Stembridge News Digest

  • NO SHOW: ​Portuguese comedians quit local festival after it lands Jerry Seinfeld Thu, 10 Sep 2026 22:18:54 +0000


    Let's say you're a comedian in Portugal gearing up for Lisbon's first international comedy festival this fall.

    You're cautiously optimistic. Then you hear the news: Jerry Seinfeld — one of the most successful stand-up comics of all time — has agreed to perform. He's never even performed in Portugal before. Suddenly, the event has a global star, and the Lisbon comedy scene has a chance to draw some serious international attention.

    'I don't care about Palestine.'

    So what do you do?

    Apparently, you quit.

    That's what a growing number of local performers are doing after the MEO Commedia a La Carte Fest announced Seinfeld as the headliner of its inaugural show, running Oct. 29 through Nov. 1.

    The Lisbon festival prominently features Seinfeld on its website and bills his November 1 appearance at the roughly 20,000-seat MEO Arena as his first performance in Portugal.

    But what should have been a landmark booking for the new festival has instead prompted an exodus. At least six performers have pulled out, with several citing or alluding to Seinfeld's support for Israel.

    Portuguese comedian Inês Aires Pereira announced her withdrawal by declaring, “We cannot relativize or normalize a genocide.”

    Pereira did not name Seinfeld directly but said one of the festival's performers “insistently defends indefensible ideas and actions,” according to the Telegraph.

    Comedy duo Cebola Mol also pulled out, posting an image of a watermelon — widely used as a symbol of Palestinian solidarity — and telling fans, “We will celebrate justice, freedom, and joy at a future opportunity, together with you.”

    RELATED: Cancel culture fired Shane Gillis — America hired him back

    Jerusalem, 2007. Moshe Milner/GPO/Getty Images

    At least three other acts have withdrawn without publicly explaining their decisions.

    Landing Seinfeld was reportedly two years in the making, and organizers are now considering legal action against performers who backed out, according to Portuguese outlet NiT. The outlet reported that the cancellations began after Seinfeld's public support for Israel became a subject of discussion among the performers.

    Another Portuguese outlet, MAGG, reported that organizers have even considered scrapping the rest of the festival and proceeding with Seinfeld's performance alone.

    César Mourão, a founding member of the group behind the festival, has said that bringing Seinfeld to Portugal was one of the project's major goals from the beginning.

    RELATED: Trump administration taps 'Transformers' for new deportation program: 'You don't know how to drive, Mr. Singh'

    NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal/Getty Images

    Seinfeld has been publicly supportive of Israel since the Oct. 7 attacks. In December 2023, he traveled to Israel and met with families of hostages taken by Hamas.

    He has been considerably less diplomatic when confronted by pro-Palestinian hecklers.

    While posing for a video with a fan in 2025, Seinfeld was met with a call to “free Palestine.”

    “I don't care about Palestine,” Seinfeld replied.

    During a 2024 performance in Australia, Seinfeld similarly mocked a heckler who interrupted his set with pro-Palestinian remarks.

    “We have a genius, ladies and gentlemen,” Seinfeld told the crowd. “He solved the Middle East.”

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  • Liberal college students plan celebrations of Charlie Kirk's death on one-year anniversary: Report Thu, 10 Sep 2026 21:31:30 +0000


    While many are somberly remembering Charlie Kirk on the one-year anniversary of his death Thursday, some ghoulish college students are demonstrating how little class they have.

    Separate events are apparently being planned by students at two colleges to mock and ridicule the assassination of the right-wing activist at Utah Valley University in 2025.

    'They’re even offering monetary prizes to the people who mock Charlie the best... Absolutely VILE.'

    One flyer publicized a Charlie Kirk look-alike competition at Kate Gleaseon Dorm Quad at the Rochester Institute of Technology on Thursday. It promised "good vibes, good music, good times," as well as a $10 top prize and trophy.

    Images of the flyers were posted online by the popular Libs on TikTok account, which claimed that they were being spread at the Rochester Institute of Technology.

    A separate flyer advertised a "Twerk for Kirk Competition" with a $10 entry but did not specify the location of the event.

    That flyer said it would have "strict security" and "mandatory patdowns" at the event.

    "They’re even offering monetary prizes to the people who mock Charlie the best. These signs are going up around campus. Absolutely VILE," wrote the Libs of TikTok account.

    A Blaze News request for comment to the Rochester Institute of Technology was not immediately returned.

    Another alleged post on social media called on students of Georgetown University to attend a "Charlie Kirk" look-alike contest at Copley Lawn in Washington, D.C.

    RELATED: Panel explodes into chaos after leftist influencer defends mocking Charlie Kirk's widow

    "The TPUSA Chapter at Georgetown strongly condemns any events that aim to disrespect Charlie Kirk and the upcoming memorial ceremony at UVU," read a statement from Turning Point USA, the organization Kirk founded.

    The university also responded in a statement Tuesday condemning the posts.

    "We have seen no activity on campus related to these posts and Georgetown is not aware of any student organization that is hosting or planning such an event. We take these anonymous posts seriously and condemn their language as deeply inconsistent with our values. As a Jesuit, Catholic University we seek to create a living and learning community that promotes thoughtful, respectful dialogue," the statement read in part.

    "While Georgetown’s policies give latitude for the free expression of ideas and opinions, making light of a victim of violence is counter to our values and deeply disappointing," the statement added.

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  • Jimmy Kimmel plays free speech martyr over Talarico interview; leaves out one crucial detail Thu, 10 Sep 2026 21:05:00 +0000


    Jimmy Kimmel says something has changed since Donald Trump returned to the White House, but he can't quite put his finger on it.

    The late-night host took aim at the president again Wednesday, this time accusing the administration of using federal authority to interfere with his show's editorial decisions.

    'I interviewed Donald Trump when he was running for president in 2015.'

    “I've been interviewing Americans who are running for office with no problem at all,” Kimmel declared.

    “I've interviewed a lot of political candidates from Hillary Clinton to Ted Cruz to Donald Trump himself. I interviewed Donald Trump when he was running for president in 2015.”

    “But for some reason, and I can't seem to figure out what that reason is, something has changed now that he is president,” Kimmel continued.

    Kimmel was explaining why his interview with Democratic Texas Senate candidate James Talarico would appear on YouTube rather than air on ABC.

    The host accused the Federal Communications Commission of threatening him, his show, ABC and its local affiliates over “simple, traditional editorial decisions” and guest bookings.

    What Kimmel did not mention is that the FCC's position is based on a long-standing federal law requiring broadcasters that give airtime to one legally qualified political candidate to provide comparable opportunities to opposing candidates.

    The law includes exceptions for bona fide newscasts and news interviews, and in the past, the FCC has allowed some entertainment talk shows to qualify for that exemption.

    RELATED: Trump may get the last laugh over Jimmy Kimmel — if the rumors are true

    Earlier this year, however, the FCC warned broadcasters that late-night and daytime talk shows should not assume they qualify. The agency noted that such exemptions are determined on a case-by-case basis and depend in part on whether guest selections are based on newsworthiness rather than an effort to help or hurt a candidate.

    That means airing Kimmel's interview with Talarico could raise questions about whether ABC affiliates would also have to provide comparable airtime to his Republican opponent, Ken Paxton.

    Kimmel said he wasn't going to put the stations in that position.

    “Out of consideration for our local stations, especially our ABC affiliates in Texas,” Kimmel said, he would instead post the interview on the “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” YouTube channel.

    The FCC's equal-opportunities rules apply to broadcast stations, not online platforms such as YouTube.

    Some commentators described the decision as “censorship,” although Kimmel himself did not use the term.

    RELATED: Singer Jelly Roll cries on Jimmy Kimmel show after Trump-joke backlash: 'I am a Christian'

    Randy Holmes/Disney General Entertainment Content/Getty Images

    The dispute comes amid renewed speculation about Kimmel's future at ABC.

    Page Six recently reported that unnamed insiders believed Kimmel's year-to-year contract would not be renewed. ABC pushed back on the report.

    “This information is inaccurate,” an ABC spokesperson told Entertainment Weekly. “Any reports about the future of the show at this point are purely speculative.”

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  • Jason Whitlock: The Lindsay Clancy jury chose her over the children Thu, 10 Sep 2026 21:00:00 +0000


    The mistrial in the Lindsay Clancy case has kept the debate over her guilt as divisive as ever, with plenty of Americans siding with the 11 jurors who wanted her found not guilty by reason of insanity.

    But unlike those 11 jurors, BlazeTV host Jason Whitlock believes that the lone juror who defied the others was the only one pursuing real justice — especially after seeing interviews of the women who sided with the defense.

    “Not sure if rogue is the right word ... but every one of us in the hours of our frustration would get up and walk the room because you just couldn’t sit anymore,” one female juror told NBC News, speaking about the male juror who refused to fall in line.

    “He would not interact with us and try to understand. We read to him on numerous occasions the definition of reasonable doubt from Judge Sullivan’s instruction. He actually said one day in the end, ‘Well, why don’t we have the judge come in and read it again?’ And we were like, ‘No, we have it in front of us. We don’t need that,’” she continued.


    “And we would highlight it and you know, so and so, this is the definition of reasonable doubt. But he had the hardest time getting off the fact that Lindsay viciously killed her children,” she added.

    “You just heard it,” Whitlock says. “Not a host, not a pundit, not a podcaster, a juror.”

    He calls the “rogue” juror a “mighty good man.”

    “That was not a flaw in the holdout. That was the assignment,” he says.

    “The fight in that room was never ‘did she do it?’ The fight was whether a room full of adults would let ‘she snapped’ and ‘she loved them’ erase what she did. Nine women, three men, a majority that wanted a hall pass,” he continues.

    “One man who would not sign it. And when the case deadlocked, the cameras did not hunt the truth. They hunted him. ‘Arrogant, wouldn’t interact, wouldn’t budge,’” he mocks, “‘Hardest time getting off the fact that she viciously killed her children.’”

    “Of course he did. That fact is the case. Empathy can be holy. Empathy can also be toxic. In that jury room, it went toxic,” he says.

    “The loudest empathy in those interviews did not land on three dead kids. It landed on the woman who killed them,” he adds, before playing a clip of a different juror.

    “We weren’t trying to figure out if she murdered the children. She did, and she’s admitting that. We’re trying to figure out did she know right from wrong at that time? And with everybody saying she loved her children so much and everything proved she loved her children from her journals to her mother-in-law,” the female juror said.

    “Everything proved that she loved her children, so she had to have snapped,” she added.

    “Hey, lady, love is not a defense to strangulation. A mother’s tears do not untie a ligature. ‘She snapped’ is not a verdict. It is a slogan. And when a juror treats the bodies as the obstacle to her preferred ending, she has already chosen a side, and it is not the children’s,” Whitlock says.

    “They mocked the holdout for staging with the bodies. They should have thanked him. He was the only adult in the room who refused to negotiate with a corpse count,” he adds.

    Want more from Jason Whitlock?

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  • WATCH LIVE: Night 2 Republican Midterm Convention Thu, 10 Sep 2026 20:24:45 +0000


    The first midterm Republican National Convention wraps tonight with an emphasis on policies to help everyday Americans in areas of public health, business, and affordability and memorials honoring Charlie Kirk, victims of border crime, and the 25th anniversary observance of the September 11 terrorist attacks.

    Vice President JD Vance headlines the convention's closing night, right before President Donald Trump's closing remarks. Earlier in the evening, first son Donald Trump Jr. takes on the extreme liberal Democrats, and Karoline Leavitt, the former White House press secretary, is set to outline the "Golden Age of America."

    Two somber moments will take place during the middle of the night’s program. First, the convention will remember Charlie Kirk, who was killed a year ago Thursday. Pastor Lucas Miles of TPUSA Faith will deliver a prayer and tribute to Kirk.

    Then, the program marks the 25th observance of September 11 with a remote appearance by Tunnel to Towers CEO Frank Siller, a presentation of colors, a wreath-laying, and a performance of "Ave Maria" by Christopher Macchio.

    Other speakers include: Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who will speak on food choices and Making America Healthy Again. His speech is one of many touting the MAHA initiatives. Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson (R) will explain why he left the Democratic Party, and British travel creator Oliver Henry, who came to Dallas for the World Cup, speaks on what he says makes America the land of opportunity.

    The night will also focus on the midterms. Texas. Sen. Ted Cruz, Gov. Greg Abbott, and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick all speak, along with Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) on the road ahead. Mike Rogers, running for Senate in Michigan, will highlight the radical agenda of Abdul El-Sayed. Rep. Lisa McClain (R-Mich.) and Rep. Richard Hudson (R-N.C.) appear as House Republican Conference chair and NRCC chair, and Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) will join angel parents Jessica and Tom Gorman. Also on the program are Reps. Jason Smith (R-Mo.), Ryan Mackenzie (R-Pa.), and Brian Jack (R-Ga.), plus House candidates Laurie Buckhout (N.C.), Greg Cunningham (N.M.), Marty O'Donnell (Nev.), Derek Merrin (Ohio), Eric Flores (Texas), and Tano Tijerina (Texas).

    After all the speeches and applause, a balloon drop, "YMCA," and "Pinball Wizard" send off the arena before Macchio closes the night with "Nessun Dorma."

  • 'Let the truth come out': UFC legend Georges St-Pierre backs vaccine-injury inquiry Thu, 10 Sep 2026 19:40:00 +0000


    Devastating testimony regarding alleged vaccine side effects is under way, and the stories are heartbreaking.

    Years after COVID-19 vaccines were pushed out to the public, many of those who claim it caused adverse events are still battling to be recognized, and now they're getting a boost of support.

    'When everybody go Right, I’m not afraid to go Left when I think it’s better.'

    The Allison Inquiry this week includes more than 1,400 Canadians who are willing to testify about being injured by a COVID-19 vaccine in a country that almost unanimously took the jab.

    As the inquiry reaches the federal government, former UFC middleweight champion Georges St-Pierre said in a video posted Monday he wanted to share his support for the inquiry, which he said is giving Canadians who were "hurt by the COVID-19 vaccine" a chance to "explain themselves publicly" and to "let the truth come out."

    The fighter stated that he hoped that such a situation would "never happen again" and for "people to have [the] freedom to do what they want to do with their body."

    The inquiry has selected 50 claimants to testify, with many of the stories heard being just as shocking as they are sad.

    Stéphanie Giguère claimed she was told her vaccine side-effect symptoms were "all in her head" before being put through a mental health evaluation.

    Patricia Leidl testified that she collapsed after her second dose and now has neurological problems including postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome.

    RELATED: UFC champ: In America, there's one thing you should 'never' apologize for

    Other testimonies have included Dr. Crystal Luchkiw, who claimed that her brother suffered cardiac side effects following vaccination and "ultimately died."

    As well, Carole Avoine claimed she developed Bell’s palsy after vaccination.

    Canadians overwhelmingly supported receiving the COVID-19 vaccine. By February 2022, 96% of the population age 12 and over had at least one dose. In 2023, more than 80% of Canadians had two doses.

    For comparison, about three-quarters of Americans received at least one dose by September 2021, with the rate declining for a second dose to 61%.

    According to the government of Canada's official vaccine information website, more than 4,200 "serious" adverse events were reported after vaccination in 2021, with another 43,000+ "non-serious reports" the same year.

    RELATED: How the WNBA’s hottest star became the left’s newest headache

    Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images

    St-Pierre is not shy about touching on controversial topics, whether it be brain injuries suffered by UFC fighters or alien interactions.

    Regarding the latter, the Quebec native has spoken at length about the possibility of him being abducted by aliens, including incidents where he felt like he has lost time.

    Critics claimed these explanations may be evidence of brain trauma suffered from fighting.

    Politically, St-Pierre said early in 2026 that he isn't afraid to go "left" if everyone else is going "right."

    "When everybody go Right, I’m not afraid to go Left when I think it’s better," he wrote on X.

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  • One year later: Allie Beth Stuckey recaps the good, the bad, and the ugly since Charlie Kirk was taken from us Thu, 10 Sep 2026 19:30:00 +0000


    Today marks the one-year anniversary of the atrocious murder of Charlie Kirk — TPUSA founder and beloved friend and mentor to thousands of Americans.

    In the 365 days that have passed since Charlie was shot on Utah Valley University’s campus during his American Comeback Tour, much has happened; much has changed.

    On this special episode of “Relatable,” Allie Beth Stuckey reflects on the evil, the fracturing, and the fruit she has seen in the year since she lost her dear friend.

    The aftermath of Charlie Kirk’s death, Allie explains, has brought everything from sickening malevolence to powerful unity to quiet gospel fruit.

    Beginning with the evil, Allie highlights how radical progressives deepened the already cavernous divide between the political right and left with their heinous mockery of Charlie’s murder.

    “The people who cheered on Charlie’s death, they’re the same people that hate you and me, the same people that hate what I have to say, what you and I believe,” she says.

    But the ugliness wasn’t isolated to the left; it hit the conservative movement in a completely different way.

    “Unfortunately, that unity that we felt that day and right after, it really dissipated,” says Allie. “Like this has been the most fractured year for the conservative movement in my adult life.”

    She interprets this fracturing as “demonic opposition” to the powerful momentum the conservative movement was experiencing in the initial wake of Charlie’s death.

    One of the ways Satan slowed the revival that was sparking, says Allie, is by turning the spotlight on Charlie’s widow, Erika.

    “There has been, I think, some of the cruelest mockery of a widow publicly that I have ever seen. Erika has been a target of slander and innuendos for a year now,” she says, highlighting all the ways conservatives criticized the new widow despite the incredibly weighty roles and responsibilities she inherited amid her grieving.

    Many of those criticisms, Allie notes, turned into “conspiracy theories” backed by “zero evidence” that led to “all kinds of threats and stalking.”

    “[That’s] just the way that Satan works. … He is the accuser. He steals; he kills; he destroys. And so, of course, do you think that he was going to allow a revival to go unchecked? No,” she says.

    But God, being infinitely more powerful, has brought much good amid the darkness, Allie claims, reiterating her favorite saying: “God’s eternal plan of redemption is going off without a hitch.”

    “It's not that the revival [Charlie’s death sparked] has been completely curtailed. … God's work doesn't always make headlines. It doesn't always go viral,” she says.

    Data, however, indicates that the revival was real and had significant impact.

    “The American Bible Society's 2026 poll found growth specifically in a population that it calls the ‘movable middle.’ … There was an increase of 9 million people who are open to the message of the Bible even though they're not yet deeply engaged with it,” says Allie.

    “I don't know if [that increase is] all because of Charlie's murder,” she says, “but again, the effect that he had, all of the videos that he had that went viral, and just the ripple effect of people knowing more about him and the mission that he was on, I do think, sparked an interest.”

    Allie then points to a 2026 Gallup poll showing young men’s religious attendance up seven points, with the share who say religion is “very important” rising from 28% to 42%.

    “Again, I don't know if that's all Charlie Kirk, but I do know that that was his mission field, was young men, and that he had a recalibrated interest in talking about the Bible and talking about theology, and I do think that he had a huge effect,” she says.

    Another thing that has emerged since Charlie’s death, notes Allie, is the looming question of who will fill the gaping hole he left.

    Her answer is “no one.” Charlie, she explains, was an anomaly, the likes of which this generation has never seen before.

    She highlights how he was a “sophisticated political operator” who “had the ability to affect all kinds of world leaders through his powers of persuasion,” an “incredible debater,” an “extremely good speaker,” a successful “broadcaster,” a "theologian," and an “apologist.”

    “I don’t know anyone else who is all of those things,” she says.

    “No one's going to replace Charlie. … It's going to take a lot of people to try to fill in the gaps, and so far, that just hasn't happened,” she emphasizes.

    The best thing anyone can do, Allie argues, is “do what they were called to do, “let the Lord take care of the rest,” and “just let Charlie stand alone.”

    To hear more of Allie’s reflection and commentary on the one-year anniversary of Charlie Kirk’s death, 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.

  • 3 people arrested for alleged election FRAUD ring targeting homeless people in Los Angeles, FBI says Thu, 10 Sep 2026 19:25:00 +0000


    Forty-seven-year-old James "Lord" Brass reportedly surprised the federal agents surveilling him outside of his Victorville home when he left early in the morning around 4:45 a.m. on Thursday.

    The agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation then followed Brass to a gas station, where they arrested him for allegedly running an election petition fraud scheme in Los Angeles.

    'If you mess with our elections, this FBI will find you.'

    Two of his associates — 49-year-old Courtney Price of Jacksonville, Florida, and 33-year-old Jateisha Herron of Boron, California — have also been charged, according to First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli for the Central District of California.

    The charges are the result of an investigation into video accounts given by some homeless people living on Skid Row, claiming that they were paid to sign the petitions.

    Essayli cited the video investigation by James O'Keefe of the Citizen Journalism Foundation.

    That video appears to show petition circulators passing around notes with names of registered voters so that homeless people can earn a few bucks by signing the petitions in their names.

    In return for the seemingly fraudulent signatures, Brass allegedly received approximately $41,600 from coordinators related to a petition management company.

    In order to submit the signatures, Brass and his accomplices allegedly signed declarations at the bottom of the petitions that each of the signatures were the "genuine signature of the person whose name it purports to be," to the best of their knowledge.

    "Securing American elections from criminal interference is of the utmost importance to this FBI," wrote FBI Director Kash Patel on social media Thursday. "If you mess with our elections, this FBI will find you."

    The California Post obtained video of the arrest of Brass by federal agents.

    RELATED: Homeless people on Skid Row claim they were PAID TO VOTE — and not for Spencer Pratt

    Essayli said all three suspects were charged with one count of conspiracy to commit identity fraud in furtherance of a state felony and that Brass and Price were also charged with one count of identity fraud in furtherance of a state felony.

    "The charged conduct undermines the confidence voters have in our election systems. We will vigorously investigate and charge anyone involved in corrupting our elections," read a statement from Essayli.

    Brass appeared to be wearing a shirt supporting the Los Angeles Rams football team during his arrest.

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  • 'Kill me!' Unhinged male furious about revving engine at night pulls sword on investigating deputy. Then things get bloody. Thu, 10 Sep 2026 18:15:00 +0000


    A California sheriff's office on Tuesday released bodycam video showing an August 3 incident involving a 22-year-old male angry about noise at night. The video also shows the male pulling a sword on the investigating deputy.

    The Kern County Sheriff's Office said a deputy around 5:30 p.m. responded to the Desert Oasis Mobile Estates in 3300 block of 15th Street West in Rosamond about a peace disturbance. Rosamond is about 90 minutes north of Los Angeles.

    'I'm going to get my sword now ... I'm going to go take care of it ... I'm going to go kill him now.'

    Officials said the incident started with Joshua Dribin calling 911 and reporting a disturbance of the peace.

    "Someone's been waking me up at 10 o'clock at night, and I'm getting really, really mad," Dribin told the 911 operator before adding that he's "really gonna f**k them up."

    Dribin explained that the neighbor stopped a vehicle "right in front of my house and rev[s] their f**king engine" and that "it stopped because I threatened to punch them."

    He added that "I'm getting tired of getting waken [sic] up when I sleep in my f**king car."

    Shortly after the 911 call, a deputy responded in person and spoke to Dribin, who is seen on bodycam video telling the deputy that he asked the individual to stop revving the car's engine but that the person responded that "I don't give a f**k. It's my car."

    Dribin then told the deputy that "I'm really about to punch him and sock him out" — and then asked the deputy, "Can you guys get him to stop, please, or I'm gonna put a thing on him ... I'm gonna make him where he can't come near me."

    The deputy told Dribin that "you can't do that," but Dribin replied that "I can, too ... and you guys can't stop me from going to go punch him, right?"

    Moments later, Dribin retreated and told the deputy to "hold the gun. I'm going to get my sword now ... I'm going to go take care of it ... I'm going to go kill him now."

    Before long, Dribin is seen on bodycam video holding a sword, and the deputy called for backup.

    RELATED: Violent punks caught on video ganging up on, brutally beating elderly man by Baltimore 7-Eleven — while wielding rifle, sword

    Image source: Kern County (Calif.) Sheriff's Office

    Dribin then jumped his fence and began advancing on the deputy, who ordered Dribin to stop and drop his sword.

    But Dribin repeatedly told the deputy to "shoot bitch!"

    At one point, officials said Dribin was recorded on bodycam video attempting to open the deputy's patrol vehicle door.

    Dribin then continued advancing on the deputy, who told Dribin to stop and that "I'm going to shoot you!"

    "Kill me!" Dribin hollered at the deputy, who soon fired three shots.

    Dribin then fell to the street, tossed away his sword as ordered, and told the deputy that "I wanted you to shoot me."

    RELATED: New bodycam video shows sheriff's deputies fatally shooting knife-wielding male who authorities say stabbed deputy

    Officials said deputies treated Dribin at the scene, and he was soon transported by ambulance to a hospital where he was treated for non-life-threatening injuries.

    Officials said Dribin was arrested and charged with assault with a deadly weapon on a peace officer, resisting a peace officer using force, exhibiting a deadly weapon at peace officer to resist arrest, and resisting, obstructing, delaying a peace officer in the performance of their duties.

    No deputies or additional civilians were injured, officials said.

    Sheriff's office detectives investigate any use of deadly force by any member of the department, officials said, adding that the results of investigations are submitted to the Kern County District Attorney's Office for criminal review.

    Officials said the sheriff's office last Thursday convened an Incident Review Board examining the use of force in this incident, and that the use of force in this incident was determined to be within policy.

    Officials said all those with information regarding this investigation are urged to call the sheriff's office at 661-861-3110 or Kern Secret Witness at 661-322-4040.

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  • OpenAI's newest model is all techies want — but how uncontrollable is it? Thu, 10 Sep 2026 18:00:00 +0000


    Agentic AI, artificial intelligence that can act on a user’s behalf, has always been the goal for frontier model developers. This month, the industry leader, OpenAI, took a major step toward making agents mainstream with the launch of GPT-6 Astra. Here’s what it can do and why, at least one part of it, might be dangerous as some declare it AGI.

    Astra’s launch hinged on a demo video that showed the model in action. In the video, a cast of people stepped into a room and interacted with a screen simply by speaking to Astra using normal voice commands.

    AGI is such a contested term, and the more these models advance, the less clarity we have.

    During the presentation, a man turned a blank canvas into a 2D drawing of a rocket ship. After several iterations, he told Astra to take the drawing and transform it into a 3D model in Blender, which it did with relative ease. Later, a woman asked Astra to root through the downloads folder on her computer to find a specific image and add it to an eBay listing, also without fault.

    The interesting part is that the users never had to touch the computer to get something done. They simply sat (or stood) and instructed Astra to do the work. With voice commands, OpenAI’s latest model harnessed full control of a computer to open apps, create content within those apps, and even transfer files to other apps or programs.

    That said, the video was clearly prerecorded and was not a live demo, so real-world performance may vary. However, the concept is impressive, and it shows that agentic AI is poised to sweep through the industry, likely within the next year.

    But is it AGI?

    AGI is the idea that AI can match or surpass human intelligence on every task. It can think, create, reason, and do everything else the smartest person on the planet can do, unrestricted. It’s essentially Big AI’s attempt to build human consciousness within the confines of a data center. Scary, I know.

    RELATED: Big AI broke the internet. Now it wants everyone else to fix it.

    Just_Super/Getty Images

    Shortly after Astra hit the market, NVIDIA’s CEO Jensen Huang quickly proclaimed that “AGI has arrived!” The only problem is that Huang has said this before. He shared the same sentiment in March this year when gushing about Claude’s and OpenAI’s ability to build a business and generate money. For those keeping score, that isn’t exactly the old definition of AGI, but since the industry regularly can’t agree on what the moniker truly means, embellishments like this aren’t unexpected.

    The truth is that NVIDIA has a lot to gain from the AI race, largely because most frontier models are trained on a fleet of NVIDIA GPUs. The more hype Huang creates, the more GPUs his company sells. It’s basic math. But because of his stake in the race, he may not be the best source to trust on the AGI front.

    OpenAI’s chief scientist Jakub Pachocki stopped short of calling Astra AGI in a blog titled "An Alien Mind." Instead, he positioned Astra as an important milestone on the way to “personal AGI.” Given that he had a hand in building the model, he probably knows better than anyone where Astra stands on the human logic front.

    Problem areas

    Still, we wanted to get another opinion, so Blaze News asked AI expert Jon Stokes if Astra fits the true AGI description. We also prompted him to share any insights on possible security implications. He said:

    I think AGI is such a contested term, and the more these models advance, the less clarity we have. Astra does appear to be more of the same "jagged frontier" type intelligence, but whether that meets the AGI threshold depends on the person.

    All of these models have significant cyber capabilities, but whether they place us more at risk is complicated and depends on many factors, like their safeguards and how well they work. To the extent that the safeguards depend on CoT monitoring, the looped transformer architecture has implications for cyber security.

    Even if Astra isn’t equivalent to human intelligence, it still poses a unique threat, though maybe not in the way you’d expect. Unlike Anthropic Mythos, Astra wasn’t dubbed a public nuisance before it came onto the scene. Part of that may be because Astra was voluntarily submitted to the Trump administration for a 30-day review as part of the new AI review framework. Once it exited the program, OpenAI was free to launch its new model as planned.

    That’s when users noticed an emerging problem, as outlined by Stokes’ comment: Astra shows less of its chain-of-thought “thinking” when asked a question, compared to other frontier models. Usually, when engaging with an LLM, the model will show its thought process, which lets users see how it reached its final conclusion. Astra refrains, however, concealing its thought patterns to the point that the security-conscious fear that it could be more difficult to detect nefarious activity.

    So far, these fears remain unsubstantiated. This may not be a problem at all going forward. That said, Astra is brand-new, and only time will tell if its hidden thought patterns become a problem. At the very least, Stokes believes that OpenAI’s security safeguards will play a vital role going forward.

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  • Abdul El-Sayed claims ‘Muslims literally built this country,' only proves he 'hates America' Thu, 10 Sep 2026 17:30:00 +0000


    Abdul El-Sayed has some explaining to do. From embracing Hasan Piker to claiming Muslims “literally built this country,” the Michigan Senate candidate is not swaying any voters from the other side to vote his way.

    And BlazeTV host Pat Gray is not surprised, noting that Democrats have gotten “too radical.”

    “They’re too far out there. They’ve already come too close to the fundamental transformation of the United States of America,” Gray says on “Pat Gray Unleashed.”

    “I mean, we’re going to have more people that actually hate America in office,” Fisher says.

    “You mean like Abdul El-Sayed?” Gray asks.


    “He’s trying to fight off his association now with Hasan Piker,” Gray says.

    However, El-Sayed was just recently standing next to Piker in defense of his views, saying, ‘I’m not here to disavow people’s views. This gotcha, this whole gotcha game, platform policing, cancel culture, I thought we were over it.’”

    And on his own website, El-Sayed advertises inviting Piker onto the campaign trail and appearing with him at college events.

    But his flip-flop on Piker isn’t the only glaring issue of El-Sayed’s.

    “I’ve been reading our history. Muslims have been in this part of the country since 1527. Estevanico of Azemmour. Probably a name you’ve never heard. Probably the first recorded Muslim to touch ground on what is now these United States of America,” El-Sayed said in a speech.

    “Estimates suggest up to 50% of people who were brought here against their will as slaves were Muslims. Muslims literally built this country,” he continued.

    “We all know how stained our history is with the legacy of white supremacy. Whether that be against our African-American brothers and sisters, our Native-American brothers and sisters, our Latinx brothers and sisters. We know that stain,” he added.

    Gray is not amused, muttering, “Oh jeez.”

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  • Trump administration taps 'Transformers' for new deportation program: 'You don't know how to drive, Mr. Singh' Thu, 10 Sep 2026 17:00:00 +0000


    The Department of Homeland Security is casting itself as the Autobots — with Megatron and illegal immigrants playing the Decepticons.

    It’s the latest Hollywood-inspired message from the Trump administration, which rolled out a “Transformers” mash-up to promote a new ICE tip line for reporting commercial driver's license fraud.

    'Self-deport or find out.'

    The video uses footage from the “Transformers” franchise to depict Decepticon leader Megatron demanding that the government free his allies. Instead, a voice-over identifies several illegal immigrants who the DHS says obtained commercial driver's licenses before being involved in fatal crashes or other crimes.

    First is Harjinder Singh, an Indian national accused of making an illegal U-turn in a tractor-trailer on a Florida highway last August, causing a crash that killed three people. Singh had received a commercial driver's license from California, according to DHS.

    The video also names Rajinder Kumar, another Indian national who the DHS says received a California CDL before jackknifing his tractor-trailer in Oregon in November 2025, causing a crash that killed a newlywed couple.

    Also featured are Bekzhan Beishekeev, a Kyrgyz national who the DHS says killed four people in an Indiana crash, and Akhror Bozorov, an Uzbek national wanted in his home country on terrorism-related charges. Both received commercial driver's licenses in Pennsylvania.

    RELATED: Legendary video game company threatens the White House — and gets results

    The video concludes with the message: “Aliens don't belong behind the wheel of American trucks on American roads.”

    The DHS followed the video with a “Transformers”-style poster — that has since been removed — showing Optimus Prime facing off against an Indian truck driver.

    “Self-deport or find out,” the poster read. “Get off our roads, you don't know how to drive Mr. Singh.”

    “Too many American lives have been lost or permanently changed because illegal aliens who have no business being on our roads have been granted CDLs,” DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin said in announcing the tip line.

    “ICE and our federal partners, including the Department of Transportation, will be cracking down on CDL fraud so that not one more American life is lost to a reckless illegal alien behind the wheel of a semi-truck,” Mullin added.

    The “Transformers” footage isn't the only borrowed material in the video. The mash-up also uses music from Linkin Park, a band that has previously objected to the use of its music in Trump-related videos.

    RELATED: Trump's new Space Force uniforms based on 'fascist' sci-fi classic. Would you like to know more?

    In 2020, the band issued a cease-and-desist after a campaign video shared by Trump used the band's hit “In the End.” “Linkin Park did not and does not endorse Trump, nor authorize his organization to use any of our music,” the band said at the time.

    Earlier this year, a White House video featuring “Somewhere I Belong” was reportedly removed after representatives for the band took action over its use.

    Whether the latest video will prompt similar action remains to be seen.

    The “Transformers” film rights are held by Paramount Pictures, although it is unclear whether the DHS obtained permission to use footage from the franchise.

    The video comes just days after the White House removed a “Tetris”-inspired game from Arcade.gov following a copyright complaint from the Tetris Company.

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  • Ron Johnson amplifies voices of vaccine-injured Canadians in COVID reckoning Thu, 10 Sep 2026 14:30:00 +0000


    For years, Canadians who say they were seriously injured by COVID-19 vaccines have sought recognition from their government. This week, some of them are getting the opportunity to tell their stories on Parliament Hill — with a powerful U.S. senator joining them.

    Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), chairman of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations and one of Washington's most persistent critics of the government's pandemic response, appeared Tuesday at the opening of the Allison Inquiry in Ottawa.

    'By the time the COVID vaccines obtained their emergency use authorizations, the cartel was firmly in control of the narrative.'

    The four-day inquiry is chaired by Conservative Member of Parliament Dean Allison and organized with the Covid Testimony Association. Its stated purpose is to hear testimony from Canadians who attribute serious injuries to COVID-19 vaccination. It is being held on Parliament Hill, although it is not an official parliamentary inquiry.

    Questioning the narrative

    Johnson opened his testimony by questioning fundamental elements of the public health response to COVID-19, including the treatment of natural immunity and doctors who advocated early treatment.

    “Haven't we always believed that early disease detection prompts early treatment and produces better outcomes? Why was that fundamental tenet of medicine not only ignored but sabotaged?” Johnson asked. “Why were frontline doctors who had the courage and compassion to treat COVID patients from the start of the pandemic censored, vilified, and had their careers destroyed?”

    “How could health officials deny the effectiveness of natural immunity when approximately half of the people testing positive for COVID were asymptomatic?” he continued. “Isn't that a sign that your natural immunity is preventing you from getting ill?”

    Johnson's war

    Johnson has been pursuing many of the same questions in Washington as chairman of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations.

    In April, the subcommittee released a 38-page interim report alleging that FDA officials failed to act on a newer data-analysis method that identified previously undetected safety signals that the agency's existing methodology had failed to detect.

    The investigation drew renewed attention in July as Johnson's committee continued examining how federal officials handled reports of possible vaccine side effects and whether potential safety signals were adequately disclosed to the public. Later that month, Johnson requested transcribed interviews with Dr. Anthony Fauci and four former FDA officials about their roles in the pandemic response, including vaccine safety and efficacy

    In August, Johnson's investigation obtained Fauci's government-issued cell phone, containing more than 34,000 text messages and 500 voicemails. Johnson and Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) subsequently began releasing material from the phone as part of their continuing investigation into the government's pandemic response.

    Follow the science?

    Johnson brought that investigation to Ottawa on Tuesday, where he used his appearance at the Allison Inquiry to deliver a broader indictment of the pandemic response.

    “By the time the COVID vaccines obtained their emergency use authorizations, the cartel was firmly in control of the narrative,” Johnson said, using his term for the government agencies, pharmaceutical companies, media organizations, and technology companies he blames for suppressing dissent during the pandemic.

    He recalled slogans including “follow the science,” “safe and effective,” and “no one is safe until everyone is safe.”

    “Which, by the way, if the vaccines were that effective, why would you care whether somebody else is vaccinated?” Johnson asked. “I mean, it never made sense to me. ... These phrases were used ad nauseam to bludgeon the public into submission.”

    RELATED: Glenn Beck is right about Canada's descent into tyranny — and it began with attacking one basic freedom

    NurPhoto/Getty Images

    From 'injury' to 'impact'

    Canada does have a federal program to compensate people who have suffered serious and permanent injuries following vaccination. The Vaccine Injury Support Program began in 2021 and was initially administered by a third party before being taken over by the Public Health Agency of Canada.

    The program itself has faced scrutiny. PHAC terminated its contract with the original administrator after an audit found serious problems with its handling of claims. The agency subsequently took over administration of the program and renamed it the Vaccine Impact Support Program in April.

    The Allison Inquiry says it received more than 1,400 applications from people willing to testify about alleged vaccine injuries.

    Johnson also alleged that federal regulators failed to adequately investigate vaccine safety signals.

    “A few months into the vaccine rollout, my investigations have shown that the FDA and CDC were not doing sincere safety surveillance,” he said. “And it appears this willful ignorance was a worldwide phenomenon.”

    What about Dr. Tam?

    That question of what Canadian health authorities knew eventually brought the hearing to Dr. Theresa Tam, Canada's former chief public health officer.

    During questioning, Conservative MP Ellis Ross asked Johnson whether Tam's name had surfaced in the millions of pages of federal documents obtained by his investigation.

    “I've not heard of Dr. Tam. I may have, but, you know, the name didn't register,” Johnson replied. “What I will do is I'll have that as a search term with the emails and texts and I'll see. We'll check it out.”

    Johnson then addressed his staff, telling them to add Tam's name to their searches.

    “We'll put that in. We'll see if there's any [mentions],” he said.

    Johnson went on to say his investigators were finding what he described as “a great deal of cooperation between Fauci and federal health officials and Chinese officials,” but said he was not yet prepared to disclose specifics.

    “As we get more and more information, we'll start releasing that,” Johnson said. “We kind of got to put the whole package together, but stay tuned on some of those things.”

  • Talarico says being a 'white straight guy' limited him — until certain 'experiences and relationships' Thu, 10 Sep 2026 14:00:00 +0000


    As Texas gears up for the end of the detrimental Senate race between Ken Paxton and James Talarico, BlazeTV host Sara Gonzales is warning conservatives against assuming the outcome is a foregone conclusion.

    “People get complacent and then they get mad that they don’t have 100% of the things that they wanted to happen, happen,” Gonzales says, noting that this attitude won’t help as “these are complete lunatics that we’re up against.”

    “And they could potentially take back control if we don’t pay attention,” she continues.

    “I say this from real personal experience here in the state of Texas because we have this race for the Senate that we’re talking about all the time because it’s important. Because so goes Texas, so goes the country,” she explains.


    Gonzales calls the “only sane pick” in the race Paxton, who is up against this “weird, low-t soy boy.”

    “I thought that they were like at the bottom of the barrel when they ran Beto O’Rourke,” she says.

    “But wait there’s worse,” she adds, noting that she’s already run a ton of Talarico clips in the past that are “nonsensical.”

    “It turns out there’s more that just keeps coming out,” she explains, before playing a clip of Talarico that reads as “a little bit of an admittance” that “he at least maybe dabbled in some gay stuff.”

    In the clip, Talarico explained that his “colleagues are limited by their experience.”

    “I know that because I, as a white straight guy, you know, have the same limitations, those same blinders. Thankfully, I’ve been able to have some experiences and relationships that have helped take off some of those same blinders,” he said.

    “But a lot of my colleagues still have, you know, the full set that they were born with. And so the challenge is, how do you lift those blinders for folks?” he continued.

    “What are you talking about?” Gonzales asks.

    “You start to wonder.”

    “Are you thinking back to those experiences that have taken your blinders off, James? Huh? I’m just going to leave that one here,” she adds.

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  • ‘Vintage Trump’: Delegates rave about the president's convention speech Thu, 10 Sep 2026 12:30:00 +0000


    The atmosphere at the 2026 Republican Midterm Convention reached a crescendo on Wednesday as President Donald Trump took the stage. The president spoke for roughly an hour and a half, touting the accomplishments of his first two years but warning against complacency going into the midterms.

    "If we lose," Trump said, in reference to the impending midterm elections in November, "you're going to lose your border. You're going to lose your tax cuts. You're going to lose your safety and security. ... You will be going through hell."

    'He has a great sense of humor. People forget that.'

    The crowd was fired up throughout the speech, which began just after 8 p.m. Central Time, frequently breaking into chants of "USA! USA! USA!"

    Afterward, attendees said they felt energized by the president's commitment to winning in November. Randy Berholtz, a delegate from California, called the speech "vintage Trump."

    Another attendee from Idaho told Blaze News she was encouraged by Trump's effort to turn out additional midterm voters and added that Trump's rhetorical style made the speech thoroughly enjoyable.

    "He has a great sense of humor," she said. "People forget that."

    RELATED: The mood is high as midterm convention gets under way

    Blaze News

    During the speech, Trump announced a plan to use tariff revenue to pay American adults $5,000 each, so long as Republicans maintain control of Congress after the midterms. "We'll call it the Trump dividend," the president said.

    The announcement caused quite a stir both in the arena and online. One attendee from Washington told Blaze News he was encouraged by the dividend, adding that he thought it would be "good for families."

    The arena remained full throughout the speech, prompting the president to comment on the "fake news media" searching for empty seats to photograph.

    Leaning into the energy from the crowd, Trump spoke confidently about his administration's plan to continue pushing the GOP agenda forward through the next two years. He returned again and again to the importance of preventing Democrats from returning to power.

    "America is not for sale. ... We do not negotiate with communists, with socialists, or with radical left lunatics."

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