I had just left dinner with friends in northern Washington, D.C., last Friday. After we said goodbye, I started walking alone through Le Droit Park toward the nearest metro station. Within minutes, the sirens started. 
Several police cars appeared almost immediately — and almost as quickly, the street was filled as black teenagers flooded in from several directions at once. Some walked, others sprinted, and teens carrying blaring speakers took over the street. Hundreds of teens packed the roadway.
I asked a few of the kids running past what was happening. They yelled obscenities at me and kept going. Soon I realized that I had found myself in the middle of a &#8220;Teen Takeover,&#8221; the social media trend that that goes viral for the wrong reason every few weeks. It&#8217;s this generation&#8217;s version of a flash mob, and this version almost always ends in violence. Just earlier this year, a &#8220;Teen Takeover&#8221; in D.C. took over the internet with footage of numerous teens trashing a Chipotle, throwing metal chairs across the restaurant. 
 I moved to the edge of one of the groups and walked with them. An 18-year-old girl named Mekala told me the event was coordinated by &#8220;DPR.&#8221; I asked what the letters stood for and she didn&#8217;t know, only that &#8220;DPR&#8221; puts these events together for teens to “come out and have fun.” She said the organizers reach the kids through Instagram.
It turns out DPR is the District of Columbia’s Department of Parks and Recreation. The teens I spoke to that night said they were there for the government-organized event.
Its <a href="https://www.instagram.com/dcdpr">Instagram</a> account identifies it as a government organization that organizes &#8220;fun programs and events.&#8221; One of those events, according to the department’s <a href="https://dpr.dc.gov/page/late-night-hype">website</a>, is called Late Night Hype. It&#8217;s a program it created in 2021 to give teens and young adults “safe, high-energy spaces to connect after hours.” The government office had planned a Late Night Hype event at the Banneker Rec Center Fields just north of Le Droit Park, according to its <a href="https://latenighthype.splashthat.com/">online schedule of events</a>.
Attendees knew what was coming. A young Muslim man in a keffiyeh named Janar joined us as we walked. I asked him what the kids usually do at these DPR events. He answered without softening it: “All these n*gg*s out here are wildin&#8217;.&#8221; He described how the teens rob each other and take each other’s shoes and clothes. Mekala said that at most of these events the teens “go overboard” and take it to “the next level.” When I asked what that looked like, Janar said, “You gonna see.”
We moved through alleys, dodging police cars and leaving spots fast because fights kept starting. Mekala said DPR calls these “late night hype” events for teens and families to hang out and have good fun. The signs, she said, are made on the spot to get “experience with graffiti.&#8221;
As both Mekala and Janar warned, fights broke out. I moved closer to one of the fights to record it. As I approached to get footage, everyone was running the other way. Seconds later, I <a href="https://x.com/leonasalinas19/status/2080857020689764366?s=20">witnessed</a> a masked teenager fire off a gunshot. I stopped for a second. The masked ones ran and the rest of the crowd continued faster with them. 
I had gotten Mekala&#8217;s phone number and was able to reconnect. 
“This is why we can’t have fun because they want to act a fool,&#8221; she told me. Mekala told me the area was under a youth curfew. No one cared. She said these kids “target other people.” Then she said something more direct. She has watched, on multiple occasions at these same events, kids shooting at each other or jumping kids. She said it was commonplace.
I asked several teenagers in ski masks why they covered their faces. One said, “I can’t say too much.” Another said, “They gonna lock us up.” 
A witness near me claimed the police had “shot people,” which almost certainly didn&#8217;t happen. What happened was pepper balls after the gunfire and after more fights started inside the running crowd. The teenagers stampeded in short bursts with no clear provocation, even with National Guard standing in view, and they kept doing it.
I asked an officer for comment. She said she could not give details but confirmed an investigation into the discharge of a weapon was open and that numerous shots had been fired. I told her I had a video of one of the shots. She told me to submit it through their information page so I could be listed as a witness. At that moment, they had no other footage of the shots. While I spoke, other officers dealt with teenagers yelling obscenities at them and stretched caution tape to protect the crime scene.
I gave authorities my statement and left. On the way out, I watched officers arrest the person I had seen fire the first shot. No further official information has been released. 
What the Department of Parks and Recreation frames under the guise of an opportunity for teenagers to gather and have fun instead fosters a place for teens to commit crimes. They all knew what was going to happen. 
This was not an isolated night. As Heather Mac Donald has <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/mrn-260524">written</a> in The Daily Wire, the same trend is popping up from Chicago to Florida, and repeated outbreaks inside Washington itself. Large groups of urban teenagers, often coordinated online, take over public space and the mass violence follows with enough regularity that participants treat it as expected.
According to the teenagers who attend these events regularly, the violence happens at nearly every single one. I wonder what they would say to the children who have been murdered by others at these takeovers, whose behavior they condone. 
There are Late Night Hype events planned for the next three Fridays this summer. The Department of Parks and Recreation did not respond to a request for comment.

D.C. Teen Takeover

I Went To A ‘Teen Takeover.’ It Ended With Gunshots, And Was Put On By The Government.

Shooting

Teen-Takeover

Teenagers

Washington D.C.

Ukrainian drones have recently struck vessels and other assets used in military cargo shipments between Iran and Russia across the Caspian Sea. The attacks expand Kyiv’s long-range drone campaign into waters more than 430 miles from Ukraine’s nearest border.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky claimed responsibility for the attacks on Saturday. “We also achieved very strong results with long‑range strikes in the Caspian Sea — including vessels used in military cargo shipments involving Iran, as well as a warship,” he wrote.
The Security Service of Ukraine said the strikes hit a Russian oil field, a Russian missile boat, and ships used to transport Iranian drones to Russia. The operation forms part of a wider campaign that has also reached oil refineries far inside Russia and contributed to an energy crisis in a country that remains one of the world’s largest petroleum producers.
Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, blamed Zelensky on Sunday for a strike he said killed a sailor on an Iranian commercial vessel. Araghchi said that he contacted Russian and European Union leaders and stated that Kyiv’s actions could not go unanswered, and Iran summoned the Ukrainian chargé d’affaires in Tehran.
Analysts noted the strikes also allow Ukraine to signal alignment with the Trump administration on Iran. Hanna Notte of the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies said the attacks more closely link the European and Middle Eastern theaters.
&#8220;The more that Zelensky can signal to Trump that he’s on Trump’s side against Iran, the better,&#8221; she said.
The Caspian Sea attacks come as Zelensky arrives in Washington for talks with President Donald Trump. Zelensky is expected to press for firmer U.S. commitments on air defenses, including a license that would allow Ukraine to produce Patriot interceptor missiles. Russia has stepped up ballistic missile attacks on Kyiv in recent weeks, Zelensky has said interceptors are urgently needed, and a Raytheon delegation visited Kyiv last week. 
After the meeting with Zelensky, Trump is scheduled to see Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Both leaders are in Washington for the funeral of Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC).
The timing has highlighted the growing overlap between the two conflicts. Kyiv has called Iran a “direct accomplice to Russian aggression against Ukraine.” Zelensky said his country has evidence that Russia shared satellite imagery with Tehran to help it attack U.S. military facilities and Gulf states. Trump said he would ask Putin about the claim and that it had no impact even if true.
Iran has supplied Russia with Shahed one-way attack drones since the fall of 2022. Russia later began producing its own version of the drones, the Geran, at a factory 600 miles east of Moscow. Ukrainian forces targeted that plant as recently as last year. The Caspian Sea has served as a key route for the shipment of these drones, along with other military shipments. Russia has used shipping companies to move equipment from Iran to the Russian mainland, with some vessels continuing via rivers and canals to the Black Sea.
The sea gives Iran its most direct path to Russia and Central Asia. Nicole Grajewski, an assistant professor at Sciences Po who has written on the Russia-Iran partnership, described the route as “somewhat unfettered by any kind of interdiction by the United States or other partners.”
Trump paused U.S. strikes on Iran over the weekend while considering further action aimed at loosening Tehran’s control of the Strait of Hormuz. Iran’s southern ports remain more important economically, but the Caspian Sea offers a way around the blockade of its Persian Gulf and northern Arabian Sea facilities.
Israel targeted a naval outpost on Iran’s Caspian coast in March. Continued Ukrainian strikes there could pressure an economic link for both countries under sanctions. Hamidreza Azizi, a visiting fellow at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs, said Iran sees the attacks “in the context of this bigger picture of being under blockades from both the south and the north.”
Since the U.S. and Israeli campaign against Iran began in February, Tehran has used Shahed drones against commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz, civilian airports and seaports, Gulf oil infrastructure, and American bases in the region.
The Ukrainian moves follow earlier U.S. efforts to isolate Iran’s key southern port. In mid-July, American forces struck bridges, railways, and other transport links around Bandar Abbas, the strategic city on the Strait of Hormuz that hosts Iran’s naval headquarters. Those <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/u-s-pounds-bridges-and-roads-to-cut-off-irans-strategic-port-city">strikes</a> were intended to cut the city off from the rest of the country while targeting maritime surveillance assets used by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
In Moscow, the mayor reported that more than 390 Ukrainian drones targeted the capital region overnight into Tuesday, with most intercepted. Damage was confirmed to a high-rise south of the city and a warehouse to the west. No casualties were reported.

Lviv, Ukraine

Ukraine Steps Up Attacks On Iranian-Linked Assets As Zelensky Visits Trump

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Suri Cruise, the 20-year-old daughter of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes, has officially changed her last name.
Public records show she registered to vote in Pennsylvania in the fall of 2024 during her freshman year at Carnegie Mellon University and listed her name as Suri Noelle in Allegheny County.
Pennsylvania requires voters to use their legal name when registering, confirming that Suri Noelle is now her official name. No name change filing appears in Allegheny County courts, indicating the change was completed earlier in New York, where she lived with her mother before starting college.
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Name change records in New York are frequently sealed, which is consistent with the absence of a local filing in Pennsylvania. The voter registration therefore provides the clearest public confirmation that the legal change has taken effect.
Suri has used the name Noelle in public settings for several years. At her June 2024 graduation from LaGuardia High School of Music and Art and Performing Arts, the ceremony pamphlet identified her as Suri Noelle. A source told <a href="https://pagesix.com/2026/07/27/parents/suri-cruise-legally-severs-ties-with-estranged-dad-tom/?_gl=1*1ftjqpa*_ga*ODU5NjQ5MDYyLjE3ODQ3MzYzOTE.*_ga_0DZ7LHF5PZ*czE3ODUxOTg2MTIkbzckZzEkdDE3ODUxOTg2MTIkajYwJGwwJGgw">Page Six</a> the choice reflected appreciation for her mother, since Noelle is Katie Holmes’ middle name.
The source also said it helped her reduce attention from paparazzi, establish a separate identity, and begin college without the constant association with her father’s surname. The decision to appear under that name at a formal graduation event marked one of the first widely noticed public uses of Noelle before the voter registration made the legal status clear.
Suri is studying musical theater in Carnegie Mellon’s School of Drama. She previously played the lead role of Morticia Addams in a high school production of &#8220;The Addams Family: A New Musical.&#8221; In March, she appeared as Angel in a staged reading of &#8220;Cosmic Microwave Background&#8221; at Pittsburgh’s New Hazlett Theater.
This week she is performing in &#8216;Midsummer,&#8221; a modern adaptation of Shakespeare’s &#8220;A Midsummer Night’s Dream,&#8221; at the Trust Arts Education Center’s Peirce Studio alongside fellow students. The production is scheduled to appear at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe next month. These roles show her continued focus on stage work while enrolled full-time at the university.
Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes welcomed Suri in April 2006 and married later that year. They then divorced in 2012. Suri has had little to no contact with her father for most of her life. Cruise is a longtime Scientologist. The voter registration under the new legal name comes more than a decade after the divorce and after years in which Suri had already begun using Noelle in limited public settings.
The public records from Allegheny County remain the primary documentation of the name change.

Tom Cruise

Tom Cruise’s Daughter Officially Ditches Her Dad’s Last Name

Suri Cruise Registers to Vote Under New Legal Name, Drops Father’s Surname

Figures released Monday by the federal National Survey on Drug Use and Health show that, in 2025, more Americans used marijuana on a daily or near daily basis than either cigarettes or alcohol.
The <a href="https://www.samhsa.gov/data/sites/default/files/reports/rpt57152/2025-nsduh-detailed-tabs/2025-nsduh-detailed-tables-sect9pe.htm">survey</a> counted 21.4 million daily or near daily marijuana users. That stood above 19.9 million daily or near daily cigarette users and 17.2 million daily or near daily drinkers. The 2025 numbers mark the first time on record that marijuana has ranked as the most common daily use substance among the three.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
It&#8217;s official: pot is a more popular daily drug than alcohol or cigarettes.
New data[1] from the federal National Survey on Drug Use and Health show that for 2025: 
* 21.4M daily/near-daily marijuana users 
* 19.9M daily/near-daily cigarette users 
* 17.2M daily/near-daily alcohol… <a href="https://t.co/SqHQFlNPDY">pic.twitter.com/SqHQFlNPDY</a>
— Charles Fain Lehman (@CharlesFLehman) <a href="https://x.com/CharlesFLehman/status/2081836378950709455?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 27, 2026</a></blockquote>
The daily use shift sits within a broader pattern of changing habits around alcohol and cannabis. An overview of consumer <a href="https://greenblazer.com/blogs/news/why-more-people-are-now-choosing-cannabis-over-alcohol?srsltid=AfmBOopBV1h9DMBzpn-e96RgTE3cfRdkw3hMKwpO8hNaeLpvZXDqVZcn">trends</a> in April noted that daily cannabis users had already surpassed daily drinkers in earlier data sets, and that interest in cutting back on alcohol has grown, especially among younger adults. Surveys referenced in that discussion found many people viewing cannabis as a less harmful option in some situations.
The rise in daily use also comes as the Trump administration has moved to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/20-million-americans-say-theyre-always-high-and-even-liberals-recognize-the-craze-has-gone-too-far">reclassify</a> marijuana. In December, President Donald Trump signed an order opening the door to moving marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III, a category for substances with moderate to low potential for dependence. Earlier this year, the Justice Department acted on Trump&#8217;s order and moved to place &#8220;both FDA-approved products containing marijuana and marijuana products regulated by a state medical marijuana license&#8221; as a Schedule III drug.
The change does not legalize the drug at the federal level but could reduce the severity of related offenses. Nearly 50 organizations signed a letter urging the administration to keep marijuana as a Schedule I substance, arguing it still meets the definition of a drug with high potential for abuse and no currently accepted medical use.
Other measures in the study released on Monday show the past month use of illicit drugs or alcohol among people aged 12 or older at 49.8% in 2025, which was lower than the rates recorded in previous years covered by the survey. However, lifetime use of illicit drugs, nicotine products, or alcohol remained high at 82.9%. Marijuana remained the most widely used illicit drug across the measures.
Among people aged 12 to 17, past month use of illicit drugs or alcohol fell to 9.5%, as past year use of nicotine products or alcohol in that age group stood at 20%. For adults 18 and older, past month illicit drugs or alcohol use was 53.7%, and past year illicit drugs or alcohol use among adults 18 and older came in at 68.6%.
Past year cocaine use was 1.7% among people 12 and older, while heroin use for the same age group in the past year was 0.2%. Methamphetamine past year use registered at 0.9%. Misuse of prescription psychotherapeutics in the past year was 4.4%.
For the 18 to 25 age group, past year illicit drug use stood at 36.3%. Past year marijuana use in that group was 33.7%. Past month illicit drug or alcohol use among 18- to 25-year-olds was 52.8%. Among those 26 and older, past year illicit drug use was lower, but it still remained substantial.
The National Survey on Drug Use and Health is conducted each year by SAMHSA. It interviews people in the civilian, noninstitutionalized population and produces the government’s primary estimates of substance use and related issues.

‘Mad Men’/AMC

More People Now Smoke Weed Than Drink Alcohol, Smoke Cigarettes

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A majority of likely voters support protecting women&#8217;s sports and limiting access to abortion drugs and sex change surgeries for minors, a <a href="https://concernedwomen.org/new-cwa-poll-on-midterm-issues-finds-major-support-for-womens-issues/">new poll</a> found.
Nearly 70% of voters say it is important to them that candidates oppose forcing female athletes to compete against and share locker rooms with biological males who identify as female, the poll, commissioned by Concerned Women for America and conducted by Zogby Analytics, found. Around 64% oppose letting minors access puberty blockers or cross sex hormones to be dispensed to minors, while 80% support policies that would make it easier for mothers to stay home with young children.
“Candidates running for office this year must recognize that voters are widely supportive of protecting women’s health, the ability to raise children, fairness in women’s sports, protecting children from gender transitions and from TV content with LGBTQ themes,&#8221; Penny Nance, CEO and president of Concerned Women for America, said. &#8220;This poll should serve as a roadmap for conservative candidates.”
The poll could offer candidates insight into winning issues ahead of November&#8217;s midterm elections. With fewer than 100 days left of the cycle, several crucial races are in play, and neither party has a clear path to victory in the House or Senate. Social and family issues will likely remain at the front of voters&#8217; minds in the coming weeks, in particular women&#8217;s sports.
The hot-button issue is back in the news thanks to the backlash WNBA star Sophie Cunningham faced after stating that biological males do not belong in women’s sports or locker rooms, then doubled down with a simple Instagram post that read “I said what I said.” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt later called the backlash “<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/sophie-cunningham-triples-down-on-haters-with-ice-cold-instagram-post?trueLinkId=OGmjeMpy0T07mBK0MLKYRfcqsfb2bPhACQW8qIWfQwI3kx0FjjVYo69lK0MM9ICjSVzNeJ6MCL6t0jloz64kqQ%3D%3D&amp;trueLinkTs=1785184458&amp;trueLinkExpiry=43200" target="_blank" rel="noopener">astonishing</a>” and described the position as an “80/20 issue” that leaves Democrats out of touch with the American public.
Seventy-nine percent of respondents definitely or probably believe companies that cover abortion services or travel for abortion in their health plans should also help with employee childcare for women who choose to give birth. On the abortion drug itself, 68% definitely or probably believe the FDA should again require an in-person doctor’s visit before dispensing it. Men and women tracked closely: 68.9 percent of men and 66.2 percent of women.
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That finding comes as the Trump administration <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/republican-voters-want-action-on-mail-order-abortion-pill-as-midterms-loom" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reviews</a> Biden-era policies that allowed the abortion pill to be mailed without an in-person doctor visit. In a February poll of Republican primary voters, 80% said they wanted the FDA to bring back the in-person requirement. Former FDA Commissioner Marty Makary and Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. have both said a safety review of mifepristone is underway.
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Sixty percent of voters said they find it concerning that a recent survey found 40 percent of Netflix shows rated for children contain LGBTQ+ themes, characters, and storylines. A solid majority also backs a practical safety measure on marijuana, with nearly 70% saying the cannabis industry should have to create a roadside sobriety test for marijuana similar to those available for alcohol.

Donald Trump And GOP Presidential Candidates Speak At The CWA Women’s Summit In Washington, D.C.

New Poll Offers Republicans ‘Roadmap’ On Women’s And Gender Issues

2026 Midterms

Abortion

Sophie Cunningham

Transgender

Women Sports

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Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said five teenagers from the Washington, D.C., area and their basketball coach will go home with “commemorative mug shots” after the teens stole from a Davenport 7 Eleven and the coach lied to deputies to protect two of them.
“If you don’t take care of your children and keep them under control, then not only are we gonna hold them accountable, but we’re gonna hold you accountable, too,” Judd <a href="https://x.com/PolkCoSheriff/status/2080705246637015181">said</a>. “Well, here’s your sign.”
The teens are members of Run it Up, a travel basketball program affiliated with the Amateur Athletic Union. Their team was in the area for the Puma NXTPro tournament. According to Judd, the coach arranged for them to take an Uber to an Airbnb late at night. No adult was there yet because their flight out of D.C. had run late. At about 4 a.m. on July 23, the five teens walked to the 7 Eleven at 3141 Ronald Reagan Parkway in Davenport and stole Doritos, gummies, Starburst Minis, a Big Mama sausage, lemonade, and grape and orange Slurpees totaling $37.60.
After a store clerk confronted them, they fled. Deputies located three of the suspects near the entrance to Solterra after the group put the stolen items in a backpack and hid it in the bushes.
When deputies showed Coach Malik Abdul Harvey photos of all five teens from the security video, he denied knowing the remaining two. He resisted and misled investigators. He later admitted he had lied to protect them. Harvey was <a href="https://www.polksheriff.org/news-investigations/polk-county-news/2026/07/24/five-washington-dc-teens-and-their-basketball-coach-arrested-in-polk-county-after-investigation-of-theft-conspiracy-at-davenport-7-eleven-store">arrested</a> and charged with child neglect, contributing to the delinquency of a minor, accessory after the fact, and resisting without violence.
Judd noted that Harvey works for the Department of Juvenile Services at the Cheltenham Youth Detention Center in Maryland. Another coach, the mother of one of the teens, identified the remaining suspects and fully cooperated.
The five teens were each charged with conspiracy to commit retail theft, tampering with evidence, petit theft, and violation of the county curfew ordinance for juveniles. They are identified as 17-year-old Tavion Rashaud Hale of Washington, D.C.; 16-year-old Taureon Darnell Ferrell of Washington, D.C.; 16-year-old Obai Sankoh Sheriff of Lanham, Maryland; 16-year-old James Thomas Hall of Washington, D.C.; and 17-year-old Tyjuan Grover of Washington, D.C.
Judd made his position clear: “I don’t know what y’all do in Washington, D.C. But it must be crazy. But you’re not gonna come from all around the country and steal in this county without going to jail. That’s a promise from the sheriff.”

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Sheriff Had A Vacation Souvenir Waiting For Coach Who Refused To Turn In Players

The Secret Service <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/secret-service-glimpse-whca-dinner-security-alleged-trump-assassination-attempt">said</a> security will be significantly increased for Friday night&#8217;s rescheduled White House Correspondents&#8217; Association Dinner, nearly three months after prosecutors say an armed California man attempted to assassinate President Donald Trump and other administration officials during the annual event.
The dinner, which first took place on April 25 at the Washington Hilton, was interrupted after authorities say Cole Allen descended from the hotel&#8217;s 10th floor, attempted to breach security barriers, and fired a shotgun before he was taken down by a Secret Service agent and quickly detained. One Secret Service officer was struck by gunfire and suffered minor injuries.
Friday evening&#8217;s WHCD at the Waldorf Astoria on Pennsylvania Avenue marks the first time in decades that the event has not taken place at the Washington Hilton. 
Friday night&#8217;s event, including Trump&#8217;s speech, will be streamed live on The Daily Wire.
As <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/white-house-promises-unifying-yet-vicious-trump-speech-at-rescheduled-whcd?topStoryPosition=undefined&amp;author=Mary+Margaret+Olohan&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=0&amp;row=1&amp;rowHeadline=Top+Stories&amp;rowType=Top+Stories&amp;title=White+House+Promises+%E2%80%98Unifying+Yet+Vicious%E2%80%99+Trump+Speech+At+Rescheduled+WHCD">reported</a> by Daily Wire White House Correspondent Mary Margaret Olohan, the Secret Service said on Friday that it is committed to ensuring the safety and security of the dinner, sharing that “Secret Service personnel have been in collaboration with the White House Correspondents Association (WHCA), hotel security, and law enforcement partners at the federal and local level.”
Guests should expect to see a “visible police presence around the Waldorf Astoria hotel,” Anthony Guglielmi, U.S. Secret Service chief of communications said on Friday. Guglielmi added that there will be enhanced traffic closures due to the location of the event. All dinner guests will also have to go through “airport-style magnetometer screening.&#8221;
“We are confident that our robust security plan will ensure the safety of our protectees and attendees, just as our plan did in April,” Guglielmi said. “Our agency grows and adapts from every event we secure, and we have engaged with WHCA to ensure attendees are given timely information in the unlikely event on an emergency during the event.”
The heightened security comes as the Secret Service faces a surge in <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/10000-secret-service-threats-prove-lefts-violent-rhetoric-has-consequences">threats</a> against the people it protects. Secret Service Director Sean Curran said this week that the agency investigated approximately 10,000 threats involving its protectees, including Trump, during the first half of 2026. Curran said the number was unlike anything he had seen in his 24 years with the agency. By comparison, the Secret Service opened roughly 7,000 threat cases during the first half of 2025.
According to the Secret Service, guests will enter the ballroom through a separate entrance rather than the hotel&#8217;s main lobby. 
&#8220;Guests will see a visible police presence around the Waldorf Astoria hotel and there will be enhanced traffic closures due to proximity to major thoroughfares,&#8221; Guglielmi said. &#8220;All ticketed guests will go through airport-style magnetometer screening to enter the event.&#8221;
He added that roads immediately surrounding the hotel will be closed Friday evening and that ticket holders will receive specific arrival instructions before the event. Each ticket will also be screened by event staff before guests proceed through Secret Service security.
The move to the Waldorf Astoria will also result in a much smaller event than in previous years. The Washington Hilton, which has traditionally hosted the dinner, can accommodate more than 4,000 attendees in one of the District&#8217;s largest ballrooms. By comparison, the Waldorf Astoria ballroom has a maximum banquet capacity of about 1,300 guests.
The White House Correspondents&#8217; Association will also honor Secret Service Police Officer Victor Gonzales during Friday night&#8217;s dinner for his actions during the April shooting. Gonzales was wounded while responding to the attack and will receive the association&#8217;s President&#8217;s Award for Exceptional Service.
&#8220;The WHCA is deeply grateful that law enforcement officials prevented the armed suspect from entering the ballroom,&#8221; WHCA President Weijia Jiang of CBS News said in a statement.
&#8220;Officer Gonzales played a significant role when he ran toward danger so that thousands of others could make it home safely. His courage stemmed from a dedication to service, which we are looking forward to honoring this week.&#8221;
Surveillance video released by the Department of Justice shows Allen walking through hallways inside the Washington Hilton before the shooting. Another video shows Allen allegedly charge a security barricade before shots were fired. Allen remains in federal custody in Washington, D.C. while awaiting trial on four charges.

Secret Service

Inside The Secret Service’s New Security Plan For WHCD

assassination attempt

Donald Trump

Security

White House Correspondents Association

White House Correspondents’ Dinner

Satellite imagery obtained by Israeli and Western officials <a href="https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/satellite-images-show-iran-is-rebuilding-fast-199978f7?mod=middle-east_news_article_pos1">shows</a> that Iran has quickly repaired and rebuilt infrastructure damaged by the joint U.S. and Israeli air campaign. The work covers missile bases inside mountains, bridges, ports, and production facilities.
Near Kangavar in Western Iran, Planet Labs satellite images from March showed two tunnel entrances and an access road damaged by airstrikes meant to block access to a missile base. Within weeks, Airbus imagery showed a paved road leading to freshly excavated entrances.
North of Kermanshah, Planet Labs images from the start of the war documented heavy damage to another missile base. By the first week of June, Airbus images showed crews repairing roads as trucks cleared dirt and reopened collapsed tunnel entrances.
A missile base in Dezful was struck by Israel in June of 2025 and again in early March, burying its entrances. Three months later, Airbus images showed Iran digging out multiple tunnel entrances. One Israeli military official said Iran repaired a bridge — which Israel had hit with three bombs — within days.
Planet Labs imagery from early July showed partial reconstruction at a shipyard in Bandar Anzali on the Caspian Sea, linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Israel said it hit dozens of targets there in March, including warships, the port, a command center, and the shipyard used to repair and maintain vessels.
Near Tehran, Planet Labs images show partial reconstruction in recent weeks at Raja Shimi Industries, a plant assessed to be involved in missile component production. Several new structures appear to have been rebuilt.
Ran Kochav, former commander of Israel’s air and missile defense forces, said the recovery matches Iran’s record after the 12 day Israel-Iran war last June. “They refilled their stockpiles,” he said. “They have very impressive industrialization and reconstruction capabilities.”
Israeli military officials said strikes often collapsed entry points to mountain bases rather than destroying them. Weapons inside remained intact, meaning that Iran has only to dig them out. One official said: “Iran is rebuilding everything.” A second said Iran retains the know-how to rebuild almost everything, including missile and weapons systems.
Jim Lamson, a visiting research fellow at King’s College London and former CIA analyst, said facilities for advanced components such as carbon fiber could take months or years to restore. Iran may have stockpiled those components at underground sites, however, meaning that they could still potentially assemble dozens or hundreds of new missiles and drones in the short term.
Israeli intelligence services assess that Iran may have transferred thousands of centrifuges into tunnels inside <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/what-is-pickaxe-mountain-and-why-is-trump-talking-about-it">Pickaxe Mountain</a>.
The early U.S. and Israeli campaign involved more than 20,000 strikes. President Trump said last month that Iran’s military is “a complete and total mess” and that much of its navy and air force “doesn’t even exist anymore.” Netanyahu said Iran’s missile production machine was smashed and that the arsenal was emptying without new production — but that appears to have changed.
White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said the operation destroyed Iran’s missile arsenal and production, sank its navy, weakened its militia allies, and ensured it will not possess a nuclear weapon. “This operation was a resounding victory by any objective measure,” she said.
Iran has continued to target ships and U.S. regional allies with missile and drone attacks — including Kuwait, Bahrain, and Jordan, where an Iranian attack killed three U.S. soldiers over the weekend.
Tal Inbar, senior analyst at the Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance, said: “It turns out that the rumors about the end or the significant dwindling of the missiles were wrong.”
Iran’s leaders have not signaled any halt. “It is a matter of will, time, and money,” Inbar said.

Satellite imagery of Iran

Satellite Images Show Iran Rapidly Rebuilding Missile Bases And Infrastructure

Global Politics

Infrastructure

Iran war

Military

A senior official in the Office of the Secretary of the Navy has been placed on administrative leave after<a href="https://x.com/JamesOKeefeIII/status/2080012196784808193"> James O’Keefe released a video</a> showing him criticizing President Donald Trump and stating his intention to reverse administration policies once the opportunity arose.
The footage, recorded with a hidden camera, captures Brandon Newsom speaking during what O’Keefe described as a “gay” date. In the video, Newsom <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/senior-pentagon-official-suspended-bashing-trump-on-hidden-camera-brandon-newsom-12232247">said</a> he wanted to “stay and stick it out” at the Pentagon “so that way, when the time comes, I can undo whatever’s been done.” He referenced “a lot of times” when working at the Pentagon “challenges my morals,” specifically mentioning that he would not have “one specific prayer service” and would undo an employee “schedule policy.”
Newsom also called Trump “a textbook narcissist” and described the Iran war as “completely stupid” and “driven by one man’s ego.” O’Keefe’s accompanying post included additional lines from the conversation: “I’ve seen some things. In true D.C. nature, you don’t always reveal everything in D.C.” and “I have the influence &#8230; I can undo whatever’s been done.” Newsom further remarked, “I mean, you could be a news reporter.”
Acting Secretary of the Navy Hung Cao responded the same day. “<a href="https://x.com/SECNAV/status/2080080031947084190">The Department of the Navy</a> takes the conduct shown in this video extremely seriously,” Cao wrote. “Such statements and apparent intent to leverage a position to undermine the policies and direction set by our elected leaders are inappropriate and incompatible with the standards expected of Department personnel. Effective immediately, this individual has been placed on administrative leave while we determine next steps to ensure accountability and protect the integrity of our mission.”
The Daily Wire asked O’Keefe for comment on the implications of the footage and whether or not resistance inside the Pentagon would create real risk to the coherence of U.S. strategy and any potential deals with Iran and its proxies.
O’Keefe&#8217;s reply was simple: “Any official who spills internal government secrets or shows dissent toward the current administration they work for can possibly cause problems for the government entity they work for. It’s not a good idea to spill information to a stranger 15 minutes into the first date who so happens to be James O’Keefe.”
O’Keefe said Newsom did not directly connect his plans to reverse Pentagon policies with the Iran campaign. Instead, he said, Newsom “just gave his opinion on the war and called the war ‘stupid’ and blamed Trump for being a ‘narcissist.’”
As to the deeper question — what it reveals when a senior official says on camera that he intends to undo the administration’s work and whether officials like this pose a bigger threat to national security — O’Keefe answered: “Yes, officials like Brandon Newsom can pose a threat to national security. Based on one date with myself, James O’Keefe, Newsom spilled a lot of information. Newsom was lucky it wasn’t an Iranian spy he was watching the World Cup with. Can you imagine if Newsom went on three dates with a gay Iranian spy?&#8221;
O&#8217;Keefe also argued that the footage reflects a broader pattern he has seen in previous national security investigations.
&#8220;The deep state is real, per one of our other subjects, Byron Cohen, who worked in the early days of the Trump White House,&#8221; O&#8217;Keefe said. &#8220;America is at war with Iran, and the officials inside the Pentagon need to be very careful because our Newsom piece shows a glimpse of how careless these officials can be. Again, Newsom was lucky he wasn&#8217;t talking to an Iranian spy or a Chinese spy.&#8221;
Newsom&#8217;s suspension comes against a backdrop of personnel changes at the Pentagon since Trump’s return to the White House and the start of the Iran war in late February. Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Kruse, the former head of the Defense Intelligence Agency, was fired in August 2025 after his agency produced an initial assessment finding that U.S. strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities were less effective than Trump had claimed. In April, three Pentagon officials — Dan Caldwell, a senior adviser to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth; Darin Selnick, the Pentagon’s deputy chief of staff; and Colin Carroll, chief of staff to Deputy Defense Secretary Stephen Feinberg — were put on administrative leave pursuant to leak investigations.
In a joint statement, they wrote they were “incredibly disappointed by the manner in which our service at the Department of Defense ended” and that “unnamed Pentagon officials have slandered our character with baseless attacks on our way out the door.” They said they were never told what the leak investigations were about.
Before those cases, the Department of Defense fired the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the top admiral in the Navy, the head of U.S. Cyber Command, and the top U.S. military lawyers. These moves have been framed as part of a wider reshuffle under Hegseth, who has sought to refocus the department on warfighting.
Hegseth has also introduced monthly voluntary Christian worship services at the Pentagon, all of them presided over by evangelicals. Newsom referred to these in the video as the “prayer service” he would eliminate.
Newsom remains on administrative leave while the Department of the Navy determines its next steps.

Senior Pentagon Official Placed On Leave After Saying He Would ‘Undo’ Trump Policies

Pentagon

Politics

Austria has opened a police station inside the house where Adolf Hitler was born, transforming the property in an effort to prevent it from becoming a pilgrimage site for neo-Nazis.
The building’s conversion comes as Jewish communities across Europe continue to report high levels of antisemitism and growing concerns about their safety, Semafor <a href="https://www.semafor.com/newsletter/07/23/2026/semafor-flagship-the-assault-as-barely-begun?utm_source=nowshare&amp;utm_medium=flagship&amp;utm_campaign=flagshipnumbered10#l">reported</a>.
A stone memorial outside the newly converted police station commemorates the millions of people murdered during the Holocaust. Austrian officials hope the building’s new purpose will discourage neo-Nazis from treating Hitler’s birthplace as a place to gather or pay tribute.
The move comes amid persistent antisemitism across Europe, including sharp increases reported by Jewish organizations following Hamas’ October 7, 2023, attack on Israel and the war in Gaza that followed.
A 2024 survey from the <a href="https://fra.europa.eu/en/news/2024/jews-europe-still-face-high-levels-antisemitism">European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights</a> (FRA) found that 80% of Jewish respondents believed antisemitism had increased in their country during the previous five years. Ninety percent said they had encountered antisemitism online during the year before the survey, while 37% said they had been harassed because they were Jewish.
The survey included nearly 8,000 Jewish people across 13 European Union countries, including Austria, France, and Germany. It was conducted between January and June 2023, before the October 7 attack, though the agency also collected more recent information from 12 Jewish community organizations.
Some of those organizations reported that antisemitic incidents had risen by more than 400% since October 2023, according to the agency.
The survey also found that many European Jews have changed how they live because of safety concerns. Seventy-six percent said they concealed their Jewish identity at least occasionally, while 34% said they avoided Jewish events or locations because they did not feel safe.
More than half of respondents said they worried about their own safety, and 60% expressed concern for the safety of their families. Three-quarters said they believed people held them responsible for the actions of the Israeli government simply because they were Jewish.
The agency said antisemitism affected Jewish people both online and in their daily lives. Fifty-six percent of respondents said they had encountered offline antisemitism from people they knew during the previous year, while 51% said they encountered it in the media.
The problem has remained particularly severe in several major European countries.
France recorded <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/macron-calls-stronger-measures-against-antisemitism-france-2026-02-13/">1,320 antisemitic acts</a> in 2025. Those incidents represented 53% of all anti-religious acts recorded in the country that year.
Although the number declined by 16% from the previous year, France’s Interior Ministry said antisemitic incidents had remained at historically high levels for three consecutive years. France is home to Europe’s largest Jewish community.
French President Emmanuel Macron called for stronger action against antisemitism during a February ceremony commemorating Ilan Halimi, a 23-year-old Jewish man who was kidnapped, tortured, and murdered in 2006.
Macron said schools, the justice system, and elected officials all needed to take part in confronting antisemitism. He also condemned online hatred and urged the European Commission to hold large technology platforms accountable for antisemitic content.
“In the France of the Enlightenment, ‘free speech’ stops at antisemitism and racism,” Macron said.
Other European countries have reported similarly high numbers.
Britain recorded 3,700 antisemitic incidents in 2025, a 4% increase from the year before and the second-highest annual total on record, according to data cited by Reuters.
Germany recorded 8,627 cases of antisemitism during the same year, nearly twice its previous total. The cases included violence, vandalism, and threats connected to the conflict in Gaza, Reuters reported.
The FRA has urged European governments to strengthen security for Jewish communities, improve the reporting and recording of antisemitic incidents, and ensure that national strategies against antisemitism receive adequate funding.
The agency has also called on online platforms to address illegal antisemitic content and comply with the European Union’s Digital Services Act.
“Europe is witnessing a wave of antisemitism, partly driven by the conflict in the Middle East,” FRA Director Sirpa Rautio said when the agency released its findings.
Against that backdrop, Austria’s decision to change Hitler’s birthplace into a police station is intended to prevent the property from becoming a gathering place for those seeking to celebrate or glorify the Nazi dictator.
Austria&#8217;s conversion of Hitler&#8217;s birthplace into a police station reflects an effort to prevent the property from becoming a pilgrimage site for neo Nazis as antisemitic incidents remain heightened across Europe.

Austria, Salzkammergut, view of Hallstatt and Dachstein over lake Hallstaetter See at sunrise in winter

Amid Rising Jew Hatred, Austria Remodels Hitler’s Home To Prevent Nazi Pilgrimages

antisemitism

Austria

Europe

France

Neo-Nazis

Joe Rogan claimed on Wednesday’s <a href="https://nypost.com/2026/07/23/us-news/joe-rogan-reveals-former-podcast-guest-sheldon-johnson-allegedly-decapitated-a-man-after-appearing-on-the-joe-rogan-experience/">episode</a> of &#8220;The Joe Rogan Experience&#8221; that a man who sat across from him in 2024 allegedly killed someone and cut off the victim’s head weeks later.
Rogan brought it up while talking with physician Zach Bush about sociopaths. “We had a guy in the studio that cut a guy’s head off after the podcast. He killed a guy and cut his head off,” Rogan said, per the <a href="https://nypost.com/2026/07/23/us-news/joe-rogan-reveals-former-podcast-guest-sheldon-johnson-allegedly-decapitated-a-man-after-appearing-on-the-joe-rogan-experience/">New York Post</a>. 
The guest was Sheldon Johnson. He appeared on Rogan&#8217;s podcast with civil rights attorney Josh Dubin, who runs the Perlmutter Center for Legal Justice. Rogan said Johnson was right there in the room with them only weeks before the killing.
“He does the podcast and then afterward goes and visits this guy that apparently he had a beef with, kills him, cuts his head off, puts him in a [suitcase], like puts a wig on, and tries to escape in the hallway through the cameras,” Rogan told Bush.
Johnson was arrested in March 2024. Police found a human torso in a blue bin and a head in a freezer inside a Bronx apartment. The victim was 44-year-old Colin Small. Neighbors had called for a wellness check after hearing gunshots and witnessing a stranger going in and out of the apartment with cleaning supplies.
Surveillance video showed a man matching Johnson’s description stepping off a sixth-floor elevator, looking around, and walking into the apartment. He left around 2 A.M. carrying a blue bin. Earlier, he had been seen with a mop and a bag of cleaning supplies. He later came back wearing a blond wig and different clothes.
When investigators searched Johnson’s Harlem apartment, they found a human arm, legs, and a head with a gunshot wound stored in the freezer. He was charged with murder, manslaughter, criminal possession of a weapon, and concealment of a human corpse. He pleaded not guilty.
At the time of the Rogan interview, Johnson was working as a client advocate at the public defender’s office in Queens. He had been released from prison in 2019 after serving 25 years for a string of armed robberies committed in 1999. He told Rogan he had once been a member of the Bloods gang. He was sentenced to a maximum of 50 years for using a gun to rob men who owed him drug money.
During the interview, he talked about that shift and the criminal justice reform work he was doing after his release. He got his GED. “I made the decision that I was going to walk away, and I didn’t care about what the consequences was,” he told Rogan. “And I said to myself, ‘I’ve been doing bad for so long. I’m going to try to do something good.’”

2Screenshot 2024-02-08 at 9.54.26 AM copy 2

Joe Rogan Says Former Guest ‘Cut A Guy’s Head Off’ Weeks After Interview

Joe Rogan Says Former Podcast Guest Allegedly Cut a Man’s Head Off Weeks After Interview

Joe Rogan

Murder

Reuters reported Wednesday that U.S. intelligence analysts are looking into whether Russia helped Iran strike CIA facilities in the Gulf by providing targeting intelligence or advanced drone technology.
The report, which cited four people familiar with the matter, said analysts have not reached definitive conclusions. But the precision of the strikes and Russia&#8217;s longstanding military support for Iran are among the factors under review. 
The investigation into Moscow&#8217;s possible role in the attacks on CIA sites has not previously been reported.
<a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/iran-strikes-cia-facilities-prompt-questions-about-possible-russian-role-2026-07-22/?utm_source=braze&amp;utm_medium=notifications&amp;utm_campaign=2025_engagement">Reuters</a> has previously reported that Russia provided Iran with targeting assistance and other military support for attacks on U.S. interests in the Gulf. 
At least two CIA facilities were hit in March, including the CIA station housed inside the U.S. Embassy in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and another facility in eastern Iraq. Some sources said additional sites were also hit but did not provide further details. 
One internal memo from a Western intelligence agency, according to a regional official familiar with it, concluded that Russia likely played a role in targeting regional CIA facilities.
Two Western officials in the Gulf briefed on intelligence reports said analysts believe the Saudi attack involved two Russian-enhanced versions of Iran&#8217;s Shahed drones. According to those officials, the first drone breached a vulnerable section of the embassy&#8217;s exterior, allowing the second to fly through the opening before detonating. No deaths or injuries were reported.
While Russia has long supported Iran militarily, helping Tehran target sensitive CIA facilities would mark a significant escalation in Moscow&#8217;s efforts to disrupt U.S. operations amid the ongoing Iran war.
Concerns about Russian assistance intensified after recent strikes on a U.S. military base in Jordan, where Iranian ballistic missiles hit army barracks and killed two soldiers.
Russia has helped Iran improve the range and accuracy of its Shahed drones by supplying the Kometa-M satellite navigation system, which is more resistant to jamming than Iran&#8217;s domestic version. The Wall Street Journal first <a href="https://www.wsj.com/world/russia-secretly-sharing-location-of-u-s-targets-with-iran-u-s-officials-say-127d4f1a">reported</a> this assistance in March; the Kremlin called the report &#8220;<a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2026-03-18/kremlin-says-wsj-report-on-russia-sharing-drone-technology-with-iran-is-fake-news">fake news</a>.&#8221;
U.S. analysts have examined whether Iran relied on Russian targeting intelligence during the embassy attack. Some officials noted that few nations besides Russia would have both the capability and interest in providing such sensitive information against the U.S.
Still, some sources cautioned that Iran might have been targeting the broader U.S. Embassy and struck the CIA station by chance.
Daniel Hoffman, a former CIA station chief and undercover operations officer, said Russian assistance in targeting CIA facilities would be consistent with Moscow&#8217;s strategic partnership with Iran. 
&#8220;They share an interest in trying to reduce or eliminate U.S. influence altogether in their self-designated spheres of influence,&#8221; he said.
The White House referred questions to the CIA, which declined comment. Iran&#8217;s mission to the United Nations, Russia&#8217;s Defense Ministry, and the Saudi government did not respond to Reuters&#8217; requests for comment.
CIA facilities overseas typically include stations in embassies, along with offices, safe houses, logistics hubs, and sites for surveillance or other operations. Their locations remain closely guarded.
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Leona Salinas