'Put stress on global maritime trade'

U.S. Central Command conducted an airstrike in Syria, killing Usamah Jamal Muhammad Ibrahim al-Janabi, a senior ISIS official and facilitator

The Warning Signs are Flashing Red

Lilly Gaddis has taken the internet by storm. The viral sensation blew up overnight for saying the N-word in a TikTok video — and has become the center of a hot debate. In her video, Gaddis was making the point that while many women are accused of being “gold diggers,” most women she knows are married to “broke-a** n****s.” Once the video went viral, Gaddis claims she was fired. “You got fired from your job, can you elaborate what happened?” Alex Stein asks. “I did,” Gaddis tells Stein. “It’s not good enough for them to be like, ‘Oh, this is an annoying video,' scroll. No, they have to try to destroy your life. They’ve got to go to your employer, who is, by the way, a black woman.” “She kind of had my back, but the rest of the board, you know, they kind of voted, they were like, 'Get this girl out of here,'” Gaddis explains. While conservatives have largely rallied in support of Gaddis, some accounts on X have accused her of being a federal agent or a “Jewish spy.” They’ve also taken issue with her admission to micro-dosing on mushrooms at a conservative event over the weekend. “I’m going to get some hate for this, but I mean, you know, tripping out with a bunch of ‘groypers’ that are calling you a Jewish spy probably would kill the buzz a little bit, right?” Stein asks Gaddis. “Yeah, exactly. I mean, it’s not very CIA agent of me to go micro-dose,” Gaddis says. “But that’s what a CIA agent would do to throw you off,” Stein fires back. Want more from Alex Stein?To enjoy more of Alex's culture jamming, comedic monologues, skits, and street segments, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

A new study showed that not only are most Americans sports fans, but the majority believe it keeps them close with their family.Recent research by SiriusXM and Group M with the help of Edison Research showed how much Americans believe in sharing the joy of sports with friends and loved ones.Presented by SiriusXM researchers and their sales team, the data showed that more than two-thirds of Americans over the age of 13 identify as sports fans. That number accumulated to 186 million people.Sports was also connected to strong family ties in the data, with 68% of fans stating that sports brings their family closer together. 'The idea that sports is more than just a game is at the core of what drives fandom.'While it's hard to know whether being with family makes a sports fan more emotional than usual, nearly 1-in-4 fans admitted that they had cried because of the outcome of the game they were watching or listening to. "This is shocking and amazing news as it gives me a reason to force my daughter to listen to sports while on the way to watch Scottie Scheffler hit a golf ball," sports broadcaster Gary Sheffield Jr. told Blaze News.The nature of the study also included a heavy focus on the consumption of audio broadcasts. There was no change in terms of the comradery of listenership in that data.According to the Sports Audio Report, a vast majority of audio listeners said they listen at least some of the time with other people, whether it was through podcasts or radio. Those who listened to podcasts or satellite radio were even more likely to "co-listen."Overall, 64% of sports fans said they frequently or occasionally listen to sports via audio broadcasts.Of course, the younger generations are listening in different ways. The report showed that Gen Z and Millennials closely follow the off-the-field lives of their favorite athletes, while podcast listening in sports has almost doubled since 2018.There exists a 3:1 ratio of podcast listening versus radio listenership for those aged 13-34.There's also great news for audio programmers in the data, as well. For 40% of those surveyed, they said there weren't enough audio programs that follow the sports they care about, and another 40% said they wanted to hear different perspectives. Couple that with the fact that over half of sports fans revealed that they have purchased a product or service they heard about on ads during an audio broadcast.According to Gabriel Soto, senior director of research at Edison Research, the appeal of sports is the very idea that sports is more than a game. "The idea that sports is more than just a game is at the core of what drives fandom, audio consumption, and the benefits advertisers receive from sports audio," Soto explained."Family, community, and emotion drive this passion unlike any other," the executive added.Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Democratic Sen. Mark Warner (Va.), was one of the leading exponents of the Russian collusion hoax. In 2019, for instance, he claimed, "There's no one that could factually say there's not plenty of evidence of collaboration or communications between Trump Organization and Russians." Special counsels Robert Mueller and John Durham ultimately proved him wrong, revealing there was no substantive evidence of Russian collusion in the 2016 election. Subsequent analysis revealed that to the extent there was foreign interference, it was likely inconsequential — not including the foreign-sourced Steele dossier collected for the Clinton campaign, which Democrats used to great effect. For instance, the Washington Post, whose journalists were awarded for peddling the debunked "Russia hoax" narrative, admitted that so-called Russian trolls "had no measurable impact in changing minds or influencing voter behavior" ahead of the 2016 presidential election. Before Durham could take some of the wind out of Warner's sails, the senator claimed ahead of the 2020 election, "the Russians who attacked us in 2016 are still attacking us." The Virginia senator is apparently at it again, pre-emptively characterizing Nigel Farage's gains in Britain's July 4 election as the Kremlin's preferred outcome. According to Politico, Farage's Reform U.K. party could pick up as many as 17 seats in the British Parliament, including five from the Conservatives. The Telegraph reported Tuesday that while Warner admitted that U.S. intelligence agencies "have not seen much [Russian] activity" around the British election, he has suggested "the chances are, as we saw in the past, this activity ramps up dramatically the closer it gets to the election." According to the Telegraph, Warner "singled out Nigel Farage as he described Vladimir Putin's potential efforts to exploit different attitudes among British politicians towards defending Kyiv's frontlines." Conservative party establishmentarians like Rishi Sunak, Boris Johnson, and Liz Truss are reportedly in agreement that Ukraine can succeed militarily so long as it keeps receiving weapons and funding. Farage, alternatively, recently said, "I'm not saying we shouldn't support Ukraine at all. Not for one minute. But at the end of the day most wars end in negotiation and I fear, if we don't find some way of at least sitting down and talking, that we're going to finish up with a war that goes on for year after year after year." Warner apparently regards a difference of opinion amongst British politicians on the country's foreign policy — in this case, regarding a negotiated end to the war in Ukraine — as position capture by Russia. "Clearly, Russia does not like the fact that the UK has been as stalwart as they have been in terms of defense on Ukraine," said Warner. "It clearly meets Putin's plans if he can lessen the British or the Americans' resolve for supporting Ukraine, he can save some money on his tanks, guns, ships and planes if he can diminish support." In a recent BBC interview, which has been grossly mischaracterized by the English press, Farage noted that Putin has "gone from prime minister, to president, he's a clever political operator. He kills journalists. I don't like him as a human being in any way at all." "You can recognize the fact that some people are good at what they do even if they have evil intent," continued Farage. When asked what he'd say to Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelenskyy if in a position of influence, Farage said, "I'd say to Zelensky, 'Look, the West have been supporting you, they will go on supporting you, but the percentage of your young manhood that you're losing is so bad, isn't it time we at least tried to have a negotiation?' He couldn’t say no." Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

The FBI dispatched two agents to the home of a Texas nurse after she spoke to journalist Christopher Rufo about the sex-change program at Texas Children's Hospital.Last year, Rufo broke news about an elaborate sex-change program happening at Texas Children's Hospital. A whistleblower gave Rufo documents proving the hospital continued its "transgender medicine" operations despite publicly saying the program had ended. That whistleblower was Dr. Eithan Haim, whom the Justice Department has now indicted on four felony charges for allegedly violating medical privacy laws.'They promised they would make life difficult for me if I was trying to protect the leaker.'Haim's bravery encouraged a second whistleblower to come forward.Last May, that whistleblower provided new insight into how physicians at Texas Children's Hospital provided "transgender medicine," explained how "transgender medicine is highly lucrative," and described her workplace as having a "demonic presence."On Tuesday, Rufo revealed the identity of the whistleblower, registered nurse Vanessa Sivadge.In the new report, Sivadge accused Texas Children's Hospital of engaging in Medicaid fraud."The largest children's hospital in the country is illegally billing Medicaid for transgender procedures," she said. "It is evident that the hospital continues to believe it is above the law not just by concealing the existence of their transgender medicine program from the public, but by stealing from the federal government."What is shocking is what happened to Sivadge after she initially spoke to Rufo.Two months after their conversation, Sivadge called Rufo in a "panic," he recounted. Sivadge told Rufo that two FBI agents unexpectedly showed up at her home wanting to talk about "some of the things that have been going on at work lately."Sivadge's doorbell camera captured her partner opening the door to their home as two FBI agents flashed their badges and demanded to speak with Sivadge. (You can view that footage here).According to Sivadge, the FBI agents told her that she was a "person of interest" in the investigation into Dr. Haim."They promised they would make life difficult for me if I was trying to protect the leaker," Sivadge told Rufo. "They said I was ‘not safe’ at work and claimed that someone at my workplace had given my name to the FBI."In the months since that visit, FBI agents have not re-appeared at her home. Still, Sivadge told Rufo that she is motivated to fight against the transgender agenda."My faith and my gut, just knowing right from wrong, compels me," she said. "I was born for this. I have no doubt this is what I am supposed to do."Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) has confirmed that his office is investigating the newest whistleblower allegations. Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos is not caving to the outrage mob within his own newsroom. Earlier this month, Sally Buzbee abruptly resigned as executive editor of the Washington Post. In a staff meeting held after her departure, CEO and publisher Will Lewis told disgruntled staffers the newspaper needed to embrace a new vision and fresh direction. 'To be sure, it can't be business as usual at The Post. The world is evolving rapidly and we do need to change as a business.' "We are losing large amounts of money. Your audience has halved in recent years. People are not reading your stuff. I can't sugarcoat it anymore," Lewis said. "So I've had to take decisive, urgent action to set us on a different path, sourcing talent that I have worked with that are the best of the best." The changes sent shockwaves through the Post's newsroom. One of the chief complaints among staffers, according to Vanity Fair, is the diversity makeup of the newspaper's leadership. One staffer even complained that now "four white men" would be running the Post. In the weeks since, there has been news of "chaos" and "anger" in the Post's newsroom, reports that "morale has fallen off a cliff," questions of whether Lewis would remain at the helm, demands for Lewis' resignation, and multiple attempts to smear Lewis publicly — including by Post journalists. The Post's newsroom "is almost uniformly horrified" by the situation, one staffer said. But all of the gnashing of teeth apparently won't force Lewis out of his job. On Tuesday, Bezos — who purchased the Post more than a decade ago — emailed the Post's top leaders and told them the status quo is not working. He reportedly carbon-copied Lewis on the email, signaling support for his CEO. "I know you've already heard this from Will, but I wanted to also weigh in directly: the journalistic standards and ethics at The Post will not change," Bezos wrote. "To be sure, it can't be business as usual at The Post. The world is evolving rapidly and we do need to change as a business." — (@) There is an important reason Bezos reaffirmed the directional changes and his support for Lewis: The Post lost $77 million last year and, since 2020, half of its audience. A successful businessman like Bezos knows those figures indicate something is critically wrong and dire change is needed. But it's also why Bezos installed Lewis and continues to support him: Lewis led the Wall Street Journal through a period of significant revenue and readership growth from 2014 through 2020. Results speak, the diversity-demands of rank-and-file staffers be damned. Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Priorities: X User Bonchie Notices Who Does and Doesn't Get an Invite to the Biden White House

Cast of ‘Queer Eye’ Received at White House by Kamala Harris