While the Trump administration has seen some major pro-life wins, BlazeTV host Allie Beth Stuckey is worried that the administration hasn’t made much headway on issues like the abortion pill.

“A lot of pro-lifers, myself included, are concerned about mifepristone continuing to circulate. Most abortions now are done via abortion pill. The FDA under Trump hasn’t reversed the Biden policy about mail-order abortions and mifepristone circulating,” Stuckey tells Vice President JD Vance.

“So can you tell us the latest on that front and if that’s going to change?” she asks.

“So the FDA has put this under review, and we’re well under review. I think the Wall Street Journal reported that it had just started. … And of course, I’m not going to prejudge the investigation, and I’m not going to tell anybody exactly what it will find because I don’t know what it will find,” Vance answers.

“We’re trying to be led by the science, and that’s also how you make sure this stuff is defensible once it will inevitably be challenged in court. I think, number two, that you know there are so many wins, not just in designating embryos as worthy of protection, but all of the foreign funding of abortion that grew up in the wake of the Biden administration — that was completely stopped,” he continues.

“We expanded the Mexico City policy, which cut down on the amount of foreign funding going to abortion services overseas,” he says, asking, “Why are American tax dollars funding abortions in other countries?”

“Also, the One Big Beautiful Bill mostly was a tax-cut legislation for working families. We’re obviously very proud of it, but it also meant that abortion providers would not get tax money in the United States of America either,” he continues.

“So,” he adds, “I think that there are a lot of wins to hang our hat on.”

Want more from Allie Beth Stuckey?

To enjoy more of Allie’s upbeat and in-depth coverage of culture, news, and theology from a Christian, conservative perspective, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

​Relatable, Allie beth stuckey, Jd vance, Donald trump, Pro-life, Abortion, Pill, Joe biden, Relatable with allie beth stuckey 

The Democratic Party is undergoing a hostile takeover by democratic socialists — as evidenced in New York’s primaries on Tuesday where Democrat establishment-types suffered humiliating defeats at the hands of radicals cut from the same cloth as New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani.

With over 90% of the votes in on Wednesday morning, incumbent Rep. Daniel Goldman trailed former NYC Comptroller Brad Lander 65.8% to 34% — a whopping 31.8 percentage points.

‘We are Westerners fighting for the total eradication of Western civilization.’

Lander was endorsed by Mamdani, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), and the Working Families Party, and ran largely to the left of Goldman, heir to the Levi Strauss fortune.

Goldman — who was endorsed by AIPAC, Gov. Kathy Hochul, and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries — did his apparent best to join his opponent, who is also Jewish, in criticizing Israel and virtue-signaling to radical would-be voters, but his best was nowhere near good enough.

After getting steamrolled at the ballot box, Goldman told supporters, “The voters of New York’s 10th Congressional District have spoken, and while this is certainly not the outcome I hoped for and worked so hard for, I respect their decision.”

RELATED: CNN data analyst stunned by Democratic Party’s takeover by Mamdani’s fellow travelers

Brad Lander and Mayor Zohran Mamdani. Spencer Platt/Getty Images.

President Donald Trump weighed in on Truth Social, writing, “Weak and pathetic Congressman Dan Goldman just lost, BIG! I guess people didn’t like him illegally targeting President TRUMP. In any event, this jerk is finally GONE!”

Rep. Adriano Espaillat, the five-term Democrat who leads the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, also lost to a Mamdani-backed radical, democratic socialist Darializa Avila Chevalier.

Chevalier is a black identitarian who co-founded Columbia University Apartheid Divest, a radical coalition that posted “death to America” on social media earlier this year; stated, “We are Westerners fighting for the total eradication of Western civilization”; and asked for “community and instruction from militants in the Global South, who have been on the frontlines in the fight against tyranny and domination which undergird the imperialist world order.”

‘NEVER be a communist Country!’

In addition to her involvement with the international intifada, Chevalier helped advance the Columbia rape hoax and made headlines for advocating against all deportations, claiming, “Israel doesn’t exist,” and demanding a “world without prisons or police.” She was backed by Mamdani, the local Democratic Socialists of America chapter, and Justice Democrats PAC.

With 88% of the votes in, Chevalier leads Espaillat — who enjoyed endorsements from Hochul, Jeffries, and New York Attorney General Letitia James — 49.4% to 45.9%.

Espaillat endorsed Mamdani for mayor last year.

Claire Valdez, a Mamdani-backed democratic socialist member of the New York State Assembly, won her primary race for Democratic incumbent Rep. Nydia Velazquez’s seat, beating the Democratic establishment’s apparent preference and Velazquez’s desired successor, Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso.

Valdez campaigned on abolishing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, “demilitar[izing] the border,” making it easier for illegal aliens to gain lawful permanent residence, defunding Israel, and super-charging the “Green New Deal.” Like the other radicals, she also enjoyed support from Sanders, Justice Democrats PAC, and the DSA.

Following the Mamdani-backed candidates’ clean sweep, Trump wrote, “America the Beautiful will NEVER be a communist Country!”

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​Aipac, Dan goldman, Elizabeth warren, Hakeem jeffries, Zohran mamdani, Brad lander, Adriano espaillat, Democrats, Democratic socialist, New york, Primary, Election, Leftism, Israel, Claire valdez, Politics, Donald trump 

The Joe Biden years proved a hard truth: Lawfare works, and the right is far more vulnerable to it than the left.

Stacked judiciaries, activist allies, and unprincipled prosecutors all play their parts. But one factor matters above all others: money.

The left built a legal machine because it understood power. The right must build one because it understands what happens when power goes undefended.

Lawsuits are expensive. So are investigations, subpoenas, demand letters, bar complaints, defamation claims, and congressional inquiries. The left figured out that it could move political disputes into legal disputes and shift the fight to terrain overwhelmingly favorable to itself.

The cost is the punishment

The left has nearly conquered major law firm culture. Despite President Trump’s early executive orders aimed at changing that landscape, little has materially shifted. The left still enjoys a vast network of pro bono and donor-funded legal organizations ready to defend allies and pursue enemies.

Look no further than the nearly billion-dollar Southern Poverty Law Center, which has served as an investigative engine for government action against political opponents. That is one organ in a much larger ecosystem, and it dwarfs anything available on the right.

Similar efforts are already preparing for the possibility that Democrats win a House or Senate majority and then the presidency in 2028. If that happens, the right will return to the Biden years, with one key difference: The left views its earlier campaign as unfinished business. Its base believes Merrick Garland did not go far enough. Next time, they will.

The mere receipt of a congressional subpoena, demand letter, defamation claim, bar complaint, or federal investigative request can create legal bills that climb into the tens of thousands of dollars. Competent defense costs money, and the people most likely to become targets often cannot afford it.

The old model failed

During the Biden years, several noble efforts raised money for legal defense. But the old model had limits. A few senior-level individuals benefited from donor generosity. The money rarely reached the broader class of people caught in the machinery of political targeting.

The reason was simple: Lawyers are expensive.

I saw this firsthand. A friend of mine, a senior White House official in his early 30s who had not even been at the Capitol on January 6, received a subpoena from the January 6 committee and a not-so-friendly outreach from the Federal Bureau of Investigation. He was on his own.

Big lawyers charging big fees were representing bigger players. He received quotes he could never dream of affording just to deal with the investigation. For lack of a better term, he was pretty screwed.

RELATED: The left wants to put MAGA on the couch — then on trial

Photodisc/iStock/Getty Images

I represented him pro bono and handled the January 6 committee and a daylong deposition. Weeks of prep and review went into the matter. Even discounted representation from a firm with relevant expertise would easily have cost tens of thousands of dollars.

The story has a happy ending. My friend now works at the FBI.

But that is one person and one story. My organization, the Oversight Project, does what it can to represent allies across the country caught in the crosshairs of weaponized targeting. Far more must be done before the next wave arrives.

Build the bench

The right needs to rethink legal defense. We can no longer hope to collect vast sums and spend them on a handful of high-priced outside lawyers. A serious movement needs a dedicated defense team.

The fundamental problem is cost. The model cannot depend on hourly fees that crest above $1,000.

The left has built a corps of highly paid attorneys who handle matters ranging from major lawsuits to symbolic complaints over reflecting pools or the naming of the Kennedy Center. Its financiers will pay lawyers to sue constantly and defend constantly.

The right has the opposite problem. It must accept that reality and build the equivalent of a nonprofit public defense network.

That may seem unfair to right-leaning lawyers who deserve the million-dollar paydays available in the left-wing ecosystem. But a serious political movement must be able to sustain itself by defending itself.

The conservative ecosystem needs major structural reform. Policy shops, communications firms, advocacy groups, and convening organizations all have value. But the movement has too much of that compared with the infrastructure needed to gain and maintain power.

A legal defense unit is one of those structural necessities.

A ‘public defender’ for lawfare

What would a public-defender equivalent for political allies on the right look like?

The current model concentrates money in legal defense funds that serve a few high-profile defendants and a few expensive, well-credentialed lawyers. The better model would create permanent, full-time attorneys working on salary inside a nonprofit structure to defend more people at lower cost.

Some cases will still require outside counsel or a hybrid approach. But the goal should be to build, credential, and develop a specialized legal bench equipped to handle lawfare.

RELATED: Republicans took ICE hostage — then bragged about saving it

Paul Campbell/iStock/Getty Images

That bench should also reap the political rewards the so-called conservative legal movement has long monopolized: prominent appointments, elected office, and leadership positions. The days of prestigious Big Law careers converting automatically into prestigious political patronage should end unless they include acts of sacrifice and service to the broader cause.

Defense efforts should prioritize those most in need: ICE officers, mid-level political appointees, local officials, young staffers, activists, and others without meaningful financial resources.

The effort must also maintain integrity. Resources should go only to cases that can honestly be characterized as political weaponization. A legal-defense network cannot become a mechanism for defraying the costs of white-collar crime, contract solicitation, self-dealing, or financial misconduct.

This is not about shielding wrongdoing. It is about ensuring that actual ethical violations, not political speech or service to conservative causes, trigger professional consequences.

Change the incentives

When one side can impose costs without meaningful pushback, it will keep doing so. When the other side develops the institutional ability to absorb those costs and impose consequences in return, the incentive structure changes.

A public-defender-style legal network would create in-house capacity for rapid-response representation when subpoenas, bar complaints, investigations, or lawsuits strike. It would develop specialized expertise in constitutional, administrative, ethics, and First Amendment defenses tailored to political attacks. It would coordinate a nationwide roster of aligned counsel rather than leaving every target to negotiate alone with expensive firms.

Most important, it would operate on a charitable model that directs resources to the most vulnerable clients — the people who would otherwise be destroyed before the real fight even begins.

The left built a legal machine because it understood power. The right must build one because it understands what happens when power goes undefended.

​Big law, Democrats, Donors, Fbi, January 6, Justice department, Lawfare, Legal defense, Opinion & analysis, Pro bono, Public defender, Weaponization of government 

Film archives are pulling back the curtain to provide footage of an unfinished Orson Welles piece that he worked on for decades.

Spanish, French, Italian, and German sources are working together to allow the reconstruction of lost works that the “Citizen Kane” writer started production on in 1957.

‘Welles’ death in 1985 at age 70 meant he could not finish what was more than 30 years of work.’

Welles started the project in the 1950s in Mexico and continued to compile scenes and make changes in 1961 and 1969, Wellesnet reported. This footage was the start of Welles’ work on a film adaptation of “Don Quixote,” the 17th-century book that is widely credit with more than 500 million sales.

The deaths of multiple actors did not prevent Welles from continuing the project in 1972, then shifting to color footage, as he put together what is believed to be an experimental film format.

Although the movie is believed to have been nearly finished by 1982, Welles’ death in 1985 at age 70 meant he could not finish what was more than 30 years of work.

Now, reconstruction of the film is set to commence through the collaboration of film archives across Europe, which will release the footage to be compiled and overseen by author and filmmaker Esteve Riambau.

Riambau published a book about Welles in the year of his death, and the Spaniard has reportedly been petitioning for the last two years to get approvals of the archival footage.

RELATED: Full ‘Disclosure’: Steven Spielberg’s latest has no signs of intelligent life

Eduardo Parra/Europa Press/Getty Images

Mass amounts of film reel will be compiled from sources including Oja Kodar, Welles’ unwed partner at the time of his death. The Croatian actress won custody of the “Don Quixote” negatives in 2017, which consists of 50,000 meters of film.

From France, the Cinémathèque Française will contribute a reported 80 minutes’ worth of 35mm film that was actually screened at the Cannes Film Festival in the mid-1980s, according to citations in a Welles biography.

The Filmoteca Española in Spain has another reported 50,000 or so meters of 16mm film that it acquired in 1991, holding all the rights to the materials under the category of cultural and research purposes.

RELATED: Saving History

Central Press/Getty Images

The Filmmuseum München in Munich will contribute its own prints, negatives, tapes, videos, and other documents from Welles’ films, including items that are said to only be “referring” to the “Don Quixote” project.

The intention — for unknown reasons — is that there will be three versions of the film, which will be screened at festivals and archives on a nonprofit basis.

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​Film, Orson welles, 1984, Don quixote, Entertainment 

The saddest number in the Reuters/Ipsos America 250 poll is not Donald Trump’s approval rating, which is bad enough. It is not the 77% of Americans who expect political violence to increase over the next five years. It is not even the 38% who doubt the United States will exist as a single country in 2276.

The saddest number is 30.

America reaches its 250th birthday not as a confident republic, but as an anxious one.

Only 30% of Americans say America is the greatest country in the world.

That doesn’t mean the rest hate the country. Polls can reveal what people are willing to say. They are notoriously bad at explaining why they say it. Forty-eight percent say America is one of many great countries. Thirteen percent say America is not great at all.

But the partisan split exposes the wound. Sixty-two percent of Republicans say America is the greatest country in the world. Only 11% of Democrats say the same. Among independents, the number is 20%.

We’re past mere disagreements over policy. People are no longer talking about the same country.

America approaches the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, and Americans can barely agree what the birthday means. Seventy percent say observing the anniversary matters. But only 34% say they are likely to attend or view an America 250 event. Fifty-five percent say they are unlikely. Sixty-three percent say the events have become too political.

Even the Fourth of July no longer escapes the country’s partisan sorting. Asked what best describes the holiday, 42% call it “a day where I celebrate the United States of America.” Among Republicans, 65% choose that answer. Among Democrats, only 24% do.

Twenty-four percent of Democrats and independents say they will not celebrate at all, compared with 8% of Republicans.

Flags tell the same story. Forty-one percent of Americans say they will display a flag or bunting outside their home on July Fourth. Sixty-four percent of Republicans will. Twenty-seven percent of Democrats will. Thirty-three percent of independents will.

A flag should not require a party registration. Neither should gratitude.

RELATED: Damning poll reveals what Democrats actually think of America ahead of its 250th birthday

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

The Reuters/Ipsos poll is not an outlier. Gallup reported in 2025 that American pride had fallen to the lowest point in its polling history. In 2001, 87% of Americans said they were extremely or very proud to be American. After 9/11, that figure rose to 90%. Last year, it fell to 58%.

The partisan gap was immense: 92% of Republicans, 36% of Democrats, and 53% of independents said they were extremely or very proud to be American. PRRI’s 2026 America 250 survey was even bleaker: 51% of Americans said they were extremely or very proud of being American, down from 82% in 2013.

This problem cannot be solved by scolding. Some Democrats should be ashamed of their reluctance to love the country that shelters them. Some Republicans should be ashamed of mistaking loyalty to a president for loyalty to the republic. But contempt will not repair our civic fabric.

The more painful truth is that the presidency has become a proxy for the country. When their side holds the White House, Americans find it easier to say the country is good. When the other side holds it, the flag begins to look like a campaign banner, the holiday like a rally, and the anniversary like propaganda.

A healthy polity would know the difference between a country and an administration. Presidents come and go. The country remains. The Declaration remains. The graves remain. The songs remain. The old promises and principles remain.

But Americans struggle to make that distinction.

Still, the Reuters/Ipsos poll contains signs of life. Seventy-five percent say they value elections even when their party loses. Seventy-three percent say democracy is the best form of government. Seventy percent say the Declaration’s 250th anniversary should be observed. Sixty-one percent say celebrating July Fourth should make them think about America’s founding beliefs and ideals.

RELATED: ‘This is the greatest country in the world’: Vietnam vet’s powerful remarks will leave you speechless

Ken Cedeno/AFP/Getty Images

Those are not the numbers of a dead country. They are the numbers of a seriously wounded one.

The distinction is vital because wounded countries can still heal. Dead ones obviously cannot. Americans have not forgotten the old civic language — at least not entirely. We still recognize liberty, democracy, the Declaration, the flag, and the Fourth. But those words now come carrying the stench of faction.

So America reaches its 250th birthday not as a confident republic, but as an anxious one. We still have fireworks, flags, cookouts, parades, and songs. Beneath the rituals sits a terrible question: Can a people remain one people when they no longer know how to be grateful for the inheritance?

Polls cannot answer that. They only show the wound.

A nation does not survive 250 years because its people are always proud of it. A nation survives when enough people love it through disappointment, correct it without despising it, and inherit it without pretending they invented it.

America doesn’t need citizens who pretend the wound is not there. It needs citizens who can see it clearly and love the country anyway.

​America 250, Donald trump, Democrats, Republicans, Approval ratings, Patriotism, Americans, Declaration of independence, Opinion & analysis 

St. Herman’s Table, an Orthodox Christian ministry, serves meals and shares the gospel with the homeless at a park in Phoenix, Arizona, every Thursday. Volunteers distribute water, small hygiene items, and Bibles as part of their outreach.

However, this weekly act of almsgiving and evangelizing is now at the center of a lawsuit after the Phoenix City Council approved the Medical Treatment and Food Distribution in Parks Ordinance, which would effectively prevent St. Herman’s Table, a ministry of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross Orthodox Church, from continuing its charitable efforts.

‘Phoenix provides no evidence or meaningful argument explaining why a birthday party providing cake to twenty select two-year-olds is any less likely to strain park resources with noise or mess than a religiously-motivated gathering open to twenty members of the public.’

St. Herman’s Table and its founder, Lance Brace, filed a lawsuit against Phoenix, arguing that the new ordinance, which took effect in early June, violates the First Amendment and the Arizona Free Exercise of Religion Act by criminalizing their weekly almsgiving, which, he notes, is a mandatory practice of the Orthodox Church.

The city’s website described the ordinance as “establishing a comprehensive framework for medical treatment and food distribution events in City parks,” where there was previously no formal oversight. The new rule requires those like St. Herman’s Table to apply for a permit to distribute food.

Critics of the ordinance argue that it effectively amounts to a ban by limiting permits to just two per park each month. Furthermore, it restricts these activities to parking lots or other hardscape areas, which generally lack shade and other amenities.

Brace, who spoke with Blaze News, described what inspired him, his wife, and his son to start St. Herman’s Table. After becoming baptized into the Orthodox Church, Brace had an “overwhelming feeling” that he needed to help his local homeless neighbors.

The Exaltation of the Holy Cross Orthodox Church already had a program in which its parishioners would assemble bags filled with food, water, clothing, and other essential items. Church members would keep these care packages in their cars to be distributed to homeless individuals they encounter while driving around the city.

RELATED: ‘Gross misuse of federal funding’: HUD cuts off funds to LA homeless services agency over fraud concerns

Image source: Lance Brace

Brace became involved in the church’s charitable efforts and drove to various parks and other locations to provide care packages.

“We kept ending up at this same park, the Cave Creek Park at Cactus, and got to know several of the people that were there very consistently. And just had this feeling like this is where we need to be,” Brace said.

Father Thomas Frisby, with the Exaltation of the Holy Cross Orthodox Church, told Blaze News that St. Herman’s Table is a “grassroots” effort led by the Brace family.

“If you knew the couple that’s running this, they are just extremely conscientious and just great people. It was literally just birthed out of, they lived near there, they would see people in the park, and they’re like, ‘Let’s do something to help,’” Frisby stated.

In Oct. 2025, Brace and his family started preparing homemade meals on Wednesdays and setting up a buffet at the Cave Creek Park at Cactus on Thursday evenings to serve food and pray with those in need. Members of Brace’s church soon learned that he was hosting weekly meals at the park, and they began volunteering alongside Brace and his family.

“By about December, early January, we had consistently about five different parishioners that would come out every week. And it really became, at that point, an organization, an event,” Brace stated.

Around the same time St. Herman’s Table was growing, the Phoenix City Council approved the Safe Medical Treatment in Parks Ordinance, which aimed to enhance park safety by regulating medical activities in public parks. Councilmembers’ Dec. 2025 decision to pass this ordinance followed resident concerns about sanitation issues in parks, particularly regarding drug use and discarded syringes.

The ordinance’s effective date was delayed twice “to allow time for stakeholder outreach to be conducted.” Then, in Mar. 2026, the city proposed a revised order, the Medical Treatment and Food Distribution in Parks Ordinance, which expanded regulations to limit food distribution. The new ordinance took effect on June 7.

The city’s ordinance does not apply to family members aiding one another, private gatherings, or the distribution of water.

Those who violate the order could be charged with a Class 1 misdemeanor, which could lead to a sentence of up to 180 days in jail and a fine of up to $2,500.

RELATED: Socialist mayoral candidate is outraged at encampment outside her LA home — but it’s not what it seems

Image source: Lance Brace

In response to the St. Herman’s Table lawsuit, a spokesperson for Phoenix stated that the city intends to defend its ordinance, which it believes is lawful.

Several days after St. Herman’s Table filed the complaint, a judge granted a temporary restraining order preventing the city from enforcing its ordinance against the organization and Brace for 14 days.

“Phoenix provides no evidence or meaningful argument explaining why a birthday party providing cake to twenty select two-year-olds is any less likely to strain park resources with noise or mess than a religiously-motivated gathering open to twenty members of the public,” the judge wrote.

Phoenix agreed to comply with the judge’s order, but argued that the ordinance “makes no distinction based on religion.”

“The City Council adopted this ordinance to ensure that all residents can enjoy their neighborhood parks, and it applies equally to anyone who wants to hold a feeding event at a park,” the city said. “The ordinance simply provides an effective tool to regulate and manage the growing competition in City parks between food distribution events and other, more traditional park uses, like children’s play, youth sports, adult recreation, and family outings.”

Brace rejected the idea that St. Herman’s Table’s efforts to feed the homeless compromise the cleanliness and safety of the park.

“Everything that we’re doing with St. Herman’s, we’re doing in love. And that includes how we’re approaching the City Council, the Parks Department, and potentially any police officers that might have to enforce this ordinance,” Brace stated. “They are also our neighbors, and we love them deeply.”

“It’s being a lot of times framed, in my opinion, as we don’t want clean and safe parks, right? That we want to take care of these people at the detriment of the park. And I just don’t agree with that,” he added.

He stated that St. Herman’s volunteers make a deliberate effort to remove trash before and after their weekly event. The group claims that the city has never cited them for the park gatherings.

When reached for comment on why the city chose to combine park restrictions on medical services and food distribution, rather than separating the two categories, Phoenix’s Parks and Recreation Department referred Blaze News to its webpage detailing the ordinance.

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​News, Arizona, Phoenix, Homeless, Free speech, First amendment, Politics, Christianity 

A recent national survey found something rather alarming. Nearly half of Americans say the fun has faded from their lives. The top excuse is predictable — money. Over half say they simply can’t afford to enjoy themselves any more.

Interestingly, the people who do make time for fun report less stress, stronger relationships, and more motivation. In other words, the payoff is real. And the barrier is not as simple as the price tag.

There’s also something to be said for reviving lost habits: pickup sports, church gatherings, volunteering, even old-fashioned storytelling.

We have trained ourselves to think fun is expensive. That didn’t happen by accident. Social media sells a deadly diet of curated lifestyles — vacations, rooftop bars, luxury dinners, perfectly staged “memories.” Reality TV ups the ante with drama and excess. Fun, in this version of life, is something you buy, document, and broadcast. If it doesn’t look impressive, it doesn’t count.

That idea is both wrong and exhausting.

Simple, local, shared

For most of human history, fun was simple, local, and shared. It was built around people, not purchases. Somewhere along the way, we replaced connection with consumption and then acted surprised when both our wallets and our spirits ran dry.

The truth is, some of the best forms of fun cost next to nothing, and they tend to be the ones that actually work.

Start with the obvious: time with other people. The survey itself admits what many already know but ignore — shared fun strengthens relationships. Not curated, expensive outings. Just shared time.

A backyard cookout beats a $200 night out more often than people admit. A few burgers, a cheap speaker, maybe someone brings a folding chair that’s seen better days. It’s not glamorous. That’s the point. People relax. They talk. They laugh hard, let their hair down, and leave feeling re-energized.

Playing, not paying

Game nights are another example. Not the staged, Instagram-ready kind, but the slightly chaotic version. A deck of cards, an ancient board game, or even something improvised. Half the fun is in the arguing over rules and the inevitable cheating accusations.

Then there’s the outdoors, still one of the best bargains left in America. A walk through the neighborhood, a hike up a nearby trail, a pickup game at the local court, an afternoon fishing at a quiet pond. None of it costs much more than the time you put in.

Even something as simple as a long drive can reset a person. No destination needed. Just music, conversation, and maybe a wrong turn that ends at a gas station selling fireworks, ammunition, and wedding dresses. Gas costs money, sure. But compared to most “entertainment,” it’s pocket change

Some ideas lean practical. Others lean a bit ridiculous, and that’s part of their charm.

RELATED: My new hack for a long, healthy life? Getting married

Universal/Getty Images

Thrift tour

Try a “no-spend day” with friends or family. The rule is simple: No one spends a dime, but everyone has to contribute an idea. You end up with a strange mix. Maybe a park visit, followed by a kitchen experiment, followed by someone insisting on teaching a skill they barely understand.

Or host a “bad movie night.” Everyone brings/suggests the worst film they can find. The goal isn’t to be entertained, but to acknowledge how terrible it is. You’ll get more genuine enjoyment out of that than sitting silently through a $250 million film whose plot you couldn’t summarize at gunpoint.

There’s also something to be said for reviving lost habits: pickup sports, church gatherings, volunteering, even old-fashioned storytelling. These used to be normal parts of life. Now they feel almost novel, which says more about our culture than it should.

Other people’s fun

The issue goes beyond money. It comes down to isolation.

The same survey points out that social circles have shrunk. People have fewer friends, fewer regular meetups, and fewer shared routines. That is not solved by a bigger paycheck. You can have more money and still sit alone on a couch, scrolling through other people’s “fun.”

In fact, that’s exactly what many people do.

There’s an idiotic assumption that if finances improved, life would suddenly feel fuller. But look at the data again. What people actually benefit from is participation rather than spending. It’s being with others. It’s stepping out of the passive role and into something shared.

Money can help, no doubt. It can remove certain barriers. But it cannot replace effort, initiative, or community. Those are choices.

If anything, the “money excuse” has become a convenient shield. It lets people avoid the obvious truth. Building a life with real enjoyment requires intention. It requires calling people, making plans, and actually showing up at the agreed-upon venue at the agreed-upon time.

Fun still exists. It just got crowded out — by work, by screens, by the idea that everything worthwhile must come with the swipe of a credit card.

Once we drop that idea, something refreshing happens. Fun becomes accessible again. So make the call, organize a game night, watch a so-bad-it’s-good movie with more than one sad soul in the room. And prove that fun doesn’t require a reservation, a dress code, or a payment plan.

​Community, Fun, Isolation, Lifestyle, Money, Reality tv, Relationships, Social media, Storytelling, Vacations, Leisure 

A Detroit man is accused of a horrific string of child sex assaults after being released on bond for similar accusations in 2025.

33-year-old Denzielle Burt was released in June 2025, about a month after the initial child sex charges, according to a WJBK-TV report.

‘The court does find you to be a danger to those witnesses, and you have cases also pending find you’re a danger to the community.’

He had been charged with first-degree criminal sexual conduct and posted 10% of the $250,000 bond.

Burt then raped his then-girlfriend’s daughters, ages 8 and 9 years old, over a period of six months, according to prosecutors.

“The allegations are very serious. They’re multiple counts of criminal sexual conduct against 8- and 9-year-old complaining witnesses,” said Magistrate Delphia Burton of the 36th District Court.

“Based upon those allegations, the court does find you to be a danger to those witnesses, and you have cases also pending find you’re a danger to the community,” she added.

Court records indicate Burt was arrested on Thursday and charged with first-degree felony criminal sexual conduct with a person under 13.

No bond was recorded at that time.

Prosecutors said the two victims reportedly told the same story in forensic interviews.

WJBK said Burt pleaded not guilty.

There is little information known about the suspect apart from his job as a line cook and also that he has children of his own.

RELATED: Homeless man allegedly kidnapped and raped 15-year-old Seattle girl — and has a long record

Burton remanded Burt to jail during his arraignment, and he is due for another hearing on Thursday.

He will remain in jail throughout the criminal court process.

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​Child rape, Detroit, Child sex assault, Out on bond, Crime