Day: December 15, 2025
Comedian David Sedaris Goes Viral For Illustrating Impossibility Of Talking To Liberals
‘Democratic point of principle’
Scott Pelley Blames Everyone But CBS For Network’s Tanked Credibility
CBS’s 60 Minutes is the perpetrator, not the victim, of propaganda and partisanship.
Australia Doesn’t Have A Gun Problem, It Has An Islamist Problem
At least 15 people were murdered at a Hanukkah celebration at Bondi Beach in Australia on Sunday after two alleged Islamic terrorists opened fire. One of the suspects, Sajid Akram, moved to Australia in 1998 on a student visa before becoming a permanent resident, while his son, Naveed Akram, was born in Australia, according to […]
The Manhattan Institute’s President Reihan Salam
The Manhattan Institute for Research and Policy’s president Reihan Salam joined Hugh for the first time today to discuss the Institute’s and The City Journal’s mission set after a weekend of incredibly dark new:
The post The Manhattan Institute’s President Reihan Salam appeared first on The Hugh Hewitt Show.
‘You just committed a federal offense’: Sen. Mike Lee refers apparent threat mocking Charlie Kirk’s murder to the FBI
A social media user appeared to make a threat against Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah, who referred the message to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
The user appeared to post a heinous meme mocking the horrific assassination of Charlie Kirk and added, “Your [sic] next buddy turn down the rhetoric.”
Former US Attorney Jay Town responded that the meme and the message could be prosecuted as a threat against the senator’s life.
Lee posted a screenshot of the alleged message, which was deleted from the X platform.
“It’s ‘you’re,’ not ‘your,'” Lee responded. “Also, you just committed a federal offense.”
The senator also tagged the accounts for FBI Director Kash Patel and U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi.
“This is a clear threat,” he wrote in a follow-up message.
The account was later suspended, and it no longer appears on the platform.
Former U.S. Attorney Jay Town responded that the meme and the message could be prosecuted as a threat against the senator’s life.
“[Find Out] phase is coming when there’s a knock on your door! You can then explain how posting a pic of Charlie getting assassinated with ‘you’re next’ to a US Senator isn’t a threat… …TO A JURY!” he wrote.
Others questioned whether the message constituted a federal offense, but the meme ridiculing Kirk’s death was universally condemned.
Efforts to reach the person who ran the account were unsuccessful.
RELATED: Liberal arts student cites Mao in video calling for more political assassinations after Kirk
While many called for all sides to tone down their political rhetoric in the wake of Kirk’s shooting death in September, others online have lost careers and faced public outrage over their comments ridiculing the incident.
Blaze News has also reached out to Sen. Mike Lee’s office for comment.
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DC police chief manipulated crime stats to make city look better, report claims
Resigning Metropolitan Police Department Chief Pamela Smith deliberately manipulated Washington, D.C., crime data to appear lower, according to a new report.
The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform’s majority staff released an interim report on Sunday as part of its ongoing investigation into allegations that MPD leadership pressured commanders to alter crime stats. The committee launched the probe into the department in August.
‘Chief Smith should resign today.’
After interviewing seven acting MPD commanders and one suspended MPD commander, the committee found that the department’s leadership placed “a higher priority on suppressing public reporting of crime statistics than stopping crime itself.”
The commanders allegedly told lawmakers that “they were not only pressured, but also instructed, to lower crime classifications to lesser intermediate offenses in such a way that those offenses would not be included in the [daily crime report] reported to the public.”
Smith allegedly created a “toxic management culture” that propagated a “culture of fear, intimidation, threats, and retaliation,” the report read.
Lawmakers concluded that the MPD’s crime data remains at risk of manipulation despite Smith’s recent resignation announcement.
RELATED: Whistleblower alleges widespread manipulation of DC crime stats, fueling Oversight Committee probe
James Comer. Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
“Every single person who lives, works, or visits the District of Columbia deserves a safe city, yet it’s now clear the American people were deliberately kept in the dark about the true crime rates in our nation’s capital,” stated committee Chairman Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.). “Testimony from experienced and courageous MPD commanders has exposed the truth: Chief Pamela Smith coerced staff to report artificially low crime data and cultivated a culture of fear to achieve her agenda. Chief Smith’s decision to mislead the public by manipulating crime statistics is dangerous and undermines trust in both local leadership and law enforcement.”
“Her planned resignation at the end of the month should not be seen as a voluntary choice, but as an inevitable consequence that should have occurred much earlier. Chief Smith should resign today,” Comer added.
Former Police Commander Michael Pulliam was placed on administrative leave in May and later suspended after he was accused of manipulating crime data. Smith stated at the time that the department was committed to immediately addressing “any irregularity in crime data.”
“Any allegation of this behavior will be dealt with through our internal processes, which will ensure those members are held accountable,” she declared.
RELATED: DC police commander under investigation for allegedly manipulating crime stats
Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
However, Smith announced her resignation last week, effective December 31. While she did not give a reason for her departure, some critics questioned the timing amid the ongoing allegations against her and the department.
These allegations against the department and its leadership emerged amid President Donald Trump’s warning that his administration would take over D.C. if its leaders failed to address the area’s crime crisis.
The MPD did not respond to a request for comment.
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‘Rents will come down’ — but not in sanctuary cities: Loan agent chronicles homes apparently abandoned by illegal aliens
A Texas real estate loan agent says houses are being abandoned by illegal immigrants.
Deportations combined with updated Federal Housing Administration policies mean fewer foreign residents, both legal and illegal, are qualifying for federal loans.
‘That’s what corporations love — they love the fact there is so many more people, whether they’re legal or not.’
An announcement in late March from the Trump administration shifted FHA policy to stop allowing non-permanent residents access to FHA loans, which are loans guaranteed by the federal government and backed by the taxpayer. According to Congress, an FHA loan requires a down payment of only 3.5% for most borrowers.
DACA recipients, H-1B holders, asylum seekers, and refugees without green cards are some of the categories no longer permitted to use FHA loans. The Trump administration said it also prevented illegal immigrants from accessing loans that they acquired under President Biden.
“Today, HUD terminated Biden’s taxpayer-backed FHA mortgages for illegal aliens,” Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner wrote on X in March. “American taxpayers will no longer subsidize open borders by offering home loans to those who enter our nation illegally.”
The policy shift left only U.S. citizens, green card holders, and select others eligible for the federal loans. Months later, a loan agent says the changes have resulted in houses being hastily abandoned.
“This week, I started doing foreclosures on undocumented properties,” a content creator named Antts Inc said in a recent viral video.
“Properties that the people had to leave in a hurry. I just left one. Pizza boxes open. Pizza was still there. All the food was still in the pantry. They grabbed whatever valuables they could, left everything else behind. These are foreclosures. So these are homes that were bought using FHA, guaranteed by the government for undocumented people,” he explained.
The loan agent said the properties come for inspection tagged as “possible undocumented immigrant” and typically have abandoned furniture or even items like fish tanks with dead fish.
The creator documents many of the houses he visits on his YouTube channel and predicts rents prices will soon start dropping.
“Rents will come down in some states it’s already happening! Don’t expect them to come down in sanctuary cities or states like California where they all flock to!” he wrote on X.
In Texas, rent costs are already drastically dropping since the same time in 2024.
RELATED: The rate cliff is real — and Washington created it
According to RentHop, studio rent has dropped by more than 11% since last December, while one-bedroom rental costs have decreased by more than 18.5%. For a two-bedroom unit, the price has gone down by about 17%.
Three- and four-bedroom rentals have stagnated or slightly increased, up by 2.6% and 0.7%, respectively.
“They drove rents up,” the Texas resident said about illegal immigrants in another video. “States like California where [illegal aliens] rent one house and there’s three families living there and they share the rent. But if you’re a single family and you’re trying to rent that house now, you gotta pay a ridiculous amount because you are one family competing with three that are living in the other house.”
He added, “That’s what corporations love — they love the fact there is so many more people, whether they’re legal or not.”
On RentHop, rent prices in Texas showed a sharp increase under the Biden administration starting in March 2021 and began a sharp decline under the Trump administration in October 2025.
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44-year-old Catholic father of 10 throws touchdown in NFL return: ‘Whatever God’s will, I’m happy with’
Philip Rivers knew the playbook going in.
When the 44-year-old quarterback got the call from the injury-plagued Indianapolis Colts, he already had a relationship with coach Shane Steichen. Almost a peer of his at 40 years old, Steichen was the offensive coordinator for the Los Angeles Chargers when Rivers last played in 2020.
‘These kind of things don’t come up.’
With Steichen using the same playbook with the Colts as he did when he was arm-in-arm with Rivers, the 44-year-old quarterback came out of retirement to plug the hole for the Colts as their promising season was falling apart.
On Sunday, the father of 10 stepped in the game and threw a touchdown in a hard-fought battle against the Seattle Seahawks, one of the best teams in the NFL this season. That single TD pass was one more than his opponent, and despite the Colts taking the lead with a late field goal, the Seahawks followed suit and kicked a field goal of their own with 22 seconds left to win 18-16.
At the postgame press conference, Rivers was asked why he wanted to come back after nearly five years away from the game, especially with a strong possibility of failure looming.
“I think about my own boys, you know, my own two sons, but certainly [the] high school team I’m coaching, but this isn’t why I’m doing it,” Rivers replied.
“These kind of things don’t come up. But obviously, this doesn’t come up every day. But I think, maybe it will inspire or teach [them] to not to run or be scared of what may or may not happen.”
RELATED: Christian NFL star apologizes after reference to kids’ game that likely left LGBTQ crowd seething
According to Catholic Vote, since retiring Rivers has been coaching the football team at St. Michael Catholic High School in Fairhope, Alabama, where his son also played quarterback.
It was when talking about his high school team that Rivers began getting emotional in front of the NFL press.
“Certainly I think of my sons and those ball players that I’m in charge of at the school. They’ll say, like, ‘Crap! Coach wasn’t scared!’ You know what I mean. Shoot, sometimes there is doubt, and it’s real, and … the guaranteed safe bet is to go home or to not go for it. And the other one is, ‘Shoot, let’s see what happens,'” he said.
It was in that moment that Rivers’ faith shined through.
“I hope that in that sense that it can be a positive to some young boys or young people. … Whatever God’s will, I’m happy with,” he added.
Photo by Steph Chambers/Getty Images
Rivers also answered questions about self doubt in his abilities after being away from the professional game so long. He admitted that he initially felt some doubt last week, but he was “thankful to God” those doubts quickly dissipated.
“I’ve been very much at peace and just at peace with everything about it,” he revealed.
The Colts play the San Francisco 49ers next Monday in a game that will likely be a must-win if the Colts want to make the playoffs.
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