CNN may be forced to move toward the middle as a result of a likely incoming brand merger.

Netflix has reportedly bowed out of a bidding war in which the company was the final barrier to a takeover of the massive entity that is CNN's parent company, Warner Bros. Discovery.

'We have to start by looking honestly at ourselves.'

Paramount Skydance looks poised to take over the Warner company, and that could mean big shake-ups at CNN. Paramount's gigantic banner controls CBS television networks, including CBS News. News junkies will recall that when Paramount acquired the Free Press, staffers were short-circuiting over reporter Bari Weiss being named editor in chief of CBS News.

If Paramount controls CNN, Weiss or someone similar could be tapped to oversee it.

Weiss' pro-Israel, anti-child genital mutilation, and billionaire-backed media landscape has upset some of the farthest-left reaches of the news world, though she shares many liberal views. For example, she is pro-gay-marriage, but against men in women's sports.

Many of Weiss' disagreements with the neo-left were outlined when she vacated her role at the New York Times. In her resignation letter, she described the paper as becoming a "performance space" where stories are chosen and told in a way to satisfy "the narrowest of audiences."

RELATED: Shellenberger: '60 Minutes' segment paused by Weiss led by reporter with history of 'biased and inaccurate reporting'

Weiss alleged she was called a "Nazi" at the paper despite being Jewish and recalled sample pieces from the Times like one that praised the Soviet Union's space program for its "diversity."

Weiss' outlook on left-wing news would likely ruffle feathers at CNN if she were to take the lead. Brian Stelter, a former CNN anchor and the current chief media analyst for CNN Worldwide, shared remarks to that effect about the likely takeover in a Friday newsletter for the network.

Stelter wrote that CNN employees and viewers have "serious concerns" about whether the network would maintain its "editorial independence" if Paramount takes the reins.

However, Weiss' approach at CBS News is seemingly noncontroversial.

"We have to start by looking honestly at ourselves. We are not producing a product that enough people want," she said in January, per Deadline.

She also addressed ideological bias at the company, telling employees their job is to "present people with the fullest picture — and the strongest voices on all sides of an issue — and then trust them to make up their own minds."

Still this outlook has resulted in further resignations.

Despite getting dirty looks from some liberals, Weiss is not exactly the apple of the right-wing eye, either.

RELATED: Furious liberals blame Bari Weiss takeover at CBS after Democrat leader fumbles tough question on 'Face the Nation'

Photo by Michele Crowe/CBS News/Getty Images

Weiss claims to be a "centrist," supported the national anthem protests that occurred in the NFL, and also wants to keep abortion legal. Additionally, she admitted to voting for Republican Mitt Romney as well as Democrats Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden.

The 41-year-old has received significant mockery from comedians over the $150 million purchase of her Substack page, while conservatives like Megyn Kelly have accused Weiss of trying to "create more enemies" by labeling others "anti-Semites."

At the end of the day, Paramount Skydance's alleged "superior proposal" to buy Warner Bros. is all but completed, but still not finalized. If and when it is, viewers will find out which direction CNN is truly headed in.

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Armed teenage robbers opened fire at a victim behind a Family Dollar in Beaumont, Texas, last week, police said.

But the victim also had a gun and turned the tables — lethally.

'I just think that it's sad that our babies are just dying left and right, and nobody's doing anything.'

Police said its investigation — helped by witness accounts and video surveillance — determined that Jayson January and Brenden Earnest, both 17, as well as two juveniles acted together in a plot to rob the victim near Avenue B and Harriot last Friday, KFDM-TV reported.

All four suspects attacked the robbery target and fired shots at him, police told the station.

However, the victim also was armed and returned fire at the suspects, KFDM reported.

One of the suspects — January — was hit by gunfire and died in a grassy field near the store, the station said.

KLVI-AM reported Monday that Earnest turned himself in and was charged with aggravated robbery — but the two juveniles, ages 15 and 16, were still at large.

Earnest was being held at the Jefferson County Correctional Facility on a $1 million bond for the aggravated robbery charge as well as a $10,000 bond for unlawfully carrying a weapon, jail officials told KMBT-TV.

By Wednesday, the two juveniles also turned themselves in, police told KBTV-TV, adding that there had been warrants out for them on aggravated assault charges.

RELATED: DA reacts to store clerk fatally shooting 16-year-old armed robber: 'Once somebody puts a gun in your face, the rules change'

Detectives are continuing to investigate and complete their findings so the case can be submitted to the Jefferson County District Attorney’s Office, KBTV said.

One woman reacting to the incident told KFDM during an on-camera interview that "I just think that it's sad that our babies are just dying left and right, and nobody's doing anything." The woman asked, "What are they doing about these kids getting out of school and being in the streets during school times?" She also declared, "Something is not right here. Make it make sense."

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Support for Israel has slipped to a historic new low with more Americans sympathizing with Palestine for the first time in decades.

As Israel's war in Gaza rages on, a new Gallup poll showed that 41% of Americans now say they sympathize more with Palestinians, while just 36% sympathize more with Israelis. These figures indicate a total inversion of public opinion, with 46% of Americans sympathizing more with Israel just a year ago, while Palestinian support sat at 33%.

The real shifting sympathies have been among independents.

Israel's historic lead in public opinion has been even wider, comfortably polling double digits ahead of Palestine in the past. Between 2001 and 2018, Israel was an average of 43 points ahead of Palestine in terms of favorability.

This trend rapidly narrowed and eventually flipped for the first time around 2019, years before Israel began its war in Gaza in retaliation for the Hamas terror attack on October 7, 2023.

RELATED: Trump faces strong public headwinds as he weighs Iran attack

Photo by JACK GUEZ/AFP via Getty Images

These sympathies still diverge based on partisanship, with 70% of Republicans supporting Israelis while just 13% support Palestinians. Inversely, 65% of Democrats sympathize more with Palestinians while just 17% sympathize more with Israelis.

The real shifting sympathies have been among independents, who up until 2026 always supported Israelis more than Palestinians.

RELATED: No 'right to hijack': Christian ousted from Trump faith panel over anti-Zionist remarks

Photo by LEONARDO MUNOZ/AFP via Getty Images

Last year, 42% of independents were more sympathetic to Israelis while 34% sympathized more with Palestinians. Now the trend has reversed with 41% sympathizing more with Palestinians while 30% sympathize more with Israelis.

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Once thought to be lost to the harmful ideology of diversity, equity, and inclusion, Scouting America is attempting to make a comeback to common sense, thanks to pressure from the Department of War.

On Friday, War Secretary Pete Hegseth announced that Scouting America will be undergoing several changes in order to continue running.

'A once-great organization became gravely wounded.'

Hegseth's announcement began by emphasizing the close relationship that the scouting organization has had in the past with the United States Armed Forces. From presidents to astronauts, the Scouts have always been a major feeder organization for positions of service to America.

"After 2012, however, the Boy Scouts lost their way. And a once-great organization became gravely wounded. ... DEI crept in. The name was changed to Scouting America. Girls were accepted. The focus on God as the ruler of the universe was watered down to include openness to humanism and earth-centered pagan religions," Hegseth recounted. "Scouting became an organization that no longer supported and celebrated boys."

RELATED: 'F**king horrific': Liberals melt down after largest girl youth group in UK bans trans-identifying boys

Rather than pull the War Department's support from the organization, Hegseth explained that he chose to negotiate with the leadership of Scouting. After the talks, Scouting America has agreed to make several reforms to comply with the Trump administration's vision explicitly laid out in Executive Order 14173, "Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity."

According to Hegseth, Scouting America has promised to eliminate DEI practices, policies, and language in its communications; eliminate the DEI-related "citizen in society merit badge"; clarify that membership will be granted based solely on biological sex; waive registration fees for active duty, guard, and reserve families; and add a new "military service merit badge" to strengthen the organization's ties to the military.

Scouting America released a lengthy statement affirming the Department of War's announcement. The statement makes mention of the executive order, pledging to "comply" with it, but makes no direct mention of DEI. The statement also emphasizes that the organization intends to keep girls as members and to preserve its current name, which has caused some controversy in the past.

Hegseth expressed optimism that Scouting America will make these changes but said his department will be checking in on the organization's progress in six months to determine whether the department will continue to support the organization. He also expressed hope that "maybe someday" Scouting America will go back to being the Boy Scouts: "a group that develops boys into men."

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During her Thursday deposition, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton distanced herself from Jeffrey Epstein, urging lawmakers to direct many of their questions about the convicted sexual predator to her husband, former President Bill Clinton, whose hearing was scheduled for the following day.

While video and transcript of Hillary Clinton’s deposition have not yet been released to the public, House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) stated that she repeatedly claimed she did not remember ever meeting Epstein and deferred the lawmakers’ questions to her husband.

‘I’m not going to do it again.’

“The number of times that she said, ‘I don’t know, you’ll have to ask my husband,’ was more than a dozen,” Comer told reporters after Hillary Clinton’s deposition.

“She said many times under oath that she had never met Jeffrey Epstein,” he explained during an interview with Fox News. “The reason she was asked so many times is, we kept presenting new items of evidence: emails from Epstein where he implied that he was very close with the Clinton family, including Hillary; emails that implied that he set up the Clinton Foundation, that he was one of the biggest donors and one of the main early seed-money raisers for the Clinton Global Initiative.”

Hillary Clinton reportedly denied involvement in the Clinton Global Initiative while she was a U.S. senator. According to Comer, she referred to Epstein as “a con artist.”

RELATED: Hillary Clinton’s Epstein deposition goes off the rails after leaked photo triggers meltdown

Photo by CHARLY TRIBALLEAU / AFP via Getty Images

Legal scholar Jonathan Turley reacted to the committee’s reports of Hillary Clinton’s deposition, stating that she “seemed to sort of throw Bill under the bus.”

Members of the committee agreed to hold the closed-door deposition in Chappaqua, New York, rather than requiring the Clintons to travel to Washington, D.C. This decision came after months of resistance from the couple and a vote finding them in contempt of Congress.

RELATED: Former Clinton official to quit Harvard University position amid backlash for Epstein ties

Photo by the US Justice Department / Handout /Anadolu via Getty Images

Despite initially defying congressional subpoenas, the Clintons had pushed for their depositions this week to be held as public hearings, which the committee denied.

Comer previously explained that the initial depositions had to be held in private but that the committee would consider public hearings afterward. However, Comer stated that video and transcript from the depositions would be released to the public.

Following Hillary Clinton’s Thursday deposition, she shut down any future chance of her participating in a public hearing.

“I’m not going to do it again,” she told reporters. “They had a chance to do it in public, and I wish they had done it in public.”

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President Trump signed an executive order aimed at strengthening domestic supplies of glyphosate-based herbicides — and the co-executive director and co-founder of American Regeneration, Kelly Ryerson, is not pleased.

Ryerson, who is also known widely online as “Glyphosate Girl,” tells BlazeTV host Liz Wheeler that this executive order signals more than just agricultural policy.

“Some of us are feeling a little bit of a breach, a little bit of a betrayal here, because President Trump signed this executive order called ‘Promoting the National Defense by Ensuring an Adequate Supply of Elemental Phosphorus and Glyphosate-Based Herbicides,’” Wheeler tells Ryerson.

“My initial reaction to this is, wait a second, wait a second. I believe the evidence shows that glyphosate causes cancer,” she adds.

“Absolutely, it does,” Ryerson responds. “This has been a really long-term debate that really should never have been a debate. This chemical is the most used pesticide of all time globally. So, it is used all over the world.”

Ryerson notes that it’s been known by Monsanto, the manufacturer of the glyphosate-based herbicide Roundup, for a long time that it was a carcinogen.

“They went to great lengths since the 1980s to try and hide the fact that this can cause cancer because this is such a blockbuster product for them,” she tells Wheeler, noting that genetically modified organisms were developed to be resistant to the effects of glyphosate.

“So, that means that a farmer can plant this corn or soy, and then they can spray all over that crop, and it won’t die because that has been genetically modified to not be impacted by Roundup,” she explains.

“This was a system called Roundup Ready, and obviously it exploded. This is most of our agriculture in this country now. So, it’s a system that is highly dependent on the use of glyphosate to kill the weeds around those crops,” she continues, noting that our “entire agriculture system” is now built around this system.

Unfortunately, this is why banning glyphosate is not on the table in the eyes of the government.

“If we were to ban glyphosate tomorrow, yes, it would cause an incredible shock to our system. We’re not ready for it. But the idea to make it a national security issue and have a large executive order around it is signaling something much different,” Ryerson says.

“What this looked like to me is that President Trump was signaling to the Supreme Court and to Congresspeople, who are right now — this is another piece of it. ... Bayer is trying to get an immunity shield so that we can no longer sue pesticide manufacturers when we get sick from exposure to 57,000 different pesticides,” she explains.

“They told the Supreme Court, ‘Take this case. We think that there should be a liability shield put in place. Americans shouldn’t be able to sue these foreign chemical manufacturers when we get cancer, Parkinson’s, infertility,’” she continues.

“You were talking earlier about this fight with the devil right now ... and just feeling, like, these dark forces,” she adds. “This is a very key part of that for me.”

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The suspected driver of the 18-wheeler filmed on Wednesday speeding in the wrong direction down a stretch of highway in Missouri has been identified as a Minnesota-based Somali migrant.

Lincoln County Prosecuting Attorney Mike Wood indicated that while he was not immediately taken into custody, Abdiasis Ibrahim Ali, 38, has been charged with driving the wrong direction on a divided highway and operating a motor vehicle in a careless manner.

'He wasn't able to read.'

The prosecutor noted further that a no-bound warrant for Ali's arrest has been requested and that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has been notified.

X user MolonLabeBTC shared footage on Wednesday showing a truck barreling southbound down Highway 61 — in one of the northbound lanes. The X user claimed that he began following the "foreign invader" after the truck nearly hit him "head on" and that the incident took place roughly five miles north of Troy.

Sgt. Dallas Thompson of the Missouri State Highway Patrol stated, "We were glad someone saw this yesterday and called it in to try to get resources there to get the vehicle stopped," reported KMOV-TV.

After the driver crossed over to the southbound lane, a state trooper reportedly stopped him and conducted a roadside inspection.

"During that test, the trooper noticed he wasn't able to read and comprehend the road signs," said Thompson.

RELATED: Trump recognizes little girl grievously injured, allegedly by truck-driving Indian illegal alien

Sean Duffy. Photographer: Ryan Collerd/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Having been found incapable of demonstrating basic reading comprehension and proficiency in English, "the driver was taken out of service," added Thompson.

After Ali was taken out of service, his co-driver, Abdulahi Abshir Alim — who was apparently in the "sleeper" at the time of the incident — took over, said Wood.

Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy indicated that despite his apparent inability to read road signs, the driver was in possession of a Minnesota commercial driver’s license.

Duffy noted further that the driver's carrier, Cargo Transportation LLC, is now under investigation.

Department of Transportation records indicate that Cargo Transportation is based in Hopkins, Minnesota — in what appears to be an apartment complex — and has two drivers who drove over 81,000 miles in 2024. As of Friday, the company's USDOT status was still listed as "active."

Blaze News was unable to reach the company for comment.

The trailer apparently hauled by the Somali is owned by Taylor Trucking Lines whose vice president said in a statement obtained by KMOV, "The driver is not an employee or contractor of Taylor Trucking Lines. He is a contractor for Cargo Transportation. The driver was fired shortly after the video was seen."

The incident took place the day after President Donald Trump called on lawmakers to "pass what we will call the Dalilah Law, barring any state from granting commercial driver's licenses to illegal aliens."

The proposed legislation takes its name from Dalilah Coleman, a little girl grievously injured in a car accident that was allegedly caused by an illegal alien from India who reportedly obtained a commercial driver's license from California Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom's Department of Motor Vehicles.

According to the USDOT, roughly 200,000 truckers hold non-domiciled CDLs, and over 14,000 truckers have been kicked out of service for failing to meet basic language requirements since the department brought back English proficiency tests in May 2025.

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It was a perfect Hollywood moment. Perfectly revealing, that is.

John Davidson, the inspiration behind the film “I Swear,” earned an invitation to the recent BAFTA awards gala. The film chronicles the life of a man suffering from Tourette syndrome, a condition that finds the sufferer sharing cruel, involuntary outbursts.

We don’t want to spoil the film, but it’s likely China and India won’t be name-checked enough in the screenplay.

They. Can’t. Help. Themselves.

Sadly, Davidson’s inability to control his tongue tainted the early moments of the ceremony. His swears could be heard in the venue, even though he wasn’t on the stage at the time.

Host Alan Cumming apologized for Davidson’s comments early in the show, noting the cruel nature of the incurable condition. But when Davidson’s racially charged comments bled into the audio feed while black performers Michael B. Jordan and Delroy Lindo took the stage, the reaction was hyperbolic.

Yes, the “N-word” remains a vile reminder of our bigoted past, an awful word that has earned its toxic brand. But Davidson didn’t mean to utter the foul word. He literally couldn’t help himself.

Yet the same artistic community that pleads for empathy and understanding recoiled at the moment. The story has lingered for days in the legacy media. Jamie Foxx publicly called out Davidson, while one BAFTA judge quit after the incident.

They ignored the facts of his condition and embraced their victim status, even though Davidson is the ultimate victim. The real villain is the person in charge of the show’s feed who didn’t bleep out the offending words.

May he or she never work an awards broadcast again.

The kerfuffle punished poor Davidson all over again. And instead of basking in a personal triumph — a movie that asked people to understand and forgive his tragic condition — he got a nightmare he’ll never forget ...

RELATED: 'He meant that s**t': Actors rage after man with Tourette's yells N-word during award show

Photos by David M. Benett/Dave Benett/WireImage (L), Dominic Lipinski/Getty Images (R)

Pine-ing away

Imagine watching your Oscar-winning wife star in a rom-com alongside a handsome leading man. That’s the reality Dave McCary faces, and it’s all his fault.

McCary is married to “Bugonia” star Emma Stone, and he’s agreed to direct her in the upcoming romance “The Catch.” Her co-star? None other than Captain Kirk himself, Chris Pine.

It’s unclear if the film will have an “intimacy coordinator” on set, but we image Pine will be more than a little nervous when he goes in for a buss. Hope he sets his phaser on, “Hey, it’s in the script” …

Inconvenient Truth 2: Electric Boogaloo

Remember when “An Inconvenient Truth” forced America to do everything possible to stop global war — we mean climate change? Or when “The Day After Tomorrow” and “Don’t Look Up” did the job? Or the dozen-plus documentaries pleading with U.S. voters to do something, anything, about global apocalypse, economic fallout be darned?

No? That’s OK. Turns out we were all waiting for this movie to change everything.

The project, based on the book “Losing Earth,” is set in 1980 and shows climate expects warning the world that something must be done, or else. Filming is set to begin shortly under director Tom McCarthy (“Spotlight,” “Win Win”).

The cast and crew are a who’s who of Hollywood, including Paul Rudd, John Turturro, Paul Giamatti, Jason Clarke, Tatiana Maslany, Matt Damon, and Ben Affleck. The latter two superstars are executive producers on the project.

We don’t want to spoil the film, but it’s likely China and India won’t be name-checked enough in the screenplay, nor any of Al Gore’s “Inconvenient” predictions ...

'View' boo-boo

“The View” wants to be sued oh, so badly.

The dumber-than-dumb ABC show routinely creeps up to the line, only to read a few “legal notes” later to save its skin. And sadly, their collective TDS appears incurable.

The latest example?

Sunny Hostin read an alleged excerpt from the Epstein files that said President Donald Trump had once sexually assaulted a 13-year-old girl. The claim is part of the more preposterous side of the files, wild allegations that have no credibility. Otherwise legacy media outlets would be covering it 24-7 and/or the Biden administration would have leaked it years ago.

How do we know? Later in the show, legal scholar Joy Behar coaxed Hostin to clarify her earlier comments:

I want to be very careful here because these are allegations, and President Trump has consistently — they're unverified allegations, and President Trump has consistently denied all the allegations and any wrongdoing. BUT there was a presentation made by the FBI, and the witness stated that Jeffrey Epstein introduced her to Trump, who subsequently forced her head down and punched her in the head in response to something that she did.

Imagine if Hostin had been “very careful” in the first place.

It’s just a matter of time before someone on “The View” gets a tap on the shoulder to find legal documents in their face.

Though the Department of Homeland Security has achieved some success in deporting illegal aliens, it has always been met with resistance — both on the street and in the department itself.

In an interview with podcaster Patrick Bet-David this week, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem revealed the depth of some of the problems her department has been facing and the people who have helped her fight the alleged corruption.

'They helped me identify that some of my own employees in my department had downloaded software on my phone and my laptop to spy on me.'

"You wouldn't even believe what I've found since I've been in this department," Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem said on the "PBD Podcast" this week.

"I just found the other day a whole room on this campus that was a secret SCIF — secure facility — that had files nobody knew existed. So we just happened to have an employee walk by a door and wonder what it was and started asking questions. We went in there. There was individuals working there that had secret files that nobody knew about on some of these most controversial topics."

RELATED: Democrat senator rages when Noem dares to enforce the law

"Now I've got that turned over to attorneys, and we're getting to the bottom of what exactly happened there."

Noem also claimed that her devices were compromised but that Elon Musk's tech team helped expose the software that was compromising her privacy.

"Elon and his team were extremely helpful to me. They helped me identify that some of my own employees in my department had downloaded software on my phone and my laptop to spy on me, to record our meetings. They had done that to several of the politicals."

"Unbelievable," Bet-David said as she recounted the story.

Noem stressed that they would still probably have that software installed had it not been for Musk and his team. As a result, she said, "One of the things I need to do and continue to do is partner with technology companies and experts to bring them in and help us."

"I always believed when people talked about the deep state before that it existed. I never would have dreamed that it was as bad as it is."

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The two Boston Bruins players who represented the United States at the 2026 Olympics have succumbed to media pressure.

Seemingly every player from Team USA's gold medal-winning men's hockey team is facing a struggle session from local reporters who are asking them why they laughed at a joke made by President Trump.

'Certainly not reflective of how we feel and look at them and their accomplishments.'

When the president called the men's locker room after they defeated Canada 2-1 on Sunday, he invited the team to the State of the Union as well as to the White House before making a wisecrack about also inviting the women's gold medal team.

"We're going to have to bring the women's team," the president joked, adding that he "probably would be impeached" if he didn't.

Since then, the league-wide hunt for unauthorized laughter has commenced, and some players are starting to show cracks in their armor.

Bruins players were seemingly the first to show significant regret for laughing with the president, starting with goalie Jeremy Swayman. The Team USA backup goalie called it an "incredible honor" to attend the State of the Union but then told reporters that the team should have had a different reaction to the phone call.

"We should have reacted differently," Swayman said from the locker room on Wednesday. "We know that we are so excited for the women's team. We have so much respect for the women's team, and to share that gold medal with them is something that we're forever grateful for."

The Alaskan added, "Now that we're home, we get to share that together forever and see the incredible support that we have from the USA and sharing this incredible gold medal."

RELATED: Team USA captain goes full feminist over Trump's 'distasteful' invitation: 'It's a great teaching point'

On Thursday, it was more of the same from Bruins defenseman Charlie McAvoy, a 28-year-old New Yorker who also suited up for the United States.

McAvoy said he was "certainly sorry for how we responded to it in that moment," before qualifying that there were "things that just happened really quick there."

The longtime Bruin told reporters that the relationship between the men's and women's teams is incredibly strong, and their reaction to the president's joke was "certainly not reflective of how we feel and look at them and their accomplishments."

On the subject of his visit to the White House, McAvoy revealed he had always told himself that such an opportunity was one he would never miss.

"Just the history of that building, the history of this country. You know, if I get a chance to go to ... I was certainly going to go."

RELATED: NJ governor crushed with boos at Devils game before honoring Team USA hero Jack Hughes

Trump's remarks have caused a meltdown among sports reporters, who have incessantly sought comment from the male and female athletes in question.

In response, Team USA women's captain Hilary Knight lectured her countrymen during interviews this week, describing the backlash as being a "teaching point."

Knight also called the joke "distasteful and unfortunate," before saying the male players had a "lapse" in judgment by laughing at Trump's remarks.

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A highly compensated New York City elementary school assistant principal is accused of operating a cross-country prostitution scheme, according to multiple reports.

Bond Ng, 47, was arrested Sunday and charged with enticing a person to travel in interstate commerce to engage in prostitution, according to the New York Post.

'It's arguable that the defendant groomed her.'

Ng was released on a $150,000 bond. As part of his release conditions, Ng must stay away from the public school where he works and wear a GPS monitor, and he's restricted from leaving New York City.

Ng is an assistant principal at P.S. 16 in the Corona neighborhood of Queens. Ng earns $173,029 a year, according to public payroll records.

Ng is the supervisor in charge of "testing, school safety, technology, transportation and trips, school aides," according to the school's handbook for students and families for the current academic year.

The New York Daily News reported that Ng touched down at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City last Friday after a trip to Cartagena, Colombia. Ng was flagged for a second inspection.

Homeland Security officers recovered two of his cell phones containing what the Daily News described as "damning text messages" between him, a porn star, and the "porn star's clients."

Citing a federal criminal complaint, the New York Times reported that Ng told investigators he was the "manager" of a woman who appeared in pornographic online videos.

The Times noted that Ng informed authorities that he arranged meetings between the Los Angeles-based porn star and her "fans" in New York, including at his luxury apartment in the neighborhood of Long Island City.

RELATED: 'Worst of the worst': Cops bust 24-hour immigrant-run brothel in NYC's notorious 'Market of Sweethearts'

The complaint filed in Brooklyn Federal Court stated that Ng would pretend to be the adult entertainer when communicating with potential clients.

In one text message, Ng gave a prospective client a price quote of $2,000 per hour with the porn star, along with additional fees for specific sex acts or a filmed encounter, according to court records.

"My rate is 2K lover," Ng wrote in a text message to a potential client, according to the complaint.

Prosecutors said Ng asked the porn star to fly from Los Angeles to New York to have sex with a prospective client in December 2025, but the woman was hesitant to travel because of the cold weather.

However, Ng told the adult film star that the client wanted to meet her for more than seven hours and had already paid him $10,000 for the sexual experience, according to the criminal complaint.

Prosecutors revealed that Ng texted the porn star a list of the clients and meetings that he had arranged for her, including the type of sex and the amount of money to be paid for the illicit encounters, which totaled over $20,000.

The complaint noted that the porn star arrived in New York on Dec. 28, then flew back to Los Angeles on Dec. 30, but not before texting Ng: "Thank you for letting me use your apartment."

The Times said Ng communicated with potential johns as far back as 2021.

Sources told the Daily News that the porn star is not a minor.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel Amzallag said in court Tuesday that there was an investigation into whether Ng is part of a broader human trafficking operation because he took multiple short trips to Colombia, according to amNY.

Amzallag also hinted that Ng may have been "more coercive than we originally thought," and added, "It's arguable that the defendant groomed her."

Ng's defense attorney Michael Schneider declared, "The crime he’s charged with, I have to say in my 28 years as a federal defender, I have never seen prosecuted."

New York state Sen. Jessica Ramos (D), who represents District 13 in Queens, said she was "deeply disturbed by the serious allegations outlined in the federal complaint involving an assistant principal in our community."

A parent of an 8-year-old student at P.S. 16 told the New York Post, "This is very dangerous for the kids. I'm angry about it. He should never be around kids, and he should never come back here."

The Post obtained a letter sent by the school to parents that said Ng had been "reassigned" and banned from the school premises pending the outcome of the investigation.

A spokesperson for the New York City Department of Education declined to offer a comment and referred questions to federal authorities, the Post said.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York did not immediately respond to Blaze News' request for comment.

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A recent story in Wired celebrated the culture of “maker resistance,” casting hobbyists and hackers as neighborhood sentinels guarding against federal immigration enforcement.

All over the country, makers are 3D-printing thousands of whistles to help people on the ground alert others to nearby ICE activity. But the whistles are far from the only tools being used to respond to the surge of federal agents. Protesters are DIY-ing a wide array of gadgets like camera mounts, mobile networking gear, and handheld eye washers to clear away pepper spray, tear gas, and irritants used to quell protests.

For a conservative audience that supports the rule of law and ICE’s work, the story reads less like grassroots resilience and more like a blueprint for obstruction dressed up in DIY chic.

A pocket unit that emits a courteous chime when declarations of moral purity rise in direct proportion to personal insulation from consequences.

The federal government is charged with enforcing immigration law enacted by Congress. ICE agents are not an invading army; they are civil servants tasked with carrying out policies shaped through democratic processes. That fact rarely survives the romantic renderings of resistance culture.

Muddled makers

The maker movement itself has long embodied ingenuity and independence. In another era, that spirit wired towns, built radios, and launched small businesses. Today, the same tools that once fueled invention are repurposed to shadow enforcement and surveil federal agents.

The technical skill is undeniable. The intent is harder to defend. When creativity shifts from creation to confrontation, the balance between citizen and state tilts toward disorder.

Supporters frame these efforts as mutual aid. Critics see something more troubling: a normalization of defiance against lawful authority. The line between observation and obstruction blurs quickly in tense moments. A mesh network that alerts neighbors to approaching agents may also alert traffickers. A whistle meant to warn a family may also warn a fugitive. Technology is neutral; its consequences are not.

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Wally Skalij/Bloomberg/Getty Images

Early-warning ingenuity

There is also an irony worth noting. Many of the same voices that champion strict regulation in speech, commerce, firearms, and energy now celebrate decentralized networks designed specifically to evade oversight. Authority is applauded when convenient and denounced when it isn’t.

Still, the celebration of gadget-driven resistance invites a certain tongue-in-cheek response. If protest culture can engineer mesh nodes, mobile camera rigs, and tactical “mutual aid” kits, perhaps the rest of the country should respond in kind.

After all, this is a nation that can detect a tremor thirty miles beneath the Pacific shelf, triangulate a hurricane from orbit, and deliver neighborhood-by-neighborhood pollen counts to your phone. Surely we can apply that same early-warning genius to the domestic climate.

Consider the following prototypes. Currently seeking investors.

1. Calm before the outrage monitor

A wristband calibrated to tremble whenever emotional intensity outruns factual content.

It hums peacefully at food banks and flood cleanups, then begins to vibrate like a malfunctioning espresso machine the moment a megaphone appears and nuance slips quietly out the side door.

Engineers report one prototype briefly achieved low orbit during a campus forum after the phrase “this is violence” was applied to a seating chart.

2. Virtue-signal radar

A pocket unit that emits a courteous chime when declarations of moral purity rise in direct proportion to personal insulation from consequences. The indicator slides from blue to amber, then bright red once self-righteous certainty reaches escape velocity.

In beta tests, it rang like cathedral bells when someone began, “As I stand here on stolen land.”

3. Aesthetic alarm

If you’re attempting to gauge ideological intensity, hair, wardrobe, and visual branding provide surprisingly reliable data. Developers are currently refining the aesthetic alarm, which activates when political identity is communicated primarily through costume, accessories, and hair shades normally reserved for highlighters.

It measures symbolism per square inch. A recent firmware update allows it to distinguish between genuine individuality and curated outrage aesthetics, though field reports suggest the two often arrive looking remarkably similar.

4. Radical credentials authenticator

Verifies whether an anti-capitalist has a trust fund or whether a housing activist owns property.

5. Consensus individualist counter

Counts how many people in a given room have independently arrived at identical opinions about every major issue. Particularly useful in university settings and progressive book clubs.

6. Platform purity gauge

Detects lectures on digital colonialism delivered from an iPhone while using two-day shipping to order the works of Noam Chomsky.

7. Oppression Olympian scoreboard

Ranks competitors in real time as new marginalized identities are introduced mid-conversation. Features an automatic podium update when a previously undisclosed condition alters the standings.

8. Therapist’s fingerprints analyzer

Identifies the precise moment unresolved personal grievances become public policy positions.

9. Transference detector

Detects when a policy disagreement begins to carry the emotional voltage of a Thanksgiving argument about authority that predates the current administration by at least 15 years.

In a country built by barn-raisers, radio tinkerers, and backyard engineers with coffee cans full of bolts, answering gadgets with better gadgets feels almost patriotic.

The University of Notre Dame in Indiana announced last month that pro-abortion radical Susan Ostermann had been appointed to lead the Liu Institute for Asia and Asian Studies.

The administrative elevation of an activist whose secular ministry is fundamentally at odds with the moral teachings of the Catholic Church and the school's corresponding pro-life position proved intolerable to Notre Dame's members and supporters — including the cleric invested with the power to prohibit the institution from identifying as Catholic.

'A win for consistency, clarity, and common sense.'

The sustained protest by scholars, supporters, alumni, and clergy — including 15 bishops and two archbishops — appears to have paid off.

Keough School of Global Affairs Dean Mary Gallagher, the administrator who reportedly first made the appointment, announced in a letter on Thursday to students and faculty that Ostermann "has decided not to move forward as director."

"I am grateful for her willingness to serve and for the thoughtfulness with which she approached this decision," wrote Gallagher.

Gallagher suggested further that the activist — who has dehumanized the unborn, downplayed the dangers of abortion, equated childbirth without the option of abortion as "violence," worked with an organization that seeks to enshrine pro-abortion policies around the world, and vilified the pro-life movement — is a "respected scholar" whose "research and teaching reflect the intellectual rigor and interdisciplinary excellence at the heart of both the Lieu Institute and the Keough School of Global Affairs."

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Photo by ROBERT CHIARITO/AFP via Getty Images

Ostermann said in a statement included in Gallagher's letter that "the focus on my appointment risks overshadowing the vital work the Institute performs, which it should be allowed to pursue without undue distraction," reported the Irish Rover.

She noted further that "it has become clear that there is work to do at Notre Dame to build a community where a variety of voices can flourish."

The announcement comes two weeks after Bishop Kevin Rhoades of the Catholic Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend condemned Ostermann's appointment, underscored that her views and activism were disqualifying, and told the university to "rectify this situation."

Following the news that Ostermann had thrown in the towel, Bishop Rhoades expressed gratitude "to all the members of the Notre Dame community and beyond who, out of love for Notre Dame, expressed their opposition to the appointment."

'The Bishop did not urge us to sit silently and watch our Lady’s University fall before our eyes.'

"The reason I opposed the appointment is because the appointment of persons to leadership positions at a Catholic university is an act of institutional witness, a mission-governance issue," wrote Rhoades.

"Clearly Notre Dame is reaffirming its fidelity to a core truth of Catholic social teaching that is central to the Church’s commitment to integral human development."

Mary FioRito, senior fellow at the Catholic Association, said in a statement obtained by Blaze News, "Professor Susan Ostermann's decision not to accept the position of director at the University of Notre Dame’s Liu Center is a win for consistency, clarity, and common sense."

"As an explicitly Catholic university, Notre Dame owes its students and faculty 'truth in advertising,'" continued FioRito. "Ostermann’s public advocacy of legal abortion would have overshadowed the good work of the Liu Center and significantly hampered its ability to form students."

Catholic and conservative student groups — including Notre Dame Right to Life, Knights of Columbus Council 1477, and the Militia of Immaculata — were planning to hold a prayerful protest Friday evening where they would urge Rev. Robert Dowd, the president of the university, to rescind the appointment and "exercise his authority to enforce Notre Dame's Catholic mission."

Sophomore Luke Woodyard, co-organizer of the planned demonstration, stated, "The Bishop did not urge us to sit silently and watch our Lady’s University fall before our eyes; he gave us a clear call to action."

Notre Dame Right to Life President Anna Kelley told the Observer on Thursday that in light of Ostermann's decision, students will still assemble on Friday but for "a prayerful procession in gratitude of the recent decision" and in thanks "for the true Catholic identity of Notre Dame."

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Government micromanagement has throttled economic growth for decades. The latest example came when the Surface Transportation Board deemed the Norfolk Southern-Union Pacific merger application incomplete and rejected it without prejudice. That decision delays what would be the first uninterrupted transcontinental railroad in American history — a privately financed project that could strengthen supply chains, boost growth, and improve American competitiveness without costing taxpayers a dime.

For now, that vision sits on hold.

A stronger rail network would help stabilize the supply chain while lowering costs for producers and consumers alike.

The STB said the 7,000-page filing lacked several key materials, including a full market-impact analysis with traffic projections. Norfolk Southern and Union Pacific now must fill in the gaps and refile.

That setback does not decide the larger question. Rail mergers have recovered from early regulatory obstacles before, and the STB’s ruling on completeness says nothing definitive about the underlying merits of this merger.

In May 2021, for example, the STB rejected CSX’s application to acquire Pan Am Railways as incomplete. Two months later, CSX resubmitted the application, and the board accepted it. The combined railroad later expanded shipping options, lowered freight costs for shippers, and supported regional growth.

Opponents of the present merger nevertheless treat the incomplete ruling as a final victory. It is not. It is a procedural delay, not a substantive rejection. And history shows that rail mergers of this kind can generate real economic benefits.

Today, shipping goods across the country by rail often means navigating a patchwork system of freight lines, transfer points, and carriers. Businesses must coordinate among multiple operators just to move a product from one coast to the other.

That fragmentation imposes real costs. It slows delivery, raises uncertainty, and forces businesses to protect themselves with larger inventory buffers and wider shipping windows. Those costs do not disappear. Businesses absorb some of them, and consumers pay the rest.

Farmers, manufacturers, and other suppliers feel that pressure most acutely. Many already operate on thin margins. Add shipping delays and higher freight costs, and those businesses face hard choices: eat the loss, cut investment, or raise prices.

That is why the Union Pacific-Norfolk Southern merger matters.

A stronger rail network would help stabilize the supply chain while lowering costs for producers and consumers alike. It also would mark the first time companies attempted to create a true transcontinental rail line without asking taxpayers to foot the bill.

RELATED: The railroad that could unite — and revive — America

Photo by Brandon Bell/Getty Images

The competitiveness argument matters too. A USDA study found that wheat grown in 2022 cost more to ship by rail to western ports in the United States than in Canada, even across comparable distances. Canada produces far less wheat than the United States, but its less fragmented rail network gives its exporters an advantage. American farmers, by contrast, compete from a structurally weaker position because the U.S. rail system remains broken into discontinuous lines.

That disadvantage carries real consequences. When uninterrupted, rail can move freight at costs up to 60% lower per ton than other transportation modes. A more seamless coast-to-coast rail network would narrow the gap between American producers and their foreign competitors.

Critics argue that the merger would reduce competition in shipping. That view is too narrow. Freight competition does not occur only within rail. Shippers compare rail with trucking, barges, pipelines, and air cargo. A stronger rail network would not eliminate those alternatives. It would complement them. In a resilient supply chain, businesses need multiple transportation options, not fewer.

An efficient rail system would make the entire freight market stronger by giving shippers another dependable, lower-cost tool for moving goods.

The task now is straightforward: Norfolk Southern and Union Pacific should complete the review process quickly and responsibly. The precedent exists for a successful resubmission after an incomplete ruling. If that happens here, Americans will gain the kind of privately financed infrastructure upgrade the country badly needs.

BlazeTV host Sara Gonzales and Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) are among those leading the charge against not just a radical Islamic takeover in Texas — but the rest of the nation.

And it’s never been more important that they succeed.

“It is a really big problem, not just in this state or your home state of Texas and my home state of Texas, but in this entire country. And I’m very, very concerned that there are a lot of sleeper cells that are here because of the Biden administration being asleep at the wheel for four years,” Gonzales tells Roy.

And Roy couldn’t agree more.

“Under the First Amendment, you can believe what you want you to believe. But this is a political movement. It’s an ideological movement. The Muslim Brotherhood has a plan," Roy tells Gonzales.

"That plan is on full display in Dallas-Fort Worth as ground zero."

“We have no-go zones where women don’t want to go, in Arlington, in Richardson, in suburbs of Dallas-Fort Worth. That is part of their plan to Islamify Texas in our country. That is a political and ideological movement that is not square with the First Amendment. And we should treat it as such,” he continues.

“We should resist it. We should fight it. We should stand up on our Judeo-Christian values,” he adds.

And while standing up for our values against insidious ideologies like Islam is clearly important, the alternative is devastating.

“If we stand together for revival, a revival of faith and a revival of freedom, that faith is our Judeo-Christian principles, our Christian beliefs, and our dedication to freedom. Then we will win, and we’ll have the greatest century in our history,” he explains.

“If we recoil and let people hide behind the First Amendment to radically Islamify our country, if we back away from freedom and the ability of Americans to live without being under the thumb of government, then we will lose,” he continues.

“Those are the issues,” he adds.

Want more from Sara Gonzales?

To enjoy more of Sara's no-holds-barred takes on news and culture, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

Some cruise lines decided to bypass stops in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, this week due to ongoing violence in the country following the death of cartel leader Nemesio "El Mencho" Oseguera Cervantes.

Oseguera, a 59-year-old drug lord who led the Jalisco New Generation cartel, was killed by the Mexican army during a security operation over the weekend in the town of Tapalpa. Six other cartel associates were also killed in the raid.

'We've made the decision to shift itineraries on a handful of sailings to bypass Puerto Vallarta for the next few weeks.'

Oseguera's death sparked violence in the streets from his apparent supporters, who set fires to vehicles and blocked roads in western Mexico.

The U.S. briefly issued a shelter-in-place order for tourists in certain parts of Mexico, including Guadalajara, Puerto Vallarta, Ciudad Guzmán, Tijuana, Chiapas, and Michoacán. That order was lifted on Tuesday.

Carnival Corporation told Blaze News that it had altered itineraries to skip stops in Puerto Vallarta.

"Our team has been monitoring things in Mexico throughout the week, and cruise tourism has continued to operate normally across most of the country. That said, we've made the decision to shift itineraries on a handful of sailings to bypass Puerto Vallarta for the next few weeks," Carnival Corporation said. "Our cruise lines are directly notifying affected guests and travel advisors."

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Photo by Yilmaz Yucel/Anadolu via Getty Images

A spokesperson for Norwegian Cruise Line also stated that the company had bypassed a scheduled stop in Puerto Vallarta.

"The safety and well-being of our guests, crew, and the communities we visit are always a top priority. Due to ongoing security operations and the recent U.S. travel warning issued for select areas in Mexico, Norwegian Bliss' scheduled call to Puerto Vallarta on Feb. 25, 2026, has been canceled. We are closely monitoring the ongoing situation and any additional itinerary updates for ships scheduled to call to Mexico in the near future will be communicated directly with impacted guests," the spokesperson told Blaze News.

RELATED: 'Start driving north': US tourists stranded in Mexico after slaying of top cartel boss 'El Mencho' sparks chaos

Photo by Ulises Ruiz / AFP via Getty Images

Royal Caribbean told Blaze News on Wednesday that "the safety and security of our guests and crew are always our top priority" but that there had not been any changes to the cruise line's visits.

"Should there be, we will contact impacted guests and travel agents directly," the company said.

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The aftermath of the viral Tucker Carlson-Mike Huckabee interview has, for me, included the privilege of private conversations with both men, as well as an on-air discussion with Huckabee on my show.

I want to give both men every benefit of the doubt, because I have genuine affection for each of them and respect the lifetime of contributions both have made to the cause. But whether their nearly two-and-a-half-hour clash clarified anything or merely deepened the confusion likely depends on the eye of the beholder.

God initiates covenants. We break them. Then we depend on God’s mercy to bail us out.

Still, let me offer a spiritual clarification as Christians think through the issues now in front of us. My fear is that in arguing over modern Israel, we will become so determined to win secondary battles that we lose sight of the primary truths that govern all of us.

The stakes are not small. If believers drift too far off course, the consequences are damning in the most literal sense.

So we should begin here: You cannot determine whether the current state of Israel is a reconstitution of covenant Israel merely by examining the nation’s behavior. If you have read the Old Testament and tried to compile a list of Israel’s greatest hits in covenant faithfulness, you will not end up with anything resembling a list of bangers like most of Led Zeppelin’s catalog.

From the beginning, the pattern ran the other way. Moses went up Mount Sinai to receive the first words God ever wrote by hand and came down to find the chosen people in the middle of a pagan orgy. After that came the familiar cycle: disobedience, judgment, repentance, deliverance, and then disobedience again — with slavery and captivity poured in for good measure.

Carlson and Huckabee can argue Israel’s borders all they want, but it should surprise no one that the nation never fully possessed the borders outlined in Genesis 15. As with so many things, human beings are terrible at obedience. We always have been.

That is the lesson. God initiates covenants. We break them. Then we depend on God’s mercy to bail us out.

The Jews did not attain a level of holiness that compelled God to bring forth the Messiah. Quite the opposite. Israel had hit bottom, spiritually and temporally. So God initiated yet again, through Christ Jesus, reminding humanity once more that we are utterly lost without Him.

That remains true whether you believe the modern state of Israel is a prophetic extension of Old Testament Israel or not. We must not lose that point, and its implications are not remote, theoretical, or merely historical.

Many Americans, after all, love to read our own national story in providential terms. Fine. Then how are we doing with the whole “endowed by their Creator” business in the Declaration of Independence?

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Photo by Tajh Payne/US Navy via Getty Images

Do we know what a gender is? No.

Do we know what a border is? No.

Do we know what a baby is? No.

Do we know what a marriage is? No.

Do we know what a family is? No.

Do we know what a law is? No.

Do we even know our own heritage, customs, and traditions? No.

Sure, people will stand and sing “God Bless America” at the next sporting event, maybe even with tears in their eyes. Then many of them will settle back into their seats and applaud while the world burns around them, so long as someone keeps scratching their bellies.

That is idolatry.

For by grace you have been saved through the free gift of faith — and not by your own doing, lest anyone should boast.

So once again, it is revival or bust. That is why I keep saying it and why I keep praying it. There is no other road to the only promised land that finally matters.

Anna Kepner — a "bubbly, funny, outgoing" 18-year-old Florida high school cheerleader — was found dead in her cabin on a cruise ship in November. Now, court documents reportedly indicate that her 16-year-old stepbrother has been charged with homicide in connection with her death — and Anna's family wants justice.

CBS News reported that attorneys for Thomas Hudson, the biological father of the 16-year-old stepbrother, wrote in a Feb. 20 emergency filing: "According to social media from the Kepner family, on February 3, 2026, the Petitioner/Father's son, TH, was charged by the United States Attorney in the Southern District of Florida for the [redacted] and homicide of Anna Kepner."

'I know Anna fought. I know she fought for her life, so it's rough. It's rough.'

The filing is part of a custody dispute between Hudson and Shauntel Kepner, the parents of the 16-year-old stepbrother, CBS News said. Hudson petitioned for custody of his 9-year-old daughter, whom he shares with Shauntel, his ex-wife; Hudson's daughter primarily resides with Shauntel and Christopher Kepner — the biological father of Anna, the victim.

"There has been a significant and unanticipated change in circumstances that requires the immediate transfer of sole time sharing and parental responsibility," the petition said, according to Gray News.

The reported homicide case against the 16-year-old male and custody battle for the 9-year-old girl are happening simultaneously.

Here is how the family members are connected:

• Anna Kepner — 18-year-old high school cheerleader found dead aboard the Carnival Horizon cruise ship in November.
• TH — Anna’s 16-year-old stepbrother, reportedly charged with homicide in federal court in connection with her death. He is listed as "TH" in court documents because, as a minor, he has not been publicly named.
• Christopher Kepner — Anna's biological father. He is married to Shauntel Hudson. He also is TH's stepfather.
• Shauntel Kepner — Biological mother of TH. She shares a 9-year-old daughter with her ex-husband, Thomas Hudson. She is now married to Christopher Kepner.
• Thomas Hudson — TH's biological father. He is seeking emergency custody of his 9-year-old daughter, whom he shares with Shauntel.

On Tuesday, WESH-TV said it obtained a court document noting that the Kepner family wants Anna's 16-year-old stepbrother "buried."

"Immediately after the cruise, the respondent/mother and Chris Kepner expelled [the minor] from their household, and neither has seen [the minor] since then," the court document stated.

The court document added, "Social media from the Kepner family has indicated that they want the 'nails in the coffin' of [the minor], and that both the Kepner family and the respondent 'want him buried.'"

CBS News reported that there is an ongoing case against Anna's stepbrother "currently under seal" and that Miami federal Judge Beth Bloom is presiding over it.

The 16-year-old stepbrother appeared at a Feb. 6 hearing in Miami federal court, according to CBS News.

Neither the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida nor the FBI have responded to Blaze News' requests for comment.

RELATED: College football player raped girl on family cruise, feds say — and allegedly asked her appalling 2-word question afterward

As Blaze News previously reported, Anna Kepner went on a trip aboard the Carnival Horizon cruise ship, which departed Nov. 2 from Miami for a six-day Caribbean vacation.

According to ABC News, Anna went on the cruise with her grandparents, father, stepmother, siblings, and step-siblings.

Anna's grandmother, Barbara Kepner, told ABC News, "The two younger girls stayed with the parents, and then the three teenagers, they decided amongst themselves they wanted to stay in the room together."

The grandmother noted, "But we had a larger room, and we made it very clear that at any time if they weren't getting along, they didn't want to be together, we had an extra bed in our room that they could come to."

On Nov. 7, Anna was found dead, wrapped in a blanket and covered with life vests.

NBC News previously reported that the Miami-Dade Medical Examiner’s Office determined Anna's time of death was 11:17 a.m. Nov. 7.

The Carnival Horizon cruise ship, which has a maximum capacity of nearly 4,000 passengers, returned to Port Miami on Nov. 8.

A source informed ABC News in November that Anna's death may have been caused by asphyxiation from a bar hold — a chokehold maneuver in which the arm is pressed across the neck. The source noted that there were two bruises on the side of Anna's neck.

WTVJ-TV reported that a court document filed in early December stated, "The 18-year-old daughter was found asphyxiated under the bed in the room which she shared with TH. The actions of the unsupervised TH are currently under investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation."

Krystal Wright, Anna's aunt, told WOFL-TV in November, "I know Anna fought. I know she fought for her life, so it's rough. It's rough."

Christopher Kepner cryptically told People magazine in November that he wanted his stepson to face consequences but did not appear to directly blame him for Anna's death.

"I do not stand behind what my stepson has done," Christopher stated.

He declared, "I want him to face the consequences. ... I will be fighting to make sure that does happen." But Christopher also indicated, "I cannot say that he is responsible, but I can’t decline."

However, Christopher pointed out, "He was the only one ... in the room, and the FBI has an ongoing investigation in which they will have to provide the evidence to say that he did do it or did not do this."

Anna was set to graduate from high school this year and had aspirations of joining the U.S. Navy after graduation and later becoming a K-9 police officer, according to her obituary.

Anna's obituary describes her as a Christian whose "faith blossomed as beautifully as her smile."

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Many parents assume the battles over “woke” education are largely settled — that whatever excesses defined the last few years have been corrected and that schools have moved on.

Recently uncovered internal curriculum guidance from Maryland’s largest school district suggests otherwise.

Eighth-grade students were shown graphic, politically charged material about Immigration and Customs Enforcement during a geography lesson.

The documents reveal that Montgomery County Public Schools encourage teachers to center lessons on white supremacy, racial and gender identity, and the need for students to engage in “resistance to and liberation from” existing social structures. These guidelines were discussed at a recent PTA meeting and outline what the district calls the “Characteristics of Anti-Bias/Antiracist Curriculum.”

Teachers are instructed to emphasize themes of injustice, racism, oppression, implicit bias, and inequity across subject areas — an approach that reframes education not simply as the transmission of knowledge, but as a moral project aimed at reshaping how students understand society and their place within it.

Left alone, this might have remained a quiet local issue — noticed by a handful of parents, discussed briefly, and eventually absorbed into the bureaucratic background noise of a large school system. Instead, the documents became public.

That’s because of Defending Education, a national grassroots nonprofit that helps parents and communities understand what is being taught in schools — and advises them on coordinating a local response when academic instruction drifts into political or ideological advocacy.

Founded in 2021 by free speech advocate Nicole Neily, Defending Education operates according to a model of indirect activism, emphasizing transparency, documentation, and resources over directives. Parents, Defending Education argues, know their schools better than any national group ever could. What they often lack is access to internal materials, legal context, and a sense of whether what they’re seeing is isolated — or part of a broader pattern.

As the organization puts it in its Empower resources:

Knowledge is power. If you walk into a meeting confident that you know what you’re talking about, you’ll be more effective.

That principle underlies most of Defending Education’s work: Collect primary documents, explain what they mean in plain language, and allow families to decide for themselves how — and whether — to act.

Why the Montgomery County case matters

According to Defending Education, the Montgomery County guidance reflects a broader trend: Controversial frameworks are often introduced not as standalone courses, but as values meant to permeate instruction across subjects, grade levels, and disciplines.

In a press release, Paul Runko, senior director of strategic initiatives at Defending Education, said the language in the MCPS materials should concern parents who were told such frameworks were not entering K-12 classrooms:

This internal guidance from Montgomery County Public Schools looks and sounds a lot like Critical Race Theory, despite repeated assurances to parents nationwide that CRT is not in K-12 schools.

Lessons framed around “resistance to and liberation from white supremacy” — and that ask students to “challenge the current social order” — risk dividing students and indoctrinating them into far-left ideology rather than upholding the American ideal that individuals are judged by their character and achievements, not the color of their skin.
Not an isolated case

The Montgomery County documents are not an anomaly. They are one of many examples Defending Education has uncovered across the country in recent months, spanning classroom instruction, curriculum design, and civil rights enforcement.

Recent cases include:

• Minnesota (Hermantown Middle School):
  Eighth-grade students were shown graphic, politically charged material about Immigration and Customs Enforcement during a geography lesson, including claims of people being “dragged, beaten, tased, and shot.” The lesson asked students to consider whether ICE had “gone too far” and tied immigration enforcement to President Trump’s campaign promises. School officials defended the material as aligned with state standards.
• Portland, Oregon:
  The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights opened an investigation into Portland Public Schools following a Title VI complaint filed by Defending Education. The complaint alleges millions in taxpayer dollars were diverted to race-exclusive programs associated with the district’s Center for Black Student Excellence, potentially violating federal civil rights law.

RELATED: 'Whites ... need not apply': Trump DOJ sues Minneapolis Public Schools for alleged racial discrimination

Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

Across these cases, Defending Education functions less as a protest group and more as an institutional clearinghouse. Its work includes:

• Collecting internal documents and guidance through parent tips and public-records requests;
• Publishing primary materials so parents can judge content for themselves;
• Explaining education law, civil rights rules, and parental rights in accessible language; and
• Providing tools for local engagement with school boards and administrators.

In practice, Defending Education operates as a kind of relay between local parents and a national platform. It gathers tips from families, obtains internal materials through public-records requests, and publishes primary documents so parents can see exactly what schools are saying and doing — often in their own words.

The organization then provides legal and policy context around those materials, helping families understand whether what they’re seeing is routine, questionable, or potentially unlawful.

How to get involved

Parents can explore Defending Education’s Empower resources to understand basic education law, parental rights, and common curriculum frameworks; follow the organization’s reporting to see whether local concerns mirror national trends; or submit tips and documents when something doesn’t seem to align with what schools have publicly promised.

Some parents go further — connecting with others in their district, attending school board meetings more prepared than before, or using Defending Education’s materials to frame questions in ways administrators are more likely to answer. Others simply want reassurance that they’re not imagining patterns that feel hard to name. In either case, the organization’s premise is the same: You know your school best — but you shouldn’t have to navigate it blind.

With the Texas primaries fast approaching, candidates are scrambling to pitch a last-minute winning message to voters.

Primary elections are set to take place March 3, leaving Republicans and Democrats with just days to edge out their competition. Here is everything you need to know about the three major primaries that have taken center stage.

1. Ken Paxton vs. John Cornyn vs. Wesley Hunt

Felix/Bloomberg via Getty Images, Photo by Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images, Photo by ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images

The three-way primary giving Republicans a headache has been the GOP Senate race with Sen. John Cornyn, the establishment-backed incumbent, fending off Attorney General Ken Paxton and Rep. Wesley Hunt. Cornyn and Paxton had already been facing off in the bitter primary before Hunt decided to throw his hat in the race.

Hunt's ambitions are not expected to go far, but his candidacy is forcing the GOP to pour more resources into a race that ought to be a slam dunk.

RELATED: 'Loser mentality!' Sparks fly as Texas Republicans spar to succeed Ken Paxton in debate moderated by Allie Beth Stuckey

In a two-way race between Cornyn and Paxton, the attorney general has maintained a narrow 2.3 point average lead. Three-way polls show Hunt pulling a significant portion of the vote from both candidates, with one survey showing 36% support for Paxton, 34% for Cornyn, and 26% for Hunt.

If none of the candidates are able to secure at least 50% of the vote, the Republicans will be forced into a runoff, draining more valuable resources Republicans could otherwise spend in tougher races. Notably, President Donald Trump has refrained from endorsing any of the candidates.

2. Jasmine Crockett vs. James Talarico

Photo by Alberto Silva Fernandez/Getty Images, Photo by Jemal Countess/Getty Images for MoveOn

While Republicans duke it out in the Senate primary, their Democratic counterparts are also trying to find their footing.

Tensions reached a boiling point after Stephen Colbert's show decided not to air on TV an interview with state Rep. James Talarico, pointing the finger at the Trump administration and the FCC's "equal time" regulations. Rep. Jasmine Crockett sought to set the record straight, claiming her challenger's interview was actually canned due to a decision from Colbert or the network, saying they didn't want to have her on the show.

RELATED: 'Maybe I should endorse Jasmine Crockett': Lauren Boebert jokes with, praises James Talarico amid heated Texas primary

Crockett has become a rising star for the progressive faction of the party, while Talarico has branded himself a blue-dog Democrat with a Christian upbringing.

Although Talarico's attempts to moderate would likely give him an advantage in the general, Crockett has maintained an average of a three-point advantage against her primary opponent. It's also worth noting that polls predict that no matter the nominee, both Crockett and Talarico would have the best shot of securing the Senate seat going up against Paxton.

3. Tony Gonzales vs. Brandon Herrera

Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images, by Scott Stephen Ball for The Washington Post via Getty Images

The House primary that has recently become the center of controversy has been in Texas' 23rd congressional district between incumbent Rep. Tony Gonzales (R) and gun YouTuber Brandon Herrera.

Herrera came within striking distance of unseating Gonzales in 2024, but Gonzales narrowly managed to maintain his House seat. Gonzales' odds at re-election are now looking slimmer than ever after a massive scandal broke, derailing his campaign and bringing calls of resignation from his Republican colleagues.

RELATED: 'Desperate rage': Republican accuses lawyer of 'blackmail' amid affair rumors linked to staffer's suicide

The nightmare began when Gonzales' former staffer Regina Santos-Aviles tragically took her own life by setting herself on fire in the backyard of her Uvalde home back in September. A month after her horrific passing, reports began to surface alleging that Gonzales had had an affair with Santos-Aviles.

These allegations resurfaced after new text messages were turned over to the media that appear to confirm the affair. The most recent set of alleged text messages seem to show Gonzales pressuring Santos-Aviles to send explicit photos as well as asking about her favorite sexual position.

This sparked a massive rebellion within the GOP with mounting pressure for Gonzales to resign. Notably, Trump has not yet rescinded his endorsement of the Texas Republican.

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