The state of Florida is taking off the kid gloves and slapping artificial intelligence kingpin OpenAI with a <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/florida-sues-openai-sam-altman-saying-put-profit-safety-rcna347602">monster lawsuit</a>.
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier filed an 83-page civil suit on Monday against OpenAI and CEO Sam Altman. Florida charges OpenAI with building an unregulated &#8220;wealth machine&#8221; that pushes a highly addictive, dangerous product directly to children while ignoring a ticking time bomb of internal safety warnings.
&#8220;The rise of OpenAI is attributable to a web of deceit and the exploitation of users (including Floridians), leveraging their data and safety to boost OpenAI’s market value at unacceptable costs,&#8221; the lawsuit states.
The blockbuster lawsuit accuses OpenAI of everything from negligence to creating a massive public nuisance. It claims the chatbot acts as a digital accomplice, alleging it was used by unhinged killers to plan a horrific mass shooting at Florida State University and a double homicide at the University of South Florida.
A company spokesperson for OpenAI argued the bot only spat out public, factual internet data and touted &#8220;industry-leading&#8221; guardrails meant to protect teens and flag users in mental distress.
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Florida’s lawsuit is just the latest wound for the $850 billion company, which is currently fighting a war on multiple legal fronts.
Grieving families have already slapped the company with <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/jun/01/florida-lawsuit-openai-sam-altman#:~:text=Florida's%20legal%20action%20is%20part,as%20a%20%E2%80%9Csuicide%20coach%E2%80%9D.">seven</a> individual wrongful death lawsuits, claiming ChatGPT <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/chatgpt-lawsuit-colordo-man-suicide-openai-sam-altman/">acted</a> as a virtual &#8220;suicide coach&#8221; that drove loved ones into deadly delusions.
Meanwhile, traditional media and famous creatives are out for blood over what they call the greatest heist in internet history. <a href="https://hls.harvard.edu/today/does-chatgpt-violate-new-york-times-copyrights/#:~:text=According%20to%20a%20copyright%20infringement,knowledge%20base%20that%20drives%20ChatGPT.">The New York Times</a>, as well as literary heavyweights like George R.R. Martin, John Grisham, and David Baldacci, have <a href="https://authorsguild.org/news/ag-and-authors-file-class-action-suit-against-openai/#:~:text=The%20complaint%20draws%20attention%20to,expects%20to%20earn%20many%20billions.">sued</a> OpenAI for allegedly vacuuming up millions of copyrighted articles and books without paying a dime to train its AI models. OpenAI has defended itself by claiming fair use.
If that weren’t enough, a swarm of consumer class actions is pounding the company for allegedly scraping the private data and social media logs of millions of unsuspecting everyday users — including children.
There’s also the ongoing feud between Tesla titan Elon Musk and Altman. Musk recently <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/musk-says-the-ai-shaping-your-life-pulled-a-800b-bait-and-switch?utm_source=chatgpt.com">dragged</a> Altman into a California court, accusing his former partner of &#8220;stealing a charity&#8221; by flipping OpenAI from a benevolent, open-source nonprofit into a greedy subsidiary of Microsoft. Musk even launched a $97.4 billion hostile takeover attempt, which Altman laughed off on social media by offering to buy X back for pennies.
While a jury tossed Musk&#8217;s suit last month on a ticking-clock technicality, he is already planning an appeal.
If Florida wins the lawsuit, it won&#8217;t just hinder OpenAI&#8217;s upcoming multi-billion-dollar IPO — it could pull the plug on Silicon Valley&#8217;s unregulated actions.

OpenAI To Reportedly File For IPO As Soon As This Week

Man Vs. Machine: Red State Slaps OpenAI With Monster Lawsuit

Man Vs. Machine: Florida Slams OpenAI With Monster Lawsuit

Florida

Open AI

Sam altman

The Missouri Supreme Court on Wednesday <a href="https://themissouritimes.com/breaking-missouri-supreme-court-upholds-states-new-congressional-map/#:~:text=The%20Missouri%20Supreme%20Court%20on,requirements%20under%20the%20Missouri%20Constitution">upheld</a> the state&#8217;s new congressional map, handing Republicans a significant legal victory ahead of the 2026 midterms.
Two groups of voters had sued to stop the map, arguing that the newly drawn voting districts were not properly shaped, did not make sense geographically, and did not have equal populations. However, the high court agreed with a lower court&#8217;s decision, ruling that the challengers failed to present sufficient evidence to overturn a map drawn by lawmakers.
The decision came the same day Florida Republicans <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/judge-stops-the-lefts-effort-to-cause-redistricting-chaos-in-republican-state">won</a> a similar legal battle. In that state, a judge rejected a last-minute attempt by liberal groups to block Florida’s new congressional map before the 2026 elections.
The dispute in Missouri was over a 2025 law called House Bill 1, which replaced the state&#8217;s older voting map with a new one. The critics argued that the new map violated state constitutional rules, which require that voting districts be tightly packed and equal in population.
Most of the fighting was about Districts 4, 5, and 6 around Kansas City. Critics—including Kansas City Democratic Mayor Quinton Lucas—argued that the map unfairly split the city and cut neighborly communities apart.
The Missouri Supreme Court, however, made it clear that its role was limited to determining whether the map complied with constitutional requirements, not whether it was politically fair. The lawsuit did not allege partisan gerrymandering.
During a four-day trial, experts used math formulas to measure how tightly packed the districts were. The data showed that the new map was actually shaped just as well as, or better than, Missouri&#8217;s older maps from 2012 and 2022. In fact, the new map kept local areas together better by splitting up fewer counties and cities than the previous map.
Ultimately, the judges reviewed all the evidence—including population figures, local history, and expert opinions—and concluded that the map complied with the rules.
The Florida win could give the GOP four additional seats; the Missouri win could provide another one.

Missouri Welcome Sign

Missouri Supreme Court Hands GOP Another Victory

Missouri

Redistricting

A Florida judge shut down Planned Parenthood’s attempt to dismiss a lawsuit accusing the abortion giant of false advertising over claims that the abortion pill is safer than Tylenol and Viagra. 
Florida First Circuit Court Judge J. Scott Duncan <a href="https://www.scribd.com/document/1043974075/249006462-Order?_gl=1*hbrykr*_up*MQ..*_ga*MzQ0MzYwOTE2LjE3Nzk5MDkwNDk.*_ga_Z4ZC50DED6*czE3Nzk5MDkwNDgkbzEkZzEkdDE3Nzk5MDkwNTEkajU3JGwwJGgw*_ga_8KZ8BV0P5W*czE3Nzk5MDkwNDgkbzEkZzEkdDE3Nzk5MDkwNTEkajU3JGwwJGgw">ruled</a> Monday against Planned Parenthood&#8217;s motion to dismiss the lawsuit, which Attorney General James Uthmeier filed in November 2025. The suit accuses Planned Parenthood of violating Florida’s Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act by misleading consumers about the safety of the abortion drug mifepristone.
Uthmeier is seeking up to $350 million in penalties. 
“The Defendants did not simply claim the abortion-inducing medications were safe; rather, according to the Complaint, they claimed they were safer than other medications,” Judge Duncan wrote. 
“In making a comparison, the Defendants went beyond vague promotional language,&#8221; the judge added. &#8220;Now whether these statements are actionable or non-actionable may depend on the context in which they were made.”
The lawsuit centers on a <a href="https://www.plannedparenthood.org/learn/abortion/the-abortion-pill/how-safe-is-the-abortion-pill">statement</a> on Planned Parenthood’s website claiming abortion pills are “safer than many other medicines like penicillin, Tylenol, and Viagra.”
Planned Parenthood argued that the statements amounted to legally protected promotional language and could not be treated as false advertising. 
Uthmeier’s office praised the ruling. 
“We thank our team of litigators who argued against Planned Parenthood’s meritless attempt to dismiss our case against them,” Jeremy Redfern, Uthmeier’s deputy chief of staff, told The Daily Wire. “This decision brings us one step closer to holding Planned Parenthood accountable for profiting from abortions by lying to women about abortion pills being safer than Tylenol.”
Mifepristone cuts off the nutrients that an unborn child needs to survive in the womb. A second drug is then taken to expel the deceased baby from the mother. 
The <a href="https://www.myfloridalegal.com/sites/default/files/final-complaint-1106.pdf">lawsuit</a> seeks a $10,000 penalty for every chemical abortion performed in Florida under the alleged deceptive safety claims. Florida estimated that the total could be roughly $350 million based on approximately 35,000 abortions. 
“Tylenol is an over-the-counter pain medicine that everyone understands, intuitively and by experience, to be safe,” the lawsuit said. “Chemical abortion, by contrast, uses mifepristone and misoprostol and is far more dangerous. Use of chemical abortion drugs routinely lands women in the emergency room with hemorrhaging and other serious complications.”
The Food and Drug Administration says it is currently reviewing the safety of mifepristone. Pro-life advocates and several GOP attorneys general have urged the Trump administration to reverse Biden-era regulations allowing the drug to be prescribed without an in-person doctor’s visit.

Bill Tompkins  Planned Parenthood signage Archive

Judge Deals Planned Parenthood Major Loss

Abortion

Abortion Drug

James Uthmeier

Planned Parenthood

In a massive victory for Florida Republicans, a Leon County circuit judge rejected a desperate, last-minute bid by Left-wing voting groups to block the state’s newly drawn congressional map ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.
Circuit Judge Joshua Hawkes handed down the <a href="https://www.commoncause.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/248949428-Order.pdf">stinging defeat</a> on Tuesday, denying motions for a preliminary injunction filed by a coalition of liberal outfits — including Equal Ground, Common Cause Florida, the League of Women Voters of Florida, and LULAC. The activist groups had desperately clawed to sideline the map, complaining that the districts were &#8220;overtly partisan&#8221; and illegally engineered by Governor Ron DeSantis and the GOP-led Legislature to favor Republicans.
But Judge Hawkes wasn&#8217;t buying the partisan hysteria. In his ruling, Hawkes declared that the challengers utterly failed to meet the incredibly high legal bar required for the courts to intervene before a full trial. Despite the plaintiffs dumping mountains of paper onto the court — including a staggering 1,900 pages of evidence from Equal Ground alone — Hawkes concluded that they simply did not have the goods.
&#8220;The Court concludes that from this record, there is insufficient evidence of impermissible intent to show substantial likelihood of success on the merits,&#8221; Hawkes wrote.
The legal dogfight centered on Florida’s controversial &#8220;Fair Districts Amendments,&#8221; which ban drawing lines to favor a political party. Activists claimed the map&#8217;s sole architect, Jason Poreda, weaponized partisan data. However, the court found that those claims relied on weak inferences rather than direct proof. Furthermore, Hawkes noted that the map was drawn to fix unconstitutional, race-based lines in South Florida&#8217;s CD-20 — noting that federal equal protection guarantees override partisan complaints.
“Plaintiffs’ evidence focuses on challenging the constitutionality of the 2026 map, but does not sufficiently challenge the political branches’ finding that CD-20 in the 2022 map was drawn with impermissible racial intent,” Hawkes wrote.
Hawkes also threw real-world logistics on the activist groups, pointing out that the state’s election machinery is already revving its engines. With Florida&#8217;s primary less than three months away and the general election less than six months away, the judge ruled that changing the rules of the game now would inflict total chaos on voters.
Turning the state&#8217;s massive election apparatus around at this late hour, Hawkes argued, would be like trying to turn a battleship on a dime. He wrote:
<blockquote>
The election machinery of the state is already underway. Similar to the town election in Walker v. Best, it is more difficult for the much larger ship of statewide elections to change directions at this juncture. The primary is less than three months away, and the general less than six months. The public interest weighs more in favor of certainty than a haphazard judicial mandate of discarded maps.
</blockquote>
Defiant liberal groups vowed to drag out the fight, <a href="https://www.wptv.com/news/politics/leon-county-circuit-judge-lets-floridas-new-congressional-map-stand-for-2026-elections">threatening</a> to take their grievances as far as they can. But with the clock ticking and the 2026 election cycle locked in, the ruling ensures that DeSantis’ map stands — giving Sunshine State Republicans a major structural advantage as they look to dominate the upcoming midterms.
Florida&#8217;s congressional redistricting map could give the GOP an additional four seats in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, holds a press conference to speak

Judge Stops The Left’s Effort To Cause Redistricting Chaos In Republican State

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTJacT6zPq0

Ron DeSantis

The Supreme Court on Tuesday slammed the brakes on a high-stakes, cross-country legal war, <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/supreme-court/supreme-court-florida-lawsuit-drivers-licenses-undocumented-immigrants-rcna265323">throwing out</a> a lawsuit by Florida that aimed to punish blue states for putting allegedly unqualified illegal immigrants behind the wheel of deadly 80,000-pound rigs.
Florida’s Republican Attorney General James Uthmeier took the fight straight to the nation’s highest court, trying to sue California and Washington state after a horrific August 2025 crash on the Florida Turnpike left three people dead.
The driver in that fatal wreck, Harjinder Singh, was an illegal Indian immigrant who had sneaked across the Mexican border. According to federal tests administered after the disaster, Singh could barely speak English and recognized just one out of four basic highway signs before he made a catastrophic, illegal U-turn into a minivan.
Despite the tragedy, the high court’s majority refused to even look at the case, invoking a rarely used power to reject the Sunshine State’s complaint without explanation.
But conservative titan Clarence Thomas, joined by Justice Samuel Alito, ripped his colleagues in a <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/25pdf/162orig_8n6a.pdf">blistering dissent</a>, arguing that the court cannot simply duck its constitutional duties while rogue states spark a national border crisis on wheels.
“An illegal alien who cannot read English road signs cannot drive an 80,000-pound tractor-trailer,” Thomas wrote in his fiery opinion, taking direct aim at the liberal West Coast states.
Florida’s lawsuit claimed California and Washington showed &#8220;open defiance&#8221; of federal laws by greenlighting commercial driver’s licenses (CDLs) for migrants without legal status, leaving them untrained and unable to read American road signs. Thomas pointed out that “although Singh failed his test at least ten times in Washington and at least one time in California, both Washington and California provided Singh with CDLs.”
The high court’s brush-off means Florida is completely locked out of justice, Thomas warned, fuming that the Supreme Court is the only venue allowed to arbitrate battles between states.
“This Court declines to even hear Florida’s claims, even though it has nowhere else to bring them,” Thomas wrote. “I doubt this Court has discretion to refuse to hear cases within its exclusive original jurisdiction.”
Thomas argued that the crisis of blue states unleashing dangerous drivers across state lines is so severe it practically amounts to an act of war.
“A dispute over one nation sending dangerous people into another &#8216;would be the source of considerable international tension,&#8217;” Thomas wrote. “If Florida were an independent nation, it &#8216;might resolve [this] dispute by diplomacy, by submitting it to international arbitration, or by self-help measures.&#8217; By entering the Union, States agree to instead have such disputes resolved by this Court.”
Officials claimed the lawsuit was nothing more than a conservative &#8220;political stunt&#8221; rolled out on Sean Hannity’s Fox News show. Washington state lawyers warned that opening the door to Florida’s suit would lead to an endless flood of interstate bickering over everything from gun laws to vaccines.
The ruling comes as the Trump administration turns up the heat on &#8220;unqualified foreign drivers,&#8221; with Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy auditing foreign workers and threatening to yank federal funds from states that flout English-language standards.
But for Thomas, the majority&#8217;s refusal to act represents a total failure of the justice system based on &#8220;policy judgments that are in conflict with the policy choices that Congress made.&#8221;
“We have no more right to decline the exercise of jurisdiction which is given, than to usurp that which is not given,” Thomas wrote, quoting historic precedent. “Because I would allow Florida to file its complaint, I respectfully dissent.”

Welcome to California Sign

Supreme Court Rejects Lawsuit Against Blue States Over Illegal Immigrant Truck Drivers

Supreme Court Rejects Florida’s Lawsuit Against Blue States Over Illegal Immigrant Truck Drivers

California

Clarence Thomas

Driving

illegal immigrant

Supreme Court

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Controversial internet celebrity and &#8220;looksmaxxer&#8221; Clavicular avoided jail time after allegedly shooting an alligator in Florida earlier this year.
The 20-year-old livestreamer, whose real name is Braden Peters, was <a href="https://ktar.com/arizona-news/clavicular-arrested-scottsdale/5819599/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">taken</a> into custody on February 7 in Scottsdale, Arizona. Peters was later charged with multiple offenses, including two felony counts, according to court records reviewed online. Clavicular faced nearly eight years in prison for the offenses, which included allegations that he shot an already-dead alligator in the Florida Everglades.
But Clav will live to mog another day, thanks to a plea deal he struck late Friday. A judge agreed to sentence Clavicular to six months&#8217; probation, during which time he must perform 30 hours of community service and complete a firearm safety course. If he serves his sentence without issue, his charges will be stricken from the record, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/15/us/clavicular-plea-deal-alligator-shooting.html">according</a> to the New York Times.
Clavicular rose to fame thanks to his near-constant livestreams, which broadcast every aspect of his life to the internet. Much of his content centers around &#8220;looksmaxxing,&#8221; a niche internet trend popular among young men who will go to great lengths to improve their physical appearance. &#8220;Looksmaxxers&#8221; have captivated the internet with their unique argot, a lexicon of extremely-online slang and portmanteaus of ordinary words with suffixes like &#8220;mogged&#8221; and &#8220;maxxing,&#8221; which signify embarrassment and commitment to a practice, respectively.
Clavicular has admitted to using methamphetamine to stay skinny and &#8220;bonesmashing,&#8221; a practice in which an individual lightly fractures his jaw bones, in the hope that they will heal more defined.
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During an <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8qj9RNA938" target="_blank" rel="noopener">interview</a> with Daily Wire host Michael Knowles, Peters said, “I do meth, yeah. Meth is very similar to … Adderall, but it’s got a little bit better psychoactive benefits … stimulants cause appetite suppression.” When pressed on why he was doing meth despite its negative effects, he replied, “I have enough willpower to be able to taper off of meth.”
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Clavicular

Probation-Maxxing: Clavicular Avoids Brutal Sentencemogging From Florida Judge

Guns

Jail

An 83-year-old Democrat lawmaker from Florida has missed over 40 straight House votes and was caught recycling old photos on social media this week as she faces questions about her recent voting record. 
Rep. Frederica Wilson (D-FL) has missed 43 straight House roll call votes and has not voted since April 17, according to official voting tallies. Wilson’s recent voting history was <a href="https://x.com/jamiedupree/status/2054710645514232177">first flagged</a> on Wednesday by veteran Capitol Hill reporter Jaime Dupree. The Daily Wire reached out to Wilson’s office and asked why she has not voted in nearly a month. 
Dupree also noted that Wilson, who represents portions of Miami, posted a picture on her congressional X account on May 12 that featured a photo first posted to her account on October 4, 2025. 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Rep. Frederica Wilson D-FL missed all 10 votes on Wednesday in the House. Wilson has now missed 43 straight votes &#8211; she last voted on April 17.
Wilson&#8217;s X account this week sent out photos of a Service Academy day &#8211; but pictures from the same event were posted last October <a href="https://t.co/ncemZstJGP">pic.twitter.com/ncemZstJGP</a>
— Jamie Dupree (@jamiedupree) <a href="https://twitter.com/jamiedupree/status/2054710645514232177?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 13, 2026</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The post from May 12 <a href="https://x.com/RepWilson/status/2054291109807878358">said</a>, “As students plan their futures, service through a U.S. Service Academy remains a powerful path to leadership, discipline, and opportunity. I was proud to host a Service Academy Day at FIU, bringing together representatives to share guidance with the next generation. For nomination information, visit my website or call my office.”
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1095145" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/Screenshot-2026-05-14-at-8.02.57-AM.png" alt="" width="1036" height="1105" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/Screenshot-2026-05-14-at-8.02.57-AM.png 1036w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/Screenshot-2026-05-14-at-8.02.57-AM-281x300.png 281w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/Screenshot-2026-05-14-at-8.02.57-AM-540x576.png 540w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/Screenshot-2026-05-14-at-8.02.57-AM-768x819.png 768w" sizes=" (max-width: 1036px) 100vw, 1036px" />
A second post featuring one of the exact same photos and nearly the same text from October 4 said, “As high school students plan their future, service through a U.S. service academy is an excellent path. I was proud to host a Service Day Academy at [FIU] and I thank all the academy representatives who presented. For nomination information, visit my website or call my office.”
<div class="image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1095147" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/Screenshot-2026-05-14-at-8.03.18-AM.png" alt="" width="1074" height="1112" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/Screenshot-2026-05-14-at-8.03.18-AM.png 1074w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/Screenshot-2026-05-14-at-8.03.18-AM-290x300.png 290w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/Screenshot-2026-05-14-at-8.03.18-AM-556x576.png 556w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/Screenshot-2026-05-14-at-8.03.18-AM-768x795.png 768w" sizes=" (max-width: 1074px) 100vw, 1074px" /></div>
The Daily Wire also asked Wilson’s office why she was recycling social media posts. 
Wilson’s office has published just one press release since she last voted. That release condemned the Supreme Court’s decision to end requirements for black-majority congressional districts. 
“This decision is a setback for voting rights and fair representation. Full stop,” she said. “Let me be clear. For generations, people fought, marched, and even died for the right to vote in this country. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was supposed to protect that right and make sure communities that were shut out of power finally had a fair chance to be heard.”

House Committee On Transportation Holds Hearing On Rail Safety In The Aftermath Of The East Palestine Ohio Derailment

Questions Raised After Dem Racks Up Skipped Votes

Congress

Democrat

U.S. Politics

Two South Florida-based police officers are suing for defamation following the release of Matt Damon and Ben Affleck’s action thriller “The Rip.”
Miami-Dade area sergeants Jason Smith and Jonathan Santana filed a lawsuit against the film’s production company, Artists Equity, earlier this month in Miami federal court, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/rip-lawsuit-ben-affleck-matt-damon-98647a282521fe01ce73d8a7afeb4400">per</a> the Associated Press. Smith and Santana are seeking an undisclosed amount of compensatory damages, along with punitive damages and attorney fees. They are also asking for a retraction and added disclaimers in the film.
“The Rip” was inspired by the true story of two police officers who discovered millions of dollars inside a house. 
“A group of Miami cops discovers a stash of millions in cash, leading to distrust as outsiders learn about the huge seizure, making them question who to rely on,” the IMDb description says.
It was released on Netflix in January and currently has a 78% critic rating and 65% audience score on <a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_rip">Rotten Tomatoes</a>. 
The lawsuit states that people now believe Smith, the real-life supervisor of the investigative team, and Santana, the lead detective on the case, actually committed the criminal acts portrayed in the film, even with the film’s disclaimers stating that it’s not a true story.
&#8220;Third parties have asked Plaintiffs which characters in the Film they were and how many buckets they kept,&#8221; the lawsuit states. &#8220;Family members, colleagues and peers in other entities unknown to the Plaintiffs but aware of the 2016 case, also remarked that Plaintiffs must have used seized funds to build personal property improvements, purchase vehicles and vessels, and afford private schooling for their children.&#8221;
The lawsuit further states that Smith and Santana have &#8220;repeatedly been questioned by third parties regarding the characters and events depicted.&#8221; They claim to have been contacted by a Miami-Dade County State Attorney inquiring about the allegations and threatening an investigation. 
&#8220;The Film and its promotional content imply misconduct, poor judgment, and unethical behavior in connection with a real law-enforcement operation,&#8221; the lawsuit <a href="https://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local/miami-dade-officers-suing-over-matt-damon-and-ben-affleck-movie-the-rip/3807644/">says</a>. &#8220;As a result, Plaintiffs have suffered damage to their reputations, diminished standing among peers and colleagues, and injury to their credibility in law-enforcement and professional circles.&#8221;
An attorney for Artists Equity said in March that the film already has a disclaimer saying it doesn’t depict real events or people, the outlet noted. The disclaimer text says, &#8220;This program is inspired by real events; however, the characters and events depicted have been fictionalized for dramatic purposes, and any similarity to actual persons is purely coincidental and unintentional.”
Affleck and Damon already stated that the narrative was inspired by the real 2016 incident in Miami and hired Miami-Dade Police Capt. Chris Casiano as a technical advisor on the film.
“We really wanted to kind of understand what those dynamics were like,” Damon told AP during an interview in January. “I mean, these units are very tight because they’re really putting their lives in each other’s hands, and they’re doing something that’s very dangerous.”

Matt Damon Ben Affleck

Police Officers Slap Matt Damon And Ben Affleck With Defamation Lawsuit

Police Officers Sue Matt Damon And Ben Affleck For Defamation

Ben Affleck

Entertainment

Hollywood

Lawsuit

Matt Damon

Movies

Police

The nationwide battle for congressional seats shifted dramatically Friday after Virginia’s Supreme Court struck down the state&#8217;s Democrat-favored congressional map, even as Republican-led states across the South charge ahead to redraw their own.
The Virginia ruling undercuts what Democrats had expected to be a 10-1 advantage in the state&#8217;s House delegation. Instead, the map reverts to a narrower 6-5 Democrat edge that was in place before the April special election, giving Republicans a clearer path to compete. 
The decision comes on the heels of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling last week striking down requirements for black-majority districts in Southern states, prompting a wave of redistricting efforts in Republican-led states. 
Florida and Tennessee have already approved new maps, with more red states likely to follow. 
Tennessee lawmakers on Thursday <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/brutal-blow-for-democrats-in-red-state-sparks-leftist-outrage?author=Leif+Le+Mahieu&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=2&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Brutal+Blow+For+Democrats+In+Red+State+Sparks+Leftist+Outrage">approved</a> a congressional map expected to hand Republicans control of all nine of the Volunteer State’s congressional districts come November. The map, signed by Republican Gov. Bill Lee, spreads out the heavily Democratic population centers in Memphis and Nashville across multiple Republican-favorable districts. 
The new map is likely to eliminate Tennessee’s lone Democratic seat, currently held by Rep. Steve Cohen of Memphis. 
In Florida, lawmakers led by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/florida-passes-new-maps-that-could-threaten-multiple-democratic-seats">passed</a> new district lines projected to give Republicans four additional House seats. The changes target Democratic-leaning areas in Tampa, Orlando, and South Florida, aiming to flip those districts to Republican control.
Alabama could be next. Lawmakers are considering legislation that would produce a congressional map favoring Republicans 6-1, shifting one seat away from Democrats. 
Prior to the Supreme Court decision last week, Alabama was forced to maintain one majority-black district and a second with a near-majority black population under an interpretation of the Voting Rights Act that has now been ruled an unconstitutional racial gerrymander. 
Lawmakers in Louisiana, South Carolina, and Mississippi are also reviewing potential redistricting plans that could further shift even more seats to Republicans. 
President Donald Trump called on states to redraw maps after the Supreme Court decision last week. 
“We cannot allow there to be an Election that is conducted unconstitutionally simply for the ‘convenience’ of State Legislatures,” Trump said Sunday. “If they have to vote twice, so be it. We should demand that State Legislatures do what the Supreme Court says must be done. That is more important than administrative convenience. The byproduct is that the Republicans will receive more than 20 House Seats in the upcoming Midterms.”

Tennessee Governor Signs Trump-Backed Redistricting Plan

Virginia Ruling Reshapes Redistricting Battle For House Control

2026 elections

Tennessee

Virginia

An illegal immigrant hid in the ceiling of a women&#8217;s bathroom in a Florida church while recording video on his phone, according to authorities.
The Fort Walton Beach Police Department arrested Panamanian illegal immigrant Aquilino Sanjur Ortega on Sunday after receiving a call about a possible armed person at Grace Church during a religious service. One woman said that while she was inside the women&#8217;s restroom, &#8220;she observed a mobile phone positioned above the ceiling with its camera pointed downward in her direction,&#8221; police <a href="https://www.facebook.com/fwbpd/posts/pfbid02BeudRCiPUCdk3ycUCELR71UDLdc3pPm2gD3TxEgviCoxoXhmPNGUGVznTBJq7iPMl?rdid=GIAivwzSYIKbGnwu#" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>.
The woman &#8220;immediately&#8221; left the restroom and informed church staff.
Parishioners evacuated from the building before officers arrived at the scene, according to authorities. Witnesses told the officers that a man was hiding in the women&#8217;s restroom ceiling, which they confirmed after entering the church.
Ortega, who was unarmed, was swiftly arrested.
Ortega is charged with video voyeurism and disturbing a religious assembly.
Ortega came to the United States in March 2007 with a tourism visa that expired that September, federal law enforcement sources told The Daily Wire. Because Ortega overstayed his visa by nearly two decades, he&#8217;s considered an illegal immigrant.
As a result, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has lodged a detainer with the Okaloosa County Jail. Local authorities are likely to honor the request and hand Ortega over to federal authorities for eventual deportation.
He is being held on a $250,000 bond.
&#8220;Under President Trump and Secretary Mullin, criminal illegal aliens are not welcome in the U.S.,&#8221; the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) told The Daily Wire in response to the case.
Upon his return to the White House, President Donald Trump stripped churches, schools, and hospitals of protections that prevented ICE from entering. They were previously considered &#8220;sensitive&#8221; locations that ICE could not enter or go near.
“This action empowers the brave men and women in CBP [Customs and Border Protection] and ICE to enforce our immigration laws and catch criminal aliens — including murderers and rapists — who have illegally come into our country. Criminals will no longer be able to hide in America’s schools and churches to avoid arrest,” DHS <a href="https://apnews.com/article/immigration-enforcement-sensitive-locations-trump-ab0d2d2652e9df696f14410ebb52a1fc" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> at the time of the policy change.
Trump&#8217;s border czar, Tom Homan, has said that ICE attempts to avoid those institutions. But if an illegal immigrant criminal tries to hide inside a church, ICE may go in to arrest them, Homan <a href="https://www.facebook.com/reel/2609704789400477" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> while leading immigration operations in Minneapolis in February.
&#8220;Those locations are not off the table. I&#8217;ve said from day one, there&#8217;s no sanctuary for a significant public safety threat or a national security threat,&#8221; he said at the time.

Untitled design – 2026-05-08T095623.726

EXCLUSIVE: The Creepy Church Bathroom Discovery Now Fueling A Bigger Immigration Debate

Christianity

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Crime

Immigration

The Bright Side: Wild Flamingos Return, Gen Z Discovers Beethoven, And FOMO Finally Dies

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This piece is part of MI x DW, a collaboration that brings Daily Wire readers exclusive commentary and research from the Manhattan Institute’s world-class team of scholars.
In this piece, Manhattan Institute fellow Danyela Souza Egorov takes a look at ballooning public education spending and asks: What are we getting for this money? Her answer may surprise you.
***
American K-12 public education spending <a href="https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED679904.pdf">reached</a> $1 trillion for the first time in 2024.
But what are students getting for that money?
While <a href="https://edunomicslab.org/roi-over-time/">spending grew</a> by 56% since 2013, reading and math scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress — known as “the nation’s report card” — declined. Over the next decade, national student enrollment is <a href="https://bellwether.org/publications/how-student-enrollment-declines-are-affecting-education-budgets/?activeTab=2">projected</a> to decline by 5.5%, around 2.7 million students.
There are some bright spots. According to the Georgetown University Edunomics Lab, students in Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, and West Virginia have seen <a href="https://us19.campaign-archive.com/?u=179e2a9db6ce62a03ab6a0a74&amp;id=1262a5adf2">some</a> recent gains, with Mississippi <a href="https://www.progressivepolicy.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/PPI_Mississippi-Marathon.pdf">leading</a> in reading improvement.
However, most states with increased education budgets have not improved student outcomes, and some have even experienced declines.
What they have done is hire staff. A lot of staff.
K-12 staff <a href="https://edunomicslab.org/staffing-v-enrollment-trends/">grew</a> from 5.9 million in 2014 to 6.6 million in 2024, even as schools served about 1 million fewer students. This disconnect between spending and enrollment has resulted in situations such as a Chicago school <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/chicagos-empty-ghost-schools-teach-us-about-how-system-failing">with</a> 28 staff members for 27 students.
There’s also a Memphis charter <a href="https://www.tnfirefly.com/news/memphis-shelby-county-school-board-renews-public-charter-school-despite-enrollment-of-just-14-students">school</a> that was renewed despite having only 14 students enrolled — it may have helped that the principal is <a href="https://dailymemphian.com/email/23233/view">married</a> to the Memphis-Shelby County Schools superintendent, who is responsible for charter renewal — and 112 New York City schools projected to enroll <a href="https://www.city-journal.org/article/new-york-city-public-schools-enrollment-zohran-mamdani">fewer</a> than 150 students, effectively creating micro schools and raising per-pupil spending to <a href="https://nypost.com/2025/08/30/us-news/nyc-doe-projected-to-spend-over-42k-per-student-this-school-year-the-most-in-the-country/">approximately</a> $42,000.
But while lots of states are snatching up staff, they’re not all spending money the same way. Take the four largest states — Florida, Texas, California, and New York — which collectively educate 34% of American students.
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The red states are expanding school choice. Florida dedicates nearly 12% of its budget to school choice programs, <a href="https://www.edchoice.org/2026-edchoice-spending-share-rankings">more</a> than any other state. Currently, 53% of Florida students attend a school of their choice rather than the one assigned to them by the government based on their home address. Texas recently passed a bill <a href="https://www.city-journal.org/article/national-school-choice-week-republican-states">allocating</a> $1 billion to the Texas Education Freedom Accounts, now the largest first-year education savings account program in the country, with over 274,000 students <a href="https://comptroller.texas.gov/about/media-center/news/20260402-texas-comptrollers-office-releases-comprehensive-overview-of-texas-education-freedom-account-applications-1775142014682#:~:text=%E2%80%9CTexas%20didn't%20just%20meet,showed%20up%20in%20record%20numbers.%E2%80%9D">applying</a> in its first year.
Meanwhile, California and New York are moving to limit school choice for families. California previously saw rapid charter school growth, with about 80 new schools <a href="https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED558484.pdf">opening</a> annually. However, <a href="https://edsource.org/2019/new-era-for-charter-schools-newsom-signs-bill-with-compromises-he-negotiated/618099">a 2019 law</a> that allowed local school boards to deny charter applications <a href="https://laist.com/news/education/buffeted-by-change-california-charter-schools-continue-to-grow-amid-scrutiny">reduced</a> new charter openings from 80 in 2014 to 12 in 2023.
Similarly, New York has imposed limits on school choice. Statewide, charter schools enroll <a href="https://www.empirecenter.org/publications/migrant-influx-helps-curb-new-yorks-k-12-enrollment-decline/#:~:text=Enrollment%20in%20charter%20schools%20grew,Homeschool">about</a> 7% of students, with higher concentrations in major cities like Buffalo (25%) and New York City (16%), where the number of charter schools has been capped.
This gap may widen next year as states decide whether to participate in the Federal Scholarship Tax program, which offers taxpayers a $1,700 dollar-for-dollar federal tax reduction for donations to scholarship-granting organizations.
Participation requires states to opt in, and neither California Governor Gavin Newsom nor New York Governor Kathy Hochul has done so. As two of the top states in federal tax payments, their nonparticipation could result in California losing $3 billion and New York losing $1.5 billion in potential donations from their residents that will benefit low-income kids in the other 27 <a href="https://www.k12dive.com/news/27-states-opting-into-federal-school-choice-program-IRS-Congress/818087/#:~:text=States%20are%20awaiting%20rules%20defining,building%20is%20pictured%20on%20Feb." target="_blank" rel="noopener">states</a> that have already opted in, <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YTP9avQpzmXRpQ96zxQ0w60g81A3cdK8/view" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to Democrats for Education Reform. On Tax Day, all four senators from California and New York <a href="https://www.kelly.senate.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/MCG26237.pdf">joined</a> 30 Democrats to propose repealing the program.
Differences in how states allocate the $1 trillion on education resources will continue to influence where families live and how many students can access high-quality education. As David Shor, head of a major Democratic consulting firm, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/18/opinion/ezra-klein-podcast-david-shor.html">told</a> the New York Times, “education has gone from being basically one of the best issues for Democrats to basically neutral now.”
As red states continue to expand family choice in education spending, Democrats will inevitably face challenges in explaining to voters policies that limit educational options for families.
Danyela Souza Egorov is a fellow at the Manhattan Institute.

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