Commentary Culture Investigations

When truth becomes dangerous, courage becomes defiance.
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Early Thursday, 18-year-old Loyola University Chicago student Sheridan Gorman was murdered by a gunman on a Lake Michigan pier while walking with friends. More disturbing details arose Saturday night when Fox’s Matt Finn revealed the suspect was 25-year-old illegal alien from Venezuela who reportedly arrived during the Biden border crisis. Unsurprisingly, it took days for the major broadcast networks of ABC, CBS, and NBC to want to mention that on their flagship morning or evening newscasts.

This heinous killing — which Finn’s colleague Bill Melugin dubbed “Laken Riley 2.0” — was previously covered by ABC and NBC, but it wasn’t until Monday night that any of them mentioned the crucial details about the suspect.

Monday’s CBS Evening News and NBC Nightly News barely covered it with news briefs tallying 32 and 23 seconds, respectively:

‘CBS Evening News’ and ‘NBC Nightly News’ barely covered it — each in a scant news brief — for a combined 55 seconds pic.twitter.com/Vkclx9KyYp
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) March 23, 2026
In CBS’s case, this marked the first time the murder was even mentioned. Anchor Tony Dokoupil noted the suspect is “a Venezuelan national in the country illegally with a prior warrant for his arrest tied to shoplifting charges” and that Gorman’s family had released a statement blasting the lax “policies and failures that allowed this individual to remain in a position to commit this crime.”

NBC Nightly News anchor Tom Llamas called the development “a big update” and also relayed the same portion of the Gorman family statement denouncing the fact that Medina was even allowed to be out on the streets. If it’s such a “big” deal, why did you bury it, NBC?

Shamefully, ABC’s World News Tonight was the only one to give a full report to this latest example of illegal immigrant crime following the Biden border crisis:

Meanwhile, ABC’s ‘World News Tonight’ had a full story from @RhiannonAlly on the Loyola student’s murder, spanning 79 seconds (including the fact that his first court appearance has been delayed because he has tuberculosis) pic.twitter.com/Ux5602c02A
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) March 23, 2026
Here was the full segment as it aired from anchor David Muir and correspondent Rhiannon Ally. Crucially, ABC was the only network to mention the fact that the illegal alien’s first court appearance has been put on indefinite hold because he was diagnosed with tuberculosis (really) (click “expand”):

MUIR: Back here in the U.S. tonight to the student from Loyola University Chicago who was shot and killed while walking with a group of her friends. A suspect tonight now charged and Homeland Security now saying he is in the country illegally. Here’s Rhiannon Ally.

ALLY: It was a shocking crime, 18-year-old Sheridan Gorman, a freshman at Loyola University Chicago, was shot to death while walking with friends at a lakeside park. Tonight, an undocumented immigrant from Venezuela has been charged with her murder.

9/11 DISPATCHER: Over at the beach, on Pratt, 1045 West Pratt, we got a person shot, and it’s a Loyola student.

ALLY: Official say at 1 a.m. Thursday morning, the group walked onto appear when a masked suspect emerged, dressed in black. As the group fled, Gorman was shot in the back.

LESLIE ZAMARRIPA: We should not be worried about walking to the beach and not expect to just get killed like that.

ALLY: DHS says 25-year-old Jose Medina entered the country illegally in 2023. Gorman’s family from Westchester, New York, saying in a statement, “this was a violent and preventable act. We are gravely disappointed by the policies and failures that allowed this individual to remain in a position to commit this crime.” David tonight, the suspect has been hospitalized with tuberculosis, and his first court appearance has been postponed, David.

MUIR: Rhiannon Ally with us tonight. Rhiannon, thank you.

Rewinding back to the weekend, Sunday’s NBC Nightly Newshad the gall to cover it for 98 seconds, but hid from viewers the crucial details about the suspect.

Sunday anchor Hallie Jackson twice teased the story before telling viewers of “a potential break in the investigation into the death of a Chicago college student shot and killed while out with friends.”

Correspondent Valerie Castro couldn’t have been more vague: “Tonight in Chicago, police revealing a person of interest is now being questioned in connection with the death of Sheridan Gorman, a Loyola University freshman.”

WATCH: Sunday’s ‘NBC Nightly News’ had almost 90 seconds on last week’s murder of a Loyola of Chicago student and that “a person of interest” has been detained, IGNORING any mention of the fact that the suspect is an illegal alien from Venezuela pic.twitter.com/iqddWdSYVm
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) March 23, 2026
Castro went on:

The death a shock to the close knit campus community in denial…“She was doing something entirely normal,” her family writing, “walking with friends close to home in an area where she had every reason to feel safe,” adding, “our daughter’s life was not expendable. She should still be here.” Friends placing flowers in the area where she died to commemorate her life…Tonight, a community left shattered and a family asking why.

NBC was so convinced this was the way to go that they re-aired Castro’s piece on Monday’s overnight show, Early Today.

Before the details about the suspect had come to light, Friday’s NBC Nightly News spent 97 seconds on the senseless killing and the heartbroken Loyola student body, further rendering Sunday’s update even more galling.

Just over an hour prior to this bombshell about this illegal immigrant (who was also on the streets despite facing shoplifting charges), ABC’s World News Tonight had a 19-second brief on Saturday from Whit Johnson:

Chicago police say they’re questioning a person of interest in the deadly shooting of a college student. 18-year-old Sheridan Gorman was killed early Thursday morning. She had been walking with friends on a lakefront pier not far from Loyola University where she was a freshman. Police say they don’t believe she was the intended target.

All told, the Sunday editions of ABC’s Good Morning America and World News Tonight, the CBS Evening News with Jericka Duncan, and NBC’s Sunday Today couldn’t be bothered to cover the murder, let alone do so accurately. Such was the case on Monday across all three network shows (ABC’s Good Morning America, CBS Mornings, and NBC’s Today).

But what made their silence even more embarrassing was the fact that, on Monday, the little-watched, overnight shows of Good Morning America First Look and CBS News Mornings were able to both cover Gorman’s death and spotlight the reality of migrant crime.

While the lead ABC and CBS morning and evening shows chose to ignore through Monday morning the murder of Sheridan Gorman by an illegal alien, their little-watched, overnight shows ‘Good Morning America First Look’ and ‘CBS News Mornings’ told those who did watch them the truth pic.twitter.com/QzjLhTUVe7
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) March 23, 2026
GMA First Look had nearly two minutes, starting with co-host Sophie Flay cutting right to the chase: “We’re back with an arrest in the shocking murder of a college student in Chicago. Federal officials say the suspect entered the U.S. illegally.”

Overnight ABC correspondent Alison Kosik didn’t waste anyone’s time either:

Overnight, authorities announcing an arrest in the murder of Loyola University student Sheridan Gorman. Homeland Security officials say the alleged shooter is 25-year-old Jose Medina, who they say illegally entered the U.S. from Venezuela. They say he was released after being apprehended by Border Patrol back in 2023, and was released again after a shoplifting arrest in Chicago.

Kosik included portions of the Gorman family statement none have covered before or since:

Her family saying, “we will not allow this to be dismissed as ‘wrong place, wrong time.’ This was not random misfortune. This was a violent and preventable act,” adding, “we are gravely disappointed by the policies and failures that allowed this individual to remain in a position to commit this crime.” After a vigil on campus, students are demanding more safety measures.

CBS News Mornings had a 27-second brief from host Michael George about “charges…filed against a Venezuelan migrant in the shooting death of a Loyola University freshman” and that the foreign national “has been living in the U.S. illegally.”

To see the relevant transcripts, click here (for March 20’s NBC Nightly News), here (for March 21’s World News Tonight), here (for March 22’s NBC Nightly News), here (for March 23’s ABC’s Good Morning America First Look), here (for March 23’s CBS News Mornings), here (for March 23’s World News Tonight), here (for March 23’s CBS Evening News), and here (for March 23’s NBC Nightly News).

Editor’s Note: This post has been updated to reflect the coverage on the Monday night network newscasts.

A coalition of advocacy groups petitioned House Foreign Affairs Committee leadership to immediately advance three pieces of bipartisan legislation that would help Iran’s embattled population to access the internet, according to a copy of a Monday letter shared with the Washington Free Beacon.
The three measures would collectively help the Iranian population use secure networks to circumvent the regime’s internet blackouts and will likely receive significant bipartisan support once sent to a full vote in the House of Representatives. The advocacy groups recommend in their letter that the committee pass the bills as one larger measure “as a comprehensive package to advance internet freedom, human rights, and transparency for the Iranian people.”
The 12 groups, led by the Foundation for Defense of Democracies’ sister organization FDD Action, sent the letter to committee chairman Brian Mast (R., Fla.) and ranking member Gregory Meeks (D., N.Y.) amid ongoing nationwide internet blackouts meant to keep Iranian protesters off the street. The Islamic Republic plunged its people into darkness when the United States and Israel launched their military campaign against the regime, repeating a similar tactic it employed earlier this year. A state-imposed internet outage provided Tehran the cover it needed to slaughter as many as 30,000 civilians during historic nationwide demonstrations in January.
As of now, the Iranian people’s options for overcoming the blackouts are extremely limited. Internet monitoring firm NetBlocks assessed over the weekend that “few circumvention tools work as authorities crack down on satellite and VPN users outside the state-approved whitelist.”
“Internet shutdowns have become one of the regime’s most powerful tools of repression—facilitating violence, mass arrests, and grave human rights abuses while preventing Iranians from communicating with one another and the outside world,” the advocacy groups—which also include the Public Affairs Alliance of Iranian Americans, the Vandenberg Coalition, the National Union for Democracy in Iran, and the Iranian American Bar Association, among others—wrote. “More recently, the regime has again imposed widespread internet disruptions during this current period of conflict, further cutting off critical lines of communication between the Iranian people and the global community.”
The Iran Human Rights, Internet Freedom, and Accountability Act aims to facilitate “the immediate expansion of unrestricted internet access and civilian lines of communication across Iran” by authorizing the U.S. government to research satellite and direct-to-cell technologies that could cut through the blackout without regime interference, according to the bill text. It also directs the Pentagon’s Defense Innovation Unit to develop new technology that could do the same.
The second measure in the package, the IRAN Act, instructs the State Department to lead a government-wide task force aimed at “providing to Iranian civilians the technology and other tools necessary to access the open internet”—effectively implementing the provisions in the first bill. The examples listed in the bill include VPNs that obscure a user’s location and end-to-end encrypted messaging software.
The third bill, the FREEDOM Act, complements both measures by requiring the State Department, Treasury Department, and FCC to provide Congress with a comprehensive strategy to boost internet freedom in Iran. The measure directs those agencies to “analyze threats like drone-based platforms and signal jamming, and survey telecom providers operating in Iran,” according to the groups’ letter.
Neither Mast nor Meeks immediately responded to requests for comment on the letter or legislation.
“These three bills address complementary aspects of internet repression in Iran,” the organizations wrote. “They form a comprehensive bipartisan response to internet shutdowns and censorship in Iran.”
The post Congress Pressed To Help Iranian Civilians Connect to Internet appeared first on .

A left-wing member of the Los Angeles City Council is getting hammered for her hypocrisy in hiring police officers for her event while pushing to deny similar protection for her residents.Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez has campaigned against the police, but the California Post discovered that she hired a large police presence when it came to her event celebrating Mexican Independence Day.’Apparently, she has no problem spending taxpayer dollars for her safety but opposes doing the same for the residents she represents. It is time for change in Council District.’Hernandez pushed to “abolish” police and to divert police funding toward investing “in housing, economic mobility, education, child care, and public health infrastructures.”But surprisingly, when she needed security for a celebration of Mexican Independence Day at City Hall in September, Hernandez hired 13 armed LAPD officers for the event at a cost to the taxpayer of $135,000 in overtime pay.The event, titled “El Grito 2025,” was expected to include about 500 attendees, which means Hernandez paid about $270 for police protection for each person for just that one day. The per capita spending on police for the entire year is about $420, according to the Vera Institute of Justice.She also advocated that police be unarmed when providing security for the City Council and advocated for a “mediation-based model” for cops.The Post found that Hernandez voted in 2025 against the City Council contract that authorized using the LAPD for special events like the Mexican Independence Day event she publicized.The Los Angeles Police Protective League condemned Hernandez for her hypocrisy.”It should come as no surprise that some politicians act like hypocrites, but Eunisses Hernandez takes the cake,” reads a statement from the union’s board of directors to the Post.”Hernandez has repeatedly voted to defund and disband the police, yet she saw nothing wrong with requesting police security at a community event to keep herself and others safe,” the union added. RELATED: Police release body-cam video after lawsuit over 9-year-old who was handcuffed at school Photo by Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images “Apparently, she has no problem spending taxpayer dollars for her safety but opposes doing the same for the residents she represents. It is time for change in Council District,” the union concluded. Hernandez says in her biography that she’s the daughter of Mexican immigrants and a community organizer.Hernandez did not respond to a request for comment from Blaze News.Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

While other media companies are abandoning discriminatory Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) policies, Disney appears to be continuing practices that could result in severe penalties, Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Brendan Carr says.

Chairman Carr issued the warning in a Pod Force One interview with Host Mirada Devine, discussing how, during the Biden Administration, the FCC pumped “millions and millions” into promoting DEI ideology in an effort that distracted the FCC from its true mission.

“That had real, practical consequences. So, Day One, we came in and we ended the FCC’s promotion of DEI,” Carr said, noting how the policies enacted under the previous administration were unjustifiably punitive, redundant and counterproductive. They even inhibited efforts to bring high-speed internet to the public, he explained.

Companies, like Disney, that continue to cling to DEI ideology could face a range of penalties, including loss of their licenses, if they discriminate against employees based on race and gender, Chairman Carr said:

“Disney, which owns ABC: there’s been some really concerning evidence that has come to light that Disney DEI practices, that they were effectively discriminating against people, based on race and gender.

“We’re still looking at that, we’ll allow them to make their case, we have an open mind on it. But, we do have an investigation going on right now into Disney’s DEI practices.”

“And it could get bad for Disney, depending on what the facts show,” Chairman Carr said.

Currently, the evidence appears to suggest racial discrimination, Carr explained:

“There is evidence that they were creating internal promotions, internal work groups – again, siloing and dividing people based on race and gender.

“And, again, the evidence indicates, and there may be counter-evidence out there, that you had promotion opportunities, or you were judged, on how much you were promoting people based on skin color.”

“That is something that is really invidious that I thought that, as a country, we had stopped doing 60, 70, 80 years ago,” Carr said. “And, I’m glad we’re getting back to treating everyone, regardless of skin color, regardless of any other protected characteristics, based on their merits. That’s how it should be.”

“And, to be honest, it looks like they’re taking a pretty big hit at the box office; you see them pushing some of that stuff. It’s just not resonating with people,” Carr said. Meanwhile, family-friendly and pro-America content has proven to be extremely popular with the public, he said.

“Again, it’s sort of a symptom of what I view the broader media ecosystem being out of place,” Carr said.

“New York and Hollywood have never really been known for having the pulse of the cross-section of the country, but it got worse in the late twenty-teens and the early 2020’s, where we saw this significant explosion of DEI and woke ideology. And it was just fully embraced – hook, line and sinker – by New York and Hollywood.”

Still, there appears to be a “course correction” taking place with other businesses regulated by the FCC and in the country, as a whole, Chairman Carr said.

A bill to ban sports betting on prediction markets has been introduced by a bi-partisan group of U.S. Senators to prevent betting.
The post U.S. Senate Moving Bi-Partisan Bill to Ban Sports Betting on Prediction Markets like Kalshi, Polymarket appeared first on Breitbart.

In the latest edition of CBS’s Face the Nation on Sunday, host Margaret Brennen spent her interviews with U.N. Ambassador Mike Waltz and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte as opportunities to drive a wedge between the U.S. and international organizations, like NATO and the United Nations. 

In her first interview of the show, Brennan talked to Waltz about Iran and the U.S.’s wish that other allies step up to help the U.S.’s military endeavor.

Ambassador Waltz pointed out the Iranians’ indiscriminate attacks on civilian infrastructure in the Middle East, especially the futuristic infrastructure in oil-rich Middle East countries like the U.A.E., Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

 

CBS’s Margaret Brennan, in her normal combative tone, spent a good amount of time on a Face the Nation interview with @USAmbUN Mike Waltz asking questions focused on a fear of potential US war crimes. pic.twitter.com/GL1nca0Ae6
— Nick (@nspin310) March 23, 2026
 

After Waltz said, “it should petrify every American that you could potentially have a nuclear Middle East awash in weapons,” Brennan started to get into her normal combative mode versus Republicans:

BRENNAN: Well, they are not enriching. They weren’t enriching leading up to this. This is what U.S. officials have testified to. But just on this point about what the president–

WALTZ: Well they couldn’t enrich because of Operation Midnight Hammer that obliterated their ability to enrich. They had every intent to continue.

BRENNAN: They do have a nuclear power plant, Bushehr. It’s actually their largest energy plant. It’s a civilian site.

It should be noted that the Iranian Deputy FM literally confirmed statements from WItkoff that they had enough nuclear material for “10.2 bombs.”

Brennan’s angle to her questioning was clear after she brought up reports of U.S. and Israeli joint attacks on infrastructure in Iran, including power plants:

Okay, but – but in this case, in that clarification, the reason I am asking you is when the president says he is going to bomb energy infrastructure, civilian energy infrastructure, is he going to bomb a nuclear power plant, or is that off the table.

Now comes the clamoring for worry about international law:

How do you ensure that this doesn’t constitute a war crime, which the UN Secretary General said an attack on energy infrastructure could be. How do you make sure this is not mass punishment for innocent civilians?

Waltz gave a response that referred to the regime’s slaughter of Iranian protestors and how those people cannot get nuclear weapons.

Brennan went straight back to war crimes:

No one is endorsing that but how do you make sure this doesn’t hurt –

(…)

Okay, well, you know that in many of these places, water desalination is linked into that energy infrastructure, civilian infrastructure. This is why it is a question of it being a war crime.

She doesn’t really care about war crimes or anything, its just her normal demeanor against conservatives and the Trump administration.

Later on, Brennan clearly attempted to create a divide between NATO’s Rutte and the Trump Administration:

“Well, I’m sure the president appreciates your praise, but he has been very frustrated, and made that clear this week with NATO and the European allies. He called NATO quote “a paper tiger without the US.” He said they complain about high oil prices when they forced to pay but they don’t want to help open the Strait of Hormuz. Easy for them cowards. We will remember.”

 

Brennan also set out to attempt to drive a wedge between NATO and the US, while @SecGenNATO was having non of it, as the ‘Trump whisperer’ praised Trump. pic.twitter.com/bArhNMVpvF
— Nick (@nspin310) March 23, 2026
 

Rutte responded and said there are plans being formulated to help the U.S. and open the Strait of Hormuz

Brennan continued to push Rutte on Trump and NATO, and Rutte praised Trump:

What I know is that we always come together. It was under President Trump’s leadership that we had the extremely successful Summit in the Hague where we agreed to spend 5% of our GDPs on defense, and therefore equalizing for the first time since Eisenhower. 

So this is quite some time – some time back in history, equalizing what the Europeans are spending and what Americans are spending, not only because it is fair that we all spend the same, and this was a wish from Trump 45 and now is Trump 47 he got this done, but also because we need it, because of the Russian threat and our other adversaries.

It seems Brennan’s attempt to split the NATO General from Trump did not work. The exaggerated wedge between the US and NATO makes little sense with knowledge of Rutte’s tight relationship with Trump that brought NATO’s defense spending higher after “experts” warned of a looming collapse of US relations.

Just like a lot of things that were seemingly feared, we’re all still in wait for the split of NATO.

The transcript is below. Click “expand”:

CBS’s Face the Nation

March 22, 2026

10:35:30 AM Eastern

(…)

AMBASSADOR MIKE WALTZ (US Ambassador to UN): And the president has been clear too. He’s going to continue to pound Iran’s capabilities, its missile, its naval and its drone capability. Margaret, we have to take a step back. We have seen what it’s doing now in terms of attacking ports, airports, civilian infrastructure, hotels, resorts, and what it is trying to do to global energy supplies. 

One can only imagine if it had a nuclear umbrella. One could only imagine if Iran achieved its aim to test. Then you have Saudi Arabia wanting a nuclear program, then perhaps the UAE, Turkey or others. And when people ask why this matters to our security here at home, it should petrify every American that you could potentially have a nuclear Middle East awash in weapons.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, they are not enriching. They weren’t enriching leading up to this. This is what U.S. officials have testified to. But just on this point about what the president–

WALTZ: Well they couldn’t enrich because of Operation Midnight Hammer that obliterated their ability to enrich. They had every intent to continue.

BRENNAN: They do have a nuclear power plant, Bushehr. It’s actually their largest energy plant. It’s a civilian site.

WALTZ: It is actually not their largest energy plant. It is about one, about one gigawatt. They have larger ones that are gas, fired outside of Tehran. But just case in point, yeah.

BRENNAN: Okay, but – but in this case, in that clarification, the reason I am asking you is when the president says he is going to bomb energy infrastructure, civilian energy infrastructure, is he going to bomb a nuclear power plant, or is that off the table.

WALTZ: Well, I would never take anything off the table for the president, certainly not on national television. However, there are larger plants. There is one outside of Tehran. There are others outside of other cities that are gas fired, thermal powered. I think the important point here is to understand the IRGC, a declared terrorist organization, not only by us – 

BRENNAN: Yeah, in Europe too. 

WALTZ: – but in a number of European countries, controls a huge swath of Iran’s critical infrastructure, their economy and certainly many of their governing institutions. And so to the extent we are degrading their military capability and their defense industrial base, all options should be on the table, and the president has made that very clear.

BRENNAN: How do you ensure that this doesn’t constitute a war crime, which the UN Secretary General said an attack on energy infrastructure could be. How do you make sure this is not mass punishment for innocent civilians?

WALTZ: Well, I think you know, I would encourage and will encourage the Secretary General to point out the twenty to thirty thousand Iranians that the regime massacred at scale, the civilian infrastructure that they are attacking –

BRENNAN: – No one is endorsing that but how do you make sure this doesn’t hurt-

WALTZ: – And when you, but when have a regime that has its grips on so much critical infrastructure, that is using it to further not only the repression of its own people, to attack its neighbors, and in contravention of UN sanctions, to march towards a nuclear weapon, then that makes those legitimate targets.

BRENNAN: Okay, well, you know that in many of these places, water desalination is linked into that energy infrastructure, civilian infrastructure. This is why it is a question of it being a war crime.

WALTZ: I have no doubt that the president, the Pentagon, their team will ensure that what they target is geared towards the military infrastructure of Iran. But I have to tell you, they deliberately blend, have a long history, everything from hiding weapons under schools and hospitals to using power plants and other critical infrastructure to not only power their military but their civilian, and they deliberately blend in contravention of international law.

(…)

10:46:00 AM Eastern

BRENNAN: Well, I’m sure the president appreciates your praise, but he has been very frustrated, and made that clear this week with NATO and the European allies. He called NATO quote “a paper tiger without the US.” He said they complain about high oil prices when they forced to pay but they don’t want to help open the Strait of Hormuz. Easy for them cowards. We will remember.

NATO SECRETARY GENERAL RUTTE: I’ve been in several conversations this week with the president, and the good news is that, look, we had the U.S. for weeks planning for Epic Fury and for reasons of security and safety, they could not share with European allies and allies around the world and partner countries what they were doing, because that would have jeopardized the effect of the first – first attack –

BRENNAN: – Or it would have allowed you to plan

RUTTE: So it is only logical that European countries needed a couple of weeks to come together. But at this moment, the good news is this, that since Thursday, 22 countries, most of them NATO, but also Japan, Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Bahrain, the UAE, have come together to basically answer three questions, what do we need? When do we need it? And where do we need it? These three questions are now worked through to answer the president’s call, to make sure that we secure the free sailing through the Strait of Hormuz.

(…)

10:49:09 AM Eastern

BRENNAN: The president continues to frame this as sort of like a quid pro quo, and he’s also mentioned Ukraine in the same context, saying, I help Europe with Ukraine. Why aren’t they helping me? Are you worried that this is going to hurt NATO’s goals elsewhere?

RUTTE: What I know is that we always come together. It was under President Trump’s leadership that we had the extremely successful Summit in the Hague where we agreed to spend 5% of our GDPs on defense, and therefore equalizing for the first time since Eisenhower. 

So this is quite some time – some time back in history, equalizing what the Europeans are spending and what Americans are spending, not only because it is fair that we all spend the same, and this was a wish from Trump 45 and now is Trump 47 he got this done, but also because we need it, because of the Russian threat and our other adversaries. 

Then on Ukraine, it is again the U.S. providing critical intelligence support and weapons flow, working together with Europeans to secure Ukraine’s fight against the Russians, making sure they have what they need. And now with Iran, I’m absolutely convinced, and I understand the president’s frustration that it takes some time, but again, I also ask for some understanding, because nations had to prepare for this, not knowing and for good reasons about the initial attack on Iran, but now coming together to make sure that we can be able to secure the Strait of Hormuz.

Val Kilmer would have wanted it this way, the late actor’s daughter claims.Kilmer was originally cast in the film “As Deep as the Grave” in 2020 but grew too ill to participate in the production.The actor’s battle with throat cancer saw him never make it to set, with the 65-year-old tragically passing in 2025. However, that will not stop him from being in the movie.’It was very much designed around him.’Writer and director Coerte Voorhees said that Kilmer was indeed the actor he had wanted to play the role of Father Fintan, a Native American Catholic priest.”It was very much designed around him. It drew on his Native American heritage and his ties to and love of the Southwest,” Voorhees said, per Variety. Kilmer is reportedly Cherokee, German, Irish, and Swedish.”I was looking at a call sheet the other day, and we had him ready to shoot. He was just going through a really, really tough time medically, and he couldn’t do it,” the director recalled.Now through a deal with Kilmer’s estate and cooperation from his family, the star of “The Doors” and “Batman Forever” will posthumously appear on screen again.RELATED: Val Kilmer: Two movies to celebrate the late actor’s peculiar ‘Genius’ Kilmer’s family “kept saying how important they thought the movie was,” the director stated, and that Kilmer “really wanted to be a part of this.”As such, Kilmer’s estate was allegedly compensated according to SAG Guidelines, People reported.Website Greenslate states actors must be paid their typical rate for any time saved using an “employment-based digital replica” of the performer. Therefore, it is likely that Kilmer’s estate would be paid the actor’s going rate as if he were alive.However, consent is not required for changes made to the production using AI, which of course limits actor control (or in this case, the estate’s) in terms of the final product. Daughter Mercedes Kilmer has openly supported the use of her father’s likeness, Variety reported, claiming her father was a “deeply spiritual man” who connected with the film’s “story of discovery and enlightenment.”RELATED: 50 Cent will open a film studio in the Deep South, not Hollywood, to create ‘stories that need to be told’ Val Kilmer 2004. Photo by Mark Mainz/Getty Images “He always looked at emerging technologies with optimism as a tool to expand the possibilities of storytelling,” Mercedes added. “This spirit is something that we are all honoring within this specific film, of which he was an integral part.”Kilmer’s son is also reportedly in favor of the AI representation of his father.It is important to note that in 2022, Kilmer said he was “grateful” to work with tech company Sonantic, which recreated his voice for the “Top Gun: Maverick” sequel.”A phrase we often hear is ‘having a creative voice.’ But I was struck by throat cancer. After getting treated, my voice as I knew it was taken away from me,” Kilmer said, per Men’s Health. “But now I can express myself again, I can bring these dreams to you, and show you this part of myself once more. A part that was never truly gone, just hiding away.”Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Former CBS News “Justice Correspondent” Scott MacFarlane exited the Tiffany Network earlier this month, saying he sought “independence.” He’s now joining the left-wing media company MeidasTouch, which got its start as an anti-Trump political action committee that spent millions of dollars attacking Republicans and boosting Democrats.
MacFarlane announced the move on Monday, just days after he abruptly quit CBS News, saying, “I look forward to some independence and finding new spaces to share my work in line with my personal goals.”
His needs have been met, MacFarlane said on Monday, by MeidasTouch. “I have a new platform for my independent, unfiltered reporting,” he said. “Effective immediately, I am chief Washington correspondent for the MeidasTouch network.”
MacFarlane’s departure from CBS came as the network’s new owners, the Ellison family, and its new editor in chief, Bari Weiss, committed to providing more objective news coverage. MacFarlane was reportedly “disillusioned with the overall direction of the network” under its new management and took particular issue with CBS’s “very brief” coverage of the fifth anniversary of January 6, which MacFarlane was known to report on aggressively.
MacFarlane’s portrayal of MeidasTouch as a beacon of “independent” reporting is at odds with the company’s background.
The group, founded by brothers Brett, Jordy, and Ben Meiselas, launched in 2020 as a political action committee to stop President Donald Trump’s reelection. The organization spent more than $4 million that year on “door to door” canvassing and television ads, according to campaign finance records. In one ad, MeidasTouch accused Trump of committing “mass murder” through his handling of the coronavirus pandemic. MeidasTouch also ran ads in the Georgia special elections in 2020, calling Republican Senate candidates Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue the “grinches of Georgia.”

The PAC faced criticism from some on the Left for being insufficiently helpful to Democrats. A 2021 Rolling Stone piece headlined “The Trouble With MeidasTouch” accused the PAC of “grandiose self-promotion,” arguing that it engaged in “misleading” fundraising practices and spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on “ineffective” ads aimed more at “brand-building and fundraising on helping Democrats take back the Senate.” The Meiselas brothers—one of whom, Ben, is known for working with left-wing activist and former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick as an attorney and business partner—responded by threatening to sue Rolling Stone.
As MeidasTouch beefed up its media operations—it now claims to be “the fastest growing independent news network in the world”—it changed its PAC’s name to Democracy Defense Action. The PAC remains active, having raised and spent nearly $300,000 in 2025.
Meanwhile, MeidasTouch’s political operation frequently ranks as one of the most popular video news  destinations online. The coverage is unabashedly left wing. MeidasTouch’s media offerings include a steady stream of podcasts and YouTube videos featuring dramatic headlines like “WORLD WAR OVER EPSTEIN?!?” and “SCARED FOR HIS LIFE!!!” Added to the lineup will be a daily show called “Scott MacFarlane Reports,” according to MacFarlane.
“MeidasTouch and I have long shared this same philosophy: You don’t platform lies, you don’t platform conspiracy theories, and you don’t allow for the whitewashing of history,” he said in his Monday announcement video.
MacFarlane becomes the latest high-profile television newsman to openly embrace liberal politics after leaving a purportedly objective linear television news operation for an online-only platform.
Former NBC News host Chuck Todd and former CNN anchor Jim Acosta have launched liberal, anti-Trump podcasts since leaving their respective networks. ABC News reporter Terry Moran, who was fired for making anti-Trump social media posts last year, launched a Substack newsletter, Real Patriotism with Terry Moran.
Overtly anti-Trump figures from mainstream cable channels—such as fired CNN host Don Lemon and fired MSNBC host Joy Reid—have also launched their own YouTube and Substack channels.
“Congrats Scott!” Acosta wrote to MacFarlane in a Monday post on X.
The post Ex-CBS News Reporter Scott MacFarlane Joins Left-Wing MeidasTouch, the Media Company That Started as an Anti-Trump Super PAC appeared first on .

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are sounding the alarm of the prospect of the federal government purchasing Americans’ private data through third-party data brokers.
The post Why Lawmakers Are Sounding the Alarm over Feds Purchasing Americans’ Private Data Without a Warrant appeared first on Breitbart.