Rapper Nicki Minaj surprised the audience at the Turning Point USA conference on Sunday and voiced her enthusiastic support for President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance.

The star has been using her social media platform to defend Israel and criticize many leftist policies, but few expected her to show up to AmericaFest in Phoenix, Arizona.

‘He has, I don’t know if he even knows this, but he’s given so many people hope that there’s a chance to beat the bad guys and to win.’

Minaj and Erika Kirk hugged on stage before answering questions from the audience. Minaj made it very clear she is a Trump supporter.

“I have the utmost respect and admiration for our president,” she said. “He has, I don’t know if he even knows this, but he’s given so many people hope that there’s a chance to beat the bad guys and to win and to do it with your head held high and your integrity intact.”

She went on to praise the president as well as the vice president.

“I can relate to them. When I hear them speak, I know that they’re one of us. … They haven’t lost touch of the world, you know,” Minaj said. “They’re still connected to the world and what’s happening in the world, with the younger people and older people, with the richer people and not-so-rich people. They have the ability to still connect and be real and make us feel proud to be American.”

The rapper touched upon the plight of Christians under persecution around the globe.

“We won’t be silenced ever again. We will speak up for Christians wherever they are in this world!” she said to loud applause.

RELATED: Rapper Cardi B calls America ‘ghetto’ and complains about Vance in rant praising Saudi Arabia

She also continued her tirade against California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who is widely considered to be seeking to run for president in 2028.

“‘We don’t have a problem cleaning up the scum if we have to. Please tread lightly.’ That’s what I would say to Gavie-poo,” she said.

President Trump has frequently insulted the Democrat by referring to him as “Gavin Newscum.”

Minaj previously noted when Vice President JD Vance posted his support for her side in a very public feud she has had with fellow rap artist Cardi B.

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​Nicki minaj, Tpusa america fest, Minaj and erika kirk, Celebrities for trump, Politics 

Blaze Media co-founder Glenn Beck delivered an empowering message to young conservatives in the AmericaFest crowd in Phoenix, Arizona, on Sunday.

Beck opened his speech by inviting Jeanie Beeman, a Target employee who was harassed by a shopper for wearing a Charlie Kirk shirt, to join him on stage. A video of the shopper’s altercation with Beeman went viral on social media, with conservatives praising Beeman for reacting calmly to the shopper’s expletive-filled rant.

— (@)

Beeman described the flood of support as “overwhelming,” adding that she is “just a normal person.”

The crowd reacted with cheers.

‘America was never built for comfort. It was built for people who believed they could shape their own destiny.’

Beck wrapped his arm around Beeman and stated, “And that is why you’re here.”

“I wanted to thank you for being normal,” Beck told Beeman.

RELATED: VIRAL VIDEO: Sara Gonzales SLAMS Target shopper who films her own anti-Charlie Kirk meltdown

Photo by Olivier Touron / AFP via Getty Images

Beck continued his speech by urging people to stop fighting one another.

“You can’t stop darkness with more darkness. You can’t stop hate with more hate. You only dispel the darkness of lies with the light of truth,” he stated.

Beck detailed how today’s young people have been repeatedly deceived. He highlighted how the rise of cell phones and social media has divided society and how the 2008 financial crisis and the COVID-19 lockdowns harmed ordinary Americans while sparing the elite.

“If I’m 25 years old, I would think absolutely everything is a lie,” Beck stated.

“You are not crazy. You are not lazy. You are not imagining things. The truth is, the rules have changed. Promises have been broken. Institutions have failed. Banks were rescued while families like yours weren’t.”

RELATED: Tulsi Gabbard warns: Powerful foreign allies eager to pull US into war with Russia

— (@)

Beck argued that the biggest lie told to young Americans is that they do not matter and are powerless.

“Every single generation since the beginning of time has inherited a mess. But only the great generations turn that mess into a mission, and that’s your calling,” Beck declared. “America was never built for comfort. It was built for people who believed they could shape their own destiny.”

He explained that prior generations did not have it easier, listing World Wars I and II, the draft, plagues, and the Depression as examples of the challenges they faced.

“But what they had that you don’t have is belief,” Beck continued. “Belief in God, belief in responsibility, a belief that there is a brighter tomorrow just over the horizon. They had that; you need that. Belief is what creates prosperity, not the other way around.”

He urged young Americans to discover their purpose, believe in themselves, and lead with courage.

— (@)

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​News, Glenn beck, America fest, Amfest, Amfest 2025, America fest 2025, Charlie kirk, Jeanie beeman, Politics 

Dr. Philip Nitschke argues that his products should be the ones governments use to kill its citizens.

Nitschke, the inventor of the Sarco suicide pod first introduced in 2021, says he has been interested in euthanasia since he was a young medical school graduate in Australia in the late 1980s.

‘Fast, reliable, drug free … and, importantly, unrestrictable!’

Nitschke’s pod raised great suspicions in 2024 after the death of its first user — which Nitschke was not present for — sparked an investigation into whether she actually died willingly in the machine as opposed to foul play.

Just over a year later, Nitschke has introduced his latest deadly invention, the Exit Kairos Kollar, named from his company Exit International. According to the Daily Mail, Nitschke recently demonstrated the collar on a plastic mannequin in front of 20 willing observers.

The doctor explained that the collar puts pressure on the carotid arteries and baroreceptors in the neck, which cuts off blood flow to the brain. This causes the wearer to lose consciousness, and if the collar remains, the user would go brain-dead.

RELATED: Swiss suicide pod’s debut turns darker: Doctor raises murder suspicion over victim’s neck injuries

JAN HENNOP/AFP via Getty Images

The collar produces the same effect as a blood choke in mixed martial arts, which renders a combatant unconscious only for a few moments as blood flow returns. However, the collar would permanently restrict blood flow, resulting in death.

In September, Nitschke argued on X that the United Kingdom should use his products, the Kairos Kollar and the Sarco, as drug-free methods of government-assisted suicide: “Lords think the Bill ‘should contain a definitive list of substances to be used in the life-ending process’ which will immediately rule out the use of drug free Sarco and the Kairos Kollar!” Nitschke wrote.

Before his demonstration in November, Nitschke again boasted on X about the “fast” and “reliable” nature of his drug-free, death-causing invention.

“The Exit Kairos Kollar, an important development in the assisted dying quest,” he exclaimed. “Fast, reliable, drug free … and, importantly, unrestrictable!”

RELATED: England legalizes assisted suicide — former prime minister says government abuse will be prevented

Photo by James Knowler / Newspix / Getty Images

Controversy swirled around the Sarco pod in 2024 when firm the Last Resort allowed a 64-year-old woman to be the first person to use it to end her life. Co-president Florian Willet was held in pretrial detention for 70 days following the woman’s death in a forest in Merishausen, Switzerland; he was suspected of strangling her to death after the pod failed to take her life.

However, homicide charges were later dropped by Swiss authorities who noted that there was a “strong suspicion of inciting and assisting suicide,” according to People.

On May 5, 2025, Willet himself died by assisted suicide in Cologne, Germany. According Nitschke, Willet suffered psychological damage during his two months of detention.

“Gone was his warm smile and self-confidence,” Nitschke said. “In its place was a man who was deeply traumatized by the experience of incarceration and the wrongful accusation of strangulation.”

Nitschke claimed that Willet was suffering from hallucinations, delusions, and disorganized behavior due to “acute polymorphic psychotic disorder.”

As for the collar’s moniker, “kairos” is a storied Greek term indicating the crucial, proper moment. Since Hippocrates, whose eponymous oath famously requires doctors first “do no harm,” the word has referred in medicine to the critical opportunity to make the correct diagnosis or administer the right treatment. “Kairos” appears 86 times in the New Testament, where it especially refers to the appointed time for God’s direct action or purpose.

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​Return, Assisted suicide, Maid, Government assisted suicide, Suicide pod, Europe, Switzerland, Tech 

A faith-based children’s movie is making waves just before Christmas.

“David,” an animated Christian musical about the story of David versus Goliath performed valiantly up against some monstrous titles over the weekend.

‘David’ is now the second-biggest blockbuster for Angel Studios, the studio that brought ‘Sound of Freedom’ to theaters.

In a field dominated by animated pictures, “David” managed to outperform both “The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants” and “Zootopia 2.”

Spice rack

While “Zootopia 2” took in just $14 million, that figure comes with a huge asterisk, as it has already been in theaters for a month with more than $1 billion taken in worldwide. However, “David” can relish the fact that it outperformed the beloved SpongeBob character as well as Sydney Sweeney’s new movie “The Housemaid” on their opening weekends.

SpongeBob made $16 million, according BoxOffice Pro, while “The Housemaid” garnered a respectable $18.95 million. At the same time, “David” shocked the media with just over $22 million in its opening, according to Box Office Mojo.

RELATED: ‘Kevin Costner Presents: The First Christmas’ brings scriptural authenticity to Nativity story

While SpongeBob has an established (but aging) fan base, controversy around the film came just ahead of the release when one of its voice actors, rapper Ice Spice — real name Isis Naija Gaston — attended the premiere in a revealing outfit.

The mostly transparent lingerie the rapper wore on the red carpet may have been a factor in parents’ choice of which film was most suitable for their children.

Blue Christmas

“David” is now the second-biggest blockbuster for Angel Studios, the studio that brought “Sound of Freedom” to theaters. The movie about child trafficking went viral online in terms of publicity and took in more than $250 million worldwide. No other film on the studio’s roster has made more than $21 million before “David.”

None of these movies could touch the No.1 film of the weekend, though: James Cameron’s “Avatar: Fire and Ash,” the third in the franchise. It took home a whopping $88 million, more than second through fourth place in the box office combined.

Two more “Avatar” films are set for release, in 2029 and 2031.

RELATED: ‘Matrix’ co-creator: ‘Trans rage’ drives my work

Photo by Jason Mendez/Getty Images for Paramount Pictures

Wrung out

Also to be considered is the SpongeBob franchise’s flailing numbers.

The first movie in 2004 had a promising opening weekend of $32 million, later drawing $142 million worldwide against a budget of $30 million, per the Numbers.

In 2015, the next film in the franchise took a $74 million budget and, despite making just $55 million in its opening weekend, ended up making over $300 million.

In 2020, though, “The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run,” with a $60 million budget, drew just $865,824, likely due to COVID-19 restrictions, and made just over $4.8 million at the end of the day.

Now, with an alleged $64 million budget, according to Variety, Paramount may have cause for worry, with double the budget producing half what original film did in 2004. Then again, the studio may have streaming numbers in mind, instead.

​Align, Movies, Religion, Faith, Christianity, Ice spice, Spongebob, David, Angel studios, Entertainment 

“It’s a Wonderful Life” wasn’t always a beloved classic — in fact, it was a complete failure that nearly destroyed the careers of Frank Capra and Jimmy Stewart.

“It was actually born out of failure, it was born out of exhaustion, and it was born out of people who felt just like its lead character, George Bailey,” Blaze Media co-founder Glenn Beck says.

“The movie was made by Frank Capra, and it was right after World War II. Frank Capra had just come back. He didn’t come home triumphant. He came home a changed man. He had spent the war making film for the United States government, the war department, about why the West is worth saving,” he explains.

Capra came back and started his own studio, betting “absolutely everything on it.”

“‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ was supposed to be the movie that proved Frank Capra is still Frank Capra. And it nearly ruined him,” Glenn explains.

“The movie lost money. Critics really didn’t like it. They mocked how schmaltzy it was. Audiences stayed home. Jimmy Stewart, this was his first movie that he made when he came back home from the war. And this was his start,” he continues, pointing out that not even Stewart could save it.

“The most beloved man in America gave a really raw, shaken, almost too real performance for people at the time. He wasn’t the cheerful hero that is coming out of war as a victory. This was a man that was cracking under the weight of responsibility, a man who did everything right, but he still felt like he was a failure,” Glenn says.

The movie was what Glenn calls “a noble misfire,” before everyone forgot about it.

“And so, the rights lapsed. There was no grand relaunch. There was no marketing genius. Just a legal oversight that let the rights lapse,” Glenn says.

That’s where Ted Turner and Superstation TBS come in.

“They needed some holiday programming, and they needed it cheap. And when I say cheap, what Ted really meant was free. ‘We need a bunch of free programming that we can run all Christmas. … No rights, no royalties,’” Glenn explains.

“The vaults open up, and lo and behold, they find ‘It’s a Wonderful Life,’” he says.

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​Video phone, Video, Upload, Camera phone, Sharing, Free, Youtube.com, The glenn beck program, Glenn beck, The blaze, Blazetv, Blaze news, Blaze podcasts, Blaze podcast network, Blaze media, Blaze online, Blaze originals, Its a wonderful life, Jimmy stewart, Frank capra, World war ii, Christmas movie, Christmas films, Classic christmas movies, Holiday movies 

Colorado is the eighth-largest natural gas-producing state in the U.S., boasting 10 underground natural gas storage fields with approximately 141 billion cubic feet of combined storage capacity. Roughly seven out of 10 Colorado households use natural gas as their primary home heating source.

Despite the Centennial State’s bounty of natural gas and the super-majority of Colorado households’ reliance on the affordable warmth it provides, officials are pushing for an electrification of heating in the state and putting utilities in a position where they’ll soon have to begin removing customers en masse.

‘You’re increasing the load on electrification without there being any way to fill it.’

State Democrats successfully passed legislation in 2021 aimed at reducing so-called greenhouse gas emissions through regulatory changes affecting gas distribution utilities.

To satisfy this law, the commissioners on the Colorado Public Utilities Commission — all of whom were appointed by Democratic Gov. Jared Polis — have solicited and approved multiple “clean heat” plans.

Earlier this month, the PUC set GHG emission reduction targets impacting three investor-owned gas utilities — Atmos Energy, Black Hills Energy, and Xcel Energy — requiring them to cut the carbon emissions from their systems by 4% this year; by 22% over the next five years; and by 41% over the next 10 years.

While the commissioners declined to set targets beyond 2035, they noted in their formal decision that “because Colorado has a statewide goal of reducing greenhouse gas pollution by 100% by 2050, as compared to a 2005 baseline, we emphasize that clean heat plans submitted by gas utilities must account for that statutorily established future target.”

RELATED: 5 truths the climate cult can’t bury any more

Photo by Artur Widak/NurPhoto via Getty Image

Colorado Energy Office director Will Toor is among those who have expressed skepticism about the aggressive nature of the switchover from natural gas to the state’s already strained electric grid, a system that Xcel Energy indicated will likely face skyrocketing demand in the form of 400,000 electric vehicles and 300,000 new heat pumps by 2029.

“The 41% target, from our perspective, is a pretty challenging target for utilities,” Toor told the Colorado Sun. “We certainly hope that utilities get there. I think we thought that 30% was probably more realistic.”

The Colorado Energy Office and the state health department’s Air Pollution Control Division reportedly asked for a 30% target by 2035.

In order to meet the new targets, the PUC noted that “utilities can propose to meet the clean heat targets using combinations of energy efficiency, electrification, recovered methane, green hydrogen, thermal energy, and pyrolysis of tires.”

Alternatively “customers may voluntarily participate in these plans by taking advantage of rebates and incentives to adopt electric heat pumps or complete energy efficiency upgrades in their homes and businesses,” said the PUC.

Before incentives, customers looking to satisfy climate alarmists by electrifying their gas appliances and homes are looking at costs in excess of $20,000 per home, Xcel noted in testimony about the state’s so-called clean heat plans.

Jake Fogleman, director of policy at the Independence Institute, a Colorado-based think tank, noted that the targets “will necessarily require removing customers from the system.”

“Utilities like Xcel, Black Hills, and Atmos may be able to nibble around the edges of the target by relying on recovered methane, improved pipeline leak detection and repair, and other non-demand-destroying strategies, but such approaches will not be enough to comply with state law,” wrote Fogleman. “This all but guarantees that gas customers around the state will soon face higher utility bills to subsidize households into switching from gas to electric heating and appliances.”

Those who can afford to make the switch will likely still be looking at jacked prices. Fogleman noted that last year, “Electricity was more than four times more expensive on average per unit of energy delivered to Colorado households” than natural gas.

Jon Caldara, president of the Independence Institute, told the Denver Post, “They’re trying to regulate us away from any fossil fuels and taking away our appliances and our heaters. You’re increasing the load on electrification without there being any way to fill it.”

Republican state Rep. Ty Winter told the Post that when constituents raise concerns about the climate alarmist requirements, he tells them that “the only way to fix this is at the ballot box.”

“We’re going to fight this tooth and nail, and we’re going to use every avenue we have,” said Winter.

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​Power, Energy, Electric, Electricity, Natural gas, Colorado, Jared polis, Gas stove, Democrats, Climate alarmist, Climate alarmism, Control, Politics 

The Department of Transportation warned Colorado that the state could lose $24 million in federal highway funding if it continues to drag its feet on addressing illegally issued commercial driver’s licenses, according to a press release exclusively obtained by Blaze News.

‘Colorado has two options: Revoke the licenses immediately, or I will pull federal funding.’

In September, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy shared the results of a Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration audit, which found “systemic noncompliance” among state driver licensing agencies in several states, including Colorado.

The audit revealed that 22% of Colorado’s non-domiciled CDLs were issued illegally. Most of those licenses were reportedly issued to Mexican nationals. Drivers who are citizens of Mexico or Canada are ineligible to obtain non-domiciled CDLs and must instead acquire licenses from their home countries.

Some of the CDLs issued to immigrants by Colorado reportedly had expiration dates that exceeded the drivers’ lawful presence in the U.S.

The DOT demanded that the state immediately pull the illegal licenses to come into compliance with federal laws.

A Monday press release from the department claimed that Colorado had “admitted that these violations were not accidental, but the result of a 2016 statewide policy decision to disregard federal law and give trucking licenses to ineligible Mexican citizens.”

Blaze News reached out to the Colorado Department of Transportation, the Colorado Division of Motor Vehicles, and the governor’s office for comment. The Colorado DOT directed Blaze News to contact the state’s Department of Revenue, which oversees the Division of Motor Vehicles.

RELATED: Exclusive: DOT withholds $40M from blue state for flouting English requirements for truckers

Sean Duffy. Photographer: Ryan Collerd/Bloomberg via Getty Images

The DOT asserted that the state has been “slow-walking a purge of illegally issued truck licenses,” cautioning that Colorado could lose $24 million in federal highway funds. The DOT also warned that it could decertify Colorado’s CDL program.

According to the department, Colorado has not produced a complete audit or accounting of the illegal licenses.

“This continued delay signals a lack of urgency that puts public safety at risk,” the press release read.

RELATED: Trump’s DOT claims 53% of New York’s non-domiciled CDLs were issued illegally

Photo by GEORGE FREY/AFP via Getty Images

“Colorado doesn’t get to pick and choose what federal rules it follows — especially when the driving public is at risk,” Secretary Duffy stated. “It’s been nearly two months since Colorado admitted that they knowingly broke the law and gave Mexican nationals trucking licenses. Colorado has two options: Revoke the licenses immediately, or I will pull federal funding. Every day that goes by is another day unqualified, unvetted foreign truckers are jeopardizing the safety of you and your family.”

Colorado received notice of its noncompliance in September, the same time the DOT also issued a similar notice to Texas. On September 29, the Texas Department of Public Safety announced that it had complied with the DOT’s request and immediately suspended the issuance of certain CDLs.

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​News, Department of transportation, Dot, Transportation department, Sean duffy, Illegal immigration crisis, Illegal immigration, Immigration crisis, Commercial driver’s licenses, Commercial driver’s license, Cdls, Cdl, American trucking industry, Trucking industry, Colorado, Texas, Non-domiciled cdl, Non-domiciled cdls, Non-domiciled, Politics 

At a moment when elite universities are under intense scrutiny for how they handle speech, protest, and ideological conformity, Princeton President Christopher Eisgruber has entered the debate with a defense of the status quo. His new book, “Terms of Respect,” argues that the crisis of free speech on campus has been overstated and that colleges are, in fact, getting it mostly right. The argument is polished, earnest, and in crucial places, deeply evasive.

I have no particular affection for Eisgruber. Still doubt deserves a hearing. In that spirit of restrained generosity, I read “Terms of Respect” with real interest. Would he distinguish himself from the failed presidencies of Claudine Gay, Liz Magill, and Minouche Shafik? Would he say something candid, new, or clarifying about free speech on campus?

Justice Louis Brandeis famously argued that sunlight is the best disinfectant. Eisgruber seems to disagree.

The book is, as expected, careful, lawyerly, and saturated with constitutional doctrine. Eisgruber is a serious scholar and writes like one. His prose is sober, the tone measured, the citations abundant. He spends considerable time walking the reader through legal history before arriving at his central claim: that colleges are not failing at free speech nearly as badly as critics allege. The real problem, he argues, is a broader “civic crisis” afflicting American society.

Free speech, Eisgruber insists, must be understood alongside equality, civility, and respect. Truly constructive speech, he claims, must be both “uncensored and regulated.” Colleges, in his telling, deserve higher marks than they receive.

So far, so plausible.

Then comes chapter four, page 65.

There Eisgruber repeats the long-debunked “very fine people on both sides” libel regarding President Donald Trump’s remarks after the 2017 Charlottesville rally. He cites a New York Times article by Glenn Thrush and Maggie Haberman and reproduces the claim without qualification.

This is not a trivial slip. The full transcript of Trump’s remarks has been publicly available for years. Eisgruber is a constitutional lawyer and university president. He could have made his point without repeating a known falsehood. But apparently the fruit was just too juicy to leave unharvested, so he ventures into the dark land of “lying for justice.”

Why?

The most charitable explanation is tribal comfort. Eisgruber knows that no one within his ideological circle will challenge him for repeating the lie. The same insularity that led Ivy presidents to offer evasive, lawyerly, and absurd testimony before Congress is at work here. Inside the tribe, bureaucratic language suffices. Outside it, in the sunlight, the hubris falls easily to the nemesis of scrutiny.

And Eisgruber is only getting warmed up.

Does he tell the whole truth?

The most consequential failure of “Terms of Respect” is not what Eisgruber says but what he refuses to confront.

Absent from the book is any serious reckoning with the July 4, 2020, Princeton faculty letter — a document signed by roughly 350 professors accusing the university of “rampant” racism and demanding sweeping institutional changes. Among those demands was the creation of a faculty-run “racism tribunal.”

As the Atlantic’s Conor Friedersdorf observed at the time, such a tribunal is inherently incompatible with academic freedom — the very subject of Eisgruber’s book. Friedersdorf contacted signatories and asked them to cite a single instance of “rampant racism” at Princeton over the preceding 15 years. Not one could.

Nevertheless on September 2, 2020, Eisgruber responded by largely capitulating. He validated the accusations, adopted the rhetoric, and opened the gates to the DEI regime now entrenched at Princeton. This was not principled leadership. It was submission under moral intimidation — a textbook example of what psychologists describe as “virtuous victimhood,” a confidence game designed to extract resources by moral threat.

Yet Eisgruber treats this episode as if it never occurred.

That silence is not accidental. It is bureaucratic self-protection.

As literary agent Susan Rabiner has noted, the distinction between lying and withholding the truth is merely technical. Any attempt to cause others to believe something one knows to be untrue is a lie. Eisgruber’s omission of the defining crisis of his presidency is a classic case of lying by omission.

Criticism for thee, not for me

Returning to “Terms of Respect,” we find that Eisgruber does not much care for criticism — especially when it comes from outside the academy. External critics, in his telling, are almost invariably “right-wing.”

He traces this lineage back to William F. Buckley’s “God and Man at Yale” (1951), dismissing it as a “diatribe” that inspired generations of conservative “muckrakers.” He names Campus Reform and the College Fix as exemplars of an “odious strand of pseudojournalism” that ridicules faculty, disproportionately targets women and minorities, and undermines free discourse.

The irony is difficult to miss. Eisgruber decries ridicule while deploying precisely the tactics Saul Alinsky championed in “Rules for Radicals”: personalize, polarize, and delegitimize. He offers exactly one example of this supposed intimidation — nearly a decade old.

Meanwhile he waves away the pervasive ideological capture of higher education as a “myth.”

It is no myth. The evidence is supplied daily by the institutions themselves. Eisgruber either does not know what is happening on his own campus, does not care, or counts himself an ally of the coterie of extremist dullards populating the Princeton bureaucracy now enforcing these programs.

Posturing above the fray

Throughout the book, Eisgruber adopts a posture of measured balance — “on the one hand, on the other.” But the pose does not hold. He speaks the language of civility while excusing coercion. He invokes academic freedom while ignoring its most serious internal threats. He treats accurate reporting on campus excesses as “ugly media frenzies” rather than sunlight.

Justice Louis Brandeis famously argued that sunlight is the best disinfectant. Eisgruber seems to disagree.

In the epilogue, his agenda becomes clearer. Vague invocations of the “shocking rise of white nationalism,” “heartless treatment of undocumented children,” and “anti-LGBTQ+ bigotry” appear, unmoored from specifics and immune to scrutiny. Criticism of his policies is transmuted into moral threat.

RELATED: From accommodation to absurdity on campus

Photo by Kalpak Pathak/Hindustan Times via Getty Images

Does this sanctimony disqualify Eisgruber from expressing it? Of course not. But neither does his status shield his arguments from judgment — especially when they rely on half-truths and conspicuous omissions.

The bureaucrat unmasked

In the end, “Terms of Respect” reveals less about free speech than about its author. Eisgruber is not a radical. He is something more familiar: the consummate bureaucrat — fluent in moral rhetoric, insulated from consequence, and committed above all to preserving the system that empowers him.

He resembles the warden of Shawshank Prison, assuring Andy Dufresne that appeals are pointless while maintaining the fiction of order as the institution decays around him.

Instead of “Terms of Respect,” higher education needs more Brandeisian sunlight — and yes, more of the “ugly media frenzies” that unsettle administrators who prefer darkness to accountability.

If that discomfort troubles the wardens of Shawshank University, so be it.

​Princeton, Free speech, Colleges, Universities, Uk, Opinion & analysis, Shawshank, Terms of respect, Christopher eisgruber, First amendment, Censorship, Charlottesville violence, Donald trump, Truth, Conor friedersdorf, Dei, Diversity equity inclusion 

Scrutiny over Minnesota’s leadership, including failed Democratic vice presidential candidate and current Gov. Tim Walz, has been mounting after massive Somali fraud schemes have been exposed in recent weeks. To add to those investigations, the Department of Justice is suing Minneapolis Public Schools for alleged racial discrimination.

The lawsuit, filed on December 9 and spearheaded by Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon in the Civil Rights Division of the DOJ, accuses Minneapolis Public Schools of discrimination on the basis of race and sex.

‘A committed focus on reducing inequitable practices and behaviors in our learning places and spaces as well as supporting educators, specifically educators of color, in navigating and disrupting our District as a predominantly white institution.’

According to the lawsuit, the active collective bargaining agreement apparently provides for discriminatory treatment in favor of “underrepresented” teachers, resulting in allegedly discriminatory hirings, firings, and benefits, despite claims to the contrary by the defendants in the case.

Regarding Black Men Teach, the third-party organization included in the CBA, the DOJ says that the discriminatory practices are made “even more manifest” since “women, whites, Asians, and others need not apply.”

RELATED: ‘Beachhead of criminality’: Trump admin urges Walz to resign in light of ‘ghost students’ fraud scheme

Photo by Stephen Maturen/Getty Images

The collective bargaining agreement had other highly questionable sections as well. Notably, it promoted the creation of an Anti-Bias Anti-Racist Educator Development and Advisory Council, which explicitly states that it has “a committed focus on reducing inequitable practices and behaviors in our learning places and spaces as well as supporting educators, specifically educators of color, in navigating and disrupting our District as a predominantly white institution.”

“Employers may not provide more favorable terms and conditions of employment based on an employee’s race and sex,” Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon said in a press release. “The Department of Justice will vigorously pursue employers who deny their employees equal opportunities and benefits by classifying and limiting them based on their race, color, national origin, or sex.”

“Discrimination is unacceptable in all forms, especially when it comes to hiring decisions,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said. “Our public education system in Minnesota and across the country must be a bastion of merit and equal opportunity — not DEI.”

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​Politics, Minnesota, Minneapolis, Tim walz, Governor tim walz, Black men teach, Somali fraud, Harmeet dhillon, Department of justice, Doj, Pam bondi, Dei, Racial discrimination 

An illegal alien truck driver, accused of causing a fatal crash, was reportedly released from custody after authorities failed to follow up with a case for prosecution.

‘How many more Americans have to be killed before Democrat politicians start to put the public’s safety ahead of politics?’

Kamalpreet Singh, an Indian national who illegally entered the U.S. in 2023, is accused of causing a deadly multi-vehicle wreck on a Washington freeway on December 11.

The Department of Homeland Security stated that the Biden administration released Singh into the country despite his illegal entry. He obtained his commercial driver’s license in California, according to Fox News.

Singh allegedly rear-ended a Mazda driven by Robert Pearson, a 29-year-old American. The Mazda was pushed into a Peterbilt truck, causing the car to catch fire, Fox News reported.

Pearson died at the scene. Singh and the driver of the Peterbilt were not injured.

The semitruck driver reportedly spent just one day in King County jail before being released after posting $100,000 bond. The news outlet claimed that the bond money was returned to Singh after the arresting authority, the Washington State Patrol, failed to pursue a case for prosecution.

A WSP spokesperson told Blaze News, “In the course of our investigations, we have found [an] additional detail and needed to withdraw the original complaint so we can refile in the near future with that additional detail included. The case remains under active investigation.”

RELATED: Border Patrol nabs 49 illegal aliens with commercial driver’s licenses

Photo by: Jeffrey Greenberg/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

While Immigration and Customs Enforcement issued a detainer against Singh, it was not honored due to the state’s sanctuary policies.

“These demented and dangerous sanctuary policies have deadly consequences,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said. “Robert Pearson would still be alive today if the Biden administration hadn’t released this illegal alien into our country. How many more Americans have to be killed before Democrat politicians start to put the public’s safety ahead of politics?”

The DHS noted several recent crashes allegedly caused by illegal aliens.

RELATED: Illegal alien bus driver who can’t speak English allegedly kills American while ‘distracted by a video on his phone’

Photo by: Peter Titmuss/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

The department stated that Washington also ignored ICE’s detainer against truck driver Juan Hernandez-Santos, despite the criminal illegal alien being accused of causing a multi-vehicle pileup on December 4.

Rajinder Kumar, an illegal alien from India, was charged with criminally negligent homicide and reckless endangerment after allegedly causing a crash in Oregon that resulted in the deaths of two people.

DHS also highlighted a detainer against Harjinder Singh, an illegal alien from India who was charged with three counts of vehicular homicide, and Partap Singh, who allegedly caused a crash in California that left a 5-year-old with critical and life-altering injuries.

Kamalpreet Singh, Harjinder Singh, and Partap Singh are not believed to be related to one another.

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​News, Kamalpreet singh, Commercial driver’s licenses, Commercial driver’s license, Cdls, Cdl, Truck drivers, Truckers, American trucking industry, Trucking industry, Washington, California, King county, Washington state patrol, Wsp, Immigration and customs enforcement, Ice, Immigration crisis, Illegal immigration crisis, Illegal immigration, Politics 

The FBI never intended to reinstate Special Agent Steve Friend and is guilty of “gross misconduct” for violating “nearly every significant term” of a whistleblower settlement agreement signed by the Department of Justice in August, his attorney says — including failure to pay nearly $425,000 in back salary, pension, annual leave, and other benefits..

Attorney Kurt Siuzdak of Madison, Conn., filed a protected whistleblower disclosure Wednesday with U.S. Reps. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) and Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), alleging multiple breaches of contract and bad faith. The complaint also alleges vindictiveness, citing how Friend’s firing was leaked to the New York Post a day before Friend himself was notified by FBI Director Kash Patel.

‘May God have mercy on your soul.’

“The FBI and its executive leadership have committed gross misconduct by immediately breaching the settlement agreement that was approved by the FBI and signed by the senior counsel to the Deputy Attorney General Vance D. Day,” Siuzdak wrote.

“Despite leaking to the press, Mr. Friend was fired for ‘veiled threats,’” Siuzdak said. “However, the fact is that since signing the settlement agreement on August 26, 2025, the FBI has breached the agreement and refused to abide by any terms of its settlement agreement with Mr. Friend.”

Friend was summoned to the FBI’s Daytona Beach Resident Agency on Saturday, Dec. 13, and was handed a termination letter signed by Patel.

Friend spent the previous five days at the Daytona office without any assigned duties, without a restored security clearance, service weapon, current credentials, or a bureau cell phone, Siuzdak said. The FBI also assigned someone to guard Friend while he was in the building, Siuzdak said.

Left: Former FBI Special Agent Steve Friend at the House Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government hearing in May 2023. Right: Friend and former Special Agent Kyle Seraphin at the premiere of the film “Police State” at President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate.Photos courtesy of Steve Friend

“The FBI took no action to reinstate until 74 days after the settlement agreement’s deadline had passed,” Siuzdak said. “Then, Mr. Kash Patel personally terminated Mr. Friend five days later …”

In the termination letter, Patel accused Friend of “unprofessional conduct and poor judgment” for his social media activity, including appearances on various podcasts offering opinions on FBI operations and slamming Patel and other senior leaders.

Patel drew specific attention to Friend’s Dec. 5 appearance on “The Kyle Seraphin Show,” hosted by the former FBI special agent from Texas.

Pipe-bomb patsy?

The men discussed the ongoing controversy over the bureau’s handling of the Jan. 6 pipe bombs case and the Dec. 4 arrest of Brian J. Cole Jr. as the alleged bomber. Cole was charged in federal court with planting pipe bombs outside the Democratic National Committee building and near the Republican National Committee building on the night of Jan. 5, 2021.

Both men expressed the view that Cole, 30, of Woodbridge, Va., is not the pipe bomber. The FBI arrested the wrong person to cover up alleged law enforcement involvement in the placing of the pipe bombs, they said. They noted that Cole is likely autistic and operates on the level of a 16-year-old, according to his grandmother.

“Whatever the motivation is, if you’re doing another put-up job on this guy — I think we spelled out a pretty compelling case that this probably ain’t the guy — then may God have mercy on your soul,” Friend said.

The alleged Jan. 6 pipe bomber (left) stops and sits down at a bush next to the Congressional Black Caucus Institute the night of Jan. 5, 2021. A Capitol Police counter-surveillance officer (right) peers at something under the same bush just minutes before he discovered the pipe bomb at the nearby Democratic National Committee building on Jan. 6. U.S. Capitol Police CCTV

“I’m going to end with this. I’m going to bring out my inner [Emperor] Commodus,” Friend said. “You better pray to Gaia or Vishnu or whatever your maker is that @RealSteveFriend is never in a position to be an instrument of God’s wrath. Because I will be merciful.”

“I won’t give you a trial and a hanging,” Friend said. “I’ll allow you to breathe every breath that your body will have for the rest of its natural life inside of a box. And then when it ultimately fades to black, that’s when real wrath begins.”

‘Kash Patel should be more concerned with his agency arresting the actual perpetrator of the January 6th pipe bombs.’

The firing was leaked in advance to Caitlin Doornbos of the New York Post, who sent Friend a text at 7:05 p.m. Eastern Dec. 12. In it, she made reference to the whistleblower advocacy group Empower Oversight dismissing Friend as a client on Dec. 5 — and suggested his latest podcast comments could cost him his job.

“I am writing a piece about them [Empower] firing you following the ‘wrath of God’ comments you made on Kyle Seraphin’s podcast that were apparently about FBI Director Kash Patel,” Doornbos wrote, according to a copy of the text obtained by Blaze News. “I have reporting that suggests these comments may also have put your employment with the FBI in jeopardy, and I’m wondering if you would like to respond?”

In an emailed letter, Empower told Friend it was terminating its legal representation because he did not abide by the firm’s advice not to speak about the FBI on social media. Empower founder Jason Foster and President Tristan Leavitt told Friend, “We are aware that, contrary to our previous advice, you once again commented publicly on FBI matters today, risking further adverse administrative action by the FBI.”

Empower is “no longer willing or able to expend further time and resources representing your interests or providing counsel moving forward,” read the letter, provided to Blaze News by Friend, who said he waived attorney-client privilege.

The Post story on Friend’s firing was published the next day, less than two hours after Friend reported to the Daytona office to be given his termination letter.

‘Deranged rant’

The story described Friend’s Dec. 5 podcast commentary as a “deranged rant,” “hot rhetoric,” an “outburst,” and “disturbing remarks.” The discussion about Cole being an alleged patsy to hide possible government involvement in placing the pipe bombs was described as a “bogus cover-up.” Friend’s ongoing social media commentary amounted to “bashing the FBI and weighing in on conspiracy theories.”

Friend said because the FBI was in breach of the settlement agreement, he did not consider himself an employee when making podcast appearances in recent months. “I always issued a qualifier that I was speaking on my own behalf and not a representative of any government entity,” he said. “It was a joke with the audience. I called myself a hobbyist podcaster.”

The remarks made on the Seraphin show were not intended as a threat, Friend said. He defended the comments in a statement to Blaze News.

“I stand by my remarks,” Friend said. “It isn’t a threat to say that public servants who willfully rob American citizens of their God-given liberty in order to advance their careers or earn positive media attention deserve to go to jail.”

Attorney General Pam Bondi, FBI Director Kash Patel, and FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino at a Dec. 4 press conference to announce the arrest of Brian J.Cole Jr. in the Jan. 6 pipe-bombs case. Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

The termination “was clearly an effort by the FBI director to besmirch my reputation to distract from his failures,” Friend said. “Kash Patel should be more concerned with his agency arresting the actual perpetrator of the January 6 pipe bombs than retaliating against me for pointing out they didn’t.”

Friend was first suspended from his job as a special agent in the Daytona Beach Resident Agency on Sept. 19, 2022, under President Joe Biden’s FBI director, Christopher Wray. He had previously lodged complaints with supervisors that the FBI’s plans to use SWAT teams to arrest a misdemeanor Jan. 6 suspect presented serious issues. He refused to take part.

‘The FBI had no real intent to reinstate Mr. Friend.’

“I expressed that I have an oath of office,” Friend said during an interview at his Florida home in October 2022. “And while I’m aware that an arrest warrant is a legal order from a judge, I have an oath to protect the Constitution.”

Friend said he was troubled when he was reassigned from investigating sexual trafficking of minors and young adults to working on the Joint Terrorism Task Force doing Jan. 6 casework. The Bureau broke with normal case management protocols by opening what ended up being nearly 1,600 criminal cases stemming from the protests and rioting at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

“They’ve chosen to open hundreds of cases and then spread them around the country,” Friend said in 2023. “That gives the impression that domestic terrorism is a nationwide threat, when really, the numbers the FBI is touting stem from one incident on one day.”

Friend resigned from the FBI in February 2023, a day before he was set to give transcribed testimony to the Republican-led U.S. House Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government. On May 18, 2023, he was among three FBI whistleblowers who testified before the select subcommittee about the retaliation against whistleblowers by the FBI for lawful, protected disclosures they made to Congress.

Relationship sours

Initially, Friend was part of an ad hoc group of Patel supporters who regularly communicated with the “Government Gangsters” author and co-host of “Kash’s Corner” on Epoch TV. The group ramped up activity after Patel was announced as President Donald Trump’s choice for FBI director in November 2024.

The group also included Seraphin, then-suspended Special Agent Garret O’Boyle, and George Hill, retired FBI national security intelligence supervisor, and others. After gaining Senate confirmation in February, Patel sent the men a text that read, “I couldn’t have done this without you.”

Patel planned to bring O’Boyle and Friend into the bureau with him, Friend said, but that never happened. As Patel was confirmed by the U.S. Senate, he credited the group with helping put him across the finish line, according to a text message obtained by Blaze News.

After his nomination was announced by President Trump on Nov. 30, 2024, O’Boyle sent congratulations along with the statement, “Thank you, Kash, for what you’ve done for us.” Patel responded, “Thank you guys, you made this happen.”

“Thank you guys for your relentless friendship and mission love,” Patel wrote in a January text. “You guys made this possible.”

After the February Senate confirmation vote, Friend texted Patel, “Congratulations Director.” Patel responded, “Thank you guys. … Now we all go to work.”

A group of whistleblowers formed an ad hoc group to advise Kash Patel as he prepared for confirmation hearings to become FBI director. The men are now at great odds.Images courtesy of Steve Friend and Kyle Seraphin

As 2025 wore on and the bureau had not publicly announced plans to settle with O’Boyle and other suspended FBI whistleblowers, or offer any of the men a job, the men began criticizing their former ally Patel and his new deputy director, Dan Bongino.

Friend said Bongino offered to hire him in March. Friend said he talked about some kind of staff position, either as an agent or a special government employee.

Friend texted Bongino a reply on March 4, “Thank you for this opportunity. I’m honored to support you. Count me in.” Bongino wrote, “Excellent. I will be in touch.” That was the last Friend ever heard about it, he said.

On Aug. 21, Patel announced that the FBI had reached settlement agreements with 10 whistleblowers represented by Empower Oversight. The announcement caught some of the whistleblowers, who said they had not yet agreed to anything, off guard.

Friend signed his settlement agreement on Aug. 26. It was also signed by DOJ senior legal counsel Vance Day.

‘I couldn’t have done this without you.’

Friend said under the agreement, he is owed $450,000 in back pay and $61,431 in reimbursement for medical coverage. The FBI was required to reinstate him by Sept. 19. By that date, the FBI was to pay the back salary and insurance reimbursement, cancel his indefinite suspension, reinstate Friend’s security clearance, and “rescind and expunge employee’s removal and all related records concerning misconduct or poor performance,” the agreement said.

Former FBI Special Agent Steve Friend speaks at a Collier County Republicans event in Naples, Fla.Photo courtesy of Steve Friend

Three days before it fired Friend as a client, Empower received some updates from the FBI. Friend began receiving deposits on Oct. 9, which the FBI said were salary. Friend says he had no idea what the payments were for, that he never received a pay/leave statement, and that he could not access his Employee Personal Page at the FBI National Finance Center. The FBI told Empower that Friend’s access to pay statements was restored Dec. 2.

The FBI further said it was processing paperwork to enroll Friend in the Federal Employee Health Benefits Program. As for the back pay and reimbursement, the FBI said, “Backpay calculations are pending for all employees.” None of the whistleblowers have thus far been paid their back salary.

During his five days in the Daytona office, Friend was assigned an FBI vehicle but was refused an FBI gas card, he said. Regulations prohibit personal use of FBI vehicles, so without any job duties, Friend parked the vehicle at his house.

“The vehicle served only to block his driveway and as a reminder that the FBI had no real intent to reinstate Mr. Friend,” Siuzdak wrote.

The FBI did not respond to a request for comment.

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​Politics, January 6, Fbi whistleblowers