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Mexican national made knife from pens, tried stabbing passenger in the brain on Vegas-bound flight, DOJ says
A Mexican national who was granted lawful permanent resident status in 2018 pleaded guilty Thursday after admitting he bundled three pens together with hair bands before boarding a Seattle-to-Las Vegas flight, then tried to stab another passenger "through the eye to reach his brain," according to federal prosecutors.
The terrifying attack unfolded about 30 minutes before the plane was scheduled to land in Las Vegas, when Julio Alvarez Lopez allegedly left his seat, walked to the restroom and, after returning, suddenly began punching, hitting and stabbing a passenger seated across the aisle, according to a federal criminal complaint obtained by Fox News Digital.
Witnesses told investigators there was "blood everywhere" as the victim's wife screamed at Lopez to stop attacking her husband. During the struggle, the complaint says she was struck while shielding the couple's 7-year-old son.
After the attack, Lopez "began walking towards the front of the aircraft," according to the complaint. As he moved up the aisle, a witness told investigators Lopez repeatedly yelled, "I'll only talk to the FBI."
CHAOS ERUPTS ON AMERICAN AIRLINES FLIGHT AS UNRULY PASSENGER ALLEGEDLY BITES FELLOW TRAVELER MIDAIR
A sworn law enforcement officer aboard the flight ordered Lopez to sit down before flight attendants provided flex cuffs and passengers restrained him for the remainder of the flight, according to the complaint.
The flight landed safely at Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas, where officers with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department took Lopez into custody.
PASSENGER ALLEGEDLY BOARDS FLIGHT WITH FAKE BOARDING PASS, FORCING PLANE BACK TO GATE
According to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Nevada, Lopez pleaded guilty to one count of assault with a dangerous weapon stemming from the Jan. 24, 2024, attack.
During an interview with FBI agents and after waiving his Miranda rights, Lopez admitted he made the weapon before boarding the aircraft by bundling three pens together with hair bands.
Investigators said Lopez told them he believed the victim, identified in court documents as C.R., had been following him during the flight. Lopez also said he believed C.R. "was the Cartel" and that he was trying to get him to stop following him.
'HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER' ACTOR NICK PASQUAL CONVICTED OF ATTEMPTED MURDER FOR STABBING EX-GIRLFRIEND
The complaint further states Lopez told investigators he had never seen C.R. before the flight but, "planned on attacking and killing him."
According to investigators, Lopez admitted he intended to kill the victim by stabbing him in the eye.
"I planned on attacking and killing him," Lopez told investigators, according to the complaint.
Lopez also admitted to investigators he was trying to stab C.R. "through the eye to reach C.R.'s brain to kill him."
According to prosecutors, the victim suffered injuries to his body and eye area that required stitches.
Court documents say witnesses noticed Lopez acting strangely before the attack. One passenger told investigators Lopez appeared "fidgety," repeatedly put gloves on and took them off, got into his backpack several times and avoided making eye contact with other passengers.
A witness described Lopez as having "gray/white hair tied in a bun on the top of his head," and wearing a sweatshirt at the time.
Another witness said Lopez stood up twice as the aircraft began descending into Las Vegas, went to the restroom, then returned to his seat before suddenly launching the attack.
The complaint also states Lopez told investigators he was seeking asylum in the United States and believed the mafia had been chasing him for several months.
Lopez is scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 22.
Democratic infighting grows as congresswoman exposes ‘disrespectful’ welcome of socialists into ‘big tent’
A deepening rift within the Democratic Party is coming into sharper focus as the establishment grows frustrated with the rising influence of the party’s socialist wing.
Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., called out her Democratic colleagues for their "disrespectful" welcome of socialists into the "big tent" party.
"I think that there are a lot of very disrespectful comments that are coming from some parts of the Democratic Party that are dismissing the voters who elected these individuals," Jayapal told CNN.
She made the comments as socialism gains ground within the Democratic Party, with socialist candidates securing major primary victories and unseating established Democrats.
RAHM EMANUEL WARNS NEW GENERATION OF DEM SOCIALISTS DON'T LIKE AMERICA
All three congressional candidates endorsed by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani — Brad Lander, Claire Valdez and Darializa Avila Chevalier — won their respective Democratic primaries, reflecting an increasing acceptance of the far-left movement within the party.
Jayapal, who serves as chair emerita of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, argued the victories show that Americans are seeking fiercer leadership.
DSA’S THIRD MAJOR PRIMARY WIN DEEPENS DEMOCRATS’ FIGHT OVER THE PARTY’S FUTURE
"I think people are sick and tired of the old establishment politics that too many Democrats were part of moving forward, and they're ready for something bolder," the Democratic representative said.
Jayapal raised concerns about the treatment of moderates compared with progressives within the "big tent" party, urging fairer treatment of the latter.
"Why is it that every time a moderate wins an election, people are like, ‘That's the new blueprint for the Democratic Party.’ But if a progressive or a Democratic socialist wins, ‘Oh, the whole party's falling to hell in a handbasket.’"
MS NOW HOST ACCUSES DEMOCRATIC SENATOR OF GASLIGHTING AFTER HE DODGED ON SOCIALIST'S POSTS
Jayapal slammed Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, a prominent Democrat, saying he was "wrong" for arguing that some democratic socialists are engaging in performative politics.
She said Democrats must learn to understand what it means to be a "big tent" party.
"I find it really insulting to say that Democratic socialists are just making noise," she told CNN.
"I think you have to ask, ‘Why is it that we've lost so many Democratic voters?’ In these races, where democratic socialists are winning, where progressives are winning, even in very tough swing states, it's because they are bringing voters back."
Dana White says Donald Trump wouldn't stop pushing to make the White House UFC event bigger
The UFC's Freedom 250 event at the White House was a total success.
And after putting on the most-watched UFC fight of all time, UFC chief Dana White is taking a victory lap.
White is prominently featured in the new Fox documentary, UFC Fight House: The Making of the Biggest Fight in History.
TRUMP MARKS 80TH BIRTHDAY WITH PATRIOTIC UFC FREEDOM 250 SPECTACLE ON WHITE HOUSE SOUTH LAWN
The UFC president visited "The Will Cain Show" on Thursday and broke down the massive success of the June 14 UFC festivities on the White House South Lawn.
WATCH:
Real UFC fans celebrated the incredible main event, while others marveled at the spectacular show staged right at the doorstep of the White House.
White told Cain that the reality of the situation surpassed anything Hollywood could dream up.
"If you wrote a script, you wouldn't believe all the things that happen in this thing," White said.
Clips from the show displayed President Donald Trump leading discussions during the early stage-building phase of the project.
The man's a builder.
Standing on the historic grounds before the fight, Trump mapped out the massive outdoor setup, looking to squeeze in as many seats as possible.
"You could have an arena of 8,000 right here, and then you could do something there nice, whether it's stand-up or seats, around the fountain. What do you think your maximum is?" Trump said in the clips.
Trump didn't beg; he demanded an impressive stage build on the lawn, even if the historic terrain presented unique obstacles.
"My concept was right smack at the front door to the White House, build it as big as you can, you know, we're a little confined because of trees and these beautiful plantings and everything else, so it's not easy," the president said during the planning.
Cain pointed out that having the president of the United States greasing the wheels definitely helped speed things along.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COM
White agreed, saying Trump helped lead the logistical challenge of pulling off the event.
"Well, he was the one that kept pushing us harder and harder to be able to get more seats and to get people in there," White said.
"[Trump] was pushing hard on that, and every time he would push, we would try to figure it out. But, I mean, we built basically a stadium on the South Lawn of the White House, and then I think what we did at The Ellipse is even more impressive.
"I mean everything that went into that and the amount of people that were over there."
According to the UFC, the Freedom 250 event shattered records as the most-watched domestic event in company history, racking up 34 million global viewers.
Also, an estimated 85,000 fans packed the Fan Fest at the Ellipse.
The most unbelievable moment of the entire event came down to the elements. White detailed a bizarre, almost miraculous weather event that saved the outdoor fight night just as things looked grim.
"Literally, the storm is coming to hit the White House and it breaks apart and goes around the White House and the Ellipse and continues on," White shared. "It's incredible, unbelievable, and it was an amazing night."
Things got off to a shaky start when a thunderstorm struck D.C. that fight weekend, pushing back the fighters' Friday night press conference at the Lincoln Memorial.
Ultimately, the high-stakes gamble paid off perfectly for everyone involved.
"And battling the weather, the elements, you know, all the unknown, the event could not have gone better," White concluded.
Send us your thoughts: alejandro.avila@outkick.com / Follow along on X: @alejandroaveela
'Milestone': Scientists claim to build synthetic cell, raising concerns in step toward artificial life
Scientists at the University of Minnesota say they have built the most life-like synthetic cell yet, creating a laboratory-made system assembled entirely from nonliving components that can grow, replicate its genetic material, divide and even pass beneficial traits to future generations.
The researchers describe the work as a major step toward building artificial life but said the synthetic cells cannot survive outside carefully controlled laboratory conditions and require externally supplied nutrients and specialized components to grow and divide.
Their findings were published Thursday as a preprint on bioRxiv, meaning the research has not yet undergone peer review.
SCIENTISTS UNVEIL 'LIVING BANDAGE' THAT COULD DRAMATICALLY SPEED WOUND HEALING
"One of the most ambitious and fascinating goals of bioengineering is to build a biochemical system that could cross the threshold from chemistry to life," the researchers wrote. They said the work demonstrates "the first minimal cell with a cell cycle, genetically encoded growth and division, all coupled to selection and competition."
The researchers call the synthetic cell "SpudCell." Unlike earlier approaches that started with living organisms, SpudCell was assembled from chemically defined, nonliving components.
Its 90,000-base-pair genome enables the synthetic cell to produce proteins, replicate its DNA, feed, grow and divide into daughter cells.
AI-DESIGNED 'UNIVERSAL VACCINE' PASSES FIRST HUMAN CLINICAL TRIAL, COULD PREVENT FUTURE PANDEMICS
Researchers also introduced a genetic mutation that allowed some synthetic cells to grow faster than others. After several generations, those faster-growing cells produced more offspring and became increasingly common in the population, demonstrating a basic form of natural selection.
The team said the work represents "key milestones towards construction of synthetic life" and could eventually provide a foundation for "fully artificial organisms" designed for biotechnology applications.
Still, the researchers acknowledged that the system remains far less capable than even the simplest living cells. The synthetic cells cannot survive outside laboratory conditions, require externally supplied nutrients and specialized components and rely on ribosomes purified from E. coli bacteria. After five generations, researchers found that only about 30% of daughter cells inherited the complete synthetic genome.
SCIENTISTS UNVEIL 'LIVING BANDAGE' THAT COULD DRAMATICALLY SPEED WOUND HEALING
Those limitations mean the work falls well short of creating self-sustaining artificial life, but researchers said it demonstrates that many of life's defining characteristics can be recreated from nonliving materials.
The researchers also acknowledged that increasingly sophisticated synthetic cells could raise new biosafety and biosecurity questions.
Fox News Digital has reached out to the University of Minnesota research team for comment on the matter.
"This project offers a significant milestone towards evolvability of synthetic cells, making it more likely that more robust, autonomous systems will be available soon," the authors wrote, adding that the progress "highlights the urgent need to develop a safety and security framework for future synthetic cell engineering."
Future work, the researchers said, will focus on making synthetic cells more self-sufficient by regenerating more of their own molecular machinery, improving how genomes are distributed during cell division and allowing mutations to arise naturally rather than being introduced by researchers.
Couple publicly caned after alleged TikTok kiss sparks outrage in Indonesia
A young couple in Indonesia was publicly caned Thursday after allegedly kissing during a TikTok livestream.
The couple — a 22-year-old man and a 25-year-old woman — each received 21 lashes, according to The Associated Press.
They were reportedly convicted of violating local morality laws under an Islamic Sharia court in Indonesia’s conservative Aceh province.
The pair, who were detained in March, had already spent four months in prison prior to the punishment, which ultimately reduced their sentence from 25 lashes to 21, the AP said.
According to local authorities, the couple filmed a TikTok video inside a car one night in March.
As the video went viral, they were subsequently apprehended for what officials described as an "immoral act."
"Their actions were uncovered thanks to reports from residents who were disturbed by their immoral livestream content," Sharia police said in April.
"The trigger was their livestream on TikTok while engaging in immoral acts in the car," Head of the Sharia Police Muhammad Rizal added in his statement. "This sparked criticism from netizens and local residents, who then reported them to the authorities."
The court also confiscated a cellphone and a USB flash drive containing the TikTok video, which authorities promised to destroy, according to the AP.
A Banda Aceh resident who attended the caning, 22-year-old Aini Nadhirah, said she believed the punishment was "entirely justified."
"In my opinion, this caning is entirely justified because it serves as a warning to other Aceh residents to be more careful when using social media," Nadhirah said, according to the AP.
"It also raises awareness that such actions are unacceptable, thereby educating the public."
STUNNING PHOTOS CAPTURE MOMENT ONE OF INDONESIA'S MOST ACTIVE VOLCANOES ERUPTS
Aceh is the only province in Muslim-majority Indonesia that enforces its own Islamic Criminal Code governing moral conduct.
The province’s right to implement Islamic law was granted by Indonesia’s secular central government around 2005 as part of a peace deal to end a separatist insurgency. The policy was later expanded to apply to non-Muslims.
Under the law, moral offenses — including adultery and same-sex relations — can carry penalties of up to 100 lashes. Caning is also used for individuals accused of gambling, drinking, adultery and premarital intimacy.
Public caning in Aceh has long drawn criticism from human rights groups, including Amnesty International Indonesia, which has called the practice cruel and degrading.
Despite Indonesia having ratified international conventions prohibiting cruel punishment, authorities in Aceh defend the practice, arguing it does not fall under such a definition.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
The unwinnable war America's Founding Fathers fought and won changed human history forever
Two hundred and fifty ago, 56 men met in the Pennsylvania State House in Philadelphia to commit treason against the most powerful empire on Earth.
Representing 13 colonies of that empire, these men – a mix of landowners, entrepreneurs, politicians and others – had become enamored with a new set of ideas flowing from enlightenment thinkers and Christian teaching. Those convictions led them to start a war no sane person believed they could win.
Remember what government looked like back then. We now live in the world those 56 men created – a world in which even dictatorships like North Korea cloak themselves in the language of "republic."
But in 1776, freedom, equality and self-governance were nascent concepts espoused by philosophers and adopted only incompletely in a few small enclaves. The vast majority of countries in the world were hereditary monarchies and empires under which equal rights and individual liberty were not contemplated. The Founders’ fight seemed incomprehensible.
In launching it, the Second Continental Congress largely tasked one man – Thomas Jefferson – with drafting the document that would articulate their vision for humanity and this new country and reshape history.
Imagine how he must have felt. Jefferson secluded himself from June 11 to June 28 in a rented home on Market Street to draft the document. He was 33 years old at the time. In isolation in that rented townhome he drafted what I think is one of the most beautiful passages in history:
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
Read it again. Read it as if you were living under a Spanish colony in South America or under the iron fist of the Qing dynasty in China. Read it as if you were a poor tenant farmer under the oppressive rule of King George in Virginia or an enslaved person in Georgia (whose freedom under the principles of the Declaration was still decades away).
WHY THE MAGA MOVEMENT IS THE 1776 REVOLUTION OF OUR TIME
Read it as if you grew up in a system that assumed you were worth less than your neighbor by virtue of your social station, and under which your future was limited by the circumstances of your birth.
The Declaration was, in fact, a "revolutionary" statement articulating the ideological and factual basis for a coup against empire. But spiritually, it was more important than that.
It was a revolution against history. It was a revolution against the idea that some men (and women) are worth more than others. It was a revolution for the idea of dignity, human rights, and equality before law.
And when Jefferson submitted his document to the Congress, and those 56 men signed it and shipped it off to King George and to others rulers around the world, they ignited a war in the America colonies that would become a centuries-long war to transform the globe from tyranny to liberty.
READ: THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE
War they got. Five of the signers were captured, tortured and killed. Nine died from wounds or hardships fighting in the war. All were impacted – raked by violence, their homes and property ravaged, their children thrust into the violence they created. They starved. They lost battles.
They must have wondered if it was worth it – these ideals that had caused them to plunge a nation into violence. And then, unexpectedly, they won.
In creating America, those Founding Fathers reshaped history. We now live in a world in which nearly half of countries are democracies. The combination of political freedom, free markets and the technological innovation unleashed by those systems has lifted billions of people out of poverty – creating a world more than 100 times richer than the one that existed at the time of the Declaration of Independence.
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The dominant ideology now globally is the one articulated in the Declaration. And the revolution in America has become a revolution in human history.
This weekend in the United States we celebrate Independence Day. We celebrate 56 men who risked everything. But we also solemnly reflect on the charge of the Declaration and its authors.
All people are created equal. We are all endowed by our Creator with inalienable rights. Each of us deserves life, liberty, and the ability to pursue our own unique paths to flourishing. But those inalienable rights are not guaranteed. As our forebears, we are called to embrace and fight for them.
Abraham Lincoln once noted that great men "thirst and burn for distinction" and will have it, "whether at the expense of emancipating slaves, or enslaving free men." And around the world the powers that oppose liberty, dignity and opportunity fight ceaselessly to dominate others.
May we, on this Independence Day, marking America's 250th, fight back. May we have the audacity and conviction to oppose the enemies of liberty and to continue to fight for the promise of the Declaration and America’s spiritual foundation. May we do so out of love – for our neighbors and for the blessings of the Creator. And may we gain courage from the example of those 56 men, their hundreds of thousands of compatriots, and the unwinnable war they won. Happy Independence Day.
Zohran Mamdani admits he wants to end his ‘one-sided beef’ about taxes with rapper 50 Cent
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani admitted Wednesday he would love to end his one-sided feud with rapper 50 Cent.
While appearing on the "Complex" podcast, Mamdani was put on the spot by host Jillian Superstar when she asked the socialist mayor, "If you were to have a dinner party — that I know I'd be invited to after this interview — who would be your dream dinner party guest, dead or alive?"
His first choice, he answered, would be Mayor Fiorello La Guardia, who he touted as the greatest mayor of New York City in history.
ZOHRAN MAMDANI PRAISED FOR 'FANTASTIC' QUESTION-DODGING ON PRESIDENTIAL ELIGIBILITY
"I would throw in 50 Cent so we could have a conversation around tax policy," he added.
"A very much needed conversation," the interviewer agreed.
During an interview on "The Breakfast Club" last year, the mayor noted that while he was a fan of 50 Cent, the musician wasn't a fan of his tax policy.
"I know if 50 Cent is listening, he's not going to be happy about this. He tends to not like this tax policy, but I want to be very clear: This is about $20,000 a year. It's a rounding error. And all of these things together, they make every New Yorker's life better, including those who are actually getting taxed now," Mamdani said during the June 2025 podcast.
The rapper responded shortly after by asking, "Where did he come from? Whose friend is this? I’m not feeling this plan. No. I will give him $258,750 and a first-class one-way ticket away from NY. I’m telling Trump what he said too!"
BILLIONAIRE FIRES BACK AT MAMDANI, SAYS BUSINESS LEADERS MUST 'FIGHT FOR THEIR CITY'
Mamdani noted during Wednesday's interview that he was still a fan of 50 Cent, even if 50 Cent wasn't a fan of his policies. Superstar showed this to be true, playing a clip of the mayor quoting the rapper’s song, "Get Rich or Die Tryin,'" during a recent commencement speech.
"So, it's a one-sided beef?" the interviewer asked.
"It's a one-sided beef," Mamdani agreed.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE COVERAGE OF MEDIA AND CULTURE
"I think we're always going to have a disagreement on that tax policy," he added. "I want to increase taxes on the wealthiest. He does not want that to happen. But I will still appreciate the song 'Many Men,' whatever our disagreements are."
Representatives for 50 Cent did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.
ESPN must hold Stephen A accountable after doubling down on racist remarks about White basketball players
Stephen A. Smith is doubling down on his racist commentary, insisting the Los Angeles Lakers cannot succeed if their top three players are White.
On Wednesday, Smith mocked the team's trade for Walker Kessler, pairing him with Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves.
"Where the hell the Los Angeles Lakers think they are going with a bunch of White dudes?" he asked on his podcast. "Your three top players are White dudes. Really? This is basketball."
He then asked, "In NBA history, when has a team led by three White dudes ever gone to the promised land? Somebody gotta say it."
After facing criticism, Smith responded Thursday by declaring he "ain't backing down." He argued it's "just facts" that championship teams need "Black brothers" to help "White dudes" win.
https://x.com/stephenasmith/status/2072744504650559747
Consider that Smith is this worked up simply because the Lakers' top players happen to be White.
Notice, too, how illogical his argument becomes. In defending himself, Smith acknowledged the greatness of Larry Bird, Dirk Nowitzki, Luka Doncic, Nikola Jokic, Steve Nash and Cooper Flagg. If he acknowledges that White players can be just as great as Black players, then there's no logical reason three elite White players couldn't win together without "Black brothers."
By Smith's own logic, it would simply mean no team has assembled the right White trio yet. But that isn't what he argued. He claimed a team cannot win with three White stars because no team has.
The distinction matters.
By that reasoning, no NFL team could win a Super Bowl with a Black quarterback, Black head coach and Black general manager. Of course, that's not true. It just hasn't happened yet. Still, if someone argued otherwise, Smith and his ilk would rage in fury.
The double standard is obvious.
LET'S HAVE AN HONEST CONVERSATION ABOUT CAITLIN CLARK, RACISM, AND MEDIA COWARDICE | BOBBY BURACK
Notice how much stronger the reaction has been to Colin Cowherd reporting that teams viewed new 76ers forward Jaylen Brown as "arrogant," a possible explanation for his underwhelming trade market. Cowherd relayed what teams reportedly believed. Smith, meanwhile, is explicitly arguing that White players are inherently inferior.
Smith didn't make these comments off the cuff. His social media team promoted the clips, and he has continued defending them. In his latest video, he argued the comments "had to be said." It's unclear why, other than that he appears to believe White players should know their place.
But the larger issue isn't just Stephen A. Smith.
Since 2020, society has increasingly normalized, if not rewarded, for making openly hostile racial comments about White people. There is no accountability for it. In some cases, there are incentives, with White executives continuing to elevate personalities who traffic in racial grievance because it's safer than confronting them.
That's why certain media figures seem to pretend to be racist, including Jemele Hill and former ESPN broadcaster Mark Jones. Whether genuine or performative, they understand there's value with their bosses and with "Black Twitter" in cultivating hostility toward White people.
It's transparent. And it's ugly.
Smith did not respond to OutKick's request for comment.
ZERO BS. JUST DAKICH. TAKE THE DON'T @ ME PODCAST ON THE ROAD. DOWNLOAD NOW!
Smith's comments should not be acceptable. Even on his own platform, he remains one of ESPN's most prominent personalities. Yet there's little reason to believe his employer will hold him accountable.
OutKick has repeatedly asked ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro over the past year why he allows Black commentator to make bigoted remarks about White people and White athletes. On occasion, Pitaro has sent a PR stooge to call me names off the record.
Pitaro himself has never publicly addressed the issue -- or privately.
Sources tell OutKick that Pitaro backed Mark Jones in 2020 when Jones falsely accused police officers of plotting to shoot him. He also defended Kendrick Perkins in 2023 after Perkins falsely accused NBA MVP voters of favoring White players based on inaccurate claims about the racial makeup of the voting pool.
Just imagine the message Pitaro could send if he simply acknowledged Smith's comments as racially inappropriate. It would cause lesser-known race idolaters at ESPN to think twice before making similar remarks on air.
But he likely won't. Pitaro has shown a consistent pattern of cowardice since assuming the chairman role in 2018.
That's why the consensus ESPN commentary about Caitlin Clark is that the Black women who cheap-shot and hard-foul her out of animosity are the true victims, not Clark, no matter how many black eyes and injuries she sustains.
It's pathetic.
Pitaro has enabled a culture in which black commentators feel beyond consequence, while everyone else walks on eggshells, hoping he doesn't lay them off.
Still, one has to ask a simple question: Who exactly is the target audience for segments like Stephen A.'s rant about "white dudes" on the basketball court?
Seriously.
Maybe Black people are better at basketball than White people on average. It's certainly possible. But so what? Who tunes into sports talk to hear that? What's the point?
Likewise, who is looking for a sports talk show to argue that white people are better at golf, as Smith also claimed during his rant?
Anyone?
We ask because Smith's former colleagues tried this approach before. ESPN gave Bomani Jones three shows that covered sports primarily through a racial lens. All of them failed and posted historically poor ratings in their respective time slots. Jemele Hill tried it. It failed. Dan Le Batard leaned heavily into similar commentary and saw ESPN's radio affiliate count dramatically shrink during his tenure.
Believe it or not, sports fans don't watch games counting the number of White and Black athletes involved. Only the media does.
And until a Black commentator is held responsible for making openly hostile remarks about White people, nothing will change. In other words, nothing will change.
As soon as these anti-White commentators are done dog-whistling about the Lakers' new White trio and Caitlin Clark, they'll move on to the media-generated race war between Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson.
Rinse and repeat.
But since Stephen A. Smith is so eager to point out patterns, here's one.
His show most days features him alongside an almost entirely Black panel of commentators. First Take's ratings have become a problem. They're sluggish compared with the shows immediately before and after it, hosted by White dudes Mike Greenberg and Pat McAfee.
In fact, sources say Smith has told executives at ESPN to stop booking guests who appear on his show on Greenberg's the same day, as a result.
Should we point that out because it's "just facts"?
United States-Bosnia and Herzegovina World Cup match delivers massive TV ratings
Any time the U.S. men's national team steps on the pitch, it's going to draw a lot of eyeballs, but Wednesday's match against Bosnia and Herzegovina was historic.
Preliminary numbers from Nielsen report that the broadcast on Fox averaged 24.43 million viewers, peaking at 31.88 million late in the game.
That was enough to make it the largest English-language audience for a soccer broadcast in U.S. history.
WATCH THE WORLD CUP FINAL ON FOX ONE
It edged out the previous record holder — the 2015 Women's World Cup final between the U.S. and Japan — which averaged 22.32 million viewers, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Telemundo's Spanish telecast of the game brought in 9.1 million viewers for a combined total of 33.53 million, easily a record for a soccer match broadcast in the United States.
But what else is new? This World Cup has been obliterating ratings records since it started.
FOX ONE’S NEW WORLD CUP VIEWING EXPERIENCE
The highly anticipated clash saw the U.S. trying to win its first knockout stage match since 2002 and bounce back from a disappointing loss to Turkey that capped off the group stage.
Meanwhile, Bosnia and Herzegovina looked to play spoiler after advancing from Group B as a third-place team, hoping to eliminate the United States on its home soil.
In the end, the U.S. came out with a 2-0 win, but it came at a cost. Star striker Folarin Balogun was on the receiving end of a wildly controversial red card that not only took him out of the match against Bosnia and Herzegovina — forcing the U.S. to play the last 25 minutes or so a man down — but also ruled him out of Monday's Round of 16 match against Belgium.
The crazy flag designs … that could have been our new flag
The American flag is so familiar, but do you know that the design could have been something you would not recognize?
Back in 1958, as talk of the admission of two new states to the union swept the country, the Eisenhower administration was deluged with varying designs for a new 50-star flag.
"People begin sending in ideas for how the new flag should look," said Dr. Jim Ginther, the supervisory archivist for the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum in Abilene, Kansas, which has kept all the submissions from back then.
"Suddenly there's a massive public interest again in the design of the flag. Beginning in July 1958, the White House begins receiving designs from the public, as does the Quartermaster Corps of the Army, from all over the country and from all over the world."
ERIC SHAWN REVEALS SURPRISING DESIGNER OF CURRENT AMERICAN FLAG
The story of the 50-star flag is told in the first episode of the new series, "Crazy American History with Eric Shawn," now streaming on Fox Nation.
One star was added to the flag in January 1959 when Alaska joined the union as the 49th state.
The 50th star was added with the admission of Hawaii as a state, and that new flag was officially raised for the first time July 4, 1960, at Fort McHenry, in Baltimore, site of the War of 1812 bombardment that inspired Francis Scott Key to write "The Star-Spangled Banner."
But in the two years before President Eisenhower settled on the new design for the Stars and Stripes, flag fever gripped the nation.
The White House eventually received more than 1,900 designs, many from school children as part of their lessons from the classroom publication "My Weekly Reader."
Adults from across the country, and even overseas, submitted their proposals.
"Some of them are coming in as simple as pencil drawings, some of them are as fancy as Draftsman's drawing. Some of them are sewn flags made out of cloth. Some of them are crayon drawings," Ginther noted.
The Eisenhower administration used the opportunity to educate Americans about the flag and responded to every submission with a letter from a top White House official.
"Several publications are produced by the government about the history of the flag, about flag etiquette, about various other aspects of use of the flag that they begin to send back out to the public, along with these letters thanking them for their submissions to educate the public about the flag."
The Continental Congress enacted the flag on June 14, 1777, which is now observed as flag day.
Betsy Ross is credited with designing the first flag with the 13 stars in a circle for the original 13 colonies.
The guidelines call for a design of alternating red and white stripes with a blue field for the stars.
But Ginther noted that the way the stars were to be laid out was never specified, which means some of the designs can appear to be curious and compelling.
But a massive change was not to be.
"The flag is symbolic," said Ginther.
NEIGHBOR SURPRISES HOMEOWNER WITH BRAND-NEW AMERICAN FLAG
"Radical change in it is going to be difficult. People are used to that symbol. It comes out in the deliberations over the flags, in the documentation," he said. "Radically changing the flag is going to be expensive, so we have to take that into consideration as well. And then you have to consider that particularly, our military, has a vested sentimental interest, in that they have fought and bled under that flag.
"There is reason, perhaps, why you might not want a radical change, even though many people in the country were interested in submitting designs. There is also an argument to be made for not being very radical in a redesign of the flag as a symbol of the nation."
In the end, President Eisenhower selected a similar design to the historical tradition, adding the two stars in alternating rows of six and five stars, on the blue field where it has been so familiar ever since.
It is the flag that represents our freedoms and the American ideals on our nation's 250th birthday.
Watch "The Fifty-Star Flag," the first episode of the new Fox Nation series "Crazy American History" for more on President Eisenhower and the flag.
The website of the Eisenhower Presidential Library, Museum and Boyhood Home tells more about the flag and the president: https://www.eisenhowerlibrary.gov/