Category: blaze media

Once upon a time, retired three-star Venezuelan General Hugo Carvajal Barrios was one of the most powerful men within the Caracas socialist regime. Now, he’s writing letters to President Trump and the American people from his jail cell, which he landed in after voluntarily pleading guilty in the U.S. to a narco-terrorism conspiracy.

And while many politicians, including Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky.), are criticizing President Trump for actions taken against Venezuelan narco-terrorists, BlazeTV host Sara Gonzales is in full support of Trump — alongside Barrios.

Gonzales points out that Paul is “going out and giving these little, like, press junkets where he’s telling people, like, ‘Well, these guys weren’t armed. You need to prove that they’re armed first.’”

“You know what they’re armed with, Rand? Drugs that they’re bringing into our country to kill Americans with,” Gonzales says, adding, “That’s what they’re armed with.”

And in his letter, Barrios confirms Gonzales’ sentiment.

“I see the need to address the American people about the reality of what the Venezuelan regime truly is — and why President Trump’s policies are not only correct, but absolutely necessary to the United States’ national security,” Barrios began in his letter.

“I personally witnessed how Hugo Chavez’s government became a criminal organization that is now run by Nicolas Maduro, Diosdado Cabello, and other senior regime officials. The purpose of this organization, now known as the Cartel of the Suns, is to weaponize drugs against the United States,” he continued.

“The drugs that reached your cities through new routes were not accidents of corruption nor just the work of independent traffickers; they were deliberate policies coordinated by the Venezuelan regime against the United States,” he added.

Barrios went on to claim that the plan has “been successfully executed with help from FARC, ELN, Cuban operatives, and Hezbollah.”

“The regime has provided weapons, passports, and impunity for these terrorist organizations to operate freely from Venezuela against the United States. The regime I served is not merely hostile — it is at war with you, using drugs, gangs, espionage, and even your own democratic processes as weapons,” he wrote.

Barrios added, “I absolutely support President Trump’s policy towards Venezuela, because it is in self-defense and he is acting based on the truth.”

“He’s already been sentenced. He’s serving time in federal prison. And he’s like, ‘I just want to make this right within my soul.’ So I’m going to explain all of this to you,” Gonzales says.

“It probably makes a whole hell of a lot of sense why the Trump administration is going so hard on Venezuela regardless of whether they’re armed with guns. … Innocent Americans are dying, and they don’t have to, because of the Venezuelan government.”

“We need to do something about that,” she adds.

Want more from Sara Gonzales?

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​Sharing, Video, Upload, Camera phone, Free, Video phone, Youtube.com, Sara gonzales unfiltered, Sara gonzales, The blaze, Blazetv, Blaze news, Blaze podcasts, Blaze podcast network, Blaze media, Blaze online, Blaze originals, President donald trump, Hugo chavez, Venezuela, Narcoterrorists, Hugo carvajal barrios, Caracas socialist regime, Senator rand paul, Drug cartels, Weapons 

Search parties spent weeks attempting to locate a missing Michigan woman who was pregnant. However, the frantic search ended in a disturbing discovery that shocked a community.

On Nov. 4, 22-year-old Rebecca Park was reported missing, according to the Wexler County Sheriff’s Office. At the time, Park was approximately 38 weeks pregnant.

‘The brutality and disregard for human life displayed here are deeply troubling.’

Following weeks of searching for the missing pregnant woman, Park’s remains were found in the Manistee National Forest on Nov. 25. However, Park’s child was no longer in her womb.

According to a statement by the Michigan Department of Attorney General, 40-year-old Cortney Bartholomew and 47-year-old Bradly Bartholomew “lured” Park to their home in Wexford County. Cortney Bartholomew is Park’s biological mother, and Bradly Bartholomew is her stepfather.

“The couple then allegedly tortured Park in an attempt to remove the unborn infant, resulting in the death of both,” the statement read.

“This is frankly evil personified,” Wexford County Prosecutor Johanna Carey said at Tuesday’s arraignment, according to Michigan Live. “These two individuals created a plan, conducted research.”

Carey continued, “Mr. Bartholomew brought Rebecca to their home, forced her into another vehicle, and took her into the woods, where they stabbed her, forced her to lie on the ground while they cut her baby out, ultimately causing her death and the death of the baby.”

Carey said Park’s death is a “case of premeditated torture and murder.”

According to ABC News, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel stated, “This case involves a truly horrific homicide in which a young woman and her unborn child endured unimaginable suffering at the hands of the defendants.”

Nessel added, “The brutality and disregard for human life displayed here are deeply troubling.”

Nessel stressed that the evidence “reflects an extraordinary level of callousness and violence.”

“Rebecca had everything to live for, and our hearts are with her loved ones as they endure this unthinkable loss,” Nessel said.

Nessel vowed that justice would be “pursued in this tragic case without delay.”

RELATED: Half-naked woman ‘missing flesh’ and handcuffed in backyard was tortured for weeks, beaten with bat, shot with BB gun: Cops

Cortney Bartholomew and Bradly Bartholomew were arrested in connection with Park’s death.

The couple was each charged with one felony count of first-degree premeditated murder, one felony count of murder, one felony count of torture in a place of confinement, one felony count of conspiracy to commit torture, one felony count of assault of a pregnant woman with the intention to cause miscarriage or stillbirth, one felony count of conspiracy to commit assault on a pregnant woman with the intention to cause miscarriage or stillbirth, and one misdemeanor count of removal of a dead body.

If convicted of any of the felonies, the pair faces up to life in prison.

Court records identify Bradly Bartholomew as a habitual offender, which means he could face harsher penalties.

Both suspects were jailed without the possibility of bond.

People magazine reported that Cortney posted a video on her Facebook page on the same day that her daughter was due to give birth, with a caption that read: “My alibi of where I was the night my daughter came up missing.”

The video had a black screen with audio of Cortney’s 14-year-old son reportedly saying, “She gave me my meds at about 8:40. I don’t remember a lot as I just said, but she was there when I went to bed, and she was also there when I woke up the next day. I know that she never goes out and about when I’m sleeping just because she doesn’t like to drive at night.”

Park’s adoptive mother, Stephanie Park, told WWTV-TV and WWUP-TV that she had had custody of Park since she was a year old. The mother said that she has been taking care of Rebecca’s two young sons, ages 3 and 2.

Officials have not yet revealed if the remains of Park’s baby have been recovered.

Anyone with information on Park’s death is urged to contact the tip line at the Wexford County Sheriff’s Department at 231-779-9216.

The Wexford County Sheriff’s Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment by Blaze News.

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​Crime 

The U.S. Supreme Court agreed Friday to hear arguments for and against President Donald Trump’s order to end birthright citizenship.

The Trump administration appealed a lower court order that struck down the restrictions in July over a class-action lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of children affected by the policy.

‘We look forward to putting this issue to rest once and for all in the Supreme Court this term.’

Trump issued the Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship executive order on his first day in office of his second term. The order prohibits granting citizenship to persons born in the country to mothers illegally or temporarily in the U.S. and whose father is not a U.S. citizen or a lawful permanent resident.

Opponents of birthright citizenship say it stems from a false reading of the 14th Amendment, which was intended to apply only to former slaves when it was ratified in 1868 after the Civil War.

“Congress has never passed a federal statute that confers birthright citizenship. So it’s not in the Constitution, it’s not in federal law, it’s not in the legislative history, and yet it is being used,” argued BlazeTV host Mark Levin.

“Birthright citizenship is the argument, is the position, is the policy the Democrat Party holds on to because they want monopoly power for all time,” he added, “and they don’t care if it’s foreigners or not.”

Supporters of the policy point to the longstanding precedent of automatically granting citizenship to babies born in America.

“No president can change the 14th Amendment’s fundamental promise of citizenship,” said ACLU legal director Cecillia Wang. “We look forward to putting this issue to rest once and for all in the Supreme Court this term.”

The case will be heard in the spring, and a decision is expected by early summer.

RELATED: DHS slams Newsom over illegal alien accused in death of 11-year-old boy on Thanksgiving

Others point to the troublesome practice of “citizenship tourism” as justification for the order.

“There is a tourism industry surrounding this whole birthright citizenship. Women come here before they give birth so that they can just give birth here, and then their babies become United States citizens. That’s nuts, and to [Trump’s] point, nobody else does this,” said Sara Gonzales of “Sara Gonzales Unfiltered” on BlazeTV.

The birthright order would not take away citizenship from those who already obtained it before the order went into effect.

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​Birthright citizenship, Trump executive order, Supreme court, Immigration policy, Politics 

The incoming socialist mayor of New York City says that he will end the clearing out of homeless encampments in the city once he enters office.

Zohran Mamdani made the comments during his “Hot Chocolate, Frozen Rent” event in Manhattan on Thursday, where he posited that homelessness is a result of “political choice.”

‘Radical left communists would rather the homeless freeze to death on the streets, live in tents without showers food or medicine than make sure they have PROPER housing.’

“If you are not connecting homeless New Yorkers to the housing that they so desperately need, then you cannot deem anything you’re doing to be a success,” he said.

“We are going to take an approach that understands its mission is connecting those New Yorkers to housing, whether it’s supportive housing, whether it’s rental housing, whatever kind of housing it is,” he added. “Because what we have seen is the treatment of homelessness as if it is a natural part of living in this city, when in fact it’s more often a reflection of a political choice being made time and time again.”

Republican NYC Councilwoman Inna Vernikov torched Mamdani over the announcement.

“The radical left communists would rather the homeless freeze to death on the streets, live in tents without showers food or medicine than make sure they have PROPER housing and mental health treatment which many of them desperately need,” said Vernikov.

While the mainstream media has tried to mischaracterize Mamdani as moderate, he has previously posited that the government might need to ban private property in order to address the housing crisis.

RELATED: Actor Jon Voight calls on Trump to ‘terminate’ election of Mamdani in NYC

“Mamdani voters are rich entitled liberals who never have to struggle and who believe that leaving the homeless on our streets in their tents is also appropriate PUNISHMENT for our ‘intolerant and racist’ neighborhoods,” Vernikov continued. “BRACE YOURSELVES.”

Mamdani shocked many when he won the Democrat nomination in the mayoral race despite being vastly inexperienced to run the massive city. At least one liberal commentator has compared him to Jesus Christ and Martin Luther King Jr.

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​Zohran mamdani, Homelessness, Homeless encampments, Socialist policies, Politics 

A traditional gender activist group has been fined in Australia for the “vilification” of two transgender-identifying males who competed in women’s sports.

The Binary Australia advocacy group was found guilty in August of identifying the athletes and exposing them to ridicule and hatred from critics of the transgender agenda.

‘Women have effectively been erased from law and attempts to advocate regarding public policy are shut down for the sake of the feelings of a few.’

Binary Australia spokeswoman Kirralie Smith said the fine was an infringement on her free speech rights and said the group would appeal the ruling.

“It is disappointing that the word ‘woman’ has been redefined to include males and that the words ‘violence’ & ‘vilification’ have been applied to speaking the truth about information in the public domain,” she wrote on social media.

“Australians should be very concerned about their freedoms,” she added. “Women have effectively been erased from law and attempts to advocate regarding public policy are shut down for the sake of the feelings of a few.”

Transgender activist Heather Corkhill of Equality Australia praised the ruling and accused Smith’s group of inciting hatred and violence.

“These women were subjected to horrendous harassment online, including being publicly identified, outed, and misgendered,” Corkhill said of the male athletes.

“People who target vulnerable minorities to incite hatred and fear need to be called out and stopped,” she added. “Smith and her supporters are out of step with the law, out of step with community values, and out of step with modern Australia.”

The 95K in Australian dollars equates to about 63K U.S. dollars.

RELATED: ‘F**king horrific’: Liberals rage after largest girl youth group in UK bans trans-identifying boys

“Males should never be permitted to participate in female sport. As a registered third-party political campaigner and a woman, I should have the right to advocate for this without being penalized,” Smith continued.

“The law might state men can be women, but it defies the laws of nature and cannot be sustained,” she added. “Nothing will steal my joy in knowing that I am a woman and no male ever will be. I am proud to stand for truth and reality.”

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​Binary australia, Vilification of transgender athletes, Kirralie smith, Transgender agenda, Politics 

An Oregon cattle rancher did his own research into an apparent rise in obscure medical conditions after the opening of an Amazon data center.

The facility, which requires enormous amounts of water to cool its infrastructure, stands accused of adding wastewater — laden with nitrates — to an already struggling filtration system.

‘Our data centers draw water from the same supply as other community members.’

Jim Doherty from Morrow, Oregon, sought out to investigate the alleged increase in health problems stemming from toxins in the local water supply. Doherty has since performed tests, worked alongside his county, and knocked on doors to try to solve the equation. He spoke with Rolling Stone about his findings.

The rancher said he surveyed 70 local wells and shockingly found that 68 of them violated federal limits for the allowable levels of nitrates in drinking water. In the same report, Doherty detailed that of the first 30 homes he visited in his area, 25 residents had recently suffered miscarriages.

The report alleged a number of illnesses related to the water supply — which included different forms of cancer — and pointed the finger at pollution exacerbated by an Amazon data center that popped up in 2011. The square-footage of the data center ranges in estimates from 120,000 to 200,000 but comes with a 15-year tax abatement worth nearly $200 million.

The cost of this, allegedly, is a slew of health problems.

RELATED: Apple to invest $500 billion in US including new AI server factory in Texas

Amazon Web Services and Iron Mountain data centers in Manassas, Virginia, on July 9, 2025. Total power usage in the US is expected to climb 2.15% in 2026, spurred largely by a 5% spike from commercial users because of the expansion of data centers, according to a US Energy Department report released in June. Photographer: Nathan Howard/Bloomberg via Getty Images

“One man about 60 years old had his voice box taken out because of a cancer that only smokers get, but that guy hadn’t smoked a day of his life,” Doherty told Rolling Stone.

Another woman reportedly wrote Doherty to tell him her husband got “kidney cancer in his early 40s. His doctor thought it was due to exposure to herbicides and pesticides. He lost a kidney, but he lived.”

“We had acceptable levels of [toxins in our] drinking water when we first moved there,” the woman claimed. “After my husband’s cancer, we realized they went up and up through the years. It’s very sad.”

Doherty’s wife, Kelly, also claimed that out of the 14 people that live on their road, “I think nine of them have cancer right now.”

On the contrary, Amazon spokesman Lisa Levandowski told Rolling Stone that “the apparent narrative” about the 45,000-person county is “misleading and inaccurate.”

“The truth is that this region has long-documented groundwater quality challenges that significantly predate AWS’ presence, and federal, state, and local agencies have spent years working to address nitrates from agricultural fertilizer, manure, septic systems, and wastewater from food processing plants,” Levandowski explained.

She went on, “Our data centers draw water from the same supply as other community members; nitrates are not an additive we use in any of our processes, and the volume of water our facilities use and return represents only a very small fraction of the overall water system — not enough to have any meaningful impact on water quality.”

RELATED: Zuckerberg to dump hundreds of billions into new Manhattan-size projects

An Amazon Web Services data center in Stone Ridge, Virginia, US, on Sunday, July 28, 2024. Data center developers in Northern Virginia are asking utility Dominion Energy Inc. for as much power as several nuclear reactors can generate, in the latest sign of how artificial intelligence is helping drive up electricity demand. Photographer: Nathan Howard/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Oregon Rural Action, an activist group focused on preserving water, compared the situation to the “historical precedent” of Flint, Michigan.

“In part because of how slow the response to the crisis has been, and in part because of who’s affected. These are people who have no political or economic power and very little knowledge of the risk,” executive director Kristin Ostrom told Rolling Stone.

The argument that Amazon has increased the amount of toxins in the water is indeed a complex one as there exist arguments on both sides that require investigation to prove.

As the Department of Energy explains, the process of cooling with water typically includes water softening to remove harmful toxins, but that does not mean there aren’t additives involved in the process.

Possible additives include phosphates to prevent corrosion, acids to adjust pH levels, and anti-foaming agents, to name a few. Nitrates can also be used to prevent corrosion in cooling systems.

The DOE also notes that when water evaporates from cooling towers, dissolved solids or toxins become more highly concentrated. This is typically solved by removing a portion of the highly concentrated water and replacing it with “fresh make-up water.”

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​Return, Amazon, Oregon, Data centers, Ai center, Tech center, Water supply, Nitrates, Tech 

The Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights is undertaking a nationwide campaign to protect parental rights in pediatric medicine and cracking down on those institutions that fail to provide parents with access to their children’s medical records, as required by Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996.

HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said in a video on Wednesday, “A parent’s right to guide their child’s health decisions — that right is not optional, it’s non-negotiable, and under the Trump administration, it will not be ignored.”

‘Religious exemption rights are one aspect of true informed consent and refusal.’

It appears that HHS already has one alleged offending institution on its radar.

Kennedy indicated that his agency has launched an investigation into a “troubling incident” in the Midwest — where a school is alleged to have illegally vaccinated a child with a federally provided vaccine without the parents’ consent.

According to Kennedy, the child also had a “legally recognized state exemption” for the vaccine.

“When any institution — a school, a doctor’s office, a clinic — disregards a religious exemption, it doesn’t just break trust; it also breaks the law,” said Kennedy. “It fractures the sacred bond between families and the people entrusted with their child’s care, and we are not going to tolerate it.”

In the video, Kennedy did not identify the vaccine, school, or state involved in the case, and when pressed for comment by USA Today, HHS reportedly declined to provide any clues.

RELATED: FDA finally admits COVID-19 vaccine killed kids: ‘This is a profound revelation’

Photo by JOSEPH PREZIOSO/AFP via Getty Images

HHS indicated that its Office for Civil Rights will determine whether the school acted in compliance with the Vaccines for Children Program requirement that conditions the federal provision of reduced-cost, public-purchased vaccines for eligible children on compliance with state religious and other exemptions from vaccine laws.

— (@)

Extra to scrutinizing the school’s conduct, HHS provided a strong reminder to health care providers in a letter on Wednesday that the HIPAA privacy rule “generally gives the parent the right to access the child’s medical records as the child’s personal representative, unless one of the limited exceptions applies.”

Absent limited exceptions such as in the case of children for whom health care decisions are made at the direction of a court or a person appointed by a court, HHS emphasized that “a covered entity (and, where applicable, its business associate acting on the covered entity’s behalf) may not place additional limitations on a parent’s access to the child’s medical records beyond any existing limitations in applicable law.”

In September, HHS’ Office for Civil Rights sent another “Dear Colleagues” letter on theme, noting that providers participating in the Vaccines for Children Program must follow state laws relating to religious and other exemptions to vaccination laws.

“The Vaccines for Children Program should never circumvent parents’ rights,” CDC acting Director Jim O’Neill said of the latest initiative on the part of the HHS. “Secretary Kennedy’s decision to probe potential abuse of the VFC is a necessary step in restoring public trust in immunization policy.”

Children’s Health Defense, which was chaired by Kennedy from 2015 to 2023, lauded the initiative.

Mary Holland, president and CEO of CHD, said in a statement, “CHD strongly supports the right to informed consent and informed refusal of all medical interventions — this is the essence of what the Nuremberg Code stands for.”

“That document was the antidote to the medical atrocities of World War II,” continued Holland. “Religious exemption rights are one aspect of true informed consent and refusal — whether that ‘informed’ nature comes from religion or science or wherever else.”

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​Health and human services, Hhs, Health, Vaccine, Vaccination, Jab, Shot, Politics 

Did Halle Berry just go MAGA?

Sadly no. But the Oscar-winner did take a strong stand against Gov. Gavin Newsom’s chances at becoming the next U.S. president.

Former video store clerk turned Oscar-winner Quentin Tarantino unloaded on this actor in ways that you just don’t do in Hollywood circles.

Did Berry cite his abominable record in the Golden State? His silly social media memes designed to out-Trump Trump? His state’s abysmal record on homelessness, gas prices, and more?

Maybe she cited those super-creepy leg crosses?

Nope. The actress is anti-Newsom due to a single bill that she feels could help menopausal women. Turns out Newsom doesn’t support the Menopause Care Equity Act, which would have, according to Time, “ensured insurance coverage for evidence-based treatments and required physician training: practical, cost-effective steps backed by leading medical experts.”

“And with the way he’s overlooked women, half the population, by devaluing us in midlife, he probably should not be our next president either. Just saying.”

Meanwhile some heavy Hollywood hitters are flooding the zone for Newsom’s 2028 presidential campaign because, as they see it, he’s a “fighter.”

Now if he could only fight on behalf of his fellow Californians …

Mad Maddow

Rachel Maddow gets the big bucks for a reason. She’s the biggest draw on her low-rated MS NOW network, and she’s as stubborn as the proverbial mule.

How stubborn? You know that Russian collusion hoax she helped peddle for far too long? Well she’s still living in a pre-Mueller Report world. In fact, her recent appearance on “The Late Show” was hilarious for all the wrong reasons.

“I don’t know what Putin has on [Trump], but he works for Putin, and it’s an embarrassment to this country.”

Stephen Colbert, to the shock of no one, didn’t correct the MS NOW anchor. The only surprise from the segment was that neither Colbert nor Maddow brought up the “very fine people” hoax for good measure …

RELATED: Why Gavin Newsom’s Bible quotations should alarm Christians — before it’s too late

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

King of cringe

This prince isn’t a fan of kings.

Prince Harry also visited “The Late Show” this week, and he proved a quick study on the show’s demographic. Think TDS sufferers and shut-ins. Except Meghan Markle’s lesser half couldn’t even get the show’s audience on his side.

Harry pretended to interrupt Colbert’s nightly monologue Wednesday. The two exchanged a few words, including how Harry wanted to endear himself to Americans by starring in a Christmas movie. Besides, he argued, Americans are obsessed with royalty.

Colbert scoffed at the idea, setting up this droll quip.

“Really? I heard you elected a king,” Harry said.

The crowd, to everyone’s shock, booed and groaned. That response was brutal, but imagine the reaction he got when he returned home …

Goin’ ‘South’

Did Cartman’s creators lose their nerve?

We all know that Trey Parker and Matt Stone cast aside decades of apolitical comedy to skewer Trump this season on “South Park.”

You never go the full “Saturday Night Live.” But they did.

Now Parker and Stone are wrestling with a long-delayed project described as a “slave comedy.” The film’s original premise had a black slave re-enactor learning that his white girlfriend’s family once owned slaves in the pre-Civil War South.

It’s a provocative setup, the kind that the “South Park” duo once would tackle sans fear. But now? The pair just signed a billion-plus deal with Paramount, and their TDS-themed “South Park” season has made them beloved in the media and the DNC. (But we repeat ourselves.)

Would they risk that love and affection by creating an unwoke comedy?

Regardless, the film is troubled, to say the least. The title was originally slated for a 2025 release, but now the best-case scenario will have it land in theaters in 2027. That’s assuming they get the actual film done. A new report suggests major reshoots are in order.

Let’s hope for their sake they didn’t “put a chick in it! Make her lame and gay!”

Wong turn

BD Wong made a tasteless joke on social media.

Never mind that the vast majority of people missed it completely. And a good portion of that group is probably asking themselves, “BD who?”

As a woke revolution hold-out, the veteran actor is determined to grovel like it’s 2020 and so posted this overwrought gesture of self-flagellation:

As most people in hot water do, I deleted it for Damage Control but it’s out there & continues to hurt & disappoint & I’m really sorry about the hurt part. Super dumb, but I tried to follow the “Wrong Answers Only” prompt with the wrongest answer. This succeeded only in that it was Super Wrong. I know nobody gets a free pass. I’m sorry if this #wtfbd moment tarnished any respect you may’ve had for me. & thanks if you advocate for an internet that’s safe for everybody.

Apologies are fine. He trafficked in a crude gag on social media, and some people didn’t get the joke or appreciate the irreverent tone.

Still can we stop pretending that we can be “hurt” by a tacky or tasteless joke? Or do we need to keep up the Apology ToursTM in perpetuity?

Foot in mouth

Did Paul Dano forget to be kind and rewind his VHS tape?

Former video store clerk turned Oscar-winner Quentin Tarantino unloaded on Dano in ways that you just don’t do in Hollywood circles.

Here’s what the “Inglourious Basterds” director said about Dano, best known for films like “There Will Be Blood,” “The Batman,” and “Love and Mercy.”

“And the flaw [in ‘There Will Be Blood’] is Paul Dano,” Tarantino said. “Obviously it’s supposed to be a two-hander, and it’s also so drastically obvious that it’s not a two-hander. … He is weak sauce, man. He’s a weak sister.”

It could be worse. Tarantino could have said Dano has ugly feet.

​Entertainment, Hollywood, Culture, Donald trump, Paul dano, Gavin newsom, Halle berry, Stephen colbert, Rachel maddow, Toto recall 

During President Trump’ s first term, Americans were forced to wake up and realize that immigration was a serious problem — and that we were losing who we were and what we stand for as a country.

“And then Biden gets in, who’s this — he’s not even a person. He’s this just sort of like empty vessel … and what they do immediately with him is not just like turn the immigration spigot back on, it’s supercharged,” BlazeTV host Jonathan “Lomez” Keeperman tells co-host Christopher Rufo on “Rufo & Lomez.”

“OK, we get in Biden’s four years, the equivalent of 12 years of immigration. The preceding 12 years combined ends up equaling what Biden does — another like eight million illegal immigrants,” Lomez says.

“Millions of these get away, they’re not even processing people at the border. … Alejandro Mayorkas just decides unilaterally, we’re going to start taking in people from Cuba, Nicaragua, Haiti, Venezuela, hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of thousands of people basically flying illegal immigrants, paying to fly illegal immigrants into the country to be resettled by these refugee programs,” he continues.

“They’re getting hundreds of millions of dollars from DHS to do this. You have hundreds of thousands of unaccompanied minors, OK? We’re just taking in the world. We’re taking in the entire world.”

“And when I say we, I mean Alejandro Mayorkas, who should frankly be in jail and tried for sedition,” he adds.

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​Camera phone, Video, Sharing, Video phone, Upload, Free, Youtube.com, Rufo & lomez, The blaze, Chris rufo, Lomez, Blazetv, Blaze news, Blaze podcasts, Blaze podcast network, Blaze media, Blaze online, Blaze originals, Immigration, President trump, Alejandro mayorkas, Joe biden, Immigration under biden, Donald trump, Assimilation 

Netflix announced a massive deal to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery Inc., a company that controls huge entities like HBO and CNN.

Which networks Netflix will control, however, is a bit complicated.

Warner Bros. put itself up for sale last month, and as Blaze News reported, was simultaneously being eyed for acquisition by Amazon.

‘Our mission has always been to entertain the world.’

Netflix has seemingly won the battle though, with a cash and stock transaction valued at $27.75 per share for Warner Bros. Discovery, totaling approximately $82.7 billion, which equates to an equity value of $72 billion after debt, according to CNN and Netflix.

The deal is expected to close in Q3 2026, which will give WBD a chance to conclude the separation of its company, which has huge implications in terms of which channels Netflix takes control of.

Split decision

In June 2025, WBD decided to split itself into two companies, WBD Global Networks and WBD Streaming & Studios. The split is expected to take effect in summer 2026, after which Netflix will take over the Streaming & Studios company.

RELATED: Netflix features trans teen kissing scene in kids’ cartoon — but it’s not the only one

NEW YORK – JUNE 10, 2007: Actor Ray Abruzzo attends an HBO screening of the series finale of ‘The Sopranos.’ (Photo by Evan Agostini/Getty Images)

This means Netflix will gain Warner Bros Pictures/Television/Games, HBO, streaming service HBO Max, TNT Sports (international), and studio New Line Cinema.

The acquisition also comes with the rights to some of the most highly sought after shows around, such as “Friends,” “Game of Thrones,” “The Sopranos,” “The Big Bang Theory,” and those in the DC Comic Universe. As well movies like the “Harry Potter” franchise will move to Netflix.

CNN not included

There were questions as to what it would mean for CNN should WBD be acquired by a different platform, but the news network will fall under WBD Global Networks and not move to Netflix.

The same goes for networks like HGTV, Discovery, TBS, the Cartoon Network, TNT Sports (U.S.), along with the rights to the NHL, NCAA, and Olympics in terms of sports.

RELATED: Elon Musk claims to have canceled Netflix subscription over Charlie Kirk mockery and transgender indoctrination

Photo Illustration by Thomas Fuller/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

Shareholder service

Ted Sarandos, co-CEO of Netflix said, “Our mission has always been to entertain the world.”

He added that the combination of Warner Bros.’ library and Netflix’s catalogue will “give audiences more of what they love and help define the next century of storytelling.”

Greg Peters, the other co-CEO of Netflix, said the acquisition will “accelerate” their business for decides.

“With our global reach and proven business model, we can introduce a broader audience to the worlds they create — giving our members more options, attracting more fans to our best-in-class streaming service, strengthening the entire entertainment industry and creating more value for shareholders.”

Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav added that the sale to Netflix will “ensure people everywhere will continue to enjoy the world’s most resonant stories for generations to come.”

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If America had an official “documentarian laureate,” Ken Burns would be a shoo-in for the job.

Over the last four decades, the filmmaker has devoted his career to capturing the country’s history and culture, in works ranging from “Baseball,” “Jazz,” and “The National Parks: America’s Best Idea” to his groundbreaking 1990 masterpiece “The Civil War.” And despite his avowed “yellow-dog Democrat” tendencies, he has done so with remarkable nuance.

Those rallying around the American cause are portrayed as a loose collection of criminals, anarchists, slavers, and exiled aristocrats united by high Enlightenment ideals.

Now, just in time for America’s 250th anniversary, Burns has returned with a new six-part PBS series exploring how it all got started.

Fanfare and apprehension

“The American Revolution” arrives with suitable fanfare — and an almost absurdly star-studded cast of voice-over artists. Tom Hanks, Morgan Freeman, Samuel L. Jackson, Paul Giamatti, Josh Brolin, Meryl Streep, Ethan Hawke, Edward Norton, and Michael Keaton are among the luminaries who provide narration.

Even so, there has been a level of apprehension surrounding the show, particularly among conservatives. Could a commemoration of America’s founding even work in our current moment — when even mild appeals to patriotism and national unity seem to stir up bitter partisan disputes?

Burns seems to have a found a way around this by making his retelling as clinical and unromantic as possible. He is clearly passionate about the American project, but he is unwilling to embrace the mythological or nationalistic sides of that passion.

Whose revolution?

“It’s our creation story,” historian Rick Atkinson says as he discusses the importance of the Revolution. But most of the experts Burns showcases prefer to focus on the negative, puncturing what one calls the “unreal and detached” romanticization of the founders.

Instead, we’re invited to ponder the role that slavery and the theft of Native American land played in the fight for independence — not to mention a fair amount of unsavory violence perpetrated by the revolutionaries.

While the series does a good job of covering the conflicts between 1774 and 1783, it takes frequent detours to discuss the issues surrounding the revolution: the role of women contributing to the war, the perspectives of English Loyalists as they became refugees fleeing the conflict, the madness of the Sons of Liberty’s antics, and the perspectives of slaves trying to survive and find liberty too.

RELATED: Yes, Ken Burns, the founding fathers believed in God — and His ‘divine Providence’

Interim Archives/Boston Globe/Getty Images

Living in the tension

A pronounced classical liberalism pervades the storytelling, one reflecting the secular Enlightenment idealism that a “new and radical” vision for mankind could be found through self-determination and freedom, apart from the aristocratic and theocratic haze of Europe.

This vision acknowledges progressive criticism of the era’s slavery and classism, but tries to integrate those faults rather than use them as grounds to discard the entire experiment. It attempts to live within the tension of history and sift out what is still valuable, rather than abandon the project altogether.

Indeed, Burns is generally good about avoiding any sort of score-settling or modern politicking, shy of a few buzzwords. He constantly uses the word “resistance” and ends with a reflection on the potential ruination of the republic by “unprincipled demagogues,” proudly quoting Alexander Hamilton that “nobody is above the law.”

The show’s consensus is overwhelmingly that the values of the Revolution were greater than the severely flawed men who fought it. To Burns, it was not merely a war, but a radical ongoing experiment in human liberty that escaped the colonies like a virus and changed the world forever. He certainly doesn’t want to throw out the liberal project, and so he constantly circles back on defending the war’s idealism.

Idealism and discomfort

This accounts for the show’s title, focusing on its revolutionary implications. It wasn’t just a war, but a change in the way people thought. The show argues that “to believe in America … is to believe in possibility,” and that studying the Revolution is important to understanding “why we are where we are now.”

Unfortunately, the intervening 12 hours require the viewer to swallow a fair share of dubious and rather inflammatory claims, including that George Washington was primarily driven by his class interests as a landowner, that popular retellings often “paper over” the violent actions of the revolutionaries, and that the founders were, on balance, hypocrites.

Its overall perspective is that it is impossible to tell the nation’s origin story in a way that is “clean” and “neat,” with clear heroes and villains. Those rallying around the American cause are portrayed as a loose collection of criminals, anarchists, slavers, and exiled aristocrats united by high Enlightenment ideals.

“The Revolution” wants both this idealism and discomfort to sit equally in your mind, as you ponder how morally compromised men could change the world. As one of the historians asks, “How can you know something is wrong and still do it? That is the human question for all of us.”

Overall, Ken Burns’ latest proves a very bittersweet watch, hardly the sentimental reflection on Americanism that the country’s approaching 250th anniversary demands, but also too idealistic and classically liberal to comfortably fit anyone’s agenda. It wants to lionize the founding’s aspirational values of democracy, equality, and revolution, while assiduously avoiding praising the people involved.

It’s a remarkably watchable and entertaining work of sober disillusionment.

​Entertainment, Culture, Television, Pbs, Ken burns, Documentaries, Film, The american revolution, History, Review 

With the season for Christmas shopping now in full swing, Amazon is testing out a new service for much faster deliveries.

On Monday, Amazon announced the limited launch of Amazon Now, a delivery feature promising swift deliveries in 30 minutes or less.

Amazon Now is first launching in parts of Seattle, Washington, and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

The announcement called the service “ultra-fast” delivery.

Amazon Now is first launching in parts of Seattle, Washington, and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

RELATED: Amazon wants Warner Bros. so it can rule your screen

Photographer: Bess Adler/Bloomberg via Getty Images

The service focuses on essential household items and groceries. Amazon’s press release explains it will be using “specialized smaller facilities designed for efficient order fulfillment.”

Prime members will have to pay delivery fees starting at $3.99 for an order, and non-Prime members will have to pay $13.99.

Amazon will continue to offer Prime members its usual same-day, overnight, and next-day delivery options.

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Odell Beckham Jr. is being roasted online by fellow athletes and other NFL personalities for a resurfaced video that went viral over Thanksgiving weekend.

In October 2024 on “The Pivot” podcast with former NFL players Ryan Clark, Fred Taylor, and Channing Crowder, OBJ made a comment about money that many interpreted as tone-deaf, given the majority of Americans are struggling with the rising cost of living.

In the clip, he says, “Bro, you give somebody a five-year $100 million contract, right? What is it really? It’s five years for $60 [million]. You’re getting taxed. Do the math. That’s $12 [million] a year, you know, that you have to spend, use, save, invest, flaunt, like whatever.”

“Just being real. I’ma buy a car. I’ma get my mom a house. Everything costs money. So if you spending $4 million a year, that’s really $40 million over five years — $8 [million] a year — and now you start breaking down the numbers, it’s, like, that’s a five-year span of where you’re getting $8 million. Can you make that last forever?” he continued, adding that people who “ain’t us” couldn’t possibly understand this kind of struggle.

And the response online was essentially: You’re right — we can’t understand your luxury problem of an eight-figure salary.

Jason Whitlock, BlazeTV host of “Fearless,” says OBJ’s real problem is the black culture that’s conditioned him to think that any pushback on his financially “irresponsible behavior” is just racism or white folks selling out black excellence.

“What he’s basically saying is, like, ‘Hey, white people can’t relate. They don’t get it — all the pressure that we’re under and … all the people we have to help,”’ Whitlock translates.

Whitlock — who grew up legitimately poor, spent years grinding to achieve financial success, and had to assume financial responsibility for both his mother and grandmother at a young age — says he knows “the pressure that OBJ is talking about.”

But this kind of pressure isn’t unique to black people. Whitlock says he’s seen his “adoptive family,” who’s white, navigate the same scenario of having money and feeling obligated to help out struggling friends and family.

The pushback OBJ has received for his comments sparked some defensiveness. On December 2, the free agent tweeted:

— (@)

Whitlock says OBJ’s inability to receive criticism is a result of the “feminized matriarchal culture” of “excuses and delusion” he exists in.

When this is your context, “you end up embracing a lifestyle and an image that will make you [an] old, broke joke — and that’s what OBJ is,” he says.

To hear more of Whitlock’s take, watch the episode above.

Want more from Jason Whitlock?

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I’m one of those people who likes to write in cafés. I like the atmosphere. And the people. And the smell of espresso machines.

Recently I was walking in a newly developed area of my hometown (Portland) and discovered a new coffee place.

I ordered the house-blend coffee. I took it to the cream-and-sugar counter and poured a little milk into it. Much to my horror, the milk curdled instantly.

It looked like an excellent writing spot. There were solid tables and comfortable chairs and a window you could look out when you weren’t typing.

That smell

But then I went to the counter, where I recognized the distinct smell of a certain kind of Pacific Northwest coffee.

It’s the smell of artisanal roasting, done on the premises. Or in some cases, a small roaster nearby who provides the café with elaborately packaged organic, roaster-to-retail, artisanal coffee beans.

In other words: left-wing coffee.

That’s right: left-wing coffee. In case you haven’t noticed, there’s now left-wing and right-wing coffee. And as you’d expect, left-wing coffee is terrible.

*******

Stumptown

The best example of left-wing coffee is Portland’s own Stumptown brand. Stumptown has spread all across the world and at one point was widely advertised as Alaska Airline’s exclusive in-flight brand.

And what does Stumptown taste like? It tastes like someone poured a little orange juice into your coffee. Or some other acidic, citrusy liquid. This gives it a weird, tangy taste initially. And then a bitter, sour aftertaste.

The important thing is: It’s bad. It tastes bad. But that isn’t surprising. That’s what the left does. It takes good things and makes them bad. Movies? Architecture? Your local library? The left can ruin almost anything.

Now you might say: But all artisanal coffee doesn’t taste the same! Ah, but it does! Even though each individual coffee roaster handcrafts his coffee in his own unique fashion, somehow, by some strange process, all the artisanal coffee tastes remarkably similar and equally awful.

Coffee curdle

My favorite experience to relate about left-wing coffee came when I visited a popular Portland café with a friend.

I’d been there many times, so I knew the coffee there was artisanally roasted and therefore barely drinkable. But the café was buzzing with people, and my friend liked it, and there were good seats available for people-watching. So here we were.

I ordered the house-blend coffee. I took it to the cream-and-sugar counter and poured a little milk into it. Much to my horror, the milk curdled instantly.

Alarmed, I took my cup back to the counter and explained to the barista guy (with a man bun) what had happened. He shrugged. “Yeah, it does that sometimes; it’s the acid in the coffee.”

I said, “Why is there acid in the coffee?”

“It’s just the type of bean,” he said. “Sorry about that. Maybe don’t put milk in it?”

*******

The reason these artisanal-roasted coffees are left-wing is because left-wing people drink it. And serve it. And roast it. And brag about it.

It is a trend that began in coastal cities during the “locally sourced,” “farm-to-table” craze. It continues to exist to this day in college towns and other progressive strongholds in the rest of the country.

Leftists always want to change things. Especially things that people already like. They changed sports (they added gambling). They changed sex (they added pornography). They changed marriage (they added no-fault divorce).

So now they changed coffee by adding citrusy, floral, nutmeg-flavored, acidic, rainforest-protecting coffee beans that taste bad.

But that’s what they do. Bad is good to leftists.

RELATED: Corporate America turned coffee shops into cubicles. A more human cafe culture is fighting back.

Hertiage Images/Getty Images

Where the girls are

A couple years ago, I met a young Texan living in Warsaw, Poland, who agreed with my assessment of the leftist coffee problem but insisted it was still worth it to patronize “artisanal roaster” cafés because those were the best places to meet trendy girls. He said this was the case all over Europe.

And he was right. Everywhere I went on that trip, I googled “artisanal roasters” to find cafés. And sure enough, that’s where the hipsters were, the trendoids, the pretentious expats, the people wearing “statement glasses.”

This is also the case in L.A., San Francisco, New York, Seattle, and all the other leftist strongholds. Which reveals an obvious truth: that most hipsters, most trendsetters, most influencers are, at heart, brainless conformists.

If everyone else is drinking the terrible coffee, they’ll drink it too.

Take the ‘hints’ — please

So if Stumptown is left-wing, what coffee is right-wing?

I would say that any coffee that tastes like coffee is right-wing. Especially if it’s good. Like McDonald’s, Dunkin’ Donuts, Tim Hortons, Peet’s, or Starbucks.

If it doesn’t have words like “ethical” or “fair trade” or “locally sourced” and doesn’t have “hints” of lavender blossoms or “notes” of Scandinavian pine cones, it is probably right-wing.

If there are no drawings on the package of impoverished indigenous South American folks, suffering under the yoke of American capitalism, it is probably right-wing.

If the most descriptive thing it says on the packaging is “100% Arabica coffee,” it is probably right-wing, and it probably won’t curdle your milk.

Good to the last drop

My own favorite coffee shop in Portland is a quiet student café near Portland State University. It is an outlier in its coffee selection. It only serves ILLY brand coffee.

The ILLY company started in 1933. The original founder also invented this little thing called the ESPRESSO MACHINE. So I would guess he knew what he was doing.

Three generations later, ILLY is still one of the most loved and respected coffee companies in the world.

And guess what? ILLY doesn’t taste like anything except coffee. And it is delicious.

It is so good, I don’t even buy it to make at home. Because I don’t want to get used to it. I prefer to visit that one particular café once or twice a week to luxuriate in the perfect cup of coffee.

*******

The good news is, nobody is talking about Stumptown coffee anymore. Alaska Airlines has come to its senses and returned to ordinary coffee for in-flight customers.

And I’m guessing that even the trendiest young people will eventually abandon bad coffee. They have taste buds too.

But of course, leftists will continue to seek out new areas of Americana to mess with. Get ready for equitable corn flakes, nonbinary toothpaste, rainbow-infused gasoline for your car. At this point, I wouldn’t put anything past them.

​Lifestyle, Stumptown roasters, Coffee, Artisanal, Starbucks, Barista, Blake’s progress 

President Donald Trump and members of his administration have worked doggedly over the past year to broker a lasting peace between Russia and Ukraine.

While there have been multiple instances when an end to the bloodshed appeared within reach, Presidents Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Vladimir Putin have both repeatedly thrown up obstacles to sealing the deal — in most cases over proposals regarding territorial concessions and security guarantees for Kyiv.

There are, however, others actors in the mix who appear content to stymie the U.S.-mediated peace negotiations.

English-language notes allegedly detailing a conference call held on Monday between Zelenskyy, French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, and numerous other EU leaders revealed the extent of the contempt and distrust some European leaders have for the United States as it relates to Washington’s role in the peace talks.

According to the notes that were leaked to the German publication Der Spiegel, Macron suggested that there was a chance that the U.S. — a nation that has kept Ukraine viable with the help of hundreds of billions of dollars and top-notch armaments as well as by sanctioning its foe — might “betray” Ukraine.

“There is a chance that the U.S. will betray Ukraine on territory without clarity on security guarantees,” Macron reportedly said, adding that the territorial matter presents “a big danger” for Zelenskyy.

Macron was among the EU leaders who rejected Trump’s original 28-point peace plan last month and echoed an old complaint that certain proposals would require EU consent. His office has claimed that he “did not express himself in these words” as described in the notes but did not indicate how he had expressed himself.

RELATED: Zelenskyy’s hold on power uncertain as criminal charges reach his inner circle

Photographer: Nathan Laine/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Merz, whose nation is set to pass a new conscription scheme, reportedly said that Zelenskyy must be “very careful” in the talks ahead, noting that “they are playing games with both you and us.” Der Spiegel indicated that the “they” Merz referred to was likely Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and the president’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, who have been working on the peace negotiations.

Alexander Stubb — the Finnish president who complained in a recent interview that “all the conditions for a just peace we’ve talked so much about over the past four years are unlikely to be fulfilled” — reportedly said on the conference call, “We must not leave Ukraine and Volodymyr alone with these guys,” again apparently referring to the U.S. representatives.

The notes for the call, which several participants confirmed to Der Spiegel had taken place, indicate that Rutte agreed, stating, “I agree with Alexander that we need to protect Volodymyr.”

While a spokesperson for Zelenskyy told Der Spiegel he did not want to comment on the content of the call, the Ukrainian president said in a statement on Thursday, “Ukraine is prepared for any possible developments, and of course we will work as constructively as possible with all partners to ensure that peace is achieved — and that it is, after all, a dignified peace. Only a dignified peace provides real security, and we fully understand that this requires — and will continue to require — the support of our partners.”

The White House did not respond to Blaze News’ request for comment.

On Tuesday, Putin suggested European leaders were undermining the peace process, stating, “They don’t have a peace agenda; they’re on the side of the war,” reported the Associated Press.

The Russian president further accused the Europeans of introducing “demands that are absolutely unacceptable to Russia,” thereby “blocking the entire peace process.”

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Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) joined Blaze Media co-founder Glenn Beck to share his reaction to the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision on Republicans’ proposed redistricting map. He also talked about his recent actions against the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

On Thursday, SCOTUS temporarily approved the GOP’s redistricting efforts in Texas for use in the upcoming midterm election. As a result, Republicans are likely to gain five additional seats in the U.S. House.

‘The Supreme Court beat down the lower court for violating that precedent.’

The Supreme Court’s latest decision overturned a lower court’s order, which would have required Texas to return to 2021 district lines.

Abbott joined “The Glenn Beck Program” on Friday morning to share his thoughts on the recent Supreme Court decision, calling it “huge news” for Republicans across the U.S.

“This is total vindication for the state of Texas, for the legislature,” Abbott told Beck.

The Texas governor explained that the map was redrawn to “fully” comply with the U.S. Constitution and Supreme Court precedent as well as “truly represent the values of people of our state.”

Abbott accused the lower court of abandoning precedent previously established by SCOTUS.

“The Supreme Court beat down the lower court for violating that precedent,” he told Beck.

RELATED: Supreme Court allows Texas redistricting map for midterm elections; liberals dissent

Photo by Brandon Bell/Getty Images

During Friday morning’s interview, Abbott also discussed his effort to remove the Council on American-Islamic Relations’ tax-exempt status, citing the organization’s alleged ties to the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas.

Abbott sent a letter to Secretary Scott Bessent earlier this week requesting that the Treasury Department open an investigation into the group and suspend its tax-exempt status.

“CAIR has historic connections to terrorism,” Abbott stated. “Here’s the bottom line: If CAIR doesn’t want to be labeled as a terrorist organization, if it wants to shed its early ties to terrorism, it needs to stop supporting those who are identified by the federal government as supporters of terrorism.”

“Because they support terrorists to this day, that is exactly why they deserve, for one, to be labeled a foreign organization, and, for another, why they should not be receiving the benefits of a 501(c)(3) organization,” he added.

RELATED: Islamist groups in Texas rake in $13M in taxpayer-funded grants amid Abbott’s battle against Sharia law

Greg Abbott. Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

CAIR sent its own letter to Bessent the following day, claiming to debunk the governor’s accusations.

“Governor Abbott is afraid,” CAIR stated. “He knows that his proclamation targeting CAIR-Texas is unconstitutional, so now he is desperately trying to find another way to target our organization.”

“Unfortunately for Mr. Abbott, his lies about us are easily disprovable and the truth about him is clearly evident: He’s an Israel First politician who is obsessed with CAIR because our lawsuits have defeated his attempts to silence Texans critical of Israel three times in a row. We look forward to defeating him in court for a fourth time soon, God willing,” CAIR’s statement read.

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Following the tragic shooting of two National Guard members in Washington, D.C., last week, allegedly by an Afghan national, President Trump has ramped up his rhetoric against foreigners coming into our country. Now his administration is taking action with some important policy changes.

On Thursday, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced a major slash in the duration of work permit validity, according to the Washington Post.

‘It’s even more clear that USCIS must conduct more frequent vetting of aliens.’

Specifically the new policy affects asylum seekers by changing the work permit authorization period from five years to a mere 18 months.

“Reducing the maximum validity period for employment authorization will ensure that those seeking to work in the United States do not threaten public safety or promote harmful anti-American ideologies. After the attack on National Guard service members in our nation’s capital by an alien who was admitted into this country by the previous administration, it’s even more clear that USCIS must conduct more frequent vetting of aliens,” USCIS Director Joseph Edlow said in a Thursday press release.

RELATED: Suspect in Guardsmen shooting tied to Biden’s Operation Allies Welcome

Photo by MANUEL BALCE CENETA/POOL/AFP via Getty Images

USCIS stated in the press release that these changes to maximum validity period for Employment Authorization Documents are part of a broader policy update to ensure more thorough screenings of foreigners.

Fwd.us, an immigration advocacy group, told the Washington Post that the move is expected to impact hundreds of thousands of asylum seekers.

The group also estimated that around 1.4 million of the three million asylum seekers currently in the United States are working.

These policy changes come shortly after it was revealed that the suspected shooter is an Afghan national tied to the Biden-era migrant relocation program, Operation Allies Welcome.

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If anyone from a backward and unstable country could be vetted for anti-American hostility, it would have been someone like Rahmanullah Lakanwal, the Afghan national who allegedly shot two National Guardsmen in Washington, D.C., the day before Thanksgiving. He had been vetted by the CIA, worked with our military in Afghanistan, and was later approved for asylum alongside his wife and five children.

And still, he turned his gun on the very country that took him in. How many more reminders do we need before we shut off the spigot?

Tackling America’s economic challenges will be tricky. But an immigration shutoff is easy. Trump can — with the stroke of a pen — halt all entries that threaten national security.

In response to the attack, President Trump vowed to “permanently pause migration from all third world countries.” Many Americans hoped this meant fulfilling the pledge he made nearly a decade ago: “A total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country’s representatives can figure out what the hell is going on.”

On Thanksgiving Day, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Joseph Edlow announced a “full-scale, rigorous reexamination of every green card” holder from “every country of concern.” When pressed, Edlow pointed to the 19 countries listed in Trump’s June 4 proclamation, “Restricting the Entry of Foreign Nationals to Protect the United States from Foreign Terrorists and Other National Security and Public Safety Threats.”

That June order established two tiers of restrictions.

Full restriction: Afghanistan, Burma, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Yemen.

Partial restriction: Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan, Venezuela.

This week, the White House announced its intention to pause all immigration from all 19 countries and freeze naturalization applications from nationals already here.

It’s a start. But it doesn’t address the larger reality: Even a total shutdown of these 19 countries barely dents the scale of Islamic-world migration into the United States.

By my calculations, these countries account for only 27% of Muslim-origin immigration in 2023 — and just 18% of our intake from the Islamic world over the past decade.

Ten of the 19 targeted countries are majority-Muslim. But there are 39 other majority-Muslim countries — most overwhelmingly Muslim — from which we admit well over 100,000 green-card recipients each year.

Here is the updated breakdown of immigration from all majority-Muslim countries in 2023 and over the prior 10 years:

Blaze Media

This is a numbers game. You simply cannot import roughly 175,000 Muslim migrants every year — not counting tens of thousands more on student and temporary visas — without replicating the social unraveling we have seen in Europe.

Trump’s expanded ban would block about 47,000 of these arrivals annually. But it leaves massive sending countries — Bangladesh, Egypt, Turkey, Lebanon, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Iraq, Uzbekistan — effectively untouched.

Blaze Media

The problem with limiting the moratorium to these 10 Islamic countries (plus nine other hostile or unstable states) isn’t just numerical. It’s philosophical. The order implies that we are only concerned with countries that have poor diplomatic relations or inadequate data-sharing with the United States.

But the challenge of Islamic migration has never been solely about vetting. Most individuals who embrace Sharia supremacism, support suicide attacks, or reject Western norms are not sworn members of al-Qaeda or Hezbollah. The issue is ideological — a form of unreformed Islam that never passed through the Enlightenment and remains fundamentally incompatible with liberal Western society.

For decades, small-scale migration masked this reality. But we have admitted roughly 3 million Muslims since 9/11. They cluster, build Qatari-funded or Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated mosques, and reproduce the same ideological ecosystem from which they emigrated. High-volume flows reinforce the problem exponentially.

And contrary to the foreign-policy establishment’s assumptions, hostility does not only come from “enemy” states. In fact, migrants from “friendly” governments often pose greater risks. Regimes such as Egypt and Jordan suppress their own Islamist movements. Uzbekistan bans full beards. These governments contain radicalism at home — and we import the very people they fear.

We’ve seen the consequences repeatedly. A sampling:

Akayed Ullah, who arrived from Bangladesh in 2011, detonated a pipe bomb in the Port Authority Bus Terminal, declaring support for ISIS. Bangladesh now sends more than 18,000 immigrants annually.Sayfullo Saipov, who came from Uzbekistan in 2010 on a diversity visa, murdered eight people in a truck attack in Manhattan while shouting “Allahu Akbar.”Dilkhayot Kasimov, Abdurasul Juraboev, Abror Habibov, all Uzbeks, conspired to support ISIS, discussed attacking President Obama, and scouted U.S. military targets. We continue admitting over 5,000 Uzbeks per year through the Diversity Visa Lottery — a program Trump should end immediately.Muhammad Khair Alabid, a student from Egypt, plotted a Fourth of July vehicle-bomb attack in Cleveland.Mohamed Sabry Soliman, also from Egypt, firebombed a pro-Israel rally in Boulder in 2025, killing one and injuring 12. He and his family were admitted by the Biden administration and overstayed. We have issued more than 100,000 green cards to Egyptian nationals in the past decade.Muhammad El-Sayed, admitted from Jordan on a diversity visa, built an ISIS-linked terror cell in Minneapolis, scouting military bases and Jewish centers.Abdullah Muhammad Zain-ul-Abideen, a student visa-holder from Jordan, provided material support in the Garland, Texas, terrorist attack on the “Draw Muhammad” event.

RELATED: Wajahat Ali says quiet part out loud in attack on Trump’s re-migration plan: ‘Mistake that you made is you let us in’

Photo by Cindy Ord/Getty Images for BAFTA

The most glaring case of false security is Mohammed Saeed Alshamrani, a Saudi military trainee brought here on an A-2 visa. In 2019, he murdered three American service members at Naval Air Station Pensacola. He was here because our government trusted Saudi vetting.

This is the pattern: Working with a regime is not the same as trusting its people. In many cases, these governments fear their own populations. Yet we continue importing those populations at scale.

For example: The United States and Israel prop up the Hashemite monarchy in Jordan precisely because its people are more radical than their rulers. Yet we have brought in over 72,000 Jordanians in the past decade. If those populations are too dangerous for their own government, why do we assume they are safe for ours?

When it comes to transformational immigration policy, there is no such thing as “lukewarm hell.” Trump should impose a full moratorium on all Islamic-majority countries and abolish the Diversity Visa Lottery entirely.

Tackling America’s economic challenges ahead of the midterms will be tricky. But an immigration shutoff is easy. Under Section 212(f) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, Trump can — with the stroke of a pen — halt all entries that threaten national security.

He has already done it for 19 countries. He has no reason not to finish the job.

​Opinion & analysis, Immigration, Islam, Donald trump, Immigration ban, Muslims, Citizenship, Green cards, Afghanistan, Egypt, Uzbekistan, Jordan, Muslim brotherhood, Jihad, Terrorism, Terrorists, Vetting, Immigration and customs enforcement, Immigration and nationality act, National security, America first, Diversity lottery, Visas, Visa overstays 

Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz appears keen to clutch pearls and hold President Donald Trump to a different standard than Walz did the previous president — especially after Trump called Walz “seriously retarded.”

Quick background

During a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, Trump leaned into his criticism of Somalia, the rampant fraud in Minnesota’s Somali community, and Somalia’s top spokeswoman in Congress, Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.).

‘This is on top of all the other vile comments.’

“Somalia, which is barely a country, you know, they have no, anything. They just run around killing each other. There’s no structure,” said the president.

Somalia is a Sunni Muslim nation on the easternmost part of Africa with a population of just over 19 million, a high rate of female genital mutilation, a GDP of $12.94 billion, and an adult literacy rate of 54%.

The country is a haven for crime and terrorism, ranking 34th out of 193 countries for criminality on the Global Organized Crime Index. With 10 being the most severe, Somalia scores 8.5 for human trafficking; 8 for human smuggling; 9.5 for extortion and protection racketeering; 9 for arms trafficking; 7 for financial crimes; and 7 for trade in counterfeit goods.

Trump appears to suspect that America imported some of Somalia’s chronic problems when accepting its refugees.

Following a report detailing instances of alleged and confirmed fraud perpetrated by numerous members of the Somali community in Minnesota, Trump announced on Nov. 21 that he was terminating the Temporary Protected Status designation for Somalia.

RELATED: DHS to increase operations in Twin Cities region as Somali fraud becomes unignorable

Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

“Somalians ripped off that state for billions of dollars. Billions every year. Billions of dollars, and they contribute nothing. The welfare is like 88%. They contribute nothing,” continued Trump. “I don’t want them in our country; I’ll be honest with you. Some might say, ‘Oh, that’s not politically correct.’ I don’t care. I don’t want them in our country. Their country is no good for a reason. Their country stinks, and we don’t want them in our country. I can say that about other countries too.”

Trump added, “We’re at a tipping point. I don’t know if people mind me saying that, but I’m saying it. We could go one way or the other, and we’re going to go the wrong way if we keep taking in garbage into our country.”

“Ilhan Omar is garbage. She’s garbage. Her friends are garbage. These aren’t people that work,” Trump said, leaving no room for ambiguity.

“These are people who do nothing but complain.”

— (@)

Walz whines, gaslights

Walz made a big show on Thursday of denouncing Trump’s remarks and calling on others to do likewise.

“Donald Trump’s calling our Somali neighbors ‘garbage’ and the state of Minnesota a ‘hellhole’ is, I’m assuming, is unprecedented for a United States president,” said Walz, who has bent the truth to his benefit on numerous occasions.

The use of the term “garbage” by an American president in reference to a group of people is not unprecedented. In fact, Walz downplayed former President Joe Biden’s use of the term to describe nearly half the country just last year.

When stumping for then-presidential candidate Kamala Harris in October 2024, Biden fixated on a joke made by comedian Tony Hinchcliffe about Puerto Rico during a humorous speech at a Trump rally in New York City — a rally that Walz had likened to a Nazi rally. Rather than brush off the joke, Biden apparently tried to outdo Hillary Clinton’s “deplorables” smear.

“A speaker at his rally called Puerto Rico a ‘floating island of garbage.’ Well, let me tell you something,” said Biden. “In my home state of Delaware, they’re good, decent, honorable people. The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters.”

After Biden suggested that the over 77.3 million who would ultimately vote for Trump were “garbage,” Walz downplayed the remark when asked in a “CBS Mornings” interview whether that comment and others like it undercut the Democratic campaign’s “closing message of unity.”

“No, certainly not,” said Walz. “I think that the frustration we’ve seen since January 6, the frustration with Donald Trump’s rhetoric of division, it does fire passions.”

After suggesting on Thursday that Trump’s “garbage” remark was a first, Walz, a champion of racist DEI initiatives, said that “demonizing an entire group of people by their race and their ethnicity — a very group of people who contribute to the vitality, economic [sic], culture of this state is something I was hoping we’d never have to see. This is on top of all the other vile comments.”

The Democratic governor said that any officials in Minnesota who would not condemn Trump’s “vile attack” are “complicit in it.”

— (@)

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​Donald trump, Tim walz, Walz, Minnesota, Somalia, Africa, Somali, Fraud, Importation, Deportation, Immigration, Migration, Tps, Garbage, Politics 

“Pop singer Karen Carpenter died this morning from complications of anorexia nervosa,” said the perfectly made-up anchorwoman on KTLA while I sat at the table eating my Raisin Bran.

It was one of those bright Southern California mornings in 1983. There’s something jarring about hearing awful news in a chipper tone of voice when the sun is out and a new day is starting. Of course I was sad to hear about Karen’s death; she was that nice lady with the prettiest voice in the world who sang “the Sesame Street song.”

I fear we’re watching a replay of what happened in the 1970s and ’80s, when anorexia nervosa spread rapidly through the culture.

Sing of good things, not bad
Sing of happy, not sad

A voice from God

It wasn’t until many years later that I felt a deeper sadness and loss when I contemplated Karen Carpenter’s death at 33. She had a voice from God that comes along once in a century if we’re lucky. We had all watched her slowly kill herself right there on television. Like most deeply troubled people, Karen denied that anything was wrong, even as she sat under the interview lights as a skeleton in a sweater.

We’re seeing the same thing today in our “stars,” but unlike the early 1980s, grown-up America seems to think it’s normal. Maybe even “empowered.”

“There are rumors, though, that you were suffering from the slimmer’s disease, from anorexia nervosa. Was that right?” a British interviewer said to Karen in 1981.

“No,” said Karen, rolling her eyes inside a face that looked like a moving skull, all jagged planes and bone surfaces shining through translucent skin.

No looking away

Two years later, Karen died on the floor of her mother’s upstairs closet in Downey, California, before she made it down for breakfast. Despite having recently been treated for anorexia and gaining back a modest amount of weight, the long-term damage Karen did to her heart and organs made them give out.

And everyone knew it would. Everyone talked about it. Most adults in that era had looked on with worried skepticism at the gaunt Twiggy when she became a top model in the 1960s. Everyone knew women on TV or at the office who dieted a little too hard. But America had never seen something as extreme as what happened to Karen Carpenter.

There was no looking away, no denying it. Karen stood on stage with Ella Fitzgerald for a TV special. She was barely able to stand up, and if she weighed 90 pounds, I’ll eat my hat. That velvet syrup voice was almost enough to distract from the approaching death, but not quite.

Do we even notice when our stars kill themselves in public today?

The Ozemporexia nervosa era

We’re entering our Ozemporexia nervosa era. As usual, few people are saying out loud what everyone already knows: People with troubled minds and troubled relationships to substances including food are taking the drugs to cover over, or to enhance, an eating disorder. The semaglutide injectable diabetes drugs work in part by chemically controlling appetite, so the primary reason these drugs are prescribed today is, of course, weight loss.

If you have turned on a computing device or entered a store within the past few months, you cannot avoid noticing the oversaturation of advertisements for the movie “Wicked: For Good.” This is the sequel to the movie “Wicked,” based on the long-running Broadway musical, itself based on Gregory Maguire’s 1995 novel.

Maguire tells the story of the young Elphaba, the innocent green-skinned girl who would go on to terrorize Oz as the Wicked Witch of the West. Maguire’s novel pioneered what has now become commonplace in our entertainment: recasting the evil, the sinister, and the villainous as misunderstood and traumatized wee harmless ones who are actually the heroes.

RELATED: Out-of-control Ozempic use means sad, saggy future for TL;DR generation

PHAS/Getty Images

Folie à deux

Cynthia Erivo plays Elphaba, although her knife-edged cheekbones and six-inch acrylic talons are less witchy and more “Nosferatu.” The actress certainly seems to have the strange, self-absorbed charisma of a vampire, wasting away before our eyes even as she mesmerizes Hollywood into all manner of unnatural acts. Like casting her as Jesus in “Jesus Christ Superstar.”

But it is in Erivo’s jarring relationship with fellow extreme ectomorph Ariana Grande — who co-stars as a young Glinda the Good — that we really sense the vampiric.

Like Erivo, Grande seems much frailer than she did just a few years ago. The two appear in public as if they were sewn together at the hip. In nearly every press interview for their “Wicked” movies, Erivo clicks her claws around Grande’s neck and head, fiddling with her jewelry in a creepily proprietary way. Or the two are holding hands as if they were waifs being introduced to grown-ups for the first time outside the orphanage.

Celebrities looking and acting weird. Big shock, right? This is Hollywood we’re talking about. The town is a magnet for dysfunctional people. Neglected, abused, and exploited children run for the big city lights so they can be beautiful, adored, and good enough in a way they could never be for their parents.

Eating disorders, addiction, and declining mental health all stem from these childhood circumstances, and they are worsened for those who choose fame as a means of “getting over” them.

The influence of anxiety

This is not to say that Erivo or Grande suffer from any of this or even that they use Ozempic. But their alarmingly thin bodies and their brittle, performative intimacy do not exist in a vacuum. While young people have been entranced by celebrity culture since the mid-20th century, the desperate absorption and imitation of every star’s psychiatric distress by ordinary American kids has never been as extreme as it is in 2025.

One can make a reasonable argument for using the semaglutide drugs to lose weight when one’s health is in jeopardy and other methods have not worked. Every patient has to run that calculation for herself and consider it with her doctor.

But I fear we are watching a replay of what happened in the 1970s and ’80s, when anorexia nervosa spread rapidly through the culture and clinicians noted that the intense public focus on Karen Carpenter’s illness seemed to accelerate the trend.

But this has a pharmaceutical assist that will give a “normal” brand name to what is just old-fashioned self-starvation.

All-ages contagion

British researcher Gerald Russell first described bulimia nervosa (binge eating, followed by purging, usually vomiting) in some of his anorexic patients in a paper published in the 1970s. He later shared his alarm that his paper, and the spread of terms and diagnostic language around the condition, may have caused it to spread among women in the Western population.

Russell was arguably correct, though he can’t be blamed for trying to help sufferers. Young women are especially vulnerable to trends and fads; they will do almost anything, no matter how potentially dangerous, to keep up with what their friends are doing. If Becca manages to keep her figure by discreetly puking up her lunch, why shouldn’t Caitlin?

Michelle Obama has recently displayed an alarming weight loss on a frame that didn’t have much to lose. On her Instagram she shared an behind-the-scenes image from her recent shoot with photographer Annie Leibovitiz.

At 61 years old, Obama is dressing in teen-style distressed jeans and clingy, skin-baring tops, showing off how her female curves are melting away.

Look at her face. Does this woman look healthy or happy?

No one left to notice

The problems that celebrities, normal young women, and some men and boys face about body image aren’t about a particular drug or a time-limited fashion trend. What we see today in Hollywood is not different from what we have always seen in the entertainment industry and among the kids and teens who consume it.

The problems begin at home — the home that no longer exists. Fatherlessness, divorce, and normalized neglectful, hands-off parenting have left today’s kids even more vulnerable to self destruction than those of my generation in the 1980s. And if you are old enough to remember what that was like, you remember plenty of screwed-up kids from screwed-up families.

It’s worse today because we’re pretending that it’s not wrong, that it’s not unhealthy. It has brand names and “rizz,” and besides, everyone is doing it. How can it be wrong?

In 1983, adults spoke about what happened to Karen Carpenter with alarm, and they said it out loud. Today, cool moms get glammed up along with their daughters in officially licensed Wicked(™) outfits and stand in line for tickets to watch the actresses perform “fun” while their minds and bodies decay.

Isn’t modernity wonderful?

​Celebrities, Karen carpenter, Anorexia, Ozempic, Semaglutide, Wicked, Cynthia erivo, Ariana grande, Lifestyle, Entertainment, Culture, Ozemporexia nervosa, Intervention