You get off the plane, hop on a train, walk through the door and you’re finally home – phew! You reach for your suitcase, slam it on the bed, and start pulling out all your clothes in search of souvenirs. We get it! You want to reminisce! Love the energy, but hate the execution – and so do doctors.If you’re wondering why your post-holiday ritual is any of those nosy doctors’ business, it all comes down to the stowaways we pick up on holiday and where they go when you unpack your suitcase. Desperate to get into your own bed? So are bedbugs.What Are Bedbugs?Bedbugs are one of the world’s major pests that love to dine on the blood of humans, among other animals. The most common culprits in our homes are Cimex lectularius and C. hemipterus, and once they get in, it can be incredibly difficult to kick them out.Picking up bedbugs on holiday is a common occurrence because places like hostels and hotels are more at risk of picking them up – not because these places are dirty, but simply because of all the human traffic, as bed bugs' only preference for residence is that we humans live there too. As hotel guests come and go, each one could potentially introduce these pests that will happily hide in the room’s nooks and crevices, feeding each night on the next unlucky visitor.Bed Bug SignsIf you wake up in the morning to find yourself pockmarked with the “breakfast, lunch, and dinner sign,” that’s a good indicator you’ve been nibbled by bedbugs. This sign is the result of the way bedbugs map the skin looking for the best feeding sites.For this reason, it’s also recommended that when you go on holiday, you keep your luggage in the bathtub. Setting up camp in plug holes that are so frequently flooded wouldn’t be a recipe for survival for these bloodsucking parasites, so by placing your suitcase in the tub, you make it harder for them to become stowaways in your luggage.Bedbugs aren’t the only things that have been known to travel the world in people’s suitcases. Everything from spiders to insects and reptiles have been found in people’s suitcases – and even *checks notes* their pants. How To Avoid Bringing Bedbugs HomeSo, what should you do if you think you’ve stayed somewhere with bedbugs but want to reclaim your luggage? Any bedbugs and nymphs will die if they stay stuck in your suitcase for two weeks. If you can’t wait that long, putting your clothes and dryer-safe belongings on a hot cycle can kill bedbugs and their eggs.They may want to see the world, but you’ve got enough souvenirs already.[H/T: T3]

A new study from The Washington Institute for Near East Studies has published a news study that sheds further light on the Washington Post’s biased coverage towards the war in Gaza. According to Robert Satloff, the Post accounts for 72 percent of all non-official anonymous sources. The study looked at “seven leading U.S. media platforms—the New York Times, Washington Post, and Wall Street Journal, along with ABC News, CBS News, ABC News, and CNN.” It further found 436 stories included anonymous sourcing, but 379 included “government or organizational official or someone described as being knowledgeable about sensitive political, military, or diplomatic issues.” That left 57 stories “that cited local people as anonymous sources.” Of these, 41 came from the Washington Post. Satloff notes some justifications “were simply bizarre, such as one purporting to protect a ‘local charity worker’ from being inundated with requests for assistance.” Additionally, Satloff provides five examples of the Post using anonymous sources as the story’s main story. One story about Israel separating Gazan mothers from their premature babies born in Israeli or West Bank hospitals was so bad, that Satloff himself wrote an article in the Times of Israel rebutting the claim, “which led to the Post re-reporting the story and issuing an apology and a correction.” A second baby-related story about doctors being forced to choose which premature babies to save also required an apology and correction after another Satloff article. Satloff also notes: In three of these five stories, the lead reporter was Jerusalem-based Miriam Berger; in the other two, the lead reporter was Hazem Balousha, a longtime contributor to the Post, the Guardian, and Deutsche Welle who relocated from Gaza to Amman with his family early in the war. Overall, 48 Post reporters or contributors had bylines on Gaza stories citing anonymous sources, but these two were the most frequent, with Berger’s name on the byline of 39 percent of all such stories and Balousha’s on 22 percent of them. On four occasions, Berger and Balousha shared a byline on an anonymously sourced story, meaning that one or both were listed on more than half (51 percent, 21 out of 41) of all these stories. In a tweet promoting his study, Satloff claimed the study focused on anonymous sources because he found it to be an objective way to measure bias. That is a laudable desire, but we can add several anecdotal examples of the Post’s biased coverage. Oct 12: The Post publishes an article falsely stating Israel dropped more bombs in Gaza in a week than the U.S. dropped in Afghanistan in a year. It would later issue a correction. Oct. 17: Even after contrary evidence emerged, the Post’s Twitter account was still giving credence to the idea that Israel bombed al-Ahli Hospital. Nov 1: Fact-checker Glenn Kessler defends Hamas’s casualty figures despite conceding it does not distinguish between combatants and non-combatants. Nov. 8: The Post deletes a cartoon criticizing Hamas’s use of human shields after people complained it was racist. Nov. 22: Kessler shames President Biden for saying Hamas decapitated babies. Dec. 21: The Post argues that Israeli evidence that Al-Shifa Hospital was used as a Hamas base is lacking despite video footage of weapons being found there. May 30: The Post deletes an article without explanation claiming Israel bombed a safe zone full of civilians after reporting confirmed Israeli denials. July 19: The Post deletes a tweet lamenting that the parents of an Israeli hostage do not speak about Palestinian deaths in Gaza. July 30: The Post apologizes for not referencing Hezbollah killing 12 children in reports of Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon. Those are just some examples. As for Satloff, he concludes, “Indeed, abuse of anonymous sourcing at the Post appears to be a systemic problem, with responsibility that runs from correspondents in the field to the most senior editors in Washington. This may not be the reason the Post is currently going through convulsive change, but one can only hope that it comes out at the other end with this problem fixed.”

Depending on one’s outlook, it was either amusing, annoying, or frustrating to see Tuesday marked the 500th White House press briefing of the Biden regime and, true to form, Karine Jean-Pierre ducked hardballs about the left’s court-packing charade, the national debt, and even how often President Biden and Vice President and presumptive Democratic nominee Kamala Harris actually talk. First, Jean-Pierre began by acknowledging this being the 500th time someone had taken to the podium that spawned so many “moments together and important exchanges” and thus they’re “proud of” and recognize “the importance of the role you all play” as “a pillar of our democracy”: KJP: “So, I want to start by saying that today is the Biden-harris administration’s 500th briefing. Yay! I know you guys are excited and then, from now until the end of our term, we will do 500 more. I'm just kidding. Can you imagine? Anyway, guys, all kidding aside, so we’ve… pic.twitter.com/trF4vGN4sd — Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) July 30, 2024 Skipping ahead to Heinrich’s turn and she came out with a short, to-the-point question on the so-called Supreme Court “reform” package like you’d see from her colleague, Peter Doocy: JACQUI TIME: “Is this Supreme Court proposal just an election year gambit?” KJP: “I will say this. I think, if you read the Washington Post op-ed that the President put out yesterday, if you listen to his speech, he was reacting to what SCOTUS has been doing over the past — not… pic.twitter.com/gVpvkKYqzI — Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) July 30, 2024 Heinrich had a natural follow-up: “But why would he not then read in top Democrats, including the Senate Judiciary chair, about this effort?” Thanks to liberal narratives browbeating half the country into delegitimizing the court, Jean-Pierre claimed “the majority of Americans want to see this” and Biden’s claim to impose term limits and new picks every two years came thanks to “range of conservative legal experts and Republican elected officials”. Heinrich wasn’t having it and fact-checked both this alleged support from a judicial commission and Biden’s own past comments:     The Fox correspondent tried to press on whether this means Biden supports eliminating the filibuster to enact these power grabs, but Jean-Pierre wouldn’t commit to that and instead mentioned conservative Supreme Court justices in the same breath as the Charlottesville neo-Nazis and white supremacists (click “expand”): HEINRICH: So [inaudible] endorsing eliminate the filibuster then? JEAN-PIERRE: — I mean, look — we are — he laid out the three ways that he wants to move forward. We’re going to have hopefully a healthy debate with Congress on what this is going to look — what this is gonna look like. This is going to be legislation that we want to move forward with — and — look — and I will say this, you know, one of the reasons the president ran in 2020 was because of what he saw in Charlottesville was because of the fear of — uh — you know, wanting to make sure that we protect the soul of our nation. That was part of it and just look at what’s happened, you know, the last — um — you know — the last several years and the actions that the Supreme Court has taken. I mean, this is a President that was on the Judiciary Committee for almost the 36 years that he was President — right — if you think — HEINRICH: So, that’s a yes on the filibuster? JEAN-PIERRE: — I — I actually answered this. I said we’re going to have a healthy debate with Congress on what this is going to look like. The President laid out the three ways that he sees moving forward. There’s — not going to go beyond those three measures that he’s laid out, but we’re going to have a healthy debate and that’s what’s important here. HEINRICH: So, the filibuster’s an open question? JEAN-PIERRE: I just said we are going to — HEINRICH: He welcomes the question on the filibuster? JEAN-PIERRE: — we — we — we welcome — we welcome a healthy debate on how to move forward. He put forth three — three ways to move forward on this — on really dealing with SCOTUS reform, and I just laid out some conservative legal experts who agree with us, who agree with us, at least on the term limits. They’ve been very clear as well. Heinrich’s Fox colleague Edward Lawrence later had the penultimate exchange, which focused on the national debt since, as he noted, it “crossed $35 trillion for the first time ever” and there’s concerns in the credit rating agency Fitch that an exploding debt could downgrade the country’s credit score. Incredibly, Jean-Pierre falsely claimed the reason the debt has gone up was because of policies from the Trump administration. Lawrence was incredulous and clapped back, even wondering if she knows how the national debt actually works (click “expand”):     LAWRENCE: But — so, you’re saying that we crossed 35 trillion because of former President Trump’s administration? I mean that was four years ago. You know the debt keeps increasing? JEAN-PIERRE: Yep. LAWRENCE: You know, at what point — JEAN-PIERRE: The fact is — the fact is $8 trillion was what the increase in debt was         what the last administration did —  the Trump administration. They didn’t put forth — they didn’t put forth any type of legislation to counter that. They didn’t. They just let the debt balloon by $8 trillion. That’s what they — LAWRENCE: — it’s still going up. JEAN-PIERRE: — but that’s what they did. The President — LAWRENCE: [inaudible] up in the last three years. JEAN-PIERRE: — but what I — what I’m saying to you is — like — we can’t — we can’t discount what happened in the last administration and we can’t discount what the — what this president is trying to do — to make sure that we address this. $1 trillion in deficit reduction into law. That’s what the President signed and — and that would lower the deficit by three — another $3 trillion by making billionaires and the biggest — the biggest corporations pay their fair share. Republicans are offering the opposite of that, so I think policy matters. What we’ve been able to get done matters. I’m not discounting what you’re saying. I’m just saying the President is actually working to make — to lower the deficit and Republicans want to do the opposite. That is where we are when we think about the policy. That is where we are, and I think that matters as well. Elsewhere, EWTN’s Owen Jensen asked if Biden had seen the ugly, anti-Christian depiction of The Last Supper at the opening ceremonies for the 2024 summer Olympics: EWTN’s @OwenTJensen: “Karine, following up on that, did the President see the —” KJP: “Wait, no, wait.” Jensen: “— Last Supper controversy at the Olympics?” KJP [to VOA’s Patsy Widakuswara]: “Go ahead.” Jensen: “Do you know — did he see the — the —” KJP: “I don't have… pic.twitter.com/Baf0hNO9Wq — Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) July 30, 2024   Likewise, Jean-Pierre also ducked attempts by ABC’s Selina Wang for a basic question about how often Biden and Harris chat: ABC’s @SelinaWangTV: “Last night, the President said he's been talking to the vice president about her potential running mate. Could you just explain how often they've been talking to each other and when’s the last time they spoke?” KJP: “So, I — I'm going to be super careful —… pic.twitter.com/HzYHgCY771 — Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) July 30, 2024 Finally, credit goes out to CBS’s Weijia Jiang who, while it shamefully didn’t make it to the CBS Evening News or CBS Mornings, asked Jean-Pierre about why Biden said Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) was “dead on arrival”: CBS’s @Weijia Jiang: “And then, following up on something else the President said yesterday —” KJP: “Okay.” Jiang: “— when he was asked about Supreme Court reform.” KJP: “Yes.” Jiang: “What did he mean when he said that Speaker Johnson is ‘dead on arrival?’” KJP: “So look,… pic.twitter.com/oN9wSmJSdw — Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) July 30, 2024 To see the relevant transcript from the July 31 briefing, click here.

A massive crowd of mainly Venezuelan immigrants practically took over the parking lot of a shopping mall in Aurora, Colorado, on Sunday night, firing shots in the air and leaving trash everywhere in response to the presidential election in Venezuela, some 3,000 miles away.Between 5 and 6 p.m. on Sunday, people began flocking to the Garden on Havana shopping center, many waving Venezuelan flags, as early returns indicated that political outsider Edmundo González Urrutia was on track for a landslide victory over Nicolás Maduro, the socialist president who rose to power in Venezuela in 2013 following the death of socialist dictator Hugo Chávez.However, Venezuelan officials then reportedly kept vote tallies secret over the next several hours, and shortly after midnight, the National Electoral Council announced that Maduro had prevailed, securing a third term in office.Foreign leaders slammed the apparent election improprieties and demanded transparency regarding the results. Even Secretary of State Antony Blinken expressed "serious concerns" about Maduro's alleged victory, as Blaze News previously reported.'This is in the United States of America... this is in YOUR city.'The crowd gathered in Aurora was likewise erratic. According to Aurora police, as many as 4,000 people swarmed the shopping center, making nearby roadways "impassable" and preventing mall customers from entering or leaving.Aurora PD also acknowledged other unruly behaviors from the crowd. "Trash and debris were left behind," and shots were "fired into the air," the department said in a statement.A Facebook post from Aurora City Councilwoman Danielle Jurinsky gave a similar report. "The shopping centers were invaded and cars trapped in. The streets were shut down. There are reports of assaults, theft, and gunshots in the air. I have not heard of any reported deaths," she wrote.While there have been no reports of injuries from the gunfire, Jurinsky claimed in her Facebook post that "a police car was shot up." She later walked the assertion back slightly, telling 9News, "That is the way it was conveyed to me, but I have not seen the police car."Police confirmed that "an unknown object" did strike a patrol unit, causing "minor damage," but could not verify whether the object came from the gathering. The incident remains under investigation.Officials also disputed Jurinsky's claim that "police were totally over run, and [were] forced to get out of the area for their safety." "Police did not leave and were there for the entire event," Aurora spokesperson Ryan Luby countered.Officers did investigate a possible assault and shoplifting incident at the shopping center on Sunday. Otherwise, they did not make any arrests or issue "any tickets, citations or summons," the department said."We recognize that Sunday’s incident was disconcerting and alarming for a large number of our residents and citizens," Aurora police spokesperson Agent Matt Longshore said on Tuesday.Councilwoman Jurinksy certainly appeared frustrated by an uproar in Aurora over an election in a foreign country. "Thousands of these folks took over and completely shut down a part of our city. ... This is in the United States of America... this is in YOUR city," she wrote on Facebook.'We are concerned about statements ... that mischaracterize this event and risks inciting fear, division, and violence against newcomers. Aurora has always thrived because of its diversity.'Mayor Mike Coffman, who previously served in Congress and as the Colorado secretary of state as a Republican, likewise took to Facebook to express concern about what he called "an unfortunate incident" instigated by "members of the Venezuelan immigrant community.""Their celebration not only closed off access to the stores at the Gardens on Havana shopping center but ... also left a lot of trash, beer bottles and beer cans in the parking lots for the retail stores to clean up at their expense," Coffman continued.He also demanded an apology: My message to the leaders of the Venezuelan immigrant community is that while I fully understand the reason for your celebration that doesn't excuse your community from acting responsibly and you owe the residents of my city an apology for the unacceptable conduct demonstrated by far too many of your community members.SOS Venezuela Denver, a local activist group, quickly offered one. "It is unacceptable that individuals decided to hold such an event without considering the consequences or assessing the risks," a statement from the group read in part. "This event was a sad display of lawlessness and disregard for the community, especially considering that the city of Aurora has been particularly welcoming to the Venezuelan community," the group said.The Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition, by contrast, suggested that the demonstration was "peaceful" and therefore protected under the First Amendment. CIRC communications manager Raquel Lane-Arellano even went on to accuse "some city council members" of putting Venezuelan "newcomers" at risk by reporting on the incident."We are concerned about statements from some city council members that mischaracterize this event and risks inciting fear, division, and violence against newcomers. Aurora has always thrived because of its diversity. We urge Aurora residents and city council members to reject divisive rhetoric and refrain from sharing unverified information," Lane-Arellano said.Nearly 8 million Venezuelans have abandoned their homeland in recent years, and some 40,000 of them have made their way to the greater-Denver area. The Denver Gazette estimates that the large influx of migrants has cost local taxpayers about $72 million in under two years.Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

NBA champion and former player Dwyane Wade was widely mocked for using the same joke for Team USA star LeBron James multiple times in the same game during an Olympics basketball broadcast.The former Miami Heat guard was roasted online after he consistently referred to James using the pronouns "he/him" during Team USA's game against Serbia on Sunday."Y'all know his pronouns – he/him!" Wade said in the first half.One of the most circulated clips from the second half showed James finish a layup in front of the raucous crowd, after which Wade said, "America, you know him as LeBron James. I know him personally. His pronouns are he/him.""Dwyane Wade needs to chill. Just dropped his 3rd 'he/him' pronoun line of the game after this LeBron bucket," sports writer Frank Michael Smith wrote on X.But Wade was not done. After the game, he took to his X account to attempt the joke again."Y’all know the pronouns: HE/HIM," Wade wrote. Hilariously, that was the final straw for fans after what seemingly was the fourth time Wade used the joke that day."Never commentate again," one observer replied."Dwyane wade using the he him joke twice [in the] same quarter is crazy," said actor O'Shea Jackson, the son of rapper Ice Cube. — (@) "It was an L the first 5x you said it," another fan remarked. Even the social media manager for the NBA's Memphis Grizzlies mocked Wade's commentary, saying he was "spamming" the joke.Former NFL wide receiver and controversial commentator Antonio Brown chimed in and pointed to the fact that Wade has a transgender son. — (@) "Now do your son[']s pronouns," Brown wrote.Wade has a 16-year-old son named Zaya, whom he and his wife, actress Gabrielle Union, treat as if he is a girl.Wade has said he is "so very proud of the daughter [he's] had the opportunity to raise," which would seem to make his LeBron James pronoun joke more personal."She has been my biggest educator and inspiration of what it means to be true to you," Wade said of the boy. "That's why it's so important to create a collaborative space for the community to participate in the conversation and express themselves freely."The child reportedly transitioned at the age of 12. Soon Wade and his child launched a website for transgender youth called Translatable. The site is self-described as a "safe space for LGBTQIA+ youth to express themselves and is a resource hub for their parents, families, and support systems.""Translatable aims to serve as a community safe space for youth to express themselves through a number of creative outlets," Zaya said in a launch video. "Here at Translatable, we focus on communities of color, center the most marginalized, and emphasize the importance of parents and family."As Blaze News reported in April 2023, Wade revealed that he moved his family out of Florida over the state's LBGTQ laws, noting that his family would not feel comfortable there.Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Global outrage has ensued following the opening ceremony of the 2024 Paris Olympics, which featured a blatant mockery of Leonardo da Vinci’s renowned painting “The Last Supper.” The grotesque parody included drag queens, an obese lesbian in the role of Jesus, and satanic imagery, among other offensive elements. Sara Gonzales calls it “the most shocking and disgusting opening ceremony” in existence and proof that “we have been taken over by wokeism and a radical leftist agenda.” While many criticized the performance for mocking Christianity, one individual – Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò – took his analysis to a deeper and rather peculiar place. According to Sara, Viganò’s evaluation is “the take that everyone needs to be talking about.” Paris Olympics EXPLAINED: How the Obamas & NONBINARY Greek Gods Are Related | 7/29/24 www.youtube.com In his letter, Viganò deemed the performance “a dystopian dance macabre.” “In this provocative spectacle, Satan knows how to do nothing except ruin God’s creative perfection, showing himself as the envious author of every counterfeit. Satan creates nothing: he only ruins everything. He does not invent: he tampers. And his followers are no different,” he wrote. But then Viganò took his analysis to an unexpected place – Emmanuel Macron, France’s president, and what he deems the American equivalent: the Obamas. “It is no coincidence that the one sponsoring this revolting carnival is an emissary of the World Economic Forum, Emanuel Macron [sic], who passes off a transvestite as his own wife with impunity, just as Barack Obama is accompanied by a muscular man in a wig. It is the reign of mystification, of falsehood, of fiction erected as a totem, in which man is disfigured precisely because he was created in the image and likeness of God,” Viganò said. To hear Sara's take on Viganò's bold statements, watch the video above. 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.

On Tuesday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled that Texas may keep its water barrier in the Rio Grande.Last summer, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) announced his administration's plan to install a 1,000-foot floating fence in the river in response to the Biden administration's refusal to secure the southern border. The barrier consists of interconnected inflatable sphere buoys, four feet wide, that spin when grabbed to prevent individuals from climbing over. 'Biden tried to remove them. I fought to keep them in the water.'Abbott said that the water barrier would be placed near Eagle Pass, a highly trafficked area of the border. The governor also placed concertina wire along the Rio Grande near Eagle Pass to further deter unlawful crossings.The Biden administration entered into a legal battle with the state over its attempts to stem the illegal immigration crisis, filing lawsuits against Texas' installation of the concertina wire and the buoy wall. Biden's Department of Justice claimed that Texas violated federal law by not obtaining authorization to install the barrier. It further alleged that the buoys present environmental and safety concerns.On Tuesday, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals determined that the marine barrier may stay for now, reversing a lower court's injunction that ordered its removal. The broader case will return to a district court in Austin next week.Following the court's latest ruling, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) announced, "The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled in Texas's favor, finding that the federal district court abused its discretion when it ordered Texas to remove the buoys floating in the Rio Grande that prevent aliens from attempting a dangerous river crossing to enter America illegally. The buoys can remain in the river. I will continue to defend Texas's right to protect its border from illegal immigration!"Abbott called the court's Tuesday decision "justice.""Biden tried to remove them. I fought to keep them in the water. That is exactly where they will stay," Abbott said.Abbott's interventions to curb the border crisis were deployed as part of the governor's Operation Lone Star, a joint effort between the Texas Department of Public Safety and the Texas National Guard. According to the governor, the effort has resulted in more than 516,600 illegal alien apprehensions and over 45,500 criminal arrests.Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Video of People Leaving Kamala Harris' Rally DURING the Speech Indicates Many Weren't There for HER

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