Towards the end of the fifth season of ‘Stranger Things,’ the character of Will Byers gathers his family and friends together. He has good reason. They need to prepare for the final battle against Vecna, a terrifying, skinless monster with a penchant for mass murder and apocalyptic terrorism. But instead, Will comes out as gay.

This is perhaps the most anticlimactic moment in television since Pam woke up to reveal that the entire tenth season of ‘Dallas’ had been a dream. In laborious and earnest tones, Will takes four minutes to tell everyone that he just isn’t into girls. Cue the inevitable chorus of solidarity from his friends and a warm group hug. Given that this series is set in the 1980s, a more realistic approach would have been for them to storm out and declare Will to be more disgusting than Vecna.

This has happened so often in Hollywood that it’s become the norm. A storyline is upended to promote the ideological obsessions of the present. We’ve had a Black Cleopatra, a lesbian kiss in the ‘Toy Story’ spinoff ‘Lightyear,’ empathetic, home-loving orcs in Middle Earth, and a robot in an animated series of ‘Transformers’ declaring its pronouns as ‘they/them,’ as though mechanized killing machines are sensitive about their gender identities.

A key aspect of storytelling is verisimilitude. Movies can present completely unreal worlds, but unless an audience buys into the internal logic, they quickly lose interest. Consider the recent Netflix series ‘Ripley,’ in which a major male character is played by a female actor who identifies as ‘nonbinary.’ The characters don’t notice that she’s a woman, and we’re expected to play along. It insults our intelligence and completely derails an otherwise brilliant series.

If we want to save the arts, we must return to the universal. We have to remember that we’re meant to be entertainers, not high priests of a new religion that nobody asked for.

The audiences know it, too. The ‘coming out’ episode of ‘Stranger Things’ is currently the lowest-rated episode on IMDb. The recent live-action remake of ‘Snow White,’ with its emphasis on diversity rather than murderous stepmothers and subterranean dwarves, reportedly lost over $115 million for Disney. 

The all-female leads of ‘The Marvels’ might have made a few executives feel good about themselves, until it turned out to be the franchise’s biggest bomb of all time. And after poor test screenings, HBO’s big-budget wokefest ‘Batgirl’ was shelved altogether.

So, while executives pat themselves on the back for their ‘virtue,’ their studios are plunged into debt. According to public filings, as of late 2025, Disney’s debt is roughly $35.3 billion and Warner Bros. Discovery’s debt stands at approximately $33.5 billion. Cinema attendance continues to decline, with annual box office receipts in North America struggling to reach $9 billion. In a world where production and marketing costs have skyrocketed, these numbers represent a dying industry.

It turns out that audiences prefer to be entertained rather than hectored. If people wanted a sermon, they’d probably just stick to church. I’ll make a prediction right now: if things don’t change, they won’t be making movies on those legendary big studio lots in five years’ time — they’ll be selling them off as prime real estate for luxury condos. You can’t continually patronize and insult your customers and expect to keep the lights on.

Since the rise of the ‘woke’ movement, and its total domination of the creative industries, anyone with a conservative point of view has been punished and even blacklisted. 

Artists are meant to be the most free-thinking people in the world, but the industry demands conformity above all else. Worse still, the woke fixation simply doesn’t tally with the views of the general public, most of whom don’t want their children being indoctrinated by studios smuggling in ideology and propaganda under the guise of entertainment.

Contrary to what the self-identifying, morally superior, adjacent elites want you to believe, the woke ideology has never been popular with the public. It represents the luxury beliefs of the privileged few, those who spend most of their time pontificating about ‘social justice’ and ‘environmental responsibility’ while flying in their private jets and ingesting enough cocaine to keep the cartels of Mexico living like kings.

The good news is that the American people aren’t waiting for permission from the big studios anymore. We are seeing a massive explosion of alternative media. Whether it’s independent streaming platforms, podcasts or creator-owned networks, a new frontier is being built.

Audiences are migrating to where they can find authenticity and truth. They’re supporting creators who prioritize strong storytelling over ‘the message.’ While the legacy studios are busy building ‘safe spaces’ for their writers, and scolding audiences for not being sufficiently ‘progressive,’ we are building a new industry for the people.

Hollywood used to be about what brought us together. Now, it’s about what divides us. They’ve traded the Dream Factory for an Indoctrination Lab, and the American people are voting with their wallets and their remote controls.

If we want to save the arts, we must return to the universal. We have to remember that we’re meant to be entertainers, not high priests of a new religion that nobody asked for.

If that doesn’t happen, get ready to see a lot of ‘For Sale’ signs on those studio gates.

They say when you’re born, you come into life with no instruction manual.

If we’re lucky, we inherit a good set of parents, who set us up with good habits and sound thinking.

We might pursue a religious practice, embrace an education, and learn to think for ourselves.

Others might not be so lucky. Anxious and unsure — we turn to other things to make sense of reality — drugs, alcohol, sex or easy money.

Without a set of instructions, we rely on what we think is our operating system: the ego.

And we protect it with all our might.

It is the ego, after all, that gets us into fights, creates resentments and wastes our time thinking about the past — ignoring the glories of the present. We find ourselves angry and irritable — pissed off at a coworker, cut off from a relative, mad over current events. And it is a devotion to an ego that makes us powerless to predict life’s terms or life’s turns. We end up more wrong than right, and our ego rages in response.

I came across Scott Adams accidentally, but it couldn’t have come at a better time for me.

It was around 2015 or so, and I was hot and bothered by Donald Trump. 

My friends and relatives had jumped aboard the Trump train, but I resisted — and resentfully so. I had my reasons for it, no doubt. But I never question what lurked beneath those reasons. Turns out it was self-doubt — the weak armor of an insecure ego. 

I found myself dreading work, and angry that nearly all my predictive powers had failed. Every day I would say, ‘Trump’s finished!’ and he only got stronger. This wasn’t like me.

But one day on Twitter, some soul I’ll never be able to thank tweeted a simple suggestion: read Scott Adams. And, in a rare moment, I decided to heed a comment on Twitter. I googled Scott’s blog. And it changed my life.

Scott was already a world-famous cartoonist, of course — the creator of ‘Dilbert.’ He had a pile of bestsellers.

Scott loved humans, but understood the nature of their pain — caused by how little they understood the reality behind the one they took as real.  

But I knew little of that world. And I had no idea what I would discover when I entered the Scott Adams universe — a place where the most profound thinker ruled with a cup of coffee, a goofy grin and a deep understanding of moist robots — i.e. humans.

Scott loved humans, but understood the nature of their pain — caused by how little they understood the reality behind the one they took as real.  

While some people would tell you they knew life’s secrets in order to impress upon you their brilliance — Scott was only trying to help. It’s why Dilbert was so successful. He was expressing the reality behind the reality. And we immediately got the joke.

Reality is subjective. And we see things as we think they are — not how they really are. And we foolishly make predictions based on those assumptions.

We had no answer key to life — and for many of us, that led us to making the same mistakes over and over. But Scott explained to us the conceptual reality behind the physical one — and it was the world of persuasion. He calmly explained how it operates — which in time made it possible to almost predict anything.  Once you knew how persuasion worked, you could see around most corners.

This was the difference between Scott and most intellectuals trying to flex their brilliance.

They were interested in reversing reality — but Scott was merely trying to explain it.

And he did that every morning.

It was then, daily, that I listened to ‘Coffee with Scott Adams’ — certain I would glean some valuable insight into the world. And that prediction never failed. He would offer reframes of issues and ideas that would change the way I looked at things.   

 I remember Scott talking about the joys of being fired.

Having been fired 3 times in my life — I remember being angry and resentful after each one. Turned out, as Scott pointed out, I should have been grateful — because each  firing was a step forward into a better career.  My life never got worse after being fired — it only got better.

And this pretty much holds true for everyone. Being unhappy over a firing was based on a faulty assumption that the game had just ended. When, in fact, you were just entering a new level. The game started anew.  And you could do anything.

It also helped that he framed getting fired — as well as getting dumped — through the same simple filter: that the relationship was not a good fit.  Once you look at losing a job or the girl as ‘not a good fit,’ you have eliminated a wound on your ever-present ego. It’s not about you.

And that frees you from the bag of rocks known as bitterness.

The ego is something that we all have and few can control. Usually the ego runs our lives, often into the ground. But Scott reframed it with an analogy — and I quote it often…

 Imagine a person asks you to carry an original Picasso down the block to a gallery. You oblige, and the journey is harrowing. You pack up the painting, you wait for the rain to stop, you walk carefully and timidly — step by tiny step — terrified of pedestrians and puddles.  Now imagine that same person asking you to carry a potato. Sure, no problem! You throw the spud in your pocket and head out. And if you drop it, no big deal — it’s just a potato!

Then comes Scott’s kill shot on the ego: Right now, your ego is a Picasso. From now on, think of it as a potato.

And when I did that, I felt a weight lift. I worried less about slights, or embarrassments.  If I was wrong, I embraced it. In fact, losing the ego enabled me to see the worth in being wrong — for it merely sharpened my own ideas.  I abandoned the sunk cost fallacy and learned to leave stupid opinions behind.

Scott believed in a higher power — that there is more to the world than just the physical reality. 

He put his money on a simulation — that God might actually be a programmer.  He would often point to an underlying structure that guides us. 

I hate that Scott is gone, because he helped me so much. He changed the way I thought, and by doing so made me a happier, better version of myself.

 Scott hadn’t invented the idea — he was simply discovering things about life and shared them with you. This is why when you listened to his morning show you felt that you were on an anthropological dig, led by an incredibly brilliant archaeologist sifting through today’s news, showing us the things that we overlooked — things that point to a reality we didn’t know existed. You might call it God. Or a simulation. But it was there alright. A design and a Designer.

Adams pointed to a conceptual reality that lurks behind the physical one. And without understanding that secret knowledge, we are often disappointed and resentful.  

When Scott would go to his whiteboard during his podcast, he would explain this clearly and without ego. He used his unique power for good -– showing you how to reframe things like laziness, or failure, death, or loss–in ways that bettered your existence.

He often referred to the mind’s mental shelf space. And while you cannot stop thinking bad thoughts (which depress you), you can crowd that stuff out and off the shelf with positive thoughts.  Which is why he championed positive affirmations. 

His treatment for laziness is quick and effective: imagine the outcome instead of the effort.

That tip combined both the affirmations and the shelf space analogy.  Right now, your brain is focusing on the effort to do the dishes; when you could be thinking about how great it is that you have clean dishes in the cupboard and a spotless kitchen counter. You think a good thought, which crowds the bad one out — and the outcome is realized.

I am avoiding the real benefit of Scott Adams. Because it hurts. It’s friendship. I lost a dear friend, someone I loved. A mentor obviously, but a friend I adored.

In his podcasts, Scott offered his hand to everyone — he would be there, 7 am West Coast time, whether you showed up or not, because he knew that whoever did show up, needed a friend. 

I would exercise with Scott’s morning show on, daily — for nearly a decade. I would be pumping away on the Peloton, my ears fixated on Scott’s observations — pausing every now and then to send myself a note about something amazing that Scott just said.

When my life changed — having a baby — I ended up not being able to listen to Scott live — so I looked forward to the comfort of a podcast banked for later.

I am avoiding the real benefit of Scott Adams. Because it hurts. It’s friendship. I lost a dear friend, someone I loved. A mentor obviously, but a friend I adored.

It was a good feeling to remember that, ‘Oh yeah, I have a Scott Adams I didn’t get to!’  It might be Scott’s greatest accomplishment — creating a community of gentle, intelligent beings who met every morning to share in a sip of a beverage of their choice.  Those who didn’t get it… well, too bad.

There are those who remain critical of Scott — but I attribute that to their ignorance. Not ignorance in general, but specific to Scott.  They just had no idea what they were dealing with, when they disparaged him. It’s like rejecting a gold bar because it’s too heavy.

Fact is, the more you got to know him, the more valuable he became.

He was the exception to his own frame known as ‘The Basket Case Theory’ — which stipulated that once you got to know someone you admired or envied — you’d find out they’re just as messed up as you. 

It was an excellent frame for people with anxiety or shyness. You might think that the unfamiliar people are judging you in that hip restaurant — but really, they’re too busy judging themselves. They have their own problems and trust me — you wouldn’t want them.  

Scott once was posed the question: would you trade your life with anyone?  It’s a good question for those of us who envy the rich and famous. 

But Scott said that you have no idea what the problems are of other people. The rich playboy may have syphilis; the popular actor may be riddled with alimony and addictions; the accomplished artist is almost always a nervous, palpable wreck.  It was a simple reframe that helped dispense with jealousy. 

But Scott’s own life subverted this frame — sure, he had his own problems; but the more you got to know him — that fuller picture made him only that much more endearing.

At a certain point in his life, Scott decided to devote himself to service, and he brought that service up to his dying breath. Instead of extinguishing the flame with assisted suicide months ago — once he felt the love swirling around him – he decided to stick around for our sake.

He wouldn’t leave us, not yet anyway.

He even reframed his death: that one’s death is a relief for the dying, for their problems have gone. It is we who are in pain, not him.

And it’s our selfish pain — that he decided to be there for!

I hate that he is gone, because he helped me so much. He changed the way I thought, and by doing so made me a happier, better version of myself.

I fear I will lose that gift now — with him gone, and I told him so a few months ago.

To which he said, ‘No, you got it now.’

In 2012, the Obama administration decided that America’s kids didn’t need whole milk. As a result, our children missed out on essential nutrition and our farmers lost critical income. Obama-era economic stagnation and anti-agriculture policies, including those promoting the Green New Scam multiplied hardships on the farm and many hardworking Americans began to lose hope.

Nearly one year ago, President Donald Trump’s inauguration restored that hope, and today he renews it. In signing the Whole Milk for Heathy Kids Act, President Trump delivers on his promise to put the welfare of American farmers and American children first.

While President Barack Obama took away market share from America’s dairy farmers to fight the war on healthy fats, President Trump is expanding markets both at home and abroad, pushing for better real food options for our kids.

The Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act, sponsored by Sens. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., and Peter Welch, D-Vt., and championed by Rep. Glenn Thompson, R-Pa., and Sen. John Boozman, R-Ark., restores whole milk to schools across the nation, delivering real food for the next generation and standing up for the farmers who feed this country.

This issue is near and dear to my heart. Last year at my confirmation hearing, Sen. Marshall asked me if whole milk belongs in school lunches. I enthusiastically agreed. I also shared that growing up, my mom made sure that our refrigerator was always well stocked with whole milk. She instinctively knew that whole milk was a building block to a healthy future for me and my younger sisters.

So much has changed since the founding of our nation 250 years ago, but the benefits of drinking whole milk have remained the same. If anything, the nutrients that whole milk naturally provides are more in demand than ever before.

The childhood health crisis currently facing our nation is nothing less than an existential threat.

Over 75% of kids in America struggle with obesity, poor physical fitness or related health challenges. These rising rates of chronic disease are influenced by several factors, but diet plays a central role.

We have a responsibility to help fix this crisis, especially since it was partly driven by misguided federal nutrition policies that replaced real food with ideology.

The absence of whole milk from schools has long been overlooked by countless public officials, but President Trump noticed and has done something about it. This administration understands that the national health crisis cannot be overcome without reorienting federal nutrition policy around science and real-world outcomes.

The Trump administration understands that the national health crisis cannot be overcome without reorienting federal nutrition policy around science and real-world outcomes.

Let’s be clear—whole milk isn’t just another drink on a school lunch tray. It’s a nutrient-dense, affordable source of protein, calcium, vitamin D, and healthy fats that growing bodies and minds need to thrive.

Bringing whole milk back to schools also builds on this month’s release of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2025–2030, which recognize full-fat milk, protein and healthy fats as essential building blocks of a balanced diet.

For the first time in years, federal guidance and school meal programs will complement one another, sending a consistent message to families about what healthy eating really looks like.

The Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act restores flexibility to schools, allowing them to offer whole, reduced-fat, low-fat, or fat-free milk. This is a win for local communities and parents, who can now make choices that best serve their kids.

And equally important, it’s also a win for American farmers—the backbone of rural America.

School meal programs create consistent demand for their products, strengthen local economies and reconnect children to the food that truly fuels them. And after Thursday’s announcement, the demand for whole milk will take off like a rocket.

So, to America’s dairy farmers: get ready. Gone are the days of declining milk consumption driven by failed Obama-era policy. Your hard work is back where it belongs, front and center in feeding our nation’s children.

This isn’t about partisan politics. It’s about practical, commonsense government policy, and it’s exactly the kind of real-world reform President Trump was elected to carry out.

Multiple Iranian state TV channels were hacked on Sunday amid a near-total internet shutdown to air footage of exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi and images of anti-government protests that have rocked Tehran in recent weeks.

Two clips of Pahlavi were shown as well as a graphic calling on Iranian security forces to side with the public, The Associated Press reported.

‘Don’t point your weapons at the people. Join the nation for the freedom of Iran,’ one graphic read, according to a translation from the outlet.

Pahlavi himself called on Iran’s military to break with the Islamic Republic and side with the people.

‘I have a special message for the military. You are the national army of Iran, not the Islamic Republic army,’ he said in the hacked broadcast. ‘You have a duty to protect your own lives. You don’t have much time left. Join the people as soon as possible.’

The U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), which tracks human rights violations in Iran, said on Sunday that nationwide protests continued into the 22nd day as President Donald Trump weighs possible U.S. military action.

The group’s aggregated figures showed 624 recorded protests, the arrest of at least 24,669 people and the confirmed deaths of 3,919 individuals.

HRANA said 3,685 of those killed were protesters, including 25 children under the age of 18.

Nearly 9,000 deaths remain under investigation.

Iran International reported that witnesses across multiple cities told them security forces stormed hospitals, removed injured protesters and interfered with medical care, while reports from other areas described overwhelmed morgues and a strong security presence around medical facilities.

The outlet also reported that witnesses described injured protesters being left without medical care after shootings, as ambulances failed to arrive and phone networks were unavailable.

Others said hospitals were inaccessible or refused treatment, resulting in some wounded protesters bleeding to death while taking shelter in nearby buildings.

President Donald Trump is weighing whether to pull the trigger and launch strikes against Iran — a move that could potentially expose the weaknesses of both Russia and China, according to experts. 

While Russia and China have sought to make inroads in areas of Africa and Latin America — presenting themselves as partners for infrastructure and military equipment — neither Russia nor China intervened to defend their ally Venezuela when the U.S. took action Jan. 3 to topple dictator Nicolás Maduro’s regime. 

Potential strikes in Iran, coupled with the strikes in Venezuela to overthrow Maduro, would drive home just how formidable the U.S. is and even near-peer adversaries like Beijing can’t compete, according to experts. 

‘Beijing would likely respond with familiar condemnations and calls for restraint, but the deeper takeaway would be uncomfortable: China’s partnerships offer little protection when the United States decides to act,’ Craig Singleton, a senior China fellow for the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said in a statement Wednesday. ‘Venezuela made that clear regionally; Iran would underscore it globally. Chinese officials will brand Washington reckless or rogue, but privately this episode would validate long-standing Chinese views about how power is actually exercised and that the U.S. is the only country willing and able to project force across multiple theaters on short notice.’

‘Two complex military operations in two regions just two weeks apart would reinforce a core assessment inside China’s system: America’s military might remains unmatched, and Washington is willing to use it when it judges the risks manageable,’ Singleton said. ‘That combination commands professional respect even as it sharpens Chinese unease.’ 

Mark Cancian, a senior advisor with the Center for Strategic and International Studies’ defense and security department, voiced similar sentiments and said that countries like Iran and Venezuela who’ve cozied up to Russia and Beijing are likely realizing the pitfalls of those ties. 

For example, Venezuela has had long-standing ties to Russia and has purchased Russian military equipment — yet Russia was not there to safeguard Caracas from U.S. strikes or prevent the U.S. from capturing Maduro, Cancian said. Another military strike in Iran would only expose Russia and China’s limitations further, Cancian said.

‘I think many countries are seeing that Russia and China can’t protect them, that those alliances have severe limitations,’ Cancian told Fox News Digital Friday. 

‘I think that a strike on Iran would make the same point,’ Cancian said. 

According to Cancian, the reason Moscow and Beijing can’t defend their allies and partners is because neither maintains a global military like the U.S. does. 

‘The United States does maintain United bases all over the world,’ Cancian said. ‘It has a Navy that deploys all over the world. The Chinese don’t have that. The Russians don’t have that. So although they have powerful militaries, they don’t have the global capability to protect allies and partners.’

Meanwhile, Trump is still weighing whether he’ll conduct strikes on Iran again. The president told reporters Jan. 11 on Air Force One that the administration was ‘looking at some very strong options,’ and Tuesday said that all meetings with the Iranian regime were scrapped until ‘the senseless killing of protesters STOPS.’ He said that those who’ve killed anti-regime demonstrators will face consequences. 

On Wednesday, Trump told reporters that even though ‘killing in Iran is stopping,’ he wouldn’t rule out military action and that the U.S. would ‘watch and see’ what happens. Meanwhile, Trump said Friday that he had held off on strikes for now because Iran had canceled executions for more than 800 people.

Protests broke out across Iran in December 2025 in response to economic hardships facing the country, as well as a referendum against Iran’s theocratic regime. 

More than 2,000 people — including at least nine children — have died in the recent protests, the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency reported Tuesday. 

Trump authorized several major military operations in recent months, on top of the strikes in Venezuela. For example, he also signed off on strikes in Nigeria and Syria in December targeting those affiliated with the Islamic State.

This also wouldn’t be the first time Trump has conducted strikes against Iran — should he choose to go through with them. In June, he signed off on strikes targeting Iran’s nuclear sites Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has officially moved into the historic Gracie Mansion, and he’s already hoping to make changes. The mayor spoke to reporters on Jan. 12 and shared his ‘aspirational hope’ to have a few bidets installed in the mayor’s residence.

‘One thing that we will change is we will be installing a few bidets into Gracie Mansion,’ Mamdani said. ‘That’s an aspirational hope. We’ll see if we can get it done.’

A prominent New York City Democrat mocked the mayor’s idea, painting it as a rich man’s fantasy coming from someone who preaches socialism.

‘He’s been mayor for a minute and now the socialist thinks he’s flush with so much cash he can buy bidets,’ the prominent Democrat, who asked to remain anonymous, told Fox News Digital.

When speaking to Fox News Digital, the prominent Democrat pointed out the difference between the reaction to Mamdani’s ‘aspirational hope’ to add bidets versus President Donald Trump’s renovations to the White House’s Lincoln Bedroom bathroom.

Trump posted photos of the renovated bathroom on Truth Social in November celebrating the upgrade which included ‘highly-polished, statuary marble.’ While the president argued that the renovation was in line with the original vision for the space, historians disagreed and comedians mocked him. John Oliver, the host of ‘Last Week Tonight,’ called it ‘tone-deaf.’

The president’s renovations to the East Wing ballroom have also drawn criticism and mockery with Democrats taking aim at the president over the project. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., said during an appearance on MSNBC that Trump ‘found time to demolish the East Wing of the White House so that he can build a ballroom where he can be celebrated as if he was a king.’

The East Wing renovation was mocked on ‘Saturday Night Live,’ which did a skit featuring James Austin Johnson as Trump and Miles Teller as Drew and Jonathan Scott from HGTV’s popular home makeover show ‘The Property Brothers.’ The mockery didn’t end there. During a ‘Weekend Update’ segment, Michael Che said he was glad the floor looked ‘slippery,’ according to the Architect’s Newspaper.

The Gracie Mansion Conservancy’s website notes that the residence was originally built by Archibald Gracie, a prosperous merchant, in 1799 and was originally a country house located five miles north of what was then known as New York City. Since then, the city has expanded and the mansion is currently located in Manhattan’s Upper East Side, which is known to be one of the wealthier parts of the city.

The conservancy also stated that Gracie Mansion is one of the oldest surviving wooden structures in Manhattan and has served as the official residence of New York City mayors since 1942.

‘Parks Commissioner Robert Moses convinced City authorities to designate the Gracie Mansion as the official residence of the Mayor in 1942 when Fiorello H. La Guardia and his family moved into the house,’ the conservancy’s website reads.

HomeAdvisor, a home-improvement cost and contractor marketplace owned by Angi, said in 2025 that the average cost to install a bidet was $640, with a typical range of $400 to $1,500. The site noted that costs can run as low as $40 or as high as $2,000. The bidet type, size and quality, as well as necessary plumbing modifications can impact the installation cost.

Meanwhile, HomeGuide, a home-improvement cost guide that compiles pricing data from contractors and project estimates, broke down bidet pricing by unit and installation. The site said a standalone bidet could cost between $700 and $2,600 including installation, while the unit and installation cost for a bidet attachment typically ranges from $100 to $300.

It is unclear how exactly the city would install bidets in Gracie Mansion.

New York City’s Department of Environmental Protection celebrated Mamdani’s announcement, saying that ‘more bidets = fewer wet wipes.’

As protests spread across Iran and security forces intensify their crackdown, former political prisoners are warning that what is visible on the streets represents only a fraction of the violence unfolding behind prison walls.

In interviews with Fox News Digital, three former detainees described a system designed not just to punish dissent, but to break it through solitary confinement, beatings, medical neglect and threats of execution. Their accounts span nearly two decades, from the 2009 uprising to the ‘Woman, Life, Freedom’ movement and the current wave of unrest, pointing to what they describe as a consistent and escalating pattern of abuse.

Maryam Shariatmadari, one of the faces of the ‘Girls of Revolution Street’ protests against Iran’s mandatory hijab laws, was sentenced to one year in prison in March 2018 for what authorities described as ‘encouraging corruption by removing her hijab.’

Speaking this week, Shariatmadari said the scale of the current protests has pushed the regime beyond its capacity to detain demonstrators.

‘According to the testimonies of eyewitnesses, the suppressive forces of the Islamic Republic … are delivering ‘final shots’ to wounded protesters, killing them on the spot,’ she said. ‘This has been unprecedented over the past 47 years and indicates that the number of detainees has become so large that the Islamic Republic no longer has the capacity to hold them and is killing them without any form of trial.’

She said that while detainees in earlier uprisings were transferred to prisons or unofficial ‘safe houses,’ authorities expanded detention during the 2022 ‘Woman, Life, Freedom’ protests to schools, ambulances and food transport vehicles.

‘They used ambulances and food transport vehicles to detain protesters, something I believe to be unprecedented in human history,’ Shariatmadari said.

Inside detention facilities, she described systematic abuse.

‘These include beatings, transfers to prisons without separation based on the type of offense, and the deliberate incitement of other inmates to harass and abuse us,’ she said.

One of her most traumatic experiences occurred during interrogation.

‘I was ordered to remove my clothes and remain completely naked for a body search while cameras were present,’ Shariatmadari said. ‘I knew that men were watching me, and I could hear their voices.’

She also recalled being denied urgent medical care after an injury.

‘Only after approximately 24 hours was I taken to a hospital to undergo surgery,’ she said. ‘I believe this happened as a result of media pressure and public support.’

Eight hours a day, blindfolded

Shariatmadari’s husband, Mehdi Ghadimi, a freelance journalist who worked with reformist newspapers Etemad and Shargh, was arrested in January 2023 during protests and taken to an undisclosed location. He spent nearly his entire detention in solitary confinement.

‘I was interrogated twice daily, morning and afternoon, for eight hours with my eyes blindfolded,’ Ghadimi said.

In the final days of his detention, he was transferred to a shared cell, where he encountered detainees from across Iranian society.

‘I encountered students, workers, technical specialists and others who had been arrested during the Woman, Life, Freedom movement,’ he said.

According to Ghadimi, detainees accused of supporting the Pahlavi dynasty were beaten more severely.

‘Because their slogans and symbols supported the Pahlavi dynasty, they were beaten far more than the others,’ he said.

Based on his experience, he warned that current detainees are likely to face even harsher treatment.

‘I can only imagine that this time all detainees will face similarly brutal treatment,’ Ghadimi said, adding that Iran’s judiciary chief has publicly signaled a hard line.

Ghadimi, who fled the country in 2024, also cited figures circulating among activists claiming well over the 2,600 reported, likely dwarfing that number. He said the number of detainees is likely far higher than the 10,000 reported.

‘On the other side of those bars is hell’

Shabnam Madadzadeh, who was imprisoned during the 2009 uprising, said watching the current protests has revived memories of extreme brutality and raised fears of mass executions.

‘What immediately comes to my mind is the regime’s sheer brutality in torture and killing,’ Madadzadeh said.

She said detention facilities were already overflowing during the 2009 protests.

‘There was no space left for detainees. Even the solitary cells were overflowing with people,’ she said.

Madadzadeh recalled interrogators accusing nearly everyone arrested of links to the Mujahedin-e Khalq and described torture and beatings ‘to the point of killing.’

One threat made to her during interrogation still haunts her.

‘He told me: ‘If we are going to be overthrown, we will kill all of you. We will leave no one alive,’’ she said.

She warned that the current internet blackout has heightened the danger for detainees.

‘We truly do not know what level of brutality is currently taking place inside the prisons,’ Madadzadeh said, adding that information reaching her suggests the regime is seeking to carry out executions quickly.

Citing Iran’s past, she warned of the risk of mass killings similar to the 1988 executions of political prisoners.

‘Today, at a moment when the regime is on the brink of collapse, there is a real danger that such a massacre could be repeated,’ she said.

Madadzadeh said young detainees are likely facing forced confessions, mock executions and threats of sexual violence.

‘Whatever I do to you, no one will hear your voice,’ an interrogator once told her, she recalled.

She also emphasized the suffering of families searching for loved ones.

‘Families are moving between detention centers, prisons, morgues and cemeteries,’ she said. ‘This uncertainty itself is the greatest form of torture.’

As the protests continue, all three former prisoners said the outside world must not look away.

‘The first thing I expect the free world to understand is the true voice of the people inside Iran,’ Shariatmadari said. ‘The people of Iran are united in their demand for regime change and want to restore Iran to its former dignity, a dignity in which human rights and human worth were respected.’

Ghadimi echoed that warning.

‘Without a doubt, when the regime displays such open violence in the streets, even worse atrocities occur behind prison walls,’ he said. ‘I can only imagine that this time all detainees will face similarly brutal treatment.’

For Madadzadeh, the danger is immediate.

‘The world must respond decisively to this brutality,’ she said. ‘Every minute of delay costs lives.’

She called for concrete international action.

‘Force the regime to allow independent visits to prisons and to the secret detention centers run by the IRGC and the Ministry of Intelligence,’ Madadzadeh said. ‘Lives depend on it.’

Together, their testimonies paint a stark picture of Iran’s prisons as the hidden front line of repression and a warning that what remains unseen may be even more deadly than what is already visible in the streets.

President Donald Trump announced the United States would impose 10% tariffs on multiple European countries unless Denmark agrees to the ‘complete and total purchase of Greenland,’ warning that global security and U.S. national defense were at stake.

Trump made the announcement in a lengthy Truth Social post on Saturday, arguing that the U.S. has subsidized Denmark and other European Union nations for decades by failing to charge tariffs and providing what he described as ‘maximum protection.’

‘We have subsidized Denmark, and all of the Countries of the European Union, and others, for many years by not charging them Tariffs, or any other forms of remuneration,’ Trump wrote.

‘Now, after Centuries, it is time for Denmark to give back — World Peace is at stake!’

Trump wrote that both China and Russia want Greenland and he said there was ‘not a thing that Denmark can do about it.’

‘They currently have two dogsleds as protection, one added recently. Only the United States of America, under PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP, can play in this game, and very successfully, at that!’ Trump wrote. 

‘Nobody will touch this sacred piece of Land, especially since the National Security of the United States, and the World at large, is at stake.’

Trump said that Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Finland have ‘journeyed’ to Greenland, for ‘purposes unknown,’ posing a very dangerous situation for the safety, security and survival of our planet.

‘All of the above-mentioned Countries… will be charged a 10% Tariff on any and all goods sent to the United States of America,’ Trump wrote. 

On June 1, 2026, the tariff will be increased to 25%, he said. 

‘This Tariff will be due and payable until such time as a Deal is reached for the Complete and Total purchase of Greenland.’

In recent weeks, Trump has zeroed in on Greenland, the world’s largest island at a strategic crossroads in the Arctic, and floated the idea of tariffs being imposed on Friday. 

A semi-autonomous territory of Denmark, Greenland is home to a crucial U.S. military base and has taken on growing strategic importance as melting ice opens new shipping lanes and access to a wealth of natural resources.

In his Saturday post, Trump said the United States has tried to purchase Greenland for more than 150 years but that Denmark has repeatedly refused. 

He tied the push to modern weapons systems and the ‘Golden Dome,’ saying hundreds of billions of dollars are being spent on related security programs and that the system can only work at maximum efficiency if Greenland is included. 

‘The United States of America is immediately open to negotiation with Denmark and/or any of these countries that have put so much at risk, despite all that we have done for them, including maximum protection, over so many decades,’ Trump wrote. ‘Thank you for your attention to this matter!’

Trump’s remarks come as his administration awaits a Supreme Court ruling on whether some of the tariffs he imposed in 2025 were legal.

Fox News’ Amanda Macias contributed to this report. 

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., is calling for the end of the Iranian regime amid ongoing protests and as the country holds its breath to see if a 26-year-old protester will be executed, something President Donald Trump has said could trigger U.S. intervention.

‘I read with great sadness and heartache about the pending execution of Erfan Soltani, a 26-year-old shopkeeper. He is facing death at the hands of the ayatollah simply for protesting in the street for a better life. His family is calling on the world to come to their son’s aid,’ Graham wrote in a post on X along with an article about Soltani.

‘I hope and pray that the execution does not go forward and this young man does not forfeit his life because he wants to live in freedom without fear,’ the senator added. ‘This regime must fall, and the Iranian people must have a better life.’

Graham said that he believes if the regime falls and the ‘murderous ayatollah running Iran’ is gone, the impact on the region ‘would be incredibly positive.’ He also warned, however, that if Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei were to remain in power, it would be ‘a giant step backward into the darkness.’

Soltani’s story has spread in recent days as the unrest in Iran continues. The 26-year-old was arrested in Fardis and was sentenced to death after an expedited trial, according to ABC News, which cited Soltani’s second cousin, Somayeh.

‘As someone who is an activist myself and who has fought this regime for many years, I felt it was my right — and my duty — to be Erfan’s voice outside the country, despite all the pressure and sanctions that fall on families,’ Somayeh, who is based in Germany, told ABC News.

Iranians began protesting in late December amid worsening economic conditions. Earlier this month, the regime instituted a nationwide internet blackout, blocking demonstrators from contacting each other or the outside world amid international fears that protesters would be met with violence and death.

On Jan. 2, just days after the protests erupted, Trump said the U.S. was ‘locked and loaded’ and ready to take action if the regime used violence against demonstrators. One day after the threat was made, the U.S. captured Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro, adding weight to Trump’s words, though no known action has been taken yet.

Trump claimed on Wednesday the administration was told ‘on good authority’ that the killing in Iran had stopped.

‘We’ve been told that the killing in Iran is stopping, and it’s stopped and stopping, and there’s no plan for executions or an execution,’ Trump said in the Oval Office. ‘So, I’ve been told that on good authority. We’ll find out about it.’

On Friday, he seemed to double down on the idea that the regime had stopped using violence when he issued a Truth Social post saying that Iran had cancelled over 800 scheduled hangings.

‘I greatly respect the fact that all scheduled hangings, which were to take place yesterday (over 800 of them), have been cancelled by the leadership of Iran,’ Trump wrote on Truth Social.

The fate of Soltani remains unclear, as does the prospect of U.S. intervention in Iran.

A bipartisan, bicameral group of U.S. lawmakers set off to Denmark to reassure the NATO ally amid President Donald Trump’s push for a takeover of Greenland.

The group was mostly made of Democrats, but included two Republicans: Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C.

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Ranking Member Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., Murkowski, Tillis, Rep. Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y., Rep. Sarah McBride, D-Del., Rep. Madeleine Dean, D-Pa., and Rep. Sara Jacobs, D-Calif., were among those who traveled to Europe for meetings with Danish and Greenlandic officials. Some members of the delegation are expected to go to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, next week.

‘The trip will highlight bipartisan support for our allies in the Kingdom of Denmark and discuss how to deepen this partnership in line with our shared principles of sovereignty and self-determination, and in the face of growing challenges around the world, especially bolstering Arctic security and promoting stronger trade relations between the two countries,’ a statement Shaheen issued prior to the visit read.

Coons, who led the delegation, underscored the lawmakers’ desire to ‘reaffirm Congress’ commitment’ to Denmark, calling it one of the U.S.’s ‘oldest, strongest NATO allies.’

‘A great day leading our bipartisan delegation to Copenhagen meeting with Danish and Greenlandic officials to reaffirm Congress’ commitment to one of our oldest, strongest NATO allies. In an increasingly unstable world In which our adversaries are cooperating, our alliances are more important than ever,’ he wrote in a post on X.

The visit comes as Trump’s renewed push for the U.S. to takeover Greenland continues to draw criticism from both sides of the aisle and some of America’s allies.

‘That rhetoric doesn’t just undermine our bilateral relationship, it undermines the NATO alliance at a time when our adversaries seek to benefit from division,’ Shaheen said during a speech at the University of Copenhagen.

The trip began before Trump announced on Saturday planned tariffs for Denmark and several European nations in a bid to force a deal for the U.S. purchase of Greenland. 

While the lawmakers were visiting, Denmark saw massive protests of crowds voicing their opposition to the U.S. taking the semiautonomous Danish territory. Thousands gathered across the country to show their solidarity with Greenland. The crowds chanted ‘Greenland is not for sale’ and held banners with slogans such as ‘Hands off Greenland,’ according to Reuters.

‘I am very grateful for the huge support we as Greenlanders receive… we are also sending a message to the world that you all must wake up,’ Julie Rademacher, chair of Uagut, an organization for Greenlanders in Denmark, told Reuters.

‘Greenland and the Greenlanders have involuntarily become the front in the fight for democracy and human rights,’ she added.

Trump has insisted that the U.S. needs Greenland for purposes of national security, saying that Russia and China were eyeing the island. 

During her speech at the University of Copenhagen, Shaheen argued that Trump’s approach is unnecessary, saying the U.S. already has pathways to secure its interests in the Arctic.

‘Anything the president might want — whether it is U.S. bases to defend against Arctic threats or critical minerals deals — the leaders of Denmark and Greenland have made clear they are happy to partner with us. So, the threats are not only unnecessary, they are also counterproductive, and they risk undermining the broader NATO Alliance in the process,’ Shaheen added.

In an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital, U.S. ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitaker pushed back against growing European backlash over Washington’s focus on Greenland after France announced new military exercises with Denmark, saying Arctic security is a core American defense interest and that Europe ‘has a tendency to overreact.’

Americans appear divided on the idea, however, with 86% of voters nationwide saying they would oppose military action to take over Greenland, according to a Quinnipiac University poll. The survey found that voters opposed any U.S. effort to buy Greenland by a 55%–37% margin, suggesting the idea has yet to gain broad support among American voters.

Fox News Digital’s Efrat Lachter and Amanda Macias contributed to this report.