When I was 16, my hometown finally got HBO on our cable system. One of the first movies I saw was “The Blues Brothers”. In the infamous scene at Bob’s Country Bunker, Jake tells the club owner that they are the Country and Western band, “The Good Old Boys,” even though they don’t really know any country songs. When the Blues Brothers Band launches into “Gimme Some Lovin’”, they are booed profusely, and the owner of the bar turns off the lights. Jake then comes up with the idea of doing the theme from “Rawhide” to the delight of the The post Hangin’ On With The Colonel: Scott Ward Remembers Steve Cropper appeared first on ClassicRockHistory.com.

A man has built a rechargeable battery pack big enough to power his whole home using just the batteries from discarded vapes. British engineer Chris Doel thinks it’s “absolutely insane” that people use disposable vaping pens, as they come with a lithium-ion battery that can be recharged again and again; they’re literally powered with a […] The post Engineer Powers Entire Home Using 500 Discarded Vapes–Documented in Fascinating Viral Video appeared first on Good News Network.

News Endless Night Agatha Christie’s Endless Night to Get Film Adaptation From The End of the F***ing World Director The 1967 novel was one of Christie’s last By Vanessa Armstrong | Published on December 10, 2025 Comment 0 Share New Share Jonathan Entwistle, whose previous credits include The End of the F***ing World, I Am Not Okay With This, and Hello, Tomorrow!, is set to direct a modern reimagining of Agatha Christie’s crime novel, Endless Night. According to Deadline, Studiocanal—the company behind Paddington in Peru and Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy—is putting the production together, which already has a script from Emily Siegel. Deadline describes the movie as following “an ambitious twentysomething hustler who ends up entangled in a web of blame and deception after he becomes romantically involved with a volatile American heiress and her assistant.” That description matches up fairly well with the conceit in the 1967 novel, which Christie wrote in only six weeks, whereas her usual books took her between three to four months(!). The book, unsurprisingly, has been adapted previously, including in a 1972 film of the same name, and an Agatha Christie’s Marple adaptation that stayed close to the book while also adding in Christie’s Miss Marple, a popular character found in several of her other novels. The story has also recently been picked up for a television adaptation, with the BBC and BritBox International announcing in May 2025 that their next project would be Endless Night, led by Sarah Phelps (Dublin Murders). Entwistle’s project is still in its early days, so no news on casting or when it will make its way into production, much less premiere on a screen near you. [end-mark] The post Agatha Christie’s <i>Endless Night</i> to Get Film Adaptation From <i>The End of the F***ing World</i> Director appeared first on Reactor.

The National Defense Authorization Act includes a provision aimed at defending conservative media.   The NDAA prohibits the Department of War from forming contracts for the purpose of advertising for military recruitment with “advertising firms like NewsGuard that blacklist conservative news sources,” according to the House Armed Services Committee summary of the bill.   “Major advertising agencies have been effectively censoring conservative media by blocking ads and their revenues. We applaud Congress for taking the stand to oppose such censorship when it comes military recruitment advertising,” Christine Czernejewski, membership director of The Independent Media Council, told The Daily Signal.  “The Congress acted to make sure all Americans see these ads—and stopping leftwing ratings groups like NewsGuard from targeting conservative media,” Czernejewski said, thanking members of Congress, such as Sens. Tommy Tuberville, R- Ala., Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., Roger Wicker, R-Miss., and Reps. Rich McCormick, R-Ga., Mike Rogers, R-Ala., for their leadership on the issue. NewsGuard collects data on thousands of news sources and rates the credibility of the platforms.   Some conservatives, including member of Congress, have previously raised concern over NewsGuard using its platform as a tool of censorship in the name of “combating misinformation.”  In 2024, the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability conducted an investigation into the “impact of NewsGuard on protected First Amendment speech and its potential to serve as a nontransparent agent of censorship campaigns,” Committee Chairman James Comer said last October.   Last December, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, criticized NewsGuard as an organization “under increasing scrutiny for its bias against conservative viewpoints.”   “NewsGuard rates many top conservative outlets as reliable, including for advertisers—the opposite of ‘blacklisting’ them,” NewsGuard COO Matt Skibinski told The Daily Signal. “Conservative brands rated ‘credible’ by NewsGuard include: Fox News, The Free Beacon, The Washington Examiner, The Daily Caller, The New York Post, The National Review, Western Journal, Commentary, The Heritage Foundation, The Daily Signal, and many others,” Skibinski said, adding that “NewsGuard has never had any U.S. government contracts for placing military recruitment advertisements—nor do we have any plans to do so.” The 2026 NDAA is over 3,000 pages and includes $900 billion in funding for the Department of War and U.S. defense priorities.  The House is expected to vote Wednesday on the bill that includes a number of President Donald Trump’s key policy priorities, including codifying some of Trump’s executive orders into law.   “This year’s National Defense Authorization Act helps advance President Trump and Republicans’ Peace Through Strength Agenda by codifying 15 of President Trump’s executive orders, ending woke ideology at the Pentagon, securing the border, revitalizing the defense industrial base, and restoring the warrior ethos,” House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said.    Because the NDAA includes critical funding for American defense, it is considered a “must pass” bill and is expected to pass in the House and Senate before lawmakers leave Washington for the Christmas holiday.    The post NDAA Prohibits Department of War Contracts With Groups That ‘Blacklist Conservative News Sources’   appeared first on The Daily Signal.

A North Carolina teen painted a tribute to Charlie Kirk on her school’s “spirit rock,” and was promptly censored, according to Alliance Defending Freedom.   Now, Gabby Stout and her parents are suing the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education for violating the student’s First Amendment rights.   “[School officials] have unconstitutionally censored [Stout’s] speech that the First Amendment protects, retaliated against her for exercising her First Amendment rights,” the lawsuit states.   After the assassination of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk on Sept. 10, Stout, a junior at Ardrey Kell High School in Charlotte, North Carolina, wanted to do something to honor the life of the conservative Christian leader.   “I admired his boldness in sharing and defending his Christian faith. I wanted to remind my classmates and community that Charlie was enjoying eternal life with his Savior, Jesus Christ,” Stout told The Daily Signal.   Stout called the school a few days after Kirk’s assassination and asked for permission to paint the campus “spirit rock,” which she and seen painted in the past with messages supporting a particular NFL team, or even Black Lives Matter.   According to Alliance Defending Freedom, the Christian legal group representing Stout, the school office told Stout on Sept. 12 that she had permission to paint the rock as long as the message did not contain profanity, a political message, or any vulgarity.   “Gabby [Stout] had told the school official that she was thinking of painting ‘something USA themed’ as well as ‘something for Charlie Kirk, who recently passed.’ The school official said, ‘That would be very nice,’” according to ADF senior counsel Travis Barham.   Stout, her parents, and two other students painted the large rock with the words “Freedom 1776” and “Live Like Kirk—John 11:25.”  “It was important to me to share my faith and to create a space where students could memorialize Charlie,” Stout recalled.   Hours later, Stout learned on social media that the school had ordered the “Live Like Kirk—John 11:25” message to be painted over.   The following day, a schoolwide email accused Stout of “vandalism” and informed the student body that law enforcement was conducting an investigation, according to ADF. The investigation included Stout being called out of class to write a statement detailing her actions. ADF reports that officials “forced her to show them her phone logs.”   “When they pulled me out of class, I felt scared and targeted,” Stout said. “They were punishing me for simply expressing my faith and my love for my country.”  According to ADF, the school officials did not obtain permission from Stout’s parents to go through the student’s phone, “nor did they inform the students or parents about their constitutional right to remain silent and contact an attorney during a criminal investigation.”   A few days later, the school issued a Spirit Rock Speech Code stating that only messages of “positive school spirit” that “uphold the inclusive values of our school community” are allowed on the rock.   “When the officials formally concluded that the student, her parents, and her friends had not committed vandalism, they quietly closed the investigation with no apology and then released a statement saying they never accused or investigated her of anything,” according to ADF.   The lawsuit claims school officials “unconstitutionally censored” Stout’s protected free speech and “retaliated against” the student for expressing her First Amendment rights.  “We do not comment on active litigation,” Sheri Costa, director of board communications for the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education, told The Daily Signal when asked about the lawsuit.   The suit has been filed with the U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina.  “I’m taking a stand because I want to glorify God, and I don’t want other students to be punished for expressing their faith as I did,” Stout said. “Every student should feel safe sharing his or her beliefs without being shamed by school officials.”  The post Family Sues School After Teen ‘Censored’ for Tribute to Charlie Kirk appeared first on The Daily Signal.

The Supreme Court heard arguments Wednesday on whether the death sentence applied to a convicted murderer represents cruel and unusual punishment based on his debatable intellectual disability. The state of Alabama argues that five IQ test scores for Joseph Clifton Smith, convicted of capital murder for the 1997 killing of Durk Van Dam, demonstrate that he isn’t disabled.  Smith’s five IQ tests revealed scores of 72, 74, 75, 74, and 78, which fell within or near the range associated with intellectual disability. Alabama and other states regard IQ scores of 70 or below to be the standard for judging intellectual disabilities. In Atkins v. Virginia (2002), the Supreme Court set three criteria for determining if someone is mentally competent to be executed: significantly subaverage intellectual functioning, significant deficits in adaptive behavior, and manifestation of these qualities before age 18. “Atkins created an exception for offenders known to be intellectually disabled, but Smith is not,” Alabama Principal Deputy Solicitor General Robert Overing told the justices.  Courts ‘Changed the Rules’ The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Alabama vacated Smith’s death sentence and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit upheld the district court ruling. These courts “changed the rules,” Overing argued. “They took the lowest score to represent a possibility that Smith’s IQ is 69,” he said. “Then, to the extent they considered other scores, they took each only in isolation, and moved the line to 75. These maneuvers expanded Atkins, and this court should reverse that expansion.” Smith is challenging his death sentence under the Eighth Amendment, which protects against cruel and unusual punishment. He also claims the sentence violates his 14th Amendment rights to due process and equal protection under the laws. Other Factors Seth Waxman, the U.S. solicitor general during the Clinton administration who is now representing Smith, asserted the relevance of factors beyond IQ tests. Waxman said Alabama law “requires courts to evaluate all provident evidence as to intellectual functioning offered by either side.” The lawyer cited Smith’s “grade school records, which showed that on every measure, he was two to four years below grade average, culminating in a diagnosis of mental retardation in the seventh grade.” The Trump administration has sided with the state of Alabama. Smith, now 55, beat Van Dam to death with a hammer and stole his boots and $140 from him in the 1997 crime, Reuters reported.  The Justices Weigh in “I think what you’ve done is shift this to be all about the IQ test in a way that is not supported by our case law,” Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, a President Joe Biden appointee, told Overing. After some back and forth, Overing explained his point.  “IQ is originally how intellectual disability was defined as a condition, and it’s always been the primary criterion, and states are allowed to take the best evidence of intelligence, and to make that the test,” the Alabama solicitor argued. Chief Justice John Roberts, an appointee of President George W. Bush, asked Waxman about a hypothetically wide divergence of scores. Justice Samuel Alito, another George W. Bush appointee, later asked about a hypothetical of four IQ test scores in the 90s, and one at 71.  Waxman said the court would hear expert testimony on the matter.  “There may very well be expert testimony, maybe even agreement, that the 71 is, in fact, the result of the inquiry, or that it is a statistical outlier, and taking into account other evidence relevant to intellectual functioning should be disregarded,” Waxman said. He stressed, however, that this isn’t the question in his client’s case. “What we have here are two experts who said four of the five scores are within the range of intellectual disability,” Waxman said. “The district court itself specifically found that, and so we’re not in that hypothetical range.” The post IQ on Death Row: Supreme Court Weighs Relevance of Convicted Killer’s Test Scores appeared first on The Daily Signal.

University Votes Down TPUSA Chapter on 'Comfort' Grounds

In a move championed by President Donald Trump, the Federal Reserve cut its key interest rate by 0.25% to a range of 3.5% to 3.75% on Wednesday, the third cut this year, lowering borrowing costs and giving some lift to a flagging job market.Only three members of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors voted against the cut: Stephen Miran, who wanted to lower the target range for the federal funds rate by 0.5%, and Austan Goolsbee and Jeffrey Schmid, who both figured it was presently best not to have any cuts at all.'Available indicators suggest that economic activity has been expanding at a moderate pace.'Joseph Brusuelas, chief economist for the financial services firm RSM US, noted in a Tuesday analysis that the Fed was faced with the "difficult choice of either aggressively fighting inflation or hoping to revive a sluggish labor market and slowing economic activity when it meets on Tuesday and Wednesday."Rate cuts can help boost the stock market — encouraging spending, investing, and business activity by lowering savings rate and borrowing costs. However, by increasing the supply of money, they can also exacerbate inflation.The annual inflation rate was around 3% for the 12 months ending September, according to U.S. Labor Department data. The Fed's inflation target is 2% over the longer run — hence the resistance to another cut by some policymakers."The [Federal Open Market Committee] seeks to achieve maximum employment and inflation at the rate of 2 percent over the longer run. Uncertainty about the economic outlook remains elevated," the Fed said in a statement on Wednesday. "The Committee is attentive to the risks to both sides of its dual mandate and judges that downside risks to employment rose in recent months."In light of its goals and "the shift in the balance of risks," the FOMC determined that a drop in the rate by 0.25% was worthwhile."Available indicators suggest that economic activity has been expanding at a moderate pace. Job gains have slowed this year, and the unemployment rate has edged up through September," the Fed noted further. "Inflation has moved up since earlier in the year and remains somewhat elevated."The rate-cut decision on Wednesday comes months after the Fed similarly lowered its benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points in September to a range of 4% to 4.25%, and after weeks of disagreement on the central bank's 12-member policy committee regarding the prudent way forward.Chris Brigati, chief investment officer at the financial services company SWBC, told the Financial Post ahead of the announcement that the Federal Reserve was divided on how to proceed with rate cuts in 2026 "given the delicate balance between job market weakness and still-elevated inflation.""There is also uncertainty about the new Fed chair, and that may also add to the central bank's reluctance to make any major rate moves in the months leading up to Chair Powell's term ending," Brigati added.RELATED: Can presidents fire all federal bureaucrats at will? Supreme Court to hear case with major implications. Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty ImageIn search of someone suitable to replace Fed Chairman Jerome Powell, whose term ends in May, the president has been interviewing various candidates, including Christopher Waller and Michelle Bowman, both members of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors; former Fed governor Kevin Warsh; and BlackRock fixed-income chief Rick Rieder. Top White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett is, however, reportedly regarded as the frontrunner.The president told reporters on Air Force One on Tuesday, "We're going to be looking at a couple of different people, but I have a pretty good idea who I want."When asked in his interview with Politico the previous day whether it is "a litmus test that the new chair lower interest rates immediately," Trump said yes and noted, "We're fighting through interest rates."The Federal Reserve also released on Wednesday its regional bank presidents and governors' quarterly set of economic projections. They anticipate a rise in the unemployment rate from 4.4% in September to 4.5% by year's end; the GDP to grow by 2.3% in 2026; and inflation to sink, but nowhere below their 2% target.Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Australia will put the onus on social media platforms to limit access to children under 16 years old.The Online Safety Amendment (Social Media Minimum Age) Bill 2024 amended Australia's reigning online safety measures and gave social media companies time to age‐restrict their platforms and "take reasonable steps to prevent Australian under 16s from having account[s]."'No Australian will be compelled to use government identification.'Officially taking effect on December 10, the ban includes Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Threads, X, and YouTube's general platform; YouTube Kids and WhatsApp do not meet the criteria for the ban.Australia introduced its social media minimum-age framework that included a list of criteria that would result in a platform being banned for those under 16. This included if a platform's sole purpose, or "significant purpose," is to "enable online social interaction between two or more end‐users."Or if the service "allows end‐users to link to, or interact with, some or all of the other end‐users" and "allows end‐users to post material on the service" and "meets such other conditions (if any) as are set out in the legislative rules," it will not be available for younger Australians.The legislation can also specify certain platforms, or classes, to not include in the ban.Social media platforms will be responsible for enforcement, and neither children nor their parents will face punishment should they gain access. Companies face fines of up to $32 million USD or just under $50 million in Australian dollars.RELATED: How Texas slammed the gate on Big Tech’s censorship stampede Photo by DAVID GRAY/AFP via Getty Images The government further defined the requirements placed upon the platforms, adding that they must "take reasonable steps to prevent" those under 16 from having accounts.The legislation also specified that "no Australian will be compelled to use government identification (including Digital ID) to prove their age online" and that platforms must offer reasonable alternatives to its users.According to the BBC, other countries are hot on Australia's tail in terms of implementing their own similar bans. This includes the French government, which has begun a parliamentary inquiry into banning children under 15 years old from social media, while also implementing a "digital curfew" for those between 15 and 18.The Spanish government has also drafted a law that would require parental consent for children under 16 to access social media.RELATED: Conservative influencers promote Qatar as a desert paradise — but are they lying? Photo by DAVID GRAY/AFP via Getty Images Ruling left-wing Labour Party official Anika Wells, who serves as Australia's communications minister (and minister of sport), said that the ban is not "perfect" and is going to "look a bit untidy on the way through.""Big reforms always do," she added.Australians under 16 will still be able to access content that is available on a website without being logged in or being a member, as there is virtually no way to prevent that without restricting access to the internet entirely.Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Traditionally, immigrants adopt the customs and culture of the natives whose country they have moved into. But as we know, progressives have flipped the script. In their warped worldview, the natives must devolve for the sake of the newcomers in the name of “tolerance and inclusivity.”Minnesota is the perfect exhibit. After Christopher Rufo’s reporting exposed massive Somali-led fraud rings draining hundreds of millions in taxpayer funds, you would expect the mayor of Minneapolis to condemn the grift. Instead, Jacob Frey went full solidarity mode.In a December 2 press conference, Frey vowed that city police and staff would refuse to cooperate with ICE and then switched to speaking in Somali to pledge his support to the community.On the latest “Rufo & Lomez,” Christopher Rufo and co-host Jonathan Keeperman tear into Frey’s performance, dissecting what it really reveals about Minnesota. “Our police, many of whom are Somali themselves, are trusted partners in keeping people safe. They will not collaborate with any federal agency around doing immigration enforcement work. Our city staff and our law enforcement will not ask the question as to whether an individual is documented or not,” said Frey.“That’s not American. That's not what we are about. And we're going to do right by every single person in our cities,” he continued, before fumbling through several lines delivered in Somali.“We love you, we stand with you, and we aren't backing down,” he concluded.Keeperman points out the darkly comic “synchronicity” of Frey’s stance: “The Nordic populations of the upper Midwest are engaged in the exact same sort of altruistic migration experiment … that their kinfolk are engaged in still in their Scandinavian countries.”It’s living proof of what he’s been saying all along: “You can’t just strip people of the habits and norms of the groups that they come from.”In other words, ethnic character travels. It’s true of the Somali-Americans who brought with them the exact same clan-based fraud and grift that is rampant back in Somalia. And it’s true of Minnesotans, who, centuries after their ancestors left Scandinavia, are still running the identical open-borders generosity script — right down to importing a Somali community now accused of massive fraud — because that self-sacrificial impulse never actually left the bloodline.But Keeperman sees zero chance that Frey or Governor Tim Walz (D) will ever recognize the self-destructive insanity of their immigration stance. “A guy like Jacob Frey or Tim Walz simply just has to lose an election. The people of Minnesota are at some point going to just have to say, ‘We're not going to do this any more.”’Rufo isn’t hopeful that Minnesotans are anywhere near their breaking point, however.Not only was Jacob Frey re-elected as mayor despite stories of Somali fraud circulating in the media for years, but the candidate who narrowly lost to him was Omar Fateh — a radicalized Somali Democrat socialist.Fateh, Keeperman reminds us, “was committing fraud during the election to rig the Democratic primary in his favor.”But because Minnesotans are ideologues when it comes to immigration — and can't bear to fully confront the mess they have invited — the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party took "the gloves off" by revoking Fateh's rigged endorsement, only to pull its punches and refuse to hammer him on the fraud because it makes people “feel too uncomfortable as white liberals in good standing,” adds Rufo.To make matters worse, Fateh had “long-standing relationships with a number of the people who were arrested and then convicted of these fraud schemes,” he continues. “And so the fraudsters were not the downtrodden, the exiled, the marginalized. … No, these people were tightly knit with Ilhan Omar, with Omar Fateh, with Attorney General Keith Ellison.”In sum, when Jacob Frey is “the least bad option,” it’s obvious Minnesota is nowhere near ready to address its immigration problem.Want more from Rufo & Lomez?To enjoy more of the news through the anthropological lens of Christopher Rufo and Lomez, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.