the release of American citizen Dennis Coyle, who was wrongfully detained in Afghanistan for more than a year,” Special Envoy for Hostage Affairs Adam Boehler said in a statement to Fox News.

RELATED: Suspect in National Guard shooting was part of CIA-backed unit that hunted down Taliban commanders

Photo by Wakil KOHSAR / AFP via Getty Images

Earlier this month, Secretary of State Marco Rubio designated Afghanistan as a state sponsor of wrongful detention, writing on social media, “The Taliban continue to use terrorist tactics to seek policy concessions, but it won’t work under this administration. The Taliban must release Dennis Coyle, Mahmood Habibi, and all Americans unjustly detained in Afghanistan.”

On Tuesday, Rubio celebrated Coyle’s release as “a positive step towards ending the practice of hostage diplomacy.”

“Earlier this month, I met Molly, Amy, and Patti as they asked for help freeing their brother Dennis Coyle from detention in Afghanistan. Today, Dennis is on his way home. We thank the UAE and Qatar for their support,” Rubio said on social media.

Coyle’s family told Fox News that Coyle had been working legally as an academic researcher to support language communities in Afghanistan.

He was seized on January 27, 2025, just days after another American, Ryan Corbett, was released at the start of President Trump’s second term, CBS News reported on the anniversary of Coyle’s detention.

Afghanistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced Coyle’s release on social media. A section of the translated post on X reads: “[The release] has further strengthened the atmosphere of trust between the two countries. Likewise, it expresses the hope that both countries will, in the future, find ways to resolve the remaining issues through mutual understanding and constructive dialogue.”

Habibi’s status is unclear. The U.S. government, including the House Foreign Affairs Committee, claims he was taken hostage by the Taliban in August 2022. The State Department has offered a reward of up to $5 million for information leading to his whereabouts.

CBS News reported in January that the Taliban denies that they arrested him.

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Even though the COVID-19 pandemic is quickly fading into a distant memory for many Americans, BlazeTV host Matt Kibbe refuses to let the unanswered questions from that corrupt era fade into obscurity. His docuseries “The Coverup” is both a deep dive into COVID fraud and lies and a demand for accountability.

In episodes 1-5, Kibbe teamed up with a number of experts and whistleblowers — Stanford professor of medicine and current NIH Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky.), former coronavirus task force adviser Scott Atlas, molecular biologist Dr. Richard Ebright, and Twitter Files journalist Matt Taibbi. Together, they exposed the gamut of COVID-era scandals, including widespread censorship, risky gain-of-function research, suspicious behind-the-scenes White House dynamics, Anthony Fauci’s smoking-gun history of funding dangerous virus experiments, and the network of health bureaucracies that together formed a pandemic industrial complex.

The series now arrives at its sixth and final installment: “The Separation of Science from State.”

It stares at one of the most consequential unanswered questions of our time: What is the true origin of the virus — and why has it been so difficult to nail down the answer?

In this episode, Kibbe partners with science writer and former House of Lords member Matt Ridley. A longtime advocate for scientific innovation and institutional trust, Ridley initially dismissed the lab-leak theory, but after weighing the mounting evidence — from genetic anomalies in the virus to inconsistencies in early reporting — he arrived at a conclusion that shocked him: “This isn’t a conspiracy theory. This is a conspiracy.”

Episode 6 explores how the “natural origin” narrative became gospel — and why it was so aggressively protected.

The evidence paints a far more complex picture. From genetic anomalies and a bat virus with a suspicious name change to sick mine workers whose samples ended up in a Wuhan lab and the flow of U.S. dollars into risky gain-of-function research, the narrative the world was told to accept and never question starts to unravel in surprising ways.

Together, Kibbe and Ridley pull back the curtain on how one story took over, how inconvenient questions were silenced, and how everyday researchers refused to let the truth stay buried.

Episode 6 of “The Coverup” is available now on BlazeTV. If you’re not already a subscriber, join the BlazeTV family today. Use code LABLEAK to get $40 off your subscription.

​Blazetv, Blaze media, Blazetv specials, The coverup, Matt kibbe, Covid-19, Covid corruption