New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) is going all in on taxing the rich.

The governor recently proposed a new pied-à-terre tax as a matter of “fairness.” The tax, which would affect nonresident owners of high-end New York City properties, is a surprising reversal in support of a tax proposal by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani (D). Hochul had previously rejected the proposal.

While the rhetoric around this tax may resonate politically, the policy itself is a textbook case of how populist tax schemes can undermine investment, distort housing markets, and ultimately leave the city worse off.

Albany’s ingenuity in thinking up new modes of taxation is unparalleled.

“Those who benefit from the city without living in a full-time capacity should contribute to the costs that it takes to run the city: public safety, world-class parks, amenities, the roads, the subway system,” Hochul says in the video.

She continues, “I believe it will protect working New Yorkers and ensure that everyone who has an address in New York City is investing in its continued success.”

Hochul may be well attuned to the clamor of politics, but she is tone-deaf to sound economics.

Nonresident owners of New York City real estate already pay taxes — roughly $45,000 to $65,000 on a pied-à-terre with a market value of $5 million — while hardly benefiting from the public services their tax dollars fund. They also pay consumption-based taxes and fees when in New York City.

Nonresidents who own a business in the city also contribute revenue to the city budget.

The pied-à-terre tax has obvious defects in that it is arbitrary, distortionary, and status-dependent. It will likely lead to valuation challenges and maneuvers to keep properties below the $5 million threshold.

Applied only to nonresidents, it would create strong incentives to avoid the tax by altering residency status or otherwise manipulating the property title to obscure de facto property ownership.

For the most expensive real estate, the tax will lower property values — and thus property-tax liability — even though, certainly, “that effect gets distorted when the future tax burden on the property depends on the identity of the purchaser,” notes City Journal.

Taxing these nonresidents into calling New York City home is a poor welcome from the governor. Nevertheless, it suggests that her zeal to tax “New Yorkers,” unlike Mamdani’s, has subsided.

RELATED: Mamdani is moving from one failed promise to another

kena betancur/AFP/Getty Images

New York State already has the least competitive tax structure in the nation and the nation’s highest state and local tax collections per capita. From its “tax benefit recapture” provision to taxing many remote nonresidents under its “convenience of the employer” rule, Albany’s ingenuity in thinking up new modes of taxation is unparalleled.

The latest data shows that New York lost $9.9 billion in adjusted gross income (AGI) between 2022 and 2023 — a net loss of taxable income not readily evident from migration trends. Specifically, Manhattan, while gaining tax filers on net, lost $922 million in AGI.

In 2023, the top 1% (about 93,000 people) contributed roughly one-third of state tax revenue, supporting 20 million residents, according to Empire Center. With the nation’s third most progressive state tax system, New York has paved its own road to insolvency by chasing out high-net-worth taxpayers.

Sobered by plain budget facts, Hochul has begun pleading with wealthy New Yorkers to “go down to Palm Beach and see who you can bring back home.” She has opposed Mamdani’s “tax the rich” surtaxes on high-earning city residents and corporations, but not the city’s fiscal indulgence.

New York City spending has grown by more than 50% over the past decade — roughly 12% to 14% after inflation — even as the city’s population has declined slightly. This year, New York City’s spending is about $10 billion higher than that of the entire state of Florida.

Gov. Hochul misunderstands the core problem underlying the city’s fiscal plight. Rhetoric alone will not convince current and former wealthy New Yorkers that the state’s political leadership recognizes they have paid their fair share after all.

​Kathy hochul, New york governor, Property ownership, Taxation, Taxes, Taxing the rich, Economic disaster, New york city, Piedaterre tax, Opinion & analysis 

Britney Spears’ days of making surreal headlines appear to be far from over, as the pop icon has now pleaded out of a DUI charge — which has now been downgraded to a legally murky “wet reckless.”

The plea keeps Spears out of more serious trouble for now, but with a year of probation and restrictions on drug possession, BlazeTV hosts Stu Burguiere and Dave Landau aren’t convinced she’ll stay out of trouble.

“I would love to know what a ‘wet reckless’ is,” Dave comments.

“My understanding, Dave … is that it is basically a DUI except they don’t want to call it a DUI,” Stu explains.

A report from TMZ explains that there are “conditions to the plea,” which include her being “placed on 12 months’ probation” and “cannot possess drugs without a valid prescription.”

“Again, this could be a problem,” the article reads. “As we reported, Britney has gone to Mexico more than once to get Adderall.”

However, Dave points out that “technically, no one can do that.”

“I feel like it was just police officers screwing with TMZ because they know they don’t know anything about the law. Just like, ‘ Yeah, it’s a wet reckless,’ and she can’t have drugs without a prescription. No heroin without a prescription now for Britney,’” Stu jokes.

“Basically, everybody likes the videos of her half naked in her house juggling knives, so they don’t want to put her in jail,” Landau adds.

The pair also point out that it’s a little ridiculous for Spears to go all the way to Mexico to get Adderall.

“You really should just talk to your doctor and say that you need to focus. And if they don’t need proof, you could just show your entire life as being Britney Spears, and they might agree with you,” Landau jokes.

“Seriously, that’s not a real excuse. You don’t go to Mexico to get Adderall,” Stu agrees.

Want more from Stu and Dave?

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​Adderall prescription, Blaze news, Blaze online, Blaze originals, Blaze podcast network, Blaze podcasts, Blazetv, Blazetv hosts, Britney spears, Dave landau, Drug possession, Dui, Dui arrest, Dui charge, Pop icon, Probation, Stu and dave do america, Stu burguiere, The blaze, Tmz report, Wet reckless 

A Florida mother is accused of kicking a youth football player on the field during a game, and she actually screamed, “I’m the one who got hit!” during her arrest.

Lee County Sheriff’s Office deputies on Saturday responded to the game at Brooks Park in Fort Myers after they “became aware of a large brawl located in the middle of the field,” NBC News reported, citing Detective Nicholas Cittadino’s arrest report.

‘They said you hit a kid!’

Parents ran onto the field to intervene, and a witness reported seeing a woman repeatedly kicking a juvenile male, NBC News said, citing the report.

The news network added that, according to the report, witnesses “quickly identified a white female who was leaving the area to have been a suspect of a battery on a juvenile.”

Renee Lynn Lambert, 34, was booked on suspicion of cruelty to a child without great bodily harm and resisting an officer, the news network said, citing the report.

The sheriff’s office identified Lambert as a “mother” who was “interfering with a Pop Warner youth football game and kicking a juvenile player.”

RELATED: Florida HS football coach of ‘significant size’ accused of fighting several students at once

Sheriff’s office bodycam video of Lambert’s arrest shows her arguing with deputies.

“So you’re mad at them for hitting me?” Lambert, dressed in a football jersey, asked.

“I’m mad at an adult for attacking a kid,” a male, presumably a deputy, responded. “Stop! You’re detained right now!”

“No, I’m not,” Lambert replied. “Goodbye.”

An apparent struggle ensued, and Lambert is heard on video hollering, “Get your hands off me! I’m the one who got hit!”

Lambert appeared to identify her attacker as a player wearing a No. 9 jersey.

“So where’s No. 9? Go get No. 9!” Lambert argued, presumably about one of the football players.

As Lambert is led away in handcuffs, the male speaking behind the bodycam video is heard telling her, “They said you hit a kid!”

But Lambert shot back, “And the kid hit me!”

RELATED: Brawl erupts after 200 ‘rowdy’ teens gather at shopping mall carnival; teen jumps on cop’s back, another elbows cop in head

The sheriff’s office said that while Lambert “claimed a child hit her with a helmet prompting her to fight back,” officials added that her claim “was later disproven.”

NBC News, citing the arrest report, said at least one witness, identified as Andre Valdes, backed up a player’s allegation that he was on the ground when Lambert kicked him in the leg.

The news network said Lambert couldn’t immediately be reached for comment at publicly listed phone numbers and email addresses associated with her.

RELATED: Parents of fighting students actually enter Philly HS and get physically involved in the fracas, forcing hour-long lockdown

Renee Lynn Lambert. Image source: Lee County (Fla.) Sheriff’s Office

Lambert’s jail records indicate she was booked Saturday at 8:47 p.m. and released Sunday at 12:20 p.m.

There was no bond information, but her next hearing is scheduled for June 1, jail data shows.

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​Adult female attacks child, Arrest, Bodycam video, Cruelty to a child, Florida, Fort myers, Lee county sheriff’s office, Pop warner, Renee lynn lambert, Resisting arrest, Youth football game, Crime 

The actor famous for portraying a sci-fi hero cast himself as a villain with his latest anti-Trump post and got nailed with fierce backlash.

On Wednesday, Mark Hamill posted on BlueSky, the progressive social media platform, a denunciation of President Donald Trump with an image of the president lying in a grave.

‘This kind of rhetoric is exactly what has inspired three assassination attempts in two years against our President.’

“If Only — He should live long enough to witness his inevitable devastating loss in the midterms, be held accountable for his unprecedented corruption, impeached, convicted & humiliated for his countless crimes,” Hamill wrote.

“Long enough to realize he’ll be disgraced in the history books, forevermore,” the “Star Wars” actor added with the hashtag “Don the con.”

The image appeared to be an outdated death wish from 2024 and was immediately excoriated on social media.

“Mark Hamill is one sick individual. These Radical Left lunatics just can’t help themselves,” reads a statement from the White House Rapid Response team. “This kind of rhetoric is exactly what has inspired three assassination attempts in two years against our President.”

“I think Mark Hamill belongs in jail. He is using his notoriety to wish harm on the President. That only bolsters the crazed lunatics, who might act upon such a wish,” one user responded on the X platform.

“Damn in this photo Trump looks as dead as Mark Hamill’s career has been for the last 30 years,” another reply reads.

“He is a sick individual. So sad to see a movie hero turn into such an ugly soul,” another detractor said.

The tone-deaf post from Hamill comes at a time when Washington, D.C., is still reeling from an attempt on the president’s life at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner and a shooting at the National Mall after the vice presidential motorcade drove by.

RELATED: George Lucas strikes back at woke critics of Star Wars

Hamill also recently appeared in a video with former President Barack Obama promoting his presidential library in Chicago.

“A Star Wars-themed ad for the Obama Library — a library which looks like a fragment of the Death Star,” one commentator joked.

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​Star wars actor mark hamill, Trump death wish, Actors vs trump, White house lashes out, Politics 

In our modern world, it is very common to conflate motives we do not understand with some form of mental illness. This is understandable when it comes to horrific crime. A serial killer is so violent and twisted that it is hard for us to comprehend his actions, and there is certainly a fair amount of mental illness that is a factor.

Today, however, people often use this explanation when it comes to political disagreements. Abortion, hatred of Christians, the mutilation of children — these beliefs are so horrible that they can only possibly be explained by a malfunctioning brain. But that is not the only explanation. The other option is that some people have a very different set of values that drive them to pursue goals we view as evil.

Our differences are not based on mental illness but fundamental beliefs about right and wrong.

The average American would like to avoid this truth, because it comes with an unnerving conclusion: Your political enemies are not crazy; they are sane people who hate you and want to hurt you.

As sophisticated and modern people, we tend to avoid language that implies some form of objective metaphysical truth. Evil is a concept that conjures up images of old churches, judgmental Sunday-school teachers, and medieval peasants trying to explain a drought.

We have the technology and understanding to explain everything in the world around us. Explanations that call on unseen forces or divine intervention are no longer required. In this thoroughly materialistic view, humans are simply animals with more sophisticated brains. Any undesirable behavior, therefore, can be understood as a malfunction of that brain.

There is no evil; there is only mental illness.

Modern Americans are universalists in a very strange sense. We assume that our values, beliefs, and customs are the default for all humans everywhere. Americans believe that all our assumptions about the way life ought to be lived are arrived at through individual human rationality, so if another person has a functioning brain, he will, of course, come to the same conclusion.

When we are confronted with someone who has very different understandings or goals, it is assumed that something has happened to his faculties of reason.

We try to argue with these people in hopes that rational debate will help them see the error of their ways. If debate does not work, we begin diagnosing the dissenting individual with all kinds of pathologies that explain why he doesn’t see the world the way we do. The explanation for divergent morals or goals is always a defective mental process, never a genuine difference in how we view the world.

The obsession with material explanations accounts for half of this phenomenon, but the other half is explained by our desperate need to avoid real conflict.

One of the major selling points of liberalism was the reduced need for violent conflict by removing existential questions from the political arena. Who is right about God? What is the ultimate good? To what end should we orient our society? These are all important but dangerous questions. The answers are exclusive and all-encompassing.

These are the things that people are willing to kill and die for, so better to make them off-limits and focus on something everyone can agree on — making more money and increasing the standard of living.

RELATED: The liberal guide to committing national suicide

Blaze Media Illustration

The desire to end the terrible wars that were fought over religion or identity is entirely understandable, and it is difficult to argue that the focus on economic cooperation did not produce significant benefits, but this was always a trade-off that could never last.

We may like to pretend that we are too advanced and sophisticated to get hung up on these primitive concerns, but under the surface, they continue to define us. Those conflicts do not disappear, and when they re-emerge, you have stripped your civilization of the tools needed to identify and address them, which is exactly what we are seeing now.

Americans no longer have the moral language to discuss good and evil, so they simply apply a clinical diagnosis to their opponents instead. Believing a radical leftist is mentally ill is far easier than addressing the alternative. If the progressive is a perfectly sane person and still wants to take your son if you do not chop off his genitals, then the calculus for what must be done changes radically.

Differences of opinion can be navigated as long as two parties share the same moral assumptions and the same goals. But if there is a fundamental difference in what is considered good or evil — if two groups seek radically opposed outcomes — then no amount of rational debate will ever resolve the core issue.

If our differences are not based on mental illness but fundamental beliefs about right and wrong, then a disturbing conclusion emerges. When rational debate is no longer an option, then the only solution left is the same one our unsophisticated ancestors came to for centuries — one group must win and the other must lose.

In the best scenario, this means an exercise of power from the winning side that allows it to rule over the other, forcing its way of life upon the defeated foe. In the worst scenario, this means violence and war until one side is no longer willing to fight to defend its way of life.

In either case, this is a return to an existential understanding of politics. The stakes are no longer higher taxes or lower taxes, but survival.

It should be said that mental illness is real and can be a factor in some political trends, but the idea that half of Americans are crazy because they do not share your political views is absurd. The truth is much darker: We are at least two societies, with mutually exclusive understandings of morality and purpose, trapped in one country.

The theoretical neutrality of the liberal system allowed this drift to occur under the surface, but the differences have become too extreme to ignore. Both sides have their own internally consistent understanding of the world, but they are entirely incompatible with each other.

One side is going to win, one side is going to lose, and the winning side is going to impose its way of life on the other. There is no way to avoid this reality, and obscuring the truth with comforting fictions about mental illness only ensures that you will be the side that loses.

​Mental illness, Political disagreements, Radical leftist, Americans, Good and evil, Liberalism, Politics, Political enemies, Opinion & analysis 

A newly released Department of Justice task force report is confirming concerns that religious Americans — particularly Christians — were unfairly targeted by their own government. And Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon has seen it herself.

“We’ve been compiling this stuff for a while now, and I experienced this type of anti-Christian and really anti-religious bias as a lawyer in private practice over the last several years,” Dhillon tells Blaze Media co-founder Glenn Beck on “The Glenn Beck Program.”

“I’ll just give you one example. Our government, not just the DOJ but, you know, various aspects of the government, viewed people seeking religious accommodations to not have to get the COVID vaccination if they were government employees as not legitimate,” she explains.

“They basically internally labeled all of those accommodation requests illegitimate,” she adds.

The Supreme Court Bostock ruling, Dhillon explains, “basically made it illegitimate for any person employed by the government to have a Christian viewpoint on gay marriage and issues like that, which are very much spiritual and religious in nature.”

“And so, there was just a complete lack of respect for the Christian,” she adds.

Dhillon explains that according to a FACE Act weaponization report, “disparaging remarks were made by DOJ prosecutors in [her] department” regarding “a magistrate judge being a Catholic, keeping people of faith off of juries, and going after and seeking sentences that were more than double for Christian protesters outside abortion clinics than for really domestic terrorists going after pro-life centers in Florida.”

“So these disparities were marked, they were open, they were written down in emails. And thank goodness that we have a president today who is not just dedicated to changing that but to also documenting what happened so that people should feel ashamed to do this to other people of faith in our country because our country is founded on faith,” she continues.

“And specifically,” she adds, “on the Christian faith.”

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​The glenn beck program, Abortion clinics, Antichristian bias, Assistant attorney general, Biden, Bostock ruling, Catholic, Christian protesters, Christian viewpoint, Christians, Covid vaccination, Department of justice, Domestic terrorists, Face act, Faith, Gay marriage, Harmeet dhillon, President, Prolife centers, Religious accommodations, Religious americans, Spiritual issues, Supreme court, Task force report, Weaponization report 

The Justice Department is holding the feet of a weak-on-crime Democratic prosecutor to the fire over an apparently discriminatory policy that requires special treatment for criminal noncitizens when making charging and plea decisions.

Fairfax County Commonwealth Attorney Steve Descano, elected to office in 2019 with the help of backing from a pair of George Soros-funded organizations, has developed a reputation for failing to bring illegally present suspects to justice, in at least one instance with deadly consequences.

‘That’s a perversion of justice.’

For instance, Descano’s office dropped a felony charge last year against Wilmer Osmany Ramos Giron, an illegal alien from Guatemala who was accused of abducting and strangling the mother of his child.

Owing to a sweetheart plea deal agreed to by Descano’s office, Ramos Giron — who was previously deported on multiple occasions and arrested repeatedly on gun-related charges — served only two months at the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center.

The light-touch from Descano’s office has also set the stage for tragedy.

Abdul Jalloh is an illegal alien from Sierra Leone who, according to the Department of Homeland Security, has been arrested over 30 times on charges of rape, malicious wounding, assault, drug possession, identity theft, trespassing, larceny, firing a weapon, contributing to the delinquency of a minor, and pick-pocketing.

After Descano’s office dropped numerous cases against Jalloh — including two involving malicious wounding charges and another involving an assault and battery charge — the convicted felon allegedly stabbed to death an American citizen, 41-year-old Stephanie Minter of Fredericksburg, on Feb. 23.

RELATED: The homicidal empathy of the left’s immigration policies

Abdul Jalloh (l), Wilmer Osmany Ramos Giron (R). Fairfax County Police Department and U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement, respectively

The Victims Rights Reform Council said in a complaint filed last month on behalf of the victim’s mother, Cheryl Minter, that police repeatedly warned Fairfax County prosecutors about Jalloh’s behavior prior to the stabbing, noting that he demonstrated a “blatant disregard for human life” and was a “danger to the community,” WJLA-TV reported.

A Fairfax County police major reportedly wrote to one of Descano’s underlings, Fairfax County Chief Deputy Commonwealth’s Attorney Jenna Sands:

I wanted to bring Mr. Jalloh’s release to your attention, because Mr. Jalloh is one of the repeat (and violent) offenders we discussed when we met. I wanted to get your background on why he is out so soon and ask if his prior suspended sentence (of I believe 5 years) was pursued by your office? Unfortunately, based on MTV Station’s numerous dealings with him, it is not a question of if, but rather when he will maliciously wound (or worse) again. My role of keeping the public safe, prompts me to follow up on his status.

Jalloh was convicted of a malicious stabbing in 2023. Although sentenced to seven years in prison, he had five years suspended.

In a letter on Wednesday, Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon notified Descano that she has authorized a full investigation to determine whether his office has “engaged in unlawful discrimination in violation of Title VI and the Safe Streets Act and whether [his office] is engaged in a pattern or practice of law enforcement misconduct that deprives persons of rights, privileges, or immunities secured or protected by the Constitution or laws of the United States.”

Dhillon said the investigation centers on a policy requiring special treatment for illegal aliens that was authorized by Descano and adopted by his office in December 2020.

The controversial policy, titled “Guidelines for Plea Bargaining, Charging Decisions, and Sentencing,” requires that assistant attorneys consider:

“Immigration consequences where possible and where doing so accords with justice”; “The collateral immigration consequences of the specific crime(s) the defendant is charged with”; and”The detrimental impact that deportation/removal has on the families and communities those removed or deported leave behind.”

This policy was hardly a secret.

Descano vowed on a recently scrubbed page of his website not only to provide a “safe place for everyone, regardless of their immigration status,” but to “take immigration consequences into account when making charging and plea decisions.” He added, “If two people commit the same crime, but only one’s punishment includes deportation, that’s a perversion of justice and not a reflection of the values of Fairfax County.”

While some Virginians — like Cheryl Minter — might prefer to see Descano prioritize throwing murderers, rapists, and other criminals in prison, the Democratic attorney noted that “avoiding the unnecessary destruction of [migrant] families and communities will be a top priority.”

Descano — who believes “tough-on-crime policies are short-sighted” — confirmed his receipt of Dhillon’s notice on Wednesday and stated, “My policies are fair, legal, and reflect the values of my community.”

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​Descano, Immigration status, Migrant families, Steve descano, Virginia prosecutor, Trump justice department, Illegal immigration, Illegal alien, Murder, Rape, Rapist, Murderer, Virginia, Democrat, Radical, Soft on crime, Soros, Prosecutor, Prosecution, Criminal noncitizen, Noncitizen, Foreigner, Politics 

Maine Sen. Susan Collins, a 73-year-old Republican who has been in office for three decades and is presently running for re-election, revealed in an interview this week with News Center Maine that she suffers from a nervous system disorder.

Collins — shown in two recent polls to be trailing radical Democrat candidate Graham Platner by at least 27 percentage points — indicated, however, that the disorder has not interfered with her job.

‘I have had it for the entire time that I have served.’

“What I have is an extremely common condition that is called a benign essential tremor,” Collins explained.

According to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, an essential tremor is one of the most common movement disorders. It causes uncontrollable shaking or trembling in various parts of the body. While usually affecting the hands and arms, it can also affect a person’s head, voice, and legs.

Studies have reportedly shown the disorder to be accompanied by a mild degeneration of the cerebellum.

“It tends to slowly get worse over time,” Rees Cosgrove, chief of the division of functional neurosurgery at Mass General Brigham in Boston, told News Center Maine. “It’s not associated with other neurologic impairments. So it’s not associated with cognitive decline or memory decline. It’s not associated with Alzheimer’s disease. It’s not Parkinson’s disease.”

RELATED: Why Democrats are willing to overlook Graham Platner’s Nazi-tattoo scandal

Al Drago/Bloomberg/Getty Images

Cosgrove emphasized that an essential tremor is not a mental condition.

“I have had it for the entire time that I have served in the United States Senate,” said Collins. “It has absolutely no impact on my ability to do my job or on how I feel each day.”

The Republican said that she has never missed a Senate floor vote and is confident in her ability to serve for another six years, adding, “If you talk to anybody in Washington, they will tell you that I am the hardest-working person that they have ever worked with.”

Platner, who was the likely Democrat candidate to face Collins in the Senate race even before Gov. Janet Mills (D) threw in the towel last month, apparently has health issues of his own.

Platner — who previously identified as a communist, branded rural white Americans as racists, suggested that service members worried about being raped should buy “Kevlar underwear,” smeared all police officers as “bastards,” mocked Jesus and the Virgin Mary, and adorned himself with an apparent “totenkopf” tattoo reminiscent of the skull image popularized by Adolf Hitler’s Schutzstaffel elite guard — said in an interview last year that he has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and has “a couple herniated discs.”

The Democrat, a Marine who served in Afghanistan and Iraq, recently told News Center Maine that he receives nearly $5,000 a month from Veterans Affairs, having apparently been given a 100% disability rating. He has cashed those disability checks in recent years while working as an oyster farmer and the harbormaster for the town of Sullivan.

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​Susan collins, Graham platner, Platner, Illness, Sickness, Maine, Republican, Gop, Gerontocracy, Geriatric, Elderly, Shakes, Governor, Senator, Nazi, Politics 

A 51-inch robot was welcomed into a brotherhood of South Korean monks on Wednesday.

The ceremony was equal parts bizarre and promotional, as the robot was draped in traditional robes and beads before being asked to pledge its allegiance to the order.

‘Robot monk, please reply with palms together.’

The new robotic monk was named Gabi during an initiation period for the Joye Order of Korean Buddhism, a group that is allegedly more than 1,200 years old, has governed more than 1,700 temples, and boasts nearly 10 million adherents.

Around 10 a.m. on Wednesday, the monks showed the robot off to the public in the courtyard of Daeungjeon Hall at Jogyesa Temple. As reported by the Korean Herald, the robot was dressed in the traditional robe called the kasaya and joined the monks in prayer for Buddha’s birthday.

“Robot monk, please reply with palms together, ‘Yes, I will devote myself,'” a voice is heard telling the machine.

“Yes, I will devote myself,” it seemingly replied.

RELATED: The FCC just banned foreign-made routers — here’s which ones might be stealing your data

– YouTube

The ceremony is known as the “sugye,” a formal initiation that requires one to pledge his devotion to Buddha, his teachings, and the monastic community.

Along with the first-of-its-kind ceremony was the “yeonbi,” a ritual practice in which new monks are typically burned with incense on their arms. Instead of burning the robot — which is expensive, around $13,500 — the monks chose instead to place a lotus lantern festival sticker on its arm and prayer beads around its neck.

The five precepts of Buddhism were also modified for the occasion. Typically they include not killing, not stealing, not misusing sex, being honest, and not using intoxicants.

These were amended to include protecting life; refraining from damaging other monks, robots, or property; respecting and obeying humans; and conserving energy by not overcharging. The only rule to remain the same was for the robot to avoid being deceptive.

RELATED: Video: Why is a Chinese robot chasing wild boars in Poland?

Chris Jung/NurPhoto/Getty Images

Unfortunately for the Korean monks, they have welcomed a Chinese robot that is likely capable of spying on them. The Unitree G1 robot, currently the most advanced humanoid bot available to the public, is also capable of a remote takeover.

As Return previously reported, Congress has warned of a “direct national security threat” through Chinese robots.

Research has also showed that Unitree previously pre-installed backdoor access into its G01 robot dogs, which allowed them to surveil their customers across the globe.

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​Buddhas birthday, Chinese robot, Jogyesa temple, Monks, Return, South korea, Unitree g1, Yeonbi ritual, Tech 

Rosie Speedlin-Gonzalez was elected in 2018 as a Democrat to serve as a judge on Bexar County Court at Law No. 13 in San Antonio.

The county’s first openly homosexual judge wasted no time evidencing her activistic intent and radicalism, erecting, for instance, a Pride flag behind her bench and alongside the U.S. and Texas flags during formal court proceedings in 2019, then later keeping the imperial non-straight colors hoisted at the entrance to her chambers.

‘Judge Speedlin-Gonzalez shall be forever disqualified from judicial service in the State of Texas.’

After multiple accusations of judicial misconduct and run-ins with the State Commission on Judicial Conduct, Speedlin-Gonzalez’s time as a judge in the Lone Star State has finally come to an end.

The leftist ex-judge — who the San Antonio Express-News reported in a 2023 puff piece “concedes to being a rebel” and who was admonished in 2020 for congratulating attorneys on winning in her court — was criminally indicted in January in connection with a December 2024 incident in which she allegedly ordered a bailiff to handcuff a female defense attorney and toss her in the jury box.

Speedlin-Gonzalez, the 2021 recipient of the Texas Diversity Council’s LGBTQ+ Individual Leadership Award, was charged with one count of unlawful restraint by a judicial officer — a second-degree felony — and one count of official oppression, a class A misdemeanor.

On the basis of the indictment, the SCJC suspended Speedlin-Gonzalez without pay on Feb. 5.

The leftist — who ran for re-election to the Bexar County Court but was overwhelmingly rejected by voters in the March Democratic primary election — agreed late last month to accept a lifetime ban from the judicial service in order to settle the outstanding misconduct complaints against her and to avoid further disciplinary action.

RELATED: Judge APOLOGIZES to suspected would-be Trump assassin — and compares him to Jan. 6 defendants

PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP/Getty Images

Speedlin-Gonzalez signed a formal agreement on April 17 stating both that she has “officially and formally resigned her judicial duties” and that “Judge Speedlin-Gonzalez shall be forever disqualified from judicial service in the State of Texas, including: (a) sitting or serving as a judge, (b) standing for election or appointment to a judicial office, and/or (c) performing or exercising any judicial duties or functions of a judicial officer, including the performance of wedding ceremonies.”

In the preamble, the document notes that Speedlin-Gonzalez was not only slapped in recent years with a complaint over the December 2024 incident but with other complaints, including for having allegedly: “exhibited unprofessional demeanor toward a criminal defendant” and failing to “timely proceed on a motion to modify bond conditions and two writs of habeas corpus”; and abusing her judicial authority “by issuing a ‘no contact’ order via email prohibiting staff of Bexar County’s Reflejo Court and County Court at Law No. 13 from communicating with former specialty court team members and employees of the court.”

The agreement notes, however, that the ex-judge, by her execution of this agreement, doesn’t admit guilt, fault, or liability regarding various misconduct claims leveled against her.

Following the agreement’s filing, special prosecutor Brian Cromeens of DeWitt County filed a motion to dismiss the criminal charges against Speedlin-Gonzalez, reported KSAT-TV.

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​Bexar county, San antonio, Leftism, Misconduuct, Criminal indictment, Speedlin gonzalez, Rosie speedlin gonzalez, Texas, Lone star state, Resignation, Removal, Ouster, Winning, Leftist, Lgbt, Lesbian, Homosexual, Radical, Politics 

Margaret Doud is celebrating a golden anniversary of sorts.

On Tuesday, Doud was re-elected as the mayor of Mackinac Island, the premier tourist spot of Michigan, a state known for tourism. Located in Lake Huron between the Upper and Lower Peninsulas, Mackinac Island is barely four square miles and is well known for breathtaking views, stately Victorian structures, and tasty fudge.

‘When the time is right, I will step on.’

Notably, the quaint island about a four-hour drive from the Motor City followed by a 20-minute ferry ride is car-free, leaving its 8.2 miles of road open for horse, bicycle, and foot traffic only.

Over a million visitors from all over the globe travel to Mackinac Island each year, but only about 600 residents live there year-round. Doud is one of them.

In 1975, she took over the family business, the Windermere Hotel. That same year, she was also elected mayor.

And since the city charter requires the mayor to be elected annually, Doud has run for — and won — re-election every year since. She won the race Tuesday unopposed.

David Jurcak, president of the iconic Grand Hotel, was among the islanders who congratulated Doud on her 50th re-election as mayor.

“She continues to shape the future of Mackinac Island through her enduring leadership, steady presence, and deep commitment to our residents and businesses,” Jurcak said, according to MLive. “Grand Hotel thanks Mayor Doud for the unwavering support of island businesses and for all she does to keep Mackinac Island thriving.”

RELATED: 7 most underrated summer travel ideas in the US

Now entering her 52nd year in office, Doud keeps busy leading the city council and running the hotel. She participated in a ribbon-cutting ceremony on May 1, marking the official beginning of the Mackinac Island tourist season.

According to the Windermere website, one of Doud’s proudest achievements in office is maintaining the horse-and-buggy culture often associated with the Victorian Era.

“I’ve preached over the years I’ve been mayor that we cannot lose the ambiance of Mackinac,” she said. “The horse culture is certainly part of that uniqueness.”

RELATED: Ode to a 1984 Buick Skylark — and to all the other cars of my life

Photo of horse and buggy and Victorian building on Mackinac Island by Jeffrey Greenberg/Universal Images Group/Getty Images

While 51 years makes Doud the longest-serving current mayor in America, she still has a ways to go to become the longest-serving mayor in American history. Hilmar Moore served as the mayor of Richmond, Texas, for an astonishing 63 years, from 1949 until his death in 2012.

Still, Doud, who turns 83 later this month, previously indicated retirement may still be a ways off: “Oh, you know what Kenny Rogers says, ‘I know when to hold them, and I know when to fold them.’

“When the time is right, I will step on, but I still have some projects I’d like to see completed.”

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When BlazeTV host Sara Gonzales stumbled upon a flyer for a Muslim-run event at a water park in Texas, she quickly exposed it — only for organizers to change the flyer to reflect a more inclusive atmosphere.

However, Gonzales isn’t letting it go, pointing out that “screenshots are forever.”

“If you want to see how bad the Islamic invasion of Texas is getting, I’ve got to tell you, I didn’t have this on my bingo card. Now they’re taking over our water parks,” she says, pulling up the original flyer for the event.

Not only does the event boast a “private prayer area” and “modest dress code,” but it advertises that it is “closed to the public,” as it’s “Muslims only.”

“Guess segregation is alive and well in Texas. And the water park is, of course, it’s owned by the city of Grand Prairie, Texas. Taxpayers are paying for it,” Gonzales explains, pointing out that this is not the first time taxpayers have paid for this event.

“This is not the first, not the second, but the third annual ‘Muslim-only’ Epic water park,” she says, before reading testimonials from the first and second events.

“My daughter described it as ‘the best of her life.’ As a family, [sic] that values modesty finding a recreational activity that aligns with our principles can be challenging, however your event provided a safe respectful environment, where we could enjoy ourselves without compromise and the availability of a clean quiet prayer room allowed us to stay longer and enjoy,” one woman wrote.

“I loved the modesty and the Anasheed,” another event-goer posted.

“MashaAllah the event was very organized. Being with friends made it enjoyable and fun, Islamic-friendly, not crowded, and good food,” another testimonial read.

The organizers’ website even gave examples of what to wear to the event, with a page full of photos of burkinis — which is swimwear for Muslim women that covers them from head to toe like a burka.

“It seems like a bad idea to have a head covering when you’re going into water,” she says. “That doesn’t seem safe.”

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​Blazetv host, Epic water park, Grand prairie, Islamic invasion, Modest dress code, Modesty, Muslim run event, Sara gonzales, Sara gonzales unfiltered, Segregation, Taxpayers, Texas, Water park, Private prayer area, Islam, The blaze, Blazetv, Blaze media, Blaze online, Blaze originals, Blaze podcasts, Blaze podcast network 

There’s nothing wrong with watching “The Silence of the Lambs” again, especially to honor the film’s 35th anniversary. With or without fava beans.

The same holds for other genre classics like “Rosemary’s Baby,” “The Shining,” “The Exorcist” and “Halloween” (1978).

The unrelenting creature brought to life with lo-fi special effects makes this a fine example of ‘less is more storytelling.

What about horror films that slipped by our pop-culture radar, settling into streaming obscurity? The following five films got little attention on release. They may have underperformed at the box office or simply debuted on a streamer sans fanfare.

Each is well worth a look — maybe even while uncorking a nice Chianti.

‘Crawl’ (2019)

If you see just one killer alligator movie this year, make it “Crawl,” which Quentin Tarantino dubbed his favorite film of 2019.

Kaya Scodelario stars as a young woman checking in on her Dad (Barry Pepper) during a brutal Florida hurricane. She can’t find him at first, and his home has started to flood. Badly. That brings more than just the threat of black mold insurance claims. Some killer gators have decided to investigate the house, and Scodelario’s character would make a tasty snack.

Yes, it sounds “Sharknado”-adjacent, but the movie’s hokey premise is offset by first-rate direction from horror vet Alexandre Aja (“High Tension,” “The Hills Have Eyes” (2006)). The father-daughter dynamic is handled with care, giving gravitas to the story without diminishing the chill factor.

‘Hush’ (2016)

This Netflix original boasts a can’t-miss gimmick. What if the protagonist in a home invasion movie were deaf and couldn’t hear the intruder breaking into her home? Every step and crash fell on deaf ears. Literally.

Horror maestro Mike Flanagan (“Doctor Sleep,” “The Fall of the House of Usher”) takes it from there, maximizing that plot device for a pulse-pounding affair that skimps on horror’s usual eye-roll moments. Credit star/co-writer Kate Siegel for crafting a credible heroine, one who never falls victim to girlbossery.

Instead, the film finds new ways to explore the central hook while allowing Siegel’s character to flash her survival instincts.

Yes, it has some slasher film DNA, but the thrilling setup makes it far more than a blood-and-guts-a-thon.

RELATED: Killer bear flick ‘Backcountry’ puts big-budget thrillers to shame

IFC Midnight

‘Splinter’ (2008)

Shea Whigham is one of Hollywood’s busiest character actors. Think “Joker,” “Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning,” “Boardwalk Empire,” and many more projects.

This micro-indie takes advantage of his screen presence, casting him as a crook on the lam with his reluctant gal pal. The duo abduct a couple while fleeing Johnny Law before the four run into an unexpected obstacle: a bizarre, stick-like creature that traps them in a convenience store.

The setting couldn’t be starker, forcing us to focus on the squabbling foursome. That, plus the unrelenting creature brought to life with lo-fi special effects, makes this a fine example of “less is more” storytelling.

The rest is up to Whigham, who proves his crooked character may have a redemptive arc lurking within.

‘Haunt’ (2019)

“From the writers of ‘A Quiet Place’” wasn’t the marketing draw the film’s studio imagined. Still, Scott Beck and Bryan Woods’ directorial effort delivers a straightforward horror film done just right.

The plot screams Genre Film 101, with a gaggle of attractive young people in search of Halloween high jinks. They stumble upon a haunted house attraction with terrible marketing but a decidedly creepy vibe.

Little do they realize the source of said vibes.

There’s little about “Haunt” that reinvents the horror movie template. It’s the efficient scares, imaginative twists, and capable cast that seal the deal. The film became Shudder’s most-watched movie premiere of 2019.

‘Rogue’ (2007)

If you see just one killer crocodile film this year, make it this smart Aussie thriller. Director Greg McLean (“Wolf Creek”) leverages his homeland’s stunning vistas and a better-than-expected cast for a slick terrorfest. Radha Mitchell (“Man on Fire”) stars as a tour guide steering vacationers through the country’s Northern Territory. The trouble starts when her jerk of an ex (“Avatar’s” Sam Worthington) interrupts the riverboat tour.

That’s nothing compared to what comes next. A massive croc terrorizes the boat, feasting on vacationers in the process. The serene setting lulls us into a false sense of security, but the creature feature scares prove as nasty as needed. Co-stars Michael Vartan (“Alias”) and a pre-fame Mia Wasikowska (“Alice in Wonderland”) provide the character beats, allowing us to invest in the dwindling band of survivors.

Don’t get too attached to them, though.

​Entertainment, Movies, Culture, Streaming, Reviews, Crawl, Rogue, Splinter, Haunt, Hush, Recommendation