A member of the DC National Guard stands next to an armored vehicle in front of Union Station, in Washington, D.C., U.S., on August 14, 2025. U.S. President Donald Trump announced the Guard deployment earlier in the week, claiming incorrectly that violent crime is at an all-time high in the capital city. Violent crime has dropped 26 percent in 2025, reaching a 30-year low. (Photo by Allison Bailey/NurPhoto via AP)

Washington, D.C. residents in the city’s most dangerous neighborhoods say they haven’t felt the effects of President Donald Trump’s war on crime.

On Monday, the president announced a series of actions his administration would be taking to reduce crime in the nation’s capital. In addition to placing the local police force under the control of the federal government, Trump also said he’d deploy the National Guard. In the days since that announcement, federal officers have been seen roaming the streets, and armored vehicles have even been spotted around the National Mall and Union Station.

While the city’s most notable landmarks have seen an increase presence of law enforcement, the same cannot be said for sections of the city that could use it. According to a report from USA Today’s Josh Meyer, a number of D.C.’s most crime-ridden areas — including the notorious Ward 8 — have yet to see the same show of force seen in and around the National Mall:

“He probably doesn’t even know where Anacostia is,” Charles Wilson, whose neighborhood has one of DC’s highest rates of murder and violent crime. Wilson says the low-income area in DC’s Ward 8 has endured several shootouts in which bullets struck houses, cars and even lodged in children’s bedrooms in recent years.

“I think this is all pomp and circumstance,” Wilson says, “to distract people from everything else he is doing.”

Although data has indicated that crime in the city overall has been on the decline, Meyer noted that Ward 8’s rate of violent crime remains twice as high as any other ward in D.C. Residents said they would actually welcome the presence of more police in these areas:

Darrell Gaston, the chef and founder of nearby Kitchen Savages, showed USA TODAY the front windows of his upscale restaurant that he had to replace after they were shattered by a recent gun battle between the occupants of two cars. The wild shootout sent a street light careening into the eatery.

Gaston, a four-term Advisory Neighborhood Commission member, said he’d seen some evidence of an uptick in security, including a few Guard troops and federal agents a block away. What he’d like to see instead, Gaston said, was more DC police officers “who specialize in community engagement and in protecting communities, which hopefully does lead to a decrease in crime.”

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The post DC Residents Say Trump’s Neglecting Most Dangerous Neighborhoods Amid Crime Crackdown: Report first appeared on Mediaite.

Recently, I made the choice to buy a Kindle Paperwhite, but not register it to my Amazon account. Doing so is as simple as avoiding connecting to a wifi network during setup. The Kindle itself will still run just fine; it just won't connect to the internet or link itself to your Amazon account. I made this choice on purpose, because I am tired of being locked into Amazon's ecosystem to purchase books. Luckily, whether you register your Kindle or not, there are alternatives.

Usually, the ebooks you buy for your Kindle have DRM (Digital Rights Management) included, which forbids you from legally copying the book to other devices. Big ebook publishers and retailers often use DRM to ensure that you can't make backups of ebooks you've already paid for. When you have a DRM-free ebook, though, you can save a copy of the book to any of your devices and send it to any other ebook readers, too. Big companies might argue that this makes it easy to pirate ebooks, but fortunately, there are still many ways to legally purchase DRM-free ebooks, which are yours to save and transfer as you like.

When you use your Kindle without an Amazon account, you can't use the device to buy books, but you can easily transfer DRM-free books from all other stores to it. Just plug in the Kindle into a computer and it's as easy as a drag-and-drop. For many people, the idea of using a Kindle without Amazon's ebook store is unthinkable, but I think there are enough DRM-free books out there for me to make it work. This choice has forced me to consider how to buy DRM-free ebooks, and I'll cover all the best options in this guide. And again, even if you're not as committed to an Amazon-free device as me, you can still buy and transfer DRM-free ebooks even if you use your Kindle with an Amazon account. 

How to send DRM-free ebooks to a Kindle

Credit: Pranay Parab

First, how do you actually get DRM-free ebooks onto your device? Your best bet is a helpfully named feature called Send to Kindle. This lets you attach your ebooks in an email to your personal Kindle address, which converts them to a Kindle-compatible format and wirelessly transfers them to your Kindle device. To use Send to Kindle, follow these steps:

1. First, find your Send to Kindle email address. Log in to your Amazon account in a browser and open the Manage Your Content & Devices page.

2. Navigate to Preferences > Personal Document Settings. You'll find your Kindle email address here.

3. Under Approved Personal Document E-mail List, make sure that you add your Gmail, Outlook, or other personal email addresses. This will ensure that your books get delivered to your Kindle, as long as you attach them to emails sent from approved email addresses.

4. Now, go ahead and attach your books to an email and send it from an approved address to your Kindle email. Supported file types include epub, pdf, doc, docx, txt, rtf, htm, html, png, gif, jpg, jpeg, and bmp. Epub is by far the most popular ebook format for DRM-free books, and almost every ebook you purchase will be available as an Epub.

5. If emailing books isn't convenient for you, Amazon does have alternate methods to send books to your Kindle. To find one that works for you, visit the Send to Kindle website, choose your device, and find an easier way to send books to your ebook reader.

Since I've chosen not to register my Kindle with Amazon, I can't use Send to Kindle. Fortunately, there are great alternatives to this method. My favorite is a free app called Calibre. To use it, I just connect my Kindle to my computer and open the app. Calibre is a great app for ebook management, too. By connecting it to the folder where all my DRM-free ebooks are stored, I got it to automatically list them all in the app as I add them. In two clicks, I can send all these books to my ebook reader.

How to buy DRM-free ebooks

As for where to actually get DRM-free ebooks, there are lots of choices. Unfortunately, some ebooks are exclusive to Kindle, and there's no way to find them elsewhere. If that's not an issue with the books you're looking for, here are all the best DRM-free ebook stores for your reading needs.

Download free ebooks that are in the public domain

Credit: Pranay Parab

Once a book's copyright has expired, it enters the public domain, which means that you're free to download ebooks of it without paying anything. If you love reading classics, you're going to be able to find them all for free across many bookstores. Some digital storefronts make it a lot easier to save a copy of these ebooks to any device, though. Here are some reliable bets.

1. Project Gutenberg: A great site for all kinds of public domain ebooks. It has over 75,000 ebooks for you to enjoy.

2. Standard Ebooks: Another useful site for free ebooks.

3. The Internet Archive: Possibly the biggest collection of free ebooks on the internet. You'll find works in lots of different languages here, as the library isn't as English-focused as most other sites.

DRM-free ebooks from bundle sites

Credit: Pranay Parab

Not everyone can afford to pay full-price for every ebook. You can find excellent deals on ebooks by using sites that sell them as a bundle. This way, you can get lots of books for a lot less than buying them individually. Most of these bundles are also DRM-free, which means that you're free to keep backups of them on any of your devices or hard drives, and you can easily send them to your ebook reader whenever you wish.

1. Humble Bundle: Yes, the site known for gaming bundles also sells ebooks. You can get great deals here, but do remember to check a specific bundle's details to see if the included books are really DRM-free. They usually are, but sometimes books have video guides included in the purchase, and these may be locked behind DRM.

2. StoryBundle: This site has been around for over a decade and exclusively sells ebook bundles. There's no DRM on any of the ebooks you purchase from here. 

3. Fanatical: Yet another bundle site, with plenty of options for ebooks. Be sure to check the description of each bundle, because not all book bundles here are DRM-free.

Buy DRM-free books from ebook stores

Credit: Pranay Parab

If you want to buy individual books and not bundles, there are a large number of stores to choose from. Note, though, that some publishers, such as Tor Books, exclusively sell DRM-free books no matter which store you buy them from. However, that's not true for a majority of publishers, so be sure to use filters to only see DRM-free books.

1. Bookshop.org: This is one of the best non-Amazon ebook stores out there. It has a vast collection, but not all books are DRM-free. When you search for a book on this site, you can add a filter to reveal the DRM-free options.

2. Kobo: Kobo makes ebook readers, but it also sells books. There's a helpful section for DRM-free ebooks, which makes it very easy to find the books you're looking for. 

3. Itch.io: Although it's primarily known for video games, Itch also sells ebooks, and has a useful tag to help you spot the DRM-free books.

4. Ebooks.com: This site has a vast collection of ebooks, and there's an entire section for DRM-free ebooks.

5. Smashwords: The site specializes in self-published ebooks. All the books it sells are DRM-free.

6. Baen: This sci-fi and fantasy publisher has its own storefront for ebooks, and it too only sells DRM-free ebooks.

Buy DRM-free books from crowdfunding websites

Credit: Pranay Parab

Crowdfunding sites are an underrated avenue for buying promising ebooks. Sure, there's always a risk that you won't get the rewards listed in the project, but if you trust the creator, you're in with a good chance to snag a DRM-free copy of their works at an early bird price. Most of the book projects I've come across on these have had a fairly low price for the ebook copy. It's the printed editions that are usually quite expensive. Here are a couple crowdfunding sites that you can browse to find good DRM-free ebooks.

1. Kickstarter: Kickstarter has a dedicated page for publishing, which makes it easy to find DRM-free ebooks, but not every project offers an ebook to go with a printed copy. 

2. Indiegogo: Although Indiegogo doesn't have an easy way to identify all book-related crowdfunding projects, you can use its search tools to locate what you need.

AP Photo/Ben Curtis, File

Attorney General Pam Bondi announced on Thursday that a man who flung a sandwich at a federal officer had been charged with a felony and fired from his job at the Department of Justice — drawing swift mockery as people pointed out the administration’s radically different treatment of the rioters who attacked police officers at the Capitol on January 6, 2021.

Video clips showed the perpetrator, 37-year-old Sean Charles Dunn, wearing a pastel pink shirt and khaki shorts confronting some of the federal agents that President Donald Trump has deployed on the streets of Washington, D.C.

“F*ck you! You f*cking fascists! Why are you here? I don’t want you in my city!” Dunn shouted, according to the criminal complaint filed by transit police detective Daina Henry. Dunn then flung a sub sandwich wrapped in paper at one of the officers, hitting him in the chest, before attempting to flee. The officers chased him down and arrested him.

The complaint also mentioned that Dunn apparently confessed as he was arrested, saying, “I did it. I threw a sandwich.”

Bondi posted that Dunn was an employee of the DOJ but had been fired in addition to being charged with a felony.

“If you touch any law enforcement officer, we will come after you,” she wrote, claiming the incident was “an example of the Deep State we have been up against for seven months as we work to refocus DOJ.”

“You will NOT work in this administration while disrespecting our government and law enforcement,” she added.

Bondi’s tweet was met with an immediate wave of derisive backlash and mockery, with many commenters pointing out not only how Trump had pardoned Capitol rioters — including many who were seen on video violently assaulting cops — but also how the DOJ had recently hired one of these pardoned rioters for a top position.

During the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol, Jared Wise stood shoulder-to-shoulder with other Trump supporters of President and cheered on the violent mob that assaulted law enforcement officers, breached the Capitol, vandalized the building and facilities, and disrupted the certification of the Electoral College vote. Police body cam video captured Wise yelling at the officers, calling them “Nazi” and “Gestapo,” as well as yelling at rioters who were physically brawling with the cops to “kill” them.

Wise is currently a senior adviser in the office of the deputy attorney general. A DOJ spokesperson defended his hiring, saying “Jared Wise is a valued member of the Justice Department and we appreciate his contributions to our team.”

Several other commenters argued that Trump’s deployment of National Guard troops in D.C. was just an attempt to distract from the persistent outrage directed at the administration, but particularly Trump and Bondi, over the Epstein files.

A selection of reactions is below.

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The post Pam Bondi Torched for Outrage Against Sub-Slinger — As Trump Taps Literal Capitol Rioter for Top DOJ Job first appeared on Mediaite.

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Right now, you can get a refurbished 55" LG OLED Evo C4 TV on Woot for $849.99, which is nearly $250 cheaper than a new version on Amazon. Larger screen sizes (65 and 75 inches) are also available for discounted prices on the same listing page. This television is known for its top-tier picture quality, gaming performance, and great bang for your buck, even next to newer 2025 OLEDs.

Refurbished 55" LG OLED Evo C4 TV

$849.99 at Woot

$1,096.99 Save $247.00

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With rich blacks, exceptional contrast, and excellent color vibrancy and accuracy, the LG OLED Evo C4 is a standout option at this price. It features Brightness Boosting tech, which magnifies every pixel, and features Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos for a more immersive viewing and audio experience. AI Super Upscaling automatically improves picture quality, resulting in a more vivid result. Multi View allows you to split your screen into two views. The TV features a 144 Hz refresh rate and a  0.1ms response time, and like all LG OLEDs, it offers NVIDIA G-Sync, AMD FreeSync Premium, and VRR to enhance gaming performance. Its voice control is compatible with AirPlay, Alexa, and Google.

OLED tech is known for providing more realistic image depth and better contrast than LCD TVs, and this model has been praised even when compared to newer options like the C5, which it closely matches in visual quality while being more affordable. While there may be minor signs of wear, the TV is fully functioning and covered by Woot’s 90-day warranty program in case there are any issues. (Woot only ships to the 48 contiguous states in the U.S., with free shipping for Prime users and a $6 fee for non-members.)

The main criticisms that the C4 receives from users are that, despite decent brightness, glare can sometimes be an issue in bright rooms (a common issue with OLEDs), and the TV may appear dimmer in certain gaming modes, which can affect darker scenes. There is also the potential for burn-in with prolonged usage and static imagery over time. Still, if you’re looking for a sleek model at a competitive price that combines smart TV functionality, impressive visuals, and top-notch gaming features at a notably reduced price, despite being a 2024 model, the LG OLED Evo C4 TV is one of the best OLED TVs you can get your hands on.

President Donald Trump made clear he was the main driving force behind this year’s Kennedy Center honorees, answering a reporter’s question by saying he was “98% involved” in the selection process.

Trump announced the latest honorees Wednesday in a press conference at the Kennedy Center, naming actor and filmmaker Sylvester Stallone, musician George Strait, original star of Broadway’s The Phantom of the Opera Michael Crawford, singer Gloria Gaynor, and the rock band KISS.

After his remarks, the president took questions from gathered reporters, and was asked “How involved were you in the selection process of these honorees?”

Replied Trump:

I would say I was about 98% involved. No, they all went through me. They came over Rick [Grenell] and Sergio [Gor] and everybody. They said — I turned down plenty. They were too woke. I turned — I had a couple of wokesters. Uh, no.

We have great people. This is very different than it used to be. Very different. These are great people. And, not — they’re not — I don’t have any idea the Republicans, they want people that — the Kennedy Center has everything.

Look at the Academy Awards. It gets lousy ratings now. It’s all woke. All they do is talk about how much they hate Trump, but nobody likes that. They don’t watch anymore. That used to have 45 million people watching.

I remember The Apprentice, first season, The Apprentice had 42 million people. The Academy Awards had 41 million people. We were the second show to the Super Bowl. But since then, the Academy Awards have gone down to — I think they’ve gone down to numbers that are like a regular show, because it went woke.

We’re not, we’re not doing it for that reason. We’re doing it because we want the great talent. But these are great people. So, I was very — I was just — a very long answer, but I was very involved.

Watch the clip above via CNN.

The post Trump Says He Was ‘98% Involved’ in Picking Kennedy Center Honorees — And He Rejected ‘Wokesters’ first appeared on Mediaite.

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For three months, I tested out a Bike+, the upgraded version of Peloton's famous Bike, all so I could write a review of it. But since I've been an avid rider of my regular Peloton Bike for four years, I paid particular attention to any differences in the performance of the two stationary cycles—especially any differences that make their $1,000 price difference worthwhile.

The feature I was most excited to test out, which my Bike does not have, is auto-resistance: The Bike+ automatically adjusts the rider's resistance, setting it within the boundaries of the resistance called for by a instructor at any given point during a virtual class.

How does the Bike+'s auto-resistance work?

When you're taking an on-demand cycling class or completing a Power Zone workout, the Bike+ will adjust your resistance so that you're somewhere in between the numbers the instructor is calling for. If your instructor says your resistance should be between 40 and 60, for example, the auto-resistance feature will place you somewhere in the middle of those values; you don't have to spin the resistance knob yourself.

The feature is pretty smart, too. Once, when I did a nighttime workout after a day full of teaching in-person spin class, doing other Peloton rides, and walking around in the heat, I wasn't feeling particularly energetic. The auto-resistance caught on to that and adjusted my resistance to the lower end of the spectrum the instructor was calling for after I failed to maintain a solid cadence while it was adjusted to the center value. It was smarter and more personalized than I was expecting

Auto-resistance makes taking a class a little easier because you don't need to be constantly reaching down to adjust the knob. You can focus only on your cadence (and form, breathing, output, and hydration) without having to stay on top of your resistance. Reaching down isn't super distracting, especially for people who are accustomed to riding, but it does pull you out of your focus a little bit, so this is pretty nice.

How to enable (or disable) auto-resistance on the Bike+

Enabling and disabling auto-resistance can be done before or during a workout. When you select a workout to complete on your device's touchscreen, you'll see a pop-up window that outlines a few details like when the class first aired, who's teaching it, and what the class is called. You'll also see a button that says Auto-Resistance [Off/On].

Credit: Lindsey Ellefson

Once the class begins, you'll see a small lock icon next to the resistance on the lower right half of the screen. You can tap it to unlock (turn auto-resistance off) or lock (turn it on). I've noticed that if I start a workout with it off, then toggle it on, the auto-resistance tends to stick near whatever I was doing on my own. For instance, this morning, I started a class with it off, but was only riding about five above the lowest recommended resistance. When the instructor said resistance should be between 30 and 45, I was only doing 35. When I toggled auto-resistance on by tapping the lock icon, it consistently kept me at about five over the lowest recommended resistance level.

You can make manual adjustments while you ride, even if auto-resistance is turned on. At one point this morning, I did crank my resistance knob up to the highest recommended setting for a while. When the instructor told riders to lower their resistance a few minutes later, auto-resistance kicked in again and put me on a lower one with no issue, though it was, again, near the upper limits of the recommended range, since that's how I had set it manually.

Is this feature worth an extra $1,000?

The Peloton Bike+ is about $1,000 more than the regular Bike and will run you $2,495—with this auto-resistance feature being one of the main selling points.

Peloton Bike+

$2,495.00 at Amazon

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Learn More

$2,495.00 at Amazon

I did appreciate that the tech is smarter that I assumed it would be and was able to adjust my resistance not only to the middle of the recommended resistance range, but lower or higher within it, depending on how I am performing. I also appreciate that it can be manually overridden mid-class and even disabled completely if you're not into it. It's great to be able to ride without having to constantly think about making adjustments, plus I find it a little motivating. When I'm in charge of the resistance (like I have been for four years riding my Bike), I can slack a little if I want to, you know? Who's going to stop me if I choose to set my resistance to the absolute lowest recommended number? With auto-resistance, I feel just a little guilt if I consider manually overriding it to make my workout easier.

More often than not, of course, I find that having my resistance set to the middle or higher end of the recommended spectrum is completely doable; I'm lazy, not incapable. The auto-resistance helps stop me from being quite so lazy—counterintuitive, since the machine is doing the work of messing with the knob for me.

Manually adjusting the knob pulls you out of your focus just a bit, makes you think about something other than your cadence and effort, and, in a worst-case scenario, could even trip you up and making a mistake that gets you hurt. Far-fetched? Maybe, but a feature that precludes it entirely is appreciated.

Still, if you don't mind reaching down and spinning that knob, if you don't think you'd find it particularly motivating to see your resistance set in the middle of the recommended range, or if you don't even think you'd use this feature, it may not be worth an extra grand. There are other differences between the two bikes that could push you over the edge and make you want to spend that extra dough, but don't forget that the membership that allows you to take the classes will cost you $44 per month forever, even after you've paid off the Bike, so that's another expense to consider.

I genuinely like this feature, but when I've disabled it or gone back to my trusty Bike after using it, I haven't really missed it. It's useful, but it's not necessary. Adjusting the knob is second nature to me now, though I can see how it might be more annoying or difficult if I were a newbie.

Coupled with the other improvements in the Bike+, however, it makes a strong case for an upgrade: The Bike+ has better speakers, a bigger screen, simpler adjustment knobs to change seat and screen height, and overall better performance while running Peloton's proprietary software. All of that combined with the extraordinarily efficient auto-resistance makes for a better machine. If you're looking to upgrade from your existing Bike to a Bike+, consider selling your older model on Peloton's own resale site, which will get you some cash plus a few hundred off your Bike+ purchase.

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If you’re looking for a pair of high-quality earbuds that won’t cost you an arm and a leg, the JBL Vibe Beam earbuds are currently discounted at $34.95 on Amazon. While they won’t deliver the same audio quality as Bose or AirPods, at this price point, they make the perfect entry-level option with a variety of standout features for fitness lovers, commuters, and everyday listeners.

JBL Vibe Beam Earbuds

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$49.95 Save $15.00

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These headphones last up to 32 hours (8 hours with the earbuds alone and an extra 24 hours with the case). They have a 10-minute fast charging feature that provides a couple of hours of playback. An IP54 rating, touch controls, and a lightweight design make them ideal for workouts. However, some reviewers do mention that they fall out with vigorous use.

The JBL Headphones app allows users to control ambient modes and EQ presets for a custom-tailored listening experience. For those who need to make calls on the go, reviewers report clear sound in a moderately noisy environment. The app also has a VoiceAware feature that lets users adjust how much of their own voice they hear during conversations with others. 

For seasoned audiophiles or those who want Active Noise Cancellation as a dedicated feature, these inexpensive earbuds may not be ideal, and you might want to level up to the PCMag-vetted JBL Live Beam 3. However, if you don’t need maximum noise blocking or premium sound quality and have access to the app for presets and EQ, the JBL Vibe Beam earbuds are a solid choice for budget-conscious shoppers.