Seattle in the mid-1980s was a breeding ground for musical revolution, and among the earliest architects of what would become known as grunge was Soundgarden. Formed in 1984 by vocalist and drummer Chris Cornell, guitarist Kim Thayil, and bassist Hiro Yamamoto, the band carved out a distinct identity with their heavy, down-tuned guitars and Cornell’s soaring vocals. As Cornell shifted to focus solely on singing in 1985, Scott Sundquist was briefly brought in on drums before being replaced by Matt Cameron the following year. Yamamoto departed in 1989, and after a short-lived stint with former Nirvana guitarist Jason Everman, Soundgarden The post Complete List Of Soundgarden Songs From A to Z appeared first on ClassicRockHistory.com.

In this heartfelt interview, former Wizard magazine staffer, Sean T. Collins shares fascinating stories about his time in the Congers, NY offices from 2004-2007 forging friendships with fellow comic book lovers and taking on many CONTINUE READING... The post The WIZARD Files: Sean T. Collins appeared first on The Retro Network.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. faced a barrage of hostile questions Wednesday from Senate Democrats at his confirmation hearing to be the next secretary of Health and Human Services.  In his opening statement, Kennedy told the Senate Finance Committee that he had gotten on his knees and prayed to God to help him end America’s chronic disease epidemic. His nomination to lead HHS was an answered prayer. Throughout the hearing, Kennedy likened the health crisis in the country to a sinking ship, and the scion of the prominent political family thanked his supporters, including “Make America Healthy Again” moms who have brought renewed attention to the situation. How Kennedy is preparing to address that crisis if confirmed was discussed at Wednesday morning’s hearing. 1. On Health Crisis in US  In a lighter moment during the hearing, the son of 1960s-era Attorney General Robert Kennedy made clear that he would not be banning President Donald Trump’s favorite foods. “If you like a McDonald’s cheeseburger and a Diet Coke … you should be able to get them,” Kennedy told the committee. The HHS nominee talked at length about the unhealthy food being fed to American children. “We have a direct ability to change things there,” he said, referring to federal funding of programs that go to unhealthy foods. Kennedy mentioned the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program—food stamps—as an example. He then waxed a bit philosophical. “A healthy person has a thousand dreams. A sick person has only one,” he said. The nominee also discussed the statistics of American children and adults on mental health medications, such as Adderall, benzodiazepines (like Xanax), and SSRIs (like Prozac), contending that the United States has an overmedication problem. “15 percent of American youth are now on Adderall or some other [attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder] medications, even higher percentages are on SSRIs and benzos,” Kennedy said at the hearing. The former law professor also committed to helping find the illegal alien children that the Biden administration lost track of after they crossed the border.  2. On Vaccines After getting bombarded with questions about his past advocacy regarding vaccines, Kennedy articulated his position on the issue. “I support the measles vaccine. I support the polio vaccine,” he said, noting that his own children were vaccinated. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., confronted Kennedy with pictures of onesies with the words “Unvaxxed, Unafraid” and “No vax. No problem” on them that are being sold by Children’s Health Defense, an organization the nominee once chaired. Kennedy noted that he had no control over the organization anymore. 3. On Government Accountability Kennedy also promised transparency when it comes to government-funded health care and health-related research. He cited transparency, accountability, and access as his goals in leading the Department of Health and Human Services. “If Congress asks me for information, you will get it immediately,” he said. The nominee also advocated for a total review of government employees at the Department of Health and Human Services. “I will commit to not firing anyone who is doing their job,” he retorted in an exchange with Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va. 4. On the Life Issues Kennedy discussed at length the issue of abortion, and he noted that he comes from a family split on the issue. “We were able to have those conversations and respect each other, and I wish we could do that nationally,” he said. Kennedy reiterated several times that every abortion was a tragedy. When it came to the issue of mifepristone, Kennedy noted that the Trump administration had not yet released a position on the abortion pill, but that Americans need to understand the safety risks of every drug. On the issue of stem cell research, Kennedy noted that he supported it, but added a caveat that it can be done without fetal tissue. The nominee also committed to supporting the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). “I absolutely support PEPFAR, and I will happily work with you to strengthen the program,” he told Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas.  5. On Health Care as a Human Right Sanders asked whether Kennedy thought health care was a human right. He replied by noting the complexities around the issue. “In health care, if you smoke cigarettes for 20 years and you get cancer, you are now taking from the pool,” the nominee said. He also noted that he agreed in principle with ending the disparity in drug prices between the United States and Europe.  Kennedy appeared prepared for what senators were likely to bring up about his past statements. More than a few times, the Senate committee audience chuckled or cheered in response to his answers. Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt., told the hearing that he had been a fellow at the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Human Rights after graduating from college, illustrating just how impactful the Kennedy family has been on politics for generations.  The post 5 Big Issues Aired at RFK Jr.’s Hearing to Head HHS appeared first on The Daily Signal.

“Grasping at straws” doesn’t even begin to properly define The Washington Post’s latest barking mad line of attack against X owner Elon Musk: Virtue-signaling on his video game ethics. The seriousness of Post technology reporter Drew Harwell’s insane 1,694-word agitprop against Musk to rile up the gamers across the cyberverse could be summed up by his headline: “Does Elon Musk cheat at video games? An investigation.” Yes, he actually called this an “investigation.” The piece just went downhill from there: “The world’s richest man has admitted to paying to boost his online warriors into global leaderboards, raising questions about his gaming prowess — and his need for digital praise.” Talk about making a mountain out of a very puny molehill! Harwell sought to pick apart Musk’s X posts and comments to podcasters Joe Rogan and Lex Friedman flexing his gaming bona fides on noted titles such as “Diablo IV,” “Tier 100 Nightmare,”  and “Path of Exile 2.” In the process, Harwell just provided more evidence why The Post is virtually obsessed with Musk: “But after poring over his live-streamed gameplay, online sleuths recently made a shocking accusation: Musk had cheated.” Wow, what a revelation! Well, not really, considering that about 57 percent of Americans who game “revealed that they have used either single-player or multiplayer cheats while playing a video game,” according to a 2022 study by YouGov and PLITCH. As PLITCH summarized, “Using Cheats is Common.”  But Harwell, acting as gaming community gatekeeper, had the backbone to make his newspaper a laughingstock by suggesting this event somehow undermines his role as President Donald Trump’s leader of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE): The strange episode has undercut Musk amid a rapid rise in his political prominence, as a top Republican donor and the leader of the Trump administration’s new “Department of Government Efficiency,” a nongovernmental advisory panel known as DOGE. How Harwell made this bizarre stretch from his gaming habits to his value as a Trump advisor is a feat unto itself. Harwell alleged that scuttlebutt from the gaming community suggested Musk “had pursued a widely mocked tactic known as ‘boosting,’ paying strangers to play his character and rake in loot so that, when he logged in, he could face challenges with the most powerful gear.”  To put an exclamation point on how ridiculous this non-scandal is, PLITCH released another 2024 study with neurotechnology group Brainamics finding that “Using Cheats makes Gamers Happy.” Are you laughing yet? In short, using cheats “during gameplay increases players’ fun and guarantees an almost complete elimination of boredom and negative emotional experiences.” In other words Harwell — in the grand pantheon of online gaming — this isn’t a story, let alone one that’s over 1,000 words. What’s humorous is that Harwell seemed to admit this point, but still tried to massage his piece into some kind of a bombshell: As scandals go, Musk’s drama isn’t exactly Watergate. But it has nevertheless baffled a community of gamers that once deified him as a celebrity geek and has raised questions among former fans about his need for online praise and domination. Why would a famous billionaire, at the peak of his real-world power, care so much about beating nobodies in a fantasy video game? Who knows, Harwell? But we can plausibly speculate that no one really cares. 

It’s been a while but White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy Stephen Miller seemed to still have it during a Tuesday interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper on The Lead. Miller repeatedly embarrassed Tapper by calling out the outlandish assertions he was making and throwing them back in his face, like suggesting it was “demonizing” to note that someone voted for Vice President Kamala Harris and that the left wanted the cheap exploitative labor of illegal immigrants. Questioned by Tapper about the Trump administration’s freeze on discretionary spending, Miller noted that they had to put it in place to halt billions of taxpayer dollars President Biden had tried to funnel out of the country in the final days of hours of his presidency. Miller also noted that career bureaucrats in the federal government also had their own pet projects they were trying to funnel money toward. When Miller dared to note the fact that the vast majority of federal workers leaned left, Tapper rudely interjected (Click "expand"): MILLER: There's 2 million employees in the federal government, overwhelmingly the career federal service in this country is far left, left-wing. The American people -- TAPPER: I don't know that to be a fact. MILLER: Well, I'll give you a great example. We looked at USAID as an example. TAPPER: That's -- MILLER: Ninety-eight percent, 98 percent of the workforce either donated to Kamala Harris or another left-wing candidate, just as an example. Tapper ridiculously interrupted again to claim Miller was “demonizing” them by noting who they voted for. Miller promptly responded by calling out how ridiculous of a claim that was (Click "expand"): TAPPER: You're demonizing an entire workforce as having a -- MILLER: Wait, wait. Whoa, whoa, whoa. Did you just say that, saying someone voted for Kamala Harris is demonizing them? TAPPER: No. So your suggestion is that there's a bias? MILLER: No. TAPPER: Your suggestion -- MILLER: But you use the word demonizing. You just said that I'm demonizing somebody by saying they voted for Kamala Harris. TAPPER: Let's get back on track.     It’s interesting that Tapper showed moral outrage at someone who dare point out the political affiliations of the federal bureaucracy, and yet he was 100 percent behind taking part in maliciously defaming Navy veteran Zachary Young on his show after Young saved 22 women and a baby from the Taliban. “I got to finish the sentence,” Miller told Tapper after he again rudely interrupted in an attempt to obfuscate the facts about the voting patterns of the federal bureaucracy. Miller continued: “The American people voted for dramatic change implemented by Donald Trump. So it is essential for him to get control of government, to establish a whole-of-government process for Donald Trump's political appointees, to review discretionary grants of spending for pet projects that are not directed by Congress.” Further on, Tapper was clutching his pearls over the deportation of illegal immigrants: “How does President Trump make sure that the effort to deport people who are not in this country legally doesn't end up hurting Americans who want safe borders? Absolutely. But also don't want to see even more higher prices in groceries?” Miller cut through Tapper’s argument by pointing out that it stemmed from a fear of losing cheap labor. “Well, I'm sure it’s not your position, Jake. You're just asking the question that we should supply America's food with exploitative, illegal alien labor. I obviously don't think that's what you're implying,” he slyly pushed back. “Only one percent of alien workers in the entire country work in agriculture. The top destination for illegal aliens are large cities like New York, like Los Angeles, and small industrial towns, of course, all across the heartland, as we've seen with the Biden floods,” he explained. The transcript is below. Click "expand: to read: CNN’s The Lead January 28, 2025 4:31:54 p.m. Eastern (…) STEPHEN MILLER: And I just want to but I want to really drill down on this, Jake, because it's so important. There's 2 million employees in the federal government, overwhelmingly the career federal service in this country is far left, left-wing. The American people -- TAPPER: I don't know that to be a fact. MILLER: Well, I'll give you a great example. We looked at USAID as an example. TAPPER: That's -- MILLER: Ninety-eight percent, 98 percent of the workforce either donated to Kamala Harris or another left-wing candidate, just as an example. TAPPER: Okay. MILER: But let me just -- let me just -- TAPPER: You're demonizing an entire workforce as having a -- MILLER: Wait, wait. Whoa, whoa, whoa. Did you just say that, saying someone voted for Kamala Harris is demonizing them? TAPPER: No. So your suggestion is that there's a bias? MILLER: No. TAPPER: Your suggestion -- MILLER: But you use the word demonizing. You just said that I'm demonizing somebody by saying they voted for Kamala Harris. TAPPER: Let's get back on track. MILLER: But I just -- I am on track. TAPPER: Okay. MILLER: Let me stay on track. What I'm saying to you is this, there are 2 million employees in the federal government. TAPPER: Right. MILLER: They're overwhelmingly left of center, the American people. TAPPER: Again, facts – MILLER: I've got to finish the sentence. TAPPER: Okay. MILLER: I got to finish the sentence. The American people voted for dramatic change implemented by Donald Trump. So it is essential for him to get control of government, to establish a whole-of-government process for Donald Trump's political appointees, to review discretionary grants of spending for pet projects that are not directed by Congress. So, in other words, these are pots of money where Congress hasn't said how to spend it or where to spend it. This might be something like saying, I want to build a $500 million fountain in the courtyard of the Department of Commerce. This might be something like saying, I want to fund gender studies in Afghanistan. There has to be political control and review. I can't help it if left-wing media outlets published a fake news story that caused confusion. If you read the OMB guidance memo, it is -- TAPPER: I don't know what you're talking about. MILLER: Well, if you read the OMB guidance. TAPPER: Well, I don't know what left wing media outlets-- MILLER: It's clear as day. (…) 4:42:50 p.m. Eastern TAPPER: The Department of Agriculture says that between 2020 and 2022, 42 percent of crop workers were undocumented immigrants. And in many cases, as you know, these migrants do jobs many Americans do not want to do. So, how do you -- how does President Trump make sure that the effort to deport people who are not in this country legally doesn't end up hurting Americans who want safe borders? Absolutely. But also don't want to see even more higher prices in groceries? MILLER: Well, I'm sure it’s not your position, Jake. You're just asking the question that we should supply America's food with exploitative, illegal alien labor. I obviously don't think that's what you're implying. Only one percent of alien workers in the entire country work in agriculture. The top destination for illegal aliens are large cities like New York, like Los Angeles, and small industrial towns, of course, all across the heartland, as we've seen with the Biden floods. TAPPER: Uh-huh. MILLER: None of those illegal aliens are doing farm work. Those 30,000 illegal aliens that Joe Biden dumped into Springfield. TAPPER: I'm talking about the ones that aren't -- MILLER: No, no, no, but -- but no, no, but I'm explaining this. It's important to understand. TAPPER: Now, you're kind of changing the subject. I mean, I'm talking about the ones -- MILLER: I will -- I will go -- I will give me 30 minutes. I'll go as deep as you want. I'm explaining to you and to your audience -- TAPPER: I don't -- we don't have 30 minutes. I don't -- I'm talking about the ones that could that work in the agriculture industry. MILLER: What -- I'm explaining to you and your audience -- TAPPER: We can go back and we can talk about the ones in the cities. I swear. MILLER: I'll do the -- I'll do the whole answer. The illegal aliens that Joe Biden brought into our country are not full stop doing farm work. They are not the illegal aliens he brought in from Venezuela, from Haiti, from Nicaragua. They are not doing farm work. They are in our cities collecting welfare. (…)

The first few weeks of Donald Trump’s presidency have been nothing short of historic for the pro-life cause. Not only has the president officially pardoned 23 men and women who were imprisoned under Biden’s watch for protesting at abortion clinics, but JD Vance has also left pro-life Americans with some encouraging words. “Let me say very simply, I want more babies in the United States of America. I want more happy children in our country, and I want beautiful young men and women who are eager to welcome them into the world and eager to raise them,” Vance said at the March for Life event in Washington, D.C. “It is the task of our government to make it easier for young moms and dads to afford to have kids, to bring them into the world, and to welcome them as the blessings that we know they are here at the March for Life,” he continued. Sara Gonzales of “Sara Gonzales Unfiltered” is thrilled, noting that it’s now finally “cool again to be pro-life.” However, Eric July isn’t so sure. “Look, there’s some evil people in this world. Let’s just say that, OK, there’s a lot of them. They’re in Hollywood. They’re in pretty much every form of entertainment. I don’t think they’re changing their positions on this by any means,” he tells Gonzales. “Which, unfortunately, they’ve been able to determine what is cool,” he continues. “That said, I do think that on at least this issue, you are starting to see people be far more open about being pro-lifers.” “And that’s regardless of political affiliation. Which is how it should be. I mean, the way that unfortunately the concept of baby killing has been weaponized in the West over the last century and just how now it’s basically a form of medicine now,” he adds. “Reproductive health care,” Gonzales comments, adding, “which is strange when the entire point of the operation is to kill a human being. That’s terrible health care.” Want more from Sara Gonzales?To enjoy more of Sara's no-holds-barred take to news and culture, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

The inspector general of the U.S. Department of Agriculture was reportedly escorted out of her office after she refused to accept her firing.The report said that Phyllis Fong was escorted by security agents, according to sources who spoke to Reuters. Fong had reportedly told people that she was not going to leave because she believed the administration did not follow the proper protocols in ordering her to be fired. The USDA investigates food safety and has recently been spearheading government action on the spread of bird flu. A memo written by Fong explained to colleagues that the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency “has taken the position that these termination notices do not comply with the requirements set out in law and therefore are not effective at this time.”Fong was a 22-year veteran of the department. She was fired along with 16 other government watchdogs on Friday. The White House defended the firings in a brief statement. "These rogue, partisan bureaucrats," the statement said, "have been relieved of their duties in order to make room for qualified individuals who will uphold the rule of law and protect Democracy."On Monday, a statement from the House Committee on Education and Workforce accused Fong of looking the other way as fraud siphoned away taxpayer money. "USDA Inspector General Phyllis Fong is out. She led the department that was informed of fraud in the Feeding Our Future program—a $250 million scheme that took funds from hungry children—and did NOT act," the statement read. The USDA investigates food safety and has recently been spearheading government action on the spread of bird flu. The department is also investigating brain implants being engineered by Elon Musk's startup Neuralink. Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

President Donald Trump greenlit the Laken Riley Act on Wednesday. The landmark legislation became the first bill to be signed into law in the second Trump administration. The bill was named after a 22-year-old nursing student who was senselessly murdered by an illegal alien in February 2024 while she was jogging on the University of Georgia campus. In honor of Riley, the law requires the detention of illegal migrants who are charged with theft-related and violent crimes as a preventative measure. Many believe the law could have saved Riley's life since her assailant, Jose Ibarra, had been arrested in New York City just a few months before her murder. 'I believe this nation is tired of leaders in DC prioritizing fighting over governing.'After signing the bill into law, Trump handed the pen to Riley's mother, who was in attendance."This is something that has brought Democrats and Republicans together," Trump said in the East Wing of the White House. “Laken did it. America will never ever forget Laken Hope Riley.”The bill passed both the House and the Senate with bipartisan support, although most Democrats voted to block the legislation. The Laken Riley Act also passed the House in the 118th Congress, but then-Majority Leader Chuck Schumer never brought it to the Senate floor for a vote. "I believe a secure border creates a more secure nation, and it's just common sense," Democratic Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, who voted to advance the legislation, said in a statement Wednesday. "I believe a stronger border is fully compatible with my commitment to immigration." "I also believe our nation should protect our Dreamers," Fetterman added. "I believe this nation is tired of leaders in D.C. prioritizing fighting over governing. I believe Pennsylvania elected me to fight for a better commonwealth and to work with both sides of the aisle." Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

President Donald Trump ordered a pause in foreign aid on Jan. 20, eliciting backlash from beneficiaries abroad and vested interests at home. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt provided pearl-clutchers with a reality check Tuesday, identifying two damning examples of how tens of millions of American tax dollars were allegedly set to be squandered in distant lands: in one instance on condoms in a terrorist hotbed and in other instance on a scandal-plagued international organization the U.S. is leaving in the dust. Trump, convinced that the U.S. "foreign aid industry and bureaucracy are not aligned with American interests and in many cases antithetical to American values," ordered a 90-day pause in foreign aid, affording his administration an opportunity to review relevant programs "for programmatic efficiency and consistency with United States foreign policy." In accordance with Trump's order, Secretary of State Marco Rubio paused all U.S. foreign assistance funded by or through the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development. "Reviewing and realigning foreign assistance on behalf of hardworking taxpayers is not just the right thing to do, it is a moral imperative," Tammy Bruce, a spokeswoman for the department, said in a statement Sunday. "The secretary is proud to protect America's investment with a deliberate and judicious review of how we spend foreign assistance dollars overseas." 'The aid community is grappling with just how existential this aid suspension is.' Following the State Department's announcement, Trump noted during House Republicans' annual retreat Monday in Florida, "We get tired of giving massive amounts of money to countries that hate us, don't we?" The possibility that the American government might condition foreign aid on whether a given initiative abroad makes the U.S. safer, stronger, and more prosperous rankled various activists and NGOs. InterAction, the biggest alliance of international aid organizations in the country, condemned the funding freeze, alleging in a statement that it "creates dangerous vacuums that China and our adversaries will quickly fill." "It stops assistance in countries critical to U.S. interests, including Taiwan, Syria, and Pakistan," continued the statement from InterAction. "And, it halts decades of lifesaving work through PEPFAR that helps babies to be born HIV-free." Abby Maxman, the president and CEO of Oxfam, told ABC News in a statement, "The aid community is grappling with just how existential this aid suspension is — we know this will have life-or-death consequences for millions around the globe, as programs that depend on this funding grind to a halt without a plan or safety net." "This decision must be reversed, and funding and programming must be allowed to move forward," added Maxman. 'Everybody rips off the United States.' A reporter complained during the White House press briefing Tuesday that Trump's freezes and attempted freezes on federal funding were executed with "little notice," putting organizations on the back foot. After noting in reply that Americans' "tax dollars actually matter this this administration," Leavitt provided examples of why quick action was warranted, noting that the White House budget office and the Department of Government Efficiency found that "there was $37 million that was about to go out the door to the World Health Organization." Leavitt indicated that it is clear from Trump's executive order withdrawing from the WHO that such funding "wouldn't be in line with the president's agenda." Trump set the ball rolling on severing all official ties with the WHO via executive order on Jan. 20, stating that the "WHO continues to demand unfairly onerous payments from the United States, far out of proportion with other countries' assessed payments. China, with a population of 1.4 billion, has 300 percent of the population of the United States, yet contributes nearly 90 percent less to the WHO." "World Health ripped us off," said Trump. "Everybody rips off the United States. It's not going to happen any more." 'We are protecting American taxpayers.' "DOGE and OMB also found that there was about to be 50 million taxpayer dollars that went out the door to fund condoms in Gaza," Leavitt added Tuesday. "That is a preposterous waste of taxpayer money." Some critics have questioned whether $50 million was actually earmarked for shipping condoms to Gaza, which only has a population of around 2.1 million people. Doubts were fueled in part by reports highlighting that in 2023, USAID allocated $60.8 million in funding for condoms and female contraceptives globally and that none of that funding went to Gaza. Only $45,681 worth of condoms were delivered to the Middle East that fiscal year. State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce clarified in an X thread that the blocked funds for contraception were part of $102 million in planned "unjustified funding to a contractor in Gaza." A Trump administration official confirmed to the Independent on Wednesday that the blocked grants were partly for contraceptives but also for the International Medical Corps, an America-based organization that operates field hospitals in Gaza, to provide "family planning programming including emergency contraception; sexual health care including prevention and management of sexually transmitted infections; and adolescent sexual and reproductive health." Todd Bernhardt, a spokesman for the IMC, told the Washington Post that "no U.S. government funding was used to procure or distribute condoms." While it's unclear whether taxpayers were actually on the hook for Gazan condoms, Bruce noted that the overall pause in foreign assistance has enabled the State Department to prevent $16 million in funding from going to institutional contractors in gender development offices; $4 million from going to the Center for Climate-Positive Development; $12 million from going to provide support services to the USAID Bureau for Resilience, Environment, and Food Security; $6 million from going to fund "administrative support for an already bloated 'Center of Excellence'"; and $600,000 to fund technical assistance for family planning in Latin America. "We will not allow the bureaucracy to exploit a crisis and waste taxpayer dollars. We are protecting American taxpayers, safeguarding America’s national security, and ensuring actual lifesaving humanitarian aid continues," said Bruce. Government data shows that the U.S. blew $68 billion on foreign aid in 2023 and had nearly $40 billion in obligations for fiscal year 2024. According to the United Nations, the U.S. is far and away the biggest global provider of humanitarian aid, accounting for over 42% of funding worldwide last year. The runner-up was the European Union, which collectively accounted for only 8.1% of global funding. Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

President Donald Trump’s administration was inundated with approximately 7,400 “new media” applications within 24 hours of announcing that its press briefing room would be opened to more than just the traditional legacy media news outlets.On Tuesday, press secretary Karoline Leavitt stated that the briefing room would be available to “new media voices who produce news-related content.”'It’s essential to our team that we share President Trump’s message everywhere and adapt this White House to the new media landscape in 2025.'“We welcome independent journalists, podcasters, social media influencers, and content creators to apply for credentials to cover this White House,” she said. “Starting today, this seat in the front of the room, which is usually occupied by the press secretary staff, will be called the ‘new media seat.’”Leavitt explained that her team would review the applications and determine who would receive press passes for the briefing room.“The Trump White House will speak to all media outlets and personalities, not just the legacy media who are seated in this room,” she continued. “According to recent polling from Gallup, Americans' trust in mass media has fallen to a record low. Millions of Americans — especially young people — have turned from traditional television outlets and newspapers to consume their news from podcasts, blogs, social media, and other independent outlets.”The first questions for Tuesday’s briefing went to one journalist from Axios and another from Breitbart. Leavitt stated that “despite being some of the most viewed news websites in the country,” the two outlets had previously “not been given seats in this room.”“As long as you are creating news-related content of the day and you’re a legitimate independent journalist, you’re welcome to cover this White House,” she added.Leavitt also noted that the Trump administration plans to restore press credentials for the 440 journalists whose passes were “wrongly revoked” by the Biden administration.In August 2023, the Biden administration tightened its requirements for “hard pass holders.” Reporters had to prove “full-time employment with an organization whose principal business is news dissemination” and provide a Washington, D.C.-area address. Journalists also had to demonstrate that they were assigned to cover the White House and have credentials to “a press gallery in either the U.S. Senate, U.S. House of Representatives, or Supreme Court.”Less than 24 hours after Leavitt’s first press briefing on Wednesday, the Daily Wire reported that the Trump administration had already received 7,400 applications to join the briefing room. “It’s essential to our team that we share President Trump’s message everywhere and adapt this White House to the new media landscape in 2025,” Leavitt remarked.Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!