Category: blaze media

The United States Army and Navy are going all out for the 126th Army-Navy Game.

Over the past decade, the teams have worn special uniforms for the NCAA football rivalry series, but for this year’s historic occasion, both teams have stepped their game up.

‘We will carry the Army’s Warrior Ethos with us onto the gridiron.’

Last week, the Army unveiled their jerseys for the Dec. 13th game at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore. The focus of the design surrounds “250 Years of Service & Sacrifice.”

Specifically, the Army fell back on its ethos: “I will always place the mission first, I will never accept defeat, I will never quit. I will never leave a fallen comrade.”

Furthermore, the team put added emphasis on the U.S. Constitution and the Revolutionary War with “1775” written on the back of their helmets.

“Washington transformed the Continental Army into a disciplined fighting force. Washington and his soldiers boldly regained the initiative by crossing the Delaware River on Christmas in 1776 and seized Trenton and Princeton,” the Army wrote in a press release.

Washington’s men were “drilled and disciplined Soldiers able to hold their own against the British, and even to defeat them to secure American independence.”

RELATED: Stories Behind the Stars: On a mission to honor every American who died in WWII

Image via United States Army

The uniform uses Constitution-style text on the name plate to honor America’s founding documents and to showcase “the importance of having an Army that swears loyalty to a set of ideas rather than a monarch.”

It also features the Great Chain, honoring the strategic value of West Point during the American Revolution, as well as purple streaking through the jersey numbers and the helmet, symbolizing the sacrifices made by soldiers and Gold Star families.

The Army cemented its commitment to the defense of liberty in the design, reinforcing its motto, “This we’ll defend,” while promising victory.

“We will carry the Army’s Warrior Ethos with us onto the gridiron in Baltimore as we defeat our rivals and seize the Commander-in-Chief’s trophy,” the team said.

— (@)

Navy football also revealed its own iconic uniforms, choosing to focus on the historic copper and the Navy’s longest-serving ship.

The USS Constitution gets special recognition from the Navy this year and was heavily used for the uniform’s design and inspiration. This includes ship knots around the jersey’s sleeves, the American flag, and the nautical Navy and heritage red colors, symbolizing its battle-worn hull.

The USS Constitution is the only remaining frigate from the original six frigates fleet and the world’s oldest commissioned warship still afloat, according to the Navy.

The ship is nicknamed “Old Ironsides” because cannonballs appeared to bounce off its hull during the War of 1812. It remains undefeated in battle and has never lowed its flag.

RELATED: How a Navy SEAL preached the gospel to millions

Image via United States Navy

As for the copper, the Navy showcases the vital role the metal has played in preserving the original U.S. frigates. Not only does the copper protect the wooden hulls, but it was the material used for the 1797 and 1798 one-cent pieces placed beneath each mast of the USS Constitution for good luck.

The entire helmet is coated in oxidized copper for the 2025 game, along with a detailed sketch of the historic ship. A wooden plank runs down the center of the helmet too, bound by six ropes to honor the original six frigates.

The ropes on the helmet have 126 knots, a reference to the 126th Army-Navy game.

— (@)

Online, the Army’s reveal of its uniforms garnered much praise, even from its rivals.

“I’m a Navy veteran but I love the jersey numbers,” one X user wrote.

“I hate army but these are clean,” another said.

Over on the Navy’s X page, comments were cordial with fans saying designers “knocked it out of the park” and provided “incredible storytelling in this design.”

According to the game’s official website, the 2024 Army-Navy Game drew an average of 9.4 million viewers on CBS, eclipsing the record of 8.45 million set in 1992.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

​Fearless, Army, Navy, United states, Revolutionary war, America, England, 1775, 1776, Sports 

When BlazeTV host Sara Gonzales points out the Islamification of the U.S., she gets accused of working for Israel.

“I talk about it and people are like, ‘Oh, how’s that $7,000 you got from the Jews to talk about this?’ Like it doesn’t take a rocket scientist,” she says, before pointing out some very easy-to-understand facts — starting with Dearborn, Michigan.

According to the 2023 census, Dearborn’s population is 55% Muslim.

“They of course blast the call of prayer over giant loudspeakers five times a day as early as 5:00 a.m.,” Gonzales says, playing a clip from a TikTok account called “magamama5,” in which a woman records video as the call to prayer goes off.

Dearborn Mayor Abdullah Hammoud even spoke out against assimilation in a recent podcast appearance, saying, “I actually disavow the use of the term the melting pot. I actually don’t like it. Why? Because in a melting pot, when you’re talking about like a soup, everything looks the same, right?”

“The lettuce is lettuce, the tomato is tomato, the cucumber is cucumber, and they all complement each other,” he added.

“They all complement each other except when the cucumber wants to murder the tomato for not being Muslim,” Gonzales mocks.

But Dearborn is far from the only place being taken over.

As of 2020, New York housed 343 mosques, California 304, Texas 224, Florida 157, and New Jersey 141.

“I mean, you talk about Texas. … Texas is being completely inundated. Forty-eight mosques have opened in the state in the last two years,” Gonzales explains, noting that Texas Governor Greg Abbott (R) has given around $13 million of grant money to mosques.

And in another clip from New York City, a Muslim speaking at a rally yelled, “This is the correct religion. This is the religion that all of humanity needs to be a part of: Islam. And we will not stop until it enters every home.”

“Guys, when someone tells you who they really are, believe them,” Gonzales says.

Want more from Sara Gonzales?

To enjoy more of Sara’s no-holds-barred takes on news and culture, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

​Video phone, Free, Sharing, Camera phone, Upload, Video, Youtube.com, Sara gonzales unfiltered, Sara gonzales, The blaze, Blazetv, Blaze news, Blaze podcasts, Blaze podcast network, Blaze media, Blaze online, Blaze originals, Dearborn michigan, Muslim population, Mosques, Islamic takeover, Abdullah hammoud, Assimilation, Epic city, Texas, New york city, Sharia law, Islamic state 

A handful of Republican lawmakers joined forces with their colleagues across the aisle on Tuesday to shield Democratic House Delegate Stacey Plaskett of the Virgin Islands from consequence over her involvement with infamous sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Critics have suggested that Republicans spared Plaskett as part of a “back end deal” to save Rep. Cory Mills (R-Fla.), yet another humiliation.

‘The Plaskett censure failed because house leadership exchanged that censure failure for the withdrawal of a vote to censure and refer Cory Mills.’

Among the over 20,000 pages of damning Epstein emails released by the House Oversight Committee last week were numerous text messages between the dead sex offender and Plaskett.

While the documents show Jeffrey Epstein was evidently on speaking terms with numerous Democrats after his 2008 felony conviction for procuring a child for prostitution, his text messages with Plaskett proved particularly controversial as they appeared to show that he influenced the delegate’s behavior while she was conducting official business in Congress.

Epstein and Plaskett were exchanging messages during disgraced former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen’s testimony to the House Oversight Committee in February 2019. At one point, Epstein — who was evidently watching the hearing remotely — alerted Plaskett to Cohen’s mention of former Trump executive assistant Rhona Graff and suggested she was the “keeper of the secrets.”

“RONA??” responded Plaskett. “Quick I’m up next is that an acronym.”

“Thats [sic] his assistant,” said the sex offender.

RELATED: Epstein emails SHAME Obama/Clinton ally: Larry Summers quits public life amid calls for Harvard to cut ties

Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC). Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images

Plaskett’s office characterized the exchange as a politician simply fielding inputs from the public in hopes of getting “at the truth.” South Carolina Rep. Ralph Norman (R) and others alternatively recognized Plaskett’s apparent efforts to coordinate her line of questioning with Epstein as a form of inappropriate collusion with a convicted sex offender.

Norman introduced a House resolution on Tuesday not only to censure and condemn Plaskett but to remove the Democrat from the House Intelligence Committee “for conduct that reflects discreditably on the House of Representatives for colluding with convicted felony sex offender Jeffrey Epstein during a congressional hearing.”

Censures have become fairly routine in recent years, and it’s hardly unprecedented to remove a lawmaker from a committee.

For instance, in 2021, 11 nominal Republicans joined with House Democrats to strip Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R) of her committee assignments over comments found to be too incendiary. The same year, Democrats joined then-Republican Reps. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois and Liz Cheney of Wyoming in approving a resolution to censure Arizona Rep. Paul Gosar (R) and strip him of his committee assignments over a provocative social media post.

Republicans showed a united front in 2023 when they voted Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) off the Foreign Affairs Committee over her criticism of Israel and perceived lack of objectivity.

In addition to noting that Plaskett’s relationship with Epstein stands at odds with her carefully constructed public image as a “defender of justice and accountability,” Norman’s resolution states that:

Plaskett’s willingness to receive instructions on official congressional proceedings from Epstein, a convicted felony sex offender with deeply concerning international associations, is especially alarming and inappropriate given her own past service in the U.S. Department of Justice and her current role on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, and raises serious questions about Delegate Plaskett’s judgment, integrity, and fitness to serve.

Plaskett said in her defense on the House floor, “I know how to question individuals. I know how to seek information. I have sought information from confidential informants, from murderers, from other individuals because I want the truth.”

The House voted 214-209 against censuring Plaskett on Tuesday night.

‘The American people DO know what happened here!’

Joining the 211 Democrats who voted against Norman’s resolution were three Republicans: Reps. Don Bacon of Nebraska, Lance Gooden of Texas, and Dave Joyce of Ohio.

Another three Republican congressmen voted “present”: Andrew Garbarino of New York, Daniel Meuser of Pennsylvania, and Jay Obernolte of California.

“The House failed to pass my censure of Dem. Stacey Plaskett, a sitting member of Congress who took direction from Epstein in the middle of a 2019 Oversight Committee hearing,” Norman said in an X post after the vote. “This is the problem in Washington!! The establishment protects ITSELF, and the American people get pushed ASIDE.”

Norman added, “What happened to accountability?”

Colorado Rep. Lauren Boebert (R) similarly expressed revulsion over the failure by some of her peers to hold Plaskett accountable, writing, “Members of the House Intelligence Committee are supposed to be held to the highest standards of integrity, independence, and protection of our nation’s classified information — not communicating with known sexual predators during a committee hearing.”

“It’s disgusting our conference couldn’t come together to remove Jeffrey Epstein’s puppet off of the Intelligence Committee,” continued Boebert. “I’m calling on the Department of Justice to investigate into Delegate Plaskett’s relationship with Jeffery [sic] Epstein.”

Some Republicans have suggested that elements of their party spoiled the vote as part of a deal with Democrats.

RELATED: Rep. Cory Mills’ legal woes may not be over now that restraining order is granted

Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images

Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) noted on the House floor, “I was wondering if the speaker of the House of Representatives can explain why leadership on both sides, both Democrat and Republican, are cutting back-end deals to cover up public corruption in the House of Representatives for both Democrat and Republican members of Congress.”

Luna clarified her meaning on X, writing, “The Plaskett censure failed because house leadership exchanged that censure failure for the withdrawal of a vote to censure and refer Cory Mills to house ethics for investigation. The swamp protects itself.”

Boebert responded, “The American people DO know what happened here!”

In retaliation for the effort to censure Plaskett, Congressional Black Caucus Chair Yvette Clarke (D-N.Y.) revived her resolution to censure Rep. Cory Mills (R-Fla.) and remove him from the Armed Service Committee on Tuesday. Axios indicated that the revival of the censure resolution made it a “privileged motion” enabling Clarke to bypass the Republican leadership and force a vote.

A spokesperson for Mills did not respond to Axios’ request for comment.

With Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) and possibly other Republicans also willing to vote for the measure, it’s unclear whether the vote would have gone in Mills’ favor — but Democrats spared him from finding out, moving to withdraw the censure vote after Republicans helped kill the Plaskett censure effort.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

​Stacey plaskett, Rinos, Swamp, Jeffrey epstein, Cover up, Cory mills, Dc, Congress, Johnson, Norman, Ralph normal, Censure, House oversight, Politics 

Intense feuds over theological differences between traditional Christians (Protestants, Catholics, and Orthodox) and members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints date back to 1830, immediately after Latter-day Saints founder Joseph Smith launched his church.

After nearly 200 years of strife, that fierce debate transformed into an unprecedented, inspiring moment of interfaith healing on Sunday night at Utah Valley University — a predominantly Latter-day Saints campus and the largest university in the state — where prominent evangelical Protestant Pastor Greg Laurie hosted a revival event called “Hope for America.”

‘We’re going to go to that place of darkness, and we’re going to turn on the radiant light of Jesus Christ and proclaim the gospel that Charlie believed.’

Organizers created the event to rebuild spirits at the site of Charlie Kirk’s assassination in September. Students and faculty felt distraught after the trauma of Kirk’s murder, which happened in broad daylight, shortly after students returned to campus from summer break.

Kirk — a prominent conservative activist, confidant of President Trump, and founder of Turning Point USA — was brutally gunned down, allegedly by a deranged gunman from southern Utah, while Kirk spoke outdoors near the UVU student services building.

For many Americans, the first time they had heard of UVU was for this infamous, gut-wrenching reason.

“We’re going to go to that place of darkness, and we’re going to turn on the radiant light of Jesus Christ and proclaim the gospel that Charlie believed,” Laurie said in a press statement announcing the exciting gathering, organized with just six weeks’ prep time for an event that typically takes six months.

RELATED: Why the Bible is suddenly flying off shelves across America

Chet Strange/Getty Images

Laurie, 72, is the founder of Harvest churches in California and Hawaii and of Harvest Crusades. A prolific evangelist who fills up stadiums around the world in massive Billy Graham-style revival events, Laurie is a best-selling author and movie producer. His 2023 film “Jesus Revolution” tells the story of his conversion away from the drug-infused culture of 1970s California.

Laurie planned to come to Utah in 2027, but Kirk’s assassination sped up the timeline to offer a timely balm to the community. He was also co-hosted by pastors from more than 100 local Protestant churches who helped promote the gathering. Tickets were free, all quickly snapped up by attendees for the 8,500-seat UCCU Center, the basketball arena on campus. Laurie said there were an additional 67 overflow sites in the area to watch. The revival featured music from renowned Protestant Christian artists Chris Thomlin and Phil Wickham.

UVU president Astrid Tuminez said 70% of UVU’s students identify as Latter-day Saints, according to Courtney Tanner at the Salt Lake Tribune. Utah Valley has the highest concentration of practicing Latter-day Saints in the world.

I grew up in the Latter-day Saints tradition, and my ancestors worked with Smith and other early pioneer leaders like Brigham Young. As a child, I attended an elementary school down the road from UVU. Back then, it was the much smaller Utah Valley Community College.

As I share in my memoir, “Motorhome Prophecies,” released last year, at that school we had only one non-LDS student in my class (a Catholic). I felt suspicious of her and afraid to attend her birthday slumber party.

But such is the suspicion of many who grow up in the majority of any dominant culture against the minority.

I stopped practicing the Latter-day Saints faith after my Brigham Young University graduation in 2005 at age 22. I later formally resigned from the Latter-day Saints organization in 2010 and got baptized as a Protestant, eight years ago this Dec. 3.

‘You meant it for evil; God meant it for good.’

So I am thrilled to see these bridges being built in real time. This type of unity ripened years prior under the leadership of the late Latter-day Saints leader Russell Nelson, who passed away in late September.

Laurie asked me to help him workshop his remarks prior to delivery. I was honored to provide whatever insight I could in hopes of serving Laurie’s profound desire to share the message of Christ’s redemption for all mankind.

“Why did Charlie Kirk die in such a tragic way, only a short distance from where we are right now?” Laurie wrote in his remarks. “I do not know the answer to that question, but I know Charlie is in heaven. But this event tonight would not be happening if not for that horrific event.”

Indeed, life’s most wrenching crucibles can propel us to our greatest moments of growth and freedom. In his remarks, Laurie also quoted from the book of Genesis: “But Joseph said to them, ‘ … you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good.'”

“This your moment. Don’t wait for a tragedy. Don’t scroll past this one more time. Come to the Father, tonight!” Laurie said.

It’s miraculous to see how evangelicals and Latter-day Saints — groups with such a long history of heated disagreements — came together to unite in service of healing in God’s name.

My prayer is that Hope for America is just the first in a long series of interfaith reconciliation gatherings among Latter-day Saints, Protestants, and Catholics that will cultivate shared bonds among people of faith — all children of our heavenly Father.

​Greg laurie, Charlie kirk, Mormon, Christianity, Christian revival, Utah valley university, Faith 

There’s a term for artificially generated content that permeates online spaces — creators call it AI slop, and when generative AI first emerged back in late 2022, that was true. AI photos and videos used to be painfully, obviously fake. The lighting was off, the physics were unrealistic, people had too many fingers or limbs or odd body proportions, and textures appeared fuzzy or glossy, even in places where it didn’t make sense. They just didn’t look real.

Many of you probably remember the nightmare fuel that was the early video of Will Smith eating spaghetti. It’s terrifying.

This isn’t the case any more. In just two short years, AI videos have become convincingly realistic to the point that deepfakes — content that perfectly mimics real people, places, and events — are now running rampant. For just one quick example of how far AI videos have come, check out Will Smith eating spaghetti, then and now.

None of it is real unless it is verifiable, and that is becoming increasingly hard to do.

Even the Trump administration recently rallied around AI-generated content, using it as a political tool to poke fun at the left and its policies. The latest entry portrayed AI Hakeem Jeffries wearing a sombrero while standing beside a miffed Chuck Schumer who is speaking a little more honestly than usual, a telltale sign that the video is fake.

While some AI-generated videos on the internet are simple memes posted in good fun, there is a darker side to AI content that makes the internet an increasingly unreliable place for truth, facts, and reality.

How to tell if an online video is fake

AI videos in 2025 are more convincing than ever. Not only do most AI video platforms pass the spaghetti-eating Turing test, but they have also solved many of the issues that used to run rampant (too many fingers, weird physics, etc.). The good news is that there are still a few ways to tell an AI video from a real one.

At least for now.

First, most videos created with OpenAI Sora, Grok Imagine, and Gemini Veo have clear watermarks stamped directly on the content. I emphasize “most,” because last month, violent Sora-generated videos cropped up online that didn’t have a watermark, suggesting that either the marks were manually removed or there’s a bug in Sora’s platform.

Your second-best defense against AI-generated content is your gut. We’re still early enough in the AI video race that many of them still look “off.” They have a strange filter-like sheen to them that’s reminiscent of watching content in a dream. Natural facial expressions and voice inflections continue to be a problem. AI videos also still have trouble with tedious or more complex physics (especially fluid motions) and special effects (explosions, crashing waves, etc.).

RELATED: Here’s how to get the most annoying new update off of your iPhone

Photo by: Nano Calvo/VW Pics/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

At the same time, other videos, like this clip of Neil deGrasse Tyson, are shockingly realistic. Even the finer details are nearly perfect, from the background in Tyson’s office to his mannerisms and speech patterns — all of it feels authentic.

Now watch the video again. Look closely at what happens after Tyson reveals the truth. It’s clear that the first half of the video is fake, but it’s harder to tell if the second half is actually real. A notable red flag is the way the video floats on top of his phone as he pulls it away from the camera. That could just be a simple editing trick, or it could be a sign that the entire thing is a deepfake. The problem is that there’s no way to know for sure.

Why deepfakes are so dangerous

Deepfakes pose a real problem to society, and no one is ready for the aftermath. According to Statista, U.S. adults spend more than 60% of their daily screen time watching video content. If the content they consume isn’t real, this can greatly impact their perception of real-world events, warp their expectations around life, love, and happiness, facilitate political deception, chip away at mental health, and more.

Truth only exists if the content we see is real. False fabrications can easily twist facts, spread lies, and sow doubt, all of which will destabilize social media, discredit the internet at large, and upend society overall.

Deepfakes, however, are real, at least in the sense that they exist. Even worse, they are becoming more prevalent, and they are outright dangerous. They are a threat because they are extremely convincing and almost impossible to discern from reality. Not only can a deepfake be used to show a prominent figure (politicians, celebrities, etc.) doing or saying bad things that didn’t actually happen, but deepfakes can also be used as an excuse to cover up something a person actually did on film. The damage goes both ways, obfuscating the truth, ruining reputations, and cultivating chaos.

Soon, videos like the Neil deGrasse Tyson clip will become the norm, and the consequences will be utterly dire. You’ll see presidents declare war on other countries without uttering a real word. Foreign nations will drop bombs on their opponents without firing a shot, and terrorists will commit atrocities on innocent people that don’t exist. All of it is coming, and even though none of it will be real, we won’t be able to tell the difference between truth and lies. The internet — possibly even the world — will descend into turmoil.

Don’t believe everything you see online

Okay, so the internet has never been a bastion of truth. Since the dawn of dial-up, different forms of deception have crept throughout, bending facts or outright distorting the truth wholesale. This time, it’s a little different. Generative AI doesn’t just twist narratives to align with an agenda. It outright creates them, mimicking real life so convincingly that we’re compelled to believe what we see.

From here on out, it’s safe to assume that nothing on the internet is real — not politicians spewing nonsense, not war propaganda from some far-flung country, not even the adorable animal videos on your Facebook feed (sorry, Grandma!). None of it is real unless it is verifiable, and that is becoming increasingly hard to do in the age of generative AI. The open internet we knew is dead. The only thing you can trust today is what you see in person with your own eyes and the stories published by trusted sources online. Take everything else with a heaping handful of salt.

This is why reputable news outlets will be even more important in the AI future. If anyone can be trusted to publish real, authentic, truthful content, it should be our media. As for who in the press is telling the truth, Glenn Beck’s “liar, liar” test is a good place to start.

​Tech 

A horrific incident on the el train in Chicago on Monday has led to a woman in critical condition with severe burns.

Police say that a 45-year-old male had a “verbal altercation” with the 27-year-old woman before the alleged attack, but a source who spoke to CWB Chicago contradicted the account.

The arson incident would be his 23rd arrest. Some of those arrests include other incidents of arson.

The source said the attack was unprovoked and completely random.

A person of interest was apprehended by police, but he has not been charged yet.

The source told CWB Chicago that the woman was paying attention to her cell phone on a Blue Line train at about 9:26 p.m. when the man doused her with a liquid from a bottle. She tried to run away, but he was able to catch up to her and light her on fire, according to the source. The man was also lit on fire during the altercation.

The woman was transported to Stroger Hospital in critical condition.

CWB Chicago reported that the suspect had previously been charged with aggravated battery causing great bodily harm, but a judge denied a request to keep him in custody and ordered 24/7 electronic monitoring instead.

Three weeks later, another judge modified the terms to allow him to leave his home outside daytime hours, which includes the time of the alleged assault.

RELATED: Concealed carry holder ends teenager’s brief crime spree in a spray of bullets, police say

The report also said that the suspect had been arrested 22 times since 2016 by the Chicago Police Department alone. The arson incident would be his 23rd arrest. Some of those arrests include other incidents of arson.

A source told CWB Chicago that no one on the train stepped in to help the woman after she was lit on fire. A witness also described the man as black.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

​Woman lit on fire, Chicago train, Unprovoked attack, Public transit attack, Crime 

The chaos, harassment, and violence that unfolded at a recent TPUSA event at UC Berkeley were so bad that the Department of Justice and FBI are now investigating.

“Antifa is an existential threat to our nation,” Attorney General Pam Bondi wrote on X following the event. “The violent riots at UC Berkeley last night are under full investigation by the FBI-led Joint Terrorism Task Force. We will continue to spare no expense unmasking all who commit and orchestrate acts of political violence.”

Alongside comedian Rob Schneider, author Frank Turek hosted the Turning Point event that packed the university’s Zellerbach Hall — and he’s telling BlazeTV host Allie Beth Stuckey what really happened.

“Antifa was there, obviously. They were hurling insults and slurs at the people trying to get in. They set off fireworks, which sounded like gunfire, so people were scrambling,” Turek explains.

“The university police did not keep the walkway free to allow people to get in. So people were spat on, people were harassed, and they were not only harassed getting in, Allie, they were harassed getting out,” he continues.

“Most of these people were probably George Soros-funded, you know, liberal agitators,” he adds.

And these protesters were vile, shouting disturbed things like “f**k your dead homie” to mock the assassination of Charlie Kirk.

“Isn’t it ironic, Allie, that these people who say they’re fighting for inclusion, tolerance, and diversity will not include you and will not tolerate you for holding a diverse view?” Turek asks. “And they claim that we are the fascists.”

Want more from Allie Beth Stuckey?

To enjoy more of Allie’s upbeat and in-depth coverage of culture, news, and theology from a Christian, conservative perspective, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

​Video phone, Free, Sharing, Camera phone, Upload, Video, Youtube.com, Relatable with allie beth stuckey, Relatable, The blaze, Blazetv, Blaze news, Blaze podcasts, Blaze podcast network, Blaze media, Blaze online, Blaze originals, Dr frank turek, Antifa, Pam bondi, Ag pam bondi, Turning point usa, Uc berkeley, Antifa riots, Charlie kirk 

Liberals in the United States keep pretending to “resist” a democratically elected president they smear as an “authoritarian.” Meanwhile, real resistance fighters push back against a real authoritarian regime — in Iran.

For well-to-do white liberals, “resistance” amounts to a bumper sticker, a hashtag, a chant, and a safe protest march. No American faces arrest for opposing President Trump or his policies. Police never cracked down on thousands of No Kings demonstrators. The government never shut down the internet. No American risks execution for demanding new leadership.

Partisan voices push the false claim that Americans must choose between sending troops or doing nothing. Anyone who actually listens to Iranian dissidents knows better.

Iranian dissidents face all of that and more. Their resistance carries the cost of blood, freedom, and life.

Last weekend, I saw real resistance up close. More than 1,000 Iranian dissidents gathered in Washington, D.C., for the Free Iran Convention to plan for a future free from the mullahs’ rule. Panels featuring scholars, women, young activists, and even voices from inside Iran painted a picture of a regime on the brink.

As the regime clings to power, it leans harder on censorship, torture, and public executions to keep Iranians living in fear.

This crackdown unfolds against an economy collapsing under its own weight. More than 80% of Iranians live below the poverty line. Inflation punishes the entire country. Unemployment keeps climbing.

The harsher the repression, the more Iranians recognize the only path forward is regime change.

In 2018, 2019, and 2022, Iranians took to the streets in nationwide uprisings. Thousands died. Tens of thousands went to jail. As 2025 unfolds, the question no longer asks if another uprising comes — only when.

The West now faces its own question: Will we be ready to support the Iranian people when that moment arrives?

Here at home, partisan voices push the false claim that Americans must choose between sending troops or doing nothing. Anyone who actually listens to Iranian dissidents knows better.

A third option exists — the one championed by Maryam Rajavi and the National Council of Resistance of Iran, a coalition that rejects both the shah’s dictatorship and the mullahs’ theocracy.

Rajavi, elected by the NCRI as president for the transitional period after the ayatollah’s ouster, puts it plainly:

Neither appeasement nor war, but regime change at the hands of the Iranian people and their organized, legitimate, and just resistance. We do not seek money or weapons. We only ask that this resistance be recognized.

This resistance already lives and breathes inside Iran. The People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran stands as the largest and best-organized opposition movement in the country. Resistance units operate in all 31 provinces. They have carried out thousands of attacks on the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Basij — the regime’s main instruments of suppression.

These units organize protests, strikes, and anti-regime campaigns. Their intelligence network exposed Tehran’s clandestine nuclear program and uncovered terrorist plots funded by the regime.

RELATED: America’s addiction to Chinese money runs deeper than we care to admit

Photo Illustration by Sheldon Cooper/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

The cost has been staggering. Since 1981, the regime has killed more than 100,000 PMOI/MEK members. Countless others have been imprisoned, tortured, or targeted in state-funded smear campaigns.

The idea of negotiating with the Iranian regime belongs to the realm of fantasy. No meaningful difference separates so-called hard-liners from so-called moderates. Both factions produce economic ruin at home and terrorism abroad. Young Iranians see the truth plainly.

During the Free Iran convention, Seena Saiedian — an Iranian American and law student at the University of Virginia — captured the desperation:

The landscape for the youth in Iran is bleak: hyperinflation, high unemployment, censorship, repression. Iranian youth see no hope for moderating or reforming the current regime. By every metric, life gets worse. The root cause of every challenge Iran’s youth face is the current regime.

The Iranian dictatorship will collapse. History guarantees that. The only question: Will the United States shorten the Iranian people’s suffering or extend the mullahs’ reign of terror?

If we want a secular, democratic Iran — one capable of fostering peace in the region — we must say clearly that no negotiation can salvage the current regime. No deal will reform it. No diplomatic fantasy can tame it.

We must tell the Iranian people and the brave resistance units operating inside the country that the United States stands ready to recognize their efforts and their right to chart a future for a free Iran.

The United States doesn’t need to send money, weapons, or troops. The regime is already on the brink of collapse. The Iranian people are already mobilizing. They need moral clarity from the West — not silence, appeasement, or more excuses.

Supporting freedom against tyranny is the American way. It always has been. And standing with the people of Iran honors the moral foundations that built this nation.

​Iran, Iran freedom fighters, Free iran, Washington dc, No kings, Opinion & analysis, Resistance, Mullahs, Ayatollah ali khamenei, Terrorism, Nuclear weapons, Tyranny 

Residents of a Chicago suburb are calling for action after a viral video on social media showed a mother and her two children getting attacked by a gang of schoolchildren.

33-year-old Corshawnda Hatter was walking with her son and daughter on South Bensley Avenue in the South Deering neighborhood on Monday at about 3 p.m. when they were attacked. They were walking home from Orville Bright Elementary School at the time.

‘It’s been an ongoing thing in this community, and the parents don’t take accountability for anything their kids do.’

The video shows the children laughing and mocking the mother and children before cornering them against a chain-link fence. Hatter tries to protect her children before the attackers begin punching her and drag her to the ground, where she is kicked and beaten.

The video lasts about two minutes.

Hatter and her son were treated at a hospital for injuries sustained in the attack.

On Tuesday, dozens of people showed up at the school demanding accountability and calling for students to be expelled. Hatter described what happened to her at the impromptu gathering.

“I asked my kids to come to the next side of the street with me, so they wouldn’t get jumped,” she recalled.

“So we kept walking. They followed us all the way,” she added. “And then they fought my son and hit my son first. … Then they dragged me in the grass and pulled my little baby’s hair out.”

She said she had a meeting with school officials about the incident.

Others told WGN-TV that the students had been terrorizing the neighborhood but that parents were to blame.

“It’s been an ongoing thing in this community, and the parents don’t take accountability for anything their kids do,” said one parent. “If my kids were being messy, I’m going to come out here and let it be known. I’m going to shut it down.”

Chicago Public Schools released a statement offering few details.

“We are horrified by the attack on this family, and we are working collaboratively with city departments and agencies to provide support to the victims of the attack. CPS is coordinating closely with the Mayor’s Office, CPD, CHA, and other city departments to provide additional support to the family,” read the statement in part. “School administrators, teachers, and support staff work with students to create an open environment where conflicts and grievances can be addressed.”

RELATED: Connecticut police investigate allegedly racially motivated beating of high school student after brutal video goes viral

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson reacted on social media and called the attack “unacceptable” in a long statement saying he was deeply disturbed by the incident.

Hatter said outside the school that her son had been previously bullied by students.

“I’m trying to get justice for my son,” she said.

“And you deserve it!” a supporter responded.

CPD said no arrests had been made but that the department had increased the police presence at the school — for the rest of the week.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

​Chicago school crime, Video video, Grade school students beat up mom, Mom and kids beat up, Crime 

42-year-old Kevin L. Smith kidnapped his pregnant girlfriend from her job in St. Charles, Missouri, and drove her to the Planned Parenthood in Fairview Heights at gunpoint, according to prosecutors.

Smith pleaded guilty to one count of kidnapping and was sentenced to over 15 years in prison. He will also be under supervised release for three years after serving his sentence.

‘Democrats’ contempt for the rule of law is undermining states’ sovereign right to protect mothers and children all across the country.’

The man threatened to shoot his girlfriend in the head in order to intimidate her during the kidnapping in Dec. 2022.

The woman was able to text her family and let them know she had been kidnapped. One of her relatives was tracking her cell phone and drove to the parking lot of the Planned Parenthood location, when police arrived. Smith tried to drive away when police arrived, and the victim told police where he had thrown his loaded handgun from the vehicle.

Smith repeatedly harassed her and threatened her from jail after he was arrested. He faced higher sentencing penalties due to the threats made after his arrest.

Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America President Marjorie Dannenfelser released a statement blaming Democrat policies for the incident.

“The abortion industry led by Planned Parenthood is an abuser’s best friend. Over and over we see pimps, traffickers and angry partners make Planned Parenthood their destination because they know they’ll be aided and abetted with no questions asked, and we see this brutal industry fight tooth and nail against parental consent protections for minors,” said Dannenfelser in part.

“Democrats are making this epidemic exponentially worse by eliminating safeguards on dangerous abortion drugs, like in-person doctor visits that afford the only chance to screen for coercion face to face, flooding the mail with deadly drugs bought and sold anonymously over the web — even sold like street drugs now,” she added.

“Democrats’ contempt for the rule of law is undermining states’ sovereign right to protect mothers and children all across the country,” Dannenfelser concluded. “It is important to continue keeping taxpayer dollars out of the coffers of Big Abortion. But we also need national protections, and the FDA must act immediately to get abortion drugs out of the mail.”

RELATED: Obama judge blocks funding cuts to Planned Parenthood in Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill’

“Kevin Smith kidnapped his girlfriend at gunpoint and drove her across state lines against her will in an attempt to make her obtain an abortion. His actions were those of a dangerous and manipulative individual,” said Steve Johnson, chief of the Fairview Heights Police Department.

“Our investigators worked tirelessly to bring the facts forward, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office ensured Smith was held accountable in federal court,” he added. “This sentencing sends a clear message that acts of violence will not be tolerated in our community.”

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

​Forced abortions, Kevin l smith, Abortion crime, Pro-life movement, Politics 

Whether it’s building the wall or mass deportations, President Trump’s most memorable position for the past decade has been immigration.

But in a recent interview on Fox News, the president made it clear that his view on H-1B visas doesn’t align with his illegal immigration policy.

“Does that mean the H-1B visa thing will not be a big priority for your administration? Because if you want to raise wages for American workers, you can’t flood the country with tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of workers,” host Laura Ingraham said to the president.

“You also do have to bring in talent,” Trump responded.

“Well, we have plenty of talented people,” Ingram fired back, to which Trump responded, “No, you don’t.”

“You can’t take people off … an unemployment line and say, ‘I’m going to put you into a factory; we’re going to make missiles.’ … It doesn’t work that way,” Trump continued.

“I mean, the truth is, like, Trump has always been a little squishy on this issue,” BlazeTV co-host Lomez says on “Rufo & Lomez,” pointing to an episode of the “All-In Podcast” where during an interview, the president spoke about preserving student visas.

“Let me just tell you that it’s so sad when we lose people from Harvard, MIT, from the greatest schools and lesser schools that are phenomenal schools also. … What I want to do and what I will do is you graduate from a college, I think you should get, automatically as part of your diploma, a green card to be able to stay in this country,” Trump said.

“And that includes junior colleges, too. Anybody graduates from a college, you go in there for two years or four years. If you graduate or you get a doctorate degree from a college, you should be able to stay in this country,” he continued.

Lomez tells co-host Christopher Rufo that he believes Trump is compromising with Big Tech, noting that the industry says “they’re dependent on these H-1Bs to sort of continue the business model that they currently have.”

While this is “actually probably true,” he’s not pleased with Trump helping this industry in this way.

“It is not therefore incumbent on the United States people and on President Trump to allow them to continue these abusive practices with regards to H-1B. So while that might be their business model, it ought not to be their business model, and we may have to take some coercive action so that they change their business model,” Lomez says.

However, he also believes that what President Trump has said regarding H1-Bs is being taken “way out of proportion.”

“It is a statement on a news show that is not necessarily reflected in what is actually happening from a policy point of view,” Lomez says.

“By this point, it sort of surprises me that people don’t understand the way he speaks publicly is not always indicative of his policy prescriptions,” he adds.

Want more from Rufo & Lomez?

To enjoy more of the news through the anthropological lens of Christopher Rufo and Lomez, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

​Video phone, Camera phone, Upload, Video, Sharing, Free, Youtube.com, Rufo & lomez, Rufo and lomez, The blaze, Blazetv, Blaze news, Blaze podcasts, Blaze podcast network, Blaze media, Blaze online, Blaze originals, President trump, Trump, H-1b visas, Immigration, Chris rufo, Lomez 

EPIC City was a massive Islamic compound being built in East Plano, Texas, but apparently the name was a little too much. And so the city is undergoing a rebrand.

“It’s no longer EPIC City. They decided that’s causing a PR problem. Now we are going to rename this. We’re not going to stop. We’re just going to rename it something very seemingly innocuous and inviting called ‘The Meadow,’” BlazeTV host Allie Beth Stuckey explains on “Relatable.”

“So this is not supposed to be a separate city, but it’s supposed to just be a neighborhood that happens to be extremely friendly to Muslims, but the same concerns exist. This would be a 402-acre community that includes over a thousand homes, a K-12 Islamic school, a mosque, senior and assisted living, apartments, clinics, shops, a community college, and sports fields,” she continues.

In a 3D rendering of the Meadow, Stuckey notes that it looks “very beautiful” but that it’s not centered on a beautiful idea.

“Legally, they wouldn’t be able to tell someone who is Jewish or who is Christian, ‘Hey, get out of here. You can’t move here.’ But that is essentially what it is for,” Stuckey says.

“There would be a lot of controversy if any other religion besides Islam or besides one of those Eastern religions was doing this. And the reason why people are upset about it, at least people on the right, Christian conservatives, is simply because of the cultural change that it causes,” she continues.

While many on the left see nothing wrong with a melting pot of religions, Stuckey points out that we “don’t believe in moral relativism.”

“When you have a people who believe entirely in Sharia, who have an entirely different view of women and human worth and rights and right and wrong, it is totally fair to ask: Is that congruent with the Constitution? Is that congruent with the American community that we have created?” she asks.

“The problem — Charlie Kirk talked about this a lot — is not individual Muslims. It’s Islam as an ideology. Islam as a collective belief system. And when you look throughout the world at the fruit of Islamic collectivism, the result has been chaos and violence and the degradation of the human person and human dignity. That is just true,” she continues.

“Not all belief systems are the same,” she says. “Not all worldviews have the same fruit.”

And they’re not the same.

“When you know that about 99% of all worldwide designated terrorist groups are Islamic, you have a good reason to say, ‘Huh, do we want a high concentration of people who buy into that ideology to have their own basically independent system here in the United States or in the state of Texas?’” Stuckey says. “Completely justified.”

Want more from Allie Beth Stuckey?

To enjoy more of Allie’s upbeat and in-depth coverage of culture, news, and theology from a Christian, conservative perspective, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

​Video phone, Free, Sharing, Camera phone, Upload, Video, Youtube.com, Relatable with allie beth stuckey, Allie beth stuckey, The blaze, Blazetv, Blaze news, Blaze podcasts, Blaze podcast network, Blaze media, Blaze online, Blaze originals, Sharia law, Epic city, East plano texas, East plano islamic center, Giant islamic center, Islam, Muslim, Muslim brotherhood 

President Donald Trump called on Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr to investigate ABC News and consider pulling its license for its “fake” reporting.

‘I think the license should be taken away from ABC because your news is so fake and it’s so wrong.’

During Trump’s bilateral meeting with the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, an ABC News reporter pressed the president about the delayed release of files related to Jeffrey Epstein.

“Why wait for Congress to release the Epstein files? Why not just do it now?” the ABC reporter asked.

“It’s not the question that I mind; it’s your attitude,” Trump replied.

“It’s the way you ask these questions. You start off with a man who’s highly respected, asking him a horrible, insubordinate, and just a terrible question. You could even ask that same exact question nicely.”

“You’re a terrible person and a terrible reporter,” the president remarked.

Trump reiterated that he had “nothing to do with Jeffrey Epstein,” adding, “I threw him out of my club many years ago because I thought he was a sick pervert.”

RELATED: With Trump’s blessing, House approves resolution to release the Epstein files: ‘We have nothing to hide’

President Donald Trump, Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia. Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images

He slammed the legacy media outlet for ignoring the relationships liberal political figures had with the sex predator.

“All these guys were friends of his. You don’t even talk about those people,” Trump said.

“I just got a little report, and I put it in my pocket, of all the money [Epstein has] given to Democrats. He gave me none. Zero.”

He called ABC a “crappy company.”

RELATED: Epstein emails SHAME Obama/Clinton ally: Larry Summers quits public life amid calls for Harvard to cut ties

Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images

“I think the license should be taken away from ABC because your news is so fake and it’s so wrong,” Trump declared, presumably referring to the news outlet’s broadcasting license obtained through the Federal Communications Commission.

“We have a great … chairman, who should look at that,” he added.

“I think when you come in and when you’re 97% negative to Trump and then Trump wins the election in a landslide, that means obviously your news is not credible and you’re not credible as a reporter.”

Trump told the ABC News reporter that she could not ask any more questions during the bilateral meeting.

ABC and the FCC did not respond to a request for comment.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

​News, Donald trump, Trump, Trump administration, Trump admin, Federal communications commission, Fcc, Brendan carr, Abc news, Abc, Jeffrey epstein, Epstein, Politics 

A Michigan man with the initials J.D. and the last name Vance was convicted and sentenced for making threats against Vice President JD Vance as well as President Donald Trump and one of Trump’s children.

The 67-year-old Grand Rapids resident was sentenced to two years in prison after pleading guilty to two counts, according to a Monday statement from Timothy VerHey, the U.S. attorney for the Western District of Michigan.

‘When Vance said he planned to kill our president and the vice president simply because he disagreed with them, he crossed a line we all understand and so had to be punished.’

According to the DOJ press release, the Michigan man’s full name is James Donald Vance Jr., and he posted in March and April under the name “Diaperjdv” on BlueSky, a liberal harbor for refugees from the X platform.

“If tRump, Vance, or Musk ever come to my city again, they will leave it in a body bag. I will either be shot by a secret service sniper or spend the rest of my life in prison. I’ve only got about 10 years of life left anyway so I don’t f**king care either way,” he posted.

He also wrote, “I will murder that stupid f**ker before he gets secret service protection.”

Vance the convict later pled guilty to one felony charge of threatening to kill or injure the president and vice president and another felony charge of interstate threatening communications.

Each of the two charges carried a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine, but U.S. District Judge Paul Maloney in Kalamazoo, Michigan, sentenced him to a lesser term after he pleaded guilty.

RELATED: Texas man allegedly threatened to shoot Trump on visit to flooding disaster: ‘I won’t miss’

“The advent of the internet gives us all an opportunity to engage in the healthy exchange of ideas that are so important to a democracy. But some would rather use this tool to threaten and intimidate, conduct that causes fear and damages our democratic ideals,” read a statement from VerHey.

“When Vance said he planned to kill our president and the vice president simply because he disagreed with them, he crossed a line we all understand and so had to be punished,” he added.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

​Jd vance threats, Threats against jd vance, Jd vance convicted, Politics 

An eight-inch-long steel pipe with end caps, a kitchen timer, nine-volt battery, and various wires — planted in plain sight under a bench at the Democratic National Committee building — somehow escaped the notice of two U.S. Capitol Police officers who walked right past it 15 minutes after a dispatcher warned of a pipe bomb at the nearby Republican National Committee building.

The plainclothes counter-surveillance officers instead proceeded straight to the Congressional Black Caucus Institute building, a few hundred feet east of the DNC.

‘Was it placed and picked back up and then put back out again?’

One of them stopped at a large bush along the alley that led up to New Jersey Avenue. At 1:03 p.m., the officer backed up, ducked, and peered under the shrub. After a brief pause, he stood back up and continued on the return trek to the DNC. That’s where he discovered the second pipe bomb just two minutes later.

These two bushes are the only ones the officers are seen looking under in the 11 minutes and 14 seconds they’re captured on available surveillance footage. What was significant enough about the bush next to the CBCI building to warrant specific attention? And why has the FBI never disclosed this detail?

A new review of video footage shows that police officers stopped at the exact bush at which, 17 hours earlier, previously released footage shows the hoodie-wearing pipe bomber sitting.

At 7:48 p.m. on Jan. 5, the suspect spent one minute 17 seconds near the bush — first bent over, then sitting down in front of the shrub — Capitol Police security video shows. The suspect rummaged through a backpack while sitting cross-legged, then leaned into the bush and appeared to place or attempt to place something underneath.

The suspect stood up after 77 seconds and walked to the DNC building. There, the suspect sat on a park bench and, at 7:54 p.m., placed a pipe bomb under an adjacent bush, video released by the FBI showed.

A January 2025 U.S. House investigative report said three teams were sent out to look for explosives after a pipe bomb was found behind the Capitol Hill Club at 12:43 p.m. on Jan. 6, 2021.Committee on House Administration Subcommittee on Oversight

In a matter of seven minutes early in the afternoon on Jan. 6, the USCP counter-surveillance team visited the same two venues as the pipe bomber did the night before. While their assigned task was to search for explosives at potential targets around Capitol Hill, the only locations they can be seen on camera searching are the CBCI bush and the bush by the DNC bench, where they found and reported the second pipe bomb.

The significance of the CBCI bush could not have been known to police at midday on Jan. 6.

U.S. Capitol Police counter-surveillance officers walk past the DNC building seven minutes before returning and discovering the pipe bomb. Once the bomb was discovered, the Secret Service acted as if it was not a threat. U.S. Capitol Police CCTV

The bomber’s visit to the first bush and possible attempt to plant a bomb there are one of many details the FBI has never divulged — or even acknowledged.

The discovery was made by an independent video investigator known only as Armitas, who spent more than a year examining details of the Jan. 6 pipe-bomb case. Blaze News has agreed not to print his legal name for security reasons. Armitas has assisted Blaze News in its ongoing Jan. 6 investigations. He has also spoken with congressional and FBI investigators concerning his findings.

New case wrinkles

Armitas alleges that the Biden FBI digitally manipulated the video of the alleged bomber released to the public. The bureau also left out major details in its public disclosures, such as the CBCI bush and the alleged bomber’s visit to the front garden of a congressional rooming house on C Street, near the Capitol Hill Club.

The new wrinkles in the case only add intrigue to the long-unsolved Jan. 6 mystery.

How could officers dispatched specifically to look for explosives around Capitol Hill miss the pipe bomb as they walked past the DNC building at 12:58 pm?

’It was almost like a Keystone Kop comedy show.’

After discovery of the first pipe bomb came across Capitol Police dispatch at 12:43 p.m., their unmarked vehicle sped from 3rd Street Southwest at E Street to the Capitol South Metro lot in under five minutes — with emergency lights on part of the way.

Once parked in the Metro lot, the men spent about three minutes putting on jackets and backpacks and grabbing gear from the hatchback. They set off on foot down First Street to D Street, past New Jersey to South Capitol Street Southeast, then south to the DNC building. They walked seven-tenths of a mile — all the way from the Capitol South Metro Station near the Republican National Committee building.

A two-man Capitol Police counter-surveillance team traveled by unmarked police vehicle and on foot to reach an undisclosed bush where the pipe bomber sat 17 hours earlier.Maps by Armitas/Graphic by Blaze News

It does not appear that the men conducted searches along the way. They stopped briefly near a dark SUV and other vehicles parked on the south side of D Street, directly across a patch of grass from the CBCI bush. Other than that, security video showed, the only locations they stopped to examine closely while on camera were the CBCI bush near the walking path and the DNC park bench.

Some Capitol Police surveillance cameras that normally cover the back of the DNC building were turned away by a command from the control room during this time frame. Because of this, the two plainclothes officers were off camera for three minutes and 54 seconds while they walked from the DNC to the CBCI.

When one of the counter-surveillance officers approached the DNC park bench after visiting the bush at the CBCI, this time he spotted something suspicious. He first reappeared on security video after his walk over from the CBCI at 1:05 p.m., walking to a Secret Service SUV and a Metropolitan Police Department vehicle assigned to the security detail of Vice President-elect Kamala Harris.

At 1:07 p.m., another Capitol Police officer on scene radioed Capitol Police dispatch:

987Adam: “I’m going to declare a 10-100 [explosive] at the DNC as well, similar device as was found at the RNC as well. Advising the units on scene what’s going on.”

Dispatch: “All right, where do you have your device?”

987Adam: At the DNC.

Dispatch: I copy. … Where at in the DNC, sir?

987Adam: Right on the corner of Canal Street … and Washington Avenue.”

Unknown Officer: “Sir, I need you to repeat. Do we have the same device at the DNC?”

Dispatch: “A-firm sir. … The corner of Canal Street and Washington Avenue in the bushes. 987-A Adam has seen it.”

Attempts by Reps. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) and Barry Loudermilk (R-Ga.) to conduct transcribed interviews of the two officers who discovered the DNC bomb have been blocked by the Capitol Police, Blaze News has learned.

According to the FBI, the DNC bomb sat at the foot of the park bench for 17 hours, escaping the notice of U.S. Secret Service K-9 teams that swept the grounds hours earlier in anticipation of an 11:30 a.m. visit by Harris. Video shows at least two K-9 sweeps of the area after 8:30 a.m. on Jan. 6.

“Why would the dog not hit on a pipe bomb that video shows was placed the night before?” Rep. Loudermilk, chairman of the House Select Subcommittee to Investigate the Remaining Questions Surrounding Jan. 6, asked on Lindell TV. “To me, the only answer to that is the pipe bomb was not there when the dog came by.

“Either it was inert, which, according to the FBI, it wasn’t — it had explosives in it — or it wasn’t there,” Loudermilk said. “But we have video of it being placed. So now we need to know: Was it placed and picked back up and then put back out again? If so, why? Why did they go to that extent?”

‘They were literally letting citizens walk within feet of the supposed pipe bomb.’

Armitas said he believes the DNC bomb placed just before 8 p.m. Jan. 5 was retrieved overnight and replaced shortly before it was found on Jan. 6. The Biden FBI told a congressional investigator the footage on the DNC camera that would have shown any activity throughout the night after the initial bomb placement was overwritten.

On Jan. 5, the suspect appeared to place the pipe bomb with the short end — where a 60-minute kitchen timer was attached — sticking out toward the sidewalk, Armitas said. When the pipe bomb was discovered on Jan. 6, the long end was sticking out, with the kitchen timer pointed into the bushes. Both observations would indicate that the device was removed and later replaced, he said. The camera that would have captured this activity was turned away from the bomb scene.

Secret Service agents drove Harris within feet of the bomb location as her motorcade entered the DNC garage at 11:25 a.m. Why was placement of the DNC device not viewed as an assassination attempt? Harris has never spoken of it. The Secret Service took nearly 10 minutes to evacuate Harris after the bomb was discovered. Why the slow response?

After being told there was a likely bomb just feet away, Secret Service agents sat in their vehicles for more than two minutes, finishing lunch, video shows.

Even when they emerged, their nonchalant behavior was striking. Pedestrians continued to walk on the sidewalk just feet from the bomb. Commuter trains continued to run across the nearby train trestle for 15 minutes. Vehicles drove past unmolested.

Experts have said police should have quickly established a blast perimeter, shut down vehicle and train traffic, and immediately evacuated the DNC building. Loudermilk compared the bomb response to the work of the Keystone Kops, the fictional, bumbling police officers of America’s silent-film era.

“Once the pipe bombs were found, it was almost like a Keystone Kop comedy show,” Loudermilk told Lindell TV. “The police failed to put a perimeter around. They were literally letting citizens walk within feet of the supposed pipe bomb. There was no control. It didn’t seem anyone was in charge. It was really an embarrassment.”

The Secret Service motorcade of Vice President-elect Kamala Harris pulls out of the Democratic National Committee garage at 1:14 p.m. Jan. 6, right past a pipe bomb sitting feet away.U.S. Capitol Police/Graphic by Blaze News

Secret Service agents should never have stood at a doorway just feet from a weapon of mass destruction. One police officer tiptoed up to the park bench to snap a photo of the bomb. A sudden explosion could have killed them all.

The mystery of when the pipe bomb was actually planted at the DNC building could be solved with video from the same DNC security camera that captured the alleged bomber’s movements the night before, except that the FBI didn’t seize it from the DNC when agents obtained Jan. 5 surveillance videos during the early hours of the investigation.

“They encountered a couple of other detectives who had started investigating and said, ‘We have identified the person is this person in the hoodie,’” Loudermilk said in the Lindell TV interview. “‘You need to just look at the January 5 video. So no one obtained any of the video from the 6th. Then apparently all the videos have been overwritten.”

The disappearance of the security video that would solve the case is another suspicious circumstance in a case loaded with them.

Capitol Police security cameras with near-perfect views to the west side of the DNC building were turned by a command from the control room and so did not capture the scene at crucial times on Jan. 5 and also didn’t capture video of the bomb discovery. The FBI has never acknowledged nor commented publicly on the diverted cameras.

Capitol Police security cameras were turned away from the Democratic National Committee building at key times on Jan. 6, preventing documentation of the possible re-planting of the bomb.U.S. Capitol Police/Graphic by Blaze News

The FBI has described the Jan. 6 pipe bombs as “viable,” though even that has since been called into question.

The FBI Laboratory report on the devices said the pipe found at the Capitol Hill Club contained “low explosive black powder.” The DNC device “contained the chemical oxidizer and fuels that, when mixed in the proper proportions, can form the low explosive black powder.”

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosive defines black powder as “a low explosive material comprised of potassium nitrate (saltpeter), sulfur and charcoal. While used as a propellant in fireworks and pyrotechnics, it is also used in some ammunition and muzzleloaders.”

Inspector General report

While the Secret Service had bomb-sniffing dogs at the DNC in advance of Harris’ arrival, the K-9s were never taken into the direct vicinity of the park bench, according to a Department of Homeland Security Inspector General report released to the public on Aug. 2, 2024.

“The officer responsible for sweeping exterior areas said that the exterior sweep included the garage entrance ramp and some other areas near the garage entrance, including a storm drain, but did not include the bushes where the pipe bomb was located,” the report said.

‘Apparently all the videos have been overwritten.’

The Secret Service deleted thousands of its agents’ cellphone text messages from Jan. 5 and 6, despite being warned by congressional committees to preserve all Jan. 6-related records.

The Secret Service denied any malicious intent and claimed the purge of text messages was “part of a pre-planned, three-month system migration.” However, the phone wipe began 11 days after the first records-preservation warning letter from Congress, the OIG report said.

The highly critical OIG Jan. 6 report was delayed by Secret Service attempts to stifle its public release, Loudermilk said in August 2024.

Former Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle “considered asking Secretary [Alejandro] Mayorkas to invoke his statutory authority to block the review in its entirety,” Loudermilk said.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

​Crime, January 6 

Volodymyr Zelenskyy — the Ukrainian leader who suspended elections, dissolved rival parties, sanctioned a political opponent on suspicion of “high treason,” consolidated Ukraine’s media outlets, banned a Christian denomination, and remains president despite his term officially ending 18 months ago — rose to power on a pledge to give Ukrainians “a life without corruption, without bribes.”

Zelenskyy’s hold on power, however, now appears uncertain, as it is threatened by a historic corruption scandal that has swept up some of his closest allies.

Zelenskyy, allies prove unable to hinder probe

Earlier this year, the Ukrainian president and his closest aides attempted to neutralize the independent anti-corruption agencies that were scrutinizing Zelenskyy’s inner circle.

In July, Zelenskyy’s party pushed through legislation stripping Ukraine’s National Anticorruption Bureau of its independence and giving the prosecutor general, a Zelenskyy appointee, oversight. This took place the day after the State Bureau of Investigation — which is helmed by a Zelenskyy loyalist — arrested NABU officials and conducted numerous raids of corruption fighters’ homes.

‘Zelensky faces a day of reckoning.’

The director of the anti-corruption bureau, Semen Kryvonos, indicated at the time that “this pressure campaign is a direct response to the effectiveness of our investigations, including those targeting high-ranking officials and members of Parliament.”

RELATED: Orbán emphasizes to Trump that Hungary survives today as Christian ‘island of difference in a liberal ocean’

Photo by TETIANA DZHAFAROVA/AFP via Getty Images

The Financial Times indicated that in the face of mass protests and outrage from Ukraine’s Western partners, Zelenskyy and his allies ultimately had to abandon their efforts to torpedo the 15-month investigation.

Zelenskyy desperately condemns his close allies

Despite the obstacles erected by the regime, the anti-corruption investigation conducted by NABU and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office exposed an alleged $100 million kickback scheme in which Zelenskyy officials and business figures allegedly conspired to force suppliers to Ukraine’s nuclear power company, Energoatom, to pay kickbacks valued at 10%-15% of each contract’s value.

In their searches of suspects’ residences, law enforcement reportedly found duffel bags filled with cash and, in one case, a Kyiv apartment with a golden toilet.

Kryvonos indicated the funds allegedly pilfered as part of the scheme have largely been dispersed through a number of foreign nations and used to purchase property and other assets, reported the Wall Street Journal.

The Ukrainian president — who was “floored” by the scale of the charges made against members of his ruling clique, sources in the government told the Economist — has done his apparent best to distance himself from those named in the criminal corruption probe, which has been dubbed Operation Midas.

For instance, Zelenskyy, who was not named in the corruption probe, imposed sanctions last week on one of his closest associates and former business partner, Timur Mindich.

Mindich, who fled to Israel just prior to NABU’s Nov. 10 raids, has been charged with allegedly managing a criminal organization that laundered millions of dollars.

Mindich is reportedly a close business associate of Israeli-Ukrainian oligarch Ihor Kolomoysky, a backer of Zelenskyy’s presidential campaign who was arrested by the Security Service of Ukraine in 2023 on fraud and money-laundering charges, and a relative of Leonid Mindich, who was arrested by Ukrainian anti-corruption authorities earlier this year on charges of embezzling $16 million from an electric power company.

Zelenskyy also asked his ministers of justice and energy — German Halushchenko and Svitlana Grynchuk — to resign last week, stating, “This is also a matter of trust. If there are accusations, they must be addressed. The decision to dismiss them from office is prompt and necessary.”

Grynchuk said in a Facebook post, “There have been no violations of the law in the course of my personal activities.”

Halushchenko, who served as energy minister until his dismissal in July and was removed as justice minister on Nov. 12, has indicated that he will defend himself against the accusations.

According to Ukrainska Pravda, Timur Mindich allegedly built connections with Halushchenko through his relationship with Zelenskyy and then exerted influence over both the ex-justice minister and Rustem Umerov, secretary of the Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council and ex-defense minister.

Although Umerov is presently in the U.S., Ukraine’s Center for Counter Disinformation indicated he is planning to return to Ukraine despite reports that he was hoping to stay abroad to avoid charges.

Other suspects tied to the alleged kickback scheme reportedly include:

Ihor Myroniuk, an ex-adviser to Halushchenko and former deputy head of the State Property Fund whose lawyer claims he was not a member of a criminal organization;former Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Oleksii Chernyshov, a close Zelenskyy ally who was removed from his position in July after being charged with bribery and abuse of office, then arrested on Tuesday on charges of illicit enrichment in connection with the alleged kickback scheme;Serhiy Pushkar, a current member of the National Energy Commission;Oleksandr Tsukerman, a Ukrainian businessman accused of running the money laundering back office in the scheme, who reportedly left Ukraine for Israel and denies wrongdoing; andDmytro Basov, former head of the Energoatom security department, who also denied any wrongdoing.

Daria Kaleniuk, executive director at the Anti-Corruption Action Center in Kyiv, told France 24 on Monday that the investigation is far from over and that Zelenskyy has to look very closely into his closest inner circle, starting with his chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, who Kaleniuk claimed is wielding unconstitutional powers in the country and is at the heart of the problem.

“If there will be more attempts from Zelenskyy to attack anti-corruption bodies like there was attempt[ed] in summer, there would be also for me the clear signal that Volodomyr Zelenskyy didn’t learn his lesson,” added Kaleniuk.

Sources close to the anti-corruption bodies made clear to the Economist that the investigation’s next phase may focus on corruption in the defense sector, which may prompt greater demands for a full reset of the Ukrainian government.

“Zelenskyy faces a day of reckoning,” a senior official told the Economist. “The choice isn’t great. Either he amputates a leg, or he gets an infection going through the whole body and dies.”

“I think that right now, both society and the political class understand that a political crisis would be too dangerous,” Volodymyr Fesenko, a political scientist based in Kyiv, told the Financial Times. “A lot depends on the next steps of the investigation, if new information comes out that involves Zelenskyy or the office of the president … then of course, it’ll be a new round.”

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

​Zelenskyy, Zelensky, Corruption, Volodomyr, Ukraine, Corrupt, Kyiv, Kiev, Oligarch, Israel, Poltics 

With the launch of Operation Charlotte’s Web in North Carolina over the weekend, some have speculated that law enforcement has stumbled upon a large number of illegal aliens in a major city.

Social media was set ablaze on Monday and Tuesday as early reports were released about school attendance in one of the largest school districts in the country.

‘President Trump and Secretary Noem will step up to protect Americans when sanctuary politicians won’t.’

On Monday night, WSOC-TV reporter Joe Bruno posted on X: “A spokesperson for Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools says unofficial attendance data from today indicates that approximately 20,935 students were absent from school today. This accounts for approximately 15% of students enrolled in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools.”

RELATED: ‘Climbing into the ceiling tiles’: DHS immigration raids hit Charlotte, where 1 in 6 residents are foreign-born

Photo by Ryan Murphy/Getty Images

Stephen Miller, the White House deputy chief of staff and homeland security adviser, highlighted the report, saying, “So a conservative estimate is that one-seventh of a major southern public school district is here illegally.”

According to Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools attendance data obtained by Blaze News, attendance did indeed drop precipitously on the Monday following the commencement of Operation Charlotte’s Web.

Data from November 17 reveals that 30,399 students were absent, a number significantly higher than early reports suggested. Only 79.0% of the 145,030 students enrolled in the district attended school on Monday.

The vast majority of those absences, moreover — 28,136 — were marked as unexcused.

Blaze News also obtained data from the previous Monday.

On Nov. 10, 132,043 of the 144,909 students enrolled, or 91.1%, were in attendance. Only 12,866 students were absent, most, again, unexcused.

This constitutes a roughly 12% drop in attendance week over week, though there are likely other factors that contributed to this significant drop.

Operation Charlotte’s Web, one of the Trump administration’s latest immigration enforcement operations, was launched on Saturday. The operation is set to target Charlotte, North Carolina, a well-known sanctuary city where one out of every six residents was born in a foreign country.

“Americans should be able to live without fear of violent criminal illegal aliens hurting them, their families, or their neighbors,” Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a press release Saturday. “We are surging DHS law enforcement to Charlotte to ensure Americans are safe and public safety threats are removed. There have been too many victims of criminal illegal aliens. President Trump and Secretary Noem will step up to protect Americans when sanctuary politicians won’t.”

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

​Politics, Charlotte, North carolina, Stephen miller, Operation charlotte’s web, Dhs, Ice, Charlotte mecklenburg, Tricia mclaughlin 

Boise Mayor Lauren McLean is facing criticism over her statement that avoided the immigration issue when commenting on the death of an 8-year-old at the hands of an illegal alien.

Mora Gerety was trying to cross Harrison Boulevard when she was hit by a pickup truck and was killed. The truck driver was identified as Elvin Ramos-Caballero, an illegal alien from Honduras according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

‘No mention of her name. No mention of her killer. No mention of working to improve immigration enforcement. Ridiculous.’

Ramos-Caballero was taken into ICE custody over an outstanding federal warrant. He allegedly crossed the Texas border as an accompanied minor in 2015 and was released a month later into the U.S. He was given a deportation order after failing to appear in court in 2016.

While McLean offered a statement about the incident, she did not mention the immigration status of the accused.

“Every child in Boise should be able to run out their front door, safely explore their neighborhood, and make it home for dinner. I’m committed to doing all we can to ensure our city is safe for every child to walk and bike in every neighborhood,” McLean said.

The Idaho Freedom Foundation slammed the mayor for her comments.

“Boise Mayor Lauren McLean’s response to Mora Gerety’s death is the most pathetic response imaginable. A little girl was killed at the hands of an illegal,” read a statement from the foundation. “No mention of her name. No mention of her killer. No mention of working to improve immigration enforcement. Ridiculous.”

McLean had also faced criticism when she refused to follow a state law and kept displaying an LGBTQ flag at the Boise Depot.

RELATED: ‘Cold-blooded’ illegal alien murdered 15-year-old who was trying to stop him from raping his mother, ICE says

Many in the community showed their support for the girl’s family at a vigil on Saturday.

“My son is actually the principal at Washington Elementary [where Mora attended], and it just broke my heart because his heart is broken for the family,” said a woman identified only as Maggie. “He said Mora was just adorable, she was shy, and she was very sweet.”

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

​Boise mayor lauren mclean, Elvin ramos-caballero, Illegal alien crime, Idaho freedom foundation, Politics 

Hendrick Motorsports Technical Solutions is under fire for its willingness to engage in commerce with the federal government.

The company, founded by former NASCAR driver Rick Hendrick, is related to Hendrick Motorsports, one of NASCAR’s top teams. Hendrick Motorsports has the most wins in Cup Series, the most Cup Series championships at 14, and has consistently ranked among the most valuable teams, including being named most valuable by Forbes in 2020 at $315 million valuation.

‘We’re not going to support them.’

Originally reported by the Washington Post, Hendrick recently sold more than two dozen vehicles to the Trump administration for use with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

“Earlier this year, we sold 25 standard Chevrolet Tahoes to the federal government,” a Hendrick Companies spokesperson said, per WBTV-TV. “The vehicles were unmodified, and we fulfilled the commercial sale. We do not participate in or control how agencies equip, brand, or use vehicles after purchase.”

The federal government paid $2.25 million for the Tahoes from Hendrick in North Carolina and dished out another $174,000 to other companies for custom wrappings, the Post reported.

Due to the lack of an open-bidding process, ICE was required to submit their justification for skipping any competitive bargaining.

“The agency’s need for the services is so urgent and compelling that providing full and open competition would result in unacceptable delays and seriously hinder the government’s recruiting initiative,” the contract states.

It added, “Urgency is warranted as these vehicles must be deployed to the streets immediately to provide a visible law enforcement presence, support public safety operations, and reinforce recruitment efforts.”

The lack of bidding was not the point of focus for anti-ICE activists online. Rather, it was the simple fact that Hendrick was working with the federal agency.

RELATED: Court upholds school’s ban of ‘Let’s Go Brandon’ clothing in free speech dispute

AVONDALE, ARIZONA – NOVEMBER 2: Jeff Gordon, vice chairman of Hendrick Motorsports (L) and NASCAR Hall of Famer and Hendrick Motorsport team owner. (Photo by Meg Oliphant/Getty Images)

For example, a man from Georgia said that Hendrick “should be harassed” for being a “damned crook who needed to buy a pardon from Clinton.”

He added, “I don’t care who ICE buys vehicles from, but I would never put a dime in that crook’s pocket.”

Another X user seemingly called Hendrick an “Evil f**king man” for supplying ICE with vehicles.

In a video shared online, a woman addressing the people of Charlotte said, “You know how ICE is driving around those new SUVs? You can thank Rick Hendrick at Rick Hendrick Auto … just remember that the next time you’re in the market for a car!”

“We’re not going to support them,” another woman said about Hendrick Motorsports, using a filter that gave her devil horns. She then promoted a different Ford dealer in North Carolina, touting that the dealership has “Hispanic salesmen” who can speak Spanish.

“Go there, they’re amazing! They’re not doing all this mess,” she declared.

RELATED: ICE takes down alleged ‘wanted terrorist’ illegal alien trucker

PHOENIX, ARIZONA – NOVEMBER 04: Host Kim Coon speaks to NASCAR Hall of Famer and Hendrick Motorsport team owner, Rick Hendrick. (Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images)

A self-professed left-wing NASCAR fan, meanwhile, wrote on X, “i have very low expectations of people in nascar, but rick hendrick selling vehicles to f**king ICE is probably a new low.”

A senior official from the Department of Homeland Security told the Post last week that “ICE is a law enforcement agency, and like all other law enforcement agencies, has a fleet of vehicles that includes those with ICE branding.”

The official’s statement continued, “Thanks to the One Big Beautiful Bill, ICE finally has the resources to grow its workforce to support ICE’s mission, and that will include all types of additional vehicles.”

“These specific vehicles will supplement the existing ICE fleet and support operations across the country,” the DHS statement concluded.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

​Fearless, Nascar, Driving, Racing, Ice, Dhs, Trump, Liberals, North carolina, Suv, Tahoe, Immigration, Illegal aliens, Sports 

A missing 14-year-old girl was found dead reportedly inside an RV behind her home, and an alleged family member with a history of violent crime has been accused of sexually assaulting and murdering the young girl described as an “angel.”

Citing Illinois State Police, KSDK-TV reported that Kylie Toberman was reported missing around 6:30 a.m. Friday. Police said the teen girl was found later that afternoon.

‘I WILL NOT SHUT UP OR STOP till my child gets justice!’

The girl’s biological mother, Megan Zeller, said Kylie was found dead inside an RV behind a house in Vandalia, where the teen lived with her adoptive mother and two sisters, according to a KSDK news video. Zeller said Kylie’s step-uncle — 43-year-old Arnold B. Rivera — lived in the RV behind that house, the video added. Vandalia is roughly 70 miles east of St. Louis

RELATED: Father accused of murdering 67-year-old alleged rapist of his 14-year-old daughter makes startling bid for public office

While KSDK’s news video indicates Keller identified Rivera as Kylie’s “step-uncle,” that isn’t the only claim regarding the relationship between the suspect and the victim.

KSDK’s news story — in contrast to its accompanying news video — said Rivera was Kylie’s “caretaker” and makes no step-uncle mention. Further, KMOV-TV reported that Kylie’s paternal grandmother said the teen was adopted over five years ago to the Toberman family — making Rivera legally the adoptive brother of Kylie.

It’s also unclear why Kylie was adopted in the first place — and particularly why she lived in close proximity to a man with a reported violent criminal past.

Fox News reported that Rivera has a criminal history dating back to 2000, including accusations of child sex abuse.

In 2000, prosecutors in Macon County, Illinois, dropped charges of criminal sexual abuse of a child between the ages of 9 and 16 — as well as burglary — against Rivera in exchange for a guilty plea to felony aggravated battery, per court records.

Rivera was sentenced to 30 months of probation for the 2000 case. In 2008, Rivera pleaded guilty to possession of a stolen vehicle and was sentenced to 24 months of probation.

The New York Post reported that Zeller wrote on Facebook, “I was young and dumb … I thought I could trust somebody and now my baby is an angel. I WILL NOT SHUT UP OR STOP till my child gets justice!”

KSDK reported that Kylie attended Vandalia Junior High School, which said in a statement, “We are deeply saddened to share that a student in our district has passed away far too soon. This is heartbreaking news for our school community.”

The school noted that a crisis response team and school counselors will be available this week to offer support to students.

Kylie also wrestled at the Vandal Wrestling Takedown Club, which said in a statement, “It is with a heavy heart that we share the news that we lost one of our wrestlers, Kylie Toberman, yesterday. Our team and community are grieving the loss of such a sweet and bright young girl.”

She recently had been named the most improved wrestler, according to KSDK.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

​Missing children, Child sex abuse, Kidnapping, Kylie toberman, True crime, True crime news, Kylie toberman murder, Crime, Illinois, Adoption, Step-uncle, Strangled, Repeat offender