Category: blaze media

The tea leaves are spelling doom for France. Roughly €3.6 trillion in public debt, rapidly approaching budget decisions, and political unrest in the streets indicate collapse is on the horizon.

To calm the riots, politicians are pitching debt cancellations, but Glenn Beck sees the writing on the wall — the same writing that preceded Greece’s catastrophic crash in 2009.

Roughly a year after the killing of a 15-year-old boy by a police officer that sparked mass riots, “The new government opens up the books and admits the old government lied: The deficit was not what they said; it was more than double that,” says Glenn.

“All markets stopped lending to Greece. And on May 5, 2010, the day before Parliament voted on its first bailout, a general strike filled the streets. It was chaos,” he continues.

Amid the unrest, a “neo-Nazi party called the Golden Dawn” and “a coalition of Marxists and Maoists and Trotskyists” rose to political prominence. From the latter emerged Alexis Tsipras, who became prime minister after promising to tear up the bailout. He called a referendum, and 61% voted no, but he signed a third bailout — one “with harsher terms than the ones the people had just rejected” — anyway.

“That’s how the story ends with Marxists every time,” says Glenn.

“Three bailouts, 289 billion euros, the largest rescue of any country in history — and the Greek economy shrank by 25%; unemployment hit 27%; and for the young, it was over 40%. A whole generation got on planes and left,” he continues.

The only reason Greece is even still standing today, he explains, is because “[Germany] could afford to save it.”

But France, Glenn says, is in a predicament far worse than the one that nearly destroyed Greece. “Greece’s whole debt was 300 billion euros. France is 3.6 trillion euros. That’s more than 10 Greeces combined.”

And even worse, this time, there’s no lifeguard to pull the drowning country out of the deep end of the swimming pool.

America certainly can’t do it, Glenn argues. “We’re $40 trillion in debt. For 80 years when the world got in trouble, it always looked at us … but a lifeguard who can’t swim is just another body in the water.”

The truth, he says, is that all the lifeguards are gone.

“What happens when the world can’t bail everyone out — when it isn’t one small country that lied about the books but three or four of the biggest ones that told the truth but kept spending anyway because they had absolutely no discipline?” he asks.

“Here’s what happens. The same thing that happened in Athens, except nobody comes to rescue.”

France, Glenn argues, is a “dress rehearsal” for what could come to America. Between our own debt and the planted “seeds” of the Marxist-Islam coalition, he fears destruction is knocking on our door.

“The good news is the seed is not a harvest,” he says. “Greece came back. 2019, the Greeks voted out the Marxists.”

“The thing you have to remember is Greece had time and had somebody else’s money to buy it. We only have ours.”

To hear more, watch the video above.

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​Debt crisis, France, Glenn beck, Blazetv show 

Watching. Waiting. Commiserating.

That’s what Blink-182 singer and guitarist Tom DeLonge was doing alongside thousands of his fellow San Diego Padres fans Tuesday night, as the team fought to keep its postseason hopes alive.

‘Can’t imagine the feeling.’

Some crying in baseball

The Padres were leading the Milwaukee Brewers 4-3 heading into the bottom of the eighth inning of Game 3 of the National League Division Series. Having lost the first two games, San Diego needed a win to avoid elimination.

That’s when “All the Small Things,” Blink-182’s 1999 hit, came blasting through the speakers at Petco Park.

It has become a tradition at Padres home games whenever the team leads heading into the bottom of the eighth. Thousands of fans sing along, and Tuesday night was no exception.

But this time, the cameras found DeLonge himself in the stadium. The singer and guitarist appeared to tear up as the crowd sang his song. For a moment, he seemed lost in thought. Then he joined in, waving a rally towel and singing into the camera.

RELATED: There’s now a scary, powerful way to send a text if the internet and cell towers go out

Hometown heroes

“What a cool moment here in San Diego,” one of the announcers remarked.

“Blink-182, especially for those of us of a certain age, we all know they have an extensive, very impressive catalog of late ’90s and 2000s pop-punk music,” he continued. “But to be in the ballpark when 43,000-plus are singing one of your biggest hits to you — can’t imagine the feeling.”

DeLonge grew up in Poway, just outside San Diego, where Blink-182 formed in 1992. He’s been a devoted Padres fan ever since, with the band’s rise to fame coinciding with one of the most successful periods in the team’s history.

In 1998, the Padres won the National League pennant and reached the World Series for only the second time. Unfortunately, they ran into the New York Yankees, who swept them in four games.

The following year, Blink-182 released its breakthrough album, “Enema of the State,” featuring “What’s My Age Again?,” “Adam’s Song,” and “All the Small Things.” The album sold millions of copies and helped make the band one of the biggest names in pop-punk.

While Blink-182 went on to fill arenas around the world, the Padres struggled to repeat their 1998 success.

They didn’t return to the postseason until 2005 and then endured another drought after 2006, finally making the playoffs again in 2020. They reached the National League Championship Series in 2022, losing to Philadelphia, but haven’t been back to the World Series since 1998.

The team has enjoyed a resurgence in recent years, reaching the playoffs five times in seven seasons, although that elusive first World Series championship remains out of reach.

RELATED: ‘They’re going to steal it’: Mark Ruffalo says GOP will rig midterms — then his 2020 remarks resurfaced

Longtime fan

DeLonge has been there for the ups and downs. He’s a frequent visitor to Petco Park and has even recorded himself reacting in disbelief as the crowd sang his band’s biggest hit.

In a 2023 interview, DeLonge described what the tradition meant to him.

“It’s magical,” he told reporters. “It’s an honor. … I’m a massive Padres fan.”

DeLonge went so far as to suggest he was probably the team’s number one fan, although he did have some “comments” about which Blink-182 songs should be played at sporting events.

Tuesday night offered a pretty strong argument for sticking with this one. The Padres held on to beat Milwaukee 4-3, forcing a fourth game in the series tonight.

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​Blink 182, Tom delonge, Mlb, Baseball, Entertainment 

An 18-year-old man allegedly paid $600 in exchange for an AK-47 and 200 rounds of ammunition before getting arrested by agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Sheikhdoon Abdullahi Mohamud allegedly plotted a terrorist attack on non-Muslims at the Mall of America for two years, according to U.S. Attorney Daniel Rosen.

‘This was a radicalized young man who needed to be watched.’

The suspect believed he was purchasing the items for his attack from a member of the ISIS terrorist group, but the person was in fact an undercover FBI agent.

Among the evidence gathered by the FBI were messages Mohamud allegedly exchanged with an FBI informant about his terrorist mission.

Mohamud was arrested on Tuesday after allegedly making the exchange, prosecutors revealed Wednesday.

“The FBI rendered the AK-47 rifle inert prior to the transaction,” the DOJ said.

“During the sale of the firearm and ammunition, Mohamud reaffirmed his plan to use the firearm and ammunition to shoot people at the Mall of America,” it added.

Mohamud allegedly indicated that he wanted to attack the Minneapolis mall on Oct. 24, the day of an arts celebration for the Hmong people, an ethnic group from China and Southeast Asia. He also allegedly claimed to have picked the site because it is owned by Jews, the DOJ press release said.

Rosen described Mohamud as an American citizen of Somali descent.

The messages obtained by the FBI allegedly showed that he wanted to go to Somalia to join ISIS but decided to attack the mall instead because he could not afford to travel. He intended to kill between 30 and 60 people at the mall, and he sought martyrdom, according to the FBI.

He has been charged with one count of knowingly receiving a firearm and ammunition in order to commit a federal crime of terrorism.

“This was a radicalized young man who needed to be watched,” Rosen said.

FBI Director Kash Patel posted a statement about the operation on social media.

“ARRESTED before he could hurt a single American,” he wrote. “This FBI doesn’t wait for terrorists to attack. We find them, disrupt them, and put them in handcuffs. Outstanding work by our Minneapolis team. We are staying on offense. America First. ALWAYS.”

RELATED: Houston gang members allegedly rapped about their violent crimes on social media — until ‘massive’ FBI arrest

The FBI said it began tracking Mohamud in Dec. 2024 and had spoken to his parents about his radicalization.

“What I would say to parents all over Minnesota, and all over America: If you get any indication — especially if you hear from federal law enforcement — that your son or daughter is being radicalized, to the point where federal law enforcement wants to come and give you that warning, those are warnings that ought to be heeded,” Rosen said.

Booking records indicated that Mohamud is 5’11” tall and weighs 120 pounds.

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​Terrorism, Federal bureau of investigation, Islam, Minnesota, Crime, Politics 

What can America’s most successful movies tell us about America itself?

Steve Deace, Todd Erzen, and Aaron McIntire set out to answer that question by examining the 25 highest-grossing films in U.S. history — when adjusted for inflation of course.

From “Gone with the Wind,” “The Ten Commandments,” and “The Sound of Music” to “Star Wars,” “Titanic,” and today’s blockbuster franchises, the list offers a window into the stories that once united the culture.

“The Graduate” made the end of the list, which Deace calls “the only intentionally subversive film on this list.”

Erzen notes that it’s a “really well-crafted” film about “people living hollow, empty lives.”

“They’re just, you know, going in any direction they can think of to find some level of meaning and purpose. That’s a conversation worth having,” he says.

“That is the conversation that’s being buried by most people. Like there’s a lot of young white men who are struggling for meaning and purpose, and they’re choosing video games over a lot of other things,” he continues.

“Today,” he adds, “it’s just about victim culture and whiny grievances and DEI, and you know, who wants to be a part of that?”

McIntire points out that there’s “a gap there from 1999 to … 2014, 2015.”

“That was the era of ‘Harry Potter,’ ‘Lord of the Rings,’ ‘Avatar.’ … Those were, I thought, cultural icons. They are cultural icons,” he says.

“And then on top of that, once you get past that 14-, 15-year gap, the movies that are on this list, the entries that are on this list, what do they have in common?” he asks, answering himself, “They’re franchises.”

“So nothing original,” Deace comments. “Everything’s a derivative.”

“That’s not a good trend line in my estimation, but it kind of fits hand in glove with not only the big picture culturally that we’re seeing, but particularly in Hollywood,” McIntire adds.

However, while the left has run Hollywood for quite some time, Deace points out that the right is gaining ground in this part of the culture war.

“To our credit, if you look at films like ‘Young Washington,’ you’re seeing us, you know, beginning to seize the opportunity,” he explains. “It does show right now, the opportunity that exists to gain a serious beachhead within the most powerful pop culture medium in the history of this entire planet.”

And this is important, he explains, because “who controls a culture’s stories and myths controls a culture every single time.”

“If we gain a serious beachhead in the storytelling realm, folks, then that’s worth five to ten Senate seats,” he adds.

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​Dei, Hollywood, Culture war, Steve deace, Todd erzen, Aaron mcintire, Blazetv show 

Donald Trump says Democrats don’t have a “deep bench” of future leaders. BlazeTV host Pat Gray believes the party’s 2028 speculation isn’t exactly proving him wrong — especially one of the most likely contenders, Gavin Newsom.

In a recent interview, Newsom attempted to sound reflective and statesmanlike when discussing his political future — but BlazeTV host Pat Gray and his panel aren’t buying it.

“That moment will arrive when it arrives. You’ll know it,” Newsom said.

“It, you know, sort of hits you, not just here,” he continued, pointing to his head, “it hits you here,” he added, pointing to his chest.

Newsom went on with an incoherent sentence that included “congruency” and “there’s no such thing as a deadline.”

“What did he say?” executive producer Keith Malinak asks, confused.

“He’s trying to sound like he’s, you know, intelligent,” Gray says. “And, as usual, comes off the opposite.”

Jeff Fisher notes that AOC is also attempting to “sound more presidential,” before rolling a clip of the congresswoman saying, “like, whatever.”

“Newsom-AOC 2028,” Malinak says.

“She wants to be president; she doesn’t want to be vice president,” Fisher says. “So Newsom isn’t going to be her vice president.”

“She would … take that spot on the ticket,” Malinak disagrees.

Want more from Pat Gray?

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

​Donald trump, Gavin newsom, Pat gray, Aoc, 2028, Presidential election, Blazetv show 

A Texas mother is accused of stabbing her young children — ages 3 years and 10 months — and her husband early Tuesday morning, KXAS-TV reported.

Northlake Police officers were dispatched to a home in the 1200 block of Daylily Drive around 4:20 a.m. regarding a stabbing in progress, the station said.

‘More of a stare — didn’t really say a whole lot.’

Police said a man called 911 and reported that his wife had a knife and was stabbing him, KXAS said.

Northlake Police Chief Robert Crawford said he listened to the 911 calls and noted that the man was trying to get to the couple’s children, who were in another room, the station noted.

“He was trying to get to the children, and the children were in another room, and she was actively trying to stab him, so he had to retreat outside,” Crawford said, according to KXAS.

Arriving officers detained a woman, the station said, adding that police said the 34-year-old man suffered a stab wound to the head and is expected to recover.

Officers found the couple’s 3-year-old daughter and 10-month-old son with stab wounds to the chest, police told KXAS, adding that they were taken to a Fort Worth hospital and are expected to survive.

The detained woman, identified as 37-year-old Holly Leeann Flores, was taken to a Denton hospital for observation and possible injuries, the station said, adding that police said she was treated, released, then taken into custody and transported to the Denton County Jail.

Flores is charged with two counts of attempted capital murder and one count of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, KXAS reported. Flores’ jail record lists no bond or court date for her.

Crawford told the station that Flores did not say a lot to officers after she was detained: “More of a stare — didn’t really say a whole lot.”

RELATED: Mother ‘very invested’ in Lindsay Clancy case accused of killing 2-year-old son, had chilling plans for husband: Prosecutors

Police said officers had been called to the home five times since March for welfare checks, KXAS reported.

Neighbor Brittany Flores noted to the station that she was troubled that police had previously been called to the home.

“I think it’s awful that the police were here multiple times, and it sounds like something like this could have been prevented if there was some kind of intervention,” she told KXAS. “I don’t know all what was in place or her mental state or whatever. I’m just absolutely shocked.”

Neighbors added to the station that they knew the suspect through neighborhood gatherings and that she ran a balloon business.

Brittany Flores told KXAS that she and the suspect previously spoke about their common parental experiences: “It was just camaraderie, and we related to what we were going through. But there was a lot more that was going on underneath the surface than what you talk about at a birthday party.”

Neighbor Ally Barfuss added to the station that the incident has shaken the neighborhood.

“It breaks my heart for both of them — the kids and the mom,” Barfuss told KXAS. “I feel really sad for all of them. I hope everyone is OK, including her.”

Northlake Police told the station the investigation is ongoing.

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​Stabbing, Mother, Arrest, Physical attack, Family, Attempted capital murder, Texas, Crime 

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said last month that he has “no plans at this time” about a potential 2028 presidential run and doesn’t know “what the future holds.”

“He is still young, and smart in both policy and politics, and is keeping his options open for the future,” one person familiar with the matter recently told NBC News. “If you asked him if he’s interested in 2032 or 2036, he would probably say sure.”

‘We must win together.’

While America’s top diplomat — who recently polled third among potential candidates favored by Republicans for 2028 — is supposedly uncertain about what course he will personally chart in two years, he is confident about what direction America must take in the here and now.

In a speech Wednesday at the Acropolis in Athens, Rubio emphasized the imperative for America and other Western nations to unapologetically pursue national power; prioritize their own people; cease feeling guilty for being exceptional; and reclaim the “classical understanding” that “power requires not only having the means to defend yourself; it requires the credibility that you are willing to use it.”

With the Parthenon as his backdrop, Rubio buttered up the Greeks by emphasizing the influence that their forebears had on America and, more broadly, on Western civilization.

“The history of America, the history of my country, is covered with the fingerprints of antiquity,” said the secretary.

After first alluding to the architectural, linguistic, narrative, philosophical, and political influence that the ancient Greeks had on America and its people, Rubio noted, “The civilization of Athens and Rome transformed an infant seaboard republic into a continental empire.”

RELATED: Keeping the West’s flame burning

“The greatest Americans of every generation have carried the unmistakable features of their forefathers,” he continued, “born in Athens, formed by Rome, baptized in Christendom, hardened in the furnace of medieval Europe, endowed with the English genius for liberty, and then carried across the Atlantic to be reborn on the shores of a new world.”

The secretary’s speech was, however, about far more than tying former Greek excellence to continuing American excellence.

Rubio underscored that America and the “whole of our civilization” are at an “inflection point” — that “national interests did not vanish in the face of international institutions”; that peace is not inevitable; that there is renewed competition between great powers and a “whole universe of new threats” that must be addressed; and that it is critical now, more than ever, to rebuild institutions and alliances.

The secretary has been discussing various bilateral and multilateral alliances including NATO on a European tour that landed him in Athens on Wednesday.

During a joint press conference with Greek Foreign Minister Giorgos Gerapetritis held just prior to his speech at the Acropolis, Rubio said that “the nations of Europe need to take on a greater share of the burden in defending their continent” and that Greece is on track to satisfy its minimum NATO obligation.

He noted further that the U.S. and Greece have signed a memorandum of understanding establishing a joint security program to bolster binational counterterrorism information-sharing and that Greece is joining the National Guard’s Bureau of State Partnership Program.

Rubio noted in his speech — which was reminiscent of his Feb.14 “civilizational erasure” speech in Munich — that the purpose of such alliances “is not to abolish the sovereignty of the nations that constitute them. It is to defend them. And nations need not abandon their distinct identities in order to recognize their common interests.”

“We want to win together,” said Rubio. “We must win together.”

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​Marco rubio, Nato, Military alliance, Western civilization, Politics, Greece 

An American may have helped facilitate a mass murder at a school in Canada earlier this year committed by a teenage adult man pretending to be a woman.

On Feb. 10, Jesse Van Rootselaar, an 18-year-old trans-identifying man, murdered his mother and half-brother, then traveled to a secondary school in Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia, where he proceeded to injure 25 people and murder a 39-year-old female teacher, three 12-year-old girls, and two boys, ages 12 and 13, before taking his own life.

‘I know I can like, save lives I guess but idk.’

Now it seems Van Rootselaar plotted the massacre with the help of a radical from Washington state. James Cody Bryant, a 30-year-old Bellingham resident, was arrested on Tuesday and charged with conspiracy to murder persons in a foreign country.

“The Tumbler Ridge Secondary School shooting was a horrific tragedy for that small community and for all of Canada. Indeed, here in the Pacific Northwest we felt the pain of those families devastated by this violence,” acting U.S. Attorney Neil Floyd said in a statement. “It is even more profoundly disturbing to learn that a resident of Western Washington had a role in the attack and took steps — providing counsel, technical advice, and money to the shooter planning such a tragedy.”

The FBI noted that the duo first met online on the chat service Omegle before it was shut down in 2023.

The criminal complaint alleges that Bryant began conspiring to murder innocents with the Canadian-based trans radical in August 2025; “agreed to record J.V.R.’s livestream of the planned murders and post it over the internet for the public to view”; ensured that the livestream “look[ed] solid”; and even provided the shooter with tactical advice on how best to execute the massacre.

The FBI obtained Discord messages that allegedly show Bryant and Van Rootselaar discussing optimal ways of maximizing carnage.

RELATED: ‘Our results shocked us’: HHS report confirms your darkest suspicions about trans ideology

Blaze Media Illustration

In early August 2025, the shooter allegedly discussed previous Canadian mass shootings, noting, “Getting 14 kills is a lot easier than getting 22, though if I got more than 22 it’d be simply the deadliest shooting in Canadian history period.”

After Van Rootselaar articulated his desire to best previous school shooting kill counts, Bryant allegedly responded, “Hallways also mean a lot of ways people can escape. Corners to turn. Wide open spaces mean numbers.”

Justice Department

In addition to discussing places where the shooter could play “hide and seek” with the greatest number of potential victims, Bryant advised the trans radical on which weapons to use, prosecutors alleged in the complaint.

Bryant allegedly told the shooter in an Aug. 26 message, “[You] should have a handgun if you can manage a print tbh,” then allegedly added, “You’ve got solid plans.”

A modified handgun and a long gun were recovered at the scene of the massacre, according to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

Justice Department

In December, Bryant allegedly told Van Rootselaar that he “definitely would” have fans after committing the murders and suggested further that people would “probably” be mad if the shooter were romanticized after the planned massacre.

Prosecutors further alleged that Bryant provided Van Rootselaar with financial support “to purchase items for use during the attack, including the shoes Van Rootselaar intended to wear, a lighter Van Rootselaar would use to ignite an explosive device, and stickers to decorate the firearms Van Rootselaar would use to commit the murders, and discussed possibly sending the shooter a 3D-printed firearm kit and related gear.

The shooter shared an image on Discord in August 2025 showing a sticker depicting the trans flag superimposed on the planet Saturn that he had apparently put on the receiver of a shotgun. Bryant allegedly said of the picture, “Love the stickers. [] stickers would be so funny to be seen in photos of the incident.”

Bryant and Van Rootselaar also allegedly discussed whether the livestream of the attack should contain an audio feed.

After the shooter expressed concern about about how his voice might sound while slaughtering innocents, Bryant allegedly suggested silence, stating, “No lasting evidence of your voice, just a pretty girl gunning ppl down.”

When the topic of alerting the relevant authorities to the murder plot came up, Bryant allegedly emphasized on multiple occasions that he would not “snitch,” allegedly stating in one instance, “I could. I don’t want to honestly. I know I can like, save lives I guess but idk.”

Despite allegedly egging on Van Rootselaar for months and failing to alert authorities, Bryant apparently had a change of heart just weeks ahead of the shooting.

On Jan. 4, the American allegedly told the shooter, “I truly hope you reconsider today. I wish there were any other path for you, you shouldn’t have to do something like this. I wish I knew what I could say or do to change your mind.”

Despite this alleged attempt to dissuade the shooter from acting on his bloodlust, Bryant allegedly made clear that he was ready to lend his support on the day of the massacre.

According to prosecutors, Van Rootselaar allegedly sent Bryant photos of himself prepared for the attack. In one photo, the shooter is dressed in women’s clothing and the boots that Bryant allegedly bought for him and armed with a rifle that appears to be equipped with a suppressor painted in the colors of the trans-radical flag.

Van Rootselaar began masquerading as a woman roughly six years ago, and Wikipedia, the liberal media, and the Justice Department continue to falsely refer to him as a female.

Justice Department

During the shooting, Bryant allegedly confirmed that he was watching the feed — which U.S. Attorney Floyd indicated had been terminated by Twitch after approximately 20 seconds — and even allegedly counseled Van Rootselaar on how to start the vehicle that Van Rootselaar drove to Tumbler Ridge Secondary School.

If convicted, Bryant could be thrown in prison for the rest of his life.

When asked on Tuesday whether Bryant might be sent to Canada to face prosecution, Floyd noted that the alleged crimes were committed in the U.S. and that the “penalties may be higher” in America.

“On behalf of the FBI, I want to express heartfelt sympathy for the victims of this tragedy and their loved ones,” said W. Mike Herrington, special agent in charge of the FBI Seattle field office. “No investigation can undo the fear and suffering caused by the horrific events of this February or bring these individuals back to their families, school, or community. We mourn with you.”

Elija Rain, acting commanding officer of the British Columbua RCMP, said in a statement, “Today’s arrest and charge announcement by the FBI reflects the months of investigative effort, cooperation, and coordination between our two agencies”

The RCMP apparently contacted the U.S. Department of Homeland Security after receiving information from one of the online platforms used by the shooter.

“I would like to thank the FBI Seattle and the United States Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Washington for their partnership, professionalism, and commitment throughout this complex investigation,” continued Rain. “Their cooperation and expertise have been invaluable in advancing the work across jurisdictions and ensuring that all available evidence could be thoroughly examined.”

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​Transgender, British columbia, Rcmp, Fbi, School shooting, Massacre, Politics, Crime 

History can tell you what happened at Lepanto. G.K. Chesterton can make you hear it.

On October 7, 1571, a fleet of the Holy League met the Ottoman navy off western Greece in one of the largest galley battles ever fought. The Christian victory halted Ottoman naval momentum in the Mediterranean and became one of the defining military events of early modern Christendom.

We are not observers of a glorious Christian past.

Four hundred and fifty-five years later, the battle itself is rarely discussed outside history books and Catholic circles. Chesterton’s “Lepanto” helps explain why that is a loss.

The poem does something a chronology cannot. It takes an old battle and makes it present.

That distinction matters because we have largely forgotten how to teach history as inheritance. Too often, the past arrives as a clinical sequence of dates and events — or worse, as a catalog of embarrassments for which the living are expected to apologize. Our ancestors understood that memory had to be cultivated.

I was fortunate enough to grow up partly outside that system. My homeschool education included memorizing and reciting some of the great poems of the Western canon.

Memorization itself was useful. But those poems did more than exercise the mind. They taught me to love and remember the heroes, soldiers, saints, and scholars who built the civilization I inherited.

A textbook can explain the Crimean War. Tennyson makes you hear the cavalry moving: “Half a league, half a league, half a league onward.” A history of Rome can tell you the legend of Horatius at the bridge. Thomas Babington Macaulay puts the choice in the mouth of the man himself:

Then out spake brave Horatius
The Captain of the gate:
“To every man upon this earth
Death cometh soon or late.
And how can man die better
Than facing fearful odds,
For the ashes of his fathers
And the temples of his gods.”

The same is true closer to home. A paragraph about the British march on Concord can explain what happened. Longfellow’s “Listen, my children, and you shall hear” makes a child want to remember it.

RELATED: Remember the Battle of Lepanto

Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images

These works are literary masterpieces, but that is not the whole of their value. They are meant to stir the imagination. They give history rhythm, voice, courage, tragedy, and glory.

Chesterton’s “Lepanto” belongs in that company.

He wrote it in 1911, before World War I and more than a decade before he formally entered the Catholic Church. Yet the poem’s religious imagination is already unmistakable. Chesterton does not treat Lepanto merely as a naval engagement. He presents it as civilizational and spiritual combat, with Don Juan of Austria riding into a struggle that reaches backward through Christian history.

The poem’s movement is part of its power: drums, gongs, guns, trumpets, waves, banners, and cannon fire. Chesterton does not ask the reader to stand at a safe academic distance. He drags him onto the deck.

At one point, the Ottoman side hears something older than the fleet approaching it:

But a noise is in the mountains, in the mountains, and I know
The voice that shook our palaces four hundred years ago:
It is he that saith not “Kismet”; it is he that knows not Fate;
It is Richard, it is Raymond, it is Godfrey in the gate!

Chesterton uses “Kismet” to dramatize what he saw as a contrast between fatalism and the Christian refusal to surrender to supposedly inevitable defeat. Richard the Lionheart, Raymond of Saint-Gilles, and Godfrey of Bouillon appear not as museum pieces but as members of the same inheritance. Godfrey, leader of the First Crusade, became ruler of Jerusalem under the title Advocate of the Holy Sepulchre.

The poetry lets the reader place himself in that line. Christian history ceases to be a collection of remote episodes and becomes a living inheritance — something received, loved, defended, and handed on.

That spirit has become difficult for the modern West to summon.

One line from the poem has always stayed with me. Describing a Europe divided by religious conflict while the Ottoman threat advanced, Chesterton writes: “And dead is all the innocence of anger and surprise.”

He was writing about a particular historical moment, but the line captures something recognizable now: spiritual exhaustion disguised as sophistication. We have seen so much, mocked so much, qualified so much, that conviction itself begins to look embarrassing.

Chesterton’s Europe is divided, distracted, and half-convinced that resistance is pointless. The pope calls for “swords about the Cross,” while other rulers hesitate or look elsewhere. Even the Christian captives below the Ottoman decks have nearly stopped expecting deliverance.

Then comes Don Juan.

Dim drums throbbing in the hills half heard,
Where only on a nameless throne a crownless prince has stirred,
Where, risen from a doubtful seat and half attainted stall,
The last knight of Europe taketh weapons from the wall.

That is the great appeal of the poem. Don Juan does not enter because victory is guaranteed. He enters because something must be defended.

RELATED: After 800 years, why do we still treat St. Francis as a glorified garden gnome?

Mondadori Portfolio/Getty Images

Chesterton reminds the reader that courage often arrives from an unexpected quarter. Don Juan, the illegitimate son of Charles V, was hardly born into the tidy life of a storybook hero. Yet he became the man who took command when command was needed.

That is what the old poems can still teach us. We are not merely observers of a glorious Christian past, reading about better men in safer times. We inherit what they defended, and inheritance creates an obligation.

We owe a debt to the saints and heroes who came before us. Honoring it does not require pretending we are Don Juan of Austria. It requires the willingness to take responsibility for what has been handed to us — and the courage to defend what is true when resignation would be easier.

History can tell us that Lepanto happened.

Chesterton reminds us why anyone should care.

In that enormous silence, tiny and unafraid,
Comes up along a winding road the noise of the Crusade.

​Courage, Gk chesterton, Heroes, History, Inheritance, Jerusalem, Western canon, Europe, Islam, Ottoman empire, Poetry, Civilization, Opinion & analysis 

While polling suggests Democrat Abdul El-Sayed is leading the Senate race in Michigan, members of key Democrat-leaning demographics say he hasn’t earned their votes, even as absentee ballots have already begun to trickle in.

Like others in the Rust Belt, Michigan is a purple state. Michigan voted for President Donald Trump in 2016 and 2024, but went for President Joe Biden in 2020. It also currently has a Democrat executive branch and state Senate but a Republican House.

‘The exodus of Jewish and black Democrats from Conman Abdul El-Sayed’s camp exposes his crumbling coalition.’

While Trump won Michigan in 2024, Vice President Kamala Harris carried Wayne County, which includes Detroit, and Oakland County, which has a high Jewish population. That same year, Democrat Elissa Slotkin barely squeaked by Republican Mike Rogers in the U.S. Senate race by just 0.34%.

So it’s no wonder that in 2026, El-Sayed and Rogers are in a tough battle for the open seat soon to be vacated by Democrat Sen. Gary Peters.

As of Wednesday afternoon, Blaze News Poll Watch has El-Sayed with an edge of 2.6%, and, according to CNN, El-Sayed has already predicted he will win by seven points.

Yet frank admissions by high-profile Michigan Democrats as well as black and Jewish voters suggest he may actually have some ground to make up in his own party.

RELATED: ‘Not someone who can be trusted’: Anti-Trump Detroit newspaper rips El-Sayed in Rogers endorsement

Democrat Rep. Hillary Scholten, who represents a district in Western Michigan, was caught on a video dated September 26 admitting that the El-Sayed campaign still has a lot of work to do “to connect with the black community.”

In an MS NOW clip that went viral this week, one black female said, “We don’t know him,” while another said: “He’s taking advantage that we, as black people, are Democratic, and he think we’re gonna vote for him anyway, and I’m like, ‘No, sir.'”

An MS NOW panel of pro-Israel Democrats similarly expressed skepticism of El-Sayed — with good reason.

A former staffer for his campaign is under federal indictment in connection with anti-Semitic attacks, his family members have been linked to Islamic terrorist groups, and he infamously responded to the Hezbollah-inspired attack on Temple Israel in March by saying, “Hurt people hurt people.”

“I can’t vote for Abdul El-Sayed because, once again, he’s going against something that’s innately me,” said one Jewish mother.

“I might go to Mike Rogers,” said another.

Lansing Mayor Andy Schor, who is Jewish, indicated that the El-Sayed team has not made overtures for his support and that he may ultimately not vote for him. “If he doesn’t need me, he doesn’t need me,” Schor stated, according to CNN.

Democrat Attorney General Dana Nessel, who is also Jewish, initially distanced herself from El-Sayed but ultimately endorsed him.

In the last week, Blaze News has received multiple text messages from Nonnegotiable Michigan, a group of Democrat-voting Jews in Michigan who launched a month ago in part to “call on El-Sayed and Democratic candidates to affirm baseline commitments to Jewish safety and identity.”

“We’ve always shown up overwhelmingly for Democrats — but our support requires us to feel safe and valued in the party that has been our political home,” read a message delivered Sunday.

Scholten and the El-Sayed campaign did not respond to requests for comment from Blaze News.

RELATED: Obama rushes to rescue Abdul El-Sayed in Detroit — GOP issues scathing response

Blaze News

Greg Manz, senior communications director for the Michigan GOP, characterized El-Sayed as a “conman” who “has repeatedly brushed off concerns from black voters” even as he is being “bankrolled by elements tied to the Muslim Brotherhood.”

“The exodus of Jewish and black Democrats from Conman Abdul El-Sayed’s camp exposes his crumbling coalition,” Manz said in a statement to Blaze News.

“The panic is palpable.”

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​Abdul el-sayed, Democrats, Michigan, Mike rogers, Politics 

The gubernatorial debate in Davenport, Iowa, turned a corner when Republican Zach Lahn unleashed a torrent against State Auditor Rob Sand, his Democratic competitor.

The Republican went on the attack Tuesday night against criticism from Sand about whether Lahn meets the residency requirements to qualify for the race.

‘I will spend whatever effort necessary to defend my children from people who’d like to exploit them like you. And my promise to the voters of Iowa is this: I will also defend your children from people who’d like to exploit them.’

Lahn excoriated Sand for making the residency issue the “central lie” of his gubernatorial campaign.

“He’s been spreading this lie using money that his family has given him to do that all over the airwaves. People see it all the time,” said Lahn.

“But here’s the deal. Rob, you’re now encountering somebody who’s not going to intimidated by how much money your family has. It just won’t happen. I can’t be intimidated like that. The truth is I’m a sixth-generation Iowan. I live in Iowa today. I have lived in Iowa. Rob has been lying about this, and the issue is I have a blended family, and my kids split time. That’s the issue,” he added.

“But Rob has chose to make this issue the primary focus of his campaign,” said Lahn.

“And I’ll tell you, yes, I travel. I travel for business, I travel for family. You know who else travels? Rob. Rob traveled to Aspen, Colorado, to their $77 million mansion there. Rob travels to their multimillion-dollar home in northwest Iowa,” he added.

“Rob travels around the state in a Ford F-150 — when he gets home, he gets in the $200,000 Mercedes G-Wagon. Rob is not telling the truth about who he is,” said Lahn.

“And he’s definitely not telling the truth about who I am. But I’m going to tell you this right now. This issue is about one thing. It’s about my children. That’s it. I have a blended family, and they split time. And I’m going to tell you right now, I am not going to be intimidated on this,” he added.

“I will spend whatever effort necessary to defend my children from people who’d like to exploit them like you,” Lahn concluded. “And my promise to the voters of Iowa is this: I will also defend your children from people who’d like to exploit them, like Rob Sand.”

RELATED: Iowa Democratic Party corrects ‘minor’ mistake on partial vote tally — Bernie Sanders blames racism

Lahn’s campaign posted the video of the beatdown during the debate, and he received great praise online.

“My phone was blowing up with excitement last night from conservatives all over Iowa ecstatic to see [Zach Lahn] humiliate Rob Sand in the Iowa Governor’s debate. This might be the most decisive feedback I’ve ever received in an Iowa debate,” BlazeTV host Steve Deace wrote on Facebook.

“I will run through a wall for @ZachLahn right freaking now,” he added on the X platform.

“A total destruction of the lies coming from leftist Rob Sand. We can not allow Iowa to be turned over to these leftwing frauds!!!” responded Donald Trump Jr. on social media.

Sand also shared clips of the debate online Tuesday night. In one post, he wrote: “This race is between a change candidate, and a change of address candidate. 10 years of one-party control has given us a cancer crisis, a water quality crisis, and has left Iowa families strapped to afford gas & groceries. It’s time to rotate the crops here in Iowa.”

The election will decide whether Democrats can pick up the governor’s office in Iowa after Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds retires.

Iowa Governor polls 2026: Sand vs. Lahn

Iowa Governor polls 2026: Sand vs. Lahn pollwatch.theblaze.com

Every public poll of the 2026 Iowa governor race, Rob Sand (D) vs. Zach Lahn (R), and the Blaze polling average. From Blaze News.

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​Zach lahn, Iowa, Gubernatorial election, Debate, Politics 

An allegedly drunk female is accused of flipping out on an arresting police officer with a repeated violent physical attack over the weekend in Southeastern Pennsylvania.

Hatboro Police said officers were dispatched Sunday to Hatters Court in the Woodwinds Condo Complex for a report of a domestic disturbance in progress. Hatboro is about 45 minutes north of Philadelphia.

‘$1,000? Seriously?? … Seems like she should have been held to a higher bail.’

While officers were responding, police said they received information about approximately seven individuals engaged in a fistfight in the parking lot.

Arriving officers didn’t encounter a large-scale fight, but police said 23-year-old Emily Abbruzzi was in violation of statutes regarding disorderly conduct as well as public drunkenness.

When officers attempted to take Abbruzzi into custody, police said she purposefully kicked an officer in the leg.

Police said after Abbruzzi was placed in handcuffs and was being placed in the back of a patrol vehicle, she attempted to kick the same officer in the chest.

As she was being seat-belted into the patrol vehicle, police said Abbruzzi attempted to kick the same officer in the face.

RELATED: Female college senior allegedly punches cop, interferes with arrest — and pays for it

Image source: Hatboro (Pa.) Police Department

Abbruzzi was arrested and charged with:

Aggravated assault on policeSimple assaultResisting arrestHarassment Public drunkennessDisorderly conduct

Abbruzzi was arraigned Monday; bail was set at $1,000, police said, adding that a preliminary hearing is pending.

One commenter under a Facebook post from the Hatboro-Horsham Patch about the incident said, “$1,000? Seriously?? This woman kicks or attempts to kick a police officer three times? Seems like she should have been held to a higher bail.”

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​Physical attack, Female attacks police, Pennsylvania, Arrest, Aggravated assault, Crime 

The U.S. government recently launched its first consumer-facing AI chatbot at America.gov. If you’re not sure exactly what it does or how it could be useful to you, Blaze News has you covered. I asked it a ton of questions, and here are the big things it can do so far.

America.gov is the government’s attempt to streamline the various websites, forms, and information it offers to the people on the web. Before we dive deep into its capabilities though, you should know that the chatbot isn’t derived from a second-rate LLM or an open-weight model from China. America.gov is actually powered by a combination of Google Gemini and Grok by SpaceXAI.

The service functions more like a massive data repository than an innovative chatbot.

It’s also private. Conversations aren’t saved to train data, and your precise location is never logged, though depending on what you need, it might request your general position. Lastly, there aren’t any ads, and you don’t even have to sign up with an account.

Still, you should know that AI chatbots — including this one offered by the federal government — don’t come with legal confidentiality agreements, so it’s best not to get too personal with America.gov, especially if you’re navigating legal troubles. Consult the bot responsibly.

To see what America.gov can actually do, I looked at the top five reasons people usually need information from the government. These include:

Filing taxes with the IRS.Obtaining a license (such as a driver’s license or marriage certificate) or a permit.Accessing public services and benefits, like Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and more.Voting, both to register and to cast a ballot.Applying for a passport for international travel.

Then I pelted it with questions designed to test the limits of America.gov. Here’s what I found.

RELATED: Trump launches new AI-powered website to streamline access to the federal government

Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

Taxes

The dream of any American, aside from paying as little in taxes as possible, is to have someone else do your taxes for you. Unfortunately, America.gov can’t fill out your documents or file on your behalf. It also can’t review your return for accuracy, make suggestions on what to include, or offer tax advice.

It can, however, divulge some surface-level information. When prompted, America.gov can tell you the tax day deadline, offer a link to free filing options, and point you toward the website to file an extension if needed.

That’s about it. Don’t count on America.gov offering much more help by tax season.

Licenses

As expected, America.gov can’t issue a license on behalf of the government. It does, however, offer some interesting information to make the process a little easier.

If you need to get a driver’s license for the first time or renew your current license, America.gov provides a neat checklist of all the items you’ll need before you head to the DMV, including proof of identity, proof of residency, and in some states, you’ll also need your Social Security number. Unfortunately, when I asked it which states require an SSN at the time of renewal, it couldn’t tell me for certain. America.gov is mostly geared toward answering federal questions instead of state-specific queries.

As for a marriage license, it offered another handy checklist for items you’ll need, including a photo ID, proof of age, and a marriage license fee — information first-time spouses may not know before applying.

Public services and benefits

If you want to know all the public services that the U.S. government supplies to the people, America.gov can give you a whole list of options.

Need to apply for unemployment? America.gov will tap into your general location and provide links to your state’s claims page, along with the basic requirements needed to qualify for benefits.

Ready to apply for Medicare? America.gov can’t fill out your form, but it can show you the fastest way to sign up online, plus it can provide phone numbers for assistance and enrollment period information.

Need welfare benefits? America.gov will tell you which benefits are available in your state and provide links and phone numbers to apply.

Ultimately, America.gov was most helpful in the public services and benefits category. This is easily the place where it shines.

RELATED: Blaze News Poll Watch: Your new home for tracking the 2026 midterms

Blaze News

Voting

Midterms are coming up, and voters will want to find more information about the issues that impact them and their communities.

While America.gov is largely a federal resource, it can still tell you the local deadlines to register to vote and cast your ballot, which offices are up for election in your state, and which candidates are running for each position. It can even provide some county information for specific issues on the ballot, though your mileage may vary.

What it won’t do is tell you who to vote for.

America.gov is strictly nonpartisan. It won’t pick sides or try to sway you toward one ideology. It’s virtually neutral, exactly what you want from a bot that will be operated by both sides of the political aisle as power changes over time.

Passport

Like the forms before, America.gov can’t fill out your passport documentation for you. However, it will show you where to go online to start the process, and it offers a list of all the items you’ll need, like proof of citizenship, a photo ID, and a 2×2 inch color photo for the passport itself.

Most importantly, America.gov can remind you to print out your form and sign it only once you’re in front of a passport agent — something that first-time passport holders may not know.

Verdict

America.gov is a brand-new chatbot service, and its young age shows. The service functions more like a massive data repository than an innovative chatbot. It has no agentic capabilities, and it can’t really do much more than point you toward another place on the web with more information.

Furthermore, its instructions as a federal service limit the information it can provide, making it less useful than consulting a third-party frontier model on the same topics. This is even more obvious when you remember that America.gov is a mix of third-party LLMs, albeit with restrictions.

That said, America.gov’s easy account-free accessibility and basic privacy features may be enough to convince you to choose it over ChatGPT, Grok, or Gemini.

There’s also the promise of more features in the future.

For anything that America.gov can’t do today, updates are coming in 2027. The site says that “for the first time you’ll be able to complete forms, applications, renewals all in one place. America.gov will integrate across agencies so you can safely, securely, and quickly get it done and get back to what matters most.”

Several of the upcoming features include Medicare enrollment, passport forms, and job applications to work for the federal government.

For this initial release, America.gov offers a sturdy foundation in what is easily one of the federal government’s most ambitious citizen resources to date. Personally, though, I’m more excited to see what comes in version two next year.

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​Ai chatbot, Artificial intelligence, Tech, America.gov 

There is a strange thing happening to modern cars.

They keep getting more advanced. They also keep getting more annoying.

There is a reason physical knobs and switches survived for so long. You can find them by touch.

I’m not talking about technology in general. Modern safety systems have unquestionably prevented crashes and saved lives. Innovations like backup cameras and blind-spot monitoring are genuinely helpful. I’m not interested in going back to drum brakes and lap belts.

But somewhere along the way, automakers started treating every new feature as an improvement simply because it was new.

On a recent episode of “The Drive,” Karl Brauer and I were joined by the show’s former longtime host, Alan Taylor. We started going through some of the modern automotive technologies that sound impressive in a brochure but can make owning and driving a car less pleasant.

The list got long pretty quickly.

1. Cameras that watch you

New cars increasingly contain cameras aimed not at the road, but at you.

They’re called driver monitoring systems, and manufacturers say they’re there to make sure you’re paying attention — especially when advanced driver-assistance systems are steering, accelerating, or braking for you.

As Karl put it, “They’re watching you and your passengers.”

And that raises a pretty obvious question: How much monitoring are we willing to accept just because the car is capable of doing more for us?

The concern gets bigger once those cameras are part of a connected vehicle. Then the issue isn’t just what the car can see. It’s what information gets collected, where it goes, and who ultimately has access to it.

The car used to be one of the few private spaces left in modern life.

Now even the dashboard may be taking notes.

2. Microphones that listen

The microphone makes sense too.

Voice commands require one. Hands-free phone calls require one. Increasingly sophisticated digital assistants require one.

But once a connected car has microphones and a cellular connection, the privacy question gets considerably more troubling.

Voice assistants have to listen for a wake word. Sometimes they hear one when nobody actually said it. The Federal Trade Commission has warned that this can trigger unexpected recording and that voice recordings may be sent to company servers, stored, and, in some cases, reviewed by employees or contractors to improve the system.

That’s a very different proposition from the old Bluetooth microphone that simply carried your side of a phone call.

Karl described reading the Uconnect connected services agreement when he bought his Dodge Demon 170 and deciding he wanted no part of it because of the amount of vehicle and behavioral data that could potentially be collected. Uconnect’s terms also explicitly permit recording and monitoring of calls placed through certain connected services, including customer care, roadside assistance, and emergency calls.

Most buyers do not read those agreements. Maybe we should.

3. Touch screens for things that used to have buttons

This one drives me crazy.

Touch screens are terrific for maps, music, and information that genuinely benefits from a large visual display.

They are terrible replacements for controls you need while driving.

If I want to turn up the heat, adjust the fan, or open the glove box, I should not have to work through a menu system while traveling 70 miles per hour.

Tesla is probably the most obvious example. Karl brought up having to use the screen just to open the glove box.

That is not progress.

There is a reason physical knobs and switches survived for so long. You can find them by touch. Your hand learns where they are. You do not have to take your eyes off the road and aim at a little square on a screen.

Even automakers appear to be rediscovering this. GM’s new Silverado and Sierra interface, for example, was designed after customer research found drivers were tired of “hunting for controls,” and the company specifically retained physical controls for frequently used functions.

Sometimes the old solution survives because it was already a pretty good solution.

4. Automatic stop-start

Here’s a typical 2026 driving experience that would have made no sense whatsoever to someone 20 years ago. You pull up to a red light. The engine shuts off. You take your foot off the brake. The engine starts again.

Repeat dozens of times.

Automatic stop-start became common because shutting off an idling engine saves fuel. The EPA has long said the technology can improve fuel economy by roughly 4% to 5%, with the biggest gains in stop-and-go city driving.

Washington liked the idea enough to reward automakers with emissions credits for installing it. But under President Donald Trump, the EPA has changed its tune. In February, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin eliminated the credit for what the agency itself called the “almost universally hated start-stop feature,” arguing that it produced no significant environmental benefit and that the old credit overstated real-world emissions reductions.

So yes, shutting off an idling engine saves some fuel. The question is how much that saving is really worth.

Starting an engine over and over puts far more cycling demands on the starter and battery than a conventional system. That is why stop-start vehicles typically require heavier-duty starters, upgraded batteries, and additional control systems designed to survive the extra work.

In other words, “they’re designed for it” is only half the story. They have to be designed differently precisely because stop-start creates a harsher duty cycle.

AAA has noted that its fuel-savings estimates did not include the potentially higher replacement cost of those upgraded starters and batteries. AGM batteries, commonly used in stop-start vehicles because they tolerate repeated cycling better, also tend to cost more than conventional flooded batteries.

And if most of your driving is on the highway, there isn’t much idling to eliminate in the first place.

I have disliked stop-start from the beginning. Even when the restart is smooth, you can still feel and hear the car cycling on and off. And plenty of drivers seem to feel the way I do, judging by how many of them want to disable it.

If I’m going to pay for heavier-duty components so my engine can shut itself off at every red light, I’d at least like the savings to be worth the trouble.

RELATED: BRONCO BUSTED: I caught Ford sneaking my data — and uncovered an even bigger threat

Anadolu/Getty Images

5. Electric power steering

This one matters more to people who actually enjoy driving.

Hydraulic power steering used fluid pressure to provide assistance while retaining a relatively direct mechanical feel through the steering wheel. Electric power steering replaces much of that hardware with an electric motor.

There are good reasons manufacturers prefer it. Electric systems can improve efficiency, reduce weight, and integrate more easily with modern driver-assistance technology.

But something can be technically superior and still feel worse.

Karl noted that electric steering has improved tremendously over the years, but for many enthusiasts it still does not provide the same feedback as a good hydraulic system.

Most consumers will never care, but the people who do care really care.

Steering is one of the primary ways a car communicates with its driver. Take too much information out of it, and you may wind up with a vehicle that handles beautifully while somehow feeling less alive.

6. The connected car itself

This is really the technology behind all the others.

Your car is no longer merely a machine. Increasingly it is a computer with wheels, cameras, microphones, software, and an internet connection.

That brings enormous benefits, but it also radically changes the relationship between the car company and the owner.

Software can be updated remotely. New services can be added. Features can be sold by subscription. Data can flow back to the manufacturer. The relationship no longer necessarily ends when you drive off the dealer lot.

During our discussion, Alan joked that modern cars seem to be “watching everything we do.” I pointed out the important next step: Once the car is connected, information can leave the vehicle too.

And that is where consumers need to start asking questions beyond whether or not a feature works. Questions like:

Who controls the feature?

Who controls the data?

Can you turn it off?

When it stops working, can anyone other than the manufacturer fix it?

New cars do extraordinary things. Sometimes I just wish they would do a little less.

​Auto industry, Lifestyle, Drivers, Touchscreen, Car technology, Safety systems, Evs, Automatic stop-start, Surveillance, Privacy, Automotive 

Whether she’s rooting out H-1B fraud or exposing the open-border flood, BlazeTV’s Sara Gonzales is adamant about fighting back against the “globalist plan to flood the zone and displace actual Americans who should be put first in their own country.”

On this episode of “Come & Take It,” the Texas native shines the light on a local university that commissioned an overseas business to recruit foreign students.

The school under Sara’s microscope is the University of North Texas in Denton. According to Texas Scorecard, “A third-party vendor received payments from the University of North Texas to ‘recruit’ international students from 2018 through at least 2023.”

“All of the money that you guys are working hard to then sign over to UNT and all of these other public universities, this money went to that school only for them to turn around and pay a foreign recruiting firm up to $3,000 per foreign student that they recruited,” says Sara.

“It is bad enough that they are paying to recruit foreigners at all … but they aren’t even paying an American company. … They’re siphoning money out of this country to bring in people to take spots that could be going to an American or a Texan,” she continues.

Texas Scorecard identified the third-party recruiter as the Edwise Foundation — a student-placement agency based in Kathmandu, Nepal, focused on placing Nepalese students in higher education, specifically in the U.S.

“Their entire existence is to empower foreigners to come have access to our colleges, and we are paying them real money to do that,” says Sara. “That’s bonkers crazy to me.”

On its website, the Edwise Foundation claims it has “placed thousands of students into a diverse range of [universities] in the United States — from small private liberal arts colleges to top-tier research Institutions — often with partial or full financial aid.”

“I’m just wondering at this point, financial aid paid for by whom? Where is the financial aid money coming from? … I certainly would like to know,” says Sara.

“Then again, maybe I wouldn’t like to know because maybe it’s just going to be further black-pilling to hear that … more of my money is somehow being siphoned into this financial aid fund that’s then being given to foreigners who are taking spots that could be going to Texans or Americans.”

She then pulls up a page from the Edwise Foundation’s website titled “Why Study in the USA from Nepal?” which identifies the U.S. as a top destination for Nepali students because it has “the world’s best universities,” “research and innovation” opportunities, “academic flexibility,” “work after graduation” opportunities, “scholarships and assistantships,” and degrees that promise “global” value.

“So we’re all on the same page that our system, that the American higher education system, is … the best,” says Sara.

“It sounds to me like this should be one of the most competitive areas ever, and you should be paying us for the opportunity to potentially come here and scout you out.”

To hear more of Sara’s scathing exposé, watch the episode above.

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.

​Foreign students, H1b fraud, Sara gonzales, University of north texas, Blazetv show 

When the FBI raided the Virginia home of ex-CIA official David Rush in May, agents found nearly 300 gold bars, each weighing a kilogram; 35 luxury watches; €104,795; and roughly $2 million in U.S. currency.

This apparently stolen treasure was only the tip of the iceberg.

‘His self-serving actions threatened to erode public confidence in the intelligence services.’

Rush pleaded guilty on Tuesday to using his senior executive-level position within the CIA to create fake classified programs so that he could divert and fraudulently obtain roughly $193,590,400 in taxpayer funds.

“By his own admission, David Rush defrauded the government of hundreds of millions of dollars, and then misused those funds for extravagant purchases,” stated FBI Director Kash Patel. “Rush betrayed his oath, his co-workers, and the American people, and he will now face justice for his actions.”

According to a statement of facts dated Tuesday and signed by Rush, Rush secured a senior role at a federal agency on the basis of false claims about his military background and education.

Sources previously told the New York Times that Rush worked for the CIA, and Attorney General Todd Blanche confirmed on Tuesday that it was the spy agency that had referred the matter to the FBI following an internal investigation identifying potential crimes.

Contrary to what he told CIA colleagues and contractors, Rush never served as a pilot in the U.S. military, and he held neither a bachelor’s degree from a large public research university based in South Carolina nor a doctoral degree from a private research university in New York, the DOJ said.

RELATED: DOJ report details Biden admin’s apparent conspiracy against parents who dared to defend their kids

L-R: Matt Jelonek/Bloomberg/Getty Images; Alexandria Sheriff’s Office

The federal position that Rush occupied on account of such misrepresentations provided him with the authority to approve multimillion-dollar expenditures for various programs.

Rush admitted to creating a “highly classified program to justify the acquisition of luxury real estate, which he then intended to resell for personal profit,” according to the statement of facts. Since access to his fake program was restricted to “specifically authorized individuals with the appropriate security clearance and need to know,” Rush was for a time able to operate in the shadows.

He also created “separate purported sensitive government activity” to justify the acquisition of hundreds of gold bars.

The affidavit originally filed in support of a criminal complaint and arrest warrant for Rush stated that FBI agents seized “approximately 303 gold bars” from his residence. That number has been adjusted to 298 gold bars.

Neither the Department of Justice nor the CIA immediately responded to Blaze News’ requests for comment.

“Although the real estate and gold acquisitions involved different transactions and intermediaries, they were executions of the same overarching scheme — RUSH created false classified authorities, directed and approved the associated expenditures, caused contractors and subcontractors to carry out the transactions, and thereafter exercised possession or control over the acquired assets,” said the document.

Rush didn’t just acquire gold bars and the luxury residential properties in Palm Beach and Hobe Sound, Florida, at America’s expense. Prosecutors noted in court documents that over $38.65 million was seized from the bank account linked to the holding company that Rush created as part of his scheme, and over $2.1 million in American cash was seized from his house.

Per the terms of his plea agreement, Rush has agreed to forfeit the gold bars, the cash found at his home, the luxury residential properties he fraudulently obtained in Palm Beach and Hobe Sound, two 2026 BMW Alpina vehicles — at least one of which is valued at around $172,000 — and at least 30 luxury watches, including a Rolex Oyster Perpetual Sea-Dweller 4000.

“Our Intelligence Community must have the trust of the American people to operate effectively in a Nation committed to transparency and the rule of law,” stated Assistant Attorney General for National Security John Eisenberg. “Rush repeatedly betrayed that trust. He defrauded the United States out of approximately $194 million in real estate, jewelry, and other valuable property, including 298 gold bars. Worse, his self-serving actions threatened to erode public confidence in the intelligence services that must strive in secret to keep America safe.”

Rush, who pleaded guilty to a single count of wire fraud, is scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 28, 2027. He faces a maximum of 20 years in prison.

While Rush has pleaded guilty, the DOJ noted that its investigation is continuing and that Director of National Intelligence Jay Clayton has asked for the intelligence community’s inspector general to launch a separate investigation.

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​Central intelligence agency, Spy, Gold, Justice department, Fbi, Kash patel, Todd blanche, Virginia, Top secret, Politics 

A day at the docks started with an unexpected meeting with some birds — Ravens, to be exact.

When President Donald Trump arrived in Sparrows Point, Maryland, to announce a new shipyard, he was met by a group of professional athletes.

‘He claims that he’s a billionaire!’

Trump, who consistently flexes his football knowledge, was greeted by four Baltimore Ravens players before an event announcing a major government investment.

Ryan Eckley, Marlon Humphrey, Tyler Loop, and Nick Moore all met with the president at Tradepoint Atlantic on Tuesday, as Trump was set to unveil plans for a gigantic logistics center in the Baltimore area, about 30 minutes from where the Ravens play.

Humphrey is seemingly the most outspoken of the players, at least politically, and was the only one to post a video online about the interaction.

“Do yall know this guy? He claims that he’s a billionaire!” Humphrey wrote as a video caption. The video showed the 30-year-old cornerback sitting behind the president inside a moving vehicle.

Humphrey spoke in defense of the president when New York Giants quarterback Jaxson Dart received criticism for introducing Trump before a rally.

“The fake Trump hate funny to me,” Humphrey wrote in May. “Majority voted for him but everybody seem to hate him lol … Somebody lying.”

RELATED: Fans accuse Chicago Bears player of performing Muslim prayer during national anthem: ‘Is this respectful?’

Win McNamee/Getty Images

The New York Post reported that Humphrey planned to meet with the president to discuss his charity work and the commander in chief’s shared passion for football and golf.

“Marlon Humphrey is a great talent, player, and leader for the Ravens,” Trump adviser Alex Bruesewitz told the New York Post. “He is also widely respected in the locker room and the city of Baltimore.”

The new shipyard is being built with Anduril Industries, founded by tech and defense entrepreneur Palmer Luckey. It is expected to create 3,100 jobs and cost $6.6 billion. The money will come in part from the U.S. Navy ($2.9 billion) with the majority from private investment ($3.7 billion),

According to the Guardian, the shipyard will be called “Arsenal Two” and will build torpedo tubes and other parts for Virginia-class nuclear-powered submarines.

Taxpayers will reportedly have a “40% stake” in the facility, the president said. However, it will not be operational until 2030.

RELATED: Replacement complete? After 74 years, Canada’s state broadcaster replaces hockey with cricket

Humphrey has a history of remarks in support of the president. In February 2025, he wrote on X, “I’m confused how everyone appears to ‘hate’ Trump but he won the presidency … Some of yall lying.”

Following the assassination attempt against the president in Butler, Pennsylvania, in July 2024, Humphrey remarked: “Trump took a bullet for America.”

The Ravens are currently 3-1 and will play the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

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​Maryland, Baltimore, Nfl, Football, Sports, Donald trump 

Want a date? Just let your government know everything about you.

It’s that simple in Singapore, where a federal agency is now looking to match singles on a government dating site.

‘Swipe fatigue ends here.’

With fertility rates decreasing in countries all around the world, ruling parties have long looked to immigration to ensure their bottom line does not suffer, but that doesn’t mean they have stopped looking inward as well, especially in Asia.

Singapore’s fertility rate has sunk to historic lows, dropping to 0.87 in 2025, down from 1.24 a decade ago, according to local outlet the Straights Times.

In response, Singapore’s Government Technology Agency has launched a dating website called FirstDate, which aims to match singles ages 21 to 35.

“Swipe fatigue ends here,” the website reads.

Users would receive just one match at a time based on a questionnaire they fill out regarding their interests, habits, values, and preferences in order to “curate matches based on compatibility.”

“Receive one match at a time, so you can focus on building a thoughtful connection,” the government agency says.

Users get one match per “cycle” — the length of which is unknown — based on a compatibility score, and then both parties have 72 hours to accept the match.

Along with the detailed questionnaire, users submit their contact information and are required to use their government-issued digital ID called Singpass.

Without the digital ID, citizens cannot file taxes or access public services, for example.

Those who use the digital ID are required to submit a face scan in order to “protect your digital identity.”

RELATED: The last ethnic Halloween costume nobody apologizes for

Isaac Lawrence/AFP/Getty Images

According to Mashable, the use of the digital ID comes with the promise of there being no fake profiles on the website.

At the same time, FirstDate says that user data and questionnaire responses are handled in accordance with government security standards and will not be monetized or shared with third parties “except where required or permitted by law.”

A Singapore government website explains that it works “extensively with Third Parties to deliver services to citizens” and therefore the government data is routinely shared.

In January, the country announced it would allow data to be shared with “trusted external partners” as well, so long as it is for the purposes of public interest. This reportedly includes ethnic nonprofits like the Chinese Development Assistance Council and the Eurasian Association.

RELATED: Smashing Pumpkins’ Billy Corgan shares Christian faith, claims music industry is afraid of God talk

ERIC BARADAT/AFP/Getty Images

Singapore isn’t the first Asian country to have a government-run dating program.

China, Iran, and Japan all have their own service aimed at matching singles.

Do they work?

A 2024 study looked at the validity of government dating services and determined that “there is good reason to believe that dating apps can be powerful tools for social engineering.”

Citing China, India, Iran, and Japan, the study said the dating apps address three distinct social problems: “sub-replacement fertility, social polarization, and the spread of genetic diseases,” the latter referring to incest.

Applications for FirstDate are closing fast, with the website giving applicants until October 5 to submit their information.

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​Singapore, Dating app, Fertility, Tech 

They say politics can be murder. Recent polling suggests a disturbing share of Democratic and left-of-center voters are becoming far too comfortable with the idea.

A new survey from Liberal Currents and the Center for Strategic Politics asked 683 Democratic voters how they would feel about five hypothetical ways President Donald Trump might leave office before his term ends.

Apparently protecting democracy now includes the occasional military junta.

The lawful options drew predictably lopsided reactions: 86% said they would feel positively if Trump were impeached and convicted, and 84% said the same about removal under the 25th Amendment.

Then the poll got darker.

Fifty-nine percent said they would react positively to a headline announcing that military leaders had removed Trump and assumed control of the government to “safeguard the Constitution.” Another 56% said they would react positively if Trump simply died in his sleep.

The only scenario in which negative reactions outnumbered positive ones was assassination. Even there, 31% said they would feel very or somewhat positive if Trump were killed while speaking at a rally; 26% were neutral, and 43% reacted negatively.

The survey measured emotional reaction, not willingness to carry out or personally endorse violence. Still, a positive reaction to an assassination or a military takeover is an ugly result for a party that presents itself as the guardian of democracy.

Apparently protecting democracy now includes the occasional military junta.

Those findings do not stand alone. In April 2025, the Network Contagion Research Institute and Rutgers Social Perception Lab surveyed 1,264 U.S. adults and found that 55.2% of respondents who identified as left of center considered the murder of Trump at least somewhat justified. Nearly 50% said the same about Elon Musk. The researchers described an emerging “assassination culture” among segments of the political left.

Five months later, Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk was assassinated while speaking at Utah Valley University. Prosecutors allege that the accused killer targeted Kirk because of his political and religious beliefs.

RELATED: Where was God? Frank Turek asks the question after Charlie Kirk

Owen Anderson

The online reaction exposed something broader than one alleged killer’s motive. Social media filled with people celebrating Kirk’s death, mocking his widow, and arguing that he had deserved to die because of his politics.

A YouGov poll conducted after Kirk’s killing found that 16% of liberals said it was usually or always acceptable to be happy about the death of a public figure they opposed. Among the “very liberal,” the number rose to 24%.

Conservatives registered at just 4%.

Cheering a death is not the same thing as committing violence. But political violence becomes easier to rationalize when the target has first been reduced to someone whose death is funny, deserved, or morally cleansing.

I have watched that permission structure develop in my native Portland, Oregon

During the summer of 2020, rioters repeatedly attacked the Mark O. Hatfield U.S. Courthouse with fireworks, incendiary devices, rocks, bottles, and other attempts to set fires. Federal prosecutors charged one man after an incendiary object exploded at the courthouse entrance.

The pattern did not disappear. Beginning in 2025, the Portland ICE facility became another center of unrest. Court records describe protesters throwing rocks and bricks at officers, damaging security equipment, trying to breach the building, and using an upended stop sign as a makeshift battering ram. One participant who struck a federal officer in the head with a rock was later sentenced to 30 months in federal prison.

RELATED: ‘Reign of terror’: One-third of Democrats give thumbs-up to Trump assassination

Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

There is a difference between peaceful protest and political violence. Democrats should be able to draw it without hesitation.

It’s why then-Senator Kamala Harris took flak during the 2020 Black Lives Matter riots when she urged followers to donate to the Minnesota Freedom Fund “to help post bail for those protesting on the ground in Minnesota.” In the middle of widespread disorder, a future Democratic vice president used her platform to promote bail assistance for protesters rather than draw a sharper distinction between lawful protest and criminal violence.

Political violence thrives on permission — explicit or subtle. That permission can come from celebrating an assassination, describing violence as justified, excusing riots because the cause is righteous, or treating the rule of law as optional when the target is sufficiently hated.

Democrats have spent the better part of a decade warning that American democracy is endangered by Trump and the right. They cannot demand that the country take political violence seriously while refusing to confront the appetite for it inside their own coalition.

You cannot save democracy by cheering when your political opponents are removed from it.

That is, in fact, how democracies die.

​Assassination, Black lives matter, Charlie kirk, Elon musk, Political violence, Politics, President donald trump, Ice, Turning point usa, Opinion & analysis 

PORTLAND, MAINE — If you didn’t know any better, you would think Maine was the sickest state in the union.

Home health care LLCs, some with Minnesota area codes, fill entire office buildings throughout the city centers, suburbs, and exurbs of that once-sleepy New England state. They’re supposedly open from 9:00 to 5:00 every day, but no one is ever working.

‘The legislature needs to conduct a serious investigation of MaineCare’s provider system.’

What follows is the story of how Maine got robbed.

Somali refugees began flooding into Maine in 2001. Previously resettled elsewhere, the Somalis later gathered in Portland, then Lewiston, drawn by cheap housing. Catholic Charities Maine relocated the waves that followed, bringing as many as it could to Vacationland.

Catholic Charities was Maine’s primary federal refugee resettlement agency for nearly 50 years. It paid bus fare for hundreds of Angolan and Congolese migrants sent from San Antonio to Portland in 2023, the Maine Wire previously reported.

Maine, which boasts a robust General Assistance program offering rent, heating, food, utilities, and prescriptions to asylum-seekers for up to 24 months, has been a heavenly destination for the tired, poor, and huddled masses.

Soon enough, those masses would be rested, rich, and sprawled over numerous state-backed housing units.

Some New Mainers, as the state refers to them, never got off the government dole. In fact, they have built an entire way of life around spending other people’s money.

RELATED: Retiree radicalism: Behind the scenes with Maine’s anti-ICE activists

Blaze News

Blaze News visited office buildings in Portland, Westbrook, and Lewiston, Maine, in September. We found dozens of home health care agencies, all of which spent the work day empty despite posted hours of operation. All companies were linked to Gmail addresses rather than any corporate email, and some even listed Minnesota mailing addresses and phone numbers.

Many of these numbers were out of service or went straight to voicemail. Only one, New Horizon Residential Care, picked up the phone. A thickly accented voice on the other end informed Blaze News that the company had shuttered operations and fled to New Hampshire after MaineCare fraud began to be exposed.

The full list of suspicious home health care LLCs could fill volumes, thanks to Jon Fetherston and Steve Robinson of the Maine Wire.

Some examples that Blaze News encountered in Maine are more glaring than others. Legit Home Health Care (now Legit Home Care LLC, according to state filings) registered with the federal government on March 19, 2018. Its provider record lists one official, a “director” named Adulahi Aden, and one address: 991 Forest Avenue, Suite 2A, Portland.

From 2019 to 2024, MaineCare paid Legit $7,116,267, according to state payment records previously obtained by the Maine Wire. That money is meant for aides who bathe, feed, and care for elderly and disabled Mainers in their own homes.

Legit billed $6.95 million across 8,652 claims from 2018 through 2024 for in-home personal care, according to federal Medicaid data. The claims were billed in 15-minute increments.

When Blaze News visited the office, no one was around to answer. The sign is still proudly and prominently displayed at the location.

Maine officials did once suspect something was off. In October 2022, MaineCare’s Office of Program Integrity ordered Legit to repay $39,804.06. The home health care company had “failed to provide proper documentation for some of its services,” according to state records reviewed by the Maine Wire.

Aden disputed the finding and sent in more paperwork. The state canceled the demand. Inspectors returned in July 2025 for a licensing review and found no deficiencies, the Maine Wire reported.

Normal nursing homes don’t receive that kind of leniency. Federal rules require those facilities to undergo unannounced inspections and other taxing verifications. Home-care agencies like Legit aren’t covered by those rules.

RELATED: Trump administration revokes visas for HISTORIC number of noncitizens

Benjamin Roberts/Blaze Media

Legit Home Health Care had an important political connection. Halimo Mohamed, the wife of Democrat state Rep. Yusuf Yusuf, worked there.

Yusuf found the time to run his own agency as well. Care for Everyone, which received $1,212,852 from MaineCare between 2020 and 2024, operates out of the same address as Affinity Home Care. Neither Yusuf nor his agency has been accused of wrongdoing.

The overlaps can be confusing.

Yusuf’s ethics filing places Care for Everyone at 49 Dartmouth Street, the same address as Affinity Home Care, from which the state is trying to recoup $445,262. Affinity is currently listed as administratively dissolved for a missed annual report.

The state’s corporate registry puts Care for Everyone at 203 Anderson Street, which also houses a branch of Dahabshiil, a Somali money-transfer company. Its federal record lists a third address, on Bishop Street, with Yusuf as CEO. You almost need a flowchart to keep track of where your taxpayer money is going.

Yusuf did not respond to a request for comment.

RELATED: Social justice activist groups shut down after leader admits her years-long race hoax

Blaze News

Though Legit’s flashy name and vanishing audit make it a prime example of Maine’s seemingly endless fraud troubles, it is only one of many home health care companies gorging on state funds.

Holding Hands Home Health Care’s bill was cut from $357,583 to $121,131. Adam Healthcare Services’ (now Quality Care LLC) was cut from $647,834 to $25,849. Luna Home Care never paid its $262,120 recoupment and has billed MaineCare another $1.69 million since the notice was issued.

Community Home Health Care of South Portland received $47,986,855 from MaineCare between 2019 and 2025. The state suspended its payments months after the Maine Wire visited its office.

Bright Future Healthier You in Lewiston took in $15.6 million and is under federal investigation, according to the Maine Wire.

No public finding says how much of the money paid to Community or Bright Future was improper. Ocean Home Health Care on Bishop Street took $11.5 million. A 2020 state audit found $24,437 in overbilling, which it repaid.

Like Legit, Golden Home Care was also seemingly able to evade a clawback. Golden Home was ordered to repay $1,676,126 following a 2024 audit. That order was later canceled.

The list goes on and on and on.

Mostafa Alahmedi ran 5 Stars Home Health Care until auditors found $390,672 in overbilling. He repaid $13,961 and closed the business. He also worked at Ocean Home Health Care and claims he later worked at Golden Home Care and Community Home Health Care. Those four agencies billed MaineCare $66,487,379 from 2019 to 2025, though Alahmedi worked at each for only part of that time.

Gateway Community Services’ office is registered next door to Legit, at 999 Forest Avenue. Gateway took $28.8 million from MaineCare from 2019 through 2024. Three state audits found about $1.7 million in overpayments. The state cut off its payments in December 2025.

There are two distinct, but related, Gateways. Gateway Community Services LLC is the for-profit enterprise, whereas Gateway Community Services Maine is a nonprofit organization.

The Maine DHHS affirmed “credible allegations of fraud” in May, according to the Maine Wire. Gateway appealed the payment suspension but missed its deadline to appeal the fraud finding itself.

Gateway founder Abdullahi Ali may now lose his Falmouth home, which he bought for $875,000 in 2022. Bangor Savings Bank sued to foreclose in July, months after the state placed a $44,082 lien on his property for unpaid income taxes. Gateway has denied the allegations.

Gateway’s former attorney Pawel Binczyk said he no longer represents the company when reached for comment.

Catholic Charities Maine, the same church-backed charity that resettled migrants to the state, gave the not-for-profit Gateway Community Services Maine $77,672 in 2024 for “refugee health promotion and youth mentoring.” Catholic Charities is a MaineCare biller as well. The ostensibly Christian organization accepted $19.7 million from 2019 to 2024 and failed two state audits, which ordered it to repay thousands.

The companies tend to cluster together in specific locations.

At 203 Anderson Street in Portland, five home-care companies drew $13,774,554 from 2019 to 2024, sharing the building with a Dahabshiil branch. Maine Connect Care, one of those companies, later had its payments suspended. At 640 Brighton Avenue, Al-Shawk, Luna, and Hope Home Care received over $11.6 million.

In Lewiston, there are five home-care companies listed at a single warehouse grocery store on Park Street.

At 265 Lisbon Street, Lewiston’s main street, five more share an address with the Immigrant Resource Center of Maine, which also runs offices at 124 Canal Street and 1220 Lisbon Street. Rajo Home Care, Ibsa Home Care, Ayda Home Care, Mayson Senior Care, and Mandi Home Care all registered with the federal government between June and September 2023. Rajo and Ibsa list the same phone number.

There are Minnesota connections as well. Mandi’s phone number includes a Minneapolis area code, and Mayson’s mailing address is in Saint Paul.

No one there reported ever seeing office workers or health care staff, and Blaze News found no offices.

When Blaze News and the Maine Wire entered the building on Canal Street in September, a notice from Lewiston District Court was taped to the front door. The company owed $63,013.87 in rent, utilities, and taxes as of June, according to landlord Veridis LLC‘s attorney. Veridis is suing to evict.

When reached for comment, the Immigrant Resource Center of Maine’s Fatuma Hussein flatly stated that they had the money and requested that no further reporting be published on the matter.

That building also housed Gateway Community Services, which stopped receiving funding after a Maine Wire investigation. In August, the same landlord won a court order evicting Gateway from the building. It’s quite the coincidence.

The Maine State Housing Authority also won a $110,000 default judgment against the center this year.

Independent audits of the center’s federal grants for 2022 and 2023 each found “material weakness” in its internal controls and “material noncompliance.”

RELATED: Are America’s jails being run by foreigners?

Blaze News

The fraud being foisted on the Maine taxpayer hasn’t exactly been a secret. State officials have simply refused to take the large-scale actions necessary to root it out.

Democrat Gov. Janet Mills’ Department of Health and Human Services licenses these agencies, delivers the funds to them, and audits them.

Democrat Attorney General Aaron Frey’s Healthcare Crimes Unit is supposed to prosecute the cases the DHHS sends over. The unit declined four DHHS referrals in 2021 and secured one guilty plea out of 18 referrals from 2022 to 2025, the Maine Wire reported.

The DHHS typically sends three to five fraud referrals a year, the Portland Press Herald reported. The office is seeking a new chief as fraud allegations continue to pile up.

Frey’s office declined to comment on its referral record or on whether it has received referrals involving Gateway, Community Home Health Care, or Legit.

Republican lawmakers in Augusta say they have been stonewalled by Mills and her appointees.

“Lawmakers have called for comments from the Mills administration, and we have been met with silence,” Assistant Senate Republican Leader Matt Harrington told Blaze News. “Democrats are largely silent. Fraud should not be a partisan issue.”

“The legislature needs to conduct a serious investigation of MaineCare’s provider system,” Harrington said. “There are clearly problems in how providers are screened, monitored, and audited.”

Harrington wants lawmakers to examine “whether providers are being appropriately vetted and whether DHHS has the resources and policies necessary to intervene quickly when red flags appear,” and he called for a review of the Healthcare Crimes Unit’s record.

“In fact, federal regulators have already raised concerns that make such a review absolutely critical,” Harrington said. “We should examine how many credible fraud allegations DHHS identifies, what happens to those fraud referrals, how long cases remain pending, and whether staffing or other deficiencies have prevented fraud from being adequately investigated.”

“Taxpayers deserve answers about how their money is being spent,” Harrington said.

The DHHS and Mills’ office did not respond to Blaze News’ requests for comment.

“Many of my constituents are struggling to pay their electricity bills and buy medication, while fraudsters are getting rich,” Harrington said. “This is wrong.”

Community Home Health Care, Ocean Home Care, Bright Future Healthier You, Veridis LLC, and the Maine State Housing Authority did not respond to Blaze News’ requests for comment.

This story was reported in collaboration with the Maine Wire’s Jon Fetherston.

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​Fraud, Fraudsters, Investigation, Portland, Taxpayer money, Politics