Conservationists say the International Whaling Commission's responsibilities could be picked up by other UN bodies, saving millions of dollars each year.

In an apparent pre-election bid to push leftist narratives, the George Soros-funded Poynter Institute is looking to censor information shared among black Americans. Full of condescension and patronizing elitism, International Fact-Checking Network’s (IFCN) Poynter announced in a Tuesday press release that its PolitiFact and news organization Capital B “will collaborate this election season on fact-checks and analyses of issues that are important to Black Americans.” But Soros has poured money into groups suppressing election-related free speech, as MRC Free Speech America research showed, and Poynter is one such group. Poynter explained that PolitiFact will share fact-checking content with Capital B to spread the content across its platforms. Capital B will “serve as a thought partner on election issues,” Poynter claimed, noting the two organizations might also co-produce content. Poynter bragged that this “collaboration combines the PolitiFact newsroom’s prowess for fact-checking politicians and countering online mis- and disinformation with Capital B’s dynamic storytelling on issues affecting Black communities.” This seems to be blatant election interference, manipulating what information voters are able to access. Significantly, Soros has provided $80 million for groups pushing online censorship ahead of the 2024 election, MRC revealed in May. Poynter specifically received grants that amounted to nearly $500,000 total from Soros’s Open Society Foundations between 2016 and 2019. Akoto Ofori-Atta, the co-founder and chief audience officer at Capital B, lectured, “We’re quickly approaching a presidential election that will decide the trajectory of the country, and we’re continuing to see Black communities regularly targeted and fed political disinformation.” This statement did not acknowledge the damage to free speech during a crucial election year, when the information voters can access influences the candidate they vote for. Conservatives are under attack. Contact your representatives and demand that Big Tech be held to account to mirror the First Amendment and provide an equal platform for conservatives. If you have been censored, contact us using MRC Free Speech America’s contact form, and help us hold Big Tech accountable.

A 26-year-old Syrian asylum seeker is in custody after allegedly admitting to butchering three people — two men aged 56 and 67, and a 56-year-old woman — and leaving another six grievously wounded Friday at a Christian music festival in Solingen, Germany. Leftist politicians, poised to lose ground to the right-leaning Alternative for Germany party in next month's state elections, have expressed concern that this latest avoidable blood-letting may embolden critics of the country's immigration and asylum policies. According to the German publication Spiegel, a witness heard the suspect, Issa Al Hasan, shout "Allahu Akbar" while randomly stabbing bystanders. Hasan allegedly attempted to kill as many Christians and other Germans he regarded as "non-believers" as possible before escaping, masked in his victims' blood. Hasan turned himself into a police patrol late Saturday night, still wearing bloody clothes, and reportedly admitted to having committed the crime. Police arrested two other individuals, including a 36-year-old man in a residence for asylum seekers. It is unclear what connection the other arrestees had to Hasan or his plan. The terrorist organization ISIS has claimed responsibility for the attack "on a gathering of Christians in the city of Solingen in Germany," reported the Telegraph. The terrorist organization circulated a video on its propaganda channels showing the alleged attacker brandishing a knife and explaining his motives. Apparently, the terrorist wanted to avenge the supposed killing of Muslims in Iraq, Syria, and Bosnia, as well as to exact retribution for the "people of Palestine," reported Spiegel. The terrorist noted further in the video that he hails from Deir al-Sor in eastern Syria, where ISIS still has a foothold. 'It should now be clear: it is not the knives that are the problem, but the people who carry them around.' The last time ISIS claimed responsibility for a terrorist attack in Germany was in December 2016. An Islamic terrorist from Tunisia who unsuccessfully applied for asylum intentionally drove a truck through a Christmas market in Berlin, killing 12 people and injuring 56 others. A 13th victim later died of his injuries. The attacker in the 2016 Christmas attack pledged allegiance to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi whose reign as caliph of the Islamic State was brought to an end in 2019 during a U.S. military raid green-lit by President Donald Trump. Hasan, the apparent attacker in the Friday stabbings, reportedly entered Germany in December 2022 and applied for asylum. He was, however, ineligible under the EU's Dublin Regulation, which in this case would have made Bulgaria responsible for him. Although Germany and Bulgaria agreed on the Syrian's deportation, Hasan managed to dodge the authorities and go into hiding. Spiegel indicated that an arrest warrant was not ultimately issued for Hasan, in part because there were not enough detention facilities for prospective deportees. Since Hasan was not deported by the transfer deadline in August 2023, he officially became Germany's problem. Hasan subsequently secured the special protection Syrians oftentimes receive in Germany and was dispatched to Solingen in September 2023. As of July, German authorities reportedly made at least 43,000 transfer requests to other EU countries, but had only followed through on 3,500 deportations. The anti-Christian terror attack comes just months after an Afghan migrant, Sulaiman Ataee, went on a German stabbing spree at an anti-jihad rally in Mannheim's supposed knife-free zone. After stabbing multiple people, Ataee fatally slit a police officer's throat. The terrorist was subsequently shot dead by another cop. Friedrich Merz, the leader of the Christian Democratic Union and the opposition in the Bundestag, noted on Sunday: The attack is one of a whole series of knife attacks that have claimed the lives of many people in Germany in recent months. The coalition has been discussing — and arguing — for several weeks about tightening the gun laws and banning knives. After the terrorist attack in Solingen, it should now be clear: it is not the knives that are the problem, but the people who carry them around. In the majority of cases, these are refugees, and in the majority of the attacks, there are Islamist motives behind them. Merz called on German chancellor Olaf Scholz of the leftist Social Democratic Party of Germany to "join us in making decisions quickly and without further delay that are consistently aimed at preventing further terrorist attacks like the one last Friday in our country. People can be deported to Syria and Afghanistan, but we will not accept any more refugees from these countries." Scholz subsequently noted on X, "Islamists endanger the peaceful coexistence of Christians, Jews and Muslims. We will take action against them with all severity and will not stop persecuting them." Despite Scholz's strong rhetoric online, his party appears reluctant to take meaningful action. 'So of course, we are all very afraid that the right wing is getting more and more power.' The German publication Junge Freiheit reported that Scholz's general secretary Kevin Kühnert suggested Merz's proposal for a moratorium on asylum seeker admissions from Syria and Afghanistan is not legally possible. Kühnert apparently claimed that in the wake of such a terrorist attack, Germany cannot "now slam the door in the faces of people who are themselves fleeing from Islamists." Nancy Faeser, another leftist serving in Scholz's cabinet as Germany's federal minister of the interior, has expressed concerns that the Islamic terror attack may cause domestic division. Solingen city councilor Simone Lammert told Euronews, "We just heard that the far right Youth Party is talking about coming together today here. So of course, we are all very afraid that the right wing is getting more and more power. And that's definitely not the way of course, we have to ask some hard questions, but, you know, racism is never the answer." While the current German political establishment appears unwilling to address its problem with violent migrant crime, it is more than happy to hound immigration critics. Blaze News previously reported that Marie-Thérèse Kaiser, a member of the right-leaning Alternative for Germany, was convicted in May of a hate crime for sharing statistics about the disproportionate number of gang rapes committed by immigrants, specifically Afghan nationals, and for questioning whether multiculturalism means accommodating rape culture. In the wake of the AfD's strong electoral showing in June, a Bavarian court ruled that the country's domestic intelligence agency could surveil a regional association of the party as a suspected extremist group. The 22nd Chamber of the Düsseldorf Administrative Court — not far from Solingen — revealed last month that membership in the AfD precludes German citizens from owning firearms. AfD Bundestag lawmaker Nicole Höchst tweeted Saturday, "In Germany, thousands of people fall victim to knife attacks every year. Anyone who continues to vote for the CDU, CSU, Greens, SPD, FDP, Left, BSW is choosing to carry on as before. Change can only happen with us." Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Almost a decade ago, Disney announced that it would finally be moving ahead with a live-action remake of “Mulan.”The animated musical adventure was a huge hit when released in 1998. But now it was 2015, and anxieties surrounding race, transgenderism, and workplace sexual harassment were nearing their peak.This Mulan is not the liberal feminist icon she’s been made out to be; she’s more Joan of Arc than Captain Marvel. What drives her is love, not ambition.In retrospect, not the best time for an American company to tell a story set in ancient China and inspired by a well-known Chinese legend. Nor was it the ideal environment in which to cast a heroine who disguises herself as a man to in order to join the imperial army only to fall in love with a superior officer.'Inappropriate' romanceFrom the beginning, calls to oust white artists from the project trended online. Disney attempted to play ball; its first choice of director, Ang Lee, was unavailable to direct.Mulan's love interest from the original film, Captain Li Shang, was dropped in exchange for two new characters in response to the #MeToo movement. Producer Jason Reed explained that "having a commanding officer that is also the sexual love interest was very uncomfortable, and we didn't think it was appropriate.”This then upset LGBT activists who had, unbeknownst to the world outside their bubble, claimed Li Shang as a “bisexual icon.” Production’s attempts to conform to one moral crusade led to accusations of “erasure” by another.Politics and pandemic“Mulan” was finally ready for release in early 2020; by then other problems had emerged. It was revealed that some of the film’s landscape B-roll was shot in the northwest region of Xinjiang, where the government had infamously erected re-education camps for Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslim minorities to retaliate for terror attacks by Sunni separatists.Western governments and assorted NGOs urged Disney to condemn China. While Disney didn’t fold, the Chinese found the company’s lukewarm defense insulting enough to instruct state media not to cover the movie’s domestic release.The final and perhaps most devastating setback had to do with the film’s original premiere date: March 2020. While Disney did pull off the standard gala Hollywood screening, COVID and its attendant lockdowns squashed plans for a wide release.By the time “Mulan” finally crept into multiplexes that July, Disney, eager to be rid of the problem, had done little to promote it.Not woke? Go brokeThose who reviewed the movie largely seemed to do so through the ubiquitous lens of identity politics, which constrained their thoughts to the political context surrounding the production rather than the story itself.Critic Joonatan Itkonen’s dismissive reaction was exemplary: “Mulan is a film best described as an ‘if only’ production. If only the script had the input from actual Chinese people.”Never mind that Disney had originally sought an Asian director and boasted a cast and supporting crew that was nearly 100% ethnically Chinese — so very Chinese, in fact, that in 2019, lead actress Liu Yifei sparked controversy by condemning the pro-democracy riots in Hong Kong. Given the exacting, contradictory demands of the time, it should come as no surprise that “Mulan” also lost points for being too Chinese.A secret successIn retrospect, I think its harshest critics owe “Mulan” a reappraisal, if not an out-and-out apology.I watched the movie with my family this week and found myself pleasantly surprised by how good it was. It was visually and audibly stunning, with a physicality to its performances that gracefully incorporates elements of Chinese kung fu film tradition.The creators tone down the animated film’s goofiness in order to make something more serious — which in fact brings the story closer to its epic source material, "The Ballad of Hua Mulan."Particularly impressive was the film’s emphasis on honor, virtue, and a specifically Chinese concept of filial piety. Mulan risks death not for her own “self-realization” (an all-too-common motivation for contemporary heroines) but rather to protect both her father and the father of her nation: the emperor.When she reveals her true identity to the men in her unit, they reject her. A shape-shifting witch-warrior on the enemy side (a creative reimagining of the hawk from the animated film) offers her solidarity in this moment of cold exile.Mulan rejects her, saying, “I know my place, and it is my duty to fight for the kingdom and protect the emperor.” The sword she carries, stolen from her father, is emblazoned with three Chinese characters: 忠、勇、真 (loyal, brave, and true).After she saves the emperor, he gives her a new sword, one emblazoned with an additional virtue: filial piety (孝).This Mulan is not the liberal feminist icon she’s been made out to be; she’s more Joan of Arc than Captain Marvel. What drives her is love, not ambition.And this love dares to encompass her nation as well as her family. Americans haven’t seen a film so rich in unvarnished national pride since "The Patriot" (2000). “Mulan” left me yearning that we might one day again employ the vast resources of Hollywood to enshrine our own founding myths. I’m inspired by the possibility.

An odd set of circumstances has led to Boston Red Sox catcher Danny Jansen becoming the first player in MLB history to play for both teams during the same game.A June 26 match between the Red Sox and the Toronto Blue Jays was rained out in the second inning with a 0-0 score, to be completed as part of a doubleheader at a later date.About a month later, on July 27, Jansen was traded to the Red Sox for a string of prospects and added to Boston's active roster the next day.Now, on August 26 Jansen will face his old team in the continuation of the June 26 game, in a series of odd technicalities that will make him the first player to suit up for both teams in the same game.In fact, if ball fans were able to catch the MLB Gameday page before the 2:05 p.m. start time, they would see that Jansen was slated to be catching and batting in the same at-bat. Jansen was the hitter at the plate for the Blue Jays when the game was officially suspended on June 26.On the score sheet, Jansen will change teams mid-at-bat and go from from batting for the Blue Jays to catching for the Red Sox.'Let's make history.'It all stems from a COVID-era rule in which the league decided that in order to limit exposure between different players, if a game was suspended due to weather, the same players would be required to play in the makeup game. "Baseball has been around for so long, there's so many things that's happened in the game. So I was surprised when I found out I was the first," Jansen said, according to ABC News. "Any time you can be a part of this great game’s history, it’s pretty unique."The decision apparently came after manager Alex Cora started receiving texts from journalists asking if Jansen would be playing."You know what? Yeah, he's catching!” Cora said, per CNN. "Let's make history.""What an oddity, right?" Jansen added.The makeup game, which acts as an extension of the original game, leads to a series of other oddities.The roster requirements mean that the Blue Jays will lose several players mid-game: Justin Turner, Isiah Kiner-Falefa, Kevin Kiermaier, and Jansen have all been traded since the game technically started. Bo Bichette will also likely not be finishing the game due to injury.Players like Joey Loperfido will magically appear on the roster mid-game, and the technicalities of the game will actually change the history of of a Jays rookie. If Leo Jiménez suits up in the makeup game, the 23-year-old will have his MLB debut retroactively changed to June 26, 2024, even though he physically debuted on July 7, 2024.Interestingly enough, Jansen will be replacing Red Sox catcher Reese McGuire in the lineup. McGuire was sent down to the minors upon Jansen's arrival in the trade. In what will likely be a future trivia question, this means that Jansen will go down in history as changing teams mid-game, to bat while catching, replacing a player who hadn't been sent down to the minors yet (McGuire), and likely facing another player who wasn't actually there on the original game day (Jiménez).Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

As of Monday, the United States Secret Service will no longer provide protection to Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (I) after he recently suspended his presidential campaign to endorse former President Donald Trump.The Biden-Harris administration previously repeatedly denied RFK Jr.'s request for Secret Service protection even though his father, Robert F. Kennedy, and his uncle, former President John F. Kennedy, were both assassinated.'I'm going to do what I'm going to do, whether I have that or not.'After five rejected requests, the federal government agreed to provide RFK Jr. with Secret Service protection following the July assassination attempt against Trump, who also called for the independent candidate to receive security. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas announced a few days after the shooting, "In light of this weekend's events, the president has directed me to work with the Secret Service to provide protection to Robert Kennedy Jr."However, the protection did not last long. On Friday, RFK Jr. addressed his supporters, announcing that he would immediately suspend his campaign and throw his support behind Trump. "In my heart, I no longer believe that I have a realistic path of electoral victory in the face of this relentless, systematic censorship and media control," RFK Jr. stated. "So I cannot, in good conscience, ask my staff and volunteers to keep working their long hours, or ask my donors to keep giving when I cannot honestly tell them that I have a real path to the White House."During his Friday speech, RFK Jr. noted that he plans, and has already started, to suspend his campaign in key swing states that could take votes away from Trump and lead to a Harris victory. Voters in red and blue states will still see the independent candidate's name on the ballot, he noted.The Secret Service pulled its protection just days later, RFK Jr.'s campaign confirmed.RFK Jr. told Glenn Beck on Monday morning, "I'm going to do what I'm going to do, whether I have that or not.""My life is in God's hands," he added.He stated that it is "troubling for our country" that the Secret Service had initially refused to provide protection, calling it "part of the weaponization of the agencies, the politicization of the agencies."When asked about his decision to support Trump, RFK Jr. stated that the two candidates found common ground in their shared goals to end the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, protect free speech, and solve chronic diseases.Trump has stated that he would consider having RFK Jr. join his Cabinet; however, it is still unclear which position he would take.Last week, Donald Trump Jr. told Glenn Beck that RFK Jr. "could be a really great asset" in his father's administration."I love the idea of giving him some sort of role in some sort of major three-letter entity or whatever it may be and let him blow it up," he said. "I think that's what we need."Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

AP Explores How Kamala Harris Is Getting Away With All the 'Candidate of Change' BS

WOOF! Why Lie About THIS?! Tim Walz's LATEST Whopper of a Lie Should Absolutely Put Him IN the Doghouse

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