Mayhem broke out Monday night on Manhattan’s 42nd Street as thousands of rowdy New York Knicks fans flooded the area outside an NBA Finals Game 3 watch party in Bryant Park.

After a highly anticipated watch party outside Madison Square Garden was canceled due to heightened security for President Donald Trump’s attendance at the game, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced a 5,000-person watch party in Bryant Park, which required attendees to register in advance.

‘Last night was another shameful display from individuals who are more interested in brawling with each other, ripping up street signs, and hurling objects at cops than supporting their team.’

While the crowd inside the park was collected, thousands of fans who did not make it into the park began to wreak havoc on infrastructure, police officers, and other civilians.

Police said about 7,000 people were at Bryant Park and the surrounding area as the chaos erupted.

Multiple videos show people climbing scaffolding, walking on top of police vehicles, tearing down trees, engaging in fistfights, swarming a taxi cab, and aggressively shaking a bus stop signpost — detaching the sign in the process.

That bus sign was later used as a weapon in a brawl between multiple fans before police intervened.

Members of the crowd threw beer bottles at officers, which prompted the use of pepper spray. Multiple fans also attempted to climb a passing NYPD barricades truck while chanting, “Suck my d**k.”

RELATED: ‘USA!’ chants rock Madison Square Garden as Trump attends NBA Finals

Additional police officers were deployed in riot gear to disperse the crowd.

The NYPD said 21 people were taken into custody, eight of whom were charged, while the other 13 were released with criminal court summonses for disorderly conduct.

Two people were charged with assault on a police officer, while one man was charged with attempted assault on an officer, the NYPD added.

Five police officers were reportedly injured as well.

New York City Police Benevolent Association President Patrick Hendry on Tuesday denounced the conduct: “Last night was another shameful display from individuals who are more interested in brawling with each other, ripping up street signs, and hurling objects at cops than supporting their team. We know New Yorkers are passionate about these NBA Finals, but police officers shouldn’t have to endure a barrage of mayhem after every single game.”

Hendry added that “our elected leaders need to send a stronger message and make it crystal clear that this behavior won’t be tolerated.”

The Knicks lost Game 3 to the Spurs 115-111 but still lead the series 2 games to 1. Game 4 is scheduled for Wednesday at Madison Square Garden, with NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch announcing that watch parties outside the venue are expected to resume.

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​Arrests, Knicks, Nba finals, New york city, Nypd, Police officers, Crime, Watch party 

Jurors took just short of three hours Tuesday to return a guilty verdict in the murder trial of Karmelo Anthony.

Jurors began deliberations at 10:54 a.m., KTVT-TV reported, and officials announced at 1:45 p.m. that a verdict had been reached.

‘You don’t get to kill someone just because they are bigger than you.’

The station reported that Anthony visibly broke down in the courtroom when the guilty verdict was read, and he is now in custody. KTVT added that Anthony’s parents left the courtroom after the verdict was read.

Prior to the start of deliberations, jurors were instructed that they could consider a lesser charge of manslaughter, the station said.

Anthony was 17 when authorities charged him with murdering high school star athlete and fellow 17-year-old Austin Metcalf in a stabbing at a Frisco, Texas, track meet in April 2025.

The murder charge is a first-degree felony, the station said. Anthony faces a sentence of five to 99 years or life in prison. KTVT said the same jury is determining what sentence Anthony will face.

According to Texas law, murder means a defendant “intentionally or knowingly causes the death of an individual,” KTVT said — but manslaughter means the defendant “recklessly causes the death of an individual.”

A conviction for manslaughter — a second-degree felony — would have meant a sentence of two to 20 years in prison, the station said.

Criminologist Alex del Carmen told KTVT in a separate story that he believed Anthony’s case meets the threshold of manslaughter: “He didn’t get up with the intent to kill someone, but he knew the risks taking that knife to campus and pulling it out. Self-defense or not, rational choices needed to be made.”

Anthony’s defense objected to jury instructions saying the jurors could find Anthony’s self-defense argument not viable if they believe the defendant provoked the attack, the station said.

However, the prosecutor argued that a rational jury could find Anthony provoked the altercation, KTVT said, and therefore the instruction should remain. The judge agreed with the prosecutor, overruling the defense’s objection, the station said.

RELATED: Karmelo Anthony murder trial: Jurors begin deliberations — and can consider lesser charge of manslaughter

The prosecutor waived the right to begin closing arguments Tuesday morning, so lead defense attorney Mike Howard was the first to address the jury, KTVT said.

Howard focused on his client’s self-defense argument, saying, “Austin Metcalf had no legal right to use force to eject Karmelo Anthony from that tent,” the station reported.

Howard added that “he had no legal right to put his hands on Karmelo” and that “Karmelo is in a public place,” KTVT noted.

Howard also asked the members of the jury to put themselves in Anthony’s shoes, noting that it was raining, the station said: “You want to get out of the rain. … Sure enough, one of the people at Memorial says, ‘Yeah, come on over.'”

KTVT said the defense attorney added that “Hunter Metcalf, or Austin, say, ‘Who are you? You need to leave.’ … These guys are much bigger than you. Do you turn your back and walk away and take a chance with these teenage boys with their raging hormones?”

“Austin and Hunter had the right to tell Melo to leave, but they did not have the right to use deadly force to make him leave,” Howard told the jury, according to the station. “Melo had an absolute right to [defend] himself against that.”

Howard also asked the jury, “How do you know in a split second of chaos when it’s too late? … Because if you wait too late to defend yourself, self-defense is meaningless,” KTVT reported.

Anthony did not take the stand in his defense.

Following the defense’s closing argument, prosecutor Bill Wirskye began speaking to the jury and rebutting Anthony’s self-defense claim, the station said.

“This is one of those rare cases where every important fact can be boiled down to one sentence: You do not get to meet a shove with a stab, especially if you provoke the shove,” Wirskye said, according to KTVT.

“Why didn’t [Anthony] just not walk away?” Wirskye asked jurors, according to the station. “You see [he] had a choice to walk away and abandon the encounter.”

The prosecutor added that “you can meet deadly force with deadly force in Texas, but you can’t meet force — a shove — with deadly force — a stab. Size differential, it doesn’t work in this case; you don’t get to kill someone just because they are bigger than you,” KTVT reported.

Wirskye also told the jury that “self-defense has to be a reasonable belief — a reasonable belief means a belief that would [be] held by an ordinary and prudent person in the same situation as the defendant,” the station said.

“It has to be immediately necessary. Where was the immediate necessity to plunge a knife into an unarmed young man?” Wirskye asked the jury, according to KTVT. “It’s not self-defense, folks — it’s murder. Murder, plain and simple.”

Notably, all prospective black jurors were dismissed during jury selection last week — and one reportedly said he’d have a “hard time putting a brother in jail.” Anthony is black; Metcalf was white. They attended different high schools and didn’t know each other.

Racial tensions have surrounded the case from the start. Shortly after Metcalf’s death, Anthony supporters went viral on social media, with one declaring that “Austin Metcalf got exactly what he deserved — point blank, period.”

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​Murder trial, Karmelo anthony, Austin metcalf, Texas, Frisco, Fatal stabbing, Verdict, Crime 

New York City Democratic Mayor Zohran Mamdani says he won’t allow the Trump administration to send federal immigration officers to World Cup soccer events.

Mamdani expressed his displeasure at comments from border czar Tom Homan warning that the administration is planning a surge of Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers to New York City.

‘As the world comes to our city, we will stand proudly with our immigrant neighbors and reject these attacks for what they are: an attempt to divide us.’

Mamdani responded by citing the contributions immigrants have made to World Cup events that are coming to New York City.

“Soccer would not exist without immigrants. Immigrants play and coach the game, work in the stadiums, fill the stands, and make celebrations like the World Cup possible. Six of the players on the US Men’s National Team are immigrants,” the mayor wrote.

“We will not allow ICE or anyone else to sow fear in our communities — especially at this moment,” he added. “As the world comes to our city, we will stand proudly with our immigrant neighbors and reject these attacks for what they are: an attempt to divide us.”

Homan made the surge threat after accusing Democratic New York Gov. Kathy Hochul of obstructing regular deportation operations in the state.

“You’re going to see more ICE than you’ve ever seen in New York City, and it’s coming,” Homan said Monday in an interview on Fox. “I just reviewed an operational plan. I’m not going to tell you exactly when it’s going to happen, but it’s coming.”

Mamdani has also criticized President Donald Trump for travel restrictions that have stymied some travelers trying to make it to the World Cup events in the U.S.

“This is anathema to what this tournament is supposed to be about if we cannot even allow the players and the teams and the journalists covering those teams to come into this city or this country, then it begs a larger question about our commitment to the spirit of this tournament,” said Mamdani to the press during a FIFA promotional event.

He went on to advocate for the abolition of ICE.

“ICE raids are cruel, they are inhumane,” said Mamdani. “They do nothing to serve in the interests of public safety. … ICE as an entity is one that should be abolished.”

RELATED: Video shows agitator threatening to KILL ICE agents and families — DOJ vows to arrest him

The Department of Homeland Security issued a fiery response to Mamdani in a post on social media.

“Apparently [Mayor Mamdani] doesn’t think that arresting rapists, murderers, pedophiles, and assailants serves ‘the interest of public safety.’ While sanctuary politicians like Mamdani keep fighting for criminal illegal aliens, the heroic men and women of [ICE] will keep risking their lives to keep New Yorkers SAFE,” the DHS account stated.

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​Immigration and customs enforcement, Trump administration, World cup soccer, Politics, Zohran mamdani 

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced on Monday an industry-wide investigation into protein powder manufacturers following the release of a pair of damning reports that confirmed the presence of various heavy metals in popular powders and ready-to-drink shakes.

Roughly 15 years ago, Consumer Reports tested 15 protein drinks in a laboratory and found that all of the drinks “had at least one sample containing one or more of the following contaminants: arsenic, cadmium, lead, and mercury.”

‘Far too many corporations have snuck harmful ingredients in their products.’

The investigators determined that while the heavy metal levels detected in most drinks were in the “low to moderate range,” certain drinks had enough to warrant concern if consumed multiple times a day.

Last year, Consumer Reports conducted a new round of tests, scrutinizing 23 protein powders and read-to-drink shakes from popular brands. The CR investigators discovered that the problem facing the protein products of yesteryear is now not only commonplace but supercharged.

“For more than two-thirds of the products we analyzed, a single serving contained more lead than CR’s food safety experts say is safe to consume in a day — some by more than 10 times,” said the report.

Lead is toxic to humans. Exposure in adults — for which there is no known safe level — can cause numerous health conditions including decreased kidney function, heart problems, infertility, and joint weakness.

RELATED: Disembodied human brains kept ‘alive’ for drug testing by controversial American startup

Alexandre Simoes/Borussia Dortmund/Getty Images

According to the Food and Drug Administration, “The most serious effects of lead exposure can occur during times of active brain development. High levels of exposure to lead in utero, infancy, and early childhood can lead to neurological effects such as learning disabilities, behavior difficulties, and lowered IQ.”

The new CR investigation, led by chemist and food safety researcher Tunde Akinleye, found that the average level of lead in the protein powders was much higher than that observed in the previous CR tests and that there were fewer products with undetectable amounts of it.

Yesteryear’s worst in show apparently have nothing on today’s outliers.

According to the report, Naked Nutrition’s Vegan Mass Gainer powder — the product found to have the highest lead levels among those tested — had twice as much lead per 315-gram serving as the worst product analyzed in 2010. It reportedly contained 7.7 micrograms of lead per serving, which is roughly 1,570% of CR’s level of concern for the heavy metal.

Lead levels in a 90-gram serving of Huel’s Black Edition powder — reportedly 6.3 micrograms of lead, or 1,288% of CR’s daily lead limit — similarly raised concerns among testers, as did the levels in Garden of Life’s Sport Organic Plant-Based Protein and Momentous’ since-discontinued 100% Plant Protein powder, which allegedly contained lead between 400% and 600% of CR’s level of concern.

The report concluded:

roughly 70% of the products tested contained over 120% of CR’s level of concern for lead, which is 0.5 micrograms per day;three products exceeded CR’s level of concern for inorganic arsenic and cadmium — Huel’s Black Edition powder, for instance, contained 9.2 micrograms of cadmium, which is more than twice the level that health experts say could be harmful to have daily;consumers should avoid Naked Nutrition’s Vegan Mass Gainer and Huel’s Black Edition and limit consumption of Garden of Life Sport Organic Plant-Based Protein and Momentous’ 100% Plant Protein to once a week; andplant-based protein powders had, on average, nine times the amount of lead found in products made with dairy proteins like whey and twice as much as beef-based products.

Naked Nutrition’s chief marketing officer James Clark told CR that his company takes “customers’ health very seriously”; sources its ingredients from “select suppliers” that provide documentation attesting they were checked for heavy metals; and had requested a third-party test of its product Mass Gainer.

A spokesman for Huel stressed that the company was “confident in the current formulation and safety of the products,” adding that its ingredients undergo “rigorous testing.”

Will McClaren, a spokesman for Momentous, claimed his company had executed a “massive overhaul” of its lineup and discontinued the products that CR had tested, namely the company’s Whey Protein Isolate and its 100% Plant Protein.

A spokesperson for Garden of Life US said the company’s products were safe for daily use and that the company’s limits for heavy metals were determined by closely following food safety guidance from the Food and Drug Administration, the Environmental Protection Agency, and other safety authorities.

Both Garden of Life and Momentous told CR that they tested their ingredients and finished protein products for heavy metals.

The Clean Label Project, an advocacy organization committed to greater transparency in product labeling, similarly found from a review of over 160 of the top-selling protein powders — according to Nielsen and Amazon best-seller lists — that heavy metals were a common issue.

The advocacy and research group stated in its January 2025 report that “47% of products exceeded at least one federal or state regulatory set for safety.”

Texas AG Paxton said on Monday, “Protein is a vital macronutrient for human health, and Texans deserve clean protein powders without having to worry whether the products contain heavy metals or other harmful chemicals.”

“Far too many corporations have snuck harmful ingredients in their products, and I am committed to doing everything I can to help Make America Healthy Again,” added Paxton.

Paxton’s investigation will “examine whether companies falsely marketed or misrepresented the safety and contents of their products and whether they failed to disclose known information about heavy metal contamination in violation of Texas law.”

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​Investigation, Protein powder, Working out, Ken paxton, Texas, Consumer reports, Health, Science, Lead, Poisoning, Heavy metals, Politics 

Border authorities are signaling that increased caution is needed at American airports and points of entry during the World Cup.

While federal agencies have warned that they expect a rise in potentially harmful products, travelers from countries known for agricultural viral outbreaks have already been caught bringing forbidden items to the United States.

‘These products may seem harmless.’

U.S. Customs and Border Protection says that deadly viruses could come into the United States through prohibited agricultural products in passenger baggage, thus increasing risk to American livestock industries and citizen health.

Two such instances have already happened via travelers from Vietnam and Tunisia, the latter of which will participate in the World Cup.

Tunisia will play in Kansas City, Missouri, on June 25, and one traveler from the country was already caught at Washington Dulles International Airport last week. CBP told Blaze News that authorities discovered the traveler was carrying 15 pounds of “canned ruminant meat” in his baggage, with the traveler claiming that his mother cooked and canned the meat before he came to the U.S.

CBP warned that Tunisia has had episodes of several brutal diseases that are “highly contagious” to livestock, including lumpy skin disease, epizootic hemorrhagic disease, and bovine tuberculosis.

A week earlier, CBP agriculture detector dog — a 3-year-old female beagle named Valen — alerted authorities to a potentially dangerous piece of luggage from Vietnam.

RELATED: Exclusive: Border Patrol discovers 19 people hiding in drainage system trying to illegally enter US

US Customs and Border Protection

Valen was proven right when CBP agents conducting a secondary examination discovered 13 pounds of pork products and another 16 pounds of fruits and vegetables.

The federal agency warned about Vietnam’s recent episodes of the deadly African swine fever, which could significantly affect the U.S. pork industry if it were to spread.

“These products may seem harmless, but the introduction of animal diseases could cripple our nation’s livestock industries, cause devastating economic impacts, and restrict our ability to export pork or beef products across the globe,” D.C. Area Port Director Christine Waugh said.

She added, “Customs and Border Protection agriculture specialists play a vital role in protecting our nation’s agriculture industries and economic security by intercepting potential animal diseases and invasive insects at our nation’s ports of entry.”

RELATED: Trump DOJ files to strip Jamaican fraudster, Indian H-1B scammer, Haitian pervert, and 14 others of US citizenship

US Customs and Border Protection

CBP is urging travelers to visit its prohibited and restricted items list, which contains warnings about items like alcohol, fruits and vegetables, and even dog and cat furs.

Other important information about traveling with agriculture is mapped out on the USDA travel page.

As for Valen, the detector dog is part of the CBP’s “Beagle Brigade.”

“When it comes to finding prohibited fruit, vegetables, plants, and meat products from high-risk countries, the nose knows. A trained agriculture detector dog can scan a piece of luggage for smuggled or forgotten fruits in mere seconds,” CBP stated.

The K9 program was founded in 1984 at the Los Angeles International Airport with just one beagle. The breed has a great sense of smell, is non-threatening to travelers, and performs well in public settings.

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​News, Border patrol, World cup, Customs and border protection, Politics 

Nobody understands the frustration of “harvested” ballots and seemingly endless vote-counting in California better than Steve Cooley.

Cooley’s name resurfaced on social media this week in an old news clip about Kamala Harris’ come-from-behind victory in the California attorney general race back in 2010. Cooley, the Republican candidate as well as the district attorney of L.A. County at the time, declared victory on November 2 of that year after initial results showed him with a lead that at one point grew as large as 8%.

‘This is a f**king mess, and there’s no will in California to clean it up.’

Cooley told Blaze News that he felt a growing sense of confidence as he watched the returns come in. “Those numbers are pretty good,” he recalled thinking.

“The night of the election, when they counted all the ballots cast that day, and they included all of the absentees, I was ahead,” he said.

However, he quickly noted that the race was still “within 1%.”

That narrow lead prompted an automatic count of all ballots cast, including provisional ballots. In general, provisional ballots are “harvested,” Cooley said, and Harris “slaughtered” him once the provisional ballots were included.

“She beat me in all 58 counties — and it wasn’t even close.”

By November 25, three weeks after Cooley’s victory appeared to be sealed, Harris had been declared the winner.

At the time, Cooley declined to request a recount since he would have been stuck with the bill if the recount failed to change the result. “It would have cost millions of dollars,” he claimed.

“So it’s a great incentive to not ask for a recount.”

Still, Cooley believes that Democrat operatives played a pivotal role in handing the race to Harris. He claimed that “mostly Democrats … do ballot-harvesting” and that “Kamala Harris was the default choice on a high percentage of the provisional ballots.”

Kamala Harris’ office did not respond to a request for comment from Blaze News.

RELATED: ‘Absolutely RIGGED’: Critics question Raman’s ‘statistically impossible’ surge past Pratt in LA mayor race

Spencer Pratt on Primary Election Day. Ronaldo Bolaños/Los Angeles Times/Getty Images.

Cooley indicated the electoral process in California has not improved in the last 16 years. Though he stopped short of calling it “rigged,” as President Donald Trump has done, Cooley believes the system is vulnerable to fraud, especially since every active registered voter in the state receives a live ballot and the voter rolls may yet still include individuals who have died, left the state, or are otherwise ineligible to vote.

“Those ballots are out there, ready to be picked up, harvested, whatever. And that’s where the fraud comes in,” he explained.

The Trump DOJ has pledged to audit the voter rolls in California, but Cooley notes such an audit will not affect the 2026 primary, even after Spencer Pratt was boxed out of the general election for L.A. mayor despite a 40,000-vote edge over far-left City Councilwoman Nithya Raman on Election Night, June 2. Raman will advance to face incumbent Mayor Karen Bass in November.

“Those questionable ballots have already been harvested and dropped off or sent in or mailed in by individuals who are essentially taking a mailed-out ballot and returning it on behalf of someone else.”

“And there’s no undoing that without a massive commitment of resources, and the registrar recorders are not going to do it. … They don’t want to spend the time, money, and energy in doing it, because all it does is point out how incompetent they are. They’re not going to make any effort to prove their own incompetence and failures,” Cooley said.

“This is a f**king mess, and there’s no will in California to clean it up. No will.”

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​Attorney general, California, Kamala harris, Voter rolls, Politics, Ballot harvesting 

While Democrats still argue that former President Joe Biden was mentally fit during his presidency, they’re now questioning President Trump’s cognitive fitness after Democrat Rep. Ted Lieu (Calif.) accused the president of falling asleep during a Cabinet meeting last year.

“Secretary Rubio, have you been at more than one meeting where President Trump has fallen asleep?” the Democrat lawmaker asked Marco Rubio, who answered that Lieu was wrong.

BlazeTV host Pat Gray is shocked at the Democrat’s hypocrisy.

“We had a president for four years who had full-blown dementia, who couldn’t speak, who couldn’t walk, who fell upstairs heading to Air Force One three times, fell over on a bicycle, fell at a speech to the Navy. The guy couldn’t talk,” Gray says.

“The guy was so bad his wife thought he was having a stroke during the debate with Donald Trump. And it’s now all of a sudden you want to focus on a president’s cognitive ability, based on what? What has Trump done that is so egregious like Biden was doing every day?” he asks.

“This is despicable. These people are despicable,” he adds, before playing a clip of former first lady Jill Biden revealing some of her own frustration with her husband — despite denying any knowledge of his mental decline.

“Oh, Joe has a question. Like you couldn’t ask it later?” Jill asked her husband as he walked up to the stage of the interview.

“Who do you love most in the whole world?” Joe asked.

“Whoopi,” Jill answered.

“That’s unbelievable,” Gray comments.

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​Donald trump, First lady, Jill biden, Joe biden, Marco rubio, Pat gray, Ted lieu, Whoopi goldberg, Pat gray unleashed 

Texas Tech quarterback Brendan Sorsby is caught in the firing line of gambling, college football, and mental health activism.

Even though Sorsby was apparently caught earlier this year gambling on NCAA games, he will still suit up for the Red Raiders this coming season.

‘The NCAA strongly disagrees with the court’s ruling in this case.’

Sorsby’s gambling activity was unearthed in March, when he was found to have placed at least 40 bets on his team when he played for Indiana from 2022 to 2023. Not only did the quarterback wager approximately $90,000 over four years, per On3, he also allegedly used sportsbook accounts registered to friends and family members to do so.

The 22-year-old reportedly continued to gamble after transfers to Cincinnati for 2024 and 2025 and to Texas Tech, where he transferred in January.

Sorsby checked into gambling addiction rehab in April and has since been released with a diagnosis of gambling and anxiety disorder. Those issues, which Yahoo reported are officially recognized by the NCAA as mental health disorders, were not properly considered by the NCAA when the organization decided to rule him as ineligible, Sorsby’s lawyers have argued.

Despite all this trouble, a judge ruled on Monday that Sorsby’s college career will continue, for now.

RELATED: Can AI beat the house? Here’s what top models are predicting for the 2026 World Cup

Ron Jenkins/Getty Images

Ken Curry — a judge in Lubbock County, Texas, where Texas Tech is located — ruled that Sorsby shall continue to play for Texas Tech by way of injunction. According to Curry, Sorsby’s attorneys were able to prove that he would “suffer a probable, imminent, and irreparable injury,” monetarily speaking, if he was not allowed to play in the meantime.

The Athletic reported on Tuesday that the NCAA has filed an appeal, claiming that the court is corrupting college football’s “integrity.”

“The NCAA strongly disagrees with the court’s ruling in this case and is deeply concerned about the damaging, far-reaching, and broadly destabilizing ramifications of this outcome — which undermines and corrupts the integrity of sports,” the NCAA reportedly said in a statement.

The college body added, “The NCAA is committed to supporting student-athlete mental health but must continue to aggressively defend against actions that defraud college athletics and threaten competitive integrity, such as betting on one’s own sport.”

RELATED: Brazil sends off its World Cup team in the most Catholic way possible

Justin Casterline/Getty Images

Although court filings reportedly showed that Sorsby admitted to betting with the caveat that he always bet on his teammates to succeed, his school’s conference is apparently having talks about refusing to play against his team.

Kansas State Athletic Director Gene Taylor told Yahoo Sports that the Big 12 conference had “serious conversations” about the idea.

“It’s f**king bulls**t,” Taylor told the outlet on Monday. “I know the kid has a problem. Well, get well and focus on your problem. It is absolutely devastating for him to be able to play when every other sport, no matter the level, deems an athlete ineligible or they are punished severely for betting on their team.”

A condition of the injunction requires Sorsby to sit out for the first two games of the season against Abilene Christian and Oregon State, neither of which are in the Big 12.

Sorsby would be eligible to return against the University of Houston, a Big 12 team, on September 18.

Other discussions about avoiding Texas Tech have reportedly taken place in conferences like the Big Ten and the SEC.

ESPN college football reporter Pete Thamel said on Monday night that Big Ten officials are expected to have a discussion about a possible conference refusal to play Texas Tech in any sport. He cited three unnamed Big Ten sources.

In the SEC, University of Georgia Athletic Director Josh Brooks issued an internal memo to coaches telling them not to schedule any contests against Texas Tech without approval, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.

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​Fearless, Ncaa, College football, Texas tech, Sports 

Vice President JD Vance immediately referred top Minnesota Democrats for criminal investigation after a Republican congressional committee released evidence that they had ignored massive scams.

The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform report released on Monday documented testimony from officials who accused Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) and Attorney General Keith Ellison of knowing about the fraud and doing nothing to stop it.

Stolen funds ‘likely ended up in the hands of international terrorist networks and certainly funded the lavish lifestyles of criminal fraudsters.’

“I’ve referred these allegations to DOJ’s new Fraud Division for criminal investigation,” Vance wrote in a social media post Monday evening. “Minnesota state officials are not above the law, and if they facilitated fraud, lied under oath about what they knew, or harassed and intimated whistleblowers, they must face justice.”

Gov. Walz, Vance’s one-time vice presidential opponent, had been forced to drop his gubernatorial re-election campaign after being accused of collusion in the Minnesota fraud schemes, many of which were centered in the Somali community.

He has denied any wrongdoing and claimed that his administration took many steps to curb the fraud.

The committee claimed Walz and Ellison knew about the scams as far back at 2019. Even worse, Walz allegedly retaliated against whistleblowers speaking out to expose the fraud.

The scams put $300 million of federal child nutrition funds and up to $9 billion of Medicare-related funding at risk.

The committee also claimed that the stolen funds “likely ended up in the hands of international terrorist networks and certainly funded the lavish lifestyles of criminal fraudsters, while vulnerable populations were harmed.”

Vance called on the National Fraud Enforcement Division to investigate the allegations against Walz and Ellison.

RELATED: FBI RAIDS ‘Quality Learing Center’ and nearly 2 dozen more in Minnesota FRAUD investigation

A spokesperson for Walz called the Republican claims a “joke” in a statement to KSTP-TV.

“This committee has proven time and time again to be nothing more than a joke,” the spokesperson said. “They continue to rehash COVID-era fraud to distract from endless wars, gas prices, ICE, and the president’s insider trading. Governor Walz is glad to see fraudsters are going to prison. If the committee is concerned about corruption, they should investigate why President Trump continues to let fraudsters out of prison.”

Ellison also released a statement claiming the accusations are “riddled with inaccuracies and misrepresentations in an effort to politicize the issue of fraud, instead of actually helping Minnesota protect tax dollars and go after fraudsters.”

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​Attorney general keith ellison, Fraud investigation, Minnesota gov tim walz, Vice president jd vance, Politics 

As jurors began deliberations late Tuesday morning in the murder trial of Karmelo Anthony, they were instructed that they could consider a lesser charge of manslaughter, KTVT-TV reported.

Anthony was 17 when authorities charged him with murdering high school star athlete and fellow 17-year-old Austin Metcalf in a stabbing at a Frisco, Texas, track meet in April 2025.

‘These guys are much bigger than you. Do you turn your back and walk away and take a chance with these teenage boys with their raging hormones?’

The murder charge is a first-degree felony, the station said, and if the jury decides to convict Anthony on the murder charge, he would face a sentence of five to 99 years or life in prison.

According to Texas law, murder means a defendant “intentionally or knowingly causes the death of an individual,” KTVT said — but manslaughter means the defendant “recklessly causes the death of an individual.”

A conviction for manslaughter — a second-degree felony — would mean a sentence of two to 20 years in prison, the station said.

Criminologist Alex del Carmen told KTVT in a separate story he believes Anthony’s case meets the threshold of manslaughter: “He didn’t get up with the intent to kill someone, but he knew the risks taking that knife to campus and pulling it out. Self-defense or not, rational choices needed to be made.”

In addition, Anthony’s defense objected to jury instructions that didn’t include criminally negligent homicide as a lesser charge available for consideration, KTVT reported.

Criminally negligent homicide is a state jail felony, the station said, adding that it’s the lowest level of felony offense in Texas law and would bring a sentence of six months to two years in prison, KTVT said.

Prosecutor Bill Wirskye argued that criminally negligent homicide shouldn’t be an option for jury consideration since there is not “any evidence in the record that the defendant was unaware that his actions could lead to death,” the station said.

Collin County Judge John Roach overruled the defense’s objection, KTVT said.

RELATED: Karmelo Anthony murder trial: All prospective black jurors dismissed; 1 said he’d have ‘hard time putting a brother in jail’

In addition, the defense objected to jury instructions saying they can find Anthony’s self-defense argument not viable if they believe the defendant provoked the attack, the station said.

However, the prosecutor argued that a rational jury could find Anthony provoked the altercation, KTVT said, and therefore the instruction should remain. Judge Roach agreed with the prosecutor, overruling the defense’s objection, the station said.

The prosecutor waived the right to begin closing arguments Tuesday morning, so lead defense attorney Mike Howard was the first to address the jury, KTVT said.

Howard focused on his client’s self-defense argument, saying, “Austin Metcalf had no legal right to use force to eject Karmelo Anthony from that tent,” the station reported.

Howard added that “he had no legal right to put his hands on Karmelo” and that “Karmelo is in a public place,” KTVT noted.

Howard also asked the members of the jury to put themselves in Anthony’s shoes, noting that it was raining, the station said: “You want to get out of the rain. … Sure enough, one of the people at Memorial says, ‘Yeah, come on over.'”

KTVT said the defense attorney added that “Hunter Metcalf, or Austin, say, ‘Who are you? You need to leave.’ … These guys are much bigger than you. Do you turn your back and walk away and take a chance with these teenage boys with their raging hormones?”

“Austin and Hunter had the right to tell Melo to leave, but they did not have the right to use deadly force to make him leave,” Howard told the jury, according to the station. “Melo had an absolute right to [defend] himself against that.”

Howard also asked the jury, “How do you know in a split second of chaos when it’s too late? … Because if you wait too late to defend yourself, self defense is meaningless,” KTVT reported.

Anthony did not take the stand in his defense.

Following the defense’s closing argument, prosecutor Wirskye began speaking to the jury and rebutting Anthony’s self-defense claim, the station said.

“This is one of those rare cases where every important fact can be boiled down to one sentence: You do not get to meet a shove with a stab, especially if you provoke the shove,” Wirskye said, according to KTVT.

“Why didn’t [Anthony] just not walk away?” Wirskye asked jurors, according to the station. “You see [he] had a choice to walk away and abandon the encounter.”

The prosecutor added that “you can meet deadly force with deadly force in Texas, but you can’t meet force — a shove — with deadly force — a stab. Size differential, it doesn’t work in this case; you don’t get to kill someone just because they are bigger than you,” KTVT reported.

Wirskye also told the jury that “self-defense has to be a reasonable belief — a reasonable belief means a belief that would [be] held by an ordinary and prudent person in the same situation as the defendant,” the station said.

“It has to be immediately necessary. Where was the immediate necessity to plunge a knife into an unarmed, young man?” Wirskye asked the jury, according to KTVT. “It’s not self-defense, folks — it’s murder. Murder, plain and simple.”

Notably, all prospective black jurors were dismissed during jury selection last week — and one reportedly said he’d have a “hard time putting a brother in jail.” Anthony is black; Metcalf was white. They attended different high schools and didn’t know each other.

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​Karmelo anthony, Murder trial, Austin metcalf, Texas, Fatal stabbing, Jury deliberation, Race, High school, Manslaughter, Closing arguments, Frisco, Crime 

Technology. I’m not a “technology writer” by any stretch of the imagination, but I find myself writing about it a lot.

I don’t opine about the next breakthroughs in AI or the newest generation of iPads that are set to be released at the end of Q3. Are there new iPads coming out in Q3? I don’t know. I’m not a technology writer.

But it is the most viable and scalable path forward in a world oversaturated with digital technology.

But I do think a lot about the role of technology in our lives. About the way we live differently alongside it and how we are shaped in strange ways by it.

Same but different

In some ways, it’s a very 21st-century concern. Technology — digital technology in particular — has been advancing at an unparalleled rate in our century, and it doesn’t seem to show any signs of slowing.

But, of course, technology didn’t begin with the digital. Cars are technology. The washing machine was once cutting-edge technology. Same for the printing press, the mechanical clock, and the wheel. Technology has been around, advancing, and disrupting for a long time.

We live in a post-assembly-line world. That term — the assembly line — isn’t even particularly interesting to us. Same with the Industrial Revolution. That’s just something boring we learned about (and then promptly forgot) in middle school.

But the Industrial Revolution and the assembly line were quite radical at one point. They changed the way people work, and they disrupted society. A fair share of the carnage of the 20th century is due, in part, to the disruptions of the Industrial Revolution.

The train changed the way we move, the printing press changed how we learn, the telephone made us closer even when we were farther, the radio made mass society possible, the television made books less relevant, and the invention of the washing machine — yes, the mundane washing machine — played some role in the social revolutions of the 1960s.

All-consuming

In this sense, the age of AI is no different from the steam age. In another sense, however, it is unlike any technological revolution we have ever experienced: far more immersive and all-consuming than anything that came before.

Because it is more possible than ever to always be connected to everyone on earth in a perpetual state of latent distraction and worry, our time presents unique challenges for all thinking people who want to live a decent life that might be be hard to recognize to those who came before us.

For a few, the answer is blowing it all up. For many more, the answer is embracing every single aspect of every new form of digital technology imaginable like a dog lapping up fresh water. Both are wrong. The extreme answers are often the most alluring because they only require addressing one decision point. This way or that way? Once you settle on which, you just scale it out the whole way and set the cruise control.

RELATED: Want to be a man of action? Start a family

Ian Tyas/Getty Images

Split the difference

Yes, as with most things, the middle path is the way forward. I know, it’s not sexy, and it’s not at all alluring. Moderation never is. But it is the most viable and scalable path forward in a world oversaturated with digital technology.

Intentional technology use — that’s what it is, and that’s what we will call it. That first word is the key word: intentional. Most of the drift into toxic technology consumption and brain rot is due to being less than intentional in terms of how one uses technology.

Defaulting to “just using the phone” or “just asking Grok” or “just scrolling” because you have some time to waste. Concluding that watching more, streaming more, scrolling more, and outsourcing more of your decision-making to technology because there isn’t anything inherently wrong or immoral about it.

That kind of unintentional approach to technology can quickly lead to surrendering all of your agency to the bots. As the gamers would put it, you go from being a player to one of those automatons the player meets along the way: a non-player character.

Best intentions

To use technology intentionally is to ask if we can do it ourselves before enlisting digital help. Intentional technology use is asking ourselves if we like ourselves when we use some product, app, or digital service — and, if the answer is no, changing course.

Intentional technology use is setting aside time apart from technology so we can remember what it means to be purely human. Intentional technology use is about balancing convenience and thoughtfulness. It’s about managing the speed of the modern world without losing the pace of organic human society.

Intentional technology use isn’t about making everyone’s choices regarding technology the exact same. People will decide differently. Everyone’s lives won’t be alike. That’s a feature, not a bug.

The key is that first word — intention. Without that, we’re just floating down the stream, pushed wherever the currents of technological progress take us. The 21s century is unlikely to become less complicated. To thrive as humans in this most disruptive of times, we must keep asking ourselves the fundamental question: Who are we, and who do we want to be?

​Men’s style, Technology, Ai, Ipads, Family, Lifestyle 

Last September, President Trump issued a well-received proclamation intended to discourage the continued use and abuse of the now very well-known H-1B program. The policy, however, has hit a roadblock in the courts.

On Monday, a federal judge ruled that Trump’s $100,000 H-1B visa sponsor fee is unlawful.

‘They’re hurting our country very badly.’

U.S. District Judge Leo Sorokin, appointed by Obama in 2014, ruled that the $100,000 fee violates the Administrative Procedure Act and the Constitution.

Judge Sorokin of the U.S. District Court of Massachusetts argued that the policy is effectively a tax, and Congress had not clearly delegated the prerogative of levying it to the president. The judge agreed with the states that “the substance and application of the $100,000 payment reveal that it is a tax.”

RELATED: Paxton targets dozens of North Texas businesses after Sara Gonzales sounds alarm on H-1B fraud

Mandel NGAN/AFP/Getty Images

The lawsuit was brought in December by 20 states, many of which are led by Democrats and which draw heavily from the H-1B program.

“Every day, thousands of people with H-1B visas serve New Yorkers as doctors, teachers, and other skilled workers,” Democratic New York Attorney General Letitia James, whose state was among those who brought the suit, told CNBC.

“Today a court put an end to this administration’s illegal attempt to destroy this critical program and the many jobs it makes possible,” James said.

When asked for a response to the ruling, Trump told a reporter, “These federal judges are really giving us a hard time.”

“It’s really crazy what’s going on with the court system,” Trump added, according to CNBC. “They’re hurting our country very badly.”

The Trump administration intends to appeal the decision and expects it to be reversed.

In a statement to Reuters, White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers said, “President Trump has clear legal authority to restrict entry of any class of aliens he determines is not in America’s best interests, and that is ⁠exactly what he did.”

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​Constitution, Donald trump, Federal judge, H1b fraud, Letitia james, Massachusetts, Trump administration, Us district court, White house, Politics 

Texas Senate candidate James Talarico is facing scrutiny over his personal relationships after reports surfaced linking him to not one, but two former staffers during his time in the Texas Legislature.

“I’m very interested in the timeline here. Now, you know who’s not interested is the mainstream media,” Gonzales says.

“The legacy media, not interested in that at all because of course their entire existence is just to run cover for Democrats in any of these inappropriate workplace relationships,” she continues, before pointing out that there’s a deeper rabbit hole when it comes to Talarico’s workplace relationships.

“He seems to have a history of preying on young female staffers in the Texas Legislature. I’d like to introduce you to another Texas legislative staffer that he was in a relationship with, Irma Reyes,” she explains, showing a post on X from the former staffer.

Reyes did not deny a relationship with Talarico and instead simply requested “privacy.”

“Now I really have questions because the left has consistently told us through the Me Too movement that that kind of workplace imbalance of power is actually sexual harassment and that it doesn’t matter if the women consents because it’s just inherently wrong,” Gonzales says.

“It’s inherently abusive if the man is in a position of power over the woman. You’re not allowed to do that. That’s a no-no. That’s been their whole thing,” she continues, calling Talarico a “total weirdo.”

“And I think if the Democrats had any actual real principles or morals or values, they would be willing to call it out. But they don’t because they’re just evil ghouls,” she adds.

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​Sara gonzales, James talarico, The blaze, Irma reyes, Brianna menard, Texas legislature, Me too movement, Texas, Sara gonzales unfiltered