As the United States prepares to mark the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the America 250 celebration has become both a massive patriotic showcase and, at times, the center of controversy as some artists backed out of scheduled performances. But rapper and entertainer Vanilla Ice is standing his ground — and making it clear why he chose to stay in the lineup. During an appearance on Fox News' "The Ingraham Angle," Vanilla Ice, born Robert Matthew Van Winkle, said he decided to move forward with the National Mall performance, which was ultimately canceled due to inclement weather, despite other artists backing out. VANILLA ICE REFUSES TO QUIT FREEDOM 250 CONCERT, SAYS HE WON'T LET ANYONE TELL HIM HE 'CAN'T BE PROUD' Vanilla Ice emphasized that the event is about unity, not division. "Well, I can only speak for myself, and this is a huge honor for me to come here and play this event for the birthday of our country, man, that I grew up in, you know?" he told Fox News contributor Raymond Arroyo. WATCH: VANILLA ICE SAYS PATRIOTIC CONCERT IS MADE TO ‘UNITE’ "It's called the United States, and this event is made to be united, to unite us. And that's what this is about, you know, not the politics and everything. It's really about an entertainer coming to entertain all the people of America for the birthday of America." Vanilla Ice made clear his focus is less about controversy and more about tribute. "I want my fans to come away from this tonight as very entertaining, once-in-a-lifetime thing. Know your history about how we got here, 250 years. And the main focus is on our military, our Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, police, EMS, firefighters and even Space Force." He added, "I'm here to honor them and say thank you for getting us here, 250 years, in this greatest country on the planet. And I'm proud to be an American and honored to be part of this event." LIKE WHAT YOU’RE READING? CLICK HERE FOR MORE ENTERTAINMENT NEWS CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR THE ENTERTAINMENT NEWSLETTER The multi-day America 250 program, backed by organizers under the Freedom 250 initiative, will stretch across Washington landmarks from the Capitol to the Washington Monument and feature military flyovers, concerts, food exhibits and state-themed installations. It's unclear at this time if Vanilla Ice's concert will be rescheduled. The "Ice, Ice Baby" singer also took a lighthearted moment during the interview, breaking into dance instruction as he showed Arroyo how to do the Running Man — a moment that underscored the festive tone surrounding the celebration despite the surrounding debate. The America250 events are scheduled to run through July 10, 2026, with organizers framing the nationwide programming as a historic effort to bring Americans together ahead of the country's semi-quincentennial anniversary. View the full article

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., is offering words of warning to her congressional colleagues in the wake of a Democratic socialist sweep in the Big Apple earlier this week. Speaking with MS NOW’s Jen Psaki on Friday, Ocasio-Cortez was asked to provide advice for the two Democratic House of Representatives nominees — Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) members Darializa Avila Chevalier and State Assemblywoman Claire Valdez. "What advice are you giving or would you have for these new members who are coming in and are already being painted in a certain way?" Psaki asked, adding, "What advice do you have for them about how to get things done while still shaking up the system at the same time?" "New and incoming members have no shortage of advice that's being given to them," Ocasio-Cortez began. SOCIALISTS CHEER ‘SHOCKWAVE’ PRIMARY NIGHT AS DSA-BACKED CANDIDATES WIN, ADVANCE ACROSS THE MAP "But you lived it. And you lived it in a very different way," Psaki said. Ocasio-Cortez went on to shift her answer toward offering advice to her fellow colleagues in the House of Representatives. "I'll get to them, but I actually think the more important advice that I would give would be to my incumbent colleagues — which is you will create a self-fulfilling prophecy by deciding who these young women are before you've met them," Ocasio-Cortez said. AOC, SANDERS WELCOME MAMDANI TO DC FOR HIS CAPITOL HILL DEBUT, URGING RELUCTANT DEMS TO 'GET TO KNOW HIM' She then tried to dissuade other members of Congress from jumping to conclusions about the newest members, warning them against creating an "antagonistic dynamic" before the pair of newly-nominated officials can even walk the halls of Capitol Hill. "If you are already panicking and sending little messages in your group chats about how these people need to be reined in and tamped down and shown their place, you are creating the antagonistic dynamic that we do not need," Ocasio-Cortez said. "These are two young, talented, intelligent women that got elected against all odds — against millions of dollars. Perhaps there is something we can learn from them," she concluded. MAMDANI-BACKED SOCIALIST WITH HISTORY OF ANTI-AMERICAN RHETORIC WINS VICIOUS DEM PRIMARY RACE Chevalier and Valdez, along with progressive Democrat and former DSA member Brad Lander, made headlines earlier this week when they coasted to primary victories in three heavily blue districts with the endorsement of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani. Chevalier came under harsh criticism for previous social media posts on X in which she took aim at fellow Democrats, including former President Joe Biden, whom she called a "rapist" and a "war criminal," Vice President Kamala Harris, whom she offered a string of profanities toward, and progressive Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., whom she berated for his "liberal Zionism." Critics also pointed to previous statements from Chevalier, in which she trashed the United States. In one instance, she referred to the country as "a f---ing disgrace." MAMDANI-BACKED SOCIALIST CANDIDATE STORMS OUT OF LIVE INTERVIEW WHEN CONFRONTED WITH OLD SOCIAL MEDIA POSTS "I forgot to get napkins so I just wiped my hand on the American flag behind me," she said in a now-deleted post. CLICK HERE FOR MORE COVERAGE OF MEDIA AND CULTURE While the posts have resulted in harsh blowback against Chevalier, Ocasio-Cortez offered a more understanding viewpoint when speaking with Psaki. "She has indicated that she has regret over the way that she issued those statements," Ocasio-Cortez said, referring to Chevalier. "And I genuinely believe the gravity and responsibility of this role has a way of inhabiting you." "I genuinely believe that we have to give people the opportunity to occupy their beliefs within the gravity of becoming a duly elected member of Congress," she added. Fox News Digital’s Peter D’Abrosca contributed to this report. View the full article

Thursday the Free Software Foundation blogged about this year's 47 'LibreLocal 2026' meetups, highlighting 10 that took place in Australia, Mexico, the United States, New Zealand, Cameroon, Switzerland, Spain, Argentina, China, and Iran. "Far from each other in many parts of the world, they came together around one unifying belief: free software." We envisioned LibreLocal as a collage of in-person community meetups that would bring people together to swap ideas, learn from each other, and celebrate free software. When we asked the free software community to organize LibreLocals last year, the response was very inspirational: 29 different meetups were hosted. After we made the global call this year, we were greeted with an even more enthusiastic response... Organizers hosted LibreLocals in cafes, bars, restaurants, libraries, universities, a computer repair shop, and even as part of a field trip to the System Source Museum, a museum dedicated to the history of computing in Hunt Valley, Maryland, USA. We also learned that a LibreLocal was organized inside Vakil Abad Prison in Mashhad, Iran by a free software supporter. Originally planned to be held in Shiraz, we were informed of this change in location on the LibreLocal wiki page set up for listing all LibreLocals. The updated entry, by another free software supporter in Iran, reads: "This year, one of our dedicated activists organized a LibrePlanet event from within prison in Iran. Currently serving a sentence for "cyber-crimes" related to his promotion of free software, he continues to introduce the principles of software freedom to his fellow inmates. We have placed this banner to honor his resilience and the community of individuals in prison who continue to stand for technological freedom. His identity will be revealed when it is safe to do so." Advocating for user freedom should never result in a prison sentence. We especially admire and respect the bravery and strength of those who fight for software freedom in the most dangerous and oppressive of environments. 50 people attended the LibreLocal meetup in Switzerland, according to one of the organizers, "forging connections between several local free software stakeholders and strengthening their cohesion." But the FSF's blog post stresses these are "ten stories among many more of free software supporters from across the globe... We also thank you our donors and associate members for the support that makes such meetups possible." The GNU Press Shop is now open through July 19 for their biannual fundraiser, offering a variety of freedom-respecting novelties including an FSF-branded antisurveillance webcam guard and both technical and philosophical books, like Richard Stallman's Free as in Freedom (which allegedly has turned up in Anthropic's training data). Other items include a slick new FSF logo sticker, a brass and zinc GNU "emblem" pin with real gold plating, and a cheeky sticker reminding everyone that "There is no cloud." And there's even a plush GNU toy. Read more of this story at Slashdot. View the full article

Thursday the Free Software Foundation blogged about this year's 47 'LibreLocal 2026' meetups, highlighting 10 that took place in Australia, Mexico, the United States, New Zealand, Cameroon, Switzerland, Spain, Argentina, China, and Iran. "Far from each other in many parts of the world, they came together around one unifying belief: free software." We envisioned LibreLocal as a collage of in-person community meetups that would bring people together to swap ideas, learn from each other, and celebrate free software. When we asked the free software community to organize LibreLocals last year, the response was very inspirational: 29 different meetups were hosted. After we made the global call this year, we were greeted with an even more enthusiastic response... Organizers hosted LibreLocals in cafes, bars, restaurants, libraries, universities, a computer repair shop, and even as part of a field trip to the System Source Museum, a museum dedicated to the history of computing in Hunt Valley, Maryland, USA. We also learned that a LibreLocal was organized inside Vakil Abad Prison in Mashhad, Iran by a free software supporter. Originally planned to be held in Shiraz, we were informed of this change in location on the LibreLocal wiki page set up for listing all LibreLocals. The updated entry, by another free software supporter in Iran, reads: "This year, one of our dedicated activists organized a LibrePlanet event from within prison in Iran. Currently serving a sentence for "cyber-crimes" related to his promotion of free software, he continues to introduce the principles of software freedom to his fellow inmates. We have placed this banner to honor his resilience and the community of individuals in prison who continue to stand for technological freedom. His identity will be revealed when it is safe to do so." Advocating for user freedom should never result in a prison sentence. We especially admire and respect the bravery and strength of those who fight for software freedom in the most dangerous and oppressive of environments. 50 people attended the LibreLocal meetup in Switzerland, according to one of the organizers, "forging connections between several local free software stakeholders and strengthening their cohesion." But the FSF's blog post stresses these are "ten stories among many more of free software supporters from across the globe... We also thank you our donors and associate members for the support that makes such meetups possible." The GNU Press Shop is now open through July 19 for their biannual fundraiser, offering a variety of freedom-respecting novelties including an FSF-branded antisurveillance webcam guard and both technical and philosophical books, like Richard Stallman's Free as in Freedom (which allegedly has turned up in Anthropic's training data). Other items include a slick new FSF logo sticker, a brass and zinc GNU "emblem" pin with real gold plating, and a cheeky sticker reminding everyone that "There is no cloud." And there's even a plush GNU toy. Read more of this story at Slashdot. View the full article

As several wildfires burn across the West, parts of the Four Corners region will once again see an extremely critical fire weather danger.View the full article