Last night, Manhattan’s David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center hosted the annual ESPY Awards, honoring the top athletes, teams, and sports performances of the year.

As a first-time host, Marcello Hernández kicked off the ceremony with a comedy monologue that mixed sports with jokes about immigrants, American culture, and race.

‘Sports without immigrants is just cornhole.’

Saturday Night Live cast member Hernández, who is of Dominican and Cuban descent, began by shouting out last year’s host, Shane Gillis, joking that Gillis was watching from home “like a true American — on his couch, drinking a beer, while a Hispanic guy does his job.”

He then praised immigrant athletes, declaring, “Immigrant athletes are what make sports great because at the end of the day, sports without immigrants is just cornhole.”

Joking about America’s habit of calling its sports champions “world champions,” Hernández said the FIFA World Cup is “the time when American sports fans remember what the word ‘world’ means,” adding that they typically think it just means “the U.S. and one team from Toronto.”

RELATED: ‘This country backed our team’: Praise for US Soccer pours in as players promise brighter future

He also took aim at the “white sport” of hockey, saying, “You know how I know hockey is a white sport? No matter what you do, the worst thing that happens is, ‘Go to time-out for two minutes.’”

“Latino people watch hockey, and when they see them put those guys in the box for two minutes, the Latino people are like, ‘He gonna do it again. He didn’t learn anything from that.’”

Congratulating WNBA players on their new collective bargaining agreement, Hernández poked fun at the league’s lesbian athletes.

“There’s a lot of new money in the WNBA, man, opening up the door to a new reality show: ‘Basketball Husbands … and Wives.’” He added after a pause, “But mostly wives.”

Not even Knicks superstar Jalen Brunson was safe from the butt of a joke.

Referring to Brunson winning an NBA championship with his father, Rick Brunson, as an assistant coach, Hernández said it proved “that nepotism, like most things, is way cooler when a black guy does it.”

RELATED: NFL legend Chris Johnson, father of 4, reveals devastating diagnosis: ‘I can’t even hold a cup’

Mike Coppola/Getty Images

While Hernández’s remarks provided the evening’s opening entertainment, the show ultimately returned to celebrating the athletes and teams who defined the past year.

Among the night’s biggest winners were the New York Knicks, who took home Best Team; Shohei Ohtani, who won Best Single-Game Performance; and Jalen Brunson, who earned Best Athlete — Men’s Sports.

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​Athletes, Teams, Politics, Saturday night live, Sports, Espn, Marcello hernandez, Shane gillis, Comedy 

Some Republicans have mastered the art of the bad deal, suggests a new State Leadership Initiative report exclusively given to Blaze News.

State Leadership Initiative’s new “Corporate Welfare” report suggests that corporate subsidies inadvertently fund “cultural and economic campaigns designed to destroy conservative communities.” Republican-run states have spent at least $148 billion on corporate subsidies since 2015, according to Good Jobs First.

‘Red states are writing the biggest checks to their biggest enemies.’

“Many of the largest subsidy recipients actively undermine the communities and industries that subsidize them — through ESG mandates, replacement of domestic labor with H-1B workers, DEI regimes, supply-chain favoritism toward China, and open hostility,” according to the report.

Some of those subsidies are going to banks and asset management firms. These firms employ environmental, social, and governance standards that emphasize climate metrics when deciding where to invest.

“Major banks and investment firms that receive state deposits and tax incentives have implemented lending policies that strangle coal, oil, and natural gas projects,” the report states. “JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, and Citigroup — all recipients of various state incentives — have committed to ‘net-zero’ financing that effectively blacklists fossil fuel development.”

JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, and Citigroup were all previously members of the United Nations-backed Net-Zero Banking Alliance. The banks quietly departed the coalition after President Donald Trump’s 2024 re-election.

“Tech companies impose ESG requirements on their supply chains that penalize manufacturers, agriculture, and energy producers in red states,” the report states. “Amazon, Google, and Microsoft — all major subsidy recipients — demand carbon accounting and ‘sustainable’ practices from suppliers that make it harder for red-state businesses to compete.”

Outlining its climate goals through 2030, Microsoft’s 2025 Environmental Sustainability Report touts that its “large-scale … suppliers are required to transition to 100% carbon-free electricity for their delivered goods and services.”

‘They use their market power to export California climate policy into states that explicitly rejected it.’

“The corporate welfare in our energy industry means taxpayers end up getting screwed twice. Federal and state dollars incentivize the financing and installation of crappy Chinese wind and solar, so corporations go out of their way to get the free money,” Power the Future Executive Director Daniel Turner told Blaze News.

“Politicians create a problem, spend your money to fix said problem, make everything worse, and then have the nerve to ask you to re-elect them. We fought a revolution over less.”

RELATED: The GOP’s 2028 ticket math is already brutal

David Ryder/Getty Images

Over 57,000 Amazon positions have been affected by layoffs or restructuring since 2022, according to CNBC.

The Seattle-based giant had over 13,500 H-1B visa petitions approved in 2025.

An H-1B visa is often the first step for someone pursuing permanent residency in the United States. Once secured, an employer may begin the Program Electronic Review Management process on the employee’s behalf. If successful, the employee is granted permanent labor certification and a green card.

“[Amazon] has mastered the art of gaming the Department of Labor’s PERM process — posting job advertisements deliberately designed to exclude qualified Americans, ensuring they can claim no domestic workers are available and justify importing cheaper foreign replacements,” according to State Leadership Initiative VP and report author Thomas Murray. “Texas handed Amazon hundreds of millions in subsidies. Amazon responded by laying off thousands of Texas workers while filing for tens of thousands of H-1B visas to import cheaper foreign labor.”

“Before sponsoring a foreign worker for permanent residency, an employer must test the labor market — advertise the role, run specific recruitment steps, and certify that no qualified, willing U.S. worker was available,” Murray told Blaze News. “The gaming happens when a company designs that recruitment to be technically compliant while ensuring few or no Americans actually apply.”

In an April press release, Amazon stated that it “had more than 86,000 full- and part-time employees [in Texas] and supported more than 90,000 indirect jobs in 2025.”

Apple and Meta were both previously pursued by the Department of Justice for similar alleged citizenship-status discrimination. The DOJ claimed that Apple required physical rather than electronic applications for PERM jobs to hide them from public view and keep them off its hiring websites.

In November 2023, Apple paid $25 million to settle DOJ allegations that it violated the Immigration and Nationality Act’s anti-discrimination statutes. Meta paid $14.25 million in 2021 following a similar DOJ investigation.

Meta, Apple, and Microsoft did not respond to requests for comment from Blaze News.

Murray noted the distinctions between Apple and Amazon’s alleged PERM strategy.

“Public DOL disclosure data shows Amazon filing tens of thousands of PERM applications across its entities, a large share at entry-level prevailing-wage tiers that are hard to square with a ‘no qualified Americans’ claim — and using the same recruitment patterns (generic ads, mail-in-only, roles never posted to its own careers site) that DOJ has already penalized at Apple and Facebook,” Murray told Blaze News. “Amazon hasn’t yet been sued over this.”

According to Good Jobs First, Amazon has received at least $18 million in tax incentives in Texas since Gov. Greg Abbott (R) took office in 2015. Most Texas tax breaks are managed at the municipal level and are not required to disclose valuations, according to the state’s Local Government Code.

State Leadership Initiative’s report calls for subsidies over $25,000 to be included in a mandatory disclosure database.

“Texas uses performance-based incentives to attract major investments and create jobs for Texans. The governor’s focus is on expanding opportunity and good-paying jobs for Texas workers and families,” Abbott press secretary Andrew Mahaleris told Blaze News. “In January, he directed all Texas state agencies and public universities to immediately freeze new H-1B visa petitions and review current usage to ensure taxpayer-funded jobs go to Texans first.”

Todd Kirkland/Getty Images

Abbott’s action follows Trump’s September 2025 “Restriction on Entry of Certain Nonimmigrant Workers” proclamation, which applied a $100,000 fee to new H-1B applications.

“It’s a fairly common practice for governments to use incentive agreements to encourage companies to create jobs in their communities that generate tax revenue and drive economic activity,” Amazon Vice President of Economic Development Holly Sullivan told Blaze News. “And if we enter into an agreement like that, we take it seriously and work hard to create every job we projected. The way these agreements are structured means that we only receive benefits from them if we do our part.”

Clauses tying benefits to performance — often referred to as “clawback” clauses — are common for incentive agreements, though typically enforced at state or local government discretion.

State Leadership Initiative recommends Republican-run states expand the scope of their clawback provisions to safeguard their independence and economies.

“We’ve invested more than $1.8 trillion in the U.S. since 2010 and employ more than one million people across the country —no U.S. company has created more jobs than Amazon in the last decade,” Sullivan said.

Penalizing energy production via lending and supply-chain restrictions would automatically nullify incentive agreements under the proposed policy from State Leadership Initiative.

Scaling H-1B visa filings or outsourcing by 10% amid layoffs of 100 or more U.S. employees would also cancel state-level agreements should the report’s recommendations be adopted.

“The current crisis in red states demands we recognize that the problem has evolved beyond what traditional economic analysis anticipated,” the report concludes. “The corporations now receiving the largest subsidies take taxpayer dollars and use them to replace American workers, destroy American industries, and assault American culture.”

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​Apple, Department of labor, H1b visas, Microsoft, Red states, Republicans, Energy production, News, Greg abbott, Politics 

A “Lord of the Rings” star was questioned by a reporter as to why there are so many white actors in the trilogies.

Andy Serkis, the iconic British actor who played Gollum and is now reprising the role, was forced to answer for the original work in an interview with the BBC.

‘I don’t think we will be doing a politically correct … version of the film.’

#ShireSoWhite

Entertainment reporter Colin Paterson prefaced Serkis’ answers with a declaration that “The Lord of the Rings” was made before “colorblind casting became common” and had “almost entirely white lineups.”

Fearing the new movies might be the same, Paterson asked Serkis: “Why?”

Serkis immediately cited the original works, created by author J.R.R. Tolkien, who “himself was influenced a lot by Norse mythology; there’s a lot of that feeling.”

Readers will know there exists plenty of supplemental literature written by Tolkien where he specifically describes how and why the characters look the way they do.

“The Shire feels very, very much like a very white, you know …” Serkis said, his thought trailing off. The actor then backed his LOTR team and crew and plainly explained why some might find the hobbits indifferent to our modern-day affinity for diversity.

“They’re not very concerned about what goes on beyond the borders of the Shire, but they know they don’t want people coming in.”

RELATED: ‘Star Wars’ creator George Lucas finally weighs in on AI — and his comments will surprise you

Junko Kimura/Getty Images

Monster mash

While Serkis admitted, “Yes, there have been criticisms,” he mostly parried off his interviewer’s queries with a final statement on the matter.

“This particular film is somewhat acknowledging that. But we don’t think we will be doing a politically correct, just-casting-for-the sake-of-casting-and-ticking-boxes version of the film,” Serkis stated. “So, it’s only where relevant basically.”

When the Tolkien story hit Amazon as “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power,” it was widely mocked for casting black actors as dwarves and elves.

It also took major liberties with Tolkien’s monsters, recasting orcs from soulless creatures bred solely for war into family-oriented beings yearning for peaceful lives.

RELATED: ‘Known for its racism’: Netflix blasted for synopsis of beloved Hollywood classic

Barry Brecheisen/WireImage

Poor lore

Reporter Will Witt described the show’s changes in 2022 as an attempt to warp what the author stood for, “good triumphing over evil, western values, and Christianity.”

“Tolkien’s lore and description of his characters and timelines … prove that these characters are cast wrong,” Witt wrote.

The BBC has argued that Peter Jackson’s 2001 film trilogy was cast according to the conventions of the time, rather than as a strict reflection of Tolkien’s descriptions. Under that view, the films’ overwhelmingly white cast says more about early-2000s filmmaking than the source material itself.

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​Entertainment, Andy serkis, Lord of the rings 

When Congress expelled former Rep. George Santos (N.Y.), whose fabricated life story once dominated headlines, the internet performed its little eulogy — diva down, rest in power.

Two years later, the resurrection arrives precisely on schedule, because Santos is back. And this time, it’s as a reality TV contestant on the fifth season of Fox’s “Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test,” a military-themed endurance contest filming in the Malaysian jungle, Fox announced Wednesday.

‘I took my fat behind off the coach and tried something new!’

The show subjects contestants to chemical gassing and other military-themed challenges, including a claustrophobic, high-pressure search of an underground bunker to find crucial military weapons and a supply load retrieval while suspended 300 feet above the jungle floor.

Santos announced the news on social media.

“I took my fat behind off the coach and tried something new!” he wrote in a post on X along with a promotional image of himself kneeling in the wild. “And it changed EVERYTHING! I can’t wait to share this experience with y’all!”

He won’t be doing it alone. Santos will compete against 14 other celebrities, including former NBA player Matt Barnes and actress Ruby Rose, on a season Fox is promoting as the “ultimate test of physical, mental, and emotional resilience.” The season premieres September 24 at 9 p.m. ET on Fox, with episodes streaming the next day on Hulu.

RELATED: George Santos bids a ‘fabulous’ farewell, surrenders for prison sentence

Bing Guan/Bloomberg/Getty Images

The casting caps a wild few years for Santos. Elected to the House from New York in 2022 as a Republican, he ran on a résumé that was almost entirely fiction: a Baruch College degree he never earned, a Wall Street pedigree at Goldman Sachs and Citigroup neither bank had any record of, a stint as a star volleyball player during that same nonexistent college career, and a grandmother who fled the Holocaust.

Genealogists found his grandparents were born in Brazil, and Santos, who is Catholic, later clarified he had meant “Jew-ish.”

A House Ethics Committee report later found “substantial evidence” he’d funneled donor money into personal spending — Hermès, Ferragamo, OnlyFans, Botox. He served less than a year before Congress expelled him — only the sixth member in history — while he faced charges for stealing from donors, drawing unemployment while employed, and lying about his wealth.

He pleaded guilty, had his sentence commuted by President Trump after 84 days in prison, and briefly floated another House run before abandoning it for lack of funds.

His post-political life has stayed just as eventful. Last month, prediction market Kalshi reportedly reported him to federal authorities after he claimed he would attend Trump’s State of the Union, then allegedly bet against his own attendance — a claim Santos called “preposterous.”

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​Congress, George santos, House ethics committee, Reality tv, Social media, State of the union, Donald trump, Politics 

There was a time when the most effective weapon against crime in American cities was a badge and a gun. Today, it’s a boring old spreadsheet.

In Memphis, a city long defined by bruising battles with violent crime, the local political establishment has discovered something it fears far more than gunfire: public transparency.

For the first time in six years, Ballinger’s family members were able to celebrate a birthday in their own back yard.

Dalisia Ballinger understands this threat better than the politicians currently spending taxpayer money to hide the truth.

War zone

A former Memphis news reporter and a mother, Ballinger knows exactly what a stray bullet sounds like when it tears through residential drywall. One sweltering evening, she stood in her living room when three men emerged from the bushes outside and opened fire on the neighboring house. Without hesitation, she grabbed her son and ran to the bedroom.

“My son, who was five at the time, started asking questions like ‘why are we on the ground, Mommy?’ I just hugged him tight until it was over,” Ballinger recalls via email. “It had to have been about 10 gunshots. After it was over, we proceeded back to the living room, where I noticed glass on the floor and looked over into the wall, and there was the bullet hole.”

Directly below it were her son’s toys — the place where he played every day. In other words, Ballinger’s decision to take her son into the bedroom may have saved his life.

Ballinger eventually moved her family a few miles away, only to find a neighborhood trapped in an identical loop of daily robberies and shootings. The cycle broke when the Memphis Safe Task Force deployed to the area.

‘Safe’ haven

Launched as a joint federal, state, and local law-enforcement operation, the Memphis Safe Task Force targets violent offenders, illegal firearms, gangs, and fugitives. Supporters credit it with helping drive down violent crime in Memphis, while critics argue its aggressive tactics have raised civil-liberties concerns, pointing to several high-profile encounters — including the fatal shooting of Tyrin Johnson, which remains under investigation.

Ballinger says that for her and her neighbors, the results were immediate and undeniable. The gunfire stopped for weeks on end. For the first time in six years, Ballinger’s family members were able to celebrate a birthday in their own back yard.

It was then that Ballinger committed the ultimate sin of modern journalism. She actually reported what she saw. She stated publicly that violent crime had dropped in her neighborhood because of the task force. For the crime of committing firsthand journalism that disrupted a preferred political narrative, her network promptly fired her.

Questioning the narrative

Her termination illustrates a broader problem in contemporary newsrooms, where maintaining the approved narrative increasingly appears to be a prerequisite for keeping a job. Disagreement used to spark editorial debate; today, it can end careers. The establishment appears deeply terrified of what happens when citizens lay eyes on verifiable data.

“I don’t think anyone should be afraid of transparency,” Ballinger tells me. “If we’re making decisions that affect the safety of our neighborhoods, then the public deserves to know what’s happening and whether those efforts are producing results.”

That principle now sits at the center of a political and legal fight in Memphis.

RELATED: Crime stats said her new neighborhood was ‘safe’; then she saw what they left out

The Washington Post/Getty Images

Unfair target?

In May, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee (R) signed the Memphis Safe Task Force Accountability Act (S.B. 1467) into law.

Far from policing the task force itself, the legislation shines a light on what happens after the task force’s work is finished. It requires prosecutors — not police — to publicly report when serious task-force cases are reduced, dismissed, or otherwise abandoned. Supporters argue that if the task force is delivering dangerous offenders to the courthouse, the public deserves to know what becomes of those cases.

Shelby County District Attorney General Steve Mulroy disagrees. In a lawsuit challenging the law, he argues that the act unfairly targets his office, infringes on the constitutional independence of locally elected prosecutors, and imposes reporting requirements. According to Mulroy, complying with the law would divert resources away from prosecuting crime while requiring reports on information prosecutors already disclose through existing channels.

To Ballinger, the law simply asks government to show the public how one of its most important public safety initiatives is performing.

A well-functioning bureaucracy relies on data to demonstrate its effectiveness. A bureaucracy that seeks to lock its files away sends a different message entirely. When government officials fight public disclosure, they inevitably invite questions about what, exactly, they fear the public might discover.

“When information is readily available, citizens don’t have to rely on rumors, political spin, or competing narratives,” Ballinger notes. “They can look at the information themselves, ask informed questions, and hold public officials accountable.”

Putting public safety first

A growing coalition of residents refuse to allow the DA to litigate Memphis back into the dark. Ballinger is championing a Change.org petition demanding that Mulroy withdraw his lawsuit and allow the transparency law to stand. The petition is gaining momentum because it treats public safety as something larger than a jurisdictional dispute or partisan fight.

The political class views the Memphis Safe Task Force through the lens of institutional power and jurisdictional turf wars. For mothers on the ground, the reality is much simpler. It is the difference between a child growing up in safety and a child who never gets the chance to grow up at all.

“Facts shouldn’t belong to one political party or another; they belong to the people,” Ballinger says. “To me, transparency isn’t about helping law enforcement, prosecutors, or politicians. It’s about respecting the public.”

Memphis residents deserve a justice system that operates openly rather than behind closed doors. If the DA’s office believes its approach produces better outcomes than the task force, the numbers should be its strongest ally. If it is fighting to keep those numbers out of public view, skepticism is inevitable. The families of Memphis should not have to pay the price for that uncertainty with their safety.

​Justice system, Violent crime, Public safety, Memphis, Memphis safe task force, Crime 

The liberal media didn’t appear particularly fussed when, during the Biden administration, the U.S. Army announced that it would provide trans-identifying service members not only with elective genital mutilation surgeries but with hormone therapy.

When, however, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth announced on Wednesday both that troops ages 30 and older will undergo mandatory annual screenings for testosterone deficiency and that those with low levels will be offered voluntary testosterone replacement therapy as part of a new “High-T” initiative, liberal media personalities rushed to clutch their pearls.

‘Is this a good idea?’

The liberal talking heads over at CNN — the network whose host Dana Bash admitted in 2024 of Democrats’ appeal to men with lower testosterone — appeared especially shaken by the announcement.

“We owe our warriors the absolute best medical care in the world, and this program delivers on that obligation,” Hegseth said in a video statement.

The war secretary added, “Taking care of your long-term health means ensuring you remain strong, resilient, and capable — not just for your next deployment, but for the rest of your life so you can thrive long after you take off the uniform.”

According to the Pentagon, its new “enhanced screening protocol” is aimed at optimizing performance, combatting “operator syndrome,” and maximizing mission readiness, and “complements the efforts outlined in the ‘Warfighter Performance Optimization — Total Force Fitness’ memorandum.”

When pressed by CNN’s Erin Burnett to comment on Wednesday about the policy, Rt. Army Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges, an outspoken critic of President Donald Trump, suggested that testosterone is “not connected to the reality of the modern battlefield.”

Burnett followed up by complaining that “it was really jarring just to hear that today, and obviously, you know, all the implications of it.”

RELATED: What the classical education revival is missing

Scott Olson/Getty Images

CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins set the stage for Democratic Sen. Cory Booker (N.J.) to similarly complain about the policy, which he said “seems sick.”

“Somebody, please wake me up from this dystopian nightmare where we have such unserious people in some of the most important positions, not just in America, one of the most important positions globally,” Booker said.

“This is ridiculous, and it should be mocked, and it’s just another reason why we should remove him from office,” he added.

John King, CNN’s chief national correspondent, also concern-mongered about the policy, asking Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly (Ariz.), “Is this necessary? Is this a good idea? A bad idea?”

“It’s a weird idea,” Kelly said. “I mean, what have we seen from this secretary of defense so far? We see him run around on a stage talking about lethality and killing people. Now, he is talking about testosterone. This isn’t what we need. What we need is better leadership.”

NewsBusters highlighted that absent from CNN’s coverage of the policy was any counterpoint.

In its coverage, the Washington Post similarly neglected to address any upsides of the policy, instead amplifying concerns from physicians such as Adriane Fugh-Berman of Georgetown University, who said that “this is non-evidence-based and could cause harm.”

While across the Atlantic, there was some huffing and puffing over the policy at the Guardian, the BBC dared to print expert insight suggesting that testosterone screens and boosts might be beneficial.

Dr. Mohit Khera, a specialist in hormone replacement therapy and a professor of urology at Baylor College of Medicine, told the BBC that all men over 30 should undergo testosterone screenings, as it is a top marker of their current and future health.

“The key here is that many young men have low testosterone levels, which puts them at a disadvantage in terms of muscle mass, energy, and that could be an issue if you are in combat,” Khera said.

Khera noted that while you have to be careful not to give someone testosterone unless “they do have some kind of symptoms,” the benefits of hormone replacement therapy are increased muscle mass, decreased risk for depression, and decreased fatty deposits.

Admiral Brian Christine, assistant secretary for health at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, has expressed his full support for the testosterone initiative, stating, “Optimizing testosterone supports strength, endurance, healthy body composition, cognitive performance, mission readiness, and overall well-being — ensuring America’s fighting force is prepared to perform at its highest level.”

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​Cory booker, Mark kelly, Kaitlan collins, Cnn, Pete hegseth, Liberal media, Testosterone, Hormone therapy, Military, Pentagon, Army, Department of war, Politics 

Former NFL defensive end and American sportscaster Marcellus Wiley was arrested on July 4 in Orlando, Florida, on a misdemeanor domestic battery charge after his wife, Annemarie Wiley — a former “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” star — alleged he threatened to kill her and poked her in the face.

She has since filed for divorce, obtained a temporary restraining order (with no-contact rules and sole custody of their three children), and accused him of prior abuse, including rape.

Wiley, who was released on bond, strongly denies all allegations and has posted statements asserting his innocence and promising evidence.

In his divorce statement, he claimed that Annemarie had placed a “voodoo spell” over his family.

When Jason Whitlock heard about the messy scandal, he wanted a “biblical perspective,” so he invited Christian ministers Anthony Walker and Virgil Walker, as well as contributor Shemeka Michelle, on “Jason Whitlock Harmony” to share their thoughts.

“I’m not surprised even by the voodoo allegations. I’ve watched people on ‘The Real Housewives’ go to see psychics, go to see shamans, have spirit baths. This is the lifestyle of that television franchise,” says Shemeka.

Whitlock, who believes in biblical, covenantal marriage, wonders if dark magic is a “[bridge] too far” that would justify divorce.

“When I hear voodoo spells, I think of the occult, and I think of, well, Marcellus should hit the eject button. … Is my reaction wise or biblical?” he asks Virgil and Anthony.

Voodoo spells or not, Virgil is in favor of reconciliation. For starters, the Wileys are deeply entrenched in a culture that embraces occultism.

“Shemeka said this earlier, the nature of the environment that they’re in, those are the kinds of things that appeal, right? They’re in Hollywood or they’re in, you know, uh Beverly Hills. They’re around money … and so you have a tendency to look at what others in your peer group are doing and mimic that,” he says.

“The other thing I would say is Marcellus had to know who he married, right? He’s not caught off guard or by surprise by any of the antics that he’s experiencing,” he adds.

What Marcellus needs to do right now, Virgil argues, is pursue a “walk with Christ.”

“The occult and all that — that’s on the periphery. That’s something to deal with later. What we need to get back to is where’s his walk with Christ? How can he present that and represent that to his spouse?” he emphasizes.

To hear more of the panel’s conversation, watch the video above.

Want more from Jason Whitlock?

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​Jason whitlock harmony, Jason whitlock, Spiritual warfare, Divorce, Marcellus wiley 

After more than three years of regulatory work and collaborations, the future may finally be here.

You’ll probably just have to travel a bit to participate.

‘Flying cars are coming, and the Jetson ONE is a first step towards that goal.’

In September 2025, tech entrepreneur Palmer Luckey was the first notable customer of the Jetson ONE, a personal aircraft right out of a sci-fi movie.

Luckey strapped in and went for a ride in the electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft, a term meaning the vehicle takes off and lands just like a helicopter would.

Less than a year later, the vehicle — dubbed the modern “flying car” by creator Jetson — has been approved for personal use in Italy.

Jetson announced the breakthrough last week after being granted the first official ultralight identification number in Italy for an eVTOL, which means it is no longer considered an experimental craft and is under the same operational guidelines as an ultralight helicopter.

The craft is powered by eight electric motors and can fly for up to 20 minutes on lithium-ion batteries. The Jetson ONE moves at a top speed of 63 mph and can carry a pilot who weighs up to 210 pounds.

RELATED: You can now buy a real-life Jetsons vehicle for the same price as a luxury car

Jetson ONE

In order for the craft to be flown, the pilot needs to hold an Italian microlight aircraft license and medical certificate.

As explained by Aero Club Pavullo, which operates under the authority of Aero Club Italia, students must take 32 hours worth of theory classes, usually once a week for two hours, before obtaining a license.

The course also includes a medical certificate of physical fitness and 16 flight hours. Pilots must be at least 16 years old, and the course costs approximately $4,274.

Jetson said the company received over 680 pre-orders for the aircraft, which came with an $8,000 down payment for the $148,000 Jetson ONE.

“We have worked relentlessly over the past three years to unlock the market in Italy and, in doing so, open the door for citizens across Europe to experience the freedom and excitement of personal flight,” CEO Stéphan D’haene said in a press release.

RELATED: Elon Musk to reveal flying car next year

D’haene explained that his company worked closely with the Italian aero club to establish a practical pathway for the personal vehicles within an already-existing regulatory framework. This makes the vehicle a much easier sell and gives the Jetson ONE “full ultralight privileges.”

Founder Tomasz Patan said his vehicle plays a much-needed role in the public acceptance of vehicles of this type.

“We bridge the gap between sci-fi and reality. Flying cars are coming, and the Jetson ONE is a first step towards that goal,” Patan stated.

The company boasted that with over 85 pilots trained so far, it has tracked real flight and systems data to give policymakers reassurance that its flight system is safe.

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​Jetson, Personal aircraft, Italy, Tech, Palmer luckey, Flying car 

The name Rupert Lowe will probably be unfamiliar to many Americans. To look at him, the former Reform U.K. member of parliament is the quintessential English gentleman — a farmer who breeds pedigree cattle amid the rolling hills of Gloucestershire, looking every bit the part in a waxed jacket and muddy Wellington boots.

Behind the pastoral image, however, lies one of Britain’s most controversial political figures.

Restore proposes what Lowe describes as ‘the most ambitious program of mass deportations ever seen’ in Britain.

No friend of Farage

Reform U.K. suspended Lowe in March 2025 over allegations of workplace bullying before eventually expelling him from the party. Lowe has always maintained the allegations were politically motivated, arguing he was forced out because he took a harder line on immigration than the party leadership. He has since accused Nigel Farage of running Reform with a “messianic” leadership style that sidelines anyone viewed as a threat.

Following his expulsion, Lowe spent the next year sitting in the House of Commons as an independent MP for Great Yarmouth. During that political exile, he quietly laid the groundwork for a comeback, launching Restore Britain as a pressure group before registering it as a political party in early 2026. On March 23, Lowe officially entered parliament as Restore Britain’s sole MP.

The new party occupies territory to the right of Reform, embracing policies — including mass deportations — that Farage has been reluctant to endorse.

That split soon attracted one of the world’s most influential political voices.

‘Weak sauce’

After initially expressing support for Reform, Elon Musk publicly broke with Farage, saying he “doesn’t have what it takes” and describing his leadership as “weak sauce.” Musk instead backed Lowe, dramatically increasing Restore Britain’s online profile.

Within months, the party claimed more than one million social media followers and roughly 130,000 members — surpassing the Conservative Party’s reported membership. In July, Lowe became the first British politician to appear on “The Joe Rogan Experience,” introducing his movement to millions of viewers outside Britain.

If Reform seeks to channel public frustration, Restore Britain aims to dismantle the political consensus that has governed Britain for decades.

Its central objective is reversing what supporters call the “Boriswave” — the surge in migration that followed Brexit. Between 2021 and 2024, roughly 2.6 million people arrived in Britain. Under current law, many migrants become eligible for Indefinite Leave to Remain after five years, opening a pathway to welfare benefits and eventually British citizenship.

Ready to remigrate

Restore proposes removing access to state benefits for ILR holders in an effort to encourage voluntary departures while also promising what Lowe describes as “the most ambitious program of mass deportations ever seen” in Britain. The party’s proposed “remigration” policy would prioritize deporting foreign nationals who commit crimes, rely on welfare, cannot speak English, or live in social housing.

Restore also advocates ending voting rights and eligibility for public office for foreign nationals at every level of government. Supporters argue the proposal would reduce sectarian politics and ensure elected officials remain primarily accountable to British citizens rather than recent immigrant communities.

The party points to cases such as Labour MPs Tahir Ali and Mohammad Yasin, who urged Pakistan’s prime minister to support construction of an international airport in Mirpur, as examples of lawmakers prioritizing overseas interests while representing British constituencies.

Kissing cousins

Restore also pushes beyond Reform on cultural issues.

One example is cousin marriage. Although Farage has expressed support for bans adopted elsewhere in Europe, he has stopped short of proposing one for Britain.

Restore explicitly supports banning the practice. The party argues that cousin marriage reinforces clan-based social structures, slows integration, and contributes to elevated rates of inherited genetic disorders within some communities. Critics of the practice frequently cite data from the Born in Bradford study, in which researchers have documented unusually high rates of certain inherited conditions associated with consanguineous marriage.

The party has taken similarly uncompromising positions elsewhere. It supports banning the burqa and niqab in public and ending religious exemptions that permit halal and kosher slaughter without prior stunning, arguing both policies are necessary to strengthen national cohesion and reinforce what it considers British values.

RELATED: Pakistani cousin marriage has no place in UK

Bloomberg/Getty Images

‘I don’t care’

Another issue that has helped define Restore Britain is Britain’s long-running grooming gang scandal, in which organized groups of men sexually exploited and raped vulnerable children. Many of the country’s most notorious cases — including Rotherham, Rochdale, and Huddersfield — involved gangs of men of Pakistani heritage.

Although the government’s statutory inquiry followed Baroness Louise Casey’s independent review, Lowe has sought to make the scandal central to Restore’s political identity. The party funded its own inquiry, pressed ministers to preserve evidence for the official investigation, and argues that years of institutional reluctance to confront the offenders’ backgrounds reflected a broader failure of Britain’s political establishment. Supporters credit Lowe with helping keep public attention on the issue, while critics contend Restore has used it to advance its wider political agenda.

Such positions have predictably drawn fierce criticism.

The Daily Mail and the Telegraph have both published investigations into Restore Britain’s candidates and supporters. Critics argue the scrutiny reflects legitimate questions about the party’s leadership and membership. Restore supporters see something different: an establishment campaign designed to halt the movement before it can gain traction.

Academic and former Reform candidate Matt Goodwin likewise dismissed many of those leaving Reform for Restore, describing them in an interview with Spiked as “the wrong kinds of people, who hold the wrong kinds of ideas.” He characterized many critics of Reform as “amateurs, egomaniacs, zoomers with very little political experience.”

Lowe’s response has since become something of a rallying cry for his supporters.

“I don’t care.”

​Elon musk, Joe rogan, Nigel farage, Reform uk, Restore britain, Rupert lowe, Remigration, Immigration, Grooming gangs, Letter from the uk 

Ellen Read, a Democratic member of New Hampshire’s House of Representatives, appears to have a lead foot.

Read was twice stopped for speeding down Interstate 93 in recent years — once on Dec. 2, 2024, allegedly going 107 mph, and again on June 5, 2025, allegedly going 92 mph, according to court records reviewed by the Boston Globe.

‘It isn’t diplomatic immunity.’

Read, the same leftist lawmaker who solicited the Satanic Temple’s Baphomet display at the state house ahead of Christmas 2024, apparently has some confusion over whether the traffic laws her constituents have to obey similarly apply to her.

The Democrat is urging the New Hampshire Supreme Court to permit her to appeal her speeding tickets partly on the grounds that she supposedly cannot be stopped and ticketed because of “legislative privilege.”

Read’s legal representative, Dana Albrecht, suggested in a recent petition to the state’s high court that the Democrat’s speeding before or after being at the state house is akin to a police officer or EMT flouting speed limits while rushing to an emergency.

“A law enforcement officer who exceeds the speed limit en route to an emergency is not prosecuted — not because officers are above the law, but because the conduct is analyzed in light of the official function,” wrote Albrecht, who is not an attorney. “An emergency medical technician who runs a red light to reach a patient is judged by the same functional standard.”

“The question presented is whether a sitting legislator, traveling to or from the General Court in the exercise of a privilege expressly conferred by N.H. Const. pt. II, art. 21, is entitled to the same analysis — not greater protection, but equal protection,” wrote Albrecht.

RELATED: Democrats’ Maine mess puts insiders back in charge

Michael Siluk/UCG/Universal Images Group/Getty Images

The New Hampshire Constitution states that “no member of the House of Representatives, or Senate shall be arrested, or held to bail, on mesne process, during his going to, returning from, or attendance upon, the Court.”

New Hampshire state Rep. Mike Belcher (R) told Blaze News, “It’s a terrible misrepresentation of the provision. It exists to prevent coercion of lawmakers regarding their business. It isn’t diplomatic immunity.”

“I don’t think anyone in the general public believes that just because a state rep is traveling to or from session that they are immune to committing any violation or crime,” Major Christopher Bashaw of the Rockingham County Sheriff’s Office told the Globe. “That would be absurd to think that somebody could cause an accident and kill somebody and not be held accountable.”

When pulled over in 2024 after allegedly being clocked going 107 mph in her Toyota Yaris through a 65-mph zone, Read told a deputy that she was headed home to Woburn, Massachusetts, after serving in her legislative capacity at the state house, said Bashaw.

Even though driving over 100 mph constitutes possible evidence of reckless operation, an arrestable offense, Bashaw told the Globe that Read was only issued a citation and permitted to leave.

While she was not arrested, Read — who has reportedly raked in a small fortune via mileage reimbursement claims allegedly including for days when the House was not in session, her committee had no meetings, and/or she appears to have been absent — has nevertheless framed the traffic stop and associated charges as violations of the state constitution regarding lawmakers’ unhindered travel to and from the legislature.

Last year, Read tried unsuccessfully to have the charge for the 2024 incident — where she had been found guilty of negligent driving, fined, and threatened with having her driver’s license suspended pending another speeding violation within two years — thrown out. She has kept the fight against accountability alive, however.

In April 2026, Albrecht filed a petition with the New Hampshire Supreme Court relating primarily to the June 2025 incident where a different deputy allegedly caught Read driving 92 mph in a 65-mph zone. Read allegedly berated the deputy and claimed the deputy lacked the authority to stop her, Bashaw said.

The petition, which reportedly leaned on the argument in the new filing that state lawmakers are shielded from traffic stops, was denied last month, but Albrecht subsequently filed a petition asking the New Hampshire Supreme Court to reconsider.

If the state’s high court doesn’t spare the Democrat from accountability, then she could potentially lose her license. A hearing is scheduled for Aug. 12 to assess the deferred component of her sentence in the 2024 case.

Read told Blaze News that it is “fallacious to say the case was appealed to the Supreme Court. There was a motion to VACATE to the Supreme Court because of the inability to get a fair trial in district court.”

She noted further that while the constitutional provision was mentioned in her case, “AT NO POINT has anyone anywhere attempted to argue that this provision protects the legislator from a ticket or arrest or prosecution … or even stopped up until the person is identified as a legislator on their way to session. It does not.”

According to Read, “A legislator can still be pulled over until the situation is assessed … and ticketed, arrested, or prosecuted, once they arrive at their destination and are no longer commuting to and from duties.”

The Democrat — who said her Toyota Yaris “cannot go 107 mph” — acknowledged, however, that her legal representative has argued the constitutionality of the stop “as part of the defense against a retaliatory and unsubstantiated 107-miles-an-hour reckless driving charge.”

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​New hampshire, Ellen read, Democrat, Speeding, Satanic, Politics 

The Fort Bend County Sheriff’s Office said they arrested a local mayor this week for charges that included illegal voting and other fraud.

Arcola Mayor Fred Burton, 68, spent a night in jail over the two counts of illegal voting, misuse of information, tampering with a government record, and fraudulently securing document execution, according to an indictment released Wednesday. He faces a separate indictment in connection with a city contract.

In the 2026 election where Burton took back the mayor’s office from Williams, he received 101 total votes, and she received 79 votes.

Prosecutors say Burton allegedly made two city council members sign fraudulent checks totaling at least $30,000 in 2023.

Burton also allegedly attempted to help people vote in the Arcola election despite knowing they did not live in the city, during this year’s election and the election in 2025, according to the indictment.

The mayor made headlines in April 2024 when he claimed that someone had sent him a noose in the mail as a racist threat during a contentious political disagreement. The threatening package had been sent to Burton at Arcola City Hall as he was running for his fourth term as mayor.

“I pulled out it said, ‘Get out of this race now!!'” Burton said at the time. “It’s a slap. Especially on a black man’s face that he has to open up mail like that and see something like that. I thought we were better than that as a society.”

The chief of police said they were contacting the Federal Bureau of Investigation over the incident.

“This (election) has been the most, I guess, if you will, nasty. But I won’t let that situation, that mail, I won’t let those type of racial, if you will, throwbacks, affect me in this race,” Burton added.

In June 2025, when he was on the city council, he was recorded having a tense altercation with the then-mayor of the city, Veeda Williams, and her cousin.

RELATED: Pastor arrested for allegedly forging signatures for Democratic primary

Burton is a four-time mayor of the city, serving three consecutive terms between 2018 and 2024 before being elected again this year.

All of the city council members and the city of Arcola declined to comment on the mayor’s arrest, according to KTRK.

In response to a request for comment, Burton told Blaze News: “Please know that we plan to let this process and all questions be answered in court.”

The Fort Bend County District Attorney’s office said that for just one charge of illegal voting, Burton could face between two and 20 years in prison if convicted.

Arcola is a city of about 2,000 residents. In the 2026 mayoral election where Burton defeated Williams, he received 101 total votes, and she received 79 votes.

Editor’s note: This article has been edited after publication to include a statement from Mayor Burton.

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​Voter fraud, Federal bureau of investigation, Arcola, Texas, Politics 

Yes, you read that headline correctly.

University of California, San Francisco Chancellor Sam Hawgood appeared to suggest during testimony before the House Committee on Education and Workforce on Tuesday that some pregnancies occur in people who are not women.

‘Insane doesn’t even begin to describe this testimony.’

Throughout the hearing — titled “Training Activists, Not Physicians: The Impact of DEI on Medical Schools” — Republican lawmakers grilled officials from the University of California, Los Angeles, UC San Francisco, and the University of Illinois on the “woke ideology” that has “infected” medical schools. Republicans argued that DEI initiatives have influenced medical school admissions, hiring, curriculum, and responses to anti-Semitism on campus.

Rep. Mary Miller (R-Ill.) confronted Hawgood on UCSF’s “Framework for Gender and Sex Concepts in Teaching” guide that advises against using the term “pregnant women,” instead opting for “pregnant people.”

When Miller asked the difference between the two, Hawgood defended the guide as part of a curriculum designed to prepare medical students “who are facing a wide diversity of patients,” adding, “Of course, the vast majority of pregnancies are in women. And I have absolutely no problem with using the word pregnant women.”

Miller snapped back with the obvious question: “Has a non-biological woman ever had a baby?”

“A transgender person can,” Hawgood proclaimed.

RELATED: Parents speak out about transgender nightmare in Washington state

The interaction has since gone viral on social media, catching the attention of prominent conservative voices.

“Ideology corrupting science and medicine, example # too many to count,” Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis wrote in reaction to the clip.

Bill Ackman, the billionaire hedge fund manager who has been in the spotlight for butting heads with New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani (D), had just one word: “Crazy.”

Steve Guest, former special communications adviser for Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), said, “Insane doesn’t even begin to describe this testimony. The emperor has no clothes. And academia still can’t see it.”

RELATED: Two women pregnant after sex with transgender inmate at female-only prison in NJ

Fox News’ Sean Hannity quoted Miller’s subsequent interaction with the Dean of UCLA’s medical school, Steven Dubinett, who refused to provide a direct answer to the question “Can someone have a uterus but not be a woman?”

Miller reacted to the exchange on X, writing, “Here’s a fun fact for Dr. Steve Dubinett: Someone with a uterus is a woman.”

Hawgood did not respond to Blaze News’ request for comment.

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​Medical schools, Pregnant women, Woke ideology, House committee, Transgender, Dei, Ron desantis, Bill ackman, Politics 

Foreign aid programs historically operated largely out of the public eye.

Now, according to State Department spokesperson Thomas Pigott, that era is over — and for good reason.

In an interview with Blaze Media co-founder Glenn Beck, Pigott explained that USAID previously “had a fundamental complete lack of accountability.”

“That’s why we wanted to bring USAID under the State Department, identify those programs,” he says.

“We would have circumstances where USAID was doing a program in a certain country that ran counter to the policy of the duly elected president of the United States, ran counter to the foreign policy in that country. You had a tremendous amount of USAID programs that were simply fueling an NGO industrial complex,” he explains.

“And this NGO industrial complex wasn’t actually addressing many of the problems we want to address, but instead was funding things that were counter to the United States,” he adds.

According to Pigott, they would fund organizations that wanted open borders and were trying to pressure the U.S. against adopting policies that would secure the border.

“So we’re addressing this and making sure that when we have programs, we’re actually having programs that further our foreign policy. It’s common sense. It’s how our system should work,” he says.

Fundamental to ensuring our foreign policy is prioritized, Pigott says, is “accountability.”

“We know where the money is going. And also, we’re able to spend it faster. If you look at our disaster response in Venezuela, for example, we are seeing a massive response to Venezuela, showing the effectiveness of a program when you have it aligned with your foreign policy and in the State Department,” he explains.

The State Department is also tackling censorship, as Pigott tells Glenn that going after the censorship industrial complex is another one of the State Department’s priorities.

“We have actually eliminated certain organizations from the beginning within the State Department that were actively censoring the American people. We’ve also taken action at the State Department for when other countries pass laws that do what’s called extra-territorial censorship,” he explains.

“So they pass a law, but their laws end up censoring American speech. That is unacceptable,” he says, adding, “So we’re going to protect freedom of speech.”

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​Censorship industrial complex, Foreign aid programs, Freedom of speech, Glenn beck, Ngo industrial complex, State department spokesperson, Thomas pigott, The glenn beck program