A top referee selected to work the 2026 World Cup was barred from entering the United States despite having a valid travel visa, according to The Guardian.
As the U.S. Men’s National Team is finalizing its preparations ahead of Friday’s World Cup opener against Paraguay (6 p.m. PT), the biggest question facing head coach Mauricio Pochettino was the team’s defense. And by that, the real question was about the health of defender Chris Richards and his balky ankle. USMNT star defender Chris...
Former co-stars Will Friedle, Danielle Fishel and Rider Strong reunited at the "Boy Meets Doc" screening at the 2026 Tribeca Film Festival.
There's a reason it's Jenny from the block, not Jenny fresh off the boat. Former NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio was hopping mad when pop singer and actress Jennifer Lopez dared to define what makes a New Yorker.'Everybody wants to claim our city.'"Everybody wants to claim our city, but you have to be born in New York. You have to be born in one of the five boroughs to be a New Yorker," Lopez said.Purity testLopez's offhand comments, which she made while appearing on "SubwayTakes with Kareem Rahma," prompted the Democrat former mayor, who led the city from 2014 to 2021, to call Lopez's definition "absolutely outrageous." "There is no purity test," de Blasio claimed — asserting that New York is the "ultimate city of immigrants."The 65-year-old continued his vehement defense of immigration by telling the New York Times the city's culture is actually the inverse of what Lopez was suggesting."In fact, it's been the opposite. We've said, 'Come here and become one of us.'"RELATED: Diddy's Big Circus New York state of mindDe Blasio attempted to explain that his self-identification as a New Yorker comes from "how long I've lived here and because I raised my family here," not the fact that he was born in Manhattan in 1961."This place gave me everything in life," the former mayor went on. "Your definition of home is the place that means the most to you. New York City has been my whole world."It's a definition that Lopez would no doubt reject. In her appearance, she stressed that even if a person had lived in NYC for 50 years, he still wasn't cut from the same cloth as those who were born there."I have to say, no, you live in New York. You take on characteristics of New Yorkers. ... When you're born in New York is when you're really a New Yorker."RELATED: Superstar singer debuts trans kid at high school graduation Raymond Hall/GC Images Emotional rescueLopez finished the short interview by advocating for schools to teach "self love" from elementary school through college, saying that if students couldn't pass tests based on being a good person, they shouldn't be allowed in society."Because they teach us things intellectually, but an intellectual motherf**ker with no emotional intelligence is dangerous! It's a dangerous person. Okay?" she remarked.Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!
Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton is urging Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) to speed up California‘s vote counting process, arguing delays in reporting election results are eroding public trust in the state’s election. Several high-profile contests, including the races for governor, Los Angeles mayor, and a handful of competitive House seats, remained unresolved as of Monday […]
A conservative commentator and one of America’s top psychiatrists agree that President Donald Trump’s recent interview with NBC News’ Kristen Welker raises serious concerns about his mental fitness.Jonathan V. Last, a conservative commentator for The Bulwark, noted that Trump is turning 80 next week, frequently falls asleep in public and has consistent physical symptoms of decline including severe bruising on both hands, swollen legs and a neck rash. After adding that Trump’s physicians consistently misrepresent his health and therefore cannot be trusted, Last analyzed three statements Trump made to Welker that he viewed as alarming.First, when Trump was asked if America is at war with Iran, the president replied by saying “Well, they’ve been largely decapitated. And I call it a military exercise because people would rather have it called that. It’s not a big war for us. It’s not. We have the most powerful military in the world. I built it, frankly. I built it in my first four years. And I’m using it a little bit in my second four years.”He added, “Their navy is gone. Their air force is gone. Their anti-aircraft is gone. They might’ve built it up a little bit over the last four weeks during this little ceasefire that we did at the request of some very good people, very, very fine people from — actually from numerous places, as you know. You know, there are a lot of people involved. But from Pakistan in particular, the field marshal and the prime minister. And we’re very close to having a deal. And if we don’t have a deal, we’ll do it one way or the other. Either way, we win.”Last observed that, while it is obvious that Trump avoided answering the question directly, he also seemed to struggle to make any kind of coherent point.According to Last, Trump “wants to say that we’re not at war; that there’s still a ceasefire in place; and that it was the leadership of Pakistan who requested the ceasefire. But he can’t find those words, so his mind vamps about the size of the ceasefire, and the ‘very fine people’ who wanted it from ‘numerous places’ until the word ‘Pakistan’ drops into place for him.”Psychiatrist Dr. Henry Abraham, formerly of Tufts University, has repeatedly raised the alarm about Trump’s declining mental state, even writing a public letter to Trump’s doctor last month. When AlterNet shared both Trump’s answer and Last’s analysis with Abraham, he offered a different take than Last as to what it represents — although he also shared Last’s concern that Trump is unfit to be president.“Sadly, I don't want to take steam out of your argument here, but everything he's saying makes sense from his point of view,” Abraham told AlterNet. “His point of view is distorted, erroneous, grandiose, and self-serving — but that's who he is. That's not necessarily an abnormal mental status exam beyond the typical and longstanding grandiosity and self-importance that he injects into every discussion.”Last also drew attention to Trump answering a Welker question about the new Supreme Leader of Iran, claiming that the president seemed unable to remember the leader’s name “Mojtaba Khamenei.”“Well, I don’t want to go into names,” Trump told Welker when asked who is leading Iran. “But you know who they are. They’re leaders. They’re respected, respected by the people that have to respect them. They are calling the shots. We know that because we see it through various tests that we’ve given. It’s a little bit strange because you have leaders that have been there for a long time, and they get wiped out. Then you have leaders that you also know, the second tier, and they get wiped out. All of a sudden, we’re dealing with different people.”When Welker tried to give Trump a hint by referring to Mojtaba Khamenei as the son of the previous Supreme Leader, Trump merely said “he’s a part of it” before digressing further about how the Iranian people “pay homage” to their leader. Welker also asked Trump if he knows Khamenei’s current physical whereabouts or health, and Trump replied “I don’t want to say whether or not I know where he is. But there’s a good probability that I do.”According to Last, “everything about this exchange is odd. Trump hasn’t been able to say who the leadership of Iran is. Trump never manages to actually speak the name of the person he’s talking about, but Welker offers him another way to identify Khamenei and Trump immediately latches onto it and insists that ‘he’s part of it.’ He then represents that he knows something about this person — that people ‘pay homage to him.’ What a strange expression.”He added, “And then, pressed on where this person is and what his physical condition is, Trump evades, but then smudges this evasion with another bizarre phrase. If you read this exchange as a man trying to fake his way through a series of questions he doesn’t fully understand . . .
Trump picks FHFA Director Bill Pulte as acting intelligence chief, drawing criticism from lawmakers who say he lacks national security experience.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the major escalation in fighting that broke out between Israel and Iran over the weekend highlights “growing disagreements” between President Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu about how Lebanon fits into the wider peace deal with Iran.“Iran has conditioned that deal on an end to the fighting in Lebanon between Israel and its militia ally, Hezbollah,” explained the Wall Street Journal. “Tehran upped the ante overnight by firing waves of missiles at Israel after Israel attacked Hezbollah’s stronghold in the southern suburbs of Beirut. Despite Trump’s effort to calm the growing tensions, Israel retaliated against targets in Iran including an important petrochemical facility, extending an exchange of fire that Iran warned could pull in energy facilities across the region.”“Israel and Iran must immediately stop ‘shooting,’” Trump posted Monday morning, followed shortly by the assertion that “Both sides, Israel and Iran, are looking to do an immediate CEASEFIRE! Final negotiations on ‘Peace’ are proceeding, subject to ignorance or stupidity getting in its way.” The countries have broken off their attacks while threatening that they could resume. Trump spoke with Netanyahu before and after the Israeli strikes, reports the Journal. These are the latest communications between the two leaders since it was previously reported that Trump had cursed Netanyahu out in another recent call following an attack against Lebanon, shouting that the Israeli prime minister is “crazy." In that call, Trump asserted that “everybody hates you now. Everybody hates Israel because of this,” and suggested that Netanyahu would have been imprisoned for corruption were it not for the president’s backing.According to Ofer Guterman, a senior researcher at the Tel Aviv-based Institute for National Security Studies, “Israel’s government wants to maintain the use of force as much as possible to achieve its interests in Lebanon and Iran, while the Trump administration is on a different page.” The latest burst of violence “brought new urgency to a simmering disagreement.”“The tensions between the U.S. and Israel are becoming a defining characteristic of the current phase of the war,” explained the Journal, “much as unprecedented close cooperation between the two allies marked its beginning.” While the two countries are still militarily aligned, “election year political pressures are pushing Trump and Netanyahu farther apart.”Both leaders are facing political headwinds. Trump and the Republicans are projected to receive major losses in the upcoming midterms due largely to skyrocketing gas prices resulting from the war. For his part, Netanyahu is under internal pressure over allegations that he’s let the U.S. decide issues that are considered vital to Israeli national security. Israel is “eager to keep fighting Hezbollah and Iran to degrade their capabilities,” and was on the verge of launching a major assault on Beirut last week when Netanyahu was stopped by Trump’s phone call.According to the Journal, “While Trump wants to end the war with a deal that eases the pressure on oil markets and global consumers, Israel still holds on to hope it could end with some kind of Iranian capitulation.”Iran is using Lebanon to test the credibility of U.S. security commitments, said Esfandyar Batmanghelidj, chief executive of the Bourse & Bazaar Foundation, an economic think tank. “They want to see if Trump can restrain Israel in its own backyard. If Trump is able to do that, then he might be able to defend his own deal with Iran from further Israeli sabotage.”
When President Donald Trump is accused of having a belligerent tone with longtime allies of the United States, he often responds that he is merely standing up for a country that has been disrespected and taken advantage of. Trump views himself as a symbol of American strength, but according to British journalist and i Paper reporter James Ball, the U.S. president is looking "weak" and "humiliated" in front of other countries."Trump's maniacal self-confidence has endured beyond the first year of his second term in no small part thanks to the constant flattery of his subordinates and a friendly online media ecosystem," Ball explains in the UK-based i Paper. "He seems to genuinely believe that he has 'ended 10 wars,' or that he is constantly breaking record highs in his approval ratings among Republicans. Neither is true."Trump's "overweening self-confidence," according to Ball, "seems to" be the thing that "propelled" him "into his war with Iran" — a war that, Ball emphasizes, isn't going well for the United States."One of the founding principles of the MAGA movement was getting the U.S. out of its endless entanglements overseas, and instead putting 'America First,'" Ball notes. "But the pull of proving himself superior to his predecessors on Iran and the Middle East — Trump has spent a decade endlessly criticizing President (Barack) Obama's deal to curb Iranian nuclear enrichment — seemed to prove irresistible. On a high after kidnapping President (Nicolás) Maduro from Venezuela, and having received a flattering briefing from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, claiming U.S. airstrikes could lead to regime change in Iran, Trump launched his own Middle Eastern adventure."Ball continues, "Trump never set out a clear aim for the war, not least because he never bothered making much of a case for it, either to the public or to Congress. But it is impossible to claim the current situation as a win against any kind of goal. The world's economy remains on the brink of disaster, with the Strait of Hormuz blocked. Peace negotiations are in deadlock. The Iranian regime's hold on the country is more secure now than it was before US operations began." Trump, the British journalist laments, is in way over his head with Iran — much to the detriment of the U.S. as well as its allies in other countries."Trump is a petty and vindictive man," Ball warns. "He has spent much of his second term trying to bring the power of the federal government to bear against his political enemies, for real and imagined slights. He has pursued vendettas for weeks, months and years against those he feels criticized him unfairly. Now, he is being publicly humiliated on the world stage, while every world leader watches on. What might a man like Donald Trump do in such a situation? Trump has made himself look foolish, and weak. That could make him more dangerous than ever."