It’s been a long time since Branson, Missouri, has been the town to talk about, but that’s where one comedian has been making people laugh for more than 30 years.

‘Beautiful, cold Russian eyes.’

Comedy comrades

Beloved formet-Soviet comic Yakov Smirnoff has had a quiet residency at Yakov’s Theatre since the early 1990s, and now at 75 years young, he has been launched back into the spotlight for longtime fans and a new generation.

Smirnoff appeared on Monday night’s episode of “Kill Tony,” cracking jokes alongside host Tony Hinchcliffe and Estonian comedian Ari Matti.

The comedian told hilarious stories about his career status when the Soviet Union collapsed, sharing with the audience how he found himself on the outs in the entertainment industry. He referenced David Letterman making a Top 10 list of things that would change after the fall of the USSR; Smirnoff being out of work was No. 1.

Smirnoff said he moved to Missouri because he was looking for a place that didn’t know about the end of the Soviet Union and settled on Branson, where “they still don’t know.”

The punchline master also recited a joke about a communist party leader asking a factory worker whether he could work after one glass of vodka, then two, then three.

The worker replied, “I’m here aren’t I?”

RELATED: Masculinity is back — and it’s coming from the most unlikely source

No ‘country’ for young comics

While Smirnoff declined to deploy his signature line, “What a country,” during the stand-up comedy podcast, that didn’t stop resident wildcard Matti from deploying it on several occasions on his behalf.

Matti yelled the phrase when an audience member came onto the stage to give a comedian his first kiss and did so again when he was purposely embarrassing another rookie comedian by getting uncomfortably close and wrapping his legs around him.

“What a country!” Matti yelled, to awkward applause.

The show reached nearly one million views in 12 hours on YouTube, with Smirnoff and Matti connecting over the proximity of their home countries and a mutual hate between neighboring allies.

One comedian who appeared on the show said he was adopted from Russia, with Smirnoff saying he could recognize his “beautiful, cold Russian eyes.”

The comedian was forced to take off his glasses and look at a camera, like a villain from “Die Hard.”

RELATED: When Labor Day meant 21 hours of anything-goes TV — and millions raised for charity

Paul Slaughter /American Broadcasting Companies/Getty Images

Bump and grind

Smirnoff isn’t the first comedian to get the “Kill Tony” boost after years on the sidelines.

Former huge names like Roseanne, Pauly Shore, and Andrew Dice Clay have walked through the halls of Joe Rogan’s Mothership comedy venue and received what is known as the “Kill Tony” bump, which equates to an immediate boost in popularity.

Smirnoff is branching out from his Missouri residency and going on a countrywide tour, and things are likely to pick up even more after the appearance.

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​Stand-up comedy, Kill tony, Yakov smirnoff, Branson, Entertainment 

The trial of Lindsay Clancy has become a boiling point in the national debate over mental illness, motherhood, and criminal responsibility — and while BlazeTV host Allie Beth Stuckey doesn’t dispute that the mother was struggling psychologically, she doesn’t agree that it should excuse such an alleged horrific crime.

Especially considering almost no one who commits murder is mentally sound.

“Jeffrey Dahmer, probably not super sane. Ted Bundy, probably not the most mentally composed guy,” Stuckey says.

“If you are going on a[n] [alleged] killing rampage, especially one as relentless as this one, you probably are not firing on all cylinders mentally, of course,” she explains. “But if we were to dismiss every person who had some kind of mental illness as not being criminally liable, then most of our prisons would be empty, and that wouldn’t be a good thing.”

The world, she notes, would “be a lot less safe.”

“So this case is really not about whether Lindsay Clancy was suffering mentally. Nearly everyone agrees that she was. I agree that she was,” Stuckey says.

“This case is not about our mental health system or how it treats women or what’s in the DSM5 and what’s not. That’s a distraction to get you angry and passionate about an important issue, but an issue that’s not on trial here,” prosecutor Jennifer Sprague said at the trial.

However, none of this has stopped women from voicing their support for Clancy — which prompts Stuckey to address them with a question.

“Would you show the same mercy to Lindsay if she had killed your children? Would you feel the same deep empathy for her mental struggles? Would you opt for keeping her out of prison because, well, she was having a hard time mentally and she had been taking pills on and off?” she asks.

“Hopefully not,” she continues. “I’m just afraid that too many women left and right think justice is dictated by how deeply we can relate to the people involved. Because some of you can see yourself in Lindsay’s depression or anxiety and can’t relate to her children, you feel compelled to defend her.”

But if these women ask themselves these questions and remain steadfast in their belief, Stuckey explains that’s “beyond” where she can reach them.

“Empathy-based justice is not justice at all,” she says. “Again, it’s partiality, which God calls evil.”

“We don’t make these decisions based on whether or not we can relate to someone,” she adds.

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​Allie beth stuckey, Mental illness, Motherhood, Justice, Lindsay clancy, Blazetv show 

Democrat New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is under fire after a bizarre decision he made that many took as an insult to 9/11 victims.

The Muslim mayor signed a 9/11 remembrance declaration on Friday, just ahead of the 25th anniversary of the horrific terror attacks that claimed 2,977 American lives.

‘The families who lost loved ones on 9/11 have every right to be outraged. On the 25th anniversary, City Hall should be honoring their sacrifice with dignity, not forcing those families to endure yet another insult.’

While no one took issue with the declaration, many were offended when he handed a ceremonial pen to the NYPD commissioner to give to chief counsel Ramzi Kassem.

Kassem had previously acted as legal counsel for Ahmed al-Darbi, a convicted al-Qaeda terrorist whose brother-in-law hijacked the plane that crashed into the Pentagon on 9/11.

New Yorkers and others expressed their anger on social media.

“I sincerely hope the rest of the country understands just how hard it is to be in New York City with this mayor, and especially as we’re approaching this most serious and solemn day for NYC: 9/11,” responded Maria Danzilo, a former state Senate candidate.

“He’s laughing at every American patriot who lost someone that day. He’s pissing on everyone who went in to try to save people in the towers. He hates you all,” replied one user on the X platform.

“Mamdani handed that guy that pen very f**kin intentionally,” said another critic. “It wasn’t an oversight or a gaffe, it was a totally intentional signal to the whole city that the worst event in its history doesn’t matter to him. He doesn’t give a f**k about survivors and he wants everyone to know it.”

“It shows exactly where his loyalties truly lie,” said Republican Council Member Joann Ariola of the “breathtakingly tone-deaf and disrespectful” stunt.

“The families who lost loved ones on 9/11 have every right to be outraged,” she added. “On the 25th anniversary, City Hall should be honoring their sacrifice with dignity, not forcing those families to endure yet another insult.”

RELATED: Prominent professor supported Mamdani’s socialist scheme — until he became a target

City Hall told Fox News Digital that Kassem was at the ceremony because his team drafted the declaration as Mamdani’s legal counsel.

Al-Darbi was sent to Guantanamo Bay on terror charges. He was convicted in 2017 and sent to Saudi Arabia a year later.

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​Zohran mamdani, 9/11, Islam, Muslim, Online outrage, Politics 

When Sean Duffy’s daughter announced she wanted to attend Harvard University, the transportation secretary’s reaction might have been torn apart by the left, but it couldn’t have been more relatable to conservative parents across the country.

In a clip from their series “The Great American Road Trip,” Duffy’s daughter Paloma tells the secretary that he “can’t say no” to Harvard.

“Well, me and Mom can say no,” Duffy responded.

Duffy and his wife, Rachel Campos-Duffy, went on to explain their reasoning.

“Catholicism, to us, is everything. It’s the basis of our marriage; it’s the basis of our family. So I’m nervous about the idea of Paloma going to Harvard. We spend a lot of time nurturing and providing formation for our kids, giving them an environment where they are steeped in faith and values,” Campos-Duffy said.

“And so the idea of dropping her off at a place that would undermine that or try to undo all those things makes me worried,” she added.

“And again, I don’t want them to get one viewpoint. I want them to get a lot of different viewpoints, but I don’t want them fed only one viewpoint that’s contrary to the way my kids were raised,” Duffy chimed in.

Blaze Media co-founder Glenn Beck is all too familiar with their struggle, telling Duffy “congratulations” for putting his foot down.

“I saw the look on your daughter’s face in that video … when you said, ‘Well, your mom and dad can say no,’ and that is so hard, and parents are dealing with this,” Glenn comments. “Why do you feel so strongly about this?”

“I think American conservative families are having this conversation every single day because they know, whether it’s a family member or a friend or a neighbor who has sent their kid off to school, and … they come back and they’re unrecognizable. We don’t know who these kids are,” Duffy tells Glenn.

“They’ve been completely contorted and converted from these liberal institutions,” he adds.

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​Catholicism, Glenn beck, Great american road trip, Harvard university, Leftism, Liberal, Sean duffy, Transportation secretary, Blazetv show 

I knew Charlie Kirk. He was my friend, and that friendship changed my life. When he was assassinated on September 10, 2025, I did what you do when your own words fail. I went back to his.

“Charlie Kirk, in His Own Words” is the result. It gathers his social media posts, curated one by one from 2011 to the day he died, and weaves in never-before-seen photographs and testimonials from the people who loved him.

Charlie Kirk understood that when speech is controlled, power concentrates and people learn to keep their real thoughts to themselves.

I am not making a dollar from this book. All proceeds go to Carry the Torch, the nonprofit I founded in his honor. This book is a gift, my thank-you to a man who spent his life telling young people the truth.

The selections are Charlie unfiltered, saying exactly what he believed and inviting anyone who disagreed to come and say so to his face.

Freedom of speech and an invitation to debate

Free speech was one of Charlie’s clearest instincts in public life. He treated the First Amendment as a safeguard for ordinary people — especially those without power, status, or institutional cover.

He understood that when speech is protected, a country can argue, correct itself, and stay honest; when it is controlled, power concentrates and people learn to keep their real thoughts to themselves.

He also understood how censorship spreads: It rarely begins with the average person. It begins with a claimed emergency, a claimed harm, a claimed moral cause — and then the boundaries tighten.

Kirk liked the part of politics where you cannot hide — a microphone, a chair, a crowd, and a clock. Debate forced clarity: it made people define terms, defend claims, and sit with the consequences of their own logic.

Campus debates mattered to him for another reason too — universities were supposed to be places of open dialogue, and he watched that promise shrink under administrators who treated disagreement as harm. But when students still showed up, argued back, and kept listening, he saw proof that the story wasn’t finished.

His respect for debate was not limited to his own side. He wanted arguments in daylight. No censorship. No cowardice. No hiding.

The quotes that follow show what that commitment sounded like in Charlie’s own words — on free speech, censorship, disagreement, and the obligation to make your case rather than silence the other side.

RELATED: WaPo ordered to rehire anti-white radical fired over Charlie Kirk assassination comments

ISABEL INFANTES/AFP/Getty Images

Free speech as birthright

5 million followers! Thank you all.

And thank you @elonmusk for liberating this critical platform.

After spending three days in England, I truly mean this with renewed importance: May we always protect free speech as one of our most sacred American birthrights.

Government limited by rights

The First Amendment was written precisely to hamstring the government!!

They work for us. They serve us. We the People, the citizens, are the sovereign. Never forget that.

Chapter by chapter

Thank you, President Trump, for acknowledging the amazing work our @TPUSA team is doing on thousands and thousands of college and high school chapters. There is a whole new generation of free speech warriors rising up, with more every passing year.

Platform censorship

Twitter censored and banned the leader of the free world from its platform.

We should never forget just how wildly absurd that really is.

Questioning is essential

When you’re not allowed to question something at the risk of being banned, censored, or “cancelled” — it’s not science, it’s propaganda.

A double standard

The Packers and Eagles are scheduled to play this Friday in Brazil, where X has just been banned in a sweeping crackdown on free speech.

So let me get this straight…

The MLB took away the All-Star game from Atlanta because Georgia passed voting integrity laws.

The NCAA boycotted North Carolina because it had a law to keep mentally ill men out of girls’ bathrooms.

Thirty years ago, the NFL took the Super Bowl away from Arizona because voters didn’t vote to make MLK Day a paid holiday.

Why is the NFL bringing its road show to Brazil while the country is at war against free speech?

Young voters moved

Our Prove Me Wrong campus debate clips were seen 2.1 billion times this semester on TikTok, IG, X and YouTube.

The vast majority of those were viewed by 18-29-year-olds, and the Kamala campaign never knew how to counter.

YOUNG PEOPLE SHOWED UP FOR TRUMP

Refused to debate

This election brought the realignment we didn’t see coming. It was the Biden Basement Realignment.

Does it make sense now why Democrats hid in basements? Why they refused to debate?

Run on nothing, say nothing, debate nothing, just hide and harvest.

RELATED: Randi Weingarten fought Texas to let teachers celebrate Charlie Kirk’s murder. It didn’t go her way.

Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

Nigeria’s future

Daniel Ogoloma (@Dcogoloma) was my debate partner at the Oxford Union, taking a stand against a large majority of the house as we took the negative position on the resolution “Trump Has Gone Too Far.”

Offstage, we spoke about the future of Nigeria. He is a very talented young man and Nigeria will be lucky to have him.

Debate over censorship

Today I moderated a debate between Dave Smith and Josh Hammer on Israel. It was very fiery, fun, and mostly peaceful.

Debate is the way forward, not name-calling or censorship. At the end agreement was found between both Dave and Josh on many important things.

A chair caused ‘trauma’

The University of Arizona is offering “mental health services” because I sat in a chair and took questions for 2 hours yesterday on the campus quad.

College administrators are more worried about conservatives expressing their views on campus than they are [about] Hamas supporters who want to kill Jews.

America, circa 2023

Editor’s note: This article is excerpted from “Charlie Kirk, in His Own Words,” compiled by Christy Edwards (Post Hill Press). Reprinted by permission.

​Censorship, Charlie kirk, Debate, Double standard, First amendment, Free speech, Government, President trump, Rights, Social media, Speech, Truth, Opinion & analysis 

Fans of a popular Catholic superhero character were disappointed to learn that he is not returning to the “X-Men 97” animated series on the Disney Plus platform.

Nightcrawler is a blue-skinned mutant who first appeared in the pages of the “X-Men” comic books in 1975 and quickly became a fan favorite.

‘Wagner is extremely religious, and as a man of faith, he believes that sacrificing himself to save his sister’s life is the most righteous thing a person could do, which fits his character perfectly.’

The character, whose non-hero name is Kurt Wagner, is also deeply religious and would often refer to his Catholic faith in the comics and live-action adaptations of the superhero comics.

In an emotional climax of the second season of the animated superhero series, the Nightcrawler character sacrifices his life to save that of another superhero.

“I have faith” are his last words.

While most comic-book deaths are not final, the executive producer of the show said that Nightcrawler’s death would be permanent.

Eric Lewald told the Direct at the MultiCon convention in Los Angeles that Nightcrawler would not return to the series.

“The finale of Season 2 is very emotional, and it’s earned,” added Julia Lewald, another executive producer of the show. “It is earned because those are the characters that we’ve all spent 30 years marinating in and thinking of and loving.”

RELATED: ‘X-Men’ show has ‘nonbinary’ character turn into woman and confess love for Wolverine

Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images

The Direct entertainment writer Geraldo Amartey explains how the character’s Catholic faith is pivotal to explaining his last act in the show.

“It would have been great to see Nightcrawler return in future episodes, but he went out the right way. Wagner is extremely religious, and as a man of faith, he believes that sacrificing himself to save his sister’s life is the most righteous thing a person could do, which fits his character perfectly. It is painful to watch Nightcrawler go, but bringing him back would undercut the gravity of his sacrifice and look like a cheap cop-out.”

The third season of “X-Men 97” is scheduled for release in 2027.

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​Comic books, Catholicism, Religion, Faith, Politics, Entertainment 

Is your Virtual Private Network spying on your browser activity? According to a bombshell study by private email provider Proton, many VPNs installed in the U.S. are actually tracking users instead of helping them. Even worse, some of these offenders are registered to companies in China. Here’s what you can do to keep yourself safe.

VPNs are meant to encrypt your web traffic so that third parties — like your internet service provider, digital marketers, and hackers — can’t see which websites you visit. In order for this to work, though, a user has to trust that the VPN installed on his device does what it claims to do, and the VPN provider then has to deliver on its promise to shield web activity from outside sources.

Many Americans are being tracked by the VPN on their devices, and they don’t even know it.

Proton says that many VPN providers are failing to fulfill their side of the bargain.

In a statement published to its website, Proton says, “After a months-long survey of over 7,000 mobile VPN apps around the world, Proton has found that 85% of those downloaded in the U.S. contain trackers, and around a quarter of those actively track users’ physical location.”

Many of the trackers were found to send data back to foreign nations, including China, Russia, Israel, Canada, and the United Kingdom. Even more alarming, some of the tested VPNs were either outright owned by organizations based in China, or they were registered to shell companies intended to provide a facade of security.

In other words, many Americans are being tracked by the VPN on their devices, and they don’t even know it.

Unfortunately, Proton didn’t list all of the VPNs that are most likely to spy on users. The company also makes its own VPN service, which it’s trying to promote over competitors, regardless of their actual stance on user privacy. That said, if you use a VPN on your phone, tablet, or computer, it’s a good idea to understand how it works and whether or not you can trust it to shield your web activity from prying eyes.

RELATED: How to escape the surveillance state: Use a VPN

How to find a trustworthy VPN

There are several important factors to look for when shopping for a VPN you can trust.

Free vs. paid VPNs: Some VPNs on the App Store and Google Play offer completely free options where users don’t have to pay a cent to get VPN protection. Don’t trust these apps. If you pay nothing, you are the product, and your data is the monetization mechanism. Always choose a paid option instead. Remember that real protection is never free.RAM only: Like a computer, VPNs can have two types of storage options. VPNs with hard disk drives can save data in perpetuity, while VPNs that run on RAM-only servers physically can’t collect long-term data. Instead, the data is wiped from the server every time it’s rebooted, ensuring that your information isn’t retained.Registered country: VPN providers must operate according to the laws and regulations of the country where they are registered. If that country is allowed to collect company data like China, or spy on user activity like Russia, your browsing activity is not safe or protected. On the flip side, Panama, Switzerland, and Spain have some of the best reputations for maintaining user privacy.Open source: Open source software generally means that the source code for an app or service is made public for the sake of transparency and sometimes for modification. When it comes to VPNs, open source options allow third-party security groups to look through the code and verify its ability to properly encrypt and protect user data. This way, you know unequivocally if a service lives up to its promises.

Now that you know what to look for, you should have a good idea if the VPN on your device works as advertised. If for any reason you suspect your VPN is collecting, storing, or sharing your data, remove it from your device immediately. You’re better off not having a VPN at all than to trust one that’s actually compromising your safety, security, and privacy.

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​Vpn, Security, Privacy, China, Russia, Tech 

New allegations are emerging about the illegal immigrant from El Salvador accused of killing a Virginia mother after she purportedly exposed their affair to his girlfriend.

As Blaze News previously reported, 42-year-old Carmen Lizet Puch was found brutally stabbed to death around 6:45 a.m. on Aug. 17 at the parking lot of Difficult Run Park in Great Falls, Virginia.

‘All very premeditated.’

The Fairfax County Police announced in an August statement that 19-year-old Alexis Cedillos-Campos was arrested “in connection with the homicide” of Puch.

At the same time, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security identified Cedillos-Campos as an illegal alien who had been released into the United States under the Biden administration.

“The Biden administration hand-delivered Alexis Antonio Cedillos-Campos to the streets of Fairfax County,” the DHS stated. “Cedillos-Campos is a criminal illegal alien from El Salvador who was arrested by CBP in 2024, after illegally crossing the Biden administration’s open border near El Paso, TX.”

The DHS said Cedillos-Campos was released into the “interior of our country” after his arrest.

Cedillos-Campos knew Puch because they both worked at the Bitez restaurant in Herndon, sources told WRC-TV.

The suspect and victim were reportedly in a love triangle.

Fairfax County Police Chief Kevin Davis stated last month, “There are other aspects of that intimate relationship that involve other people.”

“We have video footage of our suspect at the restaurant where he worked with our victim, arming himself with a fixed-blade knife, taking a pair of black latex gloves, taking a water bottle, and then off he goes with the intent to do harm and kill the victim,” Davis said, according to the New York Post.

Davis noted, “All very premeditated.”

Davis claimed Cedillos-Campos stabbed Puch multiple times and then attempted to burn the victim.

“No one deserves to be treated the way that our victim was treated,” Davis said. “And she was stabbed repeatedly – repeatedly – by our 19-year-old killer.”

“He ended up syphoning gasoline from his motorcycle,” Davis continued. “He filled the water bottle with gasoline after he dumped the water.”

Police said the suspect doused Puch with gasoline and tried to set her on fire, but was unsuccessful.

Cedillos-Campos was taken into custody in Prince George’s County on Aug. 19, and he attempted to flee from officers when confronted by police, prosecutors said.

WTTG-TV reported Cedillos-Campos was arrested in Maryland by officers with the Prince George’s County Police Department and the U.S. Marshals Service and extradited to Virginia.

Cedillos-Campos was charged with second-degree murder. WUSA-TV reported that Cedillos-Campos is being held without bond.

RELATED: Brazilian au pair turns on former lover during murder trial, says he plotted wife’s death by luring stranger from fetish site

WRC-TV reported, “The night of the homicide, Cedillos-Campos left work early, upset that Puch ‘sent screenshots of their affair’ to Cedillos-Campos’ girlfriend, according to the criminal complaint.”

The witness told authorities that he overheard a phone conversation between Cedillos-Campos and Puch in which they made plans to meet, according to the criminal complaint.

A witness informed police that the suspect said he was going to kill Puch, court documents said.

The criminal complaint said Cedillos-Campos allegedly called the witness to say “he did it” before hanging up — which the witness interpreted to mean he had killed Puch.

WUSA reported, “Investigators say Cedillos-Campos confessed to a Fairfax County Police detective that he lured Puch to a Great Falls Park parking lot to kill her after she revealed their affair to his girlfriend.”

Puch was described by officials as a “loving mother of a 3-year-old girl,” according to the New York Post.

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​Crime, Murder, Love triangle, Alexis antonio cedillos-campos, Carmen lizet puch, Crimes of passion, Illegal immigration, Dhs, News 

An elderly Florida woman carried a gun into a police station last week, and video recorded the scary moment when she opened fire inside the Port Orange Police Department lobby.

Police told WPEC-TV the incident took place around 8:30 a.m. Thursday.

‘Sad situation … but also, as a mother with a child in daycare down the street, I appreciate the swift response and keeping everyone safe!’

Police told the station 71-year-old Linda Croteau entered the lobby with a handgun, pointed it at employees, and fired toward an evidence room where staff were present.

A male is then heard ordering her to put the gun down, but video shows her shaking her head “no” back and forth.

Croteau then exited the lobby with the gun and walked toward the parking lot, where civilians and responding officers were located, police noted to WPEC. It appears the male who ordered her to put the gun down was in communication with officers outside.

Officers outside repeatedly ordered her to drop the gun, but Croteau continued advancing toward them, the station said.

“Drop it! Drop the gun! Drop it! Drop it! I’m gonna shoot you, drop the gun!” one officer yelled at her.

Officers fired several rounds and stopped when Croteau dropped the gun, police told WPEC.

Police said officers continued ordering her to surrender, the station noted, adding that video from the police department shows Croteau on the ground and reaching for the gun before officers fired again.

RELATED: July 4 mob attack on female cops: 3 adults, 4 kids charged with possession of machine gun, theft of Taser, assault on police

Officers provided medical aid, and Croteau was taken to a hospital, where she later died, WPEC said.

Police said, “Earlier this morning, we learned that Linda Croteau passed away. Our thoughts are with our officers, employees, Ms. Croteau’s family, and everyone else affected by the shooting.”

More from the station:

Police initially said there was no threat to the community and that all officers and employees were safe and accounted for. The department’s lobby remained closed during the investigation.

Port Orange police released video and audio from the incident in an effort to promote transparency and dispel misinformation.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is investigating the shooting, WPEC reported.

“Sad situation,” one commenter wrote before adding “but also, as a mother with a child in daycare down the street, I appreciate the swift response and keeping everyone safe!”

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​Florida, Police-involved shooting, Fatal shooting, Elderly woman, Police shoot woman, Police station, Port orange, Gun, Crime 

A 28-year-old man has been arrested at the U.S.-Mexico border after federal agents allegedly discovered more than half a million dollars’ worth of illicit drugs.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection told Blaze News that the arrest followed the inspection of a 2005 Chrysler Town and Country minivan on Thursday.

‘We are actively saving lives and dismantling the operations of criminal organizations.’

The van was trying to enter into the U.S. at the Del Rio Port of Entry between Texas and the Mexican city of Ciudad Acuña, according to CBP.

A CBP officer referred the vehicle to a secondary inspection, whereupon packages of alleged drugs were discovered through use of a nonintrusive inspection system and canine examination.

The packages included 4.45 pounds of alleged methamphetamine, 8.81 pounds of alleged heroin, and 12.69 pounds of alleged fentanyl, CBP claimed.

CBP estimated the street value of the alleged drugs to be about $557,589.

Homeland Security Investigations special agents arrested the 28-year-old male driver and initiated an investigation, while CBP seized the suspected drugs.

The driver is a U.S. citizen, CBP says.

RELATED: MILLIONS worth of METH seized in leek shipment at US-Mexico border, CBP says

“By stopping these hard narcotics before they can enter our country, we are actively saving lives and dismantling the operations of criminal organizations,” said Del Rio Port Director Liliana Flores.

“We will continue to maintain a high state of readiness to address all threats attempting to enter the United States,” she added.

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​Customs and border protection, Methamphetamine, Fentanyl, Us-mexico border, Politics 

The Donald Trump administration is used to getting sued, but having a legal run-in with the makers of Tetris likely wasn’t on anyone’s bingo card.

It has become par for the course for musicians to lash out at the White House over the use of their music in promotional videos, but a recent release from the administration brought new challenges.

‘Sort the school lunch to Make America Healthy Again.’

Before the Labor Day weekend, the White House officially unveiled a new website and a new way to promote its most prized legislative pillars.

“ARCADE.GOV,” the administration posted on X, linking to a new batch of point-and-click games released on the official government website.

Among the five games was a parody of Flappy Bird and games about deportations and making America healthy again.

At the same time, the White House launched the game Build the Wall, which the Tetris Company was not too happy about. As one could imagine, users build a wall along the southern border in a game that looks, allegedly, strikingly similar to a classic game of Tetris.

Tetris posted on an image on social media on Friday that said, “At Tetris we believe in the power of connection and bringing people together, not dividing them.”

A caption for the post added, “P.S. The Tetris Company was not involved in the creation of ‘Build the Wall’. P.P.S. We take copyright infringement very seriously.”

At the time of this writing, Build the Wall no longer appeared on the White House arcade, but can still be seen in the administration’s promotional video on YouTube.

RELATED: EU regulators just slapped these top US companies with an invasive new ultimatum

The remaining games included Flappy Bill, where gamers fly a bald eagle down the national mall.

Rio Run has users policing the southern border, instructing them to “patrol the line along the river. Pick up every crosser in the lot [and] never double back over the line.”

Through either user error or the site not working, Blaze News could not get the controls to work; therefore, no one got deported.

Supply Line has users “sort the school lunch to Make America Healthy Again.”

Punch seed oils, junk food, candy, artificial colors, and items that need to have their labels checked off the assembly line to save the children of the cafeteria.

Lastly, Trump Savings Tycoon has users filling their kids’ Trump accounts by catching gold bars and money with a net. The first turn saved $150,500.

If only it were that easy in real life.

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While the website is not much more than a clever way to get people talking about the administration’s core values — and there is a promise of more to come — the Trump White House may have more cease-and-desist letters coming in relation to the same project.

The administration’s X post features a startup video that many may recognize as being similar to that of Microsoft’s Xbox.

As well, the YouTube video features a similar boot-up to Sega’s and the accompanying music of Sonic the Hedgehog. However, perhaps American Microsoft and Japan’s Sega are a little less hostile toward the administration than the Russian creators of Tetris.

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​Video games, White house, Tetris, Xbox, Sega, Tech