The Cure For Teen Depression Is Giving Your Kids Siblings
What does the fertility rate have to do with mental illness? More than you might suspect.What does the fertility rate have to do with mental illness? More than you might suspect.How Europe turned illegal immigration into a 5-star vacation package
Welcome to the golden age of "illegal immigration tourism,” a truly perverse hospitality trend sweeping the European continent. In this upside-down world, guests don’t pay, hosts can’t say no, and room service is billed directly to someone else.
The author and academic Steven Pinker argues there has never been a better time to be alive. That is certainly true if you happen to be living on the receiving end of Western Europe’s taxpayer-funded generosity.
In Ireland, where I was born and raised, village hotels that once sustained regional tourism now operate as full-time reception facilities for Africans.
The Brussels package
There was a time when getting to Europe from North Africa was difficult, if not impossible. It required real planning and actual savings. Not anymore. Brussels bureaucrats streamlined the process entirely. Today, a person needs only a dinghy and a willingness to let the German state handle the reservation details — complete with complimentary linen changes and a buffet breakfast.
The recent real estate pivot in Hamburg-Harburg’s Inner Harbor perfectly illustrates the absurdity. Developers recently spent €60 million in combined public and private funds to transform a postindustrial harbor into a sleek waterfront destination. The crown jewel of this urban renewal project is the Niu Quay, a charming hotel aimed at middle- and upper-class visitors. It was supposed to transform the neighborhood’s dining, tourism, and nightlife. Instead, it opened with plenty of fanfare, enjoyed a remarkably brief run as a business, and then promptly shut its doors to paying guests.
Hamburg’s municipal housing agency, Fördern & Wohnen, then stepped in with taxpayer money, leasing all 340 rooms through at least the end of the year. The hotel’s primary function shifted overnight from hosting respectable tourists to serving as an all-inclusive sanctuary for incoming asylum seekers. The city’s public housing system is currently at 102.8% capacity, with hotel suites serving as an administrative workaround to avoid the optics of encampments in public parks.
Seasonal depression
There is plenty of dark humor in this arrangement. A Hamburg native, hamstrung by inflation and stagnant wages, faces an immediate dilemma. He hands over his hard-earned money that funds the municipal lease, only to be priced out of the very city his taxes are supposed to support. He buys the train ticket to the district. Upon arrival, he finds he cannot book a room at the newest hotel because the state outbid him using his own paycheck. If he wishes to enjoy a luxury staycation in his own city, he is out of luck. The state has monopolized the reservation desk and effectively nationalized the local leisure economy.
This situation is dire, and it’s not limited to the banks of the Elbe River. Across Europe, the traditional hospitality sector has morphed into a state-subsidized sanctuary network. In Britain, former Victorian seaside resorts and historic country houses have seen their traditional guest books replaced by lucrative, state-funded government contracts, effectively gutting the high streets and seasonal economies of beautiful coastal towns.
Five-star accommodations, complete with full spa access, state-of-the-art gyms, saunas, and heated indoor swimming pools, are now routinely repurposed to house one-star guests. In Ireland, where I was born and raised, village hotels that once sustained regional tourism now operate as full-time reception facilities for Africans, leaving local pub owners and shopkeepers to wonder where the actual tourists went.
RELATED: 'The ship is already sinking': Why the 'Citizen Vigilante' director wants to shock you
5-star fandango
The daily economics highlight the insanity. Last year, Hamburg spent an average of €82 ($95) per person per day just on hotel placements for migrants. Combined, the city-states of Hamburg and Berlin dump approximately €4 billion annually into housing and processing costs. That sum buys a staggering amount of high-end lodging.
While local residents cancel their own vacation plans to save money for winter heating bills, the government operates as Europe’s most aggressive luxury travel agent, booking out entire floors of freshly renovated properties without ever asking for a credit card pre-authorization.
City officials in Hamburg recently announced plans to dial back their reliance on expensive hotel leases. Directly after making that public pledge, they signed the lease for the Niu Quay.
Municipal negotiators insist they push for below-market rates, yet city agencies routinely sign off on premium room rates when state-run facilities close suddenly. A major processing center on Schlachthofstrasse shuts down this autumn, and the state's immediate solution is to upgrade the occupants to a trendy harbor hotel — proving that in public administration, failure simply buys you a better view of the marina.
Holding the bag
Everyday citizens are left holding the bag. The chairman of the local parliamentary group pointed out that small restaurants, family-run cafes, and retail shops built their entire financial models around a steady influx of tourists with plenty of disposable income. Now, the district's primary commercial center is occupied by a population being housed at the taxpayer’s expense. These men and women don't dine out on corporate expense accounts. They don’t order local services or buy goods from nearby stores. Why would they, when everything is taken care of?
This asinine arrangement shapes a migrant’s first impression of their host nation. Arriving directly into this level of comfort fosters an immediate sense of entitlement. It instills the expectation that the government will never stop providing luxury accommodations and daily provisions and that the rewards will come without any personal effort, financial contribution, or integration into local society.
European governments have created a system where the easiest way to secure a mid-tier luxury room in a major city is to abandon your documentation at the border. The working class finances the hospitality. The business class loses its customers, and the state acts as the master concierge, ensuring every stylish guesthouse stays filled at public expense.
They broke young men — then sold them toxic escapes
When Nick Freitas engages with young men, they often have the same complaint: The culture made them the scapegoat for its ills — and now they feel lost and don’t know what to do about it.
While he doesn’t deny young men’s predicament or blame them for it, Freitas does put the responsibility to do something about it on their shoulders.
The truth, he says, is that the institutions that shape the culture deliberately broke young men’s spirits by convincing society that masculinity was “bad, evil, toxic, horrible, and [needs] to be repressed” and then turned around and sold the young men they villainized toxic escapes, like social media, gaming, and pornography.
The path to a fulfilling life is still there, though — but it’s theirs to find and take.
On this episode of “Rufo & Lomez,” Freitas and fellow BlazeTV hosts Chris Rufo and Jonathan Keeperman talk through why so many young men have checked out — and why reclaiming faith, family, and responsibility is the way back.
It’s both “confusing and horrific” for young men, he adds, to try to make it in a world where they’re “emasculated” in order to be more acceptable to a culture that will reject them regardless.
The message so many young men receive today, says Freitas, is: “By the way, even after you've been emasculated, nobody's going to want to sleep with you … corporations don't want to hire you either.”
“So once you understand that they have legitimate grievances that are truly unique to their experience, well, now we can start to talk about, OK, how do we deal with this?” he continues.
Dealing with it, however, begins with rejecting the “escapes” offered by the same institutions that villainized men in the first place. Doomscrolling social media, pornography, and video gaming, for example, may offer temporary relief, but they ultimately prevent men from finding the fulfilling path they desire.
“One of the big things that I tell men is that look, I get my identity first and foremost through my Christianity. Why? Because it's eternal. … I always have identity, meaning, and purpose. I never lose it, and it cannot be taken away from me,” says Freitas.
When the culture inevitably condemns a Christ-centered identity, it’s men’s job to say “screw the culture” and continue to “pursue” what is godly, he continues.
“Ultimately, if young men choose to do that en masse, the culture will follow,” Freitas says. “The reason why there's been such a push not just to diminish men but to elevate women is because it’s the only way you can’t get self-correction.”
Choosing the righteous path, however, is no easy thing.
“There's pain involved in doing that,” Freitas acknowledges.
“You will be punished in society for doing that, but the more people who do it and the more critical mass you reach, the more things shift.”
Already, the tides have begun to turn.
Freitas cites an NBC News Decision Desk Poll of 18- to 29-year-olds that compared Trump and Harris voters on what they consider a successful life.
“The number-one thing for young men that voted for Trump was having a family; it was number six for women,” says Freitas.
Male Harris voters, however, placed family in 10th place, while female Harris voters put it in second-to-last place.
“That really gives me encouragement,” says Freitas.
To hear more, watch the episode above.
Want more from Rufo & Lomez?
To enjoy more of the news through the anthropological lens of Christopher Rufo and Lomez, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.
Visit the historic Maryland town that fooled the British more than 200 years ago ... or so the story goes
On Aug. 10, 1813, under cover of darkness and fog, 300 British soldiers sailed up the Miles River toward this small Maryland town.
They landed on the southern end of St. Michaels, where they quickly overran the local militia. They then returned to their boats and began bombarding the town with their ships’ cannons.
One of the museum’s best features is that this isn’t all history preserved behind glass. You can watch shipwrights at work restoring and building wooden boats.
That much is history. What supposedly happened next is the stuff of legend.
As the story goes, townsfolk hung lanterns high in trees farther inland, creating the illusion that St. Michaels was farther from the shore and sat on higher ground. The British aimed their cannons toward the lights — and overshot the town.
The same darkness and fog that allowed the British to approach St. Michaels also helped shield the town from destruction.
The British eventually withdrew, while St. Michaels suffered no casualties. One house did take a direct hit from a cannonball, which left a dent in its brickwork. Appropriately enough, it is known today as the Cannonball House.
There is just one problem with this terrific story: No one can say for certain that the lantern trick actually happened.
But that hasn’t stopped it from becoming part of the town’s identity. St. Michaels proudly calls itself “The Town That Fooled the British,” a claim displayed on the welcome sign as you enter town.
And the legend is only one reason this tiny waterfront community makes an unusually good history-filled day trip.
A river town’s history and industry
St. Michaels sits on the banks of the Miles River, a tributary of the Chesapeake Bay. Today, it is a favorite summer destination for vacationers from Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and even New York, as well as a popular draw for boating and sailing enthusiasts.
Long before it became a tourist town, however, St. Michaels was established as a trading post in the mid-1600s. Trappers and tobacco farmers made up the early community. An Episcopal parish named after St. Michael the Archangel was built here and eventually gave the town its name.
St. Michaels also developed a thriving shipbuilding industry and became particularly known for building Baltimore clippers. These ships were renowned for their speed and maneuverability — qualities that made them valuable for outrunning other vessels and evading blockades.
That shipbuilding industry made St. Michaels a British target during the War of 1812. The British attacked the town twice in 1813 as part of their campaign around the Chesapeake Bay. A year later, British forces would move against Baltimore and bombard Fort McHenry, inspiring Francis Scott Key to write the words that became “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
As the local economy shifted toward oyster harvesting and crabbing, St. Michaels’ shipyards continued to manufacture workboats suited to the Chesapeake. One example is the bugeye, a type of sailboat watermen used for oyster dredging.
You can still see that maritime history up close.
An easy day trip
With a total area of only 1.27 square miles, St. Michaels is easy to navigate if you aren’t planning to spend the night. A day trip from Washington — less than two hours by car — or Baltimore, just over an hour away, is very feasible. Philadelphia is less than two and a half hours away.
The first stop for any visitor to the area should be the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum, located on 18 acres of waterfront property. With Maryland’s identity so closely intertwined with the Bay, it’s fitting that this is the only museum in the country dedicated to America’s largest estuary.
Step into the welcome center, and you’ll find replicas and authentic examples of watercraft used for racing, fishing, oyster harvesting, and leisure.
You will also learn how the bay and its boats played a part in American history. One of the most remarkable objects is a 23-foot canoe like the one used by enslaved man Joseph Keene, his pregnant wife, Nellie, and their seven children to escape in 1831. An experienced sailor, Keene navigated his family north up the Chesapeake, likely toward the newly opened Chesapeake & Delaware Canal and Pennsylvania. Against extraordinary odds, the entire family successfully evaded capture and reached freedom.
The Bay played an integral role in the maritime routes of the Underground Railroad. Enslaved people used the Chesapeake and its network of rivers and creeks to travel north toward free states, sometimes hiding aboard commercial vessels and sometimes escaping in boats themselves. For experienced sailors like Keene, the same waterways on which they had labored could also provide a path to freedom.
Dotting the museum campus are buildings devoted to different aspects of life on the Chesapeake, from sail making and decoy carving to oyster harvesting and crab picking.
For younger visitors, don’t miss the water tanks with live blue crabs. Wannabe watermen can explore a life-sized skipjack, a single-mast sailing boat native to the Chesapeake, or climb into the pilot house of the Thor, a 1912 buyboat that purchased catches directly from fishing boats and transported them to market.
One of the museum’s best features is that this isn’t all history preserved behind glass. You can watch shipwrights at work restoring and building wooden boats — and don’t hold back if you have questions.
There’s also the Hooper Strait Lighthouse, where kids can dress up as lighthouse keepers before climbing to the top for views over the water.
But perhaps the biggest surprise at the museum has nothing to do with boats.
RELATED: The ‘Little House’ books gave me a place to escape. This New York farm took me there for real.
Frederick Douglass lived here, too
The home of abolitionist Frederick Douglass’ sister Eliza Mitchell now stands on the museum grounds.
Eliza married a free man, Peter Mitchell, and lived in St. Michaels for the rest of her life. Their home on Lee Street was slated for demolition until it was saved and moved to the museum in 1981. Restored today, the Mitchell House gives visitors a glimpse of how a family with nine children made do with the space they had.
Douglass himself spent part of his youth in and around St. Michaels while enslaved during the 1830s. He worked as a house servant, field laborer, and, later, ship caulker.
His time here became an important part of the story he later told about slavery and his escape from it. Visitors can learn more about his life in an exhibit across from the museum’s welcome center.
The Douglass connection adds another layer to this fascinating town. St. Michaels has its patriotic War of 1812 legend, but it also preserves the much more complicated history of the people who lived along the Chesapeake.
Save room for ice cream
After a few hours at the museum, the best way to finish the day is to find a place to sit, eat, and people-watch on the town’s main street.
Talbot Street is the major thoroughfare through the historic district, lined with restored colonial and 19th-century buildings housing restaurants, antique and boutique stores, and art galleries.
For the sweetest possible ending, head to Justine’s Ice Cream Parlour, a St. Michaels fixture since 1987. Check out its “Wall of Shakes,” with more than 90 classic and signature flavors.
The truly ambitious can attempt the Titanic Sundae Challenge: more than six pounds of ice cream and toppings that must be consumed in under 30 minutes. “Man v. Food” host Casey Webb successfully conquered the challenge in 2019 at Justine’s Ocean City location — and visitors to St. Michaels can attempt the same feat here.
By then, you will have covered a remarkable amount of American history for a town barely a square mile in size: Chesapeake shipbuilding, the War of 1812, the Underground Railroad, Frederick Douglass, and generations of watermen who made their living from the Bay.
And you may find yourself wondering whether the residents of St. Michaels really did climb into the trees with lanterns one foggy night in 1813 and trick the Royal Navy into firing over their heads.
There may never be enough evidence to settle that question, but after more than 200 years, “The Town That Fooled the British” is still telling the story.
The Kennedy Center Is A Shrine To The D.C. Decadence. Tear It Down
In the nearly 15 years I lived in Washington, D.C., I probably visited the Kennedy Center just a handful of times, but what’s more important to know about the center isn’t the building or who performs there. It’s the center’s location in the city and the people there who claim it as a status symbol. […]Chuck Norris died. The Emmys were still too scared to say his name.
Regrets, Shaggy has a few.
Actor Matthew Lillard just took a stand in classic Hollywood fashion: years after doing so might have cost him something.
John Leguizamo works and works, and in between, he whines about Hollywood’s woke deficit.
The “Scream” and “Scooby-Doo” alum says he now regrets staying silent when actress Melissa Barrera lost her gig for her extreme pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel views.
Better late than brave?
Barrera’s comments, made shortly after the October 7 attacks, alarmed people in the industry. She was subsequently fired from the “Scream” franchise.
Lillard kept his head down.
Now, with pro-Palestinian activism commonplace in La-La Land and Hollywood stars rallying around Macklemore after he got bounced from Ed Sheeran’s stadium tour, Lillard is ready to speak truth to power.
It’s really f**king bulls**t and really hard, and she’s on the right side of history. When they start coming after your job, sometimes things are worth it. … When that happened to Melissa, the whole world didn’t pipe up. But she was a year early on what the f**k’s going on. But the whole world should have popped up and said, "She’s right." And they didn’t. And that’s brutal.
The cultural winds have shifted. What might once have put an actor’s career at risk now earns applause from plenty of his peers. And Lillard has finally found his voice.
Remember his impassioned public condemnation of the Oct. 7 attacks? His demands that Hamas release its hostages?
Neither do we.
Being forgotten fears Chuck Norris
They couldn’t beat him in life, but in death it’s easier. A little.
Action movie legend Chuck Norris died earlier this year. A huge part of his decades-long career was his starring role in CBS’ “Walker, Texas Ranger.” The series lasted for nine seasons, no small feat, bringing the iconic actor to the small screen.
So how did the Emmys honor his passing? By ignoring him.
This week’s Emmys telecast featured a segment remembering the TV stars who passed over the last year, much like the one that haunts the annual Oscars gala. And like the Academy Awards segment, the Emmys left out several notable stars.
Accidental? On purpose? Do we even have to ask? It’s Hollywood ...
Grin and bare it
USA Today is a far cry from Blaze News, but every once in a while, the liberal rag lets a right-leaning opinion sneak out. This time, it’s a columnist who said what everyone should acknowledge about the latest Sydney Sweeney non-troversy.
It’s all about politics, even though the “Housemaid” starlet isn’t political. Wait ... what?
The liberal news outlet published an op-ed debunking the most recent attacks on Sweeney for baring (mostly) all on behalf of a sports betting platform.
Yes, it’s easy to argue that we’ve seen other attractive stars and athletes get nekkid for ad campaigns. It’s nothing new at all.
Yet what Ingrid Jacques argues is more important. Sweeney has a target on her back because people assume she’s pro MAGA. Even if she never wore a red hat in her life.
She’s a registered Republican in Florida, but she doesn’t weigh in on politics. Ever. It’s not her style, and that’s her choice. She keeps telling interviewers that she wants to keep her political views private.
For that, she must be punished, even if it doesn’t make a lick of sense. Even USA Today sees the scam ...
Mad hombre
An actor who spends way too much time complaining is getting another plum gig.
John Leguizamo works and works, and in between, he whines about Hollywood’s woke deficit.
Really.
Leguizamo has blasted James Franco for taking the role of Fidel Castro in an upcoming project. He’s not Cuban, the actor cried. He also shrieked over Chris Pratt taking on the title role in the “Super Mario Bros. Movie.”
He’s not Italian!
Leguizamo also said the movie industry doesn’t accept Latinos. That same industry cast the star in “The Odyssey,” one of the biggest movie projects in recent years. Now, he’ll play the main villain in the upcoming “Miami Vice” reboot with Michael B. Jordan and Austin Butler. That’s one of nine projects he has lined up, according to IMDB.com.
If he ever stopped complaining about Hollywood for just a minute, he might land even more roles ...
Today's top stories
www.theblaze.com
www.theblaze.com