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THE MOST SECURE FLORIDA HOMESTEAD IS NOT ON ANY BEACH

Inside Secret Florida Enclave Luring Celebrities and Billionaires With Unrivaled Privacy, Military Guards—and Incredible Mansions

Secret Florida Enclave of luxury homes and celebrities

Realtor.com/Daniel Petroni Photography

An exclusive community in southern Florida is proving itself to be a rising power player in the luxury housing market, going toe-to-toe against the likes of Palm Beach and Miami in a David vs. Goliath-style battle of wealth and privilege.

For years, Florida’s most moneyed residents have flocked to Miami and its surrounding areas, seeking out a life of luxury rarely found elsewhere in the U.S. Yet that dominance is now being challenged by a little-known neighborhood located in Delray Beach, about 90 minutes north of “the Magic City.”

Just last month, Hollywood A-lister Mark Wahlberg made headlines when he dropped $37 million on a newly constructed megamansion inside the enclave—only to be followed weeks later by Rockstar energy drink founder Russ Weiner, who is in contract on two properties in the community, worth a total of $43 million.

So what is it about this secretive sanctuary that has helped to reel in such high-profile property owners?

On paper, Stone Creek Ranch—a “prestigious” enclave made up of less than 40 luxury homes—is a world away from Miami, Manalapan, and Palm Beach: It offers no beaches, no celebrity-approved nightlife, and no glitzy designer shopping.

Yet it offers one very particular luxury that is proving to be quite the draw among the one percent: total and absolute privacy that is safeguarded by a team of armed professionals who watch over the community 24/7—a majority of whom come from previous jobs in law enforcement or the military.

Prospective residents’ entry into the community is policed just as carefully: Any homebuyers seeking to purchase one of just 37 private residences within Stone Creek are required to go through rigorous criminal background checks before they can even attempt to secure a home there.

An exclusive and secretive Florida enclave is quickly becoming the new hot spot for rich and powerful homebuyers, including the likes of actor Mark Wahlberg, who just bought a $37 million mansion there. Daniel Petroni

Stone Creek Ranch in Delray Beach, FL, offers one very important amenity that cannot be found in places like Miami or Palm Beach: total privacy that is safeguarded by a team of armed guards.Daniel Petroni

For the rich and powerful, that level of security and privacy is far more “valuable” than any beach or boat dock could ever be, according to real estate agent Senada Adzem of Douglas Elliman, whose team has been responsible for the sale of a majority of homes inside Stone Creek.

Adzem tells Realtor.com® that she has seen a significant shift in her wealthy clients’ demands over the last few years. Those who would once never have considered living in a Florida mansion without private beach access or a dock capable of housing their yacht are now turning their backs on those amenities in favor of seclusion away from prying eyes.

“I’m working with a very high-profile couple right now [who] no longer want to live on Star Island in Miami … because [they feel they cannot] enjoy their pool or their yard with people on boats going past and taking pictures,” Adzem revealed.

“They just want to have their peace. And that makes so much sense. [Privacy] is valuable to them. They’d rather have all this privacy where no one is looking at them, they can run around with their kids, they can wear whatever. That’s what’s really valuable.”

In a bid to secure that oh-so sought-after luxury, that couple has turned to Stone Creek, Adzem revealed, noting that she is currently trying to secure them a property in an off-market deal—because none of the community’s mansions are actually on the market.

Although each of the properties in Stone Creek offers water frontage, because they overlook a private lake, there is no risk of strangers sailing past in a boat and gawking at your backyard—a threat that looms over even the most exclusive areas of Miami and Palm Beach, including the infamous Indian Creek Island, where the likes of Tom Brady and Jeff Bezos currently reside.

That privacy is amplified by the fact that the majority of properties in Stone Creek offer very impressive acreage, which keeps a good distance between each home and makes it feel “like you don’t have neighbors at all.”

Another big draw of Stone Creek is one that Adzem says many people “overlook,” but has often been one of the most alluring aspects of the community: its access to five of the top private schools in Palm Beach County.

As for the homes themselves, there is an extraordinary level of extravagance and luxury on offer to discerning homebuyers.

Wahlberg’s new property, for example, spans 18,206 square feet and boasts seven bedrooms, 10 full bathrooms, two powder rooms, a home theater, cigar lounge, wine cellar, gym, sauna, guesthouse, and resort-style pool.

A Florida Mansion next door to Mark Wahlberg — Listing agent Senada Adzem revealed that many of her clients are now seeking out homes in Stone Creek Ranch instead of places like Palm Beach. Daniel Petroni Photography

An aerial view of Florida Mansion next door to Mark Wahlberg — The community is located around a man-made lake, which means there is no risk of strangers sailing past in boats and looking into your backyard. Daniel Petroni Photography

Christened Palazzo di Lago, the mansion was designed by developer Aldo Stark, who drew inspiration from Italian architecture to create an “architectural masterpiece” that was described as offering “the pinnacle of luxury living in South Florida.”

Luxurious finishes and fixtures can be found in every room of the home, including “exquisite crystal chandeliers” that were custom-designed to cast an “ethereal glow” throughout the dwelling.

One of the more unique amenities in the home is its hidden cigar lounge, which boasts an advanced air-purification system.

Just across the lake sits a similarly opulent mansion—currently under offer by Rockstar founder Weiner—which is known as Villa Ananda and sprawls across nearly 11,500 square feet.

It is situated on a 2.5-acre waterfront plot with an “extraordinary” 660 feet of private water frontage and boasts some truly amazing amenities, including an enormous primary suite that occupies an entire wing, a glittering pool, and a “club room” with a 150-inch projection screen.

Additionally, Stark is currently in the process of building an even more impressive Stone Creek property that will be listed “in the $75 million range,” Adzem revealed.

Wahlberg’s purchase of his home also highlighted another lesser-publicized detail about the value of homes in Stone Creek: impressive ROI potential.

As first reported by CNBC, the actor’s new mansion underwent a 118% price increase between January 2020, when it sold for $17 million, and October 2025, when Wahlberg paid $37 million for the dwelling.

While Adzem noted that she cannot guarantee that kind of lucrative return on every property within Stone Creek, she said that the skyrocketing value of Wahlberg’s new home is indicative of trends she is seeing within the community.

“I do see the pattern in terms of rising values within the community,” she revealed. “I started working in this community in 2018 and I saw the potential where you have something that’s really unique.”

Stone Creek Ranch — For the rich and powerful, that level of security and privacy is far more “valuable” than any beach or boat dock could ever be, according to Adzem. Daniel Petroni Photography

Market trends in Delray Beach mirror this impressive increase in home value, with Realtor.com data revealing that the median listing price in the area has shot up from $617,000 in October 2018 to $1.1 million in October 2025, a growth of more than 80%.

Demand for homes has also gone through a very similar surge. When Adzem first began marketing properties in Stone Creek, she admits that the community was a bit of a “steep road” to convince her wealthy clientele of the community’s appeal—particularly because many of them wanted homes that offered golf course access or private clubhouses.

“It was a steep road for me, because many prospects would say, ‘I want to be on the ocean, I want to be on the coast, and I want to have a yacht in front or I want to be able to walk on the beach,'” she explained.

Now, however, instead of having to pitch homebuyers on the “value” of Stone Creek, she says clients are requesting properties within the enclave.

“We have clients who can afford to live anywhere in the world but they choose to live in Stone Creek,” she explained. “We’ve sold 17 properties in the past five years, both homes and lots, and garnered global attention.

“I no longer have to explain what Stone Creek Ranch offers because you have so many big names in business and celebrity who live there.

“The buyers who have appreciated what Stone Creek has to offer understand that they can still go to the ocean, but they can also not worry about their family when they’re traveling and they can have full-time security personnel. They don’t have to think about people walking by their home and seeing into their backyard.”

Stone Creek is also conveniently located at what Adzem describes as a “nexus” between several popular locations, including the “artsy” community of Delray Beach, Miami, and Boca Raton, providing residents with the best of every world.

“Delray is a new hot spot with a really cool vibe: You have fabulous restaurants, you have the art scene. I almost compare it to Soho in New York, it’s a very vibrant, young scene,” Adzem added.

“A lot of our clients really appreciate the fact that they can have their big resort-style mansions in private, then they can go to Palm Beach in 30 minutes, or they can go to downtown Delray and to the beach. Then they can go to Miami, which takes about an hour.

“Boca Raton is also less than half an hour away and features amazing restaurants, and a really beautiful, affluent scene.”

BABY BOOMERS ARE RICHEST GENERATION WITH $85 TRILLION IN ASSETS

Baby Boomers are richest generation with $85 TRILLION in assets—younger gens have no chance of catching up

Boomers “entered the labor force during decades of strong economic growth, rising productivity and relatively high real wages.”

The Baby Boomer generation holds $85 trillion in assets, meaning they are the wealthiest generation so far in the United States. However, new research has shown their success will be difficult to match by other generations.

According to research from NYU economics professor Edward Wolf, the reason comes down to timing as well as investing in the stock market and other assets before they grew in value. The four decades between 1983 and 2022, when Baby Boomers saw their wealth increase, also saw the wealth of others decline in real value, as detailed in a paper for the National Bureau of Economic Research.

“It’s astonishing how their relative wealth has taken off in the last 30-plus years,” said NYU economics professor Edward Wolff, per the Washington Post. “They started out as among the poorest groups in terms of wealth back in 1983.”

The generated wealth of the Baby Boomer generation came from uniquely favorable timing of investments as well as real estate. With housing costs, the Baby Boomer generation also paid a smaller portion of their expenses to housing costs.

Olivia Mitchell, a professor of business economics and public policy at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, said that Boomers “entered the labor force during decades of strong economic growth, rising productivity and relatively high real wages.”

They were able to invest and earn during their prime years in the workforce in bull markets during the 1980s and 1990s. There were lower tuition costs, lower healthcare costs, as well as a number of other advantages.

Additionally, they had a number of favorable tax policies, such as lower capital gains tax rates. In contrast, younger generations of Millennials got their careers started in the 2000s, with the Great Recession running from 2007 to 2009. Markets afterwards have also been more volatile.

“Particularly for middle-income workers, real wage gains since the 2000s have been modest, compared to the robust wage growth that Boomers benefited from mid-career,” Mitchell added. By age 30, Millennials had about two times the debt as their Baby Boomer counterparts, according to Jeremy Ney, a professor of business at Columbia University.

After World War II, “You had this tremendous boom that many got to ride for a very long period of time,” Ney said. “And when you compare that to the bursting of the dot-com bubble, when you compare that to the 2008 housing crisis, when you compare that to the declines of covid, it made it much more difficult for people to invest, accumulate wealth,” Ney added.

About half of the wealth held by Boomers is tied up in stocks, bonds, or other mutual funds held in retirement accounts, and had over $85 trillion through the second quarter of 2025. Younger generations, however, are much more likely to have debt, leaving less to save or invest.

Boomers were also in a better position to refinance their homes during the Great Recession when interest rates were dropped by the Fed, meaning housing costs were able to be lowered for many in the Boomer generation.

HOW SHARIA LAW VIOLATES EVERYTHING OUR COUNTRY WAS FOUNDED ON!!!

Loving our neighbors does not mean compromising truth.

From the moment I first studied the United States Constitution through the lens of scripture, I’ve been struck by how carefully our founders embedded God-given liberty into the fabric of our nation. Freedom of conscience, equality before God, and protection from government overreach are not just political ideas; they are biblical principles.

The more I study, the clearer it becomes that Islamic systems like sharia law, enforced as government policy abroad, stand in sharp contrast to both the freedoms our Constitution guarantees and the liberties scripture upholds.

Christians must be informed, discerning, and proactive in defending freedoms that allow people to come to God freely.

Sharia law, when enforced as government policy, conflicts with constitutional freedom and biblical principles of liberty, including protections for personal conscience, speech, and moral choice.

Sharia law vs. constitutional liberty

Sharia law is a system derived from Islamic religious texts, guiding personal conduct and societal governance.

In countries where it is enforced, it often dictates punishments, civil law, and social norms based on religious authority rather than individual liberty. This approach contrasts sharply with the U.S. Constitution, which separates church and state, ensuring that government does not dictate religious belief or practice.

Scripture emphasizes the importance of freedom in Christ. Galatians 5:1 reminds us, “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” The Constitution mirrors this principle, protecting Americans from coercion in matters of conscience, ensuring that individuals may follow God freely without fear of government reprisal.

Real-world examples of sharia governance

When we examine Muslim nations governed by sharia-based systems, the consequences for personal freedom are clear.

In countries like Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Afghanistan, civil and criminal codes often derive directly from religious texts. These laws enforce strict moral codes, restrict freedom of speech, and impose severe punishments on offenses such as theft, adultery, or apostasy.

Punishments include public lashings, stonings, and even amputations for certain crimes. LGBTQ individuals face particularly harsh treatment, including imprisonment, corporal punishment, or death. Women’s rights and freedom of expression are often restricted as well.

These policies illustrate a system in which government enforces religious conformity, which directly conflicts with the freedom of conscience guaranteed by the Constitution. The U.S. founders recognized that human governments are fallible; they designed laws to protect liberty and allow people to make moral and spiritual choices voluntarily rather than under coercion.

The biblical perspective on liberty and government

Scripture provides a firm framework for understanding liberty. Romans 13:1-4 teaches that governments are instituted to punish wrongdoers and maintain order, but within limits. Civil authority is meant to restrain evil while upholding justice, not to enforce religious orthodoxy.

John 8:32 reminds us, “Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” True freedom, in both spiritual and civil contexts, comes from the ability to choose God and live according to His moral order voluntarily.

The Constitution’s protections for freedom of religion, speech, and equal protection under the law reflect these same biblical principles. They ensure that no one is coerced into adherence to a particular religious code, preserving liberty and human dignity.

Sharia-based governance, when implemented as law, replaces personal conscience with mandatory religious observance, undermining the freedoms that God and the founders intended.

How Christians should respond

Loving our neighbors does not mean ignoring the truth about systems of governance. But discernment calls us to distinguish between individuals and systems of law that impose religious authority on entire societies.

Christians are called to defend freedom and truth, speaking boldly yet compassionately.

Understanding the differences between sharia-based governance and constitutional liberty is not purely academic; it’s practical. Nations that merge religion and state often face suppression of speech, persecution of minorities, and human rights violations. Christians must be informed, discerning, and proactive in defending freedoms that allow people to come to God freely.

Practical engagement may include:

Praying for wisdom to navigate cultural and political issues.
Educating others about the value of freedom of conscience.
Participating in civic discourse in ways that honor God while upholding liberty.

Sharia law and the protection of minorities

One area that starkly highlights the contrast is treatment of LGBTQ individuals. In sharia-governed regions, homosexuality is often criminalized, with penalties ranging from imprisonment to corporal punishment, even death. Theft or other criminal offenses can result in amputations, and adultery may be punished by stoning.

Christians are charged to uphold liberty, educate themselves on systems that restrict freedom, and advocate for policies that reflect God’s justice while protecting human conscience.

These practices illustrate the deep conflict between enforced religious law and personal freedom, especially for vulnerable minorities.

In contrast, the U.S. Constitution protects all citizens, ensuring legal equality, freedom of conscience, and due process. The biblical principle that every person is made in the image of God (Genesis 1:27) supports the need to defend dignity and liberty for all.

Historical lessons and modern implications

History demonstrates that societies enforcing religious law as government policy often struggle with oppression and instability. By embedding freedom and separation of powers, the U.S. Constitution creates space for citizens to practice faith voluntarily, without fear of legal coercion.

As Christians, we can see how these principles align with biblical teaching and recognize why coercive religious legal systems are incompatible with God’s design for human freedom.

Standing for freedom with compassion

Understanding these contrasts calls us to vigilance, prayer, and action. Christians are charged to uphold liberty, educate themselves on systems that restrict freedom, and advocate for policies that reflect God’s justice while protecting human conscience.

Loving our neighbors does not mean compromising truth; it means defending freedom in a way that is rooted in Christ’s example of compassion and moral clarity.

By examining Islam as a governance system, we see clearly the importance of constitutional and biblical liberty. Freedom of conscience, protection of minorities, and the ability to choose God freely are not negotiable — they are foundational to both faith and the American experiment.

Standing for these freedoms is an act of love, truth, and obedience to God.

This article is adapted from an essay originally published at Arch Kennedy’s blog.

GLUTEN, THE “MANUFACTURED” FEAR ALLERGY THAT PEOPLE THINK THEY HAVE

Study Shows Vast Majority Who Think They Have Gluten Issues Really Don’t

For over a decade, gluten has been the bogeyman of modern diets — blamed for everything from fatigue to brain fog to mysterious stomach aches. Supermarkets built entire aisles around “gluten-free” products. Restaurants rushed to label their menus. Millions swore they felt better once they ditched bread. But new research suggests much of the panic was misplaced — and perhaps, orchestrated.

According to a new analysis published this week, the vast majority of people who believe they have gluten sensitivity actually don’t. Researchers found that only a small fraction of self-diagnosed “gluten intolerant” individuals display any measurable physiological reaction to gluten itself. For most, the culprit appears to be something else entirely — often the carbohydrates known as FODMAPs (fermentable short-chain carbohydrates) found in wheat and other foods, or even psychological conditioning from years of health scare marketing.

In short: many people have been avoiding bread for no reason.

The Gluten-Free Gold Rush

The study’s findings expose an uncomfortable truth: gluten-free living became a billion-dollar industry built on hype, not hard science. In the early 2010s, “gluten” became synonymous with poison. A handful of small studies and a wave of celebrity endorsements — from Gwyneth Paltrow to Tom Brady — helped cement the narrative that gluten caused inflammation, bloating, and mental fog.

But the science never quite caught up with the marketing. Celiac disease, a genuine autoimmune disorder triggered by gluten, affects only about 1% of the population. Yet surveys show up to 30% of Americans have tried a gluten-free diet, and nearly 10% claim to be gluten-sensitive. That’s tens of millions of people rejecting bread, pasta, and beer — often substituting heavily processed “gluten-free” alternatives that are lower in nutrients and higher in sugar.

Who benefited? Food conglomerates, health influencers, and pharmaceutical giants selling “gut repair” supplements. It was an easy narrative to sell: your body is broken, but we can fix it — for a price.

The Psychology of Manufactured Fear

Researchers now believe the “nocebo effect” — the negative counterpart of the placebo effect — plays a major role in perceived gluten intolerance. When people believe a substance will harm them, their body often produces real symptoms in response.

While about 10% of adults worldwide report bloating, fatigue or gut pain after eating foods containing gluten, only 16% to 30% of those cases show true gluten-specific reactions, the paper found.

For years, media outlets, wellness gurus, and even government-backed dietary guidelines fed this hysteria by emphasizing “food sensitivity” as a kind of catch-all diagnosis. It dovetailed perfectly with the modern health anxiety complex — a digitally fueled obsession with self-diagnosis, symptom tracking, and purity.

By the time the gluten-free movement peaked, it wasn’t just about health — it was about identity. Going gluten-free became a badge of awareness, a quiet rebellion against Big Food, and a form of social signaling. Ironically, it was Big Food itself that made it profitable. Even more ironically, the movement pushed many Americans deeper into ultraprocessed food consumption to achieve their gluten-free lifestyles.

The Real Issue May Be the System, Not the Wheat

If gluten isn’t the true villain, what is? The new study suggests many of the symptoms blamed on gluten may stem from something deeper: the industrialization of food itself.

Modern wheat is genetically modified, heavily treated with herbicides like glyphosate, and processed in ways that strip it of natural enzymes and micronutrients. Our gut health — devastated by antibiotics, processed oils, and chemical additives — is far less resilient than it was a generation ago. So while “gluten” might not be the sole trigger, the entire ecosystem around our food has changed.

In other words, people may not be reacting to gluten — they may be reacting to modern food. This is especially potent in western society’s addiction to heavily processed carbohydrates.

That’s a much harder problem to fix, because it implicates everything from corporate agriculture and seed monopolies to chemical regulators and profit-driven nutritionists. It’s easier to sell a gluten-free muffin than to reform a broken food system.

From Gluten Panic to Food Control

There’s also a darker angle here — one that fits the pattern of how health trends can be weaponized for profit and control. Just as “fat-free” and “low-sodium” campaigns of past decades laid the groundwork for processed food empires, the gluten-free wave served as a psychological and logistical trial run for centralized dietary influence.

Each new food scare — cholesterol, sugar, gluten, meat — helps train the public to comply with authority over their own choices. Every few years, a new “enemy ingredient” emerges. And every time, the same players — the food industry, the media, and government regulators — profit from the fear they spread.

Perhaps the deeper truth is this: gluten wasn’t the problem. Control was.

When you strip away the marketing, the fake science, and the fear campaigns, you’re left with something simple — human beings disconnected from the foods that once sustained them. Real bread made from stone-ground wheat, naturally fermented and free of chemical residue, doesn’t make people sick. It nourishes them. The sickness comes from a system that’s forgotten what food even means.

How Shohei Ohtani Made $102 Million in 2025

October 24, 2025 8:00am

Shohei Ohtani has been a baseball unicorn since he joined MLB in 2018. Even when he stayed off the mound in 2024, he started a new 50-50 club (home runs and steals) on his way to a third MVP by unanimous vote. Last week, his unique skill set was on display again, with three home runs at the plate and 10 strikeouts over six shutout innings on the mound, clinching the Los Angeles Dodgers’ return to the World Series.

For all his baseball talents, Ohtani might be a bigger unicorn off the field.

Ohtani is on track to earn $100 million this year through endorsements, merchandise and licensing. The tally is 10x what the No. 2 athlete in baseball, Bryce Harper, is set to make. The only other instance of a similar disparity between the top two athletes in a major sport over the past 30 years was when Usain Bolt was at his peak, making $30 million a year, 10x anyone else in track and field.

Ohtani’s off-field haul made it an easier decision to defer 97% of his record-breaking $700 million Dodgers contract without interest. He earns $2 million a year in playing salary for 10 years and then will collect $68 million annually between 2034 and 2043.

Before Ohtani, endorsement earnings for MLB players topped out at around $10 million for Derek Jeter and Ichiro Suzuki. Ohtani’s $100 million from sponsors is a threshold reached by only three athletes ever: Tiger Woods, Roger Federer and Stephen Curry, who each did it once.

Ohtani added a half-dozen companies this year to his endorsement portfolio, along with several renewals after his inaugural season with the Dodgers elevated his global standing even further. His existing major sponsors included Ito En, Kowa, Kosé and Seiko, and he added Beats, Epic Games and Secom for 2025. Ohtani is the first MLB player to be included in Epic’s Fortnite video game.

He has more than 20 brand partners, divided almost evenly between being companies headquartered in the U.S. versus Japan, but almost all the brands use him globally. New Balance is his biggest pact, where his deal is more akin to a global NBA superstar shoe deal than anything in baseball. He has his own clothing and shoe lines.

“What we’re doing with him has never been done in the game of baseball,” Nez Balelo, Ohtani’s agent at CAA, said at Sportico’s Invest West event in May. Balelo said they are strategic with Ohtani and constantly eschew deals from reputable brands. “We have to make sure we don’t overexpose him,” Balelo said. “We have to make sure we don’t put him in a situation that is too heavy of a lift.”

Ohtani ranked second among baseball’s highest-paid players this year at $102 million; Juan Soto finished on top at $129 million after signing his 15-year, $765 million free-agent deal with the New York Mets that included a $75 million signing bonus.

THERE IS A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ARABS AND MUSLIMS! OFTEN MISUNDERSTOOD

Arabs are an ethnic-linguistic group, while Muslims are followers of the religion of Islam. The two are not synonymous—many Arabs are not Muslim, and most Muslims are not Arab.

Here’s a breakdown to clarify the distinction:

🗣️ Arabs: An Ethno-Linguistic Identity

Definition: Arabs are people who identify with the Arabic language and cultural heritage.
Geography: Primarily from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), including countries like Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and Morocco.
Language: Arabic is their native or ancestral language.
Religion: While many Arabs are Muslim, there are also Arab Christians, Druze, and other religious minorities.

🕌 Muslims: A Religious Identity

Definition: Muslims are individuals who follow Islam, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion founded in the 7th century CE.
Global Reach: Islam is practiced worldwide, with large populations in Indonesia, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Turkey, Iran, and sub-Saharan Africa—many of which are not Arab.
Diversity: Muslims come from diverse ethnic, linguistic, and cultural backgrounds. Being Muslim does not imply any specific ethnicity.

🌍 Overlap and Misconceptions

The confusion often arises because Islam originated in the Arabian Peninsula, and the Qur’an is written in Arabic.
However, only about 20% of the world’s Muslims are Arab.
Conversely, not all Arabs are Muslim—for example, Lebanon and Egypt have significant Arab Christian populations.

Understanding this distinction helps avoid stereotypes and better appreciate the rich diversity within both Arab and Muslim communities.

KRISTIE NOEM FAST TRACKED MILLIONS OF DISASTER AID FUNDS…AND QUESTION? DOES THE USA HAVE THE BEST LOOKING GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS, COMPARED TO THE UGLY, UGLY ONES APPOINTED BY OBAMA AND BIDEN???

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, center, speaks with Mayor Teresa Heitmann of Naples, Florida, and City Manager Gary Young on a damaged historic pier in the city on Aug. 29. Credit: Tia Dufour/Department of Homeland Security

Kristi Noem Fast-Tracked Millions in Disaster Aid to Florida Tourist Attraction After Campaign Donor Intervened

The DHS chief has been widely criticized for slowing down FEMA’s response after natural disasters. Texts and emails obtained by ProPublica point to an effective way to get help faster: have one of Noem’s big donors make the ask.

For months, the complaints have rolled in from parts of the country hit by natural disasters: The Federal Emergency Management Agency was moving far too slowly in sending aid to communities ravaged by floods and hurricanes, including in central Texas and North Carolina. Many officials were blaming Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary, whose agency oversees FEMA.

“I can’t get phone calls back,” Ted Budd, the Republican senator from North Carolina, told a newspaper this month, describing his attempts to reach Noem’s office. “I can’t get them to initiate the money. It’s just a quagmire.” The delays were caused in part by a new policy announced by DHS that requires Noem’s personal sign-off on expenses over $100,000, several news outlets reported.

But records obtained by ProPublica show how one locality found a way to get FEMA aid more quickly: It asked one of Noem’s political donors for help.

The records show that Noem quickly expedited more than $11 million of federal money to rebuild a historic pier in Naples, Florida, after she was contacted by a major financial supporter last month. The pier is a tourist attraction in the wealthy Gulf Coast enclave and was badly damaged by Hurricane Ian in 2022.

Frustrated city officials had been laboring for months, without success, to get disaster assistance. But just two weeks after the donor stepped in, they were celebrating their sudden change of fortune. “We are now at warp speed with FEMA,” one city official wrote in an email. A FEMA representative wrote: “Per leadership instruction, pushing project immediately.”

Along with fast-tracking the money, Noem flew to Naples on a government plane to tour the pier herself. She then stayed for the weekend and got dinner with the donor, local cardiologist Sinan Gursoy, at the French restaurant Bleu Provence, according to records and an interview with the Naples mayor. This account is based on text messages and emails ProPublica obtained through public records requests.

Noem’s actions in Naples suggest the injection of political favoritism into an agency tasked with saving lives and rebuilding communities wiped out by disaster. It also heightens concerns about the discretion Noem has given herself by personally handling all six-figure expenses at the agency, consolidating her power over who wins and loses in the pursuit of federal relief dollars, experts said.

Jeffrey Schlegelmilch, director of the National Center for Disaster Preparedness at Columbia University, said that politics has long been a factor in federal disaster relief — one study found that swing states are more likely to get federal help, for example. But “I’ve not heard of anything this egregious — a donor calling up and saying I need help and getting it,” he said, “while others may be getting denied assistance or otherwise waiting in line for help that may or may not come.”

In a statement, DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said, “This has nothing to do with politics: Secretary Noem also visited Ruidoso, NM” — where floods killed three people in July — “at the request of a Democrat governor and has been integral in supporting and speeding up their recovery efforts.”

“Your criticizing the Secretary’s visit to the Pier is bizarre as she works to fix this issue for more than 1 million visitors that used to visit the pier,” McLaughlin added. She did not answer questions about the donor’s role in expediting the funding or Noem’s relationship with him. Reached by phone, Gursoy said “get lost” and hung up. He did not respond to detailed follow up questions.

Noem has been criticized for creating a bottleneck at FEMA. When the floods hit Texas this summer — ultimately killing over 100 people — it took days to deploy critical search-and-rescue teams because Noem hadn’t signed off on them, according to CNN. Budd, the Republican senator, said this month: “Pretty much everything Helene-related is over $100,000. So they’re stacking up on her desk waiting for her signature.”

Noem has denied there were delays in the Texas flood response and has defended her expense policy, saying it has saved billions of dollars. “Every day I get up and I think, the American people are paying for this, should they?” she recently said. “And are these dollars doing what the law says they should be doing? I’m going to make sure that they go there.”

Once a sleepy fishing town, Naples is now home to CEOs and billionaires (a property listed for $295 million recently made headlines as the most expensive home in the U.S.). The city is known as an important stop for Republican politicians raising money, and Noem has held multiple fundraisers in the area. State credit card records suggest she visited Naples at least 10 times during her last four years as South Dakota governor.

Noem’s top adviser, Corey Lewandowski, also appears to own a home in Naples near the city’s pier, according to property tax records. Lewandowski is an unpaid staffer at DHS serving as Noem’s de facto chief of staff. (Media reports have alleged the two are romantically involved, which they have both denied.) Lewandowski told ProPublica that he was not involved in the pier decision and that he was not in Naples during Noem’s visit.

For the first seven months of the Trump administration, the pier reconstruction was in bureaucratic purgatory. The city had long been struggling to secure the regulatory approvals it needed to start building, and emails suggest Trump’s wave of federal layoffs had made the process even slower. “These agencies are undergoing significant reorganizations and staff reductions,” a city official told a frustrated constituent in early August. That “sometimes means starting over with new reviewers — something we’ve faced more than once.”

McLaughlin said “both past FEMA and the City bear responsibility” for the delays. She listed “several failures” since the process started in 2023, including “FEMA staff changing up” and indecision by the city government.

By this summer, Naples officials were getting desperate. In June, one tried to enlist Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., to press FEMA to move ahead. “We were told yesterday that Secretary Noem would have to ‘personally’ approve the Pier project before FEMA funding would be obligated,” the city official wrote to the senator’s staff. The Naples mayor, Teresa Heitmann, also personally wrote to FEMA. Heitmann said she was “perplexed” by the delays and begged the agency for guidance.

Heitmann had long been paying expensive Washington consultants to help her city navigate the process. But she was “feeling increasingly helpless,” she later said, until she had the idea that would finally put her project on the fast track. On July 18, the mayor emailed a Google search to herself: “Who is the head of Homeland security?” She was going to go straight to Noem.

Heitmann determined that her best bet for getting Noem’s attention was Gursoy. A Naples cardiologist, Gursoy has no obvious experience working with the federal government; much of his online footprint centers on his enthusiasm for pinball. But Gursoy gave Noem at least $25,000 to support her campaign for governor in 2022. That was enough to put him near the top of Noem’s disclosed donor list. (In South Dakota, campaign contributions remain relatively small.)

On planning documents for the 2024 Republican National Convention obtained by ProPublica, the Florida doctor is listed as an attendee affiliated with the delegation from South Dakota, a state he has no apparent connection to besides his support for Noem. Heitmann told ProPublica that Gursoy introduced her to Noem at a political event at a private home in Naples while Noem was governor.

“Hello it’s Teresa,” the mayor texted Gursoy in early August. “I really need your help.” She explained the tangle of bureaucracy she’d been contending with. “FEMA is holding us up,” Heitmann wrote. “Kristi Noem could put some fire under the FEMA employees slacking.”

Gursoy responded: “Okay. I will get on it.”

The next week, on Aug. 11, the doctor gave Heitmann an update. “Kristi was off for a few days for the first time in a long time, so I left her alone,” he said. “I just txted her now.” Within 24 hours, he had exciting news. He told the mayor to expect a call from Noem’s “FEMA fixer” shortly.

The identity of the “fixer” is not clear, but by Aug. 27, Naples officials were seeing a “flurry of activity” from Noem’s agency. That day, a FEMA staffer told the city that “FEMA is intending to expedite the funding” for the pier. “Secretary Noem took immediate action when I reached out to ask for help,” the mayor soon posted on Facebook.

Two days later, Noem flew to Naples. Her schedule listed a 30-minute walk-through at the pier with the mayor, followed by a nail salon appointment and dinner at Bleu Provence, which serves wagyu short ribs and seared foie gras. Noem then stayed through the weekend at the four-star Naples Bay Resort & Marina. Heitmann told ProPublica she wasn’t at the French dinner but Gursoy was. “I didn’t ask her to come, but she showed up,” the mayor told the local news. “I was very impressed.”

Before she left town, Noem posted about the Naples pier on Instagram. She was finally getting the project back on track, she said. “Americans deserve better than years of red tape and failed disaster responses,” Noem wrote. “Under @POTUS Trump, this incompetency ends.”

PROPUBLICA IS A DEMOCRATIC MOUTHPIECE AND CONSTANT COMPLAINER….THEY BASICALLY HATE SMART WOMEN THAT TRUMP HAS APPOINTED, INSTEAD OF THE UGLY, AND STUPID ONES APPOINTED BY OBAMA, BIDEN AND OTHER “DUMBOCRATS”.

RUSSIAN SOLDIERS, WHO WANT TO LEAVE THE WAR ZONE, ARE SIMPLY SHOT, WHAT A GREAT WAY TO MOTIVATE TO JOIN THE MILITARY!

Ukrainian intelligence has once again intercepted communications of the Russian military, in which a commander orders fire on his own troops, according to a post by the Defense Intelligence of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense on Telegram.

Soldiers of the Defense Intelligence intercepted another conversation of the Russian military in the Donetsk region. The Russian commander orders the execution of subordinates who try to retreat from their positions.

“There’s no way to retreat, none! No one is retreating anywhere, d*** it! I’m telling you again, d*** it: if anyone tries to run off, f****** shoot them. We are moving only forward, f****** h***, only forward, d*** it,” the Russian commander says.

In addition, Ukrainian intelligence emphasized in their post that the Russian troops will face just retribution for every crime committed against the Ukrainian people.

Defense Intelligence interception

Earlier, we reported that Ukrainian intelligence intercepted a conversation of the Russian forces in which they admitted to maiming their own soldiers when they tried to flee the battlefield. From the conversation, it appears that their comrade with broken limbs would be used as “bait” for the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

The Defense Intelligence of the Ministry of Defense previously published a conversation in which a relative of one of the Russian military revealed that out of 25 Russian soldiers in the war against Ukraine, only two remained alive.

In addition, the Defense Intelligence published a recording of the Russian military’s conversations in which a Russian commander in the Novopavlivka direction orders his subordinates to force Ukrainian soldiers to surrender and then kill them.

PUTIN IS SURE WINNING THE HEARTS OF HIS PEOPLE!

THE TRUTH HURTS, GREAT SIGN OUTSIDE RESTAURANTANT!

People are irate about a cowboy’s very blunt sign as they try to remove it — BIG mistake

eople are irate about a cowboy’s very blunt sign as they try to remove it — BIG mistake

A Florida seafood restaurant owner was so fed up with what he’d seen that he got off the fence for the first time to share exactly how he felt by posting four blunt phrases on the sign outside his business.

Not concerned with who he would offend, he got more than he expected when certain people saw it, but the cowboy had a surprise for them.

People are irate about a cowboy's very blunt sign as they try to remove it — BIG mistake

William “Bill” Davis has been in the business of serving the people of Sarasota the freshest seafood around and providing friendly customer service for years at Barnacle Bill’s Seafood Restaurant. Being in a public business, Bill said he’s always kept his opinions to himself but couldn’t do it anymore after seeing what Democrats were trying to do.

The conservative didn’t want any liberals telling him how to live, so he put a special message on his marquee. To say that it didn’t go over well with those who have different political views is a bit of an understatement. When those who oppose his sentiments tried to retaliate, it backfired on them.

$1 TRILLION PAY PACKAGE FOR MUSK!!!!

Tesla Board Proposes Musk Pay Package Worth as Much as $1 Trillion Over Decade

CEO would receive shares in tranches dependent on milestones including $8.5 trillion market cap

The proposed pay deal for Elon Musk is set to go to a shareholder vote in early November. Photo: chip somodevilla/Reuters

Tesla’s board asks investors to approve a new pay package for Elon Musk, potentially worth $1 trillion over 10 years.

The maximum payout, a 12% stake, hinges on Tesla reaching an $8.5 trillion market cap and other business goals.
Shareholders will vote Nov. 6 on the proposal, which could raise Musk’s stake to 29% and boost his voting power.

An artificial-intelligence tool created this summary, which was based on the text of the article and checked by an editor. Read more about how we use artificial intelligence in our journalism.

Tesla’s board asks investors to approve a new pay package for Elon Musk, potentially worth $1 trillion over 10 years.

board is asking investors to approve a new pay package for Chief Executive Elon Musk that could be worth as much as $1 trillion over the next decade.

The proposed arrangements could see Musk, already the world’s wealthiest individual, awarded various installments of shares dependent on Tesla hitting a series of milestones, according to a financial filing published Friday.

The maximum payout would represent a 12% stake in the company, contingent on milestones including Tesla reaching a market capitalization of $8.5 trillion. At that market value, such a stake would be worth slightly more than $1 trillion. Tesla’s current market value is just over $1 trillion.

“Retaining and incentivizing Elon is fundamental to Tesla…becoming the most valuable company in history,” Tesla Chair Robyn Denholm said in a letter to investors. The package was “designed to align extraordinary long-term shareholder value with incentives that will drive peak performance from our visionary leader.”

The proposal would lift Musk’s stake in the electric-vehicle maker to as much as 29% if all of the targets are met, according to the filing, also boosting his voting power.

Tesla shares rose 2% in premarket trading Friday.

Tesla robotaxi driving on a city street.

Among the proposed goals is a major expansion of Tesla’s robotaxi service, which is currently available in Austin. Photo: joel angel juarez/Reuters

In addition to market-cap milestones, payouts would depend on Musk hitting business and financial targets. These include delivering 20 million Tesla vehicles and a million robots, as well as putting a million robotaxis into commercial operation. A fourth product goal is for Tesla to secure 10 million subscribers for its Full Self Driving service.

The most challenging financial goal is for Tesla to generate $400 billion of adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization. It reported $16.645 billion in adjusted Ebitda for 2024.

The filing also included a shareholder proposal for Tesla to invest in Musk’s artificial-intelligence startup, xAI. Musk has repeatedly mobilized his business empire to boost xAI, with SpaceX agreeing in July to invest $2 billion in it. Tesla’s board didn’t offer a recommendation on how investors should vote.

Musk floated the idea in July, writing on his social-media platform X: “If it was up to me, Tesla would have invested in xAI long ago.”

Shareholders are due to vote on the proposals on Nov. 6.

Tesla didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment Friday.

Musk’s 2018 pay deal was struck down by a Delaware judge, who said the process was deeply flawed and criticized the company’s board for a lack of transparency.

Tesla’s directors said the then-record stock-option deal, which amounted to more than $55 billion in compensation, was necessary to keep Musk focused on the carmaker amid a slump in sales and increased competition from overseas. He has run the company without a pay package since then, though last month the Tesla board approved a stock award for Musk that it tentatively valued at $23.7 billion.

Besides Tesla, Musk oversees xAI, SpaceX, Neuralink, X and the Boring Company.

In recent years, some Tesla investors started to question the CEO’s commitment to the company, as Musk dedicated more of his time and energy to political causes. In 2022, he completed a $44 billion takeover of Twitter. Musk, a self-described “free speech absolutist,” spent an increasing amount of time posting on the platform.

Musk later cozied up to President Trump, donating vast sums to his election campaign and eventually acting as a close White House adviser.

That relationship eventually soured.