The story of Nile’s monstrous Black Seeds Of Vengeance

When “U Can’t Touch This” dropped in 1990, it wasn’t just a hit. It was a cultural shockwave that turned parachute pants, bold swagger and Hammer Time itself into the unstoppable heartbeat of a new pop era. The post Why “U Can’t Touch This” Still Makes Us Slide Across the Floor appeared first on The Retro Network.

Last year, California wildfires destroyed 13,000 homes. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass announced: “We are 100% committed to getting this neighborhood rebuilt again!” Gov. Gavin Newsom echoed that, saying his officials were “responding to it at scale, with efficiency … addressing building codes, permitting issues, and moving forward to rebuilding.” Great! It sounded like bureaucrats would get out of the way and let fire victims rebuild quickly. But no. Not when government bureaucrats are in control. More than a year later, fewer than 30 of the 13,000 destroyed homes have been rebuilt. My new video explains why. Jim Cragg, who saved his house by putting sprinklers on his roof, blames California’s red tape. Now he runs a volunteer group helping people navigate life after the fire. He’s frustrated that it still takes months just to get permission to rebuild. Also, those who do get permits and start rebuilding sometimes get stopped. “You start building on that house and, oops! There’s a permit issue,” Cragg says. “Do you shut down for five days? All those trucks are waiting, all that lumber is waiting. There’s 6,000 houses waiting behind you.” Bass claims her office simplified things for homeowners: “We have waived, put aside, suspended, so we can get through the permitting process in record speed!” “Record speed” must not mean much to politicians. Fire victims must complete a mountain of paperwork before they can get permission to rebuild. The “Green Building Code” alone has countless rules. The flush volume of water closets must not exceed 1.28 gallons, builders must submit a construction waste management plan, garages must be wired for electric cars, finished buildings must include educational material on the positive impacts of humidity and information about California solar energy programs … It’s a good thing there’s a digital version of these requirements. Printing it would probably violate California’s environmental rules. “Thousands of people are traumatized,” points out Cragg, “and they’re being handed [those forms] and told, ‘Learn this, figure it out, master this. By the way, if you mess up on this, you may end up losing … $100,000.’ It’s scary.” The paperwork is so overwhelming that most homeowners haven’t even applied for permits. “Financially, it doesn’t make sense to try,” says Cragg. “This is something that could ruin your family even worse than what just happened in the fire.” Yet his mayor still insists, “This is actually pretty quick.” “It doesn’t feel pretty quick for that family that’s living in a hotel,” says Cragg. As usual, government causes more problems than it solves. The fire itself was probably exacerbated by California’s strict environmental rules. Residents say Los Angeles County wouldn’t let firefighters use heavy machinery in areas with “protected plants.” Also, before the fire, officials drained a 117-million-gallon reservoir to repair its cover. As a result, says Cragg, “Fire hydrants … some worked, most didn’t … The reservoir was empty.” One reason it stayed empty was because California officials took months just to schedule its repair. Everything government does costs more and takes longer. If all the bureaucracy isn’t bad enough, the owners of empty lots are told they still must pay property tax. But the politicians say they’re giving them a break. You only need to pay taxes on the lot, which comes out to two-thirds of what they used to pay. “It’s a slap in the face!” complains Cragg. Last year, Bass admitted: “There is dysfunctional levels of government everywhere. It isn’t anything particular to Los Angeles.” She’s right about that. But I think Los Angeles is probably worse than most places. “The Pacific Palisades is a war zone,” says Cragg. “We need a war fighter mentality there. We don’t need committees. We need a decision now. We need leadership and rebuilding now.” In California? Don’t count on it. COPYRIGHT 2026 BY JFS PRODUCTIONS INC. We publish a variety of perspectives. Nothing written here is to be construed as representing the views of The Daily Signal. The post California’s Inferno of Regulations appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Last month marked five years since Rush Limbaugh’s death. Tributes still appear on schedule. Clips circulate. Familiar phrases — “talent on loan from God,” “doctor of democracy,” “half my brain tied behind my back” — resurface. Every so often his opening theme slides into a feed, and people pause longer than they expect.That reaction says something.Rush can’t be replaced because the habits that made him possible have largely disappeared.When life felt unsteady, Rush stayed fixed.For millions of Americans, his voice arrived at the same hour each afternoon as institutions shifted, headlines fractured, and the culture argued with itself. Agreement was never universal. But steadiness was.The music still plays. Rush does not.Five years later, the absence still feels different — in a way modern media can’t quite explain.When talk show legend Johnny Carson retired in 1992, late-night TV didn’t disappear. It divided. Some viewers followed Jay Leno, who succeeded Carson at NBC. Others moved to CBS with David Letterman. Then the format split again, louder and more elaborate with each successor.Late-night evolved. It never recovered the King of Late Night’s reach.By today’s standards, Carson looks almost minimalist: a desk, a band, conversation allowed to breathe. Parents ended evenings there after the kids went to bed. The show closed the day not through spectacle but familiarity.Rush occupied a different hour but understood his medium just as completely.As broadcasting technology advanced and competitors added panels, simulcasts, and digital bells and whistles, Rush’s formula barely changed. Behind the golden EIB microphone sat one prepared voice, a “stack of stuff,” and three hours shaped not by focus groups but conviction.Some days funny. Some days angry. Always patriotic. Sometimes wounded or reflective — even nostalgic.Listeners heard it when Rush entered rehab in 2003. They heard it again when he announced his cancer diagnosis in 2020. They followed professional triumphs and personal failures, marriages that ended, and later the unexpected joy when he met Kathryn Rogers and married her in 2010. They heard the frustration and adaptation that followed the loss of his hearing.The humanity never weakened the authority. It reinforced it.Rush spoke from belief, and listeners found him.He often said he never set out to build a network of hundreds of stations or reach millions of listeners. His goal was simpler: Be the best broadcaster he could be. Not an alternative. Not a counterpoint. The best at articulating what made America exceptional — and at exposing ideas that threatened it.The audience followed.For many people, the show unfolded alongside responsibilities that never paused for politics. For years — through hospital visits, surgical waiting rooms, doctor’s appointments, and pharmacy runs with my wife — Rush kept me company more hours than almost anyone outside my family.He didn’t interrupt my life. He traveled alongside it.That relationship is difficult to recreate because modern media now works in reverse. Voices don’t wait to be found; they chase attention. Commentary arrives instantly, tailored to preference and consumed in fragments measured in seconds.Everyone now broadcasts. No one gathers.Earlier media required commitment. If you missed Carson, you missed him. When “Seinfeld” was new, millions tuned in at the same hour because there wasn’t an alternative. The next morning’s conversations assumed a shared experience. Rush worked the same way. If you tuned away, the broadcast kept going.Today almost nothing is truly missed. Everything can be replayed, clipped, streamed, or summarized. Convenience replaced anticipation. Access replaced commitment.We gained availability and lost presence.After Rush, commentary didn’t decline. It multiplied. Humor migrated here, outrage there, analysis somewhere else — across podcasts, streaming platforms, and social media personalities.But coherence thinned.Audiences scattered into niches large enough to sustain influence but too fragmented to create shared trust. Rush succeeded during one of the last eras when millions practiced the discipline of listening together long enough for familiarity to become confidence.RELATED: We don’t have to live this way Lindsey Nicholson/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty ImagesFor conservatives especially, that steadiness mattered. As cultural institutions treated them with ridicule or dismissal, Rush spoke directly to listeners who felt talked about rather than spoken to.He didn’t echo what people wanted to hear. He anchored them in what needed to be said. He didn’t flatter them. He reasoned with them. He laughed with them. Sometimes he challenged them.Recognition replaced alienation.Five years later, the lingering absence shows what was actually lost.We didn’t lose commentary, Lord knows. We lost a shared reference point.Rush can’t be replaced because the habits that made him possible have largely disappeared. Shared listening gave way to individualized feeds. Discipline yielded to distraction. Voices rise quickly now, but few endure long enough to be tested.The spinning never stopped. We just lost the fixed point.The question five years later isn’t who replaces Rush Limbaugh. He’s irreplaceable. The question is whether a culture trained to scroll still possesses the discipline to listen long enough for trust to form again.Because Rush was never simply something Americans heard. He was something they chose.

Airline etiquette has been on the decline for years, and people have doubted that air travel could ever again be a pleasant experience. However, a large airline has updated its policies, and many say that change could be a good start.United Airlines updated its contract of carriage document late last month to include a section about audio and video content that will ensure a more peaceful — and quieter — travel experience. 'I think we need to pack our manners whenever we go on an airplane, whenever we travel.'United Airlines now notes in its "Refusal of Transport" section that the airline may refuse transport or permanently ban passengers who refuse to wear headphones while listening to audio and video content on a plane. “We’ve always encouraged customers to use headphones when listening to audio content — and our Wi-Fi rules already remind customers to use headphones,” United spokesman Josh Freed said in an email to the Washington Post.RELATED: Private jet linked to 'top anti-ICE / anti-Trump' lawyers crashes, resulting in 6 fatalities “It seemed like a good time to make that even clearer by adding it to the contract of carriage," Freed added.When asked about the new policy, Florida-based etiquette expert Jacqueline Whitmore said, "It's about time.""I think we need to pack our manners whenever we go on an airplane, whenever we travel. And the violators of this, ironically, are parents — parents who don't put earbuds in their children's ears or headsets" on them.Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

The prospect of getting budget-priced accessories for your iPhone or Android might seem tempting, but many are not worth the serious issues they may cause.

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