Category: blaze media

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.

Want more from Glenn Beck?

To enjoy more of Glenn’s masterful storytelling, thought-provoking analysis, and uncanny ability to make sense of the chaos, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

​Artemis ii, Blaze media, Blazetv, Childhood cancer, Elon musk, Glenn beck, Inspiration 4 mission, Jared isaacman, Jared isaacman involvement, Liv perotto, Liv perrotto story, Nasa, Nasa kennedy space, Space community support, Spacex, The glenn beck program 

Seven females and two males are accused of physically attacking one train passenger in Chicago last week, police said.

Police called the crime an aggravated battery.

‘If confronted by an assailant/offender, remain calm and never pursue. Press the emergency button and alert the transit attendant,’ police said.

The incident took place just after 9:30 p.m. last Tuesday in the 600 block of South State Street aboard a train in the Chicago Loop neighborhood, police said.

Police provided photos of the suspects. (Note: One of the suspects is shown twice — in the bottom far-right photos of the composite image next to the headline.)

Police also provided the following descriptions of each suspect:

Black male wearing a black T-shirt with white lettering and denim shortsBlack male wearing a black long-sleeved shirtBlack female wearing a blue T-shirt and blue shortsBlack female with red hair wearing a white topBlack female wearing a purple sweaterBlack female wearing a black flower-print sweaterBlack female wearing a black zip-up sweater and black shortsBlack female wearing a black hooded sweater and black pantsBlack female wearing a black T-shirt with white lettering and black pants

Police cautioned citizens to “be aware of your surroundings and remember your location, bus/train car number, route or train line, train car number, and direction of travel. If confronted by an assailant/offender, remain calm and never pursue. Press the emergency button and alert the transit attendant. Call 911 immediately, provide detailed description of location and assailant.”

Police added that those with any information about this incident should contact Public Transportation Detectives at 312-745-4447 or submit anonymous tips at CPDTIP.com and use reference RD #JK189284.

Police said another transit-related aggravated battery took place just after 4 p.m. Friday — this time on a CTA Red Line platform in the 1200 block of North Clark Street.

RELATED: Gang of juvenile males chase college student into dorm, physically attack victim, go on rampage. It all happens around 3 a.m.

Image source: Chicago Police

Police said the victim — a 23-year-old female — was waiting on the train platform when one of the individuals pictured above pulled her to the ground by her hair, struck her on her face with a closed fist, and kicked her head and body.

Another one of the females pictured above assisted the other female by blocking bystander attempts to help the victim, police said.

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​Chicago, Physical attack, Police, Suspects at large, Train, Aggravated battery, Crime 

California’s crowded gubernatorial race is beginning to narrow, with former State Controller Betty Yee becoming the latest prominent Democrat to drop out, a sign that the party may be coalescing around a leading candidate to avoid disaster in the upcoming primary.

The California gubernatorial primary started with 61 official candidates in March, and approximately 20 have since dropped out.

‘I continue to believe there are too many Democrats in the field.’

While two Republican front-runners have emerged, Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco and former Fox News host and small-business owner Steve Hilton, Democrats have not yet rallied unified support behind any leading contenders for the upcoming election on June 2.

With Primary Election Day right around the corner, voters in the state will begin receiving mail-in ballots in two weeks.

California’s primary election operates on a nonpartisan basis, meaning all candidates are listed on the same ballot, and the two candidates who receive the most votes advance to the general election, regardless of party affiliation.

The nonpartisan election rules could spell trouble for Democrats if they cannot rally enough support behind a candidate to beat at least one of the top two Republicans competing to replace Gov. Gavin Newsom (D), who has reached his term limit.

RELATED: Billionaire Tom Steyer admits embarrassing ‘mistake’ after saying ICE should be ‘abolished’ in California governor’s race

Chad Bianco. Kent Nishimura/Getty Images. Steve Hilton. Robin L Marshall/FilmMagic

Democrats began the race with eight high-profile candidates: former U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan, former U.S. Rep. Katie Porter, climate advocate and businessman Tom Steyer, U.S. Rep. Eric Swalwell, California State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond, former California State Assembly Speaker Antonio Villaraigosa, and former California State Controller Betty Yee.

The Democratic field narrowed when Swalwell announced last week that he was suspending his campaign for governor and resigning from Congress amid sexual misconduct allegations.

On Monday, Yee became the latest Democrat to drop out of the race, citing low polling results. She told local CBS affiliate KOVR that the Democratic Party had “for whatever reason decided to put money into a poll that would narrow the field” and that the results showed that “experience and competence was not polling as high as we thought when I first started this race.”

“We’re in this new era where it’s kind of almost reality TV show mentality that people want,” Yee told the news outlet. “And, frankly, conflict sells. That’s what gets people’s attention. I’m not a flashy person. I don’t come with gimmicks. I even said and joked with my team one time, ‘Maybe I just need to bring like a folding stool and throw it off the stage just to get some attention.’ I mean, what’s it gonna take, right?”

Yee stated that she plans to endorse one of the remaining candidates soon.

The California Democratic Party’s poll showed voters leaning toward Republican candidates Hilton and Bianco. The highest-polling Democratic candidates were Becerra and Steyer. However, many of those surveyed stated they were still undecided.

RELATED: Republicans shine in first poll since Eric Swalwell stumbled out of California governor’s race

Betty Yee. ETIENNE LAURENT/AFP/Getty Images

Rusty Hicks, the chair of the California Democratic Party, compared the latest polling results to those from an April 7 poll.

Hicks stated that it showed Becerra had moved from 4% to 13%, with him “now tied for third with Tom Steyer.” He also noted that the undecided rate had fallen from 24% to 20%.

“All of these are positive signs for ensuring a strong Democrat moves into the General Election. But it is not enough and our work is not done,” he said.

Hicks addressed Yee’s decision to drop out of the race.

“Earlier today, we saw Betty Yee suspend her campaign. I commend her leadership and commitment to California. And I hope other candidates will consider her example,” Hicks added. “I continue to believe there are too many Democrats in the field.”

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​Antonio villaraigosa, California, Chad bianco, Eric swalwell, Katie porter, News, Steve hilton, Tom steyer, Tony thurmond, Rusty hicks, Betty yee, California governor, California gubernatorial race, Politics 

Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont, like other Democratic officials in the Constitution State, including Sens. Chris Murphy and Richard Blumenthal, thinks that requiring individuals to provide proof of U.S. citizenship when registering to vote in federal elections is intolerable.

Lamont — flanked at a press conference late last month by Connecticut Secretary of State Stephanie Thomas, his Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz, and others — stated about the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, “I, for the life of me, can’t figure out why we’re doing this. What’s the rush? Seems to me that the SAVE Act is a solution looking for a problem.”

‘Diminishing faith in the system.’

The governor, speaking just one month after one of the individuals accused in the 2023 Bridgeport absentee ballot fraud case was sentenced to prison, added, “I don’t want to put up all these bureaucratic roadblocks that make it tougher.”

While loath to make it tougher for individuals to vote without valid identification, Lamont certainly does not oppose all “bureaucratic roadblocks” or legislation aimed at requiring photo ID to prevent fraud.

Lamont signed a law last month requiring bottle redemption centers in the state to obtain from any individual hoping to turn in over 1,000 containers the “person’s name, the license plate number of any vehicle used to transport the containers to such redemption center, a copy of such person’s driver’s license, the collection points of the empty containers, and the number of containers tendered.”

“In Connecticut, you have to show ID to recycle more than 1,000 bottles in one day,” Utah Sen. Mike Lee (R) wrote in response to the passage of the legislation, “but not to cast a vote for the next leader of the free world.”

Libs of TikTok said, “Make it make sense.”

RELATED: How Republicans have failed to defund sanctuary cities for a generation

Photo by OLIVIER DOULIERY/AFP/Getty Images

Republican Connecticut state Rep. Craig Fishbein said in a statement to Blaze News, “The hypocrisy and overt priorities of the Majority Democrats here are staggering.”

“While just last summer, Connecticut saw criminal convictions for voter fraud; they brought us in under the guise of an emergency session to pass this bottle bill, while continuing to ignore, or perhaps support additional voter fraud — thereby disenfranchising those voters who properly vote, and further diminishing faith in the system itself,” Fishbein added.

The editorial board of Connecticut’s Republican-American recently noted that “Connecticut Democrats’ solution to the bottle-deposit debacle reveals they agree that requiring ID is an effective anti-fraud measure. The question is why they pretend elections are the exception.”

The SAVE America Act, which would afford federal elections some semblance of a Connecticut bottle recycling standard of fraud protection, was passed in the House in a 218-213 vote on Feb. 11, then advanced to the U.S. Senate on April 10, but its fate is presently up in the air.

On Sunday, Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) alleged that “after two weeks in recess, John Thune is no longer considering the SAVE America Act.”

A congressional insider familiar with the bill’s process subsequently told the Federalist that the proposed legislation is “still the pending business in the Senate.”

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President Donald Trump has warned Iran that the United States will swiftly resume the bombing campaign if they fail to strike a deal.

Talks are set to resume in Islamabad, Pakistan, between the Iranians and the American delegation led by Vice President JD Vance ahead of the ceasefire’s expiration on Wednesday. Trump announced the ceasefire earlier in April after threatening to destroy civilian infrastructure in Iran, infamously dubbing the operation “Power Plant Day” and “Bridge Day.”

‘They have to use common sense.’

“Well, I expect to be bombing because I think that’s a better attitude to go in with,” Trump said in an interview Tuesday. “But we’re ready to go. I mean the military is raring to go. They are absolutely incredible.”

“We have the most powerful military in the world, and everybody knows it.”

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

Elke Scholiers/Getty Images

Since the ceasefire was put into place almost two weeks ago, Trump has ordered the military to take control of the Strait of Hormuz in an attempt to constrain Iran even further. Despite the United States’ many attempts to pressure Iran into making a deal, including the first round of negotiations that lasted 21 hours, a long-term agreement has not yet materialized.

“Iran can get themselves in a very good footing if they make a deal,” Trump said. “They can make themselves into a strong nation again, a wonderful nation again. They have incredible people.”

“But they have to use reason, and they have to use common sense.”

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​Donald trump, Squawk box, Iran war, Islamabad, Jd vance, Jared kushner, Steve witkoff, Power plant day, Bridge day, Easter, Ceasefire, Peace talks, Iran, Irgc, Strait of hormuz, Politics 

A gang of juvenile males chased a Temple University student into a dorm, physically attacked the victim, and went on a rampage that included property damage — and it all took place around 3 a.m. Sunday.

The assault occurred inside the Morgan Hall South dorm at Broad and Oxford Streets in North Philadelphia, WPVI-TV reported.

‘We’re here for the safety of our residents and our students. So, when anybody is victimized, it’s concerning to us. We take it very seriously.’

Temple University police released surveillance photos showing at least nine males in connection with the assault, the station said.

Police told WPVI the victim suffered minor injuries and declined medical treatment; officers are still looking into what led up to the attack.

Investigators told the station in a separate story that cellphone video shows suspects damaging property inside the dorm lobby; one individual is seen smashing a monitor at a security desk.

RELATED: 6 thugs just 12 to 14 years old accused of beating up, robbing mentally disabled man riding his bike on Easter night

WPVI spoke with a student who said he used to live in the residence hall and received a campus alert about the attack.

“It puts the threat actually into perspective because, especially knowing as a college student your main priority is education, not really safety, but this happening is a little bit more in the forefront,” sophomore Emanuel Turner told WPVI.

Officials added to the station that they’re working with Philadelphia police and school district safety officials to identify those involved in the attack.

RELATED: Gang of teens caught on video beating up, robbing victim in shopping mall; similar attack happened at same mall last month

Temple Police Deputy Chief Gaetano Sava told WPVI that the incident is “concerning. Whenever our residents, I mean, we’re here for the safety of our residents and our students. So, when anybody is victimized, it’s concerning to us. We take it very seriously.”

Campus police said Temple and Philadelphia Police are enhancing patrols, and officials urge those with information about the incident to contact the PPD tip line at 215-686-TIPS (8477) or Central Detectives at 215-686-3093. You also can contact Temple’s Investigations Unit at 215-204-6200 or Temple Police at 215-204-1234.

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​Physical attack, Juvenile suspects, Philadelphia, Temple university, Dorm, Suspects at large, Philadelphia police, Temple university police, College student attacked, Crime 

Smart TVs operating on behalf of foreign entities have alarming capabilities.

The TVs are capable of capturing screenshots of a user’s TV display every 500 milliseconds and sending that data back to their home country.

‘The days of Chinese tech companies spying on Americans’ televisions are over.’

Consumer data is then allegedly sold, in the same way online browsing data is, so companies can bolster their ad targeting capabilities. This not only puts sensitive user information at risk, but serves as a massive profit generator for TV manufacturers.

Until recently, there was no pushback against these major manufacturers, but in December, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton lined up lawsuits against Sony, Samsung, LG, Hisense, and TCL, directly accusing them of spying.

Definitely not ‘spying’

Through its lawsuits, Texas secured an agreement from South Korean manufacturer Samsung in February to stop collecting “Automated Content Recognition” data without user consent.

The settlement also compelled Samsung to implement disclosures and consent screens that are easy to understand by the user.

RELATED: Texas sues five TV manufacturers for secretly ‘spying’ on owners

Paxton commended Samsung for its changes and said the company “promptly implement[ed] important safeguards for consumers,” while other smart TV companies have instead “chosen to illegally spy on Texans and act as digital invaders in their homes.”

Samsung rejected the idea that it was spying, however, and said the settlement “affirms what Samsung has said since this lawsuit was filed — Samsung TVs do not spy on consumers.”

“In fact, Samsung allows you to control your privacy — and change your privacy settings at any time,” the company added, per BleepingComputer.

The Texas AG also made some ground against Hisense, a Chinese manufacturer.

A first of its kind temporary restraining order was granted against Hisense, which stopped the company from using its ACR technology to collect, use, sell, share, disclose, or transfer Texans’ data.

RELATED: States should work with AI, not against it

Artur Widak/NurPhoto/Getty Images

“The days of Chinese tech companies spying on Americans’ televisions are over,” Paxton declared. He has since vowed to bring the other companies, including Chinese brand TCL Technology, to court for “illegally spying on Texans,” stating that legal actions will “move forward.”

Tech billionaire and defense contractor Palmer Luckey recently called the intrusions a “growing problem for American national security” with an unbelievable amount of “sensitive and classified” information getting collected by foreign nations.

“Users have no idea. Nobody expects that their TV or monitor is a surveillance tool,” Luckey wrote on X. “When I have joked that Smart TVs should be illegal, I am only half-joking.”

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​China, Consumer data, Lawsuits, Return, Samsung, Smart tvs, Sony, Spying, Surveillance, Texas, Texas attorney general, User data, Tech 

France was among the Western nations whose elites determined it worthwhile in the second half of the 20th century to open the floodgates to mass migration from the third world, especially from former colonies.

Award-winning French novelist and travel writer Jean Raspail foresaw the threat this demographic replacement posed to his nation and to Western civilization more broadly and dared — following the collapse of the Fourth Republic and amid the flight of Vietnamese “boat people” to Europe — to explore this threat in his controversial 1973 dystopian novel, “The Camp of the Saints.”

‘A ban by Amazon is a virtual ban of book sales and distribution.’

Both then and now, Raspail’s novel serves, on the one hand, to illuminate the folly of multiculturalist aspirations and allowing unassimilable hordes of culturally antipathetic foreigners into one’s nation and, on the other hand, to enrage those who are still pretending that unchecked mass migration is a laudable policy and that saying otherwise is “racist.”

Evidently, the book is still ruffling feathers. This time around, the novel has apparently prompted a negative reaction from the world’s largest company, Amazon.

The novel — characterized by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a “racist fantasy about an invasion of France and the white Western world by a fleet of starving, dark-skinned refugees” — was first translated into English in 1975 and has been published several times since in the United States. Despite growing in relevance and popularity, supply couldn’t meet demand for the book in recent years, especially as the right-holders had reportedly refused to reprint it. A small publishing house stepped up, however, and managed to secure the rights.

RELATED: They’ll Build a Fire with Your Lovely Oak Door

The late French writer Jean Raspail; Micheline Pelletier/Sygma/Getty Images

Vauban Books, an imprint of Redoubt Press, published a new edition in September, generating significant waves and sales. After months of sales of the title on its platform, Amazon U.S. removed the paperback listing for the new edition on Friday.

Vauban Books editor in chief Ethan Rundell said in a statement on Sunday that his publishing house was “informed by Amazon that the book is in violation of the company’s ‘offensive content’ policy. Amazon has supplied no information as to which portions of the book are offensive nor to whom.”

After noting that Vauban had sold roughly 20,000 paperback copies of the book since first listing it for presale on Amazon last summer and that it nets an average rating of 4.8 stars, Rundell said, “It may be no coincidence that the listing was removed one day after New York Magazine published a critical article on Vice President Vance that referenced the book. This echoes a 2019 campaign that targeted Stephen Miller, leading the novel’s previous publisher to drop the title from its catalogue.”

Rundell noted that regardless of whether Amazon chooses to distribute the title, Vauban Books “remains committed to keeping the novel in print and accessible worldwide.”

Shortly after making the initial statement, Vauban Books announced that Amazon U.S. had also removed the hardcover edition of the novel.

There was a great deal of backlash over the book’s removal.

Nathan Pinkoski, a senior fellow at the Center for Renewing America who penned the introduction for the new edition, called the reported removal of the paperback option “an egregious act of censorship.”

“Amazon is committed to the burning of your fine oak doors,” wrote BlazeTV host Auron MacIntyre, referencing the following line from the novel, “Your universe has no meaning to them. [The invading migrants] will not try to understand. They will be tired, they will be cold, they will make a fire with your beautiful oak door.”

Former Idaho Solicitor General Theo Wold wrote, “Amazon just censored a book first published in 1973 that depicts the destruction of the west through third-world mass migration. I’m sure all the people who whine about ‘book bans’ when a school board prevents 6-year-olds from reading about gay sex will be just as upset.”

Jason Kenney, Canada’s former Conservative minister of immigration and former Alberta premier, tweeted, “This is outrageous. Amazon handles up to 80% of book distribution in North America. A ban by Amazon is a virtual ban of book sales and distribution. I have never read The Camp of the Saints (although I am now moved to do so,) so offer no judgement about its merits. But there is no denying that it is a widely read novel with a significant cultural impact on France, and around the world.”

It appears the backlash prompted Amazon to rethink things.

As of Monday morning, the paperback version of the novel is available again on Amazon.

When asked for comment about the novel’s removal, Amazon told Blaze News that an “error” was responsible for the paperback listing of the book’s temporary removal and that other formats were not affected.

An Amazon spokesperson told Blaze News, “We’ve resolved an error that briefly affected the availability of a paperback listing of The Camp of the Saints, and the title is now restored.”

Vauban Books stated after its title reappeared on the platform, “Amazon has still not offered an explanation as to why the novel was taken down. We have received NO explanation, much less apology, for the deletion of the paperback Friday and hardcover this morning.”

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​Amazon, Auron macintyre, Book sales, Elites, France, Jean raspail, Mass migration, Racist, Third world, United states, Western civilization, Book bans, Censorship, Politics 

Democrats had a meltdown during a committee hearing while grilling Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum on all of the programs he is attempting to shut down.

And no one was ready for his answer.

‘We found organizations that were receiving grants from Interior where 80 to 100% of the revenue of that NGO was a grant from the federal government.’

In a Monday House Committee Hearing, Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) asked for clarification on Burgum’s proposed “complete elimination” of some programs in the Fish and Wildlife Service, including some state and tribal wildlife grants.

Burgum replied with a shocking statistic about where some “nongovernmental organizations” get their money.

RELATED: Revamped National Parks program prioritizes Americans and ensures foreigners ‘contribute their fair share’

Heather Diehl/Getty Images

“There was a review done of the grants,” he said.

“And that is an area where there’s been substantial review. We found organizations that were receiving grants from Interior where 80 to 100% of the revenue of that NGO was a grant from the federal government.”

“And yet those organizations, we were the sole source of their revenue, but they would have a CEO making $650,000 and four $400,000 lobbyists,” Burgum continued.

DeLauro stammered in reply: “It would be very interesting because we can’t get any information. We may agree with you. Give us the reasons why all of these grants are cut, the organizations are cut. … We just can’t take your word.”

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​Appropriations committee hearing, Democrats, Doug burgum, Federal government, Fish and wildlife, Interior secretary, Lobbyists, Politics, Rose delauro, Secretary burgum, Secretary of the interior, Shocking statistic, Tribal, Grants, Ngo, Ngos