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Democrat congressman already submitting articles of impeachment against Trump. Again.

A Democratic congressman has submitted new articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump only 16 days into his second term.

Rep. Al Green of Texas claimed that Trump advocated for the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip when he offered his plan to solve the conflict between Israel and those residing in the region.

‘Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere, and injustice in Gaza is a threat to justice in the United States of America.’

“Ethnic cleansing in Gaza is not a joke,” said Green on Wednesday. “Especially when it emanates from the president of the United States, the most powerful person in the world, when he has the ability to perfect what he says.”

Trump has said that the U.S. could take over the Gaza Strip, relocate the Palestinians to other states, and then rebuild the region so that they could have a better life. Critics called the plan ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people.

Green went on to berate Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for standing next to Trump as he made the announcement about Gaza.

“The prime minister of Israel should be ashamed. Knowing the history of his people, to stand there and allow such things to be said. Ethnic cleansing has been a crime against humanity,” he added. “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere, and injustice in Gaza is a threat to justice in the United States of America.”

Other Democrats have excoriated Trump over the Gaza solution. Rep. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan was especially strident in her condemnation of the president.

“Palestinians aren’t going anywhere,” she said on social media. “This president can only spew this fanatical bulls**t because of bipartisan support in Congress for funding genocide and ethnic cleansing.”

Trump has been impeached twice, once for his alleged involvement in the rioting at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and again for alleged abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.

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Habeas corpus petition demands Jeremy Brown be released under President Trump’s Jan. 6 pardon

After more than two weeks of frustration and waiting, an attorney for pardoned Jan. 6 defendant and Oath Keeper Jeremy Brown filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus in federal court in Atlanta demanding his release under a pardon from President Donald J. Trump.

The step became necessary because someone in federal law enforcement told U.S. marshals not to release Brown under President Trump’s pardon, said defense attorney Carolyn Stewart, who likened the situation to abduction and imprisonment.

‘Someone please tell President Trump.’

“It’s a shadow governor inside either the U.S. Department of Justice, the U.S. Marshals, or the U.S. Bureau of Prisons,” Stewart told Blaze News.

“What person took authority without any judicial court process or substantive due process to abduct Jeremy Brown to FCI Atlanta,” Stewart asked, “when he was never in the federal BOP prior to being taken to D.C. for trial months earlier? No judge issued a transfer order.”

Blaze News contacted FCI Atlanta for comment on the habeas corpus filing and an explanation of why Brown is still being held but did not receive a reply by press time. Blaze News also contacted the DOJ for comment.

The
102-page habeas corpus filing details how Brown’s 2023 conviction on weapons possession and other charges was directly related to the Jan. 6 protest and rioting at the U.S. Capitol in 2021.

“On January 20, 2025, President Donald J. Trump issued a pardon to Mr. Brown which reads ‘grant a full, complete and unconditional pardon to all other individuals convicted of offenses related to events that occurred at or near the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021,’” the petition reads.

A writ of
habeas corpus — Latin for “you have the body” — compels law enforcement authorities “to produce a prisoner they are holding, and to justify the prisoner’s continued confinement,” according to U.S. Courts.

Brown’s defense attorney has argued for more than two weeks that her client should be released under the pardon issued to Brown by President Trump on Jan. 20. Brown’s weapons-possession case was tried in Tampa but was started in the District of Columbia and authorized by a D.C. magistrate judge as part of the FBI’s massive Jan. 6 investigation.

Oath Keeper Jeremy Brown was a Green Beret and served more than 20 years in special forces.

Photos courtesy of Tylene Aldridge

The U.S. Department of Justice and a federal district judge have both described the case
as being related to Jan. 6 in court filings since at least July 2022.

Brown was charged in federal court with possession of two short-barrel weapons, two fragmentation hand grenades, and documents prosecutors claimed were classified and related to national defense.

Brown said the grenades were planted in his recreational vehicle, and prosecutors could not tie the explosives to him via DNA, fingerprints, carpet fibers, or even a dog hair found under one of the devices. He said the firearms were heirlooms that originally belonged to his grandfather and his late brother.

When he was still housed at the D.C. jail on Jan. 20 and 21, Brown
said he was told the Florida case was the reason he would not be released. He was shortly moved to two county detention centers in Kentucky before ending up at FCI Atlanta, a low-security federal prison in Northern Georgia.

Brown had also been charged with misdemeanor crimes in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., for his presence at the Capitol. Those charges were dismissed with prejudice by U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta in January, at the request of Edward R. Martin Jr., the new D.C. U.S. attorney.

Stewart said she has been unable to get answers from the U.S. Marshals. According to an update emailed from prison, Brown said a female U.S. marshal in D.C. told him he would not be released, and he was moved to Kentucky shortly after.

The U.S. Marshals Service is responsible for housing pretrial detainees and for the movement of federal prisoners between facilities or to court proceedings. In 2024, the U.S. Marshals received more than 101,000 prisoners. The agency spent $2.1 billion in 2024 on federal prisoners in U.S. Marshals custody.

“Nobody is standing up to admit their shadow governor action,” Stewart said. “We apparently have federal persons who without due process decide to disobey a pardon and abduct and imprison Americans. Someone please tell President Trump.”

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Legos are anti-LGBT because they reinforce ‘heteronormativity,’ says Science Museum in London

The Lego toy sets beloved by children and adults have been revealed to be bigoted against members of the LGBT community, according to the Science Museum in London, England.

The revelation is explained on a self-guided tour at the museum entitled, “Seeing Things Queerly.” The tour is intended to help listeners “discover some of the objects on display at the Science Museum that tell stories of queer communities, experiences, and identities.”

‘The process of the two sides being put together is called mating.’

The museum website explains the oppression being committed by the plastic bricks.

“Like other connectors and fasteners, Lego bricks are often described in a gendered way,” the museum explains helpfully. “The top of the brick with sticking out pins is male, the bottom of the brick with holes to receive the pins is female, and the process of the two sides being put together is called mating.”

The museum says that the description of the toys applies heteronormative language to objects unrelated to gender, sex, and reproduction.

“It illustrates how heteronormativity (the idea that heterosexuality and the male/female gender binary are the norm and everything that falls outside is unusual) shapes the way we speak about science, technology, and the world in general,” the museum said.

The Lego company was lambasted by many in 2021 when it put out a set to celebrate Pride Day.

“Everyone is unique, and with a little more love, acceptance, and understanding in the world, we can all feel more free to be our true AWESOME selves!” said Matthew Ashton, the designer of the set.

The “woke” set included mini-figures representing each color of the rainbow.

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Iowa governor threatens to pull funding from sheriff who says he will block ICE illegal alien detainers

An Iowa sheriff said that he would block detainers on illegal aliens from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the governor is threatening to take action against him.

Winneshiek County Sheriff Dan Marx posted in a statement on social media that if he believed the ICE detainers were unconstitutional, he would work to block or interfere with the orders, according to KCRG-TV.

‘Our sole oath and allegiance are to the Constitution and the protection of an individual’s rights.’

Marx explained that he believed some detainers were infringing on the rights of the suspects.

“The only reason detainers are issued is because the federal agency does not have enough information or has not taken the time to obtain a valid judicial warrant,” he said on Facebook.

“For the person who could be held erroneously (or determined to be someone other than who ICE is seeking), there is a gross violation of rights at hand,” he said. “Specifically, these detainers are violations of our 4th Amendment protection against warrantless search, seizure and arrest, and our 6th Amendment right to due process.”

He went on to say that detainers might lead to citizens being unjustly jailed if ICE mistakes them for illegal aliens.

“Are you willing to sit in jail or a federal prison on an unconstitutional detainer with no right to due process until ICE clears your name? Or, if it were you or a loved one falsely arrested and/or detained, would you feel differently?” he asked.

“Our sole oath and allegiance are to the Constitution and the protection of an individual’s rights,” Marx added.

Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds (R) responded by reminding the sheriff in a letter of the state law that prohibits law enforcement from discouraging enforcement of immigration law.

“lowa law further requires that a sheriff shall not prohibit or discourage a law enforcement officer from assisting or cooperating with a federal immigration officer as reasonable or necessary, including providing enforcement assistance,” she added.

“Understand that a sheriff and county can become ineligible to receive any state funds if the local entity is found to have intentionally violated the provisions of chapter 27A,” she concluded.

President Donald Trump has said that he would implement mass deportations to alleviate the illegal alien crisis in the U.S.

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Glenn Beck’s analysis of Trump’s new plan for Gaza: ‘He never bluffs’

President Trump’s shock-and-awe strategy is working beautifully, but it’s usually Democrats whose jaws are on the floor. However, his recent announcement to turn Gaza into an America-owned boomtown has everyone dumbfounded — including Glenn Beck.

While Glenn doesn’t necessarily agree that America should own lands that belong to Israel, he can’t help but see the absolute genius in Trump’s plan.


Glenn explains that Trump’s idea to own Gaza equates to “all of the Palestinians in Gaza going away,” but nobody is talking about that because they’re too busy talking about how “the United States wants to make Gaza into the Riviera.”

Trump drops a proposal and suddenly “we are not talking about moving 1.7 million people into other countries,” says Glenn, calling the tactic moving “the Overton window.”

This kind of strategy, however, wouldn’t work if Trump was a bluffer. But he’s not.

“He never bluffs,” says Glenn, calling this trait “the best thing about Donald Trump.”

Glenn explains that when Trump presents a proposal like this, everybody takes him seriously, and they should. Truth be told, Trump most likely would jump at the opportunity to own and run Gaza.

But is that really in the cards?

“I don’t think so,” says Glenn.

To hear his full analysis, watch the clip above.

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Sec. Sean Duffy obliterates Hillary Clinton for trying to politicize tragic plane crashes: ‘You lie and distort facts’

Hillary Clinton attempted to politicize two recent fatal plane crashes to blame Republicans, but the secretary of transportation was ready with a fiery response.

Clinton posted on social media that the two crashes were linked to President Donald Trump gaining office and firing aviation officials as part of his clearing out of the federal government.

‘We’re moving on without you because the American people want us to make America’s transportation system great again.’

Clinton was replying to a message from Duffy about Democrats’ failure to update the infrastructure.

“US airlines had gone 16 years without fatal crashes,” wrote Clinton from her social media account.

“Then MAGA fired the FAA chief, gutted the Aviation Security Advisory Committee, and threatened air traffic controllers with layoffs,” she added. “Now there have been two fatal crashes. Hope your unvetted 22-year-olds fix things fast.”

Sec. Sean Duffy fired off a powerful response to Clinton’s criticism.

“I know you’re lashing out because [the Department of Government Efficiency] is uncovering your family’s obscene grifting via [the U.S. Agency for International Development], but I won’t let you lie and distort facts. The FAA administrator announced he resigned over a month before Trump took office, and the air traffic controllers were always exempt from Trump’s civil service buyouts,” wrote Duffy.

He went on to accuse the previous administration of using the Department of Transportation as a “slush fund” for the “Green New Scam” and wasting funds on social causes rather than updating infrastructure.

“I’m returning this department to its mission of safety by using innovative technology in transportation and infrastructure. Your team had its chance and failed. We’re moving on without you because the American people want us to make America’s transportation system great again,” he added.

“And yes, we’re bringing the 22-year-olds with us,” Duffy concluded.

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Leftists claim 1st Amendment keeps TERRORISTS in the US

Immigration advocacy groups have sued the Trump administration over its ban on asylum access at the southern border, claiming that there’s a fundamental right for anyone in the world to freely pass over the United States border.

“Conservative Review” host Daniel Horowitz finds it all laughable, as do Jill Savage and Matthew Peterson of “Blaze News Tonight.”

“It sounds crazy, but is there a free speech right to admit immigrants who hold pro-terrorist views?” Savage asks, adding, “When I hear this, right on the face of this, this sounds absolutely absurd.”

“Obviously, the ACLU and allied groups have threatened to sue Trump’s executive order, and to them, there’s a fundamental right for eight billion people in the world to potentially come here and file due process or discrimination lawsuits,” Horowitz says.

“There’s 130 years of case law demonstrating that because a sovereign nation has the right to deny entry and to admit people on such conditions as it deems prudent and necessary, there is no fundamental right,” he continues.

“What the Trump administration plans on doing here, when they talk about deporting Hamas protesters, so no one’s going to be sent to jail or fined for their views, we’re just going to say, ‘Hey, goodbye, go back to your country of origin that you evidently like so much and enjoy your life there,’” he adds.

Meanwhile, deportation is not a punishment but rather a consequence of national sovereignty.

“Since the time of the 1790 Naturalization Act, our founders made it very clear they only wanted people here who blended and fit into our society,” Horowitz explains, noting that many of the people here illegally aren’t the best and brightest.

“I’m very happy that the Trump administration is embracing both the legal authority and also the moral imperative to keep people like that out of the country, because look, let’s face it, we have plenty of problematic people here. Obviously, you can’t choose your natural-born citizens, but you could certainly choose your immigrants,” he continues, adding, “And we should only let in people that love America.”

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Watch ‘furious’ California residents tackle, detain suspected arsonist: ‘Wrong neighborhood, buddy’

Video shows a group of concerned citizens in California chase down, tackle, and detain a man suspected of committing arson, according to multiple reports.

Around 4:32 p.m. on Monday, the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Office received reports that a man set a fire in a neighborhood outside of Los Angeles.

‘When deputies searched the suspect, they found a lighter in his pocket, a small sum of cash, and a car battery jumper kit.’

Several people were seen on video chasing down the arson suspect in the neighborhood of Chatsworth — roughly 30 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles.

Brandon Taylor — a photographer with Traffic News LA — captured footage of the tense situation.

Taylor told KTTV that the arson suspect was behaving suspiciously.

“It just seemed a little strange that there was a guy there after a brush fire was reported just a quarter-mile up the road,” Taylor said. “And he’s in the bush doing something.”

Taylor continued, “The residents were furious. They’ve gone through the Woolsey Fire, which started just a mile from there. With all the dry vegetation, they were really concerned about him starting another fire and losing their homes.”

Video journalist Gabe Cortez was also at the chaotic scene and shared footage of the confrontation on Instagram.

Cortez told the Los Angeles Times about the arson suspect, “He was avoiding the group following him. He seemed to be telling them to pass him up. And then you can see in my video that someone started to chase him, and he appeared scared.”

The Los Angeles Sheriff’s Office said in a statement, “The witnesses pointed to the suspect and told deputies they witnessed him lighting a brush fire near Knapp Ranch Road and Woolsey Canyon Road. The witnesses stated the suspect lit the fire and left the location. The witnesses followed in their vehicle.”

Officers with the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Office quickly responded to arrest the arson suspect.

While police officers were handcuffing the suspect, a woman is heard on video telling Martinez: “Wrong neighborhood, buddy.”

Police identified the suspect as 41-year-old Alejandro Martinez.

Authorities said there was already a warrant out for Martinez’s arrest but did not provide any specifics.

KTTV reported, “When deputies searched Martinez, they found a lighter in his pocket, a small sum of cash, and a car battery jumper kit.”

Martinez is facing a felony charge of arson of a structure or forest and one count of aggravated circumstance of increasing seriousness of prior convictions. If convicted of all charges, Martinez reportedly faces up to six years and eight months in prison.

Martinez is being held without bail at the Twin Towers Correctional Facility.

Authorities said there was a fire burning near the location where Martinez was apprehended.

The fire burned about a 100-square-foot area of brush before being extinguished by the Los Angeles County Fire Department.

Cortez noted, “Thank God there were no strong winds, because it could have gone so much worse. Given all the recent fires, communities and people are just so much more aware of these types of things now, and they’re on high alert.”

KNBC-TV reported that the suspect attempted to light two fires near Box Canyon in Canoga Park.

Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman said in a statement, “As we continue to recover from the devastation of recent wildfires, this case is a stark reminder of the grave threat alleged arsonists pose to our communities. We have seen firsthand the destruction, displacement, and loss of life caused by these senseless acts. Let me be clear — if you intentionally set fire to our land, endanger our residents, and threaten our first responders, we will prosecute you to the fullest extent of the law.”

An investigation has been launched by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Arson/Explosive Unit.

Anyone with information about this incident is urged to contact the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s Arson/Explosive Unit at (323) 881-7500.

KTLA reported that Martinez is the 27th suspect charged in cases related to the wildfires in Southern California.

According to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, only the Palisades fire is currently smoldering, but it is reportedly 100% contained. The blaze – which first started nearly a month ago – has killed 12 people, destroyed 6,831 structures, and scorched 23,707 acres.

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Judge partially blocks DOGE access to financial systems of Treasury Department

A federal judge partially blocked access to the Treasury Department’s financial systems by the Department of Government Efficiency over a lawsuit from a coalition of labor unions.

U.S. District Court Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly said that the DOGE workers could only have “read-only” access to the data at the Treasury Department after the unions’ attorneys argued that they were violating privacy statutes.

The unions are being represented by the Public Citizen Litigation Group and the State Democracy Defenders Fund.

President Donald Trump tasked Elon Musk with rooting out waste as the head of the Department of Government Efficiency, and the billionaire entrepreneur took his mission to the Treasury Department.

The lawsuit against Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent demanded that the court put an “an immediate stop” to what plaintiffs described as the “systematic, continuous, and ongoing violation of federal laws that protect the privacy of personal information contained in federal records.”

Kollar-Kotelly allowed the DOGE only the ability to read the data but forbade Bessent to “provide access to any payment record or payment system of records maintained by or within the Bureau of the Fiscal Service.”

The unions are being represented by the Public Citizen Litigation Group and the State Democracy Defenders Fund.

Musk has been under fire for the actions he has taken to identify waste, fraud, and abuse in the federal government. Democrats are accusing him of acting unconstitutionally by shutting down offices like the U.S. Agency for International Development.

“What is happening here is illegal,” said Sen. Andy Kim (D-N.J.). “This is an entity that was created through federal statute, codified through federal statute, and something that cannot be changed, cannot be removed except through actions of Congress.”

Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) has announced that he would put a “blanket hold” on all Trump State Department nominees to protest the actions taken against USAID.

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Ex-USAID director confirms ‘culture of corruption’ within agency

Mark Moyar, a former director of the United States Agency for International Development, declared that the government agency has a “culture of corruption” that needs to be rooted out.

During a Wednesday interview with Fox News‘ Jesse Watters, Moyar described his experiences at the scandal-plagued USAID.

‘Very effective at rebranding things.’

Over the past week, President Donald Trump’s administration, especially Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, has exposed some of the agency’s wasteful spending. The administration is now pushing for a complete reorganization to prevent any more taxpayer funds from going toward anti-American initiatives.

Moyar, who began working at USAID in February 2018, explained to Watters that he was fired from his position after he tried to expose corruption within the agency.

He explained that during his orientation with USAID, he was asked to participate in a “privilege walk,” a group exercise designed to visually demonstrate how various forms of privilege or disadvantage impact the life outcomes of individuals from different backgrounds.

Each participant begins at the same starting line. As a series of statements are read aloud, participants step forward when the statement positively applies to their lives, indicating some form of privilege, or step backward when it negatively applies, indicating a disadvantage.

Moyar stated that employees were assigned an alternative identity for the orientation exercise, and he was selected to be “a Scandinavian woman.”

“They read lines like, ‘I get discriminated against because of government services,’ or, ‘People don’t like how I look,'” he told Watters. “I ended near the front. The indigenous woman with unwanted pregnancy and the male prostitute were at the other end. And then we talked about our privileges.”

Moyar explained that USAID is “very effective at rebranding things,” referring to the agency’s wasteful spending habits.

As an example, Moyar stated that the agency started a feminist women’s book club under the Obama administration, and it has since been re-designated as a counterterror program “because feminist women are key fighters in the battle against terrorism.”

During his time with USAID, Moyar said he tried to report one of his subordinates for a “criminal conflict of interest.” When he did so, he was informed that most employees were unwilling to report corruption within the agency.

“They didn’t tell me why,” Moyar told Watters. “I later figured out it’s because you get in a lot of trouble.”

“I was accused of publishing classified information,” he continued. “They ultimately used that to fire me. Now, the people who were engaged in the corruption managed to hold on to their jobs.”

He called the agency’s accusations “bogus,” stating that he has been fighting its claims in court for several years.

“There’s a culture of corruption that says, ‘If you are going to criticize anything corrupt, we are going to come after you,'” Moyar added.

He stated that USAID has historically refused to turn over information to the courts or Congress.

Moyar told Watters that the DOGE is doing a “good job” uncovering wasteful spending. However, he contended that exposing the depth of the agency’s issues would require forensic accountants.

“It’s probably going to take a long time because these bureaucrats have devised very crafty ways to hide money,” Moyar said.

He noted that Trump’s second-term administration has already been more diligent and efficient about cleaning out the agency than during Trump’s first four years in the White House.

Moyar believes Trump is now using a more “heavy-handed approach” with USAID because bureaucrats managed to hide most of the wasteful spending through his first term.

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Trump’s DOJ sues Chicago over sanctuary city laws ‘thwarting’ ICE

President Donald Trump’s Department of Justice has ramped up its efforts to dismantle sanctuary laws by filing a lawsuit on Thursday against Illinois, Cook County, and Chicago that alleges their policies “impede” federal immigration enforcement.

The complaint also named Governor J.B. Pritzker, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, and other local officials.

‘The conduct of officials in Chicago and Illinois minimally enforcing — and oftentimes affirmatively thwarting — federal immigration laws … has resulted in countless criminals being released.’

Specifically, the DOJ accused the Illinois TRUST Act, the Chicago Welcoming City ordinance, and the Way Forward Act of hindering Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s efforts to detain and deport illegal aliens.

The Illinois TRUST Act, signed into law in 2017, says, “State law does not currently grant State or local law enforcement the authority to enforce federal civil immigration laws.” It includes a “prohibition on enforcing federal civil immigration laws.”

“A law enforcement agency or law enforcement official shall not detain or continue to detain any individual solely on the basis of any immigration detainer or civil immigration warrant or otherwise comply with an immigration detainer or civil immigration warrant,” it reads.

Chicago’s Welcoming City ordinance was passed in 2012 by former Mayor Rahm Emanuel (D).

The ordinance states that city agencies and agents cannot “arrest, detain, or continue to detain a person solely on the belief that the person is not present legally in the United States.”

Both laws prevent local jurisdictions from honoring ICE detainers, which request that a criminal illegal alien currently in local custody be held up to 48 hours beyond their release date to allow immigration officials to safely transfer the individual to federal custody.

The Way Forward Act was enacted in 2021 and amended the TRUST Act to provide additional protection to illegal aliens. It states that “a law enforcement agency or law enforcement official may not inquire about or investigate the citizenship or immigration status or place of birth of any individual in the agency or official’s custody or who has otherwise been stopped or detained by the agency or official.”

The DOJ’s lawsuit claimed that the state and local laws are “designed to and in fact interfere with and discriminate against the Federal Government’s enforcement of federal immigration law in violation of the Supremacy Clause of the United States Constitution.”

The agency further stated that the policies “obstruct the Federal Government’s enforcement of federal immigration law” and “impede consultation and communication between federal, state, and local law enforcement officials that is necessary for federal officials to carry out federal immigration law and keep Americans safe.”

It continued, “Upon information and belief, the conduct of officials in Chicago and Illinois minimally enforcing — and oftentimes affirmatively thwarting — federal immigration laws over a period of years has resulted in countless criminals being released into Chicago who should have been held for immigration removal from the United States.”

The complaint accused sanctuary jurisdictions of effectively being “safe havens” for criminal illegal aliens seeking to evade federal law enforcement agents.

It argued that the laws prevent ICE and the Department of Homeland Security from identifying illegal aliens who are subject to removal by restricting the information local governments can share with federal agents. The DOJ contended that such local laws contradict federal laws that “prohibit state and local governments from refusing to share information.”

A DOJ official told the New York Post that the administration’s immigration enforcement effort includes “an all-hands-on-deck approach,” noting that the lawsuit is “one tool in our tool belt.”

“This lawsuit will put the spotlight on obstruction by state and local officials and their refusal to support the administration and compliance with the law. The law says people who are here illegally are not allowed to stay here; they should be deported. So we want to make sure those impediments are taken away,” the official told the news outlet.

“These states and localities advertise themselves as sanctuary jurisdictions. They are inviting people here who are illegal, and they’re promising to protect them from federal law enforcement,” the official continued. “That’s inconsistent with federal law, and it’s impeding federal law enforcement efforts, and these laws need to be struck from the books because they’re incentivizing illegal immigration into the country.”

The DOJ anticipates that the lawsuit may go all the way to the Supreme Court, the official added.

During Attorney General Pam Bondi’s first day on the job, she directed the DOJ to halt federal funding to sanctuary cities.

The DOJ official told the Post that it was “no coincidence” that the lawsuit was filed shortly after Bondi’s swearing-in.

“She is right out of the gate sending a clear message to other sanctuary jurisdictions,” the official stated.

Pritzker’s office responded to the lawsuit, stating, “Unlike Donald Trump, Illinois follows the law. The bipartisan Illinois TRUST Act, signed into law by a Republican governor, has always been compliant with federal law and still is today. Illinois will defend our laws that prioritize police resources for fighting crime while enabling state law enforcement to assist with arresting violent criminals. Instead of working with us to support law enforcement, the Trump administration is making it more difficult to protect the public, just like they did when Trump pardoned the convicted January 6 violent criminals. We look forward to seeing them in court.”

Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle stated that the county plans to “fight back.”

“We will pursue every legal opportunity to defend the programs that we believe in and defend our values,” Preckwinkle said.

Johnson’s office did not respond to requests for comment from The Hill or Newsweek.

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In defense of the Dallas Mavericks

The Dallas Mavericks and Los Angeles Lakers shocked the entire sporting world on Sunday when they executed one of the biggest trades in NBA history. In it, the Mavericks shipped the league’s reigning scoring champ, Luka Dončić, to the Lakers in exchange for a package headlined by 31-year-old Lakers star Anthony Davis.

Reaction around the league has been extremely negative toward the Mavericks for making the deal. Dallas fans, in particular, have reacted with stunned disbelief to losing a player who many assumed would take the mantle of long-term face of the franchise, much like Dirk Nowitzki before him. The general consensus among basketball critics seems to be that the Mavericks got rooked or at the very least should have held out for more.

If Harrison had any level of doubt about Dončić’s long-term commitment to Dallas, unloading him now was definitely the right move.

Not so fast.

While shock and dismay over losing a generational talent like Dončić is a natural reaction from Dallas fans, you can make a decently convincing case that the Mavericks made themselves better — both in the short and long term — with this trade.

Dončić, admittedly, is a one-of-a-kind player in the modern NBA. In a league dominated by the three-point shot (more on that later), Dončić has turned himself into an unstoppable offensive force while driving to the basket. Watching Dončić attack a modern NBA defense is like watching a jackhammer attack a particularly pliant piece of concrete: he seemingly shuffles in, seemingly always finds an angle, and bulldozes his way into territory where he is literally unstoppable.

Once he has entered the key, he is more likely than not going to score and also more than likely going to draw a foul on one of your frontcourt defenders. To stop him, you have to utilize multiple extra defenders, which leads to potentially even worse results since Dončić is also an outstanding and creative passer. Every time Dončić has the ball in his hands, he is a problem that NBA defenses do not have an answer for. In this respect, his only NBA peer is the Milwaukee Bucks’ Giannis Antetokounmpo.

Players like Dončić are simply not traded by NBA teams at the age of 25, especially when they are not in the final year of a contract. Finding a player like Dončić through the draft is the NBA equivalent of hitting the lottery — it is the hope that causes NBA teams to stockpile first-round draft picks in the first place. And as evidenced by the Mavericks’ trip to the NBA finals last year, there’s solid evidence available that a team built around Dončić as a cornerstone can meaningfully compete for an NBA title right now.

Making a championship team

Dallas fans’ reaction to losing Dončić is an understandable one, but there are solid reasons to think Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison made the right move. The reason for that begins with a talent that Anthony Davis brings to the court — one that might well be far more valuable than any of the things even a player like Dončić brings to the court.

Considerable ink has been spilled over the last few years about the number of three-point shots in the NBA. Much of the criticism of modern NBA offenses is overly simplistic and ill informed. In my view, as someone who actually watches a fair number of NBA games, NBA offenses are as varied and creative as they ever have been. However, one thing is inexorably true: NBA offenses are shooting many more three-pointers, and the number of those only goes up in every year that goes by.

But while the Boston Celtics breezed to the NBA title last year on the strength of an unprecedented barrage of three-point shooting, the Celtics (who have been largely healthy and returned the same roster from last year) are at best the third-best team in this year’s NBA. One of the teams that has been clearly better than the Celtics this year has been the Mavericks’ division rivals, the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Like everyone else, the Thunder shoot a lot of threes, relative to any NBA team from 10 years ago. Relative to other teams in the current league, the Thunder do not shoot very many threes and are not particularly successful when they do shoot. They are 16th out of 30 teams in three-point rate this year, and they are merely 18th out of 30 in three-point efficiency.

The reason the Thunder are compiling one of the best point differentials in NBA history this year is pretty simple and well understood by other NBA general managers: They have stockpiled an almost unbelievable collection of elite perimeter defenders. These defenders do not merely attack passing lanes and gun for steals; rather, they actually block and alter shots from beyond the three-point arc.

The standout in this category is the spindly Chet Holmgren, a 7’1″ shot-blocking menace who has disrupted three-point shooters all season. Unfortunately, injuries have sidelined him for significant stretches. When healthy, however, he has averaged an impressive 2.6 blocks per game — many of them on three-point attempts.

But the Thunder’s commitment to contesting long-range shots goes far beyond their 7-footer. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, a 6’6″ MVP candidate, has garnered plenty of attention for leading the league in scoring. Yet in interviews, he takes more pride in ranking among the league leaders in steals while also averaging a blocked shot per game.

Lu Dort, a 6’4″ defensive specialist, nearly matches that mark, averaging almost a block per game. Off the bench, Alex Caruso (6’5″) and Cason Wallace (6’4″) each contribute more than half a block per game, adding to the team’s relentless defensive presence.

From top to bottom, Oklahoma City’s roster is packed with defenders at every position who can make shooters think twice before letting it fly. This season, the Thunder are proving to the basketball world that aggressive perimeter defense is a formula for winning — one that is paying off in a big way.

And, if the tropes are to be believed, for league championships.

Questions of health

This reality was clearly front and center in Harrison’s mind when he pulled off the trade. “I believe that defense wins championships,” Harrison said, by way of explaining himself to a furious Dallas fan base. “I believe that getting an All-Defensive center and an All-NBA player with a defensive mindset gives us a better chance. We’re built to win now and in the future.”

This explanation has been widely panned by Mavericks nation, but Harrison is on firmer ground than many Dallas fans are giving him credit for. Advanced metrics and old-school metrics both rate Davis as a far better defender than Dončić. But more importantly, Davis is a player who can really and truly alter every three-point shot taken within his vicinity. How long is the list of such players? It probably includes Davis, Holmgren, and San Antonio phenom Victor Wembanyama. End of list. Others can block reasonable numbers of shots close to the basket. Those who can reliably swat multiple three-pointers out of the air per game are still unicorns. But smart GMs who see what havoc guys like Davis, Holmgren, and Wemby can wreak on a modern NBA offense are doubtless in agreement: Unicorns are great, and you should get one on your team if at all possible.

The value of Davis’ defensive presence, when healthy, probably cannot be overstated. Additionally, it should be noted that Davis is no offensive slouch. On a per-game basis, he scores at roughly the same clip as Kevin Durant. He can shoot from range, he can drive the basket in isolation, and he is a lethal pick-and-roll partner. In the present NBA, if both Dončić and Davis were healthy and I had to choose one to help me win a playoff game, I would personally pick Davis, as genius as Dončić’s offensive ability is.

There are two major reasons, however, for skepticism about what the Mavericks have done. The first is that everything I’ve said about Davis has been preceded by the phrase “when healthy.” The problem with Davis is and always has been that he’s frequently not healthy. Over the last three seasons, Davis has missed an average of 24 games per year, which means that he’s been unavailable roughly one-third of the time.

The other major reason is somewhat related to the first: Dončić is 25 and Davis is 31. Across all American professional sports, athletes tend to reach peak professional performance at age 26 or 27, which means that Dončić is on the right side of the aging curve while Davis is four full years on the wrong side of it. I think that Davis is currently a better overall player than Dončić, when healthy, although some might disagree. However, I think two years from now it’s highly unlikely that that will still be true. Every year that goes by in the future, the normal expectation is that Dončić’s performance will exceed Davis’ by a wider margin. Even the best-case scenario for the Mavs would concede that in three years, Dončić will almost certainly be a much better player than Davis.

A tough call on the title trail

Good reasons exist to question Dončić’s long-term future with the Mavericks. The most obvious is his contract situation. His current deal effectively runs through next season, with a player option for the following year. When that contract expires, he could walk away in free agency, leaving Dallas with nothing in return.

Assessing the likelihood of that outcome remains difficult. Dončić has never publicly indicated unhappiness in Dallas or signaled an intent to aggressively test free agency. However, Harrison likely had insight into Dončić’s mindset that extended beyond public perception. He may have believed Dončić felt frustrated with the Mavericks’ title-chasing efforts.

Even if he had no such information from Dončić, the threat of it must have loomed large in Harrison’s mind. And every month closer to the end of Dončić’s contract likely reduced the return the Mavs would get for him as a trade asset. If we can imagine a world in which Dončić told Harrison, even privately, that he intended to test the free agent market during next season, there is no circumstance in which he could expect to receive a player of Davis’ quality in addition to a first-round pick for Dončić on the trade market.

If Harrison had any level of doubt about Dončić’s long-term commitment to Dallas, unloading him now was definitely the right move.

The second concerns the other stated reason the Mavs entered into this trade: concerns about Dončić’s conditioning. I don’t know how truthful Harrison’s remarks and the leaks from the Dallas camp have been when it comes to Dončić’s commitment to maintaining his body in NBA shape. I do know that despite being a young player, Dončić regularly misses games due to various ailments. He has not played more than 70 games in a season since his rookie year. This year, he won’t play in 60. You don’t have to squint very hard at Dončić’s career to see a player who is likely to become every bit as much of an injury concern as Davis has been, sooner rather than later. As the Philadelphia 76ers are currently demonstrating with Joel Embiid, building a franchise around a player who regularly misses a third of the season or more is a losing proposition, no matter how talented that player is.

At the end of the day, I think it’s fair to ask whether the Mavs could have gotten more draft pick capital out of this trade. I think if the Mavs had been free to talk more openly with other teams about the possibility of the trade, or if they had been willing to accept more draft picks in exchange for a lower caliber of current player than Davis, then those are valid concerns. But from Harrison’s standpoint, the view that the Mavericks are title contenders isn’t a crazy one, even if they are currently eighth in the Western Conference standings. The Mavericks have performed very well in a tough conference despite the fact that their star player has missed more than half this season’s games thus far.

The Mavs plus Davis remind you an awful lot of the Thunder and probably pose the most serious threat to the Thunder’s own title run. I don’t know that they can beat the Thunder (or Cavs or Celtics), but I think it’s reasonable to dream that they can. And in such a universe, making this trade does make some level of sense.

If I had been in Harrison’s position last weekend, deciding on this trade would have been tough. I probably would have hesitated to make the move. But Harrison no doubt has access to more inside information on key factors, such as Dončić’s health and long-term satisfaction in Dallas.

Given that context, five years from now, we may look back and conclude that Harrison and the Mavericks deserve an apology for all the criticism they are currently facing.

​Basketball, Dallas mavericks, Luka dončić, Nba, Anthony davis, Los angeles lakers, Championships, Sports, Fearless, Opinion & analysis 

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Video shows the ‘scary’ moment Japan Airlines plane collides with Delta airliner at Seattle airport

A Japan Airlines plane collided with a Delta Airlines plane at the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport on Wednesday morning. The incident is the latest of multiple air travel mishaps in the past two weeks.

Around 10:17 a.m. on Wednesday, Japan Airlines Flight 68 was taxing at the SeaTac Airport when the right wing of the plane slammed into the tail of a parked Delta Airlines plane.

‘It was obvious right away something was wrong.’

Japan Airlines Flight 68 had just touched down at the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport after flying from Tokyo, Japan, according to FlightAware — a flight tracking website.

Delta Flight 1921 was preparing to be de-iced before taking off for Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.

Delta’s Boeing 737 had 142 passengers onboard when the plane was struck.

Video caught the moment that the Japan Airlines plane slammed into the Delta airliner.

Jackie Patton — from Vancouver, Canada — was sitting in a window seat of the Delta plane at the time of the incident.

Patton told the New York Times that she heard a “violent shaking in the plane and a really loud crunching sound.”

“It was obvious right away something was wrong,” Patton added. “It was very scary.”

Patton posted video of the aftermath on the X social media platform, which showed the Japan Airlines plane’s wing slicing into the tail of the other aircraft.

Police and firefighters responded to the collision.

Both airliners had to be evacuated after the incident.

The Seattle-Tacoma International Airport said in a statement that the collision caused “minimal impact to airport operations,” but there were some flight delays after the FAA paused traffic at the airport.

Delta said there were no reports of injuries for passengers or crews on the airplane.

The Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement, “The aircraft were in an area that is not under air traffic control.”

The FAA launched an investigation into the collision.

Japan Airlines did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Times.

You can watch a local news report on the air travel incident from WTVT.

Air traffic safety has been a hot-button topic in the past few weeks after highly publicized plane accidents.

An American Eagle flight collided with a Black Hawk military helicopter last week. All 62 passengers and two crew members of the airplane as well as the three crew members on the Black Hawk helicopter died in the crash. The remains of all of the victims have been recovered.

As Blaze News previously reported, a small medical plane crashed into a neighborhood in Northeast Philadelphia just two days after the passenger plane collision with the helicopter. All six passengers on the Learjet 55 and a person on the ground died from the air travel disaster.

On Sunday, a United Airlines plane was forced to abort a “high-speed” takeoff after an engine caught on fire in Texas. The plane, carrying 104 passengers, was able to safely evacuate all of the passengers and crew without injuries, according to officials.

BlazeTV host Stu Burguiere went on a mission to discover why there have been so many recent “close calls” of commercial airliner collisions.

Burguiere’s investigation unearthed several concerning revelations on how airports are using outdated technology, employing DEI practices that exclude the most qualified would-be air traffic controllers, and having severely understaffed air traffic towers.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk shared the documentary on the X social media platform last week.

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​Air traffic control, Air traffic safety, Air travel disaster, Air travel emergency, Planes clollide, Seattle, News 

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‘ICE Barbie’: The shocking reason leftists are after Kristi Noem

While Kristi Noem actively participates in ICE raids and publicly voices her support for law enforcement, the left is spending its precious time drumming up insults for the new secretary of Homeland Security.

The latest insult was born after Noem, who always looks her best, took to the cameras to explain the Trump administration’s path forward regarding immigration.

“Due process will be followed, and having facilities at Guantanamo Bay will be an asset to us. And the fact that we’ll have the capacity to continue to do there what we’ve always done. We’ve always had a presence of illegal immigrants there that have been detained. We’re just building out some capacity,” she said on MSNBC’s “Meet the Press.”

“Remember that Guantanamo Bay, clearly, by this president, has said that it will hold the worst of the worst. That we are going after those bad actors,” she continued. “Last week, I was in New York City, we were going after people that had warrants out for their arrest on murders and rapes, assaults, gun purchases, drug trafficking.”

“These are the types of individuals that we are targeting, we’re removing from communities, and that could end up having a stay at Guantanamo Bay,” she added.

While Pat Gray of “Pat Gray Unleashed” is thrilled to see Noem thriving in her new role, he’s not so thrilled to see how the left is reacting.

“The way the liberal media is treating her,” Gray says, “talking about her mascara and her makeup and the things that she’s wearing. When did that become OK?”

“‘ICE Barbie’ is what they keep calling her and Nancy Mace and Tulsi Gabbard. They’re all ‘ICE Barbies’ now,” he continues, adding, “and then they talk about the makeup they’ve applied.”

“When did that become OK for the left to be referencing things like that? Isn’t that sexism? Are you not supposed to comment on the way they look? Unbelievable,” he adds.

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Trump buyout deadline extended as deep-staters continue to weigh their options

A federal judge has extended the deadline for a federal worker buyout offered by the Trump administration after tens of thousands have already accepted it.

On January 28, the U.S. Office of Personnel Management issued a memo offering approximately 2.3 million members of the federal workforce a “deferred resignation.” According to the memo, those who accept it can continue receiving all pay and benefits through September 30, even as they will be exempt from all in-person work mandates.

Reports just this week indicate that those who accept the offer will be placed on administrative leave by March 1, meaning the offer effectively involves about eight months of pay for just a few more weeks of work. To accept the offer, all bureaucrats need do is reply to the OPM memo from their government email accounts, type the word “resign” in the subject line, and click “send.”

Military personnel, employees of the U.S. Postal Service, and those in positions related to immigration enforcement and national security are ineligible.

‘It’s exactly what it looks like. It’s one of the many tools that [Trump is] using to try to achieve the campaign promise to bring reform.’

The original deadline to accept the offer was 11:59 p.m. Eastern time on Thursday. However, a federal judge intervened and issued a restraining order that bumps the deadline back until Monday. The OPM will continue processing resignations until that time, Axios reported.

As of Tuesday, 20,000 had already accepted the buyout, but reports on Thursday indicate that the number has since crested 40,000.

The 40,000 or so who have resigned represent about 2% of the federal workforce, a significant portion but far below the 5%-10% the Trump administration had initially projected.

To encourage more participants, the administration noted on Wednesday that those who stay may still face layoffs or furloughs, since according to the OPM memo, “the majority of federal agencies are likely to be downsized through restructurings, realignments, and reductions in force.”

While the offer is enticing, some federal employees are concerned that the Trump administration may be pulling a fast one with it. Democrats and unions have warned that approved funding expires next month, so the government cannot guarantee funding that extends beyond that point. Other reports indicate that a loophole in the agreement allows the government to rescind the offer, even after it has been accepted.

Mary-Jean Burke, a physical therapist for the Department of Veterans Affairs, said that many believe that the offer from President Trump and his administration “sounded a little bit too good to be true.”

“It’s a scam and not a buyout,” insisted Everett Kelley, president of the American Federation of Government Employees, according to the AP.

“If it was me, I wouldn’t do it.”

The administration instead framed the offer as “a valuable, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”

Rachel Oglesby, chief of staff at the U.S. Department of Education and previously of the America First Policy Institute, assured skeptics that the offer is no “trick.”

“It’s exactly what it looks like. It’s one of the many tools that he’s using to try to achieve the campaign promise to bring reform to the civil service and changes to D.C.”

For now, many federal employees continue to weigh their options. “These are very trying times,” said Marlon Taubenheim, a human resources official at the Department of Agriculture. “There’s a lot of stress.”

“Every day, it’s something,” Burke said, according to the AP. “If he signed up to be a disrupter, he’s doing it.”

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​Buyout, Donald trump, Office of personnel management, Politics 

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The real ‘Handmaid’s Tale’: Why Lily Collins’ surrogacy announcement was the bridge too far

Lily Collins’ is the latest celebrity to announce the birth of a child via a surrogate — and the announcement has sparked yet another debate surrounding the ethics of the practice.

Allie Beth Stuckey of “Relatable” isn’t a fan of Collins’ choice.

“How do we get to the point where we are now renting wombs and in some cases buying children via egg and sperm donation?” Stuckey asks, noting that criticizing surrogacy is often met with manipulation and emotional games.

“If you show compassion for the surrogate, if you show compassion for the baby who has just been torn away from the only body and smell and heartbeat that she knows, you are being hateful towards the parents who wanted to do this,” Stuckey says, adding, “Because in all of these, in all forms of reproductive technology, what is being prioritized more than the well-being of the child is the wish of the parent.”

While many women on the left have protested stricter abortion laws by dressing up in dystopian garb, Stuckey explains that those people are missing the point, as renting a womb via surrogacy is “actually akin to ‘The Handmaid’s Tale.’”

“For some reason, liberals love to dress up in their red robes and pretend that Margaret Atwood’s novel is about abortion, like allowing children who have been conceived to not be murdered and to be born. That’s not what it’s about. It is actually much closer to the surrogacy industry,” she says.

In “The Handmaid’s Tale,” rich women who struggle with infertility use lower-class women against their will to carry their children for them.

“I know people say, ‘Well, it’s voluntary, and so if everyone consents to it, what’s the big deal?’ There are a lot of things that people consent to that are morally wrong,” Stuckey says. “Many of them may say that they are consenting to what they do, that does not mean that offering your body for a price is moral.”

The argument doesn’t end at whether or not it’s morally wrong to financially incentivize a woman to loan out her body but rather whether or not it’s morally wrong to tear a baby from the only mother he or she has known for nine months.

“It is physiologically true that at the moment of birth, the child longs for the woman who has been carrying him or her,” Stuckey says, noting that it’s even more egregious in cases where it’s two men renting out another woman’s womb.

“In the case of two men, they’re actually purchasing the egg-seller, they’re purchasing a separate surrogate, they’re taking the baby away from the biological mother, they’re taking the baby away from the woman who carried that child, and they are intentionally raising a child who is motherless,” she explains.

“I mean, what a cruel, draconian, demonic, social experiment that we are forcing un-consenting children into in the name of ‘love is love’ and inclusion,” she adds.

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‘What’s he supposed to do?’ Tom Brady defends big hits on sliding QBs, says more hits should be allowed

Tom Brady denied the idea that he was sheltered by referees and even advocated more leniency for defenders when they hit quarterbacks.

Brady was reviewing a compilation video of some of the biggest hits he ever received in his 23-year career and insisted that quarterbacks need to stand in the pocket to “make throws and take hits.”

Chatter has loomed ahead of the Super Bowl about Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes receiving preferential treatment from NFL referees. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and even Brady’s former teammate Julian Edelman chimed in on the subject and denied that Mahomes was being catered to.

While Brady said that Mahomes is “playing within” the rules and how calls are being made, he mostly shied away from the Chiefs star and focused on supporting the idea that defenders should be allowed to make hits.

Reacting to a highlight that showed him scrambling and ultimately getting flattened, Brady remarked, “Quarterbacks who do run a lot, this is not gonna work out well.”

The NFL legend noted on several plays that he “definitely slid late,” justifying the hits he received.

“That would 100% be a penalty now in the NFL. Right? Even though I slid late,” he said while reviewing footage. “I mean, it was. What’s he supposed to do? Supposed to knock the s**t out of me and try to knock the ball off.”

Brady further came to the defense of players on the other side of the ball and said they were simply trying to prevent him from getting a first down while he was trying to get one.

“But now they’re trying to defend against being penalized. Great defenses defended every blade of grass,” the champion recalled.

Brady then described venturing outside the pocket as being like a “five-lane highway.” Once quarterbacks are outside the pocket, they lose their protection, he added, explaining that the only way they can protect themselves at that point is to slide or throw the ball. He then advocated for a rule that would allow players who are “within five yards” of the quarterback to hit him.

“What I want is a tough, hard-nosed, physical game. I don’t want a game where offense can move the ball and blame the defense for getting tackled.”

‘What planet are you living on?’

Much like Mahomes, Brady was accused throughout his career of being on the receiving end of numerous favorable calls meant to protect him.

While watching the compilation of the brutal hits he received, Brady asked his detractors, “What planet are you living on?”

“How does everyone look at this and tell me that I was protected?” he complained.

The seven-time Super Bowl winner went on to describe toughness as a state of mind and complained that too many players are willing to stay on the ground as if they are injured, only to appear fine once they are taken to the sideline.

“You could have got up and walked off the field,” he said.

Brady said players who act like this are showing a defeatist mentality.

In the end, the retired player said the big hits were just part of the game and that if quarterbacks want protection, they should get rid of the ball.

“If you wanna hold it to the last second, you got a chance of getting hit.”

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​Fearless, Tom brady, Mahomes, Nfl, Football, Sports 

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California Dem gets hammered online for claiming National Prayer Breakfast is unprecedented violation of Constitution

A Democrat from California sounded the alarm about President Donald Trump’s presence at the National Prayer Breakfast and then faced the brutal mockery of online backlash.

Rep. Jared Huffman posted a histrionic video where he claimed that the president was violating the separation of church and state “like never before” by appearing at the annual prayer breakfast.

‘It just shows how hopelessly elitist Democrats have become.’

Huffman said the event was the latest in a “slippery slope” of events leading the country into a “creepy dystopic theocracy” and that he was going to protest the prayer with buttons.

“Look, we should not be having a Christian prayer service in the sanctum of the United States Capitol in Statuary Hall,” said Huffman in his little video. “This is an actual violation of church-state separation like we have never seen. Second year in a row Speaker [Mike] Johnson (R-La.) has done this.”

He went on to claim a “radical extremist” Christian group collaborated with Republicans while advocating for legislation in Africa to kill gay people.

“Stuff like this, this complete breakdown of church-state separation is a big part of the dystopic authoritarian agenda at the heart of Donald Trump and his MAGA movement,” he added.

Critics pounced on Huffman for the bizarre claim given that so many past presidents, Democrat and Republican, attended the prayer breakfast without, apparently, violating the Constitution.

“This is the dumbest thing ever. This is a bipartisan event that past Democratic presidents have attended and spoken at. Like, do a Google search,” said Chris Cillizza, formerly of CNN.

“Literally every president goes to this. It was started in 1953, and it has been attended by Eisenhower, JFK, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush I, Clinton, Bush II, Obama, Trump, and Biden,” responded Charles C.W. Cooke of National Review.

“So yes, this video is horribly out of touch with 98% of voters in the country, but in this man’s northern California district, it plays great. It just shows how hopelessly elitist Democrats have become,” replied Conn Carroll of the Washington Examiner.

“Protesting the National Prayer Breakfast is top tier comedy,” read another response.

Others pointed out that the breakfast was moved before Johnson became speaker, that it was moved because of concern from Democrats, and the group he was criticizing no longer had anything to do with the event.

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​Jared huffman is dumb, Huffman vs prayer breakfast, Huffman on prayer, Dems vs prayer, Politics 

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Klan meetings, 3D-printed guns, and steroids: Sean Strickland tears through UFC media day in Australia

Former UFC champion Sean Strickland touched on every controversial topic possible ahead of his fight in Sydney, Australia.

Speaking to media members before UFC 312, Strickland produced a highlight package of some of his best quips, comments, and bleep-able moments as he prepared to fight Dricus du Plessis for the middleweight title for a second time.

Strickland started by discussing a recent rant by fellow UFC fighter Bryce Mitchell, who made headlines after discussing Adolf Hitler on his podcast. Mitchell described the historical figure as a “good guy” but also not “the best dude ever.”

After a reporter commented on his moustache, Strickland responded, “I know I look like I should be going to a [Ku Klux] Klan meeting with Bryce Mitchell, but I don’t share the same values.”

While Strickland did say he was annoyed by Mitchell’s subsequent apology, he didn’t think the fighter was a bad person but that he had been “radicalized” online.

“If you’re gonna be a piece of s**t, dude, you got to just double down and be a piece of s**t. … I don’t think Bryce is a Nazi; I think Bryce a f**king idiot from Arkansas who’s not educated.”

‘Corporations murder people every day.’

Strickland also touched on guns and gun control while in Australia, telling reporters, “You had one mass shooting and you gave up all your f**king guns. That was kind of pathetic, [but] I’m not going to blame you.”

The Anaheim native then remarked on the “lack of freedom” in Australia and mocked the room for having “hate speech” codified in law despite being in a “modern country.”

Strickland compared Australia to the United States and said it is controlled by large corporations who use “brainwashing tactics.”

“Corporations murder people every day,” Strickland said, referring to Luigi Mangione, the man accused of assassinating the CEO of a health insurance company.

The middleweight then explained that while he believes “murder is wrong in some regards,” the shooting of the CEO sparked a worldwide conversation.

“All you need is a 3D printer and a suppressor and you could change the f**king world,” he added.

In addition to telling reporters he would send his “retard” opponent back to preschool on the “short bus,” Strickland said he’s definitely improved since their last fight, citing that he trains with the best fighters in the world.

“I did a lot of running, a lot of cardio, I lift a lot of weights,” the fighter joked. He then declared that if he hasn’t improved, he needs to “take more f**king steroids.”

The 33-year-old also made fun of several reporters and asked one if he had a “liberal arts degree” in hopes of trying to “change the world” by marching against Israel. He also cited an exchange with a Canadian journalist in early 2024, whom he referred to as “that one f**king communist reporter.”

Strickland and the reporter argued in Toronto about transgenderism and the state of the Canada, with the fighter calling him a “coward” and a “weak man.”

“You know how much s**t I got from that? When I made fun of transformers?” Strickland recalled.

Two titles will be on the line for UFC 312 in New South Wales, Australia. Du Plessis and Strickland will fight for the 185-pound belt, while Zhang Weili and Tatiana Suarez will fight for the women’s 115-pound title. The event airs Saturday night at 10 p.m. Eastern Time on pay-per-view.

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Politico’s $30 million+ government subscriptions scandal exposes taxpayer dollars flowing into corporate media

On Wednesday, Politico and other legacy media outlets tried to debunk claims that the newsrooms received millions of dollars from the federal government.

The catalyst for these accusations stemmed from President Donald Trump’s administration and the Department of Government Efficiency seeking to reorganize the United States Agency for International Development.

‘Could be the biggest scandal of them all, perhaps the biggest in history!’

With much attention focused on the troubled government agency in recent days, the Trump administration highlighted some of its questionable funding decisions. Press secretary Karoline Leavitt called it a long list of “crap” and “waste and abuse.”

During a press briefing earlier this week, Leavitt listed some of the initiatives funded by the federal government that the DOGE discovered.

“These are some of the insane priorities that that organization has been spending money on,” Leavitt stated.

She noted that the federal government spent “$1.5 million to advance DEI in Serbia’s workplaces, $70,000 for a production of a DEI musical in Ireland, $47,000 for a transgender opera in Colombia, $32,000 for a transgender comic book in Peru.”

The list of the federal government’s controversial expenses rattled off by the press secretary only scratched the surface.

On Wednesday, it was revealed that USAID had also paid Politico subscription fees. A search on USASpending.gov confirmed that all federal government agencies — not just USAID — had shelled out more than $8 million over the past year to the media outlet.

This prompted some to inaccurately report that USAID alone had paid millions of dollars in Politico Pro subscription fees. The agency made only two payments to the news outlet: $20,000 in 2023 and $24,000 in 2024.

During a Wednesday press conference, Leavitt told reporters, “Upon coming out here to the briefing room, I was made aware of the funding from USAID to media outlets, including Politico.”

“I can confirm that more than $8 million taxpayer dollars that have gone to essentially subsidizing subscriptions to Politico on the American taxpayers’ dime will no longer be happening,” she continued. “The DOGE team is working on canceling those payments now.”

Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social, “Looks like billions of dollars have been [stolen] at USAID, and other agencies, much of it going to the fake news media as a ‘payoff’ for creating good stories about the Democrats.”

The president noted that this “could be the biggest scandal of them all, perhaps the biggest in history!”

With the mix-up between exclusively USAID funding versus all federal agency funding, left-leaning corporate media outlets seized the opportunity to call the $8 million given to Politico a “false right-wing conspiracy theory.”

Lead Stories published a “fact-check” article titled “USAID Did NOT Spend Over $8 Million On Politico, LLC.” Buried in the piece, the outlet admitted that while USAID had not paid Politico over $8 million, other federal government agencies had.

CNN slammed Leavitt for “elevat[ing] a “bogus claim” and “right-wing conspiracy theory.” The media outlet similarly missed the mark about taxpayer dollars going to the corporate newsroom, reporting that the funds did not come from USAID but “all federal agencies combined.”

Revealing that USAID paid for Politico’s subscription fees brought to light a far more significant issue: Numerous federal agencies are using millions of taxpayer dollars annually to essentially subsidize the same corporate media outlets that are supposed to report on and hold them accountable.

In 2021, the New York Times reported that Politico’s annual revenue was roughly $200 million.

According to USASpending.gov, the federal government paid Politico more than $34 million from fiscal year 2016 through 2025. Politico’s affiliate, Capitol News Company LLC, received another $4.5 million from fiscal year 2011 through 2023.

However, Politico is not unique in this regard. From fiscal year 2009 through 2025, the Associated Press received $37.5 million from the federal government.

The Washington Post reported that the government has also used taxpayer funds to pay for subscriptions to its outlet. Yet it noted that Politico’s subscription fees “were significantly higher than many of its peers.”

Blaze News senior politics editor Christopher Bedford stated, “This is just a real look into how the swamp operates. And all of it, of course, can be explained: ‘These are for subscription models; this is just people paying to subscribe.’ But at the end of the day, if you’re, for over five years, taking almost $35 million in subscriptions from the federal government, from the taxpayer, then you’re largely funded. Their 200-person news team … is funded in large part by the taxpayer.”

Politico did not respond to a request for comment from Blaze News.

Politico CEO Goli Sheikholeslami and editor in chief John Harris released a staff memo on Wednesday addressing the claims.

“As surely many of you saw today, there was a spirited discussion at the White House and among officials connected to the Department of Government Efficiency on the subject of government subscriptions for journalism products, at POLITICO and other news organizations,” the joint statement read.

“This is a fine conversation to have, and we welcome it. The value of POLITICO subscriptions is validated daily in the marketplace. Some parts of today’s conversation, however, were confusing and left some people with false understandings. For this reason, we want you to hear from us on several points,” it continued.

They stated that Politico “has never been a beneficiary of government programs or subsidies — not one cent, ever, in 18 years” and that its Politico Pro “provides both private and public sector clients with granular, fact-based reporting, real-time intelligence, and tracking tools across key policy areas.”

The AP issued a statement about the outlet receiving funds from the federal government, noting that it has “long been an AP customer — through both Democratic and Republican administrations.”

“It licenses AP’s nonpartisan journalism, just like thousands of news outlets and customers around the world,” the AP stated. “It’s quite common for governments to have contracts with news organizations for their content.”

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