Category: blaze media

Economist Thomas Sowell once noted, “Immigration laws are the only laws that are discussed in terms of how to help people who break them.” The story of U.S. Army Staff Sergeant Matthew Blank and his illegal alien wife, Annie Ramos, is a perfect example of Sowell’s assertion.

According to CBS News, Ramos — who is now 22 — was illegally brought to the United States by her family in 2005. Staff Sergeant Blank married Ramos, knowing full well that she was an illegal alien. He stated to the New York Times, “I knew she didn’t have status. [But] we were doing everything the right way.” Ramos was eventually arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, a few days after the couple was married, at the military base where Blank was stationed.

If litigants are free to ignore court appearances without consequences, the whole system falls apart.

Of course, despite Blank’s assertions to the contrary, nothing was done “the right way” in this case. After entering the United States unlawfully, the Ramos family was scheduled for an appearance before the U.S. Immigration Court. They failed to appear. When a respondent in immigration proceedings defaults, the immigration judge is required pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1229a(b)(5) to enter an in absentia order of removal. This is clearly conveyed to all illegal aliens placed in immigration proceedings, both verbally by the immigration officers handling their cases and in all written notices issued by the court.

In absentia removal notices may seem harsh to the casual observer, but they are not. Courts engage in serious business. And running legal tribunals costs taxpayers a significant amount of money. If litigants are free to ignore court appearances without consequences, the whole system falls apart. Accordingly, courts expect litigants to appear for scheduled hearings, on time, every time. That is why every court in the United States imposes penalties, ranging from monetary fines to additional criminal charges and extended sentences, when litigants fail to appear.

Moreover, the above-mentioned statute governing in absentia removal orders provides an “out” for individuals who missed their hearings due to exigent circumstances. It specifically states that such an order may be rescinded “upon a motion to reopen filed within 180 days after the date of the order of removal if the alien demonstrates that the failure to appear was because of exceptional circumstances” or “upon a motion to reopen filed at any time if the alien demonstrates that the alien did not receive notice” of the hearing.

There is no indication that Ms. Ramos or her family ever made any attempt to reopen immigration proceedings and seek rescission of the order of removal entered against them. That is likely because the Ramos clan was fully aware they were likely to be deported. Contrary to popular opinion, the vast majority of illegal aliens do not qualify for any form of relief from removal, with 79% to 80% being either ordered removed or granted voluntary departure. Instead, Ms. Ramos waited approximately 15 years and applied for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, the Obama administration’s ill-fated attempt to impose an immigration amnesty by executive fiat.

And what of Staff Sergeant Blank’s status as a member of America’s armed forces? In 2022, the Biden administration unilaterally and arbitrarily directed the Department of Homeland Security “to generally refrain from seeking the deportation of U.S. military veterans or service members and their immediate family members.” Of course, that policy was unlawful. Neither the Uniform Code of Military Justice (the statute governing the actions of members of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, and Space Force) nor the Immigration and Nationality Act has any provisions exempting either service members, or their families, from the laws governing the admission of foreign nationals into the United States. And only Congress has the authority to enact such exemptions, which it has never done.

Accordingly, the Trump administration rescinded team Biden’s illegal policy. It began applying the provisions of the INA to service members in the same manner as to everyone else. This is as it should be. Pro forma leniency toward alien immigration violators merely because they are related to a military member is bad policy. It makes our service members targets for foreign intelligence agents. And the presence of illegal aliens on military installations undermines the security of those facilities.

Recently, Annie Ramos was released from immigration detention. It remains to see how ICE will proceed with her case. But both our political leaders and the generals in charge of our armed forces should tread carefully. Every soldier, sailor, airman, Marine, and guardian commences his or her military career by taking an oath that begins, “I do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true allegiance to the same.” If military service becomes a free pass to violate the very laws that preserve our national sovereignty, then service members are not bearing true faith and allegiance to our Constitution — they are claiming to be exempt from it.

​Ice, Illegal alien, Immigration law, Immigration laws, Us army, Opinion & analysis 

Democrats have in recent years likened redistricting efforts to the Holocaust, called them “a threat to democracy,” and characterized them as “authoritarian.” However, in the lead-up to Virginia’s gerrymandering referendum, Democrats adopted a disparate view.

Presented with the opportunity to all but ensure that 10 out of the state’s 11 congressional seats go to their comrades, Democrats reconstrued gerrymandering as a noble pursuit — an alleged means to “help level the playing field,” a way to “restore fairness,” and, in the words of Virginia Democratic Gov. Abigail Spanberger, a “response to what we’re seeing in other states that have taken extreme measures to undermine democratic norms.”

‘The result of a process that’s unconstitutional and illegal.’

With the help of out-of-state dark money and propagandizing by big-name liberals like former President Barack Obama, Democrats proved victorious on Tuesday in disenfranchising Republican voters in Old Dominion.

The following loaded question appeared on the April 21 ballot: “Should the Constitution of Virginia be amended to allow the General Assembly to temporarily adopt new congressional districts to restore fairness in the upcoming elections, while ensuring Virginia’s standard redistricting process resumes for all future redistricting after the 2030 census?”

With over 97% of the votes counted, the Associated Press reported that 51.5% of the ballots were cast in favor of the proposal and 48.6% were cast in opposition — a difference of just over 88,700 votes.

Election Day votes, a majority of which were “no” votes, reportedly accounted for 55% of the total; early in-person votes accounted for 35% of the total; and mail-in votes accounted for 10% of the total, 72% of which were “yes” votes.

RELATED: How Spanberger managed to hit record-low approval rating in 80 days

Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

Spanberger stated, “Virginia voters have spoken, and tonight they pushed back against a President who claims he is ‘entitled’ to more Republican seats in Congress.”

“As we watched other states go along with those demands without voter input, Virginians refused to let that stand,” continued Spanberger, who claimed when running for governor last year that she had no plans to redistrict the state. “We responded the right way: at the ballot box.”

In a statement where he ironically criticized “unprecedented gerrymandering,” Virginia Senate Majority Leader Scott Surovell (D) said that “fairness won. Accountability won. And the Commonwealth that gave America its Constitution has once again reminded the nation what that Constitution is for.”

Obama congratulated Virginia, thanking voters “for showing us what it looks like to stand up for our democracy and fight back.”

U.S. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) excitedly announced that “House Democrats have crushed Donald Trump’s national gerrymandering scheme.” He added, “Maximum warfare, everywhere, all the time.”

Former Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R), who previously emphasized that the new map was “the result of a process that’s unconstitutional and illegal,” said in a statement, “Thank you to all the voters who turned out to vote against this egregious power grab. The race was much closer than the left expected because Virginians know a 10-1 map is not Virginia.”

“I urge the Virginia Supreme Court to rule against this unconstitutional process that will disenfranchise millions of Virginians,” added Youngkin.

There are multiple lawsuits pending before the Virginia Supreme Court regarding the legality of the constitutional amendment. Oral arguments for the cases are tentatively scheduled for Monday.

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​Barack obama, Congress, Constitution, Democrats, Donald trump, Election day, Elections, Gerrymandering, Hakeem jeffries, Old dominion, Redistricting, Referendum, Republican voters, Unconstitutional, Virginia, Virginia supreme court, Glenn youngkin, Spanberger, Politics 

Many people were alarmed by an appalling viral video posted over the weekend of an Israeli soldier desecrating a statue of Christ Crucified in Southern Lebanon. Others, however disgusted by the act, argued that he was simply a “bad apple” in the Israel Defense Forces.

However, there may be more “bad apples” than originally thought, as footage of similar attacks on Christian holy sites have resurfaced in the wake of the alarming photograph.

The monastery, which has roots dating back to the 15th century, was razed by Israeli forces during the 2006 Lebanon War.

More recorded examples of IDF soldiers apparently acting inappropriately in and around holy sites have emerged online, lending credence to the idea that these incidents are not anomalous but rather represent a pattern of behavior.

One notable example shows a group of Israeli soldiers apparently entering an Orthodox church, including the sanctuary — the restricted area behind the veil that only bishops, priests, and deacons are allowed to enter at specific times — mocking Christian saints, imagery, and rituals and pretending to have sex with each other after a mock wedding ceremony.

RELATED: IDF soldier caught smashing Jesus statue with sledgehammer — officials and critics react

COURTNEY BONNEAU/Middle East Images/AFP/Getty Images

The original video was posted by Younis Tirawi, the same journalist who over the weekend posted the photo of the IDF soldier smashing Christ’s head with a sledgehammer. It should be noted that the IDF claims to have worked with locals in Debel, Lebanon, to replace the destroyed cross and said that it “expresses deep regret” over the recent incident.

The older video, however, has not apparently received the same response from Israeli authorities.

The video appears to have been first posted on November 25, 2024. Tirawi reported that the video was taken in a church in Deir Mimas, South Lebanon. Blaze News independently confirmed that the video matches the interior of the Monastery of St. Mamas in Deir Mimas.

The video has a caption written in Hebrew, and the soldiers in the video are also speaking Hebrew. Tirawi described the soldiers as “Israeli soldiers from the Golani Special Operations Unit,” more commonly referred to as the Golani Brigade, which has a history of operations in Southern Lebanon and the surrounding region.

The caption also includes a translation, which reads, “First wedding in the team,” followed by a cross emoji and an emoji of two raised hands.

Multiple outlets covered the video at the time. These reports claimed that the Israeli soldiers themselves posted the video first, though this video appears to have been deleted. The Council on American-Islamic Relations also issued a condemnation of the actions in the video alongside its disavowal of an alleged “call by a top Israeli official for the ethnic cleansing of Gaza.”

On the same day the video of the soldiers in the church was posted, the Times of Israel reported that Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said, “It’s possible to create a situation in which Gaza will have less than half its current population within two years.”

Cited by a detailed article of the incident by Public Orthodoxy, the Israel Defense Forces issued a vague statement seemingly regarding the incident at the Monastery of St. Mamas, though it did not acknowledge the specific actions shown in the video. The statement, dated November 26, 2024, reads:

This is a serious incident that is not in line with the values of the IDF and its orders.
The IDF respects all religions and condemns such behavior.
The incident is under review, and those involved face disciplinary repercussions.

Public Orthodoxy explained that the incident was not the first time the church has been harmed by Israeli forces. The monastery, which has roots dating back to the 15th century, was razed by Israeli forces during the 2006 Lebanon War.

The article added that a pattern has emerged of Israeli soldiers filming and posting videos of themselves committing crimes, referring to a compilation of alleged examples by the Washington Post and Al Jazeera.

The IDF and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office did not respond to a request for comment from Blaze News.

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​Christ crucified statue, Debel lebanon, Deir mimas church, Ethnic cleansing gaza, Finance minister bezalel, Israel defense forces, Israeli forces crimes videos, Israeli soldier desecrating, Israeli soldiers mocking, Monastery of st mamas, Orthodox church incident, Politics, Southern lebanon 

The other day I drove from the tip of Michigan’s Lower Peninsula to Marquette in the Upper Peninsula.

It was about a three-and-a-half-hour drive through the wilderness. It’s not a terribly confusing trip — there’s about nine turns total, and I’ve made it many times. So I didn’t bother to summon my usual co-pilot — the always reliable Google Maps.

When I was a kid, my parents drove us from Michigan to California using a paper map. It probably took a little longer, with a much vaguer ETA.

No phone attached to the dashboard barking commands at me. No little cartoon avatar of my vehicle to look at.

And a funny thing happened. Time passed more quickly. The drive felt easier. I was less anxious. I had a more enjoyable time.

Yooper trooper

I wasn’t going particularly slow. I maintained a steady 5 to 15 over the limit, as one does on the empty and police-free northern roads of the Upper Peninsula. It’s the local custom.

I wasn’t trying to go especially fast either. It was a work trip, and I wanted to get to Marquette as soon as possible. But I wasn’t stressed, and I wasn’t annoyed at how long it was taking. I didn’t dread the drive. I didn’t even get bored. I never felt that feeling that I always feel at some point — the one where I start to think that maybe a self-driving car wouldn’t be so bad after all.

I concluded that, of course, my more relaxed demeanor in the driver’s seat was due to the absence of Google Maps on U.S. Route 2. But I wanted to test it again, just to see if it wasn’t a fluke. So I did.

Time trial

Yesterday a couple of the kids and I drove another three and a half hours south to visit their grandparents. It’s a drive I’ve made tons of times, so I left my phone on the passenger’s seat, and the same thing happened again.

The drive was easier. Time passed more quickly. I never really got sick of the road, and I really did have a much better time doing something I normally don’t really like doing at all.

It’s really very interesting and perhaps a bit counterintuitive. You’d think getting continual updates about how many more miles until the next turn, how many hours until arrival, and where exactly you are on the map might make things go more quickly. You’d think eliminating the mystery and guesswork would make for a more relaxing drive.

In fact, it’s the opposite.

Road worrier

The continual updates and ticking clock make me more anxious. When Google Maps is open on my phone, I find myself checking the route and seeing 2:35 until arrival, and then only two minutes later doing the same thing again just to see 2:33 until arrival. Over and over again I do this, and it feels like watching water boil. Having all those updates makes me feel like I’m never going to get there. It makes the trip feel longer. The information stretches time or something. It’s too zoomed in, too detailed, too much. Information over-saturation.

When I was a kid, my parents drove us from Michigan to California using a paper map. It probably took a little longer, with a much vaguer ETA. But why do we need to know the exact minute we’re going to get there anyway?

Constant companions

Learning that Google Maps was making all my car travel feel unnecessarily long and annoying makes me wonder what other technology is secretly ruining my daily life.

The global news cycle comes to mind, of course. As does most doomscrolling on social media. But those are obvious culprits. What about the less obvious stuff? The hidden stuff? I didn’t realize that the Google Map updates were having a negative psychological impact on my trip until I put the phone away on a whim. That irritating, anxiety-inducing information was hiding in plain sight.

Our modern lives are great. We enjoy so many conveniences that our grandparents could only dream of. And they say people are more anxious today than ever before. Maybe we just need to stop complaining.

Or maybe a lot of these conveniences are more curse than blessing.

What if we really are more anxious because we can order anything we want from anywhere, because we have infinite choices, because we are able check the tracking on our packages every other hour, read news from every corner of the globe, unlock new fears by way of IG reels, and get blow-by-blow updates on our phones about how many more miles until we get there and when we need to turn right?

What if we know too much?

​Google maps, Men’s style, Lifestyle, Road trips, Upper peninsula, Michigan, Family, The root of the matter 

A few years ago, surgeries and medications helped heal my broken body after a terrible accident. I was grateful for the modern medical system’s capabilities as eight broken ribs, a clavicle that was in five pieces, and a collapsed lung were treated and healed. What would have been miracles of biblical proportions 50 years ago were a process that allowed me to go back to work within months.

The pharmaceutical drugs that got my body on the road to healing were a big part of that success. As a chiropractor with almost two decades in the field, I have seen medications, drugs, and related treatments do wonders, especially after an accident, surgery, birth, or some other significant medical event. But I have also seen the true cost of Big Pharma’s greed, as many patients come to me with years of problems that have been patched over by marketing posing as pharmaceutical solutions.

Big Pharma’s solution is to ‘fix’ the problem with even more drugs.

Take the push to prescribe GLP-1s to kids as young as 13 — who are then told they should be taking these weight-loss drugs for life. Why bother with exercise and healthy diets when you can just take Wegovy every month indefinitely? For pharmaceutical shareholders, that must look like a great business model. To anyone who cares about the health of the nation, it’s a scandal.

My wife and I founded our chiropractic practice on the principles of Eric Plasker’s 100-year lifestyle philosophy. We quickly learned that living a good life for more than a century is almost impossible when you are overmedicated, sedentary, miserable, and addicted to taking the “cures” peddled to so many Americans.

RELATED: ‘Hold Big Pharma accountable’: Vaxx giants are sure to be nervous about Rand Paul’s new bill

Liudmila Chernetska/Getty Images

I see the problems caused by modern lifestyles every day at my practice. Patients come to me with aches and pains, over-inflamed by the food they eat, the drugs they take, lack of movement, and mental overload. I treat the body as one connected system led by the nervous system, using chiropractic adjustments to restore brain-body communication so that pain eases and overall health improves.

I tell patients that where possible, prevention is always better than a cure. There are also changes we can all make that will keep us healthier for longer. Focusing on eating right and leading an active lifestyle will help to keep the medications at bay.

If you’re suffering from a major illness or recovering from a severe accident, you should use the very best medicines our society offers. However, too many people rely on drugs as a be-all, end-all solution to their problems, turning to them for minor illnesses, for non-severe pain, and as a substitute for exercise, eating healthily, and taking a positive mental outlook on life.

As a society, we have forgotten how to listen to our bodies. We have replaced movement with sitting and staring at screens, filling our bodies with high-sugar, overprocessed food, substituting real social connections with electronic friends, and letting stress rule our lives. Our bodies are at maximum toxic overload. And we wonder why we don’t feel good and are labeled the sickest nation in the world.

Standard medical thinking is that a drug can “fix” the problem with the body. However, the drugs often have a two-part negative impact: they mask the messages that our body is trying to tell us and create unwanted side effects.

Of course, Big Pharma’s solution is to “fix” the problem with even more drugs. The cycle is endless.

Today, Americans pay roughly three times more for medicines than people in any other country, accounting for about three-quarters of the pharmaceutical sector’s profits. Sure, modern medicine can work miracles. But the sheer expense is often unmanageable for too many families, forcing them into financial difficulties or making choices between food and medicine.

Instead of spending years patching themselves up and paying for overpriced drugs, my patients watch their bodies follow their natural healing processes. We’d all like to live to 100, but no pill or jab will help you reach that milestone. True health and longevity can only be achieved when we say no to Big Pharma and take control of our own health.

​Active lifestyle, Longevity, Maha, Modern medical system, Opinion & analysis 

A 6-year-old Florida girl thanked a police officer by giving her a heartwarming drawing after an investigation into alleged child abuse.

The investigation began after the girl showed up at Enterprise Elementary School in Volusia County with bruises, swelling, and redness.

The girl also allegedly told police that she was fed only once a week.

When she was questioned by police, the girl said she had been slapped in the face 17 times because she was “acting up and destroyed her room” and spanked the next day by 29-year-old Jeffrey Morales.

An arrest report said the girl’s 35-year-old mother, Melissa Husk, had kept her out of school for two days afterward in order to cover up her injuries.

Husk told the girl to tell people she fell and threatened that she would be taken away if she didn’t, according to deputies.

The girl also allegedly told police that she was fed only once a week and couldn’t remember the last time she bathed or brushed her teeth.

Morales was arrested for child abuse, while the mother was charged with child neglect.

The girl was placed into the custody of the Department of Children and Families.

WESH-TV obtained video of the man’s arrest from the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office.

RELATED: Child sex abuse material found on PE teacher’s phone after he inappropriately touched students, police say

The girl gave a drawing to one of the deputies involved in the case. The drawing appeared to be made on a kitchen paper towel and showed the girl next to the deputy officer.

“That’s a keeper,” reads a post with the drawing on the sheriff’s office Facebook account.

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​Child abuse florida, Volusia county sheriffs office, Melissa husk abuse, Girl gives deputy photo, Crime 

In September 1787, the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia came to a close. Delegates had spent months debating and negotiating the structure for a new American government. When the final document was presented for signatures, most of the delegates agreed to support it. But one of the most influential figures in the room refused.

George Mason of Virginia would not sign the Constitution.

Mason’s refusal did not stem from radical opposition to the new proposed government. In fact, he played a major role in shaping America’s early political philosophy. Yet when the convention concluded, Mason believed something essential was missing. The proposed Constitution created a powerful federal government, but it contained no explicit protections for individual liberty. Without a Bill of Rights, Mason warned, citizens would have little protection against abuses of power.

If artificial intelligence is going to help shape the future of our society in profound ways, should it not also be built to respect the same freedoms that Americans have fought for since the founding of the republic?

History ultimately proved his concerns justified. Mason’s refusal helped spark the debate that led to the adoption of the Bill of Rights a few years later. His message was simple. When a new, powerful institution is created, the protection of liberty cannot be an afterthought.

A new power is emerging

More than two centuries later, we find the United States again standing at the edge of a transformative moment. Today, the institution taking shape is artificial intelligence. And this institution may end up being just as consequential to society as the shaping of the country in the late eighteenth century.

The most advanced AI systems are already beginning to shape our culture and how people access information, businesses make decisions, institutions function, and public discourse unfolds. These systems are being integrated into everything from banking and education to media and health care. In many cases, AI models act as intermediaries between humans and the world of information around them.

This development carries enormous promise. Artificial intelligence could accelerate medical research, improve productivity, and unlock scientific discoveries that once seemed impossible.

At the same time, the growing influence of AI raises an important question. What values will guide the systems that increasingly shape our society?

AI is not neutral by default. Every model reflects decisions made by its designers. The data used to train it, the rules used to filter its responses, and the priorities embedded in its algorithms all influence how it interacts with users. Beyond just answering questions and responding to prompts, these systems influence what information people encounter and how issues are understood.

In other words, the institutions building AI today are quietly creating the informational infrastructure of the future.

Where are the safeguards for freedom?

George Mason understood that powerful institutions require clear limits. His concern centered on ensuring that a strong central government would respect the rights of the people it serves.

Artificial intelligence deserves the same scrutiny.

Recent controversies surrounding AI tools have revealed how easily political or ideological assumptions can shape technological systems. A growing body of studies has found that many leading AI models tend to reflect left-leaning political assumptions in their outputs, raising concerns about viewpoint bias. Major AI platforms have faced backlash for producing historically inaccurate outputs to satisfy modern ideological expectations, as seen in widely publicized image-generation failures.

Social media platforms, powered by similar AI-driven algorithms, already curate what users see, amplifying certain viewpoints while quietly burying others. Even leaders within the AI industry have acknowledged the risk that these systems could influence public discourse in ways that are difficult for users to detect.

More egregious examples can be seen with Chinese AI models, such as DeepSeek, which have been shown to avoid or redirect discussion on topics that conflict with official government positions, reflecting the priorities of the state rather than the pursuit of truth.

Taken together, these examples demonstrate how AI can be shaped to filter reality itself, whether by governments, corporations, or the assumptions embedded by developers.

These examples illustrate a basic reality. Artificial intelligence can either serve as a tool for expanding human freedom or as an instrument for shaping and controlling public discourse and, by extension, society. The outcome will depend on the values embedded in these systems today.

A meaningful step forward would be the adoption of clear, principled guidelines for building and deploying these systems. At minimum, AI development should prioritize truth-seeking over narrative-shaping, ensuring that systems are designed to inform rather than steer users toward predetermined conclusions.

Developers should also commit to transparency in training data sources, so the public has a clearer understanding of what informs these models.

Just as important, developers should resist coercion from governments or corporations seeking to suppress lawful speech or manipulate outcomes. They should reject internal policies that seek to bury dissenting views under the vague banner of “safety,” a term that too often masks subjective judgment.

These principles may not solve every problem, but they would begin to align AI with the values of a free society.

George Mason’s warning for the AI age

George Mason refused to sign the Constitution because he believed liberty needed stronger protection before a new federal government was enacted. His insistence on a Bill of Rights helped ensure that the American experiment would endure longer by providing explicit protections for individual freedom.

The United States now faces a similar moment as artificial intelligence becomes woven into the fabric of modern life. AI will influence how people learn, communicate, and understand the world. The values guiding these systems will shape society in ways that are difficult to predict.

Before this technological infrastructure becomes fully embedded in our daily lives, it is worth asking a question that George Mason would likely recognize.

If artificial intelligence is going to help shape the future of our society in profound ways, should it not also be built to respect the same freedoms that Americans have fought for since the founding of the republic?

The founders believed liberty required clear protections before a new, powerful structure was fully unleashed. As we enter the age of artificial intelligence, their lesson remains as relevant as ever.

​Ai models, Artificial intelligence, Bill of rights, Constitution, Heartland institute, Technology infrastructure, Opinion & analysis 

Former Capitol Police Officer Shauni Kerkhoff filed a defamation lawsuit on Tuesday against Blaze Media, former employees Steve Baker and Joseph Hanneman, and Baker and Hanneman’s new online publication, Veritas Regnat, for their reporting on the Jan. 5 to Jan. 6, 2021, pipe-bomb incident in Washington, D.C.

For nearly five years, federal authorities had been unable to identify the masked individual who placed one pipe bomb outside the Democratic National Committee headquarters and another outside the Republican National Committee headquarters the evening before the Jan. 6, 2021, protest at the U.S. Capitol. The devices did not detonate, and there were no injuries reported.

The lawsuit cites a November 8, 2025, Blaze News article that named Kerkhoff as a “forensic match,” based on gait analysis, to the bombing suspect. In December, the Department of Justice announced that the suspect had been identified as another person, Brian Cole Jr., from Woodbridge, Virginia. Blaze News retracted the article shortly after Cole’s arrest.

The complaint alleges that Kerkhoff, represented by the Alexandria-based defamation law firm Clare Locke, was “ultimately exonerated” and that the defendants’ “false and defamatory accusations have irreparably changed her life.” It further alleges that Blaze News’ investigation “induced the FBI to open an investigation of Ms. Kerkhoff.”

“They then cited that investigation — which their own actions had caused — as independent corroboration of their accusation,” according to the complaint.

An April 1 motion filed by Cole’s attorneys claimed that Kerkhoff was “interviewed by the FBI and took a polygraph examination” on Nov. 6, 2025, two days before Blaze News published the article naming Kerkhoff in connection to the pipe-bomb incident.

In her lawsuit, Kerkhoff confirmed that two FBI agents confronted her on Nov. 6, claiming they were “investigating ‘online chatter’ that she was the pipe bomber.” Kerkhoff’s complaint also alleges that her home was subjected to a search, and she participated in a polygraph interview that evening.

While Kerkhoff’s complaint does not mention the results of her polygraph, Cole’s motion — which stated that she was asked two relevant questions, “Did you place those pipe bombs?” and “Did you place those pipe bombs that evening?” — asserted that she failed the examination. It also claimed that the polygraph examiner “noted” that Kerkhoff’s answers seemed “rehearsed.” Cole’s attorneys stated that the FBI named Kerkhoff “as a person of interest” on Nov. 7, a day before Blaze News’ article was released.

“Blaze News initially reported, as confirmed by official intelligence sources, that based on a forensic gait analysis, Ms. Kerkhoff was a 94% match to the suspected pipe bomber. That report was retracted when the FBI arrested and DOJ charged another individual, who had reportedly confessed to the crime. According to recent court filings by that individual’s legal counsel, Ms. Kerkhoff was a person of interest under surveillance by the FBI and failed a polygraph test administered two days before Blaze Media’s article was published,” Michael Grygiel, attorney for Blaze Media, told Blaze News in a statement.

“Blaze Media will vigorously defend this meritless lawsuit challenging its valid news reporting on a matter of legitimate public concern, which is protected under the First Amendment and Virginia’s anti-SLAPP law.”

Kerkhoff’s complaint alleges six counts of defamation against the defendants, including four against Blaze Media. She is seeking an unspecified amount in damages to be determined at trial.

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​News, Blaze media, Blaze news, Shauni kerkhoff, January 6, Jan 6, Jan. 6, Pipe bomb, January 6 pipe bomb, J6, Brian cole, Brian cole jr, Politics 

The Department of Justice announced Tuesday an indictment against the Southern Poverty Law Center for allegedly funneling money to extremist groups.

The SPLC said earlier on Tuesday that the organization was being “targeted” by the Trump administration and speculated that the action was related to money paid to informants to gather information from hate groups.

‘We will not be intimidated into silence or contrition, and we will not abandon our mission or the communities we serve.’

In a post on social media, the Department of Justice accused the SPLC of paying $1 million to a National Alliance affiliate, $300K to an Aryan Nations affiliate, and $73K to former members of the Ku Klux Klan, among others.

“As the indictment describes, the SPLC was not dismantling these groups; it was instead manufacturing the extremism it purports to oppose by paying sources to stoke racial hatred,” Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a media briefing.

The indictment includes six counts of wire fraud, four counts of bank fraud, and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering.

“As the indictment lays out, after SPLC paid members of these extremist groups, it created work product that reported on these activities that the members participated in or contributed to,” Blanche added. “And to that end, it was doing the exact opposite of what it told its donors it was doing.”

SPLC interim president and CEO Bryan Fair pre-empted the announcement in a video posted to social media.

“The focus appears to be on the SPLC’s prior use of paid confidential informants to gather credible intelligence on extremely violent groups,” he explained. “This use of informants was necessary because we are no stranger to threats of violence.”

He said that the SPLC shared the information gained through informants with law enforcement agencies but protected the identities of the informants.

RELATED: Southern Poverty Law Center attorney among 23 arrested for domestic terrorism

“Today the federal government has been weaponized to dismantle the rights of our nation’s most vulnerable people,” Fair added.

“We will not be intimidated into silence or contrition, and we will not abandon our mission or the communities we serve,” Fair concluded.

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​Doj vs splc, Southern poverty law center, Splc funds extremism, Splc indictment, Politics 

U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee has reportedly been tapped to participate in the next round of talks with Lebanon.

The ceasefire between Iran and the U.S. appears to be on shaky ground after both sides accused each other of violating the terms they agreed to.

The Times reported that Iran failed to respond to the latest negotiation positions from the US.

Vice President JD Vance was scheduled to travel to Pakistan in order to further negotiate the peace deal with Iran, but that has been put on hold according to the New York Times.

Also on Tuesday, the president said he would withhold resuming attacks on Iran to give the country’s leaders time to come up with a “unified proposal” for a ceasefire to continue.

“I have therefore directed our Military to continue the Blockade and, in all other respects, remain ready and able, and will therefore extend the Ceasefire until such time as their proposal is submitted, and discussions are concluded, one way or the other,” he wrote on Truth Social.

The Times reported that Iran failed to respond to the latest negotiation positions from the U.S.

Iranian leaders also said they had no plans to attend the talks in Pakistan with the U.S. negotiators.

CNN reported spotting Vance’s motorcade at the White House early Tuesday afternoon.

RELATED: Iran is plotting drone strike against the West Coast, FBI warns

On a radio show Monday, the president warned Iran that the country was going to see “problems like they’ve never seen before” unless it agreed to a peace deal.

He added that he believed the war on Iran was “very close to being over.”

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​Mike huckabee, Lebanon talks with us, Ceasefire deadline extended, Us-israeli strikes on iran, Politics 

Last weekend during the Michigan Democratic Women’s Caucus Legacy Luncheon, Democrat Sen. Cory Booker (N.J.) quite literally shouted a speech, in which he implored Democrats to become “foot soldiers for democracy” and warned of “darkness and wind” facing the nation ahead of the midterms.

At one point in his 25-minute fire-and-brimstone jeremiad, Booker, gesturing upward, bellowed, “What we need is not from on high!”

On a recent episode of “Pat Gray Unleashed,” Pat played the clip of the speech and concluded that Booker is an “antichrist” among us.

Pat translates Booker’s controversial line: “He is telling you we don’t need God.”

“Well, that’s an antichrist. … Maybe not the Antichrist, but he’s an antichrist,” he argues, calling it “frightening.”

The panel agrees that Booker and fellow Democrats’ wild antics are the result of Trump derangement syndrome.

“The infection has really spread,” says Jeffy.

“How do you come together with these people?” asks Pat. “There’s one way and it is from on high.”

“We got to turn to God on high to come together on this, and if you’re screaming that that’s not what we need, what does that tell Americans?” he asks. “That tells you he’s not the guy to follow, that’s for sure. That’s not the party to follow.”

What is desperately needed, Pat explains, is for all politicians to “call for prayer for the nation to get together and have a common purpose and invoke the blessings of God.”

He compares Booker’s comment to President Trump’s request for national prayer in preparation for the nation’s 250th birthday.

“I’m serious about this being antichrist because [Booker] is telling people you don’t need God,” Pat reiterates. “What we need are Democrats, I guess? So they’re putting themselves in the position of God. … It’s despicable. It’s anti-American. It’s anti-Christian. It’s anti-God.”

Keith Malinak argues Booker is just a “Democrat telling the truth about Democrats.”

To see the clip of Booker’s speech and hear more of the panel’s commentary, watch the episode above.

Want more from Pat Gray?

To enjoy more of Pat’s biting analysis and signature wit as he restores common sense to a senseless world, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

​Antichrist, Antichristian, Antigod, Blessings of god, Cory booker, Democrat senator, God on high, Jeffy, Keith malinak, Michigan democratic womens caucus, National prayer, Pat gray, Pat gray unleashed, President trump, Trump derangement syndrome 

A Democratic county court clerk is demanding accountability for a teenager who allegedly stuck a gun in her face and stole her car in Maryland.

Mahasin El Amin said she was on the phone in her white 2014 Lexus when a young man approached her on Thursday and then pulled a gun on her.

‘I’m just so grateful — grateful to God — because I thought I was going to die.’

The man drove off with her car and left her fearing for her life.

“It’s the scariest thing that ever happened to me in my life,” El Amin said in an interview Friday. “It was so quick — and all the thoughts like, ‘I’m literally going to die.'”

El Amin is the elected clerk of the Circuit Court for Prince George’s County and is running for re-election. She is a Democrat.

A day after the alleged carjacking, police spotted the vehicle and began a pursuit that ended with the driver crashing the Lexus and trying to get away on foot. He was caught and identified as 18-year-old Kairee Hicks of Bowie.

El Amin said she was relieved when she heard of his arrest but was alarmed when she found out about his criminal past.

Police recovered a gun during Hicks’ arrest that they said was connected to a previous shooting and charged him with attempted first-degree murder.

“It shocked me to my core,” said El Amin about the charges. “I’m just so grateful — grateful to God — because I thought I was going to die.”

El Amin said the incident served to remind others to be vigilant in order to stay safe from violent crime.

“I’m glad that this guy, this dangerous guy, is off the streets,” she added. “That’s one less person that we have to worry about. The county is safer because he’s off the streets.”

RELATED: Former Biden staffer rips into Dem-controlled cities for spiraling into chaos: ‘Is this a joke?’

Despite this incident, carjacking crimes are dropping precipitously in the county. There have only been 18 carjacking reports so far in 2026, which represents an astounding 56% drop from the previous year. In 2023, there were 500 carjackings, according to a WJLA-TV report.

Hicks was denied bond and remains in custody.

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​Masahin el amin, Democrats victims of crime, Court clerk carjacked, Maryland carjacking, Politics 

The American Israel Public Affairs Committee and its affiliates throw around tens of millions of dollars in American elections to ensure that hardline supporters of Israel are elected to the U.S. Congress on both sides of the aisle.

While the pro-Israel lobbying firm has long enjoyed success in America, it has encountered a number of setbacks in recent months.

For instance, by recently pouring millions of dollars into the Democratic primary against former New Jersey Rep. Tom Malinowski over his criticism of the Israeli government, AIPAC unwittingly paved the way for a fiercer critic of Israel, Analilia Mejia, to succeed ex-Rep. Mikie Sherrill.

‘One Republican is standing in the way.’

In Illinois, AIPAC also made a bad investment in Chicago City Treasurer Melissa Conyears-Ervin, who got crushed in the 7th District Democrat primary to replace retiring incumbent Rep. Danny Davis.

Despite its recent missteps and growing unpopularity on the left, AIPAC still appears confident that it can help unseat Rep. Thomas Massie (R) in Kentucky’s 4th Congressional District by characterizing him as a turncoat and Republican challenger Ed Gallrein as the optimal choice.

The United Democracy Project, an AIPAC super PAC established in 2022, recently spent $790,000 for a week of broadcast and cable ads in the Cincinnati, Louisville, and Charleston media markets, reported the Jewish Insider.

In the 30-second ad that AIPAC apparently hopes will hurt Massie, a narrator states, “What happened to Thomas Massie? He’s flipped. Massie started out as a conservative Republican but now votes with liberal Democrats.”

RELATED: IDF soldier caught smashing Jesus statue with sledgehammer — officials and critics react

Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

The ad does not specify which votes the UDP perceives as blemishes on Massie’s record. The congressman did, however, recently vote in favor of resolutions directing Trump to remove the U.S. armed forces from hostilities with Iran, pursuant to section 5(c) of the War Powers Resolution, and voted last year against Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

In November 2023, he also ruffled feathers when casting the lone “no” vote in Congress against a resolution that: reaffirmed the State of Israel’s right to exist, deemed denial of that right a form of anti-Semitism, rejected calls for Israel’s destruction, and condemned the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel. Massie stated at the time that he agreed with the “title ‘Reaffirming the State of Israel’s Right to Exist’ and much of the language,” but voted no “because it equates anti-Zionism with antisemitism.”

“On Israel, Massie votes with AOC and Ilhan Omar again and again,” says the narrator of the AIPAC ad. “Massie’s a flippin’ disaster. That’s why President Trump supports Ed Gallrein for Congress.”

In October, Trump endorsed Gallrein, a farmer and Navy SEAL combat veteran whose website notes that he’s “fighting for President Trump’s and the Republican Party’s America First Agenda.”

Last month, Trump reiterated his support for the GOP challenger, stating that Massie — a lawmaker with an 86.77% lifetime Turning Point Action score and a 91.25% score this Congress — is the “Worst ‘Republican’ Congressman we have had in many years,” and that Gallrein is alternatively “the person that will help us do the job, and do it right.”

Rep. Massie said in a statement to Blaze News, “The fact that AIPAC has resorted to using its pro-abortion super PAC shows how desperate they are to breathe life into their empty suit. Millions of dollars won’t make up for the fact that he’s AWOL on the campaign trail. He’s skipped seven debates and forums so far.”

The UDP previously blew over $328,000 in 2024 on a television campaign attacking Massie, reported McClatchy DC.

“Republicans are trying to help Israel,” said the 2024 ad. “But one Republican is standing in the way. It’s Kentucky’s Tom Massie.”

A spokesman for UDP said at the time that the AIPAC group wanted “to make sure every voter in the state knows how bad he is on Israel.”

Recent polling suggests that AIPAC might be throwing good money after bad as far as Massie’s race goes.

According to a Quantum Insights poll released on April 9, Massie led Gallrein 46.8% to 37.7% among likely Republican voters, with 14% undecided and 1.5% saying they wouldn’t vote. The same poll found that 49.9% of respondents preferred a candidate who is independent-minded while 37.4% preferred a strong Trump supporter.

On the prediction market platform Polymarket, Massie presently leads Gallrein 71% to 28.6%.

The primary race will be held on May 19.

Editor’s note: This article has been edited after publication to incorporate comment from Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.).

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​Aipac, Aipac affiliates, America first, American israel public, American israel public affairs committee, Ed gallrein, Funding, Israeli government, Kentucky, President trump, Proisrael lobbying, Thomas massie, Us congress, State of israel, Israel, Politics 

Famed civil liberties attorney Alan Dershowitz says he has abandoned the Democratic Party.

Dershowitz wrote in a Wall Street Journal op-ed that Democrats have become far too anti-Israel for him to continue voting for the party. As a result, he has switched his party registration.

‘I will … urge pro-Israel Americans to change party affiliation or at least vote against Democrats.’

“I am a lifelong Democrat. I started campaigning for the party’s local candidates as a teenager in Brooklyn, N.Y., have been a registered Democrat for 67 years, made speeches for John F. Kennedy as a college student, and can count on one hand the number of Republicans I’ve ever supported for any office,” he wrote. “Yet I’ve decided to bite the bullet and register as a Republican.”

The Harvard Law School professor emeritus said he opposes Republicans on policies of abortion, taxes, immigration, and health care, but he will throw his support to them because of Israel.

“I intend to work hard to prevent the Democrats from gaining control of the House and Senate,” he continued.

“I will contribute money to Republican candidates, campaign for them, make speeches at Republican events, and urge pro-Israel Americans to change party affiliation or at least vote against Democrats,” he added. “Until something changes, I will vote Republican for representative, senator, and president.”

Dershowitz left the Democrats and became an independent in 2024, but it appears he has gone further after the party became “the most anti-Israel party in U.S. history.”

RELATED: Judge allows Alan Dershowitz’s $300 million lawsuit against CNN to proceed: ‘CNN is quaking in its boots!‘

Dershowitz represented Jeffrey Epstein and was part of the team that obtained a controversial plea deal in 2008 for the convicted pedophile. He admitted to receiving a massage at Epstein’s home but vehemently denied that it was a part of the pedophile’s trafficking of young women.

He also taught at Harvard University, represented President Donald Trump in his first impeachment, and was on the team representing Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein.

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​Alan dershowitz, Dems becoming republicans, Dershowitz on israel, Anti-israel democratic party, Politics, Democrats, Democratic party, Republican party 

A Democrat resigned from Congress Tuesday as her colleagues ramped up efforts to expel the lawmaker over her corruption scandal.

Democratic Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick of Florida avoided her imminent expulsion by simply resigning, claiming that the House Ethics Committee’s investigation was a “witch hunt” that violated her “due process rights.” The investigative subcommittee effectively found Cherfilus-McCormick guilty of dozens of campaign finance violations after she was accused of laundering millions of dollars worth of COVID-era FEMA funds into her campaign account.

‘That is a dangerous path.’

“This was not a fair process,” Cherfilus-McCormick said in a statement Tuesday. “The Ethics Committee refused my new attorney’s reasonable request for time to prepare my defense. By going forward with this process while a criminal indictment is pending, the Committee prevented me from defending myself. I will not stand by and pretend that this has been anything other than a witch hunt.”

“I simply cannot stand by and allow my due process rights to be trampled on, and my good name to be tarnished. Rather than play these political games, I choose to step away so that I can devote my time to fighting for my neighbors in Florida’s 20th district.”

RELATED: ‘Mutually assured destruction’: Another disgraced lawmaker to resign from Congress over sex scandal

Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

​Campaign finance, Campaign finance violations, Corruption, Corruption scandal, Covid funds, Due process, Eric swalwell, Expulsion, Fema funds, House democrats, House ethics committee, Politics, Sex scandal, Sheila cherfilus-mccormick, Tony gonzales, Witch hunt 

A report has found that many servers have no idea that the Trump administration’s “no tax on tips” policy is the reason their tax refunds are larger this year.

President Donald Trump touted the policy last week in Las Vegas after a DoorDash driver delivered McDonald’s food to the White House.

The majority of hospitality workers she interviewed in Washington, DC, had no clue about the policy.

Despite such efforts, the Daily Wire found that many servers have no clue that the policy lowered their tax burden this year.

“Republicans have a messaging problem,” reporter Brecca Stoll said.

One waitress at Pearl Dive Oyster Bar said she had gotten a tax refund this year but did not receive one the year before. Stoll let her know that Trump was likely the reason she got a refund in taxes.

“Is that a good thing for us?” the woman asked skeptically.

“Well, if you got more money back!” Stoll replied.

“That’s one thing he’s done good, I guess,” she acknowledged reluctantly.

Another had no clue at all about the change.

“Did you know your tips weren’t taxed this year?” Stoll asked.

“I did not! Really? I did not know that. … Maybe that’s why we did good this year!” she responded while laughing.

Stoll posted a video compilation of her conversations with servers who had no clue their taxes had been cut by Trump.

A bartender told Stoll his reduced tax bill might have been from life changes.

“Because my son — I claim him — so, you know, it just boosted the profit,” he said. “Other than that, I wouldn’t have gotten too much at all.”

After Stoll informed him about the new no tax on tips policy, he laughed.

“Oh yes, I would definitely say that was it,” he admitted.

RELATED: Liberals SPEW hatred at DoorDash after marketing stunt with Trump at White House

Stoll said the majority of hospitality workers she interviewed in Washington, D.C., had no clue about the policy that lowered their tax burden significantly.

Some on social media responded that the culprit for the lack of awareness was the Democrat-aligned mainstream media and a lack of interest from the public.

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​No taxes on tips, Trump tax policies, Servers in washington dc, People benefit from trump policies, Politics 

A former elementary school teacher from Louisiana has been hit with 25 child sex-crime charges after accusations of illicit relationships with two students, according to authorities. In addition, a second Louisiana woman recently was arrested in connection with the eyebrow-raising case.

The St. Martin Parish Sheriff’s Office said in a statement that its deputies started an investigation into 31-year-old Marisa Noel on Jan. 28.

‘We will continue to support our partners across the state and bring to justice anyone who exploits or sexually abuses the children of Louisiana.’

Police said deputies launched the investigation after being tipped off about the teacher reportedly “having an inappropriate relationship with one of her former students.”

Police said at the time of the investigation, Noel was a fifth-grade teacher at Teche Elementary School in Breaux Bridge.

Noel was arrested and booked into the St. Martin Parish Correctional Center on April 13, according to jail records.

Noel originally was charged with four counts of indecent behavior with juveniles and four counts of computer-aided solicitation of a minor.

However, law enforcement said an additional victim was identified, which resulted in 17 more charges just two days after her arrest.

The sheriff’s office said Noel additionally was charged with 10 counts of indecent behavior with juveniles, three counts of computer-aided solicitation of a minor, two counts of child sexual abuse materials, one count of first-degree rape, and one count of unlawful communications.

Louisiana law states that those convicted of first-degree rape can be sentenced to life in prison without the benefit of parole, probation, or suspension of sentence.

However, if a victim is younger than 13 years old, the district attorney can seek the death penalty.

Law enforcement did not reveal the ages of the alleged victims. However, the Louisiana Bureau of Investigation said at least one of the alleged victims was younger than 13 years old.

Police noted that Noel is no longer a teacher at Teche Elementary School.

RELATED: Special-ed teacher accused of sexually assaulting students in her home, giving them alcohol; 1 victim said he ‘felt trapped’

The Louisiana Bureau of Investigation said in a press release that a second woman was arrested in connection with the case involving Noel.

The news release said the Breaux Bridge woman was arrested as “part of an ongoing joint investigation with the St. Martin Parish Sheriff’s Office after a former fifth-grade teacher in the parish was arrested for first-degree rape and other crimes against children.”

Cortney Burleigh, 37, was arrested Thursday and charged with felony counts of cruelty to juveniles, obstruction of justice, and indecent behavior with juveniles/accessory after the fact.

The news release did not specify Burleigh’s role in the case but noted that she was not a teacher at the school.

Attorney General Liz Murrill stated, “We will continue to support our partners across the state and bring to justice anyone who exploits or sexually abuses the children of Louisiana.”

The Louisiana Bureau of Investigation, the St. Martin Parish Sheriff’s Office, and Homeland Security Investigations are conducting the ongoing joint investigation.

The LBI, the sheriff’s office, the elementary school, and St. Martin Parish School District didn’t immediately respond to Blaze News‘ requests for comment.

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​Bad teacher, Child sex crimes, Louisiana, Marisa noel, Rape, Teacher arrested, Crime 

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) has obtained new documents revealing that the Biden FBI’s targeting of GOP lawmakers in the wake of the Jan. 6, 2021, protests was not limited to Operation Arctic Frost but was rather “part of a pattern of political weaponization.”

The documents obtained by Grassley and published by the Daily Caller provide insights into the nature and baselessness of the Biden FBI’s “Rampart Twelve” investigation, which was initially pursued against Republican Reps. Lauren Boebert (Colo.), Paul Gosar (Ariz.), and Andy Biggs (Ariz.), as well as against former Rep. Mo Brooks (Ala.), by the bureau’s Washington field office.

‘My Democrat colleagues want to ignore these facts and evidence and defend the fired officials who participated in Biden’s lawfare.’

As with Arctic Frost, this Biden FBI lawfare campaign saw investigators obtain toll records, at least for Boebert and Gosar. Toll records provide investigators with identifying information of callers along with the date, time, location, and length of a call.

The Rampart Twelve probe was launched on Jan. 22, 2021, two days after Biden took office, on the basis of bogus claims made by then-Reps. Mikie Sherrill (D-N.J.) and John Yarmuth (D-Ky.) as well as by Democrat Rep. Steve Cohen (Tenn.). These claims specifically alleged that the Republicans “may have assisted or conspired with persons, groups, or organizations who planned or organized the unlawful entry on January 6, 2021, of the United States Capitol Building.”

For instance, Sherrill, now the governor of New Jersey, alleged in a January 2021 video shared to Facebook that some lawmakers had brought groups of people into the Capitol ahead of Jan. 6 to conduct “reconnaissance for the next day.”

Text messages between prosecutors reveal a desire by elements at the Biden Justice Department to advance the case despite an awareness that proving the Republicans intended harm when supposedly bringing people to the Capitol “might be impossible” and that some of the imagery cited by the complainants “does not look suspicious.”

There was a clear desire to avoid additional levels of scrutiny when executing this lawfare campaign against the Biden administration’s political opponents.

After concern was apparently expressed about secretly investigating members of Congress, J.P. Cooney, a prosecutor who ultimately served as a top deputy to special counsel Jack Smith in two criminal prosecutions of President Donald Trump, provided some reassurance to Timothy Thibault, an anti-Trump FBI agent then with the the bureau, that doing so was OK.

RELATED: Kash Patel says 2020 election fraud arrests are ‘coming soon’

Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

Cooney noted in a Feb. 3, 2021, letter to Thibault that Attorney General Bill Barr did issue a memorandum in February 2020 requiring prior written notification and consultation with the assistant attorney general and the U.S. attorney with jurisdiction before investigating “declared candidates” for Congress. However, Cooney claimed that the Republican targets were fair game as they were no longer candidates but rather newly sworn-in members of the House.

The FBI appears to have kept Rampart Twelve alive until at least January 2022, when Thibault informed a Washington field office FBI agent who wanted to interview Boebert and Gosar that “direction from FBIHQ is to close the case.”

“Rampart Twelve appears to be a predecessor case to Arctic Frost,” Grassley said in a statement read by Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.) during the hearing on Tuesday.

“The evidence to support the investigation didn’t exist. Even so, J.P. Cooney personally concurred with opening the investigation even though his text messages told a different tale.”

Schmitt told the Daily Caller, “These bombshell documents reveal that bad actors at the highest levels of our government and intelligence agencies targeted broad swaths of the America[n] right and sitting members of Congress with no evidence of wrongdoing.”

“This fishing expedition was nothing more than a political agenda. Finally under the leadership of Chairman Grassley and the work of this committee, we are shining a light on this corruption that the Democrats ignored under Biden, and we will not stop until there is full accountability for those involved,” added Schmitt.

As of midday Tuesday, no liberal media outfit appears to have touched the story of the Biden FBI’s Rampart Twelve fishing expedition.

“If not for my investigative work and brave whistleblowers, we wouldn’t know about FBI agents’ and DOJ prosecutors’ disgraceful efforts to try and destroy Republicans,” Grassley told the Caller. “My Democrat colleagues want to ignore these facts and evidence and defend the fired officials who participated in Biden’s lawfare. I’ll continue working to expose the widespread constitutional abuses that occurred under the Biden administration, because transparency brings accountability.”

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​Andy biggs, Capitol building, Chuck grassley, Corruption, Daily caller, Donald trump, Election fraud, Fbi, Jack smith, Justice department, Lauren boebert, Mikie sherrill, Mo brooks, Operation arctic frost, Paul gosar, Political weaponization, Rampart 12, Rampart twelve, Steve cohen, Timothy thibault, Whistleblowers, Accountability, Lawfare, Weaponization, Schmitt, Politics 

In April 2026, Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense announced that ground robots had completed more than 9,000 frontline missions in the previous month. The number was offered without fanfare, embedded in a press release alongside procurement timelines and delivery metrics, as though the figure were perfectly ordinary, which by then it was. Nearly 24,500 missions in the first quarter of the year; 167 units using uncrewed ground vehicles, up from 67 the previous November. The ministry did not dwell on what this meant.

Ukrainian soldiers who complete verified missions using robots earn e-points through a digital platform that tracks, authenticates, and tallies their work. Those points can then be exchanged, through an online marketplace, for additional equipment. Orders reach frontline units in roughly 10 days. The whole apparatus, in its architecture and its assumptions about human motivation, looks less like a combat system and more like a loyalty program.

The state understands its soldiers as participants in a platform, and it is engineering their behavior accordingly.

The UGV itself is not a new idea. The Germans fielded the Goliath tracked mine in World War II, a remotely controlled demolition device that failed, in the end, because its control cable could be cut. The Soviets experimented with teletanks in the 1930s, aiming to spare soldiers from exposure that was otherwise certain to kill them. The problem of controlling a machine at distance through contested terrain, under fire, with limited bandwidth and imperfect video, is not a problem the 21st century invented. What the 21st century has done is make it cheap.

The ultimate cannon fodder

Ukraine’s UGVs are designed, above all, to be expendable. The country operates under mass artillery and persistent drone surveillance, which creates a specific engineering pressure that earlier Western robotics programs never faced. American explosive ordnance disposal robots in Iraq were conserved, repaired, and mourned in a way that revealed something about how their operators understood them. Ukraine’s systems are produced in the thousands, iterated rapidly, accepted as losses, and replaced like ammunition.

The substitution principle drives everything. The state’s explicit purpose, reiterated in every official channel, is to move the most dangerous tasks (ammunition resupply, casualty evacuation, mining and demining, certain forms of direct contact) away from human bodies and onto machines. The missions are logged. The ministry’s argument is that somewhere in those 9,000 March missions is a corresponding number of soldiers who did not die. The robot went; the human did not.

RELATED: The US military needs to adapt to modern warfare

The US military needs to adapt to modern warfareUSAF/Getty Images

What makes Ukraine’s system interesting, and practically consequential, is the way it distributes agency. A UGV mission is not performed by a soldier or a robot, but by a network: the operator watching a video feed, the encoder compressing that feed under bandwidth constraints that determine whether the latency is tolerable or fatal, the repair crew, the procurement pipeline, the verification interface that converts the mission into a data object, the points system that converts the data object into future capability.

The human is present throughout this chain and is, in some sense, responsible for it. However, responsibility, in this architecture, is not the same as when a soldier carries ammunition through a kill zone but is cast as clicking, uploading, or watching a screen.

This practice is not unique to Ukraine. Mediated violence is familiar from drone programs and earlier remote weapons systems. What Ukraine has done is extend the logic farther into the supply chain, the metrics, and the incentive design, making explicit what other militaries have left tacit. The gamification is structural. The state is acknowledging, through the design of the e-points system, that it understands its soldiers as participants in a platform, and it is engineering their behavior accordingly.

Us or them

The Ukrainian government is aware of the genuine tension in this design. Goodhart’s law holds that when a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure. If points are awarded for confirmed hits, soldiers will pursue confirmed hits. Ukraine’s system tries to counteract this by assigning points also for evacuation missions, for the lifesaving work that does not produce the bright flash of verification. Whether this framework works, whether the incentive categories actually reshape behavior or merely sit alongside it, is an empirical question.

By early 2026, seven UGV models from six Ukrainian manufacturers were available for direct order through the DOT-Chain Defence marketplace. Foreign platforms have entered the ecosystem too: Estonian-built THeMIS vehicles, first delivered in 2022, were absorbed into Ukraine’s logistics environment alongside the domestically produced systems. NATO was also watching. Its UNITE initiative, announced in late 2025, proposed to scale prototyped battlefield innovations among alliance members, with unmanned ground systems explicitly named as a future focus.

Ukraine’s particular answer to a particular problem — how to fight at scale under conditions of acute manpower constraint — is becoming a transmissible model. The rapid iteration, the platform-mediated procurement, the tight loop between battlefield data and design revision are not incidental features of Ukraine’s approach. Other militaries, in more comfortable circumstances, studying this from a distance, may conclude that they want something like it.

What they would be acquiring is a way of knowing, a way of governing through metrics and incentives and interfaces, that treats war as a system to be optimized. The appeal is obvious. Systems can be improved. Metrics can be refined. Platforms can be updated. The facts that cannot be put into the system — the exhaustion, the fog — remain outside the data. They do not affect the point calculations. They do not appear in the quarterly mission totals, which continue to rise.

In March 2026, the machines completed 9,000 missions. The ministry reported this statistic as progress. It was surely also something else, something that does not yet have a name.

​Tech 

On April 1, when Artemis II launched from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center to embark on its historic 10-day lunar flyby, Glenn Beck was sitting in the audience section designated for people who work in the space program and journalists invited to attend the launch.

As he chatted with various scientists and fellow journalists, he noticed a husband and wife sitting among the group who were clearly not part of either world. He soon struck up a conversation with them and inquired about how they received an invitation.

“They started telling me a story that was as impressive as the rocket going off itself,” he says.

The story was about their 15-year daughter Olivia “Liv” Perrotto, who died of a rare and aggressive childhood cancer in January this year.

A bright, space-obsessed girl who dreamed of becoming an astronaut or fighter pilot, Liv’s illness didn’t quell her courage to pursue her passions.

“That 15-year-old lived more of a life than most of us could ever dream of,” says Glenn.

Elon Musk and NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman are largely to thank for that.

On this heart-wrenching episode of “The Glenn Beck Program,” Glenn shares a little-known story he says will “break your heart and then heal it right back up.”

“This is a story that neither [Musk nor Isaacman] … would tell you. They didn’t do it for the credit, and I didn’t ask [them] for permission to tell,” says Glenn, noting that it was Liv’s mother who “wanted the world to know what they did and what it meant.”

When Liv was just 10 years old, she was diagnosed with undifferentiated sarcoma — a rare and malignant cancer. Overnight, her life went from normal childhood circumstances to “chemo, radiation, surgeries, [and] clinical trials.”

“It was a really dark time until she heard about a SpaceX mission … called Inspiration 4. This one was commanded by a guy that most people didn’t know at the time named Jared Isaacman,” says Glenn.

“The crew of Inspiration 4 heard about this little girl with cancer, and Jared Isaacman paid to bring her and her family to the launch.”

“And this was the beginning of just a life-changing relationship,” he recounts.

Isaacman’s involvement with Liv didn’t conclude with her attendance at the Inspiration 4 launch. “He became committed to her care and to her dreams,” says Glenn. “Without anyone knowing, without anyone asking, much to the family’s surprise, this guy just threw himself in.”

A few months after the Inspiration 4 launch, Isaacman asked Liv to design a “zero-gravity indicator” for his next mission. She quickly sent in a sketch of a Shiba Inu dog in an astronaut suit named Asteroid.

The Polaris Dawn team, commanded by Isaacman, took Liv’s hand-drawn sketch and turned it into an actual plush toy that they brought with them on the mission. A video taken by the team captured Asteroid floating in the cabin as the crew reached microgravity.

“Nobody on that mission forgot about this little girl in Pennsylvania. They sent her a birthday cake on her birthday. They sent flowers to the hospital. They all got together on a Zoom call just days before she died,” says Glenn through tears.

“Jared chartered his own plane to fly Liv cross-country so she could get treatments, personally called St. Jude to review her case,” he continues.

But that was just the beginning.

Isaacman also took Liv “up in a fighter jet, which he flew,” and introduced her to Charlie Duke, William Shatner, and many other big names from the broader space community.

“The whole space world opened its arms to this little girl — somebody you’ve never heard of,” says Glenn, “and they didn’t do it for the press; they just did it because her passion was contagious, so full of love.”

Because of the kindness of Isaacman and others, “the space world was [Liv’s] world, not hospitals.”

One of Liv’s other dreams was to speak to Elon Musk. At a town hall event he hosted in October 2024, she briefly got the chance. Liv had just learned earlier that day that her cancer had returned aggressively, but that didn’t deter her from standing in line all night just to ask Musk when he planned to send kids to space.

After learning of her worsening condition, Musk planned a phone call with Liv in January 2026 so that she could ask him all her pressing questions. But the night he arranged to call her, Liv was too exhausted to carry on a conversation, so she requested that the call be moved to the next day. Musk agreed and immediately sent flowers and a kind note to the hospital.

Tragically, Liv passed before the call came.

“Both the notes and the flowers were put in this little girl’s casket,” says Glenn.

Liv’s legacy lives on through the courage she showed in the face of unimaginable pain, the Asteroid plush toy that now flies on SpaceX missions as the company’s official mascot, thanks to Elon Musk honoring her final wish, and the way her story continues to remind the world that acts of kindness and compassion are happening all around us — even when we can’t see them.

Liv’s mother published her own article about the life of her courageous daughter. You can read it on glennbeck.com.

To hear Glenn’s version of Liv’s beautiful story, grab your tissue box and watch the video above.

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