Forget about the riots, censorship, and the gradual transition into full-blown anarcho-tyranny. If the pub dies, England will truly lose its soul.

Let me explain. We like to drink. A lot. English culture revolves around alcohol, like electrons around a nucleus. Drinking is in our blood. There’s nothing we won’t drink to, no place we won’t pop open a beer.

Elsewhere, an angry Muslim man is suing the Saracen’s Head in Buckinghamshire for its alleged ’Islamophobic’ name and sign.

When commercial air travel became affordable to the working class, the airplane evolved into a flying bar. I once boarded the same plane as a bunch of inebriated women on a hen party to Spain. A drunken woman punching a man on an economy flight to Ibiza is something of a British rite of passage.

Drinking it in

Ours is a country steeped in history, tradition, and strong drink. Like the Irish, we can boast of many an ale-quaffing literary heavyweight. It was Chaucer who made reference to the Tabard Inn almost 700 years ago in "The Canterbury Tales." Charles Dickens and William Shakespeare drank in the George Inn just a few yards away.

The Tabard was demolished in 1873. The George still exists but only as a museum — an apt symbol for our current crisis.

A few days ago, I walked past a place I regularly used to drink. It was like seeing a ghost. A poster case housing thousands of papered-over concert flyers half an inch thick has been ripped down, leaving the exposed brickwork cracked, discolored, and casting an ominous shadow.

From a broken window, I saw that the chairs were stacked on tables, the oak bar counter was gone, and the copper foot rail had been removed from its bolts. The doors were locked, and the loud neon sign that had once welcomed me in like an old friend now sat silently on the ground, gathering dirt.

Poignant pints

Standing there, aghast, my heart sank, and I felt the pangs of nostalgia. You see, It was more than just a pub. It was a repository of memories. Imagine if bricks could tell stories: a place that my friend took me after my first break up. As a young man, it was where I came to know my father as he slipped a pint across the table without saying anything. On late nights, it was where co-workers danced while the jukebox played the Pogues and everyone sang along.

I remember the beer garden where I chatted up a future girlfriend, asking her for a light, and that dimly lit back room where I jumped off a speaker stack into the sticky, beer-soaked floor at my first ever live gig. It’s where my best friend shared his heart-wrenching news that he only had a few weeks left and the place where locals came together to raise a glass in his memory when he was gone.

What ales us

We are losing an average of one pub per day. Since 2020, more than 2,000 have shut their doors for good. Economic factors have played a big part in the decline of the industry. Escalating business rates, VAT, and alcohol duties are causing many pubs to close — one-third of the cost of a pint now goes toward taxes. Landlords have been forced to increase prices due to the escalating expenses. It's predicted that the price of a pint could double in less than a decade. In some parts of London, it has reached 10 pounds. As a result, many people now buy alcohol from the off license (liquor store) and drink it at home.

The culture wars have also played a part. Pubs with names like the Black Bitch, the Black Boy, and the Blacks Head have all been changed due to racial identitarians spouting nonsense about systemic/structural/institutional racism.

Head case

Elsewhere, an angry Muslim man is suing the Saracen’s Head in Buckinghamshire for its alleged "Islamophobic" name and sign. Every time Khalid Baqa walks past the pub in Amersham, he is "shocked and deeply offended" seeing the name Saracen — the name for Arabs and Muslims in the Middle Ages. The 61-year-old Baqa claims that the pub sign "incites violence" and glorifies "decapitating/beheading Muslims." He wants the landlord to pay him £1,800 for the offense. If successful, he plans to target the other 30 British pubs with the same name.

The plaintiff turns out to be a convicted terrorist. In 2018, he was sentenced to four years and eight months in prison for creating and distributing jihadi propaganda. No need to worry; in an interview with the Sun newspaper, he claims to have "stopped all the terrorism stuff now."

Blaze Media Illustration

Ours to save

Defending our culture goes far beyond stopping a mad Muslim pensioner from declaring jihad on a 500-year-old bar. We must fight a true culture war. In order to save pubs, taxes must be cut, grants and subsidies allocated to community-owned pubs, and new planning laws enacted to prevent developers from tearing down historic buildings such as pubs and churches, which serve as important social hubs.

Pubs are where the English laugh, cry, and argue. They bring people together. As a result, they act as an antidote to loneliness and isolation, two of the most insidious and pervasive threats in our time. As I sat in my new local pub, I noticed a young woman and her father befriending an elderly man. Three strangers, two generations bonded over fries and Guinness. That’s what community means. And we are losing it.

Evidence Shows Women Are At Least As Likely To Abuse Partners As Men

'The last taboo' is the idea that women initiate or engage in domestic violence as much as, or in some cases even more, than men do.

Animator Tom Bancroft: From 'The Lion King' to the King of Kings

Tom Bancroft remembers the moment when the Disney magic began to wear off.

During his career at the studio, the veteran animator had helped create characters from some of Disney's biggest '90s hits: Mushu the dragon from “Mulan” and Simba from “The Lion King," to name a few. He was living every aspiring animator's dream.

'It hit me so strongly ... when kids pray from that point forward, this might be the Jesus they see in their heads.'

He also defended the company from critiques that it was indifferent or even hostile to Christianity, saying Disney simply stayed true to the story and followed it wherever it might go.

'Uncomfortable' truth

Then he worked on a 2000 short film called “John Henry,” a tale of U.S. slaves who endured the “peculiar institution.”

Faith, Bancroft tells Align, was “such an intrinsic part of that story,” something his storyboard animatics reflected. Disney brass disagreed.

“’This makes me feel uncomfortable,’” he recalls the president of animation saying at the time about its spiritual themes.

“It hit me like a ton of bricks," recalls Bancroft. "I didn’t see that coming. ... I’ve been telling everybody for years we were just staying true to the story ... we can have Mulan pray to her ancestors because that’s what they did in ancient China in that culture.”

“Now, we come to Christianity, and you’re not comfortable. It was the first time I said, ‘There’s another side to this story,’” he said.

“I didn’t know it then, but six months later, I [would leave] Disney ... I need[ed] to go use my talents and abilities for God more directly,” he says.

Seeing the 'Light'

Bancroft went on to work on the popular “Veggie Tales” franchise, as well as shows on the Christian Broadcasting Network. He's also written acclaimed books on animation, while co-hosting a popular animation podcast with his fellow animator — and twin brother — Tony.

Now, he’s brought his Disney skills to a 2D animated feature film that captures the life of Jesus Christ in a bold new way.

“Light of the World,” in theaters now, follows Christ’s story through the eyes of the youngest apostle, John (voiced by Benjamin Jacobson). That allows young viewers to experience Christ’s mission from a fresh, relatable perspective.

The film may not hail from the Mouse House’s iconic studio, but critics are praising both its sensitive storytelling and gorgeous animation. Bancroft was able to glean critical tips from the “nine old men,” the core Disney animators who helped bring the studio’s inimitable artistry to life.

“We get to put that emotion and that knowledge that we learned there [into the film] ... they were still passing down that wisdom to people like me and my brother [in the 1980s],” he says.

Finding Jesus

Bancroft played a role in bringing beloved Disney characters to life. Bringing Jesus to the big screen offered another, far more critical challenge.

“I honestly would wake up in the middle of the night ... it hit me so strongly ... when kids pray from that point forward, this might be the Jesus they see in their heads,” he says, adding his team created a Jesus figure with a skin tone darker than some previous screen incarnations.

The “Light of the World” Jesus posed another problem as a storyteller.

“Thematically, as a character in a film ... [Jesus] doesn’t really work. You want to have arcs to a character ... he’s going to question himself, he’s going to try, and he’s going to fail, and then he’s going to succeed later ... you don’t have that with Jesus,” he says. “Thankfully, we had that with John.”

Pixar/Disney

Bible stories on a budget

Working with Disney gave Bancroft access to money and resources that smaller, independent films can’t match.

“We had at least 10 at-bats ... we can miss a few times, maybe even nine times, and get it on the 10th at every level,” he says, meaning storyboard creation, vocal performances, and animation.

“I would do scenes over and over again until it was just right or just what the director wanted,” he says. “In an independent film, you have to get it right within the first one or two tries. You don’t get that many at-bats.”

The benefits, as he sees them, are considerable.

“You get to make the film you want to make,” he says, adding the film’s key financer, Matt McPherson, gave his team few guidelines beyond staying true to the Bible.

“I’ve never in 35 years had that freedom to make a movie,” he says. “We were off to the races and were loving every minute of it.”

Faith on the fast track

And he thinks more films like “Light of the World” are coming our way.

The faith-friendly genre has expanded in recent years, from “The Chosen” to 2024’s “Sound of Freedom.” Major streamers like Amazon Prime and Netflix have embraced spiritual stories, partly due to positive reactions from customers.

It’s show business, after all.

Another big difference, he says, is financial. Now, experienced storytellers who may have found themselves outside Hollywood’s creative bubble like Bancroft are getting back in the game on their terms.

“The money getting to the right people, honestly, has been the biggest difference. People don’t like to talk about that, but honestly, that’s how you make a change in Christian film,” he says.

It's time to address America's transgender ideology problem

The Ruth Institute grieves with the community of the Annunciation Catholic Church and School in Minneapolis. As we mourn the lives lost and the innocence shattered, our hearts are with the families, teachers, and students who will never be the same.

But our grief must not hinder us from taking a sober-minded look at the situation. A moral catastrophe of this magnitude has multiple contributing factors. Although new information continues to emerge, we can say with confidence that family breakdown, mental illness, and the transgender ideology all played a role.

Claiming that people can resolve their distress by 'transitioning' to the opposite sex masks existing mental illnesses.

I have a long history of speaking out on each of these issues. Even before I founded the Ruth Institute in 2008, I was deeply concerned about the impact of family breakdown on children.

Primal bond

My first book, Love and Economics: It Takes a Family to Raise a Village, explained the importance of solid attachments between infants and their mothers. That primal bond contributes to the development of a conscience and self-control. A society cannot manage large numbers of people who do not care about others and who do anything they can get away with.

Since then, I've continued to study the risks associated with family breakdown. Divorce can shatter a child's understanding of their identity, with long-lasting negative effects. I have interviewed numerous people who have left a gay or lesbian identity behind; in many cases, their initial confusion stemmed from their parents' divorce. "When my parents divorced, I had no identity," one woman told me. She embraced a lesbian identity, struggled with drug addiction, and was haunted by the idea that she might want to become a man.

A broken family

As has been widely reported, Robert Westman's parents were divorced in 2013, when he was 13 years old.

Reading Westman's manifesto reveals a deeply disturbed person, consumed with hatred for others — both individuals and groups — and for himself. I have not seen reports of whether he had any kind of mental health diagnosis. But he was clearly not well, with a documented history of minor mental health-related incidents.

Too little, too late

As is too often the case, we can only discuss Westman's mental health now that it is too late. This is a persistent problem with the American approach to mental illness in general. We have yet to find a balance between respecting individual autonomy and preventing the psychologically disturbed from hurting themselves or others before they have demonstrated this potential.

As I once wrote,

We don't have facilities for people who pose a threat to others, but who haven't done anything yet. Many mentally ill people cycle between homelessness and the county jail, incarcerated for petty crimes, but receiving no long-term help. ... As many as a third of the homeless suffer from either bipolar disorder or schizophrenia. But we can't make the mentally ill take their medications, even if those medications can mean the difference between a rational person who can function normally and a delusional person who is a danger to others.

That article was in response to the Virginia Tech mass shooting back in 2007. Evidently, the situation has not appreciably improved.

Sowing confusion

This brings me to the most destructive change I've seen over the years: the promotion of a transparently false ideology by political, business, media, and even medical leaders. I am speaking, of course, of transgender ideology, which claims, without the slightest hint of proof, that a person can be "born in the wrong body."

This ideology has created enormous confusion and done incalculable harm. Claiming that people can resolve their distress by "transitioning" to the opposite sex masks existing mental illnesses. Teaching young people that changing the sex of the body is even possible creates a whole new set of problems.

Backed by business and foundations, this ideology has torn families apart and corrupted the medical profession. Trump's executive order withdrawing federal support for such ideology illustrated just how deeply the U.S. government had been actively promoting it.

Stephen Maturen/Getty Images

No refuge for parents

Westman's home state of Minnesota has created a particularly toxic environment. Parents of a 17-year-old boy who thinks he is a girl cannot engage a licensed therapist to help him explore his feelings and help steer him back to comfort with his body. A therapist who offered such services could lose his or her license. That's because Minnesota bans "conversion therapy," defined as efforts to change a person's sexual orientation or gender identity.

For parents who are divorced and not in agreement about their child's gender confusion, the family courts get involved. In blue states like Minnesota, family courts all too often favor the parent who wants to medicalize the child's confusion. Even more telling, Minnesota has officially declared itself a "trans refuge."

The stated aim of this legislation is to help families in states that limit their "access" to "gender-affirming care," better known as cross-sex hormones, puberty blockers, and surgery. However, parents who want these medical interventions for their children were already able to come to Minnesota any time they wanted. The real purpose of this and other "sanctuary laws" is to facilitate a child seeking such intervention without parental supervision and even against the wishes of the child's parents.

Pray for healing — and change

It is no exaggeration to say that the trans lobby gets what the trans lobby wants. Yet the post-Annunciation political conversation seems to be all about guns. In my opinion, this is a deflection from the weighty problem of trans-domination of state politics.

As we continue to pray for healing, we implore the public to enter into a serious conversation about these important issues in the days and weeks ahead. Let us not compound this atrocity by neglecting the opportunity to learn from it.

Indiana’s sellout, Iowa’s stand

Over the weekend, Indiana’s lieutenant governor decided to show his cards. On social media, he boasted of supporting the importation of 40,000 Haitians into his state. Then, in a tacit admission that he knew how wrong this was, he shut off the comments, then deleted the post.

If he’s so proud of turning his state into a third-world dumping ground, why silence the people who elected him? Because he knows his constituents — Trump voters in a state the president won by 20 points in 2024 — vehemently reject it. He tried backtracking with another post, but that was too little, too late.

America’s culture comes from Americans. Indiana deserves leaders who understand that. Iowa will have one.

When a Republican openly advocates something his base opposes, he’s telling you whom he serves. Not the people of Indiana. Not the voters of the GOP. He serves the corporatist and globalist interests that see middle America as expendable.

The real divide

This fight is no longer Republican versus Democrat. It isn’t conservative versus liberal. The real question is simple: Do you believe America is for Americans or not?

Do landowners in Iowa actually own their land, or are they just maintaining it and paying taxes on it until some globalist interest comes along and decides to take it? Do the people of Indiana get to pass on their heritage, or must they watch it be erased by forced demographic change?

Democrats like Tim Walz in Minnesota and Rob Sand in my home state of Iowa are eager to impose that future. But too many Republicans are playing along, including Indiana’s lieutenant governor.

What’s at stake

I’m running for governor because part of a governor’s job is to protect and preserve the culture of his state. And culture begins with people — families and communities who built the heartland on hard work, dedication, grit, integrity, and a belief that a holy and righteous God still rewards such things with peace and prosperity.

That means ending the punishment of Americans who play by the rules, only to be undercut for cheap labor and political power. Donald Trump understood this, which is why he became the most successful Republican leader of the modern era. Yet too many in the party haven’t learned the lesson — or refuse to.

Photo by Dee Liu via Getty Images

Iowa’s fight

Here is what must be done to preserve our way of life.

We need an economy that works for families — not for Wall Street. As governor, I will launch the largest skilled-trade expansion in Iowa’s history. These are good jobs AI won’t erase, jobs that don’t require sending our kids off to universities that saddle them with six figures in student loan debt and leftist indoctrination.

Our communities must shape government, not the other way around. They are not cogs in the globalist-corporatist machine. They are the bedrock of America’s culture, traditions, and faith. They built the greatest nation in history, and they deserve protection.

America’s culture comes from Americans. Indiana deserves leaders who understand that. Iowa will have one. If elected governor, I will use every power vested in me to protect and preserve Iowa’s culture — a culture rooted in Iowans themselves.

Disturbing Victoria's Secret promo proves the fashion show is dead forever

The Victoria's Secret Fashion Show returned in 2024 following a hiatus, but the brand has never been the same.

The company pushed pause on the show in 2019 after chief marketing officer Ed Razek resigned over remarks that were considered to be insensitive to transgender and obese models.

'Plus-size models are a byproduct of the body positivity movement.'

Razek essentially saying the show is not for men or plus-size models was enough for the brand to slam the brakes on both their show and their appeal to women. Upon the fashion show's revival in 2024, Victoria's Secret made its allegiance clear — and it was not with their usual fan base.

Not only did the revamped show feature models over 50 years old, but it also showcased five plus-size models and two men pretending to be women.

In a new promo, the brand is doubling down and proving its 2024 return was not just the last gasp of a woke era, but it was only the beginning of its redrawn standard. Whereas the new genre of Victoria's Secret Angels may have been simple additions to the roster in 2024, in 2025, they are leading the charge ahead of the October show.

In the new promo — aptly titled "The Secret Is Out" — the fashion show features transgender model Alex Consani and plus-size model Yumi Nu front and center, while dragging out some of its legacy models who are widely accused as having facial surgeries.

It is not just the use of Consani that is troubling, but the model's backstory makes his inclusion even more disturbing.

Alex Consani. Photo by Gisela Schober/Getty Images

At just age 14, Consani gave an interview as "the world's first" and "youngest transgender model," according to Cosmopolitan.

"I was about three or four years old when I realized I was attracted to girls' clothes. So I slowly started wearing girlish clothes and became who I am today," the boy said.

Cosmopolitan eerily wrote that Consani "isn't just interested in looking pretty" but wants to achieve "greater tolerance for transsexuality."

Last year, Victoria's Secret featured Valentina Sampaio, a male model posing as a woman. The 28-year-old Brazilian also has a jaw-dropping background. According to Business Insider, he was told by a psychologist that he was transgender at just 8 years old before he started referring to himself as a girl at 12.

In 2020, Sampaio became the first female-dressing man to be in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition, which is also where Nu, the plus-size model in the Victoria's Secret promo, made waves.

Yumi Nu. Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for Sports Illustrated Swimsuit

Nu was the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition cover model in 2022 and was touted by People as the first "Asian curve model" to do so.

These types of titles are often associated with the new era of victim-centric models, including Anok Yai, who was also featured in the Victoria's Secret ad. Yai, 27, was described by Hola! as the the first "black model of South Sudanese descent to open major shows."

Also featured in the promo were veteran models Adriana Lima, 44, Lily Aldridge, 39, and Joan Smalls, 37.

Blaze News reporter Rebeka Zeljko said that while the brand is "clearly trying to relive the glory days," it has still made room for "ugly ideologies" to be represented.

"Trans models like Consani have become immensely successful in the modeling industry, where androgyny is viewed as versatile and desirable," Zeljko explained. "Plus-size models are a byproduct of the body positivity movement that ignored both health standards and objective beauty. In both cases, Consani and Nu clash with Victoria's Secret's original and beloved brand of hyperfemininity."

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We shared interests, humor, and great chemistry ... then she asked about our 'values'

I matched with Jane on OkCupid. Not Tinder (which is for hookups). Not Hinge (which is for hookups with intellectuals). But OkCupid, which is — in the online dating world — a kind of normie land.

That’s where the more ordinary, more boring singles go to meet people they can do boring things with (meet for coffee, etc.).

'You don’t have to live like this. You can just have coffee with a person.'

Jane was above average in looks. She had a job. She liked stuff I liked. She didn’t have pictures of herself doing sexy poses on a yacht. Or sneering and holding up her middle finger to the camera.

She seemed nice. Like genuinely nice. And normal. Possibly sane. That’s a serious win in the online dating realm.

The fine art of small talk

We texted back and forth on the OkCupid app, chatting, getting to know each other.

When our conversation reached a natural lull, I proposed a coffee date for later that week. I suggested a quiet café in the city. She said yes.

For the next couple of days, I daydreamed about our meeting. I felt like even if we didn’t fall in love, it would still be nice to have coffee with a relaxed, easygoing person.

This is often the best part of dating: those moments of happy anticipation, of feeling pleasantly excited about a date.

A surprise message!

But then, on the night before our date, I got a new message from Jane. I thought she was going to cancel. That happens a lot. People get cold feet.

Before I even opened her message, I considered how I might convince her to go through with our meeting. I often got cold feet myself before internet dates. Everybody did.

I would remind her it was just coffee, just a half-hour of her time. And the café was nice. You could look out the window. Why not? You only live once ...

I opened her message. It wasn’t cold feet. She was writing because we hadn’t discussed our “values” in our previous messaging. Shared values were important to her in a relationship, she said. She wanted to confirm that we were “on the same page” in that regard.

Bridge Entertainment Labs

How to respond?

I was surprised by this message. This didn’t sound like the person I had been texting with before. She hadn’t mentioned her values in our previous conversation. She didn’t put them in her profile. That’s why I liked her!

I hadn’t put my values in my profile either. Like what kind of values was she even talking about? Did she mean things like being an honest and upstanding guy? I try to do that.

Or did “values” just mean political positions? Like on immigration reform, or abortion, or mail-in ballots?

This was a tricky situation. I would have to think about it.

Boys vs. girls

The problem was, I’m a guy. When I think of “values,” I think of things like being “good on your word.” Like if you say you’re going to help your buddy move, you help him move. Even if it’s raining.

Or like when you’re a kid and you get in a fight. You don’t try to really hurt the other guy. Once somebody wins, you let up. You act in an honorable way.

Which is different from the qualities women value: compassion. Empathy. Helping people who can’t help themselves. These are also excellent characteristics for a person to have. But they are a little more female-coded.

But what if Jane was thinking of specific things, like she hates Trump and insists that I hate him too? That doesn’t seem fair.

The truth is that men and women approach politics differently. In the past, that was considered a good thing. That was the yin and yang of heterosexual relationships.

I thought back to past girlfriends. Had we always agreed about politics? Of course not. Had it caused problems in the relationships? Not really. In some ways, it made them stronger.

Beware the friend group

I still had to respond to Jane. What should I say? I went back through our original text conversation. There she was: nice, agreeable Jane. Just like I remembered.

So why the sudden need to clarify our values?

I concluded this was probably her friends. Or maybe her co-workers. Or maybe her therapist. Jane had told somebody about our date and they were advising her not to meet me until she had questioned me about my political orientation.

The response

I didn’t know what to write back. I started texting different things but then deleted them. And then I felt sad. Sad for her. Sad for myself. An invisible wall of toxic politics was being forced between us, blocking us from the simple pleasure of meeting up.

I finally texted: “I try not to discuss politics on the first date.” And then I said something like: “You don’t have to live like this. You can just have coffee with a person.”

She didn’t respond right away. Maybe she was thinking about it. I hoped she was.

But then the next morning we were unmatched. She had disappeared. Maybe she had blocked me? Then I felt even more sad. And I felt bad for her.

What could have been

But I still think about Jane. What if she had been the one? In another time, a less political era, we might have met for coffee, gone for a walk, made a connection.

She would put up with my male perspective. I would put up with her female perspective. Like men and women have been doing throughout human history.

Who knows what might have happened?

In Small-Town Michigan, True American Values Are As Strong As Ever

The world feels fragile in many ways, but in this small lakeshore town, I am reminded that such work begins at the most local level.