Practical gifts for dog lovers who are over the mess
From scented poop bags to waterproof seat covers, these pet gifts help cut down on mess and make life easier for dog owners. They are perfect picks for the holidays.
Places To Visit In D.C. Unaffected By The Government Shutdown
If you’re at a loss for what to do in Washington during the shutdown, or if you’re looking for off-the-beaten-path places to visit once the government reopens, check out this list.
Boasberg’s Senate Spying Gag Order Violated Federal Law
Boasberg is one of many low-court judges who have shown themselves to be lawless political actors whose jurisprudence is hostile to a functioning republic.
National Review’s Unfortunate Attack On Phyllis Schlafly Gets Conservative History All Wrong
In the publication’s 70th anniversary issue, the magazine undercut its own important legacy by attacking one of the right’s biggest icons.
As The Shutdown Continues A Facade Crumbles
For decades now Democrats have operated with an air of moral superiority born largely of two things. Firstly, they were the party of the little guy – helping the helpless, feeding the poor and freeing the oppressed. Secondly they uncovered and investigated quite publicly “the greatest scandal in American political history” – Watergate. These pillars are currently crumbling under their feet, leaving them teetering.
The post As The Shutdown Continues A Facade Crumbles appeared first on The Hugh Hewitt Show.
Red, white, and boo: Almost two-thirds of Americans now believe in ghosts
“I ain’t afraid of no ghost.”
Easy enough to say 40 years ago, when audiences delighted to the spectral pest control antics of Bill Murray, Harold Ramis, and Dan Aykroyd. You can’t fear what isn’t real, after all.
The show pioneered a tactic known as ‘provocation.’ This is when an investigator attempts to goad a spirit into manifesting by insulting it.
Things have changed. Since then, the proportion of Americans who believe in ghosts has surged 400%. Surveys indicate that nearly two-thirds of the population now hold supernatural beliefs, and 20% have reported seeing a ghost.
Entrepreneurial spirits
With roughly 50 million Americans purportedly having encountered a haunting, the business of ghost hunting has evolved into a profitable enterprise. It would appear that the invisible hand of the market really does exist.
As proof that even the ethereal cannot escape the iron law of supply and demand, paranormal tourism is booming. Millions of Americans now spend over $300 million on haunted attractions each year. You can satiate your gruesome desires by visiting Iowa’s Villisca Axe Murder House, where eight people, including six children, were murdered in 1912. For $430, anyone brave enough to take a whack at it can try to spend the night.
Ghost-hunting shows are scaring up unprecedented interest as well. YouTube, for example, has hundreds of paranormal-themed channels. One of the biggest is “Sam and Colby.” With an average of 10 million views per video, the kids are among the most popular ghost hunters online. The two film themselves while visiting haunted locales across the United States. Freed from the limitations of conventional television, the videos are lengthy and typically unedited, offering a more immersive experience for their audience of 15 million subscribers.
There are compilation channels for those who don’t want to endure the deferred gratification of 90 minutes of shaky handheld videos and constant cries of, “What was that?”
Then there are channels like “Mind Junkie” and “Nuke’s Top 5,” which brazenly monetize our endless appetite for not-so-carefully-vetted supernatural slop. One wonders if these shrewd content creators are also behind the “debunking videos” they attract. Nice business model, if so.
Tales from the clip
“Paranormal Caught on Camera,” now in its ninth season on Discovery+ and the Travel Channel, can best be described as a reality show. From poltergeist activity to mysterious shadows roaming the woods, a panel of experts weighs in on supposed paranormal footage from around the world. Imagine “Ghostbusters” meets “America’s Funniest Home Videos” — with the approximate scientific rigor of both.
Psychologists say a prior belief in ghosts makes a person more inclined to perceive unexplained sounds and events as paranormal. The show’s presenters are clearly familiar with the research. They frequently use the term “energy” (which appears to function as a noun, verb, and adjective) and attribute every sound or camera jiggle to the spirit realm.
Ghost roast
“Ghost Adventures” is one of the longest-running and best-known of these types of shows. While the experts on “Paranormal Caught on Camera” are content to remain armchair investigators, aging goth heartthrob Zak Bagans and his crew actually go out into the field. Since 2008, they have traveled around the United States looking for paranormal phenomena. The format is simple: They arrive at an alleged haunted location, turn off the lights, hit record, and explore the building. What we get is a well-curated, finely edited spectacle.
The show pioneered a tactic known as “provocation.” This is when an investigator attempts to goad a spirit into manifesting by insulting it. While this demonstrates a fortitude worthy of Ray Parker Jr. himself, it has never once worked over 300 episodes. The only scary thing that appears to be happening is a group of middle-aged men screaming in the dark about nothing in particular.
The truckload of pseudoscientific equipment these guys bring to the task separates them from your average amateur. A truckload of pseudoscientific instruments is used to add an element of objectivity. Particularly prized is the EMF meter, used to detect the electromagnetic fields ghosts apparently emit. This essential prop emits clicks and pings reminiscent of the motion trackers used to detect xenomorphs in the movie “Aliens.” Unsurprisingly, there is no James Cameron-level tension here. Ninety-nine times out of 100, they’ve probably just found the fuse box.
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Matt Himes
Phantom itch
Slick, polished, and carefully choreographed. It’s all very Hollywood. It comes as no surprise that the massive increase in belief in ghosts over the last 50 years coincides with the golden era of horror. Art imitates life. Many of these shows use the same strategies as your typical Hollywood special effects department.
So why are we watching these shows? “Ghost Adventures,” now in its 28th season, has perfected the art of selling us fear. These shows give us what we want. We love to be afraid. A horror movie grants us the chance to live vicariously through the characters on the screen. A way to experience and navigate terror from the comfort of our couch.
Then there’s another, more poignant, explanation. We believe in ghosts for the same reason that we believe in God. In the end, both ghost hunters and Christians are motivated by the same persistent yearning that has dogged us since the dawn of humanity: There’s got to be something more than this.
Parents, grandparent arrested after body of their 7-year-old boy is found stuffed inside freezer, police say
Residents of an apartment complex in Southern California were horrified to after the remains of a 7-year-old boy were found stuffed inside a freezer of their neighbors’ unit.
Deputies were called on a welfare check to the apartment at the complex on Euclid Avenue in Lynwood on Tuesday evening, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.
‘This is an unimaginable and horrific tragedy. … My heart breaks for what the other children in this home must have experienced.’
After finding the remains, police arrested 25-year-old Destiny Harrison, the boy’s mother, on suspicion of committing murder.
They also arrested his father, 25-year-old Daniel Monzon, and his grandmother, 46-year-old Ana Zarceno-Carcamo, on conspiracy to commit murder.
The couple had three other children living in their home, and they were taken into protective custody. The children were 16 years, 13 years, and 9 months old.
Police said they were still investigating the incident and offered few details.
“This is an unimaginable and horrific tragedy,” L.A. County Supervisor Janice Hahn said. “I stand ready to support the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department as they investigate this child’s death. My heart breaks for what the other children in this home must have experienced, and it’s critical that our Department of Children and Family Services do everything possible to support them and keep them safe in protective custody.”
Neighbors told KTLA-TV they were shocked by the report and said they had seen no signs of trouble from the family.
“To me she seemed like a normal person,” said a neighbor who did not want to be identified. “The whole time she was here, she was walking her dog right here, and that’s about it.”
“Once I found out it was a kid, I was literally driving home with my gut going crazy,” said Christian Torres, who lives near the location of the incident. “It hurts when you hear about these cases, but when you live them and they’re so close to you, it’s a whole different thing.”
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Another resident, who only wanted to be identified as Mia, said no one heard anything.
“That’s traumatizing to know that kid had to suffer like that,” she told KTLA. “A lot of people are trying to figure out what family did this. … How did we not know? How did other people not know? There are thousands of people living around here, and none of us heard a thing or even saw anything on any of the kids.”
The three suspects are being held on $2 million bail each.
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Undas 2025 weekend: Rainy skies expected due to 3 weather systems
The country will experience rainy skies during the Undas 2025 weekend due to the combined effects of the Northeast Monsoon (Amihan), the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ), and a low pressure area (LPA).
PVL: Eli Rousseaux powers Farm Fresh past Choco Mucho
Import Eli Rousseaux powered the Farm Fresh Foxies anew, this time against Choco Mucho, 25-18, 25-13, 18-25, 26-24, on Friday in the PVL Reinforced Conference at the Filoil EcoOil Centre in San Juan.
LPG price rollback set on Nov. 1, 2025
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Households should expect a breather as prices of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) are set to roll back in November.
