For elite journalists, being compared to Walter Cronkite is considered a great honor, so when the Norman Lear Center at the USC Annenberg School for Communications and Journalism announced their 2025 Walter Cronkite Awards for excellence in political journalism on Wednesday, it gave insight into who the industry views as the best of the best. For everybody else, the 2025 winners were a reminder that for those journalists, fighting President Trump is the best way to get street cred. The first winner was NBC White House correspondent Peter Alexander for “holding the powerful accountable.” According to the judges, “Alexander’s live reporting and interviewing ‘meets the challenge of fearlessly engaging’ with the U.S. President and his staff in the Oval Office and White House Press Room. Noting his ‘deep commitment to the pursuit of truth,’ they praised his ‘vital work to correct false narratives’ … he remains composed under pressure, persevering and prepared with the facts.’” Speaking of fraud and false narratives, Alexander recently suggested Trump’s comments about Somalis were related to impending ICE operations and not the welfare fraud scandal. Another award winner was CBS’s 60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley, executive producer Bill Owens, and producer Maria Gavrilovic for a “story about executive orders targeting law firms that the president treats as political enemies ‘an excellent and shocking look at the context and the breadth of the threat’ of wielding power against the judicial system.” They were also praised for airing that “a week after the program’s executive producer resigned after 24 years with the show, prompted by increased corporate supervision of its news content in the face of a $20 billion lawsuit from President Trump and the pending FCC approval required for CBS owner Paramount Global’s merger with Skydance Media. ‘This skillful examination stands up for the Fourth Estate’s responsibility to not fold under pressure’” Next were PBS News Hour anchors Amna Nawaz and Geoff Bennett for their “On Democracy” series. “Judges called this ‘brilliant concept’ for a series of interviews with experts, scholars and activists ‘the very best that news can do.’ … it delivered diverse viewpoints that “cut through the noise.” In reality, News Hour featured 98 liberal guests from July 18 to September 18, but only 21 conservatives. MS NOW’s Rachel Maddow was also honored for being “the first and only national television program to cover the Hands Off protest movement on April 7 as ‘a valuable contribution to the historic record of this presidency,’ hailing the ‘engaging and informative’ episode reporting on 1,400 peaceful demonstrations as a ’strong use of the medium’ showing viewers they’re not alone in dissent.” Back on CBS, Evening News anchor John Dickerson’s pretentious end-of-show monologues were praised for “defending civil service and risks to healthcare, to the DOJ, DOGE and DEI. Dickerson does a journalist’s job of ‘bravely’ calling out false narratives ‘with humanizing detail and precision.’ His ‘clear explanations’ tell us how and why it matters that democratic values are under assault, and his ‘historical grounding’ presents facts with ‘calm and rational delivery,’ making his writing even more ‘powerful and effective.’” The Daily Show’s Jon Stewart was recognized for “continuing a comedic tradition in American journalism” and being “a master of his class,’ as shown in the entry’s analysis of DOGE, Stewart exposes how its chainsaw approach eroded safeguards that protect democracy instead of actually cutting fat.” It’s ironic that Stewart was the first comedy host to be recognized by the award given that he spent part of Monday’s show mocking Trump for winning the first-ever FIFA Peace Prize, which he claimed was just a way for FIFA to appease Trump. Also receiving an award was Noticias Telemundo anchor Julio Vaqueiro for “exploring the massive changes enacted, from immigration to tariffs,” and KFOR Oklahoma City for “this ‘stunning’ three-part series about a U.S. citizen and her daughters detained and humiliated by Homeland Security agents ‘a poignant example of finding an important local story that illustrates a national one and digging deep into it and not letting go.’” Not only was there no award given to anyone who investigated the left, but there was also no award given to anyone who did something non-Trump related. The 2025 Walter Cronkite Awards ended up being just another instance of journalists patting themselves on the back for allegedly keeping democracy alive.

Following months of rumors, CBS News’s parent company Paramount Skydance announced Wednesday that CBS Mornings co-host Tony Dokoupil will become the new anchor of the CBS Evening News on January 5, signifying editor-in-chief Bari Weiss’s biggest gamble yet, the network’s most serious attempt to break out of a lifetime in third place, and the most concrete effort to nudge a legacy newscast back to the center since the days of Jeff Glor from December 2017 to May 2019. Dokoupil will the top job from longtime CBS News journalist John Dickerson and former CBS New York anchor Maurice DuBois, who lasted less than a year and suffered from criticism over its format, plummeting ratings, and rampantly smug liberal bias. Weiss acknowledged the non-existent levels of trust in the media, writing in a press release that “[w]e live in a time in which many people have lost trust in the media” and Dokoupil will be “the person to win it back...because he believes in old school journalistic values: asking the hard questions, following the facts wherever they lead and holding power to account.” CBS News President Tom Cibrowski added Dokoupil represents “what everyone wants in an evening-news anchor – authentic, compassionate, unafraid” and “connects instantly, whether he’s talking with world leaders or with families navigating difficult news in their own backyards.” The on-air announcement came on CBS Mornings’s “Talk of the Table” segment with co-hosts Gayle King and Nate Burleson saying they would be discussing “a guy who everybody’s been whispering about in our hallways, in and out of the building” and thus they had to “clear up some rumors about him.” Set to M People’s Moving on Up, Burleson made it official: “Tony Dokoupil — or, as Oprah calls him — Tony Baroni — is moving from the table to the desk as the new anchor of CBS Evening News.” Dokoupil shared his first on-air comments about the new gig, proceeded by heaping praise from Burleson and featured co-host Vladimir Duthiers, who insisted Dokoupil is “the perfect person” to “make us competitive again” and “bring us on the trajectory of winning”: Here’s ‘CBS Mornings’ announcing that @TonyDokoupil will become the anchor of the @CBSEveningNews in January and will bid farewell to the AM show after seven years at “the best job I’ve ever had in journalism” Tony says EN is “a massively important show” with “a massively… pic.twitter.com/z9f7BgabSH — Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) December 10, 2025 Dokoupil made clear the change wasn’t out of unhappiness on the AM show: “I want to talk about us because it’s been almost seven years we’ve been doing this together and I am not joking when I say this is the best job I’ve had in journalism, and if things didn’t change around us... I would never change.” Duthiers backed him up, revealing to viewers “I spoke to you a couple weeks ago, you said if you could retire doing this job with us, that would be your dream.” Dokoupil paid tribute to his three co-hosts well: [This new job is] only because of what I learned here. I mean, you are the most authentic, curious, empathetic person on television, Gayle. And I’ve learned so much from you for the last seven years. Nate, you’re the most charming man on TV. I still have a list of 27 activities that we’re going to get to before we pass from this Earth. And Vlad, you’re the renaissance man. You make me smarter about music and humanity everyday. And just the commercial breaks around here, I wish people at home could know, and thank you to the audience as well. They concluded by asking what Dokoupil’s wife — MS NOW host Katy Tur — thought of this hoopla.  Dokoupil joked “I think she’s been lobbying for this for years” and long wanted to be able to have him join her in taking their children to school. Dokoupil’s character arc has been certainly interesting. Starting in the Obama era, he was at Newsweek and The Daily Beast then NBCNews.com before shifting to on-camera duties at MSNBC during the 2016 election cycle (which was when he met Tur as a fellow correspondent). Partway through that election, he shifted over to CBS where he’s been ever since as a correspondent then morning co-host when the newscast was called CBS This Morning. The NewsBusters archives reveal a lengthy record of bias, most infamously an early 2020 segment in which he used pies to promote socialism (and earned fawning praise from Democrat Senator Elizabeth Warren). But in the last few years, Dokoupil has noticeably tacked toward the center (or at least ensured conservative/non-liberal arguments were accurately articulated, such as here and here). Not-so-coincidentally, one inflection point was his reporting since Hamas’s barbarism on October 7, 2023, which personally affected him because his two older children and ex-wife were living in Israel. In May 2024, liberal talk radio host Charlamagne tha God accused him of being “on the left” and a Biden voter, leading to Dokoupil dismiss this and shout he was “not on the left.” It all culminated in a truly red-pill moment as Dokoupil seemed to have been on thin ice because he dared grill far-left author Ta-Nehisi Coates on the September 30, 2024 CBS Mornings about his virulent anti-Israel book. Following vicious backlash from the pro-Palestinian staffers inside CBS News, Dokoupil survived thanks to then-Paramount boss Shari Redstone and also cultivated the respect of Weiss, who then had launched her site The Free Press. Be that as it may, readers can expect NewsBusters to provide rigorous oversight of the new CBS Evening News and see if this newscast — which will start with a series of trips across the country to speak with ordinary Americans — will live up the standard Cibrowski, Weiss, and Dokoupil himself have set. To see the relevant CBS transcript from December 10, click here.

Last weekend, right after President Trump released his National Security Strategy, chairman of the Joint Chiefs, General Dan Caine, dropped a line at the Reagan National Defense Forum that set Washington ablaze:“If you look back over the arc of our deployment history over the last few years, we haven't had a lot of American combat power in our own neighborhood. ... I suspect that's probably going to change.”Left-leaning critics immediately accused President Trump of heralding reckless isolationism and abandoning allies. A few even spun it as “war coming to American soil,” but Glenn Beck says we should all be celebrating this.On this episode of “The Glenn Beck Program,” Glenn breaks down why President Trump “deserves a round of applause” for this brilliant America-first military strategy. “The reason why everybody hates it,” says Glenn, is because “it is the exact opposite of what they've told us for 100 years we should be doing” — namely sending our troops overseas to be a global police force instead of keeping them at home.But “America is standing in this doorway right now,” he continues. “Behind us is the chaos that we've just lived through ... and just ahead, at least according to the National Security Strategy, is a course correction so sweeping that honestly it reads like a rediscovery of the American civilization itself.”In short, the strategy is this: America is done hollowing herself out to police the world and is finally coming home to rebuild a safe, sovereign republic with strong borders, industry, families, energy, and unapologetic national pride.This plan is brilliant, says Glenn, because it’s not just about building the strongest military; it’s also about developing the world’s strongest economy and spirit via ending mass migration, targeting cartels, protecting God-given rights, holding allies accountable, reindustrializing the country, and becoming energy dominant.It also outlines plans to “compete with China economically, technologically, and militarily” and calls for a sovereign Europe, which “is dying” due to “declining birth rates, uncontrolled migration, censorship, loss of identity, [and] regulatory suffocation.”But the strategy also smartly accounts for Europe’s demise should it happen. It asserts that America is “not going to honor NATO for any country that falls,” Glenn explains. “You become a Muslim country, you're not a NATO country. ... We're not defending you.”Then the plans address the Middle East, declaring the “forever wars” official “over” — “not because the region suddenly became peaceful,” says Glenn, “but because America is finally strong enough strategically, diplomatically, militarily to shift from a constant crisis management to long-term stabilization.”And finally, the strategy looks to Africa, where historically the U.S. has “[exported] ideology instead of opportunity” to the continent’s detriment, says Glenn. But this new plan essentially says, “No more lectures, no more nation-building, no more endless aid with no accountability.”Overall, this is a “commonsense” strategy that allows America “to love itself again and to be who she should be and let everyone else be who they should be.”“In short, it's a blueprint for a country that wants to live again — really live again,” says Glenn.But even though nothing about this plan is controversial, “None of the elites want [it],” he says. They’d rather continue pursuing global institutions that outrank the Constitution, border security for everyone but America, and American workers forever paying the tab for the rest of the world.The question that needs to be answered is not whether we can get elites on board (we know the answer to that), but rather can we get the American people on board?“Is the president reflecting the national spirit? Do we want to live again? Do we want to be relegated to the dustbin of history, or does America have other great work to do?” Glenn asks.To hear more of his commentary, watch the clip above.Want more from Glenn Beck?To enjoy more of Glenn’s masterful storytelling, thought-provoking analysis, and uncanny ability to make sense of the chaos, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

You know who else loves awesome Christmas gifts? My mom! As Christmas approaches, keep these gift ideas in mind if you want to leave a lasting impression and give your mom a gift she'll cherish for many years to come. Here are Align's nine Christmas gift ideas for your mom this year. 1. R. RiveterGet a grip on this all-purpose stashing sample, a veritable holy grail of versatility. R. Riveter’s genuine, full-grain leather Otto handbag is your constant companion in waiting, ready for the office, a day out, or that elusive spur-of-the-moment weekender. Balancing size, elegance, and practicality, it gobbles essentials without looking overstuffed. Think tablets, phones, keys, and of course — speaking of overstuffed — your wallet. All from a company that stands with military families, which means each purchase helps support families who serve our country. MSRP: $268.00.2. Oberon Design Oberon DesignBased in Northern California, Oberon Design has a rich history of local partnerships with a focus on American craftsmanship. Founded by Brendan Smith in 1967, his company has expanded under his careful eye for more than 40 years. The team today is composed of a small group of passionate craftsmen devoted to their art and committed to producing the highest-quality leather goods. The Olivia crossbody purse features an elegant pinstripe design and the occasional “perfect imperfection” in the leather, showing the life of the cow. It offers a luxurious amount of exterior and interior space as well as a metal lock — also made in-house. MSRP: $272.00.3. Lejon Leather Goods Lejon Leather GoodsFounded in 1968 as Lejon Inc. by the current owner’s grandfather and father, Lejon Leather Goods has since come to be known as the premier belt manufacturer on the West Coast. John W. Shirinian, the third-generation owner of Lejon, carries on the family legacy to this day. With an emphasis on sourcing and crafting all of its products in the USA, Lejon has produced over 32 million belts in its history. The Texas, for example, sourced from American bison leather and handcrafted in Lejon's Corona, California, factory, features a Longhorn buckle and is built to withstand the test of time. MSRP: $134.00.4. Shamma Sandals Shamma SandalsIn 2013, the founder of Shamma Sandals, Josh Stiles, wanted to create a company that produced minimalist sandals designed for running and other outdoor activities. Surmounting challenges over the past decade, Shamma Sandals has become the go-to sandal shop for many, including competitors in extreme sports like slack linking, Warrior Races, mountain climbing, and even marathons. Based in Santa Cruz, California, these sandals are handcrafted, sewn, and tailored to customers’ needs. The Pacific Avenue is Shamma’s minimalist rendition of the classic flip-flop. It is built to last with premium leather. MSRP: $119.95.5. Fisher Space Pen Company Fisher Space Pen Co. Sitting at the intersection of NASA, the New York Museum of Modern Art, and "Seinfeld" is a humble, family-owned company with a history-making legacy. Founded in 1948 by Paul Fisher, Fisher Space Pen Company’s legacy continues to this day with Paul’s son Cary Fisher as president. The innovative sealed and pressurized ink cartridge, an impressive engineering feat, earned Fisher’s pens a spot on the NASA Apollo 7 mission in 1966. This design allows for a seamless writing experience in almost every condition — extreme temperatures, underwater, upside-down, and, of course, in space. Plus its clever Cartridge models make for a great gift. MSRP: $49.00.6. Bend Soap USACheap soaps no longer mean you’re tough and practical. All too often, they’re loaded with microplastics and chemicals. Bend’s USA-made, goat-milk offering delivers pure and creamy simplicity that won’t pollute your cells. Sustainably sourced and all natural, it boasts vitamins and nutrients that nourish even sensitive skin, instead of essential oils and other irritating chemicals. The soap leaves you smelling human-being fresh, instead of like a factory’s idea of a trending flower. MSRP: $2.15 to $5.95.7. LMNTYou’re probably not getting enough electrolytes. And if you are, LMNT (pronounced “element”) offers some of the best. Manufactured in America, they’re free from sugar, gluten, and other fillers. Friendly to vegans and paleo or keto dieters, LMNT’s easy-dissolve, pocket- or purse-ready packets deliver the goods — good salts, that is — on the go. But the proof is in the flavors: In addition to the original citrus, which hits like the perfect margarita, LMNT’s palate pleasers span the spicy, the sweet, and the savory. Our favorites? Grapefruit, watermelon, and mango chili. Collect them all. MSRP: $45.00.8. NouriIf your gut isn’t healthy, you’re not either — your gastrointestinal microbiome impacts everything from immunity and hormonal function to your skin, liver, brain, and heart. Look past the pills that quietly source their “good bacteria” from somewhere overseas, and score top-quality, American-made probiotics from Nouri. The company offers a full line of precision products ranging from anti-stress and digestion to weight management, women's health, and prenatal support — all at half the price of comparable premium brands. MSRP: $19.99.9. Frankenmuth Woolen Mill Frankenmuth Woolen MillStanding on its same 1894 foundations, Frankenmuth Woolen Mill goes above and beyond to deliver on its promise of providing premium woolen bedding for a good night’s sleep. Manufactured in Frankenmuth, Michigan, this woolen bedding is promised to offer superior quality, comfort, and durability. Why wool? On top of being all-natural, wool helps regulate your body temperature and has hypoallergenic qualities. Frankenmuth's woolen comforter is great for those with sensitive skin and regulates the temperature at night throughout all of the seasons — perfect for a good night’s sleep. MSRP: $199.00.Bonus: R. Riveter's Patton R. RiveterR. Riveter, named after Rosie the Riveter, was founded by two military wives who bonded over their shared frustration of lacking meaningful employment opportunities due to the transitory nature of military life. Now R. Riveter creates flexible employment opportunities for women facing the same challenges, allowing military spouses to craft handbags from wherever they’re stationed. Each bag journeys across the country, connecting makers in a nationwide support network for military families. The Patton, named after George S. Patton’s wife, combines a classic look with a modern eye for functionality. MSRP: $178.00.

The Trump administration's Department of Housing and Urban Development blames rising housing and rental prices on the surge in immigration under Biden.HUD published the "Worst Case Housing Needs: 2025 Report to Congress" in November, a biennial report that analyzes problems impacting low-income renting families. It defines renters with worst-case needs as those who do not receive government housing assistance and spend more than half of their income on rent or live in severely inadequate conditions, or both.'The unchecked illegal immigration and open borders policies allowed by the Biden administration continue to put significant strain on housing, pricing out American families.'HUD argued that the uptick in immigration caused increases in housing demand and, in turn, prices."Between 2021 and 2024, the foreign-born population of the United States increased by more than six million — the largest such increase over such a short period in American history. The foreign-born population now stands at more than 53 million individuals, making up the highest share of the American population in history," HUD reported.The department stated that the country's foreign-born population has grown by 20 million since 2000, representing a 40% increase.In some regions of the U.S., such as California and New York, immigrants account for up to 100% of the rental growth and over 50% of all owner-occupied growth, HUD added. Nationwide, immigration accounts for two-thirds of rental demand growth, according to the department.The median monthly housing cost for renters in 2021 was $1,184, increasing nearly 17.5% to $1,391 in 2023, according to the report.RELATED: DHS Secretary Kristi Noem partners with HUD to end government-funded housing for illegal aliens: 'The gravy train is over' Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images"The growth in households attributable to noncitizens was 13% between 2019 and 2023, compared to 7% between 2015 and 2019. This further demonstrates that noncitizen households are playing an increasing role in the household growth that is straining the affordable housing supply," the report read.HUD's report cited several other contributing factors to the affordable rental crisis, including demand-side housing subsidies and the decline in marriage.RELATED: Liz Warren hustles Trump with a housing bill from hell President Donald Trump, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner. Photo by Win McNamee/Getty ImagesHousing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner told Fox News Digital, "The unchecked illegal immigration and open borders policies allowed by the Biden administration continue to put significant strain on housing, pricing out American families.""These policies have plagued America's housing market, but in President Trump, Americans finally have a leader fighting to restore sanity to American immigration policy," he added.Turner stated that in 2025, HUD has supported one million homebuyers, including through first-time buyer and refinancing programs. He has called on the Federal Reserve to cut rates to continue the momentum toward affordability.Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Powerlifter and strongman competitor Morgan Irons says gender testing and identification checks are necessary to keep women's sports for women only.Irons' remarks came after a male athlete, Jammie Booker, recently defeated nine female competitors to win the coveted title of "World's Strongest Woman" at the 2025 Official Strongman Games.'He basically said he really hoped that I would be at this next competition ...'In an exclusive interview with Fearless, Irons said that not only does Booker have an obvious and unfair advantage, but he allegedly has been trash-talking female competitors in their own sport.Irons said she had been messaging with Booker in a sort of mentor role, offering advice and generic chatter, before their communications soured."I generally just try to be a positive person, and that's what I got initially from Jammie in the beginning," Irons explained with a smile. She said Booker had left positive remarks on her videos, telling her she is amazing and offering congratulations. "But then it quickly just turned really sour," Irons said, recalling that she started to realize something strange about Booker. "I realized that, 'OK, this isn't all adding up to me,' and I had already had questions myself."When she decided to discuss this with people around her, Irons said she was advised not to say anything to avoid looking foolish or "like a bigot" if she was wrong. Following up on her suspicions, Irons said she checked to see what Booker was doing from time to time in terms of competitions. It was then that she learned Booker had reportedly taken a hard turn and leaned into the idea of unabashedly beating women at their own game.RELATED: Male powerlifter disqualified after becoming 'World's Strongest Woman' See on Instagram "Jammie had some brazen words for me and some other athletes along the way," Irons revealed. She alleged that Booker was verbally letting it be known that he wanted to beat the other women — and beat them soundly."He basically said he really hoped that I would be at this next competition so that he could beat me and beat all the other top women in the sport, currently," Irons explained. "And I just find that odd. You know, you're less than a year in, and what do you want to do? You want to go after the women at the top?"Fearless reached out to Booker to confirm whether or not he had made these or similar remarks or expressed any hostility toward his competitors. He did not respond.Negative remarks did not just allegedly come from Booker. But as has become typical with women who don't wish to compete against men, Irons said she received a flurry of sarcastic comments on her social media videos like "work harder."This would, of course, require Irons to somehow overcome biology itself.The comments are "just ... it's a slap in the face," Irons said.RELATED: Conservative political group fined $95K after correctly identifying male athletes competing with women in Australia Photo by GAIZKA IROZ/AFP via Getty Images While Booker was promptly stripped of his title of strongest woman, Irons urged that this should be the last time this sort of situation should be allowed to happen, advocating medical testing.The athlete firmly rejected the idea that there would be "genital checks" to confirm sex, a method Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) once said would result from barring men from women's sports. Instead, Irons championed cheek swabs for a DNA test and having to provide identification. While she recognized that many states allow for one's gender to be legally changed, Irons laughed that it is still shocking that every time she enters a competition, there is no ID check.Irons relayed that it is essential to protect women's sports, not just for now but for athletes in the future."You have to speak up. You just have to. Not even just for yourself, but for the next generation of women," she said. "We've sat back and we've let this happen for so long, and that's why we're in the situation that we're in. ... It is women's fault in a way that we've let it get to this point."Remarking on the entirety of the situation, former national champion gymnast Jennifer Sey has cemented herself in the position that there can be zero tolerance for the idea that men can compete in women's sports.She stated to Fearless that the blame should be put on the men who want to crush women in their own athletics."The gall to enter a competition for women to be the strongest woman in the world as a dude. Like, the arrogance and the dismissiveness of actual women required to do that — it's just disgusting. It's gross," she added.Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

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