Pete Hegseth Credits God with Winning the Iran War, Asks That He Please Keep the Receipts

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth stood at the Pentagon podium following a two-week ceasefire in Iran and delivered what may be the most theologically loaded military press briefing in American history. “Our troops deserve the credit,” he said, “but God deserves all the glory.” He went on to describe tens of thousands of military sorties as having been carried out “under the protection of divine providence.” He quoted Psalms. Multiple Psalms.

This is the same Pete Hegseth who, according to Democratic lawmakers requesting a formal investigation, presided over a military culture in which non-commissioned officers were reportedly told that Donald Trump was “anointed by Jesus to light the signal fire in Iran to cause Armageddon.” That last part is a direct quote from the complaint. Armageddon. The one from Revelation. They used that word on purpose.

To be clear: the Secretary of Defense of the United States credited the Almighty Himself with a military victory, wrapped the whole thing in scripture, and is apparently operating under the working assumption that God has enlisted. The Pentagon’s chaplains, one imagines, are having a complicated week.

Hegseth’s home church is affiliated with the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches, which is probably fine and definitely something people are now Googling frantically. God has not yet issued a statement confirming or denying His involvement in the Iran campaign, but sources say He has been known to work in mysterious ways.

All of this actually happened. The Christian Post confirmed it, and they seemed pretty pleased about it.

Florida Man Arrested in Walmart Dog Bed Section While Streaming His Own Arrest on TikTok

The American entrepreneurial spirit is alive and well, and it is hiding in the pet supplies aisle of an Englewood, Florida Walmart at 11 o’clock at night.

Florida Man Arrested in Walmart Dog Bed Section While Streaming His Own Arrest on TikTok

Eighteen-year-old Isaac Hurley had a plan. A clear plan, a monetizable plan, a plan that required exactly one Walmart, one phone, and zero understanding of how burglary laws work. He would sneak into the store after closing and livestream himself staying there for 24 hours, collecting TikTok views and presumably the admiration of his peers.

Deputies responding to a burglary call found him in the dog bed section. He was live on TikTok. They arrested him on camera. He had also removed an iPhone charger from its packaging while he was in there, because a man has needs.

Hurley was charged with burglary of an occupied structure and petit theft. His TikTok career trajectory is unclear at this time.

The dog beds, for their part, were unharmed and available for purchase the following morning.

All of this actually happened. Click Orlando confirmed it.

Florida Man Uses AI Deepfake to Frame Two Black Men for a Crime, Gets Arrested Immediately

In a story that somehow manages to combine racism, technology, and breathtaking stupidity into one tidy Florida package, a 22-year-old man from Lake Worth has been arrested after showing a sheriff’s deputy a three-second AI-generated video that appeared to show two Black men breaking into the deputy’s own patrol car.

The suspect, Alexis Martínez-Arizala, reportedly presented the fabricated footage as though it were legitimate evidence. The deputy, being in possession of the car in question and also his own eyes, determined fairly quickly that the video was not real. Police charged Martínez-Arizala with making a false report of a crime and tampering with physical evidence.

It’s worth pausing here to appreciate the full geometry of this plan: a man used cutting-edge artificial intelligence to create a fake crime video, then personally handed it to a law enforcement officer, who was standing next to the car that was allegedly being broken into, which was visibly fine. There are carnival games with better odds.

Florida’s proud tradition of using technology irresponsibly continues uninterrupted. The AI presumably has no comment, but sources close to the algorithm say it is embarrassed to have been involved.

We did not make this up. Lake Mary Today has the full, entirely real story.

Florida Man Loads Missiles onto Truck, Is Shocked Society Has Questions

There is a long and storied tradition in this great nation of expressing oneself through automotive customization. Truck nuts. Flame decals. The occasional Calvin urinating on a rival brand. But 69-year-old Michael Nipper of Plant City, Florida, decided that what his Ford Maverick pickup truly needed was a rack of missiles in the flatbed.

Florida Man Loads Missiles onto Truck, Is Shocked Society Has Questions

Nipper was cruising eastbound on Interstate 4 when concerned motorists — apparently not used to seeing ordnance on the highway, which speaks to their sheltered upbringings — began calling the Florida Highway Patrol to report a truck carrying what appeared to be missiles. Troopers pulled him over. The bomb squad arrived. The Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office arrived. The Plant City Police and Fire Departments arrived. An emergency perimeter was established. The full weight of Florida law enforcement bore down on one 69-year-old man and his decorative rockets.

They were plastic. Assembled from a model kit. Nipper uses them at events.

He was not charged with anything. He received a “strong suggestion” about how better to transport his ornamental arsenal in the future. Florida Highway Patrol presumably got back in their cars and stared into the middle distance for a while.

In any other state, this ends at the model kit store. In Florida, it ends with a multi-agency tactical response to a senior citizen’s hobby.

We did not make this up. Click Orlando has the receipts.

Florida Man Arrested While Dressed as Chuck E. Cheese. In a Chuck E. Cheese.

Florida has given us a lot. But this one feels like a milestone.

Florida Man Arrested While Dressed as Chuck E. Cheese. In a Chuck E. Cheese.

Jermel Jones, 41, was arrested inside a Chuck E. Cheese in Florida while wearing the Chuck E. Cheese mascot costume. He is alleged to have used someone else’s credit card to make purchases, which he did while dressed as a six-foot animatronic rat, in a restaurant full of children and their parents, who watched the whole arrest go down.

Let’s sit with the layers here. He didn’t just commit fraud. He committed fraud in costume, in a venue specifically designed for children’s birthday parties, as the mascot of that venue. The children came to see Chuck E. Cheese. Instead they witnessed an arrest. This is what Florida offers its youth.

We have a lot of questions. How did he get the costume? Did he work there? Was this planned, or did he show up in the costume and then decide to also commit credit card fraud? At what point did he think this was going well?

Florida Man does not answer these questions. Florida Man simply continues to exist, wearing the costume, until the cops show up.

Hat tip to this roundup of 2025’s finest Florida Man moments for surfacing this gem.

New York City Just Elected Its First Muslim Mayor and Some People Cannot Handle It

In November 2025, New York City — the largest city in the United States, home to 8 million people and approximately 400 different opinions per square block — elected 34-year-old Zohran Mamdani as its mayor. He is the city’s first Muslim mayor. Also its first South Asian mayor. Also a democratic socialist who beat both Andrew Cuomo and a guy named Curtis Sliwa in a high-turnout race.

NYC first Muslim mayor

The reaction from certain corners of the internet was, predictably, completely reasonable and measured. Just kidding. It was not.

Here’s the rational thought for the day: New York City has had 110 mayors. The first 109 were Christian men, almost entirely white. The city elected a Muslim mayor, and the government did not collapse. The Statue of Liberty is still there. The pizza is still good. The subway is still a disaster, but that predates Mamdani by several decades and will outlast all of us.

Democracy did a thing. A major American city chose someone different. Turns out the thing people said couldn’t happen — that a Muslim could run one of the world’s great cities — was just a thing people said. File under: Rational Thought.

Full coverage from Religion News Service.

69 Billion TikTok Views Later, Teens Have Decided Witchcraft Is a Personality

The kids are not alright. Or maybe they’re extremely alright, depending on your feelings about witchcraft.

69 Billion TikTok Views Later, Teens Have Decided Witchcraft Is a Personality

WitchTok — TikTok’s thriving occult subculture — has now accumulated 69 billion views. Billion. With a B. Teenagers are learning spell-casting, tarot reading, crystal work, and “manifesting” from their phones, and entire cottage industries have sprung up around Etsy spell kits and TikTok witch influencers with millions of followers.

Youth for Christ recently reported that teens are having dreams of Jesus and rushing to join youth groups. At the same time, those same teens are apparently also selling each other candles infused with “banishing energy” on the internet. It’s possible these groups overlap. Spirituality is complicated.

Christian organizations are understandably concerned. They’ve published guides with titles like “The Allure and Danger of WitchTok” which, to be fair, is a great title. The research suggests teens are drawn to witchcraft because it emphasizes personal empowerment, connection to nature, and aesthetic vibes — which, honestly, is not that different from what youth groups used to offer, minus the crystals.

We’re not taking a side here. We’re just noting that 69 billion views is an enormous amount of witchcraft, and that whoever is manufacturing crystals right now is absolutely printing money.

The Conversation has a solid deep-dive on how it works. Premier Christianity is less enthusiastic about it, but has thoughts.

America Finally Gets a Pope. He’s From Chicago.

For as long as anyone could remember, the conventional wisdom was that the United States — the world’s lone superpower — would never produce a pope. Too powerful. Too political. Too much of a lightning rod. The cardinals would never do it.

America Finally Gets a Pope

Then on May 8, 2025, white smoke rose from the Sistine Chapel, and Cardinal Robert Prevost of Chicago, Illinois, emerged as Pope Leo XIV. The 267th Bishop of Rome. The first American pope in the history of the Catholic Church.

He’s from Chicago. He picked the name Leo XIV in honor of Leo XIII, who championed workers’ rights during the Industrial Revolution, because apparently the new pope took one look at AI and income inequality and decided we were doing that again. Bold call. We respect it.

The theological implications of an American pope leading 1.4 billion Catholics are, to put it mildly, substantial. The political implications in a country currently arguing about whether the president is Jesus are also worth watching.

Deep dish pizza. The Blues Brothers. Now the Pope. Chicago has been quietly building toward this for decades, and honestly, it tracks. Because if you know anything about the Blues Brothers — also from Chicago, also on a divine errand — then you already know exactly what kind of energy the first American Pope is bringing to the Vatican.

“It’s 106 miles to Chicago, we got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it’s dark… and we’re wearing sunglasses.”

Hit it.

Full details at National Catholic Reporter and CNN.

Florida Man Hides Gun Under Prosthetic Breasts at Construction Site, Claims Costume Party

We need to talk about Matthew Zaccarino, 39, of Florida, who was found alone in a vehicle on a private construction site in the early hours of December 14th, wearing a red lace bra, G-string, and a pair of prosthetic silicone breasts.

Florida Man Hides Gun Under Prosthetic Breasts at Construction Site, Claims Costume Party

Deputies discovered a loaded 9mm pistol on the floorboard. The prosthetic breasts, upon closer inspection, had been used to conceal it. The Polk County Sheriff’s Office, with admirable professionalism, noted that the discovery was, and we quote: “It was ugly.”

When asked to explain himself, Zaccarino said he was on his way to a costume party. Deputies asked where the party was. Zaccarino stopped talking.

He was charged with armed trespassing, loitering, prowling, and resisting an officer without violence. The “without violence” part is doing a lot of heavy lifting in that sentence.

We’re not here to judge anyone’s lifestyle choices. We’re here to note that a construction site at midnight is a deeply unconventional venue for a costume party, and that if you’re going to hide a firearm in your lingerie, you probably shouldn’t also be trespassing on private property at the same time. That’s just solid life advice. Free of charge.

CBS Miami has the full report. It is exactly as described.

Florida Man Celebrates Birthday by Stealing a Tourist Train. On Meth. Picks Up Passengers.

Most people celebrate their birthday with cake. Maybe a dinner out. Jonathan Patrick Winslow, 57, of Key West, chose differently.

Florida Man Celebrates Birthday by Stealing a Tourist Train. On Meth. Picks Up Passengers.

On July 4th — his birthday, and also America’s birthday, which feels significant — Winslow approached a Conch Tour Train employee, claimed he used to work there years ago, and asked for “a tour.” What he actually did was steal the train, take it for a joyride through Key West, and pick up two random passengers along the way. His own car was left running at the depot with rock music blasting on the radio.

When police caught up with him, Winslow was “speaking rapidly and appeared excited.” When informed of the charges, he clarified that he had merely borrowed the trolley. And also: today is his birthday.

Police found a glass meth pipe in his swimming trunks.

The charges: burglary, grand theft auto, and possession of drug paraphernalia. The passengers he picked up were not charged, which raises the question of what exactly they thought was happening when a 57-year-old stranger on a stolen tourist train offered them a ride on the Fourth of July in Key West.

Florida. Every single time.

It’s real: Click Orlando has the full story. Happy birthday, Jonathan.