The Navy has been through a lot over the past several months.

Ships have stayed at sea longer than planned. Sailors have missed more time with their families. Aircraft have flown hard. Weapons have been fired in numbers we have not seen in decades. Maintenance has been pushed to the right because the mission came first.

We cannot keep shrinking the number of ships while expanding the number of missions and pretend the math will somehow work.

Now the bills are going to start coming due.

Ships will return needing repairs. Aircraft will need maintenance. Magazines will need to be refilled. Sailors will need time at home. Families that have carried an enormous burden will want some normalcy back. All of that is understandable. But what happens next will tell us a lot about the future of the United States Navy.

We can spend the next few years talking about how hard the Iran fight was, how tired the force is, and how much everything costs. We can lower expectations, reduce deployments, accept fewer ships at sea, and convince ourselves that this is simply the new reality.

Or we can decide to get better.

That may sound overly simple, but it isn’t. This is the choice facing this generation of Navy leaders, Pentagon officials, members of Congress, and the defense industrial base. Iran did not create the Navy’s problems. It exposed them.

Listen to sailors and learn the right lesson

The extended deployment of the USS Abraham Lincoln has become the most visible example of the strain on the force. Sailors and families have expressed frustration about deployment length, uncertainty, limited port calls, and conditions aboard the ship.

When we ask young Americans to spend month after month away from their spouses and children, they have earned the right to tell us when things are not working. Navy leaders should pay attention to quality of life, communications, food, sleep, medical care, and the information families receive back home.

But we should be careful about the conclusion we draw from their frustration. The lesson cannot simply be that deployments should never run long again. Wars don’t care about deployment schedules.

America’s national security commitments don’t disappear because a carrier strike group has been gone for eight or nine months.

Sometimes the mission requires more.

The real lesson is that America needs enough Navy that asking more of our sailors during a crisis does not become the only option available. That means more ships, more aircraft, more weapons, more logistics capacity, and more people.

It also means accepting something we sometimes became uncomfortable saying during the long years of peacetime operations: Serving in the military is supposed to be hard.

We should take care of sailors and their families. We should fix unnecessary problems and hold leaders accountable for poor decisions. But we also need a Navy that expects its people to be tough enough to fight and win a war.

RELATED: China is building power. America is still debating it.

Yuan Hongyan/VCG/Getty Images

The maintenance bill is coming

The bigger problem may be what happens when these ships finally come home.

Engines accumulate hours. Aircraft fly more sorties. Radars and combat systems operate continuously. Parts wear out. Repairs that might normally happen during a deployment get delayed because the ship is needed on station.

Eventually all of that work has to be done. And the Navy was already struggling with maintenance before the war. Public shipyards are overloaded. Private repair yards are stretched. Submarine maintenance has been a problem for years. Surface ships routinely spend longer in maintenance than planned.

Now we are going to add ships returning from combat operations. We should not act surprised when the backlog grows. The question is whether we do something about it.

That means putting real money into ship repair capacity. It means expanding public and private yards. It means training more welders, electricians, pipe fitters, and other skilled workers. It means using predictive maintenance and better data, so we know what is going to fail before it fails.

And it means getting serious about spare parts.

None of this is glamorous. There are no ribbon cuttings for having the right pump sitting on a warehouse shelf. But wars are often won by the side that can keep equipment operating.

Refill the magazines

Iran also reminded us that modern warfare burns through weapons quickly.

Missiles that take years to develop and months or years to produce can disappear from a ship’s magazine in minutes.

That should scare us, not because the Navy performed poorly — it performed extremely well — but because Iran is not China.

Imagine the weapons requirements of a sustained fight across thousands of miles of the Pacific against an adversary with a large navy, advanced aircraft, submarines, ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, and enormous industrial capacity.

The math gets uncomfortable quickly.

We should treat every weapon fired during the Iran conflict as a data point.

How quickly can we replace it?

If the answer is measured in years, we have a problem.

This is where the Pentagon and Congress need to stop treating munitions like boutique acquisition programs. We need production lines that can surge. We need long-term contracts that give manufacturers confidence to invest. We need second sources for critical components.

And we need deeper magazines.

You cannot surge missile production after the shooting starts.

Don’t become the Royal Navy

There is a historical warning here.

The British Royal Navy did not wake up one morning and suddenly stop being the world’s dominant navy.

The decline happened slowly.

Britain still had excellent ships. It still had talented sailors. It still had proud traditions. What it gradually lost was mass. The commitments remained large while the fleet became smaller. That should sound familiar.

America expects its Navy to deter China, operate in Europe, protect shipping in the Middle East, defend the homeland, reassure allies, and respond whenever something goes wrong anywhere in the world.

We cannot keep shrinking the number of ships while expanding the number of missions and pretend the math will somehow work. Eventually something gives. Iran gave us a warning. We should take it.

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BSIP/UIG/Getty Images

Get better

There will be a temptation after this conflict to focus almost entirely on recovery. The Navy absolutely needs to recover. But recovery cannot become retreat. This needs to be a period of brutal institutional learning.

What broke? What ran out? What took too long to repair? Which supply chains failed?

Capture those lessons and move out — don’t spend five years studying them.

Some fixes will require money. Others will require leadership. Many will require getting rid of processes and assumptions that made sense during peacetime but make no sense after experiencing sustained combat.

This should change how the Navy trains, buys weapons, maintains ships, designs the fleet, and supports families.

Most importantly, it should change the Navy’s mindset.

The service should come out of this tougher than it went in.

The choice

Every generation gets a few moments when the direction of an institution can change.

This is one of them.

Iran showed what sustained combat does to a Navy. A war with a peer competitor would ask far more. So we have a choice — slump our shoulders and talk about how difficult this is and how far behind we feel.

Or we can stop talking, learn from the last couple of years, and get better.

Fix the ships. Refill the magazines. Expand the yards.

Take care of Navy families. Demand better leadership. And expect toughness from the force.

The United States Navy is still the most capable navy in the world. The question is whether we intend to keep it that way.

Iran should not be remembered as the fight that wore down the U.S. Navy. It should be remembered as the fight that woke it up.

This article was originally published by RealClearDefense and made available via RealClearWire.

At the outset of Marco Rubio’s tenure as secretary of state, his department introduced a new paradigm for U.S.-European relations: civilizational alliance.

Rubio and his aides have persistently sought to remind Europe that our relationship is based not merely on trade deals and defense agreements, but ultimately on a shared Western anthropology and history.

The real objection is not so much to any national interest but to the assertion of American national interest.

Rubio’s July 4 message declared:

[America’s] seeds were planted by the philosophers of Athens, the imperial majesty of Rome, the monks and kings of medieval Christendom — centuries of European exploration, science, faith, and restless ambition finally unleashed from every constraint on the boundless American frontier. America was the destiny of an entire civilization.

These overtures, though sometimes welcomed by European citizens bearing the brunt of civilizational decline, have been met in conventional diplomatic circles with reactions ranging from ambivalence to indignation.

European elites are loath to admit they have a civilization to maintain, and if they do, they speak of it with contempt.

Rather than face the matter head-on, the most typical response has been to accuse the U.S. of brashness and insincerity. Critics scoff that we are hypocrites for touting civilizational alliances while unabashedly pursuing America First policies. This apparent contradiction rests on three errors.

First is ignorance of the very Western tradition Americans wish to revitalize, in which duty to one’s country is second only to God. This wisdom was passed down from Cicero to Augustine to Aquinas, who taught that “just as it belongs to religion to give worship to God, so does it belong to piety, in the second place, to give worship (cultum) to one’s parents and one’s country.” The duty of patriotism stems from the gift of life we received from particular people in a particular nation.

Naturally, those who see no significance in national origin can see no duty stemming from it.

But in truth, even nations that share a common civilization are perfectly free — and indeed obliged — to be patriotic and to pursue their own interests for the sake of their citizenry.

Working to preserve a shared civilization is exactly what helps them clarify the just pursuit of interest or “interest well understood,” as Tocqueville calls it. For example, a businessman who is outmaneuvered in the market never objects to competitors seeking their own prosperity. He objects only if they cheat to get it. So too with nations. This is doubly true for the civilization that produced Aquinas and Tocqueville, Parliament and Congress.

Second, these dynamics of Western civilization are lost on contemporary Europeans because they have abdicated both individual and national sovereignty. They fear individual action apart from collective consensus. Of course, this is to misunderstand both consensus and individuals, since authentic consensus arises only from the free assent of individuals. But contribution to a consensus is far from the only sovereign power individuals hold.

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Blaze Media Illustration

There are a host of matters that individuals may decide for themselves without needing permission from anyone else. The sum of these choices makes up moral character and, indeed, sovereignty itself. To circumscribe them is to destroy the possibility of the moral greatness and virtue that the West champions. As is true for individuals, so also for nations.

The nations of Europe have to a large extent surrendered their sovereignty to the EU, which acts like a nation but does not take responsibility for its actions. Those in Brussels claim merely to be following the consensus of European nations, whose leaders themselves take no responsibility and dutifully follow the decisions of the EU.

To those within a system built on a shared abdication of responsibility, the sight of Americans letting their yes be yes and their no be no is an unconscionable disturbance of global order — and, if European member states catch on, to their job security.

Third, abdication of sovereignty is not applied equally. The real objection is not so much to any national interest but to the assertion of American national interest. If Ghana or Paraguay stood up at the U.N. and cited their national interest, everyone would murmur appreciatively. Only strong nations are not supposed to seek their interests, and since the U.S. is the strongest, we are expected to support the interests of others over our own.

This moral hierarchy is one of the glaring symptoms of how much globalist institutions have been captured and perverted by radical “Third Worldist” policies.

But this critique rests on another false premise: that American national interest is inherently at odds with the welfare of others. In practice, the opposite is often true.

America might be prosperous, but we also have millions of poor people living here, so many that we spend around 25% of our considerable budget for their ostensible welfare. The U.S. is also deeply concerned with global welfare. We dismantled boondoggle institutions like USAID precisely to redirect funds from woke nonsense to real needs. Just recently, Secretary Rubio spearheaded $100 million in direct aid to the Cuban people.

Finally, another 15% of U.S. spending goes toward preserving the longest large-scale peace since the fall of Rome, enabling billions of otherwise vulnerable people to live in relative security.

So separating U.S. interest from the interests of the poor and marginalized is dodgy at best.

On a deeper level, the contention that strong nations have no legitimate self-interest is a dangerous absurdity. Yet it is embedded deep in the minds of Western elites who distrust not the self-governing individual in principle, but only those who govern themselves well. The weaker, the meaner, and the baser, the more license they grant, particularly over those who are naturally stronger.

RELATED: China is building power. America is still debating it.

Yuan Hongyan/VCG/Getty Images

This is the logic that has afforded migrant rape gangs the protection of law in Britain and outlawed objection to them. It is the logic that grants or withholds jobs and benefits based on race and victim status. It is the logic that demands the United States submit to tyrannical institutions like the International Criminal Court that could not even exist without the Pax Americana.

It is difficult to pinpoint the source of these inversions. Many have suggested they spring from a perversion of Christian charity. That may be, although I hesitate to blame even the perversion of a theological virtue. Rather, one of the seven deadly sins seems a more likely culprit: despair.

Many on the left believe that the West never offered humanity anything besides oppression and that it now offers a vast storehouse of ill-gotten gains, good only for distribution and dissolution. On a fundamental level, Western nations have no right to pursue their own interests because they have no right to exist.

America disagrees. Humanity’s best hope does not live in the grave of the West. It lives here, where the flame of Western civilization has been burning for 250 years. We intend to keep it burning, both for our own sake and for the world’s.

Editor’s note: This article was originally published at the American Mind.

A caretaker hired to look after a 77-year-old man with dementia at a care facility in northwest Albuquerque has been arrested, according to a New Mexico prosecutor's office.

Bernalillo County District Attorney Sam Bregman said Stephanie Paiz locked herself inside the man's room on Friday, Aug. 14, before committing the heinous acts.

Paiz was charged with three counts of criminal sexual penetration and one count of criminal sexual contact.

An employee of the facility rushed to unlock the door and stop Paiz, according to Bregman.

The alleged abuse was captured on security cameras in the room.

Paiz was charged with three counts of criminal sexual penetration and one count of criminal sexual contact.

The president of the company that owns and manages the Ativo Senior Living facility said that Paiz had been a private caretaker hired by the family of the victim and not one of their employees.

Bregman said Paiz will stay in jail while awaiting trial.

Some studies say that one in 10 Americans older than 60 years old will experience some form of elderly abuse. Others have found only one in 24 case of abuse are reported to authorities.

RELATED: California woman arrested after police find decomposing body in plastic bags in locked closet

In one horrendous case from 2023, a 38-year-old registered sex offender named Damien Young threw a 65-year-old man through the window of a third-story building in Rochester, New York.

Young was charged with second-degree murder after the man died.

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On a recent episode of the “Steve Deace Show,” the BlazeTV host framed a stark choice facing the American right when it comes to the nation’s young men: channel their energy into constructive leadership and real solutions, or watch it keep flowing toward pure grievance and nihilism.

He frames this dichotomy by holding up two very different figures. On one side you have Zach Lahn, the Iowa Republican nominee for governor — a sixth-generation farmer and businessman who shocked the establishment by defeating a Trump-endorsed congressman in the primary and has positioned himself as a paradigm-shifting “Iowa First” candidate focused on regenerative agriculture, cost-of-living pressures, and health freedom.

On the other side is James Fishback, who was a Florida Republican candidate for governor this election cycle. Fishback lost the Republican primary to Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.), but Fishback is still important to analyze as someone who has built a following among younger men through aggressive online content, “anti-Israel” rhetoric, and a style Deace dismisses as pure grift.

What happens next, he warns, will shape an entire generation and the future of the nation.

The predicament America’s young men are facing today, Deace explains, is dire.

“Here's the current deal on the table for them, particularly if they're white: You're automatically a racist. You're automatically to blame for things that happened hundreds of years before you were ever born. There's an automatic aura of suspicion around you. Your life will be half over probably before you can afford a home,” he says.

“The likelihood you will find a wife that is not proud of the amount of men she bedded on the way to meeting you and hasn't had an abortion or three ... shrinks by the day, and you went to college to get a job that we're probably going to give to an Indian or a Muslim,” he continues.

This unfortunate set of circumstances, Deace argues, creates a restless “energy.”

“That energy is going to find conduits. It's going to go somewhere,” he says. “It'll be up to us to determine which direction we'll go.”

The “constructive channel,” Deace says, will lead to “action” that sparks positive change.

“That's what Zach Lahn represents. That's what I think frankly JD Vance represents. ... They represent younger men who understand we are in radical need of paradigm shifting,” he explains.

On the other hand, Fishback, according to Deace, has “no credentials at all,” “couldn't survive a background check of page one of Google search,” and has a campaign built on “obvious grift.”

“James Fishback will go away. ... What you don't know though is there'll be another one next year and then there'll be more — unless there's a constructive outlet for this energy,” Deace warns.

To hear more, watch the episode above.

Want more from Steve Deace?

To enjoy more of Steve's take on national politics, Christian worldview, and principled conservatism with a snarky twist, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

Rosie O'Donnell has returned ... and she didn't bring her freshest material.

You would think her years-long sabbatical from the spotlight would have given her the time to come up with some choice zingers for her archnemesis, Donald Trump.

Jagger is 83 and looks in remarkably good shape. His rock peers? Not so much.

Instead, the best she could do was this moldy oldie: "Orange Voldemort."

To be fair, the Queen of Not-So-Nice is also well past her sell-by date. The "A League of Her Own" star hasn’t been hot since Avril Lavigne ruled the charts. And it got even cooler last year when she fled to Ireland in mortal fear of President Donald Trump 2.0.

It’s hard to land acting gigs when you’re living thousands of miles away from La La Land.

Now, she’s back. Sort of. O’Donnell had a brief Broadway run with a one-woman show, and she’s been hosting “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” all week.

She used the ABC perch to mock President Trump, suggesting she was getting under his skin. Yes, Trump is the president of the greatest country in the world again, and O’Donnell had to leave her home fearing some make-believe threat he poses.

You know what they say, Rosie: If you can't say something funny, don't say nothing at all.

Midnight in Madrid

A director synonymous with New York is having a hard time making films there now.

Woody Allen’s 51st feature is set to start shooting this October in Madrid. The Oscar winner hasn’t shared much about the project, but we know that local officials are helping defray the film’s $12 million budget.

So why not the Big Apple? It’s complicated. First, Hollywood unofficially cut bait with Allen during the #MeToo movement. Suddenly, the industry took the disturbing allegations against the filmmaker seriously. He had previously been accused of molesting his daughter Dylan Farrow, but Hollywood looked the other way until it became uncomfortable to do so.

Plus, U.S. investors aren’t as keen on backing his low-budget, low-ROI stories anymore, let alone support a star with a murky past.

Then again, maybe the Jewish filmmaker is better off in Madrid, not the Big Apple. Does he really want to shoot a movie in Zohran Mamdani’s New York?

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Leon Bennett/Stephen Jaffee/Chip Somodevilla/Win McNamee/Infadel/Jim Watson/Getty Images

Just 'Wonder'ing

Another day, another celebrity plays the race card. But does this actor have a point?

Yahya Abdul-Mateen II snagged an Emmy nomination for playing the obscure Marvel Comics hero Wonder Man in the Disney+ show of the same name. The series earned a quick second season greenlight before the Mouse House said, “Psych!” and canceled it.

Now the actor is suggesting to Vanity Fair that Marvel has a racism problem. Maybe. Sort of. Hey, he’s just asking questions.

His proof? He brought up not just his show, which co-starred Ben Kingsley and race-swapped his character from the comics, but another doomed MCU affair.

Remember the multiyear effort to reboot the “Blade” franchise, formerly featuring Wesley Snipes? The studio hired the uber-talented Mahershala Ali as the titular vampire before multiple attempts to launch the film failed. Says Abdul-Mateen:

I think the optics are obvious. If I’m a big business, if I’m Disney, if I’m Marvel, I don’t want to be attached to these optics. So it should be a priority to change that narrative and to do what it takes to responsibly change that narrative with quality stories, with quality resources.

It never hurts to play the race card in Hollywood, and you don’t have to have an open-and-shut case for it. The star ignores the hyper-successful “Black Panther” series, which will get a third installment soon. It also downplays Marvel’s attempt to have Anthony Mackie, who is black, take over for Chris Evans as Captain America.

That film, “Captain America: Brave New World,” didn’t make as much as most big MCU projects.

If this were the peak woke era, “Wonder Man” might be suddenly “uncanceled” after his comments. As is, Abdul-Mateen’s best chance for revenge is holding an Emmy trophy high on Sept. 14 ...

Prayers up for Parton

Mick Jagger famously sang, “What a drag it is getting old,” on “Mother’s Little Helper.”

The irony? Jagger is 83 and looks in remarkably good shape. His rock peers? Not so much. Rod Stewart, 81, just pulled the plug on his troubled 2026 tour after receiving a coronary stent.

Lionel Richie couldn’t dance on a ceiling, or elsewhere, in the early stages of his current tour. Health issues have plagued the veteran star, now 77. And then there’s poor Frank Beard. The drummer for legendary ZZ Top just passed away at 77.

Dolly Parton is still with us, but the 80-year-old legend just took a step back from the spotlight after feeling a little “swimmy-headed.” Don’t do this to us, 2026. We’re warning you.

The Toronto Tempo team of the WNBA is facing some ridicule after introducing a new mascot couple — and one with she-them pronouns.

The mascots are Dez, a snapping turtle with the non-traditional pronouns, and Dot, an arctic hare with she/her pronouns, according to a release on Wednesday.

'This is some woke trans garbage right here fitting coming from a team who's [sic] fans boo a woman fighting for no boys in girls sports.'

LGBTQ site Pink News described Dez as having "butch energy" and wondered whether the two were some variant of LGBTQ coupling.

"Naturally, the internet began wondering whether the mascots were friends, girlfriends, or perhaps simply two fictional animals trapped in the longest queer will-they-won’t-they of the WNBA," the queer site mused.

The mascots, coincidentally, were introduced at the team's Tuesday game against the Indiana Fever, whose star guard Sophie Cunningham has kicked a gender-confused hornet's nest with her opposition to males in women's sports.

The fans of the Canadian team relentlessly booed Cunningham emphatically, but she responded by helping her team defeat the Tempo.

Pink News added that many believed the Seattle Storm mascot Doppler was the first nonbinary mascot in the WNBA.

Others on social media were not as enthused about the apparently gender-confused mascots.

"Your organization is disgusting. I have 3 girls and none will be attending your games. Ever. Have fun losing more of the NBA's money," read one response.

"Butch lesbian mascot for a WNBA team you really outdid yourselves," another critic replied.

"This is f**king HUMILIATING," read another reply.

"Easily the worst mascots I've ever seen. [T]his is some woke trans garbage right here fitting coming from a team who's [sic] fans boo a woman fighting for no boys in girls sports," said another critic.

RELATED: WNBA co-owner FINED and SUSPENDED for cursing out teen fans of Sophie Cunningham

"Ladies and Gentlemen this is Liberal Toronto and Liberal Canada in a nutshell. Absolutely ridiculous… mascots are for children," said another. "Yuck."

In response to speculation that the two were in a lesbian relationship, the team said only that Dez and Dot are "besties."

Blaze News requests for comment from the WNBA as well as the Toronto Tempo were not returned.

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Vice President JD Vance silenced an otherwise raucous crowd Friday after he recounted the harrowing story of Kevin Flanagan, a computer programmer from California.

Vance was giving a speech to support the campaigns of gubernatorial nominee Vivek Ramaswamy and Sen. Jon Husted (R-Ohio) in Middletown, Ohio, when he made the comments.

'No man is a king if they can’t take their family out to dinner without being mugged or having their car jacked.'

"I remember when somebody would come to school and tell me that their dad had just found out that he had lost his job. That the factory that employed their parents was going overseas to China or to Mexico," said Vance.

"In other cases, American workers didn't just have their jobs destroyed; they got told they were being replaced by a foreign worker, and then they had to train that worker before they got replaced. Some of these stories made national news, and they stuck with me," he added.

"A computer programmer, not a mill worker, a computer worker by the name of Kevin Flanagan was let go at the bank that he worked at. And the business, the bank, they told him, 'You're only gonna get your severance package if you train a foreign replacement to do your job instead," Vance said.

"And it's a heartbreaking story, because he did it; he dutifully did what he was asked to do," he added. "And on his last day, he packed up his things, he walked to the office parking lot, and he got in his truck and he shot himself."

The crowd was hushed while processing the story. Vance went on to connect Flanagan's story to the opioid crisis as well.

"It’s not just Kevin, as you all know. Now economists have measured the ways in which the opioid crisis exploded in the very locations where jobs were shipped overseas," he continued.

"The open borders demanded by those same people brought some innocent people; of course it did," Vance added. "But we also know that it brought a lot of cartels. It brought the fentanyl trade, and it left us with millions of orphaned children being raised by aggrieved grandparents."

Flanagan's death in 2003 made national headlines. In a note he left behind, he said that he finally felt at home when he got his job at Bank of America.

RELATED: Vance mocks AOC on her humiliating response to foreign policy query — and she lashes out

He went on to praise the populist message of Louisiana Democrat Senator Huey P. Long from the 1930s.

"Huey Long … once said ‘every man a king’ was the goal of his political program, but no man is a king if their castle is under siege by criminals," he concluded. "No man is a king if they can’t take their family out to dinner without being mugged or having their car jacked."

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Newly surfaced bodycam video shows the moment a married high school teacher in Florida walked police officers through her classroom while telling them in graphic detail where and how she allegedly engaged in illicit sexual acts with a teenage student.

The Charlotte County Sheriff's Office said in a statement released in April that 37-year-old Heather Mashburn-Smith had been arrested following an investigation by detectives.

'What this woman has done is not just unlawful, it is damaging to the students and staff around her.'

Mashburn-Smith, a teacher at Port Charlotte High School, was charged with unlawful sexual activity with certain minors, according to jail records.

The sheriff's office noted that Mashburn-Smith was initially hit with a second-degree felony. However, police said the charges were upgraded to a first-degree felony due to her position as a teacher and because Mashburn-Smith provided a "full, post-Miranda confession to detectives."

Charlotte County Sheriff Bill Prummell stated in April, "What this woman has done is not just unlawful, it is damaging to the students and staff around her."

Prummell said Mashburn-Smith "took advantage of that vulnerability and preyed on one of the people she was entrusted to protect."

Superintendent of Charlotte County Public Schools Mark Vianello said in April, "The actions of this individual are a direct violation of the duty every educator owes to students and families. We will not tolerate anything that compromises student safety."

Vianello said Mashburn-Smith has been placed on administrative leave.

On Thursday, Law&Crime published police bodycam footage from her April 29 arrest, showing Mashburn-Smith walk detectives through her classroom, where she appears to admit to having sexual relations with an underage student.

A deputy from the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office is seen on video asking Mashburn-Smith, "Can you just show us where in the room the sexual activity took place?"

Mashburn-Smith is then seen walking officers to a pair of desks inside the classroom.

"As far as the intercourse goes, this is the desk that we, I leaned back on," Mashburn-Smith tells the officers in the video.

The police bodycam video appears to show Mashburn-Smith telling the officers that she also had sex with the teen on a student chair.

The teacher is seen telling the deputies that she would unlock the classroom door to let the teen inside, but she would sometimes use a book to wedge a side door open so the teenager could enter after football practice.

Video appears to show Mashburn-Smith telling police, "It's not like I let him in, and we went right to it or anything. We would hug and talk. ... Like I said, it was not premeditated sex.”

The police bodycam footage ends with Mashburn-Smith being arrested and taken to jail.

RELATED: Video allegedly shows female HS teacher wearing 'Jesus Loves You' shirt while having sex with student: Warrants

The alleged illicit relationship reportedly began with the pair flirting on the Snapchat messaging app, where the teen allegedly told Mashburn-Smith that she was "pretty."

WBBH-TV reported on April 30, "Washburn-Smith reportedly invited the victim to her classroom so they could talk about the messages, a conversation that later became flirtatious, the victim said in the affidavit."

According to the affidavit, Washburn-Smith warned the alleged victim that he could not tell anyone about their relationship because she could get into trouble.

The student told investigators that he and Mashburn-Smith had sex on two occasions in her classroom, court documents said.

"Afterwards, the victim told deputies that Mashburn-Smith told him she was not in a good marriage and that she wanted to leave her husband for him once he turned 18," WBBH reported.

Mashburn-Smith told officers that the student made her feel special and desired, according to the affidavit.

The affidavit said the teen blocked Mashburn-Smith from communicating with him on social media, but she continued to contact him on Snapchat.

When questioned by deputies about the accusations, Mashburn-Smith told them that she had "made a mistake" and knew the student was "just a teenager," the affidavit said.

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When the vultures came for comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, they thought there was a lot of meat on the bone.

Circling from above, media watchdogs and political operatives thought they had him, and Trump, dead to rights.

'We'll change the narrative.'

But they forgot something.

It was October 27, 2024, when Hinchcliffe appeared at Donald Trump's campaign rally at Madison Square Garden. Jokes about Puerto Rico being a floating pile of garbage were deemed racist and insulting.

For weeks, the joke police wanted voters to believe that Hinchcliffe is a monster whose ethos is a direct descendent to Trump and his then-possibly incoming administration.

Fast-forward two years and Hinchcliffe was in the crosshairs again for his roast jokes, this time at a literal roast. Jokes about George Floyd during the roast of Kevin Hart were deemed as "not even a joke" by Wanda Sykes, while Floyd's foundation labeled Hinchcliffe a "racist comedian" in a series of insulting statements.

There's a problem with these accusations though. There was a lot of footage they forgot to erase.

The smokeout

Despite constant backlash in the media, Hinchcliffe has always refused to back down, punch after punch, year after year. Perhaps the reason is because Hinchcliffe knows he has the tapes to back himself up.

December 10, 2016, 10:00 p.m.: The "Snoop Dogg Smokeout" airs, ironically, a month before Trump takes office for the first time.

Snoop Dogg, Mike Epps, Terry Crews, LL Cool J, and ... Tony Hinchcliffe.

In front of what Snoop described as an "all-black crowd," Tony did what Tony does.

"Hello everybody, you're all under arrest," Hinchcliffe began.

Soon, the then-32-year-old told comedian Luenell she looks like she needed "two seats on the Underground Railroad."

This was followed by Hinchcliffe saying comedian Michael Blackson had his makeup done with a "charcoal briquette" and that Snoop's estranged kids would love to smoke weed with him if they ever met.

No one was offended; in fact, other comedians were literally falling out of their chairs as audience members waved towels and screamed.

RELATED: Joe Rogan & Shane Gillis say we're never going back — and young men should listen

Snoop was the most impressed. Within the year, he had Hinchcliffe on his own podcast to reveal what today would be highly controversial news: The allegedly racist comedian was writing a movie for one of the most iconic rappers of all time.

Total recall

In more forgotten footage, Snoop spoke more about his friendship with the Ohio comedian years later on "The Joe Rogan Experience."

"He's the s**t," Snoop said about Hinchcliffe.

Airing just four months before the MSG debacle, host Joe Rogan said he was ready to go all-out in support of Hinchcliffe's career. Snoop and Rogan went back and forth praising Tony, declaring him to be one of the best roast comedians of all time.

Snoop then directly addressed Hinchcliffe's racial comedy at his own roast, saying, "I seen him at an all-black [show] with an all-black crowd steal the f**king show."

Rogan said he had "all his chips in" on Hinchcliffe as the two contemplated how to make him a star. Spitballing ideas, the duo came up with show ideas for Hinchcliffe, with Snoop himself saying that a roast battle format mixed with musical performances could force a monumental shift in pop culture.

"It would make the sensitive people, to comedy, be nonsensitive because now you have two comedians talking s**t about each other."

The audience couldn't possibly be sensitive to jokes after seeing that, Snoop asserted.

"We'll change the narrative," Snoop said. "That's my guy."

RELATED: Boys will be boys: Shane Gillis' record-breaking Philadelphia show was more than just a comedy set

WWE/Getty Images

The media illusion isn't strong enough to convince most audience members or comedians that Tony is racist. That includes Kevin Hart, who was the butt of many of the allegedly harmful jokes months ago.

Hart has explained that he was never actually offended by the roast jokes, saying he is always going to "appreciate humor," even when the humor is about him being "on a slave ship in a bottle."

Even through-and-through Democrat supporter Jon Stewart defended Hinchcliffe through the ordeal.

It's not likely that anyone short of Chelsea Handler will think of Hinchcliffe as a "racist comedian," when in proximity of him, it's actually difficult to do so.

Hinchcliffe's wildly popular "Kill Tony" show features an all-Mexican horn section, a Mexican drummer, a blind black guitarist, and a black keyboardist. A lot of the show's most popular regulars are definitively not white, so are some of his closest comedian friends.

If these associations still aren't enough to convince progressives, Hinchcliffe's answer is simple:

"I apologize to absolutely nobody. Not to the Puerto Ricans, not to the whites, not to the blacks, not to the Palestinians, not to the Jews, and not to my own mother, who I made fun of during the set."

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Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts ordered Friday that the Trump administration could restart construction on the White House ballroom.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation had filed the lawsuit to stop the ballroom on the basis that it violated environmental laws and other restrictions on construction at the nation's capital.

'They are trying to stop one that is vital to our National Security, and the Safety of all Presidents of the United States, both current and future, their families, staff, and Cabinet members.'

Construction had been blocked by an injunction from the D.C. District Court, but Roberts issued a temporary administrative stay of the injunction, allowing construction to continue, "pending further order of the Chief Justice or of the Court."

However, the chief justice did not opine on the legality of the construction.

President Donald Trump has argued that the construction of the ballroom is necessary for security reasons after the assassination attempt in April at the White House Correspondents' Dinner.

Solicitor General D. John Sauer wrote in his petition to the justices that the ballroom was "vitally required by national security" and called the injunction "extraordinary and unlawful."

He went on to call for an end to the injunction "for the sake of the president's safety, the continuity of government, and the separation of powers."

Originally the administration said the $400 million price tag for the ballroom addition would be completely privately funded, but it has since asked for public funds after the cost ballooned to at least $600 million.

RELATED: Liz Warren launches investigation into Trump's WH ballroom — the backlash is hilarious

About $352 million in taxpayer dollars was funneled to the project through Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

The president had blasted the members of the National Trust for Historic Preservation in a post on Truth Social a week ago after they were able to obtain the injunction.

"They are very bad for our Country. They stop many projects that are worthy, and hurt many others. In this case, they are trying to stop one that is vital to our National Security, and the Safety of all Presidents of the United States, both current and future, their families, staff, and Cabinet members."

He also called them "TREASONISTS" for filing a lawsuit against the military complex.

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Singer Ariana Grande is probably tired of repeating herself.

On one hand, the singer has every right to do what she's doing, but her added commentary in recent days is sure to puzzle a lot of people, even her fans.

'Your truth is false.'

Friends for never

After having a spat with the Trump administration in June over the use of her music, the 33-year-old singer is back on the offensive over a post on Team Trump's massive TikTok page that has 14 million followers.

A nine-second video of President Trump shows him taking the stage at a rally with Grande's 2024 song "we can't be friends" playing in the background.

In response, Grande took to the comment section and wrote, "Never use my music again."

The fair point resulted in the audio on the clip being muted, but it was Grande's response to the text on the video that showed her obscure stance on one issue.

The words on-screen read the following: "Me and my truth we sit in silence… Men can't have babies and should never compete in women's sports."

"Me and my truth we sit in silence" are lyrics from Grande's song.

Grande apparently didn't agree with the video's caption, either, which stated, "This shouldn't be controversial."

In her comment, the singer stated, "Also, your truth is false."

RELATED: Britain is paying the price for years of woke ideology

Francis Specker/CBS/Getty Images

Out of step

Grande's apparent position is actually at odds with the overwhelming majority of Americans, who, in poll after poll, state they are not okay with men being in women's sports, even when they identify as women.

Pew Research's most recent number is 73%, while Napolitan News Services' responses were 63% "no."

The National News Desk had an unscientific poll in August with 96% of more than 30,000 votes choosing "no."

As well, a New York Times poll from early 2025 had the number at 79%, and a Center Square Voters' Voice Poll had 67% in 2023.

There's also no telling how many people are replying "yes" on these polls out of a desire to see what happens if a male basketball player is allowed to play in the WNBA, for example.

RELATED: White House removes song from ICE video after Ariana Grande objects: 'Barbaric, inhumane, heinous nonsense'

Noam Galai/WireImage

Ice, ice baby

Grande will continue to be at odds with the executive office so long as the administration uses her music, but she has been taking these opportunities to voice her political opinions at the same time.

In June, Grande flexed her immigration acumen when her 2024 song "bye" was used in a White House social media video promoting arrests being made by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

"Please do not ever use my music ⁠in relation to this barbaric, inhumane, heinous nonsense. f**k ice," she wrote.

Grande sported an "ICE OUT" pin at an event months earlier, too.

The White House responded at the time. "We'll say this one last time: What's actually barbaric, inhumane, and heinous are the criminal illegal aliens who have injured and murdered innocent American citizens," spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said.

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The Democratic candidate trying to keep the party's hopes alive of flipping one of the two U.S. Senate seats in Texas is doing his pandering best.

In a recent interview on "The Breakfast Club" radio show, Talarico was asked about the controversial guilty verdict against Karmelo Anthony, the black high schooler who stabbed and killed Austin Metcalf, a white student-athlete, in Texas. A clip of his response went viral this week, thanks to a tweet from Rep. Brandon Gill (R-Texas).

'I know that there were no black members of the jury. And to me, that's the only evidence you need to really prove that the system is not working for black Texans.'

The jury found there was enough evidence to convict Anthony of murder, and he was sentenced to 35 years in prison.

The case has become a national flashpoint, especially regarding anti-white racism. In discussing the Anthony case, Talarico pounced into the deep end of the woke pool.

"I've done a lot of work in the statehouse on justice reform, and right now we got a system that doesn't serve all Americans equally. And we know that black Texans have not gotten the justice they deserve in many cases," he said on the show.

"I'm not an expert on this particular case, but I know that there were no black members of the jury," he added. "And to me, that's the only evidence you need to really prove that the system is not working for black Texans."

In the clip, Talarico appears to have been expounding on his decision to nod along as a white-hating radical at a town hall meeting claimed that "Karmelo Anthony's case is just a f**king tragedy."

"The Breakfast Club" is a New York City-based radio show very popular with members of the black community. The episode featuring Talarico was released August 5.

RELATED: Jasmine Crockett DUMPS on Talarico's chances of winning US Senate — and brings receipts

Talarico had previously signaled his support for the anti-white sentiment in the racial debate over the Karmelo Anthony murder case.

A recent poll found Talarico's race against Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton to be in a dead heat, with only 5% of voters undecided. The victor could determine which party controls the U.S. Senate after the midterms.

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There are now over 130,000 ALPR cameras in the United States, the vast majority of which are from controversial company Flock. Both the camera capabilities and the rapid increase in number of cameras have become a hot-button issue, with the recorded number of cameras increasing by more than 30,000 in less than two months.

In one big Sun Belt state, it's been less than three months since residents figured out they're being watched, and the situation is only getting worse.

Technology used to monitor, police, and conduct federal investigations has been at the tip of the spear in the debate surrounding personal freedoms, and citizens have quickly soured on the idea that the Big Brother-style security system is welcome in the state.

'82% of those polled are concerned that the cameras could be misused.'

At the beginning of June, reports spread of how traffic cones and barrels were being used along different roadways by Customs and Border Protection to read license plates in order to catch illegal aliens.

The conversation quickly accelerated, revealing that not only were automated license plate recognition cameras being used to fight immigration violations, but they were being used nationwide on Americans.

Now, new data shows that voters in Arizona have expressed "genuine tension" over the cameras, telling pollsters they oppose their use despite believing they can help solve crimes.

The numbers are actually quite staggering: 63% of Arizonans polled oppose the camera use entirely, while 51% believe they help police.

NextGen Polling shows the biggest discrepancy among registered voters is opinions on misuse and audits. 82% of those polled are concerned that the cameras could be misused, while another 82% said they support independent audits on surveillance companies.

RELATED: What the Flock? Knoxville mayor explains the dark truth about Flock cameras: ‘Not your grandma's license plate readers’

Jean-François FORT/Hans Lucas/AFP/Getty Images

As Blaze News previously reported, CBP has had access to at least 1,600 of Flock's license plate readers across 22 states at one time. The agency has also been using the technology in its investigations dating back to at least 2017.

At the same time, Flock is used by more than 5,000 law enforcement agencies in the United States.

Voters in Arizona oppose the use by local police (Net -32.7) while a majority, 52%, oppose the cameras being shared with ICE.

Democrats are more likely to oppose the camera use, 73% compared to Republicans at 54%. Meanwhile, 80% of Democrat voters oppose sharing the camera capabilities with ICE; 59% of Republicans actually support it.

RELATED: Flock off, Axon on

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

In addition to license plate reading, companies like SignalTrace have developed methods to upgrade Flock cameras to capture any "unique signals" emitted from devices in the car.

This includes cell phones, smart watches, Bluetooth devices, earbuds, and Wi-Fi signals.

Each unique identifier can be attached to the license plate number, and therefore the owner, to essentially create an entire electronic surveillance profile on the driver.

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Ken Paxton has made it clear which side of the women's sports debate he's on by showing up at a WNBA game with an XX-XY shirt.

The issue of transgender-identifying athletes in women's sports flared up after Indiana Fever star player Sophie Cunningham made a statement opposing biological males competing against women.

'Instead of criticizing her, how about we admire something of great courage, which is what she has accomplished as a young woman.'

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a Republican who's running for the U.S. Senate, showed his support for Cunningham during the Fever's game against the Dallas Wings in Texas on Thursday. The Wings won, 91-85.

He attended with his daughter, and they both wore XX-XY shirts, a brand dedicated to opposing biological males from competing in women's sports.

"We in Texas, we are promoting no boys in girls' sports because it's completely unfair," said Paxton to OutKick outside of the stadium.

He was asked what message he wants to give all Texans about supporting Cunningham's crusade.

"I think instead of criticizing her, how about we admire something of great courage, which is what she has accomplished as a young woman," he added. "Standing up is very difficult. Very few people are willing to do it, and I have a lot of admiration, I know a lot of Texans have a lot of admiration for what she has accomplished at such a young age."

Jennifer Sey, the founder and CEO of XX-XY athletics, thanked Paxton for his support on social media.

Various supporters of the XX-XY cause have said that they were told to cover up their shirts with the brand at games by WNBA officials. In one case, a co-owner of a team berated and cursed at two teens wearing the shirts during a game.

Paxton added that his office was looking at these incidents.

"Look, we’re looking at it," he said. "We want to make sure that they are treated fairly."

RELATED: Black WNBA player blames 'white privilege' after ejection for hitting Sophie Cunningham

When the Fever played in Toronto, the Canadian crowd booed Cunningham relentlessly. She responded by hitting every three-pointer she attempted, and the Fever beat the Toronto team. Afterwards she graciously complimented the fans for their passion.

Paxton is in a close race against Democrat James Talarico for one of two U.S. Senate seats in Texas.

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Earlier this month, Kamala Harris made an appearance on Stacey Abrams' podcast “Assembly Required,” where they discussed the Democratic Party’s future, redistricting in the South, voter ID debates, and opposing what they framed as Trump’s authoritarian agenda.

In their conversation about citizenship and who counts as a “legitimate” American, Harris deployed a predictable Nazi analogy.

“Part of the pain of this moment, Stacey, is these so-called leaders who are pushing this kind of narrative about who is a legitimate American citizen among American citizens. This blood-and-soil narrative that’s being pushed at the highest levels of our government to suggest that, you know, once again to hearken back to times when it was explicit that there was a hierarchy among Americans and who was superior and who was inferior — all citizens,” the failed 2024 nominee said.

“That’s what’s happening right now,” she added.

“I follow politics quite a bit, and I've not heard anyone talking about blood-and-soil Americans,” says BlazeTV host Pat Gray.

“I have heard the guy that used to be her boss talk about the blood of liberty,” adds co-host Jeffy, referring to Joe Biden’s dismissal of Thomas Jefferson’s line about the tree of liberty being watered with the blood of patriots as “a bunch of crap.”

Pat believes Harris must “babble about something” because “she’s getting no love from Democrats right now.”

“I don't know why, with such, you know, insightful thoughts like that,” laughs Jeffy.

To hear more of the panel’s commentary and see Harris’ clip, watch the episode above.

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A former Florida teacher — convicted of sexual misconduct with a high school student — now faces a lawsuit claiming her "heinous sex acts" left the teen with "permanent psychological injuries," including a loss of faith in God.

Brooke Anderson, a 28-year-old former teacher, previously pleaded guilty to three counts of unlawful sexual activity with a minor, two counts of transmission of harmful materials to a minor, one count of lewd or lascivious conduct with a student, and one count of unlawful use of a two-way communication device, according to WTSP-TV.

'The messages began as general conversation, but eventually were of a very graphic, sexual nature,' the complaint says.

Anderson was sentenced to 30 months in state prison, followed by 24 months of community service and 10 years of probation.

Two months into her prison sentence, Anderson was named in a civil lawsuit filed on behalf of the victim.

WTSP reported that the lawsuit filed by Leighton Panoff Law on Aug. 11 seeks $100,000 from Anderson in damages for emotional distress and sexual battery.

The complaint states that the former student "was subjected to sexual battery, raped, traumatized, and caused to suffer mental pain and suffering, psychological injuries, and the loss of the capacity for the enjoyment of life."

The New York Post reported, "The suit alleges that Anderson’s 'heinous sex acts' left the young teen with 'permanent psychological injuries,' including a loss in his faith in God."

The plaintiff is also seeking $50,000 from the Hillsborough County School Board, alleging negligence.

The complaint cites the case of another former Riverview High School teacher, David Coffey, who was sentenced to 15 years in state prison on July 28 for sexually abusing a student at the same campus, WTSP reported.

"The warning signs were particularly foreseeable because, less than one year earlier, another teacher at the same high school had been arrested and terminated for strikingly similar misconduct involving a student," the lawsuit reads.

The lawsuit alleges that the former student met with Anderson, then a biology teacher at Riverview High School, at lunchtime during the 2022-2023 school year, exchanged personal phone numbers in the 2023-2024 school year, and then they began messaging each other.

"The messages began as general conversation, but eventually were of a very graphic, sexual nature. A portion of these messages occurred ... during school hours," the suit claims.

The Tampa Free Press reported that Anderson sent the student "sexually provocative photographs" in April 2025 and "sexually assaulted him inside her classroom the following month."

The complaint says the victim, referred to as R.B. in the lawsuit, was one year below Florida's legal age of consent at the time of the illicit sexual relationship, the Tampa Free Press reported.

RELATED: Cops bust former special-ed teacher in truck with teen; she's accused of engaging in sexual activity with boy up to 20 times

Five Buck Photos/iStock/Getty Images Plus

Blaze News previously reported that Anderson admitted to three sexual encounters with the teen during a phone call with the minor, according to the affidavit.

The Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office said in a statement released in May 2025, "The most recent incident occurred the morning of May 16, inside Anderson’s classroom before the start of the school day."

Police arrested Anderson the next day.

Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister stated in May 2025, "This teacher betrayed the trust of a student, a school, and an entire community."

"What should have been a safe, supportive environment for learning was exploited for abuse," Chronister continued. "Her actions are criminal, calculated, and deeply disturbing." This investigation is ongoing, according to police.

Anderson was terminated in May 2025. She had been an employee of the Hillsborough County Public Schools district since November 2021.

When asked for comment by the Daily Mail, the Hillsborough County School Board declined to discuss the lawsuit, citing "pending litigation."

WTSP reported that the hearing for the civil lawsuit is scheduled for May 2, 2027.

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Turning Point USA plans to honor co-founder Charlie Kirk by returning to the place where he was assassinated: Utah Valley University.

Two sources familiar with the matter confirmed to Blaze News that TPUSA will appear for an event on the UVU campus on September 10. Kirk was murdered while speaking peacefully before a crowd of thousands on September 10, 2025.

The UVU Police Department has already begun coordinating with other law enforcement agencies to provide security for the event.

The event is scheduled to take place at the UCCU Center on campus.

The UVU Police Department has already begun coordinating with other law enforcement agencies to provide security for the event, a source confirmed to Blaze News. Whether TPUSA will be paying for the added security and/or providing private security as well is unclear.

UVU has established a "Memorial Committee" entrusted with finding "meaningful ways to help our campus and community heal from the Charlie Kirk tragedy." A statue of Kirk seated, wearing a "Freedom" T-shirt, and holding a microphone has already arrived on campus.

RELATED: Honoring Charlie Kirk came at a cost: ‘We were ostracized’

Photo obtained by Blaze News

The UVU campus will be closed on September 10 and all classes canceled "to provide time and space for reflection, service, and connection" about "the tragic events surrounding Charlie Kirk’s death," said interim UVU President Wayne Vaught in an email obtained by Blaze News. The email also encourages students, faculty, and staff to participate in a "Corporate Day of Service" that day as well.

This is a developing story.

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Unlike the Democrat Party establishment that only pretends to care about the Constitution, the Democratic Socialists of America make no secret of their disdain for America’s founding rule of law.

A viral excerpt from a July 2025 episode of the left-wing "Varn Vlog" podcast captures this unabashed enmity. In it, DSA National Political Committee member (and Marxist Unity Group figure) Cliff Connolly boldly admits the radical faction’s “hatred” of the Constitution.

“So the two things that we're famous for is our commitment to a program and our hatred of the United States Constitution,” he said.

“What the program does is it gives us a road map to revolution, and it gives us the obstacle that we finally will have to get over to have a revolution, which is the United States Constitution, the basis of the United States government,” he added.

“This should be parody, except it's not. It's just actually happening,” says BlazeTV host Sara Gonzales.

Guests Adam Johnson (“the Lectern Guy”) and comedian Davey Jackson share her outrage.

“These people are actually insane, but, you know, we could mock and make fun of them all we want,” says Johnson. “The latest study with a survey said that a third of [Democrats and Democratic-leaning adults] now identify as democratic socialists, so as much as we want to laugh, it's very real.”

He speculates that DSA members and supporters have always hated the Constitution, but they’re boldly admitting it now because they finally “feel strong enough to do it, or they feel cornered enough to where they have to come out now and reveal exactly who they are.”

“Obviously, what they're saying – ‘we hate the Constitution’ — is resonating with some people in America, which is deeply concerning,” adds Jackson.

“It's also deeply concerning that all of the men on that panel are clearly donating their testosterone to the women on the panel,” he jokes, referring to the other people in the video with Connolly.

Sara then plays another video that’s gone viral capturing New York State Assemblywoman and DSA member Emily Gallagher defending what she called “crimes of poverty.”

“People who are stealing things like toothpaste, people who are stealing things like, you know, soap, and that means if you're stealing those things, you need them,” she declared in a speech outside Manhattan Criminal Court.

“And we are choosing to protect billion-dollar companies like CVS and Walgreens over the people who are struggling to get by. So I would say that the true crime is that there is such incredible wealth disparity in this city that there are people who can be thrown in jail simply for having a biological need,” she added.

“Homegirl has eaten,” says Sara, mocking Gallagher’s size, “so I don't think she's the one to talk about disparities here.”

To hear more of the panel’s conversation and watch the viral clips, check out the episode above.

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The claim that the synthetic mRNA-based COVID-19 genetic therapies were "safe and effective" was repeated ad nauseam not only by former President Joe Biden during the pandemic but by health officials in his administration — including former Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, former National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci, and former Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Rochelle Walensky.

It may then come as a surprise that not all high-ranking federal health officials were keen on this particular characterization.

'Science doesn't tell you what your actions should be.'

When reached for comment about a new tranche of recently released emails of Anthony Fauci, former Biden administration acting FDA Commissioner Janet Woodcock told Blaze News that she protested the "safe and effective" description.

But first let's rewind. On Sunday, Senator Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) published a May 27, 2021, email sent by Dr. Woodcock to Fauci and then-National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins regarding the perceived need to set aside scientific research funds to later investigate COVID-19 vaccine side effects.

"I have been contacted by a number of people who have experienced adverse events post COVID-19 vaccination (from all three of the current vaccines)," wrote Woodcock. "Many are healthcare professionals, some of whom I know. The symptoms do not fit together into a distinctive syndrome and most are not easily quantifiable or evaluated with standard laboratory testing."

Woodcock, who became acting FDA commissioner in January 2021 as the vaccines were being pushed on the nation, was sympathetic to the concerns of some apparent vaccine casualties that "no one takes them seriously, no one knows how to treat them" and that there had been "no effort to study this."

RELATED: First domino to fall? Fauci's 'consigliere' pleads GUILTY to role in COVID cover-up

Gary Coronado/Los Angeles Times/Getty Images

"I think it would be worthwhile to do a study and evaluate a cohort of these individuals," said Woodcock. "But of course $ need to be made available, and you would need an investigator who is interested in 'medical mysteries.' I doubt the industry would support, for obvious reasons."

Woodcock provided Blaze News with insights into her proposal.

"I was thinking, 'Could we find some kind of treatment to offer these folks?' But first, you have to understand what's going on, right? You can't just sort of go out and treat people," Woodcock told Blaze News. "So that was my objective in this. ... I don't think it's probably different than any other immune challenge, and I wouldn't want anyone to think that I felt the vaccine was dangerous or should not be used or anything. By no means. It was simply that if people were having this reaction, we could find a way to study it."

When pressed — in light of her concerns at the time — about the "safe and effective" description, Woodcock responded, "Well, look. I always told our press office, 'Don't call it safe and effective, because no medical intervention is 100% safe.' Even water. You could kill yourself by drinking too much water, literally."

The FDA noted in recent years that it was "confident in the safety and effectiveness" of the COVID-19 vaccines. While apparently hesitant herself to use that phrasing, Woodcock stated in 2021 that "the public can be very confident that this vaccine meets the high standards for safety, effectiveness, and manufacturing quality the FDA requires of an approved product."

Woodcock offered Blaze News what she regards as a better pitch for the vaccine: "What it is is the benefits far outweigh the risks, and that's the standard for all drugs that are approved, all medicines that are approved, because none of them are free of side effects, which is the kind of ordinary, you know, meaning of the term 'safe.'"

While the former acting commissioner noted that many health experts suggested during the pandemic that the "benefits way outweigh the potential harms" of the vaccines, people nevertheless "do use the term 'safe and effective' a lot, which is a statutory term."

Woodcock emphasized that any intervention "that you do has to be pretty safe, right? But that doesn't mean it's totally without adverse events."

Adverse events were in some cases deadly.

The FDA admitted in an internal letter last year that FDA Office of Biostatistics and Pharmacovigilance career staff had "found that at least 10 children have died after and because of receiving COVID-19 vaccination."

Dr. Vinay Prasad, the former chief medical officer at the FDA and director at the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, said in the letter that the OBPV performed an analysis of 96 deaths between 2021 and 2024 and concluded "that no fewer than 10 are related. If anything, this represents conservative coding, where vaccines are exculpated rather than indicated in cases of ambiguity. The real number is higher."

On the matter of takeaways from the handling of the pandemic, Woodcock told Blaze News that while the "development of the vaccines was a scientific triumph," "science doesn't tell you what to do. Scientists often forget that."

"Science just tells you the facts," she continued. "What do to do — especially about society, right — is a value judgement that should take into account the facts, but science doesn't tell you what your actions should be."

HHS and the FDA did not immediately respond to Blaze News' requests for comment.

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The Federal Communications Commission’s latest broadband report makes two things clear: America has made real progress, but the rural job is far from finished.

The number of Americans lacking access to fixed terrestrial broadband with download speeds of 100 Mbps and upload speeds of 20 Mbps fell roughly 23% in one year, while rural gaps shrank more than 44% over two years. Prices for the mid-tier plans most households buy have also fallen in real terms.

The path is simple: Make the biggest users and beneficiaries of Universal Service Fund-supported networks help pay, without raising prices for consumers.

Yet the FCC still says deployment is not “reasonable and timely” for all Americans, especially in rural areas and tribal lands. For many families, broadband is now one of the rare essential services that is both faster and more affordable than it was a few years ago.

That’s why the Universal Service Fund remains indispensable. It connects an estimated 130 million Americans each year, supporting low-income and rural households, schools, libraries, students, and health care providers. At roughly $8.5 billion annually, USF underwrites a crucial piece of America’s digital infrastructure. It also supports the infrastructure beneath an internet economy measured in the trillions of dollars.

The problem is how we pay for it. Consumers bear a monthly surcharge on legacy voice services, while the largest internet platforms, which depend on broadband to generate enormous revenues, contribute nothing.

Congress knows the system needs reform. In 2023, Senators John Thune (R-S.D.) and Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.) launched a bipartisan Universal Service Fund Working Group. Deb Fischer (R-Neb.) now shares leadership with Luján, joined by Reps. Richard Hudson (R-N.C.) and Doris Matsui (D-Calif.), and the working group has heard from hundreds of stakeholders. Its assignment is straightforward: preserve a program that works while replacing a financing mechanism that does not.

Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft, Netflix, and TikTok all depend on broadband networks to reach Americans. Each USF-connected household generates an estimated $3,000 annually in revenue for these companies, which collectively consume roughly two-thirds of U.S. broadband capacity. Data-center expansion will only increase that traffic. As more data centers come online to support AI, cloud computing, streaming, and other digital services, the demands placed on those networks will only grow.

Broadband providers, meanwhile, must keep investing in the networks that carry it. Without USF support, many networks would not be built, and broadband could become unaffordable for millions.

Don’t put the bill on consumers

Congress should not solve the problem by adding another fee to household broadband. Affordability remains politically and economically sensitive, and even modest price increases can push consumers out of the market. Broadband has remained relatively stable in price even as Americans have absorbed years of inflation elsewhere in the household budget.

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Economists Hal Singer and Ted Tatos found that a 5% increase in broadband prices could cause roughly 10 million households to cancel service. Their review found a different dynamic for large digital advertising platforms, where end users generally do not pay subscription fees and companies are better positioned to absorb assessments.

FCC Chairman Brendan Carr suggested assessing digital advertising revenue from the largest platforms. Congress could also consider certain transmission services — cloud interconnection, backhaul, content delivery networks, satellite transport, and wide-area networking — that depend heavily on the broadband ecosystem.

The precise mechanism matters less than the principle: Broaden the contribution base so consumers carry less of the burden. Bipartisan legislation already points in that direction. The Lowering Broadband Costs for Consumers Act would extend contributions to large internet service providers, with thresholds aimed at companies of significant scale.

The rural job is not done

Some argue that low-earth-orbit satellite services have largely solved rural broadband and made subsidies unnecessary. They have not. Satellite is valuable where terrestrial networks are uneconomical, but it remains capacity-constrained and is not a full substitute for high-capacity terrestrial broadband in every household or community.

A rural family with several people working from home, taking virtual classes, or using telehealth can need sustained high-speed service and reliability that satellite cannot always guarantee as cell density grows. Prices have also risen, weakening the case for satellite as a cheap universal backstop. Satellite belongs in the mix, but it cannot carry the entire rural-connectivity burden by itself.

Big Tech should pitch in

Big Tech benefits from some $200 billion annually in USF-supported broadband investment, yet the companies oppose contributing to the fund by calling such payments a “tax.” That evades the basic question: Why should the largest users and beneficiaries of broadband infrastructure be the only major participants paying nothing toward its cost?

Google, Amazon, Microsoft, and Meta spend billions building their own data centers, cloud networks, and related infrastructure because infrastructure has economic value. They would never give unlimited use of those facilities away for free. Yet they expect private broadband networks to reach their customers without contributing to the universal service system that expands access to those networks.

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The contradiction is especially striking because 13 bipartisan governors recently joined major technology companies at the White House, where the firms pledged to cover the cost of infrastructure upgrades needed for their data centers while protecting consumers from higher electricity bills. The Ratepayer Protection Act would codify those pledges. Congress should apply the same logic to broadband.

How Congress can act

Universal service already enjoys bipartisan support. In Consumers’ Research v. Federal Communications Commission, 29 lawmakers and working-group members filed an amicus brief defending USF before the Supreme Court. They warned that dismantling the fund would harm millions of Americans, particularly low-income and rural households. Congress established universal service in 1996 and has repeatedly recognized the need to adapt it as communications technology changes.

The Supreme Court upheld the program’s constitutionality. Congress defended USF in court; now it should make the funding system fair and sustainable in statute.

The path is straightforward: Broaden the contribution base to include the largest users and beneficiaries of the networks USF supports, while protecting consumers from rising costs. The companies that profit most from ubiquitous broadband should help ensure that ubiquitous broadband continues to exist.