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‘The Dark Knight’ remains a masterpiece 18 years later and a reminder of Christopher Nolan’s greatness
Do you know where you were on this day 18 years ago?
You probably don't, but I remember it like it was yesterday. I was at a movie theater formerly known as Ridge Cinema in Davie, Florida, watching "The Dark Knight" on opening day with a group of my closest friends.
I can recall this partially because of how mind-blowing the movie was (more on that in a bit) but also because some guy had a heart attack in the front row and I had to run to the concession stand and tell some poor teenager working his summer job to call 9-1-1.
He survived, but they had to end the movie prematurely and offer us vouchers to come watch it again at a later date for free.
I didn't even see the climax and resolution until the DVD release, and I still thought "The Dark Knight" was the greatest superhero movie ever made. That's how good it was.
18 years later, and I still hold that opinion.
Sure, movies like "Captain America: Civil War" and "Avengers: Infinity War" were bigger spectacles, but Christopher Nolan's grounded and gritty take on the caped crusader is still a nearly flawless masterpiece that stands the test of time almost two decades after its cinematic release.
I thought with all of the controversy surrounding Nolan and his questionable decisions pertaining to his latest blockbuster, "The Odyssey," it would be nice to look back on a film from the director/producer that is almost universally beloved.
The word "perfection" gets thrown around a lot, and while I don't think "The Dark Knight" is perfect (nor do I think any movie is perfect, for that matter), it's about as close as a blockbuster film can get.
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Let me preface a lot of what I'm about to say with this: I am no film junkie and I'm certainly not a classically trained critic, but I think that is what makes my opinion a good one.
In a way, I represent the masses, the lowest common denominator, if you will.
So when I tell you this movie is almost perfect, it isn't coming from a place of pretentious snobbery, but as a casual fan.
One of the biggest knocks against modern superhero movies is that they are too bloated and stuffed full of unnecessary protagonists and antagonists.
Go watch "Avengers: End Game" without having sat through the requisite 24 other films you have to view before going into it, and your head will be spinning by the 10th-minute mark.
"Who is this blue chick and why the hell is she hanging with Iron Man?"
Even if you never saw "Batman Begins" and went into "The Dark Knight" fresh, Nolan does a fabulous job of introducing new characters and establishing old ones in the same breath.
You don't need to know who Rachel Dawes is from the first movie, because in the first 15 minutes of "The Dark Knight," it's established that she's a childhood friend of Bruce Wayne's whom he has unrequited feelings for, while she's in love with the new district attorney.
Bam. Got it? Good.
Speaking of protagonists and antagonists, "The Dark Knight" starts off with introducing the Joker and does a great job of building him up.
That way, by the time the movie kicks into full gear, it isn't jarring when he shows up and inserts himself in the war between the mob and the forces of good in Gotham.
Speaking of the Joker, it's almost become a cliche at this point, but Heath Ledger's tragic turn as the Clown Prince of Crime is simply sublime.
He carries every scene he's in, and his reveal at the start of the film still hits the same way it did 18 years earlier.
A lot of people heap praise on Ledger at the expense of the other cast members, but that really isn't fair to the rest of the actors in this movie.
Everyone is at their best in "The Dark Knight," particularly Christian Bale as Wayne/Batman, Gary Oldman as Jim Gordon, and Aaron Eckhart as Harvey Dent/Two-Face. Even supporting characters like Alfred Pennyworth (Michael Caine) and Lucius Fox (Morgan Freeman) are scene-stealers.
Everything about the movie is memorable, from the dialogue to the set pieces and even the plot.
Nolan's take on post-9/11 America and the dangers of the Patriot Act were a little controversial in 2008 but have aged like fine wine and make the movie even more of an engaging watch in 2026.
The way he weaves society's fear of a surveillance state into the third act of the movie so seamlessly - with Batman's sonar technology turning every phone in Gotham into a tracker to catch the Joker - is incredibly "based," especially when you consider why Nolan is in hot water these days.
"The Dark Knight" is even one of the most quotable movies of all time, too; a rarity for any superhero movie that eschews the Marvel "thousand-quips-a-minute" form of dialogue that has become so pervasive and cringey over the last decade.
Lines like "you either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain" and "why so serious" became so ubiquitous and "memeable" after "The Dark Knight's" release that they still find their way into the cultural zeitgeist to this day.
Even the source material from which Nolan draws his inspiration for this movie is a love letter to hardcore Batman fans.
"The Dark Knight" has elements of classic Batman comics like "The Long Halloween" and "The Man Who Laughs," showing that Nolan at least knows his stuff on a surface level about Gotham's broody guardian.
I could go on and on about what makes this movie great, as we are nearly 1,000 words in and I haven't even discussed the grounded realism of Batman and his rogues gallery or the clever story that seems to wind with twists at every turn, but it's all been said before.
Suffice to say, "The Dark Knight" was such a groundbreaking film that every other superhero movie, even Nolan's follow-up, "The Dark Knight Rises," falls short in trying to live up to its legacy.
As DC continues to try and catch the lightning in a bottle that was the Nolanverse, the simple fact remains: all other superhero movies from now until the end of time are playing for second place.
Even calling "The Dark Knight" one of the best superhero movies of all time does it a disservice. It belongs in the pantheon of best movies.
Period.
So while you are taking your (much deserved) jabs at Nolan for his follies with "The Odyssey," just remember the gift that is his magnum opus.
There was once a time when Christopher Nolan couldn't be touched, and "The Dark Knight" represents the man at the zenith of his powers.
Liberal circuit judge blasts SCOTUS conservatives, says Hawaii will defy high court
A Hawaii Supreme Court justice used a ruling overturning a decades-old criminal conviction to deliver a blistering rebuke of Chief Justice John Roberts' Supreme Court, accusing the nation's highest court of weakening constitutional rights, damaging democracy and advancing a political agenda.
Justice Todd Eddins authored the 91-page majority opinion Wednesday in State v. Granillo , a case involving a man convicted in 1990 of kidnapping and sexually assaulting a woman on Maui. The court ordered a new trial after concluding that hair and fiber evidence presented by an FBI expert relied on forensic science that has since been discredited.
But in roughly eight pages of the opinion, Eddins argued Hawaii's courts should not look to the Roberts Court when interpreting the state constitution, using the case to deliver an unusually sharp critique of the nation's highest court.
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"When six justices walk away from those they are supposed to protect, state constitutions hold the line," Eddins wrote, referring to the court's six conservative justices. "That is not defiance. That is the design."
Eddins argued that Hawaii's Constitution provides stronger protections than the federal Constitution as currently interpreted by the U.S. Supreme Court, and said the Court has abandoned landmark civil rights principles.
"The Court that now defines federal due process does not honor the work of 1954," Eddins wrote. "It revives the work of 1857. The work of 1896."
Eddins was referring to Brown v. Board of Education, ruled in 1954, which ended racial segregation in public schools, as well as Dred Scott v. Sandford, the infamous 1857 decision denying citizenship to Black Americans and Plessy v. Ferguson, the 1896 ruling that upheld racial segregation.
Eddins argued that the Roberts Court no longer reflects the constitutional principles established in Brown v. Board of Education, but instead, he argued the Court's originalist approach relies on the same type of constitutional interpretation in the discredited Dred Scott and Plessy decisions.
"Today’s hubristic originalists use the same method to control modern life," Eddins wrote.
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"The Court overrides what Congress passed," Eddins continued. "It overrides what the people chose. All to serve its own ends. What this Court has done to constitutional rights, democratic institutions, and the rule of law explains why Hawaiʻi’s Constitution takes no instruction from it."
Throughout the opinion, Eddins pointed to many of the Roberts Court's most consequential decisions as evidence that constitutional protections have been weakened, including Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, which overturned the federal constitutional right to abortion; Citizens United v. FEC on campaign finance; Rucho v. Common Cause on partisan gerrymandering; Trump v. United States on presidential immunity; and New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen, which expanded Second Amendment protections.
Eddins accused the Roberts Court of adopting a "colorblind" approach to the Equal Protection Clause that, in his view, ignores the amendment's original purpose of protecting formerly enslaved Black Americans.
"The Roberts Court sees only white," he wrote. "It refuses to acknowledge who the Equal Protection Clause was written to protect."
He also suggested that recent Supreme Court decisions have repeatedly expanded the power of government officials and wealthy interests while reducing protections for individual rights.
"A court that systematically dismantles democratic safeguards, steamrolls constitutional liberties, and tramples human dignity does not chart the course for the Hawaiʻi Constitution," he wrote.
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The opinion quickly drew criticism from legal observers, who said it was highly unusual for a state supreme court opinion to devote so much space to criticizing the U.S. Supreme Court.
"The Court issues an unhinged attack on the legitimacy of the Supreme Court," Iowa Solicitor General Eric Wessan wrote on X. "I haven't ever seen something like this. And it's not good."
George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley similarly described the opinion as "devoid of judicial restraint and decorum."
"The Hawaii Supreme Court just issued a truly shocking opinion that unleashed a torrent of rage and recrimination against the majority of the United States Supreme Court, including suggesting that they are de facto racists," Turley wrote on X.
The opinion comes just weeks after the U.S. Supreme Court handed Hawaii a major loss in Wolford v. Lopez, striking down the state's so-called "vampire rule." In a 6-3 decision, the court ruled Hawaii could not require gun owners to get a property owner's permission before carrying a firearm into businesses and other private property open to the public.
Eddins has served on the Hawaii Supreme Court since 2020 after being appointed by then-Democratic Gov. David Ige.
New York school district to deploy humanoid robot in classrooms this fall
An upstate New York school district is bringing a humanoid robot into the classroom this fall, where it will assist with instruction as educators test how artificial intelligence can be integrated into teaching.
Syracuse.com reported Wednesday that students in the Salamanca City Central School District in Western New York will have access to a humanoid robot that is not intended to replace their teacher but will serve as a support to teachers and students.
The outlet reported that during a board meeting last month, the Cattaraugus County school district said it would buy the robot from tech company Realbotix as well as an AI teacher’s assistant program that gives students the ability to work with the robot on their laptops.
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"This deployment in a working school district represents a landmark moment for both AI and humanoid robotics," said Andrew Kiguel, CEO of Realbotix, whose company is currently building the robot. "Salamanca marks the beginning of a new era where humanoid robots and intelligent AI assistants become standard tools in STEM education."
The robot, named Sally, is designed to resemble a human, with silicone skin and long brown hair. It will remain seated but will be capable of a range of facial expressions and upper-body movements.
Kiguel said students will log in using unique ID numbers, allowing the robot to access their previous interactions and tailor its responses to each student's learning history. For example, the robot could recognize a student and continue a discussion from an earlier class.
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Mark Beehler, Salamanca Superintendent, said his district is trying to incorporate AI into their day-to-day learning.
"Many schools are taking the easy solution of simply banning it, but I have found that students will find a way around most rules that schools put in place," Beehler told Syracuse.com. "I also believe it is critical for schools to teach proper use of technology, not simply exclude it."
In a statement to Fox News Digital, Kiguel said, "The humanoid robot and Optio AI teaching assistant being developed for Salamanca are the first of its kind, providing the school with purpose-built educational tools. They will operate under district and teacher oversight, with education-specific safeguards in place and Realbotix will not have access to student data."
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Kiguel added, "Realbotix is incredibly fortunate to partner with the Salamanca School District, whose deep commitment to STEM education aligns perfectly with our mission. They believe there is no better way to learn robotics and coding than through hands-on, real-world interaction. This has been a deeply collaborative process designed to support, rather than supplant, traditional learning. We are providing custom-built educational robots that prioritize both student engagement and robust safety and privacy protections."
Fox News Digital reached out to Beehler for comment.
Team USA hockey equipment manager arrested on misdemeanor charges of battery/domestic violence
Team USA men’s national hockey team and Florida Panthers equipment manager Thaddeus "Teddy" Richards was arrested on Friday.
Richards, 43, was arrested in Florida on misdemeanor charges of battery/domestic violence and unauthorized use of 911 services, according to online records. The Athletic was first to report it.
The incident happened in Coral Springs, Florida, and Richards was in jail at the Broward Main Jail in Fort Lauderdale as of Friday night.
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"The Florida Panthers organization has been made aware of an incident involving the arrest of equipment manager Teddy Richards," the Panthers said in a statement.
"Effective immediately, he will be suspended from all team activities and facilities pending investigation."
Fox News Digital reached out to USA Hockey for a statement, but did not immediately receive a response.
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Richards is from Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, and began his career working for the Pittsburgh Penguins organization. He worked with the Penguins’ AHL affiliate, the Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins from 2002 to 2013.
After over a decade in the AHL, he was promoted to assistant equipment manager for the Penguins. He remained there from 2013 to 2016, and was part of the staff for the team’s Stanley Cup run in 2016.
After the Penguins won the Stanley Cup, he departed for the Panthers. He has been the Panthers’ equipment manager since the 2016-17 season.
He has been with the team for both of its Stanley Cup championships in 2023-24 and 2024-25.
While with the Penguins, Richards worked with head coach Mike Sullivan, who was the head coach for Team USA in both the NHL’s 4 Nations Face-Off in 2025 and the 2026 Milan Cortina Olympic Winter Games.
Richards was the team’s equipment manager for both of those Team USA squads, with his connection to Sullivan helping him land the role.
Follow Fox News Digital’s sports coverage on X, and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.
Canadian wildfire smoke ignites cross-border feud over Ottawa's 'willful negligence'
As smoke from Canadian wildfires continues to drift across parts of the United States, forestry experts say Canada could reduce the severity of some fires through more aggressive forest management.
The issue reached the White House Friday, with President Donald Trump accusing Canada of failing to properly manage its forests and threatening to factor the economic cost of the smoke into tariffs on Canadian imports.
"We are holding Canada responsible for the fact that they are not properly maintaining their Forests, and Brush therein, and the United States is being unnecessarily invaded by filthy, polluted, and unhealthy air," Trump wrote on Truth Social. He said he planned to call Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and accused Canada of refusing to engage in "basic Forest Management and Debris Removal," calling it "Willful Negligence."
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Andrew Hale, a Canadian fellow at Advancing American Freedom, argued that Canada’s wildfire policies have failed to prioritize forest management.
"Canada has a policy of not keeping reservoirs. They also will not cut firebreaks and will not thin their forests," Hale told Fox News Digital. "This is the result of the undue influence of environmental groups who are firmly politically motivated and have divorced themselves from science and good stewardship. Canada and the rest of North America is suffering as a result," he said.
Earlier this week, four Republican members of Michigan's congressional delegation — Reps. Jack Bergman, John James, Lisa McClain and John Moolenaar — sent a letter to Carney saying residents in their state were once again experiencing unhealthy air because of smoke drifting south from Canadian wildfires.
"We are done accepting apologies in place of action," the lawmakers wrote, accusing Canada of underinvesting in forest thinning, fuel reduction and prescribed burns while calling for measurable plans to reduce future wildfire smoke crossing the border.
The criticism comes as Canada's own Senate has reached a similar conclusion on one point: while it says climate change is making wildfire seasons longer and more severe, the country also needs to do substantially more to prepare its forests before fires ignite.
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The Senate Committee on Agriculture and Forestry released a report in June titled Canada on Fire: The Catastrophic and Escalating Effects of Wildfires on Lives and Communities after holding 17 meetings, hearing testimony from 79 witnesses and receiving 23 written briefs from scientists, government officials, Indigenous leaders and industry experts.
The committee concluded that Canada's three most recent wildfire seasons demonstrated that climate change was accelerating fire behavior "beyond the capacity of existing systems." At the same time, it found that prevention efforts have not kept pace with the growing threat.
Much of the report focuses on what experts call "fuel management" — reducing the amount of dry grass, dead trees, fallen branches and other vegetation that allows small fires to become large, destructive wildfires.
"Several witnesses agreed that prescribed fire is the most important risk-reduction tool for helping to manage or slow wildfire on the landscape and restoring ecological integrity," the report said.
One witness, Paul Hessburg, a professor at the University of Washington's School of Environmental and Forest Sciences, said that climate change is making wildfire conditions worse but does not eliminate the value of proactive forest management.
"The punchline is, with climate change, these conditions will intensify with less snowpack, more fires, bigger fires, hotter fires," Hessburg told the committee. "The question is: Can we restore resilience? We can. We can bring back these elements and put the governors back into the landscape that historically regulated the flow of fire."
Jason Hayes, a senior research fellow in energy and environmental policy at the Heritage Foundation, said the practical solution is to spend more time managing forests before fires begin rather than relying primarily on emergency response after they start.
"The best thing to do is get out, space and thin, do prescribed burns and recognize that these are renewable resources," Hayes told Fox News Digital. "If we did that, then we would have much less intense wildfires."
Hayes acknowledged that carrying out those recommendations across Canada would be far more difficult than simply identifying them. He said many fires burn in remote areas of northern Ontario and other parts of Canada that are difficult to reach because they are far from roads and population centers.
"You have to fly in, and it's just difficult to do," Hayes said.
Witnesses to the Canadian Senate committee also warned that Canada faces practical challenges beyond forest management, including shortages of wildfire-management expertise and an aging fleet of firefighting aircraft. The report cited testimony that provincial fleets still include 22 older CL-215 aircraft and that at least 20 aircraft require immediate replacement.
Fox News Digital has reached out to the Office of Prime Minister Mark Carney but did not receive a comment in time for publication.
Stephen Miller says Trump administration is pursuing policy to debank illegal immigrants
White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller said Friday that the Trump administration is seeking to debank illegal immigrants as an incentive for them to self-deport from the United States.
Miller gave an update on the White House's latest tactic to deter illegal immigration during an interview Friday on The Clay Travis & Buck Sexton show.
"President Trump signed an executive order a few weeks ago saying that we are not going to allow illegal aliens to use banking services in this country," Miller said.
"Illegal aliens have credit cards, they have bank accounts, and they're paid with direct deposit. So, illegal aliens fully participate in the commercial systems, the financial systems of America. Shutting that down is a massive engine for deportation," he added.
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Miller was likely referring to an executive order Trump signed on May 19 that directed banks and federal regulators to increase scrutiny of accounts and credit applications involving immigrants without legal status or work authorization.
The order did not explicitly instruct banks to deny credit cards or bank accounts to illegal immigrants, but compliance with it could make it more difficult for them to participate in the financial system.
Federal agencies have already begun acting on Trump's executive order.
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In early June, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, led by Russell Vought, issued guidance stating that lenders may — and in some cases must — consider applicants' immigration status and work authorization when assessing their ability to repay loans.
Miller also referenced guidance from three federal agencies issued on July 13 "reminding supervised financial institutions to apply existing safe-and-sound credit risk management practices when lending to borrowers who are not legally authorized to work in the United States."
Both advisories serve to tell banks that illegal immigrants could be higher-risk customers for loans.
Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment.
New Yorkers collected $2.6 billion in welfare cash payments last year, city data shows
New York City doled out more than $2.6 billion in cash assistance to city residents in 2025, a Fox News Digital review of city records showed.
The money reached a record 864,999 people, a 30-year high not matched since before former Mayor Rudy Giuliani instituted major welfare reform in the early 2000s.
The $2.6 billion figure represents a 71% increase from 2022's $1.57 billion, data showed.
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When coupled with payments from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), the city paid out more than $7 billion in welfare to residents in 2024, according to a Fox News analysis of data from the city's Human Resources Administration (HRA).
The rise in welfare payments comes as some of New York City's wealthiest contemplate a Big Apple exodus due to what many have described as a policy environment unfriendly to businesses and moneymakers.
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Billionaire hedge fund manager Ken Griffin notably threatened to put a major Midtown renovation on hold for his Citadel offices after socialist Mayor Zohran Mamdani targeted him by name in a video announcing a new tax on second homes in the city.
"When I ran for mayor, I said I was going to tax the rich … Well, today we're taxing the rich. This pied-à-terre tax is specifically designed for the richest of the rich," Mamdani said while recording a video outside the building that houses Griffin's penthouse.
"This is an annual fee on luxury properties worth more than $5 million whose owners do not live full-time in the city — like this penthouse, which hedge fund CEO Ken Griffin bought for $238 million."
Griffin called the video "inappropriate" in critical comments.
"What really upset me about the video was the fact that he put me in harm's way … And to put any citizen in harm's way is just inappropriate for one of our political leaders," Griffin said, also calling the video "creepy" and "frightening."
Though Mamdani inherited the state of his city's welfare system from his predecessors, his policy decisions indicate a continuation of the upward rise in payments.
The city's new nearly $126 billion budget that Mamdani and city councilors agreed to in June contains a $14.63 billion outlay for the HRA, which handles welfare and social services.
The 2026 budget allocated $11.97 billion for the HRA, giving the 2027 budget a social services earmark over $2.6 billion more than the previous year's.
The $14.63 billion for 2026 represents 14% of the city's total budget.
Fox News Digital contacted the HRA and Mayor Mamdani's office for further comment.
WNBA coach predictably bends the knee to the fake outrage mob over Angel Reese's racism claim
In the most predictable plot twist in the history of time, Toronto Tempo head coach Sandy Brondello has issued an apology to Angel Reese after the internet — and Reese — accused her of using a racist term during Friday's game.
Late in the fourth quarter of Atlanta's eventual 111-92 win, Reese and Tempo forward Nyara Sabally collided, with Sabally suffering a rib injury but ultimately being called for a shooting foul. She eventually had to be helped off the court.
While she was still down, Brondello came over to plead her case to the officials, and a hot mic picked up part of the conversation.
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That's when Brondello called Reese a "protected species," sending the WNBA world into a frenzy because, of course, it was deemed racial.
Reese later called her out via X, responding to a post that accused Brondello of calling "a Black woman a species" by saying, "ARE WE SURPRISED?!" while also tagging Brondello in the post.
"Angel, I'm sorry. Last night, in the emotion of the moment after Nyara's injury, I used a phrase that I shouldn't have used, and I take full responsibility for that," Brondello said Saturday afternoon in a lengthy social media post. "My frustration was with the officiating, but my words unfairly put the focus on you. I also understand that my words carried an impact beyond what I intended, particularly for Black women in our league, and I'm deeply sorry for that.
"I've spent my career competing with, coaching and learning from incredible Black women. I regret that my words caused hurt to a community I respect so deeply. I have a lot of respect for you as both a player and a person, and I sincerely apologize to you, your teammates, and the Dream organization for my comment."
Goodness gracious. It's all just incredible. The pandering. The virtue-signaling. The fake-outrage. Bending the knee to the mob.
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It's straight out of the WNBA's playbook, and it's so exhausting.
No, Sandy Brondello didn't have to apologize. What world are we living in here? Calling someone a "protected species" is not racist.
Frankly, it's a sports phrase that's been around forever. Forever.
Patrick Mahomes is a protected species, because defenders can't touch him without getting penalized.
Tom Brady was a protected species.
LeBron James is a protected species.
Obviously, Brondello met that certain players get certain calls. Duh. She didn't reinvent the wheel with this term, folks. Coaches and players have been accusing other players of getting preferential treatment for DECADES now. That's what this term means, and everyone knows it.
Above all, Brondello knows it. Yet, she chose to bend the knee to the mob because Angel Reese posted about it and peddled a dangerous claim. A false claim.
Here's the bottom line: Angel Reese is black, and the internet has selective hearing. So, someone posts — out of context, mind you — that she was called a "species," and then Reese peddles the narrative by reposting it with a sarcastic comment and a clown emoji.
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That's silly. That's disingenuous. Frankly, it's dangerous.
Angel Reese played the victim card perfectly here, and Sandy Brondello joined right in.
What an unserious league.
Jim Acosta urges TV networks to stop airing some Trump speeches live, calls them 'totally nuts'
Former CNN anchor Jim Acosta urged television networks to forgo live coverage of President Donald Trump's primetime address last Thursday, warning they would be "totally nuts" to air what he described as the president's "conspiracy theories" without immediately fact-checking them.
"I think the networks are totally nuts if they take this speech live," Acosta said on "The Joy Reid Show."
"It is totally crazy to put his bats--- ‘Looney Tunes’ conspiracy theories on live national television without fact-checkers in real time, and some of the networks will say, 'Well, we'll have some fact-checkers on afterwards,' and the fact-checkers will come on and say, 'Well, there isn't any evidence to support his claims.' It's all boloney kabuki Washington DC theater."
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Acosta relayed his worries to Reid that Trump would further spread alleged conspiracies surrounding the integrity of U.S. elections, thereby casting preliminary doubt on the integrity of this year's midterms.
"He has never ever proven any of these things. He has lost the benefit of the doubt," he said.
"We should not be erring on the side of putting these things out there, and I totally agree with you that he's chumming the waters for not trusting the midterms."
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Adding to his critique, Acosta suggested the president could be forging a broader plot to create what he coined as a "52-car pileup" around the midterm elections.
"[He could] say, "See, I can't trust these results over here in this state or these results over here in that key district that may determine the control of the House. And Mike Johnson, maybe we just shouldn't seat a new Congress right away, and maybe we should just all go to court and have the courts untangle... [and] that's going to take until May or June of next year," he warned.
"That, to me, is a terrifying thought."
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Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment.
Acosta's warning came ahead of Trump's primetime address Thursday, where, speaking to the nation, the president renewed his focus on election integrity and alleged that China "worked to influence the results" of the 2020 presidential election, an accusation Beijing has denied.
Trump did not claim China changed votes or altered election results. Instead, he said Beijing engaged in an influence campaign aimed at shaping U.S. public perceptions.
Trump used the disclosures during Thursday's address to press Congress to pass the SAVE America Act, casting the newly released intelligence as evidence that lawmakers must tighten federal election rules before the midterms.
The act passed the House in February but stalled in the Senate in March, when a 53–47 vote fell short of the 60 votes needed to advance it.
Ultimately, CBS News aired a special report that initially provided analysis before dipping into the speech minutes after Trump began speaking and cut away moments after Trump's attacks towards ABC and NBC. MS NOW carried the first 15 minutes of his speech live before dipping out to provide commentary. Fox News carried the speech in its entirety.
"The least that the networks can do at this point is not platform these lies, to not allow him to chum the waters with this nonsense," Acosta warned ahead of the address.
"And I think that it's a very serious moment for the television networks in this country."
Fox News' Greg Norman-Diamond, Joseph Wulfsohn and Morgan Phillips contributed to this report.
Two US service members killed in Iranian strikes on Jordan, CENTCOM says
Two U.S. service members were killed in action in Jordan during Iranian attacks on a U.S. base in Jordan on Friday, U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) confirmed Saturday.
"On July 17, two U.S. service members in Jordan were killed in action as U.S. Central Command … and partner forces defended against Iranian ballistic missile and drone attacks. Additionally, one service member is currently missing," CENTCOM wrote in a statement on X.
"Four American service members were medically evacuated to Jordanian hospitals. They have since been discharged. Other personnel who were evaluated for minor injuries have returned to duty," CENTCOM wrote.
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Out of respect for the families, CENTCOM will withhold additional information, including the identities of the fallen warriors, until 24 hours after the next of kin have been notified," the post concluded.
War Secretary Pete Hegseth responded to the news on X Saturday, saying, "Godspeed, heroes. Their sacrifice only stiffens our resolve."
The service members' deaths mark the first U.S. deaths in the Iran war since fighting resumed in June following the collapse of a ceasefire and memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the U.S. and Iran. 16 total U.S. service members have died in the conflict since the war began in February.
IRANIANS SPEAK OUT OVER POSSIBLE TRUMP-REGIME DEAL
Iran's strikes on Jordan come amidst a wider wave of Iranian attacks on U.S. allies in the Persian Gulf. Iran has launched missile and drone strikes on Kuwait and Qatar in recent days as well.
The attacks followed a six-day U.S. attack campaign in Iran in response to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) attacking commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz.
Fox News Digital contacted the White House and CENTCOM for additional comment.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.