There are huge parties happening by land, sea, and air.

It also happens to be that place's state animal.

When two laser beams crossed, one interfered with the passage of the other.

Yellowstone National Park is home to a small – but extremely strange – lake.

It's so big, it can be seen from space.

Alina Habba, a top ally of President-elect Donald Trump, announced on Thursday that while she has been "flattered" by the calls for her to be the next White House press secretary, she has decided to turn down the high-profile role.Since Trump's historic election win, Habba's name has been one of the few thrown around for the job. Habba has faced media firestorms when she has represented Trump during his legal battles."While I am flattered by the support and speculation, the role of Press Secretary is not a role I am considering. Although I love screaming from a podium I will be better served in other capacities. This [administration] is going to be epic! So proud of the Trump team, the latest appointments and 47!" Habba said on X.'Hire loyal and smart staff.'Mediaite reported earlier this week that Habba was the front-runner to be press secretary and had meetings at Mar-a-Lago about the role.“Donald Trump is the premier programmer and producer-in-chief; he casts for the on-air roles,” the source told Mediaite. “Alina is camera-ready and tested on day one. But more importantly she’s battle-tested after being in the front lines with POTUS the last four years.”Axios reports other people being considered are Trump campaign national press secretary Karoline Leavitt, former ESPN host Sage Steele, and CNN contributor Scott Jennings. A former George W. Bush appointee, Jennings has made a name for himself this election cycle being a cool-headed Trump defender often outnumbered by the liberal guests and hosts.Top Trump campaign communications staffers Steven Cheung and Danielle Alvarez are vying to be White House communications director.Sean Spicer, who was Trump's first press secretary during his first term, offered advice to whoever will do his previous job."First, always have the most up-to-date information on what the president thinks on policy and personnel matters. Check in with him frequently, and double-check if you have to. He is his own best spokesman. Despite what staff may say, the decision is always his, and the exact words communicating a decision or announcement are critical," Spicer wrote."Hire loyal and smart staff. There are only about a dozen staffers in the press office, so you can’t afford to have any dead weight or disloyal people on the team," he added. "There will be countless attempts to write 'process stories' about feuding among staff, or young inexperienced people looking to cash in and write tell-all books. You can avoid that by hiring people who are dedicated and focused."Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Newly elected Senate Republican Majority Leader John Thune has made efforts to override his past comments criticizing President-elect Donald Trump, vowing to work alongside him.Thune defeated Republican Sens. John Cornyn of Texas and Rick Scott of Florida on Wednesday in the race to replace retiring Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. Although Thune has emphatically promised to work alongside Trump in his newfound role, he has not always been so enthusiastic. Despite this, Thune insisted that there was 'no daylight' between him and Trump just hours before he narrowly won his leadership position. Thune had called for Trump to drop out of the 2016 race following the release of the Billy Bush tape, saying, "Mike Pence should be our nominee effective immediately.Thune was also asked in a 2022 interview whether he would support Trump as the Republican nominee in 2024."I hope we have other options," Thune responded. "And I think we will have other options."However, the jabs have gone both ways. The two also butted heads when Thune refused to block the certification of the 2020 election, prompting Trump to call him a "RINO" and "Mitch's boy," referencing his relationship with McConnell. Even going into the congressional GOP leadership elections, Thune repeatedly urged Trump to stay out of the issue of the leadership election. Despite this, Thune insisted that there was "no daylight" between him and Trump just hours before he narrowly won his leadership position. "The American people have loudly rejected the failed policies of the Biden-Harris-Schumer agenda," Thune said in a press conference following his leadership victory. "This Republican team is united. We are on one team. We are excited to reclaim the majority and get to work with our colleagues in the House to enact President Trump's agenda.""We have a mandate from the American people," Thune continued. "A mandate not only to clean up the mess left by the Biden-Harris-Schumer agenda, but also to deliver on President Trump's priorities." Along with implementing Trump's agenda, Thune had previously agreed to the president-elect's demand to allow recess appointments. "We must act quickly and decisively to get the president’s nominees in place as soon as possible, & all options are on the table to make that happen, including recess appointments," Thune said in an X post from Sunday. "We cannot let Schumer and Senate Dems block the will of the American people."Since then, Trump has made some bombshell Cabinet nominations. Most notably, Trump nominated Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz (Fla.) for attorney general, which sparked an onslaught of online hysteria, as well as hesitation from some Republican lawmakers. Thune's office did not directly comment on whether the senator would work with Trump to ensure Gaetz's confirmation. Rather, Blaze News was redirected to Thune's earlier press conference in which he vowed to "enact President Trump's agenda."In a confirmation battle after the incoming Senate class takes office on January 2, Gaetz can afford to lose only three Republican votes. Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

UFC contender Michael Chandler said that Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg should be welcomed into the mix of Donald Trump supporters instead of being shunned.Chandler was asked during a panel discussion on the Patrick Bet-David podcast what kind of influence UFC fighters have on a person of Zuckerberg's stature."Is there s*** talking? Are you talking to him, what influence does the UFC have on him?" Bet-David asked.Chandler noted that he met the Meta CEO at a UFC event and said that while he and Zuckerberg are on "different ends" of the political spectrum, he still believes in catching bees with honey as opposed to vinegar. 'That testosterone started going through the roof ... he realized what being a sovereign individual means.'"There should be a little bit of accountability, right, but also a guy like Zuck has a very, very heavy hand. A guy like Zuck has a lot of influence," Chandler noted, implying he could be helpful in a push for greater freedom.In terms of Zuckerberg possibly becoming more conservative, Chandler chalked it up to Zuckerberg's recent obsession with jiujitsu and mixed martial arts training."I just think Zuck started training, that testosterone started going through the roof ... he realized what being a sovereign individual means. You don't know how not sovereign you are until you stand in front of a man, and he beats the crap out of you, and then you pick yourself back up and you do it again, or you get choked out and then you got to get up and do it again."Chandler continued, "I think Zuck has started to realize that, and now he's starting to lean over [to the right] a little bit."Former UFC title holder Jorge Masvidal was asked to chime in on the panel as well and explained that martial arts training does wonders for the ego."Whether you win or lose, you kind of walk into a room, and you don't feel you have an ego as much, and I think that definitely helps and like Mike was saying, once you get your butt kicked a couple times, it really makes you humble, and it makes you see life a different way."Masvidal added that money in the bank doesn't mean anything when "someone's on top of your face punching your teeth in.""I think [Zuckerberg] training has just brought [out] that side of him, and also I think how rapidly the country was deteriorating was probably the biggest thing he saw."Zuckerberg has famously won a gold medal and a silver medal in jiujitsu tournaments in Silicon Valley in May 2023 and is on record telling comedian Joe Rogan in 2020 that he has experience in tae kwon do, karate, and judo.For a short time, Zuckerberg and Elon Musk had agreed to a fight in a UFC cage causing the Facebook boss to take lessons with prominent UFC fighters. The fight has not been talked about in 2024, however.In terms of the political leanings of the UFC fighters, Chandler said that when fighters are locked in a cage with nobody to help, they tend to take a "different mentality." Chandler also joked that he thought UFC star Conor McGregor was "voting for Kamala [Harris]" and that's why their fight was canceled.Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

One of biggest blunders of Kamala Harris' failed presidential campaign was the decision to skip an interview with Joe Rogan.Rogan, host of the No. 1 podcast in the world, said that Harris' campaign reached out to him after learning that Donald Trump was scheduled to appear on the show. But according to Rogan, the Harris campaign tried to set the parameters for the interview, including not filming in Rogan's Austin-based podcast studio and limiting the interview to just one hour.'There was a backlash with some of our progressive staff that didn't want her to be on it.'Rogan rejected those demands, urging Harris to play by the same rules as every other guest of "The Joe Rogan Experience" — including Trump, Vice President-elect JD Vance, and Sen. John Fetterman (D-Penn.), all of whom spoke with Rogan in the closing days of the election.The decision to skip Rogan's podcast was mind-boggling. Rogan has one of the largest, most engaged audiences in all of media. Plus, the podcast would have allowed Harris to reach more men while giving her the opportunity to demonstrate a semblance of authenticity. More than a week after Harris' election loss, we now know why Harris ultimately refused to appear on Rogan's podcast.Jennifer Palmieri — a career Democratic strategist who served in the Obama administration, Hillary Clinton's campaign, and, most recently, in Harris' campaign as a senior adviser to Doug Emhoff — admitted on Wednesday that Harris did not go on Rogan's podcast because the campaign feared how the interview would be perceived within the Democratic Party."There was a backlash with some of our progressive staff that didn’t want her to be on it, and how there would be a backlash," Palmieri said, according to the Financial Times.The justification for wasting the golden opportunity to use Rogan's platform over fears that it would anger progressives is equally as mind-boggling as the decision itself.Pollster Nate Silver said it shows that "Democrats definitely deserved to lose" the election. Liberal commentator Cenk Uygur, meanwhile, observed that skipping the podcast over fear of progressive backlash perfectly encapsulates the campaign's disconnect with reality. Indeed, the Democratic Party's embrace of far-left ideals is one of the reasons Harris lost the election.Later on Wednesday, Palmieri attempted to clarify her comments.Palmieri said Harris didn't go on Rogan's podcast because of scheduling conflicts, claiming it is "hard to get to [Texas] twice in a 107 day campaign."That excuse only raises more problems.First, Trump and Vance traveled to Texas multiple times during the final months of the election — and Harris could have, too. Second, the excuse lays bare the Harris campaign's priorities. It managed to spend millions of dollars in paid media appearing with other celebrities but made the intentional decision not to speak with Rogan and rake in millions of dollars in earned media. Third, if time was a problem for the Harris campaign, how did Harris find the time to take entire days away from the campaign trail to prepare for interviews with friendly media networks?Rogan, meanwhile, revealed on a new podcast episode this week that Harris campaign officials wanted to prevent him from asking Harris about certain topics, like marijuana legalization.Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

The Onion, the satirical publication, won an auction to acquire the assets of Alex Jones' Infowars empire. The CEO of the Onion has vowed to transform Infowars into a "cosmic joke" for the families of victims of the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting. Jones announced the transaction on Thursday morning in a video posted to the X social media platform. 'The dissolution of Alex Jones’ assets and the death of Infowars is the justice we have long awaited and fought for.'Jones stated that his website had been "shut down" this morning "even without a court order."The Infowars site is a black page that only reads: "Site unavailable till further notice." Jones said he was told that the winning bid was "competitive" but not necessarily the highest bid. Financial details of the winning bid to acquire Free Speech Systems — the parent company of Infowars — were not disclosed.Jones noted, "The Connecticut Democrats with the Onion newspaper bought us."The Onion acquired Infowars' website, social media accounts, trademarks, video archive, and studio in Austin, Texas."I don't know what's going to happen, but I'm going to be here until they turn the lights off," Jones declared. Jones added, "They want to silence the American people, but we're not going to be silenced."Infowars was put up for auction after the court-appointed trustee in charge of Jones' bankruptcy proceedings advocated to shut down the site and liquidate his assets.Jones filed for bankruptcy in late 2022 after juries ordered him to pay nearly $1.5 billion to families of victims of the Sandy Hook shooting — in which 20 first-grade students and six adults were killed. Jones previously said the mass shooting massacre was a hoax. Lawsuits filed by the families in Connecticut and Texas claimed that Jones defamed them on his show and inflicted emotional distress by repeatedly suggesting the shooting was a hoax. Several of the Sandy Hook families supported the sale of Infowars. “Our clients knew that true accountability meant an end to Infowars and an end to Jones’ ability to spread lies, pain, and fear at scale,” said Chris Mattei, attorney for the Connecticut families. "By divesting Jones of Infowars’ assets, the families and the team at the Onion have done a public service and will meaningfully hinder Jones’ ability to do more harm."Everytown for Gun Safety — an organization that advocates for gun control — said it will be the exclusive advertiser in the Onion’s new venture as part of a multiyear agreement.“It’s fitting that a platform once used to profit off of tragedy will be a tool of education, hence our multiyear advertising commitment to this new venture,” stated John Feinblatt, president of Everytown for Gun Safety. "We’re proud to be a part of what comes next, not only in terms of staunching the flow of hurtful misinformation, but also for the potential this new venture has to help Everytown reach new audiences ready to hold the gun industry accountable for contributing to our nation’s gun violence epidemic."Robbie Parker, whose daughter was killed in the school shooting, said in a statement, "The dissolution of Alex Jones’ assets and the death of Infowars is the justice we have long awaited and fought for."The Onion CEO Ben Collins said, "The Onion has a long history of helping the American public navigate some of the most difficult moments in American life, from our historic issue after 9/11 to our groundbreaking reportage after every American mass shooting. In that tradition, we hope the Sandy Hook families will be able to marvel at the cosmic joke we will soon make of Infowars.com."In a satirical article, the Onion noted that Infowars was founded in 1999 "on the heels of the Satanic 'panic' and growing steadily ever since.""Infowars has distinguished itself as an invaluable tool for brainwashing and controlling the masses," the Onion added. "With a shrewd mix of delusional paranoia and dubious anti-aging nutrition hacks, they strive to make life both scarier and longer for everyone, a commendable goal."The publication said it plans to launch the new platform in January 2025.Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!