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Having worn out the use of 'Hitler' over the last decade, the liberal media is searching for its next sensationalist descriptor for an otherwise innocuous "injustice" deserving of unlimited taxpayer dollars.

This go-round, the media is replacing their loaded "food desert" term with "food apartheid". Because, hey, when there isn't a World War II or full blown civil rights style crisis on the media's hands to all them to argue their ideologies...why not just invent one? 

"The Associated Press periodically tweaks its style guide—often to make its left-wing activism more subtle. Progressive activists do the same, inventing controversies out of thin air. Where we once spoke of “food deserts,” the Radical Left now insists on “food apartheid”—and expects us to pretend this contrived concept is happening in Seattle," Jason Rantz of 770 KTTH argues.

Rantz points out in an article out this morning that Seattle Times columnist Naomi Ishisaka pushes the idea that racism is behind the lack of quality grocery stores in areas like south Seattle compared to whiter neighborhoods.

“While ‘food desert’ might lead people to think there’s something inevitable... ‘food apartheid’ argues that these inequities are the result of intentional choices, and can be changed,” she writes.

True to her unwavering BLM alignment, Ishisaka sees racism in every disparity. Fewer stores in Black neighborhoods? “These inequities... contribute to health disparities that fall along racial and socio-economic lines,” she claims—suggesting a broad, selective conspiracy that oddly excludes Asians and poor whites.

Naomi Ishisaka blames “policies such as redlining and urban renewal” for underinvestment in Black neighborhoods—but sidesteps the more obvious factor: crime.

She even concedes that near her Rainier Beach home, “we have two Safeways, the closest of which has been the site of numerous incidents of gun violence,” unwittingly highlighting the real deterrent.

Grocery stores operate on thin margins and avoid areas where safety is a liability. That basic economic reality seems lost on Ishisaka, blinded by ideology.

The irony is rich: the same activists crying “food apartheid” also chant “ACAB,” oppose policing, and undermine public safety—then wonder why businesses won’t invest, Rantz says. 

Authored by Susan Crabtree via RealClearPolitics,

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin’s trip Tuesday to this scenic family-friendly coastal tourist destination was all business and at times quite unpleasant, considering the noxious fumes he was there to discuss.

Zeldin visited this border city on Earth Day to try to put an end to a decades-long environmental catastrophe: Billions of gallons of sewage and industrial chemicals from Mexico have flowed into the Pacific Ocean in Southern California, closing local beaches and sickening U.S. Navy SEALs who train in the water on nearby beaches.

The cross-border pollution has been going on for decades with Congress addressing the disgusting effluence piece-meal, throwing more than $653 million at the problem over the last five years alone even as the contaminant levels surged.

The Tijuana River runs close to the coast in Mexico then flows into California, through Navy-owned land, and dumps into the ocean. In recent years, Tijuana’s population and industry have boomed, overwhelming its aging wastewater treatment plants and pumping stations and increasing the levels of toxins, including industrial chemicals, bacteria, and trash, in the river and nearby coastal waters. Scientists and researchers say the sewage doesn’t only contaminate the water – it also vaporizes into the air and they have detected high levels of harmful gases in the area.

Enter President Trump, who with his “drill-baby-drill” refrain may seem an unlikely environmental hero. But the president has been intensely focused on the border and has demanded that Mexico help stop the flow of illegal immigrants, drugs, and now human waste into U.S. territory and waters. During Trump’s first term, he usually either touted progress on his “big, beautiful border wall” or railed against Democrats efforts to defund it – without mentioning the sewage pouring into California coastal zones.

Now the problem is “top of mind” for Trump, Zeldin said. 

Zeldin, a former Congressman from New York who ran an unsuccessful campaign for governor in 2022, spent his day discussing various options to expedite solutions. He met the previous evening with his Mexican environmental counterparts and left the meeting hopeful about their commitment, but he also didn’t mince words.

“I’m a New Yorker, and if I say this in a way that offends people from Southern California, I’m sorry. But I know my counterparts in Mexico are listening,” Zeldin told reporters after a forum with a bipartisan group of congressman and local leaders. “What’s going on inside of the American who just cares about having it resolved – they don’t give a shit about how it gets done, as long as this crisis is over.”

Earlier in the day, while touring a U.S. plant that treats sewage as a secondary facility to one in Mexico, Darrell Issa, longtime San Diego-area GOP congressman, recounted an alarming story. He recalled one Border Patrol agent telling him the Tijuana River water is so toxic that his boots started disintegrating after stepping into it while doing his job.

Rep. Mike Levin, a Democrat representing northern San Diego County, later told reporters that his wife’s nephew who had trained as a SEAL near the border had been diagnosed with cancer in his 20s. The family can’t prove that his training in the deeply polluted water caused the cancer, but they have their suspicions. Other Navy vets have recently started dubbing the sewage outflows, located roughly one mile from their training waters, the “next Camp Lejeune.”

The Navy is considering relocating its Coronado training site for SEAL candidates after documenting 1,168 cases of acute gastrointestinal illnesses of its recruits from 2019 to 2023. The pollution has sickened swimmers, surfers, lifeguards, and border patrol agents, closing California beaches near the border more often than they’ve been open over the last four years.

Zeldin, who took a helicopter tour of the polluted areas and met with Navy officials Tuesday, said American patience has run out. In the coming days, he will deliver Mexico a to-do list to resolve the environmental crisis and plans to issue a joint statement outlining concrete steps, which must happen “as fast as humanly possible.”

The actions must be “aggressively pursued with extreme urgency,” he stated.

During the tour of the U.S. wastewater treatment center, lawmakers and local officials explained that expanding that facility alone will only take care of roughly half the problem. The center can treat only a limited amount of raw sewage before releasing it directly into the ocean. Meanwhile, Mexican factories and people are dumping chemicals and trash into the Tijuana River itself.

The Mexican government, Zeldin said, must clean up the river and prevent its citizens from re-contaminating it. In 2022, Mexico committed $88 million to help remediate the pollution but still needs to designate the funds to several ongoing wastewater treatment projects and upgrades. One of those projects must be installing floodgates to collect trash in Tijuana, Zeldin said.

“They cannot view this as a U.S. problem just because their contamination reached U.S. soil,” he said. “We need Mexico to not just commit to all the projects that will stop the flow, but in order to actually finish this project, they’re going to [have to] commit to that final cleanup.”

The meetings on the issue so far have been productive, Zeldin stressed, noting that the relatively new administration of Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has appeared receptive to working out a “strong collaborative relationship” and a course of action.

Zeldin, however, did not outline any enforcement actions and said he has not discussed the possibility of making Mexico’s action on the sewage problem a condition to a pending agreement to lift tariffs.

“I haven’t had that conversation with anyone – that’s not something that I’ve heard,” he told RealClearPolitics. “But I wouldn’t read into that one way or the other.”

San Diego County Supervisor Jim Desmond, a Republican challenging Levin for his congressional seat, has been the one sounding the alarm since the first days of the Trump administration. During Tuesday’s meeting with Zeldin and other lawmakers, Desmond suggested a far simpler solution than the complex set of wastewater upgrades and expansions on both sides of the border under consideration.

“I’m happy to support the plant there, but – I’ll go out on a limb – I think we need to dam up the Tijuana River,” he said in the meeting, a video of which a reporter posted on X.com afterward. “That’s what everything’s being thrown into – mattresses, shopping carts, tires, diapers – everything that’s coming across the border.”

Desmond also expressed optimism that “real, tangible solutions” are on the way, but said he plans to continue keeping the pressure on Mexico.

“I’m not letting up until we see results,” he said after the meeting. “Holding Mexico accountable is no longer optional – it’s urgent. Our beaches, our health, and our military demand it.”

Zeldin didn’t comment on Desmond’s proposal to dam the river, which would no doubt anger environmentalists who have complained for decades that the pollutants are harming the entire Tijuana Valley estuary, leading to mass deaths of its fish and other marine life and a reduction in biodiversity.

Doing so would also violate numerous environmental regulations. The estuary is one of just 30 that remain protected in North America and is recognized by the United Nations as coastal wetlands in need of these safeguards. Even so, Mexican factories and others continue to violate the protections and disregard regulations.

The bilateral solution will likely be complex, Zeldin said, but the status quo is unacceptable. The administrator then predicted that the U.S. and Mexican government would be celebrating putting the crisis in the “rearview mirror” by Earth Day 2026.

“There’s no way that we are going to stand before the people of California and ask them to have more patience and just bear with all of us as we go through the next 10 or 20 or 30 years of being stuck in 12 feet of raw sewage and not getting anywhere,” he pledged.

As to why Trump is making the issue a priority now and why no other president, Democrat or Republican, over the last 25 years has successfully tackled it, Zeldin demurred.

“Look, I have plenty of thoughts as to missed opportunities in the past,” he told RCP. “But I’m not here to look backwards right now. I’m just looking forward.”

Susan Crabtree is RealClearPolitics' national political correspondent.

A Washington State University instructor and PhD student, Patrick Mahoney, was arrested after allegedly assaulting a student wearing a red “Take America Back” Trump 2024 hat, according to a police report obtained by The Jason Rantz Show on KTTH.

The victim, Jay Sani, said Mahoney grabbed his hat and threw it, then, along with another suspect, Gerald Hoff, “grabbed Sani and took him to the ground.”

The police report says: “Once on the ground, Mahoney grabbed Sani’s head and slammed it into the ground. Sani then moved his hands to approximately shoulder height and said something to the effect of he put his hands up to not make the fight worse.

Mahoney said to the officer who contacted him: “You know, you’re f**king wearing that hat, you wanted someone to f**king look at it, right?”

“I asked Mahoney what happened tonight. Mahoney said that he saw ‘ol’ boy’ walking around. Mahoney did not name Sani by name but said ‘I’ve seen this guy, f**king, on campus before. I know he’s like f**king Right Wing dude. He’s got a f**king, like, Make America Great Again hat.'”

According to police, Mahoney referred to Sani as “ol’ boy” and admitted to grabbing the hat, saying, “You know, you’re fking wearing that hat, you wanted someone to fking look at it, right?” He claimed Sani “body checked” him, prompting Mahoney to tackle and punch him “to Sani’s jaw.”

Both Mahoney and Gerald Hoff were arrested for assault, according to 770 KTTH. “WSU suspended and removed Mahoney from all classes he previously taught,” The Daily Evergreen reported.

EXCLUSIVE: Frontlines reporter @choeshow has obtained surveillance footage showing Washington State University (WSU) PhD student instructor Patrick Mahoney and WSU employee Gerald Hoff attacking engineering student Jay Sani.

Sani claims that Mahoney and Hoff assaulted him… pic.twitter.com/AhNae3FDMT

— FRONTLINES (@FrontlinesTPUSA) April 15, 2025

Mahoney, described as a far-left activist, was suspended and removed from teaching duties. He has a history of union involvement and pro-Palestinian activism, including calls for a Gaza ceasefire.

The KTTH report says that Sani, who says he was bruised, condemned “how toxic the left has gotten.” In a Facebook post, he wrote, “To make it clear, I hate to say this, but i’m [sic] brown, but forget it. I’m an engineering student that wants to get the degree, and move on. So what if I like someone that you don’t like. We have the 1st amendment, and its not okay that just because you don’t like that person, I should be attacked for it. You had a chance in November to oust him, but you didn’t.”

A 19-year-old from Ocean Township, New Jersey, has been arrested and charged with sparking what could be the Garden State's largest wildfire in decades. 

On Thursday morning, the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office wrote on Facebook that Joseph Kling was charged with aggravated arson and arson in connection with a wildfire that scorched 15,000 acres in the New Jersey Pine Barrens area. 

The latest New Jersey Forest Fire Service update indicates that the wildfire is 50% contained. 

Ocean County Prosecutor's Office provided additional color about the suspect, Joseph Kling:

Ocean County Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer, New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Shawn M. LaTourette and Ocean Township Chief of Police Michal Rogalski announced that on April 23, 2025, Joseph Kling, 19, of Ocean Township (Waretown), was charged with Aggravated Arson and Arson in connection with a wildfire that started in Waretown on April 22, 2025, and continued to spread throughout the southern Ocean County area

On April 22, 2025, at approximately 9:45 a.m., the Cedar Bridge Fire Tower located a column of smoke coming from the area of Jones Road and Bryant Road in Ocean Township. Upon arrival, emergency personnel observed a fire within the Ocean County Natural Lands Trust's Forked River Mountains Wilderness Area, which is on the east side of Jones Road.

As of April 24, 2025, the fire has burned approximately 15,000 acres in Waretown and Lacey Townships, and has destroyed a commercial building.

A thorough and extensive investigation conducted by the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office Major Crime Unit-Arson Squad, New Jersey Forest Fire Service, Ocean County Fire Marshal's Office, and New Jersey State Fire Marshal's Office, plotted the origin of the fire via Global Positioning System (GPS).  The cause of the fire was determined to be incendiary by an improperly extinguished bonfire.

Further investigation has revealed that Kling was the individual responsible for setting wooden pallets on fire - and then leaving the area without the fire being fully extinguished.  Kling was taken into custody at Ocean Township (Waretown) Police Headquarters; he was thereafter transported to the Ocean County Jail, where he is presently lodged pending a detention hearing.

There are no indications yet as to whether stupidity, political motives, or climate activism played a role in Kling's actions that sparked the fire. Certainly, we'll leave it to federal investigators to comb through social media profiles, voting records, and other databases to determine who Kling is and possible reasons why the blaze started.

Russia has issued a fresh nuclear warning aimed at the West at an ultra-sensitive moment that diplomatic engagement with the US on efforts to achieve peace in Ukraine are stalling.

Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, Sergei Shoigu laid out in fresh comments that Russia reserves the right to use nuclear weapons if under direct aggression from Western nations, which includes close ally Belarus coming under threat.

Shoigu reminded the world that new amendments made to Russia's nuclear doctrine back in November means Russian leaders can "use nuclear weapons in the event of aggression against it or the Republic of Belarus, including with the use of conventional weapons."

He further warned nuclear doctrine can be activated "in the event of foreign states committing unfriendly actions that pose a threat to the sovereignty and territory integrity of the Russian Federation, our country considers it legitimate to take symmetric and asymmetric measures necessary to suppress such actions and prevent their recurrence."

There was a carrot-and-stick aspect to the fresh warning, given that Shoigu pivoted to saying Russia is ready to forge a new nuclear pact with Washington, despite soaring tensions centered on Ukraine.

"Russia is prepared to resume talks on nuclear arms control with the US, two years after suspending the last accord limiting their atomic arsenals," he has been further quoted in international reports as saying.

"The administration of Donald Trump is currently demonstrating a readiness to resume dialogue on the issue of strategic stability," Shoigu told TASS in an interview published Thursday. “We are ready for such work.”

The hope is that some kind of new strategic pact could come out of recent efforts of US and Russian delegations to normalize diplomatic relations during bilateral talks.

Both sides have by now recognized that the conflict in Ukraine is a proxy war pitting NATO against nuclear-armed Russia. Russia increasingly has international backers too, and is reportedly using Iranian and North Korean advanced weapons.

Prior to the war's start, one activist group and nuclear monitor, International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), estimated that a nuclear war between the US and Russia would see nearly 100 million casualties in just the first few hours of nuclear warhead exchanges alone. 

#Russia Ready for Talks on New Nuclear Pact With US, Shoigu Says https://t.co/0dfWKwk9DT

— Giovanni Staunovo?? (@staunovo) April 24, 2025

"34.1 million people could die, and another 57.4 million could be injured, within the first few hours of the start of a nuclear war between Russia and the United States triggered by one low-yield nuclear weapon, according to a new simulation by researcher’s at Princeton‘s Science and Global Security program," the group said.

Update(1650ET): Reporters in the White House press pool challenged President Trump over some of his latest remarks regarding Ukraine and the possibility of peace.

While in the Oval Office sitting across from Norway’s prime minister Jonas Gahr Støre, Trump was asked what concessions Russia has "offered up thus far to get to the point where you’re closer to peace." He quipped somewhat sarcastically, "Stopping the war, stopping from taking the whole country" — which he called a "pretty big concession."

Trump says that Russia’s concession to Ukraine is not taking over the entire country pic.twitter.com/n6NbQArmP6

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) April 24, 2025

Zelensky has made clear over the last few days that he's not on board with Trump's strategy, which has featured offering recognition of Russian ownership of Crimea as a key concession. These latest words from the US President yet again illustrate that he believes Ukraine has no chance of winning the war, and that he's being a pragmatist and realist in seeking substantial concessions by Kiev.

When asked about whether the US might (again) cut weapons to Kiev and intelligence-sharing, Trump responded, "Let’s see what happens; I think we’re going to make a deal; ask that question in two weeks."

But Trump apparently plans to keep up the pressure on Moscow. A Thursday Bloomberg report says the US will push Russia to acknowledge Ukraine's right to maintain its military and defense sector as part of any future peace deal.

Steve Witkoff is expected to present the demand to Putin in the next upcoming round of negotiations. Among Putin's key objectives in the war remains the 'demilitarization' of Ukraine.

* * *

Amid stalled US-led peace talks, Russia launched a massive overnight attack on Ukraine, including raining down ballistic missiles on the center of Kiev, unleashing large-scale death and destruction.

At least nine people have been reported killed and over 70 injured in the capital city, in what was one of the largest and deadliest missile strikes on Ukraine in months. Some other cities, including Kharkiv, were also hit.

Anti-aircraft systems began engaging inbound missiles and drones at about 1am local time. But after drones and missiles were able to make it through, several buildings - including a factory - and a house, as well as cars, were set on fire.

BBC writes, "An apartment block was completely flattened during the attack and the windows of surrounding buildings were blown out and balconies ripped down."

"Russia has launched a massive combined strike on Kyiv," Ukraine’s state emergency service announced on Telegram. "According to preliminary data, nine people were killed, 63 injured."

President Trump early Thursday condemned the attack, saying he's "not happy" with the Russian move. "Vladimir, STOP!" he wrote on Truth Social. "5000 soldiers a week are dying. Let's get the Peace Deal DONE!"

A large rescue effort has been underway given a missile head a densely populated area, with Ukraine’s interior minister, Ihor Klymenko, saying of Svyatoshinsky district of Kiev, "Mobile phones can be heard ringing under the ruins. The search will continue until everybody is got out. We have information about two children who cannot be found at the scene of the incident."

Ukrainian officials have cited that some 70 missiles and up to 150 drones were used against several cities in the devastating overnight attack.

BBC footage from the Russian attack in Kyiv last night.

According to available information, at least 8 people were killed during the strikes in the Ukrainian capital.

Ukrainian Air Force informed that Russia launched 11 Iskander-M/KN-23 ballistic missiles, 37 Kh-101… pic.twitter.com/zucVYlpWi9

— Status-6 (Military & Conflict News) (BlueSky too) (@Archer83Able) April 24, 2025

This new Thursday attack on the capital was the deadliest since last year's July 8 attack on Kiev, which left 34 people dead and 121 injured.

It comes after the Zelensky government has expressed frustration that the White House should be more concerned and standing by Ukraine's side, instead of holding bilateral talks toward diplomatic normalization with Russia.

The latest Trump and Zelensky back-and-forth has focused on Crimea. Trump on Wednesday slammed the Ukrainian leader for rejecting a US proposal that would see Kiev give up all claims on Crimea. Trump pointed out that Crimea "was lost years ago" and that Zelensky has "no cards to play".

Zelensky then cited the 2018 "Crimea declaration" by Trump's then secretary of state Mike Pompeo, which laid out that the United States "rejects Russia's attempted annexation".

Emotions have run high today. But it is good that 5 countries met to bring peace closer. Ukraine, the USA, the UK, France and Germany. The sides expressed their views and respectfully received each other’s positions. It’s important that each side was not just a participant but… pic.twitter.com/lDFV5WK8tw

— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / ????????? ?????????? (@ZelenskyyUa) April 23, 2025

"There is nothing to talk about. This violates our Constitution. This is our territory, the territory of the people of Ukraine," Zelensky had initially told reporters of the question of giving up Crimea permanently.

But Vice President JD Vance had also articulated while traveling in India, "We’ve issued a very explicit proposal to both the Russians and the Ukrainians, and it’s time for them to either say yes or for the United States to walk away from this process."

Kyiv is under Russian attack. 21 people are hospitalized, including a pregnant woman and three children. pic.twitter.com/IQZw9TkV8I

— Marta Havryshko (@HavryshkoMarta) April 24, 2025

He emphasized "The only way to really stop the killing is for the armies to both put down their weapons, to freeze this thing and to get on with the business of actually building a better Russia and a better Ukraine."

Freezing the war now would certainly give Russian forces a huge advantage, given the immense territory in the East they now hold, and this is in large part why Zelensky is refusing such a deal.