Stembridge News Digest

  • ‘National emergency’: Trump cancels bill signing until SAVE America Act passes Wed, 24 Jun 2026 17:13:47 +0000


    President Donald Trump announced Wednesday that he would delay the signing ceremony for a major bill until lawmakers pass the SAVE America Act.

    Just over an hour before he was scheduled to sign the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, Trump wrote on Truth Social that he would not sign the legislation on Wednesday. The bill aims to increase the nation’s housing supply and boost affordability by expanding available financing and providing grants for community developments.

    'It has been stuck in the Senate, and here’s why: because no Democrat in the House or Senate will vote for the SAVE America Act.'

    The housing act passed the Senate by an 85-5 vote on Monday and the House in a 358-32 vote on Tuesday. The bill had complete Democratic support from those who voted, and the only dissenting votes were from Republicans.

    “Today’s Housing News Conference and Signing is hereby cancelled until such time as we pass the desperately needed SAVE AMERICA ACT, which I consider to be a National Emergency. Thank you for your attention to this matter! President DJT,” Trump wrote.

    The SAVE America Act aims to end noncitizen voting by requiring documentary proof of U.S. citizenship when registering to vote in a federal election. The form of identification must comply with the REAL ID Act of 2005, such as a U.S. passport, military ID, birth certificate, or other government-issued photo ID.

    RELATED: Trump takes action to secure elections against voter fraud — Democrats already plan to shut it down

    Brendan SMIALOWSKI/AFP/Getty Images

    House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) stated Wednesday that the top priority is passing the SAVE America Act, which he plans to push through a third budget reconciliation bill.

    “It has been stuck in the Senate, and here’s why: because no Democrat in the House or Senate will vote for the SAVE America Act,” Johnson stated during a press briefing.

    RELATED: America desperately needs better election security

    Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

    Johnson stated that “the only path” to get the act passed is to “put it on a reconciliation bill."

    “We believe that if you create a grant program that ties it to reconciling the budget, and you allow blue states, if they come to their senses and they want to avail themselves of election integrity proposals and ideas and policies, they can draw down from a federal fund and use those funds. We’re willing to invest heavily in that, and House Republicans will put together a reconciliation bill, reconciliation 3.0, that will have that,” Johnson said. “I talked the president through that in detail this morning, as I have in the past, and he said, ‘Can we do it?’ I said, ‘We can, if the Republicans will stand together.’ We’re on the line right now to defend it.”

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  • The latest 'solution' to reckless driving could limit freedom for all of us Wed, 24 Jun 2026 17:00:00 +0000


    If a driver is so dangerous that the government needs to electronically control his car, why is he still allowed to drive?

    That's the question New York lawmakers don't seem interested in answering.

    Today the threshold is 16 violations. Tomorrow it could be 10.

    Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) recently signed legislation requiring certain repeat speeding offenders to install GPS-based speed-limiting technology in their vehicles. Under the new law, drivers who rack up 16 or more speed-camera violations within a year can be ordered to install an Intelligent Speed Limiter that prevents their vehicle from exceeding posted speed limits. Drivers who refuse can ultimately lose their vehicle registration.

    Reckless legislation

    At first glance, the proposal sounds reasonable. Most Americans agree that chronic reckless drivers should face serious consequences. But the real question is not whether dangerous drivers deserve punishment. The real question is why someone with 16 speeding violations still has driving privileges in the first place.

    New York already has speeding laws. It already has fines, insurance penalties, license points, court appearances, and suspension mechanisms. If a driver has accumulated enough violations to be considered such a serious threat that the state now wants to electronically control their vehicle, then why weren't existing laws sufficient to remove that driver from the road?

    That question goes directly to the heart of the issue. Rather than addressing the apparent failure of existing enforcement systems, lawmakers have chosen to create an entirely new layer of technology, surveillance, and government oversight. Instead of asking why repeat offenders remain licensed, they're asking the public to accept the idea that government should have a greater role in controlling privately owned vehicles.

    That's a significant shift, and it deserves far more scrutiny than it has received.

    Pre-crime preview

    The legislation relies on Intelligent Speed Assistance technology, commonly referred to as ISA. The system uses GPS data and digital mapping to determine the posted speed limit on a roadway and can prevent a vehicle from exceeding that speed. Unlike traditional enforcement, where a driver is punished after breaking the law, this technology is designed to intervene before the driver can make the decision.

    The automotive industry is already moving toward an unprecedented level of connectivity. Modern vehicles collect enormous amounts of information. They receive over-the-air software updates, communicate with manufacturers, monitor driving behavior, and increasingly operate as rolling computers. Consumers have already watched vehicle ownership evolve into something that looks increasingly like a subscription service, with features activated remotely and software determining how products function.

    Now government is entering the equation with technology designed to control how a vehicle operates.

    That should concern anyone who values personal privacy and consumer rights.

    Starting small

    Supporters insist the law applies only to a small group of repeat offenders. That's true today. The problem is that government programs rarely remain confined to their original scope. Nearly every major regulatory program begins with a narrowly defined target. Politicians identify a group that few people are willing to defend, implement a new policy, and assure the public that the measure will be limited. Once the infrastructure exists, however, expanding it becomes significantly easier than creating it.

    Today the threshold is 16 violations. Tomorrow it could be 10. Later it could be expanded to fleet vehicles, commercial operators, or other categories of drivers. Once the principle is accepted, the debate shifts from whether government should have this authority to how broadly it should be applied.

    Imperfect technology

    The practical questions surrounding this law are equally troubling. GPS technology is useful, but it is not infallible. Speed-limit databases are not always current. Construction zones change. Temporary restrictions appear. Road conditions evolve faster than mapping systems can update.

    What happens when the speed-limit database is wrong? What happens when a roadway has recently changed and the system hasn't been updated? What happens when a driver needs rapid acceleration to avoid an accident?

    These are not hypothetical concerns. They are the types of real-world situations automotive engineers consider every day. Yet lawmakers frequently discuss speed-limiting technology as though vehicles operate in a controlled environment where every situation can be anticipated by software. The reality is far more complicated.

    RELATED: Gone in 60 seconds: How high-tech thieves can steal your car

    Jeff Greenberg/Getty Images

    Punishing cars, not drivers

    Then there is the issue of fairness.

    One of the most overlooked aspects of this legislation is its reliance on camera enforcement. Traditional traffic stops identify the driver. Automated camera systems identify the vehicle. Those are not the same thing. Families share cars. Businesses operate fleets. Vehicles are borrowed, rented, and loaned every day. Yet policymakers continue to build enforcement systems around the vehicle itself rather than the individual behind the wheel.

    That distinction matters because accountability should be directed at the person responsible for the behavior, not simply the machine involved.

    There is also a financial component that deserves attention. Installation costs for these systems can run into the thousands of dollars, with additional fees for monitoring, maintenance, administration, and compliance. Government officials often frame these costs as penalties for offenders, but every new regulatory program creates opportunities for vendors, contractors, software providers, installers, and administrators.

    Whenever government mandates a new technology, there is almost always an industry waiting to benefit from it.

    New York is hardly alone in pursuing this approach. Washington State has adopted its own Intelligent Speed Assistance requirements for certain offenders. Virginia and Washington, D.C., have moved in a similar direction, while Illinois lawmakers have advanced proposals involving mandatory speed-limiting technology. What once appeared to be an isolated experiment is rapidly becoming a national trend.

    As more states adopt similar programs, lawmakers should answer a basic question: Why create a technological workaround instead of enforcing the penalties already available under existing law?

    Accountability ... or control?

    The answer may be uncomfortable. Suspending licenses removes the driver from the system. Technological monitoring keeps the driver in the system while creating new layers of oversight and control. One approach focuses on accountability. The other focuses on management.

    Those are fundamentally different philosophies.

    New York's "super speeder" law is being sold as a narrowly targeted safety measure. Maybe that's how it begins. The larger concern is where it ends. Once government gains the authority to electronically regulate how privately owned vehicles operate, future expansions become much easier to justify.

    The most important question isn't whether a driver with 16 violations deserves punishment. It's whether Americans are comfortable creating the technological infrastructure that allows government to control how a privately owned vehicle operates.

    Today, lawmakers call it a solution for super speeders. Tomorrow, it could become something much broader.

  • Georgia's questionable election system is here to stay for the midterms Wed, 24 Jun 2026 16:30:00 +0000


    As an important deadline approaches for Georgia to fix problems with its election system, a special legislative session has come to a close. Yet the solution the legislature came to has left a potential flaw on the table for the upcoming midterms.

    Republican Gov. Brian Kemp called a special session last week to resolve a looming issue with the state's election system, which currently uses QR codes to tabulate election results.

    The QR code system was first implemented statewide in the 2020 election.

    According to the Georgia Recorder, a state law passed in 2024 banned the use of QR codes. The ban was set to take effect on July 1, resulting in an impending crisis for the 2026 midterms absent a solution this month.

    The QR code system was first implemented statewide in the 2020 election, according to WSPA.

    RELATED: 'Hammer Down!' Trump-backed favorite wins Georgia Republican Senate runoff

    Georgia Governor Brian KempDerek White/Getty Images for the Coca Cola Company

    With just a week before the deadline, the special legislative session concluded with the successful passage of Senate Bill 3EX, which, among other things, postpones the looming deadline to find a replacement system until after the 2026 midterms.

    The new bill, if Gov. Kemp signs it, will establish a new Elections Equipment Specifications and Standards Committee charged with forming and implementing a system to replace the current system. However, the QR code system will remain in place.

    Blaze News reached out to Kemp's office for comment.

    This bill, which Republican state Rep. Victor Anderson told the Associated Press was "the culmination of a lot of work," is nonetheless "not the ultimate solution."

    “This bill solves an immediate conflict we have and lays out a path to achieve the most election integrity, the most accuracy, the most transparency that we can have going forward when we implement the next uniform voting system in Georgia," he said.

    Republicans and Democrats fought over the extent to which hand-counting ballots could be used in the future. Democrats often oppose hand-counts, citing the extended waiting periods and extra costs.

    “The question before us is not whether we support election integrity. Of course we do,” Democratic state Rep. Debra Bazemore told the AP. “The question is whether the bill actually improves election integrity or whether it creates a new opportunity to cast doubt on legitimate election results. I believe it does the latter.”

    CBS News reported that the Georgia Senate passed the state House-amended bill after a failed attempt at passing additional amendments in the upper chamber.

    The House passed the bill 94-79. The Senate eventually passed the bill 36-16.

    The committee would be required to present its findings by January 31, 2027. The new deadline for ending the current system would be January 1, 2028.

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  • Mormon parents fight woke school district over alleged LGBTQ propaganda in California despite SCOTUS ruling Wed, 24 Jun 2026 16:12:47 +0000


    A Mormon couple seeking to protect their children from radical gender ideology were allegedly notified by Sunnyvale School District in Santa Clara County that LGBTQ instruction was "not optional and is not subject to parent opt-out provisions."

    The district allegedly gave this notice after — and apparently with full knowledge of — the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Mahmoud v. Taylor, in which the high court held that a Maryland school district's policy of withholding from parents notice of LGBT propaganda sessions and forbidding opt-outs constituted "an unconstitutional burden" on the parents' religious exercise.

    'The school boards will continue to defy the SCOTUS ruling, gaslight, lie, and deflect.'

    The district also allegedly denied the Mormon parents an opt-out after the California Department of Education acknowledged in its August 2025 guidance that the "fundamental holding" in Mahmoud was that schools must provide parents with the opportunity to opt their children out of policies or exposure to material that schools have "reason to know will 'substantially interfere'" with parents' religious rights.

    Unwilling to surrender their children's hearts and minds to the apparent LGBT propagandists at SSD's Cumberland Elementary School, Justin and Rose Taylor — represented by the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, a nonprofit law firm focused on protecting religious freedoms that won the Mahmoud case before SCOTUS — filed a lawsuit on Monday against the district in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

    The Taylors — the proud parents of four children, including a rising third-grade son and a rising first-grade daughter at Cumberland Elementary School — said in a statement, "Our children are the most cherished part of our lives."

    "We know and love them best and should be the ones deciding when and how they learn about sensitive topics regarding sexuality and gender," continued the parents. "Fortunately, the Supreme Court has recognized that right for religious parents nationwide."

    RELATED: Critics blast Chicago mayor for pushing 'transfemicide' 'gibberish' amid deadly shootings

    PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP/Getty Images

    "California school districts have been putting LGBTQ propaganda in front of students for close to 20 years," Alvin Lui, president of the parental rights advocacy group Courage Is a Habit, told Blaze News. "They're just now much more emboldened. I'm ecstatic to see these parents make an example out of the Sunnyvale School District."

    The lawsuit claims that "Sunnyvale's denial violates parents' constitutional rights to direct the education and upbringing of their children in accordance with their sincerely held religious beliefs," and asks the court to:

    • enter a declaration that the SSD's alleged refusal to afford the parents a right to "opt out from LGBTQ+ instruction, including the forced reading of the District’s recommended LGBTQ+ storybooks, violates the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment";
    • enter a declaration that forcing the Taylors to "educate their children, read,and/or speak consistently with the perspectives contained in the LGBTQ+ instruction, and compelling Plaintiffs’ children to accept one viewpoint to the exclusion of all others violates their rights under the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment";
    • enter a declaration that "forcing students, over their parents’ objection, to read or listen to the LGBTQ+ instruction violates the Taylors’ rights under the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment";
    • grant preliminary and permanent injunctions prohibiting the school from forcing the kids to participate in the LGBT propaganda sessions; and
    • award the parents damages for loss of their rights under federal law.

    The SSD did not respond to Blaze News' request for comment.

    The lawsuit details some of the LGBT agitprop allegedly pushed by the SSD, noting that its curriculum "integrates LGBTQ+ history, representation, and examples throughout instructional units to show 'diverse backgrounds, identities, experiences, and abilities, including those who are lesbian, gay, genderqueer, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning, intersex, asexual (LGBTQIA).'"

    This propaganda is apparently foisted upon students at all grade levels.

    The "LGBTQ+ Teaching Guide" issued by the Santa Clara County Office of Education, which oversees Sunnyvale, discusses how to incorporate LGBT propaganda into virtually every subject.

    Math teachers, for instance, are told in the guide to "use problems that relate to marriage equality, gender-neutral bathrooms, and LGBTQ+ rights to demonstrate mathematical concepts such as statistics, probability, and geometry."

    Science and health teachers are told to champion "gender-inclusive biology" — in which, for example, "ovaries" are substituted in for "women" so as not to suggest a link between womanhood and female reproductive organs.

    This guidance — which has been embraced by Sunnyvale — even quoted LGBTQ activist Barbara Gittings: "The struggle is really won in the hearts and minds of the community, where it really counts."

    The Taylors' lawsuit highlights a number of the agitprop materials allegedly used by the SSD in its LGBT instruction including a book that changes the lyrics of "The Wheels on the Bus" to lyrics celebrating drag titled "The Hips on the Drag Queen Go Swish, Swish, Swish" and "Pride Puppy," a book that tasks 3- and 4-year-old students with searching for items they might find at a non-straight parade — including transvestite activists, underwear, leather, "intersex flag," and feathers.

    The LGBT instruction under way in Sunnyvale is of the same type addressed in Mahmoud, claimed the lawsuit.

    The Taylors' lawsuit alleges that while SSD initially appeared willing to permit opt-outs, "Sunnyvale abruptly flipped its position" and "affirmatively disclaimed its constitutional responsibility to afford families what the First Amendment requires."

    Sunnyvale stated in a letter to the Taylors that it was "not granting opt-outs from LGBTQ+-inclusive curriculum or storybooks that are part of our adopted educational program."

    The district added in its letter that "the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Mahmoud v. Taylor ... addressed a specific set of facts in another state" and neither created a "general or automatic right for parents to opt their children out of required curriculum" nor overrode "California's statutory requirements governing instructional content."

    Becket said that "Sunnyvale’s defiance was no accident. After Mahmoud came down, Sunnyvale told its teachers to 'resist pressures' that might get in the way of its curriculum."

    However, Michael O'brien, counsel at Becket and lead attorney for the Taylors, underscored that "the Constitution doesn't come with a California carve-out."

    One of the defendants, SSD director of student support services Paul Slayton, said in a statement obtained by the Press Democrat, "The district was surprised to learn that the Taylor family had filed a lawsuit, particularly given the positive and productive discussions that took place following the family’s initial concerns."

    "We will continue to approach this matter with professionalism and care," added Slayton.

    "When the Mahmoud decision came out from the SCOTUS, like everyone in our space, we were very happy," Alvin Lui told Blaze News. "However, the first thing we did was warn parents that schools, and especially school counselors, will not honor that decision."

    "The school boards will continue to defy the SCOTUS ruling, gaslight, lie, and deflect. They'll try to wear parents down so they can continue to put obscene LGBTQ materials in front of children as young as possible."

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  • Last summer's teen hiring market was the worst on record. Alarming report shows it's about to get even worse — here's why. Wed, 24 Jun 2026 14:45:00 +0000


    For generations, landing a summer job has been a traditional American rite of passage. Whether working at a local ice cream shop, a neighborhood grocery store, or an amusement park, teenagers have their very first taste of being a part of the workforce. However, a new report shows that teens are facing the toughest hiring market since the government began tracking the data in 1948.

    The traditional summer job that generations of American teenagers have relied on is facing its grimmest outlook in nearly eight decades.

    'That is exactly the kind of work teens depend on.'

    Challenger, Gray, and Christmas — a Chicago-based workforce consulting company — released a recent forecast revealing the troubling summer employment outlook that teens are grappling with.

    Citing data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the report noted that last summer's teen hiring total plummeted to its lowest level since the government began tracking the data in 1948. In 2025, teen summer hiring hit rock bottom at 801,000 positions — the worst figure in the 77-year history of tracking by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

    However, this summer's job forecast for teenagers is even more dire. In an alarming projection, Challenger, Gray, and Christmas warns that employers will offer teens 790,000 jobs in May, June, and July 2026.

    The previous documented low point occurred in 1949 during post-war demobilization, when teen hiring dropped to 932,000. In 2010, the total number of teenage jobs fell to 960,000, when the economic recovery from the Great Recession dragged on.

    Fortune reported that federal data shows that approximately one-third of 16- to 19-year-olds in the United States were employed last summer, noting that it is "down from a peak of about 60% in the late 1970s."

    The Wall Street Journal reported that applications for New York City's Summer Youth Employment Program this year have already shattered 2025's record of 200,000 candidates competing for just 100,000 slots.

    Meanwhile, advertisements for summer camp counselor positions on the Indeed jobs board have crashed by nearly 30% year-over-year, according to the WSJ.

    "Last summer was the weakest summer for teen hiring we have ever recorded," said Andy Challenger, labor and workplace expert and chief revenue officer for Challenger, Gray, and Christmas.

    RELATED: The secret to Chick-fil-A's success has nothing to do with chicken

    Challenger stressed, "What is striking is that it happened without a recession."

    The report by Challenger, Gray, and Christmas cited "rising inflation, climbing oil prices, and a broadly cautious hiring environment" as factors contributing to the historically weak teen summer job forecast. The report also said artificial intelligence, automation, and older workers staying in the workforce later have hurt job prospects for teens.

    "Inflation and rising fuel costs are squeezing the same households and small businesses that hire teens, such as amusement parks, restaurants, retailers, and summer camps," Challenger continued. "When margins tighten, summer hirers will wait for demand to dictate hiring."

    Challenger said, "We predicted a quiet summer last year, and it played out even quieter than expected. The dynamics that drove that slowdown — cost pressures, automation, employers waiting to see how consumer demand holds up — are all still in place, and in some cases they’ve intensified."

    Non-seasonally adjusted data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed that there were 5,193,000 employed workers ages 16 to 19 in April. The report said the total is a noticeable drop from the figure from April 2025, which saw 5,487,000 teen workers on payrolls.

    Challenger pointed out, "When fewer teens are working in April, the late-spring catch-up usually doesn’t close the gap. June will be the most important month to watch, but the trajectory is already pointing down."

    Challenger, Gray, and Christmas reported, "Entertainment and leisure, which led the seasonal categories most relevant to teen hiring last year with 28,000 announced plans, has announced only 8,261 hiring plans through April of this year, a 70% drop."

    Challenger added, "The collapse in entertainment and leisure hiring announcements is one of the clearest signals we have for the summer."

    Challenger said jobs in places like theme parks, resorts, hotels, and events will "run leaner this year."

    "That is exactly the kind of work teens depend on," Challenger stated.

    The report said teenagers could find employment opportunities in agriculture, hospitality, and food service. The report claimed that in areas with crackdowns on illegal immigration could help American teens secure jobs.

    "Tighter labor supply in certain regions, particularly those most affected by ongoing immigration enforcement actions, continues to push some employers to lean more heavily on local teen workers," the report proclaimed.

    Challenger declared, "In the places where labor remains tight, teens can be a real solution."

    According to NewsNation, teenagers could find a "few bright spots" in summer employment, including lifeguards and working in retail.

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  • Trump MOCKS prolific MAGA-hater for getting 'CRUSHED' in Democratic primary Wed, 24 Jun 2026 14:45:00 +0000


    A virulent anti-Trump critic did very poorly in the Democratic primary election for an open seat representing Manhattan, and the president didn't hold back his mockery.

    George Conway, ex-husband of former Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway, was a Republican political strategist before President Donald Trump won election in 2016. He has since become a fierce opponent of the president and even helped found the Lincoln Project, an anti-Trump political organization.

    'This is a truly unattractive person, both inside and out. Have a nice life, George!'

    None of that helped Conway in the primary race for New York's 12th Congressional District, which had a crowded field of candidates that included a Kennedy scion.

    "Wow, Mr. Kellyanne Conway, a Trump Deranged Loser at the highest level, is getting absolutely CRUSHED in the Primaries tonight," the president wrote in a post on Truth Social, referring to Conway's defunct marriage.

    "He’ll end up at about 5% of the vote in a rather weak field of young and aggressive Communists," Trump added. "No wonder his 'husband' dumped him like a dog! This is a truly unattractive person, both inside and out. Have a nice life, George!"

    The Conway campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Blaze News.

    Kellyanne Conway was a Republican strategist who was Trump's campaign manager in 2016 and became a passionate supporter of his policies.

    Kellyanne Conway left the Trump campaign just a few months ahead of the 2020 election. The Conways announced their divorce in March 2023 after two decades of marriage.

    The primary election was called for New York state Assembly Member Micah Lasher, who garnered 39% of the vote with 87% of the ballots counted. Conway had gotten support from only 6% of the vote at that point.

    Jack Kennedy Schlossberg, 33, also performed poorly despite carrying the Kennedy name — he received only about 11% of the vote.

    RELATED: George Conway publicly chides Kellyanne Conway while she defends Trump

    Lasher is a longtime Democrat who promised to "revamp and recharge the Democratic Party in Washington" after his victory.

    He added that his goal was to show his party has "bold new ideas to improve the lives of struggling Americans and then deliver on them."

    Lasher will likely have an easy road to Congress, as two-thirds of the voters in the district are registered as Democrats.

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  • Hello Fresh's unappetizing 'Pride' ad exposes the sordid truth about gay 'marriage' Wed, 24 Jun 2026 14:30:00 +0000


    This month, Hello Fresh ran a Pride-themed ad campaign that seems far removed from the assurances many Americans heard during the same-sex marriage debate. Remember? "My marriage won't affect your marriage." "What consenting adults do in private is none of anyone's business."

    Many voters who supported same-sex marriage believed these assurances, understanding it as a request for legal recognition, not the beginning of a broader cultural project that would eventually permeate corporate branding, workplace policies, schools, and popular culture.

    Ordinary moms and grandmas just wanted their gay relatives to be happy. They were assured that redefining marriage would be harmless.

    But here we are, almost exactly 11 years since the Obergefell decision, and the most popular meal-kit delivery service in the country has brought gay sex out of the bedroom and right to the kitchen table.

    'Bottoms up'

    Now, I don't want to write about this any more than you want to read about it. But the unfortunate truth is that we can't afford to ignore it, no matter how distasteful we find it. Because if you and I won’t talk about these things on our terms, be assured, the sexual revolutionaries will talk about them on theirs.

    So here is the ad Hello Fresh posted on Instagram: “We know eating isn’t always a top priority this month. We respect that. But for those of you who are … prepping … we have an extensive lineup of high-fiber recipes available. Happy Pride.”

    Perhaps you are unfamiliar with the term “prepping.” In Megan Basham’s delicate translation: “For those not initiated into the sexual practices of gay men, let me help decipher what 'prepping' means. HelloFresh is saying that their product is useful for clearing out the rectum of feces in preparation for sodomy. Yes, that’s what it means.”

    The company later added a discount code: BOTTOMS UP.

    This tasteless Hello Fresh “Pride Month” campaign delivers your food with a side dish of unappetizing sexual innuendo, whether you ordered it or not.

    Hardly harmless

    What ever happened to that “gay marriage” deal about the privacy of the bedroom? Many people accepted that bargain in good faith. Ordinary moms and grandmas just wanted their gay relatives to be happy. They were assured that redefining marriage would be harmless.

    I was a campaign spokeswoman for Proposition 8 in California, the ballot initiative that defined marriage as the union of one man and one woman. I was involved in the marriage debates from Prop 8 in 2008 all the way to 2015 and the Obergefell decision. I distinctly remember that many leaders of the pro-marriage effort made a conscious decision not to talk about gay sex.

    “The gay marriage campaign is not about ‘gay.’ It’s about ‘marriage.’” This strategy suited a lot of us, including me. We didn’t want to talk about gay stuff at all, much less gay sex.

    We wanted to talk about the meaning and purposes of marriage, how marriage attaches mothers and fathers to their children and to one another. We wanted to talk about how redefining marriage would inevitably redefine parenthood.

    We feared that mentioning gay sex would gross people out. We didn’t want to offend the good, decent people who don’t want to talk about any sex in public, much less gay sex. We figured the first side to bring it up would lose.

    RELATED: Trans is the natural progression from ‘gay marriage’

    Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

    Sanitizing sodomy

    But there was a downside to this strategy. It allowed the gay lobby to sanitize the sexual activities of two men. The public was never asked to think about what gay men actually do together. Grandma could picture her grandson cuddling on the sofa with his boyfriend, listening to showtunes.

    I recall giving a talk at Stanford. In response to a question about “marriage equality,” I asked the student, “Is there any sexual act that would equally consummate the marriage of a male couple and a female couple and a man-woman couple?”

    The student thought for a minute. This was a new thought for her. She probably couldn’t imagine anyone getting married who hadn’t already performed the act that normally consummates a marriage, long before they walked down the aisle.

    She finally said, “Well, marriage doesn’t necessarily have to be a sexual relationship.” This is a tacit admission that there is no “equal” way of consummating these “marriages.”

    Intrinsically sterile

    Maybe avoiding “gay” was a good tactic at the time. But the marketing geniuses at Hello Fresh broke the tacit deal: What happens in the bedroom doesn’t stay in the bedroom. It was wishful thinking to believe that it would.

    Decent people prefer to keep a discreet lid on discussions of sex. Unfortunately, the sexual revolutionaries — be they gay, straight, nonbinary, or whatever — can’t shut up about it.

    The marital act between a man and a woman can bring forth new human life. The combination of oxytocin and vasopressin during sex creates bonds between the man and the woman.

    Neither babies nor bonding are part of the gay sex equation. Gay sex is intrinsically sterile. Gay sex is gross.

    There: I said it.

    But don’t forget who brought it up first.

  • Allie Beth Stuckey presses JD Vance: Why is the abortion pill still on the market? Wed, 24 Jun 2026 14:00:00 +0000


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

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

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

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


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

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

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

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

    Want more from Allie Beth Stuckey?

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

  • The right needs a public defender network for lawfare Wed, 24 Jun 2026 13:00:00 +0000


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

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

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

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

    The cost is the punishment

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

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

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

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

    The old model failed

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

    The reason was simple: Lawyers are expensive.

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

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

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

    Photodisc/iStock/Getty Images

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

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

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

    Build the bench

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

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

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

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

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

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

    A legal defense unit is one of those structural necessities.

    A ‘public defender’ for lawfare

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

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

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

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

    Paul Campbell/iStock/Getty Images

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

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

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

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

    Change the incentives

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

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

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

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

  • 'Weak and pathetic': Mamdani-backed radicals sweep Democratic establishment in New York's electoral bloodbath Wed, 24 Jun 2026 12:35:00 +0000


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    'NEVER be a communist Country!'

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

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

    Espaillat endorsed Mamdani for mayor last year.

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

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

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

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  • America turns 250 with a broken heart Wed, 24 Jun 2026 12:00:00 +0000

  • Decades of unseen footage will finally complete this legendary Orson Welles masterpiece Wed, 24 Jun 2026 11:39:39 +0000


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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    Eduardo Parra/Europa Press/Getty Images

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

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

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

    RELATED: Saving History

    Central Press/Getty Images

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

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

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  • You need just two things to have fun — and neither of them is money Wed, 24 Jun 2026 11:00:00 +0000


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

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

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

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

    That idea is both wrong and exhausting.

    Simple, local, shared

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

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

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

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

    Playing, not paying

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

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

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

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

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

    Universal/Getty Images

    Thrift tour

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

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

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

    Other people's fun

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

  • Christian ministry sues after Phoenix criminalizes its weekly meals for the homeless Wed, 24 Jun 2026 10:30:00 +0000


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    Image source: Lance Brace

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    Image source: Lance Brace

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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  • The empire cannot drone-strike its way out of decline Wed, 24 Jun 2026 10:00:00 +0000


    There is a moment in every war, somewhere between the first triumphant press conference and the first encounter with reality, when the slogans begin to turn rancid.

    Television panels flash maps. Talking heads bloviate. Officials insist that everything is proceeding according to plan. But you can’t outrun the truth forever. The central lie on which the war rested begins to collapse under the crushing weight of events.

    Thomas Jefferson warned us more than two centuries ago: 'Peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations, entangling alliances with none.' That remains the sanest policy available.

    No one should sugarcoat what has happened: America has been defeated by a lesser regional power.

    I was horrified when the war began. I said then that if the initial strikes failed to decapitate the Iranian government and cause the regime to fall, Iran had already won. I am no deep geopolitical expert and no Nostradamus, but anyone with modest knowledge of the region could see where this was headed.

    Because of a geographic accident, a backward theocracy can threaten one of the most important arteries in the world economy. Roughly 20% of global energy supply moves through the Strait of Hormuz. If that flow is disrupted, the result is economic catastrophe. The problem is not just oil. Fertilizer, liquefied natural gas, petrochemicals, and dozens of inputs that make modern life possible move through the same system.

    Meanwhile, because Iran has endured decades of sanctions, it is less exposed to some of the pressures now wrecking others. As oil prices spike, Tehran profits.

    These facts do not require affection for the Iranian regime. Tehran’s record on political repression, censorship, regional adventurism, and support for militant proxies is horrific. The question was never whether one approves of the regime. The question was whether war would accomplish the objectives announced in its name.

    Washington’s understanding of Iran has repeatedly proven shallower than policymakers imagine. Talk to Iranians who are not nostalgic for the shah, and they will often describe a much more complicated country than the bloodthirsty totalitarian caricature presented by much of the media. Many may hate the ayatollahs. But they also fear the alternative: a failed state like Syria or Libya.

    Iran is an ancient civilization. Civilizations, unlike a school full of girls, cannot be destroyed from the air.

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    What did victory even mean? Iran has nearly 100 million people, a territory almost three times the size of Texas, some of the most forbidding terrain on earth, and a population with deep nationalist feeling tied to 4,000 years of history. Short of reinstituting the draft and landing half a million soldiers, how exactly did anyone expect Iran simply to surrender?

    One of the most disconcerting aspects of this war has been the relative failure of the American military when faced with weapons that will define the 21st century: drones and missiles. Reports of damaged bases, lost aircraft and multimillion-dollar drones, evacuated facilities, and strained air defenses should alarm every serious person in Washington.

    One of our carriers, the $13 billion Gerald R. Ford, has been knocked out of commission for years because of an unexplained laundry fire that burned for 30 hours and almost sank the ship.

    Whatever the final accounting shows, Iran and the war in Ukraine have made one thing clear: The future of warfare does not belong to giant military bases and aircraft carriers alone. It belongs increasingly to cheap, plentiful, highly effective drones.

    The Shahed may go down as one of the most important military innovations of our time. It is effectively a low-cost cruise missile with a meaningful payload, long range, and a flight path that can be programmed in advance. It can be stored in a garage, launched from a truck, and produced at a fraction of the cost of the systems designed to stop it. And Iran has nearly 100,000 of them.

    The age of drone warfare is here, and America looks flat-footed. Getting into an arrow war with the Persians was a mistake for Rome at Carrhae. We should have remembered the lesson.

    Lies and disinformation can survive only so long against reality. We were never going to win this war. The Iranian people were never going to rise up and install a pro-LGBTQ democracy. Iran’s navy was never destroyed in any meaningful strategic sense. And whatever one believes about the nuclear question, airstrikes were never a substitute for a durable political settlement.

    Now we are on the verge of a global economic crisis that could endanger some of our most important allies, including Japan and South Korea. Gulf Arab countries that spent the last 15 years stamping out radical Islamic movements and pledging trillions in economic partnerships with the United States have been ravaged by the conflict. When grocery prices explode, when fertilizer costs flow through to food prices, when filling up a car eats through family savings, ordinary Americans will ask obvious questions.

    Who started this war? And why?

    Iran will end the war bloodied but standing. It will retain enormous leverage over one of the world’s most important commercial arteries. It may enjoy windfall profits as oil prices rise, sanctions loosen, and frozen assets return. It may emerge with more, not less, power on the world stage.

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    Trump showed voters the con behind the curtain Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

    That could have been avoided. But you cannot tweet your way to victory.

    America has depleted its interceptor missiles. Billions of dollars in regional defense infrastructure will need rebuilding. Bases have been evacuated. Brave Americans have died. Who will pay to rebuild the system? Certainly not Arab states that watched Washington prioritize Israel’s security over theirs.

    Iran remains. Its people remain. Its national identity remains. The need for diplomacy remains. The need for political solutions remains.

    What has disappeared is the illusion that these realities could be bombed away.

    We should have learned that lesson in Vietnam, Afghanistan, and Iraq. We did not. Now we must take the deal, walk away, and admit that the American empire can no longer rule the world by force of will.

    Thomas Jefferson warned us more than two centuries ago: “Peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations, entangling alliances with none.” That remains the sanest policy available.

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