Day: April 13, 2026
Eric Swalwell faces Manhattan sex assault probe after ending California governor campaign amid allegations
Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg’s office is investigating sex assault allegations against Rep. Eric Swalwell, who suspended his California governor campaign.
Trump rejects American Bishop Robert Barron’s call to apologize to Pope for ‘disrespectful’ comments
President Trump rejects Bishop Barron’s call to apologize to Pope Leo, arguing the Pope is wrong on Iran foreign policy and weak on crime issues.
Charles Barkley gives terse message to NBA players complaining about 65-game eligibility rule
Charles Barkley rips NBA players complaining about the 65-game eligibility rule, saying they voted for it in collective bargaining and should stop.
‘You’ve lost the right to exist’: Matt Walsh rips ‘incapable’ ruling in Iryna Zarutska case
Last August, 23-year-old Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska was fatally stabbed in an apparently random attack while riding the light rail in Charlotte, North Carolina. Last week, however, her alleged killer, Decarlos Brown Jr., was found “incapable to proceed” to trial on the state murder charge due to mental health issues.
The decision has sparked national outrage. Social media is ablaze with furious comments like “no justice for Iryna”; Republican lawmakers are warning the decision will cause more erosion of trust in the system; even some mainstream coverage is framing it as another failure of soft-on-crime policies.
BlazeTV host Allie Beth Stuckey was certainly appalled by the decision.
“How in the world did we get here?” she asks in disbelief.
On a recent episode of “Relatable,” Daily Wire host Matt Walsh joined Allie to answer that very question.
– YouTube
Walsh begins by arguing that “the concept of being incompetent to stand trial makes no sense” and that it “shouldn’t be a category.”
“Because the way that I look at it … either you knew exactly what you were doing and you did it anyway, and that makes you evil beyond measure, or it’s true that you really don’t understand that you’re not allowed to do that, in which case, that’s all the more reason, as far as I’m concerned, why you are not fit for human society,” he explains.
Decarlos Brown Jr.’s case, as well as many other cases, is the result of the psychiatric industry “[medicalizing] the human condition,” Walsh argues.
“And now because academics, psychiatrists, and communists … have taken over criminal justice and have for decades — at least since the mid-20th century — all human evil is now just categorized as a medical problem,” he tells Allie.
The result of this inversion of objective morality is that criminals are turned into the victims.
“The justice system looks at the most evil people as victims of some sort of condition, which means that all we can do is offer them treatment. What we can’t do is actually punish them. And that’s just totally absurd and wrong,” says Walsh.
Unless it’s a “white male” who commits the crime, Allie points out.
“We see that kind of story much less often,” she says.
But “if you’re part of a victim group, you get advocacy from the public, from the media, from some kind of mob pressure, from these groups like the Innocence Project or the ACLU, and you are much more likely to be seen as absolved of your crimes or mentally unstable or something like that.”
She continues, “It’s not just that progressive ideology has medicalized the existence of evil in human nature; they’ve just done it for certain groups of people, which is even worse in my estimation.”
“Yeah, absolutely. I mean, that’s a major factor as well,” Walsh agrees.
“If you’re anything but a white male, then you can claim victim status … and then you add in the supposed mental health challenges … then you get even greater victim status.”
Regardless of the skin color of the perpetrator, Walsh entirely rejects mental illness as an excuse for criminal behavior: “What was your mental state at the time? I don’t care! … I don’t care what you were feeling; I don’t care what you were thinking. I care what you did. That’s all that matters. And if you did something this heinous … by my estimation, you’ve lost the right to exist.”
To hear more of the conversation, watch the episode above.
Want more from Allie Beth Stuckey?
To enjoy more of Allie’s upbeat and in-depth coverage of culture, news, and theology from a Christian, conservative perspective, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.
The return of Drag Queen Story Hour?
I was at my local library recently when I saw something odd on the bulletin board. It looked like a poster for a Drag Queen Story Hour.
They can’t be doing that again? I thought to myself.
Much of drag comedy focuses on the fact that as hard as they try, most men can’t actually pull off impersonating a woman.
In case you don’t remember, Drag Queen Story Hour was one of the most bizarrely inappropriate events ever to appear at your local library.
When these “story hours” first began to proliferate in the late 2010s, the idea of drag queens reading books to very small children set off one of the fiercest battles of the culture wars.
Because it was so transgressive, outrageous, and effective as a way of infuriating the general populace, the proponents of DQSH doubled down on it. They kept pushing it. They founded an NGO. They rammed it down our throats.
Blake Nelson
Queen’s gambit
The way DQSH worked: Libraries would hire a professional drag queen to read books to children ages 3 to 11. It was presented to the public as a “fun twist” on the idea of a kindly grandmother or librarian reading to the kids.
The drag queens they hired were adult men from the local area, men who were otherwise employed performing “drag shows” at nightclubs, bars, and private events.
These men dressed up like women — more specifically, super-sexualized women (prostitutes). Then they went on stage and told raunchy stories and sexually explicit jokes. Sometimes they sang songs and did pratfalls, all of which were of a sexual nature.
The understanding was that a drag show would feature explicit sexual content. Which is why they were performed in 21-and-over establishments.
That is, until Drag Queen Story Hour came along. And someone decided that drag queens belonged in libraries, reading to children.
Live, love, laugh
Part of the appeal of drag queens is the humorous sight of a chubby, stubbly, middle-aged man wearing lipstick, mascara, and gigantic false eyelashes. Much of drag comedy focuses on the fact that as hard as they try, most men can’t actually pull off impersonating a woman. And the results of their clumsy failures are often very funny.
Drag shows — or something like them — have appeared in many cultures throughout history. The humor of men pretending to be women is universal. Everyone finds those situations funny.
Everyone, that is, except for 4-year-olds, who might not understand this style of humor just yet. And don’t need to.
The fact is that it would be hard to predict how a small child would react to a professional drag queen in person.
Oh, sure, a child who has been coached and prepped by a progressive parent might enjoy it. But your average child? Especially those under the age of 6? They might be traumatized.
And then doubly so when the adults they usually trust (parents, teachers, librarians) tell them not to be afraid, that it is wrong to feel uncomfortable, that if they have any negative feelings whatsoever about “Miss Wiggles” — who is 6’2″, wearing ghoulish makeup, and pretending to be a woman — they are committing a grave moral sin.
Some small children are frightened by the sight of their own parents dressed up in Halloween costumes. Think of what an encounter with “Sashay D. Lite” might do to them.
RELATED: My search for America’s last decent public libraries
Joe McNally/Getty Images
Properly checked and vetted
Some conservatives raised the issue that some of these performers might be predators of some kind.
This was met with attacks and smears that conservatives were homophobic, transphobic bigots, hatemongers, etc. Besides, all the drag queens would, of course, be thoroughly screened and vetted.
And yet at a Houston library in 2019, one of the drag queens reading stories to children was found to be a registered child sex offender.
So except for that guy. Everyone else had been properly checked and vetted.
Culture war, wins and losses
Looking back at the original battle over Drag Queen Story Hour … who actually won?
In my mind, the general public did. Obviously a large majority of people believed DQSH was a bad idea. And the libraries stopped doing it.
But here I was, in my local library, staring at a poster with a Pride flag. And a drag queen. With the words Story Hour on it.
Looking closer, I saw they had changed the name. Now it was called Family Pride Story Hour. It would be specifically for LGBTQ families. A drag queen would be reading the stories. And then there would be a dance.
The suggested age for children attending? “Birth to six years old.”
No rest for the wicked
Ahhh. Those sneaky leftists. They couldn’t let this go. Subjecting infant children to the most grotesque adults they could find was too good a strategy to abandon.
What better way to divide and conquer? To confound and demoralize? They want us to fight over the drag queens again!
My advice is: Don’t do it. Don’t give them what they want. Talk to your librarians ahead of time. Talk to your library’s supervisor.
But be aware: If Family Pride Story Hour is coming to my town, it might well be coming to yours.
Ex-NYPD cop sentenced to prison after fatally stopping fleeing suspect receives hopeful news from GOP candidate
A New York Police Department drug-bust went sideways in August 2023, leaving a suspect dead and then-Sgt. Erik Duran’s life in shambles.
Bruce Blakeman, a Republican gubernatorial candidate hoping to unseat Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) in the November election, has vowed, however, to liberate Duran and give him a blank slate.
How it started
Undercover narcotics officers conducted a drug bust in the University Heights section of the Bronx after 5 p.m. on Aug. 23, 2023, with the aim of capturing local drug traffickers.
‘One of the darkest days in the history of the law-enforcement profession.’
After 30-year-old Eric Duprey allegedly sold cocaine to one of the officers, plainclothes and undercover officers rushed in to make the arrest. Duprey proved, however, too slippery for a quick capture. He jumped onto a motorcycle, which the New York Times reported had been transported within reach by an unidentified individual, then sped off.
Duprey was caught on camera speeding down a sidewalk, then careening toward a group of about 10 people, including Duran, seated around a table.
Duran — an undercover member of the NYPD Narcotics Borough Bronx Tactical Response Unit who was reportedly slapped with a substantiated complaint of abuse of authority the previous year — grabbed a red Igloo cooler from the table and chucked it at the motorcycle.
A witness told the Daily News that Duprey “was on the bike, moving north when the cops started chasing him. … Then he took a U-turn and was riding on the sidewalk. … The cop then took my cooler, which was filled with soda cans, water bottles, and hit him.”
RELATED: ‘100% MAGA’ county executive joins governor’s race in New York
Republican gubernatorial candidate Bruce Blakeman. Photographer: Victor J. Blue/Bloomberg/Getty Images
The cooler struck Duprey in the head, making him lose control and ultimately go flying. The suspect was pronounced dead at the scene.
Duran was suspended the following day and in January 2024 was charged by the office of radical New York Attorney General Letitia James with manslaughter, assault, and criminally negligent homicide.
“I didn’t have time to think,” Duran — who pleaded not guilty — testified during his trial earlier this year. “I thought he was going to kill my guys, he was going so fast.”
“He was going to crash right into them,” added Duran.
Duran’s lawyers argued both that Duprey “wasn’t trying to get away” but rather “ambushing” police and that Duprey died because of a “series of bad choices,” reported CBS News.
Bronx Supreme Court Justice Guy Mitchell — who was originally appointed in 2015 by former Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) and previously let off a black teen who beat a homeless man to death with what turned out to be only nine months in prison — refused to accept Duran’s justification and convicted him in February of second-degree manslaughter. The criminally negligent homicide charge was waived.
The Times reported that shortly after the verdict was delivered, Duran was fired from the NYPD.
How it’s going
Ahead of his sentencing last week, Duran, a father of three, told Mitchell, “Your honor, I am asking for a chance to be there with my kids. I am asking for a chance, just one,” reported the New York Post.
Mitchell acknowledged that the ex-cop was remorseful but decided to make an example of him as a “general deterrent” to other officers, sentencing him to three to nine years in state prison.
Vincent Vallelong, president of the Sergeants Benevolent Association, wrote in an op-ed following Duran’s sentencing, “I can say without equivocation that the sentencing of Sgt. Erik Duran will forever be remembered as one of the darkest days in the history of the law-enforcement profession.”
“Moving forward, the SBA will support Sgt. Duran and his heartbroken family throughout his appeal until this miscarriage of justice is rectified,” wrote Vallelong. “Sgt. Duran, who served the NYPD with dedication and helped save lives throughout his career, deserves nothing less.”
Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman — a Trump-endorsed GOP candidate running for New York governor — has vowed that if elected in November, he will immediately pardon Duran.
The promised action is “consistent with [Blakeman’s] commitment to back law enforcement and make every neighborhood in New York safer,” the candidate’s campaign told the Post.
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‘I wanted to thank God in public’: Fighting tears, Victor Glover gives legendary speech on return to Earth
NASA’s Victor Glover showed once again why he represents some of the best of what the United States has to offer.
After Glover and the Artemis II crew splashed down in the Pacific Ocean on Friday, the pilot almost broke down in tears while delivering his first remarks since returning to dry land.
‘It’s too big to just be in one body.’
The crew members were in Houston, Texas, following their successful lunar orbit when Glover was asked by Commander Reid Wiseman to give a few words. Glover, who has been revered for providing on-the-spot wisdom before and during the mission, was at first at a loss for words.
“I have not processed what we just did, and I’m afraid to start even trying,” Glover began.
Fighting back tears, he powered through.
“When this started on April 3, I wanted to thank God in public, and I want to thank God again,” he said, as he became visibly emotional. “Because even bigger than my challenge trying to describe what we went through, the gratitude of seeing what we saw, doing what we did, and being with who I was with — it’s too big to just be in one body.”
The audience at NASA’s Johnson Space Center erupted in applause as the pilot then thanked his wife and four daughters, whom he referred to as “those five beautiful cocoa-skinned ladies.”
RELATED: NASA astronaut gives very American response to DEI questioning
“I love you … all of you,” Glover continued. He then turned his attention to NASA staff and leadership.
While the leadership has changed since 2023, he remarked, “the qualities haven’t. And we are fortunate to be in this agency at this time together.”
Wiseman wasn’t short on wisdom, either. The crew leader fought back tears of his own when he had the microphone, mostly talking about the worry and anxiety the astronauts’ families had ahead of mission launch.
“This was not easy being 200,000+ miles away from home. Like, before you launch, it feels like it’s the greatest dream on Earth. And when you’re out there, you just want to get back to your families and your friends.”
Wiseman concluded by noting how special it is to be human and how grateful he feels to be on planet Earth.
Danielle Villasana/Getty Images
Rep. Michael Cloud (R-Texas) took the podium soon after to thank the Artemis II crew on behalf of America. The congressman stated that the United States, as well as the world, “desperately needed this.”
Cloud said the mission reminded him of Psalm 8, affirming that “even as we look to the night sky and as we look at creation, and behold the stars and the moon, we begin to think about what is mankind from God’s perspective.”
The Artemis II crew reached a point 252,756 miles from Earth and set a new human record for the maximum distance away from the planet.
Artemis III is set for mid-2027, while Artemis IV is targeted for early 2028 and is expected to land humans on the moon.
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Masked men open fire after storming into Chick-fil-A; 1 dead, 6 injured; manhunt under way
One person is dead and six others were injured after masked men stormed into a New Jersey Chick-fil-A on Saturday night and opened fire, WNYW-TV reported.
Police said the shooting began around 9 p.m. at the restaurant on Route 22 in Union Township, the station said.
Democrat New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill said in a statement posted to X that ‘our hearts go out to the victim’s loved ones, and we are hoping for the full recovery of those who were injured.’
Responding officers found seven victims at the scene, WNYW reported, citing the Union County Prosecutor’s Office.
The six surviving victims all suffered non-life-threatening injuries and are expected to recover, the station added.
Investigators told WNYW the masked men went behind the restaurant’s counter before opening fire.
Dashcam video recorded what appeared to be a masked individual running from the restaurant with a gun.
Authorities believe the shooting was targeted and not a random act of violence, the station said, adding that officials have not released the identity of the person who was killed, and it remains unclear whether the victims were employees or customers.
The suspects remain at large, and a manhunt is under way, WNYW said.
One worker’s father described the scene as a “war zone,” the New York Post reported.
Democrat New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill said in a statement posted to X that “our hearts go out to the victim’s loved ones, and we are hoping for the full recovery of those who were injured,” WNYW noted.
The Union County Prosecutor’s Office is asking the public to submit tips by phone at 908-654-TIPS (8477) or online at www.uctip.org — noting that tips resulting in an indictment and conviction can be eligible for a reward of up to $10,000 via Union County Crime Stoppers, the Post reported.
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